A bit of humor

Noticed this quote on Jeff Kimmel's blog and thought it was too funny. From the late comedian Mitch Hedberg -

When you go to a restaurant on the weekends and it’s busy they start a waiting list. They start calling out names, they say “Dufrane, party of two. Dufrane, party of two.” And if no one answers they’ll say their name again. “Dufrane, party of two, Dufrane, party of two.” But then if no one answers they’ll just go right on to the next name. “Bush, party of three.” Yeah, but what happened to the Dufranes? No one seems to give a shit. Who can eat at a time like this - people are missing. You fuckers are selfish… the Dufranes are in someone’s trunk right now, with duct tape over their mouths. And they’re hungry! That’s a double whammy. We need help. Bush, search party of three! You can eat when you find the Dufranes.

A few other good oneliners from MItch - "Tortillas are sleeping bags for ground beef." -

"You know they call corn on the cob, corn on the cob, but that's how it comes out of the ground, man. They should call that corn, they should call every other version corn off the cob. It's not like if you cut off my arm you would call it Mitch. Then reattach it and call me Mitch-all-together..."

"Once I saw this wino who was eating grapes, and I said, "Dude, you have to wait".

"Mr. Pibb is a replica of Dr. Pepper, but it's a bullshit replica, 'cuz the dude didn't even get his degree. Alright."

"You know that Pepperidge Farm bread, that stuff is fancy. That stuff is wrapped twice. You open it, and it still ain't open. That's why I don't buy it, I don't need another step between me and toast."

"I make instant oatmeal in the morning then I don't do shit for an hour. Makes me wonder why I need the instant oatmeal, I could make the regular oatmeal and feel productive."

"I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've travelled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so that the map will not fall down."

Mitch is my kind of guy. :) I'll send you a few more of his one-liners in the days to come.

Phishing, Podcasting, RSS - huh??

Lee Rainie from the Pew Internet and American Life Project sends word of new survey results that he calls a "sobering reminder that internet users aren't as steeped in new internet phenomena as the people who work in IT-related industries or cover technology news."
According to Pew's data, only 29 percent of American have a good idea what phishing is; the numbers are lower (13 percent) for podcasting , and RSS feeds (nine percent).

Not very surprising - most folks barely know how to browse the Net, let alone send an email. I guess they must have a life, unlike myself and apparently YOU, who are reading this at the moment. LOL

Photo of the Day
I must be into flowers lately. Actually, it is so bloody hot, I have little desire to go further out into nature, other than a stroll in to the Gardens here at the Fox Hill Inn As with all these photos, a click on the picture here leads to the full sized image with greater detail. Canon 20D; 100mm EF2.8 Macro USM lens - 1/60th@f5.6 ISO 200

Picture of the Day

The Hollyhocks are shooting up there this time of year. A good 6-7' tall now. This one's blossom hasn't gotten attacked by bugs yet. And believe me, the bugs love these plants. Click on the picture for larger and more detailed view. Taken with Canon 20D, 100mm EF2.8Macro USM lens.


A tall plant (Alcea rosea) native to the Middle East and widely cultivated for its showy clusters of very large, variously colored flowers. Also called althea.

[Middle English holihocke, marsh mallow : holi, holy; see holy + hoc, mallow (from Old English).]

Ebay Stock Rocks!

On the back of big earnings, Ebay's stock is soaring today some 20%. Whew! Wish I had bought that puppy.

Computers
Firefox updates to 1.06 to fix the things it screwed up with its 1.05 release a few days ago. You can get it here . If you use Roboform, you should go read the instructions for installing the Netscape Adapter for Roboform. (you need to remove the current one you have installed via Control Panel / Add/Remove Software and then follow the instructions to install the Firefox Roboform extension ).

Scrapbook adds a beta to it's already fabulous extension for Firefox. Pick it up at this Scrapbook beta site . It and Answers.com make using the Net a worthwhile endeavor.

Spotlight of the Day
John Scopes was found guilty of teaching Darwinism, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, in a Tennessee high school on this date in 1925. Though Scopes was fined $100, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the verdict on a technicality. The trial, which became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial , was tried by two very famous lawyers, Clarence Darrow for the defense and prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. It was only in 1968 that the US Supreme Court overturned a similar law in Arkansas. Source - Answers.com

Quote of the Day
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt - Clarence Darrow

Hot and Humid Baby

Boy, when is this humidity gonna break? Took a trip to Winston Salem today - think this was a big mistake. Temps in the mid 90's and I 'd swear the humidity is over 100%. AT 7:40 p.m the temp is 90 with the heat index 96 - welcome to the South - ugh. Reminds me of my days in Atlanta. Nice to drag my laptop along and sit in an air-conditioned Panera Bread store and update all the programs I have that always require big downloads. Takes seconds and with JiWire's Spotlock security system ($5/month), I feel a lot more secure than before with no security.

Photo of the Day
These little fellas are the bane of all gardeners (not that I'm a gardener!). They sure love these shasta daisys. Tried to shoot this critter using my tripod, but too hard to maneuver it around and finally gave up. Bumped up the ISO to 800 so that I could shoot at faster shutter speed (slight breeze blowing) and took the best depth of field I could. Click on the photo for the full sized image

Freedom over money?

It's the freest lifestyle I've ever known. There's not a lot of money in it, but I do all right. It's a tradeoff…freedom or money, freedom or money…I'll take the freedom.

- Dick Grayson, New Orleans street musician

I woke up this morning, turned on the tube, and enjoyed a good hour of street music from LA, New Orleans, and NYC. If you get the Sundance channel, check out the movie Playing for Change . Some of the best music comes from street musicians. I still remember the group from Peru playing on a street corner in Portland, OR - turned me on to the music of the Andes and those incredible pan flutes. If you're in NYC, just traveling the subways introduces you to an incredible variety of acts (those folks you see playing in the subways and performing their art have to audition for those spots!). Worth a look (and a listen).

Tiger Cruises to Another Major win

Tiger made it look easy yesterday. Monty gave him a bit of a run, much to the excitement of the flag waving Scots, but it wasn't one of those William Wallace days (Braveheart) and he faded over the last 9 holes. Tiger must be getting a chuckle out of those doubters over the past few years who thought he had lost his touch. 2 Majors already this year with another coming up. Can he win a 3rd? (PGA Championship Aug 11th-14th) He's already 2 ahead of Jack's record of 18 when Jack was Tiger's age. There aren't many who can match Tiger's intensity and focus - in other sports, Roger Fedderer (Tennis) and Lance Armstrong (bicyling) come to mind. But has Tiger won the hearts of sports fans like Arnold Palmer did? Some don't think so .

Mozilla/Firefox Adapter for Roboform Released

I have to give credit to Roboform. After Firefox suddenly released version 1.05 and users of Roboform found that it would crash every time they ran the two together, Roboform tech guys jumped on it and in little over a day, came up with a fix. So if you use Roboform and Firefox, then head here for version 6.3.7 of the adapter.

Golf
If you're into Golf, then tomorrow is your day. Tune in at 8 a.m. Eastern on ABC to see the final round of the British Open. Tiger has a 2 shot lead over Jose Maria Olazabal with Montgomerie and Goosen 3 back and Faxon and Garcia 4 back. Should be a great event.

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, of Kitchen Confidential fame, will have his own show (Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations) on the Travel Channel . Look for it starting July 25th at 10 p.m ET/ PT. (if you use Firefox, add it to your DoMe plugin task list). I listened to him read his book (Kitchen Confidential) through a digital download on Audible.com. That was an experience! He is one off the wall chef! I learned a lot about running a busy NYC restaurant though and if you don't mind a bit of profanity (understatement), you'll find this a great read.

Firefox 1.05 and Roboform Incompatibility

I posted yesterday that Firefox 1.05 is now out, but you shouldn't install it yet if you use Roboform. It will crash Firefox every time. I'll update this when I see a fix. (apparently Roboform got zero information from Mozilla that they were coming out with 1.05, so it will take Roboform about a week to fix this problem - hopefully sooner).

Photo of the Day

Closeup macro shot of bumblee on coneflower, also known as echinacea. (Click on image for full sized view).

A popular herbal remedy, or botanical, believed to benefit the immune system; it is used especially to alleviate common colds and the flu. Echinacea is extracted from the roots and flowering tops of the purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia and E. purpurea). Echinacea should not be used in progressive systemic and auto-immune disorders such as tuberculosis, leicosis, connective tissue disorders, collagenosis and related diseases such as lupus erythematosus, according to the German Kommission E. Its use in AIDS or opportunistic infections in AIDS patients is controversial.

If used for more than 8 weeks, echinacea may cause liver damage.² It should not be used with other known hepatotoxic drugs such as anabolic steroids, amiodarone (Pacerone® or Cordarone®), methotrexate or ketoconazole (Nizoral®).

So use some caution when consuming a lot of this. I take methotrexate, so this information was quite relevant. I didn't realize the danger was hepatoxicity - i thought the issue was that it enhanced the immune system and thus would be contraindicated with a disease such as mine (rheumatoid arthritis), where the idea is to damp the immune system down (or the part of it that is doing damage) . That is the prevalent theory amongst most rheumatologists, although there is debate about this as well (there's always a debate in medicine).

Firefox 1.05 Released

With a host of security fixes, Firefox 1.05 was released today. You can get it here

Science
Discovery was scrubbed today due to fuel sensor problems and most likely would have been scrubbed for weather. Tune in tomorrow.

Sports
Michelle Wie (the 15 yr old phenom) kept her hopes alive in the men's Amateur Public LInks by shooting a 72 which just snuck her into match play today. If she were to win this event, she'd get an invite to the Men's Masters. Now how cool would that be? Of course, some men have grumbled, saying that she should stay on the women's tour since men aren't allowed to play on the women's tour. What's your opinion?

Movies
Saw Hotel Rwanda last nite on Direct TV. I liked the performance by Don Cheadle but the movie, despite the horror behind it, wasn't gritty enough for me. Nick Nolte in his powder blue UN getup just didn't cut it for me - he looked stupid (as most of these UN guys do in these stupid outfits) and it turned it a bit too Hollywoodish for me. Still, it is amazing how the world can sit on its hands throughout these massacres, just as it has done in Darfur . Obviously, since Rwanda offers little political advantage to politicans in the Western World, they just don't give a shit. We can spend billions attacking a country that likes to play a bluff game, (but wasn't imminently dangerous), while we stand by and let 800,000 people be hacked to death. (For background info on the genocide, check out this BBC article ).

TV
If you get the chance, tune in to PBS's presentation of Jared Diamond's Pulitizer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel .Inspired by a question put to him on the island of Papua New Guinea more than thirty years ago, Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality. The three one-hour programs were filmed across four continents on High Definition digital video, and combinied ambitious dramatic reconstruction with moving documentary footage and computer animation. They also include contributions from Diamond himself and a wealth of international historians, archeologists and scientists. To find out when it comes on in your area, head for the PBS TV Schedule .

Web Site of the Day
Old Grandma Hardcore

Discovery Mission

Turn on your TV sets around 3 p.m Eastern to get ready for Discovery's blastoff. The stakes are large for NASA -"A triumphant launch and especially a safe landing is deemed an "absolute prerequisite" to NASA’s future plans, suggested John Logsdon, Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.

"NASA needs to get shuttle flying to finish the International Space Station. It needs to retire the shuttle as soon as possible and replace it with newer, safer, systems," Logsdon told SPACE.com , while getting started on human exploration beyond Earth orbit.

"None of this is likely to happen if this mission fails badly," Logsdon advised. "So this launch ranks up there with Alan Shepard and John Glenn’s Mercury missions and Apollo 11 in its significance."

For more about what will take place on the shuttle, head to Mission: Safety .

Rudy Chapa link - 404 Not Found

It seems like there is a lot of traffic to this site looking for the Rudy Chapa running story which was originally at http://www.midwestrunning.com/features/chapajuly2003.html. However, this was taking down by the site for reasons unknown to me, so hopefully you will notice this post before doing a search and wandering off on wayward excursions.

RSS feed for this site

In case you are using a News Aggegrator to read this site, the new feed address is http://feeds.feedburner.com/PontificatingFromTheMountain

Curry Spice Shuts down Melanoma

Curcumin, the ingredient that gives curry its yellow hue, blocked the growth of melanoma tumor cells and even stimulated their death in the laboratory, researchers report .

"We could completely inhibit the growth of the tumor if we used a big enough dose," said study co-author Bharat B. Aggarwal, chief of the Cytokine Research Section in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. His report is set to appear in the Aug. 15 issue of Cancer.

Aggarwal and his colleagues exposed three different cell lines of melanoma to curcumin, which is found in turmeric, a spice used in curry dishes. Exposure to curcumin decreased the cell viability of all three cell lines, they found.

They zeroed in on a molecule called NF-kappa B, which is known to be overactive in several types of tumors, including melanoma. The turmeric shut down the molecule and that lead to inhibition of the tumor growth, Aggarwal explained.

In other preliminary research, including some by Aggarwal's team, turmeric has proven useful in treating multiple myeloma, as well as breast and pancreatic cancers.

Having had really bad sunburns as a kid and being fair-skinned (an indication of my regal English heritage, I'm sure), I'm no doubt a prime candidate for a nice big fat melanoma, so this is good news, in particular, since I already ingest the stuff as an anti-inflammatory for my RA.

Don't Like to Read?

Stumbled across this well written and very funny article on reading and those who can't stand the thought of picking up a book.. If you don't read, how do you think? Through tv? Through gossip? If you don't read, how can I possibly relate to you? If you don't have a library, no matter how small, or a book splayed face down on your coffee table, how will I be able to see your brain?

Web Site of the Day
Your Birthday

Mucous Recovery System?

While watching the Dolans yesterday on CNN, there was a discussion about health care costs and some of the crazy charges that one finds on their bill. How about $30 for a box of Kleenex - listed under "Mucous Recovery System". God, I love bureaucrats.

Photos of the Day

Decided I had spent enough time surfing the Net today, so grabbed the camera and headed outside. (Besides, after the post above, thought you needed something more pleasant to dwell on. :) The winds were beginning to pick up as we got the fringes of Dennis, but was able to grab a few quick shots before it became impossible. Usually need a tripod for these shots, but bees are quick moving so I often find it necessary to pump up the ISO and shutter speed and cross my fingers. Click the picture for the full sized image.


Here's a macro of a day lily that I liked for its simplicity and brilliant colors. (click for full sized image)

If you get the chance sometime, tune in on Saturday mornings (9 a.m. Eastern) to CNN's Turnaround Show with Ali Velshi . He stops in for a few days with different folks who are starting up small businesses or have been established for a short time and want to turnaround their stores or businesses to achieve better results. He generally brings in an expert from outside to suggest ideas and to formulate a plan. Today's show was an interesting one with a guy who ran a Pet Supply store catering to the "elite". Quite interesting to see all the little factors you have to take into account to make yourself successful. I've alway enjoyed reading about business (probably why I subscribe to Fortune, Forbes, Kiplinger, Smart Money and god knows how many others) and sometimes think life would have been a lot more fun (and challenging), had I gone the small business route rather than plowing away at corporate America. It's never too late, eh? :)

Another show that used to be on CNNfn on a daily basis was the Dolans , which has now moved to CNN, since CNNfn folded (a shame, as it was my #1 financial show in the morning). The Dolans are now on only once a week on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. A husband and wife team (she seems to be the one with the most sense and he seems more the buffoon), they offer some excellent advice on all kinds of consumer matters and do it in a way that the average consumer knows what they heck they are talking about. They've been doing this kind of consumer/money shows a long, long time. Worth a listen. You almost always pick up something you can use .


Factoid of the Day

The patent for the Corncob pipe was granted today in 1878.

"Corncob" pipes made from maize cobs are cheap and effective, even if some regard them as inelegant. The cobs are first dried for two years. Then they are hollowed out to make a bowl shape. The bowls are dipped in a plaster-based mixture and varnished or laquered on the outside. Shanks made from Pine wood are then inserted into the bowls. The first and largest manufacturer of corncob pipes is Missouri Meerschaum, located in Washington, Missouri in the USA [1] ( http://www.corncobpipe.com/ ). Missouri Meerschaum has produced the pipes since 1869. General Douglas MacArthur was perhaps the most famous smoker of this type of pipe, along with the cartoon character Popeye.

Corncob pipes remain popular today because they are inexpensive and require no "break-in" period like briar pipes. For these two reasons, corncob pipes are often recommended as a "Beginners pipe." But, their enjoyment is by no means limited to beginners. Corncob pipes are equally valued by both learners, and experienced smokers who simply desire a cool, clean smoke.

Photo of the Day

I was recently in Asheville, NC and saw this decorative molding around a store window. Liked the spirals, the texture, the colors. Click on the picture for full sized image.

Wie Misses the Cut

A real bummer. I watched practically her whole round and at -4 with the cut line at -3, I was sure she had it made, but then with 4 holes left, she double bogied and it was like watching a pin pop a balloon. You could see the 15 year old then, although I'm sure anyone under those circumstances would have been really disappointed. She finished at -1, 2 strokes away from making the cut. It was great theater though and I'm sure she will be back - she is absolutely awesome for a girl her age.

Politics
I found it interesting to watch Tony Blair in his news conference today. You could see how he was trying to put a good spin on the G8 (and there were some good things to come out of it), but it was tough, because the big boys didn't really have the guts to pull it all off. They should have all been made to sit down and watch "The Girl in the Cafe". In regards to climate change, he remarked that without the USA, China, and India putting their support behind a plan, nothing was ever going to come of climate change. GW of course, refuses it for fear it will damage the economy of the US. It might hurt it some, but then I'd rather have a slightly ailing ecoonomy and still have a bit of air to breathe too, not to mentioin a tidal wave swamping me someday when all the icecaps finish melting.

Firefox Tips
Want to see larger text on a page? Just hit Ctrl and the plus sign to zoom in. Hit Ctrl and the minus sign to zoom out. Or hit Ctrl+0 to return to the orignal size.

Opening Tabs - If you click a link using the scroll wheel on your mouse, it opens a new tab. Don't have a scroll wheel? Hold down Ctrl and left click on a link to pen a URL in a new tab (or hit Shift and left click to open a new window, although why you would want a new window when you could have a tab, I'm not sure).

Wie off to hot start in round 2

Michelle has birdied the first 2 of 3 holes in her quest to make the cut on the Men's Tour. Tune in to the USA network this afternoon at 4 Eastern to watch her live.