I am married to an American veteran with about 40 years in the Marine Corps, Army Special Forces, etc. He doesn’t play with dolly dudes, pull equipment out of swamps or dumps and restore it, dress up in a uniform and pretend he’s coming ashore on Omaha Beach. He likes to read military history, sometimes. He’s pretty wrapped up in the present and what is going on with the American military RIGHT NOW….

It seems from the website that the guy with the German set-up is in England. But you can’t blame this on being British. Lots of Americans spend an amazing amount of money, time and brain power on this stuff. In the old days, sometimes guys would have a home sand table and reenact the sequence of famous battles with the rubber soldiers from the 5 and dime. And reenactors have been around since the Civil War Centennial. But the amount of this type of intense escapism is unnerving. Add to the war thing all the people who pretend they are Hobbits, Medieval Lords/Ladies or Aliens, and you have an awful lot of people distracted from real life.

robyn

This is exactly how I feel about people attending Star Trek conventions and spending time learning a non-existent language.  A lot of time that could be put toward truly productive purposes gone to waste in my opinion.

Cheers–

MRE 

I for one appreciate your political blogs and comments. You often inform me of a topic that I need to be aware of. After I read the REAL ID piece, I sat down and wrote and sent out six letters to my federal and state senators and representatives about this issue.

Personally, I can’t watch people like this Hannity or whatever his name is, I abhor them, but I watched this YouTube piece. Thanks for the link. Something that struck me is how Reid, Hannity and the other guy became very nice and sweetly sanctimonious about being kind to Falwell’s family. When Christine Colson stated that the widows of the guys who died in the Twin Towers only wanted to make piles of money off their husband’s deaths, did these commentators care, or did they say ya, well, it’s not nice, but it’s okay to say?

It seems that whenever left-leaning people partake in slash and burn journalism, right wingers seem genuinely taken aback as though they thought they had a patent on it.

It doesn’t take much investigation into the actions of Jerry Falwell to find out what he was really all about. On the mild side, there is no doubt he took over Jim Bakker’s empire simply to put a competitor out of business.

You know, Capone is still remembered in Chicago for his soup kitchens and donations to the down and out…..

robyn

Hi robyn–

Just don’t mistake Christopher Hitchens for a left-winger.

Cheers–

MRE 

I like the potpourri and wouldn’t mind at all if you were to continue such posts. While I don’t have much need for a bacon wallet, the bacon-flavored toothpicks also sold on the site do sound rather tasty.

Thanks to your warning, I didn’t watch the cobra video. Lord knows, growing up in rattlesnake country, I’m not overly fond of snakes but sewing the snake’s mouth shut seems more than a little cruel to me as well as exposing a baby to such a snake in the first place.

The kite video and the miniature railroad pictures were fascinating.

Hi Esther–

I don’t know if sewing a cobra’s mouth shut then letting a baby play with it is an everyday occurrence in India or simply a one off that the family filmed for YouTube.  I would be interested in finding out.  

Cheers–

MRE 

ref hog….beware any burger eaters in the vacinity of the uber hog if they per chance suddenly see an offer of all ye can eat.

Hicthens is great but if he got imself of the sauce and ciggies one would assume he’d be even sharper; and of course N Americans are suckers for a plummy UK accent !

Now I’m hungry.

I did find it somewhat amusing, however, that Hitchens did the same thing to Cooper as Hannity did to him–talk over him. Maybe not as aggressively as Hannity, but still.

Falwell may be dead, but his two very scary legacies–Liberty University and the Regent University School of Law, the latter of which teaches that Christianity is ahead of everything including law and seems to be a favorite employment pool for the Bush administration–live on.

And the kites were very cool.

Sorry.  You’re right: it is Anderson Cooper.

I didn’t think Hitchens really talked over Cooper as Hannity did to Hitchens.  Cooper thought Hitchens was finished with his point and started to ask another question.  Hitchens merely continued with his point.  And Cooper asked decent questions designed to let Hitchens develop his thesis whereas Hannity tried to ridicule and cut off and get in his own opinion.

Cheers–

MRE 

I live in Eugene, OR, where my libertarian-ish bent is seen as a species of hard-right Nazism. It’s always assumed that I listen to Rush and Hannity, but, like you, I can’t stomach their belligerence. They may be entertaining to a lot of folks, but to me they sound like drunken baboons (minus the baboons’ native intelligence, of course).

Lordy, isn’t Hitchens magnificent? He wrote a great rant in Slate last week in which he called Falwell a “Chaucerian fraud.” Lovely.

Hi Rose–

In case you haven’t seen it, here is a link to another Hitchens interview. This one with Cooper Anderson Anderson Cooper, who does a much better job of allowing his guest to make a point. I hate watching the Hannity et al bunch who never let their guests – unless it’s one of their ‘pet’ guests – make their complete point. Even if the guest is someone I loathe, I at least want to hear what he/she has to say. I know Hannity’s opinion; it’s the guest’s that I’m interested in hearing. But if the guest’s opinion doesn’t jibe with Hannity, the poor sod never has a chance to complete a sentence.

I’m in the same position as you vis a vis my political leanings. I’m more than a little libertarian-ish, but I hang out with people of all political stripes, all of whom seem to run with their own groups. When I’m with the liberals, I’m introduced to other liberals as our token conservative. When with conservatives, I’m the token liberal. No one seems to realize that there is another – and in my opinion – much more reasonable option.

Cheers–

MRE

So, if his theory is valid, what do we do with Mehmet Oz?

Incidentally, I’ve been eating zero-carb for weeks now. No weight loss because I’m making up for the carbless food by eating more meat/chicken/ribs/eggs than my body could possibly use. However, as a 74-year-old ADHD person, I am so much calmer than I ever was before.

I think the best comment about Falwell was Rosie’s on the View. She said that he’d died and then said, “Whatever”, with a shrug of her shoulders. I love that woman.

Marly

Hi Marly–

I’m glad you wrote.  I had been reading Fiber Menace while on my last trip, but left it on my carry-on bag.  I hadn’t thought about it since.  I’m flying to Dallas tomorrow, so I’ll finish it up.  My take on it – from at least as far as I’ve gotten into it – is that there are many truths along with a lot of inaccuracies.  Problem is that most people without a medical background might believe it all.  I’ll review it when I’m finished.

As to Rosie…I don’t feel the same love you do.  In fact, I despise her as much as I do Sean Hannity, and for all the same reasons.

Cheers–

MRE 

I did not watch the snake. My nerves don’t need that sort of thing. Thanks for the warning.

I had already seen the last video, which is incredible.

Hi Laura–

Glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers–

MRE 

Anaerobic metabolism (glycolysis), creates ATP exclusively from carbohydrates.

ref Hog..the thing that struck me as odd was what looked like the legth of the thing and the lad’s width.For sure perpception can be skewed but they said this thing was say 9 ft or something and the shoulder to shoulder width of the lad suggested this animal was ways ways longer than 9 ft

Hi Simon–

It’s not gibberish; it’s true.  Anaerobic metabolism creates ATP exclusively from glucose.  Which is why it is so inefficient and why one can’t stay in anaerobic metabolism for very long.  Only for short bursts.  Your body can create the glucose from protein, then burn it anaerobically if need be.

I agree with the idea that the hog is disproportionate in size to its actual dimensions.  I’m sure there was a little rooky do going on with the photography.  I think the father in this episode smelled some money and tried everything in his power to aggrandize what is already a pretty great story.  I imagine that the kid was a little ways behind the hog in the picture I posted, but posed to look like he was right next to it.

Cheers–

MRE