Apropos of Nothing

Palomar · 2003-10-25 15:59:47

*Oh, this is funny: I just completed a report by a physician who is losing his voice; he must have a cold. He's generally crisp and clear, very easy to understand...so the first time he "faded out" and then stammered a couple of times when starting to talk again, I wondered what was going on. I can hear two little children in the background (doc is dictating from home, I take it, and these are his kids), giggling and making "eeeeee!!!" noises, things like that (cute!). One of the children had a fit of the giggles when the doctor was starting up again. Turns out he's literally running out of voice at various points of the dictation, and it seems his kids are hanging around, getting a real kick out of dad struggling to speak, wheezing, and having to repeat words until he can get a verbal grip and commence regular conversational tone. Giggles and chuckles throughout, and even the doctor starts giggling towards the end with his kids.

Now THAT'S the kind of report I like to listen to...happy!

--Cindy

dicktice · 2003-10-25 17:17:34

Cindy: Your photos are breathtaking! My youngest sister (60) lives in Albuquerque, the northern outskirts, in a house on a cul de sac that looks pretty much like the architecture in your photos. The garden is rocks and cactus. She still hasn't been tempted to hot-air-baloon, but she has walked on red-hot-coals, tends towards vegetarianism and looks about 45 (in the dark, with the light behind her, and unfortunately has no interest in Mars, etc. Otherwise, she's okay: kids her big brother).

Shaun Barrett · 2003-10-25 21:04:52

That was a great picture you painted, Cindy, of a scene of domestic jollity. I could almost hear the giggling!
Wonderful!
:laugh:

Josh Cryer · 2003-10-27 01:46:42

Recent and ongoing developments in Iraq are proof that Bush Senior's political move in '91 was "right on."

Palomar · 2003-10-27 17:07:56

Cindy: Your photos are breathtaking! My youngest sister (60) lives in Albuquerque, the northern outskirts, in a house on a cul de sac that looks pretty much like the architecture in your photos. The garden is rocks and cactus. She still hasn't been tempted to hot-air-baloon, but she has walked on red-hot-coals, tends towards vegetarianism and looks about 45 (in the dark, with the light behind her, and unfortunately has no interest in Mars, etc. Otherwise, she's okay: kids her big brother).

*Hi dicktice! Glad you enjoyed the little "slide show," ha ha.

If you all were born and raised in the Nova Scotia area, your sister really moved a long way from home! How long has she resided in Albuquerque? It's a rather pretty city, but not a friendly one (in my opinion); my husband and I lived near Albqu for nearly 6 months in 1998, and then moved back to Las Cruces (and the same house).

You mention rocks and cacti as her lawn. It's called xeriscaping, and is quite popular around here...probably mostly because grass doesn't grow all that well around here. :laugh: Also, much of the State is always under some sort of water restriction and conservation. Xeriscaping can be very pretty, even Zen-like. There is some maintenance to it, however...weeds still like to poke themselves up and in that respect rock gardens have their own peculiar up-keep. I've seen a few xeriscaped lawns which look hideous -- rocks and weeds. Fortunately, xeriscaping is affordable. We don't have it (I like my sandy lawn, ha ha), but even middle-class to lower-middle class folks can afford it.

Hot-air ballooning, yes -- Albuquerque has the huge annual balloon festival every year (September, I think). About 5 or 6 times a year quite a few balloon enthusiasts visit the valley I live in; they are gorgeous to behold -- to me they look like Christmas ornaments suspended there in the bright blue sky. Occasionally one will drift over our neighborhood; you can hear the flame intermittently hissing up into the balloon. I think that's what a fire-breathing dragon must have sounded like when exhaling.

She's walked on red-hot coals?! I'd say she's brave. By the way, my sister's not interested in Mars either.

--Cindy

P.S.: Mmmmmm! I bought a triple-chocolate bundt cake from Sam's bakery...it tastes just like my mom's homemade chocolate cake. Indulge, indulge!! :laugh:

Palomar · 2003-10-28 08:04:54

New Mexico Spaceport

*I've known about this proposal for some time now. The article in the link is a bit dated; Gary Johnson is no longer Governor (good riddance), for instance.

Yesterday afternoon, while driving back into town from the north, I saw a big white sign to the right of the road with blue letters: Future Home of New Mexico Spaceport. This sign sits approximately 25 miles north of town.

It'll be interesting to watch this develop! Hopefully will bring more jobs to this area as well. We've got White Sands and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in our vicinity, too; a next-door neighbor of mine works for LBJ Space Center.

--Cindy

dicktice · 2003-10-28 18:36:40

Cindy: My sister's xeriscaped front lawn is in the form of a huge maze. She married a Californian. He died, and her daughters moved east, one to Texas and one to Tennesee. She moved to New Mexico "to be near both of 'em" which says a lot for the States--huge distances.
By the way, regarding fuel cost of routinly driving such distances--we're hearing a more and more about the increasing popularity of hybrid Honda and Toyota cars. Zero interest here, although my bet is that they'll knock "the big three" off their pedestals (for not having pioneered when they had the chance) in a few years.
I remember the Navajo rugs in "Albqu," and still have some after years and years. When I lived in Sweden, the rugs made by the aboriginal nomnads who herd reindeer (they're not called Laps any longer) weave rugs with designs just like the Navajos.

Palomar · 2003-10-31 09:20:06

*Geez, it sure is Halloween. The spooks are after me today; I've had all kinds of crazy things going on in my work since the get-go. Doctors are requesting unusual things in their dictation, one of my applications keeps "fizzing out," etc. Gremlins! It must be gremlins.

--

Dicktice: I've seen, on a TV documentary, the people previously referred to as "Laps," with their reindeer. Very cold region they live in, and very interesting people.

--Cindy

clark · 2003-10-31 10:21:20

we live longer, but we wait more.

Palomar · 2003-10-31 11:48:00

Say it isn't so!

*The writing is on the wall for Halloween in a certain European nation?

No trick or treat?! No costumes, no bobbing for apples, no cute lit Jack O'Lanterns?! Inconceivable!

Not because it's that particular country...but aw, Halloween is just so much fun. Ah well...cultural differences.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-10-31 20:43:19

*7:35 p.m. Halloween night. So far we've had approximately 40 tricks-or-treaters. A couple of princesses, ninja warriors, incredible hulks, a cat-in-the-hat, gothic vampiresses, etc.

I gave one kid a handful of candy, and as I put candy into the bag of his friend, the 1st kid playfully whacked his chum over the head with his silver construction-paper saber. I think I managed to keep a straight face.

We've got ghoulish candles burning in the front window, an electric jack o'lantern and "Boo-To-You" ghost gracing the entry doorway. One little girl told me, "Oh, I like your decorations!"

It's fun to watch the kids running from house to house, and of course the dogs are barking up and down the neighborhood. It's great.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: The tricks-or-treaters just keep coming! I love Friday night Halloweens. After I wrote the above, we started running out of candy. My husband made a dash for the local Walgreen's -- meanwhile, I ransacked my purse, cupboards, and closet for whatever was tucked away. I managed to scrape up another pile of sweets, but maybe just enough for 8 more kids and hoping my husband was hurrying as fast as he could. -whew- he made it just in time; we had 12 more tricks-or-treaters just as he pulled in the driveway! We've had a Barbie doll (genuine blond hair and blue eyes to go with the costume -- she was maybe 3 years old, proudly showing off her costume, all excited), a couple of witches, a doctor, etc. The Latino folks really dress their kids up nice, such imaginative costumes -- many of the adults also have on costumes!

clark · 2003-11-05 10:34:48

why buy the milk when you can get the cow for free?

Palomar · 2003-11-05 13:35:11

The Green River Killer

*Quite the woman hater there. Too bad he didn't learn to deal with his feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing (and penile impotence?), instead of taking it out on all those women.

---

"I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight," he said in a confession read aloud by prosecutors.

"I wanted to kill as many women as I thought were prostitutes as I possibly could," Ridgway said in the statement.

Some relatives of victims wept quietly in the courtroom.

---

Loser. If there's a hell, I hope he gets kicked in head-first.

My sympathy to the victims and their families. I remember that nightmare, and how it terrorized people in the Seattle area back then.

--Cindy

clark · 2003-11-05 16:26:35

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031 … -4541r.htm

By Valerie Richardson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DENVER ? A Christian mother is appealing a judge's decision that prohibits her from teaching her daughter that homosexuality is wrong.
Cheryl Clark, who left a lesbian relationship in 2000 after converting to Christianity, was ordered by Denver County Circuit Judge John Coughlin to "make sure that there is nothing in the religious upbringing or teaching that the minor child is exposed to that can be considered homophobic."
Dr. Clark filed her appeal with the Colorado Court of Appeals last week.
Her former lover, Elsey McLeod, was awarded joint custody of the child, an 8-year-old girl who is Dr. Clark's daughter by adoption.
The case has raised red flags among some Christians, who say the decision infringes upon the mother's right to freedom of expression and religion.
While custody cases involving homosexual parents are becoming more common, the Denver decision goes beyond previous court orders, said Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, a public-interest law firm based in Orlando, Fla.
"We've seen cases around the country where the court will order one parent not to say anything negative about the other spouse's lifestyle, but this goes much further than anything we've seen," said Mr. Staver, whose firm specializes in constitutional issues involving marriage.
Mr. Staver said he filed a friend-of-the-court brief last month with the Colorado Court of Appeals at the request of Dr. Clark's attorney and that the order effectively prevents the mother from practicing her religion in her daughter's presence.
"The mother is a Christian, and that's a major part of her lifestyle," he said. "She would be prohibited from reading her daughter Romans 1 or anything in the Bible on sexual fidelity in marriage, going to Bible study, or listening to a sermon on marriage or fidelity."
Mr. Staver said he has acted as a spokesman for Dr. Clark, a physician, and her attorney, who have avoided speaking directly to the media. Miss McLeod's attorney, Gina Weitzenkorn, said the case has been put under seal and would not comment.
A spokeswoman for the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, a homosexual rights advocacy group, declined to comment, saying she was unaware of the case.
Judge Coughlin, who issued his ruling April 28, did award Dr. Clark sole responsibility for the girl in the area of religion, although with the caveat about exposing the child to anything "homophobic."
He also said the two women "will never be able to agree regarding the religious upbringing of the minor child."
Mr. Staver pointed out that the judge gave no similar orders to Miss McLeod regarding remarks or teaching about Christianity or Christians. "It's a real one-way street on this," he said.
In his order, the judge said there was "a great deal of strife" between the two women. Dr. Clark had argued that Miss McLeod should not have joint custody because she was not interested in the adoption while it was taking place and that it was never their intention that she would act as a parent.
"Elsey never adopted this child. It's an egregious situation because the court is giving custody to someone who is not related to the child and has not adopted the child," Mr. Staver said.
The girl spent more than seven years as part of Miss McLeod's life, however, prompting Judge Coughlin to rule it would be in the best interest of the child for joint parenting to continue.
If his ruling stands, it could affect Christian parents across the nation, said Mr. Staver. "These things progressively build on one another, so we're trying to stop this before it goes any further."

This gives me a headache just thinking about the implications of all of this. I really don't know whose side i should be on. :laugh:

Now thinking about these situations is what i consider fun.

Byron · 2003-11-05 16:31:12

This gives me a headache just thinking about the implications of all of this. I really don't know whose side i should be on.
Now thinking about these situations is what i consider fun.

You just love ambiguity, don't you, clark?? You certainly seem to thrive on this stuff...lol...

B

clark · 2003-11-05 16:47:56

You just love ambiguity, don't you, clark??

In a word, maybe.

Palomar · 2003-11-06 12:00:54

*Late yesterday afternoon my husband honked at another vehicle which nearly cut us off in traffic. We were in my car; the horn got stuck. I suggested he pull out the horn fuse before turning in for the night, so as to avoid the horn going off by itself in the middle of the night (which has happened on two occasions in the past). "No, no -- it won't go off, it's fixed" my husband assures me.

12:05 a.m. I wake up to the horn blaring in the driveway. He wakes up just after I do, and we're both running for the front door. He popped the hood, pulled the plug.

We must have looked hilarious.

I had chest pains, from being startled so badly by it. Tonight it's going to STAY unplugged!

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2003-11-06 12:48:17

Heh, Cindy, a similar story occured to me when I was a kid.

My mother is a devout Christian, and we'd have devotions every single night before bed. On this particular night, we were being taught about the "rapture" and how "Christ was going to return one day and will play a mighty horn" or whatever.

In any case, our horn went off in the middle of the night, waking me up, causing me to jump right up and out of bed, screaming. I started yelling, "Is it the rapture!?!?" thinking in my little 6 year old head that I really didn't want to go.

Fortunately, it wasn't, and our neighbor helped us fix it (he would stay up until real late sitting on his porch smoking, so he was actually first on the scene).

Palomar · 2003-11-06 12:52:57

Heh, Cindy, a similar story occured to me when I was a kid.
My mother is a devout Christian, and we'd have devotions every single night before bed. On this particular night, we were being taught about the "rapture" and how "Christ was going to return one day and will play a mighty horn" or whatever.
In any case, our horn went off in the middle of the night, waking me up, causing me to jump right up and out of bed, screaming. I started yelling, "Is it the rapture!?!?" thinking in my little 6 year old head that I really didn't want to go.
Fortunately, it wasn't, and our neighbor helped us fix it (he would stay up until real late sitting on his porch smoking, so he was actually first on the scene).

*LOL!! I can relate to that sort of conditioning. Gabriel will blow his trumpet, I think the reference is.

Oh, poor little tyke you were then.

(My sister and I both experienced near panic attacks as kids a few times, concerning religious stories, punishments, "being left behind," etc...)

Nice of the neighbor to lend a helping hand.

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2003-11-06 12:57:07

Yeah, that sort of conditioning is the worst. I used to have hallucinations that demons were after me. I honestly think it affected me even until adulthood.

clark · 2003-11-07 16:08:26

http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/wnne … etail.html

Supreme Court: Gay Sex Not Adultery
Decision Comes In Divorce Appeal

CONCORD, N.H. -- If a married woman has sex with another woman, is that adultery? The New Hampshire Supreme Court says no.
The court was asked to review a divorce case in which a husband accused his wife of adultery after she had a sexual relationship with another woman. Any finding that one spouse is at fault in the break-up of a marriage can change how the court divides the couple's property.
Robin Mayer, of Brownsville, Vt., was named in the divorce proceedings of a Hanover couple. She appealed the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that gay sex doesn't qualify as adultery under the state's divorce law.
In a 3-2 ruling Friday, the court agreed.
The majority determined that the definition of adultery requires sexual intercourse. The judges who disagreed said adultery should be defined more broadly to include other extramarital sexual activity.

So, legally now, you can't teach children that homosexuality is 'bad', and now it isn't even 'adultery'!!!

I wonder how homosexuals might feel about this? A win? When they have sex, it dosen't count? :laugh:

Apparently the Ten Commandments has a loophole. What was god thinking?!

Josh Cryer · 2003-11-10 11:33:32

Saw the eclipse last night (well, night before, but you've had sleep; it's only been a day or so for me).

I'm driving down the road, and catch something in my side-vision. It's the moon and it doesn't look "quite right." Oh yeah, it's the eclipse! There's a park nearby, so I pull in. I go sit at a bench as several dozen children play nearby, with parents and other family members. The park has never been this busy. I look at the eclipse. The sun is still out, it's just going down, so the sky is lit with wonderful oranges and the moon is is a blue-ish-pinkish-purple, hard to describe.

About halfway through the first part of the eclipse, I notice that no one else is watching, in fact, I feel out of place. Two dozen children and their parents and other family members and I don't hear one exclamation, I don't see one person stop and point. What's going on here? A cute couple walks by. They smile, so I smile back and point out the eclipse. They look, and nod, and walk off to another bench to observe together. Finally, someone is watching! Damn, wish I was with Bri so we could watch together.

After having noticed that no one else was watching, I laughed to myself thinking that it'd be funny to scream and exclaim that something was devouring the moon, just to see that if then anyone would notice. Or care. I know everyone noticed, though. It's quite hard to miss something like that. It's just that no one cared. They probably glanced it as soon as it began.

Eclipse halfway done, the moon is almost completely darkened (though Earth-shine is keeping it rather well lit). Home is about 15 minutes away. I should be able to get there without missing anything. No one cares here, no need to sit here among people so unlike myself. Especially the children. I wish they were all the way I was as a child. So fascinated with the skies that I would nearly faint with excitement every time a lunar eclipse occurred!

Get home. Pull out the reflector. It's a pretty small reflector, but it magnifies the moon well. Sit down in a chair and enjoy the end of the eclipse in comfort, at 150 magnification. I can't even describe how beautiful it was. I should leave that to our forum poets, clark, Spider-Man, et al.

After that, I went inside. Looked up the Moon Society. Looks pretty cool. Read about the Lunar Orbiter. Decided to bookmark for a download another time (wget -all should work, if I recall correctly). Keep meaning to do that.

The experience at the park bothers me some more, why in the heck can't more people be fascinated as I (and you guys are, for that matter)? I go play a video game or two to get my mind off of it.

Palomar · 2003-11-10 14:23:12

The experience at the park bothers me some more, why in the heck can't more people be fascinated as I (and you guys are, for that matter)? I go play a video game or two to get my mind off of it.

*Hi Josh: I saw it too. I was under the weather that night, but managed to shuffle out of the house a couple of times and look at it. We had a lunar eclipse in May, too, you might recall. When it was half over, I told my husband the moon looked like a snickerdoodle dipped halfway in white chocolate, ha ha. It also looks like an Alka-Seltzer tablet fizzing away in cherry 7-Up. Me and food...whatever.

Yeah, I don't understand the seeming apathy/disinterest on the part of many folks either. That sure isn't me.

--Cindy

Byron · 2003-11-10 14:51:03

The experience at the park bothers me some more, why in the heck can't more people be fascinated as I (and you guys are, for that matter)? I go play a video game or two to get my mind off of it.
*Hi Josh: I saw it too. I was under the weather that night, but managed to shuffle out of the house a couple of times and look at it. We had a lunar eclipse in May, too, you might recall. When it was half over, I told my husband the moon looked like a snickerdoodle dipped halfway in white chocolate, ha ha. It also looks like an Alka-Seltzer tablet fizzing away in cherry 7-Up. Me and food...whatever.
Yeah, I don't understand the seeming apathy/disinterest on the part of many folks either. That sure isn't me.
--Cindy

Too bad I couldn't see it. It was cloudy and rainy at the time

My dad called me to tell me about it up in North Carolina...good thing he's still interested enough in those kinds of things to share it with me, just he used to do back when I was a kid, like the time he took me to see a *solar* eclipse back in 1985...now, that was something the people were excited about...darkness at noon and all of that. Can't wait until the one in Aug 2017 comes around in the Southeast...

B

Josh Cryer · 2003-11-10 16:34:23

I have never seen a solar eclipse (the only partial I was able to see was on a cloud covered day, I could tell it was happening, but I didn't really see it much), much less a total one. You have to pretty much travel to the ends of the earth to catch one.

The next total solar eclipse is the 23rd of this month. In Antarctica. (Though Australia should have a partial eclipse.) If ya miss this one, you'll have to wait until 2005 to see another total eclipse.

Source: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/UpcomingEclipses.html

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