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Friday, April 4, 2008

The Morning News

posted by on April 4 at 7:49 AM

Final Blow: Climate change hurt woolly mammoths, but humans finished them off.

Through the Roof: Claims for unemployment insurance skyrocket.

Embryonic”: McCain’s VP search.

The Fact that She’s an “Ex-Stripper” Is Not Relevant: Woman sentenced in plot to murder fiance.

Inexcusable: Another woman steps forward with horrific story of gang rape by employees of defense contractor KBR.

Endorsed: NATO expresses support for Bush’s missile defense plan.

Rejected: NATO declines US request to put Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward NATO membership.

Pathetic: Government-funded reproductive health database blocks access to all information about abortion.

On a Rampage: Naomi Campbell strikes again!

Fucked: Iraqi attack on Basra thwarted because of al-Maliki’s shoddy planning.

Oh, Shit: “George W. Bush sewage plant” proposed in San Francisco.

Softening: Obama’s support weakens nationally, according to new NYT poll.

Raided: Opposition party offices in Zimbabwe, as Mugabe grasps for power.

Recipe of the Day: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup (Photo and recipe from La Tartine Gourmand)

sunchoke-soup.jpg

Ingredients:
1 lb + 1 oz sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), peeled and diced
1 large potato (3 oz), peeled and diced
2 celery branches, diced
1 small fennel bulb, diced
2 shallots, chopped
10 coriander seeds
1 rosemary twig
Salt and pepper
3 cups water (or homemade vegetable broth)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp crème fraîche
Parsley, chopped
Fleur de sel

For the garnish:
Bay scallops, Nantucket origin for me (about 6 to 7 per person)
Olive oil flavored with white truffle

Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add the shallot and cook with the coriander seeds and rosemary for a few min without browning.

Add the vegetables and cook on medium heat for about 8 min.

Add the water or broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 min, until the vegetables are fork tender.

Stop the heat and mix your soup.

Add the cream, the fleur de sel and parsley.

Serve with scallops (sauteéd for only 30 seconds in butter or oil) and a dash of truffled-infused olive oil.

RSS icon Comments

1

Re: Softening

The poll showed that Mr. Obama now leads Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, by 47 percent to 42 percent; his lead was 50 percent to 38 percent in late February, when Mr. McCain still faced opposition from Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.
Oh teh noes!

Posted by Mike of Renton | April 4, 2008 8:26 AM
2

Nice html work there, Erica. Have a fun night?!

Posted by Mr. Poe | April 4, 2008 8:30 AM
3

When is there going to be an "excusable" case of gang rape? I've been waiting for so long!

Posted by The CHZA | April 4, 2008 8:33 AM
4

"The Fact that She’s an “Ex-Stripper” Is Not Relevant: Woman sentenced in plot to murder fiance."

maybe it is relevant. have you asked charles mudede?

Posted by jake | April 4, 2008 8:36 AM
5

Gang rape should be classified as a group consensus. If the entire group thinks that it was be a good idea, then maybe it was.

Posted by pencil riot | April 4, 2008 8:37 AM
6

FIX YOUR HTML!!!

Posted by monkey | April 4, 2008 8:39 AM
7

Woolly mammoths were just one of the hundreds of species of megafauna that humans wiped out, on every continent, as soon as they got there in numbers, around 50,000 years ago. Or more recent, as with the moa in New Zealand, killed off by the Maori less than a hundred years after they got there in c. 1300.

Posted by Fnarf | April 4, 2008 8:45 AM
8

Actually, I think the last Moa was killed by a dog, not a human.

Not that it cared. Of course, Wikipedia won't tell you that, and this is just my recollection from touring New Zealand's fine museums.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 4, 2008 8:59 AM
9

Extinction is hilarious!

Posted by humans rule | April 4, 2008 9:07 AM
10

Yeah, imagine what a bummer it would be to have to deal with saber-toothed tigers on the way to work every day.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | April 4, 2008 9:12 AM
11

This photo pretty much sums up what the world thinks of us. Yes he's the uniter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/europe/04nato.html?em&ex=1207454400&en=4bed0be3e628387b&ei=5087%0A

Posted by McG | April 4, 2008 9:13 AM
12

Tim Flannery knows a lot more about the moa than either you or Wikipedia, Will, and he doesn't mention anything about a dog. Any "museum" suggesting that the identity of "the last moa" is knowable is a rather dubious source -- and, like all of your anecdotes, it tells us nothing of interest about the moa, or the Maori, but is only there to show off, in a pathetic attempt to be noticeable.

Posted by Fnarf | April 4, 2008 9:35 AM
13

'George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant'

Finally, a fitting monument to our President's achievements.

Posted by Y.F. | April 4, 2008 9:35 AM
14

Fnarf's got yer number, Will.

Posted by Greg | April 4, 2008 9:39 AM
15

"The Fact that She’s an “Ex-Stripper” Is Not Relevant: Woman sentenced in plot to murder fiance."


I lived in Alaska during part of the time that this trial was going on. The local news so consistently referred to Ms. Linehan's former employment that you would be forgiven for thinking that her full name was "Ex Stripper Michele Linehan," or just "the stripper." Kinda like how Diablo Cody's full name is "Former Stripper Diablo Cody." And yet, I've never seen that Hernandez guy from American Idol referred to as "former stripper David Hernandez." Go figure.

Posted by Kalakalot | April 4, 2008 9:42 AM
16

Anyone inspired by "The Last Seduction" deserves the death penalty.

Posted by laterite | April 4, 2008 9:57 AM
17

"Quayle quickly found himself struggling to answer questions about his earlier decision to join the National Guard rather than serve in the active duty military during the Vietnam War."

Too bad those questioners seem to have crawled under a rock in 2000. Cheney dodged the draft 5 times, plus marrying and having a child at very opportune times. Bush joined TANG but didn't both to show up.

Mmmmm... tang.

Posted by w7ngman | April 4, 2008 10:04 AM
18

On the bus at the moment, but as soon as I'm at a reap computer I promise to FIX MY HTML.

Posted by ECB | April 4, 2008 10:20 AM
19

@12 - I kind of think the National Museum in Auckland might know a bit more about Moa than either you or I - or Wikipedia - do, Fnarf.

But persist in your delusion that it represents reality - Wikipedia is only as good as the information posted on it.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 4, 2008 10:32 AM
20

Real computer. Damn you, iPhone!

Posted by ECB | April 4, 2008 10:33 AM
21

iPhone is short for incomplete Phone.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 4, 2008 10:46 AM
22

Will is short for loser.

Posted by pencil riot | April 4, 2008 11:03 AM
23

Harpers had another article regarding the many rape cases, dick cheney's "untouchable" company and its subsidiaries, and the U.S. justice department's [lack of] response:



Congress has been studying this question for more than a year and a strong bi-partisan consensus has emerged to the effect that a fix is needed. Legislation was put forward by North Carolina’s David Price in the House and Barack Obama in the Senate, but critical support came from Republicans such as Houston’s Jack Poe, Connecticut’s Chris Shays, and South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham. The Justice Department has, however, refused to be budged. When Congress convened hearings on the Jones case, pushed forward at the request of the Judiciary Committee Republicans, the Justice Department refused to send a representative to account for its inaction or failure to address contractor-related criminality in Iraq generally. Its attitude seems to be that this is all some bad dream that should simply go away."
(from http://harpers.org/archive/2008/04/hbc-90002797)

Posted by bridget | April 4, 2008 11:10 AM
24

To repeat, Willie: I AM NOT CITING WIKIPEDIA. I didn't even look at Wikipedia; YOU DID.

I'm citing Tim Flannery, who is the leading scientist on the subject of Australiasian prehistory, and climate change, in the world. He's written books. I'm reading one right now, which discusses the extinction of the moa at length.

Your claim that "the last moa was eaten by a dog" is nonsensical; it's not true or false, it's just has no meaning whatsoever. The last moa died many, many generations before the Maori encountered the white man, or writing, and could not possibly have been recorded historically.

Note also that there IS NO SUCH PLACE as "the National Museum in Auckland". I assume you're referring to Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand, but it's not called that. Your inability to get the name of the institution right casts yet more doubt upon your assertion.

And if the museum claims that the last moa was killed by a dog, I'll eat my hat. I'll eat YOUR hat.

See the difference here? I contributed something that comes from my current experience (a book I'm reading) that actually sheds light on one of the topics of the original post. I did this not out of self-aggrandizement but out of a desire to share KNOWLEDGE AND INTEREST, two things you are utterly unfamiliar with. Your post, in contrast, was full of rubbish, which neither expanded upon the notion of large-mammal extinction nor contained any grain of truth or interest. It served no other purpose but to announce "I've been to New Zealand".

The sad thing is that you went all the way there and saw nothing, experienced nothing, learned nothing. "The last moa was killed by a dog", that's the sole anti-fact you got out of the place. It's an embarrassment. You're like a Monty Python sketch.

Posted by Fnarf | April 4, 2008 11:14 AM
25

You Go Girl!

Posted by KeeKee | April 4, 2008 11:20 AM
26

Despite how the NYT and (predictably) Erica parsed the data, the survey actually contains more good news than bad for Obama. Slate has the details:

http://www.slate.com/id/2175496/

Posted by Matthew | April 4, 2008 12:39 PM
27

that reminds me...what do you have to do to apply for unemployment?

Posted by LINUS | April 4, 2008 1:21 PM
28

@24 - um, no. My point is the Internet is only as good as the beamtimes we post on it - going there in person is frequently a better choice.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 4, 2008 1:23 PM
29

Did anyone catch the comment of @5? Was that tongue-in-cheek or serious?
Creepy.

Posted by onion | April 4, 2008 1:27 PM
30

But Willie Will Will, who is talking about "the internet"? Only you are. You keep bringing it up in conversations where it's not the topic or the citative support. You're rambling and irrational; is there some medication you're supposed to be taking? Shouldn't you take it?

Posted by Fnarf | April 4, 2008 1:48 PM
31

Regarding that database blocking 'abortion' - all you have to do is enter 'kill fetus' or 'terminate fetus' -- I don't see what the big deal about it is. On a related note, I always found it rather odd that the term 'reproductive health' often doesn't mean a very healthy fate for the fetus.

Posted by raindrop | April 4, 2008 2:05 PM
32

@29, I think perhaps @5 is not controversial if "group" is defined as EVERYbody involved.

And, of course, if all consent, then it's not, by def'n, rape, then it's role play, or group sex, etc. At least that's what I read on the wikipedia.

Posted by CP | April 4, 2008 5:21 PM
33

By the way, the Museum of New Zealand was, in fact, called the National Museum during the 70s, 80s, and 90s, so it's possible that Will went then, and saw it called thus. It is, however, not in Auckland, but in Wellington. I don't think he's ever been.

Posted by Fnarf | April 4, 2008 7:29 PM
34

#34

Pretty cool Fnarf.

Thanks for doing the hard and important internet work to prove what museums Will has or hasn't been to.

Kudos and Hazzah to you sir!!!

Posted by ecce homo | April 5, 2008 11:01 AM

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