Sunday, April 30, 2006

Don't need no more lies

Won't need no shadow man
Runnin' the government
Won't need no stinkin' war!


There is new powerful anti-war music from Neil Young streaming now at neilyoung.com, a new album called Living With War.

You should listen.

It is angry. It is truth-telling. It is very very good.

He recorded and wrote this new album in just a few weeks. Wrote some songs and recorded them that very day.

This is powerful art, very much in the moment. Raw and fresh, and not in the Subway sandwich kind of fresh. We're talking organic peppers pulled right from the dirt.

This is not some bogus dude at a peace rally who can't play the guitar. Nor is it Paul-McCartney-Ewok-Victory-Song-Garbage.

Neil Young just produced a protest album like Kirk Hinrich's long three-pointer at the end of the Bulls-Heat game this afternoon. With a minute left, Hinrich lofted a three from way behind the line that deflated the Heat. The dependably superlative-happy Bill Walton said Hinrich is now well on his way to superstar status. Whether that's true or not, Hinrich and the Bulls made their opponents look like idiots toady. Which is exactly what Neil Young has done.

And right now, it sucks to be the other guys.

(Also, check out the Living With War blog.)

Monday, April 10, 2006

Wash your stinkin' hands

The Chicago Tribune reports Chicago has seen an outbreak of Norovirus in 11 area hospitals and nursing homes. For those who don't know, Noroviruses are nasty bugs that cause "severe diarrhea, nausea and vomiting." You might have heard them called "stomach flu." Fun stuff.

The best way to stop Norovirus is to wash your hands. But not even healthcare personnel do so more than half the time:

In most surveys of handwashing adherence, in various patient-care settings, personnel have practiced appropriate hand hygiene in only 25% to 50% of opportunities.

(Weinstein, 2001)


Now why don't these people wash their hands? It's time consuming: "Up to 90 minutes per work shift if performed as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)" (Ibid).

But that shouldn't stop the rest of us. Washing your hands for about 30 seconds (try singing "Happy Birthday to You" in your head) with soap and warm water after using the restroom or handling food can halt the spread of some nasty major diseases.

Our neighbors in Toronto got the message after a major SARS outbreak. In August 2003, 95% of men and 97% of women at Toronto International Airport washed their hands after using the restroom. (American Society for Microbiology, 2003)

The compliance at O'Hare Airport for the same time period? Only 62% of men and 85% of women (Ibid). Gross. Seriously, that's totally gross, guys.

That means 38% of guys at O'Hare are walking around with dirty hands.

Think about it: That is a serious breach of Homeland Security against biological agents.

And also yucky.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Happy Iraqi Freedom Day!

Hey, Iraq has now been free for 3 years! Hooray!

Iraqis can now live free from nasty things like Saddam Hussein, electricity, security, and clean water.

And as a special gift, the U.S. Congress is authorizing $100 million for new construction in Iraq! "Not for building schools or power stations, but for prisons."

Everyone in Iraq is sure glad Saddam's statue is gone from Paradise Square in Baghdad:

Jabar al-Hilfi was one of the few people in the square on Sunday. The 67-year-old municipal worker -- who was cutting the grass with a knife -- said he barely had the energy to get on with his job let alone reminisce about falling statues.

"What statue do you mean? We have only seen devastation and death since the fall of Saddam. This country is doomed to see agony and sadness. Look at me I can't even feed my family," he said.

Has everyone bought their Iraqi Freedom Cakes yet? Chocolate is the best.