I know many of you are Sherlock fans — the Benadryl Pumpkinpatch version — as am I. In the last season, Sherlock gave the most awesome best man’s speech ever at Dr. Watson’s wedding:
Soon I will have the opportunity to deliver remarks at a similar occasion. I am horrid at public speaking. Well, terrified of it, anyway — people tell me after I did fine, but perhaps they’re just being kind. Any pointers, tips, advice?
Feel free to discuss whatever.
gussie
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/01/1310975/-how-to-give-a-wedding-speech
gogol's wife
Write something out, memorize it, and practice it until you can do it so that it sounds natural. Like an actor (Benedict Cumberbatch, for example). How many times do you think he practiced that speech until it could sound as if he just thought it up? The British are so good at this. Watch some Oscar or Golden Globes broadcast and compare the British acceptance speeches to the American ones. Do it the British way! It isn’t easy preparation-wise, but your audience will be so happy. (I say this as someone who isn’t very good at this, but has seen people who are and who knows what it took.)
raven
Now this is not directed AT you but when I was finishing my degree program I had the opportunity to go to a summer program for professionals in my area and “teach” for a week. Mind you I was a grad student and these people all worked in the field. I was so nervous that I developed sleep problems a couple of weeks before. My chair sat me down and said “it’s ego man, you are afraid of what people may think of you. Lot’s of people think you are a jerk anyway so what the difference”? It helped some and I ended up having a great week mostly because I did active learning with them. I still have the signed basketball from what was then Southeast Missouri State!
c u n d gulag
As a former actor, teacher, bartender, and trainer, who was in front of people most of his adult life, my advice is to channel the audience’s positive energy.
The audience wants you to succeed!
Nobody ever wants the person who’s speaking to be bad, or to melt-down.
The audience wants you to succeed!
Start with a joke if it’s appropriate, or at least a light-hearted comment – they’ll be putty in your hands after that.
The audience wants you to succeed!
Remember that the audience wants you to succeed, channel their positive energy, and you have a terrific chance of succeeding.
Oh, and you’re a terrific person, Betty, so be yourself.
Also, memorize what you want to say, and you’ll sound much more authentic than if you read off a piece of paper.
Besides, if you’re nervous, and your hand with the paper shakes, the audience’s energy changes, because they get nervous for you.
The audience wants you to succeed!
gogol's wife
@raven:
This is good advice, also contained in gussie’s link — try not to think about yourself as you do it. Practicing helps with this enormously. Very analogous to musical performance.
Hillary Rettig
Best wedding speech I ever heard was when a drunk old guy tottered up to the front of the room and said, “Marriage: it’s not a noun, it’s a sentence.”
That was it. (But you have to be drunk for full effect.)
schrodinger's cat
If your speech is as funny as your posts, your posts you will be fine.
ETA: Gogol’s wife has good advice. You should learn your speech by heart.
Cervantes
Be yourself.
Make eye contact, smile.
Speak slowly.
Take less time than you are given.
raven
@Hillary Rettig: That’s great!
Billy K.
Related, but probably not helpful…
http://deadspin.com/how-to-give-a-best-man-toast-that-doesnt-suck-485774731
kindness
Well Betty you could try loosening up prior to the speech with some form of medication or other….not sure that would make a great speech but you would sure feel better (and not care about the speech you just gave).
Don’t mention any prior lovers or prison time either.
raven
The guy at the Cyclorama had his speech totally memorized and when I “accidentally” fired off the flash on my camera it threw him badly. Of course it was first thing Saturday, July 5th and it was obvious he’d been hittin it hard on the 4th!
Citizen_X
Fuck the speech. Just bring the boxers, and people will be all, “Awwww, puppehs!” and forget about your speech.
But seriously: what people said about practice.
Chyron HR
“Good food, smooth poops.”
schrodinger's cat
Fashun blogger who may or may not have been to India gives advice on how to dress when you are in India and gets a facepaw from me.
Not all her advice is bad, but her smugness and know-it-all tude bugs me
Suffern ACE
Infographics!
raven
@Hillary Rettig: And no you don’t have to be drunk.
raven
@Hillary Rettig: If you were hammered you probably wouldn’t get it.
SatanicPanic
@c u n d gulag: This is a good point, no one wants to see a meltdown. But if you DO meltdown, make it memorable- is my motto as a performer.
Suffern ACE
@kindness:
To clarify – she can mention her prison time. But not the couple’s. Unless she met them in prison. Or helped put them there.
schrodinger's cat
WP eated my comment about Sherlock.
Svensker
Practice. Stand up in a room and give your speech. Figure out where to pause, what lines are good to do body reactions to, what gestures you’ll be comfortable with, where to look, etc. Do it a bunch of times until you feel like you’re really comfortable with what you’re going to say. Also, time yourself, to see if you’re coming in where you want — you may need to extend the speech, slow down, cut, etc. If you’re going to use any visuals, be sure to practice with them, too — that’s where I’ve seen people get really messed up. If there’s any chance that you will have visuals but there’s a screwup and they won’t play, practice for that, as well.
Then if you get up there for reals and get a bit nervous, just remember you’ve done it before many times and you were fine then, you’ll be fine for reals, too.
Amir Khalid
@schrodinger’s cat:
FYWP eated mine too.
boatboy_srq
@c u n d gulag: Ditto (as the same – except for the bartender bit). Your audience is your friend: take their positive energy and use it.
Another tip, that I just gave to another public-facing professional: your target isn’t the front of the room – it’s the back. The first few seats (rows, tables, whatever) are already yours. It’s the folks further back that you need to reach: aim for those and the front will come right along.
On the mechanical side, breathe deeply and from the diaphragm. Your voice needs to start somewhere around your hips and move from there. If may mean using more air, and finding places to stop for breath you wouldn’t always stop in everyday speech, but it will help a lot – and save your vocal cords in the process.
smintheus
If you’re speaking at a wedding, just keep in mind that it’s about celebrating the couple; it’s not about you, so whether you’re good or bad is kind of irrelevant.
As far as nervousness about public speaking generally, the solution is simple: Stop caring what other people think of your performance. Just say what you have to say; you’re the expert on what you want to say, not anybody else. Maybe easier said than done, or maybe not, but becoming blase is the way to defuse public performance nerves.
schrodinger's cat
Thread needs a Purrlock Holmes and John Catson adventure
Amir Khalid
TEST COMMENT PLEASE TO IGNORE
Martin Freeman
Afghanistan
war veteran
bride
Sherlock’s client
Sign of four
jeffreyw
Just imagine you are standing there in your underpants, giving the speech.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Don’t forget to breathe. Seriously, if you hold your breath when you’re nervous, it will make it harder to remember how to start. So remind yourself to breathe. You’ll be great; I figure all we’re doing here is soothing some pre-speech jitters.
Belafon
@Cervantes:
Unless you can be a unicorn. Then be a unicorn.
Seen on a t-shirt. I’ve also seen Batman used in place of unicorn.
pamelabrown53
Betty,
You are a beautiful human being. Just be yourself and the wedding toast will be heartfelt and memorable.
P.S. Love Cumberbatch and the renewed excitement that he’s brought to a contemporary Sherlock Holmes.
LT
For tips on what not to include in your speech, watch that Seinfeld episode in which George’s inappropriate wedding toast was ridiculed for having been in ridiculously bad taste.
Karen in GA
What everyone already said. You’ll rock this.
If I can be a slightly wet blanket here, I just got back from the vet with Iggy. A very surprising positive heartworm test. They’re sending blood off for another test for confirmation, which we should have in about a week. If it’s confirmed, the vet thinks he’ll be okay, but the idea of needing to keep his heart rate down for a month is terrifying — he’s a hyper little guy. I’m on the couch, and he’s lying here resting his head in my lap like everything’s just fine. I really hope it will be, and that I don’t screw this up.
The Dangerman
The RNC in 2016 is scheduled for June* in Cleveland (I have no idea why they are going so early; aren’t most conventions in August/September?)…
…anyway, if the Cavaliers were to go to the Finals, there would appear to be a problem.
*maybe it takes that long for them to set things up? That seems odd, too.
The RNC should rapidly change their convention to Miami; if Bosh leaves, too, I expect Wade to follow suit and Miami will be toast for a while.
ETA: Also, is the wedding aforementioned in this thread in either Colorado or Washington? That might lead to some useful “resources” for a toast.
Mornington Crescent
My favorite best man speech is the one given by David Mitchell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXpmHuCE9Ls
Amir Khalid
Okay. I was asking if the Watson on Sherlock served in Afghanistan like he did in the Arthur Conan Doyle stories. And if the bride was a former client of Sherlock’s also like in the book.
raven
@Karen in GA: I think they use strychnine on heartworm pups? Or neighbors rescue had it and is doing fine after about 6 months. Do you go to the Vet School?
MaximusNYC
If you’re looking for something to watch while waiting for Sherlock to return, I recommend Orphan Black. Just started it a couple weeks ago. Now binge-watching (there are 2 seasons to catch up on). It’s insanely suspenseful, and surprisingly intelligent. Premise: young woman discovers she’s a clone, starts connecting with her clone sisters, and struggles against the sinister eugenicists who created them all. It’s centered around the jaw-dropping talents of Tatiana Maslany, who plays about 8 different clone characters — often 3 or 4 of them in the same scene. She was snubbed for an Emmy nomination for the 2nd year in a row this week, and the internets are quite put out about it. Once you watch a few episodes, you’ll understand why.
Joel
“Pull your
8423 jerseys out, I’m back home.”Miami’s two fans must be feeling crushed right now.
elmo
@Karen in GA:
Relax. I’ve treated probably a dozen HW+ dogs, and it’s easy. The leash is your friend – use it. The hyper dog will quickly figure out that there isn’t room to be excitable on a six-foot tether. Use the crate as well, if you have one and he’s crate trained. If he isn’t, this isn’t a good time to start, so we’re back to using the leash.
It’s only a few weeks, and it really isn’t hard to do, and Iggy will be fine, okay?
Amir Khalid
Betty C,
I have a comment with a perfectly innocent query awaiting moderation for no obvious reason. Could you please liberate it?
ETA: Many thanks.
Iowa Old Lady
When I used to give conference presentations, I found it useful to practice with a friend, just the two of us sitting there like we were talking and I was explaining this really cool thing. It helped me think about connecting the listener and the material rather than about me.
Barry
Betty: ” Any pointers, tips, advice? ”
Drink heavily. Then, people will say, ‘don’t mind her, she was drunk’ :)
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
This is kind of a repost, I still wonder if the dress+pants advice was supposed to be referring to a shalwar kameez (had to Google it since I knew what it looked like but didn’t know what it was called). At least with the friends I had growing up, that seemed to be more of the “day to day” outfit for their moms, with the saris being saved for special occasions.
And I do wear skirts with leggings (or opaque tights), but I work in a cold office and don’t like having cold legs. :-)
elmo
My favorite wedding toast:
May the saddest days of your future
Be no worse
Than the happiest days of your past.
Takes people a minute to figure it out, it does.
Citizen_X
Don’t shoot anybody. This is Florida, right? Everybody shoots their gun into the air and gives a blood-curdling rebel yell at weddings, right? Don’t shoot anybody then.
What, most people in Florida don’t do that? I must know the wrong people or something.
gogol's wife
@Amir Khalid:
The answer to the first question is yes, the second no. But the bride is named Mary Morstan, like the client in The Sign of Four. And she’s played by Martin Freeman’s actual life partner whose name I’ve temporarily forgotten. Miss Mardle on Selfridge.
feebog
Betty: I have been before groups both large and small; conventions, seminars, retreats, classes, meetings, all types of special occasions. My advice is this; rehearse, but don’t overdo. When you get to the point to where you know what you want to say and it comes out pretty well in a rehearsal, stop right there. You don’t need to get the toast word for word, just be able to deliver the message. Once you are comfortable with what you are going to say, do it in front of your Hubby or someone who will give you honest feedback. Have them look for the ums, ahs, okays, you knows, and other speech breaks that indicate nervousness. To the extent you can, eliminate them. Second, and most importantly, if you make a mistake, don’t stop, and don’t apologize. Chances are most, if not all of the guests will never realize you made the mistake unless you tell them. Third, save the booze until after the toast.
Betty Cracker
@Mornington Crescent: LOL! That was a good one!
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: I answered your earlier post. She is not talking about salwar kameez but actual pants under skirts or dresses. In my opinion that will look funny because pants are cut differently than salwars and will give you unnecessary bulk in the middle. Leggings will work better, but in 90 degree weather with 100% humidity. Do. Not. Want.
Also too, in my opinion salwar kameez is not a flattering outfit, they have become ubiquitous in India. Most are shapeless and ugly.
Liberty60
Nobody mentioned Four Weddings And A Funeral?
Gets my recommendation for containing examples of both best and worst best man speeches.
Karen in GA
@raven: Nope. Regular local vet, who’s pretty good. This was just Iggy’s annual checkup and shots; he’s not showing any symptoms of any illnesses.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: I don’t like that character at all. For some reason WP is eating the comments which have the name of Jeebus’s mother in it.
J R in WV
I was very shy as a boy. Good that I had woods to run around in all alone when necessary.
Somehow I wound up in a career that included speaking to managers to justify large official budgets and personnel investments in development projects. Sometimes to speak to legislative committee members about the value of such spending.
Rarely interviewed by a news reporter accompanied by a camera!
I learned early on in a public speaking class that a trick that worked well for me was to pick out a person close enoughfor eye contact, and speak directly to them. Then after a paragraph to pick someone else a few degrees of direction away.
This is harder with a news camera, so you look at the reporter to get wound up, and once things are going smooth, you look at the camera, and repeat anything you said in the warm-up that was important.
Pretending you’re speaking to a dum-ass B-J crowd might work too! ;-)
gogol's wife
@Betty Cracker:
Whatever you do, don’t do it like that!
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I thought wearing jeans/pants with dresses went out of fashion in the early aughts, but apparently not. I still think it looks ridiculous. Leggings might work if you get the right ones — they have all kinds of fancy wicking and cooling fabrics now.
I tend to associate salwar kameez with my friends’ middle-aged mothers, so that probably shows how fashionable (or not) I think of them as being.
JPL
@Karen in GA: I adopted a dog that was five and he was just finishing up treatment. He was crate trained already and when I was home I kept him on a leash. Of course, I only had to be careful for two weeks. We’ll be thinking about you and your pup.
Belafon
WP doesn’t like comments today. I tried replying to Amir, twice, one without a link to his comment, and it ate that one as well.
Amir, yes, he did serve in Afghanistan in the show.
Karen in GA
@gogol’s wife: Amanda Abbington. I swear I remember an interview where she said that when she was filming episodes 1 and 2, she didn’t know about the revelations that would come in episode 3; if she had known, she’d have played her differently. I would like to have seen that.
But episode 3 had Lars Mikkelsen, so who cares.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Salwar kameez is the antithesis of fashion in my opinion.
J.
I’ve never had to deliver a speech at a wedding, but I did recently deliver this speech to my 16-year-old daughter, which I think contains good advice for women and men of all ages. Feel free to crib some of it.
Rand Careaga
I’ve given a couple of wedding speeches, a retirement address and a funeral oration, and acquitted myself honorably (at least in all the first-hand accounts that reached me) on each occasion, although apparently one couple at the funeral was under the mistaken impression that I was a man of the cloth rather than the secular MC, and was scandalized that my remarks did not include a reference to the deity.
My own advice? Have a general idea of what you’re going to say, but wing it from there. Don’t read from notes. You may observe, as I and others have, a peculiar “tunnel vision” effect as you speak, a narrowing of the range of your sensory input. This has been for me a reliable side-effect of public speaking. I also experienced it six years ago when a twitchy teenager placed the muzzle of a TEC-9 against my left occipital lobe just as I was getting ready to leave a Bay Area restaurant after dinner. This constriction of the bandwidth will prevent your speaking experience from being experienced as traumatic even if, like my evening meal, it should turn out badly.
NorthLeft12
I’ll add my voice to the many others who stressed preparation and the belief that the audience [your friends and family] want you to do well and will give you every bit of “help” they can. It is a happy event and I am sure you will do well.
My wife and I did a small speech for my daughter’s wedding last year and it went over very well. We practiced it until we had it pretty much memorized and used the practice to hone and edit it to make sure it sounded right. My wife [a very nervous public speaker] was ecstatic over how it went and was completely pissed that no one video taped it. Make sure someone captures your shining moment.
schrodinger's cat
@Karen in GA: It was obvious though that there was something fishy about her even in episode 1.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I can see more of a tunic with ankle crops or leggings. I suppose some skinny jeans might work.
Seanly
I luvs the new Sherlock. My wife & I gobbled those up as soon as each season become available on Netflix. However, I avoided telling my brother about them. Why? Because he gets his book-fan underwear in such a bind about the changes that happen when a book is made into a movie. He can go for hours about how Peter Jackson did this or that horrible transgression against JRR Tolkien. Me – I’ll notice the change, but literature and entertaining films are two different things. What works in a book doesn’t always seamlessly translate into cinema.
I did finally mention to him that he should give the new BBC Sherlock show a look when he mentioned how much he likes Martin Freeman’s acting. I warned him that it is a modern retelling with some of the plots being significantly tweaked from the originals.
I wish they’d do more than 3 episodes a season!
Oh, also check out Gillian Anderson in the BBC series “The Fall” – great show. Looking forward to season 2 (I think the show was recommended here long ago so I am passing it on).
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: Not in summer though, when it is really hot in most of India, except at higher elevations. Jeans and skinny jeans especially would be very uncomfortable.
Patricia Kayden
“Any pointers, tips, advice?”
I find practicing the speech/presentation over and over out loud in front of a mirror helps immensely. Also drinking loads of water so that my mouth isn’t dry.
Good luck.
Betty Cracker
Great advice, everyone. Thanks a ton.
Seanly
Oh, regarding public speaking – last time I gave a speech was at my brother’s wedding. When I’ve given professional speeches, I keep more to an outline and ad lib, but I usually have slides to follow. With the speech for my brother, I had written out a few lines and then my wife helped with a few others. While they did say things that I deeply felt, they never came off my tongue as well as the stuff I first came up with.
So my advice:
1) Write down what you’d like to say – in the way that you talk (my own writing is much more formal than the way I talk)
2) If someone helps you write it, try to identify where you agree the sentiments and try to cast in your own words.
3) Practise a few times
4) Scan the crowd
5) Try to speak slowly if you’re like me & start speeding up
6) Don’t go for too long
7) No powerpoint!
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: As our reward you should post a photo of the sealdog mermaid.
piratedan
Betty… you just need to remember that this is the most important speech that you may give in this or anyone else’s lifetime, lives could well hang in the balance as well as the fate of the western world plus a potential national championship for Notre Dame this fall. So don’t screw it up :-)
Seanly
@piratedan:
Ewww, ND national championship? Throw the speech!
gogol's wife
@Karen in GA:
He was gross!
piratedan
@Seanly: CATS AND DOGS, LIVING TOGETHER, PURE PANDEMONIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Karen in GA
@JPL: Thanks. Iggy’s crate trained, and just this morning, before the vet visit, I happened to show my husband how massaging behind his ears calms him down (Iggy, not my husband). The more I think about it, the less unhappy I am and the more determined I am to just get him through it.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Word. What was with all the licking. Eeww.
How have you been? I have been away from BJ much of last week and this one.
Suffern ACE
Does anyone remember the Mariel Boatlift period? I kind of remember there being an issue when the refugees were housed in Fort McCoy in Wiscsonsin, but I was way too young to understand much about it. Was it in any way near ly as nasty as the reaction to the unaccompanied children?
ETA: I thought the “Ground Zero Mosque” freakout was nasty, but at least the sponsor was a somewhat public figure who could have gone on TV to push back.
gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’m okay. Trying to get work done, but I just tried and failed to get my cat Sasha into the carrier for her checkup (she’s now hiding behind the upright piano), so that’s disappointing.
ETA: How are you?
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Putting the cat in the carrier is two person operation in my house. I usually grab the kitteh and hubcat has to quickly shut the door. Then boxed kitteh will cry from home to the vet’s.
ETA: I am good, thanks. We need to have a New England BJ meetup before the summer is over.
Betty Cracker
@Suffern ACE: Vaguely — I was a kid, but since it happened in FL, it was a big deal locally, so I remember some of the reaction. I don’t recall it being all that negative, even among the yahoos I grew up with, at least at first. Cubans always had special status since they’re fleeing commies, especially back then, when the Cold War was still operative.
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: In my household, the key is to chase the cat around until it is exhausted. much like the way our ancestors would chase an antelope for miles until it fell over.
Of course, my entire place ends up completely upended and I need a nap. But then my place is usually upended and I need a nap.
Steve Finlay
Here is how one guy met the challenge of doing a wedding introduction. Not a speech, but lots of fun anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97ueP4IUuSw&feature=kp
StringOnAStick
@Betty Cracker: Funny how wingers see fleeing from commies as putting halos over people’s heads, but fleeing from murderous right wing governments and murderous drug cartels can’t even put a halo over a little kid’s head.
schrodinger's cat
@StringOnAStick: Ever since Obama was elected all the compassion has gone out of their conservatism.
schrodinger's cat
@Suffern ACE: The problem with that strategy is that I am exhausted way before the kitteh is.
raven
I know ya’ll hate Huff Post but this article on the jailed Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and his turnaround on drug laws and prison is worthwhile.
raven
@Karen in GA: Glad they caught it.
Suffern ACE
@StringOnAStick: I think this problem can be traced exactly to that issue. In the 80’s, the Guatamalans and Salvadorans weren’t given any refugee status as that would have been embarassing to the West. They weren’t included in the amnesty because of that. Those maras that are currently making life hell in central america were formed in the US during that time. We then deported that problem back.
Arclite
The first time I saw that wedding speech (in the course of watching that episode) I was blown away. It’s such brilliant writing and acting.
schrodinger's cat
@Suffern ACE: When did Cubans get their special immigration status?
WaterGirl
@Karen in GA: I feel like I know Iggy because he has been sending me email messages, so this is quite shocking. I am going with “false positive” until the results are confirmed by further testing.
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: Hyenas hunt that way as well. Maybe you should rent a hyena to chase the cat.
schrodinger's cat
@Suffern ACE: A BJ commenter hyena or a real hyena? What about a jackal?
WaterGirl
@kindness: My brother-in-law gave a best man speech that was not well received because he talked the previous two weddings (oops) of the groom. Apparently people do not like to be reminded of previous marriages as they are embarking on a new one.
Who knew?
beth
@Belafon
My crazy husband just taught this to the Sunday school class we were watching with pirate in place of unicorn. Then he taught them all to say aaarrrgghh! They’ll never ask us to do that again.
Good luck to you Betty with your speech. When I was in third grade I gave a speech to the class and wet my pants in front of everyone. To this day I still can’t address a large group of people. So the only advice I can offer is don’t pee your pants.
raven
@beth: tmi
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: No need for a real one. Someone has invented disruptive hyena technology.
Seanly
@Suffern ACE:
I was pretty young at the time, but my understanding is that a bunch of Cubans left the country (many were political dissidents or prisoners but some were criminals).
A lot were put up in the Arkansas area for processing. My dad got a call from a college buddy who worked for the CIA or State Dept. We went out to visit him at his hotel (with a pool!) near Fort Chaffee where the refugees were being processed. He told my dad he couldn’t tell why he was there and he couldn’t confirm that it had anything to do with recent events. I got the feeling that he was helping to process & question the refugees.
Yatsuno
Test.
(FYWP)
Mnemosyne
So did my comment vanish into the ether because I said I don’t like the show? Weird.
Shorter me: the lazy writing pissed me off on the second show I watched, and I haven’t watched it since.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Any comment with M*ry vanishes for some reason.
mai naem
I had to take Speech Communication in college. The first speech I gave in the class was godawful and I think the instructor gave me a C out of pity. The second one I gave, I prep’d a lot. A lot. I did pretty well in the second one and got an A. I remember being told to pick somebody and maintain eye contact. I am not comfortable doing that so I just picked an empty desk towards the back of the room and maintained eye contact with it!!! I’ve done a little bit of public speaking since then and I can wing it pretty good now but I think it’s because I’m older and have more self confidence.
WaterGirl
@elmo: That’s good news. Treatment must have changed in the past 20 years, then?
Librarian
I remember the Mariel boatlift. Carter was indeed attacked by the right for being weak and being snookered by Castro into letting a lot of criminals into the country. Mariel was portrayed as a way for Castro to get criminals out of Cuba.
gogol's wife
@WaterGirl:
I was at a wedding where the groom had been married I think four times before, and his best man talked about all of them. It was soooo embarrassing. Marriage didn’t last long, whodathunk it.
WereBear
@LT: good advice. ALWATS do the opposite of what George does.
Betty, if you speak from the heart the rest doesn’t matter.
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yikes, somehow I missed the summer in India part of the problem. Cool linen and cotton!!
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
Lazy writing? On Sherlock? You can’t mean on Sherlock.
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: In Bombay the humidity rivaled that of a sauna and the temps were in the mid 80s and low 90s.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Episode 3 was too gimmicky for my taste. I hope M*ry disappears like she does in the original.
Mary G
Just looking to see if my name disqualifies me from commenting today.
WaterGirl
Betty, I HATE public speaking. Listening to all the “practice, practice, practice” advice… well, let’s just say that even the idea of that turns my stomach. I say fuck it! Forget all the practicing, just make a list of stuff to include: that funny story when the two of you did whatever, the story of how she told you after the first date that it would never work out, whatever.
I’m pretty sure you’re very acquainted with “winging it”. You’re funny and clever and interesting and you have a good heart. Just make your list, whatever it is, and then speak from the heart. You’ll be great!
I am not good at poker and I used to take it all very seriously when I played, agonizing about when to bet, how much, etc. Then one night I just said fuck it and decided to have fun, and i didn’t care whether I won or lost. (I won big!)
WaterGirl
FYWP, I used the p*ker word in my previous comment, no in moderation. Please let me out!
Edit: Just read WereBear’s comment, and it seems we are in agreement.
MomSense
Ok I have a rescue question for the group. I found some kittens under some shrubs down the street from my office. The momma is a calico and there are three little kittens – a black and white, a calico, and a muted calico. Yesterday the little muted calico was by herself under a hosta crying away so I brought her to the shelter where she is being cared for and has the staff and volunteers fighting over who gets to take her home. She is a gorgeous little thing.
The problem is now that momma moved the other two kittens under a stoop and we can’t get to them. My boys have been feeding them and trying to crawl under the porch to get at them but haven’t had any luck. The building has a bunch of apartments and no one ever seems to be home to talk to about them.
I can’t get animal control on the phone and I am starting to suspect that momma is feral. The kittens almost came completely out from under the step after my son was lying there on the grass not moving for about an hour but mom scooped them back under. It is really hot under that porch and I’m worried about other animals being attracted to them if I leave the food out.
Should I leave them be? Keep trying? Move the food?
CaseyL
@gogol’s wife: Here’s what I do to make putting kitty-in-a-box less difficult.
I have a top-loading carrier: the top opens up as well as the usual side-door. If you don’t have a top-loader, I strongly recommend getting one. It is worlds easier than shoving them in from the side.
I put the carrier out a couple of days before the appointment, with the top unlatched but not open. I put it on a chair or a table. The idea is to get them used to seeing the carrier is out and not connect the sight of it to an immediate grab-&-stuff. I leave the top unlatched but not open because any little thing could make it slam shut, and the noise will “remind” them that the carrier is out. (At which point, my cats have a tendency to vanish into thin air, and not re-appear until one hour after their appointment time has come and gone.)
On D-Day, I softly open the hatch, pick up the kitty with the appointment, and drop him or her into the carrier. The carrier is still on the table or chair, BTW: easier to load kitty if you can do so while standing rather than crouching on the floor. No chasing, no wrestling: in and done.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax strikes again!
Mary Matalin: Obama Has No Soul
This from the Bellatrix Lestrange of the American “conservative” movement.
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, and again….
Gallup: Muslims Love Obama
Could this possibly be because he doesn’t consider them to be Untermenschen?
gogol's wife
@CaseyL:
“pick up the kitty with the appointment” — that’s the impossible part. Mine are semi-feral. They won’t let me pick them up. I’ve had tame cats in the past, and getting them in the carrier was difficult but not impossible. With these it’s impossible, especially when they aren’t actually sick but are just supposed to go in to be checked out. When they feel bad they will sometimes let me do it.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
New rig test.
gogol's wife
@Villago Delenda Est:
How about Mary Matalin: Obama Has No Soul.
pot, kettle
ETA: Oops, didn’t see you already caught that one
Villago Delenda Est
@raven: Well, when it happens to you, personally, suddenly things change.
Which is why tumbrels will be good for the country. Some people will finally have the significant emotional event they need to change their thinking about a great many things.
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Can you get a vet who comes to your house instead? When my ginger girl was sick, I did that.
gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
That doesn’t seem to exist around here. And if it did, they would hide from him/her.
Cacti
Propranolol, Betty.
It’s also known as the performance anxiety medication.
It kept me cool as a morning breeze every time I popped one before going to Court.
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: Have you tried the Alley Cat Allies in your area?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m pretty sure that the Teahadists are seeing the expansion of their imagined plantation.
raven
@Librarian: And mental patients.
raven
@Villago Delenda Est: Just shows you how divorced pilots were from us “shit shoveler’s on the ground!
David Koch
you guys can be so old and boring at times like this.
LeBron baby!
raven
@David Koch: It was in the last thread douchebag.
scav
@gogol’s wife: No Soul? First thought is Where could she learn to recognize one given the crowd she runs with? Tied for first was Well, we already tried your cherished combo of no brains and no heart.
Third is He’s sure got that Swing. Drives you nuts, doesn’t it. and psssst! The bottom of your barrel is showing.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat:
1966.
ETA: Retroactive to 1959.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: So a light bulb came on once HE went to jail for drug use? Got it.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Is that when Castro came to power?
gene108
@Mnemosyne:
My mom’s generation and older, would have worn saris regularly, i.e. the current crop of grandma’s and older.
The next generation younger, like my cousins in their 50’s, wear salwar kameezs or western clothes.
I think saris are still common for poorer people, as the government may subsidize them as basic clothing (could be wrong, just going from memory on my last trip there).
Ruckus
@raven:
I have spoken publicly to reasonably large crowds and this is as good advice as I can give.
If the people like you, they will listen. If they hate you chances are they won’t change their minds. So be yourself. Don’t yell, but do speak up. Don’t be condescending or try to be funny unless you really are. Speak as if you are talking to one person and it’s someone you like.
For me it’s best to wing it. Yes I may step on my tongue but so what? For me trying to memorize a set speech comes out all goofy, dyslexia does that. I do practice a bit and have a general idea of where I’m going. This is helpful if you have a set amount of time to fill/get the hell off the stage.
But the number one thing to remember is the person with the highest expectations is you. Be realistic, most of us are not President Obama, or JFK or MLK, we aren’t going to raise the roof or cause a stampede. Do your best, be honest and be happy with that.
I’ve heard shy people give some of the best speeches because they believed in the subject, I’ve heard outgoing people give horrible speeches because they didn’t like the subject/audience.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes, in 1959.
raven
@Patricia Kayden: He didn’t go to jail for drug use but he saw the impact of the mandatory sentencing laws.
Cervantes
@schrodinger’s cat: He did not come to power; he had to take it from Batista by force. And yes, it was 1959.
gene108
@Joel:
I heard somewhere that Lebron went with ‘6’ in Miami, because he thought 23 should be reserved solely for Jordan.
Ironic of course, considering a couple of great 6’s in NBA history – Dr. J and Bill Russell – were arguably as impactful and in the case of Russell, played on squads, more dominant than Jordan in his prime.
Tommy
@gene108: LeBron is a stud on so many levels but there is a part of me that thinks he makes really stupid decisions.
raven
@Tommy: He’s going home. He’s got all the money he can spend and he has unfinished business. Maybe he succeeds and maybe he doesn’t but it’s his life.
Mnemosyne
@gene108:
I think you and I are around the same age and I remember my friends’ moms wearing the salwar kameezs, but I also grew up in Chicago, so I suspect a sari was a little too drafty for Chicago winters. ;-)
Corner Stone
@Tommy:
What do you consider stupid about this?
I, personally, do not want to live in Cleveland, even if I had a bunch of money. But he has a special feeling for the place, so meh.
Where should he have decided to ball?
Tommy
@raven: I totally agree. It is his life and he can do whatever he wants. In fact I like he seems to not care what people think of him. Heck I had to stop watching ESPN First Take cause I couldn’t handle Skip slamming him 24/7. It just seems he makes decisions that are not the “smartest” if he cares what other people think. Which clearly I don’t think he does.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne: Nepali women wear saris, too.
Tommy
@Corner Stone: He is like Tiger. All he cares about is winning a Championship. That won’t happen in Cleveland. By stupid I recall the owner of the Cavs after he left went on a few rants. Not Donald Sterling racist, but in the ballpark. Why would he want to play for that owner and make him even more money?
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
I do mean on that show. We’ll see which word of this FYWP doesn’t like: there was the scene in the museum where the doctor was supposed to be guarding a witness that the bad guy was trying to kill. For unknown reasons, the doctor decides to wander off and see what his detective friend is up to, which gives the bad guy a chance to kill the witness.
I’m sorry, but is it at all plausible that an Army veteran would just wander off when he has a witness who needs to be protected and they know the bad guy is in the building? WTF? It only happened because the writers needed to kill the witness, so they did it in the most lazy way possible that made no sense for that character.
I love the actors on that show, but the writers pissed. me. off.
ETA: FYWP doesn’t like the characters’ names — it wouldn’t post until I removed them. I think it’s specifically the doctor’s name.
Corner Stone
@Tommy:
No, this is wrong. Throughout this free agency the only accurately reported info was that wherever he went, he wanted the max contract.
If all he cared about was winning a championship, he would have signed with Houston or San Antonio for less money and had one or two key players agree onboard.
Mnemosyne
Just did a test — the only person who can post the doctor’s name is Amir (and Betty in the original post). What’s up with that?
Iowa Old Lady
@schrodinger’s cat: Season 3 left me scratching my head. It was way too bizarre for me to believe.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, he really did love his hometown, and they loved him back. I get the feeling that he realized that coming to the Heat was a mistake.
The hometown crowd will love him again soon enough.
raven
@Tommy:
Someone here made the point that all the owners are like that.
Tommy
I buy a ton of stuff off of eBay. It is my Amazon.com. I am always somewhat stunned that when I buy something like high-end coffee, something that is clearly a product I will continue to buy, that the sellers doesn’t do more to make me a repeat customer.
That is why when I just got a $25/pound of coffee there was a letter included. Explained his background, having starting picking coffee beans with his father in Nicaragua when he was four.
His process for roasting. The equipment he uses.
Sure a form letter. But little things matter to me and if the coffee is good, well he will make a ton of money off of me moving forward.
raven
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck offshore not far from Fukushima,
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer: Definitely a great business move, if he’s getting any piece of that. He’s got a few million hardons that are ready to kill to watch him play in a Cavs jersey again.
If they can get Kevin Love or another solid player, they are the Eastern Conf favs.
All this with the caveat that I do not follow NBA all that much. But I love Kyrie Irving. Not a bad start.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: Odd. I just typed a response to you and tried your theory. It did not even say I was in moderation.
Tommy
@raven: As sad as it is to say that very well maybe true.
Corner Stone
@Tommy: Heck that sounds like a good deal.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: The doctor’s name is also our blog host’s name. Is this some practical joke played by FPer? And is Amir a FPer in the wings? Mysteries, we has them.
schrodinger's cat
@Cervantes: He did too, albeit not by democratic means. I never said that he was elected.
Tommy
@Corner Stone: I will openly admit I am a coffee snob. I have about five different ways to make coffee in my house. Just got my first AeroPress. Going to use it tomorrow for the first time with those Kona beans he sent me.
Corner Stone
@Tommy: Gosh five ways?
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Testing: John.
It looks like the problem is the doctor’s last name, not his first name. Very bizarre.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
What episode was that? I have no recollection of that plot point. There was a museum in A Study in Pink? I’ve seen it three times and can’t remember that. The third episode of the first season (The Blind Banker) wasn’t very good, but all the others have been wonderful. There are occasionally implausible plots, but that is in keeping with the source material in Conan Doyle.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Mnemosyne:
Well, sure, he’s an Army dude, but he’s an MD, not an MP.
Yeah, still shitty writing.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
The people I was friends with were definitely from India — my closest friend would spend summers in Maharashtra with extended family. But the Wikipedia article seems to indicate that a lot of those styles of clothing are popular all over South Asia, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
As long as he uses “Democrat” as an adjective, I’m not buying his remorse.
schrodinger's cat
Testing: Mary
ETA: Wa*son seems to be the problem.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@gogol’s wife: Everything in the Conan Doyle canon is completely believable. Blasphemer! Heretic! Stone her!
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Hindi movies go everywhere and so do Indian soaps. I am always amazed at the global reach of Bollywood.
joel hanes
Nervous speakers hurry through their material, end sentences with rising inflection, and are afraid of white space.
Speak at a deliberate pace, and OUT LOUD.
Unless the sentence is a question, end it with dropping inflection.
Come to a complete halt after every sentence.
Tommy
@Corner Stone: Drip. Two French presses (got a cheap one to start and then a much better one). The AeroPress I just got. And my Chemex*. Which is the best $40 I’ve ever spent.
*I should note I spent like another $100 to get a digital scale to weight out the coffee and a digital kettle where I can get the temp of the water exactly required (boiling water is too hot to make coffee correctly).
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Of course, pygmies from Andamans throwing poisonous darts. Absolutely true.
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: Is your friend’s family from Bombay or Pune?
Corner Stone
@Tommy: Heck that seems like a lot of money just for coffee.
Little story. My mom. She drinks coffee every day. But my sister does not. She only drinks it a few times a week. Sometimes I ask her why she doesn’t drink it every day? And the answers I get. You would not believe. I mean you would just not get them. She’s just not going to drink it every day. It doesn’t matter what my mom does. I don’t drink coffee either. So I guess having five ways to drip it seems a little much.
Trollhattan
@MaximusNYC:
Am watching “Orphan Black” out of sequence and holy crap, am I confused but yeah, compelling show phenomenally well acted.
For Betty: consider the cement bra look, it will relieve the pressure of saying smart things, smartly.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat: Of course.
Amir Khalid
@schrodinger’s cat:
It would be a first if a blog made me a frontpager without asking me. I don’t think they do that around here.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suffern ACE:
I was living in Michigan at the time, but my (ex-) in-laws lived in Miami, where they had been since the early 1930s. My MIL was plenty unhappy about all the Hispanics (not her term of choice) overtaking the area, and I think to the day she died about ten years ago, she resented everything about “little Havana.” But as biased as she was, I don’t think it would ever have occurred to her to try and turn back the refugees. She didn’t mind their entering and living in the US, she just didn’t want them as neighbors. Because Cuban cooties or something, I guess.
I think she was fairly typical of a lot of “white” Miamians of the time. There may have been some pushback, but I don’t remember it — certainly nothing like the Tex-Mex border, or Murietta, CA, today.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Corner Stone: I LOLed.
rikyrah
16-Year-Old’s Rape Goes Viral On Social Media: ‘No Human Being Deserved This’
By Tara Culp-Ressler
July 10, 2014 at 9:07 am
In an incident that shares several elements with the infamous Steubenville rape case that made national headlines last year, a 16-year-old girl from Texas says that photos of her unconscious body went viral online after she was drugged and raped at a party with her fellow high schoolers. But the victim isn’t backing down. She’s speaking out about what happened to her, telling her story to local press and asking to be identified as Jada.
After other teens started mocking her online — sharing images of themselves splayed out on the floor in the same pose as Jada’s unconscious body under the hashtag #jadapose — the victim decided to speak out. She sat down with local outlet KHOU 11 to tell her side. “I’m just angry,” Jada said.
According to Jada, she was invited to a party at a fellow high schooler’s house. The boy who was hosting the party gave her a drink
that she believes was spiked with a drug that made her lose consciousness. She passed out and doesn’t remember what happened next. But then she started seeing evidence of her sexual assault circulated online, and some of her peers started texting her to ask her if she was okay.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/07/10/3458564/rape-viral-social-media-jada/
Trollhattan
@Rand Careaga:
Wait, what?!?
Tommy
@Mnemosyne: India is the one country, well also China, that I have not visited that I must before I die. The last time I went into an office for work was in Northern Virginia. We had a floor on a building owned by Cable & Wireless. A British firm. They were doing Bluetooth stuff before, well before any of us knew what that was (1999).
Many of the engineers and programmers were Indian or expats from the UK. Many smoked. I smoked. So we’d chat on the loading dock where we could smoke.
We would go to lunch. Have a drink after work. Nicest group of people I ever met. And to hear them talk about their nation, well I’d like to get there sometime.
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne:
My dad currently lives about 20 miles north of Nogales, and the pushback attitude is very prevelant there.
It’s really kind of a disaster for all involved, and it’s heartbreaking both to see human beings suffer so much and some otherwise decent people be driven crazy by fear and hatred.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: You are bad.
Tommy
@Trollhattan: Huge fan of the show. It is like the ONE show you can’t watch out of order. But I will say watching it in order is confusing as well :).
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: I assume you’re not watching Orphan Black out of sequence on perfect. Things are complicated enough when you watch the show in order!
@MaximusNYC: No emmy nomination? Again? Seriously? Mark my name down in the shocked and annoyed column. Idiots. They probably have never even watched the show. Ergh.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: I thought you said yes and we didn’t know about it yet.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: Come to me WaterGirl. Let me show you how to be bad.
It involves never using a comma so brace yourself.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
I just tried to comment with three different variants of [his] name. Didn’t even get a moderation notice, the comment simply disappeared into the ether.
So I’ll try a series of numbered tests:
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Are you sure? Several commas spotted at the corner of 155 and BJ.
Tommy
@Corner Stone: I grew up in a small rural town. Pretty much 98.7% white (Census numbers from 2000). Then after college moved to DC. My first job was in Falls Church. It seemed every time I went into a small business it wasn’t owned by somebody that looked like me. I will admit it was strange at first. Then it became exhilarating. Foods I’d never tried. Things I didn’t know.
Later I’ve moved to a part of NE DC, where I was the only “white dude” on the block. I learned a lot.
I get change is hard for people. But I almost want to say deal with it. Or instead of being against it, embrace the “joint” culture and maybe you will find you like it.
Trollhattan
@Tommy: @WaterGirl:
DVR programming shortcomings on my part. Instructed it to go forth and get this season and also, too, “grab any of the first season episodes you might come across” because I’d seen none. You can probably guess the chaotic collection it produced, and with no tidy episode numbering in the “info” summary to help me sift through them.
First World problem of the First Order!
SiubhanDuinne
Test 3:
Dr. Doctor
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s the last name of the Doctor that is the problem. Let’s see if Watney’s Red Barrel is a problem.
KS in MA
@pamelabrown53:
“You are a beautiful human being. Just be yourself and the wedding toast will be heartfelt and memorable.”
I’ll co-sign that!
Also … Do write it down, and do practice with a friend–and then, take the written text with you, just for insurance! You’ll feel safer knowing you can just read if you have to. (When I taught freshman rhetoric, which included speaking, that’s what I told my students to do if they felt scared. It worked for them.)
Don’t forget to have fun!
SiubhanDuinne
How very weird. Why would any comment with the “W” surname — a not uncommon one — just disappear into thin air?
Does this mean we can never discuss the “Hermione” actress in the HP films? Or Alexander Graham Bell’s lab partner in his famous telephone communication?
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Don’t forget the gangsters of Chicago and the Mormons in Utah. Some truth, some embellishment, all in all, good yarns!
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Wow, how screwed up is that! One young girl raped and other girls mocking the whole thing? I hope they nail the boys that did this, and their entire community needs to have a serious conversation. Ugh.
Trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
It’s being persnickety–wants “Dr. Whom.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Do you see anything in that name that would annoy FYWP? I don’t see a hidden string of letters, like the old Cialis in Socialism bugaboo.
Is a puzzlement.
WaterGirl
@Trollhattan: That’s what Wikipedia is for – you could match up the episode names with the correct order in Wikipedia.
Also, if you had Tivo, it would tell you the episode numbers. :-)
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
It was the second episode I watched, but it may have been the third of that first season. But it really pissed me off to know that the writers would set up characters and then have them do completely out-of-character things just to hit their plot points.
Luthe
@gogol’s wife: The Blind Banker was the second episode of the first season; fandom’s collective opinion is it is the worse of all the episodes. Episode three of season one, on the other hand, is The Great Game in which we meet Moriarty.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Trollhattan: Wrong British show. Holmes’s sidekick’s name is causing comments to disappear.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Test:
John
EDIT: Nope, it’s the doctor’s last name that’s the problem. Just weird.
JustRuss
@WaterGirl:
That’s pretty much my approach too, and it works out OK as long as you know your subject matter. Hopefully that’s a given in this case. May not make for the best speeches, but it’s a time saver and not dwelling about it keeps my anxiety down.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: John is kosher but Wa*son is eating the mustard in the Subaru parked in the field in W.Va, along with our comments.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: You can type w.a.t.so.n … I can’t imagine that if the name were trade marked, that would make a difference but who knows.
I blame Obama.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne: @Luthe:
My bad, as the kids say. After I wrote the comment to you I realized that it was the second episode, as Luthe says, hence it’s the one you watched. Give it another chance! That episode was far inferior to all the other ones.
Luthe
@Mnemosyne: The trouble with Sherlock is there’s no margin for error when your seasons are three episodes long. Bad characterization in the first few episodes of a 26 episode series can quickly be overcome; it’s much, much harder to ignore when your entire series is nine episodes and a Christmas special.
As I mentioned above, TBB is considered the worse episode of the whole series. Between the out-of-characterness and the blatant Orientalism, there’s a lot of suck to go around.
If you want something more in-character and with more Doyle plot, try The Hound of Baskerville from season 2.
rikyrah
@MaximusNYC:
Love Orphan Black. Had a friend who raved about it, so I saw the first season On-Demand in two days. It’s one of the few tv shows that I watch live and then on DVR to see what I missed live. Tatiana was ROBBED by the Emmy folks.
Glocksman
@Ruckus:
That’s true in my case.
When I took Speech in HS, all throughout the semester my speeches were consistently C average.
My final speech was on a subject that I both knew a lot about and was passionate on.
Gun Control: to convince against.
I got an A+ for the speech and managed a B for the class because the final speech counted for a significant portion of the grade.
Trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Odd that WP hates the city that provides most of our strawberries–Wa[tson]ville, CA.
rikyrah
Love the new Sherlock. My favorite episode is still the one with Irene Adler. I did love this season for the background of Sherlock Holmes and his family.
Rex Everything
The “Sherlock” with Humpterdump Snoopdersnatch is definitely my favorite non-comedy on TV.
rikyrah
@Seanly:
Found “The Fall” by accident. LOVE IT. Folks would enjoy it.
Karen in GA
@elmo: Thanks. He likes his crate. We haven’t closed the door on it in months — he’ll just wander in there and sleep occasionally. I might start closing the door and walking away, sort of re-training him, just to remind him that it’s okay. I’m sure he’ll figure it out pretty quickly. It’s more for me than for him, I think — I just want to feel like we’re all fully prepared for Iggy’s month of convalescence.
The hardest part will probably be me staying relaxed around him, and not letting him pick up on the fact that I’ll be paranoid about his heart rate every time he so much as wakes from a nap.
@WaterGirl: Yep, that’s a good approach. I’m (over-)preparing for the worst, but still hoping for the best.
FlipYrWhig
We can’t write W@tson now? That’s super weird. Like the IBM jeopardy-playing computer?
satby
@c u n d gulag: You know, c u n d gulag is right. They do want you to do well, because most people are afraid of speaking in a public setting and are vicariously nervous for you.
They’re all rooting for you, so practice what you want to say, but don’t get too stressed if you make a little flub. just recover and go on, and people will think it’s better than a perfect delivery might have been because in their minds they’d have frozen like deer in headlights and never recovered
You’ll do great Betty!
Just One More Canuck
@Villago Delenda Est: I think of her as a horcrux – a seemingly banal object that is pure evil inside.
satby
@Corner Stone: stop. you’re killing me here.
Rand Careaga
@Trollhattan: Well, obviously he didn’t pull the trigger, but he did demand and receive my wallet. This was one of a string of restaurant robberies in Oakland and environs in spring of 2008. It was an oddly low-bandwidth experience for me. On the bright side, my annoying brother-in-law, who had joined us that night, has never visited again.
Corner Stone
@satby: Oh my gosh. I am sorry to hear that.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I’m not sure you want to go there, WG.
For behold! Look upon these comma-less works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Steeplejack
@gogol’s wife:
Amanda Abbington. And—it just dawned on me during a rerun the other night—she was excellent in the PBS series Case Histories about the Scottish detective Jackson Brodie. She played his friend/foil on the police force.
Cervantes
@schrodinger’s cat: Sure, I can live with that.
How long were you in India this time? Did you feel at all alienated?
Cervantes
@joel hanes: Excellent advice.
schrodinger's cat
@Cervantes: Three weeks. It took me more than a week to get acclimated. It was time to leave just as I was beginning to get comfortable and feel more at home.
Betty Cracker
@Glocksman: Coincidence! I did the gun control topic for my college speech class — for, of course. Also got an A, but I doubt very much I persuaded any of the slack-jawed, gun-fondling yahoos in my class.
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker: On the bright side, they’ve probably accidentally shot themselves to death by now.
HelloRochester
@Betty Cracker: Brevity is the soul of wit. You may get a standing ovation if you keep it under a minute. And do NOT CRY. DO NOT CRY. DO NOT CRY.
HelloRochester
V
HumboldtBlue
@gogol’s wife: He’s a Harrovian he’s had a lot of practice.
HumboldtBlue
@Luthe: I agree with you on Baskerville, but I also thought the first episode of the series was perfectly done as an introduction into the Sherlock character they had created.