albatross, PNH, and subsequent speak of the decay of the credentialed. I wonder whether this is cyclic, e.g.
- crashes related to financial manipulation in the late 1800s, and to greater interest in selling than in thinking about the downside (1929ff); regulation controlled this for a while. (Now it takes a little more work to outsmart the regulations; OTOH, something like half of recent Harvard classes were going into finance.)
- Politicians were often held in sometimes-justifiable contempt, cf "A congressman is a hog!" / "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session", Mr. Smith Goes to Washington;
- doctors were not generally treated as gods (rich yes, respected no) until into the 20th century
The above is probably too generalized, and I'm not coming up with who \was/ credentialed in those eras -- maybe clergy?
"Herd immunity" is one of the last things people can be convinced of, with the Right pushing the meme that nobody has any obligations to the general good (cf cgeye@178)
The HPV issue has been complicated by the amount of money one firm would make, and the reports of the amount of money they've spent on lobbying. OTOH, there are suggestions that some of the \many/ varieties of HPV (including some of the ones covered by the vaccine) can cause cancer elsewhere if transferred, providing another reason for the vaccine (if you're not arguing with the anti-sex nutjobs).
Mary Aileen @ 192: IIRC, a flu shot will protect you against \that/ \strain/ for much longer than a year; the problem is that flu mutates (perhaps not as rapidly as HIV or the common cold, but much faster than most diseases), so you need to immunize each year -- against the strains \predicted/ to be serious -- to have substantial protection.
I remember my mother (who hadn't had mumps) calling on her older sister (who had) for help when my sister got it. I'm not sure whether I remember being encouraged to catch it (I didn't) or only the stories of other parents doing that. I don't remember Salk, or polio panics (which might have been because I grew up in a 2-acre-minimum zone), but do remember the oral vaccine (Sabin, which I kept mishearing as "saline")
I see this topic has struck quite a nerve; it's been a while since we've gotten past a quarter of the comment limit in less than a day.
If anyone is still reading: Fragano, is 383 by Unttneq; znlor Hzobcn va Xvat Fbybzba'f Zvarf? (V qba'g erpnyy n freinag gheavat bhg gb or n xvat va Fur.)
The rest of the unidentified -- olly olly oxen free! (Seeing as it's been most of a week....)
Mary@376: if it was actually written in the late 1970's instead of when you found it, it might be a reprint of James Gunn's Kampus -- not as post-apocalyptic as the dust jacket claimed, but definitely post--some-sort-of-partial-dissolution. Nominally linear story but a lot of inner-conflict rambling; I the review of somebody who I would have expected to get it (Spider Robinson?) could be summarized as "Huh?"
Nona -- the timestamp is plausible. I'd forgotten the exact placement of the Tidal Basin and had to go to Google; the "satellite" is a hair east of due south of the monument, so the road on the right half of the upper edge of the claim is Raoul Wallenberg Place (renamed from 15th Ave SW when the Holocaust Museum was sited just above the frame). 15th Ave runs due north/south, so the clip is rotated 90 degrees CCW from normal map display; the monument's shadow puts the time at a little after 11am local solar. (No, I don't remember where DC lies relative to the reference meridian for GMT-5, or the equation of time for 20 Jan.) 14th Ave is well out of the frame.
Wingate@52: I take your point, but IIRC your raw figures are off by ~2; I remember signs warning when the grade on I-70 west of Denver reached 7% (i.e., not -"teens on highways"-), and 12-15% posted on the steepest road I've ever been on (in the slanty parts of Yorkshire). A spur off the Oslo-Bergen line claims to be the steepest traction railway at ~5%, but I suspect self-propelled lines (i.e., streetcars) can handle grades somewhat better than a locomotive with deadweight.
I'm curious about the statement that Georgetown was unfeasible due to topography, given the deep bore that keep the line from being aboveground at Rock Creek Canyon (cf following comments about the National Zoo stop). I might believe that the area was just too densely built-up with ancient houses on pilings that couldn't stand the disturbance. (cf churchs on both sides of Copley Square in Boston -- the 1970's damages to Trinity from founding the Hancock tower, and last month's cracked Old South facade because somebody insisted on digging the ]handicapped[ entrance on that side of the side street instead of next to a much newer building.)
elise@125: a light cereal beverage? The Morris dancers I know would turn up their noses atAmerican SwillContinental Light (IIRC that's the official name in homebrew competitions). And it's not just for breakfast; I recall being told that the reason for the stick-dance end ritual, in which the side walks past the head leaving their sticks in his outstretched arms, is to reduce damage to people and furniture when they repair to the pub.
A friend Morrises in what calls itself Border (I'm no expert on terms), wearing elaborately and brightly-colored "tattered" coats. His comment on the Beeb was that it was all photography's fault; Morris was always in fancy/unusual clothing (plus bells), but the Victorians' pictures (the first visual record) got treated as Sacred Tradition.
#77: Bradtke's clips are impressive; I've seen a fair amount of rapper work (including a respectable performance by some of the actors as part of the masque in The Tempest), but never at that breakneck speed, let alone with such ... assistance.
I learned Morris dancing 46 years ago, from Jack Langstaff when he was a full-time schoolteacher; some of the fathers weren't sure about their boys learning non-ballroom dance, but the athletic coaches said the boys were far better-coordinated than average. I haven't danced much since middle school -- mostly just a brief spasm during the early Revels -- but I went back to dance at the May Day before the school's 100th anniversary; the alumni made up at least half a dozen sets. I know of several teams around Boston, from Morris-Ring style to much more edgy; the latter have danced a few times at Arisia, one of the local SF conventions, so abi's bet is at least partially true.
sherrold: can you be even more precise -- what type of fannish writing? e.g.
- faanish: many of the original giants, e.g. Pohl, Kornbluth, and most of the other Futurians (but not Asimov IIRC); Bob Tucker;
- sercon: Jack Chalker at least;
- ]slash[: IIRC Barbara Hambly (who even sold one of them, Ishmael);
- other: Jo Walton did filksongs (IIRC there was a collection published when she was Minicon FGoH (2001?)), Barrayaran Shakespeare, and I don't know what else, in the years leading up to and/or shortly after her first pro sales
The Particle on Kidd's house brings to mind James White's "The Exorcists of IF". (If you Google this, \don't/ pick the only hit -- it appears to be some "helpful" malware. If you're feeling flush, order The White Papers from NESFA; otherwise, one of the NHs might know where it's online.) Which in turn reminds me that I completely missed
- the other side of the pond: James White and Bob Shaw kept on writing faanishly long after they were selling -- BoSh's "Serious Science Talks" are especially worth reading;
- related genres -- Lee Hoffman sold a little SF some years after folding Quandry but was an award-winning Western writer.
These are just the people I'm relatively sure of; e.g., the White piece mentions Ken Bulmer, but it's not clear he wrote fannishly.
Fragano et al: in Copenhagen, the largest statue of Bishop Absalon (city ~founder) that I saw showed him swinging a battle axe.
Andrew@11: interesting explanation -- sounds like a small case of the issues with which-one-is-a-typo in various renditions of the Torah (as I've heard -- I've never read it, let alone studied).
TNH: were the italicized passages omitted originally or later? In either case, do we have any idea why? I've read that James's team was going for rhetorical flare, but didn't know they'd actually cut/pasted.
A friend who's gone into culinary exploration did Polish for 18 this year. We spent over 3 hours working our way through the abundance at our seats, not to mention hours more of conversation over hors d'oeuvres; a wonderful evening with mild clear weather.
Wingate/Marilee: fascinating detail; thanks. I am amused by the irony of the \high/ ground flooding; River Road ~0.5-1.0 miles south of there flooded regularly until the entire section was raised several feet (possibly required so the Cabin John Station could be well-located for fires but be sure of not being blocked by floods). I never knew there was a monster pipeline in that area; if the date given is accurate they may have done all the work while I was out of the area.
And I have finally recovered my car from Boston's spate of weather; considering some of the things cited here, $250 and a couple of vacation days isn't too high a cost for a stupid maneuver (you mean they \don't/ plow that bypass just because part of it is a parking lot?!?)
Has anyone ever tried to portray Peter Shandy's house, from his very first appearance in Charlotte MacLeod's work? Something about an additional electrical service, everything double-locked so it couldn't be tampered with, and him spending a quiet Xmas on a freighter after being pestered for years to contribute to the decorations on the faculty crescent....
Unfortunately, the person who had not just added wires but close to a full-time personal service truck (at a great house at a junction on the Jamaicaway) sold the place some months ago; the new owner has not carried forward the tradition. (Newspaper photographs don't begin to do the place justice; if my web-fu wakes up I'll find a link -- \somebody/ must have posted pictures.)
And at least those choristers \had/ an organ. My concert last week had only piano, because a collection of construction idiocies out in the street ran a crack all the way up/through the altar end of Old South Church (Boston) a couple of weeks ago; the vestrymen (?) were afraid that playing the organ would knock plaster loose around the crack.
Terry@116: Do symposia go back as far as Homer?
Lee@118: sorry if I was unclear. Even among the programmers in my current job (rather straighter than my previous two), I'm different (maybe not neon-purple, but different), but there's no sense of othering; I attribute this to being in Boston rather than some other parts of the country.
As for the last 20+ years, Xmas-night dinner will be within a few miles of my home in Boston, with members of the family-of-my-heart -- a little more heartfelt than usual, as it will be 51 weeks since the host's cancer was officially declared out of it. I'm not actually on the outs with what's left of blood kin, but the nearest are in Nashville and we haven't had cause to speak since sorting out my mother's estate.
Tech Support is on the other side of the elevators from my office, so we use the same kitchenoid/lunchroom. I've noticed that as many of them as can get off-shift at the standard time eat together there (some fetch lunch from the company cafeteria, some bring from home), and the conversation is usually lively (I've occasionally joined it briefly), but I suspect it's less effective than abi's case as it is one narrow, homogeneous slice of the ~1000 people at this site. Most of the people in my group eat at their desks, but we still support each other when some strange request comes knocking. I value lunch as a time off from colleagues around the world who want me to show them a way out of their messes. (I've been there nearly 14 years, but the more technical areas I get handed the less competent I feel to advise on the customer uses of them.) And it gives me time to read some of the newspaper and do the crossword (a pretty trivial one, but it's useful exercise in a different direction from work).
I don't sense the "othering" Lee@66 speaks of, but I wouldn't expect to around here even in a job where I'm one of the stranger people (by interests -- I'm whitebread compared to the spread of nationalities). At my first computer job, celebratory lunches were common, but they were difficult because the group of ~10 had personal restrictions ranging from "no red meat" to "not even eggs or dairy". Fortunately we were inthe People's Republic ofCambridge, so there were many eateries built around such restrictions; it also helped that the omnivores treated the outings as an adventure rather than a constraint.
There is some argument that gradual death of dinner-after-business-meetings is one of the stressors in my main fannish group; they still do grilling and/or potluck (as the weather requires) after the more social meeting -- but the latter has fewer hard moments to put aside than business meetings do.
Erik@13: fascinating; I hadn't noticed the variation in animal size. What I did notice was that every feast starting with somebody mixing the wine, which I suspect shows the limits of common eating; a large and heterogeneous group
* might prefer to drink from a common vessel to assure nobody was targeted for poison;
* might be less likely to go from rowdy to quarrelsome if the wine was watered.
(If I'm reading my TEShaw/1932 translation correctly, abi is quoting a ~private meal between Menelaus and Telemachus, rather than a feast.)
Debbie@32 -- the problem with "2nd breakfast" in a computer company is that it adds to armchair spread. I put on ~20 pounds when I shifted from standing at a lab bench to sitting at a terminal, and the free elevenses were certainly part of that. (They were one of the first things I cut when my GP pointed out my gain.) And this despite going from an all-car commute to ~50% bicycle -- 500 miles/yr wasn't a lot, but it should have helped....
Bruce@92: the business-lunch scene in Tampopo demonstrates the Japanese strong version of the principles you describe.
and re 95: "For all they care, my blood could be red Ripple;/For all they care, my bod could be Big Macs." (from Wilbur Whateley Superstar, excerpted in The Decomposers, in Rivets!!! The Science Fiction Musicals of Mark M. Keller and Sue Anderson.
Terry@114 (connecting to several other comments): but do you know the nine-letter Yiddish word meaning "I love you"? "RngRngRng!" (A friend answered that the matching Italian word was "Znatr, l'nyy!")
Marna@29: exactly so. (Terry, pericat: see Marna.)
I have this bad habit of rambling without putting in enough periods, then trying to make something of the resulting mess; sometimes it doesn't work. I also don't keep antecedents as clear as I should. Editing onesself is not easy; remembering this keeps me civil when reviewing documentation.
Terry@4: \which/ interrogators? Your colleagues, whose training probably descends lineally from The Ritchie Boys, or whoever they could find in the brute squad who claimed that they were modern-day Wilfred Shadbolts? ("In the nice regulation of a thumbscrew--in the hundredth part of a single revolution lieth all the difference between stony a reticence and a torrent of impulsive unbosoming that the pen can scarcely follow.")
Wingate@36 has something of a point, although a lot of technical Nobel prizes go to people who can get the best out of at least a small team. However, it occurs to me that there's another reason post--technical-Nobel-laureate politicians aren't found: the peace prize is usually given for a very recent achievement, while the technical prizes are given only after decades of subsequent work have proved the worth of the work that is honored.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 11 |
| 2008 | 110 |
| 2007 | 12 |
Total: 133 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by CHip:
Show all comments by CHip.