I Am So Naive...

I've been downloading free e-books from Project Gutenberg, to put on my e-reader.  I noticed several authors having Sanskrit-sounding names - Vatsyayana, Bhagavanlal Indrajit, Shivaram Parasuram Bhide - and I assumed this indicated that people were interested in Hindu or Vedanta philosophy.  Silly me.

These were editors or compilers of the Kama Sutra.

"Tar Baby"? "Boy"?

This Christian Science Monitor article discusses two Republicans who used racially inappropriate language while discussing President Obama and his policies.  One referred to a "tar baby," which no doubt he intended to mean something that draws you in and traps you.  However, this is also a nasty racial epithet.

The other politician referred to Obama as being Al Sharpton's "boy."  I cannot fathom what led this man to use that word to describe our President.  Like tar baby, "boy" has deeply offensive racial overtones when applied to an African American.

As the CSM asks, "what were they thinking?"

Ordinance Enforcement

According to this article, the mayor of Vilnius squashed a car that was illegally parked in a bicycle lane.

As a dedicated cyclist who has repeatedly encountered highly disrespectful motorists who think I have no right to the streets, I applaud the mayor for his strong stand in favor of cyclists.

OTOH, maybe it was a bit extreme to squash the guy's Mercedes... nah...

Missing Persons

A recent news article informs me that a man kept his deceased wife's body in a freezer for the past ten years.