A Bevy of Miscellania

[rain_gryphon]

Astonishingly enough, you're allowed to wear a fursuit when going to see the Mayor of Indianapolis. I'm tempted to get some people together, and turn his next press conference surreal.

*****

It's the anniversary of that historic day when Fartin' Luther King cleared the Washington Mall by proclaiming "I had some beans!"

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Some woman met her doom from drinking too much water. What's alarming here is that she apparently only drank a half gallon, and not all at once. I've slammed down quart containers in 30 seconds before, although I was generally dehydrated to start with when I did that. I've had muscle cramps after doing that too, although I did have the good sense to get some salt into me pretty quick when that happened, which is apparently where she went wrong.

The news agencies, of course, are covering it as 'contestants weren't told of health risks'. While I have no doubt that's true, I very much doubt that the radio station people had any idea either. I certainly didn't. I knew it could cause cramps, but given that mammals have evolved to drink water, I'd have expected to vomit long before I'd be able to absorb enough to really hurt me.

It's kind of like the time I tore my sternal cartilage sneezing. You expect your species to have evolved in such a way that your own biological processes don't kill or injure you.

*****

Gerald Ford's opinions of other presidents.

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Thirteen new inventions of 1930.

This is remarkable. We've got not only steel wool with soap, a double-sided toaster, and the wheel-type can opener, but also a sort of EZ-Bake oven meant for actual household use. It was obviously a creative year.

*****

There's a plan to solve North Korea's famine problems by raising giant rabbits. This so has "Beloved Leader" written all over it.

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The 2007 F1 cars are being rolled out. So far, nothing looks terribly radical.

Comments

[rabbitboy.livejournal.com]

North Korea's famine problem is because of the "Beloved Leader". And this fool sells them bunnies at more than half off? What a boob.

I so want a gigantic bunny though. I do I do I do I do I do.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I would love to hold a Gigantic Bunny. They look so snuggly. And happy Birthday!

[maxgoof.livejournal.com]

I have a better idea on how to solve North Korea's famine problem:

Get rid of the horrid Communist government up there, and send Kim Jong Il packing.

If he wasn't frittering away the countries capital on nuclear weapons and other stuff, they would not be starving!

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Giant Bunnies are more fun.

[ruwhei.livejournal.com]

The woman who died from too much water lives in my suburb. I don't know much about it other than you do, but it appears to have been an oversight and I'm sure the Radio station is going to end up mega-sued. She exhibited all the symptoms of the medical problem, but nobody knew what they were. The condition is pretty rare, as you might imagine -- so people were not familiar with the warning signs.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling kind of sorry for the radio people. I'm sure nobody ever dreamed this might be dangerous.

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

The water thing is tragic, but not really something that could've or should've been prevented. Simply put, most people can't OD on water. They'll vomit it up long before they'll get dangerous hyponatremia. She obviously had some underlying problem. Generally speaking, only schizophrenics can drink enough water to die from it (and newbie marathon runners, but I suspect there's more than a little overlap there). In her case, I'd rather suspect not a mental disease, but a pre-existing electrolyte imbalance.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Sadly, we live in an age when nobody can ever admit that a hazard is so unlikely that no reasonable person could have forseen it. I'm sure this will lead to millions of dollars in damages.