newly updated sidebar. The only remaining obstacle I have to total blog domination is FTP protocol. Once I can post images, I'll be dangerous. Really!
And now, for more shopping fun. Things I Love:
1. Bobbi Brown Lip Tint in Black Cherry (yummy peppermint smell and the perfect color);
2. The Body Shop Lip Butter in coconut (you'll want to eat it);
3. Plan Toys City stuff (wooden city toys instead of the yucky Fisher-Price plastic stuff);
4. Ked's Emily shoes (comfy & cute); and,
5. Wrap-Star headbands (yes, I'm too old to wear headbands, but I do anyway - her headbands were the only thing I ever liked about Hillary).
The Cookbook Oscars, so to speak. I used to collect cookbooks. I have 300+. Now, I mostly limit my purchases to award winners or award-winning authors. The Beard Awards and IACP are the cookbook pinnacle. Here are the 2002 winners. (Via Kitchen Cabinet).
1. What was the last TV show you watched? Fox News Live (surprise)
2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem? the ridiculous amount of time the home inspector took to inspect our home and the lame radon tester he left in my living room, threatening Armegeddon if we so much as looked at it funny. Sheesh.
3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say? My friend Ragan - in fact, I'm sitting here writing her a note thanking her for blessing me.
4. What was the last thing you threw away? Sour cream container.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited? demco.com - cool library supplies site -- who knew you could buy library cards!
Eason Jordan should be ashamed, as should anyone associated with this pathetic cover-up (link requires registration, well worth it for this op-ed). In a nutshell, Mr. Jordan admits to knowing for the past decade of the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein as "chief news executive of CNN",, but not reporting them for fear of endangering those involved and to make sure CNN got to stay in Baghdad. Excuse me?
Rush discussed the op-ed piece at length (and says the piece will be on his website later tonight). Newt Gingrich gave a blistering indictment of Mr. Jordan on the Sean Hannity radio show. James K. Glassman sums it all up nicely, noting that Mr. Jordan's "explanation just doesn't wash".
Understatement of the day.
1. What was the first band you saw in concert? The Police's Synchronicity Tour
2. Who is your favorite artist/band now? U2
3. What's your favorite song? Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues by Elton John
4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be? Piano
5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why? Bono, because U2's music had such a positive impact on my young adulthood.
The blogosphere is a strange world - one in which many people put many original thoughts in cyberspace trusting that no one will claim their ideas as their own. With the dizzying amount of blogs out there, it's nearly impossible to check sources with any regularity. Still, the 'sphere has shown itself to catch blatant plagiarism on some occasions.
So, for the record, here is my policy about quoting. Absent bad html or bleariness, my quotes will always be in bold. I find that more eye-popping than just quotation marks. In fact, in light of the Agonist agonies, I went back and cleaned up my site and found a few places where bleariness and bad html were fixed. Some want a blog code of honor. I agree with Instapundit that we should all just behave and I pledge to do just that.
I, for one, will never intentionally plagiarize.
(I'm sure all three of you that read my blog - hi mom- are relieved.)
is so good today I can't even pick out a quote with which to tease you. Must. Read. Whole. Thing. Go.
from Ross Mackenzie:
"Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a remark by Britain's archbishop of Canterbury suggesting Operation Iraqi Freedom is but another example of empire-building by an imperialistic Bush administration: 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in (consequence) is enough to bury those who did not return.'"
Too much to ask, maybe?
Not so fun for some these days according to Ann Coulter:
"Freedom of speech isn't working out so well for liberals now that they aren't the only ones with a microphone. It's not so much fun when the rabbit's got the gun."
Where's my carrot?
I love this. The Iraquis are doing the Happy Dance on Saddam's statue. Love, love, love it. I am so proud to be an American.
in Iraq (surprise), liberated by America (the Great Satan), and eloquently explained by Lileks. A sample:
Someone had to decide there would be children?s jails. Who? Saddam? He had more important things to do. Children matter as much to his world as dogs, or lamps. He may have signed off on the idea of creating a youth brigade, and put a gold star in the dossier of the sweating toady who proposed the idea. When someone put forth a proposal for jails to hold the children who resisted joining the brigades, he may have felt that spasm of impatience that shoots through the dictator?s heart from time to time: why are you bothering me with this? Build them; I don?t care. You think this is the path to advancement? You want my ear and my eye, kill someone who matters.
It gets better. Read.
Update: Here's a short news article about the jail.
I loathe roaches. I. Mean. Loathe. So, a connection between SARS and roaches does not surprise me. In fact, one of the few benefits of leaving Texas was kissing roaches good-bye, metaphorically speaking, of course.
is on a roll. Just a sample:
I think we should see the casualties, but not to serve any particular pedagogical purpose. I get irritated when told that we should see the dead so we understand what war is really like - as if the idea that people die in horrible means would be a surprise. You mean they don?t freeze up, shout AIIEEE, or grimace and crumple over? I saw a T-72 take a hit the other day, and it was one of those classic examples of the flaws of Soviet design - an armor-piercing round set off the munitions, blowing the turret high in the air. If there was anyone inside, the end was fast. But you can imagine the nature of that quarter-second between life and death- and you should. Men died. In the time it takes you to wink the irreplaceable worlds these men held in their heads vanished. One shell, four men, eight parents, 20 siblings, a hundred friends, a thousand details lost for good. One second in war echoes for a decade.
Show the carnage. Rope it off, show it in the late-night hours when the kids are in bed, but show it. I feel the same way about the 9/11 footage. Show it. Don?t presume we can?t take it or must be shielded, like children, from the truth of the thing we have unleashed. I?m not suggesting that the news should be nothing but Death on Parade, or linger with unwholesome glee on the injuries done to our soldiers or theirs. But you cannot edit death out of war; to do so defames those experience it. How can we understand the soldiers who return home without understanding not just what they saw, but what they did?
I agree completely, particularly regarding the 9/11 carnage. We are all adults here and need to see what happened when our fellow citizens went to work one day and inadvertently entered hell on earth. I can't even imagine in my wildest nightmares what someone must have faced to choose jumping from a 100+ story building instead of waiting for rescue. And it's not as if the jumpers knew the towers were going to fall. These poor people faced an inferno so bad that they didn't even want to try and be rescued. Innocent people. Not military. Not evil. Not torturers.
from the "Legend of Luke" by Brian Jacques. It reminds me of the United States:
The young must grow old,
Whilst old ones grow older,
And cowards will shrink,
As the bold grow bolder.
Courage may blossom in quiet hearts,
For who can tell where bravery starts?
Truth is a song, oft lying unsung,
Some mother bird, protecting her young,
Those who lay down their lives for friends,
The echo rolls onward, it seldom ends.
Who never turned and ran, but stayed?
This is a warrior born, not made!
Living in peace, aye many a season,
Calm in life and sound in reason,
'Til evil arrives, a wicked horde,
Driving a warrior to pick up his sword,
The challenger rings then, straight and fair,
Justice is with us, beware. Beware!
Beware indeed.
1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life? Oh my, let's see . . . . 19.
2. Which was your favorite and why? The house we bought in Hibbing. It was a vintage 1930's colonial - it was comfortable, beautiful, had character and we loved it.
3. Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why? Both. In my 20s I loved to move, probably because we moved about once a year as a child. Now that I'm the one that has to hassle with it, it's stressful. Plus, I now realize the benefit of roots and it's hard to have roots when you keep moving, even if it's just within the same city.
4. What's more important, location or price? Price.
5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)? It must be old (1880s to 1930s) and have been remodeled into the 21st century. Huge exercise room. Huge master bath. Low maintenance yard (I am not a yard or garden person). Hardwood floors everywhere. Lots of windows/light. Woodburning fireplaces. Lots of bookshelves full of books.