Bros vs. Hoes

So there's this show on Spike.  It's called Pros vs. Joes.  Basically, wannabe jockstraps with ego problems put themselves on the line in sporting contests versus retired pro athletes.  And it's hosted by funny man USC flunky Petros Papadakis.

It's so pathetic it's funny.  I mean, very few of these guys are even CLOSE to the pros.  And if they do win, it's often a fluke weird thing.  Pretty much the jockstraps are competing to see who gets their ass kicked the LEAST.

But we love it.  We watched it religiously during the first season last spring and laughed our asses off.  This season, I had the TiVo all ready for it, until it crapped out two weeks ago.

And then I forgot to reset the season pass....

Fast forward to last night. I don't know what time it was, but it was between 11pm and 12am.  We'd been laying in bed a while, watching TV (in fact, Top Design was on).  I was flipping channels during a commercial and  came upon the new season of Pros vs Joes.

Needless to say, I was out of bed, down the stairs, and turning the TV on faster than DH could ask "where are you going??".

Mr. Tivo is now set to dutifully record P vs J anytime it comes on.

Heh.

As for the title of this post, that's how we refer to the show in question.

We :heart: Tim Gunn

Project Runway and Parsons School of Design Guru and all around good guy Tim Gunn has an exciting new job:  he's about to become the new Chief Creative Officer at Liz Claiborne, Inc.

This is a fabulous opportunity for Tim, and a much needed shot in the arm for Liz.

And maybe a more flexible schedule for shooting PR4?

Fabulous, Tim! Carry on!

h/t the BPR team

Is it Friday yet?

It's been one of those days.  I had a report due on a task force for a major initiative that I am the team leader for.  Then we had a department meeting from 3 to 5.

I got home around 6:30.  I left here at 8 am.  Usually I leave here at 9, and get home by 3 to avoid traffic and do a few hours of business at home.

It's no wonder I went straight up to the shower while DH went out for some tasty El Pollo Loco. Nothing like moderately healthy fast food (flame grilled chicken, for the uninitiated among you)....

Oh, and FTFO already to L.A. Drivers. I swear they come out of the woodwork on Friday afternoons.... at least they all take the freeway, leaving the surface streets mostly open for the rest of us.

Big Game not your bag?

ESPN has bowling, a Dog Show, and Figure Skating today.

TNT has a marathon of "The Closer," which I hear is very good

SciFi has a Ghost Hunters marathon

USA has a Monk marathon

Or you can always watch football on CBS.....

Super Bowl aftermath

Ugh.

Happy for the Colts, but man what a crappy game. The score was close for a while, but the Colts ran up and down the field on the Bears.

And the commercials pretty much sucked. 24 hours out here's what I remember: Carlos Mencia was funny. I liked the Dalmation ad. And the two animated Coke Ads were pretty sweet.

In the "funny once, but I don't care if I ever see them again" category: Bud Light: No Fist Bump, Sprint's Connectile Dysfunction, and the Garmin Mapasaurus.

DH liked the Tundra ad with the cliff stop. A lot.

In the "vomitaceous" category we have Dave and Oprah in "Honey", Dave and Dr. Phil (all), that Blockbuster ad with the poor little mouse, and especially the Snickers commercial.

Boy that was a BRIGHT idea, Snickers people.  Sell a SNACK FOOD with a commercial that makes people barf. BRILLIANT.

And what kind of rock is this guy under?

No commercial that appeared last night during Super Bowl XLI directly addressed Iraq, unlike a patriotic spot for Budweiser beer that ran during the game two years ago. But the ongoing war seemed to linger just below the surface of many of this year's commercials.

More than a dozen spots celebrated violence in an exaggerated, cartoonlike vein that was intended to be humorous, but often came across as cruel or callous.
...
It was as if Madison Avenue were channeling Doc in "West Side Story," the gentle owner of the candy store in the neighborhood that the two street gangs, the Jets and Sharks, fight over. "Why do you kids live like there's a war on?" Doc asks plaintively. (Well, Doc, this time, there is.)

Give me a freaking break. This is reaching so far that somebody's gonna get hurt when Gumby-boy snaps back into reality. About the most redeeming thing related to this article is that if you click over, several commercials are linked on the NY Times page. Including KFed's spot for Nationwide Insurance, which I intentionally hadn't seen, and which I laughed at.

In case you haven't seen them, most of the commercials can be found at CBS SportsLine.

Your weekly dose of Jack Bauer

Anybody even suspect that this week won't be another disappointment?  I was talking to a friend last night, and we agreed that 24 jumped the shark with that drug season (3 I think.... they all blur....) and redeemed itself with Season 5, but that this season is riding Fonzie's motorcycle on a collision course with the shark tank.

Whatta YOU think?

you just can't make this sh*t up!

From Troy, MI:

Troy, a high-income city of just 80,000 people and home to [Michigan's] only Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue department stores, now has another distinction. It is the only non-resort city of its size to have two Hooters.

"You come directly off the interstate and that's the first thing you come to," said Wade Fleming, a councilman who voted in June to reject the transfer of a liquor licence to the new Hooters restaurant from a rundown tavern that once operated at the same location. "That starts to define Troy, I think, and that's not how we'd like to define Troy."

Hooters executives want just one restaurant in Troy but the company won't close the old one until it's allowed to serve alcohol at the new restaurant, which opened Monday on a larger, more visible site.

Critics are concerned that the restaurants' scantily clad servers don't fit the image the city seeks to project in its Big Beaver commercial district." (emphasis mine- Ed.)

h/t Ken and McG, who got it from Dustbury

would you like to play a game?

I haven't played in 6 months, but what the hell:

1. Plaster ::

2. Cabbage ::

3. Jazz ::

4. Darts ::

5. Poke ::

6. Bribe ::

7. Whale ::

8. Receipt ::

9. Answer ::

10. Dentist ::

As always, my answers in the extended. Thanks Jenna for reminding me!

Read More "would you like to play a game?" »

Global Warming - don't believe the hype

The words of a REAL CLIMATOLOGIST, which has nothing to do with inventing the internet.....

What would happen if tomorrow we were told that, after all, the Earth is flat? It would probably be the most important piece of news in the media and would generate a lot of debate. So why is it that when scientists who have studied the Global Warming phenomenon for years say that humans are not the cause nobody listens? Why does no one acknowledge that the Emperor has no clothes on?

Believe it or not, Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This in fact is the greatest deception in the history of science. We are wasting time, energy and trillions of dollars while creating unnecessary fear and consternation over an issue with no scientific justification. For example, Environment Canada brags about spending $3.7 billion in the last five years dealing with climate change almost all on propaganda trying to defend an indefensible scientific position while at the same time closing weather stations and failing to meet legislated pollution targets.

No sensible person seeks conflict, especially with governments, but if we don't pursue the truth, we are lost as individuals and as a society. That is why I insist on saying that there is no evidence that we are, or could ever cause global climate change. And, recently, Yuri A. Izrael, Vice President of the United Nations sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed this statement. So how has the world come to believe that something is wrong?

Maybe for the same reason we believed, 30 years ago, that global cooling was the biggest threat: a matter of faith. "It is a cold fact: the Global Cooling presents humankind with the most important social, political, and adaptive challenge we have had to deal with for ten thousand years. Your stake in the decisions we make concerning it is of ultimate importance; the survival of ourselves, our children, our species," wrote Lowell Ponte in 1976.

I was as opposed to the threats of impending doom global cooling engendered as I am to the threats made about Global Warming. Let me stress I am not denying the phenomenon has occurred. The world has warmed since 1680, the nadir of a cool period called the Little Ice Age (LIA) that has generally continued to the present. These climate changes are well within natural variability and explained quite easily by changes in the sun. But there is nothing unusual going on.

Since I obtained my doctorate in climatology from the University of London, Queen Mary College, England my career has spanned two climate cycles. Temperatures declined from 1940 to 1980 and in the early 1970's global cooling became the consensus. This proves that consensus is not a scientific fact. By the 1990's temperatures appeared to have reversed and Global Warming became the consensus. It appears I'll witness another cycle before retiring, as the major mechanisms and the global temperature trends now indicate a cooling.

Here's the summation for those of you who zombied at the very idea of such a long passage:
 
-- It is UNBELIEVABLY PREMATURE to state that people are the main cause of Global Warming. PERIOD.

-- Thirty years ago many of the same scientists raising a ruckus today were DEAD SURE we were headed for a man-made ice age FROM THE SAME CAUSES (greenhouse gasses, etc.)

--Consensus is different from fact: 95% of 4 year olds believe in Santa, but this doesn't make him REAL, does it?  So why should we believe something just because a majority of pinheads with PhDs do?

And yes, for the record I too have a PhD.  So what?  But I'm not a pinhead.  Doesn't make me a sheep, either.

Please read all of Dr. Bell's article (yes, there is more. A lot more.),  It is a fascinating look at how popular politics colors even the most rigorous of disciplines.

h/t Q and O via RWV

Haven't done one of these for a while....

A crappy quiz....

Your Dominant Thinking Style: Modifying

Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you. You don't make rash decisions and are rarely moved by emotion. You prefer what's known and proven - to the new and untested. You tend to ground those around you and add stability.

Rivalry Week Part I

The UNC Tar Heels take on the dookies tonight at Cameron Indoor H.S. Gymnasium.  It looks to be a good game, as dook always plays up against UNC and at home.  The Tar Heels are coming off a lackluster loss to NC State, and from the look on Ol' Roy's face after the game, I suspect we'll see a different team tonight.

In honor of my Boys, our alma mater:

Hark the sound of Tar Heel voices
Ringing clear and True
Singing Carolina's praises
Shouting N.C.U.

Hail to the brightest Star of all
Clear its radiance shine
Carolina priceless gem,
Receive all praises thine.

I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred
And when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead.
So it's RAH, RAH, Car'lina 'lina
RAH, RAH, Car'lina 'lina
RAH, RAH, Car'lina
RAH! RAH! RAH! (Go to Hell State!)

I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred
And when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead.
So it's RAH, RAH, Car'lina 'lina
RAH, RAH, Car'lina 'lina
RAH, RAH, Car'lina
RAH! RAH! RAH! (Go to Hell dook!)

'Neath the oaks the sons true hearted
Homage pay to thee
Time worn walls give back their echo
Hail to U.N.C.

Though the storms of life assail us
Still our hearts beat true
Naught can break the friendships formed at
Dear old N.C.U.

Tobacco Road will be on fire tonight, whether it's the dook commons or Franklin Street.  I'm hoping for bonfires on Franklin Street, of course....

One more before I go, an oldie but a goodie:

A family of dook basketball supporters headed out one Saturday to shop for the youngest boy's birthday.  While in the sports
shop the son picks up a UNC jersey and says to his older sister, "I've decided to become a Tar Heel fan and I would like this UNC jersey for my birthday.  His big sister is outraged by this and  promptly whacks him in the head and says, "Go talk to mother.  Off goes the little lad with the jersey in hand and finds his mother. "Mom?"
"Yes son?"
"I've decided I'm going to be a UNC fan and I would like this jersey for my birthday."  The mother is outraged at this, promptly whacks him around the head and says, "Go talk to your father!"  Off he goes with the UNC jersey in hand and finds his father. "Dad?"
"Yes son?"
"I've decided I'm going to be a 'Heels fan and I would like this jersey for my birthday."  The father is outraged and promptly whacks his son around the head and says, "No son of mine is ever going to be seen in THAT!"  About half an hour later they're all back in the car and heading towards home. The father turns to his son and says, "Son, I hope you've learned something today."  The son says, "Yes, Dad, I have."
"Good son, what is it?"

The son replies, "I've only been a Carolina fan for an hour and I already hate you dook bastards."

Joe Lieberman is my hero

I've been on record for years saying that I'd cross party lines to vote for him for President, but the left seems to be too stupid to realize that UNITING this country means appealing to all facets of the political spectrum, something Joe seems to do almost universally.  Sure, the wingnuts hate him because he's a socially liberal demotard, and the moonbats hate him because he's a hawk and anti-abortion.

But his is the only consistent voice of conscience on the Hill, and for that, I respect him.  For this statement made to the Senate on Feb. 5, I respect him even more:

It is altogether proper that we debate our policy in Iraq. It should be a debate that is as serious as the situation in Iraq and that reflects the powers the Constitution gives to Congress in matters of war.

But that, sadly, is not the debate that the Warner-Levin resolution invites us to have. I am going to speak strongly against this resolution because I feel strongly about it. I do so with respect for my colleagues who have offered it, but I believe its passage would so compromise America's security, present and future, that I will say so in the clearest terms I can.

...

What we say here is being heard in Baghdad by Iraqi moderates, trying to decide whether the Americans will stand with them. We are being heard by our men and women in uniform, who will be interested to know whether we support the plan they have begun to carry out. We are being heard by the leaders of the thuggish regimes in Iran and Syria, and by Al Qaeda terrorists, eager for evidence that America's will is breaking. And we are being heard across America by our constituents, who are wondering if their Congress is capable of serious action, not just hollow posturing.

This resolution is not about Congress taking responsibility. It is the opposite. It is a resolution of irresolution.

For the Senate to take up a symbolic vote of no confidence on the eve of a decisive battle is unprecedented, but it is not inconsequential. It is an act which, I fear, will discourage our troops, hearten our enemies, and showcase our disunity. And that is why I will vote against cloture.

If you believe that General Petraeus and his new strategy have a reasonable chance of success in Iraq, then you should resolve to support him and his troops through the difficult days ahead. On the other hand, if you believe that this new strategy is flawed or that our cause is hopeless in Iraq, then you should vote to stop it. Vote to cut off funds. Vote for a binding timeline for American withdrawal. If that is where your convictions lie, then have the courage of your convictions to accept the consequences of your convictions. That would be a resolution.

...

We cannot have it both ways. We cannot vote full confidence in General Petraeus, but no confidence in his strategy. We cannot say that the troops have our full support, but disavow their mission on the eve of battle. This is what happens when you try to wage war by committee. That is why the Constitution gave that authority to the President as Commander in Chief.

Cynics may say this kind of thing happens all of the time in Congress. In this case, however, they are wrong. If it passed, this resolution would be unique in American legislative history. I contacted the Library of Congress on this question last week and was told that, never before, when American soldiers have been in harm's way, fighting and dying in a conflict that Congress had voted to authorize, has Congress turned around and passed a resolution like this, disapproving of a particular battlefield strategy.

I ask each of my colleagues to stop for a moment and consider this history carefully. Even during Vietnam, even after the Tet Offensive, even after the invasion of Cambodia, Congress did not take up a resolution like this one.

Past Congresses certainly debated wars. They argued heatedly about them. And they clashed directly with the Executive Branch over their execution. But in doing so they accepted the consequences of their convictions.

This resolution does no such thing. It is simply an expression of opinion. It does not pretend to have any substantive effect on policy on the ground in Iraq.

But again, I ask you: what will this resolution say to our soldiers? What will it say to our allies? And what will it say to our enemies?

We heard from General Petraeus during his confirmation hearing that war is a battle of wills. Our enemies believe that they are winning in Iraq today. They believe that they can outlast us; that, sooner or later, we will tire of this grinding conflict and go home. That is the lesson that Osama bin Laden took from our retreats from Lebanon and Somalia in the 1980s and 1990s. It is a belief at the core of the insurgency in Iraq, and at the core of radical Islam worldwide. And this resolution "by codifying our disunity, by disavowing the mission our troops are about to undertake" confirms our enemies' belief in American weakness.

This resolution also sends a terrible message to our allies. I agree that we must hold the Iraqi government to account. That is exactly what the resolution Senator McCain and I have offered would do. But I ask you: Imagine for a moment that you are a Sunni or Shia politician in Baghdad who wants the violence to end, and ask yourself how the Warner-Levin resolution will affect your thinking, your calculations of risk, your willingness to stand against the forces of extremism. Every day, you are threatened by enemies who want nothing but to inflict the most brutal imaginable horrors on you and your loved ones. Will this resolution empower you, or will it undermine you? Will it make you feel safer, or will it make you feel you should hedge your bets, or go over to the extremists, or leave the country?

And finally, what is the message this resolution sends to our soldiers? I know that everyone here supports our troops, but actions have consequences, often unintended. When we send a message of irresolution, it does not support our troops. When we renounce their mission, it does not support our troops.

Read the Senator's entire statement here. 

Thank you Senator, for having the courage of your convictions to stand up and remind your colleagues that politics and personal pettiness should always be secondary to the support of the men and women who defend our freedoms.

h/t SMASH

It must be long post day...

Stolen from the lovely Phoenix.....

1. Is your second toe longer than your first? yes
2. Do you have a favorite type of pen? Yep.  The PhD pens with the thick grip.  Otherwise, free pens are always nice.
3. Look at your planner for March 14, what are you doing? Sending out cards for Pi(e) Day!
4. What color are your toenails usually? Red. In honor of this dude.
5. What was the last thing you highlighted? The text above, to make it a linky.
6. What color are your bedroom curtains? White nasty vertical blinds, actually
7. What color are the seats in your car? grey leather
8. Have you ever had a black and white cat? Nope.  No cats.
9. What is the last thing you put a stamp on? Some papers I sent my Mom.
10. Do you know anyone who lives in Wyoming? I must... I know Hubby does.
11. Why did you withdraw cash from the ATM the last time? What is this ATM of which you speak?.
12. Who is the last baby that you held? OMG, I can't remember.  It's been a while!
13. Do you know of any twins with rhyming names? No. Most of them have the same initials, though (Laura and Lisa, Matt and Mark...).
14. Do you like Cinnamon toothpaste? No, but I love cinnamon ice cream.
15. What kind of car were you driving 2 years ago? The same one I'm driving now: my Silver Escape.
16. Pick one: Miami Hurricanes or Florida Gators. Neither.  Go Tar Heels!
17. Last time you went to Six Flags? Freshman year in college.
18. Do you have any wallpaper in your house? No.  Thank Jeebus.
19. Closest thing to you that is yellow? My Winnie Pooh and Schoolbus key chains.
20. Last person to give you a business card? My colleague who just got new ones.
21. Who is the last person you wrote a check to? My landlord.
22. Closest framed picture to you? Hubby and Princess.
23. Last time you had someone cook for you? Darlin, sweet hubby made Cream of Broccoli soup on Monday night.
24. Have you ever applied for welfare? No.
25. How many emails do you have? too many.  Do you really expect me to count?  I can't even tell you the number of addresses I have!
26. Last time you received flowers? Whenever Hubby found a dandelion on the lawn last :-)
27.Do you think the sanctity of marriage is meant for only a man &
woman? Huh?  What left field did this come out of?  Pac Bell Park?
29. Do you play air guitar? If the occasion warrants. And what happened to question #28?
30. Do you take anything in your coffee? 2 creams, 2 pink packets.
32. What is your high school's rival mascot? Depends on which rival... Indians, Cougars, Roughriders, Golden Eagles, Patriots, Bears.... and What happened to #31?
33. Last person you spoke to from high school? Hubby!
34. Last time you used hand sanitizer? I make it a policy not to in most cases.  Contributes to antibiotic resistant super bugs.
35. Would you like to learn to play the drums? Hells YEAH.
36. What color are the blinds in your living room? White Vertical blinds.
37. What is in your inbox at work? In my email inbox is a presentation I must give this afternoon.
38. Last thing you read in the newspaper? What newspaper?  Are you kidding?
39. What was the last pageant you attended? Does the Rose Parade count?.
40. What is the last place you bought pizza from? Pizza Slut.
41. Have you ever worn a crown? Of course.  See the Tiara Media button, top left!
42. What is the last thing you stapled? Paperwork for a student.
43. Did you ever drink Clear Pepsi? Yes.  It was weird.
44. Are you ticklish? EXTREMELY.
45.Last time you saw fireworks? last 4th of July I think.
46. Last time you had a Krispy Kreme doughnut? It was in North Carolina, so over a year and a half ago...
47. Who is the last person that left you a message & you actually returned their call? My IT director.
48. Last time you parked under a carport? Couple of years ago.
49. Do you have a black dog? Yep!
50.Do you have any pickles in your fridge? Yes. Claussen sandwich stackers, kosher dill or Garlic, not sure which flavor
51. Are you an aunt or uncle? An aunt to 2 nieces and 1 nephew.
52.Who has the prettiest eyes that you know of? Hubby.
53. Last time you saw a semi truck? On the way to work.
54. Do you remember Ugly Kidd Jo? yes.
55. Do you have a little black dress? Yep.

Boo Yeah!

Tar Heels took it to the dookies in Cameron!

79-73

Love Those Heels!

Tagged!

RSM hit me with this one. Took me a while, but who cares:

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Ok, here goes:

1. There are three things I never travel without: Rolaids, Tylenol Flu, and Balmex.  You never know when you'll need an antacid, decongestant, or skin cream, and hotel drugstores never have the right stuff.

2. I may take the decorations down, but the Christmas cards stay up most of the year.  I like looking at them, and it's nice to see the picture cards, especially.  And besides, I am a Christmas freak.

3. I am a game show junkie.  I love the old ones best, like Match Game, Password, BlockBusters, Press Your Luck, and Sale of the Century.  Newer game shows piss me off.  They have comparatively small prizes, are super gimmicky, and pretty much suck.

4. I randomly quote movies. But not the famous quotes....random quotes are my specialty.

5.I hate wearing makeup. It makes me feel icky,

6. I hate tagging people with memes. I mean, I love when other people pick them up and linky back, but usually whoever I pick has already been picked on by someone else. Hence no taggys here.

Barenaked YouTube Fans

The latest BNL video is out, and it pays homage to all of your favorite YouTube vids, from Diet Coke and Mentos to the Numa Numa guy!

It's official. I am in fact a child.

Sorry for the lack of posting, but now I know for sure why I have been feeling like poo: I have an ear infection. Courtesy of someone else's child.

As the doctor said today, one of the crappier things about being treated for RA is that you catch EVERYTHING that comes along because the drugs suppress your immune system.  In my case allergies = vulnerable sinuses -> sinus infection -> ear infection.

So excuse me while I suck my thumb and tug on my left ear until the antibiotics kick in.

Because I have been multiply tagged....

I give you the Geek Test.

I am 51.47929% Super Geek

Even without programming mastery and extreme Star Trek lore.

h/t Ken and the aptly named Physics Geek

Why am I against the new HPV vaccine?

This is why.

This is the SECOND rotavirus vaccine to cause these problems in young children and infants.  In 1999, the Rotashield vaccine caused the same problems.

Until we know FOR SURE that the Gardasil vaccine is safe, it is entirely irresponsible to mandate it for every female child.

Furthermore, Rachel makes a good point here:

"We (the collective) do not want the government to pass laws about our right to murder our unborn children, but we're not up in arms about the government forcing us to inject foreign matter into our little girls' bodies?"

Intellectual Disconnect much?

Because the night....

If the timestamp on this thing posts even remotely correctly, you'll see that it's well after 1am here on the left coast.  Although the insomnia is a constant presence, I was holding it at bay pretty well over the last few weeks courtesy of some sleepytime allergy meds that were helping me get to sleep.  Then this sinus thing came along, with Phinneas Gage pain.  Literally.  I've thought about bashing in the left side of my face more than once in the last week.  It has to be less painful than what has been keeping me up at night.

And really, that's why I went to the damn doctor at all.  I hate fucking doctors, really.  They always want to tell me that they know more than I do about what's wrong with me.  Really, ego man?  Living in my body doesn't give me any clues?  Not to mention that I have TAUGHT doctors before.  Nervous system of the head and neck.  Just happens to be my specialty.

Either that or they want to shit on me for being fat.  Guess what?  That's an easy answer, but it's wrong.  WRONG.  My heart's good, my BP is good, my load-bearing joints are healthy, and frankly, none of that has ANYTHING to do with why my fucking face hurts, thank you very much.

So it's taken me a while to actually go in and see someone.  In fact, I hadn't even been to a primary care doc since before I left NC.  I've been seeing my EXCELLENT, KICK-ASS rheumo like clockwork for a year, and I've been for my annual girly parts checkup, but I've never had a reason to see anyone else.  So I put it off until I couldn't put it off any more.

I actually liked the doc.  I liked that she sat and talked to me for a few minutes, that she seemed interested in making sure the RA was getting taken care of, and that she didn't seem to be in a rush to put me out on the street again.

But I digress.  Evidently the little troll in my ear decided it doesn't like broad spectrum antibiotic therapy.  It is currently throwing a tantrum in my left ear that feels like my teeth are turning to molten lava and my jaw is about to follow suit, and then everything is going to drain out my ear canal.  So I'm propped up on the couch, trying to drink warm chai tea and relax enough to do some meditative breathing in addition to the pain pills I took earlier.  Hopefully that will put the monster off.  It worked this afternoon, but the pain wasn't so intense.

I really don't know how people handled shit like this before good damn drugs.

On the other hand, I think I now know why Van Gogh cut off his ear.

/vent

My nappy time pillow is calling

So I am off to try to get some sleep, or else finish watching the Poirot movie I fell asleep to...

But I want to leave you with this:

God Bless you Bert Brady, and all the others who take a moment from their day to say a simple "Thanks". And kudos to ABC for telling their story.

Happy VD everybody!

h/t Sparkle via email.

How can you not love it?

The band name is a hockey penalty, the album name from a conversation with Victor Davis Hanson, the singer is a math nerd.

Five for Fighting, Two Lights

And John Ondrasik is on this week's Glenn and Helen Show.

I've been a big fan of 5fF for a long time, the Puppyblender, not so much, but it's a good interview, and interesting enough to listen to the entire thing.

Here's some Five For Fighting for your Thursday listening pleasure:
First, my favorite one, 100 years

And of course, the song that made the band big, Superman

Funnies

One of the things I find most useful in recovery from ANY illness is laughter. Especially the drop your teeth, wipe off the keyboard , run for the bathroom kind of laughter you find all over the net.

Today, I bring you three examples of such. And if you don't think it's that funny, you must excuse my sense of humor. It's high on cold medicine.

First up, political humor from Goldstein (too good to NOT steal)
"Q: Why did the Neocon cross the road?"

a. To push over an old woman and take away her healthcare subsidies
b. To beat those Dixie Chicks traitors with a tire iron
c. Because, though he was really hungry for the blood of an innocent brown person, he decided to settle for some McNuggets and a medium Diet Coke
d. THE MONIED JOOOS TOLD HIM TOO!
e. To burn down a Planned Parenthood, deny battered women a voice, and further the aims of the Christofascist Patriarchy
f. all of the above
g. none of the above
h. don't even look at me, you same-sex married homosexual gay fag

And from my dear friend Vanessa, some IVF TMI.

Finally, photoshop phun from Darleen.  Or should that be phrom Darleen?

head shaking...

And it's not because of the ear pain.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Moonbattery at its FINEST:

I knew in that moment that this was what the future of teaching about justice would include: teaching war criminals who sit glaring at me with hatred for daring to speak the truth of their atrocities and who, if paid to, would disappear, torture and kill me. I wondered that night how long I really have in this so called "free" country to teach my students and to be with my children and grandchildren.

The whole thing is insane.  This paragraph in particular, is a MASTERPIECE:

These military and mercenary terrorist-students are trained in terrorist training camps all under the USA, funded by American taxpayers. In fact, people under the USA are "sacrificing" their healthcare and their children's educations while donating their tax dollars to these terrorist training camps. These terrorist camps train money hungry working class stiffs to murder, steal and plunder for the power
hungry US corporate war lords.

The author of this quasi intelligible twaddle is June Scorza Terpstra, Professor of Social Justice at Loyola University in Chicago.

Read the whole thing.  No really, I'll wait.

People like this woman give all academics a bad name.The same free speech and social justice that she worships for the poor, the downtrodden, and the left, she refuses to extend to the very ones who allow to keep those freedoms.  The irony drips.  How naive do you really have to be to think that what our troops are doing in the Middle East is all about Greed and Power and Neocon ego-stroking???

I have just one question for this so-called social justice proponent:  Which is better, social justice-wise: To live in the US as it is today, with Freedoms of Speech, Press, Religion, etc; where women are free to wear as many or as few clothes as they like, drive, speak their minds (including YOU, lady), and vote; where you can walk about (in the daylight at least) in most cities without fear of imminent death; etc, etc?  Or would you like to live under sharia law as it is practiced in much of the Muslim world?  Would you like to wear a burqa or hajib, have NO rights under the law, be vulnerable to rape and murder on a whim, be uneducated, and unable to drive, choose your husband (or not), or go anywhere alone?  Do you want to live in fear of terrorism or the secret police who come after you just because they don't like you?

These "war criminals" allow you to keep you job, your lifestyle, your right to vote.  In case you forgot, 20 of those fuckers came over here and told us in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS 5 years ago that they mean business, and they don't care.  If the terrorists out there are willing to sacrifice themselves, their children and old people, and everything they have to end our way of life, then we must be EQUALLY DETERMINED to keep it.

You cannot negotiate with terrorists.  You cannot use diplomacy in the face of nuclear weapons. Or even IEDs.

The lesson of Vietnam is NOT that we walked away.  The lesson is that walking away leaves chaos in its wake.  And we cannot afford to do that this time around.

h/t Smash

dook's newest ranking

dook was out of the Top 25 in Men's NCAA hoops this week for the first time in 11 years after losing 4 ACC games in a row.  So in honor of that auspicious occasion, I give you this:

CHAPEL HILL, NC--Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski reassured his slumping basketball team, which fell from the national top-25 rankings for the first time in 11 years following losses to Virginia, Florida State, UNC, and Maryland that they are in fact the very first team to have fallen off the charts. "Don't worry, gentlemen, we're the first team listed once you get past all the those teams there in the poll," Krzyzewski said in a post-practice team meeting at which he unveiled a banner stating the new team philosophy, "Unbeaten In Practice Equals Practically Unbeaten." "Duke is not just another also-ran, we're the top shelf of the second tier of college basketball." Krzyzewski blamed his team's recent fall in the rankings to a combination of unusually even-handed officiating, and "vengeful" opposing teams "running up the score" to a total of one or more points than Duke's.

Mwahahahahahahahahaha

going dark briefly

On hiatus for the long weekend. Have a good one, everybody!

Calling the Democrats' Bluff

An Open Letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi

Dear Sir and Madam:

You have said often enough that you don't believe in the war in Iraq and that you want to bring the troops home. Yet all you do is talk and sign non-binding resolutions which only goes to show that you really don't mean what you say about ending the war or that you're just playing political games and in doing so giving aid and comfort to a dedicated enemy.

Now if you're serious about ending the war you have the means and the votes to do just that. Simply cut off the funding for the troops, bring them all home and the American people can transfer the deed to this war and the ramifications of what you do to the Democrat party and you can live with the results.

You say you support the troops, but that has to be a lie. If you supported them and you truly think the war is wrong, you'd bring them home or either dispense with the poisonous rhetoric and get in behind them and help them get the job done.

You can't have it both ways. If you support the troops do something. Your party won a majority in both houses, so you have control so take the responsibility.

Of course, I think you should remember that when the terrorists follow us home from Iraq and start their attacks on American soil it's too late, so you'd better have a plan to deal with it. Do you have a plan?

And if Iran goes into Iraq and makes it a staging ground for Al Qaida to plan and carry out attacks all over the western world you'll need to deal with that. Do you have a plan?

And if Iran decides to go into Kuwait and cut off the oil flow from the Persian
Gulf, you'll need a way to make up for the shortfall. Do you have a plan?

The world would look at us as a country that has not finished a commitment to war since 1945. Do you have a plan for dealing with that?

The purpose of this letter is to call your bluff. I don't believe you have the guts to do anything but talk and talk is cheap. Oh you have no shortage of words but I seriously doubt the amount of backbone you have.

Do you really think that signing a non binding resolution is really fooling anybody into thinking you're anything less than career politicians trying to tip the scales of the O08 Presidential Election?

What you're doing is silly and dangerous. If you really don't like what's going on, chang

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
February 16, 2007

H/T Linda SoG

Something in the water in MA....

Congratulations, Jay and Deb on the impending arrival of Rugrat #3 in late summer!

A Real Hero

Unlike these 17 cut-and-run pussies (scroll down at link for the list).....

h/t AWTM and Denny via C&S

24 Night again....

This search is just wishful thinking.... Too bad I'm #2!

Oh No. No. No. No.

Why did the 24 folks do this to me? (below the fold)

Read More "Oh No. No. No. No." »

Pregnancy may lead to a new therapy for MS

Researchers at the University of Calgary have discovered that the pregnancy associated hormone prolactin may be responsible for the reduction of MS symptoms usually occurring during pregnancy.

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, indicated that prolactin could be used in people to repair damage caused by MS and improve their symptoms.

Pregnant mice had many more myelin-producing cells, known as oligodendrocytes, than virgin female mice of the same age, the study found.

The researchers destroyed myelin around the nerve cells in the mice, as occurs in MS. Two weeks later, the pregnant mice had twice as much new myelin as the other mice. When the scientists injected prolactin into the non-pregnant mice, their myelin similarly was repaired.

"The implications are that prolactin may be a molecule that can be tested in MS patients for stimulating repair," Samuel Weiss, director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary and senior author of the study, said in an interview.

Prolactin increases in the body during pregnancy and is involved in stimulating milk production among other things.

It's a quite common finding that women with MANY different auto-immune disorders have fewer symptoms during their pregnancies. It will be EXTREMELY interesting to see if the prolactin findings can be extended to other disorders, and whether the mechanism of prolactin is specific to myelin production or facilitates increased myelin levels indirectly via a protection mechanism. Or if other pregnancy hormones have similar effects, especially as inflammatory exposure can have devastating effects on a developing fetus.

It's Amazing

Jen reminds that The Amazing Race is back, with an All-Star edition designed to erase the memories of the pathetic Family Edition season and two subsequent lackluster crap seasons.

So far?  Not bad.  I was super happy to see Charla and Mirna, Uchenna and Joyce, and Team Guido. 

My favorite team ever is sadly absent, the Clowns from Season 4 (Jon and Al).  In fact ALL of Season 4 is absent.  Too bad, as Season 4 was really my favorite personalities-wise, with the Chippendales, Whinies, SteveDave, the Goats, Weezer and Geezer, the Supremes, the Models, and Team Moleymoleymoleymoley (the virgins).

Mardi Gras/ Ash Wednesday

So did you celebrate today?

What (if anything) are you giving up for Lent?

Removing the Pajamas

Jeff Goldstein has been told in no uncertain terms that PJM doesn't want him anymore.

Why you ask?  Well, frankly, because he lost a lot of traffic when his site was down while he was dealing with that crazy left-wing whore who threatened his child and wife.

The screwing began with Dennis the Peasant and it hasn't stopped. Steve lays it out:

I'm only guessing, but the logical assumption is that the principals are going to get paid no matter what, while the investors and member bloggers who don't prosper in spite of joining PJM get the shaft. You know how this works. You saw The Producers, didn't you?

Michelle Malkin improved her traffic somewhat, no thanks to PJM, so she gets no pay cut. Instapundit's traffic stayed flat in spite of the dullest, laziest, most unnecessary and useless blogging in the top half of the ecosystem, so he gets no pay cut. PJM failed to drive traffic to Jeff, and for one reason or another he didn't generate it on his own, so Jeff takes a beating. Meanwhile, I'm sure he's grateful for all those print opportunities they rounded up for him. I know Raj and Rerun were busy, busy, busy every day, knocking on doors and handing out business cards, securing those MSM ins we heard so much about back before respectable folks like Larry Kudlow bailed out.

The investors get milked, the castle in the sky fails to materialize, Raj and Rerun feather their nests, and a top-notch writer has his valuable time wasted. Is that an incorrect assessment? If Pajamas Media were as transparent as the workings of a Cheney energy-policy session, maybe we would know. It's a good guess, though.

Jeff was distracted, because a vicious lunatic whore threatened his family and had to be dealt with, and maybe that hurt his traffic. But would that have mattered, had PJM been anything but a house of cards? Where is the synergy we used to hear about? Obviously, the PJs didn't pull their own weight, and now they care more about money than they do about Jeff taking time off to protect his wife and son.

Shady underhanded crap. As I've said before.  And you know, crap floats.  You can keep flushing it all you want, it just pops up somewhere else.

It'll be a real fucking shame if Goldstein quits because PJM drops his paycheck.

Gardasil: doesn't protect against HPV or cancer?

Turns out one of the main reasons that Merck is backing off on the Gardasil lobby is that the vaccinations as recommended may be pointless:

Lawmakers looking to force preteen girls to take Gardasil, a new vaccine against a virus that causes cervical cancer, are targeting the wrong age group, cancer data shows.

Middle-school girls inoculated with the breakthrough vaccine will be no older than 18 when they pass Gardasil’s five-year window of proven effectiveness — more than a decade before the typical cancer patient contracts the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). emphasis mine --Ed.

Gardasil is currently only FDA approved for girls and women age 12-26, and is therefore not KNOWN to be effective at the age when the majority of HPV  infections occur and HPV-related cancers are diagnosed for ANY woman receiving the vaccine, under current guidelines.

This is why I (and MANY medical professionals) am against mandating this vaccine.  All of this bandwagon science in the name of "the children" completely jumped the gun on this one.  If there is no evidence that the vaccine will even protect these girls from this virus or subsequent cervical cancer at the age when many of them will contract it, then why should we subject our daughters to the potential hazards and side effects of the injections?

Nurse and Cotillion sister Raven has a lot more in her very thoughtful post:

Far be it for me to say, but with the known side effects being reported so far, from doctors who have given the shots to young girls, I question it’s worth. Reports of seizures, blindness, episodes of passing out, tremors, memory problems, vision loss-are coming in at an alarming rate. Are these true side effects of the vaccine, or just the bad luck of coincidence for the young ladies? We don’t know, yet. It takes many years of data collection and analysis to come up with an honest, medically sound answer.

One thing we do know: Condoms prevent the spread of ALL forms of HPV. Period. As well as other viral infections and disease. They’re much cheaper and don’t cause the serious side effects drugs cause. Why are little girls being mandated to get vaccinations that cause them harm, that do not guarantee freedom from the very disease the vaccine is said to protect against when we could mandate condom use for boys? Don’t answer that because I know it’s a stupid question. But for the love of GAWD people…do we see a problem here?

Read the whole thing!

The Walter Reed Fracas

By now if you read any MilBloggers, you probably have heard about the "outpatient mess" at Walter Reed and all of the subsequent blame being shifted around because of it.

Blogger and Walter Reed frequent flyer CPT. Chuck Ziegenfuss has some interesting things to add to the debate:

Look at the charities who help the wounded--whether flying them or their families to hospitals, making Velcro clothes so they can dress themselves, helping to take care of the soldier's kids, getting them a drastically discounted rental vehicle so they can get from hospital to hotel and back, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. Every single gap that a charity had to fill equates to a leadership failure--a failure to recognize the unique needs of the soldiers and their families. Please don't misconstrue this as my dislike of charities, the exact opposite is true, they are lifesavers. But when a wounded soldier has to rely on the sympathy and charity of others to simply live day to day, to meet his most basic needs, then the Army, and the government as a whole, has failed them.

As a leader in the Army, who has gone through this system, I SHOULDER PART OF THE BLAME FOR NOT TRYING TO FIX THE PROBLEM. I left my brothers behind, and got myself home. After recovery, I moved on to other things, even though the complaints made today are the same as they were 2 years ago. Families are in the dark, medhold is a ridiculous and poor taste joke and apparent cover-your-ass move by the chain of command. I am an officer. I am a leader. By allowing this to happen, and continue to happen, I am at fault for not getting it fixed earlier or fixing it myself.

Other people who share the blame: The soldiers and family members who didn't use normal channels, like the Inspector General, the Chain of Command, or even letters to congressmen to fix the problem. They ran to the press, and embarrassed the Army. The chain of command, and more to the point, the NCO support channel and "chain of concern." Every Sergeant from the newly-minted Corporal to the Command Sergeant Major is tasked with looking out for the health, safety, and welfare of the soldier, and advising the command on the soldier's needs. As a matter of fact the ONLY role of a Command Sergeant Major is to advise the commander on enlisted matters. Clearly, the ignorance of these issues by the chain of command indicated an extreme dereliction of duty on the part of the Non Commissioned Officer (Hey CSM: maybe if you'd spent more time with the soldiers at the Mologne house, Fisher house, and other places the wounded congregate, instead of chasing me another 25 feet up the hill to the designated smoking area; or making sure that there were plenty of signs in the right areas to tell people they couldn't smoke there.)

Maybe you, hospital commander, and all of your high-ranking staff could move your designated parking spots to the other side of post, forcing yourselves to walk up and down the hill to the Mologne house every day, through winter's ice and snow, spring's rain, and summer's heat, just like the men on prosthetic legs and wheelchairs do. (But hey, thanks bunches for the chain link handrail, it sure does come in handy when trying to pull yourself up the hill.

As a company commander, I made time to walk through my billets, and even in combat I made soldier's living conditions a priority. I agree with Dr. Harvey. The command is to blame for this. I will accept the challenge of fixing it, assuming that I receive the commensurate promotion and pay raise. It'll be fixed in 6-12 months--but I need the authority to hire and fire anyone working on Walter Reed, military and civilian, to move people and organizations as I deem necessary, and the authority top bring in other officers and soldiers who I know will get the job done. (not that it'll happen, but hey, I'd take the job in a heartbeat.

As for getting that job done, Chuck's not alone.  There are plenty of folks who would be more than happy to pitch in.  Myself included.

Didn't get the memo, did they?

This is what you get for being LAME.

Googlebombing is SOOOOOO 2006.

h/t Patterico

Because it's Friday

You Are Emerald Green

Deep and mysterious, it often seems like no one truly gets you. Inside, you are very emotional and moody - though you don't let it show. People usually have a strong reaction to you... profound love or deep hate. But you can even get those who hate you to come around. There's something naturally harmonious about you.

Ninjas, Wizards, and Bears, Oh My!

After a VERY long broken gif hiatus, Boromir and the Ninja Wizards is back online!

Woot!

h/t Michael Williams

Cloudy with a chance of fire alarm

As is usual for a Tuesday morning, DH's alarm went off at 5:30 am. Unusually enough, however, he opened our sliding glass door and woke me so I could enjoy the sound of the rain.  Then he got back into bed and we snuggled with the dog and listened to this morning's storm.

Until about 5:50.  At 5:45 there was a terrific downburst and a great gust of wind.

And then the neighbor's alarm system went off.  The rain had shorted the alarm bell mechanism on the fire system in the townhouses next door.  By 6:05 the firemen were knocking on doors looking for a fire or malfunctioning sprinklers.  Finding none, they left.

Alarm still ringing. E flat, in case you were wondering.

The alarm FINALLY was silenced at about 7:30 am, although I'm not sure if it dried out or they got an alarm repairman in to fix it.

It was a hell of a morning!

Quiet around here, no?

Real life interferes.  Between work, choir rehearsals, and a pair of illnesses (DH and I both had the creeping crud) I've been neglecting y'all.

And frankly, I haven't been that motivated by what's going on in the world.  More like disgusted into oblivion.  Lately it's been easier to just turn it off than to vent about it.

We did watch the Oscars, though.  As expected it was a lovefest for Manbearpig, who didn't really win an Oscar.  He wasn't eligible, actually.  Also not surprising, the adoration heaped on Hollywood's two "current" issues: global warming and gayness.

Ugh.

Do some people just not get it?  There was NO major hoohah (which was a good damn thing, IMO) when two black actors won, or that latinos and asians were front runners in several categories.  Just "the most diverse Oscars ever."  So can we get over the Gay thing already?  Please.  Hell, gay people have been winning Academy Awards for years.  Really.  And they get married and have babies, too.  It's a beautiful thing, so can we just move on?

And this whole Global warming thing.  Honestly people, 30 years ago we were terrified of a new ICE AGE.  Really and truly.  30 years from now, we'll be back there.  I promise.  And the Apostle of this new religion is the BIGGEST wastrel of all.

There's nothing wrong with being an environmentalist.  I think it's important to conserve and recycle and reuse and repurpose and be smart about our energy choices and decreasing pollution in general, not just CO2.  But we can not get hung up on the idea that WE are causing global warming.  That's like saying a bucketful of water drains the ocean.  On a 5 billion year old planet, with a sun that provides millions of times MORE energy than we can ever hope to produce without nukes, it is difficult to predict exactly how our weather is affected, if at all, by us.

What we should do is continue to study the Earth's processes and how we affect them, how other factors affect them, and how time affects them.  This will take longer than the 20-some years we have been hooked on global warming.  Far longer, in fact.  Especially as we know that weather cycles are probably a century long, or longer.

And, if we really want conservation, we need to practice what we preach.  Like Ed Begley, Jr ., rather than algore.