Beyond linking to Attytood’s article yesterday, I haven’t really said anything about Hurricane Katrina. Because really, what could I possibly say? I’m just so desperately sorry for the people down there.

But I will mention a few things here:

-All looters, with the exception of those taking only the food they need to survive, deserve to be shot. [E&P] [WaPost]

-Haley Barbour is a douche. [SunHerald] [News24]

-The Sun Herald website is worth looking at.

-Red Cross Donations

UPDATE: I just read that Lowe’s will match in-store customer donations to the Red Cross (up to $1 million). Cool. [CNN]

I’m already sick over the devastation causef by Katrina, but this is enough to make me throw up: When the Levee Breaks [Attytood].

Five shots of espresso, and I still can’t keep my eyes open. Cursed insomnia!

Since Stan commented that I look different to him now, possibly due to my lack of bangs, I decided to go through some old pictures to see if I could find a good one from my fringed days.

Now, I wasn’t going to use this particular photo, because it’s not very flattering. But I happened to look at the back of it, and well, then I just had to use it. (more…)

Well, it’s been a wild and crazy three weeks of non-stop partying and debauchery, but today it comes to an end: Edo is returning home in mere hours.

Quite frankly, I’m glad, because I don’t know how much more depravity and perversion I could have handled.

Research details cancer risk for redheads

At least I won’t ever get Rickets.

Every trip needs to have a beginning, and for us, that was Tom and Melissa. We had a great time at their wedding, and a lot of fun exploring Las Vegas afterwards. And of course, we would never have gone on our fabulous road trip if they hadn’t invited us out to Sin City first.

So here’s to Tom and Melissa!

And here are some pictures for you. (more…)

I am getting really, REALLY tired of hearing people call Cindy Sheehan “unAmerican.” (more…)

Is anyone as sick of Lance Armstrong as I am?

I finally got the chance to sort through some of loads and loads of pictures from my trip. Even after I narrow it down, there are still a lot, so I figured I’d just post them a little at a time. I’ve created a homepage of sorts for this purpose: Beneath a Desert Sky. There’s a permanent link to it on the right. The first day of the road trip is up and running. Let me know what you think.

In the near future, I’ll probably put up a few pictures from Tom’s wedding in Vegas, too.

So I was going through some old pictures when I was home last weekend, and look what I found… (more…)

There’s currently (9:35 EST) a discussion on Larry King Live about Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, if anyone is interested.

Manchild already posted this link on Holz’s blog, but it was at the end of a basically dead discussion, so I wanted to share it again here:

Evangelical Physicists Refute Gravity With New ‘Intelligent Falling’ Theory [The Onion]

Didn’t want anyone to miss it, because I thought it was great.

Turkmen President Bans Lip Synching

Well this past weekend was quite productive if not tiring. My parents really helped me out a lot with getting my new apartment in order. I would take this opportunity to publicly thank them, but they don’t actually know about this blog, so what good would that do? Anyway, the new place is still a long way from complete, but it’s finally becoming more livable. Yay!

On Friday night, I got into a somewhat heated debate with my dad over a current topic in the media (big surprise). It’s a long story, not worth the details, no big deal—we do that a lot. But the next morning, my mom and I were talking, and she was lecturing me about knowing when to give up pursuing an argument with him. I told her “He started it!” and she said “Yes, you’re right, what he said was very antagatory.”

Mom accidentally made up a new word and I quite like it.

An·tag·a·to·ry (an-”tag-&-”tOr-E): adj. indicating opposition or resistance and tending to cause anger, animosity, or indignation. Derived from the words “antagonistic” and “inflammatory.”

I wonder how you go about getting a new word in the dictionary…

Some of you may have already seen this on Fark, but it’s just so funny that I had to put it here. I was having a lot of trouble not laughing out loud at work.

Be sure to check out the whole thing.

Episode III, the backstroke of the west [winterson.com]

Once again, it’s time to play i want to search landslide, with your host, Kate. What’s brought people here recently? Let’s find out… (more…)

Right now my upstairs neighbors are having some sort of musical jam session. But really, it sounds more like they are slaughtering barnyard animals than playing music.

Oh my god… I just… I can’t… AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

When it first started, I found it be kind of annoying. But what they are doing right now… it’s just… I have no words for this. There are a bunch of off-key male voices singing along to really crappy, tinny guitars. And they keep howling!!! Literally! Like stray cats and dogs!! It’s horrible! And they’re stomping their feet, too.

Seriously, they are SO bad, it’s almost comical. I’d be laughing my ass off if I wasn’t worried that this could be a harbinger of things to come.

And the best part is, someone from that apartment—this same apartment above me that is now murdering innocent soundwaves—actually complained about my subwoofer on Monday night. Now granted, it was 11:30 PM, not 8:45 PM as it is now. But still.

Hard to believe my stupid bitchy downstairs neighbor ever had the GALL to complain about us! (By the way, I haven’t heard a thing from her since I wrote her back.)

Is it me, or have there been a few too many plane crashes recently?

First the “miracle” crash: All survive Air France jet crash and fire

Then the weird frozen passengers: Mystery deepens in Athens air crash

And now this: All 160 believed dead in Venezuela plane crash

People who push both the up and the down button because they somehow think it will make the elevator come faster.

People who push the buttons multiple times because they somehow think it will make the elevator come faster.

People who are not elderly or physically handicapped who get into an elevator to go up one stinking floor.

People who are not elderly or physically handicapped who complain about how long the elevator is taking when they only need to go up one stinking floor.

People who are not elderly or physically handicapped who complain about how long the elevator is taking when they only need to go up one stinking floor, and then refuse to take the stairs when I point out that they are a mere 10 feet away.

I may regret bringing this up for the umpteenth time, but I saw a good editorial about Intelligent Design vs. Evolution, and I wanted to mention it here for you guys to read.

Fox News host Tony Snow had a column called “Why can’t we have a rational debate” on townhall.com this past Friday (August 12, 2005).

In response to Snow’s column, Media Matters published the editorial Tony Snow’s evolutionary falsehoods. It debunks some of the common arguments used by proponents of ID, and I think it does an excellent job of explaining why evolution can be considered a “theory” rather than just a “hypothesis.” It doesn’t go into anything specific about ID—it just explains the science behind evolution. Anyway, it’s pretty short, and in my opinion, a good read.

Remember Kamin’s post, Start Praying, about how he saw a bunch of praying mantids? (And yes, that’s the plural for mantis—I looked it up). He theorized that they might be making a move on the planet. Well, I would like to add this to the mountain of evidence:

Click to open larger images.

Yesterday, my brother and I were sitting outside a coffee shop in University City when I noticed some movement on the underside of the table. And when I realized what it was, I couldn’t believe it. This praying mantis worked its way up onto the top of the table, and then just perched on the edge for several minutes, as if it was posing for us. My brother managed to snap several photos with his digital camera. Pretty neat!

As you can see, this one is missing an antenna and part of its leg. I wonder if they will grow back. But seriously, the last time I saw a praying mantis must have been 10 or 15 years ago!

Weird.

UPDATE (8/16/05): Check this out!

More survey fun, this time about your childhood. Answer truthfully or lie your ass off, whichever you prefer.

1) What is your earliest memory?

2) Did you have a childhood pet?

3) At what age did you learn to ride a bike? Who taught you?

4) Without giving away the actual location (unless you want to), describe the area where you grew up. (Urban, suburban, or rural? Friendly neighbors ? Lots of kids in your neighborhood? Did you have a back yard?)

5) Video games or playing outside?

6) When did you learn how to swim?

7) What was your first word?

8) Who was your first celebrity crush?

9) Bert or Ernie?*

10) Where does the time go?

*Bonus Trivia: What other famous character pairing shares the names of Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie? And don’t look it up—that’s no fun.

You come around the corner from the bathroom, and upon finding yourself face to face with the full-length mirror, think for a split second that someone else is in your apartment.

Before leaving the office for a coffee run, you think to yourself “I’ll just grab enough money from my wallet to pay for the latte… and then you realize you’ve taken out $160 and left the $4 in your wallet.

You begin talking to an employee who’s in another room, and as you walk to that room (still talking), you end up giving instructions standing over the shoulder of the wrong person who is very confused.

UPDATE: You need to drop off some paperwork to another department whose office is on your way to work. You remember this while still at home. As you are walking to work, you call and tell them that you need to do this. And then you walk right past the building and forget to drop off the paperwork.