I Wonder If They'll, Ah, Hmm, Err, Remember?

It's always been ridiculous that the NFL has denied any long term cognitive consequences to the rate of concussions among its players. Finally. a study shows just how bad it is.

A study commissioned by the National Football League reports that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.

Of course, the NFL, an entertainment group that focuses on teamwork, on individual responsibility, on team/ownership responsibility, refuses to take responsibility for the health of its players. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic, so evil in intent & result.

An N.F.L. spokesman, Greg Aiello, said in an e-mail message that the study did not formally diagnose dementia, that it was subject to shortcomings of telephone surveys and that “there are thousands of retired players who do not have memory problems.”

“Memory disorders affect many people who never played football or other sports,” Mr. Aiello said. “We are trying to understand it as it relates to our retired players.”

Those inane responses sure have me convinced  that concussions are a lot like having sex without using a rubber, perfectly safe & subject to interpretaion, study, & denial. Not really, of course. A lot of people get syphilis, (36,000 Americans in 2006) but if you wear a condom, practice safe sex, & are careful about partners, you won't get syphilis. It's a disease that is easily cured in its early stages. A problem diagnosed in its early stages is almost always treatable, or, in the case of concussions, preventable. Why does the NFL put its players at such risk? Glad you asked, as usual, money trumps an individual's health, her life, her family. Enough to make a person sick or demented. My emphases.

mantis02

You can go here to see more of creations like this. I wish I had the mechanical knowledge to figure out stuff like this.

I Just Love Cats

Except for the big, wild ones, I love them best indoors.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have held my ground, plugged my nose, and kept Cleo inside. Experts disagree sharply these days over how to manage our multitudes of stray and feral cats, with some saying off to the pound, others preaching a policy of catch, neuter and release, and everybody wishing there were other options to click. Yet when it comes to pet policy, and the question of whether it’s O.K. to let your beloved Cleo, Zydeco or Cocoa wander at will and have their Hobbesian fun, the authorities on both sides of the alley emphatically say, No. There are enough full-time strays; don’t add in your chipper. It is not fair to the songbirds and other animals that domestic cats kill by the billions each year. New research shows that neighborhoods like mine are particularly treacherous, Bermuda Triangles for baby birds.

My emphases. Please, no jokes about cat stew in the comments, please. What would my Tab & Tipitina think? They have feelings too.

Equality Of Opportunity?

No, not a bit. How do the ReThugs manage to justify this? They don't, since they don't care about the people in this country.

The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets.

The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans -- those making more than $138,000 each year -- earned 11.4 times the roughly $12,000 made by those living near or below the poverty line in 2008, according to newly released census figures. That ratio was an increase from 11.2 in 2007 and the previous high of 11.22 in 2003.

Household income declined across all groups, but at sharper percentage levels for middle-income and poor Americans. Median income fell last year from $52,163 to $50,303, wiping out a decade's worth of gains to hit the lowest level since 1997.

Poverty jumped sharply to 13.2 percent, an 11-year high.

There are a bunch of sad stats in the article, go read it anyway. My emphases.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Sad ending.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

It just occurred to me, I have a Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds granddaughter. Goes to show how slow I am.

Sports Beat

Favre wins.

Brett Favre still has quite the winning touch.

Greg Lewis leaped for a 32-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone to lift Minnesota to a 27-24 victory over the stunned San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, keeping the Vikings unbeaten.

An official review upheld Lewis's unbelievable catch with 2 seconds left, sending the sellout crowd into a frenzy. Some of the fans had already left after two unsuccessful possessions prior to that against a stingy 49ers defense. More of them booed a few times during the second half as the offense struggled to move the ball, and many Favre's passes were badly off target.

But they were sure on at the end, during an 80-yard drive that ate up 87 of the 89 seconds that remained when the Vikings (3-0) got the ball back. Favre completed six passes during the drive....

Packers win.

The Green Bay Packers ran hot and cold on offense for the third consecutive game and their defense more or less held firm, leading to a 36-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome on Sunday afternoon.

Badgers win.

"The thing I like about Scotty is he is just constantly moving forward," Badgers coach Bret Bielema said. "He's so sound in what's going on around him and he's got a good understanding of the bigger picture. They were taking away certain things and we thought we could take advantage of the air and he went out there and kept executing, made great decisions. There were a couple series where he got a little bit off of where he was going, but those are things that we can work (on)."

My emphasis.

Dumb Shits, Alive & Well, No Geritol

Bobby Jindahl, wonder douche boy of the ReThug Party, once again shows why the south lost the war. Is there anything stupider than awarding a high school diploma based on the inability to do math, to read, to know the rules of volleyball?

Lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal ignored the negative ramifications for students when they created a diploma that allows children to fail either the math or English portion of the eighth-grade LEAP test and still move on to ninth grade.

My emphasis. Oh, the brilliant leaders of Louisiana are also going to lose about $400 million.

Kings

I only watched one or two episodes, but they were interesting. Here's more discussion.  & here's the last sentence of the piece:

But at a time when partisan deadlock may prevent even modest legislative accomplishments in America, it's fun to speculate what a king could get done in Washington. In episode five, after all, King Silas decrees universal health care with a word.

If only.... My emphasis.

Agnes R. Zeidler, R.I.P.

Obit here. We'll benefit from her life for a long time.

Sam Carr, R.I.P.

Obit here.

Green My Sorry Ass

2009 Green Rankings - Newsweek.com

Newsweek goes where Time went with Powertwits as their blog of the year. Talk about kissing the advertising scrotum.

Fùtbol

Favre wins.

Packers, well, suck.

September 19th - Arrgh

TLAPD.

John T. Elson, R.I.P.

Oh boy, memory alert. Back in my high school, a teacher named Phil Franti taught a Modern American History class. I loved the class & one reason was that every Friday one of us would teach the cover story of that week's Time magazine. We actually would teach it as Mr. Franti would sit in the back row quietly. Well, I got to teach the Is God Dead? piece. What fun. I think I made somebody cry, that was probably not so much fun.

Obit here.

New Stuff

Looks like our ancestors may have evolved in Asia, rather than Africa.

The discovery of Ganlea strongly supports the idea that amphipithecids are anthropoids, because adapiforms never evolved the features that are necessary to become specialized seed predators. Indeed, all of the Burmese amphipithecids appear to have been specialized seed predators, filling the same ecological niche occupied by modern pitheciine monkeys in the Amazon Basin of South America. During the Eocene when Ganlea and other amphipithecids were living in Myanmar, they inhabited a tropical floodplain that was very similar to the environment of the modern Amazon Basin.

Sunny CA

What is that they say about CA? What happens there spreads across the country? If that's the case, we are no where near the end of the Bu$hCo's Economic Depression.

"The unemployment rate hasn't peaked yet," said Jed Kolko, associate director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. "It's likely to still get higher, and stay high for several more quarters."
*****
Although California's jobless rate is expected to begin receding next year, some economists predict that the state may be saddled with double-digit unemployment until late 2011 or longer, in part because of continued weakness in housing and construction.
*****
"The sand is leaking from the hourglass."

Ain't No Global Warming, It's All A Fraud By Members of Hussein X's Academic, Socialistic, Communistic, Atheistic, Cannibalistic, Scientific Minions From The Burning Fires Of Hell

Or something like that.

The National Climatic Data Center has released its review of worldwide sea surface temperatures for August and for the stretch from June through August and finds that both the month and the “summer” (as looked at from the Northern Hemisphere) were the warmest at least since 1880, when such records were first systematically compiled.

My emphasis. Oh, & sorry for the dang-nabbed science.

Myles Brand, R.I.P.

Another dead guy. While I have no real love for the NCAA (particularly in its stupid & bullheaded antagonism to a meaningful playoff in Division 1 football), I will always have great respect for Brand, since he had the balls to fire the despicable Bobby Knight. If nothing else survives in his legacy, that one, brave act will cement his place in college sports. God, I hate Bobby Knight.

Death Time

Losses:

Mary Travers, R.I.P.

“I was raised on Josh White, the Weavers and Pete Seeger, Ms. Travers told The New York Times in 1994. “The music was everywhere. You’d go to a party at somebody’s apartment and there would be 50 people there, singing well into the night.”

Henry Gibson, R.I.P.

I used to laugh at him, in a good way, of course.  A long time ago.

Jesus Christ On Burnt Toast

The coldH2Owi family took the warnings on BPA seriously & dumped our Nalgenes, replacing them with Sigg metal water bottles. Sigg claimed, at the time, to be BPA free, only the company lied. I've always found Patagonia to be a good company, albeit expensive. Good for them for disassociating itself from the liars at Sigg. This is why capitalism, even green capitalism, is a destructive fraud. Hat tip to The Kid.

If you happen to have a SIGG bottle in your backpack and you don't know if it's the old kind, here's how to tell. If it's bronze, you have the old one. If it's pale yellow, SIGG says you have the BPA-free "EcoCare" liner. The company will voluntarily exchange your old bottle until Oct. 31. Find details at mysigg.com/bulletin.

If you go to the website listed above (at the end of the citation), you will find a letter of apology from the CEO of Sigg. As usual with these business types, he apologizes for being a lousy EXPLAINER, not a ruthless  profits over people CEO. Makes me sick, in more ways that one. What a country.

Packers Beat Bears 21-15

Not pretty, but it's a win.

Tiger Wins Big

Sports night, people. Tiger Woods wins another tournament. He shot his best round of the year in the third round, a course record 62. I was unable to see much of the tournament, damned leaves (I'll explain it someday, maybe.)

Favre Wins 34-20 Over Hapless Browns

Who started at QB for the Browns? As if it made any difference. I am having a very difficult time using Bret Favre's name in the same sentence as the second most hated of football teams. Someday I may be able to use the V word. The first most hated of football teams? The Chicago Bears, of course.

American English, Everybody Better Learn To Speak It

Since we are the world's leader in a bunch of stuff, not health care, BTW, we don't need no stinking foreign languages falling like cherry blossoms from the lips of our young. Of course, the young ultimately become old, but by that time they learn that nothing else counts in the world except American English. I will admit that I studied, loosely, Spanish, for two years in high school. I entered college knowing I would needed to study two years of one language or three years of two,  at the university level, in order to graduate with a BA from the College of Letters & Science. While I was in school at that university, they changed the language requirement, actually eliminated it. Before they did that I tried German (I dropped out after the six week exam); French (I passed the first semester, but took it during the 2nd semester, therefore forgetting it all during the summer & had to drop it the following fall, although the absolutely beautiful Senegalese TA was almost enough to keep me in class. I'm not sure if 4-5 quarts of beer each summer night had anything to do with it.); & Chinese (I dropped out of school before that term ended. The Chinese prof, however, was the only teacher to actually call me on the phone to ask if I was all right. I'm sure that his concern showed through in other ways & I actually learned a lot from him during our short term relationship.  BTW, we began the class learning mama.) Anyway, we should not have to cut foreign languages from our public schools. I understand the budget pressure these schools are under.  A local school, even if cutting all sports, professional development, music, art, etc., would still fall $150,000 short of keeping their budget as it was last year.  A friend, Shutterwi, & I believe the school board & administration should cut the budget that much. Maybe the dumbshit wingers, unable to watch their granddaughter a play b-ball, or listen to their grandson sing at the Xmas concert, would come to understand just what is involved in a free, public education. The social commitment means, of course, it is free for the student, but costs the taxpayers. The unfortunate problem is that the state & federal governments have decided that public education ranks below an illegal war(s). So school boards, make the cuts to satisfy the wingers. It will hurt people in the short term, but it will also put the education mess in perspective. Whether that will be enough to educate & satisfy the haters, well, that remains to be seen.

U of Wisco Beats Fresno State

Barely, but a win's a win.

The Dead Today

Larry Gelbart, R.I.P. Obit here.

I still watch the reruns of MASH, although I check the episode description first, to see if I'll enjoy it one more time. I usually do.

Juan Almeida Bosque, R.I.P. Story here.

I don't give a rat's ass for the stupids that formulated our Cuba policy, or the stupids who have continued it all these years. Venceremos.

No Wonder

What I don't understand is why facts like these don't have any impact of voting trends? The stagnant wages should enrage the very people who are "outraged" by President Obama's socialism. I suppose the new refrain will be "The rich get richer & the poor stay the same." ReThugs will claim that this is progress, since people aren't getting poorer. I just don't have time to explain.

...inequality has risen sharply, so much of the bounty from our growth has gone to a relatively small slice of the population.

Canine Health Care

I would venture a guess that the health care received by this little 2 year old is by far better than anything the ReThugs, the moronic Blue Doggies, or Sen. (D-I Got Mine From The Insurance Companies, Screw You Baucus).

"What we do know is the dog stuck with him, all night and all the next day."

Saving Face?

More like ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY something the idiot Bu$hCo didn't have the brains or the compassion or the balls to to do after Katrina.

The prime minister of Taiwan resigned Monday after widespread criticism of the government’s response to a deadly typhoon and said that his successor would replace the entire cabinet this week.
*****
“I believe because so many people died, someone must take responsibility,” he said.
*****
...but that Mr. Liu deserved to be held accountable for the “disastrous” government response to the typhoon.

My Friend Al - Cartographer

Up from the comments (by Anon.) from here. 

Who knew? Thanks Anonymous.

Let's Hope He Doesn't Die

The American people deserves to see this criminal, there is nothing alleged about it, in prison. My huge hope is that my daughter can see the Bu$hCo cabal all in prison. I would sure like to see it, but expensive lawyers are expensive for a reason, plus, Bu$hCo appointed a bunch of right-wing judges who appear to have taken course work at Regent U.

What Some People Learned & Is Learning In School

For these sadistic morons it included killing for fun. I suppose the humans didn't kill the animals, the spiked baseball bats did.

The group was cited for 158 single violations, including illegally killing protected wild animals, hunting without a license, hunting with an illegal weapon and unreasonable waste of a natural resource, according to Dave Holmes, Conservation Warden Supervisor for the DNR's south central region.

.....
The 10 adults, all from the Beaver Dam area, were identified by the DNR as Christopher J. Swanke, 22; Jason W. Adams, 18; Andrew S. Chapman, 17; Derek S. Fehling, 18; Matthew J. Haas, 17; Andrew L. Peterman, 18; Gary L. Spears, 20; Mariah N. Schepp, 18; Jacob L. Kleckner, 19; and Austin A. Tripke, 19. The other five who were charged with violations were not named because they are juveniles.

Swanke was charged with five counts of reckless endangerment and one count of attempting to flee an officer, according to the DNR. He was arrested with several of the others on April 3 in Columbia County after DNR wardens caught the group chasing animals with spotlights and clubs.

My emphasis.

Yeow

Crap, just loads & loads of crap, or as we call it up here in the Far North, shit.

This Is Breaking News?

BREAKING NEWS
ABC News: Gibson Retiring, Sawyer Will Be Anchor

Just great journalism.

No Waiting For Health Care Around Here

At the few remaining practices, the wait for an appointment can make it almost purposeless to seek one. When Martha Brown’s 3-year-old daughter, Loverree, woke up with a runny nose last Thursday, her doctor’s office told her it would be a week. “I couldn’t wait,” Ms. Brown said. “I had to see what was wrong with my baby. I think she’s got an infection.”

Of course, there's no waiting in America for health care.