On Abortions
Two different federal circuit courts ruled today that a federal law banning “Partial birth” abortions was unconstitutional because it provided no exception for instances where a woman’s is in danger. The justice department will be appealing the ruling.
I was more strongly opposed to abortions before I went to college. We were required to take “diversity courses” These are courses that are designed to introduce you to different perspectives on various subjects. I was introduced to a feminist argument for abortion in one of these classes. The simplified argument is that denying a woman access to an abortion effectively makes her a slave to the fetus inside her. It’s a good argument because it doesn’t require that the fetus have any particular status. It’s also more well thought out than the My Body, My Choice argument, which fails because we don’t let people do whatever they please with their own bodies.
So, if you believe a fetus is a person and support the ban on partial birth abortions even in cases where the woman’s life is in danger, you’d have to be opposed to self-defense as well. I wonder why this argument isn’t the one being presented most often. Maybe it’s too long to fit on a sign.
I Got This Shirt from a Hobo!
My grandmother is from a different era (she’s 92!). In her day, men my age wore dress shirts and pants everywhere. Needless to say, this is my day, and I don’t dress like that. Naturally, my grandmother absolutely hates this.
I’m not a huge fan of dressing up for a few reasons. The shoes just aren’t anywhere near as comfy as my Nikes, or pretty much any athletic shoe, amongst other things, but Business Casual is the order of the day everywhere I have worked, so chances are good that if you see me on Monday-Friday between 7am and 6pm, I’ll be wearing a dress shirt, some nice pants, and some nice shoes. Perhaps a tie, but usually not. I like how I look in these clothes, as do other people, but I find that it’s both restricting, and less comfortable than my normal wear.
My grandmother says dressing well will attract women. I’m not entirely sure about that. There have been a few occasions where I have noticed women checking me out when I’m coming from work, but there have also been times where I have noticed women looking at me just because I’m have a huge smile on my face. I wouldn’t be interested in a woman that is interested in me only because of the way I dress. Stereotypes are a bad thing.
Anyway, the other reason I don't like dressing up is that much of the attention I get when I’m dressed that way is the wrong kind of attention. A neighbor of mine whom I have never talked to took one look at my attire and decided that I’m the perfect person to sell his firm’s services to. I doubt he would have talked to me under other circumstances. Another, and an especially nosy neighbor of mine wanted to know my entire life story post graduating college. I could almost excuse her behavior; I think her son is about my age, and hasn’t made any effort towards getting a job. The reason I won’t completely excuse her is that she wanted to know exactly how much money I was making at my last job. That’s not an appropriate question.
So I guess that being dressed nicely means that there’s something going on with me that people need to be a part of. Perhaps I should just wear my fantasy shirt that reads “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread!”
Debbie Does Judge Wapner?!?!?
Like all of the great thinkers, I do my best thinking on the great throne of porcelain. This morning I was humming the theme to Debbie Does Dallas when I came to the realization that it bears a striking similarity to the theme for the People’s Court. The first four notes are identical, but the People’s Court Theme is most closely identified with these notes. Perhaps Debbie gave up her dream of becoming a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and became a law clerk...
Here are some samples:
Debbie Does DallasThe People's Court
A Real Winner
I'm reading
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005. It's a collection of short stories, essays and such selected by High School Students. One of the short stories features a man in his late 20's who has won Free Burgers for Life. Oddly enough, that's the title of the story as well.
In a memorable moment, he confronts the High School senior he was once dating, but who is now ignoring him, and he says this gem of a line:
"You didn't even congratulate me on winning the contest. Free burgers for life.
For life. You know what that means? I can take you out anytime you want. you can even get something over the five-dollar value and I'll pay the difference."
Beauty and the Geek
I'm excited.
Beauty and the Geek season 2 has started. The premise of the show is 7 geek guys meet 7 attractive, intelligent women. They are supposed to pair up and learn things from each other. The women gain knowledge, the men gain skills. The advertising for the first season emphasized the romantic aspect wuite a bit more than this season. I suspect that has to do with the very limited romance that happened in the first season.
I like the show because it portrays geeks in a positive way, unlike most tv shows and movies. The women learn that the geeks are normal human beings. We all have things we like, and dislike. The difference between the geeks, and the so-called normal people isn't much. It's a difference in interests mostly. I'm working on a post about geeks and dating, but that's for the weekend.
Both seasons started off the same way. Each geek introduced himself to all of the women who claimed the geek they wanted. Not unlike real life, actually. Let's meet some of the contestants...
Ankur is a pompus ass. He said since he was the most attractive man, the most intelligent woman would pick him. He makes all geeks look bad, since he's the kind of person who needs to tell everyone that he can't tolerate stupid people. I wish bad things on him.
The black woman, Jennipher picked him. She liked his duct tape bowtie. If this were a reality dating show, they would both be the second to go. No one wants to eliminate the minorities first out of fear of looking racist, so they always eliminate another person first. Asian women are excluded from this rule.
Josh has Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He probably came on the show as a way to work through his fears. Each of pairs of people sleep in the same room in two single beds pushed together. Josh was so uncomfortable with this arrangement that he slept in a closet. The cynic in me wished that his partner would have mocked him for this behavior.
There's a saying that humor is a sign of intelligence. Meet Chris. He showed the girls a greeting card he made to give a woman who has cheated on you.
On the outside, "I hope you're happy :) "
On the inside: "Because you ruined my life, Bitch :( "
The women were horrified. Later in the show, he won the ability to switch up any of the teams. He became a prick on a power trip.
At one point, Josh remarked that he would trade some of his intelligence for the abilitt yo be more social. I know a number of people that feel the same way. That's all for now. I hope this season is very entertaining.
I Nearly Married A Human...
So let’s say you work in a special effects shop. Your specialty is dead bodies. Years you have produced a number of high-quality dummies for use in various fields from TV and movies, to the medical field over the years. One day a coworker jokes that a female dummy would make some great *ahem* late night accompaniment, and you should start selling them.
You’re always in for a laugh, but you know how much high quality dummies cost. No one is going to buy one of your dolls for late night entertainment. At $5,000 a piece, you figure that there’s only one group of people who would be willing to buy an anatomically correct full size, realistic female doll- rich people who love to play dirty practical jokes.
That’s the story I like to tell myself about the origins of the realdoll. It may not be true, but I sleep a little better at night believing it. For those of you not in the know, a realdoll is an anatomically correct life-sized doll that can be custom made to your specifications. I like to believe that no one, no matter how wealthy would purchase this thing as anything other than a joke. Unfortunately I come across sites like this one
Ginger Brookes Realdoll Page that ruin my delusion.
That’s one of several websites created by fans of the realdoll. Unfortunately I can’t find the website for the guy who had the night elf realdoll made. This website, and the others like it show a number of similarities. The doll itself takes on human characteristics in the eyes of the owner. The owner gives the doll a name, and the owner expresses a certain disdain for humans in general. I don’t have anything particularly nasty to say about people who own real dolls as a substitute for a living companion. These are people who have had bad experiences with humans. It’s only natural that they would want to avoid having these problems in the future, but no matter how you cut it, this stuff is disturbing.
