During the Victorian Era, legs were considered so sexually exciting to men that even a glimpse of a table leg could send a man into a sexual frenzy. Table skirts were invented in order to prevent any “unnatural unions” between men and furniture. No kidding.
[Yes, we really -must- get back to the “traditional moral values” of old. 
]
“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.” ~ Herman Goring, Nazi leader
“Those who would sacrifice liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“Those who wish to gain security by restricting freedom will not have nor do they deserve either one.” ~Benjamin Franklin
“The more people fear, the more they tolerate.” ~ Jack McCoy, Law & Order
“On the mats of an introductory [martial arts] class, old stereotypes abound. Some of these stereotypes clearly limit a woman in learning any self-defense…Many of us would rather be someone else. Being unhappy with who we are is a difficult issue to face. Some women don’t face it; instead they pretend to be someone else.” ~ Susan Perry, Aikido and Illusion
You know you want to…
Lore Sjoberg laments the intellectual downfall of modern society.
BTW, my favorite quote from this article: “We don’t allow people to walk around with live grenades in their pants, and we shouldn’t allow people who don’t understand math questions to get the answers.”
When I feel like taking a break from peanut butter, I often like to make myself a delicious turkey melt (that is, both delicious looking AND tasting).
I love turkey melts. So much that when I am served a substandard turkey melt, it is difficult not to take it as a personal affront to my sensibilities. The turkey melt is an art form; one does not cook a turkey melt in one’s armchair. (That’s an expression; there well may be folks out there who have armchairs in their kitchens or toaster ovens in their sitting rooms, but as I am not one of them, their situations do not concern me.) When one undertakes to create a turkey melt, one should think very carefully about what one is about beforehand.
There aren’t many fields of study for which I have a complete distaste, but economics has always been one of them. I really tried to like it, honestly; in college I even tried taking a class, thinking that, as a math major, the fact that economics involved math might be enough to move me at least to mild indifference. Mostly it moved me to bitterness about having to spend $108 on the textbook (new edition).
A friend got me Freakonomics for my birthday, and I have to give the authors some props for making economics interesting. I mean it’s still pop economics, and since I don’t know a lot about what econ -really- is, it’s hard to tell whether they’ve made run-of-the-mill econ sound cool or are only writing about some particularly diverting work that’s been done. It’s an easy and interesting read, and scholarly without getting too technical. Three and a half stars.
How cool is this?
Funny to think I was just there (in Monterey, I mean)…
Fartlekkin’ –> The act of engaging in fartleks for an extended period of time.
As in, “On my run this morning, I did a lot of good fartlekkin’.”