Yeah, I know. But it actually might be a good fit for my current lifestyle.
Don’t worry, I’ll soon figure our a way to pipe the Tweets into this blog, and you’ll be able to enjoy a bunch of inscrutable microposts in comfort and style.
Yeah, I know. But it actually might be a good fit for my current lifestyle.
Don’t worry, I’ll soon figure our a way to pipe the Tweets into this blog, and you’ll be able to enjoy a bunch of inscrutable microposts in comfort and style.
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66 comments
Jake
February 26, 2009 at 4:13 pm
1Gee, I don’t know, Adam. I’m remembering Rrrryan’s inscrutable posts as not being all that enjoyable.
piglet
February 26, 2009 at 4:48 pm
2I’m addicted and I blame John Dickerson from Slate. Wonky Felbernauts: there are several congresspersons atwitter these days, including Claire McCaskill (very informative and chatty) and John McCain (reputedly actually doing it himself these days, now that someone showed him how). Google “congress on twitter” for a list.
I like that you can “follow” someone without being their “friend.” More like a people-to-people news ticker.
Godwin
February 26, 2009 at 5:34 pm
3Ah yes, Hitler always did enjoy schlussing across frozen expanses of water.
Ann
February 26, 2009 at 5:46 pm
4Oh Great Lobster, please don’t make me learn any new technology. I’m still using videotape.
Yes, I am indeed that old.
Susie
February 26, 2009 at 7:27 pm
5Ann, you = funny. And me, I’m not that old, but I’m on Twitter and I still don’t know why. I’m hoping the great techno pumpkin will show up at the end of Lent and reveal all.
SallyMander
February 26, 2009 at 10:55 pm
6AdamEfts? I clicked on the link but found nothing about newts.
The AnnFan Club
February 27, 2009 at 4:48 am
7See? I told you we should have checked the site last night, but NOOOOOOOO!!! you had to drag me over to watch the cricket finals from Bangalore.
What are you complaining about? You certainly got a good night’s sleep, starting about 5 minutes after we tuned in.
Okay you two, put a sock in it. Let’s just spruce up the place and give Ann a shout.
Geez, Kerwin, you’d think Ann would realize we’re on the leading edge of high tech. In fact, we live for the latest delivery of Science Digest, Scientific American and the Cabot Creamery newsletter - “Gouda is Good, but Edam is Better”!
Yeah, I wonder why she didn’t think of us immediately…… Your pocket protector is crooked, BTW, and, that “Lawrence Livermore Laboratories”? Dude, that is so last week.
Yeah, Ann. We’re all over tweets.
Is easy, once you realize you just have to convert the co-tangents to arc-seconds squared.
Ann, don’t listen to him - he’s such a dweeb. It’s much easier than that. Just give me tweet. I’ll show you how it’s done. Oh….. sorry. I mean call me, …… I guess.
gregory
February 27, 2009 at 7:19 am
8Okay, Ann. Here’s your chance to get down with the techno
geekspeak.D. Quayle
February 27, 2009 at 10:36 am
9“People that are really weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.” How true it is.
Zee Man
February 27, 2009 at 12:24 pm
10Or no impact on history at all, Mr. Quayle. How true it is.
hedera
February 27, 2009 at 5:11 pm
11I’m a little more “with it” technologically than Ann, since I actually do develop web sites, despite my age; but so far I have avoided Twitter, and after reviewing Adam’s list of little bons mots, I think I’ll continue to avoid Twittter. I’m sorry, Adam, your contributions are both funnier and more enlightening when you devote actual thought to them, beyond counting the number of characters you have left.
cooper
February 27, 2009 at 5:33 pm
12I hate to sound like an old coot, but I’m not at all interested in twitter. Unlike Adam, I have a reasonably normal lifestyle and I believe I’ll have a good, rich life without the latest must-have electro-gizmo that will be old school and discarded within 9 months for something else that’s new, cutting edge, and not to be missed. (I guess Rev. Billy is starting make sense to me.)
historyenne
February 28, 2009 at 10:21 am
13Oh, Adam, not you too! I had promised myself I wasn’t going to subscribe to any tweets. Curses.
Vinnie
February 28, 2009 at 12:32 pm
14Wowww! If ida knowed dat da dames dat go to parties at Judge Parker’s house all looked like dis, I wooda gone ta college and den ta law school, just like my momma hoped I wood. Don’t tell Doc I said dat.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/judgeparker.asp?date=20090225
Chris Harlan
February 28, 2009 at 12:40 pm
15Ah, Twiiter. I’ve been watching this baby since its birth. I still can’t bring myself to call the messages tweets. I like to go with twits. Of course I get a condescending correction, to which I reply with nothing more than a broad grin. As a portable semi-broadcast IM it can be very useful. On a project, for instance–say a props department on a citywide buying spree to dress a last minute set addition for some 19th century epic–it can be perfect. For the right group of friends it makes a lot of sense, especially people who are attracted to IMing. Brevity and spontaneity certainly do have value, though I prefer circumspection and detail.
But jeez, this thing should probably be called Fritter. It can be a big distractor, and Adam, it might suit your life better in terms of available minutes v. “number of keystrokes” but you won’t get much pith out of 140 spontaneous characters, though I am glad about your shelf/bed invention. A belf? A shed? (whoops, taken.) So, What are you doing now?
Chris Harlan
February 28, 2009 at 12:42 pm
16And now? What about now?
Steve
February 28, 2009 at 2:12 pm
17I guess I’m with cooper on this one.
Can someone please explain to me the point of Twitter? I just don’t geddit.
Seriously.
Yeah, I am an old coot, but one who has been involved, directly or indirectly with the Internet or its predecessors since 1978 (I remember IMPs, TAC cards, and reading mail on a Silent 700).
Personally, I just seem to have more things to do with my time.
Such as chasing those damned kids off my lawn.
Wait, I live in a condo. . . I don’t even have a lawn. . .
Zeke
February 28, 2009 at 2:49 pm
18Adam, I hope this doesn’t thoroughly creep you out but the picture from Susie’s blog from February 24 is HOT!!! Does she ever visit Nebraska?
http://felberfrolics.blogspot.com/
Chris Harlan
February 28, 2009 at 4:11 pm
19Oh heavens to Betsy, Zeke. Of course I went and looked and all I could see was the cat because I’m just too dumb to scroll down. Well, eventually I caught on, and your observations are correct, though I blush for saying so, since I’m a man of refinement and not some brash Nebraskan. Shame on you for typing that about the Felberinia, though it is truly, truly the case. I mean, yowza!, yowza!–but you are not going to catch me getting all pervy like you Nebraskans do.
As to the cat–I’d have to recommend that bit of video as well. I also relate to it, but I haven’t been able to get through the door yet.
Linkmeister
February 28, 2009 at 4:53 pm
20I find Twitter useful for aggregating posts about a single topic. For example, there’s a bill in our legislature to sanction civil unions. Called HB444, everybody watching the hearings or in the room tweeted with the hash #HB444. Searching for that hash resulted in aggregating all the relevant tweets on one page. ‘Course, you have to get the word out to all the people twittering to USE the hash.
Concetta
February 28, 2009 at 8:43 pm
21Steve, chase the kids off anyway. It’ll give you much needed street cred. Take your walking cane with you and wave it around a lot. It all makes for a good show, the kids will think you’re whack and they’ll quit messing with you. Anyway, that worked for me.
P. Harvey
March 1, 2009 at 6:56 am
22And now you know the end of the story.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5200BC20090301
P. Harvey…………….Good bye!
Zee Man
March 1, 2009 at 8:50 am
23Peter mentioned on WWDTM all the stir in the blogosphere about Michelle Obama’s sleek, muscular arms and about her attending the speech before Congress this week in a sleeveless dress, where they were on full display. The thing I find most amazing about Michelle’s arms is that she grew up in the rough and tumble of South Chicago - and not a single tattoo! I know - I’m showing my age here.
Aunt Sam
March 1, 2009 at 5:32 pm
24Have you seen Mama Robinson? You think she’s gonna let her baby girl get a tattoo? I don’t.
Susie
March 1, 2009 at 6:50 pm
25Zeke, Chris — Merci buckets! I do not mind being called hot. I believe I am hot, but never expect others to think so. And seriously, I was getting my makeup done next to Jack Cafferty. ‘Twas a hoot. Oh, and no, I don’t go to Nebraska, unless “going to Nebraska” is a euphemism for something totally depraved, in which case, I probably do go now and again.
Zeke
March 1, 2009 at 7:21 pm
26…unless “going to Nebraska” is a euphemism for something totally depraved…
The hell of it is, Susie, it might be, but I’d be the last one to know. (I gotta get off the farm more often.)
Steve
March 2, 2009 at 6:36 am
27Concetta, thanx for the advice. I’ll go out cane shopping today. I’m thinking something with an imitation ivory bulldog head for a handle. . .
Speaking of Twitter, read Tom Tomorrow’s take here, which pretty much squares with my own.
You might also want to read the New York Times article, which can be found at the link above.
Regarding the passing of Paul Harvey, whatever you think or thought of his politics, which, in my case, was not very much, he certainly was a significant figure in radio broadcasting. On yesterday’s (3/1/09) “Le Show, Harry Shearer did a nice tribute to Harvey.
When I was in the biz, back in the steam engine days, we had a news guy who patterned his delivery after Harvey’s, sometimes with some very odd results.
“Head found in bag. . . . (long pause). . . . Good morning. This is Peterson. . . . and the news.”
And, no, I’m not making that up.
D. Quayle
March 2, 2009 at 10:32 am
28“It’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.”
Thank you! Thank you! I’ll be here all week! God bless! You’re too kind! No, really! Please, you’re much too kind! Thank you!! God Bless!
Chris Harlan
March 2, 2009 at 12:47 pm
29Susie, Zeke–I’ve never tried it, but according to my copy of the Farma-sutra “Going to Nebraska” involves the following props: a haystack, corn husks, and a whitetail dear pelt. The act itself, seldom practiced in Nebraska, seems to be a product of sultry Iowa, particularly from the environs of River City, the self-proclaimed “role-play Mecca of the Midwest.” Other notable regional inventions include the “pick a little, talk a little,” the “Shipoopi,” and, the very difficult (Yoga masters only) “Wells Fargo Wagon.”
Jim (OJNTNJ)
March 2, 2009 at 5:34 pm
30Chris, Susie and Zeke,
It would appear that Nebraskans and other heartland conservatives may be able to teach us coastal dwellers and you island liberals (as in surrounded by a red sea) a thang or three.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16680-porn-in-the-usa-conservati ves-are-biggest-consumers.html
Ann
March 2, 2009 at 6:28 pm
31SallyMander,
He got better.
I know, I’m woefully late with this reply. Nothing like a four-day wait for a punchline!
Pope Benny 16
March 2, 2009 at 6:54 pm
32I fear Anselmo is keeping a secret from me; okay, maybe 137 secrets, who knows. I was fiddling with my Miracle Ear this morning, hoping to pump up the bass a bit, when I managed to hear a whispered conversation in the hallway between Anselmo and His Eminence Archbishop Bernard Law. It had to do with President Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. His Eminence was angered by the selection of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.
I seem to recall a run-in with Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City where he demanded that Governor Sebelius, a lifelong devout Catholic, should not present herself for Communion until she publicly repudiates her support for abortion. (I remember at the time thinking “Harsh!”). He also took exception to her support for embryonic stem cell research.
And Bill Donohue called Sebelius one of the most extreme pro-abortion zealots in the nation. Bill has a tendency to exaggerate. I’ve asked him to lighten up many times in the past. Maybe, if I put him onto the St. Peter’s Basilica toothbrush spit and shine clean up team, he would take heed to what I tell him, though I doubt it. I’ll have those two charming lads, Vinnie and Guido, to fly up to the US from their South American beach vacation and speak with them. I hope Guido doesn’t get too angry being called away from the shore to take care of this business for me and then takes it out on Archbishop Naumann and Mr. Donohue. (Snicker)
Susie
March 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm
33Zeke: Ha!
Chris: Farma-sutra — Yours? LOVE IT.
Jim: A friend of mine shared that same article on porn in red states and his take was that “repression inflames, rather than suppresses desire.” My take was that since this info was taken from credit card records, perhaps it says conservatives are too stupid to find free porn.
Because, you know, I hear there is some of that on these here interwebs.
Jerry, The King of Comedy!!!
March 2, 2009 at 7:14 pm
34Good evening, ladies and germs. Another Monday evening comedy dump and, Adam, please don’t take to heart the bitch slap and blindside take down leveled at twitter in the cartoon. Remember, it’s only comedy.
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/03/03/tomo/index.html
cooper
March 2, 2009 at 8:17 pm
35Chris, I’m with Susie - “Farma-sutra” is hilarious! And funny you should mention Wells Fargo. Several months ago they bought Wachovia Bank, one of larger employers here in Charlotte, and promptly parked their chuck wagon downtown, like they owned the place. The jobless rate in the county is 9%, with up to 30,000 more people to be trimmed from Wachovia’s workforce. Hopefully not all of them from Charlotte.
That’s the downside of the merger. The upside is that tonight the temperature is forecast to drop to 16F. At this very moment all over the city, unemployed and homeless former bankers are in knife fights with crack addicts, vying for the best steam grates and refrigerator cartons. And may the more virtuous of these two criminal classes win.
Chris Harlan
March 2, 2009 at 10:21 pm
36Heyyy. Thank ya very much. Farmasutra? Yeah, that’s mine. It’s versatile, too. Change the F to a Ph and you can work medical conventions.
Chris Harlan
March 2, 2009 at 10:25 pm
37Oh Cooper, I wish your vision were true, but most of those bankers have proxy employees to be homeless for them.
cooper
March 3, 2009 at 3:58 am
38Chris, I wasn’t thinking of that, but you’re right! Sonovabitch, so there is no upside to the depression. Damn!
Dale
March 3, 2009 at 5:13 pm
39Off topic vent: why must every news headline (they don’t even wait until the article!) about the arrest in the Chandra Levy case mention that the accused is an immigrant? Did I miss all those headlines of “Native-born American Citizen Accused of [Insert Horrific Crime].”?
Grumble grumble. I’m cold and I had to go the dentist twice. Grumble.
Vinnie
March 3, 2009 at 6:36 pm
40I know whatcha mean, Doc. Comin’ down f’om a dose of narcotics can give ya a helluva headache. Makes me grumpy, too.
Me and Guido is cuttin’ our Sout’ American beach vacashun short, so we can meet wit’ some high Catholic Church officials in da US an’ delivuh a secret message f’om da Pope. Guido’s pretty steamed. I hope he don’t rip their lungs out like da last time. Fa contrition, we was bot’ doin’ Hail Marys fa a mont’. I guess you noticed, I still walk wit’ a limp f’om all dat kneelin’. Dat and da blow to my left patella f’om dat punk-ass scab’s Louieville Slugguh back in ‘03.
Chris Harlan
March 3, 2009 at 8:54 pm
41Hey Grumbly Dale! Are you talking about newspaper or tv coverage? I thought that was an interesting observation you made so I Googled Chandra Levy to see what you were talking about only to discover that–at least as far as Newspapers go–what you were saying doesn’t seem to be the case. “Prisoner” and “inmate” seem to have the lead in our nation’s papers, followed by “man” and “laborer.” Then we get “Immigrant,” “illegal immigrant,” and “immigrant laborer,” plus “Salvadoran immigrant/ laborer.” There’s also “California inmate” which gets me grumbly now that I think about it–like we had something to do with it, us kooky Californians. Grumble. I’m cold, too. But I’m wearing shorts. Grumble.
Murray
March 4, 2009 at 7:04 am
42Susie, The free internet porn scares the hell out of me. (not the porn, the vulnerability to worms and viruses). The computer at the Arts center where I spend 1 day a month got infected with a porn virus, (no, not me) and it was unusable. You spent most of your time making the pop ups go away.
Ever notice how the Bible Belt states are the ones with the highest murder, rape, and general crime while the Godless New England has the least?
Chris Harlan
March 4, 2009 at 10:22 am
43Murray says: You spent most of your time making the pop ups go away.
I thinking: There are just too many potential punch lines to choose from. Insert yours here.
SallyMutant
March 4, 2009 at 10:36 pm
44I love how eclectic FanAppers are: discussing on a blog (c. 10-yr.-old tech) via the internet (c. 15-yr.-old tech) a 2-or so yr.-old app; and most of us are here because we are such great fans of radio (c.1921).
From my amphibian-ego SallyMander–Still no skinks on that link.
Aunt Sam
March 4, 2009 at 10:53 pm
45Chris~
“Insert yours here” being one of the potential punchlines? Naughty.
Or as the middle-schoolers seem to think they invented, “That’s what SHE said.”
Going back to school in your forties- mostly great. Putting off writing a paper until the day before it’s due- this is gonna hurt tomorrow.
G’night all.
Chris Harlan
March 5, 2009 at 12:57 am
46Aunt Sam, we owe a great to The Office for bringing that back.
Dale
March 5, 2009 at 6:37 am
47Chris, well I’m glad to hear I didn’t catch an entirely representative sample. The first time I heard it was on the radio, I would imagine NPR but it’s possible that it was during the pledge drive and I had by necessity wandered to another frequency. What sparked the post (besides the crown on my front tooth falling out and every dentist in the Tri-State area apparently deciding they could not leave their homes after 8 inches of snow) was the Yahoo headline that appears on my start-up page. But my crown is fixed, the headline is gone, and I have returned to my usual Stoic equilibrium.
Vinnie
March 5, 2009 at 8:06 am
48Doc, take it f’om a pro - superglue. Dat’s always woiked fa me. Uh course, I gotta keep clear o’ cheap steaks. But you’re already doin’ dat.
David
March 5, 2009 at 8:37 am
49Regarding Nebraska, as Penny (Big Bang Theory) said when invited by her geek squad buds to join in their paintball wars, “I’m from Nebraska. If we shoot something, it’s either to eat it or make it stay away from our boyfriend.”
And remember, if you’ve never been to Ogallala, you don’t know Nebraska.
Ann
March 6, 2009 at 12:09 pm
50Has anyone heard from Harold lately? I know I don’t visit this blog nearly as often as I used to, so maybe I’ve just missed his entries.
dee
March 6, 2009 at 4:34 pm
51Harold has been working a crazy schedule that I can’t begin to understand, and during the latest round of cutbacks at his place of employment he was bumped to the night shift. But he’s taken some lovely photos lately of the local cemetery in the snow. I love the cemetery and mountains panorama.
hedera
March 7, 2009 at 10:04 am
52Yes, if you want to talk to Harold lately, you really have to step over to Another Monkey, he’s blogging regularly there, but since he’s working absolutely appalling hours (ever heard of a 4-40 schedule? he’s doin’ it), that’s about all he has time for. Harold is our resident victim of the crunch - he was laid off from his professional job, and then hired back by the same employer, at a lower wage, to what amounts to an assembly line job. As he says, at least he’s working.
becca (and brian)
March 9, 2009 at 8:06 am
53Sorry to hear about Harold’s new schedule.
Still, this is one of the things I like most about the FanAp community…the fact that we check up on and keep track of each other. It gives me the warm fuzzies.
:-) Becca
37.5 weeks…not much longer to go…
Dale
March 9, 2009 at 12:24 pm
54GOOD LUCK BECCA (AND BRIAN…and the one who REALLY needs it–Junior!) And remember, should you happen to have octuplets, I’d be happy to take one off your hands!
cooper
March 10, 2009 at 4:02 am
55Sure Dale kids are cute when they’re infants, but then they grow up - into teenagers! You can’t afford a big enough apartment in Brooklyn to live with a teenager. Trust me here.
Becca, best of luck to you and Brian and the wee one from the sunny South. Can’t you just feel the love and good karma coming your way? (Pay no attention to what I told Dale above. We’re all trying to keep her in school for a while longer. She’s short, but she has such potential and she needs to keep concentrating on academia for the time being. Actually, kids aren’t so very bad.)
Dale
March 10, 2009 at 5:55 am
56Hey, Coop, get with it! I’ve got a palatial apartment in Manhattan now and I’m in school…but on the other side of the desk! So ignore him, B&B, and send over the kid.
cooper
March 10, 2009 at 7:08 am
57Congratulations, PhDale! Palatial in Manhattan, huh? Geez! You know, my extended family and I were thinking of coming to New York when it got warmer…… (Kidding.)
No really, Dale, I’m happy for you. You must be very proud of what you’ve accomplished, and you should be. Good luck cramming knowledge into the brains of those slack-jaw knuckleheads that are staring back at you with a dazed look on their face. I’ll try to stay better up to speed. BTW, what exactly are you teaching and where? If you don’t mind my asking.
Dale
March 10, 2009 at 2:07 pm
58No slack-jawed knuckleheads, my students are all smarter than I am. I somehow managed to go on the job market the year humanities departments were buying assistant professors like Wall Street professionals snapping up condos, and by some fluke which I think must have involved Vinnie and Guido I got a job at Columbia. Nobody has gotten tenure in this department (Spanish and Portuguese) in the last 20 years, but at the very least it will be a good 6 years.
You’re welcome to come visit, Coop, but hurry up–the first person to offer me a kid and the vacancy sign goes down.
Aunt Sam
March 10, 2009 at 2:35 pm
59Dale~
How about a slightly used kid? She’s pretty, OK taste in books, vegetarian (although that translates to breakfast cereal & pasta), never does homework, still gets all As …wait, this isn’t sounding so bad. Maybe I’ll keep her. She’s bound to start talking to me again someday, right?
Jake
March 10, 2009 at 3:02 pm
60Yeah, Aunt Sam. When she’s 23. Savor the silence. Good luck with school.
Chris Harlan
March 10, 2009 at 4:03 pm
61Ah, Dale.
Vinnie
March 10, 2009 at 6:03 pm
62Yo, peoples, Dale’s uh mighty smart lady. She don’t need no help f’om me ta get no skool job.
(Don’ tell Dale. I did pay uh visit ta da Dean ov Humanities at Columbia, went right up ta him, hugged my arm around his neck like we wuz ol’ friends, an’ showed him da aerial view ov his courtyard far below his fourt’ floor Ivy Towuh office. He’s uh pretty quick study, ya know. But I guess ya haf ta be ta succeed in dat world ov pointy headed, back stabbin’ schmoes. Anyways, if I wuz a bettin’ guy, I’d bet Dale gets tenure. And uh really, really big pay raise real soon. Dale still wants uh kid real bad. I wondah if da Pope wood miss dat slave boy food tester ov his in da Vatican.)
cooper
March 11, 2009 at 6:39 am
63OMG! Dale!!!!! Columbia???? Whew, i no longer feel worthy of corresponding with you here. i mean, i feel…so….so……….Oh, i don’t know….intellectually - not equal? i may never capitalize “I” in your presence again. Columbia! Jeez Dale, that’s truly impressive.
Dale
March 11, 2009 at 8:55 am
64Thanks, Coop! I really feel insanely lucky, unfairly lucky in the current climate, with so many deserving people without work entirely. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, or be thrown by an angry reporter, or whatever.
Vinnie–thanks for everything I don’t know about. Sounds like maybe you should pay a friendly visit to Harold’s boss.
Aunt Sam–Perfect! Your daughter’s diet fits my cooking skills perfectly.
becca (and brian)
March 11, 2009 at 4:07 pm
65Congrats Dale….We were pleased for you before (and impressed) but now even more so.
It’s okay to be feel/be lucky. Someone has to be..might as well be cool people from the FanAp crew!
What specifically in the Humanities?
David
March 11, 2009 at 4:37 pm
66Luck figures in every successfully employed educator’s life. Mega congrats on landing at Columbia. And now that the human intellect is once again embraced by the good folk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it is once again worthy of respect in America to be an educator/thinker/learner. Damned good feeling, and wonderful that a FanAp-er is on a roll in academia.