I was reading a article in Newsweek about..ok, brace yourselves, a baby with a brain tumor, but the tumor wasn't as incredible as what came out of the tumor. Now, before you go off and say I'm lying, or that it's some sort of alien baby, I need to tell you about this deformation called 'fetus in fetu' where babies for twins inside them. Now, what came out of this baby's brain tumor, was a fully developed foot, hand and thigh. The doctor who removed it said it looked like a breech birth (when babies come out feet first instead of head first). I thought that was ridiculous and it reminded me of another case I was once where this man had a dead, fully developed fetal twin in his abdomen...freaky stuff...I know my dad may have foot in mouth disease but foot in brain?! ok..har har har...I'll post again later.

More postage

Does anyone know about the game 'spore creatures'? I'm gonna assume we don't because i didn't up until I stumbled upon this article on the different contraversies with the game. Ok, so basically, Spore, as it's been commonly reffered to, is a type of RPG (role play game) where you create and grow creatures on your own planet and you let them go and explore or whatever... It's a pretty sugar coated game. There's no violence or questionable adult themes where you steal and murder, yet this game is getting the same amout of contraversy as GTA (Grand Theft Auto). As soon as the game came out, everyone jumped on it. Some people were complaining that it "made you god" or, it put you in a goddly role in which people could create and destroy things, not taking life serious enough.. ok, quick note, I'm a vegetarian, I preach this ALL the time. I'm always getting in people's faces saying that "that cow had a life too!" or, "some of those chickens lived a really harsh life just to be killed" and guess what? No one really gives a rat's ass about these REAL creatures that lead REAL lives, but now there's this big hype about 7 year olds playing god in a sugar coated video game -rolls eyes- what's the world coming to? Any way, that's not the only contraversy in this game (believe it or not). The evolutionists are getting on this games case not too! They're saying that it's "a bad representation of Darwins theory" because it didn't follow the "corret 5 steps" or some bull crap like that... Plus with the evolution bit, those of us who are religious (thank GOD for them) are leaping on it saying that teaching evolution to children in a game is sinful...or whatever...
So, here's the rundown, this little 'rated everyone' 'clay-mation character' game is getting as much as good old GTA where you steal, rape and piliage!
I'm not saying spore's a good game or anything. Looks kinda pointless to me, but COME ON people, it's JUST a game!

Blog postage

As we've progressed into our "depression, death, greif" unit in psych, I've been noticing myself rediscovering my old intrests in those notorious mental diseases, depression, anxiety, phobias. I was reading some articles recently on depression and how it effects kids our age. It's pretty straight forward, "depression effects EVERYTHING in your normal life." I know this to be true, being someone that has suffered from depression since I was about 9 (uncontrolable curiosity leads to self diagnosis). But one thing I didn't like about any of these articles was that they all seemed to take the side that depression is basically a ticking time bomb, an uncontrolable delayed death sentance. *rolls eyes* hellooo? still alive and kicking here! I'm not fond of these articles telling people that depression is like cancer. That it claims helpless youths every year all over our contry. The truth is, I don't think the depression is at fault. Sure, if the depression gets severe enough, it might lead to suicide, no doubt about that, but if you get a cold and don't do anything about it, that might kill you too won't it? The only point I'm trying to make is that depression isn't this big ugly ravenous monster that we seem to portray it as. It's completely diagnosable, treatable, and a lot of times curable. So yeah, that's my rant on depression. The thing I hope you take from this is that, if you see someone suffering from depression, act on it, don't just watch them fall alone.

The Brass Tea Kettle

I was looking up scary short stories the other day and I happened upon one called 'The Brass Tea Kettle'. I don't know where the setting was, which added to the creepyness and the "this could happen to you!" factor. Anyway, this story kind of reminded me of 'The Monkey's paw" where a charmed, mumified paw causes ironic havoc. In the Brass tea Kettle, a couple recive a tea kettle from a gypsy on the side of the road (That's the bell! I'll finish this later)

Heroes in a Box

Today, a hero is characterized by some buff guy in spandex with his underwear on the outside. Heroes today obtain ludicrous powers and fight crime and evil in their fictional cities. In Norse mythology, 2 things made a hero, power, and wisdom. Many Norse herroes were reveared for thier success in battle. Some for their ability to shoot the elements from their weapons and some for their ability to lead with courage and bravery. The Norse never forgot that Power wasn't the only driving force behind making someone great. They also recognize and celebrate the wise old ones or the animal farmiliars behind the hero, giving him or her important facts and tips.




Power

Thor, God of thunder and Son of Odin, has been imortalized as a hero in the Marvel comic books. He is famous for weilding a hammer and having comtrol over lightning.

The coward believes he will live forever, if he holds back in the battle, but in old age he shall have no peace --Norse Proverb

A club drenched in blood easily finds its mark. --Norse Proverb

Put to the sword those that disagree. --Norse Proverb

A modern Odin depicted on his horse, weilding a sword. (as seen in Final fantasy 4)

Wisdom

Brawl with a pig and you go away with his stink. --Norse Proverb

Happy is he who hath in himself praise and wisdom in life --Norse Proverb

He hath need of his wits who wanders wide. --Norse Proverb

The foolish man lies awake all night Thinking of his many problems; When the morning comes he is worn out And his trouble is just as it was.--Norse Proverb

Odin and his animal farmiliars who seek knowledge for him. Odin is god of both wisdom and war.

Odin, Being God of both wisdom and war demonstrates how the Norse saw how power and wisdom go hand in had to make a great hero. They recognized that you need a demanding fist and a good brain to plan ahead and think on your feet.

CSI is making us fat?

I was reading an article about a new study on the connection between watching TV and how you gain weight. We all know that if you sit on your ass all day and watch TV, you're not burning many calories very fast, but did you know that what you watch can contribute to how you gain weight? This study focuses on drama/crime shows like CSI, Law & Order, and The Closer. The study shows that when we expose ourselves to these crime shows filled with corpses and autopsies it trigger a psycological defese mechanism called Mortality Salience. This causes your body to be more aware of your inevitable demise. These studies reared that, the population monitored bought more sweets, pastries and comfort foods than that of the rest of the population.

Billy Collins

I'm a really big Billy Collins fan let's face it I'm a huge poetry geek in general. I found one of my old Billy Collins anthologies in my close the other day called The Trouble with Poetry. I was reading it over again and I rediscovered a few of my favorite works of his. The first poem I read was called The Car Ride. When I first read that poem, I had not been exposed to much of Collins' work and I was thouroughly entertained by his sense of dull and sarcastic humor that I find myself having more and more. The next poem I refound was The Reaper, telling about what I speculate to be, an expirience with death, as he described a drive on a country road and seeing a very casually adorned reaper dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The last poem, that happens to be my favorite is called See No Evil. This poem expresses Collins' wit again as he describes what those infamous monkeys, sitting on the shelf, blocking out the evils of the world, might be thinking or thinking of doing.

I-doser

Ok, so I read this article along with a YouTube video the other day, about a new legal 'drug.' It's called I-doser (article below). It's a track of sound lasting anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes that basically mess up your brain and make you feel like you're on the drug it's named for (ex. I-doser Cocaine). What happens is, that the sounds that are played in the track don't mix well with each other in your brain, this causes some kind of weird high that is similar to the highs that you get on drugs. The person who made the video I watched was kind of cautious about this, I mean, who wouldn't be? They're sounds taht mess with your psyche! But despite this I had to see for myself, yes that's right, I listened to a 15 minute dose of Marajuana I-doser that was uploaded on YouTube. It kinda just almost put me to sleep. No high, no munchies, no nothing. Though, keep in mind, the makers of I-doser meant the doeses to be taking for something like a half an hour at a time, through stereo headphones, where I was listening to the dose on my computer speakers that play mono on YouTube, so the jury's still out for me. Though it's not like I'm advising you to go out and buy I-doser tracks on iTunes or anything. This stuff could be really dangerous for your brain! So listener discresion is advised!

*note
Also, the morning after I listened to the Marajuana I-doser, I woke up with a HUGE headache, so REALLY be careful with that stuff

http://www.bloggernews.net/16919

Outside reading post #2

So I was reading this article I found on the MSN homepage about how falling asleep to bad smells can promote bad dreams. It said that, because the sense of smell part of your brain is connected to where your long term memory is stored, the things you smell are closely related to the things you remember, good or bad. So if someone had a bad expirience with skunk smell (maybe got sprayed?) they would have a bad memory connected to that smell. Then, if that person fell asleep to something that smells somewhat like skunk they're more likely to have a bad dream, or maybe even a nightmare. I'll have to report back whether there is an adverse effect (Good smells=Good dreams). I have been thinking of testing this out, though falling asleep to skunk smell doesn't sound pleasent...

Hallie and Codi Comparison

Hallie and Codi are sisters, best friends and were once so close, people probably thought they were connected at the hip. They were both raised by their father Homero and lived together in Tuscon for a long time. These sisters would seem like they should be carbon copies of each other but in reality, they are very different. When they were young, Codi was the brave one. She always stood up for animals and desperately wanted to save those coyotes from the flood waters. Hallie as a child was Codi's loyal follower. She always seemed to want to be brave like Codi, do the right thing because your gut tells you to. Now that they've grown, it seems like their roles have switched. Hallie has gone to Nicaragua to help some farmers regrow their fields and in turn, regrow the community, where Codi seems to be lost in the very place she should be most familiar with, Grace AZ the place she grew up. Codi mentions that she envies Hallie for being so brave and able to fit in just about anywhere.

Werewolf Rising

Werewolf Rising is one of my favorite books. The story follows a 15 year old, Luke, who has been experiencing strange changes in his life that have nothing to do with puberty (as his ornery gym teacher suspects). Being a vegetarian for most of his life, he finds it strange when he suddenly desires to gnaw on a squirrel. He lives with his aunt and uncle who seem to know something he doesn't. One life changing night, while Luke is tossing in his bed from what seems like his bones and muscles are being ripped from him, a stranger, a man with glowing green eyes, tells Luke that there is somthing about his past he needs to know. Luke is taken to a remote village in the middle of the woods with no technology, not even rubber soled shoes where he is told he is a lycanthian, a werewolf.

Creativity

Between drawing, writing poetry and composing original music, I’d say I’m pretty creative. I aspire to be like my favorite artists including; Vincent Van Gogh (The famous artist that painted many works including ‘Starry Night’), Edgar Allen Poe (Famous for short stories like The Raven and Tell Tale Heart), and John Williams (A musician who composed movie sound tracks for movies such as Jaws and Star Wars). Creative subjects like these have been inspiring me since I was young. I started practicing cello when I was 5 and have continued that throughout elementary school and middle school. I began composing in 7th grade when we had an assignment to compose a piece of music for my orchestra class and found out I enjoyed it a lot. I started drawing even earlier and have been honing my drawing and sketching skills for as long as I can remember. I still have a lot of improving to do, but, at the moment, I aspire to be an artist one day. Writing is a newer love of mine that’s been mostly a stress reliever. I use short stories and poetry to conserve the moment in time that I wrote it so that I can reflect on in the future. So between music, writing and drawing, creativity has played a major role in my life. I’m affected by it every day and it helps me to describe who and what I am.