Scientists theorize that the second wave of our human ancestors to emigrate from Africa was intellectually superior to the first because fish had been introduced to the diet. This also explains why dolphins were able to build accurate chronographs millions of years before man invented flying toasters.
Today I tried calling Dial-a-Psychic, but got Dial-a-Psychotic.I don’t mind not knowing the future, but now the otter on my shoulder keeps laughing at me!
A humanitarian team visited an impoverished village and concluded that birth control would greatly curb the community’s financial strains. They convinced the village leaders that the use of condoms would help and for the sake of modesty demonstrated their use on a nearby broomstick. One year later the team was discouraged to find a 25% increase in population and a condom on every broomstick…
It isn't too late to enter your sonnet for the Sonnet Challenge of Doom! Write a Sonnet and put your name on it! Here is my First Sonnet:
The Dinner Tray, by William Frisenger
Shall I compare thee to a dinner's tray? Thou art more handy and more comparted: Rough hands do shake my spilling drinks this way, And ice’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the pizza of mine is, And oft' t’is it’s hot oil hath burned this han’d; And every swear from swear never declines, By chance or nature's painful curse unscream'd: But thy infernal dinner’s pain not fade Nor lose digestion of that food so cursed; Nor shall Death brag thou standest in his shade, When on eternal food lines thou waitest:
So long as men can dine, or sup early, So long lives this, and too brings lunch to thee.
Imagine living in a world where missing just one meal could prove fatal. You’re too busy, too distracted, and so you skip lunch. Your body slows down, you take a seat, and you close your eyes. You are completely unaware of the process even as it happens, robbing you of any chance to respond and save yourself. Fade to black.
Welcome to the world of diabetes (Greek for siphon).
I won’t go into too much detail, but among my brother’s medical problems are:
One astrocytoma (often inoperable) at the base of the cerebellum removed.
One aneurysm.
Several strokes.
Paraplegia.
Thyroid cancer (resulting in thyroidectomy).
None of these conditions are as dangerous to my brother on a day-to-day basis as is diabetes.
Now, if the first paragraph did not scare you, consider this: you, as happened to a friend of mine, can have diabetes and never know it until you wake up in the hospital, tubes and intravenous lines everywhere, wondering what on earth happened and what that stupid beeping noise is. As for me, I was fortunate enough to be hired by a hospital that runs a fairly complete blood panel on all accepted candidates, so I was diagnosed early and can rely simply on one medication, some mild food restrictions involving portion control more than avoidance, and exercise – the last two of which we should be doing anyway. The problem was that I NEVER had any symptoms to indicate anything was wrong and I felt great!
So, at the risk of sounding like a public service announcement, no matter how old you are or how well you do or don’t feel, have your doctor test you for diabetes. It’s simple, fast, and literally can save life and limbs.
I was recently sent the link to the following video and asked what I think of it. I should tell you that, despite the fact that it deals with economics, this video could easily evoke a very emotional response -- even a deeply felt need to hoard as much non-perishable food as you possibly can. Please watch the video, and then read on…
Here's the link for my friends on Facebook, since this doesn't seem to be showing there... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXATSV8S3-M You'll have to copy and paste since the Glorious FB won't even show the link!
Now, before any of you are tempted to give the same response that Thomas Edison gave when asked what he thought of Einstein's Theory of Relativity ("I don't think anything of it because I don't understand it!"), let me just say this:
“Dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria!” – Ghost Busters
You have to ask why somebody providing a critical, factual assessment of the BDI is showing inflammatory pictures such as children standing in front of empty grocery store shelves and a cargo ship that capsized and/or sank in its harbor. What is the presenter really trying to accomplish? Why can he not accomplish that with the facts alone?
I think it is interesting that the presenter shows a portion of the BDI chart that primarily shows the build up and subsequent drop in the index, but even in what is visible you can see a fairly steady level until mid to late 2003. It then rises, drops a bit, really takes off in 2006, and then drops dramatically late in 2008. Why? I suspect the first clue lies in the announcer’s initial explanation of what the Baltic Dry Index is an index of – the COST of shipping, NOT the volume of shipping.
The announcer goes on to say that the index measures the demand for shipping capacity versus the supply of carriers. Fair enough -- everybody knows that supply and demand affect price. But are those the ONLY things affecting price? We learned that lesson during the 1970’s. Counter to classical economic theory, we saw that due to other influences prices can go up for a given item even when demand drops and supply increases. Thus spoke Stagflation.
The announcer asserts that the BDI cannot be manipulated by speculators. I would say it was – indirectly. We know that speculators ran the prices of future oil contracts up. What would that do to the cost of shipping? A few months ago the oil futures market collapsed, so what would one expect that to do to the cost of shipping? So, what would we see if we overlapped the BDI chart and the oil futures market prices for the same period? A pretty good correlation.
I'll admit that I may be wrong in all this. I may even be right, but for all the wrong reasons. Not to be facetious, but I have to ask; if all shipping is grinding to a halt even as we speak, why is ANYONE worried about the piracy crisis? Exactly what could they be pirating? There's some money in pirating passenger ships and a few have been, but the real and easy money is in huge cargo ships with crews of only six to ten people. The ratio of profit to the effort of overcoming only six people is mind-boggling, but we've just been told that such ships are... no longer sailing!
Even if we were to accept this person's conclusions, we would have to ask this: If this doomsday prediction is accurate, just how effective would a garden or a local food supply be at hedging against this? Such a global collapse would be economically analogous to a global nuclear war -- who can store more than a few weeks or months of food? How would local farmers (because a garden that supplies so much food would actually have to be a farm) get past the current season with no external supplies, including gasoline or diesel? The list of subsequent problems goes on and on. As with a global nuclear war, the real victims, the ones who would suffer most, would be those who survive the initial calamity (in this case, that's virtually everyone). Given all of that, I'd ask again, what is the presenter really trying to accomplish?
