Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Undocumented Monday

My basic opinion on the immigration issue is - immigrants = good, illegal immigrants = bad. (In case you can't figure it out, it's the illegal part that I object to.) My first reaction to the protests planned for Monday was that it's Not A Good Idea. Now I'm having second thoughts and want to join in...in my own way.

Consider Monday a day to be what you want to be. Ever wish you were a doctor but don't want to go through all that pesky med school business? Be an Undocumented Doctor. Be an Undocumented Mayor for a day - no fundraising, no campaigning and no elections.

Picking just one may be the hardest part:
Undocumented Nobel Laureate (I know it's not a job, but....)
Undocumented Astronaut
Undocumented Rock Star
Undocumented Race Car Driver (will this get me out of a speeding ticket?)

Let everyone know the Undocumented You by making a t-shirt:
Instructions for making t-shirt stencils with freezer paper
Instructions for making iron on transfers with your printer

Just one last thought on the topic, will those who support illegal immigration stop referring to the Minuteman Project as vigilantism if we start calling the people involved "Undocumented Border Patrol Agents"?

Update: The final choice is Undocumented ICE Agent.

Eat 'em Anyway

The other day one of my children said something about wanting to eat more carrots in order to see better in the dark. I had a quick mental argument with myself, do I keep quiet or point out that this is a fallacy? (I like to argue with myself, I always win.)

I like carrots. I want my kids to eat carrots. Maybe I should have just let it go, but I didn't. I said that unless you have a vision problem due to a Vitamin A deficiancy, carrots won't improve your night vision. At that time I didn't know the origin of the idea that carrots will help you see better in the dark. Tonight I found the real story.

In World War II, Britain's air ministry spread the word that a diet of these vegetables helped pilots see Nazi bombers attacking at night. That was a lie intended to cover the real matter of what was underpinning the Royal Air Force's successes: Airborne Interception Radar, also known as AI. The secret new system pinpointed some enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel.

British Intelligence didn't want the Germans to find out about the superior new technology helping protect the nation, so they created a rumor to afford a somewhat plausible-sounding explanation for the sudden increase in bombers being shot down. News stories began appearing in the British press about extraordinary personnel manning the defenses, including Flight Lieutenant John Cunningham, an RAF pilot dubbed "Cats Eyes" on the basis of his exceptional night vision that allowed him to spot his prey in the dark. Cunningham's abilities were chalked up to his love of carrots. Further stories claimed RAF pilots were being fed goodly amounts of this root vegetable to foster similar abilities in them.

Famous Last Words

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"Goodbye. I am leaving because I am bored."

(Link via VW)

There is No Magic "Clean Up" Fairy at School (She's Still at Home with Dad)

Michelle Malkin has photos of vandalism at UNC-Chapel Hill's ROTC armory.

No doubt the others who blog about this are writing about the intolerance of the painted messages. I'll leave that to the others and complain about the rest of the mess.

One of the photos shows a pool of paint and several paint cans. I'm waiting for one of the UNC environmental groups to denounce the vandals for improper disposal of paint.

There was also an email message - "Stop these recruitment centers that target poor people and people of color to fight to maintain the power structure that (literally and figuratively) imprisons us daily."

Speaking of targeting, who do they think is most likely to have to clean up their mess? Someone who may or may not agree with the protesters but certainly isn't among the highest paid school employees and doesn't need the extra work of cleaning up the mess.

Self-centered little prats.

How About Spending the Money On a New Refinery Instead?

According to several articles, this one from MSNBC for example:

Senate Republicans proposed a $100 rebate check for millions of taxpayers Thursday to counter high gasoline costs.

The only limit I could find in any of the articles that I read was an upper income amount of $125,000 for single tax payers and $150,000 for couples. So does this mean you could get the rebate even if you don't have a vehicle that uses gas?

I hate to say this (and never thought I would) but the Democrats' suggestion "for a 60-day suspension of the 18.4 cent federal gasoline tax and the 24-cent a gallon diesel tax" sounds more logical to me. (That's assuming the savings will be passed on to consumers of goods where the cost has risen as a result of the cost of transporting them.*)

Don't get me wrong, I would be quite happy with a check. It would give me more than I would save at the pump in two months with the federal gas tax suspended (not counting on any goods transportation savings being passed on), but it still doesn't mean it makes sense to me.

*It could happen...in a sort of quantum-physics-anything-is-possible sort of way.

Oh, Wheee!

Nintendo Revolution is now call Wii

Nintendo explains the reason for the new name. Wii sounds like "we" which emphasizes this console is for everyone.
Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abreviate. Just Wii.

Okay, it's not language specific except that the pronoun "we" is different in different languages. This made me wonder if Nintendo gave different explanations for different languages - for example, did they tell French speakers that Wii sounds like oui? (I think "Yes" would have been a great name.)

Non.

Mon nom est … Wii
Comme on prononce "nous" en anglais.

I checked the other languages on the Nintendo Europe site and every one that I looked at said that the new name sounds like the English "we".

So if they don't really mind if "Wii = we" is universally understood my next question is, will they mind if I abreviate it to Wi? Or will IL, IA, MI, and MN feel envious?

Slowly But Surely

I'm still working on my project of listing all of the recipes that have been contributed to the Carnival of the Recipes. I've done them all up through the 75th Carnival leaving only 13 more (14 after this weekend).

Who knows, maybe doing this will make me stop being too lazy (or forgetful) to contribute a recipe. It's been months since I've posted one for the Carnival of the Recipes.

Evening Walk

Zeal-less

The Zeal Directory was a community of volunteer editors who contributed non-commercial sites to the LookSmart Directory but is no more.

It Was Just One Question Too Many

My kids hav been taking the CATS (Commonwealth Accountability Testing System) tests this past week. My oldest son was telling me about some open response questions on one of the tests. The topic of a number of the questions was global warming. He said that he gave them the type of answers that he thought they wanted for the first several but when it came to the last question about ways to cool the Earth (one natural and one influenced by people) his answer to the second part was probably not what they were expecting - nuclear winter.

Auto Double Check Those "Facts"

The bickering between the Left and Right can get tiresome at the best of times but sometimes it can also provide great entertainment.

This particular episode began when a group at UC Santa Cruz issued a press release with the names and contact information for the group's leaders. Michelle Malkin posted that information on her blog and was attacked by the Left for doing so. Nevermind that the same information was also on some Indymedia sites (you could still see the cached versions yesterday but they're gone today although the Google exerpt in the search listings still shows that information.)

Indymedia (you know, the same site that published the same information) now has a list of addresses belonging to rightwing bloggers. Or not.

Texas Rainmaker checked the addresses and found them to be auto parts stores and repair services. (Link via Right Wing News.) Now, that's entertainment.

Let's Do Lunch

There's a site that offers suggestions when you and a friend want to meet for a meal at a restaurant that is about the same distance from each of you - Equidistant Eats.

You simply enter both addresses (you can add one more) and the results will include a list of the restaurants and a Yahoo map of their locations. Restaurants with Web sites include links to the site and you can get directions to the restaurants from any of the addresses you entered.

This would also be handy to use on a trip - either on the way to your destination or finding someplace to eat that is between a couple of attractions that you plan on visiting while there.

I only tried a few addresses but the local one (within the same city) that I did seemed to provided more varied results than those between two cities or states. Instead of showing a dozen or so Golden Corrals or Bob Evans Restaurants it would be nice to have a wider variety and have the chains listed just once with a link to click for all of their addresses.

Crossposted on Mom's Kitchen Blog.

I May Have a New Hobby Soon

Coming soon to a location near me - Open Range. There will be a pistol range, rifle range, and paintball arena. And machine guns.

It opens on June 1st and I plan on signing up for lessons (handgun).

Blame the Media

Kevin Federline, husband of pop diva Britney Spears, says he was forced into a musical career by the US media....

Fake news and commentary masquerading as news was was bad enough. This is approaching unforgivable.

More Cat Badness

Littered around the vase -

My cats think that if it has green parts and it's on the table it must be a salad. In a couple more days I'll have a vase of headless flowers.

Trevor and Emma

Trevor doesn't exactly look thrilled to get a hug from Emma but considering it was in front of some of his friends I'm just happy he wasn't swatting her away.

Heaven on Earth

Or at least close to it. A whole house would be better but a chocolate room is a good start.

The Waiter Rule

From an article in USA Today: CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character.

It's not just how people treat waiters but how they treat anyone they feel is "beneath" them that lets you get a glimpse of their real character.

DIY

Instructables tells you how to do stuff from the useful (install lights in a cabinet or build a picnic table) to just entertaining (LED Throwies or a Roomba mouse costume).

Google Calendar

If you have a Gmail account you can just log in to use the new calendar. If you don't have a Gmail account you can still sign up for a Calendar account but won't be able to use all of the features. ("Gmail users can send event invitations directly from their Gmail accounts without accessing Google Calendar, and can easily add events from Gmail conversations to Google Calendar.")*

The calendar lets you share (or keep private) events, import events from Yahoo! Calendar or Outlook, automatically send Gmail invitations by adding guests to a list within the calendar, and get reminders by email or text message to a mobile phone.

*If you want me to send you a Gmail invitation, just leave a comment letting me know and I'll be happy to send one to the email address you use in the comment form.

Really Classic Coke

Indians in this remote mountain village (Inza) in southern Colombia are marketing a particularly refreshing soft drink that harks back to Coca-Cola's original formula, when "coca" was in the name for a reason.

From the description, a citrus-flavored drink, it sounds more like Gatorade with a kick than Coca-Cola.

I Haven't Been Completely Lazy

Although posting has been light almost nonexistant here, I have been getting something done.

I got tired of trying to use Blogger to post on my cooking blog and changed to WordPress (and a new URL). I've been working on making lists of all the recipes that have been submitted to Carnival of the Recipes. I'm over half way through but have had a problem with a couple where the link to the host site is no longer active. I found several of the recipes that had been submitted to Carnival 45 and linked directly to them. I don't know if there are more that I missed and I still need all of the recipes from Carnival 47.

No Posts for the Last Week Because...

The kids have been on spring break this last week. We didn't go anywhere, it's just hard to get much uninterrupted time on the computer. Other moms will understand, there are just some things that you can't do without attracting children - take a bath/shower, talk on the phone, blog - if the kids have been quietly entertaining themselves (or not so quietly) all a mom has to do is do one of these things to get instant attention.