Hillary Sings the National Athem

Okay, she is patriotic, but…

She can’t carry a tune!

maryt

Spewing Hate Bill O’Reilly Style

Via Orcinus:

Dave writes on Bill O’Reilly, hatemonger
Monday July 30, 2007

Recently Bill O’Reilly has gone off the rails spewing hatred about what he calls “hate” groups, particularly Daily Kos. Dave says that today he will destroy “Kos.” Quoting Dave:

From the Southern Poverty Law Center’s guide to hate groups in America:

All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.

What distinguishes hate groups from ordinary, mainstream groups who may attract fringe actors is that their entire rationale for existence is predicated around the demonization of entire classes of people living in America. When you visit a real hate site, it isn’t hard to find fairly naked expressions of hatred and bigotry.

Hate groups aren’t simply about defending a particular interest group (in most instances, “white” culture) — they’re about tearing down, demonizing, and oppressing targeted minority groups. The insistence on the inferiority of “out” groups is also a standard feature, as well as a fetish about the supposed ill effects of those groups on “decent” (read: white) society.

O’Reilly really should go to any number of genuine “hate” sites — say, Stormfront, where his reportage is often cited, or David Duke’s site, or any of the voluminous Klan sites, or something from the skinheads or National Socialist Movement — to get the flavor for this. Certainly he’s cited their existence in comparing them to DailyKos, but there’s no evidence that he actually understands the kind of material that’s posted at those places.

Watch the YouTube video of Bill on Daily Kos.

maryt

Non-violence sculpture

non violence

PARDAL

Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd sculpture “Non Violence” 1985 Malmö

When the artist learned that his friend, John Lennon, had been murdered, he became so upset and angry over this senseless death and the many other outbursts of unnecessary violence that he went to his studio and started working on the “non-violence” project. “My first sketches in three dimensions were rather rough and simple, but the important thing was that the idea of the knotted barrel was with me from the very start,” he said.

Much later he wrote that humor was the finest instrument to bring people together. While making his peace symbol, he thought of adding a touch of humor to make his “weapon” symbolically ridiculous and completely out of order.
There´s a replica of this sculpture at the United Nations headquarters in New York .That was a gift from the Government of Luxembourg in 1988.

via TrekEarth

 

maryt

 

Tap water’s best

You know I’ve been drinking tap water for so long that when I go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant I insist they bring me tap water instead of bottled water of any kind. First I have to tell you I live in New York City which has the best tap water IN THE NATION bar none.

Now I hear on ABCNews and read in Reuters that Pepsico is going to label it’s bottled water, Aquafina, as tap water. Imagine that!

Pepsico will put on Aquafina’s labels “from Public Water Source.” Of course who knows what public water source…but when I have drunk Aquafina water rarely in the past it has tasted fine.

As a matter of fact I have right now Aquafina bottles as well as Poland Spring bottles and a few others in my fridge filled with good ol’ NYC tap water as we speak, or as you read.

Coca-Cola Co’s Dasani  is made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs, as well.

Well, I’m glad all this has come out…there are a lot of snobby people who eschew tap water  and choose to drink bottled water only. All I can say is Hah!  

Read The GreenGuide about problems with bottled water.

maryt

Gratitude makes us happier?

Via Alternet:

Will Saying Thanks Make Us Happier?

By Catherine Price, Greater Good. Posted July 24, 2007.

New research suggests gratitude is a key to health and happiness.

Reprinted from Greater Good, Vol. IV, Issue 1 (Summer 2007), pp. 16-19. For more information, please visit Greater Good Magazine.

According to the article:

First, positive psychologists claim you can create your own happiness. Conventional wisdom has long held that each of us is simply born with a happiness “set point” (meaning that some people are constitutionally more likely to be happy than others). That’s partially true-but according to positive psychologists Sonja Lyubomirsky and Ken Sheldon, research now suggests that up to 40 percent of our happiness might stem from intentional activities in which we choose to engage.Second, in trying to explain which activities might actually help us cultivate happiness, positive psychology keeps returning to the same concept: gratitude. In study after study, researchers have found that if people actively try to become more grateful in their everyday lives, they’re likely to become happier — and healthier — as well.

read rest of the article here.

maryt

Afghan widow as prostitute

Afghanistan has more than 2 million widows, and these and other desperately poor women often turn to prostitution, despite the risk of being killed by their families if they are discovered. So they remain in the shadows, beneath a double veil of tradition and shame. This woman’s husband is too old to work. She sold her daughter into marriage before the girl was 10, and now she sells herself.

maryt

Wordless Wednesday

Summertime On The East River – 1921. NSAPMI1

Scene at one of the docks of the East River, New York, where those for whom the journey to the beaches is too long or too expensive forget the sweltering heat of August in the cool waters.

via New York Times Store 

maryt

Dirty Dancing – the Video Game

Now I’ve heard it all…Dirty Dancing the Video Game.

Here’s the blurb on the web site:

Work alongside the team at the Kellerman’s resort, play through a fantastic variety of fun mini-games and earn camp dollars to purchase Dirty Dancing® memorabilia, cabin furnishings, and the all-important dance lessons with Johnny and Penny. How will you fare in the end of season dance contest?

Well I have watched the movie a million times (it is the most romantic movie I’ve ever seen in my life). Maybe I’ll take to the game? Although the only other video game I’ve played is Happy Feet. Ha!

maryt

Christiantown, U.S.A.

So what’s going on in a planned community called Ave Maria, Florida? Check out the video below:

The town is already built and open this summer 2007. Here are a few photos:

maryt

 

 

The Rats Are Winning

MUMBAI, India, July 19 — Behram Harda was a dancer in the Bollywood films of the 1970s, gracing the screen with his twist and his cha-cha.

Then he became a rodent assassin.

Behrem Harda keeps track of how many rats he’s killed in a colorful log book. He believes he’s losing the fight.

Mr. Harda is the last of the great Mumbai rat catchers. His is a dying breed in a city whose dreams of being rat-free recede year by year.

Read the rest of the NYTimes article.

In New York City there’s a struggle with rats everyday. But most people don’t see them. There are anywhere from 1 to 12 rats per person. Here are some quotes about numbers:

“No one knows how many rats live in the city. Some citizens have lamented that there have to be at least eight or nine rats per person. A more common conclusion is one rat per human. City health officials say these are all guesses. “We don’t do rat tail counts,”a Health Department spokeswoman said.”

“There is currently an ongoing ‘Rat Summit’ in NYC to discuss our 12:1 ratio of rats to human in NYC.

“Some estimates tell us that there are as many as six rats for every one New Yorker. If that is accurate (and nobody really knows), that means there are close to 44 million rats in New York City.”

Photos: Christie Johnston for The International Herald Tribune
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The truth is nobody knows how many rats there are in New York City. But am I right in assuming they are under control? Would love to hear about it in the comments.

maryt