Too Long!

It's been too too long since i last posted!

Ah, well, I am motivated again.. so let's try again <3

Just to get things rolling, I'm currently reading The Lady by Anne McCaffrey and I will finish reading Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

To all my friends on GAIA and everyone else.. HI!

Time to get back to it

I guess it's time to get back to it.

I've been off for a while because I have been spending time at GAIA online setting up a literature guild where people can, well, discuss lit.

But, I have to have a place all my own, I suppose. So here I am again. ^

Lately I have been reading more to gear myself to writing my own novel. Today I'm reading bits out from HP Lovecraft and watching Rear Window to begin to understand fear and suspence.

I'm really tryign to write fantasy but I want to be a well rounded writer , so I'll scare people as well as provide them with escapism.

Remembering Ann Richards

There are 2 gals in politics that I will always remember and hold close to my heart and they are both from Texas.

One is Molly Ivins and the other is Ann Richards. Well, Ann recently passed away and Molly published a eulogy for her today.

Nothing could be more fitting.

Dun

Dun
n.

1. An almost neutral brownish gray to dull grayish brown.
2. A fishing fly having this color.
3. A horse of this color.

[Middle English, from Old English dunn, perhaps of Celtic origin.]

Also, from
Answers
Dictionary.com

NB: I was after the color definition but as you can see it's got several meanings. An Interesting word!

Your Body Wants You FAT

Here's a very quick post and run for you. According to this short snip our bodies may tend to fat naturally. Well, I guess this makes sense because it wants to prepare us for those "famine" days.

So, if you ever want to toss the scales out the window you can rest a little easier in knowing that nature really is out to 'get you.'

New Words!

Today we have Plutocracy and Kleptocracy. I did get them off answers.com but I thought their descriptions were skiimpay. So I went to wikipedia instead

I do suggest going to answers and looking them up, however, since they put them into the context of the daily news. ^^

Ohhh, what the heck. Here's Plutocracy and Kleptocracy from the answers 'say what?' context :D

I just have to say that I think Pres. Bush is straining our credulity with the entire innocent "let's stop Kleptocracy .. ABROAD' shtick. I seriously don't know whether to laugh or to cry at such audacity/cluelessness.

Birdsong's Favorite Links

No site makes it here unless I think it's really good. That should go without saying but I'm saying it anyway so you groovy cats and dogs out there know that a lot of time has gone into culling the weak links from the herd

OpenDemocracy.org
Gaia Online
NOW with David Brancaccio
The Indomitable Molly Ivins
Union of Concerned Scientists
The Beat Writers Page
Raw Story
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting
Anime Wallpaper

Relax, We Still Have 9 Planets

Matthew Yglesias and I do not necesssarily see eye to eye on many things.. particularly since I, like him, like philosophy. So, logically that means we dissagree over everything.

On the controversy around the scientists renaming the definition of planet to exclude Pluto, however, I emphatically agree.

Adopting such a definition has accomplished, well, nothing whatsoever for the sake of science. Astronomy, clearly, had been progressing just fine in previous decades without a rigorous definition of “planet.” Telescopes, NASA-launched probes, and other instruments were bringing us more and more information about which objects exist in the solar system and about the nature of those objects. The term “planet” meanwhile, had long since ceased to play a substantive role in the science of astronomy. Before Copernicus, celestial bodies were divided between the planets (the moon, Mercury, the sun, Jupiter, etc.), which moved, and the stars, which didn’t. Contemporary astronomy, however, distinguishes among objects according to what they’re made of, so that the sun is a star and so forth. The very notion of a planet is, at this point, a piece of folk culture, not an important element of science. And according to cultural tradition, there are nine planets and Pluto is one of them.

Oh, mega word.

Take my body, for example. I'm some parts guy and some parts girl. Personally, I like the term 'hermaphrodite' to describe my sexuality. Others, however, have taken science seriously when they co-opted the word to mean only those creatures that had two fully functioning secual reproductive organs and could impregnate themselves.

Well, scientists, you are full of crap. Hermaphrodite referred to human beings when the ancient Greeks used the term. If they invented it they should know better than you how to use it.

All this is to say is that as lovely as science is it doesn't have the right to determine our language for us. If we happen to agree with them, fine. In the meantime they can keep their damned mitts off my sexual identity and my planets.

Labor Day Is A Joke

Harold Meyerson has some strong words for what labor used to be like and what it has devolved into.

Devaluing labor is the very essence of our economy. I know that airlines are a particularly embattled industry, but my eye was recently caught by a story on Mesaba Airlines, an affiliate of Northwest, where the starting annual salary for pilots is $21,000 a year, and where the company is seeking a pay cut of 19 percent. Maybe Mesaba's plan is to have its pilots hit up passengers for tips.

Labor Day is almost upon us. What a joke.

This is an issue important to me. It makes sense that the wealthy want to keep their wealth, power, and privilege. But, if this is the cost we must pay for them to enjoy themselves we have to al lask ourselves if the "American Dream" is simply throwing a party on the back of a poor person.

Living Cheaply and Well

It's of interest to everyone to live as well as they can and as frugally as they can (and as environmentally friendly as they can). I am interested in living as cheaply as I can without sacrificing health or the environment in doing so. In fact I want to include all three componants in my day to day life and get myself out of the consumer driven mentality as much as possible. So, toward that end I'm starting a collection of links that will aid us in that goal.

Being Mean as Hell

Frugal Living in the UK (If you don't live in the UK most of the advice still applies ;)

University of Illinois Extention for Urban Living Lots of good stuff on living on a budget and container gardening, etc

Bella Online Frugal Living Site I really like this site. Informative and it leads to dozens of other good sites on frugal living.

Thrifty Fun Great Content!

Frugal and Fashion Good site!!!! My fave so far. But, I'll keep looking ;)

Frugal Village Another good one. It looks like others have had the same idea as me! This is a good thing. This site also covers the concept of homesteading, which I'm also interested in.

This link will hopefully change from time top time as will all the other links. As I explore, I'll remove or add links as the fancy strikes me. As always, suggestions are appreciated <3