Sarah Palin’s New Math

‘Middlema’am’. I see what you did there.

Cock ‘N’ Bull. I think that says it all.

Now I’m going back outside. It’s a beautiful warm day and I’m in the middle of making the new no-dig, cardboard flower-bed.

School’s plan:
1) Raise money for school
2) Spend money for “celebrity.”
3) ????
4) Profit!!

Sarah’s plan:
1) Raise money for “school”
2) Get money as celebrity.
3) ????
4) Profit!!

Paraphrasing Churchill:

Never before in the history of humanity have so many paid so much to listen so someone so stupid.

I’m speaking of Palin gerenally, not just this speech.

@ManchuCandidate: Very funny.

@Serolf Divad: That speech always brings tears to my eyes and a distinct quiver to the old stiff upper. Even though it is sort of pilfered from Crispin Crispianus – We few. We happy few. (We happy few. One of the best sentences anyone ever wrote, methinks) We band of brothers, etc – it’s still pretty grand. Shit. Now one has come over all damp. Mustn’t blub in front of the dogs. It’s too shame-making.

@Benedick: new no-dig, cardboard flower-bed.
I must know more about this. Do tell.

Meh. Get outta my state commonwealth, bitch.

TJ/ Would anyone like to meet me in the sandbox to discuss the pros and cons of jailbreaking a certain device? I don’t want to brick it, but I might have to take that chance.

@Mistress Cynica: It’s an amazingly simple idea. You mark out the place you want to make a new bed (I set out cinder-blocks in a rectangle 18×9). Then you cover the ground and any weeds, grass, etc., with a layer of heavy brown cardboard. You then cover that with topsoil. I ordered enough to make a layer about a foot deep. You can then plant directly into that; bulbs, daylillies, hostas, etc. And I’m digging in a few hydrangeas. Then everything will be covered with a thick layer of mulch. By the end of the winter the cardboard, which has smothered the grass and weeds, will have disintegrated and the topsoil will have settled. This is not something dreamed up by me, it’s apparently fairly common practice, I only just heard of it. I have a couple of hundred tulips to go in and some fancy daffodils after the perennials are planted. In the spring I’ll plant annuals and gradually fill in the bed with low-maintenance plants. To call it ‘no-dig’ is slightly misleading since I’m having to shovel a huge pile of dirt into the bed. But that’s a lot easier and quicker than hauling thousands of rocks out of the ground and cursing the dogs. That’s a very good thing.

@Benedick:

Where have you been? I’ve missed you, darling.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: I’ve been hiding from the French. The worst seems to be over.

@Benedick: I wouldn’t be too sure. The French are…resilient…

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: I’m persona non grata in the 16th.

I pick Sex God. But only because I don’t know what the other things means and it frightens me.

@Benedick: I think he’s after James Cameron’s booty or some such.

@Benedick: @JNOV:

You remember the Dr. Manhattan in The Watchmen? Like that, only for sex, baby. And not hung so well. And it isn’t blue. About the same shape, though.

Otherwise, exactly like that. Boo-yah!

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Oy! I’ve been meaning to read that. You’re talking about the graphic novel, right?

@JNOV: Well, the enormous schlobb was in the movie. But you should read the graphic novel, it’s better.

@JNOV: Haven’t read it in twenty years, but yes, very good. Movie wasn’t bad, given what it was up against.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Just got off the phone w/Jr. He sez:

It’s Watchmen, Mom! And I have it here. I want [girlfriend] to read it. And I have a headache.

I wanted to read it. Boo!

Note to self: “Sarah Palin’s New Meth”. Might prove useful.

@nojo@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Yeah, well, he’s got all the good stuff at school. He’s also about to take some class about game programming and another about 2D design. I might have to ask you guys, Manchu, Capt Howdy, Sir! and others for mentoring advice. I see where he’s heading.

@Benedick: Son of RML makes 4 ft square raised beds out of treated 2 x 8 lumber, which gives you 16 ft sq of planting area per bed. Works the same way as your cinder block thing. We drive stakes or rebar into the interior corners to keep them from moving. I may have a photo that I can post in the Sandbox.

@JNOV: I went freelance at 35, following (in rough order) journalism, peaches, pizza, radio, GTF, census, alumni magazine. I’m only able to pay the rent because everybody on campus started calling me the Monday after I quit, and it hasn’t stopped.

Short version: I’m fucking lucky. Don’t try this at home.

@nojo: Yep. I know. I know. May he be happy and lucky.

@redmanlaw: We used 2x8s to build our raised beds.

@JNOV: General career advice: “Make yourself useful.”

At the radio station, I was hired to babysit Morning Edition. And then the radio station dropped NPR, and overnight I became a classical-music jock. (Secret: Liner notes.) And then the station’s fundraising director self-destructed, and I got another field-promotion.

Similar stories at my other posts. It helps to be handy.

@SanFranLefty: Photo posted in Sandbox.

@JNOV: Another rule I learned early: Mere competence puts you ahead of most people.

I was startled to discover that. Still am, really.

@nojo: Mere competence plus basic organizational skills (I’m talking like organizing files here, not corporations) gets you to about 85%. Add basic competence in MS Word and Excel, and you’re at 90%.

@SanFranLefty: So the radio-station fundraising director self-destructs, I get immediately promoted, I walk into her disheveled office, and start attacking piles of shit.

Station manager walks into the office, says hi, leaves.

Later he’ll tell me that just watching me deal with the deluge, he knew he made the right decision.

@SanFranLefty: My entire career, and I mean this seriously, is based on the fact that I operate at an advanced level in Excel.

Gets you close to the right people every time.

@JNOV:

Hm.

When you get it, this will prove interesting as well.

Obsessive fans. Heh.

@JNOV: I miss Jr. What, they don’t have comupters out there? He can’t spare a minute to post for his old Auntie Tommmcatt?

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Sooner or later, they all rebel.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: He’s actually studying and stuff. And the GF. You know. Priorities. I’m officially on the third tier now. He also caught the gunk that’s going around school. We got our flu shots last week, so I’m hoping it’s just a cold.

He lurks occasionally, and he definitely wants to talk to several of you (esp you) in the near future. He’s got tons of questions that I can’t answer, and I think he’s going to end up trying to get into a field every gamer under 45 wants to be in. The good thing for him is that he’s pretty much equally right and left brained and he kicks ass on a Wacom tablet.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: I’m not clicking on that. Last time I clicked on one of Benedick’s links, I almost fainted. And he’s a gentleman. You’re a Tommcatt. Trixses kittehs and their linxses.

@JNOV:

Oh no, it’s quite safe. Trusssstt ussss…..

@nojo: I’ve found that the ability to produce minimal drama, coupled with basic competence, is the strongest foundation to whatever may be called my “career”.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: I’m sure it is, My Precious.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: DUDE! SPOILERS‽ That’s even worse. Shame on you!

@JNOV:

I said “When you get it” ! Yeesh!

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Like I’m gonna remember to dig out that link when I get it. Okay. I’ll bookmark it.

@JNOV: he’s going to end up trying to get into a field every gamer under 45 wants to be in

I was, by coincidence, a Watergate Baby. Respect for journalism was at a fleeting high in 1977, and the J-school prof who welcomed the incoming class by telling them to get the hell out, also basically accused us all of being Woodstein groupies.

I stayed in because, well, I grew up around a newspaper, and journalism was the only thing I ever thought about. (I later joked that I changed my major two years after graduating.) I stayed in because I really didn’t have any choice. That’s who I was.

And really, that’s who I still am, although I prefer to earn my living elsewhere. What I did at the college paper is very much what I’m doing now. If blogs existed in the late Seventies, it would be exactly what I’m doing now.

The most general advice I can give: Follow your bliss, go with yer gut. If that’s what Jr. needs to be doing, he’ll find a way to do it. And most of what he learns will probably prove useful anyway. The college paper was the best training I ever had, and I’m still putting it to use.

@nojo:

I’m trying to get into Video Game Creative. It’s like the 1960’s in that industry: Expensive Vendor Lunches, Gifts from Prospective Vendors, Expense Accounts. You even get to have a “Kiss My Ass” attitude.

Those things are all I want out of life, really.

@nojo: Yup. I’m not trying to dissuade him. Well, maybe I am a little. I’m trying to get him to consider applying to the PA Academy of the Fine Arts, but that was one of my dreams. He doesn’t want to be Maxfield Parrish, Louis Kahn or Mary Cassatt; I do.

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: Your own personal Mad Men.

@redmanlaw: I’ll take away the cinder blocks come spring and work out how to edge the bed then. They act as a way to contain the topsoil meantime. This is an alternate way to do something like a raised bed without so much installation. I’ll post some pics as soon as I’m not afraid. I have no idea how it will work out for plants in the long term. We shall see.

@JNOV: Never click a Catt linque. Not if you value your sanity. How do you think I got this way?

@Benedick: Right‽ And I bet he sicced the Franch on you. He can’t be trusted.

@JNOV: I think he’s going to end up trying to get into a field every gamer under 45 wants to be in.

Except for the part where I’m a freshman, my major is still on paper as chemistry, and I’m just taking one class in programming. Oh, and the only reason I’m in the Intro to 2D Design class is because it’s a requirement for all the cool classes that have to do with Flash, Photoshop, 3D computer graphics, etc. It’s even a requirement for the more traditional painting and sculpting classes, too.

@JNOV: He doesn’t want to be Maxfield Parrish, Louis Kahn or Mary Cassatt . . .

When’d I say that? Sheesh.

@nojo: I thought the movie was alright, but it really seemed like they tried to turn it into an action flick when that wasn’t really what the graphic novel was about. At the same time, I can’t really imagine that the movie would have been that fun to watch if they had done the comic more justice and paid more attention to the characters and subplots. Oh, and I found the sex scenes to be extremely awkward and drawn out (do-ho-ho), especially considering they each only lasted for a panel or two in the original.

Anyway, did someone say, “New Math“?

@Tommmcatt: Sex God or AVATAR OF SEX?!?!?! You be the judge…: I got it! :-)