Coffee and Provocation

The Approved Drink at Tea Party Orgies:

In the past, I have listed, more than 23 different kinds of birth control, and I actually know many more ancient ones, but boiled beaver testicles is a new one on me!

Perhaps He Has an Inflated Sense of Self-worth?

Scott Smith and his soon-to-be-ex-wife launched a blog about their Pomeranian dog.  The blog only gets 40,000 visitors a month (less than this little effort), but Mr. Smith is suing his ex-wife, claiming the blog is worth $500,000.  And it might be -- in Zimbabwean dollars.

Twitter Returns a Terrier: 

A terrier jmped a train in County Kildare, Ireland and road in to Dublin, getting 500 pats on the head along the way.  And how did the terrier get home?  The train sent out a notice on Twitter.

Does Coffee Offer Some Protection Against Skin Cancer? 

Among the many supposed health marvels of coffee, that is the latest claim.

Human Predators in the Urban Jungle:
The Lotka-Volterra equations describe population dynamics between competing species, and criminologists have now shown that they also describe gang turf boundary formation and violence hot spots.  And to think I could have tossed in some complicated math back when I was writing about the Latin Kings and the White Fence gang!  What a loss!

Eleven Months, 3,000 Pictures, and a Lot of Coffee:

That's what it took to make this amazing video of an engine rebuild.  We don't rebuild anything any more.

Soaking Food with Coffee and Milk:

It seems that if you want to cook fish and avoid the fish odor, simply soak the fish in milk first.  Want to tenderize meat?  Soak it in coffee first.  I have tried neither suggestion -- let me know if you do!
 

Good Luck Beating the Kindle Now:

Guess what computer software titan said that e-readers would never catch on?

Gideon's E-Reader:

A London hotel has said it will put 148 Kindles in every room, pre-loaded with a copy of the Bible.  Rocky Racoon will, no doubt, be amused

Cheapest Windows Upgrade Ever:

Are you interested in a Windows 8 upgrade for $40?  I will be taking advantage of this offer in order to ditch my home computer's "Vista" operating system.   Warning:  Anyone who says "get an Apple," will be required to send me $1,000 in American money to pay for the "Apple Cult" premium.

Yes, I Carry a "Man Bag." 
Of course, it is of the proper and approved "man bag" type. 

Andy Griffith is Dead, But His Message Lives On:
In all the warm lionizing of the man we all wanted to be, how many people remembered that Andy, Opie, and the Fonz stood for Barack Obama?  So too did (and does) Dr. Ralph Stanley.

Mitt Romney's Foreign Donors:

Robert Diamond, the disgraced former Chairman of the lying-and-stealing Barclay’s bank,  has withdrawn as co-host of a London fundraiser for Mitt Romney.  Meanwhile, one of Romney's biggest donors is a business partner of the Chinese Communist dictatorship in a casino-cum-brothel.  Because that's how Mitt Romney rolls.  Banks in the Caymans, does "missionary work" in France, and send jobs to China, Mexico and India.  What an American!

Texas Republican Party Values:

The Texas Republican party has made eliminating critical thinking a plank of their party platform, and put it right up next to repealing the Voting Rights Act.  To be clear, the Texas Republican Party is simply trying to preserve traditional Texas GOP values centered on less democracy, more racism, more greed, more homophobia, fewer facts, and less tolerance. 

An Army of One?

In August 1990, an unemployed French nuclear physicist attempted the single-handed invasion of the Channel Island of Sark off the coast of the U.K.   This might make for a very brief, but funny, movie.

Working the System:

An Illinois group is taking advantage of a Chicago policr gun "buyback" offer to gather up the broken, non-functioning, and otherwise useless firearms owned by it members so they can be turned in for $6,240 to be used to buy new guns and ammunition for an NRA Youth Camp.  Actually, I do not think the police will mind -- broken weapons can be sold and fixed by idiots who do harm, while the folks who attend NRA camps are not likely to be much of a problem and might learn gun safety (no guarantees).

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