Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

Temple of Science

I ran into this really interesting yahoo! article today. It's about a scientist who is trying to close the gap between religion and science. Check it out and let me know what you think about what he's trying to do. I, personally, think it's pretty rad.

Friday, September 05, 2008

The Right for Women to Vote

A friend emailed me this touching story, and I thought I'd pass it on here. It's a good, if graphic, reminder to all women just what was done to establish their right to vote only 100 years ago:

"This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers,
as they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that
women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were
jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs
asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went
on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing
sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an
iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought
Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits
describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming,
pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the
warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to
teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared
to picket Woodrow Wilson 's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail.
Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one
of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her
to a chair, forced a tube Down her throat and poured liquid into her until
she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was
smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year
because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to
work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's
new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion.
But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more
rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's
history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to
talk about it, she looked angry She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What
would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right
to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women,
but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said,
had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their
curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else
women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we
are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little
shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to
persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could
be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor
refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her
crazy.

The doctor admonished the men:
'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for
by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or
Independent - remember to vote.

History is being made."

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Fail Blog Photos

Okay, I saw these and died laughing:

fail owned pwned pictures
(oops... I hope they don't really mean that)

fail owned pwned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures
(I know real estate is having problems, but this is a little much)

fail owned pwned pictures
(This might work... if the string goes somewhere)

Monday, September 01, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Responsibility Project

A friend of mine forwarded me this link to something called The Responsibility Project. I thought it was pretty neat, so I'm sharing it with you.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

China Revokes Human Rights Activist's Visa

I just read an article that frankly pissed me off. Chine has revoked the visa of Joey Cheek - an Olympic gold medalist and human rights activists. Apparently, though China doesn't need an official reason to revoke any visa, Joey has been speaking out against human rights violations in Darfur that China was involved in - and that was too much for the Chinese government.

Maybe instead of sitting on their high horse, the Chinese government should take a look at their country, at their actions, and see what they are doing to their own people - as well as other people. They are polluting their own drinking water - do they need an epidemic like the London cholera situation to set them straight? They have incredibly polluted air - do they need people to die from pollution or asphyxiation to change this? They inflict human rights violations - do they need the whole world to shut them out to realize how wrong this is?

I'm not too thrilled at having the Olympics in China anyway, but I think they've taken it too far with Joey Cheek. What's your take on this?

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Awesome Radio Program

My friend recommended an excellent radio program called X Minus One. It's so cool! It's got old 50's radio programs, they are so fun! I'm listening to one show right now. :)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Cat Lover

This guy loves his cats:

cat

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sad but True

I haven't posted on here for a while, I know. I was waiting to find something truly fantastic to write about - not just the fact that it was 103 degrees at my house last week. I finally found that cool, funny, poignant (?) thing that I simply had to post about. Here it is, courtesy of Pundit Kitchen:

Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures
(so sad but true - it's $4.59 out here!)

and this:

Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures
(Maybe gas is expensive, but at least I don't get these)

and this:

Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures
(That makes sense! Finally, I know how they determine the price of gas)

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Monday, April 28, 2008

Metallica's Really Creepy Music Video

Believe it or not, I had never seen the music video for "One" by Metallica until Saturday night, when my boyfriend showed it to me. We checked it out because it's the topmost popular Metallica music video on iTunes.
The video's got the song and shots of band members rocking out with interposed pictures and audio clips from the movie "Johnny Got His Gun". If you ever need an anti-war anthem and music video, check this out:




How chilling and downright awful is that? In some ways, I'd like to see the whole movie, but really I'm not sure if I'd be able to deal with such a horrifying situation - a situation that really could happen and probably has happened.

My Rolling Sauna

Okay, I live in LA... but it's HOT outside. On Weds it was mid to upper 60's. Today it's close to 100 outside, which means inside my car (affectionately dubbed "the rolling sauna") it's 110.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Kitteh Sonnet

I got this LOLz sonnet from Making Light

I in ur sonnet, doin ur ritin.
How do this hapn? I just a kitty.
Main job of catz are just 2B pritty!
(‘Cept with the doggies, then us be fitin.)
Course back in da old days catz was workin
Eatin ur mouses an axin fr milk…
Now giv me treatz or me clawin ur silk!
An bring em here fast, none of ur shirkin.
U humanz r comin under r powr
Uzin ur money to pamper n feed us,
Learnin from websitez how much u need us.
R clvr planz is comin to flower!
Now mousie are safe in his tiny holz
Nless u go catch him. I da boss. LOLz

Friday, April 18, 2008

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Two Great Bands

I just discovered the Flobots who I've decided I love. They are kinda a modern Rage Against the Machine, in that they are rather political.

Also, I have fallen in love with Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight cd because of the two (also rather political) songs: "What I've Done" and "Hands Held High".

I'm excited to see artists trying to raise awareness of the situations going on around the planet.

(04/10/08) Another awesome band is Death Cab for Cutie. Their new album Narrow Stairs is out on May 13th and I'm really excited. I just heard their single "I Will Possess Your Heart" on Indie 103.1 this morning and I love it.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The Taxman and the Sign of the Devil

I have been chuckling ever since my taxes. Not my normal reaction to be sure, but the money I just mailed in to the state tax collector and the federal tax collector equal 666. That makes me chuckle a little. :)

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Professional Prankster

I read this article this morning about John Hargrave - a prankster that takes his job very seriously. He's pretty darn funny! :)

There also seems to be a plethora of articles about various April Fools scenarios:
Wired has nerdy pranks
Yahoo warns what to look out for
Msn's front page has the top ten April Fools Hoaxes

So... if you are looking for something funny, check these out. They cracked me up! (Just don't make all my icons become affected by earth's gravitational pull please)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Frank Sinatra's Experiment

I have been pretty busy, but I ran across this and had to laugh:

Friday, March 14, 2008











LOL! I love this image...

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Can you Digg it?

I joined Digg last night and I'm totally hooked. So, if anyone has any cool stories to share, comment them here or become my friend on Digg.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Happy Birthday, Dad

It's my dad's birthday today! So, I just wanted to wish him a very happy birthday! Have a great day, dad! Don't let the Federal Government get you down. (They cut his birthday short by an hour with Daylight Savings Time- how dare they!)

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

A Solemn Moment - Political Thoughts

I don't like to put my political ideas on my blogs, but I wanted to make one small comment. I have heard many people say they will vote (or have voted) for Hillary Clinton because "her husband did such a good job when he was in office."

First of all, when he was in office, people were bitching and moaning about his decisions as much as we complain about the current president (maybe less, but I do recall a good amount of complaint and I was only a kid).

Second of all, Hillary Clinton is not Bill Clinton. They are not clones and she had little to nothing to do with his decisions. We saw how much he paid attention to his wife with the Monica Lewinsky fiasco.

I just don't want people to forget how the past was, and then say it was better or worse than it is now. I was thinking about George Orwell's Animal Farm and this quote is so applicable to right now that it's scary:

"As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they laboured in the fields; in the winter they were troubled by the cold, and in the summer by the flies. Sometimes the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now. They could not remember. There was nothing with which to compare their present lives: they had nothing to go upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated that everything was getting better and better."

If you haven't read the book, Squealer is the PR man (in this case, pig) for the politicians (can I say pigaticians, or is that too punny?). Anyway, the point is that we mustn't forget history and we must always strive to improve life now, as compared to what actually was - not as compared to what some double-talking politician or even our dim memory says it was.

Let me know your opinions on this. Are the American people becoming like the animals in Mr. Orwell's brilliant book?

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Improv Everywhere

Oh my gosh! These videos are so funny! I hope someone does something like this in LA one of these days, that would be fantastic:

Frozen in Grand Central Station


Red Head Protest of Wendys


I want to move to New York after this.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Someone is WRONG!

I hope this is not what the world has come to... but I'm posting on my blog at 11:42 PM on a Friday night, so I digress:


Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Monty Python LOL Catz

There's been a recent trend on Icanhascheezburger that I'd like to share with the world. *Drumroll* Presenting The Monty Python Cats!

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!

Humorous Pictures

Humorous Pictures

Yes, I love Monty Python. If you can answer this question, then you can subscribe to my blog: What is the average wingspeed of an unladen swallow?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Lab and Fawn Playing

This video is so cute!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Cat Proposal

Check out the I Can Has Cheezburger Marriage Proposal! So cute!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Actually, it's pretty awesome. It's been raining and misting. The drive in to work was absolutely gorgeous. There was some amazing low-lying mist in the valleys and covering the foothills so you could hardly seem them. I love days like this - they are stunning and make me feel cozy.
I'm sure that doesn't make much sense coming from a Los Angeles native, but:

a) We never get weather like this
b) My early childhood was spent in San Francisco
c) I've been wanting to move to a greener (and thus more rainy) area for at least 4 years now.

I wish I could take a day to go camping or something in the misty mists, but the snow line is also coming down and the last person who did something like that in weather like this got lost and they haven't found him. :( So, I'm just hanging at work, looking longingly out the window. I wish we had snow days here.

Friday, February 15, 2008

To My Subscribers

A while back I put in a neat little RSS Feed "Subscribe" icon to make it easier for my fabulous readers to subscribe and help me make my webpages into a community. When I did this... I made a mistake. If you are subscribed to this blog and wanted to subscribe to my Info About Psychiatry Blog, you aren't crazy and you didn't press the wrong button. I was tired (I did it at about 12AM) and I pasted the wrong HTML in. This error has now been fixed and anyone can subscribe to my psychiatry blog with ease.

Sorry for the mix up. I hope you all subscribe to my
psychiatry blog now!

Cow Eating Trees?

Can someone tell me if there is really such a thing as a carnivorous tree?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Mapquest

Humorous Pictures
moar funny pictures

A Million Miles

This article is awesome! A man in Wisconson's '91 pickup just reached 1 million miles and it still runs! That's incredible. I hope my car runs that long.

The Disagreement Theory

I found this photo thanks to this fine post:


I think this is totally hilarious, but also can be very true. I love getting comments, but if you have tried to comment you may discover that I don't allow you to be anonymous and I moderate. That is directly because of the"Dickwad Theory". I don't mind disagreement, but I do mind jerks.
Anyway, hope you liked the picture. :) I thought it was pretty funny.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Google... Slowly Taking Over the World

Okay, the headline is a joke, but this video is pretty darn funny:





Does anyone have any idea of what that red light is supposed to be? Is it the DHARMA Initiative from Lost? (jk - I swear I am not a conspiracy theorist) Let me know...

Friday, January 25, 2008

Snow Pictures

I promised pictures of the incredible phenomena - snow in LA. Here they are:




These are of the mountains right behind Foothill Blvd. I'm pretty sure it's these mountains that are part of the Angeles Crest Forest. I took these pics from Foothill Blvd and La Crescenta Ave






This one was taken from the 2 freeway headed North from Glendale. Aint it perty? You can just see a little snow on one of the mountains and the clouds are gorgeous. We don't get weather like this here in LA, so I'll take what I can get.




This one is where the 2 North splits. I'm headed toward the 210 West and the ramp you can see here is the 2 freeway. Look how low those clouds are!


That's our show, folks! I don't want to put all the crappy pictures I took up, just the okay ones. None of these are photoshopped in any way, shape or form. This is the real deal. Snow in LA! Next you'll see people walking!

A Pair of Fools

Okay, this story is freaking HILARIOUS! Two thieves mistook a bag of breadrolls for a bag full of cash. Not only that, but one of them shot the other in the butt on accident. The judge called them "a pair of fools" before sentancing one of them to 8 years and the other to 7 years of prison. Check out the whole story. It's hilarious.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Snow Day!

We had snow in the Angeles Crest Mountains and Verdugo Hills! It's so heavy that it actually snowed on my co-worker's home and car. I want to take a snow day. :) Pictures will be coming soon of this Southern California rarity (if it will stop raining long enough for me to take them...)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Since The New Star Trek Movie Isn't Out Yet

Here's a picture of the crew on the StarFleet Catterprise:


funny pictures
moar funny pictures

Monday, January 21, 2008

I Love Star Trek

Yes, I'm a dork. I love Star Trek and am SOOOO excited about the new movie. I saw the teaser/trailer when I was watching Cloverfield (which was really good) last weekend, and I had to find it and post it. I can't wait until Christmas!


Martin Luther King Day

Here are some great articles about Martin Luther King:

A Different Way to Look at Martin Luther King

Wonderful Martin Luther King Quotes

A Quick History of Martin Luther King's Life and Accomplishments

Factoids About Martin Luther King

Monday, January 14, 2008

I'm So Hungry I Could Eat A...

This picture totally reminds me of my dad... this is something he used to say A LOT:

funny pictures
moar funny pictures

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Free Hugs!

This is a super cute video that my friend took of his wife and some friends in Santa Monica, CA. They are dispensing Free Hugs!