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"Toxic substance" does not include...

Excerpt from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce Regulation of Industry, Buildings and Safety, Sections 101.58 to 101.599 (The “Employees’ Right to Know Law”):

2. “Toxic substance” does not include:
a. Any article, including but not limited to an item of equip-
ment or hardware, which contains a substance regulated by the
federal occupational safety and health administration under title
29 of the code of federal regulations part 1910, subpart z, if the
substance is present in a solid form which does not cause any acute
or chronic health hazard as a result of being handled by an
employee.
b. Any mixture containing a substance regulated under title
29 of the code of federal regulations part 1910, subpart z, if the
substance is less than one percent, or, if the substance is an impu-
rity, less than 2%, of the product.
c. Any consumer product packaged for distribution to and
used by the general public, for which the employee’s exposure
during use is not significantly greater than the consumer’s expo-
sure occurring during the principal use of the product.
d. Any substance received by an employer in a sealed package
and subsequently sold or transferred in that package, if the seal
remains intact while the substance is in the employer’s workplace.
e. Any waste material regulated under the federal resource
conservation and recovery act, P.L. 94−580.
f. Lutefisk.
(k) “Workplace” means any location where an employee per-
forms a work−related duty in the course of his or her employment,
except a personal residence.

Little Beauties:

I guess the usual reaction to this is to think it's exploitative and deviant, which I do, but I also think it's kind of weak to point to it and suggest that it somehow evinces a deeper cultural psychology. I think this is a fringe practice, and I don't think it was created to please men. Instead, I think it was created to officialize and sanction an obsession with cuteness that is mostly harbored by older women. The sexualization of the girls is, I think, part of the usual topsy-turvy of the cute factor: like a puppy in sunglasses, or a little boy in a suit. Little kids dressing up like or acting like adults has a definite charm.

But, as with dolls and the Uncanny Valley, this charming precocity can spill over into seriously creepy territory.

Sneezing at the sun.

Photic sneeze reflex is a genetic autosomal dominant trait, which causes sneezing when exposed suddenly to bright light, possibly many times consecutively. It is also referred to as photic sneeze response, sun sneezing, photogenic sneezing, the photosternutatory reflex, being photo sensitive, ACHOO syndrome, and "Achooism," with its related backronym Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome. The condition affects 17 to 35 percent of humans.[citation needed]

The first mention of the phenomenon is probably in the later work attributed to Aristotle (Problems, book XXXIII).

Continue reading: Wikipedia

Rote Memorization for Obama!

Barry Sanders.

Truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” said Terrellita Maverick, 82, a San Antonio native who proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.

In the 1800s, Samuel Augustus Maverick went to Texas and became known for not branding his cattle. He was more interested in keeping track of the land he owned than the livestock on it, Ms. Maverick said; unbranded cattle, then, were called “Maverick’s.” The name came to mean anyone who didn’t bear another’s brand. [...]

Considering the family’s long history of association with liberalism and progressive ideals, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Maverick insists that John McCain, who has voted so often with his party, “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase.”

“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

“He’s a Republican,” she said. “He’s branded.”

Continue reading at the New York Times.

Obama Mural Madness!

No political messages allowed! Unless, of course, they were purchased.

Street justice.

“From two very senior sources – one incredibly senior source – that [Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Bros.] went to the gym after … Lehman was announced as going under. He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the corner, pumping iron and he walked over and he knocked him out cold. And frankly after having watched this, I’d have done the same too.”

From the Consumerist.

The lord wants their balls on a platter. Today.

Days after federal officials agreed to an $85 billion bailout of American International Group, the insurance firm spent more than $440,000 for a corporate retreat at a swanky California resort. An invoice from the week-long getaway, a copy of which you'll find below, was obtained by the congressional panel that has been holding hearings this week about Wall Street collapses and executive excess. The late-September AIG gathering at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach cost $443,343, according to the invoice. The six-figure sum covered hotel rooms, banquets, golf fees, and spa services at the resort south of Los Angeles. However, company funds apparently were not spent on exploding cakes or urinating ice statues.

From the Smoking Gun.

My contribution to the meme.

Jack Cafferty is my new hero.

Tina Fey as VPILF.

VPILF reads all of them.