Saturday blahs

I'd work on the post I started yesterday but am too pooped.

Would haul wood up to the deck but am too pooped.

Would go take some more photos but am too pooped.

Would finish sorting old paperwork but am too pooped.

So, if everyone will pardon me, I won't do any of that and not much of anything else.

Random thoughts on stuff WIP

Been watching a little bit of the Idiot Lantern and, much to my surprise, my brain keeps rejecting things that are stated as fact in commercials. We all know commercials aren't primarily a source of reliable information. The only reason they exist is so networks get income and advertisers make money and ad agency people don't end up out on the street, OK? Clear 'nuff.

At the same time, there are hordes of people out there who do seem to take commercials as being the broadcast equivalent of Veritas. It's a bit hard to get the mind around that fact, but there it is. If misleading or downright dishonest commercials keeping airing, you know somebody is buying their products. Or having their opinions altered in some way.

For instance:

"When their worlds are cleaner, their lives are healthier." (from Clorox, the White Knight of consumer disinfection products)

This particular statement is open for numerous interpretations. I venture to guess that the most obvious one to mommies is they must keep everything in their children's worlds absolutely, spotlessly clean. Not only clean, but Clorox clean. With the implication that, if they fail in this basic duty, their kids will be sick and it's mommy's fault.

Too bad science doesn't back Clorox's statements...

from Doctor's Guide comes Antibacterial Products May Worsen Problem of Resistant Bacteria
from JMP Current Question: How to Fight Germs

try doing an internet search for antibacterial and see how many hits you get. Then look through those and see how many of them deal with the harmful effects of triclosan and the range of products in general.

I'm not advocating filth, dirt, crud, garbage or anything like that, OK? I am saying that this type of advertising (and Clorox isn't alone) is aimed purposely and directly at Moms, most of whom are already under siege from outside and inside the home. Assaulted by advertisers, battered by advice columnists and parenting magazines and their own families, what is a besieged Mommy to do but everything?

Do the kids have a runny nose? "Repent, foul parent-in-name-only! You have allowed, nay, encouraged this illness and you are a bad, bad, irresponsible, heartless, uncaring lout. Repent, redeem your ways! Spray! Wipe! Boil! Soak! Firehose! Powerwash! It may already be too late to save them from the horrible fate awaiting them!" bray the advertisers. (ok, so they don't say that right out loud. Isn't the message clear, anyway?)

If measles, mumps, chicken pox, scarlet fever, influenza, trots, anything other than absolute perfect, glowing health should surface? It's Mommy's fault because "kids don't know how to keep themselves healthy." Isn't that just sorta a dumb thing to say? Really, what goofball ever thought that up? What kid ever gave more than no attention at all to the matter of germs, disinfection or anything of that sort? (Other than the ones made psycho by even more psycho parents.) Kids get sick, kids get over it. Sometimes with medical intervention, most of the time not.

Unless, and here's the rub, UNLESS Mommy falls for all this blather and keeps dousing the household and the kids in antibacterial stuff. This has two effects, at the very least.

The first is to kill the mild to moderately dangerous germs. This allows the more dangerous ones to multiply. They then develop resistance to antibacterial and antibiotic agents of various kinds. When this happens and that kid gets an ear infection there is a good chance the medications prescribed by the physician simply will not suffice to kill the bad guys. The bad guys are immune. So doc has to prescribe ever-stronger meds. The bacteria then develop immunity to those. So, now what do you do?

The second is the chemical agents used as antibacterials are dangerous, in and of themselves. Imagine the buildup of triclosan residue after months or years of spraying and wiping? (Or don't, if you're like me and visualize such things as green slime dripping from every surface in the house. Ugh.) These chemicals also escape into the environment and are causing harm to aquatic life and fauna in general.

Demons and devils and spooks OH MY!

If these people aren't totally crazy, they aren't anything...

Demons and devils and spooks, oh my!

Queen of Heaven? Axis of Evil? Prophecy chants? Demon strongholds? Generational curses?

What are these people, spiritualists, animists or something? The whole belief system reminds me of the superstition common to primitive cultures or those held in thrall by a paternalistic religious structure...

Oh, wait. That's it.

My bad.

This is what happens

when unbridled greed meets hereditary power. Allow me to introduce the reigning heads of the lovely country of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit:



From the Guardian:

Not content with lese-majeste laws to protect the revered monarchy that are among the world's most draconian, Thailand is to build a wall around the kingdom to keep out detractors.

But the barrier will be virtual, a national internet firewall to block websites deemed insulting to the throne of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who at 80 is the world's longest serving monarch.

For the princely sum of almost £9m the Thai information ministry will shield the king and his adoring subjects from the sleights – real or perceived – of those who mock online.

Thailand's government, locked in a bitter struggle with staunchly royalist demonstrators who have been on the streets for months, has been accused of harbouring republican tendencies and being hostile to the monarchy.

It refutes the charge, but the move to construct the firewall appears to be the result of pressure from the powerful military and its demand that criticism of the monarchy be stamped out.

The firewall will also give Thailand's bureaucrats the power to block other websites it labels inappropriate, like those run by perceived terrorist groups or showing pornography. But the first target will up to 1,000 websites suspected of carrying material regarded as offensive to the king.

Last year the government, which was appointed by the military after a coup in 2006, blocked the YouTube website for weeks after its parent company, Google, refused to take down a posting.

The 44-second clip showed a picture of the Thai king with a pair of women's feet suspended above his head. In Thai culture feet are regarded as dirty and the lowest part of the body.

Thailand's lese-majeste laws are harsh by any standard, promising 15 years imprisonment for anyone who "insults, defames or threatens" the royal family.

But the law allows anyone to make an accusation against anyone else, with the result that it is often abused to ensnare rivals.

The Thai prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, has ordered police to be especially vigilant and special branch are monitoring community radio stations suspected of airing lese majeste content.

Thailand is a mess. Making sense of the political and social scene has become almost impossible. Who's doing what to whom and why? Who knows? There is some kind of hooha going on between the Thai military and the Cambodian military on their mutual border but what the aim of this battle for an ancient temple might be? Nobody, including the Cambodian forces, can figure it out. The Thais aren't telling, either.*

IMO, those two royals are scary looking. Maybe they reflect an internal rot spreading through their country?

* Background information: Preah Vihear Temple

Swedish Chef, the chicken and Pigs in Space

ROFL

This next one gets me laughing so hard I always have tears running down my cheeks!




Then there's the frog legs...



The loobstur:



Another fish course:



Meatballs!



Spaghetti!



A soup course:



Fowl:



Breakfast selection for your perusal:



How about some dessert?



Some speecy-spicy chili juice?



Salad shooters...