Blogs
Well in case you didn’t know, now Shona has a blog! Check it out at http://shonadonovan.blogspot.com/
It is blog about how hot it is to run in the summer, complemented by an image of a winter scene.
Seriously though, Shona has vowed to run a half-marathon, and I hope that you support her.
Matt’s friend Erin changed her blog around too: http://ramblingthroughlife.wordpress.com/
She made a comment that everyone has a blog, even Aaron. Well we know that isn’t true. He is only creeping people on Facebook.
Lastly, another blog I like to follow is Susie Korbel’s. She is documenting her journey in weight loss using the Nutrisystem.
http://stomach-rumblings.blogspot.com/
Although, I might have might have to stop reading, because today she mentioned she is on her period. Perhaps a little TMI for even the Internet. OMG
Free Market
Google voice announced last week that they put through 1,000,000 calls in their first 24 hours. It only seems inevitable that phone service as we know it, will soon be revolutionized. Phone service will be free.
I was talking to Matt, and explained to him it was too bad that CRTC has too tight of a grip on phone companies, or we would see this transition to dirt cheap calling even sooner.
Matt then explained that our model of government regulations is what makes Canada good. Without goverment intervention, we would be just like the U.S. and exist in a free market capatalism. Most strikenly the divide between ritch and poor would be greater.
The first thing that should be identified is that the phone industry is a service. I understand that some services would not be viable in a market driven economy. For example, who wants to deliver a letter to the Yukon for 50 cents? That is why I think that there needs to be ballanced approach to goverment intervention. Ideally government regulations would require each company to kick back some of their profits to pay for regulation / infrastructure and research and development.
Idioms
I know that Idioms are hard for people whose language isn’t English, but they often make me think twice.
The expression: Get your goat, but yet you goad someone on.
Toast to the Host
One time at mass in grade 5, I remember taking the host out of my mouth, bringing it back to class and showing it to people. Maybe that is why I am on a short path to hell now.
Eucharist controversy
A controversy arose in July 2008 over a Pharyngula blog entry written by Myers expressing amazement at news reports of death threats issued to University of Central Florida Student Senator Webster Cook. On June 29, 2008, Cook attended a Catholic Mass being held in the student union at UCF by a Catholic student group that receives funding from the student government. Cook received the Catholic Eucharist host but did not consume it immediately. He said later that he wanted to take it back to his seat to show a friend, but when stopped he put it in his mouth until back at his seat, then a church leader made forcible attempts to take the host from him.[25][26] Cook stored the host at his home, then returned it one week later after receiving e-mail threats and pleas.[25][27] Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, described the student’s actions as “beyond hate speech” and said that “All options should be on the table, including expulsion.”[28]
In his July 8 blog entry, Myers criticized the reaction to Cook’s act. Myers described the level of harassment including multiple death threats leveled against the student, and accusations against the student which included hate crime, kidnapping, and intent to desecrate the wafer which Catholics consider a mortal sin.[26][29] Myers expressed outrage that Fox News appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student, and ridiculed reports that armed guards would attend the next mass. Myers suggested that if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts for him, he would treat the wafers “with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web.”[30]
A number of Roman Catholics immediately reacted strongly. Donohue’s Catholic League accused Myers of anti-Catholic bigotry,[31] described his proposal as a threat to desecrate what Catholics hold to be the Body of Christ, and sent a letter asking the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.[31][32] According to Donohue, as the Pharyngula website was accessible via a link from the University of Minnesota website, it should be bound by the institution’s code of conduct which requires faculty to be “respectful, fair and civil” when dealing with others.[32] Subsequently, Myers explained to the Star Tribune that while his post was “satire and protest,” he had received death threats regarding the incident but was not taking them too seriously.[31]
In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.” When asked by Gardner to explain why he must do so, Myers said that Donohue of the Catholic League was insisting that he acknowledge the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Gardner pointed out that Donohue had no authority to insist on such acknowledgment. The show host then asked Myers which individual possessing the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church had insisted that he recognize the body of Christ in the Eucharist. Myers replied that no one from the Catholic Church had contacted him.[33]
On July 24, 2008, Myers, in his post, “The Great Desecration,” wrote that he had pierced through the “goddamned cracker” with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the Qur’an and The God Delusion, and had simply thrown them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel. He provided a photograph of these items in the garbage, and wrote that nothing must be held sacred, encouraging people to question everything. In addition, he described the history of allegations of host desecration, emphasizing the frequent use of such allegations in medieval Europe to justify anti-Semitism.[34] The following day, University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) Chancellor stated: “I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible,” and that the school “affirms the freedom of a faculty member to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint.”[35]
Syracuse
Friday Shona threw a surprise BBQ for me. Thanks everyone who came. I ended up scoring some nice gifts too.
Saturday, Shona and I went to Turning Stone. I got to play some poker and Shona played some Bingo. I won one big hand early on:
Playing 1-2 NL I had AK in mid position with 4 people on my left.
I limped in, and a lady on the button raised to $12 a guy on my right called, and I called, everyone else folded.
Then the flop came 8-7-4 rainbow , check, check, check.
turn came another brick (2) check, check, $15 by the lady who raised preflop on the button. Fold by guy on my right.
I check-raised her $35 she called. (oops)
River came another brick (4) pairing the board.
I then made a bluff at the river of $50, she grabbed a large stack ($110) and raised me without counting.
Ah, crap. I was caught. Before folding I went through a quick recap in my head. There is $250 in the pot and it costs me another $60 to call.
Why had she not bet the river with a wired pair higher than the board? She didn’t look like the type that would raise with A8 or A7 pre-flop. The only other hand she must have 8-8 or 7-7. But would she really just call on the turn with either of those hands?
I called the $60 and then realized how bad my hand actually was when I announced “oh I have ace high.”
She mucked her cards, and was steaming mad. When she threw her cards down it looked like I saw AQ. Everyone was like how the hell did you make that call?
I’m pretty sure that everyone at the table was befuddled wondering if I was a genius or an idiot.
Can we recall your recall of the recall?
Yesterday I wrote about how Toyota’s image has been tarnished in the laid person’s eye. Today there was another story in the news that the floor mats now are okay.
Nothing New To Write Home About.
Writers are told to write about anything. The most important thing is to just get the ideas written down to start things flowing.
- Had a great time at Shona’s cousin’s wedding. 3 out of 5 of this year’s weddings completed
- Aaron is as cute as every. Although some of his Facebook posts are getting out of control. Shona wants me to give her his password, but I swear I don’t know it.
- I hooked up Grandma’s VCR. I hit play, but nothing. Then I remembered you have to rewind the tape. Still nothing. Then I realized I had the VCR head cleaning tape in. I put in Con Air, and it played right away.
- Shona said the other day that ‘You shouldn’t buy Toyota’ because of all the recalls. I quickly pointed out that the recalls were mostly frivolous. A floor mat possibly sliding up to the acceleration petal. Honda just recalled 300,000 cars too for faulty ignition switches. I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but I have a suspicion that the American auto industry has put pressure on regulatory bodies to try and tarnish foreign car manufacturer’s images. This after the American government invested so much money in american car manufacturers.
Article in Newspaper
When this story ran in the Whig Standard, I was surprised to see people had written some really negative comments. One guy was like oh, great another reason to not keep the farms open, Kinsmen are shooting the community in the foot.
Another Reason to Drink
Alcohol reduces the severity of rheumatoid arthritis
July 27, 2010
Drinking alcohol may reduce the severity of rheumatoid arthritis according to new research published today. It is the first time that this effect has been shown in humans. The study also finds that alcohol consumption reduces the risk of developing the disease, confirming the results of previous studies.
The study which is published online today in the journal Rheumatology, looked at 873 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and compared them with 1004 people without RA (the control group). The researchers, led by Gerry Wilson, Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Sheffield (Sheffield, UK), asked the two groups how frequently they had drunk alcohol in the month preceding their inclusion in the study. The study participants completed a detailed questionnaire, had x-rays and blood tests, and an experienced research nurse examined their joints.
The first author of the study, Dr James Maxwell, a consultant rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust and an honorary senior clinical lecturer in the Academic Rheumatology Group at the University of Sheffield, said: “We found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently had symptoms that were less severe than those who had never drunk alcohol or only drunk it infrequently. X-rays showed there was less damage to joints, blood tests showed lower levels of inflammation, and there was less joint pain, swelling and disability. This is the first time that a dose dependent inverse association between frequency of alcohol consumption and severity of RA has been shown in humans.”
Full Article: