Animal Services rescued 20 cats and one dog from a home on Whitehouse Creek Road on Sunday after receiving a tip from a concerned neighbor. Horrendously unsanitary conditions inside...
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of 300 religious institutions across the nation, has declared Nov. 12 National Day of Witness for a Presidential Order to Ban Torture....
After all the time and money candidates spent getting elected, it's comforting to know that citizens can still get involved in local government just by showing up. Santa Cruz...
A study at MediaCurves.com reports on the different reactions Americans have to the same woman's face, based on whether or not she wears a traditional Muslim head covering. While the study's methodology is curiously absent (did the respondents see both pictures? how many respondents were there? was there a geographic spread or did it take place in one region?) so the results have to be taken with a big grain of salt, it's interesting to see some of the outcomes. The picture with the headscarf reveals a prejudicial picture of more familial wealth, less career prospects, and better parenting skills. The picture without the headscarf reveals a prejudicial picture of a woman who's better educated, single, and less attractive.
Given that the final question shows most people consider the scarfless woman American and the scarfed woman Middle Eastern, could it be that the survey is even more interesting for revealing something of how our society regards its own women?
People like to joke about how addicting World of Warcraft is -- 'crack that's absorbed through your fingertips' is a phrase that's bandied about -- but it's kind of horrifying to hear the consequences of it in real life. There was a famous video clip about a year ago of a German kid just completely losing his mind when the game didn't go his way, smashing his keyboard and throwing an insane tantrum, but now comes this kind of scary conversation captured in a game chat room between a kid named James and his parents.
The blog "Garfield Minus Garfield" does something very brilliant: it takes every "Garfield" comic strip featuring Jon, then removes the stupid cat and whatever the cat says. The strips are a faintly disturbing examination of a manic depressive man, with often hysterical results. Could it be that Jim Davis is a comedic genius and didn't even know it himself? After all, Garfield always speaks in fluffly thought bubbles instead of regular speech bubbles, implying that his contributions are ambivalent at best. Anyone who's found solace in talking to a pet will recognize the sheer hilarious horror of realizing that the animal is nothing but an excuse for unbridled, nonsensical self-conversation. Seriously, check it out.
May I be catty for a moment? Good. I don't get Jessica Alba. Not that hot, and totally dead behind the eyes, as if she's a CGI creation instead of a real actress. Nothing displays it more than a misguided photo shoot commissioned by Latina magazine, in which Alba is photographed in various vintage horror poses and then dropped side by side next to the real actresses . The results are unintentionally hilarious. She looks more like Macauley Culkin in Home Alone than Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby, and I've never seen anyone look more like a mannequin than that Drew Barrymore impression. Even in still photographs, she can't act.
I'm an absolute sucker for everyday objects being used as instruments, so it's only natural that I'm attracted to glass playing, a little pasttime we've all indulged at one point or another during a boring restaurant visit. You fill your water glass to a desired level, moisten your fingertips, then run them along the rim to produce a hollow sounding pitch. It's called a glass harmonica or glass harp. While any amateur can give it a whirl, some people have elevated it to full musical professionalism. Gawk at this guy, who appears to be playing outdoors somewhere cold enough that you can occasionally see his breath:
I was sad to leave Addis, I had grown attached to all the bureaucracy and quirkiness of the place. My visit to the Ethiopian Mapping Authority was a proper experience in official procedures. I was encouraged to visit the authority, prompted by an enthusiastic Ethiopian that I met one day at the University. He invited my coworker Doug and me to come to the government building later in the afternoon.
Roy Scheider passed away at the age of 75, a truly fantastic actor. While the obituaries are all going to fawn over his work in Jaws, what popped into my mind was the profoundly bizarre closing number to 1979's All That Jazz, and how it is now a lot more poignant than even Fosse intended it to be. RIP, Roy.
Is it, I wonder, entirely too late to draft either Mr. Blobby or Lord Screaming Sutch for the office of United States President? They compose themselves, I dare say, with such unrivalled poise, and a certain dignity befitting of the office.
Does Obama Do Yoga? If the past 4 years of yoga in Santa Cruz with Mark Stephens has any indication of the next 4 years of an Obama Administration, our country has a major crisis we better begin to prepare for. I took a...
Does Obama Do Yoga? Does Obama do yoga?
I think that this is a good question. If he doesn't, he sure had me fooled. If he does, how "cool" would that be! And not just for all of us yoga junkies, here in santa cruz, who...
Student Activists Flyer at Chamber of Commerce Dinner Thank you Elizabeth for exposing this on going struggle up on the hill. It is sad that the University of California received an award for organization of the year while it has continuously failed to ...
Neighbors concerned about Neary Lagoon Didn't I see something about psychically affecting the water in that Santa Cruz hit movie, "What the @#$%^ Do We Know Anyway?"
Answer: not very bleeping much!
It's swampy water, it's natural. Don't b...
