Re: Aesthetics

1

How high is higher ceilings? Just curious.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 3:56 PM
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Speaking of ceiling height, I was just changing the light bulb in my apartment's front hallway and realized that the ceiling there is about eight inches higher than the ceiling in my bedroom, and the kitchen ceiling is somewhere in between. Why would that be?


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:03 PM
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Yeah, higher ceilings and hardwood floors make me feel much more relaxed and at home. The one piece of negative feedback I gave Hotel Palomar on their response card was that the hallways felt too hemmed-in and dark.

AWB, my guess is that somewhere along the line someone put in a dropped ceiling in your bedroom to save on heating costs, and maybe the same in the kitchen at a different time (or maybe the kitchen one had a dropped ceiling when electrical things got rewired, as a cheap and easy way of hiding the work) It may not look like a traditional dropped ceiling, of course. How old is your building, do know?


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:23 PM
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I do not recommend Edmonton in March.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:41 PM
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Maybe a murderer cunningly hid his victims in the ceilings, thus foiling any Rear Window-style meddlers from deducing his evil scheme.


Posted by: minneapolitan | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:43 PM
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1 - I don't have a tape measure but, measuring my height against the wall and estimating up, I think my current ceilings are between 9 and 9 1/2 feet. In the old place, it was at least 6-12 inches shorter. Googling reveals that 8 feet is the average ceiling height.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:45 PM
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Dropped ceilings are also a cheap workaround for really nasty ceilings.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:45 PM
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Minneapolitan reveals the kinder, gentler self behind the revolutionary mask. A real murderer would know that bodies stink way too much to put in the ceiling.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:48 PM
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I was trying to pull up my Phillip Larkin quote while reading this thread adn then remembered that's High Windows.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:49 PM
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I lived in a bi-level loft with 16 foot ceilings for a year but that was too much space and kind of disorienting. Still, it was a beautiful apartment and pretty cool. Here's the Midwest for you: it was in an old converted historic building in the middle of downtown with 10 foot windows along all of the walls and the rent? $600 a month.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:50 PM
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bodies stink way too much to put in the ceiling

Depends on how you pack them.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:54 PM
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New Zealand. It's lovely this time of year.


Posted by: DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:56 PM
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I'm the same way about both, Becks. In fact, I kind of wonder whether everyone is the same about colors, and just thinks it's the heat, rather than the gray, that bothers them.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 4:59 PM
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11: Geeze, dude, cheerful much? Wouldn't you panic if you "woke up in bed with your wife dead next to you" with two bullet holes in her head and your necktie around her neck?


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:04 PM
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Probably he woke up every morning for 23 years saying to himself, "Today I should really do something about that drum out in back". But he let it go from one day to the next, always putting it off -- and now look at him.

A lesson for procrastinators, if any of them ever happen to stop by here.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:15 PM
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14: Althusser did.

Althusser's crazy book is very funny and interesting.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:16 PM
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Snarky headline notwithstanding, this is kind of a sweet article.

Anti-relationshippers won't think so, of course.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:21 PM
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15: Probably he kept busy with laundry and taxes.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:22 PM
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17: I immediately knew it was a John Deere. There's a John Deere collector a couple of miles from here.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:26 PM
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One of the great things about Glasgow tenement flats [roughly analogous to brownstones in New York] is the huge ceilings. Way, way higher than 8.5 ft.

So you can be living in a student flat, in a single room, but have huge high ceilings, bay windows and stained glass.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:26 PM
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Not that that blue-watered, green-treed place isn't warm.


Posted by: Armsmasher | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:28 PM
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Note ttaM studiously avoids the part of the post about cheerful, colorful places.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:28 PM
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Someone who'd put up with his milking cows at 3 a.m. and his six-day work weeks.

Unfogged girls! You don't have to be single!

The article didn't seem clued in that there are way more bachelor farmers than bachelorette farmers. The women in that dating service could pick and choose.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:29 PM
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Not to put too fine a point on it, but Althusser had the decency to report right away that he'd strangled his wife, IIRC.

The sun came out today, and I could could feel my serotonin levels begin to readjust. I had enough time to see my shadow before the clouds came back, so it looks like six more weeks of drinking winter.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:32 PM
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25

In a few weeks it might be the right time for flowers to bloom in those parts of some deserts that have flowers.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:33 PM
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re: 22

Scotland is green. Green with a capital G. Lush, in fact.

Near constant rain in the west combined with a fairly temperate climate means it is, largely, not to put too fine a point on it, green as fuck.

Not great for sunbathing, or getting a tan. But if your aim is to grow lots of stuff, it's pretty ideal.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:33 PM
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27

Indeed, I always forget that southwestern Scotland has palm trees.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:34 PM
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Also, my current apartment reminds me that street-level is my least favorite level. Which reminds me that I need to find a new place in the next couple of weeks.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:35 PM
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re: 27

Actually, the palm trees are in the far north west. It's quirk of the Gulf Stream that there are palm trees in Scotland at roughly the same latitude as southern Alaska.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:37 PM
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25: I had a friend who scheduled his vacations around the the desert's flowering. He'd try to have a little slack so that he could take off the same day his sources told him that the blossoms would come out.

My son's cousin brought back photos of the Gobi, and in season it can be pretty spectacular too.

He also was ecstatic that he had been able to see the Grand Canyon one of the rare times it snows there.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:38 PM
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The more I think about it, the more I think Becks is right about the lack of light and color, rather than the lack of heat, being the reason winter is so depressing. Most of the Northeast looks like ass from about October until March or April. Gray sky. Gray tree branches. Muddy brown gray ground or snow (that turns gray.)


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:39 PM
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Desert blooms are really something else. Whole hills covered in purple and orange and so on.

If that's your kind of thing.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:40 PM
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Right now, the woods next to our house in Oxfordshire are full of flowers. Snow-drops, primroses, daisies, daffodils. All of these are out now. It's very pretty.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:41 PM
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Western Oregon is the Scotland of the US. Or maybe western Washington is, and western Oregon is the Ireland. Anyway, green as fuck. And I have a palm tree in my front yard.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:42 PM
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35

When snow is clean and the sun is out it's incredibly bright around here. But some winters there's very little snow.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:42 PM
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36

The gray can be beautiful too, just not 100 days in a row.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:54 PM
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37

Eh, the midwest isn't much to look at in winter either. Everything brown, and still flat.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 5:59 PM
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38

That is true. We must not discriminate against the gray. Though 100 days of green and sunshine oddly fails to get old.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:00 PM
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39

||
We just had an amusing outing to the drug store. Our children have been troubled lately by fear of the dark. Fleur and I convinced them that we could buy monster repellant at the drug store, and this would ensure that no monster would come near their room. Fleur made up a nice self-adhesive label for "Monster-Away" ("For use under beds and in inside closets"). We all went to the store together, and, while she distracted the girls, I took a can of air freshener from the shelf and gave it to the pharmacist and asked her to afix the label. After a few minutes, we all walked up to the pharmacy counter and waited in line. I asked the pharmacist, "Do you have monster repellant?"

The other customers were at first perplexed, and then totally flabbergasted when the pharmacist cheerfully answered, "Yes we do, let me go get some."

"Maximum strength, please" I called after her. She came back holding the Monster-Away and played along cooly, saying "I use this brand in my house and I have never had a problem with monsters." The looks on the faces of the other customers were priceless. One lady caught on and played along with us. Our daughters were pleased as could be, and couldn't wait to go home and spray under their bed.

|>


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:02 PM
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39 is brilliant.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:05 PM
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Knecht, that's six kinds of awesome.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:05 PM
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42

Your kids will laugh about that when they're older, and tell the story to their own children.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:10 PM
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43

I'm wondering now whether there is a business opportunity in this...


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:12 PM
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44

Knecht, I love it and will copy you if the nighttime-seeing-things chez nous gets any worse.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:14 PM
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re: 43

Definitely.

"New, all-organic Bogey'B'Gone (tm). A KR-Monster-Away product."


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:15 PM
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I predict that your children will find the scent of that particular air freshener strangely comforting, even in twenty or thirty years. Here's hoping it never stops being manufactured.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:15 PM
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43: Just don't ask me to do a case study!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:16 PM
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Just great, KR.

Regarding ceiling height: When I first moved here, I lived for a couple of years in an apartment with what must have been 10 or 11 foot ceilings (or more, no idea, really; I am not good at estimating heights and distances). I have a picture around here somewhere I should put up. Wonderful ... and many more possibilities for hanging things on the walls!


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:17 PM
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"In clinical trials, tests find that 100% of households using KR-MonsterAway remain monster free."


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:18 PM
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KR and Fleur - hope it worked! Such an excellent plan deserves to.


Posted by: asilon | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:18 PM
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"If KR-MonsterAway wishes to expand into the European market, there are three areas we must consider. First,....."

The genius is going to the pharmacist to 'buy' the spray.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:20 PM
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52

totally charmed by Knecht's story.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:20 PM
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here, Becks, something green to cheer you up
and i eat a lot of chocolate to overcome winter blues, i suppose,
though it's kinda constipation inducing :)


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:22 PM
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I'm wondering now whether there is a business opportunity in this...

My mom gave us some commercially-produced similar thing last year—a spray bottle with a no-bad-things kind of logo, basically—and it was quickly forgotten. I'm guessing that the value is in how you played it.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:22 PM
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55

That was really pretty, read.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:24 PM
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56

Our Paris apartment had 11- or 12-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. I doubt I will ever feel so comfortable in a dwelling again. (OTOH, Paris is depressingly dark in the winter; I found that I occasionally needed to go to a tanning salon to juice my mental state with some UV rays.)

We bought a bunch of antique furniture while we lived there, and when we moved to the U.S., we found that most of the apartments (and later houses) we looked at had ceilings too low to accommodate our furniture.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:25 PM
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53 as you guessed was me
and i'm going in April to San Diego to attend the meeting, can't wait
should do it my epic American journey no 2
if to include the Grand Canyons and LA with Vegas and may be SF, not Seattle this time with my cousine gone


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:26 PM
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i eat a lot of chocolate to overcome winter blues, i suppose, though it's kinda constipation inducing

There's a kind of chocolate you can buy that is guaranteed not to cause that problem.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:29 PM
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Commercial product

San Diego has swell weather.

I need to get some sun again in a little bit here. California here I come!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:29 PM
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The lack of natural light is getting to me more than the gray this winter. Now that I'm no longer on a student schedule, I can't do chores and stuff during weekdays and it's always dark when I leave work.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:33 PM
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"If KR-MonsterAway wishes to expand into the European market, there are three areas we must consider. First,....."

"...production concept (import, local manufacturing under license, or invest in production facilities?); second, marketing strategy (the 4 P's); third, distribution channels."

The unsuccessful candidates get the first two. The successful ones remember distribution. Always remember distribution.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:36 PM
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Speaking of vacations, I just booked our like five minutes ago and I'm so dizzy with excitement that I might have to go lie down. Costa Rica!


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:37 PM
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63

Lots of greenery in Costa Rica. Also lots of legal drugs.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:38 PM
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64

Woo-hoo cloud forest!


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:40 PM
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65

There are lots of legal drugs in the states, too, just different ones.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:43 PM
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66

He also was ecstatic that he had been able to see the Grand Canyon one of the rare times it snows there.

Eh? It snows all the time at the Grand Canyon.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:47 PM
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67

Oh man, Costa Rica will be amazing. Saturated green (depending on where you spend time, I imagine).


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:48 PM
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68

There are lots of legal drugs in the states, too, just different ones.

I think you'll find Costa Rica's administrative units are provinces and cantons, not states.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:48 PM
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69

I think you'll find that, since 65 was drawing a contrast with Costa Rica, 68 doesn't make any sense.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:51 PM
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I think you'll find that 65 should perhaps have used "the States" rather than "the states."


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:53 PM
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Further to high ceilings, old apartment picture here, since I became momentarily obsessed with finding it. Those windows obviously admitted a lot of light -- and morning light -- such that we slept in that front room in winter.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:53 PM
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72

66: He must have lied to me.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:54 PM
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73

I think you'll find that, since 65 was drawing a contrast with Costa Rica, 68 doesn't make any sense.

I think you'll find that, since 65 was an intentional misreading of the plain sense of 63, 68 was mainly designed to follow in its pettifogging spirit.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:54 PM
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74

I think you'll find that 73 is a form of meta.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 6:58 PM
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74 to 74.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:01 PM
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74 to 75.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:04 PM
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Most of the Northeast looks like ass from about October until March or April.

Are you kidding me? Ass looks great! The LA beaches look like ass. Winter in the Northeast just looks dismal.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:24 PM
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78

Who's on first?


Posted by: asl | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:26 PM
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79

Yes.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:30 PM
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i'm glad Cala you liked the clip
those scores flying around remind me my father's shattered old vynil records


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:37 PM
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You know what's awesome about Costa Rica? Bot flies. Here's a nice clip of one being removed from a white woman. Soon this could be Becks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B7Top18qXY


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:40 PM
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61: I'm pretty screwed on faux-MBA front. Can't learn an MBA in two weeks.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 7:44 PM
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82: O RLY?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:19 PM
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The main thing I'm getting from this weeks Modern Love (written by the editor!) is that the pieces he doesn't print are much better than the pieces he does:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/fashion/10love.html?_r=1&ref=style&oref=slogin

You'd hardly know from the column that people submit columns about happy, loving relationships.


Posted by: PerfectlyGoddamnDelightful | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:20 PM
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85

NO SUCH THING!


Posted by: JOHN EMERSON | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:28 PM
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||

I have just finished making the most delicate, delicious soup of my life---asparagus and cremini mushrooms in a whisper-light asiago cream broth. I am pleased with myself and with the world.

|>


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:35 PM
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87

See? You don't need a man.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:42 PM
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81 - You missed the NYC meetup this week where someone told a story about a friend of hers who went to Costa Rica and got a cockroach so badly stuck in her ear and they had to drive THREE HOURS to find a hospital where they could get it out. I recoiled with such force that I managed to give myself a nosebleed. I kid you not.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:43 PM
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My friend grew up in Costa Rica. She loved it except for when a capybara snuck into her room and ate her parrot.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:47 PM
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And save the Modern Love talking. I'm putting up a post about it tomorrow.,


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:47 PM
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Man, I'm glad not to be living in an apartment with parrots.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:56 PM
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My friend grew up in Costa Rica. She loved it except for when a capybara snuck into her room and ate her parrot.

I adore capybaras and find parrots creepy at best. If only it weren't for the head-invading cockroaches, man, Costa Rica would be the place for me!


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 8:57 PM
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Man, I'm glad not to be living in an apartment with parrots.

Me too.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:06 PM
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94

I have a capybara leather wallet I'm quite fond of.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:09 PM
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95

"Check out my wallet, it's made from a giant rat."


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:13 PM
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95: exactly right. I can't believe I wasn't showing it off at unfoggidycon; I usually do when I get drunk.

"Look! Rat leather! Feeeeeeel it."


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:17 PM
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I was imagining more a real live capybara with small saddlebags for credit cards and your drivers license. (Whistles.) "Carlito! My Mastercard! Andale!"


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:24 PM
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Even better would be, "Check out my wallet, it's made from Speak."


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:27 PM
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Eelskin wallets are made from hagfish. (Or slime eels. Believe it or not, "hagfish" is the euphemism).


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:29 PM
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Kobe likes high ceilings.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:30 PM
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101

I visited a shop in Helsinki that had some really great fishskin goods. All far too expensive for me, of course, but they were very handsome indeed.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:33 PM
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Capybaras look so noble. Also, Snarkout and I just had the following conversation:

Me: Killing a parrot! I thought capybaras were herbivores.
Snark: Well, rats will eat anything.
Me: But they don't kill for it. You don't see rats killing voles.
Snark: I bet they would if they could! Rats bite babies. In the ghetto.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:34 PM
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103

Snark gets it.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:38 PM
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104

They might be noble, but it looks like that one took off that person's face.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:38 PM
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I made up a little song. It goes "Bitin' on a baby, bitin' on a baby, bitin' on a baby, yeah." And in the background, Snark falsettos "In the ghetto!"


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:39 PM
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105: yo send me the vocals I can produce that. We can make a ringtone.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:43 PM
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107

We also discussed whether John McCain would bite a baby. Verdict: yes, of course.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:45 PM
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108

The Khotanese made little icons of masturbating monkeys.

You heard it here first. Make of it what you will.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:46 PM
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109

He had to eat babies to survive, man. It was nam, man. You don't know.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:47 PM
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We also discussed whether John McCain would bite a baby. Verdict: yes, of course.

Only to prevent a terrorist attack. Or win the nomination. Or if he was bored.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:47 PM
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108: in Angkor there is at least one representation of two monkeys 69ing each other.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:47 PM
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I was thinking we could send him a copy of the song! Then he would have something to sing as he shuffled up to the bassinet.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:49 PM
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113

Braaaaaaaains! Tiny, underdeveloped braaaaaaaains! (in the Ghettoooooooo)


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:50 PM
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114

Birds and capybaras can be friends.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:59 PM
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115

109: Shut up Sifu. You have no frame of reference.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 9:59 PM
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116

Excuse me.

"Shut the fuck up, Sifu"


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 10:00 PM
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115: aw, no offense. Think of it as a Big Lebowski reference.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 10:03 PM
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That was hella cute, AWB.


Posted by: snarkout | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 10:19 PM
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119

I've been watching Attenborough on YT for hours. Help.

So far, the birds of paradise series is the best. This related one in particular is awfully sweet.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 10:32 PM
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The flycatcher riding on the capybara's head in the water? ZOMG! Nature cuddly in tooth and claw, like Grizzly Man without the nasty ending.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 10:32 PM
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I just spent a half hour watching various videos of the birds of paradise. Very, very awesome. But then I got, um, sidetracked. A related video was of a moonwalking bird which may be one of the coolest birds in the history of cool birds.

That video then led to this moonwalk lesson. Not too sure whether to laugh or cry (it's the sound effects that really seal the deal. Or maybe the voice.). Or perhaps just thank various deities for YouTube.


Posted by: Crabby Abby | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 11:22 PM
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I initially read "YT" as "Yours Truly" and couldn't figure out what that meant in context. I later determined it means I should go to sleep.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02- 9-08 11:27 PM
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72: [Grand Canyon snow] He must have lied to me.

Or he may have been referring to snow down at the river level. As Teo note, it is very common to have snow on the rim. I have been there three times, there was snow at the top for two of them. But it is quite rare down to any significant depth into the canyon.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:29 AM
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Yeah, you can see that in the link I gave; the first set of statistics is for inside the canyon, and you can see that the snowfall levels are very low.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:35 AM
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I have a cookbook by the Two Fat Ladies with a recipe for rabbit in chocolate sauce in which the authors confide that the original recipe calls for capybara.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:15 AM
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I read somewhere that capybara was once officially classified as a fish by the Catholic church so that people could eat it during Lent (apparently there's a shortage of edible fish in the parts frequented by capybaras). Can anybody verify this?


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:30 AM
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126: Once again, we see the debt that canon law owes to the Talmudic tradition.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:33 AM
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128

Wikipedia confirms 126, but also says that they tend to live in coastal and delta areas, so I can't imagine there would be a fish issue. I am now really squeamish wondering if my crazy Italian aunts ever substituted one of the Christmas Eve 7 fish with capybaras.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:43 AM
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I suspect that the key issue is availability of edible fish. There are, for example, plenty of piranhas in the areas inhabited by capybaras.

I doubt capybara meat is widely available outside of northern South America, so unless your crazy aunts had connections there I think you're safe, Sybil.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:45 AM
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I can't really be sure about the connections of the cosa nostra. There were a lot of shady goings-on in those little PA towns.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 7:48 AM
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but capybaras are innocent and delightful!

catholics are monsters


Posted by: felix | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 8:31 AM
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no decent Anglican would eat a capybara, that's for sure


Posted by: felix | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 8:32 AM
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128: Probably not, because the 7 fishes isn't a canon thing, but an Italian thing.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 8:34 AM
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Perhaps not a recognized distinction to my aunts.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 8:36 AM
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135

131, 132: The flesh of a good, ripe Catholic, on the other hand, is stringy, but delicious in soups and stews.


Posted by: strasmangelo jones | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 8:56 AM
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136

Piranhas recipes


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 9:06 AM
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no decent Anglican would eat a capybara, that's for sure

Hence 125, one presumes.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 9:12 AM
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136: I can't take those recipes seriously, since they don't start out "First, obtain your piranha..."


Posted by: minneapolitan | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 9:17 AM
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125: I have a cookbook by the Two Fat Ladies with a recipe for rabbit in chocolate sauce in which the authors confide that the original recipe calls for capybara.

good for them

their reward shall be in Capybara Heaven


Posted by: felix | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 9:19 AM
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137. As upper class Scots, I imagine the TFL were Presbyterians, strange as that may sound to an American ear. I'm sure they'd have used the real thing if they'd thought their public could have found it - they weren't sentimental.

Tip for anybody visiting Edinburgh. Bankrupt yourself at Dickson Wright's bookshop on Grassmarket.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 9:50 AM
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Tip for anybody visiting Edinburgh. Bankrupt yourself at Dickson Wright's bookshop on Grassmarket.

you are a terrible personal financial advisor, OFE


Posted by: felix | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:36 AM
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Wiki:

Paterson was a devout Catholic and her uncle, Anthony Bartlett, was a senior aide to the Archbishop of Westminster, and so episodes were filmed at Westminster Cathedral and an Irish convent.
Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright (born 28 June 1947) is an English celebrity chef who is best known as one half, along with Jennifer Paterson, of the Two Fat Ladies. Having trained as a lawyer, Dickson Wright is also the youngest woman ever to be called to the Bar.....Clarissa Dickson Wright was born in St John's Wood in London in 1947..... Born to a wealthy family, she had a Catholic childhood and grew up in a nine-bedroom house in St. John's Wood that was staffed with several servants. At the age of 21, Dickson Wright passed her exams and became the country's youngest barrister. Her mother died of a heart attack in 1975 and she inherited £2.8 million. Her mother's death, combined a few years later with her father's, quashed her ambition and she took to drink for the following 12 years.
In 1979, Clarissa Dickson Wright took control of the food at a drinking club in St James's Place in London. While there she met Clive, a fellow alcoholic and they had a relationship until his death in 1982 from kidney failure aged 40. Shortly after she was disbarred for practising without chambers. Dickson Wright claims that during her alcoholic years she had sex with a MP behind Speaker's chair in the House of Commons.

Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:52 AM
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S/B "Her mother died of a heart attack in 1975. She inherited £2.8 million, which quashed her ambition, and she took to drink for the following 12 years."


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:54 AM
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I imagine the TFL were Presbyterians, strange as that may sound to an American ear.

Why would that sound strange to an American ear? We've got tons of Presbyterians over here.

Anyway, according to Emerson's unsourced blockquote they were Catholic and one of them had ten middle names.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:56 AM
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Wait, he did source it, he just didn't link.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:57 AM
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144: but just imagine "Presbyterian" said in a heavy Scottish accent.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:57 AM
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86: Oh, that sounds delicious. Recipe?


About the high ceilings. Our place, as I think I've mentioned, is pretty small (at a guess, 650 sq. ft). However, a few things make it way more livable than I expected. 11ft or so ceilings inside with big windows -- and the corridors leading to it are both open (i.e. outdoors) and 14ft ceilings. This means you never get the sense of entering a cramped space as you make your way home. Real tile floor in kitchen & bathroom. The walls are not `apartment white', and they have detailing (even though they are still light coloured).

I've been really surprised at how livable it is. Could use a bit more storage, but we shifted everything we could to a locker not far away.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:59 AM
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146: I'm imagining. Still not strange.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:02 AM
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And a big defender of fox hunting and blood sports.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:03 AM
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147: Not hard. Make a broth with mushroom stems, asparagus ends, celery, carrots, and onion, with salt. In a large pot, sauté half a minced onion in 3 T butter, add finely chopped asparagus and creminis. Sprinkle with 3T flour, cook for one minute, douse with milk, stir, douse with more milk, stir, until you've added 3 c. milk. Let it simmer to thicken, then add 1 c. grated asiago. When melted, add 2 c. broth, bit by bit, simmering to incorporate.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:17 AM
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Thanks, AWB


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:20 AM
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I'm going to have to try that soon. Today's too late, but soon.


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:21 AM
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AWB, that soup sounds wonderful.

)|
Bleg, again. Would a camisole or (preferably) a shell under a suit count as "business formal"? Reason being that my efforts to find a shirt with buttons have failed in such a way that after I buy the universities and force their administrators to dance in my circus, the survivors will be forced to work in a sweatshop where they actually measure actual women and make shirts that don't pull, gap, or hang like a potato sack.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:26 AM
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We've got tons of Presbyterians over here

Yes, but I thought US Presbyterians tended to be fundie kill-joys. Doesn't matter, turns out TFL were Catholics anyway.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:29 AM
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153: Button-down shirts for women are the worst, no? I leave trails behind me littered with shirts I thought I could stand that ended up being obscene or sack-like.

I dunno if it helps, but the only place I've ever found button-downs that are big enough for my chest but that still fit in the stomach is at Express. They might not be selling their button-downs right now, though, since they're apparently going through one of their horrible phases when all they sell is hot pink tube dresses. Fucking unreliable Express. My closet's full of their button-downs and jeans.

As for formality issues, I have no idea whether a shell is business formal. I'd think it would be fine, but I am not a good judge of these things.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:36 AM
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The only problem with Express shirts is they're absurdly long, and I think I remember you saying you're rather petite, Cala? I forget.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:38 AM
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Yes, but I thought US Presbyterians tended to be fundie kill-joys.

No, US Presbyterians are generally boring white-bread types. Quite similar to US Episcopalians. It's the Baptists who are fundie kill-joys.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:41 AM
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I'm 5'4'', and my problem is finding shirts that fit in the shoulders but aren't too long in the sleeves and too wide in the waist. This eliminates everything with buttons that, e.g., Ann Taylor carries. I'm not sure who the hell they're designing for. I'm not that weirdly shaped. By the numbers, I am the Average American Woman.

Maybe I'll check out Express tomorrow. I hate spending this much time thinking about clothing.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:43 AM
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The only place I can reliably find button downs is The Limited, which I think is related to Express.

I also think a shell is ok, but am not confident in my authority. But I can think of lots of movies where well-dressed business women had shells on under suits.


Posted by: Sybil Vane | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:44 AM
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But I can think of lots of movies where well-dressed business women had shells on under suits.

For instance in the film version of Lanark, in the first and fourth parts.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:47 AM
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In the original thread where this came up, did someone post pictures of what this "business casual" is supposed to look like? A suit with button-down shirt underneath, on a woman, sounds silly to me, so there must be something I'm not picturing. (What do you do with the collar - button it up to the neck, but no tie?)


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:48 AM
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Movies are certainly a good representation of reality. For example, a high proportion of FBI and CIA agents are 25 years olf and model-beautiful.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:51 AM
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I think a shell would be OK. As far as the button-gapping issue, this stuff is your friend. It's also great for keeping bra straps from showing and making sure a V-neck doesn't slip down further than you'd expected.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:51 AM
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157: Maybe, but we do have potluck suppers, so nyah.

158: Yeah, I've gotten so fed up with shirts in the past that I've cut a few up and resewed the darts by hand, just because I want one to fit my body. There are so many important measurements on a woman's shirt, you'd think they'd make them with more variety than S-M-L.

My problem is ribcage. If I buy to fit my ribcage, I lose my waist. If I buy to fit my waist, the buttons above it strain. During the winter, one solves this in the most cowardly fashion by donning sweaters over everything.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:52 AM
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A suit with buttoned shirt can be seen here.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:56 AM
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The boobs cause the gappy problem, but my real problems seems to be that if something fits in the shoulders, it will hang like a sack and STILL gap.

There is a reason I wear tank tops and sweaters. No fucking buttons!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:00 PM
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Also, I know I've had salespeople pull and tug tucked in button-down shirts of the boxy variety so that they magically are no longer boxy and define the waist as well or better than the darted variety (pulling some of the material to the back and tucking it in just so). I should learn how to do that someday. When I was wearing suits, I'd usually just shove my shirt in the waistband any old way and go.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:02 PM
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I have no shoulders to speak of, and I still find button-down shirts impossible. They gap, they blouse out annoyingly, they get all bunched up under my jacket or cardigan... ugh.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:03 PM
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You can help me run my circus-cum-tailorshop, rfts.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 12:05 PM
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163: In the early 90's I wore a dress that I carpet-taped myself into. I don't know if there was fashion tape then or if I just hadn't heard of it.

Someday I want to find out how much it would cost to have a tailored shirt pattern cut for me, a pattern I could keep and hand in to someone to make. Has anyone ever done this? I know some cutters; I should just ask them.


Posted by: Penny | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:21 PM
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Penny, I found it helpful to take measurements from a favorite shirt that I'd stopped wearing because of the color. I measured the shoulders, the angle of the front darts, the back darts, the sleeve widths, etc., and used those measurements to alter other shirts. It would definitely be better to have one professionally done, but meanwhile, it's nice to have those numbers tucked away somewhere.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:26 PM
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Hey, this backstage stuff is demythologizing boobies. Come on, guys! We old farts have almost nothing left.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:28 PM
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Wait, you stopped wearing it because of the color? Did the color change? Was it, like, deer colored and it was hunting season?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:28 PM
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I just mean I couldn't wear it anymore, though it still fit perfectly, due to having a pattern on it that didn't age well into the 21st century.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:31 PM
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Sometimes one realizes that a lovely color on its own just isn't very flattering in proximity to one's face.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:31 PM
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174: is it covered with fractals?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:33 PM
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There was a time when I wore a few two many striped shirts. I wearied of stripes all at once in 2003.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:36 PM
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Fuck! Too! Too many!


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 1:37 PM
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the pattern was tons of tiny pictures of delillo's head, all forming one of those magic eye things that depicted a still from the oasis video wonderwall.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:51 PM
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Too awesome.

Why should I be relegated to alameida fanboy, eh? I REJECT!

Awesome, though.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 10:56 PM
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If you want to be alameida's fanboy, you might have to take it up with SomeCallMeTim.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:08 PM
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SCMT is my fanboy, Ben.


Posted by: Becks | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:12 PM
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He was alameida's first.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:26 PM
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SCMT was a virgin?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:29 PM
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No, alameida was.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:30 PM
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SCMT was the virgin surgeon?


Posted by: Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:31 PM
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I can read?


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 02-10-08 11:35 PM
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Shells and knits are fine under a suit; probably more formal than anything but a really well fitting buttondown, and as everyone else said, who has a really well-fitting buttondown. And if you're keeping your jacket on, which you should in an interview, no need at all to worry about something being strappy or shoulderbaring -- I've got lingerie-style camisoles I wear to court without qualms, given that you can't see anything but the neckline with a jacket on.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-11-08 7:49 AM
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