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| July 2008 | ||||||
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Random books from
my library.
Welcome to Jenius, where you can get opinions from a certified genius who just doesn't put the effort into it.
Here you will find a mixture of the heartfelt and mundane. Serious and silly. Topical and esoteric. Pretty much whatever comes to mind.
Two double-issues in row? Why don't they just go from weekly to bi-weekly and stop insulting the subscribers?
The letters were interesting, but not overly so. Two conclusions can be reached from them: paying a lot for gas sucks, and Hilary sucks (but at least she's a woman).
phrebh on 07.20.08 @ 06:24 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -2 (+/-)]
Alan Humphreys talks a big game, but I can tell he's full of it. How? Easy. He said that he would be the first in line for roof-mounted solar panels, but viable, electricity generating solar shingles have been available for years. If he wasn't full of it, he would have said that he was first in line for them. I would have been first in line for them if I could afford them.
phrebh on 07.02.08 @ 09:20 AM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -3 (+/-)]
Why would the magazine even publish John Gramm's letter insisting that the Bible was literal? Pointless religious diatribe has no place in a serious discussion, especially crap as ridiculous and full of ignorance of reality as that. Does the letters editor use some sort of crazy trick to choose the letters to publish? I thought some vetting was done, but I must have been mistaken.
phrebh on 06.18.08 @ 05:42 AM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 0 (+/-)]
What's on the box: I Love To See You Smile - Marge and Homer Simpson
DO NOT BELIEVE BRENDA DANIHER! Grass-fed beef is not delicious! 
We went to the farmer's market on Friday and bought some steaks, hamburger, and jerky from a farmer that raises grass-fed beef. The jerky smells and tastes like the pressed fish treats I got for my cat. 
We're almost too scared to try the steaks and hamburger. My mother-in-law, who grew up in Iowa and Nebraska, amongst other place, now lives in Montana. She said that the grass-fed beef tastes so lousy that they no longer eat beef. They eat bison. If we ever get the nerve to eat the rest we bought, I'll post an update.
phrebh on 06.11.08 @ 10:14 AM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 3 (+/-)]
There were only three letters in this issue, which is pretty common after a double-issue. They were all about the cost of surgery here versus abroad. None of them said anything that wasn't covered in the article. What a waste of 90 seconds.
phrebh on 06.03.08 @ 09:41 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
John Patrick Keelan said that he'll start using CFL when the government stops wasting energy in Iraq. 
Apparently he prefers to follow than to lead and also has no interest in saving money. Ach, weel, to each his own.
Dianne Wolf implies that sweaters are a good way to keep warm if you set your thermostats lower in the winter. While true, hats are better. Remember you lose most of your body heat through your head. Just don't overdo it; you don't want to be the winner of the Darwin award for managing to die of heat-stroke in the middle of winter. 
While Warren D. Bowman makes some excellent points about the need for change, his position on population control is at least 50 years out of date. Reputable social scientists have clearly shown that we are not on the brink of disaster due to unchecked population growth. However, such arguments are still used in parts of the world for population control, in other words: eugenics.
It is people of Guy Sudano's mental limitations that are causing the increases in teenage pregnancy and STD incidence in this country. He is quite adept at parroting someone else's misstatement of fact (that increased condom usage in South Africa has led to increased incidence of HIV), and equally clearly unable to think on his own to any great degree. More condoms are being handed out in South Africa (and other places), but unless the cultural stigma of using them is removed, they will be ignored.
phrebh on 05.30.08 @ 07:10 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 1 (+/-)]
What's on the box: How It's Made
Everyone is in agreement this week: we definitely have a government of some sort.
phrebh on 05.13.08 @ 04:40 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 9 (+/-)]
What's on the box: News Radio
The only thing I noticed in the letters this week was the magazine's deftly maneuvered segue. They managed to use the letters to link a past story about the decline in GPs with the current cover story about the costs of medical treatment. Very adroit.
phrebh on 05.07.08 @ 06:52 AM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 2 (+/-)]
What's on the box: The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
Even the one letter that wasn't referring to the articles on the pope mentioned god, none in a disparaging way. That has no significance, I just thought that I'd point it out.
phrebh on 04.23.08 @ 12:42 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 2 (+/-)]
What's on the box: Addams Family
What, in the name of all that is sane, was the Letters editor thinking? Eight pages of letters! 
This after months of barely a page. Nice.
There were many letters on the articles about gun control, none of which were too vehemently one way or the other, but all of which were just rehashes of what's been said for years on the subject.
Scott E. Carter pointed out some very important points about the limitations of Hillary Clinton's so-called experience. Very little of the 35 years of experience she claims has anything to do with the kinds of things a president needs to succeed. At least not in America. She's pretty well set up for the type of figurehead president that Russia is about to install, though. 
Edwin H. Beus writes about the very things I was thinking about when reading the article about artificial lights causing breast cancer. A lot of the studies that are reported on in the various media seem to put confuse cause and effect or, even worse, attach a cause to an effect with little valid evidence rather than a biased hypothesis. Until I see evidence that the studies in question show that the increases in breast cancer aren't due to the dozens of other, already known, factors of development of the disease, then I will hold such reports in a negative light, if not downright contempt.
While I condone Mike McKinnon's point about the president being out of touch, I don't agree with his promotion of alcoholism in the pursuit of political thinking.
William D. Littell, wrote that the money spent on wolves would have been better spent on healthcare for humans because North America already has plenty of predators. He is obviously of the school that says that biodiversity is a sin when it inconveniences people. Quite ironic when you know this hypocrite has to be highly religious and therefore should be embracing all of god's creatures, not just the ones who can read his close-minded letter.
Ralph Capotosto's suggestion that we lie to illegal immigrants with signs saying, "We Have No Work for You, Go Home" is not only politically naive, but also morally repugnant. We obviously don't even have a good definition of the immigration "problem", much less a solution, but suggesting that we should lie to people at the same time as being incredibly rude and unforgiving is simply unacceptable if we wish to keep even a modicum of dignity and decorum.
phrebh on 04.15.08 @ 08:34 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: 2 (+/-)]
I want to thank Harry Mandel for the reminder of geocaching. I heard about it a while ago, but I just recently got a cellphone with GPS capabilities. I think I will take his advice and get me 3-year-old moving with a purpose.
phrebh on 04.03.08 @ 12:51 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -6 (+/-)]
The title of this entry is not quite my motto, but it is a subtext for my life. I was just thinking about how much the wind annoys me (I know how that sounds, but I don't like that I have to worry about tying everything down all the time), which brought me to windmills.
Now, I happen to be a firm believer in efficiency, which is why I support the building of windmills and solar farms. There's nothing more efficient than taking something that you get in abundance for free into electricity, and it bugs me that circumstances, if not people, conspire to make the most efficient forms of energy production so expensive to set up. I know that eventually, the costs will come down, but some temporary subsidies wouldn't hurt.
Anyway, I was thinking about windmills, and whenever I think of something that I've heard ridiculous things said about, I immediately think about those ridiculous things. In the case of windmills, some people actually argue against them because of the sound and the danger of the blades ripping off the thing and decapitating their dog. 
Right. Because you wouldn't hear the wind blowing across the plains without a big machine in the way. You also want to take care to avoid problems whose likelihood of occurring is roughly equal to the chance that you'll live to be 200 years old and completely ignore a known factor in killing you earlier (namely the smoke from the majority of the power plants in the country).
Look, if you're too cheap to give a rat's ass about wind power, that's fine. But if someone is willing to spend the money to allow you to trim your energy costs and not increase the crap you breath in, shut the hell up and move aside. You're an idiot.
phrebh on 03.21.08 @ 09:56 AM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -3 (+/-)]
Tracy Leverton's letter about voting for Barack Obama because he was black brings to mind my own proclamation about the presidential election. Before the primary was really underway, I said that I would vote for any minority candidate, no matter what party. Looks like I'll be voting Democratic this year. Yay, Obama! Boo, Clinton!
David N. Hooper may be right that Super Tuesday results may have been from Republicans who thought Obama would be easier to beat than Clinton, but if so, they are wrong. Due to her past and the past of her husband, Hillary Clinton remains one of the most divisive candidates at the national level. She ranks right up there with the current president for being someone that people love to hate. That's a pretty big deficit to start a run at the White House with. Quite frankly, I think the only chance John McCain has to win the presidency is if Clinton wins the nomination.
Guy Wold describes the current government as moderate/conservative. Just because George Bush doesn't show an fiscal conservation doesn't make him a moderate.
P.J. Mills's letter was so funny, I'm going to quote its entirety: "Suppose McCain wasn't a POW, Hillary wasn't a woman, and Obama wasn't black. We might have to focus on the real issues at hand." Sure, it's completely naive to think that we could focus on the issues, but it's still a funny way of putting it.
phrebh on 03.18.08 @ 01:39 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -1 (+/-)]
Robert Houston obviously has some strong opinions about war. Too bad they're also confused and irrational. He writes that "wars are against people, and therefore people are against wars." What the hell kind of logic is that?! Grant it, it is a pithy statement, downright folksy, even, but it makes absolutely no sense. He starts with a shaky premise (fighting is against people, wars are political and therefore have nothing to do with real people) and then goes downhill from there. I also question his assertion that McCain proposes we occupy Iraq for 100 years. I believe that what McCain actually said was that even if we are there for a hundred years, we cannot let the Iraqi people down. There's quite a huge difference there, but what else do you expect from a madman?
phrebh on 03.11.08 @ 07:11 PM CST [link] [No Comments] [Karma: -1 (+/-)]
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