Saturday, September 08, 2007

[blogfocus saturday] putting us straight

Popcorn

1. Jams O'Donnell puts us straight as to the dangers of popcorn:

Microwave popcorn is a tasty snack but it is potentially lethal. The threat does not from choking or anaphylaxis but from an incurable condition known as popcorn workers' lung.

It was the love of microwave buttered popcorn that caused a relatively healthy 53-year-old American to develop severe breathing problems. The cause of his illness was tracked down to the microwave popcorn he loved so much that he would inhale steam from the bag as it came out of the oven.

2. Ross Fountain puts us straight as to the dangers of pit bull owners:

I missed the Panorama edition on dog fighting last week and saw it for the first time last night on the BBC's sign language zone late at night. Watching the sign language for phrases like 'vicious dog' was somewhat disconcerting at first, as it seems to involve snarling like a dog.

I made my own
thoughts about Pit Bulls clear a few months ago, in short not only are they intrinsically dangerous and unpredictable animals but the people who own them are the more likely to be the sort who would bring out the worst in any dog.

Popcorn from a different angle

3. Trixy puts us straight as to the dangers of calling a Constitution a Treaty:

It couldn't be plainer, could it. It is being referred to by MEPs as the 'Constitutional Treaty'. It's not a 'reform treaty' and Brown and Miliband are wrong when they say that they are fundamentally different treaties. And they know they are wrong, because even though they come out with claims about 'red lines' even European Commissioners are saying that they are lines in the sand, and not concrete.

4. Sean Jeating puts us straight as to the dangers of underwear:

"It has neither to do anything with politics, nor with language and literature."

"It's part of Omnium", said Tetrapilotomos. "Isn't it politics that your 83-years-old mother-in-law is demonstrating to her neighbours - and thus to the world - that she is ready for another season? And isn't it lovely to make a joke about her "unspeakables", and she would wholehearted laugh about her wicked son-in-law?"

When you understand this, e-mail me and explain it, would you?

Less clear photo of popcorn from an entirely different angle

5. Winfred Mann puts us straight as to the dangers of being a fat slug:

In fact, though Moore doesn't mention it in Sicko, all industrialized nations are struggling with soaring costs, due to new technologies and aging populations. Another subject that the obviously overweight director Moore doesn't bring up is that many U.S. experts are now saying that the best way to live longer and cut healthcare costs is simply diet and exercise.

6. Onyx Stone puts us straight as to the dangers of not thinking out the Milky Way:

If you have a distorted brain like mine, you've probably wondered about the angle on which the Milky Way cuts across the sky. It's just all wrong. The Moon orbits the Earth around the equator. Both north poles point roughly in the same direction. In like manner, the Earth orbits the Sun around its equator and, again, both north poles point in roughly the same direction. But neither the Sun nor the Earth are in-line with plane of the Milky Way. And the question is, why?

Finally, a photo of popcorn

7. John Hirst puts us straight as to the dangers of scrambled brains from being a Bilderberger:

"Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, said he wanted parents to take responsibility for their children's behaviour". Like, for example, Tony Blair took responsibility for his behaviour of going into an illegal war with Iraq? I don't think it is just the children and their parents who are to blame, I believe that teachers and the government have to share the blame.

8. Ordo puts us straight as to the dangers of taking the Michael out of the English:

The likelihood is that Wales would do better financially from the public coffers by now if she had been treated as a region of England. According to the latest figures north-east England, for example - the region closest to us when it comes to economic performance - receives more public money per head than Wales.

That's it until Wednesday evening. Hopefully see you then.

[great flatterers] who was the worst

Wonderful and distinguished readers - who were, in your esteemed opinion, the worst three flatterers of all time?

1. Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli

2. James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck

3. Dr John H. Watson

4. King Canute's courtiers

5. Hazel Anne Blears, member for Salford

6. Martin Van Buren, 8th President

7. Edward Gibbon

8. Heinrich Himmler

9. Condoleeza Rice

10. [Insert name here]

If you can spare a few seconds of your extremely valuable time, please select your three worst, if it's not too much trouble.

[mandelson] philosopher extraordinaire

Photo shamelessly stolen from the BBC because I couldn't be a-sed finding another of him

Peter Mandelson is a genius of the first order - I'm now convinced of that. Witness his statement where he gets right to the nub of the issue without any prompting from Sutherland and the brotherhood:

Mr Mandelson said those calling for a referendum often wanted the UK to withdraw from the EU.

Now it takes a special kind of intelligence to make a statement like that.

[apec] more than photo opportunities

Note JH's extraordinary camera sense - the question is; "Which camera?"

There'll be some meaningless conciliation, some equally meaningless sabre rattling plus a run through of the measures for the new era we're now entering:
Crews in Sydney, Australia are building a 5.5-kilometre steel-and-concrete fence to keep demonstrators and delegates apart at next week's APEC summit. The Sydney Opera House and hotels that will house more than 5,000 delegates will be hidden behind the barrier for the Sept. 2-9 meetings.
Great stuff. And on the steps of the opera house will be re-enacted the first hanging, drawing and quartering of dissidents who have had the temerity to question whether the boys and girls up top really are representing our interests or not.

The format of this post is dedicated to Richard Madeley's Appreciation Society - he knows why.

Friday, September 07, 2007

[sppna] trust us - it's all for you

From the site:

"The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers […] The SPP is a White House-driven initiative. "

It only regulates these areas:

a. defense

b. the judiciary

c. education

d. social security

... and simply:

e. opens the borders and creates access and egress via the state constructed NAFTA Superhighways

f. creates a free economic zone within NA shores

… run by the North American Advisory Council [CFR appointees - p53]

Everything else will be under the control of the individual nations. Absolutely nothing to worry about, especially if you're Mexican. And I'm sure all Canadians and U.S. citizens will welcome the underprivileged classes of Mexico with open arms.

[the art of giving] the art of receiving

When I was teaching decades ago in Australia, our year level went on a "Weekaway Camp" and there was a small lake and on the lake were kids in canoes. I sat on the bank, canoe at the ready and supervised the thing.

There was a boy, a bit of a rough nut, very awkward with emotions and he had his eye on the Greek goddess Alexandra but despite all his bravado and hard man status, he couldn't bring himself to approach her.

Then I watched him go to a clump of bushes and rip off one of the branches with yellow flowers on it. I was about to have a go at him when he started acting strangely, making straight for the canoe and holding the bit of branch as if there were no tomorrow, taking the paddle in one hand and paddling over to the island.

Then I tumbled to it - the GG and other girl were there - it was going to be interesting. He paddled right up against her canoe and knocked it so she sat down heavily and then he just thrust the branch into her hands without ceremony and looked down.

The next bit mortified me.

She took every flower off the branch one by one and threw them in the water, then threw the branch after it and stared at him. He simply didn't know how to respond. He turned and paddled away and was quiet for the evening.

I asked her later why she'd done that and in a guttural voice, she said: "Dyou think I want anything from him?"

I said I hadn't asked that - I wanted to know why she'd done the pulling off of the flowers and so on and then the grand dramatic flourish at the end. But the question produced no result and I learnt a lesson from that when our main sportsman waited for me on the landing one day and pushed a flower into my hand before lessons, turned on his heel and went back in the room.

I still haven't got over that one.

Near Christmas, one of my boys said to me to "wait there" and then went off and got his mum and her friend who'd been distributing Paterson's cakes to all the staff, took one from the stack in her arms and said: "Here's yours."

I still haven't got over that one either.