Well...
I didn't realize David Brin and Orson Scott Card were...well, pro ID types.

What up with that?

:)

Posted January 24, 2006 2:29 PM by John Farrell

Speaking of seeds ... ordered some last week. Tomatoes, of course, and summer squash, basil, and rhubarb. (Rhubarb? I like it, and it's hard to find.)

Posted January 24, 2006 2:35 PM by P J Evans

What's the weirdest name you've ever come across for a real-live doctor, as opposed to a fictionnal one? A few months ago, I had to take my wife to Urgent Care, where she got taken care of by one Dr. Faust.

Posted January 24, 2006 2:37 PM by Serge

I'm not surprised by Orson Scott Card's ID beliefs-- after all, isn't he LDS, and pretty hardcore LDS at that? I can see how the one might follow from the other. I'm more surprised about Brin, but since I haven't read/enjoyed as many of Brin's works as I have of Card's, I'm...less disappointed in him? If that makes any sense?

Posted January 24, 2006 2:41 PM by Annie G.

What's next? Brin, like Card, will turn out to be a Dubya supporter?

Posted January 24, 2006 2:43 PM by Serge

I've been following the fracas on Brin's blog.

The debate is not over I.D. itself, but how you debate I.D. types.

Brin is not pro-I.D., but he seems to be taking flak for suggesting the attitudes of scientists are partially to blame for I.D. making inroads.

Best to go to the source:

Part I:

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2006/01/supporters-of-science-must-adapt.html#comments

Part II:

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2006/01/supporters-of-science-must-adapt_22.html#comments

Posted January 24, 2006 2:43 PM by Stefan Jones

I had a Professor Paine for Math in college, and he was a PhD, so he could have gone by Doctor Paine.

And in an unrelated note, there's a dsmvwllng entry in wikipedia now.

Posted January 24, 2006 2:45 PM by eric

When we used to live in Toronto, right by Lake Ontario, there was a house near the boardwalk that was the proud residence of a surgeon called Dr. Gore.

Posted January 24, 2006 2:47 PM by Serge

well, my gyno used to be Dr. Cox (pronounced Cocks). My fiance always thought she should have been a urologist.

Posted January 24, 2006 2:56 PM by Annie G.

I had an oral surgeon once named Dr. Looney.

My Dad had a classmate at the Air Force Academy whose last name was Marvel. Why, yes, he did reach the rank of Captain.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:02 PM by Carrie V.

Captain Marvel? You're kidding us, right, Carrie?

Posted January 24, 2006 3:03 PM by Serge

I read that article about the mind-altering parasites last night. Scared the heck out of me. And then I had to clean the litterbox.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:04 PM by Laura Roberts

Annie, a friend of mine went to a urologist whose name was Dr. Cockburn (pronounced CO-burn, but still). We always thought that was rather fitting.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:05 PM by Darice Moore

A friend of mine was delivered by a gynecologist named Harry Beaver. I've seen the birth certificate.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:08 PM by Tim Walters

Slightly off the thread, there's a dumpster company named Looney Bins.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:09 PM by P J Evans

My father's ex-boss was named Peper, pronounced as you'd expect, and he had a Master's in English Literature. He stopped before he got his Ph.D--he claims it was because all you can get with a Ph.D in English Lit is teach, but we all know the real reason.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:13 PM by Will "scifantasy" Frank

New Scientist has been collecting these unexpectedly-apt names for a while.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:15 PM by Wim

There was a discussion over the holidays on here which touched on the inappropriateness of using the Bowie/Queen recording of "Under Pressure" for use in a jewelry store ad. In the same line, I've been somewhat uneasy about the use of "Daydream Believer" by ebay for their recent ads. I finally identified the problem: the ebay ads are all about acquiring "it", whatever "it" may mean.

However, the central verse of "Daydream Believer" contains the following lyrics:

Oh, and our good times start and end
Without dollar one to spend.
But how much, baby, do we really need?

Which is all about NOT making acquisitions!

Posted January 24, 2006 3:18 PM by oliviacw

Serge,
I just tried to google the name to find proof. And, well, that was a mistake...

But no, I'm not kidding. And I must say, if it had been me I would have retired right then and had my own letterhead printed up.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:19 PM by Carrie V.

So, there truly was a Captain Marvel, Carrie? Goodness. I hope he didn't look like old-time actor Fred McMurray as he was the inspiration for the comic-book Captain Marvel. Don't believe me? Try catching 1943's movie no time for love, where Claudette Colbert plays a spunky girl photographer, and Fred, nicknamed Superman by his coworkers, is digging tunnels for the New York subway. There's a dream sequence where Claudette is attacked by a mustach-twirling villain, but Fred comes flying to the rescue, all decked in a superhero outfit. He even has the asymetrical cape later seen worn by Caotain Marvel.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:29 PM by Serge

Ooh, PJ Evans you've made me crave tomatoes. Yum. Have you ever seen this place before? They have more varieties of tomatoes than I ever knew existed.

Tomato Growers

I want to pick out a few heritage tomatoes for next year. Now, if only I could find purple and pink carrots.

Posted January 24, 2006 3:33 PM by Hamadryad

Nichols Garden Nursery has 'Purple Haze' carrots - the picture is quite startling!

Posted January 24, 2006 3:37 PM by P J Evans

ASpeaking of silly names... I just read in today's San Francisco Chronicle that one the Village People was scheduled to show up in court for a traffic violation. I especially liked the part where they give the DA's name:

...A man who helped make famous the songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy" is still scheduled to be featured on the television show "America's Most Wanted," after failing to surrender in a San Mateo County courtroom today, according to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe...

Posted January 24, 2006 3:46 PM by Serge

Serge:

When I was growing up there was an optometrist named Glasser.

And my favorite law firm name, sighted when I lived in Albuquerque: Gresham and Lawless. Accident specialists.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:12 PM by Patrick Connors

PJ Evans, I have a recipe that I have fine-tuned over the years for rhubarb pie that is sooooo good. I'll share it if you're interested.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:14 PM by Sean Bosker

Sean, if you're willing to share with all and sundry, I'd be delighted to see that recipe. Rhubarb pie is one of my favorite things.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:24 PM by Andrew Willett

I once interviewed a librarian named Anita Drilling. She was the inspiration for the start of a newsroom list of odd names that also included local sanitary district candidate Charles "Drainage" Smith and a fellow simply named Carp.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:28 PM by Paul Eisenberg

Rhubarb pie, rhubarb sauce on vanilla ice cream, rhubarb cobbler, rhubarb jam, beef stew with rhubarb and parsley (don't laugh, it's Persian and tasty, and they also have rhubarb-ade) ....

Posted January 24, 2006 4:28 PM by P J Evans

I saw a picture of a tombstone in San Jose that said only 'Ring'. No dates, no other names. We only could come to one conclusion, which is left as an exercise for the readers.

(And the rhubarb seeds are from Kitchen Garden Seeds.)

Posted January 24, 2006 4:31 PM by P J Evans

I remember hearing of a Dr. Bonebrake practicing in Springfield, Missouri during the late 1960's and early 1970's. Upon trying to google him, I found that there are several currently active doctors with that last name in the area.

Switching gears somewhat, I always got a kick out of knowing one of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington's earliest piano teachers was named Mrs. Clinkscales.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:34 PM by Rob T.

Some cousins of mine had a dentist named Dr. Feer, and a dermatologist named Dr. Demento.

Really.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:38 PM by Stefan Jones

I don't think mormon doctrine has anything against evolution. I was raised by devout mormon parents who saw no problem believing that God devised evolution Himself. I remember several conversations on the subject whenever we visited a museum with dinosaurs (or that really cool one in Utah, where you could watch them excavate fossils).

But then, there's the problem with the general mormon doctrine and an untrained lay ministry - one bishop may believe that God created the earth from many planets, thereby explaining away fossil evidence and one may be willing to discuss Darwin. The GAs I think would prefer not to say anything definitve, so as not to look either like god-hating liberals to the fundies who already hate them, or like gallumphing ignoramuses to the rest of us.

I guess what I'm saying is that OSC can't use the Church as an excuse to believe the stupid, at least in this case; he's a dope in his own right.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:39 PM by nerdycellist

As I recall, there is an optometrist's window in Cambridge (England) with the name "Dr W.E. Pain". And my friends took some classes with Dr D'eath of the Maths department. And a colleague of mine was named Hu Wei, and so when he was awarded his PhD he became Dr Hu.

Also, the headmaster at a friend's school was named Philip [Barrett?] and proudly displayed his qualifications from Oxford:

Philip Barrett, M.A. D.Phil. (Oxon).

So of course the kids called him "Mad Phil".

Posted January 24, 2006 4:42 PM by candle

So, there truly was a Captain Marvel, Carrie? Goodness. I hope he didn't look like old-time actor Fred McMurray as he was the inspiration for the comic-book Captain Marvel. Don't believe me? Try catching 1943's movie no time for love, where Claudette Colbert plays a spunky girl photographer, and Fred, nicknamed Superman by his coworkers, is digging tunnels for the New York subway. There's a dream sequence where Claudette is attacked by a mustach-twirling villain, but Fred comes flying to the rescue, all decked in a superhero outfit. He even has the asymetrical cape later seen worn by Caotain Marvel.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:43 PM by Dan Blum

Bee-bop-a-ree-bop-a-rhubarb-pie! I have a recipe for rhubarb crisp I've been trying to render as low-carb as possible. In the meantime there's a rhubarb-in-sugar-free-strawberry-jello recipe that comes in at just 2 carbs, if anyone else is still unfashionably doing Atkins.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:47 PM by Janet Croft

Hmmm... That McMurray/Colbert movie did come out in 1943, Dan, at least according to the imDB. Interesting. I guess I had it wrong. And yet Captain Marvel did look like Fred in the comics I've seen - and Alex Ross's graphic novel made that even more blatant. I wonder if the artist saw the movie and decided to change the Cap's looks because of the movie.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:53 PM by Serge

Dr. Demento, Stefan? I think that, circa 1991, the head of Standord University's psychiatry dept was one Dr. Dement.

Posted January 24, 2006 4:55 PM by Serge

Serge, that would be William Dement, MD, Ph.D. I think he's still there.

There's a Dr. Wimpy in our town. Also a Dr. Butt. In my childhood I knew a veterinarian named Dr. Bloodworth.

And not a doctor, but the Georgia State Patrol used to have a spokesman named Sgt. Killingworth, and yes, he did the announcements about how many people were expected to die on Georgia's highways on holiday weekends.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:06 PM by Lila

I've heard a few zinger doctor names - I have a Source.

Not the ordinary foreign names like Draghina Drago Dragovitch*.

No, these are names like Manley Hyde. His middle name is Richard.

The one before that was Ebenezer O'Doom.

Also, Velvet Green.

I grew up with a tough name ["Sanford and Son" was on the air from age 3 to 7, in my life. I had an great-uncle Sanford whom everyone loved. Maybe it made me tough.] Also, in Junior High they will make fun of the name "John."

But for gawd's sake, people, "Bjorn Leader"? That's rough.

*There was a discussion of "how much do they like Vlad Dracul in Romania?" Apparently, THAT much.

In totally unrelated surfing:

http://www.whitedoom.com/Travis/drDoom2.html

Posted January 24, 2006 5:06 PM by Sandy B.

While vacationing in Hawaii and looking at road signs, it occurred to me that disemvowelled text in Hawaiian would be very hard to reconstitute. 7 consonants...

Posted January 24, 2006 5:17 PM by Jeffrey Smith

My sister had surgery by Dr. Donald Duckles.

There's also a psychiatrist in the area named Dr. Kook.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:24 PM by Melissa Mead

Serge -- I had my wisdom teeth extracted by Dr. Fear.

Dr. Dalbert Fear of Ypsilanti, MI, to be precise.

My dentist's alternate recommendation for an oral surgeon was his wife, who had compounded her name on marriage to become Dr. Awsome-Fear.

If you're accepting PhDs as well, consider the name of Dr. (Travis) Doom.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:29 PM by Victor S.

Somewhere in the family tree are Sidney Fly and his wife (whose name I forget). They decided to name their daughter Marietta.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:32 PM by Glen Fisher

John Farrel, if you asked me to come up with a discussion I'd be unwilling to have running on Making Light, "David Brin on Orson Scott Card on Intelligent Design" would be at the top of the list.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:41 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

A friend of my family was an eccentric priest, Father John Lawless.

A well-off classmate of mine was Richard Stiff, called Rich.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:42 PM by Pfusand

Hmmm... That McMurray/Colbert movie did come out in 1943, Dan, at least according to the imDB. Interesting. I guess I had it wrong. And yet Captain Marvel did look like Fred in the comics I've seen - and Alex Ross's graphic novel made that even more blatant. I wonder if the artist saw the movie and decided to change the Cap's looks because of the movie.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:45 PM by Dan Blum

nerdycellist spake:
I don't think mormon doctrine has anything against evolution. I was raised by devout mormon parents who saw no problem believing that God devised evolution Himself.

That doesn't necessarily mean that evolution is compatible with Mormon doctrine. Your parents might well have been quite devout, yet disagreed with the Mormon Church over that point. It wouldn't be the first time those pesky free-thinkers had ideas of their own.

A little Googling uncovered this and that, which indicate that the matter isn't anywhere near as clear-cut as one might like.

Posted January 24, 2006 5:53 PM by Glen Fisher

Speaking of rhubarb, my favorite of the fruit liqueurs I made last year came from this recipe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/rhubarbvodka_65975.shtml

It was just right -- not too sweet, not too dry. I can't wait to make a much larger batch this year, as soon as rhubarb looks good in the greenmarket!

Posted January 24, 2006 6:06 PM by Rose White

My alltime favorite name is/was (not sure of his status) Jamie Cardinal Sin, an Archbishop from the Philippines.

Posted January 24, 2006 6:06 PM by Larry Brennan

Oh, and I used to work for a law firm where one of the partners was named Richard Harden. You can guess what his nickname was. Really. True. I promise.

It takes all kinds.

Posted January 24, 2006 6:07 PM by Larry Brennan

Teresa, understood. :)

(just being a trouble-maker--plus, I almost never get the chance to post first on Open Threads, and by chance, there it was, at 2:30 PM--and I couldn't think of anything else).

Well, it's late January, and time for me to dig out your recipe for bacon and egg soup!

Posted January 24, 2006 6:37 PM by John Farrell

I spent the last few weeks looking for a surgeon for my dog, and one of the doctors I talked to was named Dr. Hack. (We ended up going to someone who was more of a specialist, though without a funny name.)

Posted January 24, 2006 6:38 PM by Lisa Goldstein

I was recently referred to a Dr. Barry Getzoff. I had to ask the receptionist to spell it before I was sure.
Not a doctor, but a friend of mine knows a very unpleasant man named Richard Peter Johnson. Behind his back he's known as "Three Dicks."

Posted January 24, 2006 6:44 PM by Dante

I have $50 in Reward Certificates from Amazon.com. Suggestions? Books? DVDs?

Posted January 24, 2006 6:47 PM by mary

Here you are, I have modified it over the years by adding more rhubarb and less sugar. It's nice and tangy and veeery rhubarby:

PIE CRUST:

2 cups flour
1 cup butter
dash salt
dash baking powder
1/2 cup cold water

Mix ingredients in large bowl until dough forms. Roll out thin with rolling pin.

PIE FILLING:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 eggs, beaten
6 cups chopped rhubarb
2tbsp butter

Put ingredients into the pie shell, cover with remaining pastry, put a hole in the top to let out the steam. Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Posted January 24, 2006 6:56 PM by Sean Bosker

The doc who fixed my hernia was Dr. Grief.

Oddly, the guy who repaired my patellar tendon was Dr. Smith, as was my GP a little later.

Posted January 24, 2006 6:58 PM by Linkmeister

Mary:

I know the feeling. Gift Certificate Paralysis. Not a good thing.

I use my Amazon wish list to keep tabs of things not only that I want for myself, but that I intend to buy (or look up in the libarary). When I get a certificate (e.g., through Discover Card's money back deal) I have somewhere to start.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:01 PM by Stefan Jones

What's the weirdest name you've ever come across for a real-live doctor, as opposed to a fictionnal one?

Dr. Roger Warlock

He was a member of the Savannah Historical Society and contributed to at least one major publication, a survey of Colonial and victorian architecture.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:08 PM by Keith Kisser

Way back in 1974, my daughter's foot operation was performed by Dr. Gengis Khan (from Mongolia).

Posted January 24, 2006 7:13 PM by older

Serge: I have a friend who was Major Slaugter (He's since been either promoted, or left the service. A little noodling tells me he's with the IG at Forscom, and a Lieutenant Colonel).

I want him to make flag rank. Then I will know a General Slaughter.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:29 PM by Terry Karney

Oh, gee, tell me Col. Slaughter's first name is Enos. ("And Pesky holds the ball!")

Posted January 24, 2006 7:52 PM by Linkmeister

I just bought a bunch of seeds (the local organic/natural supermarket carries Seeds of Change packets).

I bought three types of corn (all red. Hope Pink Flour Corn, Inca Flour Corn and one I forget). I don't know where Maia put them, or I'd better know. They have very different maturing dates, so I can plant them all at once.

I also got some peas, and one other thing. Some we can plant here, and the corn I will put in the ground at Maia's Mother's place, come early March.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:53 PM by Terry Karney

I've met a pleasant fellow from Australia named Richard Head.

Back in the early 90s, I was doing some research in Surinam, interviewing politicians. I passed up the chance -- because I interviewed the other deputy from his party -- to interview a person described by all and sundry as the most honest and upright man in Surinamese politics. His name: Frank Playfair. There's a degree of appropriateness there that I don't think can be equalled by any other politician in the world.

While this doesn't have anything to do with appropriateness, I should note that years ago the Jamaica Public Service Company (which is alleged to supply electricity in Jamaica) had an employee named Nathaniel Peck. The nameplate on his desk read: 'Mr N. Peck'.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:54 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Nope, Robert.

So his kid brother's kids all know that Bob's their uncle.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:54 PM by Terry Karney

Larry Brennan: Cardinal Sin is a was.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:55 PM by Fragano Ledgister

You guys must have American doctors. Most of mine are Polish.

I just ordered some seeds but mine are chocolate and candy-coated.

Posted January 24, 2006 7:58 PM by Marilee

I knew an old lady named Laurie O'Leary.

Actually, her name was Annie Laurie O'Leary, as I learned when I read her obituary. Her name does give a clue as to why my father used to claim he wanted a donkey named Maxwelton.

When we lived in southern California, the family dentist was Dr. Toothaker. I won't swear to the spelling; I was about 10 then and didn't make the appointments or sign the checks.

My gynecologist is Dr. Song. His name isn't funny in re his profession, but he's also the best tenor in St. Mary's choir.

Posted January 24, 2006 8:28 PM by Anne Sheller

Back when I was a wee lass, I read Ripley's Believe It Or Not, which claimed the existence of a sign outside the office of a doctor in colonial Virginia which read:

I. John Lettsom
Bleeds, blisters, and sweats 'em
And if after that they please to die
I. John Lettsom.

I guess it is up to you to decide whether you, well, believe it or not.

Posted January 24, 2006 8:43 PM by Leigh Butler

I thought I remembered reading that rhubarb could be invasive (wanted to give you a heads up, PJ), but a quick search turned up nothing definitive about garden rhubarb. Stumbled across the Rhubarb Compendium with lots of rhubarb recipes, however.

Posted January 24, 2006 8:45 PM by MLR

re Seeds:

Hopi Red Flour Corn
Inca Rainbow Sweet Corn
Mandan Red Flour Corn (this is supposed to be yellow as milk corn, and turns red as you let it dry).

The one I wanted to get was Stowell's Sweet Corn, of which it is purported the stalks can be pulled up, entire, and hung upside down, in a cool place, for some time, remaining ripe.

It's an Iriquois landrace, so it ought to do well in the Northeast.

Posted January 24, 2006 9:33 PM by Terry Karney

Locally, we have raconteur/astronomer and occasional sf/f writer Peter Manly.

With that name, I would have expected him to write porn, rather than sf.

Posted January 24, 2006 9:38 PM by Bruce Arthurs

What's the weirdest name you've ever come across for a real-live doctor

my father's Dr. is Dr. Slaughter.
my wife had a chiropractor named Dr Tickle.
my brother-in-law had a plastic surgeon named Dr. Scarsella
my mother-in-law had a dentist named Dr Molar

Posted January 24, 2006 9:48 PM by cleek

What's next? Brin, like Card, will turn out to be a Dubya supporter?

i take it you didn't hear Vonnegut's interview on NPR's Mornign Edition this week (audio is probably available) ?

he's an ID proponent who's convinced that scientists just refuse to admit they don't believe (like everybody else knows) that humans are just too complex to have happened randomly.

Posted January 24, 2006 9:50 PM by cleek

a friend of mine knows a very unpleasant man named Richard Peter Johnson

there's an Air Force base in eastern NC called Seymour Johnson. it's on the way to Morehead City.

my wife and I have a song:

Get more head in Morehead City
See more johnson, too

sing it like an old-time country singer.

here's the sign that prompts our singing.

Posted January 24, 2006 10:13 PM by cleek

scientists just refuse to admit they don't believe

make that "...scientists just refuse to admit they really believe..."

Posted January 24, 2006 10:15 PM by cleek

I wouldn't describe rhubarb as invasive (not the eating kind, at least) but it does spread slowly into large clumps. The root mass just gets larger and heavier; I understand chainsaws are useful when dividing it (particularly if it's gotten to a large size). I can't speak for the ornamental kinds, although I've seen pictures of some that are very ornamental.

Posted January 24, 2006 10:18 PM by P J Evans

A local chiropractor is Dean Bender.

My colleague's O.B. was Dr. Payne --

and a local Indian doctor is Dr. Doktor (as is his wife.)

Posted January 24, 2006 10:27 PM by rams

My geology professor was named Dr. Staff. He promised us an A if we could come up with a new joke. Of course he also said he'd flunk us if he'd heard it before.

Could someone explain the appeal of rhubarb? I've had it twice and both times went "urgh," but now I wonder what I'm missing.

Posted January 24, 2006 10:41 PM by TexAnne

Slightly off-topic for names:

There is a financial services firm headquartered in Boston (MA) named "Fiduciary Trust Company"

Posted January 24, 2006 10:50 PM by Craig McDonough

When I was growing up in Defiance, Ohio, there was a local undertaker's whose two principals were Stick and Frye.

I just deposed an orthopedist named Dr. Ricketts two weeks ago.

One of the attorneys in my office is named Rusty Fallis.

A guy I went to law school with was named Dick Downey.

That's all I can remember at present.

Posted January 24, 2006 10:54 PM by hrc

TexAnne: It's one of those things ... not everyone likes it, but those of us who do really like it. I still don't know how my father could eat it raw - I tried that and it's too much for me. Of course, he ate one of the milder varieties of lemons straight up too. (I think that's a sweet tooth of a different flavor.)

Posted January 24, 2006 10:57 PM by P J Evans

Rhubarb is tangy. Also, the French word for it is rhubarb.

Posted January 24, 2006 10:59 PM by TomB

And my papa liked wild gooseberries. When we moved out to the farm and were actully there when we could harvest them I always (with great amount of grief and getting scratched up) harvested enough and made him one big pie.

He usually finished it off in a couple of days though it was so astringent that none of us girls (mom, my sis and I) would touch the thing. I personally don't think there's enough sweetness in any sugar to make it palatable, but he liked it.

and I love rhubarb pie (no strawberries that's just gross...).

No accounting for taste.

Posted January 24, 2006 11:17 PM by Paula Helm Murray

P J Evans said: It's one of those things ... not everyone likes it, but those of us who do really like it. I still don't know how my father could eat it raw - I tried that and it's too much for me.

Fresh rhubarb dipped in sugar is good. There are milder, more tender varieties of rhubarb, too. When I was a kid we grew it in the garden, so I could snack on it all summer. I used to like it quite a lot.

Mind you, my mum says I used to drink vinegar until my lips turned white, too. I might not be the best judge.

Posted January 24, 2006 11:22 PM by hamadryad

Actually, TomB, the French word for rhubarb is rhubarbe. I know, I know, I'm being a pedant. But this brings back fond memories of my childhood. My farmer uncles had a patch of rhubarb and they'd let us take a few stalks. I'd dip the end in white sugar, bite that off, dip it again, bite it again... Yummy.

Posted January 24, 2006 11:37 PM by Serge

For those interested, the first issue of the Sgt. Rock mini-series came out last week. (I wonder if there IS a Sergeant Rock out there in the real world. Probably, if we can have a Captain Marvel...)

Posted January 24, 2006 11:40 PM by Serge

Serge, re: weirdest doctor's name. When I worked as a copyeditor for Matthew Bender (legal publishers), I worked on a series called "Gray's Anatomy" which explained medical terms etc. for lawyers. (Yeah, really creative name for the book...) Anyway, we would include information about articles from medical journals for lawyers to read. We included an article by a urologist in one chapter -- by Dr. Penis. Maybe not the weirdest name, but there was something about it that made it memorable.

Posted January 24, 2006 11:47 PM by PurpleGirl

I had a wonderful Journalism teacher named Richard Seaman, and my parents were married by a Chaplain Leslie Truelove of the minesweeper Ausonia.

Sandy B--on the subject of Vlad Tepes, am I the only person who's noticed the unnerving similarity between the best known painting of the count, and Yanni? Seriously. It would explain so much.

Posted January 24, 2006 11:50 PM by J Austin

C'mon, PurpleGirl, there really is a doctor with THAT name?

Posted January 24, 2006 11:54 PM by Serge

Vlad and Yanni, J Austin? There is also a similarity with Steven Brust, circa 1986...

Posted January 24, 2006 11:55 PM by Serge

Technical question...

My home's high-speed internet connection is with Comcast. The modem is plugged into a LinkSys router, to which we plug our two laptops. Every once in a while, our internet access goes belly up, for reasons unknown, although the Comcast people are usually quick to blame the router instead of their own modem. I usually point out that their modems were unfortunately not designed for more than one connection, thus our not having much choice. They say that we should go wireless. After what happened these last few days, I'm sorely tempted. But I won't take their word for it.

Does anybody have that wireless setup? What does it entail? Do we have to install something inside the laptop so that it can be connected to the modem without a cable? Does that slow the response time appreciably if at all? Also, one of the router's purposes is to be a firewall. Once that's gone, are we leaving ourselves wide open?

Posted January 25, 2006 12:18 AM by Serge

In my old hometown of Bedford, MA the art supply store was owned by Mr. Schoolcraft.

It was years before I realized the apostrophe on the "Schoolcraft's" sign wasn't a mistake.

Regarding the famous painting of Vlad Dracula, most of the other existing paintings are copied from it; that's believed to be the only one he actually sat for.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:20 AM by Lawrence Watt-Evans

I give you,
vlad
Yanni
Charming, though no one can quite explain the attraction, ageless, a consummate showman, does a great deal of basking in the adulation of his fans...
As to Brust, Serge--I've only read the Taltos series up to Issola, I think, and To Reign in Hell.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:26 AM by J Austin

My favorite name of all time is on a tombstone in the Odd Fellows' graveyard across Old San Jose Road from Soquel High School, above Soquel Creek: Bozo Choklat.

Just a death date, nothing else. I'm pretty sure it's a human name.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:27 AM by Lucy Kemnitzer

oliviacw (way upthread):
On the subject of totally inappropriate marketing songs, I always remember the car company a year or so ago that used Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun."

Of course, they only played the first line of the chorus, which goes:

So don't delay act now supplies are running out
Allow, if you're still alive, six to eight years to arrive
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow
But if the offer is shun you might as well be walking on the sun

Another fun bit that didn't make it in the commercial:

It's just like any fad retracts before impact
And it's just like fashion it's a passion for the with it and hip
If ya got the goods they'll come and buy it just to stay in
The clique

Serge: Does your modem have wireless capability? Because otherwise that just means getting a wireless router, which I don't see improving the situation any, really.

We've got an almost identical setup here, which is Comcast->modem->wireless router. It's so far keeled over dead only once, in contrast to SBC DSL we had last year, where every month or so we'd have to call them and make them reset the connect on their side before it would work again.

Then again, we've got 12 people on this connection. And routers confuse me sometimes.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:30 AM by Kylni

Kylni... As far as I know, my current Comast modem doesn't have the wireless capability. Anyway, overall, it sounds like you would recommend that Comcast/modem/wireless setup. It doesn't slow things down noticeably? And does some doodad have to be installed inside your laptop for it to connect to the modem?

Maybe it's because I'm a computer programmer, but I keep thinking there HAS to be a catch somewhere.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:40 AM by Serge

Forgot to ask, Kylni... How far can a computer be from the modem if the whole setup is wireless? And can one computer be in the next room without the wall getting in the way? My apologies for what are probably questions with very obvious answers.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:48 AM by Serge

I once read a drosophila paper by Dr. Welcome Bender of Harvard. Having forgotten the paper, I'd figured it was on alcoholism research, but alas when I just Googled to check it seems he (!) studies development.

However, shout out to all my fruit fly peeps. When it comes to alcohol studies, they invented the "inebriometer." That is, put a bunch of flies in a tube, pipe alcohol vapor through, and as they get drunk they fall off the sides, "titrating" themselves by susceptibilty.

Also, the fly people seem to have more fun. They get to come up with entertaining names for genes, like "groucho" for a gene that when mutated causes bushier bristle growing on the face. The mammalian genes are stuck with names like "receptor activated C kinase". Pfeh!

Drosophila got started out on the right foot by T.H. Morgan, who made the next major step in genetics after Gregor Mendel. I've heard tell that he said (and practiced!), "In order to truly understand an organism, you must eat it." Perhaps if there was to be genetic study of rhubarb, it would result in entertaining gene names.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:57 AM by Madeline F

Serge: No doodad needed to connect to the modem, because that's not what you're doing - the router is connected to the modem, so as long as you get it set up okay, then you pretty much don't care what the modem's doing, because you're connecting to the router. Which is the same as what you're doing now, really, just you'll be doing it wirelessly.

Wireless routers, of course, can be their own can of worms, what with various wireless protocols and types of security encryption and stuff, but as long as your laptops have wireless it shouldn't be too hard to set up. And there hasn't been a noticeable slowdown wired to wireless that I've seen, though logically there should be at least a small one. I just haven't noticed it.

Just saw your second comment - the range, again, would depend on the wireless router (which will be wired to the modem, but depending on the length of your wire, not necessarily in the same place.)

Our cheap router does okay through two or three walls - when you try it down two floors, the signal gets a bit weaker, but you can still connect. I doubt you'd encounter many problems. (In fact, from our living room I can see wireless networks from 2-4 neighbors. Part of that is dense bay-area housing, but...)

I'm a computer programmer too, by trade (well, a student at the moment, but the idea is there) but I've had to get a crash course in the basics of this stuff because somehow all my housemates seem to think being able to program qualifies you to run the house network. Mrg. So, no annoyance at 'silly' questions whatsoever. :-)

Posted January 25, 2006 12:58 AM by Kylni

Serge

We have a large two bedroom apartment, and the router is in the back; we can "reach" it anywhere. The catch is that somethings are hard for radio waves to get through--like a wall lined on bookcases.

The Wireless router, by the way, will likely also have a couple of Ethernet ports. I mostly see Windows users using Linksys. You run software that comes with the router, or sometimes, from your cable company, to set up the router. It's pretty straight forward fill in the blanks. You'll want to have information from your cable company ready--they may have a special password and ID, as well as specific suggestions for other settings.

You will also need to set up a password and ID to control admin access to the Router. Write these down someplace safe.

If you only have a few users, you could get the Apple Airport Express, which, while it is designed to connect to a stereo and allow you to wirelessly play music stored on your computer through your stero, also has a port for an Ethernet connection--you'd run a cable from your cable modem to the Airport Express. Up to ten people with wireless cards can connect to it at once, depending on the bandwidth/speed of your cable connection.

Security--there are two main standards--WEP, which is kind of safe, and WAP, which is better, but may not be supported by the wireless cards in your computer, if they're several years old.

It is also possible to set up a wireless router, or "point of presence," so that only those computers on a list can use it (computers have a unique number called a MAC address; the router "see" this).

And if you're using Windows, you might want to use Zone alarm as a firewall on your computer, or a similar product.

Posted January 25, 2006 1:23 AM by Lisa Spangenberg

Madeline: Genes are great. I want to come up with an interesting protein so I can name it. My favorite from last year was the MuD mutant-- I think it was Drosophila. Short for Mutant-U-Die, because under certain conditions they keeled over.

Posted January 25, 2006 1:34 AM by Cassie

Herb Caen coined a phrase for the appropriate names: Namephreaks. There's a nice eulogy for the consummate 3-dotter here.

Posted January 25, 2006 2:03 AM by Linkmeister

In the realm of terrible car commercial song clips, I believe it was a Volkswagen commercial that used the chorus of the Psychic TV track "Roman P.":

Are you free?
Are you really free?
Are you really really really really free?

The song, of course, is about Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate:

Roman, you're outgrowing me...
Roman, you're a mystery...
Roman, in your victory...
Roman, in your destiny...

Are you free, are you really free?
Are you really really really really free?
Is it you, is it me
Or is it simply history?
Are you free, are you really free?
Are you really really really really free?
Is it you, is it me
Or is it simply jealousy?

Sharon walks alone, azure white
Sharon gives her life for a night
Sharon floating, high up above
Sighing, crying, dying for love

(Chorus)

Life of money, life of sex
Life of honey, life of X
Little girls drinking, eating cupcakes
Glitter girls tease you - your greatest mistake

(Chorus)


Really makes you want to buy a Volkswagen, huh?

By the way, hello. In the last week I've been lurking backwards through several months of archives. This blog and its surrounding community seem to be a home for the kind of wonderful, witty, literate net-folk I haven't known since Usenet. And I found it all through Atlanta Nights. :-)

Posted January 25, 2006 2:10 AM by A. J. Luxton

Serge,

I recommend updating your LinkSys router to its latest firmware before you even think about replacing it. That may fix it for you.

However, if your router is old, and LinkSys isn't releasing new updates for it anymore, you might want to get a newer router, i.e. one with firmware that is getting regular maintenance these days. No, I can't make any recommendations without disclosing more about my day job than I want.

Posted January 25, 2006 2:48 AM by j h woodyatt

At the copy shop where I work, we used to have a law firm client called "Larson and Burnham", and another named "Susan Luten". I really wanted them to reorganize into "Luten and Burnham".

Posted January 25, 2006 3:08 AM by David Goldfarb

What I posted in the "email the Senator" section on John Sununu's Senate website:

===================

I am completely and utterly disgusted that a fellow MIT alum is supporting Mr Alito for a seat on the Supreme Court. I was at MIT back in the days when there was still massive gender discrimination against women there, which situation was STILL in existence regarding tenure decisions, until very recently.

Mr Alito is yet another bigoted white Christian male supremacist whose attitudes are that women shouldn't have control over their own reproductive organs and insists that his religious beliefs be forces on those not of his creed. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is female--more than half the population of the US is female, and not Catholic, where is the "no taxation without representation" and equal protection for women in this country? Mr Alito seems to have never met a discrimination case he didn't rule in favor of rich white men and corporations for and against women and minorities and workers.

As a woman, and someone who had come close to having been raped, I have no use whatsoever for someone who appears to be trying to inflict his religion's official pronouncements what constitutes a family, about sexual intercourse, about birth control, about abortion, about the place of women in society, on everyone else in the country, regardless of their creed, values, and beliefs. I am not Catholic, I do not accept Catholic official policy on birth control and abortion and marriage--I am not married, have never been married, and consider it an abomination that some suppsoed-to-be-celibate male priest's values should be imposed on me, by Mr Alito, Mr Kennedy, Mr Scalia, and Mr Roberts. None of them have ever been threatened with an unwanted pregnancy and with rape that could result in a pregnancy--but they are very quick to rule that their views should be imposed on the women of the USA, be they Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Wiccan, atheist, Mormon, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist... Mr Alito does NOT respect separation of Church and State. He does not respect the Constitution and preventing the current occupant of the Oval Office from turning the USA into damned Christian totalitarian democracy....

I remember school prayer, and hated it. I don't want it back, ever, in public schools. I don't want to hear songs about Little Lord Jesus in the schools sung by the schoolchildren...

I spent six years in the USAF, commissioned as one of the first three women in ROTC at MIT. My reaction about the Christian religious proselytizing at the Air Force was fury; the presumption of the chain of command allowing that sectarian bigot seems to come straight down form the top of the US Executive Branch of government, along with the promotion of that Christian bigot Lt General Boykin, who SHOULD have been cashiered--but wasn't.

I am not anti-Christian, I am anti-evangelizing, and against imposing religion on the US population. I would feel the same way were there proselytizing Wiccans or Buddhists or whatever getting preferential treatment and seeking to impose their religion on the US population, demanding that their religious documents be on the walls of courts, and the laws of the USA be rearranged to comply with their religion's rule regard gender relations, marriage, etc.--polygamy is legal in Vietname and Tibet and much of the Islamic world, why is the USA so phobic about it? In the Bible, Jacob and Moses and David and Solomon, and Mohammed and a number of Roman emperors were polygamists, and it was legal during the time of Jesus for Jews, just what is the hangup about "marriage is between one man and one woman" anyway? Just how is same-gender marriage, or polygamy, going to invalidate American nuclear family marriage? Nobody advocating same gender marriage is calling for terminating heterosexual monogamy!

What is this that people like Alito feel so compelled to interfere with other people's private lives where the other people are consenting adults, and authorize spying on them? Don't the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights make it amply clear that "unreasonable search and seizure" and spying on people without warrants, and limiting "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" violate the basic

The "consent of the governed" is supposed to matter. I do NOT consent to the judgment of Alito, Clarence Thomas, Anton Scalia, and Kennedy, I do NOT accept that they are impartial and disinterested and put aside their personal religion's values and judge on the basis of the USA being a nation of people with diverse religions and lifestyles, as opposed to a rightwing fascist Christian theocracy. What would Jesus do? Jesus would not be banning abortion--go look up Jewish Halachic Law regarding pregnancy, if the life of the woman is threatened, abortion is almost mandatory, and that has been the situation since before the time of Jesus. Jesus would not be siding with corporations over workers. Etc.

I am appalled that you support Alito, a rightwing bigot, the type of bigot who helped keep women's presence at MIT in the student body and on the faculty to a tiny minority for decades, and prevented women from gaining tenure for the same level of quality of work and professional achievement as men, until very recently... go look up the reports of the status of women at MIT. And the bigotry is still around--the President of Harvard, who is a member of the same class at MIT as I am, is someone who obviously isn't impartial on the subject. Had I gone to the 30th reunion of my class--I was unemployed so I didn't, something about women being discrminated against STILL in technology, especially when it comes to getting hired in an economic downturn, and the older the woman, the worse it gets....--I was intending on tearing a virtual strip off his hide, if he were there also....

Anyway, I am VERY deeply disgusted, with the direction of the USA and ANYONE who advocates putting an extremist suppressor of women's rights, everyone else's rights, and the Constitution like Alito, on the Supreme Court of the USA.

Posted January 25, 2006 3:24 AM by Paula Lieberman

There used to be a firm of solicitors called Argue and Phibbs in Sligo.

Posted January 25, 2006 4:51 AM by Eimear Ní Mhéalóid

I used to walk past a law firm in Tacoma called "Seelye and Brown".

I kept wondering if the former had a brother called Unseelye, and what, perchance, might transpire if that fellow was allowed into a courtroom . . .

By the way -- apologies for posting the full song lyrics earlier; I discovered that the one place they were available on the web was the Google cache of a long message board thread, and didn't want to bother making them linkable elsewhere.

Posted January 25, 2006 5:15 AM by A. J. Luxton

Thanks, Kylni, Lisa & JH, for the answers about the wireless router.

Posted January 25, 2006 5:56 AM by Serge

Linkmeister... Your bringing up Herb Caen is like a breath of sweet-smelling nostalgia to me. I never got anything printed by him about namephreaks, although I did for some silly things I had observed when living around SF's East Bay: one was for a sighting, between the Bay and Sacramento, of a big brawny bearded biker, who had a tiny teddy bear for a passenger.

Posted January 25, 2006 6:01 AM by Serge

Serge, there is nothing that a wireless network will do for you that a wired doesn't except keep you from having to mess with cables. My experience has been that wireless is slightly less reliable than wired, enough to be noticable with online gaming. The usual recommendation with a network problem is to switch from wireless to wired.

I have to take my modem off my network and reset and reconfigure it about every two months. Keep a page with the whole routine near the modem. Reconfigure for a direct line from modem to a single computer before you call tech support, and don't tell the ISP that you even have a router in the same building. I was in a recent argument with one who insisted we couldn't proceed until I had reset my router even though the router had been removed from the cabling loop and was powered down. My issue? I had reset the modem and couldn't get into the configuration screen.

Posted January 25, 2006 6:40 AM by OG

Apparently doing the job your name is appropriate for is calles Nominative Determinism, New Scientist used cover this quite a bit in its Feedback section. The only one I can remember was a paper on some weeing disorder written by Whedon and Splatt.

I used to go to school with a Wayne Scales, I don't know what he does now, but part of me hopes he's a market stall holder, or somesuch.

I friend of mine claimed to know a Chris Moss. I don't think he became a priest, though.

There should also be some law where by people with certain names should not be teachers, it only distracts the class. I had a teacher called Mr Beighton, where the Mr often was mispronounced Master, and a colleague swears that he had a headmaster called Mr Riddick.

Posted January 25, 2006 7:08 AM by Paul Herzberg

Jeffrey Smith:
While vacationing in Hawaii and looking at road signs, it occurred to me that disemvowelled text in Hawaiian would be very hard to reconstitute. 7 consonants...

Then bad posters on Hawaiian boards are disconsonant?

Posted January 25, 2006 8:24 AM by Michelle K

I once ate three quarters of a pound of rhubarb, all in one sitting. Later that day I went to eat a grapefruit (yeah, I guess I liked sour as a kid) and discovered I couldn't taste it. I thought it was something wrong with the grapefruit, and threw it out and got another one. Which I also couldn't taste, which was when I realized I'd stunted my taste buds with the rhubarb. It was several days before my sense of taste returned to normal.

I just got the Edible Landscaping catalogue in the mail yesterday. The only part of it that fails to delight me is the number of plants that aren't hardy in Zone 6.

Posted January 25, 2006 8:25 AM by Carrie S.

You liked sour as a kid, Carrie S? Did you do the following? I'd bite into an apple, put some salt on the exposed pulp, bite into that, salt, bite,salt, bite, until the apple was all gone.

Posted January 25, 2006 8:36 AM by Serge

Thanks, OG... I will keep in mind what people said about wireless routers. I probably should get a new wired router eventually, but things on the home front have finally settled down and I'm reluctant to mess with things. I certainly don't intend tomorrow to be like the last two days, since tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary.

Posted January 25, 2006 8:40 AM by Serge

Names, continued: local neurologist (or chiropractor?) Doctor Bruce Weary used to advertise the Weary Pain Clinic, but maybe he got tired of the jokes -- now his sign just features his name.

Inappropriate car ad songs: As a boomer, the ones I recognize feature instrumental intros to the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" and one of the great Who songs (name escapes me at the moment) where the chorus howls about "Teenage wasteland/ It's a teenage wasteland!" More Who in yet another ad: "I can see for miles and miles...." Quite distracts me from whatever it is they're selling.

Posted January 25, 2006 9:48 AM by Faren Miller

A Dr. William Jerkovsky did some research for my Dad a number of years ago, and I sometimes get calls from an artist manager named Jackovsky. How did these guys ever survive junior high!

Posted January 25, 2006 9:48 AM by Tracie

By the way, welcome, A.J.!

Nominative determinism: My mother's name is Marian and she works in a library part-time...

Posted January 25, 2006 9:48 AM by Janet Croft

Because of Chimpy's assertion that he does too have the right to spy on Americans, this person sent an actual letter to the Attorney General asking if he belives that the President also has the authority to kill kittens with a hammer...

Posted January 25, 2006 9:58 AM by Serge

At my university, the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences is named Schoolmaster.

Please, no one google it, there's nothin' to see here, don't want no trouble . . .

Posted January 25, 2006 10:04 AM by rm

I've got too much snow on the ground to be thinking seriously about seeds, and yet here I am doing exactly that. Someone gave me a bunch of very-old (10 year?) packets of seeds for Japanese Larch, and I'm trying to figure out my best chance for getting them to propagate, assuming any are still viable. I was sort of thinking of filling a planter with potting soil, burying the seeds, and then putting them outside for the remainder of the winter. Maybe the cold, followed by spring, will kickstart one or two of them.

Anyone have any suggestions? I have hundreds of seeds, but given their age if I can get even one to grow I'll feel particularly lucky...

Posted January 25, 2006 10:18 AM by Suzanne

Serge -- Re: Dr. Penis the urologist. We took the medical journal information from Index Medicus. I worked at Matthew Bender back in 1982/83. I'll do some research later tonight (from home) and see what I can find.

Posted January 25, 2006 10:22 AM by PurpleGirl

I think I like rhubarb, although I've so seldom had the opportunity to partake in it that I'm not entirely certain. For instance, I think this dessert I had in Scotland might have been rhubarb with clotted cream...but I ordered it and never have remembered what it was I ordered since. It was tangy and tasty, although so much like flesh in color and texture that Tina was rather loathe to try it. I like pies of almost every variety, though, and I might give rhubarb pie a go sometime.

Serge, a couple more points on wireless routers that I haven't seen specifically addressed:

Firstly, you need to find out if your laptops have internal wireless network capability. Many do, these days, but many still do not. USB or PCMCIA cards are readily available and relatively inexpensive, though, so that's probably not a major impediment.

Secondly, with regards to signal penetration through walls and whatnot, folks in most modern homes have few difficulties...but some older homes with plaster walls or other situations requiring a wire mesh (think chicken wire), may. It just so happens that a standard spacing used in chicken wire for construction purposes is of the right size to block the 2.4 GHz frequency that 802.11 wireless uses to transmit its network signal. Basically, plaster walls (not drywall) sometimes act like a Faraday cage and block the signal. You can also get interference from 2.4 GHz phones (get a 5.8 GHz phone instead), and from microwaves, which run at a similar frequency.

HTH!

Posted January 25, 2006 10:38 AM by Skwid

Basically, plaster walls (not drywall) sometimes act like a Faraday cage...

Whoa.

Posted January 25, 2006 10:40 AM by Serge

Suzanne, I thought the whole point of seed catalogues was that one looked at them when winter was too dreadful to bear and fantasized about what life would be like when spring and summer came around, assuming they ever showed up at all to rescue one from the endless drear. Without garden catalgogues to yearn over, people's options for winter coping are narrowed down, leaving them at risk for those unsafe winter activities, substance abuse and random acts of violence.

Posted January 25, 2006 11:00 AM by fidelio

Faren: The reason you don't remember the name of the "teenage wasteland" song is because it's #1 on the list of Non-Intuitive Song Titles: "Baba O'Reilly"

(Speaking of The Who, what's with CSI shows using their songs as title music?)

Serge: Now, that I never did. But Granny Smiths (mildly sour, green apples) are among my favorites even now.

Posted January 25, 2006 11:09 AM by Carrie S.

Suzanne,

I found this note regarding Japanese Larch:

Larix kaempferi, Japanese Larch, zone = 4 , sow 2m @ 39ºF, move to 70ºF for germ.

Good luck

Posted January 25, 2006 11:15 AM by MLR

In today's column, Jonathan Carroll tells us about how he and his wife are taking waltz lessons at Big Al's Brainlock Ballroom. He then goes on to talk about the Scandalous Dance, aka the waltz, and how it led to the decay of people's moral fiber, unlike, say, the minuet.

Posted January 25, 2006 11:48 AM by Serge

Fidelio, susan: After long discussion, we decided that was why they showed golf on TV. It's the equivalent of the "log fire" [was it PBS who did that?] except it's a warm sunny day.

cleek: Vonnegut, I recall from a distance of 15 or 20 years, is a very strong opponent of "trying to make sense out of things". Finding out that he's an ID fan just confirms my stereotypes. . . ID people can believe in God, they just can't believe in anyone smarter than they are.

la di da, so it goes, the world doesn't make any sense, I'm an idiot and so are you.

Posted January 25, 2006 11:54 AM by Sandy B.

My sister once lived with a succession of medical students, one of whom hurried to get married before graduation so she wouldn't become Dr. Pennypacker.

On the other hand, one of my mom's doctors kept her maiden name so she wouldn't be Dr. Placenta.

Posted January 25, 2006 11:54 AM by Meredith

On the subject of inappropriate music, the use of "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" as the opening and return-from-commercial theme for a recent Superbowl comes to mind.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:08 PM by OG

Names: I was very amused as a little 'un when I read the liner notes to Barry Manilow's double-LP "Live" album and saw that there was a drummer named Reak Havoc.

Links: Just got finished posting the link to the Lego Knitting Machine Movie to the last open thread, unaware there'd been a new one.

OSC, Brin, and the like: One of my biggest disappointments in OSC's editorial was his assertion that "people who think that ID is just another iteration of Creationism are just silly! ID'ers aren't necessarily proposing that God is the designer! Nooooo!" thus proving that he didn't actually know much about the movement he was defending. Deep *SIGH* The folks at Pharyngula (a related blog?) have an interesting thread on the matter with links to many further interesting articles regarding the conundrum that is OSC.

Posted January 25, 2006 12:35 PM by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

Slightly off topic, but where else would I get an opportunity to share this? Real businesses:

Slack Nursing Home (Yes, Slack was the owner's name.)

Weak Storage (Used to be outside Omaha; presumably Weak was also a family name.)

Maximum Integrity Air Flight School. In their ads, they sometimes use the name MIA Flight School.

Even more off-topic: While living in the deep south, I noticed a tendency for wildly unrelated business ventures to be operating under the same moniker. My favorites: The Copy & Wig Shop (wigs on one side, photocopiers on the other), and Tire Service & Religious Gifts (a small alcove in the front of the store held Catholic statuary and 3-D pictures of Jesus; this made me wonder about the reliability of their tires).

Posted January 25, 2006 12:53 PM by Harthad