in case you missed it: The House of Commons voted to extend marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples throughout Canada.

'When the Senate approves the measure, considered a formality, Canada will become the third national government, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to enact such rights.'

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i bet i can make a whole blog based on the virginian-pilot poll question of the day. always seems to be a topic that hits me somehow. today's question:

Should teachers give students a zero score if they don't turn in an assignment?

86.77% (of 1965) voted yes. it appears that some area teachers are not giving zeros for work not turned in. instead they are giving a 50 or a 60 as a grade.

the argument is that a zero for an assignment can have devastating effects on a student's final grade. one school board official offered this example:

Consider trying to find the average temperature over five days and recording 85, 82, 83 and 86, then forgetting a day and recording 0. The average temperature would be 67 , a figure that does not accurately show the weather from that week.

If those temperatures were grades, a student would fail after consistently earning B's and C's.

i see the point. but if the student turned in the work that was assigned to them, there wouldn't be a problem. the teacher can encourage and count late work. that is plenty of an opportunity for the student. if they still do not turn in the assignment, then the grade received is on them.

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they get one chance: Fireworks Likely When NASA Blows Up Comet.

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more in local poll news. the virginian-pilot's poll for today asks

Do you think the war in Iraq has made America safer?

67.14% (of 2632 votes) say no. i think a lot of it has to do with the definition of safe. in what respect? that is a broad question. take, for instance, the leading story in today's pilot: Homicides begin 'typical summer:'

An unidentified man was found suffering head trauma in Indian River .... In the weeks that followed, 13 more people died violent deaths in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach, bringing the total in South Hampton Roads to at least 17 this month.

if anyone cares, i also voted 'no.'

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but i have had the cramps from you-know-where these last two days.

update 06/29: make that four days.

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what??

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and mondays sundays bring me down.*

yep, that kind of day. watched movies pretty much all day. i had never seen forget paris until today. it's cute.

i guess this kind of day is nice after the ten miles i walked yesterday.**

oh, and i am having trouble with a new dvd burner i just got. anyone know what a capture driver is?

* title taken from the carpenters. [let's keep the fact that this is in my head between us].

** i have no idea of the actual distance, but it was hours.

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let's hope no funerals. i have two weddings coming up.

congrats to sharon and chris [july] and to beth and rob [august].

i love those guys.

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the local paper, or the website rather, has a poll up.

Should the U.S. Constitution be amended to ban desecration of the American flag?

75.18% [of 3,795 voters] say no.

an AP survey found 35 senators on record as opposing the amendment - one more than the number needed to defeat it if all 100 senators vote, barring a change in position. and hillary is against it, too.

jeez, just let us do what we want. i thought it was a free country.

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but i'm posting it in case lindsay is missing them.

[quiz] What's Your Summer Love Style?: Your Summer Love Type is Go With the Flow

not even going to bother to post the description.

Labels: quiz

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don't eat there first. three men were arrested for robbing a McDonald's last year.

The men entered the restaurant late, just before closing, George said. They ordered food and ate while waiting for the restaurant to empty. The three then robbed the business at gunpoint and forced the employees into the freezer.

police used DNA from their leftover burgers to ID them. of course, it took an entire year for the state to get the information back from the crime lab. a year!

Labels: crime and social justice

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yep, that's how old i am now.

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i use the phrase quite often and i always add becky to the end. i said it the other day and sabrina asked, 'who's becky?'

i laughed so hard.

anyway, it was this story that made me think it now. a summary: a convicted child molester in California may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims. police found 36,000 names in logs with codes that appear to indicate how he abused them.

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in celebration of PETA. i wanted to mention this yesterday, but i forgot. i'm an animal lover, of course, but sometimes things are taken too far.

Two PETA Employees Arrested on Animal Cruelty Charges

Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were arrested on animal cruelty charges in Ahoskie, N.C., after investigators saw dead dogs being thrown into a grocery store garbage container Wednesday ... The cats and dogs were taken Wednesday from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties, police said. Animals had been collected every Wednesday for four weeks, and carcasses had been found dumped in Ahoskie every Wednesday for about a month ...

PETA says it routinely picks up animals at pounds to have them adopted or, if necessary, euthanized ... Shelter officials knew some of the animals, which are not always “cute, cuddly, housebroken or small,” would need to be put down ... Among the dead animals, though, authorities found a female cat and her two “very adoptable” kittens taken from Ahoskie Animal Hospital ... When Proctor evaluated one dead dog for police, he discovered a healthy, 6-month-old mutt with a needle mark on its front right leg, he said.

and there's this:

From July 1998 through the end of 2003, PETA killed over 10,000 dogs, cats, and other "companion animals" -- at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters. That's more than five defenseless animals every day. Not counting the dogs and cats PETA spayed and neutered, the group put to death over 85 percent of the animals it took in during 2003 alone.

and this: PETA spends less than one percent of its $13 million budget actually caring for animals.

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did you ever want to know what the front of my refrigerator looked like? i took this pic for a completely different reason, but when you enlarge it, you can see my fridge. this is typical.

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i think you really could cook something outside. might come in handy since my power's always out.

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VA Gov. Warner Takes Steps Towards Presidential Run in 2008

i'm trying to decide if this is a good thing. he's done some good stuff as governor, tax increases not being one of them. but since he is popular with republicans, it might just be a way for democrats to take back control of the top seat.

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michael jackson has been found not guilty. this reminds me of the fact that i wish i was blogging when OJ was acquitted.

update at 11:13 pm: i found this website that MJ is celebrating on. it opens with the word INNOCENT and then compares this day in history to the great dates of when MLK was born, the Berlin Wall fell, and Mandella was freed.

okay, that might be taking it a bit far.... though i do admit it is huge. with 2,200 journalists on site and all.

update 06/14/05: read this guy's take.

Labels: crime and social justice

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What Your Writing Reveals About You:

Jessica, your handwriting reveals that you are Trustworthy

Your writing style reflects that you're reliable, and it communicates to others that they can depend on you to see things through to the end. Is it the legibility of your writing, your baseline, or your letter spacing that gives you away?

Labels: quiz

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over there, in the sidebar. it says 'ten days until my birthday.'

happy birthday, howard.

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this picture of my girl.

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they go on and on about national security. and border control. and how our homeland is so safe. then they go and do this.

Man With Bloody Chain Saw Let in to U.S.

On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.

via OTB, emphasis added.

uopdate at 1:48 pm: i read more about this in the Virginian-Pilot:

"Nobody asked us to detain him," Anthony [spokesmand for the Customs Dept] said. "Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. ... We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations."

i don't buy it. if i was to walk around this neighborhood with all those weapons and a chainsaw with a blood-looking substance on it, i would certainly be detained. something is amiss...

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from the FBI's UCR:

Preliminary offense data reported ... in all categories of violent and property crimes indicated a decline in 2004 compared to data from 2003 ... Overall, violent crimes in the Nation decreased 1.7 percent in 2004 when compared to 2003 data, and property crimes fell 1.8 percent in 2004 compared to the crimes reported the previous year.

FYI: incidents of crime went down in every category in Norfolk except arson (murder, rape, robbery, agg. assault, burglary, larceny theft, MV theft).

Labels: crime and social justice

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... oh wait, it was. and i'm crispy fried. even after applying SPF 30 repeatedly.

so, because i can do little else, here are some quizzes.

[quiz] What Kind of Kisser Are You?: my results say Part Expert Kisser and Part Passionate Kisser.

[quiz] Who's the True You?:

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be more relaxed, calm, and composed.
With respect to money, you spend carefully and save your pennies.
You think good luck depends on maintaining good relationships with others.
The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort.
You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked.
When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

uh, okay. not sure about all of that. what i am sure of, though, is that IT IS HOT IN HERE!

Labels: quiz

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If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this...

i have used information from the 'global village' in my sociology classes before, but this is an updated, video version of it. it's the miniature earth:

61 Asians
12 Europeans
14 Americans (from North and South America)
13 Africans
01 Australian
67 are not christian
10 are homosexuals

there's more. take a look.

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curvy women are more likely to live longer :

Narrow hips are detrimental ... researchers found those with wider hips also appeared to be protected against heart conditions ... Women with a hip measurement smaller than 40 inches, or a size 14 would not have this protection, they said.

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trouble in paradise?

stupid celebrity news is ... well, stupid.

update: oh wait, there's more. Christian Slater Arrested on Sex Abuse Charge. third degree sexual assault for grabbing a woman's butt. i'm not a big fan or anything, but if christian slater 'goosed' me, i wouldn't call 911.

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this new show was on last night with Loverboy, CeCe Peniston, A Flock of Seagulls, Arrested Development, and Tiffany. the show has potential. here's a recap.

next week is Wang Chung, The Knack, Irene Cara, Sophie B. Hawkins, Cameo, Tommy Tutone, Vanilla Ice, and The Motels.

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no. no. no.

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i'm off for the next four days. this, though, doesn't look too good.

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