Month: May 2005

I See London, I See France, I See Saddam’s Underpants

Fitting in nicely with the French theme today (in so many ways!):

Hussein Underpants Photo Prompts U.S. Investigation[*1]

I realize it’s against the Geneva Convention and all, but still I marvel that people can get really worked up about this.

Here’s the offending article[*2] sadly sans pictures (a little more French lingo there.)

The French Are Not Loved

A niece of ours is a Franophile. I think that’s safe to say. She’s in college studying design, and France is one of the world’s leading centers of fashion. We can all agree to that.

I think most of us can also agree that the French are otherwise not particularly loved around the world, almost as much as Americans. We’re hated because we’re strong and generous, and not always quite sensitive enough to use that strength and generosity wisely, in the opinion of some in the world. The French are hated because, well . . .

I’ll let this article from the UK’s Telegraph[*1] say it:

“Interviewees were simply asked an open question – what five adjectives sum up the French,” said Olivier Clodong, one of the study’s two authors and a professor of social and political communication at the Ecole Superieur de Commerce, in Paris. “The answers were overwhelmingly negative.”

Words used by other Europeans to describe the French include:
stubborn
humorless
pretentious
agitated
shallow
cold
impolite
preaching
flesh-loving
egocentric
immoral
dirty

Yikes. Be careful what you ask for, eh?

“The Birds” for real

Houston has a grackle problem[*1] .

Excerpt:
Aggressive grackles around the County Administration Building launched attacks Monday that left a lawyer bloodied and county employees wondering whether Hitchc ock’s The Birds was make-believe.

I shouldn’t do this, but I can’t help myself:
Did someone flush a copy of the Crow-ran down a toilet, maybe?

Inflaming The Middle West

Uff Da! Dem crazy Lut’rens up dere by Okoboji are just goin’ nuts over dere, yah sure ya betcha . . .

Political satire by IowaHawk[*1] :

Military efforts to stabilize the violent ethnic Protestantism of the region have had a mixed record of success. U.S. paratroopers first landed along the Iowa/Minnesota border in early 2002 to root out extremist Uff Da militants, followers of the charismatic Lutheran cleric Pastor Duane Gunderson. Despite fears of being bogged down in the harsh Mankato winter, troops encountered little resistance, save sporadic eggings from ill-equipped insurgents atop the grain elevators of local cornlords. U.S. forces achieved swift success, taking as many as 1,500 Lutheran rebels into custody and bringing a momentary measure of stability to what has long been considered a dangerous Scandinavian backwater.

The closer you are to Sioux Falls/Sioux City/Minneapolis, the funnier this is.

Andy, is Mayberry Burning?

Kathleen Sullivan, in the Orlando Sentinel[*1] :

First, we all can agree that flushing a Quran down a toilet, if physically possible, would be both insensitive and rude, though Westerners generally have a higher tolerance threshold for such offenses. Put it this way: You could flush a Bible down the toilet in front of Goober in Kabul, and it’s unlikely that Mayberry suddenly would be awash in blood.

Garage Sale Time!

I’m not exactly sure why this is in “Diet & Lifestyle” but it’s gotta go somewhere.

It’s garage sale time? Our little subdivision has its community garage sale this Saturday, so it’s time to go through the garage and basement and drag out all the stuff that we don’t want any more but is too good to actually throw out.

Greasy Spoon, Anyone?

Snookums came across this site[*1] , which caters to the diner who (in part):

Passes by the familiar, bland comfort of the Red Lobsters, Olive Gardens and Golden Arches that have taken over suburbia, insisting on driving a few minutes or hours further – knowing that somewhere down the road is a barbecue pit, a truck stop, a diner, a drive-in. a greasy spoon that may well become the highlight of the journey.

Well worth the time to browse around on the site. It could be a bit better organized, but all in all a good-natured (if somewhat filling) homage to The Greasy Spoon.