Ballghazi: I've Had Enough

Source:Wikimedia

 As a fan of the sport of American Football, I find the weeks prior to the Super Bowl rather annoying.  It's the time of year where people who've never watched, played, or even touched a football in their lives, manage to watch about 10 minutes of football in between chicken wings and form an opinion.  Some years I'm lucky enough to have my team in the Super Bowl and then I can enjoy the buildup to the big game.  As a fan of the New England Patriots, I've been more fortunate than most as this will be the eighth time in my life that the Patriots will have appeared in a Super Bowl (Eight! Suck it other teams).  But alas, after a thorough ass-beating of the Colts, a scandal of a most heinous nature broke involving footballs below regulation PSI, sullying my beloved Patriots' good name.

When the Surveillance State is Turned Around

Screenshot from Waze.com

As it turns out, police are concerned about the surveillance state too... when it's watching them.  From the Associated Press:

Sheriffs are campaigning to pressure Google Inc. to turn off a feature on its Waze traffic software that warns drivers when police are nearby. They say one of the technology industry's most popular mobile apps could put officers' lives in danger from would-be police killers who can find where their targets are parked.

DeflateGate: Stop Breakin' My Balls

Source:  Gronk's Twitter

The New England Patriots are headed to another Super Bowl which means one thing, more allegations of New England cheating.  The allegations this time focus on the inflation or rather, the deflation of the Patriot's balls.

Why You Should Be Skeptical of the Surveillance State

This is a letter sent by the FBI to Martin Luther King Jr. urging him to commit suicide.

 It's been said that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior; if this is true, then we should be very concerned about our government's surveillance programs.  In nearly every case when intelligence agencies are given the tools and very limited oversight these programs are abused. 

The Physiological Effects of Caffeine (Re-Post)

The Physiological Effects of Caffeine

Introduction: 

Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive compound in the world. It is present in many foods, beverages, medicines and supplements. Caffeine containing foods and beverages have been consumed for a perhaps as long as 700,000 years (Snyder 20). Caffeine is a highly effective stimulant that has been shown to enhance mood, cognitive capability, alertness, and enhance athletic performance. When ingested, caffeine produces a number of effects on the central nervous, muscular, digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems of the body.

Metabolism of caffeine: 

Caffeine is a water soluble compound and therefore spreads through the body rapidly to anywhere there is water. Additionally, caffeine easily passes through cell membranes. These properties allow caffeine to rapidly enter the blood stream where it is then cycled through the liver (60 Snyder). In the liver the P45 enzyme system produces a number of metabolites (Ruxton 16). This process happens over and over until all the caffeine has been metabolized (60 Snyder). Less than six percent of caffeine is expelled in urine and most of the drug is removed from the body in about 12 hours following consumption (Ruxton, 15). The rate caffeine metabolism can be altered by a number of other factors including liver disease or use of other drugs (Snyder 61).

Welcome to Vermont, Where the Weather is Always Doing Something

Sigh...

Beware Green Lanternism

Source: Wikimedia Commons

As the Presidential candidate carousel heats up for the 2016 election, I can't help but think about how terrible political coverage is in this country.  My specific gripe is how much importance is placed on the presidential election, while the other elections are mostly ignored. Without a doubt the President is the most important individual in our political system, however even he cannot take go to the bathroom without the consent of congress and the blessing of the judiciary.

Slow-Cooked Short Ribs and Tangy Apple Slaw

 

I made these ribs this past weekend with some beef short ribs from a local farm. Tangy, spicy, sweet, and smokey, the beef was tender and peeled off the bone.  There was left over sauce at the end so I added water, slow-cooked it more, and froze it as stock for soup.  I served the ribs with some baked beans and tangy apple slaw which, unlike mayonnaise based coleslaw, is light and refreshing.  Enjoy.

Hasn't He Suffered Enough?..No.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The biggest failure of the Obama administration has been on civil liberties; in particular the prosecution of leakers.   Pvt. Chelsea Manning is rotting in jail, Edward Snowden is in exile, and former CIA agent and torture whistle blower John Kiriakou spent 30 months in jail.  So what happens when former CIA director and four star general David Petraeus allegedly leaks classified information to his biographer with whom he was having an affair?  Senators from both sides of the isle come to his defense.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Here is a recipe for one of my favorite post long-run foods:

Why No Love for the Garbage Man?

10 days after a garbage strike in Madrid, Spain.  Source-www.freerepublic.com

If Your Forbes Editorial is Based on Kelso, You May Want to Rethink Your Career

I've noticed that over the past two years or so, the content of Yahoo's homepage has deteriorated rapidly, but as I am a creature of habit and a glutton for punishment, I continue to check it daily.  In my daily reading, I came across an editorial written by University of Georgia economist and Forbes contributor Jeffrey Dorfman called "When Did We Get Too Proud For Entry-level Jobs?"  Now admittedly, I read that title and was skeptical, but I decided to hear him out and keep an open mind.  Surely this economics professor would back up assertions with some hard data and force me to reevaluate my own biases.  In retrospect, I have far too much faith in the academic diligence of economists.

The Wire: If You Haven't Watched it, Watch it; if You Have, Watch it Again

Admittedly, there are some gaps in my television watching, I haven't seen Lost or Mad Men, but for my money the third and forth seasons of The Wire are some of the greatest television ever made.  The series stands alone as a critique of society.  At every level the failure of institutions is examined whether it's drug gangs, the police department, city government, schools, the white working class, or newspapers.  It is because of this biting criticism that The Wire is more relevant than ever as a social commentary.

Why Not Just Buy All the Opium?

Opium Poppies-Source: Wikimedia Commons

Over the past decade, the United States has spent $7 billion dollars trying to eradicate opium in Afghanistan (Security Inspector General).  The result of this policy has been an all-time high in opium poppy production.  This crop has an annual "farm gate" value of $.85 billion dollars (Al-Jazeera) and contributes to the employment of about 3.3 million Afghans (Guardian) out of a total workforce of about 7.7 million (CIA World Factbook).  Given the relative expense and ineffectiveness of the current policy of interdiction and eradication, why not just buy the opium?

Baby It's Cold Outside

Took this at about 7am this morning and my porch is about 10 degrees warmer than the surface temperature in Montpelier.