COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, September 03, 2010

Do Continue

190 comments:

  1. Do you know what that white on black is going to do to my eyes? Believe it or not I do read your posts.

    Rufus no I don't but it's easier to scroll through a bunch of nonsense then it is reading the fine print.


    Until Whit and Deuce put it in writing, I think things will remain the same.

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  2. I'll have an IPod touch 8GB for sale starting bid 150.00. Christmas is right around the corner.

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  3. Viktor Silo's Mungo Jeremy "In the Summertime" link reminded me of driving an European camping tour bus out of London for a couple of crazy Australians in ~1970.

    And stick with me, I think you'll see the connection to the theme of the previous thread.

    (Car nuts might be interested that the bus was a very nice small, maybe 20 passenger, Setra with the curved windows above the normal side windows. Cloth seats with armrests...)

    Anyway this particular trip was a month or so and the group was not the normal hodge podge of folks mostly obtained by leafletting and hawking near the Earl's Court tube station.

    No, this was a group of Bahraini students that chartered the bus for their own selves.


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  4. The normal tour arrangement was for me to drive and a nicely put together German girl to stand at my side and use the the bus' public address mic to comment on the sites and sights we were passing.

    We'd park on the outskirts of major cities in camping grounds and set up 3 or 4 tents and cook our meals.

    After the first couple of nights the passengers usually got into the swing of things and we would become pretty efficient in setting up and breaking down camp.

    With this group all being country mates and school mates and some of them having taken a similar tour the year before that part of the trip went fairly smoothly.


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  5. This tale is like the Saturday matinee Flash Gordon serials...

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  6. Yeah, that black background has Got to go.

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  7. The problem arose, for me, on the second or third day when I realized that they were playing, very quietly, on a cassette tape deck somewhere in the back of the bus Mungo Jeremy's "In the Summertime."

    They would start the tape in the morning soon after we got rolling and it would be on auto repeat and play thru the day, At first It was "just a thing." Almost like white noise.

    But, after a couple of days, it started to get on my nerves.

    The tipping point, for me, came when they started to join in the chorus of "Uhn, Uhn."

    The song would be playing very quietly, the German girl would be giving her spiel, the kids would be looking out the windows or chatting and come the chorus they'd all, in unison, go "Uhn, uhn." And not particularly quietly.


    I went over the edge when they added synchronized swaying from side to side along with the "Uhn, Uhn." You could actually feel the bus sway...

    It was eerie to experience as none of them ever mentioned the behavior. A scientific observer might assume it was part of their natural existence.


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  8. So, the evening I snapped, while they were out setting up the tent, starting dinner,etc., I went to the back of the bus.

    Found the tape player and pocketed the cassette.

    I felt guilty.

    But also calmed and relieved.


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  9. Next morning I'm looking forward to a nice normal day.

    But no!

    No, no, no!

    "In the Summertime" is back on the box!

    The "Uhn, uhns" and the synchronized swaying resume as though nothing had happened!


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  10. Gnossos, great story.

    But you will never be asked to join the Looters.

    "Synchronized swaying."

    Kool.

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  11. That evening, though when I go to prowl in the back of the bus I find the tape player is not there.

    A day or two later I figure whose player it is and which tent he's in.

    I know this sounds ridiculous but I waited until I figured everyone was asleep and, from under the edge of the tent, I was able to reach in and "liberate" that player.


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  12. I have a spot in my heart for "In The Summertime".

    It was playing the first year I was in Ft. Lauderdale during spring break.

    Good times.


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  13. The Republicans think they're going to ride Becksniffian coattails back into office.

    All I can say is that I've left more Grace in the bottom of a motherfucking bottle.

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  14. The next morning I'm feeling even more guilty.

    A tape is one thing. But stealing a cassette player?

    Well, I was a little discomfited you might say.

    And, of course, concerned they'd twig to who the guilty party was.

    But I needn't've worried.


    Because, sure enough, as soon as we were on the road again, here is "In the Summertime."

    Thinking back it still amazes me. Not only the strange visceral identity they had with that tune.

    But also the fact they, or someone among them, had actually brought along three Mungo Jeremy tapes!!!

    At least three, it could've been more, but they broke my thievin' spirit.

    I put up with it for the rest of the trip. And no one ever said a word about the missing tapes or deck...


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  15. That's much better thanks; it's hard just passing 30.

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  16. She Who Cannot Make A Link said:

    "The Republicans think they're going to ride Becksniffian coattails back into office.

    All I can say is that I've left more Grace in the bottom of a motherfucking bottle."


    Tsk. Tsk. You have good reason to be bitter, though. You thought the wind was blowing toward the left and now you find it's blowing toward the right.

    Now you and your new found friends can dine on crow for Thanksgiving.

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  17. Now you and your new found friends can dine on crow for Thanksgiving.

    Truly a failure of judgment on your part to presume that the poster in question would require an alternative nom de plume.

    Wake me up when the crows stop circling the radical fringes.

    Prediction: The Pubs continue along the Beckian trendline and Obama 2012 will slice through them like a hot knife through butter.

    Quite a few of us will be hitting the bottle at that point.

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  18. That's much better thanks; it's hard just passing 30.

    You think that's hard try just passing 40 like me.

    What's with all the pink? It all looks pink to me. Could have at least put up a pink elephant. Effects of the drugs? Which I'm getting low on.

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  19. ...continuing the agricultural theme from earlier...I have some Indian friends (sub-continental). The wife's family owned 3,000 acres in the most fertile part of Pakistan (that's the part that has been flooded) They made a fortune. They lost the property at partition. Care to guess what that land is today?

    The problems of the Third World cannot be overcome absent perpetual property rights, real and chattel.

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  20. Viktor,

    Several weeks ago, I posted a link to your currently posted Three Things You Don't Know About...at the EB...enjoyed it then and now...

    Note, I have censored myself, above.

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  21. One of dad's crazy schemes was a cattle ranch in the New Hebrides, he and a bunch of other guys, 40,000 acres or something. Last I heard it had reverted to the natives. The New Hebrides is the most earthquake prone place on earth, plus there are still a few headhunters around. Plus they got a kind of wood there if you sleep next to it you get poisoned. I was going to go down there but met my wife instead.

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  22. Plus the eat people too, or used to.

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  23. I was going to go down there but met my wife instead.

    Once or twice it crossed my mind earlier on I'd have been safer in the New Hebrides, and more peaceful too, though she's been a darling for the last many years. heh

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  24. They may have a McDonald's in Port Vila by now.

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  25. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11-6

    Isaiah 65:25 "The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the LORD.

    The Wolf shall lay down with the Elk in all my holy Lolo.

    bob 7 come 11

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  26. Oh my God it is pink. I love it.

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  27. Thanks, I thought I must have lost my mind with all the talk of other colors.

    Hell I still know pink when I see it.

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  28. ya, pink. And he was complaining about the oval office being done in beige tones.

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  29. A Late Summertime Recipe For Melody

    After 6 of 'em, no fixing the hot tub allowed.

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  30. A pink carpet would have good subliminal meanings for this administration Ash, and would look a lot better than that stuff they used that we put in our rentals.

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  31. 1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate 12 fluid ounces gin


    It's basically half 'n half, if you leave out the extras.

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  32. Okay, so now you've painted our living room pink. You really Are Pissed, aren't you?

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  33. The pallet is still under review.

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  34. Ron Wyden comes out against Obamacare, after voting for it.

    Elections to come have consequences.

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  35. Viktor,
    So Trish is the cleaning lady?

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  36. Let's take this under "advisement," Q.

    Gnossos shows definite looter/Pirate proclivities. :)

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  37. Doug said:

    "Viktor,
    So Trish is the cleaning lady?"


    I think so but I don't have a big enough writing sample to be sure.


    She Who Can't Make Link said:

    "Quite a few of us will be hitting the bottle at that point."

    I think quite a few of you are hitting the bottle already.


    Allen said:

    "Viktor,

    Several weeks ago, I posted a link to your currently posted Three Things You Don't Know About...at the EB...enjoyed it then and now..."


    Sorry that I missed your earlier posting, Allen. It's OK, in my books, to speak the name of the religion that is not a religion. But, of course, we will have to speak in code.

    I.T. I.S. C.A.L.L.E.D. I.S.L.A.M

    I learned this trick when my first son was coming of age and we lived in a small, confined apartment where the walls had ears. I used to say to my wife:

    D.O. Y.O.U. W.A.N.T. T.O. G.E.T. L.A.I.D. T.O.N.I.G.H.T. ?

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  38. Man oh man!

    Cousin told me you all had upgraded the decor. He weren't a jokin', neither.

    Got that giant packiderm coverin' the whole darn page. Bet he'd be somethin' to rope!
    Gonna need a big loop fer that one.

    From the size of them ears, it looks like it got some of that Obama breedin' to it.

    Now that girl with the little titties, she sure is easy on the eyes, who be foolin' about with that sweetie?

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  39. Now this is where blogger comes in handy. The comment section is not in view of the front page. The background picture is not attractive. If I had to look at that all day I would probably throw up by the end of the day.

    Just sayin'...

    I love the layout.

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  40. And the purple font...perfect.

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  41. May as well drop anchor and come ashore fer a spell and a smoke.

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  42. viktor,

    Re: l.a.i.d.

    I am not going to ask for the answer :)

    Best

    PS: We could say it really fast "islm". That's how we do it in "hbrw".

    Shbbt Shlm...kewl beans!

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  43. No, I am not the cleaning lady.

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  44. I love the layout.

    It sucks.

    Looks like a metrosexual designer's attempt to combine a petting zoo and a fern bar.

    Purple font?

    It sucks.

    Jeez...

    Bring back the Elephant Bar Logo.

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  45. Trish would you like a mojito? There is no fresh mint because I killed it but the mix isn't that bad.

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  46. I like the nekkid lady.

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  47. We all like the nekkid lady it's the elephant in the background that make our eyes water.

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  48. Oh, I see the nekked lady, further down.

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  49. We could replace the eliphent with a Real Big Nekkid Lady, with Real Big Boobies. :)

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  50. What's the nekked lady got in her mouth, a straw?, or a cigarette?

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  51. I'm more of a solid color person anyway. Just match up a few colors and you'll be good to go.

    If you're hell bent on having a picture try a skin that has a personalized header. I'm not sure if blogger has them.

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  52. Put some tattoos on the elephants skin.

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  53. Um, I don't think you can have a legitimate mojito without fresh mint. There are rules about these things, you know.

    But that's okay. The mint often gives it a grassy flavor anyway.

    So, yes, a "mojito" would be lovely.

    We can drink to my 44th year on this fine planet.

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  54. I remember when 44 was "old."

    Really, really old.

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  55. And put the sign of Leo on the lion's ass, for Quirk.

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  56. Wyden Wants Out

    That really takes a lot of moxy. Wants Oregon to have a pass.

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  57. A little girl told my daughter she ( my daughter) was really really old the other day.

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  58. Trish said:

    "I remember when 44 was "old."

    Really, really old."


    I remember when 53 was old.

    Really, really, old.

    Now my oldest son is 53 (last May).

    BTW, I hope you have a very happy birthday. And, yes, I will have that drink to your good health. Maybe two.

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  59. Thanks, both of you.


    Well, viktor, once upon a time I thought my parents' present ages unquestionably ancient. My father was born in 44 and my mother in 47.

    Seems laughable now.

    What's ancient now? Somewhere north of ninety.

    It's all relative.

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  60. Trish did you get a new computer?

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  61. Mr Wyden wants full implementation of the ObamaCare legislation that he helped to write.

    Mr. Wyden should have known better than to vote for ObamaCare given his market instincts and health-care experience.

    Even so, the price for his support included the Section 1332 waivers that he is now promoting.

    In addition to the individual mandate, states may evade regulations about business taxes, the exact federal standards for minimum benefits, and how subsidies are allocated in the insurance "exchanges"—

    as long as the state covers the same number of uninsured and keeps coverage as comprehensive.


    Which is the part of the ObamaCare legislation he championed and had included in final passage.

    He is on board, fully, with the legislation he voted for, as passed.

    You and doug are grasping at straws, bob.

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  62. It's all relative.

    Wishfully.

    Happy Birthday, Trish.

    May you always remain young in spirit, strong of body, quick of mind, gracefull in demeanor, full of fire and fight, humorous, may your hair never gray, may you have many more happy birthdays.


    I get my Toshiba back tomorrow. Quess they have sent me a new one.

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  63. Oh.

    Oooh.

    Aahh.

    I like the new decor.



    What are the drink prices now?


    Just askin.


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  64. Perhaps, I just heard Lars Larsen talking about it, sounded kinda nasty.

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  65. $35 dollars US for the world famous Elephant's Ear, for starters.

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  66. Discounted 2% if you've paid to view.

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  67. It would appear that Mr Wyden read the legislation before voting for it.

    Others may not have, prior to complaining about it.

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  68. They got a place up in Alaska near the circle where you can order a drink with somebody's frostbitten toe in it, you get badge if you drink it.

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  69. I'm going tomorrow to get mine. I decided today. I'm in withdrawal of making big purchases.

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  70. Let's take this under "advisement," Q.


    It's up to you Ruf.

    Gnossos has done some good stuff.

    But I still think it should at least be probationary.

    I mean 'synchronized swaying" and he doesn't get into the flow for god's sake.

    Especially with a "nicely put together German girl" right next to him.

    How could it get much better than that?

    Just sayin.


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  71. Jesse Jackson's Escalade Stripped In Detroit

    Where have you been all day, Quirk?

    I'm gonna go scribble on paper, and then go to the Casino for the last T-Shirt drawing.

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  72. Mac book pro

    I actually feel nervous. Usually my large purchases are impulsive with no time to think.

    I also need a new cell phone.

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  73. Shut up you were walking the dog.

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  74. Walking the dog to the chop shop.

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  75. "...may your hair never gray."

    Oh, please. Crossed that threshold years ago.

    And keeping ahead of it is sometimes 'spensive.

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  76. Better living through chemistry, birthday girl!

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  77. Jesse Jackson's Escalade Stripped In Detroit

    Heard on the news a little while ago over twenty cars broken into during the Eminem concert. Smash and Grab.

    They are interviewing the victims and every one of them had left something in the vehicle, purses, cameras, some guy even left a shitload of medical equipment (?) in the back of his van.

    Morons.

    The only people I hate worse are the incompetents that can't merge. Merging ought to be part of the test they give you before you get a license.

    People who can't merge make me want to puke.

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  78. But I also had my eyebrows done for the first time.

    That added.

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  79. My daughter is 24 and has her first gray hair. When she called me I thought she was in an accident. My sister was 17 when she had her first gray hair. I'm not gray at least not until four weeks is up.

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  80. You pay 300.00 to get your hair colored?

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  81. Shut up you were walking the dog.



    I Am Whatever You Say I Am


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  82. I hope bob is gone, he'll choke on that. Like he did at the mention of $30 bottles of wine.

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  83. : )


    Yeah, I had my first gray hair at eighteen. I remember: My mother and I were in the kitchen and she said, "Hold still." She plucked it out and held it up as some kind of ridiculous marvel.

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  84. Is he going to give it to that lady without one?

    She looks cold, or excited.

    Hard to really tell, from here.

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  85. Bob can probably clothe half the homeless people in America with all the tee shirts he has accumulated over the years.

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  86. My brother, also a red head and just a few years younger than me, has yet to get more than twenty gray hairs, I swear to God.

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  87. You think that she's homeless?

    I got a berth, on the boat, down by the river.

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  88. My cousin has an empty bunk at the line shack. I mean if she gets sea sick or even a tad nauseous.

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  89. Not more than twenty gray hairs and he's raising twins, for crying out loud.

    He also married a red head.

    He also divorced her.

    Wise choice.

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  90. "Is he going to give it to that lady without one?"

    Something tells me bob is not bothered by nippleage.

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  91. One of each.

    Those early years? Absofuckingylutely brutal.

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  92. It's funny my daughter was at her best in her teenage years, now at 24, Absofuckingylutely brutal.

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  93. The boy is an evil genius, endearing in his own way. The girl is...well, she has huge potential if she can be kept from her mother's path as a small-minded, sadistic bitch.

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  94. That cannot be true, Melody. No child is at his or her best in the teenage years. It's a universal law.

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  95. That's my mini an endearing sadistic bitch.

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  96. I have yet to meet one of those.

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  97. I'm telling you I never had a problem. She never talked back. She did what she was told. She was never late for curfew. And she hung out with kids two years older than her.

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  98. I believe you that she was a charmingly compliant teenager. I was just kidding.

    I HAVE known a few.

    But an endearing sadistic bitch, I truly have never met.

    So she's doubly rare.

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  99. She would stick up for the underdog no matter the consequence. She has the kindest heart you'll want to meet. But don't turn on her because she will make your life miserable. Maybe cruelty is a little harsh.

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  100. "She has the kindest heart you'll want to meet."

    Well, she's not a sadistic bitch then.

    She deserves a better characterization than that.

    Sadistic bitches are something else entirely. No point in dressing them up with 'endearing.'

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  101. I've crossed the paths of some sadistic bitches.

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  102. That's why I said that sadistic may be a little harsh.

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  103. And of course I'm not going to get into her personal life here. Let's just say she strong minded, opinionated and very intelligent and we'll leave it at that.

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  104. A ruthless defender of the undefended?

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  105. Sorry. Okay. We'll leave it at that.

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  106. No need to be sorry. My daughter is a beautiful young woman who I couldn't be more proud of. She has overcome a lot of obstacles in her life and is stronger and I hope wiser for it. I would not change a thing about her not now or ever. I shouldn't have started something I couldn't finish.

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  107. Hey, Deuce where the hell did the elephant skin go?

    Made the place unique.

    Now it's pure vanilla.


    (Is there some way of working in a wolf lurking around the edge somewhere?)

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  108. That background is getting pretty close to taupe.


    You are almost back to the Obama man-cave.


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  109. "I shouldn't have started something I couldn't finish."

    Understand.

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  110. Bobbo, advice from Walter Matthau:


    "My doctor gave me six months to live, but when I couldn't pay the bill he gave me six months more."


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  111. Ugh, you changed the purple font. And the thing is you probably wouldn't have noticed if I didn't say anything.

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  112. Just went "outside" and took a look

    Yeah, I like the way it was earlier this evening better.

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  113. In the 60's here. Cool wind blowing.

    My time of year. I'm a seasonal vampire and only come out in the fall.

    Someone here said they like Spring.

    T.S. Eliot said:

    "April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain."

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  114. Before he put the big ugly elephant in the background?

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  115. Checking out Libra quotes.

    Trying to get an early start on Libra.

    No telling when the management will pull the rug out from under us.

    Did I ever tell you about my plans for the Bosco Awards?



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  116. Well...I just better keep my mouth shut.

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  117. I'll have to check on what I've pulled out so far but I'm sure you will figure prominately.


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  118. Actually, Melody, the elephant skin background didn't bother me.

    It is, after all, the Elephant Bar.





    It's a perfectly calm, nearly room temperature evening here.

    Very comfortable.

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  119. Long intro but great song.


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  120. It gave me a headache every time I looked at it. But like I said the comment section doesn't view the front page so it's not like you have to keep looking at it.

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  121. True, Melody.





    Gee, Quirk.

    That was uplifting.

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  122. It's a perfectly calm, nearly room temperature evening here.


    Is that a warm room or a cool room?


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  123. Well, alright. According to weather.com it is 85. Maybe a degree less at my exact location.

    In any event, it is to me a perfectly comfortable night.

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  124. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  125. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  126. I didn't complain once this summer.

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  127. Except for two weeks ago when the weather dropped into the 70's.

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  128. "I didn't complain once this summer."

    Shameless braggart.

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  129. I've been complaining about the weather for decades.

    Almost all year round.

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  130. Forgot it was September 3 Trish.

    Happy birthday.



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  131. And, so, we get this from the comma lady:

    "In any event, it is to me a perfectly comfortable night."

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  132. Ok, Victor, I'll bite.

    What was wrong with that?


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  133. "In any event, it is to me a perfectly comfortable night."

    Should be:

    In any event, it is, to me, a perfectly comfortable night.

    Thank you, Quirk, for offering me an opportunity to demonstrate my prowess with commas.

    And, might I recommend for your delectation: Stalking The Wild Semicolon by William Myatt.

    This is not for the rest of you. I only recommend it to Quirk because he has a stout heart.

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  134. Me 'n Chelsea done good, for a while, a young girl from beautiful downtown Lapwai (Land of Butterflys), white teeth, brown skin, black hair, 1/3 my age, she was with me all the way, when I was on top. When things turned south, she all of sudden had to go to the restroom, an never come back.

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  135. I am sitting here with my Shrunk and White: The Elements of Style by my side. (I never use it but I always keep it by my side.)

    In my opinion, the "it is to me" is neither parenthetical nor restrictive to a degree requiring commas.

    If there is a doubt, leave it out seems to apply.

    Stylistically, Trish's version flows whereas your suggested version appears stilted.

    The written version should flow as easily as common speech.

    Just my opinion.

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  136. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  137. "Me 'n Chelsea done good, for a while, a young girl from beautiful downtown Lapwai (Land of Butterflys), white teeth, brown skin, black hair, 1/3 my age, she was with me all the way, when I was on top. When things turned south, she all of sudden had to go to the restroom, an never come back."

    Bob, this all sounds rather tawdry and, dare I say it, even illegal.

    I think a little more explanation is in order.


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  138. She was of age, Quirk, I could tell, but she was lookin' for a winner, and it twern't me.

    She even put her hand on my shoulder! And kinda rubbed up gainst me.

    Till things went south.

    Just don't pay the doctor, that's the secret, eh, I'll remember that.

    g'night

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  139. Syria Moves to Curb Influence of Muslim Conservatives

    DAMASCUS, Syria — This country, which had sought to show solidarity with Islamist groups and allow religious figures a greater role in public life, has recently reversed course, moving forcefully to curb the influence of Muslim conservatives in its mosques, public universities and charities.

    The government has asked imams for recordings of their Friday sermons and started to strictly monitor religious schools. Members of an influential Muslim women’s group have now been told to scale back activities like preaching or teaching Islamic law. And this summer, more than 1,000 teachers who wear the niqab, or the face veil, were transferred to administrative duties.

    The crackdown, which began in 2008 but has gathered steam this summer, is an effort by President Bashar al-Assad to reassert Syria’s traditional secularism in the face of rising threats from radical groups in the region, Syrian officials say.


    Syrian NIMBY

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  141. Ah, gambling.

    Now I understand, Bobbo.

    I thought we were losing you there again.

    OK.

    Carry on.

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  142. U.S. to temper stance on Afghan corruption

    U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan are developing a strategy that would tolerate some corruption in the country but target the most corrosive abuses by more tightly regulating U.S. contracting procedures, according to senior defense officials.

    American officials here have not spoken publicly about countenancing potentially corrupt local power brokers. Such a stance would run somewhat against the grain of a counterinsurgency doctrine that preaches the importance of building competent governance...


    Hey, They May Be Crooks But They Are Our Crooks

    This is the democracy we are bringing to Afghanistan?

    Time to get out.


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  143. Readin' it over, I do see now how a dirty old mind might make the jump to the illicit, when it was all quite innocent. She was just angling for part of the winnings, cheering me on as she did, she thought she deserved it, and probably did, except there weren't any winnings, in the end.

    :)

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  144. "An increasingly skeptical public started to notice that 'experts' weren't angels descending immaculately from heaven bearing infallible revelations from God. They were fallible human beings with mortgages to pay and funds to raise. They disagreed with one another and they
    colluded with their friends and supporters like everyone else."

    And expertise was annoyingly changeable. Experts said margarine was the healthy alternative to butter -- until they said its trans fats made it harmful.

    Environmentalism began as Bambi doing battle with Godzillas, such as the Army Corps of Engineers. Then, says Mead, environmentalism became Godzilla, an advocate of "a big and simple fix for all that ails us: a global carbon cap. One big problem, one big fix."

    Mead continues:
    "Never mind that the leading green political strategy (to stop global warming by a treaty that gains unanimous consent among 190-plus countries and is then ratified by 67 votes in a Senate that rejected Kyoto 95 to 0) is and always has been so cluelessly unrealistic as to be clinically insane. The experts decree and we rubes are not to think but to honor and obey."


    There is a Consensus Among Every "Reputable" Scientist

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  145. Wimmin is fickle, Bobbo.

    However, sometimes it's worth putting up with.


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  146. "Simpson's e-mail drew demands from half a dozen congressional Democrats that he resign as co-chairman of President Obama's debt reduction commission. Women's and retiree groups formed a "Fire Simpson Campaign," and Simpson apologized. He shouldn't have.

    "Simpson was merely paraphrasing the satirist H.L. Mencken, who once said FDR regarded the government as "a milk cow with 125 million teats." Tit is a variation of teat, from the Middle English tete, from the Old English titt, from the Middle High German zitze. It's vulgar when referring to a woman's anatomy, but Simpson was talking about a cow..."


    PC Pricks Prey on Pol

    Despite the fact that Ash will get his panties in a twist when he hears me say it, I yearn for the days when we had never heard of PC.

    I don't like Simpson, but I hate the purveyors of the various PC memes almost as much as I hate people who can't merge properly.

    They all ought to be horsewhipped in some utterly un-PC fashion.

    I could just spit thinking about them.


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  147. Quirk said at 1:59

    In my opinion, the "it is to me" is neither parenthetical nor restrictive to a degree requiring commas.

    Viktor, I think, is right and Quirk better stick with his day job writing horrible scopes.

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  148. Try reading the two versions out loud Whit.


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  149. ...Quirk better stick with his day job writing horrible scopes.

    My, my, my, how quickly things change

    Wasn't it just a couple days ago that we read "Whit and I have been unhappy with the boring bickering..."?

    And what do we get from the aforementioned Whit? An intellectual critique? No, we get ribald ridicule.

    But what can I expect?

    Did I mention that he never once commented on my marvelous suggestion to have an EB awards show, one that I have been working tirelessly on for months?

    Nooooo.

    All they care about is redecorating the damn bar.

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  150. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  151. Oh no, wait. Let me try that again.

    The merge thing here we call 'zippering,'

    Just FYI.

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  152. Happy Birthday (belatedly), Happy Birthday to you!

    Forty-Four Magnum! That's still young.

    For weeks, I had a reminder queued up in the back room and then Deuce screwed me up so that I didn't know whether it was on the third or the firth of forth.

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  153. Did I mention that he never once commented on my marvelous suggestion to have an EB awards show, one that I have been working tirelessly on for months?

    I say, go for it.

    (I'm not sure I like the Comma warden be on duty)

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  154. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  155. (I'm not sure I like the Comma warden be on duty)

    Once again, you show your inner nit Whit.

    Did you try reading the two versions out loud?

    Example one, the Trish version, flows.

    Example two, the Victor version, comes out stinted and disjointed like a William Shatner line.


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  156. I am not a particularly talented zipperer.

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  157. Don't bug me, Q. Don't you have an awards program to put together?

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  158. Don't bug me, Q.

    Those other guys were right.

    You are ruthless.

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  159. As for the awards program, as you can see, I have been up all night working on it.


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  160. As for the awards program, as you can see, I have been up all night working on it.

    Oh, that explains why you're persnickety about the punctuation.

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  161. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  162. I am not a particularly talented zipperer.

    Sorry, Trish.

    What with Whit's ruthless attack on my views on grammar and his gratuitous ridiculing of my atrological abilities, I missed your post.

    Having now read your comment, I can only say that I am disappointed.

    Since you are still basking in the glow of the natal well-wishing I will say no more.


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  163. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  164. viktor silo said...
    Quirk said:

    "In my opinion, the "it is to me" is neither parenthetical nor restrictive to a degree requiring commas."

    The main theme of Trish's sentence is:

    "...it is a perfectly comfortable night."

    The addition of the words "In any event" and "to me" are temporary departures from the main theme or topic and, therefore, require commas.

    Sat Sep 04, 12:05:00 PM EDT

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