Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

Arizona knows full well what the NFL isn't quite saying. "They're Coming For You...," on Madison Kimrey's blog. Excerpt

If the NFL's core values indeed "embrace tolerance, diversity, inclusiveness and prohibit discrimination," then it's time for the NFL to stand up and say they will impose a penalty on states that [officially] hate by not bringing the biggest event they have to those states, just like their Competition Committee is proposing a penalty for using the N-word on the field.

More from Paul Krugman, in "Down the Up Staircase":

James Surowiecki makes an important point [in "The Mobility Myth"]: if you want a society in which everyone has a decent life, you need to construct a society in which everyone has a decent life – not a society in which everyone has a small but equal chance of living the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Excerpt from Surowiecki:

What made the U.S. economy so remarkable for most of the twentieth century was the fact that, even if working people never moved into a different class, over time they saw their standard of living rise sharply...That’s what has really changed in the past forty years....It’s no surprise that people in Washington prefer to talk about mobility rather than about this basic reality. Raising living standards for ordinary workers is hard: you need to either get wages growing or talk about things that scare politicians, like “redistribution” and “taxes.” But making it easier for some Americans to move up the economic ladder is no great triumph if most can barely hold on.

First Lady Michelle Obama held a Let's Move focus group with some pretty adorable kids – and a very special guest [Will Ferrell].

This is the question: "What is Barack Obama's presidency for?" Excerpt:

His ascent to power had meaning, but now his interventions are too rare and too piecemeal to constitute a narrative.

Al Jazeera's Global Day of Action to free detained journalists in Egypt:

The worldwide campaign for the release of Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt ["Al Jazeera journalists plead not guilty in Egypt court"]continues to gain momentum. In the last several weeks, the EU and the White House called for their release, thousands joined protests outside the Egyptian Embassy in London, executives from other major news organizations signed an open letter calling for their release....

It's probably simplistic, but my results agreed with those of "Brain Test."

An Englishman, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and a German are walking down the street together. A juggler is performing on the street but there are so many people that the four men can’t see the juggler. So the juggler goes on top of a platform and asks: “Can you see me now?” The four men answer: “Yes.” “Oui.” “Si.” “Ja.”

Astonishments of the Human Body:
    About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But don't worry, a majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.
    The colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are that you'll have a bad dream.
    Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin.
    Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.
    Like fingerprints, every individual has an unique tongue print that can be used for identification.

A programmer’s wife tells him: “Run to the store and pick up a loaf of bread. If they have eggs, get a dozen.” The programmer comes home with 12 loaves of bread.

I watched my first Hugh Ross [astrophysicist and creationist] video today (the most current one I could find). This guy seems way better than Ken Ham. I was wondering if you could watch a bit of him and give me your impression of his science in particular.


Got a call from our cousin a couple of days ago. He and his wife are driving to see our cousin who is dying of cancer and his wife. That cousin says he feels fine but the cancer is about everywhere in his body. He is taking it well because he has a lot of faith that he is going to Heaven. His little grandson who died is there and he looks forward to seeing him.

"How Wolves Change Rivers" – When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable "trophic cascade" occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains in this movie remix.

Limerick of the Week:

Hard truths are like apples.They're true, and yet,
when some friend throws them at you without let,
    it's hard to hear them,
    you won't go near them,
and you wish he'd stop throwing them, you fret.

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Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean

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