* Look who sent me a belated xmas gift! Isn't it just perfect for me?* I remember once driving back from Vegas with the ex listening to music when all of a sudden ex blurted out, "You've touched your face 17 times in the last minute!" He was filled with derision when he said it. It reminded me of something spouse said the other night. He noticed that I have trouble sitting still and said, "You never stop moving, do you?" At least he wasn't filled with hatred like the ex.
* I read an interesting article about the US health care system. It said that the #1 competetive disadvantage for the US is that 16.2% of GDP is spent on health care with another 3% for litigation. In countries with universal health care, it runs about 10% with no litigation.
* Interesting to note as well that the profits realized by the US health care companies exceed the entire cost of Canada's system.
* I always thought I was deficient in some way because I don't have very many strong opinions. I am a major flip flopper too. I am the eskimo that you could sell ice to. However, now I consider this an asset. Committing yourself to an opinion means you've closed your mind. I like to keep mine open. My favorite way of thinking of late is, "Who cares, we're all going to be dead in 50 years anyway."
* As a result of the above, I am now willing and able to eat green bell peppers.
* Did you know a male pig's orgasm can last up to 30 minutes? 30 minutes! Sadly for them, the vast majority are slaughtered before getting to experience this. (Wild pig now figures on my reincarnation wish list.)
* I've got one more week of super busy ness and then about 6 weeks of half time followed by 2 glorious months off. Can't really complain about this career.
* If taking multivitamins impacts in no way your likelihood of dying, why is it such a huge industry? As soon as I read the results of the long term study done on multivitamins, I stopped taking them.
* Here's more zaniness. You should never skip breakfast but you should only eat when you are hungry. The problem is that I'm never hungry in the morning. I've been skipping it lately and now lunch time is so much more fun.
* This bit from the news last night made my eyes well up.
16 comments:
what a sweet doggie story.
I never have strong opinions either and in the past I have felt so wishy washy about that. Are you a Libra? I am and we're notorious for not making up our minds and for being being fair and hearing both sides of the story.
Yes, I'm afraid that gift is absolutely perfect for you.
I dunno, seems to me you're committed to being gracious and kind while remaining open to new ideas.
Didn't you used to knit to channel that fidgeting? Time for a new pair of socks.
Another friend brought up the study of vitamins. I suppose it depends on why you take vitamins. I was raised in a vitamin household but it was never put forth that vitamins make you live longer, it was simply asserted that vitamins made the time you were alive healthier.
The hypothesis that has always kept me taking supplements is that since the food we eat is so processed (even the raw vegetables because of agribusiness farming techniques), it is impossible to intake all the basic nutrients the body needs to stay at baseline health simply by eating, even eating properly. Therefore vitamins are important to make sure you are simply taking in what a standard human needs to stay healthy. Not to prolong life of make you bullet-proof or any such nonsense, just for basic health. And that is why I will continue to take them.
Thanks for the video, My eyes welled up also. I am so glad I found your blog. j
Your inability to sit still is a cultural artifact of your birth nation:
They were at Voisins waiting for Nicole, six of them, Rosemary, the Norths, Dick Diver and two young French musicians. They were looking over the other patrons of the restaurant to see if they had repose—Dick said no American men had any repose, except himself, and they were seeking an example to confront him with. Things looked black for them—not a man had come into the restaurant for ten minutes without raising his hand to his face.
“We ought never to have given up waxed mustaches,” said Abe. “Nevertheless Dick isn’t the ONLY man with repose—”
“Oh, yes, I am.”
“—but he may be the only sober man with repose.”
A well-dressed American had come in with two women who swooped and fluttered unselfconsciously around a table. Suddenly, he perceived that he was being watched—whereupon his hand rose spasmodically and arranged a phantom bulge in his necktie. In another unseated party a man endlessly patted his shaven cheek with his palm, and his companion mechanically raised and lowered the stub of a cold cigar. The luckier ones fingered eyeglasses and facial hair, the unequipped stroked blank mouths, or even pulled desperately at the lobes of their ears.
A well-known general came in, and Abe, counting on the man’s first year at West Point—that year during which no cadet can resign and from which none ever recovers—made a bet with Dick of five dollars.
His hands hanging naturally at his sides, the general waited to be seated. Once his arms swung suddenly backward like a jumper’s and Dick said, “Ah!” supposing he had lost control, but the general recovered and they breathed again—the agony was nearly over, the garçon was pulling out his chair . . .
With a touch of fury the conqueror shot up his hand and scratched his gray immaculate head.
“You see,” said Dick smugly, “I’m the only one.”You can take the boy out of America, but you can't take America out of the boy.
Yeah, I believe nationalized medicine is the way to go. I don't see it happening any time soon here though. I think lowering the costs of med school will have to happen before anything else can.
Love the dog story! How did you have the foresight to tape it? Do you record most TV just in case?
I can't believe someone created that Santa figurine, but clearly there was enough of a market out there to make it worthwhile. Apparently you're not alone.
I tend to think that the person who sat and counted the number of times you touched your face is way more obsessive compulsive than you ever could be. Seriously, who does that?
I have strong opinions. That is why I will be dead long before everybody else.
I have strong opinions too. It's really the worst part of my personality, I think. Ah, but add a little PMS with it and it can be kind of entertaining I suppose!
The dog story made me cry too.
I like your explanation of being a "flip-flopper". You are right, it just means that you aren't closed minded.
Did you not encounter the CAGANER (google it) when you were in Barcelona?
Although it's a Christmas tradition, there's a shop in the Old City that sells them year round. They have just about any famous person imaginable.
Ok, who decided that what he needed to do was to determine how long a pig's orgasm lasts? I mean, first, he would have to actually understand when a pig's orgasm starts. Risky business. Then, he would have to actually witness/observe a statistically significant number of pig orgasms in order to make his conclusions about the average duration.
And who actually funded this study? Can you imagine reading the grant proposal?
And, who in the world actually wants to know how long a pig's orgasm lasts? What possible purpose does it serve? We still get bacon, whether it's 30 seconds or thirty minutes.
I mean, aren't there better ways to get one's jollies?
It just occurred to me: maybe it's the same guy who counted how many times you touched your face...
I don't believe the hub bub against multi-vitamins. It's deception from the medical industry who makes even more money keeping people addicted to medicine.
The reason Canada and other countries have national health care is because their constitutions don't grant any real rights to corporations.
In the U.S. a corporation is equivalent to a person. That's why the profit motive is defended so vigorously.
The reality is that corporations are vastly more privileged than a person. They are the ruling class in the U.S.
The big change started in the late 19th century. Some fat cat clerk in the pocket of the business of the time inserted language into an opinion that made it seem as though the Supreme Court agreed that a corporation was a person.
That's right, all on a little linguistic judo. I wish I had a time machine.
Hmmm, I'll have to check through my crap. I think someone gave me the jelly-bean pooping reindeer a few years ago - then you'd have a matched set.
Thanks for the doggy clip, though I do find Patrick's question to be a valid one. Do you regularly videotape your TV screen while trolling for good stuff...or is this a YouTube clip of a YouTube clip? (Which starts to boggle the mind, really...)
Wow, my word ver is an actual word, for reals: "grand", which is a smidge effusive, but pretty much works for Sticky Crows.
I think multivitamins probably do have some positive affect on a few people, and everyone who takes them hopes they'll have an effect. That's why they are so popular.
I literally said "awww" out loud right before your "awww" in the video.
Freaked me out man.
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