Lost their meaning, grew their beauty

One thing I love about the mid 1900s is the trend towards futuristic artwork and design. I don't know much about its impact outside of the US, but these Yugoslavian monuments certainly look like someone's take on the Space Age.



http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/04/25-abandoned-soviet-monuments-that-look.html



I think these are all gorgeous and breathtaking. The fact that their significance has been forgotten makes them even more interesting-- I believe, as I stated in my post on the Neo-Nazi codes, that all symbols are arbitrary. So, these could have meant anything, although we could make some guesses based on the location of each piece and the local history. But the fact that I can look at any one of them all day and never know for sure makes me feel as though I am staring into the future. And the past. And my mind melts a little bit as reality shifts.

Spokesperson fail

This guy speaks for himself. Which is probably not good news for his employer.



http://www.hutton-web-design.co.uk/tanker.html

All the websites you could ever want and more

Tired of googling things? Try Dogpile! No jobs on Monster? Try The Ladder!

This website amuses me. I think I'll go poke around on it some... I'll probably find stuff I didn't even know I was looking for... hmmm...



http://www.allmyfaves.com/

Snowman dies at the hands of bus driver

I had not heard of this before, but apparently last winter some idiots built a snowman in the middle of the road, and filmed as one car carefully maneuvered around it, and then a bus driver plowed his bus straight through it. I'll admit, it is impressive to see a bus do that.

Anyway, the driver was fired (or quit?), and now there's a campaign on Facebook to save him for... being epic? I don't know.

Regardless of how epic a stunt it was, the snowman could have caused a serious accident, as far as I'm concerned, and the driver got rid of the hazard. Good for him. But yeah, the whole thing is kind of dumb.

Enjoy?



http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Bus-Driver/135431429847909




http://youtu.be/VQ2aAmMRjxc

Literal music video: Eclipse of the Heart

If you've never watched a literal music video, you really should. They can be a bit insulting and pretty damn mean if you love the band or song, but the ones that are done well are very creative and epic. As much as I love the Monkees, I can't be mad at the guy who made the literal version of "Daydream Believer"... it's just hilarious.

I had never heard of the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" before seeing this redub, but I love it and have watched it tons of times.

Oh, the '80s. Even more awful than the '90s. Bahaha.

(Can't embed this one, though. Sorry about that!)



http://youtu.be/lj-x9ygQEGA

State stereotypes!!

I love these. Stereotypes can be horrible, and people should by no means be judged using them as we're each individuals, but to an extent they're true. I'm a big fan of anything showing off the fifty unique chunks of the US, so I think this video is great. I haven't looked into the book that the guy's promoting at the end, though... hmm, probably should do that.




http://youtu.be/h68UJaHvG_c

Next on TNT... Las Vegas, The Musical!

Bahaha. It's amusing to me how an element of pop culture can be so popular and so highly mocked all at once. Take Twilight, for example, or Justin Bieber.

Or... Glee.

Before anyone protests, yes, I've seen it... well, most of one episode, anyway. It wasn't horrible, but I wasn't awed. So, I enjoy spoofs like this:



http://youtu.be/z0J8VlvM0ug

Don't give spiders drugs

Doing so can seriously damage the lives of all involved. Think of the crying children!




http://youtu.be/sHzdsFiBbFc

Bonding on a road trip

I'm not a fan of any zero-calorie soda (can you say "artificial sweetener"?), but I love this Pepsi Max video. I freaking love Richard Speight Jr! He plays the truck driver. Or, well, the actual truck driver. (Aaaaand he played the Trickster on Supernatural. Just thought I'd put one in for my show, haha.)

Enjoy!




http://youtu.be/trkMYnP67Wo

Human trafficking on the rise

I don't know much about the issue, but it says something when you don't think it could happen in your country... only to learn that there are 100,000 victims there.

Why are we so busy getting outraged by some athlete making controversial, uneducated comments when we should be doing something to stop trafficking in the US?



http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/06/27/us_state_department_human_trafficking_report_2011_us_state_depar.html

Neo-Nazi codes

I have a German friend who, when we first met, was concerned whether or not I would think that she was a Nazi. It was amazing to me how people could be worried about how their country is viewed by the rest of the world decades later, although it's true that there are still those with Nazi beliefs out there.

More than I thought, apparently. And since the swastika, the phrase "Heil Hitler", and other Nazi propaganda is banned in Germany, people are coming up with new ways to spread their message of hate.

It's amazing, and extremely sad, not to mention troubling, what all this could lead to. I took a course in rhetoric, and we discussed how language and symbols are all arbitrary; we just assign meanings to them. Banning the number 88 because of what it might mean is ridiculous. But, what are you going to do?



http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/disturbing-trend-neo-nazi-codes-203345626.html

No pi means no pie for you, buddy

Apparently some people think that pi is a flawed mathematical measurement. Not being much of a math person, I wouldn't know, although I definitely remember playing around with unit circles and radians in several math courses throughout high school and college.

And I've never heard of tau, which these pi-haters say is the better number to use. It's twice the amount of pi.

Yeah. I don't have anything more intelligent to add. Article!



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13906169

Dogs on Deployment

I'm a hardcore animal lover, and love it when I hear of anything new that can help people in tough situations keep their pets. Enter Dogs on Deployment, a service for military personnel who need someone to care for their pets while they're away on duty. I'm not in that situation, but just finding someone to care for our pets for a couple of days, or even just an afternoon, can be difficult. I can't begin to imagine what I'd have to do if I was going away for months on end.

So, that being said, here's the link, and definitely pass it on to anyone you know who might need it!



http://www.dogsondeployment.com/

How many part-time jobs add up to full-time?

Interesting article on people working multiple part-time jobs rather than settling down with one full-time job or career. I didn't realize that this was a growing part of my generation's culture and ideology, but in retrospect, it makes sense. This isn't the world of our grandparents, where you worked in Pa's general store and took it over when he retired. Although I daresay, I kinda wish I'd been around back then.

And yet, I've got a friend juggling multiple jobs out of choice, and she loves it. (And makes it look freakishly easy.)

Makes me want to poke around Craigslist and see what I can see...



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/26work.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

*Totally not recommending these*

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

WARNING: DO NOT TRY THESE HOME REMEDIES AT HOME.


1. If you're choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself

2. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop

3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you'll be afraid to cough.

7. You only need two tools in life - Triflow and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the Triflow. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

9. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

It's called karma, dude

Yeeeah, so. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church had their car tires slashed while they were protesting at a soldier's funeral, and guess what? Nobody would help them. Or at least, until they called AAA.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/15/fix-slashed-tires-antigay-protesters-report/



I don't really have anything else to add, except, it's all in the title. And I wish I could see the scene when each of them eventually gets to meet God in Heaven. Because I'm pretty sure that these guys will be taken through gates that are a little less than pearly.

Fellow blogger!

Well, not on this website, so perhaps he is not an actual "Blogger". Although, it's like saying that a cotton swab that isn't a Q-tip isn't a...

WTF, analogies.

Anyway!

A friend of mine, Taylor, has started his very own blog. I've known him since fourth grade, and I seem to recall that we picked on each other in the early days. He's a good guy now though. I'm interested to see what he does with said blog, and so I am promoting him so strangers everywhere can follow the fun, haha.



http://vaelaurora.wordpress.com/

Presidential hopefuls should make us feel warm and fuzzy inside...

...or, you know, like face-palming ourselves. Whatever.

I've heard of plenty of people doing this sort of thing before, like Ann Curry while giving a speech at a college, I believe. But still, even if you think you know the facts, you want to make sure you sound knowledgeable. Sooo... checking up on your info probably isn't a bad plan.

Michele Bachmann, the next Pres? Hmmm.



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/06/michele-bachmann-confuses-john-wayne-gacy-with-the-duke.html




http://youtu.be/PsLfL9vMaUY

The magic of childhood/Disney

I do have my suspicions of the Disney company, but I was a '90s kid, and I was raised on the classic Disney movies. I never had the soundtracks on CD, but have, since middle school, wanted to get in touch with my childhood. Maaaan, it's crazy what you can learn about yourself when you rewatch a favorite childhood film that you hadn't seen in years. Suddenly, you remember why you always thought that hair was naturally that flowy, or why fat, purple worms sounded appetizing.

I love this commerical. Gah, so '90s. The woman says she'll leave her pager on!! Love it. Enjoy.




http://youtu.be/3mOXmxQn6kU

How does anybody know how to exercise properly, then?!

I myself would probably be more inclined to work out if I could get some clear information on what works and what doesn't. This is an article on exercise myths, and yeah, I thought that a few of them were true until I read it.

In my dance group we'd always warm up and then stretch before dancing, plus we always, always, always streched in every gym class I ever took in middle school and high school. So... I actually have a bit of trouble believing the stretching myth, but oh well, I'm not a fitness expert by any means.

Anyway, take a look at this and see what you thought you knew.



http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/06/24/exercise.myths.trainers/index.html?&hpt=hp_c2

It is illegal to distress others

WHAT. Just... what.

So. Tennessee passed a law forbidding people to display images that might distress people. And not just the intended recipient, either-- anyone who may happen to see it.

I can only begin to image how this law could be abused, and how it could be spread to the rest of the country. This is a hardcore WTF if I ever saw one. Read this and pass it on.



http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/tenn-law-bans-posting-images-that-cause-emotional-distress.ars

Come on Barbie, let's go party

Bahahahahaaaaaa. I hope you know what song that line is from. Anyway, here is a hilarious music video of said song.




http://youtu.be/ZyhrYis509A



I love this song because it captures the joys of owning a Barbie doll, obviously. And I think that the decor in the video enhances the theme perfectly. Now, what if somebody wrote a sequel to this song, featuring Barbie's new boyfriend, What's-his-name? (Shane? Blaine?) Lawlz. (Aaaaand here's some starter material to use for lyrics! http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/feb2004/nf20040217_1253_db042.htm)

Law-abiding citizen commits crime to get deserved benefits?

A horribly sad story, one which I'm sure will become an increasingly common phenomenon unless we do something to change the system. I'm disturbed by the fact that this sort of thing fails to surprise me.

Oh, America.



http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015398988_healthrobber23.html#.TgQdGwrdQJg.facebook

Facebook, safety, and privacy...which isn't like the rest?

I'm pretty sure, as many of us are, that our complaints and requests for this necessary evil in our lives go completely ignored by the company. But honestly, if enough of us protest, can't we at least get them massively bad press until they finally give in?

This is an open letter to Facebook from a website called Naked Security.


http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/04/18/facebook-open-letter/

Fun with giant food

...or very tiny people-- take your pick. I found this blog via the Bent Objects blog (which you should totally check out if you haven't already. You can find it at bentobjects.blogspot.com).

It's got sort of a similar nature, being food art, but this takes on a different perspective, one which I think is pretty cool. Don't you remember pretending that broccoli pieces were trees when you were a kid? And me personally, when I was little, I would pretend that I was a giant monster destroying a city when eating watermelon slices, which were apartment complexes full of people/seeds.

Oh, good times.


http://tinyside.com/

Frozen wood frogs!

This is super cool. The video explains it all, but basically, these little frogs freeze themselves every winter, and somehow their bodies just know when to come back to life in the spring.

Just more proof that nature is more intricate and damn near perfect than we give it credit for.



http://www.wimp.com/woodfrogs/



PS- I love frogs. I think these little guys are awesome. I wonder... do they dream when this is going on? Froggy out of body experiences? Maaaan.

Letting a baby pick its gender(s)

Recently, a couple in Canada was criticized for refusing to reveal the sex of their newborn baby, Storm. There have been lots of articles about it, and here is one that I found a couple of weeks ago--



http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-world-canada/20110527/CN.Canada.Genderless.Baby/



I shared this story with a friend, who in return had a similar story for me. Ever heard of Baby X, from the 1970s? This is the story of a couple who raised a little X, who ended up being the most well-adjusted kid in its school. I've found the book on Amazon, and my understanding is that this is an excerpt? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.



http://www.gendercentre.org.au/22article4.htm



Anyway, I find some areas of gender/queer studies absolutely fascinating. I'd love to look more into this issue, but for now, here are these two pieces. I do find myself wondering how much of what we do is based on what we truly feel, versus what society tells us to feel. And what's amazing is that some of this stuff is so deeply engrained into our psyche that we don't even pause to ask why things are the way they are. For instance, look at my post on shooting anvils. I copied the text from the e-mail directly, and as you can see, the sender calls the sport a true "guy thing." Does my wanting to try it out make me a guy?

And do you ever notice how it's okay for girls to be tomboy-ish, but it's not okay for boys to be girly? It's good to be a Daddy's Girl, but bad to be a Mama's Boy? Of course, the article about Baby X was written back when gender roles were more strictly enforced than they are now. Back in the day, all girls took home ec classes, and all boys took woodworking. I daresay that those two sets of classes should be brought back into the school curriculum, but I believe that they should be mandatory for all students.

So yeah. That's enough of my opinion. I just find this all extremely interesting. I do believe that any Baby X, such as Storm, could grow up to be a perfectly happy and healthy individual. If anything is going to eff things up, it's how he/she/it/etc is accepted by our highly categorized society.

Best of luck to you, Storm!

Organik, the dog shampoo!

This was an advertisement made by business students at Southern Oregon University for a marketing project. (For those of you interested, BA330 is apparently a great course.)

I think it's cute. And as the YouTube poster said in the description box, please don't flag it... that is, in fact, the proper use of the word bitch. A female dog, people.




http://youtu.be/B-GhdomXqDg

Not a Supernatural ad...

...although I believe I found this on some SPN website.

Great ad. I challenge you to figure it out before the end is revealed!

Please leave a post with what you thought it was about!



http://www.noob.us/humor/you-will-never-guess-what-this-ad-is-about/

How should we respond to Rihanna's "Man Down"?

To be honest, I don't listen to Rihanna. I wasn't even aware that she'd released a controversial new music video until I read an article posted by a friend. Then I watched the video and scrolled through some people's comments to get some background.

First off, here is the article--



http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/03/steiner.rihanna.video/index.html



And here is the video---



http://youtu.be/sEhy-RXkNo0



So... my thoughts? Part of the argument here is whether this show of violence qualifies as art. Honestly, as a lover of the 1960s, I can tell you that often the most memorable "art" is actually a social comment crafted into a piece of art in order to get more attention. It's a technique that works, and is able to engrain a message into the fabric of a generation. Is this art? Depends on your definition, and the value you place on the power of culture.

We could also sit here all day and discuss Rihanna's intention by incorporating violence. Like I said, I don't know much about her, except Chris Brown was abusive and now she's got a gun tattoo as a symbol of her new strength. As some people have commented, it is a natural reaction for rape victims to want to cause harm to their abusers, whether or not they actually follow through. Regardless, I personally think that this video illustrates merely how effed up the entire situation is, and is not necessarily advocating revenge. The lyrics show a girl who never meant to kill anybody, and now doesn't know what to do. This isn't a kill-all-men song.

So I guess, for whatever my non-Rihanna-listening opinion is worth, let's take it for the social commentary that it is. There's a lot of nasty shit going on out there. Maybe getting people to pay attention will help someone make some change, somewhere.

Let's shoot anvils!!

"What's an anvil shoot?

"It's a guy thing you have to witness.
The younger generation says, 'What's an anvil?'
This guy is one of us wrinkled, gray headed old farts who remembers anvils.
He lives in Farmington, Missouri."



http://www.coolestone.com/media/895/Anvils_Away/



(To tell you the truth, as a girl, I would love to try this. Or at least be there to watch. Epic!!)

It's... okay to marry your first cousin?

Uh. What? I kind of thought... that wasn't allowed anywhere in this country.

Perez Hilton here makes an interesting comparison. More states allow cousins to marry than same-sex couples.

Right, so. Could the states of California, Illinois, and New York (just for starters) please explain to me how marriage (and therefore presumably sex and possibly reproduction) between first cousins ISN'T harmful to the human race?

Thanks.



http://perezhilton.com/2011-06-01-more-us-states-allow-cousins-to-marry-than-same-sex-couples

Pit bulls: A baby's best friend

I did not know this, but apparently, pit bulls used to be "nannies" for small children. It's astounding what's become of their breed today.

I believe very strongly in the notion that a bad dog owner is more to blame for a pet's behavior than the pet is.

Good dogs > Bad humans


http://beta.news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/pit-bulls-surprising-past-nanny-dogs-195612543.html


I recommend that you look into the links within the article. I love that one of Michael Vicks' former fighting dogs was given an edible key to the city of Dallas. Go look at that photograph. Sweetest dog ever. I fail to see animal abusers as fully human.

The customer is frequently dumb

I've never worked in retail, but I've got a few good friends who have, and the general consensus is that you get to test your self-control often by not punching an idiotic or rude customer.

This is an amusing comic strip that highlights The Good Life of retail.

Take it as a job description. Hahaha.


http://www.retailcomic.com/?p=4801