Things look like things

For those of you interested in design and/or photography, I have a linkalicious entry for you today!

First, a blogger pick from a few days ago which I enjoyed browsing, despite some repetition of -cupcakes-, uh, I mean themes. The idea is to juxtapose unrelated photos which share a common element. Sometimes there is a story created, other times, not.

Then, Ianqui has links to hus photo archive, including hus 365 photos project. I was enjoying going through them a day or two ago. Many NYC shots, a good eye for urban shots as well as color and beauty shots. One of the things that stood out to me as I went back later and looked at some of the 365 project as a thumbnail 'collage' was that there is also some interesting work there on motion and shape, and I couldn't help (sans doute influenced by my recent visit to TLLT) but connect some of the photos with similar shapes or directions of movement to each other during my viewing. This was interesting to me, as the format allowed me to appreciate certain shots that hadn't caught my eye in slideshow format, and also because I enjoyed the alchemy of sorting photos together in my mind: sometimes a photo ends up being about something completely different, just because of what you put it next to. Fun!

Also recently blew a couple of hours poking around this site: Open Architecture Network. Really neat to see what at least a handful of architects and builders are up to around the world. Some of the projects are ho-hum, but some are pretty cool. Everything from straw bale cottages, to hurricane relief work, to hexayurts (ok, maybe just one), and balloon buildings. You can search by region, location, theme, degree of completion of project.

And I went window shopping online, to a number of fun, modern furnishings stores, led mostly by a link to easily buildable/unbuildable furniture that was pretty. (Thanks Treehugger!) Also check out Design Life Now, if you didn't already discover it a year ago, since the triennial was in 2006... Browsing by designers is fun, and can suck up a couple more hours of your life.

So there you go: now you have the weekend ahead of you. Enjoy!

Oh, and does anyone know how to cross out a word in a post?

Kitties-in-law

Friday cat blogging. Yay. Here are two of my kitties-in-law. Yep, the whole family is cat persons. The stripey cat in this picture is a torbi: that's a combination torti and tabby. Maybe you can see the sweet orange blaze on her forehead? I'll have to look for a better shot of that: it's very pretty. They are just recently full grown, and still very soft, and I don't get to visit them enough, but their people are thankfully much better than I am at taking pictures regularly.

Wait, that wasn't a _closet_ door!

It's a sad commentary on the lack of organization in my home that I was injured this morning while opening the freezer door. A leaping ice pack (among other volunteer items). Yup. I know: I too thought their purpose was to heal, not harm. Well, the square, hard type, not so much. Maybe they're more about leaping out of the freezer and going on a picnic. Bit me in the ankle, it did. So I put an ice pack on it....

Been walking around limping all day, but close inspection after first look showed I had not after all severed a major artery, just a vein, and that swelling and bruising and such, while indeed spectacular, did not warrant a trip to the emergency room. Because, even as I screamed "OW" in my head (funny, but I don't tend to do this out loud), I immediately thought: damn, now I am going to have to spend the day in the emergency room waiting for help. Because what doctor in their right mind would take this injury ahead of anything else, right? So, was v. glad to be able to stay at home and make some little progress on the crazy big 'to do' list. Laundry is on its way to the dryer. This is good, as my weekend ends tonight.

Found this while looking for a picture of the ice pack that bit me. I love some of these lifehack type sites. There's a parenthack site that's pretty good out there, for those of you w/little ones. I'll find it and link someday.

Friday cat blogging

In honor of Dr. Hussy and Arbitrista's new family member, I present my first very own Friday cat blog entry. This is our stripey baby. She's not really a baby anymore, since she is close on to 4 or five years. But, she still only weighs about 5.5-6 pounds, soaking wet with change in her pockets. Sorry for the bad pic. I'm not so much on the photo skilz. Hope you can see her sweet forward-reaching whiskers! Right now she is singing to me from the bedroom. (She's a very airy soprano 2.) Well, now she has stopped, as the fluffy cat has gone to check on things. Make sure they're under control, you know.

May I have a word?

Ooh. I would *so* go to this if I lived in Chicago. Just to spectate.

Out of the mouths of babes...

I attended a 9 year-old's birthday party yesterday. It was great fun. Many pink dresses were present, and much froufrou crafty activity and exclusion of little boys were done. Oh, the social structure of third grade... aie aie aie!

Anyway, we had a group of kids who were pretty into being active, once the craft activities were over. (a pleasant surprise) So we went for a bit if a nature walk. Little girl A saw some pretty flowers, so we approached to have a closer look.

Ahh, I say. I believe those are asters, and they are indeed quite pretty, don't you all think so? Little girl B says 'asters?' that's a funny name, why are they called that? Being an amateur linguist (and this girl is bilingual by the way, so I figure perhaps she'll find this interesting, even as a third grader...), I respond, well, it's because they look like stars, and that's where the word comes from, see: it's like the word blahblah in blahblah language....... And so we walk on, two beats of silence, and littlegirl B blurts:'it has the A-word in it!' Stunned silence and raised eyebrows of other adult chaperone, and I try not to trip as I reply, uhhh. yes. yes, it does. Well, it's not *really* that word, because it's spelled differently, but it sure sounds like it, huh? And the hike goes on.

It was a pretty entertaining day, all in all.

Friendship. And bread.

What could be better, right? Except that it's really a thinly disguised chain-letter-as-food. A friend brought me some recently (a slurpy-gross-looking ziploc bag full of starter, that is), and I let it sit on the counter for days without doing anything*. And by that I mean without either committing myself to throw it out, or to nurture, feed, and then cook it. I'm talking about "Amish Friendship Bread", dontcha know. If you've ever received a starter for this and are at all like me, you have also thought "must be named that because if they're still your friends after you gift it, well..."

Chain letters and bad email jokes sent out to long lists of people whose personal email address you never wanted to know.... wait a minute! MY address is on that group email list, too! humbug. It just doesn't seem like fun to me. And this starter thing? Reminds me way too much of those terrible predictions of d00m coming YOUR way soon if you don't do the right thing and pass it all along.

So. I was not so into this concept. And then, I caved. Well, the slurpy looking bag came along with a sample of the bread, which was indeed yummy (but. Amish?? really??) It's also really hard for me to throw away something that is food... something about Biafran waifs and children starving in Ethiopia. I know, I know...

I changed up the recipe a bit: less oil, more applesauce (Thanks, Moosewood!) add cardamom, etc. And then I set about finding 3 more victims uh, friends to whom to pass along the left over starter to. I did it. And they seemed pleased, strangely enough. Will wonders never cease? I even kept some starter so I can make coffee cake for the next office breakfast meeting. Then, that's it, I promise. And that means I "will have to wait until someone gives [me] one back."

At least it's better than having all my future plans come to dust! Cheers!

*Turns out this is exactly what you are supposed to do with the stuff...

Tomatoes, sage, strawberries and thyme!

Today I started my garden. It's a container garden. I have to laugh at myself: I have such a hard time waiting for the nights to get warm enough here, and then I go and plant stuff that will never, ever, really grow in this climate: tomatoes, eucalyptus (wtf!?), thyme, sage, strawberries. It's like I think that by planting them, I might cause there to be enough sunny days for them to grow. Climate change aside, it ain't happening!

The mint roots I had started to give up on coming back to life? When I started to hack them out, they smelled really good, so I left them in, just in case. Maybe they are a little wick, maybe I'm just imagining things. I don't think they'd smell that strongly if they were really all dried up and dead. I hope they are alive, because I'm really ashamed if I'm the only one in the world who can actually kill mint. But, maybe that's a marketable skill... I *did* overhear someone at the nursery asking about how to get rid of bamboo...

Boy, is it fun to dig in dirt! Oh, and there's a flowering plant a friend gave me last summer from her garden, which was supposed to come back, but wasn't and wasn't.... Today, I saw the first little sprouty pieces coming up from the old plant. Don't remember the name of the plant. Hmmm. Still need sweet potatoes and petunias. Also tried to plant some cuttings I have had sitting in water for many months. And some new ones as well, with a first attempt to use rooting hormone. Angel wing begonia (had this plant for 5 years before I knew what it was....Thank you teh internets!) and some housey plant thing, and a baby from the spider plant. Yeah, I'm a real horticulturist. What can I say?

Speaking of climate change: have recently discovered that with short short hair, I now can wash it quickly in sink. Am v. pleased to find a way to save water easily and also feel less guilty on the days I do take a long shower. Unforseen benefit. Yay.

Current Blogger Crush

Ok, here's my most recent blogger crush: Crazy Aunt Purl.
Even if you are not a knitter. (I am not, although I do really admire folks who make things.) She's funny. And, she's just published her first book. She blogs about her life, knitting, getting things together post-divorce, her cats, her garden adventures, her neighbors... Be prepared for it to be a major time sink if you read the comments: she gets hundreds per post, it seems like(unlike some people!). But, honestly? Her posts are usually the best part anyway. Except every now and then you come across a gem of a topic in the comments... Stuff you just don't see every day. I like the lightness of her voice.

Hold your breath

This weekend the second tour of the French presidential elections will take place. Hold your breath. This is an important one. Hopefully Sarkozy will not get the vote, as he has already begun dismantling many social programs as part of the current administration. In Bercy last week, he even said:
« Dans cette élection, il s'agit de savoir si l'héritage de mai 68 doit être perpétué ou s'il doit être liquidé une bonne fois pour toutes ».

Ouf. I predict major social upheaval if he 'wins'. Which he might. After all, apparently many of the new electronic voting machines (made by a company which supports him) have recently been 'updated.'

Mmmm

Well, I was going to do this really complex entry linking a bunch of things I've noticed lately, and including a handful of recent events. I woke up in the middle of the night with a perfect idea of how it would all fit together.... and didn't write it down, of course.

So this will now be a short review/list of things I have discovered to be good of late.

• Palapa Azul ice cream. Bought the coconut sorbet recently for LP (Lifetime Partner), who had a terrible sore throat. I don't know how it is though, since I didn't get to try any! However, today I brought home the Corn flavor. Wait, wait, it is reeeeally good. Reminds me of the frozen corn souffle my mom used to umm... defrost and heat? But in ice cream. Yum. texture is sort of like you would think: like a ice cream with some polenta or maizena in it. Here's the site, and a review, although still v. basic: site; Review
• Brett Dennen is what I'm listening to. Here's his myspace page, with some samples. His songs are naive and trite, and yet I am fascinated by his voice and guitar playing. And some of his trite lyrics are still somehow right-on. From Ain't No Reason, "You can spend your whole life working for something, just to have it taken away."
• And on that note, may I recommend the documentary One More River: The Deal That Split the Cree? short description And also, though I have not yet seen it, have heard it's good and recently met one of the main folks involved in the film Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action. So, check that one out, too, if you can find it.
  

Pet names

Ok, here's one I've been mulling over for a bit: recently, an acquaintance of ours adopted a new dog from a rescue group. They were told that it would not have been adopted in its region of the country (southeast), because.... it's a *black* dog. (Well, black and white, but the color mentioned as the problem was black, and it *is* mostly black.) Whatever. Hard to say if that's like black cats (a superstition thing) or a carry-over from human racist ideas, or just not practical in the heat.

*Then* I hear the dog's name is Kobe. Huh. So the friend is going, like maybe he likes beef, do you think? And I (cynical I) am thinking: why is it ok to name a dog after a basketball player? When the trait they share is coloring? So, after a while, I ask the adopter if hu is going to change the name when the dog comes home. And I say why I'm asking: mainly, if I ever have to walk that dog, I won't be calling it Kobe. And hu says, "omigosh I never thought it might be for that reason! But you know what? I have a friend at work whose dog is named Tiger, after the golfer, because (and here hu quotes hu's friend)"the dog is half white, half black, and half something else."

So, math aside, what do you know of this phenomenon, if it is one? Are sports players of color the only ones to be honored in this way? I never met a dog named after Joe Namath. We have often given our animals human names, but never after a specific human. I suppose I've seen names of philosophers and such, but never people who are alive, and never having the reason given to be the looks of the animal.

I don't like it.

Oh, and the dog's name did get changed.

I heart John Patrick

Ok. I have a blogger crush. First, who can not adore a "*former* superhero?" And, the motto line. Perfect. You should definitely check out this guy's blog. It's my current favorite, and he has some great food blogging of late. Makes you want to go straight to lunch! And read back.

I first found JP via his guest blogging on Bitch, PhD, where he had some nifty comments about , I think, decorating cookies, and brown/white issues. Plus, the language teachers, they always can use a little extra love. Go, read, tell him he's awesome.

JohnPatrick'sblog

A new post

Well, I made it through another migraine. Boy, they really stink. I was trying to explain at work this week that although I had managed to get out of bed, get dressed and come in, I couldn't actually *do* any complicated thinking. It's really hard to explain, even when you're not right in the middle of it, and of course especially hard for someone who doesn't have migraines to understand. This one was my usual one day of pain (tbtg), but preceded by unusually long (several days) and severe pre-symptoms: fogginess, lack of focus (visual and other), sensitivity to light and sound, major difficulty reasoning. ugh.

One of the hard thing about these headaches to me is that they put me out of commission. Being productive is pretty much impossible. But I can't just take off X days a month either. I feel like I risk being percieved as a sloth if I don't go to work, and as a blithering idiot if I do.

hmph.

Well, at least the kitties have their jobs down really well, and have taken good purry care of me the last couple of afternoons, when I came home after work beat my behind. Kitty kisses and snuggles are the best.

In other news (this will surprise you) I've had a hard time writing here. I knew it would be a challenge, but I thought I'd be able to whip off a short note weekly, whatever. I guess it's hard to pick a topic. The interesting ones still seem too personal to share out in the ether. That is, some things I just really don't want to speak out loud anywhere, other things just seem too self-focused to be anything other than egotistical pollution of the web. I do realize that other bloggers' personal stories have been meaningful to me. Just can't seem to keep that 'share' toggle on.

Question about age difference in partners

On Any Given Day...: Answer me this...

Ragey asks what age differences folks would consider ok in a significant other.

This is something I've thought about a bit: not for me (we're 2 years apart), but because I've had really different reactions to similar age differences in different couples. (both hetero)

Couple 1: She is 20 yrs younger than he is. They found each other to be true soul mates, married, had kid... 15 yrs later they are still madly in love. But, some issues are coming up: she's terrified of what it will do to her to see him pass before she does (as is likely). Also, age/health issues loom, as does just the practicality of how to pace life when he is retired and she is in the prime of her career. Still, I don't think they ever considered there was another option, once they had met and fallen in love. They have a really beautiful relationship, and it has never struck me as weird.

Couple 2: girlfriend married a man 15 years her senior. Felt weird to me from the git-go. Since the other couple *doesn't* seem odd to me, I am guessing that my reaction to this one has more to do with how I see the power dynamic of the relationship. (There's also something odd about the balance of what I perceive them each bringing to the couple. He comes across to me as a fellow with less than she to offer.) He also seems to be the one with decision making power in the couple-- which probably hits a sensitive nerve for me in terms of men/women and power. In any case, their relationship has made me feel not-so-comfortable at times.

More generally: if it's true love, and there are no strange mommy/daddy vibes, age differences can work. If not, run the other way. But, in any case, even if the relationship is right, there can still definitely be (big) issues, if not at present, then later. I see a number of comments that point out that age differences get less problematic as one gets older... and I think this is true if you are talking about the potential weirdness of 15 years difference when one is a teen vs. when one is 30-something. However, other major issues do arise at the other end of the age spectrum as well. (See couple #1) Potential issues may or may not be a reason to avoid a relationship, though, right? I mean, all couples have some issue or another. Many issues can't be anticipated. As long as you realize that life isn't meant to be perfect, and you're both ready to try to make it as beautiful as you can, regardless, I figure you're in pretty good shape.

Good luck in love!

"Naturally" stick-like. Right.

Finally!

I'm so pleased with the decision by the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers. (This news is about a week old now... sorry!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5341202.stm?ls

"Madrid bans waifs from catwalks

Madrid fashion week, one of Spain's most prestigious shows, is banning underweight models on the basis of their body mass index (BMI).

UN health experts recommend a BMI of between 18.5 and about 25, and some models may fall well below the minimum.

The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers has decided to ban models who have a BMI of less than 18.

Unhealthily skinny models at last year's fashion shows led to protests from doctors and women's rights groups.

The association agreed to use the BMI - a calculation based on height and weight - in response to local government pressure....."

Now, if only NYC and Paris would get on board. Ooh, and can you imagine a world with fashion magazines having pictures of realisitically sized people?

Boo, hiss Cathy Gould:

"Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modelling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for weight-related illnesses.

"I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer?" she asked, adding that the careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models could be damaged."

(My bolding.)

WTF!?!?!

Books for free

What could be better, right? Well, it's not as much fun as the town library book sale, when everyone comes out in droves, and you have the thrill of a good find and good people-watching besides, but I recently was pointed to Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) by a friend. Not sure what the difference in titles/canon is between this project and, say, Google Book Search mentioned in Language Log today (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/).

Still, cool!

It's a really random collection of texts with outdated copyrights, so you can have them legally. Seems like a good idea. Here's what I don't get: you can volunteer to be a proofreader for Distributed Proofreaders, an organization which helps produce these online texts. I guess someone scans the book in, then it's read by a OCR program, then real people proofread and format the text, then it gets published online. Good. But, the aim of the game is supposedly to make as many texts available to the world as possible. So, why not just put up the scanned texts? Then we'd also get to see the text/page as published. Is it about searchability or file size? Does anyone here know?

A Gripe of One's Own

Been traveling lately, putting my usual carry-on in the checked luggage, as required. Baggage claim? Clearly part of "Why I Don't Check Luggage." They should paint a yellow line about 5 feet back from the carousel. And you know those recordings they used to run: "the white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only!"? They need one of those for the baggage claim area.

"Please stay behind the yellow line until you see your bag arrive. Please vacate the carousel zone immediately upon claiming your bag. Please do not line up with 3 other members of your family to block the view of other passengers who would also like to claim their bags, especially if they, unlike you, fuckwit, did not pack 3/4 of their worldly belongings to go on a 2-week trip."

And this should be played repeatedly, until passengers of the world become less stupid, or for eternity, whichever comes first.

Rules for kittehs

From Shrinkykitten.

Especially these.

"5. When mama wants to cuddle, you must cuddle. If Mama wants to kiss your tummy (see above photo for cutest tummy ever), Mama needs to kiss your tummy. Seriously, is this too much to ask?

6. When mama doesn't want to cuddle, please to amuse yourself for a while. Don't sit on what she is trying to work on. Don't climb onto the laptop. Don't swat at her. Which leads us to #7.

7. Please somehow make it through the night without kisses. I know you love to have your little head kissed. But, mama is just not in the mood at 3am. No, smacking mama in the face or headbutting her face will not make her more amenable to this. She needs to sleep so she can go to school/work so she can earn enough money to keep you in kitty food, catnip, and kitty grass. Until you get yourself a job and make some money, no more waking Mama! "

Did you get that, girls?

Tough to the finitch

Huh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4788015.stm?ls

"Olive oil secret to Loren beauty

Italian actress Sophia Loren has beaten much younger contenders to be voted the world's most naturally beautiful person at the age of 71 in an online poll.

The Oscar-winning star says her secret is down to love of life and spaghetti.

But another key to maintaining her youthful looks is one known to the ancient Romans - Loren takes "the odd bath in virgin olive oil"."

Annnd:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2006/08/14/

the_olive_oil_paradox/

"The olive oil paradox

Americans consume olive oil for their health, but in Morocco, the residue is fouling the water

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | August 14, 2006

MARRAKESH, Morocco -- The olive oil in your pan is helping to trigger environmental change thousands of miles away in this North African kingdom....

...Morocco is facing severe shortages of fresh water exacerbated by decades of pollution from olive mills."