Eagle scouts do get a higher rank going into the army:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081006230933AAZnxeA
1: Well, this is going to be a short thread.
that's such a typically privileged thing for you to say, ajay. we often compare our comment threads to others which are 1000-comments long, but in reality the median number of comments on a thread is 28, and many threads get by on less than one comment a day.
This thread is 1000 comments long where it counts.
Gross Domestic Comment is a misleading and privileged measure anyway. We should adopt Value Adjusted Gross Comment, which adjusts for factors like Shearer.
Any true Eagle Scout would have volunteered, rather than waiting to be drafted. And that is why I was a Life Scout.
But how well do we score on Bhutanese-style Gross Comment Happiness? I have a feeling opinions differ.
But how well do we score on Bhutanese-style Gross Comment Happiness?
The Bhutanese in Bhutan seemed quite happy to me, especially for the people of a very small country squeezed between two very, very large countries that retain a depressing enthusiasm for border wars. The Indians there were all kind of dour, though. I'd say we are underperforming the Bhutanese standard, but if we all take up archery and establish a nice constitutional monarchy I think we can make real progress.
My Grandfather was deeply involved in scouting his whole life. He received the Silver Beaver for 50 years of service to scouting. The name always makes me think "silver-tongued," which I guess works well enough.
"Silver Beaver." [Chuckles obviously.]
Yeah, the Silver Beaver should really be for fifty years of service to the girl scouts.
12: Some married friends recently showed me their slideshow from Bhutan. Very lovely place. There are penises painted on many buildings, which they found endlessly amusing. They're also fairly certain they conceived their wee one in Bhutan, and showed me the photo of the room where it happened, which is kind of, uh, weird.
16: It'd be even weirder if the photo showed the C concourse at Ohare or something.
17: cf. Douglas Adams' character Fenchurch, who was conceived in a queue at the left luggage office in Fenchurch St Station - "it's difficult to believe how bored you can get in the left luggage queue at Fenchurch St Station".
16: yes, that is indeed weird. And goes well beyond need-to-know.
That wasn't meant to be a John Cage break. Lets try again.
||
The juggalos claim another victim: Method Man.
|>
16: Is it wrong of me that when people tell stories about exactly where they were when their children were conceived, I think that they must not have been having sex particularly often? I mean, barring someone who's doing the whole charting thing, you can work back and figure out about what week it happened. If that's enough information to be dead sure the exact occasion on which you conceived...
Maybe it was the only time that week that you didn't use a rubber? Or that it fell off right after the guy started to deflate but before he pulled out?
Well, if they were staying in the same hotel all week, it's fairly clear, even if you don't know the exact date?
I'm assuming the photo was of a hotel bedroom rather than somewhere a bit more outre.
From the wiki on Gross National Happiness:
According to Daniel Kahneman, a Princeton University psychologist, happiness can be measured using the day reconstruction method, which consists in recollecting memories of the previous working day by writing a short diary.[3]
Reminds me irresistibly of
"Today I didn't even have to use my AK
I gotta say, that was a good day."
23: You could assume that they are just picking the most interesting place of all the possible places for the conception. If, during the week of conception, you had sex four times at home in your own bed and once in the elevator of a Holiday Inn, I think you should get to claim the elevator.
Mostly, I have this uncharitable thought about people who appear to have been intending to have kids. You're right that an 'oops' would probably be easier to pinpoint.
And the real explanation is that people probably pick on an entertaining/romantic/whatever sexual encounter, and decide that that must have been it, despite the fact that they really couldn't be sure.
In some cases, the exact instant of conception is known just because how often does a bullet pass through a guy's testicles and into some woman's fallopian tube.
"Silver beaver. Why?"
-Flanders Kittredge Six Degrees of Separation
I remember a magazine profile of the Formula 1 driver Mika Häkkinen that mentioned his inevitable lissome supermodel wife rolling her eyes at Häkkinen's making "That was the night you got pregnant" the punchline to a story about crashing and nearly dying in a race.
Sometimes, I improve a bad mood by reminding myself of all the times and places I did not conceive a wee one.
31: He was unconscious in the hospital that night, so this was an accusation of adultery. Right?
No, it turns out the surgeon was his mother.
And the scalpel was made out of ice.
Sometimes, I improve a bad mood by reminding myself of all the times and places I did not conceive a wee one.
Whereas, if you ever do conceive a wee one, the ensuing docudrama will improve the moods of the rest of us.
||
I just overheard a cow-orker, who's a self-described "centrist" (voted Obama; generally leans Republican) complaining about Nancy Pelosi. When I asked what this cow-orker didn't like about Pelosi, given that she doesn't seem to follow politics that closely otherwise, she explained that Pelosi is the Democrats' Sarah Palin, that Pelosi doesn't make sense, and Pelosi is an idiot.
The whole thing seems so out-of-left-field, I'm just scratching my head.
|>
And the scalpel was made out of ice.
In the same profile, Häkkinen talked about the "burning sensation" of racing -- I wondered why the writer, who was otherwise very friendly to his rich and famous subject, didn't paraphrase around the low-hanging fruit.
From wiki:
[my emphasis]Since 1991, Häkkinen has resided in Monte Carlo although he also has houses in France and Finland. On 18 May 2008, his newly completed mansion in France burned down after the light in one of his trophy cabinets made a short circuit. Nobody was injured in the conflagration. However his pet tortoise perished in the fire, along with his collection of F1 trophies.
!!!
I was quite sure when my children were conceived. Physiology mostly, but obviously context was important.
I find it difficult to believe that humans, much less the occasional tortoise, reside in Monte Carlo.
The mental image of a tortoise trying to run away from a fire is really quite tragic.
41: If I'm reading correctly the tortoise lived in a mansion in France not Monte Carlo.
||
Water case in the Ninth Circuit.
The world may be going to hell in a handbasket, but there've been some pretty gratifying judicial developments in the last few weeks. In addition to the Prop 8 thing, our district court here struck down the transparently invalid de-listing of the wolf, an Idaho state judge has enjoined the 'big rig' shipments across US 12, and a state judge here tossed with wingers' challenge to our new anti-discrimination ordinance.
You may now return to regularly scheduled doom and/or gloom.
|>
39: Did the racecar driver set the mansion on fire in his rage after the tortoise defeated him in a race?
42: It would make a great motivational poster for the office. The caption could be something like, "Can't hurt to try."
While looking for this article I discovered that the Google News search for "pet tortoise" produces more results than one might expect. Also found this. The atmospheric music is what makes it a winner.
I have two memories from the innumerable wildlife documentaries I watched as a kid of tortoises in fires. In one, the tortoise hunkers down until the fire passes, and then gets up, leaving behind a preserved patch of grass. In the other he gets cooked.
The real question is why was he keeping his tortoise in the trophy case.
42: I used to have recurring bad dreams in which there'd be a housefire and I'd return to find just a little curled charcoal version of my poor aquatic turtle in his tank. Eww. But yeah, less mobile pets are at a real disadvantage in that sort of situation.
But yeah, less mobile pets are at a real disadvantage in that sort of situation.
Lack of mobility and the ever present wood shavings are why I stopped my hamster from smoking.
The worst part about quitting was how all those Nicoderm patches stuck to my fur. Squeak!
53: With those teeth, you couldn't chew the gum.
Hamsters are prone to nicotine overdose because their cheek pouches can hold more chew than most mammals as measured in mg/kg.
46: Or, "Slow and steady--not always the best strategy".
||
Interesting paper on people's perceptions of the effectiveness of various energy-saving actions.
Surprisingly, participants' self-reported environmental behaviors scale always had a negative coefficient and was significant in three of the five tests, indicating that participants who reported engaging in a greater number of proenvironmental energy-related behaviors had less accurate perceptions.
|>
Now I'm really curious--are there any Eagle Scouts here? I'm friends with a surprising number of Eagle Scouts, and so I'm always intrigued by where/how they cluster.
My brother was an Eagle Scout. He's single and a lawyer. Laydeez.
Water case in the Ninth Circuit.
I saw that case described in the water news aggregator. Yay! Boy howdy, Jefferson really is going to secede soon over this stuff.
My brother was an Eagle Scout. He's single and a lawyerthrifty and clean. Laydeez.
I have a vague memory of some sort of assembly in elementary school to try to recruit kids to be scouts, where the person leading the assembly mostly just babbled about guns for an hour or more. Is this plausible? It wasn't very appealing to young-me, but I might be conflating more than one event.
In my experience Eagle Scouts cluster in engineering departments. That is, all branches of engineering except computer. So I don't expect many here.
In my experience Eagle Scouts cluster in engineering departments the forests, setting up camp and tying knots and stuff.
When I asked what this cow-orker didn't like about Pelosi, given that she doesn't seem to follow politics that closely otherwise, she explained that Pelosi is the Democrats' Sarah Palin, that Pelosi doesn't make sense, and Pelosi is an idiot.
I wonder if this kind of thing is the product of a weird desire for conceptual symmetry among people who think of themselves as "moderate". If there's a Sara Palin on the right, there must be one on the left to maintain balance. Otherwise one's dislike of Sara Palin could threaten one's self-image as moderate by tilting the idiocy scales alarmingly.
Never mind that the valid rap on Pelosi is precisely the opposite of the one on Palin -- that she's a super-smart, highly experienced and effective political insider who by just because of that would seem to share some responsibility for the current screwed-up state of the country.
A kid from the apartment across the hall from me was an Eagle Scout. Now he's in med school. Laydeez.
67: "Dr. Smith did my sutures. They're buntline hitches!"
A friend of mine from college was an Eagle Scout. He was arrested for attempted murder,* laydeez . . .
*Completely bullshit. Charges were lowered to some kind of assault, and even that was bullshit. You can imagine the insane brouhaha this caused at my teeny school.
"Your honor, I'm an Eagle Scout. Had I attempted to murder someone, that person would be dead."
"Your honor, I'm an Eagle Scout. Had I attempted to murder someone, that person would be dead When I kill it's not murder it's JUSTICE!"
Jefferson really is going to secede soon over this stuff.
They wouldn't get out of the Ninth Circuit.
66:Nah. It just means the only info she has on Pelosi came from a couple Beck or Limbaugh shows. Just impressions.
I'm pretty much in the same boat with NK and Kim Jong-il. He could be a great guy, but I have heard him discussed only once or twice.
||
Obama Approval Crashes Among Young Voters in Last Week
Best guess is Browner statement on Gulf.
I asked my 16-year-old what she thought about the graph; was there something in particular that she thought might explain such a drop?She said she felt she didn't know enough about current events to have an opinion on this. Okay, honest response. (Obviously Mom needs to incentivize reading about current affairs for the rest of the summer.)
But this past week, after BP's Macondo well had been "killed" and government flacks said that most of the oil in the gulf was gone, she'd told me, "That's bullshit."
I was taken aback at the time; I expect this kind of bluntness and vulgar terminology from my younger child (who talks a little too much like his mother), but not from my more cautious and reticent 16-year-old. She elaborated, though, saying, "There's no way that all that oil could simply disappear."
Not a chance; somebody was lying, according my teenaged science major planning on going into pathology. . . .
Obama is now officially fucking over, in the toxic waste dump of history. He will take the Democratic Party down with him.
|>
71: "Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!"
They wouldn't get out of the Ninth Circuit.
That's a great point. Well then, they're going to fume impotently. A good friend of mine works in the area (on fish stuff). I'll have to ask her how this went over.
Like 1/3 of the members of my research group were Eagle Scouts & national Merit Scholars. Another 1/3 were Canadian and had the equivalent qualifications. The other 1/3 were laydeez or Chinese.
OT: Has there been conversation here on the suicide of K/v/n M\rr\ss\y of the V/rg/n/a Qu\rt\rly R/view? I'd only vaguely read about it on blogs but then learned he's a not-too-distant cousin of mine in the one branch of the family I don't know much and now I'm watching various aunts of mine commenting on blogs when they probably hadn't heard of blogs before. It's odd.
78: It's been all over the news here and has hit a few friends very, very hard.
I of course am a Chinese-Canadian Landed Immigrant Lady Scout.
78: Ironically, several relatives have told me now that I remind them of him. I wish I'd known him. Depression (not just his) and dysfunction have kept many in that branch of the family separated. I don't have any special insight or knowledge and don't necessarily follow the family line or tactics and make judgments based on what's being said publicly, but I can't help following the news now.
Here's some extensive local coverage, Thorn.
And in searching for that piece, I just found out some disturbing news my dentist. Yeesh.
Thanks, Stanley. I'd read that one just before posting here and it seems the most balanced and thorough I've read. The whole thing is just weird on many levels and terribly sad.
My father got a Silver Buffalo award. My son has the medal and ribbon now.
82.1: What a horrible tragedy.
82.2: With a dentist, I think he should get bonus points for not going for somebody unconscious.
I of course am a Chinese-Canadian Landed Immigrant Lady Scout.
Have you found any yet?
||
Get yer hands out of yer pants for Frank Kermode.
|>
16 et. al. I just recently reread Ted Chiang's wonderful SF novella, 'Story of Your Life', which begins with this. The female narrator refers to it as 'the night you're conceived', but more exactly it's the happy romantic night when they decided to have a kid. And then I told all SF fans to read Ted Chiang if they haven't already done so.
Kermode tells the kids to get offa his lawn.
Long;on the evolution of Shakespeare's language from ornate to hermetic.
89.last: will do. Thanks for the Cloud Atlas recommendation, Mineshaft! I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the final chapter puzzled me somewhat.
I of course am a Chinese-Canadian Landed Immigrant Lady Scout.
Have you found any yet?
Sure! See: Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver.
||
Waaah!!! There's practically nobody left to masturbate to. Herman Leonard.
|>
O front pagers, would someone go back and googleproof the names in 78? One of my aunts is obviously googling like crazy and I'd prefer not to be found here. (Unless it's too late, in which case hi and love to you and the cats!)
89 - That's a great story. I'm also fond of his not-really-science-fictional "Dividing By Zero".
94: As if you can find anything here with google.
.-.. . - / --. --- --- --. .-.. . / - .-. -.-- / .- -. -.. / -- .- -.- . / ... . -. ... . / --- ..-. / - .... .. ... .-.-.-
- .... . / .... . .-.. .--. ..-. ..- .-.. / ... .-.. .- ... .... . ... / .- - / -... --- ..- -. -.. .- .-. .. . ... / .-. . -. -.. . .-. / .. - / .- / - .-. .. ...- .. .- .-.. / - --- -.- . -. .. ... .. -. --. / --.- ..- . ... - .. --- -.
.. ... - .... .. ... -... . - - . .-. ..-. --- .-. -.-- --- ..- ..--..
-.- --- -... . / ..-. . . .-.. ... / ... .-.. .. --. .... - . -.. / -... -.-- / .---- ----. - .... / -.-. . -. - ..- .-. -.-- / -.-. --- -- -- ..- -. .. -.-. .- - .. --- -. / - . -.-. .... -. --- .-.. --- --. -.-- .-.-.-
.-- .... -.-- .- .-. . -.-- --- ..- -.. --- .. -. --. - .... .. ... --..-- -- --- -... -.-- ..--..
Sad story about VQR. It is a shame that it has turned into such a gossip-fest.
.. / .-- .- -. - / - --- / -... . / ... - . .- -- .--. ..- -. -.- --..-- / -... ..- - / .-- .. - .... --- ..- - / .... .- ...- .. -. --. / - --- / -... ..- -.-- / -. . .-- / -.-. .-.. --- - .... . ... .-.-.-
YT1. ZC1? TE6?
V/rg/n/a Qu\rt\rly R/view
That's the one that handles slash fiction, right?
¿Que pasa de 98 a 104? Spam or a troll?
This may answer your question.
105 should become standard practice on twitter.
109: You think that will make the rads cackle less? I doubt it.
105. That list describes way too many situations where things have gone wrong. There are lots of ways to die at sea.
PB1. You should keep clear of me; I am exploding a floating mine.
SN. You should stop immediately. Do not scuttle. Do not lower boats. Do not use the wireless. If you disobey I shall open fire on you.
105: I was searching for something else and came across the old discussion of using signal flags to communicate sexual intent.
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_6620.html , 109 et seq.
But ICOS twittering is not a bad idea.