4.07.2012
Just another trademark lost
heroin (drug) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Heroin was first synthesized from morphine by a British chemist in 1874 and was introduced as a commercial product by the Bayer Company of Germany in 1898; it was originally used as a narcotic analgesic, but its undesirable side effects were found to far outweigh its value as a pain-killing drug, and there are now strict prohibitions on its use in many countries.
Who knew?
The marvelous
Isn't it "marvelous?" Obama seeks to define Romney for voters - Yahoo! News
Obama's riff on Romney's use of the word "marvelous" to describe Representative Paul Ryan's budget plans carried a subtle message.
"It's a word you kind of associate with the upper class, and I think that the intention was to tweak Romney for being wealthy and, you know, sort of brought up in the kinds of circles where they would say ‘marvelous,'" said Kenneth Sherrill, a political science expert at New York's Hunter College.
It's going to be like this until November, isn't it—some guys we're supposed to be considering for one of the most powerful jobs in the world acting like a bunch of 4th-graders at recess, calling each other names and flinging mud. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of mud.
Ain't that marvelous.
4.06.2012
One of the best things about being a geezer is…
…SPAM. (When you spell it all caps like that it's not email, it's meat in a can. Some people call it mystery meat but there's nothing mysterious about it. It says right there on the label: SPAM. All caps.) You can't eat it because you're kids and there's some kind of law. But geezers can eat all they want. It's nostalgic. You can eat it in a sandwich or fry some up with eggs or, if you're Hawaiian, just go nuts.
Yum.
Bliss
A guest at an Ohio wedding wound up in jail charged with assault and intoxicated disorderly conduct. It all began when she refused to stop slow dancing with the groom, which escalated into a brawl with the bride and an attack on an off-duty police officer.…
[The guest] is believed to be the bride's sister in law…
Obama signed this act into law yesterday, April 5
"Free us from those pesky old regulations," demanded the hucksters, "and we'll attract speculators for corporate startups that (if they succeed and don't set up operations offshore) could possibly, someday create a few low-wage American jobs. But don't hold us to that job thing."
4.05.2012
Frugality
Proposed Rules: You Lose, Poultry Industry Wins - Truthdig
And you thought pink slime was bad: The Obama administration is proposing to fire USDA inspectors and let the poultry industry inspect its own slaughterhouse lines—while simultaneously speeding up the kill line.
The USDA says the new rules would save taxpayer money…
Emphasis emphatically mine
The justices [Supremes] upheld a ruling by a US appeals court based in Philadelphia that it was reasonable to search everyone entering a jail, even without suspicion of any criminal activity.
The decision was a victory for the jails and for the Obama administration, which argued for an across-the-board rule allowing strip-searches of all those entering the general jail population, even those arrested on minor offenses.
The best excuse ever…
…is "nobody's perfect," which totally by coincidence happens to be my excuse for just sitting around all afternoon not doing nothing. I mean it, too.
A little history worth reading
The shareholder fallacy - Salon.com
Historically, corporations were understood to be responsible to a complex web of constituencies, including employees, communities, society at large, suppliers and shareholders. But in the era of deregulation, the interests of shareholders began to trump all the others. How can we get corporations to recognize their responsibilities beyond this narrow focus? It begins in remembering that the philosophy of putting shareholder profits over all else is a matter of ideology which is not grounded in American law or tradition. In fact, it is no more than a dangerous fad.
Just no sense of adventure, I guess
Pilot turns back after snake pops out of dashboard - Yahoo! News
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian pilot said he was forced to make a harrowing landing reminiscent of a Hollywood thriller after a snake popped out from behind his dashboard and slithered across his leg during a solo cargo flight.
4.04.2012
Why is this guy not still in the R primary?
Donald Trump: Gloria Allred would be ‘very impressed’ with my penis | The Raw Story
Business mogul Donald Trump on Tuesday declared that celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred would be “very, very impressed” with his genitals after she suggested that he should prove he was a “naturally born man” because a transgender model was barred from competing in one of his beauty contests.
Dude, seriously. Is it his hair or what? I mean, I think he fits right in. Also why don't the D's have guys like this? It would be a lot more fun.
A little wishful thinking in Arizona
Arizona bill would declare pregnancy 2 weeks before conception | The Raw Story
A measure passed Arizona’s Senate claims that it would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but experts say that the bill is far more restrictive, effectively banning abortions after 18 weeks and declaring that a woman could be pregnant 2 weeks before she even had sex.
Maybe, maybe not
I went downtown this afternoon—it's a good day for walking, warm but not to hot, windy but not in a Dallas sort of way (Dude, did you see those trailers flying around?)—and decided to stop at the earthy-crunchy wealthy-healthy store for a chocolate bar. It's a good place for buying chocolate if you have plenty of time to read the labels. I almost bought a bar that said chocolate-and-pepermint but then I noticed the label said "love poem inside" so I put that back, ick, and picked up one that said dark-chocolate-with-ginger-and-orange instead. Actually I'm a chocolate-chocolate kind of guy—I don't generally like chocolate with anything unless the anything is ice cream, of course—but I was rattled. The girl at the checkout counter (I say girl in my head but I know how horribly un-PC that is so I translate it and it comes out "young woman," but it really, this girl was 12 or maybe 25 at best) said—she said—it was a good choice and an "unbeatable combination." Maybe, maybe not. It is OK.
Also I saw my first top-down car of the season on the way home. I know, it was a lot warmer a couple of weeks ago but I just didn't see on then. This one was a red VW, and right behind it was the second top-down car of the season, a T-top Trans-Am. The Trans-Am looked a lot cooler but the VW was full of young women. I'm just saying. Also, it's Spring.
Also I saw my first top-down car of the season on the way home. I know, it was a lot warmer a couple of weeks ago but I just didn't see on then. This one was a red VW, and right behind it was the second top-down car of the season, a T-top Trans-Am. The Trans-Am looked a lot cooler but the VW was full of young women. I'm just saying. Also, it's Spring.
4.03.2012
Dude! It's St. Ronnie!
Ronald Reagan saves Rhonda Fleming's banana plantation…
Please. Stop right there.
On the rocks
Undernews: A healthcare compromise
As my Coast Guard navigation instructor told us: if you take a navigational fix and it puts you on one side of a rock and you take another and it puts you on the other side, don’t split the difference.But this is what Obama and much of Washington spends their time doing, because they don’t have goals driven by purpose, wisdom and integrity. They only want to win the vote.
Jaded, you say? Jaded?
The Right's Obama - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
One of the more Kinsley-esque moments in contemporary Washington is the spectacle of every liberal in the town now bemoaning judicial activism, and every conservative celebrating the courts as a vital part of our constitutional system. Why, it's enough to make someone a little jaded.…
Health care USA
For three days beginning April 13, Remote Area Medical (RAM), an organization that flies American doctors to remote, third-world villages, will be hosting a massive outdoor clinic in the infield of the famous Bristol Motor Speedway.…
…Here’s the advice RAM offers on its website about the Bristol event:
“Be sure to arrive early. The clinic opens at 6:00am, and patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. Lines can be long and start early in the morning. Numbers will be given out around 3:30am each day prior to the clinic opening. For the best chance of being seen, plan to arrive by 3:30am on the day you wish to receive treatment. Be prepared for cool weather and bring snacks. Once registered, be prepared for long waits before being seen by a doctor.”
A Comet yet
These days, most people consider themselves lucky if a new car lasts 5 to 10 years. Make it to 100,000 miles in your vehicle, and the car company might make a commercial about you. That makes 93-year-old Rachel Veitch a notable exception. Veitch is retiring her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente after more than 576,000 miles on the road.
4.02.2012
BTW
In honor of the Republican primary I've decided to re-read The Scarlet Letter. Here's a link to the Gutenberg file in case you want to read along.
Yikes!
I had to go to the VA hospital in Northampton today to get my eyes checked (verdict: they're about the same as they were two years ago); the whole thing would have taken about three hours, max (very max), by car, but by bus (two busses each direction), nine. Which is the downside of public transportation. I spent most of the day waiting around for busses. And it wasn't cold but it was very windy. All day.
I did, with all this time, manage to take one or two pictures, so we will see about that.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame beat UCONN in the women's tournament last night, and some NYTimes writer named Jeré Longman produced the most bizarre lead paragraph I have ever read about a sporting event (or any other):
It was a good, if inelegant, game. Notre Dame won.
I did, with all this time, manage to take one or two pictures, so we will see about that.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame beat UCONN in the women's tournament last night, and some NYTimes writer named Jeré Longman produced the most bizarre lead paragraph I have ever read about a sporting event (or any other):
DENVER — Eight times they have played in the past two seasons, a Big East women’s rivalry so familiar that Connecticut and Notre Dame can finish each other’s plays, the way a husband and wife finish each other’s sentences.Followed by the most insipid second:
Strategy had less effect on Sunday night’s N.C.A.A. tournament semifinal than the celluloid basics right out of “Hoosiers”: hustle, defense, rebounding, free-throw shooting. Desperation played its part, too, as did the necessary selfishness of individual brilliance that elevated both teams’ aspirations.Necessary selfishness of individual brilliance, uh huh.
It was a good, if inelegant, game. Notre Dame won.
4.01.2012
And merriment ensues
News from The Associated Press
The use of drones in the U.S. by law enforcement and other government agencies has privacy advocates on edge. At the same time, some DIY drone flyers believe the ease of sending cheap pilotless planes and choppers airborne gives citizens a powerful tool for keeping public servants on the ground honest.
Yeah, I know it's April 1
But this guy has a sign like this at his tire store every day of every week all year, almost every time a groaner.
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