Are you there God? WTF?

Thank God for Sesame Street!

2009-11-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

You know them, you love them, they have a way of making you smile no matter what, that's right, its the characters on Sesame Street! This week marked the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and I just wanted to say, that not only does it warm my heart to think about how much I loved Sesame Street as a kid, but it warms my heart to know that the tradition of Sesame Street lives on. Additionally, those of you who are as Google obsessed as me may have noted that Google was also giving love to Sesame Street all week with Sesame Street inspired Google Themes such as the one you see above on this post and also here! Pretty sweet eh?

Anyway, thank you God for Sesame Street surviving 40 years and heres to 40 more!

Get your vote on!

2009-11-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Alright people, my brain is still not working, but that is no excuse for those of us in Washington State to not be taking part in the highly contested and highly important vote that is occurring today. There are many important contests going on, like the competitive races between Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison for county executive; Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan for Seattle mayor; and the votes on Referendum 71 and Initiative 1033. I won't try to sway people on the Seattle mayoral race or the county executive one (although according to The Stranger Susan Hutchison "is a fan of George W. Bush, Mike Huckabee, Dino Rossi, and Dave Reichert", need I say more?) but I will say without a doubt that people need to vote NO on Initiative 1033 and YES on Referendum 71. If you are feeling even a bit conflicted about ref 71, then please watch the highly educational video by Stephen Colbert below and he will set you straight. I promise!

Get out there and vote people!!! According to the Seattle Times only 20% of the ballots have come back so far, that means that 80% of them are still out there!!! Do your part and make sure that Washington State continues to be a place that Stephen Colbert can hate! :)

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Don't Ask Don't Tell

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Religion

Thank God for Cold Medicine!

2009-10-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well the cold season is officially upon us, my classes have been half full, people around me are dropping like flies to either simple colds or full on flues, and I have come down with a nasty cold that is making it hard for my poor little brain to work (hence the lack of posts for this week). So on this weekend day, I would like to give a big old thank God to cold medicine for helping me be at least a little bit sane while my parents are in town, I am still trying to get some work done, and while I am fighting this awful cold. So thank you God for the creation of cold medicine and thank you in advance for making this cold a short one (right??? wink wink!!!)

Also, I promised to give an additional shout out to my friends over at Sun Cleaners for their awesome new halloween mixtape that you can download for free. Thats right people, awesome music for free!!!! You can't beat that with a bat!

thanks for all those who have offered to help out...

2009-10-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

...ever and specifically for the next 2 weeks, during which i will be slipping into academic hibernation. even if i don't take y'all up on it, i really do appreciate the offers to make me food, take my pooch out and, generally, keep me happy. does anyone wanna clean my bathroom? ;)

special special special thanks to hotstuff, who will be holding down the blog fort, as well as holding down my stress levels being the awesome friend she is. and another happy birthday to her! love you, hotstuff.

rape is horrible... until it runs up against corporate/military interests...

2009-10-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

"violence against women is despicable and intolerable" according to one republican senator. but, when it comes to rape committed by a military contractors overseas, eh, the company should be trusted to arbitrate without giving the victim access to a US civil trial...

uh what? read all about here
see the 30 senators that oppose an amendment that would not allow this to be a part of the contractors' employee contracts. they include mr. mccain. wahoo.

these mandatory arbitration clauses came into the public spotlight because of jamie leigh jones. she was drugged, gang raped and imprisoned by her kbr co-workers. she very very bravely tells the story her herself:

thankfully, she will be given her day in court

now see jon stewart shame the 30 senators:

This is just beyond words....

2009-10-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

The title of the linked article below pretty much says it all, "Hospital Forces Lesbian to Die Alone; Judge Gives Stamp of Approval". On February 18, 2007 Lisa Pond suffered a major brain aneurysm right before her gay cruise was about to take off from a port in Florida. Her partner of nearly 18 years and 3 of their 4 adopted children (see picture of the family to the left) rushed her to a hospital in Jackson only to be denied access to her at all points because they were in a lesbian relationship. In fact, according to Lisa's partner, Janice Langbehn, their first interaction with a social worker at the hospital included them saying, “you are in an anti-gay city and state. And without a health care proxy you will not see Lisa nor know of her condition”. This is even though Janice had legal Durable Powers of Attorney and would be able to produce such documents. After that point Janice and their children were systematically separated from Lisa and were unable to understand what was going on or to comfort their partner and mother in her last dying hours.

What is even more f'ed up about this is that on September 29, 2009 U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan dismissed a lawsuit brought by Janice, essentially finding that the Jackson Memorial Hospital was within its rights to separate Lisa from her Janice and her children even though they were present and able to prove their legal connections to her. This judge rulled that because it was a lesbian couple it was okay to leave a dying woman alone, deny her present and immediate family to visit her, be updated on her condition, or even to provide the hospital with medically necessary information. Seriously people, WTF?

Article with Janice's Story

Thank God for a little bit of sunshine!

2009-10-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

While it would have been a beautiful wedding even if it had been raining, a little while before the ceremony was about to begin the sun shone down upon the Golden Gardens Bathhouse creating a purely spectacular backdrop for a truly amazing wedding. Congrats J & J! We here at ruthere could not be happier for the two of you!

are you the keymaster?... to martial bliss...

2009-10-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

putting a call out to all readersssss! i'm writing a wedding toast for my favorite beanpole couple. a few years ago my dad gave one of these toasts and he rocked the hiz-house. one of the things he did was poll his local favorite advice givers (including the barber, etc).

so, i'm polling you. do you have the advice for the keys to martial bliss (or at least a happy one)? email rutheregodwtf@gmail.com with the precious tidbits.

how is this post different than all other posts?
-i'm asking you to email me comments instead of posting them. i know this is an extra step, but think of it this way, i promise not to judge your grammar/spelling.

will i post them eventually?
-YES, let me know if you want your name attached to it

what if i wanna be anonymous?
-hmmm, if you don't have a fake email address already, you can post comment and i will take it down after reading it

why is this post different from all other posts?
-b/c i wanna suprise 'em, just in case they take a quick second to check this website before the wedding

am i really gonna base my whole toast on your advice?
-umm, well not the whole thing, but we'll see how good it is! plus, let's see if anyone out there is brave and wise enough to send me anything. ;)

isn't this a little cheesy/gimmicky/silly?
-yes, of course. but there's a time and place... and i trust that y'all have heard of or thought of some solid advice (or at least something to make us giggle).

thanks for playing!

Before you score, remember, you are an asshole!

2009-10-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

Pepsi, in all of its corporate genius glory, has decided to promote its new AMP energy drink with an iPhone app called "AMP Up Before You Score". Now before you go worrying to yourself, "Damn, I wish that I had some sort of technological advantage to scoring with women and categorizing them in offensive and stereotypical ways to my advantage." Now you don't have to, Pepsi has done it for you!

They have decided, I am sure in some scientific manner, on a simple process on how best to score with the ladies. Step one: Identify her type. They have identified 24 different types of women that a man might be interested in. That is right ladies, we all apparently fall into one of these types. Including, much to the chagrin I am sure of the execs that had to come up with this the "Women's Studies Major" and the "Nerd" (see link for full list of types). What is even better is that they have also have the types "Married" and the "Rebound Girl", cause what they should really be promoting is people cheating on their spouses and also that women are disposable and can be used as a rebound tool. Nice Pepsi, real nice. Using the type that you have just id'd you then click on it and get to learn all sorts of awesome facts about that type of girl that will help your score with her. Aren't stereotypes fun boys and girls?

Step two: Keep a list. That's right, you get to keep a brag list of all the chicks you have bagged using your awesome new technique, including name, date, and whatever details you remember.

And then my favorite step of all. Step three: Brag. You can keep your buddies up-to-date on your latest conquests via email, facebook, or twitter using this app. Isn't that just lovely?

All told, this app feeds into all that is wrong with our culture. It is misogynistic and insulting to both women and men. And don't even get my started on how heterocentric it is. I mean seriously Pepsi, WTF?

Article on the release of AMP

god, i love running

2009-10-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

today was a beautiful fall day and i took a long run with my pup. despite all the joint pain that running can engender, i love it and the post-run euphoria. see vid to see how hotlegs can run:

It costs to be gay!

2009-10-07T17:19:00.001-07:00

I was struck recently by an article that my mom (shout out to my Momma y'all) sent me on the cost of being gay. Often the arguments around legalizing gay marriage are all about God, damnation, hellfire, and brimstone, but what about the actual cost benefits that people are missing out on when they aren't allowed to legally recognize their love? What do those numbers look like?

Well some wonderful reporters at the NYT took it upon themselves to answer just that question and finally put some numbers to what many of my same-sex coupled friends having been saying for a long time, it just costs more to be gay and have a family. In fact, as you can see in the linked article from the NYT it can actually cost over the course of a lifetime for a same-sex couple with two children from $41,196 more in the best case scenario to $467,562 more in the worst case scenario, just by not getting the same treatment opposite-sex married couples are afforded every day. The really sad part is that if the federal government would just pony up and legalize gay marriage already, almost all of that cost difference would be wiped away. While clearly this analysis and article had to be made with many assumptions around income, health insurance, etc, I really recommend reading it as it so beautifully lays out the many ways that same-sex couples are not afforded the same privileges as opposite-sex couples, and how that can greatly impact them financially.

And as always, I would like to reiterate our blog's collective desire to see the legalization of same-sex marriage and see people given equal right across the board. I will yet again say that I think it is a sad sad state of affairs that we live in a country where legally a 13 year old girl can get married with the consent of her parents and the court but two loving and consenting adults of the same sex cannot.

NYT Article

way to stick it to them boing boing

2009-10-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

according to a 2005 national survey of young peoples (YRBSS), 32% of adolescent girls believed that they were overweight and 61% were attempting to lose weigh. ARG! if we assume that that 32 percent that think they are overweight are also trying to lose weight, that means about 1/2 of the girls that are trying to lose weight don't think they are overweight. they are just trying to get super skinny. ARG! even if we assume that some them are not at their healthy weight, the obesity rate for girls is about 10%. ARG!

while the fight between boing boing and ralph lauren isn't going to change much, at least someone is sticking it to a group promoting unreasonable skinniness (in the form of photoshop this time, instead of barbie.) the basic story is boing boing rightfully pointed out that this model's head is bigger than her pelvis. the lauren folks tried to threaten a lawsuit and boing boing stuck it to them by posting this empty threat and re-posting the original blog. (which has now been picked up by huff post... and much lower on the totem pole: us.)

original post
post-lawsuit threat post

Thank God for Fall!

2009-10-04T13:44:00.001-07:00

I have always loved this time of year, when the air gets crisp, there is that particular Fall smell, and you start being able to wear sweaters and coats again. So far Fall in Seattle has been quite beautiful with leaves changing colors, clear views of the mountains, and perfectly blue skies. So thank you God for such a lovely Fall so far, and please keep these beautiful Fall days coming!

why would anyone ever want to hit izzy (aka hotlegs)?

2009-10-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

my dog broke my heart yesterday. she has a very cute habit of leaving my shoes around the house when i'm gone. she doesn't chew them, just places them. when she ran out of shoes yesterday she picked up my glasses case, which needed to be chomped on to be carried (thank goodness my glasses weren't in there!).

so, for the first time i had to scold her. i started with one "bad dog" and she right away acted like i was going to hit her.

why would anyone ever hit this sweetheart? why would anyone ever terrorize a dog? or other animal? i know there are studies galore on this, but it still breaks my heart.

here are some statistics
here is an awesome slide show from nyt about an animal rescuer

Damnit ACORN, why you gotta give liberal social service organizations a bad name?!?

2009-09-30T15:10:00.001-07:00

As I am sure most of you know at this point, two very inspired young conservatives on a shoe-string budget set out with nothing but a fake pimp coat and some very revealing skirts to take down the non-profit organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). ACORN is an organization that helps with voter registration, housing, immigration, taxes, health care, wage reform, and many other things for underserved and needy populations. It has been the notorious target of many conservative organizations and has been thought of generally by conservatives to be kinda shady in the past, particularly when it came to voter registration drives.

Thus, it is unsurprising that two enterprising young wannabe conservative reporters would chose to target this organization in some sort of sting operation. What is surprising is what they were able to show. In office after office (Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, San Bernardino, Calif., and San Diego) the two young wannabes posed as a politician pimp and prostitute looking to create a brothel using underaged girls trafficked in illegally from El Salvador. They then caught on tape ACORN staff more then willing to help them set up their "business" and work out ways around any legal issues they might have. Some of the videos and the things that the staff say in them are just downright amazing.

Naturally there will be an investigation, but ACORN has already fired most of the people in the videos and is taking steps towards better training for the people who do work for them. They have also lost a lot of the government funding that they have received. All of which does seems to point to at least some sort of culpability to what is being shown in these here videos and most importantly ACORN has definitely lost a whole heck of a lot of face with these videos coming out whether they are true or not. And in a time where the county I live in is considering cutting all of the funds of legit and wonderful human service organizations, it makes me terribly sad to see such a widely know liberal human service organization giving the rest of us liberals and our organizations a bad name. Seriously people, WTF?

Place to see all of the videos and the back story as they tell it

ACORN Website

Washington Post Article on how the two wannabes got together

thank god for pooches

2009-09-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

... especially mine. she's too perfect for words.

science in the WRONG hands part II

2009-09-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

thanks to hotstuff and feministing, i have been alerted to a horrible website:

horrible website: sense and sexuality

in the spirit of the linda richman from "coffee talk" (aka mike meyers, watch it!), that website promotes neither sense nor sexuality, discuss.

in the words of feminsting:"I think I can safely say this is the biggest piece of crap website on sex I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot. Between the straight up lies and scare tactics, the sexism, and the hearts making up the DNA strand on the homepage (cause women are just made for love, not sex) - I don't even know where to start."

i hesitate to start, b/c there is so much wrong with this website, but i figured i should start with what i know the most about: hpv. this website uses hpv as it's #1 scare tactic other than a broken heart.

the fact is a large majority of sexually active people will have a genital hpv infection in their lifetime. it's the most common std and for most people there are no symptoms. the best way to prevent hpv is the hpv vaccine, though if you have had 2 or more partners chances are you have already had at least one type of genital hpv. condoms do provide some protection, but not 100%. the best way for sexually active women to protect themselves against genital cancers associated with hpv is to go their gynecologist regularly (and you are all doing that ladies, right?!)

this website, and other puritanical forces twist these facts to their advantage. this website claims "all science, no spin," a clear indication that there is spin. they write as if any risk is not worth taking. we all know that sex is risky, and that includes to emotional health. but risks are an important of life, no?

ok, back to my professional hat, the authors have definitely done their homework. they have read the scientific articles, as indicated by use of terms such as "transformation zone" and referring to an article that found hpv under fingernails. they use the latter to say that mutual masturbation isn't ok, either. that was NOT stated by the investigation's author and is not known yet. and when science doesn't go their way they make statements like this one: "And of course no vaccine prevents a broken heart."

let me put it this way folks, hpv is common. to prevent it and its consequences get the vaccine (if you are young) and go to the doctor. however, the risk of getting it should not be used to prevent a healthy sex life.

Research results in the wrong hands always leads to a good time...

2009-09-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Did you know that "One in 20 women has NEVER had sex sober because they lack body confidence"??? That's right, according to the article in the Daily Mail (a reputable source I know) a new study has found that women enjoy both drinking and sex, and God forbid they also enjoy putting those two things together. But the real news here is that apparently, when a woman decides to have a drink on a date and then having some sexy time on that same date, they are actually doing it because they lack body confidence. Not because it is fun, not because it is enjoyable, not even because it is some sort of social norm, or even a social lubricant, but really it is because all of us ladies out here are very self conscious about our bodies and need to toss back a few before we can let those men get a good look at us. While the study in question may have found, as suggested by this oh so well written article, that a few drinks helps the ladies loosen there inhibitions and become more adventurous, how exactly does that directly translate into lacking body confidence I would love to know!

Also, it says that on average the women in the study had eight partners but was drunk with at least five of them. What the heck kind of random thing is that to say. For example, lets take a 35 years old woman who has had eight long term partners and also likes to drink sometimes. More then likely she probably got drunk with her partners at least once or twice and I would guess could possibly even have had drunken sex with her partners once or twice. So, even though she probably didn't have drunken sex with her partners every time she had sex with them, she probably did have drunken sex with them at least once. Making their sentence true, but what the heck does that even really mean??? Is that supposed to be a bad thing and some indication that she lacks body confidence?

Seriously people, can't a lady have her drink and enjoy her sex too? WTF?

Silly Article

the uninsured deserve better, illustrated

2009-09-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

first of all, check out this map by npr of the uninsured by district. some of the districts have more than 30% for <65 year olds!!!
map

you can also stratify by poltical party. this maps goes with a story npr titles
who's representing the uninsured. seriously, who the heck is?!

and then i would like to add this genius of a sign from this website

and another funny:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Thank God for Smoking Bans!

2009-09-20T13:53:00.001-07:00

As was alluded to in previous posts I have been doing quite a bit of traveling in the past two months or so, one trip of which was to a beautiful wedding in Jackson, MS (Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan!!!). This wedding was charming in all the ways that only a traditional southern wedding could be and both myself and my manfriend had a wonderful time. The one thing that did catch me quite off guard though was walking into the location of the after party, which was held at a local sports bar, and finding it to be full of smoke. Thankfully the bride and groom had reserved a room for us which was not completely open to the main part of the bar, but nonetheless there was no escaping the smoke. Being someone who has lived on the west coast now for seven years, with only trips to places on the east coast that have also adopted smoking bans, I had totally forgotten that there might still be places in which one can smoke indoors. After getting over the initial shock, the after party was a total blast, but I do want to give a big old thank God for smoking bans and for the lack of need to have all pieces of clothing washed or dry cleaned constantly because of the all encompassing, pervasive smell of smoke!

thank you mary travers

2009-09-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

mary travers of peter, paul and mary, passed away yesterday. below is an old clip of the group singing pete seeger's "if i had a hammer." although i was certainly not alive when their music was part of the soundtrack of the protest movement, it still moves me.

the obit

also, i can't help but post another moving vid:

And they wonder why we have such a low literacy rate?!?

2009-09-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Effective October 2, 2009 the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate their neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library. That's right, you heard me, the State Legislature did not give them enough funds to keep the libraries open and thus the public libraries are closing down. Does this sound familiar at all? Does everyone remember when the Seattle Public Libraries were all closed down for a week of Monday, Aug. 31 through Sunday, Sept. 6 due to, yes you heard it here, budget cuts. Are we headed down a path similar to that of Philadelphia?

Yes I know these are hard times, I know budgets around the country are being cut and purse strings are being tightened, but it breaks my heart to think that systems as integral to public knowledge, learning, and social programing as the public library system are being so cut back on that they are being shut down all together. I mean seriously people, in a country that touts needing better education and higher literacy standards, should we really being making it hard for our public libraries to stay open? WTF?

Thanks C for sharing this story with us!

Philadelphia Library Closing Announcement

Seattle Library Temporary Closing Announcement

spa day for girls?! am i the only one that finds this gross?

2009-09-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

apparently spa birthday parties are all the rage for little girls. am i the only one that finds this gross? i know that many girls go through a pretty in pink stage and a lot come out the other side forgetting all about it, at least consciously (maybe i did. i don't know.) but, geez this level of indulgence in superficiality for little girls seems a bit too over the top for me. maybe there could a "right" way to do this? what do you think readers?

Freaking WiFi!!!!! WTF???

2009-09-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have done quite a bit of traveling in the past couple of months due to it being summer and whatnot. Some of it was for pleasure, some of it was work related, and some of it was wedding related. And what I have come to realize is that where you can and cannot get free WiFi does not make any freaking sense at all. (And as a side note, really, why the heck do we call it WiFi anyway, it is really wireless fidelity?????)

Virgin America from Seattle to SF = Free WiFi
Virgin America from SF to DC =/= Free WiFi

Delta has no WiFi at all of any kind, yet American Airlines offers on its larger flights WiFi for an exorbitant amount of money if you think about the amount that you pay per month for Internet at home.

Sea-Tac Airport has WiFi for free only in certain sections, Atlanta Airport doesn't have it in any sections, and yet the Jackson Mississippi Airport offers it to all for Free.

But what really gets my goat is the way that fancy hotels gouge you on WiFi. I recently was forced to stay overnight in a not so nice motel in Dallas (thanks American Airlines for cancelling my flight and offering me no other options but to stay overnight in Dallas), but, much to my surprise, they had free WiFi. Then I stayed in a perfectly nice hotel in Jackson, MS that also offered free WiFi. But when I stayed in a downright fancy Hyatt in downtown Atlanta they freaking charged me an arm and a leg per day for WiFi use. Thats right, the most expensivo of all the hotels that I stayed in this summer and on top of it all I payed significantly more then I do per month for Internet at home for a mere two days of Internet use at this silly fancy pants hotel. So seriously people, WTF???? Why this WiFi injustice????

thank god for great books, including this one....

2009-09-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

nyt book review

9/11

2009-09-11T11:06:00.001-07:00

like many americans, i have a complicated relationship with 9/11. i hate that it happened. it is seared in my memory as an awful day. but, i also really don't like what it was used to justify. i wanted to throw things at the tv every 40th time giuliani said it during his presidential campaign, and every time cheney says it i despise what he stands for even more.

mostly, though, the day makes me homesick. i was working puerto rico that day. the planes hit while was i counting trees in the forest. meanwhile, my brother saw the smoke from his dorm, my mom was in the subway headed a block away from the towers and my dad was trapped in queens. they were all happy i wasn't there, but i wasn't. i may be one of very few people who has never watched the footage. really, i've never seen it, on purpose.

plenty of people have much sadder memories of 9/11 than i do, whether they be of lost loved ones or in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (see article on the mental emergency below). i wish them all well on this anniversary and still hope that good can come out this tragic loss.

mental health emergency from 9/11

corporation=individual?! since when, in real life...

2009-09-09T12:36:00.001-07:00

... as opposed to how our supreme court has been seeing it lately. for information on this transformation (and if you like your info in movie format), see corporation. the trailer is below, though i don't recommend watching it WUIS (watching under the influence of sleepiness... i had to try a few times, but it was my first year of grad school... it is a really good and informative film).

why am i bringing this up now? well b/c the supremo court, with it's newest wise latina, is hearing arguments that corporations deserve the rights of individuals in terms of 1st amendment.

the skinny is that citizens united, a group that has produced such titles as "aclu: at war with america" and "intelligence failure: how bill clinton's national security policy set the stage for 9/11", produced a movie called "hilary: the movie." they wanted to air it, but it the elections officials found it violated the mccain-feingold campaign finance law, which bans the broadcast, cable or satellite transmission of “electioneering communications” paid for by corporations in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before the general election.

according to the nyt, citizens united are set to win against the federal elections commission. the question is by how much. here's hoping a very narrow exception that is made, and our next campaigns are not even more heavily financed by the corporations that already create havoc through their lobbyist, etc.

nyt article about the case

titles by citizens united

source watch on their funders

Thank God for J&J and T&T!

2009-09-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful, but very rainy, Labor Day weekend camping trip to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of J & J I can definitely say that the hotties are back and better then ever!!!!

So I want to start off our return right by giving a big old thank God for J & J and as you can see from the picture above, an additional thank God to Twine & Tarps for keeping us dry during a weekend of rain!

All told, we are glad to be back to the blog after our little summer hiatus and hope that you will be joining us with your comments and suggestions as we engage again in regularly throwing out the question, are you there God, WTF?

wtf. where are the posts, hotties?

2009-08-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

sotomayer is confirmed, watson (of the famous duo) thinks we can cure cancers in the next decade and the american psychological association rejects gay-to-straight aimed therapy...so, it's time for a break folks... after all, if congress gets a recess, why shouldn't we?

august, probably the hottest month of the year in our neck of the woods, is off for the hotties. we know there will be plenty of stuff that will make us throw our hands up and ask, "are you there god? wtf?" but, we've decided to keep it to ourselves this month.

we promise to be back in september and hopefully hotter than ever (or at least tanner). in the meantime, we encourage you to use our comment space to post your own wtfs, and as the yearbook notes say "hope to see you next year."

way to go census!

2009-08-01T12:27:00.000-07:00

this so cool! the US census is going to count married same-sex couples in the 2010 census. this is a reversal of bush era policy. this more than a fabulous symbolic gesture. as many of you know, the numbers from the census are used for research and policy by so many groups. yay!

article about the official policy change
the image is from this cool canadian blog i just found

Holy Crap, is Seattle going to melt into the Sound?

2009-07-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Seriously people, WTF?

UW Probability Forecast, just so you can see how bad it is!

why is this petition so easy to sign, wtf?!

2009-07-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

hehe. seriously, if you live in seattle, please sign this petition for the missing link of the burke-gilman trial and forward it on to other people. the image posted here captures part of a well-used bike route (and where i broke my elbow). NOT COOL. (it gives me the chills just looking at it.)
PETITION

earlier blog posts about this issue
here, here and here

... you could even sign this petition with the aim of making me shut up about it. ;)

Blowguns are not toys!

2009-07-22T09:14:00.001-07:00

Who the hell is going around Ballard (the wonderful neighborhood of both hotpants and hotstuff) hitting cyclists with darts from a blowgun? Apparently two cyclists were hit in Ballard on monday evening (one on the Ballard Bridge, the other on 8th Ave NW btw 50th and 51st). Seriously people, WTF?

MyBallard.com Report
Seattle PI Note

wah wah, affirmative yes, no, ok yes

2009-07-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

after the sotomayer hearings, it's hard to not think of the older white, conservative senators as whiney babies afraid of losing their toys, or as maureen dowd called it in her editorial as white man’s last stand.

so while we are taking breather for the vote (wah, can't we have one more week, wah wah), i'd like to point out a nice article i found on affirmative action. in it mr. howard points out that white men were beneficiaries of affirmative action for centuries (by exclusion of other types of people for jobs/school/awards etc). and, now that we've had a couple of decades of affirmative action for the excluded groups, at universities men have become a group that are benefiting from the very type of affirmative action the conservatives supposedly abhor. for example, at william and mary college "women are accepted at 26 percent and men at 44 percent" in order to keep the gender balanced. how do you like them apples?

Thank God for Sotomayor!

2009-07-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to the wonderfully smart and very poised Judge Sotomayor for having the grace and skill to make it through a week full of inane and ridiculous questions meant to trip her up and make her say things that would potentially jeopardize her nomination. So thank you God for allowing us to have a poised and brilliantly legal minded Latina woman being put up for the highest court in the land, and thank you God for getting her to the point where even Senate Republicans are backing her! HOLLA!!!!

3 more things that make me ARG

2009-07-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

this is a bit of personal blog entry, but hopefully most of you can relate.

1. cancer! ARG. ok on a population-wide level you are pretty interesting (hence my research)... but when it comes to people i love: I HATE YOU... and all your pre-cancerous babies. stay away from my peoples or i'm gonna just research you away (heh, in my dreams).

2. companies that suck Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel Co., Ballard Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Marine Business Coalition, Ballard Oil Company, North Seattle Industrial Association, and the Ballard Interbay Northend Manufacturing & Industrial Center YOU SUCK, for signing onto this lawsuit. i'm sorry, but the inconvienence of less parking, loud construction vehicles and a few days less of business is a bs reason to stop the construction of a bike trail where there is a a known health hazard to bike commuters (of which i'm guesstimating there are over a thousand that go through this area a week). i hope your case gets thrown out of court.

3. ok, this is my personal opinion and that of a my lovely friend sms (a member of the u of c hottie zone): unless you are jewish, you do not get to make jewish jokes, at least around us... unless we know you well enough to hit you, if you went too far... i am not religious and i not am observant, but being jewish is my, and many other people's, ethnicity. so when you make jokes about it, just think, would you make the same level of joke about a hispanic/asian-american/african-american if they were here? i know, some of these jokes are really funny, b/c, for one, they have been honed over the years. but, just like jokes about other ethnicities they also can make people angry, feel put into a box they don't fit into, or just want to hit you. (the "you" here is, of course a very general you, and not directed necessarily at anyone of you wonderful readers)

phew, now all that's off my chest i feel much better. have a lovely weekend readers.

another infuriating curriculum war

2009-07-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

how's this for a recommendation for k-12 american history curriculum: "Replace references to America's "democratic" values with "republican" values"
justification: "We don't pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy for which it stands."

is this an onion headline? nope. is this a fox news anchor? nope. is this a republican talking head with no power? nope.

this is a david barton, who is 1 of 6 reviewers appointed by the texas board of education to review k-12 american history curriculum. (barton real job is run a conservative christian org devoted to promoting american's christian heritage.)

the texas board of education has appointed 3 conservative (read: religious right organizers) reviewers and 3 liberal (read: academics) reviewers to look over their curriculum. one of the actual board members said this:

"America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children," said Don McLeroy, a leading conservative on the board. "The foundational principles of our country are very biblical.... That needs to come out in the textbooks."

arg. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE, PLEASE! and having only caught wind of the idea of this concept of "american exceptionalism" before this article. i went ahead and looked it up. i can see absolutely no difference between this and nationalism. the wiki page is worth reading, if only to get your blood boiling.

article on texas board of ed recommendation (definitely check out the end of the article where the recommendations are listed, including dropping thurgood marshall out)
wiki page on american exceptionalism

Damn Straight! An Orgasm a day probably does keep the doctor away!

2009-07-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

The National Health Service in Britain clearly has all of its ducks in a row and is looking to finally bring some truth and sexiness back into the world of taking care of yourself. They have recently sparked some controversy with their new educational campaign which promotes the importance of having an enjoyable sex life and regular orgasms. They even go so far as to promote the slogan "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away", further saying, "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes' physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?" Naturally there are all sorts of people who are now up in arms about this campaign saying that it is going to promote teenage sex and lead to an increase in STDs.

First, YAY!!! Thank God someone is realizing that sex is a good thing, orgasms are great for you, and sexual activity is actually quite good for both your cardiovascular, mental, and muscle health. Second, seriously what the hell is wrong with people that they are not willing to understand that teenagers are going to have sex whether we tell them about it or not, and maybe, just maybe, it is actually better for them to have a positive outlook about sex and its connections to health, then repressing all notions of sex and making it a taboo subject. I mean how much research does there need to be showing that countries that have an open attitude towards sex actually have the lowest STD rates and the least amount of teenage pregnancies? I can see nothing but good things coming from this campaign, and if they promote safe sex along side it, all the better!

Thanks AG for pointing this campaign out to me!

Huffington Post Article on the subject

sometimes it really is that simple...

2009-07-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

a little birdy (who happens to be a liberal-minded lawyer) remarked to me that the only reason the supreme court heard the CT firemen case was to make sotomayer "look stupid" prior to her congressional hearings. i didn't exactly believe it at the time... but now i'm starting to think either she was right, or the world is full of very interesting coooooincidences.

for those you that didn't keep up with this case, the short of it is, there was a test given to new haven firemen for promotion. the top scorers were all of white race (though by ethnicity, one was hispanic, but who's counting...) for fear of being sued for discrimination the new haven-ite higher-ups decided to scrap the exam. the lower court (with sotomayer presiding) ruled in favor of the city. the supreme court ruled in favor of the fireman whose exams were scrapped. however the majority ruling was muddled as discussed in this article and my favorite justice ever wrote a strong minority opinion (see this absolutely awesome interview of her from the nyt mag)

i want to be clear here, i'm not expressing an opinion on the case and neither was the little birdy. instead, i'd like to point out that is an interesting coincidence that one of these firemen will now be called during the congressional hearings. yes, and i mean that in the way fox new anchors use it... interrrresting...
article about calling the fireman

is palin going crazy or was she always nuts?

2009-07-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

i know it may be painful to some of you, but if you haven't seen the palin's resignation speech it's worth watching (with nyt article here), if only to be perplexed.... what is she talking about? if you really can't stand it without commentary, watch the keith olberman vid below.

i think i've come to the conclusion that sarah palin was really just in over her head... and perhaps a little off her rocker. what do you think? i know a lot of people are thinking a scandal is ready to hit the press, but i don't think so. well, other than the boyfriend's tell-all book... or perhaps we'll soon get sarah's tell-all too. wahoo.

also, she is a bit of a liar. check out this list in the atlantic

Fox is at it again! More to love can only mean less to like about Fox!

2009-07-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

If the caption "LARGER-THAN-LIFE SINGLE MAN LOOKS FOR 'MORE TO LOVE'" isn't enough to tell you the many ways that this new TV show is infuriating to me, then I don't know what would. So Fox (yes the people who bring us Fox News) is starting a new reality show based off of the bachelor called "More to Love". The premise is that people are sick of seeing all these uber "skinny" people on TV and want people that are "normal" sized up there, because as the announcer says "normal sized people deserve love too". As their website says:

"FOX is setting out to prove that love comes in all shapes and sizes with the new inspirational dating competition series MORE TO LOVE. Executive-produced by Mike Fleiss ("The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette"), the unscripted series follows a single average guy with a big waist and an even bigger heart as he romances several confident and secure plus-size women. Each week, the husky hunk will wine and dine a group of curvy women to determine if they have more love to give or if they are truly more than he can handle. When the size of competition narrows, he will have to decide if one full-figured lady will become his true love."

As if it wasn't clear from the description above, this is a show about exploiting the husky hunk and his trove of curvy ladies for their size. The concept of the show has some merit in the idea that yes their are many wonderful people in this world who are not a size 2, are beautiful nonetheless, and able to have love in their lives, but the idea that we need a show to tell us that they "deserve love" and that plus-size people only find love with other plus-sized people is ridiculous. Additionally, Fox is clearly more then willing to point out that these people are "larger then life", "husky", "curvy", "plus-sized", "full-figured", etc. at every chance they get. Thus instead of just letting these people be "normal" and fall in love, they are making it clear that these people are not actually "normal" but instead exotically different different from everyone else on TV and should have their weight pointed out and exploited at every available moment. For Fox to really achieve what they are purportedly putting out as their goal, they should consider just putting some average sized people on one of their typical shows without all the hoopla and spotlight on the contestants weight. I mean god forbid that a "skinny" man fall in love with a "curvy" lady or a "skinny" girl fall in love with a "husky" man. We wouldn't want to promote that now would we???

thank the good lord almighty for hotstuff

2009-07-05T21:56:00.001-07:00

it would be impossible for her to be more awesome.

Humans: The straightest in the animal kingdom?

2009-07-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Guest blogger Hotsauce writes:

Apparently, science ("Yes!" w/ fist pump) is confirming a belief long held by those who proudly wave a rainbow flag (or PFLAG): God is just a little bit gay. Or, maybe s/he's just gender neutral, or sex positive, or doesn't give a damn one way or another. This conclusion is based on the mounting (sorry 'bout that one) evidence that gay sex is rampant in the animal kingdom and is, in fact, more the rule than the exception. Although it is nice to hear this from peer-reviewed sources, I didn't really need any extra convincing. Just ask anyone whose grown up on or around farms. My father, who grew up in tiny towns in the rural south during the 50s and 60s (for chrissake!), has always known about gay animals. Ocassionally, a sow would be much more interested in mounting her female penmates than being mounted by the local boar. Dogs hump eachother all the time. We assume they're just expressing dominance, but we don't know what's going on in their little doggy brains. Yep - bonobos, penquins, dolphins, fruit flies, pigs, dogs, locusts, albatrosses, etc. Name any animal you want. There is a very good chance that it would lose to you at a game of Never Have I Ever, at least as long as you stay away from things that require opposable thumbs. ;^D

So, if God thinks gay sex is perfectly natural, why are humans so uptight about it?

Peace
HotSauce

SF Gate Article on the Science of Gay Animals

first term blues

2009-06-30T23:32:00.001-07:00

the coup in honduras and the almost definitely mishandled election in iran (as well as the violent handling of protesters) has made for a shaky couple weeks in democracy internationally. not knowing enough about either of these complicated situations (even though i've read quite a bit), i have to say obama's strong condemnations and multilaterial rhetoric have been the best that i could hope for from the US.

on domestic issues, however, i'm having trouble (again) with obama's middle road. many of the articles i have been reading lately about these issues (environmental, torture, gay rights, etc) have cited the administration's strong desire to hold onto independent voters. yes, they are a section of the voters that elected him, but they elected him when he was not middle-of-roading these issues. as my co-blogger has said "promises were made." the inside strategists may be right, but it's disheartening to think that decisions are being made based on re-election.

are we going to have to wait until obama's 2nd term (please let there be one...) for some of the huge policy shifts he promised. in other words, was west wing (the tv show) right, again? does the ability to be elected twice make presidents more accountable or less?

for your viewing pleasure, here is a video with the current administration in the west wing intro and a great moment in west wing during president barlett's re-election campaign. what's next?

Thank God for Pride!

2009-06-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a moment and say thank God for the multitude of Gay Pride Parades happening around the country and all the wonderful Pride things that go with it. Gay Pride Parades are meant to be both serious and fun, they are a moment to reflect upon how far the Gay rights movement has come and how far it still has to go. I am happy to say that I have now lived in two cities with very large Gay Pride Parades and that each year the Gay rights movement moves our culture (and cultures around the world) towards more acceptance of people's life choices and acceptance of the diversity of life in general. So thank you God for wonderful Gay Pride and the fantastic Gay rights movement! Holla!

aw mj...

2009-06-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

no one's music is surer to get the hotties on the dance floor than michael jackson's. there's no denying that the man had some issues, many of which we will hear more about in the days/years to come. but there is also no denying that he had so much talent and style. if this video doesn't move you, you might not be human:

Monetary incentive for not getting pregnant?

2009-06-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is taking it to a whole new level. Apparently there is a now a program, College Bound Sisters, that is paying girls for not getting pregnant right here in the good ol' US of A. That's right, you heard me, paying them to not get pregnant. The three main goals of the program are avoiding pregnancy, graduating from high school, and enrolling in college. While this program has some positive aspects like giving the girls activities to be a part of, helping them realize that going to college and getting good grades are important goals to have, I can't help but be somewhat dismayed about the way these goals are being monetarily incentivized. The girls are given $7 a week that is put into a saving account for them, but if they get pregnant, they don't get the money. I mean seriously, how much research needs to be done to show that while incentives may work in the short term, they are not good at creating lasting change in people's behaviors. And most often don't work at all. Additionally, if you are going to try to get the teenage girls to not get pregnant maybe you should also consider doing a little sexual education along with your program. I mean seriously people, WTF?

CNN Video

let the good be the enemy of the mediocre

2009-06-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

if you haven't heard the phrase yet, the obama admin has a mantra floating around: "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." in other words, don't wait for the perfect policy (i read this as the most liberal policy, but that's up to your discretion) be the enemy of a good policy.

BUT, no or weak public health insurance option in a health care bill! WTF. this isn't obama (though we'll see what he says in his press conference today). this is the senate finance committee's bill FIRST DRAFT. here's a list of the members. if you feel as strongly about this is we do, please:
WA: call maria cantwell 202-224-3441
NY: call chuck schumer 202-224-6542
OR: call ron wyden 202-224-5244

and tell them: "A health care bill without a strong public health insurance option is completely unacceptable." (script from moveon.org ;) )

i also wrote senator cantwell last night. this is not my best letter but feel free to use it when emailing your senators. really it doesn't matter what you say, so long as they register that you want a public health insurance option:

Dear Mrs. Cantwell,
There absolutely needs to be public option for health care reform. Please do not let this option slip away. Please take some initiative and do not rely on "co-ops." Group Health-like HMO's cannot catch all people without insurance and will be very hard to regulate nationally. The majority of Americans want a public options, please listen to them.
Thank you.

to prove my last line see graphic below...

info from washington post on finance committee

Thank God for Dads!

2009-06-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

On this Father's Day I would like to give a big thanks to God for my dad. He has always been supportive of me, there to make me laugh, and to listen to my off-the-wall ideas. He keeps me honest and has taught me how to be critical of the world around me and yet able to give people the benefit of the doubt. As I am sure many of you out there in bloggerland would agree, I would not be the person I am today if it were not for my dad. So thank you God for fathers around the world, and just like mother's day, thanks for having a fake hallmark holiday to celebrate them!

i fear fear

2009-06-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

fear-mongering can lead people to do crazy things. here's a video that a friend sent me a few months ago. then to make everyone feel better after hearing it's fear-mongering, extremist views, i also posted obama's cairo speech, which preaches close to the opposite. it's long, but it really worth a listen if you haven't seen the whole thing yet.

Isn't the truth worth anything these days?

2009-06-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, decided today that convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty. Basically indicating that even if the advanced DNA testing now available would be able to prove a person's innocence after the fact, people who are already in jail do not have a right to it. WTF?

One of the major issues brought up in this argument, was that the defendant who brought this before the Supreme Court was not very lovable or believably innocent. As was stated in the NYT article:

Justice Scalia said he was struck by the absence of a full-throated declaration
of innocence from the defendant, and quoted from a sworn statement Mr. Osborne
had submitted to the state courts: "I have no doubt whatsoever that retesting of
the condom will prove once and for all time...”

Here, Justice Scalia
observed, a listener would expect to hear the words “my innocence.” But the
defendant did not say that, saying instead “either my guilt or innocence.”

But I would argue that in fact the defendant was exactly correct in what he said. The more accurate DNA test would in fact prove once and for all time whether a defendant was guilty or innocent. And wouldn't information of either sort be useful to the courts? If a defendant is found guilty, once and for all, then maybe they would stop the insanely time consuming and expensive appeal process they are probably going through. If they are found innocent then maybe they will be able to actually clear their name and walk out of their wrongful imprisonment. Either way, it seems to me that to enable the truth to be found through DNA testing is a win-win for justice and the court system in the long run. So seriously Supreme Court, why would you want to deny people the right to more accurate evidence?

NYT Article

bodywatch, WTF "people"

2009-06-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

i picked up a waiting room copy of people magazine and WTF, there is now a section of the magazine called "bodywatch"! it's all about weight gain and loss of celebrities (probably 99.9% female).

i've seen all the covers in the supermarket of celebrity magazines that highlight these weight changes, but i didn't realize that magazines were so blatantly f'ed up to make it a regular segment of their magazine.

i assume you, readers, understand how demeaning and unhealthy this focus is, but i was thinking, what if they highlighted any other segment of the population: kids or elderly, and stalked them about their weight issues. they would never do that, of course, b/c it's so obviously f'ed up. why are women 18-50 supposed to be immune to this hurtful focus?

i hate to give you the link... but here it is

Obama Defends the Defence of Marriage Act

2009-06-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday the Obama administration put out a brief that very explicitly defended the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which basically prevents couples in states that recognize same-sex unions from securing Social Security spousal benefits, filing joint taxes and other federal rights of marriage. Seriously Obama, how many campaign promises against the LGBT community are you willing to take back? As a friend of the blog, Hotplate, suggested, this is a major WTF!!!!!

Huffington Post Article

AmericaBlog Post

Human Rights Campaign Response

cascade bicycle club rules

2009-06-14T18:03:00.001-07:00

not only did the cascade bicycle club host the fabulous "flying wheels" ride, that i did this saturday, but they have also tireless fought to fix the dangerous area of road/bike-lane where i went down last halloween (see previous blog post) (aka "the missing link"). and it looks like it's finally gonna get done. yay!

see press release here and if you feel compelled at all to donate to their legal fund for the "missing link" project please go here
cascade.org

Supremacy is a fallacy.

2009-06-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

At 12:40pm on Wednesday the 10th, a racist, antisemitic, "hardcore" supremacist, 88-year old man walked into the lobby of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and shot a security guard. This man, James W. von Brunn, was arrested in 1981 for walking into another government building with a gun and a goal of shooting a guard. He seems to have spend a fair amount of his life writing hateful things on the Internet, such as describing his prior arrest and conviction in 1981 as being "convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge." Clearly this is a man with a lot of anger and a lot of issues, who somewhere along the lines began to believe that he was superior to other people and that violence was the only way to make that clear. So he walk into a sacred space to help people remember the horrors of violence that occurred to one group at the hands of another who thought they were superior, shoots a security guard who had never seen nor done anything to him before, injures a couple of other people, and he is still alive at a local hospital. Seriously, readers, when will people learn that violence is not the answer and that no one is superior to anyone else? WTF?

Washington Post Article

really? you really still think obama might be muslim? really?

2009-06-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

thanks to a tip by my friend js, i give you this crazy wrong article
editorial in the washington times

a quote: "This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim any more than Mr. Clinton actually is black. After his five months in office, and most especially after his just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, however, a stunning conclusion seems increasingly plausible: The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich."

my friend also points out that the washington times is actually owned by the unification church (a.k.a. "the moonies"), who i did not know much about until i looked them up on wikipedia ... and that did not make me like them anymore.

p.s. and, so what if he is

what's rational about homophobia?

2009-06-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

the supreme court decided not to hear a case about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of the US's military forces. it did so with the obama administration's blessing.

a quote from the AP article:" In court papers, the administration said the appeals court ruled correctly in this case when it found that 'don't ask, don't tell' is 'rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion.'"

rationally? see our earlier blog post on how much we disagree with that.

i like the idea of democratically-elected bodies passing the laws that rid this type of discrimination from our system (and that includes gay marriage), but it bothers me that the highest courts are refusing to see that this an issue of equality pure and simple. to frame it any other way seems irrational to me.

Thank God for the end of the school year and the beginning of summer!

2009-06-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

OK this is a totally self serving thank God, but I just have to say that after my first year in my new grad program I would like to give a little shout out to God for the end of it and the beginning of summer. It is a tough but totally awesome program and let me just tell you, I am super excited about the prospects of actually seeing my friends again and not reading 100-150 pages of psychology theory every day. So thank you God for making it the end of the school year, and here's to an awesome summer! Holla!!!!!!

60% of bankruptcies!!!

2009-06-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

... are at least in part due to medical expenses. wtf. the percentage is growing over time too. furthermore, "most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations." if you think about the people you know or maybe your own medical history, perhaps this isn't too surprising. but i believe it is wrong, don't you?
article in reuters
abstract in the american journal of health (and more if you have access to journals)

and if you haven't read atul gawande's piece on healthcare costs, you should. in it he makes a point that the medical community is being split: "..you come to realize that we are witnessing a battle for the soul of American medicine. Somewhere in the United States at this moment, a patient with chest pain, or a tumor, or a cough is seeing a doctor. And the damning question we have to ask is whether the doctor is set up to meet the needs of the patient, first and foremost, or to maximize revenue...." and the latter appears to be winning, even if there are shining examples of the former throughout the country (including the mayo clinic and seattle, compared to other cities).

he also points out that whether we go with public insurance or stick w/ private, the culture of medicine will need to be changed either way, but am i alone in thinking that it will need to be public for actual incentives to be in place to reduce costs across the country?

We all deserve a second a chance but seriously, Bristol Palin for Abstinence?

2009-06-03T18:04:00.001-07:00

I know this is a month old at this point, but I keep coming back to this stupid idea. Bristol Palin as an ambassador for abstinence? As I am guessing many of you remember, this is the same teenage girl who was pregnant during her mother's campaign for the VP position with McCain and now she is touting abstinence as the only "100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy". Which is true, if you can remain abstinent, then yes you will not get pregnant. But the research has shown time and time again that abstinence is not a realistic option for most teenagers (which both mamma Palin and ex-fiance Levi have said) and that in fact teens who proclaim abstinence are just as likely as other teens to engage in sex but are more likely to fail to use birth control (ahem Bristol, does this sound familiar to you at all????). Abstinence is not an effective birth control option for most teens and to have a girl who I suppose is "born again abstinent" touting it as the only option does not make the situation any better. Seriously, WTF Bristol? Do you even believe the crap you are trying to sell? You ex-fiance Levi and your mom sure don't! And do you really want to prove that they are smarter then you?

Huffington Post Article

bling hunt!

2009-06-02T19:14:00.001-07:00

u.k. cops have a new campaign. report on your neighbors if they have too much nice stuff (aka bling). wtf. i think the part that bothers me the most about this is the neighbors ratting out neighbors (certainly not always correctly).

surely, this is one of the exploratory tactics that police use all over the world, but having people crime-watch by "too much bling" seems subject to major issues. according to a criminologist at king's college in london, "the campaign encourages racial profiling." what do you think readers? does this policy bother you? do you think it could ever happen in the US? does it remind you of a monty python sketch too?
campaign's website
npr marketplace report
daily mail article about it

RIP Dr. Tiller

2009-05-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait until tomorrow to express my complete lack of faith in humanity upon finding out that Dr. George Tiller, one of the few late term abortion doctors left in the US, was killed in the sanctity of the foyer of his own church today. A doctor who held onto his beliefs, his practice, and the fight for women's rights even after being shot once in each arm, through multiple legal fights, and through constant harassment and vandalism at his clinic was shot in cold blood. With all of my heart, WTF?

NYT Article about the murder

thank the good lord for mt rainier

2009-05-31T16:34:00.001-07:00

photo credit: cdr

oh mt rainier, how i love thee. i may have spent very little time in close proximity to you, but with a topographic prominence of 13,210 feet you are often such a beautiful sight from seattle and this weekend from my fabulous hike. you automatically put a smile on my face. i may be the only person that calls you the great boob of seattle, but i mean that in the most complimentary way. while many human made tall constructions, like skyscrapers, have phallic shapes, mt. rainier i claim you for the ladies. :)

long work day... if only i were researching chocolate...

2009-05-27T22:34:00.001-07:00

link

How is marriage not a fundamental right?

2009-05-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today marks a sad day in a long line of sad days for same-sex couples in California, who have been given the right to marry and then had it taken away more times then I would like to count at this point. Unlike the multiple other states who within the past year have passed same-sex marriage laws (holla Iowa, Vermont, Maine, and the other states that are on their way), California has now been set back yet again due to its sometimes preposterous proposition process. The hearing today was not on the legality of same-sex marriage itself, but instead about the idea that Prop. 8 was not an amendment to the California constitution, but instead a revision of it. There are arguments for both sides of this case, but for me it really does come down to a fundamental issue of equal rights (which are very clearly written into the CA Constitution). While it can be said that same-sex couples in CA have all of the legal rights of opposite-sex couples given their rights to civil unions, they are still lacking the actual right to "marriage". Yes, it all comes down to a word. As Shannon Minter, an attorney for plaintiffs, stated, that without the right to the word “marriage,” same-sex couples in CA find their "outsider status enshrined in [the California] Constitution.” Is it really fair to say that same-sex couples are truly being given the same rights as opposite-sex couples when they don't have the right to the word "marriage"? and should that type of discrimination be written into the California Constitution? I think not!

NYT Article

SF Chronicle Article

memorial day

2009-05-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

regardless of my opinions of the current wars the US is waging, i mourn the loss of life that these wars have brought upon both sides of the conflict.

to describe these losses here is the iraq page stories of fallen soldiers of "operation iraqi freedom" (4630 from the US), stories of fallen soldiers of "operation enduring freedom" in afganistan (684 from the US), a site with a downloadable map for google earth of causalities and the nejm article that approximates 151,000 iraqi causalities (includes civilians)

The Death of a Soldier
by Wallace Stevens

Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.

He does not become a three-days personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.

Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops,

When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.

Thank God for the opening of white shoe season!

2009-05-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today is day two of a lovely memorial day weekend and the beginning of white shoe season! As such, BBQing is in order, and what better thing to grill in the Pac NW then salmon. So I would like to give a big old thank God for the beginning of nice weather and the availability of amazing, high quality, and awesome salmon for a reasonable price! Holla!

is outrage enough for outing?

2009-05-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

it's one of those days i have a few different ideas for the blog, from doomsday cheney to an amazingly horrible protest scheduled for UW campus that equates abortion to genocide.... but, it's a beautiful day out and our topics have been pretty serious this week... so i decided on my third idea.

for those that haven't heard, kirby dick has come out with a new film (see trailer below) that "outs" anti-gay politicians that also happen to be allegedly gay. i agree with the filmmaker that gay rights is one of the most important "civil rights issue of its time in this country" (see interview below), but i'm struggling a bit about whether outing these politicians is ethical. i guess i'm lean towards yes... they are public figures, they are taking advantage of prejudice as a political device, it is totally hypocritical and straight politicians that mess around get "outed" for their non-monogamy all the time. but, i kinda feel uncomfortable about that last one too. hmmmm. what do you guys think?

interview with kirby dick in the advocate

If we just give the kids guns we will all be safe!

2009-05-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

“Put him on his face and put a knee in his back,” a Border Patrol agent explained.

“I guarantee that he’ll shut up.”

Above is a quote from a Boarder Patrol agent who was teaching 14 year old kids how to track and apprehend potential illegal boarder crossers as part of The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America. This program's goal is to train young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence including the use of guns, poisonous gas, and intimidation. All under the guise that they are teaching kids discipline and preparing them for future jobs in our post 9/11 world. They are even supposed to learn how to apprehend and deal with terrorists (who in the article below are described as often wearing traditional Arab dress). The kids are subject to all kinds of forms of violence that they are then supposed to be able to deal with.

While I agree that sometimes it can be very empowering for teenagers to be trained in skills that are applicable to future job prospects, this program really gives me the chills. They are not only exposing children to a lot of violence, but they are actually training them to be violent. The kids are told that they are not supposed to use these skills outside of the training environment, but if I know teenagers at all, the chance that they will not try to apply these skills in their daily life or even attempt some sort of actual apprehension of boarder crossers or potential terrorists is ridiculous. Additionally, they are only supposed to take kids from 14-21, but then admitted in the article that sometimes they take younger kids, which they say just means 13 and a half, but you know that when they are not being interviewed by the NYT they probably take kids even younger then that. Finally, they dress up the theoretical terrorists in their drills in traditional Arab garb? Seriously? Cause what we need to do is teach our kids how to be violent and then build in a good amount of stereotyping too. Oh and then hope that they will be the ones who "protect" us from all that is evil in the world in the future. WTF????

NYT Article

a wall

2009-05-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

inspired by this artistic blog entry (which i fully recommend!), i decided to post pictures i took of what remains of the berlin wall (click on the pictures to see in more detail).

there are many different accounts of what the wall meant for the city, but it clearly separated it, to the terror of some of its inhabitants. of course, now that the wall is down one can move freely across the city. however, the division is still evident even to a newcomer. in other words, i almost always could tell if i was in what used to be east or west berlin, just by looking around. construction is all over parts of "east berlin", and this growth amongst many reminders of a brutal history (world wars included), make berlin a very interesting city.

seeing the wall's remnants made me think about borders and separatism. good fences may make good neighbors, but they do certainly do not always make happy citizens.

Is Obama afraid of needles?

2009-05-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Buried deep within the budget (pg. 795 to be specific) released last Thursday by the Obama administration there is a paragraph banning the federal funding of needle exchange programs in the US. This is a complete about-face from Obama's campaign promises, in complete opposition of Obama's new found desire to ensure more national HIV prevention work, and a slap in the face to one of the most effective HIV prevention programs to date. The administration is now saying that they still intend to lift the ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs, but that they just aren't going to do it quite yet. WTF? What is the holdup? It isn't like there is a lack of data and scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of needle exchange programs for HIV prevention. In fact there is much more support for these programs then really any other prevention interventions out there.

The main argument used to justify the lack of funds for these programs is the stupid war on drugs. Basically, by upholding the ban the administration is saying that it is more important to support the war on drugs then protect the lives of people who are addicted to them. In my opinion this is a seriously immoral and shortsighted view that will ultimately lead to many deaths that could have easily been prevented (the needle users, their partners, their partner's partners, and on and on...). Are we really a country where politics and appearances are more important then the lives of human beings?

Time Article

thank god for home...

2009-05-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

i'm back after interesting and fun travels, certainly enjoying the comforts of home.

Is a life without google no life at all?

2009-05-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

You will not believe my total and utter panic this morning when I got up and not only was my gmail not working, but neither was blogger, or google. ACK! My world went upside down! I couldn't email, I couldn't do any of my work, I couldn't blog, and I couldn't even look things up without having to resort to a search engine that was foreign to me. What was a girl to do???

And then it hit me, is this what life has become? Is the majority of my world now not only tied to having the interwebs but more specifically tied to a single company, where if they go down, I go down with them? Holy crap! I had dinner with a friend this week who in all seriousness told me that she wished we could go back to writing letters and didn't have email anymore. I told her that would be rediculous and horrible all at the same time, but now that I know that I am incapable of living and engaging in my life without the interwebs and specifically without google, maybe this doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore.

another trave(b)log: ups and downs of a conference

2009-05-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

hotpants is now in sweden at a conference. unfortunately, swedes don't all sound like the swedish chef muppet, but fortunately for us lazy english speakers i don't have to worry about learning their language. tack you very much. i have enjoyed the little that i have seen of their country so far. as far as the food, i'm not sure i will get to like the heavy cream sauces, but the smoked salmon reminds of the lox of the land of my upbringing and the fish that swim up the fish ladder right near where i live now (not that i'm homesick or anything... ;) ) is it me or did that last sentence sound like a bad version of scandanvian writing? i didn't do it on purpose i swear.

ok, enough rambling...

this may be a wtf for just the scientists out there, b/c i don't know what other conferences are like... but does anyone really think 8 hours of talks for 4 days is a good way to learn? especially when some of the talks are less than 10 minutes.

now, i appreciate a good lecture more than most people i know. if it's really good i can appreciate a lecture a couple hours long. i like good stories. but, i'd much rather throw in a few round tables, discussion panels, q&a sessions and other such things even if it would mean actually having to talk to each other in an organized fashion (maybe even before the conference!). it might be better than a snippet of everyone's papers soon to be published. i know that conversations like these are sometimes found in the q&a of presentations (speedily) and sometimes conducted between talks, but they are often only among the most senior faculty.

if i ran conferences, i'd have everyone do a poster, have 2-10 major lectures and have the rest of the sessions be interactive, but we'd still get to go to places like sweden. what do you think future PIs? are you with me?

Thank God for Moms!

2009-05-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

On this Mother's Day I would like to give a big thanks to God for my mom. I can not imagine having a better mother, she has been a good friend, a source of constant support, and a role model for me. I love her very much and am sure that all the people out there in the blogging land will agree that we wouldn't be the people we are today without our mothers. So thank you God for mothers around the world, and thanks for having a fake hallmark holiday to celebrate them!

metza metza berlin

2009-05-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

hey all. hotpants here, from berlin. i'm having an awesome time, but for the sake of the blog i choose to fill this blank a few ways:

berlin is _______(fill the blank) cooler than the US.

blank=very much
---> they have a phrase here called the "american condition," as in we don't want to fall into the american condition w/ no universal health care, only 2 weeks of vacation (they get 6 weeks) and more than 40 hour work weeks (many get 35s). oh and with homeless people that the gov't doesn't care for via a constitutional amendment that everyone is guaranteed housing.

blank=not that much
---> there are a ton of turks that live here that don't to have citizenship, even if they are born here. however, they do get to be "legal" immigrants and get all the cool things i described above... maybe that is a more humane immigration policy. you know, acknowledging that the labor is needed... something to think about...

blank=not
---> i got a ticket today on public transportation, not for not buying a ticket but for not getting it stamped. it was a stupid error (that not one a sign had told me to do... or the guidebook...), and even though the ticket had the time on it and it was clear that i had made a silly mistake and not jumped the train w/o paying, the guy gave me a ticket. now i know that cops in the states can use their judgment the wrong way sometimes too, but i'm glad that sometimes they let things slide that are obviously not harmful or just not important. silly germans with their rules. oh and seeing the reichstag did scare me momentarily. good thing i saw defiance on the plane ride over here.

Senseless violence at my alma mater

2009-05-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

Around 1pm today an unidentified man (potentially the victim's boyfriend) wearing a wig entered the Wesleyan University bookstore, shot, and killed Johanna Justin-Jinich, a 22 year old Wesleyan Junior. After the event the University, all the schools in Middletown, and the town itself went on lock down. One senseless act of violence has taken the life of a young woman and impacted everyone in a community. When will people learn that violence is not the answer. This is truly a sad day.

Hartford Courant Article

Wesleyan Argus Article

If I enter a pageant, does that mean that I can have bigger boobs too?!?

2009-05-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend it was confirmed that in preparation to be a Miss USA contestant, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, received a boob job courtesy of the Miss California pageant itself. You heard me, the pageant paid for her to get a breast augmentation. When I first heard about this story, I could barely believe it. Seriously, the pageant paid for her boob job? As if it wasn't bad enough that young women are bombarded with images endorsing the idea that fake boobs are good and big boobs are necessary to be desirable and considered beautiful, now we actually have a beauty pageant paying a young woman to get work done.

In the stupid interview with the co-director of the pageant, he said that they asked her what would make her more confident and she expressed an interest in getting the boob job, so their excuse is that they wanted to help her confidence. OK, seriously, that is your excuse? When you want to boost a woman's confidence is the best way really to say, yes even though you are already a beauty contestant winner, your boobs are definitely the thing that should be changed to give you that little omph when you walk onto that national stage. Like it wasn't bad enough for women around the country already knowing that they will never be able to live up to the idealized version of beauty endorsed by these pageants. Now being naturally endowed with insane amounts of the stereotypical beauty is not enough, now you also need to have your boobs done. WTF?

Huffington Post Article with Interview

my 16 year-old self would be astonished by this but.....

2009-05-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

thank goodness for weddings. i know many of you that won't agree with me on this one, whether it was b/c your wedding was a pain in the ass, b/c you don't believe in the tradition of marriage, or you are tired of them. but, those of you that know me, know that i can be a little bit of a cheese-meister. however, you should also know i'm not married, have never been and i am a miserable bride's maid b/c i am not a wedding perfectionist in any way, shape or form. there are certain wedding traditions i cannot stand. for example, despite my mom's pleas, if i do get married some day i might wanna do it in a red dress.

that being said, here are a few things i love about weddings. i love the vows that the couple say to each other, even if they didn't write them. it's just endearing to see two people speak to each other about private love in front of a crowd of people that love them. i also look forward to the speeches at the reception. i love that there is a usually at least one honest, heartfelt expression among these speeches. at the wedding i went to this weekend, one that struck me was the father of the groom telling his son how much his son had taught him. and most of all, i'm a big fan of the inter-generational dancing that goes on for hours. why can't we do that more often? and we can take our ouchy shoes off! fabulous.

thanks g and l, for a great wedding weekend and for cultivating such awesome relationships w/ your friends and family (and with each other of course) that made it possible to have such a loving event.

an alternative wedding registry site

Why isn't rape being taken more seriously?

2009-05-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago a friend of mine sent me a story about the plethora of rape kits that sit untested in California (thanks AG!), now that story has made it into the NYT. Kinda like the plethora of untested kits, I sat on this story waiting to blog about it. I don't know what the hold up was, but I suspect that other stories for whatever reason took precedence in my mind. Maybe thinking to myself that this news wasn't likely to change at any moment, and that it could be blogged about at any time. But on the other hand, as this story points out, maybe I just wasn't taking it seriously enough and had stored is as just one of many injustices against women that happen in our society.

This is a problem of huge proportions! Women are being raped on a regular basis, are going through the grueling process of having to do a rape kit (which can take many hours and is incredibly invasive), and then the rape kit isn't even tested or if it is, it is tested a year to a couple years later. In the case of one woman, the police suspected that her rapist was a repeat offender, thus asked for a rush on the kit testing. They were told it would be a delay of about a year. When they personally drove it to the state lab 350 miles away, they still had to wait over 4 weeks to get a test result that should take less then a week to do. And this is in the case of someone being incredibly proactive and urgent. Once the kit was tested they found a DNA match. Unfortunately, while they were waiting for the results the DNA matched man had sexually assaulted two other women. This could have been avoided had the test been run in a timely manner.

All and all, this points to the fact that rape is often not taken seriously enough. It is a combination of taboo subjects in our puritanical culture, we are talking about sex and issues of power, domination, and crime in sex. If people are incapable of taking about sex with their own sexual partners, think about how hard it is for the raped women who are asked to talk about sex while having a rape kit done and then in front of a jury. For these brave women to step up and go through this process, the least we can do is take them seriously and do everything within our power to ensure that their assailant is brought to justice. We may not want to think about this horrible crime, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore it.

NYT Article

Human Rights Watch Report

swiney and whiney republicans

2009-04-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

first a swine flu perspective, as requested by a commenter. here are a couple of opinions, that may be proven wrong in the near future, and a few tidbits that you may not have picked up among the hysteria.

- this strain of swine flu probably did originate in mexico

- there is probably a tremendous number of people in mexico that are infected and are showing mild symptoms. therefore, the high number deaths there is probably not indicative of an extremely high fatality rate. as in, of the all the people that are infected, only a small proportion of them are dying.

- infection with swine flu can only be confirmed by a lab test. i am not a clinician, but at least one says if you think you have the flu, it's worth a call to your doctor (not necessarily an appointment). however, according to our local health department (seattle): "If you have not traveled to an area where swine flu is occurring in the 7 days before becoming ill and you have not had close contact with an ill person who recently returned from an area where swine flu is occurring, you do not need to seek medical care for swine flu evaluation," but you should contact your doctor for any type of flu if your symptoms are severe (e.g. fever for 3+ days with no explanation, rapidly worsening illness, person is unresponsive and unable to get out of bed, bad sore throat, difficulty breathing, severe cough and/or chest pain).

- not all cases being reported by the media are confirmed. some of them are only suspected. most likely, not all of them will be confirmed, either b/c they are not the new strain or b/c they don't have severe symptoms and it isn't worth a public health's dept's limited time/money to confirm them by lab test. (see here to find about ph dept's limited money, arg)

- in terms of symptoms, what seems to make this strain different is that adults have diarrhea along with their other flu symptoms. this is a preliminary observation though, and may not pan out.

- if you have any type of flu, stay home! and, everyone needs to wash their hands (get through the entire song of the abcs).

- you cannot get swine flu from pork, even if the chinese and russian gov't seem to be saying so by banning US pork.

- there is still a lot to learn about swine flu. here are some great resources that are consistently being updated:
the cdc site
the who site
the nyt tracker
the king county site (a leader in flu prevention)

okay now on the the whiney republicans: wah, why do we have to spend money on flu preparedness... wah, this stuff has nothing to do with national economy... wah, why think long term at all...
republicans blocked funding for flu-preparedness in stimulus package

Does no one care about higher education anymore?

2009-04-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, the Washington State Legislature passed a biennial budget with a 26% budget cut for the University of Washington. That means that on July 1, over one quarter of the funding the state of Washington has provided to UW annually will no longer exist. As was said in the email sent out to UW students this "is by far the largest reduction in state support to a flagship university by any state in the nation. It takes our state funding level back to where it was more than a decade ago and drops the portion of the state budget dedicated to four-year higher education to an all-time low."

This means that UW students are looking at a tuition increase, many UW employees are going to be laid off, and the educational system is going to suffer dramatically. WTF? After all the hoopla about how the US is falling behind other countries in terms of education and ability to compete in a world economy, let alone WA state schools needing to stay competitive with other Universities around the country, here we are cutting the UW budget by over a quarter? On top of the fact that all of the other 4-year higher education systems in WA also got huge budget cuts. I mean I get that we are in a major financial crisis and have a huge budget deficit (hello 9 billion in WA state alone), but seriously, higher education gets the biggest cut of all? More then any other areas? I don't have a solution for what should have gotten more cuts, and of course no one wants their money to be taken, but I can't help but feel that there should have been a way to spread out the cuts a little more so that UW didn't get such a large one!

Read the Letter the President of UW sent out

exploiting rush

2009-04-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

although i am following the swine flu epidemic with great interest, so far i think the US response has been good. (ie no complaints yet). while i am watching it unfold, others are following it too...

maybe i didn't realize how much of an idiot rush limbaugh was... aside from complaining that the surgeon general "doesn't even perform surgeon," and blaming nafta for exporting disease to mexico (interesting idea, but biologically plausible in this case? um, no), he claims obama is going to exploit swine flu to his advantage. so, whenever a president (that rush doesn't like) does the right thing in a natural disaster (yes i consider epidemics natural disasters), he is exploiting it, and every time a president (that rush likes) f's up completely in a natural disaster the media is exploiting it? hmmmm, maybe exploiting is actually a good word? as in, "wow the sun's out today. i'm going to exploit the weather and go for a bike ride." how would you use "exploit" with it's new meaning in a sentence, readers?

i know, rush is an easy target, but, damn, a lot of people listen to this man. i can only hope some of them laugh at his stupidity.

HOWEVER, he does bring up one good point (sorta). we need a secretary of health and human services. today is the last day to contact your senators to confirm kathleen sebelius. anti-choice activists are trying to block this confirmation. you can contact your senators through this planned parenthood site, or their websites.

Happy 100+ Posts!

2009-04-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is the week where we here at RUTHERE surpassed our 100th post! These first 100 have been both fun and challenging and at times daunting, but through the support of our fantastic readers we have enjoyed every last second of it. So thank you so much readers for making our first 100 so interesting, and here is to our next 100!

Also, if any of our readers have suggestions for things that they think should be put onto the blog, feel free to email hotpants and hotstuff at rutheregodwtf@gmail.com. Thanks again! Y'all rock!

Are you f-ing serious? Video games that simulate rape???

2009-04-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

There is a rape video game, named Rapelay, that has been on the market for some time now in Japan and was recently picked up by Amazon.com and then subsequently dropped after a backlash. The goal of this video game is to rape a mother and her two young daughters. It encourages players to force the virtual woman they rape to have an abortion. It also has a feature allowing several players to team up against individual women. I don't even know how to put into words how amazingly infuriating this is to me.

As someone who has now down a fair amount of research into the connections between media exposure and aggression (yes there is a connection) and exposure to violent sexually explicit media and aggression against women (yes people who consumer violent sexually explicit media are more aggressive to women), the fact that there is a first person video game which basically models for the consumer exactly how to go about raping someone is beyond belief. Have we really come to a point where we need to glorify rape? Is this really what we want people to be sitting in their living rooms doing?

And just for the record, the research on exposure to violent sexually explicit media and aggression against women has found no support for the idea that men get their kicks off by watching/playing and then do not enact. In fact there is support for just the opposite, where men learn how to engage in the behavior and are desensitized to the negative aspects of it, thus feel less reservation about engaging in the behavior. ACK!

Review of Rapelay

Amazon starts carrying it

Amazon stops carrying it

live simply so others can simply live

2009-04-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

happy earth day, readers.

the title "live simply so others can simply live" comes from a t-shirt that i bought in high school. there's a cute panda that goes with the slogan. i still believe it.

some of the most important resources we have are finite and to attempt to live simply is to attempt to leave some of those resources for others humans and other creatures.

on this earth day, with some environmental issues finally creeping in the right direction (e.g. epa finally allowed to report that greenhouse gases are bad for our health), i wanted to give a shout out to the individual efforts that people make to live simply. i heard a commentator on npr remark, that while recycling is often talked about, the phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" should actually be thought of in that order. as in, first attempt to reduce, then reuse and then recycle.

anyway, here are some even more personal shoutouts:

to the Js, for air drying your clothes and not eating land animals (or fishies in JS's case)
to JA, for using cloth diapers
to YA, MC and NI, for still not buying a car and SL for making me think you don't have one since i never see it
to RK, never buying more than you need
to CR, for consistently getting groups outside to remind us how great the nature we have is
....
to my parents, for somehow getting into my head that there are many things more important than material goods

... these are just off the top of my head. please add shout outs in the comments to people you know (or yourself) for doing simple, environmentally-friendly things (and maybe tell us what they are ;) ).

5 suggestions from USN
and the new recycling rules for seattle-ites

Lets knock the kids out already!

2009-04-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know how they come up with these ideas, but this may be one of the creepiest things I have run across in a long time. A doctor in Boston got paid $1.8 million dollars to create the PediSedate, a combo gaming device and sedation machine. It is meant to keep kids occupied while sedating them with nitrous. It even has a pulse-oximeter to slightly adjust the flow of gas in real time. While this is all fine and good, are you serious? The mask alone may be on the of scariest things I have ever seen. Can you imagine being a kid and having that thing strapped to your face? On top of which, why is it that video games are now the go-to thing for kids. Maybe we should be teaching them that sometimes they have to go through uncomfortable situations to take care of yourself in the long run, or for your future goals. If we are teaching kids that the only way to do things that they don't like is by distracting them, aren't we really doing them a disservice? I mean seriously, look at this thing:

Article about PediSedate

thank goodness for you, readers

2009-04-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

so i was a little delinquent in my posts this week (missed one). but, one of our faithful readers sent me a great post idea. so here goes 2 posts with one stone.

hotstuff and i love love love that y'all are reading our blog. we are super happy for the comments we get online and the ones we get in person (aka on gchat). please keep them coming. a couple months ago, there was a lull in readership, during which the hotties consoled ourselves, saying we liked just having the writing practice and having a chance to work through and rant about our ideas. but, we were just making ourselves feel better. what we like most of all is having y'all reading our stuff. hehe.

so now i introduce to you a guest blog entry from a reader who has named herself hotsauce:

I don't know if you guys take requests, but if you do I'd like to make one:

article:
Women at War Face Sexual Assault

I'm not sure why this particular article made me so angry. But it might be because I've got 2009 on my watch and women are still putting up with the same shit my mom and her contemporaries put up with in the 70s. Women are fighting on the front lines of war next to men who simultaneously judge Iraqis as "backward" while sexually assaulting their own fellow soldiers. (I mean, if a woman in uniform who carries weapons and follows orders and trained in the military and signed a contract as a soldier actually qualifies as a "soldier".) What the fuck?

Fried skin for less breast cancer?

2009-04-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

On my way to school every day I pass by a tanning salon named "Desert Sun" (for those of you in Seattle, it is at the corner of Stone Way and 45th). Recently this tanning salon decided that it was necessary to spend money on a banner that says, and I quote, "Vitamin D from UV exposure reduces the risk of breast cancer by 60%". Below is a picture of the salon and the very banner that I am talking about (sorry it is fuzzy, it is through a bus window). So seriously, WTF? First off, studies that talk about Vitamin D from UV exposure are not talking about the kind you get from a tanning bed. Second, what about the greatly increased risk of skin cancer from tanning? Or the plethora of other health risks with tanning beds, like skin fungus from shared beds? I may be wrong about this, but from my understanding, even with just a little sun exposure (like the kind you get from a five minute walk to your house from the bus) you get a lot of Vitamin D. There is no need to put yourself at increased health risks by actually going into a tanning salon and frying the hell out of your skin. Every time I pass this banner it makes my heart cringe. I mean seriously people, WTF?

You lost! Suck it up!

2009-04-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Sentatorial race in Minnesota has been a mess since the night of the election. It was too close to call and there have now been multiple recounts and judge rulings. Finally, on Tuesday after yet another recount, a three judge panel was created to declare a victor. Thus, it was announced that Al Franken (Democrat) had won. But was that the end of it? Of course not! Norm Coleman, the Republican running against Franken, has proclaimed that he again is going to appeal the decision, citing that 4,000 absentee ballets have not been counted. And yes I recognize that all votes should be counted and every voice heard, but seriously, what month are we in? At this rate they are never going to have a Senator.

Additionally, the win has to be certified by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican. Gov. Pawlenty of course has stated that he will not certify anything until all of it is out of the legal system. Which could take at least a couple weeks, if not months. So where does that leave us? The recount led to more votes for Franken, the judges have multiple times ruled that Franken is the winner, and the loser, Coleman, with the help of his buddy Pawlenty, is just dragging his feet and depriving his state of a Sentator. I mean seriously Coleman, maybe it is time to bow out gracefully and let the state's interest come before your own!

Franken has the most votes

Another article on this debacle

why aren't my taxes going to healthcare, of the universal variety

2009-04-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

ok 3 things
1. i'm doing my taxes (you know what those are, i don't have to explain)

2. i just saw sicko, the michael moore movie last night. i loved it (much more than i thought i would)
film trailer on film website

3. i broke my elbow on halloween last fall and am just now getting the round up of medical bills, post insurance assessment... a $13,000 surgery that i have to pay 10% of...
blog post about break with cool xray

why aren't my taxes going towards universal health care? it was heartbreaking for me to watch people from other countries explain to michael moore that they pay nothing for health care procedures. i already knew this, but watching those interviews just made me wish america would grow up already. i would gladly pay the thousand dollars that i'm sending the hospital this year to the gov't instead, if it meant that everyone of us could show up at a hospital without fear of what it was going to cost. i know i'm not alone, but i hope our current administration will fight (and beat) the cowboys, who think everyone should go at it alone, and the free marketeers on this essential issue.

Thank God for good friends and fun rituals!

2009-04-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Just like our wonderful president, a whole group of friends got together last night and celebrate the Seder together. This involved copious amounts of wine, whipping each other with green onions, and lovely roasted beef and lamb (on top of many other very tasty foods). So I just wanted to thank God for giving us many good reasons to get friends together to celebrate a good meal and each others company (and of course the freeing of the Jews)!

Wikipedia article on Seder

Article about Obama's Seder

And for those of you who missed the link to this in the comments of an earlier post:
Robot Seder

subject: this recession kinda sucks right

2009-04-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

to: hotpants's dad (an economic expert)
from: hotpants
date:Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 9:43 AM
subject: this recession kinda sucks right

...the coffee shop i'm working at is filled with only men between late 20s and early 40s. 6 mo ago it would have been mostly moms and their little ones at this hour. there is at least one employed cop. (1 out of 9) they could be "working from home" or this could be an anomaly, but given that at the clinic last night there were at least 3 men who came in who used to have insurance, but don't anymore b/c of being laid off, i'd guess that recession has something to do with this.

-hotpants

(hotpants inserted comment: i thought at 1st i wouldn't blog about this b/c it assumes a bit about the sexes and other things, but my dad talked to me into it...)

to: hotpants
from: hotpants's dad
date: Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 10:09 AM
subject: this recession kinda sucks right

... it would be very good for you to blog something that suggests males are people worthy of the sympathy of all. (hp inserted comment: hey i did just talk about the detroit workers, many of which are male.) Indeed, all you have to do is report what you reported to me. I try very hard to use concrete observation in my classrooms. And, you don't have to give a complete sociological analysis on the biases of your observations either.

I just did a mental calculation about plausible rates of recovery and the fastest rates of recovery would get us close to full employment in 2 1/2 years if recovery started now. Which it hasn't.

(hotpants' comment post-emails: crap that sucks! stay in school if you can!)

mmmmmmmm sodium chloride.....

2009-04-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

In a recent article in the NYT (and you wonder where we get all of our nifty ideas) I was alerted to the fact that the mayor of NYC (you may know him as Michael Bloomberg) announced that NYC is going to try to pressure the food industry and restaurant chains to cut their use of salt in half over the next decade. While this may seem all in good fun and with health promotion in mind, what the article so astutely points out is that for decades now it has been hypothesized that salt is bad for your health, and yet there has been no definitive answer on this matter.

It even appears that while a reduction in salt intake may be good for some people, like those with high blood pressure, there has been no research indicating that in the general population a reduction in salt actually does anything good, and may in some cases actually be harmful(like in the cited study where heart patients that were randomized to a low sodium diet were more likely to be rehospitalized and die). As Michael Alderman, an expert in hypertension at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, put it, “We have no way of knowing the health effects of eating less salt, yet we’re supposed to forge ahead with this new policy that affects the whole population.”

So really dear, fantastic blog readers, when will all of this sensational idiocy end? Do we really need to outlaw transfats and make policies about the amount of salt in our food? Or should we consider, just for a second, promoting eating in moderation?

NYT Article

did GM really miss the boat that badly?

2009-04-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

detroit is an easy target these days, but having finally seen "who killed the electric car?," i'd like to throw a few at that big bull's eye.

i enjoyed this movie. i mean who doesn't love hearing president bartlett (aka martin sheen, the narrator) talking sense again. i only had 2 complaints, 1. i thought the effort to be a little bit balanced was a little too lopsided. (in a direction that i agreed w/, but still...) i think it would have been better if they let their biases be known even more clearly. 2. i would have liked to hear more about the other electric cars' stories, not just the GM. buuut... they had a neat little package of a story for the GM EV and a cute redheaded spokesperson to tell some of it. so i can see why they chose it. readers, what did you think of the film?

ok, enough with the movie reviewing, hotpants! here's the nitty gritty that i got from the film, for those that don't know. the lovely golden state demanded that 10% of vehicles be zero emissions for car companies to be able to sell in their state (a board called CARB did this). yay! for them. electric cars were produced and a lot of people liked them (at least the GM EV). There were wait lists. However, they were not mass-produced for a variety of reasons, and some conspiracy theories (that i might believe...). then cali revoked the policy (at least in part) and the cars were destroyed. every one of the GM EV's was leased, so they recalled them and crushed them. arg!!!! now there are wait lists for hybrid toyatas instead.

i heard two things on the radio relevant to detroit today. one was that jay leno is giving a free concert to several thousand people who had been laid off there recently. the other was a commentator predicting that the prolonged recession will bring "smaller cars and fuller lives." well here's hoping that for laughs, smaller cars and fuller lives for the people in detroit that no longer have jobs thanks, in part, to their bosses' short-sightedness.

the film's website (it's really good and very informative)

GM's response to the movie

Is this really where the wild things are?

2009-04-06T23:29:00.001-07:00

It recently came to my attention that one of my all time top ten favorite childhood books, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, is being made into a full length feature film. Not only is it being made into a feature film, but it is also going to be a live action feature film. While I totally love and adore both the director, Spike Jonze, and the screenplay adaptor, Dave Eggers, I have to say that I am a bit sad to see a book that is vividly visualized in my head and via the beautiful illustrations in the book itself being made into a full length live action film. First, because if I go and see the film, which most likely I will, I will now have the images that I have so carefully crafted in my head, replaced with images that are no longer mine but have been purposefully decided by someone else. Additionally, I will now potentially see the actors faces as the characters instead of how I imagined them.

Second, Where the Wild Things Are is a very succinct book with a very specific time frame allotted for the story. To make this short illustrated story into a feature film there will need to be some elaboration as to the background of the characters and the story itself. Is this really what we want? Do we really need to know any more about the characters then what Maurice Sendak decided was needed in the original story? Granted there is potential that this will be done with lots of care and skill, but there is a reason that Maurice Sendak chose to make the story as it is and why it is so successful. Should that really be messed with?

Finally, I have to say that generally I am just kinda sad about all of these great kids books being made into films as of late. I really feel that this takes away some of the creativity and joy from reading these books both as a child and and adult, and really if we are offering children the fancy new sparkly version where they don't actually have to pick up a book and can still get the story, then can we really complain that kids aren't reading as much these days?

IMDB for Where the Wild Things Are

iowa i love ya, iowa iowa i love ya

2009-04-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

seven years ago i spent several hot summer weeks in iowa, measuring corn. i'm not kidding. my brother helped me out too and got a killer sunburn (and chunk of cash). i didn't have great thoughts about iowa then. i preferred to be seattle, despite iowa's beautiful rolling hills. at the time, i was naive enough to think of iowa as clearly too convervative for me to spend time in...

but, what what! this week they proved me wrong. yay!

nyt article about iowa's triumph

Organic Gardening at The White House

2009-04-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

I am sure at this point many of you have seen the lovely pictures of the always beautiful Michelle Obama in the new organic garden at The White House. You may at this point be asking yourself, what the heck could hotstuff take issue with an organic garden that little kids get to tend to and some of the food will go to a homeless shelter. And I would say that is a fair question, but then I want you to ask yourself, what exactly are they trying to do with this organic garden? Are they trying to influence the way that people think about food and growing food? Are they jumping onto the idea that the world would be a better place if all of us had our own gardens and made our own food supply while not hurting the environment?

There has been a recent push it seems towards organic gardening as an ideal way to help out our environment, our waistbands, and potentially our wallets, but do any of you know how time consuming it is to take care of an organic garden? let alone deal with pests and fertilizing an organic garden? Is this actually a feasible reality for the majority of people in our country who are working overtime just to keep their electricity on? Is gardening, dare I say it, an option only for the elitist few with the money, time, and land to do it? And with that in mind, should our president really be presenting this as an ideal? Please, I am grappling with this question, and would love to hear what you, our wonderful readers, think about it!

NYT Article on the Garden

wtf! why did it take so long for this doc to get a nobel prize?

2009-04-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

dr. victoria lazoff has been a tireless proponent of women's health and yet the sexist nobel prize committee has totally ignored her influential work. if she wasn't white, i'd say they were racist too.

article about the good doc and her award winning work

Bitch Please....

2009-03-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the radio the other day (holla Movin' 92.5) and I couldn't help but notice that they bleeped out the word "manwhore" from the song "The Way You Move" by Outkast. And thus the following rant ensued in my head....WTF? You can say bitch on the radio as much as you like, but you can't say manwhore???? really???? Not only does this contradiction constantly annoy to me, but it is so blatantly sexist that I can barely stand it.

So dear wonderful blog readers, is it really fair that you can demean women left and right on the radio, but say one bad word about men and it gets bleeped????