Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Fishing Humor

If needing a laugh, search for Bill Dance videos at you-tube. Some guy with a fishing show, I guess.

Here is my favorite sequence so far.

PS: changed the title.
PS: didn't realize the sequence was as long as it was! 30 snippets! You are forgiven if you can't watch all that but the first few are very good.

Monday, November 24, 2008

In Some Ways it Ain't Funny

But I'd call it funny and actually informative. A you-tube link.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Leonard Kyle Dykstra Phenom

Go figure. Nobody could be 83-0 in anything right? Actually, I'm guessing that claim is exaggerated, but even so, this guy has had a pretty amazing second career.

"Since retiring from baseball over a decade ago, Lenny has opened a chain of car washes that he sold for $52 million (what?), started a magazine that tells rich athletes how to spend their money (seriously?), and launched his own investment newsletter that charges subscribers $1,000 a year to receive his personal advice (excuse me?)"
http://umpbump.com/press/2008/11/11/lenny-dykstra-nails-stock-picks/

My best guess is that this is the phenomenon of what might be called the "Perspective of the Lottery Winner". Odds are Dykstra is just getting lucky like that lottery winner, nonetheless he can now take that to the bank while he gives us doubters the Bronx Cheer.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Now a boy!

Just hearing now about a confirmed case of a boy surviving rabies, one day after the last post!

BTW some other claims have not been reliably confirmed.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Don't Ask

I am quite capable of getting interested in some pretty wierd stuff. Don't ask me why. Lately I have been checking into Rabies. Big problem in the third world it seems.

I'm finding out people in general are quite misinformed. It bugs me to hear someone say they think squirrels pose a rabies risk; as a hunter, I know that isn't true, check it out. But it struck me that it is a little odd that we hunters generally aren't warned at all about any rabies dangers;
here is one rare exception. After finding out recently that all mammals can get rabies, it got me wondering. Why is there virtually no risk with what I typically hunt? [which btw doesn't include raccoons for me].

It turns out that the experts don't seem to be sure why so many animals just don't pose a risk. Once in a while you hear one of them theorize that any, say, rat that would be attacked by another animal usually gets killed by it. [yep, rats also pose almost
zero risk; the opposite contention, one I adhered to as well, is one heck of a widespread myth! see that first link]. As far as that they-die-instantly-theory goes, I don't really buy it. If one animal bites another, is it always a fight to the death? I don't think so, and when you hear about rabid animals biting, seems like it's often a quick fleeting thing. My own personal theory I'm now developing is that low risk mammals just don't go into aggressive mode, instead they just get sick and die, and thus don't spread the virus. Apparently no one knows, but it's not like birds and reptiles, which can't get rabies. Deer and bears also pose no real risk; the latter case would seem to blow holes in my just-don't-get-aggressive theory and certainly torpedoes the they-die-instantly-theory!

There are videos out there on the story of the only person who has ever been known to survive rabies once symptoms appeared and they had not gotten the shots. So far no one else has been able to follow the protocol they used on this girl and save anyone else. Brother don't dismiss the risk for anyone in contact with a bat! I found the story interesting so here it is:

video one
video two
video three

Saturday, November 8, 2008