# An abbreviated MMP **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** mmp\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928 "2009-04-13T09:15:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/81 "2009-04-14T23:24:08Z")
The Boy just called to advise he’s on his way home. Hurray. It has also been deemed that the Chinese Food Fairy is dealing with dinner, because I really don’t feel up to cooking anything tonight. Me = pooped. Morgan is currently doing her best imitation of a fuzzy yowling pingpong ball. I wish I could bottle a bit of that energy and drink it… blurf. I don’t deal with any snowflakes either. Once upon a time, I dealt with entitled jerks who believed that their cell phone services should be free (or possibly that we, as their provider, should be paying them for the privilege of serving them). Nowadays, I deal with opinionated, obstinate and obstreperous analysts. Not sure which is the bigger pain in the ass. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/82 "2009-04-14T23:37:55Z")
Back, and it was was a good day. To address the idea of burying the hatchet, there never was a hatchet from my perspective. The problem was, how was I to maintain a relationship with my old friend without being disrespectful to my wife’s family? It’s tricky – at this point, the entire situation has worked out for the better for everyone involved. My BIL has remarried, and his new wife is better match. His ex is now in a good, solid relationship with my friend, and they’ve apparently got a good thing going. Everyone is happier. Well, except for me, the one guy who still has ties to all parties. But, we met up, we spent a couple hours together, and it was good – like old times. Long story short (since my daughter is tugging at me to do a puzzle with her) we both know it can never be the same. It’s not like our familes will be able to get together on holidays and make it like nothing ever happened. But, we’ll be back in communication, and that’ll do by me for now. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/83 "2009-04-15T01:45:01Z")
Back from class - my coral reef came out fine - all the colors worked out. So I put clear glaze on the eel and set it back for final firing. My herb garden pots have been finished - I needed to do a little trim work on the edges, so it’s in the drying stage. And I started my final project, which I brought home to finish because there won’t be enough time in class. Thursday, I’ll be making glaze. Sometime next week, I have to make clay. Plus I have to write my report… **Hal** , glad to hear there was no uncomfortable drama. And now, it’s late and I need my beauty sleep. And an aspirin - I’ve had a killer headache all evening. Daughter and I had Chinese before class. It was really good, but as soon as we were done, the headache started. MSG perhaps?? No matter. I’ll pop some pills and off to dreamland. Smoochies all around!! _ **MWAH!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/84 "2009-04-15T02:17:09Z")
I am so sorry that I forgot to give **kai** a hug and good thoughts yesterday - what a weekend for you! Hope that you’re taking it easy now. So glad that today is over; we’ve gotten a lot of rain and will get more tomorrow. And it’s been chilly on top of the dampness, which makes my arthritis worse, unfortunately. Bah! Good thoughts for you tomorrow, **Gotti**! Two down, two to go. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/85 "2009-04-15T02:40:16Z")
I’m home and elected. **Herbs** , I hear ya. Today is the fist time in three weeks my arthritis hasn’t bothered me. **gt** , I’m not getting my deposit back anyways, so it’s OK if Nelly kills him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/86 "2009-04-15T03:22:59Z")
Good luck with the surgery, **gotti**! **doggio** : :dubious: Glad the coral reef worked out, **FCM**. Glad you were able to reconnect with your friend, **Hal**. TANSTAAFL hearkens back to the '40s, [according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TANSTAAFL), **rosie**. But still amuses me. Oh, and good lightbulb joke, **Soapy**. Made me giggle. Off to beddie-bye… GT ---
**Author:** ![Alastair\_Moonsong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@Alastair\_Moonsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alastair_Moonsong)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/87 "2009-04-15T04:16:20Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > \*This book and I have a history. I had to read it for the last African Lit class taught by our beloved professor Gay W. (She died the next semester.) It was the last book of the course. I read four chapters of it, threw it down the hall, and kicked it. The main character (semiautobiographically Memmi) was a Poor Boy from the slums of Tunisia. He got the opportunity to go to a Good School to get a Quality Education. After a couple of years of this, his head inflated to near-Biblical proportions. When he started criticizing his mother and sister for wearing “poor clothes” when they had to work all day to support his sorry ass while he got his good damn education, I had enough. My response paper to that book detailed why I did not and would not finish the book and how much it had pissed me off. Gay W. appreciated my candor. It inspired discussion in class because I was the only one with cojones enough to say it sucked. That sounds almost EXACTLY like “The Power of One”, which I had to read during High School English. We were supposed to keep a “journal” as we read the book, in which every few pages we would jot down a note on our thoughts WRT what was going on in the story. My journal mostly read as follows: Page 210: PJ compliments self on intelligence. Still a dick. Page 213: PJ compliments self on boxing prowess. Still a dick. Page 220: PJ compliments self on intelligence AND boxing prowess. Now an even bigger dick. And so forth. Oh, and because I can’t let a Bad Fanfiction Link pass without trying to one-up it… [Here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxyZaZlaOs) SFW video. I’m not mean enough to link most of the hilarious _N_SFW ones I’ve seen… **Noone Special** , are you by any chance working on the Patriot Missile Shield program that the US and Poland agreed to install in the ountry’s NE corner? I had to do a poject on that thing last semester for my Engineering Ethics course. Classes cancelled today cuz power to the campus had to be cut so BGE could do some repair work. That makes today a good day, doubly so cuz my Calc exam just got pushed back to Thursday as a result! Hugs all around wheter you need 'em or not. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/88 "2009-04-15T04:25:39Z")
> [@gardentraveler](#): > > **doggio** : :dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/89 "2009-04-15T05:11:51Z")
quick, you guys! When someone has an abortion because testing has shown that their baby will be born with a disability, what is that called? The thing I’m reading calls it “eugenic abortion,” but I really think there has to be a less loaded term for it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/90 "2009-04-15T05:57:14Z")
> [@Alastair\_Moonsong](#): > > Calling all engineers: What on earth do you actually USE multivariable calculus for? It seems pretty easy as long as you can remember how do combine the various partial derivatives but for the life of me I don’t know what I’ll ever do with it. I don’t use it manually, among other things because I have this problem where my brain solves through other means the problems for which diff calculus would normally be used. But it is important to have done it manually since the computers you use will be doing approximate versions of it, for example in ESCADA systems (now is that an English or Spanish acronym? In any case, when you use computers to control your production equipment and record data from it), in CAD/CAT/CAM/CAE… I also used programs which simulated (1) differential calculus when I worked in Theoretical Chemistry. We’re engineers because we can change the system of reference - but also because we understand how our engines work, we’re not happy just saying “well, you stick eggs, flour and sugar in this end and cakes come out the other end.” (1): computers can’t do integrals in the way a human being does, they can’t look at an equation and say “oh, this one looks like I have to solve it ‘by parts’”… they can only apply pre-programmed formulae, numerical solutions like the method of calculating the integral of an area defined by “funky lines” by a polygons-based procedure. ETA: It’s an eugenic abortion, aye. That’s what “eugenic” means. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/91 "2009-04-15T06:01:34Z")
also! and I know I’m probably really dumb for not knowing this when you’re going off something that quotes something else a lot, how do you quote it? like if I’m doing a response to an essay that says: Tomatoes are bad for you. According to Professor Potatolover, “Tomatoes are the instrument of Satan used to kill all your babies.” and I want to use the stuff Professor Potatolover said, how should I go about citing/quoting/etc? Especially since it doesn’t say WHERE Professor Potatolover said that stuff or anything. Like, if it were all cited from a book or something I would just cite that book. But, for one thing, this is supposed to be a response to an essay and it might be weird/confusing to be quoting a bunch of stuff from Professor Potatolover and Dr. Jicamaeater and so on when I’m responding to an essay by Mr Rutabagasrock. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/92 "2009-04-15T06:09:03Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > It sounds more like an accident to me. She didn’t deliberately try to take out a liquor store. I can see ticketing her, but I hope she doesn’t get jail time. Eh, this guy who braked too much, too fast last Easter vacation, thus attracting the attention of two cops who were just “putting a show and stopping anybody who looks scared,” who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt (nobody in the car was, they’re compulsory for all occupants except if no belts are available due to the vehicle’s age), whose wife was carrying their large dog on her lap while riding shotgun, and two of whose kids were stashed in the trunk wasn’t intending to get anybody killed either but one of the things he’s getting charged with is Reckless Driving Endangering The Lives Of Others. I think similar figures exists Over Yonder as well? **Dots** , first why isn’t that person giving a proper reference? Second, you’d have to say something like, “as reported by My Esteemed Colleague Who Doesn’t Give His References, Much Less Check Them (MECWDGHRMLCT henceforth), Dr Potatolover says that ‘Tomatoes are…’” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/93 "2009-04-15T06:15:43Z")
I’m too slow today. I once got in trouble for checking my references. There’s an article which gets quoted often as saying something like “if proteins folded at random, the average time required by a medium-sized one to find its working configuration would be longer than the estimated age for the universe, therefore there have to be driving forces for it.” Leaving aside the fact that everything in physics happens because there’s some force (duh), including protein folding (dah), I was giving a presentation about protein folding and actually looked up the paper. And it doesn’t mention proteins at all, it’s all about sugar. Some research proved that the guy who said that said it, not during something as serious and well-documented as a published article, but during a presentation in a seminar… people have been quoting the wrong paper for over 50 years, and continue to do it. My teachers were Not Happy that I wasn’t citing The Paper, even after I explained and handed over copies of both original documents. None of them could explain why is it wrong to quote the right paper. The only reasons I can think of are: since sometimes people do research based on “show me articles which cite This One,” my work wouldn’t show on searches based on the wrong article; it’s rocking the boat. I think the second reason was the one that bothered TPTB… ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/94 "2009-04-15T07:08:41Z")
Mama T, the belated tax sloth here. What? You think I should have done them earlier, too? Well, in my defense, I spent a month in Seattle, then was so depressed from putting Rusty down that I couldn’t face taxes, and then I was being accidentally overdosed with _serious_ Happy Drugs and incapable of putting three words together, although I was so happy I didn’t care. 🙂 Anyway, I finally got enough drugs out of my system to sit down to do them last night…and discovered that Papa Tigs’ W2 wasn’t in the manila envelope we collect all tax documents in as they arrive in the mail, and there was also no sign of the mortgage interest statement. :eek: Thank heaven for the internet; as soon as Papa T got home today, he went online and downloaded everything I needed. And then, miracle of miracles, it only took me a couple hours this evening to do the return from scratch – I didn’t have anything carrying over so it wouldn’t kill me to type some of that info in again. And even _more_ miracle of miracles, for the first time in probably ten years we’re actually getting a refund! We still owe Maryland a bit, of course – Maryland has never met a tax it doesn’t love – but we’re actually coming out ahead. So all my fears about how much we’d owe _this_ year were for naught. Whew! Anyway, I’m behind on my paying work, but I got to do a fun short rush job today – a speech by FLOTUS, otherwise known as Michelle Obama! I’m still hoping for a shot at doing something from the Prez one of these days, but so far Michelle is the closest I’ve gotten. And no, it wasn’t anything to do with the new First Dog. 😃 Anyway, I should be going to sleep, but I got such an adrenalin hit from working on taxes that I’m not sure I could right now. So I guess I’ll work for a bit more; it’s either that or knit a bit more on this sock. I have _got_ to get it done so I can get to the scarves for my nieces; but as I’m discovering, doing a sock on size 00 (1.75 mm) needles takes a lot longer than I thought it would! I got the extra-pointy straight needles I need for the two shawls in today’s mail, so I have no excuse not to work on them except for this sock, so I need to get it out of the way. I’ll do the second sock after I finish the scarves – she only needs me to do one for my test knitting. Off to do a bit more boring work and then try to get some sleep. I guess I could take one of the super-duper Happy Pills, but the doc would kill me. Just because she let me keep 'em doesn’t mean she wants me to use 'em! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/95 "2009-04-15T10:55:54Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > quick, you guys! > > When someone has an abortion because testing has shown that their baby will be born with a disability, what is that called? The thing I’m reading calls it “eugenic abortion,” but I really think there has to be a less loaded term for it. Therapeutic abortion. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/96 "2009-04-15T11:00:12Z")
Those are the ones where the mother’s life is in danger. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/97 "2009-04-15T11:41:45Z")
Hey, **Dotster** , you can find all kinds of formatting and style information over [here](http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). Hopefully, they cover quoted quotes somewhere… One full day of work, then I’m traveling tomorrow and Friday (for work, unfortunately, so not really a vacation). Happy Wednesday, everyone! GT ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/98 "2009-04-15T11:51:04Z")
My dad’s in the hospital. Again. I can’t prove it, but it feels like his visits are getting more frequent. They think he has pneumonia, and they’ve already drained a bunch of fluid from his left lung, but they need to do another operation to get the rest of the crap out. It’s very unlikely, but it might be cancer, in which case this is the end. And I can’t afford to be worked up over even an illness right now, since I have 4 papers and 2 projects to do in the next month, not to mention a few finals. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/99 "2009-04-15T11:51:13Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Those are the ones where the mother’s life is in danger. I found this definition: "Definition Therapeutic abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy before the fetus can live independently. Abortion has been a legal procedure in the United States since 1973. Purpose An abortion may be performed whenever there is some compelling reason to end a pregnancy. Women have abortions because continuing the pregnancy would cause them hardship, endanger their life or health, or because prenatal testing has shown that the fetus will be born with severe abnormalities." [http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/abortion-therapeutic](http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/abortion-therapeutic) Here, too. [http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/266440-overview](http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/266440-overview) So maybe it is a broader term. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928/100 "2009-04-15T12:22:37Z")
I’m sorry **Carrot**. I hope your Dad is going to be OK! Try not to stress too much. Yay for the refund, **MamaTigs**! I’m glad you can at least still be friends, **Hal**. Not much going on here. I have a little work to do, but I don’t want to start until I get the go ahead. How’s that for procrastination? 😉 So much more to do on the internet… 😃 Have a happy Hump Day, Mumpers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-abbreviated-mmp/492928.md?page=6)