Samantha Pierce

I posted this a year ago . I think I will make it an annual Christmas thing. Reader suggestions from last year appear in red. If you're really interested in getting something really cool for someone for Christmas check this out . With Christmas fast approaching the great commercial juggernaut is on the move ready to part you from your money. There was a sign at the front of our local Walmart last Friday that read, "4 Saturdays left until Christmas." Many of you will have to venture out into the sea of materialism to hunt for toys for the wee ones in your lives. For those of you who don't have any at home I've devised a list of rules to help keep you on the good side of the parents of the wee ones. The list is entitled, How to buy toys for other people's kids so that they won't end up hating you and wanting to throw you and the toys out of the nearest highrise window. Don't buy any electronic noise making toys that don't have volume control. Don...

Hurricane season officially ends but there's still one storm wandering around in the Atlantic. Folk are already talking about next year's season . God help us all.

So after seeing the umpteenth comercial trying to get me to buy stuff for some unspecified reason and advertising a sale for the same unspecified reason I've devised a new drinking game, for those of you who are into that kind of stuff. Everytime you see a Christmas comercial that studiously avoids any mention of Christmas take a drink. Or if you're inclined to sobriety take a drink only if Christmas is mentioned. If you're totally dry swig some egg nog or something.

I saw a commercial for Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (there are also Revelations and Battles of ) and was practically salivating over it until I realised that it was just a video game. I out grew my lukewarm fascination with video games years ago (but not before I beat the Street Fighter Turbo game) but sometimes I wish that I thought video games were really cool. The stories behind many video games these days are really interesting. That's what caught my interest about this particular video game, the story. Two princes fighting for the control of their kingdom. One would presumably dominate the people and ruin the kingdom. The other would be a good and benevolent leader. The catch is that the two are one and the same. Now if this had been the plot of a book I would have been all over it. So take a hint video game makers and start lining up some good sci fi/fantasy writers (or take a chance on a promising novice) to write books for you based on your video games. Graphic novel...

This is an intriguing idea. Jesse Jackson -- America's own Yasser Arafat? " Yasser Arafat made his millions and kept his power by fostering hatred between the Palestinians and Israel. In a horrifying irony, the Palestinians were and are led by the very people who have the least interest in lasting harmony. Black Americans face a similar situation. The present crop of Civil Rights leaders make their daily bread stirring up mistrust among the people they claim to want to help. Rather than encouraging integration into the larger society, they perpetuate separatism and fear which serves only to marginalize the black community. This marginalization in turn feeds the cycle of disadvantagement. "

For those of you who have forgotten your high school Spanish the lower text translates (literally) to, "Now here! Trees of Christmas recent cut." I trust you understand my mirth.  Via Wizbang .

Who would I be in 1400 AD? The Monk You scored 23% Cardinal, 61% Monk, 41% Lady, and 45% Knight! You live a peaceful, quiet life. Very little danger comes you way and you live a long time. You are wise and modest, but also stagnant. You have little comfort, little food and have taken a vow of silence. But who needs chatter when just sitting in the cloister of your abbey with The Good Book makes you perfectly content. My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 18% on Cardinal You scored higher than 88% on Monk You scored higher than 45% on Lady You scored higher than 41% on Knight Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test written by KnightlyKnave on Ok Cupid , home of the 32-Type Dating Test Via Keer Unplugged .

Today is The Thankful Thursday. Like millions of other Americans I made the trek to spend this day with family. Today I'm thankful for/that: The kids made it through the trip unscathed. They weren't too happy about being cooped up in the car for so long but they seem none the worse for wear. It could have been worse, we could have been flying. I made it through the trip more or less in one piece. A little frazzled but none the worse for wear. Hubby : Have you been losing weight? Me : Err, I don't know. I haven't really been trying. Hubby : You look sleeker. It doesn't get any better than that. Hopping around on one foot must burn a lot of calories. Friends and family. What are you thankful for?

Is France still burning? Apparently the answer is yes and it has cost someone else their life . And it's still not news apparently. " Yesterday, authorities discovered racist and extremist slogans spray-painted on a mosque being built in Saint-Etienne in the southeast. Larbi Marchiche, who heads a Moroccan cultural association overseeing the mosque construction, called the vandalism 'a provocation by brainless kids.' " [Emphasis added.] Makes me wonder, what's he calling the razing of the French suburbs? (Via Michelle Malkin .)

There's a strain of thought that says because so and so did such and such then so and so's opinion on X (provided that the opinion agrees with your opinion) can not be questioned or challenged. Take for example serving in the military. Folk are crying foul because Rep John Murtha, a former Marine now serving in the US Congress, is being criticised for calling for US withdrawal from Iraq . Serving in the military does not make anyone infallible nor omniscient (neither does losing an adult child in Iraq who volunteered to be there by the way). For those who would use their service in the military to shield themselves from criticism, if your fellow Americans are not free to challenge your ideas, dissect them and analyse them, and say you are wrong then what exactly did you serve to protect? What did you fight for and your compatriots die for if the ideas of all Americans do not stand on the same footing and are subject to the same scrutiny?

The landing gear is stuck on a corporate jet somewhere. All three of the cable news networks are covering this like it's the landing on the beaches of Normandy. They've apparently been covering it for hours . Is the world so dull and unimportant that they have to spend hours watching a plane fly in circles on the off chance that there will be some fireworks when it tries to land? This is getting as absurd as the constant broadcasting of those idiots on the California roadways.

Really, is France still on fire? If it is it seems not to be news anymore. After more than two straight weeks of hearing report after report about how the rioting in France hadn't spread into the cities I finally began to understand the lackadaisical attitude of the French towards their country burning. All of the burning and what not was going on in the suburbs you see. The suburbs, the French version of the American ghetto where the poor and unimportant folk live. If those places are in flames and chaos no sweat. The city centers though, that's a different story. That's where the privileged and important folk live. Those places are to be protected at all costs I bet. So long as the city centers do not burn every thing seems to be okay for the French. France After The Riots discusses the French response to the riots (I keep wanting to say the piss poor French response but I'm trying to be nice).

November 3 , 22nd Anniversary of my arrival in the United States. It's a bit weird to be considered a foreigner when I visit the country that I was born in. November 9 , 67th anniversary of Kristallnacht. November 10 , United States Marine Corps birthday. Happy birthday. November 11 , Veterans Day. Thank you all for your service. We'd all be in a pretty bad way if these men and women didn't choose to put their lives on the line for us. November 13 , Sis 2's birthday. Happy birthday! I could make some jibe about her getting older but that would probably back fire on me.

There'll be snow in this city before the day is through. There are already reports of snow fall at the airport north of town. I'm spending the morning rounding up all of the kids' winter gear, hats, mittens, scarves, and what not. I'm embroidering their names on them so they won't get lost in the shuffle at school. Ethan came home yesterday with someone else's hat in his bag. There's been plenty of snow up north in the snowbelt on the Tug Hill Plateau but there has also been really warm weather in these parts. We usually get plenty of significant snowfall before mid-November but there's been nothing so far this winter. One winter Syracuse got over 30 inches of snow in November alone. I got frost bite that winter. Oh, we have our own special kind of snow up here courtesy of our proximity to the Great Lakes called lake effect . It's one of the first things you learn about when you first move to Syracuse. Locals (and I've lived here long enough to ...

Today I am simply thankful that hubby is home and I can take some time to rest my weary bones. What are you thankful for?

I done been tagged by TulipGirl ! I kinda sorta did something like this on my own sometime back. Can't hurt to do it again. Seven things to do before I die: Visit Central Asia. Go back to Ireland. Raise honey bees. (I've been warned that this isn't all it's cracked up to be but I just have to find out for myself. The lure of homemade bees wax candles is just to great.) Make cheese. Live in the country. Make my own yarn from sheep to skein. Visit Australia and New Zealand. (Yeah I know it's only supposed to be seven but it's my blog. I'll do this my way.) Study anthropology. Seven things I cannot do: I'm Super Woman, there's nothing I can't do except: Ride a bike. Play a musical instrument. Put people into neat little categories. Watch the movie Saving Private Ryan again. Make lists in general. Finish this list. Seven things that attract me to Hubby: (Gentleman insert wifey, unmarried folk your best friend okay?) His faith. His sharp mind. His...

Oh yeah! This rocks! Now I know what I'm getting everyone for Christmas this year. Check out the World Vision gift catalog . World Vision allows you to purchase items to donate to families around the world to help them support themselves. This is so much better than getting more stuff for people who already have everything they need. I was already planning on sending any Christmas money I got to missionaries. Being able to give gifts that will actually help people is going to be great. And your friends and family won't have to figure out what to do with one more piece of junk that they don't need. Update: Some have asked of you can specify which country you want your gift to go to. Nope .

Jordanians Protest Against Al Qaeda Friday, November 11, 2005 "Oh my God, oh my God. Is it possible that Arabs are killing Arabs, Muslims killing Muslims? For what did they do that?" screamed 35-year-old Najah Akhras, who lost two nieces in the attack. Similar thoughts were heard over and over throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I've been trying to feel offended that people in Jordan and the Middle East seem to be most distraught that Al Qaeda would attack other (non-Iraqi) Muslims, implying that attacking non-Muslims isn't so appalling. I can't really be offended at that though when I think of how the American media covers these kinds of things. Who hasn't seen a headline like, "50,000 dead, including 2 Americans" and then the rest of the story goes on to focus on just those two out of the 50,000? In this the Jordanians aren't so different from us. The murder of their own has greater meaning for them than the murders of others.

I couldn't pass this one up. Rohirrim To which race of Middle Earth do you belong? brought to you by Quizilla (Via Dappled Things .)

I just spent the entire morning gardening in the front yard. I woke up at 7:20 AM and before 7:30 AM I was outside. There was frost on the grass but I bundled up and went out anyway. I had to get my bulbs in the ground before it froze solid. I had told myself that I wasn't going to put any money into buying bulbs this year. Then I went to Walmart and saw tulip bulbs selling at $10 for 50 and I was lost. I bought a whole mess of bulbs then went and got injured before I could plant them all. I'd already planted more of the lilies that I had been coveting during the summer before I got hurt. Today I had to plant the 50 tulips (a purple and white mix) I bought along with 15 dutch irises (Eye of the Tiger), 12 giant hyacinths (mixed colours), and 6 aliums (purple). I gave up and came inside before I got to the aliums but everything else made it into the ground. I also dug up some jerusalem artichokes. They are a very delicious (and invasive, don't plant them anywhere near anyth...