Lisa is 4 years old today, and I’m sure she will be overwhelmed by all of the presents you have sent her. Just to let you know, they haven’t arrived yet so you may want to do a trace on them.
Salad Is Slaughter
A Gluttonous Curmudgeon and “D” List Blogger
Quickie Links
My time is extremely limited lately, so I’ll just give a few interesting links.
If anyone needs an idea what to get me for xmas or for my birthday, look no further than here: Gift suggestion for Frank
Sure to be the most frightening and protested film of the year: Horror film
With politicians, especially Republicans trying to suppress science they or their corporate and fundie owners don’t like, it’s about time an organization like this started: Scientists and engineers unite for the common good.
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NHL Eastern Conference Predictions
This is the companion entry for my eagerly anticipated NHL Western Conference Predictions. Presenting my NHL Eastern Conference predictions. As always, if you bet real money based upon what I say here, you’re nuts.
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Atlantic Division |
Eastern Conference |
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| 1. New Jersey Devils - I tend to underestimate the Devils, but I won’t make that mistake this year. If they can solve their salary cap problems, they should come out on top in the Atlantic. | 1. Senators 2. Hurricanes 3. Devils 4. Sabres 5. Rangers 6. Lightning 7. Canadiens 8. Flyers |
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| 2. New York Rangers - I have a problem rating the Rangers this high, but they surprised me last year. It’s time to see if their young goalie was a one season wonder. | ||
| 3. Philadelphia Flyers - The Flyers just don’t impress me, and the only reason that they’re this high is because the remaining teams are so bad. | ||
| 4. Pittsburg Penguins - The Pens are still a team of the future, not the present. | ||
| 5. New York Islanders - Ted Nolan finally gets back to the big show, and finds himself coaching the worst run team in the league. Watching the Islanders this year is going to be like driving past an auto accident. You don’t want to look, but some sick part of you compels it. | ||
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Northeast Division |
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| 1. Ottawa Senators - The Sens will finish near the top in the regular season, and falter in the playoffs. Again. | ||
| 2. Buffalo Sabres - The Sabres are one of my favorite east coast teams. They’re a good, young team that could make some noise in the post season. | ||
| 3. Montreal Canadiens - The Habs are fast, and if the crackdown on interference continues, they should do alright. | ||
| 4. Boston Bruins - They traded away their franchise player last year and only got some decent second tier players. Maybe next year… | ||
| 5. Toronto Maple Leafs - The Leafs will have to make a few moves if they want to break in to the top eight. | ||
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Southeast Division |
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| 1. Carolina Hurricanes - The defending champs have some great young players and are going to be a force for years to come. | ||
| 2. Tampa Bay Lightning - The Lightning have some great forwards, but goal is a big question mark for me. IF Marc Denis does well, so do the Bolts. | ||
| 3. Atlanta Thrashers - The Thrashers have some promising kids, but they miss the cut once again. | ||
| 4. Florida Panthers - I have to wonder what’s going on with the Panthers management. Trading Luongo was not a good move. I also think Bertuzzi should be in prison instead of Florida. | ||
| 5. Washington Capitals - Alexander Ovechkin is fun to watch, but after him, who is there? |
Technorati Tags: hockey
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Confirmation that the Religious Right Is F’ing INSANE
Every time I read some new wackiness from the Religious Right, it’s a confirmation that I made the right decision to turn my back on religion. Whether it’s howling that a cancer vaccine causes promiscuity, or finding out that missionaries teaching African tribesman that using condoms causes AIDS, or lying about the Plan B morning after pill, I’m convinced those people should be locked up in a padded room where they can be prevented from harming innocent people.
The latest jaw-dropper: apparently they think that wide spread use of contraceptives causes abortions:
Contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else,” Joseph Scheidler, an anti-abortion veteran whose Pro-Life Action League sponsored the conference, said in an interview.
And:
Contraception is the root cause of the explosion of the amount of abortions in the world,” Helen Mazur said.
Let me see if I get this straight: increasing the number of unwanted pregnancies in the world will decrease the number of abortions? How does that math work? Oh, you want to make abortions illegal too? Then look for the rise of illegal back-alley abortions as well as a rise in child abuse against kids parents didn’t want and can’t support.
Another line of argument against contraception, that it harms relationships between men and women, is advanced by Janet Smith, professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. “When people use contraception, they’re not asking themselves, do I want a lifetime relationship with this person or would this person be a good parent,” Smith explains. “They’re simply hooking up, typically because of sex, and sliding into marriage.”
The result, Smith says, is disappointment and divorce.
So what you’re saying is that an increase in the number of unwed mothers is a good thing? Shotgun marriages with unwanted / abused children are preferable to contraceptive use? Excuse me?
All I can figure is that these nut jobs have had their brains twisted by their preachers who teach them that sex is dirty, unnatural, and evil. Then they go out in the world and try to spread their poison. When I read crap like these people spew, I thank god I’m an atheist.
Thanks to Ed at Dispatches from the Culture Wars for pulling out the quotes. I don’t think I have the stomach to read the source documents. Trying to understand religious fanatic “logic” would make my head explode.
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Clam Up
I’ve wanted to try cooking clams in beer ever since I saw a show on Food Network where they did a seafood boil with beer instead of water. A friend of mine gave me a couple of bottles of Guinness Stout a couple of weeks ago. Since I don’t normally drink strongly flavored beer, my choices were to use it to make pizza dough (it would have been perfect for that) or buy some clams and try cooking them in beer. I chose the latter.
I took two bottles of Guinness Stout, added another bottle or two of beer that’s been in the refrigerator for a while. I brought it to a boil, added 24 cleaned littleneck clams, and tossed a couple of pieces of corn on the cob on top. I covered the pot and let it steam for 5 or 10 minutes.
The clams turned out pretty good, and were even better when dipped in melted butter with garlic. The corn came out surprisingly good. The beer added a lot of flavor to what would have been a dull piece of corn.
We’ll probably make this again.
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