unbound @ seema.org

Sunday, June 29, 2008

 
LotD

I still haven't received my stimulus payment, which is insult added to injury, since I didn't get a refund (wah!) either. But I was amused at how people are spending their stimulus payments. Mine, which I haven't received, has already been spent on a new starter and battery for my car, and the leftover went to an oil change and my recent excursion to Calgary. I don't think this is what W had in mind.

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| 10:23 AM |

Saturday, June 21, 2008

 
Tacky LotD?

Is it just me or is this article about wedding registries super tacky? To wit: For some reason (or lack of reasoning), many brides think they need a place setting, glassware, and appliances from several different shops. And when they receive the gifts and know they won't use them, they feel guilty for returning them. The fact of the matter is that you can't keep every gift, and you're really not expected to. Don't feel bad about making returns. Everyone does it. How about this -- don't register for stuff you don't need so your guests don't waste their time buying something you won't use?

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| 3:15 PM |

Friday, June 20, 2008

 
More Oil & Gas stuff

I read this article last week in Calgary called "The Cost of the Next Barrel of Oil." The article is now only pay-per-view and/or available through google cache, but the really interesting part of the article is here. It talks about where oil companies are going to look for the next barrel, the issues, struggles, successes, and results of it, and some of the trends going on. Example:

"Cost of technology in the Gulf of Mexico: The added depth adds to the cost. While it costs around $1-million (U.S.) a day to hire a rig to explore in shallow water, Chevron is spending about $1.6-million a day for a deep-water drill ship to work on its Tahiti prospect; it costs around $200-million to drill a single well in the area. Analysts estimate that to produce a barrel of crude from the ultradeep area would cost above $50 a barrel."

It's definitely worth a read, but click fast -- who knows when it will turn into pay-per-view only.

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| 8:19 PM |

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

 
Shattered illusion

It just occurred to me -- that title sounds a whole lot like a Lifetime movie coming to a television screen near you, probably starring Tori Spelling and Melissa Gilbert and maybe even Melissa Joan Hart as a bonus. That being said, this isn't a post about a Lifetime movie or even about any of those actresses. Instead, it's about David Copperfield and how he flies* -- see film complete with cartoon re-enactment below. The actual video of him flying, which is completely shmoopy and Lifetime-esque, is here. I've got nothin' when it comes to the mullet. Like I said, shattered illusion.


Find more Magic Tricks videos


* I cannot possibly allow the very obvious grammatical error in the video title to invade my blog

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| 8:38 PM |

Thursday, June 05, 2008

 
Hooray!

The latest "high gasoline price" spin has been the drop in truck and SUV sales. I'm happy to hear this. No one needs a Hummer to go grocery shopping. And no, I don't feel sympathy because people are paying $100+ to fill up those things because low gas prices are what encouraged people to shift to the suburbs and buy gas guzzlers, thus increasing our consumption rate here in the US. So that's the upside of high gas prices -- people are shifting their behaviors and thinking about conserving and to an extent, environmentalism. Problem is, we've been there done, that before, and succeeded in bringing prices so low that people forgot about being held hostage to OPEC. Let's hope that doesn't happen again.

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| 8:34 PM |

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

 
LotD

Interesting post on renting versus buying: Why We Rent. I came across the link at The Simple Dollar which is a "frugal" blog I check in with now and then. The NY Times also has another buy versus rent story today:
As Home Prices Drop Low Enough, a Committed Renter Decides to Buy. I just find it interesting that after years of advocating home ownership as the Bestest Investment Ever, people are actually saying, "Hey, wait a minute..." I shall feel vindicated when I write my landlord a check on June 1.

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| 9:56 PM |

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

 
LotD II

Yikes!

An Oracle of Oil Predicts $200-a-Barrel Crude

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| 10:03 PM |

LotD

File under "Yet another reason not to fly American":

American charging $15 to check first bag.

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| 9:41 PM |

Friday, May 09, 2008

 
Color me unsurprised

The Duggars are going to be twenty strong soon as baby number 18 is on the way. I saw the announcement on the Today show this morning, and honestly, I could have predicted it. They teased the "big announcement" for the first hour and it was too much to hope that the Duggars had decided to start their own football team or joined the Peace Corps or opened a swimsuit store. What is astonishing is that the pregnancy is only six weeks along. I know the Duggars are old pros at this, but announcing a pregnancy at six weeks on national television? I dunno about that. But as a friend commented, it shouldn't be that surprising; babies, lots of babies, are the Duggar family business.

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| 10:47 PM |

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

 
LotD

Other women will appreciate this letter to Always, chastising them for the oh so lame and clearly misguided "Have a Happy Period" marketing campaign.

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| 7:33 PM |

Sunday, April 06, 2008

 
LotD

Mochi ice-cream -- I love this stuff. The sticky chewy outer shell and the yummy cool and rich ice-cream inside. I've only had it a couple of times and today I was elated to discover a nearby restaurant (walking distance!) has it on their menu. So far I've tried green tea, red bean, strawberry, and Kona coffee. I've also had lychee ones. The mango flavor is the only one I haven't tried. The green tea is by far my favorite. These things are fairly expensive as ice-cream goes so I found a recipe online for a day when I'm feeling pretty ambitious.

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| 9:03 PM |

Saturday, March 29, 2008

 
LotD

Can you survive on $21 worth of food per week per person? The governor of Oregon decided to give it a go.

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| 8:56 PM |

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

 
Experiment

So I have to eat my words from yesterday as I decided to try traffic wave experiment aka "traffic jam reduction". I was convinced it wouldn't work in Sweat Sock City because honestly, whether it's a car or real estate, every free space in this city must be occupied; no two molecules of oxygen may flit and float without hindrance. I intentionally left about 15 seconds between my car and the car in front of me; my driver's ed teachers would be so proud. So I drove the speed limit, all the while maintaining the space. The space never really disappeared. It got smaller sometimes as I got closer to the traffic, but it never was less than 6 to 7 seconds in size. For the first time in months, I didn't need to apply my brakes at all on my commute home.

What fascinated me most was the fact this space was rarely taken advantage of by other drivers on the road. Even an 18-wheeler in the lane next to me didn't seem interested even though he could have easily fit. On the 25 miles to downtown, I saw maybe 5-6 cars take advantage of the open space and for the most part, they came from the lane on the right. It's as if the wide open space scared the other drivers; we're so used to being a culture where we try to jam as much as possible into a tight space that this concept of a 15-second space was foreign.

Of course this is all unscientific, based on one trial, and traffic for these past two weeks in Sweat Sock City has been light. I will continue to experiment and monitor. If this is indeed a true phenomena, then... WOW. Never (well, almost never) get stuck in traffic again.

LotD: Here's the article on the guy who got something like 150 miles to the gallon. King of the Hypermilers.

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| 9:31 PM |

Sunday, March 23, 2008

 
LotD

Weboggle. Totally addicting.

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| 11:09 AM |

Monday, March 17, 2008

 
Out of this world

I was reading my favorite vegan blog today -- Vegan Yum Yum -- mostly because I love looking at the pictures -- food Pr0n at its best -- and I stumbled on this recipe which I know the Trek-minded of you will be greatly amused by. In all seriousness though, this version of hasperat looks amazing and I can't wait to try it out. Now I'm curious as to how a vegan site will deal with gagh!

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| 8:02 PM |

Sunday, March 16, 2008

 
Back 2 Good

I saw Matchbox Twenty in concert not too long ago and I was thrilled to hear my favorite song live (g). And of course, I must share it with all of you :-).



One of these days, I'll get back to real blogging. It's just so hard these days after spending so much time on the computer at work to want to come home and log on. I solemnly swear to try and do better.

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| 10:27 PM |

Sunday, March 09, 2008

 
Gas prices

The US government has one of the best websites out there on energy issues and prices. Check out this link to learn what the price of a gallon of gas is composed of. It's pretty easy to read and understand. The bottom line is, if we see $70/barrel any time soon, I'll be surprised. It wasn't too long ago that I thought $50/barrel as the ceiling was crazy. Now I'm anticipating $110/barrel in the not-so-distance future. My concern is demand destruction if we see $105-$115 range for more than 6 months and the effect on the world economy. My suggestion? When you get your tax rebate, bank it or pay down debt. Don't spend it on things you don't need. The two things might not seem related to you, but the higher those prices go, the more likely it is our economy is going to slow down even more than it already has.

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| 10:45 AM |

Friday, February 08, 2008

 
LotD

You got a tattoo where?

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| 6:56 PM |

Monday, February 04, 2008

 
Post 2100

Nutty, nutty.

Brother has to pay for twin's traffic tickets.

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| 9:55 PM |

LotD the second

Thought you were going to be politics free this evening, didn't you? Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, and so I wanted to point all of y'all to Stanley Fish's All You Need Is Hate, an intriguing commentary on the Hillary!Hate.

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| 8:42 PM |

LotD

Hat tip to jemima.

12 Website FAQs We Suspect Aren't Asked That Frequently.

My favorite, courtesy of Aeroflot:

"Is it possible apropos of epidemic of the bird’s flu to transport shell parakeets by Aeroflot from Moscow to Kaliningrad? The parrots will be bought in Moscow. The reference for export is available; also, there is a sanction of the main veterinary of Kaliningrad. What documents are required else?"

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| 8:39 PM |

Thursday, January 31, 2008

 
LotD

Dumbest quiz answers

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| 11:06 PM |

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

 
LotD

Stupid security questions.

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| 8:43 PM |

Sunday, January 20, 2008

 
LotD


Explore Mont Kilimanjaro: On Africa’s Roof, Still Crowned With Snow

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| 8:34 AM |

Saturday, January 05, 2008

 
LotD

Here's a funny article from the NYTimes that I think a lot of you can identify with. I especially can because *I* was very recently sitting in the same seat and was asked to give up my aisle seat for a middle seat so a married couple could sit together. I'm a softie, so I did it, but grudgingly. But at least I had the SkyMall catalog to entertain me. That thing is AWESOME. All the crap you never knew you needed to solve problems you didn't know you had.

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| 4:37 PM |

Thursday, January 03, 2008

 
Musiclicious

I'm loading up my brand new iPod with music, mostly songs from my own CD collection. This is exciting because it means I can actually listen to more than 80 minutes of music at a time without having to change a CD. I still remember how exciting it was to discover the world of 90-minute cassette tapes and how revolutionary that seemed compared to the 60-minute tapes. It's amazing to me just how much more the iPod holds yet it's a fraction of the size of my Walkman. Apple says I should be able to get about 240 songs on the thing, and it can play for 12 hours straight. Plus, it's a shuffle, so it means I'll rarely ever know which song is coming up next. Sometimes knowing what song is coming next is awfully boring. Anyway, I'm excited. By tomorrow I should have about 70 songs on my iPod, and that's nearly 4 hours of enjoyment. Priceless.

Link: Interesting article on a goof in the WaPo re ripping owned CDs for use on computers etc

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| 6:33 PM |

It's all fun and games until...

Some election fun: Kung Fu! May the best candidate win (go Hillary!).

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| 6:31 PM |

Saturday, December 29, 2007

 
LotD II

Americans may know that the death penalty's not working. They just don't care enough to insist that something be done about it.

Link: Capital Opportunity

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| 5:50 PM |

Nostalgia

AOL shuts down Netscape. ::sniff:: My very first browser...

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| 8:57 AM |

Friday, December 28, 2007

 
Failed states

We (Lori, jemima, and yours truly) were discussing "failed democracies", ie Pakistan, and our conversation reminded me of this list of failed states that had been published in the year. There are few surprises in the first 30 or so, but things start to get more interesting as you move down the rankings. Pakistan is ranked 12th as a failed state (Sudan is number 1 and Iraq is second), while the United States is hovering at 160. Norway is the least failed state, ranked 177th. I was surprised to see Venezuela at 74 -- somehow, with Chavez's antics, I'd expected it to be lower on the list, rather than neighbors with Israel, at number 75. This list also shows how little of the world I know. The Solomon Islands (where?) is ranked in the top 30 (why?) as a failed state. Some of these other countries -- Central African Republican -- are a big blob of confusion to me. I would point out that most of the countries towards the bottom of the rankings were the colonizers and the failed states, for the most part, were colonized at some point in the last 50-60 years.

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| 12:51 PM |

Thursday, December 27, 2007

 
No words

Benazir Bhutto assasinated

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| 9:07 AM |

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

 
Money trail

I was looking at some Perry Homes, but will cross them off my list in light of this piece of information from the AP:

According to Federal Election Commission records, ClubForGrowth.net received $200,000 this month from Bob Perry, a Houston homebuilder who in 2004 pumped nearly $4.5 million into the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth to pay for unsubstantiated ads that questioned Kerry's Vietnam service.

Full story is here.
I definitely don't want any of my dollars going towards defeating Democrats, that's for sure!

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| 9:10 PM |

LotD

The Shakespearean Authorship Question

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| 11:09 AM |

Thursday, December 13, 2007

 
Post # 2066

New Jersey abolishes the death penalty. Hooray! Hopefully more states will follow NJ's lead.

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| 6:30 PM |

Sunday, December 02, 2007

 
Playtime!

What's your Traveler IQ? I got to level 7 and a score of 236,030 points. Ironically, I missed Venice by about 200 km, but got within 5 km of the Doge's Palace. In my second go around, I got to level 8 and 285,528 points. Those random island nations, most commonly populated by the cast of "Survivor" just kill me. Anyway, it's fun; certainly beats the chores I'm supposed to be doing!

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| 9:29 PM |

Sunday, November 18, 2007

 
LotD

I really like looking at the pictures on this website. The cupcakes are particularly mouth-watering, but so far, my only action has been drooling. Baking season is coming on us and I'm contemplating going the Kraft Food & Family route. It's more realistic for one pot cookers like yours truly. I especially recommend the chocolate mousse recipe; I substituted a really nice dark chocolate for the Toblerone, used low-fat whip cream, and garnished with raspberries per the pictures and it was scrumptious and done in the advertised 5 minutes.

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| 6:24 PM |

Saturday, November 17, 2007

 
You turn me 'round and 'round

Which way is she spinning?

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| 3:52 PM |

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

 
LotD

freerice.com/ -- donate rice and improve your vocab at the same time. I'm feeling a little fiesty about the challenge here. I warn you though -- it can be addictive.

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| 10:55 PM |

Sunday, November 04, 2007

 
Funny LotD

Hat tip to Lori for pointing me to this latest case of plagiarism. The comments are hilarious. The author in question (Lanaia? Mary? Jane?), whose agent is casting spells and lawsuits left and right, has a Yahoogroup over here. Funny, funny.

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| 7:03 PM |

Monday, October 01, 2007

 
Hooray for Alex!

I got a lovely postcard today from our intrepid hiker, Alex, who spent the month of September tackling Kilimanjaro, which is completely awesome. She's gotten closer to the top of the world than anyone else I know and it's a super-human effort. Congrats, Alex -- 17,000 feet is an amazing feat worthy of many margaritas and poolboys (and girls!) galore! Check out Alex's blog over here for the full detail of her trip to Africa and Kilimanjaro.

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| 9:39 PM |

Sunday, September 23, 2007

 
LotD

You can find anything on E-Bay! Belgium, for instance.

Newsflash: Women are making more money than men in NYC and it's impacting their dating lives. Not necessarily news -- I have several female friends who make more money than their significant others, but they seem to be doing okay; it's the sign of the times. This paragraph is kind of funny: So as not to flaunt her own salary, Lori Weiss, a 29-year-old lawyer in Manhattan, has found herself clipping price tags off expensive clothes she buys on shopping binges, or hiding shopping bags in the closet just so men she was dating would not see them lying around and feel threatened by her spending power.

My take is, if the guy you're dating is THAT sensitive and you have to hide THAT much from him, it's not going to work out. Plus, doesn't the whole thing just reek of stalkerism? As if the guy you're dating is going to paw through your bags and your closet to see just how much you paid for stuff? Please. That'd be grounds for walking papers.

You can calculate your carbon footprint here. I'm more than twice the national average. I do take issue with the car size though because I drive a small car and a four door sedan can be twice the size of my car and get a lot worse mileage. Of course, now I'm just sounding defensive (g). I've set a goal for myself to recycle more, but I haven't been doing a good job of it. Recycling here in Red State isn't a priority and so it's actually kind of difficult to do it. There is a recycling center near me, so maybe I should try and get my act together. Still feeling defensive though...

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| 8:25 AM |

Saturday, September 15, 2007

 
LotD

Five Myths About Terrorism

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| 3:40 PM |

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

 
LotD

I'm starting to think the only thing Larry Craig is truly guilty of is indecisiveness which in turns leads to stupid and hasty decisions. His inability to excercise judgment of any kind is possibly the best reason why he should NOT be in Congress.

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| 9:46 PM |

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

 
LotD

This morning on the 'Today' show, Matt Lauer asked his panelists -- I think Tucker Carlson was one of them -- if there was a double standard re Republicans getting caught with their pants down and asked to resign and the MSM making a big deal over it. I nearly spit coffee all over my television. Here's the deal, and I don't know why Matt Lauer doesn't get it. IF YOU CLAIM YOU REPRESENT THE PARTY OF "FAMILY VALUES" AND BELIEVE IN "TRADITIONAL" INSTITUTIONS THAT INCLUDE MARRIAGE AND EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY OF INFIDELITY, THEN DON'T PLAY FOOTSIES IN THE MEN'S ROOM AND BLAME THE MEDIA FOR MAKING A BIG DEAL OF THE FACT THAT NOT ONLY MIGHT YOU BE A BIG HYPOCRITE, YOU MAY ALSO HAVE REALLY BAD JUDGMENT (I mean, an airport BATHROOM? Seriously?).

Whew.

I feel better.

LotD: The last line is the best. "A Senator's Wide Stance"

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| 10:15 PM |

Thursday, August 16, 2007

 
LotD

Stole this link from my brother:

The Wrong Lessons of Iraq, but it's semi-related to the previous post on this subject, so I thought I'd go wild and crazy and post TWO entries today. Lori, you'd probably enjoy the link since it's more a psychological analysis of the different attitudes about the war.

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| 9:23 PM |

Monday, August 13, 2007

 
LotD

Interesting article about Padilla and the possible effects of alleged US torture over here. But what really caught my attention was this phrase: "In 2002, the Justice Department produced a "torture" memo stating that victims would have to experience pain equivalent to organ failure to prove torture." Just. Wow.

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| 9:17 PM |

Friday, July 13, 2007

 
Sweet dreams

Spend the night at IKEA! Can you imagine? It reminds me of that time in high school -- I'm pretty sure it was senior year -- when someone thought it'd be a great idea to have a class sleepover in the gym. You can imagine that no one got any sleep at all that night. I remember lying in my sleeping bag, debating the meaning of life with my friends as the shadows danced themselves into weird shapes on the cinder block walls. Things get kind of trippy in a high school gym at 3 am in the morning and when you're 18 and think you know everything there is to know.

Anyway, I have a hard time thinking about spending more than an hour at IKEA, let alone an entire evening, but if they'd throw in the flight to Oslo along with the bedsheets and bathrobe, I'd totally be up for it.

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| 10:10 PM |

Saturday, June 02, 2007

 
Up, up and away

I have this crazy idea that you ought to be able to fly anywhere in the country for $250 or less. More than a few times, I've managed to head east for under $200 and once even got to Boston for $150 round trip. One of my favorite tools is on My Yahoo! which allows you to track flights to your favorite destinations and gives you a good idea of what the going rate is for a flight.

I've also started using farecast.com, which is essentially a forecast for airfares. It's a good guide since it shows you a trend, but I have yet to make a decision based on what farecast.com says. I also like checking what Southwest offers to a particular market because they tend to be the low-cost leaders in some, but not all markets. If you live in a hub city for an airline, chances are that airline will be the cheapest and most likely non-stop service to whereever it is you want to go.

I've also been using kayak and sidestep.com to get an idea. These are aggregate search engines that pull results from a variety of sources including the big guys at Travelocity, Expedia, Hot Wire, and a whole host of others. The good thing is, you put in one search and you get a whole lot of answers back. It saves you time and money.

Other tricks:
* Try to fly on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
* For international travel, book 6 to 8 weeks out
* For domestic travel, book 4-6 weeks out
* Try other nearby airports (within a 90-minute radius from your location, otherwise I'm not sure the savings are worth the hassle).

Airfares can change on a day to day basis. When I went to Philadelphia recently, the ticket price on a Friday was $350 and the following Saturday, the same flight had dropped to $176. I checked back on Tuesday and it was at $212 and four days later, it was at $165. So you never know. Just keep checking as your trip comes closer and when you see something you're willing to pay, just take it. The airfare may go up and it may come down. The key is to do your research ahead of time to make sure you're getting the best possible deal.

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| 5:14 PM |

Friday, June 01, 2007

 
Oooh!

Video about Everest on YouTube!

ETA: They have a website!

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| 10:23 AM |

LotD

I was looking for information on Burger King's whopper -- are they actually flame broiled or is it marketing speak? -- and came across this essay on echeat.com. Just wow. I can't imagine someone actually printing this off and turning it into a teacher. It reads nothing like 'professionally written' and makes gross generalizations and doesn't includes sources, not to mention if I can find it on google, a teacher can find it on google and that'll hurt a whole lot more than just writing the dang paper yourself.

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| 10:08 AM |

Thursday, May 31, 2007

 
LotD

I just tested my brain here and I'm apparently in possession of a brain that's average, which doesn't really help the ego or sense of superiority much, but okay. The attention test got me but I did pretty decent on the other two tests. However, in the interests of preserving my fragile sense of self, I'm not posting my scores here.

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| 5:48 PM |

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

 
LotD

Climbers clear a mountain of trash off Everest.

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| 7:59 AM |

Monday, May 28, 2007

 
LotD

Here's a good summation of the FanLib kerfuffle.

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| 9:13 AM |

Sunday, May 27, 2007

 
FanLib

Apparently fanlib.com is the latest controversy brewing in fandom. I don't plan at all to participate because I feel a wee bit uneasy over the fact money is being made on fanfiction and that's just... infringement. But the site creator answered questions over here, for those of you who may want more information. Note how many times he uses the term 'postive agent of change' or some variation thereof. Needless to say, the tone and content of his interview didn't sway me, a ficcer of more than a decade, and I doubt it'll sway much of the old guard either, especially those of us who remember the C&D letters of the 1990s or who don't see fanfiction as a commercial transaction (feedback wars aside) or particularly in need of validation from higher ups (i.e., the actual producers of media content). Thanks, but no thanks.

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| 8:29 AM |

Sunday, May 13, 2007

 
LotD

Here's a list of the what to eat and what not to eat at major restaurant chains. It's a little scary when you look at the calorie counts on some popular items and realize that that one item takes up half of your calorie allocation for the day (average person needs about 2200 calories a day) or in the case of the Colossal Burger at Ruby Tuesday's -- you eat one of those and you can maybe have a piece of celery and a cup of yogurt for the rest of the day. Scary, scary.

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| 11:53 PM |

Monday, May 07, 2007

 
Salsa, salsa

Since the last post was about salsa, I thought I'd post this recipe for a salsa I tried this weekend -- Avocado and Corn Salsa. It's pretty simple to make, very colorful, and just pure yum. It made a great complement to the bean & corn filling for my burritos (in a wheat tortilla). Plus, it's just another one of those great recipes that tastes wonderful but requires very little effort to please.

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| 11:30 PM |

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

 
Two out of three tasters...

Here's an interesting article on jarred salsas. I really like Pace picante sauce, and Tostitos has a fairly decent one. I do like some of the gourmet salsas -- especially anything made with black beans and corn -- but they tend to be pricey and found only in boutique type stores which is no fun when you're a discount shopper likes yours truly. Anyway, for those of you who love salsa, it's a fun article.

Incidentally, making salsa is super easy. Take a tomato, take an onion, take a pinch of chilis, a handful of cilantro, and cut it all up, and mix it in with some lime juice. You can blend it to your degree of chunkiness. If you leave it as is, it makes a refreshing pico de gallo for a hot summer day.

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| 10:26 PM |

Thursday, April 26, 2007

 
Star trekkin' across the universe!

It's only a matter of time before Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and the Home Depot set up shop on this potentially habitable planet.

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| 11:37 PM |

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

 
Say "Cheese!"

Cheddarvision.tv, in case you've ever wanted to watch the birth of chedder. Now you know.

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| 10:26 PM |

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

 
Is it over yet?

Larry Birkhead is the the baby daddy. Can we stop caring about this crazy cast of characters yet?

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| 9:18 PM |

Thursday, March 08, 2007

 
LotD

The Four Unspeakable Truths about Iraq

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| 6:11 PM |

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

 
Ourselves our enemy

Honestly, the only thing missing from the following viewpoint, mho, is the burka. And what's most jaw-dropping about it is that the author is a woman.

Women no longer have a heart and love for children. Women don’t want to do their natural duties (having and caring for babies). Women want to become men, either equal to or superior in home, work, authority and government. Women have so educated the men of today, that they no longer desire marriage. So the few real women which would like to marry and raise a family are either told to go to work by their husband (to enjoy life more) or stay single for lack of a good husband. Many men just flat have no interest in the responsibilities and commitment of marriage because they are already enjoying all the benefits of marriage with some Jezebel without any responsibility or commitment. Once women become men, they are no longer needed in the home. Some have even made their man a house-husband so she can remain "out of the home" at work in the man’s role. These ladies really hate the inconvenience of children. They rather be a run around at the office and soon divorce and remarry. The divorce rate directly follows the rate of women in the work place with men.

Some men therefore, no longer look for a woman as a helpmate (wife), because women have become a threat to their manhood. What happens next? Men then look to other men for companionship instead of Women. And the frustrated woman rejected by men turns to women. It’s no secret that Sodomy is growing today, because people have rejected God’s design for the home and reproduction of the human race. And you guessed it - - WOMEN - - are a root cause"! It started in the Garden of Eden when Eve first lead the first man to complete ruin and lose with God.

Have you ever asked men what they want in a woman? They like quiet and submissive women. Not loud mouth rebellious women. Head strong, bossy, demanding, rude, over-bearing, MAUDE. They like feminine women (in the true sense) who dress like ladies in dresses and have not cut their glory off (long hair). Men do not want women who wear the pants, or men's suits and whacked off hair like men. Men like home-cooking not T.V. dinners or fast food all the time. Men want a woman to listen to them and not try to compete all the time in work, raising the children, and making decisions.

I have no words. None. It's as stunning on the fourth or fifth read as it was on the first. Of course, I understand this is an extremist view and that as a free country, everyone is entitled to extremist views; I'm sure, as a pants-wearing, hair-chopping, voting, working professional, non-married woman, I've got plenty of extremist views in the author's opinion. Let's start with the one where I don't believe women are responsible for all that's wrong with the world or the family and as a woman, I'll be the first one to support most women in most things they attempt (the exceptions being a couple of loonies on both sides of the political aisle) and hopefully succeed at.

Complete article here.

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| 9:55 PM |

Sunday, March 04, 2007

 
Ghosts of Rwanda

Yesterday I watched Frontline's "Ghosts of Rwanda" which has to be one of the single most disturbing films I've ever seen. I'd read about Rwanda countless times in the last decade, though to this day, I'm unsure if I even was aware of the situation when it was unfolding in the April of 1994 through July of that same year. Even knowing the story ahead didn't lessen the shock -- the stunning gut check -- of seeing the piles of bodies and the footage of all the western powers pulling out of the country, leaving countless behind to die. I wondered, as I watched the American conveys passing the people standing on the street, how many of those people are alive today?

The film traces the development of the genocide, beginning in 1993 when General Dallaire from the UN first visited the country to the assasination of the Hutu president to the brutal murder of the Belgian peacekeeping troops and through 100 days of genocide when approximately 800,000 people were slaughtered with machetes (among other things). At that rate, with primitive weapons, the extremist Hutus would have reached, if not surpassed the Holocaust, within two years. It's astonishing to me because butchery with a machete is up close and personal. It's an intimate act and yet so many people participated, even coming up on a church and somehow managing to slaughter all 5,000 Tutsis sheltered within.

The documentary has plenty of interviews including with General Dallaire, Pierre Gaillard, and Madeline Albright among others, insights, including some very touching and heroic actions taken by the few westerners left in the country, including Pierre Gaillard, who represented the Red Cross. I was left alternately stunned by the world's indifference and by the heroism of the few who stood up to the killers, the few who had no weapons except their words and mere presence to defend against an organized, ruthless campaign of extermination.

This is an extremely strong and disturbing film with appalling graphic footage, but if you can get your hands on it, you should. It's very much like visiting a concentration camp. You can read all about atrocities, you can see pictures, but until you're face to face with it directly, you cannot even fathom the pain, the suffering, the loss, the evil. As I mentioned, this film is NOT for the faint of heart, but I also think not acknowledging what has happened in the past and not bearing witness means we will let it happen again. So much for 'never again'.

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| 5:46 PM |

Global warming?

Vermonters say winter's not what it used to be.

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| 5:27 PM |

Saturday, February 24, 2007

 
To the top of the world (or nearly so)

Alex Voy, whom some of you know from her fabulous Trek fics, is blogging about her preparations to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro this year. And you know me -- I'm a sucker for a good mountain story. So go over there and root her on. This is way cool.

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