Nov 26 2008
There are times when you read something and you wonder, “just how stupid can this person be?”
That the same person repeatedly makes stupid statements in an article doesn’t lessen the fact that they do so, but, only justifies the conclusion. So, once again, I am here to highlight an article written by Brad Warthan of The State newspaper in South Carolina.
Feel free to it before reading on since my response to it is forthcoming…
Nov 26 2008
Settling into my new Susquahana Sasquatches seldom seize scintillating serendipities subsequent scintillating suppurations sequentially home. The transition seems to have Pasadena pirhanas purposely portending passable patterns proposing probable potlatches unhinged or perhaps unburdened me of …well….burdens. The process of settling in Virtual vagaries vacillate vertiginous veriforms vacuously after months of the uncertainty of semi-homelessness seems to…..much like madness….
……………take its toll.
Soon, Tall twilly tweeds toking tortuously Tortugalike Trappists, I should be back to my normal self. hahahahaha
Thanks to all of you! For ….like…..whatever, Dudes and Dudessas!!!!!!!!!!
This is an autopost, I’m going to bed now….see y’all manana!
Nov 26 2008
cross-posted from The Dream Antilles
A ritual and a practice.
At our house, when we have Thanksgiving dinner, we like to stop eating and talking to go around the table clockwise so that each person present can say what s/he is thankful for. When we first decided to do this, some of our guests felt this was awkward, perhaps embarrassing. But we don’t start with the guests, so they can get an impression of what expressing gratitude feels like. Those in our immediate family understood this and were comfortable enough with it. After all, at birthdays, we like to go around the table to tell the person celebrating the birthday our many appreciations of him/her. So on Thanksgiving, it’s a natural enough question, “What are you thankful for this year?” The answers aren’t always surprising. We’re thankful for being here another year, for our health however it might then be, for family and friends, for the lives of those now departed, for whatever abundance we may have received, for creativity, for our pets, for our relationships, for our businesses, for our politics, for our dreams and aspirations and hopes, and so on. You get it, you can probably feel it even reading about doing this. It’s a Thanksgiving ritual we love. Feel free to try it out.
I always loved Thanksgiving because, however it was intended or begun, it seemed to be about gratitude. For years I’ve had a practice I’ve done. Sometimes I do it every day. Sometimes I do it once a month. Sometimes I don’t do it for a long time. It depends. What do I do? I make a list of the things I am thankful for. I number them as I write them down, and I feel my gratitude for each item as I write it before going on to the next. So, I write, “1. my good health, 2. the life of Dr. King, 3. compassion for my seeming enemies, 4. the novels of Cesar Aira.” And so on. Until I reach 50. I do this, writing and feeling, until I have a list of 50 items or more that I have enjoyed and felt my thanks for. When I am feeling pinched, stressed, exhausted, depressed, or any other “negative” emotion, it seems to take me a very long time to find items, to write them down and really to feel them. When I am feeling expansive, relaxed, rested, optimistic, or any other “positive” emotion, it takes me virtually no time to write and enjoy the list. Why do this exercise? Because it’s almost magical. And it lights me up. Feel free to try it out.
Was it Meister Eckhart who wrote, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.” I agree.
May all of you have a happy Thanksgiving.
Nov 26 2008
My oldest cat, Maus, is dying of kidney failure. Maus is 14, and our veterinarian tells me that they see this a lot in older cats, most often accompanied by anemia, which ia another problem Maus has to deal with. But I can’t help but wonder, was the kidney failure caused by something he ate? Did we inadvertantly give him cat food that was tainted with melamine? When we learned that pets were dying from their food, we checked the list to see if we were harming our babies, and we did not find our brand there.
But what does that mean? Stores purchase cat food from cat food companies and slap their own label on the cans–for a price, of course. I think we made a big, mistaken assumption about the safety of our unlisted brand that we’re paying for now.
Today, I read this:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials have uncovered trace amounts of the chemical melamine in one sample of infant formula sold in the United States, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The amount found in the sample was no cause for concern, said FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. “There’s no basis for concern because we’re talking about trace levels that are so low … that there’s absolutely no risk,” she told Reuters.
Melamine-tainted formula was found earlier this year in China, where thousands of children fell ill and several died.
Nov 26 2008
Settling into my new Susquahana Sasquatches seldom seize scintillating serendipities subsequent scintillating suppurations sequentially home. The transition seems to have Pasadena pirhanas purposely portending passable patterns proposing probable potlatches unhinged or perhaps unburdened me of …well….burdens. The process of settling in Virtual vagaries vacillate vertiginous veriforms vacuously after months of the uncertainty of semi-homelessness seems…..much like madness….
Nov 26 2008
DEBORAH AMOS:
At the Justice Department, recent scandals have dragged public confidence to an all time low. A special prosecutor is now digging into charges that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales put political partisanship ahead of the law.
Jodi Rave investigates crimes against Native American women
Nov 26 2008
This Pony Party should be treated as an open thread! Please do not rec the Pony Party!
Nov 26 2008
ABCNews earlier reported this is a “done deal,” as diaried earlier by bugscuffle. Now Politico comes seems to confirm this:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Obama, according to officials in both parties. Obama plans to announce a national-security team early next week that includes Gates at the Pentagon and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State, officials said.
Note that this is not sourced to the campaign.
Nov 26 2008
That might as well be the title of the 
Wall Street Journal article Surprise Drop in Power Use Delivers Jolt to Utilities.
An unexpected drop in U.S. electricity consumption has utility companies worried that the trend isn’t a byproduct of the economic downturn, and could reflect a permanent shift in consumption that will require sweeping change in their industry.
OH NO!!!! Americans using less electricity and this might be something permanent rather than simply a lousy economy.
Now, as for the ‘lousy economy’, as we have yet to hit bottom and have a long way to go, hard to assert (yet) that it is not economic distress that is driving reduced energy use. Perhaps people are ‘turning off lights’ to save pennies in the face of economic distress. And, patterns begun in economic turmoil could become life’s new patterns. Thus, unlike what the WSJ‘s coverage might suggest, there is much to hope for as to a start in a shifting of American culture toward more energy efficient patterns.