I would not have guessed ...

... that a guy who sang the 'Silent E' song on The Electric Company would have such a storied life -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer

"The record deal with Reprise Records for the That Was The Year That Was album also gave Reprise distribution rights for his earlier recordings, as Lehrer wanted to wind up his own record imprint. The Reprise issue of Songs by Tom Lehrer was a stereo re-recording. This version was not issued on CD, but the songs were issued on the live Tom Lehrer Revisited CD. The [live] recording included bonus tracks "L-Y" and "Silent E", two of the ten songs that Lehrer wrote for the PBS children's educational series The Electric Company. Lehrer later commented that worldwide sales of the recordings under Reprise surpassed 1.8 million units in 1996. That same year, the album That Was The Year That Was went gold.^[18] The album liner notes (and Lehrer himself in one routine) promote his songs using reverse psychology, by quoting negative reviews. ("I know it's very bad form to quote one's own reviews, but there is something the New York Times said about me [in 1958], that I have always treasured: 'Mr. Lehrer's muse [is] not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste.")"

A cost-effective way to protect the health of children?

Ban smoking.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/smoking-bans-tied-to-reduced-childhood-asthma-1.2590734
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60082-9/fulltext

"Pooled estimates suggest that rates of both preterm birth and pediatric hospital admissions for asthma were reduced by 10 per cent," after smoke-free legislation was introduced, Aziz Sheikh, the study’s senior author and a physician-researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and his Dutch and Belgian co-authors concluded.

Wow these charts really make me wanna cry.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/03/piketty-looks-at-inequality-in-six-charts.html



















 This last one is I think the most terrifying because of what future it predicts, based on past empirical data -

(Note: Chart source: Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty-first Century.”)

Something new I learned today.

More whips kill the horse, not make it gallop faster.

More than half of Americans are poor or in poverty.

http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/more-evidence-that-half-of-america-is-in-or-near-poverty


2. and 5. are easily me.

Quote of the day - 03-23-2014.

 William Frank -

 “Great. Now I’ll be up all night thinking about this.”

Wonder what this means for the Internet?

The United States announces that it will relinquish control of the DNS root zone, removing its oversight of ICANN.

Hmm what's wrong here?

Somehow the person whose car has WA State License Plate # 531 XKY wasn't expecting someone to photograph and post online their parking within 30 feet of a stop sign (which is listed on said stop sign as AGAINST the law).

A film you got to see.

Those stinking assholes at ALEC are at it again.

No, KXL is is not a good thing - especially if the oil industry says so.

Oil Industry Conjures Illusion of Public Support for KXL Using ALEC Politicians

These politicians really look stupid, don't they?

"CMD previously reported on the pro-KXL resolutions in the 2013 session in a series of articles, including reporting about Rep. John Adams from Ohio who, after attending an ALEC/TransCanada trip to Alberta, was asked by ALEC to send "thank you notes" to the lobbyists who paid for the trip and took him for dinner. As CMD documented, not long afterward, Rep. Adams introduced a pro-KXL resolution provided to him by a TransCanada lobbyist.

In Florida, freshman representative Walter Bryan ''Mike'' Hill sponsored a pro-Keystone resolution, HM 281 in December 2013. Laying the ground for his bill, in December Hill published an opinion piece in the Pensacola News Journal in Florida, his local newspaper.

According to emails obtained by CMD under the Florida Public Records law, the language for Hill's opinion piece came directly from API lobbyist David Mica, who sent Hill's staff member, Ryan Gorham, a draft version on November 26th. "I have ideas for distribution... please give me a holler," wrote Mica attaching the draft."

Oh yea ... that OTHER country the US is bombing into the last century ...

... Yemen ... which Americans don't hear about, thanks to the corporation-controlled establishment press.

http://raniakhalek.com/2014/03/17/us-media-ignores-7-us-drone-strikes-on-yemen-in-first-12-days-of-march/

What can one call this other than murder? I mean no arrest, no arrainment, no plea, no trial ...

... just a sentence.

Dozens executed by computer software and remote-controlled weaponry.

Something I learned today.

When one is not considered important or significant for reasons valid or otherwise - getting hurt is of no apparent consequence to anyone.

I found out today this applies regardless of whether one is on the receiving end of getting hurt or not.

In a professional context I'm reminded that in such instances it's strictly business, not personal.

My current favorite site.

Can't really watch Star Trek TOS online, but here's the next best thing -

http://www.chakoteya.net/startrek/episodes.htm

Walmart grew like a cancer?

It certainly seems that way when you look at this -

http://grist.org/list/map-walmart-stores-america/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520March%252012&utm_campaign=daily

Classless

What you see is the end-result of a woman who sat down beside me and proceeded to empty her chewing wrapper right onto the ground.

Yes there is a garbage can next to the bus depot. Miss Self-Absorbed simply couldn't be bothered to simply get up and dump it there.

My only regret is I didn't have a chance to record the video. I do have a picture (which if my timing is good; should get uploaded and posted before she even boards her bus.

 

That's the beauty I suppose of the Internet - you can become famous even before you board a bus. 

The more I read about people in supposed authority babbling on about supposed 'independence', the more jaundiced a view I have.

Case in point this dinosaur -

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-votes-2014/pauline-marois-says-independent-quebec-would-have-no-borders-or-tolls-1.2568087

Really? She's either really stupid, really dishonest or both.

Here's the bottom line.

No society is truly independant as long as corporations influence, fund, channel, dominate and control government putting their interests over the rest.

If you can complete reading through this without puking, you're a better person than me.

http://www.opensecrets.org/resources/10things/

Seriously, I could not get past page 3 without feeling nausea.

3 things I've learned about myself as I get older.

Call it being a man, call it getting getting older; take it whichever other fucking way you like it -

1- Never disrupt a man when he's in the bathroom.

2- Never interrupt a man when he's eating.

3- Finally, never awake a man who's asleep unless it's an emergency.

Failing to follow this will incite anger and retribution.

Tom Tomorrow says it best.

When it comes to satire, reality today always seems to find a way to trump it.

Or better yet ... why not read from him -

http://thismodernworld.com/archives/8175

Funny thing about facts ....

http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/imaginary-organisms/

No matter how hard anyone or anything tries to say otherwise - they never go away.

It those that believe in - or don't care enough to challenge - the lies told about reality that suffer; along with the rest of society who are powerless and/or don't know at all.

Another reminder why Dubya was the worst thing to happen to the USA ...

As if there aren't enough reasons, in case you do forget ...

The painful legacy of the soldiers sent to fight the right-wing and corporations' wars of convenience ... that is the ones who survived -

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/leftovers-from-afghanistan-and-iraq-wars-1558-amputations-7224-severe-brain-injuries-118829-post-traumatic-stress-disorders-140303?news=852580

You know, those fucking 'support the troops' assholes really ticked me off back then when they spouted off - where are they now when these folks really need the help?

Read the details here - http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf

Next time you hear someone uttering the phrase 'sound science' when defending frakenfood ...

... know that they are full of shit.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/28/monsantos-science-doesnt-add-up/
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29362.cfm

1. Monsanto’s Roundup linked to fatal, chronic kidney disease. Article in Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, February 2014

2. Monsanto’s Roundup persists in soil and water. U.S. Geological Survey report in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, February 2014

3. GMO crops have led to an increase in use of pesticides and herbicides. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, February 2014 

4. Pesticides are more dangerous than we thought. Article in BioMed Research International, February 2014

5. Small-Scale, organic farming needed to feed the world. U.N. Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Wake Up Before It Is Too Late, December 2013  

Think it's easy to simply avoid Roundup? Think again -

http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/27/monsantos-roundup-found-in-75-of-air-and-rain-samples/ 

"Roundup herbicide, Monsanto’s flagship weed killer, was present in 75 percent of air and rainfall test samples, according to the study, which focused on Mississippi’s highly fertile Delta agricultural region."