so don't ask if you don't want to know
Amusing and/or interesting
Stuff other people might find funny or just mildly interesting.
Chicken Voila!
Nov 9th
I love ready-made food. I’m not a cook, I’m a heater. I’ve loved everything Stouffers that I’ve tried. I also like Birds Eye Three Cheese Chicken Voila! 
Not so much the other Voilas but I do like this one except the carrots.
Ugh, the carrots. Don’t get me wrong, I do like carrots but these are… nasty. Something is terribly wrong with their carrots. I’m really not a fan of broccoli either but this brand has enough cheese to cover the taste of those.
I figure if I eat all the broccoli it’s okay if I pick out the nasty carrots, right?
For an antivegetarian I think I’ve come a long way every time I choke down some broccoli. Here’s to eating healthy.
Blah
This is the cream of the republican crop?
Nov 9th
As I watch the republican race I can’t help but shake my head. You might not like Obama but at least he’s not as bad as:
Michele Bachmann - “The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax” or ”I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?” as well as her repeated retelling of an anecdote in which a mother said the vaccine caused her daughter to suffer mental retardation.
Rick Perry – “I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution.” or “I think it’s time for us to just hand it over to God, and say, “God: You’re going to have to fix this”
Herman Cain – Let’s just say he’s ignorant and sexist times 100. Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan? Seriously. I’m even leaning towards Rachel Maddow’s take – that Cain is punking us.
Mitt Romney – Hmmm, I don’t have much to say about Romney. Seems the only thing people have against him (besides the republican thing) is his religion. There’s no coincidence we’re being bombarded by those …and I’m a Mormon TV spots. I’m pretty sure Mormons are just like regular people, so the ads are useless. What they should be talking about is the differences (or similarities) between their religion and all the other christian religions. We’re just like you except we believe in magic underwear and don’t drink coffee? Every religion has its own idiosyncrasies so contrast and compare. Teach the difference.
And those are the front-runners? Republicans can’t come up with ONE woman with decent looks and intelligence? ONE person who knows what they’re saying before they open their mouth? ONE person who isn’t some religious fanatic?
Good luck with that.
Obama 2012 – just because the other guy is soooo bad. What is that, better the devil you know?
Not everyone is dog/cat people
Nov 3rd
I was just watching the Today show as I do most mornings, and there was a segment on the guy who used to be Robin (Batman) now has like 72 LARGE dogs. He and wife rescue and train and whatever, he has the space and to each his own, right?
All I can think of is the smell… ugh.
Anyway, back to the studio and there’s one of the women with her own BIG dog. Gentle giant. And they make a point of showing Al Roker at the end of the couch, as far away from this dog as he can get. They tease him and then she lets the dog get closer and closer and there’s poor Al practically climbing over the back of the couch. I mean, he’s laughing and trying to be nice but it’s obvious to me that he does not like that dog. They think it’s funny!
Here’s the thing. I don’t like most pets. I don’t want them near me, I don’t want to make friends, and it’s not fucking cute to try and convince me your precious angel just wants to be pals. IF and WHEN I choose to warm up to your pet – which means I won’t shy away when it comes near – I’ll let you and him know. I will never pet or scratch your dog or cat. (I’m so allergic I’m not touching them or anything in your house where they are allowed to be) I will never want them on my lap. I will maybe at some point greet the pet verbally and not tense up when they come near. I will most likely appreciate their antics from a distance. That’s the best you’re gonna get.
It’s not funny to force a polite person to be uncomfortably accommodating.
It’s not funny to tease someone especially in front of others.
My friends Sheila and Evo have/had a dog and a cat. The cat Maddie is shy and never comes near me. That’s perfect, just the right kind of cat. Their dog Korea (RIP) would come up and smell me and then wander off. I had no problem with that. I even pet-sit for them one weekend and poor Korea was having such a hard time I actually touched her to help her off a bed. I don’t HATE animals! I talk to them and open doors and stuff. I even had a little affection for Korea.
Max and Krystal have two cats. Zia sometimes comes out when I’m there but doesn’t bother me. Snickers (or Baby Kitty or whatever the hell they call her this week) loves freaking me out. Jumps up behind me on the couch or slithers between my feet. My instinct is to kick the little shit across the room but I would never. She actually gets close and stares at me like she’s just waiting for me to lower my guard and then jumps on me. Why do some animals NOT take the hint?
As a guest in your home I kind of expect you to maybe not understand but at least respect how I feel about pets. I’ll stand there for a moment while your dog smells me to identify me, but I absolutely hate when they jump up and/or continue to bother me. Yes, it’s cute as long as it’s waaaaay over there – away from me. I’ll make friends with your pet at my own pace, thank you.
Oh, and I kind of feel the same way about small children.
So… please allow people to approach your pets as they feel comfortable doing it. Please don’t force it.
Why I continue to battle religion
Nov 2nd
People ask why I hate religious people. Why I’m constantly poking fun or posting links about their illegal activities or just plain stupidity.
I try not to pick on ALL religious people, just the bad ones. But if you agree with the bad people, then you’re one of them. Them’s the facts.
Today’s story is about the Catholics’ battle against women. Go read this article and then come back.
Republicans voted twice to slash federal family planning funds for low-income women, moved to prevent women from using their own money to buy insurance plans that cover abortion, introduced legislation that would force women to have ultrasounds before receiving an abortion and, most recently, passed a bill that will allow hospitals to refuse to perform emergency abortions for women with life-threatening pregnancy complications.
… because of the influence of The Conference of Catholic Bishops. So why is a woman’s body so damned important to a group of mostly white men? Do they want to keep us in our place. Keep women pregnant and powerless? Do they not realize there are billions of people on the planet already? Do they not realize forcing women to be incubators makes unwanted children? How many of those unwanted children grow up to live in our prison system?
Now please check out this article on the Ohio pro-life ads coming out. I love this line:
With an entire new school bus full of children per day “saved” by the heartbeat bill, who is going to take care of them?
Exactly! Women generally don’t run to their nearest abortionist the minute they find out they’re experiencing an unwanted pregnancy. They weigh options, they think about the future, they try to imagine a life being responsible for another life. Then some women decide it’s better for everyone if this process stops before it’s gone too far. Maybe it’s because there are too many poor or unloved children in the world already. Maybe it’s because they were raped or are trapped in an abusive relationship and don’t want the extra connection. Maybe they already have kids they struggle to raise and having another will be detrimental to the entire family. Or maybe they’re just selfish bitches who don’t want to ruin their figures or just plain dislike kids. Do we really want these women forced to have children?
We all know kids being raised by uncaring or unprepared parents. Most of those kids don’t stand a chance of growing up to be contributing members of society. They fail in school because nobody at home gives a damn whether they do homework or slip in their grades. They get into trouble as teens because nobody at home gives a damn what’s going on their lives. They in turn raise even more dysfunctional children.
When religion wants to effect policy and/or laws for everyone, that’s when the Atheists need to step up. If they don’t want their religious women getting abortions…
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as “Born-again/Evangelical”.
…then maybe they should just preach about it in their own damned church. We can’t have anything good and decent for everyone in this country because religion keeps butting it’s various and sundry ideals in tearing it apart. Why can’t they just stay in their little fantasy world and leave the rest of us alone?
my thoughts on global climate change
Oct 31st
Yes, I believe our wonderful planet is going though some obvious and somewhat dangerous changes in climate. Arctic and Antarctic ice fields are melting more than in previous recorded history. There is evidence of that. There has been record-breaking heat and snowfall over the last few years. Hurricanes are coming more often, tornadoes are hitting places they’ve rarely been before, even the earth is quaking in unusual places.
We had horrific dust storms here four afternoons in a row whereas we might have had one or two big ones in the entire monsoon season before.
Shit be happenin’ folks.
Now, there is sooo much information and misinformation out there as to why. Some people believe it’s just the way the earth evolves (that’s not the right word but I can’t think of the correct one) and we’re just due. Some people believe it’s connected to how we’re treating our planet. Some idiots believe it’s an indication that god is pissed.
To me why doesn’t matter. To me it seems that if burning fossil fuels enhances the change in any way, then we should work harder to get away from that. If we’re putting too many chemicals into the air and our ozone layer is effected, then stop putting fucking chemicals into the air. Even if it is earth’s natural inclination to go through one of these global climate shifts every million years or so fine, but let’s not make it worse by helping her make it harder on us.
With the freshwater polar ice melting, our seawater consistency is going to change. That will endanger marine life and only so much of that will survive. So let’s stop over-fishing our seas and them stand a greater chance. Over-cutting of forests (not here so much as most lumber companies replant trees) endangers both the ecosystem in that area and the planet’s ability to clean the air for all of us. So stop wasting paper.
Every time you leave a light on in a room you’re not in, you hurt everyone. Every time you run water without using it, you hurt everyone. Every time you drive a gas-guzzling vehicle, you hurt everyone, right?
I don’t understand enough about the process of making things. Is it better for the environment to have wood furniture and replant trees? Or is plastic furniture made out of who-knows-what better? Maybe glass and steel furniture is better for the environment. if you break it all down to the building process which is less offensive to the earth? I’m betting though that buying gently used stuff is best for all. Let’s use up what’s already made before we destroy more resources to build new.
So here I am, running the A/C because it’s still hot outside and it’s almost November. I drive a big-ass grand marquis because I have no choice at the moment. That’s the only used car I could afford at the time. The next one will be better for the environment, I promise. I consistently save water so I get points for that. I’d love to recycle but my apartment complex doesn’t have that option. Most of my furniture was bought used.
Where are my options? Why aren’t there solar panels EVERYWHERE here in the valley of the sun? Why aren’t there recycle bins everywhere? Why are new houses allowed to be built when there are so many empty ones around? Why are electric or hybrid cars only now becoming available? Why aren’t big stores and other huge buildings required to have solar panels?
What is the hold up? Are we seriously waiting for bigger disasters to happen? Or is it all about the benjamins? Really? We have got to stop thinking about the bottom line and start planning for the future. Where we’re all freezing or melting. A future where oil reserves are tapped out, trees and animals are only found in zoos, and we’re all using gas masks that are probably made out of chemicals that will kill us anyway.
Well… not MY future. With my health issues I’ll be lucky to survive the zombie apocalypse. Kira and Jack’s future. Their children’s future. If there is one. It doesn’t matter why the global climate change is happening, what matters is that we get through it. Stop arguing about the why and come up with ideas to make it better.
FFRF Valley of the Sun meeting
Oct 30th
I’m the first to admit I’m a cynical bitch but this morning was a… a… complete waste of my time. I’m kind of looking for new groups to check out. Looking for new opportunities to meet like-minded people.
So today I show up at the location of the local Freedom From Religion Foundation group. The majority of the attendees – 90%? – were retirees. Nobody spoke to me. There was some eye contact, but no greeting or anything.
I’m used to welcoming and being welcomed into groups like at our evfn and PodcampAZ events. Not even a hello.
The actual meeting started out fine. Sort of introductions of the #1 and #2 people. We were told about the upcoming placement of the FFRF billboards (and she promised to send out exact locations) a couple of which I jotted down. They talked about a couple of books we should check out. Then the special guest started…
Bob McWhirter, “Baby Don’t Be Cruel: Origins of Punishment, The Eighth Amendment, and Religion”
Oh. My. Gawd. This had to have been the most boring and painful 1:45 minutes of my life. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
- this guy needs serious help in putting together a power point presentation.
- we don’t need 100+ slides of quotes from old greeks and bible stories tied in with Elvis and The Princess Bride references.
- his points could have been made with 1/3 of the slides and in 30 minutes or less
I’m pretty sure he was shooting for why the death penalty is wrong. And though I disagree with him I might have been swayed had his presentation been better.
The thing is, almost everyone in the audience was all for him and his presentation. Forgive the expression, but he was preaching to the choir. There was no discussion, no Q&A or any chance to ask for citations – and believe me he pulled some of his information out of his ass.
This is so not the group for me. I’m for conversation. Discussion. Points and checks. Questions and answers. Oh well, I tried something new and it failed. Moving on.
Some of my best friends are…
Oct 25th
Something just popped up on my Google+ thingamajiggy that I don’t really use. Some feller posted something about online “friendships” and how most people (those who presumably don’t spend a lot of time online) don’t give much credit to those friendships.
Now I’ve met bunches of people I first knew online, either through twitter or other local social events. Honestly I barely know most of them. Yes we greet each other warmly (and sometimes hug) but really it’s a more surface relationship. But I can count many people I’ve met online over the years that have really become lasting relationships.
My oldest online and BFF is Cara. I met her and another friend Charlotte on a fandom site years ago and have met them both IRL. I make time in my life to see Cara at least once a year. We laugh that we’re twins born 10 years apart. Peas in a pod. Closer than sisters. Charlotte is awesome too. She’s an amazing writer and one of the most interesting young people I know. I feel honored that she likes me. There are other “friends” I met on that site that I still stay in contact with, some I wish I could meet and some I’m fine with keeping it an online relationship.
I met Evo online (podcasting) before I actually met him, and through him his wonderful wife Sheila. My lifesavers. These people changed my life. And through podcasting I’ve met other wonderful real life friends. CJ (my local BFF), Dani the Diva, Donna, A, Bruce, Crystal and many others.
I’ve met people through twitter meetups and other online-people social get-togethers that I love! Jana, Jeff, Wendy and Chris, Katie and Tyler, Patrick and Vinessa, Ruthie, Oden… I can’t wait to see these people all the time. Great times, great people.
Had I never plugged into the internet I would never have met any of them. I shudder to imagine where I’d be without them. Most of the people listed here mean more to me than my own family – except my kids/grandkids!
Here’s the thing. Of all my friendships with people I didn’t meet online only one has survived. But guess what, Wendy and I maintain most of our contact on the internet and use twitter to occasionally meet up in real life. I can’t think of another real friend I didn’t meet online or through online groups, unless you count my kids and our mutual friends.
Thank you Internets.
#occupyphx?
Oct 16th
I’ve been watching the twitter stream most of yesterday and this morning. I don’t know how it’s going down in your city, but these people are confusing.
First there was the constant retweets on how Mayor Gordon was coming down to Hance Park to join the protesters when the police moved in last night. Apparently Mr. Gordon changed his mind at the last minute, saying since the protest wasn’t about SB10170 (immigration) then he wasn’t interested. But the retweets that he WAS coming kept on confusing the people in the park. Then the police were accused of shutting down the power/lights at the park at midnight – but it’s a public park – wouldn’t those be on a timer?
And what’s with the tents? It’s Arizona. You don’t need tents. The police said they wanted the tents down so take them down.
Here’s the deal, if you want to make a point or keep public sentiment on your side, don’t go down there with a lets-fuck-with-the-cops mentality. When they say the park closes at midnight, then go home and come back tomorrow. What good does getting arrested do? So you’re spending today in jail? How is that helping your cause?
More misinformation: Pepper spray was used, pepper spray was NOT used. 30 people were arrested for protesting, 30 people were arrested for trespassing in the park after closing time.
Then there’s this:
#OccupyPhoenix continues at Margaret T Hance Park this afternoon. We’ll play this game every day until we can hold the park. Join us.
#OccupyPhoenix is back at Cesar Chavez, not Margaret T Hance. Large crowd and growing. Join us for day 2! Please RT.
I thought the point of a protest was to get your points heard and to be taken seriously? One would think the first step would be organization. Second step? Communication. Go down there with conviction but not aggression and hold your ground if you’re not doing anything illegal. Don’t let them take you out of the game on a technicality like tents and closing times.
Dear “social” game makers,
Oct 13th
Fuck off.
Here’s how some of my social game numbers work out:
- Zynga’s Pioneer Trail. 26 neighbors listed as players, maybe 12 of whom actually play. Mission requests where you can only ask specific people for one item once a day? 8 missions plus 15 items within buildings-in-process (each requiring 15 per item), and 3 ghost town missions waiting for those to be built. All that, plus an equal number of wall-posted requests. I’m at level 95, which means I’ve been playing for quite some time. Though I love this game (my favorite) the 15 items once a day thing is killing my fun. The only good thing is that most items are reciprocal.
- Zynga’s Farmville. 50 neighbors listed, maybe 10 still play. Much better and the requesting help for missions is much more realistic. I’m at level 104 and I don’t plan on quitting anytime soon.
- Zynga’s Cityville. 30-ish neighbors and about 5-6 actual but intermittent players. Same problem with collecting items needed for missions. And most of the items are not reciprocal.
- Zynga’s Treasure Isle. I ignore anything that requires asking neighbors for anything because only one other friend still plays.
Do you see the problem? Of my 388 Facebook friends, only a small portion play any game at any one time. You’re asking too much, based on what? Registered players or actual players? Do you want to know what my favorite game is, the one I actually spend real world money on? PackRat. Because I can play without friends. Sure, friends can help each other out, but you don’t NEED them to move along in the game. I’m betting most people give up on games because they can’t advance without spamming their friends.
There’s a finite pool of people who – like me – have plenty of time to play these games. Everyone else has little time to spend going through nag-for-this-part and nag-for-that-part instead of actually, you know, playing your games. We want to build a cool looking city. We want to build interesting frontier town. We want to master crops and animals. We don’t want to log in, spam our friends and then log out to wait for those requests to be filled. Boring!
Oh yeah, stop with the pop-ups trying to get us to spam our non-game-playing friends. As soon as a new game comes out most of my friends block them. They don’t want to play. Ever.
More About PodcampAZ
Oct 11th
You know I’m on the planning committee. You know you really want to go. So go read this post and find out the latest news! The time to register is now.
All right fine, I’ll give you the highlights. We have lots of speakers including Evo Terra, the fabulous Amy Donohue, and we even have some local TV news fame speaking, 3-TV’s Carey Pena! Who would want to miss that? Make sure you check back on Friday because that is when the final schedule will be set in stone and you can plan your two days of awesome accordingly.
And please share that post with anyone and everyone. Thanks EVER so much!
