A tribute - 90210...
90210: A Legacy Of Fug
DAVID: I really, really like my outfit. I am a hip-hop legend in the making.
BRENDA: I am SO bored with it taking three hours to unzip my pants. GOD, it's no WONDER Dylan dumped me for that bitch.
BRANDON: Calm down, Bren. We all have high-rise pants. The whole world is suffering. Andrea and I are going to do an editorial about it for The Blaze.
BRENDA: Can it, BRANDON. Aren't you supposed to be at the Peach Pit?
DAVID: No, I mean, look at me. I really think I'm going to take the music world by storm -- George Michael would totally wear this. Why hasn't Donna had sex with me?
BRENDA: Because you're dressed like the village idiot who ran off to join a marching-band circus.
BRANDON: Easy, Bren. Remember, you're wearing a vest.
BRENDA: Thanks, BRANDON. You know, I hardly think wearing tight jeans stuffed with a bowling ball gives you the right to talk about other people's clothing.
BRANDON: Chill, Bren. [Insert name of Girlfriend Of The Week here] likes them that way. And Mrs. Teasley lets me get Steve out of trouble more often when I'm dressing left.
DAVID: ... Oh God, you're right. These pants are terrible. They look like something Scott would wear, if he hadn't accidentally shot himself with his father's gun while trying to impress me.
BRENDA: David, I don't want to talk about death. You are so INSENSITIVE to the fact that sometimes, I get really scared. I got held at GUNPOINT. And Dylan's father blew up.
BRANDON: Don't worry, Bren. David's not going to blow up.
BRENDA: I don't CARE if David blows up, BRANDON. GOD. You never LISTEN to me. I'm just SAYING that...
DAVID: Will you guys stop pretending I don't exist? Donna's never going to let me inside her spandex pants. She is so precious to me. But... would it be weird if I asked out Kelly again? I know she's my stepsister and all, but I DID see her naked. She is also so precious to me. Am I precious to her?
BRENDA: David, Kelly is a total slut. She'll fall in love with anything that dangles.
BRANDON: Relax, Bren. Nat told me never to...
BRENDA: Stop lecturing me, BRANDON. We can't all get a Zen high off the fumes of our hair gel.
BRANDON: Look, I think we all need to just take a deep breath.
BRENDA: It's just so hard sometimes. All my life I've wanted to be treated like an adult, but I've suddenly realized... being an adult comes with so much responsibility, and maybe I'm just not ready. Maybe I just want to be Daddy's little girl sometimes.
DAVID: Uh, Brenda? I think you picked the wrong time to spit out the moral of the week.
BRENDA: Well, at least I'm not a VIRGIN, David. At least I'm LEARNING THINGS. At least I finally got my HAIR right.
BRANDON: Dial it down, Bren. It's not David's fault that he drew the short straw and got stuck with Donna. Let's just be cool, okay? Come on -- we should go find a homeless person to bring home for the holidays.
Intriguing
Global Image of the U.S. Is Worsening, Survey Finds - NY Times
Published: June 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 13 — As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among people in some countries closely allied with the United States, a new opinion poll has found.
Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in Spain, where only 23 percent said they had a positive opinion, down from 41 percent last year, according to the survey. It was done in 15 nations, including the United States, this spring by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.
Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56 percent, down from 71 percent); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent); and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent). In Turkey, only 12 percent said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year.
Declines were less steep in France, Germany and Jordan, while people in China and Pakistan had a slightly more favorable image of the United States this year than last. In Britain, Washington's closest ally in the Iraq war, positive views of America have remained in the mid-50-percent range in the past two years, down sharply from 75 percent in 2002, before the war.
Support for the fight against terrorism led by the United States is also down, Pew found.
Although strong majorities in several countries expressed worries about Iran's nuclear intentions, in 13 of 15 countries polled, most people said the war in Iraq posed more of a danger to world peace. Russians held that view by a 2-to-1 margin.
"Obviously, when you get many more people saying that the U.S. presence in Iraq is a threat to world peace as say that about Iran, it's a measure of how much Iraq is sapping good will to the United States," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center.
The latest declines came after a year in which anti-American sentiment had slightly receded, aided by good feeling over aid for tsunami victims and political progress in Iraq.
The polling was conducted before the completion last week of the Iraqi government or the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
These were some other findings:
{paragraf}After Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections, Germans, in a reversal, said they sympathized more with Israel than with the Palestinians. Support for Israel also rose in France, to 38 percent from 20 percent.
{paragraf}After the immigrants' riots and job protests in France, people in every country but one — the United States — said they held dimmer views of the French. The number of Americans favorably impressed by France rose to 52 percent, from 29 percent in 2003, when the French angered many Americans by refusing to back the war in Iraq.
{paragraf}Only 75 percent of Americans had heard reports of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, while 90 percent of Western Europeans and Japanese had heard about them.
Many respondents distinguished between their largely negative feelings about President Bush and their feelings about Americans in general.
Majorities in 7 of 14 countries polled, not including the United States, had favorable views of Americans, led by Japan, at 82 percent, and Britain, at 69 percent. But majorities in just two countries, India and Nigeria, expressed confidence in Mr. Bush.
After a tumultuous year in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism is now backed by more than 50 percent of people only in Russia and India, while support has virtually collapsed in Japan, the poll found. People in the United States were not asked this question. But as leading powers seek ways to contain the Iranian nuclear program, the poll found strong majorities in Western Europe, Japan, and India sharing underlying American concerns. The percentages of people in Britain, France and Spain who view Tehran as a threat have roughly tripled in three years.
More than 9 in 10 Americans, Germans, Japanese and French opposed Iran's acquiring nuclear arms.
Pew surveyed 16,710 people from March 31 to May 14 in Britain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States. The margin of error was two to four percentage points in every country except Britain and Germany, where it was six points.
ASCII
My boss is on vacation in Thailand/Cambodia for 2 weeks and 2 days - I am now halfway through this journey. We are the only people in our department, therefore it gets kiiiind of busy when one of us isn't here. This is a LONG vacation - luckily I do have help from another department for the time being for all of the easy stuff that just takes a bunch of time.
Point being? I am fishsitting. ASCII is a beta - and he is currently laying on one side at the top of his bowl. YET - he is not dead, and he frequently does this. He is, like, 5 years old. I'm convinced he's going to die on my watch. Not only would that be sad, but I wouldn't know what to do. I would panic - yes, it's just a fish, but how sad. I would have to ask someone else to deal with the situation.
However, I have the distinct feeling that he won't die. He will keep trucking like he has for so long. trucking and floating on his side.
What is the longest your fish has lived?
Who am I?
Help me find out...this is kind of interesting. I look forward to seeing the responses?
http://kevan.org/johari?name=Netto
Good people
There are so many
good people in the world - I think everyone's first reaction is to feel sorry for them, trying to understand the tragedy of anyone who has lost someone. I was sitting at Starbucks the other morning with Steven, and he mentioned some unfortunate news story about death, destruction, etc. Then a woman next to us asked if we had heard about a local police officer who was gunned down and killed. "It's such a horrible world," she said - and without thinking I retorted back "no it's not". I think I caught her off guard, but it's not!
There are so many good, strong, kind and generous people in the world - I'm fortunate to have surrounded myself with so many in Aiesec. But I feel like most people are trying to achieve the same thing - happiness, family, love. I believe it is the small minority of 'bad guys' who are causing fear, hurt and pain and are stealing the spotlight. I'm so frustrated by this right now.
I've recently found a complete disgust with the local media - before it was mild, but now I'm really upset. I've always tried to get an international perspective, since the US media is so skewed - but it hit me after the Egyptian ferry sank. 2 out of the 3 local news channels made that their third or fourth story - after things like, the weather or something stupid like that! "Thousands of people died - but it was 60 degress today in February!" Get a grip on what's important peeeeeeople...no wonder we're so US-centric. I worry this will never change, but hope it will.
It's here
It's here - spring fever. I have only had one day of 70 degree weather and I can't get summer out of my head. Today it's low 60's - still springy - what do I find myself doing? finding out when the spring equinox is this year and discovering they're reducing winter by 1 minute every year!!!! Weird! I'm sure a lot of you already knew that - excuse my naivete...but look!I just want to go OUTSIDE!!!!! But then I know I'll be cold and then I'll be mad that it actually is NOT spring - much to my chagrin. You know what the worst part is? March and April are the snowiest months here - grrrrrrrrr...
