Showing posts with label random info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random info. Show all posts
Literary coolness
This is one of the coolest things I have read in awhile. A kid did a survey to 150 authors about symbolism after learning about it in high school in 1963. About half the authors wrote back to him and they have Ray Bradbury's available to read. I think he is publishing them or something. I bet his 70-something self is thanking is 16 year-old self profusely.
Dashed dreams
My longtime dream of shaving my head will not come to fruition because I fear my head will be covered in itchy, red ingrown hairs.
America loves women
Disturbing fact: Corporations are people, or at least have the same legal rights as people. This is nothing new. This has been discussed exhaustively.
What hasn’t been discussed is disturbing fact number two: Corporations gained personhood about a year before women could vote.
What the fuck? I officially feel more demeaned than I have in a long time.
What hasn’t been discussed is disturbing fact number two: Corporations gained personhood about a year before women could vote.
What the fuck? I officially feel more demeaned than I have in a long time.
My best friend
I have decided to make Emma Stone my new best friend. The details on how to do that are a little sketchy at the moment, I only know I must.
She is quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying about a stunt gone wrong on set:
I spider-monkeyed onto Ryan's head and wrapped my body around him and kicked him in the throat and started to cry.
Anyone who not only freaks out like that, but then describes it like should be my friend. Also, anyone who is like Olive in Easy A or who acts like Olive should be my friend.
Now on to the how question!
She is quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying about a stunt gone wrong on set:
I spider-monkeyed onto Ryan's head and wrapped my body around him and kicked him in the throat and started to cry.
Anyone who not only freaks out like that, but then describes it like should be my friend. Also, anyone who is like Olive in Easy A or who acts like Olive should be my friend.
Now on to the how question!
My favorite church sign
I pass a church sign everyday on my way to work. I always look forward to the ridiculous things that it puts up. Today was the best yet:
"Treat your wife like a Thoroughbred and she won't be a nag."
Take heart all, take heart.
"Treat your wife like a Thoroughbred and she won't be a nag."
Take heart all, take heart.
Oxytocin, you minx
So oxytocin turns out to not be quite the one dimensional hormone of love and affection we all thought it was. Even though it makes us discriminate and be a bit racist the good news is that it should make me be a good mother whether I want to be or not. Since he is mine and a major part of my inner group, this little hormone should make me a mommy tigress for him. This is a relief because I worry about getting to that point on my own. Yeah for hormones and instincts.
See the article here.
See the article here.
Science is blowing my mind.
Wow! Scientist have found a new way to test people who appear to be in a vegetative state. Even though a tested man had shown no signs of life since a car accident 5 years ago, they found that he was still thinking. He was asked five questions like whether he had a brother and was asked to think about his living room for yes and playing tennis for no. Because people use different parts of their brains to think about descriptions and activities the scientists were able to follow what part of his brain was active through an MRI machine. He answered 4 out of the 5 questions correctly.
This is both fascinating and terrifying to me. One, the whole process of discovering that information is just amazing and the fact that someone who has not been able to communicate for five years is now able to communicate to some degree is neat. However, it is terrifying to think that the man has been trapped inside his useless body unable to move or communicate in anyway. He has been just lying there scared, alone and trapped. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror. If I were in that position I may be lying there silently begging for someone to ask me whether I wanted to live any longer so I could begin thinking about tennis with all my might.
A further explanation of this study can be found here.
This is both fascinating and terrifying to me. One, the whole process of discovering that information is just amazing and the fact that someone who has not been able to communicate for five years is now able to communicate to some degree is neat. However, it is terrifying to think that the man has been trapped inside his useless body unable to move or communicate in anyway. He has been just lying there scared, alone and trapped. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror. If I were in that position I may be lying there silently begging for someone to ask me whether I wanted to live any longer so I could begin thinking about tennis with all my might.
A further explanation of this study can be found here.
Leprechaun monkey!
A new leprechaun monkey has been discovered in Columbia. Its real name is Caqueta titi monkey. I love that we are still discovering new animals, plants, etc in the world and out of it. It always stressed me out as a child that everything cool had already been done and there was nothing left for me to do. I am glad to see that there is still adventure left in the world for Little Fetus Cheek to undertake. I guess it isn't a lost cause to be bearing new life after all.
Also, I find it hard to see why he is compared to a leprechaun. Nice hat though.
Also, I find it hard to see why he is compared to a leprechaun. Nice hat though.
Come on Hollywood!!!!!!!
In more news of ruining all my viewing pleasure, the maker of Vampire Diaries is going to revamp X-Files into a sexy teen paranormal investigation thing. I want to die. Can't we remake things that are older than a decade or so? These are things that do not need revamping, maybe ever, but certainly not anytime soon. What is wrong with Hollywood and where are all the orginal ideas?!?!?!?!?
Stupid article
Stupid article
We made the NY Times!
Way to go Oklahoma! We made the NY Times for intolerance. Too bad this wasn't a video feed and some white trash Oklahoman in a wife-beater could have slurred his speech and acted like an idiot. Oh well, the printed word has limitations.
Intolerance and the law in Oklahoma
Intolerance and the law in Oklahoma
Bosniak cellist
I am currently reading The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway for a book club I am looking into joining. I really knew nothing about the Bosnian War or the country itself before reading this book. After reading one character's description of how amazing the city was before the bombings, I decided to research it because I have never thought of Bosnia as beautiful.
Turns out Sarajevo has been listed as the 43rd best city in the world, hosted an Olympics and is gorgeous. I feel slightly close-minded and elitist to have assumed the worst of this place. There is a song by U2 about the war and tragedy that took place, Miss Sarajevo, and much more popular media about this country and its situation. I am so embarrassed that I have gone through life without knowing anything about it. I thought it was desertous, poor, and tried to start something. But it is beautiful, culturally and religiously rich and was attacked. I am ashamed of my ignorance.
I talked with Mr. Neruda about this and he said I should be angry at American public education for having glossed over it. Though they are at fault some, I think it would be wrong for me to blame them completely. I knew we were in a war there, something that touched our lives, and just never found out more about it. What kind of citizen am I to allow my country to be in a war I know nothing about. I was in single digits for most of it, but I was alive. There is really no good excuse here. I have learned a lesson and shall try to never wallow in such ignorance again!
I came across this picture:
There actually was a cellist in Sarajevo, Vedran Smailović, who would play at funerals for free even though they were major targets for the Serbs. Fascinating. The photo is of him playing in the ruined National Library during the war. I believe it is candid.
Turns out Sarajevo has been listed as the 43rd best city in the world, hosted an Olympics and is gorgeous. I feel slightly close-minded and elitist to have assumed the worst of this place. There is a song by U2 about the war and tragedy that took place, Miss Sarajevo, and much more popular media about this country and its situation. I am so embarrassed that I have gone through life without knowing anything about it. I thought it was desertous, poor, and tried to start something. But it is beautiful, culturally and religiously rich and was attacked. I am ashamed of my ignorance.
I talked with Mr. Neruda about this and he said I should be angry at American public education for having glossed over it. Though they are at fault some, I think it would be wrong for me to blame them completely. I knew we were in a war there, something that touched our lives, and just never found out more about it. What kind of citizen am I to allow my country to be in a war I know nothing about. I was in single digits for most of it, but I was alive. There is really no good excuse here. I have learned a lesson and shall try to never wallow in such ignorance again!
I came across this picture:
There actually was a cellist in Sarajevo, Vedran Smailović, who would play at funerals for free even though they were major targets for the Serbs. Fascinating. The photo is of him playing in the ruined National Library during the war. I believe it is candid.
Rapex: My kind of tampon
I recently read about a new device that is getting a lot of weird controversy. I think it is the best idea I've come across in a long time. The device is called Rapex and is basically a hollow cone that is to be inserted into the vagina like a tampon. Inside the cone are lines of barbs that painfully attach themselves to any unwanted penis that might be thrust inside the vagina. An anti-rape device, genius.
This device has been developed by a South African woman. South Africa has the highest rape stats with 1.7 million women a year being raped and beaten. Some feminists have stated that this device is disgusting and women should not have to adapt to rape. I think that is a great sentiment. However, in a country where women can't walk across the street without the fear of being raped seems like a place that might need a little extra "protection." The women who are against the device have compared it to chastity belts. I think that is a poor comparison. Chastity belts were something that men forced on women to "protect" them from other men (even if the women wanted to sex them up) where as this is a device that allows women to choose to wear it in their own defense.
I would love to see the look on a rapist's face when he got his most valued fella stuck in a vagina trap.
This device has been developed by a South African woman. South Africa has the highest rape stats with 1.7 million women a year being raped and beaten. Some feminists have stated that this device is disgusting and women should not have to adapt to rape. I think that is a great sentiment. However, in a country where women can't walk across the street without the fear of being raped seems like a place that might need a little extra "protection." The women who are against the device have compared it to chastity belts. I think that is a poor comparison. Chastity belts were something that men forced on women to "protect" them from other men (even if the women wanted to sex them up) where as this is a device that allows women to choose to wear it in their own defense.
I would love to see the look on a rapist's face when he got his most valued fella stuck in a vagina trap.
Interesting book title
A few days ago a patron called the library in great need of a book. She was elderly and really wanted me to look up a specific title. The title was The Bondage Breaker.
I fought hard to not snicker at that. Ah, I thought, another older woman who needs her kinky book fix. I love the elderly women who read such books, it gives me hope for becoming old. However, when I researched the book more I found that it was not a romance novel. . .
IT WAS A CHRISTIAN SELF HELP NOVEL!
Mardel's sells it. That shocked me. What a stupid title for a Christian book, it screams slave whore being freed by a Scottish Highlander or something.
I did thoroughly enjoy spending a good deal of the rest of that afternoon thinking up scenarios for what the true plot of the story might be. Some S & M was definitely included.
I fought hard to not snicker at that. Ah, I thought, another older woman who needs her kinky book fix. I love the elderly women who read such books, it gives me hope for becoming old. However, when I researched the book more I found that it was not a romance novel. . .
IT WAS A CHRISTIAN SELF HELP NOVEL!
Mardel's sells it. That shocked me. What a stupid title for a Christian book, it screams slave whore being freed by a Scottish Highlander or something.
I did thoroughly enjoy spending a good deal of the rest of that afternoon thinking up scenarios for what the true plot of the story might be. Some S & M was definitely included.
It's a hard-knock life for princesses
I found this on the blog What Do We Have Here, Inspector?
I think I agree with all of them but Belle. That chick was smart. She sacrificed herself,ran through dangerous forests packed with wolves, supplied medical care, quickly adapted, etc. Plus, the Beast was already in-love with her before she donned that gold dress.
Feminist kick
Since I'm on a feminist kick I thought I would add the cheery magazine article below that actually ran in a Housekeeping Monthly issue. Between that article and the add in the below post, I don't think I would have done well during that time period. Though Dorothy Parker seemed to have a decent time (apart from the suicide attempts and the fact that her ashes floated around homeless for 17 years and spent some time in her attorney's filing cabinet).
I would also like to take this time to apologize to Mr. Neruda for all my un-wifely ways. Tomorrow night prepare to be greeted at the door with me in nothing but Saran wrap, heels and a smile (possibly pearls if you're lucky).
I would also like to take this time to apologize to Mr. Neruda for all my un-wifely ways. Tomorrow night prepare to be greeted at the door with me in nothing but Saran wrap, heels and a smile (possibly pearls if you're lucky).
Humans make another wonderful step forward
I love this article. Humanity’s answer to horrible living conditions for animals and even worse slaughtering conditions is to simply remove the animal’s ability to feel pain. Hell, now more corners can be cut and their conditions can be worse because they won’t know . . . they’re engineered that way!
Religion and women don't mix well
Here is an article I found in the NY Times talking about the link between religion oppressing women and women being oppressed in other parts of society.
The article mentions amazing men who are working on this cause: Desmond Tutu, President Carter, etc. However, what struck me as odd is that the article did not mention any women who were working on the cause and making a stand. I guess things are changing, but not enough for us to fight our own battles. Thanks to those who are speaking out though.
The article mentions amazing men who are working on this cause: Desmond Tutu, President Carter, etc. However, what struck me as odd is that the article did not mention any women who were working on the cause and making a stand. I guess things are changing, but not enough for us to fight our own battles. Thanks to those who are speaking out though.
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