What to do now?

Boo came home from school yesterday, and quite quietly and calmly explained that she finds it frustrating that school is too easy.
And I don't blame her --- today they are (and I quote, praying that it is a typo) practicing saying the numbers from 1 to 10, and counting objects from 1 to 1.
This for a little girl who regularly sits and counts well into the hundreds. By fives. Who can do addition and subtraction.
And she can read --- so they are practicing recognizing letters.

We can't afford the cost of sending them back to the Montessori school, but it is looking more and more tempting to do so.

Yours, as frustrated as Boo is,
N.

Yorkshire pudding

MrsMagpie was kind enough to post a recipe for scones, and one of her commenters mentioned an inability to make Yorkshire pudding. I don't have the recipe I use to hand right now --- it is at home, in my copy of Cooking with Julia and Jacques, by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
However, I can reveal the secret which transformed my Yorkshire puddings from flat lumps to beautifully risen, crispy rounds: in addition to baking in individual muffin pans, the key ingredients to success seem to be getting the temperature
high enough (making sure the pan is on the heavier side, that it is pre-heated in the oven for a few minutes) and using enough eggs.
Yup. As soon as I got the batter eggy enough, it worked. Prior to that, it flopped.
Literally.
So now, if I recall correctly, I use about a cup of flour, a cup of milk, and five eggs. But check out J&J's wonderful cookbook for the recipe!


Yours, passing it on,
N.

Other states have similar laws

I've now found several other states that have, or have recently had, similar laws on the books. As to whether they will be enforced, who knows.

I'd really like to see a court challenge to such a law.

Yours, feeling bolshie,
N.

How long does it take to vote?

I'm curious what's going to happen here on Tuesday next week.
My state has a law that no voter may remain in the booth for more than 3 minutes: this goes back to the 50's or so, I believe, and was probably enacted as an attempt to disenfranchise some segment of the population (slow readers, less well educated, etc) which might catch more minorities than whites.
Although there was recently an attempt to strike the law, it failed, and so the law is still on the books. And if what I've been hearing is true, it is supposed to be enforced this year.

Now, in my county, there are some sixteen or so races on a typical ballot (it varies by town within the county, and I haven't yet seen an official ballot for my location) plus one local and three state-wide referenda.

This works out to between six and seven votes per minute, or eight to ten seconds per vote.

Now, the referenda are likely to take significantly longer to read than some of the other questions, so I'd say this leaves an average of say, 6 seconds for such momentous decisions as "where do I touch this screen to vote for my choice for president".

If they do start throwing voters out after three minutes, my suspicion is that they're going to have riots on their hands!

Yours, prepared to be disenfranchised,
N.

Happy thanksgiving

Delayed edition.
We did our delayed version of Canadian Thanksgiving this evening, turkey and all, since my parents are here. And the best thing about it is that we get turkey and bean soup for dinner for at least one, and perhaps two nights coming up.
Ten of us for dinner, one turkey, and enough left overs for soup. What more could we ask for.

Yours, giving thanks, one more time,
N.

A recipe

A recipe. It's been a little while, but here's a recipe.

Take a boneless leg of lamb --- or take a bony one and debone it.
Rub the deboned side with curry powder, cover with a mix of chopped mango and dried apricot, and baby spinach: roll, tie and roast as one would a leg of lamb.
(We start at 450 F, and reduce to 325 after 20 minutes or so --- enough time to crispen the skin --- and turn regularly for about an hour and a half thereafter).
Remove, let sit long enough that the juices are reabsorbed into the meat, carve, and enjoy.

Yours, pleased with the result,
N.

Eleven days to go

Eleven days, and we should have at least some idea of what the outcome is going to be. At the moment, the polls are looking favourable to the Obama campaign: and the news items seem even better: cases in point:
i) the McCain supporter in Pittsburgh who claimed she was mugged and mutilated by an Obama supporter now admits she did it to herself
ii) Sarah Palin condemns fruit fly research, suggest putting money into research that would combat autism: enterprising reporters point out results about proteins which affect autism come from, yes, fruit fly research
iii) Sarah Palin deposed (not in the French way) by Alaskan investigator in troopergate scandal

Back many years Pittsburgh had a rather incompetent band of criminally inclined people who were, let's say, not the swiftest crooks on the block. They became known as "The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight". I think that McCain is probably taking lessons.

Yours, counting the days... (it's 11...) .... and the hours (it's 264....)
N.

150 kiloclams

Let's see. $150,000 on prettifying up the "real American" candidate.
Of which about five kiloclams went on makeup, right?

Putting lipstick on a what?

Yours, disgusted, and I didn't even contribute any money to the NRC,
N.

Update: Daily Kos had the perfect answer to the lipstick question here: "Putting Lipstick on a Pygmalion".
Absolutely. Flipping. Brilliant. (And no, I didn't mean flipping.)

Little things can really make my day

At work, parking is rather hard to find. Most days I try to get into work before 7:15 so that I can get a decent spot: and some mornings that takes quite a bit of determination and will-power.
But the good people in charge of parking have a regular lottery, and from amongst the thousands of us who pay for parking permits, they select a few who will get their own personal parking spot.
It's only for a couple of months or so, but it is still more than enough to put a warm glow on a chilly autumn day:-)

Yours, in place,
N.

Parents arrived safe and sound

and I managed to negotiate Atlanta traffic to pick them up.
And the Atlanta airport didn't manage to lose their luggage: they merely mislaid it for half an hour.

But they're here, and the children were suitably excited to see them, and all is well.

Yours, settling down from hours on the road,
N.

October Surprise

So it appears that terrorist groups are claiming that they want McCain elected, since he'll be hot-headed enough to help bankrupt the US, fiscally and morally.

But they're smart, and they know we're smart, so they must know we'd figure out that the best way to foil them would be to vote for Obama.

Except they know that we'll figure out that they're smart, so we should vote for McCain.

Except .... iterate ad infinitum.

I'm channelling "the best known is never get involved in a land war in Asia".

Yours, with apologies to The Princess Bride,
N.

Parent coming to visit

My parents are coming to visit tomorrow --- so it will quite possibly be the case that I'll have less to say than usual. Or more, who knows.

Either way, I'll either say it or I won't.

Yours, in anticipation,
N.

To Senator Obama

I'm sending wishes for a recovery, preferably speedy, for your grandmother --- I'd love to know that she can see you win next month, see you sworn in, and I'd be especially thrilled if you can say at the end of his second term how proud you are at all the good things that he's accomplished.

Yours, sending wishes,
N.

Age is not just a question of years

I was astounded this morning to discover that Colin Powell is less than a year younger than John McCain. It just served to remind me that age is a function of more than just years.
Of course, the same is true of experience.

Yours, youn in years, if not in age,
N.

Obama in St. Louis

See, who needs to hold a town hall meeting, when you can hold a city hall meeting? Or in this case, what appears to be a meeting of the entire city!

Yours, impressed with that turnout,
N.

Renaming Boo

We may need to rename Boo. To Bow. As in, tying a bow. As in, she managed to tie a bow this afternoon --- after a little instruction --- perfectly! Over and over again. And she vowed that when Skibo's ready to learn, she'll work to teach him the same tricks:-)

Yours, as always, awfully proud of her,
N.

Joe the plumber

Joe the plumber (cf the debate last night: google him if you are still lost) somehow brought to my mind Jake Thackeray's brilliant "Sister Josephine":

Sister Josephine
(Jake Thackeray)

Oh Sister Josephine
What do all these Policemen mean
By coming to the convent in a grim limousine
After Sister Josephine

While you Sister Josephine
You sit with your boots up on the alter screen
You smoke one last cigar
What a funny nun you are

The Policemen say thet Josephine's a burglar in diguise
Big Bad Norman fifteen years on the run
The sisters disbelieve it "No that can't be Josephine"
Just think about her tenderness towards the younger nuns

Oh Sister Josephine
They're searching the chapel where you've been seen
The nooks and the crannies of the nun's canteen
After Sister Josephine

While you sister Josephine
You sip one farewell benedictine
Before your Au Revoir
A right funny nun you are

Admittedly her hands are big and hairy
And embellished with a curious tatoo
Admittedly her voice is on the deep side
And she seems to shave more often than the other sisters do

Oh Sister Josephine
Founder of the convent pontoon team
They're looking through your bundles of rare magazines
After Sister Josephine

While you sister Josephine
You give a goodbye sniff of benzedrine
To the convent budgerigar
A bloody funny nun you are

No longer will her snores ring through the chapel during prayers
Nor her lustful moanings fill the stilly night
No more empty bottles of alter wine come clunking from her cell
No longer will the cloister toilet seat stand upright

Oh Sister Josephine
Slipping through their fingers like vaseline
Leaving them to clutch your empty crinoline
After Sister Josephine

While you sister Josephine
Sprinting through the suburbs when last seen
Dressed only in your wimple and your rosary
A right funny nun you seem to be.

Yours, changing the subject,
N.

Addicted to CNN's lines

Hello.

My name is Breadbox.

I'm an addict.

I admit it.

I am addicted to CNN's lines. You know, the ones during the debates, the ones which show how each candidate is perceived by a select group of independent, undecided voters.

Yours, flat-lining,
N.

Nothing left to do now

Nothing left to do now but count the votes.

No, not here in the US, in our northern neighbour, Canada.
They still vote on paper there, I believe.

Yours, waiting, breath a-bated,
N.

Amazing pictures

These pictures are absolutely amazing: photos of the sun, in incredible detail.

Yours, astonished,
N.

Congratulations to Paul Krugman!

One of my favourite columnists -- and definitely my favourite at the NY Times: two years running I've approved heartily of a Nobel prize choice (even if the Economics prize is sort-of-not-really-a-Nobel-prize).

Yours, cheering,
N.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian, that is!

Yours, with plenty to give thanks for,
N.

Turtle: ready to enter the big world of competition

Yours, backing a winner,
N.

Turtle: a touch of colour

Yours, shelling out,
N

Turtle: no longer headless

You can see the seams.

Yours, unseemly,
N.

Turtle: under construction I

Yours, layering,
N.

A prize, a prize

a veritable prize! Well, perhaps not veritable, but a prize nonetheless.
The turtle touched a sentimental theme in the town (a long story, for some other day) and my cake won "Nearest to our heart".
A new prize, invented this year. Possibly equivalent to the kindergarten competition prize of "You entered, so you win a juice box and a pretzel".

Yours, winningly,
N.

Chocolate turtle cake

The cake is now constructed. Rather than finding a recipe for an easy-to-carve cake, I went with a recipe I knew would taste good: Child and Pepin's roulade au chocolat base, stacked in two layers for the legs, and four layers for the head and body.
I'm very proud of the results, so far. I'm going to ice it in the morning: I almost wish I didn't need to -- and perhaps I don't: but it will probably look even better when I do.

Pictures to follow.

Yours, under construction,
N.

Doing the "viral" thing

This ad is brilliant. Spread the word!

Yours, virally,
N.

How to say "no" to a request

First, don't say yes. No matter how many times they ask.

Now I have to figure out how to bake a cake in the shape of a turtle between 5pm Friday and 10am Saturday.....

Yours, panicked,
N.

baking contest

There's a baking contest in town this weekend --- and they're lacking in entries. I got a personal request to participate, to help get the event to fly.
My problem with this is that the contest is based solely on appearance: taste doesn't matter: and there are no opportunities for savoury entries (bread's out, as are sausage rolls...) It seems that all they want are incredibly sugary cakes, decorated to the hilt.

If I were less busy Friday afternoon, I might still consider doing it --- but as it is, I think that I'll give it a miss this year.

Yours, unsavoury at best,
N.

Food porn

Or more properly, food preparation equipment porn.
Today I got my latest King Arthur catalogue (always a lovely event -- and it reminds me that I need to order another couple of pounds of yeast). Anyway, when I win the lottery (which will probably be at least a week or more after I start playing the lottery....) I definitely want one of their $10,000 outdoor pizza ovens. Until then, unfortunately, I'll just have to drool.

Yours, half baked at the idea,
N.

I wonder

I wonder: if I supported McCain, whether his opening few minutes of the debate would have sounded coherent....

Yours, opposed,
N.

Today's advertising

A couple of advertisements I noticed this evening, in quick succession.
Cargill advertising that they've "worked to develop more marbled cuts of pork" for barbecue fanatics: in other words, their working to undo all the years of developing "less fatty" pork. I say bring back the fat on the roasts as well: I miss a really juicy pork roast on occasion, and the "other white meat, without fat" that is all that one can buy in the store just doesn't cut it.
This was followed by an otherwise forgettable commercial, but for the fact that it used a cover of "Space Oddity" as its music. I loved the music. And I've no idea what they were advertising.

Yours, playing captive audience,
N.

Enemies one

The first Enemy, that is, the first episode of The Last Enemy, shown tonight on PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary was an interesting show. Full of holes, not yet "strangely compelling drama", but I think that it could get there.
To the extent that I think the government is unable to do what is depicted on the show, I suspect that the reason is one of technological shortfalls rather than anything else: at least in Britain, which by most accounts seems to have changed the furthest from "I'd never carry 'papers' the way they have to in France or Germany" to "It's okay with me if you track my every move on traffic-and-other-cameras".
The holes I saw most obviously were in the things relating to academics: for example, the idea that the Corporation would get the idea for his name "because he's big news in the International Mathematical Union" is almost vaguely plausible --- but the idea that he'd be short of a few bucks for research is ridiculous. There are plenty in the scientific community who find it difficult to get good research funding, but Fields medalists tend not to be amongst them, and with good reason!
The good stuff, the best moment? Stephen's rant in the cabinet meeting, in which he explains, stream of consciousness style, exactly how the TIA database owners already know more than an epsilon about you. Or me. Brilliantly done.
I'll probably watch to the series conclusion: I suspect I'll get more sucked into the story, and more willing to suspend belief: LOML probably won't watch another minute, having fallen asleep halfway through episode one.

Yours, in a mixture of realized fear and suspended belief,
N.

Oooohhhhh --- coool

Masterpiece Contemporary: a mathematician returns to England to combat privacy infringements!

Not realistic. I'm not coming back.

Yours, privately,
N.

Solar power

Here's an idea for the Obama campaign --- let's really push solar power. Let's really push developing affordable solar power: we've been investigating how much it would cost to install it for us, and it appears that it would be a figure
well into the (many) tens of thousands of dollar --- which of course we have lying around in pocket change (what is the dollar/pocket lint exchange rate today?)

But there is serious hope on the horizon. A couple of months ago, an Australian PhD student by the name of Nicole Kuepper won some well deserved accolades for her development of a much cheaper and less involved process to create solar cells. Her focus, laudably, is on how to bring inexpensive solar power to third world countries. But it seems likely that the techniques she's pioneering (described as "making solar cells from nail polish, an ink-jet printer and a pizza oven") could revolutionize the renewable energy industry.

Yours, ready to get baking,
N.

What I hate about being sick

Well, there's lots to hate: but I especially detest the muzzy-headed-ness I get when I rush home from work, lie in bed the whole afternoon trying to get better, unable to actually get rested. And then a bone-chilling tiredness that will go away, probably in the morning, settles in for a nice visit.
I've got what LOML had on Tuesday, Boo had Tuesday night, and I'm fulling expecting Skibo to come down with in the next day or two.
The plus side of it all is that for both LOML and Boo it was over really quickly: a day for LOML, and a few hours for Boo.

Yours, self-quarantined,
N.

Spontaneity

A big difference that I'm seeing in the debate tonight: when Biden turns to the camera to talk directly to it, it seems like a continuation of what he's saying: it seems like just a natural politician at work. But when Palin turns to talk to the camera there's a slight beat as she starts into the well rehearsed and very clearly prepared and memorized --- and very well delivered --- speech. But it certainly looks to me like she's spouting memorized speeches.

Yours, off the cuff,
N.

Unsurprisingly

Unsurprisingly, Governor Palin is far more together in the debate than she has appeared in recent interviews: but at the same time, I have to admit that she makes my skin crawl.

And I find it interesting that she's insisting on referring to Senator Obama as "Barack" every time she mentions him. It comes across to me as incredibly condescending: almost as though he's the family servant, and doesn't deserve a surname, let alone a title.

Yours, creeped out,
N.

Warty Bliggens

Apparently Bill O'Really? is claiming that he is an existence proof for a deity.
I'd just like to suggest that this hubris is rather amusing: it reminds me of the wonderful little poem from Archy and Mehitabel

warty bliggens, the toad

By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927

i met a toad
the other day by the name
of warty bliggens
he was sitting under
a toadstool
feeling contented
he explained that when the cosmos
was created
that toadstool was especially
planned for his personal
shelter from sun and rain
thought out and prepared
for him

do not tell me
said warty bliggens
that there is not a purpose
in the universe
the thought is blasphemy
a little more
conversation revealed
that warty bliggens
considers himself to be
the center of the same
universe
the earth exists
to grow toadstools for him
to sit under
the sun to give him light
by day and the moon
and wheeling constellations
to make beautiful
the night for the sake of
warty bliggens

to what act of yours
do you impute
this interest on the part
of the creator
of the universe
i asked him
why is it that you
are so greatly favored

ask rather
said warty bliggens
what the universe
has done to deserve me
if i were a
human being i would
not laugh
too complacently
at poor warty bliggens
for similar
absurdities
have only too often
lodged in the crinkles
of the human cerebrum

archy

Yours, blemishes and all,
N.

Happy Banned Books Week

Here in the prototheocratic US, there are frequent, and usually unsuccessful, attempts on a small level to censor books. Other media are much more successfully censored --- for example, even though it is on cable, and not subject the broadcast media obscenity laws, The Daily Show will always bleep out obscenities. Compare this to the potty-mouthed-ness of television in some other countries (yes, I'm talking about you, UK!)
But typically books have led a more charmed life: at least, in the post-Lady Chatterly's Lover phase of things. Which leads me to the point of my post today: here is Tom Lehrer's Smut, written in celebration of the Supreme Court's decision in that case.

Yours, uncensored, except by myself,
N.

LOC

It seems in the discussions I'm reading of the "crisis", that one of the biggest problems is that credit has run dry. One site asked "how many of you run a small business that relies on a Line Of Credit (LOC) to pay its employees?" Another points out that unless we do something mortgages are just not going to be available.

This leads me to a couple of questions

If you have an existing line of credit, why would this affect you? Can we not pass a simple measure disallowing cancelling of lines of credit unless you default on a payment? And if there is need for extra liquidity for the banks for existing lines of credit let's discuss how we handle that.

As for new mortgages, if the supply of credit is so low compared to the demand, why hasn't the price of credit (that is, the interest rate, right?) increased to meet it? The way that I see it, some of the financial institutions have surreptitiously increased the price by implementing nefarious schemes whereby naive customers end up with a temporary low rate, followed by an enormous rate, at which point the bank either makes a huge profit, or takes over the property. Would it not have been far fairer in the first place to be honest about the true cost of the loan?

I'm not a financial analyst, though I do understand a little about the way that mortgages work --- enough to build my own mortgage calculator, for example, rather than relying on a bank's version. Nonetheless, as a vaguely educated voter, interested in the issues, I'm not convinced that the bailout bill was the right way to go. I'm going to be interested to see what changes they make to it tomorrow when the Senate is scheduled to vote on it: do they bring in more sops to the right, to get Republican support, or do they tilt it to the left to get more Democrats? At the moment, I fear, it's going to be leaning right.

Yours, tilting at windmills,
N.

A day of misery for LOML

I awoke in the middle of the night to hear LOML calling for a glass of water --- having thrown up repeatedly in the bathroom. An utterly miserable day --- I tried as best I could to make it better, keeping children away, taking them to school and picking them up again afterwards, etc.
My day was doubly busy for other reasons: the deadline for my promotion package is coming up, and so I'm frantically trying to get all my t's dotted and my eyes crossed: in addition, I'm running a conference Thursday and Friday, and so I'm up to my armpits (at least) in that too.
Still, next week things get calmer. I'll probably get sick then!

Yours, in sympathy for LOML, and in anticipation of getting sick,
N.

L'Chayim

L'Shana Tova!

Yours, wishing all of us a happy new year....
N.

Relief

I'm tremendously relieved to hear that Hurricane Kyle appears to have softened enough that it didn't cause massive destruction when it finally arrived in Nova Scotia.

Yours, relieved.
N.

41 vs 43

Bush 41 is remembered as George Herbert Walker Bush.
Will 43 be remembered as George Herbert Hoover Bush?

Yours, on the brink,
N.

This bailout package is gone

The stock markets have predictably dropped, although not enough to cut of trading. Yet.

I am not convinced that this package was the best one that could be produced: it looks almost as though the Solomonic baby-slicing was precise enough to put off both sides, at least to the extent that it couldn't pass this time.

Rumours of another chance to pass it in a re-vote later. We'll see.

Yours, still on the sidelines,
N.

On fly swatters

Skibo, this evening, talking about fly swatters:
If you don't like children, and you have children, you have to have one:
a children whacker

Please bear in mind we try to be non-violent with them --- to the extreme! --- and this doesn't reflect LOML and my use of said children-whacker....

Yours, amused as always by what they say,
N

Folding dinosaurs

Today, in celebration of a local little museum, I get to teach potentially hundreds of children how to fold dinosaurs. A thrilling prospect. And at least a little daunting: I have almost no control over their ages/skill levels --- all that I can do is to suggest the really simplest folds to the smallest children......

Yours, humming "You got to know when to fold 'em"
N.

Worrying for friends, places

I hate it when places I love, and friends who I love who live there, are threatened: last year it was the flooding in the UK: this year it's been Louisiana and Texas: and now I hear that Kyle is barrelling up the coast towards a place I've called home: the Maine/New Brunswick border.
Almost exactly five years since Halifax and Nova Scotia were hit, Kyle looks like it could cause some nasty damage, especially to the St. John area. If you live near there, my thoughts are with you: Please, please stay safe!

Yours,
N.

Flop

After nailing the Palin, SNL just attempted to jump the shark. I am sure that neither the Obama nor the McCain sides found much funny in this sketch: even the bits which were making fun of the other side.
Sad.

Yours, saddened.
N.

Oh. Wow.

Tina. Fey. Nailed. Palin.

Yours, 'nuff said,
N.

"Markets"

As the "markets" have had their problems in the past few days, it occurred to me that we have another market ready for problems: the market in political candidates. There are several of these, perhaps the best publicized of them over here being Intrade.
Earlier this week, it appeared that someone was attempting to raise the price on shares in McCain on Intrade: the other markets all started moving towards Obama (following the polls) whereas Intrade didn't. Given the relatively small investments required, this looked like perhaps an attempt behind the scenes to bolster him, perhaps to keep a theme from developing in the press.

In the past few days, the price of a share in Palin being replaced has risen, touching 10 cents --- that is, for 10 cents you can win a dollar, if she is replaced. If it weren't for the fact that it is so much fun having her on the campaign, it would be worth suggesting that somebody buy the shares up to 50 or 60 cents, so that the meme would develop that she had to go.

Mind you, I wouldn't put it past the "maverick" to try to kick-start his campaign by replacing her: perhaps he could claim dereliction of duty for not appearing on all the news networks to defend him after the debate last night...

Yours, just musing,
N.

Rest well

I was young when I first saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Young enough that the final scene was one of those moments that has frozen itself into my mind, my experience of movies, of visual storytelling.
Paul Newman, rest well.

Yours, in a moment of reverence,
N.

And now we wait

We wait for the ultimate stamp of approval on one of the theories of who won the debate last night: who does Saturday Night Live skewer this evening?

Yours, in anticipation,
N.

(Apologies to four of the five of you who occasionally read this blog --- I just can't seem to blog about anything else at the moment....)

POW

McCain nailed it. POW, with twenty seconds remaining.
No time left for Obama to respond, he plays the POW card.

God. How. Cynical.

Yours, not declaring a winner,
N.

Couldn't stay away

I tried. I intended to stay away from it. In spite of myself, I find myself watching the debate.
But I promise. Not a word about it. Not another one, that is.

Yours, silent,
N.

Committing

Oops. I mean committee-ing. Last time, two weeks ago, I reported that I hate committee meetings: this afternoon's was rather more interesting --- interesting enough that I signed up to participate in two subcommittees. And quite possibly, if I can't get out of it, chair one of them...

And I ended up reasonably happy about the prospect. Not keen on chairing, but...

Yours, getting sat on,
N.

Oh joy! Some rain!

After weeks (it seems) of no rain, and months (in truth) of only very little rain, we look likely to get a couple of days of --- maybe not drenching --- some rain.

Yours, running out to catch the drops on my tongue,
N.

McCain is as effective a senator as he was a pilot

It appears that McCain has brought an apparent deal on a bailout to a state of crash and burn.
Who knows whether this is a good thing or not.

Yours, on the sidelines on this issue still
N.

Debate

If McCain feels the need to be in Washington (for the first time in a couple of hundred votes or so) on Friday, and so the vote should be postponed, instead of postponing the VP debate, and having the P debate then, how about just switching them?

I'm sure Biden'd be ready. What about Palin?

Yours, switching it up,
N.

A thought: is McCain's problem perhaps not one of doing two things at the same time, say walk and chew gum: but rather one of trying, on so many issues to do and not do the same thing at the same time: walk, and not walk: economy strong and not strong: for this, and against this.

Yours, wondering which came first, the flop or the flip,
N.

Palin on McCain

Paraphrasing:

Palin: I can give you examples of great things he's done.
Couric: Please. Do. Give me some examples.
Palin: I could give you examples of great things he's done.
Couric: Please, do. Specific examples from his 26 years there.
Palin: I'll get back to you on that.

Wow. I would have thought that she'd find it easier than me to find good examples of good things he's done. But she didn't.

Yours, understanding why they don't want her out in public,
N.

Sharing another musical find

Time to share my latest musical find. I say "mine" but really, of course, it is not: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu has been a star in Australia for a little while now, and has opened for Elton John's concerts there, I am told.
I heard him featured on The World, a news program co-produced by the Beeb and Public Radio International --- every once in a while they have some really interesting music on the show: Gurrumul's voice was so amazing that I immediately googled him, and ordered the CD. Coming from Australia, it took a little while to arrive, but yesterday it finally got here: I've listened to it through perhaps half a dozen times since then. If you're looking for it, I found it at SkinnyFish Music.

Yours, entranced,
N.

Messed up electoral systems...

Here in the US almost all of our electoral systems are messed up: and I have a small, modest proposal to mess with it further: instead of just allowing people to vote early (as happened starting today in three states) let's allow them to vote early, and publish the running vote totals in each state. That way, we could really get the enthusiasm up and running on both sides of the race: early voters would know that they were encouraging later votes: and most importantly, the six weeks before the election would be less tedious.

Yours, watching every poll, only to find they're opinion polls this month,
N.

Nothing exceeds like excess

McCain is refusing to condemn the golden parachute which HP gave to Carli: he claims that "he doesn't know the details of her compensation package": but her details are all over the newspapers: and yet he's willing to condemn other compensation packages -- whose details, presumably, he learned from the newspapers.
Or from the google. If he's mastered it yet.

Yours, unencumbered by any golden, indeed, any wooden, parachutes,
N.

Autumn

I love this time of year: the temperature finally comes down to a reasonable level, the mornings are crisp, and the evenings mild: that little chill at the end of the day is perfect for walking a dog.

So, to everyone, a happy first day of autumn --- or spring, if you are antipodean.

Yours, falling for the season,
N.

Internet service

I hate it when this happens. Late in the evening, the DSL modem starts acting
up. Too late to spend a pleasant hour or two gritting my teeth with helpful call centre folks called Rolf and Vincent who just happen to have very strong Indian accents.
(As an aside, I have no issues with them hiring folks in other countries for their support centres: that is their business decision: but please, don't give them fake names to give the impression that they are "western").
So, we are without internet service at home for a little while --- and need to switch providers anyway. Now the question is: can we put up with the lack of service while we switch?

Yours, feeling a disconnect,
N.

Sometimes

Sometimes (most of the time, truth be told) I absolutely love my kids.
But sometimes, just sometimes, they give me extra reason: this evening LOML and I walked into the living room, only to be told by Boo and Skibo that we had to get out. We weren't welcome.

The reason? They were playing school, and Boo was sitting there, reading a book to Boo. We watched through the crack of the door for a moment, then gave them their privacy. One of the loveliest things about it was that Boo was reading a book far more sophisticated than the ones she'll try to read to LOML and me.

Yours, just basking in the joy,
N.

The mill

There's a water-powered mill near here, dating back the better part of two centuries, and every third Saturday of the month, they open up to the public. Today there were a bunch of crafts-people, a fiddling competition, various people selling food and drink, etc. And, of course, the mill.

I was very impressed with the calibre of the interpreters who worked there: their knowledge was impressive, they were not pushy, but incredibly helpful, and were able to talk at a level that the kids appreciated.

A really nice little trip. Glad we finally did it....

Yours, impressed,
N.

My friend Alice had a picture of rose petals on her blog this evening.
It made me think of one of the bitter-sweetest end-of-summer songs I know: Tom Waits' Last Rose of Summer.

Though every year
it's very clear
I should be carrying on
But I can be found
in the garden
singing this song
When the last rose of summer is gone...
gone...
gone....

Yours, moving slowly, with the seasons,
N.

My take on Spain and McCain

I've listened to the interview on a Spanish-owned radio station in Florida a few times through, trying to understand how he could make the goof he made.
It appears to me that he misses completely the initial reference to Spain (even though she says it extremely clearly): he then fails to ask her to repeat the question, either at the first, second or third time of asking.
In addition, when she says "what about Europe", he hears it as "what about your op", to which he replies "what about my what?", coming the closest that he gets to asking her to repeat a question.

The fact, however, that the campaign is now willing to spin it as "we're not going to meet with Spain" rather than have him look like he can't hear a question right.... And in the process, I think it makes him look far worse: both old and confused, and at the same time, willing to risk diplomatic relations to avoid looking old and confused.

Yours, merely confused,
N.

WAMU

I saw a Washington Mutual advertisement the other evening: one of the key selling points was that a particularly nice feature of their chequing accounts was guaranteed "for life". After seeing their current corporate state, I wondered whether that is the life of the account holder or the life of the corporation....

Yours, musing,
N.

I can't leave this hidden in comments

Joke pointed to the pilot episode for QI with Eddie Izzard in a comment a few posts below --- and if you haven't seen it, it's hilarious. Search the you-tubes for it: it's a hoot! And moreover, it has Stephen Fry as the quiz master.

How I miss UK television.

Yours, still laughing,
N.

Proud alum

Let me just say how proud an alum I am of the University of Waterloo, and of the fact that Research In Motion was founded by another graduate of that fine (albeit rather young) institution.
RIM is still located in Waterloo. That's Ont, not IA, by the way. As in Canada.

Oh, yes, and they created the Blackberry.
John McCain, as far as I can tell, didn't.

Yours, on a campaign for credit where credit is due,
N.

A crisis of education

We are, as a family, rapidly approaching a crisis.
A crisis of education. At the ages of 5 and 4 respectively.

Of course, the children don't know it it: it is only their parents who are in full on, lock-down crisis avoidance mode.

We have our first parent-teacher conference tomorrow afternoon. And while Boo's teacher seems absolutely lovely as a person, and well qualified and able as a teacher, we are terribly concerned about the simplicity of the tasks she is setting Boo. We are giving all sorts of extra (and hopefully fun) work at home --- counting games, word tracing, etc, all things that she enjoys --- but at the moment it feels like she, and another three or four of her class of fifteen or sixteen, are about a year ahead of the assigned class tasks. In a class of this size, with two teachers, surely they could organize things so that children get ability-appropriate learning assignments....

And if the meeting tomorrow doesn't successfully address this problem, I suspect that by the new year we'll be back driving for miles and miles each way to the Montessori school.

Yours, in crisis,
N.

Memorable quote

"Sarah knows how to field-dress a moose. I know how to castrate a calf. Neither of those things has anything at all to do with this election. But since we know so much about Sarah's special skills, I wanted to make sure you knew about mine too."

-- Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge (D), on Sen. John McCain's running mate.

Yours, wishing for an era of gentler politics....
N.

A moment's thought for Texas

A moments thought for all those in Texas, especially Galveston and the vicinity: it seems like it has been a disaster: few deaths so far, thank goodness, but devastation to folks, even those who evacuated.

Yours, hoping it dries up for them soon,
N.

Cultural sensitivity, and what the **** is Eddie Izzard Wearing?

I'm watching The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball In The Hall, which BBC America saw fit to grace my TiVo with the other night --- and on comes Eddie Izzard, one of the more slightly funny folks around.
As you may know, he's usually dressed in a rather flashy, metallic bronzy-pink pants suit with ridiculously high heels and make-up. Tonight, by contrast, he looks ridiculous: he's got on a collared shirt, a casual blazer jacket, and a mustache.

There's some thing really strange when you see someone you're used to seeing in high camp drag appear in macho mode...


Yours, completely weirded out,
N.

Traffic and football

A problem I never knew in the UK: I live near a town whose college (american) football is rather popular: and in order to make it easier for the fans to attend, they station a policeman at key traffic lights to keep them green in the direction of traffic.
The game got out this afternoon. About half an hour later I realised that I needed to go to our local grocery store, on the other side of the main highway. I'd forgotten that they might have a cop there when traffic is leaving as well.
I'm still fuming.
I sat in the queue for the light for ten minutes. He let through about ten cars. I got to the very front of the line, and had to wait for another ten minutes until the cop decided to change the lights. On the way back, I was the ninth car. He let five through before changing back to the majority direction. He let through about five hundred cars in the cross direction before letting my direction through.

Altogether, I spent about forty minutes waiting to get through a single light in twice. And it was hot. And I was sitting with the windows open and the engine off to conserve gas.

Yours, hot and bothered.
N.

What's for dinner?

It's becoming a chore. I think that when the children start to get excited about food again --- and I know it will happen --- it will become much easier again. But for now, even when we have guests coming over; or especially then! it seems to be harder and harder to decide what to have.
I now understand why people get into a routine of fish and chips on Friday, roast on Sunday, spag bol on Wednesday, etc...

Strange --- I don't mind cooking it at all, but deciding what to cook?

Yours, with the menu-planning blahs,
N.

Sometimes I don't hate committees

But sometimes I do. Just about ruined my day.
And then I found out I was "needed" for another, less pleasant committee.....

Yours, practicing teeth-grinding....
N.

Boo and gymnastics

Boo's been doing gymnastics for most of her life --- since she was about a year old --- and she's pretty good at it. She's recently moved up from the little childrens' class --- the five and under set, to the six and up group (even though her birthday's not for a couple of months they said she was ready to go up).
Tonight was my first opportunity to go and watch her practice in the new class: it was wonderful to see: she was in a group with slightly older children --- they group them into groups of four or five, and group mainly by ability.
Today they were at last doing things that started to look like they were learning real gymnastics: doing forward rolls, assisted, on a balance beam, for example. Exciting stuff, and I expect her to be doing really well pretty soon. Even better than she is now, that is.

Yours, on balance,
N.

Having a wobbly

Tooth, that is.
Boo's finally got her first wobbly tooth --- at nearly six years old.
Her best friend, nine months younger, got her first loose tooth about two years ago, so this has been a major issue for a little while.

We are, of course, thrilled. In theory. It's going to fall to me to help encourage the tooth out (by waiting, tying a thread to a door handle, or whatever), since LOML is made rather queasy just by the thought of a loose tooth.

I seem to recall from when I was a child that it took forever for a loose tooth to actually come out --- which probably means that it was a couple of days or so. We'll see.

Yours, thinking of offering Boo an apple,
N.

Disgusted....

What? "Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergartners?" That's disgusting!

But what's that you say? That's not what Obama said or did?

McCain has shown an odious side today. Obama wants to ensure that small children are safe from sexual predators. That's the goal of the legislation: argue whether it will be effective or not if you wish: but his motives were the safety of small children.
To impugn his motives this way is absolutely disgusting.

McCain is a pig.
Yours, disgusted,

N.

Trickling economics:

I've always thought that the phrase "trickle-down economics" is begging for ridicule: "trickle-on economics" is the obvious, clean version: but somehow, in my inflammatory youth I preferred the phrase "piss-on-the-poor-policies"....

Yours, crudely,
N.

Gum

Boo and Skibo have discovered gum. Well, they have discovered the existence of gum: chewing gum, bubble gum, everything except spruce gum, it seems.
Their friends all seem to be allowed to have gum. And LOML and I, being mean, cold-hearted miserable parents, are unwilling to let them follow suit.

I know that at some point we're going to give in and they'll become regular gum-chewing, bubble-popping children. But we'd rather it happen on our own timetable, not on that of other parents who choose to give in rather more easily and earlier than we do.

Yours, girding for battle,
N.

Happy Anniversary

My closest friends, perhaps, other than LOML, in the world, were married 19 years ago today! Congratulations, F&F^{-1}!

Yours, in glorious celebration,
N.

So far so good, great, even

She's openly lesbian, a Rhodes scholar, Oxford PhD, and one of the most brilliant of the talking heads on television. She may also be the first openly gay person to have a primetime news/views program on a major cable news network.

And so far, it's very good. She has poise, and smarts, and she's not afraid to use them.

Go Rachel! (Maddow, that is!) MSNBC, 9pm EST.

Yours, a fan already,
N.

Three weeks back at school

Boo has been back at school for exactly three weeks --- and Skibo for two weeks and a day: and already their poor little immune systems are compromised; they are coughing and sneezing and wheezing and their noses are dripping.... and they've been in camp all summer, around other kids the whole time. How is it that they can be in an institutional setting all summer and get nothing, and then as soon as another institutional setting starts, they get sick?

Still, this morning, when we were planning on keeping Boo home, she begged to be able to go to school, so not all is bad.

Yours, confused,
N.

Canadian elections

So Harper has decided to try to get a full majority I see. I'm out of touch with the Canadian political scene again: I've been away for a full year and a third, and it has all slipped into obscurity again.
So, any Canadians out there reading this (Awareness, Carmi?): what do you think will happen? Will Dion be able to play a green card? Will there be any bleeding of influence from the US to Canada --- is there any chance that anti-conservative messages from Obama will have an influence on people across the border?

Yours, abroad,
N.

Beach bread

I thought that I'd missed out on the photos of the beach bread --- but stuck in the last batch or so of pictures I found this --- the final batch of bread: we ate one loaf with dinner that night, ate another at breakfast, and sent the third loaf up with our friends for their roadtrip back to the DC area.
I have to say, I love baking bread, and I love the beach, but I've come to understand that I really love baking bread at the beach!

Yours, dreaming of loaves and fishes,
N.

The annual pirate treasure hunt

Every year we've gone to the beach we've discovered maps left by pirates.
Or rather, the children have. Somehow, the pirates seem to manage to bury their treasure nearby, and leave the maps where only our children will find them!
And the maps are drawn on sheets of what seems remarkably like parchment paper which has been baked in a medium oven for a while...

One year, probably soon, we'll not be able to do this. But for now, it's a lovely tradition.

Yours, in favour of traditions like this,
N.

Learning about snakes

When we turned up at the snake zoo near the beach, two days before they go to short schedules for the quiet season, we discovered we were the only people there for the 5:00 show. The woman doing the presentation, who we'd seen each time we went, was wonderful: she took one look at the small children, the two adults with them, and re-scripted her spiel in real time to play to the little ones. A tremendous job!

This was brought home to us even more a couple of weeks ago, when we went to a festival near home, where there was a "professional" who has his own tv show, also talking about snakes: there were a bunch of small children crowded around, no bigger kids, and he still kept to his original script. And it was completely inappropriate: we had to walk off with the children after a few minutes.

Yours, in praise of real professionals,
N.

Now the RNC is over...

Now that the RNC is over, can I have my news channels back, please?
Oh, and in 61 days, can I have my country back too?

Thanks in advance,
N.

Hanna teases us then runs away

In answer to Awareness' question below, it appears that Hanna is going to skirt us, but just not quite come close enough to get a decent rain out of the deal. No, instead she's running up the coast, and at best guess, F'town's going to get more rain out of her than we do.

Yours, drier than a bone,
N.

Sad news

Sad news, it seems, on the MrsMagpie front: it appears that she is too busy with a life to continue blogging, at least for the foreseeable future, and has decided that she needs to take a break.
MrsM, we will miss you! Come back and visit (and perhaps decide that you can stay)!

Yours, sad,
N.

Serendipity

I took Skibo to gymnastics this afternoon/evening: he and Boo are now in different classes, on different days, so one of us stays home with the other.
While I was there, I saw the office manager/receptionist from the Montessori school where I used to do the origami class each week: she came over and gave me a lovely big hug, and said how much she missed seeing me there each week to work with the students: and then, she thrilled me by letting me know that the students, as I had hoped, had decided to keep the club going: the older ones are leading it, teaching the younger ones.
And perhaps my favourite of all the students, is the one running the whole show:-)

Yours, with a legacy,
N.

RNC

I didn't manage to avoid the RNC entirely. In addition to Jon Stewart's Daily Show coverage, I saw a couple of minutes of both Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman: between them, they seem to muster all the charisma of a dead fish.
Mind you, I did like Lieberman's exhortation to "vote for the person you know will be the best president, not just for your party": given that he was speaking to the republican convention at the time, the words seemed well chosen....

The Daily Show had the best line so far, though: "Will Sarah Palin prove to be an unqualified success?"

Yours, in avoidance,
N.