As of January 6, 2009, I have had visitors from every continent except South America! I don't count Antartica since the folks at McMurdo probably have more important things to do.
So what I can do to entice someone from say Brazil to stop by? Hmmm. You can never know what will get someone to visit. At least I can't tell.
Any ideas?
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
I'm a Bridge widow
Some wives are football widows, not me. My husband plays bridge competitively. Just this weekend he played bridge for 4 days. (I know that's more than a weekend but they got to start early cause of the holiday.)
Playing weekly isn't enough for him. He comes home and fires up the Mac and plays bridge online. As practice. For hours.
The man's been playing the game for years. He made Life Master almost a decade ago. He's been playing with the same partner for nearly 15 years. They have their own bidding system that they're almost ready to publish after nearly a decade of tweaking. He's taught the game, for goodness' sakes. Just not to me.
I have neither the patience or the skill to play bridge with him. He can not only count cards but can remember the entire play of a hand of bridge, or for that manner any card game. What he played, what you played, what everyone played. In order. I do good to count trump.
His bidding system is so complicated that he's played tournaments with the Director practically at his side. I always imagine a little old man in two inch thick glasses and suspenders when I think of tournament directors for bridge. Or a little old lady with blue hair, eyeglasses on a chain and cigarette stains on her fingers. But I digress.
What really chaps my ass about his bridge playing is his near obsession with it. He recently discovered an online live tournament website that allows him to play with his bridge partner or random folks any time of the day or night. For hours at a time. This website is evil and needs to be shut down.
And I can't complain. When I do, he's like, well, what do you want to do? If I have no answer (and I rarely do) he's like then what's the problem? He says he has to have some kind of stimulation or he'll go nuts. TV is not enough. It must involve higher brain function. Unless its sex. But we won't go there. That's another post.
I have a cycle. I can go long periods without this bothering me. Years, sometimes. Most of the time, it's only mildly annoying. It's like the annoyance buffer gets full and, until I reset, I'm one cranky bitch.
Guess where we are in the cycle.
Playing weekly isn't enough for him. He comes home and fires up the Mac and plays bridge online. As practice. For hours.
The man's been playing the game for years. He made Life Master almost a decade ago. He's been playing with the same partner for nearly 15 years. They have their own bidding system that they're almost ready to publish after nearly a decade of tweaking. He's taught the game, for goodness' sakes. Just not to me.
I have neither the patience or the skill to play bridge with him. He can not only count cards but can remember the entire play of a hand of bridge, or for that manner any card game. What he played, what you played, what everyone played. In order. I do good to count trump.
His bidding system is so complicated that he's played tournaments with the Director practically at his side. I always imagine a little old man in two inch thick glasses and suspenders when I think of tournament directors for bridge. Or a little old lady with blue hair, eyeglasses on a chain and cigarette stains on her fingers. But I digress.
What really chaps my ass about his bridge playing is his near obsession with it. He recently discovered an online live tournament website that allows him to play with his bridge partner or random folks any time of the day or night. For hours at a time. This website is evil and needs to be shut down.
And I can't complain. When I do, he's like, well, what do you want to do? If I have no answer (and I rarely do) he's like then what's the problem? He says he has to have some kind of stimulation or he'll go nuts. TV is not enough. It must involve higher brain function. Unless its sex. But we won't go there. That's another post.
I have a cycle. I can go long periods without this bothering me. Years, sometimes. Most of the time, it's only mildly annoying. It's like the annoyance buffer gets full and, until I reset, I'm one cranky bitch.
Guess where we are in the cycle.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Israel and Gaza
I've tried to stay on the sidelines on this one. I'm not a big fan of Israel. It always seems to me that their military responses end up killing ten to a hundred times the number that the insurgents do. Israel is reporting 4 dead from rocket attacks. So far, they've killed over 400 with their bombing. Seems like a fair exchange. Not.
Bush and the US have been fairly non-committal during this whole escapade. Now we've gone so far as to block the UN Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire. Their excuse? Hamas won't adhere to the resolution so it would make the Council look bad. Does that seem backwards to anyone else?
Seems to me calling for a cease-fire is the responsible thing to do. If Hamas doesn't abide by the cease-fire, it only strengthens the perception that they're terrorists. I suspect the real reason that the US didn't want to see this statement become official is because they're afraid that Israel won't abide by it, thus making our putative ally look like the bully. Which one could argue they are.
Bush and the US have been fairly non-committal during this whole escapade. Now we've gone so far as to block the UN Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire. Their excuse? Hamas won't adhere to the resolution so it would make the Council look bad. Does that seem backwards to anyone else?
Seems to me calling for a cease-fire is the responsible thing to do. If Hamas doesn't abide by the cease-fire, it only strengthens the perception that they're terrorists. I suspect the real reason that the US didn't want to see this statement become official is because they're afraid that Israel won't abide by it, thus making our putative ally look like the bully. Which one could argue they are.
Zimbabwe
5 years ago this February, my Girl Scout troop studied Zimbabwe for Thinking Day. I still have the comparison I made between the country and Texas. Once upon a time, Zimbabwe was a potential bread basket for Southern Africa. Now it faces starvation and disease.
In 2004, I garnered almost all of my facts about Zimbabwe from the CIA World Factbook. At the time, Zimbabwe had a population of 12,576,742. The 2008 factbook shows the population as 11,350,111. That's a loss of 1,226,631 souls. Some of these undoubtedly moved to neighboring countries in search of work. But some of that numbered have died of cholera, starvation and in political violence.
The World Health Organization reported 1,608 deaths out of 30,365 cases of cholera on December 30. The country's sanitation and public health services have virtually collapsed. President Robert Mugabe announced on December 11 that the epidemic was contained while the UN and Save the Children said it was getting worse. Mugabe feels that the US and UK are planning on using this outbreak as an excuse the invade and overthrow his government.
Meanwhile, schools and hospitals have closed all across the country because teachers and health workers are not being paid. Hyperinflation has put the cost of basic necessities out of reach. Sanitation systems have collapsed and raw sewage runs in the streets. Garbage is left uncollected. Vaccination programs have been halted due to lack of medication.
Even if this cholera epidemic is under control, which is highly unlikely, the situation is ripe for any number of water borne diseases to profligate. Food supplies are scare and people have been forced to scavenge what they can from wild plants.
While his people starve and die of disease, Robert Mugabe's government deals harshly with any opposition. Kidnapping and torture have been reported. Although Morgan Tsvangirai won enough votes in the March 08 elections to force a run off, the violence against his supporters caused him to withdraw from the race. Despite this, arrests of his supporters have continued. Activist Jestina Mukoko was taken from her home on December 3 and reappeared on December 24 in government custody. She has been charged with with recruiting people for banditry -- a crime that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe. Mukoko, a human rights activist who ran the Zimbabwe Peace Project, had catalogued abuses and violence by the government.
Mugabe and the world are in seeming agreement that Zimbabwe needs to take care of itself, even if they come at from opposite ends. Mugabe wants to be left alone to run his country as he sees fit and without interference. The World thinks its up to the people of Zimbabwe to rise up and kick out those who have led their country down this path of destruction.
I don't have the answers for what will fix this crisis or any of the others in Africa. I just know that sticking our head in the sand and pretending that it's not our problem has failed Africa for generations. How many have to die before we do something?
If you want to catch a glimpse of life in Zimbabwe, read This is Zimbabwe , a blog by the Zimbabwe Civic Action Support Group.
In 2004, I garnered almost all of my facts about Zimbabwe from the CIA World Factbook. At the time, Zimbabwe had a population of 12,576,742. The 2008 factbook shows the population as 11,350,111. That's a loss of 1,226,631 souls. Some of these undoubtedly moved to neighboring countries in search of work. But some of that numbered have died of cholera, starvation and in political violence.
The World Health Organization reported 1,608 deaths out of 30,365 cases of cholera on December 30. The country's sanitation and public health services have virtually collapsed. President Robert Mugabe announced on December 11 that the epidemic was contained while the UN and Save the Children said it was getting worse. Mugabe feels that the US and UK are planning on using this outbreak as an excuse the invade and overthrow his government.
Meanwhile, schools and hospitals have closed all across the country because teachers and health workers are not being paid. Hyperinflation has put the cost of basic necessities out of reach. Sanitation systems have collapsed and raw sewage runs in the streets. Garbage is left uncollected. Vaccination programs have been halted due to lack of medication.
Even if this cholera epidemic is under control, which is highly unlikely, the situation is ripe for any number of water borne diseases to profligate. Food supplies are scare and people have been forced to scavenge what they can from wild plants.
While his people starve and die of disease, Robert Mugabe's government deals harshly with any opposition. Kidnapping and torture have been reported. Although Morgan Tsvangirai won enough votes in the March 08 elections to force a run off, the violence against his supporters caused him to withdraw from the race. Despite this, arrests of his supporters have continued. Activist Jestina Mukoko was taken from her home on December 3 and reappeared on December 24 in government custody. She has been charged with with recruiting people for banditry -- a crime that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe. Mukoko, a human rights activist who ran the Zimbabwe Peace Project, had catalogued abuses and violence by the government.
Mugabe and the world are in seeming agreement that Zimbabwe needs to take care of itself, even if they come at from opposite ends. Mugabe wants to be left alone to run his country as he sees fit and without interference. The World thinks its up to the people of Zimbabwe to rise up and kick out those who have led their country down this path of destruction.
I don't have the answers for what will fix this crisis or any of the others in Africa. I just know that sticking our head in the sand and pretending that it's not our problem has failed Africa for generations. How many have to die before we do something?
If you want to catch a glimpse of life in Zimbabwe, read This is Zimbabwe , a blog by the Zimbabwe Civic Action Support Group.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
I've arrived
I have my first troll. Now I have to decide what to do with his comment on the previous post. He seems to think that he's challenged me to prove that Obama is indeed a "natural born citizen" and thus entitled to be inaugurated on January 20.
No sir. I will not take your bait. I will not post further about your tripe. I will not publish your comment. Find someone else to pester. You will find no soapbox here.
While I respect your right to hold your opinions, comment elsewhere. This little blog is mine and I get to publish what I want.
Say Good Night, Ted.
No sir. I will not take your bait. I will not post further about your tripe. I will not publish your comment. Find someone else to pester. You will find no soapbox here.
While I respect your right to hold your opinions, comment elsewhere. This little blog is mine and I get to publish what I want.
Say Good Night, Ted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)