April 30, 2005
#37 is up. If you're
#37 is up.If you're looking to impress that special someone, this salad including rose petals is just the ticket.
A tasty chicken recipe - sear and bake.
Housesitting/dogsitting
I'm housesitting for some friends this weekend, which is why blogging has been reduced. It's kind of annoying - I feel somewhat taken for granted - but I don't really mind doing this.I knew I was going to be fairly bored, so I bought the first Knights of the Old Republic, and have been playing that. It's fun, but light side/dark side decisions are heavy-handed -> do you give beggers some money [light side], or kill them [dark side]. I didn't know it's D20 based, either.
Cool, though.
April 27, 2005
100 gay things
Crazy Tracy has a list of 100 things about her and her homosexuality.I may try to make such a list, but I don't think I can hit 100 things without getting way too personal to blog.
Wil Wheaton
I don't usually read his stuff, but I headed over there today.Turns out he's getting big into poker, and his cat died.
Sorry.
If he's ever on Bravo's celebrity poker show, I think I'll watch it.
He's bound to do better than some of the idiots on it.
Mockery
I misunderstood what he meant originally. And since part of my post did mention mockery ["5) Science and Religion are not enemies. People trying to claim anti-science points of view as scientific [intelligent design] will be mocked."] I apologize.
From my standpoint, an all-powerful God is by definition able to have created the Earth whenever He wanted. He could have created us all yesterday, a year ago, 38 years ago [at my birth, of course], 6000 years ago or whenever. But to me that feels like cheating, like being amazed by a magician who made a woman disappear on stage an then reappears instantly across the auditorium, and then finding out he used identical twins. To me, a God that created a universe 4 billion years ago, knowing that after a certain length of time humanity would exist, is so much more awesome than a God that created a world 6000 years ago, with all species existing already, or than a God who had to continually tinker with life to create eyeballs, and legs, and hair, and...
Anyway. To me that's one of the main purposes of blogs: read a post, see what strikes a cord with you, and write about it. The fact that when I reread my post I didn't notice anything mocking about it, doesn't mean it can't strike someone else differently. And obviously, it did.
Movies to live in
The Sheila Variations has a post on Movies She Would Like to Live in, [Hat tip: Truly Bad Films] and includes several, including Only Angels Have Wings. The comments have some choices that are closer to what I would want [and have heard of!], like Star Trek2: WoK, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Buckaroo Banzai.There are some other choices that are pretty much suicidal, like Aliens and Blade Runner. Trust me on this one, even if you never see an alien [or a predator], the Aliens universe is not a friendly place.
Star Trek would be kinda cool to live in, even if they have moved beyond capitalism. And I would have at least a chance of a useful job there [I could be a much better ship's counselor than Troi, even without psychic abilities]. LotR and Star Wars are neat universes, but unless you're a main character you're cannon fodder. Pretty much the same for Bond.
Buckaroo Banzai seems like a happy place to be. And even if you're not a member of the group, you could watch them play, read the comics, join the extended group [whatever they were called], and help out if the World Crime Syndicate had its hooks in your backyard.
For the non-scifi list, might I recommend Max Dugan Returns? People who try hard, catch a break, and then succeed?
Interesting
The fun of some of these quizzes isn't so much the outcome, it's what the quiz says the outcome means:
You are 'programming in QBASIC'. This programming
language (of which the acronym stands for
'Quick Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code'), which is so primitive that
it cannot easily be used for any purpose
involving the Internet nor even sound, was
current more than a decade ago.
You are independent, in a good way. When something
which you need cannot be found, you make it
yourself. In writing and in talking with
people, you value clarity and precision; your
friends may not realize how important that is.
When necessary, you are prepared to be a
mediator in conflicts between your friends.
You are very rational, and you think of things
in terms of logic and common sense.
Unfortunately, your emotionally unstable
friends may be put off by your devotion to
logic; they may even accuse you of pedantry and
insensitivity. Your problem is that
programming in QBASIC has been obsolete for a
long time.
brought to you by Quizilla
Hat tip: LlamaButchers.
Tortilla Soup
I am on a quest for the perfect Tortilla Soup recipe. Found a couple in cookbooks I own, one which looks like it has less taste than the recipe I tried last week, one which I've made before and made a huge mess. [it required pureeing some ingredients, then the soup itself, before being poured over chicken and stuff].On to Google. This recipe from texascooking.com, looks very similar to another recipe I have. Or, there's this list at cdkitchen.
Compared to my last try, lots of these recipes use fresh cilantro. Seems reasonable to add. I am not adding kidney beans, black beans, or the bizarre vegetable mix found in the copycat recipe for El Torito.
I'll go buy some ingredients, and post what I finally do.
Update:
~2 cups chicken breast
~2 cups chicken broth
2 beef bullion cubes
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 14 oz can corn
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with peppers
3 pieces celery, chopped [more because they were in the fridge and going bad than anything else]
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
~1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp epazote
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro [maybe a cup?]
1 tsp chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
1 tsp Worcester sauce
Throw into the slow cooker, let it cook overnight [and remember to make sure it's plugged in!]. Presumably more taste than the previous attempt, but I may have to add more chipolte peppers or some Tabasco depending on how hot it is.
Update: It ended up having just a hint of a bite to it, so I added a couple of drops of Tabasco sauce to each bowl. Served with tortilla chips.
Overall, pretty tasty, although the chicken disintegrated and turned the whole thing into more of a stew than a soup. Either the chipolte peppers or the cilantro added something that was needed, though. Note that I had prepared the chicken breast and broth from a fryer I cooked in the slow cooker overnight, with a little salt and pepper for seasoning.
Homosexuality and AIDS
2 thoughts this morning, brought on primarily by GeekSlut.1) How much of the "If you're gay, then you must be a Democrat" thought was brought on by the AIDS crisis? Specifically, if several people you know are dying of AIDS [say, back in the 90's] and it's your duty to help them, you're doomed, but if it's the duty of the state, then you're off the hook. I wonder if most of the conservative gays blogging are younger than 30.
2) The first guy I knew who was fully out was in a committed [at least, as far as I know] relationship, and had been for almost 20 years. Which is probably why they were both still alive, and not dead of AIDS.
April 26, 2005
His life, my life, I dunno
So, doing a random walk through peoples' blogrolls this afternoon, and I come upon GeekSlut. Warning: no X-rated pics, lots o X-rated content.So, he's similar to me in several demographic areas, completely opposite in others. He contracted HIV in a time that it was usually an inexorable death sentence. [I'm neg, in case you wondered]. He has partied hard, has an automatic reflex to check how much illegal stuff he's carrying when he meets a cop, etc. He delays sex to play World of Warcraft. Conservative christian family. Bodybuilding tips, recommends lots of fiber for rather specific reasons. Likes Justice League, Stargate, and gay porn. He has some video and audio blogging. He seems to have stopped recently.
Could my life have been similar to his? Maybe. I haven't found much on his formative years. If I had the chance to trade lives with him, would I?
More realistically, should I try to aim my life to be more like his?
Firefly
From Penny Arcade comes the link to the trailer:"This is going to get pretty interesting."
"Define interesting."
"Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die."
Sweet.
I've seen maybe half the shows, now I must get the DVDs.
April 25, 2005
Politics
A political quiz, from Eric's Grumbles: You scored as Anarchism. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'>
What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com |
April 24, 2005
Try, try again
Looks like my answers got erased. This one looks like more fun anyway.It's not working right. So,
Life and Death
This meme and the previous meme come from Impenetrable Prose and Poesy:Copy the list, bold the ones you've already done, italics the ones you want to do, and add some left-off items that should be on the list in a separate section.Watch whales migrate Go white water rafting See wild game on an African safari Find a long-lost friend Learn to dance
Fly a plane
Drive a NASCAR race car
Appear on Broadway
Dive the Great Barrier Reef
Skydive
Golf on a world famous course
Travel the Nile in Egypt
Be serenaded by a Venetian gondolier
Swim with the dolphins
Play with an orchestra
Paint the Big Apple red
Float in a hot air balloon
Sip a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby
Visit the Oval Office
Trace your roots
Helicopter over a Hawaiian volcano
Ride a mule down the Grand Canyon
Stroll along the Great Wall of China
Cruise in a Ferrari
See the Taj Mahal at sunrise
Walk the Inca trail at Macchu Picchu
Ride a Harley down an open road
Feed sharks
Scale a famous peak [depending on how famous you want]
Explore a Rain Forest
Learn to be a cowboy [partially done] [not a huge wish, though]
Play ball in a Major League park
Prepare the world's finest meal [or at least a meal that a really picky friend likes]
Be an extra in a movie
Gaze upon a magnificent waterfall
Horseback ride along a beach
Conquer a fear
Ride a steamboat down the Mississippi
Dive in a submarine
Taste the finest wine
Run a marathon
Write a song or poem for someone you love
Volunteer overseas
Visit a nudist colony
Explore the Alaskan wilderness
Hover in a blimp
Eat a cheeseburger in paradise
Run with the bulls in Pamplona
Say a special thank you
Experience weightlessness
Record and sell a CD of my own original music
Vanity-publish a book of my own poetry
Be the opening act for Tori Amos
Decipher the Voynich Manuscript once and for all
Finally take that darnded course on Principles Of Concrete - [I have a friend who took a course on Soil Mechanics in college, does that count?]
My additions:
Attend GenCon
Get a tattoo
Using all of my previously learned skills, get a job as a bartender
See a Space Shuttle launch
More Fun Memes
A somewhat strange quiz. I have no idea who these people pictured are, including my secret lover, except the guy from Will and Grace:
Phil Foglio, Super Genius
Thanks to Penny Arcade, I now know Girl Genius is now a webcomic.If you don't know who Phil Foglio is, you have no gamer street cred.
April 23, 2005
Carnival of Recipes
The new one is up.Sometimes there are some really fun recipes, like this one for a cake that looks like a cat's used litter box.
There's a recipe for Fiesta Chicken which uses cheddar crackers as part of the breading. Kinda cool.
5 Questions, Part 2
Part 1, including the rules for the meme. JohnL at TexasBestGrok has asked me 6 questions. I can ignore one if I want. [nah]. [In other words, I'm ending up doing the same meme from 2 different people, which fortunately had completely different questions.]I'm going to stick this at the top of the blog for a while. If anyone wants to play along, simply comment "Interview me" and I'll come up with 6 questions for you.
1. OK. First, the obvious one. I know you've mentioned it before, perhaps in a posting that has long since been archived, but please explain for first-time readers your handle and blogname.
First, the blogname. "Mutterings," because I envision this as me sitting off in my corner of the blogosphere muttering to myself, and if someone happens to hear that's fine. "Owlish" because I like owls in a totemic kind of way, and have a collection of various artistic owls. I wanted to blog anonymously so I avoided words that might have provided more clues to who I am, like Doc.
Second, the handle: "It's a floor topping and a dessert wax! No, wait... It's an online diary and a linkfest; one man's thoughts about life, liberty, and the pursuit of a boyfriend." I basically wanted a mission statement, something a new visitor could see and get a general idea of what he was going to get. I had a different one earlier, saying basically I was more essayist than linker. I decided that wasn't where the blog was going, thought of the Saturday Night Live skit with "It's a floor wax and a dessert topping" and randomly flipped them.
I like the name. I am less pleased with the handle, but have no obvious alternative.
2. Since you live in Galveston (i.e., Hurricane alley), do you have a Bugout box? If so, what's in it? If not, what would you put in one?
Galveston is very overdo for a hurricane. The closest thing to a Bugout box I have is a leather cosmetics bag my grandfather gave me more than a decade ago. I keep it stocked with usual things like shampoo and antiperspirant, as well as some simple over-the -counter symptom treatments [ibuprophen, immodium, diphenhydramine, vitamins]. Since I'm a single guy, with that bag ready I can pack very quickly [I packed for about 3 days and was out the door in 10 minutes recently].
Part of the reason I don't have anything more formal was for a while I was considered part of UTMB's emergency response, and part of my job was not to bug out. The other part is I'm up on the 5th floor, so if I get flooded out everyone else is dead.
If I knew a class 5 hurricane was likely to hit, had a short amount of time to pack the car, and expected to lose everything I didn't take, I'd get some more clothes, my laptop, and 2 cloth wall hangings. Then the music box from my great-grandmother and an antique stool. After that, a couple of the more expensive owls, and a couple of pieces of gold and silver [a necklace, a bolo tie, some rings, a plate]. Some prints. Dump the CD collection into a storage container, dump DVDs, computer games, and some VHS into another. Take a couple of minutes, grab ready-to-eat food, can opener. My SCIFI and fantasy books are heavy and relatively easy to replace, they're gone. Comics and RPGs are less easy to replace, some have value, but still heavy; depending on the time they're gone or in the back of the truck. Keyboard and stand might come. My dad has copies of all important papers, besides my CV, which I think is on my laptop.
I don't have a trauma kit [would want my stethoscope, it's pretty nice and could be handy]. The only way I'm doing any lifesaving beyond CPR is if the entire US medical and legal system has broken down. [I haven't had ACLS since med school; if your life depends on my ability to intubate you, pray for a miracle].
Unlike Kim du Toit, I don't have a gun [at home anyway, my dad keeps the rifle that is mine]. On a pure risk/benefit level, I suspect the chance of me using a pistol for suicide is greater than the chance I would need it to defend my life [both very low]. I've thought about getting one for recreation and to join the Houston Pink Pistols, though.
3. One of my daily reads, Timothy Sandefur, recently wrote that atheism is the Last Closet: "We come up with clever ways of avoiding the issue or rationalizing things, or we just stay quiet, because it would upset the family and scare away friends if you admitted that you’re an atheist. You call yourself an agnostic or a deist or a freethinker—anything but the A word. You keep going to church. You say all the right words. The family can go on politely thinking you’re still in the fold." What do you think about that statement?
At one point I told my therapist that it would bother my parents more if I told them I was an atheist than it did when I told them I was gay. He responded with "Are you an atheist?" to which I said I wasn't sure. I still don't know. So, I think there is some truth to that statement in my life.
4. I have noted that many people of the medical and related biological persuasions are atheist, while most equivalently-educated engineers, accountants, programmers, and lawyers remain adherents to some faith system. What was your experience in medical school -- were few/some/many/most of your fellow medical students atheists?
3 separate populations: college students, medical students, and psychiatry residents. The only people I know who proclaimed themselves to be atheists are from college. 3 guys: one remains an atheist, one I've lost contact with, one is dead [suicide or LSD flashback related]. Medical school had fairly low rates of weekly church attendance [mostly Catholic or evangelical Christian, a few Islamic, a few more obscure]. I've heard of surveys showing very low incidence of religious beliefs in psychiatrists compared to the general population, but that wasn't really my experience of the residents, and I haven't heard of that applying to all doctors.
On the other hand, it somewhat applies to me. My main crisis of faith comes from my experiences in psychiatry. I can imagine that hyperreligious, manic patients could have been very influential in the development of faith in prehistory, and could have been called prophets or seers.
5. What is the last piece of music you listened to?
The self titled Hoobastank [assuming computer game music doesn't count]. Before that was Amy Grant's Lead Me On.
6. What is the last movie you saw to which you had a strong emotional reaction (positive or negative) and why?
April 22, 2005
Mockery?
I was puttering around on Technocrati and found this post on Probity Rules, linking to my post on what I would do if elected pope.The specific sentence:
I have noticed that there is a great deal of mocking on the Internet, generally by people who believe other people's belief systems are irrational.
He then defines mocking:
A mocker is someone being overly proud and arrogant (Proverbs 21:24).
I guess my saying "I want and deserve to be pope" would be overly proud and arrogant. But that wasn't the point. I was thinking more of a scene in this book, in which a god's church has been slowly getting more and more corrupt, and his chosen people would be destroyed if they didn't get their act together. So the god manifests on the holiest day of the year, destroys the high priest, and appoints someone who normally could not have been the successor as high priest.
As I'm not even baptized in the Catholic faith, much less a priest, I assumed it would need the direct intervention of God for me to be appointed pope. And if so it would not be because I was especially holy, but because his church would need a metaphorical kick in the pants. And, yeah, probably a woman would perform that function better, but maybe a gay man would do.
Foster care continued
The Chronicle had another article about the bill. They estimate between 2000 and 2500 kids would have to be taken out of their current homes and placed somewhere else. Sounds like a disaster to me.Life
Ok, while I've had this stupid cold a friend has been passing kidney stones. He wins.At some point I'm going to have to knuckle under and get some anti-biotics.
Growing up Catholic and Gay
Gryphmon has a thoughtful post about some of his life experiences, and the influence the new pope had on his life.H/T: Smash
Template Change
I'm getting tired of the old version, making a few changes. Now I just have to figure out how to add my blogroll.Update: Hmm. Better now. Still may need a little tweaking.
April 21, 2005
Signature Weapon
Yeah, this sounds about right.
| Desert Eagle You preferred a weapon with 45% power over speed and 61% range over melee. |
| You use a Desert Eagle. One |
 |
My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test
Bizarre Japanese FashionSomething Awful broadens my horizons again, with a selection of pictures from the latest Japanese Fashion, ganguro.One wonders what The Manolo would say. Tex-Mex SoupI've been wanting to make some tortilla soup, looked though my various books of recipes, and decided on a variation of this recipe from All-Time Favorites Slow-Cooker, a [one-shot?] magazine from Better Homes and Gardens, dated 2003.Initial recipe first, the changes I made afterwards. Tex-Mex Soup 1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes In slow cooker combine 2 cups water plus ingredients up to and including garlic powder. I followed the recipe fairly closely. Substituted 2 beef bullion cubes plus water for the beef broth, 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped for garlic powder, chicken I had cooked for the prepared chicken, ro-tel tomatos instead of diced tomatos. Added an extra tsp cumin. Added one can whole corn. Ignored the corn tortillas [uncooked corn tortillas are not particularly tasty], sometimes served the recipe over rice instead. Turned out fairly well, and was good for this cold I've got. It had less taste than I really wanted. It had a fair amount of burn, but that faded quickly. Overall, a decent recipe for a base, now I need to find some more things to add. April 20, 2005When is 4% a large number?When it's the number of US Roman Catholic priests who were accused of molesting minors.And yeah, some of those may be false accusations, but still. Imagine you're the CEO of a very large company. A report comes across your desk that in your US branch, 400 of 10,000 employees have been accused of only sexually provocative speech in the workplace. How worried would you be? Or 4% of doctors had sex with their adult clients? I'm not a member of the Catholic church, and I think of it with slightly less disdain than I have for the "Church" of Scientology. And the last pope may have been a holy guy, but it seems to me all of the changes in the church during his rule were aimed at increasing the power of church and the church bureaucracy. The Texas House of RepresentativesThe Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill banning homosexuals or bisexuals from adopting kids or from becoming foster parents. I cry bullshit.In a perfect world every kid should have a mommy and a daddy, as well as supportive extended family, a positive environment, enough food to eat, should never get bullied or beaten up, etc. In case you didn't notice, this is not a perfect world. I've worked with some foster families, and while they were good intentioned, they were not perfect. If you think I couldn't raise a kid better, just because of my sexual preference, then fuck you and the horse you rode in on. Man, I needed thatBeautiful Atrocities has a post on "Great Moments in Turkish Cinema, " AKA the Turkish version of The Wizard of Oz. He links to 5 different reviews as well as some other stuff, but the reviews from Film Threat and Wave Magazine were so hilarious I laughed so hard I started crying.I have a group of friends that like really bad movies. We have to see this sometime. April 19, 2005Inner European?
Who's Your Inner European?
What the heck is that a picture of, anyway?
April 18, 2005LifeJust in case anyone wonders, being sick sucks. Slept 2 hours late yesterday, up 3 hours early today. Bleh.Got a sore throat, some stuffy nose. On the good side, Instapundit is Owlblogging! April 16, 2005Carnival of Recipes#35 (36?) is up, but a fair number of links don't work. I'll check back in later.LifeWoke up with a sore throat, likely some silly virus. I've got a large amount of tortilla soup [sans tortillas], I'll have to see if that is as efficacious as chicken and noodle soup for a cold. It'll clear out your sinuses in a hurry, anyway.This is Beach party weekend, a decent time to be stuck indoors. Sandy BergerThe ultimate post is at the Daily Pundit.Hat Tip: Doc Rampage. Cool blog name, by the way. April 13, 2005Tortilla SoupFor some reason, I've been wanting to make a good tortilla soup for a while. Hmm, possibly related to unconscious thoughts about a person who raved about the tortilla soup at this restaurant we went to. Anyway...Various recipes from past carnivals: Spicy chicken tortilla soup April 12, 2005More CrazynessMy Official Unitarian Jihad name is:
A good dogLet's try this as an obituary.He was a 15 year old golden retriever. He had been found as a stray when he was 3-4 years old, and at that point only had 3 legs. He was a very calm dog... Sorry, this isn't working. The problem is that his story is linked to my friend, and how when he was growing up he had an indoor dog, while my dogs always stayed outside. This meant that my concept of how a dog ought to be treated and his [and his family's] concept were often different, yet when they needed a dog-sitter I was usually the one. And the dog's story is linked to his huge need to be petted, which meant that he did very well when my friend's wife took the dog to the children's hospital, where the fact that he was missing a limb yet could get around sometimes was an inspiration to a child. And the dog's story is linked to the fact that there's another dog in the family, that they got as a puppy, and has been much more active than the other. And that dog was diagnosed with diabetes, and is currently getting insulin shots, and will be lucky to live another year. And the dog's story is linked to the fact that my friend cried more in the 24 hours surrounding his death than I ever have, for anything, including the death of grandparents and classmates in high school. And I couldn't do anything to help, besides be there and distract his kid sometimes. And coming back after a grocery shopping trip the house was so quiet that I wondered if my friend had suicided. And he hadn't, and that wasn't the sort of thing he would do anyway, but... I wondered. He was a good dog, and will be missed. 13 things that don't make senseFrom the New Scientist comes this kinda cool article.H/T: Truly Bad Films. April 11, 2005Life and Death
Maybe tomorrow.... April 09, 2005Life and emailA mailing list from my college fraternity has suddenly become very active. Everyone is giving a short history of what's going on in their lives [nearly everyone, it seems, is married and has wonderful kids].One guy sold his soul and is medical director for an insurance company. I felt like emailing some snide remark but he wouldn't know me from Adam, so, what's the point. No one from my year has posted yet. A couple of people I remember posted [seniors while I was a freshman or vice versa]. One guy who I almost expected to become a pastor didn't, but specifically mentions being heavily involved in his local church. The question is, should I post anything, and if so, should I mention my homosexuality, at least as a reason for not being married. I'm going to wait a while, see who else posts. April 08, 2005Ms SmashBy the way, Citizen Smash's wife was thrown from a horse and broke some bones, including a compression fracture in a vertebra. No neurological damage, but won't be able to do contact sports. She's back from the hospital today.Good luck, could have been much worse. Piano BarOk, the guy in the bar across the played Bowie's Major Tom, and now is doing some Pink Floyd, accompanying himself poorly on the guitar.Where the heck to they find these people. A little practice and I could do better. A bad sign. Sin CitySaw it on Wednesday. Liked it, say a 4 out of 5. It's been compared to Pulp Fiction; the movie it reminded me more of was Natural Born Killers. The stark black and white style works well, and it keeps the gore from being the focus, but the plot didn't quite mesh.I've seen quite a few reviews.Doc Russia loved it, "outstanding." Virginia Postrel wasn't as fond of it. She points to this review done as a B&W comic page. The dude at APCB missed his screening, and was bummed. He points to this review. No gay hookers: no horrible stereotypes, no eye candy for me. A female friend had the same reaction to the name Sin City that doc Russia's wife did: that some femanist groups were angry about it. How not to influence childrenWe have this post on PETA attempting to convince 8th graders that Fish are Friends[hat tip: LlamaButchers], and this article on Sesame Street revamping Cookie Monster into a more positive message for kids - "A Cookies is a Sometimes food." [hat tip: Scott Kurtz].Fortunately, sounds like the 8th graders ignored the idiot dressed in a fish suit. Cookie monster? I dunno. It's clear Sesame Street can have an effect on kids, but I tend to think of it as an educational effect [the letter c, the number 6, this is what we do when there is a fire]. I don't think a healthier cookie monster would have had any effect on my weight growing up, and the whole talking vegetables thing is odd. But after all, children's obesity is the crisis of the month, so we must do whatever we can to fix it. Update: Scott Kurtz's PvP gets it right:
How about instead, we have Big Bird sing that "Parenting isn't a sometimes job." Carnival of the Recipes#34 is up.Dead Dough isn't for eating. See no Weevil Chili. Read the backstory, too. Netscape vs BloggerBizzare things are happening when I try to log in to Blogger with Netscape. Everything works with Explorer, though.Bleh. 5 Questions Part 1This is a meme that's been bouncing around the blogosphere.This is a chain interviewing game for blogs. Here are its rules: Stryker at The Digital Warfighter has 5 questions for me. And JohnL at TexasBestGrok may have 5 more coming at some point. So: 1. I don’t know you too well. How about you tell me a little bit about yourself that you already haven’t mentioned on your site? 2. From which part of Texas do you hail: Southern Texas or Northern Oklahoma? Born and raised in Dallas, but spent most of my summers and some school vacations in the Tiny NorthEast Texas Town [where my father was raised and where my parents now live]. 3. What brand/model razor do you prefer and do you like shaving cream or gel? I usually shave in the shower, and don't use soap or shaving cream [shaving by touch, not by sight]. I usually buy the not quite bottom-of-the-barrel disposable razor. Multiple blades seem to do better than just one, but otherwise I don't care. 4. If you were to play Star Wars Galaxies, which race would you want to be and profession would you pursue? Why? A wookie scout sounds cool, but I have no idea how well it would work. Using City of Heroes teminology, I tend to prefer blaster type characters to bricks, and a well rounded character to a highly specialized one. 5. Who is your favorite superhero (comic)? 3 answers. Among the most famous ones, Batman. Among less famous titles but still DC/Marvel, Strikeforce Morituri. Among independents, Kevin Matchstick [Mage]. Holy crap, Hollywood is working on a movie adaptation.
April 06, 2005What I would do as PopeSilent Running has a post on what he [she?] would do as Pope. Unlikely to happen for several reasons, such as being Jewish, but hey, got to have a dream, right?So, God comes down to the cardinals as a talking burning bush, and recommends me. What to do? 1) Bring the church into the 20th century, if not the 21th. Masturbation isn't a sin. Women can be priests. Homosexual relationships, in the context of a committed, married relationship, aren't sinful. So they need to be able to marry within the church. Priests can marry. Priests can't be pedophiles, and will be thrown out of the church, and the church will cooperate fully with any law enforcement, rather than blocking law enforcement. 2) Work towards bringing Islam into the 16th century, if not later. If you say you want to destroy us, we will believe you and take necessary action. 3) Work towards the UN and various NGOs being forces for good, rather than complacent in genocide and active in raping children. 4) Improve my 7th and 8th grade Latin. 5) Science and Religion are not enemies. People trying to claim anti-science points of view as scientific [intelligent design] will be mocked. 6) As much fun as it would be to infallibly declare that I am fallible, I probably wouldn't. 7) We need to improve our ability to explore space, with the ultimate purpose of exploring other solar systems to proselytize aliens. Tangled BankVia Instapundit, a carnival of scientists is up, named Tangled Bank.Quite possibly the cleverest format I've seen; done as a re-re-submitted scientific paper. Evolutionblog has a quite righteous fisking of an anti-evolution article in The Standard. April 04, 2005Moon landings the MSM deniesThe mainstream media was able to suppress the story, until now: the story of the NASSA.Thanks to As I Please., Via Ace of Spades. Popeish thoughtsVia Instapundit, Jackson't Junction points to MSNBC, which says blogs love the deceased Pope, and CNN, which says they hate him.I've been looking around, and while I've found a few like Paz Nortona or BoiFromTroi who arn't overjoyed with him, but I have yet to come across anyone who hates him. April 02, 2005Sin CityThe Christian based Movie Guide recommends not seeing Sin City. I think this means I need to see it tomorrow.Via Fark. Gay dogsDowntown Lad is turning into the go-to guy for gay dogs. I haven't been looking at my search logs. Maybe I should.Although he'll never catch up to Boozhy. April 01, 2005BlogrollAdding people on the side, but I keep forgetting to copy the links before I save to blogger, and it keeps eating my changes.And with Protein Wisdom being wise and apparently avoiding further flame wars, it seems less important. Lileks is taking a break for a similar reason. Carnival of Recipes#33 is up at TexasBestGrok.The AnarchAngel has another recipe for Real Men, that just viewing could double your LDL count. Yum. Kraft mac and cheese is usually good enough, but Booklore has a recipe that looks interesting - cottage cheese? Maybe I could make this for my 3 year old godson. And Feisty Repartee has a recipe for Shrimp Etouffee that looks tasty and easy. |
