Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Our Wacky World—7/8/2015

"Donald Feathertone, creator of the iconic pink plastic flamingo that has decorated lawns for decades, died Monday… Featherstone died one day before National Pink Flamingo Day, a day created in his honor in 2007 by Dean Mazzarella, mayor of Leominster, Massachusetts, to honor the 50th anniversary of the plastic flamingo's creation in his town."
CNN


Safety last; so little time, so many ways to die:
'Russian Interior Ministry concerned about the increasing incidence of trauma and even death when trying to make a unique self. Each of these cases can be prevented. To this end, the Russian Interior Ministry memo created "Safe Self", designed to draw attention, first of all young people to this problem. We have tried to visualize, in the form of icons, represent the most traumatic cases the creation of self, thus to warn citizens against undue risk for a memorable picture. 
'When a person is trying to take a picture of himself - he scattered attention, he lost his balance, he does not look around and did not feel in danger. Do Self, making sure that you are in a safe place and your life is not in danger!'
MVD

The high resolution pdf of the entire brochure is here.

Hillary Rodham, rebel
"Despite the fact that Dinesh D’souza is a convicted felon and a serial liar, he is still something of a folk hero on the far right... To his followers, whether or not his attacks against Democratic political leaders are accurate or not is largely irrelevant… However, by circulating a doctored photo of Hillary Clinton, Dinesh D’Souza has merely confirmed what was already obvious to all but the cable news networks and his most ardent right-wing supporters. Dinesh D’Souza lacks intellectual honesty and critical discernment, and he doesn’t have an ounce of integrity."
Politics USA

“...Gavrilo Princip. Most of the world view him as a fanatic who triggered World War I with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. However, Serbia just honored him with a statue — commemorated by President Tomislav Nikolic, who heralded Princip as a freedom fighter and hero.”
Jonathan Turley


What dyslexia looks like:
"A graphic designer, ...he designed a typeface that is intentionally difficult to read. Because it slows down reading time, it's meant to simulate how it feels to read with dyslexia."
CNN


"Some 553 patients were given the unnecessary cancer treatments to 553 patients before Fata was arrested in 2013. He was accused of $35 million in Medicare fraud. He pleaded guilty in the fall to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges.”
Jonathan Turley


Now for the really fun stuff. Let’s start off with the latest twist in the Duggar Family Molestation Saga™:
"A non-Duggar family molestation victim is preparing to file a civil suit against Josh Duggar, sources tell In Touch magazine exclusively in the new issue on newsstands today. 
"The shocking development means that Josh and his parents Jim Bob and Michelle could be forced to give depositions and testify about Josh’s molestation scandal. The Duggars likely will have to answer every question as they will not be able to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because the criminal statute of limitations has expired.”
Emphasis added. Let the amnesia begin. (In Touch Weekly)


Religiosity vs. secularism—the latest poll results and the reasons for the changes in America:
"Just a generation ago, if you had religious doubts but lived in small-town America, you had no one to talk to. You had to keep your ideas to yourself and stay in the closet.

"Now, thanks to the Internet, you can connect with virtual communities of secularists all over the globe. In this day of instant information, any bizarre claim by religion [or anything else] can be instantly Googled. In many cases, the sites debunking religious claims will be in the top few hits (e.g, Scientology). Anyone with just a bit of curiosity or doubt, especially among the younger generations, can find things in just a few seconds that I never encountered in years of reading and searching when I was young and questioning my family’s Presbyterian faith.
No shit. Add to that paranormal bullshit artists like von Däniken and Berlitz as well. Astrology and the Bermuda Triangle. Debunkers were in short supply back then. (Skeptic)

Your Safety Last—click for story
Ex-Baltimore cop sees the light:
“...sitting in the van and watching people just living their lives, I started to see that these were just people. The main difference is that as a white kid growing up in my neighborhood, I was never going to get arrested for playing basketball in the street. I was never going to get patted down because I was standing on a street corner. There was no chance I was going to get a criminal record early on for basically being a kid. 
"When you watch people for hours and hours like that, you start to see the big picture. You start to see the cycle of how these kids get put in the system at a young age, often for doing nothing wrong, and how that limits their options, which pushes them into selling drugs or other crime. You start to see that they never had a chance."
Washington Post


Boy does this refrain sound familiar:
'But what if your dog or cat doesn’t tolerate BARF World pet food? Not to worry. Some may exhibit brief symptoms of “detox,” like diarrhea and vomiting, but this is normal, especially when converting from a “processed diet.”
'BARF World also sells a lot of other CAM stuff for your pet, such as Kefir and “Eastern Medicine” herbal supplement formulas. For example, “G.I Tract Herbal Formula for Dogs,” “harmonizes the stomach,” and, as an added bonus, “helps maintain contentment during travel” for dogs that have digestion issues, as well as those who “don’t want to travel in a vehicle.” You can even get a consultation with a “holistic” vet.'
Science-based Medicine



Another day, another doomed victim of cancer + quacks:
'In addition, I did 4-5 coffee enemas per day. The vegetable juices act like magnets, pulling toxins out of the cells and into the bloodstream. The body's entire blood stream filters through the liver once every three minutes. With so many juices, my liver was capturing and managing a lot of toxins. The coffee enemas force the liver to open up and release its' accumulated toxins. I learned pretty quickly that the coffee enemas were a good thing. If I went too long without one, I experienced abdominal pain or headaches. [like caffeine withdrawal?] My Gerson doctor said the pain was caused by toxins in my bloodstream pushing on nerve endings. Once I took a "coffee break", the pain went away. (We began using the term "coffee break" consistently in our home after we learned that our two and four year old daughters were running around the neighborhood telling everyone that mommy was in the house doing coffee enemas)’
Yeah, that was a long quote but MAN (*facepalm*). She’s doing the infamous “Gerson protocol”, among other things.
'In the alternative world [aka the "not real world"], doctors realize it's not stable cancer cells that kill people, it's proliferative, active cancer cells that kill. So, if I could keep the disease stable, I could live a very long life.’
Curing Myeloma


Eddie Van Halen on oral cancer:
“I used metal picks -- they’re brass and copper -- which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer,” he says. “Plus, I basically live in a recording studio that’s filled with electromagnetic energy. So that’s one theory. I mean, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything. But at the same time, my lungs are totally clear. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it’s possible.”
Right. (Billboard)