The Greatest Thing Since...

...sliced bread? That's the standard expression isn't it? "OMG this is like soooo awesomeee, it's like, the greatest thing since sliced bread!" No. No thanks.

What might first come across as a stern critique of sentence construction in generation whateveryouwanttocallit, is actually more than just that. I won't go into the details of how peeps these days use stupid filler words like, "like," because I definitely do as well. Rather, this is an attack on the greatness of sliced bread. Didn't see that one coming, did you? DID YOU???

I mean, ok, sliced bread is good and convenient and whatnot but is it really that great? I mean, think about it...you could just cut a baguette in half and make a sandwich and it would probably taste better. As for toast, well you can toast any sort of bread and it'll taste good. Sliced bread is good and convenient and I'm a fan, but does its greatness deserve the reverence that is showered upon it? I think not.

These, on the other hand, are quite marvelous and are rather under-rated and are greater than sliced bread:

1. Automatic faucets
Not only do these save water, money and the environment, but they are also quite convenient for (closet) germophobes like me. There is no touching of the faucet involved. No touching. Who knows where people's fingers have been right before they try turning on a tap. An automtic faucet means you don't have to use a paper towel to open the tap, thereby saving trees along with water.

2. Cooking
Fire doesn't get the respect it deserves. Cooking is never given the credit she deserves (yes, she's feminine). Can you imagine eating raw chicken or pork? I can't, because I can't imagine dying. Also, Going back to the bread thing, there wouldn't even be bread without cooking, let alone sliced bread (maybe in the olden days, before the invention of sliced bread, people said, "OMG this is the greatest thing since baking." Unclear.).

3. Shoes
Walking bare foot is one of the ways I feel like I'm home and can relax but at the same time I wouldn't want to walk around the streets with no shoes. The concept of putting a layer of padding between your foot and the ground is ingenious. Whoever thought of it deserves a prize. Maybe making 2008-2009 the return of the gladiator sandal is our way of showing the shoe inventor that we still love him.

Peaceful Coexistence

First of all, I must apologize for the delay between postings. Life has been a little crazy for a number of reasons and I will do my best to change that. It's now 5:30am and I am posting because I cannot sleep and am awake for no good reason. Finally I have a spot of time that's pretty stress free.

The news for the last few weeks has been dominated by what's been happening in Iran and how the protests show serious cracks in the system, similar to those that were seen in 1979 which eventually made Pahlavi flee the country in 1979. Whether or not this truly means that Iran will become more democratic is up for debate - some say it's a matter of when rather than if but at the same time you have the dragooning that might prove to be a significant obstacle. Whether or not Khamenei and Mousavi can peacefully coexist remains to be seen, but that is not what this blog post is all about, believe it or not.


All this talk of peaceful coexistence made me think about instances of the same that I have seen/observed. Now while these aren't necessarily as significant as what I just mentioned above, they aren't trivial either. So here's a list that shows that peaceful coexistence is possible:

1. DBGB and Dogmatic

Few could have ever seen this coming...Two places that pride themselves upon their ability to make amazing sausage. One calls themselves a Gourmet Sausage System while the master behind the other boldly proclaims to have loved sausage ever since he was born. How can they both survive? They're both special in their own way. DBGB's Viennoise is countered by Dogmatic's Turkey with Truffle Gruyere. The former's baba au rhum for dessert faces stiff competition from the latter's drool-inducing vanilla ice-cream. The list goes on. And hopefully, so will these two. For a long time.

2. Leno (now Conan) and Letterman

When Leno stepped down, it ended a pretty bitter rivalry that Letterman and he shared. Although the ratings always favoured Leno, Letterman did have his moments of magic like this. And now, that rivalry will continue...what Letterman loses with Paul Shaffer, Conan gains with Max Weinberg. What Conan loses with having Jimmy Fallon following him, Letterman gains with having a vastly improved Craig Ferguson.

3. Button-fly vs. Zip-fly jeans

Is there a tougher choice to be made in this world? Little did Gideon Sundback know that by essentially inventing the modern zipper he would be adding massive amounts of stress to shoppers around the world, for generations to come, piling on questions with no good answer...Should I choose comfort over fit? Should I choose urinating convenience over potentially peeing in my pants? Should I remove chances of embarassing myself by forgetting to unzip my pants or risk the chance of losing a button and having it all hang out? Questions, questions, questions...

4. The roof-top bar and the bar with outdoor seating

Oh summertime (it's one word now). Besides being an acute skew in the ratio of exposed skin to covered skin, summertime also gives rise to another phenomenon - outdoor drinking. And most outdoor drinking experiences can be categorized into rooftop or outdoor/patio. Fortunately for us all, the city has an abundance of both as well as more than enough people to fill them both. Rooftop bars easily trounce their counterparts with their view, the bars with patios have some killer people-watching potential. The one clear advantage that rooftop bars have is the ability to spit on the people below. One could argue that this could be by spitting at people as they walk by below too, but I would advise against that.