"These are the two #1 priorities besides [something else], [yet
another thing] and [one more thing]….."
Hahaha! The way I count it, that's *five* 'number one priorities'. What a hoot.
¶ 9:47 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajvar
Will try an eggplant ikra also, to roll in some of the wonderful tomatoes Bill is producing:
http://www.tfkitchen.com/snack/EggplantIkra.html
Next year we plan on a TON of eggplants. Shopping at the Lebanese markets (mostly Neomonde, but have added another one in the Method Rd neighborhood) has really grown our appreciation of these veggies that I fell in love with solely because they are so beautiful.
I got a heated tortilla press to make flour tortillas or rotis (or, it turns out, very thin pitas) - it works wonderfully. So with flatbread and pepper/tomato/eggplant spreads, what more could we need? Well, besides onions and garlic; I need to add those to next year's garden plan, too, I guess.
¶ 11:57 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=de36814e-c822-4f16-ae4e-108e328a959b&k=83848
Russian expedition sets sail to claim Arctic for the Kremlin
"The Arctic is Russian," Artur Chilingarov, the expedition leader and deputy leader of the country's parliament, told Russian television.
"We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole."
Oooh, a -flag-. I guess that's an improvement over pissing on a tree to establish territory. Yes, planting a flag is a great way to establish property rights. Especially if you stolen property (everything every government owns) to accomplish said flag-planting.Savages!
¶ 11:40 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
"The public judgment is even harsher for reporters who publish
classified information obtained from an anonymous source. By a
three-to-one margin (63% to 21%) American adults believe that
publishing such information should be illegal. Women are more likely
than men to hold this view."
>
> "White testified before state lawmakers Wednesday on behalf of
> legislation he drafted that would add "None of the above: for a new
> election" below the names of every candidate on Massachusetts ballots
> except those running in the constitutionally protected presidential
> race."
I asked my state reps if they would be interested in sponsoring such
legislation. Deb Ross pointed out that it's too late to add new bills
for this session and that I should contact her before the next
session.
Richard Stevens had a most fascinating answer:
"No, I would not support such a law for North Carolina. A citizen has the
right to not vote for any candidate."
This made me think a bit - why was I asking for a NOTA option, if, as
he says, I can simply not vote for someone I dislike? My thoughts
jumped to write-in candidacies, and their restrictions in NC. If you
could writ in any constitutionally qualified person, why would you
need NOTA?
So I asked him if he'd sponsor a removal of the restrictions on
write-ins. :) I await his answer with some interest.
Much of the 'issues' page (http://www.neitherparty.org/nei_political.html) reads suspiciously like an old Libertarian Party issues page (before the LP got paranoid about offending anyone by actually talking about what we're FOR, and started concentrating on carping about things we're AGAINST. But the economic and environment parts have the creeping socialism typical of 'green' or geo-libertarians of the Georgist type (" We support the democratic management of grazing lands, safe drinking water, and stringent air pollution standards").
Seems to be the effort of one guy, John Rice. Amazing how many of these roll-your-own political party efforts there are. Except for the abortion issue, I think this guy tracks pretty closely to Carl Milsted's views as I understand them.
¶ 11:44 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Their existence does not offend me, though I could argue that the technology (and technology in general) has done absolutely nothing for the quality of human life, the reduced suffering of the human race or the enlightenment of human beings. Quite the opposite.
I have asked him how he feels about the technologies of agriculture, and cloth-making, and brewing. I confess to being rabidly curious as to the answer. I'll try to remember to share the gist of it here. Really I feel as if sometimes I am an alien among my fellow men, when I hear things like this which I cannot easily comprehend. I wonder if they have the same relation to the 'benefits' of technology as I do to the 'services' of government - cold loathing, much of it self-directed for allowing myself to continue to be involved with such a despicable system, and a good dose of joy contemplating the future which will be much more free.
What a puzzle!
¶ 11:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
said during debate that "We legally steal."
This is really just a bizarre story - too bizarre for comment:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0707/North_to_Alaska.html
Rep. Don Young attacked his fellow Republicans on the House floor
Wednesday, as he defended education funds allocated to his home-state
of Alaska.
"You want my money, my money," Young stridently declared before
warning conservatives that, "Those who bite me will be bitten back."
jingoistic offerings of the cold war era was some laughable (at least
it's laughable now) abomination called "I was a Communist for the
FBI". I was listening to an episode the other day and
there was a line that I thought too good not to share with my
Libertarian Comrades. The FBI agent is being reprimanded by his
Communist Party boss for (very mildly) whining about an assignment.
The boss says in a very stern and unamused voice::
"You did not join the Party to sip pink lemonade, Comrade."
Priceless! Especially the 'pink' part (which, duh, I just now realized
was probably a 'red' joke on the part of the writers).
So, Comrades; I exhort you to suck it up and settle for the yellow
lemonade. And no sipping!
It so happens I had taken some pics this morning (or yesterday) of some eggplants growing, so I reproduced that picture this afternoon with the new camera. It has an image stabilization feature, which will allow you to take pictures in relatively low light while correcting for the shaking of the camera from your hand. This way you can get decent low-light pics without a flash. The first picture is taken with the new camera (Canon A710) w/o flash, the second was from the old Canon A400 (also w/o flash), and the last one was taken with the A400 with a flash.
I have a LOT to learn about various settings, but I'm delighted to have a camera with so much more potential.
Here's one of the first pictures I took with my new Canon A710
We finally cleaned out the car (yeah!) so we could take a roadtrip with dogs. We chose mountains, and went to Linville Gorge. Nice drive, but our dogs are all getting old and feeble. I was doling out the aspirin before and after the two short walks we took with them. But I think they enjoyed stopping for walks and seeing/sniffing new places and getting biscuits and french fries for lunch and dinner. This picture was after the first walk, down some fairly rough rocks. Everyone got carried at a least a little part of the way - well, every four-legged one. The other walk we took was much gentler, a paved walk to a viewing platform. They aren't much on views, but they love walking on blacktop through the woods! The whisper of the trees from the view, and the shadows of the clouds on the woods, was amazing.
¶ 11:43 AM 0 Comments
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