Friday Book Blogging

I returned eight books to the library this week. They were pretty much all pap, but the best of them was Death Dines at 8:30, an anthology of short murder mysteries revolving around food and ending with a recipe.
The first story in the book hooked me despite the fact that it was an anomaly. (No one died.) The recipes were fun. (I'm one of those people who actually enjoy reading a recipe more than I like making the food.) And I find that anthologies like this are a great way to put new authors on the "must read" list.

Tennessee Williams homage

It was neither hot, nor tin, but there was a cat the neighbor's roof last night. I was a bit far away for the pic with my cheapy digital, but you can still see the glowing eyes. He seemed to dislike our amusement.

Thriller

Hey, I'm not sure if you missed this, but the King of Pop, Michael Jackson died. He was memorialized Tuesday. You might have seen a little something about it.

In fact other stuff happened yesterday too. There are riots in China. Obama met with Russian Premier Putin. They are trying to hammer out a deal on the coup in Honduras. Lebanon nearly caught a spy. Former President Clinton is in Haiti. They are voting in Indonesia. The G8 is meeting today. A U.S. drone killed 14 Pakistanis.

You might not know it to watch the news here, but there is life outside the Staples Center in L.A.

Blood-suckers

I'm being plagued by mosquitoes. I have no fewer than 7 welts on my body right now. I am itchy and (despite the well-intentioned advice) am scratching that itch. What I need is a laser.

Resignation Redux

To paraphrase another infamous resigner: You won't have Sarah Palin to kick around any more.



I'd like to think of it as a birthday gift to the country.

Friday Book Blogging

I returned five books this week. Among them, the clear-cut winner, Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates. Never have Puritans been so much fun.
Ms. Vowell takes a slightly irreverent, vaguely unorthodox look at the oft-quoted, usually mis-represented Puritans of New England in the mid-1600s. From the "city on a hill" of John Winthrop to the Mayflower water slide in Plymouth, she covers the formative years of New England and looks at what went wrong and what went right. Fun history. For real.

The letter of the law

Here in the State of Ohio it is a STATE LAW (as you see) to yield to pedestrians within crosswalk. Does that mean I can plow them over if they're not within a crosswalk?

We need a law for this? Prompted by?

"Oh yeah, I ran over those kids crossing the street, but they weren't in a crosswalk or anything, so jeeze, it's not like I broke a law or something."

Dr. Seuss-ish veggies

Mmmmm. Bendy cucumbers.
Back when the Punkinhouse had a vegetable garden, bendy cucumbers and other deformed fruit were a common occurance. I had no idea they were also illegal in the EU.
Fortunately, beginning today, those bendy cucumbers are once again above board.

I've always been rather partial to a bit of a bend in my cucumbers.

Iraq's National Sovereignty Day

"It is a big joy to see them leaving." So said an Iraqi in reference to the U.S. troops. It's a big joy to us here too. Come home safely. All of you.

Stonewalled

40 years ago, the gay community began fighting for its human rights. It is a testament to their tenacity that they are still fighting. It is a testament to our disgraceful prejudice that they have to.

Friday Book Blogging

The top pick of the seven I read this week was Caleb Carr's The Italian Secretary. This is a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and Carr does a nice job of mimicking Watson and updating the detective while remaining true to Doyle's originals.
Carr was also polite enough to sprinkle actual clues instead of Doyle's habit of "a-ha"ing the ending. As a fan of both Holmes and mysteries, I was not disappointed, which is in itself a huge accomplishment since the book deals with such an icon.


Speaking of icons: RIP to three big ones. Ed, Farah and Michael.

caveat clamator

I was reading (big shock) and I came across a Latin phrase I didn't know. A quick search online got me a loose translation, but also got me to mental_floss's list of 10 Latin Phrases You Pretend to Understand.
So the next time someone asks you to follow quid pro quo on an ad hominem statement you won't be persona non grata when you smile vaguely, unaware of what they're talking about. Or you can become the pretentious friend who's always saying something that sounds enigmatic and smugly superior.






p.s. Happy Birthday little sister!

Would you like fries with that?

Police search for naked french fry thief
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Canadian police were on the search on Monday for a brazen thief who snatched a take-away meal while making a naked run past a fast food restaurant's drive-though window.
An employee of a Langley, British Columbia, Wendy's restaurant was handing food to a customer waiting in her car when a naked man ran between them, taking off with her fries, and leaving little evidence behind, according to police.
"Other than an age range, neither woman could provide further description," police said in a press release.

1. They both noticed it was a guy.
2. And how hard can it be to find a naked guy with a bag of fries?
3. Some people will do anything for a french fry.
   
   

Film at eleven

It took all of 9 minutes after the announcement by Kodak that they are retiring their Kodachrome film for the headline writers to quote Paul Simon. What's vexing (yes, I said vexing) is that the journalists were obligated to include lyrics in the actual article. I assume because the young'uns don't know the song.
Most of us born in the 60s or prior, heard the damn thing in our heads as soon as we saw the word. The teens are scratching their heads that film still exists at all.

Shoe shopping

For me shoe-shopping is the most gratifying and frustrating activity. I love it and loathe it in equal parts at the same exact moment.
Currently, I'd like to retire my 9-year-old black sandals. I have tried on no fewer than 40 pairs. I have yet to find an adequate replacement. But each disappointing time I decide against a pair, I look forward to the next attempt with glee.
While this might indicate a vague tendency toward masochism, I am not sadistic enough to force others to join me when I shop. (If they show a strong masochistic streak in agreeing to accompany me, who am I to argue?)

Friday Book Blogging

Of the six books I returned this week, I had a difficult time picking a winner. Honorable mention goes to a classic (at least in the mystery genre), Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers, which introduces Lord Peter's future wife, Harriet Vane.
The top prize was nabbed by previously-featured author, Lauren Willig and her latest spying flower, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. Contrived, ridiculous and loads of fun, the evil Night Jasmine kidnaps king George III before our hero and heroine can leap in a rescue him. And our faithful graduate student who, in the present day, unearths these treasures from the dusty family archives, imagines spies everywhere. The whole garden of spies satisfy the way a big sticky caramel apple does.

Orange barrels

A detour dilemma:
Due to resurfacing, my route to work is being detoured --ROAD CLOSED LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY-- Technically, I'm local traffic since I work in the city that's repaving. The moral ambiguity comes from the fact that my turn is about 200 yards past the END CONSTRUCTION sign. Should I stop feeling guilty and just drive through in the squeezed available lane? Or do I go about seven miles out of my way following the detour signs? Am I dumb for even worrying about it?

Anon

Does anyone really believe this is truly anonymous? Not many people know who I really am, but that's because they don't care enough to dig. I am under no illusions that what I write here is inextricably linked to me for as long as the silicon lasts. (If I were up for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals, I'd be in trouble. And not just because I don't know anything about Constitutional Law.)
Apparently the lack of anonymity is now law, at least in Great Britain where a judge has decided that “blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity”. Duh. At least he didn't have to put on that silly wig for that stunningly obvious statement.

Big blue

In my garden, I have delphinium. Per the National Gardening Association, "Delphiniums are available in a range of sizes, from dwarf varieties less than 2 feet tall to those with towering, 6-foot blooms."

Someone failed to inform the two seven-footers outside my window. (Technically, 83 inches, but close enough!)





image from huntingtonbotanical.org

Rats

Now what are they going to call the island? "Alaska's Rat Island is finally rat-free, 229 years after a Japanese shipwreck spilled rampaging rodents onto the remote Aleutian island, decimating the local bird population."


And if we're re-naming the island, on behalf of all Norwegians, I'd like to request a name-change on the rat as well.