Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #141: A Viable Alternative Path

A Viable Alternative to Show Notes.

Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #141: A Viable Alternative Path

Jack’s “Hooked on a Deadpan” (courtesy of Kurt)

Non-Flash in the Pan Episode

Foreshadowing for episode 144

Long pause

Very long pause

Honest, there’s a show here

Justa J0e calls from the Smithsonian

imag1narynumber tells of a song that touched him

Andrea with a traffic license plate report

Justa J0e again from the Museum of Natual History

Greasy Spoons by:
Johnny Null
Cj
Amy Bowen
Cj
WNDRWolf
Nomad Scry
Nomad Sry – First comment of the week

Paul Maki pays up on his Oh Canada bet?

Questors of Effpiem Episode 8 – by Amy Bowen (http://amybowen.wordpress.com/)

More from Paul Maki about Canada

Justa J0e from the Capital Building

More from imag1narynumber on his song

Jack asks why all conversation considered filled with innuendo?

Justa J0e from Mount Vernon

Jonathan tells about when he, Paul Maki and Jack took a taxi together

News:
1) Jack’s tired
2) Will be a Duel of the Fates 3 – Vote now on the combatants
3) Look for Twelve Bar Blues by Jack in the Michelle M. Welch anthology “Theme and Variations” (http://mmwelch.wordpress.com/) Jack also contributed music to this anthology

More Flash in the Pan to come as well as Non-Flash content

Send in content: 206-350-Tomi (8664) or e-mail: sphericaljackmatgmaildotcom

Paul Maki sings the Canadian national anthem

Closing music World and Deadpan premier by Caroline Rhodes and Jack Mangan

902 thoughts on “Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #141: A Viable Alternative Path

  1. #7 = (repost from previous forum page)

    THANKS Nomad !!

    I will take a look at New Egg.
    The “Firewire” thing is kind of the sticking point. Were it not for that I could probably have just purchased one of the three (they now only carry 3 ?) enclosures that my local Best Buy has to offer. I do a lot of video stuff though so I do actually use the Firewire connection.

    As to the 2.5?/3.5?/5.25? thing … is that the physical length of the hard drive itself?

  2. #12 – Re: Van’s article Van Linked to.

    If that article had been “Fair and Balanced”© they would have pointed out that in Canada, some patients might have to wait up to a year before being overdosed with radiation.

  3. jJ: That is the side-to-side of the drive. Give me a couple of minutes and I can double check that those numbers are the reality numbers. (Unlike lumber, where a 2×4 is not 2 inches by 4 inches. Which always screws me up when I build a table or desk or … )

  4. Okay, the drive I am holding now is a 3.5″ IDE HDD, but it actually MEASURES 4″ across and roughly 5 3/4″ long.

    Yesterday you said, “Physically speaking – the drive measures about 1?x4?x5.75? (Model # ST3500630A)”

    And if I weren’t a flaming idjit, I’d have simply found the information about the model. *smacks forehead*

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148135

    So it is a 3.5″ IDE HDD according to spec and according to the measurements you made.

  5. I got complimented on my Luther Wright and the Wrongs “Rebuild the Wall” button on my jacket. Made me realize the button itself is from almost nine years ago. And the jacket from longer ago. Some of my coats are old enough to be entering puberty.

  6. Darcy’s show is almost up, then we’ll have a bunch of time with both of us in the house in the evenings.

    A good thing too, I have to record audio for QN, Geek by Night, and a certain Mr. Shaurette…

  7. Yeah, I do note that Five Iron Frenzy wrote it as “mooses,” and I know for a fact you do have them there.

    Though everyone knows it’s “meese.”

  8. Five Iron Frenzy is the only Christian Ska band I listen to…

    I’m sure they would love to change my heathen ways, but it’s pretty unlikely…

  9. Just watched “Adventureland” which I got from Netflix. I guess it was set in 1987 because the writer wrote it as a somewhat autobiographical tale. It comes off as an excuse for the soundtrack however, as at no point does it seem particularly necessary to be set at any specific time period.

  10. You missed a bunch of strapping young men jumping about in the woods for no reason other than to burn off some of that masculine energy.

    In other words, we made dick jokes. It was fun.

  11. More mini review…

    I thought Kristen Stewart performed well as the female lead Em, she was captivating in a fairly minor role in “Into the Wild” a couple years ago and I liked seeing more of her. Here’s hoping she puts her sparkly vampire cash in the bank so she can do more indie work in the future.

    Jesse Eisenberg I can’t compliment as highly in his role as James. I am unfamiliar with any work he’s done previously, so I don’t know if the way he played James was his own choice or how he was directed. If the former, Eisenberg needs to be told we already have one Michael Cera, if the latter then Greg Mottola (the aforementioned writer and director) needs to just cast Cera next time…

  12. Okay, one last bit of review…

    Ryan Reynolds was very good as Connell, I enjoyed seeing him play straight drama. I thinl he should do well as Green Lantern, assuming they make a good film of it.

    I also enjoyed Wendy Malick as James’ mom. I like her as a character actress and she had plenty of good screen time.

  13. I want more Ryan Reynolds as Hannibal King.

    Listening to myself talking about Dollhouse Epitaph One and I hit the desk to emphasize my point. So now I am laughing at myself for being emphatic.

  14. Can’t read or listen just yet, but have show on my ipod. Heading out to apply for a job today. I also have an interview on Monday. Woo hoo!

    Also taking Gram for more blood work this afternoon.

    I’ll catch up next free minute I have!

  15. Weird. I actually listened to this one as it was uploading last night – so I’m not sure why there’s such a long pause or how I missed it.

    Er, I mean, it was my avant-garde podcasting style to challenge the audience’s sensibilities. . . . yeah. . .

    Ugh sorry.

  16. Bad Erotica Theatre:

    “I have a Tootsie Roll center, you know,”
    “Mmm, how do I get to it?”
    “I’m not saying, but we’d better count the licks.”

    /Bad Erotica Theatre

  17. Here’s hoping the kid accidentally let the balloon get away and on seeing the commotion it has caused … he is hiding under the porch. This is not unheard of with kids.

    Sadly ALSO not unheard of … is the older brothers talking the youngest kid into doing something really stupid (Hey Timmy – Jump out the window with this umbrella as a parachute, … wear this belt made of meat and run through the yard that has the pit bull, … climb into the battery box on the weather balloon and let us hover you over the house.)
    🙁

  18. Jack: Just completed the survey. And, no, I didn’t know about the collaborative Twitter project until you posted it just now. I looked at it on Twitter, but don’t have time to read through the entire project right now. I might be interested in contributing, though.

  19. Evening, DP. I’m in Denver still, exhausted and bitchy.

    I just rode up in the elevator with Suze Orman and her woman. She said hi to me and winked!

  20. A-ha is breaking up? I had no idea they were even still together. Or that they ever had more than one song. Can you make a twenty year career off of one song?

  21. I’m out of the voting. I don’t know the majority of the characters listed. Well, except for the animated ones. Those I know pretty well. I wonder what that says about me.

  22. Hello, everyone. I’m trying to listen to my dear Johnny in #141 and it hasn’t been loading for an hour, either in the popup, or embedded player. Known issue? Gracias!

  23. I haven’t heard the episode, but did read over the show notes.

    Bunny, for the record, I did call in a voicemail to Jack getting your back on the Paul singing issue — I see my muscle (or, guilt trip) was not needed! Yay, Paul!

  24. The only downside is I went to strip the guest bed and grab the towels in the washroom for cleaning and I discovered Mom broke the blinds covering the window in the guest washroom and neglected to mention it to us. Nice.

  25. I haven’t read the board yet. I have a brief internet connection at a local establishment. I have a return interview today at 11am and then another interview for a different job on Monday.

    I expect to have a job offer or two before mid-next-week.

    My internet at home should be back up before tonight and I’ll catch up.

    I miss all of you and those of you scooting off to your weekends already, make them amazing! xoxox

  26. Hey Lady J, your comment is freed from moderation! I clicked play in my browser and the episode started. If that keeps failing for you, I’d recommend clicking the “download” link and playing the .mp3 file right on your computer.

  27. I never understood why health insurance meant covering everything no madder how small. You don’t have car insurance to cover an oil change.
    If I go to the dentist or chiropractor and tell them I don’t want to run it through insurance I get a 40-60% discount because they don’t have to process claims and fight to get the money.

  28. reaper: Ah, but medical insurance *is* supposed to cover quite a few things, all basically laid out in your “contract”. It isn’t anything like car insurance, so comparing them doesn’t make sense.

    With the way things stand today, if you have one thing go wrong with you, say Diabetes, you can be denied any and all health care, not just things related to your problem. If you get hurt in a car accident, you’re screwed. You get appendicitis, you’re screwed. It’s like the Farside comic about horse illnesses.

    Frankly, it is an inhumane way for health care companies to save money.

  29. There are so, so, so many facets of the Healthcare controversy that make my blood boil. You hate Obama and non-Republicans THAT much that you’d rather see sub-zillionaires continue to suffer for lack of funds to cover outlandish medical expenses?

    OR you’re in on the take, and you’d prioritize your own greed ahead of the well-being of families stricken with severe injuries or illness?

    It’s too tempting to rant. I’ll stop there.

  30. Ditto: I don’t disagree that this is what medical insurance IS NOW. I just don’t think that is what it ever should have been. My parents own a small trucking company so they have to buy their own insurance. It cost them an insane amount of money to keep contemporary insurance. I told them to change to catastrophe insurance (any incident over $5000 plus continuing care related to that incident covered %100 after the first $5000) cost about 90% less. granted my parents didn’t have any continuing care needs when they signed up so it works for them…
    not an option for everyone but if people had to shop around from the beginning drugs and doctors visits and other procedures wouldn’t have gotten to this point…

  31. I think the world got a little closer to perfect…
    i just watched Community and Modern Family and wow they are funny…
    hmmm well mostly dumb funny maybe it’s not closer to perfect…

  32. OK all caught up. One would think I’d have more to comment on, but only three things that I need to address right now.. then gotta get ready for my evening out. ZOMG – a night out… haven’t had one in ages!

    and now on to my comments.

  33. jackmangan Says:

    BTW FYI: I’m wearing a belt made of meat right now.

    I actually had a comment to make about this, but then I read it again and completely lost track of what I was doing… again.. I… um.

  34. Today’s job interview went well.
    Gram is trying some new meds.

    I should have a job offer by Monday for the place I went today.
    I have another interview Monday morning at 8:30am.

    So far I feel good about things.

    Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes.

    And Ditto – what exactly was it you wanted to hire me for?

  35. Yea/
    Though I am here now … I have broken my string of Friday nights, at home, drinking myself to sleep!
    /Yea.

    I went with a mate of mine (whom I’ve known since the 4th grade) and hung out at a bar, drinking Martinis. Just for an hour or so but still …
    …baby steps.

  36. jJ: Cj has the best online price I can find. Target, Walmart, Dicks do not have that pump. Aubuchons does, but it is only cheaper if you walk in to buy it. In fact, anywhere you walk in will beat the price doubling extra $5 it will cost to ship.

  37. Agreed, NS. It’s annoying when I find something for a great little price and the shipping costs twice as much as the product. *grumble*

    But, I suppose someone’s gotta pay those guys in the tight delivery shorts…

    😉

    (forgive me… I’m up too late… haven’t slept in 4 days… and other stuff that makes me happy… silly…. yeah…)

    la la la

  38. wooot for a night out! I saw the new Coen Bros. movie tonight. Although I can’t relate with the heavy focus on 1970s Jewish suburban life, I still found it to be a pretty standard-fare enjoyable Coen film. . . . .which to me is pretty good. Comparable to The Man Who Wasn’t There.

    There’s my review.

  39. Wouldn’t be as bad if Darcy had time on her hands. Her show opens Friday, but she insists I take it easy and she wants to try to keep the kids from getting it.

  40. NS, I slept last night!

    I went to bed and conked right out! No coughing or anything and I actually slept almost 8 full hours! Would have been 8, but the kids were like, “Mommy, we’re thirsty! We want juice!”

    So – the kids have juice and milk and I’m sporting a ginormous and yummy 32oz coffee this morning.

    Life is good!

  41. Oh and to all of you with the coughing crud. I had that for a week. Last night was the first night I slept through without coughing.

    I have a helpful hint if you can’t sleep due to coughing.

    Put Vick’s Vapor rub (or some generic facsimile thereof) on your feet and then put on socks.

    I know it sounds bizarre – but it works! Honest!

    Snopes says it’s “undetermined” – those of us moms who have done it, say it works.

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/vaporub.asp

  42. Morning Pan.

    Thanks for the pump search help guys!
    I’m going to cal the guys and see if I can get a break on shipping if I order 20 of those things!

    Sorry about the DPN1 … drink plenty of Orange Juice. Vodka optional.

  43. Deadpan played fine for me on both my Windows and Linux boxes. Perhaps our webbernets were wonky for Lady J yesterday. Thanks all for assisting her.

    WNDRWolf’s podcast, on the other hand, I could not get to play on Windows, no matter what I did.

  44. Johnny, I actually have a few things coming up.

    I have a story set to appear in P.G. Holyfield’s Tales of the Children anthology (in progress).

    My prose-heavy short story is set to appear in Michelle M. Welch’s Theme and Variations anthology.

    And. . . . . . I thought I had some other stuff. . . . .

  45. I’ve been meaning to do writing recently, but the last production from me was the Party Animal short I did a few eps back. My episode of Angel Between the Lines I wrote the first draft of will release near Halloween.

    (Not that anyone asked…)

  46. JohnBoze: THAT explains your sudden burst of nipples. 😛

    Jack: Thanks, I’ll have to keep an eye out.

    Random MA/eyeglass memory:
    I recall starting MA (Tang Soo Do at this point) with glasses. Had to take them off for every class, obviously. Really sucked until I got contacts. Of course, they aren’t prefect either. Taking a hit to the eye area can make them less than useful.

  47. Well, one of my periodic thermo checks just came up feverish, so I raced to the urgent care and I’m now in the waiting room.

    Can’t mess around, Iris is only 8 months old, and both Fox and Darcy are asthmatic.

    “In order to help slow the spread of H1N1, we have removed all newspapers and magazines from the waiting areas…”

    Wait time is 1-1.5 hrs.

  48. The only oddity I had with this Deadpan episode is in regards to Google Reader. That’s how I get all my RSS stuff. Normally with podcasts there’s an embeded player at the bottom of the entry and a direct .mp3 link under that. This episode had neither. So I went to the actual site, where everything went smoothly under both OSes.

  49. Hey all!

    Just finished dinner (steak and baked potato = yum). Now sucking back a Wild Rose IPA and killing time while hubby sets up for D & D.

    I wish he’d hurry up, I have trolls to kill 🙂

  50. JN, I have about a dozen different colours and patterns of dice as well as various sizes and shapes (I have a tube shaped 20 sided die I swear only rolls low) Including one giant 20 sided die I don’t actually use because I’m afraid it’ll dent my wooden dining room table.

    Hubby has another couple of dozen sets of dice of his own as well.

  51. I, too, paid a visit to the clinic today. The wife is leaving town the in morning for work. So, being alone with the kids this week, she thought it might be good if I were somewhat healthy. Imagine that. Got a couple of shots and a week of antibiotics and industrial cough syrup.

    They did test me for the flu, and I passed…or failed, depending on how you want to score. Just Bronchitis, thankfully.

  52. My wife picked up “Stree Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li” at Redbox tonight. It has the girl from Smallville as the lead. Certainly not grade a cinema, but not a bad way to pass the evening while sitting sick on the sofa.

  53. I tried to catch up the Pan via my phone. That was an aggravating twenty minutes trying to get it to scroll a page at a time, no not 3 pages, not half a page, wait what did it do now?

    I’ll have to give it to the iPhone on this one. There is no way I’m going to be able to nipple the pan on my WinMo the way that Bunny does on her … what is it, a Touch? iTouch?

    Anyhow.

  54. I really like me wee eee, but this keyboard is turning me into a crappy typist. It is just too much effort trying to fix everything fourth letter that is missing or doubled or mis-typed. Blah.

    Maybe it should have had one of those fold out keyboards like the mobile freaks use with their n800s and UPMDs.

  55. You stump up the cash for Opera Mobile for you WinMo PDA, works fine on the deadpan page and doesn’t takeforever to scroll.

    Heck even Opera Mini works, if you have Java installed on your PDA.

  56. Opera Mini is performing admirably for the Deadpan on my Android phone. A little wonky for other browsing, but better than the default browser on the Pan…

  57. Thank you so much for all of the warm greetings and salutations! In response to some of the assistance (thank you yet again!), we do have Linux with AdBlock and NoScript but they were both set with open permissions. I tried the popup player, embedded player, and download tab, none of which worked for me at the time. I have yet to try again, as Johnny and I are on our way to the Wrentham outlets. Yay! We hope the remains of your weekend are thoroughly enjoyable.

  58. Without getting long-winded – most of you probably already saw my Facebook and/or Twitter.

    I took Gram to the hospital at about 4:30pm yesterday and I finally took her home at 1:30-ish this morning.

    She simply had some “clogged pipes” which are now moving more freely than I ever needed to know about – and aren’t you all lucky I shared that fact with you!

    So, Yes NS, the pre-sleep I got was definitely helpful! 🙂

  59. Oh, and did I mention that I also got to see Jack live and in person yesterday morning? So my day got to start off with an unexpected little treat there!

    *swoooon*

  60. It might lead to invisibility but I doubt it will lead to controlling gravity since it’s just acts as a guide for incoming radiation

  61. So since there is a nipple goal, I’m guessing I should adopt the “now playing” format that I’ve seen displayed here for the time being?

  62. Thanks all for being so warm, as you always are, to Lady J. She has a pretty messed-up work schedule, but it looks as though she’s going to try to pop in from time to time.

  63. Home again.

    Eating a piece of chocolate (Thanks Bunny!)

    Gram is, again, appearing better. I don’t think this roller coaster ride is over yet, but it seems that when I’m present, she’s more alert and aware of what is going on.

    My mom is here now though and taking over for a bit. I’m happy to be home with my kids and hope to be for the rest of the day!

  64. Vanamonde: Thanks for the consideration. Indeed the various Linux distros have reasonably easy ways to install the proprietary Quicktime codec. Of course, doing so without paying royalties would be illegal, so I’m sure none of us do that.

  65. Cj: Johnny Dangerously would often pretend to throw a low hook into his mother’s stomach to keep her on her toes. That would keep her alert.

  66. Cautiously optimistic for you, CJ. Wait, an LLAP without Drama? Inconceivable. I’d certainly have to demand a refund if such a thing came to pass. 🙂

  67. I slept in until about 10am this morning. I’m definitely recovering from my bout with the DPN1.

    Once again, I’m alone with the kids, but at least my parents were visiting this weekend. Tomorrow begins a week of hell as I have deadlines to meet and a team that can’t meet them. Remind me again why I want to be the competent one?

  68. Glad you’re struggling thru to victory there Ed!

    Just saw a “Top Gear” where they mocked the CTS and then raced it vs. an Audi with a V8 and “The Stig” at the wheel … and the CTS spanked the Audi! It blew it away in the straights (which wasn’t unexpected) but the surprise was how well the Cadillac handled in the corners. The Audi just couldn’t get past it.
    vroom vroom

  69. Was that the new one like I have, or the previous generation? (I’ve noticed BBC America does like to run old episodes of Top Gear in the mix).

  70. Yep. The 2nd half of my day calmed down and went just swell. You made sense.

    The only thing that doesn’t make sense is that I’m still awake and prowling around the internet.

  71. Still have the crud. Called in sick from work. Looking forward to calling in instructions on the one critical job I know of.

    Opera Mini had its first fail, wasn’t able to post this there.

  72. Wolf, I think I’ll employ sign language, and maybe take a page out of JB’s book and take some sick time after I go in for a few hours and boss people around a little bit.

  73. ‘Morning, everyone! I figured out the problem. Yours truly is a dumbass. I knew there was a post-intro silence; I didn’t realize it was quite that long. As a result, I am now listening to the episode, and got to melt when I heard Johnny’s contribution.

  74. Good morning, Pan!

    Visit with Gram yesterday was good. She’s gaining strength. While I’m hopeful for her recovery, I keep in mind that she is 93 and this will continue to be something we will deal with. My mom is in town now and has taken over Gram duty for now.

    I have a job interview at 8:30am. It’s a phone interview for a job at home, so I’ll be doing that after I drop the kiddos at school.

  75. The folks at work have been kind enough to make nice little tantalizing phone calls which hint at just how much of a mess is being made.

    Control freak? No, you must mean somebody else…

  76. My quirky contribution to the comment quota (2 points for alliteration): I’m having way too much fun with the regional manager’s request for us to dress up at work the rest of the month. I’ve been a freakily-real looking hobo, a goth queen, and today I’m a punk rock dude. Time to go rock the thrift-shopping masses…

  77. I aced the interview. Follow up tomorrow on-site.

    With all these interviews and offers, it’s going to be hard to pick and choose.
    I am blessed to have these choices with the unemployment rate being what it is.

    Makes me feel kinda good about myself, I must say 🙂

  78. Good Morning, Pan!

    Hope everyone’s weekend… OK, I pause here in my benevolent weekend wishes to send a **Hug** Cj’s way, and congratulate her on the interviews.

    Now, Hope you all had a good weekend!

    Oh, and JØ, Let the Hazing commence…

  79. justa J0e: Believe it or not, I’ve never seen Animal House. There’s a character in the old Slaine the Barbarian comics (and HUGE mega-bonus points if you know that one!) that was essentially an alien head with three arms. No torso, no legs. Anyhow, he was this badass alien dude and he was totally in charge of stuff. And I recall him saying, “Praise be to me.” and all of his followers praised him.

  80. Re: Animal House

    There is a scene where the evil fraternaty has their pledges bent over and they are beating the pledge’s derrières with large wooden paddles. After each hit, the pledge, trying to hold back screams, yells out “Thank you sir. May I have another.”

    Thus your “unmitigatedly bad trilogy.”
    Book one – SMACK
    Jø – “Thank you sir may I read another”
    Book two – SMACK
    Jø – “Thank you sir may I read another”
    Book three- SMACK
    Jø – “Thank you sir may I read another”

    😀

  81. Vanamode: Darn you, darn you to heck! Leave it to you foreigners to know things! Argh! Yes, you are spot-on. He also had a stand-alone series. I still have several.

  82. Trivia: Kevin Bacon was actually the pledge target of the paddle in Animal House.

    Johnny N. – so you didn’t send me any “Voice of God” audio, then?

    Vanamonde has an impressive encyclopedic knowledge about these sorts of things, British or not.

    Am I the only one who read “HH” as Happy Hour” in that earlier post?

  83. JØ: You’re welcome, sir. You may have another.

    jackmangan: somehow I totally missed the HH as happy hours, I was going for either Howard Hughes, Hugh Hefner, or Harold Hecuba…

    Cj: You’re welcome, Ms. You may have another.

    =^)

  84. Van, HH?

    The flu has really set in. I’m home sick. Ugh. I took Dayquil, which I generally avoid, to make my head stop feeling like it was going to explode out of my ears.

  85. NS: sorry to here this IS THE BEST series of books i have listened to… sorry jack Nathan Lowell is amazing.
    PS now my w&d are watching dancing w/the stares. I know i am a moron but i think Kelly Osborn is hot. many people thing she is chunky i just call that a real woman…

  86. justa J0e: i didn’t any anything about her being a conversationalist 🙂 … just fun to look at. ya i’m being a pig and I’m over it….

  87. Soo….

    I two more interviews for jobs coming up!

    Haven’t heard back from last weeks. I’m thinking they aren’t going to call. It’s entry level and I’m not, but who knows what they were thinking.

    The interview I had this morning went well, but because I worked for the company in 1986/87 – I have to wait for them to do the background check and make sure I wasn’t a “no rehire” – seriously? Like 22 years ago? Good God, I’m old.

    The third interview is the one I’m most excited about and that’s not until next week on Wednesday.

    Is it wrong that I think job-hunting and interviewing is fun?

  88. That sounds a bit harsher than I meant it. It was a fine opening, lots of potential to the universe, and the main character was appealing. On the other hand, a decent first chapter is no guarantee of anything. And if the ending doesn’t pay off, then you have BSG.

  89. Well, that was a fun few hours. One of the devices at work isn’t doing its job. Or rather, after trouble-shooting it all to bits, the device IS working. Something else is not translating the signal correctly.

    Which lands in higher level electrical territory, the stuff where I’m not only not allowed to touch, I’m not even technically allowed to -look-.

    So now I am waiting to tell the first shifters that they have to fix it. Wee.

  90. NS: i missed the nipple number… but it was funny now that i know that. it usually takes we a while to finish a comment (I can’t spell or type well) so I don’t look at the number… I’m also amazed we got in to the 400’s by Monday evening

  91. guess you already have my opinion of the “Golden Age of the Solar Clipper” books but with out much incite of them. they way he romanticize the grunt jobs and self discovery of the main character makes me wish I lived in that time growing with him. there is some science in them but the books are about people (well ok Person). I like someone I can relate to in a book. I have had crappy jobs doing things I didn’t understand because I had to so I can relate.
    They are the kind of books i can (and have) listen to over and over. still not very good incite but I can admit when I’m being a cheerleader…
    U RA RA go Golden Age.
    no i will not put on the cheerleader outfit 🙂

  92. Quarter Share, IMO, has decent writing. But it bored me to tears. It’s like listening to a game of Monopoly. It really is a story about trade. And I didn’t feel any of it was particularly clever.

  93. Morning Pan!

    Wow, lots of comments to catch up on!

    I have my party hat o and my noisemaker out for the awesomeness that is Cj’s interview skills.

    I have warm blankets, hot chocolate, and a good book for EssBee and JB to curl up and get better.

    I’m waving hello to Lady J

    And a general hug to all Deadpanites just on principle

  94. Johnny: I really like monopoly… I like listening to him read and the content makes me laugh often enough to keep me interested but I can see how it could get boring.
    on the other comment I wouldn’t have to worry about loosing weight to fit in to the outfit and that would be very funny… must resist commenting about about seeing bone… so many jokes

  95. I’m a car newb. I would like to stay that way. But there is no hot air and it is cold now. So I am trying to find out where the “Heater Control Valve” is. It is mounted to the “Firewall.” Whateverthefuck a “Firewall” is.

  96. J0e, on the upper right corner of the screen is a spot you can touch and it will play in either double time or half time. The good thing about the double time is it’s done in such a way the people talking don’t actually sound like chipmunks 😉

  97. I have had two problems with heat one was a thermostat and the other was the heater blower motor died. the motor was full of fine dust that used to be the motor winding. that was an old car so by comparison to newer cars easy to get to that was hard enough i would hate to try in a new car

  98. The air never gets more than lukewarm, the fan does blow, moving the heat dial doesn’t seem to make any difference, the engine doesn’t seem to have any issues with overheating (and the gauge does rise after a few minutes running the engine) and… uh… I have a diagram of the heater valve cable … and I spent a few minutes hovering over the engine trying to find it.

    And failing.

    But now that yall have told me what a firewall is (and I apparently failed my google-fu roll today (1s)) I will go look again. Meh.

    Thank you!!!

    !!!

  99. the first time I tried to fix my own car i was surprised at how easy it was. I had gotten an estimate on brakes and they gave me a list of a bunch of other stuff that also should be done (just neglected maintenance stuff) the cost blew me away. a friend offered to help if I wanted to do it myself. for less than 1/2 the cost I did the brakes, rotors, tuneup, gas pump, gas line, gas filter, exhaust system, and a few other things plus i bough the manual and all the tools including jacks and what not. I’m not saying car mechanics don’t have there place but if I have the time and some help I would rather do it myself. the big issue is time. this whole thing took me and a friend about 4 days they would have done it in an afternoon

  100. There was a time when I would buy the mechanical books for cars that I owned so I could change the filter, oil, etc. Now cars have gone all electronic and motors are on the sides and you need special diagnostic equipment to figure out what’s wrong. I just take my car in. It may cost more but it saves me a lot of time and frustration and keeps my eyes from crossing.

  101. The iPhone still has some advantages..inbuilt speaker means I can listen to podcasts at x2 when I’m messing around with the computer..

  102. And the heater valve cable is disattached from the heater valve.

    And my arm is quite thin. And it barely fits enough for me to get a fingertip on the cable.

    I’m not sure how I’m going to get that loop to pop back on. I’ve already ripped up my skin. Maybe I’ll have to get mechanical and go under.

  103. Lady J, I was actually hoping it would work out that way and gigging to myself when it work. thought I thought my effort would go unnoticed…
    Thanks you just made my day

  104. Rent a monkey, pshaw my fine sir, for I, myself, am a monkey. A -flying- monkey.

    Which is why I now have a heated car! And black arms! And odd scrapes to my elbows!

    Well, I’m not sure how being a flying monkey accounts for the scrapes.

  105. I have had some weird things happen with my shuffle since I washed it with my pants but this one takes the Banana…
    I could only listen to 7 songs on it yesterday but no other songs, books, or podcasts. I reset it through iTunes but it would still only play the same 7 songs and would tell me there was nothing on it if I removed these songs. but now that I filled it with an old play list (the first one I ever loaded to it) it is working fine. weird. guess i don’t need rent a monkey any more either.

  106. I just killed an ash beast. Don’t ask me what an ash beast is, it was dark so all I had was a silhouette. Then I pressed a wrong button and jumped into a pit of molten lava. I think it’s Cities XL time. The worse that can happen there is bankruptcy :mrgreen:

  107. I’m not sure if it’ll do me any good, but I just installed ruby and instiki (a personal wiki) on my big box. I really should just be using something like tiddly … tiddlywiki? on a thumb drive. This way I can use it with the big box, the work computer, and me wee eee… And if I had some sorta awesome microSD to USB thumbdrive connector thing a bob … I bet I use it in OperaMini on my cellphone too.

    I think it must be bed time now. Gnight mush.

  108. Nomad Scry: I thought the original Rathole Radio was also about music. Huh. I learned something new.

    I think I heard one episode of LugRadio and I didn’t like it. Too small of a signal-to-noise ratio. And I really, really can’t stand LottaLinuxLinks or whatever the hell it’s called, for the same reasons.

  109. Nomad Scry: I bought a MicroSD-USB deal at Target. It was ridiculously cheap. I want to say ten dollars to not exaggerate, but I really think it was closer to five.

  110. random thought: every time I reheat anything in a microwave to make it taste as good as the night before i have to add some salt and pepper. hmm where did the salt and pepper go… there isn’t a reservoir for it in the microwave… take that law of thermal dynamics

  111. Hey, this is just Tuesday, isn’t it? We’ve already hit the target for the week and still have a full day to go? Exciting stuff!

  112. So the burning question is, and I have a half hour before I need to answer it, should I sneak out and get a donair for lunch or eat whatever I have around the house, most likely a baked potato and… something, not sure until I get up and look.

  113. I kept hearing about tumblr. Apparently it’s a blog thing. But, of course, they reserve the right to own everything you put there (probably what you link to as well) for ever and ever, including selling, sharing, trading, whatever they can dream up. I don’t get why people agree to this.

  114. “a skeleton dressed as a cheerleader would be HILARIOUS!”
    -But would you be able to see a difference?

    “Whateverthefuck a “Firewall” is.”
    -OK, so this got answered, but I knew what it was in at least 3 different flavors.

    NS: Weird question: is the air-conditioning turned off?
    –OK, I wrote that before you fixed the problem. Props to you, BTW for getting it fixed.

    TEB: Wouldn’t a donair just be the hole?

  115. TEB: No. I have no idea what that is. I assumed it was a typo. Now I have to Google it. Now I feel I’m missing something obvious.

    Lejon: In my school, at least back when I attended, yes.

  116. Okay, Almighty Wikipedia tells me donair=gyro, essentially.

    Therefore, that would’ve been my vote. Though personally I’d have to look up the calories.

    Well, on second thought, it depends. A real gyro is with lamb. The junk sold around here is not much better than a random sub at Quizno’s or something like that.

  117. thanks, ditto. Although I’ve not been that annoyed by the US only websites. It’s true, BSG did it, and there are a few others, but TV or other such things are just not that important to me.

    That being said, however, the fact that I can’t order some items from CDN Amazon that are available in the US (i.e. computer games and some books) as well as CDN i-tunes does bother me. But the fact of the matter is, no matter how it sometimes feel, I do live in a different country and therefore should (must) put up with all that it brings. It could be much worse than not being able to access certain internet sites or having to pay a little extra to ship thing from the US.

    *puts soapbox away*

    Ok, my sewing machine calleths.

  118. They’re finally working on the sidwalk in front of my house. Unfortunately the cement truck is letting off this occasinal high pitched squeal that is freaking out the cat. Stopped sewing and am now laid out on the couch, reading, so she can lay on and cuddle me.

    Being a cat owner can sometimes be really tough 🙂

  119. Just got the call…

    My Grandma is going into hospice today. It seems she’s had a stroke. She is 93 years old.

    Seeing as I don’t want to be the deadpan-downer – I may dissolve for a few days until this is over.

    Thank you all for your kind words both past and future.

  120. You definitely have my sympathies, Cj. You are not a Deadpan-Downer. We’re all friends here, and no one needs every comment to be all shiny.

    I certainly hope everything goes as well as possible.

  121. Opera Mini has failed me repeatedly getting onto the Pan. I suppose I need to check out the default browser under Donut before giving up on daytime Panning…

    I went to work today, but left early as kids have fevers now. Went to doc, found out that Tamiflu side effects are heinous enough to hold off unless symptoms worsen.

    No other real news, I have DM afftereffects after taking Nyquil 2 nights running.

    Perhaps I should have said: “in a row…”

  122. Jack – maybe there could be a button that would disassemble the food on a molecular level and then could re-assemble it with the correct seasoning uniformly spread through-out.

  123. “Sometimes my job makes me want to scream.”

    I suppose that is a little better then “Sometimes my job makes others want to scream.” … like my Uncle’s did.
    Strange man. Worked out of his basement. Don’t really know what he did.
    Ah, but the screams … the screams !

  124. JohnBoze Said:
    Sometimes it seems Iris’ job is TO scream…

    I think Henry Rollins wrote about this. It was called “Eye Scream”.

  125. Partial quote from the wiki article everyone should appreciate:

    Devo’s music and stage show mingle kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor, and mordantly satirical social commentary via sometimes-discordant pop songs that often feature unusual synthetic instrumentation and time signatures, and their work has proved hugely influential on subsequent popular music, particularly New Wave, industrial and alternative rock artists.

  126. JohnBoze: Oops, I apologize for using the word “nipple” to refer to my previous nipple in response to your nipple.

    I know how some parents feel about nipples and having their children exposed…

    Wait, do you do breast feeding? ’cause, if you do, I’m not going to apologize.

    I’ll just sit back and be terribly impressed.

  127. Wow, I wonder what male cast member Dora’s map is secretly married to in Massachusetts?

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

  128. I’m planning on making chili in a croc-pot Saturday. Never done it before. I too will use ground turkey. And beans. And things other than turkey and beans.

  129. Let the spices comingle with the meat mixturefo a spell, then add 1 cup or so beef broth or boullion as available.

    Yeah, Essbee, forgot to grab my coat on that last crack…

  130. Add a couple cans kidney beans, light or dark as you may, and your choice between draining the beans or adding their packing sauce. For kids I usually add the sauce, as it dilutes (and stretches) the recipe.

  131. Bring back to a merry boil, then simmer a while. Pretty much ready to serve, or you can simmer covered a good long while, it’s pretty liquidy and extra simmerage won’t do any harm for flavor.

  132. When I serve myself, I dose with a fair amount of smoked tabasco sauce, kids go for it straight up.

    Well, sometimes…

    If they are in the mood to eat at the moment…

  133. And have played Warren Moore (Geek by Night), Javert Vidoq (Buffy Between the Lines Season One), and, possibly confusingly, John Mangan (Buffy Between the Lines Season Two).

  134. Eh. I’ve never heard any of those other names (apart from Paul Maki, but I have no idea where I’ve heard that name), never heard of Geek By Night, and I never liked Buffy.

    I’ll get my mouse.

  135. Well, the Bond stint, yeah…

    Really I thought audiences would be cool with that extended love scene with M…

    Tee Morris can back me up on Dame Judi’s sex appeal… Tee?

  136. Just trying to bait Tee into delurking, as though he was lurking the Pan to start with…

    I remember I said something previously about me and baiting…

  137. I’m in limbo right now. Can’t really do anything so just trying to keep the kids on schedule etc.

    Besides, the Pan makes me happy. Even when I’m not here – I’m still panning in my mind 🙂

  138. “ftp: food transfer protocol”

    Heh!! Why go out for a byte when you can download in?
    Just remember, ftping from a Chinese web site will only leave you wanting more an hour later.

  139. Lejon: I hadn’t thought of that. The AC button was off, but the former owner was a tinkerer, so that doesn’t nec. mean that it was actually off. I tend to forget the first rule of trouble-shooting: find the stupid.

  140. CJ: =(

    I’m a bit of a downer, personality-wise, so it is best if I don’t say anything much at all, but I can say that we are thinking of you and your family. I don’t just me the several of me inside my head either.

  141. I think I am caught up again.

    That must mean it is time for me to crash. I was up way too long yesterday (I was reading the DRS forums till 2pm) and now I am paying for it. Two more hours till I can sleep.

  142. Wow JN I thought I listened to a lot of podcasts…

    You are chewing it up!

    Hmm… I wonder if we could get a round table or something around and talk about it…

    Just Wandering Around with my thoughts…
    with the number of ideas I have I am bound to have a good one.

  143. depressing though: I just printed out a new version of our phone list. the last one (2+ years old) had t-z on the back this one has room for at least 15 names on the front

  144. Nomad Scry: Although I’m tiring a bit of Elves being in every story, I think it’s pretty well-written and I’m enjoying it. It gets bonus points for a slightly new take on some dwarves. I’m a touch worried how the story will end, given the bizarre plot, but so far, so good.

  145. wndrwolf: actually being a wolf you might be looking for the squirrel…
    hmm being food for your pray. guess a squirrel finding a nut the size of a wolf might be very happy squirrel.
    maybe I need to stop over analyzing… on the other hand it can be funny…

  146. WNDRWolf: Yeah, my job is brain-numbing enough that without something decent to listen to, I fear I would go postal.

    Round-table about podcasts?

    I’ll give it a listen, but I have a few shows in queue before you 😉

  147. On a different note, I’m feeling very colour coordinated today. Every piece of clothing I have on is blue. Maybe not all the same shade, but still…

    Hubby watched me dress this morning and asked why I was feeling down. He thinks he’s funny 🙂

  148. I had the abovementioned trouble of late with Opera Mini, unable to push “Submit Comment” button, but only recently, it worked well previously. Trying Android Browser Donut edition and so far so good if this post works…

  149. Oh, and I point out to NS that I played Warren Moore AKA Muffin Man on Geek by Night, NOT Warren Meers on Buffy Between the Lines Season One. The latter show I was Javert Vidoq, the “Big Bad”…

  150. I think I’m having one of those days. I’m making stupid comments and just now, I tried to access a file on my work computer and was very confused when the mouse didn’t seem to work. Apparently the mouse attached to my home computer doesn’t operate the cursor on my work computer. Go figure.

    Maybe sleeping in wasn’t such a good idea… Maybe it wasn’t enough… hmmm.

  151. I’ve only had Blue Bunny once and was not impressed. But that was quite a while ago and I no longer remember why.

    I used to really love the Godiva Black Raspberry but I had no self-control and always ate so much of it that I got sick. And then the supermarkets stopped carrying it. I guess I was the only one willing lose control that way…

  152. NS: Blue Bunny did suck for a while it was worse than great value but now (last 3maybe years) they pulled there heads our of there back sides and made good Ice cream. I’m going on my wife and kids say so because I don’t like most ice cream…

    TEB: I knew I wasn’t the only one! guess now i’ll have to start looking for hidden cameras 😉

  153. I installed a personal wiki yesterday. Today I cut’n’pasted the terribly raw outline/rough draft of a short story into it.

    And was blocked by the built-in spam filter.

    ?

    After poking and prodding, it turns out that the Instiki wiki blocks the word “fucking”. I replaced it with “frogging” and continued on… Heh.

  154. NS- guess i should rephrase that. Ice Cream makes me sick so I don’t eat it… unless it is pumpkin… pumpkin is wort the stomach.
    I cant eat chocolate either but that makes me so sick I can’t stand the smell any more (thanks Pavlov). My wife can’t use chocolate scented candles or lip gloss…

  155. Stupid headhunters and their keyword searches on resumes. Stop contacting me for junior programming positions that pay a fraction of what I make. I’m not interested. READ the damn resume that you’ve somehow managed to find!

  156. Well. That wasn’t what I intended to write… Oh well, it was angry and fun. Heh.

    Hey ditto, what’s that yummy odor? Ah, brains!

    EssBee – enough with the sick, eh?

    And this … mr. Gnome really reminds me of something. Must have been something the big bro used to listen to when we were rebuilding his house. I’m coming up with something Symphony. Dunno.

    I’m almost empty … whee.

  157. Just finished listening to Wander radio Halloween Special. = fun. 🙂

    Swapped my 500gb hard drive to it’s new Macally enclosure whilst I listened. = went okay but I didn’t need one more item on my list.

  158. reaper – I understand that one. My insides do all sorts of interesting things when supplied with unprocessed milk. And we had a hamster once that nearly killed me. Who knew that the fifth hamster would make me unable to sleep AND breath? The first four didn’t bother me.

    CP WanderRadio 45

  159. WNDRWolf: I could perhaps put in my two pence, though I don’t know how helpful I’d be. I really need to buy a microphone. . . . That’s it, come November, I’m going to buy me one, dammit!

  160. ditto: Welcome back. If any of your headhunters is looking for someone that has no idea what he’s talking about, let me know! I’m great at not knowing!

  161. WNDR, I will try to check out the Halloween ep if I get a chance after work. I think the final Flash-in-the-Pan releases tonight, so you only have a few hours left, if you want to make a statement about Flash Gordon.

    Then we can move on with our lives (until Duel of the Fates III — have you voted?).

  162. Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
    Gil: Oh?
    Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
    Gil: What a great story.
    Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.
    — Parenthood

  163. Oh, and Good Morning, Pan!

    Cj: I don’t do cards. I mentally emit well-wishing through the ether. It’s cheaper, and I feel if there is a universal entity keeping track of such things, it gets marked on the “plus” side of its chart. I’m sending another one at noon. Don’t miss it.

    TEB: I see little cottontail bunnies around my office building all the time. Saw one on my first break this morning. Always puts a grin on my face. For that matter, Ice Cream also usually puts a grin on my face… but since I lived in Iowa during the hey-day of Blue Bunny’s turn at making very cheap (read: bad) ice cream when my parents bought a lot of it, I’ll stick with Berto’s… sure, it costs more, but it gives me that MMMMMMM feeling…

  164. What do you do if there was someone who was on your Christmas card list, but you weren’t planning on getting a gift for, but you’re out and see the perfect, relatively inexpensive, gift for that person?

    I bought the gift, but I’m afraid I’ll make her feel guilty because I don’t want a gift in return.

  165. WNDRwolf and JØ: I’ve noticed that when I pull the Wander Radio files that the Genre is usually listed as a number in parenthesis – This caused my Sansa Sandisk MP3 player headaches (read: had to reinstall the firmware to get it back to playable) – I find that simply changing the genre to “Podcast” makes everything play well together.

  166. TEB: I buy the gift. I also go a long way to explaining to people that they don’t need to buy me anything, unless they want to, and I try to never tell people “what I want” for Christmas, because it’s not about what I want, it’s the thought put into the gift that counts.

  167. TEB: at but at least according to my family blue bunny got much better but not much more expensive. like a fine wine it got better with age? so you can be less cheep and good! 🙂

  168. I agree LJ (about the gift, not about keeping things to yourself). I did buy the gift. I also don’t give gift ideas. In fact, hubby and I don’t exchange gifts at Christmas, we collect our funds and buy a big item we’d both enjoy. (This year we plan to get a new TV for the livingroom). I do, however, demand gift ideas from the kids because we have no idea what to get them 🙂

  169. If I see something that is just perfect for someone and I can afford it, I pretty much always get it for them even if there is no occasion for it.

    Sometimes it’s better if there is no occasion for it because then they absolutely don’t have to get you something in return for whatever “holiday” it was.

    A simple, “I saw this and it made me think of you so you must have it.” should suffice.

    Giving gifts is entirely hugely more fun than receiving them, however, when someone thinks of you and what YOU would really enjoy and appreciate simply because they know you – the gift of them knowing you often means more than the gift itself.

  170. I figure the Wells’ Dairy only really needed the cartoon bunny when their product was poor. Now the bunny itself has faded away to name only and the products are pretty good.

  171. My last nipple reminds me of the early Steven Seagal movies:

    First he was Above the Law, then Hard to Kill, after which he was Marked for Death. This sent him back Out for Justice, where he suddenly found himself Under Siege. As his film carreer continued, we found ourselves On Deadly Ground.

    There are days I wish I didn’t know so much about movies… Thank god 42 minutes into Executive Decision they killed him off.

  172. 3 things I love:
    The new show Trauma, bit of a gore fest but thats why I like it.
    Hulu because I can watch Truma on the laptop while my wife and daughter watch a chick flick
    and last but not least my Bose head phones because I can’t hear the chick flick and I don’t have it up that loud.

  173. You should receive an email to ReallyBigJavert to connect. Once you accept, you are “in” 🙂

    I’m protective with the kids’ pics especially with other people’s children are in them.

  174. Having now discovered, shockingly enough, that Jim Davis is the guy who created the aforementioned Garfield… I find that I really don’t understand.

    The PVP guy is the Jim Davis of webcomics. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Huh.

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