TBOGG, in crafting his often-humorous posts, likes to walk as close to the line as humanly possible. The problem, though, with sticking that close to the line is that sometimes he goes over it, leaving the realm of “funny” and into that of “squirmish bad taste”. Here is an example. The part comparing Rick Santorum’s speech patterns to a “Valley Girl” is funny. The part in which he makes a comparison involving Rick Santorum’s wife is not.

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I decided this weekend that Hell, in all likelihood, does not involve any fire, brimstone, or physical pain of any kind. This is because Hell is most likely a Wal-Mart on a Saturday during either the Christmas season or the school-shopping season.

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Here are some words being used a lot in Blogistan’s political discussions that I could do without:

“Idiotarian”, of course.

“Shillary”, “Shrillary”, “Hitlery”, and any other cutesy misspelling of Mrs. Clinton’s name. (BTW, I’m not sure when we all got to be on first-name basis with her in the first place.)

“Shrub”. I’m guilty of using this in the past, although I think that was on Usenet and not here. I hope not, anyway. I don’t like the guy and hope fervently for his defeat, but he’s the President of the United States. (I give “Dubya” a pass, since I’ve seen that one used as an affectionate term for the man by his supporters and it strikes me as a playful jab at Texas pronunciation as opposed to a slur on the President’s stature. I’m likewise unbothered by calling Bill Clinton “Bubba”, for some reason — it’s such a mild insult that I’m not always sure how much of an insult it’s even intended to be.)

“Wing nut”. This one’s moderately cute, admittedly, but I’m not wild about attributing insanity to either side of the political debate. (Well, there are the Libertarians, but that’s it.)

“aWol”. This one’s just a turn-off, folks. If all the half-assed accusations of “draft dodging” didn’t hurt Bill Clinton, this issue’s not going to hurt Bush. Neither are the shadowy accusations of his onetime drug use.

“Demmie”. Oh, how cute — like we shortened “Communist” to “Commie”, we can shorten “Democrat” to “Demmie”! Ick.

“Rethuglican”. Come on, folks. If you want to call Tom Delay a thug, that’s one thing. All of them, though?

“Trekkie”. It’s “Trek-ker“, dammit.

Yup, that coffee ought to kick in any minute now….

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I remember thinking, when I was in first and second grade back in 1977 and 1978, that by the year 2000 we’d have flying cars. Whoops. And then, in my freshman year in college, I predicted that by 2000 the Bills would have won at least one Super Bowl. Whoops. So I’m not the best predictor you’ll find out there.

And neither, apparently, were folks way back in 1950. Kevin Drum found an old article of predictions made back then, and he tallies the results in a handy table. Cool! (As much as I love Kevin’s political commentary, I’d love to see him write more about books and stuff.)

Here’s one example:

Prediction: “No more storms! Before one has a chance to build up steam, oil is spread on the sea and ignited, causing the storm to dissipate.”

Reality: “This novel idea does not seem to have caught on, although several supertanker captains appear to have been enthusiasts for the first part of this operation.”

As Insty might say, Read the whole thing.

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I’m pretty sure I’ve plugged this before, but Realms of Fantasy has one of the best services for writers I’ve ever seen: the online slush list, so you can actually check to see if the slush reader for the magazine has read your story. Wow. (My current submission has not yet been read, obviously, because it is of such staggering quality it will sail right through to the Editor’s desk. Hear me roar!)

Also, from the FAQ in this page, Carina — the ROF slush reader — writes that she doesn’t mind multiple submissions:

I’ve been getting this question a lot recently and so decided to add it to the F.A.Q. You can send as many stories to me as you like, even in the same envelope, provided THERE IS A SASE FOR EVERY STORY! The reason for this is because stories are often separated. I might reject one, sending it home to you, but want the other one to go to Shawna for possible publication. She’s going to need her own method of contacting and/or rejecting you. So send away!

That is helpful information.

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An interesting little ritual on Monday mornings is when I do my morning web-surfing and such, and as the morning progresses, more and more of the little (^)’s pop up next to the links in “Other Journeys”, as people post updates to their blogs after the weekend.

(Well, it’s interesting to me, anyway. This post was obviously written in a pre-caffeinated state.)

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PBS had a show on this week about….sandwiches.

Lord, did this show make me hungry.

Dedicated to various sandwiches available across the United States, some of which I’d never heard of before, there was even a bit of local pride: Buffalo’s Beef-on-Weck was featured, from a restaurant just ten minutes from where I live right now (and in walking distance of where we lived before)! It’s always incredibly cool to see something local featured nationally.

(And yes, for my Iowan readers, these got a prominent mention as well.)

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I don’t drink nearly as much beer as I used to — a six-pack of Sam Adams can linger in my fridge for months at a time these days — so I’d probably not be of much interest to this organization. Ah, well….

(Apropos of nothing, my favorite beer-related quote of all time comes from The Simpsons, when Ned Flanders says: “As a good host I’m obligated to offer you a beer. But I’m so darn mad, it’s gonna be mostly head!”)

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Two former Buffalo Bills enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame today:

:: Joe DeLamielleure, one of the members of the great “Electric Company” offensive line that plowed the road for OJ Simpson during the 70s.

:: James Lofton, who was the Bills’ number two receiver and deep threat during their first three Super Bowl seasons.

That’s two Bills from the Super Bowl teams — Lofton and QB Jim Kelly, inducted last year — to go into the Hall. Future years will see Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and Bruce Smith certainly inducted. I also would not be surprised to see Kent Hull, Darryl Talley, and Cornelius Bennett in the Hall. And of course, as a biased Bills fan, I think the Hall would be incomplete for all time if they don’t induct Steve Tasker, the game’s greatest special teams player ever — but I’m not sure if that’s enough to get him in, as an “objective” football observer. We’ll see.

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Wow. This has been a pretty cool summer, here in Buffalo at least. It’s now August, and I’m not sure if we’ve even hit 90 degrees a single time. Usually we’re good for seven or eight days of 90s around here. Of course, we may still get them, but I’m hoping not. I loathe hot weather. Our current apartment has central air conditioning, which is a magnificent luxury, and we’ve use it probably a total of ten times this summer — and even then, we only turn it on around 7:00 at night, when there’s that lag-time between the cooling outside and that inside. We’ve never yet run the thing all day. (Speaking of which, not only are there people here who run their A/C when it’s only 75 and not very humid, but there are people who run the thing full-bore when they’re out to work. What a tremendous waste of energy, if their units work as well as ours, as I assume they must, given that we’re in a development with identical buildings. Our apartment cools noticeably within the first ten minutes of turning the thing on, and by the time we’ve run it for three hours, parts of our home are downright frigid.)

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