Friday, March 31, 2006
Sprung
The weather guys tell us we'll easily hit 70 today in Boston, and the building folks have turned the fountains back on.
Spring has come to Boston.
Meme du jour
Penny's always good for a fun meme, here's her latest (stolen from Steph, who's reappeared):
Put your iPod/Winamp/MP3 on shuffle. Reading one question at a time, press play. Use that song title as the answer.
1. How does the world see you? Operator, Grateful Dead. Hmm.. Works with that whole political thing I do.
2. Will I have a happy life? Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls. "The best thing you ever done for me, was to help me take my life less seriously.." I take life any less seriously and I'm in danger of getting locked up...
3. What do my friends think of me? Lost in Crowds, Ian Anderson. "I get lost in crowds, if I can, I remain invisible... scarred by attention and partly addicted to innocence." Me, inconspicuous?
4. Do people secretly lust after me? Your Agonizer Please, James Lileks. Hmm... "My eyes are flame... My heart is flame..." I think this means I'm the secret luster...
5. How can I make myself happy? Come and Get Some of This, House of Pain. Yep. Just another Irish punk lookin' to make my way in the world...
6. What should I do with my life? My Noble Knight, Sting. Only about six hundred years too late...
7. Will I ever have [more] children? All Night Long, Lionel Ritchie. Well, seeing as Wifeypooh and I aren't exactly plumbed for more kids, if you get my drift, I think this means we could do it All Night Long and nothing would come of it...
8. What is some good advice for me? Mother Goose, Lief Sorbye's cover of the Tull classic. "And a bearded lady said to me: If you start your raving, and your misbehaving, you'll be sorry..." How'd my grandmother get into this discussion?
9. How will I be remembered? Don't Cry, Asia.
10. What's my signature dancing song? Crazy Train, Ozzy Osborne. Is head-banging dancing?
11. What's my current theme song? A Kind of Magic, Queen.
12. What do others think is my current theme song? Peron's Latest Flame, Evita soundtrack. I have no idea what the heck that means...
13. What shall they play at my funeral? Carmina Burana, Orff. You'd know it if you heard it, it was used in Glory during the final charge on the fort.
14. What type ofmen women do I like? Witch's Promise, Jethro Tull. I swear to God I didn't rig that... Uncanny. -whack- I've really got to keep track of where Wifeypooh is...
15. How's my love life? Shock the Monkey, Peter Gabriel. Now, that's not funny...
Well, there's my contribution to the Meme-o-sphere. Give it a shot, it's fun!
Put your iPod/Winamp/MP3 on shuffle. Reading one question at a time, press play. Use that song title as the answer.
1. How does the world see you? Operator, Grateful Dead. Hmm.. Works with that whole political thing I do.
2. Will I have a happy life? Closer to Fine, Indigo Girls. "The best thing you ever done for me, was to help me take my life less seriously.." I take life any less seriously and I'm in danger of getting locked up...
3. What do my friends think of me? Lost in Crowds, Ian Anderson. "I get lost in crowds, if I can, I remain invisible... scarred by attention and partly addicted to innocence." Me, inconspicuous?
4. Do people secretly lust after me? Your Agonizer Please, James Lileks. Hmm... "My eyes are flame... My heart is flame..." I think this means I'm the secret luster...
5. How can I make myself happy? Come and Get Some of This, House of Pain. Yep. Just another Irish punk lookin' to make my way in the world...
6. What should I do with my life? My Noble Knight, Sting. Only about six hundred years too late...
7. Will I ever have [more] children? All Night Long, Lionel Ritchie. Well, seeing as Wifeypooh and I aren't exactly plumbed for more kids, if you get my drift, I think this means we could do it All Night Long and nothing would come of it...
8. What is some good advice for me? Mother Goose, Lief Sorbye's cover of the Tull classic. "And a bearded lady said to me: If you start your raving, and your misbehaving, you'll be sorry..." How'd my grandmother get into this discussion?
9. How will I be remembered? Don't Cry, Asia.
10. What's my signature dancing song? Crazy Train, Ozzy Osborne. Is head-banging dancing?
11. What's my current theme song? A Kind of Magic, Queen.
12. What do others think is my current theme song? Peron's Latest Flame, Evita soundtrack. I have no idea what the heck that means...
13. What shall they play at my funeral? Carmina Burana, Orff. You'd know it if you heard it, it was used in Glory during the final charge on the fort.
14. What type of
15. How's my love life? Shock the Monkey, Peter Gabriel. Now, that's not funny...
Well, there's my contribution to the Meme-o-sphere. Give it a shot, it's fun!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
What if you're mute?
The Globe has a story about a case of unintended divorce in India which makes two points very clearly: 1) knuckle-headedry of the bureaucracy is a universal condition, and 2) archiac supreme religious law is not designed to handle Sominex and Ambien.
Under the Sharia, the millenia-old Muslim system of law, a man only need utter the word for divorce three times for a divorce to take place.
Apparently, 30 year old (and married for 11 years) Afrab Ansari of West Bengal state in India was suffering from Somniloquy (sleep talking) after taking some sleep aid medication. Unfortunately for him, instead of the usual sleep talking gibberish, he said the word "talaq" three times, which means "I repudiate you", and is one of the three forms of Sharia divorce.
Apparently the village elders found out, and now they're telling him and his wife that they are divorced, cannot get remarried for at least 100 days, and she must "spend the night" with some other husband before they can get back together.
You think maybe one of Afrab's village elders had the hots for his wife?
In typical fashion, the Globe missed a couple of points (well, it was the AP, but really...). Apparently, the only witness to this sleep-uttering was Afrab's wife. Perhaps she's the one with the hots for one of the village elders? Is this a Muslim version of "Indecent Proposal"?
And even the most basic, by which I mean four minutes on Google, research will show you that under the Sharia a talaq divorce is only valid if the repudiator (apparently some forms of Sharia allow the woman to divorce the man too) is sane and acting upon their own free will. I don't know how you count someone talking in their sleep as expressing free will.
Now, reading through the primer on Sharia family law found in the link above, I apparently missed the part that said the wife would have to marry someone else before she could re-marry her spouse. As a matter of fact, there were provisions for a revocation of talaq, so it sounds like Mr. Ansari should be able to get back together with his wife without all this weird "Wife Swap: Indian Edition" stuff. The 100-day waiting period is actually in the Sharia, although they specify it as three menstral cycles, and seems geared toward making sure that issues of paternity don't get muddled. I would guess that a religion that encourages polygamy would have to be somewhat precise about geneaology, you wouldn't want to screw up how folks are related to each other - could have pretty bad consequences, genetics wise.
I had no idea that India, "the world's largest democracy" had alllowed Sharia to become the governing family law for its Muslim population. Apparently there's a push going on to allow for Sharia marriage rules, which would allow 12 year old girls to marry.
Oh, and in Sharia law the Khula form of divorce, which is a mutual consent divorce, requires the wife to pay some form of compensation to the husband. Now I could get behind that change in divorce law... I could do without that 100 day waiting period, called the Iddat, as apparently the wife is required to stay in the matrimonial home for the three months. So, I divorce this woman making my life a living hell and she has to stay in the house for three months more? Jeez. Sounds awful. Fortunately there's no such waiting period on the guy, so I can go out and find myself a nice young replacement while ex-Wifeypooh gets stuck paying me alimony and doing the laundry for three months...
(oh, wait, she'd have to start doing the laundry for that to happen...)
Under the Sharia, the millenia-old Muslim system of law, a man only need utter the word for divorce three times for a divorce to take place.
Apparently, 30 year old (and married for 11 years) Afrab Ansari of West Bengal state in India was suffering from Somniloquy (sleep talking) after taking some sleep aid medication. Unfortunately for him, instead of the usual sleep talking gibberish, he said the word "talaq" three times, which means "I repudiate you", and is one of the three forms of Sharia divorce.
Apparently the village elders found out, and now they're telling him and his wife that they are divorced, cannot get remarried for at least 100 days, and she must "spend the night" with some other husband before they can get back together.
You think maybe one of Afrab's village elders had the hots for his wife?
In typical fashion, the Globe missed a couple of points (well, it was the AP, but really...). Apparently, the only witness to this sleep-uttering was Afrab's wife. Perhaps she's the one with the hots for one of the village elders? Is this a Muslim version of "Indecent Proposal"?
And even the most basic, by which I mean four minutes on Google, research will show you that under the Sharia a talaq divorce is only valid if the repudiator (apparently some forms of Sharia allow the woman to divorce the man too) is sane and acting upon their own free will. I don't know how you count someone talking in their sleep as expressing free will.
Now, reading through the primer on Sharia family law found in the link above, I apparently missed the part that said the wife would have to marry someone else before she could re-marry her spouse. As a matter of fact, there were provisions for a revocation of talaq, so it sounds like Mr. Ansari should be able to get back together with his wife without all this weird "Wife Swap: Indian Edition" stuff. The 100-day waiting period is actually in the Sharia, although they specify it as three menstral cycles, and seems geared toward making sure that issues of paternity don't get muddled. I would guess that a religion that encourages polygamy would have to be somewhat precise about geneaology, you wouldn't want to screw up how folks are related to each other - could have pretty bad consequences, genetics wise.
I had no idea that India, "the world's largest democracy" had alllowed Sharia to become the governing family law for its Muslim population. Apparently there's a push going on to allow for Sharia marriage rules, which would allow 12 year old girls to marry.
Oh, and in Sharia law the Khula form of divorce, which is a mutual consent divorce, requires the wife to pay some form of compensation to the husband. Now I could get behind that change in divorce law... I could do without that 100 day waiting period, called the Iddat, as apparently the wife is required to stay in the matrimonial home for the three months. So, I divorce this woman making my life a living hell and she has to stay in the house for three months more? Jeez. Sounds awful. Fortunately there's no such waiting period on the guy, so I can go out and find myself a nice young replacement while ex-Wifeypooh gets stuck paying me alimony and doing the laundry for three months...
(oh, wait, she'd have to start doing the laundry for that to happen...)
Oh the indignity of it all...
Governor Romney making good on his wager with Colorado Governor Bill Owens. He bet Owens that he'd go out in public in a Broncos jersey if the Broncs beat the Pats in the playoffs. Yet another victim of poor rerferreeing...
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Hmmm....
Kal Jones -- [noun]: A level headed person who always makes the wrong decision 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com |
Sounds just about right.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Yo!
Crunchtime on grad school application (congrats Mossy) and arranging for Superboss' farewell, so no time for anything even remotely thoughtful...
Just a quickie: you guys catch the story about the work DARPA (the black helicopter guys) are doing with sharks?
And this is after the whole Navy Dolphin assassin Katrina escape thing last September.
I've seen rastaCat in the company of some dudes in trenchcoats with bags labeled "taxpayer money". I'm begining to get a little nervous here...
Just a quickie: you guys catch the story about the work DARPA (the black helicopter guys) are doing with sharks?
And this is after the whole Navy Dolphin assassin Katrina escape thing last September.
I've seen rastaCat in the company of some dudes in trenchcoats with bags labeled "taxpayer money". I'm begining to get a little nervous here...
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
My turn at whoops
Penny tagged me on a meme this past Monday, I've been too self-absorbed to notice until now.
But first, an update.
Hello, I'm Kal and I'm a food-aholic. I've been not snacking for two days now. Thanks, thanks.
So, in order to keep ourselves away from Sunny the Co-Worker's candy stash (interesting aside; Sunny is in OA [overeaters anonymous] or something herself, and has dropped something like two hundred pounds from when I frist worked with her eight years ago. But she has the best candy stash in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and she keeps it full almost all of the time. It's like someone going through NA or AA and staying a pusher... And she's too damn sweet to tell me "hey, fatso, you told me not to let you have any more candy" every time I ask her to.)
Anyway, to avoid Sunny's snack stash, and other snacking opportunities, I've been obsessively chewing Extra sugar-free gum again.
Which, you may recall, contains a sugar substitute that interacts with my body in a most unfortunate way. In short, I must be kept away from open flames. Not good.
And what's worse, I work on the 10th floor of a highrise with non-opening windows. Fortunately I have an office door and an industrial-sized can of Glade...
Blaugh...
Now that we're sufficiently grossed-out, here're the rules of Penny's meme:
QUOTE:
1. Thank the person that tagged you.
2. List 5 random/strange/weird things about you.
3. Tag 5 other people
1. Thank you Penny. You're so sweet, still checking in on me while I go through this mini-hiatus.
2. List 5 random / strange / weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 5 others. Hmmm... Looks like Penny got a bunch of folks. Well, let's see if Duff has anything to say for herself...
But first, an update.
Hello, I'm Kal and I'm a food-aholic. I've been not snacking for two days now. Thanks, thanks.
So, in order to keep ourselves away from Sunny the Co-Worker's candy stash (interesting aside; Sunny is in OA [overeaters anonymous] or something herself, and has dropped something like two hundred pounds from when I frist worked with her eight years ago. But she has the best candy stash in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and she keeps it full almost all of the time. It's like someone going through NA or AA and staying a pusher... And she's too damn sweet to tell me "hey, fatso, you told me not to let you have any more candy" every time I ask her to.)
Anyway, to avoid Sunny's snack stash, and other snacking opportunities, I've been obsessively chewing Extra sugar-free gum again.
Which, you may recall, contains a sugar substitute that interacts with my body in a most unfortunate way. In short, I must be kept away from open flames. Not good.
And what's worse, I work on the 10th floor of a highrise with non-opening windows. Fortunately I have an office door and an industrial-sized can of Glade...
Blaugh...
Now that we're sufficiently grossed-out, here're the rules of Penny's meme:
QUOTE:
1. Thank the person that tagged you.
2. List 5 random/strange/weird things about you.
3. Tag 5 other people
1. Thank you Penny. You're so sweet, still checking in on me while I go through this mini-hiatus.
2. List 5 random / strange / weird things about yourself.
1: I can not stand having my second toe touched. Grosses me out wicked bad.
2: While heterosexual, (and certainly not to be confused with Metrosexual -- which Brotherdear could be accused of), I have a highly refined gaydar which is almost uncannily right. (This is a power I use for good and not evil, as I am a typical liberal Massachusetts person who doesn't get too worked up about such things...)
2a: I always seem to have a lot of gay friends; at one point in college I had a period of three or four friends came out during one two month period.
2b: Really, I'm straight. Honest. Although most of my gay friends think it's only a matter of time...
3: I've gotten old enough that I'm starting to get those mutant eyebrow hairs - you know, the ones that stick straight out, grow five times as fast as all the other eyebrow hairs, and are so thick they need to be cut with wirecutters.
4: I started going to church after finding myself locked in a bathroom in a church basement during an anniversary party, only escaping after the I prayed and the door literally popped open.
5: While I seem outgoing and gregarious, I'm really very shy and retiring.
3. Tag 5 others. Hmmm... Looks like Penny got a bunch of folks. Well, let's see if Duff has anything to say for herself...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
