2009-11-29

fun PUNS WAPO's MENSA CONTEST FOR NEW WORDS

thank you Kathy
 
Have fun with these!

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, then supply a new definition.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

  
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

  
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

  
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

  
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

  
5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

  
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

  
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

  
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the Person who doesn't get it.

  
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

  
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

  
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right?  And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

  
12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. (okay, so 2 letters, BFD, still pretty clever)

  
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

  
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

  
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

  
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

  
17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

 
  
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:

  
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.

  
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

  
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

  
4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

  
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

  
6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

  
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.

  
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

  
9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

  
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

  
11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.

  
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

  
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

  
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms

  
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

  
16. Circumvent, n . An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.





int'l law INTERNET PRIVACY v CULPABILITY Google v Italy bloomberg 11-27-09

This issue is getting more fascinating as it goes along. If we thought 50 states getting their act together was a tough slog, check out some of the issues raised in this gal's penetrating piece. As with civil liberties in the USA, the answers to how to make the Internet work around the world are among the thorniest we face. Governments holding everyone but the janitor accountable for the millions of bit and bytes fling by their portals aren't helping.
 
The Internet is, in the age of peak oil and our need to move to re-localize humanity (think tribal village), our best shot at heading off the Nexi's push to impose their long-promised and highly-secretive New World Order. The Internet is the only way to organize billions of people to rise up against the 300 families arrayed against us, by rising up against their own governments - including this one.
 
The impending struggle to keep the Net free will take many twists and turns before the victor is known. We'd better win this one.
 
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aAv2iLcBnqtI
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-27

crash08 GOLDMAN SACHS 1929-2009 80 YEARS OF BUBBLE MANIPULATION - Matt Taibbi rs 2009

His old man, Mike Taibbi, works for the machine (NBC), his son, Matt, runs wild and free on the the Indy media range (Rolling Stone, Alternet and others). Boy, is this guy ever good!
 
The link below will acquaint you with America's leading advocate and vanguard of balls-out, buccaneer capitalism; a corporate mentality Ted Bundy would love. You never saw either one coming until it was too late. These are really bad people. They make Pol Pot look like Nelson Mandela. On Krypton, they would all be sealed into that prism prison and flung to float the universe for eternity. On Earth, in what passes for the self-proclaimed citadel of democracy in the modern world - that would be the US - these guys sit at the head of the table. Like me, you probably know something about Goldman greed, but you will be amazed to read of this kleptocorp's hip-deep involvement in every major scam since the Great Depression, and its current stranglehold on the US government. I have dubbed it the AlphaCorp.
 
Taibbi documents 5 bubbles (including last summer's $4 gas), with the next one (carbon credits) dead in its sights; and no way to stop them, in his humble opinion. Goldman Sachs is laissez-faire Capitalism's own little Alien. And like the most highly-evolved parasites, it too, will devour its host.
 
As you may recall, in the plot line of Mr. O'Bannion's gentle tale, the monster, after feasting on its now hollowed-out host, kills it as it makes its exit, on to bigger and more lucrative hosts.
 
 
 
Matt's piece points up why, no matter what other cause-cudgels you carry, the only one we should all be working on is breaking the lobbyists/campaign funding nexus in Washington. While I believe that we will come undone as a nation before that happens, it doesn't hurt to practice in order to gain the skills to get it done piece-by-piece after our unavoidable implosion.
 
You can help at http://change-congress.org/
 
 
 
 Larry Lessig - Joe Trippi
 
THIS JUST IN...
 
Sweet dreams, y'all.

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990
freesense@Gmail.com

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
– Krishnamurti







orb URBAN PLAN Portland Oregon - A Sense of Place pbs-e2 #4.08 2009

Eat your heart out, St Petersburg.
 
I may be metro-prejudiced as my son lives here, but the recent history of Portland is one of constructive contrarianism. From the mid-70s on, the city (and state) mothers and fathers consistently said "No!" to Levitt-style, Potemkin "communities" in BFE,  Robert Moses Bantustans and big box moonscapes, opting time after time for human-scale development. All this while most of the rest of the nation took the money and allowed the Gangs of America (corporations) to have their way with the people's Commons.
 
Last month, a 75-year old grandmother was run over while attempting to cross U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor. The Post-mortem was that she simply wasn't spry enough to make it at one go in the time allotted (2.75 minutes). At that point, US 19 is 6 lanes across, plus double "storage" or "collection" (turn) lanes, plus a "service" lane on its eastern border - 9 lanes across, in total, each approximately 11 feet wide
 
 
, for a total road width of roughly one-third the length of a gridiron. Could you make a 33-yard dash in 2.75 minutes? How about in a motorized wheelchair at 5-6 MPH?* 
 
Oh, yes, i forgot to mention... no median strip. What were they thinking? Obviously, not of humans.
 
 
     4 mins

*This "event" above is complete fiction (but saved me a bunch of irrelevant research). However, it tragically represents real events that occur with criminal regularity in urban areas every day from sea to shining sea. The details are always similar to the ones above. The fact is that non-human-centric urban planning kills; both body and spirit. A recent study (a real event this time) showed that road design was the proximate cause of, and/or a heavily contributing factor in, better than 50% of all highway fatalities; in or out of the car.
 
That is what Portland is about.
 
Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990
freesense@Gmail.com

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
– Krishnamurti







2009-11-26

`Wikia A GATEWAY PORTAL TO INFO COMMUNIITES ON ANY TOPIC YOU CARE TO NAME muo 10-06-09

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wikia-%e2%80%93-a-wiki-community-portalwith-any-topic-you-care-to-know-about/
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

EMPIRE AFGHANISTAN - THE CRISIS IN D.C. wsws.org 11-17-09

If you want to know what's wrong with the West, ask a Red. As with many reports on this site, the evaluation of our predicament is less ideological and more balanced than one would expect. The facts appear to me to be about right, and the tone measured (for folks who despise everything America stands for). So, now, to the $64 question:
 
What will he do?
 
Alert followers of our latest debacle-in-regress will know that a recent report rates our "partner" in this ill-fated venture the second most corrupt
 
 government on the planet, beating out only the currently unnation of Somalia. Add to the chorus of discontent our current ambassador/former commander, and the very visible and voluble Mr. Hoh, and it's a fine mess Shrub & Co. have left for BHO to clean up.
 
But, our man in D.C. may be about to really own this war. Let's hope he remembers that discretion is the better part of valor, especially when you have to hock your Nobel to pay for bus fare to the battlefield.
 
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/afgh-n17.shtml
 
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-22

vote THEFT German Supremes ban electronic voting - Oh, DIDN'T YOU KNOW?

From Bill B. - thanx
 
The Jerries always did have loads more horse sense than the Yanks; whether defending the Reich or a republic. Unless and until we pitch every last one of these digital fifth column enablers in the dumpster, what remains of our flaccid democracy will be but a baby's breath away from expiring.

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Pinellas Progressives <info@pinellasprogressives.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 05:55
Subject: A Censored Headline and why it Matters (Germans Outlaw Electronic Voting)
To:


from Mike Collins

German High Court Outlaws Electronic Voting

Justices of the German Federal Constitutional Court.

(DailyCensored.Com
 
) The justices above are clearly the most rational group of high level functionaries in the industrialized world. They did what no other court would do in Europe or the United States. They effectively outlawed electronic voting. On March 3, 2009, the German Federal Constitutional Court
 
declared that the electronic voting machines used in the 2005 Bundestag elections for the German national parliament were outside of the bounds of the German Constitution.
They reasoned that electronic voting is not verifiable because citizen votes are counted in secret. It obscured a technology inaccessible to all but a very few initiates. Most importantly, the German high court noted, electronic voting machines don't allow citizens to "reliably examine, when the vote is cast, whether the vote has been recorded in an unadulterated manner" Mar. 3, 2009
 
.
The written opinion effectively bars electronic voting in future elections based on the complexity of voting machines and the inability of voters to watch their vote being counted. This raises the bar of acceptability well above the meaningless solutions offered by "paper trails" for touch screen voting or the so-called "paper ballots" for computerized optical scan voting machines, the most popular form of voting in the United States.
Germany's 2009 Bundestag elections were conducted with hand counted paper ballots.
Have you heard that one of the world's leading economic powers, the fourth largest economy in the world, banned electronic voting; said it was undemocratic? Given the multitude
 
of problems
 
encountered in the U.S. and the number of questionable election results, wouldn't it make sense that when Germany banned electronic voting and replaced it with paper ballots, there would be at least a days worth of national coverage in the United States?
Nothing like that occurred. The Associated Press
 
(Times of India) story on the verdict danced around the periphery of the world media market with coverage in Turkey, India, Australia, and Ireland. But there were no major media takers for the AP story in the United States.
There was every reason to carry the story. In a 2006 Zogby poll, 92% of the 1028 registered voters surveyed said they agreed with this statement:

Citizens have the right to view and obtain information about how election officials count votes - 92% agree. New Zogby Poll On Electronic Voting Attitudes Aug. 21, 2006
 

Michael Collins
 
October 20, 2009 - 11:54am
( categories: Europe Minus UK
 
| MSM Criticism
 
| Opinion
 
| Technology
 
)


See the Pinellas Progressives CALENDAR
 
 

Bill Bucolo 
Honest Broker for Domestic and International Video, Print and Internet Marketing
tel 727-347-1829   email bill@billbucolo    Skype BillBucolo   Facebook: Bill Bucolo   Twitter: bbuc

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world-- indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
        --Margaret Mead 





2009-11-21

crash08 UNDERWATER MORTGAGES - WALKING AWAY the psychology of - Brent White 11-02-09.

 crash08 UNDERWATER MORTGAGES - WALKING AWAY the psychology of - Brent White  11-02-09

Nigel Watson comments   11-22-09 (note: Word doc attached if difficulty reading this)

Don't let this 54-page whitepaper scare you away. Pages 1-2 include a half-page abstract; 3-4 is a tight little intro; pages 5-52 are about 23 pages of details; not counting footnotes – about half of every page. See page 8 for Tampa Bay's ranking. (note: page numbers are PDF margin guide's, not those printed on pages)

If you own a home, read every word. If you don't, pass it on to everyone you know who is an owner, which means everyone on your list because non-owners know lots of homeowners too.

Even if you don't own, read at least the abstract and intro (an executive summary), as well as my comments below. You may be an owner one day and forewarned is forearmed, eh?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor White's clear as a spring mountain lake logic is a pleasure to follow as he wends his way through the mess this nation had to become morally and ethically before these twin plagues beggared the culture and society that is its, now mostly unhappy and unwilling, host.

This fellow nails the primary moral issue of our time, namely, the Marianas Trench of a divide between the citizen and the capitalist mentalities of this society. His paper is a casuistic tour-de-force on this issue.

A vast majority of the former pays their bills, keeps their word, honors their commitments, if at all possible, and accepts personal responsibility for their actions.

The latter, on the other hand, use any and all means – fair and especially foul – to avoid/evade/dodge/fob off/deny/delay/buy off their bills/word/commitments/responsibilities. Yea, verily, these are way devious sons-of-bitches. They've always got more turns than a Roto-Rooter.

America's highly advertised and relentlessly promoted 'common values' exist solely in the befuddled minds of its misled citizenry.

This whitepaper, among other issues, indicts this divide and examines the reasons why all these good citizens have not told the schemers, the scammers, media and government mouthpieces for the propaganda machine to go fuck both themselves and their hideous contraption; something I've wondered about myself.

The Prof provides some answers to this seemingly puzzling behaviour. The reason you need to actually take the time to read this is to place in context Prof. White's comments re the shaky foundation upon which rests one of the few bulwarks still standing that is preventing the fairly rapid collapse of this society's law and order: moral constraint (page 27).

Any society only works if most of its participants abide by the rules agreed to by all at the outset. As time proves the need for this change or that, it is understood by all that an orderly and inclusive procedure is in place to move that society forward to a better place. The USA has had a series of ups and downs in this regard with each attempt by the few to push around the many being rebuffed, over time, as a natural reaction to such oppressive tactics.

We are now at a point - again (sigh) - when even the most clueless among us realize s/he has been betrayed, on one level or another, by the very institutions we had come to trust and rely on for the facts needed to make intelligent decisions about our lives: our government; business; the MSMedia. By design, the honest and honorable voices among us have the smallest bullhorns; the least amplification in the town square. The ones who know the truth have been pushed to the margins. You almost have to hunt them down in order to hear their vital message.

The most notorious, noisiest, brashest and boldest human billboards in our society mimic P.T. Barnum and your average college frat house. A few pretend solemnity, but, most entreat us – Oz-like – to ignore all those dark things lurking in the corners, especially those odd figures behind the curtain. Oh, but, it's really, really important for you to find out if you're smarter than the average 5th Grader (you're okay, as long as it's an American 5th Grader – ref. J. Kozol & J.T. Gatto).

All of this noise has but one purpose in mind, besides ever-present profit, to prevent John Q. Public's mind from having even one spare moment to contemplate (a dangerous pastime for any regime) the source of the monumental personal catastrophe most recently visited upon her or him, courtesy of the malevolent, metastatic, predatory fiat currency of the greed machine known as laissez-faire Capitalism.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

NjW's comments on Professor White's detail section:

20 last paragraph – 81% of us feel it is immoral to default – by deduction then, 1/5 of us think it's oky-doky – let's see now (math ain't my strong suit), 45 million mortgages (est.) x .19 (ok to bail) = 8.55 million with no moral constraint factor (amorals);

21 so strong is this moral conviction, only 17% would default if equity shortfall @ 50% - OTOH, if they know another who did, then 82% are MORE LIKELY TO DEFAULT, especially if perceived as unfair bailouts to those less responsible than they are;

24-25 only 41% (or 59%, see 27) of 'amorals' would walk away @ $100k or $200k negative equity (do the math) 45 million mortgages x .41 = 18.45 million – no moral constraint – only naked fear to keep them in line, i.e., keep paying for the sins of a corrupt capitalist culture – the author's final sentence is a devastating indictment of our society's severely warped ethical and moral tenets, amid clever phrasing;

25 V. 'contagion effect,' as moral constraint's sway weakens, the endless tsunami of declining housing values (and let's not forget the shadow inventory), culminating in a tipping point resulting in a series of crashes on the bumpy road to a Depression Era-level nadir, or worse;

27 religiously inculcated guilt and shame are also being shamelessly manipulated by the credit card industry who now have trained cadres of soft-spoken (mostly) women whose sole job it is to 'connect' with the victim, uh, debt-slave, and 'help' them to see their way to paying something (make that anything they can get them to pay, especially if they were thinking about sending a few bucks to the power company, et al – despicable);

28-34 I couldn't agree more with the Prof's observations regarding the orchestrated demonization of the victims by the powers-that-be. This sad-ass culture's marination in the toxic philosophies of John Calvin and Roger Williams is alive and well, riding full gallop in pursuit of any punishment that can possibly be meted out to the wrong perps. God forbid (as she is apparently bent on doing) any of these jackasses from pausing to reflect in order to identify the true villains of this 3rd (and perhaps final) Act in America's long-running morality play.

37- VI. Here again, I couldn't agree more with the author's stance on both his morals and his math. I have long felt the price-to-annual-rental is the only fair way to appraise real property of any type, other than non-profits which require true comparables (churches, etc.). Personally, except for the investor class and other knowledgeable buyers, I would hold the lenders 90% responsible for every one of those damn liar's, alt-A's, option ARMS, and other klepto-gotcha type loans. They, the Realtors, the appraisers, the home inspectors, the underwriting departments and title companies were all in on it. They all had superior knowledge, and they all betrayed their agency relationships, not to mention common decency and fair play, with these poor schnooks they knowingly took to the cleaners.

39 Thus far, I've pretty well gone down the road hand-in-hand with the Prof. Now, we must briefly part ways. On this page he says that the lenders got loosey-goosey with their underwriting requirements due to their shift of focus away from the buyer's "skin in the game" (equity). I now know that, while that might have been the initial reason, it soon became more than apparent that the lax standards served only one aim: to feed Wall Street's ever more ravenous maw with all the raw meat it could lay its grubby mitts on to feed into the derivatives-sovereign wealth fund-global shell game and money-go-round. The lenders didn't "lose sight of" anything. They simply said, "Screw it! Let's make some major bucks while the bank's guards are out to lunch."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

NjW's final observations:

If this fellow, certainly not 20 points smarter than Obama, Geithner, Summers and the rest of the gang, can go right to the heart of this problem – especially the admin's singular lack of an effective cattle prod to make the banksters want to adjust (mark to market, not the pansy-ass 'voluntary,' $1,000 to the wrong party insult on page 42) the bogus batches of bullshit on their books, and work in good faith with those homeowners still able to financially pay the freight – why couldn't the might and majesty of our fast-talkin', high-falutin' guv'mint cleave to the moral and pragmatic high ground here? Did none of these boobs check to see what FDR did in his first 100 days (a record that may stand 'til the end of days- and I know Mr. O set a land speed record for nations visited in the same period, but, ask me if I care)? FDR's FDIC obviated any need for a bank holiday this time around (at least they didn't repeal something), but, wouldn't an updated HOLC (Home Owners Loan Corp), with all it's requirements that banks actually do the banking thing, suspending all foreclosure actions for 90 days to allow time for negotiations, and yada, yada.

And in the grumpy linguist department; Have even academics abandoned the correct past tense spelling (though not, one hopes, its pronunciation) of lead? As one who eschews pleaded for pled (please refrain from reminding me there is no such word – there should be), I eagerly await the day when some journalist twit will make the logical leap (alas, backwards) to "After pleading 'not guilty,' the suspect was leaded back to his cell to await trial." When I want extra letters in my words, I'll request them from the letter fairy.

The Prof's paper is badly in need of a copy editor, but then, so am I, for a different reason.


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-17

mlm Blastoff Network PYRAMID - THEIR STORY - TRY #2

I'd be foolin' you if I said I had a clue, but, for whatever reason, only half this message went out.
Please discard the earlier one. This one has the two links I thought were in the earlier version. Sorry.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nigel <freesense@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 12:01
Subject: mlm Blastoff Network PYRAMID 1 THEIR STORY Blastoff Help System
To: ",A POST from Nigel" <freesense@gmail.com>


This come-on will be appearing in your mailbox shortly. If you believe in lots of moolah for no work, ignore this post.
 
 
If, on the other hand, you're a tad more cautious, the nice man in the video link below has a few thoughts on all this.
As a veteran of a number of MLM/Pyramid schemes - HerbalLife, Multi-Call, and others, believe me when I tell you that this fellow is telling it like it is.
 
mlm Blastoff Network PYRAMID - ANOTHER VIEW #4.52  veoh
 
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational_and_howto/watch/v191879618CyeMBf9#


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.


mlm Blastoff Network PYRAMID 1 THEIR STORY Blastoff Help System

This come-on will be appearing in your mailbox shortly. If you believe in lots of moolah for no work, ignore this post. If, on the other hand, you're a tad more cautious, the nice man in the video link below has a few thought5s on all this.
 
As a veteran of a number of MLM/Pyramid schemes - HerbalLife, Multi-Call


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

SEX 'n' SCIENCE - THIS BRINGS NEW MEANING TO ''WORKING HER WAY THROUGH SCHOOL'' thaindiannews 11-15-09

This is the price we pay for encouraging critical thinking and personal responsibility in our children; just not in the States.
That this event took place across the pond should come as no surprise. In today's England, birthplace of priggishness, prudishness and Puritans, females really are encouraged to expect equality and to think for themselves. Were she my daughter, I'd buy her a pint and tell her, well done! Which brings up an interesting question...
 
If the smashing Ms. Magnanti could navigate the dark corridors of winked-at prostitution, all the while pursuing a whole lot better education than a majority of the folks reading this, what do you think might be the result of legalizing sex between consenting adults - no matter the circumstances, genders or individuals involved (all that guilt and shame wasted)? Free-range polyamory anyone?
 
Or, in the alternative, why not felonize the currently legal agreement of a woman exchanging sex for security, companionship and the occasional night on the town with a man with whom she resides for more than one evening? These "arrangements" - shacking up, marriage, one-night stands, etc. appear to me to differ from the cash-for-sex model of the streetwalker mainly in the number of trysts.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/health/anonymous-ex-call-girl-blogger-revealed-to-be-british-scientist_100275174.html
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-11

tech CELLS FOR SENIORS Doro PhoneEasy $40-$50 gizmag 10-19-09

 
https://www.consumercellular.com/Info/Phones
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 COMMERCIAL MAJOR CREDIT CRUNCH LOOMS nbclosangeles 10-21-09

 
 
 
crash08 COMMERCIAL's DISMAL OUTLOOK per Wilbur Ross  seekingalpha  11-10-09



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-09

war AFGHANISTAN - WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON

These are what the waning days of empire look like.
 
Within 20 years, on our present course and trajectory, we will be done: flat broke and imploded.
 
AFGHANISTAN'S SHAM ARMY - Chris Hedges  commondreams  11-09-08
 
Afghanistan - the Pentagon Digs in for the long haul - Nick Turse  tomgram  11-05-09
 
Where Will They Get the Troops
 
EMPIRE AFGHAN MY LAI 2001 POW Massacre of 2,000+ at Dasht-e-Leili w Amy  #16.06 07-16-09
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/13/obama_calls_for_probe_into_2001
 
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 DAY LABORERS ALL-AMERICAN JOE SIX-PACK JOINS 'EM lasvegassun 11-08-09

from patrick.net
 
 

"It's the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression..."
 
"Before, I was part of the majority. Now I'm part of the minority ... I'm not going to forget this. I'm not going to forget any of this."
 
 
And for a peek under the ugly hood of the racism and nativism this trend is unleashing anew, check out the comments to this piece.
Lou Dobbs must be beaming (and why is he still employed?).
 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

fun JOKE CANDID, CLUELESS & CONFUSING CLASSIFIEDS

Big Bend Larry's latest:
 
 
FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER
8-years old. Hateful little bastard. Bites! 
 
FREE PUPPIES
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog. 
 
FREE PUPPIES
Mother,  AKC German Shepherd. 
Father, Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound. 
 
FOUND DIRTY WHITE DOG
Looks like a rat. Been out a while. 
Better be a big reward. 
 
COWS: NEVER BRED
Also one gay bull for sale.
 
NORDIC TRACK 
$300 Hardly used, call Chubby. 
 
GEORGIA PEACHES 
California grown - 89 cents/lb. 
 
JOINING NUDIST COLONY
Must sell washer and dryer $300. 
 
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE
Worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie. 
 
FOR SALE BY OWNER
Complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, 45 volumes.
Excellent condition. $1,000 or best offer No longer needed.
Got married last month. Wife knows everything
(Swami predicts a short, stormy, perhaps homicidal relationship)


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-08

fun WORDS AT PLAY A Fractured Medical Dictionary

From Big Bend Larry's Chuckle Cavern:

A Fractured Medical Dictionary
 
Artery.........................  The study of paintings
Bacteria....................... Back door to cafeteria
Barium......................... What surgeons do with fatal errors
Benign......................... What you be, after you be eight
Caesarean Section........ A neighborhood in Rome
Cat scan....................... Here kitty, kitty
Cauterize...................... Made eye contact with her
Colic............................  A sheep dog
Coma........................... A punctuation mark
Dilate.........................   To live long
Enema..........................Not a friend
Fester.........................  Quicker than the other guy
Fibula.........................  A small lie
Impotent.......................Distinguished, VIP
Labor Pain....................Getting hurt at work
Medical Staff.................A Doctor's cane
Morbid......................... A higher offer
Nitrates....................... Cheaper than day rates
Node........................... I knew it
Outpatient....................A person who has fainted
Pelvis......................... Second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative............. A letter carrier
Prostate.......................Federalist, 10th Amendment fan
Recovery Room............Place to do upholstery
Rectum........................Nearly killed him
Secretion.....................Hiding something
Seizure........................Roman  emperor
Tablet......................... A small table
Terminal Illness............Getting sick at the airport
Tumor..........................One plus one more
Urine.......................... Opposite of you're out

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

save SELLING GOLD WITHOUT GETTING RIPPED OFF Consumer Reports-Lifehacker 11-05-09


 
direct link to CR article
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/november-2009/money/cash-for-gold-catch/overview/cash-for-gold-catch-ov.htm?INTKEY=195BME0
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 COMMERCIAL TO BOTTOM OUT IN 2010 latimes 11-07-09

from patrick.net
 
 
This is a bookmark to the "extend and pretend" article I sent last week. The LAT's take is that banks will finally 'fess up, foreclose on and mark down the value of "severely underwater" (as in, Mariana Trench underwater) commercial loans and mortgages in their portfolios.
 
I disagree. Banks, being comprised of humans, will continue to delude themselves and wait for some "corner" to be turned, allowing them to recoup some of their losses, after taking less-egregious-than-now write-offs. It's a lovely fantasy, and unless they get pressure from the federal government - unlikely, as even the gal whose job it is to make the banks behave, Sheila Baird, head of the FDIC, has been told to shut up - or shareholders (a joke), they are unlikely to do much of anything they don't have to until the firing squad (FDIC) is adjusting its bandoleers. I believe the earlier scenario is more likely, but, a stay of execution still means you're going to die.
 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-commre-outlook5-2009nov05,0,974015.story?ref=patrick.net
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 RECAP THRU END OF 3Q mybudget360 11-04-09


Nicely done - charts clear as a bell - where we really are
 
http://www.mybudget360.com/bankruptcy-filings-to-match-divorce-filings-in-2009-15-million-358-million-americans-on-food-stamps-11-percent-of-the-population-the-5-indicators-of-the-misery-index/
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-05

crasdh08 SHIPPING GHOST FLEET RIDES HIGH ON THE PLIMSOLL mailonline 09-13- 09

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1212013/Revealed-The-ghost-fleet-recession.html
 


Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990
freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
– Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.
-"The burden is always on the intelligence."
- Nigel j Watson 1981









Sent from St Petersburg, FL, United States

fun AQUARIUM Kuroshio Sea Okinawa Japan 2nd largest #4.33 youtube 2009

 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 `Making Sen$e (of the economy) Paul Solman VIDEOS newshour-pbs

 
One of the few things still working on network television these days is PBS. It survived the full frontal assault of the Bush thugs, and sails happily on to the benefit of us all, as Bill Moyers intended.
 
One signal service has been the various programs that have tried their level best to reduce the complexities (and are they ever) of the machinations of Wall Street to terms a 5th grader could fathom. Paul Solman's Making Sense takes that approach with a vengeance. He seems bent on reducing the irreducible; succeeding about half the time. It don't get no simpler than this.
 
Save this link for the next time you're scratching your head over the latest oligarch scam come undone, or why you and all your earthly possessions are now scattered about the curb in front of your former residence.
 
The 2 1/2 minute video on each home page (lower left for others) tells you all you need to know about the issues covered in that edition. Here are two samples of Paul's great style:
 
crash08 COMMERCIAL MELTDOWN MADE EASY #5.52 making sense-pbs 10-06-09
 
crash08 FORECLOSURE DELUGE MADE EASY #12.18 making sense-pbs 10-15-09
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module_byid.html?s=news01s32b0q793



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-03

md SWINE FLU CDC ''GUESSES'' AT DATA DRIVING GOV'T ACTION #9.53 brasscheck-cbswashingtonunplugged 10-00-09

Take ten minutes out of your busy schedule and watch this heads-up, good-to-know news item.
When you're done, come back for the rest of the story... (sorry, Paul).
 
 
As important as the above news is to your health, and that of those you care about, the real news here is the utter failure of our castrated and dysfunctional MSM to bring their immense resources to bear effectively even when, on those increasingly rare occasions, they decide to shine their gigawatt Klieg lights in all those dark corners, aka, their job.
 
 
I had never heard of the show this clip came from, CBS News' Washington Unplugged. While it's true that "unplugging" (canceling all but my broadband service) my own TV 3 days after New Year's Day has left me less in touch with the quotidian inanities of the boobtube, I've still managed to stay informed on the news and news sources.
 
It's also true that I have, for some time, dismissed, out of hand, the gravitas quotient of any MSM news source, save 60 Minutes and one or two others. But, still.... So I pulled up the CBS News home page. http://www.cbsnews.com/
 
 
 
 
Spying a 60 Minutes piece on H1N1, I clicked through thinking there might be a link to the WU clip I'd just watched. No such luck. In fact, the focus of this piece seemed somewhat at odds with the Brasscheck clip.
 
Back at the home page, I clicked on Health http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/health/main204.shtml?tag=hdr;cnav
 
 
 ;seemed like the sensible next step. After scrolling through, I thought I'd give the Vaccine Dilemma clip a try.
 
After a weird 15-second ad with a robotic arm fistbump, I settled in for the 2.13 clip. Seems this one's focus was the long lines and public skepticism as to the safety of the product. Imagine, not taking your government's word. What next, I wondered.
 
The most common sense on offer here was that of a mom/nurse, Michelle O'Brien, who was not convinced the "numbers' (the same ones guessed at in the Brasscheck clip, and the same CDC guy trying to stampede the crowd to get the shot) added up to a viral holocaust. She then said she would "revisit" her decision if the situation appeared more dire down the road; clear; level-headed; those kids are in good hands.
 
Back to the Home page I go, ready to unleash my secret weapon: the Search box! Typing in "washington unplugged", my finger quivered over the Enter key in rapt anticipation. Plunging down, I now had quite a few answers - 507 scattered over 51 pages, to be exact.
 
The first entry solved one puzzle. CBS had only started this program up 28 days after I severed relations with its faux-news division parent. Too, it turned out to be a web-only service; just one of the slew of reasons we need to get to fully-subsidized, basic universal Internet access. Today, if you have the money, you get better news, or, at least , have a chance to. There's a lot wrong with that picture when you think about it. The Internet is a public service, not a profit center. But, I digress (oh, you noticed).
 
So, nearing the finish line, I now pulled up the Home page for Washington Unplugged, or at least tried to. After a minute or two, it was found lurking under the Other button at the end of the topics row:
 
 
Turns out, it's a daily 15-minute webcast. I bookmarked it. From the above odyssey, by now you have figured out that the quest for real news is not for sissies and you'd better pack a lunch.
 
My twists and turns above reveal, to the fullest, how screwed up the news presenting process has become. Maybe it's all those analog execs trying to adapt (poorly) to an onrushing digital universe. Our history as humans tells us that any new technology only works at its max when the ones who use it become the ones who manage it. That I should have to spend more than a minute or so in order to find this site that, on the surface, is providing some quality info of public benefit (any broadcaster's trust) says a lot about how far we have yet to travel to ease access to expository news.
 
 
CBS is a for-profit outfit, Democracy Now is not; it is free for the asking. You may find this video - and many others on this subject via site-search - in seconds. It supports the initial video's conclusions; arguably from a more authoritative source.
 
Shannon Brownlee: Does the Vaccine Matter?
 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-02

civlibs POSSE COMITATUS VIOLATED - FED TROOPS IN ALA (too few cops to maintain order?) Mark Ames alternet 10-24-09

I understand why the corporate media wouldn't cover this, but, I have trouble believing I missed it in the wide array of Indy media I scan daily. I'm also puzzled that the 2 or 3 missives from ACLU every month also failed to mention it (or I missed it there as well). The events reported occurred this past March. Was the ACLU aware of this incident? This is serious stuff; the next step up from Fusion Centers
 
 
., IMHO.
 
Will the people bell the oligarchs for keeps this time?
 
There's never a Teddy around when you need one..
 
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143485/after_the_billionaires_plundered_alabama_town,_troops_were_called_in_..._illegally
 
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

2009-11-01

war CELEBRATING SLAUGHTER War and Collective Amnesia - Chris Hedges commondreams 10-05-09

The best columnist - and conscience - we have
 
 
Of course, being a freethinker, I always want to give equal time to the eloquent rebuttals of the other side...

Oil Tycoon: US "Entitled" to Iraqi Oil  democracy now  10-22-09

In other congressional testimony, the oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens (yes, the hi-tech windmill phony) told lawmakers Wednesday the US is "entitled" to Iraqi oil because of the human and financial toll of occupying Iraq. Addressing the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, Pickens criticized Iraqi plans to open up oil fields to international bidding. Pickens said, "They're opening them up to other companies all over the worldWe're entitled to itWe even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars."

So, now that you have the POVs on this issue, how do you feel as you weigh the "merits" of both? And, have you ever wondered how god, in his wisdom, put our oil under their land?
 
Too, I guess T. Boone is one who doesn't count all those dead-displaced-and-maimed-on-account-of-us Iraqis as real flesh-and-blood human beings. But, then, who can blame him? He would likely be equally as clueless that the whole adventure was crafted out of thin air, by an administration that had to steal two presidential elections to get the job undone.
 
I could go on....
 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

future tech ROLLOUT NOTEBOOK COMPUTER tuvie

You're gonna love this!
 
Thanx a bunch, Nonie

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 COMMERCIAL FED BAILS ON BAILOUT-MOVES TO EXTEND & PRETEND zero hedge 10-30-09

The 5th commenter - #515579, rostholder, and the responses to his comment - explains this more clearly than the author of the item.
 
In sum: BayWalk, and all the other little baywalks, may have a stay of execution; effectuated by kicking the can down the road.
 
The Fed and Treasury are broke. Really.
  • They cannot do a TARP 2-type bailout on the multi-trillions in CRE (commercial real estate) debt over the next 2-3 years.
  • They don't have the cash on hand and they dare not print the gobs needed to do the job.
  • Nor can they guarantee loans into the near future without placing the ability of the government to function in jeopardy when said loans prove bad, as they most surely will.
  • The phrase, "extend and pretend" is simply the latest alliterative mnemonic to summarize yet another in a series of moronic and self-defeating government policies designed to delay, as long as possible, the nation's fateful day of fiscal reckoning. By allowing banks (tacitly agreeing not to prosecute - "criticize" - them for bad banking practices) to extend the bogus (no hope of their ever being repaid) commercial loans in their inventory (that they couldn't unload on anyone else before the roof caved in), the banks can now avoid - for the moment - having to call in those bad loans (virtually all of them), hence taking the loss on their books, hence reducing their required reserves (cash-on-hand), hence leading to being taken over and closed down by the government. See how easy that was?
 
In 1930-1932, Herbert Hoover tried a similar policy of ignore-and-deny. It didn't work then and it won't now. Ole' Herb was the Prez who should have done the bank holiday thing, but he was a freebooter and let the market decide on his watch. We all know how well that worked out.
.
Some other inside -baseball terms used by the writer: QE = Quarterly Earnings; GSE
 
 (link)
 
BTW, the "largesse" for residential RE referred to by the writer is to the banks, to back-up their toxic derivative mortgage loans, lest you think for a moment that the government temporarily lost its mind and actually helped the millions of poor slobs whose star-crossed fortune it was to have actually owned a home when all this went down.
 
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-abandoning-bailout-commercial-real-estate
 
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.

crash08 JOBS WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT BEING PAID TO DO SOMETHING nyt 10-03-09

pass it on
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/opinion/04williams.html?_r=6&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1255606270-SCsw%252bCdfHKii2Y8I3lD6FA
 



Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 freesense@Gmail.com

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." – Krishnamurti
-A good pun is its own reword.