CULTURE/SOCIETY - 9 Places You Never Want To Go On A Vacation

It’s almost vacation season, so you should start planning accordingly. In this case, here are some places you definitely do not want to book your tickets to.

2. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Patch is a basically immobile, gigantic mass of trash out in the middle of the Pacific. Most estimates put its size—composed entirely of plastic bottles, chemical sludge, and basically any other kind of debris you can imagine—larger than the state of Texas. You'd probably rather go to Texas.

Via ambientaljs.blogspot.com

5. The Zone of Alienation, Ukraine

Although you probably wouldn't want to vacation in Pripyat either, the Zone of Alienation is the 19-mile decommissioned perimeter surrounding the grounds of the Chernobyl incident. It's administered by a branch of government specifically so that no-one is allowed into it, but there are a few hundred residents who refused to move. What's wrong with those people? You probably don't want to know.

Via Flickr: 13bobby

9. Mud Volcanoes of Azerbaijan

Sure, mud volcanoes aren't nearly as dangerous as their cousins of the magmatic variety, but when they do actually erupt, it's not exactly a pretty sight. In 2001, a new island grew out of the Caspian Sea, due to an increase in volcanic activity—right nearby where hundreds of these bad boys are. Generally, they go off every twenty years, and when they do, they shoot flames "hundreds of meters into the sky" and deposit tons of mud into the immediate area. Try wrestling your way out of that mud.

Via azerbaijan24.com

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chernobyldiaries/places-you-never-want-to-go-on-a-vacation

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Memorial Day: How it's changed and why some oppose a 3-day weekend

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/120525-memorial-day-weekend-2012-may-national-cemetery-cultures/?source=link_tw20120528news-memorialday

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"MUSIC: Survey Via A Mp3 Player" on OlderMusicGeek's Stupid Entertainment Stuff

ENTERTAINMENT: George Carlin Died

This is from me, NOT some reprinted from somewhere else. - OlderMusicGeek

Some people have said George Carlin has passed on or that we lost him. Well, neither are true. He's dead, maybe even screaming up at us.


I have to admit I haven't listen or watched George Carlin much in the last 20 years.

And that's unfortunate, because from what I have seen and read, he was still putting out some very good and funny material.


I guess in some ways, I had felt I had outgrown George Carlin. George said, "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." And that was great in my teens and 20's.

But as you get older, you find rebelling for it's own sake doesn't seem that fun. I remember an interview with Jon Waters, a director who did many gross films in his youth. The interviewer asked him about how his movies weren't the same now that he is older. I don't remember his exact words, but he said something along the lines of making wild films that are gross in your 20's is fun - doing it in your 40's is pathetic.

That's kind the way I felt about listening to George Carlin. I thought I'm willing to stand up for what I believe in and take the heat, but I'm not interested in just shocking people.

And that's what my friends and I used George for, shocking people. "Hey, listen to this." "Listen to this comedian rattle off these cuss words." George Carlin and Cheech and Chong were our mild, white, midwestern way of rebelling! We loved it because we knew our parents and teachers didn't!

Well, when I didn't need to shock anybody anymore, I thought there was no need for George. Unfortunately, what I didn't realize - was that George wasn't shocking people just for shock's sake either. George was also standing up for what he believed in and taking whatever heat came with it.

So then after a few interviews and a couple of HBO specials, I finally realized that. But I still never watched him much. "Ehh, I catch it later. I don't have the time now." Unfortunately, now that there will be no new material, I might be able to catch up on his stuff.

George Carlin didn't believe in an afterlife. Hopefully, he's wrong, because he deserves a good place in it.

George Carlin’s Secret News from ‘When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops’
Announcer: Good Evening ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the secret news.
Ssshhh.
Here’s the secret news:
All people are afraid.
No one knows what they’re doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent.
There are people who really dislike you.
Nothing is as good as it seems.
Things don’t last.
No one is paying attention.
The country is dying.
God doesn’t care.
Ssshhh.

A link to George Carlin's home page
An interview with George Carlin from NPR's Fresh Air

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PERSONALITY: A Twofer Questionnaire on OlderMusicGeek's Stupids Tests And Quizzes

CULTURE/SOCIETY: Some Expressions of Love

This is from me, not a reprinted article. - OlderMusicGeek

Way back before The Crazy Smart Alec Co-Worker quit and we went our separate ways, we came up some expressions of love that I thought I'd share with you all.

You are the best cheat on my favorite video game.
You are the offer of one month free on my AOL cancellation.
You are the full ink cartridge in my scanner.
You are the warm current that pulls me under.
You are the multi-color lint I find in my belly button.
You are the strongest drug I took on spring break.
You are the favorite prostitute at the nearest brothel.

Our love is as strong as the sentimentality of a Barry Manilow song.
Our love is as strong as a Vulcan pinch on the shoulder.
Our love is as strong as a LSD sample from Timothy Leary.

Feel free to use any of them!

A link to Valentine's Day blogs

POLITICS: A Day in the Life of Joe Republican

Got this from a friend. Found it pretty funny. Thought I'd pass it on.


Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean good clean drink water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards . He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised .

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry .

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree-hugging liberal fought to keep industries from polluting our air.

He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn't think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune .

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

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