I would say Darwin award...

... but she already procreated.

US woman killed by two-year-old son http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30636326

I didn't know that North Korea got Fox news

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0K502920141227?irpc=932

Preparing for hell

Coffee at 10pm!

No one cared who I was

Until I put on the mask.....

RIP ESM

And good riddance!

Good hit good hit

Keep those coordinates comin' ......

A good week for music

First discovered an old Carbon Leaf album, "Constellation Prize."

 

Now, AVA has a new album.  From the song "Wolfpack:"

 

"Finding a light in a world of ruin
Starting to dance when the earth is caving in
Set in the sun and our hearts are burn in'
Leaving the nest to the back of a thousand winds
We're ready to begin

Its alright
A bit scathed
A bit lost
I've been played
I ain't that clever
a city boy that can never say never
I got the life but that girl bites like (a wolf)

Its on me
Its only
A small heart
On one sleeve
Academy killer
Off with his head
In the make believe game of fools
That girl bites like a wolf

Are you ready?
I'm waiting to begin ...."

 

starting to catch on

Ryan's sleep is very fitful tonight.  Therefore, I am downstairs, watching him sleep in a pillow, which is serving as sort of a half-swaddle.  Just enough to keep him from punching himself in the face.  

Tomorrow we will be getting the Halo Swaddle sleepsack to lock down his arms for good when he is sleeping.   This will probably significantly improve quality of life, as traditional swaddling managed to stop the incessant crying twice today.  We will be careful not to overuse it though, as the sacks have been described online as "heroin for babies."

One of the good sides of being stuck up all night watching a fitfully sleeping baby is random browsing on Amazon and the app store.  I am going to have to try out this game that I found, "Never Have I Ever," whose tagline is "A game for people who make poor life decisions."  Sounds accurate.  Also entertaining was the coffee mug that reads "Good morning.  I see the assassins have failed."

Starting with that, we delved deeper into the morass in the App Store. I downloaded several apps from the Learning Series, including Optics, Mechanics, Probability, Electromagnetism, etc.  Along with several other math and physics references. Looking through some of the material, I am amazed at all the stuff we learn but never use. 

I used to enjoy finding solutions to problems.  My favorite ones were associated with data and image processing. Machine vision.  Programming my own algorithms to find patterns that were not discernable to the eye.  Figuring out new ways to process data.  Making my own GUIs, and delighting in figuring out how to interface my crude MATLAB programs to manipulate files stored in more palatable formats to other engineers (e.g., EXCEL).

Then I went into project management.  Big mistake.  It's true, as a project manager you get exposure to a lot of things, some of them technical.  Most of them personal (personnel?).  But you don''t get your hands dirty. You don't get to solve the technical problems yourself. You can find a solution and suggest it to someone, but you don't get to carry it out.

I guess that's why I went in with Dave to start the tree business a while back.  It was a chance to do some work. Get my hands dirty again.  See some rather simple physics in practise.  But now that's gone too, it got to be too much like real work.

Back to the "career."  Each job has been shorter and shorter, so to keep on my current trend I would have to change jobs within a year.  And to do that, I need to be applying now. Which I am.  I figure I have about 20 years left in my "career."  Therefore, at an average of a new job each year I have 20 tries left to find something that doesn't make me want to put two pens on the desk and make them disappear, Joker style.

It doesn't help that I get bored so easily.  If I do the same task three times, I think I've had enough.  Maybe it's a curse of the near-photographic memory.  My brain says "been there, done that, move on . . . . " way too quickly.

But I know its more than that.  I know that it's because I made the wrong decision.  I left technical work.  I should be in a lab somewhere, figuring things out.  Not in a cubicle, pushing endless stacks of paper around in some macabre symphony of stress.  

And then comes the rub.  The pay.  The fact is, bullshit pays.  And the more ludicrous it gets, the higher the pay.  I can never get paid the same wage to do technical work as I do to do whatever it is that I do now.  Technical work has been relegated, while politically maneuvering and chicanery have been elevated.  

Can you imagine what could be accomplished if performing actual work payed as well as bullshit?

I feel like I am starting to wake up from the drunken stupor of the past 10 years, both literally and figuratively.  I bought into the ladder climbing crap. I believed the lie.  Bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Now all I have to do is find a way to cut the line and swim free . . . . .  

Wow - "Circus" by Carbon leaf

How amazingly relevant......... bolder some particularly deep-cutting lyrics.

Full lyrics at 

http://songmeanings.com/m/songs/view/3530822107859472403/

----------------------------------

We all have our window and vision
Yet sometimes I feel so blind
Can you explain to me what I see?
Can you help me decipher and decide?

Is this where, where I belong?
Is this where, where I belong?
The sun blinks its brilliant eyes
On confusion and purpose, it's time
To find the place you're broken in
And stare into the never-ending sunlight

I'm so done with this circus
Yet I love this escape
How do you free yourself and leave the rest
To the beasts in the gilded cage?

If every end is a new beginning
Is there cause to celebrate?
If any pause for reflection's been lost
In your need to fill all that empty space

Is this where I belong?
Is this where, where I belong?
The sun blinks its brilliant eyes
On confusion and purpose, it's time

Kids suck

Yup.  7 hrs of screaming straight.  I had the last few hours.  Katy is on shift until 2am, unless he decides to sleep for a change.  He may be settling down judging from the lack of sound coming through the floorboards.

No reason for it.  Just screaming.  And screaming.  And screaming.  At one point I considered putting him in the utility room and just closing the door for a couple hours.  At least that room is somewhat sonically isolated from the other parts of the house.  Maybe we should move his crib down there.

After this week, pretty sure we will be one and done.  Also, absolutely sure that i will have no problem dropping him off for his first day at daycare.  Picking him up will suck.

Wish they had night care.  I'd pay.....

Should have listened to Dave Grant.

Awesome

Discovered on Pandora. Love it....

Civic duty

Read this, then the constitution

http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf

And then tell me with a straight face that you still believe you're living in a representative democracy 

instead of a police state.

6 hours sleep . . . . feels weird

After the nightmare shift this morning, handed the kid off to Katy, expecting that he would eat within an hour.  Wrote the last blog and took a nap.  Two hours, later, woke up and discovered that the kid had just eaten.  Parents woke up and took a shift.  Went back to sleep for another four hours.

Up now, feeling admittedly weird.  Haven't had that long of a successive sleep in a while.  It's been an hour here, two hour there, three if I'm lucky situation.  No idea on distribution.

Definitely considering the second story with more fervor now.  Going back to work and then dealing with this at night is going to be the next level of hell.

The one upside to newborns

Beer and PS4 at 3am ......

And the good news keeps rolling in .....

Ex-Washington Mayor Marion Barry dies http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30166759

India tea workers kill boss over pay

Very rarely, you stumble across a truly good news story .........

India tea workers kill boss over pay http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30167195

Doom II at Dan's Farm

Hopefully this year's hunt will be as eventful as the last. ...

The Rotting West

Funny, but the real decay isn't as overt as what these guys are posting.  The real decay is happening underneath the surface, like through-wall corrosion in piping, or termite-ridden wood.  You're just cruising along and all of a sudden, the whole thing suddenly, wonderfully, and catastrophically fails.  And then, only in retrospect, do you realize how corrupt the system truly was.

The Rotting West http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-30105541

This guy has it right

Newborns suck.

http://www.daddyfiles.com/hate-newborns/

Beyond the limit of darkness and light

Last night at around 3am, I hit a Kakashi moment as I took a step and immediately knew I was past my limit.  Cold sweat formed on my brow, and I knew that my body was about to give out.

Told Katy "I don't feel well," walked to the extra bedroom, pushed the stacks of washed laundry to the other side, and collapsed into a dream world.  As I faded out, my heartbeat seemed noticeably slower than the 51 bpm I measured the other night.

Babies don't sleep this good.  Trust me, I know.  I died.  And in four hours, I was born again.  Resurrected.

All worry had dissipated.  And what had replaced it was a sort of ... detachment.

From what I am still coming to understand.  

A poet after my own character

Dylan Thomas.

The edge of hell

Doctors orders - feed every three hours.

I am Jack's raging bile duct.

The true story of Parenthood - Part 2 - the long road home

Today is day 7.  It's the first time since my last post that I've had time to sit down and write.  But I would like to discuss the experience at the hospital after your bundle of joy has arrived and now will be placed next to you for every waking moment, unless you are the only bad parents (hint - we are) that are willing to send your newborn to the nursery in order to get some rest.

We'll start with that.  Apparently we were lodged in a "baby-friendly" hospital, which means that baby bunks with you all the time unless you ask otherwise.  Hint:  "Baby-friendly" is another term for breastfeeding concentration camp, run by the breastfeeding Nazis.  The nurses constantly remind you to wake up baby and put it to breast, whilst a cadre of lactation consultants roams the halls like the SS during the daytime, waltzing in to whichever room they want at whatever time they want and shoving the kids face into the mom's boob as if to smother it.  And when I say shove, I mean it.  If I were the little guy, I would be frightened to death of the flesh mountain that wakes me every two hours and insists on climbing down my throat.

Plenty more on the state of breastfeeding propaganda  to come.  That shit never stops.  In fact, a whole post will be dedicated to the bullshit of breastfeeding at a later date.  As far as I'm concerned, people who exclusively breastfeed should stop being hypocrites and go live in the jungle, using only rudimentary stone tools to slay their meals in the wild.   Or go to a hippie commune and grow all their own food, fully reject technology and stop bothering all of us normal people with their sanctimonious, fabricated bullshit.

Anyhoo, back to the hospital stay.  Be warned, when they say "baby-friendly," that means that it is absolutely parent unfriendly. A constant barrage of people coming in, so that during the two hours that you can get sleep, someone is knocking on your door every damn 10 minutes with some form or another.  I shit you not, we were complaining about it the second day and 5 people stopped by in 10 minutes.  I was wondering if this was some sort of sadistic stress chamber, and we were not lucky enough to be the control group.

And the care seemed vastly skewed to normal pregnancies.  Lactation consultants spewed their filth, suggesting positions that no sane person would recommend for someone with a C-section.  No rest, which is critical for recovering from MAJOR SURGERY. 

Food - terrible.  Nursing staff - hit or miss.  Lactation consultants - worthless.  Doctors - well, actually pretty good, when they bother to show up.    Which was never. 

Things were so bad that we decided to pack up and head home on the second day after my wife's C-section.  Hoping that the lack of a constant stream of people knocking on our door would improve our sleeping situation (HA-more to come!).

And so, two days after having her innards removed and stuffed back into her like a sausage-filled teddy bear, my wife left the hospital with a prescription for Motrin.

Low pulse

Not only am I outside the average range.  Apparently I am outside the total range for my age group.

Always knew I was special.  Should probably check back with the doc....

The true story of parenthood - Arrival

The pamphlets had it all wrong.  They are all titled "A Joyous Parenthood," or "Magical Beginnings," or other such trite nonsense.  There's nothing magical about it.  A stroll around your local hospital's maternity ward will convince you that absolutely any hoodrat can have a kid.

 

Ah yes, let's begin with the beginning.  Some people can just have a kid.  Things work out naturally.  But for those of us that need to take extra steps, they take something fun like sex and turn it into work.  A prescribed regimen.  Take something that is supposed to be spontaneous and free, and turn into a strict diet.  Oh yeah, that'll help.

 

Regardless of how it happens, when you do get pregnant, there's the constant worrying.  Holy crap.  Does the baby have X.  Does it have Y.  What's the heart rate.  How many weeks are we? 40 weeks of wondering just what the hell is going on and a slew of medical professionals to shrug their shoulders and say:  Meh!  Answer questions vaguely, with no less than three undistinguishable alternatives and shy away from giving advice.  Really simple shit, too.  Such as:  Should my son's penis be as big as his head?  No answer.  I guess that's day one of medical school.

 

Worry worry worry worry worry.  For 40 weeks.  Pretty much sums up getting to term for me.

 

And then the day comes.  Or more likely, it doesn't and they have to make the day come.  Come on in and get drugged up to force that little guy out like a giant turd on a slip and slide.  My wife rebukes me for comparing the little one to a giant turd, but after 3 hours of solid screaming, I am somewhat reluctant to change my assessment. 

 

Back to the inducement.  Get the drugs going to move things along.  Nothing happens.  Get more drugs to move things along.  Nothing happens.  Up the dosage.  Now we're contracting.  Up the dosage.  Yeah, up to 4.5 cm.  Keep that shit running for a few hours!  Get an epidural.  Stall at 5cm.  Up the dosage for a few hours.  Still stalled.  Almost kill my kid by turning the wife from the left to the right.  Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME? THAT'S ALL IT TAKES?!?!?! Time to hit you with the emergency C section at 1;00a.m., when you're too tired and deranged from a nightmarish deathmarch through labor to know just what the hell you are signing up for.

 

Scrub up and go into the ER, where your wife is tied to the bed, crucify-style.  Stand behind the barrier at her head with the anesthesiologist, who is deeply involved in whatever novel he's reading.  Smell the burning flesh as they start to cut the little guy out.  Hear the slopping sounds as they do whatever the hell they're doing on the other side of the sheet.  See your wife start to shake uncontrollably as her body reacts to the shock of what she can't feels from the boobs down.  Dr. Reader, our anesthesiologist, hops up and says you'll be a dad soon, have a look.

 

For those of you who run into this situation.  DO NOT STAND UP. There's not much except a Chinese buffet gone horribly, horribly wrong that can prepare you for what you are about to see.  DAMMIT, WHY DID YOU STAND UP?!?!  Bloody mess of a baby flies out, Lion King hold by the doctor, clamps come in and they chop him off and send him to the side table.  And all I can think is:  Is that a vagina on the table?

 

Hard to track from watching your new kid and wondering if he's OK vs. seeing your wife disassembled on the table.  Of course I was happy to see the little guy.  How couldn't you be?  I was absolutely giddy.  But when they called out his weight at 8 lbs, 11.2 oz.  I can't help but think they could have figured out that he wouldn't fit with a simple ultrasound up front.

 

More later.  The little guy settled down from his 3 hour screamfest and will need food in 2 hours or less.  So, need to crash while I can.

Ready for Halloween

Just in case

PR nightmare

Whoops!  Thousands of people, including us, went out to see the rocket launch.  Was watching live feed in hopes of seeing people inspired again to explore.

All we got is more confirmation that the moon landing happened in Idaho.  We can't even shoot a bag of food into space in 2014.  No way we made it to the moon and back.

the truth comes out

Could be good . . .

http://www.interstellar-movie.com

"Rage! Rage! . . . Against the dying of the light."

Montana here I come!

OECD data tells the obvious story - don't live in the south. And yes, the south includes Maryland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/07/why-the-south-is-the-worst-place-to-live-in-the-u-s-in-10-charts/

The scariest thing I've ever seen

Lookout!

Katy preparing

For the IVF embryo screwup

10 years

Down the hole . . . .

Religious gatherings rarely end well

A gathering in silver spring - I won't be using mass transit this week!

Ebola will also spread like wildfire once it gets into the churches.  Happy communion, you've got Ebola!

Optimism . . . The benefits

Die happy! Early!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1124270/

Toast!

We r fucked

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/ebola-case-diagnosed-us-officials-texas-virus

 

 

Ebola tracker

Awesome! Want to see how close you are to the nearest reported Ebola case? There's an app for that.

Appropriate reaction

Beefy's cousins better get used to it.

Destroyed by the Giants. I hear Seahawks are up next.

Go Seahawks!

Switch plate for beefy

Gotta send the right messages.

Wonder how long it will take him to realize that I have become just a member, an instrument, a thing.

-J

Welcome to the 21st century . . . .

World wars are so much better in HD. How about 3D / IMAX?

Or real life, perhaps?

---------------------------------------

Russian jets intercepted off Alaska

Six Russian fighter jets are intercepted by American and Canadian planes off the coast of Alaska on Wednesday, US defence officials confirm.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29288277

The poor bastards . . .

They still think that the votes were counted. They haven't realized yet that voting is just a distraction, carefully calculated to make the rich richer and let you believe for a fleeting moment that your voice matters.

-------------------------------------------------

Scotland votes 'No' to independence

As Scotland votes to stay in the UK Alex Salmond calls for the pledge of more devolved powers to be carried out, and David Cameron says the commitments will be honoured in full.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-29270441

US next!

"We've stopped thinking like consumers, and started thinking like citizens."

After all, half the Carneals left Ireland for the US when Carneal township went the way of the dodo during the famine. The other half went back to the mainland. I happily assume they went to Scotland, and hope that if that is the case, they vote a big YES tomorrow.

Thanks to Dave for locating this article, which made my day!

> http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/09/scotland_s_referendum_to_leave_the_united_kingdom_scots_are_voting_yes_for.html

33%? A passing grade for the status quo!

Cheer up - 2/3 people in the US are miserable.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/16/global-well-being-poll-panama/15679637/

Here we go!

5000 cases - up to 55,000 by the end of the month!

Plus boots on the ground - for a nice Ebola thanksgiving homecoming.

Something about flying . . .

Always puts me in an introspective mood. Today was a relatively minor hop to Minneapolis.

Had my entire music collection with me. Select lyrics from the flight - dredging through the past by randomizing 90s music and beyond and picking tracks that piqued my interest. Very enjoyable flight:

-------------------------

Too much missing
Not enough living . . .
You say we just go away go away go away!

I never bought a lotto ticket
I never parked in anyone's space
The banks feel like cathedrals
Cuz casinos took their place

We're all lost, we're all found
We're all the same

There are a few in here that hurt themselves
They kick and bend in a dried up well
They call for help and you know them well
Are you aware but what do I know?
I, I will not, surrender
No I, I will not, surrender

You feel like you hit a wall
But you survived and it was hard for you to swallow
I've been to that place before in spite of luck
When you awake, a new tomorrow

I'm on to something here
And it's all becoming clear
Clearly confusing, less than amusing
I'm situated in the corner of a corner
So close to nothing
Forgetful not regretful of what I am
It really hits me when I'm
Hanging with other monkeys
Thinking of shit to say
Well is it wrong to be here anyway?

------------------

Of course they sit me next to a priest on the flight. As we descend to MSP a wrt thought hits me - the only thing that can top a rule-making anarchist is an atheist priest.

Vow to do more living . . . and try to find a more suitable career path. Starting to rethink my decade and a half long strategy of opposites.

Time to read the book I just bought on D-Day. Or draw some comic ideas in the sketchbook.

Ghost cat attacks Katy

We just forgot . . . .

Just watched the beginning of "The Stand" on Netflix and the story below pops up.

"Close the gate Campion! We've lost a bug! I repeat, we've lost a bug!"

You have to admit the hilarity of a nation notorious for using smallpox as a weapon against indigenous people destroying itself with the same virus.

-------------------------------------

Deadly microbes found in US lab

A sweep of US government labs finds improperly stored deadly microbes, following the discovery of forgotten stores of smallpox in July.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29089867

Lessons in Sensitivity: Replacing An Ambulance With A Station Wagon

OK - who called the hearse?  Did the person who titled this article not make the connection between station wagon and hearse?

Love it - "a lot of people who call an ambulance would actually be better served with a different, cheaper kind of care."  

Going to the hospital sounds expensive - just take me to straight to the grave . . .

-----------------------------------------

Replacing An Ambulance With A Station Wagon
by Eric Whitney

NPR - September 5, 2014

There's nothing like an ambulance when you really need one, but they're expensive, and a lot of people who call an ambulance would actually be better served with a different, cheaper kind of care.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/09/05/345256876/replacing-an-ambulance-with-a-station-wagon?sc=ipad&f=1001

Quote of the day

Today was a rough day. It was harder to get out of bed than it has been in a long time. Getting to the door was even harder. I stalled as long as I could. The walk to the car took a great deal of physical effort.

Later, out of nowhere, one of the senior people in my group asked me: "Can you believe that this is what you do for a living?"

We were sorting through a spaghetti web of bureaucratic nonsense of the highest order. Stuff so insane you could go blind just thinking about it. Which, incidentally, pretty much sums up my current job description.

When I got back to my desk, I couldn't escape a simple thought: "Is this it? This is what I took all those classes for? Did I really get an education to do THIS?!?!!"

And that little wry voice in my head answered: "Of course."

Looking back it all comes back into focus. School was just a training camp, getting you acclimated to go somewhere you hate for most of the day, be surrounded by dim-witted morons, and "learn" shit that has little to no value at a lowest common denominator pace from people who had so little real-world experience that they were forced to become teachers.

Not that "higher" education was any different. So the people who surrounded you were smarter, at least in engineering. The liberal arts people seem more like high school students on their second wind (or second binge?). Alas, it made no other practical difference. The professors were still idiots with no real world experience. I must say that they were better liars. They actually believed you would use the skills they were teaching. What a load!

Fast forward to your first, second, third, which job am I on now? I forget. And in every one, it's the same damn thing. Inescapable, really. The depth of human stupidity is astounding. The surprising part is, you can be in research / testing, production, sales, whatever, and the same thing holds true: People are dumb, stupid shits. You can be surrounded by a horde of the most educated people and they will absolutely fail at any task you hand them. Guaranteed. I have come to realize that jobs merely enable dumb shits talk to other dumb shits about more dumb shit.

And by extension, of course, that all human effort is a giant pile of stinking, raw shit!

(sigh) . . . at least it takes all pressure of expectation off . . . .

Careful what you ask for . . . .

Would you prefer "lethally adequate?" We're used to solving our problems with airstrikes.

----------------------------------------------

Ebola response 'lethally inadequate'

A global military intervention is needed to curb the largest ever Ebola outbreak, according to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29031987

Of what?

Shit?

Channeling Muir

Just the drive and short hike in Teton was enough to awaken the John Muir that has been long hidden in the back of my mind:

"How terribly downright must seem the utterances of storms and earthquakes to those accustomed to the soft hypocrisies of society."

WW3 here we come - with an Ebola twist!

NATO to defend Ukraine - is it coincidence that I found my copy of command and conquer Red Alert this morning?

-----------------------------

The crisis in Ukraine is deepening as more evidence points to the presence of Russian troops inside its eastern borders.
http://cir.ca/s/YIx

Channeling minutes to midnight

"Like they understand you in the back of the jet, When you can't put gas in your tank, these fuckers are laughin' their way to the bank and cashin' their check . . . When the rich wage war it's the poor who die . . .

With hands held high into a sky so blue as the ocean opens up to swallow you . . . . "

And of course, on random, next up comes "Hands that built America" by U2.  ¡No es real!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-in-corporations-its-owner-take-all/2014/08/26/0c1a002a-2ca7-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html?hpid=z5

Another country, another strain!

Just started reading world war Z. Thinking it should be world war E . . .

---------------------

DR Congo confirms Ebola outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo confirms an outbreak of Ebola, but says it seems to be a different strain to the one found in West Africa.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28922290

Toonami Dreams

Found this old clip from way back. Love it.

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/gP-ugoF-www

Land of the . . . . ?

You're in deep when the Germans say your tactics are oppressive!

-----------------

International reporters and foreign governments have turned their attention to continued clashes between law enforcement and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.
http://cir.ca/s/DZCB

Darwin returns as people loot Ebola-laced sheets

Ebola isn't all bad - at least humans have a predator to feed on the stupid:

Best article quote: "This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen."

-------------------------

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28827091

Republicans say AP history framework is 'radically revisionist'

How transparent can they be?  The last thing the RNC wants you to learn is the truth.

After all, who knows what dangerous thing might happen?  First learning, then, oh no!  Thought!  And then, most dangerous of all:  logic.  

We can't have that.

-------------------------------------

Conservative criticism of new guidelines has culminated in a resolution from the RNC.
http://cir.ca/s/0ECB

How far we've fallen . . .

When a Kurdish lady says, after leaving the US to go back to Kurdistan:

"The chances I have here, I couldn't get in the United States. This for me is the land of opportunity," she adds.

Wow.  You know the American dream is dead when people are certain that their opportunities are better in a war zone.

-----------------------------------------------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28658109

Hubris

Respectfully (or not), US hospitals can't stop the spread of TREATABLE diseases (MRSA, anyone?)

Plus, so far it seems like medical staff have proven pretty apt at contacting the virus they supposedly know how to handle!

-------------------------------------

US 'will not see Ebola outbreak'

The head of the US infectious disease agency, the CDC, says he is "confident" the US will not suffer a large outbreak of the deadly virus Ebola.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28693240

Ouch

Turns out "success" in the corporate world is not born or bred. More . . . Congealed.

Although this alone didn't set the tone, it certainly didn't improve my mood on the eve of a new job.

Decided that from now on, when people ask what I do, I'll tell the truth: "I don't know anymore . . . "

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140805-ambition-born-or-bred

Just another drone . . .

Article on when kids start playing to win.  Then proceeds to tell you how best to turn that kid into a little drone, just like you.  

Nose to the grindstone, kid.  All that matters is that you did a little better than you did yesterday.  Now celebrate and forget that the deck is stacked against you!

Maybe we should be deprogramming adults instead of programming our kids . . .

--------------

When Kids Start Playing To Win
by Cory Turner

NPR - August 5, 2014

This week, NPR Ed is focusing on questions about why people play and how play relates to learning....

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/08/05/331412567/when-kids-start-playing-to-win?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

Finished the comic

My new job!

It got worse . . . Or better . . . For evolution

This article claims that the US is ready to handle an extremely deadly virus that has never been handled before in the US.

You read that right. That's like a headline in Japan in July 1945 that read "Japan ready to defend against any American attack."

-----------------

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/31/health/ebola-isolation-treatment/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

How thick can you get?

Stupid. Stupid. Wow.

Stupid!

"We feel we owe it to them . . ."

Goodbye cruel world!

----------

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/01/health/ebola-outbreak/

US Congress debating $225 million aid package to support Israel's Iron Dome

Guess we didn't spend enough fighting our own wars.  Now we want to pay for other people's wars!

Amazing.  We can't feed our own people.  But yeah, we will buy another country ammo for its missile systems. 

What's the rationale? Republicans want this type of frivolous spending?  Democrats support choosing sides in a religious war?

Of course, the money will go to Israel, who will buy the rockets, which are made by the American companies that own our dear leaders.  Tell me again why this isn't conflict of interest?  Oh yeah . . . Congress claims that it is above the laws it sets for the rest of us.  

You have to admit - It's a perfect system.

-------------------------

http://cir.ca/s/veL

cd c:\humanity, ctrl-a, shift-del, enter

First google was going to provide AI to pretend it was you. Now you can have a robot pretend to be you at your favorite sporting event.

With robots to drive your car, do your work and take your vacations for you, what is the point of existing at all?

Oh right - there isn't one.

---------------------------------

I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it:

Absent fans get robot to do cheering

A struggling Korean baseball team have invented a novel way to improve atmosphere at their matches - by bringing in a crowd of robot fans.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28484536

There goes another one . . .

Warmup

Had to do at least one practice run prior to the half marathon. Well,
Other than the 10 miles on a treadmill a month ago. So, decided to go for a run around Boston to freshen up the legs for next Sunday.

Ran the route shown (9 miles). Figured I had to run up the hill to Harvard and let that stand-in for John Harvard know just what I think about him, his school, and Harvard graduates. They are as fake as the sculpture of their supposed founder.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvard_(statue)

Then crawled down Cambridge to the science museum and went back up the Charles river esplanade and back to the hotel. Stopped along the way for a pic of a bridge our Duck driver had driven under the previous evening.

Little sore. Even in the heat, Boston is a nice place to run. Harvard and Cambridge street reek of trash, so next time I will stay along the river. My class hatred needs no further stoking.

Team building with magic shrooms

Pretty funny what people will go through to try and improve morale . . . . 

----------------

Paintballing The Boss: Office Team-Building Exercises Gone Bad
by Yuki Noguchi

NPR - July 8, 2014

Who can forget that game of Twister played in a skirt? Or the failed "trust fall" where the boss ends up on the ground?...

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/08/329527787/paintballing-the-boss-office-team-building-exercises-gone-bad?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

His only mistake was . . .

Assuming doctors are smart.

---------------------------

Do doctors understand test results?

Doctors have a poor grasp of statistics, an expert says, making it hard for patients to make the right treatment choices.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28166019

Companies have more rights than people

First free speech, now religious freedom for corporations.

I suppose something that only exists on paper is allowed to believe in other things that only exist in paper.

But on another plane, at what point do you just admit that the USA is a total plutocracy?

If that's what we are comfortable being, fine. Just open up and admit it.

I'm not fine with pretending that we
are a democracy. We are at best a (very) loose representative democracy with an extreme addiction to capital.


------------------------------
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/28093756

Hahahahahahahhaaaaa!!!!!!

Greeks lose with a man advantage for a whopping 54+ minutes!

What a great way to watch them lose. Hopefully they'll go home and finish burning down their pathetic country.

Ahhhhh - Awesome. Made my day!!!!!

Greeks . . . Disappointing as usual

Watching their World Cup game. Apparently they can only score when there are only ten people on the other team.

Not surprising. For a bunch of Nazis.

Gotta hand it to him

Frank has got a point . . .

Zombies are real

They play in the World Cup. If he was a dog, they would put him down.

I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it:

Suarez needs treatment - Valcke

Luis Suarez must seek treatment after being found guilty of biting an opponent for a third time, says Fifa's Jerome Valcke.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/28058345


** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.

Have you met my friend frank?

Tell him and his bunny friends to get off my lawn . . .

Lost Decade

Today is day I don't know.  I've lost track.  But for the first time in a long time, I'm starting to feel like my old self.  The sharp edge is returning.

To be honest, I forgot how much I enjoyed it.  So much so that when I randomly took center stage at the end of a meeting today and told people exactly what I thought, the room stopped.  Jaws dropped.  And I felt good.

And I used to be such a nice person.  Or, did I?

Who and where have I been all this time?  Dulled senses cleared, I remember the positive sides of clarity.  I can look in the mirror and see what's there.  And I have no choice but to accept it and choose my path.  Swim in it, down in the dirt. 

Almost nothing I like better.

Coming up on seven years ago is when things got a bit off track.  Thus the graphic.  A select few will know what I'm talking about.

It's not like that was the first time.  Grad school was pretty much an opening act to what happened at the Rock.   More of a warmup, really.  That's what school is for, right?  Getting you ready for the real world?

And my education was, in other than academic respects, excellent.

One year of nothing afterwards and three of being elsewhere.  Then, for some reason, I had to go back to the Rock and paint my PM masterpiece. 

Now, like some sort of failed transfusion, total rejection of the PM lifestyle and back to technical work.  Sort of but not quite like what I was doing in the events leading up to 09.11.07

Only now there's no one to fight.  Except myself.

I can see now that like so many others I was trying to forget.  But now I don't want to forget.  I want to remember every detail and savor it in my own special way.

"I can see the sunlight coming over the horizon . . . . "

The coming plague gets a step closer . . .

A rather messy solution to global warming, don't you think?

-----------------------------------------------

I found the following story on the NPR iPad App

West Africa Is 'Overwhelmed' By Ebola
by Marc Silver

NPR - June 20, 2014

The sheer number of places where Ebola is popping up — in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — puts a strain on medical workers. They're still trying to control the outbreak that began in February.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/06/20/323985117/west-africa-is-overwhelmed-by-ebola?sc=ipad&f=1001

Scientists Keep A Careful Eye On The World Cup Ball

Why did Adidas spend all that money developing a ball that was the same as traditional balls?  Because a lot of morons will buy it for $170.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/20/323719969/scientists-keep-a-careful-eye-on-the-world-cup-ball?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

You people get back to work

This ain't no union shop!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/06/10/320726651/california-teacher-tenure-ruled-unconstitutional?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

Meet David Brat, The Giant-Killer Who Knocked Off Eric Cantor

So the tea party seems poised to take over my home town.  How embarrassing. 

Not that I liked Cantor - he was a total idiot.  But leave it to VA to fix a problem by replacing it with something worse . . . . 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2014/06/11/320841955/meet-david-brat-the-giant-killer-who-knocked-off-eric-cantor?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

You're getting old man . . .

Great episode - too true.

This is how I feel every day.

Call to arms against possessions

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/05/26/the_minimalists_everything_that_remains_is_a_new_memoir_about_living_with.html

BBC News: What should capitalism do?

BBC collection of viewpoints on capitalism. I always think of capitalism as just a pretty word for slavery.

--------------------------
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27517577

Comparison USA-Germany

Funny:


http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/us-d.html

Interstellar trailer - it's not real

"The world doesn't need engineers anymore . . . . We didn't run out of planes and television sets.  We ran out of food."

http://youtu.be/zSWdZVtXT7E

The release date is our due date.  Murphy is seeming like a good name!

Humanity gets what it deserves . . . .

You know your species is doomed when, among failing a multitude of other obvious moral quandaries, it can't even decide whether or not to eradicate a horrible disease:

Keep Or Kill Last Lab Stocks Of Smallpox? Time To Decide, Says WHO
by Rob Stein

NPR - May 9, 2014

"If smallpox is outlawed, only outlaws will have smallpox," says one NIH virologist. Others say keeping vials of deadly virus just invites a horrific accident or theft. WHO is about to vote — again.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/09/310475511/keep-or-kill-last-lab-stocks-of-smallpox-time-to-decide-says-who?sc=ipad&f=1001

How can you expect silver spoon kids not to cheat?

As if they need to cheat to get a leg up . . . .

----------------------

Harvard plans student honesty pledge

Harvard University is going to introduce an "honour code" in which students will promise not to plagiarise or cheat in exams.

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27326404

What are the odds?

That this line of precipitation travels in a line directly over our region?

Dammit.

Brilliant plan . . .

So good it has to be fattening!

-------------

The Food Safety Summit held in Baltimore in April has seen at least 100 of its 1,300 attendees sickened with the symptoms of food poisoning.
http://cir.ca/s/Sb3

Sums it up for me!

HS Gary Larson - not real!

And on pandora:
"It's the first of the month . . . . So cash your checks and come on . . . ."

¡No es real!

Es absolutamente cierto