Saturday, May 05, 2007
How to tell you're Not Ready for Prime Time
Killer Mobile Virus
...[T]ext messages warned of a virus [which] would not hurt the phone. Instead, in a scene out of a horror movie, it would kill the recipient. Immediately.
“Plz ignore calls frm 0A9-888888 or with screen with dancing snake & changing colours its a deadly virus and in some regions of Pakistan death are being reported,”
...The News, a respected newspaper here, ran a story on the front of its city section discounting the rumor. But another story in the section, written by the vague “Our Staff Reporter,” said two people were seriously hurt when they answered the bad phone numbers. One fell unconscious, the other started bleeding from the ears, and doctors had no medicine to treat this kind of virus. The story then concluded: “However, we will provide medicines to these patients on (an) emergency basis, the doctors said."
OK - that made my head hurt.
[Meanwhile in Afghanistan] “There’s a strange rumor that if you get a phone call from a strange number, if you hit ‘OK’ (to answer the phone), blood will come from your nose and ears, and you will die,” said Mar, a taxi driver, who said he was just about to turn off his phone.
The reassurance they received?
"We have no reports of anyone answering their telephone and then bleeding from their noses,” said Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry. “Not today, not yesterday, and not before then — we have no such reports."
No reports. Well.... Ok, then…
It is fascinating to observe how societies move from the 12th Century to the 21st in one generation. Not only did they skip teh development of their own version of The Enlightenment, Magna Carta, etc, but they also skipped things like Galileo, Madame Curie, etc. They have all the gadgets and capabilities and huge holes in their world view.
It would be very easy to go all mockingly superior.... But… well...
Devo may have had a point.
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Friday, May 04, 2007
"What do you dislike most about America?"
posed in the GOP debate to Romney by Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei
Purported to be from one [sock puppet?] “Daniel Dekovnick” from Walnut Creek
I really dislike that we’ve gotten to a place where an asinine question such as that would actually be asked in a national Presidential debate. Not even “Is there anything you dislike,” but, freighted with assumptions aplenty, “What do you dislike most?"
I dislike that so many Americans have completely lost sight of what is great about this nation—the belief in and quest for human liberty— and what is great about the American people—the kindest, most generous, optimistic, hard working people on the planet.
Hows about yous?
The Very Definition of Unprofessional
Bemember “Do no harm”?
For a health professional of any grade, sort, style, level or flavor to release information about a patient or client which would cause harm to that person is the basest grossest betrayal of professional ethics.
I find it extremely difficult to imagine how General Arthur could not have imagined how the MSM would cherry-pick and spin this study to put those currently on active duty in exactly the same place as those returning from duty in Viet Nam.
For his superiors to allow him to release it, for his subordinates to fail to speak out against releasing it, for Defense Secretary Robert Gates not to have stopped it is, IMO, flat out dereliction of duty.
Defense Department’s Task Force on Mental Health chaired by Navy Surgeon General Donald Arthur said ...38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report psychological concerns such as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from deployment.
Whether this rendition is feigned ignorance or genuine makes no difference: ignorance it is. Traumatic brain injury is not a psychological concern. It is a physical injury in the same way a bruised spleen is a physical injury, and is a function of vastly improved field medical capabilities and armoring. In previous combat situations, those injured in this way would be simply KIA.
Post-traumatic stress rates I would put at 100%. What the term “post-traumatic stress” describes is too many big things happening without sufficient time or space to process them. Big thing after big thing after big thing happens without time to sit down and think them through and come to terms with them and with oneself. Simple as that; like a mental/emotional traffic jam.
PTSD is experienced by tornado and flood victims, by people who’ve been in a bad accident and by people in abusive relationships as well as by folks who’ve experienced combat. Most folks—given time and cessation of the trauma—wander through it on their own. Some folks need lots of time—others do not. Some folks benefit from support by others who’ve been through a similar situation. The major thing is to face it, address it and allow sufficient time and space for the person to go through their own process of coming to terms with the Big Things that have happened to and around them.
The most harmful thing is to pathologize it—make like it’s an illness or that the person is having “mental problems.” Everybody alive has experienced post-traumatic stress to a greater or lesser degree: think back on those times when it seemed all hell was breaking loose and just wouldn’t stop and all you wanted was to crawl under the covers or jump on a plane to Fiji. That’s a sign that things are getting backed up and ya need time to process it all; but this is the real world and we don’t always have the time at the time. So we develop ways of coping with it all until the furor dies down and we can take the time to do what we need to do. The “stuck” part comes if someone doesn’t take that time to process but tries to keep using only those tricks of temporary coping, instead. Mourning sucks. Adjusting is damned hard. The desire not to do the hard work is understandable; as is the fact that it’s a bad idea not to do the work.
Unfortunately, this particular diagnosis—this name and way of looking at something that’s been around as long as humans have—was brand new in the ‘70s, and it was appropriated by the sticky fingers of those who were “against the war” and used to demonize the troops. The same thing is happening now.
For the military brass to participate in it is unconscionable.
It cited a significant stigma in which soldiers believe they would be ridiculed or their careers damaged if they were to acknowledge having problems.
That level of stupid only adds insult to injury.
You can see the result here.
"...eating away from within like worms inside my braaaain... • (0) Comments • Link This
What Word or Group of Words Is Unclear to You?
Thursday, May 03, 2007
We're Fried
frog in a fryin’ pan
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)—International delegates reached an agreement early Friday on the best ways to combat climate change despite efforts by China to water down language on cutting destructive greenhouse gas emissions.
The closed-door debate over everything from nuclear power to the cost of cleaner energy ran into the early morning hours with quibbling over wording. But consensus was eventually reached on a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and delegates from more than 120 nations. [emph mine e-C]
“It’s all done,” said Peter Lukey, a member of the South Africa delegation. “Everything we wanted to see was there and more. The message is: We have to do something now.”
...A draft of the report proposed the world limit concentrations of greenhouse gases to between 445 parts per million and 650 parts per million,
And whatcha gonna do on foggy days, eh, Genius?
"The strong message (from the report) is that it’s possible to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at the level where severe climatic change can be avoided,” said Lars Nilsson, a delegate from Sweden.
Blinded with lack of science.
At this week’s meeting, Beijing campaigned for wording that would clearly blame the top industrialized countries in North America and Europe for global warming and give them the responsibility for solving it, rather than latecomers like China and India,
Yeah. Y’all g’head and make the ChiComs comply. I’ll make popcorn.
the UN’s vision for my future
One of My Heros
He’s slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.
Walter M. Schirra
ToDazEd *eye roll*
*eye roll*
Go ahead, name your movement. Name something good and positive and pro-environment and eco-friendly that’s happening right now in the newly “greening” America and don’t say more guns in Texas or fewer reproductive choices for women or endless vile unwinnable BushCo wars in the Middle East lasting until roughly 2075 because that would defeat the whole point of this perky little column and destroy its naive tone of happy rose-colored sardonic optimism. OK?
I’m talking about, [bla bla bla] You know, good things.
...There is but one conclusion you can draw ...
The hippies had it right all along. Oh yes they did.
I sing the bullshiite electric solar powered…
Rainbow Grifter Kick the Mick Day!
Kick the Mick Day!
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is making his views known has he continues to fight for more responsibility and diversity in the aftermath of on-air radio host Don Imus’ firing.
The activist is urging radio and television networks to increase its [sic] diversity by hiring more Black and Latino on-air personalities. ...Jackson called for diversity in newsrooms and the entertainment industry as a whole.
...As rap takes most of the heat for controversial content, Jackson noted that the negativity has been around years as he recited the lyrics to the Rolling Stones’ 1971 hit song “Brown Sugar."
Dat be Cane Sugah.
Haunting...
"Be alert people of Iraq. Terrorists trespass our borders to sow the seeds of death in our land."
*clicky*clicky*
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
It's ON!
deciding for US
Look what the cat’s coughed back up:
MORA [Media Ownership Reform Act] would amend the 1934 Communications Act to restore the Fairness Doctrine and explicitly require broadcast licensees to provide a reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.
[...]
There has also been a severe decline in the number of minority-owned broadcast stations; minorities own a mere four percent of stations today.
MORA would restore a standard to prevent any one company from owning broadcast stations that reach more than 35 percent of U.S. television households.
The legislation would re-establish a national radio ownership cap to keep a single company from owning more than five percent of our nation’s total number of AM and FM stations.The bill would reduce local radio ownership caps to limit a single company from owning more than a certain number of stations within a certain broadcast market, with the limit varying depending upon the size of each market.
Furthermore, the legislation would restore the Broadcast-Cable and Broadcast-Satellite Cross-Ownership Rules to keep a company from aving conflicting ownerships in a cable company and/or a satellite carrier and a broadcast station offering service in the same market.
Finally, MORA would prevent media owners from grandfathering their current arrangement into the new system, requiring parties to divest in order to comply with these new limitations within one year.
[Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)] attacked Savage, Limbaugh and other conservative radio hosts, saying they were “responsible” for leading the U.S. into the Iraq war, as well as for preparing the ground for future military invasions of Iran and Syria. According to Hinchey, these men pose a “threat” to American national security. Hence, under his bill, they would be fired.
“All of that stuff will end,” Hinchey said.In the Senate, the legislation is being supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. A self-styled “social democrat,” Sanders is forming a media caucus with the explicit goal of ending conservative hegemony on talk radio.
...When Hinchey [and his] Democratic allies complain about the need to “give equal time” to left-leaning views on radio, they forget one important fact: The radio audience is not interested. Now, after the failure of Air America, the Democrats are attempting to implement the final solution to their conservative problem: censorship.
Mister Murdock—ball’s in your court.
A Hillary ! Bitch Rodham-Clinton Presidency… oy.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
It hada be done
nothing to do with Zen...
"... this guy walks into a bar with a duck on his head ..." • (0) Comments • Link This
It happened like this
no. really.
You’ve noticed that Hillarybelle has gone thru a number of name changes during her endless recent foray into candidacy. Each prompted by a poll, focus group or other pander-party, she’s gone from Hillary Rodham-Clinton [progressive feminista] to a brief flirtation with Hillary Rodham [liberated, yet unknown without the Clinton Cache] back through hyphen-land and stopping off for quite a while at Hillary! [like Cher!, Madonna! or Plague!]. Well, she’s back at the focus groups again, this time coming down to the bare-bones Hillary Clinton. [not to say, Mrs. Bill Clinton *cough*]
It happened early one morning as Mrs Bill Hillary Clinton sat at her desk.... [*cue fade out sound fx*]
[knock at door]
HILLARY: Whaat?!?
AIDE [enters]: Ma’m? You remember you asked me to get another focus group reading on your name?
HILLARY: Yeah? so what’s your fucking point?!?
AIDE: The results are in *beat*, Bitch.
[fade to black]
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{/if}
