ninety gaffes in ninety years

7. "How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" Asked of a Scottish driving instructor in 1995.
the independent via tim blair

open to interpretation

If a doctor tells a patient that studies have shown that a certain pill can cut the patient's risk of a certain disease in half, would the patient be as willing to take the pill if the doctor said that it cuts the risk of disease from 2 percent to 1 percent, asks The New York Times' Nicholas Bakalar. These are both ways of describing the same data. In a review of studies published in The Cochrane Library, University of Buffalo researchers found that different doctors describe the same data to their patients in different ways, and that the patient's decision relies on how the doctor presents that data, Bakalar says. A doctor describing relative risk reduction, for example — cutting disease risk in half — is more likely to get a patient to take the pill than the doctor describing the absolute risk reduction — the 1 percent drop. "Both patients and doctors viewed a treatment as more effective when presented with its relative risk reduction rather than its absolute risk reduction," Bakalar says. Journalists must also be careful with how they present new studies or data, the researchers add, lest they add to the public's misperception over how impressive a new drug, treatment, or finding really is.
the daily scan at genomeweb

remembering those who give and gave all

who looked presidential in high school

none looked as good as me

my hair did not look like that when i walked in for the photo... the photographer took a brush to my hair, saying i just looked like i had a tumble with the soccer team. i was furious as you can see, he gave me wings

kal al gore sends his son to a dying planet

the onion

my experience with the naked scanner

the scan certainly didn't look like this!
i managed to avoid the naked scanner at dulles, but on my way home, in amsterdam i went through the naked scanner twice! the first time it was because i went to what i thought was the proper gate (on my boarding pass), and the only thing that came up was my headband. the second time, at the proper gate, there was a concern with my bra. and no, it has no wires.
however both times i got to see the image that the screeners see. and they aren't intimate outlines of ones privates. it was a grey silhouette with a yellow block of the area where the scan was concerned.
so i ask those that have been yelling about these invasive private part showing naked scanners... where are they?

business quote of the day

"If someone taped a $20 bill to the second page of every memo in America," says HR Consultant Rick Galbreath, "nobody would ever find one."

BREAKING NEWS: major POTUS candidate vows to outsource job

Paco says, (in response to Miss Red): Oh, you're right! I was forgetting about myself.

to: Rinardman: I was considering outsourcing the POTUS position on a contract basis to my uncle Jack (he's getting tired of that prison guard job down in North Carolina).

a true statesman tells the truth

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gateway pundit

desperate souls on north bridge

turtle heads

four eyes

more to come. evidently i took more videos than photos!

land of my soul part two

the north bridge. i usually am walking up this bridge, head down and face covered from the wind and rain. i saw views i have never seen before.

edinburgh castle to the left and colourful tour buses at waverly

old town

old town and the castle

land of my heart part one

i arrived in the country kae referred to as "kinned'. i like that word.
an uneventual plane trip, one i am used to. arrive at dulles 5 hours before the flight, walk around the terminal, get a drink, walk, drink, etc. repeat as necessary. did not have to pass through the naked machine. lighter, tweezers, and matches not confiscated. tried to sleep on the plane, fruitless, arrive at amsterdam, walk, tea, look at tulips - wooden ones, silk ones, bulbs for sale etc. arrive in edinburgh, take the bus to waverly and then overtip for the taxi for the short trip to the house (i feel guilty taking a taxi - it could be walked but i have already been up far too long)
the weather was typical, rain and sunshine changing at whim. i love the sky in scotland.
met the grandaughter

she ventures between a sweet one to satan's spawn. as they do at 2.5

view from my bedroom


a special thanks to minicapt for the tips on uploading photos... how easy it was! one day i will become a techie nerd

i am back

brought back whisky, and a couple of photos and will post about the trip when i learn how to upload them from my camera to the computer. a good time was had by all.

dire situations on both sides of the pond

soon the governors of both maryland and west virginia will be declaring dire straights for the wine sales in both states - possible stimulus money will be needed. at approximately the same time, the governments of scotland and ireland will be declaring serious wine shortages. italy and possibly france have been put on alert.
tomorrow i am off to scotland for a much needed rejuvenation of my soul, and my sister is off to ireland to celebrate a friends birthday. we miss each other flying both ways by a day.
please feel free to leave any comments while i am gone! and when i get back i will have a bottle of homemade mead waiting for me. kick ass mead. serious. kick. ass. the stuff forgotten weekends are made of.
i will miss you all while i am gone. please try and eliminate more public enemies

it's dead

at long last.
no pictures for that would recognise him and he doesn't deserve that.
i pray that those who have lost loved ones due to the dastardly acts of this cowardly "it" find peace and closure.
god bless our troops who have been focused and brave. thank you
rot in hell, bastard

jumping the gun on national offend a feminist week