RIP Grandpa: Al Lewis dies

Also Betty Friedan--whatever you might think of modern feminism (which term encompasses so many different philosophies as to have become meaningless), in the 50s something had to give.

Uh-huh. OK then. Yeah the military hatches fast-paced relationships that can fizzle out. A military person and a civilian fall for each other, and deep in that early infatuation, where in the civilian world there would still be a few years of dating and courting ahead, someone gets orders to somewhere far away. A TDY could mean them getting killed--while making those heady, dreamy plans for the future, there's a practical side going "I love this person, and if something happens to me, at least s/he'll be taken care of if we're married," and what young couple in that infatuation stage wants to be separated indefinitely by a PCS (especially when the gulf is a distance that makes courting difficult). It might be better for those relationships to see if they can survive the TDY before marriage plays into it, but that doesn't mean it's gonna happen. Military chaplains (at least in the specific cases of which I've been aware) require counselling (like some churches) before they'll marry you anyway, but so far, at least, they have to allow regular, civil, Vegas-style marriages as legal. Key quote: "It teaches the lovestruck to pace themselves with a R.A.M. chart - the Relationship Attachment Model - which basically says don't let your sexual involvement exceed your level of commitment or level of knowledge about the other person." --so if you're going to get hitched, you need to know the other person's bad habits and really like being around them when it's not time to party or get it on? Check.

Superbowl Sunday in Iraq

I don't care about the game (flippin' Seahawks...), but I will probably tune in for the commercials. Or get tired of them after an hour and watch the usual cartoons on Fox.

Concept cars. I hate concept cars because the ones I'd love to own (not that I could afford them if they did see production) never quite seem to make it to the showroom floor or the highway. I also love them--I can't help being fascinated and reading all about them.

Oooooooooooooooooooooh.

If you're offended by "gay" being thrown around as insulting (or sounding like it), don't watch these.

These were listed as a soap opera. I was thinking like the old coffee ads, but this is just bizarre. I actually found myself interested in what was going on with the coffee people. Someone wrote a novel--anyone know how that story turned out?