The last E.coli event I remember was caused by a rainstorm that washed cowpucky from a nearby ranch onto the spinach field. IIRC the flooding was not noticed at the time - it was worked out by some forensics

Yes - this is the very book that immediately popped into my head. I remember some classes in the 1960s that had to do with verbal jujitsu using some phrases that offer the other person validation w/o accepting what they are saying like "I understand how you might think that",

One of the interesting things I have noticed is how important breathing is. When I am out walking and I begin to feel uncomfortable, I start to breath deeply to the spot below my navel (heh,heh - some of my martial arts buds call this 'breathing with your ass' - you pull the breath so deep that you clench your butt).…

OMG - I wish that weren't true but someone somewhere said that most tech is driven by or adopted first by porn.

Brings up the question - how are you able to make the taste comparison

I generally suck on the tip a bit then scribble on a piece of scratch paper to get the pen started again. I will also take a look to make sure that there is ink left. Flat spots can develop on the ball so scribbling helps.

My workstation at the IRS has an up/down button so I can choose whether I want to sit or stand. I can even have one of those fitness balls but must offer proof that I can handle it - seems that some amateurs kept falling off and hurting themselves.

A little tense there!?

The only reason I made the correlation was because an old girlfriend's mom went on and on about StarHawk's wedding ceremony which lead me to the attendees list that included ShadowHawk, MoonHawk, et c. who apparently whistled something by Brahms for the ceremony. (ooh, ick - sigh)

That is the gene that offers nearly complete resistance to HIV-1 infection and aids. There have been attempts to correlate this resistance to the Plague but CCR5-Δ32 is found in approximately 14% of European populations and about 0% in Chinese. Since the entire bubonic plague cycle is more of a subtropical disease…

Careful - don't most Wiccans* have 'hawk' somewhere in their name?

wow - Just 'WOW'

1) how can claim that intelligent design is different than creationism? The main book on ID was just creationism changed using global search and replace.

People could not understand that 'global warming' was an average over the entire Earth over time.

Thank you! That was just a metaphor, right?

At least the rat didn't catch the knife and throw it back.

Or 2 'crack-spackle*tm' tees from Duluth (on sale).

I was on my waterbed when Seattle had it's last earthquake; that was really bizarre and fun once I realized what was going on. I had a local discussion radio station on and they realized what was going on about the same time I did.

The 3 rules of thermodynamics (paraphrased):

My dad bought bulk cigarettes and stored them in the freezer compartment; my brother and I would skip school and smoke - I remember one time we were in the hopper of a combine smoking and now whenever I walk passed someone who has just lit up - that first hit of smoke brings that hopper experience back and it is a…