He's so Cute! You guess which one I'm talking about. Hint: I hate Elmo.

Wayne Brady is so very talented. I miss his talk show (and I normally never watch talk shows).********

Don't Diet, Sleep

Here, via 1stParagraph, is a great incentive to get your beauty sleep, so important to your overall health. Hint: Click on the title of this post.

I love this video by Pink...silly unpopcultured me, I thought this was Gwen Stefani at first and wondered where the social consciousness was coming from. I've never heard Pink before but just might have to give her a try after watching this music video.

Stupid Girls

They got pretty wild in the 50s too! If you dare, check out this automotive commercial from that era when everyone was, ummmm...stiff.

Suggestive Commercial

Liberation of the Mind -

I teach because I want to show children that learning can be a dynamic, fun experience that adds color to their universe. That learning should not be equated to the stark environments and bureaucratic systems within which schools exist but is a freeing force that opens up so many new possibilities in life and empowers us to accomplish whatever we choose in life.
In one sentence, I teach because I want my students to take a moment out from under the influence of so many large power brokers in society, to pull out the headphones, turn off the commercial television, and see their own power to control their own destinies and shape their worlds.

It's late and not Christmas anymore. Even if you stay up, apparently you can't take the day with you.

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Dear Drew Bailey,

I have a crush on you. Scratch that - have had a crush on you for some time now. You were such a captivating reporter a few years ago and now I find out that you work for/run a division of the state department! Wow. Clearly I was right about you. You will likely be press secretary or some such illustrious profession in the near future. I'll be following your ascent to greatness.

-Looney2000@irrational.com

I started out really really wanting to teach. I wanted to use my creativity, humor, and compassion to make a positive change in my students' lives. I also love my subject, mathematics, and knew that there aren't a lot of role models for kids showing them that women and minorities really can be successful in math and thoroughly enjoy math. I know as a role model that I have had a positive effect on many of my students. However, it has taken so much energy and time to learn how to be anywhere close to effective as a math teacher and still parents and students constantly look down on teachers and treat them in degrading ways. Moreover, I have learned after all this time that the way to be a more successful teacher is to be all about organization (a lot of secretarial work is involved really) and relatively serious presentations, rather than being more laid back which is my style of presentation (I like whole group discussions generally but this doesn't always work well with middle school groups who hate math and want to give you a hard and harder time). I am feeling less and less that creativity has much of anything to do with it really. Certainly not the kind of creativity that I excel at and I think I want to return to one of the design fields that I was initially interested in right after college. I am very disappointed that teaching was not what I thought however and very disappointed with the rigidity of the school system and of a negative school culture that teaches kids that school is a looming behemoth, a gray prison that you should use all your energy to resist passively and aggressively. Another reason I am leaving is that my colleagues recently argued that it was necessary to serve kids soda with pizza and that we should charge kids to come to an in-school holiday party.

Illogic sometimes seems to just creep in and rules where angels fear to tread.

The argument of powerful corporations and governments around the world, against government regulation of their products, is that people should be free to choose what they want to buy or who they want to represent them. However, it is clear from a number of incidents throughout history, long ago and more recently, that people will make (contrary to the premise of neoclassical economics) irrational and self-abusive decisions when presented with convincing arguments to do so. For a sociopolitical/sociopathic example, recall that the National Socialist German Workers Party was elected by popular vote in 1920's Germany and their genocidal policies largely supported or denied by the populace.

In the United States, there has also been a long history of support and denial of inhumane and irrational policies and behavior. It cannot be ignored that the institution of slavery in this country was widely supported and that we continue to laud the "founding fathers" who were direct participants in this system. That people continue to abuse each other and themselves then by smoking, drinking, and otherwise ingesting poisons is not surprising. It is simply a continuation of a history of denial, apathy, and indifference toward others in this country. I very much agree that Scandinavia generally speaking and certainly Sweden in particular has a very different cultural understanding of the importance of health for everyone. Rather than assuming for example that people ought to be able to make completely rational purchasing decisions on their own in the face of a barage of corporate marketing from an early age, Sweden (and now Britain?) has banned the marketing of products to young children. The idea being that government should be the way that society regulates itself, looks out for those members who cannot look out for themselves in one way or another...children being a key demographic that needs protection from a lot of things, including corporate influences trying to "build consumer bases" for products harmful to health (long or short-term).