The Bear Flag League has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few days!

Drop by and say Howdy! to our newest members:

Flap's Dental Blog (it's about more than teeth)
Three Bad Fingers (draw your own conclusions)

and two new ex-pat members who may not be new to you:
Captain's Quarters Blog
My Pet Jawa

To keep up with the rest of the BFL members, read Justene's herculean multipart roundup of what's going on in the BFL.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It is in fact painless.

Go over to Ben's place and tell him to get off his lazy butt and write something. Tell him I sent you.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Visitor # 25,000 dropped in to the blogsplat page at 4:21:51 EDT from the MUSCTigers!

Yay!

Go on over there and meet Jeremy, Katie, and Jenks, three students at the Medical University of South Carolina, and enjoy a different perspective!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:59 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Have you ever been amazed by the poor fashion choices some people make? I'm not talking about stripes with polka dots or purple with orange. I mean like a woman pushing her kid's stroller at the zoo in a see-through halter, leather mini, and stiletto heels. I'm talking hoochie-mama at the grocery store, jeans so low the dude's boxers are showing and he can't walk, and all other manner of inappropriate attire. I myself am unbelievably tired of seeing the top of your thong underwear and your bra staps, ladies. There's a reason it's called UNDERWEAR.

Anyway, if you want to pause and have laugh at these poor people's expense, or you want to share a ludicrous outfit you've seen with others for their amusement, your outlet is now available, thanks to Michele.

Just go to http://inappropriatelydressed.com/ and click through the archives (which is just 3 pictures now, but sure to increase) or add a pic of your own, instructions are on the page.

Enjoy!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Go over to the Queen of All Evil's place and wish her a Happy Happy Birthday!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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At 1:03 pm EDT, SiteMeter reads 24,966.

34 to go.

Special linky recognition to the referrer(s)!

I'm betting it will be Jay and Deb again.... Or maybe Sadie this time....

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This post stays on top today.

Today, April 24th, is the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.

I have so many things to say, so many emotions, I will say just two:

First, why is it that so many Americans know nothing of a genocide that killed nearly as many as Hitler's reign of terror over the Jews in Europe? Like the Jews, the Christian Armenians were pursued and killed by the Muslim turks for no reason other than their religion. It was wholesale slaughter. Men, and young boys were murdered outright, women, girls, and the elderly were forced to march for miles. Most died along the way. Armenian girls were sold into slavery in turkish homes and were raped by turkish soldiers. Yet almost no one here knows the story...

Second, a personal story. My father's stepmother was already a widow with 7 children at the time of the genocide. Her children were young, but not babies. She knew that they would never survive without some kind of plan. So she disguised herself and her children as turkish arabs, and moved from town to town posing as an arab widow. She made what little living she could scrape together by sewing for wealthy turkish families, all the while hiding her true identity. Over the course of a couple of years she and her children crossed turkey on foot, and eventually came under the protection of some Christian arabs who helped them escape to Lebanon. Eventually, they made their way to France, and some of them, including my father's stepmother, made it to the US.

Their sacrifice deserves to be remembered.
For more on the genocide, go here and here.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The Niners took Alex Smith and there really weren't any exciting last minute deals, but hey, here's wishful thinking.

I went out shoe shopping.

Thoughts, post-draft, anyone?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Just what you need...a Seahawks fan on your site Although I disagree with a lot of the newsgroup regulars, the Hawks did ok in this years draft, at least the first day. They shored up the OL a bit and added some energy to the LBs, plus, possibly found a backup QB to replace Dilfer. Who knows? These are delicious! Baby back ribs...cover them completely with this rub, http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/r/bl91211a.htm and I mean cover them. The twist I add is to apply this glaze for the last ten minutes of cooking on each side. It's a mix of a jar of blackcurrant jam, other flavors work well too, 2TB of mustard, OJ and lemon juice. I cook mine slowly over the lowest setting on a gas grill so the cooking time with the glaze may vary. It's a great mix of heat and sweet. I'll reemphasize the need to completely cover the ribs with the rub. cheers, Dick

Posted by: hairofthedawg at April 24, 2005 12:13 AM (SQhq+)

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The Carnival of the Recipes is up at bebere.com, complete with poetry.
Bev did a great job! Drop by and check it out!

Next week the CotR moves here, don't miss it!

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My day WAS kinda crappy so far. How was yours?

Going out tonight. Maybe to a flick, maybe just to Target to buy one on DVD and then watch it at home....

Update: We went to Target and got South Park Season 5 on DVD. Excellent. I laughed hard enough that I feel much better now. Two of my favorite episodes of all time are in this set: "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" and "Cripple Fight!" (including the classic 20 minute fight from "They Live")

Also, for those of you who have been wondering, Team America will be released on DVD on May 17th....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is the sh*t that happens when your team is exceptionally good.

Dammit. Whatever happened to an education? I get that the $$ will be better this year than next year since they just won, but damn, guys, college is the best time of your life.

UNC just lost the 7 leading scorers and 7 of the 8 players on the roster who have ever started a game. The sum total of starts remaining on the bench? 1. Quentin Thomas started in UNC's lead-off loss to Santa Clara while Ray Felton was suspended for participating in an "unapproved" charity game, which had previously been allowed.

Here's hoping JJ goes too. And Coach K goes to LA.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yay!

Football is a big thing in our house thanks to the DH. College, NFL, he doesn't really care. He'll even watch Arena Football, but usually we'll take a pass.

So the NFL season officially kicks off with tomorrow's draft. I'm a little tired of it after a week of hype, but I'm stil gonna watch the first round. I always do.

Who do you think will go first? My money's on Aaron Rodgers of Cal to the 49ers. I know that most people think Alex Smith of Utah is the top choice, but I can't imagine that the Niners would pass up a chance to go with a Golden Bear, especially since the team has so much history with Cal. Three years ago, the Carolina Panthers made a surprise move and did the same thing, picking Julius Peppers of UNC 3rd overall. They made sure to get their hands on a great player with a strong local draw. Most Bay Area folks have at least heard of Rodgers, and he's a strong quarterback. Hell, he beat USC against a Heisman winner. But Alex Smith is strong too, and he's younger. Tough to say.

Also, I think we'll see a few last minute deals to trade up for players. there haven't been many of these deals in the last few years, with the closest thing in last year's draft being the trade of Eli Manning and Philip Rivers... which doesn't really count.

What do you think? Predictions? Surprises?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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By now you've probably heard that Sesame Street plans to cut back on the blue guy's cookie consumption next season.

Jonah Goldberg responds, and skewers the prospective change with reasoning direct from Hannibal Lecter (and Marcus Aurelius)...

An Excerpt:

Lecter: “First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this creature you seek?

Starling: He entertains childrenÂ….

Lecter: “No! That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What need does he serve by entertaining children?

Starling: Social acceptance? Personal frustration?

Lecter: No: He craves. ThatÂ’s his nature. And what does he crave? Make an effort to answer.

Starling: Food?

Lecter: No! He is not a “food monster!” He is a cookie monster!

Read the rest!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hell, after seeing this video, you don't NEED any more reasons...

Click here, and then scroll to (48:50) to skip the Bio1a lecture.....

Here's the audio of the relevant part only if you don't want to wait for the video to load. You may have to click and save. It's worth it!

From BoingBoing, via Michelle Malkin

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Visitor # 24,500 was referred by Dean's World sometime in the last hour!
WooHoo!!

There will be much rejoicing and link glory for the referrer of visitor #25,000! This will probably occur at the end of next week, especially if I get a HWNNL-lanche from the CotR again.

However, HWNNL is not eligible for link-love around here, so in that case, the referrer closest to 25,000 but not below who is NOT HWNNL will get special recognition... and perhaps a prize... Suggestions?

Also, this is post #50 as a munuvian.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here are some lovely pictures of the flowers in and around my yard, starting with the blossoms on my blueberry bush (YAY!!! but that's a story for another day, poor bush), lots of Azaleas and a Dogwood. Also, the Princess...

The originals are 2048x1536, so if you would like a larger version of any of them, email me and I'll be happy to send them to you!

And here's the Princess:
First, reproach (Mommy, why do I have to stay on the deck????)

Then a smile (Yay! Let's play!)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:32 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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In today's electon coverage, the BBC features a story on the impact of blogging on the political scene in the UK, and how the "democratization" of the media is changing business as usual for Britain's political parties.

Video features gratuitous shots of Karl Rove talking on his cell phone and a snippet of an interview with former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith, discussing his article on blogging (which I covered here).

More on the British elections later.... A piece on the non-issue in this year's election...

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It's strawberry season, which of course makes me homesick for those luscious CA strawberries that are WAY overpriced in our stores out here....

In honor of that, here's a recipe that turns out a beautiful 3-layer cake from scratch when done right.

Strawberries and Cream Cake (originally from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups white sugar
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strawberries, pureed

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups quartered strawberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar, gelatin and butter until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Mix flour and baking powder, and beat alternately with the milk into the sugar mixture. Fold in 1 teaspoon vanilla and pureed strawberries. Divide equally into three 9 inch round cake pans.
3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove from pans and cool completely.
4. To make the filling: Beat whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla on high until stiff. Fill each layer with 1/3 of the whipped cream and 3/4 cup sliced strawberries.
5. To make the frosting: Beat the margarine, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Spread over the sides of the cake, and pipe an edge of frosting around the top of the cake.
6. Spread remaining whipped cream on cake top. Top with quartered strawberries.

Submit your own recipes to the Carnival of the Recipes by emailing your link (if you have a web presence) or your recipe (if you don't) to recipe(dot)carnival(at)gmail(dot)com

This week's CotR is hosted by Bev at bebere.com. Next week the CotR stops here! And of course thanks to SWWBO for starting the whole thing....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Two of my favorite bloggers-on-hiatus are back.

Drop by and welcome back Kelley of Suburban Blight and TopDawg of Two Nervous Dogs!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:09 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 Aw, thanks, sweets! If I can ever get WordPress working, I may actually blog, too.

Posted by: Kelley at April 21, 2005 12:05 AM (NWVVw)

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I have returned to Large Mammal status! I lost 150 spots in the process but hey, it works now.

Props to the Bear for cleaning up the ecosystem.

Congrats to him and the new Mrs. Bear, as well. May your den always be snug, and your days filled with honey and no bees

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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