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This sexy Italian graced the Table of Contents of the June issue of a popular alternative health magazine. It appears to be the shadow of a naked woman, complete with nipples. This photo looks like something right out of a Wilson Bryan Key book.You may remember his fun books, The Clam Plate Orgy , which explains why so many folks who can’t stand fried clams buy the clam plate at HoJo’s. Mr. Keys books are about subliminal messages in advertising. I’ve probably stated before that American psychology is largely directed toward predicting and manipulating the behavior of large numbers of people. Thus one of the earliest Behaviorists, John B. Watson , found a lucrative position in advertising after he was drummed out of academia. Key’s examples are pretty funny, and a lot of so-called experts state outright that he was insane. Well, what is insanity but being uncomfortably aware of unacknowledged details? But in most cases the experts give no reason other than...

The garden is well under way. We’re growing Roma, Better Boy and Early Girl Tomatoes; three kinds of peppers; eggplant; and several herbs and spices. I’ve already been cutting chamomile for a relaxing tea. On deck we have a few pots and flats of seedlings, some of which will go in this weekend. Basil, of course. Chives, Cilantro, Catnip. Peas and Morning Glory will climb the fence together. And of course lots of smelly flowers to discourage rodents of all sizes. Here are some pictures I took today while watering the garden. Click on the thumbnails to see full-size images.

UPenn’s Center for Resuscitation Science Interesting web site. It’s about how we define the moment of death. They are turning Emergency Medicine on its head. If you have advance directives, a living will or a DNR order, it’s because you don’t want to wind up a vegetable after a medical emergency or because you have an incurable, fatal condition. Advanced directives are NOT intended to force the ER doctors to let you die when medical treatment can easily fix you right up. With the exception, of course, of folks whose religion forbids medical treatment. When I was a whitewater rafting guide I had to be certified in Advanced First Aid and Life Support. This program took four weekends to complete. It was hard for me to put in that kind of sustained effort, now that I think about it, but it really helped my confidence on the job. The point of the course was to enable the guides to stabilize someone injured on the river until we could get real medical help. And ...

Fun conversation. Just wanted to share. The boss sent me a geometry puzzle as revenge for one I sent him to solve. I shared it with my favorite philosopher. This conversation ensued. ME, quoting the boss: You have a rectangular piece of material out of which are cut two regular polygons of arbitrary number of sides, position and size. (Both holes are entirely contained within the larger rectangle.) Devise a method for dividing the remaining material into two equal areas. Get back to work! K: Slice it through from edge-on. ME: The boss says “No.” He seems to think that the material can’t be split that way. Hmmmph. Where did he find cloth one atom thick? And why isn’t a nuclear blast a valid way of splitting it? Update 8/2008: The material is probably a monoatomic-thick graphite substance called “graphene.” No idea where he found it. K: I like nuclear blast; you collect the fallout into two buckets of equal volume. ME: I made an infinite num...

<rant> Email to someone I don’t even know who has been spamming me with chain letters. Date: Sun, 13 May 2007 09:57:50 -0400 To: ————- From: Leslie Subject: I’m blogging this. Thanks. Re: Gas War Did you write this in crayon? Or worse, did someone else write it in crayon and you merely forwarded it because you liked the big purple letters? You obviously didn’t think this through. If you do this you’ll drive the price up at the other gas stations… because most Exxon-Mobil gas stations are privately owned by local merchants, not by Exxon-Mobil because unbranded gas stations usually buy from the big oil companies, including Exxon-Mobil because when BP and Citgo and Hess and Lukoil stations run low on gas they’ll buy some at an exorbitant price from Exxon-Mobil because the small stations also increase their prices according to supply and demand – they have to make a living. Consumers don’t call the tune in a capit...

Ok, I went too far, propagating the “Muzzy Mouse” meme. It is ridiculous to stigmatize all Moslems based on the actions of a few WahhābÄ«m. We mustn’t forget that just a few years ago Catholic and Protestant Christians were murdering each other in the UK. Personally, I think it’s time for all religions to take responsibility for policing their extremists. Farfur the Mouse of Hamas’ al-Aqsa TV has been pulled off the air “for review.” Farfur is a Mickey Mouse clone whose job was to indoctrinate Palestinian children not with Islamic values, but with terrorist propaganda. Video clips showed a guy in a mouse suit pretending to shoot an AK-47, while a little Mousekahideen looked on. In a previous post I joked about Disney lawyers marching into Palestine. It appears that there is more to it, according to this article: Israelinsider.com: “Terrorist mouse” may have squeaked its last, as Hamas kids show angers Disney Hamas may not be mu...

FilmSpot: Ozzy Osbourne I bit the head off a live bat the other night. It was like eating a Crunchie wrapped in chamois leather. — Ozzy Osbourne

This is priceless. A Hamas-sponsored children’s show on the Palestinian Authority’s new Al-Aqsa Mosque TV channel has a Mickey Mouse look-alike teaching the kids to be good Mousekahideen errrr Mujahideen. I am picturing an army of Disney lawyers invading Palestine. This could get ugly. In the interest of fairness, let me point out that the US has used cartoons to indoctrinate children for a long time. However, we only teach them rampant consumerism. They figure out Universal Hegemony on their own. Palastinian Media Watch: Hamas steals Mickey Mouse image to teach hate and Islamic supremacy Israelinsider: Move over Mickey: Farfur the Mouse is aiming for world Islamic domination Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center: Hamas launches “Al-Aqsa,” an experimental TV channel intended to improve its propaganda and indoctrination capabilities Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project: MEMRI TV . Video hosted on Castup.net . IE may warn you about a pop...

Astronaut Wally Schirra Crosses Final Frontier Last month, he expressed fondness for his home planet, telling an Associated Press reporter that he had left three times and had found nowhere else to go. He spoke during interviews about the dust clouds he saw over India and China in the first decade of space travel and worried about pollution. He also talked about seeing the world as one home, rather than a globe divided by borders. One month before crossing his own final frontier, he said in an AP interview: “Please take care of Spaceship Earth.” We will do our best.

Mental Health Care Failing At-Risk Troops, Related Study Finds Battlefield Ethics Also Suffering – CBS News This story on CBS shows an ongoing problem in Iraq. Overworked, stressed-out soldiers start to fall apart due to long deployments and irrational (if any) strategy. I question labeling someone as mentally ill when it’s due to long-term stress. Think about it. You get sent to the Middle East on a six-month deployment. 18 months later they still won’t let you go home. Your kids think you lied when you said you’d be home in six months – and again when you said you’d be home in a year – and are showing behavioral problems in school; your mortgage is in arrears because you took a pay cut for what you thought would be only six months; if you owned a business it has long since failed; you’ve missed 18 months worth of family get-togethers; you have to climb over a half-dozen Jersey Barriers to get to your ratty, noisy little home-away-f...

Woodwarbler’s JazzGrass stream. The music starts about a minute into the stream after the tail end of the previous show. My friend Brian Aust has a new radio show called Woodwarbler’s JazzGrass at WGDR Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. I took a quick listen before writing this post and wound up listening for a half hour! What is JazzGrass? you might wonder. It is an eclectic mix of Old Timey Bluegrass that evolves into Jazz later in the show. Brian is a great guy and Bluegrass music is just plain fun. Kind of like speed metal for country boys. In case the link above doesn’t work, go to the WGDR music archive page and select April 30,2007 at 1935 (7:35PM) Eastern Time. The show is 2 hours long. The show is available for download, too, for download to your mp3 player. I’ll update this link when I hear that the show has become a permanent institution at WGDR. Drop a dollar or two in the hat while you’re there. Public radio needs your help. Bu...

reputation “I read something recently . . . and this one phrase leapt out at me from the book DAMAGE by Josephine Hart. It says, ‘Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.’ And that kind of sums me up.” — Dusty Springfield

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Does anyone remember Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, and his bizarre insistence that 29% of the registered voters constituted a mandate from the masses? Somehow The Lady of the Lake sketch in Monty Python and the Holy Grail came to mind. The 2000 and 2004 elections weren’t much better. I am holding on to hope for the 2008 elections. ARTHUR: I am your king! WOMAN: Well, I didn’t vote for you. ARTHUR: You don’t vote for kings. WOMAN: Well, how did you become King, then? ARTHUR: The Lady of the Lake,… [angels sing] …her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king! DENNIS: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquati...

FOXNews.com – FBI Links Almanacs With Terror Planning – U.S. & World The FBI said information typically found in almanacs that could be useful for terrorists includes profiles of cities and states and information about waterways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, buildings and landmarks. It said this information is often accompanied by photographs and maps. My sister sent me a bit of internet flotsam this morning saying, “Hey, SNoogie. This will crack you up.” Once I got over being called “SNoogie” I googled it and found that it is true – or at least all the news outlets picked it up off the API as if it were. Good strategy, keeping geography out of the hands of ordinary citizens. I hear they’re going after math and science next. Oh wait, they already are. I think it would be more to the point to look for home-grown terrorists by being alert for bibles and other right-wing strategy manuals. The bible does, after all, mandate tha...