Have you seen this?

According to a High Court ruling in the UK,

“It is illegal to send indecent or grossly offensive material to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient.”

What planet are these guys on? Does no one remember Oliver Wendell Holmes and “your rights end at the end of my nose”? Whatever happened to “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me”?

This is a dangerous slippery slope into the unreal fog of touchy feely land. What’s next? The thought police are going to arrest five year olds for calling each other names?

“You’re a jerky stupidhead!”

“No, you’re a jerky stupidhead!”

“No, you are!”

“No, you are!”

“Johnny-poo, Davey-bear, you are both under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. In fact, if you don’t I’m going to spank you. You have the right to suck your thumb. If you ignore this right a pacifier will be superglued to your lips. Alright people, there’s nothing to see here, the playground is now safe for everyone’s feelings with these two dangerous loose cannons out of the way!”

“Oh thank god Marge, I’m so glad they came.”

“Yeah, they were causing me a great deal of distress and and anxiety.”

“Well let’s hope they learn their lesson.”

“Doubt it. Those are two pretty tough nuts. They’re going away for life, if you ask me.”

According to the venerable Christian Science Monitor, the Supremes will not be taking up the case of a Utah polygamist.

Most striking, however, was the argument of the lawyer for the defendant, which cuts to the bone of the matter:

“Widespread popular departure from traditional marriage practices has made the anti-polygamy laws, like laws against cohabitation, adultery, and fornication, anachronistic,” Parker wrote. “These laws are not enforced against those practicing contemporary lifestyles, but are asserted as weapons, as in this case, against those living a traditional, family-grounded, religious-based life.”

He added, “In gross absurdity…, one can behave in the same way in two circumstances but in one (polygamy) the action is illegal, and in the other (promiscuity) the action is ignored by the law. One can do legally the same act with immoral or amoral intent and have it be legal. Yet the same act with religious intent is deemed illegal.”

If a man were living with three women in an unmarried lifestyle, making babies with all of them, would he be considered criminal under the law? Well, no. It remains only to see when the laws against polygamy will buckle under the weight of their own absurdity.

Behold, the Lulo:

How is it that this exquisite fruit is not more popular outside of Colombia? Wikipedia claims the fruit is indigenous to Ecuador as well, but I don’t recall seeing it during my time there. (Although I didn’t visit the Ecuadorean coast, perhaps it is more popular there than in the mountains.)

Lulo is most commonly served in juice, and when blended with ice and milk is delicious. Colombians wince when they see me take a ripe lulo, cut it in half, and eat it with a spoon. They don’t know what they’re missing. Lulos are also excellent scooped onto granola or muesli in the morning, and their sweet-tart tang would add a unique flavour to desserts.

If ever you come to Colombia and go shopping in the supermarket, don’t be surprised to see people picking up lulos with the inside of a plastic produce bag. Lulo skin is covered in fuzz, only it’s prickly fuzz that hurts and sticks in the skin. I don’t mind it and I use my fingers, but if it bothers you, you can get rid of the spikes by running your fingers through your hair — the oil in your hair will lift the prickles from your fingertips.

My fifth grade class visited Yosemite National Park in, I think it was, 1985. In the car on the way home the lads and I composed the following verse. I don´t remember the name of the original song we stole the music from, but it sounds a bit like this:

Ba DUM ba ba DUM dee dee DUM ba
Ba DUM dee dee BUM dee dee DUM
Ba DUM dee dee DUM bum dee BUM dum
Dee BUM dee dee BUM dee dee BUM

Here are the lyrics to the song:

There once was a lavendar cowboy
the hairs on his chest there were two
he wanted to live like the heroes
and do like the heroes would do

Red orange and yellow hair tonic
he rubbed on his chest every night
and when he awoke in the morning
there was only two hairs there in sight

He fought for the hand of sweet Nelly
the ugliest girl in the West
he died with his six-guns a-blazin’
and only two hairs on his chest

I bought a pair of Raichle boots a couple of years ago. I originally bought them to walk the week-long Overland Track in Tasmania. They mouldered in the closet for a year and a half and then went with me on my trip to South America.

These boots have been through the paces, and I am really disappointed — belay that, royally pissed off — that boots as expensive as these have failed to keep the pace. It’s disgusting and a rip-off and a con act on consumers.

My previous boots were a pair of all-leather clodhoppers. The complaint with all-leather boots of course is that they break in round about the same time they wear out. This is partly true. But it is also true that you can resole them and the uppers will last you a decade if you treat them right.

Here’s what my Raichles look like now. (more…)