Funny Blog

I thought that my fellow publishing girls would find this extremely funny.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

I have read it a few times. I've also read the comments. I haven't seen where any of the regular readers nor the blogger herself is from. (I think she is from a large US city.) But, lacking that information it is hard to not point out how many of the commentors and the blogger actually mis-punctuate. The Britons and Canadians acceptably punctuate their periods and commas outside the quotation marks, but anyone else, by US standards is thus doing it wrong. Funny and sort of ironic.

Monkey's Paw

The concept of the monkey's paw is an interesting thing to think about.

For example, I could wish that a million dollars would land in my lap with me having done no actual work, and it would happen, but it would be through something awful like I got maimed by a car and the lawsuit won me a million.

I don't believe in fate. I'm only a little superstitious about things and they are stupid little things that have no actual significance other than I think it is a funny quirk in me to be superstitious about them. One thing I feel that way about is phone numbers. For example, in the past when I have met a guy I really like, I never put his number in my phone because I was superstitious that it would cause the "relationship" to dissolve prematurely. Of course, I based this on one or two instances that were compelling in such a way.

I've been thinking about it a lot the past while. I really do wish on every eyelash that a million dollars will land in my lap. It's completely compulsive. But what if it's my monkey's paw and it will eventually have a negative effect I never wanted?

The vicious circle of superstition.

First "Poem" In Months

As the tree sheds its leaves
So do I shed my hair.
My soul seeps out and floats
Away, leaving me as barren
As this room.

It's really not much of anything but it was on my mind last night, preventing me from sleeping.

Thanksgiving

For the holiday, my sister and I went to our brother's place, as we typically do for Thanksgiving.

We had German turkey, which is baked with bacon over the top and stuffed with a ground beef based stuffing containing apples and cranberries. On the side we had spicy yams (my sister's contribution), mashed potatoes and gravy, baked leeks/onions/carrots, brussel sprouts (which I both tried and discarded for the first time), and potato rolls. My sister-in-law made really good cranberry sauce as well. After dinner, we ate apple pie, which I "made" which my sister helped me prepare for time constraints and later baked by my sis-in-law.

It was a later-than-usual dinner. We left a lot later than planned but we saw something really interesting on the way back up. At about midnight, we passed the Outlet stores. We couldn't believe our eyes. There was at least 3 miles of traffic backed up in both directions trying to get to the mall. It was truly a spectacle. The parking lot was packed and I heard from someone later that there was nothing to buy because there were soooo many people there you could barely even get in any stores.

I never understood the depriving ones self of sleep in order to get "deals" that hardly even exist.

"How can someone mistake chicken for steak?"

That is a really good question.

I've been watching Kitchen Nightmares. Good show.

I know that in an earlier post I made a lot of noise about how Chef Ramsay plays favorites and such. On Hell's Kitchen, that appears to be one hundred percent true. I question his every decision. The premise of the show seems to be merely to draw attention via his outlandish behavior.

This is not the case for Kitchen Nightmares. He is like a toned down version of himself, and every person he yells at really needs it. Rather than screaming bloody hell just to keep the viewers intrigued, he seems to actually be working miracles for real people.

Spin

Factually, a few years ago, a woman named Sarah Brady stabbed to ultimate death a woman named "Sarah Brody." I've heard about this incident twice in about a week.

The first time I heard about it was on a show named "I'd Do Anything for a Baby" or "I'd Kill For a Baby." On the program, the spin was that "Brody" (not her real name; she'd only made it up to establish a connection with Brady) had been lying about being pregnant (as disturbed women can sometimes do) and in order to make the illusion real, had lured Brady to her apartment in order to steal the full term fetus. The show glossed over any possibility of wrong-doing on the part of Brady and she simply went on to live her life.

The second time I heard of this was on a show called "Snapped" which documents women who have murdered. The premise is that something makes her snap and kill. The featured woman is almost always found guilty in court. The spin they seemed to be putting on it was far from what the above program was getting at. "Snapped" even stated that Brady's family assumed she was trying to sell her unborn kid! The show also talked about how she almost went to trial for murder. Then they got to the truth of the matter.

That "Brody" chick would do anything for attention. She claimed her first pregnancy at age 14, and all of her fictional pregnancies went full term only to end with miscarriage. Pfft. She had her father convicted of molestation. (Incidentally, I knew a girl who did that to her innocent father, too. It caused her entire family to fall apart, of course.) She was insane.

So, the point is, that crazy people are out walking around.

Oregon In The News

I always find it funny when odd news stories take place in Oregon. And somehow, I am rarely surprised by the kinds of atrocities that also happen in this state.

What I found more strange was that one news station (Fox, of course) had two Oregon stories.

Funny Story

Horrible Story

Ben Franklin Said What?

...Essentially, he said those who give up liberties and freedoms for potential securities deserve neither.

That being said, take a look at this. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Just imagine how lightning-quick the first case of identity theft from this database will come along.

Anyone who thinks this is a good idea is nothing more than a drone, unable or unwilling to face the truth of what it is.

Bordeaux

I have posted a new blog on Red Reviews. Check it out.

Hate To Say It, But...

I've held this opinion all along. And I think I am at least a moderate authority on the subject.

Heading Down A Treaded, Dreaded Path

I was surfing around this morning and on one of my typical reads found this.

Apparently, many states are allowing police officers to take blood samples of people they suspect of drunk driving. I randomly googled such instances and found this:

The ways in which blood is drawn vary considerably. Under one common scenario, drivers are stopped by police and asked to perform a field sobriety test. If they fail this, they are taken to a medical facility, such as a hospital, and blood is drawn there.

Problems with this are not limited to but include that doctors feel they are violating not only the Hippocratic Oath (do no harm, essentially) but also violating doctor/patient privilege.

The law, however, has an exception for certain "disclosures for law-enforcement purposes."

Of course it does. There are all kinds of laws that remove our rights!

The blog I linked first says that some states are even allowing police officers to draw the blood themselves. I didn't see proof of that in anything I immediately looked at but can you imagine the possible consequences if that is true? Let's see....risk of innumerable infections, damage to your veins, unsanitary conditions...think about it. You're on the side of the road and someone is jabbing you with a needle? Additionally, the blog says that in some states, officers can stop anyone---including people who aren't even breaking laws...How can this be America?

This has got to be one of the scariest things I've read about.

Stupid MSN

Has anyone else noticed how misleading MSN's headlines are?

Seriously, one today said "Britney's lawyer sues Anna Nicole estate." Of course, I opened the story thinking Why the hell is Britney suing Anna Nicole?? but the story was actually about how they shared the same lawyer and HE literally is suing.

I guess it is a "clever" way of getting people to read about stuff that matters even less than celebrity goings-on.

No On 50

As I'm sure most of you know, measure 50 didn't pass. This makes me happy for many reasons even though I am not a smoker. But I have to say, I am a bit surprised because Oregon voters have historically been easy to guilt into adding taxes.

Taxing smokers to pay for any sort of health care is essentially punishing people for what is perceived as a social vice these days. They may as well be saying that smokers are the cause of everyone's bad health, and thus are responsible for paying for the eventual medical bills. (Why not charge it to porn addicts, gamblers, or anyone who ever spent any time in jail? There are lots of vices to choose from.)

As one friend put it, smoking is the bogeyman. It is an easy target and as history has proved smokers will put up with added taxes. But smokers and tobacco aren't the problem. The problem is that there are a bunch of kids with no health insurance. (Here is what the Healthy Kids Plan was gonna do...)

Here is a very simplistic reverse causality. Why don't they have insurance? Parent's can't afford it? Why can't they afford it? It costs too much. Why does it cost too much? Frivolous lawsuits (?), people with inability to pay taking necessary or unnecessary trips to the ER, inflation... (Interesting info here.)

But that is all a rant. What is really bothersome is how in all of this, no one really knows how that money was going to change anything. Even the link I posted above wasn't specific. There were no dollar amounts mentioned---nothing. In fact, I am utterly SHOCKED at how vague that site is. It just looks like a nice (completely unthought-out) idea to me, and nothing more.

More On Space Shuttles

Here is an update about the most recent space shuttle mission. I followed it a little because there were some problems and you all know how I feel about the space shuttle...

Untitled III

This is rather disturbing.

Imagine what will happen to air travel if someone else can't pick up the pieces...

Gettin' The Goods

I went into Bombay today. They are closing all their stores. I got a nifty little half circle table that will be a good place for a plant or lamp. I've been wanting one for a while. Everyone should stop in if they want anything interesting for the home because everything is on sale . . . of course, all the customers had all gone in before, they might not have gone bankrupt.

Speaking of bankruptcy, I always find it sad when businesses go under. The first company I worked for went bankrupt a few years after I stopped working there, and I always wondered what the owner felt from it. I met him several times. Without a doubt, if I had my own business I would feel crushed if I had to close it for bankruptcy.

Again, too tired to continue. Since I have all closing shifts next week, I'm guessing it will be like this for a while. Ugh.

Brains

This new (temporary) work situation is making me SO tired. I could go to bed right now, and probably will. Also, I've had pounding headaches the past few evenings...

Ugh.