Carrot music
This video shows you how to play a carrot (with a little help from a reed). You'll get the idea in the first m
I Was a Third Grade Science Project
I was on the phone with my next door neighbor Chad and suddenly the left side of my face slid down below my chin. Chad noticed my speech suddenly changed and asked what was up. “I’m either having a stroke or I have Bell’s palsy. I was familiar with both the symptoms and what Bell’s feels like because a good friend had the same condition before. My wife was due home in about 10 minutes so I waited for her to arrive. If she hadn’t returned soon, I was going to call an ambulance. After arriving at the hospital and spending about three hours there and confirming Bell’s palsy, I went home. I took my medicines immediately and settled in to recover. My face was funky and my speech was slurred because my mouth wouldn’t close, nor would my left eyelid. I watered my eye, and settled in for bed. The weekend was busy and my condition seemed little better on Monday. Monday morning was the usual chaos of getting the kids up and off to school. [More . . . ]
People Are Idiots. A Cynical Observation
The video below from TED is chilling in many ways. Michael Specter touches on observations about the resistance people have toward anything that seems to threaten their hobbit-hole view of the world. A little of this, as he rightly points out, is fine, even agreeable, but when it burgeons into matters that threaten lives and seek to derail all that has made this present era as wonderful as it is---and it must be stressed, in the face of overwhelming negative press, that we are living in a magnificent period of history---then it loses whatever quaint appeal it might otherwise have. We respect the Amish, but they don't tell the rest of us how to live and try their level best to be apart from the world they disapprove. When you see people filing lawsuits with the intent to halt necessary, beneficial progress because they have bought into some bogeyman horror movie view of science or politics or morality, it behooves us to come to terms with a fundamental reality with which we live today. First, though, the video. Watch this, then read on. Okay, what reality? That many people are just idiots. I cannot think of a more tasteful way to phrase it. But when you consider the list, justifications and rationalizations fade. The Tea Party. The Anti-vaccine Movement. The Birthers. Young Earth Creationists. Medjugorje. Deepak Chopra. PETA. Free Market Capitalism. Global Warming Deniers. Holocaust Deniers. Abstinence-Only. Just Say No. The Shroud of Turin. Astrology. Texas Board of Education. Evolution Deniers. Frankenfood Protesters. Homeopaths. Herbalists. Psychics. Scientology. I could go on. [more . . . ]
Whether to grow a beard
I currently have a beard, mostly because it takes less time to shave. I've probably considered the logistics too much: add up three minutes per day for 365 days--that amounts to 18 hours per year shaving. But maybe it's nonetheless worth it to shave. Many people say that having a beard suggests that one is hiding something, not being forthright. That's apparently what politicians think these days based on the lack of beards. Others argue that a beard makes one look more thoughtful. I don't claim to have any answers--I suspect that the way people react has to do with the kind of beard one has. Is it well-trimmed, for example? Andrew Sullivan has a short post suggesting that consumers react in somewhat predictable ways to beards. And here's more from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
We’ve got serious problems
The United States is faced with dozens of serious issues. It would seem that our so-called news media wouldn't have have time to rev up deep-seated xenophobia to score cheap political points. Here's John Stewart taking FOX "News" to task:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| A Farewell to Arms | ||||
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