Solidarity!

Egyptian youth display a giant Palestinian flag in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

(Got this from Asad Abukhalil's blog)


I love fearless displays of solidarity like this. These inspire me.

Police state...

Same old shit, different pile. 
I was SO suspicious of the military during the uprising. Despite the fact that people thought they were protecting the people, I had a feeling they were not. Not to say "I told you so," but to say that the situation now makes it clear where the military stands, and that during the January/February uprising they were only securing their interests in Egypt for the future, and nothing else. 
I'm disappointed to see this happening now, but I'm not naive enough to think that revolution will happen overnight. Mubarak has stepped down, yes, but there are still deep wounds within the system that need to be dealt with as well. While Mubarak was a big part of what the Egyptian state was for decades, the structures and institutions of a police state within Egypt still exist and have not dissolved. 

Not to mention the hypocrisy and lack of accountability that foreign actors hold to the current situation... Although if it was Iran, it would be a completely different story!


But alas, revolution is a journey... 

Free Syria

via Angry Arab Blog

"One of the great things about the prospects of a free Syria is that it will so overwhelm Lebanon and surpass it with its success and prosperity.  Free Syria is destined to become dominant in the Arab world, especially in the fields of arts, culture, literature, and tourism. "

So true. 

Syria in our minds and in our hearts. I hope they get their freedom soon and that the blood of all those shed was not in vain...

Thursday, August 11, 2011

billet \BIL-it\, verb:

1. To provide or obtain lodging.

2. To direct (a soldier) by ticket, note, or verbal order, where to lodge.

noun:

1. Lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building.

2. A small chunk of wood; a short section of a log, especially one cut for fuel.

Billet stems from the French billet, "official register." The word relates to the English bill.

Mental virginity

• The general state of mind characterized by complete ignorance about sex and human reproduction.

Dude they think that sex ed teaches us a heck of a lot of stuff we didn't know, but the truth is, we lost our mental virginity a while back.

Totally dude.

*high five

Trivia

What animal was given the Latin name Avahi cleesei in honor of actor-funnyman John Cleese?

• Not a python—a woolly lemur. It was named for Cleese, who played a lemur-loving zookeeper in the 1997 film comedy Fierce Creatures and hosted a 1998 documentary about the endangered species titled Operation Lemur.

History

• SOS: Arapahoe became the first American ship to use the distress signal (1909)


• Alcatraz: island prison in San Francisco Bay received its first civilian inmates (1934)


• Hussein ibn Talal: 16-year-old was proclaimed king of Jordan after his father was declared mentally unfit (1952)


• Watts riots: civil disturbances in Los Angeles left 34 dead (1965)


• The Mall of America: the most-visited mall in the world opened on the site of Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota (1992)

Birthdays

• Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852): father of gymnastics


• Alex Haley (1921-1992): author of Roots; also, writers Eduard Devrient (1801-1877), Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978) and Louise Bogan (1897-1970)


• Jerry Falwell (1933-2007): Moral Majority founder


• Steve Wozniak (61): cofounder of Apple Computers


• Hulk Hogan (58): wrestler/actor, host of NBC's American Gladiators


• Julia Anne Clarke (39): aka Julie Clarke, Playmate 03/91, actress, model, hardbody

Read more: http://www.answers.com/

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

willowwacks \WIL-oh-waks\, noun:

• A wooded, uninhabited area.

Willowwacks is of uncertain origin.

collateral whiz

• The 5% of a man's whiz missing the toilet, sprinkling over the toilet seat.

While 95% of Chad's whiz may have found its mark, I'm worried about the other 5%, the collateral whiz.

Trivia

When it comes to two-letter Internet country codes, .us stands for the United States. What countries are represented by .es and .is?

• Spain and Iceland, respectively.

History

• Ferdinand Magellan: set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe; of the five ships that set out under his command, only one — the Victoria — returned to Spain (1519)


• Smithsonian Institution: was created with $500,000 left by English scientist James Smithson (1846)


• Son of Sam: New York serial killer David Berkowitz was arrested (1977)


• Yuri Malenchenko: Ukrainian cosmonaut became the first person to be married in space, to a woman on the ground in Texas (2003)

Birthdays

• Herbert Hoover (1874-1964): 31st POTUS, believed in private enterprise


• Jorge Amado (1912-2001): novelist, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands; plus, writer Alfred Döblin (1878-1957)


• Ian Anderson (64): musician, Jethro Tull; also, singers Jimmy Dean (1928-2010), Eddie Fisher (83), Ronnie Spector (68), Patti Austin (61), Jon Farriss (50) and Aaron Hall (47)


• Antonio Banderas (51): actor/voice actor, The Mask of Zorro, Puss in Boots in the Shrek sequels; also, actors Rhonda Fleming (88), Kate O'Mara (72), James Reynolds (65), Daniel Hugh Kelly (59), Rosanna Arquette (52), Justin Theroux (40), Angie Harmon (39) and Ryan Eggold (27)


• Phoolan Devi (1963-2001): gang leader who became a member of India's Parliament

Read more: http://www.answers.com/

The look that killz

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

amaranthine \am-uh-RAN-thin\, adjective:

1. Unfading; everlasting.

2. Of or like the amaranth flower.

3. Of purplish-red color.

Amaranthine is a form of the Greek amarantos, "everlasting," ascribed to an imaginary flower that never fades.

humblebrag

• Subtly letting others now about how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humor or "woe is me" gloss.

Uggggh just ate about fifteen piece of chocolate gotta learn to control myself when flying first class or they'll cancel my modelling contract LOL :p #humblebrag

Trivia

In the Star Wars galaxy, what was the name of Han Solo’s home planet?

• Corellia.

History

• Tower of Pisa: construction on the campanile began; it would take 200 years to complete, and the uneven settling of the foundation would cause it to lean (1173)


• Sistine Chapel: the private chapel of the popes was consecrated and its first mass was celebrated (1483)


• Webster-Ashburton Treaty: established much of the border between the US and Canada (1842)


• 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens became the first American to win four gold medals in one Olympiad (1936)


• Nagasaki: atom bomb called the Fat Man, dropped by the Bockscar, devastated a second Japanese city (1945)


• Singapore: seceded from and became independent of Malaysia (1965)


• Richard M. Nixon: officially left office as America's 37th president and the first one to resign; vice president Gerald Ford became president (1974)

Birthdays

• Jean Piaget (1896-1980): specialist in developmental psychology


• P.L. Travers (1899-1996): author, Mary Poppins; plus, writers Izaak Walton (1593-1683), John Dryden (1631 [O.S.]-1700), Gaston Paris (1839-1903) and Philip Larkin (1922-1985)


• Rod Laver (73): tennis great; athletes Ralph Houk (92), Bob Cousy (83), Ken Norton (68), Brett Hull (47), Deion Sanders (44) and Chamique Holdsclaw (34) were also born on this date


• Eric Bana (43): time-traveler Henry DeTamble in The Time Traveler's Wife; also, actors Robert Shaw (1927-1978), David Steinberg (69), Sam Elliott (67), Melanie Griffith (54), Amanda Bearse (53), Whitney Houston (48), Gillian Anderson (43), Jessica Capshaw (35) and Audrey Tatou (33)

Read more: http://www.answers.com/