Whineter, and other stuff

Make it stooooop!

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In other news, from another parallel universe, Bill O’Reilly, international man of danger, lies about yet another story he “covered”, this one on the post Rodney King riots in LA. Apparently, he was so obnoxiously abusive and narcissistic that he provoked someone into throwing something at him. I know the feeling.

Oh, wait, that was yesterday’s lie. Today’s lie is about how he covered The Troubles in Ireland and went mano a mano with Irish terrorists.

(All the church ladies swoon)

Anyway, Jay Rosen says that Bill O’Reilly is really performance artist, not journalist. That’s what Fox News hired him for. That makes sense. Certain kinds of confrontational art is supposed to provoke a response in the viewer. Think Piss Christ. O’Reilly just aims his spray at anyone who isn’t laughably pious and deliberately ignorant.

Here’s Rosen’s take on O’Reilly and why Fox isn’t likely to hold him accountable.

Something to look forward to

The Nuttery garden in winter at Sissinghurst Castle, England

It’s the dead of winter but surprisingly mild here in New Jersey.  The weather is going to be sunny and in the high 40s, low 50s all week.  Weird.  So, I’ve been watching gardening videos and visiting gardening sites.  What do I know about gardening?  Not much.  I’m usually a horticidal maniac.  But lately, I have been able to keep a few plants growing.  I wouldn’t say they are thriving but they haven’t died yet and they are still green.  And I’ve managed to do that for at least a year with one plant and several months with the others.  Yes, I lost a rhododendrum last summer but I kept the limelight hydrangea going.  It’s a start.

Last year, I introduced some of you to Titli Nihaan, the English Halal cook.  But I only recently found that Titli, who really should have her own show on TV, also has a very busy garden.  I was wondering where she got all that rhubarb.  Last year, she documented her garden in something like 46 youtube episodes.  You catch the last half of these episodes on youtube, the beginning half is only available on DVD.  Pretty nifty business model.  I like to watch Titli not just for her gardening skills but for her camera appeal.  Here’s a montage of Titli’s Busy Garden from 2012 so you can see what I mean:

I’m thinking of trying my hand at some real gardening this year and might even plant some GMO tomatoes.  Just kidding.

Or am I?

But wait! There’s more!

The Vermont Bean Seed Company has a garden planning app that will help you layout your garden, set up a Gant chart of when to plant and will send you reminders and tips.  Too cool.  The first 30 days are free.  It’s $25 after that.  I haven’t found a similar app on the ipad or for OSX yet.  If I’ve missed one, let me know.