My Sick Mind

The Internet is a wonderful and powerful thing, as anyone who has a My Space account knows. But even better than that, is the way we can use it to help others with problems they are facing in life, even if we don't know we're helping. Two such incidents occurred a few days ago. A check of my Stat Counter (at the bottom of the screen) turned up a couple of unsuspecting souls who stumbled across the Sick blog purely by accident. As we know, Blogger is a Google subsidiary, so anything that gets "googled" gets back to our blogs. The poor souls were looking for a solution to a common household problem "how to kill thousand-legger insects in the home", when that ridiculous post from June 20 came up in the search, and offered no solution at all. My Sick Mind: June 2006 For some reason, they elected to drive him home to St. Paul without testing him or charging him with ... "Thousand-legger" insects actually have 998 legs. ...my-sick.blogspot.com/2006_06_...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Meerkats actively teach their young how to catch and eat their prey, British researchers said in a study that is one of the first to prove that animals show such complex behavior. Meerkats are a type of mongoose and live in groups of three to 40 in dry regions of southern Africa. Each group includes a dominant male and female who produce 80 percent of the pups, and older animals that help to watch over and rear the young. Three years ago, did any of us even know WTF a Meerkat was? If Meerkats were suddenly declared an endangered species, would any of us know if it was a bug, cat or a TV star? I haven't seen that "Meerkat Manor" show, but people tell me it's good. Things creep up on us that have been around for years, but because of TV, we are suddenly drawn to them, and they gain popularity because of the attention. Lots of things happen that way: Sun-dried tomatoes, poker, choppers, Bo Bice, Republicans, Ann Coulter and even stuff that isn...

WASHINGTON - High gasoline prices may dent economic growth, but consumers' fuel appetite is still strong. Those trends are likely to persist, experts said, as average nationwide pump prices approach $3 a gallon — a threshold once feared to be disastrous for motorists and potentially the economy. Citigroup Smith Barney senior economist Steven Wieting said the conventional wisdom that $3-a-gallon was some kind of tipping point "has been largely overstated." Largely overstated. Nice. Apparently, conventional wisdom isn't what it used to be. Here in the Garden State, prices are hovering around the $3 mark. We have to drive to work, school or the mall because we are either ignorant of or unwilling to use public transportation, or the public transportation that we have does not take us directly to work, school or the mall, and our fat asses cannot stand the walk. At least one high-thinker has it figured out: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, blamed di...

The elderly will face another double-digit rise in their Medicare premiums next year, resulting in monthly payments of nearly $100. The monthly premiums for supplementary medical insurance will rise from $88.50 to at least $98.40, the Bush administration projected Tuesday. That's an 11.2 percent increase, and it's possible the amount will be slightly higher. Meanwhile... The House voted Tuesday to forbid the use of credit cards to settle online bets, an effort to halt mushrooming interest in Internet gambling. Opponents said it wouldn't work and decried exceptions for state-run lotteries and a horse racing industry that has powerful patrons in Congress. The vote was 317-93. "The House has acted very strongly on this measure," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, [R-Va], one of the bill's lead sponsors. "I think that should send a strong signal that we need for the Senate to act." At least our Congress has their priorities straight. How about a "strong signa...

This ridiculous story from London showed up on Yahoo today, purportedly giving eligible (desperate) men everywhere the keys to unlocking the hearts of eligible (desperate) women everywhere . LONDON (Reuters) - "Was your father a thief? Because he stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes." Equipped with that chat-up line, you can be certain to score in the universal language of love. So say the authors of a new top 10 of chat-up lines which have been translated from English into Czech, French, Italian, Spanish and German by the publishers Chambers. If their top-rated suggestion does not have the desired effect, then try in one of six languages to say: "Didn't it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Or maybe: "You must be tired because you've been running through my mind all day." Scraping in at Number 10 in the romance parade comes "The only things your eyes haven't told me is your name." Oy. Alright, so I'll be certain ...

LONDON (AFP) - Some 2,000 pupils at English state schools are to have special classes in happiness under a pilot scheme aimed at cutting depression, self-harm and anti-social behavior. "The move comes as experts warn that record numbers of young people are on the verge of mental breakdown as a result of family break-up, exam pressures and growing inability to cope with the pressures of modern life," the report said. OK, kids ... Lesson number 1 ... It doesn't get any easier. Families will still break-up, exam pressures are replaced by work pressures and the pressures of modern life don't change much once you become an adult. If it takes a breathing lesson or a role-playing exercise to get you through it, more power to you. To me, it sounds like turning the radio up when you hear a noise in your car. A symptom is treated while the disease goes merrily onward. What is really sad is that kids are feeling the pressures of modern life. I don't remember going through a...