Holiday Cheer

Feeling stressed? Here's a selection of super cute animal photos taken at zoos around the world and featured on Yahoo News. Many are holiday themed. Just click on the thumbnails to see the larger versions.

Ho Ho Ho.

News of the Ding-Dong Day

Things you may have missed (because they're really not that important)...

Leading off with animal news...

And I Ran, I Ran So Far Awa-a-ay...
Like a Warrior outside of Coney Island, a young red-tailed hawk was apparently attacked by a flock of seagulls and nearly drowned. Read about the happy ending here.

I Am Going To Cry
"Imagine roaming the world's largest ocean year after year alone, calling out with the regularity of a metronome, and hearing no response..." WAAAAHHH!!!

Yet Another Reason Not To Have Children
Your cell phone is turning you into a mutant...

Besides, The Universe Is Spawning
Telescope Sees Evidence of 'Baby' Galaxies.
I have no idea what this means, except that it's further evidence that our corner of the cosmos is not the be-all and end-all of everything...

Back on track for the holidays...
"If you were Druid, I'd be wishing you a 'Scintillating Solstice,' "
Conservative Christians are mad that this time of year isn't all about Jesus' birthday anymore. Which makes sense, because historians agree his birth date was more likely around September.

Festivus 101
"In the background was Durkheim's `Elementary Forms of Religious Life,' " Mr. O'Keefe recalled, "saying that religion is the unconscious projection of the group. And then the American philosopher Josiah Royce: religion is the worship of the beloved community." Oh. I thought it was from Seinfeld.

And finally, something a bit more cheery...
This Is How Maurice Imagines Himself With The Xmas Tree

News of the Day - Holidays edition

I can't even think about what's happening in Iraq or with Rummy right now, so I'm dedicating this edition to seasonal fluff...

A Child's Holiday Wish: Please Click Here
Well, you've got to admire the ingenuity of kids nowadays, if not always their values. I mean, I've got a long-ass Amazon wish list, but this is ridiculous...

In more charming news, let's read about Garrison Keillor, just because I like him.
Lake Wobegon? It's Where Men Are Persistent

Happy Anniversary to the Organ Transplant
Now how'd you like to get a new... face?

O, Holy Mocha Latte...
In this holiday season, it's good to know that the Catholic church is providing what it's followers really need... more coffee.

Crouching Santa, Hidden Reindeer
For the rest of us, we can be sure to stock up on holiday gifts and decorations from - where else? - the world's largest predominantly Buddhist country...

However, if you want to be environmentally correct, don't buy anything on the WWF's list of
Ten Things Not to Buy for Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas...
Instead, buy some of these things.

As for other holidays,
Kwanzaa celebrates black heritage, culture
Which is why conservatives don't like it. As I recall from growing up with a black activist stepfather, it mostly celebrated five tons of soul food. But that was just our house.

And Hannukah may be over,
but the sun shines on in Florida for some Israeli teens...

Baby, It's Cold Outside
Lest we forget, today is the grandpappy of all Winter observances, the Winter Soltice. It's a good time to stay inside and snuggle for the longest night of the year, or start a fire at the NY piers - take your pick.

A Very Happy Holiday for Some
And finally, some good news to warm our Scrooge-ish hearts. I think thousands of homeless animals will agree with me when I say that this kind of giving is one of the best...

Merry merry, y'all...

Merry (sniffle) Christmas...

Well, we've got a beautiful tree - check, wonderful ornaments - check, presents and cards for all - check, dozens of delicious homemade cookies - check, plus one case of the flu and one case of raging holiday stress syndrome - check and check!

Why is it we women always turn into our mothers? And not the older, wiser versions, but the ones who made the mistakes we swore we'd never make? This is me at Christmas, my first one in my own home with my own significant other: trying to do 500 projects I don't have time to do in order to make Christmas "perfect", i.e. making myself and everyone around me unhappy trying to make myself and everyone around me happy.

My mom used to be that way. Dozens of boxes of cookies for everyone she knew, parties and feasts, presents and gingerbread houses and crafted wreaths and even a Christmas tree made out of chickenwire and boughs. And through it all, there was me as a kid, helping her and feeling like I was special doing it. Now, my mom was a stay-at-home mother way back when, and she expressed her creativity that way. As the "creative" child, and the youngest, what was the time of year I got the most attention and praise? You got it, Christmas project time.

So here I am, knowing my mother gave up stressing herself unduly years ago, especially when she stopped having kids around to help her and started working herself, but trying to be her at my age. Technically I know it's different: I have two jobs instead of none and no eager little fingers to help me. But there's a little girl inside of me that still wants the same safety, love and attention a "perfect" Christmas brings, with the whole family close together (not scattered around the country) and me in the center of it all, being told I was good. So, on the year I first try to have a relaxing Christmas by staying at home with the woman I love and doing our own thing, I find myself desperately trying to please... whom? Some inner critic who tells me I will not be good and safe and nobody will love me if I don't make everything just right. And, as a consequence, falling apart.

I know this now, and I'm getting a grip on it (and hey, I've finally got almost everything done, anyway), but it disturbs and fascinates me how the emotions of a three year old that I thought were well resolved can come around to smack me in the face thirty-one years later. And it's not like I can make it "perfect," anyhow - whatever that means. The stress and the weather mean somebody is always sick on the holidays - this week it's Marci, I'm hoping to squeak by without getting ill, if I'm lucky. And we're all adults now, with another generation of kids in the family and no one big enough to lift me up to put the angel on the tree anymore. I guess it's just that, despite my age, facing creating my own adult traditions of Christmas unearthered some desires unfulfilled, wishes that our nuclear family hadn't exploded before I was out of my single digits, that can't be dismissed no matter how much I want to be "healthy" or maturely blasé about them.

So, I'm working on it. And next Christmas will probably be a whole lot better - the bridge will have been crossed, and so on. In the meantime, I'm planning on scheduling a good amount of rest for myself over the holidays. And I'll put up the angel myself.

News of the Day

Things you might have missed...

Parked in Desert, Waiting Out the Winter of Life

In a fascinating study, a NY Times reported explores the lifestyles of the senior citizens living in trailers and RVs in the California desert. Take the time to read it, and make sure you take good care of the elders in your family.

How Quickly They Change Their Minds
Anti-abortionists, that is, when it comes down to really affecting them. A controversial and poorly understood new treatment is being tested in China by a doctor who injects the cells of aborted foetuses into the nervous systems of paralyzed and diseased patients. Some people are agog at the use of foetal cells, but the results seem to verge on the miraculous, and that has lots of foreigners, including this guy, rushing to China...

Among them is Van Golden, a Christian, anti-abortion Texan who has sold his house so that he can travel to communist, atheist China and have Huang inject a million cells from the nasal area of a foetus into his spine. According to Golden's doctors, his spine was damaged beyond repair in a car crash last Christmas. The damage to his nervous system was so bad that he has been in a wheelchair and racked by spasms ever since. But Golden refused to give up, even if it meant having to compromise his values. "This is the only place that offered us any hope," he says. "Everyone else offered only to help make me sufficient in that chair. But the chair is not my destiny. It is not ordained."

Read more here.

Say It Ain't So

Bill Moyers is retiring from his show NOW on PBS as of tonight. Although there have been times I could not watch the show because it would leave me too depressed, it was still an excellent, thought-provoking lonely bastion of liberal thought in today's media. I hope Moyers will continue to speak out in different ways.

The Tables are Turned
The Social Security Administration has decided it will not recognize any marriage - straight or gay - performed in New Paltz, New York recently. This is due to the big to-do that happened last winter when the mayor began wedding gay folks (to one another, that is). It must be shocking for the straight couples who now find their marriages invalid. I wonder if they'll begin to understand what it's like to be in our shoes for a little while?

Everything's Turning
Including apartments. New Yorkers hungry fo rfloor space may be amazed by what you can get in Brazil for $300,000.

Nyah Nyah-Nyah Boo-Boo
Cheers for diplomacy at its finest! U.S. Diplomats in Cuba added an interesting sign to their Christmas decorations this year: a big "75" symbolizing 75 dissidents jailed in Cuba. The Cuban government's response? A huge sign facing the 75 sign showing the torture in Abu Ghraib.

Wildlife Education That Works
The excellent IFAW found unusual help in a religious leader who has his followers treating endangered sharks like family members.

Break Our Your Mukluks!
There's a cold wind on the rise...

But Don't Worry, The World Is Going To End Soon, Anyway
What, you haven't heard?

Friday Cat Blog

Whiskers at full attention!

Educate the Masses

Seriously, if you're a liberal and can't stand dealing with family, friends or acquaintances who are wingnutters, check out this diary from Daily Kos.

And while your at it, save this information to deliver to anti-abortion types:

According to a 2000 study conducted by Finer and Henshaw and published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health concerning abortion rates in the United States, during the 1980's, the Republican leadership did nothing while over 25% of pregnancies ended in abortion -an all time high averaging 1.6 million abortions per year. In the 1990's the Democratic leadership oversaw the abortion rate go down to just over 20% using progressive, compassionate early childhood education and services to address basic social and economic problems and by creating pregnancy counseling centers in poor areas.

Sometimes, talking actually does some good...

A Video Game I Can Get Behind

Tired of supre-violent video games? Check out Super Granny, where you play - can you guess? - a granny! And what does Super Granny do? She saves kitties! My stars.

News of the Day

Things you may have missed...

Aah, Just Throw 'Em in Jail
Like they do with the rest of the nutjobs.
A Flood of Troubled Soldiers Is in the Offing, Experts Predict

It's Between Grandma and the Baby
Because it seems both of them can't get vaccinated. The federal government is using money that was intended for vaccinating children to pay for flu vaccines for adults, which means that they're trying to cover up the recent flu vaccine mismanagement (and throw a little more money GlaxoSmithKline's way) by taking standard childhood preventative vaccinations away from the disadvantaged.

Oh, and did I mention the flu vaccines are expiramental?

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
Bush Planning Inaugural Bash Despite War
He loves him some himself.

Assuming The Inauguration Happens...
Well, of course it will, but a girl can dream can't she? Anyway, there are some investigations into possible voter fraud still going on, although, according to this excellent diary, not enough attention is being paid to black voter disenfranchisement. Food for thought.

Those Silly Brits
Britain's Highest Court Overturns Anti-Terrorism LawBritain's Highest Court Overturns Anti-Terrorism Law
Good thing we Amuricans can still disappear folks at Gitmo.

Giving is Trendy
But at least it's still good. It seems that more and more big retailers are selling products that include donations to charities. It may just be an expedient way to get customers to feel good about shopping with them, but can anything that gets Americans contributing to worthy causes be all bad?

Was Abraham Lincoln a Gay American?
I don't know where I fall on this one, but it sure is fun to read about!

Can We Have Padded Seats?
Since we're going to pay more for our Metrocards? While I'm disgusted with how the MTA has screwed up their finances, an extra 6 bucks a month for the ability to ride on the of the largest and most convenient mass transit systems in the world seems fair enough. It's still a reasonable deal, although I worry for those who are less fortunate that I am who cannot afford increases. The major problem lies in both state and city changes to the MTA's finances and how the MTA has handled them. For more information, I highly recommend straphangers.org.

How about Toilet Seats?
I had no idea public bathrooms were opened at the Times Square station. Will wonders never cease? Of course, this article is several months old. They could have been turned into condos by now.

Well, I'll Be a Monkey's Uncle
A whole new species of primates has been found in the Himalayas! It seems there are new and wonderful things to find on the land of this old Earth as well as in the sea and air. Clearly, we'd better speed up the pollution and killing process!

But The "Geneva Dodgers" Doesn't Sound Quite Right
Some actual common sense about mass transit is spreading...
Tram Seeing Rebirth From Geneva to Sydney

Gas Gobbler?
And in other interesting, if wierd, news, the environmental solution to fossil fuel dependence might be... turkey poo?

Waiter, There's a Bug in my Chocolate
Think it sounds kooky to preserve foods in whey to save on excess wrapping? You don't want to know what's in that "confectioner's glaze"...

Quick, Cut That Teacher's Pay!
For doing something good for kids! Aw... (sniff)... I think my frozen heart just melted...

I Knew Them When

My friends are famous! Or sorta. Alice's movie should be released by Sony Classics in May and now has a review up on Yahoo!, and Betsy's movie 'do (yes, the one I got cut out of and did the Website for) just got profiled in indiewire.

Congrats to them, and I hope when they get their mansions they will let me dip my toes in the pool...

People are Okay?

Just an update on my recent eBay problem: it seems the seller who shafted me has a history of doing this. I got an email from a fellow buyer who had the same thing happen to her, and she's been in correspondence with others who are doing a letter-writing campaign to eBay about the unethical behaviour. I sent my complaint in, so now we'll see if eBay does something about it. Stay tuned...

People are Good?

OK, I know I just recently touted the merits of eBay in this very blog. But, after a few recent bad experiences I'm ready to bitch a bit and warn you all that using eBay does have its down side.

First of all, there's the higher chance that your financial information will get out there. I can't be sure whether my recent banking problems stemmed from transactions through eBay or elsewhere, but it does open one to a larger area of use and thus, potential fraud.

Then there's the possibility of getting shafted. People disappear or refuse to pay or send goods. It happens. Not often, but if you use eBay regularly, just as if you participate in any marketplace, it's likely to happen to you.

The problem is, for a number of legal reasons I can't really fathom, not only is there very little accountability or recourse for this sort of thing, but trying to get it fixed can cause the victim more trouble. Case in point, recently I won an item. For illustration's sake, let's say it was a 1980s E.T. Colorforms set. I did not receive the item for some time and had to remind the seller to mail it (this after I learned that a certain someone would not only not be thrilled with the gift of a 1980s E.T. Colorforms set, but find it an appallingly insensitive present that might trigger nightmarish flashbacks, but I digress). Then, when I received the item, it did not work (no stick to the forms), was dirty, and was missing one third of the advertised pieces. What was my recourse? Well, not much. I wrote a polite email to the seller asking if there was some way to clean the item and make it work. "WITH WATER" I got back - thanks. Then I wrote a polite email saying that I was considering posting neutral feedback due to the condition of the item, but perhaps we could come to an agreement (I would have settled for a partial refund). "DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO" was the reply. So I did. And the next thing you know? I get a negative rating in my feedback that simply says "THE WORST!!!" What the...?

Now buttholes are buttholes and troglodytes are troglodytes... and troglodytes' buttholes are... pretty damn dirty, you get the idea... but what can I do about this unfair treatment? Nothing. You see the eBay system is set up with feedback so that people can rate their transactions and leave comments so that other buyers and sellers can decide if the other person is a safe bet with whom to conduct business. If I get a negative comment in my feedback, I can leave a response, and technically other sellers and buyers, if they bother to read the comments, will see that this one negative rating was obviously abnormal and made by a rude and not-terribly-intelligent person. However, the rating still affects the number that shows with my name at all time - the percentage of good-to-bad feedback that I have. So, after being treated poorly and commenting very mildly on it, my record gets a blemish. And all eBay offers in terms of rectifying retaliatory feedback is the ability to mutually withdraw feedback if an agreement to do such is mediated y an outside service - for a fee.

So, that, my friends, is part of the agita you can expect now and then with eBay. Fortunately, it happens rarely enough that it is still worth it to hunt for bargains with this service, but there is a recurring nauseating feeling of uncertainty - "is my payment safe?" "will I get the package?" "can cavemen type?" that quietly pervades one's transactions thereafter. So, are the actual majority of positive experiences enough to really justify eBay's recent "People are Good" ad campaign?

Bring back the dancers, I say.

News of the day

Things you might have missed...

Free at Last?
ABC News is now featuring an article on the damage inflicted upon the exonerated, including my belove M's friend Scott. Good article - more awareness should be raised.

Meet the New Boss...
... much like Iraq's old boss, the U.S. military has been torturing civilians, as found in both a Marine study and a Navy study. Must be fraternity hazing time again.

I'm Not Sure I Want This Much Women's Lib
Meanwhile, troops are spread so thin that the U.S. armed forces are beginning to break their own rules and send female troops to the front (while claiming they're not really, of course). Not that I don't think that women can be as good soldiers as men (or better), but I'm just waiting for all the rules to be upturned and get my over-aged, fat, out lesbian ass called for the draft...

Just Buy A Burial Plot - It's Cheaper
Back at home, Retirees Are Paying More for Health Benefits, Study Says.

Argh!
Oh, and Cheney is still lobbying to make the tax cuts permanent, since they're doing most Americans so much good.

Duh!
And you know what else? We're still throwing millions of dollars at a defense system that doesn't work.

Duh AND Argh!
And freakin' Pataki is still trying to run for office!

No Wonder The Rest of the World Hates Us
No, really.

How Do You Say "Fuck You" in Inuktituk?
Still, not everyone in North America is an idiot. For instance, Eskimos have stuck upon the excellent idea of (appropriately)casting global warming as a human rights issue in order to effect U.S. policy.

But It Still Won't Save Us from That Giant Asteroid
...about to hit The West Wing. Some brilliant astronomers are all set to smash up a comet - and not just for special effects or missile testing.It seems they can actually learn something by blowing it up. Well, whaddaya know?

But Back to Me
I admit it: I'm one of those people buying presents for myself. Hey, you get to a certain age and who else is gonna play Santa? Disgustingly rampant consumerism aside, we all should get to treat ourselves to something nice once in a while, and if we need the excuse of Xmas in our overstressed lives, so be it. But just so we're clear, I'm not buying $200 jeans or anything.Because they don't make them to fit my overfed rump.

Where's My Advance?
To support my self-gifting habit, maybe I can join the list of bloggers who are now getting book deals.All I have to do is prove that somebody's reading this. Hello? Hello...?

The Doves of Peace Got Eaten
But at least it's because of some bona-fide good news. It seems that Pale Male and Lola are getting their nest back. Yaaaay! I'm sure the pigeons on my local traffic-post will be thrilled.

News of the day

Things you might have blah blah blah...

Holy Frijoles!
The whole voter fraud investigation thing is going nuts, at least in the liberal blog world. Software programmer Clint Curtis testified before congress today that he had been asked by Congressman Feeney (R, FL) to create a program that could hack into voting results back in 2000. Meanwhile, David Cobb, the Green Party presidential candidate, stated at the Democratic House Judiciary Committee's Columbus hearings that a voting company representative tampered with voting equipment and attempted to plant false information into the Ohio recount. For full details, see Brad Blog Too.

No Wonder We're So Welcome There
U.S. Military 'Obstructing' Medical Care in Iraq.
Words fail me.

Got a Handi-Wipe?
Because I just threw up...
Bush Awards Medal of Freedom to Three

Why We Won't Have a White Christmas
Because of global warming, of course. And simple changes like that are decent enough evidence, WWF scientists said today. Meanwhile, delegates from more than 190 countries are in Buenos Aires discussing how to implement the Kyoto pact. You know, the environmental standards pact the U.S. of A. hasn't signed?
Even our goverment won't help the environment, you can here.

To Be Replaced by the Ford Battleship
Speaking of the environment, it seems as though Ford may actually kill off the Excursion. We'll see.

But Someone Finally Has a Good Idea for the Environment
This is awesome: Italian province uses donkeys to trim flora along highways.
And which would you rather see on your trip? An adorable ungulate, or a big, nasty mower?

Is Anyone Listening?
It may not feel like it when you look at the escalating treatment of mental illness by cruel and damaging imprisonment. But check out this editorial in the NY Times by Brent Staples.

One a lighter note...
Aren't You Glad You Don't Celebrate the Holidays This Way?
Unless you do...
eesh!
Although the idea of an actual Decemberween fest is not without appeal...

And in another part of Europe...
Proud France Inaugurates World's Highest Bridge
What can I say? That's pretty cool. I just wish I could get those visions of "Galloping Gertie" out of my head.

And finally,
Oh, Baby, Oh
The London-based Literary Review has awarded Tom Wolfe with the annual prize for bad sex in fiction. Hee!

News of the day

Things you might have missed...

Happy Holiday$
Or not. Sales are slumping for low and mid-level retailers, while high-end stores are selling $1,200 massage chairs at a brisk pace. Guess those tax breaks are having an effect, after all. But don't worry, we're all middle-class, aren't we?

This is Getting Good
Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote

For the "Disappeared"
and their families there is a small step towards justice as a judge in Chile declares Pinochet fit to face human rights charges.

No Dumb Bird
Think we primates have cornered the market on brains? Think again.

The Horror
And finally, the Shrinky Dink instructions will tell you that you can stop the Dinks from sticking hopelessly to themselves when the curl. I've got a painstakingly drawn and coloured Hawai'ian Christmas ornament lady with Scoliosis to prove them wrong. Curses!

Goin' Up The River...

To the hoosegow, to the clink... My beloved M is going on her first big prison visit to the scenic Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate NY tonight and tomorrow. Interestingly, she is more nervous about travelling in the currently hazardous New England weather than being in the stir, the lockup, the big house, the pokey. Have I mentioned she's going to interview prisoners in the coop, the joint, the pen and the slammer? Wish her luck and safety, and please refrain from taking such perverse delight in the slang as I have, or you may get shanked, shivved or bladed up.

News of The Day - Saturday Edition

News of the Day Thing you might have missed...

My Tinfoil Hat Is Firmly Attached to My Head
...as I follow the hope-in-Hell revelations that investigations are beginning into possible voting fraud in Ohio. Apparently some major shit is going to hit the fan on Monday, according to Cliff Arnebeck, who spoke about it in this interview on the Randi Rhodes show yesterday. I'm not trying to stir things up, but have you heard orange banners are on sale at Old Navy?

Pass the Fugu
It's finally been confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, the more progressive candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Ukraine that has also been judged to be a victim of voter fraud, was poisoned with Dioxin. Shady opponents have been trying to pass off his terrible health and appearance as resulting from "bad sushi". Do they have Teriyaki Boy retaurants in Kiev?

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar
The Balete tribe in Botswana have their first female chief, appropriately named... Woman. No wonder our VP is named Dick.

How Do You Say "Oy, Vey" in Kikuyu?
Just as environmental and humanitarian activist Wangari Maathai was to receive the first nobel prize given to an African woman, she made some controversial statements about AIDS. Not that you can blame her for being suspicious...

Stay Together... for the Children
You knew it was going to happen. The first divorce cases are trickling in after the rush on gay marriage in Massachusetts. Not surprisingly, the most difficult part of the first one was deciding who got custody of the cats. Don't tell M this, but just in case, I have three little carriers packed and some bus tickets stashed away...

But the Rats & Pigeons Are Happy...
Protests continue over the eviction of the famous hawks Pale Male and Lola from an upscale parkside co-op roof. Co-op board members, however, not budging, have been quoted as saying that the small ledge that formerly held the nest "could go for a few hundred thou in this market."

And finally, Julia Child is Dead
And more power to her, as she didn't have to witness the mess I made of my attempted sugarless, dairy-free egg nog. Is it supposed to come out as watery custard? Note to self: buy the box. You'll only drink half of it anyway, and if it makes you throw up, at least you can't take the blame for it...

Friday Cat Blog

Quan Yin is hiding in her usual spot!


Hellooo...? Are you looking for me?

News of the Day

Just stuff.

Whoooo!
Supreme Court in Canada Backs Gay Marriage

Boooo!
Changes Made to Drug Laws Don't Satisfy Advocates

Awwww!
Kitten Survives 275-Mile Ride Next to Car Engine

News of the Day (short edition)

Things you might have missed...

Viva La Revolucíon!
You probably didn't miss this, but I have to mention it, anyway.
Iraq-Bound Troops Confront Rumsfeld Over Lack of Armor
Wheeee...!

Stickin' It to the Little Guy... er, Bird
The long-time residence of Pale Male, the famous Central Park hawk, and his family was recently removed. A pox on all co-op boards!

That's all I have time for today - get your news elsewhere!