From:

The next time you go to that fancy shoe store and are enamoured with the pair that costs $$$$90 +, remember to also check out the cheaper pair, gathering dust on a neighbouring shelf. According to latest sports medicine research, the cheaper pair has just as many benefits to your running alter-life, if not more, when compared with the expensive pair.

In fact, if you yield to your temptation of buying that costly pair of trainers, then you should also realize that you have been conned into parting with your money simply by some carefully worded meaningless and empty "features".

So, hahaha @ all those vain snobs who make me feel bad at shoe stores! I love research that is pocket-friendly! :)

Nicaragua has a blanket ban on abortions.


I know there was an abortion/pro-life debate on here some days back, but this irks me so much that it's impossible to not post and express my outrage directed at lunatics like this "Dr" Rafael Cabrera, who far from being a "doctor" is not even fit to be called human any more.

My heart cries for all the women in this godforsaken country. I am overwhelmed by sadness and anger, and once again am appalled that a few demons can plunge a country into the misery of the dark ages.

Since I am quite amused by all the confusion going around, I decided to do a concise (albeit biased) clarification about "Curry".

The East India Company (The British masquerading as traders) first docked on the southern shores of India and were immediately struck by:

1. The *awesome* South Indian cuisine.
2. The multiple layers of gold that women wore.
3. Everything else, including how gullible the natives were and how twisty the language was.

They decided to use their devious stratagem to buy enormous quantities of spices for cheap, and rob the gold and diamonds.

However, what they couldn't do was master the language. In particular, they had trouble wrapping their tongues around the word: Karuveppilai, the Tamil word for what is now (and quite inaccurately) known as the "Curry leaf". They also had trouble understanding the locals who called any side vegetable/meat accompaniment as "Kari". It didn't help matters any that every South Indian dish they ever had was either seasoned with Karuveppilai or had some powdered version of the Karuveppilai in it.

Using their tendency to clip short every vowel, and their total bewilderment with the language, they shortened the entire idea of a spiced dish to "Kari". Some Spaniards on the ship to England decided to spell it phonetically as "Curry". So voila, a new word was born.

When they proceeded further north into India, they came across another totally different type of cuisine - dominated not by the revered Karuveppilai, but Coriander ("Dhania" in Hindi, "Cilantro" in Spanish, "Kothamalli" in Tamil).

But by this time, the trade name "Curry" had curried favour up and down the length of the common(stolen)wealth. The seasoned business acumen that the British had acquired, stealing the wealth of natives around the world, warned them about the dangers of changing the name of a popular product in their home and overseas markets.

They decided that, since coriander was also a green leaf, and learning the names of the new spices involved trying to comprehend another wild language (Hindi), they wouldn't bother renaming the new North Indian spices (called "masala" by the natives). The easy solution was to just mix it all up in a bottle and rebrand the whole concoction as "Curry Powder". So essentially, the "Curry Powder" is about as Indian as Guano is a culinary delicacy.

And there you have it. The "History of Curried Confusion: Confounding the Western World, since 1600".

If you ever go to the heart of the subcontinent and ask for "Curry Powder", unless you are in a westernized supermarket, you are bound to get blank stares. Consider yourself warned.

If you want to get Karuveppilai here in the US, the best place to look would be an authentic Indian Store. South-east Asian stores seldom have it. The reason being that they don't cook with Karuveppilai, it is an acquired Indian taste.

Here in Buffalo, the places to go would be:

Super Bazaar
3218 Sheridan Dr
Amherst, NY 14226
(716) 835-4770

Spices of India
438 Evans St
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: (716) 633-4800

I really haven't seen it elsewhere. Just to give new meaning to the phrase "green with envy", here's a photograph of my stash. :)

I was sent this email at work today. It was written by a woman who my colleague's friend knows personally.

From my email (I edited and removed all identifying names.):

Ladies--

I had the very unfortunate experience of an "encounter" with the young punk assaulting women in the city (with the box cutter, in Gates Circle, Chapin, etc). I AM UNHURT AND OK. I was at Colter Bay on Sunday night & was leaving at about 10:30. I was parked across the street from Tempo. As you know, this is a very well lit area, and there was vehicle traffic, other people around & a lot of people at Colter Bay.

As I was crossing the street in front of Colter Bay, I noticed a young male turning the corner onto Delaware from Allen. I turned right onto the sidewalk & continued toward my car. There was a younger couple walking toward me. Although all of my friends were watching me from the windows to make sure I got to my car, thank goodness one of the guys I was with, recognized the young male based upon the descriptions from the victims & also from the photos published over the weekend. Not to mention that apparently, this kid was closing the distance behind me pretty fast!!

I made it to my car & got inside, & when I closed the door & looked up, this kid was right in front of my car looking at me, smiling & signaling me to get out of my car. I of course had already locked the doors. Anyway, my friend (who recognized the young male) confronted the kid & the kid ran off. We called the police & I gave a description to the P.O. & detectives.

This kid is exactly that, a KID. He has such a baby face. I estimated him to be about 19 years old. He was about 5'8" & 125-140 pounds. He is African American with a lighter complexion-very nice skin. Kind of a pug nose & very full lips. I didn't talk to him, but my friend described him as having a rather effeminate voice.

I thought he was wearing a white t-shirt, but my friend who accosted him, told me that he was in a white hoodie (My friend was behind the kid) under a black leather jacket. He also had a bit of a curly afro under a baseball hat (white front panel & red on the sides). He had baggy dark pants on (I couldn't tell if jeans or not). He was also carrying an over-the-shoulder bag, like those new ones the kids started carrying a few years ago instead of the back packs. He also had a dark plastic bag he was carrying.

We also noticed that there was another older male on the street at the same time that this happened who seemed to disappear when my friend confronted the kid. Also, while we were waiting for police, a metallic brown/champagne colored Ford Taurus pulled alongside Delaware a little farther down & sat for a few minutes before taking off. I don't know if these things mean anything, but I wanted to include them.

In talking to 1 of the ladies in my apartment building, there was also apparently another potential victim over the weekend on Virginia, near Mother's.

I'm sending this around to ask you all to PLEASE be careful--apparently we can't even walk alone across the street to our car at this point. I was stupid enough to refuse a walk but I was fortunate enough to have someone watching & paying attention & who followed his gut instincts. Please pass this information on as you see fit. Check the e-mail messages since I don't think I have updated addresses for a lot of people.

Thanks & be safe,

...

Elmwood not just became a "top-hoo-haa-village", it also became a mugging paradise, very unsafe for women. Try and gloat over that.