scottobear | 9351

Okra has come in with the first zucchini - vile, slimy okra. We'll see if BHK can win me over to this veggie, like she did with Zucchini.

John R Cambron (who lives in North Beach!) has an excellent track map showing the layout of all switches, yards and platforms in the Metrorail system. Now, he's expanded that map based on the Metro 2030 vision to create a potential 2030 track layout. - via

In the first case to review the government’s secret evidence for holding a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a federal appeals court found that accusations against a Muslim from western China held for more than six years were based on bare and unverifiable claims. The unclassified parts of the decision were released on Monday.

With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.

The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark”: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”

more here at the NY times

So, how many human rights advocates are going to boycott all of the sponsors of the 2008 Summer olympics in Beijing ?

Numerous human rights violations have taken place in China because of the Olympics, according to an Amnesty International report. In 2006, Beijing implemented a detention without trial scheme called "Re-education Through Labor" which targets people who have committed minor offenses and are forced to work long hours and can be detained for 4 years. Concerns over the games also include the potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from organizations such as Amnesty International upset with China's involvement in the crisis in Darfur.

Biggest tricks for me to avoid would be be -

Johnson and Johnson - very big company - not sure if we could dodge every tendril. I can rattle off at least 5 of those items in our home right now.

GE - everywhere, also owns a ton of stuff - (including TiVo, Universal Studios, and USA network, home of Psych)

Coca-cola - everywhere, but avoidable if you take note of what you're drinking, including water.

Visa - well, that's my bank's debit card, and almost every place on the planet takes it... so, unless I want to live and trade with cash-only businesses, that's a deal breaker. Too big to defeat.

Items of little to no difficulty -

McDonalds - not hard for me to miss out on - we only ever go for shamrock shakes or pumpkin at halloween. Easily avoided.

Samsung / Panasonic - easy peasy. I get 99% of my electronics from other sources, though our tv is a samsung right now.

VW? Awww... you guys let me down. Would I have to boycott playing punch-buggy?

Adidas - no problem missing out on them.

UPS - I do use them on occasion, but there are alternatives.

Snickers, Tsingtao, and Budwiser - I can do without all of those.

Kodak - plenty of other options there, too, but they're in a lot of places. depending on the extremism, some might want to forego any book that used kodak photography or processes. Movies, etc.They are teamed with Motorola and Lexar, for that matter.

Who can say? I won't be that extreme, but sometimes I feel that I should.

‘Zero’ chance lottery tickets stun some players - Through a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act, Fishwick’s firm was able to obtain records that showed the Virginia State Lottery sold $85 million in tickets for which no top prize was available.

1 year ago - hot brain, hot pixel, night of the comet, the frighteners, Louise and in-laws at supper, dinner pix, shag and klondike bar

2 years ago - nearly naked neighbors, gray day, mob supply pic, newt pics

3 years ago - talked to Arnie's Sec, newt and graffiti pix, autostitch, wifi theft arrest, reality show premises, j-walk on podcasts, programmer joke, google maps goodies, flightgear, wifi hotspot backpack, my messy office, bear-knocking, sex pred info pages

4 years ago - combos/snausages , wisdom, serving sizes, ramen, Rockford Files, Planetarium pictures, weather, sock thief

5 years ago - call block, snapple, intelligence gathering, Batroc, flashback cartoon, addictive data

6 years ago - oz/floyd connection, pimps at sea, rss feeds start, cat dreams

7 years ago - cej returns, unpacking videos, 1992 tax info, the challenge, corn chowder, kubrick quiz

8 years ago - Rowlf sings, April actually kicks back a few bucks, pondering a new recorder

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think we CAN boycott---even if it is only for the duration of the games!

Coke---fine if we drink soft drinks we can make sure not to buy Coke products!

Johnson and Johnson is a tough one since they make my favorite skincare line Neutrogena and your allergy meds Zyrtec.

Yeah VISA is the big bad----BUT---we could do it---especially if we made sure to use our check card as a debit and not credit! We could write checks and carry cash---for 2 weeks I think we could do it!

I think I will make a pledge to boycott these brands and sponsors during the duration of the OLYMPICS. I will make a pledge not to purchase any products from them for that time period. I tihnk that's totally do-able!

One of the problems with boycotting large diversified companies is that they ARE so diversified! But don't say we can't make a difference! Even if it is for our own peace of mind! I think on a grassroot slevel boycotts work quite nicely---now the challenge is to see if we can create a "grassroots" movement by mentioning your boycott on your journal *wink*

so far, so good, save for a coca cola whoopsie! :D

Also---wha tis this some kinda chef challenge? :D
"Can you get you husband to eat Okra and LIKE it?"
OK I'll take it!! "D

Also squid shake!

If you deep fry that sucker - trust me - it'll be grand. =)

I told him I was gonna stick it in something when he least expects it like 3 weeks ago! Last night I made stuffed cabbage and I told him it had a secret ingredient and he'd have to taste it to guess th eingredient(I added cinnamon). With fear in his eyes he looked at me and asked "Does it have okra in it?"

My threat to include okra in something had totally slipped my mind but apparently my poor husband had been living in fear of "THE OKRA" for a while!

hahaha! Poor Scotto bear. =)

I've only had Okra the southern way - deep fried! And it's pretty darn tasty that way. I can see why he would fear THE OKRA otherwise though - I can't imagine how it could taste good any other way BUT....I trust your culinary genious. =)

Well sometimes you can slip it in gumbo. I guess I was always too worried about crawfish parts to worry about slimy okra in gumbo.

But yeah---lightly breaded and fried...mmmmmm. I just don't have enough okra to merit that! I'm only growing about one pod a week hahahahaa!

"Vile, slimy okra" indeed. Bleah! I was just remarking that I like just about every vegetable except eggplant and okra. Eggplant I can stomach if its roasted and really garlicky but okra? Oof! I can't even gag it down when its deep fried.

I'm growing some ichiban eggplant in our garden (along with white and green which I haven't harvested yet)---long skinny purple things---I've been cooking them with a little cinnamon and green peppers and putting them in my stuffed cabbage and veggie lasangna---I LOVE them and suprisingly Scott does too (he normally hates eggplant)! He told me that he liked them better because they weren't as bitter---they have a sweet italian sausage kinda vibe going for them! I think they are a great addition to veggie ground beef to enhance the "meatiness" factor.

But if the eggplant slime factor is a yuck for you then they are about the same----all I can say is saute or bread and fry the hell outta them! :D

I have issues with things that taste bad and things that have icky texture (slimy, mooshy, seedy, leathery-skinned). I can usually get past it as long as the vegetable only has one of those things working against it. So summer squash is edible, even though the texture of the stuff is kinda gross. But eggplant and okra push both of my yuck buttons. I can usually choke down eggplant if its sliced thin, marinated, and grilled until it gets a bit chewy/crisp. Or if its smooshed up into baba ganoush (because garlic and olive oil can make just about anything tasty). Okra I haven't figured out, though. So I just avoid it.

Yeah slimy and leathery skinned are big ones for me too! Suprisingly I have all these little food quirks like---I don't mind seeds in veggies but can't tolerate them in fruits---I have no idea why!

I always take a carrot peeler to my eggplant and squash to at least get off some of the leathery skinned parts. The good thing about growing your own veggies is--you get more tender veggies so veggies that normally have tough hides are delectable fresh grown. I think that's really the only reason Scott will eat zucchini with skin on when I cook it.

holy crap, is that the zucchini next to the vile okra? It's a MONSTER!

I'm with ya, okra is putrid! they love it here, and it totally sickens me. Pops loves this dish called "Bamieh" (sp?)it's pretty much a tomato-y okra stew (but light, not heavy like I would think of a stew.) usually eaten over rice. Sometimes they make it with lamb, but mom usually just makes it vegetarian and adds green beans, which I like because then I can pick out the stinky okra. But we haven't had it in a long time. I'm the cook now, my poor poor family! hahahahaha

RESIST THE OKRA BROTHER!!

I'll try to resist.. but BHK... she's a tricky one!!

I remember one of the first exchanges we had in lj - it was about boycotting things made in China and how hard it was. Nearly 8 years later, it hasn't gotten any easier. Jordan still refuses to shop at wal-mart and we try to buy local whenever we can. I think it is more difficult now than it has ever been, especially having a baby again, the temptation to buy crap is sometimes strong.

It's true... china-made stuff is everywhere! I feel guilty enough about the waste of resources to get the goods to us in the first place, and the human rights angle is surely worse than that for me.

9351 - Tuesday

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