Minor Wisdom

And I thought Boswell admired Johnson.

This Onion piece, like many others, is funny on at least two levels. Here’s the opening:

Kitchen-Floor Conflict Intensifies As Rival House Cats Claim Same Empty Bag
MAPLEWOOD, MO—Ongoing turmoil in the troubled kitchen-floor region of the Branson household reached a boiling point Tuesday, as relations between rival house cats Boswell and Johnson erupted into fresh violence. Observers said the arrival of a new brown paper-bag in the area ignited long-standing tensions and set off another round of territorial conflict between the two factions in the most serious aggression since the devastating stove-side siege of 2005.
...

Dumb warning label

I’m not the first to riff on dumb warning labels. But the one I’m looking at now, on a bottle of aspirin, is too tempting to pass up. The one that provoked this post is the alcohol warning:

If you consume 3 or more alcoholic drinks every day, ask your doctor whether you should take aspirin or other pain relievers/fever reducers.

I wonder how that conversation with my doctor would go:

Me: Doc, I drink a fifth of vodka every day, and the problem is that it gives me headaches. I usually take aspirin for the headaches. What do you think?

Doctor: Let’s see — a fifth of vodka and aspirin — hmmm. My advice to you is to stay away from that aspirin.

As we continue to read the warning label, we find this gem:

Do not use if you are allergic to aspirin.

This warning might make sense if aspirin were merely an ingredient; if the word “aspirin” appeared no place else except in fine print on the ingredients list. But this label appears on a bottle of ASPIRIN. I mean, the word ASPIRIN — in all capital letters — is the biggest word on the front label. If I know I’m allergic to aspirin, and if I somehow miss the word ASPIRIN on the front of the bottle, what are the chances that the allergy warning will save me a trip to the emergency room?

The Black Keys: “Thickfreakness”

Thickfreakness is the Black Keys’ second album (I love the cover photo). The video below is a live performance of the title cut. The distortion, on a 1 to 10 scale, starts out at a 15 before settling down to an 11. Dan’s voice likewise hits 11 on the bluesy / earthy scale.

Electric communication

“Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.”

— Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870). (Hat tip to the Free Dictionary’s Quotation of the Day.)

Just wondering ...

... whether I’m the only one who sees a double entendre in this headline. (I wonder if batteries were included.)

Bleeding hearts, unite.

Today’s SojoMail brought this quotation of the week, by Nick Kristof:

Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives.

Kristof describes some of those bleeding-heart conservatives — evangelicals and Catholics — who are pouring their hearts and souls into fighting AIDS, hunger, and genocide. His conclusion about these conservatives:

We can disagree sharply with their politics, but to mock them underscores our own ignorance and prejudice.

Called it wrong

Two months ago, I predicted that the presidential nominees would be decided by the time the Louisiana primary is held. That’s certainly not true on the Democratic side. So between now and Saturday, I have to start paying attention. Right now I’m leaning heavily toward Obama.

On a different subject: Since it’s not Carnival anymore, I thought I’d change the color scheme of this blog (and my other one) from Mardi Gras colors to something Lenten. And like last year, I’ll be giving up cafe au lait for Lent in favor of black coffee.

Finally: Whether or not you’re Catholic, if you celebrated Mardi Gras yesterday, then your celebration is incomplete unless you go to Church today and get some ashes on your forehead. Ash Wednesday is the reason for and the counterpoint to Mardi Gras.

A song for Ash Wednesday

Last year for Ash Wednesday, I posted Johnny Cash’s austere version of “Run On.” On seeing it, my friend Ashley Morris recommended the Blind Boys of Alabama’s version. I like both versions, but since I posted Johnny’s version last year, I thought I’d post the Blind Boys’ version this year. Enjoy. And do try to get to church today for some ashes.

Appropriate for the credenza

The Meters, Earl King, Professor Longhair, and Dr. John perform Big Chief, which today is “appropriate for the credenza.”¹ Happy Mardi Gras.

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¹Dr. John, at around 0:30.

A super blawg review

What About Clients? is this week’s host of Blawg Review, the carnival of law-related blogs. The proprietor, Dan Hull, has excellent taste when it comes to blogs, so the outstanding job he’s done is no surprise.