Popping my 2009 wordpress cherry

Until about a year ago, I was never into politics. Barely an adult, I had kept up with them just enough via the Internet to make an informed vote in local and state elections. While true I was relatively more educated about these matters than most of my peers, I still wouldn’t have been able to hold my own in a sustained conversation or debate on important political matters.

But things have changed. I have changed. And our 44th President was huge part of that change.

2007 and 2008 were rough years for me, personally. Financial strife. Educational disappointments. A bad relationship. It was during this time I started paying more attention to the news, to remind myself that there were greater things out there.

Early 2008, I came across the writings of Andrew Sullivan while writing an argumentative paper in favor of same-sex marriage. Clear, logical, intellectual yet concise, his writing style fascinated me. I subscribed to his blog. From there I read his essay, Why Obama Matters.

Registered a Democrat from previous elections, I had been eyeing Clinton and Obama as the forerunners in the democratic primary race. After reading Sullivan’s article, I had no reservations. I saw the organizational skills Obama was utilizing on the Internet and was thoroughly impressed. I cast my primary vote with no doubt in my mind.

I cast my presidential vote months later with the same confidence.

The hype is justified. Repeat. The hype is justified. Put it into the perspective that the 60s were not so long ago. It is a testament to the fluidity of American values forward, and it is this fluidity which makes my cynical soul truly proud to be a citizen of this country.

I believe that we will get through this recession and the bailout money eventually repaid. I believe that the international integrity of our country, despite all the scandal, can be rebuilt. I believe that my decision to study public administration and economics with the hopes of aiding in the reformation of America’s health care system is the right one. I believe that the pragmatism and optimism that Barack Obama brings to the table is exactly what we need right now:

“The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.”

Auto Industry Bail Out Ad

I hate to just keep stealing stuff from The Daily Dish, but it’s so good.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

The idea of “I get depressed and like to sit around on the couch and eat, so I have this thing called seasonal affective disorder.” No, it’s called winter, okay asshole? And we all get it, and that’s why we invented hockey and football. Okay? So you could sit on the couch and eat Cheetos for four months, or you can go outside.

-Denis Leary

A Real Hobbit House

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

Nifty.  I want to live there.

Gandhi was right.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”  Literally.

What I learned today.

In an effort to revive my dying blog, I’m going to be updating this with a segment I call:  “What I learned today.”

It’s function is two-fold:  To give my blog content for once and to see what I really do learn over the course of a month.

I learned that there’s a World Toilet Organization that hosts a World Toilet Summit. http://www.worldtoilet.org/ourwork5.asp?no=1

Four year olds are easily impressionable.  “Repeat after me.  The Holocaust never happened.”  Yeah… I keep questionable company.

Dinosaurs were in the civil war.  http://io9.com/5084491/the-alternate-history-theme-park-where-dinosaurs-fought-the-civil-war

[edit: Man, this concept was shortlived.  I suck.]

Contemplating Bra Names

Today I bought a couple bras, one at Aerie and the other at Kohls.  I find it very bizarre that they are assigning names to styles of bras now.   I don’t mean normal style names like “Midnight Magic” or something like that, but actual human female names.  Today I bought “Katie” at Aerie and “Haylie” at Kohls (Candie’s brand).

Aerie was giving out $5 coupons to anyone who tried on a bra, so I humored the salesgirl as she explained to another customer and me the different bras– “Katie,” “Paige,” and “Sasha.”  (The one with the hooker name was the deep-plunge push-up, of course.)  As she was talking, using words like “dramatic” to describe the styles, I couldn’t help but imagine an animated series with characters consisting solely of anthropomorphic bras.

I actually own two “Katies” now and one of them is black.

Grammar Nazi Alert! “They” versus “he or she” as a singular article.

http://blog.oup.com/2008/10/anatolyliberman-plurals/ :

In the first edition of Random House Unabridged Dictionary (1966), the entry they occupies eight lines and is trivial. In the second edition (1993), a long section on usage was added, which I will reproduce in full: “Long before the use of generic he was condemned as sexist, the pronouns they, their, and them were used in educated speech and in all but the most formal writing to refer to indefinite pronouns and to single nouns of general personal reference, probably because such nouns are not felt to be exclusively singular: If anyone calls, tell them I’ll be back at six. Everybody began looking at their books at once. Such use is not a recent development, nor is it a mark of ignorance. Shakespeare, Swift, Shelley, Scott, and Dickens, as well as many other English and American writers, have used they and its forms to refer to singular antecedents. Already widespread in the language (though still rejected as ungrammatical by some), this use of they, their, and them is increasing in all but the most conservatively edited American English. This increased use is partly impelled by the desire to avoid the sexist implications of he as a pronoun of general reference.”

The author then proceeds to rip these progressive dictionary fellows a new one.  Archaic thinking?  Or pragmatist against grammar anarchy?

Too soon?

Sites that theoretically have boomed in 2008.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/17/youporn-were-coming-up-behind-you/

Funfact:  Many of Bush’s rebate checks contributed to the spike in the business of online porn sites.  Turns out the economy wasn’t the only thing Bush was stimulating. har har.