Somehow, you knew it was going to come to this . . .

So, yes, they did use duct tape to try to hold up the bolts in the Big Dig tunnels in Boston.

“Bolts have falled out before epoxy sets. Crew is now using duct tape to hold bolt to ceiling.”

Mutterings on a Saturday afternoon

1. This is the 13th day in a row that I have posted something, and I am pretty sure that's "A new league record."

2. Certainly, yesterday's 10 posts constituted "A new league record."

3. I have never gotten around to posting what a great afternoon I had with herooftheage in the bleachers at Fenway Park Tuesday afternoon. The Sox won, 1-0, and we really enjoyed ourselves. At some point, I will wax poetically about watching baseball in person.

4. I was also impressed with the number of folks at Carolingian fighter practice Wednesday evening. Very cool. A lot of talent and enthusiasm.

5. We are still looking at next Sunday, July 30, for the 7 p.m. "Taming of the Shrew" show on the Boston Common. That would not preclude me from going on another night this week.

6. My friends from Grimfells have done it again. Shop away.

7. I love the "Stumble" feature on Firefix.

Keeping beer cold

One question: One of our cozies was a late entry, but highly anticipated for its claims of thermal superiority. The Thermax Can Insulator, manufactured by Thermos and retailing for about $13.25, advertised on its packaging that it that it would outperform any comparable product, keeping a can cool for 3 hours and 10 times longer than an uninsulated beverage.

If it's gonna take you three hours to drink a single beer . . .

Liam looks at the news . . .

1. "What I won’t do is go to some place and try to get a cease-fire that I know isn’t going to last."
Condoleeza Rice, the secretary of state, on the fighting in Lebanon.

So we're not gonna bother? If the Red Sox thought like this, we never would have won the World Series. If George Washington thought like this, we would all be saying honour and bloody and would be drinking tea and warm beer.


2. As if the fighting in the Middle East isn’t enough, one of today’s headlines: “Somali sheik calls for Holy War vs. Ethiopia.” These things worry me.


3. From a news report: From 2002 until this year, NASA’s mission statement, prominently featured in its budget and planning documents, read: “To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.” In early February, the statement was quietly altered, with the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet” deleted. In this year’s budget and planning documents, the agency’s mission is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.”

A. What are we gonna do when the Martians do fire that space modulator at us?

B. Why do I think global warming plays into this?


4. Kinda depressing when your divorce is front-page news. (and winds up in people's blogs.

After 2 years,
same-sex marriage
icons split up

Were plaintiffs in landmark case

By Michael Levenson, Boston Globe

They told the world that their relationship was like any other and that's why they should be allowed to marry. Now, friends say, they are showing once again that they are just like any other couple: Two years after getting married, Julie and Hillary Goodridge, lead plaintiffs in the state's landmark gay marriage case, are splitting.

Mary Breslauer, a spokeswoman for the couple, confirmed the separation last night. She said the couple are focused now on trying to do what is best for their daughter, Annie, 10.

``Julie and Hillary Goodridge are amicably living apart," Breslauer said in a telephone interview. ``As always their number one priority is raising their daughter, and like the other plaintiff couples in this case, they made an enormous contribution toward equal marriage. But they are no longer in the public eye, and request that their privacy be respected."

Breslauer said they have not filed for divorce. She would not comment on their plans and offered no other details.

Supporters of gay marriage had cast them as the face of their cause: happily together for two decades, financially stable, loving parents, and in 2004, able to legally wed. Julie Goodridge, 49, is president of NorthStar Asset Management, an investment advisory firm, and Hillary, 50, is program director for the Unitarian Universalist Funding Program.

Sunday SCA Photo of the Day

freya1
Originally uploaded by LiamStLiam.

Mistress Freya Manslayer Carolsdottir, out in front where she ought to be, leads King Gaufred Kelson and Queen Geneviere as they march away from the thrones and toward freedom after the coronation of Thorson and Svava.

Photo by request of bhairavi