Geum Triflorum - Prairie Smoke

Our yard bun Angus.

I am mildly obsessed with my Prairie Smoke, recently acquired. It whips its hair back and forth.

Farmers Breakfast

Up early to work the ground before the heat sets in. Fuel:

Eggs baked in Tomato cups (first-of-the-season hothouse tomatoes from the farmers market), baked 25 minutes @ 425 with salt and pepper.

Steamed Baby Asparagus

Soy Breakfast Sausage

English Muffin!

SadFat

I am disappoint, Avenue. Why? I witnessed a gruesome Point-of-Sale interaction while in one of your stores on Saturday, and I've officially Had Enough.

But before I take you to task, Avenue, it's important that you know that I am critical of you because I love you. I've been officially in the land of women's plus size clothing for a few years now, and it is generally a huge bummer. I can only buy clothes from Old Navy online, because plus sizes aren't typically stocked in stores. Presumably this is because fatties are unpleasant to look at, and if they were walking around in an Old Navy store and spending their filthy fatty money, it might give non-fatties the idea that Old Navy is a store for fatties, and we can't have that. But Avenue has an actual selection of items that I can try on in-store and usually not feel bad about it. Win!

So that said: Avenue, I have noticed you doing a thing that a lot of the stores are doing these days, and I am troubled by it. Would you jump off a bridge, Avenue, if all the other stores were doing it? So I beseech you: stop with the pushy, point-of-sale add-ons by your increasingly desperate staff. I don't want your credit card. I am already on the email list and I receive your snail mail coupons (I also enjoy saving 30% on my entire purchase, the whole reason I was in one of your stores on Saturday.), and I really do not need any more goddamn magazines, especially ones that require credit card info for the "free" trial that ends after the 3rd issue and then starts automatically charging for the subscription I didn't want in the first place. But whenever this sort of silliness is offered to me, I understand the scam and firmly and consistently say "no."

However, when the customer ahead of me in line is obviously not a native English speaker, and obviously does not understand what she is getting herself in to, I have a problem. And I do not blame the cashier who executed the sign-up maneuver with disturbing slickness, because I am also aware of the growing trend of corporations pushing precisely these sorts of add-ons, and tying employee pay and performance to sign-up quotas. Granted, that is not necessarily a new thing either, but it's gotten really pervasive and insidious and you should not have to financially screw over little old Asian ladies to keep your stupid retail job, so for the love of my size 18 ass, cease and desist with these predatory practices, or sadly, I will take my business elsewhere.

re: Terror Porn

So Osama bin Laden had porn. So do most people. Can we all agree that OBL having porn is Not A Thing? The overwhelming majority of people yank it and most of them use visual assistance, THE END. Seriously, there are other things we could be talking about, like how awesome The Killing is.

thursday!

Here's your free market, fzckos. Related.

Republicans Are A-Holes: one, two, three

Republicans are also WATBs.

Brilliant.

Water, water everywhere.

FZCK

So this is bad news.

"Energy" gum?

***

This guy *has* to be Huell Howser's cousin, right?

Okay, what the hell.

Stoners for science.

PROJECT! Bourbon? Beef? Cream Soda? Possibilities = endless.

ZING

Comments on this are great.

wednesday!

Man, y'know what's hilarious? Mentally ill people having public breakdowns and twice as many people laughing and filming the incident instead of actually helping someone subdue the poor naked guy. Double points, of course, for posting the video online for the whole world to enjoy the guy's humiliation. Well done, people.

I am disappoint, US Media. Where is the coverage and analysis, hmm?

Goddamn, Florida.

Old Chicago.

Racism: one, two

Correct message, absolutely wrong messenger.

Baby safes.

A-hole.

***
I really hope that's Photoshop.

/headdesk

Freedom? FREEDOM!

Little kid destroys the banjo.

Child cats.

brb, need potato

tuesday!

SKOOL: one, two, three, four

Disturbing Graph of the Day. Related.

Good Chicago (one, two), Bad Chicago (one, two)

Hey! This is deeply disturbing.

Brb, checking my car.

We Are One.

***

In an unfortunate incident early last Saturday, a 24-year-old man became trapped in the back of a trash truck and sustained injuries from being 'compacted' five times.

AC DC wants you to get the hell off their lawn.

Sandwiches: one, two

Deep Thought.

I love love love Karen Kilgariff: one, two.

monday!

I'm not reflexively opposed to a schooling model like this, but I agree with the commenter who takes NPR to task for their uncritical reporting; it really drives home last week's point of news media essentially having devolved into a delivery system for press releases. Related.

OBL: one, two, three

Really? REALLY?

I continue to love Rachel Maddow.

Comprehensive talking points on Social Security

Labor History: one, two

/unintelligibleragenoises

This is just un-godsdamned-believable.

So, massive genital mutilation parties? Fzck the world.

Bonus: Fzck Catholic Charities.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

***

BEANS

Insert joke about "artisans who work exclusively in the medium of Gummi" here.

The sort of civil servant I can get behind.

Aww, puppy: one, two

Peegs!

/applause

I DON'T WANT YOUR DAMN LEMONS.

happy friday!

HR3: one, two

Oh Xtians, you are the worst.

David Barton: one, two

Sick: one, two

I am often hyperbolic, but in all seriousness: this is scary as fzck, especially the fertility issue.

YES

The future? One word: Plastics.

Crap....?

Zing!

***
Fzck it: silly hats.

Stuff from awesome new site: one, two, three (the last one made my heart asplode)

Beautiful space.

I don't understand how anyone lives in Florida when there are DINOSAURS there that can BITE YOUR CAR.

Lobster: one, two

KITTIES (Also)

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

thursday!

Spin Class: one, two, three, four, five

Other things are happening while we talk about OBL: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

Classy. (also)

Insert joke about bloated political fund-raising here.

File Under: Weeping for the Future

KRUGMAN

OK, so from now on I'll assert that the Chicago position on unemployment is that we can cure it by sacrificing goats.

In the grand scheme of things, this is probably not as bad as some of the stuff we put in food, but still: buy a damn block of cheese and cut or grate yourself, it takes two seconds and your cheese won't have wood pulp in it.

The War on Women: one

THIS x 1000

Protests!

***

I am fascinated by crackpot theories in general, but Werner Herzog's really takes the cake. Mind = blown

The timeless genius of Stan Lee.

This reminds me of the North Park Stomach Clinic sign on Milwaukee Avenue, we love it. I tried to find a pic but the sign's hard to see in Google Maps and the practice apparently doesn't have a website, which COME ON it's 2011, if you are a business you need a website, full stop. Seriously, name of business, address and hours, pic of the doctor in a lab coat, links to a couple of articles about ulcers. Boom: website.

Aww! I want to pee on something cool!

100 Movie Insults in 10 Minutes. What's the Brit movie with the "f-star-star-star cznt" quote near the end?

Batman totally *could* whoop Jesus.

wednesday!

File Under: Suck on That, Bigots

Jobs: one, two

Money is a drug and the folks driving the economy are fully cracked out. More here.

The War on (Young) Women.

Journamalism!

#winning

***

WOW

TIP OR DIE, fools!

Dear Lord.

cannot unsee

ART!!!

Puppers on Wheels

Finnish Whimsy

This is Hertzfeldt for sure.

tuesday!

Chris Hedges talks some sense.

Further perspectives: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve

Onward, Xtian Soldiers.

Okay, despite last week's protestations, I approve of this as an appropriate use of zombies. Relevant! Shocking! Getting younger people involved!

Okay, leaving aside whether or not this is a good idea from a structural perspective, isn't it also a giant potential security risk? Or is the Pentagon really stoked about getting back to submarine warfare?

STFU, Tex.

The stealth homeless population. I worked with a squatter once but he wasn't stealth about it, in word or aroma.

The internal vs. external locus-of-control point is super interesting. I will be mulling that for a while. People drastically underestimate the potency of dumb luck.

Thinking hopeful thoughts for Cairo.

***

These animations of yoga poses are really well done and useful.

Word of the Day: panspermia

I heart saucy mayors.

The Willis Test.

More like this, pls.

Handy!

MONDAY!

So we'll be leaving Afghanistan, then?

(also. if you are not on Twitter you are missing out.)

Hey, remember this?

Must Read Education Links: one, two, three

Too furious to even run through the list of things wrong with this.

Yes, America, like a couple on the verge of divorce, can only communicate with Post-Its®.

Awesome.

Seriously, fzck this guy.

More IL pension madness.

Concise and beautiful explanations of climate change. Related.

***

SCIENCE: one, two

Nerd Topic of the Day: Match the superhero/supervillian to their favorite cocktail.

Tom's pretty excited about the new Randi challenge.

State of Illinois to privatize Asian Carp control, responsibility given to these yahoos. Why not?

I'm struggling to believe that there are men and women out there who will recoil from an unvajazzled vagina, crying brokenly, "but where are the jewels?"

$5 Ninja. Bargain!

ROBUTS