BellGab.com Archive

I was given a set of ceramic knives. I was told they were super sharp, they are. I was told they would cut vegetables especially potatoes, celery, and other firm vegetables more easily than my steel knives, they do not. The only thing I have noticed about them is they are more colorful than my steel knives.

Am I missing something?

I have, for some time, wondered how so many forum members are able to follow late night radio so consistently? I live on the east coast, probably the worst time zone for late night radio. I can't "do it live" anymore.

Are many of you sleep deprived? take naps? work third shift? or meth heads?

"My bail bondsman called."

I now have the weather channel on as background.

thought this was worth a look:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/Mark-Cuban-Calls-on-Congress-to-Save-Adam-Carolla-and-Podcasting-195064651.html#

About 3 years ago, I met a 9 year old boy that came to the emergency room due to continued hallucinations and escalating dangerous behavior.

This young man, for the sake of anonymity will be called Bobby. Bobby was a slightly smaller than average 9 year old. His skin was pale white and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. His voice was of normal rate, rhythm with a soft prepubescent tone.

Mother reported Bobby had been telling her of demons coming into his room every night through openings in the air. They came and told him he had to kill his mother. They told him his mother would be safe if she were dead. Mother also informed me she had her preacher come to the house and exorcise the house room by room. Then she told me she had Bobby exorcised twice with poor results. "he just gets worse" "I pray to god, I hold Bobby down and I pray for his soul to be healed."

She informed me that the preacher advised her not to bring her son to a psychiatric hospital because there were many demons possessing others that were being treated.

What ever the reason mother did bring Bobby to us. And Bobby did and will continue to suffer with schizophrenia for his entire life. An MRI pretty much confirmed the diagnosis, along with several weeks of observation.

What also happened was Bobby's delusions were so firmly supported by the superstition of the family's church and the mother's insistence of prayer through physical assault that Bobby will need intensive intervention for who knows how long.

The problem, with all you intentionality idiots, is you don't have to do the clean up. You get to keep on believing you are doing god's work; when in actuality you are doing the opposite.

The GabCast was a podcast. It's now a live stream on YouTube. You can find it here:

youtube.com/user/mvandeven/videos

Subscribe to that channel, plz.

For all Nuthuggers at heart.

Thank you widespread. You created something... good goin!

This guy is on Monday... looks like an interesting show... religion even... this will be fun.

I just read an update from one of my resources regarding a possible link to Autism Spectrum Disorder and induced labor and birth.

QuoteOxytocin plays an important role in social-affiliative behaviors. It has been proposed that exposure to high levels of exogenous oxytocin at birth, via pitocin induction of delivery, might increase susceptibility to autism by causing a down regulation of oxytocin receptors in the developing brain.

I can't give a direct link; the studies are discussed in JAMA pediatrics and the NEJM journal watch.

Who else is taking the day off?

Just saw this from Sean Carroll:

QuoteDoes anyone see a pattern here?

I think it says a great deal.

Stevesh and I were discussing a topic the other day and we both thought it would be interesting to delve into the whys and wherefores of investing. And how that affects workers and the society and economy they inhabit.


So here goes, without politics, how does everyone see business and profits, in respect to responsibilities and commitments both short and long term?

I don't usually start threads... but I just read this and it gave me some pause.





BILL'S BLOG
Obama's Immoral Record on Pardons
March 29, 2013
By Bill Maher


Apparently Barack Obama is a very unforgiving person. In his first term, he pardoned 22 people. In FDR's first term, he pardoned about 600, with a hell of a lot fewer inmates to choose from. During Clinton's two terms, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of 459; George W. Bush: 200.


Obama commuted the sentence of only one person in his first term. According to ProPublica's Dafna Linzer, who's done a lot of great work on this, "Under Reagan and Clinton, applicants for commutations had a 1 in 100 chance of success. Under George W. Bush, that fell to a little less than 1 in 1,000. Under Obama, an applicant's chance is slightly less than 1 in 5,000."


Why is he so stingy? Does being the first black president make him overly afraid of having a Willie Horton situation on his watch? Because he's gotta get over that shit. I mean, I'm not asking him to do a prison break, but couldn't he be at least half as merciful as George W. Bush, a man famous for putting people to death and not giving a shit?


There are about 219,000 people in federal prison (presidents can pardon only federal crimes), almost half on non-violent drug offenses. If he can't find a few slam-dunk cases of innocence there, he's not trying hard enough. One case that's pending is a guy named Clarence Aaron, who's been sentenced to three life terms for introducing drug dealers. Not buying, selling, or supplying. Introducing. Both the prosecutor and the judge in his case sought immediate commutation of his sentence. Obama knows this. So what's taking him so long to give the poor guy a break?


Aaron's black, and black people almost never get pardoned. ProPublica and The Washington Post studied all the pardons in the Bush years, and found whites were four times as likely to get them as minorities. Isn't it tragic that the first black president's record is even worse? Sometimes it's as if he's afraid that if he champions black people or black causes, then the secret will get out that he's black, too.


Keep in mind this is a president who's admitted to at one point in his life being a huge stoner and doing cocaine. He must know how lucky he was not to have his life and career ruined by our stupid drug war. Doesn't he owe a debt to the unlucky?


I was hoping he'd get better in the second term, so I was happy to read a headline earlier this month that he pardoned 17 people, almost as many as in his entire first term. Then I looked at the details, and 12 of those people weren't even serving jail time. It's a big nothing, and his record on this is still deplorable.


When he nominated Sonia Sotomayor, he was eloquent about the need for empathy in a Supreme Court justice. Somebody ought to remind him that's a pretty important quality for a president, too.


http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/real-time-with-bill-maher-blog/2013/3/29/obamas-immoral-record-on-pardons.html

Lately work is getting to be a real stressor. I work 3 twelve hour shifts and am on call during the hours I am off on those three days. So time on fri, sat, and sun is hard to find.

So when I go into a store to buy something... anything and I get an attitude from a clerk... I wanna cause pain.

Anyway on my way home last night, I was tasked with getting my wife a bottle of coffee creamer. No big deal right? (I wanna cry) I stop at the only grocery store on the route to my house. There are only two bottles of coffee creamer and  they are out of date. I ask the clerk if by any chance there is any other place some may be found or if there are any "fresh" bottles not yet on the shelf. I think the fellow thought I was asking if his mother still offered blowjobs behind the store. Needless to say, I left with no creamer. I had to stop at the next convenience store and picked up many of the individual servings and told my wife she was now on her own.

The point is, I didn't let the issue go. I was pissed, not so much at lack of availability but the fuckstick that gave me a bad time because I asked him to vary his work routine.

So now that I am up earlier than I planned I thought does anyone else have moments of--I am going to kill them?

All I ask is the issues revolve around your day to day. No politics please.

Anyone read or heard anything about this?

Seems it predates all other ancient civilizations. Speculation is, it is at least 7000 years older than the pyramids.

Probably angels and a portal had a lot to do with it.

http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html

I am asking this because I need some comfort in community. If others have done similar things then I won't feel nearly as guilty with buyer's remorse.

Ok I havent actually purchased it yet but that new Motorola Xoom is calling my name... and I cannot hide.

The problem is I really have no need for it... and as toys go... well there are better toys to have.

But back to the question... what have you bought recently that now that you look at it the thought is... why?