Gullilver's poo

Ok so now I am reading Gulliver's Travels. The author is presently a prisoner of the tiny people (Lilliputians). Check out this paragraph.

"I had been for some hours extremely pressed by the necessities of nature; which was no wonder, it being almost two days since I had last disburdened myself. I was under great difficulties between urgency and shame. The best expedient I could think of, was to creep into my house, which I accordingly did; and shutting the gate after me, I went as far as the length of my chain would suffer, and discharged my body of that uneasy load. But this was the only time I was ever guilty of so uncleanly an action; for which I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance, after he has maturely and impartially considered my case, and the distress I was in. From this time my constant practice was, as soon as I rose, to perform that business in open air, at the full extent of my chain; and due care was taken every morning before company came, that the offensive matter should be carried off in wheel-barrows, by two servants appointed for that purpose. I would not have dwelt so long upon a circumstance that, perhaps, at first sight, may appear not very momentous, if I had not thought it necessary to justify my character, in point of cleanliness, to the world; which, I am told, some of my maligners have been pleased, upon this and other occasions, to call in question."

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Like most good works of writing, the theme of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe seems to be Life Sucks and Then You Die. Here is a quotation from chapter 2: "Yes Eliza, it's all misery, misery, misery! My life is bitter as wormwood; the very life is burning out of me. I'm a poor, miserable, forlorn drudge; I shall only drag you down with me, that's all. What's the use of our trying to do anything, trying to know anything, trying to be anything? What's the use of living? I wish I was dead!" And another, from chapter 18: "I looks like gwine to heaven, an't thar where white folks is gwine? S'pose they'd have me thar? I'd rather go to torment, and get away from Mas'r and Missis. I had so."

In spite of this, I'm very glad I read it. Powerful, disturbing, enlightening. I remember in high school a kid being warned against reading it because of how disturbing it is. Anyway, my big take-home message I got from it was that slavery wasn't all that long ago (book was published in 1852), and our society still hasn't recovered from it. A whole race of people was treated in such a way that it would be impossible to recover quickly.

Veronica Lake

Someone told me today that I look like Veronica Lake. Wahoo!

umbrella etiquette

Daily double: This morning I read on facebook that a friend of mine likes to wear a mink costume while he rummages through the neighbors' trash to find recyclables. Then on the way to work there was a car in front of me whose license plate said "MINK".

What is manly and what is not? In some countries men walk arm in arm or hand in hand and think nothing of it. Not so here. Remember the images of President Bush holding hands with Saudi Prince Abdullah and the fuss it raised? On the radio this morning one DJ asked the other, "Would you share an umbrella with another man?" The response: "HELL no." (His word, not mine.) I think that's the sentiment of most men. Interesting. I have a friend who takes this a step further and refuses to use an umbrella at all. Apparently it is more manly to look like a drowned rat than to use an umbrella. The Military agrees: for centuries male Military personnel have not carried umbrellas, as it is considered wimpy. Women are excepted from this piece of wisdom. (For debate about this disparity, see the article here.) I am glad I am a female and can gleefully and confidently snuggle up to a girlfriend with our arms around each other under an umbrella and use the common sense God gave us.

From Peter Pan's "Never Smile at at Crocodile":

You may very well be well bred

Lots of etiquette in your head

But there's always some special case, time or place

To forget etiquette

shiftless management

I took the following quotation from Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which I am reading right now. St. Clare's observations hit a little too close to home; maybe they reflect my own housekeeping tendencies!

"There is no such thing as getting anything like a system in this family!" [said Miss Ophelia.]
"To be sure, there isn't," said St. Clare.
"Such shiftless management, such waste, such confusion, I never saw!"
"I dare say you didn't."
"You would not take it so coolly, if you were housekeeper."
"My dear cousin, you may as well understand, once for all, that we masters are divided into two classes, oppressors and oppressed. We who are good-natured and hate severity make up our minds to a good deal of inconvenience. If we will keep a shambling, loose, untaught set in the community, for our convenience, why, we must take the consequence. Some rare cases I have seen, of persons, who, by a peculiar tact, can produce order and system without severity; but I'm not one of them,—and so I made up my mind, long ago, to let things go just as they do. I will not have the poor devils thrashed and cut to pieces, and they know it..."

Twang!

George Strait has a new album out called "Twang". Twang! I find this hilarious. And it makes my teeth hurt.

Sports figure name of the day: Chad Ochocinco

I had potatoes topped with potatoes again for lunch today.

eat fish?

The clip below is the last scene they filmed on the X-Files before David Duchovny quit the show (the first time). The bundle between them is Mulder and Scully's son (sort of; in an X-Files kind of way) William. I was thinking about this scene on the way to work this morning. I tried to dig up a quotation I had heard about it. I looked online for the quotation for literally hours, which you should appreciate, but I couldn't find a direct quote. This is the best I could come up with: "After taping the last scene of the episode, the one in Scully's apartment, [the camera panned out the door and] David and Gillian stayed on the set crying for 5 minutes. It was their way of saying goodbye to the relationship that they built, as characters and actors."

I am eating salmon for lunch. Rare. Not cooked rare, but it is rare that I eat salmon for lunch. Usually I just eat vegetables. Anyway, I have considered stopping eating fish, me being a vegetarian and all. But it all depends on whether fish feel pain or not. Here I go to look it up.

Okay, I looked it up. Not very smart of me to look it up WHILE EATING FISH. Totally made me lose my appetite. Anyway, there is a lot out there said on the topic. It is a big debate. Here are some excerpts from the article that other articles seemed to quote most often, caps in the original:

"PAIN IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE THAT IS SEPARATE FROM BEHAVIORAL REACTIONS TO INJURIOUS STIMULI ...REACTIONS TO INJURY ARE PRESENT IN ALL FORMS OF ANIMAL LIFE BUT THESE REACTIONS DO NOT MEAN THAT PAIN IS EXPERIENCED-IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR A NOCICEPTIVE STIMULUS TO BE CONSCIOUSLY EXPERIENCED FOR A BEHAVIORAL REACTION TO OCCUR ...IN VERTEBRATES, REACTIONS TO INJURIOUS STIMULI ARE CONTROLLED BY THE SPINAL CORD AND BRAINSTEM...HUMAN EXISTENCE IS CEREBRALLY-DOMINATED- A FISH’S EXISTENCE IS BRAINSTEM DOMINATED...FISH DO NOT HAVE THE BRAIN DEVELOPMENT THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE OF PAIN OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF AWARENESS...THE REACTIONS OF FISH TO NOCICEPTIVE STIMULI ARE SIMILAR TO THEIR REACTIONS TO PREDATORS AND OTHER NON-NOCICEPTIVE STIMULI..." From Do Fish Feel Pain?by By Dr. James D. Rose, University of Wyoming

At the same time, having considered the issue more deeply, I find I don't like the idea of killing fish or eating it. So this research has really gotten me nowhere in my attempt at a decision whether to continue eating it or not. Jerry says I should continue eating it regardless, for health reasons. However, I feel I can easily get the nutrition that fish has, from other sources. Weigh in here please.