Another NaNoWriMo is in the books (ha) and I’m catching up with everything, so this is a long post Here’s what we have today. First up, a friendly reminder:
And finally, the Supreme Court will hear a huge case about business’ right to discriminate. I’m really nervous about it, but hoping Kennedy pulls out a win:
Alright, let’s see what we have going on today. First up, of course, thoughts go out to Boston. I was running tonight at the gym, and not that it did a bit of difference, but it was nice to run for them.
This capped off the week with the DOMA and Prop 8 cases, and of course, it’s always fun when there’s alcohol involved:
Here are instructions for making a picnic table with a built in cooler, perfect for wine or beer for a picnic. Awesome DIY project, and I can certainly think of certain family members/friends who would love this!
The Church of England slowly moves forward, suggesting that they allow same-sex blessings. Now, to be fair, the marriage equality legislation moving through Parliament specifically outlaws same-sex matrimony in the Church of England, and the Church says matrimony itself should only be between a man and a women, so they have some room to grow. It’s weird having a state religion.
Back with a couple things for everyone. First up, I’ll have to wonder if my laptop bag (a new one I just switched to by the way) will forever smell like vanilla, since I splashed my drink onto it. Not too much, but enough. But then the table next to me spilled their entire drink on the floor, so I feel a little better.
Anyway….
A follow up to the cello Star Wars, I like this one better by the way:
Here is the Muppabet, which reached the end, and has since ended. That’s a neat idea though, to have a set end for a blog.
The creator of TED is looking to recreate the conference once again.
I have a few friends who will love this for the pokeman reference. I have others who will love it for the gardening skills. Here is the pokerose.
When I’m out in public and can overheard a first date, I live tween using the hashtag #FirstDateEavesdropping and it’s a fun time. Andy Boyle did the same, but with a break-up
He’s out of the race, and didn’t have a chance to begin with, but I had a special type of vitriol for Herman Cain, seeing as he’s racist against the Lebanese.
Copyranter mentions how hard it is to do a good rape ad, and he’s right. It’s a very, very tough line to walk.
Slog points out that alcohol and drinking do not magically make rapists exist. It’s a valid point, and it makes me think that this works better as an alcohol awareness ad.
In that sense (with some changes to the the copy), I think that it is a great ad, and I would hope it would remind, not just women, that when impaired, people are prone to do things they wouldn’t otherwise, or were even coerced into. It could be quite an awesome campaign, focused around the “couldn’t say no” theme.
Emphasis on “couldn’t.”
Contrary to the views in the links above, I don’t see this as victim-blaming. I can see how it could be perceived as that, but I guess I’m more looking at the ad as a piece about self-control.
Even though this ad was quickly pulled, it got a lot of coverage online, so at least we can hope that brings attention to the cause.
This story is for all who love Randall, and if you haven’t, make sure you check out his horoscope hotline, a bunch of us call it every morning at work. And by the way, Honeybadger doesn’t give a shit, just in case you forgot.
Remember the shooting spree at the summer camp in Europe? Check out this string of text messages between a girl on the island and her mom. Touching and amazing.
Myths Retold is pretty awesome, although each one is long, so I sadly don’t read it as much as I should. But here is one of my favorites, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Here’s a cool time-lapse of the front page of the New York Time’s webpage through the years:
And winner of irony goes to this story. I haven’t done much on Google+ because not many of my friends are on it yet, but this just makes me want to hug everyone at Google.
Naturally the election came up in conversation. Trying to be even-handed and polite, the Brits said something diplomatic about McCain’s campaign, expecting Bush to express some warm words of support for the Republican candidate.
Not a chance. “I probably won’t even vote for the guy,” Bush told the group, according to two people present. “I had to endorse him. But I’d have endorsed Obama if they’d asked me.”
Remember when the Internet killed GAP’s new, awful logo? Here’s a refresher. And here’s a fun idea about what the creative meeting was like.
If you read nothing else about alcohol, make sure you read about the science. Remember, the science.