Lives in a Shoe

Adulthood Postponed - Galllup

Americans Have Little Confidence in Grads' Readiness...

Yearly Income in Pakistan Averages $1250

For $400K you'd think maybe the noted American artist would have enough fiberglass left over to sculpt a teeny tiny straw to set across the camel's back.

The State Department is planning to spend $400,000 in taxpayer funds to buy a sculpture for the new American embassy being built in Islamabad, Pakistan, according to contracting records.

The work, by noted American artist John Baldessari, depicts a life-size white camel made of fiberglass staring in puzzlement at the eye of an oversize shiny needle — a not-so-subtle play on the New Testament phrase about the difficulty the wealthy have in entering the kingdom of heaven.

Difficult to Believe.

Variety: CNN’s Q1 Ratings Fall Despite Intense Focus On Doomed Malaysia Plane,

Photo, Gerard.

We Are Not Subjects

Mass defiance in Connecticut against assault weapon registration law

A bit of miltary wisdom has it that you should never give an order you know won't be obeyed. Issuing such an order accomplishes nothing except to undermine your authority and expose the extent to which, no matter what enforcement mechanisms are in place, you rely upon voluntary compliance. But now that Connecticut's resident class of politically employed cretins has awoken to the fact that, in their state, like everywhere else, people overwhelmingly disobey orders to register their weapons, they're acting like this is a shocking revelation.

The Hartford Courant is raging, raging that Connecticut is home to scofflaws (armed scofflaws) and apparently wishes they could all be sent to -- well, maybe Siberia.  That'll teach 'em.

One of the saddest things I have ever seen is this photo of seemingly well-intentioned people trying to do the right thing, lining up to obey the registration edict.  Connecticut, United States of America.

 

 

Heard Discussion of This? Me Neither.

From Wired Magazine:

…Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.”

Problem Solved.

Egypt Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has caused an outrage after blaming a diarrhoea epidemic sweeping through rural areas on women not keeping their breasts clean. - See more at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/egyptian-pm-blames-womens-unclean-breasts-clean-for-diarrhoea-epidemic/1070737#sthash.LGIUn0NA.dpuf

Egyptian PM blames outbreak of diarrhoea on women not keeping their breasts clean

The Egyptian prime minister has blamed a diarrhoea epidemic sweeping through rural areas on women not keeping their breasts clean.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said he had witnessed children suffering from diarrhoea immediately after they had been breastfed because their mothers hadn’t cleaned themselves properly...Women members present were noticeably uncomfortable as Qandil made the comments...

NOT TO WORRY -- in an effort to ease Mr. Qandil's concern, and with the sincere hope he will now STFU, I offer for consideration this marvelous French invention, apparently overlooked since the 30s.

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/09/breast-washer-right-here-get-your-breast-washer/

Time Capsule for Real

Apartment in Paris -- its owner fled before the Germans invaded France.  Gorgeous photos including a sensuous painting of the woman's grandmother by her lover, Boldini, and more of the story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323297/Inside-Paris-apartment-untouched-70-years-Treasure-trove-finally-revealed-owner-locked-fled-outbreak-WWII.html#ixzz2TEBQ0dTt

"She never returned and in the 70 years since, it looks like no-one had set foot inside..."

Too Late

"Hope I die before I get old..." -- The Who, My Generation.

Boomers see startling jump in suicide rate.

 

 

Don't Ask Me What I Want It For, If You Don't Want to Pay Some More...

Graphic from http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/15/morning-bell-where-did-your-tax-dollar-go/

Numbers from http://www.whitehouse.gov/2012-taxreceipt

"Taxman" lyrics quote, George Harrison.

Fashioning my Tinfoil Hat...

Ann Althouse is a lawprof at UW Madison.  The other day she posted that a man came to her door with a clipboard and government ID from the National Health and Alcohol Study, wanting to interview her or her husband.  Study participants, volunteers, would be paid a total of $90 the man said, and after completing the interview -- "Questions like age and education, drinking, medicine and drug use, mood, anxiety, behavior and medical conditions and personality" -- would be asked to spit into a tube.  The brochure didn't mention a reason for collecting the saliva, just that it woud be used "to better understand the health care needs of the American people." The man told Althouse's husband the saliva was for DNA, said Althouse, "something about checking one's ancestry for alcohol (and drug?) related problems."

Take a look:

http://www.althouse.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-us-government-sent-man-to-our-door.html

Creepy?  Uh huh.  Not a one-off deal though.  Look here:

http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/surveillance.html