celebrity news from people

rosie o will follow meredith on the view.

gillian anderson splits with hubby.

by now everyone has heard that angeline jolie has topped the most beautiful people list. but did you know that kirstie alley made it on, too? remember, i told you she was looking good. let us also not forget to point out that julia's on the list as well. george clooney and matthew mcconaughey also made it. and did anyone notice that this year's list is of 100? wasn't it always 50 people?

drug decriminalization in mexico

mexico has passed legislation decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and peyote.

police will not penalize people for possessing up to '5 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of opium, 25 milligrams of heroin or 500 milligrams of cocaine. People caught with larger quantities of drugs will be treated as narcotics dealers and face increased jail terms under the plan.'

i see some problems here (half a gram of cocaine and less than a quarter ounce of marijuana as the limit on personal use, everyone else is considered a drug dealer and will be penalized harshly) but it's a start. the US should follow suit. i say this, not to condone drug use, but because we should treat drug abuse and addiction as a health problem and save our prison space for those who really need it.

did the lightbulb give consent?

jeremy f is now accepting nominees for the answer to the riddle 'how many sociologists does it take to change a light bulb?'

if you are one of those creative people, go ahead and give your answer. he's already received a few submissions and they are worth checking out. for instance:

Q: "How many sociologists does it take to change a light bulb?" A: "Our purposes are (1) to describe the state of the light bulb, (2) to explain how the light bulb came to be that way (e.g., 'burned out'), and (3) to provide some insight into how the light bulb might respond to different interventions. As scientists, it is not our purpose to "change" the light bulb.

reverse pickpocketing

i hope this true. it's awesome. David Copperfield was almost robbed.

'Two armed robbers allegedly got out of the car and demanded the group's belongings. One woman handed over $400 from her pockets and the other gave up her purse with 200 euros, $100, her passport, plane tickets and a cell phone. Copperfield refused to empty his pockets, the report said.

Copperfield says he turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing in them, even though he was carrying his passport, wallet and cell phone.'

movies meme

the LOTW [over there] is a list of movies ebert says you must see so that you know what people are talking about. not a list of the best, but those everyone must see. i saw that other people made a meme of it and i thought i would play along. however, due to the fact that i have seen so few of these, instead of bolding the ones i'd seen, i thought it would be a shorter list if i just listed those i'd seen.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott
"Bambi" (1942) Disney
"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick
"Do the Right Thing" (1989) Spike Lee
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg
"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner
"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin
"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher
"The Godfather," "The Godfather, Part II" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols
"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter
"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino
"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder
"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming

yes, that means i have not Casablanca or Gone With the Wind. i am making it a special point to not see these movies before i die.

2 weeks to vancouver

that's 14 days. what a pleasant thought in the midst of so much stress.

music in 1995

everyone knows that i think very little good music has been made in my time. most of what i like was made 'before i was born.'

but i have been looking through billboard's hot 100 lists for the years since 1991. and i have determined that excluding the good music mentioned above, 1995 was a good year for music. i like 88 and 90, too.

i've been in flashback mode for a few hours now.

too bad i missed this

since i have been putting off filling up.

Gas Sold For 93 Cents In Radio Promotion

filed under student stories

some of my students are doing a media journal with crime related articles. the media journals were due on friday. this assignment was known to the students since the beginning of class, as it's described on the syllabus.

perhaps they don't realize that by using newspaper articles dated thursday that i would catch on the fact that they waited until the last minute.

midnight red

i have to make up on quizzes, too!

[quiz] What Color Red Are You?: You Are Apple Red

You're never one to take life too seriously, and because of it, you're a ton of fun.
And although you have a great sense of humor, you are never superficial.
Deep and caring, you do like to get to the core of people - to understand them well.
However, any probing you do is light hearted and fun, sometimes causing people to misjudge you.

[quiz] What Time Of Day Are You?: You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits.
Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle.
Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.
You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

it's a crazy time of year

and i have been real busy as of late. but since i have the chance, i wanted to pop up on you today. here's some stuff i've/you've missed:

i heard on the news last night that david blaine will spend a week living under water. he will also attempt to break the world record for holding his breath, which if i remember correctly, was almost nine minutes. what is with this guy?

in texas, a teen was sentenced to life in prison for smoking pot once while on probation for a $2.00 stickup. unbelievable.

did you know that the rate of suicides is lower during democratic presidencies?

j-walk has posted voting facts. interestingly:

- 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
- Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

this reminds me of a quote from Stalin: 'It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes.'

the party was a success

we got it all in just before it started pouring. the girls had fun. the birthday girl was opening presesnts all day long.

advertising for a virgin bride

Michael Thelemann, 45, of OK has put a sign in his yard offering to pay $1,000 for a virgin bride between the ages of 12 and 24.

12 years old? he claims he's not a pedophile or anything. maybe he feels he must look that young to still find virgin girls?

the party people

so little missy's birthday party is saturday. one of her friend's is having a sleepover birthday party on friday.

that's one busy group of girls!



we've been busy getting ready for the party. there was a lot of shopping, preparing a scavenger hunt for the girls, treat bags, food and party supplies.

try this

type 'failure' in a google search box and hit 'i'm feeling lucky.'

it's hilarious.

forced birth control

i was talking with a couple of my classes about forced birth control for mothers convicted of drug crimes and child abuse. i was shocked at how overwhelmingly the students were in favor of the idea. even when confronted with the parallels between the state forcing birth control and the state making the decisions over a woman's body [abortion].

the students felt that because these women were criminals, then it was okay.

just thought i would share

a student told me a while ago that i had an A+ grade on myspace. i wasn't sure what she meant exactly and the info slipped from my mind like everything else. tonight i logged into myspace, a rare occasion of it's own, and saw a link to grade your professors. of course i check it out. and with only two 'grades' thus far, i do get an A+.

the history of Dr Pepper

did you know there was a Dr Pepper Museum? astonishing.

Dr Pepper Company is the oldest major manufacturer of soft drink concentrates and syrups in the United States. It is America's unique flavor and was created, manufactured and sold beginning in 1885 in the Central Texas town of Waco.

this is making me thirsty...

i like yellow

[quiz] What Color Flower Are You?: You Are a Yellow Flower

A yellow flower tends to represent joy, friendship, and playfulness.
At times, you are childlike, as a buttercup is.
And at other times, you are fickle, like a dahlia.
And more than you wish, you tend to feel bittersweet, like a marigold.

though the zoo is not at fault

A 2-year-old zebra drowned in a moat at the Virginia Zoo late last week, becoming the third animal to die that way in less than two years.

this is sad. but what gets me is something that is said later in the article. the mayor has asked the zoo to stop issuing news releases when animals die. he said "these things happen at every zoo."

yes, these things happen and although four or five animals have died in the past few years, the zoo has been determined to be not at fault. i'm okay with that. but i think we should know.

report card. again

did you see this coming?

Heather Locklear and David Spade together. hey, i like david spade, he's funny. i admit it was a bit of shock to me, but he's a huge step up from tommy lee.

funny link

judy blume books that never saw print.

adorable photo of the day #7

happy easter.

hoppy easter

that's little missy begging me to tell her where the last two eggs are hidden. :-)

what in the world

was going on when this picture was snapped?

from 'There Are No Children Here'

by Alex Kotlowitz:

A few days later, Pharoah, now eleven, told a friend: "I worry about dying, dying at a young age, while you're little. I'll be thinking about I want to get out of the jects. I want to get out. It ain't no joke when you die."

i know this, but can you have too much?

[quiz] How is Your Self Esteem?: You Have Low Self Esteem 4% of the Time

Which can be translated to mean, you have high self-esteem and a healthy sense of self worth.
You believe in yourself, and you know how to be the real you. You love yourself, imperfections and all.

i only checked one box on this quiz. if you know me well, it isn't hard to figure out which one.

just because

i'm not trying to get all religious

or anything, but this is good. for background info, you should know that this guy has waged a war against easter. it's from a conversation on a conservative radio show:

FLEMMING: God doesn't exist any more than the Easter Bunny, they're both--
CARLSON: --Hold on there! That's crazy. I can disprove the existence of the Easter Bunny. You can't disprove the existence of God.
FLEMMING: You can disprove the existence of the Easter Bunny?
CARLSON: Of course.
FLEMMING: Do it.
CARLSON: The Easter Bunny is said to do certain things. We can observe that these things are not happening. Therefore the Easter Bunny does not exist.
FLEMMING: Name one thing God does that I can observe.

hey, i just found

this old site. ha ha ha.

adorable photo of the day #6

it's interesting

how soon after the storm that the sirens start.

movies in twos

assuming this is real, this is another addition for the movies-in-twos. but this is worse since they have the same name: zodiac.

i was once sick of the movies-in twos, those that are released around the same time that are almost identical in plot. like twister/tornado, dantes peak/volcano and deep impact/armageddon.

here's news you can use

A harmless bacterium that lives in rivers produces a biological superglue stronger than any ever measured.

it can hold an adult elephant.

in my next life

i will be a rhino. [via j.]

i want to point out

this week's link of the week is spoiled movies . but movies are just one category, spoileverything.com has 'spoiled' tv shows, video games, etc. the tv ones are good, for instance, the seinfeld one and the golden girls one.

odu salaries: do you know what your prof makes?

the student newspaper at ODU published a story analyzing the salaries of all university employees. an online version of the story is available here, but the print edition inlcudes a hard-to-read-because-of-tiny-print-size chart revealing the exact annual salaries of all full-time faculty and administrative staff.

the paper came out last tuesday and was mysteriously pulled from the 'shelves' soon after. i can't wait for tomorrow's edition to find out the official and unofficial response. thanks to the student who gave me a hard-to-find copy. it's very interesting...

three things in my purse

wallet
yearly planner/calendar
dental floss

free association #29

Buck:: rogers
Harry:: potter
Play:: a part
Monstrosity:: awful mess
Nightclub:: party
Missing:: children
Sprout:: vegetable
Flavor:: ful
Identity:: theft
Saucy:: and spicy

today in history

in 1978, Jimmy Carter signed legislation extending the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70. hmmm... what is it now?

generation sex

A new survey shows four out of 10 city kids say they have had intercourse before age 14, and have engaged in oral and even anal sex by 17.

press the button and find out

[quiz] What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?: "I dunno, press the button and find out."

[quiz] What Color Is Your Lucky Underwear?: Your Lucky Underwear is Blue

You are caring and extroverted. You've made relationships your number one focus, and your lucky blue underwear can bring some balance to them.You thrive in one-on-one situations. You are a good listener and a natural born therapist.
Sometimes you let the concerns of others become too important in your life, leading to stress and worry.

this train gets me everyday

sometimes twice.

bad boys

philadelphia eagles' donovan mcnabb and jeremiah trotter were found guilty wednesday of parking their trucks in handicapped zones. mcnabb had to pay a $256 fine while trotter was ordered to pay $512 (for a second offense).

adorable photo of the day #5

child porn charges filed

we hear of another guy soliciting girls on the net. this time, though, it's Brian Doyle, the deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. he is facing charges of using a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful material to a minor.

jeez, is everyone doing this?

i think undestructive should be a word. because not everything that is not destructive is constructive.

using this definition:

con·struc·tive adj. 1. Serving to improve or advance; helpful.

i could have a habit or hobby that is not constructive (as in to improve or help) but is at the same time the opposite (as in not damaging). and this is not the same as nondestructive. undestructive sounds cooler.

ha ha ha

incompetent, idiot, and liar

the chart shows one-word descriptions for george w.

in summary, '48% use a negative word to describe Bush compared with just 28% who use a positive term.' and you can see that the word incompetent has moved up the list, while honest has moved down.

six people described the president as president. that's funny. so is integrity.


[click the chart to read the full report. there's more political goodies inside. from the The Pew Research Center.]

i like numbers

This will happen only once: On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after one in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

This will happen only twice: On Thursday, June 6th your clock may display something like this: 06:06 06/06/06.

[via j-walk.]

remember when

people would tape songs off the radio?

from 'Hangman'

by Michael Slade:

The Scream captures a psychotic experience. It is an objectivization of subjective sensation. The open issue is what caused the loss of identity? The bridge leading to nothing is a simile for death. But is it death in the past or death in the future that wrenches this scream from the screamer?

april fools

in honor: The Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of All Time. the worst ones are interesting, too.

and now for some random thoughts:

it's interesting that we often do not visit the tourist attractions/events in our own town until someone comes to visit.

george clooney is hot.

i took a handwriting quiz and the results revealed that i was orderly.

updated to add more thoughts:

i was never a chris farley fan, only because that kind of humor doesn't appeal to me, but this is cool - his image is on billboards to advertise a drug addiction treatment.

why do people still write checks in a store?

quiz results: it's my mother's fault

according to The Freud Test, Freud would say my strongest unconscious conflict stems from events that happened when i was a toddler.

He would also conclude that relative to others, your personality today is moderately affected by the events of your childhood. It appears that your biggest unconscious conflict that still afflicts you stems from what Freud defined as the anal stage of development that occurred when you were between a year and a half and three years old. Freud would say that this conflict can manifest in your personality by giving you a tendency to be especially orderly or clean, or "retentive." You may also harbor a strong rebellious streak. This normally happens when parents toilet-train a child on some kind of schedule, rather than at the child's natural pace and the child naturally reacts by struggling for their autonomy and the legitimacy of their needs.

by that logic, my daughter will not have a rebellious streak.