Toadfish Monastery

Goatie Dear claims that England has no malls...

OK, Goat, you got me on the word 'goober'. To you, I should have said chavs, and I know you'd have understood better if I had said High Street (and, yes there are several called High Street Mall), but honestly...

http://www.cribbs-causeway.co.uk/

That's NOT a mall? And, whatever was Terry Pratchett talking about in the Johnny books? The place that the kids went? They CALLED it a mall, they acted as if it were a mall?

Or, maybe Gotaie's people were too civilised to participate in the lower stratas of society, such as those that might frequent a mall...

And, dammit all, that place has a Spud-U-Like!! I have not seen a Spud-U-Like since 1982 in New Orleans. (Had lunch there on my 30th birthday.) Now, THAT'S a mall!

Which brings up the actual topic at hand...

We all know that there are different words/phrases/spellings for what essentially are the same thing. How much 'slanguage' is international? What do non-native English speakers get from the slang we of the four 'native English speaking countries' use?

US, Australia, Canada and...the other one...you know... How often do we confuse or confound you?

And, of course, Bobby's not available for comment.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21837499/?gt1=10547

It's not hate mail, so it's not important, ya know...

Good article about the unfortunate stagnation of religious though.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/11/09/notes110907.DTL&nl=fix

"We as a culture just might be suffering a slow, painful death by spiritual stagnation, by ideological stasis, by cosmic rigor mortis. It has become painfully, lethally obvious in the age of George W. Bush and authoritarian groupthink that our major religious systems and foundations don't know how to move. They don't learn, adjust, evolve, see things anew. They don't know how to dance. And what's more, this little problem might just be the death of us all."

Fascinating writer, very relevant article.

Nancy Pelosi angered the rank and file Democrats and ALL progressives when she stated that impeachment was "off the table".

Now, the Repubs are using her statements to 'prove' they're NOT unreasonable...just unprincipled.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/06/5065/

http://www.madewithmolecules.com/index.html

"Art in Science"

Molecules as jewelry, art and decoration. Includes ethanol champagne glasses, theobromine, caffeine and estrogen (and more) earrings and necklaces and some really cute testosterone boxers.

Lots of cute stuff...

There's a new Youtube video of my friend Earl Gilliam, a Texas blues legend (and frequent performer at Blulesfests in Europe and Japan).

The guitar man is IJ Gosey, who played with Bobby Bland in the 60's, and the drummer is Jackie Gray, one of the best session men to ever play blues (did a lot of Ray Charles early stuff). The bass player is me baby bro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVkqOgteqCU

The sound isn't wonderful, but Earl's beyond just 'good'. Little old guy with some pretty severe arthritis, plays a mean blues piano, but can turn around and do some inspired jazz, then roll out hours of 'atmosphere music' or knock off some serious concert pieces.

http://artistic-insanity.net/song/daleksong.html

So, today I had the rare pleasure of chewing out someone who SO needed it...AND having the ability to make him regret his small mindedness.

Alpaca had designed a website for the Burleson County Democratic Party for me, hosted it and everything. The 'party' had prablems, new leadership that didn't DO anything and didn't last, and a LOT of non-participators, so the site was fallow. The day after we agreed to pull it, a guy contacted me to find out about it.

He was...long winded, but seemed somewhat sane. I gave him Alex's e-mail, and so on, and this guy's the one ASKING a favor, so I figure HE can contact Alex, right? Well, he calls me today (as I am at the oncologist's office) and rattles on a bit about needing to involve ALL of the county's residents, the poor, the non-dominant races, etc. yadda yadda, THEN starts to tell me he's looked up "That teenager"--he found ME and my cellphone by doing a WHOIS and evidently did the same on Alex... THEN

He says "He's a teenager and he'll probably want to be paid for hosting and all the work he's done and..." and I stopped him. so he starts in on "He's a gamer and his on-line persona is a kind of camel-like..." and I stopped him again.

So, I hung up on him, then called him back and chewed his ass BIGTIME.

WHAT DOES NOT COMPUTE ABOUT A 17YEAR OLD PERSON BEING A HUMAN WITH RIGHTS AND DIGNITY JUST LIKE ANY OTHER??? Seventeen NOW means 18 by the next damn election, so THAT'S a VOTER!!

I informed this bozo that he'd shot himself in the foot and then stuck the foot in his mouth. And that IF Alex wanted to be NICE to him...he MIGHT decide to do ANYTHING at all for him. The moron had the nerve to tell me that to tie into the State Democratic site there were 'things you had to do, and standards to meet'. No frickin' DUH...

WHAT is the deal with older people that DO NOT GET IT that todays teens ARE tomorrow's adults, and that THEY DO DESERVE basic human courtesy, just like ANY other human being? Are these nitwits just...clueless? 'Cause I don't get it. Somebody 'splain it to me.

I suspect there may not be an explanation, just one more total goober in the political pressure game.

http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0561http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0561

Because I'm just evil that way...

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Y'all 'member the gnarls barkley song "Crazy"?

OK, even if you don't...watch this!!

http://www.give2shitz.com/

Impeach, Impeach, Impeach!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T22Dl43nQvE&mode=related&search=

What is your favorite quick-fix meal?

Ours is sausage dressing...pan fry a pound of breakfast sausage, mix in a packaged stuffing mix--if you sautee onion with the sausage, all the better.

However, there's more to life than sausage (Dan would say 'Yes, other meats') and I'm wondering what everybody else does for their favorite fast meal at home?

What started as "only a few, don't worry about it" pet food recalls have become a continuing nightmare. I just spent 45 minutes trying to get onto the sunshine Mills site to see if Spencer's "breakfast" every day was on their new list. Not yet. The BIG bags of similar, the puppy size snacks in the same size bag...but so for' we're OK.

I am NOT a happy camper about this AT ALL. Of course, I'm still peeved as possible over the whole peanut butter recall. (and I need to send in the lids from the 2 jars of recalled PB that were still on my shelf, one of which is almost positively tainted, because the one time I ate any of it, I was sick for a week.)

I hate the fact that the USDA's funding for routine tests is continually being cut. Seems they don't test anywhere near as much of what's submitted as they used to. Thanks again, Preznit Bush!

http://www.jenstark.com/sculpture_01.html

Some very striking artwork, utilizing common construction paper and other things.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2046593,00.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=2995983

I don't know, a bunny's about as much chocolate as I can deal with at one time without getting sick.

But, it does bring up some music!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_CHZ8z-t6M

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq01UYiMyHg

Advice on hotels? Reasonably cheap??

What about Salzburg?

Why don't I just post an itinerary??

Because I'm nuts...

Dan and Gary will be in Germany, somewhere near Munich sometime during Octoberfest.

They're looking at staying in Oberammergau, because of price and availability. Any other places on the trainlines that won't be as crowded/expensive?

IF YOU GONNA BE A BEAR, BE A GRIZZLY

Arrgh, and arrrgghh again. What's the deal with whiny people that can't decide whether they want to be "assertive" enough to NOT be run over by every opportunist that comes along?

I'd smack my head against a brick wall, but it's not MY head that needs smackin'...
==================

How do you motivate someone into being both sensible and intelligent enough to do what's best for themself rather than sitting back and waiting for 'something' to be done to/for them??

And if I use a board, will y'all help Dan make bail for me??

AAAAAAARGGHHHH.

Frustration is...ANNOYING!!

If I could change any one thing about my life it would be--

What?

At any point, major or minor, but not something like "i'd be rich", rather, what you'd have changed so that you would be rich.

Back at TOP, there was a documentary team that wanted to do a documentary on the 'beginnings" and growth of That Movement. The lead researcher was a scientist named Victoria Bruce, and a good deal of their work has been science oriented.

As you probably know, The Power That IS there chose to not cooperate with any documentarist, going instead for Book Sales $. However, I got to know Vicky quite well, and talked with her on the phone a number of times, as well as e-mailing quite a bit.

I got this e-mail today:

Quote

I've just finished shooting a Pilot for PBS called SCIENCE INVESTIGATORS, where I'm one of four hosts. The show is one of three science pilots that PBS will stream from the internet ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/si ) and air in January with the hope of getting viewer feedback.

The show that gets the best viewer feedback/comments (and pleases the brass at PBS) will be made into a 10-part series. So please stream it—or watch it the old-fashioned way on January 10 (details below).   Then go to the PBS website and give our show superior marks! (I'm confident you will love it : ))

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/si/

Please pass this along to friends and family who may be interested.

Thanks so much, and a Happy New Year to all of you!

Vicky




Science Investigators airs
Wednesday, January 10, 2007,
8:00-9:00 p.m. EST.

Science Investigators is a new and groundbreaking television program that takes a 21st century, cutting-edge approach to the subject of science. The show will provide solutions to a series of scientific mysteries in a fresh, captivating way. Full of information told through compelling stories, the series is presented by four young, lively hosts armed with the latest gadgets and technology, who make this a science show with attitude for the blog generation. In the first episode, we ask: What can DNA from a more than 30,000-year-old Neanderthal man tell us about ourselves? Are vanishing frogs an early warning sign of hazards to come? Why is the knuckleball one of the most mind-boggling pitches in baseball? And will bacteria be used to power iPods in the future? We also tell the moving story of an injured Iraq war veteran searching for a better bionic arm. Finally, we ask whether NASCAR drivers are ready for a new kind of racecar—one that's all electric.

Science Investigators is a Lion Television and WGBH Science Unit Production. Executive Producers are Chris Bryson, Nick Catliff (British Academy Award winner), Tony Tackaberry (History Detectives, a top-rated PBS summer series), and Susanne Simpson, Academy nominee and Emmy winner. Hosts are Basil Singer, physicist and robotics expert; Victoria Bruce, geologist, author of the best-seller No Apparent Danger; Kevin Hand, astrobiologist at Stanford and Princeton universities; and Bahareh Azizi, biochemist and lecturer at Georgia Institute of Technology. Executive-in-Charge is Paula S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of NOVA, the most-watched science documentary series in the world.

Sounds interesting, and Vicky's a lovely person, so please support her if you can.

Thanks,
Dee Dee