Unshhhhhhh

There will (probably) be a release of the audio recorded for this week. Just not right now.

Goodnight, mush.

477 thoughts on “Unshhhhhhh

  1. JOe, from last night: hilarious! We play conference call bingo with some of the more ridiculous things my boss says. Some choice examples are her fondness for the word “plethora”, a long, drawn out “sssoooooooo”, and the tinkling of ice as she pours her drink(s) toward the end of a call.

    NS: “pencil down” seems to, taken from the context, mean “get busy”. As in “I really need to get up and ‘pencil down’ my workout or my ass will grow.”

    I guess?

  2. Justa Joe – I have an irrational desire to avoid the popular choice, so I am unable to use iTunes if I do not have to. Since I use a Sansa Clip, I don’t have to.

    But… that’s a good thing to keep in mind. Thanx!

  3. My interview is this afternoon… I have a my 3rd anniversary coming for Wander Radio… Trying figure out what I should do to celebrate the occasion… Oh yeah and work.

  4. Kitty on caffeine – I predict you’ll have claw marks on your ceiling.

    EssBee – “pencils down” is usually the ending point of a timed test. It is the point where you have to back away from your work and submit it in what ever form it is in at that time. Finished or not, you have to submitt it.
    Sort of the “Game over,man!” of the academia world.

    Wndr – Re: Celebration. I recommend running naked through the streets.

  5. Coffee = yuk

    Chocolate covered coffee beans = initially yum then yuk.

    So was going to check the trainwreck that was Angels and Demons tomorrow..but just noticed the new Charlie Kaufman film (well new for the UK)..so off to the arty farty cinema I shall be going.

  6. I must live in the same universe as Joe – from my youth, “pencils down” is an imperative that you are out of time for your exam.

  7. Napalm! I have a tub of that around here somewhere. Now if only I could figure out how to work these child protective locks… I’m going to need to get a 7-year-old to help me.

  8. It’s good to be part of the Deadpan. Good people and the best advice evAr.

    I have removed the super-glue without the assistance of a 7-year-old.

    Nor did I use my teeth.

    OK. I’m lying a little. I may have chewed.

  9. JaJ & ditto: OOOOOH! That kinda makes sense re: “pencils down”. Duh.

    ditto: you are quite handsome! *swooooooon*

    We are off to Independence, KS early tomorrow. We have lots of audio loaded and a big bag of sunflower seeds.

  10. Just finished reading Twilight. I mentioned that fact on Twitter and it started a little maelstrom of @ replies.

    OK maybe “maelstrom” is too strong of a word, but dammit, it’s a FUN word!

  11. File Under: Watching Crap Movies So You Don’t Have To

    s. Darko: 98% Shite & 2% “Wow, Donnie’s sister got hawt”

  12. jaJ, you crack me up!

    Okay, the car is loaded, the coffee is brewed, and we are headed to Kansas. We’ll be back late Sunday! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do (well, not you Cj and Bunny and Amy)! See y’all on Monday!

  13. Morning All!

    Have a good trip, EssBee! I’m glad you exempted me. I’ll do anything I damn well please 🙂

  14. Trying something new today.

    My right wrist is quite sore today as it was reefed on during MA yesterday, so I’m using my mouse with my left hand. It’s an interesting, if slower, experience.

  15. Well, there’s a day I’ll never get back. I spent about 18 hours in bed with some sort of flu that hit me yesterday morning. Fever broke during the night and I’m clear of those symptoms. Now, I just feel like a rug that’s been beaten against a wall….a lot.

    I highly advise against getting sick. It takes a lot to get me to stay home from work and this was one of those.

  16. Get more rest, Ed. I know what it’s like to want to go to work even when not feeling well, but you’ll be more productive missing an extra day and getting better, than trying to concentrate and work when sick.

  17. Wierd how, Van?

    I’m off to the grocery store. Not baking cookies today. Having company tomorrow so will bake a chocolate chip cake then.

    Meanwhile, my computer is acting strange so am doing a virus check on it. That’ll take all morning.

  18. Currently in the spam folder: 3 sex Positions to Help Yoou Last Longer – She’ll Be Silently BEGGING You For More and More

    I so don’t want to attract mimes.

  19. Well, being home and recovering today, I’ve finally succumbed and joined Facebook. What have I gone and done now?

  20. Lejon – welcome!

    The truth is we really are clicky….except that everyone is in the click. And now you are, too!

    Muw ha ha ha….

  21. Hey Pan!

    Lost a few e-mails – thanks to my mom who insists she doesn’t have a virus but insisted on sending me one 🙁

    Hey Lejon – welcome to the Pan

  22. So a job opened up at my husband’s school as a librarian. We have a friend who is interested (and is qualified), so my husband sent me the particulars to send to her. His subject line was “library position”

    We have a library downstairs, I’ll have to give that “position” a try 😉

  23. Ah. “I am Legend”. Got to read that one of these days. Wonder how different the movie was.

    I had a teacher in high-school call me “legion”.

    It was a parochial school, and thus followed the obligatory parochial school joke: “I am legion, for I am many”.

  24. I just wooted off and bought something.

    Must have been distracted by Jack using the word “penetrating”

    If any of you are “currently penetrating”, you might want to reconsider posting that during said penetration.

  25. Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen
    Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen
    See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
    James Dean, rock on

    ROFLROFLROFL

  26. Welcome Lejon, if you liked ‘I Am legend’ be prepared for a nasty surprise with the Will SMith film version.

    So ‘Synecdoche: New York ‘ was weird with a capital W.

  27. Little Bunny Foo Foo
    Hopping through the streets of Chandler
    Scoopin’ up the coyotes
    And hiding them from Lejon!
    Then the Energizer Bunny came and said:
    ‘Little Bunny Foo Foo
    I don’t wanna see you
    Scoopin’ up the coyotes
    And hiding them from Lejon!
    I’ll give you 1 chance. None of this 3 chances BS that the fairy gives.
    And if you don’t behave… well… who really cares. Let’s go shopping.
    And off they scamper toward the Chandler Fashion Center.

  28. Just sat down and wrote. Yay, writing. Need to get home so I can concentrate properly on plotting out and organizing the elements of this story. Escape Pod, here I come! 😀

  29. (Damn it, I’m using Twitter annotation. Deal)

    @CJ: Scottsdale Fashion is better and, at the moment, closer. Not that Chandler Fashion is shabby, it’s just nowhere near work.

    Funny, my job is 32 miles from my home, and I’m constantly complaining about traffic. Related?

  30. (klammeraffe)jackmangan: Well, I listen in a completely disjointed way. I pick two eps from the top of the list and two from the bottom. Working towards the middle, which shifts closer to the bottom of the list as new casts post. I get a well rounded mix of them when I load new casts.

    At the moment, I’m down to my last two. then I’ll have to try and find the archives.

    At present, I am both up to date, and listening to ep 119.

  31. I scored the elusive Bag of Crap in the Wootoff.

    That’s right. Be jealous of me! Or don’t because really.. jealousy is not fun for anyone.

  32. Lejon: Awesome! I think this is one podcast that is well worth catching up on. I think its evolution over time is quite fascinating.

    The archives can be accessed by scrolling down the main page of the site until you see the heading “Archives” in the right-hand sidebar. They’re organized by month. #1 was in April of 2006.

  33. Awesome doesn’t even begin to describe the Deadpan. 😉

    Clicky? This is totally a point-and-click interface. I don’t understand what people are complaining about.

  34. Wow. M$ is getting smart about their documentation. The power shell installation sees what languages you’ve got installed and drops docs in each language.

  35. I missed the BoC utterly and I’ve already got a screaming monkey. This woot-off just didn’t do it for me. Maybe I’m finally breaking my two year long 67 sale addiction…

    twitch.

  36. I joined FB about a whole week ago. I’m a latecomer as well. I am thus far very meh on it.

    Doing a quick scrollback, I saw mention of the movie I Am Legend. Having cleaned up the vomit, I am back to my keyboard.

    Planning on seeing the new ‘Trek movie tonight.

    That’s about it for now.

  37. You’re not missing lots, J0e. I admit I’m addicted to the little games (currently Farm Town and Hammerfall). It’s cute to see what other people are doing, but I don’t actually say what I’m doing at the current moment.

  38. Good morning, Pan. My little ones want to go swimming today. I figure if I combine that with the Slip n’ Slide, I should be able to wear them out appropriately.

    I love swimming!

  39. Back from the beach. We only got sprinkled on a little bit out there. In 2 hours and 45 minutes, we collected over 450 (!) pieces of plastic, plus lots of other stuff. Yes, I counted; we were given a data collection sheet.

    Thinking of making this a recording afternoon.

  40. Good morning, Pan! I’m fried.

    Well my eggs were, and they were tasty. And dead, which is how I like them.

    (miukumauku)Amy Bowen: Congratulations on cleaning the beach. Did you get all the sand? Sometimes it hides under very small shells.

    (kukac)Everyone: Thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome. It’s been a great less-than-twenty-four hours…and counting.

  41. I went to the store and bought used DVDs: Twilight, Beverly Hills Chihuahua (for the kids and Drew Barrymore is awesome), and Bedtime Stories. I’ve only seen the dog movie and my daughter loves it. The other two I hope to watch this weekend.

    Twitter is getting on my nerves. Is it wrong that I hate #hashtags so much? Well, it’s not the tags I hate so much as the way people use them.

    as in #moviesibought #whyihatehashtags

    #lame

  42. Lejon: We got some sand, but we didn’t want to stay all day. 😉

    Happy with narration. Off to drop off recycling, go shopping, and do some editing in of voices. 🙂

  43. (apinanhanta)CJ: I believe the “#” is appropriately titled an “octothorpe”, thus: “hash-tag” becomes “octothorpe-tag”.

    Of course, both terms are only useful if one uses the “#” itself, in which case, it is pretentious.

    Have I just outed myself?

  44. And OK – so I only got 2 of the 4 second series right. Ouch.

    I’d like to see a Blackhawks-Penguins final, but I think we’ll see a stupid Red Wings vs. stupid Hurricanes final again. There’s my prediction.

  45. An octothorpe sounds like some eight-legged creature of some sort. “Thorp” means village. An eight-legged village.

    I’ll note that my nerdiness recognizes that the # sign does have a total of eight lines jutting away from the center square.

    If nothing else, at least I’ve learned something today other than the fact that Chihuahas actually hate wearing shoes.

  46. pounds….dollar….millionaire….

    Tell me, tell me,
    how to be
    a millionare-air-air-air

    From back when a million dollars used to mean something.

  47. You love gives me such a thrill
    But your love won’t pay my bills
    I want money

    (That’s what I want)
    That’s what I want
    (That’s what I want)
    That’s what I want

    +++
    I thought it was time for the “Flying Lizards” to weigh in on the issue.

  48. Also – for those shut-in tonight …
    The totally made for TV “NASCAR All Star Challange” is on.

    This is a race only for past winners. There are no “Championship” points awarded for this race so the drivers have no reason to “play it safe” and settle for a 2nd or 3rd.
    The winner gets a check for a million dollars, not the team or the owner but the driver … so there is a LOT of incentive not to come in 2nd or 3rd.

    To assist those with a short attention span, the race is held in 3 segments,
    They race for 20 laps and stop to let the fans get more beer … then race for 20 more laps and take another break to let the fans get more beer … then, they line them all up for a final 10 lap “shoot out”.

    Gecha a beer, put your brains on simmer, and enjoy.

  49. I have now read the first book of Twilight and watched the movie. My pop culture trivia scores will be higher. I can’t say the same for my IQ or my ability to have rational thoughts when confronted with large-headed vampires.

  50. Probably the only thing more dangerous that me joining Facebook was encouraging my wife to get on as well. I can see where all of the nation’s free time has gone. I hope this site is blocked from my office 🙂

  51. Just got back from watching the new Star Trek movie, and I too think it is a good movie.

    In fact it is so good my little sister had this to say:

    “It was so awesome it made up for s. darko!”

  52. I have a facebook account. I use it to get email sent to me when Evo Terra does #evfn stuff (Darn octothorpe-tag).

    I have explored facebook exactly far enough to figure out I’d rather be doing work. Which is not a natural state of affairs, since no women are involved.

  53. If you want to go old skool on FB, do a search from within FB for ZX Spectrum.

    Click on popular games and select Chuckie Egg for some classic 8 bit action.

    Morning Pan….

  54. Morning Fan(s)

    Overcast right now, but supposed to reach 22.

    Will be seeing Wolverine, this afternoon. Then baking a Lemon Poppyseed cake for my grandmother’s birthday tomorrow. Because I really want to spend my long weekend with a ninety year old who tells me I’m supposed to pretend she’s 80 whenever I see her friends (really, at that age, what difference does it make?)

  55. It begins with W?

    World domination begins with W. Can I be your…. 8th in command?

    Things never seem to go well for those first or second in command…

    !BANG! “You’re in command now my new number one”

    “gee…thanks”

  56. So last night, during my late night run, while running through the park, I had two teenage girls chase me down and volunteer to be my “jogging” partners. It’s true what they say, you do have to be careful running through a park at night.

  57. LOL, don’t tell her? What’s the use of a good story like that if I can’t torture her with it? *snicker* Luckily for the girls and my wife, I’m much too married and middle aged for my life to resemble a Penthouse forum letter.

  58. For those new to FB, some of us do scrabble games with each other.

    Cj’s a master and can’t be beat 🙂

  59. That is entirely not true. I have one friend who defeats me at Scrabble at about a 75% rate. He’s the true master. Trust me on this.

    I do enjoy a good game though! 🙂

  60. (kissanhäntä)The Energizer Bunny: I recently ran a game of L33T Scrabble at RandomCon. I like the live interaction. It’s always interesting to hear the arguments for words being put on the board, and I never tire of watching people’s faces fall when I judge that their word “doesn’t meet the rules requirements”.

    I’m a dick that way 😉

    http://www.guiseknights.com/2009/02/21/crazy_knife_throwin_injun/76/scrabble-takes-a-l3ft-turn-towards-l33t/

  61. Hello, Pan!

    I have accomplished a lot today. I moved the rest of my donated books out of my car, finished cleaning the kitchen counters, washed the dishes, made a pot of soup for dinners for the week, wrote a blog post about yesterday, and am now doing the laundry and writing my weekly update e-mail. I’m also looking forward to #writechat on Twitter, in 24 minutes.

  62. Way to go Amy!

    And which girls were these Jack? I thought all the women were focused on the eight foot tall, guitar playing rock star that happens to be 10 years younger than me? And single to boot. LOL

  63. We’re back from brunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We shared a Monte Cristo sandwich. The restaurant used to offer two different kinds, but now only offers the “breakfast” variant. Call me crazy, but adding eggs and bacon to a Monte Cristo doesn’t make it any better.

    One fortunate thing to come out of the visit. I came up with an idea for a new cheesecake variety. “Monte Cristo Cheesecake”. Drop the meat, swap the Swiss cheese for cheesecake. Thus, you have cheesecake between slabs of french toast. Dip in Monte Cristo batter, deep fry, coat with powdered sugar, and drizzle with raspberry sauce.

    I suggested this to the manager. She said she’d pass along the suggestion.

    I don’t believe her, so I’m emailing their corporate headquarters. They’ll probably blow me off, but I want to be able to order this.

    And, I don’t have a deep fat fryer, so there’s some motivation there.

  64. Hi Deadpan! I’ve survived BFE, Kansas, but just barely. I fared a few notches better than the 1,000 dead armadillos we saw dead on the highway over the past three days. Y’all seem to have kept busy and out-of-trouble without me.

    Welcome aboard, Lejon!

    I’m tired. Also, I’m hungry.

    That is all.

  65. Lejon: The Monte Cristo is my most favorite sandwich evAr. Whatever they did to it sounds completely heinous. Bacon? Eggs? No. I say no.

    I actually mystery shop the Cheesecake Factory (shhh don’t tell) and now I know they are freaks. I like your Cheesecake Crisco idea though so I’ll submit it on my next form so they’ll receive it from an additional angle. I can’t eat that, but it sounds yummy!

  66. Undead Fish Heads, Undead Fish Heads
    Eat them up yum.

    I took and undead fish head out to see a movie.
    Didn’t have to pay to get it in.

  67. I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen anything interesting from the “Center for Science in the Public Interest”.

  68. Is the “man-eating” helmet part of the new exhibit or have they always had it.
    (Technically speaking – I guess in the picture it’s a “girl-eating” helmet.)

  69. Good morning, Pan!

    We took today off to recoup from our loooooong drive. We’re not as tired as we thought we’d be, so plan to spend today planting our tomatoes finally, and getting the garden tilled for planting this weekend. w00t!

    CW: the last hour of the LOST Season finale.

  70. Morning Pan!

    Am I evil for giving a Woo Hoo because my grandmother cancelled today’s outing? Now I’ll have to spend my holiday Monday relaxing, playing on the computer, reading…

  71. It’s Victoria Day here in Canadaland. We get a holiday to celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday.

    I don’t care which dead monarch we honour, as long as it means a day off for me 🙂

  72. Does that mean we’re more patriotic and respectful of our queen than you, Van 🙂

    Oh, and happy anniversary to Cj and Dan. They’ve reached that “itch” stage

  73. Also, I’ve never called it the “May Long” or the “May Run”. It is referred to as the May Long Weekend. However, all holidays have that type of reference, i.e. Labour Day is the September Long Weekend, Thanksgiving is the October Long weekend, etc.

    It is known, however, that you don’t plant any flowers or anything, here in Alberta anyway, until after the May Long Weekend as it’s not unusual to get snow up to and including then. (of course, I’ve seen snow in July so that really doesn’t mean anything).

  74. Well this weekend is a bank holiday in. The Uk and I’m going to be off.

    Woot!

    May c heck out that old/new museum and growl at people under my breath.

  75. On Friday my hubby did come home with a 15 pack, but he also splurged and bought some whiskey. (real whiskey none of that blend stuff. Really, who actually likes Canadian Club?)

  76. Aug/Sept is looking to be a busy time for travelling for us.

    Aug 6 – 10th World Con in Montreal
    Aug 13 – 17th Hubby goes to a conference in Halifax
    Sept 3 – 7th Bunny in Arizona

    Hubby wants me to book Arizona trip tomorrow (just so all our travel plans are finalized) so I that’s what I’ll be doing. The flight I’m looking at will land about supper time on the third and leave about the same time on the seventh.

  77. TEB: Let me know if you need any airport transportation help. I’m good at airports and always happy to help.

    Oh and I have a huge car. It currently contains 5 carseats, but they are removable.

  78. Happy anniversary, Dan and Cj!

    We get our holiday next Monday, the 25th. No “StayAtHomeCon” for me this year! I am going on a trip, but not to Baltimore, unfortunately. I’m going to Coral Gables (suburb of Miami) to spend the night (Sunday night) at the home of some friends.

  79. Thanks for the offer, Cj. I was just going to take a shuttle from the airport to the hotel. I don’t want to put anybody out.

  80. Sure, Jack. If nothing else, I was also just thinking dinner at a restaurant with the “Arizona” contingent.

  81. Van: If I had a homemade kit for liposuction, I would certainly make use of it, but unfortunately, all of my fat is securely in place and not budging anytime soon.

    Which brings me to this point –

    Pilates 1st day = ouch.
    Pilates 2nd day = OMFG what the hell am I doing to myself kill me now.

    On that note.. over the last 2 weeks I’m officially down 6lbs which I suppose is worth a cheer. Long way to go.

  82. 🙂
    Thanks.

    It’s been a long road. I’ve actually lost about 150lbs total. 100 before I had the kids, then 50-ish after. For the last year I’ve just been maintaining which is better than gaining, but I live in fear that I’ll screw up somehow.

  83. Been wicked busy at work. Haven’t had a chance to keep up with the ‘Pan.

    Star Trek: Really rather good.

    G.I. Joe trailer: Vomit-inducing.

    Cj: Congrats! Weight loss can be very tough. I was ~ 240# not last Thanksgiving, but the one prior. I am now ~ 180#. A hard road indeed.

  84. Yes indeed, way to go CJ and i1! It’s been 15 months since I started running again and I went from 195 to 173lbs. The key is to try and make a habit of your new workout routine. I can’t remember what the magic number is, but I think if you stick with something for 30 days it becomes a habit.

  85. Vanamonde: I’d say it’s worse than that.

    First off, the scene with the Eiffel Tower was terrible. Looks like CG from the days of The Last Starfighter. Watch the base in particular. The girders look like they’re going to bounce and change into coins or something. Old-school greenscreen (or dare I say it – bluescreen) would kick its ass.

    Secondly, G.I. Joe is the Uber-force because of frakin’ high-tech suits? That alone would qualify as said childhood raping.

    But thirdly, the scene with the two guys dodging missiles? Well, let’s start with dodging missiles. Enjoy that for a while. Then add the forced dumbass acrobatics the characters do, most notably the guy in the foreground. Even IF you had a suit like that, you would NOT move in that manner. You’ve lost any sort of momentum and it clearly was not necessary to actually dodge said missiles. I think there needs to be a new term — when they toss some flash into the movie to make things seem whiz-bang, but is really so silly and stupid it’s more of a splash-plop.

  86. P.S.: thanks for the congrats, Cj and Rhettro.

    P.P.S.: If the collective Pan would like a standardized way to abbreviate my pseudonym, may I suggest ?# Only if you wish. Call me a-hole if you prefer 🙂

  87. imag1narynumber: Congrats on the weightloss. Very inspiring.

    As for GI Joe, it was after my time, like Transformers, so I don’t have any fixed memories to be raped. 😉 In any case, the effects, especially the dodging missiles scene, look a bit too much like Transformers.

  88. You know, the suit business in the GI JOE trailer was probably over the top. But, Snake Eyes vs. Storm Shadow will be more than enough pure awesomeness to make up for it.

    Just checked the Wikipedia page on the film. Christopher Eccelston as Destro? That should prove interesting.

  89. Cj – Uh… Wow, I’d forgotten all that extra complexity. In my mind, name level is 9th and it just means that you have reached the level of skill and/or notoriety to match up with a Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky or Pink.

    But of course, that does not involve charts and tables and makes way too much sense for it to have been a part of AD&D. Heh.

  90. The drive to work was really tough. Unexpectedly, the JapanesePod101 episode I was listening to had a discussion about pet deaths. I almost had to pull over. My wife has had our cat for 15 years, only about 8 for me. It will be really tough to lose him.

  91. Finally managed to book my flight to AZ. Boy that was harder than expected. Times are not exactly what I hoped for, but still managed to get direct flights.

  92. Our cat is pretty amazing. He is very smart. He understands a number of commands, including “no”. He loves people. And he was generally quiet. Only in recent years has he gotten a little crotchety. Our dog, on the other hand, is dumb as a post, but I love him too.

    *sigh*

    Thanks for the sympathy everyone. I’ll pass them on to the wife.

  93. Finally got a hold of the hotel to extend my reservation by one day.

    Silly Arizona people who don’t start work until nine 🙂 Must be nice.

  94. Sorry to hear about that, Ditto. We pay this terrible price for forming attachments because our lives are so much richer for having them.

  95. Ditto about your cat ditto.

    I now feel like utter crud, because the wife and I are on the verge of getting a kitten to be a companion for our cat… Of course, our cat has “issues”…but nothing like kidney failure.

    I wonder whether the new kitten will survive… good thing our cat’s declawed.

  96. The last few days were almost unbearably humid (it felt like it could have been 30%), but last night’s brief thuderstorm seems to have blown it all away. Nice day in Phoenix today.

    And now, here’s Chip with the sports.

  97. I didn’t get a thunderstorm. I was robbed! I want a thunderstorm.

    Ooh.. I wonder if the vampires played baseball during your storm.

  98. Nope, but a lot of FB apps are bugged ditto and crap out from time to time.

    I still haven’t got Gridrunner++ to actual work.

  99. I think it’s more than bugged. There were a number of sites in my hosts file that I didn’t like. And when I tried to update my podcasts, my computer would disconnect from the net. I had to purge my dns before things would behave properly.

  100. No jogging wearing Wolf t-shirts. Check.

    No jogging past Wal-Mart. Check.

    Jogging past Wal-Mart while wearing a Wolf t-shirt shall not be done under any circumstances!!!

  101. I really miss you guys during the workday. Boo hoo.

    So sorry about your cat, ditto. We lost our oldest cat, Crucita, about a year and a half ago. *hugs*

  102. At the local rec center where I sign the kids up for extra-curricular activities, they have a gym program for senior citizens called “Silver Sneakers”

    and jJ – I’m a fan of the Cap’n.

  103. The latter reminds of the prostitute from one of the Hitchhikers books who made money telling rich guys it was ok to be rich.

  104. Morning Peeps!

    Today’s assignment, should you accept it…

    Ok, here’s the story. Last night hubby and I were watching the new The Day the Earth Stood Still, and it brought to my mind a story I once read. The problem is I could not remember the title or the author.

    the synopsis of the story is:

    Aliens come to earth, and tell the people of the planet – We’ve been watching you planet for some time and think you have lots of potential. You have (I think it was 48 hours), to do something to live up to that potential. If you do, we will have you join us. If not, we will destroy your planet.
    The world leaders go into a tizzy but, when the aliens return at the allotted time, the leaders of earth go – look, we can reform. We’ve destroyed all weapons of destruction and have signed this unilateral peace agreement.
    At which point the aliens go – You fools. We were interested in your potential as a war faring race, not as a race of pathetic, peace-loving weaklings. Prepare to die!

    Hubby’s first thought was AC Clark’s Childhood’s End – which it is not. I’m pretty sure it was a short story, but again, my memory may be failing me. Any ideas?

    It’s going to bug me until the end of time if I don’t remember the title and author.

  105. My stupid cat is being a shmo. I’m taking antibiotics for an infection. I think the medication must have changed my natural body odor as the cat freaks out whenever I get withing five feet of her. It was actually funny last night. She likes to lay on me in the evening, so she would jump up on the couch, get all squinty eyed as she neared me, and jump off again in a huff. I’m not sure what she’ll do later today when I have to come near her to give her her medication.

  106. Yup ditto, I think that must be it. For some reason I thought I had read it, but obviously I absorbed the story differently.

  107. Ah, Ditto beat me to it. For some reason, that particular episode of The Twilight Zone is one that has stuck with me and I recognized it as soon as TEB started to describe it.

  108. I preferred the Original Outer Limits, ‘The Demon with the Glass Hand’ being one of my favs.

    The memories of Joust on FB are becoming almost monty python like.

  109. Oooooh TEB . . . you’ve mentioned my Dark Secret. I LOVE Hudson Hawk. I even had the soundtrack. And I think it’s a pretty terrible movie.

  110. I have a suggestion for the next ‘polooza. Have y’all seen John Waters’ film Pecker? It’s FANTASTIC. Not SciFi, but still, awesome.

    Plus, we could say “Peckerpalooza” over and over again.

    I just took a quiz on FB which asks, Which Badass Thing Are You? I, you’ll all be interested to know, am a Fucking Wizard.

  111. Also, I just finished my first Escapepod episode – The N Word. Thanks to all of you who suggested that ‘cast. I LOVED it. What a great story. What a sexy voice that reader has.

  112. Hmmm, palooza time.

    It wouldn’t take much twisting of my arm for either Flash Gordon (ah AAHHH!) or Hudson Hawk. Both are classics in their own absurd ways.

  113. Someone mentioned something they thought would make for a good Deadpan ‘Palooza. I don’t remember who said it though. It might have been DanS on Out of the Coffin. That tickles like it is a real memory, but… I can never tell.

    I do remember thinking that it was an interesting idea, whatever it was.

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