Just in time for Halloween

"Shards of Glass" Cupcakes from A Zombie at My Cupcake: 25 Deliciously Weird Cupcake Recipesvia Confessions of a Cookbook Queen....

They look . . . interesting....

Swiss "Top Secret" Drum Corps

Peter from Bayou Renaissance Man posted this - these folks are phenomenal!

Get out your drool-bibs!

I keep intending to talk about recipes and cooking, but never seem to actually get around to doing it, do I? Part of the problem is that the depression I've fought for years has kept me from enjoying cooking for quite awhile - sometimes it's kept me from cooking, period. But I'm doing better on that score now, and a few days ago I found a Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin recipe on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. We fixed it for dinner tonight, and it is to-die-for! I don't know if the ladies would mind if I shared the recipe here (with proper accreditation, of course), but I'd just as soon not risk ticking them off, so hop on over there and prepare to drool into your keyboard!

Squid wisdom

We just got off the phone with Squidboy. He said they bumped the dock again yesterday after having been out for a week or so. We hadn't talked with him for several weeks, so we were catching up on the latest news around here.

At one one point we told him about nearly bagging Bambi with the truck a few nights ago. His dad had seen the whole buck as it bounded across the road, including a nice spread of antlers; I was tracking about a second behind and only saw the body and rump. So Squidboy comments, Yeah, that's the way it always is. Guys see racks, chicks see butts....

Good question

From ERtards:

Walk into psych pt room, and calmly he looks me in the eye and says "Why is it when you talk to God in your head it's called praying, but when God talks talk to you in your head you guys call it schizophrenia?"

Dear former employer....

Don't call up asking for your shirts back when you never kept a record of how many (or what size) were issued - especially when some of your employees only received ones that they personally purchased, and apparently you're not asking for them back from ALL of your former employees. You're lucky you're not being told provide proof or no deal, bitch!

That is all.

WTF?

So what the hell has happened with blogger? Everything now seems to have shifted to a feedburner mode - almost everything on my blog list has TOTALLY changed format. It'd be nice if they'd actually WARN people when they're going to fuck with things. It's not like blog owners need to KNOW that type of shit....

Apropos of nothing...

You know how sometimes you start following links . . . and before you know it, you end up stumbling across something like this:

Wussitude

There's something seriously wrong with a healthy 45-lb. dog who's afraid of a 7-lb. geriatric cat with no claws and few teeth.

This is the cat I mentioned awhile back, the one on whom we were awaiting the pathology results. She does have cancer. We have no idea how far it's spread, or if it even has yet. The prednisone may be keeping the cancer in check - I certainly hope it is! Chances are good she doesn't have too much time left simply because of her age, never mind the cancer. But until she's ready to go, we're going to do our best to keep her happy and pain-free.

Gotta love Elvira

...even if she does have bigger tits.

I have an idea....

Since members of Congress take an oath to support and defend the Constitution, why can't we require candidates:

1) to have verifiably read the Constitution and all of the Amendments to it;

2) demonstrate they UNDERSTOOD what they read;

3) to be able to quote from memory at least the first 10 Amendments, aka the Bill of Rights;

4) to be able to name the remaining Amendments by number and give a brief description of each.

It's not an impossible task by any means; I recall having to do just that in social sciences class back when I was in high school.

Then we wouldn't have situations like this:

Seriously? How the hell is she supposed to support and defend the Constitution if she has no idea what it says?

"Cynical Bastard" does it again!

I do enjoy reading Jay over at Cynical Bastard. I may not always agree with him on absolutely everything, but that's okay. Only reading writers with whom you're in lock-step is both boring and unenlightening. It's good to get a different perspective on things; sometimes we actually end up learning something. Which is why I try not to be one of the I've got my mind made up, don't confuse me with the facts types. Those people annoy the hell out of me, and I can't help but wonder whether they're secretly afraid they might have to defend their position and know they can't do it rationally. Without verifiable evidence, you don't have a fact, just an opinion, and opinions can be wrong. (Mine too, on occasion, in which case I adjust and adapt.) But I digress....

Jay's post yesterday was a particularly good one. Here's a bit of it:

So basically, I went through all that to say that America really needs to grow the fuck up. We talk about stopping the bullying in our schools but that's only going to happen if teachers, school administrators, local, state and federally elected officials and our "leaders" stop engaging in the very same behavior that our kids are. Seriously, enough with the demonizing of gays. It's old and tired. Enough with the acting as if gays are somehow sub-human. Enough with the "It's all a choice" crap. Just start accepting people for who they are and what they. Just like you people demand of everyone else. "Man up" and be adults.

Amen, brother. I couldn't have said it better.

Be aware

If you have a Sears credit card through Citi and you pay the bill online even once, THEY WILL AUTOMATICALLY STOP SENDING YOU PAPER STATEMENTS and you may not receive the electronic version. (We didn't.) They don't tell you that they'll do it, either. They pulled that shit on us, and slapped us with late fees. It's hard to pay the goddamn bill if you never receive it!

A bit of Mike Rowe

Well, actually, closer to 20 minutes. Worth watching.....

*sigh*

Apparently my link to WhiteCoat's Callroom (http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat) is causing Google's malware checker to flag/block my blog for people as well as well as his. The hotlink will go back up after the epmonthly.com folks can get things straightened out on their end. They know about it and are working on the problem.




Update (10/18)! Mark says the problem's fixed, so their link's going back in the blogroll list.

For the ladies

There's a good article on the CNN.com website, 5 secrets you shouldn't keep from your GYN. There's also a feed for great song by Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Karen Taylor-Good, called "The OBG Why Me Blues", about halfway down the page. I suspect anyone who's ever been in the stirrups will be able to relate to it.

Is anybody out there?

I know I only have a couple of readers, and maybe they've given up and gone away, but . . . is anyone out there?

sound of crickets chirping

"The God of Cake"

Thanks to Shadowfax of Movin' Meat for the heads up on this one from Hyperbole and a Half:

My mom baked the most fantastic cake for my grandfather's 73rd birthday party. The cake was slathered in impossibly thick frosting and topped with an assortment of delightful creatures which my mom crafted out of mini-marshmallows and toothpicks. To a four-year-old child, it was a thing of wonder - half toy, half cake and all glorious possibility.

The story is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time! I suspect that blog's going to be a regular read from now on. The stories are great, and the illustrations are- Well, just go see for yourself!

PSA: Bullying in schools

From Pam's House Blend:

This school year ‎76 million students will attend public school according to the U.S. Department of Education. In an average school size of 1,200 students, 240 students a day experience bullying and or harassment. Suicide is the second largest cause of death for people aged (15- 24) and on average, 5,000 teenagers a year take their own life according to the CDC.

The article's not long, but well worth reading.

Stereotypes (Or: The butler didn't do it)

If we're honest with ourselves, I think most of us would have to admit that we have biases and prejudices, either conscious or unconscious, based on our experiences and education. It's how we respond to others, based on those assumptions, that helps define us as human beings.

For instance, we have a good friend who has been acting for a number of years. He's a very intelligent and capable young man. He also has a mild physical disability. Anyone who spends more than . . . oh, two minutes with him realizes that he is no more defined by a slight impairment than is a person defined by wearing glasses, and yet some people judge him based on only that one aspect. Several years ago, he encountered a playwright who didn't want to cast him in a role; I fear he may have met our friend and, not being well acquainted with him, assumed that his physical disability meant he was somehow lacking in other capacities. The writer and then saw fit to add a line of dialogue "explaining" our friend's difference to the audience - something no other writer or director to date has felt the need to do. It was obvious to the audience that the unlucky actress who had to speak the line was uncomfortable with it.

I found myself wondering why on earth would the playwright find that reference necessary? In my more charitable moments, I hope that he meant no deliberate harm, although to point out a difference that made no difference was both insensitive and unnecessary. I can't help but feel it was done out of ignorance and/or prejudice, both of which this world has in excess. For evidence of that, one has merely to turn on the news, pick up a newspaper, or read any number of websites.

We have more than enough of both ignorance and prejudice in everyday life; for proof we need go no further than the daily news - but that's an issue for another occasion. Today we're discussing stereotypes.

This same friend recently has been performing in a murder mystery, one we attended over the weekend. (And no, I'm not going to mention the name of the play, it doesn't deserve the publicity. If you've seen it, you'll recognize it; 'nuff said.) As usual, the cast did an excellent job, although this time they did it with with less-than-stellar source material. The best description I can give you is that it was a seriously stereotyped who-dun-it, although for once the butler wasn't the culprit. The characters involved all had somewhat good motives for doing in the victim and possessed what could be termed the "requisite personality quirks" to make them somewhat viable suspects. I should have known who was going to be the guilty party when an issue was made of one particular character having utilized the professional services of a psychiatrist at some point in the nebulous past. In this case, it was for an anxiety disorder and a "type of claustrophobia".

WTF?

Since when does either condition indicate a potential murderer? That makes as much sense as saying that someone with acrophobia is more likely to be a shoplifter than the average person, - namely, none at all! And speaking of "the average person",

Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

That's from the National Institute of Mental Health website. That's a lot of people. The term "mental disorder" covers a wide array of conditions, including depression, anorexia, bulimia, phobias, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, autism, and personality disorders, among others. We are your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, your friends and your neighbors. Lots of people suffer to one extent or another from conditions that are technically in the mental illness category, but have never been formally diagnosed, and just live with it. Have a fear of heights? Of spiders or snakes? Of the dark? A touch of claustrophobia, maybe? Do you check and double-check the door to make sure it's locked before you go to bed? Have a "blue mood" that just won't go away? It doesn't mean you're crazy, but you too could be suffering from a mental disorder.

To stereotype all persons with mental illness* by thinking they're dangerous or "crazy" is nothing short of asinine. Most people with mental disorders are indistinguishable from anyone else you encounter on the street. We're just like you because we are you. Yes, there are those whose disorders are more obvious; that is often the result of inadequately controlled symptoms and/or extreme cases of illness. Finding the right medication(s) and the right dosage can take, quite literally, years. Sometimes nothing works, or the treatment comes with side effects that make it impossible to continue, or the medication is unaffordable. Sometimes the medication actually makes the condition worse.

Personally, I've suffered from clinical depression for most of my life, but it was only formally diagnosed in the last few years. There are a lot of us. According to NIMH,

Approximately 20.9 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, have a mood disorder.

And, also according to the site, 14.8 million of those will suffer from a major depressive episode in a given year. I could tell you all about that state from the inside, but instead I'll direct you to DesertRose (of Human Equality blog fame), who has survived in far more difficult territory than I've ever experienced. I highly recommend reading all four articles in her "Crazy Does Not Equal..." series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).

I go could on for pages and pages and throw out statistics and studies, but I suspect I'd lose anyone who's stuck with me this long, so I'd better just wrap up. What's particularly sad about mental illness is that it's still one of those subjects people hesitate to talk about because it's so misunderstood and stigmatized. It means that sufferers often don't seek help or have adequate support systems. We don't tell people about it, where we might if we had a more "conventional" disease like cancer or heart disease or endometriosis. We're afraid of being stereotyped and treated as if we're going to become dangerous or experience a break with reality at any moment. But the thing is, we should talk about it, we should educate people. Years ago, epilepsy was thought to be caused by demon possession. Now we know that it's based in brain chemistry. It's the same for mental illnesses; they're chemically based, and not caused by some character weakness or moral failure. It's time to break the silence.

--------------------------

*I phrase it this way because otherwise one can unconsciously confuse the illness with the person, e.g. a person who has cancer is not the cancer itself.

PSA: "Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning"

Here's a piece of potentially life-saving information from Mario Vittone's blog:

"Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life."

You can read the rest here. I highly recommend it, it could save someone's life.

I came close to drowning as a child, and I wish the asshat adult who stood just out of arm's reach and laughed at me had read and understood this. Some memories never go away....

Free speech works BOTH ways

I see the Westboro Baptist Church cultists are finally back in court as a result of their harassment of fallen hero Matthew Snyder's family at his funeral. I can't help but wonder how they would respond if those of us who think they're sick bastards would regularly protest during their 'church services', and maybe wave a few signs around saying "You're going to hell" and "Thank God for dead Baptists".

"Red Mass"? WTF?

"But I would remind them that, contrary to what they heard at the Red Mass about protecting rights granted by God, they are charged with protecting rights that come from a government made up by we the people to serve we the people."

If you want to read the rest of the post -- and I highly recommend you do! -- head on over to Shark-fu's blog.

I'd never heard of the Red Mass. As someone who firmly believes that church and state SHOULD be kept separate, I find this disturbing.

Optimism

Our tomato plant is refusing to give it up for the year, never mind that it's late September and about time for a frost....

My Political Views
I am a left moderate social libertarian
Left: 3.53, Libertarian: 2.82

Political Spectrum Quiz

You can find the quiz here if you want to take it yourself.

Hat tip to Mule Breath for the link.....