What Goes Around

The man behind a creative Obama poster:

Fairey is known for putting his stickers and posters in unlikely and often illegal places."That's always been my style," Fairey says. "I don't get permission. I just do it."

The posters have become quite popular.

"But Fairey, whose posters have helped raise money for the campaign, says he has little patience for people who have copied the image for personal profit or resold his posters — at huge markups — on eBay."

Seems to me Mr. Fairey has a nice double standand going there.
Read it here.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

There was this:

"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. You know, passions may fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. But this, too, is part of America's promise -- the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan Horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what -- it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know."

And this:

You know, this country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit -- that American promise -- that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours -- a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

This:

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of America.

So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

And this:

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise -- that American promise -- and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

There is more. Read the speech here.

My Prediction

I have to post this now because otherwise no one will believe me 8 years from now when I claim I made this prediction. If Barack Obama becomes the next president, Hillary will kick herself for not showing up to support him tonight. She's thinking he'll lose and she can run in 4 years. But if he wins, she can't beat him in 4 years and in 8 years he won't back her for the nomination.

I'm putting a reminder in my google calendar for 2016 and we'll see how I did.

Not So Dumbo

I think these zookeepers are nicer than Disney circus people but the article still reminded me of:

Needs More Seasoning

I think Norm is supposed to be the Las Vegas version of Louella Parsons, who chats about what the celebs are doing in our town.

In today's column, he asks Rich Grant, seasoned spokesperson for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau to share some of the weirdest questions his staff have been asked.

Grant's favorite?

"What season is it right now?"

I don't get why that is weird. Maybe Grant isn't so seasoned after all. Does he not realize that seasons are different in different parts of the world? For example, Culture.Gov.Au lists the seasons for Australia:

Like all countries in the southern hemisphere (the hemisphere south of the Equator), Australia's seasons follow the sequence:

Summer: December to February
Autumn: March to May
Winter: June to August
Spring: September to November

So perhaps the tourist who asked the question, just wanted to know what season it was in the United States.

Put Some Lime In The Coconut

Last April I headed off to El Dorado County for our annual food and wine tasting event. In the course of the trip, we tasted some great spicy ginger and lemon shrimp on rice. The chard it came with was pretty good too but the shrimp was yummy. Scott and I were determined to make our own version.

When we returned from our weekend, we poached some shrimp in vegetable broth to which we had added ginger and lemon. Once the shrimp was cooked, we removed it and then added some cream and red chili sauce to. We simmered the sauce for a long time but it never reduced enough to be a nice thick sauce. The taste was good but not perfect.

Last weekend I returned to Reno/Tahoe for another event and we decided to try the shrimp dish again. This time we used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth and we used coconut milk instead of cream. We also made a roux of butter and flour to thicken the sauce with. Good but not good enough. And very white! I definitely didn't like the chicken broth flavor.

Today I found this recipe and tonight I experimented some more. I halved the recipe. I added about a tablespoon of grated ginger to the marinade. I used vegetable broth (next time I may add fish stock). I didn't add jalapeño. I also didn't use the cilantro but not because, like my SIL and verbatim, I don't like it; I just forgot to buy it. I also sprinkled my dish with some chopped cashews. I cooked the rice in broth, adding just a pinch of saffron. And I used basmati rice. Adding the coconut milk to the just cooked rice was a tasty touch. Here's a picture of the final result.



I think we've almost got it perfected.

More Math

Maybe I'm missing something but this article confused me. It tells about two teens who collected samples of sushi and had the samples tested to see if the fish was correctly labeled. Reportedly, 25% of the tested sushi turned out to be mislabeled.

The results showed that 25 percent of the girls' samples were mislabeled: half of the restaurant samples and six out of 10 grocery store samples.

If 50% of the restaurant samples were mislabeled and 60% of the grocery store samples were mislabeled how could the final result be 25%? Maybe they meant 50% of the restaurant samples were mislabled and 6 samples of all the samples taken from 10 grocery stores were mislabled? There were 60 samples altogether. If 18 of the samples were from restaurants and 42 were from 10 grocery stores then 15 of the 60 were mislabeled, or 25% of all samples.

But that isn't how the article reads to me.

Do The Math

Here's an interesting article in the Washington Post (via verbatim) that shows the differences between the Obama and the McCain tax plans. Those of you making more than 600K per year should probably vote for McCain.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book a lot. I listened to it on a long drive and it was the perfect book. It was engaging and well written; it entertained me for the entire drive. I like Ed and all his friends. His adventures were funny and kind, scary and poignant at different times.



I didn't give the book five stars because I haven't decided yet how I feel about the ending. At first I thought it was contrived and somewhat of a cop out but I'm becoming adjusted to it.



The audio tape I got was unabridged and had a great reader. He really was Ed.


View all my reviews.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Debra,
Happy Birthday to you

Somewhere in my travels I heard a mother say, "I couldn't have done better if I'd custom ordered you." That pretty much says it all. You are everything a mom could ask for. I love you to the moon and back.

Barry Funny

Back when I used to subscribe to a real newspaper so that I could get newsprint all over my fingers in the morning, I used to look forward to the Dave Barry columns. He has that observational humor I like that takes everyday events and makes them funny. Like my brother. And every January I couldn't wait to read Dave's recap of the previous year.

When I started reading my news on the Internet and gave up newspapers, I would occasionally look for Dave's columns online. And I'd try to track down the year in review. Eventually I just stopped reading his column. When he came out with a blog, I found I didn't have a great desire to read it regularly. Instead of funny articles by Dave, it seemed to just be links to items that amused Dave.

Along came the Olympics and my friend asked me if I was reading Dave's articles. That's when I discovered I there are regular Dave articles linked to from the sidebar of Dave's blog. And the Bejing ones are very funny. The only annoying part is that Dave has pictures of himself at various tourist sites. And he apparently lets his mom cut his hair with a bowl on his head. So while I'm laughing at what he writes, I'm also imploring him to join the 21st century and get a big boy haircut.

What's Nu?

Here's a Survey of American Jewish Language via verbatim. It is intended to determine your familiarity with Yiddish and Hebrew words and won't take you long to complete.

Brainiac

I've been havng fun over here exercising my brain. My free trial is almost over and even though I am enjoying it, I don't think I'm enjoying it THIS much. But I'll keep playing through my trial. I like the birdwatching game; it seemed too simple at first but it gets harder. I also like the monster game which appeared kind of childish at first but is challenging in the extreme game. I like the number 'raindrop' game and want to try it with a keyboard that has a traditional keypad because I think I'll rock.

Give it a try, let me know what you think.

U.S.A.

U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!

That's all I have to say today.

Just A Thought

Wouldn't it be great if the President of the United States was the biggest celebrity in the world?

We Need Some Stinking Badges

Look over there. Yes, over there. To your left. My right. I added that badge at the request of my pretty cool niece. Or maybe that should be, my pretty, cool neice. What a difference a comma makes. Just ask Bill. Either way, my neice supports To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) and asked me to put the SocialVibe badge on my site.

The social vibe site is interesting. A social network to support a variety of causes and focused on a young crowd; I know, I'm old - I just joined in the event it might get more $$ for my neice's cause. I believe my neice gets points based on visit to my site. I haven't notice the $$ going up so you guys need to visit me more often.

At any rate, I think my neice is absolutely wonderful and I'm so happy she has a strong social conscience. And I wear my badge proudly.

For The Birds

Today Deb was alerted by her cat Jasper to an emergency just outside her door. A baby bird had fallen out of its nest. Deb had noticed that the mom bird had been absent the previous day but now one of the babies was on the ground. Deb couldn't put him in the nest (it was too high up) so she tried to move him off the sidewalk. She went in to find something to pick him up with but he disappeared by the time she got back. She had to go to school and she called me worried about the poor little guy. I told her there wasn't much she could do if mom was gone and the bird couldn't fly yet.

She persisted and called a local wildlife organization to see if they would go rescue the babies.

They said they couldn't do that but she could bring the bird to them if it was still living. When she got home she found the little bird in the bushes; by then he'd been there 5 hours. She got him out and tried to get the nest as well but couldn't reach it. There didn't seem to be any activity in the nest and so most likely the babies were just too young to survive without mom. Or some predators got them.

Deb got back in her car and drove the dying bird to the wildlife group; a round trip of about 20 miles. They put him in an incubator and will try to save him but don't offer much hope. I think it was pretty sweet of Deb to try and rescue the little bird. It reminded me a lot of her gramma who used to bring home baby birds found on the tarmack at the LAX. Mom worked there for many years and every so often she would bring home some lost baby bird and feed it from an eye dropper. The birds always died but Mom was always hopeful and would bring home every one found.

Two kind, gentle women in my life.

Organization

When I was young and played with Barbie dolls, I would periodically organize all of Barbie's clothes. I'd hang dresses up in my Barbie closet, put socks and underwear in the Barbie drawers and line all the little Barbie high heels in a row in Barbie's Dream House

For a few weeks, I'd be very careful to put Barbie's things back whenever I played with her. Eventually I'd get lazy and just shove the clothes back in the Barbie case and the items would get all intermingled. A few weeks or months later, I'd get the bug to organize again and spend an hour making everything neat.

That pretty much describes me today. It doesn't matter if it is my clothes, my work papers or my email. I go through a clean up phase and then keep everything neat for a few days or even weeks. Eventually I get lazy and papers pile up, email clogs my inbox and shoes litter the closet floor.

This applies to my purse as well. I shove money in the wallet, drop coins in the bottom of my purse, and stuff receipts in any convenient pocket. I end up digging for my keys, my cellphone and my sun glasses.

Then I get tired of the mess and decide to organize. That's what I did yesterday. I bought myself a new tote and wallet. I dumped everything out of my old purse and organized it all in my new purse and wallet. Coins in the coin purse, credit cards in the card slots, make up in a make up bag. I sorted receipts and threw out all I didn't need. I put a pen in the handy pen holder.

Now I'm organized again - for a week or two at least.

Salad Days

A coworker's wife made this chicken cranberry salad for us the other day and everyone loved it. Even though I don't eat much chicken, I chowed down on this. Today, I used tuna instead of chicken and it was just as good. I did cut back on the mayonnaise and I used Trader Joe's dried cranberries instead of craisins. It was excellent.

Arf Arf!

Love it!. Pretty much I just love the English Fail blog.