Gotcha, Meara, I was there in August of 2004 and they wanted my opinion on the election something fierce. It was awesome. But it was also a little bit unnerving that the Irish seemed more interested in our election than some of the 'Mericans I knew did.

And I didn't get to see Jars, dammit.

I think ATK or CI did a thing on why organic milk lasts longer. Or someone. Anyway, there's a reason. t /helpful

Happy birthday Dana! Now With Extra Bolding and Bangs!!!

I hope that your coworkers leave you alone and shrift innundates your inbox with delectable porn.

ION, the orb! It burns! It's already crested the skylight at 9:45 and I'm freakin' blinded.

Hell, we could collaborate and you could have Laser Cats.

I'm not going to vote for this unless it's the Ministry of Cats With Frickin' Lasers On Their Heads.

Am now suffering from curry food coma. Zzzzzzzz

Is there a notation for writing down dances? Okay, maybe I should go further back. When Company B dances Swan Lake this year, how much like Swan Lake from Company A in 1956 is it? Tells the same story, probably. Has the same cast? Doing the same motions? In the same costumes? How much is traditional, reasonable variation? If it's close, how is it recorded?

For ita, from my former roommate:

The system for written recording of dances is called Labanotation (likely the best google term), studied at the Dance Notation Bureau (I think) and also the Dance Critics Association. The other issue is, of course, the modern ability to film dance and, for this, you might try looking at PBS Great Performances Dance Series. Film recording of dance tends to be a subject of debate—which angles are filmed, how do the filmmaker’s interpretation and the choreographer’s intention intersect? Finally, of course, dance reconstruction is done by dancers who worked with original choreographer or in early performances of a given work. For protégés of notable choreographers, this can be quite a career in itself—setting classic works on various dancers/companies—though, once again, the result is somewhat subjective. To answer the larger questions of comparison of various incarnation of a dance would be a master’s thesis if not a dissertation (or many).

I think we've talked about this before: Website Lets You Send a Post-Rapture E-Mail to Friends 'Left Behind'

But I was wondering - what criteria do they use to determine if the Rapture has happened? I mean, for all we know, the Rapture might have happened a few weeks ago but the standards were so strict that only a few monks in Mongolia made it.

So it sez:

The e-mails will be triggered when three of the site's five Christian staffers "scattered around the U.S." fail to log in for six days in a row -- a system that incorporates a nice margin of safety, should two of the proprietors turn out to be unrepentant sinners or atheists.

Still, this seems problematic. What are the chances of at least three of the five making the cut? I'd say the odds are good, but probably not close to 100%. Also, what if someone kidnaps three of their staff, or otherwise prevents them from logging on? A false rapture report goes out, and lots of Christians suddenly think they weren't good enough for Jesus to call them to heaven. And lots of non-believers get emails from their Christian relatives saying, "I've been raptured!" when in fact they weren't.

I think what they need to do is invent some device that attaches to the bodies of their staffers. Then when their bodies disappear (assuming that clothes and what-not are left behind) the device would detect the missing body and trigger the Rapture alert. Maybe something like a giant paper-clip that has electrical contacts that close when the body gets raptured....

It'd be funny to hack the rapture email database and send out a notice like: "The Rapture Has Happened (And You Weren't Invited!)"

Hell, I'd send an evite to the Rapture.

Happy Birthday Dana!

Ugh. I am snowed under with work this week and my cohort who's handling the job interview process for a new person is scheduling multiple interviews and demos that I have to be a part of. I know it's necessary, but I wish this stuff could have been put off until next week when I wasn't already planning to work until 7 or later each night.

A false rapture report goes out, and lots of Christians suddenly think they weren't good enough for Jesus to call them to heaven.

More to the point, what happens when there's a massive nationwide power failure? The last one didn't last six days, but that's not beyond the realm of the imagination.

Or for that matter, bad strain of the flu one winter, whoops pretend rapture.

"We were just kidding! Lying flat on your back hallucinating that your cat is a minor deity is totally like the rapture! The hospitalizations are almost over, and then we'll go back to ordinary rapture-expectation."