Kitchen-Floor Conflict Intensifies As Rival House Cats Claim Same Empty Bag


"MAPLEWOOD, MO—Ongoing turmoil in the troubled kitchen-floor region of the Branson household reached a boiling point Tuesday, as relations between rival house cats Boswell and Johnson erupted into fresh violence. Observers said the arrival of a new brown paper-bag in the area ignited long-standing tensions and set off another round of territorial conflict between the two factions in the most serious aggression since the devastating stove-side siege of 2005."

How many must suffer before President Bush finally intervenes? Clearly we need a UN Peace-keeping mission in Maplewood, Missouri, to bring peace to the is destable region. And why aren't the Candidates addressing this, the most serious issue facing America today? Why? Write your Representatives and Senators and DEMAND they deal with this war today!

~ ~ ~



Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

RIP Margaret Truman Daniel

This was surprising:

Truman's daughter dies at 83

.

Shortly before her father's death in 1972 Daniel published Harry S Truman under her maiden name. A critically acclaimed full length biography of her father, the book used extensive sources from the Truman Library.

I liked David McCullough's book better, but it was still good.

She lost her husband and one son in 2000.

Rest In Peace

"He was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only knocked off Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity," said Clark.

Sir Edmund Hillary died in Auckland, New Zealand, on Friday 11 January. He was 88 years old.

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Friday in announcing Hillary's death.

Hillary scaled the world's highest mountain in 1953, telling companions after the climb: "We knocked the bastard off."

Arse-trinkets

Arse-trinkets.

Right. Okay then, that's it, I'm moving to England.

Arse-trinkets!

These tight, elasticated, supposedly saucy partitions across the mid-derriere are, in terms of both comfort and aesthetics, as cruel as the partition between India and Pakistan. There is catastrophic physical displacement. Entire body parts are split asunder, and undertake vast migrations. With my own eyes, I have seen women walking around out there with anything between two and eight buttocks – and placed anywhere between the hip and the mid-thigh. This enforced deformity is not the fault of the pants. They are little guys, simply overwhelmed by the task that faces them. They are outnumbered. They are the Alamo. They are, indeed, often in terrible danger – many look like they’re on the verge of being absorbed by their owners. A&E departments must have had a few emergency admissions for “emergency admissions” in their time.

Women, this manner of underwear cannot be an act of sanity. Why are we starving our bottoms of the resources – like an extra metre of material – to stay comfortable? Why have we succumbed to pantorexia? It is, of course, all a symptom of women’s continuing, demented belief that, at any moment, they might face some snap inspection of their “total hotness,” and have to reveal their underwear to a baying crowd, possibly featuring George Clooney. In this respect, women have communally lost all reason. Ladies! On how many occasions in the past year have you needed to wear sexy pants? In other words, to break this right down, how many times this year have you suddenly, unexpectedly, had sex in a brightly lit room, with a hard-to-please erotic connoisseur? Exactly. On those kind of odds, you might just as well be keeping a backgammon board down there, to entertain a group of elderly ladies in the event of emergencies. It’s more likely to happen.

Read the whole article - it's hysterical!

There is no point here

For reasons I can't explain I've gotten quite addicted to reading the Daily Mail out of the UK. The Great Cosmic Muffin knows it's not because of their award-winning journalism - but I hit their website every morning and a couple times a day.

Is there a 12-step program for this?

Yesterday's fun article was The great pay divide: Why pole dancers, bishops and RAF pilots earn the SAME salary. Some of the jobs are paid the same here in the US (multiply the pound by 2 to get what those jobs would pay here). The PM gets US$376k and other Ministers receive anywhere from US$200k to US$1mil - the Chief of the Metropolitan Police comes within the same range. That seems odd - shouldn't the PM get more than the rest? However, it's more than the US Congress people get... which if memory serves is around US$240k (I'm too lazy to go look it up). Look at the miliary salaries - British Navy Captain, upwards of US$150k; US Navy Captain, I can't figure out the pay-grade nonsense completely but it looks like a comparable position is in the high US$80's to 90's. Big difference.

The point the DM is making:

The comparisons they drew are fascinating - and raise questions about just how a job's worth is judged.

The fortunes of farmers have dropped so dramatically over the past 50 years that they now share the same bracket as sewer cleaners, mortuary assistants and checkout staff, at £10,000 - £20,000.

The real-life James Bonds in MI5 earn the same as binmen, vicars, carpenters and NHS nurses, £20,000 - £30,000.

A bit higher up on £30,000 - £40,000 are the pole dancers and RAF pilots, along with bishops, police constables, sandwich shop managers, vets, London cab drivers, architects and paramedics.

can be said here as well (for that matter, everywhere). What is what we do actually worth? Who and how determines that? If you want to see what you can or should be earning in your own field, try Monster.com.

I am, apparently, grossly overpaid right now. Not good news as I'll be job-hunting soon.

Just. Great.

Maybe I should move to the UK and take up pole dancing.

Or a binman in Birmingham. Oh, wait, that'd be a pay cut. But still, the shear joy of saying I'm a binman in Birmingham might make up for the pay cut.

Yeah, I need help.

Oh, speaking of... the Daily Mail was the first to inform me of Who's the daddy: Pregnant Jamie Lynn Spears dumped by boyfriend who demands proof of paternity. They got Jaime Lynn's age wrong, however... she's 16. They may have been confusing her with this darling lass.

The ho's are back in town...

I just can't wait to read their Mama's parenting book! Damn shame it's been postponed.

in case you're wondering, when I googled "binmen from birmingham", that image came up. google also, rudely, tried to correct my search term to "lineman from birmingham". I hate nit-picky search engines.

Credit Crisis

FYI

Mortgage Lender's Bankruptcy Would Have Severe Impact on Consumers

"Countrywide is at ground zero of the mortgage crisis," commented Weiss. "It exhausted many of its extraordinary financing options last year and is ill-prepared for the rising mortgage defaults and home foreclosures that are widely expected this year. Already, the credit quality of Countrywide's mortgage servicing portfolio has deteriorated, with 7.2% of the mortgages it's servicing delinquent in December, up sharply from 6.5% in November and 4.6% a year earlier."

Weiss' conclusion: "With the mortgage market and economy continuing to slide, it's likely Countrywide will suffer intolerable losses. Thus, in the absence of extraordinary intervention, we believe it could be difficult for Countrywide to avoid failure, with a potentially severe impact on consumers."

Read the entire article. I hope you're not trying to sell in this market - which is only going to get worse.

Silly Season 2008

So Hillary and John won in New Hampshire.

Big. Freakin'. Deal.

The press is acting like it's election day - it's only one caucus and one primary down folks. Chill, please.

All day yesterday the political press is burying Hil in Iowa and proclaiming Obama as God's Second (and favorite) Child.

I've been sick of political theatre since Pelosi took impeachment off the table but it is now nearly impossible to avoid the insanity.

And it's only January. May the Great Cosmic Muffin have mercy on what's left of my soul.

I don't even want to address Bushies trip to Israel. With his BFF Condie. Don't they look cute together?

~ ~ ~

Heart-breaking and horrifying news out of Alabama: Man tells cops he tossed four children off Ala. bridge

"Lam Luong, 37, will face four counts of capital murder, prosecutors say. "That's as bad as it gets under Alabama law," District Attorney John Tyson Jr. tells the Press-Register.

Lt. Richard Cayton of the Mobile County Sheriff's Office tells the paper that searchers on boats and helicopters haven't found any signs of the children, who ranged in age from 4 months to 3 years old."

Apparently it was an act of revenge against his wife but so far no reason is given as to what he was getting even with her for. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been bad enough for this. No doubt there will be a diminished capacity plea, eventually.

~ ~ ~

From the Who Gives A Shit File, we have a story on Worst Dressed Of the Year.

Victoria Beckham, in case you're wondering.

In a huge act of charity Mr. Blackwell left Britney Spears off the list this year. The man should get a humanitarian award for that.

Frankly I find his stupid list incredibly mean-spirited most of the time - and utterly pointless. Who the hell cares what he thinks?

Happy New Year

Yes, I'm alive!

Yes, you should be afraid.

2007 sucked monkeyballs with hot chili sauce on the side.

Really.

I'm kinda, sorta, back from beyond, hoping 2008 will be better but I'm not holding my breath.

Thank you Homo Escapeons for keeping tabs on me. Muchly appreciated!

Back for a minute

Go to Free Rice and build your vocabulary while earning free rice to feed the hungry.

~ ~ ~

I've been MIA due to on-going family issues. It's likely to remain that way for some time to come.

Everyone in the US have a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving next week. If you've got some extra food or money, contact your local food pantry or homeless shelter and donate what you can.

Three Day Weekend

Yay!

does happy chair dance

I need the break. Don't we all? You all have a safe holiday weekend.

Nothing new under the Earth and Sky

Google has a new add-on feature for google earth - the sky! I've only been able to get the demo to run. Google seems to be having several problems today, including keeping blogger up and running.

Interesting story in the in International Herald Tribune yesterday - seems Moscow runs out of hot water in the summer time.

Also in Moscow, another painful penis story. What is with all the penis stories this week?

Bushie is backing away from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq.

However, Gordon Johndroe says otherwise:

National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the president's words were not intended to signal a withdrawal of support for al-Maliki. As a result of the heavy media coverage of his remarks at the North American summit in Canada, Bush will insert a direct line of support for al-Maliki in his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars conference, Johndroe said.

"Prime Minister Maliki knows where the president stands," Johndroe told reporters ahead of Bush's speech. The spokesman said that after Bush's comments in Canada, the White House had tried to make clear Bush was not distancing himself from Maliki.

"It appears that did not come through for whatever reason," Johndroe said.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is also "disgusted" with al-Maliki, apparently. Bush backing away from al-Maliki is probably a good thing for the Prime Minister, Sistani being disgusted is not. I hope al-Maliki's bodyguards are well paid and like their client.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told France's RTL Radio from Baghdad that Europe must play a bigger role in Iraq because "the Americans will not be able to get this country out of difficulty alone." Kouchner is wrapping a three-day visit to Iraq.

Not just Europe, but the UN and a Pan-Arab league needs to go in and fix the nightmare we created.

In other cheery news, A new push for change in the war on terror, in the Christian Science Monitor:

The US is losing the war on terror. That's the assessment of the nation's top foreign-policy, intelligence, and national-security leaders from across the ideological spectrum. In this year's Terrorism Index, a survey released Monday by Foreign Policy magazine, 84 percent of these experts believe the nation is losing the war on terror, while more than 90 percent say the world is growing more dangerous for Americans.

That's prompted a variety of leaders to call for a complete rethinking of the nation's strategy. And some are looking back to the cold war's battle against communism to find models for the ideological struggle against terrorism.

Um... no one won the Cold War. Russia just collapsed. Is that the strategy? Fight a boogey man for 50 years until it just goes away?

Another is a call for a Middle East Marshall Plan to help develop the region's economies and confront the alienation of the young.

This actually makes some sense and it's something many humanitarian groups have been talking about for more than a decade - long before 9/11 and the US War on Terra. Terrorism, terrorists, flourish in poverty; the people they recruit have nothing to lose and their families have everything to gain.

Dwarf's penis gets stuck in vacuum cleaner

It's a rainy, dreary day here in Connecticut. It's a helluva lot worse in Mexico. Drop a shekel or three in a collection plate for Hurricane Dean relief.

Since it's a rainy day here, I'll leave you with some reading material.

Starving Gaza, by Chris Hedges, at Truthdig:

Gaza has become the Sarajevo of the Middle East. Israel, in an action similar to that of the Serbs in Bosnia, has surrounded and cut off nearly a million and a half Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the Islamic militant group Hamas took control in June. Electric fences and watch towers manned by Israeli soldiers keep the Palestinians trapped inside the strip. The land and sea blockade, the halting of all but minimal humanitarian aid and the refusal to allow Gaza to receive financial support are crushing Gaza’s industry, farming and infrastructure.

See also:

Gaza's public employees getting paid on one condition: stay home

Genocide in Tranquil Kurdistan.

Scott Ritter: Calling Out Idiot America (an old article, but still interesting).

From Truthout comes:

Prelude to an Attack on Iran, originally published in Time Magazine.

And what do we do if just the opposite happens - a strike on Iran unifies Iranians behind the regime? An Administration official told me it's not even a consideration. "IRGC IED's are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran."

Survivors of Bombs Left to Die in Rubble.

British military sparks US fears of losing Basra:

Stephen Biddle, who sits on the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of a group that advised the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, told the The Sunday Times in London that coalition forces were no longer in control of the city.

"I regret to say that the Basra experience is set to become a major blunder in terms of military history," Mr Biddle was quoted as saying. "The insurgents are calling the shots … and in a worst-case scenario will chase us out of town."

Another senior US officer told The Sunday Telegraph: "The short version is that the Brits have lost Basra, if indeed they ever had it … They did not have enough troops there even before they started cutting back. The situation is beyond their control."

The officer warned of "a stink about this that will hang around the British military".

The old expression "lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas" comes to mind for some reason.

And the most important story of the day, from the bin of "you can't make this shit up":

Dwarf's penis gets stuck in vacuum cleaner.

A view from the ground

Originally posted at NYT and Truthout.org:

The War As We Saw It

By Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray and Jeremy A. Murphy
The New York Times

Sunday 19 August 2007

Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the "battle space" remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers' expense.

A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families.

As many grunts will tell you, this is a near-routine event. Reports that a majority of Iraqi Army commanders are now reliable partners can be considered only misleading rhetoric. The truth is that battalion commanders, even if well meaning, have little to no influence over the thousands of obstinate men under them, in an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias.

Similarly, Sunnis, who have been underrepresented in the new Iraqi armed forces, now find themselves forming militias, sometimes with our tacit support. Sunnis recognize that the best guarantee they may have against Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated government is to form their own armed bands. We arm them to aid in our fight against Al Qaeda.

However, while creating proxies is essential in winning a counterinsurgency, it requires that the proxies are loyal to the center that we claim to support. Armed Sunni tribes have indeed become effective surrogates, but the enduring question is where their loyalties would lie in our absence. The Iraqi government finds itself working at cross purposes with us on this issue because it is justifiably fearful that Sunni militias will turn on it should the Americans leave.

In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a "time-sensitive target acquisition mission" on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse - namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.

Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

The Iraqi government is run by the main coalition partners of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, with Kurds as minority members. The Shiite clerical establishment formed the alliance to make sure its people did not succumb to the same mistake as in 1920: rebelling against the occupying Western force (then the British) and losing what they believed was their inherent right to rule Iraq as the majority. The qualified and reluctant welcome we received from the Shiites since the invasion has to be seen in that historical context. They saw in us something useful for the moment.

Now that moment is passing, as the Shiites have achieved what they believe is rightfully theirs. Their next task is to figure out how best to consolidate the gains, because reconciliation without consolidation risks losing it all. Washington's insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made - de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government - places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.

Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict - as we do now - will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.

At the same time, the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation. "Lucky" Iraqis live in gated communities barricaded with concrete blast walls that provide them with a sense of communal claustrophobia rather than any sense of security we would consider normal.

In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, "We need security, not free food."

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are - an army of occupation - and force our withdrawal.

Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.

We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.

Buddhika Jayamaha is an Army specialist. Wesley D. Smith is a sergeant. Jeremy Roebuck is a sergeant. Omar Mora is a sergeant. Edward Sandmeier is a sergeant. Yance T. Gray is a staff sergeant. Jeremy A. Murphy is a staff sergeant.

Pass it on.

Okay, who left the door open?

Seems the Universe has disappeared. Well, 96% anyway.

Greatest Mysteries: Where is the Rest of the Universe?

In fact, only 4 percent of the matter and energy in the universe has been found. The other 96 percent remains elusive, but scientists are looking in the farthest reaches of space and deepest depths of Earth to solve the two dark riddles.

Now you know why your parents always told you to shut the door! See what you did?

Turner described dark energy as "really weird stuff," best thought of as an elastic, repulsive gravity that can't be broken down into particles. "We know what it does, but we don't know what it is," Turner said.

That's what I told my 10th grade Chemistry teacher when he asked me how I managed to burn the entire lab table: I knew what it did, I just didn't know how I did it. He strongly urged me to avoid sciences - finance would be safer.

Too bad that guy wasn't around to advise Karl Rove, evil minion of DOOM! Well, thankfully, he's a goin' bye bye, but I'm sure he'll be on Dumbasses speed dial.

Strangest things in space.

No, I'm not on the list.

~ ~ ~

I believe the Earth has it's own cycles, just like people do. Every few hundred years the weather patterns shift, just as they are doing today. Vineyards flourished in England once upon a time; sea-levels have been muich higher and much lower than they are now. Life changes. I have no doubt human beings polluting the Earth makes the shifts in climate worse, but I'm not sure I buy the whole Global Warming spiel. Then I see this:

NASA Data Goof Fuels Global Warming Skepticism:

A small tempest is brewing in the blogospheric teapot between climate scientists and global warming skeptics over a recently revealed discrepancy in NASA's U.S. temperature records.

A former mining executive who manages a Web site dedicated to skepticism over global warming was combing the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies data for U.S. temperature anomalies—or the amount that one year's average temperature departs from the climatological average—when he noticed that the temperatures made an odd jump between 1999 and 2000.

Global Warming: How Do Scientists Know They're Not Wrong?

~ ~ ~

Queen of Mean, dead at 87

That would be Leona Helmsley. Before her life with Harry,:

She married a lawyer, Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1959. Their only child, Jay Panzirer, later ran a Florida-based building supplies company that did extensive business with Helmsley properties. She later was briefly married to a garment industry executive, Joe Lubin.

Before her son's death of a heart attack in 1982, she told interviewers she would not talk about him "because terrible things can happen to people these days."

She evidently was referring to being knifed by robbers at her Palm Beach home in 1973. She was stabbed in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, and Harry was wounded in the arm.

After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son's widow, Mimi.

Mimi Panzirer said afterward that the legal costs wiped her out and "to this day I don't know why they did it."

Rest in peace Leona.

~ ~ ~

Someone with more cats (and probably yarn) than I have. That makes my day!

That's all phoques!

No, I'm not turning this into Cute Overload, but I just couldn't resist posting this picture. It's a phoque! Seal to the rest of us. He's adorable! I want one! Sadly my building has a no phoque policy. Beasts!

Rest in Peace Scooter

Phil Rizzuto, Yankees' Hall of Fame shortstop and longtime broadcaster, dies at 89


IMO - all time greatest sports announcer. Period. End of story. The clowns around today are just a waste of time and space. I end up watching baseball with the sound off because I find these people so annoying and inane.

While many announcers spouted statistics, Rizzuto told stories. He delighted television and radio listeners by spinning yarns about his fear of lightning, his favorite place to get a cannoli and the prospect of outfielder Dave Winfield as a candidate for president.

Add insult to injury, the Yankees lost 12 zip to Baltimore. sigh

Yankees Hall of Famer, Broadcaster Phil Rizzuto

~ ~ ~

Happy Birthday Napoleon!

Rats abandoning the ship

Rovie wants to spend more time with his family.

He has a family?

"He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed, but we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

I'm still hopeful for indictments and orange jumpsuits.

Karl Rove at Wiki.

I'm back!

Sorta. Kinda.


Well, I'm here now anyway! Thank you to everyone who posted/emailed to say you missed me. I've missed you all too!

I can't believe it's August already. It's been a really strange year.

A bookmark for me and you: History of Pie.

Yup, I'm making pies this weekend.

Fashionista I am not

If I had any place to wear ^ that, I'd buy it in a heart beat. Unfortunately I have no place to wear it to. Even if I did, I'd stand out like a sore thumb.

It's sad that people don't dress up anymore. If I had it my way men would be in tuxedos 24x7x365 - evening dress (formal attire) would be de rigueur for all occasions. Men would wear hats again. Nice hats, not baseball caps.

I'm tired of the dress-down look. I go to the office each day in jeans and tee's, true, but I want a little more glamour in my life. More color, more sparkle. More like this or this .

I'm still around

That cracked me up! Apparently France is the home of the World's Biggest Whiners and Ireland is home to the most content:

Britons come second to their Gallic cousins in the moaning stakes, followed by Sweden, the United States and Australia. Japanese workers have the lowest morale, but don't complain so much.

Jerry Falwell is dead. I'm sure his family will miss him, but I'm glad the world is spared any more of his moronic, completely stupid, bullshit. If there is a God, I hope he gives Jerry hell.