Category: Thoughts

I finally went to the Mutter Museum while I was in Philly. Yeah, morbid: Friday morning we went to a funeral, and Friday afternoon we took a trip to the museum of medical history, to look at preserved fetuses of spina bifida victims and skulls showing the ravages of syphilis. What a town.

For something equally squick inducing but totally unrelated watch this horrible motorcycle crash. The bit where the guy’s leg flops around at a hundred miles an hour is really intense:

Cut out of work early Thursday and drove to Cinnamonson, NJ for a funeral. Wake on Thursday, mass on Friday at the departed’s favorite golf spot. Then, since we were nearby, we stayed the night in Philly. I’ve been thinking a lot about death and transit all weekend for obvious reasons.

• I miss Philly. What a great town that is. We ate at Ansill, which was pretty much worth the drive all the hell the way down from Boston.
• Gasoline is expensive, but it’s obviously not expensive enough to keep jerks in SUVs from driving 90 miles an hour on the turnpike. Tailgating is Jersey’s national sport as far as I can tell.
• If I go to play chess against someone who knows even halfway what they’re doing, I’m pretty much guaranteed to lose, and quickly. But if you’re going to play, you at least play until they say “mate in three” or something like that, and you know exactly how it’s going to play out. And then, do you go ahead and play those narrowly defined moves? Or do you just give up?
  

Every morning I get up and go into a maze. I sit in a reasonably comfortable chair and I press some buttons. Eventually there is food. I divide my time between solving puzzles that are presented to me and amusing myself in inscrutable ways. There is enough light and water and I am in the company of others like me, although we are kept somewhat apart as well. I have adequate veterinary care.

I can’t help but think there must be some sort of larger scheme involved in directing these actions. It might be evil, or good, or indifferent, but either way I’m pretty sure it has only marginal concern for me.

Try To Choose Appropriately. Mmmm, giraffe-alicious.

More and more on the legacy of Jesse Helms. I’m not saying he was a bad person or a racist, but he spent years railing against “pinkos” and “Yankees,” thought that Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement were fronts for communism, socialism and sex perversion, and that Social Security was a terrible idea. When Carol Moseley-Braun was elected to the Senate, he sang “Dixie.” He thought that interracial marriages were abominations. He thought that AIDS research was a waste because gay people deserved it. In response to a protest in Mexico he said that “Latins are volatile people…. I was not surprised at the volatile reaction.” He refused to attend a joint session of congress addressed by Nelson Mandela.

Oh, wait, I am saying he was a racist and a bad person.

I’m sure I could find common ground with him on something, at some point. Perhaps I could be convinced that the NEA is probably not the best use of government money, or that kids these days are up to no good. But blocking treaties against the use of land mines? Why not just vote that puppies and kittens should be stomped to death?

You might not want to click through to the Massachusetts Farmers Markets website. Although SiteAdvisor says it’s OK, it’s flagged as dangerous in Google safe browsing system – apparently someone’s gotten into it and used it to infect unsuspecting local-food lovers.

Now that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (I refuse to call them just the Rays – franchise expansion teams shouldn’t deny their satanic roots) are becoming Red Sox Enemy #1, it’s possible to go over to Redbones and enjoy a close Sox/Yankees game without that stupid rivalry getting in the way.

Also, I made a LOL:

moar funny pictures

Best headline of the week: MILF frees 2 Marines abducted in Basilan. The Milf in this case is not a yummy mummy, but in fact the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. I’m sure the mullahs in that group are thrilled every time they search for news of their latest military attack and find nothing but pornography.

OK, I’m thrilled by that idea. I don’t know what anyone else thinks about it. Also I’m highly amused by the idea of two marines being held captive by hot moms. How easy do you think it would be do develop Stockholm Syndrome in that case, eh boys?

Flat-track motorcycle racing and a demolition derby at the Brockton County Fair! Hell to the yess!

Is updating his status
Is misquoting song lyrics
Can’t tell which way the wind is blowing
Is wondering what “friends” really means these days
Can tell you there’s no more road to ride
Is you know, OK, I guess, you know, it’s hard to say
Is calling in shoutouts on the radio
Is wondering what became of the past
Can’t step away from the computer
Can’t look away
Keeps updating his status