Innocent Bystanders

Have We Ever Really Seen Another Person’s Face? August 30, 2014

Pleasant thought:

Dust mites are tiny organisms that live in piles of dust, and feed on human skin flakes. You may not have realized it, but your face is covered in microscopic organisms as well.

Dude, I’m in your face, eating your flakes.

As the bard says: “A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted.”

Dust mites. Why’d it have to be dust mites?

Terror Threat Stories, Juxtaposed August 29, 2014

I like scanning the collection of articles at lucianne.com. These two articles happened to be right next to each other, as you see from the screencap below.

So Breitbart has the document that the Department of Homeland Security says doesn’t exist.

As Insty would say: “We’re in the best of hands.”

Got Nuthin’ August 27, 2014

I usually try to post on items or angles that aren’t covered by the big blogs, but there isn’t anything that fits that category. For once we have too much news – big story after big story, any one of which would sink this administration were it not for the protection of the press.

I’m also a little tied up of late with real life and work (trying to start a company on the side while I’m working full-time), so I can’t devote much time to writing posts. You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been phoning it in, on the infrequent occasions where I call at all.

So let me remind the world that there are something like 20 (or more) other authors on this blog, any of whom could be writing posts at any time. Like now. This very instant. I mean, we’ll even take those desperate posts like they put up at AoSHQ. You know the ones: gardening, cooking, cats, etc. (I don’t think we’re as desperate as The Hostages, though.)

So come on, folks. With a complement of writers like this, we should be back up to the 3 – 4 posts per day rate.

When EU Regulations Imitate Art August 22, 2014

Next month the EU will suck a little less:

Consumers who prefer powerful vacuum cleaners are being advised to buy one now before new EU energy rules that restrict motor sizes come into place next month.
…
from 1 September, companies will not be able to make or import vacuum cleaners with a motor more powerful than 1600 watts.

Consumer group Which? said that five of its seven Best Buy models named since January 2013 had motors exceeding 1,600 watts, and on average, cleaners boast an average of 1,800 watts.

By 2017, the maximum wattage will again be lowered to 900.

Reminds me of the old SNL sketches with the “Festrunk Brothers,” the two wild and crazy guys from Czechoslovakia (Dan Akroyd and Steve Martin). I think it’s the first skit where they’re cleaning up their apartment with this enormous vacuum cleaner they brought from Czechoslovakia (only high party officials can get them right away).

Anyway, the suction is so poor that they’re picking up trash and dropping it into the vacuum hose. And now, almost 25 years later, EU citizens will get to enjoy the same sort of cleaning performance.

Don’t feel bad – out day can’t be far off.

Neanderthals and Zermatism August 22, 2014

It’s starting to seem like we (humans) were doing the nasty with Neanderthals for millenia:

Modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe 10 times longer than previously thought, a study suggests.

The most comprehensive dating of Neanderthal bones and tools ever carried out suggests that the two species lived side-by-side for up to 5,000 years.

Every time I hear about this I get freaked out, because I’m a little familiar with the crazy theories of Stanislaus Szukalski.

Szukalski was a brilliant Polish artist in the 1900s, specializing in amazing sculptures (you can see some of them here). Here’s a sample for the clickthrough-challenged:

He was a serious student of the human body, by which I mean he studied the proportions and features of everybody he saw. Somewhere along the line he came to the following conclusion. There are two types of humans: one “normal,” and one whose ancestors have crossbred with Yeti. He arrived at this conclusion simply by looking at things like arm, leg, and torso length, skull structure, and the size and shape of the abdomen.

He attributed most of the evils of the world to the ape-human (a-human in his terminology) hybrids, who he felt were subjugating pure humans via war and violence. Very wacky, no?

So the revelation that there may be Neanderthal genes running around in our population is a surprising confirmation of his “fringe” theory (just substitute “Neanderthal” for “Yeti”). And then there’s this:

Researchers have discovered evidence that many modern afflictions, such as addiction to smoking, depression, and diabetes are linked to early humans interbreeding with Neanderthals hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Sounds like the Neanderthals were our Pandora’s Box.

If you’re curious about his theories, you can look up “Zermatism” and “Behold the Protong.”

Urban Arachnids and You August 22, 2014

You may recall the President and his cronies’ plan to block suburban development and turn us all into urbanites. I finally figured out what he’s up to:

…a new study published in PLOS One shows that a specific species of orb-weaver spider living in urban Sydney is getting bigger and reproducing more than its rural cousins…

Yup, just as soon as we’re forced into urban lifestyles, they’re gonna set the spiders on us. Big, urbanly mutated spiders.

How Far Your Dollar Goes in Every State August 21, 2014

Not so far in California, New Jersey, New York, and DC:

News You Can Use: How Those Jellyfish Get You August 19, 2014

Cool video from Destin, who has a series of educational videos called “Smarter Every Day.” In this one he tackles how creatures like jellyfish and the anemone sting you. It’s because they have 800,000 miniature hypodermic needles per square centimeter, each one injecting venom into you. I now fear the sea as never before.

The video is entertaining, but the content is pretty much done by the 4 minute point.

The professor seems like an Australian version of Michael Palin.

Skin Damage from the Sun August 19, 2014

A depressing-ish video showing skin damage due to sun exposure; damage that isn’t apparent to the eye, but is readily seen in the UV.

On the one hand, you want to enjoy the sun and get your requisite Vitamin D dose every day. But on the other hand, sheesh.