I will certainly not be in Boston, but if I were, I'd bring you some tripe. I'd eat some tripe myself if I knew a good recipe. Right now I'd probably even eat a horse who was once kind to me as I am very hungry.
Explains why you were so cranky in the other thread. I understand low blood sugar will do that.
I just ate some granola. It was much easier than finding a horse who's been kind to me.
Right now my blood is about 30% caffeine. That tends to be my operative unfogged commenting plasma level. Fate brung me here.
some horses are both shy and mean. but inside they are filled with honey.
That's not a pinata, heebie, that's a beehive. Which is what went so tragically wrong at HP's last birthday.
(By the way, your impending kid should obviously be known as Hewlett Packard.)
Is there something off-color about the origins of the pinata tradition? Now that I think about it, it seems like the type of thing one shouldn't think too closely about.
(And if you called them Hewlett-Packard, they could follow in your footsteps as an arithmetician.)
Now that I think about it, it seems like the type of thing one shouldn't think too closely about.
A broad category, is it not?
Speaking of HP, will the iPad finally kill the graphing calculator? Kids had them when I took Calc and I still see them for sale in the bookstore. It's starting to seem as dated as using a slide rule.
Since when is Boston in Maine?
I can see them as a purely classroom tool -- something that does your calculations but doesn't have any toy value and can't (trivially easily) be used for cheating on a test. But other than that, you're right, I don't see why anyone would have a single-purpose calculator anymore.
Hey, speaking of meetups, can we get a thread (or hijack this one) for the end of the month in NYC?
15: I forgot about tests. That will probably keep them going.
The google toolbar should kill the graphing calculator.
15 is exactly why anybody still buys them.
Some profs in my department doggedly maintain that being able to use a graphing calculator is a skill, and we're doing our students a disservice if we don't teach them hoe to use one. I think they're insane. They think I'm naive, because they've worked in industry and I havent. However, I'm right.
I assume most kids shoplift them. They were behind a glass case and there must be a reason.
16: Preplanning here, a fresh thread to announce conclusions? Under the assumption that everything is all about me, I'm terrible at getting downtown on weekends, and have just lost Tuesdays and Thursdays globally to ferrying Sally home from rugby, which means I'm happiest with the 31st or the 2d, probably best the 2d because even on a Wednesday, Halloween's likely to be an annoying night to be out.
Also if you only require graphing calculators because you need them on tests, that's super silly. Just provide the student with the graph and let them use a ten dollar calculator.
I have never owned a graphing calculator. They were several hundred dollars back then and I was a poli sci major who just happened to test into the super-Calc class with all the engineering majors who owned fancy calculators.
Also if we have the meetup somewhere quiet, maybe SP and Nathan Williams will bring their new babies for a viewing.
Me neither -- all I ever had was my HP 12S. Loved that thing: it just worked very satisfyingly.
I am too deaf to know where it is quiet. Any ideas? I can usually hear people at backbar but not on a weekend. The library?
I'm fleeing the country to avoid heebie.
Essear requires his students buy graphing calculators.
26: -12S +12C. I think. Now I'm not sure of the model number.
Show of hands: an annoying night to be out, or an awesome night to be out?
Let's all list our calculator. I have a Casio Super-FX that I got in high school.
30: Slander! I do all my calculating in Python or Mathematica.
My calculators are at home. I have the fancy HP graphing calculator and also another calculator that isn't fancy.
We can all bring our calculators to the heebie meetup.
MATLAB turns out to be a pretty awesome as a calculator replacement if it's already open.
I think we should specify we're talking about a single function calculator, not a computer program or phone app.
I have like a million graphing calculators that students have left behind in the classroom or my office, but almost all of them need new batteries.
I had a TI 82 way back in the day. The kids put games on them as I recall. I remember a group of dimwits who didn't need them until 12th grade and then spent all their time playing drug dealer -- I think that's what it was called -- rather than doing their homework.
15 is right. Their entire function is proctored exam settings.
In my perfect world people would start with a calculator that couldn't do any math at all, and then would program it themselves over time to do more and more math.
In my perfect world I wouldn't be hearing about just anyone's perfect world, but them's the breaks.
42.last: that's what I did in high school, but my math teacher deleted the programs when we had a test.
I had to bring a calculator (graphing or non, didn't matter) to an exam just last spring. The TI-92 (that's what I have!) turned out to be way more useful than a normal calculator because you can enter and proofread a whole string of numbers. Also because tetris.
I luff unfogged! Why was I away so long? Oh, right, I had other things to write. Still do, I think.
I am so wrong. I have a TI-89. For sure this time.
End of the month in NYC? Wha?
Somewhere, I still have my beloved TI-85. Mathematica is great, except it has the steepest learning curve ever. Also, I would spend all my time trying to find the absolute best way to write an expression.
Can't hear people
Makes me Crazy
So here's my number
Boston sucks it
That's interesting. I no longer have any TIs and spend most of my day writing things, placating my wife, and playing with my son.
If you want to dick around on Mathematica, I'd be happy to placate your wife for you.
I took the math "achievement" test in one of the last non-calculator versions even though there was a calculator option at that point because I thought it would make it easier to pick out the correct answers from the multiple choice. There was a lot of stuff I didn't bother studying on the assumption that you'd need a calculator to get that precise.
Now I'm messing around with Octave and R and realizing I was far more prepared to take some of these online courses back when I was 17 than I am now.
52: Do you even know what type of people she wants you to decapitate?
I used to dick around with Octave every day at around noon, lying on my bed. I was depressed.
Who wants to limit decapitations by type?
Mathematica is great, except it has the steepest learning curve ever.
I actually had a much harder time learning MATLAB than Mathematica. In fact I dropped a numerical analysis course as an undergrad because I was having such a hard time with MATLAB.
Party thread! I'm looking for a new day job in California. Whose got one for me?
No decapitating commoners; only aristocrats, royalty, and clergy.
taking heads off was my old job. I need new jobz.
One of my dad's college buddies went to Japan in the late 1970s and returned with an early LCD calculator. I think it had cost the equivalent of $100 or so. Then he gave it to our family a couple of years later when they started to get common over here. My only current calculator is a cheap solar model from Office Depot. I probably could have done virtually every problem I ran across in the brokerage world with it. Maybe not a few of the really tricky options problems, without breaking them down into super basic steps.
22: Will Halloween really be that bad outside of the Village? We don't have any firm plans yet, so either day works for me.
You know, the threads never go in the direction I think they'll go.
65: Oh, probably not. I just hate being exposed to people having fun.
60: What do you want to do? Are you in the Bay Area?
Chopper! I want to do most anything that will pay me. I've got a legal and writing background. My past is sordid. I live in L.A.
Halloween is no problem here. Zombie Pub Crawl night, on the other hand, is one where many people simply leave town. It is horrendous. The poster for this one is somewhat culturally insensitive as well. Shudder.
anything that will pay me.
Crossfit factotum at Halford's gym
wait, Natilo was a stockbroker? I don't think it mention that b/f.
my factotum likes keeping fit. tell me more, person without a name.
You know, the threads never go in the direction I think they'll go.
I'll definitely be here for the Boston meetup, heebie! It's on my calendar and everything. I'm guessing that location will have to be hammered out closer to the actual date.
It's on my calendar, too, since Blume and I have a shared calendar! It's listed as "all-day" so I guess we'll be spending quite a bit of time together.
Perfect! For breakfast, can we get really great bagels?
16: I have an 8-year-old and therefore Halloween plans, but he's not sleeping at my place that night so I could join a meetup eventually. Thursday or Friday would be better for me, though.
77: Not really, no.
It's listed as "all-day" so I guess we'll be spending quite a bit of time together.
I wanted to be sure we'd have enough time to gossip about ALL the the non-present commenters.
By "really good bagels" I mean "the kind that isn't fruit-flavored".
At the Austin meet-up, Helpy-chalk basically said something like "So wait. At your meet-ups, you systematically gossip about all the commenters?" It sounds bad when he says it like that. I just think of it as refreshing my browser.
Meetup, quiet, and Friday? That seems like a tall order. But I would certainly want to go, and would be happy to bring the baby along.
I can also make youtube vids for my friends. I have a dog who jumps very high.
... I have heard worse ideas.
experience:
writing stuff for courtz, writing stuff by courtz, commenting, starting trends, badinage, catch-the-gopher, telling people why it ought to be different.
Persiflage? You could date Slolerner. Not that I understand that to be a job.
I had a persiflage but it retired years ago, or maybe changed names on me. Is Slo looking for company?
I might be able to make the Boston meet-up. It's more a matter of convincing my bf that I won't die if I meet a bunch of people who I only know of through the internet. Or learning to drive a standard.
text!
I'm always up for Lord Hobo, but the last time we were there, it was kind of loud.
Not that I know of given that the comment I'm remembering is from '06.
Bg! This place is great. I was going to join for the first NYC meet up WAY back when but something came up. I think if I had it would be exactly as now, sliding doors and all.
There's no reason that they can't install programs which block access to content other than the graphing calculator during the exam.
The Bar Examiners figured out how to do that.
When did HP stop using Polish notation? I used my mom's hand me down seventies edition for a couple years in the eighties and that's what's stuck in my memory.
Have they stopped now? My late-eighties calculator used Polish notation (which I for the longest time thought was an ethnic slur denoting its reversed nature), which made complicated calculations much easier.
Man, '06, back when I thought we might be living in a dystopian nightmare.
94: Perfect! Should I teleport to Boston or use my broom?
Broom is obviously much more fun-sounding.
once I had a surprise meet-up where someone was coming to offer me a job, but I was too drunk to hold back my opinions. this was way before unfogged.
I totally forgot this meet-up happened! Then I was reminded in an awesome surprise. It was like my best birthday ever.
AND it led me to remember a much better previous meet-up during which my opinions were not at odds with employment. I was employed -- and I didn't even know it! Confusion, to say the least, but on the whole it was more good news than bad news.
People in my business still use the 12C, and it still uses reverse Polish notation.
I thought graphing calculators used reverse Polish notation.
Who has a job for Mutombo? I'll be nice and assiduous. I've now had employment training.
It really is awful out there for lawyers. There have been discussions about poor office morale in the place I work, and the higher-ups have essentially responded "We don't give a damn, let them all quit, you should see the amazing resumes we're getting from applicants. We could get rid of all you slobs and replace you with much better tomorrow." (It wasn't that bad, but sort of.)
I have an 8-year-old and therefore Halloween plans
Wait, do Manhattanites actually trick-or-treat? I figured that was more of a bridge-and-tunnel kind of a thing.
When you've had a job you don't remember, chances are you aren't getting good recs from it. That's something employees have accepted.
113: Do you have any idea how much candy you can get trawling through an apartment building? It's super-efficient.
Our neighborhood is so depressing on Halloween. I don't get it. There are a decent number of kids, judging from the school bus stops in the morning, but the place is deserted on Halloween and nobody decorates or goes trick-or-treating.
We'll leave candy on our front step (and go join friends at a less-depressing neighborhood) and when we come home the bowl will be totally full.
115: I'd have figured fires in enclosed spaces were a no-go. Where do people put their jack-o-lanterns?
116.1: it's a sin against god, heebie.
117: You can actually burn candles in an apartment. It's pretty much the same as any other building, just with more doors that lock on the inside.
Our street fills up with little kids. I've figured out that people drive from other streets without so many people passing out treats and set their kids loose.
116.2: my friends did that a couple of times but the bowl got stolen.
Actually, almost nobody sets their kids loose. It's little kids walking with the parents.
118: You'd be surprised how often that comes up down here. The reason that you don't have Hallowe'en in schools down here is not out of symmetry for keeping Christmas out; it's because the fundies pitch a living fit. I know several people who weren't allowed to celebrate Halloween growing up.
We do that when it gets late -- we get adorable kids in well-thought-out costumes until around eight thirty or so, and we coo over them and give them candy individually. And then the surly teenagers with some eyeliner smeared on their faces show up, and they're dull, so we leave the candy in a bowl outside the door. Gets rid of the candy, and means we can stop paying attention.
123.1: I do not think I would be surprised. I've read the Chick Tract. It's Satan's birthday!
My family didn't celebrate halloween growing up. I didn't really mind. Though I was pretty annoyed that my parents wouldn't let me own M:tG cards because they had cards marked "sorcery." My parents seemed to have softened on this issue somewhat, I think they even saw the first Harry Potter movie.
123: When I lived down that way I had a cow-orker who not only believed that Halloween was sinful, she also knew--knew--that Satanists were especially active abducting/poisoning/molesting/sacrificing children on Hallowe'en, and made a point of warning people not to let their kids out of the house that night under any circumstances. When I made some gently skeptical noises and suggested she might possibly be subscribing to some urban legends, she was furious* and convinced that I was hopelessly naive.
*It's conceivable that my gentle skeptical noises may have conveyed the impression that I thought she was insane.
I often indicate gentle skepticism by saying "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" and twirling a finger around my ear.
I've said before that I usually give out between 500-1000 individual pieces of candy to kids on Halloween. It's a total zoo. And after about 8:30 you start to get older kids and bonus adults or near-adults who are pretty obviously just hungry.
I think over my twelve years in Texas I've actually come to loathe this place much more than when I started out.
I mean, parts are nice, and so I furiously immerse myself of the nice parts and work like hell to avoid the rest. And so I consider myself happy. But when I zoom out and consider the state, it's a horrible place.
129: I would have figured you'd give Slim Jims or something.
Or fish eyeballs. They're like candy to the stereotype of eskimos from decades ago!
I'm so sad that today is ending. I want to stay home from sick again and again and again. I don't want to go back to real life tomorrow.
Someone must sell individually wrapped bits of jerky.
It's basically my way of giving out apples with razor blades in them, since the stupid conditions of probation say I can't do that.
These past 3 years, Hallowe'en is the only time I've missed my old life. For 15 years or so, we were the ones in our set hosting the H party -- nothing elaborate, drinks, snacks, and walking around with the kids. The wife and I would dress up a little, etc.
Our first place here was a mansion on a hill; we got nobody. Our new place is on a street voted the best trick or treating in town, a few years back. We'll see.
For 15 years or so, we were the ones in our set hosting the H party
Means something totally different out of context!
It really is awful out there for lawyers. There have been discussions about poor office morale in the place I work, and the higher-ups have essentially responded "We don't give a damn, let them all quit, you should see the amazing resumes we're getting from applicants. We could get rid of all you slobs and replace you with much better tomorrow." (It wasn't that bad, but sort of.)
Ouch.
Does that make your recent-ish promotion better or worse (better because you aren't at the bottom, or worse because you have to do more managing of people with poor morale)?
But when I zoom out and consider the state, it's a horrible place.
Lots of kids, lots of trickers in my neighborhood, houses all decorated up. I don't ask the political affiliations of the angels and werewolves at my door.
And don't really waste my time thinking about San Angelo or Highland Park.
But after thirty years, it has gotten kind of old for us, so we just put a bowl outside the door last year. But the point is to show off the costumes, not get candy, so we may make the effort again.
141: The morale actually doesn't seem that bad to me -- remember, I'm only four years out from a nasty horrible mean unpleasant law firm. But as long as I've been here, the budget has been really tight and people haven't been getting raises on the previously normal schedule, and people who've been here longer are starting to feel put upon. Mostly, I've heard about the conversations with upper-management second-hand in the context of talking about interviewing the awesome job applicants we've been getting.
Fleur knows a couple who bought a house in a neighboring town for which (so they say) the purchase & sale agreement had a provision requiring them as the new owners to distribute full-sized candy bars on Halloween. Supposedly this was a long-standing tradition at that particular address, and the children of the town would have been bitterly disappointed if they ever came to the door and didn't receive the hoped for candy bar.
I mean, we have been through this before about Texas. Yeah, it went 65% for McCain, which is awful. But that still means 35% went for Obama, and if you throw in those who didn't or couldn't vote, I bet as a state it has a majority of Obama supporters. And of course the politics is not exactly evenly distributed, so it is easy to find a city or neighborhood that is overwhelmingly Democratic.
And Texas is growing, and rapidly becoming more majority-minority. Is that true for Manhattan or DC?
People are moving down here in droves, and a lot of them are pretty good people.
What they aren't are white people with solid six-figure incomes who want neighborhoods of nice new houses 100% with Obama signs in their front yards.
Which is great, I don't want that kind to ruin my property values and wreck the place.
Sugar is evil, but one of the easiest ways to spread incredible happiness for not that much money is to give out full size candy bars on Halloween. My parents did that one year and you could hear the shouts up and down the block -- "full size! they've got full size!" Just FYI.
Look, the kids are getting the Reese ass't. Milky Ways. Snickers. Fuck the rugrats. And I don't want a huge bar cause I wouldn't eat it, just 5-10 little ones thoughout the day.
116.2: my friends did that a couple of times but the bowl got stolen.
Was the candy left behind?
143: I have a number of colleagues that are maxed out GS-15s, who therefore do not get time-in-grade raises and instead get only COLAs. They've complained a few too many times to me about that. Especially the one who went to college on ROTC, had a full career with the military as an (essentially) accountant, retired, and then got a relatively easy, relatively rewarding job.
148: no, but my friend chased them down and took back that candy plus all the other candy they had besides.
They threw the bowl on the sidewalk while running away, and it broke.
It is awful for lawyers, and I think because of technology, it's *never* going to get better. OK, there will be lottery winners for who the rewards will justify the price of the ticket. But it's already the exception, and will only get worse.
And somehow all my efforts to dissuade people from law school fail.
Although I don't remember us making a financial argument at the time.
I was convinced not to go to law school. That was probably a good choice for me. If I were to go back to when I was choosing a non-history grad program, I'd now choose something much more computer oriented and not even consider law at all.
We don't give a damn, let them all quit, you should see the amazing resumes we're getting from applicants.
Yeah, unfortunately a shitty economy isn't too hot for worker leverage. Last I heard we're getting something like 1200+ apps a a minimum for every hiring class of 13-20.
I wonder if there are niche areas of law that are kind of boring for a lot of people that will continue to provide a decent living.
My recent forays into benefits law--convince me that eldercare law is not going away. People need help figuring out how to pay for nursing home care and how to set up trusts so that they can pass on something to their kids. The rights of residents of nursing homes and assisted livIng facilities is complicated too. Understanding what you're signing when you buy into a continuing care retirement community is not easy. That's not big law though.
Someone told me that in smaller Canadian cities ($75k) or so there's actually a shortage of lawyers. Those communities need primary care doctors and they need people to write wills.
It is awful for lawyers, and I think because of technology, it's *never* going to get better.
Is that the opinion of most people in the field? There's a patent lawyer I sometimes deal with who seems to be happy that his son is starting his second year of law school. Are IP lawyers doing better than most?
Guard labor is the only growing market.
Is that the opinion of most people in the field? There's a patent lawyer I sometimes deal with who seems to be happy that his son is starting his second year of law school. Are IP lawyers doing better than most?
Lawyers whose parents are lawyers are certainly doing better than most.
There's still something of a patent law (mostly litigation) boomlet.
Also it's not like things are that bad for lawyers; we're fucked, but I don't think enormously more so than other people in the economy, and it's not like there's not demand for lawyers. It's just the decline relative to the expectations of recent graduates from pretty good law schools has been stunning. And the business model of the very large, very high paying law firms that existed from roughly circa 1980-2008 has been under severe stress.
My recent forays into benefits law--convince me that eldercare law is not going away. People need help figuring out how to pay for nursing home care and how to set up trusts so that they can pass on something to their kids.
But assuming Medicaid is duly expanded in the blue states, the asset test disappears in 2014 - eligibility becomes MAGI-only - so that will, I think, become relevant for a much smaller segment of the population (the share-of-cost people, for example). I may misunderstand this; I don't work in very senior-related health policy.
My lawyer friend in Miami lost her job a couple years ago and could not find work for a really long time. She ended up basically temping (how do you temp as a lawyer? I don't know) and the jobs were all foreclosure-related. After teaching herself what she needed to know, she opened up her own firm focusing on foreclosures. She's doing well enough to pay the bills and pay a small staff and outsource some jobs when she's got a backlog. Also she's often negotiating a better deal so the people can stay in their house and doing other generally not-evil things.
I like to say "You made partner!" which she doesn't think is as funny as I do. This is also the friend I call Moosey, which came up in a recent thread.
Point being there's too few lawyers doing foreclosure stuff in Florida. I bet Nevada too. So be a lawyer and do that.
McManus makes some sense in 145.
161: Medicaid for old people is different. In MA where 135% of poverty level already qualifies you for Medicaid, the Senior benefits application is complicated, and the long-term care application is worse. It's all about paying for nursing home care. That can be around $140,000 per year around here.
Let's say that you're a man whose wife gets really bad Alzheimer's and needs to be in a nursing home. You (as the community spouse) can keep $95,000 in assets plus your house. Let's say that you're getting $1500/month in Social Security, you could go broke. So, there's an entire industry devoted to helping people shield some of their assets. I mean, I would have no trouble filling out a regular MassHealth application, but I just paid a law firm several thousand dollars (actually a trust did, but it's going to be reported as income to me to preserve my parents' Medicaid eligibility) to do one for my parents, since my Mom is the beneficiary of a trust and I want to sign them up for a "nursing home eligible but safe to live in the community" program called PACE. Professionals who have relationships with the Care teams are also really important.
Minivet, I'd love to learn more sometime about the work that you do.
I just googled "Medicaid asset test long-term care," and the first article I found said that MAGI budgeting does not apply to:
*SSI recipients and children in foster care;
Those over 65;
*SSI-related applicants;
*Those utilizing spend down to access Medicaid (the medically needy);
*Medicare Savings Plans (MSP) enrollees;
*Those utilizing long-term care services, either community-based or institutional.
That day is my last day of work before paternity leave through the new year. Although not really paternity leave, I'm just burning all my accumulated vacation and timing it with the holidays to give me 6 weeks off. In other words, I need to get practice at drinking with a baby strapped to me.
I have a TI82 from high school that I still use at work. A few of the display lines have blanked out but otherwise it's fine. I assume someone linked to this?
There's no diminution in the client need for legal services, but it takes fewer people than it used to to provide those services, and many fewer people can afford lawyers than need them. Eldercare is a great example: if BG's parents had had to pay from their own pockets, rather than a trust, they may well have just tried to do the thing themselves. Or had BG do it herself. I don't know how many wills are just printed out from forms on the internet, but that's only going to increase. Some 60% of divorces here are pro se, and that's going to increase, as fewer people feel like they can can afford even $1,500 for an uncontested case.
The economics of a solo practice aren't exactly rosy: rent, equipment, malpractice insurance, health insurance -- these costs add up, and you have to find a lot of new $1-3,000 engagements to keep that going, week in and week out, to keep a roof over your head, food on the table, and maybe make some provision for old age.
Not to mention student loan payments for younger folks, who are paying even at a place like UT more in annual tuition that I paid for 3 years of private school 20+ years ago. BLS says the median wage for lawyers in Bexar Co. Texas is 88k. That's people at all stages of their careers, at all kinds of workplaces. It's not poverty, but the difference between that and the median wage for a BA holder hardly justifies the cost of grad school.
The BLS thinks the economy will need about half as many additional lawyers as will graduate from law school in the next decade. I suppose they are taking into account the cyclical nature of a niche practice like foreclosure.
It still probably looks better than some academic disciplines, I guess.
We saved Teo.
You guys helped, but it was actually working in a law office for a few months that really dissuaded me. Financial considerations didn't play a large role because that was back before the job market for lawyers totally collapsed.
73: wait, Natilo was a stockbroker?
Actually, I think I mentioned my work at the brokerage when I delurked, lo those many years ago. I was never in sales, but I did have my Series 7 and 63 licenses. Working on maybe going back to the financial industry soon.
Cheatin' poor widder-women and orphans out of their little all pays a hell of a lot better than advancing the progress of fine art and avant garde performance. (Did I mention I'm going to be on stage again soon? It's just a weird performance art piece that a friend is doing and she needed a lot of warm bodies, but still, the first rehearsal was pretty fun.)
they may well have just tried to do the thing themselves.
I'd have paid--even if it meant taking out a loan to do it. The regulations, the new community benefits and the estate recovery process are so damn complicated.
You need to have millions, long-term care insurance or good planning. It's obscene, because it's way too complicated for old people to do it. The shitty nursing homes do it, but the good ones take the people who can pay privately for several months and then submit the application.
167: But to be clear, most of the real work in my parents' case is being done by a paralegal. But when the Medicaid laws change, a lawyer needs to create a new trust product/ transaction structure to sell to clients.
And the thing about my parents is that they're pretty mentally confused at this point (my Dad's staph infection did something strange), so they really can't follow all of the directions.
Drink is awesome, but not that quiet, and if anybody (heebie) isn't drinking (much?) it might not be the funnest for them.
Not that I have a good alternate "quiet, comfy, yes also has a bar" option ready at hand.
Also, I'd say with its layout (no tables), Drink is probably ideal for a group of max size 5 or 6. We'll likely be more than that.
I have half a mind to come up but...it's right before Thanksgiving and I suspect I will not.
Take three days off the next week and stay over the holiday! (Unlikely I know, as that plan assumes no prior holiday plans.)
Yeah, I'd actually love to be up there for the holiday but have promised my time to Ma and Pa Smearcase.
What about Back Bar? I bet they could make a delicious non-alcoholic somethingorother for Heebie. If we wanted an entirely non-alcoholic meetup the Andala coffeehouse in central square is a good place. I can't think of anything in between.
Aw, Smearcase, I'd love to see you.
Lord Hobo maybe? I only know what it's like on a Saturday afternoon, slightly hung over.
Stupid liquor laws. Going to a calm cafe that also happens to serve liquor should not be that hard.
I can't be there, but I'll send you pictures of my erection.
What time-ish are you thinking? I'm going to have to resign myself to a multi-day trip.
I can do basically whatever time other people can make - I can skip out on the conference whenever.
Anyone who isn't equipped will have to drop by a day-care center and steal one.
Baby-friendly, spacious, relatively quiet, serves booze, fairly handy... Cambridge Brewing Company? It might get crowded later on Friday, though. I don't usually go there during peak hours.
Should have added "baby friendly" to 191.
Like it's friendly to baby-friendly babies?
Buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo-friendy.
It's baby baby-friendly friendly. Baby.
Inside of a baby-friendly it's too tired to read.
I'm pro-CBC, not least because it's close enough that I can see it out my office window.
Ooh, CBC is a good idea. And we can probably reserve a large table there, right? And they have decent food that's not terribly expensive.
And of course, BEER TOWERS.
Sounds great! What time works for various of you?
What time works for various of you?
My erection can be seen at any time.
198: whenever. I could get out of here pretty early if necessary to hold mr. table. 5? 6?
Why did I type "mr. table"? I'm so tired.
201: I just thought you were being funny.
I am also that tired. I could not figure out what the other thread about Dad coming home every four years was getting it. I was pretty sure it wasn't about Jammies but not absolutely sure. I think I am skipping pub trivia tonight. Also because it is a howling maelstrom of misery out there. And me without my misery boots.
Tired.
I do not keep the baby in the drawer at work so if it were after work on Friday I would not have the baby there. Which is fine.
Also, BEER TOWERS are a bad deal- they charge you more for the novelty. For the non-seasonals it's a 64oz pitcher for $17, 100oz TOWER for $29. Only Karl Rove would take such a deal.
Only Karl Rove would take such a deal.
I think it's been shown that there are also lots of other Republicans who can't do math.
Oh, you mean those on-table taps. I was thinking something more like a gigantic tower of beer you stand beneath and it pours all over you.
I can see why they'd charge more (aside from being able to get away with it). Those towers look like a pain to fill up.
I'll have a drink over here so I can be with the meetup in spirits.
Is there a way to make things baby friendlier on friday night? Seems like doing something at a time other than "after work" might be hard if we are actually going to a bar-type establishment, and if we do something after work presumably it'll be hard for people to bring babies that aren't already in their desks.
Solution- my whole clan will meet there for dinner (maybe).
Sweet! All hundred and fifty of ya!
Did we settle on a time? When do you want us to start descending on your lair, Nathan?
Do we just trickle in starting at 7AM?
You just need to wake up a bit earlier and get to the toilet.
6 pm it is! Shall everyone bring something to share, snack or drinkswise? Besides me, pleading out-of-town helplessness?
I am still daydreaming about a 24-hour jaunt but it's...too much travel time, especially taken with the 7 a.m. train to D.C. I have to be on next Thursday.
Sadly, I'm going to miss the liveblogging because of my hotel's fascist internet policy. (Am I allowed to say "fascist" here? Hmm.)
I'm going to have to bail too. We're doing a trip to PA the next weekend so I don't feel like arranging another trip so soon.
Pregnant heebie will be forced to drink both of your drinks, Smearcase and essear.
Three drinks! Hydrobatidae's too! That kid's eyes are going to be in its ears.
223: But how will it pierce its ears?
Okay, so, how do these things work? Is karaoke mandatory? Do I have to mention this Motumbo person? Are (semi) lurkers really welcome?
Both ears will actually connect in the back to form one continuous handle, and can be pierced there.
Are (semi) lurkers really welcome?
For sure! I don't think you're a lurker, though.
226: Baby topology is a burgeoning field.
I heard their skulls are totally malleable.
Argh. So, my sister and her girlfriend have decided that the best time and place to get married is at 10 in the morning on Friday, so I'm apparently going to be in NYC Friday morning and my chances of getting back in time to make it up to Boston Friday evening are slim.
Quite disappointed to miss this one!
I came somewhat close to talking myself into coming up and then it turns out I have a job interview on Friday afternoon. I thought I'd bury that in this ancient thread!
Smearcase, a friend of mine just put up his shingle as a psychotherapist now that he's a fully independent social worker. His psychology today profile needs some work. Did you say that there's some kind of how to guide to making the most of the medium? I think you said that it was incredibly irritating, but I wanted to point him to something, since he's really great.
BG: I did, but it's been 6-7 years and I don't remember the details at all. Also the advice was truly awful. I'll look around but the general suggestion was: pretend the people you are dealing with are really stupid. They're stressed out and don't want to hear any big words! I saw all the ads of the people who took her advice and they tended to start "Are you feeling sad?"
Ok, no, I can't find it. If he has an ad already I think he has access to some forums where she used to lurk and pitch her ad-writing advice.
I mean, there's actually something to the notion that anxious people don't want to hear about how you prefer Harry Stack Sullivan to Karen Horney, but her advice as I remember it was just to ask questions a child would understand and stuff.
I'm going to be picking up some pizzas from here (menu pdf) on the way over to feed the kids, does anyone else want to join in?
236: also helpful for the websites of basketball scouts. "Are you feeling tall?"
I am at the T stop near Nathan's
We are at nathan's! SP's eldest son has determined that nathan is an inventor.
Now we are talking about videogames and there is a baby who is not convinced by Led Zeppelin.
I just yelled at everybody for not liveblogging enough.
Now people are punching me.
Now people are punching me.
Canonically, you're supposed to put on a flak jacket first.
We are eating Hostess snacks in memoriam.
Now we are looking at the latest developments in baby analytics.
Baby analytics have come a long way.
Aw, who a cute widdle analytic?
Now we are talking about Jackmormon's family.
Oh wait now we are talking about BBS camp.
This is some first-rate liveblogging, Sifu. Keep up the good work.
Unfoggedodecacon is in Alaska. It has been written.
Last I heard we were talking about tax evasion. But now I am in the bathroom where there is a charming poem about shitting.
Usually those poems aren't appreciated on the menu.
Now we are talking about Pickle Riot.
I'm in a completely different bar, one close enough to my house that I could go home if I had to shit. Which I would because the men's is filthy.
261: If it's so close why don't you go to that one all the time?
I do usually go here. But, this is a different bar from the one in Boston.
Ah, okay. They're not actually at a bar, you know.
264: not at a commercial establishment, but who knows what furniture nathan has?
264: Does not alter the truth value of 263.
266: True, but it does make it less felicitous ("the" bar in Boston? which one?).
264: I missed that. I tend to recall things that concern me directly or that will make a pun.
Nathan has chairs. Also tables. Couch. Kegerator. Cat... thing.
Now we're looking at nude pictures of Rob/ert Rei/ch.
Damn. That was epic. Mme. Merle was there!
Also there were cats. And babies. And, if the 6-9 year olds are to be believed, a wizard.
a wizard
Nate Silver showed up? So gay.
SP's kids have no concept of gay, because they are indigo. Also, they could easily be convinced nathan is Nate Silver.
I meant that they are indigo children.
Why can I not mean exactly what I say?
You implied that there was some connection between their indigocity and their ignorance of Teh Gay. The nature of that connection remains obscure.
While you're here, Stanley, thanks for the Bulleit recommendation. It's good stuff.
teo if you're buying that caliber of bourbon why not try Buffalo Trace at a point.
I've heard good things about Pappy Van Winkle.
Oh god Pappy Van Winkle is mind blowing but it is impossibly difficult to acquire.
You could start a company called (mind:blow)
287: Glad you like it. I confess that a fraction of my affection for it is colored by the fact that it's in an interesting bottle.
teo if you're buying that caliber of bourbon why not try Buffalo Trace at a point.
I suppose I might as well.
I confess that a fraction of my affection for it is colored by the fact that it's in an interesting bottle.
It is indeed.
We learned lots of other things at the meetup tonight but either I can't reveal them or I forget them.
At the farmer's market last week I paid more for a bottle of vinegar than I'm accustomed to paying for bottles of wine, and you know what? I don't regret it.
(I mention this because I was reflecting on the presumably prohibitive cost of Pappy Van Winkle, assuming you can find it.)
I'm pretty sure I couldn't find Pappy Van Winkle without a really extraordinary amount of effort.
Aren't indigo children like spirited children, one of those helplessly precious terms that parents use to describe their royal pain in the ass overly-sensitive hard-to-parent child who is nevertheless bright?
The Boston crew is super fun and charming. You all should be jealous.
I've met you. I'm still kind of jealous.
I would assume "indigo child" referred to a kid who needs a stint in the gswift bootcamp of manliness.
Drink yer grappa and quitcher bitchin'.
I'm awake early, alert, and not at all hung over. I should drink too much grappa more often.
"Indigo child" is a super-woo idea. It means that if you're the kind of person who can see auras, the child's aura is indigo. Apparently nobody had an indigo aura before, but we're entering a new age of human consciousness. So you probably have indigo children that you're fucking up with your ham-handed primitive consciousness.
The magnetic field from all the child psych study MRIs must have made them that color.
Jenny McCarthy tried out "indigo" and "crystal" child before switching things up for extra perniciousness.
I was making a joke having read this but in truth SP's kids are far too charming to fit into the "indigo" category which apparently means 1. being a brat and 2. walking into tables.
They truly are charming. They ask permission before doing things, and they ate up all the carrot sticks and celery sticks. Actual quote: "MMMMM, CELERY! I LOVE CELERY!"
I have only seen pictures of SP's kids* and they are absurdly adorable.
*But not the new one!!! Hint!!!
True Fact: My grandfather was the seventh son of a seventh song born on the seventh day of the seventh month. Which is a thing and supposedly made him some kind of clairvoyant or something. Mmmhmm. #fuckingirish
fuckingirish
Thank you. Don't mind if I do.
Fucking Irish, Flogging Molly tribute band?
No-one loves celery.
Now you're all going to tell me you love celery, and I won't believe you, because celery is unlovable.
From the link in 311: Plus, he'd had a brain scan and they'd found all this unusual electrical activity.
I think we need some statistics to quantify "unusual". Is this fMRI-of-a-dead-fish unusual?
She said Indigo children were springing up all over the world, all at once, unconnected to one another. .... This was a global phenomenon. Soon the Indigo children would rise up and heal the planet.
Wasn't that how Buffy season 7 ended?
Essear, I made a veronica mars joke last night about how sifu's ex-cats were singing the theme song to him and no one appreciated it.
I hope when the indigo children take over it looks like the cover of Houses of the Holy.
319: Really? Just how much statistical evidence do you need to justify your skepticism regarding supernatural children?
And it gives me no pleasure to say this, but blindfolded children immediately start walking into chairs, into pillars, into tables.
I'm not sure I believe you, Ronson.
321: I was thinking Village of the Damned.
313- I thought I had posted the Obama canvassing one. I added that and a couple others.
327: I'm sure Obama was impressed, notwithstanding this photo.
OT: The perfect gift for a hostess or whoever is on your list this holiday.
Celery is terrific. When I was a pregnant person I ate celery sticks with Trader Joe's almond butter with flax seeds pretty much constantly.
I like celery too--with a dab of peanut butter, no less-- and I had a wonderful celery apple soup once.
I submit that, even if you don't like celery as a food to eat whole, you do, in fact, like celery, because it is used as a flavoring in so many things.
330: I think the nipples should have been more integral to the design.
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foolishmortal's recommendation of the Peruvian Chicken joint in Union Square in Somerville was spot on. Damn that's good.
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Who knew you could make quinoa with straight-up schmaltz.
Who knew you could make quinoa with straight-up schmaltz.
Does that mean, like, as the cooking liquid? Or just as a fatty adjunct? If the latter seems pretty straightforward and analogous to e.g. kasha.
330: I like close-up shot revealing that not all the hair was removed.
No reason to disrespect them, Eggplant. Little and broken, but still good.
Little and broken
Not since my then-kitten tried to suckle from mine have I felt them so inadequate.
Marky Mark has a third nipple. Helped him no end.
Superfluous seems like a poor way to describe a third nipple on a man.
I believe they are called "supernumerary", aren't they?
That would be better, but I get 164,000 hits for "superfluous third nipple" versus 17,000.
343 - If The Man with the Golden Gun has not deceived us. Which surely it hasn't.
For instance, I believe that's the book where we learn (in an MI6 intelligence report on Scaramanga delivered to M.) that gay men cannot whistle.
Marky Mark dedicated his autobiography to his, because "the bitches like to suck on it".
Is everyone else's Facebook wall filling up with accusations that the American press is anti-Semitic? And everyone I know who is either Israeli or American living in Israel is posting statistics about the frequency of Gaza rocket attacks on Israel and how this justifies retaliation. I want to respond with "maybe the people firing the rockets think they're retaliating against your apartheid state" but I'm sure that would lead to a lot of interpersonal nastiness.
349: ask them if following the IDF twitter account is a good way to say informed.
(I just checked and, yup, it appears to be a lot of tweets about how very many rockets they have been intercepting. The "and we blew this up!" tweets are a distinct minority.)
(Also apparently nobody has yet started a "drunk IDF spokesperson" twitter account. How can this be?)
I just really resent this whole "you must support our war and defend its morality or I'll call you racist" schtick, and the emotional appeal of people posting photos of their cute Israeli babies or whatever and talking about how the rockets are threatening the children. "I like you, your baby is cute, but fuck no I'm not supporting your war or anyone else's" seems to have been excluded as an option.
Is everyone else's Facebook wall filling up with accusations that the American press is anti-Semitic?
I've got a handful of pro-Gaza posts, but they're outnumbered by people from my hometown complaining about those ingrate workers causing us to have no more Twinkies.
Send them this Rall cartoon. (Does this link to facebook work for people who aren't signed in? I can't find the original cartoon on Rall's site.
354: There's a chance their baby might be hurt, but this baby is now definitely dead thanks to Israeli airstrikes.
357: Yeah, but that baby is just unfortunate collateral damage from their very justified and ethically reasonable war.
Really its Hamas's fault for hiding their weapons in the densely populated Gaza Strip.
There's a well-known saying: never talk about Israel with mathematicians. I bet the same principal holds for physicists.
God, this Gaza stuff is so depressing all around.
361: those who are mathematicians at the intersections with computer science, and indeed, computer scientists, are a great bunch, though. Also, many Israeli mathematicians are left-wing and vocal about it, e.g. this guy. There are other examples if you're interested.
I haven't seen much about Gaza in the last day because my pro-IDF FBfriends don't use computers on the Sabbath.
"Insanity is trying the same thing over and over expecting different results" applies.
362: I'm sure it will end well, though. I mean, if history is any guide.
I'll take your word for it. You're the historian, after all.
My FB feed is full of smiling people noting that Bobcats rule and Grizzlies drool.
I know better than to ask if anyone around is one of the People of the Red Field. But do we have any Cal Poly alums?
There's a well-known saying: never talk about Israel with mathematicians.
Sorry to be dense, but is this because so many mathematicians are Jewish or?
My fb feed doesn't seem to have a trend right now. Some pictures of a beach, some pictures of curly fries, some "humor", a picture of Carnegie Hall, one of beer...
370: if it helps, I just e-mailed three friends who are mathematicians, and none of them had heard this well-known saying. One of them did want to talk about Gaza, however, which freaked me out.
I thought we had previously established that so many mathematicians are French (or maybe that was just Fields Medal winners.) So, you know, you shouldn't talk to them about Algeria, or something.
Speaking of Jews, history, Egypt (tangentially), and depressing, there's a house down the street that still has a sukkah up in the front yard.
I was supposted to show some students Battle of Algiers this week, but that didn't work out.
Maybe it's a guy with a bad back and I should offer to help him take it down.
We just had a fairly lousy date (truth hurts kind of thing, although it was stupid to talk about current or potential kids) and so to cheer myself up I tried oil pulling with coconut oil while washing my face. I stand by my prediction that it stays grossly solid for too long (20 seconds at least!) and now my work is done.
to cheer myself up I tried oil pulling with coconut oil
Man, you must have been in one hell of a bad mood for that to sound like a good way to cheer yourself up.
Spending 20 seconds to prove to yourself that you were right seems like a reasonable effort/reward ratio.
Yeah, but that sounds like a really gross and unpleasant 20 seconds.
There are plenty of grosser ways to spend 20 seconds.
Well anything with a mammal in kind of internal kind of relationship to oneself.
I guess not any mammal. A living rodent.
383: the mammal is coming from *inside* the building!
Or if you were in a car filled with fish, and then it was super, super hot out. And, you know, the fish were old.
I'm thinking living fish, birds, bivalves, etc., also not great.
bivalves
Now that really depends on the mode of ingress.
The question then is: just how invasive are zebra mussels... and how small can they be?
I wonder if a baby mouse is small enough to hold, living, in one's mouth for twenty seconds, without enduring harm to either party.
Fortunately, I have no mouth, so I can put neither mouse nor my money there.
A spider's egg sac in a little baby lizard in a baby mouse in your mouth.
Spider eggs really suck out the toxins.
I'm having a hard time deciding what I think is grosser: holding a baby mouse in my mouth for 20 seconds, or holding a spider's egg sac in my mouth for 20 seconds, or sitting in a hot car full of old fish for 20 seconds.
I guess we have a designated set of activities for the next meetup!
As we all know, Wilbur held Charlotte's egg sac, which, fortunately, was waterproof, all the way from the county fairgrounds back to the farm.
In his mouth, even. Fucking Vicodin.
I know, right? Give a pig vicodin and he will seriously put anything in his mouth. Coconut oil, spider eggs, a car full of fish, whatever.
Give a Pig a Vicodin is the hipper version of Give a Pig a Pancake.
Give a pig a vicodin, he'll put anything in his mouth. Teach a pig to vicodin, he'll … he's not gonna be fooling you again.
I really don't see why people read Charlotte's Web to children. The main message appears to be that if you find the right person to tell lies about you, you'll succeed regardless of merit. Way too many kids took that message to heart.
The main message appears to be that if you find the right person to tell lies about you, you'll succeed regardless of merit. Way too many kids took that message to heart.
Well, I mean, it's true.
And If You Give a Pig A Pancake is basically a better-argued version of Mitt Romney's 47% speech.
Don't get me started on The Giving Tree. That's one fucked-up book.
A giving mouth holds all eggs, Moby.
I feel like making a typo and then saying "Fucking Vicodin" is maybe a backdoor brag.
Also 405 is very funny.
I am watching Lolita and am squicked and bored at once. It's like having a really dull spider's egg sac...guh, never mind.
I wish Charlotte Hays had been played by Charlotte Rae. Or something.
Charlotte Rampling was very good in Zardoz. Compared to the script and the rest of the acting.
I wonder if a baby mouse is small enough to hold, living, in one's mouth for twenty seconds, without enduring harm to either party.
Baby mouse can't really move around much on their own. It would probably be safe in your mouth. But then its mother might reject it when you put it back in the nest.
I wonder if there is also post-colonial mustard.
If we're sticking to the German context, I suppose the places to check would be Tanzania and Cameroon.
AFAIK neither is known for its mustard.
414: Buffalo Trace Stance is good.
I danced more tonight than I have in about 7 years. Which is pretty good, I think, given that I was keeping up with the kids at a 20th anniversary part for an institution for which I also attended the 3rd anniversary party. And most of them were still in short pants at that point.
I wonder if there is also post-colonial mustard.
I don't know about mustard in specific, but I have definitely been in a Kulturwissenschaft seminar where jokes were made about Postkolonialwaren.
You will still very occasionally hear old people (and weirdly non-PC for their age people, like my former landlord) refer to chocolate and coffee as Kolonialwaren.
But is there post-Colonel Mustard?
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So at this party I was tellin' you about, last night, one of my transgender friends was there, arrayed in a very nice black dress, with lots of glitter and stuff, and looked nice, but not in a "passing" kind of way. And we're standing in line for drinks and this big, big skinhead guy walks up, someone I know from around, but not really to talk to, guy looks about as scary as "big anti-racist skinhead" would imply to most people. And my antennae go up a little bit, worried that he's going to say some transphobic thing or worse, but instead he greets my friend warmly and complements them on their nice dress.
Just shows to go you can't make big assumptions about people without looking pretty foolish in retrospect a lot of the time.
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I can't believe the Germans have a word for Postcolonialsenf.
I may well have this wrong, but it's my impression that the term was used more generally for imported goods, whether or not they came from the colonies. Not that I know anyone who was alive when Germany had real colonies.
More precisely, there were colonial stores, and that's where you'd get exotic foodstuffs, like sugar.
This is in a rural area, where one would be expected to live mostly on home or locally grown food.
Is this still the thread for Gaza gloom?
An Israeli deputy PM says ""We must blow Gaza back to Middle Ages"
The Middle Ages were notably free of strife.
Or, more specifically, Judenhass.
