Updated Weekend Tids and Bits

RIGHT TO LIFE, RIGHT TO DIE, NOW RIGHT TO DRY? The New York Times, which keeps track of issues many of us ignore, reports that the right-to-dry movement is building. You know – as in clotheslines, clothes pins and getting three (or more) sheets to the wind, not to mention the unmentionables jiggling in the breeze. Seems many communities outlaw letting it all hang out, even though there’s an energy saving. Now legislators are passing laws that trump the local rules, making it safe to let the wind handle those boxer shorts with the day-glow yellow smiley faces. Read it at: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/clotheslines-stage-a-comeback/

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SCIENCE BACKS @!$##@&^ WHEN “SHUCKS!” WON’T DO. A study reported on msnbc.com says shouting cuss words when you’ve been hurt decreases pain. At long last, something besides a sheepish look to offer your spouse when you’re questioned about all the new vocabulary the toddlers learned. Read it at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31852963/ns/health-behavior/

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SMOKE AND IRE were the result of a report presented to the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration suggesting troops be forbidden tobacco products. The DOD may have been looking to save some bucks on treating tobacco-related illnesses, but even considering the idea prompted a howl from the one-out-of-three in uniform who use tobacco. Not to worry, the DOD was quick to say, smoking in war zones would still be okay.

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EAT ME! TAKES ON NEW MEANING with news from Robotic Technology, Inc. that discusses EATR (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot). When the widget notices that its energy supply is dropping, it would help itself to “biomass” that might be handy – animal, vegetable, or maybe dead in combat, if we’re talking a military application. All the impossible-to-resist Robots Eating Dead stuff besides, any robot that can self-renew its energy source is very, very interesting. If you want to keep track of the company, look at http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/home.

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THE CONSTITUTION SAYS WE CAN CONFRONT OUR ACCUSERS in court, and now the Supreme Court says that includes lab analysts who perform tests that may be used to convict. So if the DNA test says you raped the 89-year-old grandmother of 12, you have a right to bring the lab tech who performed the test to the witness stand. On a more prosaic level, if your driver’s license hangs upon the results of a Blood Alcohol Level test, you have a right to demand that the technician who performed the test haul his butt to court and testify. Pro: ends folks being convicted on the basis of an essentially anonymous sheet of paper test results. Con: reluctance of those who perform the tests to testify may result in real perps going free.

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GET GOIN’ SACHA BARON COHEN! Is the word from Ukraine, which this week banned the interesting person’s latest film, “Bruno,” as immoral. The movie is about a gay Austrian fashion designer who’s so far out of the closet that the clothes pole longs for his touch. Ukraine says scenes of gays Doing It, genital views and obscene language cross the line and so there’ll be no lines in Ukraine, at least for this movie.

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ALASKA FLOATING UNIDENTIFIED GOO appear in the seas off our most northern state, and no one seems to know what it’s about, except that it seems to be natural in origin, has an odor and is drifting northeast. That direction of drift eliminated any possible connection with soon-to-be-ex-Governor Sarah Palin, who’s be energetically drifting her political fortunes south to the Lower 48. Alaska officials are investigating.

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NO SEX, PLEASE – WE’RE BRITISH (but we do admit it can be fun) comes to us from the British National Health Service, which admits in a booklet for teens that sex can be pleasurable. No word on how the British discovered this, although many in the United Kingdom suspect French infiltration. The idea in the teen-aimed flyer seems to be waiting for sex until you’re sure you can enjoy it. How a teen will know whether or not they enjoy it without trying it isn’t explained.

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Covered Last Week:

n We need some age limits before our government becomes of the geezers, by the geezers and for the geezers. Check it out at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/never-mind-term-limits-how-about-age.html

n It’s a wonderful time to be young and Republican – if you can walk, talk and chew gum, you’re already ahead of the GOP presidential pack at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/oh-to-be-young-and-republican-young.html

n Keeping senators or parakeets, you still have to clean the cage bottom and you can see why at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/advice-and-consent-parakeets-and.html

n Finally, a Republican alternative to the Democratic pus for a national plan! The GOP has a plan to D.I.E for. . . http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/republican-health-care-plan-to-d.html

n Baby Boomers move from the Age of Aquarius to the Age of Oblivious at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/baby-boomers-age-of-aquarius-to-age-of.html

n Have a great weekend!

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