Some days nature makes you feel as if you are in a Chagall painting

Sunset.

It's a family tradition.

A modest proposal

"A man provides food and shelter for his family. A woman makes the babies and maintains the household. I don’t understand why a woman would have to work. You’re already paying rent and buying groceries. Why is it so much more expensive to have a roommate? You sleep in the same bed. Kids are virtually free, too. Public schools abound, food is cheap, and hand-me-downs are everywhere.

A woman gets up with the kids, prepares their lunches, and makes them breakfast. A man can lie in a little bit longer because he has to be alert to make money. Morning is a woman’s time to shine. Men must shine later in the afternoon.

A woman kisses the children good night every night and a man provides his children with a ‘force field’ that protects them from monsters and bad dreams. This is done by waving his hands over their bodies and making a sound that resembles a lightsaber.

A man takes the kids to school and kisses them goodbye. If a woman wants to nap after the kids leave, that’s nobody’s business. She can sip margs and watch Real Housewives for all we care.

All day a man has to be thinking, “Is what I’m doing right now providing income?” Within reasonable ethical boundaries, a man never refuses a job that will increase his family’s wealth.

When the kids come home from school, it’s a woman who nurtures them and deals with micro issues like bullying or the quality of their homework assignments. The man deals with macro problems like what school they go to. If private becomes the only option, it’s the man’s job to provide that. If he can’t afford local private schools, he must move and then commute to work. I know. It sucks.

When a man comes home from work he has to be “on” for the kids. He does not get a moment to relax and read the paper. The second he walks through the door, a woman is relieved of her duties and can go lock herself in her bedroom. She can zone out until dinner."

Read more at Taki's Magazine

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Any questions?

“It is not appropriate to say only dolphin hunting is inhumane”

"[M]s. Kennedy (U.S. ambassador to Japan) has quickly surprised her Japanese hosts by being undiplomatically frank on delicate issues. She created a stir recently when she publicly expressed concern about a bloody annual dolphin hunt that is widely condemned abroad, but that many Japanese view as a part of their traditional culture."

“Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing,” Ms. Kennedy wrote last week on Twitter. “USG opposes drive hunt fisheries,” she added, referring to the United States government’s stance on the hunts, in which dolphins are herded into coves so they can be hacked to death.

I thought Obama was not a co-signer to American exceptionalism. What is Ms. Kennedy doing, promoting a version of our values over there? Who does she think is in the White House? George W Bush?

“How do you rein someone like her in?” said Dave Spector, an American who has worked in Japan for more than 25 years as a television commentator and who has followed Ms. Kennedy’s ambassadorship closely. “Her father is on the 50-cents coin, for crying out loud. She is bigger than life.”

Her fame is so formidable, he said, that she is vulnerable to people looking for meaning in her every move.

But others quickly criticized her for sticking her nose into something that they say is not her, or any other foreigner’s, business. Some angrily reminded her that Commodore Matthew C. Perry opened Japan at gunpoint in 1853 to secure ports for American whalers.

“We don’t want to be told such things by Americans who used to kill whales just for their oil,” said one user. Another was succinct: “Stupid woman! Go home!”

Slate: "Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore"

"When I was a kid, I knew two different Santa Clauses. The first had a fat belly, rosy cheeks, a long white beard, and skin as pink as bubble gum. He was omnipresent, visiting my pre-school and the local mall, visible in all of my favorite Christmas specials."

Then there was the Santa in my family’s household, in the form of ornaments, cards, and holiday figurines. A near-carbon copy of the first one—big belly, rosy cheeks, long white beard: check, check, check. But his skin was as dark as mine.

Seeing two different Santas was bewildering. Eventually I asked my father what Santa really looked like. Was he brown, like us? Or was he really a white guy?

My father replied that Santa was every color. Whatever house he visited, jolly old St. Nicholas magically turned into the likeness of the family that lived there.

In hindsight, I see this explanation as the great Hollywood spec script it really is. (Just picture the past-their-prime actors who could share the role. Robert De Niro! Eddie Murphy! Jackie Chan! I smell a camp classic.) But at the time, I didn’t buy it. I remember feeling slightly ashamed that our black Santa wasn’t the “real thing.” Because when you’re a kid and you’re inundated with the imagery of a pale seasonal visitor—and you notice that even some black families decorate their houses with white Santas—you’re likely to accept the consensus view, despite your parents’ noble intentions.

Two decades later, America is less and less white, but a melanin-deficient Santa remains the default in commercials, mall casting calls, and movies. Isn’t it time that our image of Santa better serve all the children he delights each Christmas?

 By Aisha Harris for Salon

"Zalipie: Poland’s Painted Village"

"The secluded village of Zalipie in southeastern Poland is home to a charming tradition. Over a century ago the women of the village began to paint their houses: however, it was not the single, uniform color one might expect from a traditional and conservative society. The village, through the intricate and vibrant paintwork of its womenfolk, bloomed."

This is my favorite

"Although no one is completely sure how and when this tradition began, it dates from when the smoke from stoves escaped through little more than a hole in the ceiling of the house. Women would paint over the spots of soot with whitewash. Yet the spots would still be partially visible and it is believed that the women, in order for their house to appear immaculate for religious festivals, took to covering the remnants of soot stains with paintings of flowers. Once modern cooking and better ventilation came in to practice, these cover-ups were no longer necessary. Yet instead the flower patterns became gradually more and more sophisticated."

Kuriositas

Macy's to be open on Thanksgiving Day

"Macy's Inc. says it will open most of its stores for the first time on Thanksgiving, breaking a long-standing tradition for the venerable retailer.

In a release issued late Monday, the Cincinnati-based chain said it will open its doors at 8 p.m. on that day and will remain open for 24 hours straight until the close of business on Friday, which is usually about 10 p.m. Last year, the chain opened its doors at midnight right after the holiday. The department store chain cited increasing demand from shoppers for the earlier opening."

MSN