Friday Cheese Blogging Continues

A local selection at Murray's

Jasper Hill Farm Bayley Hazen Blue
From the northern VT farm of Jasper Hill, Bayley Hazen is an exceptional new blue made of raw Ayrshire cows' milk. Cylindrical in shape like Fourme d'Ambert, the paste has a drier texture reminiscent of English Stilton. The flavors are incredibly complex: nutty and earthen with distinctive hints of licorice. Aged four months in natural caves.

City: Greensboro
State: VT
Country: USA
Type: semi-hard
Beverage: New World Red
Rennet: Animal
Milk: Raw Ayrshire Cow
Age: 90 days

Quaint, My Ass

Ah, thee freedom to swear in your own personal blog. I'll be removing the title for the cross-posts.

Anyway, on to talking about the Geneva Conventions (What else?). From CNN:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday strongly limited the power of the Bush administration to conduct military tribunals for suspected terrorists imprisoned overseas at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Hamdan's lawyers argued that Bush exceeded his authority by setting up military commissions to try terrorist suspects, whom the administration terms "enemy combatants," rather than prisoners of war.

The administration's position was that the term means detainees do not have the rights traditionally afforded prisoners of war, as outlined in the Geneva Conventions.

And, from AMERICAblog:

And what a surprise:

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent, saying the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

The court's willingness, Thomas said, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous."

Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito also filed dissents.

Here's my problem with this whole thing - yes, it would make it much easier to defeat our enemies if we could torture the sh*t out of them. As often as people lie to stop the torture, I'm willing to believe that they give up actual information as well. It would be easier - for about a minute and a half. Then, all hell would break loose. "Policies" (I can't think of another word) like this seem like a great idea until someone used them on YOU. We want soldiers treated like humans, dammit. Just because most of our current crop of detainees aren't enlisted in a "proper" army doesn't mean that our soldiers can't get grabbed in retaliation.

Oh, right. Barbaric behavior does nothing but send us backwards in time to a more graphically violent world. If you think that things are more violent today than they were in the days of, say, public hangings, I think you're fooling yourself.

We must lead as we intend to go on. We must behave maturely in order to even begin to hope that others will behave maturely towards us. Bad behavior has never engendered good behavior, and it never will. These rules that we have, they weren't put in place because convicting people without trials was working fabulously for everyone.

So for now, even though it was a much closer vote than I deem reasonable, once again I say, "Way to go, Supremes".

Rising Tensions

Remember yesterday when I said that kidnapping a soldier seemed like the kind of act one committed when one was trying to start a war?

Israeli warplanes buzz Syrian president

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli warplanes flew over the home of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, as Israeli forces conducted operations in Gaza to save a kidnapped soldier.

...

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres has complained that Syria allowed the exiled political leadership of Hamas (ed: Exiled from where, exactly?)-- operating out of Damascus -- to order Shalit's kidnapping.

Three Palestinian militant groups said they were behind the 19-year-old corporal's kidnapping on Sunday: Hamas' military wing Izzedine al Qassam, the Army of Islam and the Popular Resistance Committees. The last group also claims to hold another hostage: 18-year-old Israeli settler Eliyahu Yitzhak Asheri.

Neither side seems to be as interested in peace right now as one would hope.

How Free is Free?

How free is free? Is the ability to burn the U.S. flag too free?

Yesterday the Senate voted down an ammendment to ban flag desecration.

Senate supporters said the flag amounts to a national monument in cloth that represents freedom and the sacrifice of American troops.

"Countless men and women have died defending that flag," said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., closing two days of debate. "It is but a small humble act for us to defend it."

Opponents said the amendment would violate the First Amendment right to free speech. And some Democrats complained that majority Republicans were exploiting people's patriotism for political advantage in the midterm elections.

"Our country's unique because our dissidents have a voice," said Sen. Daniel Inouye (news, bio, voting record), D-Hawaii, a World War II veteran who lost an arm in the war and was decorated with the Medal of Honor.

"While I take offense at disrespect to the flag," he said, "I nonetheless believe it is my continued duty as a veteran, as an American citizen, and as a United States senator to defend the constitutional right of protesters to use the flag in nonviolent speech."

OK, so that's the essence of both sides of the argument. I personally have always agreed with the opinion voiced by Sen. Inouye; I love that we live in a free country. We have the right to express ourselves freely - so freely in fact, that we can even burn the U.S. flag if that's the way that we want to make our point.

To me, this ammendment said, "Hey, you know what? We need to back down that whole freedom thing a little". I'm glad it was voted down. That fact that it was voted down by only one vote? Very unsettling.

Impossible to Read

For the life of me, I cannot read the current Israeli/Palestinian situation. Yesterday, we hear that Palestinian militants have kidnapped an Israeli soldier, today we read that Hamas and Fatah have completed an agreement over a plan that implicitly recognizes Israel.

All right, let's see what they say -

"We have an agreement over the document," said Ibrahim Abu Naja, who coordinated the "national dialogue" over the proposal. He said negotiators would present the document to President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads Fatah, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

"There is no complicated issue left because everyone signed and everyone approved the document," he said.

All right, Ibrahim Abu Naja is a name that doesn't strike me as familiar, let's Google him. Let's see, an old listing of PLO Legislative Council members. Great. I'm old enough that just hearing the letters "PLO" all in a row makes me nervous. Why do all of these groups need to keep the same names they've been using while trying to blow people up? It really eliminates any kind of comfort factor for the average American Jew.

I do believe that it all boils down to trust. It seems to me that the rival Palestinian factions don't trust each other to take care of common interests. I cannot blame them, because any steps towards peace always include the recognition of Israel, which, of course, is the exact opposite of their goals.

Israel, on the other hand, cannot trust the Palestinian authorities because none of them seem to actually have complete authority. Was the return of land on the Gaza Strip not proof enough? As soon as it was relinquished by Israel, missiles started flying out of there. Within minutes, I'm sure. Was this the aim of the government? Of course not. Are the people listening to their government? Well...

Acceptance of the plan marks a significant concession by Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and has killed scores of Israelis in suicide bombings. Still, it falls short of demands by Israel and the international community that Hamas renounce violence and give full recognition to Israel.

I do not see how this will play out. Will Hamas actually acknowledge Israel? And even if they do, will the people who make up the party go along with it? And what about other factions? Fatah and Hamas are not alone in this venture.

The agreement also was marred by opposition to the deal by Islamic Jihad, a small militant group that has carried out numerous attacks against Israel.

"In today's meeting, we announced we reject some of the articles of this document and we have reservations about other articles," said Khaled al-Batch, spokesman for Islamic Jihad.

Ah, Islamic Jihad, of course.

So you see what I'm saying about these names, here? How can anyone feel comfortable having peace talks with a group that has "Jihad" right in their name?

As I read the news today, I find that I just cannot trust it. This agreement seems way too tenuous to hold up against onslaught, and in this region, onslaught always comes.

I do hope for peace someday, but I still don't think that we're far enough away (in years) from the original disagreement to actually begin solving it. Opinions there are so very different, and run so very deep that they cannot yet be talked away.

So that's what we have. We have multiple groups all trying to agree with Israel on something that is the opposite of their stated goals - the elimination of Israel. We have a militant group kidnapping a soldier, which if you ask me, seems like the kind of stunt that people pull when they're trying to start full-blown wars.

There's a complete disconnect of the news coming from the leaders from the news coming from the people themselves. This, to me, makes a situation that's impossible to read.

I'm Really Asking

OK, an honest-to-goodness question.

Gaza militants make demands in soldier's kidnapping

Now, I could probably look this up, but when is it officially called "kidnapping", and when is it officially called "captured by the enemy"? Is it because they're not officially at war? Is it because "Palestinian Militants" are not a recognized army?

If you know, please clue me in.

Friday Cheese Blogging IV

I said there would be cheese!

This week I focus on a cheese that I personally find very delicious.


Tetilla!

Queso Tetilla
D.O.: Made in Galicia, the northernmost, westernmost region of Spain, from whole, pasteurized cowÂ’s milk, Tetilla is a classic table cheese. Springy and elastic in texture, buttery and tart on the palate with a hint of grassiness, Tetilla is, as its name infers, shaped like a breast. The thick rind is not great for eating, but the mild, creamy paste inside is. Also great for melting.

Region: Galacia
Country: Spain
Type: Semi-Soft
Beverage: White and Dry
Milk: Pasteurized Cow

So yummy at room temperature that I would turn it over and use the rind as a bowl while I ate it with a spoon.

And yes, it looks like a breast. Maybe not so much in that picture, but in person? Embarrassingly so.

I Know It's Not Cheese

Don't' worry, cheese is coming, It is, after all, Friday.

Ran across this today, though, and I really liked it. A snippet:

Women's interests are not frivolous and irrelevant.

My interests are important. Why?

Because I'm a member of society, I work, I vote, I pay taxes, and I say so.

The post is about knitting. I don't knit, but I do crochet. I do it because it keeps my hands busy when I'm sitting around in the evening, and unlike video games (which I shamelessly love), if I crochet long enough I get useful things out of it. Last year I made myself a chenille blanket - Queen sized. This year I made a tiny baby blanket, and I'm about a third of a way into another. I know it'll make me happy to see them tucked around my friends' children.

I see nothing frivolous about a craft that allows you to make things that people need.

One Way Ticket

OK, a recent survey at Beliefnet proves it: conservatives are more judgmental than liberals.

Asked to rate their "chances that you might go to hell," 46% of self-identified conservatives said "not a chance"—compared with 28% of liberals. Born-again Christians were the most upbeat about their odds: 55% said "not a chance" compared with 21% of Roman Catholics; 56% of those who filled out the survey thought they knew one or more people who were "probably" headed south, with 64% of conservatives saying yes and only 47% of liberals. Conservatives, and men, are more likely to believe in hell as a physical place with fire and demons, as opposed to a spiritual state of separation from God.

Wow. I don't know about you, but there's nothing I find more attractive that someone who takes religious lore literally. Oh, yeah, gimme a man who doesn't want to think for himself every time, baby.

What? I shouldn't say things like that because conservatives might believe me? Yeesh.

Yes, I know, I should not be mocking what people believe, but I do think that it's my place as a snarky woman who blogs to mock those that think they're so superior that they're going to heaven while they watch their friends and family "head south".

Most people said the doomed are "acquaintances," but almost 25% said the hellbound are members of their own families.

Still, if you think I'm snarky, get a load of the last paragraph in the article:

In what may be a worrisome sign of the state of family relations, those who thought their family members were headed down were very likely to think of hell as a place of fire and torment. Oh, and eternal. It was unclear whether the respondents were expressing a prediction or a wish.

Very nice.

I Don't Have to Make This Stuff Up

Via Shakespeare's Sister:

Remember the anti-Gore 200 ad with the little girl in the field of daisies? The one that was a remake of the famous anti-Goldwater ad? Well, looks like political consultant (R, of course) Carey Lee Cramer, has been charged with molesting that little girl.

What the hell is wrong with people? I know that sometimes my opinions are selfish and not-thought out, but I never think that touching children is OK.

I am officially creeped out.

Annan Actually Says Something

Kofi Annan says the world is "sleepwalking" to nuclear proliferation.

(unrelated note - if any of you pronounce that "nucular", you can just leave now)

Addressing the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, he said that without moves to halt proliferation, more and more states were likely to seek nuclear weapons which could also fall into non-state hands.

OK, so if they exist, people can misuse them. Fair enough.

"The international community seems almost to be sleepwalking down that latter path -- not by conscious choice, but rather through miscalculation, sterile debate and paralysis," Annan said. He was speaking against a backdrop of international tension over North Korea's nuclear program and Western fears that Iran may be trying to develop nuclear arms.

North Korea says it is preparing to test a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead as far as Alaska in what the United States, South Korea and Japan have called a grave threat to regional security.

First off I have to wonder - why would you target Alaska? It's the third least populous state, and the odds of actually killing anyone are smallest, I'd reckon, if you don't count Wyoming. So it would just be to piss us off. Great.

Second I have to wonder out loud, again, why we went to war against the country that screamed that it didn't have WMDs, instead of the one screaming that it does.

No, I don't want to go to war with North Korea. I don't want to go to war with anyone, really. I'm just having one of those days where the war in Iraq seems even more stupid to me than ever.

Yesterday the buzzwords seemd to be "cut and run". "The democrats want us to cut and run!", I heard, as I passed the CNN-spouting TV in the cafeteria. Well, I want to cut and run. I do. Civil war? Fine. It's not like we're stopping them from killing each other now, and is it really our business to do so?

I mentioned this to my dad, and he says that we can't - the situation could escalate more crazily than it already has with no controls at all in the region. He says that the Democrats should stop talking about getting out and start focusing loudly on how the "cheap easy war" has turned into an occupational situation that we're committed to for generations to come, now. I concede that's a pretty good idea, and told him I'd put it in my blog.

Mission Accomplished.

New Catch Phrase

I'm officially tired of the phrase "Take back America", I think that if everybody uses it, it means nothing. Each group is claiming that they need to take it back from the other(s), with no one admitting to actually *having* America.

From now on my catch phrase for this kind of sentiment shall be "Take over America".

There, much better.

All Over The Map, Creatively

I recommend giving this article a read. It touches on a lot of interesting topics regarding the character of today's economy.

It sucked me in with the notion that certain places in the world attract the intelligentsia - the article says that Bill gates has dubbed them "IQ Magnets". I've often thought about moving to Boston, because I have family roots in MA, and because it's known as a "cool" place for technology workers. I have friends who moved to California to work in the entertainment industry, when they could have pursued their dreams in a slightly different manner in NY. The thing is, we live so close to NY that it just wasn't perceived to be as cool.

As it turns out, creative is the thing to be:

Such remarkable job growth goes far beyond technology and engineering. While the U.S. economy will add 950,000 computer jobs and another 195,000 in engineering, the biggest gains by far will be in health care and education, which will add more than 3.5 million. Jobs for college professors alone are projected to increase by more than half a million. Arts, music, culture, and entertainment will contribute some 400,000 new jobs. That's twice as many as engineering.

OK, ignoring education and health care, which I think we can all agree on, are not paying commensurate salaries based upon the importance of the work, creative professions seem to be the way to go.

From there, the article moves on to the relative death of the middle class of the USA:

As the U.S. loses another half-million high-paying manufacturing jobs over the coming decade to automation, improved efficiency, and outsourcing, its labor market is essentially cleaving into two distinct economic classes: high-skilled, high-paying creative work and much lower paying, low skill work in the service economy.

The task facing economic leaders of the 21st century is not simply how to spur technology and innovation, but how to recreate the large pool of high-paying but relatively low-skill jobs that were once the hallmark of our broad middle-class society.

The author's answer? Make the low-paying service jobs better paying, and encourage every employee to be more creative in executing their jobs.

OK, I found it annoying that the answer was "make those jobs higher-paying". Um... with whose money? Last time I checked, it was the exception to the rule that a company worried more about paying employees fairly than it did about making as much profit as humanly possible, squeezing out every conceivable penny.

It would indeed be lovely if we could, in fact, harness the creative potential in every single individual in our society, "aligning the further development of human creative capabilities with the further growth and development of our economies", but I'm going to be honest, here - I stopped getting daily lattes because they were four dollars and eight cents. I'm not even going to Starbucks, where they're really expensive. I don't want to pay a premium for a cup of coffee every morning just because the person making it has done so creatively, perhaps giving me an adorable design in the foam, or creating the perfect blend of flavor syrups so as to transcend the ordinary coffee drinking experience. Raisingsalariess in the service sector will raise prices there, as well, and that will not, on any large-scale model, grow our economy. If I, the whimsical money waster can see that, I'm guessing that you can, too.

I would love to pay everyone a living wage, but the truth is that we have to have a mor estable economy than ths to start with if we want to pull that off. If the average person can't make ends meet, then it is not a good time to raise prices.

Dairy Motherlode!

How in the world did it get to be Friday, already? I know I complain about work a lot, but rarely do I have a week where I work ridiculously hard and then never get to go home to my own computer, afterwards. It's been a week of crazy followed by busy. No wonder I got cranky!

Still, I've started this tradition, see, of the Friday Cheese Blogging. I don't know how many of you like it, but I love it. This week I decided to see if anyone else was as dedicated (I suspected that they must be) and I discovered About.com's cheese of the week. Sure, it's outdated, but come on, it's not like the Kashkaval's gone bad!

Kashkaval
A Tangy Sheep's Milk Cheese

Country and Region of Origin: Bulgaria

Type of Cheese: A pasteurized, pasta filata, sheep's milk cheese.

Texture: Semi-firm.

Rind: Smooth and waxy.

Tasting Notes: A straw-colored, salty, tangy, sharp cheese.

Wine Pairing: Serve with a young, full-bodied red wine such as a Merlot.

Serving Suggestions: Serve on a cheese board or as part of an appetizer with olives, or stuffed grape leaves or with other piquant foods.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to read the Progressive Patriots web site, pointed out to me by DC Peaches.

Shame

Yes I'm ashamed at myself for taking joy in reading the round up of Ann Coulter deserters at Hullabaloo.

At least, a little.

I Write Stuff in Other Places

I posted this on skippy, the bush kangaroo: (I left it lower-case out of laziness)

free man
leak counsel won't charge rove, lawyer announces

in a statement, mr. luskin said, "on june 12, 2006, special counsel patrick fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against karl rove."

not "finds no evidence to support seeking charges", just that he doesn't anticipate doing so. great. nothing i like better out of an investigation than no explanations whatsoever.

when i was 22, i got a speeding ticket when i wasn't speeding. when i went to court, the cop wasn't there, and the judge basically told me, "you're guilty because i say so". this news gives me the same kind of feeling as the situation that night did.

Then, I immediately got this comment - this anonymous comment:

Why do you blog?

And what does your ignorance of the law and your unwillingness to appeal a charge that had no witness have to do with Rove?

Wow. I try to convey a feeling of powerlessness and dismay, and it gets me insulted. Terrific. I thought about replying on the site, but that felt like feeding the trolls. Instead, I went with my second thought, vent here, in my personal blog space.

Know what kills me most? I am not ignorant of the law, damn it! What do you do when you say that x and y are true, and all the people standing around you say, "Too bad."?

Day 2453900, and I'm Grumpy

I didn't get enough sleep last night, and I've got a really low-level cramp in the back of my right thigh. Not the kind to keep me from walking, just the kind to keep me from cheering up. Do not expect posting from the grumpy Tami.

That's Not Right

This was in my referrer logs.

That's not right.

Friday Cheese Blogging III

Today I got an email with the subject line "What Would Cheeses Do?".

Seriously.

It led me to a cheese blog. Cheese blog!

Now I have a terrible craving for something with a mild, nutty flavor and grassy undertones. Damn it!

Whoa-oh-oh-oh, on the radio

This morning I heard on the radio that the body of Al-Zarqawi was so blown to bits that the U.S. sent in a team of plastic surgeons to put him back together so they could recognize him in the photos. This, the morning show host said, was why it took a couple of days before the photos were published.

I did a quick web search looking to see if I could find evidence anywhere else - anywhere else at all about that. I could not. I didn't expect to, though, because quite frankly, it sounds like a giant, physically impossible, load of crap. What would posses someone to repeat such an idiotic story with no sources?

Hideous Beast

I'm not an overly kind person, when it comes down to it, it's just a fact. The phrase "Hideous Beast" is one I normally reserve for my father's girlfriend, seeing as I wish she was anyone else's girlfriend, but I'm going to have to come up with another slanderous phrase for her, because I'm reassigning this one to Anne Coulter.

I was really trying to ignore her, I really was, but when I heard that she was calling 9/11 widows "the witches of East Brunswick", it felt like someone had slapped me in the face, which was surprising, seeing as I'm not one. Therefore, I concluded that she was slapping any sense of moral decency left in the country in the (metaphorical) face, and I had some of that decency stuff still left in me.

I know there are plenty of 9/11 widows out there that aren't millionaires, and aren't on the news, and are just trying to live their lives, although the only person I know personally who lost a spouse is a man. Even if you are on the news, though, even if you did write a book, or get a large insurance settlement, you don't deserve to be ripped to shreds publicly simply because a tragic twist of fate made you into a public figure.

Do we honestly have to remind her about how grief feels? I feel like Karma should be handing her a tremendous personal tragedy soon, so that she can have a hole ripped in her gut that burns on and off for years, every time you hear a phrase, or see something out of the corner of your eye, or hear certain songs. Yes, the pain lessens as time goes by, but it's always there, it becomes part of you.

I remember the days after 9/11, and the sheer amount of grief all around us was staggering. The fact that Ms. Coulter is disparaging those that experienced it first-hand for profit is simply disgusting.

Lift and Separate, People!

(cross posted at Running Scared, where soon I shall be QUEEN!)

Gay-marriage amendment fails in Senate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted down a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, but Republicans planned a vote in the House of Representatives to keep a national spotlight on the hot-button issue.

The 49 to 48 Senate vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle...

Know why? Because this is stupid, and taking time to work on legislation about it is wasting the taxpayers' money. In fact, I'm pissed off at the 49 Senators who voted in favor of it. If the concept of same sex marriage is based on the bible stating that marriage is between a man and a woman, then it's a religious issue, and individual religious institutions can go ahead and make any rules they like about who can and can't be married by their clergy. The government has no business in religious decisions, even if it's labeled the generic "values" as if to fool us all.

Look, I feel just fine about my values without worrying about gay people getting married. My religion is officially against it, so I can't expect Orthodox Rabbi's to start performing committment ceremonies, and that's fine with me.

What if, say, there were a recognized religion that advocated same sex marriage for people who don't want to procreate? Crazy you say? may I remind you that Scientology is a recognized religion?

I find the concepts of constitutional bans that would take away people's rights to "ensure the blessings of liberty" mind-boggling.

Borrowed Time

I may have mentioned in the past that I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was 18. She, in turn lost her mother to breast cancer at age 13. I have lived my whole life -or at least, since I finally understood that my mother was losing the fight, at around age 17, waiting for the day that I would be diagnosed with it, myself.

Because losing my mother affected our family as much as you'd expect it to, my father worries about me. He's shown me magazine articles about tamoxifen, and asks about my gynecological health, which, honestly, I don't want to discuss with him. At all. I, in turn, have discussed these things with my doctor, and she and I have talked about what she thinks is best for my health. Of course, losing a significant amount of weight is always mentioned, but other changes that I'm supposed to make have been done, and I'm pretty satisfied that we're doing all that we can be doing. At least, now that I've quit smoking (14 months ago, already?) I'm satisfied.

Dad, however, was not. He continued to nag me about not taking any pills that could prevent breast cancer. He wanted to know why I hadn't taken the test to determine if I had the "breast cancer gene". It was an odd amount of nagging, considering that he's usually so very non-invasive that he knows nothing about my dating life, and I live with him. He's not usually the type to pry.

So there I was, home in the morning, because I'd taken a personal day for my OBGYN appointment (you never know how long you're going to sit in that office), and there's my dad, asking when I'm going to get that genetic test. So finally, I gave in. It was a scary big deal, because I didn't want to know. I wanted to both assume that I had it, and assume that I didn't, because it's just something else that could be wrong with me, and my goodness, I've already got Enough wrong with me. I found out that the test costs 4 thousand dollars, and managed to stipulate that if my insurance wouldn't pay for it, then the whole thing was cancelled. I'm not tossing away the price of a European cruise on a test I don't want in the first place.

Well, my insurance company did indeed pay for it, which was shock enough, but not nearly the kind of shock as when my doctor called to tell me that the test came back negative. No mutations, she said. I was too stunned to really react in any kind of way. I'm sure I said thank you for the good news, and I agreed that I understand that this doesn't mean that I *won't* get cancer, but the rest is a little blurry.

I don't have that gene. I feel oddly as if I've been redefined.

What I Learned Today

You know those black frame thingies that dealers put around license plates? Apparently they're illegal in the state of NJ. Not that I mind, because I'd rather have a ticket for that, which doesn't come with any points, than I would for going 82 in a 65mph zone.

Not that I was doing that.

What I Love Right This Minute

Osaka Popstar

Like the DJ/Author Irwin Chusid said, by the end of "Man of Constant Sorrow", I was a fan. Except for me, it happened by the middle of "Wicked World".

And yes, I got the autographed booklet. I'm very nrdgrll.

That's Right, More Friday Cheese Blogging

What, me trying to get out of thinking, so I write fluff? Maybe...

Cheese.com!

Cheese Fact Sheet

No matter how far archaeological finds go, there is evidence that cheese came into being in prehistoric times. Cheese can not really be said to have been "invented". This delicious food must have resulted from the simple observation that milk left in a container ends up by coagulating, even more if it is hot. People living in areas where the climate changed seasonally would also have noticed the effect of temperature on this process: in warmer weather the milk would curdle faster than in the cold. This might be considered the first technological cheesemaking discovery.

There are hundreds of different types of cheese that can be differentiated both by the type of milk - raw, skimmed or pasteurised, and by the animal - cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, horse or camel.

Fascinating! I select, for today's "cheese of the day" -
» Herve «!

Herve is one of the most favorite cheeses in Belgium. It has a shape of brick with glossy, orange-brown rind. The taste and flavor of the cheese deepens on the period of ripening. When young, the interior is sweet, with age the flavor becomes spicy.

Country: Belgium
Milk: cow milk
Texture: semi-hard

Disney Movie Premise Actually Happens

My mind was slightly blown when I saw the following headline:
American Teen Revealed as Royal Princess...

As I read on, though, the details were revealed.

The prince's daughter, who lives in Palm Springs, is welcome in Monaco, Lacoste said, but she cannot take the throne and will not bear the Grimaldi family name. Neither will Albert's other illegitimate child, 3-year-old Alexandre.

All right, then, so an American teen *can* suddenly be a princess, but she can't take the throne, and I'm guessing the whole "Princess Diaries 2" plot about her having to marry before a certain age or she forfeits everything isn't in the cards, either.