Best review of SOTU 2014

The President says : I will listen to you only if you agree with me, or else I will do it my way (Mussolini?) and the Republicans answering let's pray God. Oh gente, God gave us a brain to be USED!

The Coffee Crisis of 2014

When we arrived in America we were delighted to find great food and ingredients in our local grocery stores. Kitchen adaptation was a simple thing.

A core part of this was finding wonderful coffee at our local supermarket. You select your beans of choice and grind them in store to the required grain. We drink* espresso every day, so this was an important find.

Until.

The supermarket stopped carrying the open bean selection.

The packaged options did not include the brand we were using.

The coffee was, quite simply, gone.

We tried another variety, which of course brought nothing but disappointment. So we branched out, we went on a coffee hunt. We tried one grocery store, then another. No luck. We went further afield, we tried various branches of our original super market, the Trader Joes', The Wholefoods'. At one of the latter, we found a new coffee to try, and in great excitement brought it home and heated up our Bialetti but NO! It was not the same! It was just... no... good.

In a final ditch attempt we entered a new store, we had barely noticed in the past, nestled behind some apartment buildings and barely exposing a corner of its sign to the main street.

And here, at least, we stumbled upon what we were after all along.

We are now at peace and in a happy place. But these cold scary days will forever be remembered, as the Coffee Crisis of 2014.


*and by "drink every day" I mean we are both entirely addicted to our morning shot of joy

Quote of the day

"There is no end; there are only means"

- Penn Jillette

Thoughts on the niqab

The idea of wearing a niqab is, of course, insulting to women in the implication that a woman is to blame for any act of harassment or lewd behaviour on the part of men.

The niqab is also deeply demeaning of men, in so far as it implies than no man is capable of controlling himself in the presence of a marginally uncovered female. Perhaps it was for this reason that Birmingham Central Library took its craven precautionary decision to put out tables for women only.

More here.

A conclusion in need of an argument

The debt we owe to our government.

By accident of birth, I was born on a piece of land claimed by a particular state. Am I obligated to support that state? If so, why? And what if the state I was born into is unjust, perhaps even horrifically so?

Further, even if I do have a duty to support the state I was born into, at what point does that obligation arise? Is it at the moment of birth? Or is it when I’ve taken some action to explicitly or implicitly create the duty to obey?

Weekend travels

Not really, I was in Atlanta all weekend. But movements included the High Museum exhibit centered around the Tuileries Garden, for a flashback of Paris and its views. And its greatest elements all having been brought to France by Caterina de'Medici. Who was from Florence. So basically a celebration of some of the great things Florence did for Paris.

You are welcome. Je t'en prie.

And the discovery of the Indian mall in Altanta, complete with gorgeous proper Indian food and beautiful dresses and saris which I will be wearing at my next formal event.

So yes!

Job requirements

I just learned that most police departments in the US do not require a 4 year degree for recruits.

These are people who are not only given large amounts of responsibility, but who have to know how to work with many people with different lives, priorities and preferences. If anything requires the additional growth of a college degree, surely this is it?

I mean, American football players all have college degrees.

Fighting Inequality

Why stop at income?

As pointed out at Reason.com:

de Blasio “owns a pair of two-family homes on 11th Street in Park Slope that are valued at more than $1.1 million apiece.” Plenty of Americans can’t afford a single million-dollar home, let alone two of them. If de Blasio really wants to “put an end” to economic inequality, he should sell both houses and distribute the proceeds to everyone else. 

But, of course:

The reason that de Blasio, Clinton, and Obama don’t live more modestly to reduce the level of inequality is ...  because despite all their rhetoric, they probably understand on some level, as most of us do, that what’s really troubling isn’t inequality of outcome, it’s inequality of opportunity. And even then, what’s really troubling isn’t inequality of opportunity, but poverty with little to no chance of escape, that is, the absolute (not merely the relative) lack of opportunity. It’s something to remember the next time some politician starts hyperventilating about an inequality crisis.

Kitchen Adventures, Jan Week 1

Ham and potato soup.

I had the wrong amount of potatoes, the wrong type of onion and completely ignored the celery.

If PMS is an excuse...

... then don't let women do anything, ever.

Note: Add this to series Women are women's worst enemies

If you are telling me that you have no control over your moods, behaviour and concentration for several days out of each month then I clearly will not give you a job that requires any amount of responsibility or reliability.

And what requires more responsibility than any other job, according to those who have it?

Motherhood.

Hmmmm.