Does chastity mix with sodomy?
There’s a very interesting article in The Times about the ridiculous American invention of silver chastity rings. From the article:
He discovered that while 7 per cent of nonpledging teenagers had contracted an STD, 4.6 per cent of what he called “consistent” pledging teenagers had also managed it, presumably by agreeing to oral or anal sex in the belief this maintained purity. Interviews showed that while only 2 per cent of nonpledging teenagers had consented to oral sex or sodomy, 13 per cent of those in the “consistent” pledging category had.
Mexican ingredients
Blogging chile con carne made me look up some original Texan recipes, and I realised they called for ingredients such as dried ancho chilies that aren’t found in normal Scottish supermarkets.
Luckily I found a shop called Cool Chile today that delivers Mexican ingredients by mail order.
They even sell tortilla presses – I’ve always wanted one of those!
A success
The German puppets I bought are a great success.
From the first moment Léon saw them, he’s been talking to them, hiding from them, waving to them and trying to get into the box they live in. Not once has he looked at me rather than the puppets when they said something.
His reaction is really astonishing. If all kids his age reacts like this, I strongly recommend getting puppets and doing shows for them!
Nippy mince with kidney beans
In the UK and Denmark, chili con carne seems to be defined as containing beef mince, kidney beans and chili powder, and the resulting sauce is then served with rice.
However, if one reads the Wikipedia entry, the original dish seems to contain only chili peppers and chunks of beef or venison. Not necessarily beans, but if they’re used, then rather pinto than kidney. And in most of Texas, it isn’t served with rice at all, but rather with corn chips or tortillas or cornbread.
I find it interesting how the dish has changed so much that a Texan and a northern European wouldn’t recognise each other’s chilis.
It’s also good fun to look for photos of this dish on Flickr, given that the uploaded photos have been taken all over the world.
Kids
Großmutter was born in May 1899, and she had 13 kids.
Given that bit of information, most people would probably assume she started having kids around 1920, but no. The birth dates of her kids were as follows:
- June 1927
- September 1928
- November 1929
- December 1930
- February 1932
- June 1933
- October 1934
- December 1935
- March 1937
- February 1939
- April 1940 (my dad!)
- August 1941
- July 1944
Beat that! 
Mobile backgrounds
When I got myself a new mobile phone last autumn, it came with a nice background picture showing Westminster, with flying birds, moving clouds and varying light depending on the time of the day.
I didn’t think much more about this at first, but when Phyllis and I went to Latvia a few months later, I suddenly noticed that the background had changed, and we later found the buildings depicted in the centre of Rīga.
Since then, we’ve been to Denmark and Italy, and it seems to have a new moving picture for every country (see my collection here).
I haven’t been able to find any information about it, so I guess I have to travel to all countries of the World soon to get the complete list!
Gravid!
Som nogle af jer allerede véd, er Phyllis gravid. 
Jeg har ventet med at blogge det i nogen tid, da vi lige ville have 12-ugers-scanningen på plads og have fortalt børnene det og så videre.
Men den er god nok: Som billedet her viser (flere billeder her), er det allerede et rigtigt barn, omend han/hun på billedet kun er omkring 7 cm og nu nærmer sig de 10 cm. Der er en udviklingskalender her.
Hun forventes at føde den 14. december, så vi kommer nok ikke til Danmark ved juletid, men sandsynligvis lidt senere på vinteren – den lille skal da vises frem.
Jeg glæder mig til at vise Phyllis’ mave frem i juli!
Strange restaurant
Last night Phyllis and I got ready for dinner a bit late, so it was past nine before we emerged from the metro a bit southwest of Termini in Rome.
Not knowing the area, we didn’t know any restaurants, so we had to trust our luck. The first place we tried wouldn’t let us sit outside (they claimed the police had forbidden it – I wonder whether it had anything to do with the huge gay parade that took place yesterday too).
The second place looked more like a bar with a seating area on the pavement, but it looked OK, so we went for it.
Phyllis ordered a caprese salad and a pasta dish, and I asked for gnocchi followed by a pizza capriocciosa.
I was therefore a bit surprised when the waiter arrived with two pizza plates, one containing the salad (neatly arranged in a thin stripe on the middle of the plate), and the second my pizza. After we finished that, we got the pasta and gnocchi, again arranged on pizza plates.
The food actually was quite nice, but I don’t really think a big pizza is the best starter, nor is gnocchi with speck the ultimate last course.
The languages of guided tours
When we were in Colosseum in Rome yesterday, I saw this sign, and it made me wonder why they offer those languages.
They only have tours in English, Spanish and Italian, and more in Spanish than Italian. Does this really reflect the visitors? Where do all those speakers of Spanish come from – South America?
And why no other languages – German, French, Russian, Polish or Japanese, for instance?
Kasperletheater
Kulturell bin ich wohl eher deutsch als dänisch in zwei Bereichen: Essen und Kasperletheater.
Wohl weil mein Vater öfter als meine Mutter kochte, sind Brezeln, Spätzle, Maultaschen und so weiter viel wichtiger für mich als rugbrød und piratos.
Mein Vater ist ein hervorragender Puppenspieler, und er hat mir und meiner Schwester oft Kasperletheater gespielt, und natürlich benutzte er deutsche Puppen und die traditionellen deutschen Figuren und Themen: Kasperle, Sepl, die Großmutter, der Polizist, der Krokodil und so weiter.
Deswegen glaubte ich als Kind, dass die Puppen nur deutsch sprechen konnten, und ich weiß noch, wie ich laut weinte, als mein Vater meiner Klasse Kasperletheater auf Dänisch spielte. Das war ja ganz falsch!
Ich will jetzt versuchen, ob ich das selbe für Léon tun kann – nur auf Dänisch statt Deutsch. Ich habe deshalb eine wunderschöne Kasperletheaterpuppengruppe in Aachen durch das Internet gekauft, und ich will ihm beibringen, dass die Puppen kein Englisch verstehen.
Nur Schade, dass ich sie viel lieber deutsch sprechen hören würde!
