• Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses - Uncategorical Weirdness

    Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s Obscene Refusal of Food Aid

    Zimbabwe dicator-for-an-indeteriminate-period-of-time Robert Mugabe is in Rome at an international food conference; his presence there has been called “obscene” by the UK and Austrailian delegations, because his “land reform” (ie., crony land-bribes) policies are putting his people in danger of mass starvation. Also, his thugs are in the habit of burning food supplies in areas thought to support the opposition MDC. He has also refused food aid in the past, because he wants total control over food supplies to “opposition” areas. BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe blocks political aid “Zimbabwe’s government has banned at least one international aid group…

  • All Things Interesting - Dear Mom

    Francis Baker, cooper of Yarmouth

    Francis Francis BAKER 1611 – 23 Jul 1696 * OCCUPATION: Cooper, surveyor of hwys * BIRTH: 1611, Hertfordshire, England [1] * DEATH: 23 Jul 1696, Yarmouth, Barnstable Co., MA [2] Family 1 : Isabel TWINING * MARRIAGE: 17 Jun 1641, Yarmouth, Barnstable Co., MA [9982] 1. +Nathaniel B. BAKER 2. +John BAKER 3. Samuel BAKER 4. +Elizabeth BAKER 5. +Daniel BAKER 6. +Thomas BAKER 7. +William B. BAKER 8. Hannah BAKER According to the genealogy files so laboriously compiled by my Aunt Nibby in the pre-Internet dark ages, Francis Baker was the first direct ancestor on Pop’s side. He came…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Random Access Memories - Uncategorical Weirdness

    A Fizz-Nik For The Ages

    Pop-bottle snap-on cup makes ice cream floats on demand – Boing Boing The Fizz Cup is a cup that screws on to the top of a pop bottle. You fill it with ice-cream and squeeze the bottle and the soda rushes over the ice-cream and turns into an ice-cream float that fizzes out and into your gob, sparing you the mess of making ice-cream floats the old way. Yeah. This is nothing new; I had a gadget called a “Fizz-nik” when I was a little kid in Albuquerque. Mine looked like this, except it was green and white. It was…

  • Blogs Wot I Read

    Racism, Homophobia in US Consulates in Brazil?

    A regular and respected commenter at Fr. Jake’s place noted that as a Brazilian national going to school in the US, he regularly endures extra attention and luggage inspection when traveling back into the States. And in an aside, he claims that US consular officials in Sao Paolo and Rio allow personal prejudices to influence the visa applications process. If true, this is absolutely disgusting and un-American… and I cannot wait for change to happen from the top down this fall. Unfortunately, diplomatic officials can be horribly entrenched. And so can their attitudes. HaloScan.com – Comments Seriously. US citizens have…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Episcopal

    Zimbabwe: Presiding Bishop Speaks Out

    The crisis goes on in Zimbabwe, and voices continue to speak out. This time, it’s the Presiding Bishop’s voice. epiScope: Presiding Bishop speaks out on the crisis in Zimbabwe The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church Together with millions of people around the world, my heart has been drawn in recent months to the political and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe. The tragedy of that nation’s descent into internal chaos is magnified by the high sense of purpose and prosperity that a newly independent Zimbabwe brought to Africa and the world nearly three decades…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses - Uncategorical Weirdness

    Brilliant, Annie!

    It’s always fun recognizing someone you “know” in a news item: Blogger exposes life on the Underground – Yahoo News LONDON Reuters – Annie Moles blog about the London Underground rail system began as a New Years resolution to teach herself how to make an Internet Web site and has blossomed into a popular slice of commuter life. She’s been blogging just a bit longer than I have, but she’s made a much more brilliant success of it; Annie Mole’s Going Underground covers pretty much one topic, and covers it extremely well. Actually, it covers going out and having fun…