A SAD Rerun

This is a first in this space--a rerun. Since we are about to hit Super Bowl weekend, be forewarned that Cabin Fever Season is officially upon us. While the days have begun to get longer, it's still kind of Siberian out there, and it's getting old, fast. If you're getting edgy...

It can be SAD…Seasonal Affective Disorder.The shorter days and lack of sunlight that come with northern winters can bring on feelings of depression, lethargy and fatigue.

SAD is a type of depression.The Mayo clinic lists these symptoms for winter depression/SAD:
§ Depression
§ Hopelessness
§ Anxiety
§ Loss of energy
§ Social withdrawal
§ Oversleeping
§ Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
§ Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
§ Weight gain
§ Difficulty concentrating and processing information

You need to be aware that if you have some of this going on, this may be SAD, unless you are a Cub fan, in which case you get this way every autumn anyway.

The likely causes of SAD have been identified as:

• Your circadian rhythm. I thought that this had something to do with those bugs that come every 17 years, but that’s something else. The circadian rhythm is a process that regulates your body’s internal clock, letting you know when to sleep and wake up.


• Melatonin and Seratonin: during the longer nights your body creates more melatonin. It’s a sleep related hormone that is linked to depression. If that’s not bad enough, reduced sunlight means your body creates less seratonin and away you may go, down the depression rabbit hole again.
  These will also be characters in my upcoming novel. Mel and Sarah Tonin.

People under 20 aren’t affected as much, another zinger from Mother Nature for an aging population. Women are affected more than men. Hooo-rah, guys. Men have more severe symptoms than women. Out of luck, fellas.

So, if you’re tracking bad here, you may need to seek treatment. It appears that you can do a lot to combat this problem in its early stages by simply getting up off your ass and getting a little exercise, starting to socialize a bit, and/or setting aside some time to get a little sun when it’s out there.

Since I am re-running SAD advice, I think it may also help your frozen moods to rerun a favorite ditty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6P6VRn3gsw

Share!

Blimey!

I am not Anglophobic. I think the Brits have some funny stuff (that would exclude 99% of Monty Python, the lone exception being where the knight gets his limbs chopped off), that is, stuff worth making fun of (preposition alert!), but I find America's former landlords to generally be fine folks. OK, I threw in the orthodontia joke the other day, Paul McCartney should be put in a home, and I think that the whole royalty thing is pretty comical, but there's no malice intended.

The problem I have is with American television producers shoving British flavoured announcers at us, and with myself, for when I hear an English accent I usually interpret it as a qualification of authority and/or knowledge.

It simply is not so.

Take auto racing as an example. I turned on the 24 Hours of Daytona on Saturday afternoon, and there was a regular old American talking head, blathering away about the challenges of 24 hours of racing, and transferring the talking head responsibility to other regular old American talking head racing guy/gal announcers ("Let's go to Ellie in the pits, who has some information about a lugnut controversy, Ellie?"), and they did interviews and wasted time and did what racing announcers do during the pre-race, that being killing time between commercials and pestering the racers before they get into the cars.

So, since the 24 Hours of Daytona is a 24 hour race (that's why they call it the "24 Hours of Daytona"), I dropped back in on the racing coverage on Saturday evening as I channel surfed, and there, at the Great American Speedway, at the opening event of the year, was a pair of English accents talking me through the evening activities. I immediately perked up my ears to properly receive the pearls of wisdom that I inferred were about to come my way.

These two English announcer guys were less than stellar, less than entertaining, less than...aw, hell, they were dumb as a box of doorknobs. Because they had English accents, I had assumed I would be getting superior intellectual broadcasting. Turns out that they were less informative than the good old boys who do the B-list midseason races. These guys sucked, but with an accent.

Same deal with golf. Why do we need an English accented announcer to tell us that one of the Florida-based millionaires of the PGA has struck a poor shot on an Arizona golf course as we watch in awe (or in danger of falling asleep) across America?

What is it about that English accent that makes us confer validity unto its owner? Further, if you listen to what they say, instead of the flavour with which they say it, you will realize that you are frequently getting less than banal input.

There's other examples. Simon on American Idol, if he didn't have that English spin on his venom, I'm guessing he'd have long since gotten 100% of his smarmy ass kicked for that mean spirited, uppity attitude he's always sporting. Take old war movies, why were the English accents acceptable to portray Germans, Americans, Englishmen, Russians, pretty much every ethnicity at one time or another? They just did.

We need to prevent Anglo-announcer proliferation across other lines. For example, remove the Hawk's voice ringing up a strike out victim with the signature "He gone!", and insert a breathy, tea and crumpet flavored "I say, another unsuccessful effort".

Don't like it.

Or take John Madden out and insert Nigel Announcerchap. Instead of the on-the-edge outpouring of energy and emotion that is Madden, we'd receive a proper account of the disagreement out on the pitch. Don't like it, hurts my head to imagine it.

England and the USA, two peoples, separated by a common language.

As it should be. He gone.

MMM, Smells like bacon

The US House of Representatives has made public the list of amendments submitted to the Rules Committee for the $825 billion stimulus bill: HR.1 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. You can check out the complete list for some light reading, but I've listed some of the highlights for you below:



#129 - Flake (AZ) - Would prohibit funds from being used for any duck pond, museum, skate park, equestrian center, dog park, ski hill, historic home, ice rink, splash playground, or speaker system. Thank God! There are honestly just so many duck ponds in my neighborhood, and all those damn ducks seem to do is hang out at the local skate park next to the historic home and listen to music loudly on the speaker system. I swear, once the equestrian park moved in a few years ago, the neighborhood really went downhill. Splash playgrounds are springing up all over the place! And I think we all know museums are absolutely a menace to society.

#130 - Flake (AZ) - Would strike funding in the bill for the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Well OBVIOUSLY. If we're not funding museums we should definitely not fund the NEA. Why should those artists waste their time when they'll have no where to display their craft?

#59 - Hodes (NH) - Would allow states a time extension to complete Federal Highway Administration-funded projects if cold weather and freezing necessitate a longer time frame. I'm honestly surprised this has to be specified. Apparently, this is not common sense, as Hodes is particularly concerned about New Hampshire getting screwed due to bad weather. His Amendment #177 would allow states a time extension to complete funded projects if progress is disrupted due to crappy weather. This guy's clearly been through some bad winters.

#180 - Hoekstra (MI) / Bean (IL) - Would accelerate the depreciation time of commercial heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) units from 39 to 20 years. Phew! I cannot tell you how many times I have stayed up all night agonizing about HVACR depreciation. THIS is exactly the kick in the pants our economy needs.

#176 - Multiple Reps, mostly from CA - Would authorize $198 million for compensation for Filipino World War II Veterans. I had no idea there was such a large contingency of Filipino WWII vets. Either way, lets hope they've embraced the American way of spending and pump that $198M right back in the economy!

#78 - Kingston (GA) - Would reduce the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act by 1 percent. Really? I mean its $825 billion...who cares about a measly 8.25 billion? Honestly, Kingston, loosen the purse strings a little.

#43 - Lipinski (IL) - Would require that any money spent under the bill be used to buy American-made products whenever possible. What a breath of fresh air - someone taking this bill very literally. No one told Lipinski he could tack on an amendment that provides $200 million in aid to Christmas tree farmers, or prohibits any spending of the funds on Tuesdays or any 7th of the month.

#61 - Mitchell (AZ) - Would prevent the automatic pay adjustment for Members of Congress from going into effect in 2010. Thanks for taking one for the team!

#32 - Nadler (NY) - Would increase appropriations in the bill by 75 percent. Neugebauer (TX) didn't react too favorably to this one...his amendment #109 would strike the appropriations provisions from the bill entirely. I think the standard procedure in the House of Representatives to remedy this is best-of-three Rock Paper Scissors.

#147 - Pitts (PA ) - Would require parental notification when a family planning clinic enrolls a minor in Medicaid. I think its pretty clear how exactly this relates to the economy. And by "clear", I mean "completely unrelated."

#76 - Snyder (AR) - Would allow funds to be appropriated for public aquariums, zoos, and swimming pools. As long as "public aquarium" isn't long for "duck pond," and "swimming pool" isn't fancy for "splash playground", Flake from AZ is perfectly cool with this. If there are horses in the zoo, though, that could be a deal breaker.

#5 - Wilson (SC) - Would strike all sections of the bill except those that fund our military and veterans, improve our nation’s infrastructure, and cut taxes. OH but COME ON, Wilson! What about HVAC depreciation??? How do you supposed to solve THAT one, huh? HUH?

Feel free to check out the full list and read first-hand politics at its most efficient: http://www.rules.house.gov/amendment_details.aspx?NewsID=4133. I don't mean to ruin the ending, but it looks like if this bill gets passed, no funding is going toward the National Mall Revitalization Fund. Try not to shed too many tears over that one.

A Winner , A Loser

This topic is continuing to evolve. A picture is worth a thousand words, so two pictures would make it clear as to the identity of America's Team.

7 Wonders of Illinois

Over on the sidebar, there's a link to the website of an organization that is conducting a revision of the Seven Wonders of the World. The 7 Wonders are evolving again; there have been the Wonders of the Ancient World, the Wonders of the Medieval World and now the Wonders of the Modern World.

The Wonders of the Medieval World are:
>Stonehenge (just a bunch of rocks)
>Colosseum (verrrry cool building in its day)
>Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (tombs in Alexandria, Egypt)
>Great Wall of China (inspired George Bush to wall the Mexican border)
>Porcelain Tower of Nanjing (260 feet tall, built in the 15th century, destroyed in the 19th)
>Hagia Sophia (this is the mosque at Istanbul)
>Leaning Tower of Pisa (not the one in Niles, IL)

The Wonders of the Modern World are:
>Great Wall of China (still a big hit!)
>Petra (ancient city of Jordan)
>Christ the Redeemer (the 120 foot tall statue in Rio)
>Machu Picchu
>Chichen Itza
>Roman Colosseum (also, still a hit)
>Taj Mahal /Great Pyramid (I'd leave them both in and make it 8 wonders)

The new wonders, the ones upon which the voting is being conducted, are occurrences in nature. They are wondrous wonders, indeed. All this wonderment got me to wondering if we here in the tundra aren't selling ourselves short. We have wonders, too. So, here's my Seven Wonders of Illinois:

*The Grand Canyon of 294. I am referring, of course, to the quarries of Thornton that are bisected by the Illinois tollroad. There's no extra charge to the tens of thousands who traverse the big hole every.

*The Veterans Highway Bridge. This is the 355 tollroad bridge over the Des Plaines River Valley. I have seen this when it wasn't there, I rode my bicycle on it before it was open, I've driven my car across it and I've stood under it, marveling at the tallest support posts I have ever seen. I've even seen the Discovery Channel show about it. This is a really wonderous wonder.

*Springfield. This is a little different from the others, in that "I wonder if there really is a Springfield, and if so, why".

*The Chicago Skyway. This is the most excitement you can have for two bucks, riding over the Skyway Bridge, especially if it's windy, wet, snowy, all of the above or Mrs PFOS is in the car with you. She is generally unhappy when riding over bridges. She is terrified when riding over this one. Despite her dislike, it is a verrrry cool view from up there.

*Grant Park and Lincoln Park. These are two of the best free spaces anywhere. Buckingham Fountain, the Bean, Lincoln Park Zoo, wonderful.

*The Mississippi Palisades. Metro folk don't frequently venture out to the West Coast of Illinois, but it's worth a weekend. Extremely cool vistas. I like the word "vistas".

*Pot Hole Season in Chicago. Like crabgrass, potholes return en masse every year, and the TV talking heads get all worked up about them, including my favorite term "pot holes are sprouting up everywhere". Holes are sprouting up...ok. BTW, the only natural enemy of the hole is the pile.

That's seven. I'm a little heavy on bridges. Send in your own nominations, please, to make this a more representative list. Rod's hairdo is not eligible for nomination, though "The Office of Governor of the State of Illinois" merits consideration.