Tag: death
by Rynski on Nov.16, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, Stupidity, danger, life
Everybody must get drunk – alcohol companies try to make sure of that
If boring old beer is no longer enough for you, advanced alcoholic products on the market now offer several different ways to get drunk.
Is he low-carbing it?/Ryn Gargulinski
Yes, beverage companies will definitely go out of their way to insure there’s a feasible way for everyone to get slammed, skewed, tipsy or torrentially wasted.
Wouldn’t want to miss those sales, now.
Folks who want to boost their buzz by drinking something that mixes alcohol with stimulants, like caffeine and guarana, can go for the alcohol energy drinks.
Think Red Bull meets Budweiser, perhaps.
But you better drink up quick. It finally came to someone’s attention that the combination of alcohol and stimulants may not be safe.
Really? But people have been popping uppers or snorting coke with alcohol for years. Only some of them die. What’s the harm with a little alcohol in an energy drink?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a Nov. 12 letter to 30 of these energy drink companies, giving them 30 days to prove that alcohol and caffeine do, indeed, safely mix.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, along with other AGs, sent a letter to the FDA some time back, asking the agency to look into this combination, according to a news release from his office.
How many calories would have been saved with LITE?/Ryn Gargulinski
“Scientists and medical professionals who have conducted research in this area stated that the use of caffeine and other stimulants as additives to alcoholic beverages poses public health and safety risks,” the release said.
“The scientists pointed to recent studies that confirm that caffeine appears to mask, but not reduce, the intoxicating effects of alcohol. Combining alcohol and caffeine may lead to increased risk-taking and other alcohol-related problems such as traffic accidents, violence, sexual assault and suicide.”
The release also noted the target audience for these alcohol energy drinks are the younger crowd, who habitually don’t think about things like risking their lives when they are trying to get blitzed.
If alcohol energy drinks are too risky for you – or you are watching your weight – you can always join the fray of “diet” beer drinkers.
For the health conscious, the big buzz has been low carb beers. This way you can make sure to maintain your six-pack abs as you slam a six pack of brews. Lite beers are old hat. We now need the low carb versions.
While companies at first labeled anything that was light as “low carb,” the U.S. Treasury Department Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax & Trade set standards about five years back, according to a report at BellaOnline.com.
Official “low carb” beers must have less than 7 grams of carbohydrates, but nothing stops other pale brews being labeled as “lower carb” or “reduced carb” – as long as they have lower carbs than their original brews.
We’re waiting for other advanced alcohol products, such as beer for pregnant or nursing mothers and beer especially brewed for athletes and bus drivers to enhance their performance on the job.
What do you think?
Are you going to try the alcohol energy drinks – or have you already – before they may get pulled off the market?
Do you think the FDA is being silly with its claims of the combo being unsafe?
Do you stick to your workout while drinking low carb brews?
Are alcohol companies getting ridiculous or do you think it’s smart for them to target different sectors of the population?
by Rynski on Nov.13, 2009, under Police/fire/law, Rynski column, Rynski's Blogski, crime, danger, death, gross stuff, life
Kids who kill their parents – Is it ever justified?
Kids certainly don’t always get along with their parents. But we hope the tension never turns ugly enough for the kids to haul off and kill them.
Kevin Black/submitted photo
Such was allegedly the case earlier this week when 50-year old Kevin Black reportedly shot and killed his stepfather, Kenneth Phipps, 76.
Mom was in the house at the time of the shooting, although she is bedridden and suffers from dementia, police said. Black’s half-sister, age 47, was also there; she’s the one who ran outside yelling for help.
Police said the fatal shooting came during an argument between stepfather and son about Black walking around the house wearing a gun belt. Black had also been on the police’s radar in the past for stealing things from his family to feed his drug habit.
Kids who kill off their parents or stepparents usually do so a tad earlier than the age of 50 – since the younger kids can’t just pick up and leave as an adult can – but no matter what the age, the outcome is just as tragic.
Some of the most recent statistics, which are already 20 years old, determined more than 300 parents were killed by their children each year between 1977 and 1986. That’s about 25 dead moms or pops each month. Compared to other murders, that’s also very rare.
Parent-killing children generally fall into three types, according to parricide expert Kathleen Heide.
Sidewalk art anonymous/Photo Ryn Gargulinski
We have the kids who were cruelly abused; those who are suffering from mental illness; and the most dangerous of the bunch – the uncaring and selfish children afflicted with an antisocial personality disorder. This disorder is marked with, among other things, a blatant disregard of pretty much everyone’s rights but their own.
Never mind the commandment about honoring thy father and mother, kids who murder their parents are already breaking an even bigger rule.
Lizzie Borden was perhaps the most notorious of suspected parent killers, although she was acquitted of the 1892 crime.
Tensions were high in the Borden household when Lizzie purportedly hacked her dad and stepmother to death with an axe, some say after poisoning them didn’t work. One theory is it had something to do with seizures she was having during her menstrual cycle.
The Menendez brothers, who were convicted of gunning down their parents in 1989, are also up there on the notoriety list. Although they were brought up in a mansion and both college students when the crime went down, there are claims their dad was too tough on them.
By all means, then, shoot him.
It was later learned the double murder may have been all about the money.
My current true crime read, Cold Kill, is in the midst of outlining another slain parents tale of woe in 1982.
Adult child Cindy Ray Campbell spun skeins of delusional lies about how horribly her parents had treated her growing up. She was chained to the toilet. She was repeatedly raped.
Her boyfriend David West believed the lies. He also believed he’d get half her inheritance if he helped out his gal. So she finally convinced him to blow them away as they slept.
While we may not know every detail in these crimes, like what the heck goes through a child’s head when he pulls the trigger or she wields that ax, we do know that society’s view of parricide has gotten softer.
What once was totally and horrendously unthinkable is now, well, perhaps in some cases nearly justifiable.
A case in point is Billie Joe Powell, 16, who reportedly shot and killed her dad after he had allegedly abused her. Her Ohio community banned together with petitions and support to attempt to get her tried as a juvenile rather than an adult so she’d get a more lenient sentence.
How nice of them.
The judge was nice about it, too, not sentencing Powell to any prison term. Her 1993 plea agreement had her pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for 88 days in jail, five years probation and four years of psychological counseling.
So does the abuse of a child condone the murder of a father? We have to wonder if anything is horrific enough for a kid to take his parent’s life, the same life that brought him into the world in the first place.
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who wants to stay at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in Fall River, Mass. It’s supposed to be haunted. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
What do you think?
Is there anything that would justify a child killing his or her parents?
Do you like Lizzie Borden?
Have you heard any other horror stories? Do tell.
by Rynski on Nov.09, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, art, death, life
All Souls Procession wows once again – slide show and poem
Taking photos of Tucson’s annual All Souls Procession is like owning dogs or eating salted peanuts – you certainly can’t stop at just one.
Don’t fret, as I shan’t post all 195 photos I snapped of the event, but I will give you my top 40 as the phrase has a ring to it.
Yes, I’m a photo junkie. But it’s much healthier than heroin.
Enjoy. My beau and I certainly did. Now I have Monday off to recover from the festivities and staying up late to post these photos.
 |  |  |
The procession kicked off at Epic Cafe, at Fourth Avenue and University Place, and culminated at the Franklin Street docks.
I ended up with only one photo of the Tucson Citizen newspaper gang, as I was too busy waving to all those Citizen folks I dearly miss – and getting a big hug from a dapperly yet deathly dressed Renee Schafer-Horton. She makes a cute corpse. Good job on the tribute, guys. I miss your laughter.
BONUS: ALL SOULS PROCESSION POEM
EMBRACEABLE CORPSE
a cute corpse hugged
me on Sunday night as I
drank in the All Souls
Procession she left white
makeup on my chin and –
it was quite an honor to
connect with the souls of the
dead – who thrive on the
other side – where we’re
stripped down of flesh
blood and limb and –
left with what
really
matters.
-Ryn Gargulinski.11.2009
So, were you among the thousands who enjoyed the Sunday evening procession?
What was your favorite costume/outfit/puppet/sight?
Did you see the three legged dog?
What death would you or did you honor in the procession?
by Rynski on Nov.04, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, danger, environment, life
O Christmas tree, dead Christmas tree: Arizona supplies U.S. Capitol Tree
November’s here and that means one thing – it’s time to hurl ourselves face first into the upcoming holiday season.
Photo Ryn Gargulinski
Arizona is doing that in a big way by slaughtering a mighty blue spruce as instructed by the federal government.
Yes, our state has the honor of supplying this year’s United States Capitol Tree.
No, it won’t be placed inside the White House, but rather outside in front of the Capitol Building.
The 85-foot beauty from the White Mountain area’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests will be chopped at the knees on Nov. 7, according to a news release from the National Forest Service.
Everyone is welcome to attend this historic event – as it’s the first time ever that a forest in Arizona has been chosen to deplete its resources in the name of tradition.
The tree slaughtering ceremony will feature White Mountain Apache Dancers, an Apache blessing, choral music and Arizona’s official historian Marshall Trimble commemorating the event.
That’s quite a funeral.
The dead tree will then “tour Arizona” and other parts of the nation on the way to its Nov. 30 delivery to the United States Congress in Washington, D.C.
A dead tree is taking a tour? Isn’t that kind of like pulling a casket behind a sled and telling the corpse to enjoy the view?
I am not anti-Christmas trees. They are a fine addition to holiday décor, with their stately stance and fragrant boughs.
With a population of more than 300 million, if only a quarter of the nation’s residents wanted a fresh Christmas tree, 75 million trees would be killed.
But fake trees may not be the answer, according to a report on MSN.com, as they will eventually rot in a landfill when they become too ratty for display.
In fact, the report goes on to explain that Christmas trees and other live holiday décor are grown as crops specifically for that purpose, and not raped from Mother Nature.
That’s good to know. That’s probably why we haven’t encountered any “Save the Spruce” groups, too.
But that still doesn’t excuse the 85-foot slaughter, which is indeed being taken from its natural habitat. But in the big scheme of things, does one dead tree from the White Mountains actually matter?
What do you think?
Are you honored Arizona was chosen to supply the Capitol Christmas tree or do you wish the feds would pick on another state?
Are you a fan of Christmas trees? Do you recycle yours properly when you’re through with them?
Should we forget Christmas altogether and just sit around grouchy like a bunch of Grinches?
by Rynski on Nov.02, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, art, life
Pumpkin uses, abuses and contest entries – VOTE for your fave
Pumpkins are great for a number of things that go far beyond Halloween. In fact, you can even kill a kid with one. Here are six ways of looking at these funky orange gourds:
Art and photo Ryn Gargulinski
As artistic expression –
Check out the artistry of some fabulously talented TC.com readers who sent entries into our Pumpkin Decorating Contest. The slide show below showcases their creativity and the poll is open for votes through Saturday Nov. 7. Winner will receive a yet-to-be-created piece of creepy Rynart.
As protection –
Jack-o-lanterns came about not because people wanted to enter pumpkin decorating contests, but rather as a form of protection.
Legend has it this guy named Stingy Jack played a few trick on the devil and, when Jack died, would not be admitted into either heaven or hell, according to History.com.
The devil gave the guy a piece of burning coal and told him to go wander the earth for eternity. Jack carried around the coal piece in a hollowed-out turnip. Europeans for years used turnips, potatoes and beets for jack-o-lanterns until they immigrated to America and found the pumpkin to be the perfect choice.
This guy looks dead 100 years/Art by Loews pastry kitchen, photo Ryn Gargulinski
As a killer –
A little German kid died after his 10-year-old sister hurled a pumpkin at him as a joke and it hit him in the stomach, according to an 1884 archived news report posted at NYTimes.com. “He became very sick and died in a few hours,” the report said.
An unattended jack-o-lantern is also being blamed for staring a Northwest fire that killed three dogs and two cats, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star. Two dudes who lived in the house at 1200 block of West Giaconda Way reportedly lit candles in the decorative gourds – then left the house to go to work.
As a weapon –
Since we already know pumpkins can kill, perhaps the sight of one would be an ample deterrent for muggers, degenerates and unleashed dogs encountered on narrow Tucson pathways.
Please be advised it may take some ingenuity – and muscles – to walk around town with a pumpkin and may be much simpler to invest in pepper spray or a retractable baton.
As a healthy snack –
Pumpkin pie laden with whipped cream, sugar and other strange additives is not necessarily on the healthy menu, but plain ole pumpkin is. Pumpkin is rife with fiber, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.
Canned pumpkin, with no additives, is also a great way to get rid of a pet’s diarrhea, as my dog Sawyer found out when he got 1 tablespoon per day until his ailment passed, pun not intended.
As a seduction method –
KoreyK. shared the story of the political pumpkin entries, which were used to seduce:
“One of my brother’s friends gave the pumpkins away, without my permission, to two sorority girls to take to their party, thinking it would get him laid. It didn’t. In fact, they wouldn’t even tell him the location.”
TC.com pumpkin decorating contest entries in alphabetical order (top four culled from hundreds of thousands submissions):
|  | |
Vote now through Nov. 7 for your favorite entry in the TC.com pumpkin decorating contest.
What do you think?
Did you carve or smash any pumpkins this Halloween?
Is pumpkin a part of your daily diet?
What other uses to pumpkins have?
by Rynski on Oct.30, 2009, under Rynski column, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, life, politics
Do you know where that candy came from? Child slave labor in the chocolate industry
Chocolate may be a tasty treat for most kids – save for those stuck as slaves in the cocoa fields.
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa toil 12-hour days in sickening and dangerous conditions – at no pay – just so folks elsewhere can get some cheap candy and coffee, according to the organization Global Exchange.
I’m betting just the thought of chocolate makes those kids sick. That is, if they have ever been lucky enough to taste some or even know what it is.
Global Exchange does more than just fret and moan about it. For the third year in a row, its Reverse Trick or Treating program is in full swing, expecting to hit some 250,000 households throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The campaign is on here in Tucson at the Volunteer Center in Southern Arizona, 924 N. Alvernon Way.
Between five and 15 kids, ages 11 through 18, are expected to participate. They will hit the streets around 5 p.m. on Halloween armed with fair trade chocolate and information to hand out to folks who open their doors.
Before anyone starts panicking, no one is asking you to throw out that large, costly batch of candy you have in the decorative bowl by your door.
Nor is anyone telling you to boycott candy or coffee that doesn’t come from free trade certified vendors.
You’re just being asked to think about what it’s like for those kids, the ones who are permanently ripped out of school to pick cocoa pods all day just so their family can survive.
And those are the fortunate ones.
Other African kids are actually sold – by their own families – to traffickers with the promise of a cocoa job on the Ivory Coast where they will send home their wages, Global Exchange says.
Once the family is out of sight, however, the kids are put to work with nearly or absolutely no pay from about 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
We doubt they get a lunch break.
Tasks include cleaning machetes, playing with pesticides and scaling high branches to cut down cocoa pods, which are split open for the beans to be scooped out.
It takes 400 cocoa pods to make a single pound of chocolate.
Enjoy your candy.
Cadbury provided a huge leap for the industry when it became the first major brand to earn fair trade certification earlier this year. While the certification is thus far only for its dairy milk chocolate bars in the United Kingdom, it plans to follow suit with other products in other countries.
Hershey’s is in the process of being targeted by advocates to become the first big U.S.-based company to achieve fair trade certification.
In the meantime, you can make sure to buy only fair trade chocolate and coffee. I checked out the selection at the Global Exchange’s online fair trade store thinking the prices would be ridiculous. Some are, but others are reasonable.
Any individual effort can help, but the major changes will most likely take major companies, like good ole Hershey’s and major coffee firms, to join the fray.
Now go enjoy your Halloween. And don’t feel guilty about eating that candy bar – even though it may have taken some 52 starving slave children with scabby knees and machete scars littering their stick-figure arms to help make it.
—
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who doesn’t eat chocolate but enjoys her coffee. She likes the idea of fair trade products but has to yet to solely seek them out. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
- Photo Ryn Gargulinski
What do you think?
Is this a valid concern or just another way for people to draw customers away from big businesses?
Do you really care where your products come from as long as they are cheap?
Will you be changing your chocolate and coffee consumption in any way?
Rynski column
by Rynski on Oct.23, 2009, under Pets/animals, Police/fire/law, Rynski column, Stupidity, crime, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, life, politics
The case of the duct taped coyote – Does anyone care about coyote abuse?
Tucsonan Joe Gardner was on one of his favorite day trips to Lochiel, about 100 miles southeast of Tucson, where the air is clean and the land pristine – usually.
Except when he finds a dead duct taped coyote.
Duct taped coyote/submitted photo
During his trek about two weeks ago, the 62-year-old who grew up in the Lochiel area noted buzzards circling about and followed their feast to find a mutilated carcass.
The coyote was definitely dead, with a hole in his underside where something had chewed out his entrails. He had not been skinned, but the two front legs and two back legs had been secured with tape, leaving him defenseless, provided he had still been alive when taped.
“I was surprised and puzzled and wondered about mutilation stories I had heard in the past,” Gardner said, “but those involved livestock, not wild animals. I also wondered if it was some kind of sick message for human smugglers, who are also referred to as coyotes.”
He vaguely recalled stories of livestock’s organs and genitalia being removed with “precision-appearing incisions” some time back in Cochise County. Perhaps Jack the Ripper of the cattle world.
Yet he had never seen such abuse of coyotes.
Lochiel school house/submitted photo
“I have not an inkling as to who or why would bind a coyote and leave it out for the buzzards,” he said. “I was born and raised in the area, and as a matter of fact, this was right in front of the one room school I attended when I was a kid. I know just about everyone who lives in the area, and can’t imagine any locals doing this, as they live in the area because they love and respect the land.”
Nothing respectful about a duct taped coyote.
Arizona’s animal cruelty felony law, ARS 13-2910, slaps a felony on anyone that “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any animal.”
Awesome law. But it may not apply in the case of the duct taped coyote.
“Law enforcement would have to successfully allege that it was cruelty,” explained Marsh Myers, spokesman for the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona. “Since coyotes can be legally hunted, an investigation would have to rule this possibility out. Sometimes the animal is hunted and then the carcass is just left to rot. It’s a sloppy practice but it happens all the time.”
In that case, it’s OK.
Many hunters are respectful – even reverent – about nature and engage in the sport for much more than just the kill. But there are always the idiots.
In another coyote case earlier this year, six mutilated carcasses were found dumped in a creek near an Oklahoma high school.
The critters had been skinned, with their front legs chopped off at the knees and their remains unceremoniously hurled where teens could easily find them.
The animals were originally thought to be dogs and all hell broke loose. Necropsies revealed they had been a half dozen coyotes. Hell kind of subsided.
While Oklahoma, like Arizona, does have animal cruelty laws with severe penalties, it would probably not apply if the animals were being hunted for their fur.
Authorities in Ohio were going nuts in 2007 trying to find the sicko who apparently skinned and boiled a dog – while it was still alive.
The animal, identified by a vet as a chow/pit bull mix, was fully skinned except for fur left on its paws, had cuts on its legs and neck and had wire wound around one of the back legs.
Someone finally did come forward to confess – that the animal was not a dog at all but simply a coyote he hunted but didn’t dispose of properly.
Even though the vet had initially been wrong about the animal’s identification, calling it a dog, the doc was not wrong about the animal having been still alive when it was boiled and skinned.
No matter. It was just a coyote.
The case was immediately closed and all pending criminal charges promptly dropped.
| Yes – people who torture any animal should be tortured themselves. | 68% | |
| Yes – even if the coyote is being hunted, it should not have to unduly suffer. | 29% | |
| No – if the coyote is being hunted, it’s OK to torture it. | 0% | |
| No – coyotes deserve to be tortured. They are evil and they smell. | 0% | |
| I have no opinion because I watch TV and eat marshmallows all day. | 1% | |
| 426 users voted | ||
// __
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who loves coyotes as much as she loves wolves but not as much as she loves her dogs. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
by Rynski on Oct.23, 2009, under Pets/animals, Police/fire/law, Rynski column, Stupidity, crime, danger, death, environment, gross stuff, life, politics
The case of the duct taped coyote – Does anyone care about coyote abuse?
Tucsonan Joe Gardner was on one of his favorite day trips to Lochiel, about 100 miles southeast of Tucson, where the air is clean and the land pristine – usually.
Except when he finds a dead duct taped coyote.
Duct taped coyote/submitted photo
During his trek about two weeks ago, the 62-year-old who grew up in the Lochiel area noted buzzards circling about and followed their feast to find a mutilated carcass.
The coyote was definitely dead, with a hole in his underside where something had chewed out his entrails. He had not been skinned, but the two front legs and two back legs had been secured with tape, leaving him defenseless, provided he had still been alive when taped.
“I was surprised and puzzled and wondered about mutilation stories I had heard in the past,” Gardner said, “but those involved livestock, not wild animals. I also wondered if it was some kind of sick message for human smugglers, who are also referred to as coyotes.”
He vaguely recalled stories of livestock’s organs and genitalia being removed with “precision-appearing incisions” some time back in Cochise County. Perhaps Jack the Ripper of the cattle world.
Yet he had never seen such abuse of coyotes.
Lochiel school house/submitted photo
“I have not an inkling as to who or why would bind a coyote and leave it out for the buzzards,” he said. “I was born and raised in the area, and as a matter of fact, this was right in front of the one room school I attended when I was a kid. I know just about everyone who lives in the area, and can’t imagine any locals doing this, as they live in the area because they love and respect the land.”
Nothing respectful about a duct taped coyote.
Arizona’s animal cruelty felony law, ARS 13-2910, slaps a felony on anyone that “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any animal.”
Awesome law. But it may not apply in the case of the duct taped coyote.
“Law enforcement would have to successfully allege that it was cruelty,” explained Marsh Myers, spokesman for the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona. “Since coyotes can be legally hunted, an investigation would have to rule this possibility out. Sometimes the animal is hunted and then the carcass is just left to rot. It’s a sloppy practice but it happens all the time.”
In that case, it’s OK.
Many hunters are respectful – even reverent – about nature and engage in the sport for much more than just the kill. But there are always the idiots.
In another coyote case earlier this year, six mutilated carcasses were found dumped in a creek near an Oklahoma high school.
The critters had been skinned, with their front legs chopped off at the knees and their remains unceremoniously hurled where teens could easily find them.
The animals were originally thought to be dogs and all hell broke loose. Necropsies revealed they had been a half dozen coyotes. Hell kind of subsided.
While Oklahoma, like Arizona, does have animal cruelty laws with severe penalties, it would probably not apply if the animals were being hunted for their fur.
Authorities in Ohio were going nuts in 2007 trying to find the sicko who apparently skinned and boiled a dog – while it was still alive.
The animal, identified by a vet as a chow/pit bull mix, was fully skinned except for fur left on its paws, had cuts on its legs and neck and had wire wound around one of the back legs.
Someone finally did come forward to confess – that the animal was not a dog at all but simply a coyote he hunted but didn’t dispose of properly.
Even though the vet had initially been wrong about the animal’s identification, calling it a dog, the doc was not wrong about the animal having been still alive when it was boiled and skinned.
No matter. It was just a coyote.
The case was immediately closed and all pending criminal charges promptly dropped.
__
Ryn Gargulinski is a poet, artist, performer and TucsonCitizen.com Ryngmaster who loves coyotes as much as she loves wolves but not as much as she loves her dogs. Her column appears every Friday on Rynski’s Blogski. Her art, writing and more is at RynRules.com. E-mail rynski@tucsoncitizen.com.
What do you think?
Is there a way to better enforce – or even prove – the animal cruelty felony law?
Can anything be done to better protect hunted wildlife from undue abuse?
by Rynski on Sep.16, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, Stupidity, danger, death, life
Shocking news: New study finds BB guns can be dangerous to kids
Folks, hold on to your hats. A new trauma study at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix has just been released with some shocking results:
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
BB and Pellet Guns May Pose Lethal Danger to Kids
Wow. If I didn’t get that one from the medical center’s news release, I was going to buy BB guns for all my toddler nephews and nieces this coming Christmas.
Got to love these studies, those that take x number of years and cost x millions of dollars just to state the obvious.
The BB gun study only took six years to complete and evaluated the results of 29 pediatric patients blasted by BB or pellet guns. Nine of those kids needed surgery; 17 suffered serious injuries; six suffered “significant morbidity” and two died.
I hope the kids were not shot on purpose just so the docs would have someone to study.
There was no mention of the cost of this particular study, but the release said the results, authored by Patrick J O’Neill, PhD, MD, and his trauma surgery and neurosurgery colleagues, has been published in the journal Pediatric Neurosurgery.
Anyone who saw the horrible movie “Orphan” witnessed the scene where the boy shoots a BB gun at a pigeon that falls over and bleeds excessively. That should have been enough proof that a BB gun could hurt small children, too.
Illustration Ryn Gargulinski
Other stupid studies throughout the years have included:
Study finds: Women don’t like to be told they look fat
Study finds: Bullies tend to have problems relating to others
Study finds: People who cannot afford cars are more likely to take public transit
Study finds: People put on more clothes when it’s cold
While those are real studies mentioned at NationalPost.com, we can envision others that may be on an upcoming list:
Study finds: Most people don’t appreciate being punched in the face
Study finds: Hungry people tend to eat
Study finds: Sunlight fades fabric
Study finds: People say it hurts when you stick a fork in your eye
Did you know BB guns could be dangerous for kids?
What’s the most ridiculous study you can recall?
by Rynski on Sep.08, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, life, politics
We need more holidays so we all don’t kill each other
Labor Day may not hold some deep-seated meaning to the average American, but it is still a necessary component of American life.
Labor Day Savers sale shopper/Photo Ryn Gargulinski
In addition to marking the end of summer, it’s a great day to shop the 50 percent off sale at Savers and a reminder not to wear white shoes again until Memorial Day.
As Editor Mark Evans pointed out in his recent post, the day has pretty much lost all of its original meaning. But folks don’t really care – as long as they get the day off.
The American workforce needs all the breaks it can get.
The country has been steadily working itself into the ground, suffering from ulcers, migraines and black eyes on the way down – yes, some workplace stress actually leads to violence.
Mix in longer hours, pay cuts and picking up more duties thanks to the wholesale reduction of the workforce across the nation and you’ve really got a mess.
An Attitudes in the American Workplace Gallup Poll in 2000 – a full nine years ago – came up with the following statistics:
* 80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help;
* 14% of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn’t;
* 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10% are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent;
* 9% are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18% had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year.
We can bet it’s gotten worse. More recent polls also highlight workers’ economic fears and resentment of the government for starting this economic turmoil.
Thus we need Labor Day – and more holidays that let us take a break from the torrid workplace. Rather than changing Labor Day to honor something else, as Evans suggested, we should just add more holidays to the calendar.
Legal holidays should be scheduled at least once a month, more frequently if there is something really good going on. Please bring this to the attention of the President when you get a moment.
January – New Year’s Day, MLK Day, Sawyer’s Birthday
February – We already get Presidents Day as a legal holiday, but we should also add Groundhog Day since the little dude does go to all that trouble to come outside and predict the weather for us.
We need the day off for Groundhog Day/Ryn Gargulinski
March – Ides of March. We may as well give a nod to the Romans on the first day of their new year and first day of spring. It’s also the day Julius Caesar was brutally stabbed to death by Marcus Brutus. Let’s celebrate.
April – Since April is already designated National Poetry Month, we should add a National Poetry Day. We get the day to read, write and reflect on poetry throughout the ages and figure out exactly why Sylvia Plath stuck her head in an oven.
May – Memorial Day, Ryn’s Birthday, Ryn’s Friend Victor’s Birthday, Everyone Born in May Birthday
June – Paul Bunyan Day on June 27. Heck, Tucson should get a whole week off for this guy, since he stands stately at the corner of Stone Avenue and Glen Street. Not sure why he comes up in June, but we need a holiday for this month anyway.
July – Independence Day needs to be accompanied by July 14th’s Bastille Day for good measure.
August – Frankenstein Day. Frankenstein author Mary Wollenstone Shelley was born on Aug. 30, 1797, according to HolidayInsights.com. Other sources put Frankenstein Day on the last Friday in October and/or Oct. 29. We may as well add all three to the calendar. Also add Phoebe’s Birthday to the August list.
September – Labor Day and others
October – Yes, we get Columbus Day but please also join me in the movement to make sure everyone gets the day off for Halloween.
November – Thanksgiving
December – Since there are so many different holidays going on in December, from Christmas to Hanukkah with Kwanza in between, we may as well get the whole month off.
Full disclosure: I am just back from a looong holiday week off that was completely sublime. The world could definitely use some more of those things.
What do you think?
Are you working too hard and need more holidays?
Has a fellow worker ever given you a black eye?
Do you spend more time with your coworkers than you do with your family?
by Rynski on Aug.20, 2009, under Rynski's Blogski, art, danger, environment, gross stuff, life, odd pueblo, politics
Don’t bulldoze Tucson’s charm
After dozens of detours, hordes of headaches and folks finding themselves stuck at a dead end, the Fourth Avenue underpass is reopening with hoopla, hype and a brand new look.
Kitschy stuff, even when misspelled on a Reid Park garbage can, makes Tucson charming/Ryn Gargulinski
Some may say hip-hip and hooray but I have another thing to say: I liked the old one.
I am in no way downing the renovation or the fact that the new underpass is safer, more practical and – yaay! – finally getting rid of that dead end.
Nor am I trying to throw a wet towel on the celebration, which sounds like a gas.
I am simply lamenting the passing of another chunk, albeit crumbling, of Tucson’s past.
I fell in love with Fourth Avenue’s creepy, cavernous underpass during one All Souls Procession, when the masked and bone-clad creatures frolicked out of its mouth like a throng of glorious souls from the depths of the Earth.
Our Logical Lizard blogger, Geoffrey Notkin, agrees. In fact, I think he’s the one who pointed out that phenomenon at the event.
Frolicking out of shiny new tile just won’t have the same effect.
Sure, the previous underpass may have been ready to crumble and was so low it may have possibly behead someone, but it was also quite charming.
Part of what drew me to Old Pueblo was its ancient buildings and dilapidated underpasses. Let’s call it Tucson charm.
Not that I’m against progress – some things need updating. But it would be wise to ensure we keep that primitive feel that makes Tucson so alluring.
"Progress" in action on the desert patch/Ryn Gargulinski
Other “progress” around town includes new construction tall enough to block mountain views in Feldman’s Historic Neighborhood, as outlined in a letter by resident Kathleen Williamson.
A fine rambling patch of desert near the Rillito River along my daily dog walk was once haven to coyotes, lizards, rabbits and twisted debris that made for great art supplies.
Now it’s a parking lot.
While my dogs do enjoy the water fountain the parking lot came with, I’m still wondering if it will ever house more cars than the usual zero to three I see there.
I’m also still wondering why an open-topped, concrete garbage can that gets stuffed with dog doo was placed mere inches from the water fountain.
See, sometimes “progress” can really stink.
What do you think?
Should developers try to retain Tucson’s kitschy charm?
Should all the old stuff be razed to make way for newfangled buildings?
Should we all just move to Phoenix?
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