Survivalist Tip: You’ll need some hydrogen peroxide. This multi-purpose chemical isn’t just for hair bleach. It can serve as a substitute for toothpaste, but it also can be used as a disinfectant and water purifier, which will be essential in a society without power companies.
With plenty of hydrogen peroxide, you can:
Disinfect your tap water;
Disinfect any wild game you might have to kill;
Disinfect any cuts or scrapes you might incur from killing the animal;
Disinfect any cuts or scrapes you might incur from preparing the animal for a meal;
Brush your teeth after eating.
Since cleanliness is next to godliness, you’ll want to be as clean as possible in the presence of the Mayan gods. And, there are few things more rude and classless than smiling at a god with stained teeth and then keeling over with stomach pains because you drank infected water!
As they every year at this time, the ASPCA is reminding folks that animals aren’t toys and therefore, shouldn’t be given as gifts to unsuspecting recipients. They may seem cute at first sight, but many gift animals end up abused and / or abandoned. Take the pledge and help stop the abuse.
Survivalist Tip: Since old photos of family and friends are the way most people stay connected, even in this digital age, it’s imperative you gather and safeguard as many of your own as you can. Old pictures provide a solid link to the past. Photography is one of modern humanity’s greatest inventions. If necessary scan your photos onto a computer and then copy them onto a portable zip drive, so you won’t have to carry them around. That’s, of course, assuming you have to evacuate. Once things settle down, you can look at those old photos and remember how life used to be. Hopefully, you were sober in them, so the memories won’t be too painful.
“OK fine, let’s do that, but in the end, at some point, if the Bush tax cuts are repealed and everyone’s taxes go up, I promise you Republicans will get blamed for it. “It doesn’t mean you cave on everything, but there are some things Republicans do that feed into what the media is telling America about Republicans.”
– Ann Coulter, admitting to Sean Hannity on FOX News that taxes on the wealthy should be raised.
At last! There’s a victory on the reasonable front! Now, if we could get more conservatives to admit George W. Bush’s tax policies are what screwed up the economy in the first place, we’d be on the road to recovery. Getting over denial is always the toughest part.
Survivalist Tip: You must have some flashlights amidst your cache of supplies. Since they’re battery-powered, they’re vital, as utility companies will probably collapse when the apocalypse hits. As an alternative light source, a flashlight will provide some sense of comfort in the darkness. You can also surprise unwanted relatives trying to sneak into your house at night and then, knock them over the head with it.
People lining up in Boston for a piece of the action.
Just when you thought charitable donations in the U.S. going limp, condom manufacturer Trojan handed out 10,000 vibrators in Boston’s South End on Monday, December 3. The event was controversial enough to get booted from city hall this past October, but fortunately, Trojan found the city’s South End more hospitable and…well, more inviting. Personally, I’m so glad someone has finally decided to move sex out of the gutters and into the public square where most of us think it should be. Besides, it’s the Christmas season! So, the spirit of giving should always be out in the open!
Legendary jazz composer and musician Dave Brubeckdied this morning, December 5, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, just one day shy of his 92nd birthday. Brubeck, who was born in Concord, California, is best known for his 1959 piece “Take Five,” from the album “Time Out.” “Take Five” is one of the most complex jazz instrumentals every composed and helped to redefine the musical genre. He moved it beyond the “4/4 time,” or what he called “march-style jazz.” “Time Out” became the first jazz album to sell a million copies.
Brubeck’s mother had forbade him and his two brothers from listening to music; believing that, if you wanted to hear music, you should play it. The Brubeck brothers all played various instruments and studied classical music, as well as spirituals and cowboy songs. Born cross-eyed, Dave Brubeck learned most of this music by ear, since sight-reading was difficult. At the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, Brubeck was initially intent on pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. But, as he worked his way through college as a pianist in jazz bands, he switched his major to music. While in college, Brubeck met and married Iola Whitlock. Upon graduation, though, he was immediately drafted into the military, as part of U.S. involvement in World War II.
In 1946 Brubeck formed an octet and three years later, created the Dave Brubeck Trio. He formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1951 following a near fatal car crash.
In 1954 Brubeck became only the second jazz musician, after Louis Armstrong, to be featured on the cover of Time magazine.
In 1999 Brubeck was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. Ten years later he received a Kennedy Center Honor for his contribution to American culture. He gave his archives to his alma mater.
Brubeck’s son Michael died in 2009. In addition to his other sons and his daughter, Brubeck is survived by his wife; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Brubeck once explained succinctly what jazz meant to him. “One of the reasons I believe in jazz,” he said, “is that the oneness of man can come through the rhythm of your heart. It’s the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It’s the first thing you hear when you’re born – or before you’re born – and it’s the last thing you hear.”
Hartford and Mary Black Eagle and President Barack Obama bow their heads in prayer during the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Interior Department in Washington on December 2, 2011.
Hartford “Sonny” Black Eagle, an elder from Montana’s Crow Indian Nation whose family “adopted” Sen. Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, has died. He was 78. Black Eagle passed away at his home in Lodge Grass on November 26, after suffering problems from a recent bout with pneumonia.
Black Eagle and his family had ceremoniously adopted Obama when the latter visited the Crow Indian Reservation shortly before Montana’s Democratic primary. As part of the adoption, Obama attended a purification ceremony where he was prayed over by Black Eagle and received a Crow name that translates as, “One Who Helps People Throughout the Land.”
Black Eagle’s son, CedricBlack Eagle, current Crow Tribal Chairman, said the ceremony was one of his father’s proudest moments and felt that it was his duty to make sure Native American voices were heard. “He felt like he was representing all of Indian Country as a spokesman, and always telling his (adopted) son, the President, that he has to make sure all of the people in Indian Country are heard and try to help them all,” Cedric Black Eagle said.
Black Eagle and his wife, Mary, later attended Obama’s inauguration. During destructive flooding on the reservation last year that left Lodge Grass largely isolated and forced many tribal members from their homes, Obama called Hartford and Mary Black Eagle to check on their safety, Cedric Black Eagle said.
Funeral services for Hartford Black Eagle are scheduled December 6, followed by internment at Lodge Grass Cemetery.
Chief Writing Wolf 