Opining Online

instead of writing blog posts.

Aren’t they cute? We are thinking about naming them Brother & Sister because we could not simply adopt one of them from the pound. Sister is on the right, if you can see her barely visible pink collar. One pound official says they are chow/retriever mix, another says husky/retriever mix. It doesn’t matter, they are both cuddly, the male more so than the female. And, dadgummitt, they are cute as can be. 

Apparently the FCC has defined buttocks as a part of our anatomy that is a sexual organ. Or an excretory organ. It’s unclear whether the fine is $1.4 million for each station or if that’s the total for all 52 ABC stations.

The fine stems from an NYPD episode where “multiple, close-up views” of the woman’s “nude buttocks” were depicted.

From Volokh:

The agency [FCC] said the show was indecent because “it depicts sexual organs and excretory organs , specifically an adult woman’s buttocks. The agency rejected the network’s argument that “the buttocks are not a sexual organ.”

From Tigerhawk:

This is strange, because the buttocks is not actually an organ. It is “either of the two rounded prominences on the human torso that are posterior to the hips and formed by the gluteal muscles and underlying structures.” Yes, they can be attractive, but they can also be repulsively unattractive. The same might be said — and it often is — of thighs. Are they, too, sexual organs?

This sort of hair-splitting silliness is what comes from regulating that which should not be regulated.

From my brother:

Why don’t you post a lot of  photos of buttocks and I’ll let you know my conclusions.

Science Daily reports: Mothers Trade Child Quantity for Quality.

An intriguing headline. My first though was I’d be reading about mothers dropping off all but their favorite(s) at the local adoption center.

Wrong, it’s an article about fertility rates over time. Frankly, we do not need research and science to tell us this:

The researchers also found evidence for an evolved relationship between a mother’s fertility and the fertility of her children — the more offspring a woman has, the larger her overall family will be. This means that women having fewer children will ultimately have fewer grandchildren.

 All together now, in harmony - DUH!

This is a post by Woodlief of Sands in the Gears that is really a must read. I’m classifying it under “things my mother taught me” because she did. Not by tears, but by face to face “these are the things your family stands for”.

We were living in Colorado and about to move back to NE Texas. She wasn’t really happy about this, but told me that maybe it was destined for people like us, who held no prejudice, to go there and set an example.

I’ve been trying to live up to her ideals since then.

My husband loves this and so do I. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having a lot of leftovers. Who has the storage space? If we don’t eat all of this at one sitting, I have a nice lunch item the next day. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to have no leftovers older than 3 days in the fridge. This has been harder than I thought!

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 medium onion, sliced, or diced
salt & pepper to taste
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use some (no more than 1/2 Tablespoon) to butter a small casserole dish (one with a lid, preferably).

Layer half the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with about 3/4 of the onion. Add remaining potatoes, then remaining onion. Sprinkle each layer with a bit of salt and pepper (not too much salt, as the cheese is salty.)

In a small saucepan, melt remaining butter over low heat. Mix in flour, up the heat to medium and stir with a wire whisk until mixture thickens. Add cheese, stir until it’s melted. Pour cheese sauce over potatoes and onions, cover dish (a foil tent works just fine) and bake approx. 1 1/4 hours.

My first diagnosis of fibromyalgia was in 1992. Antidepressants helped, I sort of “got over it” and went on with life. I still had those “trigger points” in the shoulders, knees, shins, ankles, etc., but as long as nobody pinched or pressed there I was fine.  Then, in 2000, my PCM of the day, said (when I winced at her pushing on my lower shins and said that one doctor had said that was from fibromyalgia) that she didn’t “believe” in fibromyalgia. End of discussion. I’ve tried not “believing” I felt pain, but dammit, the pain was still there, as was the overwhelming fatigue. Since I was first diagnosed with it in 1992, the only thing I’ve found that really relieves the pain is a combination of Strattera and Lexapro.

I’ve not mentioned “fibromyalgia” to any other doctor since the one who didn’t “believe” in it because I don’t want to be classified as a nut case or drug seeker. Also, I do not believe that fibromyalgia is the cause of all my pain. I think I also have a pinched nerve or something that causes sudden, extreme, but thankfully short-lasting pain in my legs.

My main problem - as mentioned in “I am my own PCM” is the lack of opportunity to discuss multiple aches, pains, symptoms, etc., with my doctor in one single visit. Appointments are generally limited to “what, specifically, is bothering you today?” That really doesn’t lend itself well to “well… several things and could they possibly be related?”

I do have a verified diagnosis of arthritis and I wonder which pain is caused by that. I classify my wrist, shoulder, knee, and ankle pain to it… but shin pain? I dunno… and apparently neither do most doctors. Why does the shoulder and knee pain differ when somebody squeezes either body part (a typical occurrence at Southern family reunions) from the more ordinary “oh god, I’ve overused this joint today” pain?

Bottom Line: I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with me, but articles like “Drug Approved. Is Disease Real?” don’t help answer the question. Note that the addition of Straterra to my normal drug regimin has almost eliminated the need for Tylenol and Naproxen. The only drawback is the tendency of Straterra to cause dizziness. Unlike most folks, I have a benign brain tumor that (though dead through radiation) may cause dizziness.

hmmm…. what side effects of what up with do I put?

This is from an 1880 census of Little River County Arkansas, Jackson Township. The column heading reads:

Profession, Occupation, orTrade of each person,male and female.Not surprisingly, in this mostly rural area, the men were usually farmers and almost all the women were keeping house. For the males in this snippet, machinist was the odd occupation. For the females, the non-keeping house occupation is: objectionableHmm… now let me think, other than schoolmarm, just about any occupation other than keeping house was very rare for a female in those days, especially in a rural area, though I have seen several listed as farmers. Around 1890, there were two postmistresses in a neighboring county.But objectionable? Could it possibly be… could she have possibly been… a politician?

Which is better to fly? Somebody sent Vodkapundit an email with the answer:

Obviously, through no fault of your own, your young, impressionable brain has been poisoned by the superfluous, hyped-up, “Top Gun” media portrayal of fighter pilots.

Unfortunately, this portrayal could not be further from the truth. In my experience, I’ve found most fighter pilots pompous, backstabbing, momma’s boys with inferiority complexes, as well as being extremely over-rated aeronautically. However, rather than dash your budding dreams of becoming a USAF pilot, I offer the following alternative:

What you really want to aspire to is the exciting, challenging and rewarding world of TACTICAL AIRLIFT.

Click the link to find out why Tactical Airlift beats piloting a fighter.

Folloder (Non Sequitur) is a pet lover. He just doesn’t love YOUR pets. Specifically, he doesn’t love them when they mess in his yard or mess up his yard.

The only thing I have to say is that he’s a bit optimistic about even the most responsible pet owner controlling a cat. It’s wonderful if you have one of those lovely cats that never, ever wants to go outside. But if you have one that howls and scratches at the door to be let out, well… he/she is gonna do whatever they please. I don’t fault cat owners for paw prints on my car.

The other suggestion is that if your dog is a “runner” and some breeds are, get a microchip. Especially do this if you take your dog on trips with you.

Returning Vets or the News Media? I link, you decide.

Ann Althouse asks “Should a 10-year-old be permitted to go hunting?” In Wisconsin, there’s a proposal to lower the hunging age from 12 to 10. A previous proposal set the age at 8. I find myself in agreement with the Althouse commenters who suggest that parents must decide when a child is mature enough to hunt.

Myself, I went to hunting camps as young as 8, but never hunted because I didn’t want to. There was no pressure. Just like there wasn’t any pressure to get me to fish. I did, however, enjoy the bounty of those who successfully hunted and fished. Especially fish. Especially catfish and crappie. I love fish much more than I like venison.

If all the pundits and news stories about the various candidates has you confused (as opposed to severely depressed) Tony Woodlief, author of Sand in the Gears, has gone to trouble of explaining in terms anyone can understand:

Here’s my ill-informed reading of the status of our national presidential marathon, based on what I’ve gleaned from airport conversations and the occasional glance at Google news headlines:

Now, go there and read it all. You will be enlightened. (via Megan McArdle)

 Most bizarre.

“An effective method of dealing with defects is to find a collection site.”

Nano defects, that is. 

  Your brain on Jarlsberg. No, really it’s “Self Assembled patterns (LISA) formed in resist during Nanoimprint transferred into silicon substrated by DRIE.” You know what that is, don’t you? 

(via Instapundit)

Professor Bainbridge says Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. (via Instapundit)

The dear professor is awfully non-inclusive. Here’s my list of who is worse than Hillary:

Ron Paul
Dennis Kucinich
Mike Huckabee
John Edwards

Oh, I’m sure there are others. Those are just off the top of my head.

I’ve never quite understood the enthusiasm for getting rid of all illegal immigrants. Seems to me a fence keeps those already here in as well as new ones out… maybe not.

There are productive people who are illegals and I’d be proud to be a sister citizen with most of them. I don’t get the urge to punish quite as much as the “hard” right does.
 

Here.

There are few words that adequately describe Dr. Boli’s blog. Let me give you an example instead:

S is for the Social Worker,
            Grim and worried,
            Flustered, flurried,
Solving problems left and right,
Staying up to work all night—
Who dares call the Social Worker
Lazy slob or idle shirker?
Bring your problems to this man:
He will solve them if he can.
            Griping, grumbling,
            Shambling, stumbling—
Frankly, if the truth were known,
He has problems of his own.

This house used to one of the nicer ones on the street:

Now it’s decaying, trees and plants are dying and falling on power lines and into neighbors yards. The mounds of pine straw and dead leaves are havens for snakes and other critters. The basketball goal is on the ground beside the driveway, which is covered in pine straw. No one has seen the owner since July 2007, but the family moved out during the spring of 2006.

This is the only house on the street that is vacant and run down. This is a nice neighborhood, and maybe this is an example of a bank repossessing a property and then neglecting it, even though this area has not been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis as is the case in Minneapolis:

Some of the entities that hold these houses are big banks with shareholders, who ought to be concerned about the financial health of a bank that is essentially treating properties as losses without actually writing them off. I am also waiting for some enterprising lawyer to sue a bank for not maintaining a property that leads to some awful crime. Right now, the lack of maintenance is mostly creating headaches for neighbors, in unshoveled snow, uncut grass, etc. One realtor mentioned that a lot of foreclosed property owners didn’t bother winterizing the houses and now some have ruptured plumbing to go along with all the other problems that make it an unattractive purchase.

I’ve already complained to the city just before Thanksgiving when the dead pine tree was about to fall on power lines. After two weeks of calling my city councilman and the power company, the tree finally fell. We were without power for three hours. It would have been longer if not for my complaints - the power company had a crew scheduled for that day anyway. They got here about an hour after the tree fell.

According to city tax records, the taxes are paid up and the mortgage holder is GMAC MORTGAGE, LLC-DBA DITECH.

Anyone have any suggestions what the neighbors can do to get this property cleaned up?

Mysterious Ways

Lightning can strike twice, in the same way, if not the same place.

October 30, 2005 AP WACO, Texas

A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning after grabbing a microphone while partially submerged, a church employee said.

The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in water up to his shoulder in a baptismal at University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted, said Jamie Dudley, a church business administrator and wife of another pastor there.

The woman Lake was baptizing was not injured, Dudley said.

A little over a decade ago, a similar accident happened during a time when the author of the following story was pondering on religiosity and crime entering politics.

MYSTERIOUS WAYS

By Stuart Wood

Associated Press 2/23/94 – LAROSE, La. – A public address system or faulty heating elements are suspected of causing the electrocution of a minister in a baptismal pool.

The Rev. John Allen, head pastor of Victory Life church at Lockport, was shocked Sunday afternoon as he prepared to baptize about 15 people.

He died shortly after church members pulled him from the waist-deep baptism tank at Christian Fellowship church, which was being used because his own church did not have a large-enough pool, investigators said.

Now, this event was no doubt profoundly traumatic to the family and congregation of Reverend Allen and the premises liability carrier of the invitor church, but is also caused great consternation within St. Peter’s massive intake facility at the Pearly Gates when the case was assigned to the Political Section, which is presently headed by St. Nicolo di Bernardo. The former prince stormed, diplomatically of course, into the former fisherman’s sanctum later that Sunday afternoon:

“Peter, there’s some things we gotta talk.” With his usual misdirection, di Bernardo continued, “First, I get no answer about fixing up the longitudes so Sarajevo and the Palestine got different time zones. You should hear the crazy exemptions and dispensations they want, like they all went to Harvard Law School and Yale Divinity before they got whacked. If you’re gonna move California anyway, couldn’t you put Bosnia over around Iceland someplace? The paperwork is all over the place, and I gotta have more staff.”

St. Peter was accustomed to these outbursts, but was always, or more precisely, eternally, chagrined by the vulgar demise of language exhibited by his Latinate deputy, a recent devotee of Puzo.

“Well then,” said St. Peter, as he was putting the final tiny minute knot on the tiny little fly clamped in the miniature vise in the middle of his vast desk, “You should have some good staff candidates right on hand there. You’ve got to learn patience, Nicolo. Did I ever tell about the time I was on the upper Snake in Idaho and waited fourteen years to catch Ol’Bigtail? Why, you’ve never seen such a battle. First, he takes the leader upstream about four miles and –“

“Patience! I got patience! I’m just finishing up the last old Nazis, except I don’t see why we gotta come down so hard, I mean – well, nevermind. I just get through with them and I’m getting a bunch of neo ones. Amateur city—just kinda venom and ignorance in peanut shells with SCUD rockets and nerve gas.” Nicolo paused to catch his breath.

“Plus, and this is the big one I can’t figure out and how come we need to talk. You’re giving me this preacher from Louisiana. I run the Political section, so how come I got him? He never ran for any office sinecure.” Nicolo used his Latin when he could. “He never even took the bar exam. He’s probably a nice guy, probably should go over to Premature & Unexplainable.”

Peter is silent, contemplating the elaborate dark brown, red, tan, yellow, maroon, and white fly shining in the brilliant starlight of his limitless office, thinking maybe some green. Nicolo, no mean contemplator himself, suddenly understands, or thinks he does.

“Oh no, oh please don’t give me political and religious correctness. You’re not gonna give me this guy because he was maybe supposed to baptize sixteen people. You’re not gonna me give Oral Roberts just because he was a couple of million short. Or Tim or Jimmy or Tammy or Katy or Larry or Jerry and… and all the James’. Come on, this ain’t political, except maybe the swindling part, and has gotta go to Theological Errors and Omission. I can’t handle it. We’re not set up to do any more TV makeup.”

“Actually we’re thinking of washing our hands, as it were, on Mr. Robert’s situation. But I’m sorry, Nicolo, we’ve seen this coming for a while,” Peter said. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to move Religion over to Politics in Louisiana and all the other states, just like it always has been in the rest of the world.”

“What! You can’t do this! What about the big noble experiment? Separation of Church from three equal branches of State? For the People. Life, liberty and the purfuit of happineff (the Prince had read only the original). I thought you guys even helped with the weather in Philly and that First Amendment thing.”

“No, not really, but we thought it a fairly good earthly human effort, along with the Fourth and Fifth.”

“The Fifth, the Fourth! This is a hint, right? You’re gonna give me Crime in America, too?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. It appears that both Crime and Religion in America, at least temporarily, have become entirely Political subjects because the politicians need the diversion. They’re quaintly American, three strikes and all that. Ross Perot paraphrasing a coin, and vice versa. The Supreme Court taking medical evidence. The Second Amendment and the ATF. Penumbras of privacy. Fascinating. I remember Ol’ Bigtail was hiding under the penumbra of this huge blue spruce, but I came up there just before daylight and –

“No!”, the Prince screamed, “No! This is impossible. I can’t take on drive-bys and carjackings and embezzlement.”

“Nicolo, please sit down. I almost regret to tell you the rest of the changes. Human corporeal health is also now Political. You will of course be sharing that with the Pure Avarice & Greed people and their Corporate Iniquity group, but it’s your primary classification job. SIT DOWN, Nicolo, you look like you’re having a stroke.

St. Peter paused here, to allow St. Nicolo time to regain his composure. “Yes, you will have to deal with Religion, Crime, and Health Care Reform, which if it’s to work will logically have to include premiums from worker’s comp, liability, and even RTD’s and AMTRAK.

“There is, however, good news in that THE BOSS has decided to give you a break on a couple major items. First, the universal health insurance premiums on your new staff are going to be off-budget.” Peter usually got a chuckle from the other department heads with this one, but the Prince remained morose.

“What could THE BOSS possibly do? This is a disaster for the Political Department. Diseases and car wrecks aren’t political. It’s stretched too thin. We’re gonna have to totally reorganize. You could at least move legislators and judges over to Heinous and Unforgivable.”

“Okay, that’s definitely in the works. Especially in Texas. But we’ll need to discuss that later,’ Peter said. “We recognize your problems. The other good news is that in order to compensate fully for these added complications, we’ve decided to turn the first six months of Denver International Airport operations over to the Unsolved Mysteries Section. I know that one has been costing sleep.”

Prince Machiavelli, relieved and jubilant, tried to express his thanks by washing St. Peter’s feet, but he was deterred by the Saint’s L.L. Bean hip-length wading boots. He left happy anyway, ruminating to himself, thinking, lemmesee, I need ol’ Abe. He suspended habeas corpus. Then I’ll sober up Senator Joe, who just barely made the cut, and check out this free speech and association and Fifth Amendment stuff. He was unsure on religion. Machiavelli had experienced a partial epiphany in his later years and had gained his position not entirely through simony. He generally agreed with Adlai Stevenson, who found St. Paul appealing but Vincent Peale appalling. He would have to ponder that appointment. But AMTRAK. All right. The Prince would have to make some extremely long distance phone calls to the Duce, but those little trenos would hereinafter run, into whatever, on time.

At least that’s one use Pruned sees possible for Paul Torren’s geosimulation of crowd behavior. The actual goals of the project are a bit more pedestrian — predicting crowd behavior, evaluating evacuation plans, assisting city planners, developers, and public safety and health officials.

Torren, at the Arizona State University School of Geographical Sciences, says the model “will serve as an experimental, but wholly realistic, environment for exploring ‘what-if’ and unforeseen scenarios of relevance to cities and their citizens.”

According to an ASU press release:

In the areas of public safety and homeland security, the model can be used to examine questions asking how pedestrian interactions with cars can be minimized; what the early signs of antisocial behavior in large crowds are and how polarizing influences can be neutralized; and what strategies might be used to compel antisocial crowds into compliance without the use of force.

Torren is also using his expertise in a 3 year longitudinal study investigating patterns of behavior among children ages 3-5.

(via Instapundit and Schneier on Security)

A while back I wrote about being my own PCM. There, I implied that was not a good thing. As I think upon it more, I’ve decided I was wrong. Not only am I my own PCM, I darn well should be. Who — besides me — is more interested in my overall health and well-being? I should leave that up to anyone else than me?

No. I have to take responsibility for myself and my health.

As I’ve experienced a few dizzy spells the last few weeks, I’ve decided to take a good look at my medications. There are 8 (eight!!) prescription drugs I take daily. Could it be possible that while there are no “serious” interactions among these drugs, that some combination is causing me to feel dizzy?

My Tricare Prime PCM relies on the computerized comparison of these drugs to determine “compatibility” and, I suppose the MTF pharmacy does also. Yet, my body is unique and may react differently than normally expected.

I’ve decided to do my own research into each drug I’ve been prescribed and then I will go over those results with my PCM, whoever he or she may be at the time I finish.