Kamilah Gill - Comments + Likes

Jason Toney posted a link

In Tuesday's Letters to the editor : Opinion L.A. : Los Angeles Times

6 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

"On Tuesday's letters page, reader reaction to California's historic wildfires...Writes Lawrence L. Graham, of Dunwoody, Ga.: I am a Bible-believing Christian and I am here to tell you that the wildfires are a judgment on the bigots of California who passed Proposition 8 in order to deny a minority of Californians their human rights." - Jason Toney via Bookmarklet

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Stay classy, Dunwoody. That kind of talk doesn't cotton with me even when I'm on the right side of it. - Jason Toney

Wow. *facepalm* - Carmen

Wait, what? - tehKenny

wow. - Melissa

Are you serial? - Monique

Yeah. This isn't helpful. - Kamilah Gill

YES!! I need a copy of this because I totally called it! I knew someone was going to turn the wildfires into some "Sign From God" thing...I just thought it would be the other way around. - Katie

सत्याग्रह [Bren] posted a link

Lunaticconstruction : vente en ligne de LUNABLOCKS

3 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

pea gives ♥ a bad name, Emma, Ladybug Heather and 3 other people liked this

Lego-like furniture ... human sized! edit: you design/build it yourself :) - सत्याग्रह [Bren] via Bookmarklet

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Oh please. I don't even want to put together my *comfortable* furniture from Ikea. And I can just picture my husband making new iterations every night. - Anika Malone

I wonder if they're kind of soft or rubbery or anything to be more comfortable. - Kamilah Gill

@Kamilah: they have differnet types, ranging from very hard to pillow-soft foam, according to what I read. - सत्याग्रह [Bren]

cool, thanks for the info, Bren - Kamilah Gill

Anika Malone posted a message on Twitter

“So glad that I was brilliant enought to buy my little girl mostly unisex clothes. They've come in handy for the little boy.”

November 9 at 8:14 pm - Link

V for Veselka, Alex Scoble CISSP, Derrick and 5 other people liked this

Of about a billion outfits, I think every single thing we have is pink. I've only bought a few things and the rest have been gifts. It's impossible to get people to not buy pink frilly things for a girl! - Rochelle

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Nongirly-girl that I am, I would be tempted to buy pink and green for a friend's kid :D - MiɳiMagɘ (Sexy Scimitar)

Wasn't hard for me. I said, "No pink" and only 2 people ignored me. No one wanted to feel my wrath. ROFL. Also, I made sure people only got me clothes that were 6 mos.+ since the newborn/3T stuff gets small really fast. - Anika Malone

I should note though that after the age of 3 it was nearly impossible to find clothes for her that weren't giryl. The boy clothes were overly masculine. So, I'm looking at my dwindling supply of clothes for the boy because he's been in 3T for a year now and is busting out of the few 4T clothes we have. He'll be 3 on Wed. - Anika Malone

This has just been people leaving stuff on my desk at work and stuff my mom's friends send to me. I haven't even had the chance yet to tell people anything! I've not had a shower yet or anything. - Rochelle

Poor Rochelle! That is a rough spot 'cause you have to be nice to your coworkers. I completed a wishlist on Amazon before we found out the sex, so people knew. When we found out that we were having a girl, I put in the wish list, "No pink crap. If you get us pink crap I will hunt you down and talk bad about your mama." My MIL and one friend who never got the link were the only ones to buy her something pink. - Anika Malone

This is a Good Idea. I'll keep it in mind for future reference when hopefully I'll have some of my own. - Kamilah Gill

Cecily posted a link

Across U.S., Big Rallies for Same-Sex Marriage - NYTimes.com

Saturday at 8:31 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link

Chuck LeDuc Díaz, Abby Martin and Kamilah Gill liked this

"In Las Vegas, the comedian Wanda Sykes surprised a crowd of more than 1,000 rallying outside a gay community center by announcing that she is gay and had wed her wife in California on Oct. 25. Ms. Sykes, who divorced her husband of seven years in 1998, had never publicly discussed her sexual orientation but said the passage of Proposition 8 had propelled her to be open about it. “I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked,” she told the crowd." - Cecily via Bookmarklet

This makes me ridiculously happy. We need MORE African-American LGBT folks to stand up and come out. Yay, Wanda! - Cecily

Liked because I'm tired of too many people assuming that most black people are anti-gay. Might need to start a Straight blacks for gay rights room or something. - Kamilah Gill

Daniel J. Pritchett shared an item on Google Reader

What women can do when they're young to be happy later on

3 hours ago - Link

embee and Steve Craft liked this

I can't believe I just read this: "3. If you are divorced, get plastic surgery. I am convinced that a lot of the reason women are happier earlier in life is that women have more control over their destiny when they are better looking. We know that people who are better looking get treated better throughout life, and we know that younger women do better remarrying than older women. So women should get plastic surgery if they get divorced so that they can remarry faster." - Daniel J. Pritchett

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FF needs a "This is Bunk" button - techPR

This in no way helps to explain my plastic-surgery free sister who is headed for her 2nd divorce before the age of thirty. Plus, "I am convinced that a lot of the reason women are happier earlier in life is that women have more control over their destiny when they are better looking" with "So women should get plastic surgery if they get divorced so that they can remarry faster" seems to imply that a woman has to get married as soon as her uterus is available in order to be happy. Umm.... Nope. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

+1 techPR - Kamilah Gill

Give me a BREAK! Ack. techPR, maybe a "Vomit" button? - Ladybug Heather

I usually like this blog for its honesty but that bit BLEW MY MIND. I hope no one misread this as me endorsing plastic surgery for husband hunting. - Daniel J. Pritchett

Jeez, what next? Pose naked for pictures when you're young so you can see how damn good you looked?!? - AJ Kohn

Actually, following my divorce, I am getting plastic surgery. A breast reduction, for pain relief, and I can't WAIT. Of course, I'm probably not "young" any more... - Ladybug Heather

This thread makes me wonder if FF could support a room similar to that show "The View". - Daniel J. Pritchett

I'll be the 3x/divorced5kids-great job-wildly-happy/also-not-ugly-at-36 host. (What?) - techPR

I couldn't take a word of the author's article seriously. - Mike

I've enjoyed several of her past articles - she is not afraid to take unpopular positions if she thinks it's pragmatic. I'm just amazed she recommened plastic surgery in a public forum. Oh well, blogs love controversy. - Daniel J. Pritchett

Geoff Schultz posted a link

Slashdot | Why the Widening Gender Gap In Computer Science?

3 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

Morton Fox, Kim, Soup and 3 other people liked this

""From yesterday's New York Times: ' What Has Driven Women Out of Computer Science?' In many US universities, over the past decade, there has been deliberate effort to integrate and encourage women and girls to get more involved in the 'hard' sciences, engineering, and math. However, instead of the proportion of women to men increasing, in Computer Science the opposite is actually true. Specifically, in 2001-2, only 28 percent of all undergraduate degrees in computer science went to women. Now many computer science departments report that women now make up less than 10 percent of the newest undergraduates. What's going on here, folks?"" - Geoff Schultz via Bookmarklet

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Seriously, it's not that hard to figure out. Smelly boy nerds talking about WoW is only an appealing work environment to a very small number of brave brave ladies. - Geoff Schultz

There is? 1/4 of my CS class are girls. Seems to be about average. - Roberto Bonini

+1 Geoff - Roberto Bonini

Well, from my experience having watched the women and the interactions that they had with fellow male students in the CS department, it is very intense. I watched my first year in the degree how the moment a girl walked into a classroom, like 6-10 boys would automatically surround them and try to either get a date with them or just completely show off and brag about their talents. I can see why many would change fields because of this. - Wizetux

Love the comments on slashdot - a ton of the "insightful" comments are from male CS majors, decrying that women are just not built for CS. The few women who have responded by either refuting this, or mentioning that this argument has been made for almost every other male-dominated profession, are responded to in kind. Personal experience: the professors ignored me in favor of my male colleagues. Majored in English, now work in IT at a higher pay grade than most of my classmates. - Jennifer Dittrich

I might have gotten into something like this if I'd thought of it about a decade ago :( - Kamilah Gill

@Jennifer. If you are good, it will show in the real world rather than in the classroom. I know several of my male CS classmates that couldn't find a job right after college and so they are still there getting masters and Phd's in hopes that this will get them the jobs that they need. - Wizetux

My female CS major friends all claimed there was a hostile environment in their classrooms. Women students physically in the room were usually ignored and women as a general topic were dismissed, mocked, and overtly, often crudely sexualized. Of course this particular institution was twice marched on by the rest of the Consortium student population in hopes of having it closed, so perhaps it was a particularly bad enviroment - Soup

Part of me wants to attribute the hostile environment to the clustering of the socially immature men in IT. That is not to say that all men in IT are socially immature but that it could be a higher concentration. *whistles innocently while fanning the flames* - Geoff Schultz

Anika Malone posted a message

“Saw a kid walking across the street this morning, wearing skin tight jeans, that were "sagging" to show his drawers. I'm like, "Dude. You are SO doing it wrong."”

4 hours ago - Link

tiffany, Terence Washington, Mona N. and 15 other people liked this

Yeah, I've noted this new look on a number of local high school students. It's sort of a cross between 80s skinny jeans and the hiphop boxer-peeks. totally unflattering - the opposite of sexy. - V for Veselka

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Whippersnappers. - Chuck LeDuc Díaz

I wish I could take a pic of them from the back so they know how unflattering it looks. - Anika Malone

Hmm. It was only a matter of time before this happened... and since I guess you saw this in California, it'll finally make its way to Indiana about two years from now and the kids will think it's cool then... - Kamilah Gill

"hey you kids, get off my lawn" -- anika malone - Cee Bee

I always saw it that they didn't have an ass to keep the pants up, and they refuse to wear a belt to help the process. They're like, emo gangsta. - ::Kristen::

by the way, this "look" started in brooklyn, ny with the cross-pollination of hipsters moving into once-predominantly minority neighbourhoods - Cee Bee

Yep. This is how you do it now. You could show them pics all day, but they must have already seen someone else do it and knowingly copied the look...lol - ♫ Rahsheen™

I remember when I was in junior high, the look was in where the guys wore suspenders, but hanging down behind them. My (tiny and ancient) geometry teacher used to ask the guys if the needed help holding their cheeks up. Cracked us all up. - Ladybug Heather

Emo gangsta was the firs thing I thought of when I saw him. I've been over the emo look for 5 years now, hell I was over in '86 when it was the metalheads who dressed like that. But this crossover with hip-hop is so jarringly stupid. A simple case of two wrongs don't make a right. - Anika Malone

HAHA - Mona N.

Philipp Lenssen posted a message

“You are standing in a dimly lit, cold room. You don't know how you got here; all you know is you feel tired. There's a bunch of books lying scattered around. There's a door and a window. What do you do?”

11 hours ago - Link

ƃuɐʞ, Luka, Dan Hsiao and 11 other people liked this

Look out the window. - Reto Meier via fftogo

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You clean the dust off the window and peek out. You're staring at a brick wall a few meters across. It seems to be early evening. A neon "Hotel" sign blinks near-by. This is gonna give you a headache. - Philipp Lenssen

w - John Mueller

You don't have a compass near-by. Where do you want to go? - Philipp Lenssen

Listen at the door. - Reto Meier via fftogo

There's shouting coming from what must be the corridor or a room close-by. A man and a woman are engaged in a verbal fight. "Because I say so," the man shouts. You can't make out much more. After a while, the noises dies down. - Philipp Lenssen

check to make sure you still have both kidneys - Lou Paglia

You don't notice any scars on your body and seem to be in normal health. You're still tired, but your head is clearing up. A breeze enters the window. Suddenly, someone knocks at the door. - Philipp Lenssen

look through the spy hole in the door to see who it is - Tony Ruscoe

Carefully, you look through the spy hole. There's a sweating, bearded man outside, holding up some kind of a paper note. "Someone left this for you, sir!" Outside, a car honks. - Philipp Lenssen

Open door - John Mueller

"Thank you sir, I wanted to give this to you personally. It's from the woman you arrived with here last night, seemed kind of important." The man hands you the paper note and disappears in a sluggish walk. You can see a corridor outside and several, numbered doors. A staircase leads downstairs. There's an elevator. A fly is buzzing around. - Philipp Lenssen

eat fly - John Mueller

You walk into the corridor, but you have a hard time catching the fly with your mere hands. Maybe your reflexes aren't up to their usual speed? "Clank." Slightly unnerved, you realize the door to your room has fallen shut behind you. The fly keeps buzzing about. - Philipp Lenssen

read the note from the woman (which is still in your hand) - Tony Ruscoe

You unfold the little white paper note. "Don't exit through the main entrance, they're waiting for you... use the window! Meet me at Crown Pub. -Kate" Who's Kate? A blurred memory of a black dress, long brown hair... a feeling of trust. - Philipp Lenssen

eat note - John Mueller

Better be safe... you gulp down the note. Yuck. - Philipp Lenssen

realise you're locked out and can't use your window. head to the roof... - Tony Ruscoe

[Short delay -- I'm away for ~3 hours. :)] - Philipp Lenssen

take a nap! - Susan Beebe

Try to get warm, look around the room trying to remember where you are and when that fails, look outside and eventually go outside - RAPatton

read book - Aram Zucker-Scharff

Say "xyzzy" - Glen Campbell

pinch yourself to wake up! - vijay

You pinch yourself... as far as you can tell, this is not a dream. You head towards the staircase to go up to the roof, but the stairs only lead downways. At the other end of the corridor you can see a closed window, and what looks like a fire escape outside. There's a small metal toolbox below the window. From behind one of the doors, you can hear a woman sobbing. You still have a taste of paper in your mouth. - Philipp Lenssen

Look out the back window. - John Lam

Ignore the sobbing woman and use the toolbox to open the window and leave. Head to Crown Pub. - Jess Lee

examine the books - Kamilah Gill

Leave? No...tweet: HELP! I'm having a blackout...location unknown, might have been drugged. - Sarah Perez

exa boo - ♫ Rahsheen™

Pull up your iPhone and check your location on Maps. Check your Twitter/FF and pictures history from last night. Search FF for Crown Pub. - simonpure

Im still trying to figure out why I would have looked out the window when there were books to read. - Cyndy

You look for some books, but there are none around here. You try to find your cell phone to send an SMS or tweet to friends or call for help... however, all you can find in your pocket is a silver key, a couple of dollar bills, and a small paper with the number "2302100015" scribbled on it. You're now walking towards the window, and use a wrench to push open the rusty window pane. You put the wrench in your pocket. The fire escape on the outside doesn't seem very stable. Do you want to use it to go down? - Philipp Lenssen

Check to see what floor I'm on and what the distance to the ground is. - Dan Hsiao

The heck with it, just climb out and count the seconds until you hit the ground. - John Mueller

It looks like you're on the third floor. You might survive a fall from that height, but you're not too sure. There's some trashcans in the alley below, though they don't look like a comfortable landing zone. You suddenly hear a "Bing" coming from the elevator. Seconds later, another "Bing": - Philipp Lenssen

I jump to escape whoever is coming... - Luka

You're jumping out the window and onto the fire escape, heading downways in high speed zig zag. Your heart's bumping fast as the fire escape continues to tremble, but you make it down. The alley is lit by a street light coming from the right. There's some trash cans here. A cat is going through the trash and looks at you with a puzzled "meow." To the left side, a wall rises up at about 2 meters, leading into darkness. From above you can hear the hurried steps of a person. What do you do? - Philipp Lenssen

Check trash cans. - John Mueller

Hide behind the trash cans and monitor who is the person. - kartik vaithyanathan

Warren Ellis posted an entry on Warren Ellis

Conan! What Is Best In Life?

yesterday at 10:42 am - Link

Robert Haas liked this

Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not prepared for that, but I should have known better. NSFW - RAPatton

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That was insane. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Will check this out later, but Ellis always titles his most horrible BME/Modblog links with this title. - Robert Haas

I hit back arrow so quickly I most likely missed some of the insanity, but I am not going back. - RAPatton

Now I have to know what it was... - Kamilah Gill

you really don't - RAPatton

Yeah,, I saw that yesterday, Ouch is all I can say. - Derek Coward

I've had permanent brain damage from a manga that Warren Ellis posted before. How much more harm can it do? As long as it's not something like that goatse that I refuse to ever see. - Kamilah Gill

♫ Rahsheen™ posted a message

“Somebody told me that I should play Second Life cuz there's not a lot of dudes and the chicks would be all over me. If that's true...that could be dangerously addictive...lol.”

19 hours ago - Link

Kamilah Gill, Chris W, zoblue (Zulema) and 2 other people liked this

Boy, chicks are all over you now. Calm the hell down you filthy whore. - Secret Squirrel

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ROFL @ Kaia. - Anika Malone

Hah. - Akiva Moskovitz

Unless most of them chicks are really dudes - Outsanity

LMFAO@Kaia. WHATEver...LOL - ♫ Rahsheen™

yeah Rah but they are female cat-rabbits with two sets of genetalia. And that's in real life. You don't want to know what their SL avatars are. - Phil Glockner

HAHAHA!!!! Nasty - ♫ Rahsheen™

Like in RL, a good man is hard for a woman to find in SL. Most of them are already taken, or gay. Your friend is probably right. But then again, in SL you can be anything, so you're about as likely to find a good penguin as a good man anyway. - Lindsay Donaghe

'Female cat-rabbits'. Well, that pretty much ends the Internet. Thank you all for participating. - Akiva Moskovitz

Akiva: For more on a cabbit, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R... - Phil Glockner

Rah, read this http://friendfeed.com/e/759515... - BeeLing

Kamilah Gill posted a message

“At work since 7:30, and we haven't done any work yet because our new system is down. I'm not enjoying this any more :(”

4 hours ago - Link

We will be here forever once we can finally work. I'll miss you, outside world. - Kamilah Gill

Chris Baskind posted a message

“Bowing to pressure (and consumer preference), Brita begins a recycling program for its plastic filters. Excellent news.”

4 hours ago - Link

Ňicķ, Scott from Canada, Arash and 12 other people liked this

I suspect their recylcing program largely consists of "throw them away somewhere else" - James Williams (willia4)

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No, it emulates their European program. It's partnered with Preserve. They'll recycle 100% of the polypropylene casing. The filter contents will be reclaimed, too. - Chris Baskind via IM

finally~ - Susan Beebe

Yup: finally, indeed. I'm pleased. - Chris Baskind via IM

They'll need more drop-off points, but it's a good start. I bet you'll see 100% take-back in a year or two. - Chris Baskind via IM

Link? - Rochelle

I don't have one yet. I just got a personal communication from Brita's agency. Tell you what: I'll make it a downloadable PDF and make it available. - Chris Baskind via IM

Ah, it's a 100% mail-in program, in addition to a drop-off partnership with Whole Foods. - Chris Baskind via IM

OK: Down-and-dirty PDF of the release: http://lighterfootstep.com/dow... - Chris Baskind via IM

Cool. Thanks, Chris. - Rochelle

That just seems like something so obvious that they would have already been doing it. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

Trish R posted a link

Drive Him Wild - Turn Him On - Redbook

4 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

Kim, Jemm, BeeLing and 18 other people liked this

These are making me laugh. Maybe I'm just jaded now, but #93? Whisper to him, "If you could picture what's going through my mind right now, you'd be totally, and I mean totally, turned on." And what's with that chick in the picture looking at the camera? She's not very "in the moment." - Trish R via Bookmarklet

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pfft...I thought of 95% of those *on my own* 11 years ago when we were first married...now they just seem like a waste of time....:oP bwa hahaha - Tuesday

95. Rip his horoscope out of the newspaper (anything with a good prediction) and write a note on it saying, "I predict you'll get a very lusty surprise today." Then leave it on his pillow. - Trish R

I knew I should have setup Esther's account last night. She's already missing good stuff. - Mark Krynsky

Is it just me, or does the word 'lusty' pretty much turn off whatever might have just been turned on? - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Maybe because "lusty" rhymes with "busty" and makes men think of breasts? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA This article is too entertaining. - Trish R

they should change lusty to slutty... if it's slutty... it'll turn a guy on. It's not rocket science. - Joshua Schnell

how to turn him on: be over 18, born without a penis, have a pulse and say yes - Morgan Haley

91. Have sex in a tight space. They should just leave it at that... - Joshua Schnell

I don't have the patience to read 101 ways to turn a dude on!! - Mona N.

Trish R, I think she's saying shes got her eyes on someone else @~@, or maybe she's thinkin who is this bloke? & when do I get paid and out of this photo-shoot!? ;-0 - Jason Brooks

I'm amazed at how often Cosmo can recycle the same magazine over and over and people will buy it. Every month it's a list of either sexual positions or how to turn a guy on, or what drives him wild in bed. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

jason, every month another million girls reach homonal terminal velocity .. it is a perpetual thing, the magazine has an eternal market - Gregory Lent

Do women really have trouble with this? Like, for real? - Robert Fischer

Good call, Jason. "Recycle the same magazine." Exactly. - Kamilah Gill

If my girlfriend really wants to turn me on she should try turning into the girl in the picture! - Toby Graham

Toby: no kidding huh? the girl in the picture is 180 degrees from ugly - Morgan Haley

This should lead to some interesting ER visits: 45. Before getting into bed, strip down to just a pair of heels and a pearl necklace. Find out what interesting ways you two can incorporate them into sex. - Soup

Ummm, I really don't want to see my husband in heels and a pearl necklace. Wait, you mean that this article doesn't tell my husband how to turn me on? Then WTH is the point? - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

@Tina, Aw, does your husband not have the legs to pull off a classic heel? I'm sure he's lovely anyhow ;) - Soup

How to turn him on: just say, "I'm horny." 'nuff said. - Tad, Fool

@Tad Amen, brother. They could have skipped 100 ideas and just put in H1 font "You say: 'You want to?' He says: 'Sure!'" - Jason Shultz via twhirl

I swear the world would be a better place if women just had an LED on their foreheads that glowed green when they were horny and red when not. And that's totally not sexist cause us guys would just always be green. - Tad, Fool

@Tad: Exactly. Fortunately being green is good these days... ;) - Jemm

Tad, it could only end poorly. All it would take is one lady with a light that's always green til bedtime... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

Ladies relax. You already got *everything* on you to turn a guy on. Doesn't take anything else - seriously. - Kamath ॐ

Bring back mood rings. :) - Jason Shultz via twhirl

Derrick posted a message

“I hate when people say, "That's gay." To be gay, to stand up in this society, with all the BS, all the hatred, all the Bible-thumping, all the sneers, jests, prison rape jokes, swishy florists stereotypes...in the face of ALL of that, to say: I *am* gay, is a bold, brazen, and brave thing to do.”

5 hours ago - Link

Mark VandenBerg, Ladybug Heather, David Cook and 39 other people liked this

Hear hear. - pea gives ♥ a bad name

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You say true, Sir. - ♫ Rahsheen™

I agree...and that begs the question...why is it still ok to call women a bitch? Seems like words that have been used to oppress a group of people often become a permanent part of our language landscape. - Jean Ann Van Krevelen via twhirl

Who said it was ok to call women bitches? - ♫ Rahsheen™

Jean Ann, do you mean amongst women? - Shevonne Polastre

yes, I do - Jean Ann Van Krevelen via twhirl

I know that I am guilty of saying things like that from time to time. Sorry Derrick and Jean Ann! - Shevonne Polastre

Agreed, Derrick. It seems these days, I hear it more from younger kids (high school, etc.) than from adults. At least, I don't hear it so much from adults I'm around? - Rochelle

And society says it is ok to call women bitches...think about this...when a women gets too assertive or doesn't mind her manners, what's the first thing she is called? A bitch. Not every single person does this, but our society sanctions it...how many times has Martha Stewart or Hillary Clinton been called a bitch? I am guessing quite a lot. It is a word that has been used to keep women in their place...and it is still used that way. - Jean Ann Van Krevelen via twhirl

Well, with all oppressive language, the group it is used against has the choice to reclaim it...to use it as a badge. And, yes, there are plenty of adults in the working world who call women by this name - Jean Ann Van Krevelen via twhirl

flag on the play; flagrant misuse of the phrase 'begs the question'. 10 yard penalty. [tweet] - Anika Malone

And yes, I have tirelessly advocated against the term "that's gay" since the first time I heard it in probably '93. I was so taken aback, that I used their race as the adjective for "lameness". When I do that, people realize how stupid they sound, but there are a lot of people out there who still insist they aren't being harmful. - Anika Malone

I stated this a long time ago myself, Derrick. It's as if people won't bother to get what it means, anymore. - Helen Sventitsky

This is one of my huge pet peeves as well. I am a gamer/geek, and back in the late nineties when just about everyone I knew worked for Cisco, we would have big lan parties there, and that was when I started really hearing it. I would get on my friend's cases about it, and they would always seem so flabbergasted. Then I would say "Am I your friend?" and they would say "Of course" and I would say "I have probably been with more guys than your girlfriend. Is it still funny?" That shut them up (for awhile). - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

I used to be most vociferous about this very issue, but you know what? I'm kinda immune to it now - even said it myself on occasion. I think it's reached the point where "gay" in that context no longer means homosexual. Words shift their meanings over time. - Slippy Lane

Also...yo, where my byatches at? (sorry, had to, lol) - Slippy Lane

@Slippy, as evidenced by the fact that gay originally meant 'happy and festive'... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

@Slippy That's just not how such language works. It is used to reinforce norms and exclude; that's the whole point. Do you think people just chose the word randomly? It was chosen for exactly this reason, reinforces homophobia and stigmatization, and the biggest issue is that it is a word for a group of people and it is being used as a synonym for lame and stupid, thus saying those people are lame and stupid. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

What if the whole world decided, en masse, to start using the word "American" as a synonym for fat, lazy, ignorant rednecks. You hear it constantly online and in popular culture, and when you call foul or say it is offensive, people just say "Oh, it doesn't mean natives of America in *this* context, you are just being too sensitive". Should we just say "Oh, words shift their meanings" or call it for what it is...offensive and attacking? - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

dude, don't be so 'merican.. - Gregory Lent

Neal, you can be offended on my behalf if you like, but don't feel it necessary. I'm gay (when I'm between women, anyway, lol), and I'm not offended by the use of the term "that's gay" in a derogatory way. As was previously mentioned, most of the youngsters using it aren't even aware that it's the same word. - Slippy Lane

@Neal You mean they aren't doing that now? Are you sure? - Ben Jackson via twhirl

Also, yes TIna, exactly, and as Jean Ann suggests, if we take ownership of the term, refuse to be insulted by it, there ceases to be a problem. - Slippy Lane

@Slippy: that's pretty much what's happened with the term 'queer', don't you think? Queer = strange, odd, or out of the normal but seems to have been readily adopted as a non-derogatory identifier (and yes, I'm aware it took a while). - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

@Slippy Technically, among gamers it isn't the same word (usually written ghey). This isn't about getting offended, really, this is about not allowing what should be offensive to become institutionalized. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Let's try a different analogy...what about the word "gyp" or "jew" being used as a synonym for cheating people on a deal? I am not Romani or Jewish, don't give two figs for either as a culture (I don't know any Romani, and find religiously designated races an obsolete concept), it doesn't offend me, but I still think it is wrong to use language to reinforce prejudice. It doesn't matter if they don't know why they say it...most people don't recognize their own institutionally reinforced prejudices. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Why use an analogy at all? Why not just accept that it's not that offensive? - Slippy Lane

That's your argument? I make points, all premise/premise/conclusion like, and you just say "Why not just agree with me?" I don't agree because I think it is pretty damn offensive, and I have argued as to why in multiple ways. Your main argument seems to be "It doesn't offend me, therefore it isn't offensive", an argument I find unpersuasive. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

In the end, there's not much we can do about how others use and employ language, no matter how offended we might be by specific usages. My best straight drinking buddy calls me fag whenever he sees me and I understand it's full of affection, and respect even. (He'll be the first one to tell you than he'd be nowhere without his gay male mentors.) Any attempt to regulate instances when it's not is likely a waste of time and energy. Don't sweat the small stuff. - Rick Powell

Calling stuff gay and someone actually being gay are two separate things to me. I know the former is wrong, but I don't automatically make that connection. Also, I refer to men and women alike as "bitches" if I get mad, but I wouldn't actually call a woman a bitch to her face. That's just wrong. - ♫ Rahsheen™

But just because some people have decided it isn't offensive doesn't make it not offensive. It's not an argument. There is no argument. - Secret Squirrel

Because, Neal, I think there are far greater injustices in the world to spend one's energy on, therefore I find your argument irrelevant. You can criticise me all you like, but when all's said and done, who are YOU to say whether a phrase or term "should be regarded as offensive"? I hold that my argument is valid, that if no offense is specifically intended then none should be taken. That's all. I don't know how else to say it, it's really not that big of a deal, and the general consensus seems 2 b with me - Slippy Lane

Hmmm, reading back over my last comment, it doesn't seem to make much sense. I must be tired of arguing with you over this non-issue. :-) - Slippy Lane

er, but what if you say "that's gay" to refer to something that's wholly appropriate for 13-year-old girls, but not for grown a** men, unless said men are gay? i'm thinking glitter, lame, and rhinestones here. (and that's 'lah-may' as in the fabric. not 'layme') - tiffany

Funny how no one mentions the elephant in the room, the word so scary that people who curse like sailors will still say "The N-word" in hushed tones, or write it with an asterisk in place of the "i". What makes the outlawing (essentially) of that word NOT "sweating the small stuff"? - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Because, dear Neal, that's NOT what we're talking about. You can't say "X" is offensive therefore "Y" must be offensive too. Culturally and historically they are VERY different concepts. - Slippy Lane

I don't understand how racist epithets became the elephant in the room? - Rick Powell

More than anything, its a respect issue, no? Whether it's someone's sexual orientation, race, or gender, we all should be respected and respectful, no? - Derrick

Then context is the final arbiter. There would be no Spike Lee movies, Jean Genet novels or Lenny Bruce routines without these words that offend people. I, for one, would not want to live without Do The Right Thing, or Our Lady of the Flowers, or any number of other works of art that use language in ways that might offend someone. Compared to that, do I really care what words some 15 year old twat uses when he's trying to put down his mates? Let his parents discipline him. I don't have the time. - Rick Powell

Here, here, Rick. I am grateful for your thoughts on the thread. (and LOL at twat) - Derrick

@Rick OK, now that is a good point. @Slippy I am not criticizing you, it's called debate, I put forth an opinion, argue for it, you put forth yours, argue for it. Not meant to be personal, supposed to be about the positions and arguments. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

I think of it this way: I want control over the effects of my words. Sometimes I want to hurt someone, but usually I don't. So I choose words to match the effect I want, and since I know that "that's gay" hurts many gay people (and many of their friends) I choose other words instead. - Deborah Fitchett

@Deborah That's a lovely human thing to say and it's really just that simple. - Rick Powell

Deborah +5 :) - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Mahdi Ebrahimi posted a link

Tabbouleh with Persimmons and Almonds and a Knife Giveaway

15 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

Cee Bee, Parth Awasthi, Trish R and 9 other people liked this

One of my favorite things to do with a chef’s knife is to chop fresh herbs. To me, it’s very relaxing and satisfying to attack a huge pile of leafy parsley and end up with a much smaller pile of finely chopped herbs. And what better way to get a feel for this knife than some nice, soothing, rhythmic chopping. - Mahdi Ebrahimi via Bookmarklet

hmmmm! :D tanx for great feeds in persian: bahhhhh - pepella

You are welcome dear Peppella. - Mahdi Ebrahimi

I want to try persimmons... - Kamilah Gill

BeeLing posted a message

“Friends, need suggestions. Which is the best Hayao Miyazaki's anime film?”

12 hours ago - Link

Neal "thePuck" Jansons, zoblue (Zulema), Shevonne Polastre and 4 other people liked this

hmm... kind of a personal question... ;) - edythe

11 more comments

Tough very tough, probably Princess Mononoke - Mo Kargas

My heart always belonged to Totoro. Until it was ripped out by Grave of the Fireflies. - Bec Rowe

Grave Of the Fireflies really moved me, because I have an 8-year-old sister that I would do anything for. - Andrew Trinh

Hey... hold on, is Fireflies Miyazaki?? - Bec Rowe

No doubt the earlier classics. Valley of the Wind and Laputa are probably the two best. Some folks find Totoro boring, but it's actually a very touching story. - Jonathan Wong via twhirl

Ah, Fireflies is Ghibli, but not Miyazaki. In that case, I stick by Totoro. Fireflies nearly killed me when I watched it. Months later, I bought a tin of Sakuma Drops, and cried again. - Bec Rowe

I think Mononoke, too. Spirited Away was great, but Mononoke haunted me. - Kamilah Gill

Ok thanks guys!! My first investment on Miyazaki's film will be Mononoke ;-) - BeeLing

I adore Castle in the Sky. Kiki is cute, but Castle in the Sky holds my heart. - Ladybug Heather

I really loved Spirited Away. - Neal "thePuck" Jansons

Easy. Spirited Away. No contest. I thought Mononoke was visually stunning but made almost no sense whatsoever. "Spirited" was both beautiful and had a strong plot. - Steve Isaacs

Laputa - Shevonne Polastre

Spirited Away FTW :) - zoblue (Zulema)

BeeLing posted a message

“RAM TEST FAILED! Eeek!”

14 hours ago - Link

Ladybug Heather, Steve Craft, Kenton and 8 other people liked this

My apartment block's lift... eeek! Luckily the lift is working fine, only the display failed. - BeeLing

2 more comments

I think that would make me think twice before boarding :s Stairs, plz? - Kamilah Gill

Stairs. Good for the ♥ :) - AJ Batac

What you really don't want is a crash... - mikepk

Stairs... yes good for the heart but bad for my knees. Anyway there are 3 lifts for my block. And the other 2 are working fine as well. Heh - BeeLing

Kamilah Gill posted a link

I'm at a loss for words. Yes, that's right, this says Thomas Kinkade. I think I've died and gone to hell. Seriously.

8 hours ago - Link

How could this movie come into existence? What is wrong with people?? Any other artists out there feel my pain? Discuss. - Kamilah Gill

Just noticed that Kottke got this, too. Watch him get a lot more buzz for it than I did :( - Kamilah Gill

Cee Bee posted a link

Oaxaca Wood Carvings

6 hours ago - via Bookmarklet - Link

Jill, Superhero Librarian, Lindsay Donaghe, ♫ Rahsheen™ and 6 other people liked this

Alebrijes are carved wooden figures created by Oaxacan artisans. They have become so popular that even the world’s most respected Spanish language authority, the La Real Academia de la Lengua Española, Spanish Royal Academy, has included the term “Alebrijes” in its official Spanish language dictionary. The term “Alebrijes” originated from the name that Mr. Pedro Linares, of Mexico City, gave to his fantastic creations of paper maché; which are internationally recognized. Most Oaxacan artisans simply call them figuras "wooden figures", naming them after the animal which they carved, such as the deer, raccoon, leopard, etc., but when a fantastic figure is elaborated, the artisan is compelled to say he has created an "alebrije." - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet

I've seen several of these around and I need to go ahead and get one for myself. My mom loves bright colors and would enjoy one of these, too. - Kamilah Gill

i love these. they're relatively inexpensive in mexico compared to what you would find in an specialty "ethnic" art gallery here in the us - Cee Bee

I'll have to ask my dad to see if these show up in Cancun when he's down there in a couple of weeks (though I bet that's not near Oaxaca; I'll have to check a map). - Kamilah Gill

Cee Bee posted a link

tokyo night lights - SATO Shintaro