Wintertime in the Northeastern USA is a delight -- if you're ten, and maybe 16 or 25. I fall into none of those categories and, as a tip of the hat to my minimally returning Russian readers (former KGB, bread bakers, hackers, whomever) no, I don't think vacationing in Siberia would be my preference, either.
That said, please be aware that blog entries here may slow over the next two or three months because extreme temperatures and I don't function very well together -- and since scientists determined a few years ago that human brains temporarily shrink during winter, you're not likely to get any more coherence out of my thoughts than usual, probably less. Pretty sad, huh?
Actually, (I hate sentences starting out with that word, yet look at me!), my mental stability may already be changing, as I discovered and find quite interesting some music and music videos by the artist known as Watsky. His variety of music and I are about as far apart as two strangers can get, but occasionally even an observer of geezer status can appreciate the rare intellect expressed by a young artist. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow, this will all be a fantasy, and I'll retreat back to mellow vocalizations from Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Barry Manilow and Cannibal Corpse.
But here we are, a typical December for me. As customary, my files are crammed with stories about which I intended to comment, but simply did not have the time to do so as 2018 waited in the shadows to proclaim what's old is old again.
For instance, there's a medical news gem about stents not really doing much to control pain and discomfort suffered by cardiac patients, while other sources convincingly covered fabricated evidence designed to promote the UN's global warming agenda. In London, acid attacks are on the increase, harpooning residents with fear about going outside any time of the day or night (we hasten to add that acid attacks to the face seem to be popular among the Islamic set -- not that London or its Muslim mayor would know anything about that, of course).
Meanwhile, in another obvious homage to United Nations lunatics who spend every waking moment devising plans to wield immense power and deprive individuals and their governing bodies of influence, warnings erupted about family pets -- dogs and cats especially -- contributing to climate change due to a meat diet. It's been a very long time since I analyzed cat and dog farts for content, but. . .well, I never actually did that, but apparently if I had the results would be stunning. What's the solution -- convince your cat that meatless, gluten-free rodents are the way to go? Can your dog survive on protein shakes and bean burgers?
' course, when I think of dogs and cats I think of tapeworms, and wasn't it fascinating that doctors extracted a huge worm from a North Korean defector who endured a lead shower while escaping a few weeks ago? Hardly surprising. Some time ago, I mentioned working at an Air Force base back in the seventies whose hospital lab personnel maintained a mini-museum of specimen jars containing parasitic worms removed from foreign military personnel. These were primarily pilot trainees from Iran and other nations seldom noted for exemplary medical care -- and apparently diets of horror. North Korea seems to "take the cake" for bad food hiding under a cloud of mass starvation, if indeed food is the term, and that's one cake nobody should have to swallow.
During the summer, conservative champion Pat Buchanan clicked out a superb and memorable piece about why and how those on the political left are filled with extraordinary hatred, and a better case for who really are the haters and racists can hardly be made. Visit the Net and look up Buchanan's June 16, 2017 article.
Unfortunately, many of the people who won't read Buchanan's piece are millennials, just determined via a Harvard poll to prefer Democrats two to one over Republicans. A significant share of blame for the fact that the left still has an ability to hypnotize the ill-informed by way of its overwhelmingly leftist-dominated media goes to Republicans themselves, who whimper and retreat at the mere hint of a Democrat scolding.
We wonder if millennials and those coming after will know or care what's hit them if predictions of European Muslim populations tripling by 2050 prove accurate?
One thing we can take seriously from the United Nations is a dire warning that nature itself is likely to brew drug-resistant bacteria, helped along by toxins and other substances with which humans abundantly saturate the environment and ecosystem. Hand in hand with this, consequences may already be reflected in another recent news report indicating that antibiotic resistance has already pointed toward a decrease in human life expectancy in terms of, not fractions of a day or week, but by years. On the bright side: If you hate your neighbors, maybe it's only a matter of time before you can kiss their asses goodbye. Then again, on the not-so-bright side. . .
So long humans? For elephants and other wildlife tortured under our very existence, that wouldn't be a bad deal. Recent photos of bored youth and adults in India throwing burning balls of tar on elephants just to cause pain and watch them burn are a prime example of why we humans have overstayed our welcome. A New York Times expose' about the illicit international trade in apes, acquired through beatings and drugs, is another eye-opener. By the time we perfect artificial intelligence and AI goes on to perfect itself without our help, watch out!
Bloomberg released a very well-researched piece about the Nestle Company and other industries gaining access to community spring water and bottling it for sale at almost no cost whatsoever. The deeper concern is whether water bottlers deplete forever the resources they extract, and this should certainly be a concern as the world approaches wars for access to clean water on a level similar to earlier wars for oil. Humans continue to transform a beautiful planet into a toilet, and again we suggest babies are not cute anymore when we examine the total picture.
We note actress Pamela Anderson's comments that women in Hollywood and beyond shouldn't be surprised when they meet men in secluded settings for supposed job interviews and terrible things happen. We predict Ms. Anderson will not be given a woman of the year award by the feminist community based upon this advice.
Then again, fear can work two ways. How about the woman professor at the University of California who denounces traditional science, desiring instead to replace it with "a much needed anti-science, antiracist, feminist approach to knowledge. . ." etc., etc. To us, THAT's scarier than Harvey Weinstein in a hotel room.
Our favorite racists, the Southern Poverty Law Center, found time in August to proclaim three large U.S. Army bases willing bastions of the Confederacy because of their monuments and such memorabilia. Is there possibly a Southern Poverty Psychiatry Center available to take a good close look at these alleged law folk who, according to some sources, have upper echelon leaders making a pretty good buck off this operation?
We assume the SPLC and others of a similar ilk support colleges and universities currently going bonkers over ridding male students of "toxic masculinity?" Maybe feminist students and faculty incensed over the fact that men even exist at all should become more concerned about a future society dominated by AI in which here won't be many human jobs remaining. The Guardian has been very clear about this future when AI superiority and job loss will cause quite a dilemma -- and, at long last, nobody can blame toxic masculinity on a robot.
By the way, we loved a story about a prominent geologist who viewed Al Gore's new climate disaster movie and was "appalled" -- no, not the way you think. He was appalled at what a piece of crap Gore's way under-attended film turned out to be.
The Big Worry: China's advancement in quantum computing vs. the U.S. which may need to catch up quickly, according to a report offered by McClatchy News.
Iraq appears rather energized about proclaiming the end of ISIS. Trouble is, Iran has already made great studies into Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, so that's not exactly a paradise in the making. At least not from a U.S. point of view.
Finally this: We were much intrigued by a story a few months ago regarding how the human brain seems to actually eat itself if sleep-deprived. That's an interesting hypothesis but, we ask, can this account for brain dysfunction and silliness in young people and professors who currently take themselves as seriously as death as they spend every WAKING moment attempting to conquer "toxic masculinity?"
We may or may not return before the end of the year, but until and unless, for now we wish our readers who celebrate the season a merry Christmas and a very pleasant new year. I guess the rest of you are doomed -- but keep reading!
