Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Please don’t feed the bears.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

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Reader Interactions

147Comments

  2. 2.

    Left Coast Tom

    I plan to go snow camping this weekend, so to all the Snow Haterz: “Shut Up”. And be civil.

  3. 3.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    I am planning a short tour of the South with my band this summer. It will conclude in New Orleans. Everyone is pretty excited about it. We have 4 volunteer roadies already. We are a three-piece. We get a roadie apiece plus a spare.

  6. 6.

    suzanne

    @Suck It Up!:

    Drawing a nude model is not as awkward as I thought it would be.

    Unless you had a couple of the ones that I had in art school. An eighty-year-old man shouldn’t get a Prince Albert, is all I’m sayin’. And if you got halfway through gender reassignment surgery before you had a change of heart, maybe there are other career opportunities available.

    My mom sent me this story about Boehner having an affair? WTF? (My mom, on FDL? Weird.) Has anyone else heard about this?

    Looking forward to this weekend. Blessed, blessed sleep.

  9. 9.

    General Stuck

    Woot. Received in mail my copy of Nixonland today, and if the troll outbreak doesn’t cause me to break my modem, will be ready for the terrific mr. Perlstein come sunday.

  10. 10.

    Little Boots

    there’s a nonpolitical sphere?

    oh, just kidding. I love Itunes university. I love that there is so much to learn out there, and now it’s so incredibly easy.

  12. 12.

    General Stuck

    And Anne Laurie, I didn’t really mean what I said about you not having a clue about politics. You accused me of blind Obotry and it pissed me off is all.

  14. 14.

    Nicole

    Husband is on Day 3 of the flu (yes, he was vaccinated. Sadly, vaccines aren’t 100 % effective). The pain is so bad his doc prescribed Percoset. He’s finally able to get out of bed… And now our 7-month-old has spiked a fever. Likely just a cold, but he’s pretty miserable.

    I just want some sleep… Pleeeeeease…

    Thank FSM for you night owls so I have something to do!

  16. 16.

    WarMunchkin

    @bostondreams: I’m looking forward to it, but I’m putting my energy into SW:TOR for two reasons: 1) bioware and 2) the graphics on RIFT might price people out. (this is also a veiled complaint that my 2005 computer can’t run it).

    In other news, Bristol Palin has some news item. So, she got famous for getting knocked up. Why does she make more money than I do (zero, currently) for that?

  18. 18.

    suzanne

    @Nicole: That is Teh Suck. Sick babies are the worst. Sick husbands are even more annoying. My sympathies.

  19. 19.

    Montysano

    @Left Coast Tom:

    I plan to go snow camping this weekend

    It snowed again here in north Alabama. 25 years ago, my buddies and I would have been loading the backpacks and heading out. I hope to get back to doing that someday. A nice bluff shelter is a mighty fine place to watch the snow.

  20. 20.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @hamletta:

    Nashville is on my radar for sure! A friend who used to live there gave us a list of likely clubs. If you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them. We are a rock band. People say we sound like the Minutemen, Violent Femmes. Punk rock inflected but more Camper Van Beethoven than, say, Green Day.

    I have a degree in music, studied composition with a true master of 12 tone serialism. We are a musician’s band. The folded arms guys usually like us best.

  21. 21.

    Nerull

    @suzanne: It’s a National Enquirer story. They also recently reported that Michelle Obama was screaming at Barack because he was ‘involved’ with other women. I’d take any headline from there with a very, very large grain of salt.

    Many on dkos – and FDL, it seems, keep going on about it getting Edwards affair right, I don’t think that lends them any credibility. They’ll run just about any story based on rumors they can get. That some of them turn out to be true does not mean the rest of them are. People on dkos kept also citing that they couldn’t say anything untrue, at risk of lawsuits – but the public figure parts of libel/slander law give them a very, very wide area to work with.

  22. 22.

    J. Michael Neal

    I find that I am starting to get angry with people who express sympathy for my situation. I haven’t expressed it yet, I don’t think, but I’m feeling it. Sympathy is cheap. Everyone offers it. It also doesn’t do a damned bit of good.

    It’s reached the point that, when someone offers sympathy, what I hear is, “Gee, that’s too bad, but I’m not going to do anything to help.” I know that’s not what they mean to say, but it’s there. In the vast majority of cases, it isn’t that they can’t help. It’s that they don’t want to.

    On a rational level, I understand this completely. There are far too many people out there in similar situations to mine, usually a lot worse off, for anyone to be expected to help all of them, or even a tiny fraction of them. But, with exactly three exceptions (my parents and a good friend who lives 250 miles from here) no one has actually said, “I’ll help you.”

    For instance, I have Asperger’s. A lot of people offer sympathy for that. However, no one is actually doing anything about it if you’re an adult. No one has come up with therapies for it. No one is researching it. If you’re past the age of fourteen, you’re pretty much on your own. I’ve found one support group that meets once a month and doesn’t consist of anything but a bunch of us sitting around in a group and talking about whatever comes up.

    Or a job. Everyone expresses sympathy, but everyone who has an opening wants to hire one of the 24-year olds that graduated with me. Even if I agreed with them that that means that they hired a person that is a better fit for the job, if everyone takes that approach, it means that I’ll never be employed again. Instead of my getting hired and pushing everyone down the line and making them wait a couple of extra days before they land a job, it means that I’m unemployed for years.

    I’m coming to the conclusion that the world simply doesn’t want me. If you’re 42 years old, trying to get started in a new career with a master’s degree and little experience that anyone counts and have been unemployed for five years, there’s no place for you. Society basically wishes that you would go away.

    Sure, most individuals don’t think that’s what they want. They’ll all express sympathy. But collectively, they’re telling me to fuck off.

  23. 23.

    mr. whipple

    Drawing a nude model is not as awkward as I thought it would be.

    I can’t draw at all, so it might be a tad awkward to have a model come over and get nekkid while I scribble.

  25. 25.

    Little Boots

    @Nerull:

    I suspect Boehner leaked it to give him the illusion of personality. In the meantime, he seems to be doing everything he can to avoid doing anything real in the House.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mr. whipple: If you call the right agency, I don’t think it would be would be a problem for the “model.” The police might want to have word with you though.

  30. 30.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    Also, I’m venting my spleen all over the Twitter machine about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but that counts as political though.

    Hmmmm…

    Projected temp in Chicago of -9? But that’s not interesting. That’s just miserable.

  32. 32.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @J. Michael Neal: you will have to trust me that 12 tone can be as beautiful and expressive as any other type of music. It’s just a different language. I commend you to pick a piece of 12 tone music to listen to and listen to it every day for a month or 2. Something short and actively supress any engagement other than listening carefully but openly. The music will gradually start to make sense and in time will make as much sense to your ears as the Beatles or Beethoven.

  37. 37.

    Jennyjinx

    @J. Michael Neal

    If you’re 42 years old, trying to get started in a new career with a master’s degree and little experience that anyone counts and have been unemployed for five years, there’s no place for you.

    As an older-than-average woman in technology I can completely empathize. It’s frustrating and dehumanizing to a degree. I’ve often wondered if I wouldn’t be better off going by “J.D.” so as to hide my gender, but then there’s the factor of my age and, well, there you go.

    If it makes you feel better, I read a comment thread on another site wherein some of the commenters were wishing Baby Boomers would hurry up and die so they could get better jobs. And this was on a site that discusses gender inequality. Pfft.

    Ok, that probably doesn’t make you feel better, but I thought the irony would tickle just a little bit.

  38. 38.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    @J. Michael Neal: This sounds to me like a conclusion drawn by a person who is understandably angry and frustrated, but not necessarily one that reflects the truth of the people you run across.

    All too often, sympathy is quite literally all one can give. I can’t do anything about Asperger’s (yours or anyone else’s) – I’m not a scientist. I can’t get you a job – I can’t even get myself a steady job. And I can’t make society less annoying that it is – though lord knows I try.

    What I can do, what most people can do, is say: I am sorry you are going through that. I wish you luck.

    When we say these things, we’re providing giving each other a little piece of net into which we can fall, when we need to. It’s not much, but it’s all we have.

    Sure some people don’t meanit, and sure, some people really would rather tell you (and me, and a lot of other people) to fuck off.

    But most of us mean it, most of the time. It’s your job to allow yourself to trust that.

  39. 39.

    Nutella

    @Jennyjinx:

    Yes, I’ve noticed that ageism is accepted in many places where racism or sexism isn’t. To me, they’re all aspects of the same kind of ugliness.

  40. 40.

    suzanne

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: I hear ya on the teeth. My people have craptacular teeth, too, and I’ve had to have all my back teeth rebuilt. It sux.

    Side note: I have apparently taught my iPhone’s autocorrect to spell “craptacular”. Awesome.

  41. 41.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    But it’s too cerebral for me to write. I’ll stick with tonal rock n roll for now.

  42. 42.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    But it’s too cerebral for me to write. I’ll stick with tonal rock n roll for now.

  45. 45.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:

    But most of us mean it, most of the time. It’s your job to allow yourself to trust that.

    I don’t doubt that most people mean it. I’m sure they do. It’s just that their well-meaning doesn’t do me any good. It no longer makes me feel better. Instead, it just feels like the same thing I’ve heard before.

    Part of that is undoubtedly the Asperger’s. For me, there really isn’t any emotional connection when someone offers sympathy. It just doesn’t register. The same thing is true at funerals: I never cry at them, no matter how much everyone else does or how much I loved the person. It’s just not there.

    So, a large part of what people are trying to express with sympathy is completely lost. I don’t get it. I CAN’T get it. My brain doesn’t have that function.

  47. 47.

    Little Boots

    @Nutella:

    that surprises me. theologians have been trained for eons to run rings around the truth with words. i’d be a lot less surprised to find that poor math or science skills correlate, but words, that’s really surprising.

  48. 48.

    Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther

    @J. Michael Neal: I think that, to some extent, I understand that. But maybe you can make the choice to say “It no longer helps me feel better – but I can choose to not let it make me feel worse”?

    Someone I love very much falls on the Asperger’s spectrum, and I understand that it’s an ENORMOUS spectrum (but among other things, tears at funerals never happen). But occasionally my friend just has to achieve what I might achiever emotionally via thinking. And I don’t think that makes it any less valid – it’s a different route to a desired outcome.

    And I do wish you the best, and I do hope that you find the kind of work that you’re looking for.

  50. 50.

    Little Boots

    J. Michael, you’re refreshing. Don’t have anything else to offer, but your honesty really is refreshing. For what that’s worth, if anything.

  51. 51.

    Jennyjinx

    @Nutella

    Indeed. I agree with whoever wrote the post. Really, though, who needs to learn to spell when the Rapture’s coming to take them all soon anyway?

    As someone who is not himself a believer, I found it rather heartening that tolerance, even on something trivial like this, correlated with belief in God, although I should’ve figured out that religious people are okay with small mistakes. Next to intelligent design, what’s a couple typos?

  52. 52.

    asiangrrlMN

    @J. Michael Neal: Well, then what are you looking for when you post about your job frustrations here if it’s not sympathy or a ‘buck up’ or what-not? Are you just venting? Because your posts read as if you want sympathy. If you don’t and you’re just venting, have at it.

    Non-political: My mom is here. No blood has been spilled yet. This is a good thing.

  53. 53.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Little Boots: Thanks. It’s also not just the job situation. That’s just the easiest one to explain. Companionship and loneliness is also a big problem for me that my attempts to solve have proven largely ineffective.

  54. 54.

    J. Michael Neal

    @asiangrrlMN: I have no idea what I’m looking for.

    Okay, that’s not quite true. Your question here helped clarify my thoughts and put a bit more structure into my whining.

    In a sense, I’m looking for sympathy. The problem is that what I want is what neuro-typical people feel when sympathy is expressed. I really, really want that emotional connection. It just never happens.

    I think that’s why the lack of physical contact with people is so distressing for me. It’s the only way I can get that sense of connection that most people can feel less intimately.

  55. 55.

    Little Boots

    @J. Michael Neal:

    I know very little about Aspergers. Does the group therapy help at all? Is there any kind of connection there? Honestly, not trying to dismiss what you say, but companionship and loneliness are a hell of a problem for a whole lot of people.

  57. 57.

    freelancer

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther:

    Also, I’m venting my spleen all over the Twitter machine about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, but that counts as political though.

    Don’t want to threadjack and turn this into a topic on OMFG Muslins!, but yeah, I’ve read her books, Infidel and Nomad, and while she has legitimate concerns about Fundamental Islam and it’s direct effects on Western Society and its aggression against Enlightenment values, her personal story, compelling as it is, is not analogous to the experiences and worldview of over a Billion people on the planet. That’s where she loses me. I grew up Catholic. I know people that identify Catholic that pretty much worship Benedict and could very well be members of Operation Rescue from their political views waged deep within the American Culture war, and I know Catholics that, other than identifying as Catholics, are exactly like me in that their faith doesn’t dictate their views on how the rest of the planet should live and think.

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a smart, liberated, passionate person whose personal story has rendered her myopic in her assumptions of the extent to which the religion of her origin renders other people as blind and evil. In her speeches and lectures, of which I have seen more than a few, I find myself agreeing with her expressed theses, yet I can’t help thinking that what I agree with in terms of her message, only applies to religious fundamentalism. And it’s easy to come to the conclusion that her experience of primitive, suppressive, nihilistic Islam can be applied to the world at large. Upon further research, study, reflection, what have you, the ultimate conclusion from this avowed Secularist, is that, as is too common in all humans, she has extrapolated what she’s gone through to be the common, misogynistic life that all Muslims condemn the women in their lives to lead and suffer through.

    And in this struggle, and her story of over-coming it, she has become a pawn of American Neocons to show that “Hey, See? Look at this beautiful, articulate Somali woman who had the fascist boot of all Islam on her neck, but through the force of her own will, she threw it off and embraced Enlightenment values! She now says that Western Christianity and its focus on Evangelism and theistic mission work is one of the preferred ways to bring the violence and ignorance of this medieval faith up to speed. How ’bout that?! She’s for freedom and she’s for Christians, even though she no longer believes. Sounds like a recipe for totally inspiring success. Knowwhat’llmean, Vern? BTW, if you’d like to continue the work of Ms. Ali, please consider a timely donation to The Heritage Foundation. She lives under constant threat of attack and yet, her message continues to be heard. Please consider what consequences might result here in America if such a courageous voice would happen to be silenced.”

  58. 58.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN:

    My mom is here. No blood has been spilled yet. This is a good thing.

    She wants something. And it’s big. She’s just waiting for the right moment to spring it on you. I’m thinking Taiwanese husband personally.

    @Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: It got hidden under the bed by a golem.

    OT: wrote you an e-mail, think it may have gotten spammed. Trefe I know.

    PS quick trip to store for corn and black bean salad ingredients for work tomorrow. Recipe may follow.

  60. 60.

    Little Boots

    @freelancer:

    I agree. she has a horrific story, but that is not everything. that is not the sum total of the world of islam, and she can certainly lift the lid off some vile practices and vile people, but we are talking about a billion people.

    but you already said it better.

  61. 61.

    Redshift

    @Suck It Up!: I took a drawing class in college, and one of my classmates had the experience of running into our model on the street and exclaiming, before she could stop herself, “Oh, I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!”

  64. 64.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Little Boots:

    Does the group therapy help at all?

    I don’t know. It only meets once a month and I was out of town for the December meeting, so I’ve only been twice. I don’t know yet if it’s going to help.

    One issue is that I can understand very well why most people find dealing with aspies to be very frustrating, because they frustrate me, too. I’m much higher functioning than most of the people who show up to the support group. It’s part of how I managed to go 42 years without anyone suspecting that I had it, or anything like it. (“Anything like it” being defined very broadly; there are a number of folks there who spent years being diagnosed with some form of psychosis.) I had depression, sure, but nothing as fixed as Asperger’s.

    I’m also very self aware. When I sit there in the group, I recognize a lot of behavior patterns in other people as similar to what I do myself. A lot of them are things that I have spent decades trying to get myself to stop doing, like dominating conversation once it’s on a subject that really interests me.

    A bunch of aspies in conversation is a sight to behold. The level of basic rudeness can be extraordinary, and I notice it. Getting a word in can be very hard, and when you do, the sense that no one is really interested in what you’re saying can be overwhelming. It seems to me that I notice all that a lot more than everyone else, and it makes me uncomfortable. I sit there thinking that I feel the way I often make other people feel when I’m with them.

    I’m going to keep trying, but I’m unsure it’s going to work.

  68. 68.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Little Boots: I could do 14 tone. Just divide up a couple of half steps.

    But I thought you were more into sequencers.

  69. 69.

    J. Michael Neal

    Actually, this sort of thing, where I go on at length and we all analyze it, and asiangrrl helps me clarify what I’m thinking brings me a lot more comfort than sympathy.

    So, thanks.

  71. 71.

    burnspbesq

    Tonight is not a night for compromise. There can be no compromise with Weak Blue. Win. There is no alternative. And win we did.

  72. 72.

    burnspbesq

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):

    you will have to trust me that 12 tone can be as beautiful and expressive as any other type of music. It’s just a different language.

    Easiest way in is the Schonberg violin concerto. I’m partial to Hilary Hahn’s recording of it.

  73. 73.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @asiangrrlMN: NOLA sounds pretty good right about now doesn’t it? It’s 0 here. Looks like about 8 below up by y’all.

    The more the merrier, I say. But I banned the wives and gfs from this trip, so you’ll have to pretend you’re a dude at least until we’re out of town.

  74. 74.

    ruemara

    @Suck It Up!:
    It’s kinda fun to draw/photograph nontraditional model bodies. I had 280lb women, 60something old guy, cute young sistah lady, hawt muscular dred bro, hawt cali dude and cute naive young college chick. Each brought something new. The best models were, of course, the heavy older lady and the oldest man, who’d been doing it for the better part of the past 10 years.

    on topic: I’m wondering at what point the local shelter will have me barred from the premises for bringing way too may desserts to their people. I was going to try to plan only healthy stuff, but then I saw this dessert recipe…

  75. 75.

    burnspbesq

    My sophomore year in high school, the sight-reading part of the audition for the all-state chorus was 12-tone. It really separated the musicians from the people with nothing but a good instrument.

  76. 76.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @burnspbesq: Agreed. I was thinking Schoenberg’s piano works. I think they are sonatas. He has one foot firmly planted in Romanticism and that makes his stuff a little more accessible.

    Also, and this is a recommendation for yourself as well, my old prof Roque Cordero’s Sonatina Rítmica. Panamanian dodecaphony. Muy picante.

  79. 79.

    Uriel

    BTW- It’d be nice if cornerstore would elaborate on the whole ‘roasted asparagus and garlic’ thing, if he/she’s still about. Not fair getting a guy’s interest peaked and then leaving him hanging.

  80. 80.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @burnspbesq: Wow! Gotta know your intervals to sight-sing 12-tone.
    @assiangrrlMN: that’ll do nicely, I think. “Who’s the quiet asian dude?” Uh, dj. New band member. We’re taking it in a new direction (makes wiki-wiki record scratching sound)

  82. 82.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    asiangrrlMN: Hahaha! That is brilliant. You can’t be a roadie. You must be in charge of the roadies. Your job is to holler @ them in chinese no matter what they do.

  84. 84.

    Uriel

    OK, since its a non-political open posty kind of thread- Has any one here had any success jail breaking an mc model itouch running 4.1? ‘Cause I spent 2 hours trying to get this to work last night, and all I got for my efforts was the exciting opportunity to re-install everything from scratch. The problem seems to be getting cydia installed- I tried using greenpo1son, and then greepo1son+redsnow (for cydia only), the former of which claimed to jail-break it successfully but wouldn’t download cydia, and the latter of which sent the itouch into an endless recovery mode.

    Any help would be appreciated- shit’s driving me nuts. All I want is a god damned GBA emulator so I can screw around catching vulpix and such when work is slow…

    (ETA- in red, which I, of course, legally own a physical copy of. ‘Cause pirating is bad,mmmmm ok?)

  88. 88.

    Angry Black Lady

    oh mah gah i’ve got crazy coursing through my veins. ever had your hormones go absolutely fucking bananas — so much so that you can physically feel it?

    yeah. that.

    my neighbor is having some sort of house warming. i keep thinking “shaddup!” and then remembering how annoying i was at that age.

    but still.

    SHADDUP!!

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):

    perfect pitch?

    Bingo. And I am confirming nor denying nothing.

    :: hums a B then bends it just slightly flat ::

    @asiangrrlMN: Bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sammie. Especially tasty with a good heirloom. I less than three my local grocery store.

    That and I got three evaluations today. Scored perfect on all three.

    @gwangung: I always had a feeling you trolled here for inspiration like that. But yeah, dude, run with it!

  93. 93.

    Angry Black Lady

    @asiangrrlMN: Luckily my other neighbor decided to start her own personal movement: random acts of kindness. to that end, she baked me peanut butter fudge brownies a couple hours ago. i will be placated by chocolate.

    you’re totes jelly.

    team brownie.

  94. 94.

    Mark S.

    I’m starting to feel kind of bad for the Cavs. But their opponents this Sunday, the Wizards, have a pretty pathetic streak going themselves: 0-25 on the road this season.

    Tracy McGrady, for one, can’t wait:

    As crazy as it sounds, I want to see them and Washington play. I don’t wish anyone to have a bad losing streak, but I want them to get to Washington, 0-and-whatever they could be, and see whose streak ends. That would be something that would be interesting to watch.

    To tell you the truth, I kind of want to see that game too.

  95. 95.

    Uriel

    @Angry Black Lady:

    oh mah gah i’ve got crazy coursing through my veins. ever had your hormones go absolutely fucking bananas—so much so that you can physically feel it?

    To be honest, no. But it sounds fascinating- newsletter, interest and such.

    You should try a couple of doses of this , calm you right down.

  100. 100.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    Whoa. Cool. My guitar prof’s wife had perfect pitch. Some recordings, he said, drove her nuts to listen to. This was in the days of lps and reel to reel master tapes. Something that was supposed to be in D but sounded like D 1/4 # was audible and irritating. Do you find the same thing?

    I have guitar pitch. I can tune a guitar w/out a reference pitch and get it right most of the time within a few cents. But that’s just habituation.

  103. 103.

    Yutsano

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Microtonality is the bane of my existence. Seriously. I can certainly appreciate the need and desire to stretch the tonal language (some Arabic systems have 18 pitches, Hindu ones go as high as 25) but it just sounds…off. It really drives me nuts listening to a YouTube of a classical piece and knowing it’s not in the key I’m hearing.

    And when you’re tuning a guitar you are remembering out of habit. There is still an argument that perfect pitch can be taught waged out there. And FWIW Sibelius had perfect pitch but because he picked up tones from his family organ (which was 1/4 step flat) it was more or less useless.

  106. 106.

    Martin

    @asiangrrlMN: It absolutely can be taught. Some people don’t need to be taught, however – they just have it. Equally, some people can’t be taught. But the majority of people can.

  107. 107.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Yutsano: Fascinating. And I’d never heard that about Sibelius. I must research that and tuck it into my teaching repertoire.

    You must be able to hear different temperings too. Lord!

  108. 108.

    Yutsano

    @Martin: It’s almost synthesic with me. An F feels like an F, but a G feels different. If you asked me how it feels different exactly I’d look at you like the dog from the old Victrola ads. And I can feel that even when I’m not actually hearing it. So I think there is something to the school of thought that it can be taught. But it’s really difficult to explain.

  110. 110.

    Martin

    @Yutsano: My wife is like that. She ‘sees’ notes. She can’t even read a book with the music on. I used to be able to pluck out notes, but I’m out of practice (and my brain is full). When I was helping my son learn how to read music it started to come back to me, but he can do it pretty easily now and it’s all taught for him as it was for me. Just a lot of practice, really.

  111. 111.

    Yutsano

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): It’s not on his Wiki. I’m pretty sure I got that from music history in college. But damn he lived a long ass time. 91 when he died, and it wasn’t even old age that killed him.

    @Martin: I don’t have synthesia (though the concept of tasting a touch sounds fascinating to me) unless that is what synthesia actually is. I think it would drive me batty though. I never thought it was all that special until I got around more people who don’t have it, then it dawned on me this might be a different thing. That and the whole human pitchpipe thing gets annoying

  113. 113.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    Supposedly, the Kodaly (or maybe it was Orff) method produces perfect pitch in most kids when it’s taught from a young age. This I remember from Music History taken back in the 80s.

    Hey, Karl Orff! Two shout-outs from me on BJ in one day! (I ref’d Carmina Burana in Tom F’s post)

  115. 115.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @gwangung: If only I could bring that off somehow. My mates are coming along to play rock n roll road pirates…only to ridden by a mad Asian lady. T’would be delicious.

  116. 116.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Yutsano: I hope the IRS(that’s where you work IIRC) appreciates what a cultured and astute steward of Western musical traditions they have in you.

    ETA acronym title? wtf is that?

  117. 117.

    Mark S.

    Huh, this is the first time I ever heard of Cokie’s Law:

    At this point,it doesn’t much matter whether she said it or not because it’s become part of the culture. I was at the beauty parlor yesterday and this was all anyone was talking about.

    Is the second sentence too long to be a tagline?

  119. 119.

    Xenos

    @J. Michael Neal: I think I may have some empathy (or is it sympathy? Call it both)for you…

    I have often wondered if I have a light case of Asperger’s or some similar aneurotypical thing going on. My subconscious does not pick up on social cues very well, and I have to quite deliberately turn my attention to trying to ‘read’ someone or I miss the whole point of many conversations. Among other problems, it means that I have a very hard time telling if someone is lying to me, or if I am succeeding at persuading someone in the course of an argument (this is problematic for litigation work, for example). This also means that I can only really communicate well with one person at a time, and that I have, for reasons I can not comprehend, blown nearly every interview I have ever had.

    It is not that I blurt out inappropriate comments, or give incompetent answers, or anything like that. Just that I do not come off as being in sync with the interviewer, and if they have a range of qualified people to choose from they will always choose a person who they intuitively feel they can work efficiently with.

    You may be an outstanding Auditing graduate, but audit work is teamwork, and the hiring partners need worker bees they understand and can predict. Tax might be a better field for you, but even the best tax firms have employees that are technically competent but can’t meet the human needs of the organization and have stunted, unhappy careers. Many Tax Partners at the top CPA and law firms have serious problems reading, managing, and coping with people, and while they may be successful it makes for a miserable time for all concerned. There is lots of dysfunction out there in the professional fields – look how antisocial the attorneys on the recent threads have been coming off.

    So it may be bitter advice to tell you to look into new careers, but you are going to need something unique and tailor-made to work out well for the long run, anyway. Realize that you are likely to take some unorthodox routes to find the place you ought to get to. I would strongly recommend finding work, any work, even if you are overqualified for it, as long as it is in an industry you enjoy. Get out of your shell, meet people in the course of work, let them know you are looking for interesting work for you unusual skills and needs. The lousy economy is the perfect excuse for why you are exploring new fields, or have taken a strange path, but are a legitimate, licensed CPA. Turn that weakness into a strength.

    Just don’t sit there posting out resumes and interviewing for entry-level auditing jobs. You will drive yourself crazy with that business, and it can be soul-crushing.

  120. 120.

    Jebediah

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):

    get a roadie apiece plus a spare

    .
    Luxury! I roadied for a band for a while, and they had to share the one me among the four of them. They would occasionally argue about which of them I liked best.
    Will you be coming to Los Angeles to play?

  121. 121.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Jebediah: West Coast Tour is slated for next summer. So, yes I hope so. We’ve done a couple of Richard Thompson songs over the years. We’ll reprise one for you, if you come out. Or maybe I’ll learn Dry My Tears which I’ve been meaning to do.

  125. 125.

    slightly_peeved

    It seems to me that I notice all that a lot more than everyone else, and it makes me uncomfortable. I sit there thinking that I feel the way I often make other people feel when I’m with them.

    Bear in mind that everyone, with or without Asperger’s, does this to other people all the time. A person with Asperger’s I know can get quite hard on herself when she does miss social cues, and she gets in the mindset that it’s only because she has Asperger’s that she does so. I don’t have it, but some days I only open my mouth to change feet. So don’t be too hard on yourself :)

  126. 126.

    Southern Beale

    It’s Snowmageddon in Nashville this morning … Snowmygawd … Snowpocalypse …. It snowed around 3″ and then froze up, everyone is slip-slidin’ everywere, schools are closed. Sucks cuz I was gonna take Riley to get his balls snipped off today but I bet his appointment will be cancelled.

  127. 127.

    morzer

    I don’t know whether poor people possibly losing their heating in winter counts as non-political, although that seems to be the trend these days. I must admit, I really thought Obama would be better than this:

    http://nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/exclusive-obama-to-cut-energy-assistance-for-the-poor-20110209

    President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget will cut several billion dollars from the government’s energy assistance fund for poor people, officials briefed on the subject told National Journal.
    It’s the biggest domestic spending cut disclosed so far, and one that will likely generate the most heat from the president’s traditional political allies. Such complaints might satisfy the White House, which has a vested interest in convincing Americans that it is serious about budget discipline.

    If this is true, and a serious proposal, Obama deserves to lose re-election. This is such a monumentally stupid, cowardly and cruel gesture to appease the deficit hawks, it really is below contempt.

  128. 128.

    harlana

    Well my job that I was so happy about is causing me profound emotional and mental stress. But DO I have a job, I have to remember to be grateful and shut up.

    In other news, ever since I started working, for some odd reason, I have actually been able to watch Morning Ho. Unfortunately, Harold Ford was on sucking up to republicans and espousing the virtues of raising the retirement age.

    Ooops, I guess I got political there, sorry!

  131. 131.

    morzer

    @harlana:

    You know, as I get older, I increasingly appreciate the value of raucous, loud partisanship in the cause of truth and justice. I thought it wasn’t supposed to work that way, but what did I know?

  132. 132.

    DBrown

    Saw great news (not) from another Wiki-leak: the Prime minister for oil in Saudi Arabia stated that they didn’t have enough spare reserves to bring the price of oil down from its $105 a barrel (and the price during this very mild recovery is still moving upward!) and worse still, they were predicting that they’d hit peak oil production sometime in 2012!

    People, when the country with the biggest, most extensive proven reserves says they are about to hit peak oil, either they are telling the truth or trying to convince people to stop using oil so they don’t get all those dollars flooding their country (and cheny is an honest man who liberals wrongly smeared.)

    We are in deep shit trouble if the recovery picks up steam come 2012 – the world may see true peak oil then and our world, as we have come to know it, ends – cheap (even at $105/barrel and god only knows how high the summer price will go – hell, just two months ago $90/barrel was considered high and gonna fall … double shit) will become a distance memory. Wake up and smell the petroleum – it won’t last.

  133. 133.

    morzer

    @DBrown:

    Who knows, maybe Sarah Palin can suspend her presidential campaign and save the world by discovering whole new oil fields from her house?

  134. 134.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    @Mark S.: Clevelander here. Self-identified Cavs fan. (ow!)

    And here we are with a real chance to break this godawful streak, and I’m gonna friggin’ be in Europe. (and no, goddammit, it’s for WORK, no touristy goodness for me!)

    Life is a real… trip.

  137. 137.

    Benjamin Cisco

    Working on my THIRD cup (and by cup I mean stein) of coffee, and it seems to be having no effect. This is not going to end well…

  140. 140.

    Nutella

    @Little Boots:

    It’s within the OKC customer group so maybe not a lot of theologians there. The more interesting differences were between religious groups. Some of the differences would be predictable from immigration history but some are mysterious.

  142. 142.

    Gus

    So I’m checking out Sully’s blog, and that git Conor Friersdorf calls Dennis Prager”One of the most thoughtful right-leaning talk radio hosts.” And he isn’t even damning with faint praise in that sentence. The next post is by Patrick Appel and it’s entitled “The Power of Pure Stupidity.” Sometimes these things just work out.

  143. 143.

    catclub

    @Nutella: Of course, the difference between sexism, racism and ageism, is that in the course of events, the one committing ageism is either going to become what he/she has been condemning, or has already been that age. While a man is much less likely to become a woman.

    I guess that may mean the one doing it is even less self aware than the other types.

  147. 147.

    Original Lee

    @J. Michael Neal: My department is hiring right now if you are willing to move. We desperately need people with accounting skills and the ability to write about accounting stuff, which I know you have because I have seen your posts. Ask John how to contact me.

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