Is Brushing Really that Hard Or Are We Just Trying To Keep Some Inventors Busy?

Oral B will soon begin selling a computerized toothbrush that will tell you whether or not you’re doing a good job of brushing your teeth.

The brush, called Triumph with SmartGuide, sends radio signals to a display screen that you can mount on your bathroom mirror. the screen then displays instructions on where you should clean, whether or not you’re brushing too hard or not hard enough and how long you should keep it up.

The manufacturer is hoping that good old Triumph will be this year’s must-have bathroom Christmas gift.

I can’t speak for anybody else, but what I’m really curious about is what the must-have bathroom Christmas gifts of years gone bye were.

Felony Naming

The government of Venezuela is
working on legislation
that would ban parents from giving their children any names that would “expose them to ridicule, are extravagant or difficult to pronounce”. The move would mean that there would be no more Supermans or
4reals
running around.

I’m not sure how to feel about this. On one hand I’m glad that somebody is thinking of the children and trying to put these dipshit parents who don’t remember what being a kid is like in check, but on the other, the idea of the government regulating what I can and can’t call my child isn’t one I’m a huge fan of.

Crack Open A Cold One

Two South African men have been arrested after
stealing a hearse complete with corpse and using it to go on a pub crawl.

The men, who were not named, were reportedly busted when the vehicle ran out of gas and they tried to get 3 women they had met at a bar to help them push it.

The hearse’s driver Siphiwo Mkhize said that it was stolen from his driveway where he had parked it for just a moment while he ran inside to get money for fuel.

John Dlomo, showing off some brilliant deductive reasoning skills that I’m sure served him well in detective school, stated that the 2 men appeared to be drunk when they were brought in.

I share this story for 2 reasons. Reason number one is that I found it funny, and reason number 2 is that I hope it makes anybody spending today recovering from some long weekend partying feel like a bit less of a loser for anything stupid they may have done over the last few days.

You’re welcome.

Messed Up in Mexico

I’m trying to follow this path to see how far I can go before getting mad. Dominic and Nancy Ianiero died horribly in Mexico. Yup, I’m totally there. The hotel staff cleaned up the crime scene and police bungled the investigation. I’m still there. Many family members were implicated as suspects, which was horrible. Totally agree. The family has decided to sue the travel agent for breach of contract and negligence because they didn’t tell them more crime happens in Mexico? What? Oo now I’m mad.

You’re going to Mexico. Everybody knows more crime happens there! Anyone with any sense knows to beware of the locals. They don’t have money, you do, and there’s where the trouble starts. You can’t blame the travel agent even when things go horribly wrong.

And here’s another thing. I’ve never taken a trip with a travel agent, but I’ve never heard of a contrac that says “In the event that members of your group get killed and you are caught up in the investigation, translation services will be provided.” That just isn’t thought of. They don’t expect that someone will come into one of your rooms and slit the occupants’ throats. That isn’t a usual occurrence.

I felt for the family through this whole thing. I thought it was a terrible thing to happen. But now, I’m starting to lose respect for them.

A Wrinkle In The System

Wow. This is pretty sad. In the U.S., if you have a suspicious mole you’d like looked at by a dermatologist, you’ll have to wait 3-4 weeks, but if you want Botox, you’ll get in right away. In Canada, it wasn’t clear how quickly you’d get in for Botox, but one thing was clear. If you had a suspicious mole you wanted looked at, expect to wait 6 weeks. but over 100000 people managed to get injected with Botox in 2005. It’s not looking good.

With skin cancer being one of the most dangerous cancers, it’s a pretty sad statement that investigating potential cancer gets pushed back in line behind oliminating wrinkles for the vane and rich among us. I wonder how the vane and rich would feel about losing all their hair and looking very dead.

Left-Brain? Right-Brain? Ah It Doesn’t Matter, I Get By With No Brain

Here’s a helpful tip for ya. If you need neurosurgery, don’t go to Rhode Island to get it done. They have one of the highest occurrences of doctors opening the wrong side of a patient’s head. The latest cocky brain surgeon thought he’d rely on his memory instead of a CT scan, opened the wrong side, closed it up, opened the side he was supposed to, fixed the problem, and the 86-year-old patient died, and they don’t know whether opening the other side of his skull contributed to his death. Anybody wanna take bets?

My Criminal Mind Is All I…Need to Get Locked Up Forever.

I really don’t know how to feel about this story. I’m completely conflicted. Michael Monyelle, 30, is being labeled as a sex predator, which means indefinite commitment. This is not for things he did, but for thoughts he has.

I get that they were deviant thoughts, and it was to do with children, so in that case I agree. But like his lawyer said, it’s going to make pedophiles and the like less likely to tell their probation officers about thoughts they’re having, so that may make them more likely to reoffend because they’re perhaps not getting counselling for the thoughts they’re having, or the probation officers may not have any warning that creepy Bill is thinking bad things about little Suzy before it’s too late, and creepy Bill would have struck again.

I guess, if they keep this ability to lock someone up for thoughts they have to child sex offenses, I can live with it, but I’m afraid it will spread to other crimes. What if someone was thinking about robbing a bank and told someone that. Would the police go grab him? Isn’t that a bit of a slippery slope?

It’s My Service Chihuahua! Really!

Ok, this pisses me off. In the states, the ADA has made it really easy for douchebags to bring their precious little pet fido wherever they please, and more and more douchebags are doing just that.

Why has it made it easy? The law states that a merchant cannot under any circumstances ask what tasks the dog performs for the handler because it might make the handler uncomfortable. Here’s a news flash, mr. uncomfortable handler. If you’re going to get a dog, when you come home, you’re going to have to deal with questions. That’s the nature of the beast, and the nature of having a beast, I guess. Even I get asked what exactly Trixie does for me, and it should be pretty obvious why I have her. If you have a psychiatric dog, you’re really going to be asked why you have a dog because there is no obvious physical reason why you have a dog with you. It sucks, but that’s just what you’re going to have to deal with. I hate to be so harsh, but if you don’t want extra attention, maybe you should have thought about that before you got a dog, because having a dog with you is going to bring it, and bring it bigtime!

The law also states that venders of vests and patches that say service dog, or issuers of assistance dog tags cannot ask the person to prove that this is a service dog. Why the hell not? Would you give out ID cards without making sure the person is who they say they are? My question is why are third party companies selling these things? If you get a dog from a school, you’ll have stuff the school gives you to identify the dog’s working status. I guess, if you can train a dog yourself, you need something to signify that the dog is working, but I think some kind of body should be set up to issue these things, not just some store.

So now, Joe Shmo who thinks it would be nice to bring Sparky with him everywhere he goes can get tags, vests, and patches and falsely claim that his dog is a service animal. Then, when it misbehaves, people wonder why these animals are given special privileges, and it hurts the ones who really need the dogs. Here’s another good one. In California, it is a crime to falsely claim your dog is a service animal. Great, but how does anyone enforce this? If no one can ask any questions, how do they figure it out?

I have no problem answering questions if a business owner asks me what my dog does. Why? I have proof that she is a service animal. I have an ID card from the school. I have a card from the Attorney General. I have a tag from the school. I can prove that she is trained. But all of this might not be worth anything if anyone can go out and get fake proof that their dog is a working dog.

Here’s another message for the Joe Shmo’s who want to bring their pet dog with them everywhere they go just for the hell of it. If your dog, or my guide dog, or anyone’s dog is unclean, puts others at risk, or is aggressive, the business owner can ask the dog to leave. So just because your dog got in under false pretenses doesn’t mean he gets to stay. Ug why do people want to take advantage of anything they can?