So you think a gallon of gas is expensive? Perhaps this table will put things in perspective.

Diet Snapple - 16 oz:	$1.29	=	$ 10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea - 16 oz:	$1.19	=	$ 9.52 per gallon
Gatorade - 20 oz:	$1.59	=	$ 10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray "Cocktail" - 16 oz:	$1.25	=	$ 10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid - 12 oz:	$3.15	=	$ 33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil - 6 oz:	$8.35	=	$178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol - 4 oz:	$3.85	=	$123.20 per gallon
Whiteout - 7 oz:	$1.39	=	$ 25.42 per gallon
Scope - 15 oz:	$0.99	=	$ 84.48 per gallon
*** And this is the REAL KICKER ***
Evian water - 9 oz:	$1.49	=	$ 21.19 per gallon

$21.19 for WATER?!
And the buyers don't even know the source for that water!
HINT #1: The water source is a 3-letter word that begins with "T" and ends with "A - P"
HINT #2: "Evian" spelled backwards is Naive.

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, or Nyquil.

At least this explains why the guy in the next cube (at work) is always broke: he drives a big ol' pickup - and he runs on Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, and Nyquil (plus - I think he snorts brake fluid, but I'm not sure).

Anyone who reads this blog has probably figured out that I'm not a fan of the pharmaceutical industry. There is something that Big Pharma does right:

What is the Partnership for Prescription Assistance?

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need through the program that is right for them. Many will get their medications free or nearly free.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance will help you find the program that’s right for you, free of charge. Remember, you will never be asked for money by a PPA Call Center representative, or on this Web site.

This is a long post, but well worth your time.

View long post.

Woodie Guthrie summed it up well:

"I never stopped to think of it before, but you know - a policeman will jest stand there and let a banker rob a farmer, or a finance man rob a workin' man.

But if a farmer robs the banker, you would have a whole army of cops shooting at him.

Robbery is a chapter in etiquette."

According to Carrie Prejean, the Bible Allows Breast Implants. In an interview with Christianity Today, Carrie Prejean uses the Bible to defend her cosmetic enhancement.

She states "No, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting breast implants as a Christian. I think it's a personal decision. I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says you shouldn't get breast implants."

I'll grant her that the Bible probably doesn't ban hooter heightening. I could be wrong, but I don't think that silicone stuffing was an issue back when the Bible banned everything.

The Bible does prohibit body-altering in some forms:

• Deuteronomy 14:1: "Ye are the sons of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead."
  
  
• 1 Kings 18:28: "And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them."

As I understand it, God made you. Should you go changing God's Creation to suit your plans to use your body to gain fame and wealth?

• 1 Corinthians 3:16: "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple."
  
  
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
  
  
• Genesis 1:31: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."
  

The real boob job is Miss Prejean herself. I disagree with what she said about "same marriage" and "opposite marriage" in 'the pageant,' but that doesn't bother me. After all, I disagree with just about everyone, even the voices in my head.

My problem with her is that she's dug herself into a hole, and refuses to put down the shovel. Instead of casting herself as a poor victim abused by the pageant, liberals, faggots, the news media, and on and on, she should just shut up. When the dust settles, she should find a role besides victim. Then move on. Surely someone who is pretty (and now has a great rack) and has a stage presence can find a way to serve humanity and/or herself and/or God.

Carrie, a tip for you: keep your mouth wired shut until you have at least 3 good clues - that would be 3 more than you have now.

Instead, she blames everyone else for her life going South, and blames most of the world mocking her stupidity. She's a liar and a cheat. She attempts to evade and avoid her past, present, and future.

Mostly, she's a hypocrite. Every time she gets caught in another act of hypocrisy, she writes it off as someone else's fault or her own imperfections. "I'm not perfect, " she says. Then she attacks and blames others, instead of granting them what she grants herself: the "I'm not perfect" excuse.

From the interview with Christianity Today:

Carrie: Perez Hilton wasn't even correct when asking the question. He said, "Vermont recently legalized same-sex marriage. Do you think other states should follow suit? Why or why not?"

Actually, the people in Vermont didn't even vote. It was the legislature that voted.

ME: [Actually, Miss Prejean, most laws everywhere in the USA are made by legislative bodies, not by individual voters.]

Carrie: It's funny, looking back now; obviously I'm a lot more educated now. I'm not a spokesperson for traditional marriage, but looking back now, it was such a biased question. For a judge to ask that question and have his own agenda, and if you don't agree with him, (he will) call you every name in the book and then mock you for seven months? That's just crazy.

ME: [Miss Prejean, you shouldn't judge him. After all, in your own words, you are not perfect - so anything goes. Shouldn't that apply to Hilton, too? Besides, whatever kind of pathetic creep he is isn't the issue. Your answer is the issue.

Interviewer: Have you forgiven him?

Carrie: Oh yeah. I actually feel really sorry for him. I really do. If you look at his website, it's kind of scary what he does.

ME: [Is that the way a real Christian forgives? The way I learned it, forgiveness doesn't include any IFs, ANDs, or BUTs; forgiveness does not include PITY. But you're a Christian, I'm not. I guess that makes you righter than I.]

Mary Chapin Carpenter: "Forgiveness doesn't come with a debt."

Why not just accept that YOU screwed up?

• Find the real you.
• Live with that real you or fix it.
• Be true to that real you; if you really want to be a Christian, learn what that means and start living it.
  
• Get your facts right before talking out of turn ('get' the 3 clues).
  

Or continue the hypocrisy, the lies, the evasions, the blaming everyone else. But please stop doing those in public.

6 Minutes of the funniest video that I've seen in years. Warning: the humor is a bit high-brow: no cats, no babies, no turds, no jackasses making, um, jackasses of themselves.


Note: this is 6 minutes of video. It will take while to download the stream.

Fox News	MSNBC
Claims "fair and balanced" coverage	Calls itself "the place for politics." It's more: it's a source for actual facts, supported by identified sources and sometimes audio or video or the subject
Try to imagine a FOX morning show hosted by Ron Reagan, Jr. (it ain't gonna happen)	Runs three-hour daily show featuring Joe Scarborough (a conservative from Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution.")
Bill O'Reilly	No angry white male talk show host that yells and frequently interrupts people. One host frequently has live interviews with people who disagree with her. Amazingly, many of those people come back for future interviews. Reason: they are treated with respect and allowed (encouraged) to present their ideas.
Frequently surreal, where opinions run rampant, without any facts to support the opinions, and no guests to actually present opposing ideas (or facts)	No prime-time show that is akin to watching A Clockwork Orange while taking LSD.
The closest they have to allowing a lesbian to comment on policy is Lindsey Graham	Diversity - real diversity
The Xenophobia Network	Not the network where Lou Dobbs ultimately ends up.
Covered some trivial cases of voter registration fraud (not election fraud) by community-organizing group ACORN	Covered the global economic collapse and a presidential election.
Glenn Beck. Steve Ducey. Shawn Hannity. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer. These people ooze ignorance, and they're not afraid to use it.	Entire line-up has Bachelors' or Masters' degrees; one has a PhD
Losing advertising because of biased programming	Gaining advertising (and market share) It's intersting that several right-wing special interest groups are placing ads on MSNBC during prime-time. My conclusion: those groups recognise that MSNBC fans are open-minded and might be persuaded by a good message
Organized anti-government tea parties comprised of people who have health insurance to try to guarantee that people with no health insurance remain uninsured	Keith Olbermann (MSNBC news show host) Organized free health clinics across the country to draw attention to the millions of people without health coverage. Note: at last count, Olbermann's viewers sponsored those free clinics to the tune of $1.7 million. Olbermann himself donated $25,000 to kick off the fund raiser. Interestingly, the bulk of the people who used the services at the first of the free clinics (more are scheduled) were not poor deadbeats who wanted something - anything - for free. They tended to be people with jobs (some with multiple jobs), but could not afford medical insurance or otherwise get needed medical care.
Note in the above section the term "organized." FOX creates events and then report on them as if the events were truly grass-roots efforts.	Has journalistic integrity.
Panders to audience by telling them what they want to hear.	Presents facts, even those that might be uncomfortable to hear. Encourages discussion of more than one side of an issue.

Sarah Palin is using the publication of her new book to settle some scores. Everyone from campaign staffers that did her wrong to interviewers from the "mainstream media" that were too hard on her are on the hit list. Here are some shocking additional entries found in the pocket of one of her $150,000 worth of campaign outfits:

• People that don't use co-authors to write their autobiographies for them [wisely, she didn't write the book herself]


• Honesty [she's been known to,um.... fib and stretch the truth]


• Vegetarians, vegans


• Vetting [what the McCain campaign didn't do before choosing her as McCain's 'running mate']


• Liberals like Newt Gingrich who opposed her endorsement of [ultra-conservative carpetbagger] Hoffman in the upstate NY-23 race [a congressional election in which Palin supported a non-local to run against the incumbent Republican]


• Commitment: like finishing a full term as governor [quitting her job as governor mid-term - among other such actions in a lifetime of bailing out when the going gets tough]


• Logic


• Wolves [she boasts of her sportsmanship - like shooting wolves ... from a helicopter]


• Self-analysis


• Spreading the wealth [except in Alaska where a windfall profit tax on oil companies was used to send $1,200 to every Alaskan in addition to the $2,069 they received from other 'public' funds] windfalls

http://mk1.netatlantic.com/t/8856800/1135155/56398/0/

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough; remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and start to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded With an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - Family, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else -- The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap.

'Take care of the golf balls first -- The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.

'I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

A few days this column schooled y'all in brains and nerves and stuff like that.

One area of the brain has some neurotransmitters that specialize in sending signals via the brain chemicals serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Those chemicals impact feelings such as pleasure and mood. When they get out of whack, the person whose brain is malfunctioning is hindered in

• experiencing pleasure
• being interested in anything
• maintaining normal relationships
• having feelings of self-worth.

Behavior can become erratic and even suicidal.

This syndrome (collection of symptoms) is Depression.

Depression is not grief or disappointment or dismay or temporary unhappiness (as in 'this too shall pass'). Depression is a real physical and mental illness. It can be disabling and it can be deadly.

A diabetic cannot will away the blood sugar and related issues. Someone with cancer cannot shrink tumors through sheer will power. The person who is truly depressed cannot just "cheer up" or "smile away the blues." If you think I'm over-dramatizing the significance - think again. Depression is statistically in the top 10 causes of death in the USA. While it's not proven, that ranking is likely to be even higher, because it is likely that many deaths directly result from depression but are not attributed to depression because something else seems to be the cause of death. Note: while all depression does not lead to suicide, nearly all suicides involve depression.

Consider this: if someone leaves a suicide note and then is found dead from something obvious (OD, jumping from a bridge, and such) then the death is easily attributed to suicide. What if the death occurs during an automobile "accident" that isn't really an "accident." What if the death is attributed to liver or kidney failure due to excessive, chronic consumption of alcohol? If the addict had problems with depression (most addicts do), and if the depression had been treated ... perhaps the person could have better dealt with the addiction, and not died from the organ failure that gets counted in the official records.

In other words, depression kills even more than what the statistics show. It's also more common that many people know. For example, according to the world Health Organization, Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44.

According to a friend who is an MD at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Seattle, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the accompanying Depression is the leading "injury" affecting USA military personnel who have served in combat zones. He added that the overwhelming majority of those people go untreated, and that they live "lives of quiet desperation," without anyone else understanding the misery. Occasionally a vet 'snaps' and makes it onto the 6 O'Clock News, but most live with bouts of (or chronic) depression. No, I haven't researched the actual numbers; however, what he said is not in the least bit surprising to me.

My own depression went undiagnosed and untreated for most of my life. It wasn't until a PTSD-inducing event affected me so profoundly that I had to seek medical intervention. In the course of treatment for PTSD, my chronic depression bubbled up to the surface. The diagnosis of depression and subsequent treatment revealed why my life had been so erratic.

Anti-depressants help the brain's neurotransmitters to get those brain chemicals (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) into a balance that enables the sufferer (trust me, it is truly suffering) get to be more normal in terms of experiencing pleasure, maintaining relationships, taking interest in activities, and having a will to live.

Anti-depressants are not 'happy pills' or any such nonsense. Taking an antidpressant will not get one high or cheerful. An antidepressant dose is a part of a larger regimen of medication, psychological therapy, exercise, diet - all aimed at bringing into balance not just brain chemistry, but an entire lifestyle.

Depression is real.
Depression is a killer.
Depression can be treated.

depressionisreal.com
mentalhealthamerica.net
nami.org

"Sarah Palin's new book (Going Rogue)reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as

• a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime
• a reformer without ties to powerful interests
• a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition."

Sadly, she probably deludes herself into believing those, um...., fantasies.

Some specifics:

• Frugality With Taxpayer Money
  
  PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.
  
  THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.
  
  
• Who Supported Her Campaign When She Ran For Governor
  
  
PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.

THE FACTS: Her campaign funding came largely from Republican party committees, special-interest Political Action Committees (PACs) who gave the maximum allowed, and individual donors who likewise maxed out. She accepted donations from a politician AFTER he had been indicted on corruption charges.


• The Recent Federal "Bail-out"
  
  
PALIN:

• after the bailout: "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."
• During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout.
• After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."

THE FACTS: In railing against taxpayer-financed bailouts - which she incorrectly attributes to Obama - Palin is blurring the lines.

• Obama's stimulus plan includes a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts.
• Bush's plan — the federal bailout of the Wall Street firms that caused the financial meltdown — was the one that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.


• History and Economics
  

PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."

THE FACTS:

• the estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan
• capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.
• economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse.
• the recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month
• the recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown
• in Reagan's recession, unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent
• in the current recession, in October 2009 , unemployment peaked at a high of 10.2 percent.


• Bidding For Government Contracts
  

PALIN: her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.

THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.


• Conflicts Of Interest
  
  
PALIN: Criticizes a conflict of interest because an aide to her predecessor aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for Exxon-Mobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.

THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.


• Federal Funding
  

PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.

THE FACTS: Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.


• Some More:
  
  as the mayor of Wasilla (AK), Palin
  
  • pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house
  • did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.
  • asked the city council to loosen rules for snowmobile races when she and her husband owned a snowmobile store
  • cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one.

Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/11/13/national/w141351S39.DTL, which cites FACT CHECK.ORG

The body communicates internally via electrical impulses through nerves and their tell-all components, neurons. Those communications might be transmitting messages such as "ouch, that's hot," or "then move your finger away from the heat, dummy," or "um-m-m-m, donuts."

Nerves are the main conduits for information. The nerves are comprised of - among other things - neurons. The neurons are 'excitable' cells. What excites them is data. When excited (which is most of the time) neurons gossip among themselves, thus passing on that data. Most normal gossip flows to or from the brain in a reasonably orderly fashion.

Neurons also exist throughout the brain. There they perform the same function: move data.

Whereever located, and whatever their function, neurons exchange information by exchanging chemicals - somewhat like trading spit to say "I want to get into your pants." One cell's neurotransmitters release chemicals that are received by another cell's neuroreceptors. The specifics of the chemicals determine the message conveyed (and the message received).

Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.

Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body. Transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.

Context check:

120 meters/sec = 268.4 miles/hour
0.5 meters/sec = 1.1 miles/hour ¹
170 miles/hour = roughly, um, 170 miles per hour

¹ This lower figured has been measured in in the brains of Homer Simpson, his barroom friends, and people who watch Faux-Fake-Phony-Fox News.

Sources:

1. Bootstrapper.
2. Me.
3. Watching Faux-Fake-Phony-Fox News viewers in action.

I live near a Navy Base. It's not just any Navy Base. It's a base where many Navy personnel want to serve and retire. What can I say? This is a great place to live.

As a result of this phenomenon, many of my friends are active duty or retired Navy.

I made it a point to wish them well on their day: Veterans' Day, November 11.

What I didn't say was that it's ludicrous that we Americans have put those people and their families through such hell by starting wars, invading countries, destabilizing societies - all for no good purpose.

Yes, that includes Afghanistan. If the objective really had been to crush Al Queda and bring Bin Laden and friends to justice, it could have been accomplished without war. Our leaders blew several opportunities to do exactly that.

And now, after years upon years of wasted lives, resources, and international support, Bin Laden has not been brought to justice. Plus, Al Queda is stronger than ever and has more international support than before we started the war. And those whom we are supposed to believe aided Bin Laden (Taliban) are very effectively helping us to waste even more lives, resources, and international support.

Our involvement in Iraq is winding down. The one thing that Bush did right was to accept the treaty that the Iraqis pushed onto us. Someday soon we will be free of that mess.

Perhaps the 'new, improved' ¹ US government will find a way out of Afghanistan. Sadly, the inevitable military loss there will highlight OUR many, many losses. Yet, it must be done. And we will have to face the same shame that we did after losing the war in Viet Nam.

As an ex-Navy officer asked Congress "How do we ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Yet, we must. We have to stop our bleeding. We have to heal. We have to find and execute a good strategy for dealing with terrorism. Afghanistan has to heal.

May we never make that mistake again. It would be nice - every day, not just on Veterans' Day - if we could honor our veterans for very real sacrifices to a cause that is just. It's been a long time coming.

¹ OK, OK. Something cannot be both NEW and IMPROVED at the same time. The terms are mutually exclusive. Haven't you ever heard of 'poetic license?'

Axiom #1: If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS.

That leads to The Law of Misnomers:

When naming a product, give it a name that will lull the consumer into a false sense of security.

Redmond's Classic Application of the Law of Misnomers:

Microsoft Excel.	Doesn't.
Microsoft Works.	Yeah, right.....

• Today's Earworm ¹ [Bolero (Maurice Ravel)]
  Listen to a snippet - and get your very own earworm¹.

• Today's Tune Cootie ¹[Bolero (Maurice Ravel)])
  Listen to a snippet - and get your very own tune cootie¹.

• Today's Repetune¹[Bolero (Maurice Ravel)]
  Listen to a snippet - and get your very own repetune¹.

Normally there would be different tunes listed above. Today, however, I've been listening to



The album is ten different renditions of this unique masterwork.

¹ From your favorite blog, January 25, 2009: Ear Worms, Tune Cooties, and Reptunes

The strongest muscle in your body is your tongue (it's the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size).

• It takes 17 muscles to smile
• You have to use 43 muscles to frown.
• You use 200 muscles to take one step - and most of us take 10,000 steps a day. But who's counting?
  

There's a message in there somewhere, but damphyno what it is.

Source: I read it on the internet, so it must be true.

Jonah:	Save the Whales
The Israelites:	Blow The Shofar If You Love Moses
Elijah:	My Other Chariot Rolls
David:	God-Gold-Guts-Slingshots
Goliath:	Support the Ban on Slingshots
Lot:	If You Can’t See Sodom, You’re Too Close
Methuselah:	Be Kind to Senior Citizens
The Egyptians:	Ankh If You Love Isis

Shamelessly boosted from
Jim Hightower's newsletter:
Hightower Lowdown

Huh?

Bishop Ussher (Crackpot-N.Ireland) calculated that The Creation occurred 6,014 years ago today.

That's October 23, 4004 BC.

In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, Gen. 1, v. 1. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob[er] in the year of the Julian [Period] 710. The year before Christ 4004. The Julian Period 710.

So why is this year's birthday NOT 23-October-2009?

Do the math. Then factor in the errors in the Julian calendar that he used. The Julian Calendar was designed without accounting for the fact that 1 year is NOT 365 days. True, the Julianistas knew about the extra 1/4 day. However, even that is not exact enough. There are several issues involved in defining and calculating the length of the year.

By 1582 it was clear (even to the Holy Roman Church) that the calendar was WAY, WAY off. Legend has it that the problem was that the Julian Calendar's errors were messing with the date of Easter. I don't know (and don't care) if that's true.

Pope Greg il tredicesimo had his minions straighten out the mess. The Gregorian Calendar was the result. It turns out that the Julian version was off by several days. So, In February 1582, the calendar was corrected by skipping a few days. That solution was fraught with problems and opportunities.

What if your parents didn't get the memo, and you were born in late February, 1582? The date on which you were born didn't exist. Does that mean that you didn't exist? Or was your life's day count debited or credited with the number of missing days? Did someone have to kill you a few days early? Did people pretend that you lived a week or so longer than you actually lived? What about your life insurance policy?

Even that fix wasn't precise enough, and every few decades someone has to move a day from the end of the list and sneak it back into the part of the sequence prior to 1582. So the Julian calendar gets wronger and wronger.

For us mere mortals, all of this has little significance. Beyond the inconvenience of a February 29 every few years (and that is quite a leap), who really cares? In the big picture, it only matters to geologists, anthropologists, physicists, astronomers, and cosmologists (like Stephen Hawking). THEY are the ones who have to straighten it out in their calculations of millions of years and billions of years and such. That Julian thing really threw a wrench into their so-called discoveries.

It might even prove that dinosaurs and humans really did coexist, just as made obvious at the Creation Museum.

You see, during those lost days, God sneaked in those pesky fossils and darned layers of sediment. S/he tweaked the evidence of the age of stars by pumping in a bunch of extra Hydrogen ... you get the idea. Why not? No one was looking, because those days didn't exist.
The Scopes Trial took that same number of days to pit God against Darwin. Coincidence? I think not.

BTW, Scopes was convicted. By the time that the Tennessee Supreme Court set aside the fine imposed by the original trial judge, Scopes had already moved on. That suggests an important question: why would a man of science want to leave a Bible Belt state? But I digress.

On a happy note, I suspect that Mother Earth won't mind if you took advantage of the 13-day oopsie. Your belated card/gift weren't quite so late - or maybe even a few days early.

Americans have a tendency to get worked up over nothing. And, as Santayana warned, we seemed to be doomed to repeat that stupid lather. Lather - Rinse - Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Examples of past moronics (which no doubt will, and in some cases already have, come back):

1. "News" about razor blades in apples distributed to trick-or-treaters at Halloween. (early '80s).
   
   It turned out to be an isolated incident, followed by a few copycats.
   
   
2. Epidemic of shark attacks. (2002).
   
   This was no more than an epidemic of news attacks - much ado about nothing. Actual shark attack statistics showed no significant change. It's the sort of thing that helps tabloid 'news' papers and FAKES NEWS radio and TV thrive.
   
   
3. Y2K. (Y2K).
   
   BFD.
   
   
4. Global Warming. (Continuously since 1970s).
   
   The real phenomenon is complicated by a lot of hot air from businesses that don't want to be held accountable for past, present, and future pollution - and the right-wingers paid by those same corporations to deny science and obfuscate the issues. It is actually Global Climate Change - in which
   
   
   1. some parts of the planet will experience net average temperature increases.
      
      
   2. some parts of the planet will experience net average temperature decreases.
      
      
   3. the overall trend and major meteorological impact for the entire planet will be net average temperature increases.
      
      
   4. the results will be - to life as we know it - catastrophic.
      
      
5. Hyperinflation. (Every time that Republicans lose their grip on the reins of economic power).
   
   This is another right-wing fantasy. Hyperinflation has occurred in countries that had poor economic policies and suffered social upheavals. Examples include the European countries that lost major wars - and were left by the victors to flounder. These scare stories are spread to frighten people into agreeing to destructive national economic policies - policies which will benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone who is not wealthy. Interestingly, the warning signs always appear after long periods of Repubnican control of the economy.
   
   
6. Reagan Democrats. (1980 - 2006).
   
   OK, that one stuck around for more than a generation, and set back progress - scientific, social, economic - by more than a generation. I don't want to frighten anyone, but that one will return as long as Americans will fall for the BS from anyone (or any communications medium) that appeals to their basest fears .... just like today (see Faux News).
   
   
7. Vaccinations cause Autism. Fluoridated water poisons people. Polio, measles, diphtheria, mumps, and smallpox mysteriously went away in countries where there is universal vaccination. Lack of religious fanaticism causes social decay. (Slippery, virus-like mutations since the beginning of time).
   
   Like 'global baloney', teabagging, 'birth certificate BS, and such - these appeal to people who love to hate reality.
   
   
8. Universal Health Care is socialism and will turn our nation's people into a bunch of commie-pinko-fag-junkies. (1930s, 1960s, double-oughts [this decade]).
   
   And how is UHC different from Medicare? Universal Health Care for Geezers, which because of its political appeal, is a sacred American tradition that the Founding Fathers favored (note the sarcasm). Medicare will remain sacred as long as seniors vote. UHC will remain the end of life as we know it until it is allowed - and succeeds spectacularly, just as has Medicare .... and then as long as humans vote.
   
   
9. Swine flu. (1976).
   
   It turned out to be no big deal. No, wait.

There are hundreds, nay thousands, more examples. Feel free to write me about the many, many more BFDs that have been imposed on people who actually think and use reason as a basis for learning and acting.

It's easy to say ... if you don't consider these:

The following endeavors are discussed in the book, Government's Greatest
Achievements: Civil Rights to Homeland Security.

Rebuilt Europe After World War II

Expanded the Right to Vote

Promotes Equal Access to Public Accommodations

Works (successfully) To Reduce Disease

Reduced Workplace Discrimination

Ensures Safe Food and Drinking Water

Strengthed Our Nation's Highway Systems

Increased Older Americans' Access to Health Care (when Republicans are NOT in charge)

Balances Federal Budget (when Republicans are NOT in charge)

Promotes Financial Security in Retirement (which the GOP would love to destroy - after allowing Wall St to sucker Americans out of their retirement savings)

Improves Water Quality

Supports Veterans Readjustment and Training

Promotes Scientific and Technological Research (over the objections of Repubnicans)

Promotes and Protects Democracy

Improves Air Quality

Enhances Workplace Safety

Strengthens Our National Defense. A thought .... the only wars America have lost have been under Republican presidents - although Obama eventually will have to give up in Afghanistan. Note: Bush is the one who capitulated to the demands of the new Iraqi government and agreed to remove US troops by 2012

Reduces Hunger

Improves Nutrition

Increases Access to Post-Secondary Education

Enhances Consumer Protection

Expands Foreign Markets for US Goods

Increases the Stability of Financial Institutions and Markets (when Republicans are NOT in charge)

Increase Arms Control & Disarmament

Protects the Wilderness (except when, well, you already know...)

Promotes Space Exploration

I Give Evolution Two Opposable Thumbs Up

Why Does Every Nation Who Has It Keep It?

1. If Canada's single-payer system is so god-awful, why have repeated Conservative governments at the provincial and national level in Canada never touched it? Canada is a democracy. If Canadians don't like their health care system, why haven't they gotten rid of it in 35 years? Since the system there is run by the separate provinces, many of which are very politically conservative, why has not one province ever tried to get rid of single-payer?
   
   
2. Why is rationing by income, as we do it here, better than rationing by need, as they do it in Canada?
   
   
3. Wouldn't single-payer mean that companies could no longer threaten working people with the loss of their health insurance? Why is this a bad idea?
   
   
4. The bigger the insurance pool, the better. So doesn't having a national pool, as with single-payer, make the most sense?
   
   
5. Why should we be allowing politicians who are taking money from the medical industry to write the new health care legislation?
   
   
6. How can the Congress be developing a health system reform scheme and not even invite experts from Canada down to explain their successful system?
   
   
7. If Medicare--a single-payer system here in America--is so popular with the elderly, how come it's no good for the rest of us?
   
   
8. Isn't it true that Medicare currently finances the most costly patient group--the elderly and infirm--so that extending it to the rest of the population--most of whom are young and healthy--would be much cheaper, per person?
   
   
9. The AMA, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and the Insurance Industry all bitterly opposed Medicare in 1964-5 when it was being debated in Congress and passed into law, with the right, led by Ronald Reagan, calling it creeping socialism. It became a life-saver for the elderly and didn't turn the US into a soviet republic. Why should we give a tinker's damn what those same three industry groups and the Republican right think of expanding single-payer now?
   
   
10. The executives of Canadian subsidiaries of US companies all support Canada's single-payer system, and even lobby collectively to have it expanded and better funded. Why does Congress listen to the executives of the parent companies here at home, and not invite those Canadian execs down to explain why they like single-payer?
    

Gleefully and shamelessly ripped off from one of my daily web reads:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/9181