Monkeys kill Deputy Mayor in India

You know all of those signs at temples in places like Nepal and India that say or show some version of “No Touch Monkey,”? Well, they mean business. Because the monkeys…umm…mean business.

The Deputy Mayor of Delhi was attacked and killed by monkeys. As reported by the BBC:

SS Bajwa suffered serious head injuries when he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home on Saturday morning trying to fight off the monkeys.

Read More >
 
Add a comment

A thousand words

Today seems like the first day of fall. The breeze is cool and the leaves seemed to have turned color overnight. I wish I was hiking! I wish I was here…

Pride Rock

Read More >
 
Add a comment
Read More >
 
Add a comment

The Adventures of Everyman, accessible hero of the Midwest

My agent and I are going back and forth with the proposal right now and we hope to send it out before the end of the month. Her latest version included the following sentences:

I can be the “everyman” for any American consumer out there, I’m just that humanly accessible! Although I am quite ordinary in many ways, I do have some credentials to back up the credibility of Where am I Wearing? …

This passage cracked me up. I’m that humanly accessible, but in a way, you know, I’m super-humanly normal.

Is there anything less normal than a normal guy that will tell you how normal he is?

I see where she is going with this: we need to set myself as the average American consumer. Although, I got…

Read More >
 
Add a comment

Doesn’t this guy just piss you off?

If you are the Chinese government he does. They aren’t to happy with George W. Bush who met him in public at a recent ceremony and said, “I admire the Dalai Lama a lot. I support religious freedom.”

It’s good to see a public official do something that’s not in the best interest of trade and money now and then. Go Bush!

How can you not just love the Dalai Lama? He’s always wearing that holy smile that has a bit of mischief behind it like he might have slipped a whoopee cushion onto some dignitaries chair.

Speaking of monks…below the cut you’ll find a story I wrote way back in 2004 about one that is Bulletproof.

Read More >
 
Add a comment

Diary of a wardrobe

Things are things, but they often tell a story. Stories makes things special.

I ran across a piece today in the CS Monitor titled “All the stories my wardrobe could tell.” It’s a title that I could definitely write a piece under, but this one isn’t mine. The piece by Miriam C. Daum is touching and a reminder of the close bond we form with our things, including our clothes.

An excerpt:

A puffy piece of blue down jacket pokes out from its matching nylon bag (called a “stuff sack,” I am told). I pull out the jacket and pause to chuckle at the zigzag tear on its sleeve, which even careful stitchery could not completely hide.

The accidental rip was courtesy of Max, our dog. It happened on…

Read More >
 
Add a comment
Read More >
 
Add a comment

Jeans are made of money

20-30% of each paper bill in the USA is made from blue jean scrap. Really, is there a more American item of clothing? We love blue jeans. We love money. We love money made of blue jeans.

I finished Jeansby James Sullivan today and I know way too much about, well…jeans.

(note: There has to be a better title for this post. Apparently, I’m all outta clever today)…

Read More >
 
Add a comment

Mr. Spit

“In China getting people to swallow their spit is really difficult,” says Beijing’s Mr. Spit in the video below, “so, we’re just trying to get people to spit in a civilized manor.

The Olympics are going to be really interesting this year. Besides the athletes running fast and jumping high, there’s the smog, the Chinese human rights debate, and the cultural conflicts like spitting.

For a preview watch this video (thanks Joel):

Read More >
 
Add a comment

Muslim Barbie Doll

Move over Going Home Barbie meet Fulla, the Barbie with Muslim values.

Warning! Warning! Cultures colliding in 3…2… AGHHH!!!!

If you are a little girl in Syria – chances are you aren’t – and you want to play with a doll, I think that it’s great that you have a doll to play with fashioned in the style of your own culture. Mattel thinks it’s great, too. A Fulla doll costs $16, which is more than some Barbie dolls costs in the USA. The average monthly income in Syria…$100.

And some people think that Muslim girls aren’t treated right. They’re treated like Princesses. My parents never bought me an action figure that was 16% of their monthly income….

Read More >
 
Add a comment