One smaill handful pecans...slightly chopped
One HUUUGE handful garlic cloves
One 1/2 handful prunes*, cut into quarters (kitchen scissors RAWK)
about 1/2 cup good olive oil

Saute until garlic is softened and prunes/plums are soft, about 15 minutes on low (DON’T BURN anything!!)

Cook bowtie pasta according to directions, drain, and add enough olive oil to keep from sticking.

Spoon out pasta onto plates, top with big spoonful of prepared topping and sprinkle Gorgonzola cheeze crumbles on top. Regular bleu cheese is good, too....but Gorgonzola rules the world.

* I dehydrate a ton of plums every year from my friend’s tree and use themmmmmmmmmm

This web site uses facial recognition technology that scans a photo you upload and then tells you what celebrities you look like.  My closest match is Richard Dean Anderson.  (It also listed Natalie Portman and Grace Kelly among others - huh.)

You can skip the registration it prompts you for.

Pretty cool.

Top judges say cross should stay in nation’s classrooms (ANSA) - Rome, February 15 - Italy’s highest administrative court ruled on Wednesday that crucifixes should remain in the country’s classrooms as a symbol of key Italian values .

In what could turn into a landmark decision, the ‘Council of State’ threw out a case brought by a Finnish woman who had asked for the removal of crucifixes in the Padua school attended by her children .

The judges issued a 19-page statement explaining that, as well as being a religious symbol, it was also a symbol of “the values which underlie and inspire our constitution, our way of living together peacefully”. They said principles such as tolerance, respect and the rights of individuals, which were now pillars of Italy’s secular state, had their origins in Christianity. ”In this sense the crucifix can have a highly educational symbolic function, regardless of the religion of the pupils,” they added .

Look, if you can toss it into a jar of urine to make a point...why should this be anything different?
This is exactly why I have a number of crosses that adorn my house. Granted they’re not actual crucifixes but it’s my way of expressing the same ideals.

Related thought: Can anyone really find anything wrong with the Ten Commandments?

From MZone.

(from M Zone wire reports) Tuscaloosa, AL—Riots broke out across the University of Alabama campus and the state itself today following reports that the M Zone’s Danish affiliate - Den M Distrikt - posted cartoons showing former University of Alabama football Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant wearing an Auburn hat and another showing him drawn into the infamously cheesey “Dogs Playing Poker” painting. The cartoons were first published way back after the 2000 season. But officials speculate they were not noticed at the time because Crimson Tide fans were too busy trying to figure out how the hell to get rid of Mike DuBose before he ruined their program.

Can someone tell me who Paul “Bear” Bryant is and why I should care?

*runs*

New York’s health department is to release what may be the world’s first municipally branded condom.

The city, which distributes 1m free condoms a month, wants to create its own distinctive packaging to help track and promote condom use.

“We wanted to develop condom packaging that was noticeable and memorable so that we can later track the effectiveness of our distribution,” said Sandra Mullin, a spokeswoman for the health and mental hygiene department. “We also aim to use the packaging to promote condom use and awareness.”
Although there were no details of what images the packaging would carry, city officials have said the New York condom is not part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s larger branding campaign, which includes products that use the logos of the police and fire departments. Royalties from sales go to the city.

The health department has expanded condom distribution to help stop the spread of Aids and other diseases in the city.

The Free Condom Initiative, a web-based programme to distribute condoms to social services organisations, was launched in June 2005.

While some New Yorkers may welcome condoms bearing an image of the Statue of Liberty or the slogan “I(heart)NY”, others were not impressed.

“That’s not the place that you want people to think of New York City,” said Reverend Bill Banuchi, executive director of the state’s Christian Coalition. He said it was “absurd” to spend taxpayers’ money on “such a base concept”.

The burning question? Just how are they going to track their use????

I have a much better idea:

They’ll never even get opened and it solves everything, Kinda like a fruitcake. You just need one and you pass it around forever.

I’m sick today and decided to spend the day being a complete lay-about watching the SciFi channel.  After two wonderful episodes of the classic Twilight Zone (they never get old, BTW) the SciFi channel whose job it is to show Science Fiction started airing a program which had no business on it’s station.

Was it Fantasy? No, that would have been acceptable.

Was it a conspiracy-minded X-Files or X-files rip-off?  No, again acceptable.

No, it was Passions, a Soap Opera and from the 5 minutes I sat there shocked and disbelieving that it was on SciFi I came to a conclusion that it is a bad Soap. A very bad soap.

Oh how the mighty has fallen.

if I remembered who/where, I’d tell ya...

in re the White House Press Corps recent pathetic tantrum:
From here on out—for the duration of the administration—each and every White House press release ought to be given, in series, to the Wichita Times, the Pierre Post, the Tampa Tribune, the BFE Shopper News, and so on.

*goes out to chase squirrels*

In her science project,] [t]he 12-year-old compared the ice used in the drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same restaurants. ...

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

...Of the bacteria found in the ice, three out of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli…

Hugh Hewitt: Okay. And so you’re basing your suspicion that the Vice President was drunk on Harvard football game tailgating parties?

Larry O’Donnell: No. That’s just a rhetorical flourish. I’m basing it on this, Hugh. I’m basing it on, I believe the Vice President is very smart. I believe Karl Rove is very, very smart. I believe the President is very smart about a situation like this being brought to him at 7:30PM on a Saturday night. Those three people decided we cannot let this out tonight, and I believe they decided it for a very smart reason.

Audio

H/T: DB

On at least the first part of my post concerning what Cheney should do.

Though she does not come to the next logical conclusion.

Dear schitzoids,

Since so many of you so often throw Bush’s “relationship” with the Saudis and Bin Laden family....and all your conspiracy theories you’ve spawned from that....and it’s soooooo eeeeeeeevil...just think! You have a chance to make sure it doesn’t happen again! Gore’s recent paid for junket to go there and seDISS the very country that he was Vice President of and aspires to be President of....seems to put him in their pocket pretty tight, no?.
Bet you didn’t even think of that, huh.

SondraK

Shopkeepers in central England have been trying out a new device that emits an uncomfortable high-pitched noise designed to disperse young loiterers outside their stores without bothering adults.

Police carrying out the pilot project in Staffordshire say some of those who have tested the “Sonic Teenager Deterrent,” nicknamed the mosquito, have talked of buying one of their own.

The device which costs 622 pounds (908 euros, 1,081 dollars) “doesn’t cause any pain to the hearer,” according to Inspector Amanda Davies, quoted by Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency.

“The noise can normally only be heard by those between 12 and 22 and it makes the listener feel uncomfortable,” she added.

Once in their early 20s, people lose their capacity to hear sounds at such a high pitch.

We’re filthy with teenagers in my neighborhood…

I have failed us....

Capitol Chat Transcript: Liberal comedian, author and radio host Al Franken

Moderator: Welcome to The Olympian’s Capitol Chat. I’m your moderator, State Government Reporter Adam Wilson. Our guest today is liberal author and radio host Al Franken.

Kevin, Lacey: I heard you might run for senator in Minnesota. I know a lot of people find you out-of-touch with mainstream America and too far to the left. In an attempt to reach out to more conservative voters, would you consider going hunting with vice president Cheney?

HOW IN HELL DID WE MISS THIS?!?!
*I* wanted to ask Al Franken stupid questions.

“It was a typical clear and hot day when we were conducting a patrol just south of Fallujah with 15 Marines and five vehicles,” said von Kraus, then the platoon commander of 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division from Boston. “I had one of my three-man teams conduct a security sweep to our rear, and they opened fire on a group of insurgents who were setting up an ambush on a concrete overpass.”

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I feel that currently my beloved country is being pissed upon rather too much. Denmark has not been neglecting its duties on the international stage. We have supported poor people with acts and advice, we have worked for peace, we have sent soldiers, policemen and experts to all the far flung corners of the world. We have democracy, a rule of law and a welfare state. Not all is perfect, but we harbor no malice towards our fellow men.

I’m sure Linda won’t mind me lifting her graphic. It looks like something we all need to button on our sites.