The Occasional Joke


Nurse: Patient's name?

Centurion: Marcus Licinius Crassus

Nurse: And his date of birth?

Centurion: 115 BC.

Nurse: All right. And what is he here for?

Centurion: Cataphract surgery.


Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Yet Another Social Networking Site

I'm of two minds, give or take a mind, about goodreads.com. It appears to be a kind of facebook for people who can actually remember what a book looks like, or claim to.  Our shamelessly self-aggrandizing acquaintance had it recommended to him by some blog postings as a way of promoting his silly book, and so he's given it a try, kicking and screaming all the way.  If this goes on, can a Facebook presence be far behind?

One or two of you, I believe, are actually on goodreads; what do you think of it?  Mr. McConnell tells us that he's reluctant to spend a lot of time on it, but is willing to if it's not a complete waste.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Quit yer beefin'

Or actually, don't.  At least until you read this article about your brain and meat.

Been telling you so for years.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The energy drink industry ...

Finally getting the attention it deserves.  Especially the Five-hour guy, Manoj Bhargava (who, for some reason, I'd heard was an Ann Arborite.  He's not, he lives in Farmington Hills.)

What everyone seems to ignore about the energy drinks (besides their being a totally unnecessary affectation) is that they're caffeine.  Caffeine plus we're not sure exactly what, but typically sugar, anyway.  And in some cases, phenylalanine, which is extremely bad for you if you have phenylketonuria -- and lots of people do.  While the article is from a somewhat suspect source (Forbes), David Kroll (with no initials, such as "MD", that he bothers to use after his name, BTW), has a nice heads-up piece on the stuff.