Cafe closed ~ lounge open!

18 Comments

1. 

   AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 5:18 am
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     keres on April 2, 2007 at 6:22 am

     Here’s a panorama of Tasmania’s Great Lake.

     

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       AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 6:44 am

       Very nice. I would be very jealous of all the green but we are starting to green up here about 2 weeks earlier than usual.

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         keres on April 2, 2007 at 7:06 am

         This will all be under several feet of snow in a few month.

         Tasmania is actually very lucky in that our rain is fairly evenly spaced throughout the year.  This year got very dry for about six months, so we had an unusual amount of brown.

2. 

   Second Nature on April 2, 2007 at 7:15 am

   Good morning Andi and good evening/night keres!

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     AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 7:28 am

     Is your backyard in full spring glory?

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       Second Nature on April 2, 2007 at 7:29 am

       It is.  When are you going to start posting pics of your woods greening up?

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         AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 7:39 am

         This is the last desert pic I’m going to post and tomorrow is olivia’s flowers so I’ll have a woods picture on Wednesday — though the green is still fairly muted. But it’s nice to have it happening so early.

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           Second Nature on April 2, 2007 at 7:46 am

           One or two days makes a huge difference once it really warms up.  The only things still in full bloom are the dogwoods and azaleas here – everything else is fully, um, leafed out?  But this pollen is crazy.

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           AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 7:54 am

           Location matters too. Our redbuds have completely opened yet but down in the valley where it is open, they are all in full bloom.

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           CabinGirl on April 2, 2007 at 9:10 am

           CBtE keeps looking at your desert pictures and longing for the desert.  “The sky there is just amazinng, mom.”

           I had him look up Bryce and Zion to see if he wanted to go there – got a hearty yes!

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           AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 9:33 am

           We’ve been to Zion and Bryce several times. Great places and an easy drive from Vegas (which is nice because you can generally get cheap airfares to Vegas).

           There are some Zion and environs pictures in this album.

3. 

   Second Nature on April 2, 2007 at 7:31 am

   I love this LTE in today’s local paper:

   That pole-dancing (“Pole position,” Life, etc., March 22) could somehow be separated from its origins and reinvented as feminist fitness fad is beyond ridiculous; it’s dangerous and certainly not the revolution it claims to be. By this logic, women should spend as much time as possible scrubbing toilets, hand-washing laundry and churning butter, all as fabulously empowering workouts.

   The problem here is two-fold: (1) women are taught to look for empowerment in appearance and sexiness (read: appeal to men) rather than in intelligence, competence or success; and (2) pole-dancing portrays women as sexual objects whose primary purpose is to sexually gratify men.

   Real-life pole-dancing exploits women with few economic alternatives and actively reinforces ideas directly tied to male violence against women, including rape and domestic-violence. That Cary’s mini-van-driving-soccer moms are not performing for a male audience (not in the studio, at least) matters little.

   Feminism aims to empower women to develop strong bodies and healthy sexualities. However, that men do not feel compelled to strengthen their abs and biceps by twirling haughtily around a pole is a powerful clue that women are being offered another Trojan horse rather than liberation.

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     AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 7:50 am

     Some people seem to think that since feminism wants to expand choices for women, every choice a woman makes is a feminist one.

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       Second Nature on April 2, 2007 at 7:55 am

       It’s sort of the same thing as using the N word.  I don’t understand how “claiming” it will make it acceptable.  Maybe it’s just me.

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         AndiF on April 2, 2007 at 8:11 am

         I think it’s like women turning the meaning of bitch into a positive description. The more that happens the less useful the word is as an insult. But I do think that only the affected group can successfully use words like that.

         To “reclaim” or “transgress” a stereotype or cultural norm, you have to in some way go against them. That’s why the pole dancing or Pussycat Dolls or Girls Gone Wild don’t fit — they’re just a redecorated version of the same old thing.

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     CabinGirl on April 2, 2007 at 9:08 am

     “Another Trojan horse instead of liberation”…I like that.  Sort of reminds me how these young teenage girls have been suckered into thinking that the casual random giving of blowjobs to the boys is empowering…

     So, how is everyone this morning?  First day of vacation here, the mist is clearing, and it’s supposed to be 77 degrees today.  Time to break out my shorts and blind the neighbors.

4. 

   Cali Scribe on April 2, 2007 at 11:14 am

   Morning all.

   Only 48 right now outside — expecting a high of 66, so guess I’d better take the light jacket at least, then prepare to stuff it in my wheeled daypack. Heading out shortly for some erranding by bus/rail — feels good to be getting my life semi-back to normal. Spouse picks up his paperwork today and heads to DMV, so he should be back in retraining tomorrow.

   Hope everyone has a great day…