American Madness

I grew up in South Texas where the three main religions are Baptist, Catholic and other. So it took me quite a long time after moving to New York to grasp the entire “kosher” thing. Before I thought kosher meant a brand of pickle.

Over the years, I’ve had some wonderful discussions about what is, and is not, kosher. Like most gentiles, and I’ve got to think more than a few Jews, I don’t get it. Seems to every rule there is a conflicting counter rule and then there is the exception, and the translation error, and so on and so forth.

But for the chosen ones, it is important to know what you can, and cannot eat, even if it means confronting animals that may only live in the world of imagination.

Enter into the maw, Evil Monkey’s Guide to Kosher Imaginary Animals.

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After American Madness’ veer to the left yesterday, I felt a little rebalancing was in order. As the only registered Republican on the masthead (I believe), it’s nice to see how the other side is thinking. Believe it or not, when I’m not thinking about money (GREED!), and corporations, and my investments, and war, and guns and not believing in luck, and the best way to pull on my bootstraps, I like to read. I even read the New York Times sometimes, even though my vast right wing masters at Fox News say I shouldn’t. And we all know I only do what I’m told by Fox News.

Today, I read in the Financial Times that Canada is pissed off at us because a couple of Democratic gas bags believe populism and protectionism is the surest path to economic glory. Based on the loud rhetoric, trade has taken jobs from hard working Americans (read: Ohioans) and given them to not-so-hardworking foreigners. The biggest target of their wrath is the evil North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). You know, the free trade agreement signed between Mexico, the US and Canada by one head of the Billary duo.

Both Clinton and Obama have vowed to revisit and renegotiate NAFTA once the drape measuring is done and they assume their seat on the Oval Office throne. Obama has said he “would immediately call the president of Mexico and the president of Canada (hey Barack: Canada doesn’t have a president, it has a prime minister) to try and amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now.”

And to think, he is the level-headed one. “We will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it and we renegotiate on terms favorable to all Americans,” sayeth Clinton. (more…)

I just discovered the Museum of Hoaxes, a blog dedicated to “Examining dubious-sounding claims and mischief of all kinds”

It is a fun little site where you can test yor knowledge of hoaxes, read up on some old urban legends and find out just how misguided and gullible you actually are. There are a lot of fun hoaxes and mythes to explore and read about here. Just a fun little time waster to check out. And if you think you are up to it, take the 15 question Historical Hoaxes and Fallacies quiz over at About.com (I got an 11 out of 15).

Have you ever wanted a taxidermed animal in your home or office, but the usual rabbit/bird/squirrel/armadillo just aren’t quite what you are looking for? Well then just head on over to Custom Creatures.

At Custom Creatures Sarina Brewer is whipping up some nice taxidermy pieces of both the ordinary variety and the well, let’s go with surreal. Like the winged kitten or the Siamese twin squirrels or go straight for the mythological with the Griffin or Chupacabra.

Sarina also has a fine collection of “Cryptic Curios” and “Pickled Pets,” well, finest collection I have seen at least. Even if you aren’t in the market for one of these it is a neat site to check out.

Okay, so since I have posted “Oh By The Way” I have received a number of comments about compact fluorescent lights (CFL) ranging from drying out your eyes, to containing mercury, to not really being more energy efficient then incandescent bulbs because they use so much more power in their start up. Well, I am here to settle some of this. To debunk some of these myths I have hit the web in search of some “trust worthy” sources and also tried to find a second source when possible to back up claims. So, after the jump find out the truth about fluorescents… (more…)