Monday, November 24, 2008

Holiday Nuts


Tis the season alright. Otty saw an infomercial for Neuticals and now he's all about getting a pair for Christmas. I really can't afford them being out of work and all, but from the looks of them (sm, med, lg) maybe I can rig something with jellybeans and rubber bands. I know Otty deserves better and I am filled with financial Holiday shame that I cannot provide. Sigh.
















Indy is still working on her wish list. But I know it starts off with 1. Less of a spaz for a roommate. (Poor Otty.)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

Jeremy Scahill questions, and forecasts Obama's cabinet picks. He could be right.

"Obama does have a chance to change the mindset that got us into war. More significantly, he has a popular mandate to forcefully challenge the militaristic, hawkish tradition of modern U.S. foreign policy. But that work would begin by bringing on board people who would challenge this tradition, not those who have been complicit in creating it and are bound to continue advancing it."

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Bonk

Bonk is a book about "the curious coupling of science and sex". I just finished reading it and as a little tease wanted to give a taste of what you’d find should you read it.

Here are a few lines and passages that I moved me -- one way or another:

“Word spread. By 1916, the nut graft had gone mainstream.”

“The next step in the operation, Dr. Hsu has named the "inside out" maneuver. Though it is not so much “inside out” as “just out”. Using his gloved fingers, Dr. Hsu pulls the man’s penis up and out of the skin, through the three-inch slit, by its midshaft.”

“The vaginal photoplethysmograph probe that I will be—holding? containing? wearing?—is, for the moment hygienically sequestered in a Ziplock bag …”

“Dr. Hsu’s nurse is unwrapping the second implant, for the other erectile chamber. This one does not go gently. The insertion is done in two stages. One end is submerged down to the pubis bone"

“In addition to the smell of cologne, women were turned off by the scent of cherry and of charcoal barbecue meat. At the top of the women’s turn on list was, mysteriously, a mixture of cucumber and Good and Plenty candy. It was said to increase vaginal blood flow by 13%.”

“Masters points out that the heterosexuals were at a disadvantage as they do not benefit from what he called “gender empathy”. Doing unto your partner as you would do unto yourself only works well when you are gay.”

Bonk is by Mary Roach, who also wrote Stiff, the Secret Life of Cadavers. My wife Darby read that and said it was great. Not surprising, as the writing in Bonk is informative, funny, sly and be warned, cringe worthy at times.

Roach says: The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been going on for centuries, behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, Alfred Kinsey's attic, and, more recently, MRI centers, pig farms, and sex-toy R&D labs. Bonk takes you inside all these places.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Iraq War Ends!


If you haven't heard or read the news, check out this "special" edition of the NY Times. It is chocked full of possibilities. I love it, the NY Times goes Onion. Even the ads are a poke in the eye. You can read more about the staging at www.commondreams.org.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Otty Meets Indy

Not that Indy, this Indy. Indy is our new Border Terrier, from the same breeder in Indiapolis where we got Otty. She was a rescue. Indy is 7 and thinks Otty is mental. (We sometimes agree). The picture doesn't do her justice, but let me tell you she is a good 8 pounds maybe 10 overweight. Oink. We are hoping the transition goes smoothly and they become good friends soon. The magic eight ball says all signs point to Yes. This is after just two days.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

FOX Eats Their Own

The race is over and I should get back to business as usual, but I can't resist this bit on FOX about Sarah Palin.

And what the hell is wrong with that FOX dude's face? Botox orgy?

Oh wait, I can't resist this either from NY Times.

Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits




Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Whit Woodruff for President: "I Only Know What's Right"

Here it is, election day. If you recall, my son Whit has been running hard in the last few days of the presidential race. I spoke with him this morning about the election, about his campaign promises, and he had this to say:

"I don't know how to raise people's taxes and spend it on junk America doesn't need.
I don't know how to ruin the planet.
I don't know to how form alliances nutty govenors from other countries."

We kicked it around and decided to play up the "I don't know" innocence card as we make our final push for office, so today our message is: I ONLY KNOW WHAT'S RIGHT.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Studs Terkel Dies


This is a lift from Democracy Now's site. The legendary radio broadcaster, writer and oral historian Studs Terkel has died at the age of 96 in Chicago. Studs Terkel worked as an activist, a civil servant, a labor organizer, an ad writer, a television actor, and a radio DJ, among many other occupations. But since the 1960s, he was particularly well-known as a world-class interviewer, a writer and radio personality who drew celebrities and, far more often, average citizens into sharing their oral histories.

For 45 years, Studs Terkel spent an hour each weekday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conversing with famous and not-so-famous guests and with a loyal audience of Chicago listeners.

With his unique style of oral history on subjects such as race, war and employment, Terkel spent decades interviewing Americans across the country, creating intimate portraits of everyday life and chronicling changing times through this century.

Halloweenies

I think it was around 1978 when I last put on a mask for Halloween. A million years later I am coming around. This year, I held down the fort and passed out the candy and deeply disturbed a number of the local youngins with this eagle face I got at the zoo. Twitching my head from side to side with bird like curiosity as they timidly mounted my steps probably did not help them feel like getting too close. I think it is really freaky, reminds me of one of the masks someone in The Shining (the book) would have worn at the ball.

My son went as Yu-Gi-Oh, the King of Games.
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