The Bus Tunnel

I took the bus tunnel from work to the heart of downtown yesterday so I could quickly do some shopping before meeting up with Logic and Daniel. My office is where the tunnel starts so the bus was empty when I got on. At the next stop a man got on, dragging a bag full of his life's belongings. He looked like he hadn't showered in a very long time and may not have even known where he was at. He chose a seat in the middle of the bus that is elevated and facing inward. I had a clear view of him.
I tried to close my eyes because I didn't want to be rude but I kept finding myself peering through a squinted eye - just to see what he was doing. At one point, my eyes had been closed for a while and as I slowly opened them - almost forgetting he was there - I saw him licking his finger and then wiping the arm rest and then licking his finger again. It's as if he were testing it to see what it tasted like.
It was at that moment that I made a conscious decision to NEVER, under any circumstances, touch anything on a bus ever again.

Oscar The Grim Reaper Cat

My dad was an administrator of a nursing home for about 20 years. His first care center was in Roseburg and I spent a lot of time making the rounds with him and talking to his residents. When I heard this story, it moved me because I know there are elderly people who are left to die by their families. The thought of their final hours being spent with an animal cuddling and nurturing them makes me want to bawl.

Comparison

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Trivia

I found a website called Wonderful Info and it had some interesting trivia. Thought I'd share my favorites:
- Mosquito repellants don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
- Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
-it's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
-A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.
-Yo-yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines
-When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying "yes" in Sri Lanka.
-The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.
-the average four year old asks over 400 questions a day
-Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
- A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.
-chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying
-When the moon is directly overhead, you weigh slightly less.
-A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a Carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After Weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe Leaving her mentally retarded
-Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command "go hang Yourself."
-Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
-China has more English speakers than the United States.
-Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood we have only 206 in our Bodies.
-According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.
-Men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better.
- Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
-All polar bears are left handed.
-A snail can sleep for three years.
-In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
-Most lipstick contains fish scales.

I Need To Write It Down

When something upsets me, I need to talk about it. I call a friend or family member and verbalize how I feel. But it's recently come to my attention that I get no sense of relief from that. I could call 20 people and have different conversations with all of them and still not feel satisfied.But if I write it down, I find instant relief.

The Wrong Bus

Around Thanksgiving I went on a fantastic voyage to Lynnwood without intending to. That day was interesting to say the least, and yet somehow I managed to stay in a good mood and chalked it up to another interesting story in the tale of my life.
But after reading this article I decided Jaeyaena Beuraheng's story totally kicked my story's ass.

Mud Bay Information

I was reading through an almanac that a local pet store, Mud Bay sent out last week. I learned a few things about cats and dogs and thought I'd share.
-Whiskers : Most people know that a cat's whiskers help them sense shifting air currents and the distance of objects but cats also have sensitive carpal hairs on the backs of their front wrists, which help with the reflex that allows them to land on their feet. Dogs have vibrissae too, but it is believed that they do not provide information in the same way that cat whiskers do.
-When a domestic cat goes after mice, about one in three gets results.
- Dogs and cats have a special anatomical feature immediately behind the retina. Composed of a layer of reflective cells, it's called the tapetum lucidum. It collects scattered light and focuses it back to the photoreceptive cells of the retina, thus increasing the dog's light gathering ability by 40%. When light hits the dog or cat's eyes at night and you see red, what you're actually seeing is the tapetum lucidum.
- Taking care of dogs' and cat's teeth and gums can actually contribute to extending their lifespans. When plaque and tartar cause infection and bleeding gums, harmful bacteria enter the bloodstream and can gradually damage the heart, kidneys and liver.
- Dogs smile, but only to people, never to other dogs, because they're copying our human smile. Some breeds, like the Samoyed, are predisposed to smile, and are referred to as "smiley dogs".
- Over 10 different government agencies regulate the pet food industry, but none guarantees that what's on the label is actually what's in the bag (or can) of food. Ultimately, the quality of the food depends upon the integrity of the manufacturer.
- Have a dog who rolls around in the mud? Dogs try to mask their scent with something completely non threatening like a cow pie or a dead fish. As they sneak up on unsuspecting prey, they may imagine a the deer thinking, "Oh, it's just a rotten pile of poo getting closer and closer." Alternatively, a subordinate dog temporarily gains status in the pack when the other dogs stop what they're doing to give her attention, by sniffing her stinky necklace. Dogs in human families are also subordinate, and when they roll in stinkiness, we give them the extended attention of a bath. Finally, dogs get a lot of information from scent. Rolling in smelly stuff may be a way for a dog to take notes, and bring news back to the pack, such as the location of potential food or types of prey.
- A recent Northwestern University study indicates that dogs and people can help each other lose weight. Three groups were compared: people-only, dogs-only, and dogs-with-their-people. Participants in each group were given diet and exercise plans based on body mass index. Results indicate that human-dog teams are more likely to stick with a weight-loss program. 80% of the dogs-and-people group completed the study. Completion rates for other groups were much lower. Participants said that it's simply more fun to exercise with their dogs.
- According to a 2001 study, single people who adopted dogs showed a significant reduction in their blood pressure.
- A 1995 study indicates that both cat and dog owners have less occasion to visit the doctor than people who do not own animals(8% less for dog owners and 12% less for those with cats).
- There's data to indicate that cat and dog owners are less depressed, more able to recover from serious illness, and more likely to have meaningful social relationships than those who have no animals in their lives.
- Children benefit from pets. They are less likely to develop allergies, and tend to be more meotionally stable.
- The average lifespan for an indoor cat is 15 years versus 5 years for a cat that goes outdoors.
- Cats have a Jacobson's organ, also called a vomeronasal organ, above the roof of their mouth, that helps in the detection of scents. Occasionally, you'll see a cat with a gaping mouth, looking like he's just smelled bad cheese. This behavior is called a Flehmen response, and is used to circulate air between the nose and mouth, stimulating the Jacobson's organ.
- When a cat rubs her face on you or other objects (an activity known as 'bunting'), she is leaving scent markers.
-An average dog is capable of distinguishing among more than 200 spoken words. So, even though dogs can't verbalize, it's perlects fair to say that they understand our language. Consider this: a human baby at 13 months can pick out about 100 words.
- Purring is generated by the buildup and sudden release of pressure as a cat's glottis opens and closes, resulting in a rapid separations of the vocal folds that generates the wonderful, soothing sound. The muscles that move the glottis are driven by a neural oscillator that cycles every 30-40 milliseconds.
- Dogs eye color can be either brown or blue while a cat can have shades of yellow, gold, green or blue.

What's Your Real Age?

If you're up for it, here's the questionaire.

~As a 27 year old, I was pleased to learn my real age is 23.9!!

Brain Waves

The song "What You Soul Sings" by Massive Attack triggered something in my brain that made me think of a newscast on msnbc.com from a few months back. It was a health related story regarding brainwaves and how your brain makes it's own music that, once discovered, can be used to calm you down or energize you.
After watching that story, I wondered if people are prone to liking certain types of music because it is similar to the music your brain makes? What do you think?

Pay It Forward

Did you watch Oprah's season premiere this year? If you did, you saw that her yearly surprise was not to give cars to everyone in the audience. Instead she chose to 'pay it forward'. She gave everyone in her audience $1000 with the understanding that they would, in turn, give it to someone else.
Some people sat in grocery store parking lots and gave cash to strangers, others donated to their favorite cause. But even as I watched the show and saw how inspired some of the people were, I couldn't decide what I would do if given that opportunity.
Last night I figured it out.
Logic and I have had a movie sitting on our t.v. for a few weeks now. With all the renovation and family visits we haven't had time to relax and watch much of anything. But last night we finally sat down to watch An Inconvenient Truth.
If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it - regardless of your political affiliation. If you've seen it, I would highly recomment that you tell someone to see it.
If I had a thousand dollars to give away, I would buy 50 copies of that movie and give them to strangers. And hope that after they watched it, they would pass it along until everyone had seen it.

Quirks

In the hopes that this blog will stir some creative juices, I've decided to copy Lachlan and list 6 of my quirks.

1) I have to close my closet door before I go to sleep. Otherwise, I will wake up and make boogy-monsters out of a coat, some skis and a box of books.
2) I like things to be symmetrical. As an example: if I do sit ups with my feet in the air and one leg is crossing the other, I have to stop halfway through and switch my legs.
3) I'm not sure where this one comes from ~ I prefer to do chores when no one else is around. I can't decide if it's because I don't want a critique or if I prefer to make it look effortless.
4) I often do ballet exercises in my living room when no one is around.
5) I like to steal clothes from my dad and wear them until they're rags.
6) I have a favorite spoon. Here's where it gets interesting: I refuse to use it everytime because I don't want to wear it out. But whenever I randomly pick it out of the drawer I get excited.

Would You Believe?

Fark.com had a link to 2spare.com that outlined some very strange coincidences. These were some of my favorites:

Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself predicted this in 1909, when he said: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it."

In 1979, the German magazine - Das Besteran - ran a writing competition. Readers sent in unusual stories, but they had to be based on true incidents. The winner, Walter Kellner of Munich, had his story published . He wrote about a time when he was flying a Cessna 421 between Sardinia and Sicily. He encountered engine trouble at sea, landed in the water, spent some time in an emergency dinghy and was then rescued. This story was spotted by an Austrian, also named Walter Kellner, who said that the German Kellner had plagiarized the story. The Austrian Kellner said that he had flown a Cessna 421 over the same sea, experienced engine trouble and was forced to land in Sardinia. It was essentially the same story, with a slightly different ending. The magazine checked both stories, and both turned out to be true, even though they were nearly identical.

On July 28th 1900, the King of Italy Umberto I was having dinner in a restaurant in the city of Monza. It turned out later that the restaurant's owner looked identical to the king. The restaurant owner's name was Umberto, his wife's name was the same as the queen's and the restaurant was opened on the same date as the king's inauguration. The Restaurant-owner Umberto was shot dead the next day. So was King Umberto.

On the 26th November, 1911, three men were hanged at Greenberry Hill in London after being convicted of the murder of Sir Edmund Berry. Their names were Green, Berry and Hill.

The British actor Anthony Hopkins [who shot to fame as Hannibal Lecter] was delighted to hear that he had landed a leading role in a film based on the book The Girl From Petrovka by George Feifer. A few days after signing the contract, Hopkins travelled to London to buy a copy of the book. He tried several bookshops, but there wasn't one to be had. Waiting at Leicester Square underground for his train home, he noticed a book apparently discarded on a bench. Incredibly, it was The Girl From Petrovka. That in itself would have been coincidence enough but in fact it was merely the beginning of an extraordinary chain of events. Two years later, in the middle of filming in Vienna, Hopkins was visited by George Feifer, the author. Feifer mentioned that he did not have a copy of his own book. He had lent the last one - containing his own annotations - to a friend who had lost it somewhere in London. With mounting astonishment, Hopkins handed Feifer the book he had found. 'Is this the one?' he asked, 'with the notes scribbled in the margins?' It was the same book.

A British officer, Major Summerford, while fighting in the fields of Flanders in February 1918 was knocked off his horse by a flash of lightning and paralyzed from the waist down. Summerford retired and moved to Vancouver. One day in 1924, as he fished alongside a river, lightning hit the tree he was sitting under and paralyzed his right side. Two years later Summerford was sufficiently recovered that he was able to take walks in a local park. He was walking there one summer day in 1930 when a lightning bolt smashed into him, permanently paralyzing him. He died two years later. But lightning sought him out one last time. Four years later, during a storm, lightning struck a cemetery and destroyed a tombstone. The deceased buried here? Major Summerford.

In 1899 a bolt of lightning killed a man as he stood in his backyard in Taranto, Italy.
Thirty years later his son was killed in the same way and in the same place.
On October 8, 1949, Rolla Primarda, the grandson of the first victim and the son of the second, became the third.

~thank you 2spare

33 Names of Things You Never Knew had Names

1. AGLET - The plain or ornamental covering on the end of a shoelace.
2. ARMSAYE - The armhole in clothing.
3. CHANKING - Spat-out food, such as rinds or pits.
4. COLUMELLA NASI - The bottom part of the nose between the nostrils.
5. DRAGÉES - Small beadlike pieces of candy, usually silver-coloured, used for decorating cookies, cakes and sundaes.
6. FEAT - A dangling curl of hair.
7. FERRULE - The metal band on a pencil that holds the eraser in place.
8. HARP - The small metal hoop that supports a lampshade.
9. HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER - A 64th note. (A 32nd is a demisemiquaver, and a 16th note is a semiquaver.)
10. JARNS,
11. NITTLES,
12. GRAWLIX,
13. and QUIMP - Various squiggles used to denote cussing in comic books.
14. KEEPER - The loop on a belt that keeps the end in place after it has passed through the buckle.
15. KICK or PUNT - The indentation at the bottom of some wine bottles. It gives added strength to the bottle but lessens its holding capacity.
16. LIRIPIPE - The long tail on a graduate's academic hood.
17. MINIMUS - The little finger or toe.
18. NEF - An ornamental stand in the shape of a ship.
19. OBDORMITION - The numbness caused by pressure on a nerve; when a limb is `asleep'.
20. OCTOTHORPE - The symbol `#' on a telephone handset. Bell Labs' engineer Don Macpherson created the word in the 1960s by combining octo-, as in eight, with the name of one of his favourite athletes, 1912 Olympic decathlon champion Jim Thorpe.
21. OPHRYON - The space between the eyebrows on a line with the top of the eye sockets.
22. PEEN - The end of a hammer head opposite the striking face.
23. PHOSPHENES - The lights you see when you close your eyes hard. Technically the luminous impressions are due to the excitation of the retina caused by pressure on the eyeball.
24. PURLICUE - The space between the thumb and extended forefinger.
25. RASCETA - Creases on the inside of the wrist.
26. ROWEL - The revolving star on the back of a cowboy's spurs.
27. SADDLE - The rounded part on the top of a matchbook.
28. SCROOP - The rustle of silk.
29. SNORKEL BOX - A mailbox with a protruding receiver to allow people to deposit mail without leaving their cars.
30. SPRAINTS - Otter dung.
31. TANG - The projecting prong on a tool or instrument.
32. WAMBLE - Stomach rumbling.
33. ZARF - A holder for a handleless coffee cup.

~this list provided by www.canongate.net

Word Cloud

In typical Amaya style, I'm stealing ideas from Syd, Trop and Bayou:

Superdome

Am I way off base here or is it unacceptable that the Superdome has undergone a facelift while the rest of New Orleans sits in ruins?

Tired of Coming to This Site Just to Find Out I've Been Slacking?

Since I tend to blog sporatically, I thought I'd introduce you to bloglines. You can subscibe to my blog and it will notify you when I submit a post.
That way you won't have to miss a single blog. (Could I get any more narcissistic?)

Former Rap Fan

I used to love rap. I loved the beats, the flow.. It was rebellious and raw and it made me feel powerful. I would spend my measly paycheck on Tupac, Nas, Jay-Z and Biggie; I would hole up in my bedroom and put my favorite songs on repeat. Looking back, rap music defined my teens.
In an effort to reconnect with that sense of defiance I occasionally try to listen to what's out there today. Sadly, it doesn't take long for me to get frustrated and change it to an Alt Rock station. (Who knows, maybe Alt Rock is the new rap? The place where artists go to speak their minds and express themselves without having their lyrics all rhyme with cock?)
At first I thought this might be part of the transition into adult-hood. First comes the sporadic yelling of "damn kids" as you're cut off by a new Lexus SUV with a 16 year old driver. Then you lose your taste for rap music. But I'm starting to think it's not me... It's the rap. The shock has worn off and it's faltering.
It's not just about the beats - which have, in my opinion, grown weak and generic, but the lyrics have changed from protest to degradation. Here's an example of what I used to listen to compared to what's out there now:

Tupac - Hold Ya Head (1997)

"How do we keep the music playing
How do we get ahead
To many young black brothers are dying
Living Fast, too fast

These felonies be like prophecies
Begging me to stop
Cuz These lawyers getting money
Everytime they knock us
Slashing pockets lyrically
Suckas fleed when they notice
Switched my name to Makaveli
Had the rap game closed
Expose foes, with my hocus pocus flows
They froze
Now suckas idealize my choosen Blows
More money mean litigating
More Playa hating
Got a cell at the penn for me waiting
Is this my fate
Miss me with that mistermeaner thinking
Me fall back
Never That
Too much Tequilla drinking
We all that
Make them understand me
Hey I'll stay all night out with my Posse
Everyone roll with me is family
Cuz everybodies got me
Watch me paint a perfect vision
This life we living
Got us all meeting up in Prison
Last week I got a letter from my road dog
Written in Blood
Saying, "Please show a young playa love"
Hold your head
Hold it"



50 Cent - Fat Bitch (2002)

"I'll say something nice about ya eyes, cause you's a big bitch man
Yeah, It's nothin' but a little baby phat phat
Them Entenmann's dun got your ass fat fat
Them Little Debbie's dun got your ass fat fat
These cup cakes dun got your ass fat fat
Yeah, It's nothin' but a little baby phat phat

[Tony Yayo]
I ain't no trick, I ain't have to borrow with my wallet
Freakin' off in your car, on your closet
It ain't nothing wrong wit a big, strong girl
If you can cook your ass off, I'll give you the world
You can be skinny or fat, white or black
Nigga pussy is pussy so, yeah, I'll hit that
I'm a freak, sure I love minage a trois
And I really care lees if you twice my size

Don't be stuck on the things they say
now you know it's a nasty world ' It's a nasty world
I ain't fuckin wit you anyway
cause I know your a nasty girl - You's a nasty girl
I ain't never gon discriminate, so let me compliment your eyes

I'm a compliment your eyes
Yayo'll fuck wit you big bitches but I'm a stay the fuck away from ya

Them Twinkies got your ass gettin' fat fat
Them cookies got your ass gettin' fat fat
That cake got your ass gettin' fat fat
Bitch you grown, that ain't baby fat fat

Stay the fuck away from, you fuckin fat bitch
Fuck wit Tony Yayo, ho"

Granted, this is just an example of what's out there now. And to be fair, rappers have always talked about women. But it seems the fight that was once in rap has buried it's head in shame.

~I would like to make a point of discluding Hip Hop from this article. In my opinion, Hip Hop still has it's raw edge and artistry.

How Do You Like Your Justice Served?

Two weeks ago my in-laws went to a friend's cabin in a remote part of Oregon. They were all outside enjoying the sunset when they heard crashing metal proceeded by screeching tires.
By the time they got to the road they noticed that one of the cars was long gone - except for their bumper... which just so conveniently happened to have the license plate attached to it.
I would have paid good money to go with the police as they delivered the bumper/license plate to the person who did the hit and run.

Brother Carries Fetus of Twin for Over 30 Years

What an interesting story.