Either I see spam, or Dada-ist haiku.
On the other hand, "Dingy fibrous malcontents entubate the lachrymose," could be interpreted to be vaguely relevant to the thread.
If you are crazy.
No one has commented that this is book 2 of a trilogy. Has anyone had the morbid curiosity to read the other two?
Oddly, I also started on flute and transitioned to bassoon via oboe.
@88 Marilee: It may take talent to strangle a cow, but it's easy to make a bassoon sound like a strangling cow.
The most difficult music I ever played on the bassoon was supposed to sound like a coyote. Unfortunately, it was a solo with literally the entire rest of the orchestra silent. (the opening line of Copland's "Billy the Kid")
I used to play bassoon also, and briefly, oboe.
I quit, believe it or not, when the youth orchestra I had been in for 2 years had so many *talented bassoonists try out in my 3rd year that it was clear if I got a seat at all it would be out of pity.
Rare that any ensemble has an excess of bassoons.
I had a t-shirt with a picture of a baboon playing bassoon, with bananas raining from the sky.
I still like the *idea* of being a bassoon player, enough that if a really cheap bassoon more or less fell into my lap I would start taking lessons again.
*much more talented than I was! I liked to joke that both the oboe and bassoon, well played, sound amazing, but as I played them, the oboe sounded like a goose being strangled, and the bassoon, a cow.
I haven't read every post, but a quick scan tells me no one has had my experience.
I was called to serve on a Federal Grand Jury in July of 2006.
I ended up serving every Wednesday (with some cancellations) for 18 months.
Certainly, weekly is less disruptive to life than just a month or so, but you can imagine my employer's reaction when I told them this news.
It was actually interesting work, and 18 months gave the members plenty of time to get to know each other. About half of us (myself included) would have happily volunteered for another 18 month term given the opportunity.
I have been on a fairly high dose of warfarin for several years. As a result, I am not supposed to take any other drug, OTC or Rx, that has blood-thinning effects. This includes all NSAIDS, aspirin, ibuprophen, etc.
I badly twisted my ankle this summer. I went to the local Urgent Care Center, and the physician's assistant who didn't think I was hurt all that badly (I could not walk without assistance) prescribed a splint and 800 mg ibuprophen.
I told her I could not take it, and pointed her to the line where the triage nurse had written down "warfarin" in my chart. She said she had never heard of such a thing. She denied that any NSAIDS, including aspirin, have any blood thinning effects, and then tore up the Rx. Then she told me to take Tylenol. I asked for something stronger. She refused, left, and never returned.
I assume she thought I was some sort of drug-seeker looking for a fix. (obviously I nearly broke my ankle to justify my addiction, right?)
I noticed later that the hospital has posted a "patients bill of rights", of which the 2nd or 3rd was "humane pain relief" or something to that effect.
I have since decided that if I ever go to that ER again, I will make a pest of myself and demand to see an actual doctor.
...If we're lucky, Bush is/will be arrogant enough to think he doesn't need to pardon anyone.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Bill @ #252,
It has long been clear that Bush (and Stevens!) is utterly shameless.
I expect a long list of pardons that will read like "Who's Who in Right-wing Politics" over the next 76 days.
1101 pm NBC calls the election!
The history and origin of the word "maverick"
I thought this would interest people here.
Village censors are generally self-appointed.
I once made a batch of cookies where I mistook teaspoon for tablespoon with the baking soda. The resulting cookies were close to inedible.
They were good with a slice of pickle on top.
I just finished making a cabinet for my 125-gallon aquarium. This is merely a step in the much longer project (multi-year!) of building a large Southeast Asian biotope tank. Research, design, building (cabinetry able to hold close to 1500 pounds), more research into plants and animals, lighting, and so-on. I had no idea it would be so complex when I started. Part of the problem is that I inherited the perfectionist/over-engineering gene from both sides of the family.
Now that the cabinet is out of the workshop, I'm making some custom frames for my sister.
I am in the planning stages for 7 lamps, one designed for each of the adults in my family, for Christmas. These will require woodworking, papermaking, electrics, and probably "other".
(The niece and nephews get toys; knick-knacks are no fun.)
35: I wish you were right that military procurement would laugh off the idea of using Windows.
The British Royal Navy uses it for command-and-control systems in their *nuclear-powered Trafalgar-class submarines.
*I know they are nuclear-powered; they may also be nuclear-armed. They carry Tomohawk missles which can deliver nuclear weapons from US ships.
I see I am having trouble with basic grammar and punctuation today. :(
I hope what I meant is clear.
42*pi: ones which you have outlined lovingly and in great detail but will never write.
Books you would like to have written
Books you like to think you would have written, if somebody hadn't done so first.
Books that, have never been written, yet *(make you) wish you had read them when you had the chance.
*(I first typed this one without "...make you...", which creates a whole new category of book...)
100: Neil,
Yes, we are at the end of cheap energy.
I think that we will *innovate our way out of the crisis, and I doubt that all or most of the innovations will come from businesses or governments. Some of those changes to our society are going to come from millions of people making gradual changes and/or creating new ways to maintain the old+ standard of living with less energy.
I said I thought we were in the beginning of a new era -- I was talking on the grand sweep of history. Like the examples I gave, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, I'm talking of a global change that may take a century or more.
In the shorter time horizon, I think I agree with you -- we are facing a crisis that could easily disrupt/destroy our entire way of life. I just happen to think it is a bottleneck that we will come out of better, stronger, more egalitarian (globally), and smarter.
*innovate = not necessarily all technological innovation, though, we will need societal reforms as well.
#80, Keir -
I think part of the problem is that revolutions of the bazaar model in history are not necessarily recognized as such. No government or Church policy/doctrine authorized the Rennaisance or the Enlightenment. Certainly some of the consequences of those periods were large-scale political/forceful revolutions, but no one planned or authorized the changes in society that led to the events.
I think there is some evidence that we are in the *beginning of a similar period. We have had a massive flowering of creativity and private artisanal work/play (increasing exponentially over the last 20-30 years) that has been made possible as unintended side effects of the policies of top-down hierarchies. Governments created and encouraged computers and computer networks, and the extreme wealth of the developed world allowed ordinary people historically unprecedented amounts of free time to engage in personal, non-profit motivated projects (i.e., hobbies).
*Admittedly it is probably next to impossible to see/understand/grok such historic-scale events from inside them. Everyone wants to believe there is something special about their period of time -- makes them special too, right?
The delurking lurker having writ,
Left boring job one for number two;
Interesting, but less money in it
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 6 |
| 2008 | 18 |
| 2007 | 27 |
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