easier than doing it in a cup

Wastewater facilities are wonderful places to understand what humans consume and excrete.
-Jennifer Field, environmental toxicology professor, Oregon State
Wired News - AP News

Apparently, using just a teaspoon of water from the sewage plant, community urinalysis can be used to see what drugs people are taking, track the spread of drugs across the country, and judge potential harm to rivers and lakes from legal pharmaceuticals. And darn it, it's just fun.

idiots

from In a Crisis, Subway Riders Get Little Guidance -NYT

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the PATH system, has since January been sending e-mail alerts to nearly 9,000 riders. They are notified of any delays of more than 15 minutes, and they can customize the alerts so they receive information only about the lines they use.

It will be a while before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority can do that for subway riders. “Usually when stuff happens, it happens quickly and we’d have to send out 100,000 e-mails very quickly,” said Wael Hibri, the authority’s chief information officer. “We’re still thinking it through.”

Here, then, is how word of major disruptions goes out for many riders: Employees stationed near train dispatchers make a telephone recording of the disruptions. The recording goes out to station agents, who are supposed to write down the information on white dry-erase boards in each booth using ink markers.

“We keep an ample supply on hand,” Termain Garden, a transit official, said of the markers.



I can't even be bothered to make a joke here, it's just too easy.

another joke from daddy, with which I concur

I recently turned 65 and had to choose a new primary care physician for my Medicare program.
After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing "fairly well" for my age.
A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, "Do you think I will live to be 80?"
He asked: "Do you smoke tobacco or drink alcoholic beverages?"
"Oh no," I replied. "I don't do drugs, either."
"Do you have many friends and entertain frequently?"
"I said, "No, I usually stay home and keep to myself".
"Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?"
I said, "No, my other doctor said that all red meat is unhealthy!"
"Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?"
"No, I don't," I said.
"Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?"
"No," I said. "I don't do any of those things."
He looked at me and said, "Then why do you give a shit?"

the truth is bald and cold

The obvious is difficult
To prove. Many prefer
The hidden.
-"The White Room," Charles Simic, new Poet Laureate of the U.S.
as announced in NYT article

what I've been saying all along

With democracy comes television.
-Saad Mohseni, Tolo TV, Afghanistan; quoted in NYT

Why fight, when we can just install cable? Is there an Iraqi Big Brother house yet?