I heard this on the radio, but wanted to see for myself. In Bombay, most people have no problem eating at a restaurant called, “Hitler’s Cross,†which has swastikas and pics of the Führer himself. Apparently, he’s just another historical figure to them. One customer said: “Tomorrow if someone keeps a name like Saddam Mutton […]
Archive | Humanity
Weight.
Some things that have occurred to me lately. I may be wrong about these: 1. You weigh more after passing gas than you weighed before. 2. You burn more calories digesting cold food than you do digesting warm food. 3. On a cool day, you burn fewer calories when you’re wearing a jacket than when […]
Socially Unacceptable Accents
I’ve mentioned this to lots of people over the years, but I’m still not sure about the answer, so I’ll post it here. I’ve noticed that it’s socially acceptable to mimic a French accent. If you attempt a Parisian accent while commenting on the wine, none of your peers will assume that you’re anti-French, or […]
Worst Excuse in Days
I almost titled this post, “Worst Excuse Ever,†but the fact is that we’ve heard worse, or none, for possibly illegal behavior from the White House lots of times. The discussion about torture, or torture-lite, often includes something like this: “There’s a bomb under L.A., and we know, or strongly suspect, that this guy has […]
Here’s to an Old-Fashioned Book Banning
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (happily abbreviated to the ABFFE) has compiled a list of banned and challenged books (that is, they were, or are in the process of being, challenged or actually banned this year). Some were challenged or banned by school districts, some by retailers, some by public libraries. For each […]
The Poor, the Addicted, the “Unsympatheticâ€
I got into a bit of a debate on Feministe about a program than aims to pay addicts to get birth control. The whole post and articles about the program are there, so I won’t go into it here. [Except to say that while the attention is all about paying addicts to get their tubes […]
Hao Wu Free!
Finally. Â [End of Post]
Hao Wu and Wall Street Journal
My friend Cathy emailed to let me know that Hao Wu is on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. I mentioned Hao in an earlier post. Hopefully, this exposure will help free him and create more outrage about China’s contempt for human rights. I’m not linking to the whole article, because you need […]
Strong Firefighters
People who want to be firefighters have to pass a physical test. That’s good. But in certain places, the physical standards for women are lower than those for men. For example, maybe men have to bench press 200 pounds, but women only have to bench press 150 pounds. I’ve always considered this to be the […]
Free Hao Wu
If there’s ever a doubt that the dollar carries more weight than the conscience, the global community’s good relations with China should put that doubt to rest. This morning, as I read about the latest disgusting squeeze that the Chinese government is putting on their press (endangering lives as a bonus), I couldn’t help thinking […]