Tweets for Today

• 06:40 is willingly wearing a sweater vest for the first time in her life. #

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Mwah Hah Hah

I'm headed off to the West End Halloween Parade tonight, put on every year by Shoestring Theater. It's the first year I've been able to go, because Daughter is completely terrified of it--and this year she's going trick-or-treating with her *boyfriend.* That's right.

In honor of Samhain/Halloween, I thought I'd share with you the opening lines of the best horror novel I've ever read, ever. And I've read a lot of them. No, really. Every other haunted house book written since is just a retelling of this one.

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, 1959

Anyway, here's wishing you a safe journey through the darkness, and enough candy corn to put holes in your teeth.

Tweets for Today

• 07:03 it's voting day! for me. #

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Tweets for Today

• 15:49 I'm a squirrel-killer. (I'm sorry, squirrel. But you should stay away from cars.) #

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Tweets for Today

• 13:25 eating veggie korma & rice at my computer="who has that thingy of canned air? there's something in my keyboard." #

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One Minute Weird Tales

In honor of Halloween, I share with you Weird Tales' Magazine's One Minute Weird Tales:



The website promises more later (or at least this is number 1, which leads me to believe there will be a number 2, and then a number 3...)

(via slog)

Tweets for Today

• 08:27 got my belted sweater. it's like wearing my bathrobe to work, only not awkward for my co-workers. #

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This Morning's LOL

From theoldpinebox.com: "The "Pioneer" may be purchased with a shelf option as shown here to serve as storage or display for any of your fine articles. It comes standard with a removable lid that may be stored separately or if a cabinet style is preferred, you may order a hinged lid."

Dual-duty. A priority in my life, for sure. Plus, I like to think about taking my final rest in the same space where I, like, stored my canned goods or displayed my knick-knacks.

(thx, kelly)

Seasonal Ingredient Map

Interactive peak-season produce map at epicurious. January-March is a little disheartening for us Mainuhs, though. Good thing I canned all those tomatoes.

(via i can't remember who)

Tweets for Today

• 07:54 frost on the windshield this morning and the heat on in the night. i can no longer pretend it's not happening. #

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Tweets for Today

• 19:39 @claymonkey: and the 2400 was an upgrade from the 600! #

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Tweets for Today

• 17:04 i was feeling bored with the internet, and then facebook found me. now i think i want to hide. #

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Transgender Children

The Atlantic has a new article about transgender children. I'm only partway through it, but I'm struck by this:

This is the strange place in which transsexuals have found themselves. For years, they’ve been at the extreme edges of transgressive sexual politics. But now children like Brandon are being used to paint a more conventional picture: before they have much time to be shaped by experience, before they know their sexual orientation, even in defiance of their bodies, children can know their gender, from the firings of neurons deep within their brains.

I'm going to keep reading. Have you read it? What do you think?

Tweets for Today

• 07:53 thinking about last night's debate. conclusion? mccain has shark eyes. #

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Patty Pan

In the comments to yesterday's post, Dawn from MDI wanted to know how to--if in fact you can--eat a patty pan squash.

Despite the fact that they look like UFOs, they're just summer squash. I do them up in any way that I would those baseball-bat shaped yellow squash, or zucchini.

But you can also do them stuffed, casseroled, sauteed, steamed, roasted, pizza'd or "pizza"d.

(I've heard that second "pizza" recipe from several people, although I have yet to try it, and that's probably what's going to happen to my squash tonight, along with the tomato sauce.)

Priorities

The hierarchy of perishing food currently happening at my house (i.e. the eat-me-first list):

1. fried green tomatoes
2. pasta sauce
3. pears
4. bananas
5. broccoli
6. patty pan squash
7. apples

Except 1-6 pretty much need to happen simultaneously. I got a little over-ambitious at the farmer's market.

Tweets for Today

• 10:08 just got my new work computer. i have the giantest monitor! so very exciting! #

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No Class War

I've been wondering, and now I know, why there's been no class war yet: it's the Consumption Compromise.

Until recently, many observers, most of them on the left, have puzzled over why rising inequality hasn't sparked an outright political revolt. Well, here's why. Real income matters less than quality of life. And for the last two decades, a delicate Consumption Compromise has tamped down economic discontent among working-class voters by driving down the cost of living—we've been living in the era of cheap food, cheap gas, cheap credit, and, of course, cheap Chinese-made goods.

Read it all--this is a good, short article (even though the author seems to be a Republican, heh).

Tweets for Today

• 16:50 candy tour FAIL #
• 08:27 there is handholding and gazing going on at my house right now, but not by me. #

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Conspiracy?

Not to belabor the point, but this is getting ridiculous.

I went to ye olde drug store today looking for some allergy medication, since my eyes have recently become attractively itchy/swollen/discolored thanks to the local bloom of something yummy.

Unfortunately for me, every single allergy medication--with two exceptions--contain lactose. Those exceptions are dye-free benadryl and benadryl instant-dissolve strips. Needless to say, it was a sleepy day for the Jenster, and I am full of rage at the allergy companies. Raging and sleepy; it's an interesting day.

Tweets for Today

• 14:11 ...and we have wireless. Thank you, chykubrick! You have made possible a whole new level of physical inactivity. #
• 20:13 Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia = Fear of long words. And you say there is no such thing as intelligent design. Ha! #

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It Sneaks

Using a very unscientific method (my memory--very unscientific indeed), here are the most common topics my friends and I talk about, in no particular order:

• politics
• babies
• marriage/divorce/relationships
• health problems
• books & tv shows
• food
  

At some point along here I became a grown up. No wonder Daughter thinks I'm boring.

Of course, I can't help but be grateful that I can no longer converse for hours about body glitter or heartthrob musicians, so I guess it works out.

Tweets for Today

• 10:29 weekend plans: sopranos, chauffeuring, brunch, family time, chauffeuring, candy factory, chauffeuring. Tween-parenting = a lot of driving. #

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Tweets for Today

• 15:15 today it's the document dance: word to pdf to jpg. lather, rinse, repeat. #
• 07:57 Don't hate me because I drink yesterday's coffee. #
• 08:02 @chykubrick: It's gambling. Eh, I mean loans. Try this tinyurl.com/3gvq49. Or this tinyurl.com/4e3lha. #

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What I Learned Today

"That" vs. "Which"

It all depends on whether the clause is essential or not. Essential clauses use that, nonessential clauses use which.

For example:

The applesauce that I made this weekend filled up my pantry shelves.
(the clause "that I made this weekend" is essential to the sentence--because it indicates that I'm not talking about the applesause I made last weekend)

The applesauce, which I made this weekend, filled up my pantry shelves.
("which filled up my pantry shelves" is not necessary to the understanding of the sentence)

Here's another clue: nonessential clauses, which should use which, are always surrounded by commas.

Grammar is sexy.

Tweets for Today

• 10:45 with my newfound wealth, i'm preparing for a western mass adventure! #
• 10:45 and also infatuated lately with exclamation points! #

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Tweets for Today

• 12:54 ....and, the internet has returned to our home. Please welcome us to the 21st century. #
• 12:54 @claymonkey: It pretty much kicks ass. Yep. #
• 10:44 picking apples in madison, shortly. waiting for child's saturday morning activities to end, currently. #

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See, That's What I Was Afraid Of

What I learned was that to write a book you have to first become the person you need to be to write that book. I had to, like, literally change. I had to become a new person. I had to grow the f— up.

– Junot Diaz

(via After the MFA)

OMG, Author Gossip

Did you know? The film The Body Snatcher was based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson writing under the pen name Carlos Keith (according to the New Yorker).

The film is also, in that same article, nominated as one of the 5 scariest movies of all time. (via kottke)

Tweets for Today

• 07:59 @claymonkey: Happy happy happy happy b'day! #

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Dairy-free Drugs

I've been having a hard time lately finding prescriptions that do not contain lactose. Apparently not even my pharmacist knows what's in the drugs I'm taking (I did ask, and he did look, but was unable to identify lactose in the inactive ingredients, and then I had to spend two days at home when he was wrong).

Of course, when there is lactose, I know pretty quickly--but I'd like to avoid that in the future. It's really not nice.

So in my researches, I found this list of lactose-containing medications online that is proving extremely hepful. Add to that list every single birth control pill available in the US (not kidding--maybe there's a secret government plot to increase the lactose-intolerant population?).

Unified: A Community Response to Hate Crimes

Unified: A Community Response to Hate Crimes
Tuesday, October 7,2008 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm

In light of recent hate crimes in Portland, including a Sept. 6 attack on a man who was perceived to be gay, EqualityMaine and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence are sponsoring a community rally in Monument Square.

Event Location: Monument Square Portland, ME 04101
Rain location: First Parish UU Church, 425 Congress Street, Portland

The rally will feature various speakers from across the community, as well as a speak-out for individuals who want to address the crowd about the need to end hate violence in our communities.

If you have any questions, please contact info@equalitymaine.org