little hoot owl

101 Things - Progress Update

2009-11-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

972 days left. What have I been doing with the last 29 days?

1. Learn Thai cooking - Done! I took a Thai cooking class with my friend Kailin at Cook's World last Monday, 11/9. It was a lot of fun - the instructor shared the basic principles of Thai cooking and some specific recipes. I've already made pad thai at home, and Kailin and I are going to cook a more involved dinner this week. The instructor also gave us recommendations for cookbooks and how to experiment on our own.
3. Read at least 1 book a week (7/143) - So far, so good. I'm going to add a sidebar to the blog to track the books I'm reading.
4. Read at least 5 books from each NYT Top 10 Books of the Year or Critics' Favorites list from 2007-2011 and write a review on each (4/25 books completed and 0/25 reviews) - So far: Find Me; When Will There Be Good News?; Dangerous Laughter; Out Stealing Horses; in progress: Agent Zigzag; Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; Young Stalin
5. Blog about this project at least weekly (1/143)
7. Compost - I'm getting worms to start my worm bin this week!
9. Run a 5k - Done! I ran 5k for the first time ever on Thursday, 11/12/09!
10. Run a 10k - Working on adding more distance to my runs a couple of times a week, in addition to still following the Couch to 5k program with Shell.
13. Sell the condo - This weekend, I did significant painting and repair work to get the condo ready to sell. It's not quite market ready yet, but it's a lot closer.
25. Have a vegetable garden - Looking through a seed catalog and planning which varieties to get was a blast. Now I need to sit down with Shell and plan how the bed will be laid out and start getting the seeds so we can start them this winter.

It's been pretty good progress so far. More to come next week!

Explanations for 101 Things

2009-11-16T15:38:00.000-08:00

Here's an explanation for the items on my goals list.

7, 22, 27, 30, 35 - Several of the goals are about having a sustainable way of life. "Going green" and "sustainability" are so overused that I kind of hate to use them, but the point I'm trying to get to is to tread as lightly as possible and continue to do it after it stops being a fad and people are tired of hearing about it. I've thought about adding "Raise chickens" as a goal, but I'm at least going to wait until I'm living in a place with more yard before seriously considering it. The book The Urban Homestead is very instructive, and it looks doable, but I don't want to take on more than I can handle - especially when it involves living creatures.

25 & 26 - My partner's house has a really nice garden patch. This year's garden - beans, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions - was very fulfilling and I'm excited to expand it next year to include corn, salad greens, and a couple of other crops. She also has two red plum trees and an Italian plum tree that had bumper years, so we made lots of jam. I'm hoping to continue with the jam-making next year and also can tomatoes and other stuff.

6 - I'd like to enroll in a CSA not only as a way of supporting local farmers but also of trying new things and having vegetables in season.

16, 17, 18, 24, 28 - To go along with the self-sufficiency/sustainable living theme, I finished World War Z a while back and am determined not to be classed as F-6 after the Zombiepocalypse happens. For those who haven't read it, most office workers who survived the zombie outbreak were found to have no useful skills for rebuilding society after its collapse. They were put to work as custodians and low-skill labor. That's not going to be me. Also, these are fun things that fall in line with my interests in handcrafts and cooking.

13, 14, 29, 37, 40, 45, 48 - Money stuff - I'm good about saving money. I haven't always been good at investing it in anything higher-risk than a CD, so that's something I'd like to be better at. I'm also shy about earmarking specific funds for high-cost projects and then actually spending the money on that high-cost thing, because the reason I'm good at saving money is that I hate to spend it. Finding a job that means something to me is going to be hard because the job I have now pays very well and has good benefits. It'll be hard to give up that security for an unknown, but that's why there's #12 - so I can find a job doing what I love. Selling the condo is a big part in the equation; I think for most of us, housing expenses are a good chunk of our budgets and it'd be nice to have the freedom to do something else with that money.

31, 32, 33, 34 - Politics and queer rights - I feel very strongly about political issues, especially ones that affect basic human rights. I'd like to get out and be more active in trying to change things.

46 - I'm doing this one for love. We can already have "everything but marriage" in Washington - same-sex couples have all the same rights that straight couples do, except that it can't be called marriage. I hope that by three summers from now everyone's love will be acknowledged in the same way. That could mean either there will be domestic partnerships/civil unions for everyone whether gay or straight (no more "marriage" as a legal term), or that the civil contract Shell and I can enter into will be called "marriage" just the same as straight couples.

All the other numbers: And then there's the fun stuff. I love cooking and learning new ways to do it. I love reading new books and discovering new ideas. I'm learning to enjoy running and the idea that I can do distances I hadn't even considered. Making blankets for my friends' babies, crafting as a side business, those will be icing on the cake.

7/15/2012

2009-10-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

I still feel self-conscious about not having anything of substance to say, thus the lack of posts in the last 6 months. Here we go again.

Because the only people (that I know of) that read this are people whose opinions I value, here's a question for all of you.
I'd like your opinion on 5 books that I should read. Here's my current Goodreads to-read shelf. What am I missing? Currently I'm trying to work through the NYT's Top 10 Books each year and broaden my scope into reading queer studies/queer history, modern fiction, and topical history books, but I'm open to anything. To answer a question I was asked recently, yes, I am open to reading Christian apologetics books if recommended, and I'll read them with the same expectations of clarity and logic that I'd expect of any other book. Leave your recommendations in the comments, and I'll use them for future reading material and blog posts.

I'm working on a project that will provide blog fodder and get me back into the habit of posting. You've probably heard of the meme 101 Things in 1001 Days Project. I'm going to try doing it. My life has changed drastically and I feel that now I can set big goals and reach them. Not all of them will be big goals, but some of them are. The list isn't complete yet - in reading through others' lists for inspiration, it struck me how many of the goals are around buying things. This is not that sort of list. I value experiences more than "things" and goals like "Watch every episode of MASH" just seem silly. So the difficulty I'm having is to find 101 mostly non-thing-oriented goals that are achievable on my income and with the amount of time I have. I'm not going to stress only having 48 goals on the list; they're still goals and some of them are going to be a real stretch. If other things come up, I'll add them.

Here's my list so far, in no particular order. Italics indicate that I'm currently working on a goal; bold, that the goal is completed. I have until 7/15/2012, 11 days before my 31st birthday (but if it takes all the way till my birthday, I'm not going to sweat that either).

1. Learn Thai cooking
2. Cook 20 recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking
3. Read at least 1 book a week (0/143)
4. Read at least 5 books from each NYT Top 10 Books of the Year list from 2007-2011 and write a review on each (0/25 books and 0/25 reviews)
5. Blog about this project at least weekly (0/143)
6. Enroll in a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group
7. Compost
8. Be able to do 100 pushups in a row (hundredpushups.com) (0/100)
9. Run a 5k
10. Run a 10k
11. Run a half-marathon
12. Be accepted to grad school for an MLIS degree
13. Sell the condo
14. Have $12,000 in savings for Project Awesome
15. Travel to Europe
16. Make hard cheese - 3 varieties: Cheddar, Gouda, Parmesan (0/3)
17. Learn to knit
18. Make a quilt (machine pieced and quilted)
19. Finish my back piece
20. Volunteer as a literacy or citizenship tutor at the library
21. Volunteer at an elementary school
22. Hang a clothesline
23. Make baby afghans for each of my friends' kids
24. Knit a sweater
25. Have a vegetable garden
26. Can the veggies from the garden and the plums from the existing trees
27. Give homemade gifts like plum jam and cocoa mix instead of buying gifts
28. Build a solar oven
29. Contribute the individual maximum to a Roth IRA at least one year ($5,000 under 2009 rules)
30. Stop using commercially canned food as much as possible
31. Get involved in local politics
32. Work on an election campaign
33. Volunteer for a queer-rights campaign
34. Volunteer for a queer organization
35. Eat vegetarian 1 week a month to reduce my carbon footprint (0/33)
36. Skydive
37. Pay off all my debts and stay debt free
38. Learn Indian cooking
39. Have a 6-month emergency fund (separate from #14)
40. Learn more about stocks/bonds and begin managing investments more intelligently
41. Create a will, living will/end-of-life directive & durable power of attorney
42. Maintain a healthy weight, 120-140 lbs
43. Go to a play
44. Learn shibari
45. Find a new job that is meaningful and personally fulfilling
46. Get legally married to Shell, hopefully in the state of Washington
47. Host regular (monthly) dinner & game night for friends (0/33)
48. Start home crafting business - crocheting, sewing, possibly baking

There's the list, if you're still reading. Thoughts, comments, questions? I'll explain more about some of these later.

Friday morning poetry

2009-04-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

"A Story About the Body"

"The young composer, working that summer at an artist's colony, had watched her for a week. She was Japanese, a painter, almost sixty, and he thought he was in love with her. He loved her work, and her work was like the way she moved her body, used her hands, looked at him directly when she made amused and considered answers to his questions. One night, walking back from a concert, they came to her door and she turned to him and said, "I think you would like to have me. I would like that too, but I must tell you that I have had a double mastectomy," and when he didn't understand, "I've lost both my breasts." The radiance that he had carried around in his belly and chest cavity- like music- withered very quickly, and he made himself look at her when he said, "I'm sorry. I don't think I could." He walked back to his own cabin through the pines, and in the morning he found a small blue bowl on the porch outside his door. It looked to be full of rose petals, but he found when he picked it up that the rose petals were on top; the rest of the bowl- she must have swept them from the corners of her studio- was full of dead bees.

Robert Hass

(h/t to gye)

Guess who's back

2009-03-28T21:21:00.002-07:00

I don't know what to say here, but I'm ready to start trying again. Wish me luck.

It's been one of those years that feels like forever when you live through it, but you look at it through the rear-view mirror and it feels like a blur. Bought a condo, moved into the city, read and purged all my horrible high-school poetry in the process. That was much needed, like shedding a skin - I'd been carrying them around for years for no reason. More thoughts to come - I need to focus, decide where this blog should go, what I care enough to talk about without worrying about the echo chamber.

Update to the book list in the last post:

Wuthering Heights

Life of Pi : a novel

Jane Eyre

Love in the Time of Cholera

106 Books of Pretension

2008-04-30T09:19:00.003-07:00

I picked up this meme from Evil Bender. Much like him, I don't think these books are particularly pretentious either - they're a pretty good reading list and I'll be adding quite a few to my to-read list. I didn't do as well as I thought I might, but summer's coming! Also, I want to know how Angels and Demons got on the list. It's not even particularly well written, much less pretentious.
Thanks Bender!

Books I’ve read are in italics, books I began and never finished are struck through:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
~~One Hundred Years of Solitude~~
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
~~Les Misérables~~
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
~~The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time~~
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
~~Cryptonomicon~~
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Best news in a long time for a bookworm

2007-08-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

I found out a couple of weeks ago that my company gives out free bus passes to anyone who wants to use public transportation, and that the bus goes straight from my house to work meaning that it doesn't take any longer than driving.

This means that I have anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, every day, to read! I've finished three books in the last week and a half. (I read not only on the bus, but also walking from the bus stop at work across the parking lot, into the parking garage, and onto the elevator. Miraculously I have yet to run into anything.)

Here's where I need your help... What should I read next? Are you reading anything good right now, or do you have personal favorites that I shouldn't go another week without reading? Tell me!

Is There Anything Good About Men?

2007-08-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

I had no idea I hadn't posted since April. Suffice it to say that life happened to me.

If anyone out there still reads this here blog thing, I found a cool article full of things I should have realized but didn't (courtesy of the NYT, as usual) and wanted to share it with y'all. It's long, but worth it.

Is There Anything Good About Men? (The answer might surprise you. Or not.)

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-04-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Update: this is apparently a satirical letter. See the details here.

Don't travel on Friday the 13th, or, 20 observations about spending the night in Dallas

2007-04-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, there is a quiet time of night at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and it is between 2:17 AM and 3:00 AM. This leads to my first observation:

1. Your allowed sleep quota at DFW is 43 minutes per night, beginning when you become slightly not-uncomfortable enough to begin drifting off.
2. When you reach your sleep quota, you will be conveniently reminded it is over by all of the following methods:
a. The loudest vacuum ever, vacuuming up pennies and small rocks directly in front of you.
b. A handicapped transport cart which beeps loudly every 1.5 seconds, which pulls up and parks directly in front of you with no differently-abled people in sight.
c. Very Large Security Guards arguing with each other.
3. The Skylink, DFW’s inter-terminal tram, runs all night. Thus, it is an interesting way to waste time. It is also the only way to get fresh air that I found, since the sliding doors let outside air in while you are waiting at a stop.
a. Clockwise tours of DFW take 19 minutes.
b. Counter-clockwise tours of DFW also take 19 minutes.
c. I did not take a walking tour, either clockwise or counter-, to assess the time savings.
4. I found myself becoming slightly apprehensive as the counter-clockwise tour wound down – would it be the same amount of time as the clockwise tour? It was, and the balance of the universe was restored. I had had a strange feeling that they might take a different amount of time. Had I done three consecutive widdershins tours I might have attempted black magick, so I thought it best to just get off the Skylink after the first one.
5. The Skylink is too bumpy to sleep on, though an airport employee attempted this on the counter-clockwise tour.
6. The Skylink announcer’s voice becomes oddly comforting after a while. Why is he so concerned? “Please hold on. This train is departing.” – or, “Doors are closing. Please do not block the doors.” He seems worried about my safety, like an older cousin or a big brother but more like the latter.
a. I was disappointed to learn that if you do foolishly block the doors, you are not scissored neatly in half. The doors merely stop halfway open, and the announcer gently chides you for your error.
7. There are 12 Starbucks in DFW. They open at 5AM. Get in line early.
8. The line at the Starbucks I was sitting closest to did not fall below 10 people until 6:49AM.
9. Foreign airlines’ tail designs are far more interesting than domestic airlines, with the exception of Hawaiian Airlines.
10. The security announcer, at the end of the don’t-leave-packages-unattended speech, says “Thank you for your cooperation” in exactly the same tone and inflection as the policemen in The Fifth Element.
11. The security announcer must not have much faith in the security screening process. Aren’t dangerous objects supposed to have been identified and eliminated during screening? Maybe someone told the announcer what everyone else knows and the TSA refuses to acknowledge, which is that shoe bombs can’t be identified with current screening technology – even though all shoes are dutifully screened.
a. Have you ever accepted a package at an airport from someone you didn’t know and carried it for them? I’m sure someone must have, with dire consequences, otherwise they wouldn’t warn us about it every 4 minutes.
12. Airport seats are closely related to Turkish torture devices and are specifically designed to prevent you from sleeping in them. Since people can’t get through security without a ticket, I am not sure why the seats are designed this way, but they would make Ivan the Terrible proud.
13. The floor is not as comfortable as it looks.
14. Therefore, as soon as you learn you will be spending the night in DFW (you lucky person), go immediately to the Pepsi Junior Flyer’s (sic) Club. This play area has unsegmented plastic couches without dividing arms and the cushions are comfy. I did not know that I should do this, so it was fully occupied by the time I arrived.
a. The disadvantage to the Pepsi Junior Flyer’s (sic) Club is that the TV remains tuned to old cartoons and the volume is turned up. This makes it conducive to entertainment but not to sleep – which leads us to point 15:
15. There is an iPod vending machine directly across from the Pepsi Junior Flyer’s (sic) Club. In case you didn’t already have one, were in the mood for an impulse purchase and Sun Chips seemed too cheap, or Popeye just got too annoying. It has Nanos as well as full-size iPods and accessories.
16. The iPod vending machine doesn’t have a way to connect your computer and purchase songs from iTunes. This seems like it would be really profitable, since many people would undoubtedly use this. (Internet access in DFW is not free so a way to download new songs without paying for hotspot access.)
17. The TGI Friday’s at B10 has a seating area that is accessible even if the restaurant (if you can call it that) is closed, with banquettes that wouldn’t be too bad to sleep on. Much better than the alternatives, anyway. By the time I discovered this I had already reached my sleep quota and did not wish to tempt the Furies.
18. Speaking of the Furies, if you break your personal rule to always carry on your suitcase and check it because you don’t want to deal with hauling it across the continent yourself, the Furies will punish you and that will be the one time your flight is cancelled and you could really have used a clean shirt and your toothbrush the next morning.
a. There will always be a tank top and toothbrush in my laptop bag from now on, even when I am also carrying on my suitcase. Which I will be doing hereafter, and sprinkling it with lamb’s blood to atone for my previous transgressions. The Furies like lamb, right?
19. If you are too tired or lazy to look for an electrical outlet along the wall, you can pay $2 and purchase the use of an outlet at several charging stations. Your Thomas Jefferson bill buys you 30 minutes’ worth of electricity, or $3 for an hour.
20. My flight was canceled the same night that an entire company of Army soldiers was trying to get home from Basic for their month of leave before deploying to Iraq. The USO and Admirals clubs were full of them, and they were sleeping on the ground in the terminal – and apparently sleeping much better than the rest of us. What a way to spend your first night of leave. Echo Company goes to Iraq in July.

Booooooo!

2007-03-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Which Princess Bride Character are You?

Touched by His Noodly Appendage

2007-03-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

I had a cup of ramen yesterday, in devotion to the FSM, and noticed the following warning on the styrofoam vessel:

CAUTION:

HOT!

Handle With Care

Especially When

Serving Children

This strange poetry left me with two questions:

1. Who serves ramen to children? Could that be part of our national problem with hypertension, malnutrition and obesity if parents think that ramen is a good food choice for kids?

2. What does children-flavored ramen taste like?

Best $8 I've ever spent

2007-03-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

This week there was a concert series in town of indie bands that are on their way to SxSW, so I went to one of the concerts last night just for fun - had never heard of the bands but thought it would be cool to discover new music. The opening singer, Frida Hyvonen, was good in a Swedish-Tori-Amos-meets-Fiona-Apple way, which is to say good but she banged the piano chords a bit too much for me. (Not in that way, you sick perverts.) She was also very conversational and funny (and cute).

The headliner was Under Byen, a Danish electronic/techno/rock/classical group. MY BRAIN WAS COMPLETELY BLOWN APART. It's the best music I've heard in a long long time, it completely blew me away.

The setting was intimate - a small art gallery with about 50 people in attendance. The music was stadium-sized. I felt like I was breathing in the music, it really felt like it was a solid tangible thing. The only light show was a projector beaming images/animations from their album art onto the wall behind them, in an otherwise totally dark room. The singing was entirely in Danish, in fact the band didn't say a single word to the audience all night - just went from one incredible song to the next. It focused my attention on the singer's voice as an instrument with dark overtones of sensuality, grief, passion... I'm finding as I write this that it was almost a completely indescribable experience. If you ever have the opportunity to see them perform, DO! There are tracks you can download/stream on their website and you should definitely do that. It seems though, in listening to the CD (which I am presently doing) that the music was much darker in person, if you know what I mean.

Seven stars out of five!!

:D

2007-03-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

for anyone who cares, i love my new hair color!

"Christianity could just grow up"

2007-02-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

This article says, simply and plainly, what I believe is wrong with much of organized religion's approach to sexuality and the idea of "sexual sin." I don't agree with everything he says, but for the most part I wish I'd written this myself. Read the whole article here.

It would be refreshing if the Churches would step back from this stance, and make it clearer that the evil in adultery is not the sexual act but the betrayal of trust, the cruelty, the endangering of children’s happiness. The deep wickedness of rape and paedophilia is not about desire but about misuse of power, invasion, oppression and injury. The sinfulness of promiscuity and prostitution is not about sex but about using another human being for transient pleasure without caring for the physical and emotional damage you do. The Church’s ministry to gays could preach only honesty, gentleness, and commitment, rather than agonising about genital practices. Christianity could just grow up, and stop treating sex as if it were innately toxic or radioactive and yet irresistibly interesting.

Opinions?

2007-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

I had the idea this morning. It only took about 10 minutes and didn't hurt at all. Should I leave it in?

Top 10 signs...

2007-02-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

(stolen from Craigslist)

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

Thanks, Robert Frost

2007-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

by David Ray
Do you have hope for the future?
someone asked Robert Frost, toward the end.
Yes, and even for the past, he replied,
that it will turn out to have been all right
for what it was, something we can accept,
mistakes made by the selves we had to be,
not able to be, perhaps, what we wished,
or what looking back half the time it seems
we could so easily have been, or ought...
The future, yes, and even for the past,
that it will become something we can bear.
And I too, and my children, so I hope,
will recall as not too heavy the tug
of those albatrosses I sadly placed
upon their tender necks. Hope for the past,
yes, old Frost, your words provide that courage,
and it brings strange peace that itself passes
into past, easier to bear because
you said it, rather casually, as snow
went on falling in Vermont years ago.

For your viewing enjoyment...

2007-01-16T19:33:00.001-08:00

As you may have heard we have had a bit of weather in Springfield... here are some pictures from this weekend.
Ice Storm 2007

Weird

2006-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the Pharaohs were descended from the fallen angels and that they were part of the fallen angels' "global game of 'genetic chess'" to create a superior race of semi-divine rulers that still rule the world today (including elected officials)?

Did you know that the fallen angels were physically trapped in the deep-sea trenches during the Great Flood and have been trying to escape ever since so they can rule the world again? Also, apparently the only reason the Masons exist is to bring about the rule of these fallen angels.

... Oh, and when the World Trade Center collapsed, that was the fallen angels telling us all that they have escaped from the prison God put them in. (I'd think that if God imprisoned them, it'd be impossible to break out - but what do I know.) Of course you already knew that New York City is the "Babylon the Great" from the book of Revelation, and that the reason the angel said "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great" is because BOTH towers fell, so he had to say it twice.

This article has more logic traps and contradictions than what I have time to post about, so I'm picking my favorite: LOTR is a book of end-times prophecy, and the costume designs for Sauron's helmet in the movies are based on a design showing the fallen angels breaking out of their prison... and the two towers were destroyed or conquered in the books/movies as a prophecy of 9/11. The author of the article took his synopsis of LOTR from the first ten minutes of the "Fellowship of the Ring" movie almost verbatim, I'm not even sure he read the books at all.

There's way more weirdness in the article. Read it for a laugh if nothing else.

Morning thought

2006-12-28T09:18:00.000-08:00

The best part of waking up isn't Folgers in your cup... it's that first hit of caffeine-taurine-ginseng-B12-guarana-highfructosecornsyrup-and-natural&artificial flavors.

How to make the holidays more bearable

2006-12-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law makes Puerto Rican eggnog, called "Coquito," at Christmastime. If you're thinking, "Puerto Rican eggnog... that sounds like it has A LOT of rum in it," you would be absolutely right. It has a very different flavor from regular eggnog due to the coconut milk, and I definitely prefer coquito to traditional nog. It takes about 30 seconds to make, requires no cooking, and will get you trashed. Thus, it is worth a try for any of you who need some help dealing with your extended families ;)

Herewith, the recipe. I will warn you that using the full amount of rum makes it quite strong.

28 oz. (2 cans) coconut milk
1 to 2 cups Bacardi rum (depending on how long you have been at a relative's house)
14 oz condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a blender until thoroughly blended, chill and serve. This makes about 8 cups depending on the rum content, and has about 1 shot of rum per cup.
Enjoy, and if you have any fun stories to relate as a result of drinking coquito, please share!

Poetry first...

2006-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

I read this in "The Writer's Almanac" daily email this morning (yes, I am that much of a dork). I am now insanely jealous. Emphasis is mine.

It's the birthday of the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, born in Head Tide, Maine (1869). Before he made a name for himself as a poet, he was known in his hometown as an idler and a failure, writing poetry that attracted little attention. But somehow, his poetry made it into the hands of Theodore Roosevelt, who became a big fan. He got Robinson a job at a customs house to help him earn a living while he wrote. Roosevelt told him, "I expect you to think poetry first and customs second." All he had to do was show up at his desk, read the morning newspaper, and leave it on his chair to prove he had been in. This sustained him until he started to write poetry that won some praise; finally, in his fifties, he won the Pulitzer Prize the first year it was awarded.

Some connected thoughts

2006-12-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

I've been asked a couple of times in the last few days how it feels to have come out... It feels amazing. It's surprising in a way that it made a difference at all, because I already knew that I was bi, however stating it publicly did make a difference in how I felt about it. I've been hiding that part of myself since I figured it out about 10-11 years ago, at least from the general public and at times even from myself. It's a relief to be honest with myself as well as others instead of disguising it as a general appreciation for cute girls, and in a way I needed to "say it out loud" to fully come to terms with it.

On the other hand, coming out as bi may not strike people as a big deal - because I am still attracted to men, that seems to make my attraction to women more acceptable or at least not as shocking as if I were only attracted to women. It also appears to be more acceptable to be female and gay than to be male and gay and I'm not sure why - comments are welcome if you have ideas on why that is.

I believe that sexuality is not confined to gay, bi, and straight, and that it is unnecessarily restrictive to have only three options for the wide range of human sexuality. I see it as a spectrum, where exclusive homosexuality is at one end and exclusive heterosexuality is at the other end. I briefly thought of comparing it to a bell curve, but the distribution doesn't work out right either for current numbers or for evolutionary viability - the survival of the race does have something to do with sexual preference I would imagine, and we're not so advanced that evolutionary selection doesn't still have a say. I'm somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, and depending on the day I may be further to one side or the other.

The nature vs. nurture question comes to mind. I believe sexual preference is both hardwired and chosen, to a certain extent. I say to a certain extent because some people appear to have been born with one preference or another. However, I do not discount that a person's upbringing may predispose them toward a certain choice. In the case of some people who were brought up in very devout religious families and continue to hold those beliefs in their adulthood, homosexuality or bisexuality is not a choice that even presents itself to them because of their beliefs on the subject. Others are able to reconcile their religious beliefs with being gay or bi with a fundamentalist upbringing, to say nothing of those who have very fundamentalist religious beliefs that cause them to deny their sexuality even if they are acting on their preference rather than their beliefs (you can probably think of a few recent examples).

In my case, I think that it is a combination of physiology and upbringing. The emphasis during my childhood that only straight, married sex was acceptable and that all other sex was wrong and sinful made me very curious about alternative lifestyles and led me to read everything I could about them. There was almost no discussion of sex at all that I can remember other than "the talk" around age 8 or 9. I may have been resistant to discussions of sex with my parents on the few occasions when the subject came up, but I didn't feel comfortable talking about it with them because it felt like a taboo subject.

I remember reading Edith Hamilton's Mythology at age 9 or 10 (I have worn out at least 2 copies of that book), coming across the very brief mention of the poet Sappho, and immediately looking her up in the encyclopedia. That her poetry has been almost entirely lost seemed like a great shame to me, and I read over and over the few lines that were in Mythology trying to find some clue about who she was and what it meant for women to love each other. Forbidden knowledge has an allure that is hard to shake and by age 14 I was reading everything I could find on the gay lifestyle and polyamory and writing love poems to my only female friend at the time as well as to whatever boy I had a crush on. Had there been a more open and accepting atmosphere in the home about sex in general I might not have been so curious at a young age, but I doubt it would have changed the eventual outcome.

So, enough about me for one night. Those are my current random thoughts on the subject - what are yours?

Outside

2006-12-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

A certain person told me today that she figured I was gay/bi as soon as we started IMing two months ago. Oh yeah, and my picture set off her girlfriend's gaydar.

Specifically, her girlfriend looked at my picture and said, "She's in the family, no question about it."

I don't know how this makes me feel. It's a mix between happiness at being recognized and called family, curiosity as to what made either of them key in on it, wondering what comes next and who else suspects/knows but hasn't said anything... No negative emotions either, which is kind of a surprise in itself. I guess at this point I've got nothing to hide (it's not like I'm a pastor in Colorado).

So those are my first impressions of being definitively outed. I've come out to a very few people that I love and trust but never had it happen quite like that before. Don't think I'll go back, either - out's a good place to be.

And this is my mental state today

2006-11-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

Get Fuzzy

2008 can't come fast enough

2006-11-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

Please tell me how this makes any rational sense. An anti-abortion, anti-contraception doctor has just been appointed to head the federal Office of Family Planning.

The Bush administration, to the consternation of its critics, has picked the medical director of an organization that opposes premarital sex, contraception and abortion to lead the office that oversees federally funded teen pregnancy, family planning and abstinence programs.

You have got to be kidding me.
Then again, it's par for the course for this administration, ignoring reality and the wishes of the majority in favor of a far-right minority opinion.

Be fruitful and...

2006-11-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is some scary shit. Living in the Midwest and coming from a conservative evangelical background I know families like this - way over on the right wing and making babies for God. Not every large family is like this obviously, but I know quite a few that are.
Aside from the obvious fallacies of believing that men are the natural heads of household and everything would be all better if we could go back to the "Father knows best" era of the 50's...
What's sad is that the majority of the families I know that practice this are working or lower-class families, with the fathers in blue-collar jobs that put the families well below the poverty line. Homeschooling is great if it's done well and the parents are willing to put in the effort. But homeschooling two children is not easy, let alone 8-10. When the parents are unable to provide a good education either through their own lack of education or through inability to handle the massive responsibilities, organizational tasks, and research required to make homeschooling work, it can be a disaster that the children will never recover from. Raising an army for God is less effective if the children can't read, write, do simple math, or find the U.S. on a map. I am not kidding, I know a family like this.
My favorite quote from the article: "Overpopulation isn't a problem in a universe where God promises a clean global slate." Now there's responsibility for you. Mess up this planet all you like, because God will give you a new one.

Scarborough discusses The Colbert Report

2006-10-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is just hilarious.

video

Sometimes We Don't Talk Much, Debbie And I

2006-10-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

so today we take an afternoon drive to an orchard
buy two jars of dark honey, an acorn squash,
three cucumbers, six ears of corn, a gigantic muskmelon,
a sack of hot peppers for seventy-five cents, a half-dozen tomatoes,
a small basket each of Jonathans, McJonathans
and Akanes,
talk all the way there
through the corn-green countryside,
drive around
through small towns clustered
north of Omaha
like beautiful mushroom rings around an old stump,

and we talk about the living it takes

talk until
years fall down like rain,

and we drive our red car
through the green hills back to Omaha
where our children
nestle like mice

in an old grain bin,
and we bring back our box
filled with fresh fruits and vegetables
and we bring back ourselves,
filled with our lives.

by Greg Kosmicki, from Some Hero of the Past.

"Rereading Frost"

2006-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Rereading Frost by Linda Pastan

Sometimes I think all the best poems
have been written already,
and no one has time to read them,
so why try to write more?

At other times though,
I remember how one flower
in a meadow already full of flowers
somehow adds to the general fireworks effect

as you get to the top of a hill
in Colorado, say, in high summer
and just look down at all that brimming color.
I also try to convince myself

that the smallest note of the smallest
instrument in the band,
the triangle for instance,
is important to the conductor

who stands there, pointing his finger
in the direction of the percussions,
demanding that one silvery ping.
And I decide not to stop trying,

at least not for a while, though in truth
I'd rather just sit here reading
how someone else has been acquainted
with the night already, and perfectly.

2006-09-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger

That is all.

Is your psyche strained?

2006-08-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

The rest of America's is, apparently. Or maybe it's just Our Fearless Leader's.

Fanfare, please

2006-08-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

It's August 22 and the world has not ended. (Yet.)

Here is an entirely reasonable article about the current options concerning Iran's nuclear program and what can be done to defuse the situation before it gets worse. I may not agree with everything in it, but at least it's a reasonable, logically thought out solution.

Ahmedinejad's stall tactics

2006-08-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

Iran has refused to reply to the EU offer package until August 22. It was originally offered on June 6 with an RSVP date of June 29, pushed back to July 15-17. Why is Iran refusing to answer?

According to this article, it's because August 22 has specific religious significance for Shi'ites. Similar article can be found here.

I'll be interested to see what happens on August 22nd.

Poem of the day

2006-07-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, courtesy of the Writer's Almanac... the painting he refers to is here.

Days We Would Rather Know by Michael Blumenthal

There are days we would rather know
than these, as there is always, later,
a wife we would rather have married
than whom we did, in that severe nowness
time pushed, imperfectly, to then. Whether,
standing in the museum before Rembrandt's "Juno,"
we stand before beauty, or only before a consensus
about beauty, is a question that makes all beauty
suspect ... and all marriages. Last night,
leaves circled the base of the ginkgo as if
the sun had shattered during the night
into a million gold coins no one had the sense
to claim. And now, there are days we would
rather know than these, days when to stand
before beauty and before "Juno" are, convincingly,
the same, days when the shattered sunlight
seeps through the trees and the women we marry
stay interesting and beautiful both at once,
and their men. And though there are days
we would rather know than now, I am,
at heart, a scared and simple man. So I tighten
my arms around the woman I love, now
and imperfectly, stand before "Juno" whispering
beautiful beautiful until I believe it, and—
when I come home at night—I run out
into the day's pale dusk with my broom
and my dustpan, sweeping the coins from the base
of the ginkgo, something to keep for a better tomorrow:
days we would rather know that never come.

Poem of the day

2006-07-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

This poem was on today's "Writer's Almanac" on public radio, thought you all might enjoy it.

Creed by Meg Kearney

I believe the chicken before the egg
though I believe in the egg. I believe
eating is a form of touch carried
to the bitter end; I believe chocolate
is good for you; I believe I'm a lefty
in a right-handed world, which does not
make me gauche, or abnormal, or sinister.
I believe "normal" is just a cycle on
the washing machine; I believe the touch
of hands has the power to heal, though
nothing will ever fill this immeasurable
hole in the center of my chest. I believe
in kissing; I believe in mail; I believe
in salt over the shoulder, a watched
pot never boils, and if I sit by my
mailbox waiting for the letter I want
it will never arrive—not because of
superstition, but because that's not
how life works. I believe in work:
phone calls, typing, multiplying,
black coffee, write write write, dig
dig dig, sweep sweep. I believe in
a slow, tortuous sweep of tongue
down the lover's belly; I believe I've
been swept off my feet more than once
and it's a good idea not to name names.
Digging for names is part of my work,
but that's a different poem. I believe
there's a difference between men and
women and I thank God for it. I believe
in God, and if you hold the door
and carry my books, I'll be sure to ask
for your name. What is your name? Do
you believe in ghosts? I believe
the morning my father died I heard him
whistling "Danny Boy" in the bathroom,
and a week later saw him standing in
the living room with a suitcase in his
hand. We never got to say good-bye, he
said, and I said I don't believe in
good-byes. I believe that's why I have
this hole in my chest; sometimes it's
rabid; sometimes it's incoherent. I
believe I'll survive. I believe that
"early to bed and early to rise" is
a boring way to live. I believe good
poets borrow, great poets steal, and
if only we'd stop trying to be happy
we could have a pretty good time. I
believe time doesn't heal all wounds;
I believe in getting flowers for no
reason; I believe "Give a Hoot, Don't
Pollute," "Reading is Fundamental,"
Yankee Stadium belongs in the Bronx,
and the best bagels in New York are
boiled and baked on the corner of First
and 21st. I believe in Santa
Claus, Jimmy Stewart, ZuZu's petals,
Arbor Day, and that ugly baby I keep
dreaming about—she lives inside me
opening and closing her wide mouth.
I believe she will never taste her
mother's milk; she will never be
beautiful; she will always wonder what
it's like to be born; and if you hold
your hand right here—touch me right
here, as if this is all that matters,
this is all you ever wanted, I believe
something might move inside me,
and it would be more than I could stand.

Aw, shit

2006-07-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ooh, the President knows a dirty word. The shitstorm that erupted over his uncensored remarks to Blair would make you think that he was expected to have a minister's vocabulary even in his private conversations. That shit's not realistic. People say shit like that all the time in "real life" but I guess political shit doesn't count. So the shit hit the fan. Shit, I thought people had realistic expectations. No one blinked when LBJ and Nixon cussed a blue streak, but that shit was a long time ago. Shit happens, especially at a political dinner where everyone is full of shit. I wonder if Putin was talking shit to Koizumi about his Elvis impersonation. Who knows what kind of shit they talked about behind closed doors, too.

Anyway, here's a parting shit -- um, shot: Shit's just another word. No use getting bent out of shape over it.

Video of the day

2006-07-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what would happen if you drove your car behind a 747 getting ready for takeoff? Now you know...

(Edit: Ever wonder what would happen if you STOOD behind a 747 getting ready for take off? Now you know that too. Oddly enough, I have never wondered this.)

Damn anti-consumerist hippies...

2006-07-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

www.littlebrowndress.com is the chronicle of one person's experiment against consumerism.

She wore the same brown dress for a year. With layers for warmth in the winter, so not just the dress, but still she wore the same basic thing for a year. It seems like a good experiment to try to break out of the mold of having the latest fashion and buying new clothes all the time (which anyone who knows me, knows that I am TOTALLY about fashion) and think about ourselves as people instead of worrying about sweater matching pants or whatever.

My insightful-as-usual partner brought up that this is not a new idea, though -- men and women in the armed services wear basically the same thing for years on end, with possibly a choice of what color t-shirt to wear under their BDU jacket, and the ones serving in Iraq or other combat zones don't have the option to change into civilian clothes even when off duty.

But still, it's a cool thought and an interesting experiment, and she's doing a new one this year.

in other news, my cat has started trying to play fetch... as in, she meows for her stuffed mouse, and I get it and throw it across the room... she runs over and plays with it, and then meows for me to throw it again. :)

Prairie muffins, anyone?

2006-07-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

I ran across this article and thought it went along with the conservative christian manifesto PZ Myers linked to the other day... here's the Prairie Muffin Manifesto. No, it's not a joke. There are no words to express how grateful I am to not be brainwashed like that any more.

Inconvenience

2006-07-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" at the local independent theater. If you have a chance, please go. If not, please take a look at the website and try to reduce your impact on the environment.

I linked to climatecrisis.net on the sidebar because I believe this is the most important issue facing any of us.

We can make a difference if we do this together.

Not-so-fresh fish

2006-07-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Human culture builds on itself. American culture is based on Greek political ideas, Sumerian and English laws, Arabic numerals, Taiwanese plastic, Chinese microprocessors, and the melding of the cultural and social mores of hundreds of countries. There is no question about that -- it's a fact of history.

So why is it hard to accept that religion is the same?

Religious teachings and philosophers' ideas build on each other in the same way. The idea of a deity dying and rising again is prominent, over and over, in Egyptian and Greek myths as well as cultures all over the world long before the time of Christ. It's a story that began being told the first time prehistoric man started trying to explain winter or the growing season.
The idea of virtuous people going to paradise and evil people being punished in the afterlife is as old as people trying to understand why a difficult life is worth living and why bad things happen to good people.
The Apocalypse and Armageddon are Norse ideas, among other cultures. The cross is Egyptian. The ichthus is... well, take a look at the article.

Please note that I'm not insulting anyone's personal beliefs. I'm just pointing out what's already there. Many if not most of Christ's teachings were taught hundreds of years before him by religious leaders like the Buddha.

Comments, flames, etc. are welcome.

Saturday random link

2006-07-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder exactly what will happen during Armageddon? Now you know... and it's way more interesting than you think. (courtesy of fark)

Update pt. 1

2006-06-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been a while since my last post.

Here's an interesting article from the BBC that makes some sense, but isn't that great of an explanation.

A woman's body may see a male foetus as "foreign", prompting an immune reaction which may grow progressively stronger with each male child.

The antibodies created may affect the developing male brain.

In an accompanying article, scientists from Michigan State University said: "These data strengthen the notion that the common denominator between biological brothers, the mother, provides a prenatal environment that fosters homosexuality in her younger sons.

The reason this isn't a great explanation is because if that's the case, and the mother's body is making male fetuses gay because they are "foreign", what's the explanation for lesbians? Does the mother's body get confused about female fetuses too?
What do you think?

Net Neutrality

2006-06-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Please sign the petition and/or write or call your congressperson/senator to preserve the freedom and neutrality of the Internet. I don't know about you, but I don't want corporations and special-interest groups controlling what I see online.

Who, me?

2006-06-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I took the test. This shouldn't surprise anyone...

You are a
Social Liberal
(80% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(16% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test

I feel much better now

2006-06-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

The FDA approved the cervical cancer vaccine, AND Zarqawi is toast, AND the "marriage amendment" died miserably in the Senate, AND Tom DeLay is gone gone gone as of tomorrow. It's a good week. (DeLay left office as clueless as ever, telling other Republicans to "stand on principle." Whose principles are we talking about? If it's his, the election is the left's to lose.)

In other news, Ann Coulter is still an idiot.

There. I feel better.

Cool videos of the day

2006-06-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is what has been making me laugh recently.

The evolution of dance
The real Spiderman is Russian
Secret Wars reenactment

Enjoy! And if you've seen them before, watch them again for a laugh.

Religion and medicine don't mix

2006-05-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight we have a tale of two hypocrisies. Both of these articles from The Nation display the right's view of women's sexuality in a frightening way. The articles are both from 2005 but I believe they are still relevant given the ongoing debate about the HPV vaccine and the FDA's poor track record on recent women's health issues.

Virginity or Death!
Dr. Hager's Family Values

In the first article, the author points out how unacceptable it is in the right-wing viewpoint for women to be equal to men in terms of having sex. The recent debate over the HPV vaccine brought it to light, but it's been there all along.
Arguing that the HPV vaccine will encourage girls to be more promiscuous is like arguing that a grocery store sale on matches and lighter fluid will encourage people to commit arson. (I dare you, Marshwiggle. :) ) Girls, and women in general, realize now more than ever that there are consequences for unsafe sex. That is why the teenage birthrate and STD infection rates have been dropping for the last ten years. Sex ed classes are working, and I don't mean the abstinence-only classes.

As they flex their political muscle, right-wing Christians increasingly reveal their condescending view of women as moral children who need to be kept in line sexually by fear. That's why antichoicers will never answer the call of prochoicers to join them in reducing abortions by making birth control more widely available: They want it to be less available. Their real interest goes way beyond protecting fetuses--it's in keeping sex tied to reproduction to keep women in their place. If preventing abortion was what they cared about, they'd be giving birth control and emergency contraception away on street corners instead of supporting pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions and hospitals that don't tell rape victims about the existence of [emergency contraception]. ... Antichoicers may pooh-pooh the effectiveness of condoms, but they aren't calling to restrict their sale in order to keep boys chaste.

In the second article, a prominent Christian gynecologist who sits on the board of the FDA is exposed as not only a hypocrite but potentially a sexual offender. (I only say potentially because he has never been convicted of anything, but his ex-wife's account is pretty damning.) Hager wrote a book titled As Jesus Cared for Women, which is summarized in an Amazon review as "He encourages women to turn to prayer and scripture to help heal ailments such as premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression and eating disorders." Hmm, I wonder if Jesus cared for women by sodomizing them. I think not, but apparently the good doctor forced repeated anal sex on his wife for years. Did he prescribe prayer and scripture to her afterwards? How does a person justify that to himself? And this is a medical doctor who is helping make decisions for millions of Americans?

I know that many people who self-identify as Christians do want the HPV vaccine and emergency contraception to be available. The problem is the many who either do not for their own reasons, or have been convinced by their politicians/religious leaders that it is against divine will. If it were just left at a personal religious conviction that those medicines are not for them, it would be one thing -- the danger is that the right will try to legislate their religious conviction onto the rest of us who don't share it. That's what I have a problem with.

Before removing the speck from your brother's eye...

2006-05-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Christianity is no better than any other mainstream religion. Yet, like most other mainstream religions, its adherents believe they have a lock on the truth. That's why this article is so unsurprising, yet sad. It's sad because they are blinded by their dogma when they believe they can see clearly.

Apparently, the followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi want to build a retreat center near Smith Center, KS - not to convert those who live there or to impose their beliefs or way of life on anyone, but to meditate in hopes of making the world more peaceful. Yet the religious leaders of the town see it as a direct attack on their parishioners' immortal souls. They've said that the yogi's followers' beliefs are "not compatible with Christianity." Well.... duh. Of course they're not.
My personal beliefs aren't compatible with Christianity either, but that doesn't mean the Christians I know are in danger of losing their salvation. If I meditate in my house and focus on bringing peace to the community, it doesn't make my neighbors less Christian. What makes people less Christian (I would say less human) is fear of someone just because they are different.
I was going to say that intolerance made people less Christian, but it doesn't. Jesus taught severe intolerance of others' beliefs. But he wasn't afraid for his immortal soul when he was among prostitutes and sinners. Maybe Smith Center's population would do well to follow his example and love their neighbors in spite of their different beliefs.

The definition of credibility

2006-05-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite quote since the one about Hispanics in SW Kansas: "The [Da Vinci Code] sold some 40 million copies in 44 languages, and now it's a major motion picture, complete with all the credibility that Tom Hanks and Ron Howard bring to it."

Really? Tom Hanks and Ron Howard bring credibility to something? Last I checked, making a book into a movie didn't increase its credibility, no matter who starred in it or directed it.

For more hilarity, check out the assortment of quotes along the left side of the article, including this gem: "If it was significant enough, it would be in the Bible."

Misc.

2006-05-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Another solar system, this one with three planets. With each system that is discovered we are closer to facing the ultimate challenge: realizing we are not alone in the universe and that the cosmos does not, in fact, revolve around us.

The sooner the better.

Oh, and Pat Robertson is back on the rampage...

Let us go then, you and I

2006-05-09T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hungary? Malta? Poland? How do these countries have a better newborn survival rate than the US? How is the infant survival rate in Finland 2.5 times better than it is here?

Finland has had nationalized health care since 1972. Iceland and Norway both have nationalized health care as well.

Latvia also has nationalized health care and is the only country worse than us among developed countries for nowborn mortality. So having nationalized health care doesn't guarantee better infant care, but it's interesting that out of the 8 countries CNN mentioned, we are the only country without a national health care system. Time to spend those tax dollars on doctors, not soldiers, maybe?

Liberal media bias

2006-05-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

An interesting post from GetReligion.org today on the subject of media bias when reporting on religion. Personally, I take everything the NYT says with a grain of liberal-bias salt, but what do you think of this?

Friday is No Pants Day!

2006-05-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

In addition to being Cinco de Mayo, this Friday is also No Pants Day. I wonder if we can get this holiday included on the Pastafarian religious calendar?

Someone in Topeka needs a new research assistant

2006-05-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to blog this one for about a week and keep forgetting, but here you go. This is the NYT quote of the day from April 24th:

"I went to a meeting in Topeka and they said, 'What, there are Hispanics in southwest Kansas?' I said, 'Yes, and we're taking action.' "
- Concha Aragon, who is organizing an advocacy group in that area.

Emphasis added because that level of ignorance floors me. I could understand if someone in Chicago didn't know there were Hispanics in SW Kansas. But for someone in Topeka to not know that displays how incredibly out of touch it is still possible to be in the information age.

Southwest Kansas should be grateful for the Hispanic immigrants that live there. It's true that many of them are illegal immigrants, and if I worked for the INS/ICE I'd be raiding the meat packing plants every week. However, without those immigrants and the money they bring into the local economies, those towns would dry up and blow away. Southwest Kansas would be like Northwest Kansas. Just drive west on K-18 or K-96 sometime -- there's already very little there, and what is there is fading every year. Towns with large immigrant populations, on the other hand, have grown substantially. Dodge City grew 42% from 1980-2003. Garden City grew 49%. Liberal grew 35%. (For population numbers click here)

Without Latinos, those towns would have decreased rather than increased in size. Anyone in Topeka who thinks otherwise needs to have their head examined.

Happy May Day!

2006-05-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

.... let's celebrate with a general strike! This article describes why general strikes contradict the very idea of American democracy.

Saturday Random 10

2006-04-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

1. Fantastic Plastic Machine - Todos Os Desejos
2. Etude in G Flat Op. 10 No. 5 (Black Key) - Chopin
3. Mood Indigo - Tony Bennett
4. 24-7 In My 911 - Vengaboys
5. Morning (Peer Gynt Suite) - Edvard Grieg
6. Make Luv - Room 5
7. You Know You're Right - Nirvana
8. Gotta Get Through this - Daniel Bedingfield
9. Who's Crying Now - Journey
10. Lord of the Trance - DJ Tiesto

Very interesting randomization, huh? But no rap? How did that happen?

Nuestro Himno

2006-04-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

I am all in favor of being a multilingual, multicultural society, and I know that many of my readers are as well. But is this going too far?

Finally, a use for the Coliseum... again

2006-04-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Forbes.com is suggesting bringing back gladiatorial combat to the death. After all, it's a natural progression of pro football, boxing and martial arts, right? Right? Take a look at the article...

Draft, anyone?

2006-04-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

This op-ed piece in the NYT got me thinking, which was probably the desired effect.

The author's contention is that starting up the draft (or, as he calls it, "selective service under a lottery") will so intimidate the Iranian people that public opinion in that country will turn against uranium enrichment and nuclear weapons.

I contend that Iran is a very different country than the last country we were in a nuclear standoff with. The USSR, although it had a different political system and ideology than ours, was still a system based more or less on Western logic. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev could all be reasoned with under the same basic constraints Americans already understood. Conventional means of intimidation and intrigue worked because their cultural mores were similar at least to ours.

Iran's theocratic culture and their absolute belief that God is on their side means that Western logical conclusions may well be lost on their people and their military leaders. The mindset of Iran's leaders is utterly foreign to most Americans (read any of Pres. Ahmedinejad's speeches for examples). American saber-rattling in the form of a draft wouldn't intimidate Iran to back down; it would inflame anti-American sentiments even more and encourage the ayatollahs that they are doing the right thing.

Selective service should not be considered as a tactic to get Iran to back down from the nuclear option. They are not afraid of us; they have God on their side. If war in Iran is avoidable, it will be avoided through some other method and not through our military posturing.

That said, I am strongly in favor of two years of mandatory military or civil service for all Americans 18-25. Conscientious objectors to military service would have the option of serving in the Peace Corps, Americorps, or government offices. No exemptions should be allowed except for physical or mental disability. Mandatory service has several benefits: it helps instill self-discipline through learning occupational skills; it gives a sense of patriotism and duty to country; it encourages young people to think globally instead of locally; it helps fill the maturity gap between high school and college or college and the workforce and gives young people a chance to decide what they want to do for a career through experience; employers would benefit from young people already trained in how to respond to a work environment; the nation would be better off because we would have enough teachers, nurses, and social workers. Yes, there are also drawbacks including how to set up and enforce the system, overcoming popular objections, and how to pay for it. But the benefits, I think, far outweigh the drawbacks. Draft boards have been set up for the eventuality of a draft since 1980; it's time to put them to use and institute selective service for the good of the country.

But selective service as a means of intimidation against a country that will take it the exact wrong way and worsen the situation instead of improving it is not the way to go.

Someone ran out of political comment sources...

2006-04-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of something witty to post on the "Rummy should resign" issue, but sometimes these things write themselves. I mean really, who cares what Gerald Ford thinks anymore? The guy's 93, for gosh sakes. Leave him out of it, he hasn't worked with Rummy since he left office. In 1977. (In other words, the last time he worked with Rumsfeld was four years before I was born.) I can't even remember most of the people I worked with two years ago.

Not that I think his comments were necessarily uninformed, in fact I agree with part of what he said:

Allowing retired generals to dictate our country's policies and its leadership would be a dangerous precedent that would severely undermine our country's long tradition of civilian control of the military. It would discourage civilian leaders at the (Defense) Department from having frank and candid exchanges with military officers.

True. But the next statement he makes does nothing but play into the conservative fearmongering "support the president/government or you're disloyal" rhetoric that is designed to squash dissent and promote groupthink:

And, today, at a time of war, such an effort sends exactly the wrong message both to our troops deployed abroad and to our enemies who are watching for any signs of weakness or self-doubt.

That sounds like something pulled directly off the Fox News talking points. Gee, and he was doing so good.
Regardless of what sort of person Donald Rumsfeld was 30 years ago, he's not the same person now. The man who appointed him then doesn't have direct experience with his last six years of one bad decision after another. Maybe reporters would be better served by leaving ex-presidents who left office 30 years ago out of it. Especially presidents who were at best mediocre.

thank you

2006-04-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who's been thinking about my brother-in-law Raymond these past few days. He's doing much better and will hopefully make a full recovery.

See ya, Scott!

2006-04-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

Best quote from last night's Daily Show: "Every housecleaning begins by changing the doormat."

Then he called McClellan a "sweaty, disingenuous liar."

But my favorite epithet for McClellan has to be from Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: "gopher-faced administration spokescreature".

There is not enough money in the world to make me sell my soul like that day after day, it just wouldn't be worth it. If he's found a way to live with it, he's better off than I would be.

Buh-bye, Scott.

i'm still here

2006-04-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

because of Z's little brother being pretty badly hurt in an accident i really haven't felt like posting in a couple of days. sorry about that, i will try to get back to posting in a couple of days. if you have positive thoughts or prayers to send Raymond's way i know his family would really appreciate it.

thanks

Best new ideas

2006-04-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this article on ways to improve our country and quality of life. What do you think?

poetry

2006-04-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Since April is National Poetry Month, here's one I found in the File of Forgotten Papers yesterday while looking for Z's 2003 W-2's.

The Time Being
John Calvin Rezmerski

A man coming forward
leaves a hole in time
he cannot see any more
than the hole in space
where he just was.
He can pivot, flex,
bend, reach, spin,
chase himself in circles,
and never see it.
He leaves it all behind,
the print of the face,
the work of the hands,
the mark of the nerves,
like a trail of coins
dropped for someone else
to collect or spend.
He peels the past forward,
rips the future back.
He is a wedge in space,
his life a wedge in time.
He moves at angles
to everything
splits time
into the geometry of dance.
His sweat
has the smell of forever.
Too much energy
to stay quiet
on any surface,
he reaches up, and out,
to eat the stars.
For him
the sun is gold,
the moon is silver,
the earth is round
and worth saving.

The Dalai Lama: A disaster waiting to happen.

2006-04-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Another example of Christian intolerance toward other belief systems (thanks to Sparkle Pony's blog):
"Christian Ministry Leader Urges Prayer as Dalai Lama Visits Mayo Clinic"

Olive Tree Ministries founder and director Jan Markell says the patients and staff at the famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, need a prayer of protection on April 17. She believes a guest who will soon be visiting the hospital may pose a greater danger to the patients than the illnesses that brought them there.

Ms. Markell calls the Dalai Lama a "false prophet," says his visit is "a disaster waiting to happen," and is extremely insulting to not only the Dalai Lama but to Buddhism and those who practice it. I wonder how she would react if someone said the same things about her and her religion. I didn't hear anyone ask her for her opinion, she just vomited out this hateful speech.
Of course her religion doesn't say she has to be tolerant of other religions; if you don't believe the way she does, you're going to hell.
I know, I know: if I don't like it, I don't have to read it. But the funny/sad part is the completely deadpan serious tone of the whole article and the fact that people somewhere are taking her seriously.

The new civil rights movement

2006-04-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

With two marches in the past few days totaling over 500,000 marchers each, and many other marches happening across the country, can there be any question about whether this is the "new civil rights movement"?

Latinos are protesting unfair immigration laws, unfair labor laws that don't crack down on employers who pay unfair wages, and unfair social stereotypes. Like this guy who seems to think that all Latinos are illegals, and he's not the only one with this opinion.

I only have one request of the Latinos who are demanding fair wages, fair immigration policy, and respect: Don't sit down. Don't give up. Don't let this last two weeks be the only time your voice is heard. Push, and keep pushing, until it happens. The civil rights movement in the 1960's took a lot of time. So did the women's suffrage movement. Keep fighting and you will be heard. If you're not in it for the long haul, nothing will happen. ¡Sí se puede!

Renewable energy

2006-04-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've heard of Brazil's move to using sugar-cane-derived ethanol as a renewable fuel source, but this article shows how big it really is. Here's an idea: Cut all federal subsidies and tax breaks to the Big Oil companies (with billions of dollars in profits last year, they don't need them any more) and give all that money to jumpstarting and sustaining ecologically friendly fuels like sugar cane.

Selling out

2006-04-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

I voted for John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries because he seemed like a person I could respect, a straight-talking man with his own opinions that didn't just do whatever the party told him to. Six years later, he's sucking up to the Bushes to get votes from the right-wing side of the party, the same people he couldn't stand back when he at least acted like he had his own opinions. I won't be voting for him this time around. At least he's doing this early, so no one is fooled about his real intentions and loyalties.

¡Sí se puede!

2006-04-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, we can have an immigration policy that is fair to American citizens as well as those wishing to become citizens or work in our country.

Yes, we can raise the minimum wage so it is truly a living wage and not a farce.

Yes, we can be a country of opportunity for people of all origins and ethnicities.

Yes, we can keep our standard of living and absorb 12 million immigrants. We already have. We just need to extend the American dream to them and pay them a fair wage for the hard, back-breaking work they do.

Why are news commentators and politicians alike acting as though America is being invaded? This is no different than the English invasion, the Irish invasion, the German/Russian/Polish invasion, the Chinese invasion.
It says something about our views of immigration as a country that the first national immigration act, in 1882, was anti-Chinese.
From Wikipedia, just using German immigrants as an example:

Germans made up almost one-tenth of the population of the country by the end of the 18th century. At least 500,000 Germans immigrated in the first half of the 19th century. 20,000 came in the years 1816-1817, fleeing a famine. Some 61,000 fled to America after the failed Revolutions of 1848. Between 1850 and 1930 about 5 million Germans immigrated to the United States with a peak in the years between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans left Germany and settled mostly in the Midwest.

In 1890, the U.S. population was 62,622,250. I can't find the ethnic breakdown of the US from that census, but if there were roughly 1,581,000 German immigrants from 1800 to 1890, it may be safe to assume that the immigrant population during that time was at least 10% of the population when one includes all the other ethnic groups then immigrating.
Even with a high estimate of 20 million illegal immigrants currently in the country, our illegal immigrant population is only about 6.4%. This is far less than it was at the height of immigration in the 1880's, and the country didn't collapse then. The only reason the illegal immigration rate is higher now than it was back in the 1800s was because we didn't have immigration laws so there was no such thing as illegal immigration.

Our immigration laws are out of date and backward. We are keeping out people who want to make an honest living in the guise of keeping out terrorists. Our immigration policy must be reformed to give opportunity to those who have no opportunities in their home countries.

¡Sí se puede!

Reproductive freedom?

2006-04-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

This article about abortion law in El Salvador made me incredibly sad on one hand, and fearful on the other hand that this may start happening in our country if states besides South Dakota pass abortion bans. It's from the NYT so you may have to register but it's worth it.

It brings up the question -- if a woman has an illegal abortion, does that make her a criminal? In El Salvador, if the fetus was viable at the time of the abortion, the woman is charged with aggravated homicide and can serve 30 to 50 years in prison. Is this the kind of culture we want to promote, where a woman is not only not in control of her reproductive capabilities but is a criminal for trying to take that control?

Criminalizing reproductive freedom is not the answer. Birth control education, a higher minimum wage, welfare-to-work programs, and affordable childcare are some of the possible answers. These are the things we should be working towards -- not trying to outlaw abortion itself, but trying to stop the societal reasons that women have unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

There is no perfect solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancies. But there are reasonable ways to deal with the issue as a society besides criminalizing all abortions.

Videos

2006-04-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Discoveries from YouTube:

This is the John Daker video, which I had never heard of before today (found it thanks to Wikipedia's random article feature). He is singing on public access TV and forgets words, hums along, and has some really strange expressions. It's funny stuff. Check it out...

Here is an extended and pretty funny remix of "All your base are belong to us". The space shuttle, OJ Simpson, protesters, Al Gore.... all your base are belong to us!

Criminal Stupidity

2006-04-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Red State Rabble pointed me to this essay by intelligent design "scientist" Robert Newman, who writes for the Discovery Institute: "Rumors of Angels: Using ID to Detect Malevolent Spiritual Agents."

His main point is that angels and demons do exist and have been physically interacting with the world since its creation, including influencing human history and interfering with the evolution/development of various animal species.

Among the completely off-the-wall things in the article, this stuck out to me like a sore panda's thumb.

A possible candidate for imperfect design, but with no signs of malevolence, is the "thumb" of the giant panda. The panda (a relative of the bear) has its five regular digits structured as a paw, as is typical in four-footed animals such as the carnivores. Yet it also has an opposable "thumb," which it uses with considerable dexterity to strip leaves from bamboo shoots, its primary food source. This "thumb" is actually an extended version of one of the wrist bones, the radial sesamoid.
It is arguable whether or not the panda's thumb is a poor design.[29] But even granting that it is, may it not be the work of genetic manipulation by angels, who are constrained by history to work with what is available in the ancestral panda lineage, unlike an omniscient, omnipotent God making a new design from scratch?

In other words, since pandas have thumbs which are mostly useless, they are imperfect and therefore not the work of God since everything God created was perfect. But since the thumbs don't hurt the pandas or any other creatures, they are "examples of benevolent but imperfect design" and therefore attributable to the interference of angels and not demons. So, let me get this straight: God created pandas, then the angels messed with their development until they grew thumbs which are mostly useless.

Another quote:

Since parasitism is defined as a relationship in which the parasite does harm to the host, it would seem that parasitism in general (as opposed to benevolent forms of symbiosis) might be examples of malevolent design.

So parasites aren't just opportunistic, they were influenced to develop that way by demons???

How can anyone possibly believe that? Much less someone who claims to be a scientist. The Discovery Institute should fire this guy just on the basis that his essay is patently absurd and unbelievable.

Good luck, Bender!

2006-04-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's wishing Bender the very best on his thesis defense. If anyone deserves some good karma, it's him.

Unsurprising

2006-04-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

CNN today:

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
According to Miller's grand jury testimony, Libby told her about Plame's CIA status in the July 8, 2003 conversation that took place shortly after the White House aide -- according to the new court filing -- was authorized by Bush through Cheney to disclose sensitive intelligence about Iraq and WMD contained in a National Intelligence Estimate.

Hmm, now let's go back to what Bush said about this whole situation: "If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is, and if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of." (9/30/03)

Apparently he meant "taken care of" as in "I will cover my ass and Cheney's ass and throw Libby under the bus." Why does that not surprise me in the slightest?

Un-manic Monday

2006-04-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of the most perfect days I could have asked for.

Jennie and I went to Freeport, did some shopping, found this tiny state park down by the ocean and wandered over the rocks, sat in an ice cream shop eating ice cream and talking for about an hour, and came back home. 10 degrees warmer wouldn't have hurt but otherwise it was just perfect. We had pretty much everywhere we went all to ourselves.

It might not sound like much but it was just exactly what I needed. We only met a couple of months ago but it feels like I've known her for years, the kind of deep bond between souls that lifelong friends have. We are so alike in so many ways but different enough to still have things to talk about.

Like her I didn't come up here to make friends and didn't really expect to. She is an unexpected blessing and I feel so lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to meet her. Thanks Jennie :)

Video update

2006-04-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that the link for the Star Wars Manah Manah video doesn't work. Not sure why, but it's been taken off the site that was hosting it. I'll try to see if I can find it somewhere else, but it's not looking hopeful. (I have it saved on my computer so I can email it to you if you'd like -- don't think Blogger supports video uploads.)

Best fried rice ever

2006-04-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well the reason for this post is because when we were driving cross-country to get to Maine we stopped in Syracuse for the night and ordered Chinese delivery food from a place that had a flyer in the hotel room. Let me tell you that was the best Chinese food ever!! It came in the little white cardboard boxes and not in styrofoam containers, and their fried rice was so good we could have eaten just that for the next week.
Ever since then (7 months ago) Z will ask me off and on if we can go back to Syracuse for the fried rice, It's a 10 hour drive so I'm not too wild about that, but I've been trying to replicate it at home. Just last week we made it this way and it's close enough we couldn't tell a difference. So here is the Best Fried Rice Ever:

Cook 1 box of Zatarain's Yellow Rice according to package directions. Scramble 3 eggs preferably in butter and set aside. Chop 1 bunch green onions and a large handful of bean sprouts. Wait until the rice is done cooking and is steaming for 5 minutes. Cook 1 lb peeled/deveined shrimp in 1 tbsp. butter in a large skillet until just pink and add green onions and bean sprouts, stirfry about a minute more. The less you cook the shrimp the better, they shrink. (or you can use chicken if you prefer, but we always use shrimp) Add in the eggs and the rice and mix together, pour soy sauce over the whole thing till the rice is slightly brown, heat up and serve.

This is really easy and only takes half an hour because that's how long the rice takes. You will need AT LEAST a 10 inch skillet though, my 10 inch cast iron skillet is barely big enough to hold everything once we put the rice and everything in. Serves 3-4 people, or 2 people with leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It's good leftovers too.

Featured video

2006-04-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

You should really go check this video out. Funny, funny stuff.

Star Wars Mahnah Mahnah

I'm walking around humming it and occasionally saying "mahnah mahnah" just for the heck of it. Because it's thoroughly and firmly stuck in my head.

Not that I mind, because the last song that was stuck in my head was "Redneck Woman." For. Two. Days. *shudder*

Mahnah Mahnah!!

Proud to be child-free!

2006-04-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this BBC article:
The rise of the 'childfree'

Childless or childfree? Not so long ago, all women without children were known as childless, with its implication of a state of loss. Nowadays, a growing number of women are insisting on the term childfree - with its emphasis on liberation.

I like this description a lot. Funny how words can change the way people think about things. Next time my mother-in-law asks when we're having children, I may just tell her I am child-free.

Happy 50th post!

2006-04-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

In honor of my 50th post, here's some fun for you.

Peugeots too slow, French police get Subarus
The French Gendarmerie Nationale will be using Subaru Impreza WRXs for chase vehicles. Their requirements: "four-door, four-wheel drive cars that could go faster than 240 km per hour (149 miles per hour)."

Being the proud owner of a 2004 WRX, this makes me quite excited.

And if you've ever seen a movie with a car chase set in France (Transporter for instance), you know exactly why the French need to replace their police chase cars.

Fun stuff :)

Three simple questions

2006-03-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I'm taking this post wholesale from Daily Kos. The original post can be found here with comments.

Funny how after three years of war in Iraq, war supporters still can't answer these three simple questions:

1. How does sending our troops to Iraq, separating them from their families and loved ones, putting them in harm's way, and keeping them there equal "supporting the troops"?

2. Why do those who claim to "honor their sacrifices" want them to continue sacrificing?

3. Why don't those who bloviate about "supporting" and "honoring" the troops against an enemy they think threatens Western civilization actually, you know, put on combat boots and join them?

Yes, as one of my coworkers said, I may possibly be a flaming liberal. BUT these are questions I've had since day one, and I don't think it's unpatriotic to ask them. Dissent is Patriotic.
Comments please!

It was a good day

2006-03-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

List of why today was great:
Slept in until 9 am
First day it was warm enough not to wear a coat
Came home to discover my new iPod showed up (my "nana" as peachiejennie christened it, after a rather unfortunate mispronunciation on my part)
Stayed up way too late making playlists for said iPod

If you were looking for politics or philosophy, that isn't happening here tonight. There's more than enough to go around at Evil Bender's blog.

Questions for all you commenters

2006-03-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

First, a headline war. Two news stories from earlier today:

The BBC: Voter turnout is expected to be the lowest in Israel's history of general elections.

USA Today: Israeli centrist party projected to win; Turnout high.

Hmm. Moving along...

Should bin Laden's driver be tried as an "enemy combatant" if he never did any actual fighting? Story here:

Salim Ahmed Hamdan denies being a terrorist, and denies fighting against coalition forces in Afghanistan when he was captured there two months after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
U.S. authorities think otherwise. They want to try the Yemeni native in a military tribunal at the Navy's prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been held for over three years.
Hamdan's attorneys say the tribunals are unconstitutional, but the Bush administration asserts executive authority to try "enemy combatants" captured in the war on terror.

I'm not saying that the prisoner in question isn't guilty or that he didn't know what he was doing. My question is just, if he wasn't fighting why is he being charged as a combatant? So, is he an enemy combatant? I'm ignoring the question for now of whether these tribunals are constitutional or not, that's a question for sometime when my brain isn't quite so fried. Comment please!

On the same topic:
If a justice has made up his mind, should he recuse himself from the case? Story here:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dismissed the idea that Guantanamo detainees have constitutional rights and called European concerns over the issue hypocritical, Newsweek magazine reported Sunday.
Ethics experts said the impression that Scalia had already made up his mind before the hearing should mean that he will voluntarily drop out of the proceedings. However, Newsweek said he did not refer specifically to this week's case.
"He should remove himself when there is a reasonable doubt of his impartiality," said Father Robert Drinan, a professor of law at Georgetown University...
Scalia, asked at Freiburg whether detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have protections under international conventions, gave the suggestion short shrift.
"If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son, and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy," he said. Scalia's son, Matthew, served with the U.S. Army in Iraq.

If Scalia has already made up his mind that prisoners at Guantanamo don't deserve the full protection of the Geneva Convention, and he feels that they don't deserve basic rights like being able to challenge the reason they are being held (habeas corpus), how can he think he is impartial enough to judge this case?

I'd encourage you to read or listen to this evening's NPR article with excerpts from the Supreme Court oral arguments. It's pretty interesting and gives insight into what arguing a case before the Supreme Court is like. I imagine that arguing a case there is nerve-wracking at best, let alone getting interrupted by the justices as much as these lawyers do.

This is a load of bull.

2006-03-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

Please go read this article on Daily Kos. Basically, the President has stated that he has no intention of abiding by any law Congress passes attempting to restrict his powers or provide oversight to the Executive branch.

Funny, I don't remember anything in the Constitution permitting the President to issue signing statements for bills that contravene what Congress intended. What I do remember is that Congress acts as a check and balance to ensure the Executive branch doesn't turn into a monarchy. We're getting closer to a monarchy every time the president defies Congress. Speak up, don't let him get away with this bull. Please go read the article, then write your congressperson.

Legalize immigrant workers now!

2006-03-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

Immigration is a topic close to my heart for a couple of reasons:
1. My ancestors were immigrants, as were the ancestors of most people reading this.
2. Having lived in South America, I sympathize with why people would want to immigrate (although, granted, the conditions I lived in were very comfortable for a third world country and nowhere near the abject poverty that many people are fleeing).

The United States had a permissive immigration policy during the time when my ancestors immigrated in the 1800s - those people came over with a desire to better themselves and provide for their families, and it is the same way with immigrants today. The only thing that has changed is our laws, not the people. They are from different areas of the world, they speak different languages, they look different from the immigrants of the 1800s, but the United States is still the land of opportunity, the country where with enough hard work they and their children can live a better life.

Most immigrants with low skill levels encourage their children to pursue higher education, not to become manual laborers. From this we can deduce that they themselves are not low-skilled workers by choice but because they have no other option, given the long hours they work to support their families. This is the exact same thing as the Irish, German and Polish workers who came to this country in the 1800s to work in the meatpacking plants and encouraged their kids to make something out of themselves, even though the parents had no hope of gaining an education for themselves. They worked their whole lives to give their families a better life. Read Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle to get a picture of what these families went through.

Our current immigration policy offends my sense of justice. I know that life isn't fair, but laws should at least attempt to be fair. The bill that passed the House in December is not fair, and neither are most of the other proposals out there. We cannot have a fair immigration policy if we make every illegal immigrant a felon. Felons can't apply for green cards or citizenship - what that bill would do is criminalize more than 11 million people who then have no chance of ever being able to immigrate legally. That's not going to cut down on illegal immigration or encourage people to go back to their home countries.

Fences don't stop people from immigrating either - just look at East Germany for an example of how successful walls have been in the past.

I believe we need to issue an amnesty for the illegal immigrants already here, and significantly change the requirements for work visas for those who want to immigrate. There is no good way to deport 11 million people, nor would it work if we tried.

Proof of employment should be enough to secure a work visa. If a person can prove that they are working, they should be able to stay in the country. If they are not working, they should have to submit unemployment forms showing they are trying to get work. Someone stated to me that this will cause a rush of Mexican immigrants who will come to this country just for the unemployment benefits and welfare services. That is possible, but stating it categorically is an insult to hard-working immigrants and perpetuates the "lazy Latino" stereotype they have gotten unfairly. 92% of Mexican immigrant households have at least one adult worker, compared to 80% of American citizen households. These people are not coming here for the public assistance, they are coming to work. Yes, they qualify for the earned-income tax credit at a higher rate than other households, but that's because many times they are paid unfairly for the work they do.

This involves accountability for companies -- no more paying $1.25 an hour to fruit pickers, no more unsafe conditions for meat packers, no more dodging health benefits. Companies must pay at least minimum wage to all workers and provide the benefits required by law; workers must pay taxes. It's that easy. There is no such thing as a perfect policy but I think that's a lot better than making people felons for wanting more than a farm in Guatemala.

Parents should not have to make the choice between watching their children grow up and making a living. That is the choice our government is forcing them to make. Hundreds of thousands of people are protesting in the streets, walking off the job, and peacefully demanding the same rights Americans have. It's time to change our immigration policy to one that is just, one that respects the desire of people to make a better life for themselves through hard work, and one that takes into account America's history of taking in the tired, the poor, the huddled masses.

A story from my past that brings it home to me:
When I was about 6, we had to go to the US Embassy in Lima, Peru for our passports. I remember the young soldier at the front door who seemed so tall and serious in his dress uniform, and how my dad gave him a gospel tract. I remember walking through big rooms filled with people, and in one of these rooms my dad bent over to me and said: "You have something that none of these people have." I couldn't imagine what it would be - they probably had houses, children but they didn't look like I would have anything they didn't. When I asked what it was, he answered: "You are an American citizen, and they are all here because they want to be citizens too." I remember being in awe of what a powerful thing American citizenship was, awe that I had something as a six-year-old that adults had to wait in line for hours to try to get.

Of course I had no idea of how much waiting, paperwork, waiting, paperwork, and crossed fingers these people had to go through - or, when despair set in, a dash for the border to try to get in any way they could. This is the land of opportunity. Let's keep it that way.

More domesticity

2006-03-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

The butterscotch fudge did set, and it is overpoweringly sweet to the point where I can't eat it. Z, on the other hand, is valiantly sacrificing himself for the cause. Ahem.

I made cinnamon bread this evening which turned out to be a wonderful recipe. I got it online, don't know where from though. I reproduce it here, with apologies to the authors, so that you can enjoy it too:

Cinnamon Bread

INGREDIENTS:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons margarine
________________________________________
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. Measure flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, salt, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla into large mixing bowl. Beat 3 minutes. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Smooth top.
3. Combine 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and butter, mixing until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over smoothed batter. Using knife, cut in a light swirling motion to give a marbled effect.
4. Bake for about 50 minutes. Test with toothpick. When inserted it should come out clean. Remove bread from pan to rack to cool.

Letter from Rep. Michaud

2006-03-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

Congressman Michaud answered me! I would guess it's probably a form letter, but here it is:
Rep.MikeMichaud@mail.house.gov
Thank you for contacting me regarding impeaching or censuring President Bush. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.

Impeachment is an extremely rare action, having been used against presidents only twice in the history of the United States of America, despite times of great controversy and incredible differences of opinion. However, I do understand and share your concerns, and I will certainly keep your strong views in mind as the House continues its work. I will continue to speak out and actively oppose policies that are not in the best interests of the people of Maine or the people of this country. I have been working hard to push a very different course for our economy, our society, and our relationships around the world than the one that the Administration is taking. I will continue to put the best interests of our state and our nation first.

Thank you again for sharing your views with me. In addition, I also provide occasional email updates on a range of issues affecting people in Maine. If you would like to receive this information, please visit my website at http://michaud.house.gov/email_newsletter.asp and sign up for my email newsletter. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you.

With warmest regards,

Michael Michaud
Member of Congress

So, what do you think about this? Do you think he actually read the email himself, or is this from a staffer? Coming from Maine I would guess it has a higher probability of having been read by him than it would if I had emailed Sen. Clinton, for instance.

the domestic owl

2006-03-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made these scones -- super easy and really, really good fresh out of the oven with butter and grape jelly. (They even looked kinda like the picture, which is always a pleasant surprise.)
I tried to make butterscotch fudge instead of chocolate fudge and haven't checked on whether it worked or not, but it looked like it was going to set (fingers crossed).

In all, a successful evening.

It's Bender's fault

2006-03-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

Evil Bender linked to this site, which is great fun. My slogan: Solutions For a Small Iris. Or: There's Only One Owl.
Love it.
Here's the random one that came up when I first got to the site: Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Grey Ennui?
And another one: (putting in hubby's name, this is too funny) The Right Jesus at the Right Time. Or: Say It With Jesus.
Hahahaha. How great is that?
Evil Bender, you've created a monster.

Which Tarot Card Are You?

You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the imagery we find here may inspire us or torment us. Understanding the moon requires looking within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in this luminary that circles the earth every month and reflects the sun in its progress. Listening to those rhythms may produce visions and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a force that has legends attached to it. It carries with it both romance and insanity. Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it is only those willing to work with the force of dreams that are able to withstand this reflective light. Image from: Stevee Postman. http://www.stevee.com/
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Cooking

2006-03-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to cook. Most people at my work eat out 4 to 6 nights a week and are astounded that I go home and cook dinner every night. Not that they don't like home-cooked food, but that they feel like it's too complicated or too time-consuming. Mom taught me that it doesn't have to be cuisine to be good, that it doesn't have to take all night, and that making your own meals is rewarding as well as healthy. Thanks, Mom!

Here's the article that brought all this on.

V for Vendetta

2006-03-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Before I get started on the movie, let me just say that this made me sit up a little bit straighter and cheer. Thanks, waiterrant, for the link!

Now then, on to the feature presentation. V for Vendetta gets four stars out of four. It was a great follow-up movie to Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck. Those two movies provided the analysis of the problems beginning in the US (corruption, dependence on oil, media censorship, fear-mongering); this movie is the logical conclusion to those problems -- problems that arise when those in power grow too fond of it and too insulated from the common people.

Thomas Jefferson advocated regular rebellions as a means to keep rulers mindful of their citizens:

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all and always well-informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? ... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. (Nov. 13, 1787, to Col. William S. Smith)

This should ring as a clear call to action for people living under oppression, and should instill a sense of responsibility in those who realize that their government is heading in that direction. Today your phone can be tapped without a warrant; tomorrow you may be arrested without a warrant. Today the FBI can investigate your library records; tomorrow they may investigate your friends and your bookstore purchases. Today you can be shipped to Guantanamo and be held indefinitely without a trial; tomorrow you may be imprisoned without ever knowing the cause or receiving a trial. Is this an exaggeration of where our government is headed? Probably. Has it happened in other countries before? Definitely. If we take our rights and freedoms for granted, then we will eventually lose them. If we do not stand up to our government and demand our freedoms -- and depose rulers from power when necessary -- we will lose the ability to do so. That's the message of V for Vendetta.

This movie has plot, subtext, implications for the present day, great acting, and action all in the right proportions. I'm not going to write a full review of the movie -- an excellent one, although with perhaps unnecessarily strong language, can be found here. Suffice it to say that it was an intelligent call to action that inspired as well as entertained me, and that's more than any other movie has done for a long time.

Finally: Go see it!

Mishmash

2006-03-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

My favorite posts from today's Overheard in New York:
Teen girl #1: Yeah, it's totally true. I heard it on the olive branch.
Teen girl #2: "Olive branch"?
Teen girl #1: Yeah, you know. It's going around...It's a rumor. The olive branch.
Teen girl #2: You mean the grape branch?

Guy: Why do they put peas in the fried rice? Peas and carrots? I don't want that in my fried rice.
Girl: Because it's vegetable fried rice.
Guy: That's what the egg is for.
Girl: Egg is not a vegetable. Wait...What is it? Dairy? It should be meat, because if you let it go it will be meat.
Guy: I think it's produce.

In the "no, really?" category:
Fox: Slander, lies, hypocrisy make Mexican politics a pain
"Politics in Mexico is full of backstabbers, liars and slanderers and the entire system needs a big injection of ethics, according to President Vicente Fox."
Sounds like every South American country I've ever lived in...

The Kansas school board is up to no good again.
First the science education standards and now the sex education policies are going back to the 19th century. Teaching abstinence has not been shown to decrease teen pregnancy or transmittal of STD's -- but teaching correct condom and birth control use has. Teenagers are going to have sex -- teaching them how to be safe and that it's not a taboo subject is the best way to handle it.
Parental permission required for sex ed

School districts in Kansas must get parents' written permission before teaching their children sex education, the state Board of Education decided Wednesday.
One board member wants the new policy to go further and require abstinence-only courses. "We need to send the correct message," Kathy Martin said.
Under her proposal, a school could lose its state accreditation if it did not offer nine weeks of instruction on "abstinence until marriage" at least once in grades 6-9.

This post from Angelique's "It's raining noodles!" is hilarious!

Watched the series premiere of Dr. Who tonight.
The most amusing moment: at a party to watch the world end, much like the Restaurant at the End of the Universe in the Hitchhiker's Guide, a number of aliens are introduced, five of whom are called the Adherence of the Repeated Meme. And of course they're up to no good.

And finally, some pictures from backroadsofchina.com:

Ehhhh

2006-03-15T18:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to report. In the last three days I've watched approximately 5,462 episodes of the Colbert Report that were on the DVR... I was that far behind (about 6 weeks behind). But I am now all the way caught up as of 15 minutes from now.

DVR's are great. I now start watching TV programs about 15 minutes after they start -- so I can skip commercials. Probably everyone with a DVR or Tivo does that, though.

Stephen just predicted (on the 2/13 show) that Bill Frist will win the 2008 election. Jeez, I hope not. Scary thought.

That's it for tonight. Get thee to Cute Overload.

More on Brownback

2006-03-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

My old hometown's newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, got it right for once. I wrote a post back in February on Sam Brownback, one of my least favorite Kansans since before (but intensified by) the Rolling Stone article that showed what a complete hypocrite/nutcase he is. Today, Brownback got called out in the Eagle's reporters' blog here for taking privately-sponsored trips Abramoff-style... including one trip to Pat Robertson's birthday celebration that cost $10,000. What kind of trip to a birthday party costs $10,000 for one person?

Don't buy the right-wing religious hype about Brownback. He's just as bad as all the rest of the politicians in Washington -- worse, in my opinion, because he uses religion to deceive his constituents about his true motives.

Stand up and be counted!

2006-03-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

The first thing I saw when I logged onto Joe.My.God was this: "Thirty Democratic Representatives have cosigned onto Rep. John Conyers' (D-MI) House Resolution 635 which calls for a special Select Committee to look into impeachable illegal acts committed by Bush II." Finally, someone is listening to the outrage in this country over the President's disregard for our laws, international laws, and the Constitution.

We all need to stand up and be counted on this one. Find out if your Congressperson is on the list of the signers. If so, please write to thank them for supporting the Constitution. If not, please write them and request that they sign the resolution. Here's what I wrote; you are free to copy it if you like.

March 12, 2006

To The Honorable Michael H. Michaud

Dear Mr. Michaud,

As a concerned citizen of the State of Maine, I request that you sign H. Res. 635 requesting a Select Committee to look into the grounds for recommending President Bush's impeachment. The President has carried out a campaign of systematic deception and subversion against the American people and members of Congress since his election to office. His offenses include: 1) going to war in Iraq on false pretenses by deceiving Congress, the public, and the international community; 2) subverting basic rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights such as the right to privacy by wiretapping innocent citizens without a warrant when warrants were available through FISA; 3) subverting the right to habeas corpus and the international law on treatment of prisoners of war by practicing indefinite detainment and torture of prisoners; 4) violating international law by extraordinary rendition of prisoners and sending them to countries known to practice torture; among other violations of the Constitutional role and responsibility of the President of the United States.

The Congress must exercise its role as a check and balance against the executive branch and send a message that such clear violations of American and international laws will not be tolerated by the American people. Please add your name to H. Res. 635 in support of the Constitution and the civil liberties we all enjoy.

Respectfully,

(little.hoot.owl)

Thursday miscellany

2006-03-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

I sat in the break room today at 2:00 and watched a fine drizzle turn into huge snowflakes. At 6:30, the car had 3 inches of snow on it. YAY! Apparently the ducks were swimming around in the stream behind our house with piles of snow on their backs, just doing their ducky thing.

My new nickname is Bam. I didn't make it up and I didn't give it to myself. It started out as someone calling me "B.A. Morales" (think The A-Team) and sic'ing me on somebody else (lol) and got shortened from there. I am completely thrilled :) I pity the foo' !!!

Things that make me happy:
BT's song Somnambulist. "Simply being loved... it's more than enough."

Eating canned corn out of the can. /weird, I know

Jon Stewart. King of snark. No more needs to be said.