Geneg, thanks so much for permission to put in your reviews. The whole idea was to have them in one place for easy reading and I'd hate to have missed such excellent ones. When you sort out your access to the Wiki pages, you'll find them at numbers 3, 49 and 74. By the way, I may have screwed up your link. On the group page for GRTB, I've added links to each page. Maybe you'll have better luck from there.

I'm glad you reviewed Three Men in a Boat. I don't think you came back into the Game Thread to report you had. There's a passage in the book that is quite popular here for readings at weddings, a thing I learned when I was asked to read it at one. It's early on, when they are setting out and overfilling the boat. I wonder if you recall it.

posted by InigoMontoya at 11:13 am (EST) on May 9, 2008

Hi. On Go Review That Book!, I've created a group Wiki page to keep track of the progress of the game and the reviews that have been generated. Some may find it easier to read the reviews by having them in one handy place. There's a discussion thread in the group and this is the first Wiki page if you are interested in having a look. To avoid any difficulties with copyright, I'm seeking your consent to add your reviews to the group Wiki page.

posted by InigoMontoya at 8:39 am (EST) on May 9, 2008

PS - cute picture - even if you are bummed!!!

posted by kiwidoc at 11:58 pm (EST) on May 8, 2008

Ah, Gene, ya devil. I've got a pile of books that would stretch for here to the Horsehead Nebula and that doesn't even include the research material I have to go through for my next project. Good luck with the MIDDLEMARCH discussion--it's a helluva lot smarter than most genre stuff out there, I wager. I'll keep this short--Sherron and I were up in the office, recording another section of my novel for podcasting (eventually) and I'm wiped. Talk at you soon, mon...

posted by CliffBurns at 12:57 am (EST) on May 8, 2008

Sorry, I havent been on in a while. It is TOTALLY ok about the 'arguing' and stuff... i am used to people who disagree with me iguess and you might be able to tell, but i want to be a lawyer weh i grow up!! It is ok, dont worry about it!

posted by miriamelise at 10:10 pm (EST) on May 7, 2008

The map is a little screwed up. Pumpkin Center is actually in the west in the foothills.

posted by varielle at 1:06 pm (EST) on May 7, 2008

Gene: Glad to be of service.

Not sure if the Dick book you bought has "Electric Ant" in it but, if it does, make sure you read that one. Great concept. That particular collection I think I loaned to someone over 20 years ago and never got back. I'm still trying to get over the grudge. And, while I think of it, you should pick up a copy of Dick's novel FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID. One of the pivotal scenes near the end was inspired by the BOOK OF ACTS--I've always appreciated that novel, there's something spiritual and moving about it, the sadness leavened by a sense of (possible) redemption. Have a feeling that one might really work for you.

Have a great weekend, chum...

posted by CliffBurns at 10:25 am (EST) on May 3, 2008

Gene: I defy Scandinavia to have a winter like our last one. Cripes, we had a solid week of -50 wind chills. I can recall one Christmas when it was so cold the metal strip on the side of the car grew brittle and broke off. Aughhh. Dunno about Canada joining the United States but I'd sure welcome Montana joining Canada; what a gorgeous state.

posted by CliffBurns at 11:38 pm (EST) on Apr 14, 2008

I live a little north of thr Arctic Circle and Nordland is one of 19 counties in Norway. Bodø, where I have lived for about 35 years, is a town with about 45,000 inhabitants near the coast. Winters aren,t that cold, mainly due to the Gulf Stream. The spring/summer lasts about 5-7 months (april-august) and then it is very nice living here. In a way I like that the seasons are so different as they are here.
I am not a Lapplander, but I slightly know a few Lapplandic persons.
What is it like to live in Plano? Is it a big town/city, and what kind of town/city is it? Do you have very differnt seasons, too? Weather/temparature?

posted by kjellika at 11:58 am (EST) on Apr 6, 2008

Hey,
you are great. Thanks for trying. I have since thought of enough of my keywords that I tracked it down in the other person's postings and made a note of it. I still have no idea why it does not appear in my posts, but I guess I can remain blissfully ignorant of some mysteries.

I love your picture, BTW. Is it you or just a random picture which expresses your feelings on life?

Thanks again.

posted by polutropos at 4:07 pm (EST) on Mar 30, 2008

Sorry, I never watched "The Wire." Sorry to disappoint.

posted by Lunar at 5:11 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

LOL I love the hat!

posted by BGP at 4:56 pm (EST) on Feb 22, 2008

Huh, well, you've got a doppleganger. But then again, this guy looked like you 15 years ago, so I wasn't accounting for age. Funny how you sometimes expect people to look like the last time you've seen them: an indication of our psychic self-centeredness, I suppose. Anyway, this guy was a bartender, so I never got a good look at him in the light of day.

posted by makifat at 1:39 pm (EST) on Jan 25, 2008

That is a very nice profile photo of you, BTW. Nice smile.

posted by TheresaWilliams at 5:00 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2008

Hi Gene, I have a funny story about Tobacco Road. When I was nine, my father had an attack (we thought it was a heart attack at the time) and spent several days in the hospital. I was too young to visit according to hospital rules, so I had to wait in the waiting room. My mother worked in a little store that sold various things, including books. Not knowing anything about books, she bought a copy of TOBACCO ROAD for me to read while she was visiting Daddy. Well, I was pretty shocked, enough that the title is emblazoned in my memory forever. When I saw your book group was doing it, I ordered myself a copy because I want to revisit the book as an adult. I look forward very much to reading your review. I may not get to the book for a while because classes are full steam ahead. But as soon as I read it, I would love to have a discussion with you!

posted by TheresaWilliams at 4:58 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2008

About "modal". The "mode" of a probability distribution function is where it achieves a local maximum, so it represents the most likely value. The "modal" bear would be the most likely wh1ich is to say, the ordinary, bear.

Lately, or maybe not so lately, I've developed the verbal tick of talking about "the ordinary bear", so when prompted for a user name "Quick...think of a name...." out came modalUrsine, a slihtly more highfalutin' way of saying ordinary bear.

posted by modalursine at 2:53 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

Not sure what you mean - the idea of a cat in the library or that there might be some library scat!!
LibrarysCat

posted by LibrarysCat at 5:18 pm (EST) on Jan 2, 2008

Thanks for the kind note - and the words towards our mis-informed member! I appreciate the comment. =)

posted by stephmo at 2:39 pm (EST) on Dec 27, 2007

Wow, I had forgotten all about that posting (me asking for pointers about learning html db) "blast from the past". At first I wasnt even sure it WAS me, but I could hear my own voice in the um "prose".

The post was circa 2005 when the HTML/DB tool had just come out. Its now called APEX by the way. Oracle likes to change the name of its tools to keep us hopping, I guess.

I'm an Oracle specialist , its how I get my corn pone, so I try to keep up with whatever is going on in the Oracle world, and in related fields. Everybody has his own learning style, and my style is not super quick to "Follow what the master is doing and eventually mastery will come, grasshopper". I mean eventually it will, but thats not my preferred way to go.

To answer your first question, yes, eventually I figured out how to do some stuff. Persistence wears away a rock. I'm known for being a stubborn cuss.

But I'm curious about your remark that "Its not what I expected to find". Makes a fella wonder what you WERE expecting?

posted by modalursine at 10:45 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2007

Yeeeeeeeeep, winter's been here for a good month or so. I was kind of surprised that it didn't snow for Halloween because we'll usually get one early snowfall just before, or on, Halloween, and then almost nothing for a couple weeks after and then winter will hit in its entirety , but this year it was a day or two after Halloween that we got our first snow.

Actually this week isn't that bad at all, -4 to -16 is "warm" winter weather.We just had a couple of weeks where it was -30 with the wind chill factored in, which isn't especially bad, but it is definitely winter weather. Bad is when you start getting into the -40s and lower, THAT is the "Brrr." weather. But hey, it's still early and January & February are usually the colder months anyway.

In general I can deal with the cold, it's just the wind I can't stand. So as long as it isn't windy I don't mind the weather at all. And really, as long as you're bundled up enough there is nothing to mind.

I can't say that I'm on a curling team(curling isn't that big in the cities usually, I know it's kind of a Canadian stereotype, but most people from around here don't curl), but I am reffing hockey and will be doing some snowboarding now that our ski hills are starting to open up. Might even take a trip out west to go to a real ski resort for once!

But all and all it has been a nice calm winter so far. No snow storms or blizzards yet, and only one scare where we were supposed to get 15-20cm of snow in the course of 24 hours, but the system passed south of the city so we didn't snowed on too badly.

FYI it started to snow while I was writing this...

posted by -Mr-Dustin- at 3:48 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2007

Hello,

I saw your post in the Progressive Evangelical group about the New Perspective on Paul. In a nutshell this is a group of evangelical scholars who are undermining the traditional Protestant understanding of Paul which started with Luther, specifically with regard to conversion. N.T Wright is a major name associated with it. Without going into deep detail, I believe it threatens to undermine all of Protestant theology.

posted by thinkingriddles at 9:37 pm (EST) on Dec 10, 2007

Hello, geneg, I didn't mean to ignore you, sorry (I somehow missed the new comment on my profile). No, it doesn't sound like proper (southern) German. "Yo/a/nder" isn't German at all, AFAIK, at least in none of the dialects I know. It might well be part of some overseas dialects such as Pennsylvania Dutch or Plautdietsch, i.e. an English intrusion into those dialects. HTH :-).

posted by GirlFromIpanema at 5:44 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2007

I stole the picture off some kid.

I grew up in Winston-Salem, and lived in Durham with my wife for 15 years. I liked Carolina, but it has changed radically. If Oriental has not changed much, I might like to retire there one day. Get a boat, and just sail around.

I once knew a barista from Plano. Her name was Monica. She became a rare book dealer. (I helped her write some obscure descriptions for latin theological texts.) I enjoy your comments. A clear and righteous thinker...like me!

posted by Arctic-Stranger at 8:01 pm (EST) on Nov 21, 2007