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?

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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.

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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:

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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?

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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.

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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 . . .

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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.

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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."