Thanks to Captain Rod Brind'amour, Carolina takes Game 1, 5-4 with 31 seconds left in regulation.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity may be tied, not to global warming, but to the ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP we've been working so diligently on over the last few decades.

"Cleaner air and more Atlantic hurricanes may come as a pair, according to a new study comparing rising global sea surface temperatures with sun-blocking pollution particles.

It turns out that the recent decline of small manmade pollution particles called aerosols in the North Atlantic might be allowing hurricane activity to catch up with the effects of global warming there, reported climate researchers Michael Mann and Kerry Emanuel in a new study in the journal Eos."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:34 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 LOL! I love it!

Posted by: Janette at June 05, 2006 11:42 AM (OcgcA)

2 Irony is so... ironic.

Posted by: LindaSoG at June 05, 2006 11:55 AM (GBBmd)

3 figures. It just figures!

Posted by: Beth Donovan at June 05, 2006 12:17 PM (9FPYz)

4 There is no such thing as global warming! And now research is proving things they should have thought of before!

Posted by: Rave at June 05, 2006 01:45 PM (Fir0Z)

5 Too bad they're irony-impaired [not to mention humor-challenged, so I won't mention it] so it's all lost on 'em.

Posted by: Claire at June 05, 2006 03:42 PM (l1oyw)

6 I don't get it. Does that mean that Mann is going to be believed by people like Claire, Rave, Jane Beth et al over this report, but not over the hockey stick? A bit selective don't you think (assuming they are anti the hockey stick)? Since you all have your irony antennas so finely tuned how did you manage to miss this delicious dollup of irony

Posted by: Wadard at June 25, 2006 12:28 AM (mu30w)

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Stanley Cup Finals, bay-bee!

Go Hurricanes!  Listen Live here!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 We might not be friends after this...heh heh heh...Go Edmonton!!! 2-0 last I checked...

Posted by: Lisa W. at June 05, 2006 12:42 PM (4fWxq)

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You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:13 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Damn! That's what I wanted to be!!!

Posted by: Marie at June 05, 2006 07:23 AM (dswo0)

2 I'm a jam cookie. My favorite.

Posted by: Margi at June 05, 2006 09:48 AM (BRtaN)

3 Trying to send you a Trackback Ping but keep getting this message when I try to retrieve the Trackback URL for this post: Internal Server Error The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@blog.mu.nu and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apache/1.3.36 Server at www.blog.mu.nu Port 80

Posted by: Lisa W. at June 05, 2006 10:53 AM (4fWxq)

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Did you miss us?  MuNuvia was the target of at least 3 different DDOS attacks this weekend, but Pixy seems to have everything under control again for the moment, so we return you to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:43 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Here's what the haircut did.
From this:

More than 12 inches off.  I donated it.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:20 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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1 Wow!! That's a lot of hair! I love the color and I have no doubt the cut looks greats on you! ; )

Posted by: Chrissy at June 04, 2006 03:01 PM (zJsUT)

2 I'm glad you donated it. I donated mine when I chopped it off two years ago. It was traumatic for hubby. It's finally a length he can be happy with again, in that it's almost to the middle of my back again. I imagine when it gets long enough, I'll chop it off and donate it again. He doesn't understand. But my high school best friend had alapecia (sp?), which is that condition that prevents her from being able to grow hair. Nice for the not shaving legs thing, but bald with no eyebrows made school very hard on her.

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at June 04, 2006 04:21 PM (0Pi1o)

3 Wow! Very cool! I bet it's a lot easier to care for now.

Posted by: Marie at June 04, 2006 05:06 PM (dswo0)

4 I'm assuming it's donated to a cancer-related charity...way cool!

Posted by: Mrs_Who at June 04, 2006 08:50 PM (nPR3h)

5 You are so awesome!! So, how do you like the shorter do?

Posted by: Dana at June 05, 2006 06:52 AM (mY0KN)

6 I heart Locks for Love. Bravo!

Posted by: Helen at June 05, 2006 08:37 AM (La1Mk)

7 Wonderful thing you've done, there. And I'll bet it's much cooler, too.

Posted by: Margi at June 05, 2006 10:00 AM (BRtaN)

8 What beautiful hair you donated! Very cool. Very very cool.

Posted by: Bou at June 05, 2006 12:50 PM (iHxT3)

9 wow. just wow. (Your hair was about 3-4 inches longer than mine is currently.)

Posted by: rave at June 05, 2006 01:47 PM (Fir0Z)

10 I'm still trying to convince myself to get my hair cut. It drives me nuts, but it's a big step to get it chopped! Looks great by the way.

Posted by: amanda at June 05, 2006 05:47 PM (cqrWD)

11 Wow. That is just wonderful.

Posted by: vw bug at June 06, 2006 03:59 AM (YS9om)

12 I have been contemplating doing the same thing. Locks of love is such a great organization and if I'm going to cut it all off, it might as well be for a good cause...

Posted by: Richmond at June 09, 2006 09:54 AM (e8QFP)

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So yesterday was our school's graduation ceremony.  We're a small university, but it's still fun to get dressed up and see all of my colleagues in their academic regalia, too. 

The color and style of the robe, hood, and cap denote the wearer's academic degree, field of study, and alma mater, so in a full faculty group, you get a pretty wide variety, although most are some variation of black robe, mortarboard cap, and royal blue or green velvet on the hood.

Mine aren't!

and here's the back:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:42 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 You look so happy! Congrats!

Posted by: Jane at June 04, 2006 08:57 AM (Ffvoi)

2 Love the lipstick Actually, the colors are absolutely gorgeous!

Posted by: Beth Donovan at June 04, 2006 10:30 AM (9FPYz)

3 How do you get your skin so clear?

Posted by: Greta (Hooah Wife) at June 04, 2006 10:47 AM (Cbtbf)

4 Ancient Chinese secret....

Posted by: caltechgirl at June 04, 2006 11:10 AM (1mfa4)

5 You have such an open, friendly face. No wonder everyone likes you and you probably stand out more for that than your outfit!!

Posted by: beth at June 04, 2006 11:53 AM (X6tm3)

6 yay! how exciting!

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at June 04, 2006 04:18 PM (0Pi1o)

7 I see you have the ultimate solution to sinus problems.

Posted by: Jay at June 04, 2006 05:15 PM (q9El8)

8 Oh, I like it!!! My robe is a boring black. Fortunately, in my line of work, I get to wear it on a weekly basis. :-)

Posted by: Paul Burgess at June 05, 2006 04:35 AM (7EVyU)

9 Nice threads!

Posted by: Attila Girl at June 05, 2006 06:03 AM (4IuF2)

10 If I did my research, not having known you, and just by looking at your cap and gown, I would have known you were a "Doctor of something." It was hard to see certain details of your gown to determine more, but that's what I gathered. Thanks for sending me on a quest.

Posted by: Dana at June 05, 2006 07:00 AM (mY0KN)

11 Well, yes, Dana: if you're wearing a tam rather than a mortarboard, you know it's doctoral regalia. Of course, that doesn't work in reverse: my JD is a doctorate of sorts, but I wore a mortarboard, as a tam is reserved for a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD, the legal equivalent of a Ph.D.) or for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The three stripes on the sleeves, matching the facing on the hood, are the clearest marker of doctoral regalia, more so than the headgear. And, of course, everything I'm saying only applies in the US, and POSSIBLY parts of Anglophone Canada. Oy, I know way too much about this stuff. And I do still cherish my luscious black-and-purple JD robes: who knows, maybe someday I'll have a use for them if I go back to law school, this time as a professor. Stranger things have happened (or so I'm told). ;-)

Posted by: Dave J at June 05, 2006 12:50 PM (SKqxt)

12 Looks great!!

Posted by: oddybobo at June 06, 2006 05:56 AM (6Gm0j)

13 That is one of the coolest academic robes I have ever seen. You look awesome!!

Posted by: sagacitas lerin at June 06, 2006 12:43 PM (1m8/N)

14 I can't believe I missed seeing this until today!!! You look wonderful!

Posted by: Richmond at June 09, 2006 09:52 AM (e8QFP)

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Life's a bitch, War is Hell, and commitments are hard to keep.  We all know this, yet so many people believe that if we simply ignore these  truths, they might just go away.

As if

Cassandra of Villainous Company also nails it:

"If only we could go back to the good old days, when there was no news coming out of Iraq and we didn't have to confront the horror. When we could tell ourselves, even if it wasn't true, that our hands were clean.

I hope one of these smart people, who are so disturbed over our "failures" in Iraq and Afghanistan can tell me what they propose to do when we pull out? What do they think will happen? Why do they think a small minority of Iraqis are planting bombs and practicing terrorism against their fellow Muslims - innocent civilians - in order to prevent a democratic government from being formed?

The insurgents, too, long for the good old days. And right now, we are the only thing standing between them and their heart's desire. And that's an Inconvenient Truth we all too often forget when the media is parading an endless stream of sensationalized stories about Abu Ghuraib and Haditha before our eyes."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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"The left, to a man, considers itself to be educated and enlightened. It matters not how little actual schooling a particlular leftist may have had, nor how unintelligent the person might be. They all consider themselves intellectuals of sorts. If they dropped out of college after one semester, they just think of themselves as autodidacts whose genius could not be stimulated by the ossified and bourgeois teaching of the academy....

This conceit, usually wholly undeserved, of practically every leftist in the world is what makes leftism so intoxicating for the intellectually insecure, and what makes leftists so easily led and manipulated. It's an attractive doctrine for those who wish to conceive of themselves as intellectual and brilliant, for it provides an instant short-cut to the equivalent of an MIT education. If you simply believe these things we tell you to believe, you are one of Us, one of the Intellectually Elite, one of the Cultural Vanguard. Just as giving oneself to Christ, and believing in His power, and accepting the need for and gift of His redemption, instantly makes one "saved" and enters one's name in the Book of the Heaven, so too does accepting leftist tropes and core beliefs make one one of the Secular Elect.

Now, the things the left wants you to believe are not easy to believe. It's hard to believe that, for example, taxing work and investment will not reduce work and investment (especially when one simultaneously believes that taxing the use of gasoline or other energy will reduce the use of gasoline or other energy). Nevertheless, while it may be difficult to believe these things, it's certainly easier to simply give in and believe these things than to, say, earn a Ph. D. in literary theory or semiotics or even something stupid like science or engineering.

So, if one wants to conceive of oneself as an intellectual, one can either actually become an intellectual -- which frankly takes a lot of work and reading, much of it terribly boring -- or one can simply believe what Noam Chomsky tells one....

Leftism, and liberalism, and progressivism, and etc-ism. are not merely simple politics for most of these people. Their politics to them are a core part of their identity, and, more importantly, a central support propping up their egos. They are enlightened because they believe these things; someone who does not believe these things, and yet who, superficially at least, appears to be about as smart as they might be, represents a threat to their egos. The foundation upon which a crucial structure of their sense of self-worth is undermined if they discover that there may be people who can pass as normal and intelligent and yet do not believe as they do.

If one is smart, then one believes in progressivism.

If one believes in progressivism, then one is smart.

Those are the two assumptions that prop up their sense of self worth, and they are refuted by examples of smart people who don't believe in progressivism.

And because there is a great deal of personal psychological investment in progressivism, they react intemperately to rejections of it. It's not merely a tax cut that's being debated; it's their very sense of importance that's being attacked. It's not merely gay marriage which is being argued against; it's their value as human beings that is being uncouthly denigrated."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:07 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I love my blog child, but sometimes he just makes me scratch my head.

For what it's worth, Paul, I'd say it's a Phillip's™ Screwdriver.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Possible chemical weapons raid by British police

Ricin and Pipe Bombs found in suburban Tennessee home

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hurry up, dammit!

Update: Thanks, Deb!

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Christina finishes up the blog novella with a bang.  Literally.  And more twists than a pretzel.

If you haven't been keeping up with this project, and you're a fan of thriller/spy/suspense fiction, take a few minutes and read through the whole thing.  Each chapter is just 1,000 words, so it takes just a few minutes to get through the whole story.  Perfect for a coffee break!

Chapter 1:  The Reluctant Assassin
Chapter 2:  The Cleaner
Chapter 3:  House of Cards
Chapter 4:  Beautiful Death
Chapter 5:  Deal Killer

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:39 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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They've gone and spawned again!

Courtesy of Adopted Blog-Mom Bou, we have a new blog-sis, Mrs. Who of House of Zathras.

And true to the formula that the Bad Example family tree is often more of a stick than a tree, adopted blog-sis VW contributes a new blog sis/niece, her real life sister Tink of Tink's Tribulations.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:38 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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So says this piece of what George Moneo has so rightly termed "Bovine Excrement".  It's worth the 2 minutes out of your life to laugh and shake your head at the self-important idiocy that passes for education around here.  Keep in mind that this POS had to get a charter from the county, so somebody actually bought into this.....

Quick!  The Smug cloud is descending over Los Angeles!  Oh no!

On a related note, Cobb has some interesting thoughts on immigration and the Latino community....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The other 5s meme:
5 things in my fridge:
-Trader Joe's Milk.  It keeps up to 2 months past its expiration date.  No, we don't drink a lot of milk, why do you ask?
-Costco tamales.  Mexican food is ALWAYS on the menu here.  Tamales are my favorite.
-Kraft Italian 4 cheese lo-fat shredded cheese blend.  It's not that much more expensive, and I don't have to shred it.  And what's better than Asiago, Parmesan, Romano, and Mozzarella mixed together?
-Leftovers.  When you cook for two or you eat smart when you eat out, there's always a container of something or other in the fridge.
-cold French Fries.  Also known as "FF's" in our house since someone knows what "French Fries" means.  Yes, they are for her.

5 items in my closet:
-My academic regalia.  It came yesterday and I am sooooo excited.  I get to dress up like a real professor for the first time on Saturday at graduation!
-My computer bag.  It was a graduation present and it has wheels and a handle so I don't have to carry it.  A very thoughtful gift.
-Favors from my friend's wedding last summer.  They came out of my purse and got put on the shelf, and there they have been sitting.
-My friend A's birthday and Christmas presents.  Her birthday was in January.  I am SUCH a good friend.
-My bathroom.  You have to walk through the closet to get to the master bath.

5 items in my car:
-my cell phone charger. The damn thing dies at the drop of a hat anymore, so I keep it "hooked up" in the car.
-water bottles.  We drove to Fresno last weekend and I haven't cleaned out all of the debris
-dog leash.  You'd be surprised how often I realized we had left the house without the leash until I started leaving one in the car...
-Mini hockey player.  There's a Carolina Hurricanes mini doll keychain hanging from my rearview mirror.
-Shoes.  There's at least one pair of my shoes in the back.  I like to keep comfy shoes around in case my feet reject the heels.  I think my Dansko clogs are in there...

5 items in my purse:
-my iPod.  The headphones live there too.  Gotta have it at work.
-my digital camera.  You never know when you're gonna want it.
-my card case.  DH gave me a lovely gold filigree card case to carry my business cards in for Christmas, and you'd be surprised how often I hand them out.
-lip gloss.  Tutti Dolci by Bath and Body Works, Apple Tart or Cinnamon Frosting
-My pain pills.  S'posed to take them with food and  I eat in the office.

5 people to tag:
Randomly choosing....
Oddybobo
Rachel
Richmond
Rave
Amy

from Marie

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:27 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 French Fries!! That is so funny! We have to talk in code at our house too. OK, I need a new digital camera that will fit in my purse, because you're right! You never know...

Posted by: Marie at May 31, 2006 05:44 PM (dswo0)

2 yay! I got tagged... I'll get right on that

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at May 31, 2006 06:12 PM (0Pi1o)

3 I'm just really really excited for you that you get to wear your academic regalia for the first time! How Cool!

Posted by: Bou at May 31, 2006 06:13 PM (iHxT3)

4 ::hits button on timer:: Done!

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at May 31, 2006 06:38 PM (0Pi1o)

5 yeah, so, i guess i missed one of the 5, so now it's updated. meme of 5 makes much more sense with 5 topics!

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at June 01, 2006 10:24 AM (yHahS)

6 Holy cow, I'm *it* again! And I agree with Bou - too cool that you get to wear your acedemic regalia for the first time. Any chance we'll see a picture??

Posted by: Richmond at June 01, 2006 11:33 AM (e8QFP)

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Unless your extra little sack works like a camel hump....

I don't know how Bou gets through her days without crashing the car!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Both grants out.  YAY!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:04 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Coming back to life, that is. Been glued to a keyboard for 3 weeks now, trying to get the grants out. One is off my plate, in more capable hands than my own, and the other needs all the TLC I can give it between now and tomorrow afternoon.

It will go out then. Oh yes, it will go out.

Spent the weekend in Fresberg, helping my mother pick paint colors and playing with the kiddies when I wasn't stuck in front of yet another computer. A much needed break, let me tell you.

Two things made me laugh: Christina muses the future, and puts me (ME!?!!?!?!?!??) in charge on an intergalactic women's retreat and fat farm. Although the working with Bou thing is about right. I suspect the two of us would work together pretty well....

Also, sarahk finally posts her 24 finale recap. Involuntary snorting ensued. You have been warned.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:43 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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