Open Threads

Because the old thread is long and growing tired.

Pancakes for breakfast! Who’s got a great recipe / cooking technique / reminiscence?

Very Late Night/Early Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (83)

Obviously, it’s too early to say anything other than that this is a terrible tragedy:

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official says the word “fed” was scrawled on his chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

Update. A little bit more detail:

Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau’s southern office in Charlotte, N.C., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is “an apparent homicide” but nothing else.

I would still caution against assuming that this was anti-government right-wing violence unless and until more details emerge.

This is terriblePost + Comments (151)

Anne Laurie must have been a busy bee over night, because when I woke up there were a bunch of definitions in the dictionary. I’ve revised a few, and added a dozen or so more, so check it out and make any corrections or additions in the comments. Are there any notable omissions?

Open ThreadPost + Comments (162)

Many of you have asked about the dictionary function to the right. The point of it is to allow newcomers some idea of what the older folks in the comments are referencing when they make statements about things like “hoot-smalley” or “IOKIFYAR.”

The problem, of course, is that you all can not edit the dictionary like a true mini-bjpedia, and only the blog overlords have that ability. So take this thread and write out definitions as you think they should be, and I will add the ones I think are best.

Also, I address the FAQ as often as possible, but I am seriously sick to death of “Were you really once a Republican?”

Yes. Yes, I was. Maybe one of you can work on that, but seriously, I just wish my archives would get corrupted for everything prior to Schiavo.

*** Update ***

Now this was just a cheap shot:

Tunch: Thought to compose up to 90% of the mass in the universe, but very rarely seen since the dog came along.

That simply is not true. There is simply no way Lily is overshadowing how much I love Tunch and how important he is to me. Look at this photographic evidence:

I’m totally going to lose this argument, aren’t I?

BJ Dictionary Open ThreadPost + Comments (375)

I’m completely unimpressed with the television offerings tonight, and after multiple hours watching training videos, I think my eyes would pop out of my head if I tried to read, so we are spending the night working on “sit”:

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this dog (and before you ask, I still love Tunch to death)? And yes, I am fully aware that the blanket is hairy and needs to be shaken out and washed, but I have been really busy lately.

Have at it.

Tuesday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (102)

For late nighters, another thought from Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. This passage describes the early 1st century BC, a time when the Roman Republic extended its power through tacit support of pet kings (and knocked off their rivals, when necessary) rather than direct rule.

Philosophers, like every other legacy of the Athenian golden age, had become mere adjuncts of the Roman service industry. Those who did particularly well out of Roman patronage had long since learned to cut the cloth of their speculations accordingly. Typical was the age’s most celebrated polymath, Posidonius.

Although he had studied in Athens, Posidonius was widely traveled, and rationalized what he observed in Rome’s provinces – rather optimistically – as a commonwealth of man. […] In the new order that the Republic was bringing to the world, Posidonius somehow managed to catch a reflection of the order of the universe. He argued that it was the moral duty of Rome’s subjects to accept such a dispensation. Differences of culture and geography would soon dissolve. History was coming to an end.

Francis Fukuyama Posidonius was right! History did end and the Roman Republic lasted forever.

Sounds FamiliarPost + Comments (54)