Hixter

That's a rather lazy and poor commentary on the Ebola epidemic, as we're talking about an infectious disease. You can't catch alcoholism, obesity or emphysema from a toilet seat as far as I know. It would have been more suitable for the cartoonist to compare Ebola to modern plagues like HIV/AIDS. It's certainly too early to panic, but we're talking about a communicable disease with a mortality rate of about 70% that is now present in the United States and Europe and is spreading almost uncontrolled in Africa. Some predictions say we'll be looking at 1.4 million cases around the world. That's

It never hurts to be prepared. I grew up in Florida and the authorities encouraged everyone to have enough supplies to last at least 3 days without outside assistance, but they recommended 2 weeks of provisions. Hurricane Charley wiped out my hometown and some residents were without electricity for 12 days, so the smart ones with generators and food stashes were much better off. Hurricanes are very localized, so a nationwide outbreak of Ebola would dwarf anything we've seen. I have friends with ranches in the middle of nowhere that are well-stocked with provisions and firearms. Due to my bee

Likewise. Right now, the government/CDC seems to be doing more damage control than disease control. They're losing the public's trust now that we're seeing healthcare workers coming down with the disease despite intense precautions. It's worrying that one of them actually flew less than 24 hours before becoming symptomatic. Nightmare scenario: a large outbreak in poor Central American countries that would cause tens/hundreds of thousands of potential carriers to stream across our southern border.

How's this for fun? My good friend and neighbor is a neurologist who moonlights at the Dallas hospital where the Ebola patients are housed; he was there the weekend when the first victim arrived and was also there this past weekend when the second nurse was diagnosed. To make things even better, *I* flew from Cleveland (Browns-Steelers game) to Texas Monday. My (different) neighbor is a healthcare worker and we dosed up on hand sanitizer all weekend.

This looks promising (Ignore the mistaken assertion that American subs and aircraft carriers already use fusion reactors.): EDIT: I guess this doesn't really belong in the Politics 2014 section, so I'll keep my post on topic and add that Wendy Davis is running a terrible campaign and it would be disastrous for Texas were she to be elected governor.

I'm heading to Cleveland this weekend for the Browns-Steelers game. My expectations aren't high, but I'm looking forward to seeing the RnR and football halls of fame for the first time. I'm also going to pay a visit to my great-great-great-great-grandfather's grave in Akron. He was buried there in 1857.

Drinking an airport beer before flying to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. Then I'm flying back for my neighbor's Octoberfest party. Beer, beer, beer.

I expect the United States military to be invited back to Vietnam in the next few years.

My friend is a neurosurgeon and I've seen some crazy MRIs with embedded knives, hammers, nails, etc.

My beer tastes as good or better than many beers I've had at brewpubs. I like being able to invent recipes and experiment with ingredients. Denver is certainly a mecca for beer lovers; I'm flying out for the October 2nd session of The Great American Beer Festival. I love sampling the brews and hanging out with all the beer nerds. It'll be a short trip and I almost canceled it, but I've been to the last 4 or 5 festivals and I just couldn't bear to miss it this year. In other news: Trash Can Keg Dispenser 2.0 is complete! The previous version had internal foam insulation that was prone to mi

Well, we're bombing Syria. It's not a war, of course. In other news, here's a chance to watch a future war in its infancy. China has begun rapidly and extensively modifying some of the disputed Spratly islands. What were a couple of concrete pilings pounded into submerged reefs are now large manmade islands. The balance of power in the region will change dramatically when China has airfields, troops, ports and radar facilities so far from its mainland. The Philippines, Vietnam and other nations in the region are getting very nervous, because it won't be long before China has an overwhelming

Federal prisons hold less than 10% of the nation's inmates. The vast majority of inmates are held in state prisons and local jails; about 20% of their inmates are non-violent drug offenders and a large percentage of 'non-violent' inmates have previous arrests or convictions for violent crimes. It's a travesty if a person with a spotless record is incarcerated for possession of a joint. It's somewhat less so if the person has a lengthy rap sheet and a habit of committing non-violent crimes to pay for their dope. Also, the federal prison system recently began expediting the release of non-vi

There are 1.2 million violent crimes per year in the United States. Yes, our prisons are full of people who "really committed bad crimes."

Yeah, the government contract I was working under was unexpectedly canceled in June and my company reneged on many years of promises that I'd always have a job if the contract went away. What a difference a CEO makes. I've only had 2 jobs since I got out of the Army in the 80s. I've always been a loyal employee, so it was a blow to my worldview when my employer said, "You've been a great employee and the customer raved about what a great job you did, but you make a lot of money and earn a lot of vacation time and we're having a hard time meeting our numbers, so we're not going to transfer y

Yep. Although sometimes you can't fix a problem and you just have to punish the people causing the problems -- sort of like we do with prisons. Yep.

A man needs a hobby. An unemployed man needs cheap beer. Two birds, one stone. Perhaps my troubles arose because I ignored Mr. Zimmerman's warning that I shouldn't wear sandals.

Today I tried to brew some beer, but I ran out of crystal malt and had to substitute, the thermometer battery died and I destroyed the plastic cover in an unsuccessful attempt at removing it and the pump wouldn't pump and I couldn't remove the head to check the impeller because a screw was stripped. Abort! Abort! Abort! I'll try again tomorrow.

There's this guy named Nels Cline who is 58 ...

Yesterday I put 10 gallons of beer into 5-gallon kegs. I was surprised to find that I still had 12 gallons in the kegerator; I thought it was dry. Pleasant surprise.

I think it just shows up under the "Purchased" header. I had to download it before it would play entire songs instead of 45-second previews.

Looking forward to the show in L.A. Thursday night; it's been a long time since I've seen Ms. B. play. Today she released a new video for a song off her recent album: http://player.vimeo.com/video/103588575

I think it's only free for a month, so I assume there will be a CD release. Knowing record labels these days, it'll probably have a bonus song and so will the vinyl version. (I knew there had to be a U2 thread around here somewhere, but the board software wouldn't let me search for a 2-letter string. I get the same thing a lot when I try to search for 'Who'.)

No big deal. Next time I'll try to remember to deploy dreaded lol and maybe a a jk or two.

That's one way to increase your "sales." http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/u2-surprise-album-songs-of-innocence-apple-itunes-free-20140909

On a related note, if I recall correctly, the coalition tried to kill Saddam Hussein and his sons for a day or two before the full-scale bombing and invasion of Iraq commenced. They thought they had good intel on their locations and used some specialized bunker busters to try to decapitate the regime. Who knows what Iraq would have been like today if the strikes had been successful? Probably about the same as they are today, I'd reckon. I'm a bit of a pessimist.