Honestly, no 21st century liberated woman should be without [this]
Pole Dancing isn't just the latest exercise fad, it's now recognised as the leading form of "EXPRESSIVE EXERCISE". So forget yoga, pilates and other namby pamby excuses for exercise. Go get your self a pole cos pole dancing rocks.
[ 11/07/2002 02:10:28 PM ] [ ]
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
I'll be the first to admit that Americans, as a whole, are ignorant of the world around them.
The american people's perception of the world around them is dictated by what the mass media decides to spoon-feed them on a given day. An hour or two of nightly broadcast news or a few pages of print media a day isn't going to keep you from being in the dark, no matter how good.
Most americans don't even seem to realize this, and it makes them come off as arrogant and shallow. A lot of the people I know have never even left the United States, and since moving to Los Angeles, I've met a great many who have never even left California.
You spend a lot of time in the book on the deterioration of the American media due to corporate consolidation. Who did you write that for? Americans or for people overseas? In particular, overseas people. That is one real blind spot. Even in very sophisticated foreigners' analysis of America, they just don't get it. They'll say, "How is it that you guys don't know about Sept. 11 in Chile?" Or, "How is it that you don't know what your government is doing overseas in Iraq, that you are imposing economic sanctions that have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi kids? How do you not know that?" Sorry, they actually say, "Why don't you care? Where are the American people on this?" I keep having to say to them, "Don't blame the American people. They aren't told this information. And if you were an American and you were exposed to the same media diet that Americans get, you wouldn't know it either. So don't be so self-righteous."
[ 11/06/2002 12:53:13 PM ] [ ]
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Read this... ripped from the cDc blog- What to say when a friend makes an effort that just plain sucks? 12 ambiguous but ego-soothing phrases that stop just short of lying, from Esquire:
1. You've done it again! 2. Wow! What more can I say? 3. Everybody's talking about it! 4. Look at you go! 5. You must've been practicing forever! How did you find the time? 6. Congratulations. You must be so proud. 7. So interesting. 8. I love those opening credits/steak knives/jacket photos. 9. Did you have formal training? 10. I've never seen/read/tasted/heard anything like this before. 11. Jesus! I can hardly make it out the door in the morning, and you... 12. What a stinking pile of shit! Just kidding.
Now read it again, this time thinking of it in the context of oral sex. ORAL SEX MAKES EVERYTHING MORE FUN! [ 11/05/2002 11:34:14 PM ] [ ]
I walked right into Best Buy, and right there on a table in front of me... DOG SOLDIERS! Woohoo! [ 11/05/2002 06:03:36 PM ] [ ]
It being November 5th, today I'll be on a quest to find [Dog Soldiers on DVD]. I'll be kinda surprised of Best Buy has it, though Tower very well may. Worst comes to worst, I'll just have to amazon it. And I'll probably end up picking up Spider-Man along the way as well. [ 11/05/2002 12:26:41 PM ] [ ]
And [this] is a very good resource with a lot of detail you can drill down into if you're interested. Probably a lot more information than you want, but still barely scratching the surface. Hey, I beleive in an informed voting public. The kind of ignorance that let's people twist science to fit their own political objectives upsets me, what can I say. [ 11/04/2002 02:34:30 PM ] [ ]
Physics != Politics One of my coworkers, is, honestly, one of those people who stands for nothing, but is against everything. Not quite the black helicopters and UN troops under the bed kinda New World Order conspiracy theorist, but barely a breath away at times. He spends quite a bit of time slandering the sitting president, while he himself has admitted that his opponent was no better, and he had no alternative candidate (I wouldn't put Nader in office either, and I [worked for him] at one point).
This guy's latest crusade is centered around Iraq, of course, and the "war" he seems to think we're fighting there (I'm going to remind the reader that no, we are not at war with Iraq, we don't have any troops there, etc etc). So he's been trying to convince some of us that the United States tried to "poison" and "irradiate" Iraq in 1991 by using "320 tons" of depleted uranium ordinance in Operation Desert Storm.
He's got articles from various "alternative" news sources that list the supposed dangers of DU (depleted uranium), how it's radioactive waste, etc. Now much of these "facts" have a shred of truth. DU *is* a byproduct of the production of nuclear weapons.
Allow me to explain. When you pull natural uranium out of the ground, it is slightly radioactive. [Natural uranium is composed of]: uranium 234: 0.0058% uranium 235: 0.71% uranium 238: 99.28% Now uranium 235 (u-235) is what is used as the fissile material (boom-boom stuff) in atomic bombs. U-234 isn't all that useful. And U-238, which is the vast majority of natural uranium, is what gets used as DU. When you read about North Korea or Pakistan's "uranium enrichment program" in the news, what they are talking about is the process of taking thousands of tons of natural uranium and separating it into U-235 and U-238 (235 being what they actually want - since it's such a small percentage of natural uranium, you need thousands of tons of uranium processed to have enough for a bomb). U-238, and thus DU, is the "waste" of the uranium enrichment process.
So calling it "nuclear waste" is technically true, but very misleading. It's not a neutron source - in fact, in some atomic weapons it's used as a tamper, since it's a neutron *reflector*.
Is DU toxic? Yes, it's a heavy metal, and those [don't tend to be very good for you]. But it's not a public health risk because it came from an atomic weapons manufacturing process, in fact taking the U-235 out of natural uranium makes it *less* hazardous. Even the studies that the anti-DU people are citing as "proof" that DU is icky show this [pretty darn clearly] . They are just putting their own spin on things for whatever agenda they are trying to pursue. Didn't get enough attention from their parents growing up or something I suppose.
This coworker says the DU used in Iraq was to "poison" the Iraqi people. That's BS- DU is used almost exclusively for anti-armor ammunition. It's a hard, dense metal that's ideal for penetrating armor - armor that is sometimes *also* made of DU. It's not used against people, buildings, etc. just tanks. The idea that DU was used as a "poison" implies a level of malicious intent that's just not credible.
I don't know where the figure of "320 tons" of DU used in Desert Storm came from, but I find it very hard to swallow. While even a small DU round is very heavy, the idea of using that much when very little armor was actually engaged by Coalition forces is a bit difficult to beleive. M1 tanks and A-10 aircraft are probably the largest possible consumers of DU ammo in the Coalition inventory, and they saw some of the least shooting in that conflict.
And never mind the fact that the [Western Test Ranges] surrounding us ([Edwards], [China Lake], [29 Palms], [NTC], etc.) use far, far more than 320 tons of DU every year and you don't see Angelenos complaining that they were "poisoned".
The whole argument is stupid. The science doesn't support the agendas or politics of the people who are making noise about it, so they ignore it, or twist the facts to fit their case.
Sorry, that's not going to win me over to your little anti-war movement. Thanks for trying.
This same coworker asked if my parents were in the military (they weren't), and said I was "hawkish" and "militant". I went over and asked the other guy in his cube what I said would be the most effective way to topple Saddam. Lifting sanctions, of course! (sometime I'll explain that in more detail). Needless to say, Mr. Protest Everything was stunned at that.
If your life is worth living, be for *something*. Don't just be against everything. And at least make an effort to find the truth. [ 11/04/2002 02:31:07 PM ] [ ]
Sunday, November 03, 2002
Odd street names: Teague Friant
"NEES!" Now most people may not realize this, I know for a long time I had no idea, but the area above the knee where it meets the thigh muscle, that point where it dimples on either side when you bend your knee, can be awfully ticklish in some people. I don't think it is for me, and I didn't know if it was for Chelle, but when we came across Nees, I sure found out! By the time we were across the intersection I had her giggling and screaming and thrashing in the passenger seat. That felt pretty darn good :)
IHOP, in Fresno, on a Saturday morning, is full of insane people. Fresno in general is full of insane people. On lady eavesdropping on us turned her head and said that tabasco was good on popcorn. Another ate her meal with half her teat hanging out. On the way there we saw some 16 year old chick driving a Mercede mini-SUV next to us, curling her eyelashes as she drove - turns out that Chelle knows her. Where was this wannabe-streetwalker rich bitch going? IHOP, of course! It's the place to be in Fresno!
My farts sound like I have a duck in my ass? Well, he's a very friendly duck, not a mean goose!
With a little bit of luck, I'll be spending Thanksgiving with Chelle's family, and we'll have something nice to tell them :)
