Oh no, now some idiot is shooting the California Condor!  http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_12117184

I mentioned a week or two ago that I had seen some of them while driving through Atascadero.   I hope they catch the evildoer soon.  They are astonishing birds and very rare.

Now that I am actually paying attention to the graphics, did anyone notice that the pie chart has two sections with zero and yet the pie wedge is substantial?

I do not think there is any clear correlation between dollars and makeup.  One can buy perfectly wonderful cosmetics for few dollars and lousy stuff for a lot of dollars.  And vice versa.  It is about knowing what you want and knowing what the limits are of a particular product.  I know quite a few women who have sensitivities to most makeup and avoid it as much as possible.   And some things that are in fashion just look hideous to me.  Black nail polish I cannot get used to.  It looks like an injury.

I appreciate the good doctor’s advice.  I had a situation a few years ago that was puzzling in terms of how to deal with it.  My friend had a stroke, and did not know what had happened.  She could walk and smile, but her ability to form sentences to speak was impaired so she was speaking haltingly.  I could not convince her to go to the ER.  She insisted on waiting two days to go to her own doctor.  She did agree to take aspirin.  I suppose I could have called 911 and asked them to persuade her.  But by the time I saw her, it had been two days since her stroke and so the clot busting drugs that are so important in the first three hours probably would not have worked. 

 So Dr. Andersen, what do you do with a situation like that?  I doubt that I am the only person to run into a dilemma like this.

This strikes me as an ugly rumor with no foundation.  [That gays are interrupting church services, etc.]  Tony Blair is a Catholic and has a right to challenge what he considers to be erroneous theology in his own religion. 

If someone believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, no one is forcing them to marry someone else!   In contrast, gays are being barred by law from enjoying many of the same legal rights as straights for no discernible reason other than a possible unconstitutional establishment of religion in government.  

Wow what great comments this week!  Emcye, I agree with many of your insights about how wowowow has developed.  However, I do not believe that the founders can refuse to hire men without getting in trouble with the EEOC. 

 Christine, thanks for the reality check and may you have more joy.  I was knocked out by your comment when you first posted it.  

I appreciate this comments section.  I hardly ever have time to read every thread or every post on wowowow, so it is nice to have some plucked to consider every now and then.  [Even if I don’t always have the time to read the comments section!]

Well, the gun is gone!  I suppose enough of us were unnerved at having even a picture of a gun pointed at us.  Thank you wowowow for listening.  Thank you Frannie for pointing it out.   [I think the blue was just someone’s idea of art.]

My uncle was a dancer and once had the opportunity to work with Fred Astaire.  He told me that Astaire was the hardest working person in show business.  He rehearsed for hours longer than anyone else.  That is the secret of making it look so easy.  I still love to see Fred Astaire dance. 

I suppose his widow has her reasons, but I didn’t really want to see him dance with a vacuum cleaner in a commercial. 

I am a fan of Pascal’s wager. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager   However, I do not attempt to imagine God in a particular way, as I am sure whatever God may be is beyond my efforts [or the efforts of various religions] to define or limit.   I have gone through periods of devout belief, periods of atheism, and periods of agnosticism.  But I think Pascal probably had it right.  [GWB thinking that God told him to bomb Iraq, probably had it wrong.]

 I do think there is a part of our brains that is specially designed to appreciate the spiritual.   

The funny thing about the old testament is that the only mention of homosexuality is a prohibition against men being with men.  There is no mention anywhere in the Bible prohibiting women from being with women.  If one is going to get specific with the Bible, go ahead and get specific.  Oh, and right, the mention of homosexuality in Leviticus is right there with the ban on eating shrimp or pork.  I don’t see why the Pope takes some parts of Leviticus literally and others not so much.  Maybe the Pope will miss his shrimp cocktail…

This week I got very upset about the earthquake in Italy, so upset that some friends were asking me if I had friends who lived there.  I did not, but the idea of entire villages in shambles and hundreds of people dead made me feel anxious and horrible.  When Bush began his shock and awe campaign, all I could think of was how many children was he killing.  I have this odd sort of empathy that goes off on a rampage and then, exhausted, gives up or gives in.  I was outraged about Darfur years ago when I first heard of it, but it is hard to maintain that outrage and sorrow when it goes on day after day, year after year.  One cannot get anything else done.

 When it comes down to it, we have to live our own lives, and care most about the lives of those in our vicinity, who we might have a chance to help.  When one feels powerless to help, all that empathy and rage just grinds us down.

You are absolutely right Frannie Em!  I have gotten into the habit of ignoring the graphics on this site, as so many of them are more provocative or shocking than illustrative.  I didn’t even notice that gun.  Isn’t that a shame?  They once illustrated a story of sex discrimination with a woman’s naked bottom.  But the gun pointed at the readers is unacceptable.  Let’s ask them to remove it.

Guns are not the problem.  The Constitution gives one the right to bear arms.  Of course, the Constitution says not a word about bullets. 

 In stressful times, more people are suicidal.  I don’t entirely understand why they choose homicide as well, but I suppose they have their reasons.  Although I really think reason is the least of it.  

Family murders are clearly on the rise.  But so many guns!  No one seem to slip a little poison into the pancake batter any more.    I thought people with mental problems were not allowed to own or use guns.  I suppose shooting ranges do not have the best screening methods.

Switch to whole wheat pasta.  There are some tasty types out now, no longer the cardboard stuff.  You can also find gluten free pasta, protein enriched pasta with added fiber, and more.  There is some sort of revolution in the pasta purveyors.  No need to miss it.  Just switching to whole grains will do the trick. 

Actually I have been fascinated reading about it.  I keep trying to learn one more thing.  There was a book from years ago called Den of Thieves about the S&L debacle.  [I read it twice.]  This seems like a lot of the same attitudes were at work in a more untrammeled way.  It is depressing that so many people lost so much money.  But I know people who have been broke for a decade now, and in the last year, it just seems like the rest of the country is catching up. 

 It did seem for quite a while that house prices were out of control and for them to come back to a point where people might afford to actually buy them without lying or growing dope in the basement, well, that seems like progress in a weird way.  Still, I wish there was some way to match up the people who lost homes or need homes and all the empty homes and make something happen.  

My real regret is that with the newspapers shrinking and the online news full of unsubstantiated rumor, that there is not enough news to read anymore.     

Wonderful Ernestine!  You really know how to say it.  It makes you think and makes you laugh!

 It reminded me of this wonderful story about a rescued Greyhound:  http://wildreiki.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/rescued-greyhound-jasmine-pays-love-forward/  Sentient beings indeed!