Why wouldn't a cat like buttermilk? 

Mine don't. It must seem sour to them, or something.

Now that cucumbers are plentiful and cheap here I stocked up to blend my fave: a smoothie made with about a cup and a half of lowfat buttermilk and a whole cucumber. Salt and pepper and a little dill weed and chives if I have them.

Periodic request 

Please please tell me when I start sounding self-important because I really can't stand that and don't want to do it or seem to be acting that way. It's always a danger for bloggers, don't you think, when you start spouting opinions? (What prompted this, this time: I'm just back from reading some articles on elearning by educators.)

Nicest compliment I think I've ever received was during a Q&A session after a presentation at a Jane Austen Society of America annual general meeting. I'd said I wanted our website to be welcoming and populist, not snooty or snotty. A guy in from the Austen library at Chawton said, "You're the least snooty person I've ever seen!"

Mission Accomplished video 

From Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. Simple clever idea to change the text of the banner on the aircraft carrier, instantly right on the site. I did that once, eight or nine years ago, for a fundraising site, where you'd buy a named brick in a patio and could preview what would be chiseled into it.

Will the video engage the audience it seems to be intended for? I couldn't say, but it's nicely done.

Dood! Who's that guy? 

MSNBC's squarish font is unkind to Chris Dodd.

Could be Sen. Dood or Dodo.

Still like him 

I know he probably doesn't have a shot, but I still like Biden.

The thrill is gone 

Oh for crying out loud, what's the younger generation come to. I understand from my son that senior ditch day is now really senior get-your-parents-to-call-you-out day. Well, I'm not going to do it. Ditch your sissy little suburban GPA-conscious selves for once you babies.

The beauty of the old tradition, which we called skip day instead of ditch day, was the demonstration of the power of numbers, flaunting authority by regular good kids, but just that once, a harmless act of civil disobedience. It was about controlled defiance: what could They do about it if enough kids participated. There was something quite thrilling about that.

Don't nice kids have revolutionary fantasies anymore, or is that reserved for psychos now?