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« Ummm... Other?: April 2007 | Main | Ummm... Other?: June 2007 »

Ummm... Other?

Like Rain On My Wedding Day

100 words every HS grad should know

I do better with the second half of the alphabet, it would seem.


By min | May 31, 2007, 3:13 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (3)| Link



This bastard got me sick

Link:

A man with a form of tuberculosis so dangerous he is under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963 told a newspaper he took one trans-Atlantic flight for his wedding and honeymoon and another because he feared for his life.
...

The man told the Journal-Constitution he was in Rome during his honeymoon when the CDC told him to turn himself in to Italian authorities to be isolated and be treated. The CDC told him he couldn't fly aboard commercial airliners.

"I thought to myself: You're nuts. I wasn't going to do that. They told me I had been put on the no-fly list and my passport was flagged," the man said.

He told the paper he and his wife decided to sneak back into the U.S. via Canada. He said he voluntarily went to a New York hospital, then was flown by the CDC to Atlanta.

He is not facing prosecution, health officials said.

"I'm a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person," he told the paper. "This is insane to me that I have an armed guard outside my door when I've cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing."

"What do i care if i put all those other people on the flight at risk of getting TB? Fuck them, at least i got home. I'm a very well-educated idiot."

I had TB last Friday. I'm sure it was this guy's fault. I got better due to my incredible stamina, but others might not be so strong.


By fnord12 | May 30, 2007, 10:52 AM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1)| Link



First Came the McJob....

Then the McMansion (thanks to nsxt290 for the link). I wonder if McDonald's will sue the Oxford English Dictionary over this one, too. Or they might go straight to the petition to falsify the definition. I wonder what other words we can change the definition of.

One in five American houses had at least four bedrooms in 2005. That's up from one in six in 1990, despite shrinking families and increasing costs for construction and energy.

Houses with five or more bedrooms were the fastest-growing type in that time, adding to the nation's consumption of resources and reputation for excess.

...

Evan and Valerie Astle are having a 5,700 square-foot house built in a new subdivision near Ogden because they want more space for their three teenagers. They have been renting a storage unit while living in their old, 2,100-square foot home.

That won't be a problem in the new house, which has four big bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms and a three-car garage.

"Our kids have more stuff. They need more living space," said Valerie Astle, a grade-school teacher.

...

In much of the country, the growth in big houses is fueled by suburban homebuyers seeking luxury, rather than big families needing space, Ahluwalia said.

"They are buying for lifestyle," he said.

Nationally, the average household size has shrunk slightly since 1990, to about 2.6 people. Meanwhile, the average new house grew by nearly 400 square feet, to 2,434 square feet.

"You cannot sell a new home today with 1 1/2 bathrooms," Ahluwalia said. "Even if only two people are in house, they still want 2 1/2 to three bathrooms."

...

Most big homes in the U.S. are going up in the suburbs, contributing to sprawl and congestion, said Vicky Markham, director of the Center for Environment and Population.
...

All those big suburban houses require more land, more materials to build and more energy to heat and cool, Markham said

"Excess is a matter of how each person views their own life," Markham said. But, she added, "Each person today is taking up more resources, more land, more energy than generations before."

This is just really sad. They are renting storage space because they have no room for their things. Hey, lady, here's a tip. Quit getting your kids so much stuff. If you can put it away in storage and it's not seasonal stuff (e.g. lawn equipment), you prolly didn't really need it in the first place. Sell it. Give it away. Don't buy it in the first place.

We have lots of stuff. I'm the first to admit it. But it's all stuff we're using. Musical equipment, comic books, regular books, and music. Well, ok. We're not really using those cds anymore now that they invented mp3s and iPods. I'm afraid to get rid of the cds in case we somehow lose the mp3s. Some of them also have sentimental value to me. Ofc, now with the CD fascists out there, we prolly wouldn't be able to sell our cds now anyway. But, for the most part, we're not collecting stuff just to have stuff that's new and big and shiny. We collect stuff that we need, want, and use. That's bad enough. But at least it's not in storage. Damn consumerism.


By min | May 29, 2007, 3:45 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (8)| Link



Must Love Hello Kitty

I can't decide if i want one or not.....

But it still REWLS!


By min | May 23, 2007, 3:41 PM | Science & Ummm... Other? | Comments (1)| Link



They Needed To Use A Winch

An obese American tourist who fell ill on a cruise ship had to be carried off by helicopter.

The man, who weighs 32 stone (203kg), was on board a luxury five star cruise ship anchored in the Firth of Forth when he suffered gastric problems.

...

After winching the sick man from the Century Cruise Liner, run by Celebrity Cruises, it flew him to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where fire crews were on standby to transfer him into the building shortly after 0600 BST on Saturday.

Link

The guy received emergency surgery and is recovering.

FYI, 32 stone is about 448lbs. In an earlier incarnation of this article, they said that the usual procedure is to get the person onto another boat, but they assessed the situation and deemed it would be impossible to expect him to climb down the side of the ship. I wonder how far a climb that would be. I would imagine it would be difficult for someone who is ill or injured to make the climb down even if they didn't weigh 32 stone.

And, ofc, it had to be an american.

For those who aren't sure, this is a winch. I'm sure you've seen them lots of times in movies and videogames. They're constantly getting jammed or burning out in these genres. You might also see them on trucks for towing.


By min | May 22, 2007, 12:33 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link



Nudists Seek Younger Recruits

Thank goodness for outside sources otherwise i'd never post anything. From slyn:

Here's the naked truth about nude recreation: The people who practice it aren't getting any younger.

To draw 20- and 30-somethings, nudist groups and camps are trying everything from deep discounts on membership fees to a young ambassador program that encourages college and graduate students to talk to their peers about having fun in the buff.

...

No one is quite sure why nudity, at least the organized version promoted by the AANR and similar groups, is such a tough sell for younger people.

"I think people think that we're all hippies," said Laura Groezinger, 22, of Billerica, Mass., who grew up visiting Solair with her family. "Other people, I don't know the right way to say this, but they think it's more sexual, kind of. They don't understand just the being free with your body and being comfortable."

...

"I hope to get the word out to younger people that hey, it is OK, and here's a safe place to be, a very accepting place," Maguire said. "Unlike any other place in life, people actually look at you when they talk to you."

They're talking to you. So, all you under-40s out there, go and be free with your body....and stuff. Just not in my house.


By min | May 15, 2007, 2:46 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link



I don't remember reading about this one in Edith Hamilton

Priapus, the god of the well-endowed.

(Scroll down to 'Priapus in popular culture' and you'll see how i came to know about him).


By fnord12 | May 15, 2007, 1:54 PM | Comics & Ummm... Other? | Comments (2)| Link



Stop motion fight

This fight, filmed in stop-motion video, is pretty cool (via Mike).


By fnord12 | May 14, 2007, 11:02 AM | Ummm... Other? | Link



Typical Magic Girl - now with exploding panties

Link:

In Atarashi Games' Panty Explosion ($20) players take on the roles of psychic Japanese schoolgirls and battle nightmarish demons, ghosts, government agents and even each other. Like the typical "magical girl" manga or anime, Panty Explosion mixes the mundane and the macabre, the petty trials and tribulations of high school life and the life or death struggle against supernatural monsters.

By fnord12 | May 11, 2007, 9:58 AM | Ummm... Other? & Video Games | Link



The Stupid Giving Vegans A Bad Name

A couple in Georgia have been convicted of starving their baby to death. They claim to be vegans, feeding the baby soy milk and apple juice.

The infant was born in the bathtub of a Buckhead apartment but never taken to a doctor while alive. He was dead when his parents took him to Piedmont Hospital, across the street from their apartment, April 25, 2004. At six weeks old he weighed just 3 1/2 pounds and was so emaciated, doctors could count his bones through his skin.

Fulton prosecutor Chuck Boring said the verdict isn't a condemnation of veganism, a strict form of vegetarianism that doesn't allow the consumption or use of animal products. Instead, jurors believed prosecutors' assertions that the couple intentionally neglected and underfed the child and then tried to use the lifestyle as a shield.

Despite the prosecutor saying it's not a condemnation of veganism, it's what most people will remember. I'm sure the Sally Fallon brigade will be out in full force twisting the facts to make it sound like soy was the real killer. Surely, it is better to feed babies unpasteurized milk with ground up beef liver in it.

Unfortunately, the fact that these people had to be idiots to think soy milk and apple juice would be sufficient and therefore had no right to reproduce really won't play as much of a role in people's memories. The soy milk containers clearly stated it was no substitute for formula. And when your baby is so emaciated, you can see its bones, you don't have to be a genius to know something's not right.

The mothers of this couple were at the trial and cried when they heard the verdict. Nice of them to show up. Where were they when their kids were busy starving their grandchild?

At least the jurors got to hear from a nutritionist who wrote a book about raising kids on a vegan diet. That leaves a tiny bit of hope that at least those 12 people will blame the parents and not veganism. *sigh*


By min | May 4, 2007, 12:49 PM | Ummm... Other? | Link



Ferret lust is perfectly natural

"There is something deranged about you... The excessive concern you have for ferrets is something you should examine with a therapist... There is something really, really very sad about you... This excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness...You should go consult a psychologist... Your compulsion about - your excessive concern with it is a sign that there is something wrong in your personality...You have a sickness, and I know it's hard for you to accept that...You need help." - Rudolph Giuliani


By fnord12 | May 2, 2007, 11:27 AM | Liberal Outrage & Ummm... Other? | Comments (1)| Link



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