What brought this particular subject to mind, I cannot say. But I've been thinking about the "Stuff you should know" podcast I listened to two-three weeks ago . . . it was about some of the bizarre ways people have died. Right up front the two guys conducting the program admitted their own curiosity about death, and then went on to say that they had found that the vast majority of people are similarly curious about the subject.* Of course I don't have any recollection of the several deaths they talked about on the podcast. But there is certainly no shortage of material on the subject of bizarre deaths. One need go no further than Wikipedia, which has a long list of bizarre deaths. You can also google "bizarre deaths" and come up with literally hundreds of references. After reading on this subject for over an hour--it's pretty absorbing--I quit. But right here in my library I don't have to go far to find material on this subject. For instance, I've got a book called Panati's Extroaordinary Endings of Practially Everything and Everybody (1989). It's got four chapters at the end of the book about the deaths of famous people, and some of those were pretty strange. Did you know that William the Conqueror died from acute peritonitis brought on by an injury from being violently jostled against the iron pommel of his saddle? Or that Isadora Duncan the famous dancer had her neck snapped when a long shawl she was wearing got caught in the spokes of the car she was riding in?
I've said it many times: there's only one way into this world, but there are a million ways out.
*Which, it seems to me, is the most natural thing in the world. It's a universal human experience, and a most intriguing one for all of us. We know it will for sure occur, but when and how . . . nobody knows till it happens.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The American Way
What upsets us? Not much. It seems to me that what concerns us are not the horrifying things, but the trivial things. How did I come to this conclusion today? Nothing more unusual than the day's headlines, which I for one, find horrifying quite frequently.
But this is not the sort of thing that seems to hold our attention. Pick just about any day in America and what do you get inundated with on the TV, in the culture? Nothing but shit, really . . . I wrote my $50 check for PBS today (I wish it could make them stop asking me for now every night in the middle of the News Hour.), and I realized that just about the only things I watch that are not on PBS are Ranger games, the few football games we watch, and a smattering of other stuff. This has been Susan's and my pattern for a long time. Why? because PBS is our only antidote for the incredible torrent of garbage everywhere else on television. Collectively, we seem to have embraced all the lightweight diversions we can seize upon to keep us from having to confront ourselves. Do you realize how many people in this country are utterly captivated by celebrities? A horrifying number. Is there anything more
The big news today is the American soldier who methodically murdered 16 Afghan civilians including women and children. Is this going to upset anyone? Not really. Horrify anyone? No more than abuse of Iraqi prisoners, pissing on the corpses of our enemies, and all those innocent people we kill "accidentally" with our lethal drones. No, people are more concerned about whether their favorite on "American Idol" advances. Horrible things like our war crimes, the number of people homeless in this country, our collective callousness and selfishness . . . we don't lose a wink's sleep. We're inured to horror, oblivious to anything that doesn't amuse us. It's the American way.
But this is not the sort of thing that seems to hold our attention. Pick just about any day in America and what do you get inundated with on the TV, in the culture? Nothing but shit, really . . . I wrote my $50 check for PBS today (I wish it could make them stop asking me for now every night in the middle of the News Hour.), and I realized that just about the only things I watch that are not on PBS are Ranger games, the few football games we watch, and a smattering of other stuff. This has been Susan's and my pattern for a long time. Why? because PBS is our only antidote for the incredible torrent of garbage everywhere else on television. Collectively, we seem to have embraced all the lightweight diversions we can seize upon to keep us from having to confront ourselves. Do you realize how many people in this country are utterly captivated by celebrities? A horrifying number. Is there anything more
The big news today is the American soldier who methodically murdered 16 Afghan civilians including women and children. Is this going to upset anyone? Not really. Horrify anyone? No more than abuse of Iraqi prisoners, pissing on the corpses of our enemies, and all those innocent people we kill "accidentally" with our lethal drones. No, people are more concerned about whether their favorite on "American Idol" advances. Horrible things like our war crimes, the number of people homeless in this country, our collective callousness and selfishness . . . we don't lose a wink's sleep. We're inured to horror, oblivious to anything that doesn't amuse us. It's the American way.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Oh, Really?
Here's something that won't surprise you even if all you have going for you is a smidgen over basic motor functions: people are making money, lots of it, opposing relaxation of marijuana laws. Oh, really? It is positively insane that 1 of every 8 people in US prisons is there for pot-related offenses. That's 800,000 and about $1 billion in costs to keep them there. (Source) And this isn't because the people of this country are clamoring to keep these dangerous potheads off the streets. No. Fact is half of the people in the US favor outright legalization of the weed, a record number, and the first time this many people have expressed this opinion. Many, many more favor decriminalization measures of some sort. But, as in so many other areas--gun laws and withdrawal from foreign wars come to mind--what the people want and what they get are two entirely different matters.
So I'll give you some guesses as to who is behind these efforts to keep the ridiculous pot prohibition on the books. Bingo! If you guessed police, you get a gold star. The simple fact of the matter is the police unions prosper with greater numbers if you're out there chasing pot offenders. This article focuses on California, but surely what's true there is true across the county. Several counties in the state, it should be noted, collected handsomely for anti-marijuana initiatives from stimulus money early in the recession.
But guess who else is against any change in the marijuana laws? Who would you think? Beer companies, alcohol corporations . . . and are you ready for this? Prison guard unions. And less not forget our favorite friends, Big Pharma, who fear a low-cost form of competition.
Money talks. Weed just smokes.
So I'll give you some guesses as to who is behind these efforts to keep the ridiculous pot prohibition on the books. Bingo! If you guessed police, you get a gold star. The simple fact of the matter is the police unions prosper with greater numbers if you're out there chasing pot offenders. This article focuses on California, but surely what's true there is true across the county. Several counties in the state, it should be noted, collected handsomely for anti-marijuana initiatives from stimulus money early in the recession.
But guess who else is against any change in the marijuana laws? Who would you think? Beer companies, alcohol corporations . . . and are you ready for this? Prison guard unions. And less not forget our favorite friends, Big Pharma, who fear a low-cost form of competition.
Money talks. Weed just smokes.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Big Mac Burden
You run across these interesting little tidbits all over the Internet. I stumbled across this today. Caught my attention since I've been watching calories since the 2d week in January. So you might say it was with a sort of horrified fascination that I reacquainted myself with some facts about Mickey D's Big Mac. I have to say, right off, that I have never been a huge patron of McDonald's. The fries are the best thing I've ever had there, and I cannot honestly ever remember having a Big Mac.
Here's what a Big Mac costs you: 540 calories--that's a hell of a lot for one sandwich. A burden! And if you add a medium fries and a medium Coke, you're talking 1130 calories for the meal, plus your 48 grams of fat. I'm on a 1,300-calorie a day regimen right now, and that would be a discouraging situation indeed to have less than 200 calories left for the whole day.
I got curious about what the killer calorie count for other stuff at McDonald's would be. No problem. The Net produces the information in a flash. Here it is. I'll save you the trouble of finding the most calorie-charged thing on the menu. It's the chocolate triple-thick shake (32oz): 1160 calories and 27 grams of fat. Whew! But . . . it sure as hell sounds good.
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| Classic Big Mac meal |
I got curious about what the killer calorie count for other stuff at McDonald's would be. No problem. The Net produces the information in a flash. Here it is. I'll save you the trouble of finding the most calorie-charged thing on the menu. It's the chocolate triple-thick shake (32oz): 1160 calories and 27 grams of fat. Whew! But . . . it sure as hell sounds good.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
So Much Trouble in the World
I just watched this video. Read that it had gone viral and just checked it out of curiosity. About efforts to put a stop to an African Congolese thug named Joseph Kony who, among other heinous acts, kidnaps children for his army. This guy has been burning and looting and killing for nothing but maintenance of his own power for over 20 years. I was moved by the video, but everybody knows I'm a chicken-hearted wuss. Nonetheless, I have read about the practice of turning boys into killers and girls into sex slaves in several African countries. There's a whole army of young people working to get this guy arrested this year. I hope God blesses their efforts.
Throughout I kept thinking of one of Bob Marley's great songs. So sad to say that his observation is as true now as when he first made it
Throughout I kept thinking of one of Bob Marley's great songs. So sad to say that his observation is as true now as when he first made it
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
There Are Scumbags, & then There's Limbaugh
What words can I conjure up to commend that execrable wretch Rush Limbaugh to your detestation? I fear whatever they would be, they would prove inadequate. I don't need to rehearse what he's done. It's been in the news for several days now. I mean, what kind of creep gets on the radio and before millions of people brands somebody he doesn't even know a "slut" and a "prostitute." And then goes on to pile on one filthy insinuation after another about this woman? And apparently this rant of his went on for three days. And what did this lady do? She testified before a congressional committee in favor of contraceptives being available through government insurance programs. I don't need to rehearse for you why this is a sensible thing to do either.
I tell you over and over again . . . that we are a doomed people. More evidence of this is in the reaction of many in the Republican party, who refuse to condemn Limbaugh. And that includes the cast of remaining clowns still vying for the GOP presidential nomination.Thankfully, radio stations carrying his hate show and most important, sponsors, are jumping ship. I hope like hell this latest outrage by Limbaugh brings that sack of doo-doo down. This guy has been getting away with the vilest stuff for years. It's time decent people rise up and shut his damned mouth.
I tell you over and over again . . . that we are a doomed people. More evidence of this is in the reaction of many in the Republican party, who refuse to condemn Limbaugh. And that includes the cast of remaining clowns still vying for the GOP presidential nomination.Thankfully, radio stations carrying his hate show and most important, sponsors, are jumping ship. I hope like hell this latest outrage by Limbaugh brings that sack of doo-doo down. This guy has been getting away with the vilest stuff for years. It's time decent people rise up and shut his damned mouth.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Yet Another List II
Continuing on from yesterday. You'll recall I was listing web sites that I had never heard of off Time magazine's list of the 50 best web sites of 2011. Well, I have a confession to make. In perusing Time's list of sites more closely I discover that I have not heard of most of them. So what does this tell you? Probably the obvious: I don't do a hell of a lot of web surfing, or conversely, I don't have call to check out sites in some of the magazine's topics, such as Family and Kids--we're past that stage, Susan and I--Social Media, Games. So there are several other areas left, and plenty of interesting sites, viz.:
- Freerice -- With Freerice, you can do good by having fun. Answer one of the multiple-choice questions correctly — on topics such as English vocabulary, geography or chemistry — and the site's sponsors will donate 10 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Programme. It doesn't sound like a major act of charity — but so many people answer so many questions that the site is responsible for the donation of hundreds of millions of grains of rice every month. That's enough to make a major difference for tens of thousands of hungry people in Haiti and other countries that need help. [There are 60 "levels," and I was on 42 when I quit. I got hung up in it for about 10 minutes. BTW, all I saw were vocabulary questions, nothing on anything else.
- CalorieKing -- Half the battle of eating well is knowing what you're eating. And knowing what you're eating is a whole lot easier with CalorieKing. The site provides the nutritional facts for thousands of foodstuffs, from grapes (34 calories and 0.1 grams of fat per serving) to Wendy's Baconator Double (940 calories and 59 grams of fat). This basic info is free . . . [There's a pay plan where you can get menus, advice, etc., etc., but the heart of it is the calorie-counter. Great for me since I've been counting calories for a couple of months. I have an app on the iPad, but this look-up is quicker. Seems to be pretty damn comprehensive.]
- Hipmunk -- [This one is for Susan, the travel agent in the house. Cool tabular display of flight options for trips.] Shopping for plane tickets will never rank among life's greatest pleasures. But with Hipmunk, it's no longer among the most tedious. This slick site lets you search for flights across major airlines, giving you easy-to-scan results in a grid sorted by agony ("a combination of price, duration and number of stops"). Nice touches include an icon that highlights flights with wi-fi, and there are iPhone and iPad apps that let you use the service on the go.
- Big Think -- The thinking at Big Think is big indeed. This blog and video site covers, well, the world: arts, business, science, history and much more. Resident big thinkers such as futurist Ray Kurzweil and distinguished guests tackle the topics seriously, and counterintuitive notions and outright heresy are welcome. It's a great place to go to challenge your preconceived notions and recharge your mental batteries.
- Khan Academy -- In 2004, Salman Khan started tutoring his cousin over the Internet. In 2006, he began uploading educational videos to YouTube. And in 2009, he quit his day job as a hedge-fund manager to concentrate on Khan Academy, a sort of one-man university. Today the site offers his free lessons in thousands of highly visual 10-minute chunks. Math and science dominate, and students are the primary audience, but Khan is adding additional topics and welcomes adult learners. It's a remarkable undertaking — and with funding from Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it has a bright future.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Yet Another List
Everybody loves lists, right? Well, I'm going to share with you a list that some of you might find strange. This is a partial list of websites that appeared in Time Magazine's annual list of "best of" websites. There are fifty of them altogether. But I'm not going to list them all. You can go here if you want to see the whole list. My criterion for appearing in the list below is that I have never heard of the site. As to why you might find it strange, I'll venture a couple or three guesses. First, you may think I'm terribly uninformed not to know about some of these places because you know about them . . . in fact, you couldn't imagine somebody not knowing about them. Another reason could be that you know the site, but cannot imagine why anybody would put it in the top rungs of anything. Finally, you may just find it strange that I even bother with such a subject. Well, here's full disclosure. It's been a slow news day, and sometimes you just have to dredge something up. I'm going to include some of Time's blurb about the site for what it's worth. I do sincerely hope you might even find some of this useful.
Schott's List of Websites
Which Somebody Thinks are
Fabulous
But Which He Never Heard Of
- My Damn Channel -- Brevity is the soul of the wit at My Damn Channel, a video site where almost everything is entertaining and nothing runs for much more than five minutes. More professional than YouTube and less schlocky than much of what's on the networks and cable, My Damn Channel is damn good TV.
- Grantland -- The Web is already well equipped with outstanding sites on every known athletic pursuit. Is there room for one more? Absolutely, if that site is Grantland, the new creation of one of today's finest sportswriters, Bill Simmons. Grantland -- The Web is already well equipped with outstanding sites on every known athletic pursuit. Is there room for one more? Absolutely, if that site is Grantland, the new creation of one of today's finest sportswriters, Bill Simmons. [personal observation: I found out on this site that Barack Obama's favorite character from The Wire is Omar.]
- Get Human -- Some of the biggest companies in the U.S. are in hiding — or at least, you might think so when you want to talk to a real person at one of them. Phone numbers are often tough to find, and if you do uncover one, it could lead to a voice-menu system that tries to placate you with recorded messages. That's why GetHuman is so essential. It provides numbers for thousands of companies, from AT&T to Zynga, plus information on which buttons to press to reach a human and how long you're likely to wait on hold. Users can also vent by writing customer-service reviews; they're pockmarked with phrases like "What a nightmare!" [personal observation: "Hard to find 800-numbers" was a great website that went kaput a while back. This is an even better replacement. How could I have not known about this place?]
- Smarthistory -- Smarthistory focuses on art history, from cave paintings to Warhol. And while the site calls itself a textbook, it's not the text — or even the illustrations — that make it special. It's the growing library of videos that feature spirited, unscripted conversations among historians about notable works. You can start in ancient times and work your way forward or browse the collection by artist, theme or medium.
- Quora -- When you've got a question that's strictly factual, a search engine usually does the trick. When the answer would benefit from expertise and opinion, you want to ask a smart human being — or even better, a bunch of them. Quora is a terrific way to find those savvy folk and benefit from their knowledge (and pay back the community by sharing your own insights). It's one of umpteen Q&A sites on the Web — others include Ask.com and Yahoo! Answers — but the quality of the conversation is uncommonly high.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
I'm a Snob
Rick Santorum: are you kidding me? How can this guy actually still be in the race for the Republican nomination? Fact is, he lost to Mitt "Mr Excitement" Romney in Michigan by a slender margin and apparently is polling well in a number of super Tuesday states. But this guy is an idiot. Certifiable. The latest nonsense to come out of his mouth is his sneering slur on President Obama for . . . are you ready? Endorsing the idea that everybody should attend college. Called him a snob for thinking this. A snob.
Well, sign me up. I'm a snob too. I've believed my whole life that education is the key ingredient for the fullest life. I don't ever talk about the financial benefits of higher education (even thought they're substantial and that's what you hear about 99% of the time. David Sirota, by the way, makes the point much better in this piece.), but rather how much better it is to be acquainted with books, the arts. To have intellectual curiosity and broad interests, to take joy in learning, to be conversant with great literature, to be able to think critically. All of this stuff is the byproduct of education; all of it. And you can live without any of it, but speaking for myself, I would never want to. Think about a life with nothing more in it than television and other empty amusements--not that these things don't have their place. God, no!
Well, sign me up. I'm a snob too. I've believed my whole life that education is the key ingredient for the fullest life. I don't ever talk about the financial benefits of higher education (even thought they're substantial and that's what you hear about 99% of the time. David Sirota, by the way, makes the point much better in this piece.), but rather how much better it is to be acquainted with books, the arts. To have intellectual curiosity and broad interests, to take joy in learning, to be conversant with great literature, to be able to think critically. All of this stuff is the byproduct of education; all of it. And you can live without any of it, but speaking for myself, I would never want to. Think about a life with nothing more in it than television and other empty amusements--not that these things don't have their place. God, no!
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| You cannot make up morons like Rick Santorum |
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