@morninggloria: I worked for many years at a summer camp that didn't even aspire to porta-johns, just wood outhouses at every site, complete with seat all splintery from where various woodland creatures would nibble for the salt impregnated wood. Each year there would be a few kids who would try to go the whole week…

@JulesNoctambule: I'll help with the liriope if you'll give me a hand with my winter creeper. For my resume I submit a successful battle against Japanese Bush Honeysuckle.

@LibidinousSlut: The train tracks in my back yard were originally built as part of our city's trolley system. As far as I've learned, it operated from the 1890s through the 1930s. This is in Lexington, KY, by no means a large city, and back then the population was around 40,000. What really amazes me is that they…

@Flackette is a Red State Elitist: He's sort of our Junior Nutjob, so he can get away with a little more.

@pear.shaped.Sara: When I worked as a stage hand we used to spray the floor with a very fine mist of sugar water, even sprite or coke to give some grip without entirely losing the shine. But what about the floor itself. It looks like some cheap laminate from Lumber Liquidators. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't…

Maybe it is my theatre background, but I don't have an problem with a photographer using Photoshop or an airbrush in these types of photos, provided that it is done judiciously. Photoshop, lighting, even makeup are just means of heightening reality. It is the Kennedy-Nixon debates. Sure, most of America at the time…

@LaFemme: My dissertation-writing wife would like to know where you live since $125k is more than 3x our current combined income and after six years in Kentucky we are so ready to move. Just please don't say Texas.

@prestocaro: washed, ready to eat: Ugh..be forewarned. I did a practicum in hat making in college and it was pretty difficult stuff. No doubt, the final product was awesome but I hope to never have to do another greek key stitch for the rest of my life. My fingers are sore just thinking about it.

@The HZA.:I'll go one worse. I used to be a tech at SeaWorld, and at least a half-dozen times a ear we'd be busting out the pink heart shaped spotlight so some guy could propose to a girl in the middle of the Shamu Show. The cold salt-water, the dead fish smell permeating the air, bleachers full of midwesterners with…

@dissolver: I have the same mix of cursive, print and drafting-style block print. Unfortunately they don't teach hand drafting anymore, so we're probably the last to have this affliction. Its all straight to AutoCAD. My professor for stage/scenic design was not only an impeccable draftsman, but had six or seven…

@British Benzene: At least you'll be in Kentucky, so you call fill that flask up with some local bourbon.

@RocktheDebit: Oh, the psychics have long moved out of the strip. Now they wear organic hemp and wood beads and have set up shop between the Whole Foods and the store that sells $95 yoga mats.

@angelheadedhipster: Remember, that 10-year old will be 18 by the time O! is out of office. All those teen years of rebelling against his parents (and their indoctrination) are still ahead of him. Plus with a little luck he'll get to live it all under a great and charismatic president.

@cautionarywhale: Most of the reports seem to suggest that while they did give her that blank check, she wrote it for about 6 times what they were expecting to pay. Plus, the McCain campaign took public funding, so they will be audited by the FEC at which point every receipt for every junior staffer's mcdonalds run…

Had an hour and a half wait, outside in 40 degree weather at 6:15 in the morning, carrying my very sleepy two-year old the whole time. Could have something to do with living in a very blue precinct in a very red state. But I let Laken hit the "cast ballot" button, and it is all he has talked about all day, so I must…

Is this "experiment" actually part of her research for her thesis? I can't actually see this getting past a thesis committee, much less the Institutional Review Board (IRB) most (all?) Universities have these days. This is an experiment on a live human subject after all.

I've been worrying about all the crap executive orders that Bush would put out in his final days and hours in office since he was first elected. They are probably already working on the list. I thought a lot of what Clinton did during his last few days was slimy at best, and he still had a few shreds of…

@Chad Brooks: If the grill was black and in direct sun, it probably acted a lot like a solar food dehydrator. The vents for combustion in the grill probably allowed enough air circulation. Of course, the casings and all those preservatives probably helped.