What Do I Know?

A Strategic Defense Initiative

Star Wars, the Strategic Defence Initiative, costs billions of dollars. Will it save lives? Maybe. (You're better off being born under a lucky star.)

Body armor, on the other hand, costs far less—around $1,000 per soldier. Will it save lives? Undoubtedly.

Yet which does the Pentagon fund?

That's right. They'd rather fork over billions for space-aged "defensive shields" than spend a few bucks protecting the troops. You know, those same troops people claim they support by slapping those yellow magnetic ribbons on their bumpers. The bumpers of the SUVs they drive on their way to the polls to vote for George Bush.

The same George Bush whose Pentagon has still failed to reimburse families who buy their own body armor for their sons and daughters heading off to Iraq.

Maybe we should refer to body armor as the Strategery Defence Initiative.

Friday Llama Blogging

What you get when you cross a poodle with a giraffe.

We saw these freshly shorn llamas during a ramble round Chenies, near the River Chess. We also saw sheep, cows, horses, a rabbit (rarer in Britain than you might think) and a lone swan.

In one small hamlet* we saw this typical English cottage, with faded timbers and a rough and tumble garden. Llamas to the left of me, roses to the right, here I am. Stuck in the middle of England.

More geography:

The earth is a place on which England is found. - G.K. Chesterton

*(A hamlet is smaller than a village, with no pub.)

"Bollocks to Blair"

There. I've gone and done it. Shouted at the top of my keyboard, so to speak. I expect the police at the door any moment, with a warrant to shut down my TypePad account.

Horse and Hound (yes, that one) has the background.  Seems a woman was arrested for wearing just such a slogan on a t-shirt. And you've no doubt heard about the 82-year-old man who was tossed out of Labour's conference yesterday for heckling Jack Straw, then refused readmittance under the prevention of terrorism act. (Today everyone from Tony Blair on down are tripping over themselves to say sorry.) Phil E. has more here.

Then we have the story about the man arrested for suspicious behaviour on the tube. Playing with a phone, wearing the requisite "bulky jacket", avoiding eye contact—why, what was he thinking?

Probably something similar to what I was thinking a couple of weeks ago.

It all sounds like a bad joke, but I wish I were making it up. Civil liberties are disappearing faster than you can say "I'm innocent" around here.

In other news, at least 60 were killed in Iraq today. Bollocks to Blair.

Food News You Can Use

In food news this week:

We have met the enemy, and it is us.

But all we wanted to do was cut global warming!

The skinny on vegan diets.

Vegetarian in Chief: Not at all what I thought it was. Don't go slinging around the "V" word!

Where vegetarians rule, for real. My next address?

Forget Waitrose; next time I'm foraging at Wandsworth Common. Or else the rubbish tip.

Finally, another foodie joins the blogroll. Welcome, Baking for Britain!

Wednesday Food Blogging: Pumpkin Risotto with Sizzled Sage

"Bring. It. On." she muttered, furiously stirring risotto.

The challenge: Create a vegan dish that will fool a meat eater.
The location: Becks & Posh nosh site.
The Technorati Tag: IMBB #19
My response: What else is new?

Here at Chez Flake vegan is the rule rather than the exception, so this really wasn't a challenge for me. I feed omnivores all the time, and they are never fooled, though they are often delighted. I think fooling is mean, besides, anyone who's around me for five minutes will soon learn I would no sooner serve them one of my friends than I would my firstborn.

But a challenge is irresistible. Thank god it didn't mention anything about "while climbing Mt Everest" or "using only a Bunsen burner".

I've been reading some of the other entries, and as always, reactions of non-vegans to vegan nosh is cute. They're so surprised it's good! What, you think we don't have taste buds? There is a whole world beyond beans, a world we eagerly explore, forks in hand.

But enough about the motivation, let's dish: Risotto is one of my favorite dishes, and it takes very well to a vegan lifestyle. The rice is so creamy, the addition of butter or cheese is just superfluous. Use top quality ingredients and you won't miss it, I promise.

Even better, risotto is seasonally versatile: Asparagus in the spring, butternut squash in the fall, mushroom in the winter, spinach whenever. (Pumpkin and butternut squash are often used synonymously; I've used "pumpkin" because it's shorter.)

I served this with some simple sides: Slivered red cabbage sauteed with apples au jus, and braised portobello mushrooms splashed with balsamic. And the leftover wine.

I don't know about fooling meat eaters, but this is a perfect dish after a long walk in the woods. Dinner shouldn't be more challenging than that.

Tagged with: IMBB19 + Vegan

Never a Frown, With Gordon Brown

Labour is having their conference this week, and it's turning out to be a yawner. Literally, I mean: The Metro had a front page photo yesterday of John Prescott, Tony Blair, Tessa Jowell, and Gordon Brown. Three of them were nodding off, with Tessa Jowell even leaning onto Tony's shoulder. But ever vigilant Tony was wide awake, with good reason. Professional Blair-watchers claim there's increasing pressure for him to resign or at least announce a timetable for withdrawal. (His own, I mean, thus making room for the expected ascendancy of Gordon Brown to the throne leadership position.)

Labour hasn't asked my opinion (though I've given it, more than once), probably because I can't vote here, but I think Tony should immediately hand over the keys to Gordon. Mainly, I just want to see more of Gordon on TV, since I have a fondness for tousle-haired intellectual types. It's superficial of me, though he does seem a capable chap.

Even when he's off leash, Tony and his dysfunctional morality don't exactly inspire confidence. Giscard d'Estaing has even come back from the dead to complain about his lack of accomplishments during his six-month tenure as EU president.

I still have visions of Tony, pants alight, hurtling around Europe, trying to convince his pals Jacques and Gerhard that his new chum George really is meant to be taken seriously. "Come now, fellows, the cowboy hat is just a prop, and his swagger isn't nearly as pronounced in real life." And the chili at the ranch didn't give him diarrhea, either: those are actually smoke stains on his pants.

(I've changed my mind; no early withdrawal. Who will we kick around when Tony's gone?)

I think it's nice, though, that Gordon Brown has his own song, a catchy little tune by the Stranglers. The lyrics go something like this:

Gordon Brown, texture like sun
Lays me down with my mind she runs
Throughout the night
No need to fight
Never a frown with Gordon Brown
Every time just like the last
On her ship tied to the mast
To distant lands
Takes both my hands
Never a frown with Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown, finer temptress
Through the ages she's heading west
From far away
Stays for a day
Never a frown with Gordon Brown

Never a, never a, never a frown
With Gordon, with Gordon Brown

Hopefully someone somewhere will do a more substantive wrap up of the Labour conference. I was wrong, incidentally, about the lack of blog coverage of the Lib Dems' conference. One blogger has put forth a pretty good account of what went on in Blackpool. Contrary to press reports, it wasn't all gloom and doom.

I like the glitz and glamor version of conference reporting myself, so if anyone has news of what Cherie's wearing (as long as it's not one of those nasty barristers' wigs) I'd appreciate a heads up. Singed pants, I hear, are out this year.

The Old Bailey: For Fans of Bloodsport

Today I went to the Old Bailey (no, not in handcuffs) and viewed two murder trials. It was much more entertaining than sitting around listening to The Bloody Archers, and in fact, I may have become a court junkie. I do not understand the national fascination with cricket when there are far more entertaining matches to see, for free at that.

The Old Bailey is also known as Central Criminal Court, and is the primary criminal court in the United Kingdom. Anybody who's anybody will be tried here, including Jeffrey Archer, the criminal author.

One trial today featured a young woman, who may or may not have killed a man who may or may not have been her lover. The other was about a man (named Ozzy Osbourne, in honor of his idol—I am not making this up!) who may or may not have bragged about killing a man—or not. (Vagueness intentional. Libel laws are tough here, and I do not want to end up in Old Bailey wearing leg irons instead of khakis.)

Knives are the murder weapon of choice here (but not as popular as in Colombia). If you live with someone who sometimes flies into rages, best not to keep a set of Chicago Cutlery around.

Some other things I noticed: The barristers really do wear wigs. They look totally ridiculous, and the stupid things are obviously itchy (one poor QC kept scratching, or maybe he was feigning puzzlement). They are best left on the nags from whence they came. (They cost about as much as a decent horse, too.)

The barristers, or QCs, are really sharp, and call each other "my learned friend" which makes them all sound very posh. Think Perry Mason meets Dumbledore. In a wig.

Do not waste your money on a private tour. You get in for free, and once you're inside a tour guide can't talk to you anyway. But go ahead, pay five pounds for someone to show you which door to enter if you need the reassurance.

However, Barbara, the security guard, was able to talk to us, and she was most helpful. I think she deserves the five pounds we paid to the other guy, but I hear she prefers chocolate.

Old Bailey stands on the site of Newgate Prison, one of the most notorious hellholes in the world. Public hangings occurred here regularly. Then someone invented football, and bloodsport was never the same.

Entertaining Children Need Not Be Expensive

An article in today's Observer says what most parents have known for decades:

Children can learn just as much from playing with shoeboxes, car keys and saucepans as they can from toys sold as 'educational'.

Leading experts on children's play claim that parents should be wary of parting with money for 'educational' toys because they may not help any more than the everyday household items with which kids often enjoy more.

Good advice, and I especially liked the illustrations:

An empty box makes a wonderful toy for a child.

It may become a fort, a castle, or a ship.

Children can learn cognitive skills by playing with a box.

Even a small box can provide hours of fun for an inquisitive child.

Do choose a sturdy box, or your energetic youngster will soon have it in pieces.

Katrita Blows Trash (Talk)

The hurricane heavyweight tag team, Katrina and Rita, from now on collectively known as "Katrita," will be remembered not only for their destructive winds and floods but for the rumors they spun off.

Diane at DED Space, blogging at MoJo blog, talks about the latest email rumor. It's too disgusting for me to repeat; go read her account. I've noticed there seems to be a "who behaved better" contest going round, the poor Cajuns or their slightly wealthier Redneck rivals across the border.

I must defend my people.

While Diane noted the abundance of gas guzzling SUVs running out of gas on the Texas freeways, I couldn't help but compare the anger of the stalled evacuees with the seeming complaisance from the residents at the Convention Center and Superdome. The most heartbreaking report I read was the one where people had lined themselves up—the feeble and elderly in front, children next, then the able bodied—and swept around their area in order to show that they were deserving of rescue. Or the news that stranded residents were declining rescue on helicopters because they "didn't have a ticket."

"Those New Orleans people" will forever be tarred by the images of looting, but the Texans now have a reputation as litter bugs:

Link: CNN.com - Awaiting Rita .

The highways moving out of Houston are lined with garbage -- one result of the millions of evacuees moving out of the area at just a few miles per hour. Discarded diapers, empty water bottles, half-eaten cans of tuna fish litter the sides of the highways, evacuated gas stations and any strip of land nearby where people may have stopped. And now that trash is being whipped around for miles by the wind.

Reminds me of some trash talk I heard recently.

I suppose the rumors, like trash, will continue to swirl, as Katrita and the Aftermath (hey, anyone need a name for a rock band?) carves out a place in history.

It's a shame how these things bring out the worst in us.

Meteorology Meets the Old Testament

eRobin has followed up my advice to the Bush administration with the new, improved Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale: The Miraculous Reality Scale. Read on:

The new scale, which I suggest should be called the Miraculous Reality Scale, would have three benchmarks:

Category Luke 8:22-25:  describes a storm that can be calmed by devine intervention but which is frightening to people with weak faith.   This would also help describe storms that led mere mortals to call for inconvenient and costly evacuations just before they changed course or weakened, sending them wobbling harmlessly out to sea.

Category Exodus 14: 15-17:  describes a storm with winds strong enough to part a sea and devour our enemies.

Category Genesis 6:5-9:19:  describes storms with enough power to destroy nearly all life on Earth.

See folks? There's always room for improvement.

Friday Cow Blogging

Evelyn finds it hard to understand why British cows are considered mad.

I've been wanting to get up close and personal with the cows, but a barrier of brambles and stinging nettle prevents close contact—on my part, anyway.

Finally I tempted them into close camera range with some apples. The mothers, apple savvy creatures apparently, knew what I was up to and came right up to the fence when I tossed apple sections over. The calves, on the other hand, just gave me baleful looks, as if to say, why are you lobbing fruit at us? What did we ever do to you?

I felt horribly guilty.

This one, whom I call Evelyn, wasn't deterred by the nettles, but then Red Delicious tend to make one take mad chances.

The Tempest, Take Two

Once again I'm glued to hurricane coverage on CNN International. If it's not Katrina's aftermath, it's her roller derby tag team twin, Rita.

Again, it's personal: This time another branch of the family tree is in the direct aim, near Beaumont, Texas. Last I heard they were planning to leave today, with two dogs and handicapped friends in tow.

Larry King just offered enlightenment when he said to Max Mayfield, "Don't mountains stop a hurricane?" Bingo! I guess that's why New Mexico doesn't have hurricanes. It could also account for soaring property prices in Albuquerque.

Hurricanes just wouldn't be the same without wall to wall coverage.

A lot of people have speculated that Hurricane Katrina will do what the Iraq War failed to do: bring down an American president. I'm not sure, but it wouldn't be the first time a hurricane changed the course of history. From the National Hurricane Center:

Link: The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996.

Many storms left important marks on regional history.  In 1609, a fleet of ships carrying settlers from England to Virginia was struck by a hurricane.  Some of the ships were damaged and part of the fleet grounded at Bermuda (The Encyclopedia Americana 1994). The passengers became Bermuda's first inhabitants and their stories helped inspire Shakespeare's writing of The Tempest (Carpenter and Carpenter 1993).

In several incidents, tropical cyclones destroyed otherwise invincible colonial armadas (Millas 1968; Hughes 1987).  The French lost their bid to control the Atlantic coast of North America when a 1565 hurricane dispersed their fleet, allowing the Spanish to capture France's Fort Caroline near present-day Jacksonville, Florida.  In 1640, a hurricane partially destroyed a large Dutch fleet apparently poised to attack Havana.  Another naval disaster occurred in 1666 to Lord Willoughby (the British Governor of Barbados) and his fleet of seventeen ships and nearly 2,000 troops. The fleet was caught in a hurricane near the Lesser Antilles.  Only a few vessels were ever heard from again and the French captured some of the survivors.  According to Sugg (1968), the 1640 and 1666 events secured, more or less, control of Cuba by the Spaniards and Guadeloupe by the French. More than two centuries later, commenting on the Spanish-American War, President McKinley declared that he feared a hurricane more than the Spanish Navy (Dunn 1971). McKinley's concern translated to a revamped United States hurricane warning service, forerunner of today's National Hurricane Center (NHC). [emphasis added]

I think George Bush might be thinking the same thing.

Blenheim's Butterflys

One of these is not like the others.

A swallowtail in motion, faster than my Nikon's shutter.

These were taken in the Butterfly House at Blenheim Palace.

A Kennedy Speaks

Slipping on my anorak and checking the train schedule...the Lib Dem party conference may be ignored by the blogosphere, but I appreciate speeches by honest politicians. Not to mention humor:

The Prime Minister was delighted he had a hand in bringing the Olympics to London.
It’s said on hearing the news he punched the air.
He’s getting more like John Prescott everyday.
But at least he’s not yet claimed credit for the Ashes.

Partisan swipes aside, Charles Kennedy says what a lot of us wish the Democrats would say. (And without his fellow Scot George Galloway's baggage.) I don't think he'd mind if anyone stole his lines (Joe Biden, are you listening?) so here are a few of my favorites:

On terrorism and the absurd anti-freedom laws proposed by the government:

"The terrorist seeks to smash the most fundamental liberty of all – the right to lead our everyday lives on the basic assumption of safety.
There can be no compromise with such a mentality."

"There can be no consensus on detaining people for three months without charge. That’s a prison sentence by any other name."

"There is always a temptation for governments.
See a problem and announce a quick fix. 
Labour’s gut reaction is to chase a headline."

On the Iraq War, i.e. "so-called war on terror":

"Along with President Bush, Tony Blair’s so-called ‘war on terror’ has been so badly implemented that it has actually boosted the terror threat not diminished it.

"[The country] cannot move on, when the Prime Minister remains in denial.
It can’t move on when people are dying every day.
And it cannot move on when our British troops are still there in the firing line.
It is absurd for this Government to pretend that what has happened in Iraq has no impact beyond its borders.
The reality is that invading Iraq was a terrible mistake.
And given all the warnings that I - and this party - made at the time - the failure to plan properly for the aftermath is unforgivable.
The invasion of Iraq has created a volatile, fragmented country now facing the threat of civil war.
The terrorists have been given a new lease of life.
Thousands have been killed in Iraq since the elections there.
The UN mandate is running out.
So hard choices must now be made.
Parliament must play a central part in those choices.
The Government must confront the fact that the presence of British and American forces in Iraq is a part of the problem."

"His blind support for George Bush is continuing to cost lives –
Iraqi citizens and coalition soldiers."

Multiculturalism has become a loaded word here, in one of the most multicultural societies in the world:

"Profound questions are being raised over race and faith as well; concerns which go to the heart of our multi-racial, multi-faith, multi-cultural society.
Concerns which cannot adequately be addressed if politicians merely fall back on simplistic responses to complex questions, or speak in emotive or pejorative terms about what it should mean to be British today."

The trick for the Lib Dems is to combat the idea that there is a political spectrum, ranging from left to right with associated ideologies. This is a distortion of reality (see George Lakoff's Moral Politics for more) that the Lib Dems need to unmold, and Kennedy attempts, repeating "Not left - not right - but liberal" more than once. (Channeling Barack Obama?) For those still confused, he undeniably rejected the "C" word:

"But you know what I reject most of all is the idea of British politics being a desultory contest between two essentially conservative parties.
One calls itself Conservative.
The other conducts itself as conservative."

On what makes him ill:

"I’m sick and tired of hearing Tony Blair make excuse after excuse for George Bush."

Let George Galloway take his sideshow on the road; I'm buttoning my anorak and cheering on another Kennedy.

The Politics of Hurricanes

With two Category 5 hurricanes in a month, there seems no doubt that hurricanes are getting stronger. In fact, the evidence shows exactly that:

Link: Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger, Study Says

BOULDER The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years, even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped since the 1990s, according to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The shift occurred as global sea surface temperatures have increased over the same period. The research appears in the September 16 issue of Science.

While there isn't enough evidence to determine for certain whether this can be attributed to human-caused global warming, that really doesn't matter, in a political sense.

Even people from the "Show Me" state of Missouri will be convinced by the evidence they see on their TV screens and in their evacuation shelters, at their gas pumps and eventually in their tax bill. Katrina and Rita may be the most economically devastating events in the history of the United States, if not the planet.

Expect more.

So what's the Bush administration to do? Killing the messenger doesn't seem to be working. Perhaps they should demand the National Hurricane Center readjust the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Adjust upward and voila! No more Cat 5 hurricanes.

What if the Party Threw a Party and No Bloggers Came?

The Liberal Democrats are having a conference in Blackpool, an event that, were it the US and it involved Democrats or Republicans, would be all over the blogosphere.

Yet I haven't read a single post by a British poli-blogger concerning it. It's as if the Democrats got together to decide policy and Kos didn't even bother to growl "fuck 'em", or Atrios just posted another open thread. Same thing with the Tories' search for a party leader—you'd think they were choosing their campaign colors instead of their standard bearer, for all the attention NoseMonkey and Chicken Yoghurt (both attentive and articulate poli-blogviators, to coin a word) pay to it.

Is there some kind of disconnect between political activists—and that's what poli-bloggers are, even if they never change out of their pajamas—and the actual political process? When it comes to issues—ID cards, Iraq, terrorism—the British poli-bloggers fill more than their share of bandwidth. But when a major political party—the only party that espouses many of the issues poli-bloggers care about—debates whether or not to chose a new leader, it's met with a giant cyber-yawn. 

Why is that? Granted, I'm a little clueless on parliamentary politics—maybe it really is boring. Maybe party conferences really are for anoraks and trainspotters. (But don't pajamas=the new anorak?) Not to mention, I've only had one ear to the ground—the other is listening to eruptions on the other side of the Atlantic—so if I've missed an enlightening discussion, I'd love to be pointed in the right direction.

It seems to be only the British political process that causes keyboards to freeze. When it comes to American or German politics, or EU voting, bloggers here are all over both the process and the issues. I daresay more words have been posted about Germany's Merkel and her struggle to form a government than the Tories struggle to elect a leader.

The rest of the media—radio, television, newspaper—has been full of interesting interviews and dissections of both the Tories' election of a leader (the equivalent of our presidential primaries) and the Lib Dem conference. But the silence in the Brit-blogosphere is deafening.

I suspect it has something to do with the fact politics here is not so personal as in the U.S., thus stripping the process of its entertainment value. (And bloggers, despite their avowals to the contrary, seek to entertain.) Personality plays less a role than policy, which is as it should be.

Or maybe without the sharp partisanship that divides the United Red/Blue States of Republicans/Democrats, there's just nothing much to say.

Oh well. I intend to watch Charles Kennedy's speech tomorrow. If only to see what color tie he wears.

Wednesday Food Blogging: Moussaka

Only one piece left, of  "that moustaffa stuff."

When I'm invited to a dinner party, I always offer—no, insist—on bringing food, since most people can't cope with feeding vegetarians. (Most solve that problem by not inviting us.)

A few requirements: A main dish that's transportable, and can be assembled in advance. Moussaka, a Greek dish with eggplant and potatoes, fits the bill, and fortunately there's more than one dairy-free vegetarian recipe to choose from.

Starting with a recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan, I then enhanced it with ingredients suggested by the Millennium Cookbook. The result, with its exotic cinnamon and spice flavor, was delicious, and quickly gobbled up by the dinner party crowd, who kept asking me what was in that "moustaffa stuff". (Moussaka means casserole in Greek, I'm told.)

So, anyone want to invite me to dinner? I'm more low maintenance than you think.

Wednesday Food Linking

Finally, a snack named after me.

Food quote of the day: "The first zucchini I ever saw I killed it with a hoe." —John Gould, Monstrous Depravity (1963)

Join the resistance: The Meatrix. (Notice anything anatomically incorrect? Pigs on factory farms don't have tails.)

Test tube farms beat factory farms any day.

Read the hottest new vegan blog: Vegan Lunch Box. JenniferShmoo packs a mean lunchbox for her lucky little shmoo. First day of school menu: sushi and edamame.

Speaking of namesakes, another Kathy, on kitchen disasters.

Finally, a blog for potatoheads. Check out the interesting article on Judge Roberts, and how he upheld a conviction for a 12-year old french fry snatcher.

All this food blogging is making me hungry. Peanut butter on toast? Or one of my namesnacks?

George II of America: The Sun King

Last night I was reading Charles Spencer's Blenheim: Battle for Europe, about the historic battle that halted France's designs on Europe (and for which we should be grateful—or not—that we don't all speak French) and I came across this, written by the Duke of Saint Simon about King Louis XIV, the Sun King:

The superior ability of his early ministers and his early generals soon wearied him. He liked nobody in any way superior to him. Thus he chose his ministers, not for their knowledge, but for their ignorance; not for their capacity, but for their want of it. It was the same with his generals. He took credit to himself for instructing them; wished it to be thought that from the cabinet he commanded and directed all his armies."

Spencer concludes: "The king's talent in his prime had been in deciding on a course, and then finding others to pursue it on his behalf. From now on, he would attempt to be both principal and agent."

I haven't read the rest of the book yet. No idea how it turns out for King George Louis, but I have a feeling all does not go well.

If You Had 1.8 Billion Seconds Left, You'd Be Blogging Too

It has been determined through a highly scientific method that I have 1,825,177,042 seconds left to live. I'm planning a huge 101st birthday party in 2063, but please don't give me any winter clothes or certificates of deposit, since I'll be dead shortly after. (via Millennium Hippies)

I hope, however, the federal government doesn't insist that someone say a prayer over my dead body. (via DEDSpace)

But don't think there's more religious freedom over here; I'm beginning to see why my ancestors left England.

Germany: The New Florida.

Liberal comedian sues blogger. (via NTodd)

The world's oil supply will undoubtedly be exhausted by the time I celebrate my 101st birthday. Looks like I won't be having much fun after all.  (via WordWhammy)

The biggest heist in history. Can't wait for the movie.

I will now go and enjoy the 1,825,176,042 seconds I have left.