Saudi Blogger Remains in Jail and Other Undigested Blips

Undigested fragments belched while out and about in the news...

1. Did anyone actually see the movie Underdog, or is it just going straight to DVD? As a kid, I never missed the cartoon. As an adult, I don’t recall any advertisements.

2. Kissing the ground of this democracy and silently reciting the pledge of allegiance as I read about the Saudi blogger who remains in jail for daring to publish his name alongside his opinions.

3. When only 41 members of the National Society of Film Critics decide who gets the awards, that isn’t news. It’s a coffee klatch.

4. Can we treat 2008 as the year we stopped caring about "Unfitney"? No? Didn’t think so, just thought it was worth asking.

5. Do you Bebo? Maybe you should.

6. Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich honestly thought Iowans would make him their first choice for President. No wonder he’s the only person in Congress who admits to seeing a UFO.

7. Anyone who still thinks the top three Democratic presidential candidates can refrain from personal attacks please take one step forward. There’s a growing demand for consumer sheeple in the tanking American economy.

8. Oh, for goodness sakes. No one in their right mind is going to waste what little time is left in 2008 trying to impeach the President and/or Vice President. Quitcher belly aching and get back to work.

9. Quick, all you low-tech people who don’t have cable subscriptions, only 22 million vouchers left and they’re going fast. I wonder what the feds did to publicize this program. Decided to lend a helping hand, just in case they were too busy trying to defend the President.

10. Two male guinea pigs in a cage with one igloo hideaway make an awful lot of noise. Guess it’s time to buy a bigger cage that can fit a second igloo.

The Last Tomatoes.....or...... Arivederci Roma

About a week before Christmas, Debi and I picked the last of the green tomatoes before the first freeze. Here it is Jan. 4th and we still have about a dozen left. Pretty amazing to me, but I did some research and found out tomatoes have the same ripening hormone as apples. Also.......

The tomato is native to the Americas and was cultivated by the Incas. The Conquistadores brought seeds back to Spain and the Mediteranian countries soon adopted the tomato as if it were their own. The British, however, believed it caused stomach cancer and brain fever and told the citizens to avoid the fruit. The same fear persisted in the colonies until 1812 when the Creoles in New Orleans put tomatoes in their Cajun cooking.

The tomato is in the same family as the potato and petunia.

The tomato is the worlds most popular fruit.

Botanically, tomatoes are a fruit because a fruit is the edible part of a plant that contains the seeds. A vegetable is the edible stems, leaves and roots of a plant.

In 1893 the supreme court ruled in the case of "NIX v. HEDDEN" that the tomato is to be considered a vegetable. This was not the first idiotic ruling a supreme court would make.

8"x10" oil on board $100