What's going on in Syria is beyond words. The White Helmets, the Syrian Civil Defense, is just about the only organization left to help.
Here's what they do:
When the bombs rain down, the Syrian Civil Defence rushes in. In a
place where public services no longer function these unarmed volunteers
risk their lives to help anyone in need - regardless of their religion
or politics. Known as the White Helmets these volunteer rescue workers
operate in the most dangerous place on earth.
As the conflict in Syria worsens, ordinary people are paying the
highest price. More than 50 bombs and mortars a day land on some
neighbourhoods in Syria. Many are rusty barrels filled with nails and
explosives, rolled out the back of government helicopters -- bakeries
and markets are the most commonly hit targets. When this happens the
White Helmets rush in to search for life in the rubble - fully aware
that more bombs may fall on the same site. These volunteers have saved
73,530 lives - and this number is growing daily.
Here's what you can do. Donate.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
The Blue Hour
It's been a really long time since I've lived somewhere it snowed. I've lived in Europe and states up and down the East Coast, and all of them got their share of snow. (In New Jersey it would sometimes drift over my head.) The whole time I lived in California, it only snowed once in a place where I was living, an inch in Northridge, just before the big quake. It barely coated the ground and yet people were calling in "snow days." Hah. Amateurs.
One of the things that fascinates me about living in the Pacific Northwest is that the light is different here. We'll have days where the sun is almost bronze in a gray sky. My bedroom faces southwest and the sunsets are sometimes apocalyptic looking. And this is what it looked like yesterday at midmorning when the snow was coming down thickly. The light went all blue. It was really pretty.
One of the things that fascinates me about living in the Pacific Northwest is that the light is different here. We'll have days where the sun is almost bronze in a gray sky. My bedroom faces southwest and the sunsets are sometimes apocalyptic looking. And this is what it looked like yesterday at midmorning when the snow was coming down thickly. The light went all blue. It was really pretty.
Monday, December 12, 2016
A book for the Wish List
I love cook books. I've edited them. I've written them. I've belonged to cookbook clubs and bought them at yard sales. When I moved away from Los Angeles I gave almost all of them away. That was partly out of self-defense. As a diabetic, my cooking these days is pretty simple and confined to dishes I like and that work for me managing my disease. I did not need forty-seven books on chocolate or baked goods or Sothern cooking. (I make amazing biscuits but seriously, my biscuit-making days are over.)
Every so often, though, a book grabs my attention. I love spicy food and I love learning bout the herbs and spices that combine to make those meals. This book is on my radar.
Every so often, though, a book grabs my attention. I love spicy food and I love learning bout the herbs and spices that combine to make those meals. This book is on my radar.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Random Reindeer Cat
For the record, I don't approve of dressing animals up in costumes. Except maybe on Halloweeen when their dignity won't be ruffled. But my sister used to have those silly reindeer antlers for her dog Lucy, and I have to say, Lucy was pretty cute. So maybe there can be Christmas exceptions as well. Or not. Seriously. It's one thing to dress up a dog--they'll do anything to make people smile because they're dogs. But cats...that's not how they roll. And yet, random reindeer cat!!! You can find all your animal's holiday costume needs here.
Labels:
reindeer antlers for dogs,
Reindeer cat
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Books to Prisoners
Books to Prisoners is a Seattle-based group that provides books for prisoners. You can donate books--they're always looking for dictionaries, books on auto repair, on legal self-help, on Spanish and American Sign Language instruction, and African-American fiction and non-fiction, as well as westerns and horror--but because their warehouses are full, they prefer money. One of the most requested books is Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and they also have an ongoing need for true crime books.
This is an organization where a modest gift can do a LOT. Just twenty-five dollars sends a package of books to seven prisoners. One hundred dollars covers the postage for an entire day's worth of requests. (This year, Books to Prisoners received 13,000 requests for books.) Check this organization out and consider donating.
This is an organization where a modest gift can do a LOT. Just twenty-five dollars sends a package of books to seven prisoners. One hundred dollars covers the postage for an entire day's worth of requests. (This year, Books to Prisoners received 13,000 requests for books.) Check this organization out and consider donating.
The Goblin Crown by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, a review
Like Guy
Gavriel Kay’s FIONAVAR TAPESTRY and Suzanne Collins’ wonderful UNDERLAND
CHRONICLES or C.S. Lewis’ CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s THE
GOBLIN CROWN, is a story of ordinary people suddenly thrust into an
extraordinary, magical world. We know up front that this world is a dangerous
place and that the stakes—whatever they are—will be real and that actions will
have consequences for Billy, Lexi, and Kurt, as well as all they meet.
Billy, our
hero, is an outsider, a kid who has NEVER felt he fit in anywhere and who
certainly doesn’t expect that his high school experience is going to be any
different. Billy is, a familiar enough character, but Wolfe nails him, bringing
him to vivid life on the page. But pretty Filipina Lexi—who really isn’t very
good at minding her own business—and bullying jock Kurt are also three-dimensional
and believable people. These characters are grounded—no, rooted—in reality and
we believe they act in a way that has context. (There’s a lovely, magical
moment when Billy meets all the freckle-faced, redheaded men who came before
him and takes courage from the encounter.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Weapons of Math Destruction
One of the most stunning books I read in a college political science class was Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics by Michael Wheeler. Published in 1976--forty years ago!!!--it is about the manipulation of public opinion in America. It was scary stuff then and now, it feels eerily prescient.
The end-of-the-year "Best Books" lists are starting to come out and one that I'm seeing a lot is Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatans Democracy.
Here's the sales pitch:
A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life — and threaten to rip apart our social fabric
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated.
The end-of-the-year "Best Books" lists are starting to come out and one that I'm seeing a lot is Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatans Democracy.
Here's the sales pitch:
A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life — and threaten to rip apart our social fabric
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated.
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