[date Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 9:20 PM]
PN:
Preparing to leave the house last Sunday afternoon I glanced in the mirror while brushing my teeth. The old fart staring back had wattles! WTF? I quickly looked over my shoulder, but he wasn’t there.. When I turned back to the mirror, there he was. A case of mistaken identity? A cold clammy chill crept over my mind………….. I think I have wattles.
What the hell is a wattle anyway? From the smart asses who seem to know everything, a definition –
“A wattle is a fleshy caruncle hanging from various parts of the head or neck in several groups of birds, mammals and other animals.” What ho! A caruncle?
A caruncle is defined as ‘A small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal’s anatomy’.
Jesus Murphy! An excrescence? I’ve got an excrescence hanging off my jaw? Lordy, Lordy, what can it mean?
An excrescence is
1. an abnormal outgrowth, usually harmless, on an animal or vegetable body.
2. a normal outgrowth, as hair or horns.
3. any disfiguring addition.4. abnormal growth or increase.
Within this definition, caruncles include wattles, dewlaps, snoods, and earlobes.
A picture of a (faux) human snood. Looks better than the one hanging off a tom turkey’s head. Or the dozens of mutation photos on medical websites (too upsetting to include – I’m happy with the pretty woman snood) –
A snood joke –
A pleasant looking dewlap –
A not so pleasant looking dewlap –
Disturbing earlobe pictures –
I have no words……..
Self mutilation? What kind of thinking or drug consumption causes this aberration? Quoting the movie mogul Louis B. Meyers, “Include me the fuck out”……
So back to wattles….. Wattles are generally paired structures but may occur as a single structure (when it is sometimes known as a dewlap). Wattles are frequently organs of sexual dimorphism!!!!!! It just gets worse…..
Sexual dimorphism is when the males and females in a species are morphologically different.
Finally! Something I can comprehend (males and females), and something I can understand (morphology – the branch of biology dealing with the form and structure of organisms).
So what does it all mean, and what if anything can be done? Other than the fact that it is scary looking, I don’t know why or what you would change. But wait! THERE IS A SOLUTION!!
and
I feel so relieved………..
Blessed be the inventors and gizmo creators, for they bring comfort to the truly abject, unfortunate, and gruesome with the promise of change and salvation. This fellow needs the works! –
Dueling quotes:
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
vs
“Do, or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
Two expressions….do they mean the same thing? Joe Mekanic says there is a subtle difference.
The first statement from Samuel Beckett came from a playwright and proponent of “the theatre of the absurd”. His “Waiting for Godot” was part of the curriculum when I took English Lit. in university days. Didn’t much care for him then; didn’t read any of his other works. It is an “analog” statement – incremental change leads to a more acceptable outcome that never is perfect. Although not perfect, perfectly acceptable.
Yoda on the other hand, is a digital dude – his statement is pure binary (or quantum if you will). It is or it isn’t- no other state. Doing is observable and obvious. You know when you’re there because you’re there. Q.E.D.
There is war at every level of human intercourse (including sexual). Case in point –
Joe Mekanic says life is also too short to figure out which somethings that matter mostest – as you age (and gain experience if not wisdom), priorities change. Despite the fancy graphic, this is a specious statement. EVERYTHING you do matters. Hence, it is not possible to do something that DOESN’T matter. Trust a marketing guy to make such a hollow statement……….
CANANANANADA
For all my Calgary history and my friends and pals there, here is Ezra Levant with a lot to say about the protesters at the Conservative Convention this week, both Indian and Occupy types:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/interviewing-protesters/2805338071001
Ezra was kind to many of those he interviewed. Their responses to his questions gave him the grist to destroy their arguments, but he declined. They seemed to be as he described – clueless about why they were there other than a general angst…..
More evidence of political malfeasance in Ontario:
http://taxpayer.com/commentaries/we-re-paying-the-price-for-bad-energy-policies
The evidence keeps mounting, but the politicians are NEVER ACCOUNTABLE. WTF??? Stick to baby kissing, handshaking, and lying. Leave the business world and technology world alone!
The Caledonia fracas keeps giving as well. Here’s Michael Coren interviewing Gary McHale about his one man crusade. The Ontario government is as corrupt as the Quebec government:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/caledonia-crusader/1211592889001
CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Here’s a quotable quote from a commenter named Doulos Christeau when adding his two cents worth about the latest Joe Bidden gaff – “Be sure to thank your low information and narcissistic self absorbed single issue voter friends for this priceless moment…”
Joe Mekanic sees this quote as symptomatic of what is wrong with the “democratic” process. When the people realize that they can vote their appetites and be rewarded, the end times for freedom are up close and personal. The “collective wisdom” is a ruse…..
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H.L. Mencken
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The “Bloody Bitch of Benghazi” is loosing points. Good. Perhaps a charge of treason can be implemented:
http://marezilla.com/2013/11/the-bloody-bitch-of-benghazi-sinks-in-the-polls/
The jig is up. Someone has noticed that the majority of us “old timers” are NOT suffering financially or health wise…… The end times are near! The end times of coddling anyway:
My sincere hope is that they don’t start putting us on ice flows to meet our demise. I’d prefer a summer’s day in the forest with the wildlife there…………
As listed in the chart below, the average life expectancy when the social assistance programs were established was in the 60’s.
Some scary health care information from the U.S.A. –
Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Sex, 1930 – 2010
Learn the life expectancy (measured at birth) of American men and women, differentiated by race. For the 2010, the latest data available, the life expectancy for men of all races is 76.2 years and 81.1 years for women.
| All races | White | Black | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Both sexes | Male | Female | Both sexes | Male | Female | Both sexes | Male | Female |
| 2010 | 78.7 | 76.2 | 81.1 | 79.0 | 76.5 | 81.3 | 75.1 | 71.8 | 78.0 |
| 2007 | 77.9 | 75.4 | 80.4 | 78.4 | 75.9 | 80.8 | 73.6 | 70.0 | 76.8 |
| 2006 | 77.7 | 75.1 | 80.2 | 78.2 | 75.7 | 80.6 | 73.2 | 69.7 | 76.5 |
| 2005 | 77.8 | 75.2 | 80.4 | 78.3 | 75.7 | 80.8 | 73.2 | 69.5 | 76.5 |
| 20041 | 77.8 | 75.2 | 80.4 | 78.3 | 75.7 | 80.8 | 73.1 | 69.8 | 76.3 |
| 2003 | 77.5 | 74.8 | 80.1 | 78.0 | 75.3 | 80.5 | 72.7 | 69.0 | 76.1 |
| 2002 | 77.3 | 74.5 | 79.9 | 77.7 | 75.1 | 80.3 | 72.3 | 68.8 | 75.6 |
| 2001 | 77.2 | 74.4 | 79.8 | 77.7 | 75.0 | 80.2 | 72.2 | 68.6 | 75.5 |
| 2000 | 77.0 | 74.3 | 79.7 | 77.6 | 74.9 | 80.1 | 71.9 | 68.3 | 75.2 |
| 1999 | 76.7 | 73.9 | 79.4 | 77.3 | 74.6 | 79.9 | 71.4 | 67.8 | 74.7 |
| 1998 | 76.7 | 73.8 | 79.5 | 77.3 | 74.5 | 80.0 | 71.3 | 67.6 | 74.8 |
| 1997 | 76.5 | 73.6 | 79.4 | 77.2 | 74.3 | 79.9 | 71.1 | 67.2 | 74.7 |
| 1996 | 76.1 | 73.1 | 79.1 | 76.8 | 73.9 | 79.7 | 70.2 | 66.1 | 74.2 |
| 1995 | 75.8 | 72.5 | 78.9 | 76.5 | 73.4 | 79.6 | 69.6 | 65.2 | 73.9 |
| 1994 | 75.7 | 72.4 | 79.0 | 76.5 | 73.3 | 79.6 | 69.5 | 64.9 | 73.9 |
| 1993 | 75.5 | 72.2 | 78.8 | 76.3 | 73.1 | 79.5 | 69.2 | 64.6 | 73.7 |
| 1992 | 75.8 | 72.3 | 79.1 | 76.5 | 73.2 | 79.8 | 69.6 | 65.0 | 73.9 |
| 1991 | 75.5 | 72.0 | 78.9 | 76.3 | 72.9 | 79.6 | 69.3 | 64.6 | 73.8 |
| 1990 | 75.4 | 71.8 | 78.8 | 76.1 | 72.7 | 79.4 | 69.1 | 64.5 | 73.6 |
| 1989 | 75.1 | 71.7 | 78.5 | 75.9 | 72.5 | 79.2 | 68.8 | 64.3 | 73.3 |
| 1988 | 74.9 | 71.4 | 78.3 | 75.6 | 72.2 | 78.9 | 68.9 | 64.4 | 73.2 |
| 1987 | 74.9 | 71.4 | 78.3 | 75.6 | 72.1 | 78.9 | 69.1 | 64.7 | 73.4 |
| 1986 | 74.7 | 71.2 | 78.2 | 75.4 | 71.9 | 78.8 | 69.1 | 64.8 | 73.4 |
| 1985 | 74.7 | 71.1 | 78.2 | 75.3 | 71.8 | 78.7 | 69.3 | 65.0 | 73.4 |
| 1984 | 74.7 | 71.1 | 78.2 | 75.3 | 71.8 | 78.7 | 69.5 | 65.3 | 73.6 |
| 1983 | 74.6 | 71.0 | 78.1 | 75.2 | 71.6 | 78.7 | 69.4 | 65.2 | 73.5 |
| 1982 | 74.5 | 70.8 | 78.1 | 75.1 | 71.5 | 78.7 | 69.4 | 65.1 | 73.6 |
| 1981 | 74.1 | 70.4 | 77.8 | 74.8 | 71.1 | 78.4 | 68.9 | 64.5 | 73.2 |
| 1980 | 73.7 | 70.0 | 77.4 | 74.4 | 70.7 | 78.1 | 68.1 | 63.8 | 72.5 |
| 1979 | 73.9 | 70.0 | 77.8 | 74.6 | 70.8 | 78.4 | 68.5 | 64.0 | 72.9 |
| 1978 | 73.5 | 69.6 | 77.3 | 74.1 | 70.4 | 78.0 | 68.1 | 63.7 | 72.4 |
| 1977 | 73.3 | 69.5 | 77.2 | 74.0 | 70.2 | 77.9 | 67.7 | 63.4 | 72.0 |
| 1976 | 72.9 | 69.1 | 76.8 | 73.6 | 69.9 | 77.5 | 67.2 | 62.9 | 71.6 |
| 1975 | 72.6 | 68.8 | 76.6 | 73.4 | 69.5 | 77.3 | 66.8 | 62.4 | 71.3 |
| 1974 | 72.0 | 68.2 | 75.9 | 72.8 | 69.0 | 76.7 | 66.0 | 61.7 | 70.3 |
| 1973 | 71.4 | 67.6 | 75.3 | 72.2 | 68.5 | 76.1 | 65.0 | 60.9 | 69.3 |
| 19722 | 71.2 | 67.4 | 75.1 | 72.0 | 68.3 | 75.9 | 64.7 | 60.4 | 69.1 |
| 1971 | 71.1 | 67.4 | 75.0 | 72.0 | 68.3 | 75.8 | 64.6 | 60.5 | 68.9 |
| 1970 | 70.8 | 67.1 | 74.7 | 71.7 | 68.0 | 75.6 | 64.1 | 60.0 | 68.3 |
| 1960 | 69.7 | 66.6 | 73.1 | 70.6 | 67.4 | 74.1 | — | — | — |
| 1950 | 68.2 | 65.6 | 71.1 | 69.1 | 66.5 | 72.2 | — | — | — |
| 1940 | 62.9 | 60.8 | 65.2 | 64.2 | 62.1 | 66.6 | — | — | — |
| 1935 | 61.7 | 59.9 | 63.9 | 62.9 | 61.0 | 65.0 | 53.1 | 51.1 | 55.2 |
| 1930 | 59.7 | 58.1 | 61.6 | 61.4 | 59.7 | 63.5 | 48.1 | 47.3 | 49.2 |
(—) Data not available.
1. Preliminary data.
2. Deaths based on a 50% sample.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports. Web:www.cdc.gov/nchs.
Read more: Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Sex, 1930–2010 | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html#ixzz2jnT9U1Qu
VERY SCARY VIDEO – When I say children are not well educated in North America, I receive argument to the contrary. What, I say, are you measuring? And on it goes……. Here’s a short video that demonstrates that kids can be smart, bright, even genius, but don’t know shit. IT IS ALL IN HOW YOU PROGRAM THEIR MELON AND WHAT DATA YOU LOAD!!!!:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=4V4bmm6yJMw#t=838]
When I was young in Calgary, one of my favorite activities was to shop the second hand stores downtown for treasures (such as my old “cathedral” radio). One of the proprietors of such a shop was an old man (to my eyes) named Sam. We became friends over time. One day I noticed a tattoo on his arm – a faint number. I asked him about it. Although he wouldn’t tell me details of his interment, or how he got to Canada, I will always have the memory of this mild mannered, gentle, humorous man. And a burning rage that humans are capable of such evil against other humans…….
The fact that such atrocities occurred, and are occurring is a most sobering thought. The fact that this fact is selectively taught is shocking. As Ayn Rand stated –
As a reminder, some original footage ordered by Dwight Eisenhower, entitled “Original Nazi Concentration Camp Video Uncensored”:
Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyeZrq2pSDQ
Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz65pzbi2r4
Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZV5FH-7vs
Part 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwU4x8dfOPA
There was over 80000 feet of film taken. The Muslim entities insist this didn’t happen. Nightmare material.
GERMANY
Herr Hitler’s era keeps giving back. This time, an art “treasure trove” of confiscated items that were supposedly destroyed in Allied bombing raids during WWII. Estimated at over $1 billion smackers!:
VENEZUELA
The captioned photo of Ayn Rand above needs to be repeated here. A report on the waaaay left website Huffington Post about the decline / decay of Venezuela’s health care system:
For Huffington Post to criticize the leftist Venezuelan government’s performance is indicative of serious problems….. Once again (for all the lefties and “progressives”) –
There is a human nature story here, that of Nirvana (not the band). What happens when the needs of everyone are met to their satisfaction? Will great music be composed? Great literature written? Spectacular art works and constructs of thought and deed? Incredible inventions / technologies / advances for humanity grow at exponential rates? The Captain® lets you know in an article he titled “Post Scarcity Economics is Scary”. His main point is humans are base creatures:
http://captaincapitalism.blogspot.ca/2013/11/why-post-scarcity-economics-is-scary.html
Quote from the article –
“What will humans do or pursue in life?”
Realize you, me and everybody else works a fair percentage of our lives working up the money to pay for everything. But if “everything” (or most everything) were free, what would the economy be about then? What would humans work and live for?
The answer is other humans.
Specifically, sex and attention.
Venezuela is not going to find it’s way out for quite some time. As the excellent Daniel Greenfield article titled “Government is Magic” points out (below and here: http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2013/10/government-is-magic.html ), it won’t be because Venezuela doesn’t have intelligent, capable, and gifted people, or the resources required to succeed. It will be restricted by the culture, plain and simple……
POLITICAL, INTERESTING, HUMOROUS, WACKED-OUT
Cassius Clay supported the foundation ideology of the KKK. Read and ponder:
http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/11/06/muhammad-ali-supported-the-kkk/
He may have received too many (or not enough) blows to the head………..
He had a passable singing voice: [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=CENubuEfTJg#t=32] I’m almost positive this recording predates his “conversion” to “Mohammed Ali”….. and the Nation of Islam years.
From a very interesting web page: http://knowledgenuts.com/
From Ron D. – worth passing on –
Government is Magic………..:
http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2013/10/government-is-magic.html
A quote from the above link (worth the read over and over) –
Our technocracy is detached from competence. It’s not the technocracy of engineers, but of “thinkers” who read Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedman and watch TED talks and savor the flavor of competence, without ever imbibing its substance.
These are the people who love Freakonomics, who enjoy all sorts of mental puzzles, who like to see an idea turned on its head, but who couldn’t fix a toaster.
The ObamaCare website is the natural spawn of that technocracy who love the idea of using modernity to make things faster and easier, but have no idea what anything costs or how it works.
It’s hard to have a functioning technocracy without engineers. … But this is a Bloombergian technocracy of billionaires and activists, of people who think that “progress” makes things work, rather than things working leading to progress………………..
………….Competence is the real modernity and it has very little to do with the empty trappings of design that surround it. In some ways the America of a few generations ago was a far more modern place because it was a more competent place. For all our nice toys, we look like primitive savages compared to men who could build skyscrapers and fleets within a year… and build them well.
Those aren’t things we can do anymore. Not because the knowledge and skills don’t exist, but because the culture no longer allows it. We can’t do them for the same reason that Third World countries can’t do what we do. It’s not that the knowledge is inaccessible, but that the culture gets in the way………………………………
………Because government is progress. Government is modernity. Government is magic.
A most excellent article. Bravo to you, Mr. Daniel Greenfield.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AWESOMENESS
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the baddest ass manned aircraft ever built. Decommissioned in 1998, no aircraft has ever matched her performance records. Of the 30 aircraft built, NOT ONE was ever shot down by missile, rocket, or fighter jet, although it was tried. She simply flew too high and too fast to be intercepted. A huge loss to the aviation greatness of the West. A documentary on the SR-71:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=kn6CgKEuB-M]
Lockheed has a successor on the drawing board – the SR-72:
Although an unmanned aircraft, the SR-72 performance specifications are truly incredible – cruising higher and faster than the SR-71 at Mach 6 (2 X faster). The only drawback is I will be 80 years old if / when it enters service. Add this one to the very long list of aircraft I will have the misfortune to not fly or see up close and personal. Only in my dreams…………..
Evolution cartoon –
An amazing breakthrough in genetic engineering has Joe Mekanic wondering……. Will the people who oppose genetically modified food also reject the Crispr technique of DNA modification? After all, modifying DNA is modifying DNA isn’t it? Read and ponder:
Joe says not. If they are suffering some life threatening or quality of life restricting ailment, they will be elbowing their way to the head of the line. Just sayin’….. This technology will lead to “designer humans” – legally or not. Pandora’s Box held much more than the Greeks imagined………..
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART THINKING, ADMIRABLE BEHAVIOR
The rest of the story…….: http://www.country935.ca/2012/10/04/friends-forever/
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
A short video on the effectiveness of gun control. The logic is determent (a la cold war). The mantra is you (yourself) is the first line of defense:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=682JLrsUmEM]
Video here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/crispr-technique-genetic-editing-video-8925604.html
Technology is ever advancing. Here is a video of 3D printing producing a 1911 style .45 caliber pistol, and the live ammunition firing of the same:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=535_1383848670
Gun safety should be a mandatory subject in school, just as important as health and how to balance a cheque book.
EVIL, DISGUSTING PERSON FILE
The name Joseph Fritzl meant nothing to me until I heard his story. This fine upstanding mentally abhorrent p.o.s. locked his daughter in a cellar of his home for 24 years, fathering 6 children with her. An incredible almost unbelievable story of pure evil:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case
How in the world could this happen? The death penalty is too good for him. Joe Mekanic says “Just because it’s upright on two legs don’t mean it’s human”.
Further information about the 24 year ordeal of Elizabeth Fritzl and her offspring – the survivors:
http://circlesquared171.blogspot.ca/2012/07/folded-arms.html
Can you imagine 3 children being born and living until their late teen years without ever seeing the sun, or being able to stand up to their full height? I would pull the trigger, trip the trap, inject the poison……….. this is beyond a mental health issue. That man is NOT a human being…….
RELIGION OF PEACE (ON ALL OF US)
Here goes the “racist” in me…… What are the 10 most “unfair” countries for women to live in?:
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/10/30/the-most-unfair-countries-for-women/
All 10 are Islam majority countries. Why are I not surprised???? Joe Mekanic repeats himself – The core foundation documents of the Islam “religion” are corrupt. The religion has not had a “reformation”. Muslims do not experience “the rapture”…… nor have they experienced “the Enlightenment”. And the way they approach the subject of religion, they never will.
Death to America!: [youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=TS4v_kj9rw4#t=109]
SUNDAY SERMON
An amazing discussion between Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, David Wolpe, and Bradley Artson, subject: Is There an Afterlife?:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=UjKJ92b9Y04]
Joe Mekanic says debate among very bright people is candy for the mind; a great listening experience. For the here and now, the more peaceful settlement of this argument is a song by Iris Dement:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=sW9IfHLieQU]
WEATHER
Another week of low cloud, low (but not freezing) temperatures, fog, mist, rain, and two tiny skiffs of snow. Yum! Too delightful to ignore. Only 33 weeks until the REAL weather returns………..
Joe (Eiderdown) Mekanic
Ramirez by the light of the glowing screen…..
