‘Restricted-Calorie Diet May Not Lead to Longevity’
In a 20-something-year study, “NIA monkeys fed a calorie-restricted diet didn't live any longer than monkeys on a higher-calorie diet. No matter what they ate, maximum lifespan seems to hover around 40 years of age. Half the monkeys that began the study as youngsters were still alive, but the researchers say, based on survival patterns, they predict the remaining calorie-restrictors and controls will all live to be about the same age.”
But wait!
“These latest findings are at odds with the WNPRC study in which calorie-restricted monkeys have far outlived the controls.”
http://gma.yahoo.com/restricted-calorie-diet-may-not-lead-longevity-180923384--abc-news-health.html
(Since the 1970s, we were told we pretty much would have a heart attack and die if we looked at a whole egg. Gazing at a egg yolk would cause arteries to immediately close up, shutting off all blood flow. Then in the late 1990s, researchers decided one whole egg a day was part of a healthy diet. So now restricting calories doesn’t matter/yes it does matter. Researchers/studies and etc. say so.
(Here's something for researchers to consider: We don't believe anything you say, unless it fits what we believe. Just as researchers find results grant-payers want, so we decide what to believe.)
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Addendum to ‘Supper tonight’
While the cornbread cooked, I sliced a tomato and an onion and then went to the living room to watch whatever was on MLB Network. I left the tomato and the onion on the cutting board on the island.
When Priscilla got home from work, I went back to the kitchen to check on the cornbread and more better put things together for supper.
There was no tomato on the cutting board. The sliced onion was there, but the tomato was gone. All of it. It had been a big tomato, but now it was no more.
I’m sure White Dog did it. White Dog searches the kitchen when Priscilla and I are somewhere else in the house. He is a big dog – 85 pounds, standard poodle – and long enough to put his front paws on the countertop and reach his nose to just about everything.
One evening I washed several medium (three-inch) potatoes as specified for a recipe and then decided those were too many for Priscilla and me. I put three on a paper towel to dry on the countertop. When Priscilla and I were eating supper, I heard a chewing noise. I checked. White Dog was in the living room, eating a potato. I took him and the remains to the back porch and then went to get the other two potatoes and put them away.
There were no two other potatoes.
With the great tomato caper, I just sliced another.
White Dog is a healthy dog.
When Priscilla got home from work, I went back to the kitchen to check on the cornbread and more better put things together for supper.
There was no tomato on the cutting board. The sliced onion was there, but the tomato was gone. All of it. It had been a big tomato, but now it was no more.
I’m sure White Dog did it. White Dog searches the kitchen when Priscilla and I are somewhere else in the house. He is a big dog – 85 pounds, standard poodle – and long enough to put his front paws on the countertop and reach his nose to just about everything.
One evening I washed several medium (three-inch) potatoes as specified for a recipe and then decided those were too many for Priscilla and me. I put three on a paper towel to dry on the countertop. When Priscilla and I were eating supper, I heard a chewing noise. I checked. White Dog was in the living room, eating a potato. I took him and the remains to the back porch and then went to get the other two potatoes and put them away.
There were no two other potatoes.
With the great tomato caper, I just sliced another.
White Dog is a healthy dog.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Meanwhile, in the Dumb School Department ...
Why did teacher give students test answers?
Well, “they’re dumb as hell.”
Oh.
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/08/28/school-teacher-helps-students-cheat-because-she-says-theyre-dumb-as-hell/
“Smith’s case was part of a larger investigation that implicated approximately 180 public school teachers …”
Read this paragraph and say with me: What?
“We are working around the clock to engage our partners and move our agenda forward," said Tisha Edwards, chief of staff for the (Baltimore) school system. "Every transaction has a business purpose in mind."
Oh, well, hell, that explains the almost $500,000 spent during the past year and a half on a $7,300 office retreat at a downtown hotel, $300-per-night stays at hotels, and a $1,000 dinner at an exclusive members-only club. Or, as a district official put it, “the cost of doing business.”
There are all kinds of numbers preceded by $, which without the vertical line stands for “Stupid.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-schools-credit-cards-20120810,0,4819531.story?page=1
Fark.com.
Well, “they’re dumb as hell.”
Oh.
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2012/08/28/school-teacher-helps-students-cheat-because-she-says-theyre-dumb-as-hell/
“Smith’s case was part of a larger investigation that implicated approximately 180 public school teachers …”
Read this paragraph and say with me: What?
“We are working around the clock to engage our partners and move our agenda forward," said Tisha Edwards, chief of staff for the (Baltimore) school system. "Every transaction has a business purpose in mind."
Oh, well, hell, that explains the almost $500,000 spent during the past year and a half on a $7,300 office retreat at a downtown hotel, $300-per-night stays at hotels, and a $1,000 dinner at an exclusive members-only club. Or, as a district official put it, “the cost of doing business.”
There are all kinds of numbers preceded by $, which without the vertical line stands for “Stupid.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-schools-credit-cards-20120810,0,4819531.story?page=1
Fark.com.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
We've got to do something!
“Today, for example, there is much gnashing of teeth in the media because Democrats and Republicans can’t seem to get together to create a bipartisan plan for government intervention to solve our current economic problems.
“Those who cry out that the government should ‘do something’ never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing. That could be a very enlightening trip through the archives.” – Thomas Sowell.
http://attackmachine.com/blog/
(Not only do the “do-somethings” not look at history, they also do not have answers for what the “something” should be. Create jobs? Doing what? Fund shovel-ready projects. Who’s going to use the shovels? One of Bill Veeck’s baseball managers, asked why he made certain decisions in a game, replied, “Things were going so bad I had to do something.” Veeck contrasted that answer with one from Casey Stengel. “Well, it reminded me of a game in 1932 in Binghampton …” Stengel knew. The other guy guessed.)
“Those who cry out that the government should ‘do something’ never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing. That could be a very enlightening trip through the archives.” – Thomas Sowell.
http://attackmachine.com/blog/
(Not only do the “do-somethings” not look at history, they also do not have answers for what the “something” should be. Create jobs? Doing what? Fund shovel-ready projects. Who’s going to use the shovels? One of Bill Veeck’s baseball managers, asked why he made certain decisions in a game, replied, “Things were going so bad I had to do something.” Veeck contrasted that answer with one from Casey Stengel. “Well, it reminded me of a game in 1932 in Binghampton …” Stengel knew. The other guy guessed.)
Supper tonight
Frijoles pintos, greens, cornbread, pork chops, tomato slices, sliced onion, ice tea. Ice cream dessert -- day 3 on a Sonic Blast w/Reese's Pieces.
It’s a guess, spitting off the forecastle and hoping the wind’s blowing out
“Poverty is returning to Europe," Jan Zijderveld, the head of Unilever's European business told the Financial Times Deutschlandin an interview.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9501771/Unilever-sees-return-to-poverty-in-Europe.html
One thing – If Europe goes down the tubes, we still have that big ocean to the east, and nobody in Europe has anything that will reach us, except airliners and ships. No bombers, no missiles.
Found at maggiesfarm.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9501771/Unilever-sees-return-to-poverty-in-Europe.html
One thing – If Europe goes down the tubes, we still have that big ocean to the east, and nobody in Europe has anything that will reach us, except airliners and ships. No bombers, no missiles.
Found at maggiesfarm.
Monday, August 27, 2012
When it's time to be planted ...
The first couple of pages of a story I've been working on:
FIRST SERGEANT
When reaching the age at which he should consider such things, First Sergeant (Ret.) Reynaud Joseph Hochster gave great thought to his burial clothes. Class A uniform, of course, AG-344 (AG meaning Army Green) and not that limp blue thing the Army decided every soldier should wear, soldiers looking more like doormen than any Marine in dress blues, and that took a lot of doing, out-doormanning a Marine. You had to give props to the jarheads in one respect, though – the USMC green uniform looked better than anything the Army ever came up with. The Eisenhower jacket was close, and Hochster sometimes thought the Army should have brought back the short jacket, rather than screwing up with the blues. But the Army was never known for unscrewing anything (ditto the Air Force, the Navy & etc.), although getting rid of the black beret as standard headgear came close. Besides, Hochster considered, concerning the Eisenhower jacket, even a hint of stomach size problem made a soldier look tubby. Not Hochster, though. Hochster had never looked tubby, even in his later days, when exercise was only a bad memory; even then Hochster maintained a slender build.
So AG-344 it was for burial, Class A, jacket adorned with ribbons and badges and other accoutrements – the CIB; some ribbons eaerned by actually doing something; many of the “I stuck around long enough somebody told me I was supposed to wear these” type ribbons; expert badge for pistol, rifle and machine gun. Hochster did not have jump wings or pathfinder wings or air assault wings. He was a grunt, a groundpounder, and he saw no sense in leaving the ground except on a transport plane that would land here and pick him up, fly for a time, and then land somewhere else and he would walk off. Hochster agreed with the Old Leg Soldier antipathetical axiom concerning Airborne: “Only a fool jumps out of a perfectly good airplane,” as well as the other saying, guaranteed to initiate some conflict when shouted at any bar or club near The Home of the Airborne School at Fort Benning: “Only two things fall out of the sky – bird shit and airborne.” Hochster himself had never shouted anything in a crowded bar in Columbus, Ga., or Phenix City, Ala., but he had given, and received, his share of knuckle sandwiches.
In his later soldiering years, though, pounding the ground in leather personnel carriers changed to riding on or in armored personnel carriers, the APCs another means of transportation to a point where Hochster and his soldiers would get off and walk. Always there was the walking.
After a time of considering his burial clothes, Hochster wondered if the Class A uniform would stand up to whatever locale Death deposited him. What if he was taken to a jungle? Or to a desert or snow-clad mountains or plains? Or even to a place of temperate climate? Class A’s would not be the uniform of choice. And what if there were bad guys at the new place? Hochster would need firearms. At least one, and that one preferably a rifle. He knew it is better to have a long gun on a short-range gunfight than the other way ‘round.
So, although he decreed burial in Class A, Hochster specified that his coffin also contain: one set of jungle fatigues; winter underwear (just in case); jungle boots; two pairs of good, civilian boot socks; a black canvas belt with field buckle; and a bush hat. With clothing decided, Hochster instructed that he also be accompanied with a hard plastic gun case containing: one Springfield Armory M1A (the nearest comparable M14 rifle available) with cleaning kit in stock; canvas sling; five loaded magazines; and two 60-round bandoliers. Hochster considered adding a Colt M1911A1 pistol, magazines and ammunition but then decided, How far do I want to go with this? Why not just buy a ten-foot-square CONEX container and put in a jeep, MOGAS, five-gallon cans and a couple of cases of MREs and leave space for my body? Nope, the rifle and ammunition should be enough.
And so it was, when the day came, Hochster was buried IAW instructions, accompanied by six pallbearers, two road guards and one to count cadence.
FIRST SERGEANT
When reaching the age at which he should consider such things, First Sergeant (Ret.) Reynaud Joseph Hochster gave great thought to his burial clothes. Class A uniform, of course, AG-344 (AG meaning Army Green) and not that limp blue thing the Army decided every soldier should wear, soldiers looking more like doormen than any Marine in dress blues, and that took a lot of doing, out-doormanning a Marine. You had to give props to the jarheads in one respect, though – the USMC green uniform looked better than anything the Army ever came up with. The Eisenhower jacket was close, and Hochster sometimes thought the Army should have brought back the short jacket, rather than screwing up with the blues. But the Army was never known for unscrewing anything (ditto the Air Force, the Navy & etc.), although getting rid of the black beret as standard headgear came close. Besides, Hochster considered, concerning the Eisenhower jacket, even a hint of stomach size problem made a soldier look tubby. Not Hochster, though. Hochster had never looked tubby, even in his later days, when exercise was only a bad memory; even then Hochster maintained a slender build.
So AG-344 it was for burial, Class A, jacket adorned with ribbons and badges and other accoutrements – the CIB; some ribbons eaerned by actually doing something; many of the “I stuck around long enough somebody told me I was supposed to wear these” type ribbons; expert badge for pistol, rifle and machine gun. Hochster did not have jump wings or pathfinder wings or air assault wings. He was a grunt, a groundpounder, and he saw no sense in leaving the ground except on a transport plane that would land here and pick him up, fly for a time, and then land somewhere else and he would walk off. Hochster agreed with the Old Leg Soldier antipathetical axiom concerning Airborne: “Only a fool jumps out of a perfectly good airplane,” as well as the other saying, guaranteed to initiate some conflict when shouted at any bar or club near The Home of the Airborne School at Fort Benning: “Only two things fall out of the sky – bird shit and airborne.” Hochster himself had never shouted anything in a crowded bar in Columbus, Ga., or Phenix City, Ala., but he had given, and received, his share of knuckle sandwiches.
In his later soldiering years, though, pounding the ground in leather personnel carriers changed to riding on or in armored personnel carriers, the APCs another means of transportation to a point where Hochster and his soldiers would get off and walk. Always there was the walking.
After a time of considering his burial clothes, Hochster wondered if the Class A uniform would stand up to whatever locale Death deposited him. What if he was taken to a jungle? Or to a desert or snow-clad mountains or plains? Or even to a place of temperate climate? Class A’s would not be the uniform of choice. And what if there were bad guys at the new place? Hochster would need firearms. At least one, and that one preferably a rifle. He knew it is better to have a long gun on a short-range gunfight than the other way ‘round.
So, although he decreed burial in Class A, Hochster specified that his coffin also contain: one set of jungle fatigues; winter underwear (just in case); jungle boots; two pairs of good, civilian boot socks; a black canvas belt with field buckle; and a bush hat. With clothing decided, Hochster instructed that he also be accompanied with a hard plastic gun case containing: one Springfield Armory M1A (the nearest comparable M14 rifle available) with cleaning kit in stock; canvas sling; five loaded magazines; and two 60-round bandoliers. Hochster considered adding a Colt M1911A1 pistol, magazines and ammunition but then decided, How far do I want to go with this? Why not just buy a ten-foot-square CONEX container and put in a jeep, MOGAS, five-gallon cans and a couple of cases of MREs and leave space for my body? Nope, the rifle and ammunition should be enough.
And so it was, when the day came, Hochster was buried IAW instructions, accompanied by six pallbearers, two road guards and one to count cadence.
Let prisoners have a garden! What could go wrong?
Those plants labeled “Mary Jane” are not herbs.
“Warders in a French jail where prisoners are allowed to grow their own produce have been left red-faced after the discovery of cannabis plants among the flowers and vegetables.”
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/pot_jail.php3
“Warders in a French jail where prisoners are allowed to grow their own produce have been left red-faced after the discovery of cannabis plants among the flowers and vegetables.”
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/pot_jail.php3
A few things picked up at PJMedia -- Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Ranger’s Command
“Come all of you cowboys, and don’t ever you run
as long as there’s bullets in both of your guns”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FznriVNbWCI
Not part of the chorus: This land is my land, this land ain’t your land, I got a shotgun, and you ain’t got one.
“Guthrie believed … that ‘the money holders’ wanted to ‘think down the radical protestery of all shapes and forms of art,’ and that hence they gave ‘senseless piles of money’ to the ‘blabbery artists of social surrender who boil and skim the radical protest down to nothing.’ He detested those he called ‘Capitalist-sponsored stars’ who, he argued, “have found ways and formulas to squeeze the social good of their art way down below the Nothing (Zero) line.’”
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/08/23/the-truth-about-woody-guthrie-at-100/?singlepage=true
(It’s not been so much the money holders thinking down the radical protests as much as recognizing profitability. When you look at a multi-billion record company paying millions to people who sing about how evil big money is, you have to admire their chutzpah and their correct decision that we would shell out money for records, CDs and concerts.)
Ranger’s Command
“Come all of you cowboys, and don’t ever you run
as long as there’s bullets in both of your guns”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FznriVNbWCI
Not part of the chorus: This land is my land, this land ain’t your land, I got a shotgun, and you ain’t got one.
“Guthrie believed … that ‘the money holders’ wanted to ‘think down the radical protestery of all shapes and forms of art,’ and that hence they gave ‘senseless piles of money’ to the ‘blabbery artists of social surrender who boil and skim the radical protest down to nothing.’ He detested those he called ‘Capitalist-sponsored stars’ who, he argued, “have found ways and formulas to squeeze the social good of their art way down below the Nothing (Zero) line.’”
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/08/23/the-truth-about-woody-guthrie-at-100/?singlepage=true
(It’s not been so much the money holders thinking down the radical protests as much as recognizing profitability. When you look at a multi-billion record company paying millions to people who sing about how evil big money is, you have to admire their chutzpah and their correct decision that we would shell out money for records, CDs and concerts.)
Media bias? What media bias?
TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney’s Republican National Convention is sputtering to life Monday …
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/27/gop-going-forward-convention-despite-isaac/
("sputtering"?)
And AP just can’t wait for Hurricane Isaac to slam into New Orleans.
KEY WEST, Fla. — Tropical Storm Isaac targeted a broad swath of the Gulf Coast on Monday and had New Orleans in its cross hairs, bearing down just ahead of the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/27/isaac-crossing-gulf-new-orleans-cross-hairs/
AP isn’t alone. Other news people do Katrina after Katrina after Katrina. Let no one remind them that hurricanes existed long before today’s newsies stormed ashore. Today's journalists believe: If it happened before I was a newsperson, it doesn't matter.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/27/gop-going-forward-convention-despite-isaac/
("sputtering"?)
And AP just can’t wait for Hurricane Isaac to slam into New Orleans.
KEY WEST, Fla. — Tropical Storm Isaac targeted a broad swath of the Gulf Coast on Monday and had New Orleans in its cross hairs, bearing down just ahead of the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/aug/27/isaac-crossing-gulf-new-orleans-cross-hairs/
AP isn’t alone. Other news people do Katrina after Katrina after Katrina. Let no one remind them that hurricanes existed long before today’s newsies stormed ashore. Today's journalists believe: If it happened before I was a newsperson, it doesn't matter.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Here’s the problem
A San Francisco policeman has twice been suspended for taking pictures of almost-nude women posing as vampires and mermaids. On his off time, his own time.
Here’s the real reason he was suspended:
It’s San Francisco. He took pictures of almost-nude women.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193825/San-Francisco-policeman-fights-right-photograph-naked-women-posing-vampires-nymphs-mermaids.html
Opened door at fark.com.
Here’s the real reason he was suspended:
It’s San Francisco. He took pictures of almost-nude women.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193825/San-Francisco-policeman-fights-right-photograph-naked-women-posing-vampires-nymphs-mermaids.html
Opened door at fark.com.
What do men want?
Rather than spindly-legged, skinny blondes, men prefer size 14 brunettes, a poll in the U.K. said last year.
“Far from men finding blondes the most sexually attractive, the study found that more than 60 per cent said they preferred raven-haired beauties over their blonde counterparts.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2029680/What-men-REALLY-want-brown-haired-blue-eyed-size-14-woman.html#ixzz24goby73L
As for size, “the largest majority - 38.8 per cent of guys - looked for an ‘average’ dress size of 12 to 14 in their perfect woman, with only 10 per cent looking for a size 6 to 8.
“Women with a 'curvy' dress size of 14 to 18 came in as the second most popular size - proof indeed that while magazines fill their pages with skinny models, UK males actually prefer a more rounded build.”
So why are most models of high fashion and actresses of screen exposure on the skinny side? Do women think themselves more attractive when miniskirted legs look like flesh tone toothpicks?
Why are hipless, flat-chested women considered the measure of beauty?
Short answer: Fashion designers.
Longer answer: Homosexual male fashion designers who see hipless and flat-chested persons (boys or very young men) as objects for sex. But, someone might say, the designers make clothes for women. Yes, I would say, but the imagining for the designs just might begin with a sexual object in mind, and the designer then fits the design to his imagination.
I have no facts to buttress my opinion, but then, the question of why models are skinny is not an inquiry that can be measured.
“Far from men finding blondes the most sexually attractive, the study found that more than 60 per cent said they preferred raven-haired beauties over their blonde counterparts.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2029680/What-men-REALLY-want-brown-haired-blue-eyed-size-14-woman.html#ixzz24goby73L
As for size, “the largest majority - 38.8 per cent of guys - looked for an ‘average’ dress size of 12 to 14 in their perfect woman, with only 10 per cent looking for a size 6 to 8.
“Women with a 'curvy' dress size of 14 to 18 came in as the second most popular size - proof indeed that while magazines fill their pages with skinny models, UK males actually prefer a more rounded build.”
So why are most models of high fashion and actresses of screen exposure on the skinny side? Do women think themselves more attractive when miniskirted legs look like flesh tone toothpicks?
Why are hipless, flat-chested women considered the measure of beauty?
Short answer: Fashion designers.
Longer answer: Homosexual male fashion designers who see hipless and flat-chested persons (boys or very young men) as objects for sex. But, someone might say, the designers make clothes for women. Yes, I would say, but the imagining for the designs just might begin with a sexual object in mind, and the designer then fits the design to his imagination.
I have no facts to buttress my opinion, but then, the question of why models are skinny is not an inquiry that can be measured.
Park rules say stay at least a quarter mile from bears
A quarter mile is 1,320 yards. The dead dude was within 50 yards. Some people sometimes get stupid when in the woods. Stupid people in the woods sometimes get dead.
http://news.yahoo.com/bear-kills-calif-man-denali-national-park-064602013.html
A wild animal is a wild animal is not Yogi Bear or Smokey T. Bear or any other cartoon or cute movie bear or beaver or Bambi. And, yes, a deer can kill a human.
http://redalertlive.com/2011/10/12/deer-attacks-and-kills-man-video/
http://news.yahoo.com/bear-kills-calif-man-denali-national-park-064602013.html
A wild animal is a wild animal is not Yogi Bear or Smokey T. Bear or any other cartoon or cute movie bear or beaver or Bambi. And, yes, a deer can kill a human.
http://redalertlive.com/2011/10/12/deer-attacks-and-kills-man-video/
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Somebody at the UN has sense!
“No one, not even the United Nations, would ever mess with Texas." – Martin Nesirky, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/us-un-texas-duel-idUSBRE87N14A20120824
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/us-un-texas-duel-idUSBRE87N14A20120824
Uh, there might be a small probl
Make your cell phone part of your hurricane kit, so when the electricity goes out to all the towers, you can still call som ….
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-storm-phones-vasquez-20120824,0,3877091.column
If it's dumb and Florida ... But I repeat myself.
Fark has it.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-storm-phones-vasquez-20120824,0,3877091.column
If it's dumb and Florida ... But I repeat myself.
Fark has it.
Some food statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says in 1919 American families spent 36 percent of their budgets on food. That percentage remained the same in 1947.
“As Americans became wealthier that portion fell to 29 percent in 1966; 23 percent in 1979, and 18 percent in 1998. Most recently, Americans average just 12 percent of their budgets on food both consumed at home and out at restaurants.”
http://reason.com/blog/2012/08/23/why-do-americans-waste-so-much-food
Link at maggiesfarm; reason.com commenting on a story from the National Resources Defense Council recommending national food wastage reduction targets, said targets to be established by your friend and mine, the Federal Government.
A couple of things: In 1919, food delivery system was what we would consider Third World. Railroads and horse-drawn wagons delivered all food that was not grown at home. Roads were dirt. Almost all families outside large cities had a garden in which to grow a goodly percentage of their food. In many towns, people kept a cow for milk, and a hog and/or calf to be butchered for meat.
As a whole, Americans eat too much and do not make healthy choices. The key there is “choices.” Those who want the government deciding what and how much you will eat often toss out numbers of billions of dollars that will be spent nationally on health problems caused by obesity bad eating habits. Those people will try and make you believe your money will be spent caring for fat people. With a national hospital insurance, that might be accurate.
Here’s the thing. Freedom has a price. Always has, always will. Freedom to choose one’s food means some people will die earlier than they should. But they made a choice as free people.
“As Americans became wealthier that portion fell to 29 percent in 1966; 23 percent in 1979, and 18 percent in 1998. Most recently, Americans average just 12 percent of their budgets on food both consumed at home and out at restaurants.”
http://reason.com/blog/2012/08/23/why-do-americans-waste-so-much-food
Link at maggiesfarm; reason.com commenting on a story from the National Resources Defense Council recommending national food wastage reduction targets, said targets to be established by your friend and mine, the Federal Government.
A couple of things: In 1919, food delivery system was what we would consider Third World. Railroads and horse-drawn wagons delivered all food that was not grown at home. Roads were dirt. Almost all families outside large cities had a garden in which to grow a goodly percentage of their food. In many towns, people kept a cow for milk, and a hog and/or calf to be butchered for meat.
As a whole, Americans eat too much and do not make healthy choices. The key there is “choices.” Those who want the government deciding what and how much you will eat often toss out numbers of billions of dollars that will be spent nationally on health problems caused by obesity bad eating habits. Those people will try and make you believe your money will be spent caring for fat people. With a national hospital insurance, that might be accurate.
Here’s the thing. Freedom has a price. Always has, always will. Freedom to choose one’s food means some people will die earlier than they should. But they made a choice as free people.
Friday, August 24, 2012
So the kids do juvenile things and the administration gets involved
and things get even more stupid really fast.
“ANAHEIM HILLS – Canyon High School will eliminate ‘Señores and Señoritas Day,’ an event where students were encouraged to don Latino-themed attire, after several students this spring arrived to campus dressed as gang members, gardeners, border patrol agents and pregnant teens.
“Orange Unified officials have announced they will also require the school's administrators and staff to take sensitivity training, and vow to better review student activities to ensure they aren't culturally insensitive.”
http://www.ocregister.com/news/students-369415-school-dressed.html
What they’re going to do is, the school will have an "’International Week,’ an activity to focus on the appreciation of different cultures, including discussions in history classes.” Before celebration of “International Week,” though, the school will “add a vetting process whereby each activity is reviewed to determine what might go wrong or whom it might offend.”
“(W)hat might go wrong or whom it might offend.”
No vetting necessary. Answers: (1) Everything; (2) Everyone.
Tripped over at fark.com.
“ANAHEIM HILLS – Canyon High School will eliminate ‘Señores and Señoritas Day,’ an event where students were encouraged to don Latino-themed attire, after several students this spring arrived to campus dressed as gang members, gardeners, border patrol agents and pregnant teens.
“Orange Unified officials have announced they will also require the school's administrators and staff to take sensitivity training, and vow to better review student activities to ensure they aren't culturally insensitive.”
http://www.ocregister.com/news/students-369415-school-dressed.html
What they’re going to do is, the school will have an "’International Week,’ an activity to focus on the appreciation of different cultures, including discussions in history classes.” Before celebration of “International Week,” though, the school will “add a vetting process whereby each activity is reviewed to determine what might go wrong or whom it might offend.”
“(W)hat might go wrong or whom it might offend.”
No vetting necessary. Answers: (1) Everything; (2) Everyone.
Tripped over at fark.com.
High food prices
In the grocery store today the produce department manager said, “How are you today, Sir?” I replied I was just fine, “And how are you?” The manager replied he, too, was just fine.
Actually, my response was a bit less than accurate, but not by much. I had just bought two Granny Smith Apples at $1.99 a pound and three bananas at 69 cents a pound. Fiji and Gala Apples also were $1.99 a pound and another kind of apple $1.69 a pound. Large Valencia oranges were 69 cents each, small Valencia were 59 cents each.
Considering what I paid for two apples and three bananas, I was not altogether “Just fine.” I would guess the produce manager was just as not fine as I was, since his store has to pay increasingly increasing prices for fruits and vegetables.
After taking the manager’s “Just fine” at face value, I said, “We need to invade countries that have land.” The produce manager gave a confused laugh. “We what?” I said, “Forget oil. We need to invade places that have lots of food.”
It was a ridiculous statement, but not overly so. The United States produce far more food than citizens can eat. The United States export millions and millions of tons of food.
But that production is not evident in high food prices. Make more, charge less once was a statement of big success.
Then there are imported foods. I don’t mean foods like caviar or other things for wealthy menus.
In U.S. food stores you will find lettuce, bell peppers and other vegetables grown in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and other countries.
Today I even saw canned strawberries produced in China.
How is it that a company in California can buy and ship canned strawberries from China at less cost than buying and packing strawberries grown in its own state, one of the largest agricultural states in the USA?
When a country begins importing large amounts of food, citizens are in trouble.
Actually, my response was a bit less than accurate, but not by much. I had just bought two Granny Smith Apples at $1.99 a pound and three bananas at 69 cents a pound. Fiji and Gala Apples also were $1.99 a pound and another kind of apple $1.69 a pound. Large Valencia oranges were 69 cents each, small Valencia were 59 cents each.
Considering what I paid for two apples and three bananas, I was not altogether “Just fine.” I would guess the produce manager was just as not fine as I was, since his store has to pay increasingly increasing prices for fruits and vegetables.
After taking the manager’s “Just fine” at face value, I said, “We need to invade countries that have land.” The produce manager gave a confused laugh. “We what?” I said, “Forget oil. We need to invade places that have lots of food.”
It was a ridiculous statement, but not overly so. The United States produce far more food than citizens can eat. The United States export millions and millions of tons of food.
But that production is not evident in high food prices. Make more, charge less once was a statement of big success.
Then there are imported foods. I don’t mean foods like caviar or other things for wealthy menus.
In U.S. food stores you will find lettuce, bell peppers and other vegetables grown in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and other countries.
Today I even saw canned strawberries produced in China.
How is it that a company in California can buy and ship canned strawberries from China at less cost than buying and packing strawberries grown in its own state, one of the largest agricultural states in the USA?
When a country begins importing large amounts of food, citizens are in trouble.
The dodo that was called V-8
“V-8s are on the way out -- again.”
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/24/goodbye-v-8s-the-engines-that/print
(The major reason for my 2005 F-150 was that it has a small V-8, which does a much better job of going when I want it to go, than the 1999 V-6 Dodge full-size I had for nine years. Gas mileage is less than the stated 17 mpg highway average, but I am willing to pay for the getup and inside size. Four-cylinder turbosupercharged will not do the job, or V-6 for that matter.)
Link at maggiesfarm.
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/24/goodbye-v-8s-the-engines-that/print
(The major reason for my 2005 F-150 was that it has a small V-8, which does a much better job of going when I want it to go, than the 1999 V-6 Dodge full-size I had for nine years. Gas mileage is less than the stated 17 mpg highway average, but I am willing to pay for the getup and inside size. Four-cylinder turbosupercharged will not do the job, or V-6 for that matter.)
Link at maggiesfarm.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Of course that’s what ‘experts’ are going to say!
‘UFO hunters claim to have spotted lights in the Martian sky’
‘Experts insist they are nothing more than blemishes on the camera’
Good grief, what else would you expect from NASA?
It’s not like Mars has swamp gas. Or high altitude research balloons.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2192008/Are-Martian-overlords---just-dead-pixels-camera-Images-beamed-Curiosity-lead-talk-UFOs-Mars.html#ixzz24PGgizAD
Stumbled upon at fark.com.
‘Experts insist they are nothing more than blemishes on the camera’
Good grief, what else would you expect from NASA?
It’s not like Mars has swamp gas. Or high altitude research balloons.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2192008/Are-Martian-overlords---just-dead-pixels-camera-Images-beamed-Curiosity-lead-talk-UFOs-Mars.html#ixzz24PGgizAD
Stumbled upon at fark.com.
Today’s grammar lesson
More and more writers these days think “further” is the same as “farther.” The words are not the same. They differ in physics.
“Farther” is space; “further” is time. Simple.
Two days ago I saw on the back of a tractor-trailer an easy way to explain the difference, though not as simple as farther-space and further-time.
The small sign on the back of the trailer asked: “How far did you go today?” And then: “Would you like to go …”
Which: farther or further?
If “further,” then the first statement would have to read: “How fur did you go today.”
If “further” is distance, then “fur” is proper application of “How fur is it?”
But, “further” is not distance.
“Would you like to go farther?”
Now, go ye forth and know the difference.
Don’t even get me started on “supposebly.” I will scream and apply forever curses.
“Farther” is space; “further” is time. Simple.
Two days ago I saw on the back of a tractor-trailer an easy way to explain the difference, though not as simple as farther-space and further-time.
The small sign on the back of the trailer asked: “How far did you go today?” And then: “Would you like to go …”
Which: farther or further?
If “further,” then the first statement would have to read: “How fur did you go today.”
If “further” is distance, then “fur” is proper application of “How fur is it?”
But, “further” is not distance.
“Would you like to go farther?”
Now, go ye forth and know the difference.
Don’t even get me started on “supposebly.” I will scream and apply forever curses.
Bureaucrats
A few years ago my wife worked for a university in Texas. She and another woman in her department were scheduled to go to a national university organization meeting in Houston. She was in charge of making arrangements, with the university picking up lodging and food, aided by a grant from some organization. My wife decided to book one room with two beds, at a lower cost than two separate rooms. That was the way she did things when she worked for Girl Scouts and YWCA. She and the other woman went to the meeting and returned. She turned in all paperwork associated with their stay at the hotel in Houston. She was called to the finance office to explain why she had not spent all of the money allocated for the meeting. She explained about the one room costing less than two rooms. She was told she obviously did not understand how things worked. She said she did understand that part of her job was to spend only what was necessary. She and the bureaucrat did not part on friendly terms. Last year from here in Arkansas she arranged transportation and lodging for 30 people for a Girl Scouts meeting in Houston. Rest assured she did not spend any more money than was necessary.
My wife should be running U.S. spending.
My wife should be running U.S. spending.
Talmudic wisdom, although not stated as such
“I did not earn money by fixing my own car, of course --just the opposite. The mechanic did not earn money. The people who rely on the mechanic to earn money will not earn money, and so forth. Ultimately, through a process which must be deduced, because it cannot be observed, this lack of commerce will ultimately filter its way through the entire economy to the point where someone will not buy what I make because I didn't hire the mechanic. It's the circle of life, except it's the circle of the death of commerce.”
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-gas-tank-of-damocles.html
The Talmud says you should hire things done, even if you can do them yourself. Otherwise, you cheat a man of his livelihood.
I don’t know why, but I do not agree with we’re going down the tubes and our grandchildren will live on turnip greens and cornbread. Maybe it’s from being a rural American by birth and upbringing.
http://sippicancottage.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-gas-tank-of-damocles.html
The Talmud says you should hire things done, even if you can do them yourself. Otherwise, you cheat a man of his livelihood.
I don’t know why, but I do not agree with we’re going down the tubes and our grandchildren will live on turnip greens and cornbread. Maybe it’s from being a rural American by birth and upbringing.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Iranian women do better than Iranian men in college
What’s a country to do?
Why, that’s simple.
Keep women out of college.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9487761/Anger-as-Iran-bans-women-from-universities.html
“The Oil Industry University, which has several campuses across the country, says it will no longer accept female students at all, citing a lack of employer demand. Isfahan University provided a similar rationale for excluding women from its mining engineering degree, claiming 98% of female graduates ended up jobless.”
Of course! Companies aren’t hiring women, so why let women take those courses? It’s not mullahs and Islam at all saying women should stay home. It’s the market.
From pjmedia by way of theospark.
Why, that’s simple.
Keep women out of college.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9487761/Anger-as-Iran-bans-women-from-universities.html
“The Oil Industry University, which has several campuses across the country, says it will no longer accept female students at all, citing a lack of employer demand. Isfahan University provided a similar rationale for excluding women from its mining engineering degree, claiming 98% of female graduates ended up jobless.”
Of course! Companies aren’t hiring women, so why let women take those courses? It’s not mullahs and Islam at all saying women should stay home. It’s the market.
From pjmedia by way of theospark.
What I am doing is SO important
Fox News weatherperson Tuesday talking about the Republican convention in Tampa and “Tropical storm Isaac MIGHT IMPACT the convention!”
On and on and everything in ALL CAPS!! And every sentence and phrase exclamationed -- !!! voice.
Oh, the horror, the horror!
IF tropical storm Isaac becomes hurricane Isaac (!!) the RESULTING STORM (!!) could HAVE MAJOR IMPACT (!!) on the convention!
And there is THE POSSIBILITY of a STORM SURGE (!!) because THE HIGHEST POINT IN TAMPA (!!) is ONLY 30 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL (!!) and STORM SURGES (!!) could be EVEN HIGHER!!
This is UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! If it were not UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! I would not be doing the story, because everything I do is UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!!
Golly, I hope the storm goes somewhere else, because if Isaac takes on the Republican convention, we will hear nothing but UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! Stories from people who could not get a job doing anything else, because life is not UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC!!
On and on and everything in ALL CAPS!! And every sentence and phrase exclamationed -- !!! voice.
Oh, the horror, the horror!
IF tropical storm Isaac becomes hurricane Isaac (!!) the RESULTING STORM (!!) could HAVE MAJOR IMPACT (!!) on the convention!
And there is THE POSSIBILITY of a STORM SURGE (!!) because THE HIGHEST POINT IN TAMPA (!!) is ONLY 30 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL (!!) and STORM SURGES (!!) could be EVEN HIGHER!!
This is UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! If it were not UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! I would not be doing the story, because everything I do is UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!!
Golly, I hope the storm goes somewhere else, because if Isaac takes on the Republican convention, we will hear nothing but UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC (!!) AND IMPORTANT!! Stories from people who could not get a job doing anything else, because life is not UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC!!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Anti-gay attack in Nebraska
This has happened several times this year, gay people reporting attacks by homophobes, but the so-called attacks turn out to be by the alleged victims.
This one, though, takes first place.
“Four days before Charlie Rogers crawled naked and bleeding from her Lincoln home, screaming for help, she outlined in a Facebook posting what investigators believe was her motive for faking the July 22 attack, Police Chief Jim Peschong said at a news conference.”
…
“According to police, Rogers said three masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen. She said they then rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf. She also said they tried to burn down her house.”
…
“She also sent a photo of a cross-shaped cut on her chest to a friend a few days before the reported attack, Peschong said.”
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_21364326/prosecutor-neb-woman-lied-about-anti-gay-attack?source=rss
Found at fark.com.
This one, though, takes first place.
“Four days before Charlie Rogers crawled naked and bleeding from her Lincoln home, screaming for help, she outlined in a Facebook posting what investigators believe was her motive for faking the July 22 attack, Police Chief Jim Peschong said at a news conference.”
…
“According to police, Rogers said three masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen. She said they then rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf. She also said they tried to burn down her house.”
…
“She also sent a photo of a cross-shaped cut on her chest to a friend a few days before the reported attack, Peschong said.”
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_21364326/prosecutor-neb-woman-lied-about-anti-gay-attack?source=rss
Found at fark.com.
You pays your money and you takes your chances
Or, you sue when things don’t go your way.
Chance favored gamblers because cards weren’t shuffled. Casino says gamblers figured out what was going on and bet accordingly, thereby not following rules.
What rules?
Suck it up, casino. You screwed up. Sue the card makers.
http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-casino-suing-gamblers-won-1-5-million-172227267--abc-news-topstories.html
Chance favored gamblers because cards weren’t shuffled. Casino says gamblers figured out what was going on and bet accordingly, thereby not following rules.
What rules?
Suck it up, casino. You screwed up. Sue the card makers.
http://news.yahoo.com/jersey-casino-suing-gamblers-won-1-5-million-172227267--abc-news-topstories.html
Monday, August 20, 2012
Who’s pulling the strings in the Fort Hood murders non-trial?
The court-martial judge worries about a murderer’s beard? Here is a set of logical ideas: Have Maj. Hasan shaved, tried, found guilty and then quickly executed.
‘The PC Insanity Surrounding the Nidal Hasan trial’
“Now let me tell what this case is about. It's about delay, delay, delay, until we are past the election in November. It's about an Obama administration that doesn't want any timely reminders being put in front of an American public about its willingness to view Islamic terrorism through a PC lens so thick that reality becomes the first casualty. The last thing this president needs during the next few months is a high profile trial during which all of the PC-inspired blindness that allowed Hasan to maintain his commission, even as he was becoming more and more radicalized, to be exposed. That includes the numerous email exchanges between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki intercepted by American intelligence agencies, who then proceeded to do nothing. That would be the same Anwar al-Awlaki who was executed by a predator drone, despite the fact that he was an American citizen, because the Obama administration concluded his Islamo-fascist worldview represented a mortal threat to our nation.”
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/ahlert_nidal_hassan.php3
‘The PC Insanity Surrounding the Nidal Hasan trial’
“Now let me tell what this case is about. It's about delay, delay, delay, until we are past the election in November. It's about an Obama administration that doesn't want any timely reminders being put in front of an American public about its willingness to view Islamic terrorism through a PC lens so thick that reality becomes the first casualty. The last thing this president needs during the next few months is a high profile trial during which all of the PC-inspired blindness that allowed Hasan to maintain his commission, even as he was becoming more and more radicalized, to be exposed. That includes the numerous email exchanges between Hasan and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki intercepted by American intelligence agencies, who then proceeded to do nothing. That would be the same Anwar al-Awlaki who was executed by a predator drone, despite the fact that he was an American citizen, because the Obama administration concluded his Islamo-fascist worldview represented a mortal threat to our nation.”
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/ahlert_nidal_hassan.php3
Why can’t someone find this in beer?
“AN ingredient in red wine may help to keep older people steady on their feet, research suggests.
“Tests on ageing mice showed that a molecule found in dark grapes and red wine improved their sense of balance.
“After four weeks, animals fed the compound resveratrol were able to navigate a narrow beam as well as young mice.
“Without the supplement, the older mice tended to stumble.”
http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/red-wine-may-help-balance-in-older-people-1-2477570
(Key phrases: “an ingredient” and “fed the compound.” The mice should have been saying, “Keep the compound. Where’s the wine?”)
Found at www.anenglishmanscastle.blogspot.com
“Tests on ageing mice showed that a molecule found in dark grapes and red wine improved their sense of balance.
“After four weeks, animals fed the compound resveratrol were able to navigate a narrow beam as well as young mice.
“Without the supplement, the older mice tended to stumble.”
http://www.scotsman.com/news/health/red-wine-may-help-balance-in-older-people-1-2477570
(Key phrases: “an ingredient” and “fed the compound.” The mice should have been saying, “Keep the compound. Where’s the wine?”)
Found at www.anenglishmanscastle.blogspot.com
Sunday, August 19, 2012
As fark.com put it:
‘How are the lawyers from the Big Tobacco suits planning to eek out a living, now that they’ve picked those smoking corpses clean? By going after Big Food’
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/lawyers-of-big-tobacco-lawsuits-take-aim-at-food-industry.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=tha25_20120819&adxnnlx=1345374133-wsQoYraNGQhLEBOWs3ba1A
A judge with sense:
“A federal judge in California in 2009 dismissed a case against PepsiCo, which accused the company of false advertising because Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries cereal does not contain real berries. He ruled that ‘a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist.’”
When lawyers started on tobacco, I said, “Alcohol is next. And then guns.” I was wrong. Food is a bigger danger to the gullible American public.
(Is my grammar larnin’ wrong, or has Fark sort of stumbled, using “eek out a living” rather than “eke?”)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/lawyers-of-big-tobacco-lawsuits-take-aim-at-food-industry.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=tha25_20120819&adxnnlx=1345374133-wsQoYraNGQhLEBOWs3ba1A
A judge with sense:
“A federal judge in California in 2009 dismissed a case against PepsiCo, which accused the company of false advertising because Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries cereal does not contain real berries. He ruled that ‘a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist.’”
When lawyers started on tobacco, I said, “Alcohol is next. And then guns.” I was wrong. Food is a bigger danger to the gullible American public.
(Is my grammar larnin’ wrong, or has Fark sort of stumbled, using “eek out a living” rather than “eke?”)
It was prom night
‘Afghanistan-based militants take away 600 goats from Chitral’
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-16893-Afghanistan-based-militants-take-away-600-goats-from-Chitral
(Yeah, yeah. I know. Insensitivity to other peoples. Lord forgive me and look after the starving pygmies in New Guinea.)
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-16893-Afghanistan-based-militants-take-away-600-goats-from-Chitral
(Yeah, yeah. I know. Insensitivity to other peoples. Lord forgive me and look after the starving pygmies in New Guinea.)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Arming Social Security Administration
If DHS needs 450 million .40-caliber rounds, why the fuss because Social Security Administration wants 175,000 hollow-point .357 rounds?
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/social-security-administration-explains-plan-buy-174000-hollow-point-bullets
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/social-security-administration-explains-plan-buy-174000-hollow-point-bullets
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
‘An angry Martin Luther nailed 95 theocrats to a church door.’
(We all would be better off if he had.)
“Possibly as an act of vengeance, a history professor--compiling, verbatim, several decades' worth of freshman papers--offers some of his students’ more striking insights into European history from the Middle Ages to the present.”
“World War I broke out around 1912–1914. Germany was on one side of France and Russia was on the other. At war people get killed, and then they aren’t people any more, but friends. Peace was proclaimed at Versigh, which was attended by George Loid, Primal Minister of England. President Wilson arrived with 14 pointers. In 1937 Lenin revolted Russia. Communism raged among the peasants, and the civil war “team colours” were red and white.”
http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/article.cfm?AID=1192
(Yes, it does say “Spring 1983.”)
Found at maggiesfarm.
“Possibly as an act of vengeance, a history professor--compiling, verbatim, several decades' worth of freshman papers--offers some of his students’ more striking insights into European history from the Middle Ages to the present.”
“World War I broke out around 1912–1914. Germany was on one side of France and Russia was on the other. At war people get killed, and then they aren’t people any more, but friends. Peace was proclaimed at Versigh, which was attended by George Loid, Primal Minister of England. President Wilson arrived with 14 pointers. In 1937 Lenin revolted Russia. Communism raged among the peasants, and the civil war “team colours” were red and white.”
http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/article.cfm?AID=1192
(Yes, it does say “Spring 1983.”)
Found at maggiesfarm.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Rabid beaver attack
Here’s a guy, minding his own business, having a leisurely swim in the Delaware River, and a beaver “swam through his legs and bit him in the chest.”
Holy slaptail, Batman!
What’s a Scout leader to do?
“The animal then bit him in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.
“One Boy Scout pulled Brousseau to shore, where he tossed the beaver away from him. The Scouts then used rocks to kill the animal.”
Oh. My. Goodness. Boy Scouts killed the beaver? Stoned it to death?
“A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies …”
So … Be advised to watch out for rabid beaver. Do not let a beaver swim between your legs.
At least it didn’t go for the jewels.
Explain that. A beaver bit my ---- off.
Yeah, yeah. Not funny.
http://news.yahoo.com/rabid-beaver-attacks-ny-man-swimming-pa-river-115631669.html
Holy slaptail, Batman!
What’s a Scout leader to do?
“The animal then bit him in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.
“One Boy Scout pulled Brousseau to shore, where he tossed the beaver away from him. The Scouts then used rocks to kill the animal.”
Oh. My. Goodness. Boy Scouts killed the beaver? Stoned it to death?
“A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies …”
So … Be advised to watch out for rabid beaver. Do not let a beaver swim between your legs.
At least it didn’t go for the jewels.
Explain that. A beaver bit my ---- off.
Yeah, yeah. Not funny.
http://news.yahoo.com/rabid-beaver-attacks-ny-man-swimming-pa-river-115631669.html
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Your cheatin' heart
In 1843, a Tennessee woman’s attorney filed an information copy of a divorce case in Sixth District Court in Texas. Court records from Tennessee said Ophelia Thompson married G.W. Matthews in 1838. For the first year of marriage, the couple lived a good and proper life, each giving forth of the duties required of husband and wife. In 1839, Ophelia’s 16-year-old sister came to live in the Matthews’ household. (If you said “Aha” or anything similar, you were right.) Within a few months of the sister’s arrival, G.W. began to neglect his lawful wife in all respects and affection, instead showing much affection to Ophelia’s unnamed sister. Sometime in 1840, G.W and the now 17-year-old left Tennessee and journeyed to Red River County, where the couple set up household as husband and wife. G.W. had, records said, left Ophelia without succor and means. A Tennessee jury agreed with Ophelia’s plea, and decreed she and G.W. divorced.
Red River County records do not indicate if the Tennessee case caused changes in the life of the adulterer and his sister-in-law.
The Ophelia-G.W. case was not the only one in which frontier family ties were closer than is proper.
In the late 1830s, a man filed for a league and labor -- 4,605.5 acres – as head of a household during the 1836 rebellion against Mexico. The man stated that he was a resident of Texas during the revolution and that he had not left Texas nor given aid and comfort to then enemy during the rebellion. At the time of his request, the man and his wife lived in Red River County.
The county board appointed to hear and approve/disapprove such requests turned down the man’s application. The man appealed by filing suit in Sixth District Court. His appeal led to a more thorough investigation.
Paperwork made its way to Austin and to other places in the Republic. After a time, the county board received notice from a woman in Nacogdoches that she, as the man’s wife, had already received a headright as head of household. The man immediately filed renunciation of any land connected with his Nacogdoches wife. The court decided the man was not entitled to a headright, since his legal family – wife and several children – lived in another county. His Red River County wife had been his daughter-in-law when both were in Nacogdoches.
Red River County records do not indicate if the Tennessee case caused changes in the life of the adulterer and his sister-in-law.
The Ophelia-G.W. case was not the only one in which frontier family ties were closer than is proper.
In the late 1830s, a man filed for a league and labor -- 4,605.5 acres – as head of a household during the 1836 rebellion against Mexico. The man stated that he was a resident of Texas during the revolution and that he had not left Texas nor given aid and comfort to then enemy during the rebellion. At the time of his request, the man and his wife lived in Red River County.
The county board appointed to hear and approve/disapprove such requests turned down the man’s application. The man appealed by filing suit in Sixth District Court. His appeal led to a more thorough investigation.
Paperwork made its way to Austin and to other places in the Republic. After a time, the county board received notice from a woman in Nacogdoches that she, as the man’s wife, had already received a headright as head of household. The man immediately filed renunciation of any land connected with his Nacogdoches wife. The court decided the man was not entitled to a headright, since his legal family – wife and several children – lived in another county. His Red River County wife had been his daughter-in-law when both were in Nacogdoches.
You mean … You mean there aren’t that many cyberbullies?
But … It’s been all over TV! Kids and their moms were on Ellen and Oprah and … and some other shows!
“We assume it’s this overwhelming thing, that everybody’s being bullied and that it’s inescapable -- that’s not totally accurate,” says Michele Ybarra, research director at the nonprofit Center for Innovative Public Health Research in San Clemente, Calif.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48557050/ns/health-childrens_health/
The “We assume …” came about because the dix in psychology and TV ratings and funded studies made it so.
And another thing … “two nationally representative surveys totaling nearly 5,000 pre-teens and teens …” Do head counters really believe they’ll get accurate answers from 5,000 kids? On what planet?
So now 15 percent say they have been “victims” of cyberbullying; last week’s or the week before that or whatever had the rate “anywhere from 30 percent to … 70 percent.”
Here’s an idea: Don’t believe any percentage outside of sports. Batting average, quarterback completion average – those are based on real numbers, not on interviews.
Wow. Not as many cyberbullies. Next thing you know, somebody will decide inaccurate the tossed around statement that 25 percent of women students are sexually assaulted while in college.
Link from www.fark.com
“We assume it’s this overwhelming thing, that everybody’s being bullied and that it’s inescapable -- that’s not totally accurate,” says Michele Ybarra, research director at the nonprofit Center for Innovative Public Health Research in San Clemente, Calif.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48557050/ns/health-childrens_health/
The “We assume …” came about because the dix in psychology and TV ratings and funded studies made it so.
And another thing … “two nationally representative surveys totaling nearly 5,000 pre-teens and teens …” Do head counters really believe they’ll get accurate answers from 5,000 kids? On what planet?
So now 15 percent say they have been “victims” of cyberbullying; last week’s or the week before that or whatever had the rate “anywhere from 30 percent to … 70 percent.”
Here’s an idea: Don’t believe any percentage outside of sports. Batting average, quarterback completion average – those are based on real numbers, not on interviews.
Wow. Not as many cyberbullies. Next thing you know, somebody will decide inaccurate the tossed around statement that 25 percent of women students are sexually assaulted while in college.
Link from www.fark.com
‘Golden days, before they end’
“Whisper secrets to the wind ...
“It’s over.” **
The Olympics, that is, and the inanity/insanity that was.
“Mark Worsfold, 54, a former soldier and martial arts instructor, was arrested on 28 July for a breach of the peace shortly before the cyclists arrived in Redhouse Park, Leatherhead, where he had sat down on a wall to watch the race. Officers from Surrey police restrained and handcuffed him and took him to Reigate police station, saying his behaviour had ‘caused concern’.
“Worsfold, whose experience was first reported by Private Eye, claims police questioned him about his demeanour and why he had not been seen to be visibly enjoying the event.”
http://www.4liberty.org.uk/2012/08/12/thank-god-thats-over/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thank-god-thats-over
Arraignment: “Crown vs. Mark Worsfold, charged with not visibly enjoying the event.”
Link: http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/
**Roy Orbison
“It’s over.” **
The Olympics, that is, and the inanity/insanity that was.
“Mark Worsfold, 54, a former soldier and martial arts instructor, was arrested on 28 July for a breach of the peace shortly before the cyclists arrived in Redhouse Park, Leatherhead, where he had sat down on a wall to watch the race. Officers from Surrey police restrained and handcuffed him and took him to Reigate police station, saying his behaviour had ‘caused concern’.
“Worsfold, whose experience was first reported by Private Eye, claims police questioned him about his demeanour and why he had not been seen to be visibly enjoying the event.”
http://www.4liberty.org.uk/2012/08/12/thank-god-thats-over/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thank-god-thats-over
Arraignment: “Crown vs. Mark Worsfold, charged with not visibly enjoying the event.”
Link: http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/
**Roy Orbison
Saturday, August 11, 2012
A record is a record is a record
Alamazoo Jennings, professional baseball player. Born Alfred Gordon Jennings, Nov. 30, 1850, in Newport, Ky. Played one (1) game for the Milwaukee Grays on Sept. 15, 1878. Two at-bats, no hits, one walk. As catcher in the game, Jennings had seven total chances, two putouts, one assist, four errors, 10 passed balls. Fielding average .429. Jennings died Nov. 11, 1894, in Cincinnati. He is buried in Southgate, Ky.
Whoever was pitching for the Grays that day must have been at least a little frustrated with a catcher who made four errors and had 10 passed balls. Wikipedia says: “The 10 passed balls was the record until Alex Gardner had 12 in 1884. Milwaukee lost the game to Cincinnati 13-2.” Gardner still has the record. For after-1900, the record is six, held by Harry Vickers (Cincinnati, 1902), Gino Petralli (Texas, 1987), and Jerry Goff (Houston, 1996).
How Jennings became Catcher for a Day:
"[Bill] Holbert was so badly hurt in Tuesday's game that he was sent home yesterday. [Charley] Bennett has a thumb as big as a young pup, and [Will] Foley's hands gave out in Wednesday's game. Manager Chapman's supply of catchers having thus run out, he telegraphed for one of the three he left behind him, namely, [Jacob] Knowdell. But Knowdell was fishing when the telegram reached Milwaukee, and he didn't get it until too late to reach Cincinnati in time for yesterday's game.
“No matter, however, for Al Jennings threw himself into the breach. Al has umpired an occasional game, and several times played with the boys down in Mill-creek. But he looked so large and handsome and so very like a catcher that Manager [Jack] Chapman was mashed, and straightway engaged him, and clinched the bargain with a dinner. When Al pulled on his sole-leather gloves and posed near the grand stand at three o'clock, the crowd scarcely breathed. Zip came the ball from [Mike] Golden's hand; bang it went against the back-stop, because Al had stooped too late to pick it up. It took several minutes for him to gauge the speed of Golden's pitching, but he got it down fine at last, and stopped a ball, every once in a while. But the low comedy parts came in when the new catcher went up close behind the bat. A batter had but to get on first base and the run was scored. They went to second and third without danger, and tallied on a passed ball. Be it said to his credit, though, that Jennings never flinched, but stood up against Golden's hot pitching with great nerve and stood the punishment bravely. He was strong enough last night to whisper that if Knowdell doesn't get here by to-morrow he is willing to catch for [Sam] Weaver, but Weaver says he'll paralyze him if he attempts it."
Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 19, 1878.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Alamazoo%20Jennings
Jennings’ stats from
www.baseball-almanac.com
others from http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/passedballs2.htm
Whoever was pitching for the Grays that day must have been at least a little frustrated with a catcher who made four errors and had 10 passed balls. Wikipedia says: “The 10 passed balls was the record until Alex Gardner had 12 in 1884. Milwaukee lost the game to Cincinnati 13-2.” Gardner still has the record. For after-1900, the record is six, held by Harry Vickers (Cincinnati, 1902), Gino Petralli (Texas, 1987), and Jerry Goff (Houston, 1996).
How Jennings became Catcher for a Day:
"[Bill] Holbert was so badly hurt in Tuesday's game that he was sent home yesterday. [Charley] Bennett has a thumb as big as a young pup, and [Will] Foley's hands gave out in Wednesday's game. Manager Chapman's supply of catchers having thus run out, he telegraphed for one of the three he left behind him, namely, [Jacob] Knowdell. But Knowdell was fishing when the telegram reached Milwaukee, and he didn't get it until too late to reach Cincinnati in time for yesterday's game.
“No matter, however, for Al Jennings threw himself into the breach. Al has umpired an occasional game, and several times played with the boys down in Mill-creek. But he looked so large and handsome and so very like a catcher that Manager [Jack] Chapman was mashed, and straightway engaged him, and clinched the bargain with a dinner. When Al pulled on his sole-leather gloves and posed near the grand stand at three o'clock, the crowd scarcely breathed. Zip came the ball from [Mike] Golden's hand; bang it went against the back-stop, because Al had stooped too late to pick it up. It took several minutes for him to gauge the speed of Golden's pitching, but he got it down fine at last, and stopped a ball, every once in a while. But the low comedy parts came in when the new catcher went up close behind the bat. A batter had but to get on first base and the run was scored. They went to second and third without danger, and tallied on a passed ball. Be it said to his credit, though, that Jennings never flinched, but stood up against Golden's hot pitching with great nerve and stood the punishment bravely. He was strong enough last night to whisper that if Knowdell doesn't get here by to-morrow he is willing to catch for [Sam] Weaver, but Weaver says he'll paralyze him if he attempts it."
Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 19, 1878.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Alamazoo%20Jennings
Jennings’ stats from
www.baseball-almanac.com
others from http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/passedballs2.htm
Eugenics is a liberal philosophy
"’I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it.’
“John Stuart Mill, in a Parliamentary debate with the Conservative MP, John Pakington (May 31, 1866); this seems to have become paraphrased as ‘Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.’ which was a variant published in Quotations for Our Time (1978), edited by Laurence J. Peter. – Wikipedia article on John Stuart Mills quotes.
Taken out of context to defend a bias: “In 2004, for instance, after a Duke Conservative Union study, Duke's then-Philosophy chairman, Robert Brandon, justified the school's partisan imbalance on the following grounds: ‘We try to hire the best, smartest people available. If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire . . . Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia.’"
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2012/08/no_conservatives_pleasewere_co.html
So we have a department chairman in a prestigious university inaccurately quoting a noted philosopher, with complete disregard for the capital C, that is, a Conservative member of Parliament. The 1978 Quotations editor made the same mistake with lower case “c” in “conservative.”
Would Duke’s admittedly liberal Brandon defend Mill’s belief in Malthusian population control, lessening the working class so as to guarantee food for the educated elite? Considering the prevalent approval of eugenics by educated Americans in the early 1920s and since (although liberals will not directly mention approval), the answer is “Yes.”
Link to mindingthecampus from maggiesfarm.
“John Stuart Mill, in a Parliamentary debate with the Conservative MP, John Pakington (May 31, 1866); this seems to have become paraphrased as ‘Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.’ which was a variant published in Quotations for Our Time (1978), edited by Laurence J. Peter. – Wikipedia article on John Stuart Mills quotes.
Taken out of context to defend a bias: “In 2004, for instance, after a Duke Conservative Union study, Duke's then-Philosophy chairman, Robert Brandon, justified the school's partisan imbalance on the following grounds: ‘We try to hire the best, smartest people available. If, as John Stuart Mill said, stupid people are generally conservative, then there are lots of conservatives we will never hire . . . Mill's analysis may go some way towards explaining the power of the Republican party in our society and the relative scarcity of Republicans in academia.’"
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2012/08/no_conservatives_pleasewere_co.html
So we have a department chairman in a prestigious university inaccurately quoting a noted philosopher, with complete disregard for the capital C, that is, a Conservative member of Parliament. The 1978 Quotations editor made the same mistake with lower case “c” in “conservative.”
Would Duke’s admittedly liberal Brandon defend Mill’s belief in Malthusian population control, lessening the working class so as to guarantee food for the educated elite? Considering the prevalent approval of eugenics by educated Americans in the early 1920s and since (although liberals will not directly mention approval), the answer is “Yes.”
Link to mindingthecampus from maggiesfarm.
A war story
One of those stories that happens in war, and a “how to” at the end.
The first battle at Loc Ninh, Oct.-Nov. 1967
More thoughts from John McCoy -
"The famous snake capture! That is a story all by itself. It was a LARGE Python. I mean a really huge Python. It took about 8 or more men to pick it up. It was at least 12 feet long, maybe a lot longer. I have never seen a longer or bigger Python before or since. We were out on patrol, headed back in to the NDP at the south end of the Loc Ninh airstrip, when Lt. Fortenberry walked up, holding the front of the snake, followed by several men from his platoon trying to hold the rest of this enormous constrictor. He informed me that we had all just walked over the snake. That didn't make me feel too comfortable. The snake apparently had eaten recently, as it had a bulge about the size of a small pig about three or four feet back from its head. We all speculated on what it had eaten. Lt. Fortenberry managed to find a large cardboard box, about the size of a refrigerator, and put the snake in that. They named the snake 'Lurch.'
"Either that night, or the next night, we came under attack again. I remember Fred Hill and I were heading for our bunker when the first mortar rounds started dropping in on the runway. Fred looked over at the box that had held Lurch, and realized the box had been tipped over somehow and Lurch was loose. When Fred brought this to my attention, I hesitated to jump in the bunker, as I figured Lurch just might be in there. The mortar rounds were moving down the runway, falling closer to our bunkers, so I opted to take my chances with the snake and jumped in the bunker. I may have let Fred go first. Lurch wasn't there, and we never saw him again. I hope he crawled out to the rubber trees and scared a few VC to death.
"One thing I remember about Loc Ninh - we were trying something new so the jet pilots and gunship pilots could identify the perimeter of the NDP at night: we had been told to take an empty C-ration can and fill it 3/4 full of sand, then saturate it with either diesel fuel or gasoline. When darkness came and the attack started, we were to reach as far out of the firing port of our bunker as we could and place the can there, then light the fuel. The pilots could see the burning fuel in the cans from the air, but it was not visible to the VC on the ground. This trick seemed to work very well. Those pilots never fired inside our NDP, but sure hugged up close on the outside of the NDP a few times. I am convinced that those pilots saved our lives."
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~realmccoy/locninh.html
What country you guys from? Oh. That one.
http://www.pbase.com/d_berry/image/92343413
(I wasn’t anywhere close to Loc Ninh in Oct-Nov 1967, but had been at Lai Khe (28 Inf base camp) a few months before. It’s a funny thing – You can be in an area and a month-long fight happens, but you don’t know anything about it. People back home probably knew more about Loc Ninh from TV and newspaper news than we did, some 100 kilometers away.)
The first battle at Loc Ninh, Oct.-Nov. 1967
More thoughts from John McCoy -
"The famous snake capture! That is a story all by itself. It was a LARGE Python. I mean a really huge Python. It took about 8 or more men to pick it up. It was at least 12 feet long, maybe a lot longer. I have never seen a longer or bigger Python before or since. We were out on patrol, headed back in to the NDP at the south end of the Loc Ninh airstrip, when Lt. Fortenberry walked up, holding the front of the snake, followed by several men from his platoon trying to hold the rest of this enormous constrictor. He informed me that we had all just walked over the snake. That didn't make me feel too comfortable. The snake apparently had eaten recently, as it had a bulge about the size of a small pig about three or four feet back from its head. We all speculated on what it had eaten. Lt. Fortenberry managed to find a large cardboard box, about the size of a refrigerator, and put the snake in that. They named the snake 'Lurch.'
"Either that night, or the next night, we came under attack again. I remember Fred Hill and I were heading for our bunker when the first mortar rounds started dropping in on the runway. Fred looked over at the box that had held Lurch, and realized the box had been tipped over somehow and Lurch was loose. When Fred brought this to my attention, I hesitated to jump in the bunker, as I figured Lurch just might be in there. The mortar rounds were moving down the runway, falling closer to our bunkers, so I opted to take my chances with the snake and jumped in the bunker. I may have let Fred go first. Lurch wasn't there, and we never saw him again. I hope he crawled out to the rubber trees and scared a few VC to death.
"One thing I remember about Loc Ninh - we were trying something new so the jet pilots and gunship pilots could identify the perimeter of the NDP at night: we had been told to take an empty C-ration can and fill it 3/4 full of sand, then saturate it with either diesel fuel or gasoline. When darkness came and the attack started, we were to reach as far out of the firing port of our bunker as we could and place the can there, then light the fuel. The pilots could see the burning fuel in the cans from the air, but it was not visible to the VC on the ground. This trick seemed to work very well. Those pilots never fired inside our NDP, but sure hugged up close on the outside of the NDP a few times. I am convinced that those pilots saved our lives."
http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~realmccoy/locninh.html
What country you guys from? Oh. That one.
http://www.pbase.com/d_berry/image/92343413
(I wasn’t anywhere close to Loc Ninh in Oct-Nov 1967, but had been at Lai Khe (28 Inf base camp) a few months before. It’s a funny thing – You can be in an area and a month-long fight happens, but you don’t know anything about it. People back home probably knew more about Loc Ninh from TV and newspaper news than we did, some 100 kilometers away.)
Thursday, August 9, 2012
America slides into being an enemy of its people
(The article is long and might anger some, but an intelligent reader will appreciate the method of expression.)
“Already in June 1991, Marine General Robert H. Barrow implored the U.S. Senate not to push women into combat roles. He laid out the plain truth that there is no military need for women in combat, and combat is not about achieving equality but killing effectively. He outlined the disastrous hobbling of that effectiveness that the admission of women would entail. All for naught, as America’s ruling elite has no interest in such mundane trifles as what makes soldiers prevail in the carnage of combat. If Obama is re-elected, relays a new book by Aaron Klein, Fool Me Twice, the U.S. military is to be transformed into a social work organization deployed to combat ‘global warming,’ global poverty and ‘injustice,’ and to serve as an arm of the United Nations.
…
“Writing in her blog on July 9th about the second mega-fraud in the commodities and foreign currency brokerage business — the theft of at least $220 million of customers’ funds on deposit at PFGBest nine months after disclosure of $1.5 billion missing from John Corzine’s MF Global — Ann Barnhardt, a pro in this business, described the U.S. regulatory system overseeing the futures industry as ‘an evil, despicable mafia, administered by politicking psychopaths on the take, and staffed by affirmative action hires to provide plausible deniability.’”
…
“The hideous, all-enveloping sludge is the work of all of them: the Marxist and crypto-Marxist saboteurs; lunatic White “Progressives” with their self-flagellating S&M “diversity”; well-meaning practitioners of Socialist-Statist brain onanism (e.g. Keynesians, big welfare advocates, 95% of credentialed economists and sociologists); cynical power grabbers in labor unions and government bureaucracies; mammon-mad banksters and their captured governments; growth-mad exponents of the paper-and-bailout socialized capitalism model; the cynical, nihilist managerial class; the American Neocons drunk on Empire wine; the Theocons-Neocons drunk on sweet Jesus juice. But above all, it’s the fault of the common people.”
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-bee-and-lamb-part-6.html#more
Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to JCS Chief Gen. Colin Powell: "What’s the point of you saving this superb military for, Colin, if we can't use it?" (Wikipedia article on Albright.)
“Already in June 1991, Marine General Robert H. Barrow implored the U.S. Senate not to push women into combat roles. He laid out the plain truth that there is no military need for women in combat, and combat is not about achieving equality but killing effectively. He outlined the disastrous hobbling of that effectiveness that the admission of women would entail. All for naught, as America’s ruling elite has no interest in such mundane trifles as what makes soldiers prevail in the carnage of combat. If Obama is re-elected, relays a new book by Aaron Klein, Fool Me Twice, the U.S. military is to be transformed into a social work organization deployed to combat ‘global warming,’ global poverty and ‘injustice,’ and to serve as an arm of the United Nations.
…
“Writing in her blog on July 9th about the second mega-fraud in the commodities and foreign currency brokerage business — the theft of at least $220 million of customers’ funds on deposit at PFGBest nine months after disclosure of $1.5 billion missing from John Corzine’s MF Global — Ann Barnhardt, a pro in this business, described the U.S. regulatory system overseeing the futures industry as ‘an evil, despicable mafia, administered by politicking psychopaths on the take, and staffed by affirmative action hires to provide plausible deniability.’”
…
“The hideous, all-enveloping sludge is the work of all of them: the Marxist and crypto-Marxist saboteurs; lunatic White “Progressives” with their self-flagellating S&M “diversity”; well-meaning practitioners of Socialist-Statist brain onanism (e.g. Keynesians, big welfare advocates, 95% of credentialed economists and sociologists); cynical power grabbers in labor unions and government bureaucracies; mammon-mad banksters and their captured governments; growth-mad exponents of the paper-and-bailout socialized capitalism model; the cynical, nihilist managerial class; the American Neocons drunk on Empire wine; the Theocons-Neocons drunk on sweet Jesus juice. But above all, it’s the fault of the common people.”
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-bee-and-lamb-part-6.html#more
Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to JCS Chief Gen. Colin Powell: "What’s the point of you saving this superb military for, Colin, if we can't use it?" (Wikipedia article on Albright.)
These people make evolution too important
Opponents of a religious freedom amendment in Missouri say a clause in the law will allow students not to attend classes. The clause in question says “students need not take part in assignments or presentations that violate their religious beliefs.” Opponents say that “could lead to students skipping science classes or assignments when they disagree with teaching about the origins of man.”
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/prayer_ammendment.php3
Of all classes and courses taught in public schools, insistence on the theory of evolution is way down the list of things to learn. Where we came from is an individual decision. If I choose to believe life began on Earth when an asteroid hit and scattered all kinds of stuff, no one can force me to believe something different.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0812/prayer_ammendment.php3
Of all classes and courses taught in public schools, insistence on the theory of evolution is way down the list of things to learn. Where we came from is an individual decision. If I choose to believe life began on Earth when an asteroid hit and scattered all kinds of stuff, no one can force me to believe something different.
The best-ever explanation of Muslim power
“Every Muslim leader, beginning with Mohammed, borrowed ideas brought in from outside to form a new system that became identical with the old. Mohammed borrowed from Judaism and Christianity to create the religious structure for yet another tribal government controlled by his father-in-law. In the 20th Century the Muslim Middle East borrowed from the British Empire, France, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, the USSR and the United States, to create hybrid systems that were either overthrown or which devolved into tribalism with an ideological facade. Like Mohammed, the bright new ideology ends up with a bunch of relatives in charge of the loot.”
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-map-to-muslim-middle-east.html
From maggiesfarm.
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-map-to-muslim-middle-east.html
From maggiesfarm.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
This is stupid on so many levels.
“Facebook has become such a pervasive force in modern society that increasing numbers of employers, and even some psychologists, believe people who aren't on social networking sites are 'suspicious.'
“The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.
“On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don't use the site.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184658/Is-joining-Facebook-sign-youre-psychopath-Some-employers-psychologists-say-suspicious.html#ixzz22z6OptJI
I am so pleased to find out that “these judgments don't apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.”
That means … I am normal? But I stopped Facebooking. By becoming a Facebooker I was adhering to normalcy, right? But when I unfriended Facebook, did I then become unnormal? OMG! I am so confused!
“The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.
“On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don't use the site.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184658/Is-joining-Facebook-sign-youre-psychopath-Some-employers-psychologists-say-suspicious.html#ixzz22z6OptJI
I am so pleased to find out that “these judgments don't apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.”
That means … I am normal? But I stopped Facebooking. By becoming a Facebooker I was adhering to normalcy, right? But when I unfriended Facebook, did I then become unnormal? OMG! I am so confused!
Two crashes at Roswell
"There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don't know," French told HuffPost. "The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that's why it crashed."
No, no. We didn’t have that technology until later.
"No chance! Zero chance!" said Army Col. John Alexander. …
"In the 1980s, I was the guy developing all of the pulse-power weapons systems. We couldn't have done it then. In the 60s, they had a laser system, but your range was extremely limited, and we didn't have operational laser weapons in that time frame.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/roswell-ufo-crash_n_1715663.html
Found at fark.com.
No, no. We didn’t have that technology until later.
"No chance! Zero chance!" said Army Col. John Alexander. …
"In the 1980s, I was the guy developing all of the pulse-power weapons systems. We couldn't have done it then. In the 60s, they had a laser system, but your range was extremely limited, and we didn't have operational laser weapons in that time frame.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/roswell-ufo-crash_n_1715663.html
Found at fark.com.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
If not for the bombs, some of us would not be here.
Neither would several million Japanese.
“Secretary of War Stimson commissioned the renowned scientist William B. Shockley to study the likely casualties from invading the Japanese Home Islands. His conclusion is considered a major influence on President Truman to employ the Atomic Bombs on Japan:
“’If the study shows that the behavior of nations in all historical cases comparable to Japan’s has in fact been invariably consistent with the behavior of the troops in battle, then it means that the Japanese dead and ineffectives at the time of the defeat will exceed the corresponding number for the Germans. In other words, we shall probably have to kill at least 5 to 10 million Japanese. This might cost us between 1.7 and 4 million casualties including 400,000 to 800,000 killed…’”
http://xbradtc.wordpress.com/
Bring the heat, bring the stupid.
Neither would several million Japanese.
“Secretary of War Stimson commissioned the renowned scientist William B. Shockley to study the likely casualties from invading the Japanese Home Islands. His conclusion is considered a major influence on President Truman to employ the Atomic Bombs on Japan:
“’If the study shows that the behavior of nations in all historical cases comparable to Japan’s has in fact been invariably consistent with the behavior of the troops in battle, then it means that the Japanese dead and ineffectives at the time of the defeat will exceed the corresponding number for the Germans. In other words, we shall probably have to kill at least 5 to 10 million Japanese. This might cost us between 1.7 and 4 million casualties including 400,000 to 800,000 killed…’”
http://xbradtc.wordpress.com/
Bring the heat, bring the stupid.
NZ volcano erupts; had been quiet since 1897
“Michael Rosenberg, a vulcanologist, said: This might just be a quiet period and we should expect it to start again at any time.
"We really can't predict what this will lead to."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/9457924/New-Zealand-volcano-erupts-for-first-time-in-over-100-years.html
Back in my school days (1950s & 1960s), volcanic eruptions were said to be a thing of the past. All volcanoes were dormant. So we were taught.)
Link at theospark.net.
Somewhere below, I posted a story about the big one maybe in New Zealand.
"We really can't predict what this will lead to."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/9457924/New-Zealand-volcano-erupts-for-first-time-in-over-100-years.html
Back in my school days (1950s & 1960s), volcanic eruptions were said to be a thing of the past. All volcanoes were dormant. So we were taught.)
Link at theospark.net.
Somewhere below, I posted a story about the big one maybe in New Zealand.
Wow! This UAV does really neat stuff!
What about the human interface?
Oh, we’ll fix that later.
“Many presenters at the workshop were looking at intelligent software agents that could take some of the burden of directing unmanned systems off the shoulders of the human operator. The solution that seemed to excite the panelists the most was the idea of giving the robots a ‘playbook,’ a set of standard responses to common situations that the human operator could invoke when appropriate, like a coach or quarterback having a football team run plays.”
http://defense.aol.com/2012/08/07/too-many-screens-why-drones-are-so-hard-to-fly-and-so-easy
Oh, we’ll fix that later.
“Many presenters at the workshop were looking at intelligent software agents that could take some of the burden of directing unmanned systems off the shoulders of the human operator. The solution that seemed to excite the panelists the most was the idea of giving the robots a ‘playbook,’ a set of standard responses to common situations that the human operator could invoke when appropriate, like a coach or quarterback having a football team run plays.”
http://defense.aol.com/2012/08/07/too-many-screens-why-drones-are-so-hard-to-fly-and-so-easy
Going postal
What to do when the entire country is in the same shape as USPS?
“As the USPS incentivized advertising through discretionary second-class** mail rates, business-friendly lobbies sought and succeeded in getting Congress to allow most advertising costs to be deducted from corporate taxes. In plain English, this means that businesses did not have to pay the full cost of what amounted to a subvention to the USPS: taxpayers did. You have to follow the money to understand the politics: The USPS offers small businesses and large corporations alike deals they can’t refuse (or don’t refuse, at any rate), and these businesses and corporations then turn around and muscle Congress to get taxpayers to indirectly foot most of the bill. Are you annoyed by all the junk mail that ends up littering your anteroom floor six days a week? Does it annoy you any more to know that you are subsidizing it? I would guess so.”
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/garfinkle/2012/08/01/how-to-fix-the-u-s-postal-service/
For years now, many have known this: The postal service exists to deliver junk mail.
(**Third-class, actually. Comments rake the writer through some more than warm coals.)
“As the USPS incentivized advertising through discretionary second-class** mail rates, business-friendly lobbies sought and succeeded in getting Congress to allow most advertising costs to be deducted from corporate taxes. In plain English, this means that businesses did not have to pay the full cost of what amounted to a subvention to the USPS: taxpayers did. You have to follow the money to understand the politics: The USPS offers small businesses and large corporations alike deals they can’t refuse (or don’t refuse, at any rate), and these businesses and corporations then turn around and muscle Congress to get taxpayers to indirectly foot most of the bill. Are you annoyed by all the junk mail that ends up littering your anteroom floor six days a week? Does it annoy you any more to know that you are subsidizing it? I would guess so.”
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/garfinkle/2012/08/01/how-to-fix-the-u-s-postal-service/
For years now, many have known this: The postal service exists to deliver junk mail.
(**Third-class, actually. Comments rake the writer through some more than warm coals.)
Monday, August 6, 2012
These people are crazy insane absolutely nuts
Syrian hangmen attacked by anti-forces; intended victims cut down, maybe soon enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RjfNWvmiVE
No mention of what happened to hangmen.
Link from http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2012/08/04/the-real-war-redux-syrias-only-one-battlefield-stupid/?singlepage=true
with commentary on who is fighting who and an “unlikely alliance of the Saudi royal family and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.”
A telling remark: “In the best of worlds, the Saudis would have preferred to have the United States by their side in the campaign against the Syrian regime. But it had proven futile to wait on the Obama Administration. It was the better part of wisdom to work with Turkey and bet on the Free Syrian Army and the forces of the opposition by providing arms and funds.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/108147/the-popular-front-against-iran?utm_source=Tablet+Magazine+List&utm_campaign=ab37edd633-8_2_2012&utm_medium=email
(In my not-enough reading on Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, the difficulty is in knowing whether Arabs say what they want you to hear, or tell a half truth or outright lie.)
First link from theospark.net.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RjfNWvmiVE
No mention of what happened to hangmen.
Link from http://pjmedia.com/michaelledeen/2012/08/04/the-real-war-redux-syrias-only-one-battlefield-stupid/?singlepage=true
with commentary on who is fighting who and an “unlikely alliance of the Saudi royal family and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.”
A telling remark: “In the best of worlds, the Saudis would have preferred to have the United States by their side in the campaign against the Syrian regime. But it had proven futile to wait on the Obama Administration. It was the better part of wisdom to work with Turkey and bet on the Free Syrian Army and the forces of the opposition by providing arms and funds.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/108147/the-popular-front-against-iran?utm_source=Tablet+Magazine+List&utm_campaign=ab37edd633-8_2_2012&utm_medium=email
(In my not-enough reading on Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, the difficulty is in knowing whether Arabs say what they want you to hear, or tell a half truth or outright lie.)
First link from theospark.net.
Neither a mad dog nor an Englishman
Arkansas has had several weeks of temperatures above 100 degrees
Today the dogs thought me a bit daft when they and I went out into the one-o’clock sun, they being not mad and I being not English, not completely, anyway, since great-great-grandfather-times-a-few Thomas Merriman in 1750 received a one-way ticket to the Colonies, courtesy of HM contracted transporter of convicts. But, there was grass in a flower bed and mulch in bags; one would not hoe itself away, the other seemed reluctant to remove to the bed and make itself evenly distributed around rose bushes and bulbs and over dry dirt.
We have had rain inversely proportioned to 100-degree days; i.e., none, ergo the need to hoe grass and distribute mulch, both of which I should have done days ago, especially hoe the grass, which has luxuriated from daily watering of bulbs and rose bushes.
Priscilla and I planted two rose bushes in the bed I worked today and another in a different bed. She ordered 120 bulbs, which I planted in the two beds. About a dozen have come up in one bed, none in the other. The roses are doing as well as can be expected in the heat.
At last week’s Rotary Club meeting, Priscilla shared a table with an octogenarian, who said, “The weather has never been this hot before.” He insisted: “Never.” He said, “I have lived a long time, and this is the hottest it has ever been.”
Not wishing to dispute with someone of so many ears, Priscilla nodded. Later, at her office, she conducted a little research and discovered that 20th century temperatures in Arkansas averaged around 65 degrees every year, except 1960. That year, the average temperature was 60 degrees. A five-degree increase would give climate change fans the same shock as witnessing someone eating whole eggs fried in butter. A five-degree decrease, though, can go unnoticed.
I am not looking forward to whatever we have the rest of the year to make the temperature average 65.
Today was hot – mid-90s, rather than 100-plus. The grass has been removed from the flower bed. I did not get the mulch distributed. The day actually looks like rain.
Today the dogs thought me a bit daft when they and I went out into the one-o’clock sun, they being not mad and I being not English, not completely, anyway, since great-great-grandfather-times-a-few Thomas Merriman in 1750 received a one-way ticket to the Colonies, courtesy of HM contracted transporter of convicts. But, there was grass in a flower bed and mulch in bags; one would not hoe itself away, the other seemed reluctant to remove to the bed and make itself evenly distributed around rose bushes and bulbs and over dry dirt.
We have had rain inversely proportioned to 100-degree days; i.e., none, ergo the need to hoe grass and distribute mulch, both of which I should have done days ago, especially hoe the grass, which has luxuriated from daily watering of bulbs and rose bushes.
Priscilla and I planted two rose bushes in the bed I worked today and another in a different bed. She ordered 120 bulbs, which I planted in the two beds. About a dozen have come up in one bed, none in the other. The roses are doing as well as can be expected in the heat.
At last week’s Rotary Club meeting, Priscilla shared a table with an octogenarian, who said, “The weather has never been this hot before.” He insisted: “Never.” He said, “I have lived a long time, and this is the hottest it has ever been.”
Not wishing to dispute with someone of so many ears, Priscilla nodded. Later, at her office, she conducted a little research and discovered that 20th century temperatures in Arkansas averaged around 65 degrees every year, except 1960. That year, the average temperature was 60 degrees. A five-degree increase would give climate change fans the same shock as witnessing someone eating whole eggs fried in butter. A five-degree decrease, though, can go unnoticed.
I am not looking forward to whatever we have the rest of the year to make the temperature average 65.
Today was hot – mid-90s, rather than 100-plus. The grass has been removed from the flower bed. I did not get the mulch distributed. The day actually looks like rain.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
He was Bulldog
In early August 1950, North Korean army divisions attacked ROK and US units in the Pusan Perimeter. Eighth Army commander Walton S. Walker issued what has been called his “stand or die” order.
We are fighting a battle against time. There will be no more retreating, withdrawal or readjustment of the lines or any other term you choose. There is no line behind us to which we can retreat.…There will be no Dunkirk, there will be no Bataan. A retreat to Pusan would be one of the greatest butcheries in history. We must fight until the end.…We will fight as a team. If some of us must die, we will die fighting together.…I want everybody to understand we are going to hold this line. We are going to win.
http://www.historynet.com/stand-or-die-1950-defense-of-koreas-pusan-perimeter.htm
Any questions?
Link from maggies farm to ace of spades HQ and then Google search on “walton walker stand or die.”
We are fighting a battle against time. There will be no more retreating, withdrawal or readjustment of the lines or any other term you choose. There is no line behind us to which we can retreat.…There will be no Dunkirk, there will be no Bataan. A retreat to Pusan would be one of the greatest butcheries in history. We must fight until the end.…We will fight as a team. If some of us must die, we will die fighting together.…I want everybody to understand we are going to hold this line. We are going to win.
http://www.historynet.com/stand-or-die-1950-defense-of-koreas-pusan-perimeter.htm
Any questions?
Link from maggies farm to ace of spades HQ and then Google search on “walton walker stand or die.”
Mr. Shackelton, meet Mr. Polar Bear
“Disinfo.com linked to a ScienceDaily story about Antarctica once being a tropical paradise, and warning that it may become one again, thanks to global warming.
“Discounting for a moment the rather unusual fact that a story which confirms that the earth’s coldest place was once tropical before SUVs is used to warn of the so-called ‘dangers’ of global warming, choosing to illustrate that story with a picture of an animal that lives literally on the other side of the world is more than a little embarrassing for a website which promises to tell you the truth about the world under the slogan ‘Everything you know is wrong’. Indeed.”
http://junkscience.com/2012/08/03/htl-science-fail-popular-website-illustrates-effects-of-global-warming-in-antarctica-with-picture-of-polar-bear/
Apparently someone at disinfo.com decided a polar bear was somewhat out of place and replaced the fuzzy bear with a picture of ice and a glacier.
http://hauntingthelibrary.wordpress.com/ has the original, w/bear.
“Discounting for a moment the rather unusual fact that a story which confirms that the earth’s coldest place was once tropical before SUVs is used to warn of the so-called ‘dangers’ of global warming, choosing to illustrate that story with a picture of an animal that lives literally on the other side of the world is more than a little embarrassing for a website which promises to tell you the truth about the world under the slogan ‘Everything you know is wrong’. Indeed.”
http://junkscience.com/2012/08/03/htl-science-fail-popular-website-illustrates-effects-of-global-warming-in-antarctica-with-picture-of-polar-bear/
Apparently someone at disinfo.com decided a polar bear was somewhat out of place and replaced the fuzzy bear with a picture of ice and a glacier.
http://hauntingthelibrary.wordpress.com/ has the original, w/bear.
When Death walks up the sidewalk
Writer Barry Rubin is dying from what his doctors say is inoperable lung cancer. Mr. Rubin’s writings have long graced the opinion pages of The Jerusalem Post and other publications of common sense.
While Mr. Rubin might go gently into the next phase of his journey, he does not expect to go silently.
“But it would be nice to live long enough to see America and the world pass out from this current dreadful era, to see some restoration of sanity and reality, some kind of victory for goodness, some kind of restoration of intellectual standards, and a higher level of justice.
“Some friends tell me they think we’ve turned the corner and that there’s real hope of beating the terrible forces that have messed up our societies and insulted our intelligence and tried to sully our reputations.
“That’s something worth living for and fighting for. I hope to do it with you people as long as possible.”
http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/08/04/why-ive-always-written-so-much-with-such-intensity-and-why-i-wont-stop-now/#respond%20
Link at maggiesfarm.
While Mr. Rubin might go gently into the next phase of his journey, he does not expect to go silently.
“But it would be nice to live long enough to see America and the world pass out from this current dreadful era, to see some restoration of sanity and reality, some kind of victory for goodness, some kind of restoration of intellectual standards, and a higher level of justice.
“Some friends tell me they think we’ve turned the corner and that there’s real hope of beating the terrible forces that have messed up our societies and insulted our intelligence and tried to sully our reputations.
“That’s something worth living for and fighting for. I hope to do it with you people as long as possible.”
http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/08/04/why-ive-always-written-so-much-with-such-intensity-and-why-i-wont-stop-now/#respond%20
Link at maggiesfarm.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Stand up, hook up … Somebody grab Alexi!
“City governments across Russia drained the water from municipal fountains Thursday, hoping to keep drunken paratroopers from drowning in them.
“Aug. 2 is Paratrooper Day in Russia and every year more than one million burly active and retired soldiers take to the streets in their signature blue berets and striped undershirts to mark the occasion, often by combining large quantities of vodka with plunges into fountains.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/russia-drains-fountains-for-drunken-paratroopers/article4459405/
(Russian airborne? Did they ever do anything? Other than drink themselves senseless.)
Also at fark.
“Aug. 2 is Paratrooper Day in Russia and every year more than one million burly active and retired soldiers take to the streets in their signature blue berets and striped undershirts to mark the occasion, often by combining large quantities of vodka with plunges into fountains.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/russia-drains-fountains-for-drunken-paratroopers/article4459405/
(Russian airborne? Did they ever do anything? Other than drink themselves senseless.)
Also at fark.
Look, we know you’re too stupid to take care of yourself,
so just do what we say and everything will be fine.
Paper clips too dangerous for continued use.
“Manchester NHS Trust officials made the decision to stop the use of the metal stationary item after a member of staff cut their finger using one.
“In a memo to staff, it was warned that the use of metal fasteners was 'prohibited' and the offending clips must be 'carefully disposed of immediately'.
“'Due to recent incidents, NHS Manchester has decided to immediately withdraw the use of metal paper fasteners,' explained the memo featuring an accompanying picture of a paper clip - just to avoid any confusion.
“'Please ensure any that remain in use be replaced by similar plastic fasteners.
“'The use of metal fasteners is prohibited and must be carefully disposed of immediately. Thank you for your co-operation.'
“The clips have been banned from the city's GP surgeries, clinics and offices in favour of a plastic alternative.”
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/907304-nhs-health-and-safety-chiefs-ban-dangerous-metal-paper-clips#ixzz22bbbJ4kV
(Thank goodness that sort of thing will never happen here.
(And in the first paragraph, "a member" "cut their finger"? Modern English prohibits use of all-purpose, non-generic-specific pronoun "he.")
At fark.com.
Paper clips too dangerous for continued use.
“Manchester NHS Trust officials made the decision to stop the use of the metal stationary item after a member of staff cut their finger using one.
“In a memo to staff, it was warned that the use of metal fasteners was 'prohibited' and the offending clips must be 'carefully disposed of immediately'.
“'Due to recent incidents, NHS Manchester has decided to immediately withdraw the use of metal paper fasteners,' explained the memo featuring an accompanying picture of a paper clip - just to avoid any confusion.
“'Please ensure any that remain in use be replaced by similar plastic fasteners.
“'The use of metal fasteners is prohibited and must be carefully disposed of immediately. Thank you for your co-operation.'
“The clips have been banned from the city's GP surgeries, clinics and offices in favour of a plastic alternative.”
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/907304-nhs-health-and-safety-chiefs-ban-dangerous-metal-paper-clips#ixzz22bbbJ4kV
(Thank goodness that sort of thing will never happen here.
(And in the first paragraph, "a member" "cut their finger"? Modern English prohibits use of all-purpose, non-generic-specific pronoun "he.")
At fark.com.
Can we get a ‘quality watchdog’ in the US?
“On Wednesday, officials from Shanghai's ‘quality watchdog’ announced the accuracy of English-language signs in public spaces had improved 85 per cent since it launched a crackdown three years ago.
“Shanghai's ‘Commission for the Management of Language Use’ had deployed hundreds of volunteer students onto the streets.
“Signs that have been tracked down and removed include those telling commuters to ‘keep valuables snugly’ or to ‘inform police immediately - if you are stolen’. Visitors venturing outside China's major cities can still dine out on ‘gross noodles’, withdraw money from ‘cash recycling machines’ or kick back and relax in ‘personnel crush-rooms’.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9446394/Shanghai-says-days-of-Chinglish-are-numbered.html
From theospark.net
The continuing horror here of misuse:
“Its not my fault!”, “There right over their,” “If your child has a problem with math, get them a new computer.”
(If you don’t see the errors, please leave my country. And, no, we do not need quality watchdogs checking use of the language. This is the US of A, where people have the right not to know anything.)
“Shanghai's ‘Commission for the Management of Language Use’ had deployed hundreds of volunteer students onto the streets.
“Signs that have been tracked down and removed include those telling commuters to ‘keep valuables snugly’ or to ‘inform police immediately - if you are stolen’. Visitors venturing outside China's major cities can still dine out on ‘gross noodles’, withdraw money from ‘cash recycling machines’ or kick back and relax in ‘personnel crush-rooms’.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9446394/Shanghai-says-days-of-Chinglish-are-numbered.html
From theospark.net
The continuing horror here of misuse:
“Its not my fault!”, “There right over their,” “If your child has a problem with math, get them a new computer.”
(If you don’t see the errors, please leave my country. And, no, we do not need quality watchdogs checking use of the language. This is the US of A, where people have the right not to know anything.)
If somebody occupies your home while you are out of town …
Colorado family can’t evict squatters who declared bankruptcy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182085/Its-just-nightmare-Family-evict-illegal-squatters-home-file-bankruptcy-exploit-legal-loophole.html
From gatesofvienna.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182085/Its-just-nightmare-Family-evict-illegal-squatters-home-file-bankruptcy-exploit-legal-loophole.html
From gatesofvienna.
Government orders markets to buy cabbage
A segment of a CCTV program on migrant workers in China focused on a young woman whose father could not sell his cabbage crop. The young woman posted on Sina Weibo her father’s decision to give away the cabbage, rather than see the crop rot in the field.
Her post eventually became known to a provincial official who, a reporter said, ordered markets to buy cabbage from the farmer. Markets did not buy all the cabbage, so much did rot, but government had shown itself interested in the welfare of an individual farmer.
That decision was seen as a good thing by the CCTV reporter, by the young woman and by the father. The reporter and the young woman also said the government official’s decision was an indication of the power of a social network.
In closing the program on migrant workers, the CCTV reporter mentioned plans to induce half the rural population to move to cities. You have to wonder – Who’s going to feed the urban people?
Her post eventually became known to a provincial official who, a reporter said, ordered markets to buy cabbage from the farmer. Markets did not buy all the cabbage, so much did rot, but government had shown itself interested in the welfare of an individual farmer.
That decision was seen as a good thing by the CCTV reporter, by the young woman and by the father. The reporter and the young woman also said the government official’s decision was an indication of the power of a social network.
In closing the program on migrant workers, the CCTV reporter mentioned plans to induce half the rural population to move to cities. You have to wonder – Who’s going to feed the urban people?
If you sing while driving you’re stupid and will have a wreck
“By chance, 20 of the 21 participants happened to be female. Participants were aged between 18 and 55 years old and all reported driving between two and 10 hours in an average week.”
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5862/don%E2%80%99t-sing-and-drive-researchers-warn%20
(95 percent of the people in the study happened to be female? How many have seen women drivers do stupid things that a man would not do? Show of hands, please. That’s what I thought.)
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5862/don%E2%80%99t-sing-and-drive-researchers-warn%20
(95 percent of the people in the study happened to be female? How many have seen women drivers do stupid things that a man would not do? Show of hands, please. That’s what I thought.)
A headline in HuffyPost:
‘Jenna Jameson Endorses Mitt Romney …’
My first thought: Who?
Lead graf: “Retired porn star Jenna Jameson waded into the 2012 presidential race on Thursday, choosing a San Francisco strip club as the venue to announce her support for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.”
And this is a story because … I don’t know. Maybe because a woman who used to make her money on her back (and probably … We won’t get into that.), endorses a Republican and that is news? What, we thought only Democrats could ---- us?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/jenna-jameson-mitt-romney-endorsement_n_1737769.html?flv=1
Link at maggiesfarm.
My first thought: Who?
Lead graf: “Retired porn star Jenna Jameson waded into the 2012 presidential race on Thursday, choosing a San Francisco strip club as the venue to announce her support for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.”
And this is a story because … I don’t know. Maybe because a woman who used to make her money on her back (and probably … We won’t get into that.), endorses a Republican and that is news? What, we thought only Democrats could ---- us?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/jenna-jameson-mitt-romney-endorsement_n_1737769.html?flv=1
Link at maggiesfarm.
There’s no news like … There is no news.
“Lincoln, Lawrence, and Norman are among America’s most attractive cities, where the opportunity for social advancement provided by big state universities are sources of local pride. Like most of the big college towns in the middle of the country, they have the art shops, the bookstores, and the cafés that coastal people say they miss in American life. What they do not have is presence. If you watch the national news on television, you see two kinds of American places: the kind where things are happening, and the kind where things have already happened. CNN and Fox speculate about the present in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles (and during campaign season, in ‘battleground’ or swing states like Iowa and Ohio). Everywhere else in the country, things do happen, but always without warning—and rarely with anyone to witness them. Now that the local newspaper is all but dead, there are few sources of news in the traditional sense. Television is best suited to the transmission of images of things that have already happened. So if a levy breaks or a bridge is destroyed, a news team might fly in, but it reports not in the here-and-now but in the hereafter.
“We should have bailed out the newspapers back in 2008: it would have cost a tiny fraction of what we spent on bailing out the banks. But since this opportunity was missed, only this fantasy remains: what if, to legally describe themselves as news channels, our national television carriers had to post a correspondent and a production team in all fifty states, and devote a certain amount of their air time to stories generated by these crews? What if CNN and Fox had employees who actually prepared for things that might happen and ran segments about what they like to call ‘developing stories’ throughout the United States of America? What if Fox and CNN anchors, in other words, had to be as well briefed as the crews that cover college football for ESPN? The sportscasters actually go places, read reports, and have informed opinions about the present. As a result, sports is the only arena where the whole country still exists in anticipation, week by week, on more or less equal terms.”
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/oct/27/land-of-news/
(And that would mean a more informed citizenry and, through a logic not explained, demise of Tea Party ideas and more votes for Democrats.)
“We should have bailed out the newspapers back in 2008: it would have cost a tiny fraction of what we spent on bailing out the banks. But since this opportunity was missed, only this fantasy remains: what if, to legally describe themselves as news channels, our national television carriers had to post a correspondent and a production team in all fifty states, and devote a certain amount of their air time to stories generated by these crews? What if CNN and Fox had employees who actually prepared for things that might happen and ran segments about what they like to call ‘developing stories’ throughout the United States of America? What if Fox and CNN anchors, in other words, had to be as well briefed as the crews that cover college football for ESPN? The sportscasters actually go places, read reports, and have informed opinions about the present. As a result, sports is the only arena where the whole country still exists in anticipation, week by week, on more or less equal terms.”
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/oct/27/land-of-news/
(And that would mean a more informed citizenry and, through a logic not explained, demise of Tea Party ideas and more votes for Democrats.)
Friday, August 3, 2012
Don’t leave home without your M16
Or whichever variation you have.
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/idf-woman-soldier-in-bikini.html
Linked from theospark.net.
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/idf-woman-soldier-in-bikini.html
Linked from theospark.net.
Scum-sucking Democrats sue to restrict military early voting in Ohio
Obama campaign sues Ohio over military voting
“Fifteen military groups are opposing a federal lawsuit in Ohio brought by President Barack Obama's campaign because they say it could threaten voter protections afforded to service members. Obama's campaign and Democrats argue the law unfairly ends in-person voting for most Ohioans three days earlier than it does for military and overseas voters. They say such disparate treatment is unconstitutional, and all voters should be able to vote on those days. Organizations including AMVETS asked a judge late Wednesday to dismiss the lawsuit. They say federal and state law recognizes military voters need extra time. They fear a court could find that service members shouldn't be treated differently. Most Ohioans have until Friday evening before Election Day to cast a ballot in person. Military voters have until Monday.”
http://www.wksu.org/news/story/32625
From the Obama supporters:
‘Obama Campaign Sues Over Ohio Early Voting Law'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/obama-ohio-early-voting_n_1680768.html
(Military not mentioned until third paragraph; top of story about Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor. That makes it sound like another “Republicans intend to disenfranchise American voters,” when truth is “Democrats launch another attack against military voters because people in uniform have more sense than to vote for bottom-feeding, algae-sucking Barbara Streisand/Jane Fonda types.”)
Original mention from maggiesfarm; links from my own searches.
“Fifteen military groups are opposing a federal lawsuit in Ohio brought by President Barack Obama's campaign because they say it could threaten voter protections afforded to service members. Obama's campaign and Democrats argue the law unfairly ends in-person voting for most Ohioans three days earlier than it does for military and overseas voters. They say such disparate treatment is unconstitutional, and all voters should be able to vote on those days. Organizations including AMVETS asked a judge late Wednesday to dismiss the lawsuit. They say federal and state law recognizes military voters need extra time. They fear a court could find that service members shouldn't be treated differently. Most Ohioans have until Friday evening before Election Day to cast a ballot in person. Military voters have until Monday.”
http://www.wksu.org/news/story/32625
From the Obama supporters:
‘Obama Campaign Sues Over Ohio Early Voting Law'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/obama-ohio-early-voting_n_1680768.html
(Military not mentioned until third paragraph; top of story about Republican-controlled legislature and Republican governor. That makes it sound like another “Republicans intend to disenfranchise American voters,” when truth is “Democrats launch another attack against military voters because people in uniform have more sense than to vote for bottom-feeding, algae-sucking Barbara Streisand/Jane Fonda types.”)
Original mention from maggiesfarm; links from my own searches.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
All those gifts weren't free?
In comments to a maggiesfarm piece on the federal government deciding health insurance admin vs. fees and services percentages (15/85) was this: “That picture of Oprah Winfrey is appropriate for this post when you consider that Oprah's giveaways to her live TV audience never came out of her own pocket, but were donated by her program's sponsors, the most famous case being the cars that were donated by GM as a PR stunt (Is it any wonder then that GM always verges on bankruptcy?).”
“My Rebate” http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20298-My-Rebate.html#comments
You mean she doesn’t queen it up from her own purse? A search necessary: Who pays for the stuff Oprah gives away.
[VW agreed to give everyone a] "brand new, totally redesigned 2012 Beetle. THE BEETLES ARE COMING!!!"
http://perezhilton.com/2010-11-22-oprah-goes-big-with-her-final-ultimate-favorite-things-show
(I can’t believe I’m referencing perezhilton, but … “VW agreed to give …”)
On a 2004 car give-away: “Only after the credits rolled did it emerge that some of the recipients would have to forgo the gift because they couldn't afford the $7000 taxes payable on the gift (and which Harpo was unwilling to cover).”
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/when-oprah-gives-someone-else-pays-20110121-1a012.html#ixzz22Q9u4BCa
Sometimes that gift horse has no teeth, but does have a big veterinarian bill.
“My Rebate” http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20298-My-Rebate.html#comments
You mean she doesn’t queen it up from her own purse? A search necessary: Who pays for the stuff Oprah gives away.
[VW agreed to give everyone a] "brand new, totally redesigned 2012 Beetle. THE BEETLES ARE COMING!!!"
http://perezhilton.com/2010-11-22-oprah-goes-big-with-her-final-ultimate-favorite-things-show
(I can’t believe I’m referencing perezhilton, but … “VW agreed to give …”)
On a 2004 car give-away: “Only after the credits rolled did it emerge that some of the recipients would have to forgo the gift because they couldn't afford the $7000 taxes payable on the gift (and which Harpo was unwilling to cover).”
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/when-oprah-gives-someone-else-pays-20110121-1a012.html#ixzz22Q9u4BCa
Sometimes that gift horse has no teeth, but does have a big veterinarian bill.
Not a blue light special
The light left of the laptop camera flashed blue again. I thought the Watchers would stop after I taped a piece of paper over the lens. Maybe they are more dedicated than I thought, or they are paid by the number of attempts to activate spy cameras, or they are shotgunning and know eventuality is on their side. MTK.
Eat more chikin
At breakfast, Priscilla said, “Was yesterday Chick-fil-A appreciation day or something?”
“Yesterday,” I said. “Wednesday. Yes, it was.”
Priscilla said she and a woman from the Jonesboro office were out for lunch and passed the Chick-fil-A.
“There was a line of people out the door for a block,” she said. “And for the drive-through lane, cars were backed up more than a block in both directions. I hope Chick-fil-A made millions and millions of dollars yesterday.”
Roger that.
“Yesterday,” I said. “Wednesday. Yes, it was.”
Priscilla said she and a woman from the Jonesboro office were out for lunch and passed the Chick-fil-A.
“There was a line of people out the door for a block,” she said. “And for the drive-through lane, cars were backed up more than a block in both directions. I hope Chick-fil-A made millions and millions of dollars yesterday.”
Roger that.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Cooking doughnuts at WalMart
From September 1996-August 1997 I cooked doughnuts at a WalMart Supercenter. For 3 ½ of those months I also taught freshman history at a nearby university and for a month also was a radio news reporter.
One night when I got to the bakery, the other man of our three-person crew said he had been threatened by a manager the night before, one of my nights off.
The incident started when one of the stocker crew came into the bakery and asked Chalmer if there were any broken doughnuts. He was going on break and wanted a snack. Sure, Chalmer said, and he pointed to a small pile of broken doughnuts. The stacker put a few pieces in a small sack and went on break.
A few minutes later, a manager person Chalmer had never seen shoved open the bakery doors and said in a loud voice, “Did you give broken doughnuts to a stocker?” Chalmer said he did. The manager person then proceeded to talk not nicely to Chalmer, saying all doughnuts had to be accounted for and Chalmer was costing the company money, and so forth. He then demanded: “Do you eat doughnuts while you’re making them?”
Chalmer said, “Sure do.”
“Well, you will stop,” the manager person said. He pointed to dark plastic fixtures in the ceiling. “We’ve got security cameras, and we’re going to be watching. If you eat another doughnut, you will be fired!” And he stormed out.
When Chalmer finished the story, I said, “So they’re watching us, are they?”
“That’s what he said.”
I got a doughnut from a display case and faced the dark plastic orb. Then, raising the middle finger of my right hand, I ate the doughnut. Strangely, not a single manager person ever said anything. There was no camera.
One night when I got to the bakery, the other man of our three-person crew said he had been threatened by a manager the night before, one of my nights off.
The incident started when one of the stocker crew came into the bakery and asked Chalmer if there were any broken doughnuts. He was going on break and wanted a snack. Sure, Chalmer said, and he pointed to a small pile of broken doughnuts. The stacker put a few pieces in a small sack and went on break.
A few minutes later, a manager person Chalmer had never seen shoved open the bakery doors and said in a loud voice, “Did you give broken doughnuts to a stocker?” Chalmer said he did. The manager person then proceeded to talk not nicely to Chalmer, saying all doughnuts had to be accounted for and Chalmer was costing the company money, and so forth. He then demanded: “Do you eat doughnuts while you’re making them?”
Chalmer said, “Sure do.”
“Well, you will stop,” the manager person said. He pointed to dark plastic fixtures in the ceiling. “We’ve got security cameras, and we’re going to be watching. If you eat another doughnut, you will be fired!” And he stormed out.
When Chalmer finished the story, I said, “So they’re watching us, are they?”
“That’s what he said.”
I got a doughnut from a display case and faced the dark plastic orb. Then, raising the middle finger of my right hand, I ate the doughnut. Strangely, not a single manager person ever said anything. There was no camera.
Privacy? That was in my grandparents’ day
"(W)ithin the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away.
"From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body -- agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you" (‘Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away,' gizmodo.com, July 10). “ – Nat Hentoff,
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff080112.php3
"From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body -- agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you" (‘Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away,' gizmodo.com, July 10). “ – Nat Hentoff,
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff080112.php3
$5,000 a day gets you good security
Bullet-throwing security, but the world is not exactly a peaceful place.
“For $50,000 per voyage, shipping companies can hire a team of four ex-Navy SEALs to accompany their vessel on a 10-day voyage through the most dangerous waters in the world — the Gulf of Aden, Straits of Malacca and northern Indian Ocean — to thwart hijackings and hostage-taking.”
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/07/30/073012-news-seals-pirates-1-5/
$1,250 a day is pretty good pay. Kind of discriminatory, though, Nexus hiring only former Marines and Seals. You’d think Soldiers don’t know what an ocean is.
“For $50,000 per voyage, shipping companies can hire a team of four ex-Navy SEALs to accompany their vessel on a 10-day voyage through the most dangerous waters in the world — the Gulf of Aden, Straits of Malacca and northern Indian Ocean — to thwart hijackings and hostage-taking.”
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/07/30/073012-news-seals-pirates-1-5/
$1,250 a day is pretty good pay. Kind of discriminatory, though, Nexus hiring only former Marines and Seals. You’d think Soldiers don’t know what an ocean is.
Lesson in Islam
“r2.2 Slander (ghiba) means to mention anything concerning a person that he would dislike, whether about his body, religion, everyday life, self, disposition, property, son, father, wife, servant, turban, garment, gait, movements, smiling, dissoluteness, frowning, cheerfulness, or anything else connected with him.” -- Sunni Sharia law manual, “Reliance of the Traveller.”
At http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2003/01/news-feed-20120731.html
At http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2003/01/news-feed-20120731.html
I don’t do initials like OMG and such,
but if I did, this would be AYFKM?
Romney went to Poland hoping to get more of the white racist vote.
“And I think that getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It’s more for the folks at home — the descendents of the people that he will be speaking to — in Poland.”
Cokie Roberts on NPR.
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/07/31/npr-host-romneys-poland-trip-is-racially-motivated/
Linked from maggiesfarm.
Of course, Romney is a racist. A Palestinian official said so after Romney said cultural differences are responsible for Israel’s high GDP and Palestinian poverty. Said Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "It is a racist statement …”
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16132832,00.html
Linked from gatesofvienna.
Romney went to Poland hoping to get more of the white racist vote.
“And I think that getting those ethnic voters excited is really what Romney has in mind here. It’s more for the folks at home — the descendents of the people that he will be speaking to — in Poland.”
Cokie Roberts on NPR.
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/07/31/npr-host-romneys-poland-trip-is-racially-motivated/
Linked from maggiesfarm.
Of course, Romney is a racist. A Palestinian official said so after Romney said cultural differences are responsible for Israel’s high GDP and Palestinian poverty. Said Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "It is a racist statement …”
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16132832,00.html
Linked from gatesofvienna.
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