One of the stranger things Soviet people like to eat was plain pasta that would be boiled within an inch of its life, washed under a tap, and sprinkled with sugar to make a combined main course and dessert. My family was never as poor as all that so I didn’t get to eat this particular dish but it sounds disgusting, especially knowing the quality of Soviet pasta and the pasta-washing practices that were used.

This is the kind of shit I hate passionately and profoundly:

Eliminating grant deadlines is a feminist issue. Why? Because when Life Happens, as it often does outside of work, women are left picking up the pieces. And this affects whether women can meet those deadlines – or at least whether they can meet those deadlines while maintaining their sleep and health.

Feminism, for this idiot, is not doing something to share piece- picking more equally to ensure that both women and men don’t live stunted lives. No, her version of feminism is to make sure that women continue to do as much piece – picking as possible. 

Of course, moaning uselessly about evil grant deadlines is easier than asking what she can do to stop being an eager little piece – picker.

I don’t write grants and have no opinion on grant deadlines. It’s this ridiculous mentality I object to. As my professor of gender studies used to say, “It falls to women to clean toilets so let’s make the work of cleaning toilets more valued.” When I asked which part of the female body turned toilet cleaning into women’s work, he got pouty.

Somebody in the Trump campaign must hate Melania. It can’t be a coincidence that finally she gives another speech after the RNC fiasco and ends up looking foolish yet again. 

I’m clearly not a fan but even I feel compassion when I see her straining to read off the teleprompter texts that she doesn’t understand and that make her sound dumb.

Maddow is making fun of the decrepit aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov that Russia sent to Syria. Yes, it’s hilarious until you remember that the goal of sending the carrier there is to launch more aircrafts to kill more Syrians. Decrepit or not, Russian weapons are devastating an already miserable country. And that’s not in the least funny.

Peruvian food is amazing but in order to find a really good Peruvian place, you need to look for a really basic, hole-in-the-wall kind of place. The fancy – looking ones are worthless.

Mexican food is either crap by nature or I never found any good one. I’ve been to Mexico but only to resorts, and that’s not Mexican food. Whatever is being served as Mexican food in Canada, the East Coast and Illinois is so bad that just thinking about it gives me indigestion. N and I even have a joke about ordering Mexican because the idea is so ridiculous.

Cuban food is the best in Cuba. The stuff that immigrants serve in Miami can’t compare to the simple fare that real Cubans make in Havana. I love Cuban food in Cuba  (not on resorts) but I dislike it in Miami and outright detest it on the East Coast. Those nasty pork sandwiches, just bleh already.

Argentinean  food doesn’t really exist. If the meat is fantastic, that’s your Argentinean food. Outside of the meat, it’s got nothing.

Colombian food is also all about finding a little hole-in-the-wall place where recent immigrants congregate. They have the best empanadas, though. Argentinean, for instance, have lousy empanadas. Sorry, Argentinean friends, but I’ve got to be honest.

I don’t know any other Latin- American food.

P. S. The spell – checker tries to place the word ” Trump” after ” Latin.” And after the word “spell.”

So the Cubs are from Chicago! Hell, then I’m totally celebrating. I adore Chicago. It has beautiful views and an amazing climate. Also, the worst Peruvian restaurants on the planet but whatever.  

At the end of the ethics training, we are asked to provide suggestions. My suggestion was for Governor Rauner to take an ethics training course and stop robbing state employees of their healthcare and salaries. I also have a suggestion as to where the governor can stick his ethics trainings but I haven’t included those yet. Next year I probably will.

The blasted Ethics Training gets more and more outlandish each year. This year, it has eaten 15 minutes of my life to inform me (with outlandish examples and games of flipping cards to find out the correct answer) that I’m allowed to accept gifts from relatives and friends.

In the view of our health insurance situation, the whole charade looks like a mockery of the highest order.

Every newish face in Illinois and Missouri politics served in Iraq and is making his or her campaign exclusively about that. Democrats, Republicans – it doesn’t matter. Everybody’s campaign ads feature explosions, military helicopters, and people running around and shooting. There is more weaponry in political ads than at a gun show and more discussion of wounds than on Dr. House.

I have no idea what the purpose of all this running and shooting is if Americans of all political persuasions are against any engagement in foreign affairs, let alone a military one. 

We have a very quiet life here. People are kind and polite. Yet it seems that the quiet peaceful Republicans and Democrats love fantasizing about military exploits and explosions.

One post after another in my blog roll contains nothing but a cryptic slogan ” CUBS !!!!” I know it must be sport- related and truly admire the folks who have energy for sports so close to the election but so far from Thanksgiving holidays.