HAA Ha! This is why we moved

See the part that says, PARALYZING BLIZZARD? We used to live in the middle of that!

Update! Ha! Ha!

Harry Reid proves he's an idiot, part 200,000

"Men, when they're out of work, tend to become abusive," the majority leader added.

"Women don't have jobs either, but women aren’t abusive, most of the time," he said.

*Updated to include picture goodness.

Your Move

Who knew Robert Downey Jr could sing?

The Purge may become permanent

I've been pretty happy with the way I've been feeling since I quit drinking. Frank Sinatra once said that he feels sorry for non-drinkers because when they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. There's a lot of truth to that.
So last night, I met up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while; a drinking buddy. So I decided to hop off the wagon for a night and have a couple of pitchers of light beer with him. Normally, this is something that I wouldn't think twice about.

I got hammered. And today, I feel like crap. On Bud Light.

So,...that pretty much drove the point home that my life is a lot better without the drinking.

For Valentine's Day

FoodStamps = Welfare

Best Idea I've heard in a while: There should be a seperate line for people using food stamps.

Why should the ones paying the bills have to wait in line behind the takers?

The worst idea ever? Replacing the paper stamps with a debit card.

The NY Times has an article about how the attitude has changed.

1 in 8 Americans are on food stamps.
1 in 4 children are on food stamps.

There's also an interactive map of the country HERE.

Walmart

Is there any place in the world more inspiring to make you want to kill your fellow human being?

I submit there is not.

Gun Show

I'm in the market for a new shotgun for the house. Since I'd expect Mrs Schwartz to handle it as well, I'm leaning towards either a 16 or 20 gauge. Since it will remain loaded for extended periods of time, I'm thinking a pump is best. I'd prefer to not have a shell chambered all the time with a retracted firing pin. I grew up with an Ithaca Model 37. It's a great gun.
So we went to a gun show yesterday. It seems that the Taurus Judge is the new Belle of the ball; everybody was selling it. This revolver fires either a .410 shotgun round or a .45 caliber pistol round. I was explaining this to the Missus when some hick overheard me and felt the need to chime in with, "Ya better load the 45 round, cause that 410 round'll jus piss um off." I've heard morons say this line more times than I can count. Look, I've never shot anyone, so I'm guessing here, but I think getting shot with five 00 buck balls would suck.
I used to carry a Walther PPK, which has a .380 load. A hick at my work said the same thing, "That'll jus pissumoff." I said, "Fine, how about we go out into the parking lot and I'll shoot you three or four times and see if it pisses you off." He shut up.
Extensive testing on stopping power, done by the military during WW2, showed that it was far more important WHERE you shot someone, than with what. A .22 into the brain stopped just as well as blowing out half the skull. Basically, you had to hit the central nervous system (brain and spine) or the long bones of the legs. (I think the heart, too, but I couldn't find my book)
If you want to be sure to reach the organs, to kill, you need a minimum 9mm, but that doesn't help stopping power; it just means the "shootee" dies in a few minutes.
So we're looking at some Mossberg shotguns; military-style with the black finish.
Mrs Schwartz: "That's ugly. If someone broke into the house, I couldn't shoot them with that."
Exador: "You'd rather die than be caught holding that gun?"
Mrs S: "Yes"

She didn't like the Model 37s because of the pump grip; it's not fancy enough.
Mrs S:"Can we get it with a nicer handle?"

Overall, it was an exercise in futility because I don't have $400 for what is essentially a luxury item. Our current guns are sufficient for home defense. I just wanted the shotgun for a little extra bang.

On the upside, she got a key chain in the shape of a pistol. When you cock the hammer, a little blade switches out. $2.

Caprica

Anybody been catching Caprica, on SyFy? I saw the pilot and some of the 2nd episode. So far, it's a pretty cool concept, especially the way they have explained the creation of the Ceylons.

Basically, young people go into a cyber world, where they interact with other people online. Like World of Warcraft, except there it's much more realistic-looking and they log in with a little 3-D headset, that looks like it directly beams into your brain.
One teenage girl gets the idea of basically "Googling" herself and accumulating all the information on herself that's been collected over the years; everything from school records to ATM cameras. In this SyFy world there are far more "Big Brother" devices than here on earth. She creates an avatar of herself from this and dumps it into the "World of Warcraft"-type online cyber game.
Then she gets killed, but her avatar lives on in cyberspace. Her father finds out about it and, missing his dead daughter, logs on and interacts with her. After a while, he decides he wants her in the real world and downloads her avatar into the first Ceylon.

The Right Armpit of Atlanta

Dekalb County encompasses the East Side of Atlanta and the surrounding area. It's a dump, a hole. Err...economically disenfranchised.
Not surprisingly, we have this story. Try not to fill in any stereotypes, cause stereotyping is wrong, M'cay.

DeKalb Euthanizing 34 Pit Bulls Weekly

“They are being bred the most, being neglected the most and being abandoned the most,” said Derrick.

And as Channel 2 Action News reporter Linda Stouffer uncovered, pit bulls are also being euthanized the most.

“A lot of young people think that having a pit bull makes them have status, makes them look important,” said Hawthorne.

An Anxious Mind

One of the things that I've come to realize since I quit drinking is this:

Drinking, even when not drinking a lot, numbs the brain enough to where watching tv and laying around isn't boring.

Now that I'm not drinking, I can't stand to watch tv, unless I'm surfing the web at the same time. And watching something that I've already seen? Forget about it. I can't take it. I've got to be DOING something.

The greatest (cost) generation

According to the CBO:

In 2007, a little less than one-half of the federal government’s spending went toward programs and purposes other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and net interest on the public debt.

Logical Bats

NPR did a story this morning on the benefits of aerobic exercise.
Most of it was pretty standard, except for the part where they found, once again, that even very moderate exercise reaps huge benefits:

A new study of 13,535 women finds that women who regularly walked for exercise in their 50s were much healthier in their 70s and beyond.

What they found might be surprising, given the level of exercise involved. The brisk walkers — who moved at a clip of about 3 mph — were 90 percent more likely to be free of all these conditions (diabetes, kidney disease, Parkinson's disease and pulmonary disease, cognitive function) when compared with women who weren't in the habit of walking beyond a leisurely pace.

What I found most interesting was the part about aerobic exercise's effects on the brain:

One school started measuring target heart rate zones as part of an in-school exercise program. And they found it helped more than just the students' physical health.

At Woodland Elementary School in Kansas, Mo.,...The big surprise for administrators at Woodland Elementary: They've noted a significant decrease in aggressive behavior. In-school suspensions have gone down about 60 percent since the program began.

Changes in the brain during exercise could help explain the students' improved behavior. There's increased blood flow to the prefrontal cortex during and just after exercise.

"They're activating this prefrontal area," says John Ratey, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "One of the jobs [of this part of the brain] is to inhibit the impulsivity coming up from the emotional part of the brain."

This means kids may be more likely to think before they act.

Which brings be back to the logical bats. I've found that inversion therapy (hanging upside down) has been shown to increase blood flow to the brain.