Thinking About Pigs...

Just to clarify, when I posted my WTF headline on Friday, about the pigs who escaped from the bacon factory because of a truck accident, the whole swine flu thing hadn't yet become a big deal. The story just struck me as comically ironic.

And have you noticed that here in the U.S. the pandemic-to-be is no longer officially called swine flu or anything to do with pigs? Apparently pig farmers were getting concerned, so the CDC is now calling the new disease by its official scientific name of H1N1. This politically correct language is probably too late to have any real impact in the popular perception - it started as swine flu and swine flu it will continue to be. Still, I think we should all go out and get ourselves a great big bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, as a gesture of support for pig farmers everywhere. After all, this really isn't the pigs' fault.

Still Twittering

Or should I say "tweeting"? Regardless, it's a fun way to keep up with what's going on in the world, or at least what's on the minds of people who tweet. And I've decided you can get a pretty good idea of what someone is interested in by looking at the accounts they're following. Anyone looking at my home page will see that I follow sites/tweeters on the subject of travel, food/cooking, current events, politics, a couple of entertainers and tout les choses français, along with a few personal friends. At present I'm not following Oprah or Ashton, I am following Maria Shriver, although she hasn't tweeted since I joined, and I was following a couple of CNN accounts until it got to be too much and I deleted them.

It's still a relatively new way to communicate, and I may get tired of it at some point, but for now I say, Tweet On!!!

Swine Flu

In the last 24 hours the swine flu story has become a big deal here in the U.S. media, and I'm alternating between being concerned, annoyed and pissed off. There's no question that a global pandemic of a contagious flu would be a very big deal indeed - something we all would need to know about. I'm annoyed right now because if you're not listening carefully to the news reports, you might think that Armageddon has already begun.

The WHO says the situation "might" become a pandemic - but it isn't one yet. On the evening news last night, ABC reported that there are 11 or so cases in the U.S. - but it wasn't until the very end of the report that they got around to mentioning that they're all mild cases and no one in this country has died from this flu, or even become seriously ill. There are also a couple of drugs that are effective against the disease.

All the news shows have video of people in Mexico wearing masks, but I've only heard one doctor mention that not just any mask will help - it has to be a specially designated "N95" medical mask to provide any benefit. Such a minor little detail. Much more dramatic to show video of lots of people in public places, wearing masks and looking scared.

And in case you're wondering, the White House has definitively announced and the networks are breathlessly reporting that the President doesn't have the flu. Huh??? Did anyone think he did? Well, he was in Mexico last week... Yes, I'm cynical but that seems to be a bit of a stretch. Oh, well - anything for ratings.

Once again serious, matter-of-fact (read "boring") reporting of the facts of a situation is being trumped by scary, dramatic and emotional stories that aren't false, exactly, but also don't give viewers a full understanding of what's going on. I'm not saying that the flu story isn't important or serious. I'm just wishing it was easier to get the accurate facts.

WTF Headline Of The Day

I couldn't resist:

Pigs Escape In Crash Enroute To Bacon Factory

A Great Day

There are (almost) no words to express how great it felt to be outside in the sunshine today. I've been blogging and tweeting about this for a few weeks now and today is the day I've been talking about - the first 80 degree day this year. According to the TV news, it hasn't been this warm since last October 12. Oh, the bliss ... I always say that people who live in California just can't appreciate Spring the way we do here in Chicagoland.

I've scouted the tomato and herb plants at the local nursery, and bought the replant kit for my earthbox planters. As soon as they're ready to go I'll go back and get the actual plants. As happens every year, I'm wishing I had more room to plant. My balcony just doesn't get enough sun. This year I'm trying some planter boxes that hang on the balcony railing - that's where I'm putting the herbs and hopefully that will do the trick. Last year the herbs didn't do very well because the planters they were in were too low to get sun above the railing. I definitely need a nice patch of my own sunny dirt!

My tomatoes always do very well in the earthbox planters - they're a self-contained system that takes a few minutes to set up each season, but once it's done all I have to do is add water every few days. Check out the earthbox website here. Stay tuned for more of Kimberly's adventures in agriculture!

Talking Like Shakespeare

As I mentioned in one of my tweets, today is Talk Like Shakespeare Day - not just in Chicago, which is what I originally wrote, but everywhere. Turns out today is Will's 445th birthday. I found a fun website with tips for talking like the bard. Here are my two current favorites:

When wooing ladies, try comparing her to a summer's day. If that fails, say "Get thee to a nunnery!"

When wooing lads, try dressing up like a man. If that fails, throw him in the Tower, banish his friends and claim the throne.

Clicketh here for more fun info about talking like Shakespeare. Happy 445th Will!

Happy Birthday to Queen Elizabeth

Today is Queen Elizabeth's birthday - do you know how old she is? She's hale and hearty at 83, and she's been queen since 1952, making her one of the longest-serving heads of state (if not the actual longest) in the world today. In six years she will have reigned longer than Queen Victoria, and there's no reason not to think that she'll make it. A few days ago, her husband Prince Phillip became the longest-serving prince consort in British history, if you care about such things.

And wasn't it interesting to see the Queen and the Prince standing next to the Obamas a few weeks ago? The Obamas are not only about a generation and a half younger but also a lot taller, and the contrast was striking. Note that I'm not dissing the Queen and the Prince - in their unique position the wisdom and dignity that comes from decades of service seems to me to be an appealing advantage. Not only that but I think the Queen is mellowing in her old age. Who could have anticipated that she would not only let Michelle Obama embrace her but even seemed to return the gesture. One more example of how things are changing in royalty-land.

Fun With Twitter

Twittering is Fun! It really is - whoever came up with the 140-character format was brilliant. As I said in my last post, you don't have to worry about being profound or earth-shattering, you just write down whatever's on your mind. If it's boring - oh well, life is boring sometimes and maybe the next tweet will be more interesting. So I'll twitter on, at least for a while, trying to find the right balance between sharing what I'm doing without drifting into TMI territory. No tweets about teeth brushing or other such things, I promise. Other than that, who knows.

Skype-ing and Facebook and Twitter, Oh My!

"Oh, My" indeed. I joined Twitter yesterday and so far I've written three "tweets". If you're interested you can check it out here: http://twitter.com/writingtheworld. With all the new ways to communicate and stay in touch, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up. I know I'm behind on checking my Facebook page, and for a few weeks I was out of the habit of blogging, too. The unique thing about Twitter, of course, is that it's only 140 characters, which is really short and sweet - very easy to update and you don't have to worry about being profound. On the other hand, I do worry about being banal (i.e., boring.) Does anyone really want to know that I just vacuumed my carpets? Or even that it's supposed to be 73 degrees here in Chicagoland today? I have noticed that both my first two tweets and my recent blog posts seem to be a little bit obsessed with the weather. As I've said before, that's what happens at the end of a Chicago winter. We really do appreciate the first stirrings of spring.

More New Words

Here are some cool words I've come across lately:

redoubt: (n) a small, usually temporary fortification; any stronghold

demesne: (n) the land around a mansion; lands of an estate

bespoke: (adj) custom or custom-made; made to order

distaff: (n) a woman's work or domain; (adj) maternal, female

anathema: (n) a thing or person accursed or damned; (adj) greatly detested, viewed as accursed or damned

inchoate: (adj) just begun, in the early states, incipient; not yet clearly formed or organized

lexicon: (n) the vocabulary of a language, speaker or subject; terms used in a particular profession

samizdat: (n) a system by which manuscripts denied official publication in the Soviet Union were circulated clandestinely in typescript or mimeograph form

More Reality T.V.

Susan Boyle isn't the only one making news in Reality TV land. In spite of previous denials that she would ever do a reality show, apparently Octomom Nadya is close to finalizing a deal with a British company to do a series of shows about her children. Some reports said the shows would also include Nadya's adventures in dating, or "looking for love," in reality-speak. On one hand, she's got to earn money somehow, and if some company will pay her to make shows about her kids, good for her. On the other hand, I can't help wondering - will anyone really watch? Will I watch? I'm not sure. (True confession: I'll probably watch but I may not admit it.)

And just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder with our former governor, Blago is apparently going to appear on a reality show too, assuming, of course, that the federal judge in charge of his corruption trial says it's okay. The show is "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here," and you can watch it on NBC starting June 1. There are the usual hoops to jump through, but if our pal Rod can make it to the end, he'll be crowned King of the Jungle. He'll also get $80,000 for every week that he's not eliminated. No, really. I'm not making this up. The Chicago Tribune says it's true.

Have You Seen This?

Have you seen the video of Susan Boyle? She's a Scottish singer who brought the house down on an episode of Britain's Got Talent, which is a talent show similar to American Idol. It's even got Simon Cowell, who was shocked out of his usual snarkiness when this woman opened her mouth and began to sing. Based on Susan's appearance, which is distinctively non-glamorous, and her age (47 years old), Simon, the other judges and the audience members had clearly judged her to be dismissible when she walked out on the stage. There was a lot of derisive eye-rolling when she said that she wanted to be a singer like Elaine Paige, who is a famous British actress and singer (She was the original "Evita.") Watch the video here and see what happens when Susan starts to sing.

The YouTube video has gone "viral," with over 7,000,000 hits as of a few minutes ago, and the story was even featured last night on ABC's evening news program. I say Go Susan. There's a nice lesson here for all of us, about not judging a book by it's cover, appearance isn't everything, etc. Sometimes having a spectacular god-given talent is enough.

It's Still Not Spring

Happy Easter to Everyone! Here in Chicagoland, it's been sunny all day but we're still waiting for it to feel like Spring. Right now it's 45 degrees at about 7:00 in the evening, and the warmest day in weather.com's 10-day forecast for Schaumburg is 60 degrees for next Friday. Brrrrrrrrr .... It's all relative, of course. I still have my weather printout from the day in February when it was -9.

Anyway, I had my windows open this afternoon and the fresh air was bracing but even so, it's almost mid-April with no 70 degree days in sight. We're probably past the danger of a hard freeze but I'm still not quite ready to plant my tomatoes.

On another subject, I've been Skype-ing up a storm recently, with a couple of long conversations with my sister in Oregon, as well as a nice long talk with my niece in Chile. For some reason when I was talking to Laura my webcam wasn't connecting right so we couldn't see each other, but it was still so cool to be talking to her via the computer. The sound was crystal clear, much better than most cell phone conversations I've had, even with people right here in Chicago, and it's free. What could be better!

Happy Anniversary to Charles and Camilla

Today is Prince Charles and Camilla's 4th wedding anniversary. I know - you can't believe I'm keeping track of such trivia, and you're right - it's a little weird. I just happened to read somewhere that April 8th is the day they got married.

This whole thing is interesting to me because there was a time when the thought that the two of them would actually get married was considered to signal the end of civilization as we know it, but as far as I can tell, they're just a boring old married couple. Life as we know it hasn't come to an end. Don't you wonder how British history of the last 28 years would have been different if Charles had just been allowed to marry Camilla in the first place? As I understand it, she was considered to be not virginal enough, not aristocratic enough, not pretty enough, etc., to be the Princess of Wales, but doesn't it make you wonder - pretty enough for what, exactly. Diana was pretty enough and then some, not to mention aristocratic and young enough to presumably be a virgin, and we all know how that turned out.

Standards of acceptable marriage-partner-choosing for British royals have certainly been evolving over the last 75 years or so. In 1936, King Edward the 8th was forced to abdicate the throne and live the rest of his life in Eurotrash exile because his chosen bride was not only American but had already been divorced twice. In 1955, the Queen's sister Princess Margaret was not allowed to marry the man she fell in love with because he was not only divorced but was a member of the royal household staff - in other words, a servant. It's just not done, my dear. The first wave of scandalous Windsor divorces, not to mention the delicious irony of it all, came in the late 1970s, when Margaret was allowed to divorce the man she had eventually married instead.

And now we have Charles and Camilla, happily married and quietly waiting for the day when he becomes king. When they got married four years ago it was stated that when Charles ascends the throne Camilla will be known as the "Princess Consort" instead of becoming Queen, which is what the King's wife would normally be called. Presumably this is for the same reason that she is now called the Duchess of Cornwall instead of using her legally correct title of Princess of Wales. Apparently it's believed in Britain that people with fond memories of Princess Diana couldn't cope with the hated Camilla using the same title that Diana had for 16 years. I don't know if the verbal sleight of hand is fooling anyone, but at least one socially savvy British writer is betting that eventually Camilla will in fact be declared Queen. Given everything else that has changed where Prince Charles's personal life is concerned, I'm not betting against it.

A New Way To Communicate

I'm back, with apologies. For a few weeks I've become what I didn't want to be - a blogger who doesn't blog. I'm trying to do better and I'm starting with something really cool that I've just been learning how to do, and that's talk to people via Skype. What a concept!

It started when my niece was leaving to do her junior year, spring semester in Santiago, Chile. My dad told me that everyone in the family was planning to communicate with her using Skype, which is a free website where you "talk" to each other via the internet, at no charge. That alone is intriguing, but what's really cool is that if both parties have a webcam for their computer, you can see each other onscreen while you talk, just like the old video phones in the Jetsons when I was a little girl. So Friday I went and bought a tiny little webcam and now I'm in business. I've had video chats with my dad and my sister, as well as a voice-only chat with a friend who doesn't have a webcam yet. Down in Santiago, Laura has laryngitis so we haven't talked yet, but we're going to as soon as her voice comes back. I'm also hoping to be able to video-chat with Lorraine in Dubai. We've sure come a long way since the days when I had to have special extra-lightweight stationery and a designated "air mail" stamp to send a letter to my friend who lives in New Zealand.

To update a few previous posts, I'm hanging in there at school, and I even got an A on my first quiz. Last week I was on Spring Break, which for some reason struck me as being pretty funny. The Bachelor controversy appears to have died down, and I'm "sort of" watching Melissa on Dancing With The Stars. Things are quiet with Octomom, although I'm certain there's more trauma and drama to come on that story. We're a couple of weeks into Spring although you wouldn't know it here in Chicagoland. There was snow on the ground yesterday, so much so that they postponed the White Sox home opener until this afternoon. Bummer. I'm ready for a nice 80 degree day, that's for sure.

That's all for now, and I promise it won't be three more weeks before I post again.