"What does not kill me, makes me stronger."
Ah, Friedrich! So wise.
A deranged lunatic perhaps, but how often crazy people speak the truth. Nietzsche's aphorism came to mind the other day as I was massaging the remote. Since I survived, I must be stronger.
Channels blinked by. First I was inundated with Tiger Wood's apology. Everywhere I flipped, there was mopey looking Tiger apologizing to his wife, mother, kids, friends, fans, neighbors, caddy, business associates, sponsors, gays, whales, three toed wombats... oh, hell, the universe and all black holes, for his serial adultery. He admitted being selfish and concerned with his own pursuit of happiness - you think? - and all I could think was who cares? Why do all these celebrities who get arrested for driving drunk or beating their significant other or abusing drugs or throwing turtles off of bridges have to force their ego- manic self confessions on the rest of us?
And then add insult to injury by claiming they are victims of some disease or disorder or addiction and proudly proclaim they will enter rehab or maybe they just graduated from rehab.
We are supposed to congratulate them.
Finally a commercial.
But wait. A new drug to treat OAB.
OAB? A new acronym. This one means over active bladder. Within the last twenty four hours I had seen several drug commercials involving various initialized conditions. COPD, PMS, ED, ... and so on. A self absorbed public and greedy drug companies will never run out of maladies, to excuse bad choices, and an accompanying snake oil cure. My personal favorites are ADD and its adult version, AADD. (Attention dificit disorder and adult attention deficit disorder for any slackers out there.)
Godfrey Daniel! When I was a young sprout suffering the indignations of 
grammar school, I too suffered the sting of ADD. Back then in the Jurrasic period the condition was known as 'does not pay attention' and was so noted on the periodic report cards I received. When caught displaying symptoms of said malady in class, the attending nun would suddenly and without warning administer a generous dose of medicine in the form of a wooden yardstick across the knuckles or the back of the neck, depending on which direction she was swooping in from.
grammar school, I too suffered the sting of ADD. Back then in the Jurrasic period the condition was known as 'does not pay attention' and was so noted on the periodic report cards I received. When caught displaying symptoms of said malady in class, the attending nun would suddenly and without warning administer a generous dose of medicine in the form of a wooden yardstick across the knuckles or the back of the neck, depending on which direction she was swooping in from.Actually, I also suffered from ASD back then. This is attention surplus disorder. I displayed ASD's sumptoms from the end of June until Labor Day. In other words, summer vacation. Oh, for the smell of budding trees and baseball glove oil, and the clickity-clack sound of Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster or the
sweet smack of the ball off of Willie Mays' wooden bat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/willie_mays I can see the roiling waves crashing ashore at Rockaway beach and feel the hot sand scorching the bottoms of my dancing feet. And what tastes better than a mustard and sauerkraut smothered push cart hot dog that 's been lying around in greasy water for the last hour or two? Nothing!
sweet smack of the ball off of Willie Mays' wooden bat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/willie_mays I can see the roiling waves crashing ashore at Rockaway beach and feel the hot sand scorching the bottoms of my dancing feet. And what tastes better than a mustard and sauerkraut smothered push cart hot dog that 's been lying around in greasy water for the last hour or two? Nothing!I digress. I was about to expound on the tedious torture of television today and how, if you survive the experience, you will be stronger. But then I switched to another channel. One of those nature zones. Some scientists are predicting the end of life as we know it by the end of 2012. I thought it was an advertisement for the movie 2012, but it was a science documentary. Evidently, the sun's flares and the radiation they contain reach their most feverish pitch every 100 or so years. At such times, the coronal mass ejects tons of solar plasma into space and this plasma reaches earth and plays havoc on the magnetosphere.
The last time this happened was in 1859 and the event is known as the Carrington Event, named after the scientist who discovered it. Back then few 
things depended on electricity and electromagmetism. Telegraph lines around the world burst into flames and became inoperative. Otherwise, most people went about their farm work or ditch digging oblivious to the event.
things depended on electricity and electromagmetism. Telegraph lines around the world burst into flames and became inoperative. Otherwise, most people went about their farm work or ditch digging oblivious to the event.We are over due for the 'big' one. When it happens, not if, everything dependent on electricity will be knocked out. Cars will stop, planes will fall from the sky, no running water, no communications (except smoke signals, brush up Tonto), no food delivery, etc. You get the idea. End of the world stuff.
Because of the planets' alignment and anticipated solar activity in late 2012, some scientists are predicting another, larger Carrington Event at that time.
Just when I was feeling sooo much stronger having survived the inanities of TV...
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