Really REALLY Stupid News and some GOOD News Too
Let me call you sweetheart....
In a CNN article, it is suggested that 60% of nurses feel they have been sexually harassed at work….by their patients! Having worked in healthcare for a number of years, I will be the first to say that it’s inappropriate for a patient to ever lay a hand to a nurse, but evidently calling a nurse “sweetie” or “honey” is now considered sexual harassment. Can I have the clerk at the convenience store I visit in the morning brought up on charges of sexual harassment? He calls me “honey” and it gets on my nerves to no end. Is it sexual harassment? Hardly!
Smile...though your heart is breaking...
A computer has decoded Mona Lisa’s smile. Scientists analyzed the portrait of the Mona Lisa, a woman with famously mixed emotions, hoping to unlock her smile. They applied emotion recognition software that measures a person's mood by examining features such as the curve of the lips and the crinkles around the eyes. The findings? Mona Lisa was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry, according to the British weekly "New Scientist." Please tell me this was a pet project of some flakey scientist and not paid for by anyone! Don’t we have enough research on things like…oh, I don’t know…curing cancer to keep them busy?
Shhhhhhh....someone's listening!
So…President Bush allowed eavesdropping? WOW! That’s just terrible! What is this world coming to? Are you kidding me? It must be a slow week for the MSM if that’s all they’ve got! Every single person I have spoken to about this topic has said the same thing – if it means they are gaining intelligence that will protect us from terrorists – go for it! And here’s another thought…if you’re doing something you don’t want the government to hear about – you probably shouldn’t be doing it! The only thing that makes this story “newsworthy” is its stupidity factor. It should be listed in the “off beat” section of the newspaper.
Racism...sexism....can The Donald ever win??
Evidently viewers are at odds about Donald Trump’s decision to hire a black man as the Apprentice and give him the opportunity to decide if the “dame” should be hired as well. Somehow this is considered racist on the part of Trump. He hired the guy! Shut up!
Mistletoe extinct?
Mistletoe is evidently in short supply and The Wildlife Trusts said over-harvesting of the plant that only grows in the wild and is mainly found on old apple trees meant it was becoming increasingly rare. Oh no!
This can’t be grown in greenhouses like everything else? Please! This is news?
And for some VERY GOOD NEWS!
Oh happy day…oh happy happy day….when Howard Stern….went away!
That’s right, folks, on Friday, Howard Stern polluted the free airwaves for the last time. In January he moves to Sirius Sellite Radio. Now I hope the conservative Christian population in this country will do what I did – buy XM Satelite Radio and boycott Sirius. If the American Family Association will boycott Ford Motor Company for putting car ads in gay magazines – they ought to be encouraging all of their members to do the same with Sirius.
posted by P.I. Mom @ Saturday, December 17, 2005
11 Comments:
At 8:35 AM, December 19, 2005,
Neo-Con Tastic said…
3 posts in one weekend. Wow! I can't keep up when I get into work.
My girlfriend is a nurse and she talks about dirt balls all of the time but she never claims harassment.
Poor Mona, leave her alone, I think she used to be a man.
We allowed the Patriot Act, hey I've got nothing to hide, bad people do.
Trump should be president, not a KKK member. He made the right choice and the black man made the right choice also.
Mistletoe vanishing? Not me, I don't need a plant to kiss random women. I'll just go to the hospital.
Howard Stern is a piece of shit.
At 5:12 PM, December 19, 2005,
P.I. Mom said…
Thanks for taking the time to read! Don't work too hard!
At 3:37 PM, December 20, 2005,
Anonymous said…
As to eavesdropping, regular citizens shouldn't have to worry about whether or not their conversations or personal information is being recorded. If this was not important (as you, PI Mom, and neo-con-tastic, seem to think it's not), why did the Founders put it in the Fourth Amendment?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
-- United States Constitution, Amendment IV
At 5:29 PM, December 20, 2005,
Anonymous said…
Ms. P.I. Mom--maybe I missing something or you may have misunderstood something when sharing the the story about mistletoe becoming extinct. Perhaps it was a mistake by the media outlet you were listening to, but the The Wildlife Trusts did not declare its demise.
What the Trust did say is that over-harvesting in the United Kingdom is being done in a manner that is tearing off too much of the indeginoius plant and leaving barely enough on the host tree to produce future plants. So as a botanist I'd be happy to share with you more about this holiday decoration.
Mistletoe (also known as Phoradendron flavescens or Viscum album) is a parasitic plant that grows on trees, particularly hardwood trees like oak and apple. A parasite is a plant or animal that needs another plant or animal to survive. As mistletoe grows on a tree, it sends out its roots right into the tree's bark and takes nutrients from the tree.
Sometimes, mistletoe can harm a tree and cause deformities in a tree's branches, but usually it doesn't kill its host. If the host dies, the mistletoe dies. The most common harvested for Christmas is Phoradendron tomentosum, grown in mainly for the U.S. in the state of Texas on mesquite and hackberry. There is one Phoradendron found in Colorado, a leafless variety, juniperinum.
The Hawksworth Scale is a simple scale to assess dwarf mistletoe infestation developed by Frank G. Hawksworth and has become the standard used by governmental forestry departments. The scale breaks a tree, and the crown more specifically, into 3 sections: top, middle, and bottom. It then assigns a dwarf mistletoe infestation rating of 0 to 2 to each section. The scale may, therefore, range from 0 to 6 in total for a tree.
Mistletoe can be propagated in greenhouses but the success rate is low, so there is a heavy dependence on supplies from the wild. So the Trust is simply urging land-owners and farmers in the United Kingdom to work with the ecologists employed by their local councils to help protect mistletoe from the threats it faces -- and help wildlife at the same time.
Hope this was helpful.
Warm wishes,
Greenthumb Nelly
P.S., In case you didn't know Mistletoe got its name in the second century, from the Anglo-Saxons. "Mistel" is the word for "dung," and "tan" is the word for "twig" -- misteltan is the Old English version of mistletoe, and this name tells us that mistletoe is named after bird droppings on a branch. One of the beliefs in the early centuries was that mistletoe grew from birds. People used to believe that, rather than just passing through birds in the form of seeds, the mistletoe plant was an inherent result of birds landing in the branches of trees.
At 6:26 PM, December 20, 2005,
P.I. Mom said…
Daer Patriotic...
Have you read the Patriot Act? Seriously...if you had, you would know that the only phones the govt. is tapping are those suspected of terrorist activities. Not you and me - unless of course you are a terrorist or some how associated with one/some. THAT is why it's not a big deal - THAT is why it's o.k. Because they're listening to the people that we should WANT them to be listening to. If you aren't doing anything wrong - they could care less what you're doing. Do you think our govt. is so bored that they're listening to your wife swap recipes? Give me a break.
And Nelly...
Oh. My. God.
At 10:40 PM, December 20, 2005,
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the update Nelly! After reading P.I. Mom's original post, I was a little concerned that we wouldn't be able to get any more mistletoe. It's great to see somebody with your background clarify the situation. I would've been heart-broken. Its been a tradition in our family since I was a kid. And I really appreciated your info about the origin of the word. An uncle told me that the kissing tradition originated with the vikings, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you? Love to know more.
Happy holidays!
At 8:43 AM, December 21, 2005,
Neo-Con Tastic said…
Ummm. PIM, where are you getting these people. First "All in the Family" and now this?
Anyway, Mr. Patriot, you are a moron. Yes, I usually don't come out firing punches but reading your crying comments make me think twice about permitting all people to reproduce.
Let's start with the 4th amendment:
"...against unreasonable searches and seizures"
Mr. Patriot, who's to say this isn't reasonable? At the time this was occuring, the Intelligence Committee consisting of Republican and Democrat Senators were briefed by the VP that this was going on. No one complained fortifying the reasonable nature.
Secondly Mr. Patriot, the 4th amendment was written to protect citizens, not illegals that are the enemies in this war.
Futhermore, I think the founding fathers would promote "eavesdropping" in the light of THREE THOUSAND AMERICAN CITIZENS DEAD. Mr. Patriot, did you forget?
Finally, if you are worried that your going to get busted buying pot over the phone, I wouldn't be too concerned. Unless you got Attah or Bin Laden on speed dial, you're not being monitored.
If you're a patriot, this nation is damned.
At 8:45 AM, December 21, 2005,
Neo-Con Tastic said…
For more justification:
http://dad29.blogspot.com/2005/12/was-it-rockefeller-d-saudi-arabia.html
At 5:11 PM, December 21, 2005,
P.I. Mom said…
Neo...
Tis the season, I guess. They're coming out of the woodwork - have you had a look at "second2nonedad"'s argument down under "Take It Back"? Insane - all of them - insane!
I think it's time for a drive-by slapping....or two....or ten!
At 5:19 PM, December 21, 2005,
Anonymous said…
Thanks for your comments InLoveWithSanta. Not sure why P.I. Mom replied the way she did. I was clicking "next blog" and came across her blog. In reading through it I thought that her humor was delightful and reverent, so I continued to read more and found her comments on mistletoe.
I was simply trying to share my knowledge of mistletoe. I'm not sure why, but she responded with a rather flippant remark. Hopefully I didn't offend. Just trying to clear up the misconception about growing mistletoe in greenhouses. Maybe I caught her on an "off-night."
Normally, I wouldn't have returned, but my lab colleague saw your comments. So, I wanted to thank you and share a bit more.
It wasn't the Vikings, but rather the Druids.
See, the Druids considered mistletoe to be a sacred plant and believed it had miraculous properties which could cure illnesses, serve as an antidote against poisons, and even ensure fertility. They even believed it would protect against the ill effects of witchcraft.
One explanation about kissing comes from an interesting custom from that period. The custom was that whenever enemies met under the mistletoe in the forest, they had to lay down their arms and observe a truce until the next day. It is from this tradition that the ancient custom of hanging a ball of mistletoe from the ceiling and exchanging kisses under it as a sign of friendship and goodwill was born.
Another explanation that is more directly connected with the Anglo-Saxons was connected to the legend of Freya, goddess of love, beauty and fertility. According to that legend, a man had to kiss any young girl who, without realizing it, found herself accidentally under a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.
Even if the pagan significance has been long forgotten, the custom of exchanging a kiss under the mistletoe can still be found in many European countries as well as in Canada and the United States. Thus if a couple in love exchanges a kiss under the mistletoe, it is interpreted as a promise to marry, as well as a prediction of happiness and long life.
In France, the custom linked to mistletoe was reserved for New Year's Day: "Au gui l’An neuf" (Mistletoe for the New Year). Today, kisses can be exchanged under the mistletoe any time during the holiday season.
Here's to you all in finding somebody to kiss under the mistletoe during this joyous holiday season.
At 8:57 PM, December 21, 2005,
P.I. Mom said…
Patriotic -
Nice summary of why it's not only LEGAL, but should be expected...
http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2005_12_18.html#005193
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