999 comments left to go.

Posted March 29, 2007 10:58 PM by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

New thread, yaay. Sounds of distant thunder outside, if it gets closer I'll pull my laptop off the power source. (Internet is wireless all over the house except in the sun porch and kitchen.,..)

Whoops, it's now happening overhead. Pulling plug but not closing Internet connection just yetl.

Posted March 29, 2007 11:04 PM by Paula Helm Murray

I've spent the last hour and a half leading my high school sister through a poem, in hopes of turning it into a paper (due tomorrow, but she's been trying all month). I wonder what would have happened if she'd turned in three pages of poetry analysis on this gem?

Posted March 29, 2007 11:25 PM by Diatryma

As someone who has always wanted to go to Antarctica, I wanted to share that the National Science Foundation has put out this year's request for proposals for the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program (NSF 07-550)

The purpose of the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program is to enable serious writings and works of art that exemplify the Antarctic heritage of humankind. In particular, the program seeks to increase public understanding of the Antarctic region, including the continent and the surrounding oceans, as well as the associated research and education endeavors.

The Antarctic Artists and Writers Program provides opportunities for professional artists and writers to travel to Antarctica - at research stations, field camps, and aboard ships - to make the observations necessary to complete their proposed projects. While the majority of award recipients are established artists and writers, the program also seeks to support early career artists and writers in an effort to broaden participation.

ML seems to collect a good number of creative types, maybe someone here will be inspired. Me, I figure I'm probably going to have to go as an employee for Raytheon Polar Services.

Posted March 29, 2007 11:29 PM by Tania

#6

Having had a most-expenses-paid year in the Arctic, on salary in the US military....

Posted March 29, 2007 11:40 PM by Paula Lieberman

Ah, Theban bands.... the many ways to tie men and boys together in fatal attractions...

Posted March 29, 2007 11:41 PM by Paula Lieberman

A post about posting on ML: The box which says "Don't make me type all this again" won't stay checked for me. This has become a problem only recently. Any ideas why that might be happening? Is it happening for anyone else?

Posted March 29, 2007 11:52 PM by Rob Rusick

Rob @ #7: It should only need to be checked once, if your name/address/URL are not appearing. If they are, they're already set and will continue to be remembered. If they're not, have you perhaps installed a cookie-blocker, or cleared all your browser cookies?

Posted March 30, 2007 12:00 AM by Clifton Royston

Re: The 'Doctor Who and the Beatles' Sidelight. According to the Wikipedia entry on the episode, the original plan had been to film the Beatles in makeup as their aged future selves, but in the end a clip from Top of the Pops was used instead. This clip of the Beatles used on Dr Who is the only surviving clip of the Beatles appearing on Top of the Pops.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:07 AM by Rob Rusick

Clifton: I hadn't installed any cookie blockers, or cleared cookies (unless I had somehow did it by clicking on the wrong button, which I don't think I did), but I did lose my earlier name and address entries a couple of days ago, and had to re-enter them (not a big deal). I would have sworn that when I had checked that box earlier, it stayed checked.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:12 AM by Rob Rusick

Paula @ #5 - I do understand your point. Heck, I live in the sub-arctic, why would I want to go to the other pole? I don't know why, but I do! Every year I look at the Raytheon jobs, and think about the possibilities.

Strictly being nosy, where did they send you? Reykjavik? Thule? Somewhere at sea? Adak? One of my uncles is living on Adak, he seems to be enjoying it.

BTW, I always admire the passion in your posts on political topics. Thank you for lacking the complacency gene.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:20 AM by Tania

Imagining a painter in the Antartic:

Bring along a good supply of titanium white.

Actually, would regular oil or acrylic paints freeze up in the Antarctic? Would you need to get specially blended paints with antifreeze in the mix? Would brush bristles freeze hard enough to embrittle and shatter?

Posted March 30, 2007 12:22 AM by Bruce Arthurs

The Doctor Who classical music joke reminds me of the episode of Futurama where Fry was listening to "Baby Got Back" and Leela came in, turned it off, and said "You can't just sit around all day listening to classical music!"

Posted March 30, 2007 12:37 AM by ethan

Bruce Arthurs in #12 writes:
Actually, would regular oil or acrylic paints freeze up in the Antarctic? Would you need to get specially blended paints with antifreeze in the mix? Would brush bristles freeze hard enough to embrittle and shatter?

I don't know the answers to these questions.

I do know that Peter Kokh once wondered what kind of art lunar settlers would make if it was expensive to import materials from Earth.

He studied the minerals available in Moon soil, and figured out pigments and carrier that could be made from available substances.

Then he went out and obtained samples of these substances from chemical suppliers, played around to get the right consistency, mixed up a batch of paints, and made some paintings.

It wasn't the greatest of art, but I was delighted at the originality of the whole project-- that's Peter all over.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:46 AM by Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey

bruce,

Actually, would regular oil or acrylic paints freeze up in the Antarctic?

i imagine acrylic would, being water & plastic based. oils, i'd think would work better, but i'm just thinking of how long they take to harden in room temperature. does oil have a lower freezing point than water?

Posted March 30, 2007 1:29 AM by miriam beetle

Speaking of Spartans...

It's Raining 300 Men

(Gacked from the Smart Bitches -- apologies if someone's already posted it else-fluorosphere.)

Posted March 30, 2007 1:44 AM by Julia Jones

Is there a parenthetical subtext to the Antarctic Writers and Artists Program? Before it melts we'd really like to get on record just how special it was?

Posted March 30, 2007 1:53 AM by Linkmeister

Linkmeister #17: My brother and his wife of almost a year have been trying to plan a belated honeymoon (their work schedules didn't allow for one after the wedding), but can't decide where to go. My mother suggested going to see a glacier while they still exist, and my brother countered with the idea of going to see a coral reef, same reason. Deeeepressing.

Posted March 30, 2007 2:06 AM by ethan

Rob Rusick @ 9:
Re: The 'Doctor Who and the Beatles' Sidelight. According to the Wikipedia entry on the episode, the original plan had been to film the Beatles in makeup as their aged future selves, but in the end a clip from Top of the Pops was used instead. This clip of the Beatles used on Dr Who is the only surviving clip of the Beatles appearing on Top of the Pops.

The clip is from an episode of a serial called 'The Chase' which was released on VHS tape some years ago, but not yet available on DVD. What intrigues me about this is the clip was presumably taken from that VHS release, which means it was included for that release and not excised from it, as I'd expected. Given how expensive it is to get the rights to music for such releases and how this has led to music bits having to be replaced or to it making it prohibitively expensive to release a show on DVD (WKRP In Cincinnatti), this surprises me. Did the surviving Beatles waive the fee because they liked the show (the reason they were going to appear as their older selves on Doctor Who in the first place), or does the shortness of the musical clip mean no fee is required? I note that new Doctor Who is getting around the problem by having in-house composer Murray Gold write the songs people were dancing to at the wedding in the last Christmas special.

Posted March 30, 2007 4:00 AM by Rob Hansen

If you liked seeing the Beatles on Doctor Who, you might enjoy this fan video of clips from the Eccleston season set to Beatles tunes. I thought it was fun, if just a tiny bit long.

Posted March 30, 2007 4:06 AM by David Goldfarb

I have a question for the editorial and proofreading types. (And, heck, the readers of encyclopedias).

I'm writing an encyclopedia of characters. I have three types of names: first name, last name (Sherlock Holmes); title, last name (Doctor Silence); and pseudonym (Captain Future).

What is the best way to list them? That is, what is the best order to put the names in so that a casual reader, flipping through the book, will be able to find a character?

a) last name, first name, for every entry? (Future, Captain; Holmes, Sherlock; Silence, Doctor).
b) last name, first name or title, and first name, last name for pseudonyms? (Captain Future; Holmes, Sherlock; Silence, Doctor).
c) last name, first name, title, first name, and first name, last name for pseudonyms? (Captain Future; Doctor Silence; Holmes, Sherlock).

Thanks in advance.

Posted March 30, 2007 5:38 AM by Jess Nevins

#21 - I'd go with "last, first" for anything that sounds like a real name and "first last" for anything that clearly isn't. I would also include "last, first" with a brief "See first last" entry for those that I do put in "first last" position.

Hope that makes sense...?

Posted March 30, 2007 6:10 AM by Jules

I'd also do something to indicate titles as distinct from names, and have cross references that used the title as if it were a name

So for your examples, I'd have:

Holmes, Sherlock -> article
Silence (Doctor) -> article
Doctor Silence -> See "Silence (Doctor)"
Captain Future -> article
Future (Captain) -> See "Captain Future"

Posted March 30, 2007 6:14 AM by Jules

Rob Rusick... About the Beatles, and their appearance on Doctor Who... This reminds me of the episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus where Ringo appeared. Of course, you do know that George produced Life of Brian and I think he also was in the scene of the Sermon on the Mountain that ended in a fight after one joke too many about big noses.

Posted March 30, 2007 6:47 AM by Serge

In the Hugo thread, people were talking about Naomi Novik's Téméraire books. Peter Jackson bought the rights to the books. My wife told me yesterday that Novik originally envisionned the main human character as being played by Russell Crowe, but that she also thought Hugh Jackman would be quite suitable. (That'd no doubt make TexAnne very happy.)

Posted March 30, 2007 6:51 AM by Serge

[Robo comment spam from 67.85.231.137 ]

Posted March 30, 2007 7:03 AM by

From memory:

The honours that the people give, always
go to those use-besotted gentlemen
whose numbskull courage is a kind of fear,
a fear of thought, and of their oafish mothers
('or with your shield, or on it') in their rear.
Spartans cannot retreat, why then their praise
for going forward should be left to others.

But we, actors and critics of one play,
of sober-witted judgment who could see
so many ways, and chose the Spartan way;
what has the popular report to say
of us, the Thespians at Thermopylae?

-- Norman Cameron

Posted March 30, 2007 7:25 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Swan @ 26, you've posted here twice, and both times without relevance to the topic at hand--once with appalling insensitivity for which you were disemvoweled, in fact. I suspect you are either an automated spambot or astroturf.

Posted March 30, 2007 7:39 AM by Aconite

My, what big shields those Spartans have.

Posted March 30, 2007 7:52 AM by Steve Buchheit

Recognizing Mr. Macdonald's source poem within the first two lines made me feel even geekier than recognizing the Tolkien. How is that possible?

Posted March 30, 2007 7:57 AM by Aconite

Of course I'd forgotten that in 1965 everybody on Top of the Popa still mimed to the record. Notice that there are no vocal mics in that clip. In fact they're not actually playing at all.

Posted March 30, 2007 8:04 AM by chris y

Of course I'd forgotten that in 1965 everybody on Top of the Popa still mimed to the record. Notice that there are no vocal mics in that clip. In fact they're not actually playing at all.

Posted March 30, 2007 8:05 AM by chris y

Sorry about that.

Posted March 30, 2007 8:06 AM by chris y

Hi I invented a new literary genre.

See it here!

Posted March 30, 2007 8:39 AM by Dave Lartigue

Someone wanting to travel from New York to Cardiff in Wales consulted Google. Turns out you can do this fairly easily, as long as you can handle step 23:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=new+york,+ny&daddr=Cardiff,+Wales

Posted March 30, 2007 8:51 AM by Rob Hansen

Harkening back to an earlier thread, I found the following two passages in the Rex Warner translation of Xenophon's Anabasis (to be clear, these are the modern translator's or editor's words, not Xenophon's):

... young [Spartan peers] were put through an education system of astonishing severity which included being encouraged to steal and being whipped for stealing so unsuccessfully as to get caught. Cf. Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 17, and H. Mitchell, Sparta, p. 177f.

[The Persian Empire] brought justice; though the famously just Royal Judges make no appearance in our book, the formal trial of Orontas may serve as a reminder of this aspect of Persian rule.

Posted March 30, 2007 9:05 AM by Alex Cohen

Tania -

An old college acquaintance of mine is in Antarctica right now. They appear to have plenty of time on their hands.

Posted March 30, 2007 9:30 AM by Susan

Susan... Busy fighting off 7-foot tall penguins with a sting and tentacles ?

Posted March 30, 2007 9:38 AM by Serge

Aconite #28: Yes about Swan, but what is the topic that he/she/it wasn't relevant to? We've already segued (or non-segued) from Teresa's Spartans to acrylics in the Antartic and Top of the Pops...

Posted March 30, 2007 9:41 AM by John Stanning

Aconite, John @39 -- Yes, and it does say "open thread" way way up at the top. There is a kind of protocol for topics on open threads, but I don't think I could explain it in a sentence at this point. Any takers?

Posted March 30, 2007 9:58 AM by Victor S

In fact, we started out offtopic, and never got back. So ... it's really not surprising that the Spartans wouldn't retreat. It's kinda hard to turn around when your best buddy is right behind you and neither of you is wearing any clothes. Just ruins the whole violence vibe. Make Love Not War, eh? Doesn't work well in modern combat: ballistic armor isn't terribly sexy.

Posted March 30, 2007 10:06 AM by Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers)

and just to prove that not only is my mind in the gutter, it is currently circling the storm drain:
When I read the first line of the poem I thought it read: "It looked extremely sticky for the Theban band that day."

Posted March 30, 2007 10:09 AM by Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers)

Rob #35: LOL on that step 23.

Posted March 30, 2007 10:18 AM by SKapusniak

Theban Band? some kinda heavy metal, huh?

Posted March 30, 2007 10:21 AM by John Stanning

#44 John Stanning, with a brass section that killer.

Posted March 30, 2007 10:29 AM by Steve Buchheit

Oh, goody, I was hoping for an open thread! I'm not a wine drinker, really, but after hearing somebody mention a Bonny Doon wine named "Bouteille Call," I checked out the Bonny Doon Vineyard website. Fun website overall, with a great theme, art, and copy, but I especially liked the video Vive le Screwcap (under "Dooniverse: Learn Our Ways").

Posted March 30, 2007 10:47 AM by Joy Freeman

I found the "come back with your shield, or on it" line inappropriately entertaining in the movie, because I was muttering it to myself three seconds before the character said it onscreen. I guess this makes an argument for that particular scene being very well set-up and performed for its purpose...

Fun poem. Fregano @#27: I like the question in that one, too.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:02 AM by Zeynep

New Open Thread? Thank you! Thank you! (BTW, I was surprised when the previous one got *past* 1066.) I have also noticed that "Faren's computer" is becoming a sort of meme on the site, right along with those *other* dinosaurs. But even if I got a brand new one [I was going to say "brand spanking," but that might relate too directly to the 300 discussion], I probably couldn't afford wireless, so the downloads would be as slow as ever. Oh well....

Posted March 30, 2007 11:03 AM by Faren Miller

Faren Miller #48: You might get a brand new sodomizing Spartan dinosaur--who's into spanking? What for? Also, where do you find something that specific?

Posted March 30, 2007 11:08 AM by ethan

Aconite @ #63: I don't know what you mean. I changed my rss feed to "show newest first" and your post at #80 appeared.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:10 AM by Stephen Granade

Remember the Hercules episode where Cory Everson played a Spartan lady?

Posted March 30, 2007 11:14 AM by Serge

(Heck, I'll post this here too)

Welcome back to America, abi!

Posted March 30, 2007 11:15 AM by Serge

OK, I haven't seen the movie, but here's what came to mind at 3am.

Three hundred tasty Spartan men in line:
A hopless stand against the Persian might.
And in among them, ready too to fight,
Is Mary Sue, her armour polished to a shine.
Like Éowyn, with Aragorns to spare
(And yes, they're straight, or straight enough to suit,
With just that taste of half-forbidden fruit!)
They're doomed to die, but too in love to care.
The hour comes, the brotherhood contracts
Around the precious flower at its heart.
She will not leave; she wants to play her part!
She takes the lead in their heroic acts.
(But in this version, Sparta's heroes won
And Persia lost to the three hundred one.)

I blame the jet lag.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:30 AM by abi

John Stanning @ 39, Victor S @ 40:

I didn't express myself well. Swan's previous post was in the David Honigsberg thread, and contained the same words as this one, including "Off topic" at the begining. While a newbie might not know there is no "off-topic" in an open thread, this shows the signs of a generic copy-and-paste with that phrase thrown in as an attempt at disguise.

Stephen Granade @ 50 and 127: Ah, good. So that's been fixed now.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:42 AM by Aconite

abi... I blame the jet lag.

And one ocean.
And one continent.

Have some strong coffee.

By the way, didn't Leonidas get suspicious when one of his boys insisted on wearing armor?

Posted March 30, 2007 11:46 AM by Serge

For those interested, the Beeb has just put the Doctor Who season 3 trailer up at their area on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/BBC

Posted March 30, 2007 11:49 AM by Rob Hansen

abi @ 53

Just can't let the boys have their fun by themselves, can you? I didn't know the Battle of Thermopylae was a Title IX activity.*

Incidentally, is a "hopless" someone on a more stringent diet than a "hoplite"? Or is the answer "more coffee"?

* For the non-USians among us, Title IX is a Federal law that mandates the equal financial support of men's and women's athletic activities in state-supported colleges in the US. It's become quite controversial in the last few years as college budgets have been tightened. The controversy (I heard that mutter from the direction of the UK! The accent is on the first syllable, damn it!) has become focused on the claim of many male coaches and players that Title IX effectively discriminates against them.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:15 PM by Bruce Cohen, SpeakerToManagers

Rob (#56): Unfortunately, not for all of those interested; unless they've taken the Dr Who Season Three trailer off in the last few minutes, I don't think it's accessible to US (and possible non-UK) IP addresses - I got a 'this video is not available' error message. Sigh.

And Netflix still hasn't replaced to messed up Season 2 DVDs that were supposed to have come out several months ago.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:19 PM by debcha

I have the feel, on reading the verse at the head of this thread, that "Play ball!" might not be an entirely inappropriate warcry...

Posted March 30, 2007 12:19 PM by Dave Bell

Aconite (#54), also others' earlier comments; I've seen that same post from the same 'Swan' on other threads in other blogs. So it's either some kind of spam or spam-like trolling.

Posted March 30, 2007 12:32 PM by Epacris

Victor S., here's an attempt at a descriptive protocol for Open Thread posting, in more than one sentence:

Posts may relate to the Opening Post, to a Particle or Sidelight, or to an ongoing topic of conversation at ML (dinosaurs and sodomy; politics; food and recipes; grammar, language, etymology; poetry; books; favourite television shows; bats in Susan's house; etc.). From there, posts may refer to previous comments. Posts that refer neither to the opening post, a previous comment, a Partical/Sidelight, or topic of ongoing discussion may also be appeals to (and responses from) the hivemind, "lookahere!" pointers at something of interest to the general ML community (usually with accompanying text explaining to whom this pointer may be of interest, which accompanying text refers to some Usual Topic of Discussion), updates or news from regular posters about some item of ongoing interest, running theme, or news about a member of the extended community.

What have I missed?

Posted March 30, 2007 12:41 PM by jennie

Jennie @ 61... What have I missed?

Let's see. You did include Susan's bats.... How about Bugs Bunny and cross-dressing?

Posted March 30, 2007 12:49 PM by Serge

jennie @ #61:
What have I missed?

A really obvious typo? (ducks and runs)

(Your list makes me wonder how many inappropriate things I've posted here. Eeep.)

Posted March 30, 2007 12:49 PM by Susan

Susan @ 63: Oops. Caught that one on re-read. Tyops hpapen, especially when one is multi-tasking. I don't think the bat saga was inappropriate.

Serge @ 62: I figured the other topics might be covered by "etc."

Posted March 30, 2007 12:59 PM by jennie

How about a shy little "lookahere!" for my latest bit of editing, which just arrived yesterday: http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?isbn=0-7864-2827-9. Also available on Amazon. I think Tolkien and Shakespeare are frequent enough topics of discussion here...

Posted March 30, 2007 1:07 PM by Janet Brennan Croft

Jennie, 61: Knitting.

Posted March 30, 2007 1:17 PM by TexAnne

Here's my one-sentence attempt at an Open Thread posting protocol:

Perform; riff; entertain!

Posted March 30, 2007 1:20 PM by Clifton Royston

debcha@56:

Rob (#56): Unfortunately, not for all of those interested; unless they've taken the Dr Who Season Three trailer off in the last few minutes, I don't think it's accessible to US (and possible non-UK) IP addresses - I got a 'this video is not available' error message. Sigh

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that. OK, try here:

http://freemaagyeman.com/news/2007/03/29/bbci-red-button-video-clip

I don't *think* there are geographic restrictions on that site (though I could be wrong) and it's also got lots of other interviews and clips if you trawl around on it a bit.

Posted March 30, 2007 1:23 PM by Rob Hansen

For the encyclopedia: I would say that, of course, any reasonable place to have the article should have a "See(article)", and the actual article location should be handled in a case-by-case manner.

For instance, Captain Future should be under "C", but Captain James T. Kirk should be under "K". Similarly Doctor Midnight, Doctor John Watson, Doctor McCoy, and Doctor Who (D, W, M, D, I would say). The hard part is persons with a variety of pseudonyms frequently used. Do you put him under Batman or Wayne? Worse, the Shadow, who had not only his nom de guerre, a "real name" and a "realer name", but a variety of false identities.

Posted March 30, 2007 1:31 PM by BSD

Jennie #61: hamsters?

Posted March 30, 2007 1:55 PM by John Stanning

Clifton Royston @ 67: nice!

TexAnne @ 66: d'Oh! Of course! I plead being so bloody sick of my current project that discussion of knitting fills me with despair and disconsolation. Such discussions inevitably lead to thoughts of all the fun projects I will be able to do someday, which then run into sad thougts of too many narrow stripes, and all the ends I'm going to have to weave in if I ever come to the end of this stupid scarf.

It will be a very long time before I do anything with narrow stripes again, I think.

Posted March 30, 2007 2:10 PM by jennie

jennie... You also forgot Claudia Black. No "etc" for her...

Posted March 30, 2007 2:18 PM by Serge

I'm not recognising the original poem here, but dang does that go nicely to the tune of the verses of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", which by the principle of associativity means it also goes to the "House of the Rising Sun".

Posted March 30, 2007 2:58 PM by Emmet

#73--There's no reason why you should, as it's a piece of late 19th century popular verse about a very American subject.

Posted March 30, 2007 3:12 PM by fidelio

Jennie, 71: Narrow stripes? Can't you carry the resting yarn up the side of the project?

Posted March 30, 2007 3:12 PM by TexAnne

TexAnne, I've been wondering that myself. When I asked my mom how to do this, she said to snip them and weave the ends in, so I did. The stripes are an awkward 5 rows, and there are four different colours, which I think means that one could do it either way. Perhaps I'll try carrying the yarn up the sides for the next few switches and see if that makes me any happier.

Finishing the scarf will make me happy indeed.

Posted March 30, 2007 3:33 PM by jennie

BSD 69: Doctor Who is the name of the show, not the character. The character should be listed as "Doctor, The."

Posted March 30, 2007 3:35 PM by Xopher

What have I missed?

Faren's computer.

Posted March 30, 2007 4:24 PM by candle

Bruce@ #12: Alan Campbell, an artist whose son went to high school with my daughter, went to Antarctica. Lovely paintings resulted. He does work in watercolor, but it's possible he did sketches and/or photos on site, and the paintings later (possibly even after he got back home).

Posted March 30, 2007 4:28 PM by Lila

As for painting in the Antarctic, Edward Wilson (who accompanied and died with Scott on his last expedition) was a watercolourist whose work was recovered and is on display in various places, I think. Apsley Cherry-Garrard is very positive about the results in his memoir of that expedition The Worst Journey in the World, which I highly recommend if you are at all interested in the Antarctic.

Aha - apparently Wilson used to draw in pencil and then finish the sketches as watercolours in his hut or on board ship. There is a brief life of Wilson here, which has plenty of illustrations. ("Discovery" and "Terra Nova" are the two Antarctic expeditions.)

Posted March 30, 2007 4:30 PM by candle

Which is pretty much what Lila just said.

Posted March 30, 2007 4:31 PM by candle

jennie, #76: I'm new here. What exactly are you working on? An inquiring craft addict would like to know.

Posted March 30, 2007 5:23 PM by victoria

victoria, it's not a very exciting project. I'm still at the long-straight-things stage of my knitting career, so this is a long, k4-p4 ribbed scarf in Blue Sky cotton, striped in four colours: brown, green, orange, brown, cream (there was twice as much brown as any other colour available). The Gentleman is allergic to wool, and wanted a scarf to replace the one I knit from something fluffy (he wore all the fluff off and it now itches him), so I embarked on this scarf. It's taking a very long time.

Posted March 30, 2007 5:28 PM by jennie

Serge @OT82#940, Neil Willcox @OT82#957:

There are a couple of notes about the size of Thor's hammer in the online Sandman annotations.

Regarding the scene mentioned, in Issue 26:

Symbolically, Mjolnir is an agent of destruction, fertility, and resurrection. It was used to hallow brides before weddings; its phallic nature is obvious here. It was also used to raise Thor's goats from the dead, and is able to shrink so that it may be hidden inside Thor's shirt as needed. Perhaps rubbing is how it is made to return to normal size.

And earlier, on Thor's first appearance in Issue 24:

Thor's weapon is the hammer Mjolnir. When Mjolnir was constructed by the dwarfs, a trick by Loki caused its handle to be too short to use properly. Now, Norse war hammers were two handed weapons, so Mjolnir's short handle simply means that it was too short to allow the hands to grip far enough apart to get good leverage. Thor was able to use the hammer without the "necessary" leverage because of his great strength. Some references, including Bullfinch's, make the mistake of assuming that Thor had small hands to fit the small handle, which leads to such amusing depictions as that given here. In fact, Mjolnir probably resembled Marvel Comic's depiction more closely (normal-sized, but clearly only usable one-handed) than this depiction.

Posted March 30, 2007 5:37 PM by Tim May

Tim May @ 84... It was used to hallow brides before weddings (...) It was also used to raise Thor's goats from the dead

Zombie goats?

Posted March 30, 2007 5:44 PM by Serge

In the Chinese folk-epic-turned-novel Xi-You Ji (Journey to the West) the Handsome Monkey King wields the Compliant Nine-Hooped Rod, which also grows and shrinks on command (he shrinks it down to the size of an embroidery needle and hides it in his ear when he's not using it). Phallic weapons are apparently pancultural.

On a completely unrelated note, the Slacktivist's current thread includes mention of a phenomenon horrifying on more levels than were available in Dante's Inferno:

Left Behind slash. *shudder*

Posted March 30, 2007 6:35 PM by Lila

#83 Jenny: Ah. From the window pane pattern I assume this is not knit in the round project. I'm just a little farther on the self-taught knitting road. May I recommend that you work with two balls of each color, leaving long leads for the carrier lines and plenty of play in each jump? Be sure to untwist the yarn at regular intervals. You may still have to cut the carrier bits and weave them in, but you won't have to stop knitting until you reach the end. Stopping and starting color changes is what takes the most time.

If the two balls and long jumps don't work, just do a quick square knot to join the different colors and keep going. There's a way to knit the loose ends into the project as you go (I watched a friend do it once), but I've only used that technique with crochet projects.

Posted March 30, 2007 6:36 PM by Victoria

Tim May @ 84... My apologies for the zombie joke, and my thanks for the information about Mjolnir.

Posted March 30, 2007 6:51 PM by Serge

We've got zombie sheep and zombie horses,
zombies naked, zombies in heavy coats,
we've got zombie zebras, zombies for courses,
zombie dogs and (wait for it) zombie goats.
Zombies Haitian and Trinidadian, zombies come
from every land; zombies both white and of colour,
zombies talkative and zombies that are mum,
zombies degenerate zombies of pallor;
we have zombies, zombies for every taste,
zombies slow, and zombies half-eaten,
zombies angry and zombies in haste,
zombies whole and zombies all beaten.
Whether it's sunny, or whether it rains,
all of them cry out for bbbbbbraaaaaaaaaainns.

Posted March 30, 2007 7:33 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Fragano Ledgister @ 89:
Excepting vegan zombies, who only want the graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.

(Barbara, I owe you for that one.)

Posted March 30, 2007 7:40 PM by Aconite

Aconite #90: Those would be from Nebraska?

Posted March 30, 2007 7:48 PM by Fragano Ledgister

jennie @ 83

You could do stripes lengthwise, then the ends would become fringe. (Then it would be stockinette and reverse stockinette, to get the ridges running along the length.)

Posted March 30, 2007 8:04 PM by P J Evans

Thanks for the advice, Victoria. I've been using square knots and wondering why I can't just snip the ends; I used to knit all my ends in, and that worked, but was very tedious, so I stopped.

P.J. Evans, since I'm over halfway through, I don't think I'll change the orientation of the stripes now. Maybe next scarf. However, since I have two scarves for winter wear, and I have the yarn and pattern for the next project (I'm not allowed to buy the needles until the dratted scarf is done), and it's a sweater (knit in the round), I think I'll hold off on lengthwise stripes for the time being.

Posted March 30, 2007 8:21 PM by jennie

Not zombie goats; zombies are Not Food, and (like most of the Áseir) Thor had magic animals that could be eaten and then restored to life.

In the case of the goats, this is not so much; one god, two big goats, plausible amount of roast goat, even given Thor's reported appetite.

Slidrugtanni, now, the magic pig whose flesh feeds the entire host of fallen heroes in Valhalla, that one takes some capacity for belief.

Posted March 30, 2007 10:22 PM by Graydon

Three hundred naked men
Walking down the street...

Posted March 30, 2007 10:36 PM by Kip W

Now it comes to mind that I once made this great work fit in words of one beat:

Big Man at the Bat

(A Song of our Great Land. Sung in the Year MDCCCLXXXVIII.)

The hopes were far from bright for all the Mud Town nine that day;
The score stood four to two and there was but one round to play.
And then when old "Zip" died at first, and "Wheels" did much the same,
A grim hush fell like thin mush on the home fans of the game.

A few weak souls got up to go with heads hung low. The rest
Clung to that hope which does not die but lives on in each breast;
They thought if only Big Man could but get a whack at that --
We'd put up one-to-one odds now with his hands on the bat.

But Flynn went up 'fore Big Man, as did no good James J. Blake,
And the first named was a weak sis and the next was but a cake;
So o'er our heads a black cloud, grim and full of cold rain, sat
For there seemed no chance at all that our Big Man might get to bat.

But Flynn legged it to first base, quite a shock to one and all,
And Blake, who no one cared for, tore the horse hide off the ball;
And when the dust had gone down, and the men at last could see,
There was J.J. safe at base two and old Flynn camped out on Three.

Then from each throat and pair of lungs rose up as one a yell;
It rolled down 'cross the plains and bowled the cows down in the dell;
It knocked the sides of hills and came to bounce back on the flat,
For K.C., mighty K.C., now had his turn at the bat.

There was cool ease in the way he stepped up straight to take his place,
There was pride in how he stood, and how a smile shone on his face.
And when as he turned to the cheers and did but doff his hat,
No strange eye in the crowd could doubt just who was at the bat.

Stands full of eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
And all their tongues did laud him when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while his foe, lithe on the mound, ground horse hide on his hip,
A gleam like knights of old shone in his eye and sneer-curled lip.

And now the hard-packed sphere flew at him through the air,
The big man stood and watched it like a king who could not care.
Close by his side, yet he flinched not as to the mitt it sped --
"That ain't my style," he told us. "Strike one," the score board said.

From the stands, so full of men and rage there rose an earth quake roar,
That washed forth like the storm waves on a far and storm-worn shore.
"Kill him! Kill that blind ump!" came a shout down from the stands,
And they might have done it, too, had not the Big Man raised his hand.

With a smile all great and pure which on his clean-cut face then shone;
He stilled the cries of blood lust; he bade the game go on;
He waved once to the mound and then once more the horse hide flew;
But still he paid it no mind and the score board said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the crowd as one man, and the far hills rang back 'fraud';
But one look of scorn from K.C. and the home team fans were awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw him flex and strain,
And they knew that sure, he would not let that ball go by him then.

The sneer is gone off from his lip, his teeth are clinched in hate;
He pounds hard like a mad zoo ape his ash bat on the plate.
And now the mound man holds the ball and now he lets it go,
And now the air is split by all the force that's in his blow.

Oh! in this glad land there's a place the sun shine's warm and bright;
The band plays in this place and in this place all hearts are light;
In this place men laugh loud and the kids all run and shout;
But there is no joy in Mud Town -- Big Man K.C. has struck out.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:00 PM by Kip W

My great aunt -- reliable barometer of the conservative zeitgeist -- sent me and 34 or so other people a SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW message about Barack Obama, Sinister Muslim in Christian Clothing.

It was a spittle-flecked digest of the Insight article debunked awhile back.

I responded to everyone on the CC list with links to the CNN investigation and Snopes debunking.

I'm not totally down with Obama, but I'll be #$#$^%@ if I let crap like that go unchallenged.

Posted March 30, 2007 11:13 PM by Stefan Jones

Three hundred naked men
Walking down the street...

singing do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do ...

Posted March 30, 2007 11:19 PM by Jon Meltzer

Aconite @ 90 - I shudder to think what might be owed me for that joke...
-Barbara

Posted March 30, 2007 11:32 PM by Barbara Gordon

I'm soo grateful that I was busy today and didn't read this at work. Though the ones that made me laugh most were posted after work hours CDT. (But I spent four hours working on something and near the end noticed a discrepancy that, when I pointed it out the client she went "Oh. My. God. Stop working on that! There is something wrong with the data!"

I'm glad that I had a couple things I COULD complete successfully that made my day end with a positive).

Posted March 30, 2007 11:54 PM by Paula Helm Murray

Oops. I meant to say
300 naked men
Just walking down the road...

(NSFW, for most values of W)

Posted March 31, 2007 12:19 AM by Kip W

I watched Galactica's season finale tonight, and I understand the frustration expressed in thread #82 about having to wait until 2008. Argh.

Posted March 31, 2007 12:42 AM by Serge

Serge #102: I'm right here! I can hear you! Hush!

Just kidding. Talk about your BSG of the future (my future, anyway) as much as you'd like. If there's anything spoilery please please give advance notice...pretty please?

Posted March 31, 2007 12:54 AM by ethan

Don't worry, ethan. I wasn't planning to talk about specific points. I do wonder what women see in Baltar though.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:01 AM by Serge

Of course the answer to my question in #104 is easy... The show is written by men.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:12 AM by Serge

The simple fact of BSG being written by men doesn't nec'ly explain Baltar's appeal outside the show, though; within the show, they could be plastering him with babes left and right without the female audience buying into it (think of Steven Seagal movies; sorry, you can stop thinking about them now).

Without myself being a Baltarette, I can kinda guess that much of his appeal would be based on his close attachment to Six; he thinks of her almost constantly (whether he wants to or not) and often in very sexually-charged situations in which he's at her mercy. It's not quite romantic devotion, but it could be construed as such in some ways.

OTOH, I've only seen the first two seasons and a few isolated episodes of season 3, so I'm not entirely certain of his present situation.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:31 AM by Julie L.

Shush!

(Can you tell I'm about to go back to school for Library Science?)

Posted March 31, 2007 1:36 AM by ethan

Julie L... Are you telling me that ladies in the real world (not just in the fiction of BSG) actually like Baltar?

Posted March 31, 2007 1:41 AM by Serge

Julie L... I have the feeling that #108 didn't come out right. It's none of my business whether or not a character appeals to this or that person. No offense was intended.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:50 AM by Serge

ethan @ 107... If I ever again come across that action-figure of a Librarian, I'll have to get it for you.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:56 AM by Serge

Serge, ethan: I know I saw them at the main Powell's in Portland in January. You could probably order from there. Actually, I'm sure they must be made by Archie McPhee's.... oh yeah, baby, here you go. Deluxe edition, with a cart full of books, reference desk, computer, and "amazing shushing action"!

Deluxe Librarian Action Figure

Posted March 31, 2007 2:05 AM by Clifton Royston

ethan & Serge - it's the Nancy Pearl action figure. Apparently she wanted to have an exploding bun, but that wasn't feasible.

I think they have some at my local independent bookstore. I'll look when I'm there tomorrow AM.

ethan - good luck with library school!

Posted March 31, 2007 2:06 AM by Tania

Thanks, Tania and Clifton. An exploding bun? Sounds like a way to tie in with the "kids today" thread...

Posted March 31, 2007 2:10 AM by Serge

Serge @ 108/109: no offense taken, but then (as mentioned) I'm not particularly a Baltarette myself. I wouldn't say no to a nice serving of Helo, however.

But IIRC someone around here mentioned (but could not explain) a fondness for Baltar recentishly... aha, here it was.

Posted March 31, 2007 2:34 AM by Julie L.

Julie L... Hello, Helo, eh?

Posted March 31, 2007 2:47 AM by Serge

Kip@101: Would it disappoint you very greatly if I pointed out that was a Particle about three years ago?

Posted March 31, 2007 6:39 AM by David Goldfarb

Serge @ 115: Ack. Now I'm trying (not) to envision a Sanrio version of Helo.

Posted March 31, 2007 7:26 AM by Julie L.

Kip W @ #95

Three hundred naked men
Walking down the street...

We get the funniest looks from
ev'ryone we meet:
Hey, hey, we're the Spartans!
People say we're Spartan around
but we're too busy looting
to throw any booty down.

&c

Posted March 31, 2007 7:33 AM by RichM

(How about this, Julie L?

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say Helo
Hello, Helo
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say Helo
Hello, Helo
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say Helo

I say high, you say low
You say why, and I say I don't know
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say Helo
Hello, Helo
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say Helo
Hello, Helo
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say Helo

(Well, you get the idea.)

Posted March 31, 2007 9:24 AM by Serge

Serge...some time ago the one I wrote was

...I don't know why you say Saul Tigh
I say Helo.

Posted March 31, 2007 10:13 AM by Xopher

Oops, Xopher... Slinking away in shame. Heheheh...

Posted March 31, 2007 10:18 AM by Serge

OK, another stupid Windows problem. I made the mistake of downloading the latest Adobe Reader. The godsdamn thing set my default picture viewer to the stupid Adobe one, which requires me to accept the license agreement each time I want to open a photo. This is obviously unacceptable.

So, I went to my Admin user, went to Folder Options, and set the default viewers to something vaguely reasonable. This was fine...for the Admin user.

The limited user still has the Adobe POS. And of course the Change button on the Folder Options is disabled for the limited user.

How do I get rid of the stupid Adobe thing and set my limited user to open photos on a doubleclick with something reasonable? (Yeah, I can right-click and select two levels of menu to get to a reasonable viewer, but that's quite a PITA too.)

Posted March 31, 2007 10:26 AM by Xopher

I have just skim-read this thread and I am left wondering: did the Band of Thebes ever appear on Top of the Pops? In an episode of Doctor Who? And if so, what were they miming?

Posted March 31, 2007 11:16 AM by Charlie Stross

Fragano @ #89: I have this nagging feeling you're leaving something out there, but my resolution isn't quite high enough to tell what...

Did I say resolution? I meant, er, something else.

Posted March 31, 2007 11:48 AM by zHeresiarch

zHeresiarch #124: Not enough limbs falling off?

Posted March 31, 2007 12:28 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Serge, ethan, Clifton: I got all excited thinking you meant an action figure of a hirsute orange librarian with a bananary aroma and limited vocabulary.

Phoo.

Posted March 31, 2007 12:56 PM by Lila

You know, I'm not really sure why the comments are appearing all jumbled out of order. Listen: firefox has come unstuck in time.

Posted March 31, 2007 1:27 PM by Stephen Granade

Sorry, Lila. If we ever come across an action figure of Bob Newhart from those Librarian TV movies, do you want us to tell you?

Posted March 31, 2007 1:29 PM by Serge

Xopher #122: I guess that your limited user doesn't have the rights to the registry that would let the Adobe thing set its flag saying "accepted the license agreement".

I suppose you could give your limited user admin rights (while off the network) for long enough either to make the license agreement acceptance stick or to change the file associations, then set the user's rights back to limited.

Alternatively, when you installed Adobe Reader, did it have a "custom" option that would let you choose which file types it associates itself with? I think it must have, because I've installed it too, and it's not associated with picture files for me, so I must have been able to stop it doing that. So maybe if you uninstall Adobe Reader it'll lose the associations, then you could reinstall with "custom".

Of course, being Windows, probably there's a way to change things by tweaking the registry, but probably also it's easier to do it some other way.

Posted March 31, 2007 2:15 PM by John Stanning

Serge: I'm going to ignore that.

Except to say that, apropos of Bob Newhart, did you know the costume designer on The Bob Newhart Show was actually colorblind?

Posted March 31, 2007 2:18 PM by Lila

A librarian action figure with an exploding bun? An action figure of Terry Pratchett's librarian? How delightful.

Tania #112: Thanks! Really right now I've been in my current state of inertia for so long that just putting together the (very simple) application seems impossible, so I think I'll need it.

Posted March 31, 2007 3:20 PM by ethan

Xopher@122:

I've had a similar problem with other software I've added. My kludge of a workaround:

-> log in as admin
-> change the permissions of the limited user
-> log in as the limited user
-> fix the @)(*% setting in whatever program it was
-> log out as the limited user
-> log back in as admin
-> and change the permissions of the limited user back to where they belonged

As I said, it's a kludge, but it fixed the problem.

Posted March 31, 2007 3:39 PM by glinda

Lila @ 130... I'm going to ignore that.

In that case... How about an action-figure of Jane Curtin, also from The Librarian? When she shushes you...

Posted March 31, 2007 3:54 PM by Serge

Does anybody know what was originally used in the pre-computer days to make the sound of the TARDIS coming in and out of time? It reminds me of a car that needs its transmission oil changed, along with its fan belt, and all this in the middle of a harsh winter.

Posted March 31, 2007 3:57 PM by Serge

Serge, 134: I'm pretty sure it was a double-bass bow on the strings of a grand piano.

Posted March 31, 2007 4:31 PM by TexAnne

John 128: That's probably the problem, but you'd think Adobe would have understood that...and of course when I installed it I was logged in as the Admin user, or no installation would have happened.

glinda 132: Yes, that will work, but it seems to me that not even Microsloth could be stupid enough to design their OS in such a way that that's the actual solution. OTOH every time I think I've found the limit of MicroSoft stupidity I'm proven wrong, so maybe it really is the only choice.

Posted March 31, 2007 4:32 PM by Xopher

Lila @ 126

Are you talking about a Conan the Librarian action figure? If there were such a thing, it would look a little like this
I bet you could make one out of a real Conan action figure.

Posted March 31, 2007 5:49 PM by Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers)

Xopher @ 136

not even Microsloth could be stupid enough to design their OS in such a way that that's the actual solution.

Wanna bet? To sort-of quote Scott Ambler, from his famous rant: "In what parallel universe is deleting my file without my asking and without telling me a feature?"

Posted March 31, 2007 5:55 PM by Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers)

TexAnne @ 135... Thanks. Speaking of sound effects, I think I read somewhere that, in 1953's version of War of the Worlds, the Martian deathray's sound as it primed up was guitar strings, maybe played backward. Not sure though.

Posted March 31, 2007 5:55 PM by Serge

Bruce (137): I'm pretty sure she's talking about Terry Pratchett's orangutan librarian. Not that a Conan the Librarian action figure wouldn't be pretty cool, too.

Posted March 31, 2007 6:36 PM by Mary Aileen

TexAnne @ 135: Do I remember rightly that it was supposed to be an air-raid siren? Or have I entirely confused that with something else? I don't know what an air-raid siren sounds like; in the last three states I've been in, tornado warnings are given by the fire departments' sounding their alarms in a sustained pitch, instead of the rising-and-falling pitches they use for emergencies that involve getting out the trucks. I've always used that as a vague model for an air-raid siren, but the TARDIS noise sounds nothing like that.

Posted March 31, 2007 7:21 PM by Aconite

Aconite: I have no recollection of an air-raid siren being mentioned, but college (which was the last time I was active in fandom) was quite some time ago.

Posted March 31, 2007 7:54 PM by TexAnne

Aconite,

Back in Oklahoma, we had sirens mounted on poles that were dedicated to tornado warnings. Probably they'd've been used for nuclear war, too, but they never were--at least, they haven't yet.

Posted March 31, 2007 7:57 PM by adamsj

adamsj #143: are there places where you can hear the sirens during the kind of weather which causes tornado warnings? The most they ever did for me was let me know it was noon on Saturday.

Posted March 31, 2007 8:18 PM by Todd Larason

Whan that Aprille doth March displace,
with weping, walinge, and cryes folk do disporte
for there beth ne shelter ne resorte;
the IRS doth every fotestepe trace,
and will nat grante even a minute's grace,
an ye paye not, thenne the kyng his courte,
shall distrain on ye, and ye shall fallen shorte.
Empty will be thyne pockets,and longe thyn face.
The reeve and miller shall with bailie strive,
the wyfe of Bath shall kepe a civil tongue,
and franklin shall kepe cheke upon fre thoughte;
tis not the time for knight or squire to wyve,
the prioresse shalle nat of love have sunge,
and all take care to do the thinges they oughte.

Posted March 31, 2007 8:20 PM by Fragano Ledgister

Todd,

That's a good question. Got any others?

Posted March 31, 2007 8:25 PM by adamsj

Bruce @ 137: Mary Aileen @ 140 is correct. I wouldn't mind a Cohen the Barbarian figure, though. (Actually I currently only own one action figure--Taejitsu Lois from Family Guy.)

adamsj@ 143: we had the same thing in the small central-Georgia town where I grew up. They called them CD sirens, used them for tornado warnings, and set them off every Wednesday at noon just to be sure they still worked. I don't know if they're still extant or not.

Posted March 31, 2007 8:29 PM by Lila