Campanastan

'Proud To Be British' Hoodie: Grammatical Error or Political Statement?

From The Independent. Cute.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves, anyone?

"The reason why the sun never sets on The British Empire is because God doesn't trust the British in the dark." - Unknown

It's National Cat Day! Now, Where's My Breakfast?

Yes, it is National Cat Day - just like every day!

This is Galahad (aka G-had) seeking food.

Okay, thanks for nothing!

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose." -- Garrison Keillor

So What's the Third Most Spoken Language in Your State?

It's Russian here in Oregon. Never would have guessed that. I am also surprised at French in some places: the Carolinas, West Virginia. I know that Germans comprise the largest group of European immigrants to the USA but the frequency of German - 16 of the states - was unexpected. 

Click to enlarge.

From Slate.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson Mandela

The World Turned Upside Down - Observations from My 2003 Vienna Report

I stumbled upon (euphemism for 'displacement behavior') something I wrote in my last Vienna Report in May 2003. I was in Vienna for a committee meeting at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the United Nations complex. The comments by an IAEA Deputy Director General were quite fascinating, even in 2014. The emboldened remarks were added by me for this post. 

At a reception for our committee in the UN's restaurant one of the Agency's DDGs (Deputy Director-General) made an appearance among hoi polloi, and promptly launched into a lament about his new E-series Mercedes, which wasn't as good as his 5-series BMW, but cost more. Just as we were done commiserating with his misfortune, he launched into his analysis of why the world has been turned upside down, and we soon realized why this guy was a DDG and we were not. "A white man [Eminem] is the world's best rapper. A black man [Tiger Woods] is the world's best golfer. The Germans don't want war. The Italians want fiscal responsibility. The Poles ask the Germans to "contribute" to their military mission. The French think the Americans are arrogant." We all thought of a few things we could add ("Starbucks is in Vienna, across from the Hotel Sacher") but a forthright colleague said it best: "And an IAEA DDG buys a round of drinks." The DDG left after that, saying that he had to get his E-series from the shop.

The title of this post recalls Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown.

Wonder what that DDG is doing today?

To conclude, I'le tell you news that's right, Christmas was kil'd at Naseby fight:
Charity was slain at that same time, Jack Tell troth too, a friend of mine,
Likewise then did die, rost beef and shred pie,
Pig, Goose and Capon no quarter found.
Yet let's be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn'd upside down.
  ^{- Last verse, The World Turned Upside Down}

Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Moron

Hard to believe she really said this. Even harder to recall that a lot of people wanted her to be POTUS.

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out under another, then under another Democrat president, Jimmy Carter. I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.'' - Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), on the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak that happened when Gerald Ford was president (28 April 2009)

The Secret Service: Finally Going to the Dogs!

Fortunately, the Secret Service has finally gone to the dogs!

"Whenever you're faced with an explanation of what's going on in Washington, the choice between incompetence and conspiracy, always choose incompetence." - Charles Krauthammer

This Man is 70 Years Old; He's Looked Like This Since He Was 35

You go, Keith! 

Maybe he'll outlive me.

"I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to his funeral." - Keith Richards

Kitties...Can't Live With 'Em, Can't Live Without 'Em, Can't Teach 'Em Anything

Ah, the Funny Times and kitties!

“What greater gift than the love of a cat.” ― Charles Dickens

Big Noise from Winnetka: Adam Baldwin, The Last Ship, Ebola, and GamerGate

I like Adam Baldwin as an actor. No, not that Adam Baldwin of the Brothers Baldwin - this Adam Baldwin.  I enjoyed him in Firefly and its film continuation, Serenity. He played a tough guy living on the fringes of society, outside the law, sort of a loose cannon, but a real good-bad guy to have on your side.

He currently plays a similar role, but one constrained by the uniform of the U.S. Navy in the TV series, The Last Ship. It's a good show that just got renewed. The premise of that show is that an engineered virus has destroyed 80% of humanity. One ship, the USS Nathan James (Baldwin plays XO Mike Slattery), holds the key to a cure as it sails around seeking supplies and refuge from a Russian ship out to destroy it, but not before obtaining its vaccine. 

But after reading an article by Tabatha Southey in today's Globe and Mail about the 'Gamergate controversy' (Baldwin apparently first used the Twitter hashtag #GamerGate) I'm wondering if Baldwin is taking the script of The Last Ship too seriously. Southey had this to say about Baldwin:

An actor best known for playing a lovable jackass on Firefly who now plays a significantly less loveable jackass on Twitter. Baldwin coined the term Gamergate, which replaced the much-less-likely-to-be-taken-seriously-even-on-the-Internet term Quinnspiracy, and keeps it, and several foundling libertarian conspiracy theories, alive.

Only a man bold enough to tweet questions like, “What hard evidence is there that Obama doesn’t want Ebola in America?” [emboldening mine] can frame the debate around game-journalism ethics without drawing distracting parallels between the arrangements and sympathies occurring within that industry (free games for preview, camaraderie) and the relationship that exists between film critics and movie studios, or between the travel industry and travel writers, about which there’s little hysteria and no threats. (See “Rape.”) How it is that Adam Baldwin is as huge a jackass as he seems to be without being one of the infamous Baldwin brothers remains one of the great mysteries of this whole affair.

As some gamers might say, 'Consider the gender of the writer.'

Why the title of this post? Baldwin was born in Winnetka, IL, namesake of a famous jazz tune. 

He should be moving out of his parents' basement any day now.

I need to rest now. Way too much information for my first day in Vancouver.

"Rape: A hilarious word (like wombat!) to be used whenever you find yourself in an argument with a woman. You don’t even have to wait for an argument. Is there a woman attracting attention of any kind on the Internet? Consider threatening to rape her. Later, suggest she needs to lighten up." - Tabatha Southey, in her Globe and Mail article

Infographic: Internet Facts - 2014

Lurie Austin from Host Advice sent this my way. 

Here is the original infographic and story.

Enjoy!

"The Internet is just a world passing around notes in a classroom." - Jon Stewart 

Want Some Fries With That Ebola?

From Jack Ohman. Excellent!

Don't forget the flu - 54,000 deaths per year from influenza and pneumonia. 

 "His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West

How the IRS Made My Day: Scam 101 Goes Awry

The following exchange made my day at 8 AM today. A recorded message on my home landline with a female robo-voice told me to call the IRS immediately to avoid punitive actions. The return number had a DC area code (which doesn't mean the call came from DC).

I knew it was a scam but decided to return the call because I was curious. What follows is a close approximation to the conversation. The epithets are the exact ones the 'IRS agent' (who had a thick Indian accent) used.

ME: I'm calling about a recent message you left to call this number.

IRS: What is your phone number?

ME: 541-75.....

IRS (interrupting me, shouting): WHAT IS YOUR PHONE NUMBER???

ME (raised voice): I AM TRYING TO GIVE IT TO YOU...541-75.....

IRS: DON'T YELL AT ME, YOU MOTHERF***ER!!!

ME: I was trying to give you my number and you interrupted me.

IRS: MOTHERF***ER!

ME (chuckling): You're a liar - you're not the IRS!

IRS: YOU ARE A MOTHERF***ER!!!

ME (laughing): How's the weather in Bangalore?

 IRS: MOTHER....(click) 

I'm wondering waht the deal was. Was this a 'legitimate scam' (oxymoron) that went awry because the guy lost his temper or someone who gets off yelling epithets at a stranger.

There's likely one more unemployed phone boiler-room worker walking the streets in Bangalore (or some other place) today.

Can't wait until tomorrow morning. 

"Nature abhors a moron." -- H.L. Mencken

The Real Banksy Fires a Salvo

From the mind and hands of banksy...

 

"War is god busness - invest your son." - Unknown

Hello, Ebola. Welcome to the USA, Home of a Superb Health-Care System!

I recall when news of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa first hit the media outlets here. We in the USA were treated to a number of USA officials essentially saying, 'Don't worry folks. The health-care system in the USA is far more advanced than that in West Africa. It's unlikely that the Ebola virus will find its way here, but if it does, we will be able to contain it.'

That made me feel much better, especially since my favorite TV shows have become The Last Ship, The Strain, and Helix, all of which deal with viruses or other pathogens that are extremely virulent and threaten humanity.

But the recent episode in Dallas has put me at unease. A Liberian fellow, Thomas Duncan, walked into the ER at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with fever and other symptoms of Ebola (fever, stomach cramps) and told the ER nurse that he had just flown in from Liberia, one of the hotspots of the epidemic.  The nurse failed to transmit this information to the diagnostic team, so the man was treated and released. Fortunately, he came back when he became sicker. 

Wait a second. Ebola? Liberia? Fever? Duhhh....Where has the aforementioned nurse been for the past few weeks? Good Lord, if those three words in juxtaposition don't raise a red flag to a health care worker, I don't know what would. THPH has blamed the omission on the software glitch (Ah, blame the computer). Had I been the nurse I think I would have picked up the phone (after I stopped shaking) or communicated to the diagnostic team somewhat more directly than using software. [Note added on 4 October 2014: THPH now says that the problem was not with the computer; the diagnostic team got the information on its screen but didn't see it. Stay tuned: the story could mutate faster than a virus.]

It turns out that THPH's ER is less than stellar. 

The folks in Dallas are now tracking down the people who have been in contact with the Duncan, who is now very ill. Let's hope the public health workers are more adept than the THPH folks.

And how did Duncan get here? When he left Liberia, he lied when asked if he had been in contact with Ebola-infected persons (he had, and all have died). So I guess it's not too hard to fly here from West Africa. Liberia is considering criminal charges against him, should he survive. 

I write about this because the health-care communications breakdown in Dallas is all too familiar to Mary Frances and me. Her mother (99 years old) is in a nursing home in Kentucky that is reputed to be one of the best in the area. We have found that the various shifts do not communicate with each other very well and that 'the ball is dropped' quite often. We know this because we have had to hire a minder for my mother-in-law, a young woman who does a great job keeping tabs on the 'professionals' and calling them out when they screw up. 

The Last Ship and Helix are on hiatus now. I think I might skip the last few episodes of The Strain.  

'Bureaucratic time and virus time are different.' - Unknown

The Mysteries of the Author List, Finally Explained

The truth will out!

Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

From PhD Comics via AcademicsSay.

"Academic arguments are the bitterest because the stakes are the lowest." - Unknown, sometimes attributed to Henry Kissinger