When attempting to exterminate mice, be careful where you aim your handgun, you might shoot your girlfriend.
October 2004 Archives
That's what popped into mind when I saw this headline:
...finally makes her first post, and it's about me belching.
I did not know this is what I signed her up for, and it worries me as to what some of her future contributions might describe. Oh well, it should be interesting. Stay tuned!
I can't manage to keep up a blog of my own, but every once in a while I feel the urge to ramble on about random topics to people I may or may not know. These moments of motivation usually center around topics that frequently appear on this page anyhow, sooooo Papa-Lu is letting me contribute when the mood strikes.
Recently, I just wanted to say that we are born into our gender roles, not programmed into them.
This was brought home the other day when his father let out a resounding belch, and Matthew burst into laghter. Not simply a little amused smile, but a delighted belly laugh. I didn't teach him that. And, again, last night when Chris was bouncing him on the couch cusions. I have done this before with little response from Matthew. Last night however, Papa-Lu was bouncing him so hard I was worried about whiplash, but Matthew was squealing in delight. He already loves to play rough with Poppy.
I knew I had given birth to a son, but I had no idea he would be a boy so soon. Of course, when not wearing ducky yellow, he is often seen in baby or cubby blue, so perhaps he was programmed after all.
We are getting away for the weekend! A friend of the family has let us her house on a lake for some R&R. We'll be having some family and friends over for a little Oktoberfest tomorrow evening. I hope to have pictures next on Monday.
Have a great weekend!
After depressing news about some of this year's other Nobel prize winners, it was nice to find that one of the winners of the prize for economics is reasonably sane:
Nobel laureate calls for steeper tax cuts in US
Edward Prescott, who picked up the Nobel Prize for Economics, said President George W. Bush's tax rate cuts were "pretty small" and should have been bigger.
I hope he would also include the caveat that steeper tax cuts should be balanced with LESS SPENDING.
THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch lawmakers called for more money to promote gay emancipation, after reports that dozens of schools in the famously liberal Netherlands refused to accept a glossy brochure on homosexuality....
The controversy began in October when the gay youth magazine Expreszo sent a special issue, financed in part by the Dutch ministry of education, to almost every Dutch secondary school.
Expreszo's editor in chief Merijn Henfling said Monday that dozens of schools had refused to take it....
"The Netherlands is not the gay paradise everybody thinks. Just because we have laws allowing same sex marriages and all that doesn't mean that people's moral principles have adapted," Henfling added.
EDMOND, Oklahoma (Reuters) - An Oklahoma man desperate to save his marriage by appearing like a hero to his wife ended up in police custody on suspicion of staging a crime where he hired burglars and foiled their fake robbery attempt, police said on Friday.Full story
According to police, Spencer, a high school teacher, paid two students $100 each to break into his house and try to make off with a stereo.
The masked students tied his wife with duct tape and her husband was in the house just in time to foil the supposed crime, police said.
SINGAPORE - Spurred on by shouts of "Shove it in, shove it in!" 19-year-old Don Ezra Nicholas stuffed more than three McDonald's hamburgers into his mouth — without swallowing — and claimed a new global record at the end of Singapore's contest to be the world's wackiest.
Twenty Singaporeans tried to smash 10 unusual records over the weekend in a bid to make this tiny island nation stand out a bit more on the world map.
They broke two.
Jeffery Koh, 50, became the world's fastest eater of dry biscuits by swallowing three cream crackers in 14.45 seconds, smashing the previous mark of 49.15 seconds set in 2002.
But other attempts failed. They ranged from the fastest to drink a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup through a straw, to the longest paper airplane flight.
Yesterday, Mama-Lu and I went to a beer tasting at one of the booze stores in town. First of all, I want to tell any other CCD teachers that if you're looking for a way to unwind after a hard morning's work, sampling 20 or so beers will do the trick.
(Actually, let me add that CCD yesterday wasn't that stressful. For most of the class we had just one student. The rest went to an optional all-CCD class on Latin. One of our students, however, thought that the class was just going to be for older students, and when she walked into the classroom and saw her younger sibling, she turned around and walked out and said she didn't want to do it. So she hung out with Mama-Lu and me for the duration of the special class. Some people just have their principles.)
Back to the beer. Usually there is some kind of theme to the tasting, but the theme for yesterday's tasting was "stuff they don't have much more of." This is one reason why the tasting was so broad. Normally they pour 6-10 beers, not 20.
Best of tasting for me was a bock from Wisconsin called Pioneer. It was chocalatey delicious! Actually, the real best was a home brew by one of the guys at the tasting. It was supposed to be a chocolate porter, but the chocolate never happened. The result, though, was incredible.
There were some other good ones, but about halfway through, I realized I was too new at this and was being too overwhelmed by the large number of options that I couldn't even remember what some of the first few we tried were like. Maybe sometime in the future I'll get serious and take notes when I go to one of these, but this first time around I think it was nice to just enjoy and see what's out there. I did come to the realization that I'm more of a dark-beer guy (small wonder considering my love for Guiness), although there are a few paler beers I have enjoyed (mmm.... Erdingers!)
The best part of the event was that the sampling cost just $3 each. That's an especially great price considering how many we tried. The biggest lesson I learned is how ridiculous Americans are in making Budweiser and Miller our top brands. I guess since most of them only drink to get drunk, it doesn't matter what you're swigging as long as you can get it down and keep it down. But there are so many good beers out there, it's a shame. I also feel sorry for people who think they hate beer because they tried an MGD once. If Miller Brewing company is your only idea of what a beer is, you have no idea what's out there.
This is a viewer’s guide to Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11. Its purpose is to help the viewer of the film sort through Moore’s many varied claims; to separate fact from fiction and true from false impression; to provide context when the film fails to do so; and to weigh Moore’s assertions, arguments, and narrative moves.
A scene by scene fisk, if you will. Including all of the out of context quotes, camera distortions and truth-reversals, from the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Link from The Corner.
Doctors caring for a critically-ill premature baby, Charlotte Wyatt, were given permission by a British judge to allow her to die if her condition seriously deteriorates and her breathing stops.
High Court Justice Sir Mark Hedley rendered his decision after parents Darren and Debbie Wyatt, who are expecting their third child, urged him not to give up on their 11-month-old daughter.
This is sinister. A judge has just decided under what terms a human being should be given medical care.
Charlotte, born three months prematurely, has severe breathing and neurological problems, and lives in a plastic box on an oxygen feed. Doctors argued that she would have "a terrible quality of life" if she survives.
This is equally sinister. The doctors brought this to the courts because they didn't want to care for the patient anymore. How are you supposed to trust doctors if they can get permission from a judge to let you die? St. Luke... call your office!
Increasingly, Riverside and thousands of other houses of worship around the country double as political battle stations, registering voters, raising issues and rallying the faithful to take a stand on the front lines of the 2004 fight for the White House.
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - As the setting sun casts long shadows over a Caracas cemetery, crime-weary Venezuelans pray at the tomb of the notorious thief Ismael, believing he and other dead gangsters can protect them against violent attacks and robberies.
Devotees of the Corte Malandra or Gangsters' Pantheon say the spirits of gangsters who once maintained a reign of terror in Caracas now watch over them in a city where murders and robberies are rife.
Full text of Wednesday's general audience.
Now, according to the conclusive words of good wishes, another reality is delineated which is radically inherent in marriage: fecundity. It speaks, in fact, of "sons" and "generations" (see verses 17-18). The future, not just of the dynasty but of humanity, is brought about precisely because the couple offers new creatures to the world.
It is an important and timely topic in the West, often incapable of ensuring its own existence in the future through the generation and care of new creatures, who will continue the civilization of peoples and realize the history of salvation.
NEW YORK (AFP) - A 62-year-old New York woman has filed a lawsuit against a 86-year-old paragon of political passion alleged to have hit her with a cane following a fight over George W. Bush election stickers, police said Tuesday.
2 parts silver tequila, 1 part Kahlua. Pour over lots of ice. Shake. Enjoy!
Called the Brave Bull, but you need not be brave. It's incredibly smooth tasting, and it evolves nicely as the melting ice thins out the Kahlua.
Props to Mama-Lu for discovering this gem.
From a friend studying at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg:
I am writing to ask for prayers for the repose of the soul of Fr. David Greise. He was a graduate of Mount Saint Mary's Seminary celebrating his 25th anniversary as a priest.
Today we had our annual alumni mass here at the Mount, and during the pennitential rite of the mass, Fr. David passed out and died there while celebrating the mass. It came as a shock to us all and left many people shaken and stunned. Any prayers for the repose of his soul, his family, and those affected by the death of Fr. David would be greatly appreciated. I never knew him personally, but could tell that he was well loved and respected by his classmates, as they were shedding tears at his passing.
That seems to be the point of this article from Tech Central Station.
Five hundred years ago, the Catholic Church was the big four networks, CNN, the New York Times, and NPR all rolled into one. To its adherents, the Roman Catholic Church was the only authoritative source of truth about the world. In a Europe populated largely by illiterate, ill-traveled peasants, who could contest the Church's interpretation of anything?
Suddenly. I feel dirty
Although, given some of the vitriol spewed around some blogs at our church leaders, this doesn't really seem all that far off.
Libya to host summit on Sudan.
Tonight's Veep debate is going to be far more entertaining and substantial. Cheney is a much more able speaker than W and Edwards is not his stiff, insincere boss. It should be good.
for linking to "The 86 Rules of Boozing."
I do not endorse the entire contents of the linked site, nor even all of the rules, but I do endorse 7, 10, 20 (I will not embarrass my friends who have done this by name, you know who you are), 21,
Remeber the uproar from mid-September about the Arkansas Republican mailing featuring a Bible stamped with the word "Banned?"
Well, now we find this (hat tip to Best of the Web).
"Council perceived what he was reading as hate speech. It would be homophobic today. They couldn't let him go on. You can't go up to the podium and start reading from the Bible," Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Kusturiss countered.
Do I think what this guy was doing was particular productive? No. Was he winning hearts and minds? Probably not. But it certainly was his right, and it certainly was not "hate speech."
And to our CCD class, the seminarians of the Diocese of Peoria, the Fields, all Sacristans, and everyody else who takes the beloved Therese as a patron,
HAPPY FEAST DAY!
