Normally, I would not mention that today is my Dad’s birthday. After all, I am a guest-blogger here. Plus, this blog is a case study as to the benefits of keeping family out of it.
However, the event is a convenient excuse to mention that since I started guest-blogging here in earnest, my Dad has become a pw reader. It is the only real blog he reads, but he particulalrly enjoys reading the comments. He enjoys a good on-topic discussion, but also marvels a bit at the pw community’s ability to have a funny conversation or heated debate that veers wildly from the ostensible topic of a post.
Accordingly, when we talk on the phone, our conversations now sometimes sound in part like this:
Me: nishi was back yesterday under a new name.
Dad: Really? How did you know?
Me: Well, I could have looked up her IP address, but everyone had already figured it out by the time I was reading. Think about it — couldn’t you pick her comments out of a thread, even without names?
Dad: I see your point.
That girl really gets everyone stirred up, he will say — though he would be hard-pressed to decode her.
I tell him that while I see some of the pw regulars commenting at other blogs, like Patterico’s or Just One Minute, Jeff G has built a unique brand that tends to draw a unique audience — which in turn affects both what I select to blog here and the angle from which I approach items. The recent posts on Theodore Roosevelt as John McCain’s role model and the Obama/ New Yorker kerfuffle would be examples of stories with angles I figured would appeal to Jeff G and a Jeff G audience.
I usually quip to him that guest-blogging here probably beats getting into political arguments while hanging out in a bar. The truth that makes the quip funny is that the odds are roughly zero that you could ever find a bar where anyone would be having conversations like we have here at pw.
So, as much as this is wishing my Dad a happy birthday, it is wishing Jeff G, my co-guests and fellow pw regulars a happy day also. I always say that Jeff is the straw that stirs the drink, but it would be much tougher to enjoy the drink or set out the dishes of assorted nuts without y’all stopping by to give the joint atmosphere. My Dad discovering you reminded me to mention it.
Comment by Pablo on 7/15 @ 7:08 am #
Happy birthday, Dad! Nice job with the spawn, too.
Comment by SevenEleventy on 7/15 @ 7:09 am #
Happy B-day, Dad! cynn may find this objectionable!
Comment by McGehee on 7/15 @ 7:12 am #
If there were such a bar, it might be called “Karl’s Dad Tavern.”
Comment by Dan Collins on 7/15 @ 7:15 am #
That’s pretty good, McGehee. Happy Birthday, Karlsdad!
Comment by Darleen on 7/15 @ 7:32 am #
The Karlsdad Taverns
Great vacation destination
:-)
Many happy returns for the day!!!
Comment by BJTex on 7/15 @ 7:33 am #
Happy birthday, progenitor of the mighty Karl, he of the links-that-never-end. You done good, Dad!
Ok, where’s my cake and party hat?
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/15 @ 7:35 am #
The heck with the assorted nuts, who’s got the key to the liquor cabinet?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/15 @ 7:43 am #
That shit is tight McGehee! That is my shit!
It cannot be outdone.
That being said, did anyone notice that Karl’s Dad is an anagram for Dark Lads? Nice piece of racist code there Karl.
Well, happy birthday anyway.
Comment by BumperStickerist on 7/15 @ 8:03 am #
I tell him that while I see some of the pw regulars commenting at other blogs,
true, but it’s the prospect of pie that keeps me coming back.
well, not so much “pie” as signified by a dessert with a warm flavorful fruit filling and a flaky crust but the signifier “pie” with its resultant intentionadilidity being left up to me, the reader.
because that’s just the way I roll.
or read, as the case may be.
Comment by BumperStickerist on 7/15 @ 8:04 am #
Happy Birthday, Karl’s Dad!
The fact that you didn’t strangle Karl in his crib or bitchslap him into submission during dinnertime conversations is a testament to your parenting skills.
Comment by Squid on 7/15 @ 8:04 am #
This joker’s responsible for Karl?
Consider yourself denounced, Dad. Happy birthday!
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/15 @ 8:05 am #
Happy Birthday, pater familias.
And we have these exact conversations down at my local, the Glue Pot. I promise. Well, I have them, I’m not sure anyone listens.
Comment by Ouroboros on 7/15 @ 8:11 am #
Happy Birthday Karl’s Dad
(Note to Karl: if you spot me commenting at the Japanese AV Teen Idol Bi-Curious Cheerleader Sex Blog…. no need to mention it…)
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 7/15 @ 8:11 am #
Happy Birthday!
Comment by happyfeet on 7/15 @ 8:15 am #
Maybe it’s just wrong of me but for real I don’t think “guest-blogger” anymore I think more that Mr. Maguire’s Team Protein coinage is apt. Which means Jeff’s Team Protein and that’s just the way I think of it. No one else has to but I do. And Mr. Maguire I guess. So that would be two. He linked Jeff’s post yesterday by the way. That’s some quality linkage I think.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/15 @ 8:18 am #
Oh and also Happy Birthday, Karl’s Dad! You should be very proud. Karl makes this look easy but it’s really not a very prevalent skill what he does.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 7/15 @ 8:25 am #
Happy Birthday, Karl Sr.!
Oh, and Ouroboros — your ideas intrigue me, and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. Or at least the RSS feed for that blog.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/15 @ 8:28 am #
Oh. Just… what the hell is this?
Comment by mojo on 7/15 @ 8:29 am #
So you buyin’ a round or what? Cheap bastard…
Comment by Education Guy on 7/15 @ 8:31 am #
Happy Birthday Karl’s Dad!
Comment by MayBee on 7/15 @ 8:43 am #
Yay! Karl’s Dad!
(and I’m with haps. Go Team Protein!)
Comment by Mikey NTH on 7/15 @ 8:47 am #
Rah rah sis boom bah! Grab that blog and fight!
Comment by NukemHill on 7/15 @ 8:59 am #
Mazel Tov, KD! May you cross paths with many more birthdays in this here lifetime.
Go Team Protein!
Oh, yeah. Go Towson Tigers!
Comment by SarahW on 7/15 @ 9:08 am #
A very happy birthday, Karl’s Dad!
The tree can’t be far from its apple, and that’s a good apple… so thanks for that, too.
Comment by Jeff G. on 7/15 @ 9:15 am #
Shit. Now I’m going to have to start my own blog.
Happy — ah, screw it. Don’t make me say the words. I’m a man, for Chrissakes.
Comment by MayBee on 7/15 @ 9:17 am #
Shit. Now I’m going to have to start my own blog.
I think you’d be good at it, Jeff.
:-)
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 9:18 am #
Have a good day, old dude.
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 9:19 am #
Knock knock …
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 9:20 am #
BOOBIES !
Now that is a good birthday present.
All it lacks is a brothel, a bottle of mezcal, and that dastardly dillo.
Comment by TheGeezer on 7/15 @ 9:25 am #
I got him SugarTits!™ Have at ‘em! Happy birthday!
Comment by SarahW on 7/15 @ 9:31 am #
The first post I ever saw of Karl’s I remember I had a big Mark Trail ” What th..’” thought ballloon.
I never saw so many links all appropriate and accumulated in one place. The prose was drier than I think I’d ever seen here. It was not what I had come for, but it was so remarkably thorough and clear it was got through, and was high-nutrition blogging if not the protein wisdom I knew. Moreover it evolved into something not just tasty in its own right, but I would say some crazy peanutbutter/chocolate cross-pollination occurred, and the PW infected Karl, and the snack industry has never been the same.
Comment by Pablo on 7/15 @ 9:36 am #
I thought this post was supposed to be about me. Let’s pull it together, people.
Comment by SarahW on 7/15 @ 9:39 am #
You got Pablo in my candy.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/15 @ 9:41 am #
The first comment by Pablo that I ever saw had so many “F” words in it that my young daughter asked me, “Daddy, why does Pablo swear so much?” I didn’t have an answer so I just held her and said, “It’s past your fucking bedtime. Hit the hay!”
Comment by BJTex on 7/15 @ 9:46 am #
I think this is a good time to trumpet the dynamic here.
Jeff, Karl and Dan are the most complimentary bloggers I’ve ever seen.
Jeff sits on the throne of erudition and analysis, providing insight and humor. He makes me beat my head sometimes and other times have me wandering through dictionaries and such but I feel as though my literary quotient has been improved by the experience. Nobody in the teh bloggoshere writes with his precision and elegance. Throw in the fact that he’s flat out hilarious and the brew is potent.
Dan and Karl are the enforcers, albeit with differing styles.
Dan is the “Thug” wielding the baseball bat of absurdist culture and in your face pronouncements, targeting the stupid and outragious with the white hot spotlight of derision. Tucked in between are considerations for individual concerns, moments of real personal connection. He may make ya cringe at times but both the entertainment and the caring make for a heady mix.
Karl just amazes me. I simply don’t have the “sit still” skills necessary to crank out the amazingly sourced material for one post, never mind two or three a day. To have those fierce analytical skills and be a pop culture (small “g”) god to boot just seems like too much fun.
This thing really works because of Jeff and the two “enforcers,” not to mention the best, most knowledgable commentators on teh intertubes. Thanks to all!
Now where’s my cake?
Comment by baldilocks on 7/15 @ 9:53 am #
Happy birthday, Karl’s Dad!
Comment by Rob Crawford on 7/15 @ 9:54 am #
Now, let’s be honest. We come here to read Jeff. The other posters are nice, and the commenters add a little, but, really, they’re like the musical act at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch — not really the point of the whole thing.
Comment by SarahW on 7/15 @ 9:54 am #
Scofflaw vat-free Jaffa cakes all ’round.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 7/15 @ 9:54 am #
The cake is a lie.
Comment by SarahW on 7/15 @ 9:55 am #
Moonlight Bunny Ranch?
Comment by Radish on 7/15 @ 9:56 am #
Happy Birthday, Karl’s Dad!
I, too, am in awe of the linkage here.
Comment by MayBee on 7/15 @ 9:56 am #
Now, let’s be honest. We come here to read Jeff.
That’s not true. I come here to try to get Karl’s dad to say something about me to Karl.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/15 @ 10:19 am #
It just sounds so Formula 1 I thought. Vroom vroom, you know?
Comment by McGehee on 7/15 @ 10:27 am #
That’s right, just leave me out, why don’t you?
<sulk>
Comment by Pablo on 7/15 @ 10:27 am #
OMFG, yer killin’ me, alppuccino! You teach that little curtain climber not to be questioning Time’s 2006 Man of the Year, k?
Comment by mojo on 7/15 @ 10:33 am #
Does the throne of erudition have a footrest? What about massaging rollers?
Comment by TheGeezer on 7/15 @ 10:38 am #
Hey, can I borrow the throne for a pedicure? Especially if the roller-thingies are on it and the wax seal is still holding.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 7/15 @ 11:07 am #
Don’t worry about it.
Comment by Jim in KC on 7/15 @ 11:29 am #
I probably would have guessed that in that particular metaphor the PW commentariat were the mixed nuts…
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 11:32 am #
Moonlight Bunny Ranch !!! I have heard that is a wonderful establishment.
Comment by Karl's Dad on 7/15 @ 11:36 am #
Thanks to all the pw-ers for their well wishes on the 74th anniversary of my birth. Also thanks for your kind words about The Big K’s postings. I get to enjoy this level of thought and wit every week during our twice-weekly phone calls. Also, I do read ClaudePate.com
Eph 5:11
Comment by bergerbilder on 7/15 @ 11:36 am #
Happy Birthday, Karl’s dad!
I read too slow and type even slower, so I don’t get to comment here as much as I would like, and Protein Wisdom is all the better for it; but I love this place and that is in no small part due to the passion with which Karl attacks his keyboard, and you are to be commended for having brought forth and brough up such a smithee of words.
Is there any cake left? Has anyone seen my stapler?
Comment by Ouroboros Kinison on 7/15 @ 11:46 am #
“…I borrow the throne for a pedicure?”
I borrowed it for my Brazillion.. when it was all over my msucles we totally relaxed and invigorated.. and I was oh so snmooth…
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 11:56 am #
In honor of Karl’s Dad, I will not cuss at anybody the rest of the day.
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 11:57 am #
I can haz some fucking cake?
Comment by Karl on 7/15 @ 11:59 am #
Dad just phoned, again conveyed his best wishes. I told him he should check out Baldilocks.
Comment by Karl on 7/15 @ 12:00 pm #
BTW, what’s all this talk of “cake” at pw?
PIE, BITCHES!!!
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 12:03 pm #
HAIR PIE, BEEOTHCHES !!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Rick Ballard on 7/15 @ 12:37 pm #
Karl’s Dad,
Ti auguro 100 giorni così. Buon compleanno.
Comment by BJTex on 7/15 @ 12:43 pm #
BTW: Just so you “all” won’t have to go thumbing through your Bibles, Karl’s Dad picked a great passage.
Ephesians 5:11 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Indeed!
Comment by ushie on 7/15 @ 12:48 pm #
Happy b-day, Dad of Karl.
‘Dillo pie?
Comment by JD on 7/15 @ 12:53 pm #
BJ – I am a heathen. Thanks for edumcating me.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/15 @ 1:02 pm #
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness
That’s being kind of hard on M’chelle I think.
Comment by Karl on 7/15 @ 1:13 pm #
Also, if NBC News wants to offer me the Meet The Press gig, I would consider becoming a Buffalo Bills fan.
Comment by McGehee on 7/15 @ 1:17 pm #
“Fruitless?” “Fruitless deeds of darkness???”
HOMOPHOBE!
Comment by McGehee on 7/15 @ 1:18 pm #
Or should that be “Homophobe-ophobe?”
I can’t keep it all straight.
[...]
Uh-oh.
Comment by BJTex on 7/15 @ 1:20 pm #
Oh, ho ho, happyfeet!
Denounced! Condemned! Thrown from the bus, wrapped in tin foil and displayed at the Presidio with Rumsfeld’s resume and Bush’s smirk.
A progressive mime troop will be coming to your door to sing songs (Yes! They Sing!!) about evil corporations and heroic, caring activists and advocates for height challenged Uzbekistani immigrants.
Scream, you will!
Comment by Michelle on 7/15 @ 1:22 pm #
Damn fruits never stay in the closet where they belong.
Comment by throne on 7/15 @ 2:52 pm #
“Thwow him to the gwound, Centuwion!”
I dunno why, but I think that’s some funny shit right there.
Comment by mojo on 7/15 @ 3:46 pm #
Well, he coulda been talking about Jeff…
“There he went, one of god’s own prototypes – a high-powered mutant never even considered for mass production.”
– Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas”
Comment by Mikey NTH on 7/15 @ 4:51 pm #
#40 Sarah W:
It is such a beautiful sight – all the bunnies of different breeds line dancing on the clover field under the light of the moon…
Wait. Not that ranch? Oh, heck – there goes forty dollars down the wind.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 7/15 @ 4:56 pm #
#51 Karl’s Dad:
You’re welcome, sir. Please stick around and don’t be shy about throwing your two cents in. The more perspective, the better.
“If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants”. – Sir Isaac Newton.
Comment by TmjUtah on 7/15 @ 10:17 pm #
Happy Birthday, Mr. Karl’s Dad!
May your way be light, the breeze behind you sweet, and road ahead descending at a moderate grade, until a friendly inn appears just as the sun kisses the limb of the sea.
Good job on the boy, by the way. He’ll do.
Beautiful scripture reference! I believe in light, myself. Mrs. Tmj keeps the flamethrower locked up except for special occassion, though.