..with some really great beaver.
This beauty originally aired just prior to the Olympics and people were so caught up in Beaver fever that I decided to bring it back for a look.
There is only ONE country on the planet that this ad could air during Prime Time, and I'm lucky enough to (barely) live in it.
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Your Daily Weird
Do you remember those weird tales people told you as a kid about swallowing seeds and your body growing a plant inside it? Well those tales were absolute bullsh*t, right?
Not exactly.
Boston oldtimer Ron Sveden discovered that he was Jack and the beanstalk was climbing him.
Just watch. I KNOW the ABC News dude is kind of a drip, but enjoy 46 seconds of Your Mama Was Right that can only be called Your Daily Weird.
Enjoy!
Not exactly.
Boston oldtimer Ron Sveden discovered that he was Jack and the beanstalk was climbing him.
Just watch. I KNOW the ABC News dude is kind of a drip, but enjoy 46 seconds of Your Mama Was Right that can only be called Your Daily Weird.
Enjoy!
Yummy Treat
I have a natural sense of curiosity that sometimes gets my tummy into trouble. I am also fascinated with things that are very old. I've eaten the gum from many a 30 year-old pack of baseball cards with little trouble . (it just turns to cornstarch anyways)
Anyways, while I was playing e-mail tag with a client, my mum showed me a bunch of spices and nonpareils and things that were about 50 years past their due date. These are some of the little boxes of goodies that were priced at around a dime . Apparently people buy this crap on E-Bay and I own a computer.
Now turn your attention to the bottle in the front. They are French's Cinnamon Imperials and I have no idea how many decades older than me they are, but they are ANCIENT.
Nowadays, they are made by Brach's and sold as candies but back in the day they were for decorating cupcakes and whatnot. .
So I asked if I could have one. I looked at the ingredients and I'm sure that the red dye was delisted about half a century ago, but figured what the hell.
The weird thing is- the red candy from the 50's tasted like a red cinnamon candy. It was actually quite pleasant. I snuck another one before handing the bottle back to my mum. I'm not dead yet.
The lack of degeneration of the product kind of creeped me out. I mean, it was old enough to be my grandmother (if I was a fiery hot confectionary treat) but it was still quite tasty. It reminds me of a video I saw of a 5 year old McDonald's cheeseburger. (click here later)
Maybe we shouldn't make products that can last 50 years without decomposing.
Then again, I probably shouldn't stick a 50 year old anything in my mouth.
What's Your Take?
Genesis 3:16:
People Magazine was released this week featuring former Arkansas Rep. Jim Bob Duggar, his wife Michelle, their 19 children and their granddaughter. In the article they discuss how they are open to the idea of adding even more children to their brood.
Jim and Michelle Duggar began as a fairly average but somewhat religious family, practicing birth control for several years and continuing after the birth of their first son. Michelle became pregnant and miscarried and the couple became convinced that birth control was evil. They decided to have as many children as they could and joined the Quiverfull movement.
The Quiverfull movement has been around for some time, but it was really pushed when disgruntled former feminist Mary Pride penned the mantra of the anti-freedom movement in 1985. Her book uses various biblical versus to put forth the opinion that women are only useful as home-workers and baby machines designed to serve under the authority of an all-powerful husband. Young children are to be raised by their older sisters and boys are seen as superior even to their own mothers. The movement advocates homeschooling and a disconnect from non-adherents while producing as many children as possible in the hopes that these men and their flocks will become the majority.
Under Quiverfull, men and women aren't permitted to date. A man asks the father of the girl he desires to marry her and closely supervised courtship may commence. Girls are generally not encouraged to go to college and usually serve their fathers until they are married off.
I have serious problems with this movement for a number of reasons.
First off, Mary Pride does not actually believe in a biblical patriarchy herself and has released statements claiming that her rejection of modern feminism was misconstrued and taken to the extreme. While she believes in having many children and following the Bible, she does not favour patriarchy at all. Her and her children are computer-savvy and she maintains a career in conjunction with being a mother. While she is one of the foremost authorities on home-schooling, her reasons are not of an oppressive origin. Mary Pride wholeheartedly does not believe in the tenets of a movement that she is blamed for creating and uses the internet to refute patriarchal abuse.
Secondly, it is unfair to the other children. Girls are raised to believe that they only exist to care for children and are indoctrinated into subservient roles by engaging in activities like shaving their fathers. These future women are forced to raise their younger siblings and become their mothers as the new blessings take over the biological mama's time. While many of us have influential older siblings, our parents are still our parents. When you have 10 or 20 children you cannot devote time to the older ones as the new come into the world. You force children to become parents to their own siblings when they should be out playing soccer or hanging with their peers. Children born into these families see young children and adults. There is no grey area. Girls are expected to go from 10 to 30 in an instant without the natural learning curve that kids do go through.
Next, it is unfair to women. Women may aspire to have careers outside of the home that Quiverfull abhors. These females have been trained to fear. The phobia of the outside world is so ingrained that they cannot seek help, and when they do their husbands or fathers punish them. God is used as a weapon to justify why a woman must obey. Women are trained to believe that they are inferior to men and must submit to their husbands at all costs. Refusal to obey is seen as lowering a man's masculinity and selfish. This spiritual abuse was put at the forefront when Andrea Yates killed all of her children in a psychotic episode after being forced to have sex with and bear the fruit of her husband. Her husband desired her to be removed from a psychiatric medication regimen so she could bear more of his children and even planned to knock up his wife again if she was found not guilty. Women who see others with large families as the standard of perfection become disillusioned and depressed when they are stuck in loveless marriages with 10 or 11 children.
Finally, the Biblical basis is even flawed. While Psalms 137 is cited, it only states that a man with a quiver full of children is lucky, not that those who don't are evil. And last time I checked, my arrow quiver only held six. Certainly it states to be fruitful and multiply, but look at the context. There was a huge planet and a tiny population. Reproduction ensured that the "chosen people" would come to outnumber their opponents.
Moreover, women are not to be forced to give birth to children when her life is at stake. The Bible places the potential mother's life as superior to that of a fetus. In several passages it is opined by the extreme biblical scholars that those who would be uncared for are better off not to be born. Ecclisiastes may be the best case for birth control as Solomon says that those who never exist are luckier than those who are alive.
Farmers are told to never grow more crops than they can handle and quality of life over quantity of it is emphasized all over the place. Those who have more children than they can handle are considered to be worse than unbelievers. As for sex for procreation, well that's not the big deal. Couples are encouraged to have sex for fun and pregnant women and those who are barred are not prohibited from enjoying the deed. Solomon's songs speak of lustful desires, of adoration. Procreation is not mentioned.
It comes as no real surprise that the Duggar family has reproduced on a more frequent basis since they were featured on television in spite of the fact that each additional pregnancy has become more dangerous for Michelle and her babies. She has had several Cesarean Sections and dangerous pregnancies.. Michelle Duggar is a fantastic mother, but it is more than obvious that her girl children carry an incredible load that is involuntary, their jobs dictated solely by their gender and order of birth. The arrangement of marriage and dating prohibitions for their offspring are hypocritical . The idea of having so many children to start a Christian army smacks of things we find abhorrent about other selected religions. And patriarchy and all of its evils in the name of a book written by man sounds more like radical Islam than modern Christianity.
Forcing a restrictive cult-like lifestyle on children like the Quiverfull movement already has its outspoken opponents who have been victimized by institutional misogyny. The women who choose to leave are met with scorn and have confused relationships with their God. They feel guilty for bringing so many children into an overpopulated world and for raising their daughters to be spineless. The women who see Michelle Duggar as the perfect representation feel overwhelmed and inadequate .
Michelle and Jim Duggar were not raised in Quiverfull families but are raising an entire generation of girls to believe they are second-class citizens. I knew a family like this when I was a kid. The overly submissive wife was forced to bear an increasing number of children even after it was clear that her mental and physical health were deteriorating. The daughters had the same zombielike air that the Duggar girls have. They were one strange family that came to a sad end when the wife died as the result of having more children than her body could handle.
Trying to live a life based on one that gave women a life expectancy of 30 is not clever or fabulous. It is a recipe for disaster and just because one family became famous for engaging in it doesn't mean that we should follow the example. Michelle Duggar needs to stop risking her life bringing more babies in the world and focus on being the best mother possible to the ones that are already alive. And us as people need to stop encouraging women to view themselves as uteri on legs. Every society that devalues women has been met with destruction and we cannot look upon one woman-hating society while encouraging another.
Reality is not a show.
Here's an interesting website founded by a woman who left. Take a wander around. some of the guest posts are incredible.
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
People Magazine was released this week featuring former Arkansas Rep. Jim Bob Duggar, his wife Michelle, their 19 children and their granddaughter. In the article they discuss how they are open to the idea of adding even more children to their brood.
Jim and Michelle Duggar began as a fairly average but somewhat religious family, practicing birth control for several years and continuing after the birth of their first son. Michelle became pregnant and miscarried and the couple became convinced that birth control was evil. They decided to have as many children as they could and joined the Quiverfull movement.
The Quiverfull movement has been around for some time, but it was really pushed when disgruntled former feminist Mary Pride penned the mantra of the anti-freedom movement in 1985. Her book uses various biblical versus to put forth the opinion that women are only useful as home-workers and baby machines designed to serve under the authority of an all-powerful husband. Young children are to be raised by their older sisters and boys are seen as superior even to their own mothers. The movement advocates homeschooling and a disconnect from non-adherents while producing as many children as possible in the hopes that these men and their flocks will become the majority.
Under Quiverfull, men and women aren't permitted to date. A man asks the father of the girl he desires to marry her and closely supervised courtship may commence. Girls are generally not encouraged to go to college and usually serve their fathers until they are married off.
I have serious problems with this movement for a number of reasons.
First off, Mary Pride does not actually believe in a biblical patriarchy herself and has released statements claiming that her rejection of modern feminism was misconstrued and taken to the extreme. While she believes in having many children and following the Bible, she does not favour patriarchy at all. Her and her children are computer-savvy and she maintains a career in conjunction with being a mother. While she is one of the foremost authorities on home-schooling, her reasons are not of an oppressive origin. Mary Pride wholeheartedly does not believe in the tenets of a movement that she is blamed for creating and uses the internet to refute patriarchal abuse.
Secondly, it is unfair to the other children. Girls are raised to believe that they only exist to care for children and are indoctrinated into subservient roles by engaging in activities like shaving their fathers. These future women are forced to raise their younger siblings and become their mothers as the new blessings take over the biological mama's time. While many of us have influential older siblings, our parents are still our parents. When you have 10 or 20 children you cannot devote time to the older ones as the new come into the world. You force children to become parents to their own siblings when they should be out playing soccer or hanging with their peers. Children born into these families see young children and adults. There is no grey area. Girls are expected to go from 10 to 30 in an instant without the natural learning curve that kids do go through.
Next, it is unfair to women. Women may aspire to have careers outside of the home that Quiverfull abhors. These females have been trained to fear. The phobia of the outside world is so ingrained that they cannot seek help, and when they do their husbands or fathers punish them. God is used as a weapon to justify why a woman must obey. Women are trained to believe that they are inferior to men and must submit to their husbands at all costs. Refusal to obey is seen as lowering a man's masculinity and selfish. This spiritual abuse was put at the forefront when Andrea Yates killed all of her children in a psychotic episode after being forced to have sex with and bear the fruit of her husband. Her husband desired her to be removed from a psychiatric medication regimen so she could bear more of his children and even planned to knock up his wife again if she was found not guilty. Women who see others with large families as the standard of perfection become disillusioned and depressed when they are stuck in loveless marriages with 10 or 11 children.
Finally, the Biblical basis is even flawed. While Psalms 137 is cited, it only states that a man with a quiver full of children is lucky, not that those who don't are evil. And last time I checked, my arrow quiver only held six. Certainly it states to be fruitful and multiply, but look at the context. There was a huge planet and a tiny population. Reproduction ensured that the "chosen people" would come to outnumber their opponents.
Moreover, women are not to be forced to give birth to children when her life is at stake. The Bible places the potential mother's life as superior to that of a fetus. In several passages it is opined by the extreme biblical scholars that those who would be uncared for are better off not to be born. Ecclisiastes may be the best case for birth control as Solomon says that those who never exist are luckier than those who are alive.
Farmers are told to never grow more crops than they can handle and quality of life over quantity of it is emphasized all over the place. Those who have more children than they can handle are considered to be worse than unbelievers. As for sex for procreation, well that's not the big deal. Couples are encouraged to have sex for fun and pregnant women and those who are barred are not prohibited from enjoying the deed. Solomon's songs speak of lustful desires, of adoration. Procreation is not mentioned.
It comes as no real surprise that the Duggar family has reproduced on a more frequent basis since they were featured on television in spite of the fact that each additional pregnancy has become more dangerous for Michelle and her babies. She has had several Cesarean Sections and dangerous pregnancies.. Michelle Duggar is a fantastic mother, but it is more than obvious that her girl children carry an incredible load that is involuntary, their jobs dictated solely by their gender and order of birth. The arrangement of marriage and dating prohibitions for their offspring are hypocritical . The idea of having so many children to start a Christian army smacks of things we find abhorrent about other selected religions. And patriarchy and all of its evils in the name of a book written by man sounds more like radical Islam than modern Christianity.
Forcing a restrictive cult-like lifestyle on children like the Quiverfull movement already has its outspoken opponents who have been victimized by institutional misogyny. The women who choose to leave are met with scorn and have confused relationships with their God. They feel guilty for bringing so many children into an overpopulated world and for raising their daughters to be spineless. The women who see Michelle Duggar as the perfect representation feel overwhelmed and inadequate .
Michelle and Jim Duggar were not raised in Quiverfull families but are raising an entire generation of girls to believe they are second-class citizens. I knew a family like this when I was a kid. The overly submissive wife was forced to bear an increasing number of children even after it was clear that her mental and physical health were deteriorating. The daughters had the same zombielike air that the Duggar girls have. They were one strange family that came to a sad end when the wife died as the result of having more children than her body could handle.
Trying to live a life based on one that gave women a life expectancy of 30 is not clever or fabulous. It is a recipe for disaster and just because one family became famous for engaging in it doesn't mean that we should follow the example. Michelle Duggar needs to stop risking her life bringing more babies in the world and focus on being the best mother possible to the ones that are already alive. And us as people need to stop encouraging women to view themselves as uteri on legs. Every society that devalues women has been met with destruction and we cannot look upon one woman-hating society while encouraging another.
Reality is not a show.
Here's an interesting website founded by a woman who left. Take a wander around. some of the guest posts are incredible.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Great New Product
Some people call their cars shitboxes, but a British company has taken that idea to create an amazing vehicle that runs on gas. I'm not talking about petrol or propane like you might be thinking, but methane gas. Yes, this snazzy auto is powered by poo.
Simply put, when human waste at sewage treatment plants is broken down by bugs deprived of oxygen, methane gas is produced. But instead of releasing the gas directly into the atmosphere, GENeco removes some of the carbon dioxide and compresses it. The result is a fuel that performs just as well as petrol without as much of a nasty environmental footprint. This little 2-litre beastie tops out at around 185km/h, which is more than enough to generate a few speeding tickets. And from what I remember from science class, this fartmobile won't stink. (farts smell because of bacteria and sulfur, not methane)
Biogas is a dandy energy alternative because it is everywhere. I mean it takes about 70 humans' waste to enable one Dung Beetle to zoom, but think if someone condensed all of the waste from factory farms and composted it this way. I would presume that since all your capturing is the methane, the remainder would be fertilizer . And that would be known to you and I as an epic win.
I mean, we aren't going to get people to stop eating meat and stop using the toilet, so we may as well use the waste products in such a way that people, the environment, and a whole bunch of otherwise annoying bugs are all to benefit. Plus, as cool as the Chevron commercials might be, we really need to stop relying so heavily on toxic fossil fuels sooner rather than later. This innovative automobile is a putt in the right direction.
If they make a Turdwagen Microbus it will sell millions.
WTBlue Fuck Of The Weak
As someone who used to live in southern Ontario, I am familiar with News 4 Buffalo's broadcasts of strange news. There are a lot of flaky folks un Upstate New York and News 4 has always been more than happy to spotlight their antics.
But this case here is beyond weird- it is absolutely awful.
Over the weekend a Cheektowaga man was arrested for felony animal cruelty after police uncovered a cat marinating in his trunk during a routine search after Gary Korkuc was stopped for a traffic violation. Yes, you read that correctly. The stain on humanity had his pet soaking in oil and a noxious combination of spices and peppers because he intended to eat the animal he was trusted to care for.
The idiot stick adopted the cat because he was lonely and discovered he wasn't a cat guy. Instead of surrendering the companion animal for adoption he figured that it would be wasteful not to grill him.
While the cat formerly known as Dinner has found a new forever home, Gary Korkuc faces criminal charges and a lifetime of scorn from a city of people who now know what kind of a douchebag lives among them. It also goes without saying that the 51-year-old will be prohibited from adopting any animal in New York forever.
But this case here is beyond weird- it is absolutely awful.
Over the weekend a Cheektowaga man was arrested for felony animal cruelty after police uncovered a cat marinating in his trunk during a routine search after Gary Korkuc was stopped for a traffic violation. Yes, you read that correctly. The stain on humanity had his pet soaking in oil and a noxious combination of spices and peppers because he intended to eat the animal he was trusted to care for.
The idiot stick adopted the cat because he was lonely and discovered he wasn't a cat guy. Instead of surrendering the companion animal for adoption he figured that it would be wasteful not to grill him.
While the cat formerly known as Dinner has found a new forever home, Gary Korkuc faces criminal charges and a lifetime of scorn from a city of people who now know what kind of a douchebag lives among them. It also goes without saying that the 51-year-old will be prohibited from adopting any animal in New York forever.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A Few Thoughts About Illegal Immigration
Those of you who have been around for a while may have read a post about Janet Napolitano's new idea of making prisons for illegal immigrants into fairly plush facilities not at all representative of detention facilities as we know them today. (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, wander HERE to read the post)
Us folks to your north do not have as many illegal migrants coming from Mexico as most Mexicans with reasonable employment skills are fairly welcome and will be given work permits quite easily. Our problems revolve around human trafficking because of "adult worker" permits or vast boatloads of people arriving in British Columbia from the Far East.
Canada Border Services has received a tip that a ship containing about 500 Tamils from Sri Lanka will likely hit either Vancouver or Victoria in the coming days. And they are prepared. There will be no warm welcome for folks who may be members of the Tamil Tigers group, no hotel-like facilities await these fake refugees. Instead, British Columbia prisons have been told to expect an influx of newbies.
They will be detained and deported like usual, with a few of those who may be legitimate permitted to stay. Either way, these uninvited guests will enjoy 2 hot meals a day in the company of criminals because they don't play by the rules. The same rules that permit many people to migrate legally also make it very uncomfortable for those who choose to laugh at the law. If you knowingly hire undocumented workers and they do faulty work, you are not only liable in civil court, you will go to jail. Same goes for anyone who abets human trafficking by employing tax evaders.
While some people argue that those who work in factories and meat processing plants are underpaid for their occupations, the workers themselves are employed legally. If a company cannot find enough workers, they can apply to import workers in accordance with the law. And if a corporation chooses to skirt the law, they will be shut down. Period.
For a good many reasons, illegal migrants opt to go to our southern neighbour, but the main one is ease. One can work in a slaughterhouse in Iowa for decades before anything is done about it because too many politicians have vested financial interests in the companies that employ the largest percentages of border jumpers. And when the undocs are caught, they are deported and the corporation just hires new ones. Occasionally, one might hear of a fine, but nothing too major interferes with the profits that agribusinesses and others that exploit the desperate can and do make. If a Canadian politician was involved in a corporation that abused undocumented migrants for fun and profit, there would be scandal. There would be public outrage and that jerk would be out of a job.
If you want to keep your nation from becoming a haven for illegal workers and those who employ them, make it difficult. Make it seriously awful not just for the workers, but mainly for those who hire them. Get used to paying more than a dollar for a cheeseburger and demand that the corporations who profit from the vulnerable be held accountable. Make it be known that not just the workers, but the bosses will go to jail. Seize the businesses that refuse to comply or fine them into compliance. Arrest the owners under racketeering laws and you'll see a monumental change.
The problem with immigration enforcement does not lie with those who seek a better life, but those who profit. Those politicians who hard-line against immigrants do so because they don't want to blame their buddies but don't want to appear soft. So they pass the buck to those who cannot defend themselves. The only solution to mass illegal migration is to severely punish those who encourage it in the first place. Instead of ranking criminals from the bottom up, do as you do with the mafia and think top down.
The only way to stop organized crime is to take out the Dons. The only difference between these ones and the ones you hate is that you ask for their product by name at the supermarket. It's high time to demand their heads on a platter instead of their chicken wings.
Just a thought.
Us folks to your north do not have as many illegal migrants coming from Mexico as most Mexicans with reasonable employment skills are fairly welcome and will be given work permits quite easily. Our problems revolve around human trafficking because of "adult worker" permits or vast boatloads of people arriving in British Columbia from the Far East.
Canada Border Services has received a tip that a ship containing about 500 Tamils from Sri Lanka will likely hit either Vancouver or Victoria in the coming days. And they are prepared. There will be no warm welcome for folks who may be members of the Tamil Tigers group, no hotel-like facilities await these fake refugees. Instead, British Columbia prisons have been told to expect an influx of newbies.
They will be detained and deported like usual, with a few of those who may be legitimate permitted to stay. Either way, these uninvited guests will enjoy 2 hot meals a day in the company of criminals because they don't play by the rules. The same rules that permit many people to migrate legally also make it very uncomfortable for those who choose to laugh at the law. If you knowingly hire undocumented workers and they do faulty work, you are not only liable in civil court, you will go to jail. Same goes for anyone who abets human trafficking by employing tax evaders.
While some people argue that those who work in factories and meat processing plants are underpaid for their occupations, the workers themselves are employed legally. If a company cannot find enough workers, they can apply to import workers in accordance with the law. And if a corporation chooses to skirt the law, they will be shut down. Period.
For a good many reasons, illegal migrants opt to go to our southern neighbour, but the main one is ease. One can work in a slaughterhouse in Iowa for decades before anything is done about it because too many politicians have vested financial interests in the companies that employ the largest percentages of border jumpers. And when the undocs are caught, they are deported and the corporation just hires new ones. Occasionally, one might hear of a fine, but nothing too major interferes with the profits that agribusinesses and others that exploit the desperate can and do make. If a Canadian politician was involved in a corporation that abused undocumented migrants for fun and profit, there would be scandal. There would be public outrage and that jerk would be out of a job.
If you want to keep your nation from becoming a haven for illegal workers and those who employ them, make it difficult. Make it seriously awful not just for the workers, but mainly for those who hire them. Get used to paying more than a dollar for a cheeseburger and demand that the corporations who profit from the vulnerable be held accountable. Make it be known that not just the workers, but the bosses will go to jail. Seize the businesses that refuse to comply or fine them into compliance. Arrest the owners under racketeering laws and you'll see a monumental change.
The problem with immigration enforcement does not lie with those who seek a better life, but those who profit. Those politicians who hard-line against immigrants do so because they don't want to blame their buddies but don't want to appear soft. So they pass the buck to those who cannot defend themselves. The only solution to mass illegal migration is to severely punish those who encourage it in the first place. Instead of ranking criminals from the bottom up, do as you do with the mafia and think top down.
The only way to stop organized crime is to take out the Dons. The only difference between these ones and the ones you hate is that you ask for their product by name at the supermarket. It's high time to demand their heads on a platter instead of their chicken wings.
Just a thought.
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