Once upon a time,not very long ago, our mothers (sisters, aunts, cousins and ourselves) brought forth on this continent, a new notion, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that when it comes to earning a paycheck, all women were created equal to men...
...Okay, so maybe there have been some glitches along the way in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. Or not. Either way, we want to hear about it. Tell us what it’s like to be a woman working in America this election year, and we’ll pass what you have to say along to the people who claim they are the ones who can make it better.
The idea is great. I'd like to report my experience.
This may be a hitch for you, or may not:
P.S. If you are not one already, by taking this survey you become a member of Working America, a powerful voice for working people. As a member, you will receive updates and information about how you can make a difference for working families.
This is sponsored by Working America & AFL-CIO. (I think, as a member of The Newspaper Guild, I'm already on an AFL-CIO list.)
The artist discusses his 1959 work Monogram as video of its installation rolls:
White elephants online: I imagine two guys with a warehouse full of Job Lot stuff, wondering how to get rid of it. The lightbulb goes on over one's head:
SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it. What will yours be?
Duct-tape wallet, red sand hourglass, Norelco shaver...
Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique.
Jocelyn Kirsch's greedy pursuit of flowing auburn extensions is what finally led to the arrest of both her and her 25-year-old lover, Edward Anderton, thus ending the couple's intricately executed identity-theft scam, federal authorities said yesterday.
The tresses, valued at $2,274 at Center City hair salon Giovanni and Pileggi, were attached to Kirsch, 22, a former Drexel University senior, over 7 1/2 hours in late November. The duo also gave the hair stylist a $250 tip - and a bad check.
Before that, most of the crafty couple's fraud occurred over the Internet, where they purchased items by opening up credit cards, using personal information from friends, co-workers and neighbors in a condo development, the Belgravia, in Center City. But their in-person appearance at Giovanni and Pileggi showed they had become careless, federal authorities said.
"Captured by the hair, that's the joke. But it was the greed of the hair extensions," U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said yesterday. "Once that check bounced, then there was an ability to go back, actually identify the victim and tie to that a name."
From there, Philadelphia police were able to get descriptions of the suspects and stake out the UPS store in West Philadelphia where one of the victims told cops the couple had opened a mailbox - in her name. One day later, on Nov. 30, the two were nabbed by University of Pennsylvania cops...
It tastes sweet, like a cross between lamb and duck. And it's selling as fast as butchers can get it.
That's in England, where the North American Eastern grey squirrel is overrunning their beloved red squirrels. So it's almost patriotic to eat them to help cull the species, at about $6.82 per cleaned squirrel at the butcher shops.
I'm thinking depression-era protein, if things get bad here. Lord knows we have enough grey squirrels eating our tulip bulbs and all the pears from our tree every year.
Texas A&M offers instructions for harvesting acorns, squirrel, opossum and raccoon "(for traditional community coon suppers)", "dressing" and cooking them,:
Squirrel is one of the most tender of all wild game meats. The rosy pink to red flesh of young squirrel is tender and has a pleasing flavor. The flesh of older animals is darker red in color and may require marinating or long cooking for tenderness.
There are recipes for squirrel, although I wouldn't expect much meat from these scrawny city critters.
There's even a review of Butler's squirrel specials in the Evening Standard by restaurant blogger Charles Campion:
During May there is a “squirrel and rook” season. When I visited only the squirrel element had kicked in - and the menu listed “Grey squirrel and rabbit terrine with piccalilli” – the terrine had a good texture, the sweet close-textured squirrel meat ends up pretty much indistinguishable from the rabbit – this would be a great dish for nervous squirrel sensation seekers. On the main course list there is “braised Grey squirrel and Guinness stew with carrots and horseradish dumplings” – very rich and discernibly squirrel, the meat falling from the bones of those long back legs – the dumplings need work, they are a little solid (which need not be a bad quality in a dumpling but can be taken too far) and they also need a bit more of the promised horseradish bite.
There are reports of prion disease -- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- in five people from Kentucky who all ate the brains of diseased squirrels. (Hard to know how the squirrels might have acquired it on their diet of nuts and berries, though, so the link may be tentative.) Don't eat the brains if you're being fastidious. (Of course, if you're being fastidious you wouldn't be anywhere near a dead squirrel.) Rabies is rare among squirrels.
Dylan art show; Donnie Darko sequel; Lessing: Nobel a disaster
A few links noted along the way:
An exhibition of Bob Dylan's artwork, first seen in November. in Germany at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (museum), is to open at the Halcyon Gallery in London's Mayfair June 14.
"The Drawn Blank Series" is based on drawings and sketches made by Dylan while on the road from 1989 through 1992.
Without a Wall Street Journal paid subscription, this is all we can read:
Rapid increases in high-fructose corn syrup prices will encourage a return to sugar usage in U.S. soft drinks and foods -- a move that is already gathering steam among consumers -- sugar industry members predict.
Even before demand for ethanol lifted corn prices recently, the nation's smaller soda and food makers began to reject the syrup in favor of sugar as consumers shied away from heavily processed snacks and ingredients.
Dalton Yancey, executive vice president of the Florida Sugar Cane League, said more soda makers are shifting to sugar, with the move based on a trend toward perceived-natural products. Escalating ...
Maybe Coke will taste like it used to again, like kosher or Mexican Coke, made with sugar.
Donnie Darko sequel S. Darko starts shooting May 18, according to ScreenDaily.
Lessing: Nobel win a 'disaster' BBC. Doris Lessing, 88, describes her life since winning the Nobel Prize for literature in October:
"All I do is give interviews and spend time being photographed."
Speaking about her writing, she said: "It has stopped, I don't have any energy any more.
"This is why I keep telling anyone younger than me, don't imagine you'll have it forever.
"Use it while you've got it because it'll go, it's sliding away like water down a plughole."
Movies worth watching: 'A Simple Curve,' 'Mantis Parable'
Friday night we watched a couple of good movies on the Cox Free Zone.
A Simple Curve
A Simple Curve has gorgeous scenery of the Kootenay Mountains of British Columbia and a good story. An American woodworker who went to Canada rather than be drafted remains a dogged perfectionist. But it's really the story of his son and business partner Caleb, raised on carob and late to rebel.
The arrival of an ecotourism entrepreneur who once vied with Caleb's father for his late mother's affections, and Caleb's own budding love life, change all that.
Great scenery, a tale of generations, and one answer to the question, "What ever happened to those earnest young men in exile since the '70s?"
The Mantis Parable
The second is the eight-minute, beautifully animated The Mantis Parable, winner of 17 festival awards, including Best Children's Film at the Rhode Island Film Festival. It's stunning on the Free Zone big screen, or you can watch all eight minutes of it below.
Created by veteran computer game designer Josh Staub (the Myst series), now a Disney artist, in his spare time, it's a totally charming and visually beautiful story of a a caterpillar and a praying mantis in a bug collector's home.
YouTube tourist safari video gets an hour on National Geographic TV Sunday night
On safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park in 2004, tourist David Budzinski captures eight minutes of lions and an alligator attacking a baby cape buffalo, and its rescue by its tribe. A fellow traveler asks for a copy, urging him to sell it. Animal TV won't buy tourist video. David had never heard of YouTube until fellow traveler shared the video there, eventually with 30 million people.
Last summer, National Geographic Channel relents, buys the video and prepares a one-hour documentary about it. A version professionally processed for TV ends "Caught on Safari: Battle at Kruger" (Sunday night, 9 p.m.), which includes taking the Texas tourist back to the scene where his wife's Canon ZR50MC video camera seized the moment.
The link goes to "Battle at Kruger" on YouTube -- the original low-rez, fuzzy version, a high-quality one uploaded three days ago, a trailer for the show, remixes, and all sorts of video responses.
Rhode Island
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An exhibition of Bob Dylan's artwork, first seen in November. in Germany at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz (museum), is to open at the Halcyon Gallery in London's Mayfair June 14. 
