I’m not sure why, but I LOVE this commercial:
Juan Hermosillo is the talented self-taught pizza tosser. Oh, I love the music, too.
Inconsequential
Posted in Photography on April 29, 2009 by gymaMany things have made me feel inconsequential during my life. But nothing says it quite like this image taken from the Cassini spacecraft near Saturn in 2007:
[National Geo has several more stunning images worth a click.]
“Consolation” – Billy Collins
Posted in Culture, Entertainment on April 28, 2009 by gymaThank goodness April isn’t yet over, since it’s Poetry Month, and I wanted to share one of my favorite poets with you. Several years ago I saw Billy Collins, ex-Poet Laureate, at the local, refurbished theater. He was wonderful, understated, and flat out entertaining. I’d highly recommend taking any opportunity to hear Collins read his poetry in person that might come your way.
Oink, Oink
Posted in Health on April 28, 2009 by gyma
I’m sitting here watching NBC Nightly News (or whatever they call it) and I was surprised to hear Brian Williams lead off the broadcast by saying we must stop calling it the swine flu. Why? Looks like the Pork Lobby is upset because it’s giving pigs a bad name!
You won’t be surprised then, to know this is what one of the major pork producers has to say about this:
[…]
Smithfield Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. pork concern, prefers to call the disease “North American influenza.” Swine flu “just has the wrong name,” said C. Larry Pope, Smithfield chief executive officer.
And well, you have to love those pork producers, who think we shouldn’t be calling it the swine flu because pigs aren’t getting sick! Maybe things like this wouldn’t be a problem if we spent more money on education so we didn’t have such a dumbed down populace.
Y’all know you can’t get this flu from eating pork, right?!
No Regrets? Riiight!
Posted in Just Weird on April 28, 2009 by gyma
No Regrets? No Regrets? NO REGRETS?! You must be kidding me. I had a tough time picking out the most outrageous tattoo – well, take a look for yourself.
[I’m not sure of this, but I think all of the featured tattoos belong to men!]
Are You Ready?
Posted in Health on April 27, 2009 by gymaSometimes I’m too laid back when it comes to emergency preparation. I think we filled a couple of milk jugs with water on December 31, 1999, and that’s the only disaster preparation I’ve ever done.
Now that I’m older I think it’s about time to take some responsibility. And the recent news of the possibility of a flu pandemic is just the impetus I need to take action. I saw a video at work today stating 50M people died during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918, when the population was about 1/4 what it is today. If we were to have a similar outbreak now, you’re talking a couple hundred million dead folks.
So here’s my plan: I’m going shopping tomorrow and will buy the following items: salt, sugar, jello, batteries, cough drops, bleach, and some extra food. What I haven’t figured out is water storage. In looking at a couple of flu preparation manuals online, it was suggested you have 2 gallons of water per person per day for 30 days. That’s 120 gallons for us. How do you store that much water? The other items I’m considering buying are a box of surgical masks and a box of disposable gloves. Oh, one other thing – I also plan on keeping about $500 in our lock box – in small bills. The small bills will be the hard part, though.
So, how have you prepared? Not ready? Then take a look at this – I think you might find it motivational.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Posted in Culture on April 26, 2009 by gymaSome doofus, with the group calling themselves the Ohio Militia, is calling for 1,000,000 armed militia members to march on Washington, DC on July 4th. That should end well.
Fail Whale
Posted in Culture on April 25, 2009 by gyma
Paging the Fail Whale to the wingnut courtesy telephone.
See? Didn’t I tell you Twitter was stupid? Seems some Okie, who is clearly old enough to know better, has been arrested by the FBI for filling his Twitter account with threats he would turn April 15th into a bloodbath on the Oklahoma City Capitol steps:
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
“START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!,” read a tweet at 8:01 PM that day. “After I am killed on the Capitol Steps, like a REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!,” he added five minutes later. Then: “Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the[m] on the State Capitol steps.”
I’m not sure how these guys are going to make it through the next 4 years when it hasn’t even been 100 days. What concerns me the most is Fox News/Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity & ‘Friends’ will literally incite riots over a bunch of nonexistent bullshit. I hope the Secret Service are eating their Wheaties every morning.
The End of Civilization…
Posted in Culture on April 25, 2009 by gyma…as we know it. I’m with David on this one. Twitter is stupid.
Golden Years, My @$$ 