I love weird science news, especially when it deals with biology or astronomy.  I came across this article that is so awesomely disgustingly great I just had to share, even though it’s a couple of years old.

You see, there’s a louse that enters a fish through its gills, attaches itself to the base of the tongue, and starts drinking blood from the artery that supplies the tongue.  Once the tongue either withers away from lack of blood or gets eaten by the louse (the scientists aren’t sure), the louse attaches itself as a new tongue.  And of course, here’s a pic:

I’d hate to be eating fish and find only half of one of those things.  Even though the louse only attaches to fish tongues (so far …)

After doing the blogging thing for a few months now, a question was brought up as to why I categorize certain things as “Social Epidemics”. Well, let me explain something first. Those who know me well, know that I have a rather dry sense of humor.

They also know I love this country. Shoot, I spent 20 years of my life in the military because I love this country and the freedoms this country gives its citizens.

So, my definition of “Social Epidemics” is a little complicated. For some loyal readers, my saying that I read a lot of news and social articles online is like listening to a broken record. But I do because I am concerned about the way things are going around the world. Some might say I get on my soapbox on occasion too.

Every day you see headlines about death, poverty, hunger, debt - in your own city, county, State, Country, you hear about it on the radio, and sometimes, if you are really lucky, you can see it when you drive through your local neighborhood. Lucky? Yeah, then you KNOW it is real, not just news media making up stories for their usual sensationalism.

And then you see headlines about the person who shot and killed another person because they “dissed” him. Or the person who shot a store clerk because there was only $20 in the cash register.

One article I read today was that 9 State officials are being sued for violating 3 children’s civil rights because those officials allowed these 3 kids to be abused for over 10 years, without taking any action whatsoever. Even after many reports were provided to these officials during that 10 years.

So, definition of “Social Epidemics”? Empathy; ”looking the other way syndrome”; desensitization to injustices and crimes; protesting of lack of security and then protest because there is too much; having to sue for money because that is the only way to get any kind of justice no matter how criminal the act was; Levels of intelligence of those people who build houses on precarious hillsides or cliffs, and then complain and sue when the insurance companies will not pay when the houses go “poof!”; disappearance of obvious common sense; and so on. Some of these are the less than desirable “Social Epidemics”.

Any time a new fad hits society, it spreads throughout the country and sometimes the world.  Some are just a little ridiculous, like models having to be size 1 to be models; or the kick that children are obese because they eat too much “junk food”; or only the Republicans are responsible for everything wrong in our country; or everyone has to lose weight because diabetes has risen. these are some of the “less-than-common-sense” epidemics.

Now don’t get me wrong. Some of these things can be serious. Not my point at all. As an example though, size 1 models simply is not realistic - how many people do you know who are a size one? And how many “plus-size” models in magazines are really “plus-size”? How many schools have eliminated “playtime” because they are afraid that little Sam would hurt himself and then the school would get sued for millions. So little Sam isn’t getting any exercise during the school day - just sitting at a desk all day and therefore gains weight.

A “Social Epidemic” can be good too. Many people would like to see our country be the “good ole boy” with our friend-countries instead of ignoring them. We would like to see money flowing again in our country, and being able to actually save some again. We would like to see all of these people who file lawsuits for really stupid things that happened because THEY failed to apply some common sense to pay ALL the costs for the lawsuit; we would like to see the Congress, whether it is filled with Republicans or Democrats to actually pass some laws that will change our COUNTRY for the better, not just for their little “neck-of-the-woods” or for some little protesting group; or see laws enforced and enforced equally for everyone in the country and to see the Courts pass out justice, not try to pass laws since that isn’t what they are supposed to do anyway. I could go on.

So now you know what I mean by “Social Epidemics”. The ”thing” that seems to be getting more and more popular, spreading through the country faster than the Internet.

Let us just hope that in November, voting is one of them. And that afterwards, the new President actually keeps his word - if the Congress lets him.

Everyday I get multiple emails from people I do not know. My inner self wants to believe that at least some of these people are honest respectable people just trying to sell me something, whether it is material or information and they are just trying to do their jobs. I do not consider those as “spam”, rather just an annoyance sometimes. Depends on whether or not I have already had my coffee.

Of course, as my mouse pointer hesitates over some of them, the sudden fear of opening a virus crowds into my mind and I then delete it. Pity. Some of these could very well have something I really need. But these days, with the cowardly and “stupidly smart” people who send out millions of spam emails out each day, loaded with all kinds of gibberish, you can not help but simply delete and go forward with your day.

Do not know what I mean by “stupidly smart”? It is my description for those really smart people who obviously have some really great talent. But they are too stupid to apply those talents to things that could really improve this country. And they could probably make a lot more money at it than simply filling up in-boxes with junk - you know, the kind that really doesn’t have a real word in them. Can you imagine what would happen if you got all of them together to, say, form a corporation for competition against Microsoft? How fast could you have a computer system which never crashes? I’ll bet it would not take long. Or do a search engine that would take you to exactly the place you want to be to order whatever you needed at the time. Instead, they hide behind the “anonymous wall”, just like a lot of people who make rude or obscene comments about anything and everything, and they just keep annoying people. Without any real purpose. Pity.

So I think an Anti-spammer program should be developed that will respond in kind. Spam my blog, no problem. I’ll just hit a button, and pour as many responses back to the spammer directly, saying something like, “Leave me alone!”, or something of that nature.

Come to think of it, if you can “opt-out” of unwanted phone calls, why can you not opt-out of unwanted advertising in your mailbox or Post Office box? But that is another blog sometime soon. Especially since you may start getting unwanted advertisements on your cell phone…..coming soon to you.

Of course, you still have the problem of dropping the REAL people out there that are just trying to do their jobs, those who are selling their home-based business products, or just trying to get by selling arts and crafts.

And you don’t miss the ones who want to sell you that gold-plated shoe horn you have always wanted…

Hmmmm… according to Catherine McNicol Stock (who is the chair of the history department at Connecticut College and to whom for some reason the Philadelphia Inquirer allowed column space)  those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska, only live here because we are intolerant.  You see, only five counties in those six states have a 5% or greater black population.

In applying Ms. McNicol Stock’s (supposed) reasoning, we shouldn’t vote for any candidate from the south because the KKK is there.  And we shouldn’t have voted for Bill Clinton because Arkansas is filled with unintelligent, toothless hicks.  And we certainly can’t vote for any candidate from New England because this professor is another example of a wacky left-wing extremist liberal from New England. 

Or let’s apply Ms. McNicol Stock’s argument to Sen. Obama.  More Americans were killed over the summer in Chicago than in the war zone of Iraq. Wasn’t the city torn by riots back in the sixties? Can we really trust a politician to lead the nation when he comes from a region of the country which is being defined by it’s history of violence?  

There are plenty of reasons to vote for (or against) either candidate, but geographic location isn’t one of them.

Frankly, there isn’t an inoffensive paragraph in the entire article.  Go ahead and read it if you want, but it’s so filled with errors, fallacious reasoning, and ad hominem attacks, that I already lost an IQ point or two reading it the first time.

While campaigning in North Carolina, Sen. Biden actually admitted the truth, (www.BlueRidgeNow.com, September 14, 2008).

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, campaigning in North Carolina where black votes could help swing the state to the Democrats, said today that electing a black person to the White House would be transformative.

Biden said the policies of running mate Barack Obama make his presidency even more urgent and declared this to be the most important election that any living person has seen in their lifetime. But he particularly singled out the meaning of electing someone who is black.

“That will be a transformative event in American politics and internationally,” Biden said. “That all by itself will be significant.” 

So what is significant about Sen. Obama is that he is black?  With a resume as thin as Obama’s, the lack of accomplishments in the Senate, the associations with racists and terrorists, and the inexplicable adulation (well, except for the whole bias thing), maybe that’s true (though I am surprised that Sen. Obama’s running-mate would point that out).  Heck, Biden is more qualified than Obama.

If the Democrats wanted a black candidate to energize their campaign, couldn’t they have found one that has actually done something substantial? Community organizer? One crummy speech at the last DNC convention? Two elections that he “won” by default or deception? Recycled Carteresque economic policies? 138 “present” votes (is this judgment, or just gutless?).

His most significant qualification is being the most leftwing senator in Congress. 

And the Democrats have the utter gall to claim that Gov. Palin was picked solely because she is a woman, and liberal women keep popping up saying “we aren’t that stupid,” but they imply that blacks are exactly that stupid, by expecting them to vote for Sen. Obama simply because they are black.

If I voted for McCain simply because he was white, I would justifiably be called a racist. Why is it a one way street?

Phhhhtttttt. I don’t bow to PC blackmail. If you want me to vote for Obama then you had better try something much, much, much better than that.

No — seriously!

Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.

The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.

Well that explains a lot about the nutcases in PETA… I guess we were designed to be omnivores after all.  Which will make my hubby very happy. 

The article then had to go and spoil it all by pointing out that being obese can shrink your brain, too.  Guess I better make sure I get enough vitamin B12.
 

First, my disclaimer: The following are my own personal opinions, and no one is required to agree. I am not a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or otherwise. I am someone who wants some good changes for once and tired of hearing the term, “For A Change”, because there is little of it so far. It is not the President’s fault nor any other single person’s fault. 

I have just read a 4-page article that MSNBC copied from The New York Times, a newpaper I consider no better than some of the “newspapers” I see at the checkout stand at the grocery or department stores. Why? Because they do not report anything without bias - instead they make it very clear who they are for and who they are against when it comes to politics. And they are quick to report ANYTHING, whether substantiated or not.

At any rate, I digress again. I found it very interesting that almost 80% of the “bad things” Sarah Palin is responsible for was on the first 3 pages of the article, and some of her accomplishments almost at the bottom of the last page. Also interesting was the fact that almost all of the interviews and comments were from people who had a grudge against Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin got rid of everybody and replaced them with friends and people she knew when she took over as Governor. Okay, and? What government anywhere in the world, whether it is city, state, or federal, do you know of that does not do this? Republicans do it, Democrats do it, Corporations do it. So this is news?

Of course, there are new governments in other countries who take everyone who opposed them out somewhere and shoot them.  We simply do not shoot our opponents, we replace them with people we know. Some countries get rid of the corrupt people they don’t know and just replace them with corrupt people they DO know. Didn’t see where Sarah did either one. No, she replaced some of the existing government with people she knew and could trust. And you know what? It seems to have worked well. So, what was the problem again?

Sarah Palin runs her governorship based upon loyalty and secrecy. Good, I say. An accountable open government doesn’t mean it has to be in a glass house with every act taken shown to every person on earth. It is time everyone figure that one out. Example: On the largest media in the world, the internet, it is announced when we will be pulling troops out of Iraq and roughly when. Great job guys! Nothing like a little bit of NON-National Security. And put our troops in jeopardy to boot!

Just to emphasize my point: Let me know when you are leaving your house on vacation and how long you will be gone. That way I can come over, spend the entire time in your house, eat all your food, sell all of your valuables, and then leave 10 mnutes before you get back. Just make sure you tell me because I have the right to know.

I have been hearing that Mr. Obama wants to have the campaigns on the issues that concerns the public. Okay, sounds good. So why were the interview questions asked of Mr. Obama completely different than those interview questions asked of Mrs. Palin? That is one of my public issues, since I am one of the “public”.

Another one of those public issues: What are you going to do to make sure that food prices in this country are lowered since transportation prices should be going down since oil and gas prices are going down? You have people starving, people who have to choose between 10 pills of badly needed medicine or one bag of groceries.

Sarah Palin has been poked at by the media about the term, “Barracuda”. It is about time we had someone get into the White House who will: 1) Get the Congress motivated to actually pass something that will help the United States Public, 2) Tell the countries that have been doing all of the finger pointing- “We know who you are, and guess what, all of that debt you owe us for all of the aid you have been getting on credit? Pay up or do not expect any more!”, 3) Tell all of the countries who have been upping their prices on their  exports to the United States - “We know who you are - Good-bye, we don’t need your stuff, we will make our own.”, 4) Tell the corporations that are shipping all of the jobs out of the country - “Time you reconsider what you think is more important, this United States, or your profits”, 5) For all of those people who speak to the media anonymously because they do not have the right to speak in the first place - “You are breaking multiple security laws, and breaching national security - Have a nice day because tomorrow you are going to get 3 squares a day and a bed and that is all you are going to have for the next 3 years”.

Get my drift? Well, you may not like the methods of Sarah Palin, but I think the end results are going to be much better for this country. I’m tired of seeing the United States bend over, kiss hands, or crawl away whenever someone starts complaining about the US being too harsh in their policies. And I am tired of paying out the nose for almost everything just to see huge profits reports for a few people.

I am not sayng we need to be a policeman for the entire world and we should not be under the guise of spreading democracy - if they do not know what democracy is, then they never will.

But there is NO reason this country can not be walking tall with pride instead of conceding to everybody and everything. Go Mr. McCain and Sarah Palin - Get it done!

And yeah, I still eat FRENCH fries…..