Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm going out with Alan and some friends for a late Sunday lunch.

Pancakes. Must have pancakes. Must. Must.

I cleverly made sure to add Canadian maple syrup to my shopping list and bacon and little sausages. This is the grocery shopping I have Waitrose deliver every other Saturday morning, the heavy stuff I don't want to drag home and up the stairs. Things like tonic water and household cleansers and canned chick peas. The fresh food I mostly pick up on my way home from work.

The only thing I was not clever about was milk. I should have ordered another liter of milk. So now I'm trying to figure out how to make the pancakes with npot enough milk but I do have cream. I do have a container of milk in the freezer but that will never defrost in time.

And yes, I -AM- too lazy to go down to the corner show and pick up more milk now. Especially because it is cold and raining and gray outside.

No sane adult moves to the Bay Area for lifestyle; they move there
because they think they can make money. So, while I think it's nice
people like to ski, hike, bike, climb, surf, and golf, I don't care. I
want people who are greedy, competitive bastards who would move to
Fargo in January to make money, and who don't know any other way to
work than hard. The rest of it is a distraction.

I baked a huge and absolutely gorgeous Christmas cake yesterday. Yes, with booze. Cognac actually. And loads of pecans and cherries and pineapple and other good stuff. And then drizzled it with some more scotch whiskey. Yum, it smells wonderful!

In other news, I still feel totally beat up from my nightmare commute to work every day.

I'm off to bed at a bit past 9:30pm . Getting up at 5am is a real bitch.

Yay! The US election and Yay! the US voters! I'm proud of you but expected no less. And yes, I'm one of you because I absentee balloted.

So, still working, still making my insane 2+ hour commute each way, every day. I'm going to try a bus alternative to the trains tomorrow. I don't expect it will be that much quicker but it's worth a try to see if it is gentler on my body. I feel so beat up and bruised from the enormous amount of travel.

Yes, I still love my job. It's still interesting, exciting, and challenging.

I was able to buy some basic work clothes. That makes a HUGE difference. Oh my god, what a difference that makes. We're only talking about a few bits and a pair of shoes. I hadn't realised how worn out and awful my old clothes had become. I feel actually human once again.

Last night Alan and I went through our clothes and threw out all the old crappy stuff we would never wear again except in desperation. Threw out a full, large shopping bag. There was also actually stuff that didn't fit but was still in good shape, and that is folded neatly into a bag to go to the local church.

I'm off to the supermarket now. I'll be online later. Need some time to hang out online.

See you all soon!

I finished my 2nd week at work yesterday and...ta da! I got paid! Yes, everything managed to go right and a big lump of British Pounds Sterling (paper version sterling) was dumped into Alan and my joint checking account Friday. (They call that a current account here in the UK)

So I dragged myself home from work and we went out to dinner with Ron & Hillary and Pete & Laurie. Very nice evening. Excellent food and really interesting discussions. The only problem was that both Alan and I started fading by 10:30pm and finally Alan called a cab to take us home. We get up at 5am all week and leave for work at 6am so by the time it's night, we just can't stay up that late. We'll have to stick to weekends for social outings.

So- of course with my first paycheck sitting in the bank, I finally was able to get some things I desperately needed - like a small but reasonable selection of smart business wear for work. We also were able to get food and household stocks in this morning. And I picked out Andrew's birthday present and ordered it online.

Next week I get my 2nd paycheck and that will be a full one. I'll use that one to start paying back money I owe family and friends. I ant to get everything clear eventually.

And, Alan was able to order a stack of books he's wanted for while - AND the CCNA textbooks so he can start studying and preparing himself to add a major new set of skills to his professional array.

Yay! Completed my first week at my new job! (Ok, it was only a 3 day week but still...)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I start my new job tomorrow. Have to leave the house damn early to catch the 6am train since it's the first day and I'm not sure of the timing.

Stop the presses!

Yes, I have a job! I start on Wednesday. Yay!

You lucky readers of this blog will be relieved to learn there will be no further moaning about the soul destroying horror of job hunting.

It's a very nice job, indeed. (You can email me for details, they don't belong on a public blog.)

Alan woke me this morning before 6am to inform me there was a power outage (read: blackout) but he was sure it was only local and would soon be back on. Umm right thanks, I'll return to my regularly scheduled sleep, thank you very much. I guess he wanted company in the dark as he got ready for work. Fair enough. A couple of candles did the trick since he'd already managed to make coffee before the power went off. Shaving would have to be a writeoff since his razor is electric. His office will survive. Outside there was a faint light as the false dawn began.

As soon as he left I went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later I was woken up again as one of the laptops started beeping and compaining that its batter was failing. I don't touch Alan's kit so I let it beep and just closed the door. Another 20 minutes and the power went back on at about 7:30 am.

My exciting morning ;)

I expect to get either a job offer or a rejection from 2 companies today. It's in the hands of the gods. Meanwhile, I got a call for an interview with MTV; they found me on their own. We'll see how that goes. I keep making it through several rounds of interviews and testing and just not getting the final nod. But sooner or later that will come.

DON'T EAT THAT SALAD!

I'm disgusted at the recent Big Lie campaign targetting crisps as a vile, disgusting food by showing some girl slobbering down a liter of oil and proclaiming that if you eat a small packet of crisps a day for 1 year you would be ingesting 4.something liters of oil a day.

Well, using that same logic - DON'T EAT THAT SALAD, EAT THE CRISPS!

If you eat a small salad with a minimal amount of salad dressing, daily for 1 year, you would be ingesting 5 and 1/2 liters of oil a day!

So using their insane logic, you are better off giving your child or yourself a packet of crisps rather then a fresh salad. That's playing by their rules.

I hate bullshit like this from supposed do-gooder groups. Come the revolution, those helpful groups should go up against the wall even before the lawyers.

As my son Andrew noted in his blog, it was just Yom Kippur. A time of self-reflection and renewal. Time to grieve over the losses of the past year, to forgive hurts, to undertake to be a better person in the coming year. I hope all those who shared in this day had an easy fast and wish everyone a healthy and happy and prosperous new year.

I've started this new year with a fresh start myself. I've finally moved completely out of my former flat and now moved in with my other half. It's a real squash here since the place is so small. It's officially rated for 2 adults and others in this development live in idential flats with 2 adults and a child. But that's them and it's not us. I'm going down to Coop Homes today to talk with them about moving up to a larger place.

Anyway, it's ok so far. Two days and we haven't killed each other yet ;) Nah, only joking. We know we have very different personal lifestyles and that the real solution is just to have enough space to allow us to do what we really need to do and not prevent the other from doing what they need to do. Once I'm working we'll sort things out.

It's been a while since I posted here, mostly because I've been deeply depressed by job hunting.

It's not that I don't get responses to my CV, I do. In fact I get a high response to my CV and I get a large number of interviews. The interviews also go pretty well since a large number of them produce an invitation to return for the "shortlist" 2nd tier interview. But, after all those successful steps, I keep failing to succeed at the final stage where I would get a job offer.

This is soul destroying. To put yourself out on the public stage, the marketplace, day after day and to be rejected time after time. It's a very personal rejection. Because once you make it past the primary interview, they know you have the skills and experience required to do the job. Then it's all a beauty contest. They are just judging you as a person and rejecting you personally. Saying I'd rather work with someone else, I like someone else better.

Think back to grade school where everyone used to line up to be picked for teams and think about always making it to the 2nd or third round and getting left standing there rejected at the end. Then think about if that happened to you day after day for months.

Nightmare, isn't it?

So no wonder I am depressed. Personally rejected by the professional world time after time. And not working means not getting paid which creates a cascade of disasters which further depress me.

And there's no relief because day after day I have to go through the process again and again. Smiling. Smiling and being bright. Smiling and being earnest. Smiling but being dignified. Smiling and being knowledgable.

It's so completely irrational and random and luck of the draw. And the deck is stacked against you. The house always wins.

Very depressing.

Not that anyone cares but I am boycotting Jamie Oliver. Shunning the pretentious, arrogant, condescending, political-correctness overgrupenfeurer.

Fresh criticism of Pope's remarks
Criticism is still pouring in from Muslim religious and political leaders over the Pope's remarks about Islam.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/europe/5351324.stm

I'm disgusted but not surprised at the Muslim response. The Muslim attitude for the past 5 years or more has been WE are allowed to insult the West and the Jews and YOU are not allowed to say anything remotely critical of Islam or the Prophet Mohammed. But the West tolerated this outragous hypocrisy. And so it comes to this. I hope the Pope refuses to apologise since he did nothing wrong. I hope the West wakes up and tells the Muslin world that they will just have to deal with it, that the West allows people to speak their opinions.

I hope we ALL remember the following -

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

30 questions to elevate your awareness (and literacy) of the greater place in which you live:

1) Point north.

2) What time is sunset today?

3) Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap.

4) When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water?

5) How many feet above sea level are you?

6) What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here?

7) How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? Can you draw the boundaries of yours?

8) Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt?

9) Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves?

10) Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available.

11) From what direction do storms generally come?

12) Where does your garbage go?

13) How many people live in your watershed?

14) Who uses the paper/plastic you recycle from your neighborhood?

15) Point to where the sun sets on the equinox. How about sunrise on the summer solstice?

16) Where is the nearest earthquake fault? When did it last move?

17) Right here, how deep do you have to drill before you reach water?

18) Which (if any) geological features in your watershed are, or were, especially respected by your community, or considered sacred, now or in the past?

19) How many days is the growing season here (from frost to frost)?

20) Name five birds that live here. Which are migratory and which stay put?

21) What was the total rainfall here last year?

22) Where does the pollution in your air come from?

23) If you live near the ocean, when is high tide today?

24) What primary geological processes or events shaped the land here?

25) Name three wild species that were not found here 500 years ago. Name one exotic species that has appeared in the last 5 years.

26) What minerals are found in the ground here that are (or were) economically valuable?

27) Where does your electric power come from and how is it generated?

28) After the rain runs off your roof, where does it go?

29) Where is the nearest wilderness? When was the last time a fire burned through it?

30) How many days till the moon is full?

The Bigger Here Bonus Questions:

31) What species once found here are known to have gone extinct?

32) What other cities or landscape features on the planet share your latitude?

33) What was the dominant land cover plant here 10,000 years ago?

34) Name two places on different continents that have similar sunshine/rainfall/wind and temperature patterns to here.

Have you ever seen a fox? A real fox, live, close up, in the wild so to speak, not behind a fence at a zoo.

They are not cute or cuddly. They are not beautiful, fluffy feline creatures. No. Not a bit.
Foxes up close are cold, creepy, predators. Much more doglike than one imagines after being raised on Disney animations of adorable foxes. Believe me, foxes are not adorable in any way.

They are killing machines and nuisances. They rip open your bagged rubbish, they kill the harmless small wildlife like squirrels. They attack and kill your small pets - kittens are favorite snacks of foxes.

I've seen foxes when I had the farm in Jeffersonville, NY. They are common in the Catskills. But yesterday I looked out my kitchen window at the back garden and there was a fox. Ugh. It had that same cold, predator stare. It would, it's a wild animal. It's not cuddly Disney fantasy.

But it was an interesting reflection on the nature of cities and life and survival to see one in a London back garden.

What's good for the Imams is good for the Pope.

Bravo to Pope Benedict, I say, for his courage in speaking out about Islam and the current conflicts, etc. I'm not surprised at the outraged response of Islamic leaders and communities. They are HYPOCRITES. I can't say that often enough. They want to insult and condemn the West and Israel with the most outragous insults and lies and accusations. But no one is allowed to say anything even mildly critical in response.

Let me repeat myself - Islamic leaders and communities are HYPOCRITES.

Anyone who knows me also knows I have little to no use for the Pope, the Vatican, and Churches in general. Hey, I read history, I know what they've done. But they have evolved and in general they accept that people will express critical views and should not be immediately condemned to death as heretics.

This time the Pope was spot on in his comments about Islam. And as usual, Islamic leaders and pundits and self-appointed spokespeople called out for the death of the West, the death of the infidels, force us all to accept Islam or die and how dare we express an opinion at all critical of Islam.

My message as a woman and an American is - suck it up, Islam. This is called Freedom of Speech. And as we all should know by now, Islam does NOT allow freedom of speech.

Think about that. Think about it very carefully.

9/11 - five years later

Humans are extremely good at getting used to things that were once unbearable. The site of the greatest mass murder of modern times no longer has the power to horrify those closest to it.

I allowed myself an all American treat for supper tonight- corn on the cob. Yum, with butter and salt, it was delicious. One ear of corn.

I know, my fellow New Yorkers are going to be laughing at this. One ear of corn? A treat? The thing costs 10 cents, how can that be a treat? It's cheap summer food.

Umm not here in London. Here it costs $1.20 an ear on sale. And it's not even the sweet and creamy fresh American corn. It's tasty but believe me folks, it's not sweet or creamy. It's more like canned niblets corn but still much nicer.

I can remember pinching pennies in NYC and buying fresh corn in season 10 for $1 because it was so tasty and so cheap.

Still it was a lovely, buttery treat.

Monday is 9/11 - five years since the WTC attack. My stomach churns painfully if I even think about that day but I continue to mentally replay my experience with a compelling morbid fascination. No matter what anyone says, unless you were there in NYC actually watching it happen - live - in front of your eyes, you weren't part of it. You may have lost friends or family or colleagues which is an absolute tragedy and an outragous offense to all decent, peaceful, broadminded people. But if you were watching it on TV, you weren't part of it, it's different for you.

In a typically non-creative media way, since they can't think of anything better, some of the TV channels plan to replay all their news coverage from 9/11 on Monday. They started that last night, in fact.

Nail salons

I was watching the morning show GMTV this morning and they did a special segment on New York City's "nail bars" (they are called nail salons but that's typical of the Brit News, sloppy on the details).

So they reported on the NY "phenomena" of women having frequent manicures and pedicures - often more than once a week. They noted how cheap and convenient the salons were and how strict the NY regulations were with all technicians licensed and strict sanitary requirements. As if this was something extroadinary. Well, yes it is very different from the practice in the UK.

But the choice moment came when the reporter couldn't come up with any juicy NY nail salon related horror story scandal so she trotted out some nonsense about Paula Abdul having a problem with a LA nail salon. Woah! Desperation. That's like a story on London trottting out an incident that occurred in Moscow. You could just see this on the face of the salon manager as this idiot Brit reporter rabbited on.

NY Nail salons and the pampered hands culture of NY are something the Brits just won't get.

84 Charing Cross Road


I'm watching the wonderful film, 84 Charing Cross Road at the moment. Wonderful, wonderful charming film staring Ann Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench. I've seen this film several times and it's always a delight.

I was curious tho, since I've been coming to London for many years and now live there, about the location of the book shop that inspired the film. Alan and I were just on Charing Cross Road last night. So I looked it up on a map and oh my goodness, I know 84 Charing Cross Road. I know it very well, been going there for years. But sadly, it's no longer a book shop. As long as I have known it, it has been Au Bar One, a wine bar. How many afternoons have Alan and I lounged on the huge leather sofas there, sipping vino verde, chatting, and reading books from Blackwell's just a snip down from the street.

If you haven't seen this film - buy or rent a copy and watch it. You'll thank me.

Today's Laugh of the Day -

Headline from today's LA Times:

EU Will Try to Clarify Tehran's Nuclear Stance

My take on this? I think Iran made itself extremely clear in it's response to the UN. They said no.

What part of NO does the EU not understand? What amusement they must be providing Tehran with their request for additional definitions of No.

I can provide a very clear explanation - They are saying, Fuck Off Infidel Crusaders. You will die soon.

Ah well, gatta laugh or else you'd cry.

Slough


Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

It isn't fit for humans now,

There isn't grass to graze a cow.

Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens

Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,

Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,

Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-

A house for ninety-seven down

And once a week a half a crown

For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin

Who'll always cheat and always win,

Who washes his repulsive skin

In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak

And smash his hands so used to stroke

And stop his boring dirty joke

And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add

The profits of the stinking cad;

It's not their fault that they are mad,

They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know

The birdsong from the radio,

It's not their fault they often go

To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars

In various bogus-Tudor bars

And daren't look up and see the stars

But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care

Their wives frizz out peroxide hair

And dry it in synthetic air

And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough

To get it ready for the plough.

The cabbages are coming now;

The earth exhales.

John Betjeman

Blech! Alan's fridge just died. He was defrosting it this morning because although it's supposed to be a frost-free model, the fridge compartment was developing large icey areas. So he unplugged it and let both parts defrost, then did a good cleaning and restarted it. The freezer turned back on but the fridge is sitting like a silent lump.

Not A Good Thing.

It's raining today, so much for the August Bank Holiday. Chilly and raining.
Yesterday was lovely tho, warm and sunny. Alan and I ended up at the Red Lion again. What a surprise. It's such a nice local pub, quiet clientele, comfy sofas, lovely back garden, good bands in the evening a few times each week. We'll be going there tonight with Ron and Hilary to hear East of Eden again.

Anyway, there we lounged last night, talking about holidays we'd like to take in future when we are both working and can afford such. The trio sitting on the next sofa were having a discussion about grammar and how the English language has dropped many cases compared to other languages such as French. This is things like the pluperfect (for those of you who took French in high school, this will mean something.) and the past perfect subjunctive, etc. It was actually very interesting and sadly I was too polite to interject that American English has retained a lot of grammer that British English dropped about 200 years ago.

So we talked about holidays and our interest in taking some ferry tours which would allow us to take our car (the one we'll buy in future) with us. You can get ferries from England to places like Bilboa, Spain and Tunis in North Africa and Malta and Scandinavia. The prices are reasonable and it makes for a lovely, leisurely holiday. We also want to drive the Wine Route in Alsace and visit Basel. I would really enjoy visiting Basel again. It was a plesant and interesting place to live and would have been much more so if I'd had any money so I could have done more. So revisiting it when I'm working is a real must.

Now listen closely and pay attention. This is very important for you to know and understand.

There is no Great Coffee in England.

That's it and that's a tragedy.

I was out walking early this morning after having had my sacred first cup of the day. It was pretty good. It was arabica beans dark roasted to what they call an Italian roast here. As my grandma used to say, "by them it's Italian roast". I had made the coffee from fresh grounds, I just opened the vaccuum sealed bag from Waitrose. But even so, at its prime it just didn't reach New York City best standards.

I need Zabar's coffee. I need their darkest Italian roast beans, oily and fresh and indescribably fragrant. So fragrant that when you brew a pot of coffee, the scent fills the house and lifts your spirts. Next time I am in NYC, I'll not only buy a few bags of it for immediate use, I'll also buy a bunch of their specially vaccuum packed cans of it so it will remain fresh and keep me supplied for an extended period.

It's a real lack here. I have searched and researched and checked out leads from people who swear they found sources of great coffee but nothing comes close to the exquisite coffee sold so cheaply by Zabar's in NYC.

Damn, I need it.

Asti's birthday was yesterday and she had a get together for drinks at the George. Alan and I went and had a surprisingly good time. (Surprising because Alan was concerned that we'd be out of place with everyone so much younger than us. It turned out fine, programers are programers regardless.)

The George was an interesting pub to visit in any case.

You can read about The George here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_George_Inn,_Southwark

Anyway, we had a nice time chatting with Asti and her friends, a few of whom we knew from ACCU. Tati, Asti's neighbor from Basel flew over for the weekend so it was very nice to see her again.

We lucked out going home. Our leisurely stroll to the London Bridge tube station (only about 1 block really) was perfect timing. The Jubilee line train arrived almost immediately and got us to Waterloo station in a few minutes. Thinking we had a really long wait at Waterloo for the Isleworth train, we took our time making our way to the platform and voila! There was a train waiting there just about to depart. Kismet! We hopped on and 35 pleasant minutes later were getting off for the brief walk home.

Friday night was the start of August Bank Holiday weekend and several of our neighbours were still holding parties in their back gardens. The music wasn't loud enough to prevent our falling asleep so all in all a really pleasant evening.

The job search goes on. Nightmare.
Alan comes home from work and asks why am I sitting in the dark. It's not really dark, I just haven't turned on the lights. I'm still at my computer searching for and applying for jobs and there's enough light for that. I'm at the point where everything is now superfluous except hunting for a job. It's a race against time and money - both are running out. Perhaps have run out.
I have an interview on Wednesday, still applying for jobs, tho.

Job hunting is possibly the loneliest, most depressing thing there is to do. Soul destroying. You are putting yourself on the slave block and doing your best to sell yourself. Hoping someone will pick you. And each time you fail, you have no recourse but to smile, smile, smile, and do it all again.

One of the worst aspects of the ugly process is the sheer insanity of the reasons given for some rejections. I've been told I was too interesting, too bright, too work focused! Because the workplace culture here is more good enough and jobsworth, my Amercian values of hard work and can do, get it done might make co-workers uncomfortable.

Arrrgh! How do you make yourself seem stupider and lazier?

This week's winner of the most frustrating job interview is actually reasonably good but just frustrating. I've made it through the first interview and was called back for the short list, so to speak. Met with them again, including an additional higher up. That seemed to go ok, but there's no real way to know. It's all a guessing game. I'll know how well I impressed them if they call me back to come in for the final meeting they plan for this Friday. It's go-no go at this point. If I get that call back, I'll probably get this job. If not, not. So it's a get through each frustrating day wait now to see. Very, very stressful. This job is really a good match for me, the company is a great match for me. I like the people I've met, like their style and I think we'd work well together.

We'll see if they think so soon.

Stay tuned for more news as it happens. Same bat time, same bat channel.

Why Stereotypes are

So there were the French, you remember the French don't you? Those brave, honest people who condemned Dryfus because he was a Jew, and who volunteered to round up even the babies for the Nazis. Those people who -all- claim to have been in the resistance in WWII. Yes, those French, yes, the ones who actually invented the Inquisition (the Spanish only copied the French invention).

And now those lovely people, the French, led the call for a UN body of international troops to occupy Southern Lebanon and guarantee a ceasefire. The French have always insisted that they were the masters of diplomacy, the diplomats par excellence. They haven't been for over a century but why let facts intrude in nationailistic bombast. So there they were, charging to the fore, trying to regain their position as a real player, one of the big boys - declaring that they, the French, would lead the effort, their glorious French troops would show the way for all of us.

Big Talk. Big, big talk. The number 15,000 troups was mentioned. The number 4000 French troops immediately as the cornerstone was mentoioned, and more to follow.

And what do they do in the end? They send a team of 200 engineers. Huh? Engineers? What happened to the soldiers, mon ami?

From Reuters-
NEW YORK, 19 August (IRIN) - After the disappointing commitment by France of only 200 engineers to the newly tasked United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown appealed to the rest of Europe to provide troops for a "robust" force.

And -
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in a statement on Thursday that Germany was set to send customs officials.

Oh beauty! Is this not right out of Saturday Night Live?

Stereotypes are, they simply are because they are.

Choucroute!

I'm watching a really excellent show on Alsace and at the moment they are showing how to cook the regional specialty Choucroute. We've made this dish in our family for decades but watching the original made in its home stamping grounds is interesting and instructional.

I love Alsace- beautiful, beautiful area. Lovely people, lovely wine, lovely food. I miss it. I need a car so I can drive there with Alan and wander around the vinyards and little villages and sit at a cafe table sipping local wine and ummmmmmmmm

Federation II

Wow - a player created this little video about Alan's game: Federation II.

Plot to blow up aircraft flying from UK was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," police spokesman says.

From CNN - London's Metropolitan Police said a months-long intelligence operation by the anti-terrorist branch and security service resulted in several arrests overnight, according to a Scotland Yard news release.

The aim of the alleged plot was to explode devices carried aboard planes in handheld luggage -- especially on flights from Britain to the United States, according to Scotland Yard.

***Right, and what do we learn from this? What lessons has the West learned from the unending terrorist suicide bombing jihad?

Nothing.

This is a cultural war and there is no compromise in sight nor will there be. In a sense, the Muslim terrorists are correct, the West is decadent - we tolerate them, we tolerate the unending threats and attacks. We tolerate changes to our chosen way of life, we tolerate losses to our fundamental Freedoms. We are being very stupid and I'm very afraid we will pay the price.

Beyond all else, as a woman, there is no acceptable place for me in a fundamentalist Muslim world. Don't tell me there are moderate Muslims. I don't see them crying out against terrorists and suicide bombings and jihad. All I see is them gathering in to support the destruction of Israel and the West. When I see the leaders of Islamic nations stand up in the UN and unilaterally denounce Islamic terrorists without reservation, when I see them break off diplomatic relations with all nations and groups that support this terrorism, then I will begin to believe again.

This truly tears at my heart. I worked for 8 years with Egyptians and other Arabic nationals and it was one of the best experiences of my life. They were good people, kind hearted, generous. We had years of excellent discussions between myself as an Amercian, female, Jew and they as Arab, Muslim men - and deeply religious Muslims at that. And it was always that we, Muslims and Jews were family, shared a common religous point of view of life in contrast to Christians. There was never any hate or intolerance. So where does this insanity spring from?

I think the problem is that Islam never went through a Reformation period, never endured the fires of intellectual enlightenment. So in many or most of Islamic populations, the culture is that which was acceptable 1000 years ago. It's not acceptable now.

Perhaps I was just lucky to work with such a wonderful group of Egyptians. I'm grateful for the many years I worked with them. But I also think it was because they had chosen to come to America, to persue the American Dream for themselves and their children. That was their own personal reformation that gave them a different perspective on life and life's priorities.

It's a sad time and a sad state of things in the world. The West needs to put its collective foot down and say NO to the Islamic bullies. Just say No.

Barbara Byro
and
Alan Lenton
are pleased to announce their wedding
on Saturday, August 5, 2006
at 12 noon
Cloverly House, Hounslow

"There's now a 48-hour cease-fire going on in the Middle East. Israel will stop attacking Hezbollah. But, Hezbollah will not necessarily agree to stop attacking Israel. Hey, we can't even get Mel Gibson to stop attacking Israel."
--Jay Leno

"A Lesson To Be Learned"

When I was in the Navy, I once witnessed a bar fight in downtown Olongapo
(Philippines) that still haunts my dreams.  The fight was between a big
oafish bar bully and a rather soft-spoken, medium sized Latino sailor from
my ship.

All evening the bully had been trying to pick a fight with one of us and
had finally set his sights on this diminutive shipmate of mine... figuring
him for a safe target.  When my friend refused to be goaded into a fight
the moron sucker punched him from behind on the side of the head so hard
that blood instantly started to pour from this poor man's mutilated ear.
Everyone present was horrified and was prepared to absolutely murder this
guy, but my shipmate quickly turned on him and began to single-handed
back him towards a corner with a series of stinging jabs and upper cuts
that gave more than a hint to a youth spent boxing in a small gym in the
Bronx.

Each punch opened a cut on the bully's startled face and by the time he
had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone
to stop the fight.  He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons
to stop the fight.  He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely
see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and
swollen brows.

Nobody moved.  Not one person.

The only sound in the bar was the sickening staccato sound of this
sailor's lightning fast fists making contact with new areas of the guy's
head.  The only sound I have heard since that was remotely similar was
from the first Rocky film when Sylvester Stallone was punching sides of
beef in the meat locker.

Finally the bully's pleading turned to screams.... a high, almost womanly
shriek.   And still the punches continued relentlessly.

Several people in the bar took a few tentative steps as though they wanted
to try to break it up at that point, but hands reached out from the crowd
and held them tight.  I'm not ashamed to say that mine were two of the
hands that held someone back.

You see, in between each blow the sailor had begun chanting a soft
cadence: "Say [punch] you [punch] give [punch] up [punch]... say [punch]
you [punch] were [punch] wrong [punch]".

He had been repeating it to the bully almost from the start but we only
became aware of it when the typical barroom cheers had died down and we
began to be sickened by the sight and sound of the carnage.

This coward stood there shrieking in the corner of the bar trying futilely
to block the carefully timed punches that were cutting his head to
tatters.. right down to the skull in places. But he refused to say that he
gave up... or that he was wrong.

Even in the delirium of his beating he believed in his heart that someone
would stop the fight before he had to admit defeat.  I'm sure this
strategy had served him well in the past and had allowed him to continue
on his career as a barroom bully.

Finally, in a wail of agony the coward shrieked  "I give up", and we
gently backed the sailor away from him.

I'm sure you can guess why I have shared this story today.
I'm not particularly proud to have been witness to such a bloody
spectacle, and the sound of that bully's woman-like shrieks will haunt me
to my grave.  But I learned something that evening that Israel had better
learn for itself if it is to finally be rid of at least one of its tormentors:

This is one time an Arab aggressor must be allowed to be beaten so badly
that every civilized nation will stand in horror, wanting desperately to
step in and stop the carnage... but knowing that the fight will only truly
be over when one side gives up and finally admits defeat.
Just as every person who had ever rescued that bully from admitting defeat
helped create the cowardly brute I saw that evening in the bar, every
well-intentioned power that has ever stepped in and negotiated a ceasefire
for an Arab aggressor has helped create the monsters we see around us
today.

President Lahoud of Lebanon, a big Hezbollah supporter and a close ally of
Syria, has been shrieking non-stop to the UN Security Council for the past
two days to get them to force Israel into a cease fire.

Clearly he has been reading his autographed copy of 'Military Success for
Dummies Arab Despots' by the late Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.  Ever since
Nasser accidentally discovered the trick in '56, every subsequent Arab
leader has stuck to his tried and true formula for military success:
Instigate a war.

Once the war is well underway and you are in the process of having your
ass handed to you... get a few world powers to force your western opponent
into a cease fire.

Whatever you do, don't surrender or submit to any terms dictated by your
enemy.  That would ruin everything!  All you have to do is wait it out and
eventually the world will become sickened at what is being done to your
soldiers and civilian population... and will force a truce.

Once a truce has been called you can resume your intransigence (which
probably caused the conflict in the first place), and even declare victory
as your opponent leaves the field of battle.

This tactic has never failed.  Not once.

In fact it worked so will for the Egyptians in 1973, that to this day they
celebrate the Yom Kippur War - a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel -
as a military victory!  No kidding... it's a national holiday over there!

President Lahoud  has already begun to shriek  like a school girl to the
UN Security Council to "Stop the violence and arrange a cease-fire, and
then after that we'll be ready to discuss all matters."

Uh huh.  Forgive me if I find that a tad hard to swallow.  He allowed
Hezbollah to take over his country.  He allowed the regular Lebanese
army to provide radar targeting data for the Hezbollah missile that
struck the Israeli destroyer  He has turned a blind eye while Iranian
and Syrian weapons, advisers and money have poured into his country.

And now that his country is in ruins he wants to call it a draw.

As much as it may sicken the world to stand by and watch it happen,
strong hands need to hold back the weak-hearted and let the fight
continue until one side finally admits unambiguous defeat.

Forwarded by

Dan Sorkin

"The world is a dangerous place to live
not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don't do
anything about it."
-- Albert Einstein

Last night I sent out(emailed) the invites to the wedding and the celebration parties which will be held in NYC and London in Nov. Got a lot of rsvp responses already. The parties should be great fun. We'll have the NYC one at our favorite - Capsuto Freres. I haven't figured out where to have the London party since there's no real equivalent to Capsuto Freres here except in the exhorbitantly and insanely expensive category. We'll see what I find that combines great food with a stylish venue.

In the Be Thankful For Small Favors dept -

Yesterday I managed to see my son Adam briefly, fleetingly, on his way to the airport to fly back to NYC. (This was wrong, deeply wrong, we should have had at least a few hours to relax together over coffee and chat) Anyway, I was happy to see him and give him a hug, and probably more important to him, a much needed laptop. I had no idea he was without a computer.

So I expected he would arrive at JFK in due course where his father and brother Andrew would meet him in Adam's car and drive him back to Tom's apt. What I did not expect was a SMS Text message from Adam telling me he landed safely at JFK to discover that his car was stolen!

Per Andrew, Tom had parked it in "the perfect parking space right outside the front door". Bzzzt! It immediately occurred to me that that street has rigidly enforced alternate side of the street parking and I asked if they had checked if the car was towed. I was told they'd called and were told the car was not towed.

Fill in more phone calls and craziness and text messages and absolute misery for Adam who had to drag himself onto the subway system with luggage and laptop and shopping bags after a 8 hour flight which required him to leave the house at 5:30am to check in at Heathrow before 7am. NIGHTMARE.

Finally late last night I called Andrew for an update and found out the car was not stolen, it was indeed towed. ***(ok I thought it was towed for illegal parking it wasn't)

Ok, late breaking news, as they say - The Rest Of The Story. It seems that the car was parked legally. It was towed because Adam had 2 overdue parking tickets. Arrrgh! It will now cost hundreds of dollars to get the car out of the impound on top of the cost of the tickets and any fines on those. Damn! Poor Adam.

So finally after a week visiting in London, Asti managed to drive Adam by my house. Of course it was at 6:30am and he was on his way to the airport to return to NYC and she had to rush off to an appointment at work so we're talking about a few minutes which were spend running to Alan's house to grab a laptop to give Adam.

Pathetic, really. I would have enjoyed even an hour together and Adam would have as well. I wanted to wander down to the river Thames with him and sit on the terrace at the London Apprentice with a drink and relax and chat together a bit. It will have to wait for the next trip when Asti won't own all Adam's time.

Meanwhile, I'm still actively job hunting. The AOL job didn't pan out. They decided a harder, quieter, British male was a better choice. That's HR, not the head of the dept he'll be working for. HR said the problem was the head of the dept would have liked me better but they preferred someone who would only think of the job at hand 100% of the time and not "get creative".

Umm ok. Not.

I've learned a hard lesson about HR here. I'll know better next time.

PLUS CA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE

Psalm 83

1 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

The idea of proportionate response is barbaric. Does Israel have to wait until the Arabs "catch up" and kill several hundred Israelis? How many soldiers equals a baby? Do pregnant women count as one and a half people? How many free bombings does Hezballah get before Israel is allowed to respond? If a bomb doesn't kill anyone, does it count? How many kidnappings equals a killing? When Hezballah kills Israeli Arabs, which side do they count for?

For 55 years, the Arabs have been "almost" ready to accept a state of Israel. Tell you what. When they are really ready, let people know. Until then, stop lying to yourself.

Today's morbidly amusing incident - but first some background to place it in context:

Britain is a strangely chaotic and unfair country compared to the United States. In the US, we are accustomed to the Rule of Law. And all, theoretically, are equal under the law and entitled to many rights enumerated in Law. In Britain, they have far fewer laws, what they have here are "guidelines". This means you actually live in a very gray legal situation were you have few rights and who you know and who you can intimidate shape the sort of life you will lead.

As well, this is a very provincial society for all they are a "First World" nation and incessantly sneer at Americans as ignorant and small minded.

So with this in mind, we briefly flash back to the events of 2 weeks ago on June 29th.

At 5pm on June 29th my fiance and I had an appointment at our local Registrar's office to attend to give Notice Of Intent to Marry. Normally this office is open 8:30am - 4pm, but a week previously when I had phoned to check details of the process, I had (typical American, I complained) expressed intense dismay that my fiance would have to take a day off work to register when he had just taken off so many days due to surgery. Compassionately, the lady I was speaking with revealed they maintained a secret "special out of hours appointments" service and made our appointment for -after work- the next week! Now I really appreciated this courtesy BUT, the right and fair way to offer a courtesy like this would have been to note it on the information site so everyone had a chance at it and just had to prove its need. Most Brits don't complain, they suffer silently in public and grumble privately and resentments grow.

Moving on in time to June 29th...We show up at the Registrar's office, and for an hour we fill out forms, answer silly questions in rediculous regimented routine, and then the moment comes when I pass over my divorce document. This was the original issue divorce document from the State of Pennsylvania, with the gold foil seal and impression of the sealing machine. The Registrar stared at the document and then pulled out a large loose-leaf binder and started to compare it to documents pictured on the pages. After a while she finished and looking up at me she annonced that my divorce document would not do as it didn't match any of the authorized American divorce documents in her book.

I was puzzled, I said, it was an official original PA divorce decree and had already been approved by the UK Home Office when they issued me my "marriage visa". Nevertheless, the lady explained, the Registrar's Office was a different branch of gov't and had to approve it themselves. I couldn't understand why there was a problem untill the lady said, "We have photocopies of what the official Amercian divorce decrees look like from the issuing authorities in California, Texas, Florida, and New York and yours doesn't match."

Duh! Perhaps that was because MY decree was from Pennsylvania! At this point a classic insane culture confusion type conversation took place. I finally pointed out that those decrees she had copies of were from only 4 of the US states and that we had a whole additional 46 other states to choose from to get divorced in and that they all proudly and legally issued their very own divorce certificates. This resulted in some major running about from office to office consulting other civil servants, none of whom wanted to take responsibility for many a sensible decision. Finally it was decided to hold on to my divorce decree and send it on for examination and approval by the Chief Registrar of the UK. Good grief! I was told that if my decree was approved, copies of it would be made and distributed to registrars all over England to add to their little American Divorce Decree Sample books.

Good grief!

So I waited the requested 10 days to allow them to make up their minds and phoned in to find out if my decree was approved as legit. The office had no clue when I explained what I was calling about ( no surprise there!) and took my phone number and promsed to call back.

Today, just before 5pm I get a call from the Registrar's office. My divorce decree has been accepted and the Registration is approved - sort of, kind of, god forbid anyone here give a plain, simple answer.

The real story is, having receieved my PA divorce degree at the National Top Registrar's Office, it was passed about and everyone sort of looked at it and said, "huh" and " never heard of Pennsylvania, where is it then?" Since there are no laws to follow, only guidelines, they finally decided to dubiously and sceptically approve it without ANY CLUE whether it was genuine and without bothering to even check with the US authorities here in London who would easily have assured them it was legit.

Instead, typically, it has been approved with a warning that "we rely on both the applicant parties' assurances that this is a legitimate document, understanding that it is entirely dependant upon their attestations that the legitimacy of the marriage rests."

Woah, is that nuts or what?

But, the morbidly amusing bit I promised... When the lady from the Registrar's office phoned me, she hadn't even bothered to get out my file and check my name. Instead, when I answered the phone she asked, "Are you the American who's marrying ONE OF OUR BOYS?"

Oh my goodness ;)

My visa arrived in the mail today. What an incredibly expensive nightmare this has been. It's not ended yet, of course. I still have more increasinly small hoops to jump through. My loathing of the UK gov't increases with each sleazy money-making hurdle they erect. They change the rules every few months! Seriously! I went to the Home Office website to check what documents I need to submit after the wedding in order to get my extended leave to settle (and work) for spouses. And what do find? The rules are changing tomorrow. Yes, June 22 they change all the rules. They just changed them on May 5th! And before that in March. And before that in Nov - and I may have missed other changes, they come too fast and frequently to keep up with them. What is guaranteed with each change is an increase of the obscene "processing" charges they demand. Processing what, you may ask. I ask, too since the charges don't cover their answering questions. Ah ha! If you want to ask them a question, make an appointment, or inquiry, you must call a premium charged 3rd party agency which charges you £2.10/min.

I won't mention the charge for the spouse's leave to settle extension - you would just feel as ill as I do now.

The word is that the British Consulate has issued my visa. Andrew found that out last night when he called them. I sort of can't quite believe that that long, miserable struggle is over. They were supposed to email me to advise me when they issued it but of course they didn't. So I can't relax and believe it untill it arrives at Andrew's house. Then I will relax and get ready for the next hurdle in this mad process.

Arrrgh!

We received our first wedding present today - an amusing token to help with the planning. It was a CD collection of wedding music for ceremony and reception.

So this is all real, we really are going to get married.

My mother, Helena Schwimmer died yesterday morning at 2:40 am est. It's been a long struggle for her, which she did with her usual grace, humour, and spirit. Now she is free of pain and at peace. In my family we don't believe in things like heaven or hell. We believe that a person lives on in our thoughts and memories. I have many happy, wonderful memories of Helena, she'll always be with me in that way.

My dear friend Bo wrote this for me last night -

Memories.

I live on memories,
And should I move on,
I will live in memories,
If only one's.

So lets move the plot forward a month or so. In the mean time, our heroine has flown to NYC to attempt to get her UK Visa and renew her US passport. Of course she arrives just as the UK changes their visa rules! And what does the Consulate do? It cancels her appointment so they can close for training on the new rules!

Next, the US passport agency refuses to give her a prompt appointment to renew her passport - they offer an appointment 3 days after she is scheduled to return to the UK.

Arrrgh!!

At least I got to spend a few days with my sons. They are both absolutely lovely, amazing, wonderful young men and a delight to be with. I also got to meet my son Andrew's new girlfriend Joanna. What can I say about Joanna? That she is as lovely, as charming, as amazing, as wonderful as my son? OK, she is! Yes! I'm so happy for Andrew. And Joanna is also quite an artist as well, the painting she gave me is brilliant and I have it displayed prominantly on my living room wall.

So back I flew to London. All the US and UK changes are a nightmare BUT they did make a few small changes that allow me to wiggle things to apply for everything I need via mail. It requires a tiny bit of dodginess but I'll manage. At the moment my passport is in the hands of the US gov't as they process the renewal and I'm counting the days untill it is mailed back to me.

On April 18th we went up to Oxford for the ACCU conference. Six interesting if exhausting days. I made a deal with the Event Organizer where I would work as her assistant for the conference in exchange for our room and the Speakers dinner, etc. So we had a relatively cost free time.

When I returned to London on Sunday the Demon Internet starter kit for the new BICLP network had arrived. I'm scheduled to turn up the network for the BICLP on May 5th, the day after the election.

I find myself profoundly depressed lately and this is my excuse for not posting here. In fact, the depression seems to leave me with such apathy and lethargy that I do very little indeed. Sad, since I'm normally a cheerful and productive sort. It all comes down to this damn UK visa. It's a house of cards. I need to get to the US to get my visa. To do this I need to get the money to buy plane tickets. To get money, I need to work, but I can't work unless I get the UK Visa so I can get married and get permission to settle. Oh yes, did I mention getting married? This is the really crazy bit, you have to either be a citizen here or have a special UK Visa for them to allow you to get married. In the US, you just go get married but not here, oh no , no, no.

I feel like I am living in a nursury rhyme -

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

I have no idea what to do and my current visa waiver for the UK expires in 10 days.

How do you define despair?

I'm morbidly amused that Crash won the Best Picture Oscar last night. I thought it was a crap film, exploitative and boring. Same old, same old. I liked Brokeback Mountain, really enjoyed watching it. Brokeback Mountain had charm. at its heart it was an old fashioned love story with a perfect classic tragic ending. Memoirs of a Geisha had enormous style and beauty.

But this was the year of the Battle of the Minorities and one minority won out over the others. Sad in a way. Especially because for me, Brokeback Mountain was not about the tragedy of a hopeless homosexual love but about love, full stop.

Ah well, a pox upon the Academy Awards. I'm delighted that Wallace & Grummit's new film won Best Animation Feature. I hope it encourages more theatres to show it, more people to watch it and more to buy the DVD. Aardman films are delightful.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

wHY IS NO ONE PROTESTING? WHY ISN'T THE U.N. SCREAMING ABOUT THIS? WHY ISN'T AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SCREAMING ABOUT THIS? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY ISN'T THE ENTIRE CIVILIZED WORLD BOYCOTTING THIS NATION?

Barb


Old horrors, young victims

I've covered horror stories across the African continent, and every time, I tell myself I've seen it all. But nothing could have prepared me for the scenes I witnessed in the tiny dusty town of Gulu in northern Uganda.

It is in this region that a rebel force -- the Lord's Resistance Army, which claims to base its principles on the Ten Commandments -- has waged a protracted 20-year war against the Ugandan government. The army is led by Joseph Kony, a 43-year-old so-called "Disciple," who is as elusive as he is mysterious. His modus operandi is to kidnap children from villages at night and indoctrinate them into his group. Reports from victims suggest he physically and mentally abuses them into submission. The United Nations says more than 30,000 children have been kidnapped in the last 10 years alone.

In a bid to escape danger over the past three years, every young child in every village surrounding Gulu makes a nightly trek from their village homes to the relative comfort of the town. The locals call them the "night commuters."

They're given shelter at several locations in Gulu -- a canvas roof; a cold, hard floor; and if they're lucky, a blanket. No food, no water, no showers are available. But at least they get to become kids again, knowing Joseph Kony would not attack the well-fortified town. In the morning, they get up and proceed to make the long commute back home, just lucky to be alive.

Those who are kidnapped by Kony's army live a life of horror. While reporting this story, we met Alice, a 19-year-old girl who recently managed to escape after eight years in captivity. She told me blood chilling stories of events no child deserves to witness. She spoke of how the group she was in was made to kill a child who tried to escape by biting him to death, of how she was made to cut up and cook the body of a village chief killed by the rebels and forced to eat the meat from his body, and of how she was raped and eventually had a child from the man who defiled her. She showed us the physical scars of her time as a child soldier -- bullet holes on her leg and shrapnel wounds on her chest.

The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant of arrest for Joseph Kony. Nonetheless, he's able to operate with relative impunity throughout the northern part of Uganda. As long as he's alive and leading his ragtag group of rebels, no child in northern Uganda will ever be safe.

By Jeff Koinange, CNN Correspondent: 1:44 PM
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/

Snowstorm photo album

Tom went out into the snow and took some photos and then he graciously sent me copies.

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A priest, a minister, and a rabbi were all sitting at a table, finishing dinner and discussing theology.

Suddenly an angel appeared before them. "I have been sent to grant each of you one wish," he said. "Who will go first?"

The catholic priest stood up. "I wish for the destruction of all protestants!"

Then the protestant minister bolted up. "I wish for the destruction of all catholics!"

The rabbi stayed seated and just smiled, so the angel asked, "How about you? What do you wish for, rabbi?"

The rabbi answered, "Well, if you're going to grant their wishes, I'll just settle for another cup of coffee."

Valentine's day

My old friend Bo sent me a lovely song and then phoned to wish me happy V day. Sweet man, a good friend

Alan dropped by this afternoon to return the washed, empty glass souffle dish the tiramisu was in. He had finished it off. We went out tonight with Ron & Hilary and Alan brought along a small portion of the tiramisu he had saved out for Hilary. She loved it. She was raving about it and only allowed Ron a small teaspoon of it, keeping the rest for herself. They thought it was perfect and absolutely not too much booze.

I'll have to make it again but next time I will make it when we're all having dinner together so we all get reasonable servings.

I spoke to Andrew and Joanne - they are just a delight - and Andrew is going to have a try at making a tiramisu soon I hope he enjoys it. The recipe book describes it as "Heaven in your mouth". It is.

The tiramisu was lovely and lush and silken - and very alcoholic. Mea Culpa, next time I will use less booze and a lower alcohol content version as well. I used a very high alcohol rum because that was all I had available. It was delicious anyway, but more suitable for Baba au rhum than tiramisu. It was still much better than anything commercial I've ever had in a restaurant.

My finace was moaning about it being too alcoholic but I completely discount that as he had eaten half the serving dish at that point and protested my taking even a single serving.

TIRAMISU - Don't try this at home kids!

Ok, I made it at home today. It's a special treat for my fiance. It can be very nice at restaurants that make it carefully, don't cut corners. But it's not sublime. I wanted to produce a sublime tiramisu. So I ignored all the easy-make, quick-step, derivative, and variations on tiramisu and looked for something that, given my knowledge of cooking , had the right feel to it. I found my perfect recipe in Lorenza di Medici's Basic Tiramisu. The recipe is:

Ingredients

* EGG YOLKS, 3

* EGG WHITES, 3

* SUGAR, superfine (castor), 4 tablespoons

* VIN SANTO, or MARSALA, or BRANDY, or RUM 1-1/3 cups (I used rum)

* ESPRESSO COFFEE, very strong, 1/2 cup

* MASCARPONE CHEESE, 8 ounces

* CREAM, 1 cup (This is UK double cream so in the US get heavy whipping cream. NOT UHT crap, please.)

* SAVOIARDI (LADY FINGERS), I believe I used 18 of them for the bowl I used.

* Cocoa powder - the highest quality, pure cocoa.

* dark chocolate - I used a super high quality bar of black african chocolate - 86% which is amazing since the highest I've ever previously seen was 72%. This was dark, silky, and sweetly intense.

You will need 3 mixing bowls for this and 1 large glass souffle dish or any glass serving dish with high, straight sides - I recommend 4" high.

Directions

1. Make a zabaglione by beating the egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in the top of a double boiler until ivory colored. (I used a large pyrex mixing bowl with a handle over a pot of boiling water and a hand mixer.)

2. Add 1/3 cup liquor and whisk over gently simmering water until the mixture begins to thicken. Let it cool.

3. Stir about 1/4 cup coffee into the Mascarpone. Taste and add a teaspoon or so of sugar if desired, I did. I also added a bit more coffee to get the soft, silky texture I wanted.

4. Whip the cream to soft peaks.

5. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the zabaglione.

6. Dip the lady fingers into the remaining liquor mixed with the remaining coffee and line the bottom of a 9-inch bowl or individual containers (wine glasses work well).

7. Cover them with half the Mascarpone, then half the zabaglione, then half the whipped cream.

7a. Dust with cocoa powder after the zabaglione layer before you add the cream.

8. Repeat the layers, starting with more dipped ladyfingers and finishing with the cream.

8a. Dust or sprinkle lightly with cocoa. Shave the chocolate bar over the top so chocolate curls/bits scatter all over it.

9. Refrigerate for several hours (4-24) before serving.

9a. Alan says add more shaved chocolate on top before serving.

Whew! I finished the tiramisu and it's now sitting quietly chilling in the fridge, the flavours maturing and mellowing.

We'll have it for dessert tonight. I'll know if my work paid off after we've tasted it. It looks gorgeous and smells gorgeous so I have high hopes.

If you have a dishwasher, this isn't any more than a horribly huge amount of fussy, careful, skilled work. If you have to wash it all up afterwards by hand, as I do, this is almost unspeakable. But one must suffer for beauty.

If you want quick and easy - get an "apple pie" at MacDonalds.

Bye-Bye Betty

Betty Frieden, one of the founders of American feminism, died Feb 4th, on her 85th birthday. I was still a child when her book The Feminiine Mystique was published. I remember older friends talking about the then radical idea that a woman might need, not just want but need more than a husband and children.

I had conflicting opinions back then and after decades I still have conflicting thoughts about the whole subject. Of course women want and need more than the narrow little role of wife and mother. I have no conflict with that. But what has always troubled me is how those who rejected traditional roles denigrated and condemned and ridiculed those who chose to retain the roles or attempted to integrate a wide variety of roles. Fundamentally it was just a switch in the gender of who was telling us how to live. So we discarded the male lifestyle direction of women for female lifestyle direction and surprise! the females trying to direct our lives were as uncaring of individual women's needs and wants as their previous taskmasters! Fourty years later stay at home mums still are not respected and people still ask them "do you intend to go back to work?". Ha! Anyone who asks that should be sentenced to raise 3 young children without extra household help for a few weeks. All women work. Some do it in the home and some in a office, but they all WORK. Dont ever fool yourself about this. The most high-pressure, techically difficult project management job I ever worked on was a freaking piece of cake compared to daily care for 3 children (or more sometimes).

So back to Betty. I always liked Betty and what she had to say. My arguement was with the come-latelies like Gloria Steinem. The ones who weren't interested in giving women a choice, the ones who kicked the concepts of equality to the side. My arguement was with the All-females-are-dykes-under-the-skin radical and men are the anti-christ crowd. The ones who imposed a conventionalism on the new feminism that was as narrow and confining in its own way as that previously imposed by men. Is it better for the gulag to be guarded by them or us? We are still in the gulag.

Bye Bye Betty. You fought the good fight.

I'm not too keen on any organized religion. Much like professional sports, organized religion is a machine. A business set up to empaower itself and control the rest of us.

I'm disgusted with Islam in the same way I am disgusted with Christianity. I have no problem with people practicing their beliefs in the privacy of their home on a fully consentual basis. But the moment anyone tries to impose their faith-based beliefs on me , I have absolutely no use for them left.

Dear muslims,

If you do not like my country, please leave.
If you do not like the way our women dress, please leave.
If you do not like our separation of politics and religion, please leave.
If you support violent responses to criticism of Islam, please leave.
If you support terrorism in any way, shape or form, please leave.
If you cannot accept satirical cartoons in our newspapers, please leave.
If you do not support democracy or the freedom of speech, please leave my country.

SBrant http://face-of-muhammed.blogspot.com/

Comment on the Danish cartoons

This said it well so I'm copying it-

Friday, February 03, 2006
A Moment of Truth

A new non-political international movement is rising.

4000 terror attacks after 9/11, the world was still slumbering. But 12 innocent satirical drawings in a Danish newspaper, the kind of cartoons printed daily by the thousands in newspapers all over the world, have changed the geopolitical situation.

Suddenly, a new understanding is emerging across political differences.

In recent years, the world crisis between Islam and the non-Muslim world has been discussed in thousands of books, countless television debates and millions of articles across the globe. It did nothing but divide us. Even former western allies were divided, and a wave of anti-Americanism has swept even the free western societies.

Now ridiculous circumstances have changed all that. A sense of humour has changed what all the debating could not.

For 1400 years, Islam has waged war on all surrounding non-Muslim civilizations. During the course of history, Christianity was reformed, Europe colonized the world and set it free again, dictators lived, reigned and died, and totalitarian regimes emerged and vanished.

But Islam stayed, unreformed. And today, it imprisons more than 1 billion people, moderate and radical souls alike, in a huge gap of difference to the rest of us. Across political divides, across national boundaries, across various degrees of freedom, across race, people or religion, black or white, rich or poor; it stands out as our opposite. Only Muslim reformists seek to lessen the gap. And their voices are quickly silenced.

In modern times, waves of immigrants from Muslim countries have entered Europe. All European countries have been subject to islamization; the process of slowly incorporating Islamic values and Muslim customs into our way of life. Far East countries like India, Thailand, Indonesia and China are experiencing the Muslim Jihad. Israel lives with it. America feels it. Africa suffers from it, and is too weak from disease and poverty to resist.

It is suddenly coming to our attention that Islam is not, cannot, and will not be integrated or assimilated to the values of freedom and democracy. Islam is not only a religion; it is a totalitarian and expansionistic political ideology.

It is now a moment of truth. The current events unfolding all over the world are opening our eyes. 12 cartoons have touched the soul of the free societies: The right to speak freely without fear.

The drawings did not cause this. But they catalyzed a world conflict dormant since the birth of Muhammed.

Now we know what his face looks like. And we are still in majority on this earth to stand up to it.

The current events will eventually lead to either a 3rd world war or finally some sort of Islamic self-realization that has been 1400 years in the making.

posted by sbrant