WTF, we have an anti-blog.

have you seen this blog yet? dabagirls (dating a banker anonymous). uh in it's intro they describe the site as being "free from the scrutiny of feminists." you haven't escaped our scrutiny... just censored our comments. hotstuff and i were a little worried at supplying more hits to this blog, but since the nyt wrote about it we figured we'd just be a drop in the pond.

while i certainly sympathize with their relationships falling apart... that sucks... and, as noted in a previous blog, the recession does blow... i would like to point out that this blog is truly our anti-blog. the two women (excuse me "girls" as they like to call themselves) that run it are probably about our age, with completely different goals. generally put, they want to escape the views of feminism and we want to bask in them and have you enjoy them w/ us.

the dabagirls blog
the nyt article w/ interviews

PS ever notice that even when it's an adult we use the word to "kidnap." that leaves the word adultnap to be defined. in light of the last blog the hotties suggest using the word for good... suggested definition: to convince someone to come to bed for cuddling (and napping). as in "ah honey don't adultnap me, i've got too much work to do." what do you think? any alternative definitions?

Virginity at all costs!

As many of you know, we here at WTF are big supporters of freedom to do what you like (again as long as you are not hurting anyone). This belief system not only applies to religion as previous written about, but also applies to what people do in the bedroom. The one thing that really gets me riled up though is when religion and sex mix together in the form of oppression. This was brought up for me recently with the introduction of a new term from my most favorite Dan Savage. Lets do a little background on this term before I put it out there for all to admire. So first off, as written previously there was a huge uproar about Obama asking Rick Warren to do the invocation at the inauguration because he is against LGBT rights, and thus inherently the right of people to do what they like in the bedroom. Second, Rick Warren's church is named Saddleback Church and is on Saddleback Ranch. Third, Rick Warren's church and Christianity in general pushes the belief that lovely ladies should preserve their virginity until marriage. Fourth, this pressure on the lovely ladies who follow the Christian faith has created a new way of preserving a lady's virginity, otherwise known as anal sex, which when done unprotected can lead to all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases.

In reaction to all of these factors, Dan in all of his wonderful wisdom has created a new word, Saddlebacking, which shall forever be known as "the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities." In a sentence: After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she's saving herself for marriage. Kudos to you Dan Savage!!! and WTF to putting teens in a position where to satisfy their natural desires they put themselves at risk for STDs to preserve their virginity?

Savage Love in all it's glory

New Saddlebacking website made by Dan

why not safe bike lanes for everyone?

if i ruled the world there would safe bike lanes on every street. instead this fall i crashed my bike in an unsafe bike lane in seattle.*** (that elbow bone is supposed to be in 1 piece)

safe bike lanes good for: traffic, the environment, health and... me... man i love my bike.

anyway, bike traffic regulation is a very local issue (i wish it weren't.) so below i wanted to remind the locals of a few things:

the law in seattle is:
Section 11.53.190 DRIVING IN A BICYCLE LANE. The operator of a motor vehicle shall not drive in a bicycle lane except to execute a turning maneuver, yielding to all persons riding bicycles thereon.

no one violates that right?

a good place for bike advocacy is:
cascade club
AND ***if you know someone that crashed near the B-G between Fred Meyer to 17th NW in ballard please please please send them this site to advocate

well, until there are bike lanes... there are light lanes... maybe

anyone else have good bike lane links to share?

~16% of American's are nonbelievers, why can't you accept that?

As a lot of you know, when Obama made his very lovely inauguration speech he went out of his way to give a nod to science and statistics. What hopefully you all also noted was that he gave a nod to those of us who are nonbelievers. This was a glorious moment in history if you ask me, and not surprisingly there is now a backlash against his inclusion of nonbelievers in his description of the makeup of the good ol' US of A. There are claims that we are a Christian nation and Obama's inclusion of other religions and even those poor souls who don't have a faith should not be given the same weight as Christians in the US.

I don't know about you, lovely readers, but I strongly believe that people should have the right to believe in what they like (as long as they aren't hurting anyone) and our fair country is built on the idea of freedom of religion (and in turn the right to not having religion as it were). So seriously, why can't these people just accept that we are all citizens of this country and as such we should all be acknowledged in political speeches (which in reality shouldn't talk about religion anyway). I mean, WTF?

Brief Overview News Article

thank for your nectar: coffee.

thank you thank you thank you for coffee, nectar of the gods... and now maybe a way to prevent dementia.

article that i will cite as much as possible to justify my habit (or as my dad says "it's not the worst thing you can be addicted to")

parents doing drugs with their kids?

ok no links today.

two nights ago i listened to the stories of 2 homeless teenagers. both talked about using drugs before the age of 10. both talked about parents that did drugs with them. one talked about a parent teaching him to move from drug to drug so as not to get too hooked (i'm talking about the hard stuff here). why the hell do these kids have their fathers teaching them exactly how to flirt with death and ruin their brains? i'm sure there is a huge chance that their parents also grew up in difficult households. so this is a big WTF! really god? really?

anyway it made me think of that war on drugs commercial we used to make fun of: "i learned it from watch you dad!" and... well... think twice about it.

Shouldn't female scientists be considered the sexiest of all?

So we now have a president who believes in Science! Thank Jesus! But does this also mean that we are going to start having more appreciation and respect for female scientists? In an article in the NYT (shocker I know) they covered this very topic. Will the new "Geek Chic" movement in combination with our new hottie President mean that more women will want to go into science and also that those who are in science will be able to both succeed in the academic field and have the social/family life they choose like their male counterparts? Why are male scientists allowed to have their tenure cake and a family too? Shouldn't female scientists be able to have the same???

NYT Article: In ‘Geek Chic’ and Obama, New Hope for Lifting Women in Science

gOBAMA DAY. no WTFs today...

... because we are so happy and proud to say PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.

ps both hotstuff and hotpants independently took a shine to the same two parts of his speech: science is back and non-believers are respected for once. (one of our faithful followers was glad to hear "forebearers" in place of forefathers)
obama's speech transcript

pps rick warren's speech sucked
rick warren's dumb speech

ppps judge roberts fucked up the pauses and wasn't prepared... hmmm... sounds like a bush appointee...
article about the pauses

Thank God for our new President!!!

Hello fellow blog readers, in case you were unaware I (and dare I say my fellow blogger) am seriously pro-Obama! And as such, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you God for giving us a new president who is smart, witty, powerful, inspiring, and motivational. I truly feel that Obama will be able to do good things for this country and restore a sense of dignity to the way that politics is done and the way the US is perceived around the world. He makes my heart go pitter-patter! I totally heart him! So fellow blog readers, are you looking forward to Tuesday's inauguration as much as I am???

Inaugural Website

lost boys of sudan? what is the what.

over vacation i read WHAT IS THE WHAT and if you haven't read it, you should too. there are many stories in it that may break your heart. the wretchedness of greed, power, racism and colonialism cursed more than 27,000 sudanese boys to walk hundreds of miles to escape civil war. many did not escape death. of those that did, some have been resettled in the US. but life for them is still not easy.

wiki page on the lost boys
wiki page about what is the what
foundation set up by valentino, whose story is told in the book, videos included

all in the name of fuller lashes!

First there was Botox and now there is Latisse, the first federally approved prescription drug for growing longer, lusher lashes (brought to us by the same pharma as Botox, btw). As a lady who loves to bat her lashes I can understand the desire for longer, fuller, more black lashes, but don't we get that from mascara??? Do we really need to use eye drops that were originally meant to treat glaucoma? I mean seriously, this drug was not meant for longer, lusher lashes, those are it's side effect. Plus, you would have to deal with the side effects of the drug itself, like red, itchy eyes and changes in eyelid pigmentation. Seriously ladies? is it really worth the money and potential issues???

And on top of all that, what is with big pharma trying to endanger women and at the same time give them even more socially proscribed beauty ideals to live up to. WTF???

NYT Article on Latisse

3 new WTFs.

a couple of days ago i got back from a really great vacation feeling pretty great. i was happy about the new year, definitely looking forward to an obama administration and basically thinking that i might not have a WTF to write about... lo and behold i have 3.

1.israel bombs palestine in a disproportionate response to hamas and aims at civilians that have absolutely no where to flee. according the a commentator (found by jon stewart who was in a similar mood as i was on his return from vacation), israel is trying to get its licks in before the obama administration. wtf.
daily show episode

2. the recession is still marching on. boo. i know things could be a lot worse, but it pisses me off that some of my most intelligent, talented and well-educated friends are being laid-off and/or stuck in limbo looking for work.

3. there is a sexist, calvinist preacher in my neighborhood preaching scary things to kids who just want to feel like they belong.
nyt mag article about mars hill

The wit of a good insult!

So a little while ago I wrote a blog posting about the art and brilliance of some good teasing. This one is going to be along the same lines. While I agree that insults are meant to sting and inflict a wound and can be highly damaging to the receiver, don't they sometimes play an important role? Why are people so afraid to defend themselves these days? And what happened to the celebration of a good witty insult? I feel like people shy away from insulting other people on all fronts even when the person really does need a sharp kick in the pants! Sometimes isn't a good insult both funny, witty, and important in terms of letting someone know that what they have done is truly wrong?

I don't know about you, dear blog readers, but sometimes a good insult is just what the doctor ordered!

NYT Opinion Article with some truly impressive insults

thank god for almost everyone being willing to give directions

ok long title i know... but seriously... i would be lost (literally) if people, particularly in latin america, weren't so happy to give directions to the market, the bus station, the baño...etc. i once had an idea to take pictures of all these people and make a book out of it, but that was on my first trip abroad. little did i realize how many people would be included (and how boring the book would be). anyway, thank goodness for these direction givers and thank you again to each of you (though you are probably not reading our blog).

anyone else have a story about getting the right or wrong directions?

Sanjay Gupta? Seriously?

Ok, so the first time I heard about this I thought for sure it had to be a joke. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General? WTF? Isn't that the guy from CNN? Didn't he get into a huge fight with Michael Moore about Sicko, saying that Moore "fudged the facts" when in fact Moore was completely right?

I mean I get it, he is high profile, he is a Doctor, and he worked with Hillary when she was first lady. Good for him! But come on now, do we really just need a talking head to be Surgeon General? Can't we find someone who is less about making himself popular and more into actually taking the bully pulpit for some public health good???

NYT Article

Huffington Post Article

Time Article

Top Ten best movies of all time?!?

As I was browsing through the NYT opinion columns today I came upon a column claiming the list the top ten American movies of all time. Since this is the start of the new year and top ten lists are all around us I thought I would take a look. There are many interesting things about the list they provided. First off there is a caveat right at the beginning saying that they are just going to list the movies with their descriptions without any justifications for their choices. What? No justifications? Why should we believe them? Second, they they go on to list a whole bunch of movies, 8 of which are from the 1940's and 50's and then Raging Bull (1980) and Groundhog Day (1993). WTF? Seriously? American film making peaked in the 40's and 50's besides for two movies and one of them is Groundhog Day?

So dear wonderful blog readers, do you agree? movie making in America has gone to hell since the 1940's and 50's besides for the brilliance of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? What would be in your top ten?

NYT Article

Thank God for the new year!

Last year was great and all, but given the political, economic, and social issues of the year I gotta say I am quite looking forward to this new year with a new president, new economic package, and hopefully a return to some socially liberal policies! And of course hopefully a return to some better funding for us silly scientists!

So what do you think fair readers, what are you looking forward to in this new year?

¿burning?

happy new years!

i am currently traveling in ecuador (¡muy bonita y traquilo!). here they have a tradition of burning lifesized dolls of people and/or characters (eg wall-e) at midnight on new years. it is an awesome sight. since many of the dolls represent figures of authority (politicians, priests, etc), i can see how it can be pretty cathortic (not to mention really fun).

however, recently i read an article about burning that's quite the opposite, burning as a form of suicide by women in afghanistan (aka self-immolation). from the article

"The predominant causes or precipitating events of self-immolation identified by survivors or contacts were various forms of oppression of or violence against women. Forced marriage or engagement during childhood was identified in almost one third of the cases (29%); bad or badal, practices involving forced marital exchange to settle a conflict between families or tribes, in 18% of cases; and abuse from in-laws in 16% of cases (these categories were not mutually exclusive)."

WTF?

NEJM article