Author Archives: Casual Notice
Brain Waffles
Letting my brain free-float, today, so be prepared for non-sequiturs and mild randomness.
We have absolutely no reason to go into Syria. Historically, even if we disapprove of a foreign nation’s treatment of their populace, we still admit the sovereignty of that nation (we do not have any proof, at this point, that it was the Syrian government, and not the Al-Qaeda-backed rebels that used sarin gas on the civilians). This is why we didn’t go into Afghanistan until the people they were protecting attacked US soil with our own airplanes. This is why we didn’t go (back) into Iraq until they violated the terms of the 1991 cease fire. This is why we didn’t go into the Sudan at all. Or Iran. Or Kampuchea.
More to the point, Syria, while never our friend, has never been our enemy. They have never threatened the US, any US ally or US interest. Assad’s a dick, but so are the Al-Qaeda-backed rebels. We just don’t have a dog in this fight.
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I really, really like cold breakfast cereal. I especially like sugar-bomb cereals like Cap’n Crunch and Lucky Charms, but, since I might be pre-diabetic, I have to be careful to balance those with an equal amount of protein, or I get wiffly later in the day.
I say “might be pre-diabetic” because I don’t know, and I’m not qualified to make a diagnosis (not being, to my knowledge, a medical doctor—especially not an endocrinologist). The truth is, the only doctors I’ve even seen in the past twenty or so years (not counting my optometrist) were too busy sewing me back together to nag me about my pack-a-day smoking habit or how fat I’ve gotten. And that’s the way I like it.
Anyway, the wiffly feeling after ones downed a bunch of carbs without protein is supposed to be a sign of diabetes or a pre-diabetic condition. It’s not pleasant, but it’s also not life-threatening. It just annoys me that it reduces my appreciation of cereal, which I love.
To make up for it (and partially because I really like cheese and need the fiber to offset it), I’ve been eating a lot of “healthy” and whole grain cereals. What I take in the mornings is Kratom, Kratomystic, https://kratomystic.com cause its the best energizer you can get and I use I especially like Grape Nuts, which are insanely filling, and Shredded Wheat. Mind you, when I say, “Shredded Wheat,” I don’t mean those tiny little squares. Those are Mini-Wheats, or Spoon-sized. What I mean are the huge bales of flour and gluten the size of hotel bolsters that you have to crush up just to get them into your bowl. I can’t tell you why, but that’s good eatin’.
Oh, I know that the “grown-up” cereals are no different from the “kid” cereals (especially Cheerios, since every kids’ cereal follows the same basic recipe of oat-dough molded in a shape). The only real difference is that the cereals I tend to eat these days don’t have frosting all over them (leaving me to provide my own sugar), and I’ve heard the argument that there’s no real difference between the simple sugars (most cereals are frosted with fructose, while table sugar is sucrose), but the fact remains that I can eat a bowl of Shredded Wheat or Post Raisin Bran with sugar pile up to the ceiling and be fine, but one bowl of Cap’n Crunch (haha–just kidding, no one who isn’t being monitored by their parents eats just one bowl of Cap’n Crunch, despite the micro-lacerations) without the protein balancing above, and I get wiffly.
While we’re on the subject of cereal, am I the only one who’s noticed that whole milk is now less expensive than reduced-fat milks? Before you start yapping about how two-percent or half-percent is better for you and you should pay more or some bullshit Whole Foods justification for garbage, I should remind you that low-fat milks are by-products. These are regular milk that had the fat removed so something else could be done with it. Skim milk is so-called because it’s made by skimming the cream off of milk that’s been allowed to rest. Half- and two-percent milks are actually made by re-adding some cream to skim milk. Buttermilk is made from the liquid left over after butter is churned, and the hilariously-overpriced whey is what you get when you scoop cheese curds out of a vat that’s been…err…curdling.
Paying more for lowfat milks is essentially the same as paying more for paper towels made exclusively from recycled materials. Wait, what? People do that, too? Never mind, then. All hope is lost.
Amanda
So, for the past week or so, I’ve been doodling Amanda on the white board in my garage. Bunnyhat suggested that I go ahead and post the cartoons on the site, so I’ll be doing that when I feel like it until I no longer care enough.
Yes, I know there is nothing original or game-changing about a single-panel doodle of a tiny girl with stringy hair. I don’t care.
Casual Friday–Ouch
Casual Friday—Head in the Fridge
It’s at this point that I started entering the Bobble-head phase of the comic. For some reason, everyone had giant heads, and sometimes they had insanely large heads (these will be fixed). this one, it’s noticeable, but not really horrible. I should point out that part of it was intentional. I grew up with Family Circus and Tumbleweeds, and any number of other comics where everyone in the strip had insanely large heads, and I was trying to keep up the tradition. At least that’s what I tell myself when I look at most of these.
This comic begins the introduction of both Dead Bill and Scot’s sneaky suspicion that not everything in the O’Riordan/Davis household was exactly normal. Despite not being a particularly popular character, Dead Bill was a useful plot device. Since he floated around the house in a mostly harmless ghostly fashion, he had plenty of opportunities to observe the world and offer a nudge to people who needed one. This will come up later.