Why I Can't Support Sarah Palin as VP

She said she is "a pit bull with lipstick." I don't want a pit bull as vice-president, whether it wears lipstick or not. Granted, I know a pit bull who is the sweetest dog in the world, but they are not generally known for their compassion and intelligence. Maybe I could go with a smarter dog like a collie or a poodle or something, but not a pit bull.

People say they like her because "she is just like me." I don't want someone just like me. I want someone better than me. Someone smarter, more diplomatic, calmer under pressure, and more knowledgeable about the world, the economy, and law. I don't see her as that.

I want a person who is pro-choice and anti-war.

I don't want a person whose campaign slogan is "Drill baby drill." It will take 10 years or longer to get this tiny amount of oil out of Alaska. I would rather they focus on something more practical and forward thinking.

She doesn't understand that a community organizer, Obama's job when he was younger, could be just what the country needs right now. That is one of the toughest jobs anywhere, and for her to insult the profession rubs me the wrong way. It makes her seem ignorant, and kind of mean.

I know that some of my friends do support her, and I respect that. But I just can't support her.

fraternity guys

I go every year to visit friends on the New Jersey shore for the fourth of July. The friends are originally friends of my friend, who was in a fraternity in college. The fraternity was started by them so that these geeky computer programmers and other whatnot had some place to belong. It is a geek fraternity. I didn't know they existed, but there ya go.

So now they are all in their 30's and, being geeks, reasonably to very successful. A few are married. Some are single. One is retired and in his 40's. Unmarried. They still like to drink and have fun. We sit around at this gorgeous house on the Jersey shore and drink, eat, and tell ridiculous jokes.

I never realized that I would have friends who used to be in a fraternity.

Were you in one? Were your friends?

The art is German Painter Hans Baldung Grien's Adam, 1523.

Battlestar Gallactica

On Battlestar Gallactica they created Cylons, well, the huge Centurian models, not the hot humanoid ones. But they did make robots. These are big imposing robots with, it turns out, even sentience.

So why can't they make an artificial leg for the crewman who lost his? Or even a fake eye for Saul?

Didn't the scientists leave notes? Or is it a moral thing?

The image is from this link

Great Ribs!

A friend of mine sent me a gift of BBQ ribs from her favorite place, Montgomery Inn in Cincinnati.

Dag nab it, these are some GREAT ribs!

Juicy, meaty, no fat, tender. The sauce is wonderful, although you might want to add hot sauce. I like it mild, so it is perfect.

Do you like ribs? Do you wish you had some of these? If you do like ribs, where were the best ribs you've had?

The photo is from the Montgomery Inn site. You can order them and they send them to you packed in dry ice. Mmmmm....

Advertising Versus Reality

I stumbled on this website and found it very interesting. They photographed food packages, the ones that depict the food. They then removed the product from the package and photographed the actual food.

advertising vs reality

It's quite cool. There are some amazing discrepancies between the package picture and what you get in reality.

Diet Plan for Murderers that Works!

According to the AP:

Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail [in Arkansas]. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.

"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."


Unbelievable. This murderer is in jail and claims he is being "starved to death" because he has gone from 413 to 308. He should be thrilled he has finally found a diet plan that works for him.



The image is Large Torso, 1983, by Fernando Botero. It is at the Kistefoss Museum, Norway.

Sneakers in Paris

Before I went to Paris I looked online to see what people in Paris were wearing. I don't mind others knowing I am a tourist (because I am) but I didn't want to stick out too badly.

One thing that every site said was that no one wears sneakers, and women wear heels. So I brought low-heeled boots, higher heeled shoes, and a pair of non-sneaker flats. I thought my feet were broken the first day, after walking all over Paris, over cobblestone streets, and through the Louvre.

Sneakers? They were everywhere. Whoever said that Parisian women wear strictly high heels has never been to Paris. A few women did have heels on, but they looked like they were going out somewhere at night. For daytime, women wear flats or sneakers. They aren't stupid. I mean really.

Of course, the sneakers were clean, and were more of the Chuck Taylor type than Nikes.

Oh, and they wear jeans too.

The photo is one I took of the Eiffel Tower. I don't know why it is rotated.