“Snackster.net is a powerful cookbook program that redefines how people will get their recipes. Snackster.net is the world’s best peer to peer recipe sharing program. Unlike other popular file sharing networks Snackster.net is dedicated to only cooking.” “The SWIPE Toolkit is a collection of web-based tools that sheds light on personal data collection and usage practices in the United States. The tools demonstrate the value of personal information on the open market and enable people to access information encoded on a driver’s license or stored in some of the many commercial data warehouses.” Li’l G’n’R is the first ever Guns ’n’ Roses kid’s tribute band. Be sure to check out the audition video. Build an excellent camping stove from one Pepsi and one Guinness can. Build your own “growing bag” hanging planters from 4-inch pvc pipes. (I’ve got a notion to do something like this for the farmers’ market…) Folks in the middle of Detroit are turning abandoned lots into mini-farms, complete with livestock. “Roughly a third of this 139-square-mile city consists of weed-choked lots and dilapidated buildings. Satellite images show an urban core giving way to an urban prairie. " You may have heard about American foie gras farms, where ducks and geese are kept in tiny cages and mechanized pipes force feed directly into their stomach to make their livers swell. An influential California lawmaker has introduced legislation that would outlaw the possession of foie gras produced this way (and the high-class restaurant industry, formidable in California, is up in arms over the idea). In Europe, American-style factory farms started to become the norm in their foie gras production, too, until the EU outlawed the practice (France and Hungary, the two leading producers of foie gras, have been given a waiver while they try to find alternatives). But, like most everything agricultural, it doesn’t have to be done like a factory. An English couple produce foie gras the traditional French way on a small farm in northern France, and (if you’re not adverse to the notion of killing animals for food), it doesn’t sound bad at all. Most people around here think we live in Cherokee country. We don’t, actually, as the Cherokee lived farther north. This was Creek country, at least until shortly after the US Revolution, when pressures from the Americans to the east, Spanish to the south, French to the west, and Cherokee to the north finally did them in. The remnants of this once vast confederation of related tribes are now in Oklahoma, having been forcibly moved there along with the other “civilized tribes” by Andrew Jackson. Here is the Library of Congress’ on-line map collection, 1500-2004.

<a href="/legacy/weblog/cameraphone/archives/001634.html" title="Pansy Season "><img src="/legacy/images/legacy/weblog/cameraphone/images/200402111217/picture(4)_t.jpg" alt="Pansy Season " width="120" height="146" class="pic" border="0" /></a>
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The federal tax refund appeared in the account this morning; the state refund went in earlier this week. This means I can actually pay for the seeds that were ordered (which is good, as we’ve already agreed with the midwives to trade produce for birthing expenses as much as possible). I finally adjusted my W-2 forms (which still had me down as single with no deductions) to account for current and projected withholding status, so this ought to be the last year of the ridiculously high tax refund.

All the seeds are now ordered, so planting time is just around the corner.

Georgia’s Schools Superintendent, Republican Kathy Cox, makes a strong case for homeschooling our future child by striking evolution from the curriculum for both middle and high schools. Do you grow poppies in your garden? That’s a crime, you know, no matter what the seed packets or your local extention agent or sheriff says. And just by your reading of this facinating article, your poppies become felonious. America as a One Party State: “Today’s hard right seeks total dominion. It’s packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself. " And if that didn’t scare you, have a look at this lengthy, ultra in-depth report from People for the American Way speculating on how life would be different if the Supreme Court majority consisted of justices who voted like Scalia and Thomas have in the past. Out of North Korea: possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. A three year old girl playing the xylophone like you won’t believe. How about some spectacularly sobering photography? For Time Magazine, photographer Anthony Suau has documented the Soviet Block after the fall, from 1989 to 1999. If seeing those images doesn’t make you think of possible disastrous events, you’ve got an rosy outlook indeed. And for some literally other-worldly pictures, have some newly restored photos from the surface of Venus (that’s right… Venus), courtesy of the Russian Venera probes that landed in 1975. And, to complete the circle, and expose on the “Texas Miracle”, the basis for our current “No Child Left Behind Act”. How did the Tesax schools do so well? The same way Enron did so well, of course. Nothing bosts your test scores like finding ways for your low-performing students to not take the tests, and nothing lowers your drop-out rates like reporting all of your drop-outs actually got their GEDs. Happy reading! And sorry for the silence. I think I’m coming out of a rut. I certainly haven’t been suffering from the Midnight Disease.

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After being asked about it many times, I’ve finally gotten off my duff and created a CafePress store that features the most popular photos from last year’s “Farm Photo of the Day” series. I’m still tweaking the layout, but it’s fully operational and located at www.cafeshops.com/boann. So if you’ve got Christmas cash you’re wanting to get rid of, take a look! Oh… if there was a photo you really liked that isn’t included, or you want any of the other items CafePress offers that I didn’t list (like clothing, for example), just let me know and I’ll take care of it for you.