Saturday, July 28, 2018

Happiness is a Rush Limbaugh sendup

Rush Hudson Limbaugh,
a febrile font of faux pas,
everyday, from his throne,
behind a golden microphone,
grifts millions spoutin' hoo-ha.

-- Johnny

Friday, July 27, 2018

Happiness was the plumber Alan Longmuir, founder of the Scottish supergroup Bay City Rollers

From the obituary here in the UK Guardian:

“Just a plumber from Edinburgh who got lucky” was Alan Longmuir’s dry assessment of his career. ... In their peak year, 1975, they had two UK No 1 singles, including the signature hit Bye Bye Baby; the end of that year saw them top the American chart with the stomping Saturday Night . . .. Alan and his younger brother, Derek – the Rollers’ future drummer – went to Tynecastle high school, which Alan left at 15. After a year of office work he was apprenticed as a plumber, but the job was secondary to his yearning to be a musician. ... He returned to working as a plumber and from 2000 until retirement was a bylaws inspector. ... He viewed the 70s with wry humour, saying in 2008: “I remember sitting at the bar of the Beverly Hills hotel – there was Patrick Magee, Barbra Streisand, David Soul – and Alan Longmuir, the plumber from Edinburgh.”

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Omega-3 supplements found to be just as inefficacious as vitamins

Tim Chico, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Sheffield University, said it was unlikely any one element of the diet could alone prevent heart disease. “Previous experience has shown that although some types of diet are linked to lower risk of heart disease, when we try to identify the beneficial element of the diet and give it as a supplement it generally has little or no benefit,” he said. It happened with vitamins and now the Cochrane research had shown the same thing with omega-3.

“Such supplements come with a significant cost,” he said, “so to anyone buying them in the hope that they reduce the risk of heart disease, I’d advise them to spend their money on vegetables instead.”

More here.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Happiness is how far one can go on nothing more than lubricated imagination

Should but his muse descending drop
A slice of bread and mutton chop,
Or kindly, when his credit's out,
Surprise him with a pint of stout;
Exalted in his mighty mind,
He flies and leaves the stars behind.

-- Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Happiness is a gift of coffee: Every cup is a fond reminder of the giver

This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion.

-- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Happiness is being a pork-eating infidel





Ounce for ounce, pork has three times less saturated fat than beef.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Happiness is eradicating plants poisonous to pets

Foxglove is toxic to cats and dogs
 
 
 
 Of simples in these groves that grow,
We'll learn the perfect skill;
The nature of each herb to know,
Which cures, and which can kill.

-- Michael Drayton (1563-1631), The Quest of Cynthia

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Happiness over the 4th of July holiday was a six-pack of Edmund Fitzgerald Porter by Ohio's Great Lakes Brewing Company

Available in longnecks at Sam's Club for $7.96, plus deposit.

"Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

Friday, July 6, 2018

Happiness is Frankie Ford's 1959 cover of "Sea Cruise"


Oo-ee! Sort of a cross between the characters Alfred E. Neuman and Gilligan, singing.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Happiness is that you're a little less likely to die sooner if you drink coffee than if you don't

From the story here:

The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It’s the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine.

Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.