Instead of sitting in front of a tube watching the baloney taking place at President Obama’s “bipartisan health care reform pow-wow,” smart money is on real drama – Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 rodeo paean: Junior Bonner.

As the film’s quaint poster says: Going down his own road…. Steve McQueen as “Junior Bonner” – the Last Of His Kind.

Calling Netflicks!

posted by Mudd

From the New York Times – “A warm touch seems to set off the release of oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a sensation of trust, and to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.”

That’s nice. Kinda makes you want to snuggle up to a primate near you.

“In the brain, prefrontal areas, which help regulate emotion, can relax, freeing them for another of their primary purposes: problem solving. In effect, the body interprets a supportive touch as ‘I’ll share the load.’…. We think that humans build relationships precisely for this reason, to distribute problem solving across brains,” said James A. Coan, a a psychologist at the University of Virginia. “We are wired to literally share the processing load, and this is the signal we’re getting when we receive support through touch.”

Gives a whole new meaning to the idea of being wired, eh? “I’ll share the load.”

Idea for a barroom pick-up line – “Hey, good looking; want to solve some problems?”

From the Rasmussen Reports – “Voter unhappiness with Congress has reached the highest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports as 71% now say the legislature is doing a poor job.”

Evidence that there might be intelligent life on this planet.

posted by Mudd

From the New York Times via an op-ed by Roger Cohen – “Community — a stable job, shared national experience, extended family, labor unions — has vanished or eroded. In its place have come a frenzied individualism, solipsistic screen-gazing, the disembodied pleasures of social networking and the à-la-carte life as defined by 600 TV channels and a gazillion blogs. Feelings of anxiety and inadequacy grow in the lonely chamber of self-absorption and projection.”

Oh ain’t it awful. Maybe the urban-angst crowd needs a hike in the Yellowstone’s backcountry, sans cell phone. That usually helps.

posted by Mudd

As reported by CNBC – “The number of people aged 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.”

“The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.”

Go Boomers!

posted by Mudd

Thanks to Yahoo Finance, we now know that “General Motors Co. CEO Ed Whitacre will receive a salary of $1.7 million this year, plus stock awards that will bring his total pay package to $9 million at a later date….”

Ain’t that swank? No wonder folks like to work for the government.

posted by Mudd

This in from the lovely New York Times – “A new monument fight erupted this week when Representative Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah, said he had uncovered a ‘secret’ Interior Department memorandum suggesting that the federal government was considering national monument designation for 14 huge blocks of land in nine states from Montana to New Mexico.”

Some of America’s finest places are National Monuments. Why not a few more to round things out? After all, most of the fruited plains have been trashed, sea to shining sea. Etc. Smart money says you preserve a few big hunks of intact wildlands on general principle. It helps that the tax-paying public already owns the lands in question anyway. Reckon they can decide what to do with their own property.

Once the whining is over, cooler heads will prevail. Maybe.

posted by Mudd

From MSNBC – “The distribution of free condoms at the Olympics goes back at least to 1992 and Barcelona. In 2000, Sydney organizers thought that 70,000 would be enough. They were wrong and had to send out for 20,000 more. Beijing also ordered 100,000 condoms with an Olympic motto: Faster, higher, stronger.”

Now we’re talking!

“That’s why the Vancouver organizers have laid in a stock of 100,000 condoms, which works out to 14 for each of the 7,000 athletes, coaches, trainers and officials housed in the Games’ two villages.”

I knew I should’ve trained harder.

posted by Mudd

MSNBC reports – Scientists figure humans may be born with a fear of spiders and snakes, healthy phobias that up the odds of survival in the wild. It’s not known how such an inborn fear might develop, however.

What the article omitted is that Homo erectus asphaltus appears also to have an innate phobia towards politicians, census workers, and TSA agents.

more as it develops…

posted by Mudd

This in from The Financial Times – “One of the biggest puzzles in biology – how and why living cells age – has been solved by an international team based at Newcastle University, in north-east England.”

Wow! So the White Lab Coat Guys know why cells age. Let’s guess – The Fountain of Youth is just around the corner, brought to us by our friends at Merk. Guess again…..

“But the scientists expect better drugs for age-related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, to emerge from their discovery of the biochemical pathway involved in ageing.”

What the FT did not say – “Of course, both diabetes and heart disease are largely preventable by simple lifestyle modifications. But science (and the billions of tax dollars spent supporting medical research) would rather find “better drugs” for these diseases. Which might pay-off, assuming the Baby Boomers have any money left by the time the new techno-fixes are out of the pipeline.”

No wonder folks are pissed off at the health care industry.

pass the stethoscope….

posted by Mudd