Small town life . . . enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder
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Movie ratings
For the consumate nerd, Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. I like the Attractive Force of Glass.
Small town life
There's a sign on the door of a restaurant in town. It says "Closed for one month due to slow business."
We went there for dinner before Christmas and it happened to be very busy. The waiter/owner told us to hurry up and order because he had to give our menus to the people at the next table. We hadn't finished ordering our drinks either, but he told us to order the rest of them when he brought our food, because he was too busy right then. One of the stranger meals I've had. But the food was good.
Going to the chapel
You can get married to a dead person. In France, anyway. About the groom (the dead one):
His body was not present for the ceremony.
Spring
My plum trees are starting to bloom.
Annoying customer of the day
One of those people who doesn't tip, unless her friends are there. Today she said loudly, as she was walking away, "I left you a tip." Wow, so now everyone thinks you're not the cheap sham you seemed to be.
The Brontës again
From the New York Times review of the new Brontë Myth by Lucasta Miller.
The children entertained themselves by creating, in minuscule script on tiny scraps of paper, elaborate and gory fantasy worlds, the most enduring of which were Angria and Gondal. The origins of the sisters' literary gifts are clearly to be found in their juvenilia, but the remarkable fact is that they persevered in their scribblings despite so many obstacles, which included the sovereign fact that writing in the Brontë house was ''very much a male domain''; their being saddled with managing their father's household after the deaths of their aunt and housekeeper; anxieties as to the worth of their writing (Charlotte was particularly afflicted with doubts, which makes her entrepreneurship on behalf of herself and her sisters all the more moving); and discouragement from outsiders.
Cooking
My son nuked a hot dog for 2 minutes in the microwave. "It came out a dry husk, like Ralph Nader."
Rainbows
I saw 3 rainbows today, including a double rainbow right in town. I've seen more rainbows this year than ever before. We've had so many days of rain and sun together, it's not surprising.
Via FoxNews (gasp) an editorial examining homeschooling and apprenticeships. Wendy McElroy addresses one of my (public education) pet peeves: the argument that parents must to send their kids to public schools because we, if we're good citizens, are obligated to hand over our kids, pay our taxes, buy lottery tickets, join the PTA, raise more and more money, and "fix" the schools.
The first argument assumes that dissenting parents should support and strengthen a social institution they believe damages their children. Their "social obligations" are placed in conflict with their parental responsibilities. No such conflict exists. Parents who use their own judgment and money in educating their children deprive no other parent of that same right. If public schools, with all their advantages, cannot compete with free market options, then they deserve to weaken because children deserve better.
Topless coffee
Man wants to open a coffee shop with topless waitresses. But after going to a planning board meeting, he realized everyone is against him.
``I was all for it when I came here but now I am split down the middle,'' he said, adding that his wife also was opposed to his plan.
Ouch.
I give advice
Get rid of all that CRAP in your house, apartment, trailer, cardboard box, whatever you live in. Otherwise, when you die, someone else will have to get rid of it for you. It is very sad to clean out a dead person's house and realize that most of what's left is really just trash.
Christ on a cross
So, this is already out everywhere, and of course, it is the Post. But it's still funny.
Replicas of the nails used to hang Jesus on the cross have become the red-hot official merchandise linked to Mel Gibson's controversial new movie, "The Passion of the Christ."
Replicas? And they "all but flew out of the Christian Publications Bookstore." Well, of course. It must have been a miracle.
Dying language
Small societies are disappearing, along with their languages. I hope "uffdah" doesn't disappear. No matter what language it really is.
Puritanism
is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy.
HL Mencken
Death
There are freaks and then there are FREAKS. Picture this. 2 sisters and a brother living in a bungalow in "rural western Ireland" (where else). Sister #1 dies. No one can remember exactly when.
"I have tried to remember when Agnes died but I just can't remember," Mary Ellen said in a statement read out at the inquest. "I remember getting Christmas cards at Christmas 2002 but I cannot remember if Agnes was dead at the time."
Sister 2 sleeps in the same room with the corpse, sometimes in the same bed. Brother never realizes Sister 1 is dead.
Death row last meals
You too can cook a last meal from Meals to Die For. Or if you just want to read about them, there's this.
"I honestly think everybody loves food, and it gives people a way to connect with this segment of the population they normally have nothing in common with," Treadwell said. "They can say, 'Hey, I've never killed anybody with a hammer, but I love fried chicken.' "
Ask a stupid question.
Get a few silly answers.
Flowers for the dead
Last week we had warm, sunny weather. I found some daffodil and crocus bulbs at my mother-in-law's house. Two years ago she was really sick and I planted them for her. Last fall she died and no one planted them. I brought them to my house and planted them in clumps (that would probably be "drifts" in sophisticated garden parlance) all around the plum tree in the front yard. This week it's raining and I'm glad. The rain will help them get nicely settled in and they might even bloom this year.
Homeschool, homeschool
The Homeschool Association of California has updated its website. It looks good. The Gateway to the Internet, which was always one of the coolest parts of the site, has been moved to a new location.
The only reservation I have for Feb. 14 is to hide away in my bedroom with a bottle of red wine and a couple of Smiths albums. Yes, this year I refuse to hide behind a pleasant facade of pink and red. I can no longer deny my loathing of Valentine's Day. There is no sincerity in three-pound boxes of chocolate or heart-shaped mylar balloons. Instead, I intend to revel in the genuine pain of Morrissey.
Salford Lads Club revisited
The picture in the article is truly terrible, but you can read about the new "Smithsonian."
"Everyone in the street had a club foot and a vicious dog," complained Morrissey of the time when he stood in the same spot.
Trashing religion at every turn
Someone accused me of only trashing Christianity, so to keep things fair, here's something from the Raving Atheist, Wiccan Poetry Ruled Unconstitutional.
"Subjecting an inmate to the knowledge that people have renamed themselves things like "Crystalline Spiritwalker," "Hedgewytch" and "Draco Pendragon" could cause a form of emotional annoyance unacceptable in a civilized society," wrote O'Connor.
Truffles
I whipped, rolled, dipped, and decorated a bunch of truffles today. It was insanely busy, being Valentine's Day and all. I even did the Mr. T's Lemon Ginger ones (white chocolate with ginger and lemon, dipped dark, decorated with candied ginger, oh so good), which he thinks only he should touch. Yes, that's the kind of thing you think when you are the "exalted high priest of infinite pickiness."
I'm not a total grump
See, I even like these old-fashioned Valentine's Day cards. I really like the ones with the big googly eyes. I love all this big-eyed stuff too. And this. And I'm sure there's more.
Quote for the day
If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion.
Edmond and Jules de Goncourt
Who the heck were these guys? Check out Wikipedia.
Old news
What's really scary about flying. Words to live by: thanks for not sharing.
God's nightgown, I hate Valentine's Day!
Just on principle. But also because my right arm is numb from dipping so much candy. A bright spot is the always amusing Sheol's VD song list, including Girlfriend in a Coma, one of my favorite songs, of course. Love that typical Morrissey blend of maliciousness and pop.
And by the way
It has always seemed strange to me that (some) Xians are all uptight over other religions' rituals when they have this pretty gross blood ritual going on themselves.
Tasty
One of my daughters said, "Hey, you know that Christian thing where they eat Jesus' body and drink his blood?"
Oh, you mean Communion? "Yes. If people like it, they could say it was Jesulicious."
Just too weird
Political donations through Amazon. From Impudent Magazine.
Ashes of the dead
My brother-in-law was in town this weekend. He picked up some things he wanted from my mother-in-law's house. On his way south, he stopped at our place and asked for a "cup and a half" of her ashes so that he could put her in his English garden. I was afraid he would want to use one of our measuring cups to get the exact amount of ashes. Luckily he didn't. We will scatter the rest of her ashes in Humboldt Bay, where she wanted us to put them, some other time. (Minus an arm or leg, I guess.)
Quote for today
I realize now that my life is by contrast an unlovely thing, with its disease, its banalities, its uncertainties, its toil, its single-breasted suits, and its wine from lesser years. I am aware of a life all around me of graciousness and beauty, in which every moment is a tiny pearl of good taste, and in which every acquaintance has the common decency to possess a good background.
from Dusk in Fierce Pajamas, E.B. White
Chocolate Week
All week on the foodnetwork this week, Chocolate Obsession Week. I was dipping at work today and 2 people came by for coffee and asked if I ever get tired of chocolate. Never.
Semi-crazy
I like to watch the foodnetwork sometimes. I turned it on today and saw this show I haven't seen before called Semi-Homemade. The premise, I guess, is to take pre-made food and doctor it up to make it all special. So this chick shows this recipe to make chocolate truffles. Basically, you mix canned chocolate frosting with powdered sugar to make "truffles." Not only does it seem like this would taste awful, but making truffles really doesn't take very long, is dead easy, and is definitely worth the effort and the cost of perfect ingredients. She showed some other chocolate recipes where the goal seemed to be to make the food as sweet as possible. Yuck.
Patriotism
One of my daughters made a chocolate cake a couple of nights ago and decorated it to look like an American flag. She added blue dots and confetti on the red stripes to make it look fancier. "It's kind of a boring design."
American history
This is great. And all these years I pictured these guys huddled in the snow with bloody rags on their feet. Well, maybe they huddled inside with bloody rags on their feet.
Flat earthers
I love this quote, of course.
The Church says the earth is flat but I know it is round for I have seen its shadow on the moon and I have more faith in a shadow than I do in the Church.
I wondered when Magellan (whose name really was Fernão De Magalhães) saw the earth's shadow on the moon. During a solar eclipse on April 17, 1520
Work study
From Blog for Insomniacs, high schooler tries to get her job at Hooters approved for work-study.
"A lot of people have misperceptions about Hooters, but we try to appeal as a fun place for everyone," said Aaron Sharp, the restaurant's manager. "We give balloons to children; we have a kids' menu."
Balloons shaped like what?
"I'm no caged bird"
I was listening to Morning Edition on Monday when I heard a great interview with Jamaica Kincaid. I was so pleased when she said Jane Eyre was one of her favorite books. I think you're either a Jane Eyre type person or a Wuthering Heights type person, and I happen to be a Jane Eyre-ite.
Classical fun
I love going here. The pictures make me feel warm even if it's raining outside. If you can't figure out where you'd like to go, you can start with the highlights.
Cal Education
This morning I was listening to the California Report and they ran a little blurb about From First to Worst, a documentary that is going to air on Public TV this month. It addresses Prop 13 and the transfer of funding and what would be taught from local districts to the state funding, as well, as immigration, race, and the just plain falling apart and unsafe school buildings some districts have.
Eduspeak
Alton Brown (you'll have to scroll down to Jan. 30) puts in his 2 cents on Georgia's Department of Education's proposal to call evolution "biological changes over time."
I agree. I hate buzzwords, don’t you? That’s why I think we should go one further and replace the phrase “slack-jawed backwater ignoramus” with the phrase “Kathy Cox”.
Here's another funny thing. If you look at this Guardian piece on the evolution verbiage, scroll down to the Related Articles section. They're not related to the same Georgia.
Wasting time
with freaking Boohbah. These people must have done a lot of LSD.
