Breast Milk Cheese?

"You can milk anything with nipples."

No Boobs in Church

Virgin and Child

Dieric the Elder Bouts, c. 1465

via The Awl, a strange letter from the Washington Post:

"Dear Amy,

While attending the 4 p.m. Christmas vigil mass at my church this year, I was shocked.

I look beyond the fact that no one dresses up for church and that talking across the pews seems to be a normal occurrence, but what happened this year is beyond me.

During the Holy Communion mediation song (with only 10 minutes left to the service) the women behind me started to breast-feed her baby."

The nerve of some people, desecrating our celebration of birth, hope, and motherhood by feeding their babies. And get those paintings out of here, too!

At first, I found this letter funny, but the more I thought about it, it's just sad. Who looks on a natural, intimate act of motherly love and is revolted? Who cannot distinguish between a breast being used to nourish a child and one exposed salaciously? It must be very isolating to live that way — appalled at displays of affection, unable to distinguish between lunchtime and pornography.

Also, I was raised Catholic and, in our church, you weren't supposed to turn around and stare at the people behind you during the service.

Proof That a Helmet Can Save Your Life . . .

I'm not sure that this was what my mom meant when she insisted that I wear a helmet while riding a bike:

A driver, now identified as an Asheville firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.

The shooting happened Sunday morning on Tunnel Road.Officers said the victim was riding with his wife and had his 3-year-old son in a child seat attached to his bicycle when a driver approached him. Police said the driver, Charles Diez, claimed he was upset that the victim was bike riding with his child on the heavily traveled Tunnel Road.

Diez pulled a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in his bicycle helmet, according to police. They said the bullet penetrated the outer lining of the helmet but did not actually hit the victim's head. 

Remember, kids, riding a bike on the road can be dangerous. Because someone might think it's so dangerous that he has to protect you. By shooting you in the head.

via Free Range Kids

Har Har

Today, CNN has an article featuring 43 strange or inappropriate things that people have said during job interviews. Though these remarks are billed as "laugh-out-loud hysterical" and "jaw dropping," most of them are pretty innocuous. Asked to describe himself in three words, an honest candidate says, "I hate questions like this." Who doesn't? Another admits that he is homeless and living in a "gypsy camp," so he cannot give a permanent address. Are you shrieking with laughter yet?

But my favorite was this one:

"Can I get a tour of the breast pumping room? I heard you have a great one here and while I don't plan on having children for at least 10 or 12 years, I will definitely breast feed and would want to use that room."

LOLZ! A woman betrays an interest in the company's accommodations for mothers of young children, then realizes her mistake and assures the interviewer that she has no immediate plans to become a mother (because she wants the job). What a "weird" thing to say in a job interview!

I don't know why this stupid little article hit me so hard — maybe it was the tone of unbridled, compassionless glee at the hapless job candidates who do things like ask about benefits or reveal that they're going through hard times. At a time when so many people are looking for work, it seems in bad taste.
Bite me, CNN.