Monthly Archives: February 2010

Funny Real Names

Adam Baum

Adam Zapel

Al Bino
Al K. Seltzer

Alf A. Romeo

Ali Katt
Anna Graham
Anne Teak
Barb Dwyer

Barb E. Dahl

Barbara Seville
Beau Tye
Bill O. Reitz
Brandy D. Cantor

Brighton Early

Brock Lee

Brooke Trout

Bud Light

Bud Wieser (real college math teacher)
Cam Payne
Carrie Oakey

Cheri Pitts
Harry Pitts
Chris P. Bacon
Chuck Waggon

Claire Annette Reed

Constance Noring
Crystal Ball
Dan D. Lyons

Dan Druff
Dick Finder (real name of a urologist)

Dick Head
Dick Hertz

Dick Hunter

Dick Mussell

Dick Pole

Dick Rasch

Dick Swett

Dick Tator

Dick Trickle (a NASCAR driver)
Donny Brook
Dr. DeKay, DDS
Dr. & Dr. Doctor (real married doctors from Norwalk, CT)

Dr. E. Ville
Dr. I. Ball (optometrist)
Ella Vader
Garren Teed
Ginger Vitus
Harry Balls
Harry Beard
Harry Beaver
Harry Chest
Harry Cox
Harry Johnson
Hazle Nutt
Helen Back
Hugh Jass

Hugh Jorgan
Jim Shorts
Jim Shu
Jim Sox

Jo King

Joe Kerr (joker)
Kerry Oki

King Queene
Luke Warm
Marsha Dimes (march of dimes)

Marsha Mellow

Marshall Law

Marty Graw
Mary Christmas

Matt Tress
May Ann Naze
Mike Hunt

Mike Raffone
Mike Rotch

Mike Stand
Oren Jellow
Ray Zenz (raisins)

Raynor Schein

Reid Enright
Rick O’Shea

Rick Shaw
Rose Bush
Sal Minella
Sue Flay

Sue Yu
Tad Pohl
Tom Katt

Tom Morrow

Tommy Gunn

Tommy Hawk
Warren Teed
Willie Stroker

What the World Needs Now

Jill Sobule, John Doe, Sara Watkins, Stuart Johnson, Don Was, Dave Way, Krish Sharma and the amazing team on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus came together to create write, perform and produce an original song, on-site during the 2010 annual TED conference.

Teabaggers and Me

I’ve been thinking about the teabaggers and the anger that they display. Well, not just that, but also at my own anger on many of the same and similar issues.

The teabaggers are angry about taxes. Well I am too, though I’m far from being a teabagger. They think they pay too much and get too little in return. My feeling is that I pay a fair tax for all that is provided by those tax dollars, but I’m angry that those who most need help from my tax dollars aren’t getting that help.

I guess the difference is that the teabaggers are looking for their own payoff for the dollars they put into the system and I’m looking for more tax dollars to be spent on others. I don’t need much that taxes aren’t already paying for in my case. I drive on roads good enough to get me where I’m going, I feel adequately protected by police and fire and other governmental agencies, I got a good public education, my streets get plowed in the winter, my Social Security payment is deposited without fail each month into my bank account. In short, I can’t complain about my plight.

What I don’t understand is how the teabaggers can only look at their own wishes, desires, needs, or whatever, and never realize that there’s a lot more people out there who need those tax dollars in order to survive. It’s not all just ne’er-do-wells who won’t try to help themselves. There’s a lot of hard-working Americans who are unemployed or underemployed due to the failure of our government to protect them from foreign competition, corporate greed, political expediency, and a myriad of other failings.

I don’t mind, and in fact, want, my tax dollars to go to these people and to help take care of their needs. And I’m angry that those dollars are not being used for this sort of social good.

Teabaggers are so busy trying to articulate what’s in it for them that they never think about what others are dealing with. A sensible healthcare reform package, for instance, would prolong the lives of millions of Americans, improve the conditions of life for those millions, and free them from the worry of catastrophic loss as the result of an illness they can’t afford. I WANT my tax dollars to go to help those people, and I’m angry that it isn’t happening.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are having their homes foreclosed because of the economic downturn, through no fault of their own. No one is stepping up to help them. Whole neighborhoods are being left desolate, housing values are dropping across the board, and it’s not the fault of anyone who is being punished by the effects of this economic crisis. The one’s at fault got bailed out, took home some big bonuses, and are most likely keeping their homes safe and secure.

I want some of my tax dollars to go to help those who are losing their homes. Let’s put a stop to this senselessness, this hollowing out of the very heart of America. I don’t mind paying my taxes if those less advantaged than I can benefit from those dollars.

The teabaggers say, “What’s in it for me?”. I ask, “Why aren’t my tax dollars going to help those who need help?” Neither the teabaggers nor I are getting any answers. We’re both angry. We both want change. We both want what’s best for this country and its people.

The difference is, they want for themselves, and I want for those who need. I just don’t think that our jobs should disappear to other countries, our support systems for the needy should fail those they’re supposed to serve, our infrastructure should fall into disrepair through neglect and lack of funding, and all the while, no one cares.

Wake up teabaggers. We’re all in this together. We differ in what to do about it, we differ in our opinions as to who should be getting the help they need. But we should unite in the knowledge that what happens to one of us can, and will, happen to all of us if we don’t do something constructive to change it.

Suzanne Vega and "Luka"

One of the most meaningful and haunting songs to ever make the pop music charts, “Luka” by Suzanne Vega. This song brought the subject of child abuse into the national dialog in a way not witnessed before. Unfortunately the problem still exists. On the other hand, more is being done today to combat this terrible situation than might otherwise have been the case without the awareness this song brought to the issue. We’ve come so far, but we have so far yet to go.

TYPING YOUR WAY INTO PARADISE

You arrive in purgatory to find it’s just a typewriter on a desk. As you take your seat, you notice that the C key is glowing faintly.

A demon says, “All you have to do is type the integers, in order: ONE, TWO, THREE, and so on. The first time you strike the C key, you’ll be released into Paradise.”

That doesn’t sound too bad. Assuming it takes 10 seconds on average to type each number (and that you spell each correctly, in English), how much time will pass before you first type the letter C?

The answer:

You’ll type for 300 quintillion years before reaching ONE OCTILLION.

F.Y.I. One octillion is a 1 with 27 zeros after it.

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Strangest Book Titles of the Year

Bookseller” magazine has released its list of candidates for the “Diagram Prize” — an award given to a new book with the strangest title. The list for the past years’ books has been narrowed down to six finalists, which are marked with an asterisk below. Here is an abbreviated version of the long list of finalists:

-Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology
-Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter*
-An Intellectual History of Cannibalism
-Bacon: A Love Story
-Budgeting for Infertility
-Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich*
-Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes*
-Curbside Consultation in Cornea and External Disease
-Cute Yummy Time
-Dental Management of Sleep Disorders
-Fluffy Little Kitten in Fluffy’s Brother
-Food Digestion and Thermal Preference of Toad
-Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots*
-How YOU Are Like Shampoo: For Job Seekers
-I’m Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears
-Is the Rectum a Grave?
-Map-based Comparative Genomics in Legumes
-Mickey Mouse, Hitler and Nazi Germany
-My Hare Line Meets the Brown Rabbit
-Peek-a-poo: What’s in Your Diaper?
-Planet Asthma: Art and Activity Book
-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
-Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Bean Conference
-Soft Drink & Fruit Juice Problems Solved
-The Changing World of Inflammatory Bowel Disease*
-The Origin of Feces
-The Wild World of Girly Men and Masculine Women – And Why Americans Suffer from So Many Other Idiotic Syndromes!
-What Kind of Bean is this Chihuahua?*

The Diagram Prize will be awarded to one of the six finalists. You can cast your vote at this link: http://www.thebookseller.com/