Top 5 Reasons I Should Not Be Your Child's Godmother ;-D

Hey Blog Sisters,

Here's the scoop. In my outer circle, my friends are popping out babies faster than the Palin family. In my inner circle however, my girls are all deliriously happy indie artist single goddesses unburdened by the darling delight that is motherhood.

Many of those wonderful outer circle girlfriends are trying to carefully choose who should raise their children should something horrible befall them. Others are trying to figure out which potential godparents would give their rugrats the best gifts. While some may be competing for these prized godmother spots, I write this impassioned plea to let you know, my pregnant and soon to be pregnant friends, when it comes to godmotherhood I am not your woman.

I have 2 godchildren, one nephew and a cat. Add to that trying to still trying to raise myself and my best friends and my hands are pretty full. I was blessed to have the best parents on the planet and then to add to my embarrassment of riches my Uncle Patrick and Aunt Ena ROCK as godparents. When I took off for LA to seek my fortune, telling my parents to kiss the back of the $300 jeans that they'd bought me, my Aunt Ena saw to it that the floor I was sleeping on was padded with a comfy mattress and silk sheets. And my Uncle Patrick was no slouch either. When I was that annoying brat in the first row of 2nd grade raising my hand before the questions were asked Uncle P kept me stocked in Highlights magazines so that I could be the chick lit writer I am today! Alas, my friends, this is too much to live up to. I am selfishly enjoying life too much to commit to helping you raise your children. Lest you doubt me in this area, I offer you this:

TOP 5 REASONS YOU SHOULD CHOOSE SOMEONE ELSE AS YOUR BABY'S GODMAMA

5) The Blooming Plants. I adore plants and greenery of any kind. I have been known to annoyingly remark during rainstorms, "well the trees need water too." When my EFH (Ex From Hell) aka SGF (Still Good Friend) and I decided to part ways (meaning he cheated on me with every cheap trick available) I was forced to leave my lovely houseplants. They all had special meaning to me and were gifts from people I cared for. Fine, I thought as I packed to move to an apartment with no window ledges, you keep the bloody plants. In my mind, the plants would miss my tender affection and all quickly drop dead, forcing EFH to realize that I was the glue that held the very threads of life together. Instead, when I returned a year later to collect the bulk of my things, I found a virtual greenhouse! The plants were flourishing like they never had when I watered them with PUR, fed them and even spoke to them. The plants were glad that I was gone. Imagine how your kids would feel if I was left in their care.

4) K & R. My current godchildren. Wonderful as they are I am embarrassed to say that I rarely see them. One mother tried to ply me to visit with guilt by saying that poor little R asked how come she only sees Auntie Abiola inside the TV. How did I deal with this? Did I pack up a bushel of toys and books and head over? No, I apologized and felt guilty for 5 whole minutes before reiterating Goddess Maxim Number 3 - Guilt is a Wasted Emotion. Then I met my inner circle girls for Tuesdays at Tilman's- a delightful feast of networking and debauchery in Manhattan. Whatareyougonnado? Let your child fall to this same fate? Not recommended.

3) Better Alternatives. If something were to happen to you, might I suggest a nunnery or that uncle you mentioned who lives in your basement?

2) The Pets. When I was a kid, I never took to the baby dolls. Instead I turned my toy refrigerator on the side to make a file cabinet and turned the toy stove into a pretend desk to write on. When I was bored with that, my refrigerator was Barbie's second townhouse. True story! The Abrams family did have pets from time to time. The two I remember the most are the dogs Rocky and Flirt. I can honestly swear on a stack of Bibles that I never ever had physical contact with either of these animals. I am embarrassed to add that 2 years ago when my sister was shocked by and opposed to me getting a cat, Flirt's name came up and I asked how was he. Flirt is a girl, my sister explained. Oh, I said. When I did get a cat my sister and cousin came over and threatened to rescue her if she showed any signs of neglect! Again, true story.

1) My Beloved Kitty Anabelle. My daughter Anabelle is the only child that I can contend with at the moment. She is loved, well fed, happily spoiled and cared for. (When I sit writing for 14 hours and forget to feed her, she reminds me ASAP.) I am leaving soon for Guyana Fashion week and luckily I have friends that remind me to find a sitter for her. Those friends unfortunately are also the same inner circle single childless friends who give me horrible cat mothering advice like put olive oil on Anabelle's back to make her clean herself better. (Don't ask. I'll share this one day.) Your kids don't need this. And besides, Anabelle doesn't really like children.

Think carefully about who you choose as a godmother. I may appear on the surface to be a great surrogate mom catch. However, if you take the time to look deeper I think you'll agree that there are others who are much more deserving of this honor. If some disaster were to befall you, I could be entrusted with your wardrobe, however.

Love / Hugs,
Abiola
Curator of the Goddess Factory Lifestyle

"You've really gotten us into a mess this time, Ollie!"

Comparing Laurel and Hardy to McCain/Palin is a stretch, but if the financial mess we're in now doesn't focus the country's attention on the sorry state of affairs from eight years of insanity, then we deserve to crash.

The presidential campaign of '52 was the first I was old enough to remember, and it seemed so exciting and patriotic back then. We'd just come out of the war, the country was booming, and yes, there were problems, though they seem elementary compared to now. After listening to Stevenson and Eisenhower speak, I expected that the academic would easily beat out the old war horse. That was my first lesson in the short-sightedness of the American public. When I questioned my parents why Stevenson lost, my mom said, "He was too smart for the average American to understand." It didn't make much sense at the time. Unfortunately, she was right.

What does it take for your average American citizen to wake up to the fact that we've shot ourselves in both feet, at home and abroad? I traveled in Central Europe this summer, and was impressed by the sight of wind turbines twirling in swirling wheat fields. We are so terribly out of touch with what's going on in the rest of the world--all we see through the MSM lens is strictly US-centric. We've been salted down, wrapped in cotton wool, and isolated from reality.

Same thing when I lived in Australia for two years. There's so much more going on out there than Americans know. It was a relief to live a life in which American doom and gloom and rotten capitalism was reduced to an 11:30-midnight slot every night, and to have the choice to simply not watch. I learned about countries I'd never heard of before. Saw island nations strip mined by American megacorporations, the population decimated when the silt from runoff ruined the fishing economy. Watched the New Zealand Navy surround the French islands where Chirac conducted an underwater nuclear bomb test. Did this news ever make it to the US media? My guess is the O.J. fiasco pre-empted news of any value.

For all our bluster and misplaced pride, the US has slipped into a Third World existence where we have higher infant mortality than a couple of dozen countries. Our education system is abysmal. Le Monde and other overseas newspapers were solidly behind Obama this summer, and doubtless still are. Even the old standby, American Express Travelers Checks, were in bad odor. If Europeans would accept them, they charged an exhorbitant fee, telling us that by the time they got their money back from AmEx, the dollar would have devalued enough to justify the up to 50% fee.

I learned the hard way that when you finally leave an abuser for good, that's when they deliver the coup de gras. For the unpardonable offense of extricating yourself from a toxic relationship, the abuser seeks to get their last, hardest licks in. That's the one thing I fear for America. That the "October Surprise" will result in either martial law, another stolen election, or both.

It is so frustrating to see the rest of the world taking steps to strengthen their populace and economies, while our particular brand of capitalism only leads to an acute concentration of wealth in the hands of sociopaths, and the common wo/man is crushed beneath the wheel of greed.

OK, decomissioning the soapbox for a while. Please go vote. Hopefully for Obama, but if not, be prepared for a messy backlash.

3024-003 Erosie remix

3024-002's sleeve remixed in true black marker style by Erosie :

Expect the Sarah Palin E-Mail Privacy Act of 2009

As you probably all have read, U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's private email account has been broken into and some of the contents posted at wikileaks (the server seems to be over capacity at the moment, so I save you the link). I won't get into the content of this personal communication, because I agree with Lauren Weinstein that

"we shouldn't be doing to others that which we wouldn't want done to ourselves. Palin's truly personal e-mail and photos have no bearing on the political situation, yet they've been posted along with everything else. There's simply no justifying this from an ethical standpoint."

Of course, for persons running for an important public office, we have different expectations of privacy than for the everage John Doe, but what is going too far is just going too far.

But apart from these ethical considerations, there will be practical consequences of this event, Here, the opinions are very diverse even among the liberal crowd. Lauren Weinstein fears that "this chain of events plays into the hands of the Palin/McCain campaign". I tend to agree more with Paul Ohm that this event may trigger the preparations of a federal email privacy act in the United States. Ohm argues rightfully:

Congress often enacts privacy protecting legislation only in the wake of salient, sensationalized, harmful privacy breaches. Thus, Judge Bork's video rental records begat the Video Privacy Protection Act and the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by a stalker with DMV records led, eventually, to the Drivers' Privacy Protection Act.

Similar things also happened last year in Canada, when the mobile phone records of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart were obtained by a reporter through data brokers in the U.S.

Paul Ohm goes on with a prediction I would certainly bet something on:

If I am right about this, expect the E-mail Privacy Act of 2009, and expect it to be a blockbuster. If you're an activist, government lawyer, e-mail provider, or scholar with an interest in information privacy, I advise you to start putting together your statutory wish lists.

Indian Art Market News, the first Indian Art Fair reviews

The recent Art Summit was the Indian art scene’s attempt to climb a new rung in its international aspirations.

astounding 10,000 art enthusiasts walked in to witness India’s First International Art Fair, India Art Summit(TM) 2008, firmly establishing it as a one stop destination for art in India. With an overwhelming mix of art collectors, artists, critics, curators, students and art enthusiasts from across India and overseas, the Summit achieved exactly what it set out to - making art, and the knowledge of art, accessible to a widespread audience.Commercially speaking, the fair clocked in a record sale of approximately 50%, with the 34 participating galleries selling over 280 artworks worth Rs.10 crores approximately. Given that the total value of the 550 artworks on display was approximately Rs. 20 crores, India Art Summit has emerged as one of the most successful first editions of any art fair across the world.With all eyes now on India, event producers Hanmer MS&L, have announced plans to schedule India Art Summit 2009 between 19th - 22nd August’ 2009 in New Delhi. Next year, the fair is proposed to be over three times bigger and applications are already pouring in from across India and world. While in the first year, the focus was largely on Indian art and Indian galleries, the second year will see participation from galleries across the world showcasing a sizeable array of artworks from different parts of the world.
Ashok Art Gallery is a five-yearold Delhi gallery that largely functions online. A mom-and-pop operation with a handful of unknown artists, Ashok Art Gallery has never had any exposure in the media. Their only previous art fair experience was with the Mumbai art expo earlier this year. As one among 35 galleries that participated in the recent India Art Summit (between August 22 and 25), Ashok Art Gallery did not expect to become frontpage news. But their 27-year-old Oriya artist Kanta Kishore’s marble sculptures of rolled-up newspapers were sold within hours of the fair’s opening. Gallerists Ashok Nayak and Kavita Vig, Kavita’s husband Bharat and septuagenarian mother-in-law watched astonished as the art young Indian superstar Subodh Gupta and politician Maneka Gandhi came to their stall. And in their wake, thousands of visitors and the press.Sculptures and installations sold almost as well as paintings, signalling a new trend. The panel of speakers and choice of topics at the Art Forum also drew many accolades and was deemed as amongst one of the best such initiatives of its kind, internationally.
Mr. Sunil Gautam, Managing Director, Hanmer MS&L commenting on the fair said, “It is great to see that India Art Summit has emerged as the most inclusive collaborative art platform in India in it’s very first year. We believe that this initiative is a step in the right direction to put India on the global art fair circuit.”Commenting on the success of the fair, Mr. Philip Hoffman, Chief Executive, The Fine Art Fund said “The Indian market is very important in the global art scene and this fair is a major step. I can imagine this to be major fair in Asia competing alongside London, Miami and Basel in the next 5-10 years. The sales results of the fair seemed very impressive by comparison to other fairs in their first year.”India Art Summit - BackgrounderThe art fraternity in India has for long felt a gap and the need for a collaborative industry platform in the country owing to the phenomenal growth and global interest in Indian art. While the art fraternity the world over gets numerous opportunities to interact and collaborate through various art fairs, biennales & expos, there was no such platform in India. Therefore the time was right for India to offer a suitable platform for art. The initiative has received invaluable recognition and endorsement from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Sotheby’s.The Summit hopes to achieve the dual purpose of, on one hand, serving as a window for International collectors to get a single access point to Indian art and, on the other, exposing the Indian collectors to a range of global Art that will be showcased at the fair in the coming years. More than just a place for buying and selling art, this initiative will enable diverse stakeholders from India and around the world to come together and discuss the creative and commercial aspects of Indian art.Today, Indian art is greatly appreciated both internationally and within the country, annually growing at 30-35%, the Indian art market is currently worth Rs 1500 crores. The Indian art market has gone up by 485 percent in the last decade making it the fourth most buoyant art market in the world. The total auction market size of Indian art has changed from US $5 million in 2003 - just five years back - to nearly US $150 million this year.







The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists. Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

Conference "Privacy in Social Network Sites"

Onother interesting conference here at TU Delft which I am looking forward to: "Privacy in Social Network Sites" on 23 and 24 October 2008. Registration and participation is free, and Delft (right between The Hague and Rotterdam) is always worth a visit. The conference is organized by David Riphagen, who is affiliated with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and currently is finishing his M.A. thesis at our department on the same topic. His blog on the same theme is also worth a look.

Ramadan

We're in Ramadan now, the fasting season. College will officially start after Eid Al-Fitr and thus I'm trying to exploit the free time I have left.
Going to college and studying in Ramadan had always been very hard, I'd be too tired, and there would barely be any time left to study because of all the activities. But from now and till after my graduation and probably higher studies, Ramadan would be during the vacation, making it much easier.

Beside the usual activities of prayer and reading Quran, I am watching an Islamic show on the stories in the Quran, and some snippets from a series about Antarah ibn Shaddad. I use the rest of the time surfing the net, doing some house work and reading about Java.

The curfew hours have changed to 12AM - 4AM as opposed to 10PM - 6AM, and this time the people are actually exploiting the change and going out instead of locking themselves in as soon as it's dark. Hopefully this will lead to canceling the curfew.
It's a positive step and we really need it to lead to more!

رمضان كريـــــــــم لجميع المسلمين.. أعاده الله علينا و عليكم بالخير و السلام و الصحة و العافية ان شاء الله.

'Peanuts' animator Bill Melendez dies at 91 - MSN TV News

'Peanuts' animator Bill Melendez dies at 91 - MSN TV News

He was the voice of Snoopy. I hope heaven is enjoying a lot of laughter today.

Rating the Party Platforms

from Natalie Davis' All Facts and Opinions
http://gratefuldread.net
http://gratefuldread.wordpress.com/

With the Republican National Convention under way in St. Paul, MN, the time has come to look at the various political parties' platforms side by side. A great organization, eQualityGiving.org, exists to funnel donations to worthy GLBT-supporting candidates. The group rates candidates as either pro-equality, anti-equality, or "heartbreaker." The latter designation means the candidate or party supports some pro-equality planks but just can't work up the nerve to stand for marriage equality -- meaning they oppose full equality under law for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The eQualityGiving.org comparison shows that one party ranks as pro-, one ranks as anti-, and two end up as heartbreakers. Can you guess which is which?

The answers can be found by checking out these two easy to read tables:

1) Comparison of the 2008 Democratic and Republican Party Platforms
http://www.equalitygiving.org/Party-Platform

2) Comparison of the 2008 Libertarian and Green Party Platforms
http://www.equalitygiving.org/Libertarian-Party-Platform-Green-Party-Platform

Sorry, Barack fans who are surprised and disappointed, but if you'd done your homework, you would have known already (and, by the by, Hillary is a heartbreaker too). But Obama is certainly better than the one angry and completely anti-GLBT candidate. Of course, there is one fully pro-GLBT candidate...

Ramadan

Mahmoud Said, The Reciter (1960)