Republican Rep. Jerry Bergevin is a Dork

New Hampshire State Representative Jerry Bergevin has introduced a new house bill, 1148 which would require that evolution is:

“taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists’ political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism.”

It sounds like this is not so much about the theory of evolution, but the religous views of the proponents of evolution. In short - he has a bone to pick with them.

"I want the full portrait of evolution and the people who came up with the ideas to be presented. It's a worldview and it's godless. Atheism has been tried in various societies, and they've been pretty criminal domestically and internationally. The Soviet Union, Cuba, the Nazis, China today: they don't respect human rights."

"As a general court we should be concerned with criminal ideas like this and how we are teaching it. . . . Columbine, remember that? They were believers in evolution. That's evidence right there"

Gee.. I guess America returning back to it's Nazi roots would not be very good. Maybe he has a point?

One must wonder why he didn't mention the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Should this be taught in schools also?

All this religious talk in politics makes me nervous.

Quotes are from the Concord Monitor article HERE.

Submerged Church in Italy

This 14th century church in Graun, Italy was submerged by a dam in 1950. More than 160 residents were forced to leave their home to make way for the reservoir. The only evidence that a town existed there is the church tower that sticks out of the water. What once was the villages of Graun and Reschen, now is Reschensee, or Lake Reschen. Very erie.

One wonders if there are people still alive that remember living right there and going to church there, as a child. Do people ever use this as a dive spot?

You can walk out to it in the winter!

Photos from Wikipedia.org
Top Picture: Photographer: Markus Bernet
Ice picture: Frederik Schulz

Woman Jumping Out of a Cake

I was recently discussing idle topics with teenagers. The topic of women jumping out of a cake came up. Surely they didn't know what that was referring to?

They all were familiar with the scenario:

At a decadent party, they wheel out a large cake. The a beautiful woman pops out of it. Everyone is shocked and delighted.

Everyone seems to know of this scenario. As I remember, it was a common gimmick on TV shows when I was a kid. Among all the things in the world we should be interested in or pay attention to, women jumping out of cakes has risen near the top. So much so, that Duffy Lyon, who does sculptures out of butter for the Iowa State Fair, did a sculpture of herself. See the picture above-left. I assume that almost everyone who saw it knew the woman jumping out of a cake scenario, didn't think twice about it.

How did all this woman jumping out of a cake business get started?

Stanford White

Stanford White was a big time architect in New York. He designed a lot of things, like Madison Square Garden. You can read up on him at Wikipedia. The cake story is not exactly clear, and it is strange the Wikipedia article does not cover the "cake" incident. In 1895 a picture taken at a party of his was printed in a New York newspaper. The picture was of a woman jumping out of a cake. After that, cake jumping became all the rage. All it took was one picture, and the rest is history. 11 years later Stanford was murdered by a jealous lover of one of his flings, the trial was a news sensation.

I wonder if he was plagued by the woman jumping out of a cake picture and the legacy it inspired. Was he questioned about it all the time? Was he sick of hearing about it? I can imagine friends nicknaming him "Cake". Sort of like Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson, my favorite Monty Python sketch:

Arthur "Cake" White?

Can anyone provide any more information about the famous origin? Is this just an urban legend? Why can't I find the famous picture that was the spark of it all? A mystery! Please comment....

Eating Dirt

Geophagy is the act of eating earth - clay or chalk like substances. This is different than the disorder Pica. Geophagy is not considered a disorder, just something people do.

There seems to be 2 reasons people eat clay or dirt, if they do not have a mental disorder like Pica. One reason is that clay in your system can leach out dangerous toxins in food. The other is that some people just crave it!

You can actually buy dirt for eating, see http://whitedirt.samsbiz.com/. Yum!

Eating clay is prevalent in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Southern United States. According to a 1986 article in the New York Times:

To this day, many rural Southern blacks dig clays with the desired sour taste from local pits, often from subsoil in roadbanks, Dr. Vermeer said. ''In Alabama, damage to roadbanks in some places has been so extensive that the highway department has posted signs requesting local residents not to dig into them,'' he noted.

The clay is baked and often mixed with vinegar and salt. In northern cities, some women who crave clay have their favorite types sent by Southern relatives, while others consume Argo starch, which has similar properties, as a substitute.

Some poor whites in the South also eat clay despite strong social pressures not to. Although American physicians tend instinctively to condemn the practice, ''no current evidence indicates that normal consumption of clays in the American South is either beneficial or harmful,'' Dr. Vermeer said. Eating of excessive quantities can cause intestinal blockage.

OK, that is weird, but it is considered within the range of normal human behavior, unlike harvesting and ingesting bear bile and monkey brains!

Potatoes originated from South America. The original varieties contained poisonous toxins and could only be tolerated by the consumer eating the vegetable with clay that leached out the toxins. Even today these types of potatoes can be found in South American markets, and you can buy jars of clay that you are to coat your tongue with before eating the potatoes. Potato affectionados claim the poisonous ones are the best tasting ones.

Pregnant women are known for craving strange food. Coincidentally pregnant women are the largest consumers of clay.

Eating clay in Sierra Leon

Now that you know geophagy exists, and that it is not harmful, wanna try some?







http://www.magneticclay.com/eating-clay.php

Family Radio Goofy People

After all the hullabaloo about the apocalypse, Harold Camping, people giving away all their money to prop up a false prophet - I saw a car today with a Family Radio bumper sticker. Family Radio, if you remember, was/is Harold Camping's radio network.

Don't you think this person would be too embarrassed to have this on their car?

See my last blog about Harold Camping.

OK, now I must let this topic drop - I'll let my "Harold Camping is a goof ball" obsession not obsess me anymore. No more Harold Camping blogs (unless he does something really goofy again, of course!).

I cannot seem to find a Harold Camping Bobblehead for sale anywhere on the internet. You would think the people driving the Family Radio cars and vans around would have a good source for these. Does anyone know where I can get one?

Fried Kool-Aid

I'm a little late with this one. Fried Kool-Aid was all the rage this summer. Despite it's popularity on the internet, our local fair did not have this for sale. I expected it to be everywhere, just like deep-fried Twinkies were a couple of years ago.

The name "Fried Kool-Aid" conjures up the thought of there being a pot of boiling oil and you throw in a package of Kool-Aid. Then something magical happens and it turns into the tasty treat of my dreams. Something I've never tasted before.

Not quite...

Most of the recipes we found on the web are basically the same. Here is one from friedkoolaidrecipe.com:

Kool-Aid Cookies:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. unsweetened any flavor Kool-Aid (grape, use 1 1/2 tsp.)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 beaten egg
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 c. flour
Cream butter, egg, and sugar; mix well. Then mix all ingredients and mix to first mixture. Place heaping teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

ICING:
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. soft butter
2 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. Kool-Aid powder
Mix powdered sugar with Kool-Aid powder with soft butter. Add milk and mix thoroughly, then spread on cool cookies.

We used cherry Kool-Aid. The picture of our experiment is posted above.

The result? .... They were OK. The recipe basically makes a doughnut that is ball shaped. The little bit of Kool-Aid in the product acts just as a light flavoring - nothing more.

So, Fried Kool-Aid is a bit of an over hype. Not really worth all the calories you ingest. But I support the GoofyFood community for trying.

October 21, 2011 The Apocalypse

UPDATE - Oct 22, 2011 - Sorry Harold - we are all still here. Better luck next time!

UPDATE - Oct 21, 2011 - It is morning, I am still awake, the good people I know are still here...

UPDATE - Nov 7, 2011 - I heard a report on the radio - Harold Camping admitted he made a mistake, and that he is now out of the predicting business.

Remember all the Hubbub on May 21, 2011, which was "Judgement Day"? Harold Camping from FamilyRadio.com predicted that the Judgement Day, or Rapture was a "spiritual rapture", whatever that is. I never did really understand the explanation.

October 21, 2011 is now supposed to the the actual end of the world. As of this writing, that is tomorrow.

But if you were not one of the chosen on May 21, 2011 - there is nothing you can do. At this point you are either chosen or doomed. The decision has been made on May 21. This is the reason the doom-sayers are no longer driving around and handing out pamphlets. No reason to, any conversions now are worthless (according to them).

Harold Camping has changed his story a bit, though. He now says that the end of the world will "probably" be October 21, 2011. Probably! Is he finally having doubt? Isn't this akin to Moses striking the rock twice?!? Whoops!

It will be interesting what FamilyRadio.com's response will be on October 22. I predict the response will be something like "Sorry for the mistake, but we've already spent the millions sent to us! We'll try to remember to wave from our new yacht!"

See the past ETR articles about this subject:

October 21 Apocalypse
Harold Camping and the Spiritual Rapture

You can still get a Jesus Action Figure. Pretty cool, but it won't do you any good if you did not pass judgement on May 21!

It's too late - but this action figure is still cool!