Medical Advice

Traditional Asian Medicine may be the way to go. Part of me feels as though it's quackery, however, 1.5 billion Chinese can't be wrong (all of the time). Can they?

In this recently published paper on wellness, Dr. Desmond Zhang, MD offered his opinions on how to live a longer, happier and more productive life:

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? 

A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? 

A: Oh no. Wine made from fruit. Fruit very good. Brandy distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Grain good too. Bottom up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? 

A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two body, your ratio two to one.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? 

A: Can't think of one, sorry. My philosophy: No pain...good! 

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? 

A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food fried in vegetable oil. How getting more vegetable be bad?

Q : Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Oh no! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach. 

Q: Is chocolate bad for me? 

A: You crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure? 

A: If swimming good for figure, explain whale to me.

Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle? 

A: Hey! 'Round' is shape! Life should NOT be journey to grave with intention of arriving safely in attractive and well-preserved body. Worm don't care.

*****

Keeping things in balance, there are a lot of nutritional studies that one must consider in light of Dr. Zhang's startling revelations.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

The only logical conclusion is that you can eat and drink what you please because speaking English is apparently what kills you.

The Last Word on Christopher Dorner

Christopher Dorner

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department recently released the Christopher Dorner Booking Photo.

Christopher Jordan Dorner (June 4, 1979 – February 12, 2013) was a fired Los Angeles City Police Officer, who had been charged in connection with a series of shooting attacks on police officers and their families from February 3 to 12 that left four people dead, including two police officers, and three police officers wounded. 

On February 11, the Riverside District Attorney filed charges against Dorner for the murder of a police officer and the attempted murder of three other officers. The following day, Dorner died during a shoot-out with police officers in the San Bernardino mountains during which time the cabin that he hid in burned to the ground.

Where Were You?

One Ton Humber Armored Car (Pig) and a typical
Londonderry street scene from the 70's.

In 1976, I first heard this album in a "hippie den" in Hamilton, Scotland. I was never a hippie, but I did bounce around the British Isles back then. I can't recall the name of the guy who put the record on the turntable and cranked up the sound while he smoked a joint but he said, "You won't forget this one in a fortnight, yank." He passed a bottle of Bell's Scotch Whiskey - rotgut by anyone's standards. I didn't forget the song. The Emerald was perhaps the first rock Irish War Tune.

Thin Lizzy - The Emerald


Down from the glen came the marching men
With their shields and their swords
To fight the fight they believed to be right
Overthrow the overlords

To the town where there was plenty
They brought plunder, swords and flame
When they left the town was empty
Children would never play again

From their graves I heard the fallen
Above the battle cry
By that bridge near the border
There were many more to die

Then onward over the mountain
And outward towards the sea
They had come to claim the emerald
Without it they could not leave

Of course the bridge near the border was the bridge that separated Londonderry, Northern Ireland from "Free Derry" in the Irish Republic. It's a single city, separated by a national boundary

There's a fancy sign now that tourists pose before to get their snapshot taken but when I was there, the sign was on the side of this house. The river runs before the house and there was a bridge, fortified and braced with razor wire and calthrops. 

I didn't arrive in Ulster until well after the civil war there peaked. Bloody Sunday - 1972 took place there in Derry near this sign, painted on the house. There are different accounts of what happened, but British troops fired on kids throwing rocks and killed quite a few of them. There were many more injured and pulled from the fight by their mates. Baton rounds - so-called 'rubber bullets' were 40mm solid rubber rounds the size of a policeman's baton. The soldiers were supposed to fire them into the pavement so they'd bounce up and deter the unhappy Irish population. They fired them directly into the kids. Much later I watched that sort of projectile hit a kid's head when I was there. It killed her on the spot.

The Irish band, U-2 sang a song about Bloody Sunday

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I won't heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Wendy's Hamburgers (Review)

Their slogan, above, is misleading.

Today the government is closed and there wasn't much for me to do besides exercise, so I did, and combined it with a few stops (mailing a cap to a friend of WoFat's and mine in Australia, etc.). On my way home the only place to get warm food was a Wendy's. I haven't been there for a long time despite the fact that it's the closest fast food to my home. I live in a very nice suburban Southern California neighborhood. 

There isn't much of a lunch crowd at this Wendy's. There were people at two other tables and that was it. From where I sat, I could see intermittent drive-through action. The place was clean. With so few people visiting, it shouldn't be difficult to maintain. I went to the restroom to wash my hands and there wasn't a paper towel dispenser. The hand dryer didn't work. I went into the only toilet stall. It was clean but there was no toilet paper, so I dried my hands on the toilet lid protectors. No place to drop it, so I flushed it.

I ordered the #1 Combo. The food was over priced compared to other similar fast food places in the area. No re-fills on drinks. That was very surprising since McDonald's sells their large drink for $1.00 with unlimited refills. I don't go to McDonald's often but other than the fact that Wendy's was quiet (empty), McDonalds gets higher marks.

I ordered the basic hamburger. The meat was cooked properly but if eaten outside of the bun, it would not be edible because of the salt. Condiments - gooey. It did come with lettuce and thin slices of tomato and onion. No problems there.

French fries were cold and limp. I ate two or three and ended up throwing the rest away. 

I asked to speak to the manager. No manager on site. I was encouraged to come back later. 

"When is later?"

"Mañana."

In Mexico, mañana might mean tomorrow, several days, weeks, or even years. There is no definite time period associated with that word except a vague notion of 'the future'.

I asked them to define when.

A huddle/conference among essentially non-English speakers attempting to decide what to tell me. I moved to Spanish. They appreciated my moderate Spanish language skills. "Porque no tiene Jeffe?" 

They were forthcoming: The manager was home with sick children. "Julio" was in charge.

Recommendation: LET THE BUYER BEWARE

Will I return?

Not unless senility in the dim and distant future dulls the experience.

Coriolis Effect

It's important that children observe something. In this case a vortex - and manifestation of the Coriolis Effect. Then try to understand WHY it happens the way that it happens.

Griffin applies Newton's Laws applied to a rotating system. 

The Coriolis force acts in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis and to the velocity of the body in the rotating frame and is proportional to the object's speed in the rotating frame. The centrifugal force acts outwards in the radial direction and is proportional to the distance of the body from the axis of the rotating frame. 

The Coriolis effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of the mass experiencing the effect. This force causes moving objects on the surface of the Earth to be deflected in a clockwise sense (with respect to the direction of travel) in the northern hemisphere, and in a counter-clockwise sense in the southern hemisphere -- which is why the toilet water flows "the other way" when you cross the equator, and flush.

This is the project for a Sunday Morning.

Passing Thoughts on Grandkids

Today, Valentine's Day morning, which is much like any other morning, my granddaughter, Alyssa (age 3) came into my den (as she does on many days when I'm in town) and announced that she wanted eggs and toast for breakfast.

Me: "Alyssa, what do you have on?"

Alyssa: "I'm dressed up like a pixie" (apparently there is a cartoon where pixies have blue skin)

After eggs and toast, I thought that it might be an opportunity for a photo op.

Last week, my grandson, Cannon (age 2) had the opportunity to visit a fire station. Cannon is obsessed with fire trucks that he sees driving down the street with lights and siren on.

Drone Pilots Need Love Too

No, this is not satire. The MARINE CORPS TIMES reports today that the Pentagon is creating a new high-level military medal that will recognize drone pilots and, in a controversial twist, giving it added clout by placing it above some traditional combat valor medals in the military’s “order of precedence.”

The Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to pilots of unmanned aircraft, offensive cyber war experts or others who are directly involved in combat operations but who are not physically in theater and facing the physical risks that warfare historically entails.

War is hell when you have to fight it from a trailer in Virginia.  Of course,
there is a mess boy to fetch cold drinks and warm food while you're striking
the unwitting in a distant land - but there's stress all the same. Carple tunnel
injuries are not unknown, you can get piles from sitting in that seat, paper
cuts can become infected, etc.

The new medal will rank just below the Distinguished Flying Cross. It will have precedence over — and be worn on a uniform above — the Bronze Star with Valor device, a medal awarded to troops for specific heroic acts performed under fire in combat.

The new medal will be awarded for specific acts, such as the successful targeting of a particular individual at a critical time.

RELATED READING Pentagon creates medal for cyber, drone wars (2/13)

Thoughts on the next Pope

I'm not Catholic and therefore I have no stake in the run up for the next Pope to replace the aging Pope Benedict. However since I've been very concerned about political correctness in this blog lately, the only politically correct choice on its face would be Cardinal Francis Arinze. However, Arinze is conservative and is not (blatantly) metrosexual, so he'd be unlikely to be an invited guest to a Presidential Prayer Breakfast in the US despite his common roots with President Obama. 

There's nothing that President Obama hates more than a black conservative who believes in traditional values and is not a collectivist/utopian socialist or a communist.

I wonder if the new Pope, whoever he is, will condemn the US practice of ordering assassinations in foreign lands, delivered remotely by drone aircraft?

Midnight Blogging

Yesterday, I celebrated my oldest daughter's birthday (I bought her an Apple i-Pad) and it was a cause for a family gathering. Now, I find myself unable to sleep so I thought that I'd post some of the more innane stuff that's floating around. However, you might be able to use these factoids if you are trying to impress the easily impressed with your knowledge of current trivia.

RIP Stewie

There are record books so that people with too much time on their hands can pretend to care about trivia. So it goes with Stewie, the world's longest cat. The cat was 48.5 inches (123.19 centimeters) in length from nose tip to tail tip but it's not around anymore. It died last week (5 Feb 2013). Stewie was a Maine Coon Cat. I'm not certain why this particular cat was longer than most others -- nor do I care -- truth be told.

Sex for Tax Relief

I must be getting old. Gender roles seem to be reversed. Fox News reported that a female Internal Revenue Service Agent has been seeking sex from males by coercing them to have sexual relations with her in exchange for a break on their taxes. There was a time when men were doing that sort of thing, but apparently women are doing that now. 

KVAL News reports that Vincent Burroughs filed the suit with the U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon on Jan. 25 "as a result to coercive conduct by Defendant [Dora] Abrahamson," an Internal Revenue Service agent from Cottage Grove.

And here, all these years, the whole concept of "getting screwed" on my taxes meant something completely different. In most cases, men (who are dogs/pigs) would willingly have sexual relations with reasonably attractive women who work for the US Government in exchange for having to pay taxes. Apparently not Vincent Burroughs.

Identity Thief (movie I'm not likely to see)

Melissa McCarthy built her acting career around portraying an overweight, obnoxious woman, but she is usually funny, playing sort of a female version of the late Chris Farley. McCarthy has continued this trend in her new movie, "Identity Thief", which has opened to very critical reviews (average review gives it 37/100 - LINK). I doubt that I'll see it, so if you do, you can leave comments below. I'll wait two months until it's on the "Movie of the Week" re-runs on television if I even think to watch it then.

Film critic, Rex Reed called the film's star, Melissa McCarthy a "tractor" and "hippo". Paul Feig, who directed McCarthy in her Oscar-nominated role in "Bridesmaids," tweeted, "For his catty and school bully name-calling of the supremely talented Melissa McCarthy, I cordially invite Mr. Rex Reed to go f--- himself." Reed, flaming homosexual, reportedly responded, "I would if I could, sweety." And thus the cat fight continues.

Scoville Units

The world of hot peppers is measured in Scoville Units - and you likely don't care, but in this effort of mine to spend the night blogging, I thought that I'd end on the subject of hot sauce. Guinness World Records proclaims that the world’s hottest chile pepper is the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T," which clocks in at a whopping 1,463,700 Scoville units, nearly 300 times hotter than a jalapeño. It will apparently melt paint almost as fast as Coca Cola will remove tarnish from a penny.

My daughter, Amanda wanted Mexican food for her birthday party. Therefore my tribute is to Dave's Ghost Gourmet Jolokia Pepper, rated "Insane ++" (available on hotsauce.com), rated at a modest 650,000 Scoville Units. That's roughly half as hot as the Trinidad Scorpion chile.

If you're into damaging your mouth and your digestive tract even further, there is CaJohn's Black Mamba Hot Sauce. I can't find a Scoville Unit rating but it's heat level is advertised at XXXX and it comes in two ounce bottles (US$17 per bottle)

--And maybe I can get some sleep now that I've bored even myself to tears.

Offered Without Further Comment

The changing nature of warfare in the ObamaNation.

Almost One Suicide Per Day

Chris Kyle's death at a rifle range in Texas at the hands of another veteran who suffered from accute Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), two weeks ago, hit me hard personally. I didn't know Chris, though I've served with the same guys in combat in different wars and dynamic, kinetic situations. 

PJ Media's Blog had a good article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and I'm relying in part on the comments of author, Rick Moran here. I'm simply throwing my cracker in the soup for the rest.

There were a record 349 suicides of active duty personnel in 2012. Nearly two in three marriages of PTSD sufferers end in divorce. The inability of the PTSD patient to hold a job has contributed to an epidemic of homelessness among combat veterans. It is estimated that one in three returning vets will exhibit at least some of the symptoms of PTSD, with between 13-20% of vets needing psychiatric care. 

A companion condition to PTSD — Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) — is also a mental health problem, given the large number of soldiers wounded in IED attacks. The condition presents itself in similar ways to PTSD and it’s estimated that between 4-9% of returning vets suffer from TBI.

One of my family members, a Navy veteran, returned from Afghanistan about six months ago. And he was seriously screwed up -- as he would tell you today. The only reason that he isn't one of those statistics - one suicide per day - is because the Navy took his PTSD issues seriously. He's being helped and the Navy no longer (apparently) views PTSD as 'personal weakness'.  After bottoming out and getting help, he arrived at Christmas dinner at my house and told everyone what happened and how he's being treated. That was received by a mixed reaction with some family members supportive and others shocked that he would have been as frank as he was. I am massively supportive of his efforts to "fix the problem" to the extent possible and because I'm the dad and another veteran, the kids and spouses defer to me. Will his marriage be saved? Maybe. His life - yes, he's not on the brink anymore, but he was.

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, reveals how Texas native Kyle came to record the highest number of sniper kills for an American. The book has been praised for its frankness in telling a first-person account of a warrior who shoots from far and close distances. The book spent 18 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and 13 weeks at number one. Actor Bradley Cooper bought the rights to the book and is making a movie based on Kyle's experiences.

Giving the book its emotional core are passages from Kyle’s wife, who slowly watches as her husband’s affection turns from her to the SEALs and war. Chris Kyle left the navy for reasons that he explains.

Chris Kyle was apparently not suffering acute PTSD, but he died when one of the people near him flashed back at the rifle range and literally, 'went off his rocker'. That's not a medical opinion, but it's what happened.

I know what it's like to feel some of the effects of PTSD, though for me it didn't rise to the level that it did for others. For a change, the military is taking it seriously and the suicide rate is forcing the issue. Of course there are bastards like billionaire Ted Turner (former husband of Hanoi Jane Fonda) who have come out against treatment of PTSD, feeling that the suicide rate is acceptable for US Service Members.

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, took to the airways of that network on the Piers Morgan interview show and opined that it was a good thing that some American soldiers are committing suicide because it shows a healthy aversion to war.

Scum like Turner and his former traitorous wife will always be with us. Flip any rock and you'll see what I mean.

A Comment on Society

Background: Fired Los Angeles Police Officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, is considered extremely dangerous and armed with multiple weapons. He is accused of killing a college basketball coach and her fiance last weekend, then following through on a vow to kill police by opening fire Wednesday night on three officers, killing one. The lady that he murdered had the unfortunate distinction of being the daughter of a former police captain and attorney who defended him in the case that the Los Angeles Police Department brought against him for lying on police reports.

Dorner wrote a long, rambling manifesto that demonstrated that he's been watching too much television-and posted it on Facebook.

Dorner's complaint - he has been the victim of racial discrimination. Thus he is justified in killing everyone and everyone related to people who make him angry. Dorner is an African-American and feels that he's been singled out because of his race - by the White Man.

Push-back: There has been a lot of support for Dorner on Twitter with people who feel that a killing rampage is socially acceptable so long as the basis for that discontent is racially based. And I find it interesting that the legacy media is painting him as a victim of sorts - while the man who slaughtered school children in Newtown, CN, a couple of weeks ago, was portrayed as a crazed murderer. That may be partly because he praised anti-firearms advocate Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in his Facebook Manifesto and likes Michelle Obama's new look. (It makes him angry when people refer to the First Lady as a "Wookie".)

February8th @_Im_JustReal

Christopher Jordan Dorner...another black man set up by the man.

John Chedrick @CleverCorvid

God speed, Chris Dorner. It's about time someone did something about crooked cops.

Brenda @bRENDAblOVE

Chris dorner i hope you get those who Did what they Did to you. My prayers actually go to him not those other officers.

Blake Griffin @BasedGeezy

Yo real shit this Christopher Dorner is a real ass nigga man I respect him

George Oñate Duran♕ @TW3LV

FUCK THE LAPD!!! Chris Dorner is gonna kill all you bitchass cops that have been corrupting LA FOR YEARS.

SupremeSpearChuckr @KingSpearChuckr

LAPD needs their asses handed to them for all of the bullshit they have done to innocent people I applaud Christopher Jordan Dorner!

see eych yoo eych @fuckinternet

i want this Christopher Jordan Dorner man, to be successful. please get away with it. #besafe and the plot thickens?

XXX

Fact Checking: Based on internal LAPD documents (link here), the racial breakdown of the department is as follows:

Male Sworn Police Officers

Latino/Hispanic - 3,455

White - 2,826

Black - 890

Asian - 606

Filipino - 191

Indian - 29

Other - 11

Female Sworn Police Officers

Latino/Hispanic - 828

White - 676

Black - 258

Asian - 100

Filipino - 20

Indian - 7

Other - 3

(as of December 2, 2012)

In California there are more Latino/Hispanic people than there are white people. In the Los Angeles Police Department there are more Latino/Hispanic people than there are white people. The management of the Los Angeles Police Department has varied between white and black police chiefs with roughly equal tenure over the past decade. There are two male assistant chiefs at the Los Angeles Police Department. One is black and one is Latino/Hispanic. The only female assistant chief is white. The rest of management (and there are a lot of management ranks including Detective 3, which is a management position) and they're blended generally along racial lines based upon the number represented in the department with the exception of Captain Grade 3 which has more white men and women than Latino/Hispanic and black.

Changing Lexicon

Posited: The laws of moral and ethical relativism; all systems of cultures and thought are equal in value, steming from a perceived guilt from progressive people who believe that Western Civilization is the root of all evil to the exclusion of all else. 

Example: Jamal was offended by me calling him a perverted black gay fairy, all stung out on crack. The politically correct thing to say would be that Jamal is leading an acceptable alternative lifestyle as an african-american homosexual who has the disease of drug addiction.

Was: Wetback or Illegal Alien
Is: New American or Out of Status

Was: War on Terror
Is: Foreign Contingency Operation

Was: bi-sexual
Is: sexually non-preferred

Was: bum
Is: displaced homeowner

Was: certain
Is: reasonably sure

Was: deaf
Is: visually oriented

Was: doorman
Is: access controller

Was: feminism
Is: equitism

Was: gang
Is: youth group

Was: homeless
Is: involuntarily undomiciled

Was: drug addict
Is: substance abuse survivor

Was: retarded
Is: developmentally delayed

Was: prostitute
Is: sex care provider

Was: pet
Is: animal companion

Was: paper
Is: processed tree skeleton

Was: wrong
Is: differently logical

Super Sunday

I will join many others in viewing the Super Bowl (American Football). Now I really don't care whether the San Francisco 49ers or the Baltimore Ravens win or the XLVII (47th) Super Bowl and earn the title of champion. I will enjoy innovative television commercials extolling the virtues of beer, cola, better rubber bands and the best in automobiles and will BBQ for those attending. And then there is the game.