meggo

are you sure that's not chatham daily news?

oh no you DI-IN'T! that is a beautiful pic. *sighhhhhhhhh*

i have been following this thread and the news and it is making me CRAZY! this is our next hurdle i think. although in canada, i think we're doing pretty well. need to go to my happy place....

so you missed doggie school for eggplants? tsk tsk!

1. my grandpa on my mom's side [american] was the captain of a minesweeper in the south pacific. he wasn't supposed to be the captain but his superiors got court martialed for some misbehaving! i think the navy was a lot less crazy than infantry as far as witnessing so much violence. 2. i took my history class to see passchendaele... the love story is definitely OVERDONE. it is about 2 hours long, and about one whole hour in the middle of the movie is just in calgary following the love story. but, the war scenes are good, if a bit brutal. that's war i guess. i thought it did a good job of depicting just how awful it was in the trenches, especially with all the mud and rain they had at passchendaele. a renter i think. and paul gross is actually pretty cute.

have you guys made white chili before? we did that a few monts ago and it was very good.. i'll post the recipe when i get home. lots of cilantro and peppers.

because obama is pro choice - and i think even fairly conservative in his views there [i.e. only when the mother's health is in danger? something like that]. anyway i don't want to bring down the thread! yay obama!

that student was NINETEEN.

that was so beezarre! and of all the people to interview... will.i.am??? strange little interlude i thought.

one of my students walked into my class today and said 'the baby-killer won'. i could have smacked him. instead, i tore a small strip off of him. sheesh.

january... and YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! so happy.

don't you guys have jobs? [she types from a computer at work...]

in chatham? boooooo!

don't call the stock market "a game."

about the crack pipe program - and i can't remember where i heard this so it could be flawed - but i believe that the reason they were going to shut it down was b/c it wasn't working. i.e., they were giving out clean crack pipes, but then the users were just allowed to leave and smoke their crack, with no oversight as far as sharing the pipes. so basically, you could get your clean pipe, and then go share it with someone who has hep c or another disease which they're trying to prevent through the program. kind of pointless. i think the idea is good but in practice, how useful? at least at the insite safe injection site in vancouver you have to stay, use your drugs, and then leave your used needle there. sadly, i have heard that this has not been very successful in preventing overdoses and other drug-related illnesses. [please correct me if i'm wrong on any of the above... i know someone will ]

i have had my car stolen out of/broken into/just plain broken three times in my four years here [all in front of my old apt on gilmour]. once things were stolen when i left the door unlocked by mistake, and once they just went ahead and threw a chunk of cement through the window. leaving your doors unlocked certainly does not make it your fault. some shithead still made that decision to take your stuff. boooo thieves.

we love making soup! here is a favourite from cook's illustrated magazine: thai-style chicken soup 1 tsp vegetable oil 3 lemon grass stalks, tough outer leaves removed, bottom 5 inches halved lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise 3 large shallots, chopped 8 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped coarse 3 tbsp fish sauce 4 cups low sodium chicken broth 2 cans coconut milk 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 lb white mushrooms, cut into 1/4 inch slices 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, halved lengthwise and sliced thin 3 tbsp lime juice 2 tsp Thai red curry paste garnish: 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves 2 serrano chiles, sliced thin 2 scallions, sliced thin on bias 1 lime, cut into wedges 1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until just shimmering. Add lemon grass, shallots, cilantro and 1 tbsp fish sauce; cook, stirring frequently, until just softened, 2 - 5 minutes [veggies should not brown. Stir in chicken broth and 1 can coconut milk; bring to simmer over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, simmer until flavours have blended, 10 minutes. Pour broth thru fine-mesh strainer and discard solids in strainer. Rinse saucepan and return broth mixture to pan. 2. Return pan to medium-high heat. Stir in remaining can coconut milk and sugar into broth and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, add mushrooms, and cook until just tender, 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly, until no longer pink, 1-3 minutes. Remove soup from heat. 3. Combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining 2 tbsp fish sauce in small bowl; stir into soup. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cilantro, chiles, and scallions. Serve with lime wedges. soooooooooooo deelee-cious.

omg. so many LOLs. and i'm at work! keep it up. :grin:

happy birthday pretty lady! sorry i didn't give back your green shirt yet. i am a lazy bee-otch.

happy birthday myrna

fack! we forgot it was on. my favourite show these days.

i was listening to the CBC this morning and they were interviewing a journalist [british?] who had been arrested in russia and helped by this same lawyer. he said that in russia they do something he called 'piling on' - where all branches of bureaucracy will come after you and basically try to wreck your life [if you are doing something they don't like]. he said that because of this it prevents the leaders from being indicated, because they haven't actually done anything, it is done for them before it gets to that point. like protection. but of course the government is guilty because they are complicit... eeeek. putin is so damn creepy.

Russian lawyer suspects mercury poisoning By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer Steve Gutterman, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 15, 3:42 pm ET MOSCOW – A Russian lawyer said Wednesday she suspects she and her family were poisoned by mercury found in her car, keeping her away from the start of the trial of three men accused in the slaying of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Karinna Moskalenko, who has represented several Kremlin foes and is a lawyer for Politkovskaya's family, told The Associated Press she and her husband found balls of mercury in their car Sunday in Strasbourg, France. She said it may have been attempt to frighten her, but that it was unclear whether there was a link to the Politkovskaya murder trial. "Somebody put it there, but I don't know who could have done it or what aims they were pursuing," Moskalenko said by telephone from Strasbourg, where she helps Russians take claims against the authorities to the European Court of Human Rights. Several Russians who have criticized or angered the Kremlin — including Politkovskaya — have been victims of alleged poisoning attacks in recent years. Politkovskaya fell seriously ill with food poisoning after drinking tea on a flight from Moscow in 2004, which prevented her from covering the hostage crisis in Beslan in which more than 330 people were killed. Former KGB officer and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko died in Britain in 2006 after ingesting radioactive polonium 210, weeks after Politkovskaya was gunned down. Moskalenko said she and her three children were feeling ill, and that one daughter had a temperature of 104 degrees. Ekho Moskvy radio quoted her as saying Tuesday that she and her children had experienced headaches, dizziness and nausea in recent days and had undergone tests at a hospital, receiving a preliminary diagnosis of poisoning. "Thank God ... we are still alive," she said Wednesday as a child wailed in the background. Colleagues and human rights groups said the incident was likely meant to intimidate Moskalenko. "Karinna Moskalenko's poisoning is causing a great deal of anxiety and shock," said Anna Stavitskaya, who is also representing Politkovskaya's family. "Everyone — including me — thinks it is connected with her professional activity, as she is involved in several big cases." A police official in Strasbourg confirmed the discovery of balls of mercury in Moskalenko's family car. The official said laboratory analyses found the mercury was not potent enough to cause injury or death, but the balls' mercury levels could have been greater prior to being shown to police. The official said there was no sign the car had been broken into and investigators were searching for its previous owner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, according to police policy. Moskalenko said the idea that the mercury might have been in the car when her family acquired it was "total nonsense" because the car was given a thorough cleaning at the time. She told the AP the mercury was on the floor of the car; more specifically, the daily Kommersant cited her as saying it was beneath the front seats. "There was enough that it was very visible" once they found it, she told the AP. Moskalenko has represented imprisoned former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky as well as Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and opposition leader detained last year during an anti-Kremlin protest. She spends much of her time helping Russians press claims against the government at the European Court of Human Rights, which puts her at the forefront of challenges to Russia's international image. Politkovskaya, whose reports on human rights abuses in Russia and especially Chechnya embarrassed the Kremlin, was shot to death in her Moscow apartment building in 2006. The trial that started Wednesday in a military court in Moscow is the first in connection with her killing. It has already been marred by the absence of the suspected triggerman and the failure to determine who was behind the slaying. "The crime is not solved yet. Only a small fraction of the people involved are on trial now," Politkovskaya's son Ilya said outside the courthouse. Stavitskaya said the trial judge refused her request to postpone the initial hearings until Moskalenko could come to Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. However, the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency cited a defense lawyer as saying the judge set the next hearing for Nov. 17. Lawyers for victims' relatives often play a significant role in Russian trials. Politkovskaya's slaying deepened Western concerns about Russia's course and underscored the risks run by independent Russian journalists. She was one of at least 13 journalists killed in contract-style slayings during Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency. Few suspects have been prosecuted. Prosecutors say the man accused of pulling the trigger, Rustam Makhmudov, has fled to Western Europe. The suspects being tried on murder charges are Sergei Khadzhikurbanov — a former Moscow police officer — and Makhmudov's brothers Ibragim and Dzhabrail. A fourth man charged in the trial, Pavel Ryaguzov, is a Federal Security Service officer who is accused of criminal links with Khadzhikurbanov in an earlier case. He is no longer considered a suspect in Politkovskaya's killing, but his presence allows the trial to be held in a military court. Prosecutors believe Khadzhikurbanov organized the killing, and that one Makhmudov brother followed the journalist and gave information on her movements to his brother, who then relayed those details to the shooter. ___ Associated Press Writer Jean-Pierre Verges contributed to this report from Paris.

hi it's me again. since this is at zaphod's -- should i get there by 9 to see the headliner? kthxbye

bump for ottawa tomorrow night