freckles make me strong.
Month
one sentence (via unicornology)
this blog is terrific!
aja:
A thief learned the mistake of trying to steal a law student’s laptop last week after after becoming a punching bag for an Arizona State student he tried to rip off. Armed with a baseball bat, the intruder, Gabriel Saucedo, allegedly climbed through an open window into Alex Botsios’ apartment, waking the student and threatening to smash his head in.
Botsios was willing to let Saucedo take his wallet and guitars. Then the robber made the mistake that ultimately landed him in the hospital — he went for the laptop. According to Botsios, he said “Dude, no — please, no! I have all my case notes…that’s four months of work!” Saucedo, obviously underestimating the fury of an overstressed, overworked first-year, was unsympathetic. That’s when Botsios could take no more.
Wrestling Saucdeo to the floor, Botsios separated the bat from the thief and repeatedly punched him in the face. When it was all over, police had to get Saucedo stitched up before charging him with armed robbery and kidnapping, while Botsios only suffered some scrapes and a bruised knuckle. Most importantly, at least to the student, is that his laptop, which he called “his baby,” escaped unharmed.
Clearly it is important to know your limits as a thief and pick up on social cue, “like stay away from my baby/laptop” and other important things that can turn slam-dumk into slammed-in-the-head.
jordanlyons:
A mother of two has become the first person in the world to undergo a whole organ transplant grown from her own stem cells. The British scientists are hailing a new dawn in transplant surgery.
I posted a video about creating this kind of organ in March. At the time most of the testing was on rats. Now one has actually been used in a human transplant. Science!
One sunny day in January, 2009 an old man approached the White House
from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park
bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, “I would
like to go in and meet with President Bush.”
The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer
president and no longer resides here.”
The old man said, “Okay”, and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to
the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”
The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is
no longer president and no longer resides here.”
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to
the very same U.S. Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with
President Bush.”
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man
and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here
asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is
no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you
understand?”
The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just
love hearing it.”
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow,
Sir.”
(via my mom)
julyshewillfly:
butnotmine:
“…Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled Tuesday there was “no rational basis” for prohibiting gays from adopting children.
The ruling will allow 47-year-old Martin Gill to adopt two young brothers he has cared for as foster children since 2004…”
This makes me so happy!
YES!
dihard:
“The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.” via ABCnews
“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo.” Rep. Gary L. Ackerman of New York via NPR
Totally despicable, right? The CEOs of the Big Three US Automakers have the gall to fly to Washington in their private jets and ask for a $25 billion bailout. No wonder Pelosi sent them home!
But, in fact, it is not necessarily their choice to fly in style. The GM board, like many corporate boards, requires its top executives to fly on private planes for security reasons. Per the president of the National Business Aviation Association, about 11,000 U.S. companies operate jets or powerful prop planes, and more use smaller planes.
In response to the uproar, GM announced the elimination of two of its five corporate jets, though the top executives still plan to use the private jets. And Ford “explored” the sale of its private jets. They should consider NPR’s solution for December 8:
…if they really wanted to touch the purse strings of Congress and the public, they should have driven from Detroit to Washington in a hybrid sub-compact — the three of them taking shifts at the wheel during a nine-hour drive through Toledo, Akron and Pittsburgh, stopping to get out and stretch at all-night doughnut shops, calling in to all-night talk radio shows, as reporters sent iPhone snapshots from along the road. Then the CEOs could step out of their car just in front of the U.S. Capitol, stretch their legs, rub their all-night beard, and say, “Door to door, nine hours, not bad, and on one tank of gas. How ‘bout that!”
Oh, wait. U.S. car companies don’t make a hybrid sub-compact, do they?
Helen Philpot, and Margaret agrees Got Milk? « Margaret and Helen (via robotheart)
In agreement.
notthatkindagay:
Three of the seven gays named to the transition panels — businessman Fred P. Hochberg, former San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, and labor attorney Elaine Kaplan — held high-level positions in the Clinton administration.
The Obama officials also named President Bush’s former ambassador to Romania, Michael Guest, to a transition panel assigned to review issues pertaining to the State Department.
…
The other openly gay members named to the transition review teams, in addition to Hochberg, Achtenberg, and Guest, include Rick Stamberger, president and CEO of SmartBrief, Inc., an online news publisher; Brad Kiley, an official with the Washington-based Center for American Progress think tank; and Thomas Soto, co-founder of Craton Equity Partners, a large “clean technology” investment fund based in Southern California.
wayne-remy:
(via sraz)
5. The Tumblr user: creative, impatient, likes new toys
Tumblr is a relatively new blogging platform, one that lets you add pictures and links super quickly without having to do the back-end work of something like Wordpress. That means easy startup and fast results. In short, it’s like candy. Delicious candy.
Candy is a great discriptor and c'mon, who doesn’t like candy?
Instead, you bring in a guy like Emanuel, the most hard-headed, no-nonsense, foul-mouthed, smart-as-hell, get-it-done-or-get-out-of-my-way Washington insider of his generation. And you put him in charge of a White House staff whose task it is — and this is putting it conservatively — to conceive, propose, promote and somehow push through Congress the most ambitious agenda any President has carried forth at least since Ronald Reagan rode into town with a lopsided grin in January 1981. “Rahm does not sing Kumbaya,” laughs an old friend and colleague. “He barks orders.” His hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, calls Emanuel “a brutally effective taskmaster.”
”—Rahm Emanuel: A Tough Taskmaster for Obama - TIME (via julyshewillfly)jordanlyons:
Obama was caught by a live mic saying about the debates, “I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that’s green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, 'I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”
Somedays I wish I could vote again just for emphasis. High five, Mr. President.
McCain Camp Retools, Targets Obama | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com (via squashed) (via julyshewillfly)
This campaign has been stunning. The shear numbers of people who have been inspired to vote, contribute and participate in the process is beyond comprehension.
I once heard Yolanda King (daughter of Martin Luther King), speak and she said something that has stuck with me, “[we need to]…get up off our apathy.”
Maybe we finally have. She died last year without witnessing the Obama victory.
This is a country which has habitually, sometimes irritatingly, regarded itself as young and vibrant, the envy of the world. Often this is merely hype. But there are times when it is entirely true.
With Barack Obama’s victory, one of these moments has arrived.
”—This BBC article (via frannyandzooey)Newsweek: How he did it
Funny how things all work out the way they are supposed to. I think Hillary is going to flourish in the senate, it’s a good place for her. (via apsies)
(via robot-heart)
NYTimes
Lovely :) Wish I could be there… perhaps, perhaps.
(via spintree)
robot-heart:
mayagantt:thedailywhat:
Arizona’s Prop 102 and Florida’s Amendment 2, banning gay marriage, both pass.
Arkansas’s Initiative 1, banning gay adoption passed as well.
California’s Prop 8, which will not only ban gay marriage, but will also strip those gay and lesbian couples who have already married of their license, is still too close to call, but it’s not looking good.
As far as we’ve come, this is a stark reminder that we have not come far enough. While some are gaining a renewed sense of equality, others are presently being stripped of theirs.
The next battle begins…
The struggle continues.