double standards

Let me see if I have this right.

Government-sponsored (or at least -protected) terrorists attack civilians in the latters' home country. The militarily-superior victim demands surrender of those responsible, the demands are ignored, and the victim then attacks with a fair bit of restraint to try to minimize civilian casualties.

This is appropriate behavior for the US but a horrible sin for Israel.

Huh?

For the US government to continue to criticize Israel and tell them they should accept terrorists blowing up restaurants and assassinating cabinet members boggles the mind. I mean, we're not exactly leading by example, are we?

precision

I frequently hear the advice that when baking, you need to follow directions exactly. While ordinary cooking does fine with the "handful of that, pile of that, a little of this" approach, baking is different. Or so I'm told by people who probably know what they're talking about.

So why does every cookie recipe contain a phrase such as "drop on cookie sheets 2 inches apart"? 2 inches on center, or 2 inches edge to edge? Dammit, it matters.

There, I feel better now.

(I always interpret it as edge to edge, and then usually end up spending more time baking than I needed to because I can fit fewer cookies on a sheet.)

a Dilbert moment

My previous entry reminded me of something that happened to me a few months ago, and that I thought I would record here.

Recently I had the following encounter in the deli section of a large grocery store:

Me: I'd like a pint of the jello salad, please.

(The kid behind the counter reaches for the cup-sized container.)

Me: Sorry -- pint, not cup.
Kid: Huh?
Me: (pointing) This size.
Kid: Oh. That's a pound.
Me: That depends on what you put in it.
Kid: Huh?
Me: "Pint" is volume, not weight. What that amount weighs depends on what you put in it.
Kid: This is a pound, not a pint.
Me: If you fill it with potato salad it's probably more than a pound; if you fill it with that marshmallow fluff it's a lot less.
Kid: Huh?
Me: Never mind, just give me a pound of jello.

In case you're wondering, my pound of jello weighed about 12 ounces.

(no subject)

Today was sunny and around 70 degrees. The sukkah is now down. :-)