Fear of Clowns

One's first thought about the plants in this picture isn't "They eat meat."

Labels: botany, carnivorous plants, gardening, photos

// posted by Erik @ 4/29/2008 10:37:00 PM
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From an email John McCain sent me today,

Today, there are 47 million uninsured individuals in the U.S., and nearly a quarter of them are children. High costs and limited access are the underlying, fundamental problems in our healthcare system.

As you know, both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are touting outrageously expensive and unrealistic universal health care plans - a government monopoly over health care.

Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation's problems can be solved by turning control over to our government, with all the tax increases, new mandates and government regulation that come with that idea.

The Mcain solution,

I will reform the tax code to provide every family the option of receiving a direct, refundable tax deposit - effectively $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 cash for families to offset the cost of insurance.

McCain openly admits he's no economic genius, however few realize this means he can't multiply or divide even with the assistance of senior campaign lobbyists aides.

Assuming every U.S. household received McCain's proposed individual refund ("$$$CASH$$$" no less!), the math is,

126,316,181 US Households x $2,500 each = $315,790,452,500

Without raising taxes, McCain is proposing greater than a new $316 billion unfunded mandate. In other terms he's proposing more than doubling the yearly deficit.

Labels: 2008 elections, McCain, taxes

// posted by Erik @ 4/29/2008 08:05:00 PM
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• 3 habenero chili peppers
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 Roma tomatoes
• salt

I first diced then slightly browned the habaneros and garlic in chili oil, adding salt and the diced tomatoes later.

This mixture was blended and pureed with about 8 oz. of each of three bases,

• mango
• avacodo and honeydew
• carrot and lime juice

Served with chips and black beans,

Labels: chili peppers, photos, recipes

// posted by Erik @ 4/29/2008 06:30:00 PM
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Two children were trampled to death and a man maimed as straying wild elephants destroyed two villages over the last 24 hours in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said on Monday.

A girl was killed and six bamboo houses flattened as elephants ravaged a village near Cox's Bazar district town, 400 km (250 miles) from the capital Dhaka on Monday.

A boy was killed and a man seriously injured when wild elephants strayed into another village in the same district on Sunday. Five houses were levelled by the rampaging elephants.

Recalling last week's elephant incident in Kerala, India,

A suspected case of viral disease has resulted in the death of two wild elephants in the Wayanad district in Kerala in the last one month.

... "A nine-month-old calf was found in the forest in a very weak condition Friday. The elephant herd was seen trying to help the calf stand upright. Though we tried to help the calf, the herd did not allow us to approach. The next day the calf died," forest range officer T. Pradeep said.

According to officials, elephants get stressed and become susceptible to diseases during summer when water and fodder are in short supply. Veterinary experts who examined the carcasses suspect that the deaths were caused by viral infection.

// posted by Erik @ 4/28/2008 11:55:00 PM
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Two of my pings are in bloom and hopefully will give viable seeds. Based on its distinctive flower, I believe this first one is P. vulgaris,

It has a very long quick growing stem,

I didn't see roots on this, my first ping so pulled off half the leaves in an attempt to root them aqnd planted the rest what seemed right-side-up to me. It's regenerating,

Here you can see some fruit flies I crushed until barely alive and let this P. moranensis (I think) finish them off.

Labels: carnivorous plants, gardening, photos

// posted by Erik @ 4/28/2008 11:22:00 PM
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I could no longer stand Snoopy's growling, barking fits, pooping on the carpet and biting, so we gave him back to the agency to deal with. We picked up Comet, who doesn't know what to make of our other cat, Willie, but is adjusting quite quickly.

Labels: cats, foster pets, photos

// posted by Erik @ 4/26/2008 11:45:00 PM
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Labels: McCain, religion, right wingers, YouTube

// posted by Erik @ 4/24/2008 09:28:00 PM
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An elephant gored to death three people, including a woman, during a temple festival in Kerala's Thrissur district on Wednesday afternoon.

... The police identified two of those killed as Kausalya, 75, and Nidheesh, 20. "The third person's identity is yet to be confirmed. His face was crushed beyond recognition," an official at Irinjalakkuda police station said.

The jumbo, which continued the rampage for about two hours, was calmed down by the mahouts and chained.

Labels: elephants amok, YouTube

// posted by Erik @ 4/23/2008 08:25:00 PM
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For their first encore, the curtains opened to robots playing "We Are the Robots".

The band came out in "Tron" suits for the second encore.

Labels: art, music, photos, YouTube

// posted by Erik @ 4/20/2008 07:01:00 PM
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My eBay auctions.

The famous Dorsert naga, various jolokia strains and other chilis among the worl;d's hottest peppers.

Labels: chili peppers, eBay, gardening, peppers

// posted by Erik @ 4/20/2008 06:40:00 PM
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Brilliant, no matter what.

Labels: abortion, art

// posted by Erik @ 4/18/2008 04:03:00 AM
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The following pictures of Abu Dhabi are from an email forwarded to me by Rami in Syria.

Now a metropolis of nearly half a million people, the first paved road on the island was laid in 1961.

Also from Rami,

Labels: gardening, photos

// posted by Erik @ 4/17/2008 11:44:00 PM
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Your guess as good as any.

Labels: 2008 elections, iraq, McCain, Republicans, terrorism, war

// posted by Erik @ 4/15/2008 09:55:00 PM
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Our animals love one another.

Kisses.

He can be biological.

We are hopeful the dog will work out for the couple interested in trying him out. He's a menace though - every time I'm away from him for an hour or so he seems to forget who I am - or remember I'm the guy he should snarl at before running under the bed. If I'm quick enough to catch him, he immediately becomes loverboy, licking all of my exposed skin. He also hasn't figured out he can let us know when he needs to go outside although he does seem to "hold it". He'll get up from the couch and poop behind the chair. Maybe he's just kind of dumb. I wish him good luck. Next stop: glue factory.

Labels: cats, dogs, foster pets, photos

// posted by Erik @ 4/12/2008 10:34:00 PM
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During the Crocker and Petraeus testimonies earlier this week, McCain asserted that we're "no longer staring into the abyss of defeat" in Iraq.

He's a trainwreck in every sense of the word - I'm embarrassed to watch video clips of him when my girlfriend is within earshot.

I can't imagine Americans are as stupid as McCain assumes. You can go back and back and back and you'll find McCain always saying we're winning (even if it may take another six months for it to really turn around) and never find him anywhere nearly as pessimistic as "staring into the abyss of defeat".

In fact, according to McCain, we're pretty much perpetually coming out of the abyss ... we just need another six months.

Update: check out the second result for "six months":

Labels: 2008 elections, iraq, McCain

// posted by Erik @ 4/11/2008 10:45:00 PM
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I started 5 flats of pepper seedlings for myself and my friends but mostly for selling on eBay. This round, it's

Dorset naga, bih jolokia and various habaneros:

The Dorset Naga seedlings are grown from seed purchased directly from the breeders of the famous Dorset Naga, holder of the Guinness World Record for hottest chilli pepper. Others claim that a pepper from the jokolia strain is actually the world's hottest pepper. I purchased seeds of the varied jolokia strains from The Chile Seed Company.

Here are my seedling chili plant auctions,

• Bih Jolokia & Chocolate Habanero
• Dorset Naga Jolokia & Scotch Bonnet
• Bih Jolokia & Orange Habanero
• Dorset Naga & Bih Jolokia

Labels: chili peppers, eBay, gardening, peppers

// posted by Erik @ 4/11/2008 07:54:00 PM
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• The Buggles
  • Video Killed the Radio Star
• Gary Numan
  • Are Friends Electric
  • Me, I Disconnect From You
  • Cars
  • I Die You Die
• Human League
  • Fascination
  • Don't You Want Me
• A Flock of Seagulls
  • I Ran
  • Space Age Love Song
• Korgis
  • Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
• Sparks
  • Cool Places
• Ultravox
  • Hiroshima Mon Amour
  • Vienna
  • The Voice
  • Dancing With Tears in My Eyes
• The Fixx
  • Secret Separation
  • Red Skies at Night
• Talk Talk
  • It's My Life
  • Talk Talk
• Duran Duran
  • Planet Earth
  • Save a Prayer
  • Hungry Like the Wolf
• Thomas Dolby
  • One of Our Submarines
  • Radio Silence
  • Europa & The Pirate Twins
  • She Blinded Me with Science
• Peter Schilling
  • Major Tom
• OMD
  • Souvenir
  • Telegraph
  • Electricity
  • Enola Gay
• Psychedelic Furs
  • Heaven
  • Love My Way
  • The Ghost in You

Labels: music, technology, YouTube

// posted by Erik @ 4/02/2008 08:38:00 PM
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