Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Old Fat Naked Women for Peace

Thanks to the Socinian for passing this song by The Righteous Mothers along.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:37 AM 0 comments

Method And Apparatus for Making A Sandwich

In case you think making a sandwich is easy, McDonalds has filed for a patent for a combination of a tool and methods for making a sandwich.

The present invention relates to methods of making a sandwich. In one aspect, the invention relates to pre-assembly of sandwich components and simultaneous preparation of different parts of the same sandwich. In one aspect, the invention relates to one or more of the following: pre-assembly of meat and cheese; simultaneous toasting of a bread component and heating a pre-assembled meat and/or cheese filling; and assembly of sandwich garnishes and condiments on a sandwich assembly tool. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a sandwich assembly tool useful in the foregoing methods for preparation of a sandwich, including, for example, a made-to-order sandwich.

Be sure not to miss the Claims section, which appears to divide the application into 27 sections, some of which are:

• The method of claim 14 further comprising combining a condiment with a sandwich garnish and placing a bread component onto the condiment and sandwich garnish combination.
• The method of claim 15 further comprising inverting the combination of bread component, condiment, and sandwich garnish.
• The method of claim 16 further comprising assembling the sandwich using the heated sandwich filling and the combination of bread component, condiment, and sandwich garnish.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:52 PM 0 comments

Quote for the day

From James Ishmael Ford, senior minister of the First Unitarian Church of Providence, Rhode Island.

God is a hole in the language into which we throw all our hopes and fears.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 1:16 PM 1 comments

People of Faith, Standing on the Side of Love

A video by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in support of gay marriage ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 12:53 PM 0 comments

Fox Business interview mentions Oak Terrace Preserve

A Fox Business interview with Noisette's John Knott mentions the Oak Terrace Preserve community in which I live.

Knott discusses the $800 million that Noisette has already invested in North Charleston, and says that it's going to be up to $3 billion over 20 years.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

Here's the best thing I've seen on why voting for Prop 8 in California (against gay marriage) was so wrong ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:17 AM 0 comments

Barack roasts Rahm

Here's what Obama had to say about his new Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel 3 years ago at a roast ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:51 PM 0 comments

UUs aren't an extension of the DNC

This past Sunday, my church had a sermon/discussion entitled Reflections on the Election: Where do we go from here?. Our minister spoke briefly, and then turned the microphones over to the members of the congregation to share their feelings about the election.

As expected, everyone spoke of what a wonderful thing it was that Obama won. As much as I agreed with what was being said, the high-level uniformity of the comments started to irritate me, so I put my two cents in. I said something to the effect of this:

I agree with what everyone has been saying. I, too, am exceedingly pleased that Obama won.

That being said, we have to remember that there's a big difference between liberal politics and liberal religion. I've only been a member of this congregation for a short time [exactly a week, actually], but I have a suspicion that there are a number of Republicans attending the service today. I even have a suspicion that some of them voted for their party's candidate. We need to remember to respect equally the opinions of everyone within this congregation.

This is not the time for those of a liberal/progressive political persuasion to merely tolerate those with opposing views. If we're going to believe what Obama says, we need to listen to views that differ from ours and acknowledge that those with different views are as American and patriotic as we are.

Progressives don't have a monopoly on the solutions to our problems. Neither do conservatives. What we share is the ability to look at our current situation, analyze what has worked and not worked in the past, and come up with potential approaches to taking us forward within the goals that the new administration has outlined.

And from a Unitarian Universalist religious perspective, what we need to do is keep party politics out of the discussion. We need to look at everyone's ideas, bounce them against the UU Principles and our own reason, and support those ideas that pass our tests. No matter which political party those ideas come from.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:54 AM 1 comments

0% of Alaska governors know that Africa is a continent

Check out this amazing story and video from Fox News via Huffingtonpost.com about how totally clueless Sarah Palin was.

... However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself." ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:26 PM 0 comments