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Personhood vs. Parenthood
I heard the other day about an amendment on the Colorado ballot that would define Personhood as beginning at the moment of conception. This is clearly a pro-life effort, working to determine a concrete definition of when life begins, which would eventually lead to outlawing abortion by defining abortion as the murder of an unborn child. I’m not willing to go so far as to use the word murder, but at the same time, I’m not willing to say that a fetus isn’t a living being either. And really, what this all comes down to is parsing words in a battle over rights. The rights of the unborn child vs.…
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Vote Early, Vote Often
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dPF0SGh_PQ[/youtube] I kid! Only vote once. But some of you can vote early if you want to. Long lines and long waits are predicted on election day, so if you have the option to vote early, you might want to think about it. Could save you time, and take a bit of the crunch off of the poll workers on November 4th. Also, less chance of any shenanigans occurring with your ballot. 😉 The video is for the ladies, and a reminder to all of us that we should never take any of our rights for granted. They can all be taken away. Fight for them, and get out and…
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Paradox of Thrift
(image found here) Have you heard of the term, The Paradox of Thrift?  Simplified, it means that what is best for the individual may not be what is best for the collective. If you decide to tighten your budget during difficult times, and if you’re unwilling to spend money on unnecessary items, that’s good for your household budget. It’s smart to not let yourself spend more than you make, and it’s smart to save money and be careful with what you do spend. The overall economy, however, is based on growth, which means consumers buying more each year than they did the last year. If you spend exactly the same…
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Happy Diwali!
From Wikipedia: While Diwali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”, a more appropriate significance is “the new year of luck and wealth”. Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light, in particular the knowing of which outshines all darkness (removes all obstacles and dispels all ignorance), awakening the individual to one’s true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With the realization of the Atman…
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Supply and Demand
If you drive, you’ve surely noticed that the price of gas has fallen lately. Here in the Bay Area, gas was about $4.70 or so at its highest, and now it’s closer to $3.25. (That graph there shows that the price of oil has fallen by 50%…so why hasn’t gas fallen as drastically?) (Cherry said she got gas the other day for $2.99, at Costco) The reason for falling oil prices is lower demand. It’s not that there’s suddenly any more oil out there, it’s just that with fears of a global recession, the demand has fallen. And, of course, people are conserving a lot more than they used to,…
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Friday Randomness
Ted got this picture emailed to him the other day, and we’ve all been cracking up over it. Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, have a chuckle. Regarding Palin’s clothes, no, the GOP shouldn’t have bought them. She and her husband make enough money, she could have bought them herself.  Not to slam Alaska, though, there really aren’t that many places to buy the kind of things you would need on the campaign trail. Not defending her, as I said, she should have bought them with her own money. Just an observation about shopping options in Alaska. (Actually, there’s a Nordstrom in Anchorage, so she should have…
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Remakes: Friend or Foe?
I was looking online the other day for “Lost”, wondering when the new season would start (I never found out, exactly, though I seem to remember it’s January or February of 2009), when I came across the little tidbit that Land of the Lost is being made into a movie, coming out in 2009. I know this labels me as lame forever, and my brother was embarrassed at the time to be related to me, but I LOVED “Land of the Lost” when I was 8 years old. Oh Holly, how difficult to have to grow up without your mom, in a land of dinosaurs and Sleestack…the danger always present,…
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I Wish I had Read This BEFORE I Went Grocery Shopping
Picture and text totally cribbed (though shortened a bit) from Hungry Girl Fiber One Original Bran Cereal vs. All-Bran Original Natural Wheat Bran High Fiber Cereal Nutrition: A half-cup serving of Fiber One has 60 calories, 1g fat, 105mg sodium, 25g carbs, 14g fiber, 0g sugars, and 2g protein. Half a cup of All-Bran has 80 calories, 1g fat, 80mg sodium, 23g carbs, 10g fiber, 6g sugars, and 4g protein. Calorie and sugar counters will appreciate Fiber One’s numbers — plus, F1 has 4 extra grams of fiber. Protein seekers and those totally opposed to artificial sweeteners (Fiber One is lightly sweetened with aspartame) may prefer All-Bran’s stats. Taste: All-Bran…
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Wordless Wednesday
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Kids These Days
Slide show from El Hogar de los Ninos website. One of Maya’s electives this year is a class called Teens Around the World, in which they learn a bit about geography, but mainly about the issues that face children and teenagers all around the world. Sort of like a class I took in High School, Global Studies, but also different. They study issues like immigration, hunger, child labor, and what they as children and teens can do to help. The teacher is on the board of directors for an organization called El Hogar de los Ninos, which works to help very poor children in Managua, Nicaragua. From their website: In…
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For Jimmy
See Jimmy, you can come over to the light without fear! Join these old boys!
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The Bluest Eye
Quiet as it’s kept, there were no marigolds in the fall of 1941. We thought, at the time, that it was because Pecola was having her father’s baby that marigolds did not grow. A little examination and much less melancholy would have proved to us that our seeds were not the only ones that did not sprout; nobody’s did. Not even the gardens fronting the lake showed marigolds that year. But so deeply concerned were we with the health and safe delivery of Pecola’s baby we could think of nothing but our own magic: if we planted the seeds, and said the right words over them, they would blossom, and…
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People are like pigeons
I got a good chuckle out of this story, from Reuters: TEHRAN: Iran failed Friday to register what it said would be the world’s largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it — before it was measured. Event organizers had planned to stuff the 1,500-meter-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran. But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, a Reuters witness said, leaving the three Guinness representatives present with a dilemma. One of the event’s organizers…
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Happy Friday
Hey all, it’s Friday, and I’ll admit that I’m glad. I’m looking forward to sleeping in Saturday and Sunday, maybe wasting a bit of time watching 90210 on Soap TV. (Do I need to clarify that I’m talking about Beverly Hills, 90210, vs. the current teen drama, known just as 90210?) I know, loser. 😉 This morning I have meeting after meeting, and this afternoon Maya has her first school dance, and Ted has an interview in the City.  I hope they both go well. Especially the job interview. Keep your fingers crossed. Tomorrow evening, Maya and some of her classmates are volunteering at a dinner/fundraiser in San Francisco, raising…
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Visit with Grandma
(Grandma, 1941, 18 years old) I went to Stockton on Sunday to see my Grandma and her sister, my Great-Aunt Flo.  I haven’t seen them since the service we had for my mom, in June. They both seem a bit thinner, a bit sadder, but overall stronger and better than they did when my mom first died. Still sad, still somewhat angry, but better. Kate and I went up, hoping to take them to Grandma’s favorite place, Red Lobster. (I’m not a huge fan of the RL, but there isn’t a lot else in Stockton.) But Grandma said, um, no, Kate’s work is precarious, Ted isn’t working, you cannot take…