The future isn’t what it used to be

New book filled with dreams that never came true

...

Probably the scariest parts of the book involve glowing testimonials for materials that have turned out to be public health disasters. A big mid-century magazine advertisement extols the use of lead (“the answer to the old alchemist’s dream”) throughout homes, noting that “interior walls are beautified with white-lead paint” and that “lead is in the glaze of the chinaware and that of the bathtub and sink.”

A similar ad from the same era promotes “Amazing Asbestos!” that can be used for “roofs and walls and decorative interiors” and which “in fact grows tougher with age.” Right — especially when you’re trying to get rid of it. And a truly amazing advertisement sells Vita Radium Suppositories (High Strength): radioactive suppositories intended for daily use that “are absorbed by the walls of the colon” so that “every tissue, every organ of the body is bombarded by its health-giving electric atoms.”

Yeah, I don't think there's enough radioactivity in my colon... also, gotta get me some of those "electric atoms."

eta: Ad for radium suppositories: [link]

Fall is here.

We have scorchers, but they're the kind that lights up a bit in the evening, so on those hours it's actually nice to be outside. In Israeli terms, fall is here.

But it won't be your cat! Of course, neither will the clone...

That's what the people who DID clone their pets probably discovered. And come on, cloned cats aren't even necessarily the same color as their originals.

Bill Moyers is talking about evangelical Christian environmentalists. They're devoutly Christian and they believe pollution and global warming and such are offensive to God. It's the most hopeful I've felt in years. And they scare the willies out of the whackaloons.

That was REALLY interestning. I'd love to see the two sides throw down over the idolatry and the worship of money.

(Though I kept giggleing when they talked about "Fossil Fuels." I wanted Moyers to say, 'dude, do you BELIEVE in fossils?"

Re microwave weirdness:

Am I the only person who uses the microwave for cooking, not just reheating? As in, I make stuff in the microwave from scratch?

In college I used to make pasta in the microwave. But most stuff was microwave-intended.

Microwave is great for steaming vegetables, "baking" potatoes.

I nuke frozen pizzas for lunch here at work, then roll them up into nummy pizza burritos.

But then, it's universally acknowledged that I have the culinary taste of a pathetic person.

Microwave is great for steaming vegetables, "baking" potatoes.

And in general doing low fat cooking. I make all sorts of "stir fry" dishes in the microwave, either fat free or using only a teaspoon of fat per person. (Yes you can cook chicken dishes in the microwave from scratch without the chicken coming out tough. The secret is enough liquid and keeping the setting low enough).

Why bother?

Well as I said as low fat as you wanna be, plus you can cook entirely in dishwasher safe dishes. For meals from scratch time saving on actual cooking is not that great - but there have been times when knowing that after-dinner cleanup will be a breeze has made the difference between eating at home and going out.

Why did no one tell me that Nelly Furtado has been possessed by Pink, who is apparently now using her body to record Hall & Oates covers? [link]