Saturday, November 5, 2011

Quick hits w/e 11/5/11

Quick hits w/e 11/5/11

  1. Economy: Unemployment is down some. That's good news for the people who found jobs. Still at 9%, with a decent but unquantifiable chunk either underemployed or that have given up, and with gas locked above $3 and milk higher, it's not going to change much. People that have just enough to buy food aren't buying much else. Black Friday worries me this year: how many fights are we going to have over discounted junk this time?

  2. Food: How is vinegar “bottled at peak freshness?” Really? Vinegar is fresh? And what's with the expiration date on sour cream? What does it do, turn fresh?

  3. News: Only in America do you get these headlines on the same page: “Pastor to defy ban on prayer at schools” and “City to ban naked dining.” What a country! (Apologies to Yaakov Smirnoff). Yep, we have banned both naked dining and prayer. Although, to be honest, I can still pray calmly at home or silently in public and gladly know that naked people won't be at the Cracker Barrel. Still, a little odd there.

  4. Sports: today's LSU-Bama game has more hype than a presidential campaign. Which makes it a nice distraction from the nonsense that is the presidential campaign. Anyone think it will somehow not live up to it? LSU's bus breaks down on the way to Tuscaloosa or something odd that delays it?

  5. More Sports: There are other games besides Tigers v. Elephants. Pigs v. Chickens is on at the same time. I'll take Pigs, assuming the second half goes as planned.

  6. Wondering: why would it be appropriate for a school to fully explain Hanukkah but not Christmas? They're both religious, aren't they?

  7. Books and business: Thomas Nelson is going to be purchased by the same parent company that owns Zondervan. And this is the same company that published under its own name, HarperCollins, Rob Bell's Love Wins. There could be some interesting inter-departmental meetings at this one, folks. Second to that, allegedly HarperCollins refused to publish Metaxas' biography of Bonhoeffer due to perceived factual issues, but then Nelson published it. So, what happens now?

  8. On a related note: Nelson's Booksneeze is really the premier of wide-open free books for bloggers programs. I hope that doesn't end, because HarperCollins (and Zondervan) have a tendency to be more stingy.

  9. Ann menu planned for the next two months. This is good. I now have to make the “sneak bad-for-me snacks” plan fit into the schedule!

  10. Soybeans into soy sauce is not a process I'm interested in doing. It looks, well, disgusting.

  11. There's a combine in front of my house right now. I love the country.

  12. There are peas sprouting in my garden, and winter-hardy carrots as well. If this works, I won't be buying vegetables for another couple of months!

  13. I changed blog layouts, but I don't know if I like it or not. Mainly because I rarely look at it. Let me know if you just absolutely hate it, ok?

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