Wiki Wednesday

Wiki Wednesday sprang from the fertile brain of Karen although a couple of other blogs have picked it up.

Today's random wacky wiki is only a stub:

"San Sebastian Huehuetenango is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango."

I Think I'll Mix Up A Couple of These For Mr. Nag and Me Tonight

High-flying cocktail

The ultimate cocktail which can only be mixed by a barman freefalling from 10,000 feet has been launched in Croatia.
The Wings of Zadar cocktail, based on the local Maraschino liqueur, is poured upside down so that the drink flies upwards into the mixer, and then shaken as the barman performs a series of somersaults.
The drink is chilled by the freezing air rushing over the shaker - and then served on landing to the customer.

Via A Welsh View

Will This Be Iraq's My Lai

Stories like this will hopefully turn the stomachs of that dwindling group that still supports the war in Iraq. The rest of us already knew that this is what war is. Haditha, sadly, is no aberration.These young soldiers were doing exactly as they were trained to do, namely kill Iraquis.

"US Marines will be court-martialled over the massacre of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha, it was reported last night.
The BBC said it had learnt that American soldiers would stand trial over the killings, on 19 November last year. The Pentagon is close to ending its inquiries into the deaths and seems likely to conclude that its troops have a case to answer.
The dead included women and children said to be as young as two. "

That's What We're Like, Eh?

BJ Snowden sings "In Canada"
via Sharpeworld

Dutch paedophiles launch political party

"Dutch paedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalisation of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage.
The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its web site it would be officially registered on Wednesday, proclaiming: 'We are going to shake The Hague awake!'"

Barbie As You've Never Seen Her

This new line adds dimensions to Barbie's personality that are appropriate to a mature icon, doncha think?

Woody Harrelson's Record is Safe

Woody Harrelson's Record is Safe :: Quantum Philosophy.net ::

Via Grow a Brain

He Was So Cute!

My homies are surprised that I still love David Byrne's music (Psycho Killer is my favourite music to clean the hovel to).

YouTube - Talking Heads '75 at CBGB's - 96 Tears

His blog sucks though. And, I hesitate to say this because I can't find anything online, but I seem to remember him attending some sort of Republican function way back when and feeling tremendously disappointed. I know he's an anti-Bush guy now but why would I have this memory? Is it False Memory Syndrome? Tell me I'm not nuts. Does anyone else remember this?

A collection of the dumbest job ads from across the web.

OMG, I just resigned from my job today (seriously). I don't think I want a job like this:

"Must be able to deal with SHOUTING
We found this ad for a Web
Designer/Developer:
MUST BE EXPERIENCED WITH ALL ASPECTS OF WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT.
MUST HAVE PLEASENT PERSONALITY AND BE EASY TO WORK WITH.
MUST BE ESPECIALLY CREATIVE.
MUST HAVE EXCELLENT WORK ETHIC.
SEND RESUME AND ANYTHING ELSE WHICH YOU THINK WILL HELP YOU GET THE POSITION TO

And if you get the job, maybe you can help them write better help wanted ads, too."

I Didn't Know He Was Famous

The grinning cat is my screensaver right now. I've taken pictures of this terrific cat in various locations on my last few trips to Paris.

Tribeca Film Festival-Trailers

This Is Scary

I guess Al does two things well (take your pick): boring or scary.

YouTube - An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer

Food Accessories Courtesy of Slashfood

"Fast food fashion? Not quite my bag, especially if it's a dress shaped like an order of French fries. However, in small doses, I might be able to handle it.
Fred Flare has a pair of earrings shaped like a cheeseburger for one side, and French fries for the other. They're made by Cornyness, and are about a half inch in size, made from Fimo clay. I wouldn't say they're as sweet and cute as a pendant that looks and smells like a slice of banana cake, but they're fun nonetheless. (And good thing these earrings don't actually smell like a burger and fries!)"

This Guy is Very Funny

Watch this if you have 20 minutes to spare:
YouTube - brian regan

Thank you, Mr. Sun

Iraqis shot for wearing shorts

"The coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, said Iraqi Olympic officials.
Coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were killed in the al-Saidiya district of the capital.
Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of
shorts. "

I can think of a few people who should be shot for wearing shorts - hadn't thought of these guys though.

Lurid new covers for classic books.

Lurid new covers for classic books.

Via Bookninja

Smells Like Teen Spirit

By Dokaka the Human Beat Box .
Smells Like Teen Spirit

Via Bookninja

Battle over Bordeaux motorway

SOME of the leading wine producers in the Bordeaux region have launched a campaign to block a new motorway that could cut through world famous vineyards.
There are five proposed routes that would either cut through the Margaux appellation area, or bypass it and cut it off, also bridges across the Gironde or the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers would be built.
Wine producers in the region have launched a website, Margaux Danger, to keep people up to date with developments and to generate signatures for an online petition against the motorway.
The producers say the motorway will impact upon the production of wine as well as the tourist industry in the region, and say the plans are an "intolerable assault on some of the most iconic examples of France's cultural heritage"

Parasites Are Sucking Blood From My Dog

Baby Nag has found several ticks on Max. I hold the dog while Patrick extracts the ticks with tweezers and then we squash them and blood squirts everywhere. Hey, it's the weekend, I'm entitled to a bit of fun!

Bookmark This Recipe Site

Amaretto of Darkness
Drinks!
Written by Jeb
Thursday, 03 November 2005
Attention S-Mart shoppers, now you can make your very own Amaretto of Darkness! Best Served with a Chainsaw.

Boil:
2 quarts water
3 and 1/2 cuups sugar
1/2 cup dark Karo Syrup
1 human skeleton

Add 1 teasoppon instant coffee (heaping)
cool, then add:
2 oz. Pure Vanilla
3 ox Pure Almond flavor
16 oz. Vodka
(optional: black food coloring, sawed boom stick)

My Last Boss Was A Real Porch Dog

Today's def from Urban Dictionary:

porch dog
A person who frequently attacks others in speech or writing, but who poses no intellectual threat whatsoever. The motivation of this type of person can usually be accurately construed as a desire to be obnoxious and offensive.

Origin: The phrase 'porch dog' is
used to refer to dogs that sit on front porches and bark (vigorously and
fruitlessly) at passersby, but who pose no physical threat.
Yeah, that guy has a scathing response to just about everyone who posts in this forum. He's a real porch dog.

'Vulgar, bigoted, cynical': France warms to Le Bureau

"The gags include pranks with pungent cheese, racist comments and a grim office block in a riot-hit Paris suburb where the boss likes to say 'zat's life'.
Le Bureau, a French version of the hit BBC comedy The Office, has been greeted with rave reviews by television critics, who have fallen in love with the bigoted, chauvinistic boss from hell who they feel is the perfect portrait of modern France. Ricky Gervais's David Brent has mutated into 50-something Gilles Triquet, 'le boss trop cool' of the Cogirep paper company. He wears lemon-coloured shirts, sticks retro postcards of donkeys on his wall and has novelty facial hair - a tiny vertical strip of beard from his mouth to his chin."

It Could Happen Again - Really

White Angel Breadline
San Francisco 1933
Dorothea Lange
May 26, 1895 - Oct. 11, 1965

Good News:The Nag's Too Short For Jail

The bad news is that a pedophile's on the loose.

A judge's decision to sentence a 5-foot-1 man to probation instead of prison for sexually assaulting a child has angered crime victim advocates who say the punishment sends the wrong message. But supporters of short people say it's about time someone recognizes the unique challenges they face. Cheyenne
County District Judge Kristine Cecava issued the sentence Tuesday. She told Richard W. Thompson that his crimes deserved a long prison sentence but that he was too small to survive in a state prison.

Japanese Postcards

Japanese artists traveling to Europe to study oil painting at the beginning of the twentieth century became enthralled by the postcard, which was then enjoying a veritable boom. Immediately they sent cards to their friends and began to create their own compositions--many of which were influenced by contemporary European styles, particularly Art Nouveau. However, by 1905 celebrated Japanese artists from a variety of backgrounds had also embraced the postcard format.

The craze for postcards in Japan during the first decades of the twentieth century was so great that several women's magazines featured tear-cut cards to promote their sales. Department stores, breweries, and organizers of sporting events commissioned cards for advertising. Furthermore, postcards became the favored format for New Year's greetings--a popularity that continues today.

Thanks Grow a Brain

What's New - Petition urges Nobel Prize nomination for Stephen Lewis

Petition urges Nobel Prize nomination for Stephen Lewis
An online petition to have Stephen Lewis nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize has gathered roughly 9,000 signatures.
As the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis has documented the struggle against AIDS in his book and speaking topic, Race Against Time.
His presentations have inspired many to take action, including a group of health professionals in Ontario who have established the clinic featured in the documentary film Tsepong: A Clinic Called Hope, as well as a group of Winnipeg high school students who have spent three years raising money and medical supplies for the village of M'Bour.
The petition isn't part of the formal process by which Nobel Prize nominees are considered, but it is a fitting tribute to the impact Lewis' message is having around the world.
To sign the petition, visit
www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Jambo

May 25 is Towel Day :: A tribute to Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

You sass that hoopy Douglas Adams? Now there's a frood who knew where his towel was. You are invited to join your fellow hitchhikers in mourning the loss of the late great one. Join in on towel day to show your appreciation for the humor and insight that Douglas Adams brought to all our lives.

Via The Sneeze

Thought 1984 Was So Over? Think Again.

The town of Black Jack, Missouri, got its name from the variety of oak tree that once grew nearby. 'Those stately trees represent who and what we are today, a proud city with strong roots, providing the safety and respite of community,' its promotional literature explains. It is the kind of place where family is valued - just as long as the family in question meets certain criteria. Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving's family, it seems, do not.

The couple could face fines of $500 a day, and Black Jack is already facing the unwelcome glare of national attention, as a result of a local regulation that bans unmarried couples with more than one child from occupying homes there.
In a country increasingly riven on issues of social morality, housing regulations represent an easy way for towns to try to give their definitions of acceptable lifestyles the force of law.

Bouncing soldiers

Cute little bouncing balls or Cute little bouncing soldiers - which would you choose.

Cadbury Egg Cake

cadbury egg cake:

Experiment:
Replace ordinary eggs in cake recipe with Cadbury Creme Eggs and observe results.
Hypothesis:
THIS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME

(I don't think it's awesome; I think it looks disgusting)

Wiki Wednesday

Today's random wiki:

Holmavik is a small town in the western part of Iceland, by Steingrimsfjorour. It is the largest settlement in Strandir and serves as a centre of commerce for the county. Holmavik is part of the Holmavikurhreppur municipality and has 381 inhabitants (2005 census). Well-known people from Holmavik include the poet Stefan fra Hvitadal and the musician Gunnar Poroarson.

Carmela Does Paris

A friend taped The Sopranos for us when we were away. Carmela and her friend, Roe, were also in Paris and went to the Cluny and ate at Le Grand Vefour (see photo). Turns out Carmela totally gets Paris - what a broad!

Carmela is moved by the sense of history in Paris, and the freedom of feeling inconsequential. 'When you actually die, life goes on without you. Like it does in Paris, when we're not here.'

Stilton Perfume

Makes that Play Doh perfume seem like a breath of fresh air or Chanel or something.

Gas Mask Designed For Typists

CHEMICAL ATTACK! MUST...TYPE...REPORT...

Via Exploding Aardvark

Amish Paradise

A Welsh View: Video: Amish Paradise

Oliver Stone to make Chavez film

Hugo Chavez has announced that director Oliver Stone is planning to make a film of the attempt to oust the Venezuelan president in 2002.
The Frontline documentary of the attempted coup by an Irish crew who just happened to be in the right place at the right time is a very powerful piece of film. I don't think Stone can top it.

Do we work too much?

Between 1980 and 2000, European countries added, on average, six vacation days or statutory holidays, totalling 36 per year.
Meanwhile, according to Huberman's numbers, Canada actually dropped a day, to 24, while the United States lost two days, to 20 days off."

The Advertising Slogan Generator

There's First Love, and There's Nag Love.

Via Presurfer

WHEN I CAME HOME

Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.

Via Metafilter

Be Nosy!

I saw this nose in the Luxembourg Gardens when I was in Paris. It was part of a series of installation pieces in the park. I took a picture of the fountain (below) but there were too many people in the way for me to capture the giant proboscis.




Nose via In Paris Now

Daily Nag

Newspaper Clipping Generator via Ursi's Blog

Posters from the WPA: Collection Highlights

The "By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943" collection consists of 908 boldly colored and graphically diverse original posters produced from 1936 to 1943 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. These striking silkscreen, lithograph, and woodcut posters were designed to publicize health and safety programs; cultural programs including art exhibitions, theatrical, and musical performances; travel and tourism; educational programs; and community activities in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. The posters were made possible by one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts and were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.

TurnHere

This site has short films about a whole lot of cool neighbourhoods. Most of them are in the US, quite a few from Canada and a couple from Europe and the Far East. I like to "turn in" every once in a while to see what's new - I hope this isn't a re-post.

TurnHere - All films

Oh Behave!

It was a one-two encounter between Axl Rose and Tommy Hilfiger with no harm done, except for a bruiser of a little story.
The rocker and designer capped a Thursday evening out at a new club called The Plumm in Manhattan's Chelsea
neighborhood with midnight fisticuffs.

Surprisingly Hilfiger was the out of control guy who had to be escorted out by his own security guys

Poles ban sex and beer on TV for Pope's visit

When Pope Benedict visits the homeland of his predecessor this week he will find Poland and its Catholic Church struggling to adapt to life after John Paul - but he will not see any advertisements for lingerie, beer or tampons on state TV.
Broadcasters have banned the promotion of 'inappropriate products' during Benedict's visit, as well as ads carrying any whiff of sexual innuendo.

Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

It was late last year that the news emerged that Bob Dylan would soon take on a new role as DJ of his own weekly show on the satellite radio station XM Radio, the Theme Time Radio Hour. So far XM has aired two shows and, as promised, they are theme-based (weather and mothers).

White Man Stew has posted links to both shows and made this great music available to all and sundry who want to listen to it. Bob sounds like a real old-time hipster.

Chalk drawing St. Germaine

There were a slew of these beautiful drawings on the sidewalk. The artist had left and people were just walking on them - not me, though.

Carving - St Chapelle

Paris has some of the world's most stunning cathedrals. St. Chapelle with its stained glass panels is a favourite of mine. The servants prayer chapel on the lower level is impressive with its gilt painted stars that make it seem like a little jewel box, but the upper chapel is almost overwhelming. The windows are spectacular, each one telling a story . The winding stone stairway, worn down by centuries of footsteps, appeals to me as well. The awe that visitors feel is almost palpable. This is a tiny carving on one of the doors.

New Shoes

I've had my eye on these for awhile. When they went down to $11.00 CDN it was pointless to resist. Note the cunning ruffle. Now what do I own that goes with yellow?

Da Vinci Code Panoramas

I enjoyed the Louvre, Champs Elysees and St. Sulpice panoramas, having spent a little time in each of these locations just last week - although it already seems like long ago.

The Da Vinci Code Tour to Paris-London-Rosslyn Chapel - Panoramas

Via The Presurfer

School under fire for teaching evolution

It appears that northern Pentacostals are every bit as wacky as their sun-addled brethren to the south:

A high-school science teacher vowed Friday to continue telling his Inuit students about Darwin's theory of evolution, despite complaints from parents in the northern Quebec community of Salluit.

Education officials from the Kativik School Board said the principal of Ikusik High School cannot ban the teaching of evolution, since it is part of the provincial physical-science curriculum.

Alexandre April, who teaches French and physical science
to students in Grades 7 and 8, said he was told repeatedly by the principal to stop teaching evolution, for fear of hurting their students' religious beliefs.

The Pentecostal Church is active in Salluit, a community of just more than 1,100 people located beside Ungava Bay, on the northwestern coast of Nunavik.

Does Wal-Mart Increase Poverty Rates?

A study published in the latest issue of Social Science Quarterly is the first to examine the effect of Wal-Mart stores on poverty rates. The study found that nationwide an estimated 20,000 families have fallen below the official poverty line as a result of the chain's expansion. During the last decade, dependence on the food stamp program nationwide increased by 8
percent, while in counties with Wal-Mart stores the increase was almost twice as large at 15.3 percent. 'After controlling for other factors determining changes in the poverty rate over time, we find that both counties with more initial Wal-Mart stores and with more additions of stores between 1987 and 1998 experienced greater increases (or smaller decreases) in family poverty rates during the 1990s economic boom period,' Stephan Goetz a Professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics at The Pennsylvania State University states. Although Wal-Mart employs many people living in its communities, for most, the hours worked and the wages paid do not help these families transition out of poverty.

via Cynical-C Blog

Have the movie theatre experience at home

1. Pour Coke on the floor the previous night and allow to harden.
2. Garnish with wads of chewing gum.
3. Buy a DVD, but not the extended version.
4. Make popcorn, but put all the butter on one side of the bowl.
5. Set your cell phone to go off randomly throughout the film.
6. Place an obstacle that is taller than you, directly in front of your seat.
7. Throw popcorn at yourself.
8. Leer at yourself and flirt shamelessly.
9. Do not pause the DVD for bathroom breaks.
10. Ask yourself outloud what is happening. Do this every ten minutes.
11. Give away the ending to yourself.

Grading the Career of Tom Hanks Hair

First Bowie's teeth, now Tom Hanks' hair. What next? Meg Ryan's lips, Michael Jackson's nose, Pamela Anderson's breasts? Tune in tomorrow for another exciting edition of Celebrity Body Parts presented by the Nag.

I went back and examined his look over the years and stumbled across a weird
phenomenon. Tom Hanks has bad hair. Go back and look at his early career and you'll see he has some of the worst chops this side of evil lesbian Rosie O'Donnell. But then, as if by magic, the hair got better when he started winning Oscars. And then it got wild again after he had got carte blanche as an actor.

via J-Walk

This Just Might Make You Cry

A Sad Sad Song

via gmtPlus9

Evolution of Dance

Evolution of Dance

Via Grow a Brain

Chablis and Fresca

Chablis and Fresca:
Jon Stewart's Daily Show borders on brilliant. Jon's analysis of George's Immigration Speech was spot on.

Wiki Wednesday

Today's random wacky wiki is:

Trivia Test Match is a British radio programme that aired originally during the early 1990s on BBC Radio and has subsequently been repeated more recently on BBC Radio 7. As its slogan stated, it combined trivia and the laws of cricket. It was hosted by longtime BBC cricket commentator Brian Johnston, who served as the 'umpire.'

Define Your World

Today's def from Urban Dictionary:

Livin' the dream
A good response to 'how are you?' If you're really
livin' the dream, hold your right hand up in a 'rokk!' symbol (same as sign
language for 'I love you'). If you are hyper-livin', hold up both hands.

Can be shortened to 'livin' it.'
Q: Hey, Gina, how are you?
A:
I'm livin' the dream.

Q: Baby Helen, what's up?
A: (both hands up in
'rokk!' formation) Livin' it!

Yummy!

Looks good enough to eat! A variety of knitted Japanese delicacies, complete with wasabi and pickled ginger. Yarn can be easily substituted, allowing for a great way to use up leftovers in your stash (I did!) Using fingering weight yarn results in life-sized sushi.

via Grow a Brain

The art and style of food

I used to wonder why my pictures of food resembled slop on a plate rather than the glorious confections pictured in magazines. Now I know.

Still, the real trick is simply that stylists take incredible care with the food. Shopping can take days. If shooting a packaged product, the stylist will prepare five or more packages and choose the prettiest. Tools are used, from long, sharp tweezers, to dentist's tools and an array of brushes to make
surfaces perfect and to position each element in the most flattering light.
These are not lengths I will ever go to when preparing dinner for my family. It would be psychotic and I cannot imagine a future when I might ever have that kind of time on my hands.

A Joke Via My Dad

NEW YORK - A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction. "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzales said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle'."
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes." White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the president.

A Dental Documentary

A detailed analysis of David Bowie's teeth over time.

Want to Smell Like Play-Doh? Now You Can!

It's one of the most unique smells around. And now you can wear it.
Hasbro is continuing its celebration of Play-Doh's 50th anniversary by releasing 'Eau de Play-Doh,' a perfume designed to smell just like the kids' modeling clay.
Spokesman Gary Serby says Play-Doh's smell is one of its most enduring memories, and Hasbro figures smelling the perfume will transport people back to their childhood.
It sells for 19 dollars a bottle.

A post-K call to action for graduates

I enjoy reading good commencement speeches and even have a collection of them in my Favourites File. This is a nerdy carryover from the days when I had to find inspiring words for a politician's speeches and press releases. Here's Chris Rose's address to students of the Ursuline Academy in New Orleans:
Children of the Storm, it's time to represent

Via Metafilter

The Simpsons And Evolution

Video of last night's Simpsons:

Lisa is arrested for defying the new law in Springfield against teaching
evolution after Reverend Lovejoy is appointed by Mayor Quimby (at Ned Flanders's request) to be the town's new morality czar in charge of promoting creationism;
can a comment made in the show's first season come back to save her?

Republican Jesus

Via Jesus' General

Why our strategy is short-sighted

Unemployment insurance should be available to the unemployed. A minimum wage should bear some relationship to the cost of staying alive. Programs designed to reduce poverty should help the poor.
In a reasonable world, there would be no need to stress these points. They would be obvious.These days, more people are working part-time at multiple jobs. Yet Canada's unemployment insurance system (which the federal government calls
"employment insurance" to make it sound more positive) is available only to those who work in good, steady, full-time jobs — that is, to people who are almost never out of work. The result? Fully 60 per cent of out-of-work Canadians don't qualify for employment insurance. In Ontario, almost three-quarters of the unemployed don't qualify; in Toronto the figure is a stunning 80 per cent.
Even in St. John's, Nfld., which is routinely labelled the pogey capital of Canada, roughly half of the unemployed can't get employment insurance.
Ditto with the so-called minimum wage. In Ontario, it's so low ($7.75 an hour) that it leaves someone earning this wage well below the poverty line.
As for labour law, forget it. The report points out, correctly, that Ontario doesn't have enough inspectors to enforce its own Employment Standards Act, with the result that some bosses routinely defraud their workers — in some cases refusing to pay them wages owed.

A Terrific Small Museum

This private collectors' home is a favourite of mine, with a very good audio tour and an elegant restaurant with a Tiepolo ceiling and a terrace. Although the grand public rooms are spectacular, I especially enjoyed looking at the living quarters of Edouard and Nelie.

"Since the Jacquemart-Andre Museum was refurbished and brought back to life five years ago, it's been the talk of the international art world. And even those die-hard Parisians who have never stepped foot into the Louvre love the Jacquemart, if only because it boasts the only restaurant where you can eat beneath an original Tiepolo ceiling.


A house-museum, whose five thousand works of art and antiquities range from the Lower and Upper Egyptian Kingdoms to the Italian Quattrocentro to the Dutch School of Old Master painting and the Rococo of Boucher, Fragonard and Greuze, the Jacquemart-Andre is in a class by itself. The sumptuous edifice, built in 1869 by the architect Henri Parent (second runner-up after Charles Garnier to the Paris Opera) was commissioned by Edouard Andre the sole heir to a colossal banking fortune. It was so colossal that in 1871, he and the Baron Rothschild ponied up in a single week--5 billion francs in gold as a war indemnity to Bismarck, a payoff that prevented the Prussian army's occupation of Paris. "

Lunch at the Museum

After struggling to view the paintings at the crowded Cezanne/Pisarro show at the Musee D'Orsay we retired to the restaurant where we got a seat by one of the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the rooftops of Paris. The food is decent (I had gorgonzola ravioli with broccoli cream sauce and a deliciously tart lemon pie and, of course, some beaujolais) but the room is really the thing here with its high frescoed ceilings and chandeliers. The waiters appeared extremely frantic, running breathlessly from dining room to kitchen and back with heavy trays without a break. Nice place but I wouldn't want to work there.

For Johnny, see Potato, in new phone book

The habit of giving people nicknames leads to so much confusion in Spanish country towns and villages that the 600 inhabitants of Cedillo, in western Spain, have published their own phone book - using nicknames instead of real names.
It means that Johnny the Potato can be found under P for Patata while Luciana is under C for Chinita.
Not everybody in Cedillo is happy with the new phone book, however. A man known as "Baldy" and another called "Peg-leg" asked to be registered under their proper surnames.

Bonsoir Mes Amis!

Paris in the spring! Good art, good food, good weather, good company. Here's a view from our apartment on Rue de la Bienfaisance where we enjoyed more than a few glasses of Cotes du Rhone on our 8th floor balcony. That's St Augustyn Church on the right.

We caught some of our favourite museums - Jacquemart-Andre, D'Orsay, Nissim de Camondo, Picasso and Rodin (Picasso and Dora Maar at the Picasso Museum and Cezanne and Pisarro at the Musee D'Orsay were outstanding shows). The Orangerie was supposed to open on May 5th after being closed for many years but the opening has been delayed yet again. I was hoping to see Monet's water lilies in their original environment.

We visited many churches, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We tramped through the Marais, strolled along the Champs-Elysees, rambled down le Mouffetard, shopped in St. Germaine, fought the crowds at Montmartre and relaxed at the Parc Monceau and the Luxembourg Gardens.

We ate at some of our favourite restaurants and discovered a new one - Camille in the Marais.

I gave a head rub and neck massage to a stranger sitting in a chair in a store, having mistaken him for Mr. Nag. Strange thing was he didn't react. When my sister pointed out my mistake I made an awkward apology to which the Mr. Nag-like guy responded, "But I was silent!" I guess he likes being fondled by Canadian women of a certain age. My sister and I fled the scene laughing as hysterically as teenagers.

We flew Zoom which was ok except for the movies, Big Mama's House 2, Yours, Mine and Ours and that one where Queen Latifa thinks she's dying. For this crap you have to pay 5 bucks for headphones! Luckily the flight attendant spilled a glass of orange juice all over me and paid me $15 cash so the movies ended up being free but they still sucked.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something....oh yeah, a pigeon laid an egg on Mr. Nag and a glass exploded in my sister's hand.

That's it for now, I'm still on Paris time.

On This Day

On May 3, 1971, anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.

Wiki Wednesday

Here's what I got this week - not exactly my cuppa tea:

WWF The Music, Vol. 5 was an album released by the World Wrestling Federation in
2001. It featured mostly recent theme tunes of wrestlers on the roster at the
time. All of the songs were composed by Jim Johnston.

At The Granby Zoo

Yesterday I received a package of photos from my late mother's husband. Among them was one of my sisters and I at the Granby Zoo (I'm the one in the middle with the bangs that look like they were cut with a hatchet) . Note the youth with the smoke hanging out of his mouth - very Quebecois.

Ethical dilemmas

The artical presents us with some difficult choices. What would you do?

Thought experiments, although abstract, possibly implausible and open to different interpretations, can have important repercussions on the way we think and act as individuals. They raise thorny questions about morality in medicine, war, politics and indeed in everyday life.
Is there a difference between killing someone and letting them die? Are consequences all that matter, or are there some things we should never do, whatever the outcome? By pointing out
inconsistencies in our thinking, or simply encouraging us to reflect on issues we usually ignore, they can sharpen our intellect and enrich our moral lives.

They heard I was coming so they re-opened the Orangerie

They are among the most popular paintings in the world but for decades they were
starved of natural light and displayed in a building likened to an oversized garden shed.
Now, after six years of renovation work delayed by archaeological mishaps, Claude Monet's giant Water Lilies are finally back on display at the Orangerie museum in Paris, in a space restored to match the French impressionist's vision of how his work should be hung.

I've seen the paintings at the Marmottan but have been eager to see them in this venue.

This is gross, why doesn't he just pee outside like other people I know?

Tony Blair had the lamp outside 10 Downing Street's famous front door fitted with a low-energy bulb. But Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, has taken the battle for the environment to an entirely new level.
For the past 15 months, Mr Livingstone revealed to The Independent, no one in his household has flushed the toilet after urinating.
The capital's first citizen has, he explains, been conducting an experiment based on the old adage 'if it's yellow, let it mellow'. It has worked so well that he now hopes all Londoners will follow his example.

Boy, 4, enters record books after 40-mile run

Cheered by thousands, a four-year-old boy ran 40 miles yesterday to enter India's Limca Book of Records.
Budhia Singh, a slum resident from Orissa who was once nearly sold by his poverty-stricken mother, was escorted by doctors and 300 cadets of the central reserve police force, which plans to sponsor his upbringing.
He had planned to run 43 miles, but doctors stopped him after 40 miles - run in 7 hours and 2 minutes - due to signs of extreme exhaustion. Biranchi Das, the boy's coach, said he would have completed the run if he had not been interrupted by supporters.

Darfur Is Dying

Last Sunday the MTV Networks mtvU college network, the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group launched this project. A project created to educate college students about the human-rights situation in the Sudan using the digital media they understand.

The viral, online game aims to spread awareness of the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan, serve as a call to action, and further empower college students to help stop the killing.

Nice Place, Wouldn't Want To Work There Though

The Workhouse often evokes the grim world of Oliver Twist, but its story is also a fascinating mixture of social history, politics, economics and architecture.
This site, www.workhouses.org.uk, is dedicated to the workhouse - its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets...

Via Woods Lot

Paris Hilton and Stavros Niarchos break up

There's no word on who broke up with who yet, but that's like trying to figure
out which monkey threw the first handful of poo after a giant monkey poo fight.
No matter what, everybody's still just a monkey covered in poo. Or in this case
a a giant douche bag. Which is sort of like a monkey covered in poo. Only
douchier. And baggier. And with less monkey poo. Okay, I think this it's safe to
say this is the worst analogy ever used.

Via The Superficial

Transvestite Elected To Italian Parliament

ROME -- Italy's first transvestite member of parliament showed up for her first day of work on Friday.
Vladimir Luxuria is the first transgender or transvestite to serve as a member of the Italian parliament. She was elected as a member of the communist party. A leader of Italy's gay movement for years, Luxuria has promised to use her position to fight for the rights of gays, transsexuals and unmarried couples.
Her reception in the parliament was not particularly warm. Only the leader of the communist party greeted her with a kiss on both cheeks.

My Magnolia

My very old magnolia is twisted from growing in the shade, almost an oriental shape. The flowers are large and a very deep colour. If we ever move I'd miss it. 

Digital Silk Roads

Digital Silk Roads Project is a research project to create digital archives by the integration of information technology with the study of culture.

Some interesting stuff here.
via Metafilter

Woophy

Pictures of places.
Via Bifurcated Rivets

May Day