Detroit Diva

Seriously, there should be law against this.  Duuuuuude, YIKES!

Happy Holidays!

Origami Christmas Tree at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC

Chez Pim and many, many, other food bloggers are holding the 4th annual Menu for Hope raffle.  Here's how it works, for every $10 donated you get a virtual raffle ticket that you can then use to enter for the prize of your choice.  The prizes are astonishing  - everything from meals with famous chefs to food baskets to autographed cookbooks.  Some items require that you live in a certain area of the world, unless of course you want to fly yourself to Rome to claim your prize but others will be shipped to you if you're the winner.  Check out Chez Pim for the entire list of prizes or scroll down to the bottom to find prizes by region.  All money raised goes to the United Nations World Food Programme.  Last year they raised over $60,000.  Awesome!

Toooo freaking funny

A Saudi Arabian woman and the man she was with were attacked and raped by 7 men.  Yes, the man was raped also.  Because the woman was unrelated to the man, she was sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail.  In Saudi Arabia, it's illegal for a woman to be alone with an unrelated man.  Apparently, the Saudi justice system doesn't give a shit that you might have been traumatized by being raped by 7 men.  Following religious law to the letter is more important.  Another judge said that if it had been his case, he would have sentenced all of them - woman, man, and 7 rapists - to death.  Hmmm, do you think that's what God would do?

Evel Knievel died today.

During a meeting at work, we started talking about New Year's resolutions.  One of my co-workers said that instead of making resolutions he picks a theme for the year.  This year his theme was acceptance.  I think this is such a good idea.  Resolutions put such pressure on you and instead of a positive effect, when we can't keep our usually unrealistic resolutions, we end up feeling like failures.  A theme seems so much more positive.  For 2008, I'm picking the theme of reduce and reuse.  I already do some things to help reduce the amount of waste I contribute to the planet such as using cloth napkins instead of paper towels and reusing plastic baggies.  I can do better and that's my mission for the coming year.  I'm also going to encourage family, friends, and you to reduce and reuse.  One of my pet peeves is bottled water.  In Michigan, bottled water doesn't have a 10 cents deposit, unlike pop cans/bottles, so they and those from other states, simply get thrown into the landfills by the gazillions (ok, it's actually 38 billion!).  I admit that I have bought bottled water on occassion but, after finding out that several of the waters are filtered tap water, no more.  I have a Nalgene bottle at work and I'm going to make sure I always carry one with me.  I already filter my own water with a Brita pitcher so I was happy to see that Brita and Nalgene have teamed up to Filter For Good.  A project that aims to get people to make the committment "to reduce your personal waste by giving up bottled water, even if it's just a few days each week."   If you need a bottle check out the Filter For Good website - for every $10 bottle bought by the end of the year, they'll give $4 to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which helps provide safe drinking water to those who are without it (that's 1 in 5 people).  Even if you don't need a bottle go to the site and take the pledge to reduce your bottled water usage.   38 billion bottles a year!  Let's reduce that number!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Detroit was named most dangerous city in the U.S. by some private research group.  The American Society of Criminology and the  F.B.I.  says the groups use of the statistics is messed up.   Well, thank you very much private research group.  Yet another blow to Detroit's rep.  How about you all find another bastard child to pick on - we Detroiters are tired of it.

"Bishops: Catholics must follow church doctrine when voting in '08"  Or what?  I think we've seen where following the religious right has taken us - right into war and no healthcare for children.  Here's a thought - how about Catholics around the world use the brains GOD gave them and make their own choices.  This is exactly why, even though I was raised Catholic, I can't be a part of organized religion. Which is not to say that I don't believe in God. Because I do, but personally, I like to think for myself. I'm pretty sure that I was meant to use the brain that I was given and I like to use it. So that's what I encourage all Catholics and others to do - use your brain and make your own political choices!  Don't be a lemming!