Authoritative Sources & a Bonus!

Yesterday I bemoaned the sad fact that no one knows how to outline and alluded to the obvious fact that no one is going to learn by trying to outline using MS Word. I offered up my own version of the correct notation for varying degrees of subordination. However, at the time I could not find an authoritative source for notation beyond the second degree.

This has bothered me all morning, because-- you know-- I am all about authority! Just ask the experts!

Fortunately, the two crappy old grammar/writing books I looked at yesterday* are not the only crappy old books I have on the subject.

page 352 of Harbrace Handbook of English by John C. Hodges. 1941.  Harcourt, Brace and Company: New York, Chicago

I. major headings
   A. subheadings of the first degree
        1. subheadings of the second degree
            a. subheadings of the third degree
                (1). subheadings of the fourth degree

I could be wrong, but I remember MSWord offering a choice of the parenthetical subheading. Of course, that's when I used MSWord back in the crappy olden days. Apparently MS has caught onto the sad fact that no one knows how to outline.

BONUS below

I Finally Figured It Out: This is What's Wrong with the World

Partial outline of Mr. Big Food's and my joint project. Do you see what's wrong with MS word's view of The World?

For the record, it goes like this: 

I.
  A.
     1.
        a.
           i.

Or something like that. MS Word does it like this:

I.
  A.
     i.
      1.
        i.

Why would you do that? Seriously? Why?

I just looked at some crappy old books and they all agree.

The Reason the World is Going to Hell in a Hand-Basket is that No One Knows How to Outline.

People don't know their i's from their MS i's. 

There. I said it.

Taking a break from all things wallpaper

to check the status of the TORNADO room. Yippee.

A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TONIGHT
INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY AND BRING DAMAGING WINDS TO THE REGION ALONG
WITH SOME TORNADOES. DUE TO A RARE COMBINATION OF INTENSE WIND SHEAR
AND INSTABILITY FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...SOME HIGHER END SEVERE
WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE INCLUDING WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WINDS WITH
GUSTS UP TO 80 MPH AND A STRONG TORNADO. THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED
BETWEEN 9 PM AND 3 AM FOR LOCATIONS WEST OF INTERSTATE 55 AND BETWEEN
2 AND 7 AM FOR LOCATIONS GENERALLY EAST OF INTERSTATE 55.

Hum. I'd rather be sound asleep BETWEEN 2 AND 7 AM.

Stupid SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTBREAK.

Final Touches

I think it's good to mix Heritage with Current Events, don't you? These final touches in the 1/2 bath seem to do the trick. Plus, they provide inspiration! Want to do some skeet shooting?

[Who says that, anyway? Do skeet shooting? How about shoot some skeet? Geeze.]

[And one more thing. This E-Z Thrower is cute but if you really want to do some skeet shooting, pull the one out of the garage.]

Heritage

I attribute the elements of the New & Improved half-bath to Mr. Big Food's Czech-Tex heritage.

Mr. Big Food's Mom gave me those green hanging on the wall things when she lived in Dallas. They've been stored away in basements and garages for years waiting for just the right wall to come along.

They found one!

The BIGGEST part is, of course, this crappy old towel:

 I ironed it!

PSA for Mississippi Readers/Citizens | UPDATED with Link to Bill's Full Text

Regarding MS House Bill HB485 to exempt weapon permit information, i.e. to not see Concealed Permit Holders'  names and addresses published in the paper.

Here's the email I just received (8:35pm Monday) from Elaine Vechorik. I'll update with more links.

Please share this!

The battle is not over.

 This just means the bill survived to come out of committee for a full house vote.

NOW is the time to contact your representative and ask him to vote YES on HB 485 Description: MS Public Records Act; exempt weapon permit information.


Newspaper article: http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/01/mississippi_house_committee_ok.html

From Will Longwitz
Protect gun owner privacy - call the House Tuesday.

Rep. Mark Baker's conceal carry privacy bill passed through committee today. It keeps the media from getting your conceal carry information and printing it.

Tuesday is the full House vote. I wrote the Senate version, but I am throwing my full support to Rep. Baker's bill, HB485. There is no time to lose. A Tupelo newspaper has requested all the records of every conceal-carry license holder in Lee County. We must act now. Your information could be next. Nobody has a right to your conceal-carry information but you!

Email your Representatives and call the Capitol tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 601-359-3770. Tell them to support conceal carry privacy. Support HB485.

UPDATE:

Here's the key bit:

HOUSE BILL NO.  485

     AN ACT TO CREATE SECTION 25-61-11.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF
1972, TO EXEMPT INFORMATION REGARDING PERSONS WITH A WEAPON PERMIT
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC RECORDS ACT OF 1983; TO AMEND SECTION
45-9-101, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY; AND FOR RELATED
PURPOSES.

     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 25-61-11.1, Mississippi Code of 1972:

     25-61-11.1.  The name, home address, any telephone number or
other private information of any person who possesses a weapon 
permit issued under Section 45-9-101 or Section 97-37-7 shall be 
exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983.

The full text is here. Take note of this:

316. 330  (18) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require
     
317. 331  or allow the registration, documentation or providing of serial
     
318. 332  numbers with regard to any stun gun or firearm. Further, nothing
     
319. 333  in this section shall be construed to allow the open and
     
320. 334  unconcealed carrying of any stun gun or a deadly weapon as
     
321. 335  described in Section 97-37-1, Mississippi Code of 1972.
     

If you've never read state legislation pertaining to concealed carry, I encourage you to do so. You may be surprised how regulated the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is!

A couple of weeks ago, Miss M. suggested

that I blog about my new lamp. And so tonight I shall.

I got it from Fred's. It's orange.

Fred's can be a great place to shop. I say "can" because some Fred's are better and cleaner than others. Fortunately, the Fred's in my little town turned out to be a great place to shop when I needed a new lamp for the redecorated Comfortable Guest Room.

Overview:

Note the

hints of orange.

Sadly, I didn't snap a shot of the white embroidered pillow cases with hints of orange.

As we all know, overviews do not a Comfortable Guest Room make. Attention to detail will give Comfort to your Guests. (I know because I read about this in a crappy old book.)

The first thing a Comfortable Guest Room needs is a Comfortable Dog

laying on a Comfortable Bed.

And because your Comfortable Guest Room cannot be too Comfortable, the next thing it needs is Comfortable Dog #2

sitting in a Comfortable Chair

along side Comfortable Dog #1 who is sitting Comfortably on a 30-year old something skin rug. 

More detail-- and a glimpse of Miss M. expecting something-- below the fold.

Pot Roast Thoughts

Thought I'd share.

That's Gotta Hurt!

Close your eyes and ran on through! Good boy!

Reminded me of being a kid back in the crappy olden days.

Doin' some explorin'.

Feelin' the Sunshine.

370 Days Later

I brought Missy to the Farm January 19, 2012. 

Here's the homecoming post.

Look how BIG Rocky was a year ago!

And for Nostalgia's sake, here're a few words from January 20:

I'm not entirely sure who is going to win the war on play fighting. But there is no question in my mind that they are bonding. There's something sort of tragic about Rocky independently sitting outside her box, which is far superior to his, while she's in a circumstance that is not at all different that what she was in a day or two ago. Right. She's in a new & improved box with Rocky circling nearby and me blogging about her. Poor Dear.

My hope is that if I can teach Missy some manners, they can be independent together!

Through the cage, they are nose to nose.

No one won the war because it's all in play! But they have learned how to be independent together. You should see them exploring the Over-grown Pasture side by side!

And talk about learning manners. Whoa boy! 

Missy now asks politely, "May I please reach across the table to sniff that beautiful pencil? May I? May I?" But then, somewhat impolitely, she says, "Hey! You're not paying any attention to me. I asked nicely and you ignored me so you know what? That pencil is mine. Thank you very much."

One thing is certain about Life this past year on the Farm. We have all come to realize that each of us is smarter than a dog. Most of the time. 

Recipes Page | UPDATED

The Recipes Page is now current through today! Allowing for some degree of error-- and I'm too busy to calculate what that might be-- all of the recipes from Mr. Big Food's Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourish Guide are categorized with links to each individual recipe post. 

UPDATE: all the recipes ... that I have posted are categorized. I have not posted all of the 11,000+ recipes in Big Food.

Most recipes have photos, or at least a link to a prior post with a photos. There's still work to be done with respect to micro-categorizaton. But at least I'm caught up with the posting.

Man we ate some good food late last year!

Tell me this isn't cool. Go ahead. Try!

Three (3) crockpots in one!

Unfortunately, it's not ours. (But it's cool!) It belongs to Rhonda who blogs at Make, Do, and Mend. She's got the scoop on where you can find this 3' long crockpot contraption. And she's got a question:

Why do people think homemakers must be bored?
There always seems to be plenty of things to keep me busy
and to keep me on my toes.

Homemakers' work is drudgery!

A Terrible Squabble

Daughter C. and Miss M. got into it today. Fur was flying! There was cussin'! They were throwing books at each other left & right. They pleaded with me to referee.

At issue were the definitions of the words, "farther" and "further."

It was ugly and it got uglier when-- after I'd gotten out my crappy old 1892 Noah Webster Dictionary-- I pulled out my brand spankin' new version of Elements of Style.

Page 153: The Copyright Page; Click to see the actual history of this volume.

Daughter C. and Miss M. were fooled by the 2005 version of this crappy old book into thinking it was a brand spankin' new book. But I digress.

And then, as arguments among and between The Girls often do, the argument took a turn and they were off arguing about the Vices and Virtues of Old English versus Middle English. (It's all about etiology, don't you know?)

When the dust had settled, I gave them their assignment for the day. No one looked happy-- I think they thought it was a holiday or something. But when I told them what it was, they perked up. Read Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." 

Recipe: Buttermilk Pancakes

They match the table!

Mr. Big Food used up the last of our buttermilk and made a batch and a half this morning. We feasted and then froze the rest, because you can never have too many homemade buttermilk pancakes in your freezer.


BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

Makes about 1 dozen

2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter melted
2 cups buttermilk

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs and buttermilk. Add cooled melted butter last. Bake on hot griddle.

A Country Mouse Explores an Over-grown Pasture

My task was to inspect the perimeter fence.

I'm happy to report that it is intact. 

Saturday in Mississippi Part 3: Big Life!

Star Wars II

After a truly excellent supper of meatloaf/fake carrot-peanut meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and leftover cognac carrots we all settled in for a movie. Miss M.-- I think feeling rather squished on the couch (she's become accustomed to having it all to herself)-- decided to make a pallet.

Missy: A NEW BED!

Rocky: I'm so sleepy. LOOK! Auntie M is making me a new bed!!

Here's what I don't get. Anakin Skywalker was training to be a Jedi. Why didn't he rescue his mother from slavery as soon as he'd grown up enough to have the wherewithall to do it? The Jedi are supposed to be the Justice League from a Galaxy Far Far Away. Surely, they would have backed him.

Slavery is immoral.

And another thing. How old is that young Queen/Senator supposed to be? I mean, was she like 12 in Starwars I? "Maybe I was too young to be queen." Y'think?

Seriously, things are hanging by a thread.

By the way, as we were fixing supper we watched a classic episode of TOS. Khan.

Sunday is planting day.

Saturday in Mississippi Part 2: Check, Please!

The Station Cafe, we've stopped here before!

We took some back roads from Jackson to the Farm today and passed The Station Cafe. (Yes. I do know that "cafe" is a French word, and that the "e" should be "é" but that's not the way the woman who runs The Station Cafe spells it. I'm just trying to be true.) The notable thing about The Station Cafe is that the woman who runs it and her daughter do all of the cooking on a George Foreman Grill. Mr. Big Food and I wonder-- since it's still in business and all-- if maybe she hadn't bought a second grill.

~~

All of the above is an aside to the main point of this post.

We arrived back on the Farm to find Daughter C. and Mr. Bow Tie, who are spending the weekend in the new & improved guest room. After we'd settled in, I thought a couple of tea would be nice. And, I was informed that Daughter C. wanted some popcorn. There were many takers on the tea, and I don't mind at all popping corn with our crappy old popcorn popper.

All three of them were snuggled on the couch and looked so cozy, I didn't mind a bit bringing them their tea and popcorn. As I did, they handled me in unison their checks and payments.

And they tipped me, too! How awesome. I'm saving tips for a new gun! 

I was a bit disappointed by this:

Miss M. gave me all smiley faces. Click to enlarge and see that Daughter C. was no happy with her surrounds.

Sigh. I'll try to do better. 
~~

By the way-- the preferred sheets for the guest room bed are those 1000 count cotton ones in the chest-of-drawers which really do need to be ironed. My iron went missing a few months ago. It was last seen in Starkvegas sitting atop my ironing board. The new & improved iron, along with new but still crappy ironing board, is in the laundry room. Just in case anyone was wondering. 

Saturday in Mississippi Part 1: 2nd Amendment Rally

We had an overnight guest who I am pleased to say made his bed in the new & improved guest room after a walk around the property and a hearty breakfast of juice, coffee, biscuits & sausage gravy. After breakfast our guest departed for Nashville, and we made our way to the Capital of the Sovereign State of Mississippi.

Hard to believe, but we'd never been to the capital grounds before.

"Dedicated to you, a free citizen in a free land"

Opportunity seized.

While we did not, technically speaking, exercise our 2nd Amendment right at the rally-- as we were on the grounds of the capital guns stayed in the truck-- we did exercise our 1st Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Wish I'd thought of that. Just because the gun is in the truck doesn't mean the holster has to be.

The Governor spoke. 

I think I forgot to mention that Walker-- the 14 your old neighbor kid-- showed up at the door the other day with his single-shot .223 asking if he could go into the woods and sit in his deer stand and try his luck. 

Guns Made America Great!

UPDATED. The snow is gone

and so is the Courthouse.

It's a strange sad day here. Heavy snow. No school. Now about 47 degrees. Kids on bikes milling around just beyond the tape. Grownups coming to look and then looking very sad. Rumors... the Grand Jury had just convened for its twice yearly session.

UPDATE: From the local newspaper:

the fire started when a power strip in a first-floor office on the southwest corner shorted out.

Snow Day!

How exciting!

Both Mr. Big Food and Miss M called to let me know they made it to campus without incident. Others apparently were not so fortunate. It's not hard, people. Slow and steady wins the driving in the snow & ice game.

UPDATED: A total loss | WHAT THE F67#??

UPDATE from WLOV

Officials had the fire out by 7 a.m., but say the building is a total loss.

The county courthouse was built in 1915.

snip

Supervisors are holding an emergency meeting to discuss how to proceed with county business.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

~~
Mr. Big Food and Miss M left for school minutes ago. Miss M just called and said the Court House is burning down.

And it's snowing. 

The Court House is on fire????? What has happened to all of the platt maps? 

And it's snowing.

What a way to start the day.

The Court House... .

Snow... .

What a Colorful Day!

BLOOD SPECTRA COMPARED WITH SPECTRUM OF ARGAND-LAMP

Handbook of Physiology by W. Morrant Baker, F.R.C.S and Vincent Dormer Harris, M.D. Lond., F.R.C.P. Sixteenth American Edition Edited by Warren Coleman, M.D. and Charles L. Dana, A.M., M.D.  WITH UPWARDS OF FIVE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS MANY IN COLORS; New Yourk: Willaim Wood and Company MDCCCC

~~
Mr. Big Food and I traveled to Jackson, Mississippi today. Mr. Big Food had a couple of meetings with other members of the Mississippi Brain Trust. I tagged along.

I haven't had too much to say about the weather because it's January, but as you can plainly see, it's freaking cold here!

The meeting convened in an old meeting room on the campus of UMMC (University of Mississippi Medical Campus).

Y'all just chat neuroscience amongst yourself. I'll occupy myself.

The history of what we know is interesting.