silveradept | Yay, day off - 14 December 2007

Staff meeting, of course, which meant I had to go in. I did mail out my big batch of VEWPRF correspondence, so, hopefully it all arrives by Buddha Day or so. If you want some, you’re still welcome to ask. Other than that, I didn’t do a whole lot - a little writing and thinking, a little worrying about one part of my gumline becoming cold-sensitive. Not hot-sensitive, though, just cold. I think I’ll let it sit and see for a little bit whether it gets worse or sticks around. There may be a consultation made with the dentist on Monday, if it should persist, by telephone to see if this is normal or not. That’s my life, and I have to work tomorrow, so it’s not going to be a whole lot of excitement then. Yep, my teeth are my personal top story tonight. How exciting my life is.

The United States $5 bill is getting some color and a makeover, following the trend of the bigger denominations. The five gets the revamp because it could apparently be bleached, then printed with a different denomination, and some of the security features would end up matching. The $100 is set for another redesign of its own after the new five, because of the popularity it gets with counterfeiters.

We’ll warm up tonight with some antiseptic solution catching fire during hemorrhoid surgery. Electric current and liquid creates fire. That’s going to hurt lots. So, coming in to get something fixed that made one’s rectum uncomfortable only to have to stay because one’s rectum is significantly more uncomfortable. Luckily, she didn’t fall into a vat of cyanide, as the man in this article did.

For most people, the idea of SETI is better suited to the X-Files than science, but there is a rift in the community as to whether humans should just listen, or whether they should announce their presence to the universe at large. The quiet ones are worried that we might make contact with the Klingons rather than the Vulcans, and so potentially doom ourselves. If all we’re doing is listening, though, it could take a really long time for any contact to be made from anywhere.

The Inspector General for Iraq, charged with looking into allegations of waste and fraud in rebuilding Iraq, is under investigation on allegations of waste and fraud. Do as we say, not as we do, it appears, is quite the popular statement.

Clinton staffer that implied Barack Obama's past drug use was a problem ~~sacked~~ resigned. The official reason is that such a negative statement goes against Senator Clinton’s positive campaign. I get the feeling that the Senator planted his head on the chopping block and swung the axe herself to make sure that the firestorm that erupted from those statements got nowhere near her, especially with caucus season underway.

Remember the big fervor over a gentleman who went country-hopping while he had multi drug-resistant tuberculosis, trying to get home and to the CDC so that they could treat him. Well, as it turns out, there was someone else infected with MDRTB crossing between Mexico and the United States. We didn’t hear quite as much about him, even though he was also potentially putting lots at risk.

Nancy Pelosi says that she thought the GOP would be sane about Iraq, and that most of the lack of progress on Iraq is due to her underestimating the Republicans’ willingness to stick by the chimp in the White House, despite the popular call to get out before things got worse. Now that the Republicans can cling as much as possible to the military success of the surge, Iraq will probably deadlock through the next general election, unless Pelosi can dislodge some Republicans and get them on board to bring American troops back.

Michael Savage throws out a vindictive statement, accusing ninety percent of the Nobel Prize board of being into child pornography. Big mouth had better have big proof to back it up. Otherwise, there had better be some backpedaling, retraction, or other attempt to legally dodge what would have to be the oncoming slander and defamation lawsuit that should smack Savage across the broadcast spectrum before it kicks him off the edge and makes sure the door hits him in the ass on the way out.

Every time I see an article like this, I want to shake people and say when you name children as "witches" and then attack them, things have gone well beyond too far. The fundamentalist strain of Christianity mixes with native beliefs and it’s much like a powder keg, and lots of people are going to die. From the sounds of things, the “church” in the area is also draining the village dry of money to set themselves up with wealth.

After all that serious news, here’s something that will entertain you - or make you shake your head in disbelief, as it’s the distilled wit and wisdom of Kent Hovind, aka Dr. Dino, chronicled by The General. Much more family-friendly than that is the game of Operation, Doctor Who version, where one operates on a Dalek. Potentially the most inoffensive of the bunch, however, is the Cooties PSA. Oh, and then there’s one more thing - a boot to the head.

Something that may be of help to all of us in our lives is How to make exercise entertaining and easy to do - by taking the boredom out of the exercise, then the exercise happens a lot easier. Integration of exercise material into the routine, or as part of what you already do (take a walk around your workplace on lunch or something), makes it easier to do exercise.

tscheese offers an alternate take on the Disney Princess Juggernaut in Pink. She wonders where are the little girls who think waiting princess are boring, and instead want to be kings? That way you go out and do stuff, and can run around flying an F-14 against raptors in F-16s, or have zap guns while exploring a medieval ruin. It’s imagination that needs cultivation. Soon enough, schooling and others will be telling children what they can’t do, what they’re not good at, and what’s not real. Best not to be heaping a culture of passivity in pink on them as well. I have faith in the resiliency of children - maybe a little pink now, maybe a little pink later. I’ll say that most of those girls end up being sluggers, spikers, stars, and smart chicks who take “Aw, she’s just a girl” as a challenge worth trying out.

And getting back to the funny for the end tonight, here’s 2007 in media errors and corrections. We regret most of the errors that we’ve committed over time, with the ones that made for good humor being a bit less of a regret, and if pointed out, we tend to correct them. So here’s hoping for a year where no corrections need to be made, but just trying for one where the corrections are because the original reads a bit funny.

Last for tonight, that’s perfectly accurate and needs no corrections, after one serene person paid for the drink of the car behind him, each driver through the drive-through paid for the drink of the person behind them for the rest of the day. Even though the chain started because the first recipient was honking and yelling in anger, the rest of the chain went unbroken. How neat is that?

And now, sleep.