Princess Emma

Once upon a time there was a princess, her name was Emma. She lived in a castle in the middle of a magical kingdom. She had a unicorn and a dragon and a moat and lots of pretty dresses and a whole room of shoes.
She liked to sit and play the harp in her tower. And when she was not doing that, she would let her 37 feet of hair down and princes would climb up, because she had a really strong scalp. Apparently she was using a really great shampoo.
Basically she was tite, (and basically I have totally run out of things to write about on this blog, because I am writing about Princess Emma).

Yep, I'm a Republican!

I never thought the day would come when the words, "Yep, I'm a Republican" came out of my mouth.

Those gun-toting, super-rich, up-tight, Bush clones; I never thought I would be a member of the GDP! In my house, that just isn't something that happens. My mom liberal, my dad is a registered democrat and my sister is as left-wing as they come. None of my friends take a particularly conservative stance. Heck, I grew up idolizing the hippies of Woodstock, longing to be with them. And so, it was always just assumed, I guess, that this is how I would be too--that this is how I should be.

And don't get me wrong, I conformed for quite a while. I was the lone Obama supporter for the majority of the election in my household, with a gaggle of Hillary supporters surrounding me. The infectious, passion-inspiring nature of that man, I think, wrapped everyone up in his greatness; and if I had been 18, there would have been no doubt that he would have been who I marked down on my ballot, primarily because that is what I would have been expected to do.

It's kind of funny how even in the utter privacy of a voting booth, the pressures of others can still plague you.

Anyway, it wasn't until after Obama took office that I noticed one grave fault in his platform: he had none. Except for yelling "Change!" and "Hope!" at every possible time, the man had no clue, and neither did I. If, at that time, I had been asked to identify democratic principles, I could not have done it to save my life.

This prompted me to look into the platforms of the two sides, and decide without much hesitation that the democrats are a lot stupider than I was giving them credit for. And this isn't a knock on any of my liberal friends by any means, because getting into a political debate is never one of the activities that I wish to engage in. Furthermore, outside of this blog, I plan to keep my views pretty quiet, because nobody wants to be seen as crazy neocon girl (for the record, I am not a neoconservative ala George W. Bush though).

My only apprehension about declaring my position as a Republican, is that I will be viewed as uptight. You know what I'm talking about--how Republicans always seem to have some sort of stick up their ass to make them incredibly intense...that's what I refuse to be. And so, I plan to create my own hybrid of hippie-looking Republican.

Treating OCD...what works and wat doesn't

The anxiety disorder known as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, neurotic behaviors that one is compelled to perform without reason. OCD causes the brain to focus on a particular thought or urge, such as hand washing, or checking the front door lock at night exactly 13 times.
The most effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder would most narrowly be two-pronged; a combination of behavioral and cognitive therapy.
On the behavioral side, exposure and response prevention would involve the repeated exposure to the source of obsession, (the front door lock at night). Then, the afflicted would be asked to refrain from the compulsive behavior that would usually be performed. For example, as the patient sits next to their front door, anxiety-ridden, the urge to check the lock should theoretically go down. This shows the patient that they have control over their anxiety and can turn it off and on. Traditionally, behavioral therapy attempts to eliminate unwanted behaviors through classical conditioning, systematic desensitization, progressive relaxation, exposure therapy, flooding, aversive conditioning and/or operant conditioning.
The other prong of the therapy for OCD would come in the form of cognitive therapy. This therapy would attempt to eliminate irrational thoughts and create an awareness of negative thinking and words. It would assume that OCD focuses on scary thoughts of exaggerated situations, (for example, the idea that if the front door lock is not checked 13 times, a rapist/murderer will break into my home and slowly kill everyone that I love). A larger part of this therapy, however, focuses on teaching healthy and effective ways of responding to obsessive thoughts, without resorting to compulsive behavior. This comes about primarily from gentle questioning, which helps patients discover their irrational and maladaptive thoughts and change their views.
These two forms of therapy are clearly a superior combination, over their three counterparts of psychoanalytic therapy, humanistic therapy or family/group therapy.
Psychoanalytic therapy would not work because it states that the unconscious holds the key to everything and that childhood memories hold the key to everything. It uses free association, dream analysis and transference. However, none of these offer real solutions to fix the problem, nor are they scientifically-backed.
Humanistic therapy uses introspection and active listening to promote personal growth, genuineness, acceptance and empathy. However, that is not what an OCD patient needs¾ they are not having problems with their inner being, they just have something wrong with their brain. They are like a CD stuck on repeat, not a tortured soul that needs to be tamed.
Finally, family/group therapy would presumably be ineffective for people with OCD as well. This form of therapy aims demonstrate that patients are not alone in their problems and to share helpful hints with one another. However, this is still not what an OCD patient needs. Rather than hearing that ‘no person is an island,’ OCD patients need to be conditioned to not obsess on one minute thing.
Thus, the cocktail of the behavioral and cognitive therapies would be the most effective, because it tackles the issue of contorted thoughts and maladaptive behaviors.

Treating depression...what works and what doesn't

Although major depressive disorder is sometimes seen as a hopeless cause by the afflicted, proper treatment and therapy can really lead to decreased symptoms and lifted spirits.
Of the five major therapeutic categories, cognitive treatment is undoubtedly the most effective.

The cognitive behavioral theory of depression states that the patient’s excessive self-criticism and rejection is the root of the disorder. Cognitive therapy attempts to correct the negative thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes, therefore eliminating the patient’s pessimism and hopelessness.
The methods of cognitive therapy include gentle questioning, which helps them discover their irrational and maladaptive thoughts. In addition, homework assignments are given to break through the vicious cycle of depression (increased negative thinking leads to increased social isolation which in turn leads back to increased negative thinking).
It should be noted, though, that there are certainly cognitive critics. These people argue that the depressed patient’s pessimistic, negative thoughts are a result of their major depression, but not the cause. However, cognitive therapy triumphs over the other four major forms of therapy.
Psychoanalytic therapy does not work for major depressive disorder because it does not have any real roots in childhood, and even if it did, this form of therapy does not provide any real suggested treatments.
Humanistic therapy could also be effective in treating major depressive disorder. This form of therapy attempts to promote personal growth and acceptance through active listening and reflection. And while this type of introspection is important for the depressed patient, the therapy doesn’t offer any real solutions and takes too long to find a root cause; all the while the patient slumps into a deeper depression.
Because major depressive disorder is not generally a learned behavior, behavioral therapy is usually ineffective. Happiness cannot be classically conditioned through systematic desensitization, progressive relaxation, exposure therapy, flooding or aversive conditioning. Furthermore, operant conditioning does not work either, because the token economy technique does not work with something as abstract as joy.
Finally, the family/group therapy is not usually viewed as an effective therapy for major depressive disorder. Family therapy examines the role of the depressed member in the overall psychological well-being of the whole family and examines the role of the entire family in the maintenance of the depression. However, if someone in my family is diagnosed with depression, the chances that I am not already doing all that I can to help them is pretty slim; thus family therapy isn’t going to tell me anything I don’t already know and will provide few real solutions.
Therefore, the cognitive therapy clearly triumphs; it’s use of small steps to gradually (but still relatively rapidly) change thinking is clearly the way to go to see the most effective results.

Simply happy

Humans appeared on earth without an owner's manual; no set guidelines as to how love may be attained, success breached, or ultimately happiness guaranteed. However, part of the human owner's manual may soon be written due to tremendous leaps which have been made in an attempt to understand the brain in correlation to both happiness and depression.
So, what have scientists learned about what rings our inner chimes? More than may be imaginable, according to scientists. "While there are many different things that contribute to happiness, the biological component is certainly an important part," pharmacist Joe Agan said. "Essentially, happiness is an emotion and like many it is controlled by petrochemicals in the brain."
Happiness occurs when chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, are secreted in the brain. These neurotransmitters induce a feeling of contentment in the mesolimbic pathway by stimulating pleasure sensors.
These chemicals are also the building blocks for depression, a disorder that affects approximately 16 percent of the world at some point in time. "An example of situational depression would be somebody's dog getting run over, Agan said. "In this you are sad for a short period of time but soon you are able to overcome it. Clinical depression, however, is a chemical imbalance resulting from long term stress or prolonged situational depression in which serotonin or norepinephrine become deficient and you end up overworking the systems that keep your chemical balances."
"Certainly all happiness is not biological. A period of stress or unhappiness may deplete some chemicals that would make you happy," Agan said. "So, psychological components play a role in happiness too."
Although there are still very few definitive answers as to what psychology allows the human heart to belt out tunes of joy, some conclusions have been drawn.

Money, for instance, and all of the dazzling indulgences one can buy with it, helps us avoid certain types of economic strains, data from the National Opinion Research Center showed.
"Although buying power has more than doubled since the '50s, the average American's reported happiness has remained almost unchanged," the National Opinion Research Center said. Therefore, it has been concluded that money has no significant effect on happiness.
If wealth is not the key, it must be a good education, right? The truth is you should apologize to your parents for making them pay that hefty college tuition fee because the answer is no as well. In fact, studies show that not even a substantially high IQ can guarantee happiness throughout the winding path of life.
If education is not even the answer then it must be our youth; the lazy weekends, daily allowance of as much sugar as we can get out hands on, and the unique ability to drive a car while texting our friends and blasting the radio.
Yet, the answer is still no. In fact studies show that people of an older age are more constantly pleased with their lives than young people. A recent survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention concludes, "People ages 20 to 24 are sad for an average of 3.4 days per month, as opposed to just 2.3 days for people ages 65 to 74."
So if these factors are not determining ones, the question remains: what makes us happy? One answer is religion or faith, according to scientific research. Studies have shown that any form of religious faith may boost the spirit, therefore resulting in happiness.
Another influential factor of happiness is friendship. A study conducted by professors Edward Diener and Martin Seligman at the University of Illinois in 2002 showed that approximately ten percent of students who exhibited the highest levels of happiness and least signs of depression stated that strong ties to friends and family were the most prominent contributing factors to their happiness. "It is important to work on social skills, close interpersonal ties, and social support in order to be happy," Diener said.
Yet for those without a natural bubbly personality the question of how to put that extra spring in your step or grin across your face still lingers.
First and foremost, act happy. It is the old saying of mind over matter and it has been shown that we are sometimes able to act ourselves into a certain frame of mind. Talk positively and think optimistic thoughts. Studies show that people ultimately respond much better to this.
Next, focus on something beyond yourself by reaching out to others in need. It has been shown that those who volunteer are more grateful for what they have and ultimately end up in a happier state of mind.
Finally, Michael Wiederman, author of Why It's So Hard to Be Happy, suggests, "Practice living in the moment. Start small...then over time, spend less energy thinking about the past or the future."
Although the growing bodies of scientific research in the field have not yielded any definite or easy answers yet, they seem to have proved what we have known all along: essentially, as Wiederman phrases it, "Happiness ins not an ultimate destination but instead lies in appreaciation of the journey."

'A Nation of Whimps'

We’ve all been there--that is, in the living room of family friends who invited you over, without mentioning that it would include a lengthy performance by Susie, their four-year-old Brittany Spears wanna be daughter, who, might I mention can’t carry a tune to save her life.
You awkwardly sit on the plaid sofa and watch as she attempts to belt out ‘Baby One More Time’ and ‘Crazy’. Although the general consensus is that death-by-boredom is an inevitable result of this performance, her parents do not share the sentiment; they, utterly absorbed in their prodigal daughter’s performance clap and cheer, totally indifferent to your suffering.
Hours later, as you leave their house, you vow never to return, at least not until Susie has been sent off to college, and probably not even then.
It wasn’t always like this though; parents used to stop kids before hour three of their concert and they rarely fostered serious ideas that pop star was a realistic career choice. This was a time before hand-sanitizing gels ran rampant in playgrounds and violin lessons trumped having fun.
In the past few decades, overparenting, as noted by the one Psychology Today article by Hara Estroff Moarano, is on the rise, resulting in neurotic parents and a fragile, unstable youth; we are, in all senses of the word, becoming ‘a nation of wimps’.
The effects of this can be found in all facets of child life; school, play and home. “Parents and school are no longer geared toward child development, they’re geared to academic achievement,” child psychologist David Elkind, professor at Tufts University, said¾ and it’s true! (Moarano, 61) This can be seen in situations such as the girl that was diagnosed with ‘difficulty with Gestalt thinking’, who essentially ‘couldn’t see the big picture‘. (Never mind the fact Piaget’s stages of cognitive development show that the formal operational stage, in which a person develops abstract reasoning, does not come until around that time.) (Myers, 128)
It is simply the idea that such overprotective parents would take their child in to be tested for this that illustrates the power of overparenting. Now, Gestalt-deficiency girl will not have to take a timed SAT, or any other timed test for that matter. The effects that this will have on her long-term self esteem are yet to be seen, and theories of what will happen to her are mixed, but whatever does result will be from a disgustingly privileged vantage, thus tainting her forever.
This isolated case is not the only instance of wimpifying, though. Throughout schools, inflated grades and decreased expectations have come to increase the self esteem of children everywhere. (Moarano, 62) And while it is known that having a high self-worth is positively correlated with individuals who are less likely to succumb to pressures of conformity, less likely to use drugs, are persistent at difficult tasks, are extraverted and are simply happier, an inflated sense of self-esteem can be detrimental. (Myers, 514) “Kids need to feel badly sometimes,” Elkind said. “We learn through experience and we learn through bad experiences. Through failure we learn how to cope.” (Moarano, 61)
Several researchers from the ’90s worked hard to combat parents’ need to artificially inflate the self-worth of their children. They doubted that self-esteem was “’the armor that protects kids’ from life’s problems”. The sixth edition textbook of Psychology states, “Maybe self-esteem is a gauge that reads out the state of our relationships with others. If so, isn’t pushing the gauge artificially higher akin to forcing a car’s low fuel gauge to display ’full’? And will the best boost of self-esteem therefore come not so much from our repeatedly telling children how wonderful they are as from their effective coping and hard-won achievements?” (Myers 515)
More than this, artificially-inflated senses of self have proved to be dangerous in some cases. In the 1998 experiment conducted by Brad Bushman and Roy Baumeister, people with unrealistically high senses of self-esteem were reported to be “exceptionally aggressive”. The researchers concluded that “threatened egotism”, not low self-esteem, is what predisposes aggression, and people with excessive self-regard are prone to excessive risks. (Myers, 517)
Many have tried to tackle the ills of the scholastic system in support of this idea, opposing grade inflation and promoting a high standard of achievement. For example, in 2001, 94 percent of college seniors graduated with honors, and primary schools and high schools are ’arguably just as guilty of grade inflation’. (Moarano, 63-64)
The reason for these inflated senses of ability stem from the need to preserve one major psychological concept¾ self-serving bias, or the readiness to perceive oneself favorably. (Myers, 516) Through the lowered bar of academics, it is important everyone succeeds and their self-concept stays high.
Also, in this idea that school trumps all and everyone is capable of achieving straight As, has come the promotion of individualism, or the giving of priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications. (Myers, 517) A Nation of Wimps blames Dr. Seuss for this; books like Oh, the Places You’ll Go! create false senses that children can do anything successfully, without even the threat of failure. (Moarano, 64) However, when the harsh realities of life hit overparented, wimpy children, the results prove to be devastating. (Moarano, 62, 66)

A grand old party: the demise of American conservatism...aka the final draft of my research paper

As Senator John McCain’s face flashed next to Charles Gibson’s in a small, square box, my words burst into the silent room unexpectedly. “Old as fuck!” I barked in a tone so reminiscent to Larry the Cable Guy, even I was taken a bit aback, “they’d better not elect Grandpa Neocon!”
This is what politics have come down to in my house.
America is a collapsing nation, there is no hiding that fact; the credit bubble and ballooning housing market have made unsustainable inflation commonplace and healthcare unaffordable, a Middle Eastern war has blurred the line between anti-terrorism and anti-OPEC, and bi-partisan politics have made legislation nearly impossible. And yet, in the midst of this great upheaval, my forerunning political query is not how officials will fix our nation, but how long they’ve received the Denny’s senior citizen discount.
It is truly a sad day for American politics. However it is said that all republics, all empires, all civilizations eventually have to die. In the twentieth century alone, the Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian and Ottoman empires all perished in the Great War; the British empire vanished within a quarter century of its finest hour; and the Soviet empire succumbed to a collapse in faith following the Cold War. (Buchanan 2-3). And as for America, maybe it’s our time; at least the total deterioration of public political knowledge puts us next in line.
Joe Bageant is the author of the recent enlightened commentary on conservative-sector demise in America, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War. As a staunch liberal, he principally blames Republican involvement in, what he calls, the American hologram for our impending political doom.
Bageant grew up with conservative values. His people; the Scots-Irish of Winchester, Virginia, have always been a hard-working, self-sufficient group. However, over the years they have become economically and politically dominated by local business owners, mired in debt by unscrupulous mortgage agents, and crippled by a lack of education and healthcare. Furthermore, their primary means of understanding their oppression came from the lips of Rush Limbaugh, internet urban myths and local prayer revival; all which placed the blame for their problems squarely on the shoulders of the liberal elite.
All of these factors comprised the American hologram. This Matrix-like construct of media-protected corporate misdirection, wherein average Joes become trapped in a rigged economy that treats them as nothing more than ashtray-scented hillbillies who deserve to live in disintegrating double-wide trailers, is said, by Bageant, to be the root of all evil.

Anyone who thinks that these white conservatives, both working class and small business class, don’t care about anything outside their own zone of ignorance is only half right. The fact is that many of them cannot see outside that zone at all. They are too uneducated, too conditioned to the idea that being a consumer is the same thing as being a citizen. (Bageant 252)

It was not always like this, though; in fact, Republicans have been the favored, most forward-thinking party for the majority of American history. They burst into popular politics in 1856 as a third party with presidential candidate John C. Fremont under the platform “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont” (“The Republican Party-- GOP History” 2).
Although initially defeated in campaigns, the party’s founding principle, the need to restrict the expansion of human slavery, was unquestionably sound (Gould 484). Four years later, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to snag the presidency. And ever since, for the majority of their time as a formal party, Republicans have been progressives.
The rightist reign continued through most of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, under notable names such as Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Regan and Bush. It was during these years that America became a true superpower (“The Republican Party-- GOP History” 5). Under conservative rule came an end to the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and victory in the Gulf War (Gould 446).
However, the elections of 2000 and 2004 resulted in partial demise of the Republican party. The 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, was the first since Eisenhower to enjoy a majority in both houses of Congress. He was elected based off of his strong belief system, which was a stark contrast to public views of the adulterer Bill Clinton, whose career had been tainted in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
After the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, which spurred a national fear of organized terror groups, such as Al Qaeda, President Bush declared it to be U.S. policy to launch preemptive war on any rogue regime that sought weapons of mass destruction. The infamous “Bush Doctrine” was implemented on the neoconservative ideal that the U.S. should go to war to prevent any other nation from acquiring the power to challenge American hegemony in any region of the world (Buchanan 6). And thus has resulted a widespread distain for the warped views of the nation’s rightist elites:

Republicans honestly tell the world: “Listen in on my phone calls, piss-test me until I’m blind, kill and eat all of my neighbors right in front of my eyes, but show me the money! Let me escape with every cent I can kick out of the suckers, the taxpayers, and anybody else I can get a headlock on, legally or otherwise.” (Bageant 260)

George W. Bush left his post as President with a 34 percent approval rating, up five percent from his average Gallup Poll scores in the last quarter of his presidency. These scores were the third worst in history, just above Harry Truman’s 32 percent (after botching the Korean War and creating a tax meltdown) and Richard Nixon’s 24 percent (following his resignation due to the Watergate scandal). And while his approval rating has risen since Election Day, the vast majority of Democrats and independents disapproved of how he was handling the job, up until President Obama’s inauguration. (“Bush Presidency Closes With 34% Approval, 61% Disapproval” 2).
Conservative ignorance is not to be totally blamed for the impending collapse of the American empire, though. “[Conservatives are] cautious and traditional enough to vote for the man who looks strong enough to keep housing values up, to destroy [their] unseen enemies abroad, and to give God a voice in national affairs” (Bageant 8) Conservatives just want what they see as right for the nation, no matter how radical or imperialistic it may seem.
These ideas, in themselves, are not what threaten the country, though-- it is the passion behind them that does. The virtual political cataclysm that resulted from the last election, it is said, will cause it to be virtually impossible for the left to ignore the resentment among those in heartland, conservative America. Furthermore, the liberal mantra of hope and change is clearly motivating Republicans to “take a stand for their sake of the country” (Adamo 1).
This revolution is no bluff either; Republicans across the nation are calling for their own type of change.

Truly conservative Republicans are [now] presented with a golden opportunity to reclaim their party form their insipid “establishment” counterparts, and rework it into a vibrant and inspiring political force that can reassert the greatness of America, both in its international relations and in its domestic culture. This possibility is real, but it cannot be pursued by a political class that maintains its strategy of sitting the fence, and responding to every ensuing outrage from the Democrats by countering with watered down versions of the same abhorrent things. (Adamo 8)

When all is said and one, though, the fate of the Republican party will not hang on the balance of conservative moves, but rather on President Obama’s actions, no matter how fiercely rightists will dispute this statement. The new administration has already passed up a chance to assert the Bush Doctrine in North Korea, which may substantially weaken the strength of neoconservative values-- if it works. Furthermore, the success of Obama’s withdrawal program from the Middle East will either make or break Republican followings.
Yet, if Bageant professes one point, it is the notion that political unity can only be achieved through increased education, on both sides of the political divide.

No Democrat or leftie seems to grasp that much of working-class theocrats’ eagerness to join the corporatists at putting the liberal yuppies in their place is revenge based. Working-class people can perceive the upper-middle-class snobbery toward them. But that snobbery emerges only when the rough edges of the two worlds rub against each other. Most of the time the true middle and upper classes are scarcely aware that real working people exist. (Bageant 14)

And if the two halves do not recognize each other, they can never fully function in a codependent manner.
Ultimately though, American demise cannot be viewed in an overly-negative manner. The downfall of many of the twentieth century empires have, in fact, sparked favorable revolution and change-- the very thing Americans are looking for today. And although it is a sad day for politics when the basis for opinion comes in the form of “Old as fuck!” comments, it is a signal that change is needed. If the two parties don’t recognize their problems and break free of the American hologram now, they will forever become carcasses, hidden in history textbooks.

The importance of being invisible

If I have had one superpower over the past 12 years of school, it has been invisibility. When I walk down the hallways, nobody notices me and when I enter the room there are no repercussions. There's no hiding it, I'm not spectacular or dazzling and I don't command respect; these are qualities that I have honed throughout my entire lifetime.
I used to want all the attention in the world, and I went to great lengths to get it; I was a self-proclaimed eccentric. However, if my progression through high school has taught me one thing, it is the importance of blending in.
This may seem depressing, and as though I have given up on life or something, but it's the truth, and I am very happy with this realization. The fact that I have gained the ability to be satisfied with myself, no matter what others think of, has been much more fulfilling than anyone the feedback of anyone else.

Going green

I would consider myself an environmentally conscious person, in many respects. I have many beliefs, but rarely do I act on them. I was a vegetarian for about three months, but that didn't work out. It wasn't because I couldn't do it, but more because my parents thought that I would get sick and die from it, and really it's probably one of the reasons that I have anemia right now, but that's not that big of a deal.
Anyway, I really like to help the environment in any way that I can; I turn off lights at my house and am starting a compost pile at my house. I try to buy only green fabrics, such as cotton and I watch the food my family buys. One of my only slip-ups is that I am incredibly wasteful of water; something that I am trying to work on.

Someday, after I graduate college, I plan to join the Peace Corps. Now I know that this is something that everyone says in a feigned way, but I am serious; I have been looking at it for years. I know that this probably goes against what most people would envision out of me, because I seem a bit high-maintenance, but I can adapt. And besides, the opportunity to help the world in any way that I can is something that I am always up for.
Recently, I was introduced to the website Earthle by a friend. It was formed by Google in 2007; a mirroring site with one major difference--it is black. Here is Earthle's mission statement:

Help Save 750 Megawatt-Hours a Year
Earthle was created with the idea in mind that if we as humans ALL join together and make the smallest of changes in our daily lives we can have massive impacts on saving Mother Earth. If humans around the world were to start using Earthle it would save an estimated 750 Megawatt-hours a year.
When you search using Earthle, the results are powered by google.com so the search results provided by Earthle are the same as what you would get using google.com (the best search engine in the world).

Essentially, there is no easier way to help our environment. Although I realize that I do not get nearly as many users of my blog, I have decided to convert the page to black with gray font, if you haven't already realized this. I hope to do a little more to help the environment with this school project.

Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now! (part 3)

Oh my good golly, bashing Christianity is getting so tiring, however, I believe I will digress with my discussion. This is a continuation of two former blog posts, 'Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now!' and 'Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now! (part 2)'.
(and you didn't think I would leave you without reading music, did you?)

9. Why are there more than one religion? If God controls all of our minds, why wouldn't he just brainwash us to all believe the same, correct thing. If he really did want the best for everyone (aka the passage on to Heaven) why am I not a Christian? Does he just like watching disputes between the Catholics and the Protestants? I mean, I guess it must get boring hanging up there in Heaven for forever, literally. Maybe wars and genocide and feuds are like his TV. He just likes watching crazy Tom Cruise try to influence all of Hollywood with weirdo Scientology. I bet that's what I would do if I were God.
10. It bothers me that people put so much weight on God. They just thank God all the time and then they talk about how God helped them and they just pray all the time, but their lives still suck. 'What if God were one of us?' and 'What Would Jesus Do' plague the minds of crazy Christians all the time. So what if God hung with me? It would definitely be slummin' it and it just wouldn't work, because God is just a rich Republican, spitting on him. I mean, legitimately, I know that I probably touched on this point before, but doesn't it bother you when you're driving down the highway or whatever and you see those homeless people hanging out by the underpass with his sign that says like 'Look at me, life has been so sad, but God is helping me through, and then some weirdo Bible passage'. Guess what bucko? As I throw a dollar at your sad feet, it isn't God that's helping you, it's me! So why don't we just stop pretending like the Lord had anything to do with this, and realize that your life still sucks, and if by some slim chance it turns around, it's not going to be any heavenly force.
11. Who is in God's family, because this is pretty tough to figure out. I've never read the Bible, except for in my short stints of Sunday School as a little girl, but seriously, I don't think that they should make this religion so confusing.
...once again, don't worry, there's more, because I honestly have nothing else that I can pull out of my ass (whoops excuse my language!) as well as this.

Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now! (part 2)

This is the continuation of another post, 'Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now!'.
(and some slightly offensive music from a musical about God to start you off)

5. Why doesn't Christianity ever want me to question God or Heaven? I can only imagine that any self-respecting, truthful establishment would want smart people as an integral part of it, and smart people think about things before they fully commit to them. However, Christianity takes the Bible as the law, why? Who even wrote the Bible, because as far as I know it was just some crazies that thought that God was talking to them. Anyway, the idea that I am supposed to blindly follow anything is mildly retarded, not going to happen.

6. God must be the biggest douche bag of ever. He takes credit for everything good that that people accomplish, and he is something that we can blame our problems. So obviously, people just use them as their emotional crutch, aka their way to not have to feel responsible for anything negative in their life. 'Why did little Johnny fall down the well and die? Well it must have been because it was God's time to take him to a better place now. Oh yes, he's in a better place now,' we try and perpetuate stupidity like this all the time. Guess what, Johnny fell down the well because he is stupid and played around a well! He isn't in a better place now, he's dead and under ten feet of dirt, unless your house was so shitty that a grave is a better place, in which case, I can come up with other reasons as to why Johnny killed himself, (excuse me, I meant fell) in the well. So, really, we just don't want to face the reality that some parts of life suck, and then you die.
7. My life is pretty tite now, so I don't need the promise of Heaven to validate my time on Earth. I'm not working toward any ultimate truth, I'm just having fun in life, and if God doesn't like that, he can fuck off. Because, really, the idea that all Christians have going in their life is that soon they'll be done with it, that's kind of sad. Maybe people turn to Christianity because of severe depression, I don't know.
8. Does God have magical powers? Because otherwise I think it would be a little tough for him to have made the world in seven days and such (because that Big Bang theory is just so dumb right?). But wait, I thought that Christianity condoned magic, anyone remember the Salem Witch Trials? And I mean one could make the argument that only God has magic, but maybe those witches were like Jesus. I hope all of those people in Salem went to Hell because they drowned Jesus' cousins.
...Oh, this still isn't over. I finally found something that I can aimlessly yammer about!

Oh yeah, probably going to Hell now!

This post, I thought I'd make it simple: I'm tired of writing so I'm just going to go ahead and ramble. There will be no elaborate stories or imminent truths, just me talking about stuff. So, here are the reasons that God isn't real:

(to begin, a little mood music)

This post, I thought I'd make it simple: I'm tired of writing so I'm just going to go ahead and ramble. There will be no elaborate stories or imminent truths, just me talking about stuff. So, here are the reasons that God isn't real:
1. Where exactly is Heaven? because if it can't be pointed out on a map, how am I supposed to believe that my soul goes there. And furthermore, where is Hell, because it's a little silly to expect me to believe that there is a place beneath my feet where little red-horned men are hanging out among pits of fire.2. In anatomy, which part would I label my soul? I mean, I probably don't have one because I'm not a Christian, but most people should. How am I supposed to believe that my soul makes a spirit and goes to this elusive Heaven when I die if I can never find my soul? I feel like this is the only thing that Christianity has going for it; the promise that you get to go to Heaven when you die if you've been devout or whatever. So if they can't even definitively promise that to me, why would I hang with them.
3. Who in the heck is God, like where the heck is he? How did he get Mary pregnant (okay that part isn't important at all, but still perplexing, the idea of immaculate conception is way creepy!)? But if I can't even count on God or Jesus or whatever (the distinction between which I still don't understand) what's the point in blindly believing. Yeah, let's all just drink the Kool-Aid why don't we?
4. If God does control all that happens in the world, why is there suffering and famine and junk? I feel like people try to rationalize this by saying that there is some big, master plan and we are all supposed to be humbled by or learn from these experiences, but if I remember correctly, Christians get murdered too. Why wouldn't God just make Earth a total utopia? And if he is real, he's obviously a sick guy, why would I ever follow a guy who gets off by seeing famine. The worst part of this too is that those AIDS victims in Africa, they pray every night that their mom won't die. So Christianity means to tell me that God's just up in Heaven jacking off to this or what? I don't understand why he would prolong the suffering of so many people, because I'm pretty sure that not even the devil is sick enough to devise genocide.

...This post is over, but don't worry, this subject isn't!

The science of religion

In all honesty, I did not write this essay specifically for the purpose of this blog, but rather to enter in Iowa State University's First Amendment Day Essay Contest. As a disclaimer, as comes with any real piece of writing that I show to people, let alone be on a public forum, I would like to say that I wrote this quite quickly. In addition, I'm not so sure if I was supposed to write more about journalism and the relation to the First Amendment, but here's what I came up with, so I hope that you enjoy:

I hate Christianity for the same reason that I hate chemistry--there is nothing to see. It bothers me that I will never be able to watch a spirit rise to the heavens or examine a photograph of God, just as I could never see a test tube close enough to witness the breaking of Sodium chloride molecules.
It was not always like this though: for the first seven years of my life, in fact, I was a textbook Sunday Christian. Seven ‘Amen’s, nine hymns, 76 kneel-sit combinations each week, and I could guiltlessly forget about the Lord. But as time passed, homes were shuffled, a quarter of the country was crossed in my dad’s effort to find an adequately-paying job, and the issue of religion essentially fell by the wayside.
While it is evident to me now that my parents never really expected me to develop my own radical beliefs, it was not quite as obvious then. With the absence of church, I began spending my Sunday mornings contemplating who and what God was, instead of singing blind praises to Him. And in time I came to realize something about myself: I value the tangible; His abstract notion wasn’t enough for me.
Some may call this a character flaw: the inability to believe in ideals that cannot be seen, however, the idea that I can challenge popular religious beliefs without persecution is supposed to be what our nation was founded on. After all, the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Nobody, the government says, should be able to dominate my spiritual values.
However, there is no doubt in my mind that if my parents had continued forcing me to attend church through my teen years, I would have become a begrudging member of the Christian community. A blessing in disguise though, they never resumed attendance; the inadvertent absence of religious guidance in my young life has been, in my opinion, one of the greatest contributions to the development of my character.
While I would honestly like to say that my parents abandoned my religious education to enlighten me upon the ethics of the First Amendment (and certainly this would have made for a more powerful piece of wiring,) I cannot. My mother still truly believes that I am headed for Hell and my father doesn’t discuss the subject. However, I can see that deep down they are proud of me for forming my own opinions, no matter how different they may wish they were. Their willingness to do so is a testament to the power of the first Constitutional appendage. This acceptance is all I could ask for.
And this influence is not limited to my parents; it affects every citizen of this nation. Only in America, I am prompted to think, could I be challenged by the government to live by my own philosophies, not just those preordained by previous generations. Only in this land is every citizen promised not only the freedom to form their own theocratic ideas, but the ability to voice them in their own words, by their own means.
Only here can I openly ponder the existence of God, Heaven and acetic acid at the same time, and understand nothing--with the chemistry grade to prove it.

Eating disorders aren't only socially-rooted

If eating was just something that we did for fun, then yeah, eating disorders would be a choice. They would be something that people do just to be popular, 'lets just stop eating' and 'I don't need to eat today' would be common themes of high school conversation. But here's the thing, eating disorders are not just a fad or anything that people do for fun; they're real and they're a problem.
There are two main forms of eating disorders; anorexia and bulimia. Microsoft Student 2006 defines anorexia as:

Mental illness in which a person has an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of their weight and body shape. People with this illness believe themselves to be fat even when their weight is so low that their health is in danger. A person with anorexia nervosa severely restricts food intake and usually becomes extremely thin.

Similarly, Microsoft Student 2006 defined bulimia as:

An eating disorder in which persistent over concern with body weight and shape leads to repeated episodes of binging (consuming large amounts of food in a short time) associated with induced vomiting, use of laxatives, fasting, and/or excessive exercise to control weight.

Anyway, I got on this topic because in AP Psychology the other day, we were talking about eating disorders. Although our book came to no clear conclusion, my teacher did, and this was what made me mad. He decided that the root of all eating disorders was the need to belong and the desire to be popular. This made me so mad, however, I didn't express my ideas because I rarely speak up in that class.
He didn't even make mention of problems that are obviously going on psychologically. (And by the way, the Microsoft Student definition of anorexia, which calls it a 'mental illness' is out of date because the term was recently dropped.) I know for a fact that, while there are some people that have strange social motivations, not everyone conforms to our preconceived stereotype. It is ridiculous to believe that there is a social root to every problem, because removing them from the social atmosphere and placing them in one that everyone was obese would not solve the problem.
And the National Eating Disorders Association agrees; on their website they posted:

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. We campaign for prevention, improved access to quality treatment, and increased research funding to better understand and treat eating disorders. We work with partners and volunteers to develop programs and tools to help everyone who seeks assistance.In 1999, NEDA established a toll-free helpline and has assisted more than 50,000 people find appropriate treatment. Tallying more than 50 million web hits each year, NEDA is proud to serve as a clearinghouse of information on eating disorders.

Questions PSA from NEDA on Vimeo.
Most just have issues within themselves that they need to work out, and they don't need people preaching to them about how being popular isn't everything while they are trying to get better. Thus, we need to change our mindsets before we expect the problem of eating disorders to resolve themselves.

If everyone were a doctor, then who would need them?

I was talking with this kid the other day and we were saying what we wanted to be when we grew up. He eluded to the fact that he wanted to be a doctor and I told him that doctor would never be my profession. "Why?" he sneered.

I told him that I didn't like dealing with sick people and that I really wasn't good in serious situations including death and such. I also said that science wasn't really something that I was interested in and told him that it just wouldn't be a way that I wanted to spend my life. He turned to me and told me that my aspirations were stupid.

"What?" I gawked at his bluntness. First of all, who says something like this? What right does he have to qualify my life aspirations anyway? So, trying to tolerate him and listen to his point of view, I asked him why he wanted to be a doctor. He responded something to the effect of, 'because I will make a lot of money'.

Yeah, that's right. Not because he genuinely wants to help people and not because he likes medicine, but because he wants to be rich. That, to me, was completely ridiculous. However, he continued to chalk it up in saying that becoming a doctor is the only noble profession.

Ok so I'm just saying that it's all well and good for him to want to play God in the future, but he doesn't have to act as though he is as important as God now, because quite frankly he is not. And furthermore, if we all followed the sentiment that doctor is the only job worth having, and we all became doctors, then who would need them anymore? We could all fix ourselves. So yeah, think about that, jerk.

MLK Day

It was August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington that Martin Luther King, Jr., first said his fateful words, "I have a dream...

...that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together...
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

The powerful words that were bestowed upon the nation on that day still linger. Each year on the third Monday of January, schools, federal offices, post offices and banks across the nation close. It is said to be a time for Americans to celebrate the birth, life, and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It should be a time for the nation to remember the injustices that Dr. King fought against; a time to remember his fight for the freedom, equality and dignity of all races and peoples; a time to remember his message of change through nonviolence.

However, as time has passed and the issue of racism is no longer as prominent as it was during the Civil Rights Movement, sadly Martin Luther King, Jr., Day has fallen into the category of historical holidays without much resonance. I suppose then, that I would just urge you to reevaluate your priorities today, do something for another person, and work on being tolerant, because it's all we can do to uphold Dr. King's legacy.

Doctors are gross

Ok so tonight I have to go to the doctor, which isn't really that big of a deal since I go to the doctor like every other day. But, I still hate it because I go to like a thousand different doctors because I'm just that unhealthy and all of them are jerks. Like I have this one that you can tell must have been bullied in his high school years and is resentful that I'm not or something because he is just weird and really bitter. And I'm really cordial and nice to him or whatever but he is just an ass all the time and I don't understand it.

Maybe he's nice in real life, I mean he seems a little like my dad in the sort of nerdy but cool type way. Yeah, maybe he's just a real dick when he has to see me because I'm a waste of his time or something.

Some people say that education makes you that way, really snobby and whatnot and having met him, I must say, I can see it. I wonder if education has made him that way, though, or if he was just a stunted kid and turned out mad about life and out to destroy everyone that isn't as miserable as him.

Ok, so in all honesty I know that this blog post isn't about anything, and my doctor isn't like The Simpsons' Dr. Mark Riviera or anything, but really I am just filling space. So for anyone who might still be reading you can probably gloss over all of this text because it will be more about nothing than you have previously experienced. I mean look at me, this paragraph is already four lines, oh make that five lines long and I have said absolutely nothing in it. Boy I hope that Mr. Ayers doesn't read this post because it is surely the most pointless one of all time, even more so than the one about the color blue, which by the way if you haven't read that one it is definitely the best of all time, so you should find it. It was only a few back and it's really short and a little less rambling than this one, except for it has a delightful video of the song I'm Blue. Yeah, it makes everyone smile so don't even resist it, really I'm serious just ditch this blog and move back to that one. But I guess, who am I kidding, my blog reaches a readership of approximately three people and they don't even read it because if they did I would probably make fun of them.

Wow, look how much I've typed in about three minutes, I think that's pretty neat because I need to type mostly a gillion words a week and it is really hard when I have nothing to talk about ever because pretty much I don't even have a brain, which is pretty evident in all of my posts.

Alright, so just a head's up, I'm about to type one hundred more words or so because I really need to meet my quota for t his week without actually having to generate a topic, so here goes. Hmm...well I guess I could say that my shoes right now are really pretty, like really pretty. They are blue with white polka dots on them and they have these tite bows on the front, I just really love them. Oh, and on another note, I just sneezed, which is really weird because I have sneezed like a thousand times in the past day, I wonder what is wrong with me, I mean besides the obvious. I wonder if anyone has ever sneezed so much that they have died. Oh, well, there I go again, sneezing and what not, because I'm sure it's a matter of public interest. Anyway, that would be really sad if my cause of death was because I sneezed too much, I think it would be really the saddest thing of my life, but at least it would give the people at my funeral something to laugh about. K tite bye.

Um like, let's waste our time

Sometimes I look around and wonder what on earth I am doing. It goes a little like, I sit down on my floor and start putzing with something stupid, and then I look up at the clock and realize that three hours have passed. It's kind of scary and hopefully not a serious problem or anything, but situations like these make me wonder whether I'm wasting my life. However, when I see people like this, I feel a little better, there are worse ways to wind up:

Now note, that originally I tried to put the link of the crazy lady that has like a zillion YouTube videos showing how to paint your own nails, but she must have anticipated my mockery and blocked me from embedding her video. But that's okay, because I will just link you to the most pointless two minutes of your life.
Yeah, so I guess what I have to say about this, is that people, in general have way too much time on their hands. This lady, apparently, has so little of a life that she sits in her apartment all day, inhaling paint fumes; great that should only make her more normal.
I suppose that I simply do not understand why she wastes her time making these weird videos. Here's a thought, why don't you spend your free time with real people rather than ones on the other end of a monitor. That the same way I feel about kids that read or play video games all the time; I like interacting with people that can talk back, not creepy fictional characters.
But whatever, I guess my wasted hours spent sitting on the floor of my room haven't been as pointless as crazy nail lady's, so that's a good sign.

United Nations conundrum

In thinking about the conflict in the Gaza strip recently, a whole host of other questions have popped into my mind, mainly concerning the U.S. government and what we do to prevent and help with these types of difficulties.
My biggest question was regarding the United Nations. Although it seems like a war would be something that they would want to intervene in to help stop. But, no. Guess what, America won't do anything to help. They just don't want to get involved, they say, or some other bologna along those lines.
So, if the United States' position in the United Nations isn't to help suffering and conflicting nations, what is it? Nothing, because that's what I assume. I mean really, I have actually never heard of a report from the United Nations in New York City, or wherever they convene, like you do from Washington D.C. with Congress.
From what I have seen of pictures of the United Nations, I am able to paint a pretty clear picture in my own mind too: a giant building with a lecture hall-like layout, in which hundreds of old men just sit around snoring.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm asserting that I could do a better job at keeping the peace, and some of the programs that they spearhead are great; UNICEF has saved thousands of lives, but shouldn't we be able to expect more out of the world's greatest leaders.

While I would undoubtedly be awe-struck and unable to move in the presence of Nelson Mandela during a meeting, our other members should have gotten over that shell shock by now. It's time for them to buck up and keep moving. I mean seriously, what does and ambassador do when he's not at a United Nations session? I can only imagine that he wanders the streets of America aimlessly, looking for a lost cause, but not really doing anything.
Another problem that I have with the United Nations is that it employs the idea of national superpowers. Now, they can spin it any way that they want, but as long as you have five countries that make all of the ultimate decisions, it's kind of like they have total control. Plus, when one of them is as stupid and bad at making decisions as the United States has proved to be, it's a problem.
But hey, it's not that big of a deal; nobody is about to listen to my views on foreign policy or economic affairs, so why bother. The United Nations is undoubtedly bigger than me, bigger than the whole American body, and they probably aren't going to change. Whoops, sorry for the downer.

Damn prejudice sucks

I was talking with the kids at work the other day and they asked me if I believed in God. I thought about their question for a little bit, and then I answered no. This wasn't that big of a deal, or so I thought, because really, what right do my underage-drinking, drug-doing, school-dropping-out-of coworkers have to judge me on, but boy was I wrong!
As soon as I said this, they all looked at me as if they were about to throw up, as if to say damn you suck. "You don't believe in God?" one of them asked me in disgust.
"Uh nope," I answered. "Do you?"
Of course they were all devout Christians, or so they claimed (although I'm not sure that you can still be 'devout' while still engaging in many of the seven deadly sins, but whatever).
I asked them what difference it made, and they all kind of shrugged their shoulders. However, I wasn't about to make this some sort of reverse crusade because 'oh I'm so oppressed' or anything. Because, in truth, if I had told them that I was Jewish they would have had the same puky reaction as well. Really, all it comes down to, is that even though I liked to assume that everyone in the world is as accepting as I am, or at least mildly tolerant, they're really not.
The day after, one of those 'devout Christians' asked me another perplexing question. "Would you date a black guy?" he inquired.
"Of course I would," I replied. "Would you date a black girl?"
Once again, he looked at me in disgust. "I would date Rihanna," he replied, "but she's the only one."
Now, it was me who almost vomited all over him. "What are you talking about?" I snapped. "Are you serious?" I posed this question with a heavy twinge of disgust in my mouth, and he stared ahead, stupidly.
I guess this came as a shock to me because it seems so backward that people can preach such tolerance and then turn around and be such a but hole. Now, I'm not going to try and get all preachy, but seriously, if you don't see what's wrong with racism then there's something wrong with you.
The next week, an African American family came into work. They were polite as could be, but some of my coworkers were still jerks to them. When my manager, who happens to be one of the bigots, instructed me to help them, the lady looked at me, perturbed. "Good, that man was so rude!" she exclaimed
I was embarrassed for everyone in the situation. I apologized profusely and proceeded in my most polite manner. When the family had gone, my manager came back to talk to me, as if what he had just done was forgivable in some way. As he stepped into my view, I turned my head at him and stuck up my middle finger, then walked away.