Happy Memorial Day!

Thanks to all who fight for our freedom!

Cheating elephants via NPR

watch this from NPR - amazing. Of course, it's not amazing that elephants are highly intelligent. It's amazing that scientists are just realizing this.

BIG ASS MOOON

(Image from NASA)
Super big moon expected Saturday night - go watch!

"Apples" No Worse Than "Pears" in Terms of CV Risk

You might have to register to read this article but did you know that central adiposity is apple shaped, where the fat is accumulated in the front? Science sure is fun!

happy pi day!

Pi = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510
58209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
82148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128
48111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196
44288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091
45648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273
72458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436
78925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094
33057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548
07446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912
98336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798
60943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132
00056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872
14684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235
42019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960
51870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859
50244594553469083026425223082533446850352619311881
71010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303
59825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778
18577805321712268066130019278766111959092164201989
38095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952
03530185296899577362259941389124972177528347913151
55748572424541506959508295331168617278558890750983
81754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012
85836160356370766010471018194295559619894676783744
94482553797747268471040475346462080466842590694912
93313677028989152104752162056966024058038150193511
25338243003558764024749647326391419927260426992279
67823547816360093417216412199245863150302861829745
55706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302955
32116534498720275596023648066549911988183479775356
63698074265425278625518184175746728909777727938000
81647060016145249192173217214772350141441973568548
16136115735255213347574184946843852332390739414333…

Relief Orgs - Be Careful of Scams

Donate but be careful about to whom you donate. See link

awesome

New post from Christoph Niemann on NYTimes

I ran for student counsel one year and one of my teachers asked me why people run for office, why don't we walk? I replied, because everyone will run past me.

i (heart) storycorps on NPR

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134423796/a-bar-a-date-and-a-datsun-lead-to-years-of-fun

more friday fun

Friday fun

fruit

how come when I buy grapes, they are bitter and taste nasty, but when I eat grapes at someone's house, they are delicious?

Another reason why I (heart) Snoop Dogg

from Rob Breszny's Free Will Astrology:

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The coming year will be a time to think big -- maybe even bigger than you've dared to think in over a decade. That doesn't mean you should be rash, reckless, or unrealistic. On the contrary. Your expansive dreams should be carefully wrought and anchored in a detailed understanding of how things actually work. As an example of what not to do, learn from Snoop Dogg. The rapper wanted to rent all 62 square miles of the small European nation of Liechtenstein so he could film his music video there. Liechtenstein authorities turned him down, but only because his team didn't ask far enough in advance. Had he been better organized, the whole country could have been his.

YOU CAN RENT LIECHTENSTEIN??????

SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR!

A total lunar eclipse glows red over Germany (file picture).
Photograph by Heribert Proepper, AP [from National Geographic]

We have survived to celebrate the shortest day of sunlight of the year - the Winter Solstice is today, my friends! Starting tomorrow, we inch our way back to more sunlight!!!!! YAYAYAYAYYAYA!!!

My roommate's daughter and son-in-law are staying over and they graciously woke me up to watch the equinox at 1:30 this morning, which I was very happy to see.

More about the equinox and the eclipse here.

a funny bird

Sentence structure is a funny bird. When I read the headline below, I thought - why is the government studying how people got injured while having sex:

QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Who Had Migraines or Severe Headaches, Pain in the Neck, Lower Back, or Face/Jaw, by Sex

Then I realized that they meant male vs female.

yep

back to the navel gazing. and ire.

old lady

so this weekend i visit friends frannie and frabney and frannie kept calling me old lady - which i totally am. see previous posts below. i am one step away from a hip fracture. one geritol away from boxes of medicine. one melodrama away from a soap opera.

really.

my ailments

so three weeks ago I got these weird bug bites on my leg and hand (not bed bugs - dust mite allergy). two weeks ago my neck muscles start spasming. one week ago, more dust mite bites (seriously people, no bed bugs). this last week, stomach virus and continued neck problems.

really, can't I catch a break already?!

so i got the magic shot

i got the magic shot in my neck to quell the spasms, but then I bend over and hit my head on my desk.

Really, is there no justice?

caveat

i should probably caveat this with i have been dealing with neck and back spasms for the last 5 days. I am generally happy go lucky (unless I have the snarky hat on) but the relentless pain has made me into a very angry person. Hopefully the MD will help fix this and everything will be rosy again. :)

I still hate YAHOO though.

YAHOO MAIL SUCKS

I forgot my password and the answer to the security question and guess how long it took for me to get my password reset. 1 hour? 24 hours? No. It took one week. One week of emails to Yahoo. One week of logging on, attempting three times and then getting locked out for 12 hours. LOCKED OUT. WTF does Yahoo thinks is going to happen in 12 hours? I will miraculously remember my freaking security answer or password in 12 hours???

Today, Yahoo finally sends me a phone number and the customer service rep asks me the SAME DAMN SECURITY QUESTION THAT I CAN'T ANSWER!!!!! Seriously. I told him - if I knew the freaking answer to that question, I wouldn't be talking to you now. He made me try to answer the question three times. And three times i couldn't answer the question. In frustration, I asked if I could speak to his manager because I cannot fathom how my attempting to answer the security question is going to fix this situation. AND the rep said there is no way to reset the password unless I know this answer.

...

Seriously.

Finally, I don't know what made the rep look again (!!! other than me freaking out and saying - what do you mean that's the only way you can reset the password? that can't be the only way you can reset the password!) but then he asked me what email address I included as an alternate. of course, THAT took me three times as well (seriously - my mind erased all information related to this account). But finally, the third time worked and the email address was accepted. THEN he reset my password.

And then the poor schmuck said he would be sending me a survey which will be sent to his manager about the service I received today.

Really.