Playing Catch-Up

I missed this article this past Wednesday, seeing as how I took the day off and did little to no inter-tube surfing, other than reading my Blog-Buddies. But, seeing as how this piece isn’t time-sensitive and kinda rings a bell with me (a semi-subdued tinkling would be more like it), here’s “Can Sips at Home Prevent Binges?” Excerpt:

Even so, I can’t help hoping that my sons might share my taste in music and food, books and movies, ball teams and politics. Why should wine be any different?

It’s the alcohol, of course, which makes wine not just tricky but potentially hazardous. Nonetheless, I would like to teach my sons — 16 and 17 — that wine is a wonderful part of a meal. I want to teach them to enjoy it while also drumming it into them that when abused, wine, like any other alcoholic beverage, can be a grave danger.

As they were growing up I occasionally gave them tastes from my glass — an unusual wine, perhaps, or a taste of Champagne on New Year’s Eve.

…

In European wine regions, a new parent might dip a finger in the local pride and wipe it lovingly across an infant’s lips — “just to give the taste.” A child at the family table might have a spoonful of wine added to the water, because it says, “You are one of us.” A teenager might have a small glass of wine, introducing an adult pleasure in a safe and supervised manner. This is how I imagined it in my house.

The article goes on to explore the pros and cons of introducing one’s children to alcohol in the home and draws no firm conclusions, which isn’t all that surprising, given the source. It is interesting, though, and could serve as a thought-starter for parents.

Long-time readers know I had an unusual childhood, what with being dragged around the world at an early age… three years of which were spent in Paris, in between my eighth and eleventh birthdays. I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned the fact that my parents drank wine every single evening with dinner… nor did I mention that I did, too. My wine was watered down, though… a half-and-half mixture of wine and water… as is the French custom. And I was limited to one small glass, and one glass only.

Now here’s the interesting bit: my wine drinking stopped dead in its tracks once the family left France, even though my parents continued to drink wine with their meals. When I asked why I was told it was because we no longer lived in France. And that was it… full-stop, end of discussion… just one step removed from “because I said so.” Which made absolutely no sense to me, but it was a decision passed down from On High and I had no vote. There was some deviation from this rule in ensuing years, like special occasions such as birthdays and such, but for the most part I was an adolescent tee-totaler.

I don’t have issues with introducing children to the concept of responsible drinking. I further believe alcohol in moderation is a beneficial substance. That said, I never acquired the “wine with every meal” habit, nor did I introduce my kids to alcohol beyond letting them have the occasional sip of whatever it was I was drinking.

Typically American, eh?

―:☺:―

Curious: I checked Viral Video Chart just after 1100 hrs this morning to see if “Fitna” made the list. And no, it hasn’t. Yet a Google Blog Search made at nearly the same time shows “Results 1 - 10 of about 12,058 for Fitna. (0.16 seconds).” I understand that not every one of those 12,000+ results are a video posting. Still and even, I went about 12 pages deep into the results and found at least two-thirds of the entries consist of the video, and about one-third was comment.

So. Do you think VVC is being PC, Gentle Reader?

I do.

Case in point… VVC lists the following stats for the Hillary-in-Bosnia parody vid (quite good, it is), which is currently Numero Uno on the VVC charts:

Viral sharing of this video: Spreading across the interweb like Wildfire!

Discovered 26 Mar 2008

893,336 views

0 duplicate videos

190 blog posts

I’m quite sure there have been more than 190 blog posts of “Fitna” during the past 24 hours. So much for VVC’s credibility.

Further… in The Times (UK) “Britain drawn into controversy over anti-Islam web video by Geert Wilders” Excerpts:

Britain was dragged into the controversy over an anti-Islam film made by a far-Right Dutch MP after Iran condemned its appearance on a UK-based video-sharing website today.

“This heinous measure by a Dutch lawmaker and a British establishment... is indicative of the continuation of the evilness and deep vengeance such Western nationals have against Islam and Muslims,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini, called on the Dutch, British and other EU governments to block any further showing of “this blasphemous, anti-Islamic and anti-cultural film”.

…

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, also condemned the film, titled Fitna, an Arabic word meaning “strife”, while Bangladesh warned it could have “grave consequences”.

A coalition of Jordanian media said it would sue Mr Wilders and urged Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Syria this weekend to review ties with the Netherlands and Denmark.

Governments in the Muslim world are wary of a repeat of what happened two years ago when the publication in Denmark of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad ignited rioting in a dozen countries, leading to about 50 deaths.

I think we’re in for an interesting weekend. “We,” in the global sense. It’ll be business-as-usual here on The High Plains of New Mexico… no blips on our radar screens, Gentle Reader. Thank God.

―:☺:―

There was a good travel article on France’s “Castle Country” in last Sunday’s Washington Post. Excerpt:

Seen from below, in the lower city of Carcassonne, the citadel is breathtaking, immense, an estimated two miles of imposing wall and jack-o'-lantern battlement. It's so fantastic it seems unreal. Some critics argue it is, with inauthentic, fairy-tale cones topping dozens of guard towers and, across the drawbridge, an interior city transformed by tourism, with souvenir shops hawking kitschy crosses and statues, faux armor and shields. Even in April, off-hours, the narrow streets of the walled city were packed with people and puppies and mini-knights swinging plastic swords. I couldn't imagine the place in summer. I didn't want to.

The photo is the town of Carcassonne, and was taken from the WaPo article. I was either nine or ten years old when the family went there on vacation… a day long stop-over on our way to Spain, actually… and was most impressed, as you might imagine. Nearly every boy goes through a period of fascination with Things Medieval when they’re that age. And to see an entire town that appears, for all intent and purposes, to be right out of King Arthur was simply astounding to my nine-year old mind. Carcassonne remains one of the fondest memories of my stay in France and I remember that vacation trip vividly…even at this distance in time.