Chamblee54

This content was posted December 18, 2008. … The following items come from a blog called akmal eky. · In Tibet, a common drink is butter tea – it is made from yak butter, salt, and tea · The ancient Mayans made truly hot chocolate – they added chilies and corn to it · No one really knows when donuts were invented or who invented them · Apples, potatoes, and onions all taste the same when eaten with your nose plugged · When an egg floats in water, it is “off” and should not be eaten · The consumption of natural vanilla causes the body to release catecholamines (including adrenalin) – for this reason it is considered to be mildly addictive · Banana trees are not actually trees – they are giant herbs · The term “brain freeze” was invented to explain the pain one feels when drinking a slurpee too fast · Ketchup was originally a fish sauce originating in the orient · 7-Up – invented in 1920 contained Lithium – the drug commonly prescribed now to sufferers of bi-polar disorder.
This content was posted December 17, 2008. … For a blogger with nothing to say, an online test is a great excuse to post. The test today is about cannibalism. The idea is, you are caught in a blizzard, you run out of food, and one of your buddies dies. Do you make a meal out of your pal? … I am 35% likely to consume my friends. Questions include can you outrun your friends, are your friends overweight, and are you a vegetarian. Can a vegetarian eat a friend who is brain dead?
One festive question was “Suppose you were in a restaurant and cooked human flesh was on the menu, what would you do?” The possible answers were: Call the police, I’d order it, I wouldn’t order it. … This test is sponsored by an online dating service. You have to click through a screen inviting you to join before you can get your results. Will your test score is shared with your prospective sweetie?
@SpyTalker “CBS took down a link to the 60 Minutes El Salvador prison piece but @allisongill @MuellerSheWrote posted another.” In the comments, there is a link to another copy, Pulled 60 Minutes segment on CECOT “This is a screen recording of a 60 Minutes segment about the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, which was intended to be aired December 22, 2025 but was pulled last minute for unclear reasons. Despite being pulled, it aired on Global-TV in Canada anyway.”
Live From The Table had a lively discussion, with @noam_dworman hosting @josh_hammer. It promised to be a rather unpleasant affair, that I would be better off not listening to. However, I realized that I did not know what Joshua Benjamin Hammer sounded like, so I recklessly scrolled ahead to a random spot in the show. Lo and behold, JBH was talking about a TPUSA event, where “I debated the moron Dave Smith.”
I am a Dave Smith fan. I don’t agree with him on everything, but on many important issues I agree 110 percent. Dave tells a story. He was appearing with JBH. They had a very friendly conversation in the Green Room before the show. JBH then gets on stage and says that he’s disgusted to be here on the same stage as Dave Smith. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in August 1941. “Children of Albert Lynch, FSA (Farm Security Administration) client near Dummerston, Vermont” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

I was trying to wake up this morning. I put on a YouTube video by James Li, Erika Kirk: Deleted Tweets & Secret Past Exposed. Erica Kirk is a piece of work. The story has a segment from her recent “Town Hall” with Bari Weiss.
The former Erika Frantzve was talking about her life in New York, before she met Charlie. “I was here for 5 years. I never dated here cuz I saw vicariously through my roommate how terrible it was. Somehow getting drinks was the replacement of having coffee and breakfast. I personally would rather have coffee or brunch with someone than going I just don’t drink. I find it unproductive. Not because I’m holier than whatever. I just don’t operate that way. But I always thought it was very strange how she would go to drinks with one guy, and then go to dinner with another. So it goes twofold here. So if you’re expecting to marry someone that I was blessed with, like a Charlie, you have to be the type of woman that will attract a Charlie. Are you going to church? Are you going to Bible study? Did you tell your pastor that you are ready for the Lord to bring into your life the man that you’ve been praying for? You yourself need to be prepared for that man.”
A pretty woman says she did not date, before meeting her perfect Christian husband. This is the internet equivalent of waving a red flag in front of a bull. A few seconds of googling turned up two articles about previous boyfriends. James Li found some images of Erika’s pre-Charlie social life. “Here is a photo that the internet sleuth dug up from September of 2017 with one Cabot Phillips. And the caption says, “Yes, we’re that couple who gets painting lessons together.” The @cabot_phillips profile reads “Senior Editor at @realDailyWire. Jesus Follower, Husband, Father.”
Li also had pictures of Erika holding a wine glass, noting that “She did really enjoy posing with alcoholic beverages.” This led Li to this quote: “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters. Albert Einstein.”
The Einstein wikiquote supplies a source. “(1955) as quoted in Albert Einstein: Historical and Cultural Perspectives (1997) ed. Gerald Holton, Yehuda Elkana, p. 388, from The Centennial Symposium in Jerusalem (1979)” Having a fake quote, about telling the truth, would be too much irony for one day.
There is one more quote from the Bari Weiss gabfest. “We’ve been to Israel twice together. And to be able to walk in the place where our Lord walked and see the Bible come to life in technicolor. How could you hate that place?” Many of the places where Jesus lived were in the West Bank. Is Erika saying that the brutal apartheid on the West Bank is “the Bible come to life in technicolor”? … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Fritz Henle took the social media picture in November 1942. “Nurse training. Student nurses may often assist doctors at operations, but a specially trained anaesthetist must give the anaesthetic” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was posted December 24, 2008. … Vanity Fair has a good story about torture. This is one part of the Bush regime that has brought a lot of criticism. The focus of the article is not morals, or whether torture is justified. The thrust of the article is whether or not torture gets good information. On this issue, there seems to be a lot of macho posturing, and talk show hosts who think that torturing the bad guys is a great idea. Many in the intelligence community have a different opinion.
The ticking bomb scenario gets a rundown. You have heard this scenario. A terror suspect is arrested, and knows where the nuke is planted. Is torture justified to disarm the device? “Inside the C.I.A., says a retired senior officer who was privy to the agency’s internal debate, there was hardly any argument about the value of coercive methods: “Nobody in intelligence believes in the ticking bomb. It’s just a way of framing the debate for public consumption. That is not an intelligence reality.”
There is also the concept that men who are being tortured will say anything to make the suffering stop. What they tell you is not always the truth. Also, when a man is captured, the plans are going to change. … Several high profile cases are discussed. One was a person, who apparently was a greeter at a safe house for Al Queda. Our forces got the idea that he was important, and, after “extraordinary interrogation”, he confessed to a connection between Pre-invasion Iraq and Al Queda. This was one of the arguments that was used to promote the invasion.
There is going to be a new man in the white house soon. How he deals with the torture issue (and the erosion of the rights of American Citizens) remains to be seen. BHO seems to stick his finger in the air before making a decision, and to see what political advantage can be made. The recent episode with Slick Rick Warren is a good example. America and the world is waiting to see what happens.
This content was posted December 19, 2008. … A great deal has been said recently about BHO and his choice of a player pray-er for the inauguration. … A bit of perspective is in order. BHO has been dogged by rumors that he is a Muslim. He claimed as his “spiritual mentor” a man who entertains his church by screaming rude things about the United States. When it was no longer to his advantage to associate with Jeremiah Wright, BHO dumped him, and won the election.
It is time for his inauguration. He chooses Rick Warren to offer a prayer. Rick rhymes with slick. He has built an empire church, sold millions of books, and is frequently photographed without a tie. He condemned gay marriage, and told a few lies in the process. His choice as the First Pray-er is rather controversial. … Very few seem to think about Jesus. What sort of statement does Rick Warren praying for BHO make about Jesus? … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Fritz Henle took the social media picture in November 1942. “Nurse training. A student nurse stands by ready to assist the doctor as he changes a metal tube in a patient’s throat (patient is suffering from inflammation of trachea caused by diptheria or other diseases)” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was posted December 24, 2022. … Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative arrived on a slow news day this week. Produced by a committee at Stanford University, the document lists some language that we should not be using. The screed got an unkind reaction, and was hidden from the general population. Fortunately, some thoughtful archivists saved a copy.
EHLI comes in a three part format. First is the contraindicated phrase. Second is a suggested alternative, and third is a commentary. The replacement is usually longer, and clumsier, than the original. Is “died by suicide” really any better than “committed suicide”?
abusive relationship … relationship with an abusive person … The relationship doesn’t commit abuse. A person does, so it is important to make that fact clear.
African-American … Black … Black people who were born in the United States can interpret hyphenating their identity as “othering.” As with many of the terms we’re highlighting, some people do prefer to use/be addressed by this term, so it’s best to ask a person which term they prefer to have used when addressing them. When used to refer to a person, the “b” should always be capitalized.
American … US Citizen … This term often refers to people from the US only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries).
brown bag … lunch and learn, tech talk … Historically associated with the “brown paper bag test” that certain Black sororities and fraternities used to judge skin color. Those whose skin color was darker than the brown bag were not allowed to join.
gangbusters … very successful … Unnecessarily invokes the notion of police action against “gangs” in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.
Hispanic … Latinx, use country of origin … Although widely used to describe people from Spanish-speaking countries outside of Spain, its roots lie in Spain’s colonization of South American countries. Instead of referring to someone as Hispanic because of their name or appearance, ask them how they identify themselves first.
Karen … demanding or entitled White woman … This term is used to ridicule or demean a certain group of people based on their behaviors.
people of color (used generically) … BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) … If speaking about a specific group, name that group.
“preferred” pronouns … pronouns … The word “preferred” suggests that non-binary gender identity is a choice and a preference.
shemale … transgender woman, trans woman … This slur is often used disparagingly to refer to people who don’t conform to gender expectations. Some in the community do identify with and self-describe as the term, though.
straight … heterosexual … Implies that anyone who is not heterosexual is bent or not “normal.”
stupid … boring, uncool … Once used to describe a person who could not speak and implied the person was incapable of expressing themselves.
tranny, trannie … transgender person, trans or non-gendering conforming folk … This slur is often used disparagingly to refer to people who don’t conform to gender expectations. Some in the community do identify with and self-describe as the term, though.
uppity … arrogant, stuck up … Although the term originated in the Black community to describe another Black person who didn’t know their socioeconomic place, it was quickly adopted by White Supremacists to describe any Black person who didn’t act as “expected.”
In several of the categories, you are invited to ask the person how they wish to be identified. This reinforces the “otherness” of people in these categories. English speaking White people are assumed to be the norm, and in no need of categorization. This is precisely the privilege that initiatives like the EHLI purport to be fighting, when in reality they do the opposite.
“Karen … demanding or entitled White woman …” Many of the banned words claim to be fighting the white=good trope. In the case of Karen, EHLI goes in the other direction, suggesting “entitled White woman” as an alternative. At least EHLI capitalized White. EHLI also capitalized “Latinx,” while leaving “country of origin” in lower case.
EHLI is clearly … all commentaries on social justice issues must say clearly … the work of a committee. They … assuming that is the correct pronoun here … have good intentions. Unfortunately, as we all know in 2022, it is outcome that is important, and not intentions. Maybe someone should just yell bingo, and go cash in their card. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in October 1939. “Family of FSA client living near Bradford, Vermont. Orange County” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was posted December 12, 2020. … Prescription medication is a part of life. Most of mine deal with hypertension, aka high blood pressure. According to this website, hypertension is the number one co-morbidity for covid-19. It is helpful to take care of this.
I go to a doctor, who sends a script to the pharmacy. The doctor is part of a hospital/medical company. All the stages of this procedure are regulated, and financed, by an insurance company. Since I am over 65, this means medicare, or another layer of nonsense. I will use nick names today. The doctor/hospital is Curly. The pharmacy is Larry. The insurance company is Moe.
Once a year, I go see Curly. He takes a blood sample, and a few instrument readings. Curly sees that I have not died yet, and approves my medications for another year. I did this a few weeks ago.
Friday afternoon, I called Moe. The idea is to get a 90 day supply of the meds. After wading through Moe’s telephone system, and waiting on hold, I am directed to a telephone operator. I tell Moe what scripts I want to order.
I say carefully, and repeatedly, that I want these medications shipped mail order. It is cheaper, and easier, than going to see Larry in person. For some reason, this point often gets lost when medical machines try to work together. I say, over and over, send the meds by mail order. Unfortunately, this is prescription renewal time. Moe needs to call Curly, to confirm that the prescription is valid. Between Curly, Larry, and Moe, something is going to get screwed up.
The call to Moe takes place on friday afternoon. All goes well until 7:41 pm, when a text arrives from Larry. The prescriptions are ready for pickup. The script was sent to the pharmacy, not the mail order house. Buying hypertension medication can make your blood pressure go up.
Larry has an especially stupid phone system. I finally get to talk to a pharmacist. She explains that Curly sent them the prescription, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
This is blood pressure medication. This is not something that people take to have fun. This is boring old amlodipine and benezapril. If something this basic can get screwed up, I can only imagine what would happen with a complicated illness like cancer, or HIV. The idea that Larry is going to distribute the covid vaccine is cause for great concern.
The next step is to call Moe. The phone menu is having a bad day, and asks me to repeat my account number twice. Finally, I get through to a lady, who speaks with a serious accent. The lady asks me to repeat the account number one more time. The lady says that Curly sent the script to Larry, and there is nothing Moe can do about it. I am beyond angry.
It is now friday night. Curly has quit doing business. I will have to wait until Monday morning. Curly has an obnoxious phone system of his own. Curly is a giant bureaucracy. I have no idea who to talk to about this. I just have to wait until Monday morning, call the phone number, and hope for the best. Sometimes, if the first attempt does not work, then the second try will turn out better.
Eventually, this is going to work out. It has so far every time in the past. It can be frustrating, though, and scary. This is a non emergency situation. What would happen if I had to deal with the institutional shadiness of Curly/Larry/Moe, when every second counts?
2025 Update: I now repeatedly tell the doctor to send the drugs by the mail order pharmacy. The last time I had to deal with the local pharmacy, the phone system was so dysfunctional that I do all my business in person. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in October 1941. “Mr. Albert Brissant and his niece who are still living in the Pine Camp relocation area near Evans Mills, New York. They had an antique shop here which they have sold out and are now looking for a new farm.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was published November 18, 2021. … There is something to be said for wanting to speak up, but not having anything to say. To prove that, I am going to talk about a word…esoteric. According to Wiktionary, esoteric is :”1. Having to do with concepts that are highly theoretical and without obvious practical application. 2. Understood only by a chosen few or an inner circle.”
The “E word” plays a role in a story from 10th grade English. We were discussing a story, “The Rocking Horse Winner”, by D.H. Lawrence. The story was boring and obscure, just like most of what I have seen by Mr. Lawrence.
The summer after 10th grade I worked in a movie theater. The ushers wore ghastly yellow uniforms, and saw the movies over and over. When I started, the Lenox Square 2 theater was showing “Women in Love”, based on a novel by D.H. Lawrence. Glenda Jackson copped an oscar for her portrayal of Gudrun Brangwen, and young Larry Kramer was one of the screenwriters. It did not improve my opinion of D.H. Lawrence. If the censors had not touched “Lady Chatterly’s Lover”, D.H. Lawrence would be forgotten today.
Back to 10th grade english. We were discussing this wretched story, and a girl raised her hand. Why would any author write something so esoteric? The teacher had never heard of this word before, and was amazed to hear it.
The Lenox Square 2 theater was a long, slender thing with a small screen. This was in 1970. The multiplex concept had not matured. LS2 was under a grocery store. When their automatic door openers operated, you could hear the motors in the theater below. The movies the rest of the summer were Fellini Satyricon, The Christine Jorgenson Story, and The Landlord.
Back to esoteric…or did I ever go away? Before you can understand esoteric, you must plumb the depths of pedantic “1. Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning. 2. Being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner. 3. Often used to describe a person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary; ostentatious in one’s learning. 4. Being finicky or picky with language.”
Pedantic is an adjective that describes itself. The technical term for this is autological. Here is a poem using autological words. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in May 1939. “A scene from a play, “History of Ashwood Health Association,” written and presented by tenth grade at May Day-Health Day program. Ashwood Plantations, stage of auditorium, South Carolina” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was published November 6, 2014. … The headline in the fb feed was not subtle. Rose McGowan: ‘Gay Men Are As Misogynistic As Straight Men, If Not More So’. I had heard the little known celebrity say similar things on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast a month earlier. Why was she flogging the same donkey twenty eight days later? … It turns out the barrage of McGowan media mulch is based on the podcast. When I heard them the first time, it was dismissed as somebody with too many opinions. Now these same offerings were broadcast with wider distribution. Are we supposed to care what Rose McGowan thinks?
One issue is the Beverly Hills Hotel. It is owned by someone the community deems unworthy. A boycott was announced. The people working at the BHH were financially hurt by this boycott. … What Miss McGowan does not mention is the zero sum nature of the game. When the trendy people quit going to one facility, they find another one. The people who work at the new designated watering hole will make more money. The chances are good that the next legal drug emporium is owned by someone with opinions contrary to popular fashion. When one service industry employee loses, another service industry employee wins. It is not fair.
It is curious that misogyngate is getting attention now. It is as if a press agent hit on a story, and all the media outlets on the chain got the call. Does Miss McGowan have some product that needs publicity? Is a more important story being pushed into the background? Why was this interview not the center of attention a month ago? Inquiring minds want to know. … Another ironic touch is the spectacle of a woman crying “gay misogyny” on the BEEP. Mr. Ellis, a gay man, has been dogged by charges of misogyny since the publication of “American Psycho.”
BEE takes it in stride. *Insert profound comment about public figure dealing with accusations of incorrect thinking.* Miss McGowan has issued an apology of sorts. Miss McGowan references a comment, by a gay man, about a character in a fictional tv show. It is tough to see how the comment justifies trash talk by a neo-celebrity. These things too shall pass away.
This content was published November 7, 2014. … After the media stormette about Rósa Arianna McGowan this week, I decided to give the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast episode a second listen. In the opening monolog, BEE discusses a quote he was blamed for. It was about women who direct movies. BEE was mistakenly quoted as saying half the population cannot direct films. He learned to never give an interview over drinks. … The monolog rambled over something called the male gaze, or the male oriented viewpoint of most movie makers. Soon, RAM was in the show, and talking misogyny. “I can tell you stories that would curl your hair.”
RAM then mentioned the time when she called out a young man for calling “Golden Girl” Blanche a slut. This is a story that RAM likes to tell. … The first movie RAM worked on was six weeks after her boyfriend was murdered. “I had never acted before. I was discovered standing on a street corner. I never tell that part of the story.” The director was Gregg Araki. RAM noted that “gays can be as misogynistic as …” She would return to that theme later. “I have an indictment of the gay community.” BEE “I do too.”
The Beverly Hills Hotel issue soon came up. For those who are new here, BHH is owned by the Sultan of Brunei. A proposal to enact Sharia law was enacted over there. “Armchair activists” in Southern California decided not to do business with the BHH. The trendy people went elsewhere for their $20 martinis, to the delight of people who work elsewhere. … RAM is not pleased. She mentions Richard Branson denouncing BHH, after making a deal with Saudi Arabia. As someone who puts Arab gasoline in his vehicle, I am loath to throw stones.
No such inhibitions were on display during the podcast. At the 32 minute mark, RAM says “I have heard nobody in the gay community, no gay male, standing up for women on any level.” At 35 minutes, “no help for the African American community, no help for lesbians.” At the 44 minute mark is a commercial break. Larry King, and his ?th wife, have a podcast. They invite you to see what it is like to live with him, and her. It is a material world. … After the break, BEE and RAM talked shop. The film industry is not as much fun as it never was. At the 57:29 mark, RAM says “I digress. Damn, I digress so much I forgot what I was talking about. … you know, Tom Cruise’s q rating isn’t what it used to be.” I wonder what RAM’s q rating is today. … Pictures today are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken August 3, 1956. “WSB-TV’s Officer Don and the Clubhouse Gang.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah