More Of This And That . . .

At 11:10 yesterday morning I suddenly felt the whole house shake and heard something that sounded like a dynamite blast. It happened three (maybe 4) times, in descending order of magnitude. Eve was asleep on the carpet in the front parlor and she jumped up and looked all around the room. After thinking about it, I wondered if perhaps it had been a distant earthquake.

On the news later I discovered that there had been an underground explosion a few miles away. No further details were given at that time.

_____

A former classmate sent me some images of advertisements from earlier times:











Those ads would certainly not be used in today's politically correct and timid, super-cautious society.


Also, I viewed some old time pictures of my hometown, Rensselaer, IN. While I realize that they will be of interest to only those who are familiar with that town, I am providing links to those photos, and here they are:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=114057651989020&aid=16702

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=114057651989020&aid=26630

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A few minutes ago I asked myself: "What's the difference between a buzzard and a vulture?" And then, after doing a bit of research (Google, etc.) I concluded that there is no difference at all.

Wikipedia gave me:

In the New World Buzzard can mean:

1. A vulture, particularly the American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture, or as a general term for vultures.
2. In parts of the United States where they are considered pest, particularly in rural areas, a derogatory term for certain birds of prey, such as the Chicken hawk (a common colloquial name referring to either the Cooper's Hawk, the Sharp-shinned Hawk or the Red-tailed Hawk), or the Duck hawk (known elsewhere as the Peregrine Falcon).

So, I guess that I can call the big birds of prey I see flying above the mountains here in Tucson anything I want to call them.

_____

NASA Announcement

The launch of NASA's Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been postponed at least 24 hours. The next launch attempt is no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 24, at 5:09 a.m. EST.

Data to be collected by Glory will help scientists improve our ability to predict Earth's future environment and to distinguish human-induced climate change from natural climate variability.

Hm... now all we have to worry about is whether or not the actual results (if detrimental to man-made global warning doctrine) will be made available (via the media) to the public.

__________

"A professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep."
--W.H. Auden

No Time For Titles

While walking along a county road I happened to see upon the pavement a freshly-flattened furry-figure, the gray and wetly-crimson remains of recent road-kill.

Whether through intuition, sudden inspiration, or possibly some mental association from past observances, I immediately tore my attention from the unfortunate former creature and turned my vision upward. Sure enough the death of one thing had signaled for nature's meticulous undertaker to hasten to the scene; one life ends so another can continue.

Patiently waiting for me to move on . . .

Still waiting . . .

Becoming a bit restless . . .

Deciding, "Oh to Hell with it; I'll be back . . .

. . .

Addiction

After smoking cigarettes for almost thirty years, and having attained a three-packs-per-day habit, at the age of 45, I quit (cold-turkey.) That was at twelve o'clock noon, April 12, 1985, twenty-five years ago. And I have never smoked tobacco (or anything else) since that day. It was, I believe, the hardest thing I have ever done.

Now is the age of enlightenment as to the deadly effects of tobacco smoking. Many have set aside the noxious habit. People have wised up to the dangers in the insidious products of the greed-inspired, demonic, evil merchandisers of death -- the big tobacco companies.

So, I was dumbfounded after reading the following:

GN Development & Management, LLC wants to help maintain a smoke free environment by offering options for smokers to "smoke" nicotine without the fire, flame, tobacco, tar, carbon monoxide, ash, smell, and the variety of chemicals found in traditional tobacco cigarettes.

They intend to manufacture and market a socially-acceptable nicotine delivery system.

Here is one of their advertising photos

Is this an example of the"hard" sell?

Another advertising photo

Sex In Merchandising aside, how can any rational thinking person imagine this or any other delivery process as being an acceptable manner of absorbing or injecting nicotine into the body?

According to Wikipedia -- In low concentrations (an average cigarette yields about 1 mg of absorbed nicotine), the substance acts as a stimulant in mammals and is the main factor responsible for the dependence-forming properties of tobacco smoking.

According to the American Heart Association, nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break, while the pharmacological and behavioral characteristics that determine tobacco addiction are similar to those that determine addiction to drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

And further . . .

As nicotine enters the body, it is distributed quickly through the bloodstream and can cross the blood-brain barrier. On average it takes about seven seconds for the substance to reach the brain when inhaled. The half life of nicotine in the body is around two hours.

And . . .

By binding to ganglion type nicotinic receptors in the adrenal medulla nicotine increases flow of adrenaline (epinephrine), a stimulating hormone and neurotransmitter. By binding to the receptors, it causes cell depolarization and an influx of calcium through voltage-gated calcium channels. Calcium triggers the exocytosis of chromaffin granules and thus the release of epinephrine (and norepinephrine) into the bloodstream. The release of epinephrine (adrenaline) causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, as well as higher blood glucose levels.

Also . . .

Nicotine has very powerful effects on arteries throughout the body. Nicotine is a stimulant, it raises blood pressure, and is a vasoconstrictor, making it harder for the heart to pump through the constricted arteries. It causes the body to release its stores of fat and cholesterol into the blood. It has been speculated that nicotine increases the risk of blood clots by increasing plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, though this has not been proven.


The American Heart Association reports:

Nicotine is an addictive drug. It causes changes in the brain that make people want to use it more and more. In addition, addictive drugs cause unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The good feelings that result when an addictive drug is present -- and the bad feelings when it's absent -- make breaking any addiction very difficult. Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.

How long, I wonder, will it take these GreenNicotine producers to begin injecting chemical enhancers to heighten the pleasurable effects of their products?

Beware is the operative word.

And that's all I have to say about that.


Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
--Unknown