My Rocky Love Affair With the History Channel

My first post to this blog was about how excited I was about a documentary on the History channel about Dr. Bueno de Mesquita. I have to say, I was thoroughly disappointed by the show. Instead of an indepth look at the Doc and his computer program that predicts the future, they spent most of the show comparing him to Nostradamus, and then talking for a long time about Nostradamus.

Now, don't get me wrong, Nostradamus is pretty interesting but I got tired of hearing about him really quickly. First of all, he was probably not a prophet (although he tried pretty hard). He wrote a lot (at least 1000 I'm not sure the total number) of vague prophecies, with no definite linear chronology to assign them a specific date or time period. You go write 1000 four line verses about what might or might not happen at some point in the near or distant future. I bet you'll get a few things right too. Prophet or not, he's old news. Bueno de Mesquita might have a

computer

that can predict the

future

Oh and remember the "Lost Book of Nostradamus" special the History Channel featured a while back? You know, the one where someone found a manuscript that might have been from the time period, and might have been penned by Nostradamus, and was filled with illustrations from the major arcana of the tarot? The "experts" from this documentary claimed that the image of a burning tower (on the left), which is a traditional tarot image (see image to the right), featured among other traditional tarot images, was actually a prediction of September 11th.




















Dear History Channel,

I love you, but your weird inaccurate Nostradamus fetish has really been embarassing me lately. Please stop. Find help or something.

Love,
Courtney

To the well-meaning electronics salesman:

Yes. I did know that Halo is a really popular game. I even knew that I need a 360 to play it. Thanks though. Without you I might have ended up buying the Bee Movie game because the case had so many bright colors. Boy was I confused by all those titles.

Ass.

Einstein was a panthiest.

"The individual feels ... the sublimity and marvelous order which reveal themselves in nature ... and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole."

(Vice)Presidential Puppy Update!

The Obama family is being all boring and slow about picking a doggie but look at Joe Biden's new German Shepherd! Puppies for everybody!!

daww.

No name yet. Apparently he's waiting on his grandkids to pick a name.

25 Uses for a $5 Bottle of Witch Hazel

I picked up some witch hazel at the drug store last month after hearing that it can help get rid of the redness left behind by mostly-healed acne. It worked great but I was curious about what witch hazel was actually supposed to be used for. Turns out, EVERYTHING. It has antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and astringent qualities. Below is a list of things that you can use this stuff for.

1. skin sores
2. diaper rash
   
3. small cuts
4. swelling (soak cloths and press them to area)
5. bruises
   
6. acne
7. reduce pore size
   
8. psoriasis treatment
   
9. eczema treatment
10. aftershave
11. cracked skin (antiseptic and helps moisturize)
    
12. insect bites
13. poison ivy rash
14. varicose veins (use same as swelling treatment)
15. hemorrhoids (witch hazel is the active ingredient in many OTC treatments)
16. speed healing of cold sores
17. sunburn
18. heal body piercings (having had several I could totally get on board with this, it is thin, so it won't hold moisture the way neosporin will, and smells less than tea tree oil and bactine. Plus it stops bleeding and swelling which bactine won't)
19. athletes foot
20. swimmers ear
    
21. use as hair spray (so long as you don't have dry hair)
22. use to degrease hair roots (dab with cotton ball)
23. use to reduce under-eye circles (see swelling and bruises)
24. make-up remover
25. repair cracked varnish on old furniture (let it soak, and it will slowly melt it)

And this doesn't even cover all the applications that work internally. Those would require preparing some sort of tea with the leaves of the plant. These are just uses for that one 16oz. bottle I got from the drug store last month (which is only about an eighth used up) which brings me to a word of caution: the brand I bought, as with a lot of brands is made using a lot of ethyl alcohol, so don't drink it! I know it seems silly but there are numerous sources saying "drink it to cure _____" this doesn't apply to the drug store brand! Other than that, I highly suggest going to pick up a bottle. It runs about 5-7 bucks a bottle and is very much worth the money.