Most people is pretty quiet right about now. Me, I see a stiff -- one I didn't have to kill myself -- I just get, the urge to, you know, do stuff. Like work out, run around, maybe get some trim if there's a willin' woman about... not that I get flush from corpses or anything. I ain't crazy.

Jayne ,'The Message'


Natter 37: Oddly Enough, We've Had This Conversation Before.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Consuela - Jul 31, 2005 1:10:11 pm PDT #4458 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

at our lunch with the columnist Jon Carroll

You had lunch with Jon Carroll? Cool.

I need to scare up the link to his "don't hate what you love" column, which was marvelous.


DavidS - Jul 31, 2005 1:19:00 pm PDT #4459 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

You had lunch with Jon Carroll? Cool.

It was! JZ's dad bought a lunch with Jon at a charity auction about three years ago. We only just cashed it in a couple weeks ago.


tommyrot - Jul 31, 2005 1:28:24 pm PDT #4460 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Long Wikipedia article on the next generation of US manned space vehicles - the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which will carry humans to the moon and Mars.

NASA hopes to follow this schedule in development of the CEV:

  • 2006 - (March) NASA selects one team to build CEV.
  • 2006 - (July) Engineering review of CEV design
  • 2008 – 2010 - First unmanned flight of CEV in Earth orbit.[26]
  • 2011 - (June) First manned flight of CEV in Earth orbit.
  • 2015-2018 - First unmanned flight of Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM).
  • 2016-2018 First manned flight of LSAM.
  • 2018 - First manned lunar landing with CEV/LSAM system.
  • 2020 - Start of planning for Mars missions

The whole program should cost the same (or slightly more) than NASA is currently spending on operating the Shuttle - i.e. retiring the Shuttle by 2010 will pay for most or all of it.


P.M. Marc - Jul 31, 2005 1:31:07 pm PDT #4461 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

In my mother's family, they bury the cremains (favorite word!) under the family headstone, so you can have both.

In my family, we either forget about the cremains (my grandfather's) and lose track of which funeral home they're stored at, or keep them on a shelf until such a time as it seems fitting to illegally dump them in a river (step-grandfather's and Gram's).

Paul's grandfather's cremains are buried next to the dog.

So, when I go, I'm thinking LifeGem: [link]


DebetEsse - Jul 31, 2005 1:35:30 pm PDT #4462 of 10002
Woe to the fucking wicked.

While having Grandma's ring is nice, I think having grandma as a ring is just...a bit creepy. But, perhaps, I am simply not in the spirit of the thing, but the testimonials at the site aren't helping.


tommyrot - Jul 31, 2005 1:37:46 pm PDT #4463 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

If only a LifeGem could be utilized in some sort of DeathRay and sold to some supervillian....


Nicole - Jul 31, 2005 1:46:10 pm PDT #4464 of 10002
I'm getting the pig!

I have my grandparents in a necklace.

No, really. A little bit of both of their ashes (not asses, as originally typed... but I suppose it could be their asses) in a small WELL SEALED metal vial, on a chain. I rarely wear it but I'm glad I have it.

Hey, at least it's not my bf's or dh's blood, right?


DavidS - Jul 31, 2005 1:49:26 pm PDT #4465 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

::suspects Nicole is a Necromancer who uses Strong Language::


Nicole - Jul 31, 2005 1:54:36 pm PDT #4466 of 10002
I'm getting the pig!

::suspects Hec's going to get a smack in the arm after he gets a hug when I'm in SF in a few months::


DavidS - Jul 31, 2005 1:56:12 pm PDT #4467 of 10002
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I, for one, welcome our arm-smacking overlordsvisiting friends!