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*"South Park"
I've had conversations with people. Quite a few, in fact.
Sometimes Michael Jackson is brought up in the course of certain discussions. I'll inevitably say something like:
"The mammoth piece of shit fucking monster is a goddam serial child molester."
And sometimes the person I'm talking to will say something like:
"Yeah, but you can't deny that Thriller is one of the best records ever."
"BUT"?
There is no but!
The argument seems to be ("South Park" again): "Sure he's touched some children, but he's entertained us for so many years..."
That is, Jackson being evil and disgusting and really, truly, ultra-mega evil is mitigated by the fact he's a gifted performer (which I would dispute).
The shitball could cure every type of cancer, end poverty, end huger, end war, and he'd still be a shitball that needs to be locked up in a cage unfit for that pet monkey he kept around and probably had sex with.
BUT all he's done is sing and dance.
Thriller sucks and Michael Jackson can't die soon enough.
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Thursday, March 5, 2009
Faith-based healing.
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The Chinese have compounded thousands of years worth of knowledge and experience into what Westerners call Traditional Chinese Medicine. And there's no doubt the West can benefit greatly from its many methods and practices -- many of which are based on the concept of Chi.
After all, China was able to boast a national average life expectancy of about 32 in 1950, while Western, more developed, countries had average life expectancies of 35 to 40 in the mid-1700s. And Chi remains a vaguely defined concept that lacks -- in any of its permutations -- any science to support its existence.
Nevertheless, I think it's important to heal people using both Western and Chinese medical traditions -- to use methods that have been proven to work in concert with those that have have been proven not to. We need to take a holistic approach to treating people... And to take that approach way too goddam far.
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The Chinese have compounded thousands of years worth of knowledge and experience into what Westerners call Traditional Chinese Medicine. And there's no doubt the West can benefit greatly from its many methods and practices -- many of which are based on the concept of Chi.
After all, China was able to boast a national average life expectancy of about 32 in 1950, while Western, more developed, countries had average life expectancies of 35 to 40 in the mid-1700s. And Chi remains a vaguely defined concept that lacks -- in any of its permutations -- any science to support its existence.
Nevertheless, I think it's important to heal people using both Western and Chinese medical traditions -- to use methods that have been proven to work in concert with those that have have been proven not to. We need to take a holistic approach to treating people... And to take that approach way too goddam far.
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Friday, February 27, 2009
The gods must be crazy.
England for the English.
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A primary advantage of Britain's Constitutional Monarchy, and the primary reason the queen leads the State Opening every year in full regalia, is that the nation's populace is made ironically though still painfully aware it could, as it has more often than not, be led by a single person's whim.
She makes the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons seem like saviors.
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A primary advantage of Britain's Constitutional Monarchy, and the primary reason the queen leads the State Opening every year in full regalia, is that the nation's populace is made ironically though still painfully aware it could, as it has more often than not, be led by a single person's whim.
She makes the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons seem like saviors.
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Monday, February 16, 2009
Foot baths for fibromyalgia!
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A friend told me her Mom has been much better lately, since she began using Fentanyl patches. (I had to tell her how to correctly pronounce "Fentanyl," and what it is.)
She told me she's proud that her Mom is less dependent on pills, an extremely subtle way of calling me a pseudo-addict pussy because I have to gobble massive quantities of orally administered medicine each day.
"My Mom looks at things differently."
Her Mom uses foot baths to help relieve her pain.
My friend equates her Mom feeling better with her Mom's decreased intake of narcotic pills.
She's right to do so. Her Mom can take fewer pills because her Mom is now on a drug hundreds of times more powerful than morphine. And than what I take.
My friend hates pharmaceuticals. Hates pills. Hates her Mom.
My friend ascribes her Mom's recent pain-decrease to her Mom's sunnier disposition. And to foot baths.
Not to the most powerful narcotic known to humanity.
This narcotic -- Fentanyl: so strong it's dosages are in micrograms, not milligrams -- has allowed Mom to have a sunnier disposition by decreasing her pain. Fentanyl has allowed Mom to take foot baths because now she can sit up for long periods without squirming in pain.
...I remain closed-minded and refuse to swap my pills for smiles, foot baths and Fentanyl. I'm doing all right with much weaker stuff (and a smile is a gateway expression) except for a drooling, teeth-grinding, fist-clenching hatred for fuckwad naturopaths who haven't heard of fibro but know I can be cured. And tell me how after I make it clear I'd rather not hear how.
Suggested cures have always involved something a fibromyalgian should never be subjected to, like chiropractic (for this example): someone applying crushing force directly to one's trigger/tender points.
If chiro cures fibro, then I expect to be able to cure broken bones by attacking fractures with sledgehammers.
...Jesus. I need a smile and a foot bath.
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Questions (and no Googling for the answers):
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No Googling -- but the answers are below.
1) How many US soldiers have died in Operation Attack Iraq Because Bush II Has A Vendetta?
2) How many Iraqi civilians?
3) How many US soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan?
4) How may Afghan civilians?
5) How many Osama bin Ladens?
6) How many angels can dance on the point of a needle?
ANSWER KEY:
1) About 4,000. (There have been 4,242 confirmed deaths among the Coalition of Nations Dumb Or Asshole Enough To Send Their People To War Based On the Bush II Administration's Word. And I naturally estimate that the vast majority of those killed were US soldiers.)
2) Between about 91,000 and 99,000.
3) 651 US soldiers killed . Forty-nine were killed in 2002. 155 were killed in 2008, more than any other year. More than in 2002, 2003 and 2004 combined.
The total losses among all invading countries: 1,077.
4) Short answer: No one knows. Which seems fine because the vast majority of the Western World doesn't want to know.
"Estimates of civilian deaths based on media reports since the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 range from 4,800 to 7,000 killed by US and NATO forces, with another 3,000 deaths caused by insurgent actions. As in Iraq, figures derived from media estimates must be considered an under-estimation due to the lack of reportage of many incidents and the unknown numbers of wounded who died later of their injuries.
"The figure does not include the tens of thousands of alleged 'Taliban' deaths. In the past three years, media accounts based on US and NATO body counts add up to well over 10,000 fatalities among the insurgents. On a number of occasions, it has been subsequently established that the victims were innocent Afghan civilians." (World Socialist Web Site )
5) Zero. However, the US secretly launched Operation Natural Death years ago. Therefore, the number is expected to go up at any time.
6) Only one, and only if it's a gifted dancer. Thomas Aquinas holds that angels cannot occupy the same space -- or, as he has it, "contain" the same space. ("God and Reason In the Middle Ages," Edward Grant -- see the subsection Angels and Natural Philosophy, page 255.)
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No Googling -- but the answers are below.
1) How many US soldiers have died in Operation Attack Iraq Because Bush II Has A Vendetta?
2) How many Iraqi civilians?
3) How many US soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan?
4) How may Afghan civilians?
5) How many Osama bin Ladens?
6) How many angels can dance on the point of a needle?
ANSWER KEY:
1) About 4,000. (There have been 4,242 confirmed deaths among the Coalition of Nations Dumb Or Asshole Enough To Send Their People To War Based On the Bush II Administration's Word. And I naturally estimate that the vast majority of those killed were US soldiers.)
2) Between about 91,000 and 99,000.
3) 651 US soldiers killed . Forty-nine were killed in 2002. 155 were killed in 2008, more than any other year. More than in 2002, 2003 and 2004 combined.
The total losses among all invading countries: 1,077.
4) Short answer: No one knows. Which seems fine because the vast majority of the Western World doesn't want to know.
"Estimates of civilian deaths based on media reports since the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 range from 4,800 to 7,000 killed by US and NATO forces, with another 3,000 deaths caused by insurgent actions. As in Iraq, figures derived from media estimates must be considered an under-estimation due to the lack of reportage of many incidents and the unknown numbers of wounded who died later of their injuries.
"The figure does not include the tens of thousands of alleged 'Taliban' deaths. In the past three years, media accounts based on US and NATO body counts add up to well over 10,000 fatalities among the insurgents. On a number of occasions, it has been subsequently established that the victims were innocent Afghan civilians." (World Socialist Web Site )
5) Zero. However, the US secretly launched Operation Natural Death years ago. Therefore, the number is expected to go up at any time.
6) Only one, and only if it's a gifted dancer. Thomas Aquinas holds that angels cannot occupy the same space -- or, as he has it, "contain" the same space. ("God and Reason In the Middle Ages," Edward Grant -- see the subsection Angels and Natural Philosophy, page 255.)
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Friday, February 6, 2009
Honey Bucket!
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After seeing the below, I cared much less about being allergic to honey and, therefore, not being able to consume it.
Mm-mm!
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After seeing the below, I cared much less about being allergic to honey and, therefore, not being able to consume it.
Mm-mm!
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