I learned from viewing the Wordplay DVD cover at a local library that five million people do the New York Times crossword each week. Wow, I didn't know it was that popular. Today's crossword was very easy, for a Saturday. I solved it by myself, so it was too easy.
Later this afternoon, on our second visit to the library (to announce the DVD case my son borrowed today was only a DVD case), I started compiling some books for me to read: the King County Library System and the Seattle Public Schools District have carefully compiled lists for children around my son's reading level. I pored through Hallie Ephron (Ph.D.)'s 1001 Books for Every Mood, and aggregated these books for my ever-growing to-read list.
The Thurber Carnival
Barney's Version
The Interpreter of Maladies
The God of Small Things
Christ Stopped at Eboli
An American Childhood
The Wind in the Willows, for the boy
The Art of Eating
The Debt of Pleasure - Lanchester
Tender at the Bone
On Food and Cooking
What Einstein Told His Cook
Midnight's Children
White Teeth
The Sot-Weed Factor
One for the Money (Janet Evanovich Mystery)
How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything: Yes, Anything
When Bad Things Happen to good People
The World According to Mr. Rogers
Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods
Stumbling on Happiness
Gravity's Rainbow
Infinite Jest (yeah, right)
Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland
The Moviegoer (I've read this twice, and would read it at least twice more)
Short Guide to a Happy Life
Call it Sleep - Henry Roth
The American Language -- H. L. Mencken
Just So Stories, again for the tot
A Coney Island of the Mnd
On Writing Well
Westward Ha! (Not sure if I've read this, but it's Perelman, so the deja vu would be welcome)
Thank You, Jeeves
Rootabaga Stories
Side Effects - Woody Allen
Heidi - Johanna Spyri, another one for the tot
Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
David Copperfield
Final Payments - Mary Gordon
Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto
Awaken to Superconsciousness
Discoveries of the day:
Hildegarde of Bingen. The more I learn of her, the more I consider her worth as a potential role model. I will one day immerse myself in some study of Dorothy Day, Simone Weil and St. Hildegarde.
The dog who irritated me to the point where I became intentionally more conscious of animals' sensitivities and sufferings has blessedly been removed to a place where she'd, I imagine, be much happier. Happy dogs don't bark with alarming frequency when left alone for any length of time. Interesting now how when I see a tethered dog yelp and whine waiting for the owner to return I feel for the dog: my irritation is delayed and a distant second. I imagine the dog is probably not used to being without the owner, or is over-stimulated in the presence of strangers and a strange environment as any child left alone might be.
10 October 2009
02 October 2009
Bean There, Done the Crossword
I must exercise my comedy/writing skills online more.
Firstly, I would do my small part to help people know proper spelling and usage of English words.
Secondly, some people get paid for writing.
Hubby and I visited Bean City Espresso, a very small place with seating for six people for the second consecutive day. Yesterday I started to do a puzzle in a sudoku book, waving my pen across the grid as if to conjure the answers to appear. The affable owner/barista appeared to be impressed. My eyes fell to the New York Times Thursday crossword that he had started: "well, you attempted this so you must like puzzles."
He said: "You can carry on with the crossword if you like. What I'd love to do is leave a crossword out for people to do when they come in and out, we could all solve it together." We agreed this was a good idea and started on the Thursday puzzle, with help from the husband. I can solve the Thursday puzzle with help from a smart person in about twenty minutes.
So we come in today, because he serves great Cafe Viennas, and has organic this and stevia that, and good reading/puzzling material, and he says "oh wait! I don't have the paper yet!" and he runs out of the shop to grab a local newspaper. We are left to chat with a friendly customer reading a JavaScript technical manual. I am super-impressed that he would think to buy the newspaper: I figure he does this on a daily basis, but to consider that we might want to do the crossword is excellent. Get this: there are people who like to watch people solve crosswords. I'm not very good at crosswords myself. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "I use the Internet to solve the TV Guide puzzles" and 10 is Tyler Hinman or Ellen Ripstein, I am a 5: the one who frequently needs help on Thursday -> Saturday puzzles. Solving a Friday or Saturday puzzle by myself is a triumph.
Friday took us an hour to do, even with some straightforward nine-letter entries: FREETIBET, AIRCANADA, THEGRUDGE, ERIECANAL. The thing with the crosswords is that my best bets are: getting a bunch of shortish pop culture clues, and scoring big with at least one nine-letter to fifteen-letter entry across the grid. I start out slowly, gulp some liquid splendour, and then the synapses fire and the letters get filled in.
We had some misdirection and wrong answers -- shame on me, for we were using a pen, but ultimately we filled in the grid with at least answers that connected and made sense to us.
Tomorrow he's going to get the Saturday puzzle. I hope he's open early enough for me or my husband.
Firstly, I would do my small part to help people know proper spelling and usage of English words.
Secondly, some people get paid for writing.
Hubby and I visited Bean City Espresso, a very small place with seating for six people for the second consecutive day. Yesterday I started to do a puzzle in a sudoku book, waving my pen across the grid as if to conjure the answers to appear. The affable owner/barista appeared to be impressed. My eyes fell to the New York Times Thursday crossword that he had started: "well, you attempted this so you must like puzzles."
He said: "You can carry on with the crossword if you like. What I'd love to do is leave a crossword out for people to do when they come in and out, we could all solve it together." We agreed this was a good idea and started on the Thursday puzzle, with help from the husband. I can solve the Thursday puzzle with help from a smart person in about twenty minutes.
So we come in today, because he serves great Cafe Viennas, and has organic this and stevia that, and good reading/puzzling material, and he says "oh wait! I don't have the paper yet!" and he runs out of the shop to grab a local newspaper. We are left to chat with a friendly customer reading a JavaScript technical manual. I am super-impressed that he would think to buy the newspaper: I figure he does this on a daily basis, but to consider that we might want to do the crossword is excellent. Get this: there are people who like to watch people solve crosswords. I'm not very good at crosswords myself. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "I use the Internet to solve the TV Guide puzzles" and 10 is Tyler Hinman or Ellen Ripstein, I am a 5: the one who frequently needs help on Thursday -> Saturday puzzles. Solving a Friday or Saturday puzzle by myself is a triumph.
Friday took us an hour to do, even with some straightforward nine-letter entries: FREETIBET, AIRCANADA, THEGRUDGE, ERIECANAL. The thing with the crosswords is that my best bets are: getting a bunch of shortish pop culture clues, and scoring big with at least one nine-letter to fifteen-letter entry across the grid. I start out slowly, gulp some liquid splendour, and then the synapses fire and the letters get filled in.
We had some misdirection and wrong answers -- shame on me, for we were using a pen, but ultimately we filled in the grid with at least answers that connected and made sense to us.
Tomorrow he's going to get the Saturday puzzle. I hope he's open early enough for me or my husband.
30 September 2009
Thoughts on checking The Ultimatest Grocery List
Get your copy at GroceryLists.org
I am experiencing technical difficulties typing this. One of the animals sprayed on the bed, a definite no-no, and because we don't know which one did it, we've limited bedroom access to creatures who can twist a doorknob. In retribution, the cat most vocal in protest has sat on my list.
The grocery list isn't exhaustive. Every subcategory in Foodstuffs and Household has two blank lines for specialty, unusual or local items. I did not see a category for dried beans, peas, legumes and bulk grains. Cereal is in "various groceries." How we shop for foods is more complicated, now that our eyes have been opened to food politics.
The devisers of this Ultimatest Grocery List have a hilarious Household subcategory of Carcinogens: pick up arsenic, asbestos, cigarettes, radionuclides, and vinyl chloride. Radionuclides I wasn't aware of until now. Judging from my family's history, I don't have to work hard to get cancer, don't understand why I should pay for it.
Meat we usually order once a month from a rancher in Walla Walla.
Fish we get either from a longtime company in the Univ District or from the Farmers' Market. Although we have been buying from Trader Joe's.
Dairy and eggs we get at Trader Joe's or nearby supermarket in a hurry.
When we feel we have a big list (20 items or more) we'll go to a regional chain store that offers bulk cereal, grains, and features food offerings from local producers.
But seriously, the more reading one does, the more one comes to understand a lot of processed food just isn't good or healthy.
Costco is where we go for toilet paper, olive oil, detergent, cat litter, toothpaste, tooth brushes, bleach, fruit juice, coffee, soup base, broth, soups, chicken breasts, pens.
Vegetables and fruits we get from a Community Supported Agriculture subscription or from farmers' markets or farms in special cases, like our annual county Harvest Celebration tour.
Now that we've learned to read labels, there's so much we no longer buy from the supermarket. We used to spend about $5000 at the corner supermarket, but management idiocy, irritated check-out personnel ("I know the other store's club card works but I'm not allowed to scan it and neither are you.") and displays that restrict foot and mobility wheel traffic keep us burning fossil fuels elsewhere. Another reason to consider moving, I guess.
I am experiencing technical difficulties typing this. One of the animals sprayed on the bed, a definite no-no, and because we don't know which one did it, we've limited bedroom access to creatures who can twist a doorknob. In retribution, the cat most vocal in protest has sat on my list.
The grocery list isn't exhaustive. Every subcategory in Foodstuffs and Household has two blank lines for specialty, unusual or local items. I did not see a category for dried beans, peas, legumes and bulk grains. Cereal is in "various groceries." How we shop for foods is more complicated, now that our eyes have been opened to food politics.
The devisers of this Ultimatest Grocery List have a hilarious Household subcategory of Carcinogens: pick up arsenic, asbestos, cigarettes, radionuclides, and vinyl chloride. Radionuclides I wasn't aware of until now. Judging from my family's history, I don't have to work hard to get cancer, don't understand why I should pay for it.
Meat we usually order once a month from a rancher in Walla Walla.
Fish we get either from a longtime company in the Univ District or from the Farmers' Market. Although we have been buying from Trader Joe's.
Dairy and eggs we get at Trader Joe's or nearby supermarket in a hurry.
When we feel we have a big list (20 items or more) we'll go to a regional chain store that offers bulk cereal, grains, and features food offerings from local producers.
But seriously, the more reading one does, the more one comes to understand a lot of processed food just isn't good or healthy.
Costco is where we go for toilet paper, olive oil, detergent, cat litter, toothpaste, tooth brushes, bleach, fruit juice, coffee, soup base, broth, soups, chicken breasts, pens.
Vegetables and fruits we get from a Community Supported Agriculture subscription or from farmers' markets or farms in special cases, like our annual county Harvest Celebration tour.
Now that we've learned to read labels, there's so much we no longer buy from the supermarket. We used to spend about $5000 at the corner supermarket, but management idiocy, irritated check-out personnel ("I know the other store's club card works but I'm not allowed to scan it and neither are you.") and displays that restrict foot and mobility wheel traffic keep us burning fossil fuels elsewhere. Another reason to consider moving, I guess.
26 September 2009
Wherefore attitudes about (not) watching television
I used to have cable television. I liked it! It, along with books, the beach, cooking, public market and my friends kept me entertained when I was single, alone, and not yet hooked up with Internet access at home.
Then I moved to the U.S. And I knew I wouldn't be able to get my cable shows. So we didn't get cable. Now all channels are in high definition format, so we use my 20-year-old TV set for the Wii, DVDs and VHS. As far as I know, no one thinks the worse of us for not having cable, and we don't think worse of people who have cable. They have tastes different from us, and most of our friends don't have children, as we do.
Links:
Stuff White People Like: Not Having a TV
Encyclopedia Dramatica: I don't watch TV
I find it interesting that a few people who watch television, upon learning someone doesn't watch [network shows, cable shows, news] infer that there's some holier-than-thou or snobbish attitude. Maybe someone just can't manage the expense of cable? How is that holier? Maybe someone has children to raise and a job to tend to and doesn't have time to merit the expense? How is that smug? Is the second-guessing a defense mechanism because the questioner didn't ask: "do you watch television?" Or is it merited, such as when the respondent starts a militant lecture or weird rant as to why s/he doesn't watch (brainwashing, better things to do, verbal smackdowns of that ilk). The defensive snark's causative factors are usually undefined, perhaps internal.
I'd be lying if I said I don't watch television, because I do rent DVDs and they go into the DVD player, hooked up to the television set. We watch maybe 18 hours a year of recycled television specials and cancelled series. Movies we see probably 40 hours a year, and maybe one-third to one-half of those hours are on the computer.
For watercooler talk, why not ask someone "hey, what websites do you follow?" or "what books do you read?" or "where have your cooking adventures taken you?" or "did you see such-and-such exhibit?" or "did you follow last night's [insert sport of choice] game?" Maybe someone caught the game live or on radio or through streaming media via the Web.
Then I moved to the U.S. And I knew I wouldn't be able to get my cable shows. So we didn't get cable. Now all channels are in high definition format, so we use my 20-year-old TV set for the Wii, DVDs and VHS. As far as I know, no one thinks the worse of us for not having cable, and we don't think worse of people who have cable. They have tastes different from us, and most of our friends don't have children, as we do.
Links:
Stuff White People Like: Not Having a TV
Encyclopedia Dramatica: I don't watch TV
I find it interesting that a few people who watch television, upon learning someone doesn't watch [network shows, cable shows, news] infer that there's some holier-than-thou or snobbish attitude. Maybe someone just can't manage the expense of cable? How is that holier? Maybe someone has children to raise and a job to tend to and doesn't have time to merit the expense? How is that smug? Is the second-guessing a defense mechanism because the questioner didn't ask: "do you watch television?" Or is it merited, such as when the respondent starts a militant lecture or weird rant as to why s/he doesn't watch (brainwashing, better things to do, verbal smackdowns of that ilk). The defensive snark's causative factors are usually undefined, perhaps internal.
I'd be lying if I said I don't watch television, because I do rent DVDs and they go into the DVD player, hooked up to the television set. We watch maybe 18 hours a year of recycled television specials and cancelled series. Movies we see probably 40 hours a year, and maybe one-third to one-half of those hours are on the computer.
For watercooler talk, why not ask someone "hey, what websites do you follow?" or "what books do you read?" or "where have your cooking adventures taken you?" or "did you see such-and-such exhibit?" or "did you follow last night's [insert sport of choice] game?" Maybe someone caught the game live or on radio or through streaming media via the Web.
25 September 2009
Humour
I'm watching "Bananas" and am surprised I haven't seen this before. So cute the references to City Lights and Battleship Potemkin are. Slapstick, four-star film.
I have a list of very funny novels to read while the fall/winter season approaches. I have tried to get a list of funniest films but the ones easiest to find assume that humour is exclusively American, there were no funny films prior to "Caddyshack", and the final arbiter of what is funny is a white American male between the ages of 15 to 24.
Reader's Digest's list probably has a broader perspective, at least chronologically and there is at least one French film and a few Italian films:
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/the-top-100-funniest-movies-of-all-time/article13866.html
----------------------------------------------
Links to discussions of what may be funniest novels:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15374_wit-lit-101-five-classic-novels-that-bring-funny.html
http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/whats-the-funniest-novel-ever/
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110008077&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage
(read three of these, saw the movie adaptation of one. Lucky Jim is certainly ranked highly for humour. That must be why I can't ever find a copy in three library systems.)
I have a list of very funny novels to read while the fall/winter season approaches. I have tried to get a list of funniest films but the ones easiest to find assume that humour is exclusively American, there were no funny films prior to "Caddyshack", and the final arbiter of what is funny is a white American male between the ages of 15 to 24.
Reader's Digest's list probably has a broader perspective, at least chronologically and there is at least one French film and a few Italian films:
http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/the-top-100-funniest-movies-of-all-time/article13866.html
----------------------------------------------
Links to discussions of what may be funniest novels:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15374_wit-lit-101-five-classic-novels-that-bring-funny.html
http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/whats-the-funniest-novel-ever/
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110008077&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage
(read three of these, saw the movie adaptation of one. Lucky Jim is certainly ranked highly for humour. That must be why I can't ever find a copy in three library systems.)
24 September 2009
People who compare other people to Hitler...
don't recognize that they cannot possibly be taken seriously. Show me where the person compared to Hitler authorized the concentration camps, show me their government terror squads smashing windows of storefronts and brutally beating innocent citizens, and I'll consider changing my opinion.
I do not know why irrational and absurdist statements are used to bolster opinion as fact. This gambit is very popular in my adopted country, and probably in other countries where there is at least some free speech. Say something truthful and sensational and backed up by facts. Anything else makes you sound like a loon calling other loons.
I do not know why irrational and absurdist statements are used to bolster opinion as fact. This gambit is very popular in my adopted country, and probably in other countries where there is at least some free speech. Say something truthful and sensational and backed up by facts. Anything else makes you sound like a loon calling other loons.
17 September 2009
A moment of intuition?
I am reading a book: _The Intuitive Edge_, by Philip Goldberg. I am not intuitive, although I am a good predictor of people's behaviour at times.
Here is my intuition anecdote of the day:
There is a woman I have met whose child is in a grade higher than my child's: both our children attend the same school. I'll call her Honora. She wanted someone to look at her computer as it was not working correctly. She asked if my husband would come look at it. I said I would ask.
I did ask. Hubby said okay. We went to the woman's house, and she wasn't there. Fine. The next day Old Man L. says "I...I...I gotta go walkies." And I suggest a nearby chain restaurant known for healthful food, that we've been to twice. So we go, and lo! on our third visit, there is Honora with her friend! And I direct Old Man L. to her.
What possessed me to suggest a place we don't frequent?
Here is my intuition anecdote of the day:
There is a woman I have met whose child is in a grade higher than my child's: both our children attend the same school. I'll call her Honora. She wanted someone to look at her computer as it was not working correctly. She asked if my husband would come look at it. I said I would ask.
I did ask. Hubby said okay. We went to the woman's house, and she wasn't there. Fine. The next day Old Man L. says "I...I...I gotta go walkies." And I suggest a nearby chain restaurant known for healthful food, that we've been to twice. So we go, and lo! on our third visit, there is Honora with her friend! And I direct Old Man L. to her.
What possessed me to suggest a place we don't frequent?
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