Twenty states offer petitions to secede from the United States

Submitted by sarajean on 11/12/12 11:57pm
The South still has trouble accepting that they lost the Civil War—and, apparently, the 2012 election.

Prior to the 2012 Presidential Election, the news that 51 percent of the population is prejudice against black people struck my heart with horror. I know that such hatred is commonplace, but half of the nation? Really? It’s worse than disgusting and depressing and infuriating; it’s all three wrapped up and more.

Now, after so many people are so outraged with Barack Obama as their president, many are threatening to leave for Canada. I did the same thing myself when GWII was re-elected; instead, I think I just drank a bunch of rum and stayed in bed for two days. But now we have all of these fun people petitioning to secede from the country because of the election results.

It’s just like your best friend screaming, “Give me your toy or I’m not your friend anymore!”

When you’re six.

Louisiana started it, and now we have petitions from Texas, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. My own state, Missouri, is being a little petulant child, too. It’s not limited to the South, either; even New York state has a petition going.

Folks, when something happens in your country and you perceive it to be a bad thing—notice here that I’m not agreeing with you that it is bad in the least—you fight to make it better. Don’t you know that? We survived Bush II’s wars and deficit and eco destruction and countless other pains; in fact, Obama was left with the biggest pile of crap to deal with we’ve ever seen.

But guess what? Patriots don’t threaten to secede. They work together to make their country better. And frankly, I think this 20-state threat has quite a bit to do with that 51 percent-prejudice statistic, which makes me puke. Get over it, drying old white guys and post-1970s evangelists. This country does not revolve around you and your personal or religious beliefs. It revolves around what’s best for all.

If you really want to make an impact, get active. That’s what we did. And we lost again! And it hurt, but we kept staying active. We boycott things we don’t believe in and watch where our money goes. We call, canvass, hold signs, and send letters for people we do support—all things you can do even if you are broke! We do what we can, but we do not give up on our nation itself.

The fact that you are even calling for such a thing makes me question your supposed love for it in the first place.

Big Bear Hug

Submitted by sarajean on 11/12/12 11:50pm
This sweet picture book demonstrates peaceful protest in its purest form.

Though I took a peace course this year and work to teach peace in my life, I initially had a hard time translating the ideas of ahisma, or nonviolence, to young children. They are constantly bombarded with good versus evil in video games and cartoons, even religion, and often believe an eye for an eye is the moral route to tread—even if such revenge is disjointed or unbalanced.

Teaching that no revenge, but love, is the answer is something that proves difficult to do; hell, it’s still difficult for me to embrace sometimes myself. So I had to wonder why on earth would I expect a bunch of five to seven-year-olds to get it?

Well, for starters, five to seven-year-olds are a helluva lot smarter than people give them credit for. They speak poetically, particularly when not encumbered by adult reproach or molding. They have a keen sense of fairness—though, as I mentioned before, it can sometimes be skewered. But most of all they have the ability to really love anyone, accept anyone, that many of us lost through societal conditioning; indeed, they, too, will likely lose it due to their own parents, teachers, friends.

So introducing such a concept really isn’t as difficult as one might think. One way to do this is through picture books, and recently I used Nicholas Oldland’s Big Bear Hug to do just that. The story is about a loveable bear who loves to hug all creatures—including those he is supposed to eat!—as well as the trees in the forest.

When he encounters a hunter chopping down the most lovely, old tree in the wood, he starts to eat him out of anger. Then, realizing that he could never do such a thing, he does what he does best—he hugs the hunter. The hunter, of course, freaks out and takes off, forgetting the tree he wanted to chop down.

It’s such a lovely sentiment, so simply told and illustrated with woodland colors and round, friendly illustrations. It shows that even the biggest of us can show restraint when met with violence or an unfortunate circumstance—and that such situations can be met with love instead of hate or fear and still result in a changed, positive world.  I just love the book and would recommend it for any classroom, especially as a part of a peace curriculum or a school anti-bullying program.

This week's DVDs include Pixar's latest, along with comedy and drama movies

Submitted by LauriePerry on 11/12/12 4:21pm
Options look good for film fans.

For movie fans who don't feel like braving the crowds at the theater, guess what? This week's new DVD releases are all good, so there's absolutely no need to leave home to see a good flick. If animated movies are your thing, you are in luck, because Pixar's latest, Brave, is new on Blu-ray on Tuesday.

Not a fan of Pixar? Well, okay, but you're missing out. If you want good drama, Oliver Stone's latest effort, Savages, is also new on DVD this week.

I've only seen one of the three new DVD releases I'm highlighting for you this week. Brave is not my favorite Pixar film of all-time, but it's not my least favorite either (Cars 2, anyone?). It's a great little movie and it's certainly entertaining enough. As with all Pixar movies, the animation is positively incredible.

Oliver Stone's epic crime thriller drama Savages, starring Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro and Taylor Kitsch, is also new this week on DVD. This film, based on the 2010 novel Savages by Don Winslow, deals with the dangers of drugs and the Mexican drug cartels. The book was fantastic, but I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't make a recommendation. Salma Hayek got rave reviews for her role as a cartel head, so for that reason alone, I'll be watching.

Finally, last but not least, the comedy movie The Watch is finally out on DVD. Bad reviews kept me from seeing this one in the theater, but I am more than willing to give it a shot as a rental. I love Ben Stiller, and I used to really like Vince Vaughn -- until he started doing one cruddy movie after another. I fear this will be the case with The Watch, but I'm going to see it anyway.

What do you plan on seeing this week, if anything?
 

Ghost captured on CCTV at haunted English pub?

Submitted by erika on 11/12/12 3:44pm
Could this object be the ghost they named Beryl?

Ordinarily, I would dismiss something like this out of hand. It's just a blotch on the camera. Probably a speck of dust. You can read anything into it that you like. The pub's proprietor sees a woman who "looks like she is in her fifties. She appears to be wearing a fur collar and is looking down the bar towards the front door. I don't see that - I just see a blob - but what elevates this beyond the realm of "blob on camera" is the pub's long history of haunting.

Unlike many of these "ghost on CCTV footage" clips, this one comes from a location which has a long history of ghostly phenomena. One of the oldest pubs in the Yorkshire town of Kingston upon Hull, the Manchester Arms dates back to the 1700s. 
 
When the pub's new owners arrived on the scene a little over two months ago, they quickly accumulated a series of strange occurrences. They have named the ghost Beryl, and blame her for everything from the feeling of being touched to strange electrical occurrences and turning off the sump pump in the basement that prevents it from being flooded in rainy weather.
 
One of the pub's owners, Lisa Fowler, says that "Sometimes it feels like someone is running fingers through your hair." At other times "it feels like someone is behind you, but when you turn round, you catch a shadow in the corner of your eye but nothing is there."
 
These are classic manifestations of hauntings. And where else would you expect to be haunted, but a three hundred year-old English pub?
 
The haunting got kicked up a notch recently after closing time, when Lisa was upstairs and spotted something on the CCTV screen. She assumed that the barmaid, Gemma, had let someone into the pub. Lisa phoned down to ask, and when Gemma said that the place was empty, Lisa ran downstairs assuming that they had an intruder. Instead, she found an empty room.
 
Up until this incident, Lisa had explained away the occurrences as being normal (if odd) phenomena. But the CCTV incident and captured footage convinced her of the existence of Beryl.
 
Luckily, Lisa says that Beryl doesn't feel sinister. It seems that, like many ghosts, she's just a lonely old lady who likes to hang out at the pub and play the occasional silly prank. She probably just wants a pint or two!

Anne Hathaway did a great job on 'SNL'

Submitted by LauriePerry on 11/12/12 2:44pm
Actress shined in several hilarious skits.

Over the years, I'll admit that I haven't watched Saturday Night Live as much as I used to. I almost always try to DVR the show, and I manage to get through the opening monologue and then all the way to Weekend Update before I give up. Sometimes it's hilarious and sometimes it's a mess.

This past Saturday, Anne Hathaway hosted SNL. I had high hopes, and I wasn't disappointed. One skit in particular is one of the funniest things I've seen in years on the show (aside from Bill Hader's Stefon, my personal favorite).

This was Anne Hathaway's third time hosting Saturday Night Live, and there is a good reason she's brought back so often: She's fantastic. For those of us eagerly awaiting the Christmas Day release of the Les Miserables movie, we were treated to a great "One Day More" featuring Anne and the rest of the SNL cast. Say what you want, but that woman can *really sing.*

If you haven't seen the clips from Anne Hathaway's appearance on Saturday Night Live, EW.com did a very nice wrap up of some of the best skits here. My favorite? Oh, no question: The Homeland skit! I can't emphasize this enough: If you watch Homeland, you have to see Anne Hathaway as CIA Agent Carrie Mathison.

I just watched it again for the umpteenth time and laughed my head off (again). Taran Killam doing Brody's small mouth killed, and props to Bill Hader for a really solid impression of Mandy Patinkin's Saul. Did you watch last weekend's SNL with Anne Hathaway? What did you think? Hit, or total miss?

The carnivorous deep-sea harp sponge

Submitted by erika on 11/12/12 2:25pm
This bizarre creature holds many surprises.

Researchers recently published information and pictures of this beautiful, bizarre deep sea creature. Dubbed the "harp sponge" for its shape, this strange creature lives on the ocean floor off Monterey Bay in California.

Your typical sponge is a passive creature that strains our colloquial understanding of the difference between a plant and an animal. Most of them lack circulator and respiratory systems, and rely on ocean currents to move oxygenated water through their bodies. They have no nervous system, no head or tail, and have unspecialized cells that, like stem cells, can turn into any cell the sponge happens to need at the time.
 
Most sponges are passive filter feeders. Ocean currents sweep through their honeycombed bodies, which capture tiny food particles like a comb. However, most sponges are oval or round in shape; the shape of this sponge is what first drew researchers' attention. Described as "candelabra-like," the harp sponge has between two and six vanes which radiate spikes that stick up into the water column.
 
The second surprise came when the researchers learned what the harp sponge eats: living prey. This delicate creature may not look dangerous, but you are not a zooplankton. The harp sponge's spikes are covered with tiny barbs like fish hooks, which trap tiny creatures as they are swept through it by the currents. The sponge emits a sticky goo which envelops the trapped prey and disintegrates it. The nutrients are then absorbed into the sponge.
 
And the third surprise has to do with the harp sponge's sex life. Which, for a sponge, is surprisingly sophisticated.
 
Most sponges reproduce either asexually (through budding) or by broadcasting both sperm and eggs into the water. But carnivorous sponges release their sperm inside little packets called spermatophores. These spermatophores are released into the water currents, and picked up by a female sponge downstream. When the spermatophore attaches to the vanes of a female sponge, the sperm burrow out of the packet and fertilize the female from the outside in, as it were.
 
This fascinating new species was found at a depth of two miles beneath the ocean's surface by a Monterey Bay Aquarium research team using a remotely operated vehicle. As one of the researchers pointed out, "We've seen only 1 percent of Monterey Bay and it's still one of the most well-studied regions of Earth in deep water." Who knows what other mysteries the ocean depths will hold?

Is catnip good for your cat?

Submitted by lmccloud on 11/12/12 1:59pm
Why you should give catnip toys and treats to your cat

You love seeing your cat happy? You want your cat to be healthy? Could catnip toys and treats make her healthy and happy? What are the benefits of catnip and is it good for your cat?

If you ever bought catnip for your kitty, you may have noticed that she goes crazy every time she sees or smells it? Some people may even think that it makes their kitty seem as they are drunk. For this reason, they may think it works like a drug and is bad for their kitty.

However, catnip is not a drug. It is an herb, a beneficial herb. Some vets have referred to this herb as a cocktail for cats. It makes cats happy. It can help relieve stress. It can even help them reduce nervousness and some bad habits such as scratching. However, just as a human has to limit their intake of cocktails, a cat should be limited on their intake of catnip. This should be given on once a day.

Catnip is a minty herb. It is sometimes referred to as cat mint. About 50 percent of the cats who are given catnip will show a response to it. This can include such changes in behavior as: excitement, intoxicated appearance, euphoria, drooling, hyperactivity and an increase in meowing.

No, catnip is not harmful. The changes in the cat’s behavior will soon vanish. Catnip is also non-toxic and non-addictive. It comes in many forms such as: dried catnip, catnip oil and catnip toys. It can be purchased at most pet stores, department stores, or some drug stores.

Should you give your cat catnip? This is entirely up to you. However, if the changes in your cat scare you when you give it to her, simply don’t give it to her, again. It is as simple as that.

 

 

"Yug Ylimaf"

Submitted by erika on 11/12/12 1:44pm
Retreads the same old territory - literally.

I really don't know what to do with this, the 200th episode of the series. It was a solid episode, but I didn't enjoy it, because it retreaded - all to literally - territory that has already been beaten into the ground. There is nothing about this episode that we haven't seen before, and I'm starting to get tired of it. 

At every single level, this episode has been done before. Stewie's time travel machine is practically a cliché. In the premier, Stewie and Brian went back to the first episode, so we've already trod that ground. Every other scene is either a replay of a classic scene, or a new scene that is in itself stale (like the Yet Another Giant Chicken Fight). 
 
I am reminded of Star Wars jokes. Every single Star Wars joke that can possibly be made, has. Not just by Family Guy, I'm talking everyone everywhere. But we keep making Star Wars jokes. Why? Clearly the general public has a much higher tolerance for "the same stuff over again" than you would think. After all, isn't that what made McDonalds and Starbucks so incredibly popular?
 
Seen from that perspective, from the perspective of someone who will never get tired of the usual Family Guy antics, this was a pretty successful episode. They managed to squeeze a little bit more funny out of some old scenes, and tinkered with some new scenes in an odd and nonsensical (wouldn't everyone be speaking backwards, too?) fashion. 
 
But I am not that person. I grow weary of Yet Another Giant Chicken Fight. I am saddened by the use of the time machine again. I don't find it comforting. Why would I? If I wanted to watch those things, I would go watch them in re-runs. You can find a Family Guy rerun five times a day in my cable market, not to mention Netflix.
 
It isn't soothingly familiar. It looks to me like Family Guy has plain old run out of ideas. They can literally do anything they want in an episode of Family Guy. They could send the characters to Mars, or kill one off, or add a new one. Send Meg off to college. Move across the country. Grow gills and live under water. There's six ideas off the top of my head, and I've barely finished my morning coffee. 
 
But no: we are forced to relive the show all over again. Le sigh.
 

"Gone Abie Gone"

Submitted by erika on 11/12/12 1:38pm
Massive continuity errors

I don't mind the massive continuity errors that this episode introduces to the series. Even though it isn't really "continuity errors" so much as "ripping up the past continuity that has been established over many episodes and crapping on the remains." But you know, it's just a television show. I can let that kind of thing go. I'm sure many fans can't, and will give this episode a thumbs down just on that basis.

But what got me is, this is an entire episode about Grandpa Simpson in which Grandpa Simpson hardly ever appears. Abe is an off-screen character for most of the episode. How can someone be a secondary character in a story arc that is about them? It strikes the wrong note, and made the entire episode feel vaguely "off" to me. We learn much more about the jazz singer Rita LaFleur than we do Abe. I certainly don't feel closer to Abe than I did before. 
 
Another thing that I found vexing was the show's resolute determination not to discuss any of the potential fallout that would have occurred in an interracial relationship in the sixties. (I think the episode is set in the sixties. It's hard to say.) 
 
I think it's safe to say that, depending on when this episode was specifically set, while Abe and Rita were making out in the jazz club, somewhere in America cops were blasting non-violent black protestors with fire hoses and police dogs.
 
Let me lay some history on you: between 1964 and 1967, many states actually put laws on the books that banned interracial marriage. It wasn't until the 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia that banning interracial marriage was deemed unconstitutional, and the laws were overturned.
 
You may think "Well, that's a pretty heavy burden to put on an animated sitcom." But I see this kind of thing often: the whitewashing of American history. And I refuse to accept it. 
 
Whitewashing history does us all a disservice. Both the people watching the show now (who may or may not be aware of how hard it was to be a black person in the 1960s) and the people in the 60s who fought for change. It's not right to pretend like an interracial relationship would have been fine and unremarkable then, and frankly I expect better from The Simpsons. Maybe I shouldn't.
 
Oh, and also there was a sub-plot where Homer stored Lisa's college money at an online poker website, with predictable results. The end.

Help the hungry this Thanksgiving

Submitted by lmccloud on 11/12/12 1:22pm
Give back this Thanksgiving.

Yes, life is tough. There is a lot of stress in our lives. We have bills. We have family problems. We may even have health problems. But chances are if we take the time to access our life, we would see that we have it lucky. This is why many people are choosing to give back on or around their Thanksgiving holiday. Here are some ways in which you can help, too.

Do you love to bake? Why not bake a batch of cookies and take them to your nearest homeless shelter. They are sure to appreciate the sweets. You may even to want to ask some friends and family members to help you out with the project. You could host a baking party or allow them to bake the cookies in their own homes. Then you will have even more sweet goods to take to the shelter.

Winter is coming in most areas of the country. This means that people will have to pay more for heating costs and some will have little left over for food. This is also why the food pantries will need more food now. We can help by donating what we can. This is a great time to fill up a bag with non-perishable foods and take to our local food bank or pantry. You can even ask neighbors to pitch in and take several bags with you.

If you have the time in between your holiday festivities, you can even set up a holiday food drive or clothing drive. This is a great way to help the community and spend time with your neighbors.

Finally, if you don’t have the time to bake, gather up any food or organize any events, you can also donate money to your local shelters or food pantries. Money will allow the shelters and pantries to purchase what they need. Yes, Thanksgiving is the ideal time to appreciate what we have and help those who could use a little more.

 

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