sunday sword...

. (2.00 / 2)

May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 13:51:56 PM UTC

some news items (2.00 / 3)

http://www.latimes.com/news/na...

Supreme Court to take up anti-corruption law
Some say a ruling against the ban on 'honest services fraud' would take away one of the best weapons against public officials who use their positions to gain money, gifts or favors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

For plants designed in a lab a little more than a decade ago, they've come a long way: Today, the vast majority of the nation's two primary crops grow from seeds genetically altered according to Monsanto company patents.
Ninety-three percent of soybeans. Eighty percent of corn.
[...]
During the Bush administration, the Justice Department did not file a single case under antimonopoly laws regulating a dominant firm. But that stretch seems unlikely to continue.

This year, the Obama Justice Department tossed out the antitrust guidelines of its predecessor because they advocated "extreme hesitancy in the face of potential abuses by monopoly firms."

"We must change course," Christine Varney, the Obama administration's chief antitrust enforcer, said at the time.
[...]
Farmers and seed companies "are afraid to speak in public, worried that they will become victims of retaliation," Thomas L. Sager, DuPont senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. "That's why it's so important that antitrust investigators move quickly -- to learn the truth before even more harm is done to America's farmers."

May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 14:53:03 PM UTC

I gotta sword (2.00 / 2)

bwaaaaaaaaaaaa...gngngngngn...

T-L SOTB

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by: nocatz @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 16:05:36 PM UTC

that (2.00 / 1)

is a helluva sword!


May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 18:23:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fresno John (2.00 / 3)

needs a new set of strings.  So click on Engraving and Design in the artsy fartsy photo and art blogroll.  DIGG or FB if you're into those things.  

T-L SOTB

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by: nocatz @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 16:17:45 PM UTC

SNL-O-China (2.00 / 2)

(sorry about the ad at the beginning)
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-ni...

The government does not run on unicorn kisses and/or butterfly farts.

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by: masslass @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 17:20:03 PM UTC

To this day (2.00 / 2)

The Sword in the Stone is my favorite Disney movie.  It started me on my life long love of Merlin tales. I also still have the Disney version book that was mine that I read to my kids but kept put up so they couldn't destroy it.  I had left it in bad enough condition.

The movie is also what clued us in to my sons hearing loss when he was 4 or 5.  He said something about a f***in' something or other, and my Mom corrected him about the bad word and he said "Its not a bad word, Merlin says it".  Merlin in the movie mentions "bucket" when he's by the well.

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by: Alma @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 17:26:21 PM UTC

too cool (2.00 / 2)

that merlin helped you find your boys problem!

i too have a life long love of merlin/arthur tales.
while my sister read me aesops fables & grimms faerie tales, etc., my brother gave me adventure: king arthur, robin hood, swiss family robinson...

i was entranced most by merlin...
i have quite a collection of merlin/arthur books now.
i think my favourite is the crimson chalice by victor canning which gives a plausible historical background.
i also loved mary stewart's series.


May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 18:23:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

LOL Mary Stewart (2.00 / 2)

has always been one of my favorite authors.  :)  Long before she started writing that series, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when she did write it.  My favorite by her isn't in the series though.  Its the Moonspinners.  Now the disney movie of it sucked.

I haven't read the Canning book as far as I remember.  I'll have to pick it up.  Books are one of my downfalls.  I'm addicted to buying them.

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by: Alma @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 18:38:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah, books.... (2.00 / 2)

I'm overdue for at least one new pair of work-worthy pants.  Can get them at the mall.

If I go to the mall, I will go to the bookstore.  If I go to the bookstore, I will buy books.

I can avoid clicking on Amazon.com...but I can't avoid going to the bookstore.  It draws me in as surely as flies are drawn to honey....

btw, this is not Arthurian, strictly speaking, but if you haven't already read it, check out Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight books.  Also highly recommended:  Soldier of the Mist which is the opening novel of what Gene originally intended to be a 4-volume series about Latro, a soldier who receives a head wound in a war between (iirc) Greece & Persia.  The first two volumes were published ages ago; they didn't sell as well as The Book of the New Sun so his then-publisher put the kibosh on them.  About three years ago, the third volume finally got published, and I am anxiously awaiting volume 4, to complete the series.

I am one of those who consider the Latro novels some of the best writing Wolfe has ever done.  You owe it to yourself to at least peruse them at the bookstore and see whether or not you agree with me.  Again: these are the opposite of Arthurian: very spare, and Latro's injury is what allows him to see/communicate with the Greek gods.

But it's an amazing series.  HIGHLY recommended.  At least read the first book, Soldier of the Mist, and decide from there!

GOP: Turning the U.S. into a 3rd World country since 1980.

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by: Youffraita @ Mon Nov 30, 2009 at 09:50:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

LOL (2.00 / 2)

Exactly like I am:

If I go to the mall, I will go to the bookstore.  If I go to the bookstore, I will buy books.

And my kids too!  But I usually just skip the rest of the mall and go to the book store.  LOL

I plan on trying to stay out of the bookstore until after xmas, cause I won't be able to afford presents if I go there.  I can almost bet I will buy books before that though cause when I pass the book section in Meijers it draws me like a magnet.

I'll have to look around my hubbys books because the author and titles you mentioned sound familiar, so they might be in with some of his.

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by: Alma @ Mon Nov 30, 2009 at 19:43:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do check your hubby's books! (2.00 / 2)

After writing that last night, I am now rereading Gene Wolfe's The Knight and will definitely follow up with The Wizard.

Gene Wolfe is best known for The Book of the New Sun, which is excellent, but I still think the Latro stories are the best...maybe it's b/c I have a weakness for ancient Greece.

GOP: Turning the U.S. into a 3rd World country since 1980.

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by: Youffraita @ Tue Dec 01, 2009 at 01:19:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Greece was (2.00 / 2)

the one place I used to want to visit when I was a kid.  I think the Grecian setting for The Moonspinners was probably one of the reasons I liked it so much.

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by: Alma @ Tue Dec 01, 2009 at 02:13:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

it's been a strange Thanksgiving weekend (2.00 / 4)

Kids these days often have multiple families and ours were unavailable for Thanksgiving Day. No problem. We scheduled a fest for Saturday, got a hold of Jay for Thursday.

But Jay got sick and couldn't make it so we had a regular dinner that night. Then one of the granddaughters called. She's old enough to work now, part-time, after school and on weekends and she told us she had to work Saturday night so we re-scheduled for this afternoon.

And then shaharazade got whatever it is that's going around so we had to cancel the big get-together....with a 15 pound turkey in the refrigerator. And I, never having done such a thing before, got to make the stuffing, clean the bird, get the stuffing in there. Shaharazade didn't quite trust me with everything so got up to help me apply butter and olive oil. We split that part.

Added the vegetables, some water and in it goes! Still has a few hours left before dinner.

But it's Thanksgiving for two and after we have this meal tonight we'll have about 14 pounds of turkey left over. Ideas, anyone? What can we do with this thing? We were expecting 8 adults and 3 children. :-)

"They're all crooks!" - Shahryar

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by: Shahryar @ Sun Nov 29, 2009 at 23:52:11 PM UTC

ideas (2.00 / 4)

if i had a turkey.....
slice off all the breast meat. divide into pefect portions(enough for 2 sandwiches), package in zippy bags, label & date & freeze. you may want to put enough for 4 sandwiches in each bag... that'll give you more so that you could do some thing else with a bag- turkey casserole! turkey salad!

in a very very big pot put 4-5 inches of water put over high heat.

pull large amounts of turkey from bones
break bones apart from each other, throw in pot
chop up larger bits of meat, throw in pot

bring to a boil, let boil for 20-30 minutes.
using a strainer spoon fetch out bones to a plate. pull meat from bones. throw away bones, return meat to pot. start with the smaller bones ribs etc, saving large leg bones for last.
chop up meat as you go, fetching out any large hunks & chopping them too.
add one large onion med chopped, 2 stalks celery chopped in 1/4 inch slices.
turn pot down to a simmer cooking until liquid is reduced by half.

turn off, let cool.
divide into quarts, put in zippy bags, label/date & freeze.

use this as starter for soups adding carrots, rice, broccoli... whatever!


May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Mon Nov 30, 2009 at 00:47:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

yum! (2.00 / 4)

thanks!

"They're all crooks!" - Shahryar

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by: Shahryar @ Mon Nov 30, 2009 at 02:51:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

. (2.00 / 2)

May all your best intentions pave no road to hell. ~flag

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by: RiaD @ Mon Nov 30, 2009 at 00:50:33 AM UTC