Hurray! Very happy to listen to a new International Edition. Totten's a total hoss.

They are making things right between them, and your attendance does not imply blanket approval of the church body. Go to the wedding, see and be seen by all, give them a hug and a kiss afterward, drop off a nice card (with or without low-denomination GC inside, your choice), and skip the reception.

No harm, no foul.

My high school geometry teacher kept an empty two-liter soda bottle at her desk. It was labeled "The Bopper" and would be deployed, gently but without irony, on the heads of students who got their geometry problems wrong at the chalk board.

I wish I were making this up.

What a relief to learn that I am not the only ABBA fan on Ricochet!

The lyrics of Fernando, one of ABBA's most successful singles, describe two veterans reminiscing about the Mexican Revolution. If you can sell ten million copies of a pop song about that, well, you've got some chops.

[Related personal note: I once wrote a parody/skit song for a family reunion at Disneyworld to be sung to the tune of Fernando. It was called Orlando.]

Only an hour?!

Well said.

Unless you are celebrating birthday number

1-13
16
18
21
anything divisible by 5
anything with more than two digits

I just don't get it.

Well, this is just fantastic--I knew the Ricochetti would come through in a major way.

John, I'm so sorry I missed your post in February (and Roberto, thank you for mentioning it)! I shall check out the whole writeup on your Fourmilab site. That's an interesting point about skipping the Drake Passage, as most of the operators I found so far do indeed make the sea crossing.

Susan, what a kind offer. I will definitely be in touch.

Tim, I've never heard of the Dry Valleys and will add them to my "to-research" list.

I've got four of the seven continents so far, so this would be a huge "get". :-)

Thanks to all for your lovely and helpful comments (and if anyone else would like to chime in, by all means!).

Combination of 3 and 4.

Why don't prominent conservative politicians ever say, in response to accusations of "climate denial":

1. What is the optimum global climate and how is it determined?

and/or

2. Disagreement on the appropriate policy response to climate change does not make someone "anti-science" or a "denier".

Made it! Whew! *wipes brow*

Also, I was told there would be ice cream. 1204 comments, and yet I still have no ice cream.

Well, he did this three or four years ago, so maybe that's still bringing in a few bucks a month.

You stay classy, Levi.

Which is worse, ignorance or apathy?

I don't know and I don't care.

(That never gets old.)

Sigh.

Sorry. What?

The only acceptable answer to this question is Fletch.

Whiskey Sam and tabula rasa are with me on this one, I assure you.

Nobody is anymore, much. Pity.

Thanks for the response.

Joining in a bit late, although this conversation has the potential to break 500, so maybe not.

Full disclosure: I'm a secular "get the government out of marriage" libertarian-ish conservative. I don't much care what consenting adults do together behind closed doors, but I have a strong preference for people of any sexual orientation to live chastely until marriage (or civil union, or life commitment, or whatever), and then to live faithfully after marriage. (I hope it's not bigoted to say that.)

Now that that's out of the way, I have one question for GayFreedomLover, and I ask it out of sincere curiosity:

Why does your Ricochet handle mention that you are gay?