Bald eagle

I saw a juvenile bald eagle over the river behind our house, around 7pm. I've seen an adult here before, a couple of years ago, so it's not unprecedented, but it's rare enough to be special.

Sapin sapin

A Filipino girl at work brought in sapin sapin, which she said meant "sticky sticky". Wikipedia describes it as

a layered glutinous rice and coconut dessert in Filipino cuisine. It is made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, and coloring with coconut flakes sprinkled on top. Sapin-sapin means "layers" and the dessert is recognizable for its layers, each colored separately. It has been referred to as "a blancmange of several colored layers, sweetened and flavored with coconut milk".

The taste is about as bland as tapioca; the coconut sprinkled on top was toasted, nearly burnt, and that was most of what I could taste. The texture is a fairly thick goo, about like rubber cement, although not really sticky.

Josh Portrait

Josh has gotten A's in his painting and drawing classes this semester, and his art prof suggested that Josh forget economics and declare an Art major. Here's his final project for one class. a self-portrait. His usual expression is a bit more amused than this, though.

Garden progress

We planted the garden on April 20 and it has made remarkable progress--remarkable for this city dweller, at least. Pretty much everything has come up, the first tomatoes are showing, and I'm already wondering what we're going to do with all that parsley.

Letter from Zambia

Mom just emailed us from Macha Mission in Choma, Zambia:

   We have arrived- what can I say?  The ride out was similar to a white water rafting adventure just without the water. However, the airplane rides went smoothly.  When we arrived there was no one there to meet us,  ( "Welcome to Zambia")  but after about 45 minutes they arrived and were very jolly and it was an "all is well that ends well situation."  Time is not of the essence here.  

   We went shopping and it was totally a shock.  The supermarket last time was about 1/4 the size of this one.  Actually, it is a nice shopping center!

    On the road here we saw stray cows just wandering around like they owned the road but the goats had them out numbered by a long shot. Boys were transporting everything imaginable on bikes.  Huge loads.  One even had about eight logs standing upright in a basket on the  back of his bike.  I do not know how in the world he peddled it on a sandy dirt road with that heavy of a load.

    Our home for the next 10 months will be in a small duplex.  It is brick but old, in bad need of a fresh paint job, and "rustic" would  be a more than gracious term for it.  This is Africa, after all.  The water was not on when we arrived, but there was water in a pitcher to wash hands, etc. There is a family of geckos in the house, but I was told to let them be as they eat mosquitoes. 

  This is not the Homestead but it is way better than camping.

  I hope you are well. This is going to take an adjustment but we can do this. We are thankful for your prayers and for safe travel.  

Quotes on Government

Forwarded to me by Brother Jon:

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress. -- John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat

11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. -- P.J. O'Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. -- Pericles

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain

17. Talk is cheap... except when Congress does it. -- Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer

22. There is no distinctly native American criminal class...save Congress. -- Mark Twain

23. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Gerald Ford

Serenity

I saw Serenity again on DVD. It's a fun film, and if you're a science fiction fan who somehow missed the movie, it's worth watching. However, there's one scene which makes me want to reach back through time and smack the writer. That scene is the one where Book says to Mal, "I don't care what you believe, but you need to believe in something." 

Grrr!

That's about the most idiotic thing that it's possible to say. "I don't care what you believe." Okay, how about the Operative's belief that murder in the service of the state is acceptable? Or how about a belief that some ethnic group is subhuman and can should be enslaved or exterminated? How about if I believe it would be a good idea to choke you right now?

I can see Jayne saying it--and everyone else turning and giving him a "you idiot" look--but I can't see Book saying it.