XKCD web comic and Cancer

another xkcd comic

They guy knows of what he talks about.

As I may have mentioned, I like the wit and wisdom of the guy.  Geeky, and I get it... most of the time.

As far as I go, the cramps are back - I changed multi-vitamins and it seems to have had an effect, so I will (when I have time) compare and contrast the ingredient lists and find out what it is that helps with cramps.

Why haven't I had time?

Well, we have summer vacation that is driving me to all sorts of distractions, and we have some special house guests here for a while.

Blogging is light, because there is either too much or not enough ______ (time or bloggable stuff) to make it happen.

Have fun -

jc

Yep - cancer causes cell phones


Love Xkcd.com, and I do think that the stats are totally out of sort on this.

Just another bad research project working on headlines, not science.

jc

Oh, Register, how I love and hate you...

I know that kid in the middle.  It's Johnny Norman (sorry - John Norman), little brother to Gina Norman.


=== WARNING, OLD FART MOMENT COMING UP ===

After work or whatever, we (people including my Wife, John-Jay, Gart, and various others) would start our weekend there at her house.

Johnny was there, as the typical little brother, to spice things up.  He was into guns, camping, iron work, computers, and anything that could go boom.

One day he came into the living room to show off his "underwater fuses" that he hand made earlier that day.  Cool, now go start the BBQ, we are hungry.

AAAAHHHH!

Stomp - stomp - stomp

MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!!!

( wha? )

Streaking boy with a black mark on his leg...

WHAT ARE YOU PULLING JOHNNY NORMAN...

...was that his underwear?

Well, yes it was.  And he brought in his burnt pants to prove it.

Of course they were wet -- the first thing you do to put out a fire, right?  Water?

EXCEPT WHEN YOU HAVE UNDERWATER FUSES!

Silly Johnny...

Well, Gina was talking to Kristin on the phone (a real olde timey one with a LONG chord) and she lost it... Gina and I laughed for what seemed hours.  Kristin (on the other end of the land line) was getting pissed off that no one could tell her what was going on...

"...he (giggle) lit his ('scuse me while I wipe this tear) pants (guffaw) HIS PANTS ON FIRE!!!"


Well, Mom Norman was a good sport about it and bought him Hot Pockets for lunch, and almost had the pants bronzed...

=== END OF OLD FART MOMENT ===

Good luck Mr. Norman!  Keep your jets cool!

(sigh, I miss my old friend Gina)

jc

Sorry.

I must apologize to all my remaining friends.

An indication of how rare this is: spell check had troubles with my unique spelling of "apologize".

In September, a person I considered a friend got into trouble. 

http://www.ocregister.com/news/ragsdale-277339-clarke-burts.html

A very good friend. 

One of the family.

He is also my daughter's godfather.

At the time, I heard his side of the story (after all, I picked him up from county lock-up) and believed him.  The story seemed reasonable because it touched on all the things I knew about this person:  great salesman, helpful, lousy handling money,and old people that change their minds like their depends.

I was wrong.

Heart wrenchingly wrong.  Shaken down to my core principals wrong.  Questioning every decision I have made over the last 20+ years wrong.

Mike Ragsdale was arrested, again, and on the same charges.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/ragsdale-307017-year-arrest.html

I got the call Wednesday.  Thursday I helped Loren get the car out of impound, and helped with Jill.  Continued on helping  Loren as much as we can since then -- but it can never be enough.

Try as he may, there is no money for bail -- not that Loren would want him out.

Since Wednesday, more has come out.  The late night drinking, the pawning of Loren's jewelry, advance payday loans on her check, borrowing from everyone -- the list goes on.

As for Loren, she must file for separation to protect what little he left her with.  Her and Jill will obviously be moving, and I will keep you up to date on that.  There are a few assets that she can sell to cover rent and food, but not much.  It is unknown how much may be lost in civil actions in the future.

As for me, all I can do is deeply, deeply apologize for not seeing what was happening and enabling this endeavor.  I don't make friends often, but I usually try to keep them.  If I loose a friend once a decade, I have about 6 months to go...

As for Mr. Ragsdale:  This isn't the person I knew 20+ years ago.  While we all change (except me, of course), it is inevitably for the better.  I am proud that my friends are now moving into wonderful positions of responsibility and leadership.  Spectacular successes are counter borne by this one spectacular failure.

Sorry for burdening you with my unburdening, but I felt that I needed to square up and put some things right.

jc