sevenblackbirds

I am such a geek for digging this, but it's adorable! :)

Neil definitely summed it up best with:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.  -Neil Gaiman.

The top 400: Income way up and taxes way, way down

Created by Oatmeal

Ow, this is kinda painful!

While stumbling, I found this link showing pictures of a minimum security Norwegian prison.

Pictures can be found here.

The pictures are nothing new. I've seen them on other sites before and never really paid any attention to them. This time though, I scrolled through the comments.

The comments from actual Norwegians, as opposed to what appear to be conservative American trolls, all say basically the same thing:

"Yep, that's a prison. What's the big deal?"

To which the majority of Americans reply:

"But where is the anal rape? WTF?!? This so-called prison looks better than my house/apartment/dorm/cardboard box/etc... What prevents foreigners from entering the country illegally and committing non-violent crimes just so they get sent to this luxury prison? I am seriously considering doing just that, so seriously answers, pls thnx? Don't you fools know that the only way a criminal will learn is if you put them in a cage and treat them like an animal for years!  That way when they're released back into society, they... um.... respect the law and look forward to being a productive member of society? Um, that's how it works, right?"

To which the Norwegians reply:

"O.o??? What do you think the inmates require more, the anal rape you speak of or education and healthy exercise? This is a prison system based around the idea that it's better to give a man a proper second chance at life than to mistreat him for x number of years and then throw him back out to his criminal friends. It works."

And the Americans say:

"I bet every one of you commies is committing crimes left and right just to get a free stay in these luxury hotel prisons!"

The confused Norwegians reply:

"No... this is prison. PRISON. Everyone's home and live on the outside is better than this. What is going on in your countries where our prisons look more appealing than your everyday lives?!?!?"

So Finland chimes in:

"This really is terrible. Our prisoners get PS3s too!"

This was taken from megarandom who found it via tempest_omouthy's post here.

(Feel Free to Repost - thanks to all I got it from)

In 2005, a woman named Jamie Leigh Jones was working for US defense contractor KBR (which at the time was owned by Halliburton). She was sent to Iraq, where she shared a barracks with 400 men. Over the course of her stay, she was drugged and gang-raped. When she attempted to report the crime, she was, under the orders of KBR employees, imprisoned in a shipping container where she was denied food, water, and medical treatment. She was only released due to the efforts of her father back in America.

When she was finally returned to the United States, she attempted to bring a lawsuit against KBR. She found that she could not do so because her contract specifically stipulated that any allegations of sexual assault had to be heard in private arbitration. This was apparently a frequent enough problem that it was, staggeringly enough, actually a standard boilerplate in their contracts.

Yesterday, Senator Al Franken introduced an amendment to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Bill. Put simply, the amendment would prevent federal money from going to any company that had such a clause in their employee contracts.

This amendment would seem to be a no-brainer. It says nothing about taking any action against KBR or Halliburton; it says only that if a company attempts to conceal allegations of rape, our country will not respond by giving them money. Indeed, the amendment passed handily. However, the following 30 men voted against it:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
John Barrasso (R-WY)
Kit Bond (R-MO)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Bob Corker (R-TN)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
John Ensign (R-NV)
Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
James Risch (R-ID)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Thune (R-SD)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Of these 30 men, the following are up for reelection in 2010:

Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Mike Crapo (R-ID)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John McCain (R-AZ)
John Thune (R-SD)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Richard Burr (R-NC)

This, I thought, is worth saving. Silly and profound thoughts on the new year, and self-identity.

Somehow, though all my internet wanderings, I had managed to miss adventure time.



It reminds me of Rejection, which I'm sure everyone that has ever gone near the internet has seen at some point.

Happy Twelfth Night to everybody!

Per Wikipedia:

In medieval and Tudor England, the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve - now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the twelfth night festival, a cake that contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would rule the feast. Midnight signaled the end of his rule and the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition can be traced to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.

In some countries, and in the Catholic religion worldwide, the Twelfth Night and Epiphany marks the start of the Carnival season, which lasts through Mardi Gras Day.


Now you know.