THE STEEL DEAL

Update

 I have been in the process of moving. I used to be in that business - I could move 4 or 5 different families in the course of a long day. But I am so much older now and have some trouble just moving my butt at all. I am nearly done and fairly settled and intend on rejoining the battle ... perhaps tomorrow. Mattie is fine. I will detail my new digs as time passes, suffice it to say for now that I am in a much better place then I was. A much happier place. I cannot promise that will improve my take on things one iota. Oh, by the way, I discovered I have another brother. Did not know that. 60 fucking years pass by and then POOF! I have a new older brother.

Stay tuned.

Update

Just found out that my brother told his kids I'd died of cancer years ago.
I will defer to Mark Twain in this matter.
Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
I've been busy. I will be busy again tomorrow. There is much to post about and I will soon.
Stay tuned.

Getting old? Blame your parents!

From the BBC

Physical or emotional abuse during childhood could speed up the body's aging process, US research suggests. A team from Brown University focused on telomeres, the protective caps on the chromosomes that keep a cell's DNA stable but shorten with age. They found the telomeres of 31 people who had reported abuse as children tended to shorten more rapidly, speeding up cells' aging process. Experts cautioned that the study needed to be replicated on a larger scale. The study is featured in Biological Psychiatry.

Lead researcher Dr Audrey Tyrka said: "It gives us a hint that early developmental experiences may have profound effects on biology that can influence cellular mechanisms at a very basic level." Telomeres are relatively short sections of specialised DNA that sit at the ends of all our chromosomes. They have been compared to the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces that prevent the laces from unravelling. Each time a cell divides, its telomeres shorten and the cell becomes more susceptible to dying.

Previous research has found that telomeres shorten at an accelerated rate when exposed to toxins such as radiation and cigarette smoke. There has also been work suggesting that psychiatric problems and stress could have a similar effect. The latest study suggests psychological trauma early in life could store up similar problems for the future. The researchers concentrated on people who although reporting abuse in childhood were otherwise healthy and had no signs of current or past psychiatric disorders.

Dr Tyrka said more work was needed to pin down the exact impact of childhood stress on cellular aging. She said: "We don't know what the full implications of this are yet.

  It's funny. I spent the last three days obsessing about what I would use for images to go with this and how to create them. I have some software I really need to learn better and tried to make a 'new' caricature of this for here. I'm not there yet. Close. But no cigar. Content yourself with this ...

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Smoke Signals

From 9News

Philip Morris has been ordered to pay $US300 million in damages to a former smoker in Florida, the largest award to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies.

A Broward Circuit Court jury ruled for Cindy Naugle on Thursday afternoon, agreeing the tobacco company's negligence was the cause of her emphysema.

The case is one of 8,000 lawsuits filed against tobacco companies by Florida smokers and their families.

Naugle's lawyers say it's the largest Florida tobacco verdict to date.

Naugle, 61, started smoking in 1968 when she was 20. She quit in 1993 with the aid of a nicotine patch, though her health continues to suffer. A phone message left with Philip Morris' parent company, Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc, was not immediately returned.

Did you hear that? That was the sound of reason being devoured by insanity.

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When words fail ...

  I feel like playing with images and saying something about the 'news'. That is my therapy. It keeps me sane. Trouble is - the 'news' is so troubling - there is no fun to be had doing so. So, allow me to dispense with the usual (sic) post and cut right to the quick. I grow weary of Idiots On Parade. I've had too much hypocrisy. My stomach is soured and my soul black by it all. Take note. I am not alone. Proceed at your peril. I have had enough.

I. Am. Not. Alone.

A Conflagaration of Idiots

From Various Sources

Al Gore was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien recently and was attempting to explain the utility of geothermal energy, which taps the Earth's heat to generate energy. In so doing, former Vice President Gore proved to be an ignoramus. "It definitely is, and it's a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy - when they think about it at all - in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees aces there are these incredibly hot rocks, , and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

The problem is that Al Gore got the temperature of the interior of the Earth wrong by several orders of magnitude. The actual temperature of the Earth's interior is upwards to six thousand degrees Celsius. "Several million degrees" would describe the temperature of the interior of the Sun. In other words, if Al Gore were right, the Earth would not be a planet but a star. Usually when a public figure makes the kind of public mistake Al Gore is prone to he is laughed off the public stage by the media and is never seen or heard from again. After all, Dan Quayle, said to be an intelligent person, was ruined because he publicly misspelled "potato."

Instead Al Gore is actually taken serious in certain public policy circles. His books on the environment, filled with falsehoods and questionable assertions, are best sellers. Al Gore is a favorite guest on certain TV talk shows (the ones where they don't ask tough questions) and before Congressional hearings. Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize and an Academy Award for Best Documentary. Al Gore has rather arrogantly announced that "the science is settled" concerning global warming. This is news to actual scientists, who have ridiculed Al Gore's pronouncements as being false and misleading. Oh, Al Gore has gotten very rich as a purveyor of global warming hysteria, being involved in a number of environmental businesses that rely on belief in environmental crisis to make money.

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 The reason idiots like Al Gore and Barack Obama are able to get away with it is that we have left our children's education to ideologues and unions. While you weren't looking, your children have become like them. Dumbed down to the lowest 'common' denominator. And just in case you've forgotten exactly what that is - it is that number beneath the line of a fraction which divides. Got that? That number 'divided into' will yield less. Stop. Think. Be afraid. Do something about it. Like fight back. Beyond that, I think you should ask yourself whether YOU know enough to counter such crap. Because if you don't - we are all screwed.

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Smart Pills

Photo Courtesy of Anniemation

I visited my father the other day. He's buried not far from Half Moon Bay in California. His grave is tucked away in a nice quiet corner of the cemetery with a grand view of the Pacific Ocean.You see me brushing the 'smart pills' away and placing flowers on his marker above. The flowers are beautiful flame roses - to match his eternal sunsets and the campfires we shared so many of. But you are probably wondering about those 'smart pills'.

My father told jokes badly - his repertoire was meager and his few jokes were very 'child friendly'. I don't tell jokes very well, either -  I think it has to do with the literal way one sees life. I think if you see life too literally - everything is funny ...or sad... or enraging. That was the range of my father's emotions. Should have simplified childhood, but it didn't. When my father was happy he would tell us his jokes. The one I remember best was about the 'smart pills'.

It goes like this. A very stupid person crossed paths with a con artist. Imagine a face not used to demonstrating much emotion at all, save for those I have mentioned, showing how stupid this person was. The con artist offered to sell the stupid person some 'smart pills'. The stupid person bought some. A few days later, they met again, and the stupid person asked, "I don't feel any smarter, when do I get smarter?" The conman replied, "In time, just wait, Soon you will be smarter."

A few days pass and they meet again and again the stupid guy asks, "When do I get smarter?" The shark repeats that soon there will be smartness. More days pass and the stupid dude finally confronts the man and states, "Those 'pills' you sold me look a lot like rabbit crap and taste like shit!" To which the chisler replied, "See? You're getting smarter already!"

My sister and I had to walk all over the graveyard to find Pop's grave and the only marker with smart pills on it was his. I'd like to think it was flowers left on his grave that enticed the rabbits -  but there were flowers everywhere. There was a small herd of deer and plenty of birds. Just smart pills on his grave, It was a glorious trip to the Coast and I saw his grave for the very first time - he's been dead quite a long time - my other relatives were afraid to tell me where he is buried. My other relatives would sell smart pills if they could.

Since we've returned, I've found myself slipping a bit. Those of you who have been here awhile know I am dying - slowly, to be sure - but steadily. One of the most obvious symptoms is a loss of mental facility. Memory slips. Small things, but when they happen more frequently you notice. I really don't mind at all - in fact I kind of like it. It's a challenge to 'keep focused'. I am enjoying it and my sister is more than able to tend to me. I tell her I have been feeling 'fuzzy' lately and she understands.

Mattie has gained a lot of ground - I almost thought maybe, maybe beyond hope, that she was going to be back to her old self. Until today. She's old too. She is here with me because she had a stroke. That was three weeks or so ago. She is so happy and I am so happy to have her here. But she had a relapse this afternoon. Small seizure but enough to remind me of our mortality. And then I thought of the 'smart pills'. I guess those 'pills' won't make us any smarter after all, but they will make the grass grow a lot greener :)

I'll make a slideshow of all the wonderful photos Janet took on our trip soon.

Speeding Trains & Stupid Twats - A Parable for Our Time

From the AP

Jackson, MS. - Helen Gable was taking pictures on the railroad tracks in Tupelo in 2006 when a train cut her leg nearly off as she tried to get out of the way. Gable and her husband are suing the BNSF Railway Co. for nearly $6 million. The husband wants $575,000 for "his mental anguish and loss of consortium and sexual relations with his wife." Helen Gable says in the lawsuit that the company should have posted no-trespassing signs to keep people away from the tracks. She also claims the train was exceeding federal speed limits and that she was injured by a cable or wire that shouldn't have been hanging off the side of the train, according to the lawsuit, which was first filed in Mississippi state court then transferred last week to U.S. District Court. "Helen Gable, while taking pictures of her niece's daughter, was exercising due care" while standing on the tracks, the lawsuit said. Gable's foot got stuck in the rocks about six feet from the tracks when she tried to get out of the way, the lawsuit says. It took six surgeries to repair the damage to her right leg.

BNSF Railway Company spokeswoman Suann Lundsberg said the company is investigating and is sympathetic to Gable's injuries. But Lundsberg also said Gable "admits in her lawsuit filing that she was trespassing" to take photos on the track. "What may have seemed a harmless photo opportunity is among the more dangerous activities any human being can engage in with a railroad," Lundsberg said. Lundsberg also said BNSF has equipment that detects if something is hanging or dragging from a train. "Simply stated: Trains cannot stop quickly, and people need to be safe and responsible around railroad tracks," Lundsberg said. "BNSF does have trespasser abatement programs and our train crews, resource protection personnel and other BNSF employees are all trained and instructed in the dangers associated with trespassers on the railroad."

  It is estimated that lawsuits - frivolous or otherwise - add at least 20% to the cost of every product and service you purchase across the board. There is no mention of tort reform in any of the proposed health care bills wending their way through Congress. Trial lawyers are the largest contributors to Democrats by far and away. There are three times more lawyers in Congress than any other profession. That is all you need to know...

... about anything as regards our current political system.

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GUARANTEED - a stimulus package that WILL work!

From CNS

Washington, D.C., had the dubious distinction of beating all 50 states to post the highest rates in the nation for the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The District of Columbia had a Chlamydia rate of 1,177 cases per 100,000 people - almost three times the rate of its neighbors, Virginia (405) and Maryland (439). Mississippi was a distant second, at 728 cases per 100,000 people.

By comparison, California’s rate was 407 cases per 100,000; New York came in at 458; New Mexico at 470; Utah at 377 and Maine’s rate was a mere 198 per 100,000. For gonorrhea, D.C.’s rate was 451.5 cases per 100,000--almost twice that of second-ranking Mississippi (256.8); more than three times the rate of its neighbors Virginia (134) and Maryland (118); more than 13 times the rate of Oregon (32.5) and more than 25 times the rate of Utah (18). Other state rates for gonorrhea include: 160.9 for Illinois; 134 for Texas and 88.7 for New York.

D.C.’s nation-leading syphilis rate of 24.8 cases (including both primary and secondary syphilis) per 100,000 dwarfed second-place Louisiana's 16.5 per 100,000 rate and third-place Alabama’s rate of 9.7 per 100,000. It and was nearly four times the rate of Maryland (6.7). By comparison, the syphilis rate was 6.3 per 100,000 for New York; 6.0 for California; 4.3 for Illinois; 3.4 for Virginia and  0.05 for Iowa. The CDC report is based on 2007 surveillance statistics, updated in 2008 and released Monday.

I have an idea. Lets flood DC with Viagra and let God sort it out.

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Happy Birthday, 'baby' sister :)

You turned out to be the best Mom, Grandma, sister and friend there is!