Tuesday, January 31, 2006
My little humorist
Too cute not to share
Monday, January 30, 2006
Why is Bush so awesome?
Samuel Alito got me out of bed this morning
No matter what the odds, and no matter how few of our elected representatives we can count on to stand with us on this matter, and a hundred others, we have to keep up the fight. The war against Big Brotherization is as crucial as that for abolition, for women's suffrage, for civil rights.
In every case, the warriors in those wars suffered immense setbacks, repeatedly so, and found it hard to get the politicians to speak up and stand up for them. Eventually, however, because they refused to surrender, and because they took the fight beyond the electoral arena, they won.
We will, too.
Read the whole thing. One more inspirational link -- Jane, at firedoglake: We shook things up. Oh, yeah.Sunday, January 29, 2006
The merits of poor self-esteem: Part I
Letter to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Is there a dog whisperer in the house?
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Oy, what am I doing wrong?
Support the Alito Filibuster
Your morning bwaahahahahaha
Friday, January 27, 2006
Fesenjan
When Chihuahuas attack!
Will Gabriele or Darla . . .
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Late night variety pak
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
A timely Thursday Thirteen
1. Goethe, not Nietzsche, said, "What does not kill me makes me stronger." Three intervals in my life put this to the test, but I was not so much tempered by them as torn apart and put back together.
2. As a four-year-old, I was traumatized by a cantaloupe (AKA musk melon). This was not one of those desperate, ego-formative moments. I got over it.
3. My first memory: I'm two, nearly three, and my brother and sister are helping me get dressed in the back seat of my dad's car. (A blue Chevy, Sis?) It is the first day of my first Voyage of the Damned: summer vacation, driving from LA to Boston to see the rest of the family. It would not be my last such voyage.
4. I liked to get up when my parents got up. They would eat breakfast, drink coffee, and not yell at each other. I hid in the hallway with my back against the wall heater, listening to them talk. My mom didn't like this. She thought the wall heater would give me "arthuritis."
5. On that first Voyage of the Damned, we stopped for breakfast in Needles. I saw a red firetruck I dearly wanted. My mother wanted to buy it for me, but my father didn't. Much psychodrama ensued.
6. We took the southern route that year. One night, in a motel room in the Deep South, we woke up to find the room infested with giant water bugs. Trust me: you really don't want to click on that link.
7. Bliss for five-year-old me was a day at the beach . . . although I hated it when my mom would towel the sand from my back. Ow.
8. I had my first mathematical epiphany in kindergarten. I told my teacher, Mrs. Biyotch, "One and one are two!" and she replied, "One plus one equals two." Talk about buzz kills.
9. I loved my pediatrician, Dr. Johnson. Or maybe I just loved ripping off all my clothes as fast as I could.
10. I didn't like my next doctor, Dr. May. To this day, I don't understand why a doctor would feel the need to do a rectal exam on a ten-year-old boy (or younger) at every visit. Actually, I do understand, and I don't like it one bit.
11. Among other childhood fears, I was afraid of the dark, and of mysterious strangers coming into our house. My sister knows why. I didn't get over my fear of the dark until med school.
12. My grandfather groped me once, but I didn't hold it against him. (Hah! I love that gag.) No, this wasn't one of those ego-formative moments, either.
13. To some degree, I live in a constant state of breath-holding, waiting for the next traumatic interval.
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D.
Guess who's coming to dinner!
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
A Taste of L.A.
Cry Baby Cry
Support Jill Carroll
"The kidnapping of Jill Carroll does not benefit the kidnappers," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based group that represents US mosques and Islamic associations. "She has been friendly and respectful of the Iraqi people, not an enemy," he added.
I don't think Blue Gal will mind if I shamelessly steal the rest of her post:
So here is my idea. Tell your blog readers you support Jill Carroll and link to the Monitor, just like I did. That's it. Not too dramatic but drama is not what we need or want right now, no matter how much it might serve the interests of the 24/7 news universe. Update: one reader had another good idea--to link to one of Jill's own articles. A leader of Hamas called for her release today. The Muslims are united on this. Amazing.
Let's keep Jill Carroll in the forefront of our web-consciousness until she is released. Thanks!
D.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Identity
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Synopsisisizing
Phone call for Al Coholic
On truthiness, propaganda, and the rise of fascism
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Various and Sundry
Early for Valentine's Day, but I'm not complaining
Friday, January 20, 2006
Woo-hoo! I totally rock with the ladies!
Thursday Thirteen, a day late
1. For as long as I can remember, I have had difficulty distinguishing Thursday from Friday.
2. I also had trouble telling my left from my right. My usual response was, "What difference does it make?" Fortunately, I learned the difference before becoming a surgeon.
3. I named my first frog Cyrus Molybdenum.
4. By the end of third grade, I had memorized the symbols for all of the chemical elements (103, at the time). Despite this Badge of Extreme Geekdom, I still had lots of friends.
5. My grandfather, a Polish immigrant, claimed he'd been born with horns. He often showed me the scars. He also claimed he kept a monkey in the attic, but would never let me see him.
6. Pre-1970, my favorite film was Mysterious Island. I can imitate giant bee noises to this very day.
7. At age two, I developed my first crush on an older woman. She was six, and I kept losing to her when we played King of the Hill. She wouldn't let me stand at the top of the hill, ever. Bitch.
8. The first dirty joke I ever learned was the Gomer Pyle joke.
Gomer: Daisy Mae, can I put my finger in your belly button?
Daisy Mae: Why, sho you may, Gomer!
Dramatic pause.
Daisy Mae: Gomer! That ain't my belly button!
Gomer: Well, surprise, surprise! That ain't my finger!
Yes, the exclamation points are all necessary.
9. In the early years of elementary school, with the Apollo missions all the rage, I wanted to be an astronomer when I grew up. Astronaut was the conventional response. Later, after I'd read a bit of science fiction, I decided I wanted to be a cryobiologist. Nobody knew what that word meant, and that was cool.
10. I used to fantasize about the Men in Black long before it became fashionable. Sinister men in dark suits and sunglasses would appear one day in our school's auditorium and whisper things to our principal. He would say, "Doug Hoffman? Can you come to the front of the room?" and I would comply. "These men say you're extremely important to our nation's security," he'd say quietly to me. "They want you to leave with them." And I'd say, "Heck, yeah!"
This was well before the era of extreme rendition.
11. I also had sexual fantasies long before I knew a thing about sex. In one, I stood on a pier and noticed that the Girl of My Dreams was drowning. I jumped off the pier, rescued her, and carried her dripping body back to shore. She would revive in my arms and say, "Oh, you are so special." The End.
The fact that I didn't know how to swim never entered into it. I was special, after all.
12. I haven't wet the bed since age two, I never set fires, and I never tortured any animals, large or small (unless you count tormenting red ants). I am thus better qualified to be President than George W. Bush.
13. And yet I have never, ever fantasized about becoming President of the United States.
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D.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Editing: How I do it
Breakfast sausage
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Fractales: the ending (and rules)
Fractales: here's the idea.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Smell the taint
But when Taylor saw Collins's embarrassed reaction, he realized she had been having an affair -- meeting her lover in the flat whilst Ziggy looked on, the UK's Press Association reported.
Ziggy even mimicked Collins's voice each time she answered her telephone, calling out "Hiya Gary," according to newspaper reports.
Having sex with some other guy in her #1 boyfriend's flat? That is low. No wonder Chris Taylor has made certain that everyone else in Leeds (and the world) will know, and tremble at, the name SUZY COLLINS.