Deep Thoughts by Rick Santorum #3

Deep Thoughts by Rick Santorum #2

What Did He Do?

Feodor Vassilyev (c. 1707^[1]-1782) was a peasant from Shuya, Russia. His first wife, Mrs. Vassilyev sets the record for most children birthed by a single woman. She gave birth to a total of 69 children; however, few other details are known of her life, such as her date of birth, death, or even her first name. The woman popped out 69 babies and her husband has a wiki page, where is the justice? Spilling your seed is not the difficult part. Imagine being pregnant for about 25 years?!?!

I guess it gets easier after the first couple of triplets. She was probably didn’t even know she was in labor until the baby was crowning. I have this image of her in the field with a flask of vodka around her neck, catching the baby(ies) with one hand and plowing the field with the other.   

She gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 births. 67 of the 69 children born are said to have survived infancy.

Deep Thoughts by Rick Santorum

The Scale of the Universe

The Scale of the Universe
Check out this really cool site, it puts things in perspective.

Excerpt from a love letter: Gustave Flaubert to Louise Colet, 1846

"I will cover you with love when next I see you, with caresses, with ecstasy. I want to gorge yu [sic] with all the joys of the flesh, so that you faint and die. I want you to be amazed by me, and to confess to yourself that you had never even dreamed of such transports... When you are old, I want you to recall those few hours, I want your dry bones to quiver with joy when you think of them."

Nancy Grace

George Washington was pretty Rad!

In Honor of President's Day here are some interesting facts about George Washington

He was a man of many firsts

Naturally, as the first president Washington had many firsts in office. But a few of his accomplishments were things none of his successors ever did.
    •    Washington was the only president to have been unanimously elected by the Electoral College, receiving all 69 votes in both the 1789 and 1792 elections. At the time, there was no popular vote for the presidency.
    •    He was the only president who did not live in Washington, D.C. during his presidency. Instead, he was located first in New York and then spent the lion’s share of his presidency in Philadelphia, which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, while the District of Columbia was under construction.
    •    He was the only one of America’s founding fathers to free his slaves. He freed all 124 of his slaves in his will, and he left enough money in his estate to care for all of them decades after his death.
    •    Washington was also the only president who did not represent a political party.

He was to the point

At 135 words, Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest ever given by an incoming president. Here is the full text of his speech, which he delivered in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, 1793.
“Fellow Citizens: I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence, which has been reposed in me by the people of united America. Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.”

He was tough

In the years leading up to his presidency, Washington's life was peppered with dangerous experiences. He suffered from malaria, smallpox, pleurisy and dysentery, all before he was 30. On his way back from the famous expedition to the French Fort le Boeuf during the French and Indian War, he fell off his raft in an icy river and nearly drowned. Later in the same trip an Indian standing less than 50 feet away shot at him and missed. Later in 1755, four bullets punctured Washington's coat and two horses were shot down from underneath him. Somehow, the young officer survived the experience, though, and emerged unscathed.

China probes "bouncing" boiled eggs

BEIJING | Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:20am GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities are investigating eggs which bounce after being boiled and may make men sterile, state media reported on Friday, in the latest food safety scare to hit the country.

The eggs, being referred to in Chinese media and on the internet as "rubber eggs" or "ping pong eggs," are too hard to eat, raising suspicion they are fake, after appearing in "small numbers" in markets nationwide, Xinhua news agency said.

"The investigation is designed to appease consumers' concerns, after some suspected they bought artificial eggs made by unconscientious traders seeking profits. No Duh! This is China; we took the sweat shop and made it more unpleasant, we boast the worst conditions, lowest pay, longest hours, cruelest supervisors, and the highest productivity in the world! Muhahahaaaa," it reported.

However, the eggs' hardness could be a natural occurrence, caused by hens consuming large amounts of food enriched with a compound called gossypol, which binds to protein in egg yolks, or it could  be the radioactive waste we use to fertilize the soil, or the liquid plastic we inject each egg with to make them less fragile and easier to ship,’ Xinhua said.

"While gossypol normally exists in the residue of cotton seeds added to chicken feed as an extra protein source, large doses of the compound will suppress sperm activity as gossypol has been tested to be used in male contraceptive pills. In fact we are testing gossypol in a lot new things such as super rubber balls that bounce even higher, as a muscle building supplement, and even as an additive in baby food. This stuff is dirt cheap and can do so many things, just like our sweat shop workers," Xinhua added.

Food safety worries are nothing new to China, where tales of fake cooking oil, tainted milk and watermelons which explode from being fed too much fertilizer regularly appear in the news.

In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill from powdered milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical added to low quality or diluted milk to fool inspectors by giving misleadingly high readings for protein levels.

Xinhua ended by saying. “Hey this is China, what do you expect?! If you want quality and safety you don’t get things made in China!”

News in brief

NJ city turns down 'Jersey Shore' spinoff

Associated Press – Thu, Feb 2, 2012

HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) — The city of Frank Sinatra's birth has denied a request for a spinoff of MTV's "Jersey Shore" reality show, called “Stoopid Cunts,” to film in the city.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer says the Film Commission's decision was made based on safety and quality of life concerns for residents of the city along the Hudson River.

“New Jersey has a somewhat negative stereo type that shows like the “the Jersey Shore, and Jerseylious” propagate. That is not the New Jersey I live in,” Zimmer said.

Hoboken officials say 495 Productions was seeking a 24-hour filming permit to follow two "well-known reality television celebrities" who would live in the city.

It's not clear who the personalities would be. But The Jersey Journal reported last month that MTV was scouting locations for Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, and a new character Tina Marie "T-Bone" Vanillie .

 

 

Ugliest rat found in NYC subway

Yahoo News  

Published: Feb. 9, 2012 at 12:45 PM

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A New York City subway passenger won a free monthly MetroCard Thursday for taking a picture of the subway's ugliest rat, officials said.

Michael Spivack's photo of a brown-haired, boil-covered, buck toothed rat won the Transport Workers Union's contest to find the ugliest subway rat, the New York Post reported.

Spivack said he encountered the rat at 3 a.m. at the Seventh Avenue station in Manhattan.

"It was so disgusting, I just thought I had to get a picture of it," he said. "I showed it to my co-worker and she ran out of the room, it was so ugly. That's when I knew it was special.''

The TWU asked subway passengers to send in photographs of the ugliest rats they ran into as part of its "Rat Free Subways" campaign, a drive to bring awareness to rodent infestation in NYC subways.
"I think the rat problem is something that goes unnoticed by most New Yorkers," said MTA Rep. Julio Carlini. "If they do see a rat they think it's cute and they want to feed it or take it home because of Disney and those Peta jerks. But they got to be informed becasue rats are not house pets they are dangerous, disease infested rodents. Hopefully this contest will expose our city's rat problem and show rats as the filthy vermin they are."

Spivack said he is thankful to the rat for helping him win the free subway pass. "If he could understand me, I'd say good luck in your rat life," Spivack said.

'Obama Girl' Amber Lee Ettinger Undecided On Voting For The President In 2012

Amber Lee Ettinger, the internet sensation otherwise known as "Obama Girl" for her starring role in a 2007 viral video about having a "crush" on the then-presidential candidate, might be ready to dump the president. After joining up with her BarelyPolitical.com team to create a "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"-themed parody about destroying the campaigns of President Obama's potential 2012 challengers last month, Ettinger now tells Politico that her label as "Obama Girl" could be holding back her career. 

"…It can definitely shut a lot of doors, too, because, if I'm striving to be an actress and they see me as this Obama Girl character, they say, 'She's not really an actress, she just did this YouTube thing,'" she said. "And people, who may not like Obama, may not like me. They might say stuff like, ‘Is she even an American citizen, I want to see her birth certificate.” I don't know if I would have been able to pursue the acting jobs that I've done the last couple of years without it. But at the same time I am not like Snooki famous either. Was I getting work before…no. Am I getting work now? What was the question?" 

It's not just getting type cast that she is worried about; it's also being associated with a President Obama in general. Ettinger still has good things to say about Obama, but she sounds as if she could be ready to jump ship in 2012 if she likes another candidate, or because she believes it would help her career. "I haven't really decided which way I'm going to go yet," she told Politico about whom she'd vote for in the upcoming election. "I'm still keeping my eyes and ears open. I certainly don't dislike Obama. I think he's done a lot of really great stuff, but he doesn't get enough credit for the things he does. What he does is just never enough. For me, being Obama Girl, it's hard because I get people saying, 'switch to the other side! Make videos for Ron Paul! Why are you with Obama? He sucks!' And I think why am I with Obama?!? I mean what if doing a Rick Sanatorium  video would make me the next Angelina Jolie? I would totally do it, I'd be the Sanatorium girl! What has Obama done for me lately?!?" 

 It's not just the peer pressure that's getting to her. In 2010, Ettinger provided some more specific criticism in an interview with the New York Post, questioning Obama's decision to tackle health care reform as early as he did. "It's definitely a distraction because of the economy being as bad as it is," she said. "He did create some jobs, but most of them were government jobs and that doesn't really help the middle class. But it helps a bit. I guess, but it doesn't help me... and he never called! He didn't make me head white house movie star or even thank me for making such a cool video that, I think, helped him win the election...without my support good luck Bami!"

Below, the YouTube video that put Ettinger in the spotlight: Subscribe to the HuffPost Hill newsletter!

Children's Book Ideas

Leo @ the Clurman Theater

I went to see LEO by Circle of Eleven, last  (written Wednesday 1/31/12) night at the Clurman Theater on theater row. It sounded exciting, innovative, orginal, and the New York Times even gave it a rave review.

I must point out that there was an overzealous middle aged woman sitting behind me, who loved Leo a little too much and didn’t mind sharing it. This was not her first time seeing Leo and every time he started a new bit she would exclaim with glee to her neighbor, in a loud whisper, “watch this part!” Like her companion wasn't already watching the show. Then during the part when Leo made chalk drawings on the wall the lady started to call out each thing he drew, “kitty”, “fish”, “table,” like she was translating for the blind. Was she Leo’s mother? I hope so.

Leo's schtick got old quick, the hour felt like two, the story was so sparse I don’t know why they bothered, and seeing him in reality juxaposed with him on a screen fliped over, was just disconcerting.  Didn’t know which one to look. Plus unless you are seated in the dead center it is hard to look at both things at the same time and it gets tiring trying too. Maybe I missed something deep and profound about Leo, or maybe that lady was so annoying she turned me off to the show. Whatever the case may be, I didn't like Leo.

"Bird!"

Slow Start

It was crazy busy here last week, in a demoralizing, debasing, creativity crushing, sort of way. So my plan to post something every day fell flat. In fact I only wrote one post and didn’t even get to post it. That said I am going to pick myself up dust myself off and start all over again.  

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald