Cookery Controversy

I came across a cookery show on BBC today, called 'Something for the Weekend', in which some TV-chef that I didn't know was cooking for Jason Donovan.

At one point this chef said something about ansjovis and the dialogue had me in bits:

Chef:
'Yeah, either you like them or you hate them. What do you think?'

Jason Donovan:
'I'm actually kind of indifferent about them...'

Cribs

Earlier this year, one of the big hits in the music charts was 'Rockstar' by Nickelback. It is a song that takes the mickey out of becoming a celebrity musician, listing a series of things that signal success, such as having a drug dealer on speed dial (right) and joining the 'mile-high-club' at 37000 feet. There was one in particular that got my attention:

'I want a brand-new house on an episode of Cribs'.

Cribs, for those who don't know, is a tv-show aired by MTV, in which the rock-, movie- and sportsstars spoofed by Nickelback show the world at large what their houses look like. I've come across this show a number of times, and I came to the conclusion that most of these houses look the same: too big to keep clean without a contingent of maids, garish in a nouveau-riche sort of way, and all literally identical. They have bathrooms with golden taps and lots of marble, at least half a dozen enormeous flatscreen TV's that give you headaches when you stand too close to them (which you invariably do) and that are blaring out MTV 24/7, a swimmingpool and hottub in the backyard, and a fleet of cars in the driveway, consisting of at least one SUV (generally of the Hummer, BMW or Porsche Cayenne varieties) and a Mercedes or Lexus Convertible. Oh, and either a cinema- or gameroom. Or both. I admit that I tend not to stay glued to the screen when I see the show, but I have flicked through enough episodes to suspect that there isn't much diversity in the houses shown there.

Last night, I was making my way through the channels when I came across Cribs again and, just for your entertainment, decided to watch it properly for a bit. I fell into it half-way through the show, so I didn't see it all, but still something hit me: I didn't know these so-called celebrities at all! The first one was a guy whose name I did not catch (remember, I fell into it half-way), but who apparently is a member of a band named Fall-Out Boy. If anybody has a clue as to what I should know them from, please leave a comment?!?! (I must admit though, his house was less bog-standard than most I'd seen... he'd actually left his laundry out.)

The second one was an actress named (I've deliberately written it down so I wouldn't forget) Sara Paxton. Again, no clue as to what I should know her from. I thought I'd recognised her from a movie, then realised that it was Alicia Silverstone I'd been thinking of. Or maybe it was Cameron Diaz...

The tour was reassuringly familiar, there was literally nothing in the crib that was unique or eye-catching, and if there was a little clutter lying around it might even be reasonalbly inhabitable. But here's the thing: Sara Paxton still lives with her parents. In other words, the crib she was so obligingly showing us around in, IS NOT HERS! She did not buy the house, she did not pay for the black-tiled swimmingpool and she did not hunt for just the right sofa or decide that the decor should be generic C-list celebrity.

Success just isn't what it used to be.

Spacebag update

You remember my blog of last week, about the female astronaut who dropped her toolbag in space? Well, there's an update: the bag has been found! Sort of...

http://www.space.com/news/081125-iss-tool-bag.html

And this Dutch newssite actually sports a picture of it:

http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/opmerkelijk/articleview/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2008/11_november/25/opmerkelijk/1125_1800_tas_in_de_ruimte.xml

Just remember to bring your binoculars when you go looking for it...

How Rude!!!

It surprises me that I'm surprised, but people are so rude sometimes! Where did courtesy go? Let me illustrate.

I went out to dinner tonight with friend M. (This is a different M. from Tuesday's lunch) at a little restaurant in Haarlem, where M. goes regularly. The food was good, the price was very reasonable, and it was very busy.

We'd finished our dinner, had our coffee, and we were just enjoying our company and conversation, when a man (the manager, I suppose) came to our table and demanded, not asked, whether we needed anything else. We looked at each other and said that we were fine for now. Five minutes later, a waitress brought us the bill. Which we had not yet asked for. Obviously we were holding a table that they wanted for someone else, and they wanted us out. How rude is that? Needless to say, we won't be eating there again.

Now I don't like to state full names of people or venues on this blog - it is a public site, after all, but in this case I have no qualms about letting you all know which restaurant to avoid. So here's the website:

www.hetpakhuis.org/haarlem/

Greedy!

My brother sent me this link the other day. It gave me some valuable insight into the causes of our current credit crisis...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

Oops...

I had lunch in Amsterdam with friend M. today (whose homocidal tendencies towards bankers seem to have abated), and in the tram on my way back home I overheard a girl on the phone. The one-sided argument had me in stitches:

'...no, napkins.'

'...napkins!'

'...no. No, napkins!'

'NAPKINS!'

'yeah, that's what I said, napkins!'

'What do you mean, don't shout? You didn't hear me right!'

'I didn't yell at you!'

'Okay, okay, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to yell... what?'

'Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes, I need to get off at the... Bugger!'

'No, I'll be a few minutes late, I was supposed to get off four stops ago...'

What were they thinking???

I'm sure that I will never stop to be amazed by people. Or rather, by the boundlessness of human stupidity. Just to illustrate, here's a selection of newsclippings that I came across this weekend alone:

First, there's the Dutch couple who paid 10000 rupees for four samosa's... worth 10 rupees.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/2322449

Although, I must say, I was rather dissapointed by the Dutchness of the people. To ask for their money back...tsssk.

Then there's the dutch guys who had their van so stacked full of cannabis, that they left a scent trail for the police...
http://www.nieuws.nl/536029

And they didn't even run for it.

Now, I'm sure we've all stepped into busses or trains, where you stood next to a person who literally took your breath away... through the cloud of perfume or aftershave they were exhuming. But I'd never actually heard of anyone who took his own breath away by overdosing on smellie. Until this week, that is:
http://www.nieuws.nl/536029

I think this kid should be considered for a Darwin Award. Talking about which: this guy needs to keep practicing a bit longer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7743748.stm

Can't you just imagine the thought process: 'awwww... how cute... I could just cuddle that wild and therefore extremely dangerous big panda bear... I think I'll just climb over this very high fence and hug it...' I'm looking forward to the man's next trick.

But this one takes the cherry:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7744345.stm

In my opinion, the stupidity started by making the nude photos in the first place...

Thanks!

Coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the US. And one of the big parts of Thanksgiving is the Turkey Dinner. (I don't pretend to be an expert on any of this, I've just looked it up on Wikipedia).

The reason I'm telling you this is because of two things that have caught my eye. The first one is an episode of my favorite series, that I just happened to be watching. It is called Shibboleth and it is the 8th installment of the second season of the West Wing. Amongst others, it is about the president pardoning a turkey.

Obviously, if the Turkey Dinner is the centrepiece of Thanksgiving, there is an awful lot of Turkeys killed for the celebration. In fact, Wikipedia estimates that 16 to 20% of Turkey consumption in the US happens at Thanksgiving alone. It seems irrelevant that turkey is nutritionally the poorest of all the meats, or that it is one of the hardest to cook well. Or that, once you cook a turkey, you´re eating turkey left-over sandwiches until Christmas at least.

Anyway, in this West Wing episode, the president pardoned a turkey, and the press secretary was given two turkeys from which to choose the one that was going to spend its days in a petting zoo. The other was to be slaughtered. Not a nice choice, and in the end CJ Cregg (above mentioned press secretary) actually asked the president to pardon both turkeys since she hated the idea she'd sent one bird to the butchers.

Of course, the West Wing is a TV show. It is fictional entertainment and one should not confuse it with reality. But imagine my surprise when I came across this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7742689.stm

Do I need to say more?

I think, therefore...

I just read an article that told me: 'Today is World Philosophy Day'.

The first philosophical question I have about this is: if I read this article today, does that mean that today is World Philosophy Day? Even though the article was published yesterday?

The second: who cares?

Don't get me wrong, I love philosophy. I spend hours thinking about all sorts of philosophical questions, and I usually come up with new and interesting answers to them as well. In fact, based on an intelligence test I took, I was once described as a 'Visionary Philosopher'. Whatever that may mean.

I'm just wondering about the timing of this article. You see, I have checked the online newsfeeds several times yesterday. In the morning, in the afternoon, and even in the evening. Yet this article was not there, I only found it this morning. This means that some dimwit of a BBC-reporter thought it was only interesting news at 9:30 pm (GMT).

In a totally unrelated newsarticle, by the way, doctors have claimed that an American teenage girl has survived for 118 days without a heart. I'm not sure, but it seems to me that the current US President has now succeeded that feat for nearly 8 years...

I suppose the true philosophical nature of this blog entry is: what is news, anyway? The first article, although it was news to me, clearly wasn't for the journalist who wrote the piece. Yet the second, which I didn't find at all groundbreaking, was apparently of huge interest to someone (besides the girl, that is). Who decides these things?

My conclusion: news is fickle and subjective... so perhaps it's time to pay less attention to it, and start concentrating on more interesting things. Such as the question whether I truly exist, or whether I just think that I do...

And now it's time to crawl back into my cave, if you forgive me my Platonic allegory...

h@l! $h!t!!

I'm impressed.

No, really impressed.

With a woman who bears the name Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, who is an astronaut. The name alone is interesting enough. And wow, she's an astronaut, which equals Wonderwoman in my world, but that's not actually what I'm so impressed with.

You see, she's made a boo-boo. During her spacewalk yesterday, she forgot to secure her toolbag and had to watch it float away into space. The footage of it made all the news headlines in the world.

I can live with that. How often have I not dropped a tool while standing on a ladder? Everybody drops their tools. But, of course, no one has those mishaps shown on prime time tv. And certainly no one will later make a wish on the falling star created by their own stupidity as this unfortunate toolbag gets pulled into the earth's orbit and gets incinerated in the atmosphere. But everone will voice some sort of vulgar expletive that is entirely unsuitable for children. And that's what I'm so impressed with.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (her name makes me greatful for the cut-and-paste-function on my computer, let me tell you) had only one reaction to her unfortunate accident:

A very irate 'Oh, great!'
Now that's character...

Midnight in Washington

According to next week's New Yorker magazine (isn't internet a wonderful medium... this magazine isn't even out...), the George W. Bush administration is 'changing the rules'.

The article explains that every administration since Jimmy Carter has been issuing so-called 'Midnight Regulations': rules that are pushed through in the final weeks before the government has to make way for the new president.

Now it seems to me that Bush has changed the rules throughout his entire two terms, starting from his first election. After all, Al Gore was the winner, strictly speaking. Or think of the Scooter Libby affair (just google Scooter Libby and enjoy), or Guantanamo Bay. This time, I think we can just be happy that these last-minute decisions are likely to be overturned on 21 January, in just about the same way Dubya reversed all of Bill Clinton's midnight regulations.

But at least it's likely to be too late for one thing to be overturned: the indictment of sitting Vice President Dick Cheney by a Texan Grand Jury.

You see, Dick Cheney holds A LOT of shares in prisons. Yes, in prisons. In other words, jails in the US are apparently supposed to make profits, which are then put into Dick Cheney's pockets as dividents. This seems rather ludicrous to me anyway, but apparently that's not why Cheney is charged. It turns out that being sent to one of these prisons is not good for your health, because inmates have been systematically abused. The Grand Jury has now decided that that qualifies these penitentiaries as criminal organisations, and has therefore indicted their owners, one of which is Dick Cheney. And suddenly this news doesn't seem nearly as surprising as I had assumed...

Talking about criminal activities, the republicans are having a bad month. Their longest sitting senator, Ted Stevens from Alaska, who had been on the senate since 1968 and was convicted of corruption only a few weeks ago, has lost the election and will be replaced by a democrat.

I just hope he'll be enjoying his well-earned pension. Maybe he should be spending it behind the bars of one of Dick Cheney's establishments...

More Thieving

There is actually one other news item that made me laugh, and again it's about criminal activities. You see, thieves in Russia have made off with a church. Not just the paraphernalia of the church, but the entire building.

I won't even ask how this was done, because my imagination is doing overtime, and none of the solution my brain comes up with seem to answer that question satisfactorily. I would just like to know one thing:

WHY?

Part and Parcel

In Germany, there is currently a manhunt happening, because an inmate of one of their prisons managed to escape... by mail.

Apparently this prisoner, convicted of drugs trafficking, hid in a large cartboard box that was then taken away by courier. The courier contacted the police when he noticed the tarpaulin on his truck was flapping in the wind, found that a large hole had been cut into it, and there was an empty box on the floor.

Now let this sink in for a minute because I have some trouble imagining this. It seems like the easiest way to escape (10 points for inventiveness), but how in the world do you manage that? This must have been a pretty sizable box to begin with, unless this man was a contortionist by trade. I get the adressing and stamping beforehand and everything, but how do you close the box after you've stepped into it? My mind's eye keeps seeing this cardboard box with two holes in the sides with two arms sticking out...

But my real concern is for the courier. Imagine having to carry such a box to your van... Ouch!

Strictly not funny

My favorite TV show at the moment is Strictly Come Dancing (known as Dancing with the Stars in Holland), or at least it was until tonight.

I’m sure you know the format: a number of innocent celebrities are paired up with professional dancers. Each week, each couple dances and they are given grades by professional judges. The public is also allowed to vote for their favorite couples and together, these scores determine which two couples have to do their routine again in a dance-off. Based on these performances, the judges then vote which couple has to stay. There were 16 celebrities this year, more than ever, and after this week, there are only 7 left.

There is, however, one couple that have the entire country in an uproar. The celebrity, John Sergeant, is a BBC political correspondent, he’s well into his sixties, and he’s rather, shall we say, portly. He also has two left feet and he’s obviously the ‘politically correct’ contestant this year. I don’t think anybody expected him to last beyond week two, but somehow he’s managed to get the popular vote, and he has managed to avoid the dance-off so far.

I must say, I am really impressed with his professional dance-partner Kristina. Somehow, every week, she choreographs a routine that John can barely manage, every week she looks fantastic on the floor, and every week she keeps him there. It is commendable. No matter which dance it is, or how incredibly clever the choreography, he manages to make it look the same. His tango resembled his walz, resembled his paso doble, resembled his samba and so on. It’s actually quite a feat, thinking about it.

Some of the British public seem to love him, causing an interesting split in the Strictly-audience. Because what is the purpose of this show? Is it a dance competition, in which the best dancer is supposed to win? Or is it entertainment, where any joke is allowed? So far, the people who support the entertainment-stance seem to be winning, because John is still there. I don’t much see the entertainment value of an old man stomping across the floor with a beautiful girl who is young enough to be his granddaughter. In fact, I think it’s rather pathetic and it would be great if the doddering stumbler could finally be put out of his misery, but there you have it.

But here’s the thing. The other remaining couples were really great, all the relatively ‘bad’ dancers have been voted out, John being the only dead wood (literally) remaining. But instead of voting him off, this weekend he avoided the dance off again, causing a great couple to be forced to leave. And so, yet again, a cheap laugh has won over great dancing. And in my opinion, the joke has gone just too far.

So if anyone knows of a good movie on TV next week, please let me know. I don’t think I’ll be watching the dancing: it’s just too painful.

Thought for today

Happiness is a choice, not a lottery.

Bold or bald?

Sometimes I come across company names that really make me wonder. Here's one:

Now imagine that you're a guy with a hairline that's receding at a somewhat alarming rate.

Would you really go have your hair cut a company that sounds as if they will do anything to hunt down your remaining locks to eradicate them?

Or is it maybe that this salon will scrutinize your scalp with magnifying glasses and microscopes in order to find the last strand?

Special

Sometimes I come across news articles that are so obviously written from a specific angle that it really makes me cringe. How about this piece:

Jeugd vindt zichzelf veel te verwend

For those who don't read Dutch, it's about a research done in the Netherlands, which concludes that young people are worried about today's youths. They are too confident, they are too spoilt, the balance between rights and obligations is wrong, and they demand too much.

It seems to me that the remarkable thing about this article is that the youths say so themselves, but that is besides my point.

The same research shows that nearly half of all the people aged 16 to 24 feel that they are 'very special', as opposed to 'only' 25% of the age group over 55.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for this kind of research, but this article makes it seem as if the perceived uniqueness of people is part of a generation gap. I'm just wondering if this difference cannot simply be explained by experience. Shouldn't each young person feel special and unique, since they still have every opportunity to make something of their lives, to make a difference in society, and to make the world a better place? This is much harder for the older generations, as so many chances have already gone by.

It appears that the conclusions from this research are designed to make today's youngsters look like lazy, spoilt brats, which seems to me a typical older generation's point of view and not really indicative of society at all. In other words: a great piece of researching has just been lost to the narrow-minded thinking patterns of the researcher. What a shame...

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go wallow in my own special uniqueness.

Palin' by comparison

Apparently, Sarah Palin blames the current administration for the Republican defeat in last week's US presidential elections. She seems to thinks that George W. Bush and his cronies are doing such a bad job, that it reflects badly on the entire Republican party, and that is why she and John McCain lost. She apparently thinks that it is unbelievable that they still got as many votes as they did.

Now, I agree that the Bush administration was a total disaster. But gosh, do you really think that's all of it? Might the democratic victory not be even a little bit due to the fact that the republican ticket had a psycho ignorant trigger-happy maniac racist hockey mom below the line? For heaven's sake, the woman shoots Bambis for fun!

But I can see why there's no love lost between Sarah Palin and George W. Bush. According to CNN, Bush has said that Barack Obama's win is 'good for the world'. Praise indeed, coming from him. Yet somehow, I'm suddenly feeling a teensy bit of doubt about how much good Obama could really do...

Smokin'!!!

Ever since hubby and myself went to New Zealand in 2004, I've had the feeling that a change was coming in our smoking culture. Perhaps not as radically as in Kiwi-land, but still. I remember our first evening in Kiwi-land. Jet-lagged, tired, irritated and ultimately shocked (it was December 26, the day of the tsunami), and longing for an after-dinner cigarette. We were sitting on the terrace of a restaurant on the banks of the Avon river, and I made the mistake of asking for an ashtray. The reaction of the waiter was telling: first he glared, then he glowered, then he stomped off to fetch the tiniest possible ashtray, which he almost threw on our table. Needless to say that smoking is not done, down under.

For some reason, however, this non-smoking mindset just does not want to take hold in The Netherlands. After the smoking ban for bars and restaurants was came into action on 1 July, there has been nothing but grumbling. To the point even, that this week owners of small cafés have put forward a petition to have the decision overturned, because apparently the smoking ban has caused them a severe loss of income.

Really? I have a different theory. Imagine for me, if you will, the truth about the Dutch smoking ban. There you are, asthmatic, allergic to smoke, and looking forward to a nice night out with your friends. You decide to visit a particular club. And then the problem starts. Because in order to go out, you have to get in. Yet all the smokers who kept you out of the bar when there was no ban, are now standing IN THE DOORWAY, steaming away all the cigarettes they would otherwise have smoked inside. So you have to take a breath deep enough to shame a whale, feel your way through the cloud of toxic vapours towards the door, only to be barred by an army of bad-tempered addicts, who are freezing cold, irate from having to go outside in the first place and irritable because they don't get nearly as much nicotine as they would like. In other words, NO WAY are they likely to step aside to let you through unhindered. And as you finally squeeze yourself through the two inches of space you managed to find, you are so out of breath that you have to take a deep gulp, allowing the fumes that have drifted in from outside to cause you to cough uncontrollably, resulting in panic, 112-calls, hospitalisation and so on... No wonder that bar attendance is down.

Yet still, a change is coming. I just think we need to look at the younger generation to make it happen. I drew hope from a news item I found yesterday: a couple in Germany, who had gone out onto their balcony to have a last cigarette before bedtime, had to be rescued by the local fire service. They had been locked out by their three-year old son, who'd had enough of their nicotine habit, and who adamantly refused to let his parents back in. Atta boy. It's that kind of attitude that will have bar visits soaring again. That, and a 15-foot smoking ban around the front doors of pubs, clubs and restaurants.

In Memoriam

Miriam Makeba has passed away, aged 76. Apparently she suffered a heart attack after a concert last night.


It's very sad occasion, I'm sure, and I wish her family, friends and admirers all the strength in the world. But it's not what I'm sad about.


She was, I have been reliably informed by countless newsbroadcasts today, a South African jazz singer who opposed the apartheid regime and was exiled for a number of years because of this. I'll take their words for it, because I had never heard of her before. She is, apparently, known for her world-wide monster hit 'Pata Pata'. Again, no bells ringing. I'm sure this is partially because Jazz is entirely lost on me, but I'm generally reasonably knowledgeable in music, even from genres I'm not fond of, and even when a song was a hit years before I was born. I'm racking my brain endlessly, but I really cannot recall ever having heard of her. Ever!


Don't get me wrong: I don't have anything against Miriam Makeba or her music. I think it's wonderful that the media are paying her attention in death as they didn't while she was alive. But here's the contrast:


Last week, American Author Michael Crighton, aged 66, lost his fight against cancer. He happens to be one of my favourite writers and has written well-known works such as Jurrassic Park, Disclosure, The Thirteenth Warrior, Congo, Timeline, Airframe, Rising Sun and Sphere. He was the executive producer and script writer of ER, one of the most celebrated and succesful hospital dramaseries ever, which has won numerable Emmy awards. Many of his novels were translated into major Hollywood blockbuster movies. Additionally, he is an inspiration to me. I will always strive for, but probably never achieve his standard of researching or of building arguments.


I'm sad that the only reason I know of his death is because I happened to be flicking through the Text pages on my TV last week, looking for news on the US Elections. Somewhere in the 'short-news' items of the Netherlands 1 Teletext service, they found exactly 4 lines to dedicate to him. When I tried to find that same piece half an hour later, it was gone.



I don't know who decides the value of a human life.
I don't know why one person is dragged out of obscurity after death.
I don't know why another is almost completely ignored.
But it sure stinks.

Thought for today

Sometimes you need to check whether your ladder to success is leaning against the right wall...

Dubya

I'm sure that everyone is aware of last Tuesday's US elections. I'm relatively confident that most of you are also aware that America did not just choose a president, but that most places had a whole series of ballots to fill out. Nothing new there.

However, what I didn't know was exactly what the other elections were about. It turns out that some were for political leaders (senators, district attorneys, sherrifs and such) and that some were referenda, to find out what citizens thought of particular ideas.

I came across one referendum that I really couldn't keep from you: the people of San Francisco were asked whether a sewage treatment facility should be named in honour of President George W. Bush. Apparently, pro-voters thought this a fitting tribute to their 43th president. Opposers were not amused, as you may understand.

Now here's the thing: this proposal was rejected by the good people of San Francisco. Not, mind you, because it would reflect poorly on George W. Bush, but because it would reflect badly on their sewage disposal facility...

Just a thought

The only difference between terrorism and revolution is the point of view...

Advert 5

And here's the last one...

Advert 4

Advert 3

Advert 2

Advert 1

Husband just sent me five tv ads that made me laugh. Here's the first!

My Bloggy Wog

When I was last in England, the Russel Brand / Jonathan Ross-saga was just breaking. If you have no idea what I'm on about, have a look at this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7694989.stm

Anyway, yesterday I was having lunch with friend J. in Amsterdam and afterwards we stopped at Waterstone's, where I picked up the Christmas Gift Guide. When, later that evening, I was leafing through it, I came across two titles that had me in bits.

The first one was Jonathan Ross' astoundingly aptly named autobiography, 'Why do I say these things?' Well Jonathan, I'm sure that you'll have plenty of time to contemplate that during your three month's suspension...

I suppose I can say a lot about the irony of it, but it was Russel Brand's epic that really had me rolling on the floor with laughter.

It is called (brace yourselves)

'My Booky Wook'

Right...

A bright new dawn

I don't really remember where I read this, or where it's from, but I had to think of these lines after hearing today's news:

You can't change the world, but you can change a mind.
If you can change a mind, you can change a vote.
If you can change a vote, you can change a government.
If you can change a government, you can change the world.

So can we change the world?

YES, WE CAN!!!

(Now let's just hope that bureaucracy and conservatism don't bog US down...)

Cheated!

I feel cheated!

How much hype has there been in the news about how badly things are going economically? Credit Crunch, Recession, lay-offs, house prices and difficult mortgages have made headlines for weeks!

But guess what? We're not in an economic crisis AT ALL!!! The economy in The Netherlands is expected TO GROW! Okay, not by much, but still...

So basically, I'm now trying to sell my house in a climate where everybody is panicked because of the imminent economic downturn for no reason at all.

I feel cheated!