The early shift.

I think it’s obvious that five years of working until 1 a.m., rising at 6 a.m., and stumbling through the day like a zombie? Has ruined my sleep hygiene. Thursday morning my eyes popped open at 4:30 a.m. Weren’t going to close, either. So I grabbed the iPad, read the entire internet, and when I was no closer to sleep than I’d been before and it was 6 a.m., said screw it and headed out into the young day. Rode the bike to the park, swam laps for 30 minutes and rode home, for an I’m Better Than You score of, what? You tell me. If only I weren’t 20 pounds overweight and had the knees of a octogenarian — I could have made it a triathlon morning.

And now it’s 9:30 p.m., and if I don’t fall asleep in the next 20 minutes, I’ll call this day a success.

And the thing is? It seemed I had something more interesting to say, but after a day spent online and on the phone, all I clipped was this link:

If you use the Google — and we all do — you’re probably doing it wrong. Here’s how to do it better.

I think I’m going to have to move some things around, or I’ll never recover this blog’s mojo. I come to it at the very time of day when I’m feeling most tapped out. And yet somehow, something gets published, most days.

Even though, many days, things must be carried along by a photo of a raccoon with its head caught in a sewer grate.

How can such grimy, icky animals be so damn cute?

Something serious, but very much worth the read: Why sexual assault victims do the crazy, contradictory, counterintuitive things they frequently do.

And with that? Zzzzzz.

Posted at 12:43 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

80 responses to “The early shift.”

  1. Sherri said on June 22, 2012 at 1:55 am

    The other useful search tip: use more than one search engine. Bing and Google really will give you different results. You also don’t need a twitter account to search twitter; you do need a Facebook account to search Facebook.

    (I was really annoyed when Google broke the + operator in search.)

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  2. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 2:26 am

    I read just yesterday that something close to 40% of all Google search return options are corrupt. Never open any result with RU or IN in the URL. These are from Russia and India and are likely to be corrupt.

    Next month Windows 8 comes off the pre-release version and becomes available. I can’t recall paying for any OS upgrades or switches before…are the free versions being hyped on the internet safe, or bogus? Are all PC users who want W8 going to have to pay for it? I know I installed Vista on my previous computer and it was free, as I recall.

    We had a raccoon scratch her way into our attic and have her kittens. The mess it made, oh my GAWD! We had to have Animal Control remove the animals and then have contractors re-do our ceiling. Yuck.

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  3. Kristen said on June 22, 2012 at 6:40 am

    Nancy, thanks for posting the link to the Yoffe story. I’m gobsmacked by niece Ann Drinan’s statement on behalf of the family that comes at the article’s conclusion. The family finds it “odd” that “anyone” would come forward about sexual assault by Father Drinan?! Did the family actually READ Yoffe’s article? Talk about helping prove Yoffe’s point about the hazards of disclosing sexual assault by influential men!

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  4. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 22, 2012 at 6:54 am

    The thing I say in trainings with church youth leaders and adults in Scouting is that, yes, there are false reports of molestation made by children. And the reason they should be utterly in agreement with two-deep leadership at all times, etc. (even though the real reason is and should be, for them, that it keeps the opportunity for the molesters to an absolute minimum and protects children) is that I have yet to see, hear about, or deal with the aftermath of a “false report” by a child that wasn’t a displaced reporting of abuse/molestation that IS happening to them, and they do not feel safe or that it’s even possible for them to report the abuser to an external authority figure. So if you do what we want to do at camp, which is make each child feel safe, confident, and secure, and they look up to and admire you, what can happen is that if you create the wrong kind of situation where it would be your word against theirs, the problem is that the child may well make an accusation against you . . . because they truly don’t believe it will stick on you (they’re kids, remember), but they can talk about what’s happened to them, which is often a great relief to them, and in their childlike way, they hope that the problem can be stopped without Mom’s friend Chester getting accused, because he said he’d kill your rabbit if you do (true story, that last).

    That quirk of kids’ reality often gets through the bullheaded “why do we have all these stupid rules when all our youth leaders are good people” attitude. I spent years pushing mostly on the “molesters don’t wear warning signs, they can be anyone” concept, and found that it just doesn’t “sell” in a standard camp or church program training. But convince them that a) there really are abused & molested children (NOT a hard sell), and b) that kids are remarkably unable to directly report their victimizer, often because of threats to physical & economic safety made my the offender as part of the abuse itself, so c) if you don’t follow these simple rules, YOU could be reported and investigated, and kids don’t understand how even a good person may never escape from the effects of having been accused — it works well.

    After a few hundred of these trainings, I think I’ve heard every “but what about when” there is, and I marvel at our human ability to accept a reality in the world but still insist on one version or another of “that won’t happen to me.”

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  5. Linda said on June 22, 2012 at 7:36 am

    Good google search tips, as well as the tip to try other search engines. Also, try restricting by domain. For instance site:.edu or site:.gov. In the case of faddish food supplements or homeopathic cures, searching by the .edu domain along with the name of the product will pull up information that is from an education web site and NOT someone shilling that product.

    And thanks, JTMMO, for that insight on false accusations. I would have never thought of that.

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  6. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 8:09 am

    I’d like to think that child welfare investigators have seen everything and know how to get to the bottom of things, but then I recall stories like this one where people were so overcome by hysteria that they accepted absolutely implausible allegations uncritically. As the story says, ultimately the authorities were more surprised at the children’s eventual recantations than at the crazy yarns they had spun.

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  7. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Richard Mourlock is a fracking moron:

    http://wonkette.com/476059/richard-mourdock-congratulates-court-for-striking-down-obamacare-slams-court-for-upholding-it-offers-indifference-for-courts-split-decision-etc#idc-container

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  8. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 22, 2012 at 8:19 am

    One problem I’ve seen is that there’s so much cultural norming to NOT see this stuff, or to grimly look past it when you have it waved in your face, that when you trip that breaker, you lose your normal rational filters along with it, so in fact you can start to uncritically accept stuff that — just to really complicate matters — you may be unintentionally stirring up. The victim wants you to believe them, and they have to figure out who they are if they stop keeping secrets; if giving you stories that make you nod sympathetically, cluck at disapprovingly, and sigh sorrowfully make them feel more accepted, more secure, there can be some major psychic pressure to keep delivering. YOU, the investigator/interviewer, have to make sure you don’t trigger that cycle.

    With stories like the McMartin Preschool et alia, I strongly suspect that somewhere, early on, was one or even two kids who had been molested, somewhere, by someone (see my previous comment). They had a whole raft of amateurish interviewers step in, a first wave of hardbitten prosecutors and investigators who thought because they knew how to interrogate criminals, they could accurately get information from child victims; once they dropped their critical screens, they not only helped elicit lots of the narrative (I believe, anyhow), they started inviting in more parties to the investigation who also were a half-bubble off plumb . . . and meanwhile, the kids had learned that ghastly stories got you ice cream, police badges, and later even toys and bicycles. None of which changes my gut suspicion that somewhere near the origin of the whole clusterfrack was a child molested whose perp never was identified.

    In the aftermath of the whole SRA phenomenon mentioned in the article Alex linked, a practice called “forensic interviewing” developed to ensure that law enforcement & prosecutors don’t get sucked down that rabbit hole; the NCAC is who I work with, and Ohio has a number of counties with Child Advocacy Centers where facilities are established for consistent, appropriate, accurate interviews & physical exams are done, usually in a co-operative effort of the local hospital (who want this stuff out of their ERs which is where it so often first comes up) & law enforcement/prosecutors (who don’t want small town cops doing first interviews with kids where abuse is reported, in the back room of a storefront police station). If you’re interested in what forensic interviewing is, check out http://www.nationalcac.org/intervention/forensic-services.html — or go to the root site for info on child advocacy centers in your area.

    And thanks for y’all being interested in this subject.

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  9. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 8:38 am

    Some entertainment to start the day: A great article in The Atlanticby Jeff Goldberg re Chris Christie, his love for Bruce Springsteen, and Springsteen’s disdain for him.

    It contains this wonderful sentence: He looks at me like I’m from France. What could be a clearer indicator of otherness?

    Also in The Atlantic, a long piece re work/family strains that is attracting a lot of attention.

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  10. nancy said on June 22, 2012 at 8:41 am

    If I’d had more energy last night, I might have worked up a rant over that Atlantic piece on the work/family thing. I remember when that magazine was worth reading. Who wrecked it? Michael Kelly?

    Oh, and Alex, do check out this daffy column by your friend Amy’s mom. She seems to be against gay marriage, but is in favor of some sort of “government contract” where you could designate a de-facto next of kin. Of course, she doesn’t actually know any gay people:

    I remember two retired teachers from another neighborhood. They had met in college, ended up teaching in the same school system and together bought a house in which they lived more than 30 years. In a situation like this, who could you depend on – your loving family in another part of the state or your best friend in the same house?

    Your best friend!

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  11. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Well, I think it’s still worth reading. I have to admit that I haven’t read the whole work/family article yet, so I was drawing attention more than recommending–unlike the Goldberg article, which I do recommend.

    What’s the short version of your rant?

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  12. nancy said on June 22, 2012 at 8:52 am

    The short version of my rant:

    1) Was this article imported from 1972?
    2) Who ever said women can “have it all?”
    3) Every domestic arrangement is imperfect in some way. This is not a secret.
    4) If you have a troubled child, a high-ranking position in the State Department is probably not for you. Deal.

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  13. brian stouder said on June 22, 2012 at 8:54 am

    I’ll read the longer essays this evening, but don’t miss Prospero’s Mourlock link; funny stuff!

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  14. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 9:06 am

    Agree, Brian, the Mourdock screw-up is quite funny. I wonder if there’s one less person on the Mourdock campaign staff today.

    In addition to being a Republican, which is bad enough, he seems like kind of a nasty son of a gun and not overly bright. It’s astonishing that, in a nation of more than 300 million people, we can’t come up with better candidates.

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  15. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 9:09 am

    Did you all know that there’s another Shiba Inu litter online? Lots of puppy wrestling going on right now.

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  16. Suzanne said on June 22, 2012 at 9:20 am

    Mourdock not too bright? Surely that assessment is not based on the fact that as state treasurer, he “lost” then “found” half a billion dollars? Maybe Purdue will take him too.

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  17. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 9:39 am

    Jeff, I’d be interested in hearing your assessment of how schools, churches, and parents are doing in terms of teaching kids about avoiding and/or reporting abuse. I grew up in a household and, more generally, a social milieu where no one talked about anything having to do with sexuality, and, when I experienced a sexual assault by an older man, my reaction was to keep quiet, thinking I had done something wrong and might get in trouble.

    Of course, it’s a different world now, with much more talk of these things all around us. Are kids being offered useful advice about what to do if someone behaves inappropriately toward them? How do those of you raising children (or those who have raised children) deal w/ this issue w/ your own kids?

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  18. coozledad said on June 22, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Michael Kelly was too much of an idiot to fuck up the Atlantic alone. The editorial staff could have jerked him around in a variety of ways he’d have been blind to.
    What happened to the Atlantic was what happened to the rest of the country: they started giving MBAs jobs where they shouldn’t ought to have been, which is pretty much any goddamn where.
    Randian sideboob McArglebargle is the dead giveaway that the place was infested with preliterate business types. Now it’s just Investor’s Business Weekly with more direct product placement for oenophiles.

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  19. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 10:08 am

    No, you are being too tough on The Atlantic. Fallows is great, Coates is great, and Goldberg is great. Nobody’s perfect.

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  20. Dorothy said on June 22, 2012 at 10:10 am

    Oh Jolene! Five sleeping Shiba Inu sweethearts! I picked up a dozen eggs from my neighbor last night on the way home from work and her 7 year old dragged me to see their 6 new kittens. “The mother is mean to them!” he told me. “How is she mean?” “I picked one up and then put it back down right ‘there’ and then she got up and walked on it!” I told him it was just an accident, she wasn’t being mean. “Look, she’s kissing them right now and feeding them very well, so I think she’s a great mama cat!” I wish I had more chances for conversations with 7 year olds. It made my day.

    Jeff everything you share with us on the subjects you deal with in your professional life just astonish me over and over again. Maybe “astonish” is not the right word, but I feel humbled to know how smart you are and admire your ability to work with these situations day in and day out. You have my constant admiration and appreciation, dude. Next time you come through Gambier, I hope to be able to walk across the street and buy you an ice cream cone at the bookstore!

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  21. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 10:12 am

    Well, Nance, Amy’s in the middle of putting an addition on her house so that her mom can move in and be taken care of. I haven’t seen Susan in a while but this strange column suggests that she’s obviously not all there anymore.

    She does know gay people. Amy is currently in business with a gay couple. The nature of my domestic relationships have certainly never been a secret. And she socializes with others whose relationships are quite out in the open. I had no idea she was so uncomfortable with us or was in such denial about it.

    Perhaps it’s just a generational thing. The mother of another friend who adores me and my partner still insists in private that our relationship is not equivalent to her marriage. I’ll say. Her marriage sucked and she and her abusive husband are separated. It took the threat of divorce for him to finally allow her access to the family’s quite considerable financial assets.

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  22. del said on June 22, 2012 at 11:19 am

    Good points JTMMO. Religious and other leaders have to be especially aware of molestation and false accusation issues. Comes with the turf of leading flocks/charges.

    I went to a Wednesday night Baptist church service in rural Missouri once. The pastor was a youngish, nice looking man who preached to a congregation that included some teens that’d been brought in by bus and sat with everyone else in the pews. He drifted through a largely free form monologue with the congregation. None of that rote liturgical recitation stuff. He was charming and charismatic and I thought I sensed a cult of personality taking root. Anyway, late in the service he put on a pair of fishing waders and walked to an enormous baptismal font with a plexiglass wall that was behind the altar. It had steps like a hot tub. He asked, with microphone in hand, was anyone willing to be “saved?” Some rumbling from the teen group and then one, and then another, and another stepped forward. The pastor waded into the font and each kid walked into nearly chest deep water. He then wrapped his arm around the kid’s neck, said some things and leaned the kid backward and dipped the kid’s head in the water as they stood together.

    One of the teenage girls was a looker. After he spoke of her giving her life to Jesus, in what seemed a mildly flirtatious manner, he asked, with his arm around her, “Have you ever considered becoming a pastor’s wife?” And he immersed her back into the water. Wow. Makes you wonder what he would do if we all weren’t watching. Because people who are pastors, professors, judges, etc. are likely to be be admired by their charges, they must be careful. And the charges must be careful too.

    Also, as for “hardbitten” prosecutors and investigators, that rung a bell too. Sometimes prosecutors (and cops) become too personally involved in a case/investigation, especially those involving kids. They come to define themselves as the Protectors of the Innnocents, and lose perspective.

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  23. Connie said on June 22, 2012 at 11:31 am

    That raccoon photo was in my email this morning and all over facebook. One of my friends had a mobile home up north. One winter a raccoon got in and totally destroyed it. Ceilings, walls, contents. He got enough from his insurance to buy a nice used modular home, so he says thank you Mr. Raccoon.

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  24. Dorothy said on June 22, 2012 at 11:34 am

    The puppies are waking up!

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  25. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 11:35 am

    There was a local case a few years ago that pretty much on its face looked like a vindictive ex-spouse. She made very serious allegations but refused to allow her children to be interviewed because she purportedly didn’t want them to become more traumatized than they were. She then refused to testify to her allegations in court. Charges were dropped against the accused and she was held in contempt.

    The local blogosphere was then abuzz with condemnations of the prosecutor for coddling child molesters.

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  26. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 11:42 am

    This guy was accused of predation on the basis of recovered memory and the accuser recanted:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/us/26religion.html

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  27. Catherine said on June 22, 2012 at 11:44 am

    Jolene @17, you pushed one of my buttons. There is not nearly enough being done to talk with kids and parents about inappropriate contact, because adults cannot face the fact that most child physical and sexual abuse is perpetrated by adults known to the child — family members, in a loose definition.

    A few years ago, while working for a studio, I was offered as an acquisition a video/DVD series for kids on stranger danger. It was from an interesting team — Adam Walsh’s dad and the woman behind Baby Einstein, IIRC. I spent a weekend researching and writing a presentation on why we shouldn’t acquire the series (basically, strangers are not the problem), and what we should do instead. I proposed that we really try to address reality, give kids tools to defend themselves, and help parents talk with their kids. When I sent out the proposal, I got back the Internet equivalent of crickets chirping. Very few people actually want to confront that the problem is mom’s boyfriend or the older cousin or the trusted priest, which is one reason that it gets buried.

    Epilogue: At least we didn’t acquire the series, which IMO was actually irresponsible.

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  28. Heather said on June 22, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Did anyone else see this article, about telling your kids they don’t have to hug anyone they don’t want to? http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/20/living/give-grandma-hug-child/index.html
    I really like this idea and in fact every time someone with kids says “Give Auntie Heather a hug,” I always say, “Oh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” And then I wait for them to decide what they are comfortable with. I’m not sure what it’s like for guys, but girls are really socialized to please others, at the expense of their own comfort.

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  29. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    It wasn’t getting felt up but having to endure halitosis in my face that made hugging old people unpleasant for me as a child.

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  30. coozledad said on June 22, 2012 at 12:33 pm

    It wasn’t so much having to hug the old relatives, but being encouraged to kiss the dead ones that got to me.
    I never met anyone with a similar experience outside of the Southern Baptist sphere until I dated a woman who said her parochial school had lined up to kiss a dead monsignor’s ring.
    I told her it was a good thing he wasn’t alive, because it would probably have given the bastard wood. It was our only date.

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  31. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    What is with KFC, constantly running that commercial with an old man physically dominating a young boy, assumed by most to be a grandson, I guess, over what sides to get with the fried chicken? We are at the height of fury over the Sandusky trial and we have to see an old man pinning down and sort of mounting a young boy on the floor, as the parents walk in an observe and joke that they got mac-n-cheese as well as MASHED POTATOES AND G R A V Y !!
    What the FUCK, KFC?

    And jeezuss, what was up with Dave Letterman last night. He seemed aroused as he edged closer and closer to Justin Bieber before attacking Bieber’s arm which was sore because of a brand new tattoo? “BELIEVE” was the tatt’s message, by the way.
    Bieber had what I call a Vidal Sassoon moment (incredible ignorance shown) when he referred to Dave’s comment about the Sistine Chapel and “I don’t know about the sixteenth chapel.”
    Uh duh, duh…

    Again, a young man (he’s 18, it was said) being dominated by a sixty-five year old man (dominated intellectually as well as physically) just ain’t good when the world is focussing on the Sandusky trial, and listening to testimony by victims, detailing horrible, despicable rapes.
    I watch Dave Letterman sporadically, and I have never been so offended by his actions as I was last night. Just creepy as all hell.
    Bieber, who’s first perfume sold thirty nine million dollars worth of the fragrance, let alone what his second perfume is going to bring in, along with probably hundreds of millions in concert and cd and download revenues, doesn’t need David Letterman. I cringe when I watch this video … you?
    http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/

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  32. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 1:30 pm

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  33. MarkH said on June 22, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Dexter, while my wife and I were a little bewildered as well by the Letterman-Bieber episode, I really believe that “sixteenth chapel” bit was scripted, at least by Bieber. Letterman has always been known to have disdain for boy bands and stars going way back. He’s always made fun of Backstreet Boys, nsync, 98 degrees(?), etc. I’m convinced he had Bieber on only (try) to humiliate him. Which makes that deal with him getting physical with Bieber all the more strange. Bieber seemed genuinely in pain.

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  34. del said on June 22, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    I think the tatoo part was scripted too.

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  35. MarkH said on June 22, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Very possibly, del. It has always been speculated since TV talk shows began that even the most spontanious-appearing bits are carefully scripted.

    The sixteenth chapel bit reminds of the minor hubbub in the early ’90s when MTV’s Tabitha Soren confused a certain jazz great with “The Lonliest Monk” in an interview with Bill Clinton. But, Snopes says it’s not true.

    http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=33409

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  36. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    Thanks for your thoughts, Del and MarkH. Is Bieber going to bigger than Michael Jackson? Is he trying to be “White Boy Michael”? I had never seen Bieber perform until last night. Of course I wan’t impressed, except for the perfect choreography.
    Fiona Apple is more my style…she’s released new material…here’s a great tune:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beBGsee0WZo

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  37. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    Wow…the school bus monitor who was harassed has received over a half-mil in “guilt money” so far!
    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/new_york_bus_monitor_bullied_by_8Q6sCAItRduQhhHqKQlLJN

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  38. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Happy Todd Rundgren’s birthday.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erC9qkaOHnk&feature=related

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  39. Dorothy said on June 22, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    Maybe it’s because I’ve been following Dave (off and on) since 1985, but that’s not Creepy Dave, it’s Cranky Dave. Cranky about an 18 year old getting another tattoo. You really think he looked like he was in pain? I think they were just goofing around. From another website, this take:

    In an awkward moment, Letterman suddenly grabbed Bieber’s arm and apparently tried to rub off the tattoo. Objecting, Bieber yelled, “Eh! Eh!”

    When Letterman backed off, the singer then looked out into the crowd, smiled and quipped, “Grandpas.”

    See – he was smiling. If he’d been in pain he wouldn’t be smiling.

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  40. Jolene said on June 22, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    Agree, Dorothy. Cranky Dave is what I saw too. Dave is my TV boyfriend. Have been watching him since the 80s too, and I didn’t see anything creepy about last night’s show. I have seen him be slightly creepy when he is especially taken by one of the young lovelies that appear on his show, but that, too, is mostly in the form of exaggerated-for-effect old guyness.

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  41. Charlotte said on June 22, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    We’re dealing with the inappropriate touching issue in my “family” right now — my BFF has five kids, 4 girls 16, 13 and 7 and a baby boy, 3. There’s a family friend, a troubled soul, who is inappropriate with the bigger girls, and with their babysitter. So far it’s just unwelcome hugging and some teasing — not crossing the line but walking right up to it and peering over, then looking back to see if we’ve noticed. We have. He’s not a bad person, but deeply damaged by a terrible childhood of abandonment. For now, we’ve told all the girls that they never have to hug him, and they’re very open about when he makes them uncomfortable. So, we’re just not leaving him alone with them and he’s about to be banned from the house. Which would be too bad, but what can we do? Our job is to protect the kids …

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  42. MarkH said on June 22, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    Cranky Dave has been SOP on his show for at least the last ten years, and as I said, it very well could have all been scripted. It was still a little odd. And don’t get me wrong, Dave has been my go-to late night show since he signed on in ’82, but, like Carson, he better have a good guest line-up or I’m usually gone after the Top Ten. I’m liking Fallon more than I thought I would, too, when I remember to watch.

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  43. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    GOPers on the subject of Bain Capital.

    And no, you can’t see Windsock’s tax returns, because he’s been doing that carried interest thing and it’s embarrassing.

    American capitalism: Socialize losses, privatize gains.

    Dave wasn’t cranky when Drew Barrymore flashed him. The woman that has most left Dave nonplussed is Isabella Rossellini, who seemed to be too much for Letterman. On the boybands, Marky Mark and his brother grew up to be accomplished actors, so who knows, the little bird poop Bieber may amount to something. To date, I’d call that music only very loosely. Isn’t he, like, Amy Grant’s little brother?

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  44. Jakash said on June 22, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    I’ve been a fan of Dave ever since he’s had a show at night, but he can definitely be creepy sometimes, particularly with beautiful young actresses. (Cranky, too, of course, but that’s a different matter.) I think both he and Leno forget how old they are and how they must be seeming to these girls that are 30 or more years younger than they are. I saw Leno once with Ellen Page saying something really off the wall (in a suggestive way) and she looked at him like “Are you out of your mind, Grandpa?” If some of their behavior with these young women was ever acceptable, it certainly ain’t anymore. I’ve also noticed that, if the movie being hyped contains a nude scene, that will more often than not manage to become a topic of conversation… Creepy, cringeworthy, whatever.

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  45. Sherri said on June 22, 2012 at 4:11 pm

    After posting my take on Jonah Lehrer yesterday, I’d like to highlight my favorite science writer today: Carl Zimmer. I find him consistently interesting, and accessible in areas I’m not familiar with while not being frustrating in areas I am familiar with. He writes fairly regularly for the NYTimes, but he also has a blog at http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/

    Edited to add: To tie it to the tattoo thread, Zimmer has a book out called “Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed.”

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  46. MarkH said on June 22, 2012 at 4:15 pm

    Prospero, that Drew Barrymore flashing incident may well be the only truly unscripted moment of Dave’s show and what wasn’t to love about that? I find he does well with most female guests. I always look forward to Teri Garr’s appearances.

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  47. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 4:56 pm

    It’s also Howard Kalen’s birthday:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PkW8I4Bv6M

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  48. Bitter Scribe said on June 22, 2012 at 5:01 pm

    I feel sorry for guys like Letterman when they have to host someone truly vapid, like Paris Hilton.

    As for Letterman himself, I’ve always considered him a glorified disk jockey. One of those guys who thinks the world was created to amuse him.

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  49. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    Of all of the batshit rightwing garbage involved in Obama Delusional Syndrome, this is the most hilarious:

    http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201206210017

    In the first place, gun-walking was invented by the Shrubministration, back when John Yoo took a break from ‘splainin’ how torture was legal. But deciding it’s some huge plot to contravene the 2nd Amendment? Scalia and Thomas and Alito already did that, and trashed the Englich language in doing so. But this hit is just fracking loony.

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  50. Robin said on June 22, 2012 at 6:27 pm

    Can’t believe I went to the same church with this guy…someone you likely know as well, if not better, than I did.

    You did a wonderful thing w/r/t my old WOWO “Mikeside” pal, Tim G. I am curious about your thoughts regarding this:

    http://fortwayne.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120621%2FNEWS%2F320114209%2F1041

    Thanks!

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  51. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    All about teats.

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  52. Brandon said on June 22, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    I think I’m going to have to move some things around, or I’ll never recover this blog’s mojo. I come to it at the very time of day when I’m feeling most tapped out. And yet somehow, something gets published, most days.–Nancy

    Imagine if you got your full allotment of sleep! Despite your dislike of Madonna, electronica, and steampunk, I still read and enjoy your blog. And the comments, from readers as different as Jeff (the Mild-Mannered One) and coozledad, are as good as the posts to which they respond.

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  53. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    I gave the “daffy” column that Nance had linked above a re-read. You know, other than the headline, which she probably didn’t write, and the statement that the term “gay marriage” is repulsive to many, which is true, the tone of it doesn’t hit me like an anti-gay screed so much as it does a lament about loss of innocence. She acknowledges that the idealized nuclear family is in fact not the norm and pretty much says that families, whatever their constitution and constellation, should be entitled to the same legal rights. She’s also of a generation that’s even more Victorian than the Victorians in its sexual sensibilities and it really does occur to me that she’s had selective hearing all of these years whenever it came to me or other “unmarried” cohabitants in her social sphere.

    To me it looks like a classic “like it like it used to be” rant coupled with a compromise solution meant to accomplish some social good in exchange for the license for sin.

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  54. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    Robin, if you haven’t already, check out yesterday’s thread for some fun banter about that very subject. The one he did the day previously bore the headline “Who Made Obama Dictator?” and then went on to violate Godwin’s Law on about ten criminal counts and multiple more misdemeanors. I think some people had a rollicking good time at the expense of that one too.

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  55. Robin said on June 22, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Sorry; I only heard about this today from someone who still lives there. I will definitely check that thread out after I finish a beer and my angry yet colorful expletives that are yet to run out.

    Or maybe during the beer…. 🙂

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  56. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    Infrastructure? Why would anybody spend money on infrastructure. Ask Tim Pawlenty about bridges falling down due to saving money on infrastructure.

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  57. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    One astounding kid, and hope for the future:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=karQQb-B8Uk

    http://grist.org/news-2/17-year-old-kiwi-shames-world-leaders-into-action-at-rio/

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  58. Prospero said on June 22, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    Why Congressman Chop-Shop and Arson for Profit is full of shit about Fast and Furious and gunwalking.

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  59. Dorothy said on June 22, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    Teri Garr hasn’t been on Letterman in years. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis quite a long time ago.

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  60. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 22, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    What’s really pathetic is that I was bothered, early on in “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter” when the title character in voice over notes that his father died nine years after his mother was killed by a vampire (and not one of the glittery ones, either).

    And then there’s . . . [major spoiler alert] . . .

    . . . killing Joshua Speed. Kill Speed? Who’s gonna write the biography? And Mary Todd’s penultimate scenes had a certain visceral, if unearned & forced satisfaction.

    But watching Abe Lincoln age into himself, learn to food-processor-whirl a silver-edged broadaxe (okay, it’s really more of a three-quarters with a slightly wider blade, and the handle thing…heh), and end the movie with the Gettysburg Address, delivered straight* but with a whole new overtone . . . I found the movie a trip, and a pleasant way to escape the real world’s cares and troubles.

    *Plus, he emphasized “people,” as in “of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE” which eye/earwitness testimony leans towards, not the usual rendition that puts the stress on the prepositions.

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  61. Kirk said on June 22, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 counts, new york times says

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  62. Kaye said on June 22, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    Thanks for the movie notes Jeff. It it worth $9 or do I wait until it is at the cheap flicks place?

    Kirk, thanks for the Sandusky update. Noticed the “verdict reached” alert but hadn’t seen the result yet. Glad to see he was found guilty.

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  63. alex said on June 22, 2012 at 10:54 pm

    You’ve heard of people who think they piss lemonade and shit chocolate ice cream. Well get this.

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  64. Kirk said on June 22, 2012 at 11:12 pm

    A guy told me about puking rainbows once after he ate some psilocybin.

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  65. Judybusy said on June 22, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    Alex, thanks! I can now go to bed completely satisfied. The weather’s perfect here, we had friends over for a lovely dinner and now that.

    Oh, and the Sandusky verdicts. Sweet, indeed.

    I’m set up for a great weekend of gardening, reading, journal writing, dog park, and more friends coming over to see (the newly-weeded) garden on Sunday. Best to all–

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  66. brian stouder said on June 22, 2012 at 11:18 pm

    Jeff, the one thing I absolutely promise is – if (or more likely, when) the young folks say “Dad, we should see that movie”, I’ll do it.*

    It sounds like an easy way to earn a return commitment from them to take in something I choose; whether that’s a few episodes from Ken Burns’ opus, or whatever. Shelby (the almost-14 year old, who is off at the Ichthus festival at Wilmore, Ky, right now) got me to watch one of her movies, and I got her to commit to reading the first 20 pages of Hazel and Elizabeth, on the theory that the book would pull her in, which it did.

    Anyway, I always liked Sam Waterston’s Lincoln, because when he does the Gettysburg Address he also always emphasizes the word “people”, too.

    Hal Holbrook’s Lincoln was pretty good, too; he does the ‘folksy’ thing quite well. The old Raymond Massey Lincoln does the (completely inaccurate) deep baritone thing, whereas Lincoln’s public speaking voice is very often referred to as clear and high-pitched; easily heard in the back rows – which was a good ability to have in the days before microphones.

    Alex – that was a whale of a video!

    Kirk, it is good to see that news come so early, and so decisively. Of course, this is nowhere near over – and the ominous spectacle that Sandusky now represents should make everyone else scramble for plea deals and full (and more fully truthful) disclosure of what the hell was going on at Penn State.**

    *Why did they kill Speed?

    **That Dottie woman is the most interesting, to me. Most of the high-ranking bastards at the university were consumed with covering their asses; but what the hell is her story? This carnival of horrors goes on even under her roof, and even including her son, and she….sticks with the myth and the cover story all the way to the rock-ass bottom of the abyss?

    I’ll pay attention – at least for a minute or two, when she tells her story; if she ever does

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  67. Jakash said on June 22, 2012 at 11:29 pm

    Jeff (tmmo),

    “*Plus, he emphasized “people,” as in “of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE” which eye/earwitness testimony leans towards, not the usual rendition that puts the stress on the prepositions.”

    I don’t know what film or TV production it was, but I believe the first time I heard it done like that, it was performed by Sam Waterston as Lincoln. It impressed me at the time and I’ve always remembered it that way since.

    Edit: Wrote this before I saw Brian’s reference to the same thing…

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  68. Dexter said on June 22, 2012 at 11:46 pm

    I just watched the espn stations for an hour…Sandusky guilty of 45 of 48 charges, 17 of them felonies, each felony max 20 years. Minimum time to be served is sixty years, but WBBM radio just reported minimum is 50. Sandusky is 68 now. His lawyer, Joe Amendola, is saying Sandusky may not yet realize exactly what he is facing, which Amendola says is a “life sentence”.
    Amendola was set to use Matt Sandusky as his witness until Matt Sandusky, a step-son, claimed his own abuse, by Jerry Sandusky.
    So justice is served.

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  69. MichaelG said on June 23, 2012 at 12:10 am

    Given that the jury had to review 48 counts this seems like a bit of a fast verdict. Not that I’m surprised. None of the TV experts seemed to have any doubt about what the outcome would be. One noted that a good defense might cut a few guilties off the 48 but that would be like “getting an upgrade on the Titanic”.

    I have the feeling that Sandusky still doesn’t get what all the fuss was about. Along with the strangeness that seems to reside in his head, I’m guessing that Sandusky isn’t all that bright. I hope the fall out keeps on falling out.

    The normal temperature around here in the latter part of June is 90. We had mid seventies today and are looking at mid seventies for the next week. See? All those librul global warning freaks were wrong.

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  70. MarkH said on June 23, 2012 at 12:10 am

    Dorothy, I’m sure most of us already knew that. She came forward with the diagnosis in 2002, although she knew she had it for years before that. She still went on Letterman, though, even if they had to bring her on via wheelchair off-camera. After she recovered from her aneurysm scare in 2007, she last appeared on Dave in June, 2008 WITHOUT the aid of the wheelchair. If she has declined to appear on Dave in the last four years, perhaps this is why:

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/06/19/jack-osbourne-ann-romney-more-stars-with-multiple-sclerosis-photos.html#slide6

    I’m always hopeful she’ll re-appear because she’s so damn funny, she shares my birthday, and I’ll always love her.

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  71. Suzanne said on June 23, 2012 at 8:19 am

    Already the pleas to not hold the Sandusky thing against the university have started. I hope people do hold it against them. I don’t think Penn State should be given a pass on this any more than the Catholic higher ups should be excused for what priests did.

    New motto is: From Penn State to the State Pen!

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  72. Dorothy said on June 23, 2012 at 10:13 am

    Thanks Mark for that Garr info. I have not watched or taped Letterman much for years but if I hear of a certain guest, I will set up the DVR.

    Dex, Mark Sanndusky is an adopted son, not a stepson.-

    We are going to see Moonrise Kingdom tomorrow! Wooooeee!

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  73. Charlotte said on June 23, 2012 at 11:46 am

    What I don’t get is if the NCAA can shut down programs over giving the kids money, why can’t they shut down Penn State for harboring a pedophile for all those years? Kill the program. Salt the earth.

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  74. brian stouder said on June 23, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Charlotte – AMEN!

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  75. Dexter said on June 23, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Dorothy, I have been a step-parent for 35 years and I do not know the technical difference between an adopted child and a step-child. Is it that the adopted child changes his last name, and a step-child, not adopted, does not?
    My step daughters were 8 and 6 and my wife didn’t want to have me adopt because at least then, support would end from her ex.
    They both still call me dad, and have almost zero contact with their father.
    So an adopted child cannot be a step child also?

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  76. Dexter said on June 23, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    MarkH, I saw Annette Funicello a couple days ago giving an interview. She is in much worse shape than the photo from your link shows. I too love Teri Garr by the way. I just lost a friend to brain cancer a couple weeks ago. I don’t know how anything could be worse than going through that.

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  77. Charlotte said on June 23, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    Can a kid nullify an adoption if it only happened so the adoptive parent could abuse him?

    A stepchild is a child who comes into a marriage with one of the parents — I’ve never heard of it being synonymous with an adopted child. In fact, one of my pet peeves is when that the press always points out that a child is adopted. Your kid is your kid is your kid.

    Unless of course you groomed a kid through a charitable organization, had him foster with you, then adopted him — all the while sexually abusing him. Which is beyond revolting.

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  78. Dexter said on June 23, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    Boy am I dumb! Of course you are right, and thank you Charlotte, even though of course I could have legally adopted my step daughters and changed their name, but we chose to let them keep their identity…it was never any hard-feelings issue at all. Later we had a daughter . She was married two and a half years ago. She uses the hyphenated last name, as , for example, “Johnson-Smith”.

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  79. Dorothy said on June 23, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    That’s a pet peeve of mine, too, Charlotte. It’s my understanding that the Sanduskys had children of their own that Dottie gave birth to, and then they adopted more children.

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  80. Sherri said on June 23, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    All of the Sandusky children were adopted; they couldn’t have children of their own.

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