ANOTHER CON FOUND STEALING A LIBERAL BLOGGER'S ID AND AVATAR!

For some reason, known only to them, conservative bloggers and commenters like Radical Redneck have a burning need to deceive, cheat, and steal.  I've found another instance of their deceit--and evidence makes this pretty certain this faker is a conservative--and of their stealing another liberal's avatar and ID.  

A commenter who frequents this blog, as well as others, whose blognym is "Ema Nymton" has had her avatar and ID stolen, just as mine was stolen not too long ago by "Radical Redneck."  This seems to be some sort of compulsion with these sort of characters in the conservative blogsphere.  So be aware if the fake "Ema Nymton" shows up on your blog. [The fake "Ema Nymton" never shows up on my blog.]

The real "Ema Nymton" has posted comments here and this is her Blogger url profile number:


https://www.blogger.com/profile/01291372077565212886

When you link to here name, which you can find HERE, you will be directed to this profile page:

Ema Nymton

View Full Size

On Blogger since June 2008

Profile views - 1680

My blogs

• ~@:o?

Blogs I follow

• Ramona's Voices

About me

This is the information on the fake "Ema Nymton:"



This was found over at a conservative's blog:

Ema NymtonJanuary 11, 2014 at 3:55:00 PM EST

This is not the kind of behavior we need in a president. Imagine what he (Christie) would do if he had the entire nation’s police, military and spy agencies at her beck and call…

It’s getting truly frightening in this nation – politicians aren’t even trying to hide their naked abuse of power anymore. Christie doesn't represent me. Christie represents most of the GOP.

The right is having a problem with Chris Christie. From the pure objective stand point it is interesting to watch the right handle this situation. We are watching this sort of love hate relationship going on where some on the right don't like the guy but feel the need to defend him ala by attacking Obama.

So in the end the right will vote for Chris and the left will vote for Hillary if they decide to run, and all that huffing and puffing right now is quite irrelevant in the grand scheme.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?

Reply

When you link to the fake "Ema Nymton's" name at this blog, this is what comes up:

Profile Not Available

The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile.

If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile.

This is the Blogger profile URL for the FAKE "Ema Nymton:"

https://www.blogger.com/profile/13981358404696562895

As you can see, it's completely different from the real "E.N." cited above.

Why do these certain conservative commenters do this? Who knows.  Maybe it's just part of their inbred character to be cheaters and fakers.  Maybe they haven't the intelligence or wit to invent their own blog personas, or maybe they like making fools of their fellow conservative commenters who believe they're having a conversation with the real "Ema Nymton," when in fact, they're actually conversing with one of their own kind.  The joke, then, is of course on them.  The person engaging in this deceit is actually making fun of his own friends.  Why?  That's another question I can't answer.

I don't know if the real "Ema Nymton" is aware of all this tomfoolery or not, but I am and I will continue to expose the charlatans every time I discover them.  And it's rather easy.  

They're not very clever or smart.

The New Yorker Cover Nails It!

Juvenile

"I Am Not A Bully!"

UPDATE BELOW



UPDATE II BELOW



Oh Crikey, Governor Christie, wrong thing to say.  Ever!






Christie: 

 "Listen, politics ain’t beanbag, okay? Everybody in the country who engages in politics knows that. On the other hand, that’s very, very different than saying that someone’s a bully. I have very heated discussions and arguments with people in my own party and on the other side of the aisle. I feel passionately about issues and I don’t hide my emotions from people. I am not a focus group-tested, blow-dried candidate or governor. Now, that has always made some people as you know uneasy. Some people like that style; some people don’t. And i’ve always said, I think you asked me a question after the election, are you willing to change your style in order to appeal to a broader audience and i think i said no because I am who I am, but I am not a bully."


Queue up all the instances the media will dig up of Christie's bullying.

UPDATE:


From Talking Points Memo:
David Wildstein, the former Director of Interstate Capital Projects for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, refused to answer questions Thursday at a state Assembly committee hearing concerning the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal. 

 "I respectfully reserve my right to remain silent," Wildstein said before a hearing of the New Jersey The Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee. Wildstein had been subpoenaed to testify about the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge in September, which lead to a massive, multi-day traffic jam in the town of Fort Lee, N.J. 

Wildstein has previously maintained that the lanes were closed as a result of a traffic study, but Democrats in the state have suggested the closures were retaliation against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, who declined to endorse Christie's re-election bid last year.




 "Curiouser and Curiouser"



UPDATE II:


Go HERE to Infidel753 and watch Rachel Maddow report on this developing story.  She was the first to break the news on it.  GOPers won't bother, of course, because unlike the IRS story and the Benghazi tragedy, this is a real scandal, and there is actual evidence to back the allegations up.

Marijuana is not just for getting high (not that there's anything wrong with that) but...

it heals as well.


Here's an incredible story about a young girl named Charlotte, and how medical marijuana gave her back her life.

The whole story is HERE.






And in other news:

Washington (CNN) - "In a major turnaround from past decades, a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. 

 The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicated that the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged. 

 Fifty-five percent of those questioned nationally said marijuana should be made legal, with 44% disagreeing. The CNN/ORC findings are similar to a Gallup poll conducted in October. 

 According to the CNN poll and numbers from General Social Survey polling, support for legalizing marijuana has steadily soared over the past quarter century - from 16% in 1987 to 26% in 1996, 34% in 2002, and 43% two years ago. 

 The survey found interesting divides on the issue. "There are big differences on age, region, party ID, and gender, with senior citizens, Republicans, and Southerners the only major demographic groups who still oppose the legal use of pot," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. 

 Two-thirds of those 18 to 34 said marijuana should be legal, with 64% of those 34 to 49 in agreement. Half of those 50 to 64 believe marijuana should be legal, but that number dropped to 39% for those age 65 and older. 

 Support stood at 60% in the Northeast, 58% in the West, 57% in the Midwest, but just 48% in the South. 

Sixty-two percent of Democrats and 59% of Independents, but just 36% of Republicans, backed legalizing marijuana. 

Fifty-nine percent of men but just 51% of women supported making pot legal."


I'm a Northeast liberal female who supports legalizing marijuana. The war on drugs, and especially possession of pot, is a failure, and putting people in prison for smoking a joint is just plain stupid. The facts are that if you're poor or a person of color, your chances of getting convicted for possession are higher than if you come from an upper or middle-class white family. That's just the way our justice system works today. 

Justice certainly isn't blind when it comes to arresting people for possession of pot. 



Racially Biased Arrests for Pot

"Researchers have long known that African-Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, even though studies have repeatedly shown that the two groups use the drug at similar rates.

New federal data, included in a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, now shows that the problem of racially biased arrests is far more extensive that was previously known — and is getting worse. The costly, ill-advised “war on marijuana” might fairly be described as a tool of racial oppression.

[skip]

Nationally, African-Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites. The disparity is even more pronounced in some states, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where African-Americans are about eight times as likely to be arrested. And in some counties around the country, blacks are 10, 15 or even 30 times as likely to be arrested. This nationwide pattern is evident in all kinds of communities — urban and rural, wealthy and low income, in places where the African-American populations are large and in places where they are small. As the report notes, police officers who are targeting black citizens and black neighborhoods are turning “a comparatively blind eye to the same conduct occurring at the same rates in many white communities.”





More:
 The Scandal of Racist Marijuana Arrests

Let’s Stop Arresting Marijuana Users


It's good to see the country moving in the right direction of decriminalizing marijuana and allowing police to go after truly dangerous criminals.

Regulate it, tax it, and... 

legalize it.

The Kids Are All Right, Part III

Mark Zmuda, a well-liked vice-principal at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, was recently fired from his job because he married his male partner. He was not fired because he's gay.   As you will see and hear in the interview below, he was also not fired because he violated his contract, nor was he fired because his performance in his job was unsatisfactory. He was fired because he married. Period.   But here's the very curious part:  The Catholic school has informed him that he can get his job back if he divorces his husband.

I hate to use this cliche,  but really, I can't wrap my head around that.  The Catholic Church does not condone same-sex marriage, but in order to get his job back, they told Mr. Zmuda that he has to divorce his husband? Divorce is not condoned in the RCC either.*  So what's going on here?  None of this makes sense.

(*Actually, that's not quite right.  A wife or a husband CAN obtain an "annulment" of their marriage from the Vatican, which would then mean the RCC acknowledges that the marriage was made under false pretenses and is not valid, even if the couple has had a number of children. So, in a round-about way, divorce is sanctioned in the RCC, if one has the money to buy one.)

This, of course, is very curious, and I don't know how the Eastside Catholic School expects Mr. Zmuda and his partner to divorce and then go through a commitment ceremony, which is legally non-binding and a step-down, so that the RCC's moral sensibilities will be assuaged.



Andrew Sullivan says it so much better than I could express it myself:

"What does it say about the twisted, absurd view of homosexual persons that the Catholic Church should demand that they divorce their spouses as a condition of working for a Catholic organization? It tells you so much. What the church is saying by this is that homosexuals should be punished for constructing stable, committed relationships of mutual care and support. If they stay single or have some kind of down-low commitment ceremony, all will be ignored."

The overwhelming majority of students at the school support Mr. Zmuda:

“We care too much about Mr. Zmuda to let this go,” said Ian Edwards, a senior at Eastside Catholic, after speaking at the second demonstration in as many weeks outside the old chancery of the archdiocese. With social media at their disposal, the students are thinking big.
They plan to organize, nationwide, a “Z-Day” on Jan. 31 to protest the forced resignation of Eastside vice principal Mark Zmuda after his same-sex marriage last summer.
 

“We encourage students, at Catholic schools or otherwise, as well as any other impassioned individuals, to proudly wear the color orange on that day. In so doing, we will be showing solidarity with Mark Zmuda, as well as expressing our hopes for an enlightened perspective on issues of sexuality in the Catholic Church,” said a statement read by Edwards and other students."

What do you think?

Reporting LIVE!

This is what happens when you want all news all the time (NSFW):

2013 in Review: My Neighborhood, Boston's North End

I love my neighborhood!

The Right's Selective Free Speech Outrages

It's curious to read or hear complaints about "political correctness"  and non-government-involved"free speech" issues by people on the right, then observe how these same people ignore those suppposed infringements on their precious "freedoms" when they involve an issue they support.  

For example, I'm fairly sure I won't read about how unfair it is that Dick Metcalf lost his job because he wrote a column in a gun magazine about regulations and the 2nd Amendment:



From the New York Times:  BARRY, Ill. — The byline of Dick Metcalf, one of the country’s pre-eminent gun journalists, has gone missing. It has been removed from Guns & Ammo magazine, where his widely-read column once ran on the back page. He no longer stars on a popular television show about firearms. Gun companies have stopped flying him around the world and sending him the latest weapons to review. 

In late October, Mr. Metcalf wrote a column that the magazine titled “Let’s Talk Limits,” which debated gun laws. “The fact is,” wrote Mr. Metcalf, who has taught history at Cornell and Yale, “all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” 

The backlash was swift, and fierce. Readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions. Death threats poured in by email. His television program was pulled from the air. Just days after the column appeared, Mr. Metcalf said, his editor called to tell him that two major gun manufacturers had said “in no uncertain terms” that they could no longer do business with InterMedia Outdoors, the company that publishes Guns & Ammo and co-produces his TV show, if he continued to work there. He was let go immediately."



Another example is the right's most recent "free speech outrage" over some millionaire and his family who shoot ducks and get paid gazillions of dollars pretending to be red necks.  

Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty made some filthy remarks about the gay community; told his interviewers how happy African-Americans seemed to him during the Jim Crow era in the south; and, just  recently, we found out that he advocates child rape. (Yeah, that's harsh, but what else would you call it when someone encourages grown men to marry 15-year old girls?  I've read many times how people on the right apply that term to the Prophet Muhammad for doing exactly the same thing.)

Martin Bashir lost his job for suggesting that Sarah Palin receive the same treatment as some slaves received when she stupidly compared the ACA to slavery.  

He publicly apologized and lost his job.  

The fake red neck good ol' boy still has his job after slandering an entire group of Americans, the gay community; after denying the tragedy of what southern African-Americans experienced under Jim Crow; and after suggesting men should get their wives while they're still young girls.

Apology for his slander?  None.  And he kept his job.



When You Defend Phil Robertson, Here's What You're Really Defending 







Here's another example of the GOPers censoring speech they don't like:


Bill Moyers Documentary Blacked Out in NC 
JANUARY 4, 2014  

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has created a new documentary about North Carolina’s politics in 2013 titled North Carolina: State of Conflict. As of press time Saturday, UNC-TV does not have the show scheduled to air in our state – essentially blacking out the documentary to all but those who are able to access it through the internet.




The rightwingers who valiantly stood up for Phil Robertson believe in the unalienable right of free speech (even when the government is NOT involved), but ONLY free speech for what THEIR ideology supports. 

"If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve."

UPDATE BELOW


What can you say about the news that an increasing number of self-identified conservatives/GOPers do NOT "believe in" Evolution?  Even using the construction "believe in" to describe their attitude toward this scientific fact is strange, since it's like saying one doesn't "believe in" the theory of gravity.  It's absurd.

But more absurd is the disturbing increase in the percentage of Republicans who stubbornly refuse to accept the fact of evolution.  On the bright side, young people of all political affiliations do not believe evolution is a lie like the big bang, straight from the pit of hell.

Evolution is a fact.    But the anti-science segment of the GOP has managed to outdo itself in its rejection of facts in favor of, what? superstition? ignorance?  Both?  It seems so.  That may explain their eagerness to believe in and embrace any rumor or lie about President Obama.






"Each generation of Americans, Pew found, is increasingly more likely to accept natural human evolution; Americans 18-29 do so by a 68-27 margin, while the number for seniors (65+) is 49-36. 

Likewise, white evangelical protestants are the group most likely to reject evolution, while the religiously unaffiliated are by far the most likely to accept it. 

The winnowing of self-identified Republicans to these demographic groups has been dramatic in recent years. The overall number of Americans who identify as Republicans hovered around 29 percent from from 2008-2012 as American seniors became dramatically more Republican, the pro-GOP margin shifting from 35-34 in 2008 to 39-29 in 2012. 

White evangelicals have become similarly more Republican at the same time. So on one look, the decline in Republican belief in evolution is perfectly consistent with one of the most fundamental trends in American politics: a greying, born-again Republican Party increasingly out of step with the rest of America’s political views." --Think Progress

USAToday:


"While nearly two-thirds of Americans say humans have evolved over time, a third of U.S. adults disagree, according to new survey results from the Pew Research Center. 

 The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project report...found that 33% think "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." 

Sixty percent agreed with evolution. Among those who agree with human evolution, about half attribute it to "natural processes such as natural selection." 

Whereas, 24% of adults say "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things." The survey also found disagreement across political and religious lines. 

 Among white evangelical Protestants, 64% say that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time."  

Surprising Number Of Americans Don't Believe In Evolution

There's good reason the GOP is seen as the anti-science party.  The recent poll on the number of GOPers who do not accept Evolution explains that reason.


And don't miss this:


Bill Nye To Debate Evolution At Kentucky Creation Museum



UPDATE:


P.E. commenter, B.B.Idaho, linked to this interesting article on why only 6% of scientists identify with the GOP (and B.B.I. wondered why that number was so high).

"One of the great political shifts in the past decade has been the move of scientists toward the Democratic Party, a casualty of the Republican Party’s war on reality. It’s not about politics for scientists, it’s about the fact that only one party accepts scientific findings on everything from global warming to evolutionary theory to what does and doesn’t prevent pregnancy. 

Only 6 percent of scientists identify as Republican, whereas 55 percent identify as Democratic. 

In October of 2012, 68 Nobel-winning scientists co-signed a strong endorsement of Obama, saying the President “has delivered on his promise to renew our faith in science-based decision making.

****************

"Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun."   --Richard Dawkins



"So in my freshman year at the University of Alabama, learning the literature on evolution, what was known about it biologically, just gradually transformed me by taking me out of literalism and increasingly into a more secular, scientific view of the world."   --E. O. Wilson 



"If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve."   ---Jello Biafra 

"How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president?"

Here are some updates on the implementation of the A.C.A. that will help counter the paranoia being promoted by conservative bloggers, pundits, and pols (via Daily Kos):



"Republicans are constantly blurring the line between people who lose a plan and people who lose coverage.  That is, many people might lose a particular insurance plan but immediately be presented with other options.

Now, a new report from the minority staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce has destroyed the foundation of that particular GOP claim. It projects that only 10,000 people will lose coverage because of the ACA and be unable to regain it — or in other words, 0.2 percent of the oft-cited 5 million cancellations statistic."



Here's how "compassionate conservatism" in Republican-run states treats their poor citizens (it's ugly):


Ryan Cooper: "Because of the decision on Obamacare by the Supreme Court, which left the decision to expand Medicaid (a key part of Obamacare) up to the individual states, most Republican-controlled states refused said expansion, leaving substantial portions of the citizenry in the lurch. Ed Kilgore has been calling this the “wingnut hole,” and many have been speculating about its size. How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president? Well, happy 2014, dear readers: initial estimates are in, and we have 5 million lucky winners!"


And here's something to think about when you hear the howlers on the right try to drown out reality with their predictions of doom and the end of America as we all know it:

"January 1 2014. In the midst of constant turmoil over websites, enrollment snafus, policy cancellations, political attack ads, and more, we are missing something important. January 1 2014 may well be the most transformational day in the history of United States health care policy, ever, and nobody seems to notice. What's so big about 1/1/2014? First, this is the first day of fundamental reform of the business and regulation of health insurance in all 50 states: 

 • Banning the practice of "medical underwriting" by which insurance companies rate enrollees based on their health status and medical history, 

• Banning pre-existing condition exclusions from US health insurance everywhere, 

• Establishing "guaranteed issue" as the new operating paradigm for individual health insurance, 

• Completely eliminating lifetime limits on all health insurance, and 

• Establishing "minimum essential benefits" that must be included in nearly all licensed health insurance policies everywhere."


President Harry S Truman knew what he was talking about, and his observation on the GOP's core values still applies today.  Nothing has changed in the GOP's philosophy of sticking it to the poor, the helpless, and our veterans:

A friend read my blog today and sent me this:

Same as it ever was.

HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE!

The Most Admired Man in the World for the 6th Year in a Row:

What?  He beat out Ted Cruz?   Nooooooooooooooooo!





A new Gallup poll will be more bitter medicine for the Right. After a solid year of harping on Benghazi lies in an attempt to bring down both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a new Gallup poll finds both ranked as the number one man and woman Americans most admire. 

Every year since 1948, Gallup asks Americans to name the man and woman living anywhere in the world they admire most. 

This year’s poll was conducted December 5-8, and for the 6th year in a row, Obama has been named the Most Admired Man.

h/t PoliticusUSA

New Year -- New Moon -- Good Health and Happy New Year!

BOSTON'S FIRST NIGHT

FIREWORKS

Family Fireworks |Boston Common Ballfield, corner of Boylston and Charles streets | 7 p.m.

Midnight Fireworks | Boston Harbor




ICE SCULPTURES | 

Beginning at midday 

One of the landmark First Night traditions is ice carving. 

This year’s frozen creations include a bench, sleigh, family and World Series trophy at Fanueil Hall Marketplace, 1 Fanueil Hall Square; 

Kraken’s lair at the Boston Common Frog Pond; 

a lighthouse at District Hall, 75 Northern Ave.; 

a sailboat at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, 20 Maverick Square; 

a replica of the USS Constitution ship in ice at the USS Constitution Museum, Building 22, Charlestown Navy Yard; 

a ram at Two International Place, corner of Purchase and High streets; 

and a whale at Boston Long Wharf Marriott Hotel, 296 State St. 

Additional locations include: Copley Square; 

the ice rink on Atlantic Avenue in front of the Boston Harbor Hotel, 70 Rowes Wharf; 

Aragosta Bar and Bistro Patio, 3 Battery Wharf; 

and Boylston Plaza at the Shops at the Prudential Center.

MORE EVENTS FOR BOSTON'S FIRST NIGHT HERE.

Photo taken by Shaw of swan swimming in Boston Harbor 3 PM, December 31.

BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI!

Got your attention?

Good.

Unfortunately, the folks who should read this, won't because it interferes with their cockamamie conspiracy theories surrounding the Benghazi tragedy and because The New York Times.  

Before the victims were buried, the cray-crays on the right were calling for Mr. Obama to be impeached for treason.  And they were not shy, either, about slandering Susan Rice.  Naturally, they were entirely mistaken on everything their fevered little minds conjured up about what happened in Benghazi that terrible night, and the recent report in the NYTimes lays out in detail how utterly WRONG the extremist TeaPublicans were and still are.



Steve Benen sums the NYTimes piece up nicely.


For the White House’s far-right critics, for whom the notion of a Benghazi “cover up” is practically a foregone conclusion, the exact details of the allegations can get rather convoluted. That said, the basic gist of the argument is that al Qaeda, on the anniversary of 9/11, led the attack that left four Americans dead. The White House knew this, the conspiracy theory goes, but chose to lie and hide the truth. Why? According to the unhinged, President Obama was in the middle of his re-election campaign, during which he boasted about his counter-terrorism successes. To acknowledge that al Qaeda killed four Americans in Libya would, according to the theory, undermine the narrative, making a cover up necessary. 

 The problem with the allegations, of course, is that facts keep getting in the way, and the NYT report obliterates the conspiracy altogether. Republicans insist al Qaeda led the attack, but it didn’t. 

Republicans insist the attack had nothing to do with the right-wing YouTube video, but it did. Republicans insist the violence was carefully planned, but it wasn’t. Republicans insist the White House deliberately misled the public, but it didn’t. Indeed, looking back, the initial remarks Susan Rice made in the immediate aftermath of the attack look pretty accurate a year and a half later. 

 I’m reasonably confident Rice would be gracious and accept apologies from the Republicans who smeared her, but first they’ll have to acknowledge how painfully wrong they were. 

 By any fair estimation, the Benghazi conspiracy theories unraveled a long time ago, but this latest report serves as a powerful coda. 

Republicans will be reluctant to accept this, but the right’s obsession is no more. GOP policymakers and media invested heavily in their fevered dream – even using our money for a series of baseless investigations – but the political scandal was a mirage.


Will there be any apologies forthcoming from the hysterics who slandered President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Susan Rice? 

 Are you kidding? 

 We'll hear Sarah Palin utter a coherent sentence before THAT happens!

Funny Stuff from 2013, Part IV: TV News and Weather Bloopers, With Goats

Stupid Stuff from 2013: FOX NEWS Edition

Too many to include in one post, but according to Salon, these are the top five.



STUPID:


Bill O’Reilly says Asians aren’t liberals because they’re “industrious and hard-working.”





 





STUPIDER:


Megyn Kelly insists Santa Claus is white.



 



STUPIDEST:

Ben Carson compares LBGTQ people to NAMBLA, bestiality supporters.



.
   






Can FAUX NOOZ get any dumber?



Yes.  This is a special kind of dumb:


Geraldo Rivera says jurors would have shot Trayvon Martin sooner than Zimmerman did.






 And  THIS.


h/t Salon

Funny Stuff from 2013, Part III: Texas, Kenyans, and Fainting Goats

Missing their traditional grub, two Kenyan guys visit a Texas farm to buy a goat. But these goats aren't like the goats back home!  --From National Geographic

Funny Stuff from 2013, Part II: A Book Review

Found on the internet in 2013:  





The Book:

How to Avoid Huge Ships


The title itself left me curious.  How many people need help in dealing with this particular matter?  Apparently lots of folks out there have gallantly faced this immense problem, and this book has been an immeasurable resource for them in their ongoing struggle to avoid huge ships.

The reviews:

A Parent's Review
By Noel D. Hill
Format: Paperback

As the father of two teenagers, I found this book invaluable. I'm sure other parents here can empathize when I say I shudder at the thought of the increasing presence of huge ships in the lives my children. I certainly remember the strain I caused so long ago for my own parents when I began experimenting with huge ships. The long inter-continental voyages that kept my mom and dad up all night with worry. Don't even get me started on the international protocols when transporting perishable cargo. To think, I was even younger than my kids are now! huge ships are everywhere and it doesn't help that the tv and movies make huge ships seem glamorous and cool. This book helped me really approach the subject of huge ships with my kids in an honest and non judgmental way. Because of the insights this book provided, I can sleep a little better and cope with the reality that I can't always be there to protect my kids from huge ships, especially as they become adults. I'm confident that my teens, when confronted by a huge ship, are much better prepared to make wiser decisions than I did. At the very least my children certainly know that they can always come to me if they have any concerns, questions or just need my support when it comes to the topic of huge ships.



Reads like a whodunnit!
By Citizenfitz
Format: Paperback

I bought How to Avoid Huge Ships as a companion to Captain Trimmer's other excellent titles: How to Avoid a Train, and How to Avoid the Empire State Building. These books are fast paced, well written and the hard won knowledge found in them is as inspirational as it is informational. After reading them I haven't been hit by anything bigger than a diesel bus. Thanks captain!



Urgent information
By J Aubrey
Format: Paperback

Does anyone know of a book called 'How to avoid huge ice bergs'? I need an answer really, really quick!

Cpt. Edward Smith

 ***Message delayed due to weather conditions***



Large beamed, please!
By Altair Voyager
Format: Paperback

I am a huge ship. Imagine having an entire book devoted toward actively avoiding you and your kind. I have always been bigger than other ships - and yes, I have endured years of being moared in the distance, never being able to enter the shallower bays, requiring tugs to guide me in - but now THIS! Mr. Trimmer, you sir, should be ashamed! Please do not be swayed by his drivel. I ask that you judge me not by the size of my cargo hatch but rather the content of my wheelhouse.



Caution: Check the title before purchase
By Graham Thomas
Format: Paperback

I live near a park and frequently walk around the local area. Given the amount of dog mess that is on the pavements I thought this book would be the ideal read to stop me having to scrape my shoes on the grass before going home. It was only after it arrived that I looked closely at the title and realised it said 'How to Avoid Huge SHIPS'. A simple error that means I am still treading on massive examples of canine excrement. Having said that, I read the book anyway, and I'm pleased to say I'm not even having near misses with huge ships anymore. No sir, they aint getting anywhere near me!



And this one appears to have been inspired by a certain half-term governor from Alaska:

 Wake Up, Haters! 
By Madeleine B. 
Format: Paperback 

I'm a little annoyed with the sarcastic "reviewers" of this book. You all seem to think it's funny that some people would honestly like some expert advice on ways to avoid huge ships. What, you've never been traveling at a very, very slow speed straight toward something really, really big that you could see for miles and miles away, and wished you'd known what steps you could take to avoid crashing into it? Well, all I can say is "congratulations!" What's it like to be so perfect? You haters just keep on enjoying your huge-ship-collision-free little fantasies. I for one am going to buy this book and learn something, because I live in the real world, where huge ships and the dangers they present to people like me are actually a serious issue.

Funny Stuff from 2013, Part I

A young Canadian woman tries to sing U.S.A's national anthem at a minor league hockey game in Canada.

A for effort, honey, and we don't mean to laugh.  But...damn! That's funny.







Could YOU sing the Canadian national anthem in front of hundreds of people?

It's the only other national anthem I know by heart because of the hockey players in our family.  

One evening a year or so ago a man and woman were walking in my North End neighborhood.  The man was wearing a red and white leather jacket with the Canadian flag on the back.  My companion and I, walking behind the couple, started singing "O Canada!"  The couple turned around and listened politely until we finished and joined us in laughing, then thanked us for making them feel so welcome in the city of the Big Bad Bruins.

Frühlingstraum aus Schuberts Winterreise

Winterreise

PEACE

The Feast of the Seven Fishes

Growing up in a southern Italian family, I participated each Christmas Eve (La Vigilia di Natale) in the tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  I've never been able to find definitively where the tradition started or why seven fishes.  Here are some suggestions:



The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church -- baptism, penance, Holy Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders and the sacrament of Extreme Unction.



The seven sins of the world -- pride, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, lust and greed.


The seven days it took Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.


Some say it's the seven hills of Rome, some say it's the seven winds of Italy, or the Seven Wonders of the World.

Another theory is that seven is a number representing perfection: the traditional Biblical number for divinity is three, and for Earth is four, and the combination of these numbers, seven, represents God on Earth, or Jesus Christ.

I have no idea why seven fishes were used, but it doesn't matter, since the idea of the feast was to carry on a tradition that was started somewhere in the obscure past and to celebrate a holiday in a manner that Italians know best--with lots of incredibly delicious food. 


My childhood memories are of my mother, grandmother (nonna) and aunts all working in the kitchen while the men smoked cigars, talked politics, and played cards in the parlor. [Beh!] 

One aunt made her famous ricotta filled ravioli.  Nonna made the dolci:  biscotti di regina, struffoli, pizzelle, pizza dolce, casatelli.   My mother, aunts and older cousins cracked steamed lobsters, picked the succulent meat from the knuckles, claws, 
and tails and put it into a marinara sauce that was ladled over piping hot bowls of linguini or fettucini. [We kids got to suck the little juicy bits of lobster meat from the legs, which were discarded because there wasn't enough meat in them to bother with.] I remember sweet, tender razor clams, stuffed with anchovy, parsley, and garlic flavored bread crumbs;  baccala--salted cod--made into a heavenly dish with hard-boiled eggs, floating in a savory sauce along with little salty green capers and bright red pimentoes.  The table was loaded with platters of lightly fried smelts, delicate sweet slender fish dredged in flour, sauted in olive oil, and served with cold lemon wedges; spicy, plump mussels in marinara sauce; scungilli salad; and my favorite, delicately battered and fried calamari.  One Christmas Eve, my mother prepared eel, which was surprisingly delicious--it tasted like chicken.

After everyone's bellies were filled, the uncles took out their musical instruments--violins, guitars, the older sisters and cousins played the piano, and we sang traditional Italian Christmas songs. [One of my childhood favorites was "Tu scendi dalle stelle." I just called it "Bambino."]  Finally, it was time for midnight Mass.  We all left the house and walked to church.  When we returned, we opened our gifts, played more music, ate more dolci and fell into bed by 2 am, exhausted, full, and happy.  Christmas day we all gathered again for our Christmas dinner--lasagna (in those days lasagna was made only for special occasions), followed by a meat course--roast beef or turkey, verdure (vegetables), salad, fruit, nuts, roasted chestnuts.  And later in the day, dolci--cannoli, pizza dolce, baba rum, and for the adults, caffe correcto (espresso coffee with a shot of sambuca in it).

I continued the tradition of cooking the seven fishes on December 24 when my children were at home, but now that they're living all over the country, it isn't as easy to do so with all of them so far away and on their own schedules.  But here is a feast of seven fishes meal I've made since then and am happy to share with everyone:


Feast of the Seven Fishes



Mussels with orzo (serves two)


2 lbs. mussels, cleaned and scrubbed
4 Tablespoons good fruity olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium stalk of celery, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
4 plum tomatoes, diced with skin and seeds
1 cup good burgundy wine
2 Tablespoons of minced fresh herbs (basil, mint, oregano, thyme, parsley, tarragon)
12 pitted black olives, sliced in half
1 tspn. anise seeds, crushed
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
3 Tablespoons minced parsley
1/4 pound of orzo


Boil water for orzo. Put orzo in water and cook until just tender (al dente).


Wash and scrub mussels and set aside. In a large, deep saute pan, saute the next 4 ingredients in olive oil until golden and tender, add plum tomatoes, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add wine and simmer until alcohol evaporates. Place mussels in pan, turn up heat and cook just till the shells open. Remove from heat. Stir in herbs, olives, anise seeds, salt and pepper. Add orzo to pan and stir so that the little rice-shaped pasta gets into the opened mussel shells. Place in deep pasta bowls and sprinkle with minced parsley. Serve immediately






Smelts with lemon (serves 2)


1/2 dozen smelts
3/4 cup flour
salt, pepper
4 Tablespoons olive oil
lemon wedges
1 Tablespoon minced parsley


Go to your local fishmonger and select the freshest smelts. Their eyes must glisten like the newly fallen snow. No cloudiness in the eyes. Ever.


Take the smelts home. Take a pair of scissors and snip off their heads, then run the scissors down the front of the fish and degut them. Very easy.


Wash and dry the smelts. Put the flour on a platter and generously season with salt and pepper. Roll the smelts into the seasoned flour and set aside. Place olive oil in saute pan and heat. Saute the smelts over gentle heat until they take on a golden color. Do not overcook. Place on a platter and squeeze some lemon on them. Serve with more lemon wedges and garnish with minced parsley.






Lobster meat with fresh tomatoes and linguini (serves 2)


1/2 lb. lobster meat (buy shelled at fishmonger or cook your own)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3 plum tomatoes, diced, with skin and seeds.
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon minced parsley


In a medium saute pan, saute the onion and garlic until soft and golden in the combination butter and olive oil. Add the diced plum tomatoes. Simmer for 2/3 minutes. Stir in basil and thyme leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in lobster meat and heat through. Serve over linguini. Sprinkle with minced parsley.






Shrimp Scampi (serves 2)


3/4 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined
3 Tablespoons olive oil
5 oz. of shitake mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 dozen cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 oz. good quality feta or goat cheese
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 Tablespoons combination minced fresh herbs (basil, thyme, mint, tarragon, parsley)


In a medium saute pan, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil until tender, add the mushrooms and simmer for 1-2 minutes, add the white wine and simmer until alcohol burns off. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add shrimp and saute just until they turn pink, do not over cook. Remove from heat. Serve in shallow bowls. Sprinkle cheese and parsley just before serving.






Crabmeat and scallop stuffed filet of sole (serves 2)

2 good sized filets of sole pieces (approx. 1/2 lb. in total weight
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup crab meat
3 large scallops, cut in pieces
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
salt and pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1 teaspoon crushed cumin seeds
2 Tablespoons minced fresh herb combination (basil, thyme, parsley, tarragon, cilantro)
1 Tablespoon toasted pignole nuts
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Lemon wedges


Place the olive oil and butter in saute pan. Add the scallops and cook to tender, add crab meat and heat through. Remove from heat. Stir in breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, cumin seeds, pignole nuts and herbs. Take the two sole filets and spoon mixture evenly on each filet. Carefully roll up the filets and place in glass baking pan. Dot with butter and squeeze lemon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with minced herbs and serve with lemon wedges.



Pass the Alka-Seltzer and have a Happy Holiday, however you celebrate!