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October (November) 2002

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That shropshire blue cheese is disappearing when I'm not home.  Even the dh who doesn't like blue cheese can't keep his hands off it.

And really, it is a slow news day.  My home town is recycling an auto accident from a year ago.

The Albanians and Russians are coming to observe the U.S. election. (article)  Seen on Metafilter, where it prompted a discussion about the nature of our democracy. Poster apparently saw it on Cursor before that.

Tired?  Don't know how this will play out, but I've done the best to behave myself while on vacation in California the last few weeks.  Tomorrow it's back to real life.

Spent a long drive listening to Christian radio.  Specifically a New Life broadcast and The Bible Answer Man.  Interesting to hear the in-group lingo.  The New Life folks seemed to have a sense of humor and sanity about them.  The Bible Answer Man had no sense of humor and a great deal of rationality.  The mainstream Protestant (or "Bible Centered") world seems to be doing very well for themselves.

     It is too bad that someone such as I, or some other variety of sacredness-respecting ("God fearing"), generally isn't permitted to tap into those resources.  It seems to me that a serious Muslim, for example, and a serious Christian have more in common than a serious Christian and a non-sacredness-respecting person.  Hmm... certain powers put the poor at odds against each other and surely a certain power puts the God fearing at odds against each other as well.  Where there is sacredness, Satan is sure to hover about.

Why am I so tired all the time? Ah yes, anemia.  More, better, latter- after those red blood cells have gotten their act in order.

Too sick to go wandering about the web, so instead a story about intimidating teenage boys.  Like most women, I'm furious that I have to limit my life based on being intimidated by children.  Adults in our culture can't or won't act like adults, parents can't or won't act like parents, and the children are running wild.

     So today I was walking into a shop and the three boys in front of my took time to mock the police officer handling a traffic accident.  In the store, the boys ended up in line behind me. So when I was done paying, I turned around and said, "And you young men, since your mothers aren't here, I have something to say to you about your behavior."  They were kind of intimidated.  Actually, everyone in the store seemed kind of intimidated by this crazy woman.

     What really got their attention was "since your mothers aren't here."  I've been told that is effective, mainly because it reminds them of their place in the world.  They were behaving wildly because they thought they had escaped their place in the world.  But I realized something else- despite the fact that these boys are a foot taller than me and despite the fact that they intimidate me, they are just children.  For all they know, I know their mothers.

     Anyway, hopefully more of us will have the courage to be adults and to keep this a society worth living in.

Article guessing at the shooting skills of the Maryland sniper.

The God Squad is interesting from a theological point of view this week.  A Catholic writes with questions about her miscarriage; the Catholic member of the God Squad has a tricky case of compassion and the difficulties of Catholic theology on this point.

From Newsday: "Frances McMurry did not intentionally kill her mother when she plunged a 10-inch carving knife into her chest, but a jury in Riverhead Thursday decided that McMurry did commit manslaughter."  After an opener like that, there's nowhere to go but downhill.  If you want to read the article it is here.

I'm still a sucker for these foster parent media stories.   I'm just amazed that there are people who manage to do such a good job of it, and thankful too since guiding the children is the most important job in the world.

Been experimenting with rice & Campbell's soup & food storage very cheap dinners.

     Tonight was one can cream of shrimp soup, 1 cup rice (cooked with 2 cups water), 1 can salmon, 1 cup fat-free sour cream and 1 can artichoke hearts.  Very good.

     Last night was once can cream of mushroom with garlic soup, 1 cup rice (cooked with 2 cups water, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup fat-free sour cream.  Also very good, but needs more salt.

     Any other suggestions?

Meanwhile, if one can't go shopping, check out the Collection of Other People's Grocery Lists.  Yes, grocery lists found in the parking lots of grocery stores, etc. [link seen on Just One Thing]

Newsday discovered Celiac Disease today.  A very common disease that the media re-discovers on a regular basis and then promptly forgets again.  And most people haven't heard of it, since I have to explain over and over that I have Celiac Disease (and that to the detriment of my health I nonetheless cheat constantly).  If you want to learn more about Celiac Disease, the best place to go is the Canadian Celiac Association.

Technical difficulties.  My local service provider apparently forgot that an awful lot of people want to use the internet!

I've been thinking about the fact that we don't have:

     1) a public life, and 

     2) a private life.

Rather, we have

     1) a work life,

     2) a public life, and 

     3) a private life.

(more)

Posting these thoughts after reading this item on Dive into Mark, an excellent blog which I plan to continue to read and will soon check the links.  Mark apparently hit a problem everyone fears in the current day: your job or your blog.  Mark kept his blog, and the link is about that choice.

Found an interesting article on "logical rudeness."  [link seen on the Dive into Mark item above] Particularly interesting as I am currently reading in informal logic (09/17/2002, 09/09/2002).  I haven't read the entire thing, but will shortly.

Apparently the blond thing (see 09/27/2002) was a hoax.  It was an internet hoax that was picked up and published in the British press, and away we go!  Still, blond is a recessive gene that has only been protected by global racial apartheid.  One-in-seven California marriages is an interracial marriage.  I'm a California girl even if I'm in NC, and I married a guy from India.  So we're still going to surprise our posterity some day!

The God Squad:  A particularly good one this week.

Just finished reading Longitudes & Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 by Thomas L. Friedman, the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times.  Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and has written two other well-regarded books, The Lexus and the Olive Tree and From Beirut to Jerusalem.  The books is of course excellent; well written, interesting, authoritative.

The book is in three parts- articles before September 11th, articles after September 11th, and writing specific to the book.  Much of the third section has to do with how information and attitudes collude and collide at this point in history.  Friedman wrote: "Maybe the Internet, fiber optics, and satellites really are, together, like a high-tech Tower of Babel.  It's as though God suddenly gave us all the tools to communicate and none of the tools to understand." (p. 373)  What are the tools to understand? "Exchange programs, outreach, diplomacy, real communication, and one-on-one education." (p. 376)

Friedman ends with the question of how the communication will proceed.  Because we don't really know.

I don't really believe Friedman when he writes about religion.  He may be honest, I don't know, but most people who are saying the same things as him aren't as honest as I would like.

Like every intelligent commentary on how Islam finds it's place in the world today, he writes about looking for an Islamic Enlightenment.  There is a place in the world for Enlightened Islam, he declares.

I don't believe him.  In general, people who say such things really mean that there is a place in the world for secular Islam.  Where people eat pork and drink and show up at the Mosque on Friday to meet some singles and hand over a couple dollars in donations to the poor.  Like we do in Christianity and Judaism.

I could be wrong about Friedman. He could be serious about Enlightened Islam, and Enlightened Christianity and Judaism. He could have every intention that his two daughters will sign marriage contracts as virgins and live meaningful lives of religiosity.  But in general, no one really means it.  Which means that the protectors of Islam who think they are at war with the world are right.

Now how do you make a dialogue with that?

There is something else about Friedman's book the infuriates me.  As you read the book, you will discover Friendman's access and influence based on his position as a journalist.  Friedman doesn't brag about it; he doesn't even seem to really notice about it.  But when he writes about telling Arab heads-of-state what Bush really means, all I can think is "Who elected this guy?"  Suddenly, his columns written "from George Bush" don't seem so amusing.

At one point, he and a congressman can't get seats on a military jet.  It is Friedman that suggests the congressman call Bill Powell and then dials the phone number from memory.  Welcome to the media: the unregulated fourth branch of power.

Houseflies:  Flypaper, 10.  Spider in the bathroom, 20.  I suggest always betting on the spider.

Friday "lite".  This last week I've been reading a wonderful little book by Julia Cameron called God is No Laughing Matter.  The chapters are about two pages each- great if you have a short attention span, or vertigo.  She makes jabs at Very Spiritual People and discusses some simple points of living a spiritual and authentic life.

Health update:  Yipee!  The elephant standing on my head has shrunk to a small pony, the world seems to have come into the bay if not quite to the dock, verbal acuity has returned.  Still haven’t heard back on the CT, which is (surely needlessly) stressing me out, but the sickness is abating.

World's best joke.  Judged on being found the funniest by people from all cultures.  Plus an analysis of what makes things funny.  The researchers are writing a book about their findings. [link seen on Metafilter]

Neat article in Newsday about the Tex Sutton horse transport plane that flies between Kentucky and New York.  One way tickets cost about $2,000.  The article links to a set of photos.  Apparently Tex Sutton company (the founder and namesake of the company has passed) is the big player in horse air transport.  A Google search turns up thousands of references to the company, mostly in articles about famous horses that have traveled on these planes.

Hurricane Lili. (coverage on CNN)

     I grew up in California, where we have earthquakes.  Okay, here's the thing about an earthquake: all the danger is about things falling on you.  In the middle of a large open field you are basically safe.  In a hurricane, no one is safe.  Even if you are rich and live in a well-built house far above the flood level, you aren't rich enough to have a hurricane-proof house.  Everyone is in danger.

     Of course, the big problem we have on the east coast now is that the majority of people haven't experienced a really bad hurricane.  People don't leave their homes at all, or leave too late and end up in big traffic jams on the freeways.  Emergency authorities worry about a huge death rate someday, not because of their failings but because the people won't obey the warnings.  You've heard people say that the warnings about New Orleans are false, just because they can't comprehend that New Orleans really is in that much danger of a catastrophe.

     I've been through one direct hit of a relatively small hurricane.  I cannot comprehend what a serious hurricane would be like, but I would do anything to avoid it.  As it was, my hurricane (Fran) left a huge path of destruction.  In the middle of civilization, you were on your own.  A neighbor three doors down cut hit leg off with a chainsaw, but there were about 20 trees down and 3 power lines between me and him, so I couldn't help.  It took nearly a day for the authorities to remove him to the hospital.

     So as I watch the news, I feel for those people in Louisiana.  I understand the fear, and it is strange to watch the news of a hurricane and as the same time know that I don't have to fear for myself.

Footnote:

Yo, all you crazies who think children are "taught" to claim abuse.  This child saw a TV special about child abuse and told her mother that an ex-boyfriend of the mother's had sexually abused her.  The police moved in and found proof positive- the boyfriend had videotapes.  But what if there weren't proof?  One more kid led astray by the media feminazies, right?  Whatever.

So I've been home for about a week with no responsibilities or activities.  The *(&^#$^@ vertigo means no major reading or writing and no walking around.  For some reason about the only thing I can taste is salt.

     So you would think that maybe I could be taking really good care of the basic stuff- eat right, sleep right, meditate.  And I've been doing none of them!

    Now last week, after the cold, I ate perfectly for an entire week.  Didn't ever want to get sick again.  But now I'm really just too sick for that sort of thing.  Uh, sure....

I was waiting in line at the pharmacy, and I came up with some philosophy.  First, some philosophy about vertigo:  I am a great at waiting right now.  I should hire myself out as a professional person-who-waits.  I got a flat tire this week and it was perfect- I could think of nothing better than sitting in the tire shop waiting room for an hour.  It's like being sick and productive at the same time.

     Anyway, at the pharmacy there was a big display of nicotine products- gum and patches (they sell the cigarettes at the other end of the store, so the pharmacy / drug store sort of gets you either way).  And looking at the display, I noticed how hard it sells the idea that really you can't quit smoking.  You want to, but you can't do it.  So buy our product.  Except, you know, quitting smoking is really hard and you can't do it.  So you're going to be buying our product for the rest of your life.

Look at the Nicorette web site; it's priceless.  "You can do it.  We can help."  Which means you can't do it, doesn't it?  It makes me think of the famous subliminal cigarette ads that had "cancer" hidden in the photographs.  Why?  Cancer makes smokers nervous.  What do smokers do when they are nervous?  Smoke.  So the ad looks like it says you can quit, but really it says that you can't quit.

     It gets better.  The "about quitting" page says that other people told you all the good reasons to quit, so you know you have a good reason to quit.  Get it?  Other people are telling you to quit.  So you won't quit, because you need to stick those people in the eye.  Look at the second-to-last reason: those other people "attack."  You aren't going to listen to people who "attack" are you?  I skipped the "let's get started" page because it was too easy.

     Next page: quitting is hard because you have withdrawl cravings.  So you need this gum for 12 weeks.  Um, nicotine withdrawl takes 24 to 48 hours.  You don't have cravings, you have a failure of will.  Failure of will is what Nicorette can't help.  All Nicorette can do is sell you orange gum for the rest of your life.  Yeah for GSK companies!

     When you buy the Nicorette, you also get pamphlet with things to think about every day so you can be a "Committed Quitter."  I bet.  I bet you'll be quitting for the rest of your life.

Stupid criminal tricks: thieves targeting a commuter parking lot break into the surveillance van with the officers who are there to catch them.

Wake Radiology took like 100 pictures of my head.

01   10

08    09

39   - 07-08

48 - TOTAL

This page last updated  01 March 2003.

thecactus@loafingcactus.com

Original content copyright 2001, 2002.