Neither
Here Nor There
(a Web Log) Neither
Here Nor There
(a Web Log)
Monday, March 8th, 2010 Happy Birthday Patrice (and Jane)!
Advice For Single Women:
If you want someone who will eat whatever you put in front of
him and never say it's not as good as his mom's...
If you want someone who is
always willing to go out with you, at any hour, for as long and wherever you
want...
If you want someone who will never touch the remote, doesn't care
about football and can sit next to you while you watch a drippy movie...
If you want someone who is content to get on your bed to warm
your feet and whom you can push off if he snores...
If you want someone who
never criticizes you, doesn't care if you're fat & ugly and for whom every word
you say is worth hearing...
If you want someone who loves you unconditionally...
then
get a dog.
But...if you want someone to
walk all over you...not come when you call...someone to ignore you when you come
home and leave his hair everywhere...someone who stays out all night and only
returns to eat and sleep...someone who acts as if your only purpose in life is
to ensure his happiness...
then click here.
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 Happy Birthday, Dawn!
When I see a kid with three or
four rings in his nose, I know there is nothing extraordinary about him.
There's a whiff of the lynch mob about any
overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals.
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Elder Humor:
I've sure gotten old: two bypass
surgeries as well as hip & knee replacements. I beat prostate cancer and manage
to live with diabetes. I'm half blind and can't
hear anything quieter'n a jet
engine...I take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and cause
me to blackout occasionally. I also have bouts of
dementia...can't remember
if I'm 89 or 98. Poor circulation: can hardly feel my hands and feet anymore.
I've outlived all my friends but I'm fortunate 'cuz at least I've still got my driver's license!
My body was totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I signed up for an aerobics class for seniors.
I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down and perspired for an hour...but by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do...
and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
OK...the next time you're
feeling sorry for yourself...consider the plight of thirty-nine year-old
Dede Koswara...on the Indonesian island of Java. He suffers (and I DO mean 'suffers')
from a (thankfully) rare genetic disorder which allows warts to flourish nearly
unabated on his body...particularly on his hands and feet (and who knows where
else?). His wife bailed, saying the warts dampened her ardor. Below are the two
most flattering pictures he could find...so he posted them on Match Dot Con but,
so far, no takers. He complains that he can't get a date on a dare! Next up:
eHarmony.
De
was mostly normal until about twenty years ago when he sustained an otherwise
minor laceration on one of his knees. Since then...the warts have taken over!
The locals call him 'The
Tree Man'! So...kwitcherbellyakin! Things could be a LOT worse!
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
She told
him she was 30 but turned out to be 41. He couldn't ever figure out what she did
for a living, though she claimed to sell high-end cosmetics. Also, she said she
was going to move (from New York City) to Ohio to be with him...but never hired
movers. She began making pricey demands, including that he buy a new BMW and
book first-class tickets to Australia for their honeymoon. "No one
travels coach to Australia," she told him. The final straw came
when she insisted that his elderly parents not
attend their wedding: "They've seen two already
(referring to her future, already-married brothers-in-law). They've
had their share."
He
ended the engagement after less than two weeks. "For her, it was
more about finance than romance," said he. In his lawsuit, he
claims she intended to ditch him all along...and keep the $58,000 ring. When a
reporter called her home, the woman who answered angrily hung up.
New York Post
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Happy Sixty-Fourth Birthday, Bobby!
For fifty-year-old Roy Messenger, of Elma, Washington...Friday was not his day. Well...it was his day...to die. At 9:23 PM, he wrecked his car. Why is the time known so precisely? Well...because 9:23 PM is the time at which the local power station guys recorded an outage...later determined to have been caused by a downed power line. Roy had taken out the pole attached to the line (with his car) but he was not seriously injured. In fact, he was well enough to call and ask a buddy to come help him get his car out of the roadside ditch it was stuck in. But...while waiting for his buddy, Roy had to pee. Click here for the rest of the story!
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
What
will become of dentists when tooth decay, misalignment and gum disease are
conquered? And of policemen...and prison guards...when crime vanishes from
society? How 'bout firemen? Clearly...any profession that arises from the need
to fix or contain a problem...needs that problem!
Pop
psychologists do not tire of reminding us of the
myriad things about which we
should worry. A few weeks ago, I saw an article warning of the
long-term
deleterious consequences of being bored! Ooh! Or...suppose you find
yourself lying awake at night worrying? Well...heads up! You should be
worried...about worrying! It's not good for you!
So...what's the solution? Don't Worry, Be Happy? Uh...sorry! This morning I woke up to an article on the grave dangers associated with...being happy! Turns out that some clown from the University of New South Wales has done a study proving that being happy blows...and that happy people suck! Who coulda seen this comin'? What could be worse, you say? Well...in order to make a 'control group' unhappy, its subjects were forced to watch Angela's Ashes! Oh Cheezits!
"People
in a positive mood generally rely more on their own thoughts and preferences,
and pay less attention to the outside world and social norms, with
selfishness the result.
A negative mood
produces a thinking style that is more detailed and attentive, and pays more
attention to the demands of the external environment."
Yeah, right!
Uh...I think it was Rudyard Kipling (or somebody) who wrote:
If you can keep your head when all about
you
Are losing theirs and blaming
it on you;
Then perhaps you have misappraised the situation.
...or something like that.
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
It's
entirely possible that Tiger Woods is far more messed up and clinically
depressed than his juvenile, low-grade adoration of hookers, porn stars and
skeevy Vegas waitresses would let anyone believe. Let us acknowledge that
possibility for a moment, as a means to justify the guy's absolutely deadly
blandness, his unbearable contriteness, his refusal to show even a wisp of
lightness or spark of shrugging get-over-it-edness. Maybe he's really dead
inside. Maybe it's deeper and sadder than anyone knows.
But here's the bigger truth:
Tiger wasn't apologizing to actual people, to his wife or kids or even his
confused fans. Tiger was apologizing, straight up and to the bone, to capitalism
itself. To his own brand. It was a scary attempt to shore up the multimillions
in endorsement deals, his future as a billion-dollar icon. Tiger the man was
apologizing to Tiger, Inc., mostly for tainting its earnings potential. It's the
golden rule of capitalism: don't fuck with a hot brand. It's blasphemy of the
highest order, made doubly potent by the fact that we're the ones who helped
create the brand in the first place, who bought into the saccharine lie and
absurd marketing BS of Tiger's impossibly squeaky faultlessness.
Friday, February 26th, 2010
It's not always true that we must choose between good and evil...or between the lesser (or greater) of two evils.
Often, we must choose between the greater (or lesser) of two 'goods'.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
Imagine leading a life so leisurely and blessed that you agonize over the name of a local peak!
Meet
Art Mijares. Yesterday, he appeared before the
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to urge the renaming of
Mount Diablo. "To me and millions of
other followers of the Christian faith, the devil is derogatory, pejorative,
offensive, obscene, blasphemous and profane",
said Art (whose request to go on to list the
devil's bad traits was summarily denied
).
For the monolingual: 'diablo' is Spanish for 'devil'.
And with what name would Mr. Mijares, were he king, replace Mount Diablo? Answer: Mount Ronald Reagan.
Okie Dokie.
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 George Washington was born 278 years ago. Ted Kennedy was born 78 years ago.
A
few weeks back, I ran across an enigmatic quotation. It
has a Neitzschean ring to it, but it comes from
W. Somerset Maugham, a man who
lived ninety-one years and who eloquently complained, not about the physical
limitations of his years but, rather, of 'the
burden of [his] memories'. I'm beginning to understand what he
meant by this 'burden'. There are so many things, in the end and after
all, that an older person is left (only) to ponder...but that he cannot
affect...that he cannot change. So many 'what ifs' and 'why
nots'...so many things done or not done...so many situations
and people...understood at last, but too late. For 'then' was
always 'now'.
But
ruminate though I will, I still only speculate as to what the old goat
meant when he wrote that 'a woman can forgive a man
for the harm he does her; but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he
makes on her account.'
Hmmm...
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Saturday, February 20th, 2010 Patty Hearst is fifty-six years old.
Musings on Tiger Woods' public apology:
I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior.
The worth of a promise is never known
unless and until the day arrives when the person who made the promise
does not want to keep it. Sometimes that's only a day after the promise
is made. Here, during this second (and last) half of my life
, color me
bewildered by this rather recent concept of 'sexual
addiction' and its attendant 'therapy': the 'rehab' that's supposed to 'cure'
it. When did 'sexual addiction' become real? And when did it
acquire the 'status' of a disease? I mean, throughout time, people have lied to
each other and broken solemn promises. I, certainly, am not without my
personal failings. There were times when I did not live up to my own
'standards'. And there will yet be times when I do not live up to those
standards. 'For all
have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God!' sayeth
Scripture.
It's hard to admit that I need help, but I do. For 45 days, I was in in-patient therapy receiving guidance for the issues I'm facing.
Yes, there's nothing recent or 'modern' about people acting on their desires...pursuing what they want in the 'short term', often with scant regard to the 'side effects' of their behavior: the 'consequences' to themselves and others. And, almost invariably, when people break their promises, they have already prepared a set of rationalizations...reasons for their perfidy.
I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me.
I never thought about who(m) I was hurting.
I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply.
And at first, if not forever, they'll blame someone else for what they, themselves, are choosing to do. To call reckless and dishonest behavior a disease...a disorder...seems calculated (by pseudo-scientific, self-serving psychologists) to relieve the 'sufferer' (the liar, the promise breaker) from personal responsibility. But 'sexual addiction', if there is such a thing, is not amoebic dysentery...it's not something you 'catch'! Neither is it something you 'cure'.
BTW: I'm ever amused
by the Viagra commercials which warn of an
erection lasting longer than four hours...and counsel us to call our
doctors in the event of such an 'emergency'.
Hell..at my age, if
I had an erection lasting longer than four minutes...I'd call a press
conference!
Friday, February 19th, 2010
What you'll be comforted to learn:
Kaiser said its gastrointestinal
specialists have concluded that "the
vast majority of any small foreign bodies ingested - even glass fragments - pass
through the body within 2-3 days without complications." Whew! And
so...not to worry about the glass soup that was served to the Hospitals'
in-patients this week.
From
the morning fish wrap.
The trick
in conservative circles today is to see how furious you can get about
Washington’s encroachment onto states rights without quite falling over the edge
into Fort Sumter. Mitt Romney, who
is good-looking, wealthy and blessed with a lovely family, is not, actually,
very angry. He would like to be president and run the country like a business,
but he is not the kind of guy who is in mourning for the Articles of
Confederation. His most dramatic recent moment came when he was attacked by a
fellow passenger on a flight home from the Olympics in Vancouver. A spokesman
said Romney, who was not injured, was “physically assaulted” when he asked a man
to raise his seat to an upright position before takeoff. Perhaps the assailant
mistook Romney for a flight attendant.
Gail Collins
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
The
communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his
need.
The
capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to
his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010), 02/18/2010
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
It was the politically greedy
John McCain who placed the slipper of fame on her foot -- upon which she put it
in her mouth. She said the most astounding things about foreign policy, later
fibbed about death panels and, in general, did a spot-on imitation of a ditz.
Alas, for both the right and the left, Palin is not a leader. She neither
founded nor leads a movement and, as far as anyone can tell, has no ideas of her
own. She's a validator, satisfying her audience's narcissistic urge to be told
they are correct in their thinking. They look at her and see themselves. Ah,
love.
Richard Cohen
Monday, February 15th, 2010
This day marks the 49th anniversary of the first crash of a Boeing 707 in regular passenger service.
The plane crashed on its landing approach to the Brussels International Airport.
All seventy-two passengers were killed, including the entire eighteen-member United States Figure Skating Team as well as numerous family members, officials and coaches.
The cause of the crash, while deemed 'mechanical' in nature, has never been conclusively determined.
The photograph, at left, shows the team boarding the ill-fated flight at New York's LaGuardia airport.
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
The
stupid neither forgive nor forget;
the naive forgive and
forget;
the wise forgive...but never forget.
If you talk to God, you are praying;
If God talks
to you, you have schizophrenia.
When a man can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
Saturday, February 13th, 2010 Happy Birthday, Debbie!
Revised Songs From The Sixties
Bobby Darin ---Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' A Flash
Herman's Hermits ---Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Walker
Ringo Starr ---I Get By With A Little Help From Depends
Johnny Nash ---I Can't See Clearly Now
Paul Simon--- Fifty Ways To Lose Your Liver
Procol Harem--- A Whiter Shade Of Hair
Leo Sayer ---You Make Me Feel Like Napping
Friday, February 12th, 2010
A coalition of atheist and agnostic groups have bought billboard space to tell like-minded individuals they are not alone.
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
The
billboard, overlooking Interstate 35 in Wyoming, Minn., is
scheduled to stay up until at least the end of February.
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
What people say, what people do,
and what people say they do are entirely different things.
Margaret Mead (1901-1978)
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 The 39th Anniversary of the San Fernando (Sylmar) Earthquake
"Drag a hundred-dollar bill through
a trailer park and you never know what you'll find."
James
Carville
Three
mutts in Virginia over the weekend, courtesy of DeDe.
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Authorities do not know exactly
how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke
bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled.
But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past
decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
The killings have produced urban legends about the
song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural
byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is
there something inherently sinister in the song? Whatever the reason, many
karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks.
New York Times
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Saturday, February 6th, 2010 The 59th Anniversary of the Woodbridge, New Jersey, Train Wreck
Friday, February 5th, 2010
"I
have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be."
Alexander Hamilton, 1755-1804
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 The Thirty-Sixth Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Patty Hearst
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Last night I finished watching
Passion Fish. Released in
December of 1992, I confess I'd never even heard of it until my
astronomer buddy, Randy, lent me the DVD. It's a beautiful cinematic work,
following the life of a 40's-something daytime soap star, 'May-Alice',
in the aftermath of a paralyzing spinal injury (which leaves her
paraplegic...'numb
from the waist down'). She is bitter...depressed though not quite
suicidal and blessed with enough insurance so that money is not
among her many concerns. She returns (from New York City) to her childhood home
near Lafayette, Louisiana, which must be fitted with ramps and other accessories
for her handicap. She drinks heavily and abuses several nurses/attendants (who
quit). Then along comes 'Chantelle', an African-American woman
in her late 20's...fresh out out of Chicago. Chantelle is hard-bitten, shares
little about herself...but needs the job and, so, puts up with what her
self-pitying patient delivers.
Written
and directed by John Sayles (born
on the same day as my baby sister), this film
unfolds with masterful patience. It never attempts to 'punch
above its weight'. By that, I mean that it never tries too hard...it is
never sententious. I love that no character is a stereotype. The Cajun
and African-American cultures are respectfully represented and there is
bountiful footage of the Louisiana Bayou, replete with owls, eels, cranes and
alligators. No violence, not much sex...but some frank scatology as
May-Alice learns to accept her dependence upon an attendant for personal
hygiene.
A wonderful
movie: brilliantly written, filmed, directed and acted!
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 Groundhog Day!
Monday, February 1st, 2010
People will always follow a good example; be the one to set a good example, then it won't be long before others follow. How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway. You can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you...and be happy.
It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.
Anne Frank, 1929-1945
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
The Launch of The iDud!
Saturday, January 30th. 2010
When my kids went off to college (and
work), they left behind stacks of books, some of which I have endeavored to
read. A few years ago, for example, I somehow lasted through all 900 pages of
Dickens' Bleak House. It
took me a few months, reading perhaps ten pages per day. Dickens was often paid
by the word. His novels were serialized and, so, it was in his interest to make
them long and convoluted. But Dickens, however tedious (at times), is never not
masterful.
A few weeks ago...what did I spy on
a shelf here but A
Farewell To Arms, Ernest Hemingway's career-cinching novel from 1929. It was
made into a 'talkie' in 1932.
The title is august and I assumed that the writing would meet that measure. But...it is
awful! The work draws on Hemingway's experience as an ambulance driver in World
War I. The plod follows its protagonist, Frederic, an American
paramedic (inexplicably) employed by the Italian Army. He falls in with
Catherine, a bimbo nurse. On his first expedition, and before he gets to move
even one body on a stretcher, he himself is wounded in a mortar attack while
scarfing a Big Mac in his barracks. There ensues his long, boring convalescence,
then
his ill-fated attempt to rejoin the raging battles. After his ambulance gets
stuck in mud and two of his subordinates bail (one of whom he shoots), he says, 'screw
it' and deserts [a farewell to arms].
Somehow, he avoids summary execution (at the hands of the Italian Military
Police) and makes his way back to Catherine. They bill and coo, but mostly they
copulate and soon she is with child. On the verge of arrest (again, for
desertion), he and Blondie escape to Switzerland where their lives are
eye-crossingly dull.
The most generous
explanation I can hatch for why this book is considered a 'classic'...is that
times have changed. No expletives are printed and there is nothing sexually
explicit to be found. There is also nothing compelling about Hemingway's lazy
and unfocussed writing. His dreary, repetitive uses of the adjectives 'fine',
'grand', 'splendid' and
'wonderful' are infuriating. Several times I wanted
to throw this tome at my cat...yet I 'soldiered' on. Frederic drinks (vermouth,
beer, vodka, whiskey or (white) wine) from dawn to dusk. In fact, midway through this literary disaster,
he is laid up with 'jaundice'. Yet his alcoholism never abates...only one aspect of
a miserable work that leads nowhere.
Friday, January 29th, 2010
"All
you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically
anything you want them to."
J.D. Salinger, 1919-2010
Thursday, January 28th, 2010 The 24th anniversary of the Challenger Disaster
RobinHolland.jpg)
There is no flag large enough to
cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable.
Howard Zinn, 1922-2010
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
At last, the truth can be told!
In a book released this morning, and written by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the
main promoter for John Paul's canonization (Santo
Subito!), all the rumors about the late Pontiff's predilection for Bondage
and Discipline have been put to rest. It has now been confirmed, by
people who should know, that JP2 was, indeed, a very sick man!
The Monsignor writes, "As
some members of his close entourage in Poland and in the Vatican were able to
hear with their own ears, John Paul flagellated himself. In his armoire, amid
all the vestments and hanging on a hanger, was a belt which he used as a whip
and which he always brought to
Castel Gandolfo."
But Slawomir calls this aberrant behavior "an instrument of
Christian perfection".
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Funerals
are lavish in Taiwan, often involving weeks of ceremonies and elaborate
processions with brass bands, dancing girls and hired mourners, who are paid
handsomely to weep their hearts out for someone else's deceased relative.
Embalming can include massaging the body with perfumed oils or a new hair style
— anything from conservative to punk.
Associated Press
"The missives could be basic
information, such as e-mail passwords sent to a girlfriend or banking data to
relatives -- or more emotionally explosive notes that tell a spouse or friend
what couldn't be said during life."
Michael S. Rosenwald, writing for the
Washington Post about a site called
Deathswitch:
"Imagine that you die with computer passwords in your head, leaving
coworkers without access to critical files. Imagine your loved ones cannot find
your bank accounts, or that you die with a secret that you longed to reveal
during your lifetime." For only about twenty bucks a
year, Deathswitch is one among many new ventures offering to eliminate the
worries associated with your no longer being able to 'log on'. From time to
time, you'll be sent an email with gentle inquiries as to the status of your
health like, 'Are you dead yet?'
In the event that you don't reply, Deathswitch takes
that as a 'yes!'
and sets 'the wheels' in motion. I mean, hey! We all worry plenty during
this life. Wouldn't it be great to be carefree in the next?
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The
denizens of the valley of staff were astonished by the narcissism that had
infused their candidate. But for a long time, they continued slaving in the
service of the illusion at the core of Edwards’s political appeal: that he
remained the same humble, aw-shucks son of a mill worker he’d always been. The
cognitive dissonance was enormous, sure, but they were used to that. Because for
years they’d been living with an even bigger lie—the lie of Saint Elizabeth.
No one in the Edwardses’
political circle felt anything less than complete sympathy for Elizabeth’s
plight. And yet the romance between her and the electorate struck them as ironic
nonetheless—because their own relationships with her were so unpleasant that
they felt like battered spouses. The nearly universal assessment among them was
that there was no one on the national stage for whom the disparity between
public image and private reality was vaster or more disturbing.
From Game Change,
by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.
An excerpt appears in New York
Magazine
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
When a student asked Socrates (470-399 BC) if a young man should marry...or not, the old teacher flippantly replied, "Son...whichever you do, you'll regret it!"
More than two thousand years later, in 1838, Charles Darwin (at age twenty nine...and a couple of years off his voyage on 'The Beagle') asked himself the same question and attempted to answer it for himself...with logic and reason. He made two lists, one entitled 'Marry' and the other, 'Not Marry'.
Under 'Not Marry', he wrote:
freedom to go where one likes, choice of society and little
of it.
conversation of clever men at clubs, not forced to visit relatives and
to bend in every trifle
to have the expense and anxiety of children
perhaps quarreling, loss of time how should I go about my business if I am
obliged to go every day walking with my wife.
I never should know French or
see the Continent or go to America or go up in a balloon
cannot read in the evenings — fatness &
idleness — anxiety & responsibility — less money for books &c — if many children
forced to gain one's bread. — (But then it is very bad for ones health to work
too much)
Perhaps my wife won't like London; then the sentence is banishment
& degradation into indolent, idle fool —
Then, under 'Marry', he wrote:
children...if it please God
constant companion and friend
in old age, better than a dog anyhow
who will feel interested in one
my
God, it is intolerable to spend one's whole life like a neuter bee working,
working and nothing after all.
no no, won't do.
Imagine living all one's days, solitarily in smoky dirty
London house
only picture to yourself a nice soft wife
with a good fire
and books
music perhaps
marry, marry marry
QED.
The very next year, Charles Darwin married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. [Charles and Emma had the same grandparents.]
Friday, January 22nd, 2010 Lyndon Johnson died thirty-seven years ago today.
Not all that long ago, one could casually say 'sit down and relax'. No more! An article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine informs us that the amount of time we spend sitting is a reliable predictor of our being afflicted with Type-2 Diabetes...and every sort of cardiovascular illness.
Also...did
you know that
drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson's disease often turn their users into
compulsive gamblers and/or drive them to other forms of addictive behavior?
Weird, huh?
Actually...'often'
is too strong a term here. The incidence for gambling is only about 1 in
2000...but statistically significant (and highly dependent upon dosage). This
unintended effect is ascribed to the higher levels of dopamine that are found in
patients to whom these drugs are given.
It's interesting to ponder the degree to
which we are 'victims' of our physiological make-ups. 'Rats in a maze'!
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
California (the most populous state) has about 37 million residents. Wyoming (the least populous) has about 550 thousand. But each state has two Senators. So that means that each Senator from California represents about 18 and a half million people and each Senator from Wyoming represents about 275 thousand. This is a ratio of about 65 Californians to 1 Wyoming-er. This also means that a resident of Wyoming has, in effect, 65 times the representation in the United States Senate as does one Californian.
For our House of Representatives, the situation is not nearly so unbalanced. The most populous Congressional District is the State of Montana, with about 975 thousand residents. The least populous District is the State of Wyoming (with its mere 550 thousand). These figures are based on 2009 estimates. So, roughly, a resident of Wyoming has twice the Congressional representation as does a resident of Montana. California has 53 Congressional Districts. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming have only one.
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Monday, January 18th, 2010
"There
are certain technical words within every academic discipline that soon become
stereotypes and clichés. Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more
than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word 'maladjusted'.
This word is the ringing cry to modern child psychology. Certainly, we all want
to avoid the maladjusted life. We all want the well-adjusted life in order to
avoid neurotic, schizophrenic personalities.
But
I say to you, there are certain things in our nation and in the world to which I
am proud to be maladjusted and to which I hope all men will be maladjusted. I
say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and
discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never
intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from
the many to give luxuries to the few."
Martin
Luther King, December 18th, 1963
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
Aldous Huxley
died on the most infamous day in the last half century: November 22,
1963. For that reason, rather little media attention was given to his
passing. Months went went by (as
people recovered from the shock of John Kennedy's murder)
before most people heard that the author of
Brave New World...was
gone!
A
similar posthumous fate awaited
Joe Rollino, 'the world's
strongest man' (though only 5'5" tall and
weighing but 155 pounds). Rollino did not smoke, drink, eat meat
and was celibate throughout most of his life. This man's remarkable story came to
a (quite literally)
pedestrian end on the morning of the day before the biggest humanitarian
catastrophe to strike North America in a half millennium (since the European invasion of the 1500's). Last
Monday morning Joe Rollino was crossing a street in Brooklyn (he walked at least
three miles every day) when
he
was hit by a minivan...two months shy of his 105th birthday.
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
"This
will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate. They'll
use this to burnish their, shall we say, 'credibility' with the black community
-- in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.
It's made-to-order for them. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there, could
not wait to get out there. Now, I want you to remember, it took him three days
to respond to the Christmas Day Fruit of Kaboom Bomber, three days. And when he
came out after those three days, he was clearly irritated that he had to do it.
He didn't want to do it. He comes out here in less than 24 hours to speak about
Haiti."
Rush Limbaugh, speaking
yesterday on his radio show. [Dunno
about you...but I can't even tell what his point is!]
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
"And
you know, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want
to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon
the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They
said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' True story. And
so the Devil said, 'Okay, it's a deal.’ And, uh, they kicked the French out, you
know...the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they have
been cursed by, by one thing after another, desperately poor. That island of
Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti on
the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is, is prosperous,
healthy, full of resorts, etcetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island.
They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God and out of
this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come."
Pat Robertson, speaking today on
The 700 Club
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Newman, of Houston, Texas, courtesy of Lin
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Sunday, January 10th, 2010 Happy Birthday, Marilyn
The photograph at left (used by permission) was taken by my buddy Randy in 1997, using his own backyard telescope in Benicia, California. It is a snap of the Hale-Bopp comet (named after the two astronomers who discovered it), which was visible to the naked eye for about eighteen months...a record in modern times. Fascinating to ponder: it has been calculated that this object last visited our 'neighborhood' in the year 2215 BC, although no written account of it has been found. Assuming a period of roughly 4,200 years, it will next come our way in about the year 4,385...although a lot could happen between then and now to throw off this reckoning. Best estimates of the comet's speed yield ~27 miles per second (or 97,200 miles per hour)!
Click on the thumbnails below to see a moon shot, a beautiful view of the night sky (featuring nebulae) and the telescope itself...in its 'house'...complete with a sliding roof to protect it from the elements. Cool!
