Recent Comments:
Top 25 things vanishing from America: #8 -- Wild horses {WalletPop}
Jul 15th 2008 1:12PM Yes, the government want to kill off the wild horses -- entirely. Every year they lower the bar, and yes, they do want every horse in the country either dead or owned by someone. They are rounded up by helicopter and other vehicles (highly stressful for the animals), driven to a collecting point, not given adequate food or water, and many end up dying. Many foals get trampled, many pregnant females abort fetuses in the strain of the stampede, and injured animals are often left to die unaided. Check out the websites for the Natural Resources Defense Council (www.nrdc.org) and the Humane Society (www.hsus.org) for more information. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (www.peta.org) for some reason has little on the topic.
The government are doing the same with the bison. One step off the land set aside for them, and they are shot. They are also killing off another treasure, the wolf. Before the wolves are even off the endangered species list, the government has now given permission for them to be shot (beyond the acceptable rule of farmers and ranchers being able to defend their livestock from problematic wolves). Add all this to the rapidly-growing trend of public land being quietly handed off to big business (oil, timber, off-road recreation, hunting, etc.), and one wonders how we could ever have let this current administration get into or hold public office, when all they seem content to do is over-exploit what little we hold precious, sell our future up the soon-to-dry-up, polluted river, and tell us we're not patriotic if we try to stop them.
Madness.
Bringing funerals to the do-it-yourself industry {WalletPop}
Jun 10th 2008 4:04PM I think this is a very good thing. Funeral homes have long raked in massive profits off the grieving families who've felt pressured enough by societal expectations to go into debt for someone who's already dead (and won't be there so see the results), and to what end? To show off?
When I'm dead, I won't know what happens to me. If it turns out that I do know, I'd be terribly upset if I found someone spent heaps of money they could actually use on some expensive casket that's just going to rot with me in the ground (actually, I'd prefer cremation and having my ashes spread in my favourite spot).
Michael Jackson Swears Off Women {The Boombox}
Apr 25th 2008 5:29PM His new look is not at all difficult to define, if you're a fan of Japanese Manga and Anim.
Silicone Head Implant Makes Anyone Two Inches Taller {Switched.com}
Mar 31st 2008 3:39PM Whilst I'd love to be just that extra 1.5" taller, to be the same height as both my sisters, I would be reluctant to add it onto my head. My head is big enough already. I'd rather have height added to my spine, just above my waist, because that's where I'm shorter, and it would even out my proportions.
Still, I don't imagine that'll happen any time soon, inserting disks into the spine. I'm sure the spinal cord is a bit flexible, but there is so much that can go wrong. Still, if a way is found to do it fairly safely, in a way that we won't suffer unduly when we get older, I bet a lot of people would go for that.
That's a surprise: a diamond falls out of a cracker {Slashfood}
Mar 12th 2008 8:16PM More on the biscuit/cookie thing ~ McVitties are certainly what we'd call a cookie. I can see how at first sight (in that photo, anyway) one would consider it a cracker, but it most certainly a proper cookie: heartier, but sweet, and certainly not savory. Some of them even have chocolate on the back. Yum! If you've never tried them, please consider it!
When Exposed to Sunlight, These Clothes Clean Themselves {Switched.com}
Feb 12th 2008 7:52PM Reminds me of the film The Man in the White Suit, where a man invents a fabric that stays clean and never wears out, and of course nobody wants it made because of all the clothing manufacturers, washers, detergent and washing machine makers, etc. who would be out of work as a result. Just watch this idea fade away and never be mentioned. Like the man (in real life) who invented tires that never wore out ~ the tire makers paid him handsomely to drop his designs.
Tired of traveling overweight? Try Tonga! {Gadling}
Feb 7th 2008 4:00PM Rivka, I do see your points. I have some obese family members and friends. I don't want them to suffer the ignominy of the verbal abuse, exclusion and stares. They are good people and their size does not change that. Having said all that, I ask you to please see the other side, as stated by someone without prejudice on the subject.
On a four+ hour flight, I was forced to give up a full third of my seat to the obese gentleman to my right. There were no other seats I could move to, so I was trapped, sitting on the side of my left hip, right leg and arm crossed over me (bad for the circulation, posture, and digestion), scrunched up on my side the entire time. I couldn’t read, do work or a drink because I could not put my tray table down with my hip in the way, and certainly couldn’t eat in that position. I couldn’t sleep either, because I had to consciously keep myself up on the one half a seat I was allowed, lest I be forced to cozy up to this complete stranger, or have him sitting on my right thigh with his arm resting on my breast. I'm not touchy-feely, I don’t cuddle my friends (my husband excepted), so I certainly won’t snuggle up to a stranger, especially a man!
I finished up deeply resentful, and had dreadful back and neck pain (with the associated headaches) that entire weekend, from sitting so awkwardly. It ruined what was supposed to have been an active, adventurous, romantic anniversary trip. Never again will I put up with it. I won’t be loud or embarrassing, but I will stand my ground. I DO care, but I have rights too, and standing my ground (politely but firmly) does not make me cruel.
As for others violating your space, you have every right to ask these people to keep to their own space.
Locked Toilets in Finland Unlocked with TXT Messages {Switched.com}
Feb 5th 2008 12:45PM So what happens when someone needs to go but doesn't have a mobile phone? Or if they have one but it needs charging? Seems to me that there'll be a bit more fouling of the hedges as a result. I can see the point, but I think it's flawed from the start, unless you're going to mandate that everyone must have a mobile phone.
Ricki Lake on staying slim {That's Fit}
Oct 26th 2007 2:48PM Why does anybody need to be a size 2? I can see it if you're 4'11", then it would be proportional, but Ricki's 5'4". This is something I also see in those weightloss system commercials on television, with that woman who went from a size 12 to a size 2 ~ twice!
Why can't they learn to like themselves at a comfortable weight, within the healthy weight range for their height, and not have to go overboard, trying to look the size of a pre-pubescent girl (often with big plastic breasts)?
Why is anyone allowed to try and sell size 2 as being a good size to strive for? For someone of Ricki's height, it is underneath a healthful weight. I realise some women are naturally that slender ~ I've known several people over the years who wished they could gain weight, if only to avoid the criticism and accusing stares of strangers. Still, now we know the lengths Ms. Lake has gone to for her weight loss, it does not strike me as being healthful.
Frankly I'm confused as to why your website (by name alone one would think you align yourselves with a healthy lifestyle) would say how wonderful it is that someone should limit themselves to 1,200 calories a day and work out, one assumes from the activities, at least two hours each day. Do you not consider that your website has a certain responsibility to live up to its name?
It's no wonder young girls are becoming anorexics and bulimics at an alarming rate these days.
The Lie About Obama Still Lives {Political Machine Blog}
Oct 15th 2007 3:15PM Dear Tammy Gray, I'm sure you won't see this comment, but I felt compelled to input it anyway ~ Muslims and Christians (and Jews for that matter) all worship the SAME GOD!!! All of us believe in the Old Testament, and it's all the same God. So whether it's the Bible or the Koran, it's about the same God. Who cares these days what a person's religion is, as long as they uphold all citizens' rights to worship as they see fit?
Personally I see no reason to doubt what he says about his religion. He didn't choose his middle name, which is, by the way, quite a common name in the Middle East. I thought Christianity was supposed to be about tolerance and love, not closed-mindedness and un-grounded, uneducated hate.
