Thought of the Day #205 - Not a Racist?

"The Boston police officer who sent a mass e-mail in which he compared
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to a "banana-eating jungle
monkey" has apologized, saying he's not a racist."

"Officer Justin Barrett, 36, told a Boston television station Wednesday
night that he was sorry about the e-mail, a copy of which he also sent
to The Boston Globe. He repeated his apology Thursday night on CNN's
"Larry King Live."

"I would like to take this opportunity to offer fellow police officers,
soldiers and citizens my sincerest apology over the controversial e-mail
I authored," Barrett said on CNN. "I am not a racist. I did not intend
any racial bigotry, harm or prejudice in my words. I sincerely apologize
that these words have been received as such. I truly apologize to all.""

Full story is here:
http://m.cnn.com/cnn/lt_ne/lt_ne/detail/341364

My take on it? Oh, no, he's not a racist. He is, in fact, a racist
idiot.

Thought of the Day #204 - More to Love

I watched More to Love the other night with anticipation, but ended up with a lot of cringing. Where did they get these women?? Please tell me it is NOT a random sampling of 20 fat women where 18 of them are so depressed about being fat and single to the point that they cry on camera and proclaim "I have soooo much love to give..." Instead, please tell me the producers handpicked these woe-filled women solely for the fullfilment of their goal of showing how fat women are *all* soooo sad.

The women on the show, by and large, are beautiful women wallowing in their sadly single lives. But, why are they single?? Because they're fat?? No, because they have shitty self esteem. Cure the dearth of self esteem and these girls would easily capture the heart of a decent guy.

Oh, and the bachelor that's on this show? He's annoying in his cloying attempt to suck-up to their self esteem issues (and the camera). If any guy were to come up to me and talk like he does to the women on the show, I would quickly walk away....no...run far, far away. I'm not sure if he's talking the way he is because of the producers' prompting or if he really is that smarmy in real life. Whatever the reason, he's annoying. These girls deserve better.

I'll give it another week to see if it will get more annoying and insulting or if it was just a bad start.

Thought of the Day #203 - Web Clutter

 

A lot of the "big hitters" on the web -- news sites (like this screen cap from today's StarTribune.com site), department store shopping like amazon.com, or portals like aol or msn.com -- are driving me batty! They're trying to be all things to all visitors and while doing so they're driving people like myself away. Column after column of information. Can you imagine trying to read a book page that was divided into five columns and throw in advertising graphics, too? Ugh.

I think we need to get back to a simpler time...when we had one jumping kitty graphic per screen. A few "BR"s and then a peeping eyeball. That's right...animated GIFs. I said it.

I'm not really serious about the animated GIFs. (If you want to see those, you can find more than you can stand over at myspace.com.)

I am, however, serious about the overload of web clutter. Clean it up, people! I plan on doing the same.

Thought of the Day #202- Photos of the Week

I posted four weeks worth of the Photo Selections of the Week today.
Yeah, I was a little bit behind. Check 'em out!

Thought of the Day #201 - Figure Flaws

Do you first dress to enhance parts of your body, or do you focus first
and foremost on figure flaws?

It's funny that many of us focus on the flaws. We compare ourselves to
some ideal that has been shoved down our necks by the media or other
venues. Who's to say that our flaws are actually flaws? Why aren't body
differences revered as much as differences in artistic expression? Why
do we do this to ourselves?? Why are people so harsh to one another??

I suspect the harshest critics are often the most insecure...be they
internal voices or nasty voices from others.

So, how do we silence them? I wish I had the answer.

Thought of the Day #200 - Apricots

I'm overrun with apricots. I've made jars and jars of jam, juice, sauce and butter. And I know that the trees are still loaded. HELP!

Thought of the Day #199 - Health Care Reform Part 3

Step 3 - minimize pointless doctor visits. Don't go to the doctor just
because you have the sniffles. Too many people go to the doctor hoping
for a miracle cure for minor inconveniences. If you have a cold...they
can't cure you. For that matter, they can't cure a lot of minor viruses.
They can treat the symptoms, but that's not going to make you feel
better any faster. Suck it up, you will survive this.

Some people avoid going to the doc when they really should..and others
go in for minor inconveniences. Both instances end up costing far more
money for insurance companies.

Maybe what is needed is education in high school regarding when to see a
physician and when to just curl up in bed and wait it out? It could save
lives and money.

Thought of the Day #198 - Health Care Reform Part 2

Step 2 - eliminate frivilous malpractice claims & lower or eliminate
malpractice insurance for physicians and other medical care
professionals. Doctors are people. People make mistakes. Malpractice
claims for anything aside from true negligence and willful endangerment
should be thrown out of court. Also, awards for accidental death or
physical damage should be limited and standardized. What price life? Not
mine to decide, but I know that 5 million dollars sounds excessive no
matter who you are.

Thought of the Day #197 - Health Care Reform

Step 1 - eliminate excessive greed. Pharmaceutical company leaders can
claim that they expend X amount on research and that's why drugs are so
expensive. The problem is that they're saying that while they're sitting
in one of their twenty Lamborghinis. Maybe all medical companies
(supplies, meds, equipment mfgs, hospitals, etc) should be forced to be
"non-profits"? Just a thunk.

Thought of the Day #196 - It's all about...

Bashes are all about the friends to me. So many wonderful people coming together in one location for relaxation and synchronized swimming. What more could you ask for??

 

 

 

 

Thought of the Day #195 - Silly Faces

I've been looking through photos of me posted from last week's BBWNetwork Vegas bash. I'm a goof. Seriously. I pull too many silly faces. I know I do once in a while for this site, but the other 'public consumption' ones should be nicer...especially since I have no control over their distribution. Do I consider that at the time?? Of course not. boo. Oh, and that cold? Still surfing that, too. Wipe out!

Thought of the Day #194 - Code

Ok, even thought I promised a "deep thought" tonight, all I can muster is a thought about picking up a cold while on vacation. It sucks! I'm congested and tired and I don't wanna go to work tomorrow. Waaaaaaaaaa. Yeah, not deep at all. Sorry! Maybe tomorrow. I hope you all have a good week!

Thought of the Day #193 - Vacation

I've missed a few ToTDs due to forgetfullness while on vacation.
Seriously, who really wants to think on vacation? I did think, but not
much beyond sleep, eat and swim. Maybe tomorrow more "deep" thunks will
have made it to my bean. Until then!

Thought of the Day #192 - Later

Staying up laaaaate late at the bash is taking a toll on my "youthful"
appearance. On Monday, my age was guessed at 25-28. Today -- 36. Suck.

Thought of the Day #191 - Meet and Greet

I had a ton of fun at today's BBW Bash Meet and Greet. I met so many
cool people. It's fun to see how fast three minutes of conversation can
go. There were a couple of people who were a bit tricky to talk to due
to the language barrier, but even that was a fun challenge.

Thought of the Day #190 - Fail

The plans to keep myself sunburn free while being in a pool all day?
Complete fail. Luckily, the sunblock and the towel did save *most* of
me from total crispiness, but there are large parts that were fried.
Ugh. Better luck next time, Dope. Thanks for playing. Fail.

Thought of the Day #189 - Late

ToTD is late due to my email server being down. So, yeah, anticipation
is a good thing, right? It applies to ketchup and ToTDs. Yeah...and
that's my complete thought for yesterday.

Thought of the Day #188 - Not Smart Enough

I love Smart Phones. But, they're not good for browsing everything
online. My version? for instance, cannot use flash and is very limited
at Java. Some day they'll do all that a PC can do...just not yet(or
more likely, just not mine...)

Thought of the Day #187 - Noise

Why is it that motorcycles can go around blasting engine noises seemingly without mufflers, but cars are limited to a certain decibel before getting pulled over by the police. I CAN'T stand how loud they are! Grrr.

Thought of the Day #186 - Eyeglasses

I picked up a new pair of eyeglasses today. Much more modern than the
almost 17 year old pair I've had as contacts' backup. You can see the
old glasses in a couple of the recent photos of the week.

Despite the fact that the new glasses are much smaller than the last, I
find I still feel like I'm wearing a mask of protection -- I feel that
I am cut off and protected in an emotional way from people while wearing
them. I don't know if I'm unique in this feeling or if everyone feels
this? More than likely, I'm the oddball.

Thought of the Day #185 - Cumin

The world could use a little more cumin.

Thought of the Day #184 - Excited!

I'm stressed out at home and at work, but I know that in a few short
days I'll be getting a much needed break in Vegas. On this, I rely. I
can make it through and I know the pool is waiting for me!

Thought of the Day #183 - Etsy Things

I've added a few things to my Etsy shop tonight 'cuz I purchased a 'showcase' on the site for the 7th. It's basically a cheap way to advertise your wares on the site. 7 dollars gets ya a full 24 hours of extra exposure. $7 for 24 on 7/7. Definitely sounds like gambling. Anyway, that's what's on my mind...Etsy and of course, my Crippy Crafts!

Onions are Pretty!

 

Thought of the Day #182 - Female vs Woman

I recently read an article about Steve McNair's death. In the article it
said that he was found shot to death along side a 20 year old "female."
Which makes me wonder...was it a female dog? Cat? Tortoise? or possibly
a human? No where in the article does it clarify.

To me, the use of "female" to demote a generic female human seems to
de"human"ize the woman.

Just a little pet peeve of mine, but seiously, hasn't modern journalism
brought itself past 1950s stylized crime reporting?

Thought of the Day #181 - Self Worth

If you never question your own personal self worth, do you have an over
inflated sense of self?

Thought of the Day #180 - Walking On Glass

The Sears Tower in Chicago opened up "The Ledge" a glass floored
attraction that lets visitors walk a few feet out onto a sheet of glass
that is 1300 feet above street level. Recently, a reservation at the
Grand Canyon opened "Sky Walk" which allows visitors to walk on a glass
loop that is way out over the canyon floor. Both options intrigue me. I
would really like to go to the Skywalk's far end and start jumping up
and down...solely for the thrill of seeing other people panic 'cuz "the
fat chick is going to break the thing!!" Ah, it would be fun on so many
levels.

Thought of the Day #179 - Freedom

The US celebrates Independence Day on the 4th and with that "freedom" as
a concept is often rolled. I was wondering, though, how *free* we really
are here in the US.

There are laws that keep us in line, some of which are based on morality
judgements; there are regulations that limit with whom and what we can
buy/trade and sell; there are social constructs (religion, fashion,
etc) that tell us what is appropriate to say and wear where, again much
of it based upon moral belief systems; there are corporations attempting
to model our behavior to suit their greed; there are citizens
demoralizing each other because they don't agree; there are unwanted
and unplanned children abused every day; there are citizens attacking
citizens for the color of their skin; I could go on and on and on.

The only thing really, truly free is individual thought. Today I am able
to share my thoughts in this, a public forum. I am grateful. Not
everyone on Earth is as lucky.

Thought of the Day #178 - Buying Fat Clothes Online

I'm a stickler about fabric quality, but what chaps my hide most about
buying fat clothing online? The randomness of the sizing.

All plus-size sites have size charts which should "do the trick" in
finding appropriately sized clothes, but let me tell you...that is NOT
the case. When a clothing item arrives in the mail, the excitement
rises. "Maybe this will be the time when THE perfect fit arrives??" Or
will it be too small? Too large? Or will it obviously be made by a
manufacturer that has no clue how to cut larger sizes. In the last
instance, you'll find arms several inches too long or necklines made
for gorillas because they simply added inches *everywhere*. (Fat people
don't necessarily have larger skeletons than their thin counterparts. I
know, it's shocking.) The sizing is a virtual crapshoot. If you're a
fat woman, you know...oh, yes, you know.