Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Slush and Other Stuff


In the publishing world, this is what you would call slush. It came unsolicited and from a less stable source. The sort of precipitation I requested is known as snow. Not slush. What came slickly dressed from the skies yesterday was aspiring snow. Kids' stuff. Which, today, has vaporized like many a child star. 

So much for last Friday's rain, er, snow dance. Maybe if we'd all get together, form two lines (ladies and gents) and stomp... 

Naysayers.

Not so long ago, in 1988, during what the Government declared "the worst drought in fifty years" (affecting two-fifths of the country), a group of farmers from Ohio asked the Rosebud, S.D. Sioux tribesman, Leonard Crow Dog (there should be a Wiki link here), to assist them with their pleas for rain. Crow Dog met the farmers in Clyde, Ohio, and performed a rain/pipe dance, which, it is said, was followed by a crackling in the sky and a niagra of a rainfall. Well, I exaggerate--it was more like a quarter inch or less. Still.

I think I need to get a pipe.

Did anyone else miss Wiki today?

Stomp. Stomp. Puff.

27 comments:

  1. Jayne: I can't say that I missed them because I worked many hours today. But I see their point. I so enjoyed this post! Alot of fun reading that brought a smile!! :)

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  2. Michael- Imagine if Wiki and Dictionary.com shut down at the same time? Oy. Those old paper dictionaries and encyclopedias just wouldn't cut it.

    I'm glad you're smiling. I want snow. (Minor tantrum.) Then I'll smile. ;p

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  3. Sorry - typo

    I missed Wiki today.

    It's supposed to snow again tomorrow.

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  4. Slush: wet blankets of insincere snow. I wish I could send you what we're getting. Just sending what I've shoveled out of the drive and off of the roof would probably do your heart good.

    I've never seen or used Wiki but I understand it's absence is felt my many. I feel your loss. :-(

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  5. I find it ironic that certain members of our esteemed congress, who whine and moan about guvment intervention and staying out of our lives, can't seem to stay the hell out of our lives.

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  6. i haven't touched a printed dictionary or encyclopedia for years. Now I'm totally relying on the Internet resources.

    Skiing in the slush can be fun, in particular if you have a pair of rocker-shaped powder skis. They make you kind of float both in slush and in powder >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  7. I missed Wikipedia a lot. You know who didn't miss Wikipedia? The archaically old senators who want to shut down the Internet. Then again, they don't even use the Internet, or understand how it works, so why would they care?

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  8. Of course, you know (er, don't you?) how much writers start to twitch anxiously when they see the word "slush."

    It was an extremely weird day without Wikipedia. But I didn't freak out as much as I would have if I'd been preparing a Friday post. :) However, as long as you mentioned it: Leonard Crow Dog -- the post just doesn't seem complete without it.

    Was it Mammy Yokum who smoked a pipe? Now there's a role model for you.

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  9. I was surprised by how much I consult Wiki. It was like a spurned lover. You never realize how much you miss them until they are gone.

    OK, Jayne, I'll do a little snow dance, but just for you.

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  10. Loree- A bit of snow tonight, maybe. The possibility of more on Saturday... bit by bit, maybe we'll actually see a respectable accumulation!

    I think most of us missed Wiki while it was dark. Obama came through, though. :)

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  11. LW- So kind of you. Snow from Maine would do my heart good. Thinking about Maine does my heart good. :)

    I think we'd all survive w/out Wiki, but it is probably the most convenient and fairly reliable clearinghouse for the trove of information on the interwebs.

    We may see some of the good stuff this weekend! :)

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  12. Kono- Politics is as politics does. It's amazing how much time and money the White House wastes on useless and ill-advised legislation. Well, at least our Prez put a halt on SOPA. But how much did all that cost?

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  13. Cold- Just think about that: totally reliant on the internet. We are, just about all of us, in that position now. The WWW is going to have to be carefully curated.

    Rocket-shaped powder skis? Wow. I'm going to watch out for those on the slopes. ;)

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  14. Beer- Ha! It would be interesting to poll those who proposed the legislation. Obviously, we would find them all rather shortsighted. ;)

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  15. JES- Oh, any publisher who'd dare to throw your work into a slush pile would be a fool. No, that just won't be happening.

    And thank you so much for providing the Wiki link for Leonard Crow Dog. I thought about going back to add it after the blackout, but then, I didn't want to mess with the integrity of the original post. Maybe I'll add a P.S., though... What I learned while Wiki went dark: you don't have to start at Wiki, but it sure helps.

    Mammy Yokum--hysterical! Absolutely, corn pipe, kick (or was it punch) and all. My kind of gal. I'm going to summon my inner Mammy. ;)

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  16. Oh, Bill- so very thoughtful of you! Now if you go to Wiki (she'll have you back now), I'll bet you can find out exactly how to perform that dance. ;)

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  17. Oops, Cold- you said rocker skis, which, I see, offer a whole new experience of superior float. My. And my K2 Burnin' Luvs are only a couple of years old, so I think I'm going to have to be satisfied with them for a while. At least they're parabolics. Up 'til 2 seasons ago, I had the heavy, long 195s. Ack. Was happy to retire those. ;)

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  18. Aspiring snow--I love that! As for rain dances, by all means don't forget Ghanan Ghanan from Lagaan. Er, well, it didn't work first off, but still . . .

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    1. Ah- Ghanan Ghanan! Now that's a lively dance--probably more effective than stomping. ;)

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  19. Print is for popular fiction, at least that's what I go for in books. Everything else is on line research. Didn't miss it that day but would eventually.

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    1. Same here, Ellen. I'm glad to see Wiki's open for business once again.

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  20. It was reported that the absence of Wiki is directly responsible for withdrawing/shelving the witless bills. At the very least, a rain/snow dance will do no harm. :)

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    1. Marylinn- Ha! I'll bet it was responsible for many a calamity. We've had our snow... but the warm weather and rain has washed it all downstream. Looks like I'm going to have to do some more shuffling. ;)

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  21. Love your photo but sorry you didn't get the snow you'd hoped for.

    And - Wiki missed by me. I think I'm more wiki-dependent than I realised.

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    1. We did finally get snow, SF. Unfortunately (for me, anyhow), it didn't stay long enough. I think it's still winter, though, isn't it? Vay.

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  22. Jayne, have you gotten your snow yet? I've been doing a snow dance down here in Florida for you, although maybe doing it on the beach in a bikini kind of cancels out some of the power;)

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    1. Leah- we have! Enough for me to get out w/Lu on our cross country skis. Heaven. But it didn't stick around. Warmed up the next day and yesterday it was in the 50s! Need to keep stomping and puffing. ;)

      Oh, I think the rain gods would love a dance on the beach!

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