I have been reluctant to eat from any kebab house, anywhere on the globe since two unfortunate events in my life occurred;
1. An evening out in Bristol, UK in 1995. A nice night in a disco followed by a 4 am breakfast of kebab from the kebab house ended with me retching in my friend's neighbour's front garden.
2. After a simple shwarma in Bet Shaan the night before I stood in line at the main Bus Station in Jerusalem waiting for the trip to Tel Aviv. Stomach ache. Nausea. Headache. Shwarma returned.
And a new addition, number 3 if you will;
Russian police have arrested three homeless men suspected of killing and eating a 25 year old - and selling parts of his body to a kebab and pie kiosk.
The alarm was raised when bits of a corpse were found near a bus stop on the outskirts of Perm, about 720 miles east of Moscow.
A statement on thePerm police website said the three alleged cannibals had previous criminal records.
In celebration of Sesame Street's 40th Birthday Crankylitprof over at Cranky Epistles shares with us the truth behind Oscar the Grouch. This is the best quality I can get the picture at so go see the original from maneggs
As you can imagine from reading my post 'I beat my wife to get healthy', my one and only sister, who happens to be older than me, was not the happiest, fluffiest bunny on the planet. In fact she handed me my ass on a plate.
Map showing prevalence of obesity in the United States. Rates are according to the CDC.
I would also like to apologize to myself for that posting as I thought I'd be getting more comments with a title that starts 'I beat my wife'.
I recently read a blog posting by The Old Plod of Plympton about religious tolerance. In the posting the blogger had an article by Ben Stein in December 2005 which I found very interesting. In an apology to my delightful, feather-like sister who is a mere wisp of an essence where 'ere she goes... here it is:
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:
I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is, either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. Is this what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
Direct copy and paste from Ben Stein's website, www.benstein.com/121805xmas.html
I'm off to start buying presents for my family for Hanukah - enjoy your shopping too.
Over on Sky News (aka Fox in a British accent) there is a charming story about a teenager who is jailed for a crime but has a Facebook entry as his alibi;
Rodney Bradford spent 12 days in prison after being arrested on suspicion of holding up two people close to his home in Brooklyn.
And what kind of update did the young bastion of society send?
'Rodney Bradford is'....
upset at world hunger going out with the guys lol-ing at Glee
No, Rodney Bradford's jail breaking message on Facebook was 'where my IHop?'. The message was intended for his pregnant girlfriend who he hoped would cook him breakfast.
For that alone I would throw him back in the slammer! Too lazy to make your own breakfast, but up and about and faffing around on Facebook? 21 days your honor!!
As kids, whenever someone attacked either of us we would back each other to the hilt. When there was no-one else to battle we fought amongst ourselves, also, in a very energetic way. Its only my sister and I, although we did have a dog for a good many years, we are very close and there are many similarities between us (my sister and I, not the dog and I).
In fact when my sister and I chat to each other, even in front of our parents, we speak so fast and in such an Essex accent that no-one can understand us.
We also have something else in common - obesity. I haven't seen my sister in a few months but I do know that we are both on the heavy side.
She has 7 kids and a husband to clean up after, runs a community center and helps out at a variety of charities as often as she can. This leaves her very little time to look after herself.
Me? I like eating chocolate and have an aversion to sport.
Back in April I started using my trusty pedometer, in fact its the Omron Walking Style II (below) and I recommend it to everyone. A pedometer measures the amount of steps you take whilst wearing it. Different health organisations agree that taking over 10,000 steps a day is highly beneficial to your health. My sister has yet to purchase a pedometer but hopefully after this little blog she will do so.
Mrs. Jumblerant recently bought a pedometer, exactly the same as mine, and challenged me to an interesting competition. Whoever has the most paces at the end of each day gets to stay in bed in the morning when our 8 month old baby boy wakes up! My kind of challenge.
In the last 3 days I have beaten her 3 times.
To add to the fun I also picked up on a challenge by fellow blogger Treppenwitz to his readers to log their steps, for free, at Walker Tracker. I have a rather green widget near the top of this blog if you want to go there and have a look.
Anyway, its a no frills competition normally. I even started 2 competitions this month in an effort to get back into walking myself thin. The winner gets bragging rights or something of an equal value, but it means that there are people out there helping you to walk more paces, push a bit harder and get a little bit healthier each day.
A friend of mine is the star of a new video on YouTube, produced by a real advertising company.
He'll be the first to say that the video is nothing to write home about, he is just breaking into the acting market here - but I like him and it is a funny video - so here you are:
Tam, over at View From The Porch asks why more military personnel, in Texas of all places, weren't armed on their base. Go here and read her blog too.
This Ain't Hell But You Can See It From Here has a round-up of all the important news sources and their theories on why it happened as well as the all important Dr Phil and others on Larry King. And, of course, they have their own, highly plausible, theory too. And that's available if you click right here.
As twitter takes over the world and His Amazingness Stephen Fry takes twits seriously, please click on the link below to understand why I am currently an untwitterer.
Anyway, with the Formula 1 season now over and the last Grand Prix watched, analyzed and misanalysed I thought I'd share with you two things I love: Fry & Laurie and Auto Racing. Like oil and water mixed in a puddle they show a myriad of color .. blah blah blah
The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city Monday with a 21-gun salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.
The USS New York was discussed on this very blog just 2 weeks ago: Going Home.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the first real rains of the season began yesterday. So here are a few rules for your delectation;
+ If you slow down to 20 km/h because of the rain I will gesticulate at you. Now get out of my way.
+ If you slow down to 20 km/h because of the rain and continue to hold the phone in your hand and talk into it I will gesticulate at you and insult your parentage. Now get out of my way.
+ Look at the road in front of you. If it looks like puddles then slow down. The odds are that your car weighs more than a bag of hot air and so in a Vehicle v. Puddle fight, don't worry, you WILL win. Now get out of my way.
+ If you do not think that lit headlights are a required addition to driving in stormy conditions I will flash my lights at you. I will also gesticulate and debate your parentage. Its not about you seeing the road, its about other drivers, and pedestrians, seeing you.
+ Driving with one armed draped over the passenger seat is never a good idea. If you do so whilst it rains heavily, and you're talking on the phone, and you have a cigarette in the same hand as your phone and you're undertaking someone I will do nothing. I will do nothing because I'll be busy phoning the Police because you're a Caulking Font (rearranged for the faint of heart). You may be suicidal but I like my life right now so I'll do my utmost to get you off the roads.
The Austrian Police believe that the death of a British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building is not suspicious, and this article explains why.
Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna.
An initial autopsy concluded that there were ‘no suspicious circumstances’. But it is understood that Mr Hampton’s widow Olena Gryshcuk and her family were deeply unhappy with that verdict.
So like any loving wife she ordered another autopsy, not under the authority of the local police.
...a doctor who undertook a second post-mortem examination on behalf of the family believes she has found evidence that Mr Hampton did not die by his own hands.
... she said one possible theory was that Mr Hampton was carried to the 17th floor from his workplace on the sixth floor and thrown to his death.
Professor Yen used new forensic techniques to detect internal bruising caused by strangulation which would not be visible to the eye.
She said: ‘In my opinion, it does not look like suicide. My example is that somebody took him up to the top floor and took him down.
Funny that, because at the end of the article there is a little notelet about a similar 'non-suicide' by an American:
Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell.
A UN spokeswoman said an investigation into that case continues, though Austrian police have concluded it was suicide.
She said: ‘This might have been a copycat thing in the CTBTO.’
As Iran and Friends are coming under pressure to toe the line with their Nuclear weaponry and North Korea keep showing off their nuclear arsenal this happens. And it doesn't make headline news?
We had the first heavy rains of the winter on Friday so I was going to rant about how cars aren't made of paper and at over a tonne a piece, can quite happily go through a puddle or two - thinking that goes against what most of my fellow countrymen believe.
Our Friday night guests canceled on us because of the weather so now Mrs J (aka 'Her Indoors) now have 2 chickens, a half kilo of rice and a whole chocolate mousse to get through. And I was going to rant about that too but going through a chocolate mousse really isn't a bad thing!?!
And then I started going through the blogs I follow on Google Reader and came across a few things you might find interesting, just not finger licking good!
I just saw on the Crappy News Network that a drunk driver smashed his car into a house, pinning 2 people in their bed.
I assumed (dah!) that they were talking about someone living in a basement or cellar but look at the photo, below; Yes, thats right, they live in a normally situated building, however trailer-like it may look.
Somehow the car flew into the wall approximately 2 meters above ground level! There don't seem to be any conveniently parked ramps or cardboard boxes around. . . any ideas?
On Saturday night we received the sad news that a friend of ours had passed away. She was in her late 30's and had been fighting cancer for a year and a half and we already knew that on Friday she'd been taken to hospital where they could help her with the pain.
As is the custom in Judaism she was buried as early as possible, this happened to be Sunday morning.
The saddest part of the whole thing, as if funerals weren't sad anyway, is that her 9 year old daughter was there. The daughter was obviously having a hard time but was being bolstered by the fact that there were over 200 people there, most of whom she recognized.
And then there was the service.
As the 9 year old came to see her mother she screamed and ran off. Her father followed her and slowly managed to cajole her back to the front of the congregation.
Our late friend's brother, sister and father spoke. If we weren't all in tears by then the bravery and maturity of her 9 year old daughter brought a salty drop to our eyes.
She spoke. In front of hundreds of people she spoke. She spoke of her loving mother who was beautiful and fun and the best Mum ever. She spoke about how she'd help her two sisters, aged 4 and 2 to not only grow up as good girls but also to remember their mother.
No-one mentioned that our friend was a hero for battling cancer, or was a world leader in something or that she was a beacon of light in a dark society. They just mentioned that she always smiled, was fun to be around and was a great mother.
Mrs J, Baby J and I turned up to the supermarket in question this morning with our freshly folded and cleanly cut coupons as well as our regular shopping list.
Thursday is a busy shopping day in these parts. The weekend starts early so Thursday morning is the 2nd busiest day at the shops. Friday is THE busiest day - so crazy in fact that I have not been shopping on a Friday in 6 years.
The staff were interested in the coupons as they had heard they were being sent out, but hadn't seen them yet. I had to explain to one of them what the coupons were about - the top row for October and November, the bottom row for December.
There was even a picture of the Store Manager on the coupon letter and I saw him walking around the store, pleased as punch.
After an hour, 3,000 or so paces, and an interesting 'discussion' with Her Indoors, we arrive at the check out.
The female clerk (is that what they're called in these PC days?) was very friendly, chatted with Her Indoors and played with Baby J. She explained that she was not local but had been drafted in to deal with the influx of expected customers due to the coupons.
We had bought 1 of each thing on the coupon list and started to pass the items through. I handed the clerk the coupons and she said that she had to speak to her direct supervisor.
Fine. We had nowhere to rush to and there was no-one waiting behind us so we waited.
The supervisor arrived and explained that we had to show the coupons first as their system couldn't take the coupons after the item had been passed through the 'thing that goes "beep"'. Nice to see that they were ready for their big advertising splurge.
Great. She flashed her card through the system and we start packing the shopping.
But wait. if you have bothered to read this far its because you know there is a twist in the tale! The young couple in the checkout next to ours is having a bit of a combined meltdown. They've also got their coupons but are unhappy.
Mrs J and I listen in.
It appears that you can only use one coupon per purchase, each purchase a minimum of $25.
The Manager ambles over. 'Of course its only one coupon per purchase. It's written on the bottom line'.
More asses
I decide to confront the inept chap. 'Sir, I read the front of your coupon. It says the item and the price. I came here to buy them and now you're going to stop me from doing so? Are you sure?'
He slipped away without answering.
By now we had an audience watching us as it appears that most customers in the supermarket had coupons too!!
In typical 'thinking out of the box' fashion we come up with our answer.
Every $25 I the clerk and ask for the bill, and then pay. We have now made our purchase minimum of $25 and can now use one coupon!! We do this 3 times, laughing with the clerk at the attitude of the jobsworth* manager.
Tomorrow is Friday and both Mrs J and the sales clerk are very happy that they will be nowhere near that particular supermarket. It'll be interesting to say the least.
kthanxbai!
* jobsworth - from the phrase 'I can't do that, it's more than my job's worth' generally connected with not being able to get things done because of the rules. Jobsworth in wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
