I'm listening to Talk of the Nation right now and they're doing a segment interviewing a dude who wrote this book. I'm buying it right now. His premise is that if women had reproductive freedom, and could actualize their decisions, that world population/consumption/global warming problems would resolve themselves. He supports this with historical and scientific data supporting this conclusion, and shows how population only became a problem when men began to take the control of population growth away from women. His solution is to give back reproductive freedom to women to conserve world resources and fix the dangerous population problem...that has, obviously, led to many other problems.
He says that throughout human history, individual women collectively making personally-driven decisions regarding having children actually made our population more sustainable at those specific times. In other words, the personal has been political throughout our evolution. And now that population control is largely at the hands of men, we are having big problems. Global warming, consumption costs rising dangerously, population itself, of course, and so on.
He discusses how contraception goes back to Egyptian hieroglyphics, Greek mythology, the middle ages, etc., which I think most of us knew. And of course, he reports that abortion is ubiquitous throughout human history and evolution and is directly related to infanticide, which he also says is ubiquitous in history as a method of population control, although it is always linked to a lack of access to safe and effective contraceptives/abortions.
He has this website that has a few blogs, including some by veterinarians that see similar population control in other species. I'm adding it to the queue! It sounds like there are some very interesting discussions.
The radio show will be posted here at 7 p.m. central time, which is not very long (10 minutes maybe?), and they have more info on the page itself. I'm so sad he's taken ;) If you buy his book from that page, NPR will get a little kick-back, so I think you should!
5.25.2008
Flickr Meme
1. what is your first name? Signe
2. what is your favorite food? Fettuccine Alfredo
3. what high school did you go to? Lincoln High
4. what is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Rudy Galindo
6. favorite drink? Diet Pepsi
7. dream vacation? Europe
8. favorite dessert? Cheesecake
9. what you want to be when you grow up? Writer
10. what do you love most in life? Words
11. one word to describe you. Quiet
12. wild card: Guar
1. Signe in action, 2. Fettuccine Alfredo, 3. The Future, 4. wham:a different corner, 5. Rudy Galindo, 6. Lucy Behind The Church, 7. Zuiderkerk - Amsterdam, 8. Raspberry - Swirl Cheesecake, 9. writer's teeth, 10. some people can't spell, 11. A Winter's Landmark, 12. I, stickers!
1. what is your first name? Signe
2. what is your favorite food? Fettuccine Alfredo
3. what high school did you go to? Lincoln High
4. what is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Rudy Galindo
6. favorite drink? Diet Pepsi
7. dream vacation? Europe
8. favorite dessert? Cheesecake
9. what you want to be when you grow up? Writer
10. what do you love most in life? Words
11. one word to describe you. Quiet
12. wild card: Guar
1. Signe in action, 2. Fettuccine Alfredo, 3. The Future, 4. wham:a different corner, 5. Rudy Galindo, 6. Lucy Behind The Church, 7. Zuiderkerk - Amsterdam, 8. Raspberry - Swirl Cheesecake, 9. writer's teeth, 10. some people can't spell, 11. A Winter's Landmark, 12. I, stickers!
5.21.2008
Anxious Masculinity Watch
I read this in Sunday's paper and was fortunate enough to find an online link to the piece. I loved it. It's hilarious to me how predictable and lame men are in the face of (oh, the scary!) a woman better than themselves.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/chi-fempower-0518may18,0,2675803.column
I read this in Sunday's paper and was fortunate enough to find an online link to the piece. I loved it. It's hilarious to me how predictable and lame men are in the face of (oh, the scary!) a woman better than themselves.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/columnists/chi-fempower-0518may18,0,2675803.column
5.20.2008
It's Bay 2 Breakers, baby!
Or, "What people do who don't get married and have kids", even though there were plenty of couples and strollers out at this event.
Every year, San Francisco has a 12k from the bay to the ocean, Bay to Breakers. Lots of people run it, there were thousands of registered runners, but the vast majority of people walk it, and most of them don't even get to the end. Instead, the start out at 8am, possibly in costume, or maybe even in nothing at all, but always with plenty of booze, and walk as far as they can go before the city closes the course. So its like Halloween, only in the morning, on the third Sunday in May, every year.
So far, I only have videos online, 5 public, but Sig is able to see all 12 because she is currently my only YouTube friend. I don't quite know how we got to be YouTube friends, since I am trying to add other people to my YouTube friends so they can see my other private videos, but c'est la vie. Currently, my computer may have a virus, or it may need new RAM, I don't quite know, but in any case, processing photos is intolerably slow these days, so I don't have many ready yet.
So, if you're thinking of a time to come to the Bay Area, plan on that weekend and plan to be wasted at 10am. Just make sure you bring lots and lots of water so you don't also end up hung over at 4:30pm. Also plan a costume - I forgot about that this year, but next year, I'm thinking pink and black fishnets, pink wig, Favre jersey, and my gold panites.
Or, "What people do who don't get married and have kids", even though there were plenty of couples and strollers out at this event.
Every year, San Francisco has a 12k from the bay to the ocean, Bay to Breakers. Lots of people run it, there were thousands of registered runners, but the vast majority of people walk it, and most of them don't even get to the end. Instead, the start out at 8am, possibly in costume, or maybe even in nothing at all, but always with plenty of booze, and walk as far as they can go before the city closes the course. So its like Halloween, only in the morning, on the third Sunday in May, every year.
So far, I only have videos online, 5 public, but Sig is able to see all 12 because she is currently my only YouTube friend. I don't quite know how we got to be YouTube friends, since I am trying to add other people to my YouTube friends so they can see my other private videos, but c'est la vie. Currently, my computer may have a virus, or it may need new RAM, I don't quite know, but in any case, processing photos is intolerably slow these days, so I don't have many ready yet.
So, if you're thinking of a time to come to the Bay Area, plan on that weekend and plan to be wasted at 10am. Just make sure you bring lots and lots of water so you don't also end up hung over at 4:30pm. Also plan a costume - I forgot about that this year, but next year, I'm thinking pink and black fishnets, pink wig, Favre jersey, and my gold panites.
5.16.2008
Have you guys ever heard of this site? www.domystuff.com If not check it out. I'm curious to hear what you think. With two little kids I wouldn't feel comfortable allowing some stranger from online come 'do my stuff.' Just wondering if it's just me? Probably is - most my stuff, is house stuff - I could see help building something or walking a pet or something like that.
5.15.2008
Have you heard? Gay Marriage Legal in California!
Yes, in the state with over 10% of America's popultion, 10% of Americans can legally declare their love! The State Supreme Court struck down the gay marriage ban today. There has not been a reported increase in the number of straight marriages ending today.
I want to enjoy this, I really really do, but that horrible pessimist in my head keeps popping up with "yeah, and just in time for the 2008 election too."
Yes, in the state with over 10% of America's popultion, 10% of Americans can legally declare their love! The State Supreme Court struck down the gay marriage ban today. There has not been a reported increase in the number of straight marriages ending today.
I want to enjoy this, I really really do, but that horrible pessimist in my head keeps popping up with "yeah, and just in time for the 2008 election too."
A penis museum exists...and I haven't been there yet. Seems like a good reason to go to Iceland, doesn't it?
5.14.2008
I'm sure this is old news, but if you love to get the latest dish on the latest new whatever - fashion, food, gadget - anything you should check out BzzAgent. If you are interested let me know and I'll send you an email. Here's the scoop - you fill out a few surveys and then when new products come around to be test marketed you get first dibs on them and you just have to tell BzzAgent what you think of them - they also give you tons of free coupons for the product after it's available. You get points for checking out cool websites and giving a rating of them and you can redeem them for cool stuff. I do a few different survey type sites and this one is by far the best I've been to. Here are a few cool sites I've found from BzzAgent!
Local Harvest - a sweet map and a bunch of other interactive type stuff that helps you find the local food markets and stuff like that.
Instructables - instructions for do it yourself EVERYTHING under the sun. if nothing else this is a great site to blow time away!
Taste Spotting - tons of pictures of amazingly beautiful food with links to the recipes and the site the pic/food is from. I linked it on my blog, I love it so much :)
Local Harvest - a sweet map and a bunch of other interactive type stuff that helps you find the local food markets and stuff like that.
Instructables - instructions for do it yourself EVERYTHING under the sun. if nothing else this is a great site to blow time away!
Taste Spotting - tons of pictures of amazingly beautiful food with links to the recipes and the site the pic/food is from. I linked it on my blog, I love it so much :)
5.13.2008
I thought the "Stimulus Package" was a dumb idea as soon as I heard of it. "Throw a bunch of money at low to middle class Americans, they'll go out and buy some crap and save the world" - yeah right....
I mean, even if I got the highest amount possible, it isn't enough to really affect my spending habits. I mean, sure, I could use it to offset the cost of my trip to Alaska, or my addictions to World Market and Whole Foods, but really, $600? My rent is more than twice that.
But I knew the money was coming my way anyway, so for months now, I've been trying to figure out what I could do with the money. I wasn't about to play their game of bribery with the American public, but I didn't want to let the money go to waste. That made both spending and saving the money out of the question. I thought about just not cashing the check, but that was throwing the money away. The best I could think of was donating it to charity.
The only problem with that is it feeds into the whole "private charities can do better work than government programs" which is only true when we underfund those government programs, like we do now. Then it hit me - give the money to one of the hundreds of underfunded government programs! Finally, and just in time too, the checks are arriving this week. I still think the stimulus package is a bunch of bullshit, but at least I'll know that those tax dollars were well spent.
Note: Bear in mind, that this is my situation. Most people that don't need the money won't be getting any anyway, I just make the cut. I just wanted to share my idea.
I mean, even if I got the highest amount possible, it isn't enough to really affect my spending habits. I mean, sure, I could use it to offset the cost of my trip to Alaska, or my addictions to World Market and Whole Foods, but really, $600? My rent is more than twice that.
But I knew the money was coming my way anyway, so for months now, I've been trying to figure out what I could do with the money. I wasn't about to play their game of bribery with the American public, but I didn't want to let the money go to waste. That made both spending and saving the money out of the question. I thought about just not cashing the check, but that was throwing the money away. The best I could think of was donating it to charity.
The only problem with that is it feeds into the whole "private charities can do better work than government programs" which is only true when we underfund those government programs, like we do now. Then it hit me - give the money to one of the hundreds of underfunded government programs! Finally, and just in time too, the checks are arriving this week. I still think the stimulus package is a bunch of bullshit, but at least I'll know that those tax dollars were well spent.
Note: Bear in mind, that this is my situation. Most people that don't need the money won't be getting any anyway, I just make the cut. I just wanted to share my idea.
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