I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, January 23, 2015

Weekend Linkee-poo listens for the bustle in my hedgerow

It turns out my father was in a retirement community, not in an apartment. No one knew. We still don't know all the details or where his body is.

The histories of the Buchheits. Note, this genealogy website tells a very different story of the family than the one I learned. It could be a coincidence of names, or it could be we're notorious bullshitters and what I think is my ancestry is complete bullpucky. At this point, I wouldn't know which way to lean. Hell, I've just recently confirmed that on my mother's side we are part of the hidden Jews and I have ties back to the Ashkenazi (there are a few genetic diseases that have popped up among my cousins, and it resolves some family mysteries and traditions) and to those who fled before the Nazi advance. Mostly this is from my relatives getting too old to worry about the lie anymore.

The history of the game cartridge. Hey kids, when I was young, we'd plug these plastic cartridges into "counsels" to play video games. Oh, it was a grand time. (Grokked from Dan)

The Nebra sky disk. It's the oldest known depiction of the sky, cast in the bronze age. It's a one of a kind, that had been immediately sold on the black market. Here is the story of the disk and how it was removed from the black market. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

Bioluminescent plankton. Beautiful. For ages sailors reported the phenomenon, but it actually was quite recent that scientists confirmed the existence. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

Bulletproof coffee? Just say no. Actually it's a pretty good article that goes through the claims of a new diet and gives you actual information. What's not talked about in the article is with consuming all that fat at once (2 tablespoons of butter and one of MCT) you're going to give your gallbladder and liver a workout (bile emulsifies fat so you can process it, without it, you'd have slippery poop - see effects of Olestra if you have doubts). If you have gallstones, you're going to notice it right away. Also it'll make your pancreas work overtime. That's bad. This is how Type II Diabetes develops in some cases (overworked pancreases just give out). (Grokked from Dan)

"Just who is in the middle class? The term has no formal economic definition, and that’s one reason politicians use it." Well, everybody wants to be middle class. It's the place to be. "Somewhat amusingly, every group with earnings between $30,000 and $100,000 was most likely to identify whatever their own income was as middle-class." And that's part of the problem. A good post with lots of economic data in there. (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)

"'I'm going to do more than bring my bill up. I'm going to need your help to find a way out of this definitional problem of rape,' (Sen. Lindsey) Graham said (to the Family Research Council's ProLifeCon). 'We just need to find a consensus position on the rape exception. The rape exception will be part of the bill. That's the Hyde position. We just need to find a way, definitionally, to not get us in a spot about where we're debating what legitimate rape is… We're not here debating legitimate rapes. We're here talking about saving babies at 20 weeks.'" I think I see the problem here, but they don't. You know, he wants to be able to define what is Rape rape, not allowing abortions for just rape. Actually the real problem is they know if they make the exception, those evil doctors will just have a form that says, "I was raped" and tell their patients, "I need you to check here" and then that will nullify any of the restrictions they try to impose. The real problem is they're trying to impose restrictions that will end any abortions for any reason without seeming like they are. I say this because that's their real goal. That, and taking your contraception.

On a related note, "Uh oh, them conservatives let womyn in the tent." Now they're all, "but we didn't think you'd have a problem with that rapey rape exception thingie."

Mike Huckabee forgets there's such a thing as video tape and YouTube and tries to buffalo everyone into thinking Ted Nugent cleaned up Cat Scratch Fever when he played on the Huckster's show (with Huck playing bass). Jesus Haploid Christ conservatives, do you constantly need this reminder? (Yea, I know, this is for the faithful so that it's in their minds when someone criticizes the Huckster that they're preconditioned to say, "Oh no, they cleaned it up" and it'll be a zombie argument of his campaign.) But then the Huckster is going the whole "CHRISTIAN AMERICA!" route for his campaign. This is going to be interesting (as long as he lasts, which I predict won't be much past Super Tuesday, if he gets that far).

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