FrankL

Here's one that Rand from Ookla the Mok told me a few months back:
 
A priest, a rabbi, an atheist, and a humpback whale go into a bar.
The priest says:
 
 
The rabbi says:
 
 
The atheist says:
 
 
The humpback whale says:
 
 
 
 

My Google-fu was weak that day. I thought it wasn't quite right, but... A little further down would have given me that cowboy with a horseshoe I was looking for.
 

On Christmas day, I fell asleep right after reading part of C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves. I then dreamed I was delivering the part I had just read as a lecture to several of my alternate selfs from parallel realities. It wasn't just a recitation of the text, but fit my own context.
 
Me: Society today has things so backwards that in many ways we don't even know where to begin. Take the word "naked." The word "naked" is actually a verb. It is the past participle of "naking," a verb referring to the peeling of a fruit. Thus, the naked state of the body was not seen as the most natural state, but the unnatural state. We should also note that in this time, the word natural did not refer to merely an object's physical state of being but to its accordance to the moral laws. For example, when Hamlet says that the ghost of his father is "unnatural," he means more than it shouldn't be here according to the universe's physical laws. On the contrary, he means that the ghost and its instructions should not be here according to God's moral laws.
 
Let's examine this more. Often you will hear people say that undressed they are being their most individual and hiding nothing. However, being undressed actually emphasizes not our individuality but our commonality. Look at us in this room. [Gestured for them to stand.] We are all of identical height and very similar weight and build. Were we to stand naked together, even our wives might have difficulty telling which comes from their reality, not that I suggest such a thing. Well, except for Ace* who has a hairstyle unlike any of the rest of us. However, we all wear different styles of clothing. When we are dressed in our own choice of clothes and styles, we express our individuality and personality.
 
And that is why the clothed state is the most natural state of the individual.
 
*Since we all have the same name, we used handles.
 
When I told my wife about this dream, she replied, "you need help."

On Christmas day, I fell asleep right after reading part of C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves. I then dreamed I was delivering the part I had just read as a lecture to several of my alternate selfs from parallel realities. It wasn't just a recitation of the text, but fit my own context.
 
Me: Society today has things so backwards that in many ways we don't even know where to begin. Take the word "naked." The word "naked" is actually a verb. It is the past participle of "naking," a verb referring to the peeling of a fruit. Thus, the naked state of the body was not seen as the most natural state, but the unnatural state. We should also note that in this time, the word natural did not refer to merely an object's physical state of being but to its accordance to the moral laws. For example, when Hamlet says that the ghost of his father is "unnatural," he means more than it shouldn't be here according to the universe's physical laws. On the contrary, he means that the ghost and its instructions should not be here according to God's moral laws.
 
Let's examine this more. Often you will hear people say that undressed they are being their most individual and hiding nothing. However, being undressed actually emphasizes not our individuality but our commonality. Look at us in this room. [Gestured for them to stand.] We are all of identical height and very similar weight and build. Were we to stand naked together, even our wives might have difficulty telling which comes from their reality, not that I suggest such a thing. Well, except for Ace* who has a hairstyle unlike any of the rest of us. However, we all wear different styles of clothing. When we are dressed in our own choice of clothes and styles, we express our individuality and personality.
 
And that is why the clothed state is the most natural state of the individual.
 
*Since we all have the same name, we used handles.
 
When I told my wife about this dream, she replied, "you need help."

The wife handed me two potatoes and asked me to cube them. So I went to the store and bought six more.

No more skalds in Scandanavia?
 
My favorite warrior poet VV

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

Last night my eldest (7) took all his remaining allowance and birthday money (~$40) and put it in an envelope to give to the church. He said, "The church needs it more than I do. It will help."
 
My wife and I were absolutely stunned. He's had his eyes on a big set of Legos for a while and was saving for that.

I love how everyone claims the Ferguson prosecuted didn't try hard enough, the people processing the  physical evidence were biased, the witnesses were scared to testify, yet they ignore the fact that most of the witnesses who made a big deal about the "execution" on TV were caught in lies or just disappeared after their few seconds of fame, yet the dozen or so witnesses that confirmed the cop's story were mostly black people from the same poor neighborhood. The reason they weren't thrown in the spotlight was twofold, one it wouldn't fit the race-baiting sound bites the media loves, and two, many of them are scared of being persecuted by their own community for simply telling the truth. So apparently everyone is lying except the people who were caught lying or gave hugely contradictory accounts.  

Yeah, sure.  That's totally plausible.  

Re: Ferguson
 
At the very least, the physical evidence doesn't contradict his testimony. And, several of the original witnesses against him either recanted or contradicted themselves -- which means the prosecutor wouldn't have been able to use them at trial. And the defense would have made hay with the forensics. Even if the grand-jury had decided there was probable cause (debatable, but I wasn't on the jury and didn't sit through the whole thing) and returned a true bill there wouldn't have been a conviction in the end. If the prosecutor can't prove probable cause in a grand jury there is no way he'll be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in trial. A true bill and a trial would have been a quixotic waste of 2+ million dollars in tax-payer funds -- because that's what murder trials cost. But, hey, people would have had catharsis, right? The bottom line is: its not a catharsis system -- its a legal system with "laws and rules and standards and stuff."

Sometimes the problem isn't the officer, but the training. Why the NYPD allows choke holds from the outset is beyond me. Its too easy to misapply one with tragic results in the field, and law enforcement has known that for decades. The LAPD ultimately banned them after a series of unintended deaths while officers were trying to subdue suspects using them. Numerous departments, esp. in the western US, followed suit. The NYPD should have seen the pitfalls and potential ramifications of allowing choke-holds and followed suit.
 
But therein lies the problem -- indicting the officer isn't the solution. Proving criminal intent, or that the officer was being unreasonable when he was doing what his department trained him to do and cavalierly taught him was "less-than-lethal" isn't going to meaningfully address the problem, and isn't entirely reasonable. From where I sit, criminal charges in a grand jury were doomed to fail. A better solution -- and one that would be more effective in obtaining a change in policy -- would be a multimillion dollar lawsuit (lets call it 20+ million) against the NYPD for willfully maintaining policies proven flawed in other jurisdictions that resulted in wrongful death.
 
Name the officer. Name the commissioner. Name the senior policy makers responsible. But going after an officer who followed policy without being able to prove criminal intent? That sounds more like a lynch mob with torches and pitchforks demanding a scapegoat -- and the prosecutor fishing for a fall guy so they can ignore the real issue at hand -- than justice. In my opinion, justice in this case is the NYPD acknowledging their policy was irresponsible, changing said policy, firing the bosses responsible, and then paying out the shorts. It may not be the catharsis the media frenzy is looking for -- but it would mean no one else would die from a policy choke-hold in NYC.
 
NOTE: I posted a correction to this BELOW. The NYPD did ban choke-holds -- but there definition of "choke-holds" opens the door to a lot of problems....

Had a good day with the family today. We went to the Science Center of Iowa, and they had redone most of the exhibits. Apparently, there have been a huge number of dinosaur species discovered since I stopped reading about them all the time (20+ years ago). I recognized 1 of the names. The boys loved those rooms. Then they built paper rockets and launched them from air guns. My youngest sat there tweaking his to see if he could make it go further. The eldest was happy with his making it 40-50 feet each launch. Youngest was getting close but just wanted to see IF.
 
They've taken a recent interest in the solar system, so the "star room" was next. We watched a live show with one of the scientists at the center telling about the skies of Iowa and what we could see tonight. The oldest was answering her questions and pointing things out to me. Then we saw the earth science room and the "snakes of Iowa." They liked that, but the youngest wouldn't step into the bat cave once the recorded screeches started.
 
They don't know this, but a live astronaut is going to be there next Thursday. They might be going as a surprise. It will partly depend on if the wife can bring outside food. Really, $30 for 3 at lunch? But a great day all around.

My eldest has two related medical conditrions that each require a different specialist. He had a checkup with each of them yesterday. Both doctors said he's doing great! One looked at his bloodwork and said, "you know what this blood marker means. It came back less than 2!" (Normal is less than 10. Less than 2 means undetectable to the test.) He sees the other doctor for intestinal issues. That doctor said, "Wait. You just said he went on his own? And this is becoming normal? You're down from three enemas a day to one? That's amazing!"

Roll for SAN loss. No wait, just subtract it all.

Had a good day with the family today. We went to the Science Center of Iowa, and they had redone most of the exhibits. Apparently, there have been a huge number of dinosaur species discovered since I stopped reading about them all the time (20+ years ago). I recognized 1 of the names. The boys loved those rooms. Then they built paper rockets and launched them from air guns. My youngest sat there tweaking his to see if he could make it go further. The eldest was happy with his making it 40-50 feet each launch. Youngest was getting close but just wanted to see IF.
 
They've taken a recent interest in the solar system, so the "star room" was next. We watched a live show with one of the scientists at the center telling about the skies of Iowa and what we could see tonight. The oldest was answering her questions and pointing things out to me. Then we saw the earth science room and the "snakes of Iowa." They liked that, but the youngest wouldn't step into the bat cave once the recorded screeches started.
 
They don't know this, but a live astronaut is going to be there next Thursday. They might be going as a surprise. It will partly depend on if the wife can bring outside food. Really, $30 for 3 at lunch? But a great day all around.

There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who count in binary and those who don't.

Frantically scribbling out instructor's comments on students' first drafts of an iterated writing assignment, very occasionally it becomes a pleasure.
 

My eldest has two related medical conditrions that each require a different specialist. He had a checkup with each of them yesterday. Both doctors said he's doing great! One looked at his bloodwork and said, "you know what this blood marker means. It came back less than 2!" (Normal is less than 10. Less than 2 means undetectable to the test.) He sees the other doctor for intestinal issues. That doctor said, "Wait. You just said he went on his own? And this is becoming normal? You're down from three enemas a day to one? That's amazing!"

Malala Yousafzai has been made a joint recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. At 17 she is the youngest recipient.

So my mother was up in London for about a week and I take around her around.  Off to a show where various Christmas goods are sold and saw Richard E Grant, and while there we had a half bottle of champagne and salmon and cream cheese bagals. Bought a friend his birthday present, the game known only as Battle Sheep. We did some speculative shopping seeing if some things were available. Down to Kent to see my cousin and family on the Sunday. And lastly on the Monday a visit to St Pancras station. There is something nice and decadent about having champagne on a Monday afternoon while everyone else around you is working.
 
Went to the Masterchef show in London and got lots of samples. There is a food mixer called Vitamix which people like Starbucks and Haagan Daas use and they demonstrate how the same machine can make soup, a juice and ice cream. And you get to taste the samples. There are quite a few wine samples and that went down well. Came home loaded down with bottles. And gluten free chocolates to send to my cousin.
 
This last Saturday I saw friends in Reading and we played Dredd, Apples to Apples and D+D 5th edition. Also got my pressies, Fargo the TV series and The Key to Time Dr Who series (Mary Tamm [RIP] as Romana and Tom Baker as the Doctor).
 
Going to an event next Wednesday, and after complaining that I had not received the ticket they first class posted it to me.
 
And after the doctor proscribed steroids for my face and body they have had a major effect on clearing my skin up. I will need more stuff certainly but it is a step up.
Finally after seeing