Tag: wtf

Wayne LaPierre, Embarrassing Wingnut

http://www.economist.com/world/na/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=6980071

In horrific war zones like Sierra Leone and Angola, the UN runs programs for “disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration” of former soldiers. Often these are people who grew up fighting and have no clue how to live any other way. They give up their guns and in return get education and a leg up into normal society. (A friend of mine worked in one of these programs.)

Guess who thinks that’s a bad idea? Wayne LaPierre, the Mouth of the U.S. National Rifle Association. Why would Wayne be down on this idea? Because he thinks the next step is… wait for it… the U.N. coming here to the U.S. and forcibly disarming and reeducating all of us. At least he didn’t call it “ZOG”.

This story would be hilarious, but Wayne has a lot of influence and a lot of cash. Despite getting crazier and crazier over the years and losing a lot of high profile supporters, the NRA still commands respect in politics.

Hey, Wayne? Former child soldiers in Liberia don’t want their guns. They want their lives back. And if “the government” comes for us, it’ll be our own and personal firearm ownership will barely slow them down. Just ask the residents of Fallujah how much the household AK-47 helped when the Marines showed up.

See you in Camp Halliburton!

Reverse engineer your brain

More than 40 years ago, my father wrote a short story called “Dr. Pettigott’s Face.” The eponymous doctor of the story has a theory that pushing the face into happy expressions will make people happy, and has constructed a machine to do this. I remember that for years he had a correspondence with some neuro researcher who was interested in facial expressions because the guy liked the story so much. The title has been a shorthand in our family for people trying to reverse engineer things in weird ways.

The polyvagal theory and some of its implications suggest that there may be a grain of truth in this. The connections between emotion and facial expression are very tight and it’s possible that it “goes both ways”. This story from the LA Times on Sunday is fascinating:

botox for a better brain?

what the

This editorial writer wants us to believe that the increase in obesity in the U.S. is due to illegal immigration.

His idea is 581% insane: The “obesity epidemic” is a result of illegal immigrants doing housework, causing householders to become fat. After you’ve finished chewing through your biteblock considering that thought, I’d like to point out two pretty awesome things from that article:

  1. He uses the phrase “modest proposal” without bothering to recall what it means or looking it up, thus causing unintentional satire and laff riots among people who have read a book. If anyone there cared, I’d write a letter to the editor suggesting that the illegals be fed their employers.
  2. His qualification for the article is that he is a former professor at Georgetown. I translate this, as I said to the Aardvark, as: “Alfred Tella is blogging furiously among empty pizza boxes in Falls Church, VA”.
  3. It shows that the right wing as represented by this paper has long since crossed over into a perfect ideological crazytown in which the only thing that matters is political correctness. Illegals? bad. Obesity? bad. Therefore they’re both part of the SAME bad! Comrade, the lack of flair on your uniform indicates counterrevolutionary kulak landlordism. If you cannot see the connection it will be necessary to reeducate you.

Things I don’t understand: where’s my mailbox?

Neither the USPS nor anyone else can locate my nearest mail collection box.

How can this be hard? There are official USPS mail drop off boxes in fixed locations. They rarely move. They know where these are because they pick up from them every day. The location of the nearest one should not be lore handed down from generation to generation, it should be a searchable database.

The USPS has all its post offices in a locator, but not the boxes. Google Local has all the private companies from the phone listings that do mail stuff, but not the boxes. But everyone needs to know where the mail boxes are, not least businesses in the area. Every place I’ve worked there has been some mail every day that someone drops off in a mail box on the way home.

I am confused.

Bacon Swiss Breasts (natural)

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Bacon Swiss Breasts (natural), originally uploaded by conradh.

I’m glad that at least one fast food chicken sandwich has not given in to the fad and had its breasts augmented.

I think I speak for all of us when I say: cosmetic surgery on bacon swiss crispy chicken must stop.

Okay, Nick, fess up.

What kind of insane death-cult ritual were you doing over there? Did something go terribly awry at the Beltane party?

Deer on Lido Isle sedated, relocated
Authorities aren’t sure how buck got across the channel. Animal is released in Crystal Cove.
By Lauren Vane
(Published: May 5, 2006)

A young male deer that found its way onto Lido Isle in Newport Beach was corralled by animal control officers Friday and taken to Crystal Cove State Park, where it was released.

A deer got WHERE?