May 2007 Archives

CBS And/Or AP Has Trouble With Math

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See if you can figure out how many people were killed in the red-on-red engagement described here. About the only thing we can be sure of is that Fatah scored five own-goals. So was the total tally 5, 7, 11, or 13?

Hamas Militants Kill 6 Fatah Bodyguards

(AP) Hamas gunmen killed five of their own combatants in an ambush Wednesday on a Fatah vehicle that had been carrying Hamas detainees, Fatah officials said.

Also killed were two members of the Fatah-affiliated Preventive Security force that had been guarding the detained Hamas members, the officials said.

Remember, these guys want their own state. But who's counting?

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Can I get a translator for this clip from an interview with Ozzy Osbourne on Monday's show? I don't speak Burnout.

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A Day Late And A Banana Short, But...

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OK, I know we bagged Taliban leader Mullah Dadullah last week and I'm just now getting to this, but I have to play the Name Game:

Mullah Mullah Dadullah, banana-fana Fofalluh, me-my-moallah DEADullah!

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Domestic Balance Sheet

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So I read somewhere (can't remember, maybe I'll link it if I do) that a stay-at-home mom is 'worth' over $130K per year in the services she provides. Before I get into this, I want to point out that flower_goddess was a stay-at-home mom for most of our son's life, and I am damn A) glad that she wanted to do it, and B) grateful that we are in a position financially that we could afford for her to do it.

But these "economic impact of [thing/concept] is X dollars" stories bother me, and it's generally because I think they're mostly BS, in much the same way that the stories about American business losing godzillions of dollars of productivity due to water-cooler discussions and pool betting on the Super Bowl/NCAA Tournament/World Series/whatever are mostly BS.

Of course stay-at-home moms perform a lot of critical services around the home. That's their JOB. But if you want to start playing the economic value game, be careful - to be fair, you'll need to include the value of services provided by the father/husband:

  • lawn care
  • vehicle maintenance (yes, the first two items are a homage to Tim Allen)
  • exterminator
  • handyman
  • moving-heavy-stuff-around guy
  • garbageman
  • home security service

No, it's not going to total $130K. Given that under this paradigm, the man is the breadwinner, it had better not!

Name That Hymn

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Late in hour 3 of yesterday's Bob & Tom show, the gang was discussing religious music. Kristi had just read a story about some stone carvings in an Edinburgh church that may turn out to have been encoded music. As an aside - thanks to Fark, I will now forever think of her as one commenter referred to her: "the news reader who can't read," because now I notice that she trips over words A LOT. True to form here, she pronounces 'Edinburgh' to rhyme with 'Pittsburgh.' But I digress.

Anyway, Tom opines that a lot of religous music is a real downer, and Bob tries to cue up a song that doesn't quite work. I'm pretty sure it wasn't even the song he was trying to play. Listen to this clip and see if you can A) Name That Tune, and B) Name The Tune Bob Was Going For. I think I know both.

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White Trash Wednesday

... or A Spoonful Of Sugar Helps The Medicine Go Down:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- During an investigation last month, Arkansas police officers found a bundle of materials suspected of being used to cook methamphetamine in a trash can. What gave them pause were the packets of a strawberry-flavored children's drink mix next to it.

From lollipops to high-sugar sodas, law enforcement officials say they've found meth cut with a variety of candies, drinks and other materials over the years. Officials say the "designer meth" can smooth the chemically rough ingestion of the drug, making it easier for first-time users to try.
My mom forbade me from buying candy cigarettes when I was a kid in the '70s, for fear that they'd make me want to start smoking (naturally, that made me want them more, so I ended up getting them when she wasn't around and 'smoking' them with my friends down in the ravine behind one friend's house. But I digress). This would have made her blow her stack.

And maybe that's what the dealers are thinking, too:

"The drug cartels operate just like any other corporation would -- if they want to increase their market share, then they're going to have to change something about it. This is just an evolution. They've saturated the heavy users, now they are moving onto some other people," he [Chris Harrison, chief illicit laboratory chemist at the Arkansas lab] said.

The latest meth cut, known as "Strawberry Quick," uses powdered drink mix to give the drug a pink coloring. The sweetness of the powder can make meth more palatable and partially masks its harsh chemical taste.

. . .

Because of its chemical properties, meth easily mixes into any water-based liquid. Caffeinated, high-sugar energy drinks and sodas often litter areas where meth cookers manufacture the drug, sometimes used as a chaser to the stimulant, Harrison said.

Outside of drinks, police also have seen meth mixed with a variety of candy, cola and chocolate flavors. Cutting it with something else also may help cutting down the burning sensation some have when snorting powdered meth, Harrison said. When snorted, he said meth can destroy a person's septum.
Well, sure. Destroying one's brain, heart, teeth, lungs, liver - no problem there. But one's septum? Apparently that's where Joe Crankhead draws the line.

It's White Trash Wednesday! Take the whole tour via the WTW blogroll on my sidebar.

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