This is really starting to piss me off.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/20/littlebigplanet.delay/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Now, why is it that on TV you can constantly make fun of Catholics (look at Family Guy where every time there's a priest you know he's a child molester) Jews (again, Family Guy a prime offender) and a whole Bill Maher movie has been devoted to insulting religious people, but whenever anything Muslim appears in popular culture, "OH NOES, MUSTN'T OFFEND THE MUSLIMS!!!!!!"

The mealy-mouthed response is, "But they might get violent."

So what? People get violent and froggy in this country every day, and we have this thing called police to take them and put them in jail. I suggest we make use of them.

The return of an old foe?

Recently I've been plagued by ocular allergies. My eyelids, particularly my right one, are puffing up, my eyes are red and watery, and the skin is scaly and flaky.

UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest was good enough to fit me in early tomorrow, so I hope I can quickly take care of at least the symptoms. For the causes, I think I'll have to be off to the allergist, because I fear this may be the return of an old enemy, food allergies.

When I was a small child, I was both allergic to milk fat and lactose intolerant. Eventually the lactose intolerance faded, so by the time I was 10 or so my parents could force me to drink skim milk with impunity. (Drinking milk, ugh, ugh, ugh.) By 2000 or so the lactose intolerance had returned, though I didn't figure out what it was until 2005.

I was also allergic to tomatoes. Both these allergies had as their manifestation swollen, red rashes, usually in the crook of my elbow or behind my knee. Occasionally the skin behind my ear would get inflamed.

So while there's a good possibility that the allergies are airborne (keeping the front window of the bedroom closed leads to my eyes being better in the morning) I'm going to cut out milk fat and tomatoes this week to see what happens. Blech. More food restrictions. I'll be down to eating homemade bread, chicken and some vegetables soon. :(

I haz a bamboo steamer

I do have some idea what I do wif it.

Bean! left behind a really nice heavy-bottomed pot of the kind called an "olla" in Spanish. It is crying out to be filled with Cuban-style black beans, so I am going to indulge it.

He also left behind a multi-layer bamboo steamer, so there will be dumplings and buns and steamed poultry, oh yes there will.