Wait. Politicians Lied? NO WAY!

I really need to stop with the sarcasm.  It's just so addictive!

Ok, but what's up with Hilary and Barak telling lies?

Hilary was talking about running to the car while being shot at by snipers and Barak was talking about JFK airlifting (With that family's driving/flying record, would you really -- wait.  Too soon?) his father in from Kenya or something.

Neither of these stories really make either one a good president, but lying is one of those things that makes for a bad president.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 12:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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From the Department of Stating the Obvious

Reuters: Study shows life was tough for ancient Egyptians

CAIRO (Reuters) - New evidence of a sick, deprived population working under harsh conditions contradicts earlier images of wealth and abundance from the art records of the ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna, a study has found.

...

Studies on the remains of ordinary ancient Egyptians in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna showed that many of them suffered from anemia, fractured bones, stunted growth and high juvenile mortality rates, according to professors Barry Kemp and Jerome Rose, who led the research.

...

The study showed that anemia ran at 74 percent among children and teenagers, and at 44 percent among adults, Rose said. The average height of men was 159 cm (5 feet 2 inches) and 153 cm among women.

"Adult heights are used as a proxy for overall standard of living," he said. "Short statures reflect a diet deficient in protein. ... People were not growing to their full potential."

Wait.  Stop the train.

Are you telling me that over 2,000 years ago in a slave culture of mystics without anything even remotely resembling a proper methodology for diagnosing and treating injury and disease, people got hurt a lot and had horrible diseases?  AND they had stunted growth?!  Inconceivable! Next thing you know, a study will come out that will tell us all that they didn't have cars and could not communicate by email or text messaging!  How did they get to Starbucks?  On a camel? HA!  You must be joking me.

In seriousness, I am having a hard time not blaming any surprise around this "revelation" on the idiotic trend among liberal-minded folk to venerate the ancient past and tribal societies.

I briefly participated in a recent discussion in which someone lauded the ancient Aztec and Mayan civilizations -- both of which were blood-thirsty,  mystic slave societies -- based on incidental characteristics like their development of roads, political offices, and the concept of zero.  (As soon as they threw that out there, I knew I was wasting my time.)

Listen: as far as I'm concerned, a small portion of pity goes out to anyone who had to live prior to the internet.  And if I think about it very hard, I am already QUITE impatient for a cure for HIV and cancer, the internet in my brain, a teleporter, and a jet pack.

If we were still restricted to living in mud huts and riding around on animals for transportation, I would be completely pissed off about it.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 10:10 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Say No More. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Say No More.

Telegraph: Man said 'wombat rape' led to accent change

A New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time.

Arthur Cradock, 48, from the South Island town of Motueka, called police last month to tell them he was being raped by the marsupial at his home and needed urgent assistance.

Cradock, an orchard worker, later called back to reassure the police operator that he was all right.

"I’ll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he’s pulled out. Apart from speaking Australian now, I’m pretty all right you know. I didn’t hurt my bum at all."

The now-fluent-in-Austrailian kiwi was sentenced to community service.

I have no further comment here.

Thanks to W.A.D. for the link.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 02:45 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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