The Rage and the Humor; Out of My Mind for 22 July 2009

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. — Joseph Conrad

Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it’s cowardice. — George Jackson

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. — Thomas Jefferson [not much of a Christian Founding Father, huh?]

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence. — Buddha

Attention, wingnuts and the rest of the America-hating GOP “conservatives”:

He, who by good deeds covers the evil he has done, illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds. — Buddha

Of course, when one provides journalistic excellence — journalism that matters — you can attract an audience even if you’re a newspaper.

Cretin: This WaPo putz has it exactly backwards: Cronkite left no legacy except nostalgia for an era of journalistic honesty and competence.

Assholes: The Israelis, picking on the castrated, impotent Gazans.

Asshole and cretin: Beloved Leader’s anti-sex abstinence policy increases teen pregnancies.

Indeed, why not increase taxes on Big Wealth when gratuitous, unnecessary cuts helped fuel the speculation bubble that brought us to this point in the first place?

Assholes: Whoever did this.

Essential reading: How to protect yourself from surveillance so you can excercise a little freedom.

His crime: Being black. Charges dropped but that's almost besides the point. Click on the image for the full story.

Assholes: Everyone who drove this man to suicide. But in an oppressive capitalist/corporatist state, I guess one shouldn’t be too surprised.

Man held for contempt for 14 years freed. (and yes, the sentencing judge: asshole.)

Boycott of the Day: Jamba Juice. They earned it. Some things are too sacred to rip off without getting smacked for it.

In 1933, the American advertising industry loved Hitler.

Delayed for hundreds of years! Medieval military records available online at last!

Good, healthy games for your kids that don’t require their sitting on their growing asses.

See how cool Shaquille O’Neal really is!

Dead: The inventor of WD-40.

Dead: Half of Peter and Gordon.

Just in case you need to know how to raise an ape in your family (warning: may be outdated).

Much, Much Mellower; Out of My Mind for 2 July 2009

We’re far less independent than we used to be, aren’t we?

So the guy in this video was worship by us lefties ’cause he said some stuff that we liked to hear, but then the wingnuts started bashing him as being a whacko or something — IIRC. But clearly it looks like he was on to something….

Direct action for the public option. (Where’s Barack?) Stop the presses: Looks like a public option is again a possibility.

Xeni got this right: essential reading; Taibbi on Goldman Sachs. I say: read it, then kill the fuckers (I of course say that the exact same way Bill O’Reilly would were he referring to an abortionist.)

I used to like Harold Baer….

Sanford doesn’t have to quit. He can hang around forever, an inspiration for contempt for the modern, Palin wing of the GOP….

Speaking of what the GOP has to offer the world: Rush Limbaugh, GOP head: Michael Jackson was murdered. By Obama. Gotta be pretty sick to give this asshole any legitimacy.

This is cool!

This is not:

My wife might find this funny.

Wankery is actually a good thing.

Talk about incest! All the world’s ants are members of the same family?

Who doesn’t love day-glo???

What we used to create art before the digital era, brushes before Brushes, as it were. (Then again, this guy adapted….)

God bless the Chinese….

See an obsession.

To me, cars just get better and better (and I don’t refer to the flacid Prius):

The blackest black ever? (Not a [I can’t say the name] joke, but black is my favorite color.)

Who doesn't worship Jabba??

I love the movie this is from!

Uncategorizeable: Out of My Mind for 8 June 2009

This guy thinks Ronnie Raygun was worse than Beloved Leader. I still don’t know, I’m not convinced. Planting seeds isn’t quite the same as allowing and helping the crap to grow.

Crazy sick fucks, them North Koreans. This is inexcusable and unjustifiable.

It’s a lie that the Chinese can only, um, appropriate (okay, “copy”, steal). They can invent and innovate; pre-loaded censorware, for example.

Remember her.

Outdoor living like you’ve never seen!

Besides being a brilliant Nobel-laureate economist and politically as impeccable as one can be, Professor K is a geek.

I have to be in the mood for a martini, so Saturday night’s was, contrary to the opinion of the person who told me to have one, was unexciting, a little pedestrian, I guess. What it was, though, was shaken, not stirred, and the former is, unlike the latter, kind of healthy.

Only the French….

Is it news that the gummint’s rewarding Big Finance for their greed-addled destructive (to say the least) speculation?

Wotta surprise: Another story the Times got wrong. And which the blogosphere is correcting….

Videolapalooza and More! Out of My Mind 29 April 2009

“What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t invent with your mouth.” — Yiddish Proverb

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? — Buddha

Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere. /.

This isn’t an ad (much as I love Macs) or even any sort of PSA. It’s just witty and factually informative:

As Atrios might say, Pakistan is truly fucked up and getting worse. Wotta mess!

It’s heart was clearly in the right place but my beloved “Quantum of Solace” was wrong. Quantum shouldn’t been trying to take control of Bolivia’s water but it’s titanium:

Another reasonable primer on the swine flu that will kill us all America-loving patriotic conservatives slowly and painfully.

Listen: The Swine Flu Sings! (About it here.)

Your grannie had one of these? If so, she wouldn’t have had your parent, maybe….

Another health threat: Crappy electronic medical records systems.

The true chair of the GOP dictates speaks. Get on your goose-stepping boots, dittoheads and the rest of the “loyal” opposition….

Whooaa! A small victory for freedom. Notice how all these victories, such as they are, come from the judiciary and none from the other branches of government?

Smoking Can be Good for You; Fight Alzheimer’s with a Toke!

Truth!

Men’s Health Tips of the Day

Men might want to remember a new rhyme: a drink a day keeps erectile dysfunction away.

Despite traditional views about the effects of booze on male performance, new research suggests that moderate drinking actually protects against impotence in the long term – perhaps for the same reason a glass or two of wine a day cuts the odds of suffering from heart disease. [more]

And:

Masturbation may be good for you – or bad, depending on your age. The solitary sexual activity that is widely practised but little discussed, is linked with an increased risk of prostate cancer when practised frequently by young men in their twenties and thirties, doctors say.

 

But by the time men reach their fifties, it may protect against the disease because it helps remove toxins that have built up over a lifetime.

Prostate cancer is known to be driven by the male hormone testosterone, and men with high levels of testosterone tend to have a higher sex drive and a higher risk of the cancer.

But most research has examined older men because prostate cancer is unusual under 50. Researchers at the University of Nottingham studied the link between sexual activity in younger men and the disease to see if it affected their long-term risk. More than 400 men with prostate cancer diagnosed before the age of 60 were questioned about their sexual habits over the preceding decades and the results compared with 400 controls.

The findings showed that those who had been most sexually active in their twenties – having sexual intercourse or masturbating more than 20 times a month – were more likely to have the cancer. Frequent masturbation, but not sexual intercourse, in the twenties and thirties was significantly linked with the later development of prostate cancer.

In their 50s men who were most sexually active (more than 10 times a month for sexual intercourse and masturbation combined) enjoyed a small protective effect. The effect was greater when masturbation was assessed on its own. [more]

Health Tip of the Day

Via /.:

“Recent studies by Finnish and Swedish researchers have shown that drinking moderate amounts of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people. The reason for this is as yet unknown, although it has been hypothesized that the high levels of antioxidants found in coffee may play a role in preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s. Alternatively, some studies have shown that coffee can protect nerves, which may help prevent Alzheimer’s. Other studies have shown that coffee may also help to protect against diabetes, another disease which has been shown to have links to Alzheimer’s disease. However, researchers warn against drinking too much coffee, as 3 cups or more may cause hallucinations.”

Guess it’s a “buy” sign for Starbuck’s….

PSA of the Day

And seriously, remember: Even great sex isn’t worth dying for.

Health Tip of the Day; Homemade Alka-Seltzer

This is huge, but what’s the formula for Bromo??

As I was making bath bombs to give for Christmas I felt a little heartburn. I reached for the Alka Seltzer… Wow… $8.99 for 36 tablets! One dose is made of 2 tablets, so that comes to 50 cents per dose. Then I looked at the active ingredients. Citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. Exactly what I was using for the bath bombs! Sour salt and baking soda! I made a rapid calculation: one dose comes to 2 grams of citric acid, and 3.88 grams of baking soda. If I figure that citric acid costs $4/lb and baking soda is $1/lb, the exact same dose of alka selzer’s active ingredients would cost me about 2.5 cents to make myself…. Twenty times less than the store bought version! OK to be fair, I didn’t figure the cost of filler, and the store bought alka selzer also contained aspirin, but I neither needed nor wanted the aspirin. Even if you end up spending more on the citric acid and less for the Alka Seltzer than I did, you’ll still come out ahead.

Disclaimer: I am neither a doctor, a pharmacist nor a chemist. I figured out the dose of the ingredients by weighing them and then converting the measurements to volumes, because it’s a more convenient way of measuring for most people. All the warnings on the Alka Selzer label apply for this concoction:

Warnings
Ask a doctor before use if you have a sodium-restricted diet
Ask a doctor or pharmacist before use if you are presently taking a prescription drug.
Antacids may interact with certain prescription drugs.
When using this product do not exceed recommended dosage
Stop use and ask a doctor if you have taken the maximum dose for 2 weeks
If pregnant or breast-feeding, ask a health professional before use.
Keep out of reach of children.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Directions
adults and children 12 years and older
Fully dissolve two teaspoons in 4 ounces of water before taking
2 teaspoons every 4 hours as needed, or as directed by a doctor
do not exceed 8 teaspoons in 24 hours
adults 60 years and over
2 teaspoons every 4 hours as needed, or as directed by a doctor
do not exceed 4 teaspoons in 24 hours
children under 12 years
consult a doctor

Link.

Use This Post to Test for Dementia!

Sarcasm used to test for incipient dementia.

Me, I never joke about anything.