Three years isn’t as long as it sounds. I’m glad we had a little time with her. I’m glad she trusted us and that we could give her a comfortable life. I wish I’d picked her up more.
Recent updates
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Goodbye, Mama Cat
We had to say goodbye to one of our cats yesterday. She was a sweetheart with a big heart and she will be missed. Thank you for being a part of our lives, Mama Cat.
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Superman Meshi: a superhero cooking manga
A cooking manga with Superman. There really is a manga about everything.
I spotted this on the shelf at Kinokuniya in Edgewater, NJ yesterday.
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Photos: I-287 accident last Tuesday
Last Tuesday I got stuck in traffic while trying to get to work because of an accident. I was late to work the previous week for the exact same thing, so I had to take photos this time to make sure my boss knew I wasn’t bullshitting her.
I figured they’re worth sharing. The weirdest thing about the accident to me is that the person in the smaller vehicle looks like some old lady that just rolled out of her living room to yell at some kids for being noisy in the street.
This section of 287 is rough. People get into car accidents there all the time because of cars veering from the left lane into the middle lane to cut the hard left exit onto 27 East, Prospect Expressway, followed immediately by people merging into the highway from 3rd Ave and then everyone opening it up on the straightaway if possible to make up time before the Belt Parkway split.
287 is called the Gowanus (‘Go anus’) Expressway, which adds some comic relief to getting screwed by bad traffic backups there regularly, but during the school year traffic is so bad that I’m thinking about taking the train to work instead, even though the trip would be 1.5 hours each way.
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Noli Me Tangere
1861 Alabama State Flag: Front 
1861 Alabama State Flag: Reverse The original flag of the State of Alabama was very different to the current flag. It was designed by a group of Alabama women in 1861. It featured the words, “Independent Now and Forever” over the Goddess of Liberty on one side. The other side had a cotton plant and a rattlesnake with the Latin words “Noli Me Tangere,” meaning “Touch Me Not.”
Quote: States101: Alabama Images: WikipediaI stumbled onto this in a weird way, looking for info about car decals and Alabama, since I just did a road trip there and back from New York. I wasn’t aware that the phrase “noli me tangere” was ever used in Alabama for anything significant. My only exposure to it was the book by Jose Rizal:
Noli Me Tángere (Latin for “Touch Me Not”) is a novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal published during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It explores perceived inequities in law and practice in terms of the treatment by the ruling government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples in the late-19th century.
WikipediaThe reasons for using the phrase are pretty similar for both the women in Alabama creating a State flag and for Jose Rizal, who both saw themselves as part of an oppressed group being trampled on by outside forces: the Union Army for Alabama and the Spanish colonizers for Jose Rizal.
Image from American Legion product page The choice of the rattlesnake on the original Alabama flag makes me wonder if it was partially inspired by the Gadsden flag, which was created and used during the American Revolutionary War by US Continental forces fighting the British. It included the phrase “DONT TREAD ON ME”, which is pretty similar to “noli me tangere” / “touch me not”, though I wonder what they were thinking of exactly when they chose that phrase. For Jose Rizal, it seems more clear. Noli me tangere is a reference to John 20:17, and considering the use of Catholicism as a form of oppression in the Philippines, he was almost certainly making a religious appeal, though I haven’t read the book yet so I couldn’t say for sure.
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Kadie the Cow
Kadie the Cow is now on Bay Avenue in Woodruff Riverfront Park in Downtown Columbus, Georgia, but she used to “live” on Manchester Expressway in front of the old Kinnett Dairy. Along with her calf, BeBe, she was the company’s mascot, and they both stayed on in the same location even after Kinnett shut down and was replaced by a Best Buy, which in turn has also shut down.
Over the years, Kadie has been defaced with obscene graffiti and BeBe was kidnapped and spent some time in Butler, Georgia, before being recovered. It’s weird the kinds of things people get attached to, but with so much change happening in Columbus and Kadie standing witness to it all, she gained significance to the community and achieved landmark status.
It’s nice to see her down at the new river walk with a fresh coat of paint. It feels like a monument to my childhood and a simpler, friendlier, perhaps rose colored past. When I was a kid, my Nana kept a box of Kinnett ice cream sandwiches in the freezer in the Florida Room of her house because she knew that me and her other grandkids loved them. We’d walk through the den, open the sliding glass door and step into that hot room that smelled like chlorine and hot plastic, and open up the freezer to grab dessert, or a snack when we got older.
I’ve spent most of my life living outside of Columbus, because of military service and work, and when we talked on the phone Nana would always ask me when I was “coming in”. What an interesting way of looking at the world. Beyond the borders of Columbus was outside, and coming home was coming in to where family waited for you. Coming in meant Kinnett ice cream sandwiches and visiting with loved ones. My entire childhood is tied up with memories of Kadie and Kinnett products. I was really disappointed when the company went under, but at least Kadie is still around to remind me of the past.
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Ukraine support begs have jumped the shark
A World of Warcraft virtual pet offer to “support Ukraine” This is getting ridiculous. Can we find a cause to virtue signal about that benefits the United States and its citizens in a more direct way? Can we let Europe take care of Europe for a while and instead take care of the United States before our country falls apart we need Europeans to buy virtual pets in online games to help support us?
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working in more vegetarian meals
My wife and I ate strictly vegetarian for about 14 months and then we fell off the wagon and went back to our old meat-eating ways quite a few years ago. I’m not sure if I want to do that again, eating strictly vegetarian I mean, but lately I’ve been wanting to drastically reduce the amount of meat in my diet, not because I’m overly concerned about cow farts or saving the world, though that is a pretty important issue, but because I want to improve my own health. Self preservation is a strong motivator.
When we were eating vegetarian I was losing weight and I felt healthier. The issue wasn’t just meat, of course. We were also exercising regularly, counting calories, not drinking soda, and going light on desserts. I want to do that again, so I’ve started exercising more and I’m hoping to really cut down on meat over the long-term and carbs in the short term to get myself back on track.
Tabouli, babaganoush, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, salad, and fried potatoes. 
Shakshuka with mozzarella cheese It’s not as hard to do when there are so many great vegetarian restaurant options nearby. I guess that might be one of the perks of living in a major city, but eating good while eating out won’t be an issue. Today, we went to one of our favorite spots, Hummus Place, for a late lunch/early dinner. We developed a taste for Middle Eastern food when I was in college studying Middle Eastern history. I’m glad I got over my disinclination to try new foods when I was younger, because life would be a lot blander if I still thought seasoning food meant just adding salt and pepper.
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the true thief of joy
Comparing one’s self to others is the true thief of joy.
Zed the Bard, “Everything: Full Murderhobo” (also Theodore Roosevelt)
