New News

I'm sorry, oh ye faithful readers, for not posting anything for the last couple of days - it is do, in part, to my laziness and, in part, to my business. Either way, I should give no excuses and a good post instead, so here we go...

I'm finding that in recent years I like to watch/read more and more news. Perhaps it's because the city, state, nation and world keep providing more and more interesting tidbits of news. Or, perhaps it's because I'm getting older and more mature. Nonetheless, I feel that many articles I read and news pieces I watch make me smarter and spark my interest in different topics - like these:

A 'Copper Standard' for the world's currency system?

For a long time now, United States economists' have been saying that everything will be fine, economically, until/unless China stops buying U.S. currency bonds and starts switching to gold bullion. So, we have been watching gold closely to see if China is moving that direction - especially in light of recent, chaotic events, like...well, let's not kid ourselves...if you're not up-to-date on these issues then you have much larger issues to deal with, and you probably won't be interested in this blog! Well, we (and by we, I mean the United States) has been had...we've been watching gold all this time, and China has bee stocking up on copper, among other metals. So, the question stands - Will copper become the next standard for the world's currency system?

Chilean scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet

On to better and brighter things...Chilean scientists have discovered a nearly Earth-sized planet. I am very proud of them, and that is 'extraordinary.' I am a little peeved, though, because it was Chilean scientists who found the planet, and the article doesn't give them any credit...WTF? Throw them a freaking bone...don't take away their glory!


Animal activists protest trauma training

This story is a little too close to home for my liking...everyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for all animals (although, it's not soft enough to be a vegetarian.) PETA has accused Fort Hood of using live goats and pigs for 'trauma training.' Trauma training consists of things like cutting off their legs while they are still alive. Fort Hood admits to doing this - I hope PETA sues them. PETA can be a little extreme for my taste sometimes, but I am so glad they brought this to light and I hope something happens because this is not acceptable. In the article, Fort Hood basically says that the medical technologies that have been invented to imitate real-life victim trauma training are not real enough. They also say that there is no harm being done to the animals because they are 'properly anesthetized.'

Uh, hello Fort Hood:

a) How is it that medical technologies that have been invented are good enough for our nation's civilian doctors and surgeons to use, but they aren't good enough for you?

b) To say that there is no harm being done to the animals because they are properly anesthetized is the biggest oxymoron I have ever heard come out of somebody's mouth. Just because they are properly anesthetized does not mean you're not harming them - you're cutting off their freaking legs!

c) Fort Hood reps said that medical technologies don't have the 'response of a real life victim,' which, to me, means that real life victims are flailing and screaming out of pain. So, if Fort Hood is trying to 're-create' this, then that would mean to me that the poor goats and pigs are probably feeling something...

Dummies...


California confirms seventh case of Swine Flu

California has confirmed its seventh case of the Swine Flu, which makes nine (don't quote me on that) confirmed cases in the U.S. About 70 people have died in Mexico City and more than 1,000 cases have been confirmed. The World Health Organization is having an emergency meeting in Geneva to determine if they have a possible pandemic on their hands. The good news is that none of the confirmed cases in the U.S. have been fatal - all have gotten better with medical intervention. This is a potentially scary situation here, but I think the good news is that the health organizations seem to be confident that they could produce a vaccine, if needed. Keep your eyes and ears open on this one, and be smart - don't handle pigs!


And then there's these articles - the ones that make me say things like..."Are they just now figuring that out?"...or..."Uh...Duh!"

Covetous Canines: Why Dogs Get Jealous?

Uh, I could have told y'all that a whole heck of a long time ago. All you need to do is spend five minutes in my house and you'll see that our dogs constantly fight each other for our (or anyone's) attention. They are very happy dogs who are spoiled rotten, but you wouldn't think that by the way they act when one is getting attention and the other isn't - they turn into big BABIES! You can see 'the struggle' in this picture to the left...This brings me to another point - if dogs are capable of being jealous of each other, I wonder if they take it to another level. For example, I saw a service dog with a customer at Lowe's today. Our dogs happened to be in our car waiting for us (with the windows rolled down, of course). So, it made me think - I wonder if our dogs saw that dog walking into Lowe's and got jealous of it. I imagine their conversation with each other went something like this...

Teo: "Yo, Picasso, why does that dog get to go in there and we don't?"
Picasso: "I don't know, Brother. Maybe his owner loves him more than ours love us?"
Teo: "Nah, that isn't it. He's just special somehow and we need to figure out how..."
Picasso: "Sounds like a plan to me. First, we will gain access to Lowe's, then the mall, then we'll be unstoppable."
Teo: "Unstoppable."


This last one for today is about Miss California's answer in the Miss USA pageant last week. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you've been living under a rock for the last week...
I am discussing this one because I have had a request to blog about it (Shout out to Shawna!)


I'm not going to offer my opinion on this one for a couple of reasons. First, because I like to keep y'all guessing. Second, everyone tends to have a pretty strong opinion on this one so no matter what I'll say regarding my own opinion, I will make people angry. However, the bottom line is that Miss USA is a pageant to find a young woman to travel the world representing the United States of America. As a representative of the country, she needs to be able to represent all of its citizens politically correctly. Perez Hilton is right - her answer was not politically correct. She could have still said what she said and added a 'disclaimer' of sorts, saying something along the line of..."This is a very controversial topic in the U.S. right now, and I have my opinions on the topic. However, I do agree that it should be left up to the states to decide, and I look forward to see what the future holds for same-sex civil unions and marriage." The end.