Disgusting Happenings In Southlake, Texas

     Down in Texas they have a new law that requires teachers to present multiple perspectives when discussing “widely debated and currently controversial” issues.

     According to news articles there was a tense school board meeting Monday night in Southlake, Texas after many parents defended a district administrator who told teachers to offer students books showing “opposing” perspectives on the Holocaust. 

     How can the Holocaust be considered controversial? Are the parents and the school administrator saying it didn't happen? Or, are they saying it wasn't a big deal? Or, that it was OK?

 NBC Story

There are NOT Two Sides

Scratch Out, auto scratch remover

     I own a 2020 silver Ford and the other day noticed some light scratches on the left rear door. After a quick application of Scratch Out and some light buffing with a soft cloth the scratches completely disappeared. 

    This product got some negative reviews on Amazon, but I suspect the reason was because the scratches were too deep. This product (or any scratch remover) is designed to makes scratches less visible, not completely eliminate them. 

     Also, a number of people wrote that it required a lot of elbow grease, but it did work. Again, I suspect how well the product works is going to depend on how deep the scratches are but for light ones it works perfectly. In fact, that's what the advertisement says...it removes fine scratches.

     The product also works on yellowed, scratched and hazed headlights and taillights. It will also work well for "paint transfers." 

     For about $10 you'll get a bottle that will probably be a lifetime supply.

Captain Hawthorne C. Gray, Balloon Pilot

     Beginning with the 18th century, ballooning has continually achieved higher altitudes. 

     From a 1783 flight that reached 10,000 feet to the US Army Air Corps' Captain Hawthorne C. Gray’s fatal ascent to 42,470 feet in 1927, the maximum altitude was only limited by the pilot’s need for oxygen. 

     Gray (February 16, 1889 – November 4, 1927) was a captain in the United States Army Air Corps who had some really bad luck in his ballooning efforts. 

     On March 9, 1927, he set an unofficial altitude record of 28,510 feet in a balloon, but passed out from hypoxia in the thin air. He regained consciousness just in time to drop ballast and slow his fall after the balloon descended on its own. 

     Then on May 4, he set an unofficial record for highest altitude reached by a human when he reached 42,470 feet. Because of the rapid descent of the balloon, Gray parachuted out at 8,000 feet, disqualifying him from recognition by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale which required that the balloonist land with his craft. 

     Finally, on November 4, 1927, Gray attempted to set an official record. He rose at about 4 mph which was half the speed he used for his March 9 flight. Somewhere between 30,000 and 34,000 feet Gray threw over an empty oxygen cylinder for ballast and the canister snapped his radio antenna, cutting him off from the ground. 

     After reaching an altitude of 40,000 feet, he lost consciousness. His final journal entry read “Sky deep blue, sun very bright, sand all gone.” His body was found the next day in the balloon basket in a tree near Sparta, Tennessee which is a little over 300 miles SE of the launch point. The balloon's barographs showed that Gray had reached a height between 43,000 and 44,000 feet. 

     There were various theories about the cause of his death. He may have severed his oxygen hose accidentally while cutting open bags of sand ballast. 

     It is also possible that Gray became too cold and tired to open the valve on one of his oxygen tanks. In what is known as the standard temperature lapse rate, the temperature decreases at the rate of approximately 3.5 degrees F. per thousand feet up to 36,000 feet, which is approximately –65 degrees F. Above this point, the temperature is considered constant up to 80,000 feet.

     It is also possible that one of his internal organs was ruptured by decreasing pressure. One balloon expert believed that Gray died during descent or on impact.

     The board of inquiry which investigated Gray's death concluded that he died because his clock stopped, causing him to lose track of his time on oxygen and exhaust his supply. 

     Gray was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His widowed wife and three remaining sons received his Army Air Corps insurance and $2,700, the equivalent of six month’s pay. 

     A helium filled balloon can float very high up into the atmosphere, but it can only rise up until the atmosphere surrounding it has the same weight as the helium in the balloon. This happens at about a height of 20 miles so, this is as far as a helium balloon can rise. Visit the Gray Archives

     Hot air balloons normally fly between 1,000 and 3,000 feet in the air. In the United States, hot air balloons must fly at least 1,000 feet over the highest obstacle within 2,000 horizontal feet when flying over populated areas. 

     Because of the unpredictable air conditions at higher altitudes, hot air balloons normally don’t surpass 3,000 feet. However, most balloon pilots prefer to fly at lower altitudes where the conditions tend to be more favorable and a bit warmer. Also, once you above 8,000 feet, the air starts to become thinner and going higher could result in elevation sickness. 

     In 2005, 67-year old Vijaypat Singhania, an Indian businessman and aviator took his hot air balloon 68,986 feet which is over 13 miles. Singhania actually set out to fly over 70,000 feet but didn’t quite reach his goal, but he broke the record of just under 65,000 feet. 

     The balloon Singhania used was outfitted for extreme altitudes and stood over 160 feet tall and weighed 44 tons when fully inflated. Singhania was in a pressurized cabin for just under five hours to accomplish the record. The flight began in Bombay and landed just 150 miles to the south. 

     On January 15th, 1991, Per Lindstrand and the eccentric billionaire Richard Branson flew a hot air balloon 4,767 miles from Japan to Canada. The balloon’s envelope was the largest ever built and it was able to reach the highest ever ground speed for a manned balloon, clocking in a max speed of 245 miles per hour. 

     On March 1, 1999, Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist together with Briton Brian Jones were able to go around the world in just 20 days in a balloon. 

     NASA's gigantic, ultra-thin balloon, known as the "Big 60," broke a record for highest balloon altitude maintained during flight in 2018. The football-stadium-size, 60-million-cubic-foot balloon was released from Fort Sumner, New Mexico and set a new sustainable-altitude record by reaching 159,000 feet (just over 30 miles) during an 8-hour flight on August 17, traveling into the stratosphere and ascending about 5 miles higher than the next-largest balloon prototype.  

 

Visit the NASA balloon site HERE

The Humanitarian Hangman

     George Phillip Hanna was a banker, farmer and volunteer hangman. 

     He was born in Epworth, a tiny community located about a 40 minute drive west of Evansville in southern Indiana. His great grandfather was a pioneer of the community and a wealthy landowner. Phil Hanna lived in the house his grandfather built throughout his life on the prime farmland of over 2.000 acres he and his brother had inherited. 

     Although he was a farmer, he was one of the wealthiest landowners in the county and he was known for his generosity and he was not thought to be selfish with his wealth. He was described as religious in philosophy but not in practice. He was known to drink often. 

     He had a morbid, irrational fear of pain and while he would himself supervise the hanging of a man, he could not bear to watch someone slaughter a chicken. Supervising the hangings caused him to become a "nervous wreck" for several days each time he returned home. 

     When Hanna was 22 years old he witnessed his first hanging. Due to inexperience of the hanging officials, the hanging was botched and it was a brutal one. A horrified Hanna decided to learn how to conduct a proper hanging the proper manner to conduct a hanging and become an expert. As a result Hanna quickly developed a reputation for providing quick, clean hangings without ever pulling a gallows lever himself. 

     He studied ropes, lengths of drop and he made dummies of men and practiced dropping them from the haymow in the barn. He learned how to tie nooses so the criminal's neck would be broken quickly and constructed traps that were designed to make the condemned man's fall smooth and quick. 

     Although Hanna never requested to pull the lever (he left that responsibility to to the local officials), he was widely known and sheriffs and other officials across the country often requested his assistance prior to an execution. As a consultant, he advised executioners in several States on the art and science of more humane hanging. 

     Hanna would arrive the day before an execution to advise and supervise for no pay, his only requirements being a bottle of whiskey and to keep any weapons used by a condemned murderer. He eventually acquired a large collection of weapons.

     Hanna's procedure was that when he arrived at the site of an execution, he visited the condemned and told them, "I am here to help you." He sometimes counseled the prisoners, assuring them their death would be painless. He also went to great lengths to see that the condemned man's last request was fulfilled. 

     Hanna stated, "I am of the opinion that there is no pain at all in a hanging that ls properly done. 1 think my work, therefore, is a type of humane service, although there are many who may have different opinions." He once witnessed an electrocution and concluded that they were less humane than hangings. Although he appeared to enjoy his notoriety, but said he disliked being called the hangman.

     Hanna carried all the accouterments needed for a hanging with him such as ropes and the handmade hoods his wife has sewn that were placed over the prisoner's head; the condemned man could choose either white or black as he preferred. Hanna also provided his own rope. 

     Eventually Hanna concluded that he could better perform his craft using his own equipment and built a portable 15-foot tall scaffold which could be disassembled and re-erected on site. Because Hanna believed that causing a man to wait for the drop was cruel, he had a prearranged signal for the man who pulled the drop lever. 

      In spite of all his precautions, not all of Hanna's hanging went well. On one occasion the rope broke and the hangee landed on the ground severely injured. After that incident, Hanna always brought two ropes to a hanging and tested their strength. 

     Shortly before he died Hanna's wife left him and he became quite ill and was admitted to a hospital in Evansville, Indiana. While hospitalized he would shake the railings of his bed in frustration and at times become quite belligerent. He died of hardening of the arteries.

The Facebook Meme Rabbit Hole

     For some people who live in the topsy-turvy world of conspiracy theories the lack of evidence is itself clear evidence that justifies their paranoia.  

     Others are just plain narcissist (meaning they are self-involved to the degree that they ignore the needs of those around them), avaricious, inappreciative, consider nothing sacred, calumnious, have no self-control, have no interest in what is good, they are reckless, puffed up, love pleasure and are always learning but not coming to knowledge and they resist the truth. 

     They believe the nuggets of truth they see on Facebook memes. These are not the type of people you want to argue (reason) with because there is no point trying to impart wisdom when they are just going to persistently ridicule your guidance. If you’ve ever tried to reason with an irrational person, you know that they have no interest in letting reason in, they just want to let their cynicism and ignorance out. Besides that, it's easy to start acting like the people around you. 

     Many Facebook users believe anything their friends post even if it even goes beyond believing. In fact, they believe more than half of fake news is true. 

 

Here's an interesting Forbes article.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia and Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Hippopotomonstroses-

quippedaliophobia has nothing to do with a hippopotamus. It's a fear of long words. 

     Fears and phobias are very real and the mind is capable of developing them towards virtually anything or any situation.

     Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is often considered funny or not real, but it is very real. People suffering from it tend to experience a great deal of anxiety when faced with long words. 

     Most phobias are caused by an event that is recorded by parts of the brain as being dangerous or deadly. The body then reacts as if the event is bound to happen repeatedly. A person with a severe phobia is literally held a prisoner by his feelings of anxiety and panic and this is exactly what some people feel when they see long words. 

     School children (or in some cases even adults) might have been laughed at or been been embarrassed or found themselves scared when reading or pronouncing long words. Their mind then continues to create the same response at future encounters even though there might not be any basis for it. Symptoms vary with the individual and they can be emotional or physical. 

     Many feel extreme anxiety or have a full blown panic attacks at the sight or thought of long words. Physical symptoms include shaking, crying, running away, trembling, feeling nauseated, experiencing headaches, rapid or accelerated heartbeat and shallow breathing etc. The person is likely to feel dread and terror as his mind creates a mental image of the person being embarrassed, faint or even passing out, etc. 

     Even if the person understands that his fear is irrational he is unable to control himself and is powerless to rationalize. 

     Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is another phobia with a long name. For some people symbols like the swastika or wiccan symbols instill fear in their minds and this phobia fear the number 666 and avoid talking or reading about it. 

     In the Christian religion the number 666 is representative of the Antichrist. a world leader controlled by Satan who reigns during the period prior to the return of Jesus. There is a verse in Revelation that states that 666 is the number of the name of Antichrist, but at this time nobody knows what that actually means. Saints of God living at that time will though. 

     The number is deeply feared because it is considered to be the sign of Satan and people with the fear of 666 avoid talking or reading about it and some Christians even refuse to buy a product if the bar code has a 666 on it. Some sufferers even go to the extent of not leaving their house on June 6th or 6/6 since they believe it is the day of the Antichrist even though the other 6 is missing. President Reagan and his wife, following his presidency, changed the street number of their house in California from 666 to 668. 

     There are different causes of specific phobias and often the anxiety or fear is a learned or acquired behavior. A phobia can also be conditioned through association. Like other phobias, the fear of the number 666 can lead to a full blown panic attack characterized by trembling or shaking, dizziness, nausea, sweating, increased heart rate, shortness of breath and a feeling of choking. Often the physical symptoms of a phobia can make the person feel like they are having a heart attack, a fear that they are dying or a feeling of detachment from the body. 

     With these symptoms being a very real possibility it's no wonder that many phobics are under constant stress because the constantly feel vulnerable and their fear can take over their day to day lives and affect their relationships. 

     There are treatments to get over a phobia or learn to cope with it. Talking about it with a trusted person or a professional can help. Professionals have techniques that can be used to overcome a phobia. For some people relaxation techniques can help them cope with anxiety and panic attacks. Deep breathing exercises can also help. And, in some cases meditation, positive affirmations and visualization techniques can help.

Got Lime Juice?

     Limes have a bad side! Contact with lime peels or lime juice followed by exposure to ultraviolet light may lead to phytophotodermatitis, which is sometimes called margarita photodermatitis or lime disease, not to be confused with Lyme disease. Bartenders handling limes and other citrus fruits while preparing cocktails may develop it. 

     The peels contain much higher concentrations of the compound causing the disease so the peels are considerably more phototoxic than the pulp. Persian limes appear to be more phototoxic than Key limes. 

     Other than that, squeezing lime juice into water improves the taste of the water (if you like limes and can be an encouragement to drink more of it. Limes, which have origins in Asia, pack a large nutritional punch. 

     According to the United States Department of Agriculture one lime with a 2-inch diameter contains:

* 20 calories

* 22 milligrams of calcium 

* 12 milligrams of phosphorus 

* 68 milligrams of potassium 

* 19.5 milligrams of vitamin C, which is about 20–25 percent of the recommended amount for adults

 

     As you probably know, limes were important to the British Navy in preventing scurvy, a disease that causes a person to feel tired and weak all the time, feel sad and irritable, have severe joint or leg pain, swollen and bleeding gums and perhaps the teeth may fall out, develop red or blue spots on the skin, especially the shins and it causes the skin to bruise easily. Read all about the cure for scurvy that was found by James Lind HERE.

 

In addition to the nutritional value, lime water has the following benefits:  

1. Helps improve diet 

A recent study showed that people who drank more water instead of sugary drinks improved their diet. People who drank water instead of sweetened drinks reduced the amount of sugar and fat they consumed on a daily basis. 

2. May aid digestion 

Limes contain compounds that help stimulate digestive secretions and the acid in the lime juice helps the saliva break down food. 

3. Reduces cancer chances 

Several studies show a link between citrus fruit and a reduced risk of esophageal cancer. However, more research is required. 

4. Improves skin quality 

Limes contain vitamin C and antioxidants which are ingredients in many commercial skin products. When consumed with water, the lime juice can help improve the appearance of aging skin. 

5. Promotes weight loss 

Drinking a glass of water with a meal to help prevent overeating. Also, the citric acid found in lime juice helps boost metabolism which aids in burning more calories and storing less fat. 

6. Improves immune system 

The vitamin C and antioxidants provide support to the immune system. When drunk regularly, lime water might help prevent and shorten the lifespan of colds and flu. 

7. Reduces risk of heart disease 

Limes contain high levels of magnesium and potassium which help support the overall health of the heart. In particular, potassium can improve blood flow and reduce blood pressure. There is also limited research indicating that limes may also help reduce cholesterol levels. 

8. Lowers blood sugar 

Some research indicates that vitamin C can help lower morning and post-meal blood sugar changes. The study actually focused on people taking supplements of vitamin C, the conclusion indicated that vitamin has the potential for improving a person’s sugar levels. 

9. Prevents the growth of micro-organisms 

According to some research, a compound found in limes can help prevent the accumulation of Streptococcus bacteria which is responsible for a variety of infections and health conditions, including respiratory and mouth infections. Drinking lime water may help stop these organisms from developing. 

10. Has anti-inflammatory properties

That's because limes are a good source of vitamin C which acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. 11. Helps prevent kidney stones Limes contain citric acid and vitamin C and both help break up or prevent the formation of some types of kidney stones.

Let's Boogy!

via GIPHY

What Does U.S. Law Say About Vaccines?

     With a wave of the mutated COVID-19 spreading throughout the United States, businesses, cities and some parts of the federal government are beginning to require proof of vaccination. Is it legal? What does the law actually say? 

     A Supreme Court case from 1905, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, was about a vaccination mandate. In the early 1900s, smallpox outbreaks were frequent and many people had been vaccinated earlier as children, but needed booster vaccinations. Massachusetts passed a law that gave authority to local boards of health to make a decision in response to an outbreak that smallpox vaccination should be mandatory for all residents if, in the opinion of the medical experts on the board, it was necessary to protect the public's health. 

     The city of Cambridge launched an outreach program to get everyone vaccinated, but Henning Jacobson objected because, he said, vaccines were ineffective and harmful. The Supreme Court said his arguments were nothing more than reciting alternative views that differed from medical opinion and they did not warrant an exemption. 

     It's common practice for health care employers to require flu shots and as well as other shots as a measure to protect patients, but also to some extent to protect health workers themselves. For years the Cleveland Clinic has required employees to receive annual flu shots. Other examples are hepatitis vaccinations and all of the childhood vaccines given as a condition of attending school. Also, college students in many states are required by law, not just by the college, to get a meningitis vaccine.  And, the federal government mandates vaccines for military service members. 

     Can government forcibly require you to get vaccinated? Legally, no, you can't be forced to take a vaccine. You're not going to be physically restrained and vaccinated. But, that's not the same as a vaccine mandate. A vaccine mandate means the government is requiring a person to be vaccinated as a condition of taking part in society or participating in a particular activity. The US Supreme Court has ruled that vaccine mandates at the state or local level can be established. 

     States and private employers are setting vaccine mandates because legally they can. In other words, the government and private entities cannot force people to get vaccinated, but they CAN make it a condition of going to work, going to college, attending certain events, etc. 

     Is an employer trying to maintain a safe workplace for employees and customers discriminating against the unvaccinated? While they can't keep unvaccinated people out of their business, they can require them to wear masks as long as they require everybody to wear masks. 

     What about religious exemptions? Most states recognize some religious exemptions, but not every state...California and New York, for example. To date, the Supreme Court has never ruled that people have a First Amendment right to reject vaccine mandates on religious grounds. 

     What about HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which includes privacy protection about when a person's health data is shared? Does a store or employer have the right to ask if a person is vaccinated? Legally the HIPAA privacy rule does not even remotely prevent that! 

     The privacy rule is about what a hospital has to do to protect a patient's medical information, not what a business can do. Businesses are free to ask, but a person is not required to answer if they don't want to. 

     Short version...state and federal governments can't force people to receive the coronavirus vaccine against their will, but lawmakers can create a mandate that imposes consequences for not being vaccinated. And, that's the way it is...for right now at least. 

 

As of yesterday the Supreme Court made THIS ruling!