Happy New Year to all my faithful reader!
| The Recipe For gekko |
 2 parts Love 1 part Courage Splash of Daring Finish off with dark chocolate |
Snarfed from Miz UV.
December 2007 Archives
Had a discussion about Hillary with a guy on Usenut a while back. Dude maintained that it was disrespectful to refer professionally to a career woman by her first name -- it was sexist. His stance was that the evil ol' circle of powerful males use the first name thinger to keep the little gals in their places as secretaries and whatnot. It was an ... interesting ... discussion.
Following that, I started noting when a woman was referred to by her first name only, by an honorific or title and a last name, or by just her last name. The media is a mixed bag, when it comes to female politicians. Hillary and Obama. Edwards and Rudy. They're also a mixed bag when it comes to pop stars and cultural icons. It could be J-Lo and K-Fed or Britney, or maybe Lopez, Federline, and Spears.
And it's this last one that caught me yesterday. I saw a headline "Spears Pregnancy Prompts Real Life Sex Talks With Kids," and I thought "Good God, she's gonna pop out another kid? And now parents are thinking it's time to tell little Jane about where babies come from? Isn't she, like, terribly yesterday?"
I saw a similar headline today and decided to click through -- it was not the ever expanding Britney who was preggers, but presumably virginal Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16 year old star of a kiddie/teen show on Nickelodeon who's growing her own crotch fruit. This Spears is Britney's little sister.
See, now, this is why it's important to use first names. To keep out-of-it older peeps from getting confused.
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Norma has a good post up about food, diets, and thinking about food.
. She's right; we are always thinking about our next meal, and probably the meal after that.
Right now, I'm thinking about the Christmas Day Meal. In days gone by, I usually had a crowd of in-laws to serve. It's tough to scale back, but we're a smaller group now, even with the addition of my son-in-law. Still and all, here's what I'm planning so far, for a party of five. If you have any suggestions, make 'em now. I gotta do my shopping.
Rib Roast
Skillet Cornbread
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (using Yukon and Red, skins on)
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Greenbean Casserole
Steamed Broccoli
Apple-Cranberry Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream
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Democratic strategist Erik Smith said Clinton appeared to be trying to remind voters why they liked her in the first place."
-- U.S. | Reuters
"I'm not just a cold and politically calculating person, you know. I have a softer, more feminine side," Clinton gushed. "I plan on publishing a cookbook, with all proceeds to be donated to the Susan Whatever fund for ... that disease we women get."
When asked about her furry companion, Clinton smiled softly. "Chihuahuas make the best fajita filling."
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A friend pointed me at this link. Clever, fun. Reminds me of my son's high school choir.
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| You Are an Espresso |
 At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high |
Brewed over at Paula's.
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The Arizona Christmas Song
(Apologies to Mr. Torme)
Palm fronds dropping in your topless car;
Leaf blowers dusting up your nose.
Golfers, on the greens, complain 'bout their scores,
And folks dressed up in summer clothes.
Everybody sees the malls decked out in mistletoe,
Long before ol' Halloween.
Seasonal folk drive their cars really slow,
And make the Locals really mean.
They know that Santa's at the mall;
Of major credit cards, he takes them all.
And every mother's child is going to sing
Just as the shutter snaps, "Gimme more bling!"
And so I'm slogging through this simple rhyme,
For peeps all lounging 'round the pool,
Although its been said many ways, many times,
Feliz Navidad to you!
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During lunch the other day, a buddy of mine had been thinking out loud, muttering "waived the activation fee ..." as he went through his cellphone contract. Yeah, when he bought the phone and the plan, the perky sales chick, hoping to cement the sale, gave him all kinds of enticements, free phone, first month free, waive the activation, yadda.
That got me to thinking.
What does an "activation fee" really do?
Cell phone providers want you to sign up with them, take a two year contract, etc. They want your business. Part of them doing that business has to involve them entering your phone's identifying information into their database to "activate" the phone on their network. If they didn't do that, your phone would not work, and you would be unlikely to want to use their services. So it's in their interests as well as your own for them to activate your phone. When you lose your phone, buy a new one, they "activate" that new one, free of charge.
Yet, they charge an "activation fee" for a new contract. UCAN (Utility Consumers' Action Network) lists the fees the big providers charge you. Thirty to forty bucks to have someone who's being paid regardless of the amount work they do type a number into a database field?
I decided to try something. What the hell, I was bored. I pretended I was in the market for a new phone, new plan. I walked up to a cell phone provider's kiosk in the mall where I had been lunching.
"I want a phone and a plan. Whaddaya got?"
We picked out one of their free phones and one of their plans and then she went through the contract.
"What's this thing?" I pointed to the activation fee.
"That's the standard activation fee."
"Get it out of there. I don't want to pay it."
"Oh, I can't do that. It's a standard part of the contract."
"Nonsense. When you guys are hooking for my business, the very first thing to go is that activation fee. It's frosting on your cupcake. Pure over-the-top profit."
"I don't have the authorization ..."
"Oh. Okay. Well, goodbye then."
"Wait, um let me talk to my supervisor. Hold on while I call ... "
"Puh-lease. Even my dog has the authorITY," I paused after stressing the syllable, "to waive activation fees. Every business pretends they have to charge that little extra, then they graciously 'give' us back the money to entice us. Entice me, or I'm outta here."
She stammered a bit more. I walked away.
It was satisfying.
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She really should be arrested, imprisoned, and put on trial.
I am speaking about the British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, who permitted her students to name a stuffed bear after the Muslim prophet Muhammed (or however you spell it).
Now, to be perfectly clear, I do not think she really did anything wrong. I am a Westerner, who has been raised in the Christian faith, and as far as I am concerned, there is nothing sacred about the name Muhammed, and even using the name "Jesus" in a less than polite fashion isn't all that horrible. I don't like hearing the man whose teachings I revere disrespected, but it isn't an offense that I feel is worthy of stripping one of their civil liberties.
But that's me, and this is here.
Ms. Gibbons went to work and live in Sudan, where the law and customs are different. She is a teacher, therefore presumably educated, and should know the local laws and customs. In any case, not knowing them is not a real defense, as they say. If you don't follow the law, then you make the choice to fall under the consequences of that decision.
There is no surprise, then, that Ms. Gibbons was arrested and that there is this huge uproar in Sudan. We all know by now that the Religion Of Peace contains a large number of bloodthirsty, primitive haters, so even the demands for brutal punishment and death are unsurprising.
If the Sudanese government shrugged and said, "oh, well, she's a Brit, so let's just send her away, unscathed," they'd be throwing aside their own laws. That'd be exactly the same as the US saying, "Oh, well, that killer is a Mexican, so let's just forget about punishing him by our laws, and send him back home."
So arrest her, yes. Imprison her, yes. Send her before a judge. All of that is something I believe needs to happen.
Here's the twist, though. Take a good, long, hard look at the law. The law she broke is not a Just Law. The punishment that the haters are screeching about is not a Just Punishment. It's time for a change. Use Ms. Gibbons' crime and her punishment to work a change in that law.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the pressure the enlightened Western world has been placing on the Sudanese Government were to effect that sort of change?
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whoozTalkin?