Hell gets a skating rink

“…You’ll be able to enjoy a bunch of inscrutable microposts in comfort and style.”

Gee, I don’t know, Adam. I’m remembering Rrrryan’s inscrutable posts as not being all that enjoyable.

Ah yes, Hitler always did enjoy schlussing across frozen expanses of water.

Ann, 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.

See? 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.

“People that are really weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.” How true it is.

I’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.

Oh, Adam, not you too! I had promised myself I wasn’t going to subscribe to any tweets. Curses.

Ah, 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?

I 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. . .

Oh 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.

Steve, 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.

Peter 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.

Zeke, 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.

Concetta, 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.

Susie, 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.”

SallyMander,

He got better.

I know, I’m woefully late with this reply. Nothing like a four-day wait for a punchline!

Zeke: 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.

Chris, 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.

Oh Cooper, I wish your vision were true, but most of those bankers have proxy employees to be homeless for them.

Off 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.

Hey 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 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.

Chris~

“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, 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.

Regarding 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.

Harold 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.

Sorry 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…

Sure 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.)

Congratulations, 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~

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?

Ah, Dale.

OMG! 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.

Congrats 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?