3 Ring Binder

Boring: tr.v. To make weary by being dull, repetitive, or tedious. Bored: adj. The state of being weary or uninterested due to repetition, tediousness, or dullness.     Bore: n. One that is wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious. Though I am often weary of the repetitious nature of housework, I am rarely bored. I am, however, increasingly concerned that I am becoming boring. Boring as dirt (in a non- Hodgins way). That’s why I was so interested in this article in today’s Boston Globe, as the author discovers much to his dismay, that he is becoming boring.  After initial assessment of his own dullness, the author discusses how people are boring when they think they know it all (i.e. a bore) and how they are charming when they actually do know it all but hold it close to the vest. That’s more of a personality issue.   My concern with being boring is limited to my being boring to even myself .   Sadly, this sometimes happens. But what struck me as most important in the arti

With the onset of holiday head , I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with the idea of hosting a gathering to showcase a series of perfect holiday cocktails.   I don’t know exactly what it is that so attracts me toward the mixing and sipping of cocktails as a form of celebration, but I suspect it has far less to do with the actual drinking than with the beauty, flash, splash, and presentation of the kaleidoscope of colors the liquid libations offer in the vast variety of gorgeous glass cocktail containers.   Each cocktail is like a beautiful little feast for the eyes, a substantive (and sometimes challenging) presence in the hand, and a thrilling chill on the tongue.   During the winter holidays, cocktails seem to be accompanied by the smell of a warm fire and earthy evergreens as well as surrounded by the sounds of smooth jazz and happy chatter.   At least that’s the scene that causes the preoccupation in my mind. In light of this, when I saw  this book at the library yesterday, I scoope

I prefer this version of Jimmy Durante's snowman, to this one.

1.        Don’t Say Grace, Say Justice ; 2.        Thanksgiving: A Most Selfish Holiday ; 3.        Pie .

Do you make more than $30,000 a year? Okay, you don’t need to tell me, because I have ways of finding out anyway. But if you do, you really need to give me and my children some of that money.   Why? Because I make less than that. Think of my poor children. You have no right to make and use that much money just for things you want, when I, your friend and countryman, need so much and make so much less than you. Think of how much better my life would be if you would each just give me just a little bit of your money. It seems to me that $30,000 is plenty to live on, so anything beyond that should go back into the kitty to share with the rest of us less fortunate than you.   And what do you get out of the deal?   Well, you get to know that you helped this country become a better place for all of us to live.   Okay – the results are a gamble at best, but I think it’s a bet you should make. You owe it to me, and besides, you and I both know you'll have plenty of money left over.    T

Another great video from Glamourdaze . While I have issues with the credit card size purse (could be that I'm too lazy to edit what I carry as essentials - like a book, or two), I think the after hat, gloves, and shoes are still fabulous.

Every Sunday, Cake Wrecks , a site dedicated to professional cake decorating gone bad, posts some examples of cake decorating done beautifully.   I had to share one of today's examples .

Last night, I braved throngs of lycanthrope lovers, vampire maniacs, screaming teenagers, sensuality-starved adults, and squeamish tweens and went to see New Moon on opening night. Yes, I realize that puts me squarely in the sensuality-starved adults category, but I’m okay with that.   I’m not starved for sensuality in my everyday life – that’s something one needs to appreciate on her own – but I am a little starved for it in the entertainment world.   Yeah. So. I’m still hungry. Anyone who bothers to read this has read the book so there’ll be no surprises regarding the plot which bugged me.   That whole, “You’d be better off without me” thing.   Does that ever work?   Apparently, some people love it (see Casablanca ). I’m not one of those people.    If you’ve ever seen the “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob” t-shirts, but are uninterested in reading the four books, or ever seeing any of the movies (two out now) let me help you out.   Edward is a serious vampire who is intensely in love

I have been relatively quiet about the gargantuan (over 2000 pages) heath care bill because, frankly, I’m not sure I have anything to contribute to the discussion except this reminder: the government’s only proper function is to protect individual rights.   Health care is NOT a right.   It is a personal value to be sought and obtained according to one’s own hierarchy of values.   Heath care insurance is not a right.   It is a service provided by businesses that operate based on their calculated risks against the purchaser’s calculated risk of his illness and should be purchased, or not, according to his values.   There will always be people who, through no fault of their own, will be a bad risk to every insurance company.   For these existing, but relatively infrequent cases, there is charity.   For everyone else, we need the freedom to choose if we want a health plan, what we want covered, and who we’d like to have as our doctors.   We need to be able to weigh the costs and benefits

The Objectivist Round Up is being hosted at Titanic Deck Chairs this week. Go there. It's easy. Just click. Either one. Only once. Dorothy never had it so good.

Last year I saw this Christmas card that almost made me cry.   I don’t know why it affected me so strongly – it’s a cartoon for god’s sake – but somehow it evokes an incredibly strong sense of beauty, peace, and quiet joy.    The enchanting Central Park Holiday Card depicts a magical scene of a horse-drawn carriage ride in New York City’s snow-covered Central Park. The original gouache on paper was executed in 1968 by Eyvind Earl (sic) (American, 1916–2000), a Disney animator whose work is included in the Museum’s collection. Without greeting . Produced in cooperation with American Artists Group. ( Metropolitan Museum of Art ) The image was created by Eyvind Earle (1916-2000), a prolific graphic artist and painter who worked in all media, sculpted, and wrote poetry. Read his incredible Christmas Card Art story in his own words .   It did not surprise me that he worked for Disney sometime during his career. Clearly, I’m not the only one who loves this image. When we went to

Since September 1, 2007 , the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires that anyone under the age of 18 who would like to have a license to drive in the state take professional driver’s education. This would include 30 hours of class time, 12 hours on the road, and 6 hours of observation time.   My daughter, who got her permit on the day she became eligible , will soon finish her driver’s education training. What has been included in her mandatory 12 hours road time and 6 hours observation time? ·          A trip to the Burger King parking lot to wait for instructor to get onion rings. ·          Rap music blaring on the car radio. ·          Getting to view pictures of instructor on his iPhone. ·          Sitting in the parking lot of the driving school for 20 minutes waiting for another instructor so their customers can drive home. ·          An instructor who bobs her head, obstructing the driver’s view, but telling the teen driver when it’s safe to go. The law written to promo

Is it the texture or the instant warmth?   Is it nostalgia over the white rabbit cape and matching muff of my youth?   Is it the instant luxe, or the top-of-the-world sensation I get when I’m wearing it? Whatever the reason, fur has been my latest fashion fascination. Real fur. First, I have to say I’m not enamored of fur coats.   Before the age of ten, I used to play with two mouton coats. One was creamy white and the other was dyed very dark (apparently mouton is just a fancy way of treating a shearling so that it resembles beaver fur).   When we played house in the attic, donning one of the coats gave you an instance air of superiority (provided one was nine or younger, that is).    And they stunk. Really, really badly.   I don’t know if they weren’t properly cared for (a pretty good guess given that as a jam-handed child I had free access to them), or if treated lamb fur just stinks.    My parents bought them when they lived in Alaska in the late 50s and the coats were destroyed

Last week's Objectivist Round Up is hosted by last-minute hostess extraordinaire, Rational Jenn . Go check it out.

For whatever reason, my daughter needed to rewrite this story for her writing class (t he link is not the actual version of the one she read, but similar).  One of her final sentences read as follows, “Rambling merrily, the farmer led the horse to his stable leaving the bemused lion by himself.” Instead of saying that perhaps “bemused” wasn’t the best description of the lion, this is what her teacher said, “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense because the lion wasn’t happy, was he?”

And because I love this guy  (and his colleagues). Really? It's spelled Aluminium?  I thought that was just a weird English pronunciation thing. Apparently I'm not the only one surprised by Wikipedia's redirection.

In today’s Inside Higher Ed news there’s a post about a push in universities to accommodate non-theist students with a humanist chaplain . In attempting to justify morality without god, the proponents of the humanist chaplains are happy to mirror the structure of religion, but leave god out of it.   The purpose of a humanist chaplaincy is to “to serve as a resource for students who are interested in exploring how to live ‘ethical and meaningful lives’ without subscribing to any religion”. Two of the three official humanist chaplains have this to say about the student service they provide: “Right now, higher education is failing miserably to provide a place on campus where non-religious students can find purpose, compassion, and community,” [humanist chaplain #1 says]. “A lot of students come to campus knowing they’re not religious, but also not knowing what they do believe,” says. The opportunities for discussion, meditation, and service that grow out a chaplaincy “help them learn

The Cure for Cancer LoJack® for Books Smellivision That’s the thing about opportunity costs: when the government forcibly extracts and redistributes money, the opportunity costs are unknowable.   The results, sadly, are historically predictable.  

An article in the New York Times yesterday starts with the sad tale of a 91 year-old woman whose credit card interest rate was raised to 29.99%.   This is an excessive rate in my mind, so I would dump the card – unless I decided to use it.   What the article seems to gloss over is that the woman, or indeed, anyone, does not have a right to the credit card services at any price.   The risk of loaning money and expecting it to get repaid has become much greater, in no small part due to government regulations and the ideas both espoused and dismissed in the bailouts. So what is the result of the credit card companies’ adjusting to the reality of increased risk and the new credit card regulations which take effect in February? The Senate Banking Committee chairman, Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, meanwhile, is pushing legislation that would freeze interest rates on existing credit card balances until the law takes effect.* That’s right. The same folks who accused the gre

Sometimes I forget what a charmed life I led as a child. One of my greatest possessions was my very own Close-N-Play and the entire collection of Sesame Street 45s in their own snazzy carrying case. That’s right, people: The entire collection (circa 1970). I played those records over and over and over again. I forget about those early influences until I hear the lead-ins to any of the classic Sesame Street songs and all the words come rushing back.   In honor of Sesame Street ’s 40 th anniversary, I’d like to share some of my favorites. The songs by Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss were engaging, but the Muppet creations by Jim Henson were inspiring. Sure. You couldn’t pay me to watch it now, but I did love Sesame Street and some of those pre-Elmo characters, to wit I give you this little quiz so you can determine which Sesame Street character you are most like.    I was the Count which didn’t surprise me at all but did call the validity of the quiz into question for

Have you ever seen Al Gore’s TED Talks ? I have always found it most interesting that a large portion of those of us who would staunchly reject the God the Father on rational grounds would so readily adopt Earth the Mother with little else to go on than a growing consensus among federally-funded scientists and some anecdotal power point slides.   I will not debate the facts of global warming, as I would not debate the facts of global cooling or plate tectonics: earth systems are very large and still somewhat unpredictable. My education and rational faculties, however, prevent me from a wholesale belief in anthropogenic global warming, and particularly in any governmental solutions to any such warming. What I do see and understand is that those who buy into man-made global warming are not content to change their own behaviors, but rather feel they must mandate the behavior of others.   Mr. Gore consistently applies his mantra: “Change the light bulbs – but change the laws” in this p

Now is the time for all good mail-order companies to inundate you with catalogs. Far from being paid by these companies, I generally have to pay to get rid of the trash they generate! I do have a few favorites, though. 1)       Bas Bleu : a catalog about words, books, and books about words.   In addition to some terrifically unique books , there are some terrifically unique gift ideas, especially for Anglophile bibliophiles. 2)       Chinaberry : all book-loving parents ought to know about this wonderful book resource.   Like, Bas Bleu, it is chock full of great books and delightful little gift ideas. 3)       Femail Creations :   I have to say that I find a lot of the stuff in this catalog pretty funny.   It’s not all great, but some gift items may be just perfect for someone on your list.

by Adelaide Crapsey LISTEN . . . With faint dry sound, Like steps of passing ghosts, The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees And fall.

Click over to NoodleFood for this week's Objectivist Round Up. After that, you may want to click over to  Rationally Selfish Life . Dr. Diana Hsieh has an interesting array of topics regarding a principled and practical approach to living well and I'm really enjoying listening to her Rationally Selfish Radio podcasts.

1) The pop and scream of the brass in Blood, Sweat & Tears music. 2) The strain and whine of the garage door opening signaling that my husband is home. 3) The quiet and joyful humming of my daughter clearly delighted by her own ability to figure out basic algebra problems.

Enjoy this boost of self-esteem from the 40s. More of this make-up tutorial, and other vintage hilarity can be found on Glamour Daze YouTube channel and blog .

This was a pretty cool sight on Halloween afternoon, so I thought I'd stitch together a little video. Here are some interesting tidbits: 1) A few of our 3 ring binders can be seen on lower shelves on the left of the library. 2) The TV was on downstairs so I had to turn down the audio, but tried to preserve some of the sound of the leaves hitting the windows. 3) The video goes well with Thanksgiving, a track from George Winston's December album, but it may violate copyright law (especially in Germany?) so I took it out. 4) The Japanese maple in the backyard (red tree) usually drops all of its leaves over one 24-36 hour period. It was mid-shed when I took this video. It's nekkid now. 5) The chickens were out during this wind because it was about 70 degrees out as well. 6) The artwork on the wall is a Stephen Bourque original (as are the bookcases themselves) and the fashion drawings are by a local artist. The Thinker is a tiny replica of Rodin's sculpture. 7) Send a

This past August I attended a Women’s Adventure Weekend in the White Mountains. My attraction to this event was the opportunity to diffuse the disdain I had developed for hiking based on one ill-fated hiking trip there over twenty years ago. As I happily reported here , I completely exorcised those demons, had a great time with my friends, and met some other good people. Part of the weekend was devoted to self-improvement through workshops focusing on sharing self-exploration. I opted out of most of those, but one which followed immediately after a yoga class was about creating a Vision Board . As someone who loves to flip through glossy magazines, appreciates attractive layout, and has developed a pretty strong “cut and paste” skill set over the years, I was interested and stayed for this workshop. A vision board, as the workshop leader explained, is a 2-D collection of magazine cut-outs, photographs, drawings, and other ephemera that represent your goals and desires. The function o