Took me a while, but I said I’d have tales (and tails) from the Mother Earth News Fair. So here are a couple. The young lady with the radiant smile is — you can tell! — a member of the furry community. She wears her tail happily and presented me with a bushy faux wolf tail of my very own. Furry folk are much misunderstood and (you won’t be surprised) sometimes discriminated against for their playful self-expression. (The example at the last link happened on private property, so the security guards in question were probably within their rights — which…
Category: Health and Science
I’m headed to another town to pick up a foster dog. I’m not ready for this. I told the local group I’d start fostering this summer, but things have been so unsettled I was considering ways to weasel out of my commitment. This is such a sad case, though. I couldn’t say no. The incoming dog is a nine-year-old who’s bouncing back to the group because a placement made six years ago has gone sour. The dog, a female black Lab mix, was very much loved. Then the adopter had babies, and “Betsy” never took to them. Eighteen months ago,…
This is a damned depressing week. The bloodlust, the knee-jerk government worship, and the “I’ll kick your ass if you don’t agree with me” attitude about bin Laden’s death remind me (ironically) of the weeks following 9/11 when half the country went insane. I’ll probably have more to say about that, but right now I’m in one of my Deep Thought modes. I’m useless while I’m thinking. So here’s a little more miscellany while my brain churns. More long-time health-and-diet wisdom bites the dust. Pity the poor folks who’ve subjected themselves to tasteless food for years. “Man Raised by Parents…
Eighteen years after Waco, some Branch Davidians reminisce. (Mainstream but interesting.) Sixteen years after Oklahoma City a fireman explains why he no longer trusts government. (Revisionist and eyewitness.) And in other news … Go ahead. Cuss. It’s good for you. Sitting, OTOH, isn’t. Next time somebody asks for your business card, Officer … (Side note: Do police ever tell the truth about their encounters with wronged “civilians”? Or is it possible that they really believe that any forceful comment or request from one of us is an offense, an affront, and an interference?) That poker bust. A sad waste of…
I think this is satire. But these days, ya never know. Sometimes it amazes me that the fedgov hasn’t arranged a convenient “accident” or “heart attack” for John Williams to keep him from telling inconvenient truths. Horsefeathers. Provocative horsefeathers, though. The quaintly interesting thing is that the author takes for granted that “government isn’t the problem” and expects readers to share his view — when his own words show otherwise. Okay, we’ve all heard the flap about IKEA. But should we tear our hair over America’s third-world status or cheer along with the politicians for “job creation”? “Is sugar toxic?”…
After yesterday, I’ve concluded that manual labor is too much like work. We writers are prone to get all whiny about what tough jobs we have and how we suffer for our Art. But I tell you, by the end of the day yesterday, if I’d have had to haul one more slab of drywall up that narrow, twisty attic stair, I’d have sat down on the steps and cried. —– Ten years ago I drywalled Cabin Sweet Cabin by myself (except for the ceiling, where I assisted somebody else). So I thought “piece of cake!” when I merely faced…
Even the Japanese government now says the radiation leaks have become dangerous to humans living nearby. The disaster is now considered a six — worse than Three Mile Island, less than Chernobyl — on the seven-level International Nuclear, Radiological Event Scale. Worth noting: Even a seven doesn’t imply the “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” scenario (scroll down for map and info on exposure levels). But just in case (and H/T L.D.), here and here are sites for monitoring the jet stream.
Good news (thanks to P.T.): the first 11 markets where Atlas Shrugged will be released. And a tiny hint of hopeful news (courtesy of Jim. B). Remember Nathan Fillion’s recent comment about wanting to revive Firefly? Well … The secret of long life isn’t what we’ve been told. But it may — no surprise — involve a depressing amount of exercise (NYTimes free subscription link). Whatever it involves, it doesn’t hinge on any “medical establishment” — as this depressing graph makes clear. For more impressive charts, check out Dave’s Friday blog. Silver. Shazam. The FDA pulls 500 prescription cold and…
I like wandering through old cemeteries. In the same spirit, every couple of years I visit the Social Security Death Index online. The entries there aren’t as poignant or informative as old tombstones (though they do contain something tombstones don’t — defunct SS numbers). But every once in a while I’ll think of people from a long time ago and enter their names. A depressing number of my old acquaintances turn out to be dead. Not because I’ve reached that age where it happens (knock wood), but because of war and drugs and other bad habits long ago. My best…
Plague death in Chicago: A scientific detective story. Don’t tell your cat-lady friends, but they’re being manipulated. Oh. I expect they already know that. A happier detective story: Finding the lost library of Thomas Jefferson. (NYTimes free subscription link.) How Obamacare is already damaging the U.S. medical system in ways that will be hard to undo even if the Rs are sincere about repealing or defunding it. How to be the luckiest guy on the planet in four easy steps. By James Altucher. You could nitpick the specifics. (I think his third goal sets him up for a fall, in…