Has the LJ-breastfeeding post been closed for comment? I'm not getting a comment-posting box on it anymore.

I'm not getting one on the Celebration post either, but that's not showing on the front page yet. (It does show up as the "Forward to next post" link for this post.)

Posted June 1, 2006 11:48 AM by Avram

Seconding the question about comments on LJ/breastfeeding post. It didn't seem to have devolved into flames yet. I was going to comment, but perhaps it would have been out of line, in any case. I suppose I'll go clutter up my own blog with my opinions, then.

On a toally different subject, does anyone know the origin of the word bee (as in spelling or quilting)? It can't be related to the stinging insect, can it? That wouldn't make much sense.

Posted June 1, 2006 11:55 AM by Sarah

Enjoyed the poem. The War Between the States always brings me such a sense of melancholy. So many boys--more than an entire generation--to decide where the power lies.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:07 PM by Octobarb

Now I shall be haunted by _Ashokan Farewell_ for the rest of the day, and:

"The years creep slowly by, Lorena..."

Posted June 1, 2006 12:12 PM by Lori Coulson

I was dumbfounded a few days ago on reading that the Brangelina tot had been named "Shiloh".

Posted June 1, 2006 12:17 PM by Julie L.

True, "Shiloh" is a Civil War battle, but I can think of another usage besides that and the Bible. Neil Diamond:

"Shiloh, when I was young,
I used to call your name,
When no one else would come,
Shiloh, you always came,
And you'd stay..."

Posted June 1, 2006 12:24 PM by Lori Coulson

I need to get back to turning some of the family papers into HTML: my great-grandfather and his older brother were in the Union army (41st Illinois) all the way to Goldsboro. I'm trying to put their letters together as a chronological set of pages, with uncle Ques's journal as the frame and the letters linked in. Not difficult coding, but the journal is more than 250 pages, typed, single-spaced.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:24 PM by P J Evans

Photography for Logophiles.

I love Fark's Farktography contests...

Posted June 1, 2006 12:38 PM by Skwid

I suppose you should be flattered that (since I was not familiar with the poem) I was about to post gushingly (as opposed to bleeding-from-an-open-woundedly) about the astonishing beauty of the poem you'd written.

But then I searched on the first line and I discovered it was by Steven Benet, at least according to this page. (That page is marked "July 1, 1863". Is it just a coincidence [or non-coincidence] that you posted it on the first of June? Sorry, I see connections everywhere I look. One time I even plugged my coffee grinder into a USB port just to satisfy a Dark Urge.)

Posted June 1, 2006 12:39 PM by Michael Weholt

Sarah: why doesn't it make sense? A quilting bee has a lot of people gathered together, working busily at some productive task and muttering quietly to each other - sounds quite bee-like to me.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:41 PM by ajay

See, when I hear the name "Shiloh" I think of that young adult book about that dog.

I grew up going to Civil War reenactments, and so I have all these odd and slightly disjointed memories of sitting on grassy hills, watching while soldiers marched by and cannons fired. It's just part of growing up Southern, I suppose.

And I have no idea why I'm delurking to post this, of all things.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:42 PM by Rachel V.

Sarah, the OED says in its definition for 'bee':

(4) In allusion to the social character of the insect (originally in the US): A meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their member; eg, as done still in some parts, when the farmers unite to get in each other's harvests in succession; usually preceeded by a word defining the purpose of the meeting, as apple-bee, husking-bee, quilting-bee, raising-bee, etc. Hence, with extended sense: A gathering or meeting for some object: esp spelling bee, a party assembled to meet for the spelling of words.
----

It lists as its first text recording of bee in this sense 'spinning march, or what is called in the country a bee' from 1769, followed by 'quilting bee' in 1809, with 'spelling bee' in 1884.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:43 PM by robert west

P J Evans,
Are you using OCR?

Facinating project! I wish my family's letters were better organized and in an OCR-able format!

-r.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:50 PM by rhandir

Michael, I'm no great poet, but I'm extremely fond of John Brown's Body, and would recommend it to anyone. If the books were unpacked, I'd give you one of my three copies.

Avram, I shut down the LJ thread (later than I should have) while I wrote the statement you can now find there. Because the argument was starting to boil up in Open thread 65, I shut it down too. Then I opened this new thread, opened the older open thread, and finally opened the LJ thread while hitting POST POST POST on my comment there.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:51 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Lori, at least "Ashokan Farewell" is a pleasant earworm.

And of course it's not the original "Lorena" that plays in my head, but your esteemed ex-mother-in-law's filk.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:54 PM by Anne Sheller

Ajay: Well, if you put it that way, I suppose it is rather bee-like. It's not exactly a connection that springs right to my mind, though. And I still say that spelling bee is a stretch.

Robert West: Thanks for that! To be honest, I was expecting some sort of corruption of a French word, or an obscure Middle English term. But just bugs, huh? I'd never even heard of an apple bee or a husking bee. Must be my relentlessly urban upbringing.

"A meeting of neighbours to unite their labours for the benefit of one of their member:" I'm trying to apply that to a spelling bee, and I must say, it makes me smile to think of kids uniting for the benefit of proper spelling.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:57 PM by Sarah

rhandir, I'd use OCR, but it would take just as much time fixing the typing errors as it does to type it myself (1930s manual typescript). I'm working from a photocopy; the original is at UNorth Texas in Denton, in the oral history collection, or so it's marked.
One of Ques's letters had its last sheet mislaid, and the original turned up with his brother's letters, so that one is now put back together.
That's the bad part, when I have to read the originals. Inkblots, pen-width whatevers, the spelling is phonetic (and sometimes even consistent), and the handwriting is difficult. The writing paper is in better shape than might reasonably be expected, though, and when I had some of the originals I sorted them into packets by date and wrapped them in acid-free paper.

Posted June 1, 2006 12:59 PM by P J Evans

I've never heard of these various different types of bees, either, and I suspect that the terms went out of fashion in, say, the 1940s. However, it does make the name of the Applebees Restaurant make more sense to me. :)

Posted June 1, 2006 1:05 PM by Robert West

I knew a Shiloh in high school. In the irony department, perhaps, her last name was Savage.

(I wonder what happened to her. She was neat.)

Posted June 1, 2006 1:08 PM by Kirby

Anne Sheller: Ahh, yes -- the filk edition of _Lorena_, about the Manassas resident who was the Civil War maiden's namesake, was written by Buck, not Juanita.

Michael 'Moonwulf' Longcor is also known to perform it on occasion.

I can report that Juanita was in good voice and spirits at Marcon this year.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:18 PM by Lori Coulson

P J Evans
Very cool. Do you have a source for best practices on keeping and sorting this stuff? I have a couple hundred pounds of letters from the turn of the (last) century, all very stinky, dusty, and fragile, tied together in brick sized bunches. Needless to say, aside from posting on Making Light, I don't have oodles of free time to scan the stuff. (Nor can I read some of the languages it is in.) I am really at quite a loss, and any encouraging, practical words would be very kind.

-r.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:19 PM by rhandir

My brother sometimes mumbles about there being enough Civil War reenactors in the UK to form a full-strength regiment, and actually show what things would look like. Our Civil War, not yours.

He says the ACW reenactors in the UK have, at the end of a big display and with due regard to safety, formed up and fired a battalion volley (blanks) at the audience.

I once saw some members of the Napoleonic Association at Bolsover Castle--half a dozen muskets, fired together, is more than enough.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:19 PM by Dave Bell

Anybody else has seen X-men: The Last Stand? It was too short by 30 minutes to contain all the stuff that was happening in it, but it had some absolutely beautiful moments, like when one young mutant, given the possibility of having his wings removed, decides instead upon the freedom of the skies.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:30 PM by Serge

Rhandir, this is where'd I'd start looking (something I need to do anyway):
http://www.cyndislist.com/preservation.htm#General

Cyndi's List is a good place to start looking for a lot of things.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:34 PM by P J Evans

They're liveblogging the National Spelling Bee over at A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago. The Bee blogging crew includes special guest blogger Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey's Anatomy.

I had Serenity Fung in the pool, but "alcazar" just knocked her out of Round 5.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:50 PM by Christina Schulman

Thank you P J!
-r.

Posted June 1, 2006 1:59 PM by rhandir

Serge, personally I thought Angel was tragically underdeveloped...but there's certainly nothing new there. I enjoyed the film, but I have very mixed feelings about it as a fan of the characters in other contexts...

Review up here.

Posted June 1, 2006 2:09 PM by Skwid

Serge: I enjoyed X-Men, but it did feel like a lot of the characters were there just to satisfy the loud fans who wouldn't let up up with the where's my favorite character? diatribes. The Angel seemed completely unnecessary to the plot, although I admit I loved that he was there.

It felt a bit cluttered for what ought to have been the conclusion of Wolverine's story arc, but on the whole, some fabulous violence, all very pretty, and a fine way to spend a rainy Monday afternoon.

Posted June 1, 2006 2:18 PM by Sarah

I just received an email with the truncated subject line "The Lexicon of Ear". I thought it was spam, but was curious enough to look at it before deleting and very pleased to be completely wrong.

Posted June 1, 2006 2:25 PM by Susan

Rachel: I grew up going to Civil War reenactments, and so I have all these odd and slightly disjointed memories of sitting on grassy hills, watching while soldiers marched by and cannons fired. It's just part of growing up Southern, I suppose.

Happens up here, too. I don't go to battle reenactments, just to balls (I only want to reenact the Fun Parts). I'm leading a ball for reenactors at Gettysburg on Remembrance Day this year - should be interesting.

Posted June 1, 2006 2:27 PM by Susan

Skwid... Sarah... Yes, Angel was undevelopped, but the movie still managed, in all the razzle-dazzle, to make him to starkest illustration of the mutant situation. To me anyway.

The movie's structure almost makes me think that they wanted to make a total of four movies, not three, but three it turned out to be so they decided to cram as much of #3 and #4 into one movie. Hell, just the resurrection of Jean Grey should have been its own movie.

By the way, Hank McCoy has always been my favorite X-man and I thought Kelsey Grammer did a great job with what little screen time he had, but there just wasn't enough of him.

Damn.

Posted June 1, 2006 2:36 PM by Serge

Anyone got any new summer drink recipes (because it's finally getting hot up here in Boston)?

My new one is pretty simple. Tequila with some 7-up and a dose of fresh-squeezed orange juice on top. (It has to be fresh squeezed, no cheating with concentrate).

Happy almost summer...

:)

Posted June 1, 2006 2:43 PM by John Farrell

As far as bees are concerned, in the summer on the road I used to drive from the Chicago suburbs to DeKalb, there are signs announcing the coming of a “Threshing Bee.” Visible from the road are few antique threshers that I assume are the feature of that bee.

Posted June 1, 2006 3:00 PM by Joe J

Serge and co.: could you label the X-Men spoilers, please, as some of us haven't seen it yet?

Posted June 1, 2006 3:27 PM by Susan

Phil Frank/"Farley" update, according to today's SFGate (Leah Garchik column): "star Chronicle cartoonist, collector of all things historical and all-around pal Phil Frank has been laid up with a pretty serious illness, but it seems the sudden storm has passed. He's home recuperating and is hoping to be back at work on Farley in a week or two."

I guess he must have done those "Elderberries" cartoons in advance. Best wishes for his quick recovery!

Posted June 1, 2006 3:28 PM by Faren Miller

Patrick, y'know what you've been saying for years about electric lights? Looks like we're finally starting to figure it out.

Posted June 1, 2006 3:48 PM by Avram

"Shiloh" seems to be a synonym for the Messiah, according to a number of sources.

I guess if you can name your kid Jesus, why not?

Posted June 1, 2006 3:51 PM by theophylact

Darn it, Geoffrey Hill's SHILOH isn't online anywhere, and I can only remember the first four lines, or a rough version thereof.

Oh marching ground of the shod word! So hard
On the heels of the damned red man we came
Geneva's tribe, outlandish and abhorred
Bland visage milky with Jehovah's calm ...

There's a couple of great lines later - 'In deserts dropped the odd white turds of bone' - but I can't remember the rest.

Posted June 1, 2006 4:08 PM by James Palmer

Avram, thanks for that link. I am totally jazzed at the idea of lighting units "like sheets of glowing paper."

Posted June 1, 2006 4:18 PM by Lizzy L

Susan... I didn't think I had revealed anything about X-men that wasn't already revealed by the various coming attractions. My apologies if I did. Hell, I myself avert spoilers like the plague if I can.

Posted June 1, 2006 4:28 PM by Serge

Faren... Thanks for letting us know what's been going on with Phil Frank.

Posted June 1, 2006 4:29 PM by Serge

Semi-related to the original post, while googling up the text of Harry's St. Crispin speech, I found this which explains how Henry "uses the five practices and commitments of the Charismatic Leadership paradigm."

Apparently the appeal to "close the wall up with our English dead" fits under "Envision an uplifting future." I think I have to agree with their disclaimer that "the text does not do justice to Shakespeare's work."

Posted June 1, 2006 4:32 PM by Barbara Gordon

Serge: Susan... I didn't think I had revealed anything about X-men that wasn't already revealed by the various coming attractions.

I see so few movies (two or three a year) in theaters that I rarely see trailers or other publicity (no TV either), but I do intend to see X-Men.

Posted June 1, 2006 4:38 PM by Susan

I hope you enjoy X-men, Susan. Me, I'm really looking forward to Bryan Singer's Superman returns. Woohoo!!!

Posted June 1, 2006 4:41 PM by Serge

Serge, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Superman Returns. It's just not going to be the same without Christopher Reeve.

I'm trying to wrap my head around your assertion that the Angel is the starkest illustration of the mutant situation, but I'm not seeing it. I'd love to discuss this with you more in the next open thread, when we run less risk of ruining the movie for others.

Does anyone have thoughts on the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie? I loved the first, but I can't say I have high hopes for a sequel to a movie that, by all rights, ought to have been awful. Which is a shame.

Posted June 1, 2006 4:45 PM by Sarah

In deference to Susan's appropriate plea for spoiler notice on the X-Men: SPOILER NOTICE

I'm a multi-decade X-Men reader. I'm not a fanboy in the sense that such-and-such character should say this or so-and-so would never be like that. I've been through enough writers on the book to be well over consistency. I have a harder time not getting worked up about logical, good story-telling. So...

Was anyone else a little uncomfortable about the motivation of the end battle? I understood the need to stop the Phoenix, but I also felt that the X-men were clearly protecting the lab---a lab responsible for weaponizing something to eliminate their nature (protecting Leech from being murdered felt more ancillary than primary). Moving the mutant analogy to homosexuality (as is often done), I think even the most apathetic gay person would be hesitant to protect such a weapon in the hands of government. And further, I was really uncomfortable when W used the weapon--in his moral world, I think he would have killed rather than used that particular weapon (Actually, that last sentence might be fanboy-ish).

Posted June 1, 2006 4:57 PM by Mark DF

Sarah...

True, the Superman movie won't have Christopher Reeve, but remember that even he couldn't save the movies that came after the 2nd one. Thinking of the one with Solar Man, where Superman blocks the baddie's power by moving the Moon between the Earth and the Sun still makes me wince. And let's not delve on the one with Richard Pryor.

That being said, the new movie's director is Bryan Singer, who was the first person to make a comic-based movie that was right from beginning to end. And I read somewhere that there are two movies he saw as a kid that made him decide that movie-making was what he wanted to grow up to do: Spielberg's Jaws, and 1978's Superman.

Out of curiosity... Who would you cast to play the various characters? Assume that you could snatch any actor from the Past. Me, I'd have Gregory Peck as you-know-who, and Katharine Hepburn as Lois Lane. Perry White would be either Spencer Tracy or Humphrey Bogart. What about Lex Luthor? Yul Brynner, of course.

Posted June 1, 2006 5:22 PM by Serge

Mark DF... Agreed. My approach to the X-men movies is pretty much like yours. I'm not interested in the specifics, but the essence, yes... And the plot point you refer to actually goes to the very essence of the X-men:

Sworn to protect a world that fears them and hates them.

Posted June 1, 2006 5:25 PM by Serge

John Farrell:

I've been in full-on 'I wanna be on a patio!' mode now that the weather in Boston has finally turned nice. The rain that was forecast for today never materialized, and the view from the office I've been holed up in working all day is all trees, and birdsong is coming in through the window, and the temptation to just blow off this project and go sip a cool drink somewhere in the sun is (almost) irresistible.

My favourite summer drinks are the classics, I think - gin with real lemonade, Pimm's with lemon-lime soda and a long wedge of English cucumber (no measly slice), and vinho verde - it's a lightly carbonated, low-alcohol wine from Portugal that is the ultimate patio wine. But your tequila drink sounds great - I'll have to give it a try.

Posted June 1, 2006 5:25 PM by debcha

rhandir, there's a book I've been meaning to look for called Saving Stuff, which apparently explains how to conserve absolutely everything. Written by a senior conservator at the Smithsonian, so it should be on the money. Has anyone come across this?

In unrelated news, I learned today that some sharks practice intra-uterine cannibalism. I bet everyone else here knew that already.

Posted June 1, 2006 6:08 PM by Electric Landlady

This seems like a good place to mention, yanno…just in passing, that my friend Joni Leviness was arrested during a protest at the Halliburton Annual Shareholder’s Meeting. She decided to appear in court with a plea of “Not Guilty”.

I can only hope some good comes out of it.

Posted June 1, 2006 7:01 PM by James Goodman

"In 2006, two Good Things happened, and three Bad Things happened..."
--Thread 66 And All That

Posted June 1, 2006 7:24 PM by Kip W

Avram, for the record, that started life as one of my theories.

Speaking of reenactments, we have what sounds like a continuous artillery barrage going on outside ... sht! That one was close.

Posted June 1, 2006 8:14 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Serge: "the new movie's director is Bryan Singer, who was the first person to make a comic-based movie that was right from beginning to end."

Serge, have you ever seen Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik (1966)? If so, did you not like it? If not, you should seek this movie out. If you're not hooked by the end of the "cops dressing up as chauffeurs" sequence, I don't know what to say.

Granted, Diabolik is not a very well-known comic book outside Italy/France/Spain, but it's a comic book nonetheless.

Danger: Diabolik is the only comics-based film that I've enjoyed in the same way that I enjoy comics, if that makes any sense. If there's a false note in it, I couldn't find it. I showed this film to several generations of my extended family -- none of whom particularly care for foreign films or low-budget films or "old" films -- and they were all entranced. Stunned, even.

Image Entertainment released a fully restored special edition DVD just about a year ago. I don't think it was ever released in the US on VHS, except for collector-distributed bootlegs.

Posted June 1, 2006 8:16 PM by HP

This storm's bad enough that I just unplugged my external hard drive. Porco Bruno is visibly upset by the noise.

Posted June 1, 2006 8:19 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Serge: [..] Hank McCoy has always been my favorite X-man
and I thought Kelsey Grammer did a great job with what little screen time he had,
but there just wasn't enough of him.

There is a scene in X-men 2
where the 'mutant menace' is being discussed on television
( which is playing in the background ).

A 'Dr. Hank McCoy' is presented,
who is neither blue and furry,
or Kelsey Grammer.

Posted June 1, 2006 8:51 PM by Rob Rusick

A friend once told me that Daredevil is the patron superhero of Hell's Kitchen. I like this concept. Is there a superhero (X-man, mutant, what have you) who's from Massachusetts? X-Men 2 has Nightcrawler hiding out in Boston, but he seems to be just passing through.
I wish our patron superhero could be Wolverine, but he's Canadian, as I recall. We need an X-Man named Eastern Coyote. Or perhaps a superhero named Beaver... she has the ability to instantaneously build dams and divert waterways. When danger threatens she slaps the water with her tail. And she has big yellow teeth.

Posted June 1, 2006 9:51 PM by April Grant

Gettysburg is just amazing. Went there a couple of years ago on vacation, but it's also a place I remember from being 2-years old and visiting.

If you do go, get out of the car and walk the fields. You have to see the ground to grok what happened. I never understood the order of battle on July 1st, but once I saw the lay of the land it suddenly clicked as to why things went the way they did. If you only get out at one place you have to check out where Pickett’s charge came over the Angle. Stand on the Union side and look out over the field. It looks like a smartish jog, a bit long to go with the cannon from Little Round Top (to your right) plowing through, but not to bad.

Now cross over the wall and look at it from the South’s side, see what they saw. Oh, Madre Dios! St. Francis on a pogo-stick, they had to charge up there, clamber over the wall, and then start attacking? No wonder they lost over sixty-percent of their troops.

You really have to see it to believe the difference. I was very striking.

Posted June 1, 2006 10:25 PM by Steve Buchheit

Anyone got any new summer drink recipes (because it's finally getting hot up here in Boston)?

Hail, fellow Bostonian!

Nonalcoholic, but one I find incredibly refreshing is an Italian soda with peppermint syrup. The mint really cools you off...

Posted June 1, 2006 10:46 PM by Lis Riba

Apropos of nothing:

How do you know if you have the Archaic Transportation computer virus?

. . .

. . .

You wake up hoarse and buggy.

Posted June 1, 2006 11:34 PM by A. J. Luxton

Since this is an open and friendly thread...

I've been reading all sorts of fantastic literary blogs for ages, and have decided to throw up one of my own (how gastro-intestinal). But... how does a starting blogger get people to look at his blog? I almost feel like a six year old kid who's decided to open a lemonade stand on a busy Monday morning, and is anticipating sitting there in silence and smiling hopefully at all the traffic whizzing by...

Any advice?

And, er, do you have to own your own domain name to be taken seriously?

Posted June 2, 2006 12:14 AM by Phil

Shiloh sounds like a wondeful name for a child to me. Think of all the other great battlefields there are out there, just waiting to be bestowed as names on some lucky child!

Kharkov Jones--I see him as a very manly man. Probably bearded. Very muscular.

Naseby Witherington--a undoubted dandy. Weak in the center.

Gallipoli Pamuk--somewhat dense. Lacks direction. Always digging himself into tight spots.

Passchendaele Mahon--very dirty child. Always playing in the mud.

Issus Balyuzi--very decisive. Vigorous, even.

Posted June 2, 2006 12:16 AM by Euan

John Farrell: I used to be partial to an ounce of peach schnapps in a pint of cranberry juice; it slightly rebalanced the tartness of straight cranberry juice (getting harder to find nowadays). We called it Hairy Toes, in a weak link spawned by the source of cranberries. I haven't made one in many years, possibly because it takes too long to use up the peach schnapps.

debcha: an hour after you posted, it was dark and windy (and wet soon after) in Needham. Don't you know better than to provoke the weather gods?

Posted June 2, 2006 12:21 AM by CHip

Daredevil became the patron of Hell's Kitchen by choice; he lived there, and decided to make his particular beat. If I recall right, this happened on Frank Miller's watch, as part of his recasting of the character.

While most mainstream superheroes were associated with particular cities -- mostly NYC at Marvel, and the various DC semi-fictional urbi -- watching over an individual neighborhood was unusual. (I mean, Dr. Strange lived in the East Village, in an identifiable building, but as often as not he wasn't even on this plane of reality.) Even "your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" didn't have an identified neighborhood.*

It's true that, while NYC is very definitely a city of neighborhoods, that isn't perceived outside of the boroughs; at best it's recognized that Brooklyn is, well, different in some mysterious fashion. (It the game Deus Ex, a big chunk of the action takes place in Hell's Kitchen . . . in Brooklyn. The designers lived in Austin.)

A certain amount of highly stereotypical fun could be had by coming up with Neighborhood Superhero Leagues for various cities. St. Germain's Baguette Mortel, London's Northern Line Phantom ("The hour is late, and so is he!"), and Seattle's Masked Geoduck are probably more than enough examples.

*Though the elevated train near Peter's (presumably) Manhattan window in the movies narrows the choice down quite a bit. -- M.U. Car Mike.

Posted June 2, 2006 1:01 AM by John M. Ford

Oh dear. Is it a bad sign that the only underwear perverts my imagination conjures for various Dallas neighborhoods are either deeply ineffectual hero concepts or potential villains?

Highland Park could have the Stratonose...Addison might be terrorized by the White Zin...Plano would have the Minivaninator...maybe downtown could have the Big-Ball Wonder? Valley Ranch could have the Coked-up Cowboys...oh wait, sorry, that's reality already.

Somebody save me from my own brain, please?

Posted June 2, 2006 1:27 AM by Skwid

Phil writes "And, er, do you have to own your own domain name to be taken seriously?"

See Atrios @ Eschaton. See Digby @ Hullabaloo. Both highly regarded, both on blogspot.

As to driving traffic to your site, I'm in no position to advise; I average about 180 visitors a week. ;)

Posted June 2, 2006 2:12 AM by Linkmeister

People planning to see X-Men are apparently advised to stay until the end of the final credits. Unfortunately I found this out only after I'd seen it and left too early, so if anyone *did* stay and wants to rot-13 what happened, I'd be grateful...

(I've pretty much worked it out, I think, from hints elsewhere - but still.)

As an extremely casual reader of the comics but someone who happens to have watched X2 last night, I can add that in the movies at least, Iceman comes from Boston (and they visit his parents in the movie - filmed in Vancouver, of course).

Posted June 2, 2006 2:39 AM by candle

re: neighbourhood superheroes: I'm afraid Essex Man is already a recognised phenomenon...

Neil Gaiman has already handled things for London in "Neverwhere", with characters like an angel called Islington, an Earl who lives under Earls Court, a Knight (with a Bridge), various Black Friars, and an old man called Bailey. For that matter, Auberon Quin managed the same out of whole cloth when he invented the "primaeval hero, the Blacksmith, who with his Hammer broke the chivalry of Kensington at a battle so long and bloody that the field is still called, with austere irony, the Ravenscourt." ("The Napoleon of Notting Hill".)

Posted June 2, 2006 5:23 AM by ajay

Candle:

Zbven jnyxf vagb gur oenva-qrnq zna'f ebbz. Ur gheaf uvf urnq gb ybbx ng ure naq fnlf, "Uryyb, Zbven." Fhecevfrq, fur erfcbaqf, "Puneyrf?"

As for the movie itself, I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not been a fan since long before the day Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, etc., became the New X-Men.

Loved Hank, thought Kitty was spot-on. Couldn't warm to the casting for Warren.

Gur svyz qvq xrrc gur birenyy gentvp-ybir-fgbel srry bs gur bevtvany Cubravk Fntn, ohg vg unq gur jebat znyr yrnq. Gung obgurerq zr, n snvag anvyf-ba-oynpxobneq srryvat, guebhtubhg gur zbivr. V sbhaq gurve fbyhgvba gb raqvat gur svtug jvgu Zntargb oryvrinoyr fvzcyl orpnhfr V qba'g guvax Ybtna oryvrirq Unax jbhyq unir tbar nybat jvgu xvyyvat uvz bhg-bs-unaq.

Posted June 2, 2006 6:51 AM by OG

Rob Rusick, Hank turned himself blue and furry while trying to boost his powers. I thought having the human-looking version in X2 was a nice nod to the comics.

Posted June 2, 2006 6:55 AM by OG

Neil Gaiman has already handled things for London in "Neverwhere", with characters like an angel called Islington [...]

Indeed, we are already aware of that one.

(And this is not entirely self-serving, as the CBLDF, a really-truly Hall of Justice, gets a cut.)

Posted June 2, 2006 7:20 AM by John M. Ford

John Farrell

Mojitos. They're just about perfect, so far as I can tell...and I've given the matter rather intense study.

Classic Mojito
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 oz light rum
- 1 tbs superfine sugar
- Lime wedges
- Club soda
- Mint sprigs

Muddle mint leaves, superfine sugar and lime in a mixing glass. Add 1 1/2 oz light rum and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake. Strain the mixture into a tall glass and top with club soda. Garnish with fresh mint sprig. Sugarcane syrup can be used to replace superfine sugar.

Posted June 2, 2006 9:02 AM by Sarah S

Sarah S--my wife LOVES mojitos. Debcha--thanks for the tip. How could I forget gin and lemonade!? Lis--yours sounds perfect for weeknights--but I will need to go to the store for peppermint syrup.

CHip--hairy toes will go onto my list. In fact, we have some straight tart cranberry juice and I was wondering how I could use that up. :)

Teresa, we got a bit of a thunderstorm up here--but not the level we expected...it must have fizzled somewhere...and my daughters were upset the thunder was so weak we couldn't play 'count the seconds after the flash'...

Posted June 2, 2006 9:35 AM by John Farrell

Serge: I agree it fits the X-men motto...but the implications of the end I am still troubled by....

(I love this rot13.com thing)
Ol pneelvat gur zbggb gb guvf pbapyhfvba, V sryg gur K-zra ol qrsnhyg jrer qrsraqvat n xvaq bs trabpvqr, juvpu vf jung V sbhaq qvfgheovat cnegvphyneyl orpnhfr gurve xvaq jbhyq or gur fhowrpg bs gung trabpvqr. V qba'g guvax, ubjrire, guvf jnf vagraqrq. Gur fperrajevgref rffragvnyyl unq gjb fgbelyvarf--qnex Cubravk naq gur pher---gung gurl gevrq gb erfbyir jvgu bar fbyhgvba. Va fbyivat gur sbezre, gurl raqrq hc jvgu, VZB, n zbenyyl gebhoyrfbzr fbyhgvba gb gur ynggre. Rffragvnyyl, V guvax vg jnf onq fgbelgryyvat---gurl jebgr gurzfryirf vagb n pbeare naq whfg guerj hc gurve unaqf ubcvat ab bar jbhyq abgvpr orpnhfr gur K-zra ner gur tbbq thlf, fb ertneqyrff bs gur vzcyvpngvbaf, vg jnf n tbbq guvat gb qb.

Bu...naq qba'g lbh jvfu gurl unq qnex Cubravk fzvyr? Bar bs gur fpnel guvatf nobhg gung punenpgre vf ubj fur eriryf va jung fur qbrf.

Posted June 2, 2006 11:17 AM by Mark DF

OK, I need help. I have a number of questions about Orthodox Jewish death customs, especially the significance of the Sh'ma. I can look up the rules, but what I'm after is the feelings Orthodox people (especially ones who became more Orthodox in adulthood) might have about them.

It's for a fictional use. I'm not Jewish, and I want to get it right and respectful, since the story is about a Gentile interacting with a dying Jew.

Posted June 2, 2006 11:38 AM by Xopher

Um, meant to say, if you can help, please contact me on the email linked to my name. (Leave out the NOSPAM, of course.)

Posted June 2, 2006 11:51 AM by Xopher

Sarah S -- Muddle mint leaves ...

What happens if you aren't a fresh mint fan? Is it still a mojito, a bastard mojito, or something else entirely?

Posted June 2, 2006 12:43 PM by joann

Is there a superhero (X-man, mutant, what have you) who's from Massachusetts? X-Men 2 has Nightcrawler hiding out in Boston, but he seems to be just passing through.

During George Perez' run on the comic, Wonder Woman lived in the Greater Boston area with Harvard professor Julia Kapatelis (and her teenage daughter Vanessa).

It's been a while since I read them, but Perez is a great artist, and Boston was recognizably Boston (including a memorable scene in a traffic jam on Storrow (or was that Mem Drive?)).

Posted June 2, 2006 12:58 PM by Lis Riba

Lis Riba, John M. Ford, et. al.,
Long ago, I had a DC comic book that purported to show the actual locations of Metropolis and Gotham:* sister cities on the opposite sides of Delaware Bay. Kind of logical, really, the only freshwater inlet on the East Coast not already populated by a city. Do any of you know how I could lay my hands on that comic? (80's-90's vintage)

I have heard that they've been moved - again! with Gotham occasionally acquiring NYC-specific architechture.

Speaking of which, John mentioned Dr. Strange lived in an identifiable building in the East Village - are there pictures about? I have found the street address, which is the apartment where one of the original authors of the series lived, (via wikipeida) but the pictures therof don't match the illustrations.

-r.

*Smallville too, but they put it in Pennsylvania or Ohio or something, which was too unbeliveable for someone who had lived in both Ohio and Kansas. Clearly it was Kansas. But I digress.

Posted June 2, 2006 1:37 PM by rhandir

I may be misinterpreting a glitch here. but Avedon Carol's The Sideshow appear to have lost comments, after posting a fairly large piece about Robert F. Kennedy's article in Rolling Stone, asking Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

I hope I'm making a wild leap, but is this such a hot topic that the Republican attack puppets have been unleashed?

Posted June 2, 2006 1:53 PM by Dave Bell

rhandir -- I put that badly. The address was real, but unfortunately Doc's sanctum (which has an enormous circular window on the gable-roofed upper floor, excellent for viewing . . . uh, eldritch bicycle messengers and parking violations that disrupt the cosmic flow, I suppose) is a product of the art department.

I mean, if I'd ever had an apartment like that -- and it would have been rent-controlled, too -- it would have taken the Dread Dormammu and his entire legal department to get me out.

Posted June 2, 2006 1:54 PM by John M. Ford

Thanks, OG. I had worked out roughly what it was, but it's good just to have the scene described (and not have to reconstruct it from discussions of its implications).

I wasn't a fan of the Warren casting, either, although I was glad to see the character there. But as someone said, it looked like they were trying to squeeze too much in, and didn't give some of the characters enough to do. Naq gurl unir arire jbexrq bhg jung gb qb jvgu Ebthr.

I actually thought it was the best of the three movies, hagvy gurl qrpvqrq gb gel gb erfbyir rirelguvat va n uhtr onggyr ng gur raq. Ohg ng yrnfg vg jnfa'g whfg n frevrf bs qhryf ntnva, juvpu ernyyl naablrq zr nobhg gur cerivbhf barf.

Much of the fun for me in X-men is in seeing how the various powers interact. Having Wolverine fight Lady Deathstrike in X2 seemed a complete waste of time. They might as well have had swords.

As for the ending, vg qvq frrz n ovg hayvxryl gb zr, rfcrpvnyyl jvgu Fgbez orvat va ba vg. (V pna ohl vg sbe Jbyirevar naq Ornfg, whfg nobhg.) Ohg onfvpnyyl vg jnf gbb ovt na rguvpny qrpvfvba gb qrny jvgu va 30 frpbaqf be fb. Zl qrpvfvba jnf gb nffhzr gung gur ivyynvaf nyjnlf pbzr onpx va gur pbzvpf, fb gurl svtherq Zntargb jbhyq svaq n jnl nebhaq vg va gur raq.

Ohg V qvq jbaqre jul Ybtna qvqa'g hfr gur fnzr grpuavdhr gb qrny jvgu Cubravk: tvira gung fur nyybjrq uvz gb hfr uvf pynjf, jul abg nyybj uvz gb hfr gur pher gb oevat Wrna Terl onpx? Ohg gurer znl or K-yber V'z hanjner bs urer.

Posted June 2, 2006 1:58 PM by candle

I love the way rot-13 looks: "hagvy gurl", "cerivbhf barf", "K-yber". It's even better than slf-dsmvwllng.

Posted June 2, 2006 2:02 PM by candle

John M. Ford,
I laughed out loud - the Dread Dormammu and his entire legal department - excellent! "By the Crimson Counsel of Cyttorak!"

I had thought that was the case, but there are some really odd Queen-Anne derivative rowhouses* in Baltimore that have nifty features not unlike that window, so I thought it possible that there was a real-life model. You never know what lurks in the odd corners of a city.

-r.

*I'll post some pictures sometime.

Posted June 2, 2006 2:04 PM by rhandir

Oh, more super hero neepery:
A nice map showing key NYC locations for marvel heroes. Including the Shield Secret Headquarters. You'd think that the DHS would be more interested in protecting that, wouldn't you?
[ See other (1) threads(2) for context. ]

For those joining us late, a quick and easy copy/past descrambler is available at: http://www.rot13.com/index.php

-r.

Posted June 2, 2006 2:12 PM by rhandir

Candle:

Gurl hfrq nyy gur flevatrf gurl unq ba Zntargb.

In the original Dark Phoenix Saga, Phoenix had -- they thought -- been depowered from cosmic-level to something close to her pre-Phoenix level. An enormous fight erupted when agents of an interstellar empire showed up to deal with her for her actions while Dark Phoenix, in particular the destruction of an inhabited star system. Dark Phoenix took over again, IIRC when she thought Cyclops had been killed, and she flipped back and forth between Phoenix and Dark Phoenix. Wolverine tried to kill her and lost his nerve; she was Dark Phoenix when he tackled her and Jean when they landed. She eventually arranged to commit suicide.

V pna pregnvayl haqrefgnaq yrnivat gur Fuv'ne bhg bs vg; guvatf jrer pbzcyvpngrq rabhtu nyernql. Ohg gur jubyr fntn eribyirq nebhaq Fpbgg naq Wrna orvat jung'f pnyyrq n fhcrepbhcyr va gur fbncf. Jvgubhg gung ybatfgnaqvat eryngvbafuvc, V guvax gur fgbel ybfrf zhpu bs vgf vzcnpg.

BTW, for Firefox users, there's an extension that will convert highlighted text to any of a number of encodings, including ROT-13: Leetkey.

Posted June 2, 2006 2:56 PM by OG

The most convenient ROT-13 tool I've ever used is the Bookmarklets Dori created and posted in this Making Light thread. Extremely handy, and browser-portable.

Posted June 2, 2006 4:16 PM by Skwid

Dave Bell: "is this such a hot topic that the Republican attack puppets have been unleashed?"

If that's the case, they're showing their usual level of competence. It would be far more intelligent to disable the RS site itself.

I didn't excerpt from it, but I did post about it.

Posted June 2, 2006 4:23 PM by Linkmeister

Gaaah! Mr. Bush has his panties in a wad over gay marriage again! Run in circles, scream and shout (and misdirect any attention from things that really matter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060602/pl_nm/rights_gay_bush_dc_1

Look this way! Nothing to see over there, no, not nothing at all. Move along.

Posted June 2, 2006 5:48 PM by Paula Helm Murray

Historical Bush admin approval ratings, in one handy chart.

Posted June 2, 2006 6:13 PM by rhandir

Re: comic book dwellings -- Thessaly in the Sandman comics appears to live in a house my brother once lived in. It's the house in "The Kindly Ones" -- Thessaly asks to be taken to at the corner of Sweetzer and Melrose in LA, and later there's a picture of it. I have no explanation for this -- my brother lived in the house in the back, but doesn't remember any comics artists or artists' friends living in the front house. Maybe it was chosen at random; maybe there really was a 2,000-year-old witch living there.

Posted June 2, 2006 6:18 PM by Lisa Goldstein

Wonder Woman lives in DC. We see her regularly on local TV.

Posted June 2, 2006 7:54 PM by Marilee

thanks, Rhandir! that's a beautiful thing.

Posted June 3, 2006 12:52 AM by Paula Helm Murray

I see what you mean, OG. But gurl zvtug unir gubhtug gb xrrc onpx bar be gjb. Jura gurl jrer qrpvqvat, V ernyyl gubhtug gung gurl jrer cynaavat gb hfr gurz ba Cubravk. Zntargb jnf bayl guebjvat pnef nebhaq, nsgre nyy...

Gosh, I've never used the word "gurl" so much in my life.

Posted June 3, 2006 3:54 AM by candle

Candle:

Synzvat pnef. Bagb crbcyr. Juvyr Wrna fvzcyl fgbbq gurer naq jngpurq.

Senaxyl, V guvax gurer jnf fgvyy fbzr ubcr gung vs gurl pbhyq gnxr njnl Zntargb'f vasyhrapr, gurl pbhyq unaqyr Wrna. Va gung, ng yrnfg, gur zbivr qvq zveebe gur bevtvany fgbel, gubhtu gur cevag irefvba unq n qvssrerag ivyynva'f vasyhrapr gevttre ure genafsbezngvba.

Posted June 3, 2006 8:25 AM by OG

Discovered by the Hub whilst googling other things: Hamster parkour.

Go on, you know you want to look.

Posted June 3, 2006 2:23 PM by abi

Dr. Strange lived at 177A Bleecker Street, which is more West Village than East. I used to live at number 177; the brownstone, if it is there in any form, is not visible to mundane eyes. As I wrote up on my blog a while back, this was a bittersweet discovery indeed.

Posted June 3, 2006 3:32 PM by Andrew Willett

The HST images at etacarinae.net (in the Particles section) don't appear to be properly credited, which NASA generally wants for people making the images available (as opposed to having one as a desktop background). There are even more nice high-res HST images at the HubbleSite and the Hubble Heritage site -- I recognize a lot of the images at the etacarinae.net site as being Hubble Heritage images.

Posted June 3, 2006 5:49 PM by Lorax

Andrew Willett,
There's a bit of video out there from the Travel Channel, where they take one of the guys who used to live there back to the apartment complex. He remarks on the fact that the "A" in 177A is missing from the building, but that it used to be there.

I'll find a link for you sometime.
-r.

Posted June 3, 2006 6:07 PM by rhandir

I know another Marvel hero who grew up in Hell's Kitchen: Avpubynf Shevbfb, urer fyvtugyl Yngvavsvrq gb xrrc sbyxf sebz pbhagvat gur yrggref orsber thrffvat. Pbzr gb guvax bs vg, ur urnqrq hc gjb gvgyrf. Uvf oebgure, nyfb sebz Uryy'f Xvgpura, znqr nccrnenaprf va obgu nf jryy. (Thanks to Firefox's plug-in "Leetkey" for the quick Rot-13 translation. Or should I say, - .... .- -. -.- ... - --- ..-. .. .-. . ..-. --- -..- ' ... .-.. . . - -.- . -.-- --..-- . - -.-. .-.-.- )

Posted June 3, 2006 6:46 PM by Kip W

Our Asymmetrical Galaxy: Spiders 1, Snakes 0.

Mike, isn't that the logo of some supervillainous organization? It looks vaguely familiar.

Posted June 3, 2006 6:53 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Abi, what magical thing is going overhead, that the Siberian hamsters fall over while watching it?

Posted June 3, 2006 7:10 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Kip, Gubh neg jvfr, naq n trrx.

Posted June 3, 2006 7:14 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

James Palmer, that's very interesting. Have you found the text yet?

Posted June 3, 2006 7:15 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Which? The edge-on Milky Way? Don't specifically recall it, but supervillain organizations never seem to spend too much of their ill-won money on graphic designers. SPECTRE had the symbolic but crude-looking octopus (nice rings, though), and Galaxy (from Our Man Flint) used a G inside a Fifties orbiting-electron-whirly that Frigidaire might have come up with for one of its Kitchen of the Future displays. Don't get me started on the THRUSH badge, which was just plain embarrassing for people with technocratic pretensions.

One does imagine an East European bossnik (with a name like Ivan Ratzinovitch Ptuyi, of course) glaring at his Art Department and yelling "Nyet onna knout! This is Constructivist, and I specifically demanded Suprematist! Feed them to Niki the Hamster."

Posted June 3, 2006 7:16 PM by John M. Ford

Teresa,

Honestly, I don't know. That video came up when my better half was looking for clips on parkour to show our gymnastically inclined son.

My first thought that it was the classic repetitive behaviour of over-caged animals, like polar bears who sway. My second was simply that it was damned funny. Seeing as you're hamster people (I mean that in a good way), I thought you might be interested and amused, as appropriate.

Posted June 3, 2006 7:31 PM by abi

BTW, I mentioned you to the classmate I said I'd mention you to this afternoon. We were supposed to talk further later in the day, but I didn't have the chance. I intend to remind him somehow in the coming days. More when I know more.

Posted June 4, 2006 1:19 AM by Chris Quinones

re summer drinks: There's a liquor store next to my dentist's office, and I often treat myself to a bottle of something nummy after I've been a good girl. (Lollipops are so 40 years ago.) Last month I laid in a bottle of Bendistillery's Desert Juniper gin, featuring handpicked wild juniper-berry-ness. Ooooooh. I'll get around to tonic and limes for it, but for now I've been sipping it straight.

Posted June 4, 2006 2:12 AM by Kate Yule

re the particle 202 liters of coke...

Awesome!

Better than the bellagio, because the bellagio uses computers to syncronize all it's water spouts to music, and these two guys worked together to do it all by hand.

Just plain fun.

Posted June 4, 2006 3:39 PM by Greg London

There's also http://www.rot13.com.

Posted June 4, 2006 3:40 PM by Glenn Hauman

Dang. That'll teach me to read a thread backwards.

Posted June 4, 2006 3:48 PM by Glenn Hauman

abi, I rather think your first thought is right.

Poor hamsters. That's an extremely sparse environment, and crowded.

Posted June 4, 2006 4:04 PM by Dave Bell

Ach, Dave, now you make me feel bad for laughing at it.

Posted June 4, 2006 4:08 PM by abi

Spotted today in PetSmart:

Two plastic cages, each with a layer of litter and a few pieces of play furniture and a FREE tag.

The gerbils inside were returned for being agressive . . . not only attacking other gerbils, but their humans.

Alternate spelling for returned, agressive gerbil:

Snake Food

Posted June 4, 2006 7:12 PM by Stefan Jones

Re the ending of X3: Ubj jbhyq Jbyirevar unir tbggra gur "pher" gb Cubravk jvgubhg vg qvfvagrtengvat? Gur ragver ernfba ur jnf gur bar jub unq gb xvyy ure jnf gung uvf syrfu ertrarengrf naq uvf fxryrgba vf vaqrfgehpgvoyr. (Uvf unve fubhyq unir synxrq bss nf ur jnyxrq gbjneqf ure, gubhtu.) Gur "pher" qnegf jrer zrer cynfgvp (creuncf jvgu fbzr prenzvp pbzcbaragf). Vapyhqvat, nccneragyl, gur arrqyrf, bgurejvfr Zntargb pbhyq unir qrsyrpgrq gurz.

I had plenty of complaints about the movie, but that wasn't one of them.

Posted June 4, 2006 8:06 PM by Avram

One week later in PetSmart:

Two slightly battered small animal cages inside a Large Barred Big Animal Cage, with a guy in a Red Man suit nearby.

Sign: GOT A SNAKE PROBLEM?

Posted June 4, 2006 8:51 PM by John M. Ford

Gerbils on a Plane!

Posted June 4, 2006 9:42 PM by Stefan Jones

Skwid: I'm glad to hear that the bookmarklets work well for you; I've been surprised how often I use them myself.

Others: that link Skwid posted above goes to both ROT-13 and disemvoweling bookmarklets. If you try them and run into problems, please let me know.

Every so often I think about trying to come up with an emvoweling bookmarklet (i.e., one that does the opposite of the disemvoweling bookmarklet), but I'm not that insane. Well, not usually.

Posted June 4, 2006 9:55 PM by Dori

Excerpted from The D VNC VWL MVMNT:

"According to these disheveled documents found on one of the dismembered victims of the dyspareunic Hoving Massacre --"
"Would that be the renownedly famously richly smart art snob Calder Criblecoblis?"
"The renownedly same. Anyway, the paper -- authentically written in his own bilious bile -- says that a vitally urgent clue may be found in the MN LS."
"Gruelly thin indeed. Minnesota is a territorially large state."
"Undeniably true. But I believe we should begin at the internationally shoptaculous Mall of the Americas. Perhaps among the gessopathologic Kinkade shop."
"The Mall of the Americas, or, as they call it in the immigrational vernacular, El Mallo de las Borrascas? Well, it seems a horizonally challenged long shot, but your research has been infallibly spot-on to this point."

Posted June 4, 2006 10:24 PM by John M. Ford

April,
http://jl.toonzone.net/fate/fate.htm
mentions that Dr. Fate (DC) lives in Salem, Massachusetts.

Posted June 4, 2006 11:40 PM by Steve

Guinea pig, not hamster, but have you heard about Sooty?

Male guinea pig, escaped from his pen into a nearby cage containing 24 females, spent one night with them (and slept for two days after), and is now the proud father of 43.

Not a bad night's work...

Posted June 4, 2006 11:48 PM by Lis Riba

Ooh and Kate, thanks for the word on Bendistillery. I'm going to have to find a bottle of that gin...

Posted June 4, 2006 11:53 PM by Lis Riba

I have just learned that in the Late Quantum and Early Uranium eras, from 1936 to 1943, the American Institute of Physics offices were in the Flatiron Building. So important physics journals were published there.

The building appears on the cover of Physics Today this month as AIP celebrates its 75th anniversary.

The linked page also has some photos of hot-type journal production in the 1960s and minicomputer-based photocomposition later.

Posted June 5, 2006 11:27 AM by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

Yet another entry in the logs of "Why I call myself a liberal but not a Democrat:"

Dems sponsor (mostly) bad videogame legislation.

Both sides suck on these issues, but I linked to the Slashdot story specifically so that some of you might go read the comments...the first post puts it well:

You can either vote for the party that pisses all over the middle of the bill of rights... or you vote for the party that pisses all over the top of the bill of rights.

AWESOME!

Won't anybody tell people to stop "thinking about the chiiiildrun" and start thinking about parenting instead of legislation?

Posted June 5, 2006 12:55 PM by Skwid

Skwid...

Still calling myself a Democrat.

By the way, saw Frank Capra's Mister Smith Goes to Washington on TCM yesterday. Amazing how a 60-year-old movie still applies to what goes on today. You have Smith trying to get his message out about corruption, but his opponent controls the media, has radio personalities speak against him. We even have fake 'spontaneous' campaigns telling Smith to step down.

One can be pessimistic and optimistic after watching that movie. Pessimistic because corruption always finds new ways to ooze its way back in. Optimistic because, bad as things can seem, eventually the rats get sent scurrying away.

(As for Capra being sappy... Considering that one of his most famous movies is about a man who spends his whole life denying himself his own wishes so that others can have a good life, and, on Christmas Eve, facing financial ruin, he contemplates suicide and instead literally stops existing... Sappy? I don't think so.)

Posted June 5, 2006 3:37 PM by Serge

I came across this article in the New York Times today. Since it’s about publishing, I wanted to see what those cool people at Making Light might would make of it.

Digital Publishing Is Scrambling the Industry's Rules

Posted June 5, 2006 4:06 PM by Joe J

Don't get me wrong...I'll continue to *vote* for and monetarily support Democrats, given the importance of the divide issues and the perils of third party distraction, but I think many Dems have some serious, serious failings on civil rights issues wherever they intersect with technology and especially new media, and I think it's sad that there's not more discussion about those failings amongst the non-geek liberal set.

Posted June 5, 2006 4:36 PM by Skwid

Skwid... The problem with those Democrats is that they are chicken-shit spineless cowards. And should be called that way to their face where everybody can hear. Shaming them might do the trick.

Posted June 5, 2006 4:40 PM by Serge

That said, however, I do think that edits should be restricted to registered users, who can be booted if they vandalize (not just disagree, but actually post deliberately rude or erroneous material). That would cut down on the problems a bit, I think.

I don't know, it would also reduce the drive by corrections. For example, I ran into the article on Oradour-sur-Glane, and was horrified that some nazi apologist had edited the account of the incident to load it up with excuses for why the Nazis did it, and to claim that the deaths were accidental byproducts of the Resistance storing ammunition in the buildings and then shooting at the Nazis who were just checking identity papers.

This despite the surviving witnesses and their court testimony! Amazingly, it had stood in that condition for months. I and a friend cleaned it back up, but if we had had to register I'm not sure if we'd have gotten around to it.

Posted June 5, 2006 4:52 PM by tavella

Ah, Nazi apologists, tavella... That reminds me of when I was living east of San Francisco and working south of it. That meant long car-pooling rides. One day, for some reason, the subject of the Holocaust came up and one of the guys mentionned that some people don't think it happened, and said so in a tone that didn't reject the very idea. I shot back that they probably were Nazis themselves. That, to say the least, put a damper on conversations for the rest of the ride.

Posted June 5, 2006 5:34 PM by Serge

some nazi apologist

I would assume, and this assumption is based on an overall view that mankind is fundamentally good*, that the number of registered nazi apologists working on any article would be outnumbered by the number of non-nazi apologists working on the same article.

The fact that the article had been bumped to "registered editors only" would generally mean that the number of edits would be "N edits per day" rather than "N days per edit", so if its a troubled, high traffic, article, I think someone would fix it. And if it isn't high traffic, then "mob rule" isn't the problem. So, saying the structure doesn't fix a problem it wasn't designed to fix is sort of missing teh point.

*for sufficiently high level and long term views, and for some definition of "good".

Posted June 5, 2006 5:52 PM by Greg London

Apropos of nothing, I was reminded of the sci fi novel adapted from a short story that a planet with two suns has this occurrence every few thousand years where both suns are gone from the sky, leading to unaccustomed darkness and complete societal derangement.

Tomorrow is 6/6/6. I look forward to the right wing Xians to make a similar case....

Posted June 5, 2006 6:07 PM by moe99

Various things:

Long long long ago Emma Frost, The White Queen, was at IIRC "Massachusetts Academy," located in Concord or some other such place with private schools.

At least one of the versions of Iron Man had Tony Stark having gone to MIT.

Doctor Strange was independently very very wealthy, and thus able to live even in whatever highly expensive area of NYC he wanted to.

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

The Schmuck's latest screed is simply more of the same sort of distraction/BWB ("Baffle with Bull[excrement]") deflection from substantiative issues... when in doubt or being attacked, if you are the Schmuck, makes lots of noise about Potemkin Village issues and put up elaborate flashy backdrops, send out t/h/e W/a/t/e/r/g/a/t/e p/l/u/m/b/e/r/s Slime & Bucket Brigade throwing stinking slops around in all directions, unleash the Vile Hunt slobbering minions, drop baksheesh but the megabuck to paid pandering article writers in paid propaganda (masquerading as reporting) placement slots in publications which the advertisers have control of the editorial content...

Make noise and Scmuck in his usurper position as POTUS gets the media to drop other stories to instead like slobbering syncophants putting whatever BS he blathers on instead, driving out, again, content.... it's Gresham's Law, the gay marriage Schmuck urination stream has completely washed away attention to the US military official policy that abrogates all provisions in US law about "cruel and unusual punishment" and all other rights regarding prisoner abuse, all the gag orders on government scientists about climate and environment and medical marijuana and birth control and anything ELSE the religious fanatics in the politics and relgion bandwagon the Schmuck is have policies based on Belief that scientific researchs in the government hasn't been completely perverted to support,