Summer Birthday Fun

7 Things I Hate

Yes, I'm starting with #3 because this was adapted from another
list! And I don't really hate them... Only think they're funny! Just pretend it's like the 13th--and 14th floors of the post. ^_^

3 When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Heck ya! What good is cake if you can't eat it?

4 When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the heck would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they?

5.When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No, I paid $12 to come to stare at the floor.

6 People who ask "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya?

7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn't be new.

8 When people say "life is short". What the heck?? Life is the longest thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?

9 When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?". If the bus came would I be standing here?

Creedo

Today on the way back through town (the once urban passage between two neighboring cities), my stomach begin to churn at the sight of it: several mini-Hearst sized houses stacked smugly beside one another, dominating the once beautiful pastures where legendary cows used to roam. Three stories and nearly zero-lot line. Sounds like a dream home to me! (gag). They're still in construction, and they're moving fast. It's good that they're moving fast--I mean, what with all the hundreds of vacant homes they built two years ago sitting so passively on the opposite side of the street. I mean, they're not as big and illustrious--and who wants to live in a home that doesn't have at least three extra rooms and a superfluous floor? And what a good time to build, too--I mean, being that the market is at a all-time low and nobody's buying homes because the people who have them are all going into default. Smart, smart!

This used to be the way I took to get to my middle school and high school. It used to be a wonderful scenic tour through the country, the only thing being out there was the old recycle plant where we could take our empty bottles and cans and turn them in for a nickel. Now houses litter the landscape like a suburban nightmare. Fact is: there is no escape anymore; everywhere you go nature's getting scarcer and the homes--bigger.

I live in California, a fact that I repent. It was never my choice--when we were given our options several years ago for where to be stationed, I was the only one who said, "Illinois!" Not that that would be my choice today--but I still stand by my belief that CA was not the place to venture to. Needless to say my brother Justin won out on the deal. Now, not all of it's bad so don't get me wrong there; the country is beautiful is you're privileged to see any of it while it still exists. The land is sparkling and mesmerizing; the ocean, humbling. It's a beautiful place. But incorporated in our fast, fast, fast culture (time is money! why cook?--we've got drive thru's everywhere) is this strange paradoxical quest to dominate more and more; we're still claiming after all these years--but the ironic thing is that you have a pretty large group of people running around trying to be humanitarians at the same time. Our California culture is a strange blend.

Perhaps it's because it's inescapable to have to conform in some ways to the "bigger, better" mindsets of this place. Sadly, I work for the government (ha!), as does my husband. We're constantly complaining about this world--but, we work for "The Man," so to speak. What's more, you become dependent on the very society that you loathe out of necessity. It's like a vice, a contextual vortex that sucks you in and refuses to release you. What does that say--other than we are anticipating and desiring great changes? To see a problem and do something about it... that's our mentality (no, we don't own a monstrous home or giant SUV). Problem with that is--most of the times in order to change you gotta conform and use the very devices that you're against. I mean, we all love food and shelter right? We all love being able to drive instead of walking miles and miles everywhere you gotta go. I'm not oblivious to the irony.

Something about traveling out of the United States humbles you to see all the ironies and hypocrisies of living here... something about experiencing life abroad squelches a thirst like a big gulp of water on a hot day. I'm not without patriotism where it is due--but that doesn't mean that I concede to how things are. And it's not wholly an American issue anyway; it's a human issue (and those people are everywhere). In the end, the Machine has no path but to conquer. There is no stopping it. Fatalistic and Nietzsche-esk as it may sound--tell me how to revert back to the simple without usurping the tsunami of power and "progress." One cannot stop time, only delay it. The truth is that, given time, we will consume and conquer everything and anything we can--deplete our resources, scourge our land. We will forsake the blessings that we initially given, throwing them aside like scraps.

And one day we'll realize--
Oh, too bad. It's too late.

Below is a clip from an awesome satirical movie called Idiocracy. If you don't know the true meaning of satire, here it is: "Satire (from Latin satura, not from the greek mythological figure satyr) is a literary genre, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement."

I will warn you that there is a lot of language unsuitable for youngins. Usually I am against the use of such vernacular because I find it distasteful. But in this case it's different because it's to prove a point. If you think you'll be offended, don't watch it. Otherwise, turn off the background song below and press play. If it sparks a nerve in you, maybe you should rent it!

You Are a Dragon You are very charismatic and incredibly popular. People are drawn to your energy, but you are a very difficult person to get to know. You are very active - you are usually hard at work or play. You enjoy drama, and you enjoy anything unusual or eccentric. What Mythological Creature Are You? The Part of You That No One Sees

You are balanced, peaceful, and sincere. You're the type of person who goes along to get along. And you're definitely afraid of rocking the boat. Underneath it all, you fear your world falling apart. You'll put up with a situation that you don't like in fear of changing it. Disruptive and forceful people intimidate you - and sometimes exploit you.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Hmmm... Gee, I Wonder Why...?

Gorillas now 'critically endangered'

By ERICA BULMAN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 12, 4:10 PM ET

GENEVA - The most common type of gorilla is now "critically endangered," one step away from global extinction, according to the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species released Wednesday by the World Conservation Union.

The Ebola virus is depleting Western Gorilla populations to a point where it might become impossible for them to recover.

Commercial hunting, civil unrest and habitat loss due to logging and forest clearance for palm oil plantations are compounding the problem, said the Swiss-based group known by its acronym IUCN.

"Great apes are our closest living relatives and very special creatures," Russ Mittermeier, head of IUCN's Primate Specialist Group, told The Associated Press. "We could fit all the remaining great apes in the world into two or three large football stadiums. There just aren't very many left."

In all, 16,306 species are threatened with extinction, 188 more than last year, IUCN said. One in four mammals are in jeopardy, as are one in eight birds, a third of all amphibians and 70 percent of the plants that have been studied.

"Life on Earth is disappearing fast and will continue to do so unless urgent action is taken," the IUCN warned.

The Western Gorilla's main subspecies — the Western Lowland Gorilla — has been decimated by the Ebola virus, which has wiped out about a third of the gorillas found in protected areas over the last 15 years.

"In the last 10 years, Ebola is the single largest killer of apes. Poaching is a close second," said Peter Walsh, a member if IUCN's Primate Specialist Group, told the AP. "Ebola is knocking down populations to a level where they won't bounce back. The rate of decline is dizzying. If it continues, we'll lose them in 10-12 years."

Female gorillas only start reproducing at the age of 9 or 10 and only have one baby about every five years. Walsh said even in ideal conditions, it would take the gorillas decades to bounce back.

The World Conservation Union also said the Yangtze River dolphin is now "possibly extinct." There have been no documented sightings of the long-snouted cetacean since 2002. An intensive search of its habitat in November and December proved fruitless but more searches are needed as one was possibly spotted in late August.

The Redheaded Vulture soared from "near threatened" to "critically endangered." The birds' rapid decline over the last eight years is largely due to diclofenac, a painkiller given to ill or injured farm cattle so they can still work. But the substance poisons the vultures when they scavenge livestock carcasses.

Only 182 breeding adults of the Gharial crocodile remain, down almost 60 percent from a decade ago. India and Nepal's crocodile has become critically endangered because dams, irrigation projects and artificial embankments have reduced its habitat to just 2 percent of its former range.

The woolly-stalked begonia is the only species declared extinct this year. Extensive searches have failed to uncover any specimens of the Malaysian herb in the last century, IUCN said.

Only one species moved to a lesser category of threat. One of the world's rarest parrots 15 years ago, the Mauritius Echo parakeet, eased back from critically endangered to only endangered. That was a result of close monitoring of its nesting sites, and supplementary feeding combined with a captive breeding and release program.

IUCN says 785 species have disappeared over the last 500 years. A further 65 are found only in artificial settings such as zoos.

The Red List, produced by a worldwide network of thousands of experts, includes some 41,000 species and subspecies around the globe.

We're Killing Our World!

That Settles It!

Apologies and admissions are in order:

my dear Sarah,

yes you were right all along--

I'm so sorry--

There was a "Nopey" in Gumby!!!

A dog in love with the word "nope"--
who'da thought???

Oh, I'm in Love, I'm in Love!

All hail Norse Mythology--Japanese-style!!!

Story-time Meme

SF Girl over at The Alien Next Door sent me this story meme challenge. Writing is always fun! (unless it's a dissertation on the joys of mathematics).

Here are the rules:

• 1. Copy and paste the story below, and the rules, on your blog.
• 2. Find out who you're going to tag.
• 3. Write one or two sentences to continue the story, and use the titles of the blogs you're tagging or any word(s) associated with them as keywords in the links you include in your part of the story.
• 4. Remember to tell your taggees that you've tagged them!
• 5. Feel free to use this and start your own viral link story. I'd very much appreciate a link back to Mother's Home! if you do. (Or a tag, if you prefer!)

Here's we go:

Mother's Home! the cave troll yelled. I have been out all day strangling chickens like CRAZY! for the evil Empress. All i want now is a MOment to myself, but i keep getting Linda talking Drivel, but that is better than a certain someone Mooing. Then suddenly what should appear but the NOT evil Empress and all her strangled chickens and Mags cooked them all up and made us a lovely cake to eat. Gracie wanted all the cake for herself but the NOT evil Empress was able to hack off a good sized slab for herself!!! Ha ha ha, Gracie belched loudly after eating all the scrumptious cake that Mags had baked and watched Callie scrappin' with Sarge about who was gonna win Big Brother 8. Sarge started humming "Dixie," and almost choked on the bite of cake in his mouth! So he got some coffee to go to wash down the cake. The coffee helped a bit but he had to vocalize before he started singing again so he began, "Mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi..."

...who heard him all the way from Bloggingham Palace and said, "Where is that awful noise coming from? Is there a sick wailing Wacky Mom loose in the woods?" She said, "I'll bet Songbird can teach him to sing!" but she was busy BONDing in the desert with Kathleen who sat writing heresy in her diary. She was absolutely no help. So Mi-Mi asked Kat to put him on the PP&P list to save his sorry soul. Alas, Ralph the Airhead made a new batch but the Patti-cakes fell in Polliwog's Pond and nobody got to eat cake after all! It was all Bee's fault (somehow). Feeling sorry for herself, she pranced over to Odat's for a dance but she only heard strange mumbling...

That mumbling, however, resulted from The Alien Next Door trying to clone Justin Stanely’s Weblog. The meticulous and risky cloning occurred throughout several millennia, past, present, and future. Or so it seemed; no one could keep count. It was just too much. The mind-numbing years had finally sublimed the earth into a pristine Bobbarama. All well and good, said Bob, but whatever happened to the rules? Before anyone got hurt, however, enough stars fell and crashed to alert Sci-Fi Girl, who grabbed her laptop and returned to the woods, where Mimi's Dating Profile popped up, allowing a lion to lie happily next to a lamb…

Now, the insane writer burst into the forest, kissing the dogwood and sat on the lion, spinning tales about sci-fi girl's boyfriend, sci-fi guy, who had his eye on [her] DNA, which he was hoping to sell for anything goes. But just then the mad goat lady and the drowsey monkey pranced into the forest and sang a truly quiet symphony, which annoyed the insane writer.

"What's that funky sound?" screamed sci-fi guy.

"Well, it sure isn't a raspberry-latte!" grumbled the insane writer. "Get a grip, sci-fi guy! You're my main character! I expect you to know how to split an atom! Ignore that woman and her indolent pet! Now, go and do your dastardly thing!"

But the insane writer became further entranced by the absence of symphonic sound coming from their mouths that it compounded her fraught; so Marjienalized was she, delirious from dementia like a beheaded chicken. "Hikari, hikari!" she yelled in her best Japanese accent as the sunlight broke through the dogwood trees. She believed it to be the light of heaven, discordant from the sky. She promptly withdrew her Skywater Journal to record the unusual events...