Burger King wanted to attract people with low cal less fat ‘Satisfries’.. Apparently people who eat at Burger King want nothing of the kind, as the fries are now discontinued.. Lack of interesting, lack of sales..
Maybe that’s because people knew, deep down, that they were still getting french fries THAT COST THEM MORE MONEY..?
A fascinating story–and something to ponder: Why do blind people actually see?The answer is tough to contend with for those with sight.. Blind people see nothing.. we assume black. But they don’t, as black is a color. They just don’t see at all..
Accept the fact that we don’t control our brains as much as we like and move on with our day, or simply chuck your computer into the toilet and go outside.
Good read.
Unless your brain tells you not to..
An Amber Alert was issued late Wednesday in Oswegatchie for Delila Miller, 6, and her sister, Fannie, 12. They had been selling vegetables near their family farm, located about 50 miles southeast of the Canadian border.
The issue at hand is this: The Amish Amber Alert is not accompanied by photographs of the girls..This:
Pictures of the girls were not available because members of the Amish community forbid photos of themselves, which they see as a violation of their religious beliefs.
The window of time is closing to get these girls.. It’s a difficult situation to begin with, but lacking photographic evidence to show people in the surrounding area what they look like is even more disconcerting..
Let’s hope things begin to calm down.. I am worried about what may happen tonight..
Ebola victims are most infectious right after death—which means that West African burial practices, where families touch the bodies, are spreading the disease
Hence more dead bodies are infecting more live humans with the disease.. this also begins to answer a question I posed weeks ago about how a burial process for dead Ebola patients should go. The answer: No burial.. just burning.. the bodies need to be gone to destroy the virulent nature of the beastly Ebola disease..
The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.
If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.
The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.
The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.
The police in Ferguson are bristling with military gear. Too bad they have no clue how to use it.
The awkward nature of social media.. While Ferguson MO erupted in violence and the entire social media report erupted in virtual reality, the Obamas wined and dined with surf and turf–and danced nearly every song. A good time, we were told in a tweet, was had by all..
Ferguson’s population is more than two-thirds black, but its police force only has three black officers. The town of 21,000 was not previously known for racial tension, but some say it has been bubbling beneath the surface. Young black men feel targeted by police and resent it. Gun sales have spiked locally.
This and more valuable information from THE ECONOMIST..
And more:
The number of people shot and killed by the police is hard to track. Nationwide, it has probably fallen since violent crime peaked in the 1990s. In New York, for example, police bullets killed 39 people in 1990 but eight in 2010. But since local police departments are not obliged to keep detailed statistics, it is hard to discern the national picture, says David Klinger of the University of Missouri, St Louis. A 2011 Department of Justice study found that the police kill roughly one person every day. The FBI deemed nearly all of these killings justifiable, but still too many were not. If the police wore body cameras, that might help. Complaints dropped nearly 90% and the use of force fell 60% when officers started wearing them in Rialto, California.
A striking photo.. a chilling TWEET
Everyone: This is America, 2014..
What is the big story? Race relations on one hand.. and a military police in the free US on the other.
Welcome to your life.
Police clash with protesters in Ferguson for another night.. two journalists were detained..
Heavy militarized police response..
THIS IS HOW AMERICA NOW IS, EVERYONE: NBC NEWS REPORTS: “A Washington Post reporter and another journalist were arrested by police earlier in the day by officers who ordered everyone out of a McDonald’s restaurant, an arrest the newspaper’s executive editor called illegal and unjustified. Wesley Lowery said he was slammed into a soda machine and arrested after recording officers. Also arrested was Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly” … the reporters were released without explanation as to why they were arrested or treated the way they were .. ALEX JONES’ INFOWARS writes that police were AWOL during looting but are now actively engaging in military tactics against American protesters.. A quick glance at photos and videos reveals nothing but that. A dramatic and heavy show of force, arsenal, making the scene look more like video from Baghdad after the United States invasion than a town of 21,000 people in the United States..
Here is a photo of Ryan Reilly of the HUFFINGTON POST being arrested..
How America’s Police Became an Army: The 1033 Program
As many have noted, Ferguson, Missouri, currently looks like a war zone. And its police—kitted out with Marine-issue camouflage and military-grade body armor, toting short-barreled assault rifles, and rolling around in armored vehicles—are indistinguishable from soldiers.
America has been quietly arming its police for battle since the early 1990s.
Faced with a bloated military and what it perceived as a worsening drug crisis, the 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is— (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense.” It was called the 1208 Program. In 1996, Congress replaced Section 1208 with Section 1033.
A NOTE TO NEWSWEEK: If you had the proper tin foil hat you would have seen it coming like all the rest of the informed citizens that knew it was coming.
As so often happens during free-flowing conversation with me, I got into a somewhat intense chat yesterday with a few friends and co-workers..Typically, my ‘devil’s advocate’ style of arguing enrages some who don’t quite understand I am always attempting to trick them into disagreeing with their own point of view..
The topic at hand yesterday was actually something that reared its ugly head from my colloquial area. A gay couple was denied a cake from a popular bakery in Schuylkill Haven, PA.. the CAKE PROS was actually a business my wife and I entertained in 2007 when we got married, but we found a better deal.. Now, in the modern age of quick news online, their name is being besmirched throughout the nation due to their ‘Christian’ moral of denying same sex couples baked goods..
And this is where we are in the world..
There is something amazing to me about what wars Christians choose to fight and what banners of zeal they decide to wear on their sleeves..
For a little bit of full disclosure, I was born and raised Catholic. I don’t regret it, as it actually gave me a sound foundation in grade school and let me fight religious professors in high school with knowledge.. But as any Catholic does after years of education, I grew doubtful in my 20s and now, in my 30s, completely and utterly confused as to the purpose of life and whether, big question time, a personal God even exists to begin with.. maybe I’m not in the Stephen Hawking camp yet, but more in the Michio Kaku corner: that a personal god is illogical but a god of order is more true. Math always seems to add up. Electricity makes sense.. perhaps the God I choose to try to understand is a God of those two subject matters.. Or maybe the real God will be wagging his finger at me on a high throne when my demise occurs, as my lifelong doubting Thomas type mindset never seemed to go away..
But that is me.. Confused and pondering the meaning of all of it.. not a believer or disbeliever.. just someone searching for answers. Clues.. Any signs that aren’t just by chance mistakes on the grand scale of life..
While it seems I am digressing, I’m not. I am attempting to paint a somewhat vivid picture of my mindset vs others..
Back to cakes..
Yesterday, there was one particular hard core Christian, whom I know and love and think is a great person, that expressed a sentiment that the Cake Pros thought process is not abhorrent but instead quite fine. I posed the question: If the pastor of the church you go to suddenly says he will allow gay marriages in her church, will you quit? The question caused her to become flustered.. she was torn. On one hand, as a literal believer in the Bible and someone who endorses the 6000 year (flawed) theory of the age of the planet, she is right at home in the church she attends. The Bible is an historic account, she says.. It’s all true. And even those parts of the excoriation of women or the killing of innocent as a punishment from God? Well they happened but they’re glossed over as ‘events of a time we don’t understand.’ While everyone has the right to believe what they do, this person I speak of denies science and disregards any evidence presented through carbon dating or other scientific method as a parallel to truth, and quite possibly of Satan himself attempting to trick the faithful into doubt.. She also thinks Satan has done the same for me–no matter how many times I tell her I am investigating all of life and trying to find answers without simple blind faith.. Nonetheless, the question on whether she would quit this church, one that espouses all of her own convictions, due to gay marriage taking place, was difficult.. Finally, after obvious blood pressure hit her forehead and confusion hit her brain, she answered: “Yes.” She would quit..
And this is the battle Christians in the United States are attempting to fight, at this time.. right now.
Gay marriage.
Same sex love..
To make matters worse, during my chat with this person, she said that gay people still have a choice whether they want to sin or not.. So I asked her back: “Why did you choose to be straight?” That question irritated her to high heaven, much more than I expected it to..
There were no answers..Instead the conversation ended quickly and we agreed to disagree..
I find the entire premise of fighting over gay marriage to be contrary to any common sense..
I am 33, and I think I am apart of a generation that began not caring. I grew up with the ‘not that there’s anything wrong with that’ joke from Seinfeld.. Characters on television programs were quietly incorporating same sex love long before adults noticed. While my high school years still were filled with gay hate in some circles, the rest of us knew that fawning the most hate were probably simply hating their own impulses anyway..
Things have changed. More and more states are going to allow gay marriage.
But hard core religious believers will still pump up their iron of anger and quote scripture to condemn those in love…All the while ignoring most of anything important actually happening on this planet..
There is a great divide of common sense in Christian quarters, in my thought..
In Iraq, ISIS, or IS, is busy slaughtering Christians in big numbers.. sure, fellow Muslims who believe in a slightly different timeline are getting cruel punishments, too, but the big target seems to be the infidels. Men, women anad children–kids–are being sliced in half .. Beheaded.. pressed.. stoned.. They are being deprived of food and water and forced to perish in horrible and long drawn out deaths.. They are being burned. Buried alive. Tortured. And some families are being forced to throw their own children off of cliffs to kill them –a better option when compared to the inevitable treatment when ISIS comes to town..
But Christians here? Worried about gay marriage..
There is something very dangerous about religion–something that we as a civilization should have dealt with long ago..
The logic escapes me, as well.. While this is not an endorsement of atheism–I am not that but instead searching for answers as mentioned prior–but perhaps the line from John Lennon’s song IMAGINE about thinking of a planet that had no religion is in order.. If there’s no religion, no belief system to divide us, perhaps we will become a united people ready to achieve our destiny: Inhabiting the stars and populating our galaxy with life.. Maybe we will not be cutting children in half because Mohammed said so. And perhaps the Christian crusades in which the same behavior occurred would not have taken place, either..
Maybe the light of life that is in every child’s eyes will not be indoctrinated by hate disguised and love, or judgement pretending to be discernment.
If there was no religion, perhaps we would start getting closer to actually finding who or what created us.. Maybe without ancient texts to get in the way, we would be able to scientifically trace back the origins of man and find the missing link.. Hell, maybe we’d even find out the grays did make us as a science experiment but that they are confused we have souls..
I look at my own son before bed each night. He sleeps in peace, most times and sugar-depending.. He is inquisitive about what his world, so far, is.. But I still weep for those children who don’t have have a peaceful sleep.. Those awakened by bombs overhead or the cries of suffering mothers at the hands of hateful and dreadful human beings hellbent on opening the gates of Hades on this planet. I contemplate the mothers of the children of the disappeared.. I loathe those who profess faith while driving BMWs to their giant Sunday services in convention centers.. I disdain religions that set rules contrary to human emotion.. And I get infuriated when people quote God to justify their heartless and ungodly acts.
But ain’t that Earth?
The truth will set us free.. what if that truth is that all religions are frauds and that the issues we have been told are important are nothing more than divisive ways to control population? I think that’s exactly what religion so often is..
Pope Francis has lots of impromptu photo ops. But there’s always a photographer at the ready, isn’t there?
Is anything real? Is nothing real?
Gay marriage is real to some.
The world is real to others–especially those suffering in it..
The quicker we move on from old antiquated belief systems the better..
There’s a world of trouble out there. It’s time to move on from the world.
When the laughs die.. what are we left with? When cameras turn off, the lights go out.. the darkness enters..
Horrible and sad news tonight.. Robin Williams dead..
It is being ruled a suicide..
But that doesn’t matter..
What matters is what this man did to cheer up the world—all the while he battled the sadness and depression of inner demons..
May God, if he exists, take Mr. Williams to an amazing place..
His time on this planet certainly amazed us, and made us smile when we were most down..
Mr. Keating, oh captain.. rest in peace.
Calling Dick Tracey…
What was science fiction then is reality now.
This is how people are going to be reading news.. they won’t be checking the time, they will be fixated on their arms to get the latest headlines and sports scores..
I believe it’s just a matter of time before the devices get implanted.. we are as close to it as we can be..
What does it rise over..?
A nation rattled by violence .. one where women and children are buried alive by extremists..?
Maybe another where a disease has ravaged all that dwell within rural towns and communities..
Maybe another filled with hated..
Sorrow..
horror..
Or perhaps one of peace, where street lights grace the late summer night sky.. and an aura of moonlight dances overtop of the darkened trees as the clock strikes midnight..
There are too many places where tonight’s supermoon is seeing terror on the planet earth.. Not enough smiles, not enough laughs..
Try to be at peace, earth..
The supermoon weeps tonight..
A whole bunch of newspapers—and magazines—are collapsing under the weight of print..
Though I think we’ll still miss some of them when they’re gone, it’s looking like they are about to be G O N E..
Good evening cruel world
The rollout of the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is just about set for a momentous culmination.. the movie’s release will come after months —and many hardcore weeks—of Megan Fox headlines. She has cussed out haters, she said she’s sexy, and she dressed in attire that nearly didn’t cover the most sensual places on her body..
But perhaps regret is starting to creep in. Film companies has used her body and her beauty—not her thumbs—for about a decade. Her roles have focused on the beauty and not the brains.. and isn’t that really a shame.
USA TODAY reports this about her real attitude:
Just, please, please, don’t call her a bombshell in front of her kids. Fox, who plays intrepid reporterApril O’Neil in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesreboot opening Friday, cringes visibly when she thinks about her two toddlers, Noah, almost 2, and Bodhi, 5 months, one day being confronted with images of their mother all sexed up.
"I wanted to be a superhero for my children. They can’t really see Transformers, because it’s too sexualized for them to deal with their mother. That’s their mother bent over the car. We don’t need to go there — maybe ever," says Fox, 28, referring to her breakout performance in Michael Bay’s 2007 cinematic explosion.
Michael Bay’s use of Megan’s body in promos ..It has been apparent that TMNT spots are featuring her on purpose in order to attract a potential gender and age group.. And her outfits to the premieres? My oh my.. Little left to an imagination..
Even more sex related news concerning Megan Fox: Apparently, Brian Austin Greene is not having sex with Megan.. We know that because of gossip rags and E!ONLINE reporting it..
It’s bizarre to me—and always has been—to know the secret and sultry sex lives of Hollywood stars. People in grocery store lines have always eaten it up as much as the pastries surely in their grocery carts.. And now with the internet’s cheapening of gossip, now it’s even worse. The paparazzi would love to snap Fox and others in any position they could..
But Megan has kids.
And her body has been used for years..
Up and until now..
Regret perhaps? The uncomfortable fact that eventually her children will see films in which she’s bent overtop of a car with her scantily clad breasts hanging out? You can’t cover kids’ eyes forever.
But it will be ‘mom’ .. and no one wants to look at ‘mom’ ..
Just when you have lost hope in society.. this happens: A man was freed from a train but a lot of good people.. Commuters used the power of their collective goodness and power to free the man trapped against a platform at Perth Stirling station..
Amazing video.. great story..
It is in the Philadelphia archaeology museum.. The skeleton, 6,500 years young, was in the basement of the building for 85 years.. In storage. Just laying around all this time..
Maybe they should start searching their couches for any other ‘loose change’ or bones.
This happened 40 years ago today.
Philippe Petit left a crowd of thousands breathless as he traversed a wire strung between the Twin Towers. Eschewing a safety harness or a net, the 24-year-old walked and danced across the 130-foot gap between the towers, balanced on a one-inch thick steel cable strung at a height of 110-stories.
In later accounts, Petit traced his inspiration for the performance back to the first time he saw a photo of the Twin Towers. He was at a dentist’s office with a toothache when he came across the image in a magazine. The 18-year-old ripped the photo out and left the office. He spent the next six years planning for the death-defying act.
And now those towers are gone.. remaining are memories of them, and recollections of seeing this amazing feat on that day in August, 1974..
As above, so below.. don’t tell me that everything’s not connected.. as a hurricane approaches Hawaii, the big islands get rocked by an earthquake.
It’s all energy
Sierra Leone is at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. But many people there don’t think the virus is real. Others are so frightened by Ebola that they’re afraid to take sick relatives to clinics.
This is fascinating, and a symptom of oppression and constant upheaval in certain places on the continent of Africa..
So many in the hot spot for Ebola don’t think it even exists..While workers, government officials, and military personnel all drive around in cars with loudspeakers—cars that feature images of people looking like zombies, vomiting—some listening are ignoring.. Ignorance is what may be causing the virus to spread faster and further than ever before in recorded history of Ebola.
NPR reports on some of the Ebola deniers:
Opinions are mixed, but there’s a strong dose of Ebola deniers— those who don’t believe the virus exists at all. Zainab Koroma, a street hawker, is adamant it isn’t real.
"I do not believe Ebola exists because none of my family members has been affected by it," she says. "When you get sick of cholera, they say it is Ebola. When your body temperature rises, they say it is Ebola. So I honestly don’t believe Ebola exists. There could be a lot of other diseases killing people."
That’s one of the challenges facing Sierra Leone — trying to convince the nation that “Ebola is real, Ebola is here, and Ebola kills,” as one poster reads. Some people do survive, if they receive medical care early, as soon as they fall sick.
The case of 32-year-old Saudata Koroma transfixed the nation late last month. She was brought to a faded blue government hospital in Freetown, feeling unwell, and was admitted.
"Yes, and we were suspicious that she had Ebola, and she was put in isolation," says Amadu Sesay, the doctor in charge of the hospital. "The tests proved she had Ebola. Prior to the arrival of the test results, the relatives of the patient stormed the facility. They stormed this hospital and took the patient away."
When his staff learned Koroma had Ebola, Sesay says, they had to track her down. But it took some time. “She was put in an ambulance, but unfortunately on the way to [an Ebola clinic in] Kailahun, she died,” he says.
And with that epic account, more infections were spread due to the denial of the disease..
The world may spin their eyes at tales of denials of a deadly virus, but consider some facts: You may live in a nation absent these abuses:
All of that while the world ignored, and then Sierra Leone was put on the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012.
So doubt that Ebola exists? Common sense would tell someone it’s real.. But live in a nation where the citizenry has been oppressed by a tyrannical government, and it’s easy to see why disbelief in reality is rampant.
Wildfires raging in Northern California briefly halted the search for extraterrestrial life on Tuesday.
Quite possibly one of the best news headlines ever to appear on CNN..
But the real news is this: For those not aware, tremendous wildfires are burning and raging in California, the home of SETI. A fire was near SETI, about 200 miles north of Sacramento.
CNN goes on to report:
At SETI — which stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — scientists search the heavens for signs of extraterrestrial life by “listening” with an array of small satellite dishes.
The blaze came within a mile of the facility, located near Hat Creek, California, on both the east and west, according to Shostak.
"The fire on the west had jumped the road, burnt down our favorite lunch place, got within a mile of the telescopes," he said. As the flames got closer, the staff fled to safer ground and shut down the satellites.
"We just lost some search hours," he said. "To expect that E.T. will somehow reach out at this moment, that would be very bizarre."
That is the amazing part.. imagine the irony if this moment, when computers were abandoned and no one was home, ET phoned earth?
Strangers things may have happened. Or not. That we know of.
Hoping for the best Hawaii.. may you all be safe
This is quite possibly the best wedding photo ever taken: Adam Biesenthal, the photographer who snapped the picture, told The Huffington Post that Jeff Goldblum and his fiancee attended the wedding of Pamela and Jesse Sargent this past weekend in Toronto…The couple wanted a T.Rex Photoshopped into one of their pictures..
Another example that the internet is changing everything.. the Los Angeles porn industry is being hit by bad economic times.. it’s fleeing LA.. the number for permits has plummeted 90% in the city when compared to 2 years ago. Only 20 porn permits issued in ’14.. but websites are still hopping with the free stuff posted by users and regular people across the world, those desperate for attention and the desire to be the next online porn star..
Living through weather history.. never fun. Hawaii is bracing for Iselle. And then Julio follows.. that’s right: A double trouble bubble in the Pacific is forming, and two tropical storms are aiming for Hawaii, one after the other.. While some are nervous and preparing, others are undoubtedly preparing surf boards for waves..
EBOLA SUMMER: A few days ago, we were told of a person being tested for Ebola at Mount Sinai in New York.. the results of which are not known..But it turns out that that 1 sole patient number may be a bit skewed.. it is now 6–I suspect maybe more–being tested.. And it’s also not just the Big Apple.. Ebola tests are being conducted across the nation, and it would appear that at this point the government is attempting its best to surpress information on where the tests are being conducted.. Numbers are being concealed.. Press reports from Ohio indicate that the suspected patient in that state is negative for the virus.. Meanwhile in the hotspot of the outbreak: Sierra Leona is being ravaged by the disease, troops are being deployed, and doctors are describing a scene of chaos and horror.. One doctor, as quoted in the UK DAILY MAIL, described a frightening appearance of Ebola patients prior to death, saying that patients typically look healthy up until a bit before they succumb .. A possible carrier is also being watched in Wales..
A few questions still revolve around why the two Americans with Ebola got the secret serum.. And while the world is clamoring for a vaccine, some are beginning to question if people should line up in droves to get the yet undone antecdote: Red flags are being raised over the use of experimental Ebola drugs..
Fear and loathing with Ebola: The internet world is abuzz with reports information over Ebola: 90% death rate, vs the more realsitic 60% rate with this outbreak is one item that is constantly being misreported.. And even more: Lola Okolosie writes in the UK GUARDIAN today that “Ebola has infected public discourse with a new xenophobia”.. It’s a summer of fear..
Oh, back to that ‘secret’ serum thing? Maybe we gave the two Ebola patients the antecdote, and then brought them to the CDC for observation to see how effective it is. It is somewhat common sense and really not conspiracy conjecture.. we would probably desire to know if our ‘secret’ cocktail worked..
And this: VOX reports that the Ebola patients in America are the subjects of a science experiment..
This is a truly disturbing story..
A 9-year-old boy was found critically injured..
Kids aren’t alright..
An amazing calorie comparison collection of images.. not to be a food preacher, but these photos teach a thousand lessons on good food health.
Now if only I could get my 3-year-old son to understand…
Now this is amazing.. Scientists captured three supermassive volcanic eruptions on Jupiter’s Moon Io.. They took place in August 2013.
This:
A co-author on the study, Ashley Davies, a volcanologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is de Pater’s long-time colleague.
"These new events are in a relatively rare class of eruptions on Io because of their size and astonishingly high thermal emission," Davies said in the release. "The amount of energy being emitted by these eruptions implies lava fountains gushing out of fissures at a very large volume per second, forming lava flows that quickly spread over the surface of Io."
Maybe we are watching the trials and tribulations that earth went through billions of years back, long before we had telescopes able to see anything like what we see here ..
There’s only 142 days until Christmas at the time of this post.. So no better time than the present to showcase a house’s lights show to the LOST GIRL theme song.. enjoy.
Meanwhile.. Selfies were all the rage at the White House ‘protest’:
No added commentary necessary..
The fickled finger of fate rears its ugly tip at the Sasha Fierce show..
Mount Sinai Hospital is performing tests on a patient who had recently traveled to a West African country where Ebola has been reported, the hospital says.
Obviously a developing story from New York..
The Atlanta hospital treating one of the US aid workers stricken with the Ebola virus, and preparing to receive a second, has appealed to the public to show compassion, after receiving “nasty emails” asking why the patients were allowed back into the country.
The effects of spanking may include less gray matter in certain areas of the brain that have been linked to depression, addiction and self-control.
I have had some very serious and almost friendship-ending debates over spanking with people.. I do not condone it.. I even get a little queasy when I hear people argue that people have the right to do with their kids what they want in their own homes.. Some even use the Bible to justify their punishments. Then again, lots of people use the Bible and any other religious text to justify anything..
If you’re the spanker, things can escalate too quickly and go too far too fast.. Even those parents with the best of intentions can also direct the punishment with anger—using too much force as a means to get their own vent of frustration as opposed to simply ‘teaching a lesson,’ as proponents say the method of torture punishment is..
Some from aging generations will argue that spanking never hurt them.. they will say that ‘kids these days sometimes need the paddle’ over other means of punishment.. But.. who says that parents aren’t still aggressively engaging in corporal punishment? The CNN story quotes a survey from 2012—not long ago—in which half of the woman in this nation and three quarters of the men think a good ‘hard spanking’ is a good course of action with a child.
Sarah Kovac points out this in her article:
Harsh corporal punishment in the study was defined as at least one spanking a month for more than three years, frequently done with objects such as a belt or paddle. Researchers found children who were regularly spanked had less gray matter in certain areas of the prefrontal cortex that have been linked to depression, addiction and other mental health disorders, the study authors say.
That’s important.. Very important.
Even more important, according to the same research, spanking led children to become more aggressive by the ages of 3 and then 5, and it had the greatest impact on a child by the age of 9.
If you’re still in favor or spanking, or whatever other painful ways to punish another human, think first.. And primarily, even ignoring the scientific evidence to show spanking does some more damage to a brain than it does a rear, think of this: Are you inflicting the pain on your son and daughter to teach them .. or to appease your own ancient instincts to hurt..?
This is a sore subject for me—no pun intended.. I was never spanked.. I was ‘poked’ hard in the shoulder to shut my little kid yapper up now and then.. but never had any painful punishments inflicted on me. All of the kids who I know did have those punishments were either mentally disturbed then, or are now..
Is this the BEST ABC news could do?
In a recent story posted on the ABC NEWS website about the two girls who used Slenderman as an excuse in the stabbing and near-murder of their friend, they opted to use this photo, pictured with this post, of ‘one of the many internet depictions of the fictional character Slender Man.’
The choice of this image is bizarre to me.. First off, while it may an internet depiction, it actually ends up looking much more like a Monty Python skit than a Slender Man example? I have seen a tremendous abundance of Slender Man images all over since this tragic case took place, but this is the first time I have seen the giant big-bellied version of Slender Man..I even Google searched images for “Slender Man costumes” and I found no evidence of this ABC news ‘internet depiction’ .. this really is more like the Big Boned Slender Man.. or even The Fat Bottomed Slender Man.. Perhaps Slender had a few too many buffet trips..
While the image has next to nothing to do with the story, nor the fact that one of the accused girls talks to unicorns and Voldemort,, I just found its use to be peculiar..
Fat Bottom Slenders make the rockin’ world go round.
This is not normal weather for Istanbul: A tornado..
With it came heavy rains and high winds on Saturday..
Some roads were submerged.. firefighters worked through the weekend to pull cars out of water..
The tornado hit after an excessively hot week in the nation..
But though it’s rare, it’s not the first time in very recent memory that Istanbul got hit with a twister..
Back in June, another tornado hit the Eastern part of the nation..
Weather indeed in a changin’…
While some mock it, and others decry the acting skills, I quite loved it. How can it not be loved.. I certainly will not review it, rate it, or recommend it.. unless you’ve got a well established group of friends who, perhaps a wee bit, are under the influence of some sort of legalized liquid mind changer. Otherwise, you’re forced to see the movie for what it is: A tremendous waste of time.
But that’s why I loved it.
Time was meant to be wasted, especially on a Sunday night when the other real new programming on is HOARDERS..
Tara Reid? Oh my.. but making up for her lack of skills to deliver a solid line even in a joke film: Al Roker and Matt Lauer driving sharp objects through CGI sharks. That cannot be missed..
So watch this at your own peril.. try to make it a group thing. If it’s not.. you’ll wonder why you did what you just did..
This Iselle.. it’s currently a hurricane churning the Pacific Ocean.. it is expected to impact all of the Hawaiian islands later this week—precautions are being made and actions are being taken now .. residents are preparing..
Hopefully forecasters are right at the storm will be downgraded to a tropical storm or even less.. but if that happens, it won’t cut down the rain that is expected to fall..
Any fluctuation with the storm, and different models take hold. A potential hit on the big island can still happen..
Fresh water from Lake Erie..
Not safe to drink.. Not safe to shower. Not even safe to look at..
The residents of Toledo, Ohio, are getting even more horrid news today.. Despite earlier allowances by officials to bathe and shower in water (as featured here) in their city, now they are being warned not to use it to clean their bodies.. this after days of restrictions has 500,000 people scrambling to get fresh water..
Story keeps getting worse..
Hopefully the toxicity of the water allows life to resume soon..
But looking at pictures like this, and others featured in news articles about the Erie algae bloom, the water looks more like the vat of chemicals that made Jack Napier the JOKER in 1989 BATMAN movie..
This is a dramatic scene of Biblical proportion devastation—at a Biblical camp ground in California!
More than 2,500 are stranded .. residents of Oak Glen and Forest Falls in the San Bernardino mountains of the Left Coast state were hit by freak flash floods. Mudslides began to create a hell on earth scene .. now those who are cut off include 500 adults and children at a Christian campground…
The pictures and videos tell a thousands stories.. or in this case, 2500
Here’s one of a dramatic wall of water.
Apparently no ark was handy at the moment..
Prayers will be flowing, undoubtedly, by those stuck by nature..
I didn’t pay much attention to world events yesterday, so when I actually read the pages of my local newspaper today, I was informed of something monumentally big that I don’t think too many news networks even covered: A shallow 6.1 earthquake in China has killed almost 400.. 1800 injured.. 12,000 homes have been destroyed.
And now, as though God didn’t do enough, torrential rains are slowing down relief efforts, and probably creating a soggy hell on earth for all hit by the earth event..
The biggest impact was in the city of Zhaotong .. Roads and bridges are out.. the military has been sent in.. As more people are being pulled from rubble, it’s expected to have an increased injury and death toll.. once the rains allow rescue workers to get to them, that is..
Until then.. dramatic photos are being taken and published for the world to see.. The one that most affected me was a Chinese soldier rushing a baby to safety.. But how many innocent others are gone..?
Staff tell of fears as jet from Africa is quarantined after the death of passenger who was ’sweating and vomiting’ before she collapsed
MORE:
The woman, said to be 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She died in hospital.
Ebola has killed 256 people in Sierra Leone. A total of 826 have died in West Africa since the outbreak began in February. Tests are now being carried out to see if the woman had disease.
The plane was quarantined as officials desperately tried to trace everyone who had been in contact with the woman.
But before emotions get wild and assumptions get made: This is not yet ruled Ebola related. As a matter of fact, the MIRROR goes on to report—deep in the article—
The passenger was taken to hospital and sadly died.
“In line with standard procedures, tests are being undertaken to determine the cause of death.
“The patient’s symptoms suggest that Ebola is very unlikely but as a precaution this is one of the tests being undertaken.
It is a matter of time, of course, before cases pop up outside of Africa.. The world is too connected and close for that not to occur. It’s just the hope that health officials will calmly take matters into their responsible hands.. and that panic will not ensue.
Like today…when the vomiting 72-year-old led to a world crisis.
A 12-year-old girl is the latest victim to suffer horrific burns taking part of the “fire challenge” she saw on Facebook and YouTube.
Can we please go back to the ‘cold water challenge’? I never thought I’d say that..
That or maybe it’s time Marky Mark Zuckerberg placed some renewed age restrictions again..
The Fire Challenge may be the dumbest things dumb kids have done yet. Yet.
Welcome to the lavish gold covered house of God. Where Bishops enjoy all the worldly possessions .. hypocrites ..
Phosphorus levels are lower today than they were in 2007, and in 2007 when they were higher the algae bloom being blamed for this water crisis did not exist.. among the reasons, scientists are now speculating, climate change and warmer temperatures.
But the only wrinkle of doubt and logic I will throw in that theory would be how cold all of the Great Lakes were this year, even up until now…
I was perplexed as the mysterious ‘lady in black’ roamed small town America.. news media organizations followed her, Twitter did too.. Facebook posts and pages were dedicated to her. She was on a ‘religious mission,’ she said.. she said she worked for the Pentagon, others claim she did not.
The woman walked cloaked in black with a walking stick.. the frenzy over her appearances got to the point where, on Wednesday, she apparently had enough. Police officers swept her away from a crowd of dozens of people this past week in Winchester, Virginia. And with that, the long national mystery has become even more mysterious..
The police say “she wants to be left alone.” Which is understandable.. As a matter of fact, on her long voyage on foot through the states she went to, she never went to the media or broadcast her perils or plight to the world. Instead, social media was the buzz buzzing over her existence.. And with it came thousands of comments about what she was doing and where she was going.. some even thought she was a sign of dreadful things to come, in the same way that the Mothman did.. Others saw her as a sad person on a special voyage for personal ambitions.. Facebook posts began defending her and demanding others stop mocking her travels..
Religious voyage?
Woman with mental problems?
Those mysteries may remain just that.. as the lady in black vanishes into the night..
An American infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa was flown on Saturday to the Atlanta area to receive treatment. But not before the plane carrying the patient made a pit stop in New England.
But no one will be harmed by the stopping of the Ebola patient plane..
The paranoia in my is strong: My first inclination was to immediately remember the peaceful scene presented in the book and TV movie THE STAND.. Maine was the place where Frannie Goldsmith lived with her father. Molly Ringwald in the TV version..
Hope Frannie will be ok.
….so this guy, without any protective gear, was sneaking behind walls to take a photo of the Ebola patient arriving in Emory..
Either stupidity.. or perhaps a clear sign that my hunch is right: This was a decoy van for publicity and media attention while the real one was either there already or going in another way..
This is what store shelves in Toleda Ohio look like right now.. organisms in the water.. not a drop to drink. OR boil.
A few reports online say that water is clear out empty in stores 25 miles away from Toledo in Delta, OH.. additionally, people are driving as far as Michigan and Indiana to buy bottled water..
In crisis, people either act like amazing patrons of glory or rabid animals looking for a quick piece of human flesh.. In this Twitter picture, we see a car so weighed down by all the water a woman purchased that her car got stuck..
So the bottled water is gone.. remaining: Propel on the right hand side.. Perrier *(I think)* to the left.. but who drinks that..
