Bornfamous

I’m so in love with this gorgeous green theme by beccary that I had to switch immediately. Green is the new black. And my favorite color.

Makes me want to start blogging more, just to admire my words surrounded by all this green!

This lady is among a gazillion wonderful photos of yesteryear featured on Square America. Today we are… says her hair is almost as high as the Christmas tree, but it looks almost flat compared to two roommates I had back in ‘65. They were sisters, hairdressers and Dolly Parton clones - minus the big bazooms — five years before I’d even heard of Dolly Parton. They looked almost exactly like this:

Oh, did I mention they were twins? Wish I could remember their names. I’d love to look them up and see what they look like now.

The Party. Almost 50 photos from one late 60s/early 70s biracial, bisexual, bacchanal. WARNING: NSFW. [Update: Nothing graphic, just a bunch of drunks in their underwear.]

Ah, I remember those days. And no, I never went to a party like this, though I did get invited to a couple. It didn’t sound like fun to me, and after looking at the pix, I haven’t changed my mind. Not that these folks weren’t having a FAB time but I’m too prudish self-conscious for it, frankly. Plus, the expressions on some of the guys’ faces is a real turnoff to me. They’re enjoying themselves just a tad too much, IMO. Reminds me of what assholes guys were back then. Have they changed?

Monbiot.com » Rigged

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer! Incredible as it might seem, I have stumbled across the single technology which will save us from runaway climate change! From the goodness of my heart I offer it to you for free. No patents, no small print, no hidden clauses. Already this technology, a radical new kind of carbon capture and storage, is causing a stir among scientists. It is cheap, it is efficient and it can be deployed straight away. It is called … leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls

George W. Bush’s Redacted Bill of Rights

This is my friend Jeanne’s recipe for inflammation. It worked for her fibromyalgia several years ago. My own fibro is so bad at this point, I’m finally going to give it a try. There’s nothing like pain for motivation!

Mince fine together in small food processor:

• 2-3 tbsp or so ground flax seed (I’ve cut it down to one tblspoon since feeling significantly better)
• 5 large cloves fresh garlic

Add and process well (or dump the above into small jar, add the following, secure lid and shake like the devil:

• 1/2 heaping tsp. or so powdered Stevia (it’s the green stuff. I buy it in the bulk spice section of the health food store)
• 1/2 heaping tsp or so powdered Horseradish root (in bulk foods again)
• 1/2 heaping tsp. or so powdered kelp
  (bulk foods)
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves, finely crushed and fresh as possible.
• 2 tbsp. or so Braggs Aminos
• 2-3 tbsp. flax oil (I’ve cut down to one tbsp. since feeling much better) (I use the kind with chili oil and garlic oil added, made by Omega Nutrition)
• 2-3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or more, to make consistency you want for dressing or dip or spread or whatever)

This is the result of research with some of the foremost names in ethnobotany. It’s great on salads, all kinds of vegetables, cheeses, meats and breads, etc.

This full recipe is to be consumed on foods throughout the day. At least the full recipe, each day, every day.

It depends on your also not subverting the benefits with sugars and all the other bad diet habits. I’ve been better about what I consume since starting this, though not perfect. I think the main thing is really trying to up the greens and lessen the bad stuff as much as possible. The more, the better. The only really new thing I’ve been doing though, is adding this concoction, the full recipe, every day. I mix it first thing every morning, without fail. No matter how I’m feeling. Just do it. And good luck, dearly beloved.

-Jeanne

Wish me luck!

Gah, I hate all those catalogs that pour in this time of year! I just signed up at Catalog Choice, which is free. I don’t feel I should have to PAY for the privilege of not receiving this crap, but this video mentions some of the other services available that do charge:

Save the trees! Save the landfills!

From the Department of Irony: Pakistan in Crisis: U.S. Urges Restoration of Constitutional Rule

How about let’s remove “Pakistan in Crisis” from that headline?

[Remember: tomorrow is Constitution Day. Don't work. Don't buy anything.]

Author Naomi Wolf gives a compelling explanation of why ordinary people MUST stand up for democracy — now.

Wolf urges all Americans to take part in a general strike or Constitution Day on the sixth of every month until our constitution is restored. Starting this Tuesday, if you possibly can, stay home from work and don’t buy anything. If millions of Americans do these two simple things, it will send a powerful message to Congress to stop sniveling and stand up to the White House.

Don’t believe me? You may be too young to remember, but I’m not: it took only three days of a widely observed National Moratorium to strike a real blow to the war in the Vietnam.

Tuesday, vote with your feet and your dollars. Don’t work. Don’t buy anything.

An amazing series of photos by Karen Tapia Anderson of twelve firefighters caught in a burnover during the fires in Orange County. You can also hear the radio calls between them and their crew members who weren’t trapped. [Spoiler alert: don't worry, they all came through without injury.]

Come see our giant toxic stew! / 1,500 miles wide, floating in the Pacific, made of all your plastic crap. Bring the kids!

Have you heard? Did you see? It’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or Pacific Trash Vortex, among other awesome nicknames) and it’s a staggering phenomenon indeed and after reading up on it, I fully believe we must now revise our master list. Because surely this thing must be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the grand sociocultural melting pot of our time. Except for the fact that it’s, you know, revolting.

Sometimes I have prophetic dreams. I discovered this years ago when I dreamed that my mother was being carried down our steps on a stretcher. Less than twelve hours later, I watched that exact scene played out in real life after Mom had a stroke. It was startling to say the least.

But usually, my little bouts of ESP have no significance whatsoever, and are certainly of no use. Like the other morning when the phone rang as I was dreaming about a pile of pumpkins in a supermarket.

“Did I wake you?” asked my friend Barb.

“Yeah, I was dreaming about pumpkins.”

“Really?” said Barb. “I’m at the market looking at a bunch of pumpkins right now!”

Things like that. Totally useless, but fun nevertheless.

So last night when I dreamed about raindrops splattering the ashes from the wildfires on my balcony [yeah, I really need to sweep up around here], I paid no attention. No way was it going to rain in drought-stricken San Diego today — all the forecasts were very clear about that. It was just another dream.

Later, I headed out to deliver some yoga tapes to my poor daughter-in-law Karen, who is suffering from near-crippling sciatica, pinched nerves, and other painful things I can’t remember. Poor thing. I opened my front door and laughed. There were raindrops in the ashes. How cool is that?

Near Karen and Chris’s place, more drops splashed my windshield and I laughed again, remembering my dream. Yep, I thought, I’m psychic. How fun. Not as good as Alison Dubois, but it’s a start. Maybe I could read up on how to get better at it. I might even find a use for this, um, talent.

Ruminating on these things, I made a left turn. Right into the path of an oncoming SUV. I hadn’t even noticed it coming toward me.

HONNNNKKKKK!!!! blared the SUV’s indignant driver.

“FUCK!” I yelled.

EEEEKKKK! went my brakes.

The SUV continued on its way, leaving me in the intersection, gasping for breath and holding onto my heart, as other drivers stared at Stupid Me. At last I lurched from their baleful gaze and moved, chastened, toward Chris and Karen’s place, thinking, “Now, why couldn’t I have dreamed about THAT?”

Useless, I tell you.

Wildfires 2007: Cal Fire: “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

Amid all the increasingly optimistic reports coming out on the county’s various fires comes this cautionary note from retired Cal Fire Capt. Fred Daskoski, recalled to duty for this firestorm:

Partially contained fires are just that — partially contained. And time may not be on the firefighters’ side.

“Until we can get some sort of control line around these fires, it’s still a major hazard,” he said. “There a possibility of a new high-pressure system coming into this area in the next couple of days.”

With that renewed high pressure could come renewed high winds and low humidity, the conditions that helped the county’s mega-fires make their destructive runs in the first place, Daskoski said.

“It could actually blow some of these fires out again and we could be right back to where we were,” he said. “I just hope people don’t get back into their homes and let their guard down. We’re not out of the woods yet.”

Smoke masks the California sun

With all the talk about emergency preparedness and homeland security, the true newsworthiness of these giant disasters lies in the way they punch holes in our false sense of security, the notion that, in case of emergency, the government will take care of us. Most of us tend to view localized events — a flood, a bridge collapse, a fire — as isolated phenomena. “Oh, those poor people! Lucky I don’t live in a burn area/floodplain/decaying city!” We refuse to see them as litmus tests. We fail to read the handwriting on the wall.