Why is this in the words category?  Because I'm wishing spammers would get their just deserts.  And if more than two people read this entry, I would be guaranteed an e-mail informing me that dessert is spelled with two Ses.  They would even tell me that I can remember it because dessert is yummy and you always want to go back for seconds.

These people and the most annoying kind of prissy spelling nazis.  They are the kind who are wrong, but spread their misinformation anyway.

Tell me, spelling nazi... how do you spell dessert in this sentence:  "One out of every 100 recruits deserts the armed forces." ? 

That's right.  Homophones are a bitch, aren't they?

And as for "Just Deserts", the deserts in question are NOT the final course to a meal. Deserts are what you deserve. Not what you desserve.

Don't believe me?  Google it.

 A:  A buccaneer

Her condiment of choice, on her egg sandwich?  Strawberry jam.

You know what I hate?  People who use four-leaf-clovers as symbols associated with St. Patrick. It's Shamrocks, you morons.  And it's a significant difference.  The whole freakin' point of the Shamrock thing in the first place was the fact that it has THREE leaves.

Now I know that your box of Lucky Charms has four-leaf clovers in it.  Here's a newsflash - it's a fucking breakfast cereal, dumbass.

Gastronomic Mono-Culture.  When I first heard it I was so taken by it that i repeated it out loud.  More than once.

I was listening to the CBC during my drive home from work, and they were interviewing Taras Grescoe, a Montreal-based journalist who has just published a book called The Devil's Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit.

During the interview, Grescoe spoke about the cultural significance of these forbidden foods to their local areas.  One thing he mentioned, that we all already know, is that where ever the forbidden (or potentially dangerous) foodstuff is a part of the culture, abuse of the substance is rare.  Bolivia doesn't have problems with cocaine addiction. The French, for all the wine, cheese and pastry, are neither alcoholic nor fat.  Perhaps that's the big problem with North America.  We have no culture to call our own.

Resisting the Mono-Culture

What was truly interesting though, was the resistance to legalization.  Whether it's coca leaves in Bolivia or Absinthe in Switzerland - they're illegal but common and accessible, regardless.  So why not make them legal?  Part of the resistance seems to be the fear of commercialization. As long as these forbidden fruits are prepared and distributed illicitly, they don't leave their local areas, they don't become diluted and common and mediocre. This, in fact, seems to be happening slowly with Absinthe - although the illicitly produced stuff is still, by all accounts both better in taste and more staggering in wormwood. 

So - leaving them illegal means that they continue to be produced and distributed locally they way they have been for centuries. 

What Grescoe didn't come out and say, although the implication is certainly there, is that resisitance to this sweeping wave of mediocrity and sameness has two sides.  There is the desire to prevent what's outside from getting in - but there is also the desire to keep what is inside from getting out.

Last year I gave up Diet Coke for Lent.

This year I am giving up taxis.

This should be interesting.

Egg Nog.

Mine was fantastic, I hope yours was too.

My audience here is small, so I can say this: I love you all. My new friends and my old friends.

And my very old friends.

Hee!

Your current video card is still a bit on the over-powered side. As is your entire computer.  You do not need an upgrade.  You really don't need a $650.00 upgrade that has as much memory as most of your friend's computers.

Sincerely,

Infamy

Still - for Phil I'm prepared to make some stuff up and post it.

4 Jobs you have had in your life, In chronological order:

Digital Media Planner
Project Manager
Digital Marketing Manager
Communications Specialist
(that's a breathtaking list of meaningless titles)

4 Movies you could watch over and over:

Master and Commander
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
I can't think of any others.

4 Places you have lived:

Toronto
Peterborough
Toronto

4 TV Shows you love to watch:

My Names is Earl (Jason Lee is totally my boyfriend)
House, M.D.
That's it.

4 Places you have been on Vacation:

London
New York
Berlin
Istanbul

4 Websites you visit daily:

Salon
Fark
CBC
BBC

4 of your favourite foods:

Fish and Chips
Edamame
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding
Chicken Tikka

4 Places you would rather be right now:

St. Petersburg
The cottage (in July, not January)
London (always)
New York

4 Bloggers you are tagging:

Meh. If you're looking for something to do, do this.