Tuesday, November 29, 2005

How Shall We Raise Our Daughters?

When you imagine our collective daughter, does she look like this?

Gymnastics

Or this?

game on 2

Or maybe this?

Game on

Is one image better than the others?
What are the differences between these photos that make a difference?
What does each say about how we promote health and identity in our girls in our culture?

Please forgive my request for feedback, but I had a pretty powerful response to these photos and am wondering if I’m just being goofy and reactionary.

Zoinks!

Dems fightin' words!!

Monday, November 28, 2005

Me Likes

It'll only take 5 to read so, if you've got 5, read it.

The reasons me likes?

1. The elephant in a trunk talk.
2. The imaginary friend talk.
3. The belief in tangibles talk.

GoooOOOOO PENN!

Monday, November 21, 2005

New Orleans

Look, the cold hard truth is that New Orleans is built on a delta. Del-tah folks. Okay, not really a delta, an alluvial plane, but that’s mincing words unless you’re a geology freak, like myself. Any which way, it’s built on sediment. That’s se-dim-ent folks. That might be okay, if 1. It wasn’t situated within an extensive river system, 2. It wasn’t sandwiched (yes, that’s a geological term) between Lake Pontchartrain and the Atlantic, 3. It wasn’t losing its protective island network at an alarming rate – and, finally the culmination of 1-3, 4. It didn’t possess the shape of a freaking bowl.

Okay, now the good liberal in me says, “Yes, yes, yes…that’s all true…but it’s also true that the cultural value of this fine city trumps any unfortunate geologic and geographic truths. Plus, this place is home to many generations of Americans. AND it’s a black city. G-d knows I love a black city; black cities vote democratic, produce much of the work of the country and contain true history, the history that you don’t find in school books, even now.

Plus, there are lots of places in the U.S. that are unfortunately situated on, say, a fault line or within a tornado alley or on a flood plane and you wouldn’t say that those people shouldn’t live there.

Ummm, yeah, I would.

I might not say that they should close down a full city and move elsewhere immediately, but if they were flattened (like towns that are flooded year after year as a result of the natural ebb and flow of the Mississippi River), I’d say pack your shit dude, it doesn’t do anyone any good to see you suffer year after year.

“But we’re can-do Americans!” you say. “Come hell and high water, we’re rebuilding cuz that’s who we are!”

Terrific. So, we’re idiots that don’t learn from experiences. Sure, it’s true, we’re capable of doing that, but just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. If we build the proposed levees required to sustain a hurricane of Katrina’s strength we’re looking at billions and billions. And who’s going to move back? I’ve heard numbers from the mayor himself projecting only 50% of the population return. Who will they be? Well, most likely people that can afford to pick up and move back or people that never left because of their economic situation. Okay, so you have upper class and a lower class. Now we spend all of that cash and end up with a community without a middle class and we all know how great a community without a middle class can be, don’t we? I mean, isn’t that what we’re moving toward in all of the larger cities in this country; richies living comfortably in the “safe parts” of the cities while the poor folks live in war zones? An economically stratified city is no good for anyone. Trust me, I’m from Detroit.

So what should we do to honor those that have lost their homes, communities and identities in this horrible storm?

Ask them. Ask them for Christ’s sake. If we built your dream community 100 miles inland, what would it look like? Would it have the best schools in the country? Would it be designed with green spaces? Would it be subsidized by the federal government to lure businesses and jobs to it?

When I was a teenager I was reporting for my school paper on a parenting conference being held at our school. The parents were gathered talking about their children as if they couldn’t speak. What do they want? How can we make them feel safe? How can I help keep them away from the danger of drugs and unprotected sex? I sat and listened for hour after hour and all I could think was ASK THEM!

What should we do for the victims for Katrina? Start by listening to them.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Since the last one was such a hit..

...you may want to give this one a try.

To be frank, I prefer the other, but it's neato to see this as it is slice of computational game history.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Snubbed By The World, Yet Again

Why was I not invited to this?

I'm starting to take this sorta thing personally people.

All, of course, was not lost by my absense. Take a look at this. SUPER FREAKING COOL.

Even so, I should have been there.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Dude!

I love this game!

My Max: 872

Monday, November 14, 2005

I want to do Sarah Silverman

Why the hell isn't this playing in Philly?

What a freakin' deliciously hot babe.

Friday, November 11, 2005

At your request.

Ubs

Ubs

Ubs and Dada

Ubs with Dada (aka SK)

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Whosy-Whats-Its?

Pardon my schmlogen, but could you 'splain how this makes any sense in the context of today's politics?

Ublabagon. I got nothing.

Monday, November 07, 2005

The Rainbow Connection Rocks, Cuz That's How I Roll






Kermit the Frog
You scored 56% Organization, 58% abstract, and 77% extroverted!





My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
















free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 46% on Organization





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 64% on concrete-abstra





free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 93% on intro-extrovert
Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test


This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are mostly organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted.

Here is why are you Kermit the Frog.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Kermit is also reasonably tidy. He'll even dress up for interviews.

You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Kermit spends a lot of his time as a reporter collecting facts, but he is also the author of the dreamy song "The Rainbow Connection." You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.

You are both extroverts. Kermit gets along with everyone. Sure a few folks annoy him, but that's just because they are annoying. Kermit likes to meet new people when he does his job as a street reporter. You definitely enjoy the company of others, and you don't have problems meeting new people... in fact you probably look forward to it. You are willing to take charge when necessary or work as part of a team.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Kermit starred on Sesame Street years before The Muppet Show.


The other possible characters are
Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Snuffleupagus
Ernie
Elmo
Cookie Monster
Grover
The Count
Guy Smiley
Bert

As much as I despise John Stossel, I’ve gotta say, GIMME A BREAK!

The heinous back-lash from even so-called liberals in response to their “inconvenienced” lives because of the SEPTA strike has made my belly ache. These are people with cars, for crying out loud. So you have to sit in traffic, Wah! Freakin’ babies.

Drivers newly hired on at SEPTA make $12.95 an hour. That’s $518 a week or $2,074 a month. A whopping $24,864 a year. SEPTA wanted those workers, and most others, to start paying some of their health insurance directly from their wages, even though those new workers only make $12.95 an hour BECAUSE of a previous agreement whereby newer workers make less, in order to cover some health costs.

But who are the SEPTA workers that don’t fall under the “most others” category? That’s right. You guessed it; management!

Don’t even get me started on how heinous that is. And don’t even make me mention the fact that when SEPTA drivers are sick and can’t make it in, they don’t get paid for their first 3 days off of work and thereafter get paid less than half.

“But I was INCONVENIENCED! Bring on the scabs!”

They freakin’ call them scabs for a reason. They “cover” the wound that is mismanagement and unjust work practices. What the hell happened to my blue collar town? What the hell happened to my liberals?

And isn’t this always the way? We’re liberal as long as we can belly up to our granite kitchen islands and sip on our Chablis by 6:30 pm, because, heaven forbid, “If I don’t get my downtime, I get edgy.”

Sickens me.

So the strike is over. Management now has to pay 1% for their healthcare costs, as do non-management employees, and non-management employees will get an incredible 3% annual cost of living raise.

“What??? I don’t even get that!”

If you don’t, I’m betting you’re not unionized.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Initial Confusion

Do me a favor; If your first name begins with "I", please do not refer to yourself, nor let others refer to you, by using your first initial followed by the rest of your name, ever. See the quote below from Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig of the Washington Post's article entitled, "Rove's Future Role Under Discussion."

"I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, will be arraigned today on five counts, involving three felony charges, in the leak probe."

Every time I read this stupid, stupid iteration of a name, I read it as, "I, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby,..." and I think, "Wait a minute!!, I'm not Lewis Scooter Libby! What the F?"...and then I have to regroup.

Stupid.

Pee Pops*

I eat popcorn. I enjoy popcorn. I, however, believe that there is an appropriate time and place to partake in this delightfully fluffy snack. Note, the time and place has no correlation whatsoever with work. Let me qualify that, eating popcorn may be okay at work, during work hours even, but popping popcorn is NEVER acceptable at work. NEVER. Let me restate that; it is an olfactory faux pas, nay, an assault on the proboscis to pop corn in the coral ala cubes and is NEVER justifiable. Don't do it people! And, forsaking all that is right in this world, if you care nothing for your coworkers and pop away, DO NOT BURN IT.

If we can acknowledge that merely not caring about one's coworkers should not yield aggression of this sort (only full-out contempt can explain such burning behavior) we all can agree to this basic rule of thumb: Should a co-worker choose to pop the corn and, on top of that, burn it, then we can safely conclude that this act is a purposeful, belligerent and antagonist deed that, as such, must be punished.

Are you with me people??



*My sweet SK has such contempt for the popped corn that he insists on referring to it as "pee pops" because it "tastes like urine." Granted, he's curious, but still.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The Poor Should Just Chill

"What’s with all of this lawlessness? That’s no way to act. In fact, could you just keep it down and live your miserable lives so that we can continue to ignore you?"

Good to know that the French suck as badly as us.

As for not sucking, the democrats are finally showing signs of a spine. Good lord, I thought this day would never come! Brings a tear to the eye.