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silveradeptThis is going to be quick - I have to get up early tomorrow morning and learn how to use a fire extinguisher on things that have gone up in flames. And then I get the full day of library stuff, too. So I’ll probably be ready for the weekend by the time I’m done tomorrow. W00t. Or somesuch.
Recall alert, and one that would have hit very close to home, had I not been learning how to cook form scratch. Banquet chicken and turkey pot pies are being recalled because of a salmonella outbreak. That also extends to “similar generic brands”. Which is the kind of brand of pot pie that I normally eat. But I’m safe in this case, because I haven’t bought any of them for the past few weeks.
In other food news, the fortune cookie teller's job just got harder, with the introduction of less-than-cheery fortunes. Now we may have to have some vibe-sensing to find the good fortunes and give them out. Or maybe we’ll make sure there’s someone with a lighter on hand and burn the bad fortune up. Finally, potatoes contain a large array of positive healthy compounds in them, so eat them however you want to (although some of that good stuff might be mitigated on deep frying and salting.)
As part of my profession, I get to pass along things that will be useful to you in your travels. I think I’m bookmarking this page at work, so that I remember to refer to it when people ask questions. Most of these resources are available for free, so here’s 20 good references that are not Wikipedia. Some of them are Wiki-likes with higher credentials, others are subject-specific resources.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Life just got a dedicated telescope, thanks to Paul Allen’s $50 million USD that bought a radio telescope and observatory for the SETI project. So now the search speeds up.
Something that might be considered just as far out in left field, Newsweek reports on a letter signed by 138 prominent Muslim clerics expressing a desire to live harmoniously with Christians. So long as the Christians aren’t waging war against Muslims on religious grounds, the document’s signers are more than willing to work with the People of the Book on living together in peace. Won’t stop extremists from hijacking the religion for their purposes (doesn’t stop them here, either), but it puts them more firmly in the extreme camp. The full text of the letter, "A Common Word Between Us and You", is available for perusal.
As George F. Will notes, it's so hard to be ostentatiously rich these days. While the rich do control darn near all the wealth, the status symbols that would otherwise mark them as being the super-rich are becoming more affordable. This might even fuel a drive for philanthropy and a competition to see who can give away the most money, rather than hoard it. Even members of Congress are complaining that their work week in Washington prevents them from doing much back home for their re-election campaigns. I don’t know, maybe a voting record would be a great way of telling your constituents how much you actually care for them? Of course, if they had access to that, they might start writing letters like the one that Klinton writes to Ron Paul about his false and contradictory statements made over the years. I note we’re still not to the primary elections, and there’s already been quite a bit of material slung about. To cap off the political discussion, Garrett Epps says we need to abolish the electoral college as a gigantically flawed institution of our past.
For those looking for a T-Shirt or other clothing bit that they saw in a movie or television program instead, perhaps Found Item Clothing can be of assistance? They recreate such things, and might have something in stock for you.
For those looking away from the commercial (creative as that idea is), Earth Rites has some comments about the Burning Man festival from this year, and how to get it to be more imaginative still and (re)turn it to a place where people do things in their own way, on their own time, with the help of others.
And delving into that which is simply strange - a doctor saved a patient's life by giving him an IV of vodka, scotch, whisky, and rum. Because alcohol was the appropriate cure for the poisoning, and the hospital’s supply of pure stuff had run out. Cranking Widgets also offers some tips on how to clean your arse when there's no dead tree roll.
There’s also a preview look at what some of the concept cars at the Tokyo Motor Show will look like. Some of those cars look really good, and others might look more like they came from a Michael Garrett drawing/painting.
The quiche competition gets underway again in the strange section, because strange is what all these nominees are. Making a strong showing on the “too effective PR campaign” is the Detroit automotive industry, which as the Slacktivist notes, has done an extremely good job at convincing the American populace that their cars suck, and that they don’t know the first thing about making good cars that are efficient, safe, and inexpensive. Although that’s probably not what they’re advertisements were saying. Another candidate for quiche is OnStar's announcement that capabilities will be built into General Motors’ 2009 vehicles with OnStar to have the vehicle acceleration cut at the request of police. The service is currently supposed to be opt-in, so only those that want to have their car stopped if it should be stolen will have it. This can, however, easily go from opt-in to opt-out, and then to no-option at all. Which could make it a field day for officers that believe in the crime of Driving While Black and the hacker/cracker/script kiddie that decides to make your car cut to idle on that country road where there aren’t people, after they’ve been following you. Installing the capability to stop a motor vehicle from functioning, even if the brakes and steering continue to work after acceleration is knocked out, is pretty damn stupid. Sure, high-speed chases might become nil. But that’s not the only occasion that someone would use it on.
Making a very strong contention for quiche is the "Christian" clown caught with a cache of pictures of naked young boys. Three boys also testified that he fondled them in their sleep. The minster wanted to do his outreach outside the country, perhaps so that there wouldn’t be someone right there to supervise and make sure he was on the up and up? A question, though - statistically speaking, do most child abusers/molesters have strong Christian beliefs, or is this just the tendency of media organizations to play up religious belief, especially when said belief would protest against that kind of abuse?
Before we get to the quiche awarding, take a short break and peruse cartoons against creationism. Have some laughs before the big finale.
All set? Here we go. The winner for tonight is a previous quiche winner (if quiche were being awarded retroactively, I’m pretty sure she’d know the recipe by now) and still an extremely stupid, stupid rat creature, Ann Coulter. Her latest remarks, uttered on a CNBC show, claim that Jews need to be "perfected" by becoming Christians. And not only does she say such, she defends it as being true. This coming from someone whom is supposedly educated, but she firmly believes that the only way people become perfect is by subjecting themselves to the Jeezis cult and obeying. This from someone whose book title is also supposed to be inflammatory. I would think that if anyone else were saying this, there would be pitchforks and torches gathered. This is either a good sign taht most of the country and world considers Ann to be a stupid, stupid rat creature not worthy of paying much attention to, or that enough people secretly or overtly sympathize with her than a mob in the forming would never reach the appropriate mass.
Having served quiche to those who deserve it, next to last for tonight, is something that I’m sure plenty of my viewing audience will get a kick out of - The Way of Coffee, a blog all about beans from someone who finds them a way of life rather than a means to a drink.
The last bit is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
las describing a creature that everyone seeks, including writers, but not everyone ever finds - the ever-elusive money fairies. Even those of us with steady jobs are still looking for the money fairies.
Did I mention that because I now have the resources of a library system at my disposal again, that I’ve picked up on my reading, and that my list of books to read is growing at what looks to be an exponential and accelerating pace? Although I did try to see if I could get one of the supervising librarians at the branch to try out Gaiman’s Sandman. Have no idea if it will work. Plus, there’s the back-and-forth with the teen selector about graphic novel choices, where I find myself outmaneuvered or met with “Thought of that. Going to buy it.” on all of my fronts? I can’t be the pioneering champion/crusader, not that I’d want to be, because my teen selector’s on the ball! There’s only one thing to say to all of this.
Sw33t.
And on that note, bed!
Recall alert, and one that would have hit very close to home, had I not been learning how to cook form scratch. Banquet chicken and turkey pot pies are being recalled because of a salmonella outbreak. That also extends to “similar generic brands”. Which is the kind of brand of pot pie that I normally eat. But I’m safe in this case, because I haven’t bought any of them for the past few weeks.
In other food news, the fortune cookie teller's job just got harder, with the introduction of less-than-cheery fortunes. Now we may have to have some vibe-sensing to find the good fortunes and give them out. Or maybe we’ll make sure there’s someone with a lighter on hand and burn the bad fortune up. Finally, potatoes contain a large array of positive healthy compounds in them, so eat them however you want to (although some of that good stuff might be mitigated on deep frying and salting.)
As part of my profession, I get to pass along things that will be useful to you in your travels. I think I’m bookmarking this page at work, so that I remember to refer to it when people ask questions. Most of these resources are available for free, so here’s 20 good references that are not Wikipedia. Some of them are Wiki-likes with higher credentials, others are subject-specific resources.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Life just got a dedicated telescope, thanks to Paul Allen’s $50 million USD that bought a radio telescope and observatory for the SETI project. So now the search speeds up.
Something that might be considered just as far out in left field, Newsweek reports on a letter signed by 138 prominent Muslim clerics expressing a desire to live harmoniously with Christians. So long as the Christians aren’t waging war against Muslims on religious grounds, the document’s signers are more than willing to work with the People of the Book on living together in peace. Won’t stop extremists from hijacking the religion for their purposes (doesn’t stop them here, either), but it puts them more firmly in the extreme camp. The full text of the letter, "A Common Word Between Us and You", is available for perusal.
As George F. Will notes, it's so hard to be ostentatiously rich these days. While the rich do control darn near all the wealth, the status symbols that would otherwise mark them as being the super-rich are becoming more affordable. This might even fuel a drive for philanthropy and a competition to see who can give away the most money, rather than hoard it. Even members of Congress are complaining that their work week in Washington prevents them from doing much back home for their re-election campaigns. I don’t know, maybe a voting record would be a great way of telling your constituents how much you actually care for them? Of course, if they had access to that, they might start writing letters like the one that Klinton writes to Ron Paul about his false and contradictory statements made over the years. I note we’re still not to the primary elections, and there’s already been quite a bit of material slung about. To cap off the political discussion, Garrett Epps says we need to abolish the electoral college as a gigantically flawed institution of our past.
For those looking for a T-Shirt or other clothing bit that they saw in a movie or television program instead, perhaps Found Item Clothing can be of assistance? They recreate such things, and might have something in stock for you.
For those looking away from the commercial (creative as that idea is), Earth Rites has some comments about the Burning Man festival from this year, and how to get it to be more imaginative still and (re)turn it to a place where people do things in their own way, on their own time, with the help of others.
And delving into that which is simply strange - a doctor saved a patient's life by giving him an IV of vodka, scotch, whisky, and rum. Because alcohol was the appropriate cure for the poisoning, and the hospital’s supply of pure stuff had run out. Cranking Widgets also offers some tips on how to clean your arse when there's no dead tree roll.
There’s also a preview look at what some of the concept cars at the Tokyo Motor Show will look like. Some of those cars look really good, and others might look more like they came from a Michael Garrett drawing/painting.
The quiche competition gets underway again in the strange section, because strange is what all these nominees are. Making a strong showing on the “too effective PR campaign” is the Detroit automotive industry, which as the Slacktivist notes, has done an extremely good job at convincing the American populace that their cars suck, and that they don’t know the first thing about making good cars that are efficient, safe, and inexpensive. Although that’s probably not what they’re advertisements were saying. Another candidate for quiche is OnStar's announcement that capabilities will be built into General Motors’ 2009 vehicles with OnStar to have the vehicle acceleration cut at the request of police. The service is currently supposed to be opt-in, so only those that want to have their car stopped if it should be stolen will have it. This can, however, easily go from opt-in to opt-out, and then to no-option at all. Which could make it a field day for officers that believe in the crime of Driving While Black and the hacker/cracker/script kiddie that decides to make your car cut to idle on that country road where there aren’t people, after they’ve been following you. Installing the capability to stop a motor vehicle from functioning, even if the brakes and steering continue to work after acceleration is knocked out, is pretty damn stupid. Sure, high-speed chases might become nil. But that’s not the only occasion that someone would use it on.
Making a very strong contention for quiche is the "Christian" clown caught with a cache of pictures of naked young boys. Three boys also testified that he fondled them in their sleep. The minster wanted to do his outreach outside the country, perhaps so that there wouldn’t be someone right there to supervise and make sure he was on the up and up? A question, though - statistically speaking, do most child abusers/molesters have strong Christian beliefs, or is this just the tendency of media organizations to play up religious belief, especially when said belief would protest against that kind of abuse?
Before we get to the quiche awarding, take a short break and peruse cartoons against creationism. Have some laughs before the big finale.
All set? Here we go. The winner for tonight is a previous quiche winner (if quiche were being awarded retroactively, I’m pretty sure she’d know the recipe by now) and still an extremely stupid, stupid rat creature, Ann Coulter. Her latest remarks, uttered on a CNBC show, claim that Jews need to be "perfected" by becoming Christians. And not only does she say such, she defends it as being true. This coming from someone whom is supposedly educated, but she firmly believes that the only way people become perfect is by subjecting themselves to the Jeezis cult and obeying. This from someone whose book title is also supposed to be inflammatory. I would think that if anyone else were saying this, there would be pitchforks and torches gathered. This is either a good sign taht most of the country and world considers Ann to be a stupid, stupid rat creature not worthy of paying much attention to, or that enough people secretly or overtly sympathize with her than a mob in the forming would never reach the appropriate mass.
Having served quiche to those who deserve it, next to last for tonight, is something that I’m sure plenty of my viewing audience will get a kick out of - The Way of Coffee, a blog all about beans from someone who finds them a way of life rather than a means to a drink.
The last bit is
las describing a creature that everyone seeks, including writers, but not everyone ever finds - the ever-elusive money fairies. Even those of us with steady jobs are still looking for the money fairies. Did I mention that because I now have the resources of a library system at my disposal again, that I’ve picked up on my reading, and that my list of books to read is growing at what looks to be an exponential and accelerating pace? Although I did try to see if I could get one of the supervising librarians at the branch to try out Gaiman’s Sandman. Have no idea if it will work. Plus, there’s the back-and-forth with the teen selector about graphic novel choices, where I find myself outmaneuvered or met with “Thought of that. Going to buy it.” on all of my fronts? I can’t be the pioneering champion/crusader, not that I’d want to be, because my teen selector’s on the ball! There’s only one thing to say to all of this.
Sw33t.
And on that note, bed!
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-12 07:27 pm (UTC)I don't know, I mean, apparently burglers who hurt themselves while robbing you can sue you, so why can't someone who steals your car sue you as well?
no subject
Date: 2007-10-12 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-12 07:42 pm (UTC)Not sure how reliable message board advice can be, but this says that if a thief has an accident in your car, you aren't liable: http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=110545
but then there's also people who claim their car was stolen to get out of paying for things: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Insurance-Law-923/Hit.htm
Wait, but how about this? http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/MACE_20brand_20Car_20Alarm