things that go BOOM in the night

Chris sort of... blew up our kitchen. And I'm inordinately pleased with this. Because from now until forevermore, I have a wealth of comebacks for any of his unasked-for cooking advice. 'Cause hey, no matter how soggy my pasta gets, at least I've never blown up a kitchen.

I'll post pictures as soon as I find our thingy that transfers pix from the camera to the hard drive. It probably won't look that bad, but take it from me: the explosion and crunch of shattered glass were mighty impressive.

Edit: Oh, and, anybody who was thinking of trying out my half-remembered recipe for dulce de leche (it went something like, "I think my mom used to put a can of condensed milk on the stove and boiled the hell out of it for four hours")?

Um, don't.

Michael Moore, Rant, Project Backpack, and Things That Go Boom In the Night

Letter From Michael Moore

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

( Read more... )

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I wish I could find the article where I read this, but there was a report on foreign offers of help that showed lists of countries that had offered to send money, emergency personnel, etc, and been initially turned down because "America can handle this on our own". I really wish I had the list, because it included countries like El Salvador and Sri Lanka.

And one of the most disturbing things? The offers of help are now being accepted (thank god!) and Bush is planning on specifically asking for help from certain foreign countries. Which ones? Why, the oil producers, of course. Asking for cheap oil. Because the real tragedy here is not so much the (carless) people stranded on rooftops, but the SUV owners who have to pay more at the pump thus forcing them to take a break from pumping out greenhouse gases that increase global warming and make weather disasters like Katrina more and more likely.

Oops - sorry, didn't mean to go and politicize this tragedy. And yes, I know that the jump in oil prices does not just affect rich SUV owners - it also affects truckers, regular drivers (like me), emergency efforts, etc etc and eventually our entire oil-dependent economy. I just think it's interesting that one of the first concerns of this adminitration is Must. Protect. OIL!

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OK, enough of today's ranting. Here's something actually useful:

The Mission: Help Kids Get an Education

(From the Project Backpack website) Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of people when she struck Louisiana, and many escaped to Houston, Texas. The Houston Independent School District has taken in many of the children displaced by the disaster so they may continue with their education despite their circumstances.

There is a dire need for school supplies, clothing and educational materials for these children, not just in Texas but also in Mississippi, Alabama and other parts of Louisiana. Project Backpack's mission, should you chose to accept it, is to coordinate donations to the most needy areas. The information on this site will tell you where and what to donate as well as instructions for setting up your own collection center in your neighborhood.



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And in non-Katrina-related news, here's a couple of pics of our kitchen:





( Full size pictures of the exploding glory )

Chris and I can't seem to stop repeating a line from Galaxy Quest: "But the creature is dead. ::pause:: ::sound of blast:: And it exploded."

Pop quiz

You know that symbol of a snake/worm eating its own tail? Who here knows what it's called?

Chris (who, incidentally, now has his own lj - bikerdoc, go see!) thinks maybe 10% of people know. Do you?

Bonus points for knowing anything about its meaning/origins. And for being able to identify the proud owner of this tattoo:

Holy crap

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at His Home

I knew he was sick... I didn't know he was that sick.