On the fourth day...

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...of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Happy fourth day of Kwanzaa! Today's Principle Is: Ujamaa Ujamaa is the principle collective economics, or people supporting each other by supporting each other's business endeavours. This can be as simple as one shop owner eating at a neighbor's restaurant, or using a web directory of community businesses; it '...emphasizes our collective economic strength and encourages us to meet common needs through mutual support.' 'An Esusu is a traditional African lending association common in West Africa. Each month members meet to contribute money to a pool. At the meeting, the entire sum is given to a member in good standing. The loan rotates to another member the following month, and so on. "The Esusu" epitomizes UJAMAA, or Cooperative Economics.' 'Our community is also found in the church. The Black Church has increasingly become a center for business, education and civic improvement. For example, one church in Queens, Allen AME, has built a school, a senior citizens center, hundreds of housing units, a catering house, and many other facilities. It has a yearly operating budget of over 60 million dollars, has sent its pastor to Congress and is a major force in the economic life of the borough and the city. Many of its five thousand plus members live 20 miles, or more, away from its brand new massive, stately cathedral....'

Stupid is smart, and other artifacts of '1984'

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FBI Issues Alert Against Almanac Carriers

Would the Associated Press pull an April Fool's joke several months early?

December 29, 2003 02:47 PM EST


WASHINGTON - The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways....[more]

Be careful, you subversive library-card holders! Don't get caught with those books you're sneaking out to read!

Thanks, mephron -- forewarned is forearmed.

You've heard of 'second breakfast'....

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...this felt almost like a 'second Christmas'! I had a whole stack of boxes waiting for me when I came home -- my Paint Shop Pro upgrade, my Scabbers (Wormtail) to complete my plush Marauders, and my Babylon 5 season 3. kriscynical, siriologist -- we can start figuring out when to meet up, so Kris can see what she's been drawing all this time! *grin*


Douglas Cuddle Toy makes THE best toy corgis anywhere -- but they make no Cardigan corgi, just Pembrokes! Gimme a paw here. Drop them a note if you can, saying how much you'd like to see a Cardigan corgi doll sooner rather than later.


Spent large chunks of this past weekend with myfanwy, and as a side effect, got anony_ms set up with a hilariously appropriate icon. I lurve Google Images. She was frequently distracted by her son, but he's seven -- this was neither a surprise nor unexpected. He got to visit Tamiami Airport, home of small aircraft, and see various planes up close; then got to visit a pair of basset hounds.

Myfi fed me like I was a starving mongrel, I swear. I practically rolled home Sunday night after some brilliant and medium-hot pineapple chicken curry from Dusat Thai just off Sunset.


I'm listening to some appended materials at the end of Return of the King, some of which I'm thinking of trying to post here, including some stubbornly petulantly-posted quotes to counter certain apparently popular opinions. (musesfool, I know you're floating the banner of 'movie-canon versus book-canon', but some of the squeeing is really ticking me off.)

Gotta see how work-intensive it'll be. Probably get through Kwanzaa and past Twelfth Night first, eh?