The Price of Beauty

The Price of Beauty with Jessica Simpson is billed as a reality show but it really isn't. It claims to be a worldwide analysis of beauty, but it really isn't that either. To me, it's just a hokey travelogue, at times a bizarre one at that. That's the beauty of the series. They go to places like Africa, India, and Morocco and do stuff. You get the feeling the advance work done before shooting is not too extensive.

There's plenty of scenes where Jessica is offered insects or other weird foods for dinner. "Oh yuk!"she responds to roast ostrich brains. The show has a thrown together feel to it that is probably hilarious after ten bottles of beer. Part Kardashians, part On the Road Again, part Hope and Crosby road movies. On VH1 and the Internet.

The public library in 2011

It's nice they put "reference" back in the old building. The other one used too much air conditioning anyhow. Fans are fine with me. And there's a computer here or there for people to type their letters on. We had to give up public Internet last January when those budget cuts went in.

I have to admit, it is quieter. All those young kids rough housing on the Internet. Let them play ball outside like the boys in my neighborhood used to do. I do admit I miss Ebsco Host, but I've gotten used to using the old Reader's Guide. Brings me back. I remember using that as a school girl. Got you there if you had the patience.

Course that bright young man who used to fix our computers got laid off. He's probably back in Arkansas with his parents now. Nowadays you can't afford a decent apartment in town on a librarian's salary. Still I guess we should go with the times.

Editor's note: There are a lot of major cuts in public library funding in the NJ budget and in state pending bills. They include cutting Ebsco products, inter library loan and grants for Internet access. I let my state Assemblywoman know my opinion, and so can you.

April Fools Day one year later

Reuters Factbox for today.


My predictions from a year ago.

Unemployment rate is 9.8% not 6.5%. That was my major mistake. And no wedding for Governor Corzine. Oh well. Happy Holy Thursday. Enjoy your novenas.

March madness

All the hip people in America are taken in by NCAA college basketball. They are doing their brackets, line bets, computing their point spreads. Words like Kentucky or Iowa mean teams, not states. Even our president is paying more attention to free throws and foul shots than to his overweight children.

I have tried to watch it. It seems to have taken over CBS. Still I have not been taken it by the force of America's latest obsession. Last night I watched old movies on tv and missed all the free throws and excitement. Maybe next year I'll go to Las Vegas in March and try the Pocket Casino.

That long dark road to socialism

One of my mother's kinfolks once said that when they outlaw cockfighting in the United States, we will be on the road to communism. Well cockfighting may still be legal in some places but we are well on that long dark road to socialism. This conference cover to the left was held in 1916 and consists of a number of speakers in favor of national health insurance. The long road can be said to begin here.

Roosevelt instituted Social Security, the Federal Reserve and the WPA bringing us that much closer to the ways of Stalin and Lenin. Lyndon Johnson brought us Medicare. Truman got the first Medicare card. We should have have known then what was coming.

George W. Bush, a Republican, brought us the senior Prescription drug plan and practically nationalized the banks. And now comrade Obama is bringing us a step closer on that road to socialism with the health plan ramrodded through Congress. We can join Britain and France and the other socialist countries with national health insurance. There are few countries left with no government run health insurance. At least there is still the People's Republic of China.

Editor's note: With apologies to Stephen Nyman.

Airline food

I just read that Continental Airlines is going to start charging for food. If you can call that food. I remember the good old days of air travel. Not only the food but the booze was complementary. I remember traveling with my mother as a tot and her ordering a Martini on the flight. "I'm nervous about the flight", she explained.

I remember one stormy day taking Mexicana Airlines back to Denver and them walking through the aisles with bottle of wine after another. I guess this was to make us to forget the sudden drops in air pressure. I treated to myself to the free libations. "Heck, I'm not paying for it" I said to myself.

It was then that I discovered the pleasures of air sickness. I learned then that drinking too much on a flight is bad for your sense of well being. Thankfully, I didn't have to use the air bag.

At least the food in airports is better than it used to be. And if they let you bring stuff on the plane now, you won't look cheap. You'll just be making a stand against the man. And they still will supply peanuts and pretzels. Just like the Hilltop Tavern.

Saint Patrick's Day Humbug

When I was a tot I remember always being jealous of the Irish kids on Saint Patrick's Day. Here was a day only for the Irish. We got to hear that there's no smile like an Irish smile, there were no finer people on Earth like the Irish. They got to have a holiday all to themselves, got to take off school and go to a parade. And you couldn't join in the fun unless you had an ancester in old Erin.

Then when I was in college, I roomed near a group of Irish American patriots who would go to MacSorley's on Saint Paddy's day and come back to the dorms full of the magic spirit of County Cork. Then they would get drunker still, break a chair or two, perhaps have a good fist fight, and celebrate the wonderful day in their own way.

Today, however, the day seems diluted. It starts too early for one thing. The day after Valentine's day, the stores start decorating with shamrocks and leprechauns. The parades start the first week in March. People who have no Irish blood at all start eating Irish soda bread and drinking Guinness beer. Everybody it seems is Irish not just for a day but for half a month. Saint Patrick's Day. Bah humbug. Time for another Irish coffee.