List of Fictional diseases

CRUSH! CRUSH! CRUSH!

641 yards!

446 Rushing yards to what? 0? ZEEEEEEEEEEERO!

(ahem)

You’ll have to pardon me, but I’ve grown up in Morgantown. My 6th grade teacher wore a BTHOP pin to school the week before the Pitt game.

It’s always good to beat Pitt.

From the OED, which almost never sends words I recognize:

phishing
• noun [mass noun] the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers, online.
— origin 1990s: respelling of fishing, on the pattern of phreaking.

1.
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

2.
From the Civil War until about 1910, arsenic was the main ingredient in the embalming fluids used widely throughout the country…

3.
The last U.S. WWI Veterans

So things were done enough, and yesterday I brought my Grandmother back from my Aunt’s house. So she’s now here and moved in–although she still has a lot of stuff to go through before she’s settled in.

To celebrate finishing the basement, we went to the movies and I finally got to see Batman vs Wolverine The Prestige. We both really liked it, although we had a debate about bits of it (which can’t be discussed, since it would give away part of the ending.)

I can’t wait until The Presteige and The Illusionist come out on DVD, so my Grandmother can see them.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

“It is well that war is so terrible; else we would grow too fond of it”
— Robert E. Lee

“A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.”
— George William Curtis

It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
— John Philpot Curran Speech upon the Right of Election (1790)

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Day Web Page

The Origins of Veterans Day from the VFW

The Great War

WWII Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

Digital Memorial for those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq

Data on Veterans from the US Census Bureau

Okay, this is fascinating. It’s a map of London circa the 1650s.

I read lots of British mysteries set in the past, so I find it particularly interesting, because some of the places are familiar. Though I have yet to find Bow Street.

Although I was disappointed that Capito was re-elected (stupid Charleston), there was actually good news this year: Byrd was resoundingly elected, despite Raese spending lots of his own money. Rahall was resoundingly elected, and Mollahan–although I’m not thrilled with some of his behavior–was also re-elected.

Additionally, it looks like Blankenship wasted a WHOLE lot of money, because most of his candidates–including some incumbents–lost. HA!

And best of all, Cindy Frich LOST. By 1300 votes. Again, I say HA!

Mind you, I voted for Cindy Frich in the past; after all, I figured that having more women in the legislature was a good thing.

Boy was I wrong.

Not only was she one of the sponsors of the anti-gay marriage amendment, but she took lots and lots and lots of money from Blankenship.

Cindy, you DESERVE to lose. Those two actions turned a previous supporter into someone adamantly opposed to your campaign. Keep that in mind when you attempt to run again.

And, oh yeah, the Republicans lost the house!

It’s Election Day!

VOTE!

VOTE!!

VOTE!!!

Tomorrow’s Election Day. Everyone’s taken off early. So, time wasting!

(more…)

Please stop to consider whether the candidate you are considering voting for is backed by Don Blankenship.

Don Blankenship–who does not even LIVE in West Virginia–is spending almost $2 million dollars in this election, to try to get the state to election Republican candidates of HIS choice. In case you have forgotten, it is Blankenship’s negative campaigning that elected a nobody–Brent Benjamin–to the State Supreme court.

Now he wants to try to control the state legislature.

For those of you who aren’t from West Virginia (or for some reason aren’t paying attention.) Blankenship runs Massey energy, a non-union coal company. On Jan 19 2006 a coal fire killed 2 miners Massey’s Aracoma Alma mine.

A report by state investigators states that Massey was at fault for the accident, through their missing or broken safety equipment.

Essentially, Don Blankenship has repeatedly placed profit over the safety of the men and women who work in his mines, refuses to allow unions into his mines, and ignores the comments and complaints of the miners (as they don’t have the power of a union to back-up those complaints and requests).

And now, through his hand-picked Republican candidates, he also wants to gain control of the government in West Virginia.

Please vote on Tuesday, and make sure that to send a message to this out of state robber baron: West Virginia belongs to us, and we will not be bought.

Aracoma Mine Accident Report (West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training)

State faults Massey for Aracoma fire (Charleston Daily Mail)
Massey’s Aracoma Alma #1 mine “set up to be a death trap,” UMWA President Roberts says (UMWA Press Release)
Report details fatal mine fire: # Missing walls, disabled sprinklers among findings on Aracoma accident (Charleston Gazette Mail)

If you want to know how Don Blankenship really feels about the state, consider the following:

Between 1/1/2000 and 12/2/2005 WVDEP issued 4,268 citations to Massey operations while the larger companies, Arch Coal and Peabody earned received only 732 and 355 citations respectively.

“You talk about the silo near the Marsh Fork School as if it were a negative. You should know that the silo (picture), if anything, is an improvement for the school” –Don Blankenship

For the sake of the kids indeed.

Am. Very. Tired.

As much as we have done, this still feels like the never-ending project in the house that will never be neat and clean ever again.

I’ve been assured that this is not so, but am having a hard time believing it. I’m beginning to believe that I’ll be stepping over pieces and board and pipe for the rest of my natural life.

Sleep calls. Loudly.

I’m sure things’ll be better in the morning. Then I just have to figure out what to do with a spare kitchen table and computer monitor. (Any takers? They’re free!)

Today’s Word:

cowcatcher \KOW-ketch-er\ noun
: an inclined frame on the front of a railroad locomotive for throwing obstacles off the track

Happy Day of the Dead

I very much prefer the idea of celebrating the lives of those who have died.