Many, Many Stars

Thanks, yello, for sounding the new kit alarm.

Reposted:
Blackberries and phlox? Sounds good to me, Ivansmom. When should we all show up next summer to make jam?

(I remember you get tomatoes from someone else, so that slight addition leads me to declare you Queen of Perfect Produce).

For at least 3 years, I've wanted to put blackberries along a 3" wide strip of land belonging to me, it borders an elderly neighbor's. I made the mistake of telling him, he vehemently opposed it, so I haven't. I still wonder why.

I know all about gravitational perturbations.

Google's not doing so well themselves these days, though. Instead of real bonuses, this year they gave phones, IIRC.

Ya canna go fastah than Wahp ten, cap'n. The engines cahn't take it.

(Boy, is my Scottish accent bad.)

Of course, I post for the first time in weeks (I missed you over the holidays, Boodle, but family time won out), and end up after the new kit announcement. I'm not going to repost -- it's easy enough to find for anyone who wants to.

Happy New Year, Boodle, and happy new semester (ack!). Back to syllabus-tweaking for me.

Mornin' everybody...

I've been experiencing an inordinate amount of gravitational perturbations today. Also known as the "dropsies", "butterfingers" and "son-of-a...". In any case, I must have done something to perturb gravity because it has not been my friend today.

Another busy day lined up (which is good) but my shop is still below freezing (not so good). I fired up the space heaters about an hour ago, but the shop thermometer is only up to 31F. And I have to paint and stain today. Nothing like having paint freeze on the brush to keep production humming along.

Oh well... I deal with it.

Off to check the temp again to see if it broke the magical 32F mark.

Peace out :-)

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/sombrero/

At first I thought that Joel was going to make some lame joke about having gone across the border last night and having visited the Sombrero Galaxy in Tijuana, but these pictures say otherwise.

CP, I think your lime-green Snoopy scarf with the pink polkadots is just adorable. Yes, I said it. Adorable.

Anyway, we of the Dawn Patrol are very forgiving of the dress code, doncha know, as most true fighter squadrons of the day were. Many pilots decorated their planes to suit their whims (remember the Red Baron? Now there was a dude who knew how to color-coordinate his Flying Circus, whence cometh the name "circus" in the first place). And perhaps I ought to have mentioned that I have on occassion seen Scotty climb into his aircraft still wearing his bathrobe, and Brag has been known to buzz the Naval Observatory still wearing his bunny slippers. So, yes, by all means, a lime-green silk scarf with pink polkadots would hardly draw comment in the Ready Room. (We do eschew FMPs on the flightline, but that is a safety issue, not a fashion statement.)

So, bc and RD, you don't think there's very many nonsensical science questions? Bwahahahahahaha. Just give me 20 minutes.

So now one can Google-navigate all over the universe? Does the d@mn thing still say, "Please make a U-turn in 600 parsecs" like my *&%$#@^% GPS?

And I'm suspicious of that Mark Reid report. Seems to me that over the years Mars, Inc., has been making those Milky Ways smaller and lighter, not bigger and denser.

Just for the record, I'd like to note that the hedline "Obama Pitches Stimulus Plan" can be read two ways. Just sayin'.

mudge,
The way you say it, it sounds like Barack has replaced Bob Dole as the celebrity endorser of a certain pharmacological product.

I always get a kick out of the notion that galaxies are mostly empty space. Physicists say the same thing about atoms. So the universe is pretty much just a whole lotta nothing.

Kind of like suburbia on a weekday night.

There are testable questions and untestable questions. Although I do admit, the untestable ones are often far more interesting because they generate the most intense debate.

One of the neat things about Google earth is that you can enter significant structures and cities and go right too them. You know, like "Eiffel Tower."

So, what would be, like totally cool, is if you could put in similar terms in Google mars.

You know, like "Secret Space Port"

Hey, it's worth a shot.

Hi, guys. Back from holiday, or commuting to McKeesport and back several times due to a collapsed retaining wall in our front yard.

As for the collision of the galaxies, I'm probably not going to wait around for 3 billion years until it begins to occur. Too many other more immediate worries. I'm not even going to try and calculate how many tortises it takes to hold up the universe. I'm more worried about the empty space in my investment portfolio

In the meantime, happy new year to all. Hope things are better in '09.

I keep trying to convince my wife that the GPS telling me to turn around is not prima facie evidence that I am lost. Or perhaps I mean res ipsa loquitur. My Latin is not as good as it ever was.

That would be "res ipso, locator," yello.

Quo Vadis, like the movie

Morning all
It is already an icy mess here in west by god,I was hoping to get an early jump and make it out and to work.I am heading out to check out the roads now to see if that is possible. I guess i will find out if it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjaCh5Akg6Q

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDosgkws0-c&feature=PlayList&p=C53C85D9418E5B66&playnext=1&index=24

That last one is for you Error

bc, when you figure out how to use Google to locate the missing socks, please let me know.

My father-in-law owns a GPS unit, and we played with it a bit while they were visiting. I am not yet sold on this technology as a means of navigation. It got confused far too easily, and failed to take into account road conditions and the like. Better to just plan things out with a nice paper map.

I imagine, though, that when you are lost (which does happen to me with shocking frequency) such a device might be extremely valuable. My frustration has always been that maps seldom have a big red arrow on them saying "You are here." That a GPS system could actually do so would be comforting.

Even if afterwards it called me a rude name.

RD, we have fun with our GPS, trying to stump it. You know, just to hear it say, "please return to the highlighted route," over and over again.

What's really fun is to mess with the road network so that the directions are wrong. A couple of years ago, the interstate system in Greensboro, NC was updated. Nobody has updated the GPS base maps, so a person can get really turned around trying to go through that town.

I really don't like those GPS systems. I used them when traveling and got very frustrated, and lost. What I disliked about the one I was using was that it didn't speak the name of the road or street I was supposed to turn on. It would just say, "turn left 500 feet". Well, heck, I have no idea how to gauge 500 feet! I'm really bad at spatial determination. I realize there are units out there where you can set the voice to say street names but the one I was using could not. Still, trying to look at the screen and drive at the same time was a bit distracting and I figure it's probably as bad as driving while texting.

The shutter company rep was over at the house yesterday to start an assessment of how to bring the hurricane shutters up to current standards. Ideally, the Colonial shutters would simply be replaced....

Anyhow, after checking out window panels stacked in the garage, the rep, having noticed a surfboard, commented that Google Earth is letting surf explorers find new breaks worldwide, including in places like Namibia.

That's a clear case of possessing a map being a precursor to taking possession.

The satellite imagery available online, plus resources like Google Street View, online county property tax information, the infamous Zillow, the Florida Natural Areas Inventory interactive online geographic information system (for dummies), and so on reveal all sorts of stuff that would have been classified not long ago. As a kid, I lived on Air Force bases that weren't on the map.

Then there's the California coast-dwellers who brought suit against a nonprofit outfit that took low-elevation oblique photos of the entire California coast. At the time, it did seem an invasion of privacy. Hard to make such an argument now.

Hey Joel, can that google space thing locate that bright thing we used to see in the sky?
The clouds today aren't so angry looking, just dull gray.

Rainforest's name should have given me a clue that the bright thing wouldn't have been visable there.

Happy 154th birthday today, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

SCC: 155th. Forgot it was 2009.

slyness, we like to play that trick on the GPS, too. I could swear that each time we made her say "Turn around...recalculating route," she sounded more annoyed. Although we never did get her to fold her arms, harumph, and turn toward the window.

Googlemaps is scarily good for our neighborhood. You can clearly see me pulling into the driveway.

GPS, shmeePS...

I earned my navigator stripes the hard way -- on the one-way streets and triangular grid of Pittsburgh and the every-street-is-named-Peachtree roads of Atlanta. Point me in the general direction of where I need to go and I'll get there, dagnabbit, even if I have to go through Albuquerque to get there.

I don't need no steenkin computer to tell me "turn right 500 feet" when there's a great big green sign looming above the road that says "Airport Next Right".

GPS takes all the adventure and common sense out of travel.

Have you ever heard of a state mandating banks to take dormancy fees out of customers' accounts? "Prohibited by law from refunding," indeed. What a bunch of hogtwaddle.

That's a complex story a financial reporter should do sometime... exactly how state regulations have made the banking industry more complex.

Been busy on this Very Important Day, but I *will* get to this Kit shortly.

"My God, it's full of stars!"

The excessive massivenessitude of the Milky Way has a lot to do with the halo of dark matter scattered through it.
And us, maybe.

Looks like a whole lotta 'nuthin, but may mean Everything, as it turns out.

The responsibility for that poem about the Universal Lady in Black is mine alone, please feel free to lay the blame at my feet.

kbertocci, Google Sky only covers the observable 'verse in the spacetime Dimensions we're familiar with. The Dimension of Lost Socks isn't anywhenwhere you can see or go or wait for.

Now, RD, you knot that all that seemingly empty interstellar space and time is really full of stuff - various forms of electromagnetism such as the echoes of the Big Bang in Cosmic Background Radiation, gravity, dark energy, dark matter, aether, etc. in exotic fabrics of curved flowing spacetime, loop quantum gravity, cosmic strings, calibi yao manifolds, in tresses of various quanta.

You know -- infinite information and infinite possibilities.

Everything, everywhen.

bc

The Google map of our neighborhood was taken in winter, I guess they do all of them when the leaves are off the trees. Makes sense if you want to see features on the ground. Anyway, Mr. T's grass is infinitely greener than any of the other yards in view. I pointed that out to him, and he was proud.

One other thing - who's covering the road, er, I mean, spacetime insurance policy on the Milky Way?

Er, what's the collision, and what's our deductable?

Further thoughts along these lines from awhile back...

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?p=214

bc

Religion and self-control..
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081231005355.htm

I would like to be sure that all factors have been corrected for.

Another way to measure religion anthropologically?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080909122749.htm

Branestorm was a good one, bc.

bc,

I'm not going to forgive you for sticking the Pina Colada Song in my head. I will find Rupert Holmes and shackle him to your ankle in retaliation.

I can only see one.

Sad story about a turtle, but also heart-warming for turtle lovers.

http://www.autismconnect.org/news.asp?section=00010001&itemtype=news&id=6240

And a writer after Error's own heart.

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/inside-outside/2009/Jan/05/difference-between-animal-rightists-and-farm-grown/

Martooni, you don't really need to go *through* Albuquerque. Just take a left, and you're good to go. Next thing you know, you're at Pismo Beach.

Don Novello/Lazlo Toth used to try to punk various organizations and politicians, and the only one to catch on was NASA. (NASA types may be geeks, but they do tend to have well-developed senses of humor.) Don't have my books with me, but as I recall, in the first Lazlo Letters, he asked them for help finding the watch he dropped somewhere in the Grand Canyon, and also asked for GPS-type info for getting to the moon, long before GPS was around. Who knew Guido Sarducci would end up being a font of good ideas? He's looking for directions to the moon, while the rest of us need directions for instant mac and cheese.

Instant mac and cheese = Noille blanc et fromage rapide

Just tryin' to spruce up the place a bit.

Where's Yoki and CP today? Ivansmom? TBG (well, we *know* she's lunching at the club...)? Who else is among the missing?

Me! I am missing! I have been favored with the flu, with all its attended blessings. I just took a sip of water.

It's a science experiment. I will try to determine if I can keep it down.

(Maggie O'D)

LiT - I remember Lazlo Toth writing letters to Richard Nixon. As I recall the responses were actually a little sad. But most of the Lazlo Letters were brilliantly funny. It was always amazing how seriously people would take the most ludicrous requests.

Raysmom - the scary thing is that when I look at the Googlemap image of my home I can pretty much determine when it was made by the state of the back yard.

I always wonder if anyone has ever gotten in trouble from these pictures. You know, evidence of a strange car parked in front of the house or something.

And I cannot think of Guido Sarducci without remembering that classic game - find the Popes in the Pizza.

RD, that wouldn't have been during The Great Pool Debacle, would it?

Guido Sarducci's Pay for your sins still cracks me up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AKvRvL5r3A

Three trivia points about Don Novello: he's from Lorain, Ohio, right up the road from Martooni, and he played Dominic Abbandando, Michael Corleone's press secretary, in Godfather III. Third, his brother is a shrink who lives in town here and is married to former Surgeon General Antonia Novello.

I remember his very first appearance on the Smothers Brothers show back in 1975. Always liked him: a very gentle subversive mind. IMDB says he did a lot of behind-the-cameras work, such as being a producer for the SCTV series, which was hilarious (often better than SNL, IMHO, on many nights).

Interesting Mudge. Makes me wonder what kind of childhood home produced one with a twisted mind and one who tries to untwist minds.

Quite so, Raysmom. That and the status of the garden and the number of stumps waiting to be split. The damage I have done to my property is forever changing.

"We're more likely to smack into the Andromeda Galaxy (though that depends on whether Andromeda will slide out of our path -- something astronomers are trying to discern as we speak)."

Um, shouldn't we all stand on the same side of the galaxy and start yelling at Andromeda to get the &#@$%*#@$&^ out of the way or something?

I just checked on the Google-eye view of my house and figure the image is at least five years old.

That's good, because the terrorists won't be able to see all the fortifications (a swingset) and booby traps I've installed since then (a clothesline and various precariously stacked piles of lumber and other building stuff).

bc,

re: Milky Way v. Andromeda Galaxy
Coverage Issue Question

1. Humanity lacks an insurable interest in most of the Milky Way, possessing only an undefined short term license for use (not even exclusive) over the Earth and surrounding area.

2. In any event, any damage resulting from the impending collision with the Andromeda Galaxy is excluded from coverage under the Policy on the basis of design flaw and "faulty workmanship" on the part of the Creator. As several members of humanity have claimed ostensible authority to act as agent for the Creator, the exclusion should apply to humanity.

3. Finally, the impending collision has been readily apparent for some time, and has been apparent for millenia to those with the means and motivation undertaking any due diligence. It is further readily apparent that humanity has not taken any steps whatsoever to prevent the impending collision. Leaving aside the likelihood that the impending collision can not therefore be an "Accident" under the meaning of the Policy, the Underwriting Department has therefore declined to renew coverage for any period after one (1) billion years from the present day.

Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General? Really?

I'm here! I'm here! I've just been enjoying everyone else's comments today while I finish up reviewing a case. I love technology - instead of wandering through hours of interrogation videotape (which was provided as an option) I went to the beginning of two CD discs which had the questioning at issue (also kindly provided as an option). Hours of time saved. There is little viewing less interesting than someone sitting in an interrogation cell, alone, asleep.

I'm here, 'mudge, sort of, off and on. So nice to be sought after.

I find that, professionally, I am rather too much sought after, having spent weeks not being found. Meetings meetings meetings (which do nothing to alleviate the backlog from the holidays).

Dangit, MotP, ya beat me to it!!!

Has a nice ring to it...

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Suuuuuuuuurgeon General (said in a Wile E. Coyote voice)

:-)

As for due diligence, the Pierson's Puppeteers have been planning for just such a galactic collision calamity for some millennia now. Perhaps we can borrow some of their contingency plans.

Oh, Mudge. You don't know the horrors we are experiencing this week. My place of employment is closed to the public for three weeks; only the office is open.

You realize that means we're like the Lord of the Flies here, rummaging around, looking for tools of survival. You should have seen what happened yesterday to the co-worker who took the last pack of crackers.

TGB, I just snorted tea all over my desk!

This ups the ante, and I award you my personal "Comment of the Month" award. January is in its infancy, but I am confident in my selection.

TBG, a country club that is down to the last pack of crackers? Obviously, you don't have the keys to the storeroom. If I sent over my black helicopter chums with their lock picking toys, they'd have you living high on the hog in a jiffy.

re: Milky Way v. Andromeda Galaxy
Coverage Issue Question

1. Humanity, having achieved Dominion over the Earth, by grant and through conquest, and having expanded that Dominion to the surrounding area by exclusive exploration, has an insurable interest in the Solar System consisting of the Earth and companion planets and astronomical bodies, in the Milky Way which encompasses it, and by extension (it being non-severable) in the Milky Way as a whole.

2. Any possible or potential collision to be had with the Andromeda Galaxy, or any other galaxy or other astronomical body in the Universe, whether visible or merely theoretically posited, is not the natural result of either Design Flaw or Faulty Workmanship on the part of any Creator, however constituted. On the contrary, such a possible or potential catastrophe is clearly either attributable to Accident or, more likely, a flaw in the creation or operation of said Other galaxy etc.

3. As any possible or potential collision, more accurately named Accident (see Paragraph 2 above) has only recently been suggested and has been neither readily apparent nor easily discoverable with due diligence on the part of Humanity, Humanity cannot be held in any way responsible for any failure to discover the possibility of such an Accident. Given the merely possible or potential nature of the Accident, and the fact that its causation lies not with Humanity but In The Stars (to use the poetic vernacular), Humanity has no duty to prevent or alleviate this Accident and no means to accomplish such prevention or alleviation. Our Policy clearly protects against Accidents of an Astronomical, Intergalactic and Universal nature. For that reason Humanity strongly protests the Underwriting Department's decision to decline the requested renewal of coverage.

byoolin, do we know which galaxy has the right-of-way? Is it the galaxy on the right, like at stop signs? If we have the right of way, I say we just sneak up on Andromeda, get real close to its (his? her?) bumber, and then lay on the horn. Then we can shoot it (her? him?) the finger as our galazy roars past.

Good to see you back here, BTW. I know you been out wh0ring after other blogs, but nice to have you back.

Soon I will make macaroni and cheese with a spoonful of lemon juice. I will report back whether it is notably better than normal.

SoC, it's soooo typical of insurance companies; you pay the premium for nearly a billion years then they deny the one payment for the destruction of the universe.

Yoki, I've had more meetings in the last 2 days than in all of December. Clearly, people have become dependent on social life during the Holidays. If only booze was served during those meetings, that would dull the pain.

Anybody getting a Galette des Rois? There is a good one waiting for us after this leftovers meal. But then, lasagna is the King of leftovers.

SD -- mentally, I have a splendid Three Kings cake. Actually, no. Sad. Send me some.

Jumper, be sure to tell how to not curdle the milkicheesie bliss with the scoupson of lemon (NOT A TYPO, but I copyrighted it first).

About the Universe coliding or the Katrina-like aftermath, I expect to do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYUvj8jRf3I

Go to minute 4 and then, boys and girls, chant along:

Trizzle Trizzle Trazzle Trone
Time for this one to come home.

There is theology there: we are all turtles and God is the Mr. Wizard, with the crappy German accent.

So are quasar galaxies the universal equivalent of the fools who drive for miles down the interstate with their turn signal on? (not that *I've* ever done that)

Galette des rois (Cake of the Magies)
http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENCA251&q=galette%20des%20rois&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Wiki:
"In France, on Epiphany people eat the gâteau des Rois in Provence or the galette des Rois in the northern half of France and Belgium. This is a kind of king cake, with a trinket (usually a porcelain figurine of a king) or a bean hidden inside. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket becomes "king" for a day."
Witch no. 2 just found the bean...

Howdy boodle. Norm Coleman is contesting the MN election results. Makes no never mind to me, just spending republican party dollars in a time when they should be saving them for more important things.

Back at Chez Frostbitten and back at work. If I stay up until midnight, working diligently and not boodling, I can probably be just behind enough to see my way to an afternoon off a week from Saturday.

"Imaginary friends" in the news...

January 6, 2009
Burris Hoping to be Crowned Emperor of Universe; Rallies Imaginary Friends at Capitol

Just hours after being denied a seat in the U.S. Senate, former Illinois attorney general Roland W. Burris said that he was no longer interested in that position and would instead seek to be crowned Emperor of the Universe.

In a meeting with reporters outside the Capitol building, Mr. Burris offered a rationale for his claim to the Universe's coveted throne.

"I have just received word that I have been legally and appropriately named Emperor of the Universe by Gov. Rod Blagoevich of the great state of Illinois," Mr. Burris said. "That's good enough for me."

Legal experts were divided as to whether it was possible for a governor who is facing possible indictment to appoint someone Emperor of the Universe, but Mr. Burris seemed confident on that point.

"If Gov. Blagoevitch wants me to rule over the Universe with my mighty scepter, then he has the right to do that," he said. "It's not like he's delusional or anything."

To demonstrate popular support for his position, Mr. Burris held a rally that he said was attended by over 10,000 of his imaginary friends.

But later in the afternoon, Gov. Blagoevich seemed to rain on Mr. Burris' parade as he told reporters that he had "never appointed" the former attorney general Emperor of the Universe.

"I haven't even spoken to Roland in days," said Gov. Blagoevich. "Wow, he sounds like some kind of kook."

It's on its way CquaP, do not hope for the bean though...

Now that sounds like a tasty way to celebrate Epiphany.

Shouldn't it have gold, frankincense, or myrrh inside, though?

Adding the hot to the cold will keep it from curdling, CP. Not sure if a dash of lemon will make a difference, but adding some hot cheese to the lemon and then mixing up before pouring back onto the noodles may do the trick.

(This is the trick of avgolemono sauce... always add hot broth to the cold egg/lemon mixture to keep it all from curdling.)

Great, Ivansmom, now we just need an independent decision maker.

We can advise that the insurable interest issue will not be contested, but we think that our position on the Accident (scheduled to occur approximately 2-3 billion years from now) as not qualifying under the Policy is the better one.

engelmann, Esq.

PS I have just been informed that Underwriters have kindly decided to continue coverage for at least two billion years. There may be a slight adjustment to the premium to better reflect the risk.

SoC, does the world's economy have enough cash to cover the premium? I figure it has to be pretty high, even spread over 2 billion years.

Well, the ice has hit my little bit of Ohio.

I was out in the shop with the radio on and they're reporting cars in ditches and trees and on rooftops all over the area. Eyewitness reports aren't good enough for me, though. No... I thought "how bad can it be?" and decided to take out the trash. Let's just say my dupa is bruised and I'm lucky I didn't break my neck. I'm just the epitomy of grace.

Time to break out the salt before Mrs. M gets home from work.

SD, what does the person who finds the bean get?

Other than the Heimlich manoevre, of course.

If you thought Nate over at 538 would be out of things to write about by now, you would be wrong. But, he does have time to come up with better lines. I particularly liked this-
"Let's be frank: Norm Coleman doesn't have much of a future in electoral politics. Defeated Presidential candidates sometimes have nine lives, but defeated Senatorial candidates rarely do, and in his career running for statewide office, Coleman has lost to a professional wrestler, beaten a dead guy, and then tied a comedian. He doesn't have much to lose by fighting this to its bitter conclusion. But it's hard to envision how he'll come up with enough ballots to overtake Franken."

Former Republican Governor Arne Carlson (he's actually both a former Rep and former Gov) says Coleman should concede now. Currently an Independent, Carlson supported Coleman in his run for Gov. back in '98 (where he got whupped by Jesse). You can't tell the players without a program here folks-Coleman is a former St. Paul Mayor, elected first as a Dem. then reelected as a Rep. and no relation to current St. Paul Mayor, Chris Coleman (currently a Dem, but who knows down the road).

I now conclude your MN election update.

I think they said that about Nixon, Frostbitten.

Engelmann (Formerly known as SonofCarl),

As I recall our policy specifies that any disputes will be initially aired before an Arbiter to be agreed upon by both parties. I suggest a panel of Masters of the Universe; as I understand it they have a lot of time on their hands.

I am glad to hear that the Underwriting Department will not contest the insurable interest issue. I am at a loss, however, to understand your repeated assertion that your position on the insurable nature of the Accident is likely to prevail. This is particularly true as you have clearly adopted our view that the possible or potential collision etc. is in fact an Accident. Nothing suggests that this was in any way foreseeable by Humanity nor was it in any way Humanity's fault. Thus, the Accident is clearly covered under the policy.

While Humanity welcomes the additional continuation of coverage, I will vigorously contest any attempt to adjust the premiums upward. At the moment any estimate of risk is pure speculation and cannot serve as the basis for an increase.

Yours etc.,
Ivansmom esq.

*hiding under the bunker's coffee table until Ivansmom and englemann put away their quills*

The very gradual adding of hot liquid to cold egg/egg batter (all the while whisking like heck) is known in the biz as "tempering the eggs." Generally we use less than a third of the hot into the full egg, then reverse the process.

Just for the record, not because I am being pretentious and grandstanding or anything like that.

Yoki, who is "we?"

Battering eggs, hot water, reversing positions... maybe I don't want to know.

*Needs to stop reading the boodle while watching House*

Oooh, I like it when the lawyers get all lawyerly.

dbG, not sure if anyone has addressed your blackberry question. It may be because they can run rampant, wild, become invasive and uncontrollable. Out here we have Himalayan blackberries which can cover entire city blocks. Maybe if you let your neighbor know you'd get a goat too, they'd relent.

I heart Sanjay Gupta. This is the hottest administration ever.

LOL! Wilbrod. There is a reason Tom Jones was such a Giant Milmic Hit, and the confluence of eating and all kinds of other sensuality may be it.

Jaysus God! Have you ever had that moment, when after you've "signed in" and entered a comment, and hit "Submit" but while you can still review your comment, but know it is too late to amend...

you see the typo.

SCC: Filmic, dammit.

A number of cooking terms have always seemed vaguely salacious to me. Maybe it's simply because so many are French. I mean, when I young lady mentions a term like "En chemise" my first inclination is to blush.

Every single day of my life Yoki. I believe we once christened it premature submission.

Oh yes, Sanjay Gupta is hot. Does he play basketball? (which would just add to his inner hotness, it's not all about looks ya know)

I have to say it is a bold choice. There are a lot of Grandmas out there who listen to Dr. Gupta. He's got a following and they don't all have prurient interests.

BTW-it's official the dott and BF are engaged. An October 2010 wedding is planned (if you believe the bride) October '09 if you ask the groom. Time to buckle our seatbelts in the Frostfam.

As I recall there were a few other terms tossed out for when you suddenly realize you have missed a typo. Things like "boodler's remorse" and "post button panic disorder." But I think we have all experienced it.

Just some of us more than others.

Congrats, fb. Sounds like your family is getting bigger.

Since the job is defined by the DHHS as "chief health educator," Gupta shows himself well-qualified for that job.

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/about/duties/index.html

The administrative aspect is less clear, but I guess if Gupta can still work as a neurosurgeon and do CNN spots, he is organized. Good people in the office will be key, naturally.

Ah yes. I favored the straightforward pun on ejaculation (as in comment), if I recall.

Have we had an update from BadSneakers on the status of her daughter's knee infection? I wonder how she's doing.

Just struck me that the Obama administration is the first to have a Nobel prize winner (Chu, 1997) and one of People magazine's "world's sexiest men" (Gupta, 2003).

Yes sneaks, we need a report on the knee.

englemann, Ivansmom, thank you thank you thank you for extending my silliness.

Especially since I happen to have a class G Operators and Competition License, which not only allows me to drive Galaxies in Public spacetime, but to use specially prepared Galaxies in competitive events on closed-loop spacetime courses. (Old-School Gearheads: please feel free to make comments about Holman-Moody Competition Prepared Ford Galaxies)

For those of you who have ever had the misfortune of being in a vehicle accident, do you notice how everything slows down, and it seems like it takes forever for an impact (or near-miss)? In this case, it'll feel like 2 to 3 Billion years. But I'll keep sawing at the wheel, trying to catch the skid, and looking at where I want the Milky Way to go.

[Note to Dr. Reid - please cease Observations of the galaxy known as "Andromeda" immediately. It's well known amongst race drivers that during a skid or emergency manuver, your hands will take you right where you're looking. If a driver focuses his attention on a retaining wall or another car stopped on a racetrack, they're likely to drive right smack into it. So, Dr. Reid, for the galaxy's sake, please look at something else, like the Great Attractor or the Bootes Supercluster or something else really really far away, cosmologically speaking, and hopefully we'll head that direction rather than into Andromeda's fender. Thank you.]

Having said that, can I get a rider for the Milky Way's Spacetime Insurance policy to specify Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts for any repairs?

You know how Galaxies never feel 'right' again if you use crappy inexpensive knockoff parts produced God-only knows where. Always with the extra wiggle or squeak going over bumps, and they don't seem to spin quite so smoothly anymore, either. Plus they leave uneven panel gaps between the solar systems.

bc

And RD, I believe we said that we were supposed to be thinking about baseball when we were in the throes of submission.

Or staring at the ceiling, mentally making out our grocery lists.

bc

Ever the 18th century Romantick (sic) (and inspired by Yoki's reference to "Tom Jones," one of the alltime great romantic/sexy flicks), I must wonder if perhaps the Milky Way and fair Andromeda aren't drawn to each as the two galaxies flirt and dance and warily circle each other, drawing ever nearer and nearer, the heat of their molten cores rising exponentially as their wispy arms (galaxies generally have arms, yanno) slowly begin to entangle in a three-billion-year-long bit of foreplay, until they merge and explode...

Whew. I think I need a cold shower.

Notwithstanding my previous post, I want to post this article from Newsday in its entirety, without further comment:

Stony Brook study supports claims of undying love

BY RIDGELY OCHS
January 6, 2009

Suzanne Bernstein said she and her husband, Sidney, eat side-by-side when they go out, always walk hand-in-hand, and begin and end each day with "I love you."

The couple from Weehawken, N.J., have been married 18 years and Suzanne said the relationship is as passionate as when they first met.

Now research exists to support her claim.

Stony Brook University researchers looked at the brains of Bernstein and 16 other people who had been married an average of 20 years and claimed to be still intensely in love. They found that their MRIs showed activity in the same regions of the brain as those who had just fallen in love.

"It's always been assumed that passionate love inevitably declines over time," said Arthur Aron, a social psychologist at Stony Brook University and one of four authors of the study, presented in November at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

"But in survey after survey we always have these people who have been together a long time and say they are intensely in love. It was always chalked up to self-deception or trying to make a good impression," he said.

This study suggests that's not the case, said Bianca Acevedo. Acevedo, now a postdoctoral student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, is the chief author of the study she conducted for her doctoral dissertation in psychology, working under Aron while she was at Stony Brook.

In fact, she said, the study found an advantage to the longer-term relationships she studied: The brains of those people showed less anxiety and obsessiveness.

Aron had conducted an earlier MRI study published in 2005 among 17 people who had recently fallen in love. He found that regions of the brain associated generally with reward and motivation - the same regions that light up when cocaine is taken - activated when the subjects were shown pictures of their beloved. These regions, Aron said, are not the same as those associated with sexual arousal.

Using the same approach, the researchers recruited 17 people who, like Bernstein, said they were still madly in love with their spouses. Bernstein, 59, a retired teacher, said she learned of Acevedo's research from a newspaper story and contacted her at Stony Brook. "It dawned on me that the article pertained to myself," she said.

end of part 1

part 2:

Acevedo said it was impossible to extrapolate from their study what percentage of long-lasting couples might register the same intensity of emotion as her 17 subjects. But she said a previous phone survey of several hundred people in long-term relationships she and Aron conducted found about 35 percent rated their feeling for their partners as very intense. "We were shocked," she said. "We hadn't predicted it would be that high."

Keith Davis, professor emeritus of psychology at University of South Carolina, said other studies support Acevedo and Aron's research. "I think popular literature underestimates how many retain a high level of intense emotional investment with their partners."

Together, forever

Barbara Jean and Eugene Williams of Roosevelt have been married 51 years. They have five children and 12 grandchildren.

Eugene Williams, 72: "The love hasn't changed. What has, if anything, has changed, it's the relationship, in terms of how I understand [his wife]. It's just gotten better. ... Of course, the reason is we have always trusted each other's feelings. "

Barbara Jean Williams, 71: "Today, he is the same and he makes me feel that I am one of the most special persons that he's ever encountered. I love him for that. "

Carole and Walter Wozniak of Seaford have been married 50 years. They have two daughters and two grandsons.

Carole Wozniak, 71: "You're with somebody for 50 years, you share the same things, you enjoy the same things. That, of course, makes the passion. It changes a little, but I feel the same. When I saw my husband 52 years ago, it was a chemical reaction. ... I still feel that way today. "

Walter Wozniak, 80: "I met her at a dance at the Valley Stream Park Inn. ... I still love her like I did when we were first courting, I would say. The thing is that before you love somebody, you've got to like the person. You've got to have respect for them, and they have respect for you."

Marilyn and Bob Mangan of Massapequa Park have been married 35 years. They have three children and one grandchild.

Marilyn Mangan, 61: "It's different. I don't think it's the same kind of passion. It's not as constant. It's more you learn to appreciate each other more. ... There are times when it's just so wonderful you know why you have been there that long."

Keeping the fires burning

Research has found that passionate, long-lasting relationships generally have several things in common, said Arthur Aron, social psychologist at Stony Brook University:

The couple is not facing terrible "external stressors," such as war or the loss of a child.

One partner is not highly depressed or anxious.

Both know how to communicate with each other.

The couple does new, challenging things together.

When one partner is successful, the other celebrates the success.

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

The link to that story: http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-liston065988336jan06,0,1041858,print.story

Oh my, high level of discussion tonight! RD and bc and Mudge, you make me laugh. Thanks! I'm glad I signed back on before bedtime; if I had waited till tomorrow, I wouldn't be fit to attend a funeral!

bc...you make me laugh. But I wonder...who has been doing the regular maintenance on the Galaxies? How many of them had that made-on-Friday-afternoon feel to them when they were brand spankin' new?

Well, I'm ducking in just to share a story guaranteed to bring the conversation down to Earth. About a foot below the surface. Our sewer line decided to engage in its semi-annual clog mode last Friday night. This has been ongoing since we purchased the house. The short version is that I'm lucky to have known of 'Mudge's prowess regarding all things of the high seas. The clog resisted every trick I knew to use with my trusty balloon. Thus the high seas remedy: a length of CPVC fitted with an in line water valve and a hand towel lashed to the apparatus to act as wadding to break through the circumferential clog. It worked, just as if I had to clean the bore of a cannon. Thank you, my friend.

Really tired and only skimmed the Boodle but I did see a request for info on #2. She’s still in the hospital, it’s not MRSA but another staph type, don’t ask me which. She’s been on intravenous antibiotics and something else, maybe Adavan (sp?) so she’s very tired. She was supposed to have an MRI to see why she has such pain in her knee cap but it hasn’t happened yet. We went to see her tonight as she had requested candy. She was asleep when we arrived and groggily awake a few times for brief periods. She thinks they may send her to a rehab as she will have to be on this intravenous regime for four weeks. I hope they send her somewhere closer to home, she’s 50 minutes away, it’s a hike. I’ll keep you posted when I know more. Thanks for asking.

Thanks for the update badsneaks. I hope she gets better soon.

I'll be keeping you in my thoughts, 'sneaks.

Wishing #2 a quick recovery badsneakers.

Frosti - congratulations to the young couple.

Sanjay Gupta - sigh.

As for post submit syndrome - I have a very bad chronic case :-), but you all know that.

I really feel terrible for your daughter. Such bad luck, and on the eve of her trip to Costa Rica. Tell her we're all pulling for her.

LiT, I *am* a Certified Quantum Mechanic, and that I do all the Galactic Maintenance on the 'ol Milky Way and some of the racier Galaxies myself [you would not *believe* what it takes to lubricate an entire galaxy].

You've got a good point about those made-on-Friday Galaxies, too. Heck, there are Hubble Deep Fields chock full of unsold Galaxies out there -- you have to be careful to make sure you don't end up with a lemon galaxy or one with a Salvage title from a nefarious Creator who's just sprinkled a few stellar nurseries around the disc and fitted the central black hole's x- and gamma-ray jets to emit that nice new-Galaxy smell all through the interior of the halo, even though it's really an old clunker. Make sure you check under the hood to be sure it's not full of red giant or neutron stars way off of the Hertzsprung-Russell Main Sequence, indicating big troubles to come from an older galaxy. You want to see nice bright, stable stars that are somewhere on the HR Main Sequence - I prefer a nice distribition of white, yellow, blue and red, myself (type V, classes O-M, if you know your stars). A few nebulae with stellar nurseries are nice, but some people overuse them and end up with something as flashy as 25 in. chrome Dubs with spinners.

G'night, all.

bc

badsneaks, I hope your daughter's knee and infection clear up soon and she can travel safely and in comfort. My thoughts are with you both.

bc

Geez.

Washington, D.C. made the list of the 10 worst cities to live in.
http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas-most-and-least-favorite-cities.html

I wonder if the answers would change if they asked about the metropolian areas instead?

Prolly not. But at least that means fewer people in the Smithsonian outside tourist season...

In case you have been uncertain about the crowdedness of galaxies, a little trick taught to me some years ago by a friend:

Procure to yourself a bunch of grapes, whatever size you prefer, although the little green ones provide greater accuracy for the present purpose. Pluck from the stem the grapes, until you have obtained for yourself a goodly number of loose grapes. Travel to each of the nation's state Capitols and place in the rotunda, or similar public space, a single grape. If you must, you may place, on occasion, two. Supply each grape with a small sign reading "Galactic Scale Model Under Construction. Please Do Not Disturb (Or Eat)." Once each state Capitol has been decorated with a grape or grapes of its own, step back to admire the results of your handiwork. Consume the remaining grapes. You have constructed a reasonably accurate model for the density of stars within a galaxy, assuming, y'know, that the grapes are scale model stars. If the grapes represent grapes, then you made need to rethink the whole project.

And BTW: Who the heck is Sanjay Gupta?

He saw her first out of the corner of his eye, but from a distance. When he turned his head slightly and looked at her, he saw she was glowing faintly, and...could it be?...was she winking at him? No, she wasn't winking at him, exactly. But she did seem to be pulsing slightly.
“Who's that,” he whispered to his friend, one of the Masters of the Universe.
“Who is who?” MoU asked, not bothering to look up.
“Her. That one, over there. The one on the other side of the Local Group.” There were about thirty or so other galaxies in the group. MoU looked up and focused where he'd been directed to look.
“Oh, her,” he said. “That's Messier 31. I think her last name is NGC 224, but the kids call her Andromeda.”
“She's cute,” I said.
“Yeah, if you like that type, I guess,” MoU said. “She's a spiral, you know. Like you, Milky.”
“So we have something in common,” I said.
“You and 70 percent of all the other galaxies in the Local Universe,” MoU said. “Big freakin' deal.”
“She's got a nice, round shape,” I said. “And she's got a very nice bulge at the center.” I estimated her weight at about 10 to the 12th power, call it a trillion stars, more or less –about my size and mass. She was a galaxy put together in all the right places. I mentally formed a picture of her Hertzsprung-Russell diagram in my mind – and like what I saw. She was every inch a magnitude 4.4, and she knew it. I have a thing for magnitude 4's, don't ask me why. Maybe it's the overbite.
“You need a cold shower, Milky,” MoU said. “Been a long time since the Big Bang, huh?”
“Oh, knock it off. I was just admiring her from afar.”
“So go talk to her,” MoU said.
“Maybe I will.”

end of part 1

Part 2

“Uh, hi,” I said. 'Um, you come here often?”
She turned slowly on her axis. I could see her halo was a near perfect circle, with dozens of globular clusters. Up close, I could see her gentle bulge; she was a Hubble classification Sa(s)b type, one of those tightly wrapped models, not loose like the SBc's. Sure, some guys like Sbc's, but I've always been an Sa(b) kinda guy. Still waters and tight spiral arms run deep, my mother always said.
She looked me over carefully before answering.
“I saw you looking at me,” she said. “I was wondering if you were going to come over.”
I blushed. “I'm sorry,” I said. “I hope I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable.”
“No,” she said, “a lot of astronomers have been looking me over. I'm used to it.”
“I couldn't think of a clever opening line,” I said.
She laughed at that, pleasantly. “That's a good thing,” she said. “I'm so tired of galaxies coming up and asking, 'Hey, baby, what's your right ascension?' Or, “Hey, sweet cheeks, show me your redshift.'”
“Galaxies can be real jerks, sometimes,” I said.
She looked me over, over the top of her drink. “So what's your name?”
“Way,” I said. “Milky Way.”
“Cute,” she said, making me blush yet again. “I'm Messier 31. Messier 31 NGC 224. Some people call me UGC 454, or PGC 2557, Leda 2557, or even 2C 56 (Core). But you can call me--”
“Andromeda,” I finished her sentence for her. I shrugged. “MoU told me.”
“Did he, now,” she said. “Clever boy.”
“So really,” I said, “what's your declination?”
“I'm +41° 16' 9″and my redshift is −301 ± 1 km/s. You wanna check my driver's license to make sure?”
I laughed. “No, I believe you,” I said. “I still get carded sometimes, too. We're both young galaxies – but we're not *that* young.”
“So how old are you?”
“My oldest star is 13.2 billion years, more or less. I'm basically a spring chicken, I guess.”
“So, how'd you get that name, Mr. Way?”
“Call me Milky. It's from our Latin family name back in the Old Country, *Via Lactea.* And that's from the Greek *Galaxias*”
The bartender called “Last call!” and she looked at her watch. “Oh, I've got to go! I came here tonight with a couple other galaxies, and they're my ride home. I only live 2.5 light years away.”
“Can I see you again?” I asked.

Part 3

She looked away. I could see she was embarrassed about something.
“I don't think we should,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Well, I have this...thing. Some galaxies don't want to go out with me because of it. They think I'm...well, they just don't like it. It scares them.”
I lifted her chin. “You can tell me,” I said softly.
She looked into my eyes for a long time.
“It's something that happened, happened to me, not too long ago. A hundred twenty-three years ago, in fact.”
“Yes?”
“I...I...oh, I can hardly say the words!”
I pulled her to me. “It's all right,” I said. “Tell me.”
“I...I...123 years ago, I supernova'd.” And she burst into tears.
“There, there,” I said. “There, there. It's all right.”
She stopped crying and got a tissue from her purse, and dabbed her eyes and softly blew her nose.
“A lot of galaxies would consider themselves damn lucky to have a galaxy who can supernova,” I said.
“Really,” she asked, looking into my eyes yet again. “You don't mind?”
“Oh, yes, really,” I said. “A supernova, wow.”

Probably not to be continued

Don't watch CNN often, SciTim? Never fear, CNN has a website.

http://topics.cnn.com/topics/sanjay_gupta

He is an neurosurgeon who also serves as a medical expert/health educator on CNN, and has a regular column in TIME.

He went to Iraq as an embedded journalist and wound up doing surgery on an injured soldier. And he's professionally published on surgery too.

His main concern in taking this job of Surgeon General should be that it actually would hinder his career. He's also what, 39?

Yeah. Life isn't fair. I suspect we'll find that Sanjay Gupta is actually identical triplets.

Mudge, you do your best work late at night. This is making me crack up!

Sci Tim - how can you not know who Sanjay Gupta is? He's only one of the handsomest neurosurgeon-reporter on TV! Actually, he may be the only neurosurgeon-reporter on TV. Anyway, he's cool and he's gonna be our next Surgeon General. What a good looking cabinet this is shaping up to be.

You know, I can't even imagine what it feels like to be offered the Surgeon General position and have to THINK about how it would be a STEP DOWN from what you already do. That's just a whole nother world than the one I live in.

MotP, you're not the first woman to tell me that.

There are tears in my eyes and my stomach muscles are starting to ache from the laughter. Do you have this effect on all women Mudge?

I was joking, MotP. But only slightly.

He is pretty perfect for the job; I guess his main concern would be that he has somebody to do the actual administration, and that he not end practicing altogether.

Mudge, stellar work.

Yes, I got it Wilbrod. But you're right, it's true that he had to think about how being Surgeon General would disrupt his lucrative career. I'm sure his family is used to a certain standard of living and taking a Govt. job would be a big pay cut. Even if it's the SURGEON GENERAL!

Yes. He does.

frostbitten,
Having spotted a Jeep all the way from Wyoming this evening, "bf" made me think of the black-footed ferret, a charismatic animal I've been near, but not seen, at least not alive. Best wishes to you all.

On the financial front, the 4.5% 15-year fixed rate mortgage seems a reality. A few years ago, I thought 5.6% was unbelievable. My second house in Wyoming was a 12 percenter. I was slightly crazy to have given up a better house at a lower monthly pavement, but face it, Cody was cooler than the town I left.

One of today's home improvement projects was to find a new front door that opens outward, not inward. The state windstorm inspection program suddenly decided that inward-opening doors are too easily battered open.

Insert joke about revolving balls, or revolving anything here.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/06/earth-twin-cores.html

'morning all. Wow, Mudge. If I were younger I would have had a morning submission. Ah the universal appeal of s3x.

SoC, the bean finder gets to wear a silly golden paper crown and be king or queen for the day.

Dawn patrol has been cancelled; it's a frikking snow storm outside. A couple of inches down and 4 to 6 still to come.

Morning, everyone. It's taken me 20 minutes to read the overnight posts. Mudge, you were great, please continue the story. bc, now I understand why you come in looking tired and grease-stained sometimes. Gotta be tough, maintaining galaxies.

No snow here, but plenty of rain. One of the columnists in the local paper wondered if the grey, overcast skies we've seen so far in 2009 will represent the entire year. I certainly hope not! The good news is that water conservation appears to have become the norm. Yay for us.

Mudge,

My parents and maternal grandparents lived as your article describes. Has been a joy to be a satellite in those orbits of twin ning stars, Only my father remains. My paternal grandparents lived in grudging responsibility to one another, with some benefits to us in terms of the yields of hard work and the legacy of Mary Grace's Kiss A$$ Sour Cherry Pie. However, we felt their sorrow, which gnawed at them like circling dogs. They lived in their home into their high 90s, when a stroke and a heart attack dispatched them. Both were abandoned by their fathers before they hit their teens. My grandmother at 12, raised her five sibs including an infant when her mother died in childbirth, in the house before her children's eyes. My grandfather's father was a bigamist and a handsome towheaded scoundrel who kept two families for about ten years on two stops of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe line, literally. My grandparents could never give into trust or love fully, save for children and grandchildren. They had their reasons; they did not, have the sacrament of mutual affection you write about.

'Mudge, just don't take bc's advice and start looking at the Booty Cluster...

Or whatever bc said.

And hey, we've had a Surgeon General who actually killed someone (and not with a medical mistake), so a professional communicator SG would be just fine with me.

The local "winter weather advisory" was SUCH a letdown... Not even a pretty ice buildup for the Dawn Patrol. *SIGH*

*Happy-Hump-Day-with-an-extra-expresso-shot Grover waves*

Badsneaks, we have some IV experience of enclosed infections. Takes so much time. And the best antibitotics can really make you feel weird. The literature does not always note this neuro effect (which I think the nausea can contribute to, including vertigo), which means docs can dismiss the effect.

Please PLease Please ask about her ears. Does she feel ringing or subtle after tone effect? You can develop hearing loss, temp or permanent. You may have to accept this, because an enclosed infection takes the big guns. Her pain is one evidence of how serious and persistent such an infection can be. I would think that amputation is the ultimate risk; we faced brain abscess risk because the ear is linked to brain sinuses.

We have had drips of Vancomycin and Daptomycin, and lived to tell the tale. I am grateful for these elixirs as I am sure you are.

Wow. What a cruel and ongoing problem. I am glad she has such loving family around her.

And Sneaks, hope #2 is back on her feet and rehabbing that knee post-haste!

I was going to patrol in a V28-191. A great spaceship of the 3rd. generation. But, there are no stinkin' galaxies in sight. Google ate 'em all. It's raining. I climb into my old Camel--off we go.

Good morning, Boodlers!

Some boodle mojo would be helpful for my Brother in law who had surgery on his neck just before Christmas to ease chronic pain, problem was somewhat more complicated than expected when the surgery was performed but all went well. The recovery is not going smoothly though and he is back in the hospital and they are conducting tests to see what is causing his confusion.

It is a cold and dreary day outside. No ice, which is a blessed relief, but the amount of water falling unimpeded from the sky did make the morning commute quite exhilarating.

Those moments of road blindness, when large vehicles merge before you, truly are quite memorable. And as the commute itself was much extended, there were a generous number of such opportunities for invigorating terror.

So it is good to sit, and sip one's coffee ('though, as I may have mentioned in passing, it is not free) and check out the friendly voices on the boodle.

Mudge, yes, you are a man of many talents.

bc - I secretly suspect that the transdimensional super-beings who run the universe sporadically switch of time so that they can do some preventative maintenance and slap on a fresh coat of paint. But then, I secretly suspect many odd things.

And Sneaks, let me echo CP's wise counsel. I too have observed the effects of IV antibiotics. They can be unexpected and idiosyncratic.

I hope that everyone is able to make some progress today in making tomorrow just a little better.

Good thoughts for your BIL dmd!

DMD -- candle lit for your beloved. Day two of no bike ride for me, but four complex writing project and jumping up and down demanding attention.

CP, thanks for the advice, I think! Scary. A complication for her is her depression. She’s always been a jock so the duration and severity plus the constant pain and the limitations she will have to live with have hit her hard. She has not accepted her situation and the doctor has read her the riot act about her attitude - I’m not supposed to know this. I will check with her about her hearing and am now thinking of getting her permission to speak to the doctor. For now though, I’m just trying to be supportive and forward looking on the idea of ‘this to shall pass’ type of thing.

dmd, best wishes for your BIL, having a loved one in the hospital with all the unanswered questions and worry is just the pits.

Thanks, RD. I am definitely going to speak with her doctor.

FWIW - I think Ignatius nails this one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010602826.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Morning all...

Sneaks... hope your daughter recovers soon. Atavan is for anxiety and will make her drowsy, but I guess the docs think it'll help her accept her situation a bit for now. Talk it over with them to see if that's what she really needs, or if something else can do a better job and make her feel better.

I did find with both parents that every hospital just prescribes whatever the last one gave you, whether you still need it or not, so you've all got to keep on top of that for her if they've moved her, or are going to move her to rehab.

dmd... hope they find a simple and good answer to your brother-in-law's confusion. Very scary.

An odd dawn here, overcast and damp. National Weather Service is slapping us with a fire weather watch in anticipation of dry air moving in after, possibly, some showers.

The new Foreign Policy (now owned by the Post?) has a "Worst is Yet to Come" bouquet by a bunch of the knowledgeable, including the Head Doomster himself, Nouriel Roubini. Robert J. Shiller, who knows something about housing, is also depressing, or rather he sees depression.

Ignatius does seem to have the scoop on the new CIA director. Clout.

Funny how the Post's herd of columnists seem collectively to outshine the somewhat fewer and more charismatic ones at the Times. Not that Friedman's latest isn't excellent, nor Krugman's.

Sneaks, I hope you or somebody can stay ahead of the medications #2 is getting. Good to hear that it's not MRSA, that's about the nastiest bug around.

At the funeral I attended yesterday, much was made of the fact that the deceased's medical chart noted that she herself was to be consulted on the dose of Coumadin she needed. An informed and obnoxious patient gets the best care.

Cassandra, you around this morning?

Evidence that Gary William's Terp Basketball program has lost some stars: evite in my inbox today, offering single basketball tix. NEVER before. EVER.

Discuss: Eventually, rude and crude stars lose their luster.

Mornin' all...

If ever there was a morning that justifies a strongly Irished-up coffee, this would be it (and I've dutifuly obliged). The ice passed overnight and now we're in for a day of cold steady rain. My knees already doth protest.

Still a little sore from my spill on the ice last night, but I'll live. Just glad I didn't break anything. That's all I need.

Was watching Morning Joe this morning and Barney Frank was on to talk about the bailout and accountability, among other things. I love that guy. Even when he doesn't mean to be funny he still cracks me up. Maybe it's because there's so much truth and sense and actual knowledge of how things work underlying his jabs.

Time to get my bruised rear in gear. Shipping fun this morning and then back to production.

Happy hump day...

Peace out :-)

Mudge, every time I read MoU, I think Mother, not Master. But then I spent the past two days caring for a child with a stomach bug, so I am again reminded that Mothers are the heavy lifters.

Boodle mojo going out to badsneaks daughter and dmd's BiL and whoever else needs it. I've got plenty to spare.

CqP,
I'm shocked there are Terp tickets for sale anywhere at any price. Are these for ACC games?

I'm going to the GT game on Saturday because my wife has a coworker that is firesaling her husband's season tickets. Well, if you call face value a firesale.

It's the first time I've ever seen the men's team play since college.

She's back! After taking the entire month of December off, Maureen Dowd is back on the NYT Op/Ed page. In her 2009 debut she defends her good buddy Caroline Kennedy.

http://dowdreport.blogspot.com/2009/01/maureen-likes-you-know-caroline-uh.html

Maureen makes the compelling case that there are far more incompetent dynasties **cough**Bushes**cough** than the Kennedies that have been running the country.

Good morning, all.

Masters of the Universe? Do I get to be He-Man? And who gets to be Skeletor (Where's ex-Washington and Raider QB Jay Schroeder when you need him?)?

And then there's the question of She-Ra...

Mudge, I warmed up Uncle Martin's ship in the garage for ya to fly for Dawn Patrol. I know you like the little runabout with the bubble top so you can throw your scarf over your shoulder without worring about it getting caught in props or control surfaces.

With some luck, some Terps tix may trickle down to me. Got my fingers crossed.

bc

'Morning, Boodle. Caught an earlier bus to work by half an hour--and still got here at the same old time. Rain'll do that in this burg.

Padouk, I agree the Ignatius column nailed it--and this Fred Kaplan piece in Slate also adds to it pretty well: http://www.slate.com/id/2208020?nav=wp I also think the talk about there being objections to Panetta are way overblown; it's just Diane Feinstein got her nose out of joint. Obama apologized to her, and she'll get over it.

Sneaks, twice in the last couple of years I've had to have IV antibiotics, and I had a dose of MRSA. I hope they put a PICC line in her arm to administer the IV; that way she can go home, if possible, and do the hookups herself. It's not too complicated at all. (I mean, how hard can it be if I did it to myself? And she's young and smart instead of being old, senile, cantankerous and grouchy like me.)

There's a Booty Cluster galaxy? Hmmm. No, not going there.

Somebody want to tell me why that dumb "On Faith" column story about the even dumber oath of office lawsuit uses a photo of Ronald Reagan? He's not mentioned in the story and has special relevance to it, that I can see. Since when did Reagan become the "go to" guy whenever they need a picture of a generic president? Why was he used here? He wasn't especially religious himself--just the usual hypocrisy about it.

LiT, if you want to substitute Mothers for Masters in MoU, I'm amenable. Mother Nature, etc. Go for it.

Hello folks!

I know that I am really late to the party, but great Kit ... I really needed a good chuckle and, darn it, I knew where to find it!

Forget He-Man, who will play Sherman McCoy in the Vogon mini-series adaptation of mudge's tale?

I have been really troubled this morning by a thought.

'Mudge, could I email you?

Hi, Boodle!

Can't wait to come back this afternoon from my home computer, to check out Mudge's link, but for now . . .

Boodle mojo and tiaras all around. 8 hours sleep to those who need it. Imaginary lunch someplace warm and sunny, someone else choose.

I'll bring king crab legs on the half shell and a whipped key lime pie.

What have we told you about thinking so much, thistle? :-)

Certainly, DNA Girl. Any time. You know the Backboodle e-mail address, right?

Uh no, sorry.
But I can set up an email account and post the address here if you'd like.

Good morning. So sorry about your brother-in-law, dmd, and good luck to badsneakers's daughter.

Sanjay Gupta also writes occasionally for the New Yorker, I think; at least I've read him somewhere like that. I've been very impressed with these written pieces. I didn't know he was also on television.

badsneaks, no sage advice to offer, but I think others have covered it well. Offering sincerest prayers for her and dmd's brother-in-law. Their issues do make me feel like a wimp for staying home with a measly sore throat.

Scotty,

I have been starting to really doubt that the Russian Natural Gas that has become an issue in Europe is not NEARLY as natural as we all thought.

Well, isn't the diet over there especially rich in fiber, thistle??

Morning all
Scotty,the ice is here and it is beautiful,except for later when i have to drive in it.But it sure is pretty covering ever single branch,blade of grass etc....

But i would much rather have snow,i think for that to happen,we need cold air in place and have an Alberta Clipper come down and blanket us with fresh snow.

Since this is an official listening post on the newspaper death watch, the Atlantic has an idea on how the New York Times could survive: stop printing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times

Of course, what to do with the 80% of the reporters you couldn't pay any more is one of the finer details to be worked out.

The Alberta Clipper is busy elsewhere gwe.
http://www.lordelginhotel.ca/webcam-mem.aspx

My Daily Mash horoscope is dead-on today.

Leo
"That post-holiday re-entry into the world of work can be a real source of the blues – stay at home in your underwear, drinking."

Scotty, you know it.

I just can't fry my pierogies.

Anybody want to by my rabbit ears?

RuskieTHistleDude.

I am lost. But you are funny, even. Guess that is part of the boodle charm.

Apparently we need to keep our clipper close to home.

http://start.shaw.ca/Start/enCA/Local+content/Alberta/cgy/

Shriek and Yoki.....Yikes
Maybe i shouldn't be wishing for snow,although I did like the idea of staying home in my underwear(longjohns) and drinking sounds pretty good.

New kit. With video.

A new kit --- with music!

dna dot girl477 at gmail dot com

Hm. There are other girls made from dna.

Interesting view of the outcome of the Church committee so long ago...
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/going-back-to-church-by-digby-in-ddays.html

Sun, glorious sun peeking over the ridge across the way. And no frost this morning. Maybe I will go outside today and enlarge the bird feeder.

Over on the 'Times' the most e-mailed article is on refreshing one's pantry. Five ahead of the return of Dowd.

I sent you a reply e-mail, DNA.