A dreaded “winter storm” from the Midwest is making its way towards the east coast. It’s not actually supposed to start pestering us until tomorrow – light snow to start, then turning to heavier shit in the afternoon. Estimates are all over the place, since it kinda depends on which way the wind blows. Right now, they’re saying 5-15″, with heavier stuff to the east of Lake Ontario. Hopefully the wind will blow due east over the lake, which would spare me but dump a few feet of lake effect on the poor bastids north and east of me. Sorry, but better them than me. Fortunately I’m working from home tomorrow and I have a good supply of beer, so I won’t have to go out and deal with whatever we get. Then there’s a Nor’easter headed up the coast a few days later, but right now that looks like it’ll miss us and stay to the east (sorry, NY, Boston, etc.). Of course, you never know what kind of a turn these things will take.

Fux News’ “credibility” is at an all time low. This has been determined by a poll, with 41% of voters saying they “trust” the right-wing propaganda machine, and 46% saying they don’t.

I’m surprised that many people claim to trust them, but then again I don’t trust much of anything.

Oh well, back to work I guess.

It was a year ago today that Siggy died. It seems like forever ago, in some ways. I had my phone hooked up to my computer the other day, and found a whole boatload of pictures of him that I’d taken the summer before he died, and he still looked good. He went downhill pretty fast, which I suppose it a good thing. I wish they lived longer, though I suppose it won’t be long before I’m on my last set of dogs. Hopefully my wife will still be alive when I croak, because otherwise I’ll have to figure out how to make sure somebody will come and take care of the critters. Maybe I’ll set something up where I post a message every day to a web page, and if I quit posting, somebody will come along and take care of the animals, and pick up whatever’s left of me once they’re done snacking (Granny went to some forensics seminar a while back, and, yeah, human’s best friend will definitely take advantage of a free meal – with tears in their eyes, no doubt). So the sooner they come to collect me, the better.

Speaking of death, I see that the Obama Administration seems to think it’s OK for a “senior government official” to order the killing of a US citizen overseas whenever they think that person is a threat. No judicial review before or after is required. I’m no expert, but this just doesn’t seem right to me.

If it’s allowed to stand (and no doubt it will), how long will it be before some administration decides the assasination self defense doesn’t even need to take place on foreign soil?

The White House Chief of Staff determined that the Speaker of the House had ties to Al-Qaeda, so he ordered a drone strike. We’re very sorry for the collateral damage, and will be asking the new Speaker to approve funding to rebuild the Smithsonian Air and Space museum – and we have every reason to believe that she’ll be cooperative, if she knows what’s good for her.

A shame they didn’t have this when Gingrich was Speaker.

I kinda sorta watched the game last night. For a while, anyway. I was watching the first couple of House of Cards episodes on the teevee while I had the game streaming on my tablet. Not a bad way to catch the action of a game you’re not really invested in. I think I finally shut it down when the score was 28-6, and I missed the blackout and the ‘niners almost comeback. Good thing – I stayed up too late as it was (and went over my beer quota, too; I got started way too early). So now I’m paying the price by having to suffer through a day at work. I only hope it passes quickly (so far, not so much).

Yes, it’s the day we’ve all been waiting for – Superbowl Sunday. OK, so, maybe not all of us have been waiting for it. I have to admit, I’m barely aware of the game being on. It mostly reminds me that we lost Siggy on Superbowl Sunday last year, and without having a team to root for (or against), it’s not all that big a deal to me. It didn’t used to be that way, of course. It used to be a highly anticipated event that was a lot of fun. A bunch of us would get together, drink beer, eat pizza and wings, and have a good time (often despite the fact that the game wasn’t all that interesting). Now, of course, I’m married to somebody who would get up and leave the room if I turned the game on, and I don’t really have any friends that would come over to watch (and god knows I’m not leaving the house that late on a Sunday night – why they can’t have the game on at 4:00, I don’t know. Well, I do know, actually – it’s so they can squeeze in as much pregame advertising slots as possible). That whole DWI thing really puts a crimp in the whole Superbowl party idea. Plus there’s work tomorrow. It really ought to be a holiday. I can’t imagine there’s a whole lot of productivity going on the day after the Superbowl. Between being hungover and talking about the game and/or the commercials (or the halftime show; is it another geezer fest this year? I don’t even know). Oh, it’s Beyonce. I of course have heard the name, but am not actually familiar with her. I’m not really all that interested in “singers.” I’m kinda into people playing instruments. But, whatever. Oh well, enjoy the game if you watch it, and enjoy not watching it if you don’t.

Ed Koch has croaked. He was 88, so I guess it’s no big surprise. Personally, I think they ought to throw him in the back of a pickup truck and bury him in a gingham dress near a Sears somewhere north of Westchester. Odds are they won’t be doing that, but it would make for a good dog and pony show. Not as good as Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearings, though. The faux outrage from the likes of l’l Lindsey Graham and Ted “Joe McCarthy” Cruz (plus the actual crazy old man rage of John McCain) has been quite enjoyable. I know he’s Obama’s nominee, but it’s fun to watch these guys eat their own.

I’m listening to John Hodgman on WTF right now, and he just mentioned that he’s 41. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel really old. I always figured he was more or less my age. Seems like everybody’s younger than I am these days.

Speaking of getting old, I decided to quit drinking coffee almost a year ago. I was cold a couple weeks ago and decided to have a couple of cups, and I felt like my heart and brain were going to explode. It was quite an unpleasant experience, so I decided to get myself some decaf.

A few days back, I drank probably a pot and a half of decaf, and felt like crap. So I looked to see if there’s a problem with drinking too much decaf. Damned if there isn’t. I knew there was some caffeine in decaf, but, damn, this article says there’s up to 10%. Plus, it’s very acidic which puts

your body into an acidity crisis, which forces it to liberate alkalizing minerals from your bones to maintain the proper pH balance. Over-acidity is an important cause of osteoporosis, arthritis and calcification of blood vessels and tissues, according to “Human Biochemistry and Disease.”
[…]
As such, decaf coffee consumption is associated with heartburn, stomach ulcers and digestive problems.
[…]
In addition to the acidity side effects, both decaf and regular blends of coffee raise your risk for certain diseases, such as heart disease, atherosclerosis, high blood cholesterol, rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma and possibly even cancer, according to “Nutrition and Public Health.” Robusta beans contain a much higher content of diterpenes, which are fats that increase triglycerides in your bloodstream and elevate circulating liver enzymes. Chlorogenic acid is found in both caffeinated and decaf coffee and is believed to raise plasma levels of homocysteine, which damages blood vessels and eventually leads to atherosclerosis, or hardening of your arteries.

Oh, good. Not only that, but

The decaffeination process uses the solvent methylene chloride, which often leaves residues within the coffee beans. Methylene chloride is a known carcinogenic that is toxic to your lungs, nervous system, liver and mucous membranes, as cited in the “PDR Guide to Drug Interactions, Side Effects, and Indications.” Repeated or prolonged exposure to methylene chloride can increase your risk of cancer. Even “natural” decaffeination methods use ethyl acetate, another solvent that can have serious health consequences in large amounts. Ethyl acetate is found in trace amounts in some fruit, which is why companies can claim their coffee is naturally decaffeinated.

:paranoid:

So not only does decaf suck, it’s also trying to kill me. Isn’t that special