The flu is finally releasing me from its mighty grasp. This was the first weekend since before Christmas I didn't spend on the couch fatigued and in the throes of a coughing fit. I am now thoroughly convinced the human race will be wiped out by a mutant flu strain.

So how many of you have received the "Not One Damn Dime Day" email? For those of you that have not, it basically says to not buy anything on Inauguration Day, January 20, as a way of protesting the Iraq war. Of course this is clearly not an effective way of protesting the Iraq war, and a quick Google search results in this website which does a thorough job of explaining why.

This seems to be some kind of lazy offshoot of Adbuster's Buy Nothing Day. At least Buy Nothing Day has real activist roots and goes beyond simply adovcating not shopping on one specific day. Overall I am not a proponent of "buying nothing" as a form of protest. What I am a propenent of is being conscious, every day, of what businesses you choose to give your money to: primarily, of supporting independent businesses over corporate behemoths, buying and eating organic as much as possible, and simply not overspending. Suggested Reading:

The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need by Juliet Schor.

An Action a Day Helps Keep Global Capitalism Away by Mike Hudema. A great little list of protest ideas, such as "radical cheerleading" and "billboard liberation."

While I'm on the subject of books, I just finished French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I know, I know, this sounds totally ridiculous. But I was really interested in her observations of the differences between French and American eating habits, and in this respect the book did not disappoint. I think she is right-on when she says:

The great majority of Americans are conditioned to demand and accept bland, processed, chemically treated, generally unnatural foods, which through packaging and marketing have been made to seem wholesome. I have no doubt that any people made to eat this way would in time grow fat.

And this:

Seasonality (eating the best at its peak) and seasoning (the art of choosing and combining flavors to complement the food) are vital for fighting off the food lover's worst enemy: not calories, but boredom. Eat the same thing in the same way time and again, and you'll need more just to achieve the same pleasure. Have just one taste experience (the big bowl of pasta, the big piece of meat), and you are bound to eat too much, as you seek satisfaction from volume instead of the interplay of flavor and texture that comes from a well-thought-out meal.

The book is annoying when she extolls the virtues of drinking champagne. She is president and CEO of Clicquot, Inc.! Shameless. But other than that, an interesting read. It reminded me of another book I have been meaning to read: Last Chance to Eat: The Fate of Taste in a Fast-Food World by Gina Mallet.

Today I happened upon this fantastic bookstore in SoHo, where I picked up Now They Tell Us: The American Press and Iraq by Michael Massing. This was on a table marked "New from the Independent Presses." If only every bookstore had a table like that!

I just started reading Jihad in Brooklyn: The NYPD Raid That Stopped America's First Suicide Bombers by Samuel M. Katz. Scary, scary, scary. It helps to not be reading this on the subway, I can say that much.