Sunday, May 15, 2011

What's Happening in the Garden



My first harvest of the season was overwintered kale and cabbage sprouts, made into a couple of delicious spring-tonic soups. Last week, I harvested the first asparagus, with more on the way. My mind is reeling from the wealth! So far, I've made (a) salad from the tenderest tips, raw with a little vinaigrette; (b) an omelet with mushrooms, asparagus, and a little parmesan; (c) simply steamed. Oh, yes, and the stems went into the cabbage-sprout soup, along with parsley that also overwintered.

What I've Been Reading on the Intertubes


I just caught the Taibbi-McArdle smackdown at Tbogg’s place, and my mind is further boggled by McArdle’s career ascent. She is woefully unprofessional: a serious lack of preparation, a shifty-eyed demeanor, and a distractingly unattractive hairstyle.

She doesn’t do research, so she is left with only the most threadbare of arguments. Of course, Goldman Sachs ripped off their clients – every seller does! She accepts a second-hand report that GS perfomed proper disclosure; Taibbi, who actually read the pertinent documents, says no they didn’t. Who should the audience believe? She finally falls back on her classic assertion that everything is very complicated, so no one can really understand it.

Anyone in the public eye knows that you need to look at the camera, not off to the side as if at a shiny object, and not have your hair hanging limply in your face. I’m not elevating style over substance; it’s called engaging the audience. This is basic advice she should have gotten in any class where she had to make a presentation, but then I’m assuming she paid attention in school.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Random Rant


I wonder how many if any Intelligent Design believers are menopausal women?

I've now been through the whole female sexual/reproductive experience. If this is intelligently designed, I'd have really hated the stupid version.