Everybody needs an Italian grandma! Even if you have to live with a smelly Italian to get one. :)

Today was canning tomato day. Last year was my first experience and I went today to repeat the lovely experience. Nonna is just great. Just the right kind of old-world charm, grandmotherliness, and just plain sparkling joy that everyone needs in their lives. She really makes me happy. She's 86 and only moved to America in her 40's. Her primary language is still Italian but she gets around in English as well (though it helps if you have a smattering of a romance language to get the full effect, she has these great idiosycratic words that slip in, ie: always suppone instead of suppose...). And the stories... She remembers living in Italy during WWII! Her brother actually had a bomb dropped on him and had to be dug out of a crater. She blends this perfect kind of innocence with a great pragmatic common sense. Anyways here are some pics from the tomatostravaganza:


First you must prepare the bottles, some fresh basilica and a pinch of sale


Next peel the skin from those guys, make 'em shine


They're ready to be popped in the pot for a 20 minute boil. You can already smell how wonderful they'll taste!

Do you guys remember this "get your war on" comic strip thing by David Rees? It started right after 9/11 and apparently has been going on since. They're pretty gosh darn funny. Here are a couple samples from this month's strip:





sidenote: Deaf children in Nicaragua have created their own language. A special education school which opened in the 70's and never taught official sign language has documented the progress of the language from simple hand gestures to a genuine language. Very cool. The study also finds (as if there was much doubt) that children are the true inventors of language, tugging and changing existing rules until novel structures are found. Kids rock. Who invented the word dude though?

my manager be trippin' and stuff
talkin' how we gotta use water,
but i always use some milk and cream for you, cause...
i think you kinda sweet

you with your sparkling cufflinks

'n i swear on my mama 'n papa,
it feels like.......

I am in the mood to write something meaningful but find the words are not mine to grasp. Or the words are mine but their spirit, their being, escapes me. I really should be a lawyer. I am so full of bullshit sometimes. It seeps out. When the spirit of the words escape me I make up for it in shear volume. As if enough words could conjure the meaning of the few that relly mean something. What to blame it on. General complaceny. The government. Corporations? Or shall I bear the burden alone?

Do you ever find yourself trying to escape value? I wrote a whole journal (which I am too lazy to now link to) about the nihilism of goals. Success eludes only those who seek it. Or label it at all. If I strive for nothing than everything is success. Or failure for that matter. But it's all a lie. All bullshit.

Pointless entry that I sould probably delete so as not to depress. But in the sense of keeping the history I'll leave it. Who the hell cares anyway.

This is a book that I believe every American should read. Admittedly, it is about taxes and so may seem a bit dry, but it is chock full of details that will make your blood boil.

Did you know that the richest 1% of the population is about 5 times as rich as it was 20 years ago, but that the bottom 75% hasn't gone anywhere in terms of real income?

Do you know what payroll taxes are? They're the taxes you pay for Medicare and SS, 6.2% + 1.25% which are matched by your employer (a total of 15.3%). Once you make over about $87,000 you don't pay that anymore.

Do you know that for all of our progressive tax system (and oh-so-much complaining on behalf of the rich) the real tax rate for all Alericans is almost the same. Taking into account the payroll taxes we all end up paying somewhere around 20% (with both the megapoor and megarich paying less).

Do you know the IRS audits one of every 70 poor people claiming the Earned Income Credit (a social welfare program to slightly boost the working poor's income), but only one of every 200 or so people making over $100,000?

Do you know the IRS has just about zero ability to analyze (much less understand) the majority of complex tax shelters used by the megarich to hide their income from taxes?

Do you know what the so-called Death Tax is? Sounds scary right? Bush would say it's taking the family farm away from struggling farmers. But that would only be true in any sense if the farm was worth millions of dollars, the Estate tax (it's proper name) was for years before Bush a tax on income after death in excess of $1,000,000 (this year he's raised it to $2.5 million). That means the vast majority of us (unless we hit the lottery) will have zero need to worry about it.

Do you know that corporations just don't pay what they're supposed to? The corporate tax is a flat rate: 35%, but in the last five years 60-70% of corporations paid no tax (many even got refunds!!). [inlink]terry,182[/inlink] All you telling me that even with the internet boom these corporations just didn't make any money?

So anyways the book goes into detail about all of these subjects and more. You don't need to understand taxes to take away from it that the rich are getting richer at the expense of you and me. The tax burden has been and continues to shift onto those least able to carry it. It needs to be fixed. But first of all it needs to be at least basically understood by all Americans. Read this book!

[inlink]sqb,120[/inlink] I hope it really does some good.

We definately don't need anymore parking lots on Elmwood. My idea for the last couple years has been to completely remove cars. We should erect two massive parking garages on either side, say one around Tupper and another at Bird. Then we bring the trolley back (yes 100 years ago Elmwood was trollifyed ). You can park at either end and then walk/trolley to you destinations on Elmwood. Think how nice a car free Elmwood would be. No disgusting car smells/noises (especially the motorcycles), no backups during rush hour, no death-defying bike rides around cars and peds alike. Of course this is all pure fantasy. I can't expect Buffalo to ever do it, for any number of reasons, lack of cash being number one. But the dream sure is nice.

I have been called by my great country (and county) to serve. Since I have a federal job I guess technically I serve everyday I go into work (I am a civil servant ya' know). But this is different. A large part of someone's life may hang in the balance. I went to my first ever Jury Duty this morning. Mostly it involves lots of sitting so far. I sat for over an hour and then they called my name. Then I followed a group of similarly called people up to a courtroom where we all sat some more. We went to lunch. Then upon our return my name was called again. I had to answer some generic questions, to which my answers were apparently suffiicient. Now I am a juror. Well, to be honest, I am an alternate juror, which means that I will only have to do the actual deciding if something happens to someone else. I really hope that doesn't happen. By law, I can't go into details, but suffice it to say that the case involves the usual suspect comitting a (relatively) low level crime. We are not allowed to look into the case further than the law. If the law says it is a crime, that's it. We are not to decide if we think what the accused did was wrong. We were repeatedly told not to sympathize and also not to think of any eventual punishment that might follow a guilty verdict. So hopefully I won't have to worry about it, and I'll collect my paycheck (in full thanks to the sweetness of the Homeland) and watch the trial roll by. Wish me luck. Or rather, wish all the other jurors luck.

so i always need to have a scrolling meeage across my screen warning me of the ultra-hazardous pollen danger?

[size=m]Pollen count high in area!!!![/size]

My god, what next? Fungi spores? Extra-acidic soil indicators! Trees blowing dangerously to the left today!! Slight chance of mud on your shoes if you traverse the lawn!!!

Today we are all free to get us some big guns. The ban on assault weapons has officially sunset leaving Americans the opportunity to blow one another up all in the name of good sport. I am thinking of purchasing a Fabrique Nationale FN/FAL which is gas-operated and fires from the closed-bolt position in both the semi- and full-auto modes.



Can't wait to go at it with those deers in the fully automatic mode, I'm hoping to take an entire herd in under 3.5 minutes.

On a better note. I am shouting out my thanks to:

[size=l]Elaine M. Urban[/size]

She found my ID and bank cards where I left them at the beach. She then drove to my house and put them through the mail slot. Isn't that just the kind of good samaritanism that you think doesn't exist anymore? She is apparently a piano teacher so if you need any lessons please give her a call @ (716) 877-9531.

(e:soyeon) it has happened to me too. [inlink]soyeon,95[/inlink] Just about two months ago I went to look at one of my credit cards online and it said Access Denied and gave me a number to call. I called and they told me there was a freeze on my account. They asked me if I had spent $538.00 at Payless Shoe Store and $635.00 at a hotel. I hadn't been on any cheap shoe shopping sprees out of town and told them that. It really freaked me out. But, they cancelled the card and sent me some stuff to sign and about two weeks later it was all good as new. So don't worry it should turn out OK.

(e:robin) I thought you were a jackass last night honking at jaywalkers for no reason. I think I even called you a nasty name. Sorry, I guess. Next time maybe throw some kind of party favor at us instead. We didn't end up doing anything that night at all. We passed the party you might have gone too. Seemed jammin'. Saw (e:trisha) and (e:paulnotpaul) (though I'm not sure he still deserves hi (e:) since he hasn't written in months) and they said they were gonna tear the attic down around themselves. The walls were already listing. Hope you had a good time if you went.

Lastly, (e:floppydonkey) go spend some quality time with your girlfriend (e:maidencateyes) in the sun. You could always record the game and watch it this evening.