caroljane

Ellen, we have enough horned pagans around here already. Vote for the kitty.

Resounding YEA! Like he would be influenced by such a collectivist activity as a majority vote.

Thank you for the lovely compliment, but I will not be changing the avatar. Ma Whistler is a vital part of my persona here, and I like the colours. And none of the geezers here would ever paw me even if I appeared airbrushed from here to Brisbane. They are gentlemen and scholars, hide it as they may try to do..

No Cathy, Brant may be, but "we all" are not smarter than you. Knowing a lot of words is not the same as being smart. In my case it just indicates laziness, I was able to lie around reading a lot instead of doing anything productive. Successfully raising six kids is smart. I only raised two and the smart parent was my husband, not me. The younger one hung around the house until I finally had to sell it.

I vote he make it his avatar. I would love to see that face everyday.

Get thee behind us Serapis! That is just how I see Baal too.

Thanks Adam! The boys really are mostly boys this year, they are a young team. The playoff beards are predicted as "Babyface Beard" (Gardiner and Kadri) "Angry Caveman Beard" (Phaneuf) "He's Mennonite is He Allowed to Grow that? Beard (Reimer) "We thought he already had a beard" (Kessler - my own contribution.

My assignment is to bring the pointed sticks, the marsh mellows and the kindling. A... lol your visiting Brothers from the Fraternal Order will be there to enjoy the campfire -Gord

I'm definitely stocking up on throwables, but this year I've changed my strategy. Last year, when I threw Atlas Shruggeds at the Islanders, they not only beat the Wilders, but the Wilders then completely fell apart for the rest of the season. So this year I'm going to throw Atlas Shruggeds at the Wilders. It may sound counterintuitive, but its actually quite logical: If getting beaned by Rand's novels makes teams play better, and if it hexes the team that wasn't beaned, then you should bean your own team. J There's some truth swimming around in this. --Brant but rationality? It makes perfect sense to me. But please don't mention beans. We have to play Boston. Have you had a look at their mascot? It is a threatening psychotic looking bear. Do Bruins fans plan to allow their children watch these games and be traumatized out of their minds? I think the league should stand up and make sure that only rational adults and Canadians should watch and, er, officiate at Boston games. At least for the first round.

Michael, utterly excellent points, you have nailed it. For me the most crucial point is a moral one. If Rand did indeed know that Cathy was being beaten, what does her inaction mean? Maybe she deferred to Frank on this one "It wouldn't help to mix in, we can't do anything". I wrote a short piece here once on "Why I Admire Ayn Rand as a Human Being". Now I am wondering just how human she was and in what ways.

Another playoff rumour floating around is that an insurgent group of Rangers insiders and fans, incited by the NY sports media, are planning to publicly burn Tortorella if the team bombs out n the first round. Not in effigy either.

My, how that dear upstanding James Reimer blushed when I asked him to sign my Leafs petticoat! But we prayed about it and decided that our Lord would definitely have succoured a poor widow in this way, for the greater glory of the Righteous.

I think Carol is at the point where we're supposed to say that she's 113 years young. That, and I think we're now supposed to start referring to her as "spry." J She is "spry" allright. You should see her when she is chasing after an autograph from an overrated Maple Leaf. That little white sun bonnet of her doubles as a wind-drag parachute of sorts... Eh sonny, you are not wrong. You wouldn't believe the sort of things those nice young men will agree to autograph. They were all brought up to respect women and their elders.

lol ...take a bow and borrow my lighter

I am so grateful not to live in Anaheim. Imagine painting on your face, instead of a proud national and team symbol, poultry that derives from an Emilio Estevez movie.

I'm definitely stocking up on throwables, but this year I've changed my strategy. Last year, when I threw Atlas Shruggeds at the Islanders, they not only beat the Wilders, but the Wilders then completely fell apart for the rest of the season. So this year I'm going to throw Atlas Shruggeds at the Wilders. It may sound counterintuitive, but its actually quite logical: If getting beaned by Rand's novels makes teams play better, and if it hexes the team that wasn't beaned, then you should bean your own team. J I'll be sticking with the Octopi.. thanks again Emile! Rising Young Detroit Exec Now Shmerk's boss haha!

I don't think he was addressing you, Cathy. He was being lawyerly and harrying the Prosecution to get to its point.

He was a student. Some aspects of his work are good. I think that he maybe had a natural eye for certain elements of painting, but not for others. I think you're right that he looked at painting as a hobby, despite the fact that Rand and some of her followers wanted to give the impression that painting was becoming his career and that he was excelling at it. From what I've read of him, he painted because he enjoyed it, and he pretty much ignored most of the romanticized pushiness and unsolicited artistic advice that he would get from Ayn or members of her circle of followers. I'm not sure, but from what I've picked up in bits and pieces about him over the years, I've gotten the sense that he seemed to have been much more aware and accepting than those around him of the fact that he was a student artist, and not the virtuoso that others wanted to believe that he was. I think the important thing is that he was enjoying learning to paint, regardless of how good or bad he was, and despite the silly expectations and pressures that he might have gotten from others. I don't remember hearing before that he did magic tricks, but it makes sense that he would be interested in illusions, and be good at them. It fits well with what I've heard about his personality. J J, it could just be a generational thing. My father and uncles all did simple magic and card tricks, as did their contemporaries, as young men tweet clever graphics or memes or whatever they do for diversion now. And the personalities of Dad and his brothers are as far from the way I perceive Frank O'Connor as it is possible to be - though come to think of it, their wives were all kooky.

I have seen his photo and he is a very attractive older man! Have sent him a cute congratulatory message.

Ellen and Neil are Rand historians, whether they are writing bios or not. They collect and classify facts about her life with great scrupulousness. I for one am grateful for their scruples.

Hardware Associate, Personal Stylist, Security Specialist, Hacker.

Nice! I am chagrined that you were able to work in Greene's greatest novel, especially after I spent no less than 45 seconds trying to come up with something myself. Can we surmise that you came up with this thread having after read Christopher Hitchens' autobiography? If not, imagine he and his erudite pals engaging in late night, high level bathos while fully in the bag... Actually, I came up with it after reading a funny novel which may have been written by one of his pals.(Colin somebody) The self-pitying protagonist is a brilliant but neglected author, reduced to teaching Creative Writing in a women's prison, who comforts himself by making up such titles ("Quarter to Three in the Garden of Good and Evil" is one example I remember.This is also a good pre-sleep soother, like the alphabet game. I agree, P&G was Greene's greatest. I liked Brighton Rock very much too. Just finished off The Human Factor last night. I highly recommend it. I have ordered it at the library. GG must have been a major influence on LeCarre, whom I also revel in.

Not even coffee?Come on, maaann. Don't be a square. Don't you want to be part of the Cool Crowd? Feynman did it! http://www.famousscientists.org/14-famous-scientists-inventors-who-experimented-with-drugs/ Oh well. Guess I'll have to dump my stash on Dennis then. Don't listen to him, Dennis! Unless all your ancestors were rock-solid sane and you have never been depressed in your life. Oddly the rejection Baal derives from rational judgement, I made purely through instinct. I was offered psychedelics at around 18, when they were believed to be harmless, a least as far as I knew. I just felt terrified and refused them. I knew my mind was nothing special (you learn that your first year at university) but I also knew I did not want to perceive or imagine more stuff than it was already capable of. Years later I had my first episode of severe clinical depression (which I did not realize at the time or seek any treatment for...it was not known about then, again as far as I knew). Years after that it recurred. Once I had a psychotic episode complete with delusions. Of course by this time I had a name on it (my husband hauled me to the doctor when I fell apart during the happiest period of my life). If I had not followed my instinctive fear reaction at 18, I might not even have lived to marry, let alone to be 113.

Sidetracking to Incredible Boys Icew Hockey: canada's Junior team has dethroned the US as world champions! Shananana...heyheyhey...goodbye. I noted a lot of French surnames amongst the Cdn players. Did the quebecois start breeding again when I wasn't looking?

Reason this Year's Cup playoff thread portion will be the best ever: 1. More OLers might participate. The dynamic trio of Adam, Dennis H and me all have our teams in the running. Marc has graciously committed to support the Leafs, as an OLer and Torontonian, not just because his neighbours have been strolling past his house waving Leafs flags, eyeing his car and casually asking him what kind of playoff parties he will be hosting. Even MSK, lover of excellence, might notice that Chicago is the best team in the league. Jonathan, former reluctant child goalie and survivor of a live Wild game, may stock up on throwables. And PDS who has actually played the game may weigh in with some colour commentary as the Wings have scraped into the post season at the expense of a more deserving team. Is it true that as reported by Downgoesbrown, that Detroit fans are filling their Gatorade bottles with "Columbus Water" made from the tears of Blue Jackets supporters? 2. My Punjabi is improving. I now recognize the verbs "beating up on" and "diving". Half the vocab is English anyway, hockey not being indigenous to the Vale of Kashmir. And Inderpreet and his dad have the best playoff beards in the country. 3. Adam will lose all his bets, since past performance is no indicator of results in playoffs when all bets are off. 4. .Canadian players will become more widely known as the multifaceted human beings that they are . Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo for example is a gifted amateur poet, and I will close with his ode to one of my own favourite players: Byfuglien Human eclipse Rhinoceros hips Who will last laugh when I slash your calf? Bring peace Make it cease Get your big ass out of my crease