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|  I saw this poster in a local shop window. 1) I haven't thought of Choose Your Own Adventure books in forever. I used to have a few, back in the day, and occassionally I felt they were bulked up with extra pages, that, no matter how many times I went through the story with each choice, it never hit. I suppose this were an evolutionary dead end of the print/ game combo, but in a way it's a predecessor to Portal or whatever the hot first person shooter is. 2) Naked Girls Reading is, I think, an even where a girl bares her soul, not her body. I could be wrong - this is Portland. And this event is taking place the day before the World Naked Bike Ride (a pleasent evening spin around town with 13,000 of your friends & neighbors in their birthday suits) 3) Now I want an event where we have a naked man give a dramatic reading, possibly of an action sequence from an Ian Flemming book, or if he has a UK accent, just recite the phone book. And after his stint in the spotlight, said naked gent can serve tea & cookies to the audience for tips. Hey, it's my dream; go get your own. | |
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| The Mirage by Matt Ruff ******SPOILERS INSIDE*****  When part way through this book, I described it to a friend as an alternative reality where the united Muslim countries were a world super power, and 9/11 happened on twin onion-domed towers in Bagdad, and how the event could have played out from there. We thought it would be an interesting view into another culture's reactions to cataclysm. When part way through this book, I described to to a friend as multiverse story about how the 9/11 events played out on the Muslim dominated world when the terrorist events were caused by fundamentalist Americans, and how people in that timeline reacted to hints of what happened in our timeline. We thought it would be an anti-American-centric viewpoint of events we had lived through. When part way through this book, I described to to a friend as a multiverse story about 9/11 as it had happened to the Muslim dominated world with cross-over characters from our world, which was the 'real' world, making the Muslim world the 'fake' world. We expected a very America-centric rah-rah ending. When part way through this book, I realized it was a story about not being to go back, and unintended consequences, and, surprisingly, acceptance. | |
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| I saw this on a Timbers page:
"But lately, I've been feeling more and more cast out about being a woman who follows MLS. The latest incident came Monday, when Simon Borg, who is a writer and editor on the league website and co-hosts two podcasts, said on Extra Time Radio... that women who were super-fans (to be distinguished from "casual fans") were not appealing to potential male partners. He also said that women as casual fans was great, as they could go to games with their male partners, but to be fanatically interested in the sport was kind of a turn-off.". -Alicia Ratterree about the mysoginistic attitudes on display in official MLS media.
I'm torn. On the one hand, I dislike being judged as to what I should and shouldnt be a fan of due to my gender. On the other hand, yay, I can go dance in the Army section and not have to worry about attracting idiots. I'm perfectly fine not with not fending off advances - I'm watching a game here. It's not all about the sex, please grow up (and pass me that "No Pity" scarf!). | |
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| Artichokes.  They are basically big thistles. Thistles apparently are tasty in butter. Scott introduced me to artichokes almost 2 decades ago, and I can't say I've seen anyone before or after prepare artichokes the way he does. It starts with an absolutely ginormous steamer, wide enough in diameter for an extra large deep dish pizza, with each tray 3 times as deep as you'd need for that 'za, and the steamer has 3 trays, the water boiler part, and a lid. I swear it's 2 feet tall when sitting on the stove. Get the water boiling in the bottom, grab your thistles, trim the ends off a bit, then stick them in whole. Artichokes are what, five inches in diameter? We could fit 3 on a tray, 4 if you don't mind them touching. I should really do this for a dinner party some day just to fill up the 3 trays with chokes. I'm not sure why this amuses me. 2 chokes take 40 minutes to steam, and it humidifies the kitchen nicely. How to we serve them? By putting them on a plate. A big mixing bowl sits between us, as does a small cup of melted butter. Peel off the leaf, dunk it in butter, and scrape the lower third (interior) with your teeth. Karl has an interesting classification system for food that relates it to weapons systems. Artichokes fall into the delivery system category - they are an excuse for butter. Toss the remaining leaf into the waste bowl, which becomes compost. Can you imagine the quantity of compost you'd get from 12 chokes worth of leaves? Once we have peeled off and consumed the outermost layers of leaves, we trim the remaining leaves from the stalk, messily remove the downy interior, cut up the remaining stemmy bit and use a fork to load the artillery...I mean butter. This is my honey's "normal" method for eating artichokes, though he's pretty uninterested in them on a pizza or pastry. I have never seen it served this way anywhere but at home. Mostly, I guess, because they are sold canned as hearts, or as hearts or mush already prepared in food. I honestly have no idea how they dissect the heart out of an artichoke for these cans. Knowing the interior after steaming, I have hard time imagining an automatic choke-heart remover, though I'm sure someone has figured this out. Meanwhile, we'll keep investing in dairy for our thistles. | |
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|  I finally finished "Your Inner Fish". It's a good science book, I was just so over scheduled that I really didn't have time to read at all. The hard copy of the book I have already returned to the library, late (sorry Katrina, I know you wanted to check it out), and unfinished- I still had a chapter left! Luckily, I had burbled about the book to The Honey and he had picked up the ebook version of it, so I was able to finish it that way.
 Neil Shubin is a paleontologist who had to teach human gross anatomy classes, and he noted how the things he knows about ancient critters help describe the whys of how the human body's system is put together. At first, I thought he had an unhealthy, West-World ish fascination with hands (in the movie, an android populated theme park went predictably haywire and started killing the guests, and the humans could tell if the being they were talking to was an android or not by looking at their hands, which were too complex to make realistic.). However, after a very thorough discussion of how fins developed into fingers, he next moved to teeth and did the same thing, along the way explaining how teeth and bones are different, why, and how expensive teeth are to the organism. Other chapters discuss body orientation, means of smelling, and of course vision, with plenty of examples surrounding, showing where the mutation split from the primitive critters and how it was a benefit.
 There are scores of videos of evangelical conservatives who don't believe evolution should be taught in school, repeating endlessly "show us the proof" who really need to be handed this book. Alas, they won't read it and have no idea what "proof" means in a scientific sense. They are quite willing to reap the benefits when science figures out stuff like insulin when our bodies, evolved for one state, behave erratically when we subject them to another state. The final chapter discusses several holdovers from other body types that our ancestors had, and how they effect us - hiccups, for instance, appear to be a inherited from tadpoles switching over from gills to lungs, remembering a time when we used to be fish.
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|  Non violent communication is a misnomer, and does a dis-service to those who most need the tools. The honey and I had a conversation regarding the conversation type, and came to the same conclusion from different perspectives. Note that we don't think the communication style is a bad thing, but it may have a bad label. What is non-violent communication? It's a way of talking that specifically avoids things that may sound accusatory or dictatory. For instance, instead of starting a sentence with "you should" or "you are", use instead "I feel" or "I would". Instead of "you need to try harder", the phrase "I feel trying harder would work" gives the same advice without starting with the assumption the subject has failed or is inadequate.  By labelling the I-language style 'non-violent,' the implication is that the *other* type of communication is violent, that there are but two means of communicating and one involves fists. Instead of the word 'violent', TH proposes non-confrontational communication. Is confrontational language violent? It doesn't have to be. "You asshole, I should cut you" is generally understood to be violent and threatening, while "you zigged left when you shoulda zagged right" may be supportive and informational. But the bad apples of conversational ploys have managed to steal all the attention. Is confrontational language always appropriate? No. Most people agree that telling a leather clad Hells Angel on a three day bender that "you shouldn't promote the killing of cows for fashion" is not the best move in the world. Same goes for commenting on the fashion sense of your older sister, or giving a post mortem on how your flustered spouse ended up in El Paso rather than San Diego ("you shoulda taken the left turn at Albequerque"). Is confrontational language a bad thing? Here's the rub. There are environments that should be a safe haven, sure; but by labeling confrontation a bad thing, we may be encouraging some members of society to be conflict averse. Enough children, stereotypically girls, are taught to bury their wants and desires in favor of the greater good of the group, or at least that of the adult men in their lives. They don't know how to stand up for themselves, much less debate. By calling this perfectly good communication tool 'non-violent', and the attached implication that all violence is bad, are we actively encouraging people to back away and let folks who use strong language have their way? | |
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From: Me
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012
To: kristin@planetbike.com
Subject: Greetings from your Blaze one Watt in Oregon
Hi. I'm a fine head lamp. Late last fall, though, I was getting about 60
seconds of light before going dim, though I'd start up again any time my
rider pushed my button. My battery was replaced and I worked fine for a
couple rides. Then my rider left me and the bike stuck in the foyer for a
whole month! Unprecedented! She's riddened through most of the mucky
weather out here in the past. I wanted to revolt, I did. The bike
counseled patience, and sure enough, yesterday she took us for the normal
commute to down town. Alas, I feel I've let her down, as I'm again holding
only about 30 seconds of light before I dim and turn myself off. She says I
must have a loose contact, as (when not on the bike), she can turn me on,
then shake me, and i go off. She's put her boyfriend's blaze on the bike, and i'm stuck on the kitchen
table. I'm not happy with this situation! What can I do? Sincerely,
Blaze
P.b.160102
1011 From: kristin@planetbike.com
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012
To: me
Subject: RE: Greetings from your Blaze one Watt in Oregon Dear Blaze 1W (and Person!), Thanks for your email. I'm sorry to hear of your problematic behavior and
inability to stay lit for your faithful owner. It sounds like your
presumption of a loose connection within your circuitry is likely to blame.
Unfortunately we will probably be unable to fix you but we can send Your person a
new light to replace you. We hope that she will send you back to us to see
if we might be able to repair you or at the least send you to a nice
recycling facility with other lights whom have been retired. Please let me
know your current residence so that I may send Your person a new 1W light. We look
forward to seeing you in our offices again sometime in the future (please
make sure the packing slip that comes with the new light also makes the trip
cross country with you). Please feel free to contact me with any further questions. Thanks and have a great day! Kristin Wentworth
Warranty/Sales
kristin@planetbike.com
608.310.3547 Office Direct Planet Bike
2402 Vondron Road
Madison, WI 53718
p 608.256.8510 www.planetbike.com
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