I listen to Michigan Public Radio at my internship, its great. Today is something "Science Friday" and there was the leader somebody "discovered a new species of tiny humans." My imagination went wild - tiny humans? How tiny? When I told my friend Mike, he suggested Hobbits, and then asked if they were people like our friend Cari, who is about 4'11.75" - I was very amused. But my imagination was busy creating the idea of tiny civilizations living under the sea, building tiny houses and coffee shops with tiny freeways and pizza delivery places. I imagine them tilling tiny feilds of tiny grain, and for a while, I was very excited that there were really tiny people discovered*.
But then my dreams were dashed - the tiny people lived 13,000 years ago (though modern humans came about 100,000 years ago so that is pretty recent) and they were about 3 feet tall. Thats pretty big, I was expecting them to be so small that they would fit in your hand. Now this discovery is still pretty exciting, but not nearly as exciting as my idea of "tiny humans." In reality, I think the tiny people really discovered may turn out to be a hoax.
*I know all that is not possible, but its still fun to think about
10.28.2004
Because on the ONLY day I can sleep in I CAN'T sleep so I'm taking stupid retarded quizzes like this one!
I'm an artist screaming to get out of the under
appreciated hole!
What Less Than Legal Act are YOU? (includes pictures)
brought to you by
I'm an artist screaming to get out of the under
appreciated hole!
What Less Than Legal Act are YOU? (includes pictures)
brought to you by
10.25.2004
Just for the record, vampires are not romantic. I thought I should clarify this because many people seem to be under the misconception that vampires are romantic. First of all, they are undead, and the undead are not romantic. Secondly, they drink blood. Do we consider ticks and mosquitoes romantic? No. Would we consider undead ticks and mosquitoes romantic? No. Vampires are really just extra-large, economy-sized parasites. I'm afraid that parasites really aren't romantic. So take off that black nail polish, put down Vampire: The Teenage Angst and move out of your parent's basement.
P.S. Vampires aren't real.
P.S. Vampires aren't real.
10.24.2004
10.23.2004
10.17.2004
I overheard a pretty interesting conversation in the cafeteria today. A group of Jesus Krispies at the table next to me were talking about sex. It was pretty clear that none of them had ever experienced sex; it was pretty funny listening to their awkward speculations. It was obvious that they were two couples - two guys, two girls, both couples holding hands and eating with their free arms. It was very bizarre.
But I digress.
They got to be talking about birth control during this sex conversation. This is where things got really interesting. The girls both claimed that birth control was the sole responsibility of the woman, because she was the one who would have to deal with the consequences. The GUYS said that it was ALSO the male's responsibility because, as one of the boy Krispies put it, "It takes two to tango, you know." The girls claimed that it was the woman's fault if she ended up pregnant, as though the male had nothing to do with it. As one of the girls said, "She CHOSE to have sex, so it's her fault." (Right...because the guy DIDN'T choose?) Her boyfriend countered with, "But the guy may have tempted her, so it might be his fault too." Shouldn't the girls WANT the guys to take responsiblity?
It was very fucked up. I've never heard anything quite like it.
And now, today's Moose Hanging From Power Line by Antlers story... Yeah. This is where I live now.
But I digress.
They got to be talking about birth control during this sex conversation. This is where things got really interesting. The girls both claimed that birth control was the sole responsibility of the woman, because she was the one who would have to deal with the consequences. The GUYS said that it was ALSO the male's responsibility because, as one of the boy Krispies put it, "It takes two to tango, you know." The girls claimed that it was the woman's fault if she ended up pregnant, as though the male had nothing to do with it. As one of the girls said, "She CHOSE to have sex, so it's her fault." (Right...because the guy DIDN'T choose?) Her boyfriend countered with, "But the guy may have tempted her, so it might be his fault too." Shouldn't the girls WANT the guys to take responsiblity?
It was very fucked up. I've never heard anything quite like it.
And now, today's Moose Hanging From Power Line by Antlers story... Yeah. This is where I live now.
10.12.2004
Permanent links for Sig, Erica, Lisa and Lauren's blogs exist on my blog: http://ursalicious.blogspot.com. Mine and those blogs are also permanently linked from Sig's blog: http://sig.blogspot.com. Thats in case you are at a new machine and want easy access to them without remembering, it will probably also push them up in Google ranks.
10.11.2004
I had the joy of being a debate judge on Saturday - it was the Appleton tournament and Mrs. Tritz was as sweet and energetic as always. I guess she got the board to up the pay, so I raked in a sweet $60 (hey, that's 10 hours of K-Mart compared to 4 hours of controlling the fates of tiny Novice debate geeks-in-training) :)
Anyways, a good time was had by all. Although I wanted to kill the last group that I judged, if not for killing me with boredom than for (the neg side) arguing (weakly) that rape/honor killings as an integral part of culture are not human rights violations that need intervention.. and the affs for being so horrible that I had to award the round to the negs whom I so despised. Ack.
Anyways, a good time was had by all. Although I wanted to kill the last group that I judged, if not for killing me with boredom than for (the neg side) arguing (weakly) that rape/honor killings as an integral part of culture are not human rights violations that need intervention.. and the affs for being so horrible that I had to award the round to the negs whom I so despised. Ack.
10.10.2004
Hmm...I'm helping Jillian to find just the right term for "protitute" for an essay that she's writing. I've realized that there are a TON of labels for female prostitutes:
harlot
floozy
lady of the evening
scarlet woman
strumpet
hooker
whore
fallen woman
tramp
scheherezadian woman
debauched woman
slut
loose woman
tart
working girl
street walker
trollop
lecherous woman
call girl
painted lady
Umm...if you can think of more, add them to the list. It's kind of a fun game to play.
Question: Why is "gigolo" the only word I'm able to come up with for a male prostitute? Does it seem wrong to anyone else that I can list a ton of derogatory synonyms that apply to women, but only one that applies to men? As Lauren might say..."Grrrr."
harlot
floozy
lady of the evening
scarlet woman
strumpet
hooker
whore
fallen woman
tramp
scheherezadian woman
debauched woman
slut
loose woman
tart
working girl
street walker
trollop
lecherous woman
call girl
painted lady
Umm...if you can think of more, add them to the list. It's kind of a fun game to play.
Question: Why is "gigolo" the only word I'm able to come up with for a male prostitute? Does it seem wrong to anyone else that I can list a ton of derogatory synonyms that apply to women, but only one that applies to men? As Lauren might say..."Grrrr."
10.09.2004
Just wanted to let you guys know that I also started my own blog. Mostly for my teaching stuff, I'm sure you all get sick of hearing about things :) Check it out here!
Jacob found this great Bush bashing video and has it linked on his webpage.
Monday I start teaching full time - I taught everything but math class up until now, exciting stuff! We have a day off Friday - at least from the kids - but it's parent teacher conferences Thursday night & Friday so we still get to hang out at school! I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it'll all be fine!
Jacob found this great Bush bashing video and has it linked on his webpage.
Monday I start teaching full time - I taught everything but math class up until now, exciting stuff! We have a day off Friday - at least from the kids - but it's parent teacher conferences Thursday night & Friday so we still get to hang out at school! I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure it'll all be fine!
I have a lot of gossip to share about my torrid but very disappointing life right now.... (so ask me - you'll probably feel better about your own life...)
all I can say is that I really hope that cute nuclear engineer calls me this weekend
Note: I did get to see the notorius "Cock-Blocker Brenden" and I internet stalked him and know his contact info. I won't be contacting him though, but he is so adorable! Like a puppy :]
all I can say is that I really hope that cute nuclear engineer calls me this weekend
Note: I did get to see the notorius "Cock-Blocker Brenden" and I internet stalked him and know his contact info. I won't be contacting him though, but he is so adorable! Like a puppy :]
10.07.2004
Ever wonder what it would be like to go to Stanford? or Columbia? or the University of Michigan?
It sucks. I am infinitly glad that I came here as an undergrad and was able to experience a university that didn't boast the best of everything. People at SCSU were farm kids, kids from small towns, with moderate incomes and average lives. 56% of all UMich undergrads came from homes that made over $100,000 a year, and it shows. These kids lead pampered lives and they will be getting a degree from a good university, so they may lead pampered lives forever. Some of them will never live in the real world; even doing a stint in the peace corps won't change them. This wouldn't be such an annoyance to me if it wasn't for the fact that they will be the ones shaping policy though their opinions and actions in later years. They are the classic case of "born on second, thought they got a double"
And maybe some of them will face hardship, but most won't. Most will be rich assholes forever and never deal with the consequences their lives have on the rest of us. And they will never be thankful, and they will think they are better than other people. They will think, even if they do come to appreciate everything they have, that they deserved it. They deserved to be born rich, to educated parents. I hate these people, and until I can re-construct my old facade that blocked them out, I hate this place.
It sucks. I am infinitly glad that I came here as an undergrad and was able to experience a university that didn't boast the best of everything. People at SCSU were farm kids, kids from small towns, with moderate incomes and average lives. 56% of all UMich undergrads came from homes that made over $100,000 a year, and it shows. These kids lead pampered lives and they will be getting a degree from a good university, so they may lead pampered lives forever. Some of them will never live in the real world; even doing a stint in the peace corps won't change them. This wouldn't be such an annoyance to me if it wasn't for the fact that they will be the ones shaping policy though their opinions and actions in later years. They are the classic case of "born on second, thought they got a double"
And maybe some of them will face hardship, but most won't. Most will be rich assholes forever and never deal with the consequences their lives have on the rest of us. And they will never be thankful, and they will think they are better than other people. They will think, even if they do come to appreciate everything they have, that they deserved it. They deserved to be born rich, to educated parents. I hate these people, and until I can re-construct my old facade that blocked them out, I hate this place.
There were actually women scientists back in the day, but mostly they got the shaft. Take Maud Menton, the woman who discovered enzyme kinetics in 1913 as an example. She and a man named Leonor Michaelis were studying enzyme activity and while she was the one who came up with the formula for enzyme kinetics and figured out how to graph enzyme activity, he was the primary author on the paper. We know this because she was meticulous about keeping notes while he was a slob. Then there are Watson and Crick, the men who first postulated that the structure of DNA is a double helix. Except that there was a woman in their lab who happened to think of it first. Rosalyn Frankalin mentioned in a lab meeting that she thought DNA might be a double helix based on her studies using x-rays, and then all her notebooks happened to disappear. Unfortunately, she died before anybody could be awarded a Nobel Prize. She is starting to receive more credit now that Watson (or is it Crick?) is dead. Our professor likes to stress these points in class, and I'm glad.
10.02.2004
Help Make Weblogs More Visible
There are millions of weblogs on the internet, but most of them get no visibility in search engines. Only a few “A-List” blogs get into the top search engine results for a given topic, while the majority of blogs just don’t get noticed. This posting could solve that. Let’s help the smaller blogs get more visibility!
This posting is GoMeme 4.0. So far we have tried 3 earlier variations. Our first test, GoMeme 1.0, spread to nearly 740 blogs in 2.5 days. This new version 4.0 is shorter, simpler, and fits more easily into your blog.
Why are we doing this? We want to help thousands of blogs get more visibility. How does it work? Just follow the instructions below to re-post this meme in your blog and add your URL to the end of the Path List below. As the meme spreads onwards from your blog, so will your URL. Your blog will be part of the path for everyone downstream from you, that way they can see where they got this message from. Everyone in the Path List below benefits in a similar way as this meme spreads. Try it!
Instructions: Just copy this entire post and paste it into your blog, then add your URL to the end of the path list below (make sure you add the path list URLs as live links.)
Path List:
1. Minding the Planet
2. g-metrics blog
3. nv1962
4. Urban Scrawl
5. 17 Bottles Of
6. Your URL goes here
There are millions of weblogs on the internet, but most of them get no visibility in search engines. Only a few “A-List” blogs get into the top search engine results for a given topic, while the majority of blogs just don’t get noticed. This posting could solve that. Let’s help the smaller blogs get more visibility!
This posting is GoMeme 4.0. So far we have tried 3 earlier variations. Our first test, GoMeme 1.0, spread to nearly 740 blogs in 2.5 days. This new version 4.0 is shorter, simpler, and fits more easily into your blog.
Why are we doing this? We want to help thousands of blogs get more visibility. How does it work? Just follow the instructions below to re-post this meme in your blog and add your URL to the end of the Path List below. As the meme spreads onwards from your blog, so will your URL. Your blog will be part of the path for everyone downstream from you, that way they can see where they got this message from. Everyone in the Path List below benefits in a similar way as this meme spreads. Try it!
Instructions: Just copy this entire post and paste it into your blog, then add your URL to the end of the path list below (make sure you add the path list URLs as live links.)
Path List:
1. Minding the Planet
2. g-metrics blog
3. nv1962
4. Urban Scrawl
5. 17 Bottles Of
6. Your URL goes here
10.01.2004
Response to Erica & Sig about hippies
Of course there are the hippies that just get stoned and lounge around, but then there are the hippies that have the blond dreads, wear the '60s style clothes and pass out leaflets about the horrors of genetic engineering, pesticides, animal testing (of any kind, for any reason) - the only reason they don't touch stem-cell research is that its too closely tied with the abortion debate. There are some scary hippies out there that think that we shouldn't do any kind of research or science affecting mother nature. And its not just straight-up hippies, a lot of the literature I read against things like genetically engineered foods came from a class that Brian Schreier took. I think the term "hippy" might not be the right term, or it has different meanings for different people. I used to fall close to the hippy-sub-section of counter-culture, (but I'm erring closer to goth these days) but I never considered myself a hippy - I think its just a catch-all term for people that don't fall into goth, indie, punk or raver but are still considered counter-cultureComments on Debate commentary
So this morning I got up pretty early and decided to check out my friends list on LJ. I took the bush_sucks community off my friends page because its just TOO well used but I still have thedailyshow community there. The instant verdict I got on last night's debate was that Bush "got his ass handed to him on a platter." I read the posts I hadn't read and then went over to bush_sucks. There was a comment on the conspicuous silence on the pro-bush communities last night and a lot of commentary about the debates. I didn't read most of it because I know that what really matters is what the big commentators say about it. Unanimous American opinion might be that Bush got served, but if a few networks say that he did a good job, American opinion will change. My best example of the power of the media is the constant claim that Kerry "hasn't taken a position" on Iraq and a few other things. Thats simply not true, but truth doesn't really matter anymore, Kerry could take out a full page ad in the NY Times and a few other papers articulating his position and they would still be using that lame line that he hasn't taken a position. Its sickening.On the other hand, if they do point out Kerry's victory, it scares me to see what will happen with the next debates. Frankly, I won't be relaxed until Nov.3 when the campaigning is over.
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