I'm All For This!

Playing Dirty in the War on Plagiarism

We should have dirty little papers for the high school level curriculum so we can bait the teenager plagiarists as well.

*august23 does her evil teacher laugh*

This is scary.

Toxic Flame Retardant Found in Breast Milk

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several American mothers nursing their infants had high levels of potentially toxic flame retardant chemicals in their breastmilk, a U.S. environmental group said on Tuesday."

"The chemicals are bromine-based fire retardants and are used in a wide range of products including furniture, computers, television sets, automobiles, copy machines and hair dryers to make them less likely to catch fire. They can build up in the body over years."

via Yahoo! News.

Now I Understand

When I first saw "Bram Stoker's Dracula" by Francis Ford Coppola, I actually thought it was slightly boring. It wasn't horrific as I hoped it would be. I read the book back in junior high, which means I forgot a whole bunch of stuff when I actually saw the movie. Post-viewing, I read the book over, and my feeling was, "Ugh... the movie was way off." No wonder I was bored.

I know that Hollywood always distorts things to make them more interesting for their audience, but a decent bloodfest would have been just as good rather than promoting the idea that vampirism, especially in Dracula, is erotic; there was nothing erotic in that book. You want erotic? Read Anne Rice.

I wanted to see a movie that depicted Dracula in his horrific nature, as the book intended. But if I can't get a decent movie, maybe I'll get to read a decent comic. Thank the heavens for comics!

While surfing, I came upon this: Poppy Z. Brite's LiveJournal. I find it definitely cool that a popular writer like her has time to write in a personal livejournal.

Ever watch The Actor's Studio? A bunch of acting students get to sit and talk to a famous actor and ask him/her about their acting experiences and methodologies and practices. As someone who likes to read and write, reading a weblog or livejournal from a known author is like The Actor's Studio for me. I get to see what they write about, and actually look at their writing style-- all the way to the grammar and punctuation and semantics. Not that I am dissecting their words and meaning, but seeing it all together is like seeing a work of art. Break it down and see if I can learn anything new, too.

I wonder if Anne Rice has a blog or livejournal?

Remembering

Yesterday, while watching TV, I came upon a newshow that replayed footage of commemoration ceremonies of September 11th. It still shocks me to this day when I see old footage of that fateful day... of planes crashing, of people falling, and of towers burning and crumbling. I still cry when I think about it too much. And even seeing just commemoration ceremonies was too much. I sat in my living room and started crying all over again.

I still ask, "How can someone do this to my country? How can someone's blind faith see death and murder as a good thing?" I never felt so much hate, anger, and pain in one day.

It is still hard to even express my emotions. It has been two years since that day, but not a day goes by when I don't think about the world we live in now. I love my country even more for pulling together, for finding strength with their fellow Americans, and I know that we'll get through this together.

That which doesn't kill our American spirit will only make the American dream that much stronger.

I was reading the Japan Times, and I found a small article regarding Barbie dolls. Here's a snippet:

"RIYADH (AP) Saudi Arabia's religious police have declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality, complaining the revealing clothes of the "Jewish" toy--banned in the kingdom--are offensive to Islam."

The tiny article continues, explaining that the Saudi Religious Police have a website (in Arabic), and one poster said this:

"Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures... are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers."

Since I couldn't find the link in the Japan Times website, I did a search and found a similar article.

Fat People and Their Fat Pets

"In tests where animals were allowed to eat whenever they wanted, cats ate smaller meals, more often, than dogs. Cats ate 12 to 20 meals, spread out through day and night, while dogs ate seven or eight times, mostly in daytime."

When my family first got a dog, we read that feeding it twice a day was enough. This is a shame.

via Yahoo! News.

Obesity Is A Choice

"NEW YORK - For a second time this year, a federal judge threw out a class-action lawsuit Thursday that blamed McDonald's for making people fat."

When I read this, all I can think of is how stupid people are for even coming up with this lawsuit--and for the second time! The issue is not that "McDonald's food causes health problems in children" or McDonald's violation of "consumer protection laws and engaged in deceptive advertising," it's about the lack of common sense that people have that they have to ask a court to help protect them from unhealthy fast-food. Just because there are packs of cigarettes in stores doesn't mean you have to buy them.

"In his earlier ruling, Sweet [the ruling judge] said consumers cannot blame McDonald's if they choose to eat there. 'If a person knows or should know that eating copious orders of supersized McDonald's products is unhealthy and may result in weight gain ... it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses,' Sweet wrote at the time."

Good ruling! If you don't want to get fat, just don't eat there! If you don't eat there, you will never have to complain about unhealthy fast-food. If you don't complain about unhealthy fast-food, taxpayers would never have to pay for frivilous lawsuits to help other stupid consumers.

Practice common sense, people!

via Yahoo! News.