Re: Choral Grief

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On Saturday, Bave and Smearcase and I went to Marie's Crisis, which I'd never done before. This genius at the piano plays every show tune he can think of and those who know it sing along--usually quite well, as there are more than a few pros there. It was pleasurable.

I was surprised, though, by the number of straight women who have dragged their burly, argumentative boyfriends there. The boyfriends made a lot of loud homophobic jokes to make sure everyone knew they were in fact straight, and tried to drag the girlfriends into arguments so they couldn't sing and enjoy themselves. Girl, make some friends.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:02 PM
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They should DTMFA and take up with me.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:06 PM
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I kept thinking that a nice straight guy could really clean up there.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:10 PM
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Speaking of rejection, I heard back from a journal today. The verdict was not good.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:10 PM
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2: They should DTMFA and take up with me.

Yeah, why should they go see the work of dead artists when they can be in the presence of living art?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:10 PM
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The presence of living art.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:12 PM
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Feat. valve trombone!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:12 PM
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And a resolutely off-camera guitarist.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:13 PM
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Jim Hall!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:14 PM
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You can go back to talking about other stuff now.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:14 PM
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I did not have either the inspiring 4th that Witt had or the distressing one the SP did, but I did got to see fireworks, although due to fireworks-attending incompetence and local fireworks oddness I saw a different display than the rest of the party despite my being the driver.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:18 PM
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other stuff

I also learned a new Spanish word for "brick" this weekend ("tabique"; I already knew "ladrillo") mere hours before someone fell into me sending me painfully down onto a brick patio. That smarted something fierce.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:19 PM
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I also learned a new Spanish word for "brick" this weekend ... That smarted something fierce.

Vocabulary is but a poor proxy for intelligence, Stanley.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:21 PM
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An extremely irritating student of mine this summer tried to lecture me on how medical doctors make a lot more than I do because "spelling just isn't that important, but saving lives is." On the other hand, he argued, my job must be a lot more stressful than it looks because I look so much older than my age. He promises he'll be taking more classes from me because he enjoyed this one so much. I look forward to seeing him in my Advanced Orthography seminar.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:28 PM
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Correct spelling makes life worth living--or, more precisely, correcting others' spelling does.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:29 PM
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15: Au contraire. I would pour out all my blood for a stack of poetry papers that had been at least proofread before arriving on my desk.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:32 PM
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It is not enough to spell correctly. Others must misspell.


Posted by: Gore Vidal's Pedantic Twin | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:32 PM
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I feel like I've been to the bar AWB mentions. Is it in midtown? Do broadway types head there after they've performed?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:34 PM
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18: Greenwich Village, but packed with Broadway types and hangers-on. There may be more than one such place.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:35 PM
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16: Mmmm, yes, you're right.

17: How opinionated would you say you are? Quickly, before Megan gets here!


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:36 PM
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One of my fantasies (have I confessed to it here before?) is that a dull birthday party will be enlivened by a bunch of caped ASCAP reps intervening, a la Monty Python's Spanish Inquisitors, to demand payment for public performance of "Happy Birthday to You!"

Also, are there many other countries besides the US which have multi-verse national anthems that virtually no citizen can sing in their entirety?


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:37 PM
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PEDANTIC AND OPINIONATED ARE RELATED BUT DISTINGUISHABLE INTENTIONAL STANCES!!


Posted by: STRIDENT GRANDAD | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:41 PM
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multi-verse national anthems

I was the only one present last night who was aware there were additional verses, and my credibility was highly in doubt (because I don't, like, know the additional verses; I know of them) until an iPhone was pulled out to confirm it. Thanks, Steve Jobs!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:43 PM
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22: That's why I have to ask for clarification!


Posted by: Pedantic M. Duck | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:45 PM
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My mother's birthday is today.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:46 PM
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23: I used my iPhone yesterday to aid a discussion of the lyrics of Maryland's State Song. No one was buying that "Northern scum" could be in the lyrics (but the last stanza, presumably also almost never sung).


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:51 PM
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You should call her and sing The Star Spangled Banner. Stanley taught me that.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:51 PM
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Our iPhone debate settling during fireworks was over the line "from California to the New York Island." Yes, island singular. Point, Blume.

In less triumphant news, my favorite patriotic song has been ruined, at least for the time being, by BP. "From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Str--" Oh. Shit.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:52 PM
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How paradoxical.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:52 PM
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"This land was made for you, BP!"


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:53 PM
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29 --> 25.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:53 PM
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Also, are there many other countries besides the US which have multi-verse national anthems that virtually no citizen can sing in their entirety?

Which is not to mention how totally weird the message is when you only sing the first verse. Like, whether or not the nation has been totally annihilated overnight is left as an open question?

And then there's the fact that the melody was taken from a drinking song. The hell, America.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:54 PM
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Our iPhone debate settling during fireworks was over the line "from California to the New York Island." Yes, island singular. Point, Blume.

Which is so ambiguous. Which New York island? Long? Fire? Riker's? Ellis?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:56 PM
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Which is not to mention how totally weird the message is when you only sing the first verse.

And then there are national anthems whose first verse you aren't even allowed to sing.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:57 PM
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my favorite patriotic song has been ruined

I've just learned that the name is "This Land Is Your Land", whereas I had it in my head named "This Land Is My Land". Presumably, because I'm a selfish American.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:59 PM
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33: One assumes Manhattan. Long Island is neither my land nor yours. Speaking of geographic pedantry, I had someone use "paradoxical" this past week to characterize the fact that the Battle of long Island was fought in Brooklyn. I mean hardly.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 12:59 PM
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I learned that it was composed as a counterpoint to the execrable "God Bless America". I might sing it the next time I go to a sox game.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:00 PM
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This land is my land,
It is not your land.
I've got a shotgun,
And you don't got one.
If you don't get off
I'll blow your head off;
This land was made for me not you.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:00 PM
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28.last is depressing. I hadn't remembered that yet.

Yesterday I was called upon to identify the Philadelphia city flag. Today Wikipedia informs me that the color scheme is a tribute to Swedish settlers.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:01 PM
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38: Neb demonstrating what those women at the show tune bar are missing by not ditching their burly, argumentative boyfriends.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:02 PM
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Woody Guthrie disliked the song, and wrote "This Land Is Your Land", originally titled "God Blessed America For Me"

I mean, that's so great. That's almost as good as the original lyrics to "Le Freak" by Chic.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:04 PM
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the next time I go to a sox game

Executive order: you must henceforth specify which Sox team and cease the historical discrimination against Chicago by surly Bostonian sports fans.


Posted by: Barack Obama | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:05 PM
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Pfft. The real Barack has read enough unfogged threads to figure out which sox I'm talking about.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:06 PM
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No one was buying that "Northern scum" could be in the lyrics (but the last stanza, presumably also almost never sung).

Next you'll be saying that there's a national anthem that refers to tainted blood.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:07 PM
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I can really belt it out, too, JP.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:09 PM
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Can you do that hit-the-note-pull-way-back-slow-crescendo thing? Y'know, I bet that has a name.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:10 PM
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Crescendo, diminuendo, you name it.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:11 PM
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Have you ever really held a fermata? I mean, really, truly *held* one.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:13 PM
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Okay, I name it szforzando.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:13 PM
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I can't heeeeeear yoooooou!


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:15 PM
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Is "szforzando" a joke or a mistake?


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:16 PM
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Loathe though I am to admit it, it was a mistake.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:17 PM
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I meant to say "sforzandissimo".


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:18 PM
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That's quite a mistake, then.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:19 PM
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You should see my choice of careers.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:21 PM
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Ba-dum-pish!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:22 PM
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That's almost as good as the original lyrics to "Le Freak" by Chic.

"Le Fuck; c'est Chuck"?


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:23 PM
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I don't mind God Bless America. I like that it was written by a Jewish immigrant. Plus, nobody dies.

The Marseillaise takes first place among bloodthirsty national anthems. Great tune, and you can't beat "let impure blood water our fields".


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:24 PM
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Why would you want impure blood to water your fields? Wouldn't that result in impure crops?


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:25 PM
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If you assume that "impure" refers to sepsis or basically the blood not being sterile, then it shouldn't matter.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:26 PM
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My mother's birthday is today.

Notable people who share a birthday with apo's mom:

-Joan of The Tower, Queen consort of Scotland
-Mary Walcott, American accuser at the Salem witch trials
-William Crotch, composer [tee-hee-hee]
-Sylvester Graham, developed graham cracker
-Phineas Taylor Barnum, Bethel Conn, circus promoter (Barnum & Bailey)
-Wanda A Landowska, Warsaw Poland, harpsichordist
-Henry Cabot Lodge, (Sen-R)/ambassador (VP candidate 1960)
-Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Wash DC, daughter of Richard Milhaus
-Huey Lewis, rocker ["rocker"?]
-RZA, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan)
-Letha Weapons, porn actress
-Dolly the sheep, first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell born in Scotland


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:26 PM
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61: Are you sure one of those people isn't apo's mom?


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:27 PM
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Animals had been cloned from adult cells born elsewhere long before.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:28 PM
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63: I noticed that weird phrasing and left it in just for you, neb.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:29 PM
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Also: that Henry Cabot Lodge VP run threw me off. It's Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:31 PM
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58, meet 44.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:32 PM
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59: after bayoneting the foreigner, you can then chew them up in foodstuff form once you get the next crop. As the inventors of haute cuisine, the French like to work eating into everything they do.

Another thing I like about the Marseillaise: it inspired the French to conquer the world immediately after it was written. That's a good proof of anthem potency. We lost the war of 1812 and had to wait over a century before finally conquering the world.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:33 PM
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We lost the war of 1812

Someone around these parts (I think) recently referred to France as the US's "first ally", which pithy locution I borrowed yesterday to dampen some nitwit's "the French are weak surrender monkeys" talk. (Okay, actually it was a joke: Q: Why did it take Germany three weeks to conquer France in WWII? A: Because it was raining.)


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:40 PM
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No one was buying that "Northern scum" could be in the lyrics

And it rhymes with "she breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!"


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 1:55 PM
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14: Medical doctors need to know how to spell. Also write neatly.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:00 PM
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70: There are about 400 things wrong with what he said. This is one of them.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to communicate to undergrads that "spelling" is something they were expected to have gotten a handle on around age 10. And I still get questions like "Does spelling count?" My God, are you asking me if your analytical prose on the subject of the ironic deployment of 17c amorous complaint tropes in 20c feminist poetry should be written in words? Yes, please use words to do that.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:09 PM
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AWB torments her students the way heebie torments her cats.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:12 PM
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61: William Crotch, composer

I'll bet he pronounces it "Croach."


Posted by: DS | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:12 PM
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The Marseillaise takes first place among bloodthirsty national anthems.

Few moments in film beat the scene in Casablanca in which the people at Rick's sing "The Marseillaise" to drown out the Germans. As for anthems that are less bloodthirsty than they are flat-out awesome, I recommend the Polish national anthem.

At any rate, I've really enjoyed listening to the anthems during the World Cup and watching how teams from various countries react--who sings along, who salutes, etc.


Posted by: JennyRobot | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:22 PM
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JennyRobot, I greatly enjoy the way, on the "categories" sidebar of your blog, "Grad School" looms so imposingly over "Life".


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:25 PM
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57: fuck off!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:30 PM
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||

Someone just explained to me, in great detail and off the top of her head, the curious mating habits of the Siamese fighting fish:

During and after spawning, the male uses his mouth to retrieve sinking eggs and deposit them in the bubble nest (during mating the female sometimes assists her partner, but more often she will simply devour all the eggs that she manages to catch). Once the female has released all of her eggs, she is chased away from the male's territory, as it is likely that she'll eat the eggs due to hunger. [...] Afterwards the fry leave the nest and the free-swimming stage begins. It is common practice in the aquarium hobby to remove the male at this point, so that he would not eat his young (although it has been suggested that this danger is overrated).

How does a species so jonesin' to eat its offspring even survive?

|>


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:38 PM
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How does a species so jonesin' to eat its offspring even survive?

Volume!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:42 PM
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Quantity of offspring?


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:42 PM
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Pwned, out-brevitied, and generally defeated.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 2:43 PM
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Afterwards the fry leave the nest and the free-swimming stage begins.

If you call your offspring "the fry", they're going to sound tasty.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:04 PM
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77: In searching on their natural history, came across a college biology lab exercise using them. I enjoyed this warning (all caps in the original):

DO NOT EVER PLACE TWO FISH IN THE SAME BOWL. SUCH IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR WILL RESULT IN YOUR BEING DISMISSED FROM THE LAB AND YOUR RECEIVING A ZERO FOR THIS LAB EXERCISE. FURTHER DISCIPLINARY ACTION IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
Somehow I don't think they were responding to the purely theoretical notion that someone my chose to do so. (But as a nihilist I guess I need to support the notion that they would still be acting within the rules of the lab.)


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:05 PM
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81: It's hot here. I could really go for some sort of fruit beverage.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:14 PM
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I've got just the screamy, exhausted drink you ordered.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:17 PM
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77: Ah, the Siamese Fighting Fish: graceful, beautiful, elegant, yet single-minded, and deadly when it finds what it wants.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:18 PM
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Something tells me fm got a zero on that lab.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:20 PM
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74: Indeed, grad school does loom largely over life. Also, I should probably be writing chapter nine instead of reading Unfogged....


Posted by: JennyRobot | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:22 PM
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If you don't get off
I'll blow your head off;
This land was made for me not you.

That could be the prototype for most of the national anthems in the world. Except for Canada and Switzerland, whose songs are weirdly... introspective.


Posted by: YK | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:25 PM
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Chapter NINE?!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:26 PM
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Chapter Nine: "Suddenly, everyone was run over by a truck." Done.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:27 PM
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I'm still revising chapters 1–4, and I only have a projected 6 chapters total.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:28 PM
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It's hot here.

Neighbor please. Actually, I don't know where you are and just wanted to share my photo, but it was 98° here today. Just like the boy band!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:29 PM
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I'm guessing history. 500+ pages i9n a dissertation.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:30 PM
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-9


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:30 PM
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Oddly enough, I was in the middle of using my dissertation just now to double-check a definition. I had 9 chapters. But only 66 pages. But they're good pages!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:35 PM
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Heebie likes all of her pages.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:39 PM
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96: heebie is former Florida Congressman Mark Foley?


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:46 PM
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85: Siamese fighting fish, fascinating creatures. Brave, but on the whole, stupid. Yes, they are stupid. Except for the occasional one such as we have here... who lets the other two fight, while he waits. Waits until the survivor is so exhausted that he cannot defend himself, and then, like SPECTRE... he strikes!


Posted by: OPINIONATED ERNST STAVRO BLOFELD | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 3:52 PM
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500 pages? Yikes.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:00 PM
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That's five Kobes!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:01 PM
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46 Can you do that hit-the-note-pull-way-back-slow-crescendo thing? Y'know, I bet that has a name.

Multiply pre-pwned but I'm going to go ahead and say messa di voce is the most specific term for this.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:42 PM
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1: were the straightniks really making homophobic jokes? I just saw a lot of that "clutch girlfriend's neck to demonstrate regrettable unavailability" gesture. Is there a word for that?

and 3 I kept thinking that a nice straight guy could really clean up there. Well someone ought to. As Bave pointed out, the place is grimy. But then I suppose that somehow dulls the acute gay of being in a piano bar where everyone knows all the words to "They both reached for the gun."

And as long as I'm blithering about this, in response to the OP, yeah, it is always better to go for broke. On the occasion mentioned by Ms. Bear, I know I sounded a hell of a lot better belting even a rather tender song like "People will say we're in love" in a room full of other people really tearing into it than I do when I timidly peep some tune because nobody else is singing. Self-consciousness is the enemy of diaphragmatic support.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:52 PM
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102.1: Yes. That asshole next to us got really into it once those straight tourist guys showed up to meet them. Before then he was just making all the lyrics of the songs into reasons to be weird at his girlfriend. "You've found someone new? What a hell of a way to find out."


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:56 PM
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I suspect that 101 is what 46 was getting at, despite 46 describing essentially the opposite thing.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 4:56 PM
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It will probably be around 300 pages, 10 chapters. To be fair, the first three would likely be lumped together in most dissertations, but my advisor wanted separate introduction, lit review, and theory/method chapters. Sadly, while I am on chapter 9, I am not writing the damn thing in order. Only about 1/3 of it is drafted so far.


Posted by: JennyRobot | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:00 PM
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the acute gay of being in a piano bar

I had friends in San Francisco who, every saturday night, would dress up in tuxes, drop half a tab of acid each in order to stay awake, and head to the piano bar (Martuni's) for eight or more hours of cocktails and torch songs. It was like olympic-level gay.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:02 PM
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belting even a rather tender song like "People will say we're in love"

DON'T PRAISE MY CHARM TOO MUCH!
DON'T LOOK SO VAIN WITH ME!
DON'T STAND IN THE RAIN WITH ME!


Posted by: OPINIONATED SMEARCASE | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:03 PM
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"awake" is probably the wrong word in 106. "Conscious and able to keep drinking" is more apt.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:06 PM
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It was like olympic-level gay.

Yet its not in the Gay Olympics


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:08 PM
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Is there a word for that?

Beard?


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:09 PM
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106: A friend of mine plays at Martuni's! I have never heard him play so I don't know if he is as drastically brilliant as above-mentioned Dexter of Marie's.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:19 PM
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TOS/Opinionated Me: the verses are hard to remember. It would seem I am not alone in finding this, as the pianist shouts them out just before it is time to sing them.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:21 PM
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||

"Thank you for submitting your article for consideration.

You will receive a confirmation by e-mail."

In the meantime, I am going to die, or something.

|>


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:24 PM
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Remember how he made us re-do "Oklahoma" because somebody fucked it up? That was upsetting.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:25 PM
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I had an apartment-mate who met her husband in a piano bar. She really liked musical theater. He liked it at least enough to get in the door of a piano bar and realize the opportunities for a straight guy. I got the distinct impression that every piano bar has at least one straight man as a regular who plays this angle. My apartment mate's marriage lasted four years.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:30 PM
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It was my MIL's birthday on the 4th too. We sang Happy Birthday in a deliberately dirge-like fashion so she could act all exasperated with us, as she would not be able to straightforwardly enjoy a cheery Happy Birthday.


Posted by: asilon | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:30 PM
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I like the sound of this going out and singing though. I could have a great evening doing that.


Posted by: asilon | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:32 PM
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118

114: No, Sound of Music! I have seen this happen before. I think at this point it's shtick. He gets to the part where Maria teaches those repellant kids solfege and if people sing along he cracks a joke to the effect of "Shut up! I haven't taught it to you yet!"


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:34 PM
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In the meantime, I am going to die, or something.

The second, I hope.


Posted by: beamish | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:34 PM
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118: SoM as well, but I thought that was just his schtick. "Oklahoma" we actually fucked up.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:35 PM
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I am going to something!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:41 PM
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Maybe you should go to somewhere. Somewhere with restroom attendants.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:47 PM
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I wan tu plus I wan tu minus I wan tu big I wan tu littl I wan tu aul I wan tu nuthing.


Posted by: The Littl Shynin Man the Addom | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 5:50 PM
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124

121: Am I in danger of needing to finish my paper?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 6:17 PM
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125

106: A friend of mine plays at Martuni's!

And a friend of mine regularly sings there. Small world!


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:25 PM
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126

Re flags and boom: don't argue about soccer in Germany


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:26 PM
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||

This seems like the relevant place to put this particular PSA - Janelle Monae fans in SF can see her for a whole whopping $10 at the All Shook Down festival.

|>


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:35 PM
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But that's the same time that Shudder (Bruckmann/Greenlief/Grabmiller) is playing a set at the Café du Nord with special guest John Shiurba!

!!!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:45 PM
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Unless, of course, she's performing during the daytime part of the event.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:47 PM
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||

Hey, nerds: has anybody read/does anybody have any thoughts on this book?

I read briefly about some of the topics covered earlier, and it seems exciting, depending on how rigorously it's treated.

|>


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:55 PM
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Kieran Healy had a review of MacKenzie's An Engine, Not a Camera that you might want to look at (obviously that doesn't pertain to the new book, but Engine would also be interesting to you if you're interested in it).


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 7:58 PM
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Happy fourth!

I stayed in and sang, which means that I had all of the verses printed out handily for me and could order the accompanist to repeat a nice bit. Then it was out on the roof for a nice bit of "that one wasn't a gunshot was it?"

And now it is 99 degrees in the city and all the girls are wearing hotpants.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 8:02 PM
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Reading!

In related news, this is a fairly well written and interesting post, though clearly written by somebody positioning himself as an analyst-who-explains-things-to-finance-types kind of guy.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 8:02 PM
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126: Wow. And the hell of it is, the Italians were right: four titles to Germany's three.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 8:03 PM
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Far from The Onion's best work, but on-topic with the vituperative national anthem theme.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 07- 5-10 8:36 PM
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In related news, this is a fairly well written and interesting post, though clearly written by somebody positioning himself as an analyst-who-explains-things-to-finance-types kind of guy.

also, he uses "honed in on".


Posted by: Awl | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 1:04 AM
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127 unhhhhhh.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 1:08 AM
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I would also guess that the author of 133's link hasn't actually tried to program anything that makes use of semantic reasoners, SPARQL, and the like. In the future, we will not be slaves of a giant Redland database, nor yet blasted wrecks staggering through a landscape of dry turds, but probably swearing at the screen trying to query a semantic dataset.

Actually, I recently surprised a roomful of financial analysts and top managers of a Huge Tech Co (telecoms billing/operational support systems) by making this point with regard to their shiny new product, which actually contained a JavaScript-to-SPARQL compiler...


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:22 AM
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By the way, you're certainly not alone in having a national anthem with a secret menu.

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King

Don't like that? Here's another:

God bless the prince, I pray,
God bless the prince, I pray,
Charlie I mean;
That Scotland we may see
Freed from vile Presbyt'ry,
Both George and his Feckie,
Ever so, Amen.

And another...

From France and Pretender
Great Britain defend her,
Foes let them fall;
From foreign slavery,
Priests and their knavery,
And Popish Reverie,
God save us all.


Posted by: Alex | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:26 AM
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104: No.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:33 AM
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yeah, fuck a bunch of popish reverie! nominally protestant lack of introspection for all!


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:39 AM
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136: yes, that endeared him to me.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:49 AM
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140: Reverse messa di voce? Messa di voce-cancelling vocalization?


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:50 AM
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May he sedition hush, and like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush

I like Billy Connolly's recitation of this, where he follows that last line with a sardonic, 'oh aye?'.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 9:02 AM
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143: I really don't know! But they do do that in musicals, right? I'm not making this up?

My Google searching was fruitless.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 9:39 AM
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So, this news is sort of on-topic:

SYDNEY -- A judge ordered Australian band Men at Work on Tuesday to hand over a portion of the royalties from their 1980s hit "Down Under," after previously ruling its distinctive flute riff was copied from a children's campfire song.

But the penalty -- 5 percent of the song's royalties -- was far less than the 60 percent sought by publishing company Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

The non-USian mentioned in the OP was Australian; when asked to reciprocate with the Aussie national anthem, she demurred, offering instead a childhood favorite: that Kookaburra song, which we all learned and sang in a round.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 4:12 PM
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Kookaburra I knew, and of course "Waltzing Matilda". I misread a jukebox once and heard "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" which was a protest song about Gallipoli. That is the sum total of Australian music until the modern era.


Posted by: Tassled Loafered Leech | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 4:18 PM
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Now the goddamn Kookaburra song is stuck in my head. Fuck.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 4:46 PM
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134 -- Germans are in pretty complete denial about the period between 1933 and 1945.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 4:59 PM
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OT bleg, in the choral thread: I just caught the last five minutes of an NPR show called "The World" (a BBC program?), during which some astonishing person whose name I believe included "Yousef" or "Youssef", probably from Morocco, vocalized. It, or he, was astounding, like to make me wonder and cry, for the few minutes of his singing I heard. I don't suppose anyone would be willing to look this up for me, or even heard the program.

It is so fucking hot here -- forgive my language, but 103 degrees (Fahrenheit) today-- and I have so much to do, and feel like I'm on basic maintenance, that I'm not going to investigate this myself at the moment.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 6:13 PM
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150: This, maybe? I didn't listen to it.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 6:24 PM
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151: Possibly. I didn't hear the story itself, just the singing at the very end -- I'll have to look into it later.

You're a kind soul, Stanley.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 6:33 PM
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103 degrees (Fahrenheit) today-- and I have so much to do, and feel like I'm on basic maintenance

Oh man, do I hear you. It was 102 here today, and it's still -- at 9:15 p.m. -- 91 degrees. I am going back and forth to the outside assiduously watering what may be weeds. (I did not do the plantings, and it's too dark to see.)

I am considering sleeping downstairs tonight. Ceiling fan and cross-ventilation may not be enough.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:13 PM
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It is already down to 85 in Pittsburgh. Maybe because of all the trees make us less heat absorbent.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:16 PM
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Maybe because of all the trees make us less heat absorbentgrammatical.


Posted by: Mr. Blandings | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:32 PM
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AND I got approximately 32 mosquito bites in the past seven minutes. Why it it that none of the things people told me I would grow out of have actually come true? I still get eaten alive, I still get cold swimming, and I still can't float.

/end unsolicited whining

So: Justice Department, yay? Not really sure how I feel about them intervening in the AZ case. The state was already getting sued by five other parties. Maybe the supremacy/preemption argument is a shot across the bow to intimidate other states from passing similar laws? Tough economy already; do you really want to tick off the feds?

I dunno. Lawyers, what do you hink?


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:32 PM
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and I still can't float

That's because you're not a Wittch.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:35 PM
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Not floating means you have more muscle per unit of body volume. Unless you don't float at, which is a problem. But, if your legs and arms sink, that means you are strong for your size.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 7:45 PM
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s/b "float at all" instead of "float at."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 8:03 PM
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Still in the low 60s or lower, little sun, out here. Even southern California was unusually cool this last weekend. I'm not actually enjoying it, as it's becoming clear that I will have no real summer this year. Even Vancouver is going to be hot in the next few days.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 9:27 PM
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Even southern California was unusually cool this last weekend.

But not central....it was dang hot here. But it was rather nice watching fireworks stand next to the river, enjoying the breeze in shorts and tank-tops at 10 pm.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 9:48 PM
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...enjoying the breeze in shorts

The 4th just isn't right without baked beans.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 07- 6-10 9:52 PM
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