I have a confession to make. I am a fruitcake lover. Fruitcake jokes strike me as tired gestures of small minds which have run out of meaningful content. My love of fruitcake has roots in childhood when on special of occasions beloved family members or close friends broke out a few home-made versions which were served in…

Reblogged here from my old blog. Four years ago I posted this recipe while taking a break from Thanksgiving kitchen duties. It was noticed by the Google robots and appears among the first links when I search for "boiled custard recipe." (Algorithms are crafted to reflect a variety of preferences so results may vary.) ~~~~~§§§~~~~~~ No Thanksgiving or Christmas…

The career of General David Petraeus is under the microscope.  At the risk of being a scandal-monger I have to drag out the skeleton of Col. Ted Westhusing, a field-grade officer in Iraq who committed suicide in June, 2005. The story of his death did not get close scrutiny for hearly half a year when…

Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey spins out a poetic vision of the future via Twitter.  I'm tagging this "Poetry" because Tweets (140 characters) remind me of haiku (17 sylables)  or sonnet form (14 lines).  I know Ruchira (and others, I'm sure) has an aversion to Twitter, but think of it liquor or hot sauce — an occasional…

Veterans Day is tomorrow. I have two readings to recommend. The first frustrates me so bad I can't say anything rational about it. Read it for yourself. The second is nostalgic but excellent. It appeals to my pacifist sensibilities at a deep level.   ►Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan…

Jonathan Chait, writing a few weeks ago (October 14), spun out a lengthy string of reflections and predictions well before Hurricane Sandy and Election Day. Not knowing what the outcome of the election might be he covered a lot of ground and several scenarios. Overshadowing them all was the ominous spectre of that fiscal cliff…

In the interest of full disclosure I should say that my position of beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues is that in most cases it's no one's business but that of the family and whatever professionals they solicit in making those decisions. "Beginning of life" means everything from contraception to viability (in the case of an unborn…

In a few hours I'm having lunch with an old classmate whom I haven't seen for many years. So last night I was digging through a box of keepsakes from high school and college days and came across something I wrote in high school.  I totally forgot about this poem. It is in my handwriting…

I'm not posting this just to make the day gloomier, only to help us all be well-informed. Misconceptions prevail because they make us feel better but a relective person feels stronger when better-informed.  This brief message from Dr. Gawande should get more attention.Take a moment to read the comments/ replies. 70+% of terminal cancer pts…

Maggie Mahar sez… Mitt Romney’s web site makes a bold promise: “On his first day in office, Mitt Romney will issue an executive order that paves the way for the federal government to issue Obamacare waivers to all 50 states. He will then work with Congress to repeal the full legislation as quickly as possible.”…

Thanks to an ambitious international press, always eager to report feel-good "human interest" stories, most of the literate world now knows the story of Malala.  For anybody who may have been living in isolation for the last week or so, Angelina Jolie's We Are All Malala will get you up to speed.  This comment left…

I'm not sure what this means but it seems to be something of a milestone.  I go to Starbucks from time to time, but there is apparently a subset of the population that virtually lives there. During the time I was in Korea I saw endless tearooms and met lots of Koreans, but can only…

(Originally posted at brownpundits.com) Many ideologies are dreadful but this one takes the cake (at least in this day and age). Malala's school van was stopped by 2 gunmen. They asked the driver to show them who Malala is. He said he couldnt show his girls to strangers (exact dialog uncertain, but something like that..brave…

Originally posted at 3qd. Postscript: Today, 9th October, (afternoon in Pakistan) the Pakistani Taliban sent a gunman (or gunmen) to shoot a 14 year old girl who had become an icon of anti-Taliban resistance in her area after speaking up for female education. Yes, Codepink darlings on your way back from a faux protest march to Waziristan,…

I found this recipe in our file. It may be useful sometime over the next few weeks. Note the date and notes at the end. This recipe can be recycled one way or another after every election…  Saturday, November 18, 2006 New recipe just in time for Thanksgiving: Potted Crow For those who have been looking,…