The Workermonkey

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

if we start a new religioin, can we worship peter gammons? 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 2/28/2006 08:25:00 PM

this is a quick note from one of his most recent blog entries on ESPN insider. i just thought it was appropriate.


"Carlos Delgado being questioned about his character because he did not choose to make an outward sign of an inward grace -- standing for a patriotic song during the seventh-inning stretch -- because of a legitimate concern about U.S. testing off Puerto Rico? What is more American: Blind patriotism or dissent? Delgado is a man whose parents have given their lives to social work, and he has been a model teammate. "

fuck yeah, pete, fuck yeah

1 comments

all hail gammons. and he said unto them, "playball," and ball was played. amen.

By  josh, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 9:54:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Monday, February 27, 2006

Congratulations me 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/27/2006 04:30:00 PM

I'm officially debt free. I just said 'fuck it' and paid the rest of my student loans off. I guess it feels good. I didnt have alot compared to most people, but i really made the push to get that shit paid off. Now its all banking black from here on out. That is until i go into major debt by taking on a mortgage. But all in good time my friends.

So i had a slight revelation this weekend. After discussing things with friends and evaluating my life to date, i've decided that i want to move back to CT. Now this doesnt mean for good, but maybe just for a while. I can feel myself falling apart here and i think i need to go back to base to recollect. I dont have much of a support function here anymore. And when you need that, and its not there...things really start to crumble. I wont be shy about saying i've been having a hard time lately, because i have. And its kinda scary. I've always prided myself with my self control, astute drive for life, and general 'having it all together-ness". I'm lost and i'm out of control. "He had been happy for so long, he didn't realize that he was indeed unhappy". I can honestly say i was happy thru the ages of 21-24. I'm unhappy here and this place and its people aren't helping. I always told myself that happiness comes first, and i need to follow thru on that.

I'm not talking anytime too soon. I'm thinking within the year, ideally around November. So keep your eyes out for positions around the area fellas. Brancibeer wants to come back to the NE. I'm feeling awefully dirty in the dirty.

18 comments

congratulations buddy! and dont worry, that dirty feeling washes away after a week or so of showering.

By  josh, at Monday, February 27, 2006 10:23:00 PM  

Nice job on the loan payoff! I can't wait to announce when mine are gone.

By  ron, at Monday, February 27, 2006 10:24:00 PM  

Congrats on the loan, I am sure that feels great. I will never be debt free because I am paying mine to the full 15 year plan and will surely have other loans by then. But why pay my 1.875% school loan when I can put that money in a CD at 4.6%?

There are some listings for jobs you may like at http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/jobs/index.cfm

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 1:10:00 AM  

ok, who had 2-27-06 in the pool?

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 8:43:00 AM  

New England is best and CT ROCKS!

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 9:00:00 AM  

Speaking of financial responsibility... has anyone thought of like investing or saving or anything like that? Looney, i know you were into that for a while. Chump, i know you were doing things. Damon seems astute. We need to share our experiences and advice to help eachother out. Lets make use of this monkey community. I'm going to look for a book or something.

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 12:27:00 PM  

I have a Roth IRA that I opened in 2001 I think, it has gained about 55% over what I put in in '01 and '03. Doing very well recently as you might guess I am not betting on oil, so higher energy prices do my stocks right.

I like the Motley Fool books and I used to use their website, but it's not free anymore.

Thanks for the compliment.

I basically lost everything in a $500 cash account before I opened the Roth, but I suppose it was good practice. I find finance interesting, but don't follow my stocks as much as I should.

And I also love New England, but didn't realize it really until I went to school in PA. As of now, it looks like I am leaving Sthlm in September and will probably go to Burlington, VT.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 1:35:00 PM  

i put money into an IRA every year for tax purposes, usually whatever the limit is, about 3-4000$ i think. the bulk of my savings ends up in CDs, usually a year or two at a time for a better rate. I have some stock that i've inherited and it seems to do ok for me, i really just leave it alone because i don't have time/am too lazy to keep up with watching the stockmarket. i'd like to do something with part of it but i'm not sure what yet. i need to do my research first.

i have a copy of investing for dummies which isn't bad and does explain a lot of these things. the motley fool was fantastic, but now it's not so great, unless you pay for it.

I agree with the helping each other out community thing. None of us are going to get rich working for other people and we're all in the same finacial bracket. Everytime i try to think of a way to make all this wrk togeather i end up thinking of a commune stlye living arrangement for all of us. We're all smart people and we all have the same goal for ourselves of wanting something better/whats best for ourselves.

It sounds nuts, but we have enough close friends that if we really did pool a bunch of our real world resources togeather (i.e. money) we could do something sweet and make a lot of it for ourselves. Even if its something simple like a restaurant we all own or something we'd be able to make a nice profit. We all have different goals in life, but we can't do shit without money, so unfortunetly it all starts there. we need money. lots of it. now, how do we do that?

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:54:00 PM  

Selling porn on the website is a go, then?

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 3:07:00 PM  

Theres an old saying, "never get into the restuarant business". I think its a saying for a reason. But pooling our resources is a good idea. As long as its not some stupid pyrimyd scheme...what was the name of that one Joe and Barton were doing?

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 3:46:00 PM  

i'm not sure, but they insisted it wasnt a pyramid scheme. i think it was called pyramids-r-us.

By  josh, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 4:13:00 PM  

selling porn may be easy and if any of us were really good at the website stuff, we could. it makes money and all you'd have to do is make the same crap everyone else on the internet is doing.

we're entrepanures (spelling?), we just need to get the idea started, running to the point of letting other people take over, then we sit back and move on the the next idea. Once you get a few ideas/projects under you, you've built a nice little base, and you can move on to bigger money projects and higher revenue endevors.

never get into the resaurant business unless you want to work a ton of hours for minimal gain. unless a restaurant really takes off and franchises its hard to make a lot of money doing it. Take any local restaruant ower as an example. most of them own three or four places and they all kind of keep each other afloat. The people who own the glock aren't going to make millions with it, unless they had a glock style place in every local town in CT. Tino knows way more about the restaurant business then i do but it's just an example.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 4:22:00 PM  

When I get back I fully intend to build small hydro plants. I just need to borrow around $2.3 million per MW. Assuming 10% and worst case expenses and income, it pays off in 12 years, then profits $344k a year. Oh and best case numbers, it pays back in 3 years and profits $680k a year. Neither case takes into account the North East regional greenhouse gas reduction credit trading system, which could be additional income. Then again, given the rising interest rates 10% is too low. Oh yeah, so if you didn't get it, this is where my money is going. If restuarants don't profit, bars must? Everything sells for four times what it costs in a local store, so maybe 5-6 times what they get it for.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 5:42:00 PM  

the best idea i've seen for hydro power was a small home unit for people with a good flowing stream near by, but a good idea none the less. i want in on the building of the power plants, i'm sure the company i'm with now can build some of it. and apparently i'm being trained in the construction of such objects, not nessecarily the design but i think i can successfully manage it. If i were to continue my education i think i'd go for something along the lines of engineering management or just plain business. looney, maybe i can just borrow your text books instead of the business degree. I bet it's faster.

restaurants do make a small killing off of drinks. its one of thier best moneyt makers because soda is so cheap. water and sugar, mix, serve. the syrup is dirt cheap, tino can confim this, i think we were talking about it just the other day.

Look at the simple activity we've had on this one post in only a day. fantastic.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, February 28, 2006 7:34:00 PM  

I'm no hydro engineer, but the small unit for a 'good flowing' stream is probably a dead end market. You got a stream? No one on my street does.

Personally, I see the best investment for me right now to be a super fast sports car. Subaru WRX STi, why not?

By  ron, at Wednesday, March 01, 2006 8:44:00 AM  

no but what about the one that runs under higganum center? the resevoir over flow, that thing would crank out a bunch of power, plus the sizes are scalable for different projects and different water ways. there has to be a million small crappy streams like that around the country that would make a difference. a lot of our power generation can be solved by smaller scale means, a few small wind turbines on a house or solar panels everywhere, think smaller, not bigger.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Wednesday, March 01, 2006 2:00:00 PM  

You are right Matt. Although PV is currently only 11% efficient, versus 35% efficiency for large scale solar thermal to stirling engine generation. But there is about 10% loss in the grid, which distributed generation reduces, and it also helps avoid the massive blackouts like we had in '03 I think it was, that show just how weak the grid is. The problem with private wind is that hardly anyone is willing to live somewhere that is windy enough to provide decent power. Hydro is the exception however, as people love having a stream on their property. My father owns a piece of that stream between Little City road and the Res and he is interested in putting some turbines in it, but the laws don't make it worth his while as he'd get paid wholesale for the power unless he negotiates a contract with CLP for the tiny generation facility. That is assuming he could get a permit to alter the water flow which is unlikey. You can have hydro without a dam, but you lose the ability to store potential which is the big advantage over wind and solar. Too bad they just rebuilt the Res dam, they could have put a decent size turbine in there and probably have gotten power for the center's lights and several of the buildings. What I want to do is buy some nice tall dams like that (VT has 1200 dams) and convert them, so that the impact on the environment is nill, but it's clean power. Today though, more often dams are removed than built because people didn't realize how they devastate the river ecosystem when they were building so many in the past.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, March 01, 2006 3:43:00 PM  

yeah the new dam they built could have powered all the new lights and crap they put in down in the center. One of the biggest atvantages of the small stuff, is your house is already connected to the grid. thats one of the big hurdles for starting a project in the middle of nowhere, trying to connect to a grid for uninterupted service.

My uncle built a house recently in VT where he has a driveway thats about 3/4 of a mile long, one of the most expensive parts of hte house was running the telephone poles to it so that he could be connected to the grid. he had to pay what i think was like a grand per pole, and he need like 5 poles to reach the house and avoid the rock cliff.

the biggest blockage of new dams is the environmental impact they have on fish and the surrounding wildlife which is put under water. so why build new ones when there are already a bunch that have already screwed up the ecosystem and aren't generating power.

the power grids in this country are actually a massive problem too, i've read the 10% number but i 've also seen numbers much higher for how much is lost in transmission. part of the problem is that we're trying to send modern electrical requirements through lines designed before the turn of the century.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Wednesday, March 01, 2006 4:03:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Woman hit by icicle 

# posted by Damon @ 2/23/2006 01:23:00 PM

"Published: 23rd February 2006 18:01 CET

A woman was injured in central Stockholm on Thursday afternoon after being hit by a falling icicle.

The accident happened on Drottninggatan, one of the capitals busiest shopping streets.

“She got a bump on the head and was shocked, but has now been discharged from hospital,” said police spokesman Björn Engström.

Police have sent a notice to the owner of the property from which the icicle fell. Swedish property owners are legally responsible for clearing snow and ice from their roofs. The accident happened near Sergels Torg, on one of the busiest sections of Drottninggatan.

A 14-year old boy died on Drottninggatan in 2002 after being hit by a falling block of ice. The accident led to a long legal process which concluded with the company responsible for snow clearance on the building in question being fined for causing death through negligence."

As I left my flat I saw the ambulance go by, and I walked down Drottninggatan, which I usually avoid because it's too crowded with people but I was looking for a store. I saw this woman just after the ambulance got there, she seemed alright, but I made a point not to look and stare at her, which I imagine she would rather not have.

Anyway, I had thought it strange that there are always teams working, clearing roofs. Everyday I pass a crew or two, while walking on ice 5cm thick or through slush or snow. I commented that in the US, someone would fall and break something then sue the sidewalk owner, then they would be clean. Apparently that is what it takes if a dead kid got all these crews clearing roofs. But the sidewalks and streets are really a disaster, in many places, they don't touch them at all. People, cars, and bikes just compress the snow into hardpack and ice, and it stays that way. Then as the natural powdery stuff melts, it's funny that the only snow is on the walkways and streets.

Then again, I have fallen a few times on the street and I would prefer that to taking an icicle in the head.

6 comments

do most of us agree that when someone slips and falls on ice, it isn't the property owners fault for not clearing the ice, its the reatards fault for falling on it? i'm not usre which way i'd rather have it. ice everywhere that idiots slip on with no rediculous lawsuits or clean sidewalks with plenty of lawsuits for everyone. Damon, life seems to be functioning perfectly well over there right? there isn't any mass riots and protests over un-shoveled sidewalks are there? Jesus hasn't condemed the sweds to eternal hell fire for expecting other people to watch where they walk has he? maybe thats in the bible somewhere, towards the back.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 23, 2006 4:51:00 PM  

well, i think in general the city usually owns things like sidewalks, and i might be inclined to conclude that the city has a duty to its citizens.

if someone slips on private property, then i would say it depends on the circumstances. if the person injured is a trespasser, then certainly no duty. if the person is an invitee, then there is some sort of duty, for example, to clear the ice off the front steps or something. and i think someone like an invitee would also be more likely to be a friend, and therefore less likely to sue (in general).

By  josh, at Thursday, February 23, 2006 5:15:00 PM  

By your definition Matt, I and probably everyone else in Sthlm is a "retard." Let's see anyone walk a whole winter, hundreds of km, on ice and snow at varying angles and conditions in a freeze-thaw cycle, and not fall. Slipping on ice means I must be an idiot?

No one seems to notice or care, my point was, is it not more important to get snow off sidewalks and roads than roofs?

Jesus has done nothing to Swedes because they for the most part don't know him, why are you bringing in religion while calling other people who may have trouble staying upright on a surface with a coefficient of static friction approaching zero disabled shortly after your post calling religious zealots and patriots "retards" as well?

Of course the city owns the sidewalk, but in the US people have to clear what is in front of their house. I don't know then how the "fault" would go down. Again though, not my point, sidewalks or roofs?

By  Damon, at Friday, February 24, 2006 5:45:00 PM  

Personally, I'd also consider the dynamic coefficient of friction when applying blame for a fall.

How a bout a little personal responsibility? I keep YakTraks in my car and use them when needed.

By  ron, at Friday, February 24, 2006 7:27:00 PM  

Yeah you guys think I like that kind of crap like suing McD over hot coffee? Did I complain to my landlord when I laid out in our courtyard? I don't believe in making our accidents someone's fault and financial burden, but you can't even imagine the total disregard for plowing or shoveling. In fact, I don't think there is a shovel in Sthlm City. They just joke mornings class is empty that people had trouble getting there, and really, they did. Walking, they had trouble walking.

By  Damon, at Saturday, February 25, 2006 1:10:00 AM  

I'm telling you.....
[img]http://www.campmor.com/images/acc/larger/24103_l.jpg[\img]

By  ron, at Saturday, February 25, 2006 12:22:00 PM  

Post a Comment

No porn thumbnails for search engine - judge 

# posted by Damon @ 2/23/2006 06:30:00 AM

Google was ordered to stop showing thumbnails from a porn site in its search results due to a lawsuit from that company that said it was violating copyright laws. Maybe so. They said "Everything that we tried to sell for a living, they were displaying for free," how's that? I haven't checked out this particular porn site, but if the images are for sale, wouldn't someone need to login to get to the secure part of the website? How then, did Google's spider get copies of the images?

Google plans to appeal, and in the meantime remove thumbnails only from that site. Brilliant, now the suing porn company will get less business because Google's thumbnail searchs are fantastic and very useful for work or play.

2 comments

What is this college!? I am talking about Google and porn midday on Thursday while eating hot dogs and drinking beer for lunch.

By  Damon, at Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:38:00 AM  

Sounds like grad school to me.

By  Brancibeer, at Saturday, February 25, 2006 7:16:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

i'd pay to see this 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 2/21/2006 04:41:00 PM

Retards arguing with retards. it's only fitting they're from kentucky. both sides in this thing are messed up. first the religious side; A) its messed up to protest a military funeral B) it's mind blowing to think that IED's are god's way of punishing america for harboring gay people C) what the fuck are these people on and where can i get some. D) straight from the horses mouth; "The scriptures are crystal clear that when God sets out to punish a nation, it is with the sword. An IED is just a broken-up sword," Phelps-Roper said. "Since that is his weapon of choice, our forum of choice has got to be a dead soldier's funeral." It makes such perfect sense, why didn't i see this sooner?

Now the bikers side; A) they're from kentucky B) mindless patirotism from the other side of the same extremism C) i guess fighting bigotry is a good thing, but these religous people undo their own work simply by opening thier mouths, isn't there a better cause to waste time on? D) this maybe one time in history where if every person on both sides dies in this battle, then everyone benifits.

3 comments

hahaha i saw that article too. i just started laughing and crying at the same time. true story.

By  josh, at Wednesday, February 22, 2006 9:42:00 AM  

How can that be funny? What it left me thinking (and honestly I didn't finish the article) is:
1. I have become anti-Christian and often mock the religion, but some things they do, like this, are so bizarre and ill grounded, I couldn't even have made this up for a joke with a bunch of drunk friends, because it makes so little sense, they would call me on it.
2. Although I don't think we should be in Iraq, and the guys dying there are not "defending our freedoms," how can anyone, with any agenda be a a funeral laughing at the ceremony with grieving family members there. That is so wrong.
2.b. I took the soldiers' families' sides on this article, I am not sure I've been over here before, I am not sure fundamentalist Christians have been on the other side before. Wacky.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, February 22, 2006 11:41:00 AM  

I see the humor in this quote

"God killed the soldiers because they fought for a country that embraces homosexuals"

i don't know if I could stand by something like that without starting to hurt the protestors.

By  ron, at Wednesday, February 22, 2006 9:14:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Monday, February 20, 2006

olympic madness 

# posted by josh @ 2/20/2006 09:22:00 AM

why is this such a big story? my guess is because no one cares about the olympics, and it's the closest nbc can get to turning them into some sort of spit-on-your-brother reality show, which seems to be what americans like these days. and does it really surprise anyone anyway? oooooooh, he did what's best for him, big shocker!

the article is right, they both did what was in their best interest. hedrick had a better shot/wanted to skate as a team, davis individually. people think of themselves first, and others second. i'm not saying that's always a bad thing either, it's just the way it is. if you had your best chance, but the day before was a team event where you might get a gold if you skate, what would you do?

i guess the point is i'm just not as shocked as the media seems to be. maybe they're not really shocked either, but i guess they needed something cuz no one is caring about the olympics. the whole thing about the luger who overcame dislexia just wasn't stirring enough i guess. big surprise too, with all that reading lugers have to do.

1 comments

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, February 22, 2006 11:40:00 AM  

Post a Comment

Sunday, February 19, 2006

"Sickening"-ly ironic 

# posted by Damon @ 2/19/2006 02:56:00 PM

This article talks of criticizing US internet companies for cooperating with the Chinese government in the censoring of information and silencing or apprehending dissidents. It links this to human rights violations.

Does anyone else find it laughable that the US government is attacking the likes of Google, Yahoo, and MSN for this? Our Congress would rather talk of restricting these companies' ability to work with the Chinese government, who in turn is being accused of censorship and human rights violations. Rather than go through the trouble of that chain, why not end censorship, the silencing of opposition and human rights violations in the US? Well the human rights bit might not be actually in the US, but in Cuba. Well maybe it is in the US, except that the people who are abducted by the NSA or FBI or whoever under a national security letter are held indefinately without charge (like those in Cuba) and they are not allow to contact anyone, so how do we know how much of that type of rights violation is happening? Oh man, I was just going to post the link and let it the thick irony speak for itself, but here I go on and on.

6 comments

Damon i know your heart is in the right place, but the Olympics are on right now, and next month is not good either, because thats March Maddness.

Plus we only detain Terrorists in Cuba, its for their own good and the good of the country, thats what Cheney and Bush say. You cant believe everything the Liberal US Press or the UN say on these matters, they are both very corrupt.

And things in Iraq have turned the corner. We are winning.

By  Anonymous, at Monday, February 20, 2006 11:34:00 AM  

It's not a time for human rights because you are watching sports on TV? How patriotic of you! You are a true American!

How do we know those in Cuba are terrorists when they haven't even been charged, much less proven guilty. To be an admirable world leader we should give them the rights of Americans to a prompt and fair trial. Do you think that would cause more or less anti American sentiment and hence terrorism? Even if we didn't extend those rights to "enemy combatants," what are Americans who are vulnerable to the same unconstitutional abuses?

And in Iraq, we won years ago, remember?

This is Damon posting as anon because Gentoo knows my password but I don't, and I'm not using it now.

By  Anonymous, at Monday, February 20, 2006 1:58:00 PM  

what the hell is winning in iraq anyway?

i'm sick of iraq. i'm sick of hearing the same lies. i'm sick of americans dying to "promote democracy."

fuck 'em. if they want it so bad, they'll get it the way we did. let them fight their own revolution. maybe it's just me, but i dont see imposing our will, culture, traditions, etc as being good for obtaining allies and thwarting terrorism.

By  josh, at Monday, February 20, 2006 2:33:00 PM  

we broke it, we bought it. we're going to be there until everythings ok and stable. which may take years. there is no winning this war. terrorism will last forever because just about anything can be called terrorism. and everyone hates us.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Monday, February 20, 2006 6:34:00 PM  

You know we can't leave Iraq until we have our oil. Hear me world? OUR OIL! ha ha ha ha aaah... fuckin politics. I tried to distance myself from them for so long only to realize just how important they really are.

By  ron, at Monday, February 20, 2006 6:42:00 PM  

"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the body also."

Hebrews 13:3

By  wyldshaman, at Thursday, February 23, 2006 8:37:00 AM  

Post a Comment

Friday, February 17, 2006

Organic Equality 

# posted by wyldshaman @ 2/17/2006 03:34:00 PM

A 22-year study of Corn & Soybean yeilds on Organic VS Conventional farms concluded that they both produce about the same amount. But the Organic system uses 30% less fossil fuel and also conserves water and soil quality.

I will also add that, Pesticide exposure, a leading cause of cancer in farm workers and, i believe, the overall population, is completely mitigated under organic farming practices.

The study did say that the average cost of production on Organic farms was 15% higher.

But lets keep in mind that most farming in the USA is unprofitable, direct commodity subsidies in 2004 were $12.5 Billion. With the largest handouts going to the biggest farms. Imagine if this money was poured into small scale organic farms, or CSA's.

Lets also touch on the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, last i knew it was the size of Massachusetts. This is caused by massive fertilzer runoff from row crops, like corn and soy, our tax dollars at work.

My point is that; Conventional farming is not the Only way, it is just one way, and not a very good way at that, it is unhealthy and unsustanable economically.

6 comments

Did I see "mitigated" in there? I'm very proud of you! From the guy, who like 3 years-4years ago told me "I don't like big words, I'm not going to use them". (Car ride back from free state project camp out.) Good point about the deadzone.

Seriously though. What did I tell you about the that book? Put that thing away before it gets you. It has an eerie seduction that has captured the minds of many men. Just becareful is all I'm saying.

By  NoBrainRequired, at Friday, February 17, 2006 6:12:00 PM  

All we are saying, is give peace a chance.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, February 17, 2006 6:55:00 PM  

It is good to buy local organic produce (or other goods for that matter) from the person that did all the work, even if the price is a bit higher than the supermarket as it is more satisfying to hand it to the farmer than see it speed off electronically to the foreign owners of the supermarket. Even better is when the farm stand uses the honor system, that is encouraging in a time when people in general seem to suck.

Entirely unrelated but I am too lazy and it's not worth starting another topic: Anyone see the US lose two medals yesterday? Leading the women's ridercross final by a mile, Lindsey Lacobellis gets huge air and does a grab for the crowd, then catches an edge landing and ends up with silver. But hey, that's the American way, go big or go home! Although not so blatent, our women's hockey outshot Sweden in the semifinal 39-18, yet the opportunistic Swedes scored two on turnovers and ended up winning a shootout.

By  Damon, at Saturday, February 18, 2006 4:22:00 AM  

Farmer Direct is the way to go. Thats why im a big supporter of the community farm, small local farms that support the town. We have one in East Haddam called New Hope Farm, i tried to buy a share last year, but it was sold out.

But i am impressed with Stop & Shop, they came out with there own line of Organics called "Nature's Promise," and what i liked most about this, besides the competitive price, is that most of the produce is grown in the USA. It seems foolish to me to buy an Organic Apple from New Zealand, the shipping must MITIGATE any organic benefit.

On "Big Words," you refer to a time when you were reading the dictionary and learning a new word or two each day, half the time i didnt know what you were talking about and you refused to talk normal people english.

By  wyldshaman, at Saturday, February 18, 2006 10:07:00 AM  

Funny how things work. You start using big words and I still babble like an idiot. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess.

By  NoBrainRequired, at Saturday, February 18, 2006 11:39:00 AM  

All we are saying, is give peace a chance.

By  Brancibeer, at Saturday, February 18, 2006 7:35:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Thursday, February 16, 2006

In the news 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/16/2006 04:14:00 PM

Quail hunting with VP Cheney

The article after the game is pretty good too. Not much sport in shooting up pen raised birds. Damn rednecks just like killing and shootin thangs thats all.

And has anybody been following the Daily Show's coverage on this incident?! Its been fucking hilarious.

"The VP insists that even with the knowledge that he has today, he STILL would have chosen to shoot Mr. Pennington in the face."

0 comments Post a Comment

# posted by josh @ 2/16/2006 03:34:00 PM

discuss

or not if you dont wanna get into it. just thought it's kind of amusing.

10 comments

Confronting the issue like a warzone battle will do no good for either cause. I've given up on that part. Instead why not stress our similarities and ponder our differences? This leaves an open middle, gray zone between the two where people are free to roam about. Starting a war polarizes both sides and locks the gates. Can i get an eh men?

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:13:00 PM  

great site, it puts all those crazy thoughts of mine about how bad religion is into eliquint, well formed arguments instead of the drunken rambelings of someone who had never really gone to church

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:18:00 PM  

i agree with brian, but that same argument can beused by both sides in the war to muddle the other. by accepting any amount of religion, science looses. by religion accepting any blame/science then it leaves the science people with thier foot in the door to actually disprove all this and get people to drop it.

it would be a nice gesture but not a real solution to the problem.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 4:20:00 PM  

I've given up on reading long arguments on athiest web sites. They all say the same thing and probably 99% of the web traffic they get is from athiests anyway. What's the fuckin point? I'm sure you don't visit many jesus praising sites right?

I don't think that I am personally going to re-educate someone about their beliefs. If my beliefs, morals and values are inquired about then I'll voice them. Believing or not is something that has to be discovered on a personal. For me, the most important question is "why?", and never accepting a good enough answer.

By  ron, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 6:30:00 PM  

ron, in this "war" you're on our side, and your best offence with that attitude would be to mentor little kids and help them form a healthy view of the world, don't let parents continue the miseducation provided by religion. get to them while they are young and influence them for life.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:50:00 PM  

this religious crap gets me going. look at this, its the only stuff i feel the need to post about. damn it.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 8:51:00 PM  

"Judge not, that you be not judged.
"For with what judgement you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
"Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Matthew 7:1-5

By  wyldshaman, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 9:32:00 PM  

I really like Brian's analogy.
Chump stop spewing your hate. hahaah

Personally I subscribe to the idea (it may just be my own) that Jesus was a prophet, thus he could see things most couldn't. He had some life-changing revelations (a la Mohammed or Sidhartha Buddha.) He did exist. He was probably very charismatic and when he talked, people listened. Because actions speak louder, he lived his life by a.....well....by the golden rule, really! And I think the extent of his divinity was that he was in good graces and harmony with the workings of the world and of its folk. That's as far as it goes for me though.
Much of what he said is just parables for being a good family/community member. You know what else is a parable? The Kingdom of Heaven!! It's a State of Mind you dolts. The kingdom of heaven is what a Maslow-inspired psych-guy would call Self-Actualization. It's inside of you. Shall I expand on this? Nope I'm going to bed.
Overall though I think Jesus' divinity was established no sooner than at the Church council of Nicea like 150-200 years after he died. It was a power move. Anyone really think the King James bible version is the same as the originals?


For more Christianity Warzone, see: Multipurpose Workermonkey blog; September-October 2004.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:14:00 PM  

"Nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:21

By  wyldshaman, at Friday, February 17, 2006 8:44:00 AM  

See? Jesse's on point.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Friday, February 17, 2006 5:45:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Transformer 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/15/2006 01:00:00 PM

Nice work engineer. Nice work.

1 comments

Majestic

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Wednesday, February 15, 2006 6:04:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Monday, February 13, 2006

another amazing moment in humanity 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 2/13/2006 06:57:00 PM

i'm sitting around the office waiting far too long for a trucker to show up and i found this on the internet. i guess it for porn stars, i'm not sure who else would have the motivation to do this.

0 comments Post a Comment

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Amerikansk Fotboll 

# posted by Damon @ 2/12/2006 02:46:00 PM

Booyah! I return to the gridiron as practice began yesterday for Djurgården IF Amerikansk Fotboll, and I could barely walk today. I didn't think the conditioning was as hard as HK's, but hey, I'm pushing 25, not 18, and I'm sore. I was told I am probably one of the top 3 speed guys on the team, and I guess I am one of the 3 lightest, so I will probably switch to CB and may try some return work. This is fine, since supposedly there is a lot of passing in this league, and it was only the lack of it that led me to Safety/RB in high school. It is also cool here, because the team plays in the second division and fully intends to win the championship and change to the top division for next year. That is a bit ambitious for my taste, so I was pleased to hear they have a D-3 team as well. The two practice together, so I will play wherever they need. We have a receiver that is probably 6'4" and 190lbs, and the linemen are 300-400lbs, so yeah that D-3 team looks pretty good since I was down to 150lbs after college. And it's kinda crap, but not surprising given the lack of support for the sport, but I have to buy my own equipment. I wonder what they do with the money from sponsorships, as the jerseys do have a few logos on them. Looking to be #21 this time around. So yeah again, I will be here until Sept. just playing football, working less than 25 hours a week, and maybe doing a little thesis pre-work, but mainly enjoying 18.5 hours of daylight and the hot-as-you've-heard Swedish women (with whom so far I am not accomplishing anything whatsoever if you are wondering.)

2 comments

Better hit the weights Lane! (for fotbol and the ladies)

By  Brancibeer, at Sunday, February 12, 2006 5:48:00 PM  

I've been resistance training since Dec (ok it was for skiing, but strong legs, good balance, and ACL protection help in football too,) and probably have at least 5lbs back on, but today in just the second day of practice, I slightly strained my hamstring. Luckily next practice isn't until Sunday, so it should be good to go.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 14, 2006 5:57:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Travel weary 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/11/2006 03:15:00 PM

Its been a hell of a month folks. That damn stomach bug/ whatever really made it fun too. Good news is that I think I finally kicked it (although it has relapsed 2x already). Yup, hopefully ole Branciteam is working his way back up to the 95% health (we leave 5% error margin....standard statistical procedure).

I left last Friday to attend a Sea Turtle workshop in Coastal Town.. (Yay, we love working the weekends btw). That went preeettty good. I was having kinds of mental problems Friday night. You see (to make a long story short), I think the combination of a physical ailment (stomach bug) mixed with the mental stew of nervousness/ anxiety/ stress/ travel weariness/ ex-girlfriend produced weird weird effects. Hard to explain, but when you find yourself alone in a restaurant on a Friday night trying to keep your brain from exiting your skull while not passing out...maybee youll know what I mean. Those were the bad times. I managed to pull the team together in the hotel room with some solitary relaxing exercises. Phew that was close. The next day’s events went fairly well given the circumstances. I gave a decent professional presentation in front of 260 people to the best of my monotone, unpassionite ability. (No biggie, those things take years of practice). Next baby step- heading to fire school down in Central State with coworker. Oh man, me and coworker really haven’t been getting along lately. He’s kind of an arrogant, selfish dick you see. And our deep divisional views about our professional field frustrate the hell me. Traffic in Coastal Town didnt help. Made it to halfway hotel location good enough with only a few momentarily occasions of my mind and body trying to separate from eachother internally. “Come on Team Hang in there buddy.” (Such self pep talks were necessary) Sunday morning: Hmmm, still no appetite. Looks like another forced breakfast. Never underappreciate your hunger sense doobies. It kinda sucks when you have to force yourself to eat something for the pure reason of knowing that your body needs it to subside....and thats it. Its like putting gas in your car- time consuming and unsatisfying (and the fumes make you nauseous).

Made it fire school with plenty of time. Facilities were nice. The training center was in the middle of the woods with a dining hall, rec hall, dorms, etc. Ok, if I try real hard....I can pretend this is summer vacation camp or something. Yeah, yeah this is a vacation. Ok, so why do I just want to go home?

The next 3 days consisted of mind numbing lectures administered by, and taken with, mostly dumb dudes. There were lots of dumb people (many were self admittedly so). I’m talking about thick, hairy, good ole boy, redneck foresters. Man, these forester types were their own breed, raised in the back country woods of fuckyoursisterville. They all wore these old school uniforms, moved in groups, and chewed lots of tobbacco (of course the southern accent is a given). These guys had quite an impression on me. It took a while to get used to them and now whenever I see Smokey the bear..I see him with a big old hunkin’ wad in his mouth. Seriously look at him. He’s juicing...

To their credit, the foresters were ALL good guys. They were nice, helpful, and would give you the shirt off their backs if you asked. If you could put up with their elementary school sarcasm, their tough standoffendness was really just their shyness. I bonded with many by the end of the week.

The whole no appetite thing lasted to about Wednesday night when I finally started actually wanting to eat again. By thursday I no longer had to consciously control my subconscious internal processes (eat now, sleep now). Maybe it was because the bug finally died, maybe it was because I finally felt comfortable, maybe it was because I cried for the first time in months, maybe its because I talked to ex-girlfriend, maybe I scheduled too much within the month, maybe its not over, maybe I still have no fucking idea.

Ok, now to the good stuff, I was at fire school right. Well we got to burn the shit out of some woods boys. The science behind it all is really interesting too. Different firing techniques meet different objectives (killing stuff, seeding stuff, reducing fuel load, etc). Fire behavior is governed by weather, fuels, topography, and you. The class was a week long for a reason I suppose. We got to burn on Wednesday and Thursday, my group getting the 2 most difficult and biggest burns. I actually was burn boss on the first one (the guy who is in charge of it all). Although, that was mostly just for practicing purposes- I was the least experienced and relied heavily on the actual instructor. If it were truly up to me...I’d probably be in jail right now for recklessly setting the state on fire (if you ask me that wouldnt be such a bad thing). Here are some cool pics of the burns:













The beauty of it all


In summary- I pulled through these last couple weeks...or I was pulled thru. Either way, I’m here now, at home, destressing and feeling healthy for the first time in a long time. Lets work from here on out. 25 is going to be a good year god damn it.

(Stay tuned for next week when I elaborate on how 25 is going to be a damn shitty year).

9 comments

Something tells me that you didn't have to go to a school to know how to burn a tree. ha ha ha ha bam!

By  ron, at Sunday, February 12, 2006 11:16:00 PM  

Ok smart ass. Can you tell me the optimal RH, Dispersion Index, Temperature, Wind speed and Mixing height for a summer time burn?

By  Brancibeer, at Monday, February 13, 2006 11:25:00 AM  

The answer is 42.

By  ron, at Monday, February 13, 2006 9:43:00 PM  

he's now a professional 14 year old boy. i guess burning things is just instinct.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:49:00 PM  

One of the subjects during the lectures was "Why we Burn". And among others (maintaining ecological integrity, controlling exotics, reducing fuel load, etc) one of the redneck reasons was, "Because we can and its fun".

By  Brancibeer, at Tuesday, February 14, 2006 6:12:00 PM  

Why you burn is what I was wondering, and "controlling exotics" is the only self explanatory one in that short list, oh and the redneck one. But burning doesn't even seem like the best way to control invasive species, nor do I get the other two.

By  Damon, at Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:17:00 AM  

Why We Burn? To get high.

By  Anonymous, at Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:38:00 AM  

Here you go Damon:
1. Fire is a natural process in many plant and forest communities. Removing fire from these has the same results as taking rain out of a rain forest. Plants and animals that depend on fire are lost.
2. Frequent fires remove the build-up of excess dead, flammable plant material that can result in
destructive wildfires when the woods ignite from a lightning strike or a careless match.
3. Prescribed burning recycles nutrients back into the soil that supports new growth.
4. Fire dependent species, like longleaf pine, are choked as seedlings by competing species that are naturally neutralized by fire.
5. Frequent fires maintain the open, park-like condition in pine forests that early explorers and
settlers traveled through with ease.
6. Prescribed fires maintain the scenic beauty of the landscape, because many plant species depend
upon fire to trigger the setting of blooms and seeds for the continuation of the species.
7. Frequent fire maintains plant and animal diversity in the landscape, enhancing habitats so that the
land is able to support healthy plant and animal populations. There is no real management substitute for frequent fire.
8. Seeing smoke from a prescribed burn means there is good land management and stewardship going on.
9. Prescribed burning helps prepare sites for planting new forests, and helps manage pasture and range lands.
10. Prescribed fire helps prevent the loss of property and protects Florida’s timberland values,
especially in the urban/wildland interface.

By  Brancibeer, at Wednesday, February 15, 2006 12:00:00 PM  

so in the last decade all we've done is find better excuses for burning stuff. now we're not causing trouble, we're saving the forests! don't teach your kids that one.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Wednesday, February 15, 2006 1:25:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Friday, February 10, 2006

Tax Time 

# posted by wyldshaman @ 2/10/2006 08:03:00 PM

Just another easy tax return done. Im so very happy that everything can now be done online and for free. Takes about 1/2 hour for the Federal Return and about 10min for the state. I really hope everyone is doing things this way. Your returns are direct deposited to your checking account in about a week.

Free File IRS Index
CT Web File

1 comments

Big ups, bruddah.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Friday, February 10, 2006 9:10:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Blog forthcoming 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/10/2006 05:36:00 PM

Hey all. I want to thank all of you who thought of me on my B-day this week. It really means alot. And yes chump, my birthday was certainly comcastic.

I've got a lot to say but not alot of time to say it, hence i will be postponing the catch up. I've got to do some laundry and get in some serious R+R right now. Later doobies.

0 comments Post a Comment

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

B^2 turns 25 

# posted by ron @ 2/08/2006 07:15:00 PM

Happy Birthday!

Thats right. History has show that Branciteam usually acts the most mature because he is.

4 comments

Monkey see, monkey do. Brancidiaper's surrounded with retirement communities. (I actually don't know that).

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Thursday, February 09, 2006 9:57:00 PM  

yeah happy birthday.

he's not surrounded by old people as much as he is dirty rednecks. fucking south.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Friday, February 10, 2006 1:05:00 PM  

Well, your both a little bit correct. But i think ron is all correct.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, February 10, 2006 5:41:00 PM  

happy b day man, even if it is a couple of days late... Branciteam Assemble!

By  murphy, at Saturday, February 11, 2006 12:57:00 PM  

Post a Comment

show your monkey some love 

# posted by josh @ 2/08/2006 01:43:00 PM

i know that some of you dont read my other blog, so i thought it would be nice to post something here on the workermonkey to let you all know how things are going lately.

school is busier than ever. this is undoubtedly my busiest semester of any type of school ever. i have 6 classes (adv tax, trusts and estates, native american law, sales, professional responsibility, and a jurisprudence seminar). in addition to that, i'm a volunteer for the vita program, which meets weekly and helps local residents complete their federal, state, and local tax returns. i think the experience with clients will be good for both my resume, and myself as a future practitioner. also, somewhere in there, i have to locate, apply for, and hopefully obtain summer employment in a legal related field. i'm not sure that i want to work for a firm (or if i do, i would want it to be a smaller one), so i am also applying to entities like life insurance companies, fidelity, and hte like. fun stuff.

on the social side of things, my golf game has dramatically improved in the last year, so lets hope i havent regressed over the winter. also i'm now dating someone. i know her from jmu, and she's absolutely fantastic. great personality, great sense of humor, really fun, and great looking. so thats...great.

otherwise, santos is doing quite well, still hyper as always and loves people. i dont think i could've ended up with a better dog. he's awesome.

hope you all are doing well, and i enjoy checking the monkey (multiple times) each day.

peace out

barns

----------------------

UPDATE per NBR's request: my other blog

2 comments

I didn't even know you had a blog! Could you post a link?

By  NoBrainRequired, at Wednesday, February 08, 2006 5:20:00 PM  

love thy monkey as you love thy self

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Thursday, February 09, 2006 9:42:00 PM  

Post a Comment

happy birthday brancibeer 

# posted by josh @ 2/08/2006 08:55:00 AM

0 comments Post a Comment

Monday, February 06, 2006

Get Lost! 

# posted by murphy @ 2/06/2006 09:40:00 PM

First hike today into the backcountry north of Bridger bowl. Solo hike to a place called Bradleys Meadows. Dont really need any avalanche gear there cause the risk of sliding is low. Decided to hike up higher above the meadows to some really steep shit. Smoked a one-y and started down the slope. Very deep and untouched. Skied down behind Bradleys and realized i was too low. traversed across for a while and found some tracks, followed them down a long steep trail. Great snow and good turns but i ended up a couple of miles away from Bridger in this cross country park, Bohart. Up and down the cat track of the cross country trail with my fat ass heavy powder skis. Found the lodge to this place and luckly found a ride back to the mt with a ski schooler broad-she pretty much gave me a ride all the way back to the ski shop and gave me a granola bar, which was sweet. Its pretty much the best case senario of what could of happened out in the middle of nowhere late in the day and by myself. Awesome.

next time im going to bring the gear and a partner that knows where to go.

im gonna have a beer and eat some food, ill talk to you guys later

murphy

5 comments

my boss said he was about to send out for patrol because i was gone for a bout three hours

By  murphy, at Monday, February 06, 2006 9:57:00 PM  

get a radio man

By  ron, at Monday, February 06, 2006 11:32:00 PM  

You are lucky to be alive. But it sounds like you learned so that's good.

"ski schooler broad," what is it, 1920 out there?

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 07, 2006 6:33:00 AM  

Actually I guess the "alive" bit is a little much because for your whole story to have happened in just three hours, you weren't very far.

By  Damon, at Tuesday, February 07, 2006 6:35:00 AM  

the men are men and the sheep are nervous, if thats what your asking. there was no chance of me dying unless i broke my leg and was out there for a couple of days. I had a rough idea of where i was and i had alot of water.

By  murphy, at Tuesday, February 07, 2006 7:37:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Cooking for Engineers 

# posted by Damon @ 2/06/2006 11:49:00 AM

I like pancakes. I don't bake much, can't cook, and am lazy, so I used to get the just-add-water mix. But the American stuff is expensive here, and the Swedish mix is more like crepes, you know kind of chewy rather than light and fluffy. So I googled "cooking for engineers" (with quotes) and it returned over 400,000 sites. I only knew about it from the links on this blog, I had no idea it was so popular ("over 200 GB per month in September 2005"), which is cool because I think the way the recipes are listed there makes so much more sense (that is, it makes any sense, the regular way is just tradition, and has absolutely nothing to do with the way you actually prepare a meal.) I also noticed that at the bottom of the site, it lists the copyright along with "Tabular Recipe Notation Patent Pending." Awesome, the guy gets a BSEE/Comp Sci from Berkeley then his big accomplishment is revolutionizing cookbooks. Anywho, now I just have to figure out Swedish for "baking powder" and such.

4 comments

Oil-less by 2020, good for Sweden, good for the world.

By  wyldshaman, at Wednesday, February 08, 2006 10:27:00 AM  

I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think that by 2020 Sweden will be able to travel around without oil (cars, trains, buses etc). Sure, maybe generated and grid power but transportation... I have my doubts.

By  ron, at Wednesday, February 08, 2006 6:37:00 PM  

Sweden's grid power is already over 97% oil and gas free (it's roughly half hydro and half nuclear,) and the train system buys only renewable power. Most people use public transit. A recent toll to enter Sthlm has reduced city traffic by 30%. Saab makes a version of the 9-5 that runs on Ethanol, which is widely available here. Sweden could be oil-less by 2015 if they wanted, but they already use so little, they don't make it a priority.

By  Damon, at Thursday, February 09, 2006 12:42:00 AM  

Well Damon, this is your ballgame, make it happen. I'll stick to FEA, maybe someday I'll design some wind turbines.

By  ron, at Thursday, February 09, 2006 6:46:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Friday, February 03, 2006

The Progressive Beat / Kolpack Calls Me On One(2 part post) 

# posted by wyldshaman @ 2/03/2006 08:15:00 PM

Here i am listening to my friday night Reggae show thinking what is it i like about Raggae anyway? I mean i dont like most Rap or Dance music. After some contimplation i realized Raggae is like Black Folk music. I know thats far to simple, but think about it, instead of just trying to sell records, there is normally some message about social injustice or love or something meaningfull underlying the music. I think thats why i like it, its not about blowing coke or beating women. Its good music with a positive message. I think, but maybe its the beat and accents?

Part II
So last night i was on an Bush-wacking rant at Tino's and Kolpack called me on some shit i was talking about old Osama. Now i got all this stuff in my head and at times im not sure what is true and what is not, i do make an attempt to stick to the facts. So today i made it a point to back up my statements or place an official retraction. But alas i did not just make it up.
Exibit A:In 1989, the exhausted Soviets finally quit Afghanistan. With his mentor Azzam dead at the hands of an assassin and his job seemingly done, bin Laden went home to Jidda. The war had stiffened him. He became increasingly indignant over the corruption of th e Saudi regime and what he considered its insufficient piety. His outrage boiled over in 1990. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia, bin Laden informed the royal family that he and his Arab Afghans were prepared to defend the kingdom. The offer was spurned. Instead, the Saudis invited in U.S. troops for the first time ever. Like many other Muslims, bin Laden was offended by the Army's presence, with its Christian and Jewish soldiers, its rock music, its women who drove and wore pants. Saudi Arabia has a singular place among Islamic countries as the cradle of Islam and as home to Mecca and Medina, which are barred to non-Muslims.(From Time)

0 comments Post a Comment

On the topic of sex.... 

# posted by Brancibeer @ 2/03/2006 10:16:00 AM

From http://www.hbcprotocols.com/newsletter/newsletter22.html

Semen acts as an anti-depressant
Exclusive from New Scientist

Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.

The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations.

"I want to make it clear that we are not advocating that people abstain from using condoms," says Gordon Gallup, the psychologist at the State University of New York who led the team. "Clearly an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease would more than offset any advantageous psychological effects of semen."

Suicide attempts

His team divided 293 female students into groups depending on how often their partners wore condoms, and assessed their happiness using the Beck Depression Inventory, a standard questionnaire for assessing mood. People who score over 17 are considered moderately depressed.

The team found that women whose partners never used condoms scored 8 on average, those who sometimes used them scored 10.5, those who usually used them scored 15 and those who always used them scored 11.3. Women who weren't having sex at all scored 13.5.

What's more, the longer the interval since they last had sex, the more depressed the women who never or sometimes used condoms got. But the time since the last sexual encounter made no difference to the mood of women who usually or always used condoms.

The team also found that depressive symptoms and suicide attempts were more common among women who used condoms regularly compared with those who didn't. The results will appear in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

And Gallup told New Scientist that his team already has unpublished data from a larger group of 700 women confirming these findings. In this study, the always-use-condoms group were more depressed than the usually-use-condoms group, suggesting the discrepancy in the smaller study was a sampling error, he says.

Alternative explanations

But is it really the semen that affects women's mood? The researchers say they looked at alternative explanations such as whether women who seldom use condoms took oral contraceptives, how often they had sex, the strength of relationships, and the possibility that having a certain type of personality influenced the decision to use condoms. But none of these factors can explain their findings, they say.

In fact, the results aren't a complete surprise because semen does contain several mood-altering hormones, including testosterone, oestrogen, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, prolactin and several different prostaglandins. Some of these have been detected in a women's blood within hours of exposure to semen.

The question many people will ask is whether oral sex could have the same mood-enhancing effects. "Since the steroids in birth control pills survive the digestion process, I would assume that the same holds true for at least some of the chemicals in semen," Gallup says.

"I understand that among some gay males who have anal intercourse, it is not uncommon to attempt to retain the semen for extended periods of time," he adds. "Suggesting, of course, that there may be psychological effects." But further research will be needed to confirm whether exposure to semen through oral or anal sex really does affect mood in heterosexual or homosexual partners.

But why should semen have such an effect? "It makes no sense to me for this phenomenon to have evolved," says Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. But Gallup counters that men whose semen promotes long-term mood enhancement might have more chances to indulge in sexual activity.

Raj Persaud

3 comments

So you know what this means ladies....further evidence that oral sex is good for you. Keep up the steller work scientists!

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, February 03, 2006 12:06:00 PM  

so, is this why gay means happy?

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Friday, February 03, 2006 4:04:00 PM  

Yeah that whole gay anal retention kinda came out of left field.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Friday, February 03, 2006 5:10:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Swedish men complain of sex discrimination 

# posted by Damon @ 2/03/2006 09:31:00 AM

Published: 3rd February 2006 13:09 CET

The number of Swedish men who believe they have been discriminated on the basis of their gender has increased dramatically, according to the equality ombudsman's office, Jämo.

On July 1st last year an amendment was made to the law against discrimination, specifically banning gender discrimination. This has led to a rapid rise in the number of incidents reported by men, who were previously under-represented.

Of 56 cases reported under the new amendment, 45 concerned complaints made by men. Added to a series of complaints under the previous legislation, Jämo is now handling a total of 82 incidents reported by men in 2005, compared to just 23 the year before.

The complaints include different age restrictions for men and women for entry into bars and higher prices for dating services.

13 complaints concern Sweden's social services, labour market policies and unemployment benefits. However, none of them has yet been brought before the courts.

In total, Jämo received 235 reports of discrimination last year under the three laws which the ombudsman is responsible for supervising.

171 of those complaints were made with reference to equality legislation. 65 incidents concerned employment conditions, usually salary. That is a marked increase on the year before when only 36 such matters were reported.

Most cases still centre on women who are dissatisfied with wage differences in their workplace.

The next largest category, with 55 complaints in 2005, deals with companies' recruitment procedures.

Trial periods cut short, dismissals and transfers accounted for 27 complaints, which included cases of women who were not able to return to continue their work due to pregnancy.

Jämo closed 197 cases last year. In 79 of those the conclusion was that there was no discrimination - or no evidence of it.

Four cases were brought before the labour courts. Jämo won three of those and lost a case where a female employee of the army claimed to have been bullied by her colleagues.

The Local© The Local Europe AB 2006
News from Sweden in English

4 comments

this post is kind of ironic, in light of what happened on the office last night

By  josh, at Friday, February 03, 2006 9:54:00 AM  

maybe i just don't know how big sweden is but that still doesn't sound like a lot. any number that isn't in the thousands sounds pretty good to me.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Friday, February 03, 2006 4:05:00 PM  

I just heard on NPR that the Russian army is accused of bullying as well. Two conscripts had to get both legs amputated because of hazing (ugh.....)
Some officers literally sell soldiers to others. Like to have them build a house for someone.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Friday, February 03, 2006 5:00:00 PM  

Sweden has 9 million people. That is NYC's population spread across California. Because of society's focus on gender equality, many Swedish women prefer foreign men, finding Swedish men are not manly enough. Ah the irony is thick. I FW this to Ellie and she had a lightning fast response about similar stories in the US and a article defending feminism I guess? I didn't read it yet. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/pollitt Ellie is a feminist for those of you know don't know her, and she usually takes weeks to answer my emails.

By  Damon, at Friday, February 03, 2006 5:23:00 PM  

Post a Comment

Turning 25 

# posted by Damon @ 2/03/2006 01:38:00 AM

I think this is a good topic, but the poll options won't do it justice. So let's hear the ideas here.

Personally, I group ages 23-29 or so. This can be the most independent time of our lives. After college, we finally get a real income (maybe) and become fully indepedent of our parents (maybe.) Although I am sure a lot of people were independent before, and an increasing number is not yet, I for example, am not living abroad and studying another two years on my own (actually I am, but I have enough money only because I lived expense-free for a year.) But on the other hand, as we get farther in jobs and become financially more independent, it's likely we will be getting into family life and thus losing indenpedence. So, right now is the time we can do what we want.

I have a friend that just turned 27 and she talks like she's 60. She is trying to plan all these travels and things to do as though she won't be able to do them in five years. I think she's nuts, but it is wise to have some sense of urgency to be sure you get to the things you want at all.

I was surprised to find that the guy I am renting a central Stockholm flat from has just turned 24, and is going traveling for four months. Those two things are both normal I guess, but how can he put them together? He owns an expensive flat, and is taking 4-5 months off of work to travel. Maybe there is some Swedish governmental grant program for young men to take sabbaticals, I wouldn't put it past them.

9 comments

Im unsure about Sweden, but if i remeber correctly, in Germany at age 18 you had a 1 year service to government commitment to fullfill. This is either in the Army or in civil service. After that you get a year of free time to travel around the world. Then at age 20 you either go to a university or go to work.

By  wyldshaman, at Friday, February 03, 2006 9:16:00 AM  

Sweden has service too, but many students can skip it. I have some classmates that did it, and some that didn't. Does "you get a year of free time.." mean that someone is paying your expenses? Some Americans and Britons take a year between high school and uni, but there's no money for it.

By  Damon, at Friday, February 03, 2006 9:31:00 AM  

Funny how you equate family life with losing independence! The way i see it happening is that things just change. Yes, a simple explanation but thats the best way i can describe it. Your priorities in life change, your attitude changes, you want different things. So when that 'family life' time comes you dont see it as a bad thing. You want it to happen.

Also, with the addittion of 'real' income you lose independence. Your tied to your job stuck with what...2 weeks a year for vacation?

But its not all negative. I enjoy growing wiser and more mature. You can develop as a person and get involved in hobbies/clubs/whatever in your spare time and do the things you love. Your life becomes more focused on your passions and you know what you want out of it. Likewise we have to remember not to become narrow minded and stuck in our ways.

By  Brancibeer, at Friday, February 03, 2006 10:42:00 AM  

Having a family is a huge loss of independence. When I am done with my studies here, I could move anywhere in the world, and no one would really complain. But if I had a wife and kids, that is many more lives the move would impact, and I'd have to investigate all their situations and input. But I don't view it as negative either, independence is nice, but not a life goal. Income does give you freedom and independence, so long as you don't decide that means you can afford a bigger house, or more expensive car. Actually a better way for financial independence is to spend less. I had saved enough money to live in Sthlm without working, but now, because I got a job here, I decided I could afford a better flat in the city, now that I more than doubled my rent, I have to work, whereas before I did not, so it's my spending that hurt my independence. And, of course if you have tons of money, then you don't have to do anything at all except invest it wisely.

By  Damon, at Friday, February 03, 2006 1:10:00 PM  

never touch the principle. ever.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Friday, February 03, 2006 4:25:00 PM  

What principle?

By  Damon, at Friday, February 03, 2006 5:24:00 PM  

never touch the principle investent. if you were to win a million dollars tomarrow, don't touch it. just put it all in the bank and don't touch it. live off the intrest but don't touch the million. its large enough to work for you. i think the saying goes best for kids of rich people. don't let your kid screw up everything you've built because they're a fucking retard with money. thus trust funds.

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Saturday, February 04, 2006 9:48:00 AM  

Oh ok I got ya, and agree. I thought you meant principle as in "basic rule" not in financial terms.

With current interest rates, I think you'd need about a million with a conservative lifestyle to get by. Which is nice because a couple of years ago, you'd need five million. But it all depends on how good you are with if. Of course, if like you say you don't want to put it at risk, and if you are living off the income, then you can't get much more agressive than CDs, which by the way people, are almost 5% for six months now so no one should have money sitting in their 1% or less checking account if they won't be using it in the next half year.

By  Damon, at Saturday, February 04, 2006 11:15:00 AM  

Two ideas from Thoreau:

"the man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off."

"But I would say to my fellows, once for all, As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail."

By  Damon, at Saturday, February 04, 2006 11:57:00 AM  

Post a Comment

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

three cheers for februrary 

# posted by murphy @ 2/01/2006 09:55:00 PM

that may be one to many r's in the word but what do you want? going to the Whailers show tonight with lady friend and roommates. a band called eight track mind is opening for them. Sweet local hip hop band. Got the night off from work and am psyched. Going to be a great show and after party.

Shoulder-healed
Knee-hyperextended MCL but at 95% at this point
Head-fucked

Good tiimes and... well you know the rest

keep me posted.

if anyone wants to comes ski let me know

Ill be in san diego march 1-16th

Murph

1 comments

Insert 'Brass Bonanza' here. Go Whale!

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:44:00 PM  

Post a Comment

hangovers don't help 

# posted by Supreme Monkey Overlord @ 2/01/2006 11:49:00 AM

thats why everyone tells you not to drink your problems away. it has nothing to do with alcohol being bad for you. The next day when the problems haven't gone away, not only do they still exist, but now you're hungover. And hangovers don't help. ugghhh.... its been a rough couple of days.

5 comments

ugh dude, I was feelin it a bit this morning and I only had 5 beers. Just don't make the same mistake tonight.

By  ron, at Wednesday, February 01, 2006 2:00:00 PM  

You can add drugs to that list too (and in combination). You dont want to find yourself locked in your room at 12 am cursing to yourself while clutching and shaking your head. Uhhh...yeah...that was a bad night.

Thats why i only try to drink and do drugs when i'm happy. : )

By  Brancibeer, at Wednesday, February 01, 2006 5:34:00 PM  

Atom Smasher lent me "A Million Little Pieces" which is huge right now since that dude got called on his shit and some was false. But man......I'll tell ya......every chapter makes me feel like I'm going thru negative drug combinations and watching horror movies at the same time.

By  DJ Booze Piñata, at Wednesday, February 01, 2006 7:06:00 PM  

I bet him and the publisher are laughing all the way to the bank. He better save it because he probably won't be published again.

By  ron, at Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:11:00 PM  

Yeah, Oprah put the smack down on him.

By  Brancibeer, at Thursday, February 02, 2006 2:43:00 PM  

Post a Comment