OTRSS/Log/2003d

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NOTES:
Tedious Mid-July
Horrendous July
Dangerous July
Repetitous July
Recent Reading
Ongoing To-Do List

THEMES:
The Thirst

THOUGHTS:
Them Sin
W's Holy War
Info Futures

RECIPES:
Lo-Risotto

ACCOUNTS

SkeptiLog: Sightings
to 18_07_2003
to 29_07_2003

THEMES

THE THIRST

The mountains are high above the village
The clouds are high above the mountains
The stars are high above the clouds

The people are sharp within the village
The worms are sharp within the people
The truth is sharp within the worms

The rains fall heavy on the village
The stars fall heavy on the rains
The time falls heavy on the stars

The wind blows lonely thru the village
The sand blows quiet thru the wind
The fear blows evil thru the sand

The thirst falls sharp on the village
The thirst falls bright in our mouths
The thirst falls heavy in our hearts

THOUGHTS

THEM SIN

There's an old joke: a gangster sends his trashy girlfriend to finishing school so he won't be ashamed to be seen with her. When she returns after a few months, she walks up to him elegantly and say, "Darling, were you blue while I was gone?" He smacks his forehead, says, "Crap, 50 thousand bucks and she can't even do tenses!"

So I see the above signboard at a local church, CONFESSING YOUR SIN IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR FORSAKING THEM, and I smack my forehead and say, "Crap, inspired by G0d and he can't even do plurals!" And a week later, it's still spelt like that. I guess basic literacy is too much to expect from a spiritual leader. Or is this a cry for attention?

Another nearby churchboard says IN GOD WE TRUST - IT'S ON THE MONEY. You can draw your own conclusion about that one.

W's HOLY WAR

As noted, the Afghan and Iraq invasions happened because G0d told Dubya to strike at Osama & Saddam. Here are my thoughts on that, which boil down to: Osama & Saddam are still loose, so G0d must be pretty peeved with Dubya.

Absent any WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) or immediate threat to the US and UK, what's the justification for the Iraq war? "Well, Saddam and his gang were REAL bad guys and they killed lots of their people." And that surely is true.

But there are lots of other real gory bad guys around, running nasty little countries, and some are even said to have WMDs. Cuba, Sudan, North Korea, Iran; Burma, Syria, Liberia, etc. Who's going to be liberated next? Who deserves it most? Who has oil?
PS: Just as an exercise, consider who has killed (ordered the deaths of) more Americans, Saddam Hussein or George W. Bush. Do a tally, then decide just who is more dangerous to the people of the US, and the world.

INFO FUTURES

The DARPA / Pentagon program for a futures market on terrorism, assassination etc was shot down. R.I.P. P.A.M. But such a market could work, and if market forces DO make good predictions, let's extend that - first to predict where various military crap may occur, then any other political crap, and then just down to the level of domestic crimes.

So, Crime Futures - traders bet on who may be a victim or perpetrator of crime, and when the bets seem conclusive, take preemptive-protective action - grab the criminal-to-be or shield the yet-to-be victim. There was a recent film about this but with telepathy, not analysis and market forces (GREED!)

But why stop there? How about futures markets for: inventions, artistic creations, disasters, miracles, hackdowns, breakups, etc?

Yeah, markets using special knowledge to prophesize - what'd they say? Study the orange market and you can predict future weather patterns. Then comes the question: does belief in the validity of the market constitute reality or theology?

RECIPES

LO-RISOTTO

Lo-fat, lo-carb, hi-flavour, it's all here. A recent remix of an old fave (from 2 years ago).

. 1 good green or red pepper
. 1 small red or boiling onion
. 1 or 2 cloves garlic
. 1 stalk broccoli
. 2 blades celery AND/OR
. 1 or 2 Roma tomatoes
. 1 medium carrot
. 1/4 lb. mushrooms AND/OR
. 1/4 lb. lean dead flesh
. 1/3 cup slivered parmesan
. 1/3 cup white or brown rice
. olive oil, boullion, MSG
. water or liquid (wine, etc)
. wide saute pan, small saucepan

1) Cut the pepper and onion into long thin slices. Saute in just enough olive oil; cover pan.

2) Cut off broccoli tops, cut each in half. Thin-slice the broccoli stalk, celery and garlic. Toss all this stuff into the saute and stir, replace lid.

3) Slice the mushrooms AND/OR flesh. Toss those into the saute, sear well stir, replace lid. Wait a couple minutes, stir and cover again. Reduce heat.

4) Simmer 1 cup of water, the boullion and the rice, uncovered. (Note: if you're using brown rice you should have started this 45 minutes ago.) Add liquid and stir as needed to keep rice wet and loose.

5) Julienne or grate the carrot. When rice is nice and puffy, add carrot, reduce heat and cover. Wait a few minutes, adding liquid as needed.

6) When all are rather soft, stir rice-carrot mix, parmesan cheese AND/OR some MSG into the saute, along with a little liquid maybe. And maybe sprinkle a little more parmesan on top. Replace lid and low-simmer until most liquid is absorbed. Serve with delight.

NOTE: Add or cut any item you wish. Maybe add a bit of any of these: nutmeg, lemon juice, oregano, hot pepper, nuts, eggplant. Maybe don't cover any pans until step (6). Whatever.