The Bedbug Letter

lucifrix @ 2009-04-24T18:43:00

2009-04-24T22:43:52Z

I really love the verbal construction of "not [x]" as opposed to "[opposite of X]," as in, for instance, "His concerns are not invalid" as opposed to "His concerns are valid." They mean the same thing on the surface, but the connotation is different(and the former sounds more elegant IMO). I can't explain HOW the connotation differs, but it's very much like porn--I know it when I see it.

lucifrix @ 2009-04-22T00:25:00

2009-04-22T04:25:43Z

Looking for a good vid to post to Facebook as a "newbie intro to where I was this weekend" (Tribal Forces) I found this:

The song is Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," which works really well in this context and with this pairing. 'Cause you can totally picture Jack being this whiny and juvenile.

lucifrix @ 2009-04-07T02:00:00

2009-04-07T06:00:09Z

If there's one thing that unites mankind, it's our all consuming need to get to the can when diarrhea strikes. You can be a Shaolin monk, a soccer mom, a marine or a five-year-old girl, but when that feeling starts to brew down below, may God have mercy on anyone who stands in your way.

That's really quite profound (so profound that I'm actually posting this in my LJ). Diarrhea: the great equalizer.

Huh.

2009-04-01T15:39:09Z

What I knew: A woman I was friendly with in college, Leslie Stefanson, has been involved with James Spader for several years now. What I didn't know: They have a baby!

I wish I remember if she'd ever mentioned him back then...that'd be pretty funny if she had been a fangirl or something. She might well have been, I don't really remember that sort of thing. It's just weird. Nice for her, clearly, and I'm glad she's happy because she was a very nice person, just...weird.

GIP

2009-03-23T21:53:35Z

Not like I did anything other than crop and resize, but still...

Doctor Who Magazine had a countdown of Doctor Who's saddest deaths (from the whole run, not just Nine and Ten), number one being Astrid Peth's from "Voyage of the Damned," and one of the "Top 20 Tearjerkers" being Bannakaffalatta's death from the same ep. And those both were sad and I ADORED Bannakaffalatta ("Bannakaffalatta--CYBORG!") But I think Foon's death, also from VOTD, was much, much sadder than them both.

You've got this adorable couple who are nuts about one another, and even when they hit a situation that could've been a huge crazy fight Morvin just laughs off the absurdity of it all and hugs Foon and says he loves her. And then they're crossing a rickety bridge to try to escape the Hosts (robot angels who've been programmed to kill everyone on the ship), and a section goes out from under Morvin's foot and he falls into the Nuclear Storm Drive to his death. Foon breaks down and asks, over and over again, "How will I go on without him?" She's so devastated she can barely function, so the Doctor begins crossing the bridge without her--promising that he'll be back--to bring over the Sonic Screwdriver. That's sad enough. And THEN, when the Doctor is on the other side of the bridge, one Host who survived the Hosts vs Passengers beatdown minutes before is still functional and descends to the bridge and is heading toward the Doctor and the others who've already crossed. Then, out of nowhere, Foon runs up behind the Host with a rope, lassos him and says "You're coming with me!" and jumps off the bridge, sacrificing herself to destroy the Host and save the rest of the group.

C'mon.

This kills me.

2009-03-17T16:59:12Z

Tonight's Daily Show

2009-03-13T03:49:07Z

Three words: Oh. HELL. Yeah.

lucifrix @ 2009-03-03T04:25:00

2009-03-03T09:25:19Z

This weekend, Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats of using fear to push their agenda. Let's see...

"Higher taxes will put many small-business owners out of business!"

"Welfare is bleeding this country dry!"

"School shootings will keep happening if we don't put the Ten Commandments back in our nation's classrooms!"

"If we legalize gay marriages, churches will be forced to perform them or they'll get charged with hate crimes!"

"Comprehensive sex education leads to even more teenage pregnancies and STDs!"

"We'll eventually have another 9/11 if we leave Iraq too soon!"

"If we teach children that humans evolved from animals, then they'll act like animals!"

"Al Qaeda is celebrating the election of Barack Hussein Obama!"

"Allowing openly gay people to serve in the military means our service members will always have to wonder if their teammates are ogling them or going to make passes at them!"

"All those Gitmo detainees will go back to being terrorists if we release them!"

And I haven't even gotten to the fringe stuff like "If the ACLU had its way, you'd get arrested for praying in public!"

I can't come up with something incisive or pithy to say here, but then again, I don't think I need to.

lucifrix @ 2009-02-28T21:58:00

2009-03-01T02:58:39Z

For bitchygrrl and redfirecracker: The 5 Most Unintentionally Gay Horror Movies

BTW, anyone who saw MBV3D besides RF (whom I saw it with): Did Kerr Smith totally look like an FTM or was I projecting? Between the actor's relative shortness, the so-perfectly-sculpted-it-didn't-look-real facial hair, and the perfectly smooth porcelain skin, I was TOTALLY thinking the big secret was not who was the killer but who was smuggling a vagina.

lucifrix @ 2009-02-16T15:30:00

2009-02-16T20:30:55Z

"Jizz In My Pants" meets "Twilight" (The original JIMP for anyone who hasn't seen it.)

(And this parody by some med students called Jizz in My Scrubs, including a scene in which a med student is exceptionally grateful that a book he wants is available...)

(And totally unrelated: If you've ever known a suburban-white-boy "Rasta"...)

lucifrix @ 2009-02-10T15:54:00

2009-02-10T20:54:54Z

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/10/stimulus.package.debate/index.html

Republican John McCain calls the bailout "generational theft," a transfer of wealth from future generations to today's leaders.

This coming from the man who was prepared to stay in Iraq for a few more decades, meaning he was happy to pass on a whole lotta debt to future generations when it would go to his babies.

I'm big enough to admit that I don't know enough about economics to have a serious conversation about the particulars of the bill. However, I DO know that while passing on astronomical debt to our kids isn't a great idea, there doesn't seem to be a BETTER idea at this point, and we have to do something--passing along a bunch of jobless parents without homes to our kids isn't a particularly good idea either. If people don't like where the money is going, or think that a different approach is warranted (McCain and some other Repubs are advocating tax cuts), so be it. But if anyone's main objection is how much debt it would leave behind, I'd say point missed.

lucifrix @ 2009-02-10T10:00:00

2009-02-10T15:00:36Z

Live365 channels are now advertising the CIA (specifically the "National Clandestine Service").

I didn't know the CIA ever advertised, and if they did I would've thought they'd do it in college newspapers, with referrals from grad programs in the relevant sciences, stuff like that...not all willy-nilly to people listening to That 70's Channel.

No particular reason

2009-01-27T23:36:53Z

I had reason to look up this clip, so I thought I'd share if any of you need a good, heartwarming cry. The clip is of Derek Redmond, a runner who, during his race in the 1992 Olympics, snapped a hamstring and fell. He stumbles along for a few yards, and then his father runs onto the track, puts an arm around him, and helps him toward the finish line.

If just reading that description didn't at least make you a little mushy, honestly, I can't imagine what would.

Another reason to Extremely Dislike Rick Warren

2009-01-27T17:24:14Z

The IRS permits members of the clergy to claim exemptions for their housing. At the time of Warren's audit the amount claimed had to be "reasonable"--it shouldn't exceed the fair market value for the rental of the home. That 1996 audit concluded that Warren was deducting more than that--the IRS said he owed it $55,300. Warren challenged the IRS in tax court, arguing that his housing exemption should be unlimited.</p>
The facts were simple: in 1993 Warren deducted $77,663, his entire Saddleback Church salary that year, as a housing expense--and paid no taxes at all on that salary. In addition, he claimed a deduction for his mortgage expenses--even though they had been covered by the salary. He made similar claims in subsequent tax returns.

Full story is here, but the long and short of it is that Congress ended up passing the Clergy Housing Allowance Clarification Act of 2002.

This reminds me of the work of Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa who initiated inquiries into the finances of 6 "prosperity Gospel" preachers whose lifestyles seem to contradict the claims of being non-profit (and thus deserving tax-exempt status). One of the preachers, I THINK Creflo Dollar but I'm not positive, actually argued, with a straight face, that the inquiry was a violation of church/state separation.

lucifrix @ 2009-01-24T12:28:00

2009-01-24T17:29:39Z

President Obama--it's going to take a long time before I stop loving to say that--tossed the global gag rule. Finally.

Thank you.

Fist of death, locked and loaded

2009-01-23T05:24:45Z

Woman Says Anti-Abortion Nurse Removed IUD Without Permission, Then Lectured Her

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) - A clinic nurse first removed her intrauterine birth-control device without permission, the patient claims in a federal action, then told her that "having the IUD come out was a good thing," because "I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don't know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them."

The patient sued Presbyterian Medical Services Rio Rancho Family Health Center and nurse practitioner Sylvia Olona in Federal Court.

The plaintiff says she went to Rio Rancho to have the strings on her IUD shortened.

The complaint states: "As soon as Defendant Olona began speaking to (the plaintiff), she questioned her about her choice of contraception.

"As Defendant Olona began the procedure, (the plaintiff) felt Olona pull on the strings of the IUD. (The plaintiff) felt a distinct pulling on the strings followed by a sharp pain in her uterus similar to a very strong menstrual cramp.

"As that happened, Defendant Olona stated, 'Uh oh, I accidentally pulled out your IUD. I gently tugged and out it came.' She then explained, 'I cut the string than went back and gently pulled and out it came. It must have not been in properly.'

"Olona then stated, 'having the IUD come out was a good thing.' She asked (the plaintiff) if she wanted to hear her 'take' on the situation. Without receiving a response, Defendant Olona stated, 'I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion. I don't know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them. What the IUD does is take the fertilized egg and pushes it out of the uterus.'

"Defendant Olona stated, 'Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it's not true, they accidentally come out when I tug.'

"At this point, Defendant Olona advised that (the plaintiff) needed to take a pregnancy test. (The plaintiff) did, and the test was negative.

"Defendant Olona told (the plaintiff) that is was better that she did not have the IUD because she could now use a "non-abortion" form of contraception. Defendant Olona suggested the deprovera (depo) [sic] shot or the pill, and made clear that she would not insert a new IUD."

The plaintiff demands damages for battery, constitutional violations and negligence. She is represented by Ryan Villa with the Law Office of Robert Cooper.

I'll reiterate the comment I made in antitheism:

[This story] just floored me--this health-care "professional," in her attempt to say the removal had been a total accident, admitted that on several occasions, the same thing had happened. So, she's a horrible woman who thinks it's acceptable to mess with other womens' uteruses (uteri?), or she's a complete incompetent (with pretty horrible co-workers as well).

I am no expert on these matters, BTW, but AFAIK, a small tug would not pull out an IUD. The cervical os--the aperture that leads into the uterus--is strong. By nature, it stays shut, and WANTS to stay shut. So a "tug" would not bring out almost any IUD, let alone those of several different women, out of the uterus. You'd have to PULL, very hard.

And holy effing CRAP that must've hurt.

I forgot to add "And if this actually happened, I hope both this woman and the clinic get nailed and nailed hard."

I'd meant to post this a few weeks ago

2009-01-22T16:14:57Z

I thought some of you might be interested in this, but might not have seen it otherwise: Sports Illustrated did a sweet and uplifting story a few weeks ago about the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's dogfighting ring, and this was that issue's cover (click for the full-size version):

I'm not particularly a fan of pit bulls, but that is one of the sweetest-looking dogs I have ever seen. So pretty, but so sad-looking and clearly in need of lots of love. If the article hadn't indicated that she already had been placed, I imagine there would've been a ton of people who wanted her.

lucifrix @ 2009-01-20T12:28:00

2009-01-20T17:28:57Z

This speech is fantastic. "We will restore science to its rightful place"--YES!! THANK YOU!!!

We will not sacrifice our ideals for our safety. THANK YOU!!!

The U.S. is a friend to everyone who seeks peace. THANK YOU!!!

He just lumped fascism and Communism together. BOOOO!!!!!

HE MENTIONED NONBELIEVERS!!!!! Holy crap! And then he talked about god over and over but I expected nothing different.

OK, that was amazing. If his Presidency is half as good as that speech, we're in for a good eight years. His explicit outreach to the rest of the world, home run. His embrace of old ideals enacted in new ways, home run. I hope this works.

ETA: Never thought I'd say this, but that benediction was great. That little man was so cute.

lucifrix @ 2009-01-20T11:47:00

2009-01-20T16:47:15Z

I just saw BO say to someone, on his way out and shaking hands, "What's up?" I wonder if that person reflexively said back "Nothing much, what's up with you?"

ETA: Rick Warren's prayer is making me mad. Humans have so much potential greatness--stop diminishing that!!

ETA(2): Barack, could you possibly have chosen someone a little more ecumenical? You personally want to pray Christian, you go for it, but could you have thrown a bone to the rest of us for the invocation, which I'd thought was supposed to be more for the gathering as a whole? Sometimes I wonder if this is harder, in a way, on people of non-patriarchal and/or non-Christian religions--I know that, at least in my lifetime, there will always be religion in public ceremonies, and all of it is foreign to me. You guys, OTOH, hear about god, but then keep hearing that that god is male and Christian.

ETA(3): Aretha--oh NO with that hat. And boy, I would really have rather heard her sing the National Anthem.

lucifrix @ 2009-01-20T11:02:00

2009-01-20T16:02:53Z

Too many damned places to watch the Inauguration. I generally love all the options on satellite TV, but sometimes, it'd be easier to just have 3 choices.

This day has been 8 years in coming. I can't believe it's finally here.

BTW, read last night Obama might rescind the global gag rule on Thursday. Cross your fingers.

ETA: Damn, but Malia and Sasha are cute kids.

ETA: Holy shit, they're booing Shrub. I don't know how to feel about that...but DAMN, it's LOUD!!!!!! Wow.

ETA: OMG, a section of the crowd is audibly singing "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye!"

A terrific quote and musings thereupon

2009-01-13T17:15:12Z

(x-posted to antitheism)

Tonight thousands of people on this earth will die of starvation. Most of you will not give a a shit. And most of you will be more upset with the fact that I said 'shit' than that thousands of people will die tonight. (Tony Campolo at Jesus Festival)

It always interests me that in discussions when someone, often a celebrity, will mention being Christian, there are almost always more people saying things like "I don't see how you can call yourself Christian when you have such a filthy mouth" rather than looking at the person's actions toward others (are they kind, compassionate, charitable, etc.) I don't subscribe to the notion that any word is inherently bad regardless of context, so any disparagement of someone's cursing irritates me, but I have particularly never gotten why cursing is considered by many to be a character flaw, even if it's just saying "FUCK!!!" when you are alone in the house and stub your toe on the coffee table.

Probably my biggest problem with Catholicism (the religion of my youth), and what started my moving away from it, was the fact that the Catholic god had really crap priorities. Premarital sex, for example, seemed like a petty thing to lecture people about, when, at least IME, something far more common was a lack of charity to the poor, racism, blind support for war and the death penalty (which the Catholic church supposedly opposes as a taking of life no different from abortion), etc. My feelings toward are even more negative now, given their actions in the political realm--how much did they try to get involved in the anti-war movement relative to how many times they tried to influence peoples' political opinions on homosexuality, which they don't like but which doesn't get people killed? Or birth control--in the face of global poverty and AIDS epidemics, and where many people get infected without doing anything "sinful" anyway, why would you still cling to the idea that CONDOMS are the big problem? I have to wonder what sort of person would worship a being like that--I've always judged peoples' gods by the standards I use to judge people, and the Catholic god is totally lacking.

* I don't mean to imply that anyone "deserves" to get HIV. I just mean that if all the people getting HIV were doing things the church deemed sinful, the church's reasonable (within that framework) reaction would be to try to get more people to follow the rules. However, given that many people DO follow the rules, and still get infected, another approach would be more effective at this point.

I realized not long ago that I don't have a problem with theism exactly (though I don't understand it), it's more I have a problem with religion, that is, anything that tells people what god is and what that being wants. I don't think a thing can be good that could help someone feel comfortable trying to dissuade people from using condoms--particularly in a place where they really could make a huge different in a disease epidemic--by telling them they don't work. And I don't think this can be written off by "Yeah, but that is extremist behavior"--the idea that one can EVER know what a god wants, to the degree that it supersedes observable fact, is dangerous, even though it's often only channeled into benign actions. If one can say "I should feed the poor because god says so," I would LIKE that person more than a member of the Taliban, but one can't fairly argue that, in religious terms, he is correct while the Taliban guy isn't.

lucifrix @ 2009-01-11T21:02:00

2009-01-12T02:02:53Z

Google's new favicon--new to me, at least--is quite fetching.

Christianity + Ska = catchy and perversely awesome

2008-12-27T19:24:34Z

He taught me how to pray
And how to save my soul
He taught me how to praise my god
And still play rock-and-roll

Not that any of that rock'n'roll is happening here (save for that "I Can't Explain" break at 1:18--WTF??), but you get the idea.

I tried to run and hide, but Jesus came and found me and touched me down inside
He is like a Mountie...he always gets his man
And he'll zap you any way he can
ZAP!

This DOES seem to argue that if I'm not Christian, it's because Jesus doesn't want me, though. Which is actually pretty awesome.

lucifrix @ 2008-12-23T14:02:00

2008-12-23T19:02:51Z

The new "Newsweek" has a few pages devoted to people who've died this year, and it occurs to me that I wish Jesse Helms had lived long enough to see North Carolina go blue. For a black guy. Named Barack Hussein Obama. "MMmm, delicious tears of infinite sadness!"

Unrelated and depressing but important read: Katrina's Hidden Race War discusses the vigilante "justice" that popped up after Hurricane Katrina, in particular a militia some of whom seemed to use the necessity for self-defense as an excuse to off some poor black people (including some who were simply passing through trying to get to a military evacuation area). I was especially disturbed by the former Chicago resident who seemed to think that he'd earned his Southern stripes by shooting at black people.

lucifrix @ 2008-12-21T00:34:00

2008-12-21T05:34:27Z

If I hear one more person dismiss Kwanzaa as a "made-up holiday" I'm going to start cracking skulls. THEY'RE ALL MADE UP.

I really don't want to assume these people are all just big stinky racists, but I really am not seeing any other options.