MySpace Gangstas

I'm totally down with social networking websites for several reasons. To begin, I like posting pictures of my new hair cuts or my cats doing cat things on the Internet for all to see. Second, I like any situation where I can type-chat rather than actually have an interaction with real human beings. Finally, I like being a private investigator into other people's lives. Apparently everyone I knew in high school is married now, almost all the kids we thought were gay are, and many of those who are not married or gay are extremely happy with their fancy car, the Chicago White Sox, a significant other they call "My Baby" or "Babes" or even "bebe", and are apparently really happy about those things. I have nothing bad to say about all these folks--and in fact I'm super happy that they are happy. But, i digress, this post isn't about the 20-Something Southsider. Theres another MySpace subspecies that I have to mention. Sometimes, when I'm clicking through my friends on MySpace I find people, usually friends of friends, that think they are "Gangstas." For some reason Facebook doesn't have as many of these 'members'. I suspect this is because for a long time one had to have a school email address (usually college) in order to join-- and many "gangstas" have chosen to get their schoolin' on the street rather than in the classroom. Its funny for so many reasons, but mainly because a lot of these people live in suburbs where, I can imagine, its kind of a chore to really get any gang-action happening. I also think that many young people who live in suburbs live with their folks-another place that isn't too "bling" friendly. Either way, I love these folks for all their efforts to stand out in a playa-hatin' society. This awesome website I was just blessed with through a co-worker, I guess called "The Best Article Every Day," recently had a post on this phenomenal phenomenon called "5 MySpace Morons." Check it out for 5 prime examples. Seriously. Its awesome. If I had any cash or a "grill" I would try to change my MySpace profile to reflect this trend...PS: My Gangsta name would be John Cougar Bitch Ass. What would your Gangsta Name be?

Deceit at its best...

I just picked up this information from Feministing.com and it totally disgusts me: It seems that the website prochoice.com is actually an ANTI-CHOICE site. That's right, by masquerading as a safe place to visit by women who actually are seeking help it promotes its anti-choice stance with such helpful information such as:

"Abortion- How Much Will It Cost? The ultimate price, your baby's life, your self esteem and maybe your life.The financial cost can be very little to a lot. Rarely discussed is the hidden costs after the fact."

"Abortion- What Is it? Abortion is human intervention that does not allow a developing child to be born. It is the death of another less developed human being."

And one more winner:

"Imagine feeling safe and the next moment someone is killing you and you can't get away or cry for help."

For a lot of women, in different situations, abortion is an option. Its subversive, manipulative people like whoever put up this site that are trying to cheat women out of their own right to choose what they do with their bodies. Just disgusting.

Don't Leave Racy Pictures on Your Digital Camera...

...just in case you lose it, and some one is nice enough to help you find it.

I've talked about PostSecret before--the website and subsequent books of confessions/secrets folks write anonymously, but I just found a new pretty interesting site for Found Cameras and Orphan Photos. On this site people post photos from found digital cameras or memory sticks in hopes that someone will recognize a face from the picture and the camera/memory stick will be found! There are also a few posts of old photographs that have been found (moving into a new home, or from a second hand purchase) in hopes of getting the original back to the owner. I just that deserved a little shout out, especially for those of you who have lost a camera! In my own experience, I once picked up my high school prom photos from a drugstore photo counter and took them right home. When I got there, so-so-s0 excited to see the prom pictures, I found pictures of someones large family BBQ and camping trip. These were eventually swapped for the Prom pics, but it took a few days and put a lot of stress on my 17 year old self. I hope those folks got their camping pics back!

GO LINCOLN!

One of my favorite websites, mentalfloss.com, had a posting today on one of my favorite monuments that I thought everyone (DC locals or not) should check out. Apparently today is the anniversary of the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. Check out the site to read all about it!

Correction!

Sorry all! The big thing I missed in my "May Run-down" was the most fun part ever! LCs sister and nephew came to visit, too! That was the best week of my life (happy Lindz?). :)

Missing Blogger

Sorry to all (3) of you who read this blog regularly--I've been out of school on my one month summer break since the beginning of May, but I've been busy:

LC's mom came to visit and so did my sister and brother in-law (who announced while they were here that they are happily pregnant with their first baby!) And we went to a Nationals Game at the brand new awesome stadium.

I traveled to Los Angeles for four days but I didnt see Jimmy Kimmel and it didn't really look like this:

It looked more like this:

I dont think I like LA.

Immediately after I returned from the West Coast, LC and I travelled to NYC, which is for sure in my top three favorite cities (Chicago, London, NYC). I saw Strawberry Fields (which I had been dreaming about my entire Beatles-loving life):














And the Statue of Liberty:

Honestly, I thought it would be bigger. I mean, at least 2 or 3 feet high.

And we drank beers outside for hours on end in Little Italy.

Good Times.

I've also just started blogging for a new site about Washington, DC's Green Movement. None of my pieces are up yet, but keep your eyes on Paint The District Green.

So, yeah...I've been a little busy. But I'll try to get back on track! Peace!

Alex Kochno

A lot of you may have already seen this. It has spread relatively fast on the internetz from its origins on my very favorite site feministing.com, but I just wanted to further inundate the web with reports on this kids totally vile behavior. Alex Kochno, the the public relations officer of the Southern Illinois University College Republicans sent this piece of hate mail to feministing.com (caution: a little hateful, inappropriate language below):

"Men are better than women look at the comparison in IQ men are scientifically proven to have a higher IQ by roughly 5 points, or 5% you cannot dispute science sorry and if you want a much better website than your shitty one you might want to go to [redacted]. I think you would gain a lot more knowledge from that website and you might learn about the truth that way you would not be so stupid and ignorant you stupid cunts"

You can read the whole post and all the comments here. I wanted to blog about it again because I just love the idea of his hateful words popping up every time an employer, friend, significant other or stranger drop his name into Google.

And as for the assertion that men are smarter than women? We all know that intelligent bigots know enough to conceal their hatefulness...you have to be a damned idiot to email whatever rocks are rolling around in your misogynistic little head to a public website from your school email address Also, just for the record. I totally support SIU in general--this is not a reflection on the university, just a jackass who attends it. I wont post them here, but the article links both to his MySpace page and his Facebook page. Might as well give him a poke, yeah?

Also, feministing posted an update about the great response from SIU about this kids childish act.