Signifying nothing

Did you know that Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Canada all have state liquor stores much like Utah? Despite their rather "liberal" associations with foaming-at-the-mouth conservatives in the United States, Scandinavian countries such as Sweden are rather unabashed in their moral certitude about controlling liquor: The retail monopoly exists for one reason only: alcohol related problems are reduced if alcohol is sold in the absence of a profit motive. Our mandate obliges us to help limit the medical and social damage caused by alcohol and there by improve public health. ( Systembolaget , 4) Many foaming-at-the-mouth and ill-informed liberals in Utah, however, would probably argue that a 19th Century Utilitarian/Socialist motive is not behind Utah's liquor control. In all fairness to the Tom Barberi crowd, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control makes no mention of public health on its web site, but only states that The Department of Alcoholic Beverage ...

A meteoroid is the proper term for a small rocky body out there in space that would become a meteor if it fell into the Earth's atmosphere and caused the consequent atmospheric light show that meteors provide on high. (Meteor comes from the Greek meteoron "lofty").  If a meteor happens to make it to the earth, its remnant is then called a meteorite . Fascinating!

Do you know how sulfa drugs (one of the first antibiotics) work? Well apparently certain cavorting wee beasties (also known as bacteria) need a vitamin that is similar in chemical construction to the sulfa drugs in order to survive. When sulfa is applied, the wee beasties think it is Thanksgiving and gorge themselves on the pseudo-food. As it turns out, bad luck for them, the sulfa compounds do not provide anything for the reproductive cycle and the bacteria end up childless and condemned to a lonely life in the bacterial equivalent of the old folks home and the grim reaper (in this case white blood cells), takes care of the rest. Therefore, no offspring: no infection. Fascinating!

I knew it would come down to this: Hightouch tagged me to give out 7 interesting facts about myself. My first instinct, as with all things like this is to be obstinate and ignore the request. My second instinct is to actively mock the request. I will, however, comply, as I think it brings out several key unsavory facts about my childhood before the age of 10 that I want you all to realize right now: I faked being sick for 3 weeks in third grade so I wouldn't have to go to school and then lied about the reason why I was faking illness. I blamed my best-friend Spencer and he never forgave me for it. I once threw a fit at Christmas when the new Battleship computerized game didn't work right out of the box. All it needed were the batteries. My father was quite disgusted by my behavior. I destroyed a birdhouse I was making because I couldn't get a nail to go in without bending. I'm talking hammer flailing ultra-violence here. As I recall my friends whom I was build...