Sounds delish-ass!
Yum...
- Adrienne Rich
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Sounds delish-ass! A Nasal Miscarriage 48 MPG? Ooooo, you sexy beast! Rip him to shreds OK? More Flight of the Conchords hilarity Life Before Death More gifts from the Internet Happy Valentine's Day, you ass Politan This palace can be yours... I just burst out laughing so hard I almost woke up the kids Post Secret Oh Marie! I love you, Porgy Get Smooved
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August 14, 2008Sounds delish-ass!Yum...
August 10, 2008A Nasal MiscarriageEveryone in the family has been sick for two weeks. First we had the flu, then Adrian's morphed into an ear infection, Julian's morphed into bronchitis and a possible sinus infection, and I am fighting a sinus infection right now. Adrian was getting better from his flu, and then all of a sudden he took a big turn for the worse, with goopy green eyes and nose. That was right about the time that he stopped sleeping. Two nights in a row of sleeplessness, where he only slept for half an hour at a time, and then not at all after 3:00am. A 15 minute nap on both days. Crying all the time. Julian was waking up every few hours screaming and crying and coughing, usually just when I had managed to get Adrian back to sleep. This is the very definition of misery, when your kids stop sleeping, cry endlessly, and you don't feel so hot yourself. On the second night of Adrian's not sleeping, he was crying "MOMMMEEEE!!!!" and I asked him "Baby, what's wrong, can you tell me?" This time he pointed to his ear and made the sign for "hurt". Aha! An ear infection! Next morning I had the kids in to the pediatrician first thing. Unfortunately by the time I got them out of there, got the prescription picked up, and ran all the other errands I had to do, I was feeling pretty damn sick myself and it was too late to see anyone. It was late Friday afternoon (of course...I ONLY get sick on Fridays after the doctor's office closes). Super sore throat and one completely blocked nostril, accompanied by a burning fire in my left sinus. Since my last sinus infection was so bad I thought I was going to die, I was a little panicky about the prospect of developing a sinus infection late on a Friday afternoon, and so far it hasn't been fun. Yesterday I got out my Neti Pot and gave my sinuses a good cleansing. I normally do it just once on either side, but my left sinus was still blocked after I poured a whole pot through it, so I just kept going. Green goo kept coming out, little by little, and then after the third pot I blew my nose hard into the sink and this....this....THING shot out of my left nostril. It was at least an inch long, and about half an inch wide, and the very first thing I thought when I saw it was that I had just had a miscarriage out my nose. It was a total meat purse. I am absolutely kicking myself for not taking a picture of it, because it was so utterly weird and unbelievable, but I was a little too freaked out at the time to think clearly. I grabbed it and started dissecting it with my fingers. It had this meaty sort of tough core, and flecks of blood in it. I'm pretty sure it was just layers of dried up mucus that had piled up to form a stalagtite of sorts in my sinus, but Jesus Christ, it was odd. Odd and HUGE and more than a little bit creepy. I could instantly breathe clearly on that side after it came out. No shit, huh? I can't believe that was inside my head. No wonder I felt crappy. The other side was still kind of blocked, so I kept washing and washing it out with a few more Neti pots full of saline, but nothing else came out except a little more green goo. I still felt sick last night, but my throat was not as sore today, and I *think* my sinuses might be improving. I don't feel worse, and that's a good thing. So what I'm wondering is...if you have a giant freaky Snot Clot up in your sinuses like that, and you take antibiotics, that might kill the bacteria, but what happens to that creepy creature? Does it just break up and come out on its own? It just seems odd that a doctor wouldn't try to wash things out somehow and get the blockage out of your sinuses in the first place, if the blockage is what's causing the infection. Or is that what ENTs do? Maybe I never did get the Snot Clot cleared out after prior infections, and that's why, after NEVER having had a sinus infection in my life despite hayfever, colds, flu and even about of double pneumonia, I have suddenly started getting them in the past two years after every little cold and flu, even mild ones. In that case, I'm freaking THRILLED to have gotten that monster out of my sinuses. I'm thrilled anyway, but even more so if it has possibly been the root of all the sinus evil I have had over the past two years. From the looks of it, this thing had been up there a long time. It practically had hair and teeth. We'll see how things go...my fingers are crossed for improved health and LOTS more sleep for everyone. June 05, 200848 MPG? Ooooo, you sexy beast!Guys who drive fuel-efficient cars are hot, and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. Put away your books, kids, it's time for a pop quiz. When you picture the kind of car a high school boy might call a "real pussy wagon," what do you see? A. A vintage Mustang convertible Well, regardless of what your little brother thinks, ladies love that hot, hot gas mileage. A new study conducted by General Motors has found that 88 percent of women would rather meet a guy with a fuel-efficient vehicle than a dude with a sports car. Besides being great news for Larry David, the report confirms something women have known all along -- namely, that men care a whole hell of a lot more about expensive, gas-guzzling cars that accelerate from zero to 60 in half a nanosecond than their potential mates ever could. (Reminds you a little bit of the whole "Does size matter debate," doesn't it?) I know I'm not the only girl out there who sees a guy in a Hummer and wonders what he's compensating for. Conventional wisdom holds that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mother, so why should Mother Earth be any exception? In the comments for the article linked above, several guys wrote in that no woman in her right mind would choose a guy driving a Prius over a guy driving a Ferrari. Well first of all, I have NEVER seen a man driving an expensive sports car (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, and the like) who wasn't at LEAST 65 years old. I check out the drivers of those cars every single time I see one, just to try to prove my theory wrong, but so far, not once. They are solely driven by old guys sporting a spare tire, as far as I can tell. Same with any guy driving a Corvette. They seem to all be old men who always wanted a Corvette, but couldn't afford it until they were ancient enough to look ridiculous driving one. So given the choice between a slightly geeky young Prius driver and a fattish old guy squashed into a tiny sports car that he spent WAY too much money on, I'll take the geeky guy with good MPG, thanks very much. Any day. I like Aston Martins and old classic Jaguars, but rarely see anyone driving one. Full disclosure...my husband drives a Honda Civic Hybrid. Sorry ladies, he's taken. May 14, 2008Rip him to shreds OK?In which Keith flays Bush alive for his latest unbelievable stupidities, including saying that he has given up GOLF to show his support for the families of soldiers killed in Iraq. Nice work, Keith. BTW, I posted before about supporting Hillary Clinton (once John Edwards was out of the race, that is), but now I'm pretty firmly in Obama's camp. Hillary has been pissing me off with all this ridiculous gas-tax-holiday bullshit pandering, and her hawkish "if Iran touches Israel I'll blow it off the map"....is that really helping anything, Hill? Because you know, we've been trying that approach for a while now, and it hasn't really been working so well. Not to mention all the innocent Iranian civilians who are already living under a shitty insane government and who would now be well, blown off the map. Not so cool. If that's the way it worked, then the US would deserve to be wiped off the map as well, considering all the political, social and environmental destruction our president has caused. We don't deserve that, and Iranians don't either. April 27, 2008More Flight of the Conchords hilarityJemaine and Bret are so funny, and so musically talented. Dan and I have been watching the first season of their HBO show on DVD (thanks Netflix!) and cracking up almost constantly. I just bought the CD, too, which is just songs from the show, but only *some* songs, not all. I think this is the very first time we've seen an HBO show that is still on the air, by the way. We're just getting around to putting "The Wire" on our Netflix queue, now that it has been on for five seasons and just ended a few months ago. Sigh. Anyway, apart from Business Time, which is still laugh out loud funny every time I watch it, these three are my favorites so far. Be sure to turn up the volume so you can catch all the clever lyrics. IF YOU'RE INTO IT FOR ALL THE LADIES IN THE WORLD BRET, YOU'VE GOT IT GOING ON Jemaine is so sexy. I love his "ogre that works in a library" look, and that smooooooooth deep voice. Yeah baby!
April 01, 2008Life Before DeathWow. These photos were taken of people before and after their death. Be sure to read the text. Very powerful. Apparently there is one of a 17 month old baby that is in the actual exhibit. I'm glad they didn't include that one online, I don't think I could have handled it. So sad for the people who had miserable, joyless lives that were then cut short. The woman who waited her whole life for retirement and then got cancer! Ugh. Carpe diem, indeed. But the old woman in the last photo who spoke about becoming "one of the million, billion grains of sand in the desert"....that was nice. I suppose I think that way too. Not that I'm not terrified of death. But I'm not so terrified for *me* at this point. I've done a lot of things and lived a joyous, full life so far. I'm terrified however, at the idea of leaving behind two small and very needy children. If no one is depending on you, then I think death becomes a different thing entirely. March 24, 2008More gifts from the InternetOh Internet...I love you so much. Now will you leave me alone and stop distracting me so that I can get some work done? February 15, 2008Happy Valentine's Day, you ass
February 08, 2008PolitanI heard this song on "A Prairie Home Companion" last week and was hypnotized by it. Such a pretty tune, such a lovely voice, and such haunting lyrics. She sang it slower on the show, which I think was better, but hey, it's still pretty great. Do you like it too? Take a listen... Oh, at the end...the voice of the island? If it sounds familiar, that's because it's the voice of the guy from Schoolhouse Rock, who did innumerable voices for that wonderful series. "I'm Just a Bill" ring any bells? This palace can be yours...Lookee here, you can buy this veritable palace in Detroit for LESS THAN THE AVERAGE HOME PRICE here in Santa Clara County. It's pretty sweet. Too bad it's in Detroit, but then again, would you ever need to leave home, when home is that fancy? Plus, it looks like it's out in the burbs, not in the urban center or anything. I love the sun porch. Nice paintings on the ceiling. You can see it better here.
February 06, 2008I just burst out laughing so hard I almost woke up the kidsOK, Dooce has been bugging of late. It seems like she just writes about her dog and her stylish knick-knacks. But then she comes out with a gem like this that cracks me up to no end: January 08, 2008Post SecretI just found out about PostSecret.com a few weeks ago. So addictive, and so strange. Some secrets are funny and light-hearted, some are horrifying, some are sad and heartbreaking. I wish they showed more secrets on the website, but I understand that the guy's got to sell books and all, and can't show them all for free. Ah well. There are video secrets on the website too. This one is pretty trippy: November 28, 2007Oh Marie!I swear, I don't read nearly as much trashy news as I used to, what with two kids and all. But I saw some little excerpt online recently about Marie Osmond getting divorced for the second time recently, and also that she has EIGHT KIDS. OK, 5 of them are adopted, but still. That's EIGHT KIDS. Jesus Christ. TWO are kicking my ass currently, so I can't even comprehend eight. Apparently she had crippling PPD after her third child was born (making seven kids total by that point). Drama! The tasty news tidbits keep coming. She was apparently just on "Dancing With the Stars" and did some doll routine that was universally panned. I watched it on YouTube, and yeah...it sucks hard. And they did that crap to a Rolling Stones song too. Barf. Then it turns out that she is this big doll designer who sells a zillions dolls a year on QVC. Personally, I don't like dolls. I find 99% of them creepy. But these? These are WAY creepy. In a hysterical kind of creepiness. Here is the (I'm not kidding)....Baron Von Beetle Bitty Beauty Bug Porcelain Doll Yeah. That green bow tie IS lame. Even better, she sells a line of dolls that are dressed as clowns. Not only dressed as clowns, but sitting in muffin cups. Here's the Lemon Poppyseed Rag-a-muffin Doll Did I mention that I hate clowns *much* more than I hate dolls? I think a doll dressed as a clown is pretty much the worst thing imaginable. The muffin cup thing, I just plain don't get. Not only is that weird and ugly, but according to one reviewer, "I would have given this a 5 star rating, but the muffin cup is poorly made and cracks easily. They should redesign the cups and perhaps use silicone instead." Wow. Oops, here's another complaint of a cracked muffin cup. Bummer, I was going to use that in my Easy-Bake oven. November 13, 2007I love you, Porgy
This video is something else, especially the second half where the camera moves in a little. I love you, Porgy If you can keep me, I love you, Porgy If you can keep me, Someday I know he's coming It's going to be like dying, Porgy I love you, Porgy If you can keep me, September 14, 2007Get Smooved
April 20, 2007The 100 Unsexiest Men of 2007
Oh man, this kept me chuckling for a good 30 minutes this morning. I really should have been getting dressed, washing my face, etc. while Adrian was napping in his swing, but instead I was glued to this: I love the titles they assign. Bill O'Reilly is simply "Worst Person in the World". Heehee. And don't forget to check out selected video clips from this year's picks. John Basedow's excerpt is fairly chilling, is he serious? April 06, 2007Peeps for Passover
Hysterical series of photos using Marshmallow Peeps to illustrate the plagues listed in the Passover story. January 05, 2007PerspectiveThis article helped put things in perspective for me today: While I was reading, I discovered why I'm a crappy runner too: And I finally found a really good search engine for compact fluorescent bulbs, so I can figure out what to replace our current energy-hog bulbs with that will still give comparable light, be the right size and shape, and not give off a nasty greenish glow. Our energy bill was ridiculous this month, gotta do something about it. Thanks Environmental Defense! October 01, 2006Jesus' image found in dog's butt!From Bits and Pieces
September 14, 2006Hateful Things by Sei Shonagon"Hateful Things" is an excerpt from Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. She was a tremendously witty lady of the court in 10th century Japan who kept a private diary of various lists and commentaries, and this is one of them. It's still mostly dead-on accurate, over a thousand years later, and it always cheers me up when I'm having a most hateful day. One is in a hurry to leave, but one's visitor keeps chattering away. If it is someone of no importance, one can get rid of him by saying, "You must tell me all about it next time"; but, should it be the sort of visitor whose presence commands one's best behavior, the situation is hateful indeed. One finds that a hair has got caught in the stone on which one is rubbing one's inkstick, or again that gravel is lodged in the inkstick, making a nasty, grating sound. Someone has suddenly fallen ill and one summons the exorcist. Since he is not at home, one has to send messengers to look for him. After one has had a long, fretful wait, the exorcist finally arrives, and with a sigh of relief one asks him to start his incantations. But perhaps he has been excorcizing too many evil spirits lately, for hardly has he installed himself and begun praying when his voice becomes drowsy. Oh, how hateful! A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him discusses all sorts of subjects at random as though he knew everything. An elderly person warms the palms of his hands over a brazier and stretches out the wrinkles. No young man would dream of behaving in such a fashion; old people can really be quite shameless. I have seen some dreary old creatures actually resting their feet on the brazier and rubbing them against the edge while they speak. These are the kind of people who in visiting someone's house first use their fans to wipe away the dust from the mat and, when they finally sit on it, cannot stay still but are forever spreading out the front of their hunting costume or even tucking it up under their knees. One might suppose that such behavior was restricted to people of humble station, but I have observed it in quite well-bred people, including a Senior Secretary of the Fifth Rank in the Ministry of Ceremonial and a former Governor of Suruga. I hate the sight of men in their cups who shout, poke their fingers in their mouths, stroke their beards, and pass on the wine to their neighbors with cries of "Have some more! Drink up!" They tremble, shake their heads, twist their faces, and gesticulate like children who are singing, "We're off to see the governor!" I have seen really well-bred people behave like this and I find it most distasteful. To envy others and complain about one's own lot; to speak badly about people; to be inquisitive about the most trivial matters and to resent and abuse people for not telling one, or, if one does manage to worm out some facts, to inform everyone in the most detailed fashion as if one had known all from the beginning -- oh, how hateful! One is just about to be told some interesting piece of news when a baby starts crying. A flight of crows circle over with loud caws. An admirer has come on a clandestine visit, but a dog catches sight of him and starts barking. One feels like killing the beast. One has been foolish enough to invite a man to spend the night in an unsuitable place -- and then he starts snoring. A gentleman has visited one secretly. Though he is wearing a tall, lacquered hat, he nevertheless wants no one to see him. He is so flurried, in fact, that on leaving he bangs into something with his hat. Most hateful! It is annoying too when he lifts up the Iyo blind that hangs at the entrance of the room, then lets it fall with a great rattle. If it is a head-blind, things are still worse, for being more solid it makes a terrible noise when it is dropped. There is no excuse for such carelessness. Even a head-blind does not make any noise if one lifts it up gently when entering and leaving the room; the same applies to sliding-doors. If one's movements are rough, even a paper door will bend and resonate when opened; but, if one lifts the door a little when pushing it, there need be no sound. One has gone to bed and is about to doze off when a mosquito appears, announcing himself in a reedy voice. One can actually feel the wind made by his wings, and, slight though it is, one finds it hateful in the extreme. A carriage passes by with a nasty, creaking noise. Annoying to think that the passengers may not even be aware of this! If I am traveling in someone's carriage and I hear it creaking, I dislike not only the noise but the owner of the carriage. One is in the middle of a story when someone butts in and tries to show that he is the only clever person in the room. Such a person is hateful, and so, indeed, is anyone, child or adult, who tries to push himself forward. One is telling a story about old times when someone breaks in with a little detail that he happens to know, implying that one's own version is inaccurate -- disgusting behavior! Very hateful is a mouse that scurries all over the place. Some children have called at one's house. One makes a great fuss of them and gives them toys to play with. The children become accustomed to this treatment and start to come regularly, forcing their way into one's inner rooms and scattering one's furnishings and possessions. Hateful! A certain gentleman whom one does not wish to see visits one at home or in the Palace, and one pretends to be asleep. But a maid comes to tell one and shakes one awake, with a look on her face that says, "What a sleepyhead!" Very hateful. A newcomer pushes ahead of the other members in a group; with a knowing look, this person starts laying down the law and forcing advice upon everyone -- most hateful. A man with whom one is having an affair keeps singing the praises of some woman he used to know. Even if it is a thing of the past, this can be very annoying. How much more so if he is still seeing the woman! (Yet sometimes I find it is not as unpleasant as all that.) A person who recites a spell himself after sneezing. In fact I detest anyone who sneezes, except the master of the house. Fleas too, are very hateful. When they dance about under someone's clothes, they really seem to be lifting them up. The sound of dogs when they bark for a long time in chorus is ominous and hateful. I cannot stand people who leave without closing the panel behind them. I hate people whose letters show that they lack respect for worldly civilities, whether by discourtesy in the phrasing or by extreme politeness to someone who does not deserve it. This sort of thing is, of course, most odious if the letter is for oneself, but it is bad enough even if it is addressed to someone else. As a matter of fact, most people are too casual, not only in their letters but in their direct conversation. Sometimes I am quite disgusted at noting how little decorum people observe when talking to each other. Sometimes a person who is utterly devoid of charm will try to create a good impression by using very elegant language; yet he succeeds only in being ridiculous. No doubt he beleives this refined language to be just what the occasion demands, but, when it goes so far that everyone bursts out laughing, surely something must be wrong. A man who has nothing in particular to recommend him, but who speaks in an affected tone and poses as being elegant. An inkstone with such a hard, smooth surface that the stick glides over it without leaving any deposit of ink. Ladies-in-waiting who want to know everything that is going on. Sometimes one greatly dislikes a person for no particular reason --- and then that person goes and does something hateful. A gentleman who travels alone in his carriage to see a procession or some other spectacle. What sort of man is he? Even though he may not be a person of the greatest quality, surely he should have taken along a few of the many young men who are anxious to see the sights. But no, there he sits by himself (one can see his silhouette through the blinds) with a proud look on his face, keeping all his impressions to himself. A lover who is leaving at dawn announces that he has to find his fan and his paper. "I know I put them somewhere last night," he says. Since it is pitch-dark, he gropes about the room, bumping into the furniture and muttering, "Strange! Where can they be?" Finally he discovers the objects. He thrusts the paper into the breast of his robe with a great rustling sound; then he snaps open his fan and busily fans away with it. Only now is he ready to take his leave. What charmless behavior! "Hateful" is an understatement. Equally disagreeable is the man who, when leaving in the middle of the night, takes care to fasten the cord of his headdress. This is quite unnecessary; he could perfectly well put it gently on his head without tying the cord. And why must he spend time adjusting his cloak or hunting costume? Does he really think that someone may see him at this time of night and criticize him for not being impeccably dressed? A good lover will behave as elegantly at dawn as at any other time. He drags himself out of bed with a look of dismay on his face. The lady urges him on: "Come, my friend, it's getting light. You don't want anyone to find you here." He gives a deep sigh, as if to say that the night has not been nearly long enough and that it is agony to leave. Once up, he does not instantly pull on his trousers. Instead, he comes close to the lady and whispers whatever was left unsaid during the night. Even when he is dressed, he still lingers, vaguely pretending to be fastening his sash. Presently he raises the lattice, and the two lovers stand together by the side door while he tells her how he dreads the coming day, which will keep them apart; then he slips away. The lady watches him go, and this moment of parting will remain among her most charming memories. Indeed, one's attachment to a man depends largely onthe elegance of his leave-taking. When he jumps out of bed, scurries about the room, tightly fastens his trouser-sash, rolls up the sleeves of his Court cloak, over-robe, or hunting costume, stuffs his belongings into the breast of his robe and then briskly secures the outer sash -- one really begins to hate him. And two excerpts from another list: Things that are at odds with Nature A letter that comes back unopened that one has taken great care to write in the most beautiful of script. One waits and waits for an answer, and then when it is much, much too overdue and one is waiting impatiently, the thing comes back (doesn’t matter whether it is a folded personal letter or a more formal letter with an outer wrapping), all soiled, rumpled up (even the signature on the wrapping has been smudged out). Then one is told the intended recipient was either not home, or unable to receive your letter because of some sort of superstitious taboo. This is the worst disappointment imaginable. Depressing isn’t the word for it! Or again, when one sends a carriage out to fetch someone over to your house for a visit, and then the carriage returns and one is delighted and sends someone out to greet the visitor, only to see the carriage being drawn away toward the garage, and one hears the sound of the harness being plopped on the ground. And when one asks what has happened, one is informed that the person in question was not at home, and so, of course, was unable to come over. I am depressed when I see the ox being led away. A wetnurse leaves her job with a new baby, saying she will be gone just a short time. Then when the situation becomes desperate and an attempt is made to get her back in a hurry, she replies only that she cannot make it back that evening. As though she didn’t think that would make a person go mad! Insulting and depressing isn’t the word for it! Speaking of waiting—say one is waiting for a gentleman to arrive, and it has grown somewhat late when suddenly one hears a knock at the gate and one’s heart begins to race and one sends a servant out to see him in. And then one hears a totally different voice announcing himself, someone furthermost from one’s mind. Oh, the utter disappointment of that is not to be matched! Wearing summer white clothes into autumn. Unbearable. What can I say about a wetnurse who has run out of breastmilk? September 11, 2006Sweet news for a happily married 36yo mom with 2 kids 3 years apartFrom http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060911/hl_nm/women_dc_1 Women's family choices have impact on later health REUTERS Not having children, having too many, or too young or not spaced far enough apart could be detrimental to a woman's health later in life, researchers said on Tuesday. And although women have a harder time conceiving after 40, those who do seem to have fewer medical problems as they age. "We have shown that partnership and parenting histories are important influences on later life health and, in many cases, are as influential as the effects of a person's socio-economic status," said Professor Emily Grundy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In research funded by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Grundy and her team used three separate sets of data from Britain and the United States on women born in 1911 and later to assess the impact of having children on their risk of death and poor health. "We got consistent results using these three data sets," Grundy said in an interview. Poorer health in later life was associated with teenage births, big families of five or more children and closely spaced pregnancies of less than 18 months apart. But older mothers experienced better health in their later years, according to the research. "Probably people don't decide to have children at that age unless they feel fit and healthy enough to be confident of being able to look after them," she said. Short birth intervals had negative health impacts on both mothers and fathers, which research suggests may be due to the physiological and psychosocial stresses of having children very close in age. "That finding is particularly interesting because to our knowledge, it's the first time that later health consequences of birth intervals have been investigated in a developed country population," said Grundy. The research also shows stable relationships contribute to long-term help in both sexes, although women many not always realize it. When women were asked to assess their health, married women reported poorer health than single women. But Grundy said mortality rates are higher for unmarried women. "Overall, these findings clearly have important implications for projections of the health status of the older population as well as contributing to our understanding of life course influences on health," she added. September 01, 2006I'm huge, huge in the Arab world... no idea why.Today's money quote from an article in Salon on how Western hip-hop and rap are having a big influence on liberalizing Islamist societies. Dubious claim, but the article has some gems... And who is the most popular singer in Iraq? "That's easy," said ABC Baghdad correspondent John Berman in a "Nightline" segment. "Lionel Richie." "Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. 'I love Lionel Richie,' they say. Iraqis who do not understand a word of English can sing an entire Lionel Richie song." Asked to explain this phenomenon, Richie, who has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar, and Libya, could not: "The answer is, I'm huge, huge in the Arab world. The answer as to why is, I don't have the slightest idea." Also in that article is a link to an entertaining video made by an Indonesian sinder/dancer named Inul, who is revolutionizing the art of booty-popping in that Muslim country, much to the dismay of clerics. August 27, 2006I'm so glad no one speaks English on this trainI was browsing through Overheard in New York today. People report funny snippets of conversation that they overhear in various places.There are some gems there, for sure. Like this one: Dear Diary, Reynolds Admitted He Loves Me Today! Well, Almost. Love it. And this one too: When Narcissists Converse and this, because I can relate to how she feels: What If I Get a Long Identifying Number on My Forearm? June 15, 2006Britney or Liza?Your trashy pleasure of the day:
Ye gods! This is Britney Spears (being interviewed by Matt Lauer), but I swear it's really Liza Minnelli, don't you think? April 14, 2006Exclamation Point! Exclamation Point!Hysterical Dooce blog today about hate mail she has received. Excellent laugh-out-loud reading. Makes me glad that I have a readership of about five people, plus the random search engine people who came looking for photos of freeballing. April 10, 2006My beef with Paul TherouxI have been reading Paul Theroux lately. He's a very prolific writer, probably most famous for his travel writing, and for writing "The Mosquito Coast", which was later made into a movie with Harrison Ford. I read "The Happy Isles of Oceania", which was wonderful. PT travels to 51 islands in the South Pacific, starting in Australia and making his way to Hawaii. He takes along a collapsible kayak and camping equipment, and travels as much of the way as he can under his own power. He stays in a lot of remote villages, but really he goes everywhere and comments on what he sees along the way. Sometimes things are rough, and he gets crabby and acerbic about trash on beaches and polluted lagoons and fast-food loving islanders living on the dole, but it's all very entertaining and thought-provoking. Now I'm reading "The Pillars of Hercules", which is about his trip around the Mediterranean. He starts at Gibraltar and, over the course of 18 months, he travels all the way around Spain, France, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, North Africa, and finally ends up in Ceuta, which is a rock of an island very close to Gibraltar, at the mouth of the Mediterranean where it meets the Atlantic. (Gibraltar and Ceuta are the two "Pillars of Hercules") I literally couldn't put either of these books down. He's a really great writer, plus it's a trip that's interesting. You want to see what's around the next corner, what happens next. My big beef with him is not a direct beef. It's just that *I* could never make the kinds of solo voyages and explorations that he does, because he's a man, and I'm a woman. He travels all over, and asks people all kinds of questions about their culture, politics, everything. In a lot of the more traditional places you don't even *see* the women out and about. He meets several women traveling alone who are being harassed by locals, soldiers, police, etc., and he has to step in and speak up for them to drive the a-holes away. I didn't know anything about the guy, except that I had heard his name fairly often ("the travel writer Paul Theroux") and he was on my list of authors to read. Today I Googled him to get some biography, and I found an interview with him where he says this:
So I also have a slight beef with him personally, because he scoffs at women who get sick of being at home with the kids, but then again, he can just pack up and take off for months at a time whenever he likes! NOT exactly the situation of the typical mother. It's his job, OK, but STILL. Who is taking care of the kids while he's gone? If I were taking off on solo trips on a regular basis, I'm sure I'd be a lot more patient too. Not that I want to go on solo trips right now, but you know what I mean. Anything is easy if you *choose* to do it and can take off whenever you want to. I think his memories are based on his sons as *older* children too, not as fussy toddlers. It's a minor beef, but I had to bring it up. I did love this part though: 'Can you be happier than when you're with your children and a bunch of people, you've had a couple of drinks and you're playing Squeak, Piggy Squeak?' Because really, it's so true. There is nothing more fun than playing with your child when everyone's relaxed and happy and there are friends around. I've never been to a hip party that was more fun than a good backyard BBQ can be with good food, good wine, good friends, and kids running around having a blast. Dan and I have a grand old time playing with Julian before dinner, eating cheese and quaffing a nice glass of wine, tickling, kicking the ball, laughing, wrestling. Bugs always has to jump in and provide some comedy too. Domestic life with kids is a drag sometimes, but when it's good it's the happiest, most pleasurable experience there is. I can't wait for the word games. And I definitely need to find out more about this Squeak, Piggy Squeak! March 25, 2006Wake up and smell the freaking holy war, breeders!I'm still laughing (in a funny-because-it's-true-oh-shit-we're-doomed kind of way) at Dan Savage's post-advice-column addendum in the Village Voice: Straight Rights Update Will it take a righteous gay man to wake up straight America to what is at stake here? February 22, 2006Nutrasweet turns out to be bad for you after allWell, after hearing for years that aspartame is fine and doesn't cause health problems and breaks down into simple amino acids...it turns out that it's a potential carcinogen after all. New York Times: The Lowdown on Sweet? I operate under the theory that you should eat food that is as simple and unprocessed as possible. People have been eating eggs and dairy and coconut oil and so on so on for tens of thousands of years. There's no mystery there about those foods. Hydrogenated fats and oils are chemically new, as are most other food additives. Artificial sweeteners too. Modern additives just haven't been around long enough to know what effect they will have, and what we DO know about them isn't *ever* good news. Even the supposedly safe products usually turn out to have some dangerous effect later down the road. Like Teflon, for example. And margarine, and now Nutrasweet. So I stick with organic eggs and milk and meat and veggies, and try to fuss with them as little as possible when cooking them. I do prefer Sweet-n-Low in my iced tea when I'm a restaurant, because sugar doesn't dissolve fast enough. But yeah, I should really skip it and deal with stirring a minute longer. Oh, the effort! ;-) Anyway, if you stick to unprocessed foods as much as possible, you can't go wrong. Rther than worry about keeping up on the latest research on this and that product, just try to eat foods that humans have already been eating for a long, long time. You can't really go wrong. It's the easiest and safest way to go. January 22, 2006Happy Birthday Dolly
Happy birthday, Dolly. January 15, 2006Happier than a Pig in PoopNotable Quote of the Day: My grandma got a bunch pigs running around on her backyard. I totally remember that, cause I even rode a pig one time to practice my horse-riding. Pigs are really useful, they are my grandma’s best friends. We had no toilet paper, so we had to use the tree leaves or dye mud cube to wipe the ass. Sometime, when we’re really bored, I mean if no leaves, or mud, we just let the pig lick instead, that way, we saved the natural resource and did something good for the universe, also a good favor for the pigs. We got our ass wiped and they got what they want, mutual benefit indeed. I was not so sure the situation here, so when I moved to the US, I brought two luggage of Toilet papers. Well, I was about to bring a pig with me, but he is afraid of height, so I had to leave him at home. I am sure you guys have pigs, but American pigs are probably more aggressive. So fuck it. Unfortunately I never got a chance to use the cheap toilet papers I brought from China, instead, I fall in love with a Super Star. Whoa Niki! Do we really need to know that you and your family lets PIGS lick the poop off you asses back home? On second thought, it's no more embarrassing than admitting publicly that you love Tom Cruise and want to have ten babies with him. Yeccchhhh. January 10, 2006Beach Babies
It's written by a woman who raised two children on a black pearl farm on a tiny remote atoll in French Polynesia for five years. After attempting both disposable diapers and cloth diapers, and finding neither workable in a place with little fresh water and burning as the only method of trash removal, she turns to...you guessed it: letting the kids run around bare-bottomed, just like the native babies do. Hey Angela...does this story remind you of anything? ;-) Lots of other good escapist travel reading on that site, perfect for short winter days stuck in the house... January 02, 2006Why I'm Happy I Evolved
London IF chimpanzees observed New Year's Day, they would have much to reflect on. In 2005, they joined humans, chickens and mosquitoes, as well as less famous occupants of the planet, on an exclusive but growing list: organisms whose complete genomes have been sequenced. What would they make of this news, I wonder? Perhaps they would resent the genetic evidence that they are related to us. Or perhaps they would, as I do, revel in being part of the immensity of nature and a product of evolution, the same process that gave rise to dinosaurs, bread molds and myriad organisms too wacky to invent. Organisms like the sea slug Elysia chlorotica. This animal not only looks like a leaf, but it also acts like one, making energy from the sun. Its secret? When it eats algae, it extracts the chloroplasts, the tiny entities that plants and algae use to manufacture energy from sunlight, and shunts them into special cells beneath its skin. The chloroplasts continue to function; the slug thus becomes able to live on a diet composed only of sunbeams. Still more fabulous is the bacterium Brocadia anammoxidans. It blithely makes a substance that to most organisms is a lethal poison - namely, hydrazine. That's rocket fuel. And then there's the wasp Coesia congregata. She injects her eggs into the bodies of caterpillars. As she does so, she also injects a virus that disables the caterpillar's immune system and prevents it from attacking the eggs. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the caterpillar alive. It's hard not to have an insatiable interest in organisms like these, to be enthralled by the strangeness, the complexity, the breathtaking variety of nature. Just think: the Indus River dolphin doesn't sleep as you or I do, or indeed as most mammals, for several hours at once. Instead, it takes microsleeps, naps that last for a few seconds, like a driver dozing at the wheel. Or consider this: a few days after its conception, a pig embryo has become a filament that is about a yard long. Or: the single-celled parasite that causes malaria is descended from algae. We know this because it carries within itself the remnants of a chloroplast. It's not that I have a fetish for obscure facts. It's that small facts add up to big pictures. For although Mother Nature's infinite variety seems incomprehensible at first, it is not. The forces of nature are not random; often, they are strongly predictable. For example, if you were to discover a new species and you told me that the male is much bigger than the female, I would tell you what the mating system is likely to be: males fight each other for access to females. Or if you discover that the male's testicles make up a large part of his weight, I can tell you that the females in his species consort with several males at a time. Suppose you find that a particular bacterium lives exclusively in the gullets of leeches and helps them digest blood. Then I can tell you how that bacterium's genome is likely to differ from those of its free-living cousins; among other changes, the genome will be smaller, and it will have lost sets of genes that are helpful for living free but useless for living inside another being. Because a cell is a kind of factory that produces proteins, and because proteins can have a variety of components, some of which are cheaper to synthesize than others, you might expect that proteins that are mass produced are made from cheaper components than proteins that are constructed only occasionally. And you'd be right. The patterns are everywhere. Mammals that feed on ants and termites have typically evolved long, thin noses and long, sticky tongues. A virus that is generally passed from mother to child will tend to make its host less sick than one that readily jumps from one host to another via a cough or a sneeze. When I was in school, I learned none of this. Biology was a subject that seemed as exciting as a clump of cotton wool. It was a dreary exercise in the memorization and regurgitation of apparently unconnected facts. Only later did I learn about evolution and how it transforms biology from that mass of cotton wool into a magnificent tapestry, a tapestry we can contemplate and begin to understand. Some people want to think of humans as the product of a special creation, separate from other living things. I am not among them; I am glad it is not so. I am proud to be part of the riot of nature, to know that the same forces that produced me also produced bees, giant ferns and microbes that live at the bottom of the sea. For me, the knowledge that we evolved is a source of solace and hope. I find it a relief that plagues and cancers and wasp larvae that eat caterpillars alive are the result of the impartial - and comprehensible - forces of evolution rather than the caprices of a deity. More than that, I find that in viewing ourselves as one species out of hundreds of millions, we become more remarkable, not less so. No other animal that I have heard of can live so peaceably in such close quarters with so many individuals that are unrelated. No other animal routinely bothers to help the sick and the dying, or tries to save those hurt in an earthquake or flood. Which is not to say that we are all we might wish to be. But in putting ourselves into our place in nature, in comparing ourselves with other species, we have a real hope of reaching a better understanding, and appreciation, of ourselves. Olivia Judson is an evolutionary biologist at Imperial College in London. October 24, 2005Broadsheet
But it's not just fun and weird stories. Broadsheet also covers the feminist stories that don't get much play in the rest of the media, like the horrible situation for women in the Sudan, where gang rape is a daily risk that women run just to get food for their families. All I know is, I'm hooked. October 05, 2005Kate Moss coke video
September 09, 2005The "blame game"
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