Baghdad Girl

Check out Baghdad Girl! There was a story about her blog on NPR this Saturday.

TaDa!!!

Ok, so after a long hiatus I am back to rambling about my life and voicing my opinions. So, a few thoughts that have been rattling around in my head:

I am sick of hearing about Dick Cheney shooting his buddy. I think it's sketchy that they apparently tried to hide it...I wouldn't expect anything else from this administration. Now, how about we address the other important things going on in our nation and the world.

Check out a kick-ass blog written by a good friend of mine: http://kuhoople.blogspot.com

I love the olympics!! I LOVE women's hockey, and I'm so sad that they lost to Sweden today. I really though they would win the gold. I also think that figure skating generally sucks with the new scoring system. No, I'm not just listening to Dick Button and Scott Hamilton...I just don't think you should win a medal if you fall on your ass during your show.

While I think that the cartoons about Muhammad may have gone a little too far...GIVE IT UP!! Is it REALLY worth killing people over? The rioters and protesters are giving such a bad name to ordinary law-abiding Muslims, who simply wrote a Letter to the Editor expressing their discontent.

...I had more to write, but seem to have forgotten it now. Damn.

War on stupidity

Such a wonderful holiday season!! I refuse to believe that there is a "war on Christmas". Who care if you say "happy holidays"?! It continues to amaze me, that a country founded for the purpose of freedom of, and from religion continues to reach to its puritanical past, insisting that Christianity be shoved down everyone else's throats. So you celebrate Christmas, why should it matter if Target puts up Merry Christmas signs? Why must a holiday, which celebrates the humble birth of Jesus be forced in eveybody's face, no matter their religion? I am Christian, and yes, I celebrate Christmas. But I couldn't care less what slogans the malls and stores display. They are trying to make everyone feel welcome enough to spend their money there. It's not about trying to erase Christmas...it's about trying to make money! This is where the Christian right is wrong. They think it's about Christians, and Christmas; when it's really about capitalism and profit. Why must they keep shoving religion down our throats?!

DiG

So I watched DiG! last night. (I love netflix!!) It's an interesting documentary about The Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre. Particularly the different roads they've traveled in the music industry. The band leaders Anton Newcombe (BJM) and Courtney Taylor (DW) are amazingly talented musicians. Their rivalry pushed both artists to expand their music. I think I'll try to go to the Dandy Warhols show on Dec 10.

Joel Gion, of the BJM is probably one of the coolest, most lunatic people I've ever seen. But I absolutely adore him!! He made the movie. Interestingly, he made an appearance in The Gilmore Girls 2 weeks ago. I haven't seen the episode yet, but I'm sure it was a riot...if you've seen the movie.

World AIDS Day

December 1st is World AIDS Day. This is my passion, and a cause I have decided to dedicate my life to. I am fascinated by both the science and the medicine surrounding the virus, and saddened by the toll it has taken.

AIDS is the syndrome that arises from infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Unfortunately, the AIDS movement has lost some of the "glitz and glamour" that it had in the early 90s. Back then, you saw the AIDS ribbon everywhere. Every Hollywood celebrity was campaining. But now, probably due to the new drugs available which have extended life expectancy, there are actually people who think it has been cured. They think it isn't a problem. There is very little education in the schools about it anymore. This is a great tragedy! This week UNAIDS released its 2005 AIDS Epidemic Update.

The numbers are staggering.

Total number of people infected: 40.3 million (25.8 million in Sub-Saharan Africa)
Number of Adults: 38.0 million
Number of Women: 17.5 million
Children under 15: 2.3 million
In 2005 there were 4.9 million NEW infections and 3.1 million DEATHS due to AIDS.

This helps illustrate that AIDS is not just a disease infecting Gay men, drug users, and Africans. Across the world, infection numbers are up. After years of declining infection rates we have now seen several years of increasing infection rates. AIDS needs to be attacked on two fronts: Education/Prevention and Treatment. To do this, we need the support of international government for condom education. The new policy of the United States to only provide support to organizations that teach abstinence is absurd. Abstinence is like communism...a great idea...but not realistic. People need ot know that there is a way to protect themselves. But efforts also need to be made to protect women. Women who have no choice but sell themselves to put food on the table often have no choice of whether they become infected. The same goes for women whose husbands become infected, and then spread it to them. HIV and methods of prevention needs to be at the forfront of education for all teenagers. As far as treatment, the antiretrovirals are amazingly efficient. In the USA people who are newly infected are told to "plan for retirement". Meaning that this is becoming a "chronic" condition, more like diabetes. But this comes at a high cost. The drugs are currently prohibitively expensive. There are organizations working on providing generic versions of these drugs to the 3rd world. But the US is stubbornly protecting the patents of the drug makers. But drug production and cost are not the only problems. How do you convince a poor, illiterate person that they must take the medications every day at the same time, for the rest of their lives? How do you monitor such an undertaking? Because if they only take the drugs part of the time, they will help make the virus resistant to the drugs. When the virus becomes resistant, we lose the ability to treat it at all.

Please, contact your government represenatives and ask them to support more spending on AIDS projects, nationally and internationally. And Wear you Red Ribbons!!!

I'm all for saving the fairies

Citizens of St Fillans, Perthshire, Scotland protested a housing complex that would harm the fairies. I love that there are still people in the world who believe in fairies...

Girl Genius

I've got to love a web comic about a woman scientist...especially a mad scientist!! Check it out:


There's way too much stuff on the internet to distract me. Oi!