Now here’s a tragedy for you: A 19-year-old Chinese freshman at Michigan State dies on orientation weekend before attending a single class. Why? Guess:
Police believe alcohol may have played a role in her death.
Really? The picture at the link is heartbreaking — so young and pretty. You have to wonder what happened. I guess we’ll find out, eventually.
I don’t have much today. It was a hot and muggy one, and tomorrow will be hotter and muggier. It’s the last week for lap swimming at the city pool, and I’m going to take advantage of it — these are perfect mornings for getting the exercise out of the way early.
OK, here’s this: Lunch and I are growing apart. Why eat lunch, anyway? To get out of the office, sure, but food wise, it’s just a big load of calories sitting in your stomach just when you need to get four more hours of work done. Today we moseyed down the block to a taco takeout joint, and I ordered the vegan naked burrito — the fillings without the tortilla. I thought it would be light and digestible, but I forgot about the red onions. Erg. An afternoon of dragon breath hardly seems worth it when you can just have a huge breakfast and do a Balance bar or something around 1 or 2 p.m. Bookend the day with calories but skip lunch, or go super-light.
Boy, I really got nothin’.
Here’s something: Judgmental Maps gets to Detroit. I live near Sailboats, but am not one with them.
Tuesday is coming for us all. Enjoy it.
Deborah said on August 26, 2014 at 1:28 am
The Judgemental Maps are hysterical.
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Dexter said on August 26, 2014 at 1:53 am
The map gave me a real honest laugh. I’ll show it to my wife, who has friends who used to live in Juggalo land but now live in the Gayborhood. What a switch, eh? It’s been years since I used to hang with my buddy Frank in Westland ,( which he and his pals called “Wasteland”, natch) but to go back in time and see those people in Westland and north of there a little…yes indeed…you would see definite signs of Juggalo-ness-parental- units all around. This map is so much more creative than Frank’s pals were: Garbage City (Garden City), Stinkster (Inkster) are just a couple examples.
I don’t eat lunch like most folks…I’ll eat cereal at about 4:00 AM, sleep a little and have bacon & eggs and toast, coffee at 11:00 AM, and that’s it until dinner at around 7:30 PM. My farmer grandpa used to eat a huge bowl of corn flakes at 6:30 AM, leave the house to hoe weeds and sharpen tools and tend to his grape arbor and repair stuff around the farm and not eat until supper at 6:00 PM. Then a Tigers game on the radio and after he finally finished his chaw, he’d eat a Milky Way bar and then go to bed and do it again the next day. Never, ever, did that man eat lunch.
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Deborah said on August 26, 2014 at 6:18 am
In my retirement I don’t eat lunch much. First thing in the morning I’ll have coffee, then an hour or so later I’ll have breakfast, mostly yogurt, granola and honey, sometimes a couple of eggs and toast instead. Then I don’t eat again usually until 5ish when Little Bird makes something for dinner and that’s it for eating. But the routine varies from day to day. Sometimes I don’t eat breakfast because honestly I forget. I have always thought that you should eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a Pauper, but it rarely works out that way.
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Heather said on August 26, 2014 at 8:10 am
I gotta have lunch. Even if I don’t think I’m very hungry at the time, by 2 PM I will be super crabby. Dinner is easier to skip. I’ve been loading up on protein at breakfast (usually an egg and some quinoa, greens if I have time) and that has proved to power me very well.
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beb said on August 26, 2014 at 8:11 am
Boingboing is amusing today. Three fun links:
http://boingboing.net/2014/08/25/norman-rockwell-does-ferguson.html
Artist Anthiny Freda has edited an old Rockwell painting to reflect Ferguson.
It’s war on airplanes over knee room…
http://boingboing.net/2014/08/25/knee-defender-gadget-gets-man.html
All I can say is ‘thank god this wasn’t an open-carry airplane…’
Back to school then and now.
http://widelawns.blogspot.com/2014/08/back-to-school-70s-vs-today-lot-has.html?m=1
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Jeff Borden said on August 26, 2014 at 8:13 am
I still enjoy lunch, but at home, it gets a bit boring. Sandwiches, salads, maybe a few leftovers once in awhile.
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 8:40 am
I live less than 10 minutes from work, so most days it’s home for PB&J & MSNBC*, baby!
But indeed, I could lighten that up considerably, and not miss anything
*I genuinely don’t like Ronan Farrow, so anymore – once I hit the end of Andrea Mitchell – I’m sort of at-sea. CNN is meh, and Fox is Fox
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Dorothy said on August 26, 2014 at 9:08 am
I’ll be jobless after Friday so I’m dreading being home all.day.long. One bonus is that I can make my favorite lunch once in awhile – a grilled cheese samich. The little girl in me will always prefer that for lunch, and you can’t bring one in your insulated lunch bag to the office. I do have two quilts in production so I can spend time at the sewing machine. And I plan to get out and walk every morning, as long as my wonky right ankle doesn’t start to throb. Number one priority, of course, is signing up for unemployment and finding a new job. I have a phone interview today at 1 PM for an open position where I’m currently employed. The one I interviewed for three weeks ago was filled, not by me, so I can’t assume I’m a shoe-in for this other open job. And I have the time available to make a drive to Pittsburgh next week to see Mike’s aunt. Her birthday is a week from Friday – she’ll be 89. She just moved into the VA about 3 weeks ago and I think she’s adjusted all right. A visit on her birthday might cheer her considerably. I sure hope so, anyway.
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 9:08 am
btw – this sentence:
I live near Sailboats, but am not one with them.
got me laughing! (reminded me of the scene in Animal House where the fellows begin ‘coughing’ into their hands – saying ‘bulsht’ with each cough
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coozledad said on August 26, 2014 at 9:38 am
Lovely father, Father Ball
Nothing can come between us
Even your record won’t keep me away
Standing by a parking meter
Caught a glimpse of old saint Peter
Filling in a pastor in a little church van…
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/08/virginia-disgraced-former-gov-bob.html
The McDonnell defense team goes nuclearfabulous.
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Connie said on August 26, 2014 at 9:42 am
That map has my neighborhood so wrong. I live somewhere between people with trucks and country music capitol of the midwest. More like Jaguars and Range Rovers. Rich people trying to hide among their middle class neighbors.
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Deborah said on August 26, 2014 at 9:57 am
In the Chicago Judgemental Map I live in an area called Viagra Triangle. They really do call an area nearby Viagra Triangle, the actual triangle is where State and Rush come together at Elm. There’s a cute triangle shaped park or plaza there. It’s an area where a lot of old rich guys hang out looking for young trixies, obviously.
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mouse said on August 26, 2014 at 9:58 am
Life is way to short to be skipping meals!! I enjoy every bite,every drink.I’m like 6″ 240 lbs. and I know I should weigh less,but skipping meals ain’t gonna be the way to diet for me.I eat a bit less,eat very slowly— and actually lose a pound or two a month.
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Julie Robinson said on August 26, 2014 at 10:23 am
“I don’t eat…because honestly I forget”, said by no fat person ever.
Dorothy, while I hope you get a job soon, I for one love not working full time and never have enough time to do everything I want to. There are always lots of places that need volunteers and indeed I was hired for my current position out of being a volunteer.
Speaking of elderly cantankerous relatives, mine is going to be moving here and it’s keeping me hopping. Plus getting ready for a trip to Florida, because the midwest isn’t hot and humid enough for us. (We’re actually going for our daughter’s birthday and because hubby can’t take time off again until Christmas.)
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 10:26 am
Julie – here’s wishing you & yours safe travel and a wonderful time.
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coozledad said on August 26, 2014 at 11:49 am
And ye shall know the Republicans by the third degree burns on their scalps.
http://gawker.com/dumbass-manages-to-set-himself-on-fire-during-ice-bucke-1626913539
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Connie said on August 26, 2014 at 11:52 am
Cooz, this morning I got an email from the County Health Department about the trend of teenagers setting their heads on fire. It reads:
Currently, there is a challenge going around called the “Fire Challenge.” For this challenge, people douse themselves with an accelerant, ignite it, put the fire out, and then post the video online challenging friends. Oakland County Health Division strongly encourages parents to be aware of their child’s activities as well as discuss the dangers of this activity with them.
Dangers of the Fire Challenge include:
I think you can figure those out for yourselves.
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 12:01 pm
Cooz/Connie – wow.
Clue #2 (with #1 being the damned stars and bars flag he’s displaying) on Cooz’s maroon is the pistol he has aimed right at his heart, on the freeze-frame at the link
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 12:04 pm
BZZZZT – not a pistol; just a flask of something that no doubt impairs what little judgment the fellow can scrape up
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 12:07 pm
Jolene – the industrial accident at the north St Louis scrap yard was caused by a mortar round(!)
http://www.chem.info/news/2014/08/mortar-round-caused-deadly-plant-blast?et_cid=4119025&et_rid=44004269&location=top
(just more of that surplus military equipment floating around the countryside, eh?)
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Scout said on August 26, 2014 at 1:53 pm
http://judgmentalmaps.com/post/44714309412/phoenix
And I live in between some Democrats and call center employees!
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David C. said on August 26, 2014 at 2:21 pm
I thought for sure the fire challenge was an urban legend. I hoped people couldn’t be that stupid. Seems they can be. Funny old world, isn’t it?
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 2:32 pm
David – and even in the harsh light (so to speak) of the aftermath, and despite that their insurance might well not pay (and/or the local police might come a-knockin’) –
they still posted the video!!
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 2:44 pm
A palate cleanser:
http://wane.com/2014/08/26/three-judge-panel-will-decide-indiana-gay-marriage-case/
Judge Richard Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was dismissive when Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson repeatedly pointed to ‘tradition’ as the underlying justification for barring gay marriage.
“It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry — a tradition that got swept away,” Posner said. Prohibition of same sex marriage, he said, is “a tradition of hate … and savage discrimination.”
Posner frequently cut off Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fischer, just moments into his presentation and chided him to answer his questions.
Some day our great-grand kids will wonder what the hell the problem was, with people who try to deface (for example) Indiana’s state constitution with targeted hate and intolerance
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Connie said on August 26, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Brian at least Indiana has not yet embedded gay marriage banning into its constitution. Thought they have surely tried. Michigan was one of the many states that voted in the constitutional ban in the 2004 election. SO the attorney general is saying “but the people voted for it.” And the people voted to get rid of the emergency manager law and the legislature immediately voted it back in again. Why didn’t that count?
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brian stouder said on August 26, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Connie – it seems to be a classic trick:
Take any minority and one civil right that you wish to withhold, and put it up for a vote.
We could one-by-one our way right into a theocratic tyranny, with a little effort
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MichaelG said on August 26, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Under the picture of that poor Chinese girl who apparently drank too much are 33 ‘likes’. What does that mean? Do 33 people somehow like the story? Do 33 people think she was cute? What? Anyway, it strikes me as creepy.
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Deborah said on August 26, 2014 at 6:03 pm
I’m with you MichaelG, regarding likes for sad or disturbing stories. I don’t get that. I also took a while to understand the Facebook etiquette of liking someone’s comment to your post. I get liking someone’s post or commenting on someone’s post but then the reciprocal liking back is strange to me. I guess it’s goods manners, as when someone “your welcomes” your “thank you”.
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Sherri said on August 26, 2014 at 9:06 pm
So, dinner with Susan Herman, ACLU president. Of course, she talked about Ferguson, and the lawsuits the ACLU had filed there to get the police departments (Ferguson and St Louis County) to release information about the Michael Brown shooting and the one they lost about the 5 second rule – that protestors couldn’t stand in one place for more than 5 seconds. She also brought along copies of the report the ACLU had produced in June on the militarization of police forces, which has been going on a long time thanks to the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. (https://www.aclu.org/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-policing)
She also talked some about surveillance, but focused more on the parts of the Patriot Act that get less attention but are very broad, vague, and far-reaching: the material support laws, where talking to somebody who might be a terrorist can be used against you, or (a better known example) supporting a charity that also is supported by an organization with terrorist ties. She used the example of the Humanitarian Law Project, which meets with terrorist groups to discuss ways to accomplish their goals in non-violent ways. What they do is now illegal under the Patriot Act.
I had a chance to talk to her about changing the culture of compliance in police departments. She said that it’s a slow process; the days of the Warren Court where we could go to the Court and say, please give Miranda rights to everybody everywhere are gone. We have to do it one state at a time, one city at a time, and the culture only changes when forced to change. She hopes that the pictures coming out of Ferguson will change attitudes.
I also talked to her about privacy, and she agreed that the idea of privacy is changing, but that it was still important to keep limits on what the government could know about you and how it could use that information about you. The difference between Google knowing stuff about you and the government knowing stuff about you is that Google can’t put you in jail (yet, anyway.) I know the Washington chapter was able to get the law written regarding the license plate readers on the toll bridges so that that information could only be used for tolls, not any other purpose. I know they also push local jurisdictions to set policies on how long they keep information and what they can do with information they collect.
You know, I’m not opposed to police departments using information to track me; I just want them to get a warrant before they do so. I’m opposed to police departments using new technology as an end-around the 4th amendment.
Anyway, it was an interesting discussion, and Susan Herman has a book that sounds interesting as well- Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy.
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Deborah said on August 26, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Sherri, interesting. You may have said this before, are you lawyer?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 26, 2014 at 10:41 pm
Thank you, Sherri.
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Sherri said on August 26, 2014 at 10:49 pm
No Deborah, I’m a former software developer turned stay at home mom. When I get interested in a topic, like civil liberties, I read a lot about it, but I’m not a lawyer.
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Sherri said on August 26, 2014 at 11:45 pm
Oh, I forgot Susan Herman’s joke: it makes sense that Washington passed same sex marriage and marijuana legalization at the same time, because in Leviticus it says that when two men lie together, they shall be stoned.
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