Thought this was from The Onion, but Noooo - BBC!!! Lounge Lizard's Saviour!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8675050.stm

"Miss McLuskey said: "My research found that in some cases a person's environment can be more disabling than a hearing impairment and so, in some respects, we are all hearing impaired on a daily basis."

Gotta love the design...lol

The differences between Men and Women

My friend Lloyd, a fellow in his late 80's who continues to educate himself on big topics, wrote the following

Michael,

Books that were an important discovery for me are Richard Dawkins'
"The Blind Watchmaker" and "The Selfish Gene". In all of his writings,
he cites examples of how Darwin's work on
evolution-by-natural-selection can be explained at the DNA level.  A
side issue was the suggestion that many of the wired-in male/female
differences are explained by the Hunter (male)/Gathering (female)
division of labor by early humans.

The attached clip from the May 1 issue of "The Economist" is along
similar lines.

Lloyd

My response...

My anthro studies (that began almost 40 years ago, is that possible???) informs me of the following:

1. Yes, evolution happens at the molecular level, since that is where "beneficial" mutations occur.
      What people fail to realize is just how long 100,000 or 1,000,000 years actually is!
     
2. The physical fossil record is so sparse (in terms of numbers of individual examples and through time) and the need by academicians to publish!, that generalizations about our ancestry are highly suspect!
      a. Bullshit Alert!

3. Lately, there have been two new strains of closely related human-like species (or sub-species, since I don't know if we could have interbred and obtained fertile offspring (the definition of a species - that which can mate with fertile offspring as the result (unlike Horses and Donkeys for example, that most frequently produce sterile Mules) that co-existed on the planet with us until just a few thousand years ago.
       a.  Shows how little we actually know about our ancestry, once again.
       b.  See:  Homo_floresiensis aka hobbits!
       c.  See also:  A new human specie or just a pinky!

4.  Just this year, it has been posited (and given loads of press this week) that we and Neanderthals were not only capable of interbreeding successfully, but that our (Caucasian) genes are made up of 1-3% elements common to both Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.
      a.  This is a rather complicated hypothesis, but does NOT surprise me, I have known humans who look like Neanderthals (although without any of the stigmatization!).  Had a camp counselor in MN who was extraordinarily Neanderthal like, and a great college football player!

5.  What you mention, regards men/women differences, hunting vs. gathering, has been observed in several different ways.
      a.  Recently read an article regarding male/female shopping strategies (how each gender actually finds things within grocery stores!) that reflects our modern "implementation" of our gender differences.
           i.  I'd hesitate to say which came first however...our natural tendencies to hunt or gather depending on gender, or, how our hunting vs. gathering affected our gender tendencies.
          ii.  Love to better understand Chimpanzee (for example) gender differences.
     b.  Women smell and taste things more accurately/acutely than men for example, since they are charged with ensuring that children eat healthy and not spoiled or otherwise poisonous food stuff...and, so, it makes sense that they also performed the gathering duties since that also made up far more of our nutritional intake than hunting did. 
      c.  Hunting is generally a far more dangerous activity than gathering, so this also points to having men do it, since women are in need of protection from risk as much as possible, to ensure offspring health, once again...
             
6.  What I also observe is the following...WE ARE ALL, EACH OF US, THE "MISSING LINK"!
This is true, as you have discovered with your observations, since evolution operates on POPULATIONS not INDIVIDUALS...

Had some fun early today writing all of the above, thanks for the opportunity to be what I really ought to be, some kind of professor instead of a salesman...perhaps I will win the lottery and actually become one!

7.  I just bought a book called "The eerie silence" (Paul Davies) concerning the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence.
     a.  I am having great cognitive dissonance as I delay (procrastinate) reading it!
            i.  I don't want to pollute my own observations as to why there are no "aliens" out there
                1) for example, perhaps the universe is just old enough to allow for the first "intelligent" life, humanity.  Therefore, it is only a matter of time for other intelligent "races" to become extant.
                 2) He posits things like - don't look for radio signals (which is what we've been doing for the past few decades) as evidence of other life, there are other far more probable indicators...

As you already know, my firm belief, based on observation of Homo Sapien Sapien = the universe selects against intelligence...

Our recent human experience of so called "intelligent" life will be so short lived in terms of the evolution of the universe that we may as well not have existed at all! 

Or put another way:  While each individual human can be said to have a measure of intelligence, the actual "wisdom" of humanity - to act in concert with Nature for example, and thereby retain a place in the biosphere - is non-existent.  The ironic part is we'll be documenting our demise each step of the way, and won't be able to do a damned thing about it.
--
Cheers,

Frish

Christians and Separation Anxiety

Stolen in it's entirety from:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126499105&f=1057&sc=igg2

The Nation: Let Us (Not) Pray

by KATHA POLLITT

EnlargeHulton Archive/Getty Images

On April 15, the National Day of Prayer was ruled unconstitutional.

May 4, 2010

Three cheers for U.S. district judge Barbara Crabb, who on April 15 ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. And hurray for the plaintiffs over at the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the scrappy Wisconsin-based group that really, really believes in separation of church and state (full disclosure: I'm on the honorary board). And what, you may ask, is the National Day of Prayer? Like "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on our dollar bills, the NDOP may sound like it goes back to the days of wigs and three-cornered hats; but it's actually a product of 1950s anticommunism, back when "communism" was usually modified by "godless." Billy Graham pushed for it as a way to promote "the Lord Jesus Christ"; Senator Absalom Robertson (father of Reverend Pat) introduced it in the Senate, citing "the corrosive forces of communism which seek simultaneously to destroy our democratic way of life and the faith in an Almighty God on which it is based"; and in 1952 President Truman signed Public Law 82-324, which directs the president to "set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches [sic], in groups, and as individuals." Always a Christian thing, for decades the NDOP has been firmly in the grip of Focus on the Family. The NDOP Task Force, chaired by Shirley Dobson, wife of FOTF founder James Dobson, organizes 30,000-40,000 events, culminating in the National Observance, in Washington. How Christian is it? In 2005 the Hindu American Foundation sought to join in and was rebuffed.

You'd think libertarians and Tea Party members, who claim to oppose overweening government power, would adore Judge Crabb. Don't tread on me with your federal prayer mandate! But somehow, the government using its massive powers to promote prayer just doesn't grab them like the terrible injustice of someone other than themselves getting a government benefit. Sarah Palin was quick to weigh in with some typically tangled remarks: "Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our founding fathers, they were believers," she told a gathering of Christian women. "Hearing any leader declare that America isn't a Christian nation.... It's mind-boggling to see some of our nation's actions recently, but politics truly is a topic for another day."

What part of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" does the Christian right not understand? Judge Crabb's ruling is an "assault on religious freedom," says Shirley Dobson, who is also upset that the Pentagon, which has collaborated with the NDOP Task Force, "melted like butter" when faced with criticism from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and disinvited from its services Franklin Graham, son of Billy, who has made a specialty of calling Islam "evil" and "offensive," and telling Muslims that Christ died for their sins. "We at the National Day of Prayer Task Force ask the American people to defend the right to pray in the Pentagon," she writes on the Task Force website. In the topsy-turvy world of the Christian right, any restrictions on their collective sectarian power is a denial of individual rights. To reject a bigoted preacher is to deny "the right to pray." To end government-endorsed prayer is to ban all prayer. You might as well say that if we don't have a national bedtime — lights out at midnight, everyone!—the government is forcing us all to stay up forever. But not to worry: Franklin Graham will speak at the NDOP observance on Capitol Hill; President Obama is appealing Judge Crabb's decision; and, having issued an NDOP proclamation that mentioned God only once, he visited Billy Graham at home in North Carolina for a personal prayer session. I'm not too down on Obama for that — maybe that's what a politician has to do in this country — but it's all very far from Christ's own advice in Matthew 6:6:

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Or as Thomas Jefferson put it: "Say nothing of my religion. It is known to myself and my God alone."

Speaking of the First Amendment, far be it from me to suggest that right-wing Christians are the only ones who don't seem to get it. On its website an American group called Revolution Muslim warned South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker that they risk ending up murdered like Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh for an episode that mocks the ban on images of Muhammad by showing him wearing a bear costume. It would be easy to dismiss this marginal group as the Muslim equivalent of, say, the Westboro "God hates Fags" church, except that Islamist fanatics have killed or tried to kill quite a few people for words or art they found blasphemous. It's shocking that Comedy Central caved in and censored the episode. Just as it was shocking when Yale University Press deleted the illustrations from Jytte Klausen's study of the Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy, The Cartoons That Shook the World. And when Random House dropped The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones's novel about Muhammad's wife Aisha.

I'm not equating Muslim fanatics with right-wing Christians, except those who bomb and set fire to abortion clinics and kill providers (and whose violence has had much the same chilling effect on the medical community as Muslim violence has had on culture and communication). But there is a common thread. National prayers, violent threats to supposed blasphemers — what part of the First Amendment do our modern true believers not understand?

Frish

The flecks in the sky are BEES, a lot of them!

An ephemeral phenomenon, bees swarming in the Anza Borrego Desert, 04-24-2010...luckiest photo I've ever snapped!

Bizarre story on why Middle Easterners are doomed in the long run!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/middleeast/27qatar.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

Privilege Pulls Qatar Toward Unhealthy Choices

Selected Paragraphs from the article

"Native Qataris, who number only about 250,000 in a nation of 1.6 million, are suffering serious health problems that relate directly to a privileged lifestyle paid for with the nation's oil wealth, as well as a determination to hold onto social traditions, like having young people marry their cousins."

""It's really hard to break traditions," said Dr. Hatem El-Shanti, a pediatrician and clinical geneticist who runs a genetics testing center in Doha, the capital. "It's a tradition carried from one generation to the next."

Qataris live in a nation no larger than the state of Connecticut where they are a minority among the more than a million foreign workers lured here for jobs. But their problems are not unique.

Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all share similar struggles with obesity, diabetes and genetic disorders, each suffering the side effects of an oil-financed lifestyle and a desire to hold on to traditions.

Yet, even in this neighborhood, Qatar stands out.

According to the International Association for the Study of Obesity, Qatar ranks sixth globally for prevalence of obesity and has the highest rate of obesity among boys in the Middle East and North African region. A recent article in the Qatari newspaper Al Watan said that local health experts predicted that within five years, 73 percent of Qatari women and 69 percent of the men would qualify as obese."

""You can't tackle the issue," said Moza al-Malki, a family therapist and writer. "There are some big families, clans, they don't marry outside the family. They won't allow it."  

The issue of obesity seems to run into the same wall of tradition, health experts here said.

"If you don't eat, it's considered a shame, and if you leave someone's home without eating it's a shame," said Abdulla al-Naimi, 25, who refers to himself as "chubby" but is noticeably overweight. "Half of my family has diabetes," Mr. Naimi said. "My mother has diabetes. Three cousins younger than me have diabetes. For me, I eat too much and I don't exercise."

He is also married to his first cousin."

Here's a "hack" to allow an iPad to print...first releases of things seldom have all functions one might want...

--
Cheers,

Frish

No children, childfree, human extinction, biosphere, cancer on the planet, having kids is immoral...

Thank You For Not Breeding - a short film by Nina Paley from Albert Kaufman on Vimeo.

Originally posted on Craigslist's Haiku Hotel - fun site BTW

unavoidable consequence of globalization < frish > 04/09 22:06:08 

There will be delay. 
Please hold, next available: 
"Veejay here, to help" 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=155802188=

Nice article from Grist...

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-06-we-need-birth-control-not-geoengineering/#c357193

Non-Shopping Channel Monitizing Records

Page impressions Clicks Page CTR Page eCPM Earnings
AdSense for Content 615 1 0.16% 0.29 0.18

It's the "non-shoppingest"!

The subject seemed to have merit and built in funniness: Cross-Fertilization of the Plant and Disease Invasion Literature

Cross-Fertilization of the Plant and Disease Invasion Literature

The literature on invasive species is split amongst the fields of plant, animal and disease ecology. In a seminar format we are reviewing the literature on plant and disease invasions to determine how aspects of one field may be applicable to the other.

A review paper for Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

This project is still in its early stages and no future research has been identified at this time.

http://biology.usgs.gov/invasive/Crossfertilization.html

This is from a fun article about "alien" plants and animals in North America

quote below from : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_sc/us_plant_invaders;_ylt=AmTYh8XhWlvWaV46FFWZ3OkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJuYWhsOWg2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDAyL3VzX3BsYW50X2ludmFkZXJzBHBvcwMxNgRzZWMDeW5fYXJ0aWNsZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA255Y3N0dWR5NTBuYQ--

In the West, sagebrush has been giving way to cheatgrass, which found its way to the U.S. in packing materials and ship ballast in the late 1800s.

Nature lovers strolling through wooded glades, thinking they are among trees that have stood since theRevolution, are actually looking at Norway Maple native to Europe.

Kudzu, which hails from Japan and China, infested the South after farmers in the 1930s through the 1950s were encouraged to use it to stop soil erosion.

Even the pristine open spaces of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming are now populated with Houndstongue and Yellow Toadflax, both from Europe.

Bit by bit, scientists say, the American landscape is becoming less American.

"We are going to our national parks now and seeing Europe," said Tom Stohlgren, a research ecologist for theU.S. Geological Survey. "We are homogenizing the globe at a very fast rate."

Experts say the trend has many causes, but the biggest one may turn out to be globalization.

Headline for the non-profit HEAT who would attempt to stop such outrage:  Homogeneous Ecologies Are Threats - HEAT

Frish's definition of globalization:  Too Many People, Too Little Nature

How Happy are we about Obama?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mining_reform;_ylt=ApmJ4tK4U9B.FPJ3BmYODrkPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJscG82cnIxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDAyL3VzX21pbmluZ19yZWZvcm0EcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNlbnZpcm9ubWVudGE-

Metallic Touch Plate Treatment, a quick essay from frish...This is a neutered to protect whomever, customer letter emailed today

Dear Kyle and Roberto:

The customer is always first with me, so I'm sharing some worthwhile instructions I found on the web about this technique.

http://cubox.info/2007/10/25/creating-touch-plates.html

Happy to provide choices, they are all yours!

1.       Kyle could do the work to make the touch plate as-is,

a.       We are happy to have one of our pre-press techs visit Kyle to assure success

i.      No Charge.  Your offices, our seminar in touch plate technique or any other ink on paper questions you may have!

OR,

2.       Supreme does the work

                                                               i.      $1200 but that's an estimate (could exceed!) of how much pre-press we have to do

3.       Do a Press proof

a.       Doing a press proof helps us both

                                                               i.      Saves money as we'll waste less paper at press time

                                                             ii.      When finished It will more likely look the way you expect

Taking a perspective founded on 30 years of Marketing and Sales Experience, my recommendation:

It isn't always "ONLY" about cost, it's a business decision as well. 

I ask you and wonder what is the value of a signature piece of printing for the image of the brand?

This type of job has to go to a shop that can do it.  It would look very dramatic, and architectural and I know the CEO likes that!

Therefore, do it right, or don't do it.  Happy to discuss at your convenience.

Frish

 I mean, c'mon, it's a photo of burnished aluminum with a metallic silver ink called out as the fifth color...doing this job correctly will require some human activity on the file of about 10 hours or more, depending on how good they are with the tools they have.

Someone has to draw, or create an object, that points out every scratch, and thereby defines what is to be printed in the metallic silver ink...

Basically it is a load of liability that could jeopardize  a long term relationship...but we also know we can deliver the goods, so it's a nice place to be, perhaps he who speaks first loses?

I know he has it down to 2 contenders so, the die is cast...LOL

Evolution of evolution

About Zapffe´s quotes:
"The tragedy of a species becoming unfit for life by over-evolving one ability is not confined to humankind.

-------------

In my opinion, first expressed in the 1970's during my Anthro B.A. studies, the universe selects against "intelligence" and consciousness.

For example, given the massive size the Universe and potential for Earth-like life, there are no blips on SETI.

If only we could go with the "natural" flow, thinking of environment first instead of our own convenience, may we remain as the leftovers of evolution

(i.e. we aren't any "pinnacle" we're the leftovers same as the rest of life on the planet!)

-- 

Cheers,
Frish

A new low in moral judgement!

Just the headline is enough...the article references LEGAL reasons...wow...

"Vatican offers 3 reasons it's not liable for abuse"

Letting the world come together...

Dear Holly, your terrific signature line "Winners make things happen~~ Losers let things happen." prompted the following memory.

In 1990, while working for IBM in the U.K., my friend Howard S. and I went to Nice France visiting the IBM Telecom Lab there, for a planning session for a really big Telecommunications Trade Show and Conference in Geneva, called Telecom '91.

It was such a big deal even COUNTRIES had booths!!!

(For example, the IBM booth had three stories and an elevator...and they flew in 900 Executives from all over Europe for meetings with IBM execs...must have cost 10 million bucks...)

Brits were in charge of "messaging" and came up with the IBM Theme:

"IBM - Letting the world come together".

Now, Howard and I were about the only Yanks in the audience, made up of a few dozen French and loads of other International IBMers...

So, we immediately (after we finished our uncontrolled long and loud laughing) stood up and proclaimed "NO F---KING WAY" or words to that effect...first because it was so passive, and second, well, once the French IBM Lab Director was informed what "come together" could mean in American English (not British English obviously), he nixed the theme immediately.

Whereupon, I suggested:

"IBM - Bringing the world together"

which became the theme...

There are a hundred other stories surrounding this event, but I'll relate just one more...

Desert Storm (the "first" Iraqi war) was about to start, so we had to sign a release just to get on the plane from London to Nice before the conference, holding IBM free from liability should something bad happen!  The war started during the conference, and we were within SCUD range, which was mildly alarming. 

Howard and I returned to London from Nice on an Airbus that had more Flight Attendants than passengers.  They had all 10 passengers sit together, over the wing, and then opened a bottle of champagne for each of us on a plane that could hold close to 300...

Hungry Ducks in Franklin Canyon's pond! (Wildland-Urban Boundary 2 miles north of Sunset and Beverly - Beverly Hills 03/21/10)

Missing Woman Found Under Hotel Mattress in Memphis (thought I was done with headlines...but hey...)

Missing Woman Found Under Hotel Mattress in Memphis

FOXNews.com

Sony Millbrook had been been renting a room at the Budget Inn, which suddenly stopped receiving payments at the end of January, MyFoxMemphis.com reported.

Memphis authorities are baffled as to how a mother who disappeared in January ended up dead under a hotel mattress -- and wasn't found until nearly two months later.

Sony Millbrook had been been renting a room at the Budget Inn, which suddenly stopped receiving payments at the end of January, MyFoxMemphis.com reported.

That was about the same time that relatives grew concerned because she didn't pick up her kids from school. The family members went to the hotel but didn't find Millbrook there, and she was reported missing Jan. 27.

The hotel boxed up her belonging and released the room for rent. Since then, it has been rented out about five times and cleaned by hotel staff numerous times, MyFoxMemphis.com reported. 

The missing person case quickly turned into a homicide investigation when her body was found under the mattress Monday. No suspects have been identified, but police have charged Millbrook's boyfriend, LaKeith Moody, with a gun violation and consider him a person of interest in the case.

Longtime police officials have noted they've "never heard of anything like this," Joseph Scott, Memphis police's deputy chief of investigative services, said. "It's stranger than fiction."

The bed where Millbrook was found is a metal box frame that sits on the floor, and the box springs and mattress are set inside the frame, MyFoxMemphis.com reported.

--
Cheers,

Frish

Drought Headline we Ought to see...

Here are some of today's headlines...

"Southern China suffers from drought"

"Severe drought grips southwestern China"

"Drought Creating Drinking Water Shortage in China"

"Drought continues to wreak havoc in Southwestern China"

"Waiting for a miracle called rain"

"Severe drought cracks runway at China airport"

"China drought leaves millions short of water"

"20 million face drinking water shortage"

Now, if I were a journalist...same story, different perspective...

"Too many Chinese for nature to support"

Frish

Intolerance - it's what's for dinner!

My Brightness (natural is all there is after all), which is only exceeded by my radical childlessness (given humanity's trajectory, it's the only moral choice!), makes me a few standard deviations away from "normal".  Hence the "funny" subject line....

First, this gem:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-10-noprom_N.htm

I mean, c'mon.  Who cares?  and why??? 

Of course, the fact that homosexuality is demonstrated in hundreds of species won't sway anyone's opinion...

http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx

I mean, just because something is natural, doesn't mean it is tolerated....

http://brainz.org/420-milestones-history-marijuana/

As long as there is intolerance, no one is safe...it stems from an "us versus them" mentality, which is as integral a part of human nature as anything can be...

The "dumbing down" of our educational system is exemplified by how Prom Night could have been a learning experience, and a joyous event of inclusion, instead of an insane myopic display of unreasonable fear.

Dedicated to all who "chose" Heterosexuality...lol...

Cheers, 

Frish

Yellow-Spotted Bell Frogs...

From the article referenced below:

 

"The rediscovery of the yellow-spotted bell frog is a reminder of the need to protect natural habitats so "future generations can enjoy the noise and color of our native animals," said Frank Sartor, minister for environment and climate change."

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_sc/as_australia_rare_frog_found

 

Actually, having future generations enjoying the sights and sounds of species is not much of a goal...

 

We have no clue of the role of each distinct specie (most of which we have yet to even discover (since most species are microscopic)) in the interdependent web of chemistry known as life on Planet Earth.  So, one would think keeping ALL species around would be the smart thing to do...

 

Individually we are smart.  As a group we seem unable to act with wisdom.

--
Cheers,

Frish

New Orleans and their Super Bowl win...

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 3:34 PM, Guy at wrote:

The city of New Orleans is revived, as are its people.   Too bad nobody can still understand what the fuck any of them are saying...

FROM THE ANNALS OF FRISH

We moved from Los Angeles to Houston, Texas at the end of 1963, I was halfway through 3rd grade having just turned 9 years old.

My teacher that year was Cajun, and I could understand NOTHING she said.  

I had to rely on a fellow who sat next to me, and could scarcely decipher what he said, in his native Texas drawl as he related what the teacher had asked or told us.

After about three weeks, I was labeled a problem for talking out of turn (wholly defensive on my part) and therefore a parent teacher conference took place.

My mother met with the teacher, and she too couldn't understand a thing...

--------------------------

Houston school was highlighted by our singing "God Bless America" every day before school started, punctuated with the fantastic voice of Kate Smith over-amped on the Public Address system...

---------------------------

On a really hot day late in the school year, I recall how my friend and I captured FLIES that were rampant in class, and placed them carefully in our "pencil boxes" (a plastic box which had a ruler as a sliding top, remove the ruler and pencils were contained within.)

We then plucked a long hair from one of the girls (with or without her permission) and tied the flies so that they flew in circles, lassoed in frustration by thumb and forefinger...

(What I wrote to CBS today!) The Focus on the Family Tebow Ad during the Super Bowl is about miracles! Wonder if Sarah Palin will be watching CBS on Sunday?

This is an experiment to see how many "temporary" high ranking web search words fit into a subject line! 

From somewhere on the net:

"The former Florida quarterback and his mother will appear in a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl next month. The Christian group Focus on the Family says the Tebows will share a personal story centering on the theme "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life."

The group isn't releasing details, but the commercial is likely to be an anti-abortion message chronicling Pam Tebow's 1987 pregnancy. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim."

SLIGHT REWRITE BY FRISH :

Palin, an ex-governor who quit to become wealthy, at the end of her last pregnancy, after her water broke in Texas, ignored all medical recommendations, or even any common sense and decided to act in a most "un-motherly" non-nurturing fashion, and proceeded to give birth to her child Trig (already diagnosed as  "SPECIAL NEEDS" (or, like Frish's very own late-brother John, mentally retarded*) and so a potentially high risk birth) in Alaska, after many hours in an airplane at altitude, followed by a long drive home, since she's an Alaska Independent Party "Alaska First!" jingoist so if Trig were going to be born anywhere, it certainly couldn't be Texas...!    You betcha.  

Frish certainly accepts her in any governmental executive capacity, thanks to her level headed yet roguish manner.

Frish celebrates life/family/and anything else he wants to without dictating to Doctors and Women what they ought to do in life.

The insanity is that IT HAS BEEN REPORTED CBS assisted in the editing/writing of the anti-abortion commercial.    When has that ever happen?  Sure, the FCC, each network and probably every local independent station have recommendations and sanctions for advertisers, but for the network itself to assist in the writing of a "pro-life" (whatever that means) COMMERCIAL is probably unprecedented.

I'm Pro Life too, and a Volunteer in the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement - long live http://www.vhemt.org/

Gives me another reason not to watch the Super Bowl again this year...and not to tune into CBS.  Ever.  Again. 

(If Only SD or MN were in...roflmfao)

* I understand that Sarah Palin is quite upset by the words retard or retarded to refer to those amongst us who are retarded...but only when democrats use it.

YOU TOO CAN TELL CBS WHAT YOU THINK, CHEERS!

http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php

The Bright's Test "Monkey Score"

The Brights Net has a multiple choice test for those who are interested.

http://www.the-brights.net/vision/misconceptions.html

A monkey score for that test is 1 out of 4, or on average, a Monkey would get 2.5 correct.

Being brights however, what ought the monkey score be?

I got 8 right.  

Frish 

Fearless Leader (Emeritus) Los Angeles Brights

Proud to be one of Earth's Mobile Minerals...

This article from the Onion is MEANT to be "tongue in cheek"

However, it also accurately reflects reality.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/how_bad_for_the_environment_can?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Click on the picture of the USA and smile as you keep from crying...
--
Frish

Surf City clamps down on beer pong

Surf City clamps down on beer pong

Posted using ShareThis

Hungry Beast - pacific ocean garbage dump

Lovely little video of the results of plastic being a major constituent of the middle of the Pacific ocean...the few albatross shown are barely a flicker of the reality of how plastics are disrupting food chains all over the world...

"It's God's Plan..."

Sarah Palin, upon learning McCain had chosen her as his running mate, was not surprised because "It's God's Plan"!

However, she is simply expressing what many in the USA believe to be true, that "god works in mysterious ways", "the lord will provide", and simply "having "faith"" is enough...it goes straight to those who preach about "abundance" and how the "Power of Prayer" (if you are Really Really faithful) is all you need to get what you want in the world...(somehow forgetting all about "the meek inheriting the Earth", rich men and eyes of needles, etc.)...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/10/AR2010011002297.html

However, that bit of trivia is only shared as a lead in, and one small example, that points to the REAL issue, and that is unwarranted, unsupported and incredible "optimism" that pervades the society in the USA.

It prevents many in the US to understand, acknowledge, and deal with the truly horrendous stuff that will be hitting the fan in the next few decades, as Humanity accelerates our disruption of the interconnected chemistry that supports living systems on Planet Earth.

Here's a terrific article from the Economist in December that deals with such unbridled optimism, and suggests merit in Pessimism!

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15127034

So with that, I'll share one of the only jokes about engineers that I know...engineers just aren't that funny!

When observing a glass, with half of it's volume occupied by water, "normal" people see it as half empty, or half full, and thereby reveal their pessimistic or optimistic world view...However, when confronted with that same glass, engineers state, "The glass was mis-specified..."

Halting Russia's population collapse

Found this morsel today and thought I'd share...if it was posted before I didn't remember!  Worth another look anyway, even if for the standard natalist propaganda and the underlying expectation that growth is not just necessary, it's inevitable and/or ordained.

Best quote from the article:  "Russians don't like foreigners" (by way of explaining how the current immigration policies won't work!)

(I only copied selected sentences, the article is here: April 5,2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7971719.stm)

Demographic experts say Russia's steep population decline could have serious consequences for the economy.

"The numbers are frightening," says Sergei Zakharov, from the Institute of Demography at Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

By 2050, Russia's population could shrink from the current figure of 142 million people to 100 million, according to a United Nations sponsored study published last year.

When BBC Brasil travelled to Russia as part of its series looking at where the BRIC economies - Brazil, Russia, India and China - will be in 2020 it found that the picture for Russia's population was bleak.

…snip

She also said that a hangover of the Soviet era is the custom that women only had one child, and that that thinking affected how women behave today.

((How about when women are educated and participate in the economic well being of the family, they are disinclined to have many children)) 

…snip

There is no easy way out for Russia as it tries to halt its population collapse, but to do nothing could bring the country to its knees and ruin any hope it has of joining the leading economies of the world.

(((In other words, if the policy to increase population succeeds, Russia will be brought to it's knees as well!!  No wonder there is no easy way out!)))

Osama Bin Laden and the Genie...

I know several "Mean Genie" jokes:

While trying to escape through Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden found a bottle on the sand and opened it.

A female genie rose from the bottle and with a smile said, "Master may I grant you one wish?"

Osama responded," You ignorant, unworthy daughter-of-a-dog! Don't you know who I am? I don't need any common woman giving me anything."

The shocked genie said, "Please, I must grant you a wish or I will be returned to that bottle forever."

Osama thought a moment, then grumbled about the impertinence of the woman and said, "Very well, I want to awaken with three American women in my bed in the morning. So just do it and be off with you."

The genie both annoyed and grateful said, "So be it!" and disappeared.

The next morning Bin Laden woke up in bed with Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding and Michelle Bachmann at his side.

His penis was gone, his knees were broken, and he had no health insurance.. God is good!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Woman knocks down pope at Christmas Eve Mass

From the article:

In his homily, delivered unflappably after the incident, Benedict urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.

"To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality," Benedict said. "Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world."

Woman knocks down pope at Christmas Eve Mass

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091225/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_christmas

Can't "believe" I totally agree with the pope...

"Leave that private world and enter the common reality"...

yes indeed, excellent advice!  Follow it and you too shall find peace.

-- 

Cheers,

Frish

To: Black and Decker...tried to send this via your website, but the site wouldn't "send" my message...

We purchased a Black & Decker toaster oven from Target within the last 6 months.

I was ALWAYS concerned about using it, since setting it to toast, for example, meant that the heating elements turned on, EVEN WHEN THE DOOR WAS OPEN, AND it DIDN'T TURN OFF IF THE DOOR WAS OPENED DURING OPERATION. Seems that is "working as designed" but also seems Dangerous and not "fool proof". Well, yesterday I smelled burning plastic during the toaster oven's operation, and discovered that the power cord was beginning to turn from white to a lovely toasty brown color. I unplugged the device before it burned itself to smithereens, tripped a circuit breaker or lit a fire in my kitchen. Not Happy, unbelievably dangerous in regular operation, and now, we're shopping for a toaster oven again. Incredibly poorly designed and low quality product.

And now, your website thwarted my effort to send feedback. (The "send" button for the customer feedback function refused to function!)

My generally low expectations concerning consumer product companies was significantly reinforced thanks to your Toaster Oven.

The date code is 842EH.

-- 

Frish

Tiger's Christmas Card!

Newest Social Networking Craze

There is a brand new social networking system that holds great promise, as it allows every member to share in a very dramatic and special way.

GET IN ON THE GROUND FLOOR AND join LinkDIN today.

  

Utilizing the speakers of your target's system, LinkDIN allows up to 140 decibels to be shared in any one message.

SHOUT OUT GREETINGS to friends.

Use Linkdin to DROWN OUT those you don't care to hear with HIGH PITCHED WHINES.

Earn virtual currency as your network grows, and buy all manner of stuff, Accordions,  PERSONALIZED EAR PLUGS, obtain a WHITE NOISE GENERATOR, and more!

Order by December 22 and LinkDIN will guarantee delivery by Dec 24.

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE ONE AND ALL...

Zuckerman research on atheists and apostates

Phil Zuckerman is doing research on apostates.
He is seeking apostates to interview.

web site:
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/

mail:  phil_zuckerman@pitzer.edu

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apostate

 Atheism, Secularity, and Well-Being:
How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assumptions
By PHIL ZUCKERMAN
(Note: This is a rough DRAFT of an essay that is slated to be published in Sociology
Compass in the Fall of 2009).

EXCERPT:

Values, Beliefs, Opinions, and Worldviews

It is often assumed that someone who doesn't believe in God doesn't believe in anything, or that a person who has no religion must have no values. These assumptions are simply untrue. People can reject religion and still maintain strong beliefs. Being godless does not mean being without values. Numerous studies reveal that atheists and secular people most certainly maintain strong values, beliefs, and opinions. But more significantly, when we actually compare the values and beliefs of atheists and secular people to those of religious people, the former are markedly less nationalistic, less prejudiced, less anti-Semitic, less racist, less dogmatic, less ethnocentric, less closeminded, and less authoritarian (Greeley and Hout, 2006; Sider, 2005; Altemeyer, 2003, 2009; Jackson and Hunsberger, 1999; Wulff, 1991; Altemeyer and Hunsberger, 1992, 1997; Beit-Hallahmi, 2007; Beit-Hallahmi and Argyle, 1997; Batson et al., 1993; Argyle, 2000).

Concerning political orientations, atheist and secular people are much more likely to be registered Independent than the general American population, and they are much less likely to be right-wing, conservative, or to support the Republican party than their religious peers (Kosmin, 2008). Keysar (2007:38) reports that 50% of American atheists are Independent, 26% are Democrat, and 10% are Republican and that 43% of American agnostics are Independent, 22% are Democrat, and 15% are Republican. Greeley and Hout (2006) report that only about 21% of people claiming "no religion" voted for Republican candidates in recent elections. In the 2008 presidential election specifically, 76% of atheists and agnostics voted for Obama, and only 23% voted for McCain (Barna Survey 2008). Grupp and Newman (1973) and Nassi (1981) have found that irreligiosity is strongly and consistently correlated and with liberal, progressive, or left-wing political perspectives, and
 Gay and Ellison (1993) found that -- when compared to various religious groups -- nonreligious Americans are the most politically tolerant, supporting the extension of civil liberties to dissident groups.

As for gender equality and women's rights, atheists and secular people are quite supportive (Hayes, 1995b). Recent studies show that secular individuals are much more supportive of gender equality than religious people, less likely to endorse conservatively traditional views concerning women's roles, and when compared to various religious denominations, "Nones" possess the most egalitarian outlook of all concerning women's rights (Brinkerhoff and Mackei, 1993, 1985; Petersen and Donnenworth, 1998; Hoffman and Miller, 1997). Additional polls reveal that abortion rights are more likely to be supported by the secular than the religious (Gallup, 2006; ABC News, 2001).

Concerning the acceptance of homosexuality and support for gay rights, atheists and secular people again stand out (Linneman and Clendenen, 2009; Hayes, 1995b). When compared to the religious, nonreligious people are far more accepting of homosexuality and supportive of gay rights and gay marriage (Sherkat, Powell-Williams, and Maddox, 2007; Burdette et al., 2005; Lewis, 2003; Loftus 2001, Roof and McKinney, 1987), and are far less likely to be homophobic or harbor negative attitudes towards homosexuals (Altemeyer, 2009; Rowatt et al., 2006; Schulte and Battle, 2004; Aubyn, Maynard, and Gorsuch, 1999; VanderStoep and Green, 1988; Kunkel and Temple, 1992). According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 60% of religiously unaffiliated Americans support gay marriage, compared to roughly 26% of Protestants and 42% of Catholics. According to Newport (2008), 76% of Americans who never or seldom attend church consider homosexuality morally acceptable, compared to 21% of
 weekly and 43% of monthly church attenders. Additional studies consistently find that atheists and secular people tend to take a more liberal/progressive stand on a multitude of contemporary social issues (Hoffman and Miller, 1997; Hood et al., 1996; Nelson, 1988). For example, secular Americans were far less supportive of the U.S. invasion of Iraq than religious Americans (Smidt, 2005); only 38% of secular Americans favored invasion compared to 68% of Evangelical Protestants, 57% of Mainline Protestants, and 58% of Catholics, and 47% of Jews. Guth and colleagues (2005) found that only 32% of secular Americans consider the Iraq War justified, compared to 89% of Mormons, 87% of Evangelicals, 73% of Mainline Protestants, and 84% of Catholics. When it comes to the death penalty, atheists and nonreligious people are also markedly less supportive than their religious peers (Beit- Hallahmi, 2007; Gallup Poll, 2004). As for the general treatment of prisoners,
 secular people are much less supportive of retribution and are less likely to favor harsh/draconian sentencing than religious people (Grasmick et al., 1992; Blumstein and Cohen, 1980). A recent survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2009) found that secular, religiously unaffiliated Americans are the group least supportive of the governmental use of torture. Concerning doctor assisted suicide, non-church attenders are much more likely to support it than weekly church attenders (Carroll, 2007; Stark and Bainbridge, 1996), and support for stem cell research is strongest among the secular (Nisbet, 2005); a 2004 Harris Poll found that 84% of "nonreligious" Americans support stem cell research, compared to 55% of "very religious" Americans. Finally, secular people are much more likely to support the legalization of marijuana than religious people (Gallup Poll, 2005b; Hoffman and Miller, 1997).

The above information reveals that atheists and secular people have very clear and pronounced values and beliefs concerning moral, political, and social issues. As Lynn Nelson (1988:134) has concluded, religiously unaffiliated people "have as well-defined a sense of social justice as weekly churchgoers." But I would go farther. I would argue that a strong case could be made that atheists and secular people actually posses a stronger or more ethical sense of social justice than their religious peers. After all, when it comes to such issues as the governmental use of torture or the death penalty, we see that atheists and secular people are far more merciful and humane. When it comes to protecting the environment, women's rights, and gay rights, the non-religious again distinguish themselves as being the most supportive. And as stated earlier, atheists and secular people are also the least likely to harbor ethnocentric, racist, or nationalistic
 attitudes. Strange then, that so many people assume that atheists and nonreligious people lack strong values or ethical beliefs – a truly groundless and unsupportable assumption.

New Apple Product

Apple does it again:

Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store
and play music.  The iTit will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and
speaker size.  This is considered a major social breakthrough, because women
are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening
to them.

Happy Birthday Frishberg!

Unknown Frishberg!

An Ahimsa ThanXgiving - Fast 2009

Congrats on your decision Augie.

The raising of meat, as destructive to the environment as it is, and the harm it causes to those of us who imbibe, is not disputable.

I have absolutely no problem with those who choose not to eat meat, and there are loads of reasons besides being upset with factory farming, chemicals, and colo-rectal cancer, to be vegan.

However, Humans are Omnivores by nature.  And,  "Human Nature" is precisely the reason we're collectively doomed in a very short time frame...(geologically speaking).

For me, morality is all about the way humans treat each other...far more so than how we treat traditional foodstuff...and our record of how we treat each other is far more deplorable than the fact that we raise chickens in cages so small that they cannot move out of the way of their own defecation.

I don't attribute any "moral superiority" to veganism.

If it feels right to you, do it.

I hold that our trajectory is extinction, and, while one can make less or more impact on the environment personally, I dispute it will make one day's difference in when the last of us walks the planet...

I'm more inclined, daily, to party hearty and die out and, for me, that includes meat in my diet.

There are as many reasons to be a Volunteer as there are Volunteers, and, I'll wager the same holds for vegans.  Regardless, I'll probably see more flames on this note than under the bird come Thanksgiving.

Namaste,
Frish

An Ahimsa ThanXgiving - Fast  2009

Posted by: "augie1015" augie1015@yahoo.com   augie1015

Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:44 am (PST)

An Ahimsa ThanXgiving - Fast 2009

Namaste

Oh, no! Here it comes again!
Those dreaded holidays where Vegans "waffle" (snip)

Some Weird News about Genetics, Intelligence and "beauty"!

Women with the largest difference of waist and hips are smarter, as are their offspring!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7090300.stm

Even tho' men are mostly indifferent to such differences!

Which means, it shouldn't be a trait that has "legs" so to speak!

Glad to share something a bit tangential, instead of the serious stuff usually posted here!

Frish

Childfree and happier every day!

Just some more demographic fun...

In late August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that U.S. life expectancy had reached an all-time high, climbing to 77.9 years in 2007.

http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2009/08/21/life-expectancy-reaches-a-new-high.html

The U.S. Census Bureau projects life expectancy will exceed 79 years by the year 2015

"Retirees Hit by Longevity Risk." Reuters. Nov 21, 2008. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4AK3X720081121

Insurance mortality tables indicate that some Americans could even live until the age of 121.
"2001 Commissioners' Standard Ordinary (CSO) Mortality Table." American Academy of Actuaries. June 2002.

Frish

6-year-old girl with brain cancer hid love notes for her parents to find after her death

Holly, thanks for sharing.
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/11/04/6-year-old-girl-with-brain-cancer-hid-love-notes-for-her-parents-to-find-after-her-death/

Just a side note:

I googled the article's name, to see what I might see, and was amazed/amused/concerned about the "right hand column" purchase suggestion:

6 Year Old Girl

Find Low Prices and Multiple Offers
6 Year Old Girl
shopping.yahoo.com

Frish