Idiots in the Mist

Forget the Gorillas; we’ve got these guys . . .

Study: Lots of Red Meat Increases Mortality Risk

I saw the above title for a news article a couple of days ago. I only embedded the link to prove that I didn’t just make it up. Please don’t bother reading it; when the title is this stupid, who really needs to know what they have to say?

I always recommend that people know the definition of a word before using it. Here are all of the definitions of “mortality” straight from Merriam-Webster:

1: the quality or state of being mortal
2: the death of large numbers (as of people or animals)
3 archaic : death
4: the human race
5 a: the number of deaths in a given time or place b: the proportion of deaths to population c: the number lost or the rate of loss or failure

The bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter which definition you choose; your “mortality risk” is pretty much going to be 100% no matter what you do. As the old saying goes, “Nobody gets out alive.”


Here’s another beauty: Why Toddlers Don’t Do As Their Told

Check out some of these groundbreaking observations from this story:

"There is a lot of work in the field of cognitive development that focuses on how kids are basically little versions of adults trying to do the same things adults do, but they're just not as good at it yet.”

Really? I never would have guessed.


“ . . . 3-year-olds neither plan for the future nor live completely in the present.”

GET OUT. Are you serious?


"If you just repeat something again and again that requires your young child to prepare for something in advance, that is not likely to be effective," Munakata said. "What would be more effective would be to somehow try to trigger this reactive function. So don't do something that requires them to plan ahead in their mind, but rather try to highlight the conflict that they are going to face. Perhaps you could say something like 'I know you don't want to take your coat now, but when you're standing in the yard shivering later, remember that you can get your coat from your bedroom."

Um . . . this may sound crazy, but how about you just put a coat on them when it’s cold outside instead of trying to REASON with them? Who's the adult here?

You want to know the real reason why toddlers don’t do as their told? Because they’re TODDLERS.


It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. – Abraham Lincoln