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  • A thank you...

    Carmen 12:10 pm on March 11, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply

     

    • Carmen 12:10 pm on March 11, 2010 Permalink

      Apparently my countdown is off by 2 days…

  • 23 days to go...

    Carmen 2:46 pm on March 2, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply

     

    • olga 3:52 am on March 3, 2010 Permalink

      How exciting! To think… we are friends with the smartest person in the camp! We always knew she was smart though… after all, she hangs out with Carmen. 22 days to go, WOW, that still seems a long way away. I really enjoy reading the letters! Thanks for posting them.

  • More bootcamp goodness...

    Carmen 8:37 pm on February 18, 2010 | 3 Permalink | Reply

     

    • Carmen 8:41 pm on February 18, 2010 Permalink

      Please let me know if anyone has a hard time reading this and I’ll post it again in larger format.

    • olga 3:45 am on February 19, 2010 Permalink

      I can read it just fine. Well, reading the letter makes me happy to be a civilian. I think a person would have to be very tough to deal with that situation. I would be a puddle of tears pretty much all of the time. GO EMILILY!

    • Briana 1:47 pm on February 19, 2010 Permalink

      Sounds like you are definitely kicking ass!! I remember right after I had Linda, that the most pleasant time I had was getting up just a few minutes before the whole house woke up and it was the best! Just those few minutes make all the difference in the world! We love you so much and hope to from you again soon! We went to see the family and are back now. I can’t imagine how cold it is where you are because we just went to the midwest and were freezing our butts off!

  • Letters from weird places

    Carmen 7:24 pm on February 10, 2010 | 5 Permalink | Reply

    Well, at long last I have a letter to share with this lovely blog.  I surely do miss posting stuff, but it just wouldn’t be the same without Emily to comment back.  She wanted me to apologize for her bad handwriting but I find it charming.  Please see her letter below…

     

    • Olga 2:16 am on February 11, 2010 Permalink

      Oy vey, me tinking me not want to doing what dat chil’ doingk.

      On the other hand, when she is through boot camp she may be in for the adventure of a lifetime! I’m so proud of her for sticking with it. So in honor of Emilily, I have joined the gym and so far have gone 3 days this week and it’s only Thursday! Yeah! Also I have stuck to my new weight loss program. “The Belly Cure”. I’m so not into this sort of stuff but I have a buddy that is… so in order to have a buddy I will follow the belly cure plan which is less that 100 carbs and only 15 grams of sugar a day. So far the results are good. -9 pounds -4 inches from the waist.

    • Olga 2:17 am on February 11, 2010 Permalink

      Wait a minute… isn’t Great Lakes Illinois where all that snow is coming down? Double OY VEY!

    • Carmen 10:49 am on February 11, 2010 Permalink

      Thats awesome! Good job and keep it up! I will be printing out any comments made here and sending them to Emily – fyi.

    • Mia 12:06 pm on February 14, 2010 Permalink

      Just tell Emily that her Synectics family misses her very much, especially me. Things just aren’t the same with her gone and if I think about her absence too long I start to tear up.

    • Briana 2:47 pm on February 15, 2010 Permalink

      Ok. So my life isn’t looking all that bad! You are awesome Emily and keep kicking ass! Missing you oh so much. We all love you here at the Traylor house!! Letters will be coming soon, but unfortunately my uncle just passed away and Lily and I flew out to Kansas City for the service. Be back soon and I’ll get out some paper and a pen. Love you!

  • And the countdown begins...

    Carmen 8:03 pm on January 18, 2010 | 2 Permalink | Reply

    As all of us are having a normal day today and going on to have a normal day tomorrow Emily is off to embark on a true adventure.  She’s off to bootcamp to train for the Navy, to get challenged in body and soul.  I feel like I’m getting a little melodramatic but its kind of a big deal and if I can’t get serious about this then what can I get serious about?!

    As a tribute to her decision and strong will there are (at least) two people who have told me that they are planning to challenge themselves physically while Emily is at bootcamp in the hope of supporting her from afar.  Frankly, I’m “challenged” all the time so I’m just going to keep on keeping on (except I’ll be dealing with the extra added bummer of not being to talk to Emily for a while).  So, if anyone would like to add their support in any way feel free to explain yourself in the comments section.

    While Emily is gone I’ll be scanning and posting her letters, keeping us apprised of her weird world that she’ll be joining.  Its also possible that I’ll be doing a little posting here and there if I just can’t help myself.  Other than that we’ll be counting down until she returns…

    66 days left (give or take)

    C+E

     

    • Emilily 7:56 pm on January 19, 2010 Permalink

      66 days is all? Heck, I’m sure I can last that long! We just arrived at Chicago O’Hare and we’re about to be briefed. This will be the last post from me for awhile…thanks you guys for all your support and encouragement, and Carmen, I’m going to be sending you good post ideas via telepathy, so make sure you receive them!

    • Briana 11:53 pm on January 19, 2010 Permalink

      I for one am completely sad and excited at the same time. I know Emily, Tuesday and I will all be buff by the time she comes back, but I can’t help but feel a little lost knowing we have no contact with Emily. It was easy when she was in town and I could call her if I found the time, but now…….nothing! How weird is that!?! You are missed already! I also feel sad because we played phone tag 48hrs. before she left and I didn’t find the time to call before it was too late. (We did have an excellent dinner, conversation, and coffee several days before she left though.) Love you Emily! And of course I love you too Summer aka. Carmen!

  • bye!

    Emilily 12:41 pm on January 18, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply

    I’m off!

    Yikes.

     

    • olga 2:20 am on January 20, 2010 Permalink

      I’m going to miss you Emilily!

  • Instead of using the phone...

    Carmen 12:16 pm on January 14, 2010 | 5 Permalink | Reply

    We should probably discuss the fate of this blog right here …on the blog.  For all of you just joining in on the conversation – Emily is joining the Navy.  Yes, thats right, at the ripe age of …well, whatever, not 18.  She has gone through all the preliminary process and the last step is getting on the plane to go to bootcamp.  Strangely, they do not allow blogging at bootcamp.  I know, weird.  They don’t even allow phone calls! *cry*  And this final step of getting on a plane to funtimes bootcamp happens in … 2 days *more cry*  So I propose we put this blog on hiatus until we can both participate at full force, whenever that may be.  Everyone who comes to this blog during its hiatus is still welcome to comment on anything and everything and you will still reach a wistful Carmen awaiting the return of her friend. *sob!*

    Does that sound like a good plan Emily?

     

    • Emilily 12:47 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Yes, it does, sadly. However, I think that maybe it could be not a complete hiatus…how would you feel about scanning and posting letters I send you? Because I only have 5 hours once a week for “holiday” (and I have a feeling the Navy’s idea of a holiday is not quite the same as mine) during which I can do things like sleep, take a long shower, attend a sermon (denomination of my choice, they have 7 I think) and, most importantly, write letters. So I expect that I will not be able to put everything I want to say in an individual letter for everybody, but if I put it all in a letter to you, you can scan it and put it on the blog? I will make sure to write big enough that it can be read. What do you think? Does this sound doable? Also, I will mention right now, now that we have EVERYONE’S attention – you can all write me letters at bootcamp also! My recruiter will call you and my parents, within a few days of my arrival, and provide my new address, so it is possible you could send me a letter there before I even have a chance to write one to you! Exciting! There is one caveat – if you make the envelope look really cool and intriguing, they just might open it and read it, possibly out loud. So make the envelope look really boring, that is, unless you have something you are just dying to say to the 80+ other recruits that will be in my division.

    • Carmen 1:01 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Well, geez I didn’t know you were required to sign away all your rights! They can’t open your mail and read it! Thats against the law! We better not get on this topic, I might get angry. Anyways, I like this idea! I’ll totally scan whatever you want and post it that way everyone can stay up to date. And maybe I’ll do some posting too for you to read when you have access to a computer. Frankly, I think this is going to be really fascinating. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
      Maybe I can put a post at the top and make it sticky and it will be like a count down until you get back, so newcomers know whats up. (not that i’m expecting any)

    • Emilily 1:27 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Oh, a countdown! I love that idea! Remember in the Julie & Julia movie she had a countdown timer on her blog…maybe we can get a widget that does that?

      I am pretty sure reading my mail falls into the “it can happen but probably won’t” category; however, as a private citizen, under the homeland security act, they can also read your email, listen to your phone calls, and open any international mail sent or received…just making sure you hadn’t been lulled into a false sense of privacy!

    • Olga 4:51 am on January 15, 2010 Permalink

      I think that all these ideas are superb! I really want to hear/read what is going on with dear Emilily. I for one will miss my daily blog read. I wish Emily all the best.

    • Emilily 11:39 am on January 15, 2010 Permalink

      Thanks for the nice wishes, I will definitely think of you guys when I gone!

      Speaking of phone, I just wanted to say that AT&T is super awesome (for once!) and they have a plan for military people where you can suspend your account whenever you are out of a service area or unable to utilize your cell phone for any reason (like basic training!) and they reduce your bill down to $10 a month and you get to keep your phone number and all your roll-over minutes. The point being, if you call my cell after January 20th, you will get a message saying “This user is not accepting calls at this time…” and then I can turn my phone & service on again as soon as I am back!

  • yuck

    Emilily 11:19 am on January 14, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply

    Okay, I know you can’t see this photo very well, but basically it is a picture of Burger King on a lovely sunny day in McKinleyville. I tried to zoom in on the marquis, which was the reason for this picture, but it is still fuzzy. It reads “TRY NEW BK BURGER SHOTS.” What?!?!

    I looked it up online, and apparently, they are trying to promote their new sliders, but whatever marketing genius came up with the term “burger shots” needs to be fired. Immediately. I mean, not only is the idea of “shooting” any form of a burger completely nauseating, but they come in a “six-pack” because, clearly, just one alcoholic-beverage reference was not cool enough.

     

    • Carmen 12:06 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Mckinleyville – so progressive.

  • where in the world is carmemily?

    Emilily 8:22 am on January 14, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply

    ok, it’s been sooooo long, I had to make a post, even though I have nothing much to talk about except for maybe some of the exciting things I am doing today, like going to the mechanic, listing my car on Craig’s List, and doing my taxes. Fun. Also, I am in the process of upgrading my adobe products, and so cannot post any new photos. To make this post more interesting, I have included a picture of my camping trip to Joshua Tree this past fall. Actually, I haven’t posted any of these pictures, and I’ve done some editing work to a few of them, so here they are…oh, crap, the files are too large, I am crippled without photoshop.

    Huh.

    I’ve been slacking on my fashion sales sites, K Dukes is not inspiring me, and today’s news – the earthquake in Haiti – is tragic but not controversial…I’m at a loss. I guess I could just post a bunch of pictures of my cat doing cute things with a hackey sack…or not…hey, what’s everyone else doing right now?!

     

    • Carmen 12:06 pm on January 14, 2010 Permalink

      Oh emily, I hear you. I’ve seen some bad fashion lately but not bad enough to post about. Especially when I am keenly aware that you are not waiting impatiently by your computer for my next post.

  • la luna azul

    Emilily 11:13 am on January 4, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:

    So here is my post on the blue moon. Very appropriate that it follows your picture of the blue moon, since I have no actual picture of the last blue moon, only one I lifted from this Wikipedia article, of the December 2009 blue moon with a partial lunar eclipse, as was visible from certain parts of the world (I don’t know which parts, but not ours, obviously.) There is a lot of interesting information here, so I’d recommend reading the whole thing, but here are some of the highlights!

    • There are a number of different definitions of a blue moon, the most accepted being the 13th full moon in a year, occurring once every two to three years. The Farmers’ Almanac follows the rule of the extra (fourth) full moon in a season, and the definition of the blue moon as the second full moon in one month stems from a 1946 interpretation error, revealed in the May 2009 issue of Sky & Telescope. (In case you missed the May issue, here’s the article.)
    • The moon before the blue moon is called a betrayer moon, because it was seen as coming ahead of its appropriate time (the blue moon was one appearing at the right time, then?) and thus confusing the clergy when they were trying to determine the dates for Lent and Easter, which apparently were based on the dates of the full moon.
    • An interesting list of the traditional English names (e) for full moons, based on the Gregorian calendar, followed by the Native American (na) names, based on an older method of dating full moon according to seasons:

    January: old moon (e), wolf moon (na)
    February: wolf moon (e), snow moon (na)
    March: lenten moon (e), worm moon (na)
    April: egg moon (e), pink moon (na)
    May: milk moon (e), flower moon (na)
    June: flower moon (e), strawberry moon (na)
    July: hay moon (e), buck moon (na)
    August: grain moon (e), sturgeon moon (na)
    September: corn moon (e), harvest moon (na)
    October: harvest moon (e), hunter’s moon (na)
    November: hunter’s moon (e), beaver moon (na)
    December: oak moon (e), cold moon (na)

    • Finally, here is a handy equation you can use to calculate the dates of future full moons (all full moons, not just blue moons):

    d = 20.362955 + 29.530588861 \times N + 102.026 \times 10^{-12} \times N^2

    where d is the number of days since 1 January 2000 00:00:00 in the time scale known as Terrestial Time. For Universal Time (world clock time) add the following approximate correction to d:

    -0.000739 - (235 \times 10^{-12})\times N^2 days

    and where N is an integer number of full moons, starting with 0 for the first full moon of the year 2000. The true time of a full moon may differ from this approximation by up to about 14.5 hours as a result of the non-circularity of the moon’s orbit.

    The next time the blue moon will fall on New Year’s Eve is 2028, at which time there will also be a full lunar eclipse! Whoa! (I did not calculate this myself, although I feel like we should test this equation to make sure mathematician Jean Meeus is correct.)

     

  • Last night's moon

    Carmen 1:09 pm on January 1, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:

     

  • Last skills acquired in 2009...

    Carmen 1:07 pm on January 1, 2010 | 6 Permalink | Reply

    Right before the end of 2009 I learned how to saber a champagne bottle!  This is a useful skill to have especially if you happen to be riding a horse and someone hands you a bottle of champagne to toast your nobleness. Well obviously you would just bust out your trusty sword and slide the blade upwards with a smooth, swift motion hitting the top lip of the bottle at its weakest point and the top shears off. Of course the force of the bubbly keeps any glass from entering into the bottle but if you do it right there are no extra pieces of glass anywhere.  Brilliant!

     

    • Nurse Ratched 4:37 pm on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      Being a mom, maybe not your mom, but somebody’s mom, I instantly see danger in this practice. I see slices in esophageal tissue, a hasty trip to the ER, swollen membranes, difficulty breathing and the like. I understand the principle of the bubbly forcing the shards of glass up and away from the point of impact. However I think it must be said that principles are abstract rules that should never be confused with proven science. All in all I think it safe to say that saberizing a champagne bottle can be hazardous to your health. So was it tasty?

    • Carmen 6:23 pm on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      Yeah I’m wild!!!

    • Tuesday 5:22 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      What up with that?!!

    • Emilily 7:09 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I am really impressed by this skill. I told my parents about it, and they had the same reaction as Nurse Ratched, namely, that you could potentially be sipping glass shards along with your bubbly. While I admit this seems like a valid concern, sometimes there is probably no way around it, like when you are swinging from the mast of your pirate ship, ready to celebrate your exploits, and all you have handy is your cutlass, your peg-leg, and a one-eyed monkey…

    • Carmen 7:16 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I have been coughing up blood lately, is that weird?

    • Emilily 7:24 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      No, I am sure that is perfectly normal, especially for people who have been drinking glass shards. You should probably take some Advil or something for that.

  • Happy New Year!

    Carmen 8:09 pm on December 31, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:

    Well, this is my first drink of the evening… its called The Blue Moon.

     

    • Atom Ant 5:44 am on January 1, 2010 Permalink

      How appropriate. The next blue moon we will see in December will be 23 years from now. Well, that’s what I heard anyway. Some say that a Blue Moon is the second moon in a month. Others say that a Blue Moon is the forth moon in a season (3 months) and at least one person says that the drink above is a Blue Moon. What ever it is… i say happy new year and bottoms up!

    • Emilily 10:27 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I have heard the first – that the Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. Hoooooweverrrrr…I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and it appears I was wrong. Wikipedia says it is the 13th full moon in a year, an explanation I like better because thirteen is a prophetic number on its own, so it makes the Blue Moon extra eerie.

      Hmmmm, there’s actually a ton of really cool information on this article, so I’m going to do a post on it instead!

    • Carmen 10:52 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      Finally!

    • Emilily 11:13 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink

      I know, right?!

  • What a joke...

    Carmen 10:21 am on December 24, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply

    So, these are on sale today on Gilt and I’m just floored by the balls these people must have.  And I’m floored by the gullibility of the people who buy this.  I mean, somebody must be buying them or they wouldn’t be in business right?  Anyways, apparently if you put these on your face you won’t get pimples and it will reduce wrinkles, depending on which one you use. Officially:

    “Using superior technology developed by NASA, the Baby Quasar works by stimulating the natural production of collagen in the skin, thereby diminishing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and enlarged pores. Extremely effective in firming and toning the skin and increasing blood flow and circulation, the Baby Quasar uses 24 LED’s in four discrete wavelengths of red and infrared light.”

    This is pure bullshit.  And even if it wasn’t and by some miracle the light from LEDs did something beneficial for my skin I’m not going to pay $500 bucks for it!  I’ll just go rub my face in the christmas lights!  Cmon people, this isn’t the 1920’s!  Actually the 20’s were better, at least they were advertising for things that worked – Coke! Delicious and refreshing! (Yeah it was, cause it had cocaine in it), Stay slim with your very own tapeworm! (hey, you will actually lose some weight.  In fact, I’m gonna go get some tapeworms right now and start my new business!  “Lose weight by meeting my little friend!”)

     

    • Olga 3:23 am on December 25, 2009 Permalink

      Don’t forget the key phrases in your worm/diet business. You must use important sounding lines like “developed by a New York Cardiologist” it wouldn’t sound the same if you said “developed by a Mississippi Bariatric MD”. Don’t forget the all important timetable. You must keep it very specific, example “Lose 300 pounds in just 32 weeks! not 31 weeks, not “lose 300 pounds in about 7 months” 32 Weeks and I’m done! So when can I get my worms? Were they trained by NASA to eat fat fast? Are they discrete?

  • a new toy

    Emilily 9:35 am on December 23, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: amazon, kindle

    Hey, guess what! Mis padres are getting me a Kindle for Christmas! I’m getting the smaller one, that has international download capabilities. I know this doesn’t mean a whole lot for the blog, except that I will still be able to read all kinds of cool science articles. There’s even a Wired blog I can subscribe to. Although I will completely ignore any misgivings I might have about jumping on the e-reader bandwagon at the expense of real books and bookstores, both of which I love, I also feel like I am being suckered into an expensive yet cool gadget that will make me think “how could I have survived before I had this?” just like my iPod. Thank you technology, for ensuring my life is more entertained, informed, complicated and expensive.

    I was reading reviews before we purchased it, and found that there are lots of people who are really down on Amazon. I suspect it is just because they are scarily massive. Someday I might regret saying this, but I cannot help but root for them because they started small but through a combination of luck, good timing, and shrewd business strategy, have built an empire – it feels like good old fashioned American capitalism, which certainly won’t cure world hunger, but it’s nice to know it works every so often.

    Also, I bet someday we will look back at Jeff Bezos as one of the most notable entrepreneurs of our generation; in fact, there are probably already MBA courses analyzing his every move as we speak. In a recent shareholder meeting, he was quoted as saying, “Advertising is the price you pay for having an unremarkable product or service.” Probably not entirely true, but his arrogance is endearing.

    On an unrelated note, I was trying to find a funny review I read last night slamming Amazon for not releasing sales figures* and I came across a blog that you may already know about, but that had some cool stuff. It’s called Geeksugar, and it appears to be some sort of offshoot of Popsugar. They have a combination of geeky, techy gadgets and girly fashion stuff, including these cool little travel speakers.

    *The quote was something like: Amazon, on their self-proclaimed remarkable Kindle sales: “The good news is, we’ve sold every Kindle we made. The bad news is, we made 5.”

     

    • Carmen 10:22 am on December 24, 2009 Permalink

      awesome. i’m jealous.

  • back!

    Emilily 9:25 pm on December 22, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply

    I’m in Oceanside now, at my grandma’s, and we’re finally wired again! We had to buy a wireless router today – it was the only solution, since being offline for the next 8 days is not really an option.

    Unfortunately, I cannot think of anything interesting to post about at the moment…

     

  • Movie Review/Science Education

    Carmen 4:43 pm on December 18, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: dark matter,

    So I watched Angels and Demons last night and my official review is this:  SO Good!

    It was actually quite beautiful as it takes place in Rome and the characters are whisking themselves to all the gorgeous historical buildings with all of their statues and fountains.  Also, I’m sure it was factually accurate so all of the information that Dr. Langdon spouts regarding Catholic and architectural history is an education in itself!  Not only that, but they show the Vatican Archives! (I’m sure its real and not a replicated set)  Now, the best part of this movie is in the beginning when they show the Large Hadron Collider in all its glory.  I had no idea that this movie was going to be such a treat with all of my favorite things, including a great soundtrack.  So in the beginning they show all the scientists busy at their LHC computers in a crisis about how and when to “harvest” some stuff which turns out to be antimatter.  Antimatter looks pretty cool in the movie – all glowy and powerful – but what is it exactly?  I have no idea.  So  I’m doing a little research…

    Turns out CERN (home of the LHC) has an Antimatter Academy.  Their site has tons of information about it and I am still trying to understand it and its implications.  Antimatter is definitely the way of the future.

     

    • Dave 11:58 am on December 21, 2009 Permalink

      Carmen, how does antimatter relate to strange, degenerate, exotic or dark matter? Speaking of elusive dark matter, indicators of it’s existence have been felt in a mine in Minnesota: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/17/dark-matter-detected

      Happy Winter Solstice to you both!

    • Carmen 2:57 pm on December 21, 2009 Permalink

      Good article! Very interesting. I had no idea there was a group called the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, I’ll have to contact them and see if they’re looking for new members. There is one thing in that article that seems contradictory… They were saying that dark matter has a unique characteristic that allows it to move through matter as if it didn’t exist and yet the only way they can detect it is to wait for dark matter particles to bump into their high powered sensing machines. Maybe what they meant to say is that their machines can sense when dark matter particles are passing through them, not bumping into them. Anyways, if thats true dark matter is probably in here right now!
      Also, thanks for the pop quiz Dave! Lucky for me the answer to your question is simple = Theoretically.

    • Emilily 10:13 pm on December 22, 2009 Permalink

      I have not yet seen the movie, but I did read the book, and really enjoyed the parts about the LHC. I am not really crazy about Tom Hanks, I feel he is a little too old and soft-looking to play the dashing Dr. Langdon (who is, I like to think, more of an Indiana Jones type, but maybe that’s just me romanticizing it) especially opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I will probably check it out nonetheless…my superficial view of what the characters are supposed to look like will not get in the way of my love of CERN!

    • Emilily 10:46 pm on December 22, 2009 Permalink

      That was a great article, Dave. That was the first I had heard of supersymmetry being one of the goals of the LHC, or that dark matter might explain why time only travels forward. Fascinating! Although, I did question why a dark matter detector was located at the bottom of a mine in Minnesota? I would have thought they would put them in space, but underground? Where else do they have dark matter detectors? How many are scattered around the world…like, enough that I could run into one someday? What does it looks like? More research is in order….

  • planning for the future...

    Carmen 1:46 pm on December 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply

    In preparation for our next blog entitled “How to be More Like Kristopher Dukes” I went and bought some of this stuff, I’ll let you know how it goes:

    photo

     

  • oxymoron of the day: Fox News

    Emilily 11:30 pm on December 15, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: fox news

    foxSometimes when I am at the gym, they have Fox News playing on the TV in the locker room. They also have the TV mounted on the ceiling, with no volume or channel controls in sight, so I have to quickly change my clothes while singing a little song I made up called The Fox News Song. It goes “la la la la la I can’t hear you la la la la....” Unfortunately, the other day, in between verses 17 and 18, I heard about this guy, I believe he is a Senator, named Inhofe, who has formed something called The Truth Commission. My details are sketchy, because I was still trying to not hear the first half of the story, but apparently, The Truth Commission has made it their mission to debunk climate change. I’m all for challenging commonly held assumptions, even if they do appear to be based on massive amounts of statistical data, but I have two issues with The Truth Commission.

    First, it is composed of three members – one of them is Inhofe, the other was some guy who’s name I did not recognize, and the third member was, and I quote, “…a secret.” Aside from the fact that we’re supposed to believe a three-member commission of politicians has discovered the truth* behind global warming that scientists around the globe have apparently got wrong, isn’t it contradictory to have a secret member in a truth commission?!

    Second, even if I were to somehow accept that they are promoting a truth so infallible it need not rely on the credibility or identity of its proponents, what’s with their name? I think they are trying to emphasize a direct contradiction to the movie An Inconvenient Truth, but they gave up on coming up with anything clever and settled instead for the obvious, PR-equivalent of I-know-I-am-but-what-are-you. If you’re trying to contradict something, you usually pick words that are antonyms or exaggerated forms of the opposition’s title, and then use them in a clever way, so that the opposition can tell you are mocking them, rather than just trying to ride their publicity by using their name as a front for your own hair-brained idea. Here are some suggestions I think they should consider: The Convenience Commission, The Real Inconvenient Truth, The Commission On Climate Staying The Same And/Or Changing But Not From Man-Made Causes, or Team Petroleum.

    *In case you were wondering, the truth about global warming is that “...it is a liberal-inspired hoax, intended to wrest control of world energy policy and wealth from Western countries so the United Nations can have its way.”

    Damn United Nations, damn Western countries hoarding all the wealth from all that oil…oh, wait…

     

    • Olga 4:37 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      Yes, Yes, we can always rely on Fox to give us news we can trust. Just look at how they uncovered Obama’s REAL plan on healthcare reform. Obama’s plan says that doctors would be reimbursed for having those tough discussions with patients about how they want their end-of-life to look, ie: do you want everything done; tubes coming out of every hole or do you want to go naturally, peacefully with no aggressive treatments to extend your life. Leave it to ex-gov Palin and Fox news to identify the REAL truth about this part of the healthcare reform bill. DEATH PANELS!!!!! OH YEAH!!! What is really going on is this; doctors are going to decide for themselves, arbitrarily who will live and who will die. Doctors will say “oh, this grandma is too old and ugly, no aggressive treatments for her!” or “oh this guy is my neighbor, he gets every orifice stuffed”. Yes yes, Fox and Palin nailed that one huh?

      I just find it so incredible that such a large percentage of the country believes this crap. Ok. that’s it. That’s all I have to say.
      I think I will go watch Jerry Springer now.

    • Irene 5:12 pm on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      Ditto everything Olga said about the “Truth Commission.” It is truly awful how so many people believe and vote for this propaganda. And it’s only a 3 person committee, with a secret member?? Or maybe it’s really a 2 person committee?

  • a dream come true...

    Carmen 1:27 pm on December 15, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: cloche hats

    Remember when I told you I wanted to find (or make) a cloche hat?  Well I found one!

    photo

     

    • Emilily 8:29 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      That is really pretty. Where did you find it? You’ll have to send me a picture of how you wear it!

    • Carmen 10:40 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      What do you mean ‘how I wear it’? That is how I wear it! Does it look like I’m wearing it wrong?

    • Emilily 10:42 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      I meant, when you wear it out, with an outfit, to some sort of public event or outing…I was assuming the picture above was just to show me the hat, but I imagine there will be some sort of cloche-centered ensemble debuting in the future…

    • olga 4:07 am on December 17, 2009 Permalink

      Sometimes,(Emilily) a hat is just a hat.

  • A little LHC history...

    Carmen 9:07 am on December 12, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:

    In reading the New York Times this morning I came across an article that taught me alot about the history of supercolliders.  Did you know there was a miniature one built really close by, in Berkeley? Way back in 1932!  It was only a foot in diameter as opposed to the 17 mile loop of the LHC.  And speaking of big loops did you know there was one being built in Texas with a 54 mile loop?  Its true.  It was called the Superconducting Supercollider (an arrogant Texan obviously thought up that name).  But the SS program was shut down in 1993 because costs exceeded 11 Billion. Oh poor babies. 11 Billion? Oh yeah, thats way too much, especially because we have to spend 1.8 billion per week on our wars in the Middle East (according to msnbc).  So now because of that brilliant decision by Congress there will be no new discoveries concerning particle physics coming out of the U.S.  Which is probably a good thing, Europe will do a better job anyways.

     

    • Emilily 9:11 am on December 16, 2009 Permalink

      Well, you know I am as big a fan of cool science as you are, so I read the New York Times article too! I have to say, I did not know we had any supercolliders in this country, but props to the one in Illinois – even if it is a measly 3.9 miles around, Tevatron is an awesome name. Although we are about to get our physics butts kicked in a serious way.

  • There's something unfor-tunate going on here, alright...

    Emilily 2:49 pm on December 9, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: punctuation

     

    • Carmen 10:34 am on December 10, 2009 Permalink

      Yeah, a misplaced hyphen!

  • i had a great idea...

    Carmen 9:36 am on December 9, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: tattoos

    I’m going to get this tattoo! What do you think?

    tat

     

    • Emilily 11:24 am on December 9, 2009 Permalink

      Wow, that’s super awesome. What a good idea. Where on your body would you put that?

    • Olga 3:21 am on December 10, 2009 Permalink

      Nice font. I like it. I too want to know where on your bod you would put it?

    • Carmen 10:36 am on December 10, 2009 Permalink

      Oh I don’t know. I just like it. But I can’t get a tattoo and blemish this skin.

  • muffins!

    Emilily 8:47 pm on December 8, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: muffins,

    blackberry bran muffinsI tried another bran muffin recipe this past weekend, and they turned out pretty delicious. I got the recipe from Dylan’s mom Irene – she sent some home with him after Thanksgiving, and I think I ate about 4 a day until they were gone!

    The (modified) recipe was originally from this great blog, Farmgirl Fare. It’s by this woman who one day packed up her California lifestyle and moved out to a remote, 280-acre farm in the middle of Nowhere, Missouri. I think I can relate to packing everything up and embarking on a new adventure! I also like the name of her blog, because it reminds me of The Princess Bride (Farmboy) although I doubt this has any relation to her blog at all. Anyways, there are a ton of healthy recipes, pictures of her farm animals, and a smattering of gardening tips and photos. I think this weekend I might try a batch of these blueberry breakfast bars, but with persimmons instead, since they’re weighing down the trees in the front yard.

     

  • My beautiful Grandma...

    Carmen 11:58 am on December 8, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply

    I found this picture of my grandma (on the right) and her sister.  Isn’t she lovely?

    louise

     

    • Emilily 8:28 pm on December 8, 2009 Permalink

      Oh she is! I can see some of your grandma’s features still.

  • Remember when...

    Carmen 1:06 pm on December 7, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply

    Val Kilmer used to be hot?  What happened Val? Please get a personal trainer and stop breaking my heart.

    val

     

  • What do you think of this nail polish?

    Emilily 10:56 am on December 7, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: nails,

    Opi by Sephora matte nail polish

     

    • Carmen 1:09 pm on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      Hmm. I think I’m the wrong person to ask. Nail polish and I had a falling out a while ago and I have yet to rekindle any kind of love for it (except for maybe clear). However, from as objective as I can get I can say that color looks….futuristic.

    • Emilily 1:58 pm on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      Well put, it is SO futuristic! It’s matte, absolutely no shine or gloss at all…it’s like my fingernails are absorbing light.

      The color is called Metro Chic but clearly a better name would be Spaceship Primer. Or, What Color Is Your Battlestar.

  • not blonde

    Emilily 6:31 pm on December 5, 2009 | 5 Permalink | Reply

    Photo on 2009-12-05 at 11.26So, here’s my new cut and color. The color on the box was Marilyn Monroe blonde. The color on my head is Emily Hawkins light brown/dark blonde. Clearly, one of the perils of color in a box; I just gave about 117 of my hair follicles cancer for no point. The cut is probably going to grow on me…I trust Spencer, but he went way shorter than I expected. Lucky for me, the 80’s are coming back in, so my new asymmetrical style will be super on trend. Maybe. Either way, I got carded twice last night, so I’m feeling pretty good about it so far.

     

    • Carmen 9:28 pm on December 5, 2009 Permalink

      That look great Emily! I really like it. I like it better than the other cut for sure. I wouldn’t mind seeing a profile shot!

    • Emilily 11:04 am on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      eh, after a weekend with the new hair, I am not sure if I like it, it is too short, I can’t do much with it. On the plus side, it will now be easier to cut it all off.

    • Carmen 1:13 pm on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      Too short? Well how are you going to feel when its only an inch long?

    • Emilily 2:02 pm on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      Well, I can tell you what I am not going to feel like: 1988.

      All I need is a little hairspray and I could be rockin’ this look today:

      hair1

    • Carmen 2:13 pm on December 7, 2009 Permalink

      Whoa.

  • State Street Christmas trees from my phone with tiltshift

    Emilily 1:04 pm on December 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: holidays

     

  • Top floor of bloomingdales from my phone with tiltshift

    Carmen 8:15 pm on December 4, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply

     

    • Emilily 1:08 pm on December 5, 2009 Permalink

      That looks beautiful, like a magical sparkling waterfall raining shopping happiness! Maybe that’s where the free-designer-clothes-fairies come from!

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