Look at the following search that brought somebody to my blog:

I have written posts that were critical of Shakesville. But, come on, folks, what’s with the drama? Shakesville isn’t perfect. Often, it posts really silly articles. But stalinist? Do you know how offensive it is to people who actually know what Stalinism is?

It’s the same kind of needless demonization of inoffensive little things that bug us that makes some people use “Nazi” or “fascist” in the sense of “mean, annoying person.”

I remember when an unhinged reader left a comment on my blog telling me that I was “the epitome of everything that is wrong in the world” and “an embarrassment to humanity.” There is a strong possibility it was the same weird person who is now looking for proof that Shakesville is Stalinist.

Let’s feel free to disagree with any blog out there or down here. But let’s try to keep Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot out of it. No matter how much you dislike a blogger, s/he is not a genocidal dictator.

There are mothers who are not content with cannibalizing their child’s personal space, romantic life, thoughts and soul. They signal their intention to devour the kid’s existence by. . . eating the placenta.

Fellow blogger Nominatissima pointed me to a practice called “placenta encapsulation.” I Googled it and immediately found a website of a midwife (who else?), telling women “You take care of your baby – I’ll take care of the placenta.”

Placentophagy, or consumption of the placenta, has been reported for decades to help stop the baby blues and diminish postpartum fatigue.  Some women have cooked the placenta in a stew, mixed it into a smoothie, or even taken it raw to tap into its powerful effects.  For many who feel squeamish about this or want to reap the benefits of placenta for more than just a day or two, there is another option: encapsulation.  Powdered placenta has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries.

Eating the placenta is supposed to reduce post-partum depression. I guess there is some kind of a weird logic to the entire thing. As you eat the placenta, you can imagine all the ways in which you will consume the child. You can dress it like a little billboard for your political beliefs. You can show it off to friends and relatives and use it to compete with them. You can drag it to baby pageants. You can use it as an excuse for not working or not having a personal life of your own. You can go through its pockets, backpack, computer, etc. You can police its every thought and action. So what is there to be depressed about when there is still so much fun to be had out of the kid?

So in the novel I’m translating, a future mother-in-law tells her daughter’s suitor (of whom she doesn’t approve) that his face looks like this:

This is an unpleasant gesture in our culture, and comparing one’s face to it is not flattering.

The problem is I don’t know how to translate it into English. If you wanted to compare a person’s face with something bad to put them down, how would you do that? In a way that would be easily understandable to English-speakers? It has to be unpleasant, but not extremely offensive.

I just translated a poem by a Russian poet Benediktov as part of this translation project, which was a feat in itself.  So now I need help with the ugly face comment because there is a limit even to my inventiveness.

After 4 months with the air conditioning on, being able to turn it off, open the windows, and let the cool breeze waft into the room where I’m working.

I had no idea a cool breeze even existed any more.

Of course, as many people pointed out, the Political Compass test is more serious than the political quiz I posted yesterday. Still, look at the statements from the first set:

I’d always support my country, whether it was right or wrong.

No one chooses his or her country of birth, so it’s foolish to be proud of it.

Our race has many superior qualities, compared with other races.

These questions are very outdated, in my view. Wouldn’t everybody answer them pretty much the same nowadays? At least, among people who are literate enough to want to take the political compass test?

There is, however, a statement there that I didn’t even understand. It’s this one:

There is now a worrying fusion of information and entertainment.

What is this supposed to mean? What are the responses to this supposed to be indicative of? Has anybody figured it out?

If the only questions you ask during the first day of class are “What is the attendance policy?” and “Will we be penalized if we have many absences?”, then it’s kind of difficult not to laugh when you send me emails as to the horrible, totally unexpected chain of events that is preventing you from coming to class for the third week in a row.

Have a great Labor Day, everybody! To celebrate this important day, I created a little quiz to test our knowledge of important statements from famous people. Of course, anybody can easily find answers through a search engine, but what would be the fun of that? I will add the answers as people supply them.

                                           Who said the following?

1. “Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.” John Adams.

2. “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” Abraham Lincoln.

3. “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.” Teddy Roosevelt.

4. “Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.” Harry S. Truman.

5. “All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the conservation of the individual and the propagation of the species, is his natural right, which none can justly deprive him of: but all property superfluous to such purposes is the property of the public, who, by their laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the welfare of the public shall demand such disposition.” My sentimental favorite Benjamin Franklin.

6. “Democracy is the road to socialism.” Karl Marx.

7. “Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.” Ayn Rand.

Can you guess which of these quotes is my favorite one?

WordPress offered me a prompt for this blogging topic. When I started thinking about the answer, I realized that there are reasons to like all the months in the year.

January – is the month when I’m getting used to all my great New Year’s gifts.

February – usually brings snow even in this snow-deprived area. And whenever there is snow, I’m happy by default.

March – with any luck, it’ still pretty cold, which is good. Spring break is in March and I always get to travel. Next March, I will probably even get as far as Europe.

April – the month when I have my birthday.

May – the academic year ends and 4-month-long spring holidays begin.

June – a month of summer freedom from all obligations except those I impose on myself.

July – another month of summer freedom.

August – a new academic year begins, which is always a very happy time.

September – we finally start getting cooler nights and, if we are very lucky, even the first yellow leaves might start appearing.

October – the real Fall comes by and I can wear my favorite clothes ever because all the best clothes are of the autumn kind.

November – there is a lot of rain, and what can be better than rain?

December – snow is even better than rain! Besides, this is the month when I scour the world for the best New Year’s gifts and recipes.

What’s your favorite month?