Oui, on peut...

Found this lovely zydeco song for Obama -- check it out.

Rhys Needs Your Vote. I guess.

I've been informed by the rest of the household that we're having an election for Pack Leader. I'm running against Rhys, the Cardigan Corgi. (Shown here in a photo from his youth.)





I'm not sure what Rhys's platform is (mine is that I pay the mortgage, buy the dog food, and have opposable thumbs), but he's got a lot of campaign strategy together already.



One front involves accusing me of giving in to the child and buying him a used PlayStation II for his birthday last August. "Do you want an enabler as pack leader?" Rhys's ad will say. Then it will show Rhys running away with one of his toys in his mouth, with the voice-over saying, "Vote for Rhys. He's no enabler. He'll never give up his toys."

I did buy the child a used PlayStation II for his birthday. I admit that. But it was made after careful consideration of time constraints and budget constraints, and I stand by that decision.

Rhys can run against me all he wants. I'm taking him to Bad Dog Class today, and we'll see where that gets him.

Also. If he doesn't stop jumping off the bed, and start remembering to use those pricey foam stairs I got him, he's going to do severe damage to himself. Do you want a pack leader who's got permanent joint damage at the age of one and a half? I think not, and I'd like to point out that at 54, I'm in excellent health (well, except for that allergy and not breathing stuff), and do not have to use the foam stairs to get in and out of the bed.

I'm just saying. If you want a bossy, adorable, bossy, barking, bossy, loving, bossy damn Cardigan Corgi to run the house, you go ahead and vote for Rhys as Pack Leader. But remember. A vote for Rhys is a vote for Mayhem.

Friday Collection

First, WHAT is this? There's a metal detector forum, over at Treasurenet.com, where metal detector enthusiasts can post photos of things they've found and can't identify, and one of those unidentifiable things is seen in the photo here. If you know what it is, head on over to the forum (there are more pictures there, too), and give them a shout out.



Second, my brother Carl didn't believe the video of a plane landing with one wing to be a true, un-messed-with, actual video of a plane landing with one wing, and Snopes doesn't either. This will be a sad piece of news for the ex-fighter pilot who sent me the clip. He loves that video.

Third, a friend has pointed me to a new ancient religion, Tarvuism, "the world's fastest growing religion," which holds octopuses as sacred (cause the deity was saved by one), and fosters the belief that we should all be nice. I'm just passing this along. That the whole octopus-deity conjunction sorta reminds me of Cthulu is my problem completely, and should in no way be connected to Tarvuism.

Fourth, the president-elect has a website -- change.gov -- where we can go to find out what's happening, see what we can get involved in, give our opinions, comment on the agenda.

Blind Dog, Clever Humans; Good Way to Start the Day

Arbroath provides us today with a video of a blind dog (shepherd cross) fetching sticks thrown into a lake. Sometimes he gets there forthwith; sometimes he is guided a bit by his owners' voices. We're told this was his favorite activity before he went blind; he was pretty depressed for a while, but then they all figured out how he could continue stick fetching, the activity which gave his life meaning -- his human friends throw rocks at the sticks, so that he can hear where they are.

Back to Your Regular Programming

Did indeed get some sleep last night, though I waited till the last of the speeches were over. Now I get ready for my classes. And maybe some of my students will show up. Or not.

As part of my participation in NaBloPoMo, wherein I promise to blog something every day, even if I have nothing to say, I give you the news (from Arbroath; who else collects this stuff) that on Monday, a Hampshire man drank 24 cans of lager, put a traffic cone on his head, and tied up traffic on the M3, because he was upset about the plight of children in Africa.

I'm sure you were interested in that.

Well, There You Are.

Pennsylvania was called a while ago; Ohio just got called. It's essentially over.

Probably Not.

Here, from Survey USA, are the results of a poll they took in 2006, to see, if Obama went up against McCain in a presidential race THEN, what the electoral vote disbursement would have looked like (Obama 28, McCain 510).

What the Gamblers Say

Tired of watching the news?

Here are the betting odds on the election.

I've been refreshing it occasionally, in between reading student journals. Very interesting.

Addendum Two

Went to vote at 9:20; was done by 9:40. The lines of early morning were gone, though there were more people there at that time than usual. We figure that the lines after most people get off work are going to be pretty long. But it wasn't bad, voting in Edgewood. Turnout is usually pretty high here, so it won't be a REALLY unusual day.

Then I went and got my free Starbucks coffee.

Addendum, One

We were too excited to stay home, so we went on down to vote at 7:30, and for the first time EVER there was a line. So we went home, so that the people who need to get to work earlier than we do could vote. We're going to walk the dogs and then go stand in line for a while.

Good Morning. It's Really Early.

I woke up at about 5:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Probably a result of the combination of the time change and the presidential election. In theory, I've got time this morning to get to the polls after 9:00 (there's usually a rush in between 7 and 9), and get to a scheduled meeting with a student at 12:00.

In theory.

But no one can predict how long the lines will be. So I'll have my cell phone, in case I have to call the office and cancel. (Since Pennsylvania doesn't have early voting, we're all showing up on the one day. And "they" figure 75% turnout in Allegheny county.)

And then this evening, I've got it all set up in my room so that I can have the tv on, be at the computer, AND get some of the Christmas sewing done. I may be up all night. No telling. I've warned students; we'll be having class tomorrow, but it's possible that I'll be running on fumes.

It's good weather. Nice to not have to stand in the rain.

Never Panic. Here's Why. (Now re-edited for factual content!)

Sometimes my students ask me things like "is it time to panic yet?" -- usually when they're trying to figure out if they can pass the class of mine they're in. And what I say is that there has never been, and will never be, any situation ever that any human ever is in ever, in which panic is the best solution. Even if you're piloting a plane and the wing falls off, I say, panic is STILL not your best option.*

Here's proof. No, alas, probably not so much. Snopes.com believes the video to be digitally doctored. Too bad. The fighter pilot who sent it to me LOVES this video. Still, I stand by my original statement, which is, don't panic ever. You might as well not go down having horrible hysterics.

(Watch the whole thing. It's going to be ok, believe me.)
*****************************************
*The ex says that when he was learning to fly fighter jets, he was told that the first thing he should do, if a wing fell off, was to reach up and wind the clock. Just. Don't. Panic.

Bossy Corgi and the Bad Dog Class

I'm pleased to report that Rhys, after two sessions at the Adult Basic Dog Class, has remembered "sit" and "stay" and has now begun to heel. Indeed, walks are much better; more than half the time he's NOT pulling.

Thanks to all the 3,000 years of Welsh farmers, who might have bred a bossy bundle of muscles, but had the good sense to add in brains and an enormous desire to eat all things in sight. An obsession with food is a benefit to training.

In other news, I'm bemused, but chuffed, that somebody surfed in here after googling "naughty site."

Yep. Naughty sites, naughty dogs, that's what we're all about around here.

New Rhino Ritual

If you read Boing Boing you've already seen this, but if not, here's a link to an excellent video of an escaped rhino drill, from Tokyo.

Now, I live near no rhinos -- I'd have to drive over to the northside, to the zoo, to see one. So my daily life is not connected to rhinos. But I am quite taken by the solemn, ritualistic feel of the video. And I think that it would be pretty easy to invent a ritual using the meaningful movements shown in the video -- the falling down in front of the rhino, the herding of the rhino with plastic netting, the futile poking of the rhino with sticks, the final conquest of the rhino with tranquilizer darts and nets. Especially easy would be the fact that you don't use a real rhino, just some guys in a plastic shell costume. So I want to invent this ritual. I think definitely we could get this together by next Halloween.

Boing Boing got this from Nothing to do with Arbroath, a Scottish (I'm guessing here) blog which is full of interesting things, such as information about mushrooms breaking apart driveways, and jilted lovers crushing cars with giant machinery, and to which I now subscribe by rss feed, because it is clearly a Superior Blog of High Importance.

Here, for instance, is a video of a cat playing with a box. I love this blog.

Made My Day (Heading Down to the Wire)

Les Misbarak.

(Thanks to Crooks and Liars.)

NaBloPoMo!

The lovely Cynthia has talked me into joining up with her, and many like minded bloggers, to celebrate NaBloPoMo -- National Blog Posting Month -- by, obviously, Posting Every Day For a Month. That month being November.

So I'm getting ready for the marathon. If you join up, you pretty much get to make your own rules, Cynthia says. So you can faithfully write every day, even if it's just a little bit, OR you can write ahead on the days (such as American Thanksgiving) when you don't have a computer.

Here's my plan: I'm taking the laptop to New Mexico for Thanksgiving. So I can predict now that I will be posting ALL about the difficulties I'm having finding gluten free, dairy free enchiladas.

Medieval Debate Procedures

I like to blog in a timely fashion, as proof that I am Keeping Up With Stuff.
So, since the third and last presidential candidate debate is coming up soon, I'll share with you the medieval view of the proceedings, as given to us by Bayeux Rhythms:

Family Photos in the Email

I had treats in the email this morning -- my double-second-cousin Melinda sent photos that she'd gotten from her mother. Taken around 1955 (probably on Long Island), they include this picture of my great-grandmother, Berthe Eskelund Lindtveit. Things I know about her: 1) Her famous fiskeboller actually came out of a can; 2) MANY of us have "her" krumkage iron, cause she would buy them, use them, and then give them away to daughters and grand-daughters; 3) she remembered the primroses on the fjords in the spring; 4) she told my mother that she left Norway because she had "the wanderlust."

Maybe that was true, at least in part. Whenever I go to Norway, I wonder again how anybody could ever leave it. It's got to be the most gorgeous place on the planet. Also, the food is tasty (see fiskeboller and krumkake, above; also lefse, strawberry cream cake, lingonberry jam, and salmon. Lots of salmon). Also, the humans are cheerful and sane.

But time and economics doth happen to us all. Only Ireland lost a higher proportion of her people to America, over the middle of the 19th century and into the first part of the 20th. When the hard times come, you do what you have to. You remember the primroses. You get your brother the sea captain to bring more fiskeboller.

Thanks, Melinda! Nice to start the week with treats. And some excellent perspective.

Palin Debate Flow Chart

Boing Boing has been kind enough to post the "Sarah Palin Debate Chart," courtesy of ph33r and loathing. Thanks!

My Latest Advice on Papers

My latest advice on papers, which I am able to give you because of the one I am reading Right Now, is:

Do not, especially if you are the sort of student who has not shown up ONCE in class so far (we're now at midterms), begin your paper with a statement about how the best literature in the world has been produced by British writers, especially some from the twentieth century, though class in the last few weeks has opened your eyes to the wonders of medieval literature, because

a) It can't possibly have done that, since you weren't here, and

b) even had I not had the training I've had, I would be able to Quickly! Like a Shot! recognize this sentence (and indeed, the next four pages, as it turns out) as Blithering Meant to Take Up Space Until You Reach the Page Count.

Head. Desk.

I'm going to go eat my dinner; tomorrow I'm sure I'll be able to approach this paper calmly, pointing out simply that there is no thesis (at least not one that I've discovered yet), and that if you've only got 5 pages, you need to actually focus on an aspect of one work, in order to discuss it fully. Rather than, you know, discussing All of Medieval Literature.

And by that time I'll be able to be polite about it.