Fluky Tidbits

Christopher Buckley's
Latest Lampoon
Blogger Cassandra Devine introduces Voluntary Transitioning as the solution to the U.S. Social Security crisis as Baby-Boomers retire.

Buckley's satire is based on this:
In 1950, 16 workers' contributions to Social Security in the U.S. funded one retiree.
In 2032, it is projected that only 2 workers will fund a Social Security beneficiary. (MacLean's June 18, 2007)

Cassandra's suggestion includes incentives to Boomers who volunteer to die at retirement age. It's ridiculous (isn't it?) to offer euthanasia to a generation in the name of fiscal economics...Watch what happens to Generational Divide after her blog posts.

Scared of the Social Security side of the novel? Then, read Boomsday (Twelve, Hatchette Book Group, 2007) for its secondary characters - the Congressman with Presidential ambitions, the sleazy Chief-of-Staff, the out-spoken Pro-Lifer, the back-room politics...and some of the best lines are given to The President.

Tags: [Boomsday] [Christopher Buckley]
[Social Security] [Political Satire]


It's chilee in Chile

Anyone else find it odd that 47% of traffic to this site originates in the U.S., compared to just 34% from Canada?

The point of this pie-chart is just to point out the 2% of readers from Chile!


[Gideon Payne] [Riley Peacham]

Plus, P. J. O'Rourke

An explanation of Adam Smith's thrilling 3-volumes on the mercantile system and economics...part of O'Rourke's "Books That Shook The World Series".

Even O'Rourke's sarcasm can't dismiss the relevance of Smith's economic theories..more than 200 years after he published them. Let's just say that O'Rourke's interpretation is plenty different than my Econ profs at university!

You just gotta admire that someone read the original 900 pages and offered up such an amusing summary!

Tags: [P.J. O'Rourke] [Adam Smith] [Wealth of Nations]

What's That Again?

There's a free service from Google™ that provides information about keyword searches conducted where the user clicks through to this site. Two things I've learned about online searches, is that Google™ gets asked some very odd questions, and people follow the results links at random.

Today, I was notified that the following phrase brought a visit:
Do Italians wear Espadrilles?

Of course Italians wear Espadrilles!

My Mom wears Espadrilles.
My Mom's Italian.
Therefore, Italians wear Espadrilles.

As far as I know, there are no restrictions based on culture or ethnicity on wearing Espadrilles...I guess you probably shouldn't wear white ones after Labor Day.
[Espadrilles] [Italian Shoes] [Shoes of Spanish Origin]

Word Processor

Words. I love them. Always have. It's not that I used to read the dictionary, but I am fascinated by words. We played word games in the car; our parents encouraged us to read and demonstrated an appreciation of language that we picked up.

Sometimes, from time to time, now and then, occasionally, at times I wish I'd never been given this thesaurus.

When I was young, we used to drive by a Realtor's sign with a word on it that was new and fresh. It was always exciting to discover a mint morpheme.
I wanted to know the word, use the word, be the word. Each time we passed the sign, I would silently work on the word. I wanted to surprise Mom by using it.

One day, we came around the curve and the rotating sign was facing us with the word. Sure that I had mastered it, I announced proudly, "We Are Yoo-ni-kyoo!"
"We are what?" Mom asked.

The sign was behind us now, but I repeated, "We are yoo-ni-kyoo." I explained about the sign at the office on the corner.

"Oh, I know that sign," Mom said. "It's yoo-neek. We are unique." She went on to explain it's meaning to me. For days, I strutted around showing off my new word. The importance of it was completely lost upon my 6-year old friends.

The point of this story is not to disclose OCD (again!) ... I got a tip to the site How Will You Be Defined in the Dictionary?

With very little else to do in these post-surgery days, I visited the site. I just knew that it would define me as a caring, honorable person of high intelligence and integrity. (OK, that high intelligence part of me recognizes that a java script random field generator is responsible for the answers, but a person can dream, can't they?)

Here's the result:

As Chris - [adjective]: Benevolent to a fault

As Christine - [noun]: A person of questionable sanity who starts their own cult

My friends call me Chris...benevolent, yes, but to a fault?

For Your Information

I'm just getting around to sorting through all the paperwork I received in Cleveland.

Tucked in with the pages on Nutrition Guidelines to Improve Wound Healing and Using an Incentive Spirometer, is information about the gastric stimulator itself.

Among the info sheets, I received the Installation and Technical Manual as well as the Patient Reference Manual for the Enterra Gastric Stimulator that was implanted.

click image to enlarge

The technology of the gastric stimulator originated in The Netherlands. Since the package includes a hex wrench, I'm guessing the chief engineer was from Sweden!

At least it's got a 1-year warranty against defects!

[Gastric Pacemaker] [Gastroparesis]

[The Cleveland Clinic] [IKEA]

Seriously, Folks...

I know that regular readers are not used to posts without sarcasm or irony or a little poke of fun. I have to get serious for a moment.

In our world, with its increasingly self-absorbed society, it might be easy to lose faith in humanity. If you submit to it, another cynic evolves. Each of us has probably witnessed at least 10 acts of selfishness in the past 24 hours. We won't recount them; it's not productive.

The prevalence of insolence makes me value considerate kindness even more. It is humbling to receive.

I have been the recipient of selfless generosity - from family, relatives, friends and friends-of-friends. There are truly no words great enough to express my gratitude for your help in getting me the treatment that I need. Without your support, encouragement, assistance and the occasional respite, this new lease on life would not have come my way.

From what you may term small deeds (your word, not mine) to large bestowals, each made a valued contribution to get me to this point of progress. I am grateful and want you to know that we appreciate it all.

Over the past 12 months, the stamina of our family has been tested many times...repeatedly...at length...ad nauseam...and each time our strength has proven greater than the challenge. We really will do anything for each other.

And we know Sincere and Great people.

Thank you!
Please pass this thank you post on to those who may not read this blog regularly.

---

Below the line:

My parents took me to Cleveland and all I got was life-saving surgery.

Thank you for being our family.

Michelle's gonna cry.

Summers ahead 3-0.

---

We now return to our regular programming.

Survey Says...

Finding it hard to provide a clever post just now.
Here's an update to tide you over a day or two.

Gloria has less than a month to get the gazebo painted!

[Original Post]

Poll Results

Is it Acceptable to Replace Chris's Vote Completely?
Yes-there is a consequence	18%
No-we all make mistakes	24%
It's Gloria's turn to paint the Gazebo	59%

Please don't forget about this:

Wish Counter

739 wishes were made

6147 wishes were sponsored

Gifter.org

[How to... Answers] [Million Dollar Blog]

How To Do Anything

In Other Anthropology News

Headline from LiveScience and MSNBC:

Residents of Ancient Pompeii Liked Fast Food

Quick history lesson:
Pompeii was destroyed by a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. It was accidentally re-discovered in 1748. Pompeii is one of the richest anthropological sites because it was destroyed so quickly. Scientists are focusing on the relics in one neighborhood to better understand day-to-day living in the 1^st century.

Back to the story -

Archaeologist Penelope Allison (University of Leicester) describes some of her team's findings:

There was an absence of formal dishware sets but an abundance of small
grilling vessels (like barbecues) found in the residences studied, indicating
that people were eating-and-running on the go.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Everything old is new again.
[Pompeii]    [Penelope Allison]     [Archaeology]

Stumbling on Melons *

Dug up from The Canadian Press (June 1, 2007) :

Archaeologists in Japan unearthed the world's oldest melon. It was intact, the flesh still attached to the rind, after 2100 years. The Research Institute for Humanity & Nature in Kyoto used radiocarbon testing to determine the age of the fruit.

Researcher Shuji Yamazaki explains: the melon might have been so well-preserved because it was in a vacuum-packed state in a wet layer below the ground, an environment hostile to micro-organisms that might otherwise have broken down the remains.

The ancient Shimongo settlement was built near water and protected by moats, circa 300 BC to A.D. 300.

So, it looks like even 2100 years ago, people liked to have melon after they swim...Wayne didn't start that!

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain....

* Andrew Marvell (1621-1678): "The nectarine, and curious peach, / Into my hands themselves do reach; / Stumbling on melons, as I pass, / Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass."


[Oldest Melon Discovered] [Blind Melon]
[Shuji Yamazaki] [Melon Salad]