frogs

Here are pictures of the fried frog legs I ate in Phnom Penh and the nice lady selling them just outside central market. I didn't care for the sweet sauce much, but the frog meat is so tender and delicate, that it has a lot less resemblance to poultry than it does to a meaty fish. And it has to be the cheapest frog legs I ever had (it was like, 50 cents a frog). Next time I visit phnom penh, I am definitely going back there for more.

spiderville

I tried quite a bit of street food while I was in Cambodia, grilled squid, fried prawns, boiled pig ears, intestines, deep fried fish balls (I think it was fish), and deep fried frog legs (more like legs with torsos attached), but one thing I saw that I didn't want to try was spiders.

my excuse for chicken out is that I have been looking at fucking spiders hanging out right on the other side of my window all summer. At any given moment, there are at least half a dozen thumb nail size fuckers just chilling there. I don't remember seeing them last summer, and I have no idea where the hell they came from. they don't really bother me, since the screen prevent them from coming inside, but it is really quite annoying.

cambodia coast

I had just return from a week in cambodia, it had to be one of the best trip I have taken. We didn't have great weather during our four+ days at the coast town of sihanoukville. In fact it rained off and on the first three days.

but still, great beaches, fresh seafood just off fishing boats, and really friendly folks made this trip worth all the trouble (and the cost of the flight, which was substantial). I would go back in a heart beat. Being the off season helped too, there was no crowd anywhere, we had long stretches of the beach all to ourselves for hours at a time.

what are we afraid of?

I really don't see why some folks are screaming against healthcare reform, giving uninsured people healthcare sounds like a good idea to me.

they say that the big government can't do it as well, the bureaucracy will actually drive up cost and drive private insurer out of business etc. For instance, some cite DMV as an example that the public option will for sure suck. But is DMV really that bad? Sure the lines are long, some dudes are rude, but they get it done, don't they? And DMV sure doesn't gauge you. A counter example is the postal service (as obama mentioned at the townhall meeting), not only it is pretty good (how often do you really lose something in the mail?) and relatively reasonable, its existence hasn't stopped company like UPS and Fedex from making a profit, and in fact thriving.

And how about national defense, the government bureaucracy takes care of that, and aren't we proud of our military and how they defend our rights, freedom? As far as I can tell, they have not fuck it up that bad on that front. Sure it cost a lot of money, but I don't see folks bitching about their tax money going to the troops. Is taking care of sick people less important than national security? I would argue that it IS national security. And can you imagine pentagon run by for profit private corporations?

we all know the facts, americans spend more money on healthcare than anyone else, but we don't live as long, and a shit load of people are simply denied care all the time. something needs to be done, and while the opponent of the reform have been yelling, calling names and making up dooms day scenarios, why haven't they proposed any sort of alternative?