Archive for August 31, 2009
A Bone Fragment Dominates the “News” in the United States
I turn on the television at 9:54 p.m MT hoping to be engaged and/or stimulated by news or discussion. What do I find? Nothing. Oh, then again, everyone’s fixated on “a bone fragment” in California.
A sense of peace comes across me. Nothing more important’s happening in the entire world…
Zen Rocks – Save Hundreds of Dollars and Build Your Own
I live in Colorado where everything is Zen and expensive. I’m not rich but I love the look of topiaries and “Zen rocks,” which I like to put here and there on my deck and in my garden. Unfortunately for me, “Zen rocks” sell for $60.00 to $120.00 around here.
Solution? Buy a tube of construction adhesive and glue three or five or seven flatish rocks together, one on top of the other (the biggest at bottom — and never an even number – Mother Nature doesn’t do it that way). Total cost? Roughly 50 cents because with that one tube of construction adhesive you can make a bunch of them.
Smoke from CA Wildfires in the Air in Colorado
I live west of Denver. Today I noticed an orangish tint to the sunlight, something we experience here when there’s a forest fire in the area. I hadn’t heard of any so I chalked it up to the changing light of the coming Fall. But I heard on the local news just now that it’s due to the California wildfires, 1,000 miles away.
Small world.
Maira Kalman – Always a Treat
Pursuit of Happiness: I Lift my Lamp Beside the Golden Door.
Those Amazing Animals
We arrogant humans have historically underestimated the intelligence, skill and amazing adaptations possessed by animals. The more we learn about them, I pray, the more we’ll respect them (if we don’t kill them off first).
For example, scientists have discovered that lizards use a third eye to steer by the Sun. Amazing.
I read the other day that a hummingbird’s heart can beat over 1,000 beats per minute when in flight and their wings can flap something like 50 times per second. And, insofar as their bodies function at such a fast pace, they go into a state of starvation if they don’t eat for four hours. Fascinating. How they make it to Costa Rica and South America for the winter, I’ll never know, but I sure respect the heck out of them for doing it.
Oh, and the other day I read too that a dog can attain the intelligence of an average 2-year-old human. Hey, I beg to differ. You can’t leave a 2-year-old human home alone.
I Thought Republicans Were Against Frivilous Lawsuits
Not when you’re a professional victim, apparently: Carrie Prejean Sues Pageant for Religious Discrimination.
Fox “News Has the Oldest Median Audience of Any Network
So says the entertainment magazine, Variety:
Fox has gotten quite a bit older over the past few years, as the percentage of its audience that are teenagers has dipped from 12 percent in 2004 to 8 percent in 2008. Conversely, the chunk of Fox’s audience that is between 50 and 64 has risen from 18 percent in 2004 to 26 percent in 2008.
[...]
The oldest-skewing cable network remains Fox News, with a median age of over 65, followed by CNBC, GSN, Hallmark and Golf Channel.
Hehe.
Taxes
Here’s an interesting chart from The Economist showing how people are taxed around the world. (The U.S. ain’t so bad.)
Who’s Going to Take Care of All the Pets Left Behind After the Rapture?
Ever wonder what’s going to happen to all the pets that will be left behind after the Rapture, when all the “good people” on Earth rise to Heaven and us bad people stay down here? Well, hey, some body’s got to think of these things and, fortunately, someone has.
Sign up here to add your name to the list of people who will care for a pet (or two) that will be left behind when its family goes to live in the sky with Jesus: Eternal Earth Bound Pets.
Jenna Bush Hired as a “Reporter” For the Today Show
Yet another kid of a rich and famous person gets a job filtering the news for us, based on their last name and their aristocratic position in our society. And these are the same people who are against affirmative action. They’re the same people who “didn’t get a handout,’ and who claim that they clawed their way to success through sheer blood and guts. They made it “on their own” and you can too!
The wonderful Glenn Greenwald says it all:
They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it’s really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment.
