Fit to be Fried

Ok, it’s been quite a long time since I’ve written anything here, God knows. The electiona has come and gone and we have a new chairman… whoops, I mean communist… I mean, COMMANDER in chief. Needless to say the election took a lot out of me, and I haven’t been in the mood to say much since. In the interim, I’ve been working on the website for Roy Morales, Republican Mayoral candidate for the City of Houston- that’s scheduled to be posted tonight, if anybody’s reading…

I’ve also been hard at work at my full-time gig at VIP Systems/First Capital International, and today, we stumbled upon a major breakthrough in development of our Concierge line of software. I can’t say much about it yet, but it’s going to be big.

On the military front, I found out that I’m going overseas again, this time with the National Guard- that’ll be happening next year (actually, first quarter, fiscal year 2111. It’ll be interesting to see the differences between how the Marine Corps and the Army deploy- though I know I’ll probably be on a base somewhere, with a barracks, working eight hour days, as my unit is attached to Division HQ :), so I already know it’s going to be VERY different, to say the least.

More later, leaving work as I write this now.

There’s been much speculation in wrestling fandom as to whether or not we’d ever see Mark Callaway, aka the Undertaker, step into the ring to wrestle again, and why he left to begin with. His dubious loss to Edge a couple of months ago in a “Loser Leaves” match definitely left a lot of us scratching our heads, to be sure. In a previous post, ("Undertaker ends 24 year career in loss to… Edge????!!!") I railed about the match, and how it didn’t seem right that such a legendary WWE Superstar would go out like that. It stuck in my craw so badly that I decided to do a little research and craft this follow-up to my obituary on the Undertaker’s career. It seems now that obit may have been premature (I know, I know, and given the Callaway’s in-ring persona, this should surprise absolutely no one.

To be honest, I was pretty much disgusted by the current state of the WWE, not because it had been rocked by scandal and tragedy¹, but it had just become boring to me. I tend to go through phases like that with all my interests, so I knew eventually I’d be back. This being the case, I really didn’t put much effort into uncovering ‘Taker’s reasons for leaving until recently. It was while listening to the Mancow radio show on AM 950 that I first heard of the sex scandal involving ECW writer David Lagana. It was revealed in Matthew Randazzo’s book Ring of Hell, that Lagana had repeatedly approached wrestlers with an offer to help their careers if he were allowed to perform oral sex on them. This alone, although thoroughly gross, wouldn’t have been enough to pique my attention, as sex scandals in the WWE are nothing new. What caught my ear was how the situation was resolved; after having been harassed by Lagana, ECW wrestler Kevin Fertig (aka Kevin Thorn) went to the Undertaker, who in turn blew the whistle on Lagana. Of all the wrestlers involved in this story, it seems the Undertaker alone had the clout to get something done about Lagana, as Lagana was let go from the WWE, and replaced by Dusty Rhodes.

I thought for a while that this might’ve been part of the reason why Callaway left the WWE to concentrate on his real estate ventures in Colorado, but I’ve also heard that he was originally scheduled to return to the ring as a draftee to RAW in last month’s interbrand draft special, as a trade for Umaga to Smackdown. Of course, the Draft has come and gone, and Callaway was nowhere to be seen. Word is now that he will return at Summerslam. All of this, including my own guesses regarding David Lagana, are purely speculative,

semperfried76 is the last hope for humanity.
Too bad he hates you all.

and his absence seems more likely to be the result of a recent major shoulder surgery he underwent, and his subsequent recuperation leave. Odds are he will be at Summerslam, if not, he will return probably no later than September. Rest assured, though things are dark right now, it’s doubtful we’ve seen the last of the Dead Man.

File under “ha-bloody-fucking-ha!”:

To all the bastards who have tried over the years to ban smoking in public places and have driven the price of tobacco up with their whiney little lawsuits (gosh, your honor, no one ever told me that cigarette smoking was bad for you… how could I know that sucking hot smoke in my lungs would hurt me…) and threatened for years to try and put “Big Tobacco” out of business, I offer this little nugget:

The BBC reported today that Tobacco is now being studied in the US as a possible treatment for cancer.

Lemme give all you non-smokers out there a chance to process that, and all you smokers out there a chance to catch your breath.

Is everybody ready?

A lymphoma results when damage to DNA occurs to lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that basically prevents those cells from dying when they should, causing them to lump together in the lymph nodes as tumors, as well as spread to other areas of the lymphatic system, like bone marrow. Follicular (center cell) non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a b-cell cancer, b-cells being a type of lymphocytes that ordinarily defend against illness. Follicular non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma accounts for 30% of all non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas, which, combined with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, comprise about 5% of all reported cases of cancer, and is most common among 60-to-65-year-old’s¹. It’s this type of cancer that the new tobacco testing has been focused on (I know, not as poetic as it would’ve been if it had been lung cancer, but the research is still in it’s early stages).

Tobacco ‘could help treat cancer’

The ironic new role for tobacco is the work of researchers from Stanford University in California.

They are using the plants as factories for an antibody chemical specific to the cells which cause follicular B-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

These antibodies are put into a patient newly-diagnosed with the disease, to “prime” the body’s immune system to attack any cell carrying them.

If successful, this would mean the body would then recognise and destroy the lymphoma cells.

However, every patient’s antibodies are different, and would need to be produced quickly once the diagnosis was made.

The idea is not a new one - attempts have already been made to grow these antibodies inside animal cells, with mixed success.

However, a plant-grown vaccine would be much cheaper and in theory could carry less risk to the patient, as animal cells might hold unknown viruses.

…

The plants are then “infected” with the virus, and as it spreads through the cells, the added gene starts the process of producing large quantities of the antibody.

After just a few days a few leaves are taken, ground up, and the antibody extracted from them.

Only a few plants are needed to make enough vaccine for a patient.

semperfried76 is the last hope for humanity.
Too bad he hates you all.

Professor Charles Arntzen, from Arizona State University, said that the sheer speed of the production process could convince patients to wait for their own tailored vaccine rather than undergoing other treatment.

The science people say that there are still experiments to run, research to be done, yadda-yadda-yadda, so don’t get excited… blah-blah-blah…

The point is this- tobacco=good, preachy “truth.com” kids=sophomoric ass-clowns.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

There’s been quite a few great moments in comics recently, along with some not so great. Yes, I’ll admit, I’m an avid comic reader. I honed my vocabulary on old Lee/Kirby issues of Thor, Fantastic Four and Lee and Buscema’s Silver Surfer. I expanded my horizons with Miller’s Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One as well as both Ditko and Cowan’s versions of The Question, gaining a taste for dark, noirish tales that led me to explore underground and small-press comics. I learned to respect Manga not for the frenetic artwork (although it can be killer), but for the positive message most of them carry. (more…)

My new saying is “Green is the New Red”, as in, “Better dead than Red” (Better mean than green, anyone? Sorry, I’ll go on). It seems to me that all this environmental alarmism is doing horrible things to our freedom even as the alarmists claim they are saving the environment. (more…)

Awesome news, it appears that somebody out there, if they haven’t been listening to me, has at least had the smarts to figure it out for themselves- not only are oil companies now flocking to the Bakken to tap the veritable ocean of black stuff under North Dakota, but in South Dakota they’re building the first new refinery since 1976. (more…)

If he was smart, al-Zawahiri would take this opportunity to surrender instead of making more demands. Of course, if anyone in Al-Qaeda was smart, they wouldn’t have placed themselves in a position of being enemies of the United States. Live and learn, right guys?

Sometimes I just crack myself up.

New Qaeda release expected from No. 2 Zawahri | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri is expected to issue a new statement calling for an end to Israel’s economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, U.S.-based Internet monitors said on Tuesday.

(more…)

Of course she’s open to becoming Obama’s running mate. Wasn’t she saying something earlier this week alluding to the possibility of BHO being assasinated if he won the presidential election. I wonder who’d become the President then? Oh yeah… THE VICE PRESIDENT. She might as well tell him she’s going to put out a hit on him. If she gets the VP nod and he gets elected, I’m gonna start a pool in Vegas over how long Obama will have before he gets whacked. I’m putting my money on a month, any takers?

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Clinton open to being Obama’s running mate | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton told supporters on Tuesday that she is open to being Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate, a Democratic lawmaker and a party aide said.

Clinton, the former first lady and New York senator who appears on the verge of losing the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama, made the comment in a conference call with fellow members of her state’s congressional delegation.

semperfried76 is the last hope for humanity.
Too bad he hates you all.

“She said she would do whatever is necessary in order to make certain that we win, and serving as vice president would be one of the things she would be willing to do,” Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat and Clinton backer, told Reuters.

A Democratic party aide described the conversation in a similar manner, and quoted Clinton as saying, “I am open to it.”

As if cable prices weren’t high enough, the cable companies have found a way to gouge you even further for using their services. Once again, the bastards are using the powers afforded to their virtual monopolies to squeeze every last dollar out of subscribers who have little or no choice in which services they’ll use. What are you gonna do? Switch to DSL? Not bloody likely, those providers are no doubt only two steps behind the cable companies, like always. Where the hell is Teddy Roosevelt when we need him? Oh right, dead. Sigh…

(more…)

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion

;

-the Constitution of the United States, Article 4, Section 4.

I submit to you that the current body of Congress has been remiss in their duties and should be removed from office, for allowing an invasion of over twenty million illegal aliens¹ from nations south of the U.S. to cross our borders, usurping jobs and social benefits from native-born and naturalized citizens as well as legal migrant workers on temporary visas. Many argue that these people are all here to work, to do the jobs Americans won’t do. This is a lie- Americans won’t work for the unfair wages paid under the table to illegal aliens; it’s not that they won’t do the jobs.

(more…)