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	<title>Gerb's Sphincter</title>
	<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org</link>
	<description>A dribbling orifice of goodness</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:13:33 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>A sense of perspective</title>
		<description>	Here&#8217;s where we stand.
	Humbling, isn&#8217;t it?
price viagra pharmacy online phentermine online description price best price 100mg viagra and overnight price of generic meridia effexor and topamax interactions aqnd anxiety buy sildenafil citrate lithium order the drug zyban cheap phentermine no rxx buy xanax prescription consultation overnight delivery buy flomax cheap ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/47</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Nashville Tuning (for guitars)</title>
		<description>	I recently re-strung my baritone acoustic guitar with a Nashville tuning.  Imagine taking a regular guitar tuning, and raising the E, A, D and G strings up by one octave.  It&#8217;s effectively using the &#8220;higher&#8221; strings in each pair of a 12-string guitar&#8217;s 6 courses.
	
Thanks to DR Strings, ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/46</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Obama calls it like it is.</title>
		<description>	YouTube clip here.
	
This is probably the clearest and most concise explanation of what&#8217;s really going on in this &#8220;war&#8221;.
 </description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/45</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Sheer, unmitigated idiocy.</title>
		<description>	Apparently, we (Canada and US) did not learn from the lesson of Maher Arar.
	
Due to the idiocy of our system of immigration, a nine-year old Canadian boy is being held prisoner in a detention center, along with his Iranian-born parents.  Their crime?  Being on a plane to Canada ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/43</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Baby - the other red meat?</title>
		<description>	Link here explains it all. (PDF viewer required.)
 </description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/42</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Bad Bank!</title>
		<description>	After reading this story I decided to cancel my Bank of America credit card.  I&#8217;m taking my business elsewhere to a bank that doesn&#8217;t abuse its customers.
 </description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/41</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Building a bass (tips)</title>
		<description>	If you&#8217;ve seen my previous post about my new Warmoth Gecko basses then you may appreciate some of the things I learned when assembling and finishing these instruments.
	Warmoth packs all their shipments extremely well, inside heavy cardboard boxes with adequate &#8220;packing peanuts&#8221; for protection.  Both my shipments arrived safely ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/38</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Building a bass</title>
		<description>	So by now I&#8217;ve built and assembled two Warmoth Gecko 5-string fretless basses from parts, and I think I&#8217;m getting pretty good at the process.  You can read the details on my Instruments Page on my old, clunky, static HTML website (which I&#8217;ve been meaning to rewrite one of ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/37</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Cure for Hiccups?</title>
		<description>	From elsewhere:
	
A 60-year-old man with acute pancreatitis developed persistent hiccups after insertion of a nasogastric tube. Removal of the latter did not terminate the hiccups which had also been treated with different drugs, and several manoeuvres were attempted, but with no success. Digital rectal massage was then performed resulting in ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/35</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Best Political T-Shirt Ever.</title>
		<description>	
	
The only thing I can do is laugh at this latest scandal.  I honestly don&#8217;t feel any outrage over this - after all, it&#8217;s a typical example of the level of corruption that&#8217;s now status quo from the self-proclaimed political party of &#8220;moral values&#8221;.

	
I don&#8217;t usually quote the Bible, ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/34</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Tolerance and Parenthood (part 2)</title>
		<description>	Apparently my earlier post on this subject was fairly popular with most of my family members, who occasionally read this blog (about as often as I update it).  I salute you all, and thank you for sharing that I am not alone in my hatred of the voice of ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/32</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Duckling, Inverted</title>
		<description>	I have a soft spot for ducks.  Perhaps it&#8217;s because we used to have pet ducklings when I was a kid.
	This week at work, I noticed that our cafeteria&#8217;s courtyard has once again been visited by wild ducks.  This happens fairly often - if you work where I ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/31</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Burning as Free Speech</title>
		<description>	I once witnessed a burning of an American flag.
	Let me explain - it probably wasn&#8217;t the kind of &#8220;flag burning&#8221; that has so many conservatives (and their Congressional stooges) up in arms these days.  There&#8217;s a story behind this, and I&#8217;m going to explain it to you so that ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/30</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Mighty hunter catches a mouse!</title>
		<description>	Okay, so tonight we caught and maimed our first mouse in our relatively-new home.
	About 11:30 PM, I was using the computer when I noticed a fast, furry blur run across the carpet.  I immediately jumped up to see where it had hidden.  Turns out it was a little ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/29</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Software for the Mac</title>
		<description>	You&#8217;ve probably heard many Mac fan-boys rave about the quality of software that&#8217;s available for the Mac.
	I&#8217;m here to tell you that they are right.
	I, a former open-source junkie, have found myself doing the unthinkable: paying for closed-source software, including an operating system (Mac OS X &#8220;Tiger&#8221;).
	Here are some of ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/28</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>New Bass Amp - Cabs on the way</title>
		<description>	OK, I admit I&#8217;m a bit of a &#8220;gearhead&#8221; when it comes to basses, amplifiers, and other related possessions.
	My old bass amp is a SWR SM-400 which was donated to me by a dear friend several years ago.  It has served me well over the years, but it&#8217;s starting ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/27</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Tolerance and Parenthood</title>
		<description>	Since I&#8217;ve been a daddy for just about a year now, I&#8217;ve learned how to deal with most of the various aspects of babyhood and parenthood that I once thought I would never deal with.  I&#8217;ve dealt with the worst and messiest explosions of baby shit, cleaned up and ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/26</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Semiotics &#038; The next sphere</title>
		<description>	I&#8217;ve been interested in Semiotics lately.  If you want to know more, go look it up in Wikipedia and Google (among others).
	Actually, to paint with a bit broader of a brush, for some time now I&#8217;ve been assessing my current life situation, mostly with respect to my career, and ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/25</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Baker</title>
		<description>	Okay, so I finally learned how to make something that I&#8217;ve always wanted to be able to make.  Tonight I made my first English muffins (you know, like the toaster biscuits) - from scratch, and all that.  I got a recipe from a book of breads from around ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/24</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Don&#8217;t need no socks</title>
		<description>	Both twins have now learned how to take off their socks!  
	We usually put the socks back on to keep their little toes warm, but it&#8217;s fun to watch anyway.

 </description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/23</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>The importance of backups</title>
		<description>	OK, I&#8217;m going to hammer home a point that&#8217;s probably completely obvious to everyone, yet very few of us seem to do enough about it.
	BACK UP YOUR DATA.
	Buy an external hard drive (USB or FireWire), set up a weekly or monthly schedule, and back it up.  Do this regularly. ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/22</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>iMac G5, refurbished, needs repair, runaround</title>
		<description>	Buying an Apple refurbished computer from the online Apple Store?  Be ready for a few problems.
	I purchased a refurbished Apple iMac G5 (20-inches, 2.0 GHz) last month, and had to take it in for service, since 2 of the 3 screws that held the chassis together were damaged.  ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/21</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Winter has arrived early, misc.</title>
		<description>	So we&#8217;re having our first snow of the season, here in lovely Hillsboro.  It&#8217;s sticking to the ground, and I expect it&#8217;ll come down pretty heavily tonight.
	This winter has been absolutely frigid so far.  The air has been so dry, inside and out, and we&#8217;ve had to use ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/20</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Managing and archiving E-mail</title>
		<description>	I&#8217;m in the process of moving my domains over to a new web server, and I&#8217;ve been pondering what to do about my vast archives of e-mail that I&#8217;ve accumulated over the years.
	Managing multiple MBOXes and Maildirs can get very unwieldy, very quickly.  In the past I had tried ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/19</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>iPod Nano, paradigm shift</title>
		<description>	I succumbed to the temptation and bought myself an iPod Nano (black, 4Gb) shortly after it was first introduced.  And I&#8217;ve got to say that the Nano is probably the best music player for me.
	It&#8217;s small - the form factor is great, it&#8217;s easy to carry, and it&#8217;s still ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/17</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Whether to sell a bass, a dear friend</title>
		<description>	My friend and co-worker has offered to buy one of my basses.  It&#8217;s the Tobias &#8220;Toby Pro&#8221; 5-string fretted bass that I bought about 6 years ago, and to which I added my first set of Lane Poor pickups and a matching 2-channel Lane Poor pre-amp.
	This is how I ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/18</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>A poem for my baby daughter</title>
		<description>	My precocious and beautiful daughter, who has just passed 6.5 months of age, has a habit of laying some really impressive solid waste into her diapers.  (Her twin brother has the same gift.)
	Tonight, whilst I was cleansing her nether parts with warm water and soap, I composed a poem ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/16</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Elderly cashier at Walgreen&#8217;s</title>
		<description>	I stopped by the local Walgreen&#8217;s pharmacy on my way home from work, to pick up some medicine for Wife.  The elderly woman at the checkstand started asking me about my Utilikilt.
	&#8220;That&#8217;s a nice kilt.  Why are you wearing a kilt, young man?&#8221;
	&#8220;Frankly, because I hate wearing pants, ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/14</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>First trip to the mall, dinner at a restaurant</title>
		<description>	In this post and in all future posts, I will use the identifiers &#8216;Wife&#8217;, &#8216;Girl&#8217; and &#8216;Boy&#8217; to refer to my lovely spouse and our twin babies, whose genders are listed respectively.  I do this to protect the privacy of my family.  Unless you know me well, you ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/13</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Mighty Mouse Rocks</title>
		<description>	So I got myself a new Apple Mighty Mouse a few weeks ago, and I&#8217;ve been using it every day.  This is probably the best optical mouse that I&#8217;ve ever used, period.
	The tracking is smooth, without any skips or jumps.  The mouse itself is very lightweight, yet not ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/12</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Poor sheep!</title>
		<description>	I usually don&#8217;t cheer for PETA, but in this case I&#8217;ll make an exception:
	The sheep farming lobby fears PETA because it is hard to argue that mulesing is anything other than what the US-based animal liberationists say it is: &#8220;A gruesome procedure in which farmers use gardening shears to carve ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/8</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Surgery or damn</title>
		<description>	Well, duh.  I wonder how long it took to reach this conclusion:
	The most effective treatment for severe hemorrhoids is surgical removal, according to a new study.
	The finding contradicts the widely-held belief that rubber-band ligation &#8212; the practice of cutting off circulation, causing the hemorrhoid to wither away &#8212; is ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/7</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>The purpose of this blog</title>
		<description>	Okay, you&#8217;re probably asking yourself what this is all about.  My goal (aside from the basic goals of every other amateur, wanna-be blogger in the world) is to capture thoughts or facts which interest me.
	Sphincters, to me, are the ultimate gateways of the body.  They control the passages ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/6</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Dugong</title>
		<description>	Found this today:
	The dugong gained weight fairly well. Starting from 18.5 kilograms on 3 May, the dugong weighed 19.6 kilograms on 7 May. The calf would often pass out air through the anus, sometimes expelling soft, brown feces together with the air. Laboratory examination of the feces did not reveal ...</description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/5</link>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>First test of WordPressDash</title>
		<description>	Hope this works.  I&#8217;m using a Dashboard wigdet in Mac OS X 10.4, running on my PowerBook G4, to add this post.  Woo-hah!

 </description>
		<link>http://sphincter.gerb.org/polyps/4</link>
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