What Annoys Jeff This Week?

Medical Experts. Watch the news long enough and you’re going to find out a few simple medical truths. Eggs are good for your or possibly bad for you. Coffee is good for your brain, but bad for your heart. Exercise keeps your cardiovascular system in tip top shape, but can damage your heart and skeletal system. Everything from radishes to ordinary tap water apparently causes cancer in mice. I think doctors are pretty good at the micro level of telling us what’s wrong with us individually, but I’m not sure they’ve got the sense God gave the common rooster when it comes to figuring anything out at the macro level. When it comes to what’s good or bad across an entire population, it doesn’t seem like they have a clue.

Jerry Sandusky. Hasn’t the news cycle moved far enough away from this that it’s not really a story anymore? Seriously, can’t a Kardashian get knocked up and spare us all from another three months of Jerry’s kid touching extravaganza?

Hopped-up Meth Heads Eating People. Zombie lore is clear on one point. The only immediately effective method of stopping a impending undead attack on your person is detaching the zombie’s head from its body. This is traditionally accomplished in one of two ways, using a shotgun or a two-handed long sword. In a pinch, a fire axe might also get the job done, but its sweet spot is much smaller than the other methods and is therefore not recommended except when other options are not available. As they did in the Wild West, the answer to the latest rash of face eating is clearly to deputize the citizenry, arm them with shotguns and long swords, and send them out to roam the streets to defend the living. At least this way, stories of the impending zombie apocalypse would reflect both sides of the ongoing battle between good and evil.

WaWa. Usually I can count on WaWa to sell me a pre-packaged salad, a bottle of water, and a bag of chips a couple of times a week. I’ve been in twice this week looking for lunch and both times their “salad chiller” was blowing hot air. Sure, lettuce and assorted other greens might stand up to that for a while, but diced ham and chicken will probably not respond quite as well. I watched a few people pick up a lukewarm salad and walk away happy enough with their decision, but there’s something about trusting glorified gas station attendants to know when a food item has gone off makes me more than a little nervous. I think I’m going to have to pass for a while. Keeping perishable items chilled doesn’t seem like it should be too much to ask.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next installment of “From the Mailbag.”

What Annoys Jeff This Week?

Penn State. The Board of Trustees made a chump move in firing Joe Paterno. Instead of standing by their historic coach, they gave in to the easy solution of throwing him under the bus instead of putting the blame where it belonged: on the vile bastard that committed the crime. This was a situation that called for nuance, not an “off with their heads” bloodletting as soon as a scapegoat appeared in the crosshairs. In the media age, apparently even higher education doesn’t have the attention span to manage nuance. Maybe the guy doesn’t deserve a total pass, but after a storied career spanning half a century he deserves a hell of a lot better than this.

The Republican Party. I’ve watched half a dozen debates now and can say honestly that I have no motivation to support any of the bozos my party has put forward as presidential candidates. Looks like it’s going to be another election where I hold my nose and check the box for a candidate that smells the least like shit. A couple of lunatics, a smattering of religious zealots, most who have said they want to freeze my pay or fire me, and one or two reasonable guys who come with so much baggage they’ll never make it through the primaries anyway. Geepers, what’s not to like?