the faculty challenged us students to games of pool. it was a very serious deal. this is part of a email i received:

And the bragging rights go to... The students won out in the pool tournament.
The faculty made a good showing but just were not able to pull off a win. The rumored sharks turned out to be more like guppies.

Next challenge, after the faculty have rested up a bit - bowling...

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is an understatement. take a look at this story:

Authorities removed about 200 animals - nearly half of them dead in freezers - from a home … Animal Control agents, responding to a complaint of ferrets living in poor conditions, found more than 100 ferrets, a dog, a bird and three cats "living in deplorable, unsanitary and crowded conditions,"… Most of the animals were suffering from dehydration and malnutrition …

Carcasses of a rat, cat, otter and 89 ferrets were found in freezers in the home and garage ... 61 of the rescued ferrets had to be euthanized because of their poor health, more than 15 are in Animal Control custody, and about 23 with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The animals will be held pending a court hearing … There is no limit to the number of ferrets someone can own in Virginia Beach.

there may be some indication that this lady is mentally ill. there is a debate on the comments to this story as to whether this lady should get 23 months or 23 years. some people...

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i have stumbled across this letter from Howard Becker {labeling theory} to students. for some reason, i find the very need of such a letter fascinating. i tend to think of many of the theorists we learn about as old and dead (since many are), but forget that some are not at all so. since students in sociology and criminology learn about this guy and are assigned papers accordingly everyday, i'm sure he does get lots of emails. here's a bit:

I said everything I have to say about labeling theory in my book, Outsiders. I have nothing to add to what I said in that book.
Similarly, I cannot help you apply labeling theory to some special topic that your teacher has assigned to you. I suppose that your teacher did that as an exercise which would help you understand the ideas by applying them to some specific area.

If any of this seems strange or unfeeling to you, please talk to your teacher about it. Especially the people who have written me saying that they have no idea where to find the answers they are looking for. You should be able to get help with this from the teacher who gave you the assignment. Print this page out and show it to them.

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i had written and thought i had submitted two different posts in the last few days, but now i see they are not there! hmmm....

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it looks like i'm in for $600. i bet you i will not see a thing.

Under the deal, nearly everyone who earned a paycheck in 2007 would receive at least $300 from the Internal Revenue Service -- $103 billion in total. Most people would receive rebates of $600 each, or $1,200 per couple. Families with children would receive an additional payment of $300 per child. Workers who earned at least $3,000 last year -- but not enough to pay income taxes -- would be eligible for $300.

Overall, 117 million families would receive rebate checks... Rebates would be limited, however, to single taxpayers with adjusted gross income up to $75,000 -- up to $150,000 for couples.

and how is the gevernment paying for this? oh yeah, we'll just borrow it.

Labels: crime and social justice

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it's 25 degrees outside. but only 48 inside. there's no where to go.

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about all the people running for president. but this is harsh:

“There’s no one running for office who I’d let walk my kids across the street" - Dick Marcinko

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is now filming. those who were fans of the show may care, but the rumor is that the movie will not address any answered or unanswered questions from the show, but act on a standalone plot.

considering it has been so long, it may be a good move to leave the plot lines from the show behind. but then, who cares?

Labels: tv and movies

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not that is has ever been lucky for me.

either way, this clock, from the triple nine society, is cool.

[via j-walk]

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from the wash post:

The number of abortions performed in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005 -- the lowest level since 1976, according to a new report.

The number of abortions fell at least in part because the proportion of women ending their pregnancies with an abortion dropped 9 percent between 2000 and 2005, hitting the lowest level since 1975, according to a nationwide survey.

do i need to wake up more? is it too early? did this just say that the number of abortions fell because their were fewer women having an abortion? talk about obvious.

seriously, though, the article does give several reasons that may contribute to the decrease, including the availability of emergency contraception.

just yesterday i heard that the number of babies born in the US in up. a new baby boom has occurred. one reason is that we have more people that in previous years. perhaps another is this decrease in abortions. also, we have a higher birth rate than other comparative countries. they said on GMA that it was because americans like children more. how about that!

Labels: crime and social justice

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on Sunday April 23, 2062, at age of 83. the good news is that my risk of dying from blood poisoning is only 1.40%.

it's my day4death. nonsense, but entertaining.

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there are often reports of ordinary places that most of us don't think about as being germfests. here's another one. this lists the expected, the hotel room remote, kitchen sinks, shopping cart handles, and the office phone. but you purse! it does sit on tons of surfaces. ATM buttons! come to think of it, i've never seen or heard of anyone cleaning the ATM.

we know bathrooms are bad, but this list says airplane bathrooms are among the worst. and here's the yuck line i am choosing to leave you with. they say the toilet seat is surprisingly clean, but "the volcanic flush of the commode tends to spew particles into the air, coating the floor and walls with, well, whatever had been swirling around in there."

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the colts lost and the giants won? what's going on? next thing you know, tom brady's in trouble...

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the good ole days.

here's some of the politically incorrect advertisements collected in the book, You Mean A Woman Can Open It?: The Woman's Place In The Classic Age Of Advertising.

the book includes 31 postcard pictures, but you can get a taste from the website ad.


can you imagine if these ads were released today?

p.s. - you are not going crazy. this is the link of the week/month on the right. i thought it deserved it's own attention.

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i've been watching a lot of seinfeld lately [just finished season nine]. how timing that i have come across this list of five things you didn’t know about seinfeld:

1- Elaine was not an original part of the cast. [in fact, Julia Louis-Dreyfus beat out Patricia Heaton, Rosie O’Donnell and Megan Mullally for the part.]
2- Other actors originally played Newman, Morty Seinfeld and Frank Costanza
3- Jerry, George and Elaine’s siblings were never seen
4- Festivus was created in 1966 by a Reader's Digest editor
5- The series began and ended with a conversation about a shirt button [remember that?]

Labels: tv and movies

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i haven't done laundry since last year! not as bad as it sounds, given the date, but still, it's time.

there's a couple of other things i haven't done since last year as well. but that would really be TMI.

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it's like the dahmer house. the headline: Texas man calls 911, says he's eating girlfriend. apparently, he really was.

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read this to know what Iowa means and how Obama's win is far from Huckabee's landslide victory.

toddler sized hooter's shirts are distugusting me, seen here.

here's a bit from a report titled Delete Expletives? that lists the offensiveness of swear words [BBC].

and this:
"There are two kinds of people in the world,
those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world
and those who don't". - Robert Benchley

Labels: quotes

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Labels: adorable photo of the day

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in my hair. now it's gone.

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January: who we are - the Virginian-Pilot is running a series based on census data.
February: maintaining a common nuisance - i know these people.
March: DST has been changed, remember - i do say that i doubt anyone can give a good answer as to why we observe daylight savings time.
April: the Magna Carta - came to town.
May: sad news - tom poston has died.
June: in case you missed it, there new video footage of the loch ness monster.
July: have you ever looked up the definition of 'the'
August: aw man, i'm not a size 8
September: the good news is that i get none of these this semester
October: i'm not dead - it only appears so here.
November: remember mulder and scully?
December: i haven't posted all month - that is unacceptable!

last year's here. happy new year!

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