Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
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Tuesday, July 19, 2005
May my life or anyone else's never depend on cooking
I managed to slightly burn hard-boiled eggs last night. Yes, burning water is next. I think I've inherited my grandmother's cooking skills--she nearly always just took us out to eat when we came to visit. Oh, well. Everyone's got to be truly awful at something. I just have a few more than many.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Back to the drawing board
Well, I gained back 5 lbs of the weight I lost, probably due to water fluctuations to do with my hormones, although I've been holding steady at a net 3 lbs lost in two weeks, even though I did cheat a little every day. A friend asked me what it meant that I couldn't keep to a diet for a measly 2 weeks, and to think of how I would feel, the sense of accomplishment, if I did stick to it and used the willpower he's sure I have. So...we're doing a redo, this time sticking to it. Today I've had a V-8 and a little cheese for breakfast, followed by more cheese for a midmorning snack. I plan to have salad and deli day without the bread (i.e., tuna).
Wish me luck. This time I'm going to actually try...and do.
Wish me luck. This time I'm going to actually try...and do.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Argh
Blast Kills Up to 27 Iraqis, Including Many Children - New York Times
Why? Why is this something anyone would want to do? How can that possibly help someone's warped idea of a cause?
I can't even begin to comment on this one. I'm so sorry for the relatives of the children and of the others (including a US soldier) killed by a suicide car bomb as the soldiers were handing out sweets to a group of children.
Why? Why is this something anyone would want to do? How can that possibly help someone's warped idea of a cause?
I can't even begin to comment on this one. I'm so sorry for the relatives of the children and of the others (including a US soldier) killed by a suicide car bomb as the soldiers were handing out sweets to a group of children.
In with details of the raids are a disturbing number of apparent hate crimes directed at Muslims
Pakistan Times | Top Story: Police in UK swoops on South Asians after London Blasts
I just don't get where people lash out at individuals who have nothing to do with terrorism because of their ethnicity, religion, clothing, or other signs of 'otherness'. One man in Nottingham is dead. Granted, it's sporadic and not limited to any one area (there are reports from Britain, New Zealand, and the US). I suppose it was an inevitable backlash to be expected, but it still saddens me.
I just don't get where people lash out at individuals who have nothing to do with terrorism because of their ethnicity, religion, clothing, or other signs of 'otherness'. One man in Nottingham is dead. Granted, it's sporadic and not limited to any one area (there are reports from Britain, New Zealand, and the US). I suppose it was an inevitable backlash to be expected, but it still saddens me.
I agree
Star-Telegram | 07/13/2005 | Karl Rove should be fired immediately
and an investigation should continue to see if a crime were committed through the 'outing' of an undercover CIA agent. If so, prosection should follow, not because Karl Rove is Bush's right-hand man, not because he was the architect for Bush's victory, but because he did something wrong that threatened sensitive investigations and the ability of our security forces to do their jobs...supposedly in retaliation for one man's refutation of the Bush party line.
I also find it amazing that one of the reporters in this, who is in jail for refusing to name her source, is being held for contempt when she...unlike another who is free...never printed the information she obtained. Whilst I admire her resolve, it's interesting how the case has played out. In a world where sources that once were sacred are now questioned because of a few bad apples who routinely falsified stories, journalism and its ethics have changed since the days I watched 'Lou Grant' voraciously. No story seems to lack underlying complexities today, and it's amazing how much the media can scrutinise a single blade of grass from every angle imaginable. But in the end, there is so much spin, I have to wonder, do we ever really get to know the truth?
and an investigation should continue to see if a crime were committed through the 'outing' of an undercover CIA agent. If so, prosection should follow, not because Karl Rove is Bush's right-hand man, not because he was the architect for Bush's victory, but because he did something wrong that threatened sensitive investigations and the ability of our security forces to do their jobs...supposedly in retaliation for one man's refutation of the Bush party line.
I also find it amazing that one of the reporters in this, who is in jail for refusing to name her source, is being held for contempt when she...unlike another who is free...never printed the information she obtained. Whilst I admire her resolve, it's interesting how the case has played out. In a world where sources that once were sacred are now questioned because of a few bad apples who routinely falsified stories, journalism and its ethics have changed since the days I watched 'Lou Grant' voraciously. No story seems to lack underlying complexities today, and it's amazing how much the media can scrutinise a single blade of grass from every angle imaginable. But in the end, there is so much spin, I have to wonder, do we ever really get to know the truth?
Sad that anyone would do this
But it's different when someone without a stake in your country targets you. I remember when the Oklahoma City bombing happened, and everyone was so sure that it was terror from the Middle East, but I thought it was probably a home-grown extremists, which we had in plenty. That said, it was still shocking to realise that someone from the US could hate America and have such a warped view of their fellow people as to plan and execute such an act. Hate knows no boundaries, unfortunately.
I only hope there is no backlash against Muslims or Pakistanis in the UK because of this, since the men were apparently of that ethnicity, despite being born and raised in Britain. This is a time for everyone to come together to fight such flawed and tragic prejudices as those that led to the bombings in London.
CNN.com - Blair shocked 'bombers' were British - Jul 13, 2005
I only hope there is no backlash against Muslims or Pakistanis in the UK because of this, since the men were apparently of that ethnicity, despite being born and raised in Britain. This is a time for everyone to come together to fight such flawed and tragic prejudices as those that led to the bombings in London.
CNN.com - Blair shocked 'bombers' were British - Jul 13, 2005
Monday, July 11, 2005
A little Monday Madness
monday madness:
1. What book are you currently reading? (from dawn) Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Duston Thomason
2. Have you ever experienced the loss of a pet? How did you deal with it? Would you get a new pet, and why? (from peanutbutterfly) Yes, recently I lost a cat, and another had to be put down last year. It's hard to deal with, but it's a natural part of life. I've blogged about each experience. That's helped. Also support from friends who understand can make a real difference.
3. Is anyone in your family in the armed services? (from teresa)
Not currently. My father and stepfather were both career Air Force (my father served in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia during the war), and I grew up on bases, moving every 2 years or so. My uncle was in the National Guard during Desert Storm. My cousin got out of the army awhile back, for which we were thankful given the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three grandparents were in World War II--my mother's father was a Marine at Iwo Jima, my father's mother was an Army nurse in Europe who lost a kidney during the war, and my father's father was in the Pacific in the Army. I have ancestors who were in World War I, the Civil War (both sides), Spanish-American, and Revolutionary, so we're pretty well represented. The only one I don't know if anyone was in was Korea. It's because people like these men and women that I can afford to be such a pacifist, and I never forget their service.
4. If you have or have had a girlfriend/boyfriend, did you tell your parents about her/him without them prying for the information? (from shady88) Yes.
5. What was your favorite childhood pet and tell me a few things about it. (from beth) I had a rabbit named Freckles who I loved dearly. Then there were the cats, Tiger and Samson. Tiger was the big bad 'puddy cat' but terrified of mice. Samson was terrified of everything else but was a terrific mouser.
6. Have you ever been in love? (from seren) Yes, but it was unrequited.
7. What's your favorite activity? (from robyn) Reading...it takes you to whole other worlds of imagination with a richness and interaction you could never find on screen.
1. What book are you currently reading? (from dawn) Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Duston Thomason
2. Have you ever experienced the loss of a pet? How did you deal with it? Would you get a new pet, and why? (from peanutbutterfly) Yes, recently I lost a cat, and another had to be put down last year. It's hard to deal with, but it's a natural part of life. I've blogged about each experience. That's helped. Also support from friends who understand can make a real difference.
3. Is anyone in your family in the armed services? (from teresa)
Not currently. My father and stepfather were both career Air Force (my father served in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia during the war), and I grew up on bases, moving every 2 years or so. My uncle was in the National Guard during Desert Storm. My cousin got out of the army awhile back, for which we were thankful given the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three grandparents were in World War II--my mother's father was a Marine at Iwo Jima, my father's mother was an Army nurse in Europe who lost a kidney during the war, and my father's father was in the Pacific in the Army. I have ancestors who were in World War I, the Civil War (both sides), Spanish-American, and Revolutionary, so we're pretty well represented. The only one I don't know if anyone was in was Korea. It's because people like these men and women that I can afford to be such a pacifist, and I never forget their service.
4. If you have or have had a girlfriend/boyfriend, did you tell your parents about her/him without them prying for the information? (from shady88) Yes.
5. What was your favorite childhood pet and tell me a few things about it. (from beth) I had a rabbit named Freckles who I loved dearly. Then there were the cats, Tiger and Samson. Tiger was the big bad 'puddy cat' but terrified of mice. Samson was terrified of everything else but was a terrific mouser.
6. Have you ever been in love? (from seren) Yes, but it was unrequited.
7. What's your favorite activity? (from robyn) Reading...it takes you to whole other worlds of imagination with a richness and interaction you could never find on screen.
Remembering a terrible failure to prevent genocide
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Massacre at Srebrenica in Bosnia, when over 8000 men and boys were taken from an area supposedly under UN protection and killed.
Friday, July 08, 2005
A scary look into the mind of a monster
A Kidnapping-Murder Suspect Blogged About His Demons
Joseph E. Duncan III, a convicted sex offender, has been charged with the kidnapping of two children from their home in Idaho and is suspected of murdering the children's mother, the mother's boyfriend, and the children's 13-year-old brother in order to procure the children for sex. Of the two children, the boy is feared dead but the girl was recovered when people recognised her eating with the suspect.
Duncan had apparently spent months chronicling his inner daemons in a blog called 'Blogging the Fifth Nail' [I'm including the link not to condone or support it, but because no matter how horrible it may be, someone might learn more about how to stop this sort of offender by reading it], ending the blog just 3 days before taking the children.
One of the things I like about blogs is that they are windows into the lives and minds of different kinds of people. I haven't been to the site [and I'm not sure I will] but I wonder if any of us surfing could have prevented this from reading the blog. Of course, so much of the Internet is anonymous, at least to the average user. Such sites, no matter how difficult they may be, give us a look at the darker side of human nature, the evil that lurks within some people. I just wish in this case that it had never gone further than cyberspace, because there's a little girl out there who's life has been changed forever, who is left with her father and older brothers but is now motherless, whose family has been torn apart, and everything that was is changed. That's a heavy burden for an eight-year-old. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family, and thank goodness the story was publicised so that she was found still alive.
Joseph E. Duncan III, a convicted sex offender, has been charged with the kidnapping of two children from their home in Idaho and is suspected of murdering the children's mother, the mother's boyfriend, and the children's 13-year-old brother in order to procure the children for sex. Of the two children, the boy is feared dead but the girl was recovered when people recognised her eating with the suspect.
Duncan had apparently spent months chronicling his inner daemons in a blog called 'Blogging the Fifth Nail' [I'm including the link not to condone or support it, but because no matter how horrible it may be, someone might learn more about how to stop this sort of offender by reading it], ending the blog just 3 days before taking the children.
One of the things I like about blogs is that they are windows into the lives and minds of different kinds of people. I haven't been to the site [and I'm not sure I will] but I wonder if any of us surfing could have prevented this from reading the blog. Of course, so much of the Internet is anonymous, at least to the average user. Such sites, no matter how difficult they may be, give us a look at the darker side of human nature, the evil that lurks within some people. I just wish in this case that it had never gone further than cyberspace, because there's a little girl out there who's life has been changed forever, who is left with her father and older brothers but is now motherless, whose family has been torn apart, and everything that was is changed. That's a heavy burden for an eight-year-old. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family, and thank goodness the story was publicised so that she was found still alive.
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