Hope you will like this:

Pony Party is an Open Thread.  Please do not rec the party.

I mentioned Tibetan singing bowls a few nights ago, and got some lovely responses.  Here’s a glimpse of what can be done with them:

Tradition!  Every region in the U.S.–indeed, every country around the world–has its own New Year’s traditions.  Here is a look at the ones I grew up with; I hope that all of you will share yours, too.

I’m at least half Pennsylvania Dutch, and the “lucky” food–the one you must eat for luck during the entire new year–is pork and sauerkraut:

Pony Party is an open thread.  Please do not rec the party.

Hey, buhdy, thanks!  I didn’t expect my little pony party to make it to the grown-up side of the page!  What’s your New Year’s tradition, btw?  

Pony Party is an Open Thread.  Please do not rec the party.

J*#@%s F&(#%+g C&$!@t!  From tomorrow’s NYT:

The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.

snip

Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11…

I was in my 20s (yeah, I’m old).  The Reagan era was a time of rampant homelessness, as the city had not fully recovered from its 1970s bankruptcy…and then, to save money, mentally ill people were being turned out onto the streets; there were not enough beds in homeless shelters and the shelters themselves were unsafe….

These problems got shoved aside during the gentrification years after Rudy Ghouliani took office.

there’s more:

http://www.texasobserver.org/a…

I was working for a bar owner at 44th St. & 9th Ave.  He had the news on both TVs.  And people started streaming in as large buildings were closed all over town.  One guy I knew perished.  Another, made it out of the twin towers alive, and walked uptown.  Another woman was late for work: she got to the ground zero area in time to see the second plane fly into the second tower, turned around, and caught what was probably the last subway uptown out of that area.

Here’s what I remember about that day:

Shortly before 9 a.m. EDT, I went into the hardware store to buy some paper towels for the sister bar.  The store owner, who knew me from similar errands in the past, said, “Did you hear?  A plane just flew into the World Trade Center.”

I gaped at him; said something like, “You’re kidding.”  It didn’t register, at first: I mean, small planes do fly into big buildings on occasion but…

He said, “No, it’s on the radio,” and turned up the volume.