evolution

… of all the God-damned things in the world. I woke up one morning last week and couldn’t feel the ring and pinky fingers on my left hand. When I went to my mom’s to duck the tornado that formed two miles from my apartment last weekend, she thought I might have carpal tunnel syndrome.

… but not before I lost five nights of sleep, because I was panicking — a health issue this close to an exam, under stress, numbness in fingers, grandmother has MS, stress provokes the attacks, numbness a signal of attacks, etc.

Along comes my brother, three weeks from his medical school graduation. I told him about it, and he had me put my fingers in some odd positions, and then said “Go like this-” — to extend my arm and bend it slightly at the elbow — and quickly jammed his thumb in the soft spot outside of my elbow between the elbow and forearm. It felt like an electrical jolt through my forearm, and I winced in pain.

So now I need some kind of brace. Any suggestions?

The band Asia is going to be at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City on July 14.

I’m warming up my Key-tar.

From calming calm calminess to “concern“.

I hope this virus can be changed into something that can be defeated by modern medicine.

Two confirmed cases of swine flu here in Kansas, and God only knows how many in New York. Eight in California and Texas.

Says Hot Air’s A-double-izzle: “A new strain of flu in one of the world’s largest cities located in the heart of a failing state: What could go wrong?”

Is border security still racist? ‘Cause it seems like a helpful thing to have right now…

This should make work interesting¹ on Monday.

1. and by that, I mean “depressing”. [↩]

In a way, I’m glad I’ve barely had the time to think, much less to blog.

The events and commentary going up around the “Tea-Party” protests (which were needed about five years ago) really speaks for itself. It draws a clear, bright line, one which I’ve felt has been needed for a long time. Of course my own sympathies lie with most of the protesters. (Not, like, the tinfoil hatters and stuff.)

There is so much to say that I don’t have the time to do it all, but I’ll note that I sometimes grin with joy at the sneering, vile condescension, and defensive rage that the protests — most of which were spontaneous — have sparked in this and other media, particularly in one part of it¹. These people are revealing quite a lot. Of course, if you’ve understood anything I’ve ever said on this blog you knew what was coming.

They’ve gone on long enough that all the attention hounds and tin-foil types are starting to flock to them; that is natural and should be anticipated and countered by any of those people (if there are any) who want to keep the momentum going.

The incurable black-hearted cynic in me wants to treat these protests like the “nascent student movement for freedom!!!1! in Iran!!1!!1!”, as in “Call me when you’re ready to actually do something”, as in sending a great number of career politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, scurrying for the want ads.

This is really random and unfocused, but I have some time tonight, so I’m just dumping out my thoughts. I’ve been feeling the itch to write, but due to actuarial exams I can barely focus on anything else.

1. What a difference six months makes! [↩]

Not so much that there won’t be a coordinated effort to snuff it out, of course.

Frankly, I was and remain surprised. I had all but given up on the vast majority of Americans doing much of anything but rolling over when their politicians and media told them to.

More, please.

UPDATE: Well, that took care of that in a hurry.

What would you meatheads¹ do without us — no doubt watch WWF and stomp through the aisles at Wal-Mart, buying those Day-Glo plastic place settings and 10 quart jars of Miracle Whip

1. The Oliver Wendell Holmes quote actually appears on the introduction page to the 1040EZ instructions. [↩]