There is a rivalry that you don't want to get in the middle of.
Their annual game of "Stone the adulteress" is always on Beano's Big Board.
But would Jed bum the smoke off of Barack, or the other way around?
Oh, MoDo. Why can't you just let Kristen Chenoweth be happy?
yoh, i'm tired
should not procrastinate in the morning then try to complete all the work in the afternoon and late in the evening
i meant to say i didn't understand the post and the other cited post too which i couldn't read, just jumped from line to line and got an impression must be something humorous
7: It's the guy from the TV show The West Wing, read. Does that help?
thanks, it's that president with MS, now i recalled
Bush blinked like 8 times when he started talking! He doesn't have what it takes!
Say what you will about Aaron Sorkin's imagined meeting between Barack Obama and fictional former President Jed Bartlet
But I already said what I would! Do I have to say it again?
"For more than a decade, we've been deregulating the living hell out of every industry we could."
(What, you're not watching lame duck Bush lie like a rug?)
Oops, 13 was me, attempting to put 12 in context. No one really cares, do they? Nor should you.
The thing is, I'm not even really mad, the way I usually am when watching Bush. He just seems so pathetic and irrelevant.
Apparently these assets are deeply, deeply troubled. Will no one help them find solace?
My son suggests that maybe Bush will endorse Obama at the end of the speech in the ultimate political ratfuck. I'm not allowed to watch, so someone post a comment if that happens.
It's all over, JP. We've moved onto "America's Got Talent: The Final" with your host Jerry Springer.
via the inimitable eekbeat
I bet Aaron Sorkin could muster up a pretty good eekbeat imitation.
11: Nice post, W/d.
As to your mystery about whether the "Sarah Palin wants to teach creationism" assertion is true -- I suspect that whether or not it is, it will be bad for her to state her position on it.
Not because many Americans don't also believe in some form of divine creation -- most do -- but because to respond makes her sound explicitly culture war-ry in a manner that isn't very popular right now. In fact, I think a lot of the appeal of Sarah Palin is that she lets the culture warriors do their thing without having to address the issues. Her appeal isn't that she's a gay-bashing anti-abortion creationist -- it's that she's a conservative performer of her gender role, unlike sensitive Obama and striver Hillary.
As to why I didn't respond to your blog post in your own comments, it's I'm a dick.
should not procrastinate in the morning then try to complete all the work in the afternoon and late in the evening
Welcome to my life! Especially when I have an overzealous collaborator who thinks nothing of calling shortly before midnight to talk about work.
23: You could tell him you're suspending work in light of the ongoing financial crisis.
I have a hard time saying a bad word against a fellow mushroom aficionado, but I will say that he makes us look flaky.
690 SAT words? Not impressive. Reach for the stars, Sorkin.
I won the spelling bee in 7th grade and went on to take the middle school championship, before failing at regionals on the word "haggard". True story.
29: Not to mention scientific notation. Here's your shovel.
I never watched The West Wing, so I have only the MoDo column to go on: fluffily amusing!
Stanley, "haggard"? Oh dear.
That leaves only you to blame, Stanley.
32: Dude, I was in 7th grade! And he had a funny southern accent and everything! (Reporter for the Richmond, VA, something or other.)
Did I ever tell y'all about the time we were doing reading aloud in 7th grade English class, and I came to "chihuahua," which I pronounced "chi-hew-ah-hew-ah."
I wrote an apology to my "Language Arts" teacher and later did a project about the word "haggard" which consisted in something lame about the word haggard and examples thereof, and then I went to high school, and college, and yet, where's my Lexus you Phi Beta Kappa loons? You send me notices but no keys.
That's funny, the PBK people gave me a key.
Wait, that's not even true. They offered to sell me one.
39: My mom was shocked they weren't giving 'em away anymore.
Times are hard.
My mom wanted me to give her my key, but I told her there was no way I was shelling out for it.
42: Merle forgives me, I'm sure of it.
From the wikipedia article on PBK (god knows why I looked it up):
Refusal of the invitation occurs almost entirely at large state universities. This is especially common in the Western United States, where there are comparatively few old private universities. Reasons given include a lack of knowledge of the society (especially by first-generation and foreign college students), the initiation fee, lack of perceived benefit to the honoree, low prestige for academic achievement at the institution ...
44: That about sums me up. I had no idea what it was, and figured if someone wants to honor my ass, they should be willing to do it for free.
45: It's just funny: the proprietors of PBK seem to be fretting about low acceptance, and slowly puzzling through the reasons for it. Hm ... well, the immigrants don't seem to get it, nor the newcomers in general. Also, they don't really seem to get why it's so great. Plus they think the cost is off-putting. Don't know what's up with that, but there it is. Hm.
I remain content with a late-model Lexus or its equivalent in Euros. And yet, nothing.
People should just start getting their invitations notarized. Nothing in particular accrues to you for being in the organization. You don't even get a free subscription to their magazine.
I see that the wikipedia article refers to an "initiation fee". I don't recall being initiated into shit.
It *is* fun to tell alumni of the social fraternity system that you are also Greek.
You don't even get a free subscription to their magazine.
Now that's just lame.
Phi Beta Kappa is one of those things I only know from reading old-timey things. I associate it with Archie Comics and Burma-Shave signs. Unpersuasive evidence of a quainter world.
How many SAT words does one have to know to get a 690?
53: All of them. Or you can just read a year's worth of W-lfs-n posts and get a 790 by osmosis.
re: 54
Most bright literature people will just pretty much know everything won't they?
I'm not familiar with the exact content of the SAT test, but how often do people here really come across words they don't know? [Leaving aside specialist technical language]
Oh, I figure I'm up with anyone on vocabulary size, and I come across words I don't really know occasionally (usually in the sense that I can follow a sentence with such a word in it fine, but couldn't give you a definition.)
re: 56
Oh it happens, but it's very rare.
I might have the timeline backwards, but I remember being told that Phi Beta Kappa was "the highest academic honor you can receive as a student at this university". Then a week or so later, it was "being a Student Marshal is the highest academic honor you can receive as a student at this university".
I was at a talk by Mark Billingham (a crime writer) and he was saying that he'd once had to review a crime fiction book and some Booker (or similar) shortlisted book for a radio show. With the other two authors present. He'd enjoyed the crime book, but had been put off the literary fiction work by constantly coming across words in it which he had never even seen before. So he said this to the author this, on air, and was condescendingly told that it is possible to read a book with a dictionary next to you.
My dad said a word to me the other day that I didn't know, but I've forgotten what it was.
I substitute every word I don't know with "balls". It doesn't hurt comprehensibility much.
"For more than a decade, we've been deregulating the living hell out of every industry we could."
"And attempting to privatize every single governmental function."
chi-hew-ah-hew-ah
House style dictates 'chihuähuä'.
I was going to make a joke about not privatizing war, when I remembered that we were doing that too.
I substitute every word I don't know with "balls". It doesn't hurt comprehensibility balls much.
How did a post about a MoDo column turn into an opportunity for folks to let slip how they were invited to join Phi Beta Kappa but were waaaaay too cool for the scene?
Oh, wait -- this is Unfogged. Never mind. Back to it!
Okay, that was just mean. I'm sorry. It's early and I'm grumpy.
re: 59
Come to think of it, I can think of two novels where that happened to me. Foucault's Pendulum where I did use a dictionary several times, and, Tibor Fischer's The Thought Gang, which, it turns out, has a glossary at the end, and the reason why the author continually uses obscure words beginning with Z is eventually made clear as part of the plot.
I, however, like an idiot, didn't notice the glossary until I'd read most of the novel.
I'm in PBK! And proud to be. Because I had a rockin' GPA.
I have a pet peeve with Hollywood scripts that say, "So-n-so was a National Merit Scholar" (or finalist, or semi-finalist), as shorthand evidence that their high school student is super-duper smart, because I was nowhere close to being any of those things, and I bristle at the implication that I'm not smart enough for Hollywood.
Somehow I suspect this won't resonate here, and that I'm preaching to a nest of National Merit scholars, finalists, and semi-finalists. AT LEAST I GOT LAID IN HIGH SCHOOL.
That's okay, heebie. I was a National Merit finalist, and here I am, still in college in my thirties. Maybe that's the deal with the script writers, too, and they just don't want to admit it.
Phi Beta Kappa is one of those things I only know from reading old-timey things. I associate it with Archie Comics and Burma-Shave signs.
So true. I think my grandmother was in it, but I didn't know it was still going. Either my mom's GPA was really mediocre, or they didn't have Phi Beta Kappa for her major. Either or both are pretty likely.
68: Yep, sorry Heebie. At the right high school, even the nerds got laid. At times it seemed that especially the nerds got laid. Though I forget whether Scholar was the lowest level or the highest level for National Merit. Not that the levels even had anything to do with test scores once you passed the initial qualifying level (scholar or semi-finalist).
AT LEAST I GOT LAID IN HIGH SCHOOL.
Even girls with lip rings need love!
The Eskimos only have one word for National Merit students, but over four words for getting laid in high school.
I was whatever happens when you get a high score on the PSAT, but entirely failed to comprehend the next steps, and took no further action. I was an easily confused child. Still am.
67: I, however, like an idiot a tourist, didn't notice the glossary until I'd read most of the novel.
Bragging about getting laid in high school should still be less acceptable than bragging about being a National Merit Finalist. The latter can be achieved by hard work, while the former is bestowed randomly without regard to need. What are you, one of those Republicans who only respects status markers than can be achieved without paying any dues?
You could've gotten laid if you'd put the time in.
75: You probably just didn't want it enough.
I read all those books about how to succeed, and how I should not take no for an answer, and force my foot in the door, and make big promises first to win the contract (and sort out the details later) and all those euphemisms, but I foolishly decided to let my fate be determined by the wishes of others.
Did you consider widening your applicant pool, IYKWIM?
82: Are you talking about fisting?
Geez Merganser, I was the applicant.
Well, that's your problem right there. You're supposed to be a *supplicant*. Or maybe a replicant. I always get those confused.
82: there are some jobs CNs just wouldn't do, even for $50 an hour.
Okay then--did you consider spreading your application around more widely?
83: I dunno, but whatever I'm talking about, it sounds kinda kinky.
And now I'm off to teach another sub-par class! Wish me luck!
Jesus Christ, but I hate Aaron Sorkin.
I don't mind Sorkin, but Christ, do I hate Dowd. She isn't an interesting writer; she isn't funny; and she never has any insight into anything that isn't inside her own head not much of that.
BARTLET Yes, and you're losing a ton of white women.
"September 18, 2008 - Women, Blacks Give Obama 4-Pt. Lead Over McCain, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Voters Say Dem Tax Plan Helps Middle Class, Poor
"With a 14-point lead among women and a 91-point lead among blacks, Democrat Sen. Barack Obama leads Republican Sen. John McCain 49 - 45 percent among likely voters nationwide, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today."
Any assertion that Obama is "losing a ton of white women" is gleaming bullshit of the purest kind, something that exists only in Dowd's own head.
You only have to lose, at most, 20 white women to lose a ton.
The piece was actually written by Sorkin. In this case, Dowd is sharing her own head with him.
90 - But it was sexist bullshit that sounded exactly like Bartlett, who would often say things even meaner than that about Democratic women.
#92. So it's Sorkin in the voice of Dowd in the voice of Jed Bartlet? Don't look now, but I think that whole column just disappeared up its own metafictional ass.
Foucault's Pendulum where I did use a dictionary several times
I actually liked that book, and was telling a friend how I liked it. He said "You didn't like it, you're just pleased with yourself for having finished it".
I hate Aaron Sorkin
YOU CALL HIM PRESIDENT SORKIN, DAMMIT! YOU MAY NOT LIKE THE MAN OR WHAT HE DOES, BUT YOU DAMN WELL BETTER RESPECT THE OFFICE OF NETWORK TV DRAMEDY WRITER!
re: 95
I loved it, actually, and have pressed it on lots of people. But I can see how it would drive some people crazy and other people would find it silly.
"You didn't like it, you're just pleased with yourself for having finished it"
He was just riffing on that somewhat silly quote of Twain's though, right?