Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Food for thought, or maybe indignation at wealth inequality in America:

Mark Zuckerberg

This is scary, or infuriating, or maybe normal?: "US CEOs break pay record as top 10 earners take home at least $100m each."

So, U.S. taxpayers are not only subsidizing fast food companies by helping pay the health care expenses created by their artery-clogging food, we are also subsidizing them by paying expenses their employees can't afford because they make less than a living wage ("Fast-Food Chains Costing Taxpayers the Most Money")? If you factor in all those expenses, how much do you suppose that bargain bag of drive-through food really costs?

Yet another reason to maybe not move to California: "Winery plans to chop down California redwoods to make room for vineyards." Having seen some of the new vineyards in Cali, which seem to be growing like kudzu in the Southeast, I am sorry to say there seems to be not all that much difference in the environmental damage caused by a vineyard versus a shopping mall.

John Muir, definitively not a slacktivist, and a guy who definitely seemed to prefer thinking and doing over reading "The A[dventure]J[ournal] List: 20 Inspiring Quotes from John Muir." If you likewise don't want to waste too much time reading, head straight to quotes 11, 12, and 13. Then head to the mountains!

Madison Kimrey, founder of NC Youth Rocks, is scheduled to speak at Moral Monday next week in Burlington: "State NAACP plans press conference in Burlington."

Rand Paul being fishy:

Tea Party logic?:

The Pope is reminding me why I left organized religion and I think that's awesome!: "Pope Francis describes ‘ideological Christians’ as a ‘serious illness’ within the Church."

One of many reasons I am VERY glad I competed in the dark ages of mountain biking, when landing a back-flip off the roof of a two-story ski chalet was considered a really big deal: "Record Mountain-Bike Backflip."

Matt Dyson, owner of
medical marijuana dispensary

For the first time, a clear majority of Americans say they favor legalizing marijuana, as recreational and medical use of the drug gains acceptance across the nation, a poll released on Tuesday showed: "Gallup: Most Now Favor Legalizing Marijuana."

Remembering how things were when I was a child growing up in SW Virginia, and comparing how things are today when I return for a visit, I often feel the only major difference is that today most people at least look around before dropping the "n" word. For those who may think that is a too-harsh assessment that overlooks all the alleged progress in race relations, consider the following: "KKK—the invisible empire is alive and well in Virginia."

Obviously the folks who created the website Celeb Jihad didn't get the message when fanatics blew up buildings and tried to kill several people in Europe because of some questionable cartoon humor aimed at Islam. Just in case the website name alone didn't inspire a terrorist attack, its creators upped the ante in the comments for its latest-news photographs: you need go no further than comments like "Mila Kunis Spread Naked in the Bathroom."

Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

Five decades ago, the late Stanley Milgram conducted several social experiments that inspired many in the general public to erroneously conclude that anyone could be coerced into blindly following orders. The refrain of the time that emerged from Milgram's tests was "anybody could be a Nazi" if ordered to do so. In a current revisiting of Milgram's studies, writer David Funder clarifies that the experiments actually revealed that only 37.5% of test subjects would actually follow orders without thinking: "Contrary to Belief, Not Everyone Will Blindly Follow Orders (Op-Ed)." This is a high number and merits concern, obviously, but it at least shows a minority will comply without thinking, not a majority.
    Considered in the context of recent American government dysfunction and social polarity, the idea that roughly one-third of people will blindly follow without thinking is an interesting concept. It may be a coincidence, or not, but in recent Gallup polls ("Fewer Americans Identify as Economic Conservatives in 2013"), 35% of Americans describe themselves as conservative to very conservative.

Lateral Thinking Quiz. The following [36] questions will test your ability to think laterally. If you get more than 50% of these right you’re certainly strong on your lateral thinking skills (or maybe you’re just good at quizzes!)
    ...33. Three of the glasses below are filled with orange juice and the other three are empty. By moving just one glass, can you arrange the glasses so that the full and empty glasses alternate?

...The fear of making a mistake, of risking an error, or of being told you are wrong is constantly with us. And that’s a shame. Making mistakes is not the same thing as being creative, but if you are not willing to make mistakes, then it is impossible to be truly creative. If your state of mind is coming from a place of fear and risk avoidance, then you will always settle for the safe solutions—the solutions already applied many times before....

Enjoy the pictures!

More of Banksy's very strange sense of humor—"Sirens of the Lambs":


Rednecks have the lowest stress rate because they do not understand the seriousness of most medical terminology. For example, redneck definitions:
    Artery: The study of paintings
    Bacteria: Back door to cafeteria
    Barium: What doctors do when patients die
    Benign: What you be, after you be eight
    Caesarean section: A neighborhood in Rome
    Cat scan: Searching for 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 someone else
    Fibula: A small lie
    Impotent: Distinguished, well known
    Labor pain: Getting hurt at work
    Medical staff: A doctor's cane
    Morbid: A higher offer
    Nitrates: Rates of pay for working at night, normally more than days
    Node: I knew it
    Outpatient: A person who has fainted
    Pelvis: Second cousin to Elvis
    Post operative: A letter carrier
    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

Limerick of the Week:

In everyone's life, people come and go;
Moto's going is but our current woe
    (his last column Monday),
    but we also, one day
(we are reminded), we'll go too (we know).

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Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean

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