So who the fuck makes chicken marsala without pasta? Apparently Esposito’s resturaunt in downtown Valhalla New York does. I guess having a horrible flash intro to their site is just a bonus to how shitty their chicken marsala is. We like to eat out. And being in New York you get to eat some of the best food around. However, serving chicken marsala without pasta seems like a crime to me. Or at least tell some folks “hey, we don’t serve our chicken marsala over pasta, so if you want it over pasta we’ll need to charge you an extra xxxx.”

Sorry esposito’s; your pizza is okay but you get -5 for bad service and lack of communication. We’ll make up soon, I promise.

ps. i had to cook my own pasta after you delivered the chicken to my door. Poo on you, poo on you.

So you wake up and roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom, next thing you know you smell the delightful aroma of maple syrup. Is your better half already cooking a delicious morning meal? Not quite. As it turns out, there are two reasons why your sweat and/or urine could be smelling especially sweet - one of which is pretty scary, the other pretty harmless. The question is, are you an infant? If so, you may have Maple Syrup Urine Disease which affects 1 in 255,000 births in the USA and is completely genetic and inherited. It’s got some pretty nasty effects including neurological damage than can eventually lead to death if not treated. The latter case of syrup-smelling body odors is a direct result of ingesting fenugreek leaves or seeds. Popular as raw greens, in teas, or mixed into curries, even a small amount can cause pretty drastic changes in your body odor. You may or may not know already from our blog that we LOVE Indian food and recently we tried a new dish at the buffet that looked a lot like sag (spinach sauce) with chicken, but was actually fenugreek greens. I’m pretty used to the fact that eating Indian food changes my body chemistry, but I wasn’t prepared for this. At least I’m not an infant with MSUD…

George carlin died sunday june 22nd of heart failure. the world is now a shittier place.

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So we will be in Jacksonville Florida to see Tom Waits on July 1st. What else should we do? We are thinking that we’ll make a day or two out of it and try and do some stuff while were are in Jacksonville. You know, see some sites and shit. So if anyone knows of some cool stuff to do down there, or will be there and want to hang out, just drop me a line at haleysaner[at]gmail[dot]com

Now for a random photo.

We are fans of This American Life. Last night we watched a new episode with the theme “going down in history.” Each episode has a few different stories all with the same theme. This episode showcased high school year book photographs, two inmates who tried to escape from prison using a dental floss rope, and a man who recreated WWII fantasy scenarios at 1/6 scale. This is a man who I cannot find any publication about; who creates stunning scale models. This man is an artist. His name is apparently Mark Hogancamp.

This man was severely beaten by a group of men outside a bar which left him with brain damage. His photographs were then taken as revenge plots against the men who had beaten him. Using 1/6 scale WWII model action figures he would live out his fantasies. He would use bright red nail polish for blood. He would fantasize with action figures in his own little 1/6 scale town that he built in his backyard. There were bars, houses, stores and roads; all with lights and perfectly to scale. His photographs are amazing. He would re-create fantasy love interests in a model home using an action figure that surprising looked just like him. He explained how the women with green hair from the future would visit him and would snap soldiers necks for him; showing how much she loved him. The photographs were amazing. The construction and detail is impeccable. This man is alone living through these fake action figures. He talks to no one and lives in a small mobile home spending all of his time in the 1/6 world that he created.

I wish I could find information about this man. I wish I could see more of his photographs taken with a small cheap consumer camera. I wish I could hear him talk about his photographs.

All I was able to find were these two sentences. “The second profiles a man who, after a brain injury resulting from a vicious beating, turns to World War II re-creations using scale models, incorporating revenge fantasies that he discusses freely. It’s a sad story, and as powerful as almost anything I’ve heard in years of listening to - and now watching, with growing admiration” - “This American Life.”

UPDATE: We collected images and put them in a new post, Mark Hogancamp Photos. Thanks Jim for the corrected name and we appreciate the info you’ve provided, especially since it seems the This American Life really edited his story to appear much different. I think it’s great that he shares his photography somewhere and I look forward to finding more out about the 1/6th action figure community. - Nicole

A rough thought exercise in understanding relational wealth:

The average poor citizen of the Third World earns $730 per year.

Working poor Americans make about $16,000 per year, or could eat almost 22 third-worlders (although you wouldn’t know it from life-expectancy).

Middle class Americans make about $57,000, eating about 3.5 working poor, or 78 third-worlders.

Upper class Americans make about $500,000, eating almost 9 middle-class, or 31 working poor, or 685 third-worlders.

Bill Gates is worth about $58,000,000,000, eating about 116,000 upper-class citizens, or a little more than a million middle-class, or 3.6 million working poor, or 79.45 million third-worlders.

John D. Rockefeller, at his height, adjusted for 2007 dollars, was worth over $318,000,000,000, eating 5.5 Bill Gates, or 636,000 upper-class Americans, or 5.58 million middle-class, or 19.88 million working poor, or 435.6 million third-worlders.

That’s a lot of tasty tasty third-worlders.

found this concept on a fellow mographers website. Pretty funny if you ask me.

I hate bees. They really freak me out and I’m paranoid about being stung if I see one. Although annoying, not nearly as scary as hornets and wasps. At least when the bee decides to sting you it’s volunteering its life to save the nest or whatever. Hornets and wasps are just evil - we had one in the house a few days ago and thankfully Haley killed it before it started flying around and causing me to freak out.

But on a larger scale, bees are necessary for all the delicious fruits that we enjoy. And they’re disappearing, fast. It’s been in the news and scientists have issued their warnings, but most recently Häagen Dazs has stepped up and produced a website calling attention to the issue. Help the Honeybees - a cute interactive flash site that aims to highlight the fact that without bees, there will be no naturally flavored ice cream. It’s sad that it’s going to take that type of public awareness for a change in thinking about our environment, but it’s not really that surprising. We look to the media and advertising to keep us informed about what we should care about and it’s about time that they take a greater social conscious into consideration. Burt’s Bees has also put together some good information on the Colony Collapse Disorder and they’re helping to fund The Honeybee Health Improvement Project.

These sites have a lot of information about what you can do to get involved, but on a very basic level you can start by planting flowers and garden plants that bees like. You can see the Dummies Guide to Planting Flowers for Your Bees for details.

We really like indian food. We’ve got a great place about a block away, so it’s tough not to eat this stuff all the time.

Saw this on mograph and thought it was hilarious. How does shit like this get approved?

I read this little article in the most recent fast company issue. It’s pretty interesting and I think if a lot of the big companies take this route it probably is one the easiest solutions to helping our environment. I like the idea of working less… don’t you? It’s funny to me how many people/companies claim to be “green” but yet won’t hesitate to print out hundreds emails, letterheads, brochures, etc. Or they stay in their office for 24hrs a day running lights, heat, faxes, computers, etc.. On another note: I’m glad I barely drive and have a train less than a block away- I’m not sure what gas is like near you, but it’s over $3.70 for us.

I wish I was there to see the act of stabbing the ceiling with a knife to release the water.

Sometimes they say the darndest things. I sometimes wonder if the subtitles are wrong or if some editor is having a little fun. Do they not have a word for “groin”?