A Public Service Announcement

http://act.oxfamamerica.org/site/R?i=KFigvGkjy4Z3Jk9DkPDg7Q..

As raw sewage flows through the streets, access to clean water dries up, and food supplies run low, the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza cannot be ignored.

Civilians under siege in Gaza are facing desperate conditions as mounting casualties swamp a hospital system that is close to collapse. We need your help today to call for an immediate ceasefire from both the Israeli government and from Hamas, to allow lifesaving aid through to people who need it.

Urge an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire - click here now.

Over 80 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million residents relied upon humanitarian aid before the crisis began; now the situation in Gaza has grown even worse as families have little or no access to clean water, food, or power. Medical and sanitation systems are in a state of failure. Residents of Southern Israel have also lived in fear of rocket attacks.

Oxfam is joining thousands of other organizations and individuals around the world in demanding that our leaders use their influence to secure an immediate ceasefire by both parties, so that vital humanitarian assistance can be delivered and negotiations for a long-term solution can restart.


Sincerely,

Tim Fullerton
Oxfam America

Yes Pecan

Despite not being able to eat large amounts of ice cream due to lactose intolerance, I can indeed be friends with Ben and Jerry.

I also don't think I'd like this ice cream flavor, but I think it is funny and highly appropriate: Yes Pecan!

thought into being

So, I am reading The Art Thief by Noah Charney. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. I do know that the author is quite impressed with himself, but I digress.

One of this characters has the following thought: "Nothing can be thought into being..."

I find this to be an interesting thought for a fictional character to have. I mean, wasn't he thought into being? Isn't all art, in a way, thought into being?

For it to be shared with others, physical things like typing and painting need to happen... and I guess it depends on the definition of "into being" we are operating under...

But as Dumbledore says in The Deathly Hallows: Why would you ever think that just because something happens in your mind that it isn't real?

So, you know how I am mean, right?

The other day I was describing why I don't like someone to one of my friends. I said: "He is the epitome of average. If he had any less of a personality, he wouldn't even be a person."

And I thought it was funny. In fact, I laughed at my own joke... which does in turn make me sort of lame.

common parlance

So this is random... I was listening to NPR today and one of the reporters said something like "in common parlance that means..."

And I thought, shouldn't there be a term for common speak that itself does not need to be rephrased into common parlance..

Jesus Larry King

So, on Larry Kings show right now they are talking about John Travolta's son's death (bless him), and they are talking about the "controversy" surrounding his death... is he autistic, was it just an accident... People are doing research... but remember, we are talking about a tragic death of a teenager.

Um, CNN, let me do your research and write your whole damn script:

The son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston passed away suddenly. The hearts of everyone here at the Larry King show and CNN go out to the family.

Really. That's it. Anything else... is creepy to talk about. What medical condition the kid had is completely irrelevant...as is the fact that the Travoltas are scientologists.

I am so mad right now. No class, seriously, no class.

P.S. Oh, great news... it is going to be on the cover of a magazine next week. They are going to be balanced and fair! Thank God!

We can be friends, but not because of the book...

So, you know, in the Christmas spirit I am going to give this author the benefit of the doubt. When I first finished the book I wanted to punch him.. but upon further reflection, I think I actually did enjoy the book... so here is my second completely armature book review...

Ok, so for The Book of Air and Shadows (by Michael Gruber), I don't quite know what to say.

I guess, strictly speaking, I did like it... However, I am not sure I'd give it a ringing endorsement. It is certainly interesting. There are a lot of cool facts woven seamlessly into the story (unlike the book the Tenth Circle which seemed like the author pulled random things...comics, Dante, Alaska, and date rape to be exact...out of a hat and then tried to figure out how to fit them in to the story)... The plot is fairly compelling. Also, the narrative is constructed in a really interesting way. One narrator is writing his death bed confessions (as he thinks he is about to be killed) and the other is a limited third person omniscient narrator. The two alternate telling the story and eventually, their paths overlap.

The basic gist is that it is a mystery revolving around an old manuscript written by a man who spied on William Shakespeare. It may or may not lead to an unpublished play about Mary Queen of Scots. So, like I said, you learn some pretty cool things about old manuscripts and Shakespeare, etc.

In the end, the resolution to the mystery is a little... bizarre. There were bad guys, guys who worked for the bad guys...some were bad and some were good in the end... good guys who seemed bad and vice versa. In the end, I don't think I even cared who was who.

For the main romantic couple, things just seemed to fall a little too easily into place at the end. Not that I object to happy endings, but some of the stuff that happened seemed random and completely unimportant to the plot. The resolution was also really hasty, which felt strange at the end of a nearly 600 page book.
Also, most of the characters were unpleasant people. Really, I didn't find any of the particularly likable... some were simply more tolerable than others.

So, I don't know if I would run out and get it, but if you happen across it at the library... maybe give it a try.

Someone I can be friends with...

I have neither the time nor the talent to be an actual book reviewer, but I decided to try something a little different on this here ol' blog of mine. And I figure, hell, it is my blog, I should be able to do with it as I please. What follows is a review, if you will, of a book I quite liked...

So, I just finished reading Run by Ann Patchett. Earlier I read an interview with her and she talked about how all of her stories are plot driven and how she thinks that is her strength as a writer and she wishes her writing could be more beautiful.

Well, I get that we got our English degrees at different schools and everything, but we have very different ideas about what plot driven means.

I don't think it is the plot that drives her books (I've read Run and Bel Canto), but the characters. She creates such vivid characters that I can swear I know these people. Once more, I really care about what happens to them. The book is far from what I would call a page turner, and yet I can't put it down.

In regards to the beauty of her writing, I completely disagree with her self assessment. One of the things that is most striking to me about her writing is that it has an almost poetic quality.

So, yeah, it is good. You should add it to your list.

Ann Coulter

So, the Huffington Post tells me that in her latest contribution to political scholarship, Ann Coulter will "slam" Michelle Obama.

As you can guess, I was devastated, right? I mean, Ann Coulter is certainly an intelligent figure who is well deserving of our attention. I mean, what did Obama say? I'm sure it will really be damaging to her public image if she made another unfortunate comment about country/pride/etc. like during the primaries.

So, could you imagine my shock when the thing Ann was slamming was Michelle's sense of style in comparison to Cindy McCain. Read it here and below:

Coulter wrote, "Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint."


Coulter said Cindy McCain, the wife of vanquished GOP nominee John McCain, "dressed well without freakishly imitating famous First Ladies in history."

Not that I was expecting anything thought provoking from Ann Coulter, but... fashion? I thought she had some pretentions of being taken seriously but I see she has abandoned that hope. This is pretty inane even by her usual standards. I mean, economic policy, international relations, etc. are hard to understand, so it is much easier to pick on the soon-to-be first lady's flipped under hair style.

So, I saw this e-mail... and I really can't believe that people think like this. This person goes on and on about this map of election results by county which I have not included, but I'm sure you can put together a nice mental image for yourself...

Any way, though this person finds many things simply stunning, they only thing I am stunned by is how utterly nonsensical this e-mail is... Hold on tight kids, this is a bumpy road....

You know, it's interesting, I saw today the final county map, red state, blue state map by county, and if you just landed here from Mars, and you looked at that map, you would swear the Republicans won this thing in a landslide, if you didn't know where the population centers are. I guarantee you by county and by square mileage, we skunked 'em! But then you look at the coasts, you look all up and down the Left Coast, you look all up and down the East Coast, until you get past New Jersey and Maryland, DC, even Virginia, three counties in Virginia won it for Obama. Those three counties are microscopic on the map. But it's just amazing.

Ok... so I am trying to figure out what your point is here. You think that we should decide who wins elections on what exactly? If you look at the results of the election there is nothing confusing of baffling about it. Barack Obama won by pretty damn close to 10 million votes.

The population centers feature big cities, of course, and people who live in big cities are largely Democrat, and I don't know, for example, how many conservatives are going to want to move to a place like California. Look at the tax rate inCalifornia. How many conservatives who don't already live there, want to move toNew York? I mean, you need a great job, a lot of money to live there. Besides, conservatives don't Balkanize themselves. They live their lives; they want to be happy and so forth.

God, who would want to move to California? And additionally, I KNOW all liberals strongly object to people living their lives and being happy and so forth. I mean, like any other good liberal, I consider it my charge in life to be as miserable as possible and to try to spread that around. Like paying it forward in reverse.

Liberals are the ones that organize in little communes and cliques and cities and so forth and only want to hang around with each other and themselves. We're not that way in many regards. In some parts of country that happens to be the case, but this map is just stunning.

Yes, the only reason I leave my commune these days is to harass anyone who seems too happy (because they are obviously conservative) and, of course, to vote for Barack Obama.