Sunday, December 30, 2007

I don't write end-of-year top ten lists.

And I don't usually read them, either.

But Dahlia Lithwick at Salon wrote an important one.

An excerpt:

"I humbly offer this new year's roundup: The Bush Administration's Top 10 Stupidest Legal Arguments of 2007.

10. The NSA's eavesdropping was limited in scope.

Not at all. Recent revelations suggest the program was launched earlier than we'd been led to believe, scooped up more information than we were led to believe, and was not at all narrowly tailored, as we'd been led to believe. Surprised? Me neither."



You should click through to read the rest. Ladies and gentlemen, your government at work. Be afraid. I am not a paranoid person, but this is just sickening, in addition to being frightening.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Maybe there should be a test.

I started assembling Baby Stuff this afternoon, and one of the first things I decided to tackle was the bouncy seat that were we given. I briefly misplaced the packet with the screws and small parts, but once I found it assembly was simple and quick. The last step was the simplest. All it entailed was snapping the optional "accessory bar" into place. The instructions were only this long:

"Fit the toy bar ends into the sockets in the footrest."

Can't get any simpler than that, right? BUT. The there was a "hint" under the instructions:

"Hint: The square end of the toy bar fits into the square socket and the circular end of the toy bar fits into the circular socket."

I feel like if you need this hint you a) probably can't use a screwdriver, so you probably haven't gotten this far in the instructions, and b) probably shouldn't be in charge of an infant. Square fits square and round fits round? REALLY?! I had no idea.

I may also be slightly cranky.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

You only want a goat in theory.

My sister had a Very Serious Discussion with my nephew about Next Christmas the other day. My nephew is 7, so they are trying to instill in him charitable impulses and caring about others and such, and now is really the time to plant the idea that there will be less in terms of presents for next year (doesn't bother him right now, of course--next year's presents are a bit abstract right now) so that they can give to charity for people who really need it. So as to get him excited about this, Sis pointed out that they could get, for example, a goat for someone in a developing country who really needs it. Kids like animals, right? Plus, unlike food or medicine, he can understand why someone would want a goat. He got right behind this idea, with one caveat.

He wants to know if they can keep the goat for just a little bit first, since he has "always wanted a goat." (Ha. I wonder how long that would last once the goat started eating all of his stuff. Unlike sheep, goats are pretty smart and therefore hard to contain.) And then, he generously (seriously--he's only 7) points out, they can give the goat to the people who need it.

Methinks my sister is headed for a petting zoo as part of this plan for next year.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Was that a complaint or an endorsement?

This morning I woke up slowly, as I do many mornings. And, as I do many mornings these days, I woke up to getting kicked in the ribs. Fine. No problem.

The kicking paused for a few minutes.

I had gas. So I passed the gas.

I got kicked, pretty distinctly.

I passed gas again.

I got kicked again.

This happened twice more. Each time I got kicked once, kind of hard, right after farting.

Matter-Eater Lad though this was HILARIOUS. Because he is actually 10.