easily distracted again

Near the end of "No Place to Hide," Glenn Greenwald's book about the release of the NSA etc leaks by Edward Snowden, he quotes John Mueller "The number of people worldwide who are killed by Muslim-type terrorists, Al Qaeda wannabes, is maybe a few hundred outside of war zones.  It's basically the number of people who die drowning in the bathtub each year."

Why should that many people die in bathtubs?  I presume many of them are small children left unattended, but are the rest people who take a bath to relax and then fall asleep?  The CDC seems to say that most non-kid bathtub drownings are caused by the bather having a seizure.
http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Water-Safety/waterinjuries-factsheet.html

Sacred cows, not in India

This week's Torah portion is Chukat, the thing about the red cow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukat_%28parsha%29
This may be an appropriate time to use the too long don't read remark.
Despite its length, that wikipedia entry doesn't mention the weird and creepy events of 1989, when some evangelical Christians tried to bring on the end of days by careful cattle breeding
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/readings/forcing.html

I mentioned last week that I had been reading sagas, including this bit
>>A certain King Eystein of Upsala, who lived about the time of Ragnar Lóðbrók and his sons, appears to have had great faith in a cow which was called Sibilia. To this cow, says the account, they sacrificed greatly, and no one could endure to hear her bellowing. Therefore, the King was accustomed to let her go in advance of his army, when he marched forth against his enemies.<<

I wouldn't want to live in Uruguay

but I am envious of their flag and the sound of the national anthem (with its own orchestral overture).

Watching the beginning of the current World Cup match is what inspired me. I was listening to the recorded orchestra, thinking "how could you sing along to that?" when suddenly it got to the lyrics part and thousands burst into song.    For today's broadcast, they seemed to have microphones near the players, who were singing at the top of their lungs, not mouthing the words as some teams do, and of course traveling from Uruguay to Brazil is easier than to South Africa, so imagine half the people in the stands singing as well, compared to this version from the 2010 world cup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlGcJJPTTJo