I want to be www.paris.paris

Icann, the Internet gods, decided to add more suffixes for web addresses (to expand on the familiar .com and .org). Paris, France is the home of Icann, and they want to add .paris to the system. If they add a .paris web address, I vote that I should get to have the web address www.paris.paris. Wouldn't that be awesome? My computer even just turned that address into a link automatically--like it was meant to be.

If I can't see it, it's not there.

EPA decided to classify GHGs as a pollutant, pursuant to Massachusetts v. EPA, the April 2007 case that required the EPA to determine whether or not they are. This is, of course, the only logical decision. If you don't think that GHGs are a pollutant (defined as "endangering the public health or welfare), then you are a moron and surely voted for Bush. Twice. Well, it would be a giant leap in the right direction for EPA to make this decision, except that the Bush Administration refused to open the email containing the decision. In refusing to do so, it has de facto refused to accept the ruling, and so it doesn't matter. This is really how it works? If I don't read the email, it didn't happen? So now EPA will go back and write another memo that doesn't come to a conclusion as to whether or not GHGs are pollutants for purposes of the Clean Air Act; it will just review some science and say the evidence is incomplete (along the lines of, we're not sure about climate change/global warming, the science is inconclusive). Stevens is gonna be so pissed.

I'm tenacious!

I was just called a tenacious researcher, AND got an extension on the deadline for this horrifically in-depth research project. Yay!

Update: I just deleted the document with ALL of my tenacious work from today. Almost 4 hours worth of research. Because I am on a secure network and it didn't just go to my recycle bin, it may be irretrievable. Feeling less tenacious as I wait for IT to call me back...

Tidbits from Monday night television

I have to admit to watching too much television. It's still far less than the average American, but for someone who watched little or none for about 10 years...well, American television is pitiful in any amount (for the most part). There were, however, a few choice morsels:

"You pretty much told me my penis would shrink if I didn’t eat organic food."

"That’s not bickering, that’s being a good friend!" [From Bones]

And from Fox News: (Yes, I watched some Fox News. I haven't sprouted horns. Yet.)

Stunted growth—usually used to refer to a failure to grow to full height. On Fox News? It means being killed. “A 21-month-old who’s growth was stunted when he was killed.” Well yes, growth does tend to cease at death.

A message to my sister

Sister,
I hereby publicly shame you for the utter lack of updating on your blog. How am I supposed to get though classes and studying without the distraction? That is all, kthxbye.
Love,
your sister

State of the what?

I go to school in a brand new, state-of-the-art law school building(CU's Wolf Law Building, it's supposed to be super cutting edge and all). This sign just appeared in the library ladies room:

"Sensitive Plumbing... [you know how it goes]"

We don't even have low-flow toilets. They are NEW, REGULAR, COMMERCIAL fixtures. Methinks someone cut corners on construction (the fact that roof tiles were falling off all last year is another key indicator. They are redoing the entire roof, just a year and a half into this puppy. Aren't buildings supposed to last longer than that?).

Educational Post

more cat pictures

Obama is really earning my support...

Naturally, I would support Obama in the fall either way, but he really is an appealing candidate for a number of reasons. Here is an article that outlines his attitude towards absentee fathers, with a nod to domestic violence problems and poor parenting in general. I agree so completely with this stance, and am SO pleased that our nominee is urging us to take strides to improve some of these social problems. Social problems are huge in this country, and far too often overlooked.

Aura Migraines

Doesn't this sound fun:

"It is usually a visual symptom, such as an arc of sparkling (scintillating) zig-zag lines or a blotting out of vision or both. But any other brain-related symptom may occur, such as numbness of one side of the face and hand, weakness, unsteadiness, or altered consciousness." (from here)

I get all of these symptoms, severely, when I have an aura migraine. I had my second one yesterday, and while I was experiencing "blotting out of vision" I was at the EPA office in downtown Denver. Nausea and "weakness, unsteadiness, [and] altered consciousness" set in as I was waiting for the bus back to Boulder, and then I had to take another bus home. I saw a friend, and when she asked how I was, my reply was: "good, well, actually I'm hallucinating. But I'm fine, I just feel like I'm on drugs. How are you?" I think I freaked her out.

The first time I had an aura migraine, Rex thought I was having a stroke. So he took me to the emergency room, where I lost some speech functionality, and over and over "thank you" came out as "yank you," no matter how hard I tried to say "t." I kind of hoped I'd never have another one, but now I'm having what I like to call the aura hangover, which is like a mild aura migraine for days (or weeks) after the original. Doctors have never heard of this phenomenon, but in the interest of not being a medical mystery and not being able to afford more doctors, I've decided that it's nothing to worry about. In the meantime, cheers to a few days of "altered consciousness!"

By the by, most information and doctors indicate that aura precedes a migraine. For me, the aura is mostly all I get. There's some headache, but it's simultaneous, the aura lasts hours (rather than the usual 1/2 hour-hour), and there's no real migraine afterwards. Does anyone know more about this type of aura phenomenon? I don't really like disabling visual and tactile hallucinations that render me unable to work.

My grandma's heart

My grandma has congestive heart failure. Granted, she's 92, but she's always been in excellent health. No one called to tell me, and she was in the hospital Monday and Tuesday. I guess it can be treated, and she'll probably be fine (other old-age notwithstanding), but it's making me sad. I love my grandma a whole lot, and I'm not ready. I want her to see me get married to the boy that she keeps threatening to steal from me she likes him so much.

We ALL need a vacation

So it's a major long shot, but there is a plan to introduce new legislation next year that would require Americans to get paid vacation time. Not only that, but three weeks of paid vacation time. Every year. It's still less than other industrialized nations, and we are currently the only industrialized nation with no paid vacation, but it would seem so outrageously generous to overworked Americans. Of course, the downside is that the legislation is not expected to even come close to passing. It's a nice thought, though.

Here is the NYT article that mentions the legislation and talks about the benefits of vacation. As though we didn't know.

My Ethics Class is Bulls***, Conclusion

Remember the horrid ethics class? If not, you can look here and here and here. I just discovered (thanks to the wonder of public information) that the awful professor makes $174K per year. He's one of the highest paid professors at the law school. How? Why? Just like in corporate America, compensation in the higher education system does not reflect actual ability to perform one's job. Now I feel more ripped off than ever that I had to take that class from PW.

Last day...

It’s my last day at the dreaded job. See here for more on why it’s not my favoritest place to be for 8 hours a day. So, I’m pretty excited, but still have to go to this staff meeting. Whereupon, the bosses make an announcement that it’s a sad day because I’m leaving, which is an awfully nice sentiment. The big head boss-man even said the following:

“Don’t stray too far from the mothership...tell [the new job] you may need to come back to your roots.”

My job is a mothership, and better yet, a mothership in which I have roots. That’s some imagery. Plus, they want me to come back! Do you hear that? Come back to the job that I have publicly loathed and disdained for weeks on end. That’s how much I rock. Not that I would necessarily want to (though I LOVE most of the people I work with), but I could.

On a less happy note, I am currently in limbo with an undiagnosed “medical condition.” That phrase sounds so horrid and scary, but that’s what they call it. It’s making me gain weight at a rate probably only matched by a pregnant blue whale. And I’m just guessing, but they must blow up pretty heavy pretty quick, right? Either way, you get the idea.

The Democrats need to get smarter

We have blundered, big time. I don't think Obama can beat McCain in the fall, and several months back the Democrats were a sure thing. It's not clear that Hillary would beat McCain either, so we totally effed ourselves. Here's what's scaring me today--blue collar workers support Hillary, not Obama. Which means that they are somewhat likely to defect to the Republican side in the fall. I think that blue collar workers are more likely than other groups (such as educated white women like myself) to switch sides. If you're following me, you'll see the scary risk that lots of Democrats will jump ship, making our case even more sketchy in November than it already is.
Where did we go wrong? We probably shouldn't have focused so much on what we each wanted as Democrats. We should have focused on who could beat McCain, or any Republican (because smart Democrats would have taken this route long before McCain was the presumptive nominee). But, we're not smart Democrats, and we all fought bitterly amongst ourselves to get our favorite candidate with no regard whatsoever for who could win. Effectively, I think we handed the next four years to the Republicans, and we did it with gusto. Bravo, Democrats, bravo. Y'all suck (myself included).