Top Comments: Winter Bulbs Edition

I've just now gotten a deep whiff of one of the sweetest smells I know: tazetta narcissus "Falconet", which is in the first full flush of bloom in my kitchen: three small yellow flowers per stalk with orange cups that show a green center if you look very closely, but if you don't are a lovely picture of orange and yellow. Daffodil or narcissus, it's the same flower.

There is still plenty of snow outside, and outside color is a couple of weeks away at least, if not likely to wait until April. Inside, however, I've had a riot of color to chase away the winter blues since late December: iridescent orange-reds from Amaryllis and paperwhites, both of which can be planted in soil or on water (I prefer soil) and sprout with minimal fuss or bother. But there are other bulbs that require a period of cool temperatures, and those are now making the end of winter a more colorful, sweetly scented time.

I never seem to pot up the bulbs that require extensive chilling (about 12 weeks, on average) until late December, but this year I started in November, and thus was able to remove the bulbs from the refrigerator in late February. (Zip-loc bags are the best recent invention for bulb forcers.) The narcissus are starting to bloom: Falconet started last Friday, and Erlicheer (pronounced "early-cheer") is just starting to open as I speak, though its usually heavenly scent is still quite faint.

Then there's the mislabeled "Erlicheer" which is not a double-tazetta at all, but a single, rather large bud that won't be opening for another two days—so it's still anonymous—but has still proved rather amenable to forcing. I have no idea whether I'll like it: I doubt it will smell as nice (if it has any scent at all), but it may prove to be quite pretty.

I've had a few other mislabeled bulbs this year: "Scarlet Baby" was another small red amaryllis altogether (the second year in a row with this retail affliction), and the double amaryllis "Lady Jane" was neither Jane nor (in my opinion) a lady: not a particularly pretty amaryllis, and one I definitely wouldn't have chosen if I'd known.

The next crop, which I'm expecting will start blooming by the weekend, is over half a dozen hyacinths in a wide variety of colors, which should add to the perfume in the house. I'm looking forward to scattering them in various rooms, and enjoying the combined sight and scent.

I do have a three-foot tall amaryllis "Charisma" looking down upon me as I type, and it seems to be wondering why I'm skirting the deadline so closely. I think this is a hint to cue today's crop of Top Comments nominations.

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I'm also happy that of the thirty-five thousand comments written since last night, a number of them have been nominated for your consideration, having been emailed to the TopComments mailbox. If you saw any great comments that are not mentioned here, please do link to them in your own comments below. The address of that mailbox:

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Anyone can submit deserving comments to our address—the direct link to a comment is available from that comment's date/time—as long as they arrive by 9:30pm Eastern Time. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. Both link and username are important.

mem from somerville submitted the following nominations:

Hard to choose from this diary, but here was my favorite. This is an interpretation of the original diarist’s intent with helpful formatting.

There was much fun in the Elliott Spencer linked to prostitutes diary as well, but it is harder to laugh at that... [Editor's note: no, that is not an error; the diary retained that title at least 55 minutes after publication, when this submission was checked by ye editor for accuracy.]

bubbanomics sent in this nomination:

edscan is up there among my favorite diarists.  His enigmatic writings, in the "edku" style, have created something of a following.  Always cryptic, yet tantalizing, and frightening when he actually makes sense, edscan's diaries have often given us a space for great silliness.  When a commenter receives a reply from edscan, or edscan appears in the comment thread himself, the thread rises up in awe and appreciation.

The comment I am nominating, however, comes not from an edscan diary thread, but from Republicus's A Defining Moment for the Democrats.  Why edscan chose this diary for his declaration, we may never know, but that is one of the beauties of edscan.

From va dare:

Although I disagree with bakabakaian's candidate choice, I deeply appreciate the comment: i'm an HRC supporter.

On moving minds from rightwing conservatism to progressive ideas, There is a place, however, for railing against... by boofdah—is this a great place or what? And, in the same diary, wow, that was fantastic, great diary by emperor nobody. From peacedog's diary From the right to the left--My journey here. How a conservative Mormon boy ended up here.

Who knew there was another George W. Bush and that he was honorable? I admire George W. Bush by Lefty Coaster.

CSI Bentonville sent the following:

Would you please submit this outstanding comment by farmerchuck on how commodity farming works in this world? He made a bunch of great ones in bink's diary Wheat Flour Prices Tripling, Quadrupling.

From BeninSC:

I found this comment from blue armadillo in doingbusinessas's uplifting diary about his/her son's return from Iraq. blue armadillo's son is headed the other direction, to Iraq, this summer, and deserves our support, I think, in that difficult circumstance. Won't you wish blue armadillo and son well, please? And take a moment to congratulate doingbusinessas and son!

A nomination from Carnacki that is echoed by carolita:

This whole string from FishGrease is spot on. (carolita adds that it's from Carnacki's hilarious diary My night at the Emperor's Club. There's Carnacki being modest again.)

PBCliberal sends in the following (with madgranny citing the same diary):

Bob Johnson posted a cheap, tawdry, Clinton sex diary as an homage to the Spitzer mess, which has given cover for a series of  very funny sex jokes:

Melody Townsel's reference to Cialis's bug or feature. [Note: madgranny starts upthread of Melody's post, saying simply "Bob Johnson starts the silliness in his diary with this (and then it gets worse)."]

citizenx's Clinton reference.

and a whole bunch of stuff starting here with ROGNM.

are all noteworthy.

Too soon? Too partisan? Maybe.

But it does prove that we can laugh at ourselves which is more than they do at red state when they get caught toe-tapping and wick-dipping.

A few from sardonyx, your diarist du jour:

In Demfem's diary Amaranth can feed the world, which discusses the benefits of amaranth as a grain and as a crop, the fan man points out our over-reliance on three main crops and some good alternatives, with Pav adding millet to the list downthread, and Citizen Seattle noting that amaranth is gluten-free.

In bcb's diary MN-Sen Race - Ciresi to Drop Out, Charles Underwood comments that Ciresi ran a classy race.

Translator writes about what we should be doing to reduce contamination of water supplies by pharmaceuticals in JDWolverton's diary Pharma Water Supply Contamination - Old News.

No Top Comments diary would be complete without that day's top comments by number, aka top mojo—those comments which have received the highest number of recommendations from Daily Kos users like you. Today's is supplied by sardonyx, using his revision of cskendrick's mojo-to-Excel magic.

First, Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, and Cheers and Jeers:

  1) "ic" by peacedog — 228
  2) What do you wanna bet one of the first places by jm taylor — 97
  3) No, I think it's fine by GOTV — 90
  4) Black Voters are a Boutique Constituency by DHinMI — 90
  5) Done and Done.... by bikko100 — 88
  6) Let's be honest, though, bink by Timroff — 87
  7) MSNBC has been giving his comments a lot... by humphrey — 81
  8) Absolutely we're a target. by bleeding heart — 78
  9) What a wonderful story by Capt Morgan — 78
10) Diary Recommendations will be much by NeuvoLiberal — 75
11) Hillary MUST reject & denounce by RobertInWisconsin — 72
12) Cafferty is the only honest one left on CNN by scimitar — 70
13) damn, why does Pennsylvania have to be such a... by glutz78 — 68
14) Poindexter, Iran Contra, Power by Kab ibn al Ashraf — 68
15) Or, Maybe They Do Count...3/5th by DHinMI — 68
16) It's going to catch up with you by dhonig — 67
17) She typifies the Ugly Side of Clinton's support by Billary Redux — 67
18) They're not that even by latinadem — 66
19) ...that he is a jackass. by ablington — 65
20) Why do you continue to bring up the NAFTA story by omegajew — 63
21) in Manhattan... by G2geek — 63
22) heartbreaking diary, eve by JoeW — 62
23) This is Hillary's graceful exit... by Jimdotz — 60
24) Brilliant by jenontheshore — 58
25) I'm not voting for Obama by Stucko — 58
26) Obama supporter here and it didn't even cross my by Junglered1 — 58
27) Uh, we are a threat. by Nailbanger — 57
28) For elections lasting longer than 4 hours...n/t by Melody Townsel — 57
29) Another Superdelegate by Kitty — 56
30) it SHOULD cost him his seat by brocktunestudios — 56
31) Will Hillary denounce and reject his support? by DaveV — 56

Top Mojo with No Exclusions:

  1) Tip Jar, for all of them coming home. by doingbusinessas — 425
  2) Tips for Pushback by Billary Redux — 421
  3) Tips for facts and fact checks! by NeuvoLiberal — 312
  4) Tip jar by jhwvertigo — 283
  5) tip jar by slinkerwink — 280
  6) I just don't understand by kid oakland — 262
  7) Tip Jar - 10 March by Jerome a Paris — 255
  8) Sorry if I've just depressed anyone. by Newsie8200 — 253
  9) Life in America? by nyceve — 246
10) Man, I just couldn't believe the comments. by wmtriallawyer — 239
11) "ic" by peacedog — 228
12) Tip Jar by Nonie3234 — 204
13) tips by acuppajo — 156
14) On the Other Hand by bink — 153
15) tip jar by Ian Reifowitz — 139
16) Wow, let's play the race card and the by blue jersey mom — 137
17) I've been wondering... by mayan — 127
18) Tip Jar: Nancy's not feeling well! by AAbshier — 106
19) Tips for water by pioneer111 — 106
20) Tip by Carnacki — 105
21) Obama's won more primaries than Hillary by smash artist — 98
22) What do you wanna bet one of the first places by jm taylor — 97
23) No, I think it's fine by GOTV — 90
24) Black Voters are a Boutique Constituency by DHinMI — 90
25) Done and Done.... by bikko100 — 88
26) Let's be honest, though, bink by Timroff — 87
27) MSNBC has been giving his comments a lot... by humphrey — 81
28) Absolutely we're a target. by bleeding heart — 78
29) What a wonderful story by Capt Morgan — 78
30) Diary Recommendations will be much by NeuvoLiberal — 75

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