7.12.2014
Y2K bug gets one last chuckle
BBC News - US sends military draft notices to men born in the 1800s
"Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, said he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a World War One veteran who was born in 1894 and died in 1995 age 100."
Oh, that
librarycongress: Some things are just bad ideas. Alexander Hamilton died July 12, 1804, as a result of his duel with Aaron Burr. http://t.co/oXXtuPwG0Y
Saturday morning on the commons
(In the Midwest we had town squares but here we have commons, where, on ours this morning, was the farmers' market featuring "hand crafted wines from hand tended vines," whatever that may be.)
The last study, absolutely
Study: Smelling farts is good for your health - The Week
(Extra credit for English majors: Is it a good thing or a bad thing Shakespeare didn’t know this? Or did he?)
Ooops
James' return to Cleveland could complicate GOP - Yahoo News
"If James leads his team into post-season play then, the GOP could find its preferred June 28 start date for the convention impossible because of the site conflict."
What is this, Comedy Saturday?
President Obama's buzzed on suds great adventure | Fox News
(OK, I guess technically this Sarah Palin rant was published yesterday. But it’s still good.)
The smaller the kids, the bigger the guns you need
– Rick Perry And Sean Hannity Are Currently Patrolling The Border On A Boat With A Machine Gun
"Apparently, the two of them – one a right-wing pundit and the other a sitting state governor – were eager to show how proactive they were being and traveled to the border to pose for some photos and try to look as cool as possible."
–Midwest and Elsewhere bureau
7.11.2014
Boo
"Ghost stories are fanciful, frightening tales told to children. But the claim that Republicans would increase Medicare costs by $6,000 per beneficiary is a story Democrats use to scare senior citizens — and it’s just as false.…
"Republicans have their own fairy tale about Medicare — the claim that Democrats are paying for Obamacare ‘on the backs’ of seniors by cutting $700 billion in benefits."
File under Stuff We Don't Want to Read Under Any Circumstances
Climate Change Could Cause More Kidney Stones - CityLab
"When one thinks of the warming climate, the phrases that pop into mind probably aren't 'nausea and vomiting,' 'sharp, stabbing pain,' and 'blood in your urine.’"…
Why not just nuke 'em and be done with it?
Agent Orange Ingredient Could Soon Be Used to Kill Superweeds - CityLab
"But pesticide watchdogs are up in arms…"
Algae attack: Like Ohio best
Beach bummer: toxic slime will hit Lake Erie again | Fox News
"Slimy green mats of toxic algae will again threaten the western shores of Lake Erie later this summer, according to an algae forecast released today July 10."
Bozos dump the kiddies
Faster deportations? A possible border crisis deal - Yahoo News
"Republicans demanded speedier deportations, which the White House initially had supported but left out of its proposal after complaints from immigrant advocates and some Democrats. On Thursday, the top House and Senate Democrats pointedly left the door open to them."'It's not a deal-breaker,' said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi…"
If you're needing a book to take to the beach about now…
"Grange, Florida, is, famous for its miracles-the weeping fiberglass Madonna, the Road-Stain Jesus, the stigmata man. And now it has JoLayne Lucks, unlikely winner of the state lottery. Unfortunately, JoLayne's winning ticket isn't the only one. The other belongs to Bodean Gazzer and his raunchy sidekick, Chub, who want the whole $28 million jackpot to start their own underground militia"
7.10.2014
Wait, what?
The war on religious faith continues | RedState
"Those opposing the [Hobby Lobby] decision are crying Armageddon! as though the proverbial gerbil of Religious Freedom was seeking a source light in the alimentary canal of the secular left."
Pretty much putting an end to the concept, "reality"
"The Discovery series' success has spawned other ‘naked’ shows, including VH1’s upcoming naked dating show."
And who said lawyers don't like to have fun?
Prosecutors Request Dick Pics From Teen Accused of Sexting
"Lawyers for a 17-year-old boy accused of sexting his 15-year-old girlfriend allege that prosecutors and police for the case took photos of the teen's penis against his will and would like to do it again."
Mr. Suave
Sterling berates NBA, wife in court | GulfNews.com
"‘Get away from me, you pig!’ Sterling yelled…"
Some days I'm really happy not to be going to an office any more
Two hours of sitting cancels out 20 minutes of exercise, study finds - CBS News
“…hosting walking meetings at work and replacing a standard desk chair with…a treadmill desk if possible."
7.09.2014
A legal observation
If you're ever suspected of a crime, try to be sure you're the first person suspected because—have you noticed this?—the first person they suspect is never the guy who did it. They might haul you in to the station, dump you in a room and ask you a bunch of questions, make you drink coffee from a vending machine, even lock you up overnight, but in the end they'll pin the crime on somebody else. The first person they think did it never does.
So what I'm saying is, be the first one to raise your hand.
So what I'm saying is, be the first one to raise your hand.
This must be IT Wednesday…
…all morning and most of the afternoon. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing I can remember a 15-year old operating system well enough to troubleshoot a printer driver problem over the phone, but it's definitely a thing. Maybe I'll take a nap.
Best email subject line of the month (at least)
A marketing pitch from Walgreens:
Spend more time with your selfie – 40% off mobile photo orders!
7.08.2014
Burying the lead?
German shops 'to sell Hitler's Mein Kampf when copyright held by Bavaria expires | Mail Online
"An e-book version of the work, topped Amazon’s bestseller charts earlier this year."
Has Bavaria been earning royalties on Mein Kampf all these years?
(I’m no fan of book burning: If you want to read it go ahead and read it, I say.)
7.07.2014
Squishy bananas
After the rain finally blew away on Friday we had a pretty good weekend here. Saturday and Sunday mornings were chilly, afternoons mid-seventy, and a nice breeze blowing through, all the windows—all the windows—open wide. This afternoon it’s a little muggy and 80º, still not bad.
But I need to revise my banana-buying plan because in weather like this they get squishy fast, all black on the outside and perfect for peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the best kind of peanut butter sandwiches there are.
My Dad used to talk about eating bread and honey, He said, first you run out of bread but you still have honey left, so you get some more bread and then you run out of honey but you still have bread left, so you get some more honey…
Squishy bananas in the summertime are sort of like that. Bananas get squishy any time of year but in the summer it happens fast and you either have too many or too few. I have one left this evening, so I’d better go tomorrow and get more.
Hooray for moral decay (but yeah, soccer sucks)
Ann Coulter: “No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer” - Salon.com
"‘Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation’s moral decay,’ Coulter writes before listing all of the reasons why she thinks soccer sucks."
ADD: I also don’t like cricket or rugby, but apparently some people do.
So then
The Gates Foundation is developing a remote-control contraceptive | The Verge
"A single smart capsule could release drugs into a patient's body over the span of years, and respond to remote wireless signals if doctors want to alter or halt the treatment….…Earlier this year, the FDA issued a warning that most medical devices were vulnerable to hacking, and remote-control drug delivery could present a dangerous new line of attack…"
What could possibly go wrong?
Boeing makes a splash
Crash landing: 3 new Boeings stuck on Montana riverbank after train derails — RT USA
"The discovery of the planes has proved popular with the tourists. The Clark Fork River is popular with rafters. Jon Saku was going on his first ever trip onto the water and he got more than he bargained for."
(H/T Chocolate Chip Mint)
7.06.2014
The novel that just keeps on giving
"Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, best known for his reporting on the U.S. surveillance state, told me that in the year since he first met whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he went back and re-read Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984.’"
Really? We’re gonna go through this whole thing again? Didn’t everybody read it the first time? Or the second? Or third?
What? No Spam?
Long-Life Secrets From An (Almost) 115 Year Old Woman | TIME
"The world’s oldest person, 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Osaka, Japan, says the answer to a long life is eating sushi, while the oldest American, 115-year-old Jeralean Talley of Michigan, says it’s pigs’ feet."
Oh come on, it'd be a hoot
Obama foundation nixes Kenya university’s bid for ‘institute’ - Chicago Sun-Times
“…a university in Kenya — the birthplace of Barack Obama’s father and where a half-sister, Auma, lives — submitted to the foundation a detailed pitch to create the Barack Obama Institute for Peace and Democracy Studies based in Nairobi."
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