Demodex folliculorum? In MY eyelashes?
Topic: News

http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/eyelash/creatures.html

 

Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of your eyelashes.

(A follicle is the pore from which a hair grows). Demodicids have a wormlike appearance, with legs that are mere stumps. People with oily skin, or those who use cosmetics heavily and don't wash thoroughly, have the heaviest infestations ... but most adults carry a few demodicids. Inflammation and infection often result when large numbers of these mites congregate in a single follicle.

 

This is worse than centipedes in my vagina!

 

A little hike won't kill us... will it?
Topic: News
Hard-core hiking trail up a mountain in China:

http://mb14.scout.com/fvanderbiltfrm10.showMessage?topicID=3846.topic

Hah! I knew it, now there's proof.
Topic: News

Office queen bees hold back women’s careers

From the Article:

FORGET “jobs for the boys”. Women bosses are significantly more likely than men to discriminate against female employees, research has suggested.

...

The findings, based on experiments carried out among more than 700 people, suggest that the “queen bee syndrome” of female rivalry in the workplace may sometimes be as important as sexism in holding back women’s careers.

“Female and older participants showed more prejudice against the (idea of a) female leader than did male and younger participants,” said Rocio Garcia-Retamero, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and lead author of the report.

...

The study says: “Female participants had a stronger tendency than male participants to view the female candidates as less qualified than the male candidate . . . they also thought that the female candidate would fare worse in the future in her job than the male candidate.”

 

 

AP Polls have all bases covered
Topic: News
AP Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/2007_predictions_ap_poll?feck

AP Poll: Americans optimistic for 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061231/ap_on_re_us/optimism_ap_poll

Topic: News

The son-in-law of the President of Taiwan have been convicted, along with his father, of insider trading. Going to jail for 6 and 8 years respectively. It's the most severe sentence for such crimes ever handed down.  The entire nation (and some expats) have been following this, as it's such a clear case of special-privilege and corruption that the only surprise is how long it took for the dirt to hit the fan. The judge in the case quoted chapter and verse from the Analects of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist scholar who lived in the 4th Century BCE, as part of his sentencing:

"Those who steal a fishhook are common criminals; those who steal a nation are rulers; such does the downfall of virtue and honesty from the doors of those who rule."

Expanding on this, the judge pointed out in his ruling that those in power have come to expect to escape the reach of the law, and it is no longer acceptable; he also implies in his writing that the defendants' abuse of power have contributed to further the unjust gap between the haves and the have-nots in society, to the detriment of the nation beyond simply a criminal act.  He further writes, quoting from classical sources, that the elite defendants have "purchased power with money, and extracted money using power" He called the defendants 'arch-typical elite criminals' who expect to be above the law.  The ruling document ran to 297 pages, over 230,000 words.

Sounds like the judge in this case had a Classical Education.  I mean, I totally agree with him and I feel a sincere respect for the classical scholarship, but jeezus, a 297-page ruling? Surely to read that is a sentence in itself.

Three Gorges Dam turning into a dump
Topic: News
Well, duh. Is anyone surprised that this is already an environmental train-wreck?

---

Floating rubbish piling up in Three Gorges DamThu Sep 21, 12:09 PM ET 

BEIJING (AFP) - Massive amounts of floating rubbish are accumulating behind China's giant Three Gorges Dam due to a drought and a host of other factors, state press has said.

Keep Your Dogs Out of Your Stash
Topic: News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/09/05/bc-dogs-marijuana.html

A little side-note: When I was in college, a boy in my dorm told me that he and his brother used to stuff the family cat in a dresser drawer, then blow marijuana smoke into the drawer to stone out the cat. After some weeks of this, the cat got hooked on being stoned, and the boys never did explain to their mother why the cat'd jump into a dresser drawer whenver you opened one, with an expectant look on its face...

And now, on to the article.

CBC News Tuesday, September 5, 2006 | 11:00 AM PT

A Vancouver veterinarian who runs a 24-hour emergency clinic says she treats a surprising number of dogs who have overdosed on marijuana or other illicit drugs.

Oh No He Di'int!
Topic: News
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=527&id=698456

China's UN Ambassador Asks the US to Shut Up
Official Opinion

China's Ambassador to the UN Sha Zukang admonished Washington yesterday of interfering in Beijing's domestic affairs , particularly in its military program. Asked by a BBC reporter about China's growing military budget, Sha Zukang did not contain himself and shouted out: "The population of China is six times as much as that of the United States. So, it's time for Americans to shut up and keep quiet. They will be better off like this."

"The United States have the right to settle domestic problems on its own, so let them not pry into China's internal affairs," the Chinese diplomat said. Sha Zukang also warned that if Taiwan declares independency and any country recognizes it, China will apply military force. "It is not a question of how big Taiwan is. Each centimeter of Chinese land is more important to us than lives of our soldiers," the Chinese ambassador to UN stated openly.

China has not spoken so harsh on the Taiwan issue for a couple of years. These blunt words may cost Sha Zukang his post and career but the speech of China's ambassador to the UN shows the hardening of the Chinese leadership's stance on the Taiwan issue and possible conflict with the United States.

Alexander Gabuev, the Kommersant

Texas town bans jello shooters
Topic: News
Texas town bans jello shooters to cut down the littering caused by the little paper cups.

That's silly. I've never had a litter problem when I serve shooters to my friends - we just fling them into the open fire-place from various drunken, prone positions on the floor.

So rednecked.

Fraudulent Fry Forces Federal Feint; Fish Forfeited Following Folly
Topic: News

Local Businesses Plead Guilty Federal Fish Scam Charges

Best line in article: "Nguyen also agreed to forfeit all of the fish involved in the conspiracy"