Myrtus

Cat Soup, Democracy, Nutrition and Power

I was reading this article about the hunt on cats being on the rise in China, because of their "elite" culinary status in Chinese culture and I'm sitting here wondering why chicken soup or beef barley is OK in most cultures, but not vegetable cat soup for instance?

Most people would probably gag at the thought of eating cat or dog meat, but apparently not in Chinese culture, where they're on the high demand list as a delicacy.

Some say this sudden demand for cats is caused by bad economic times, which doesn't make sense to me, because usually when something is in high demand the price goes up too.

Are cats and dogs spared from the butcher's knife in western culture perhaps because of their level of intelligence and the ability to fight back?  Or is it because human compassion gets in the way due to the many human-like personality traits cats and dogs possess, which other domesticated animals do not? Or could it be the level of self-esteem and hunger for power or control in a democracy vs non-democracy that people seem to be consumed with, so they take it out on animals?  Sound crazy?

Sighhh, so many questions.

I can understand hunting animals for the sake of survival out in the jungle or when you're lost somewhere way out there in the middle of nowhere, but I fail to understand the persistent need to kill another living being purely for gourmet consumption in our modern day civilization, when we have an overabundance in alternative sources for nutrition.

Ohio.com - Animal lovers protest cat soup

''The police did what they could, but there's little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals,'' Lai said.

Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home.

''There's a famous soup called 'Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix,' '' Zhu said. ''It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together. In winter more people eat cats as they believe it's extra nutritious.''

Public nudity kills appetite

Dave McGuire over at Radio Netherlands poses an interesting question.

The right to be naked? - Radio Netherlands Worldwide

This week on The State We're In, we mark 'World Naturist Week', and ask whether the laws against public nudity are in our best interest, or if they restrict our fundamental freedoms to be at one with ourselves and nature. What do you think?

Perhaps it depends on your culture or how you were raised, I don't know. 

Growing up in The Netherlands myself, I've witnessed plenty of public nudity on the streets of Amsterdam, at the pools, on the beach, at the park....my experience is that too much of it kills the mystery that drives desire.

One man's hero is another one's hoodlum

Are Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad common names?

Have a look here and there and marvel and/or barf....

Second To No Life?

Najia is talking about hate sites schlepping up upon the US digital shores because if those sites were hosted in Europe a lot of people could be in jail.

I was, at the time, cheerfully clicking on some links about Second Life and its European counterpart Habbo Hotel.  The world of Snow Crash was nowhere near this seamy and litigious, all Hiro and YT had to worry about was a crazy Aleut with a nuke and an egomaniacal evangelist bent on unleashing the ultimate namshub upon the unsuspecting denizens of the Internet.

What am I talking about you ask?  Well first there is this 17-year-old youth from Holland who used various unethical means to secure access to other Habbo Hotel user accounts.  He then proceeded to loot their accounts of virtual furniture, which he moved to his account.  Total cost is estimated at $5,800US since to own stuff in Habbo Hotel requires the users to pay for it from credit cards.

If stealing virtual furniture is not your game then in Second Life they just had their first S&L meltdown.  Ginko Bank, after three years virutally open, has suddenly folded taking with it almost 200,000,000 Linden dollars or about $750,000 real US dollars.  No word if the bank customers will get any of their money back from this online ponzi scheme.

But if this ever goes to a virtual court, we can thank this case for blazing the way to establishing a virtual judicial system.  One enterprising coder has created something to change the Ken&Barbie nueter avatars of Second Life into well developed figures.  Leisure Suit Larry games spring to mind all of a sudden.  Now he is suing someone for allegedly cracking his encryptions and peddling the SexGen code independent of the developer.  To which the avatar in question replied, “So sue me.”  No word on how Interpol or other international legal agreements will be impacted by this or vice versa.

And to cover all of these less than legal activities it seems CNN has launched its own Second Life news bureau.  No word on the quality of the reporting since anyone can submit stories, so I guess Capt Jamil Hussein and Balil Hussein might start working for SL-I Reports anytime soon; assuming neither meets the gallows in the meantime.

The first Muslim woman in Israel to drive a bus

Nabila becomes the first Muslim woman in Israel to drive a bus (click to see video)

One of Israel's more primitive stereotypes is against the female driver, so it's no wonder heads turn when people see a woman behind the wheel of a bus.

And not only is Nabila one of the country's few female bus drivers, she is the first Muslim to drive a bus, which makes her a particular rarity in her profession.

Morocco Express

I just happened to stumble upon this blog and found myself indulging in this man's delightful tales of his travels through Morocco on a bike.

As his blog title indicates he kind of prefers doing his own thing, so if you live in Morocco and you happen to run into him by chance, please leave him be.....but if it's late at night and he happens to look tired, please offer him a place to snooze.

On another express note...

As long as I can remember there has been talk about building a tunnel between Morocco and Spain, so people don't take it seriously anymore, but now maybe they'll change their minds when they hear this.

Europe to Africa by train?

The cost is unofficially projected to run over US$13 billion and engineers say the tunnel would take about 20 years to construct. Spain and Morocco hope to receive European Union financing if the project gets under way.

Now here comes the part that's scary.

For decades the Strait of Gibraltar was a dangerous and often deadly conduit for Africans seeking to reach Europe, as people packed small, rickety boats to try to reach Spain and gain a toehold on the wealthy continent. Because of a Moroccan security crackdown, these journeys are now attempted further west from the western Sahara and Mauritania.

Ferries that sail across the strait are not known to be a major lure for stowaways, so an extremely high security rail tunnel would probably not contribute either to the flow of desperate Africans trying to reach Europe.

The Strait of Gibraltar, formed millions of years ago when land masses split to form what are now Europe and Africa, is only 14.5 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. But the water is so deep there a rail tunnel would be like a roller coaster slope, so steep as to be out of the question.

So engineers have chosen a longer but shallower path spanning about 35.5 kilometres. Even there, however, the water is about 305 metres deep, five to six times deeper than the water in the English Channel where the chunnel runs.

Jews in Yemen Targeted by Militants

Yahya Yousef Mousa is one of the several hundred Jews still living in Yemen. His grandparents refused to join the mass evacuation to Israel that followed anti-Jewish riots in 1948. Instead, they opted to continue a traditional life that their ancestors had peacefully pursued in Yemen for generations.

But, in January, that peace was shattered when Mr. Mousa was confronted by masked gunmen from a Shiite sect that accused him of spreading vice and corruption. He and his neighbors were told to leave their homes in the northern province of Saada or lose their lives.

Now, Mousa and eight Jewish families from the village of Salem are living in a secure residential compound in the capital, Sanaa. Their expenses are being paid by the Yemeni government, currently battling an armed rebellion mounted by the same Shiite group that threatened the Jews. "We are safe here, but we're afraid we'll be killed if we go back to our village," Mousa says. "We want to stay here until conditions improve."

Only Mousa's locks and skullcap visibly identify him as Jewish. He is dressed Yemeni-style in a long, white robe and shawl. He speaks Arabic, even praising Allah for his good fortune to be rescued and housed by Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen's Jewish minority is clustered in small communities north of Sanaa. They are protected under Yemen's constitution and identify strongly as Yemeni citizens. Though these good community relations are being tested by the expulsion of the Salem Jews, Mousa is still determined that he and his family will stay in Yemen.

"We haven't had any help from the Israeli government," he says. "And if they offer us a home, we will refuse because we are all Yemenis and we want to go back to our village."

  Read the whole story here ...

Fools Just Don't Get It

LOL Myrtus is probably going to wanna kill me for posting this and creating an archive through this blog, but I'll figure out how to redeem myself somehow. :)

OK, so as you may remember, I'm not the type of Los Angeleno who is obsessed with "the biz," even though I've lived here nearly my entire life, minus some time away at college and grad school. I watch very little t.v., and I rarely go to the movies, which is why I wrote about my chagrin during the winter holidays, remember? However, last night I had a late dinner and turned on the t.v. and flipped through the channels. I came across NBC's "Deal or No Deal," which I'm not going to link to so whatever. Anyway, it's a game show, which is a genre that doesn't particularly interest me, but last night ... I LOVED IT! I don't know if I'll ever watch it again, but OMG, I loved it last night.

hehehe ...

Last night the host, Howie Mandel

went to a local mall and picked someone (allegedly) at random to participate on the show. And, who did Howie pick? He picked a young woman who works at ...

HOT DOG ON A STICK. Dude! it was an amazing combo of attention-grabbing. Hot Dog on a Stick and a game show. You won't get any closer to slap-stick culture than that, trust me.

Now, I know this may not mean much to some of you, but Hot Dog on a Stick is ... I can't explain it. It's fast food where the worker takes a hot dot on a popsicle stick and dips it in corn meal. Then you, in turn, dip it in mustard or ketchup and ... Ukh. Don't ask. But what is so ... unexplainable ... about the place is the outfits their girls wear. I've never seen a boy work there. The outfits are hilarious.

So, last night, a young woman who has worked at Hot Dog on a Stick for 9 years, appeared on a game show in her uniform and won $62,000. For all I know, she wasn't really picked at random, Hot Dog on a Stick was in cahoots with NBC, and the whole thing was a ruse. Who cares. Gotta love it. Unfortunately though, when I did a search on it today, almost nothing came up. Seems as if almost nobody is talking about it. Fools! They just don't get it. Last night was outstanding pop cultcha, pure and simple!!

Women's role as a sex object/beast of burden in Arab/Muslim societies...

and how they often end up attracted to the fast lane running away from home in search for happiness, only to wind up falling victim to the sleazy nightlife as prostitutes.

Be glad we're finally talking about sex out in the open...on the Internet, national TV, etc. We need to have more discussions like these if we wish to eradicate our collective ignorance, especially when it comes to sexual matters. <~~even if you don't understand Arabic just fast forward, this video has plenty of movie clips to help illustrate the subject matter.

Voulez vous......umm......express yourself......talk about it?

Caption this...