10-29-11 Hodgepodge

Yes, but ...

Judging by my In-box, an old chain email purporting to offer easy, life-saving advice has either made a comeback, or it never really went away. Regarding cough CPR, Snopes.com offers the following caveat:

If you knew exactly what you were doing, this procedure might help save your life. If, however, you were to attempt cough CPR at the wrong time (because you misjudged the kind of cardiac event being experienced) or went about it in the wrong way, it could make matters worse.

Here's some potentially life-saving advice: View all unsolicited medical tips, particularly from laymen, skeptically. Even advice that is good under some circumstances can be very bad when misapplied due to incomplete knowledge. The life you save or improve may be your own.

Weekend Reading

"When we dress up, we have the chance to 'act out' parts of ourselves that we normally keep private." -- Michael Hurd, in "The Psychology of Disguise", at DrHurd.com

"As protestors finally confront the corporations they so vehemently despise, their supposed enemies are revealed not as oppressors, but as everyday people; bar patrons, bank tellers, and restaurateurs each engaging in voluntary trade." -- Jonathan Hoenig, in "In Defense of Corporations", at SmartMoney

My Two Cents

Hoenig's observations, along with the story below, make me almost glad the OWS protests are happening -- and getting so much undeserved media coverage.

OWS: No Freeloaders (!)

The OWS kitchen staff misses or scorns an opportunity to achieve real intellectual growth.

The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a "counter" revolution yesterday -- because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for "professional homeless" people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep's-milk-cheese salad.

They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day. [link dropped] 

If, as Ayn Rand once put it, "He who fights for the future lives in it today," these OWS protestors have just unwittingly issued a scathing indictment of their own cause.

-- CAV