I'm trying to figure out where the hell 394 is at on the map!

Oh, okay (after googling), that's the Bishop Ford.

394 should take you to 30.

took us awhile to find it, too! But it connects to 30 so we're good. just creeping along for te last two miles.

thanks, Kathy!

I'm not too familiar with roads on the South Side, but I know of the "Bishop Ford Freeway" from the traffic reports. I've never heard it called 394, though after looking at the Wikipedia entry, I see that it's Illinois (state road) 394. If the Peotone airport ever gets approved and built, it'll probably be expanded to Interstate 394.

Re: the Palin Baby Name Generator

I'm not sure if I win or lose.

"Smoke Strapon Palin"

If your mother's Sarah Palin ... I think you lose. Although that's one of the better names.

I'm hungry. I should get out of bed and make dinner, but I have my laptop, iPod, and an unopened bottle of Tanqueray within reaching distance.

Open the Tanqueray.

Guzzle Red Palin here, brother to Steam Fangs Palin and Chin Trout Palin. Husband to (oh gods, I hope Wallybee never finds out about this) Mullet Troll Palin.

Petroleum is a vile substance, that corrupts the souls of everyone who deals with it. Except the Norwegians, for some reason.

It's because they know the world ends, not in fire, but in ice.

Has anyone else taken any Japanese? I'm finding the grammar really interesting -- you seem to use the same word for "I eat" and "you eat" and "you are going to eat" and "I am going to eat"; and the same words for "What are you going to eat" and "What would you like to eat", which seems like it'd make learning it very simple -- but then it turns out it makes up for simple verbs by using complicated nouns.

Chinese is much the same. No declensions, no conjugations. A bewildering array of words for, say, 'cousin'.

And I love the way most of the nouns are compounds. 'Panda' is 'big bear-cat'. 'Echidna' is 'spiny mole'. 'Penguin' is 'goose on tiptoe'. 'Wombat' is 'pouch-bear', while 'Koala' is 'tree wombat'.

Then there's the challenge of using different words for counting, depending on the type and shape of the thing you're counting.

Does this mean the numerical signifier, or the measure word? (e.g. 'three brushes' vs 'three tables', does the three translate differently, or do you need a separate word in between, as in "three bottles of wine" vs "three plates of food"?) Chinese does the measure word profusion too.

It made me wonder -- do you use the same counting word for penises that you do for bottles and cigarettes, or does that go in a different category?

I asked Wallybee this question for Chinese. Apparently the appropriate measure word here is gēn, meaning 'root'. Wine comes in bottles, penises come in roots.

I really like this language.