Bonnie on Fox 9 News

Bonnie works for the Minnesota Department of Health. We haven’t had any confirmed cases of swine flu up here, but MDH is making preparations for around the clock investigation. The Fox 9 News crew was out at Bonnie’s lab yesterday and caught a few good shots of her on the job. We’ve both had trouble embedding the video, but here is a link:

Fox 9 Inside State Health Lab

A quote from Bonnie, herself:

Once again, I’m proud to be a member of a excellent State health lab. Minnesota can be confident that we’re doing everything we can to protect and maintain the health of the citizens of Minnesota.

Makes a sister proud too! Good job, sis!

Tea Party 2009 — 1,000 Words

Via Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub via U.S. History for Dummies at Ghost in the Machine:

Intellectual Love

I found this via Terra’s blog and thought it was quite funny. Hope you enjoy it too!

Tim Minchin — If I Didn’t Have You

Homophobic Amazon

UPDATE: Apparently, Amazon has taken some level of responsibility and changed their policy, fixed the “glitch” or whatever. B.T. had already written about it at the time of this posting, and I must have scrolled right past that entry. My apologies for coming late the party and spreading old gossip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard about Amazon’s new adult content policy via QuarkScrew. When I learned that B.T. was boycotting Amazon, I knew something was seriously wrong.

Apparently, Amazon has decided to filter search results, pre-judging what customers are allowed to see before deciding on a purchase. As B.T. points out, they are certainly within their rights to implement this policy, but customers also have the right to take their business elsewhere.

A word from Amazon:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Best regards,

Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage

Interestingly enough, according to the boycott petition, Amazon still allows sales ratings for explicit books with a heterosexual focus such as:

• Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds — pictures of over 600 naked women
• Sweet Savage Love — explicit heterosexual romance
• The Wolf and the Dove — explicit heterosexual romance
• Skye O’Malley Saga — all explicit heterosexual romances
• Lost Girls — very explicit, sexually graphic novel

Yet the following books, which have a gay or lesbian focus, have been classed as “adult books” and stripped of their sales ratings:

• The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hill’s classic novel about lesbians in Victorian times — contains no sexual content at all
• The Filly, a novel about a young man in the Wild West discovering that he’s gay — gay romance, no sex
• Lessons in Love — gay romance, no sex
• The Dictionary of Homophobia: A Global History of Gay & Lesbian Experience — non-fiction, history and social issues
• Homophobia: A History — non-fiction, focus on history and forms of prejudice against homosexuality throughout the years

For the record, I have no problem with any of these titles, or erotica in general. I just think that if this is a coincidence, it’s a terribly odd one.

Tomorrow: National Day of Silence 2009

NEW YORK, April 9, 2009 – An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year. Full article at GLSEN

Carl did not identify as gay, but this tragedy serves as a reminder that anti-LGBT bullying can have devastating affects on all students, particularly during the vulnerable years of budding sexuality and peer pressure.

Carl would have turned 12 tomorrow, April 17, 2009 — the National Day of Silence.

Contrary to claims made by the religious right organizations and various members of their flocks, promoting homosexuality is not the purpose of the DoS. The purpose is simply to bring awareness of anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment, and to promote effective responses to it. It is not about allowing gay students to disrupt class for the day to promote a “homosexual agenda”, as many claim.

Students of all beliefs, backgrounds and sexual orientations participate in the Day of Silence.

When I called my son’s middle school, I was pleased to learn that they will recognize the DoS. An announcement will be made in the morning, and the event will take place during lunch. In an effort to counter some of the negative response they are sure to receive, I offered my thanks and support, and assured them that my son will be in attendance.

Rambling On will also recognize the National Day of Silence tomorrow, April 17, 2009. No new posts will be made, and comments will be held in moderation until the morning of April 18. I will change the settings now in case I’m unable to get back to it later, but I will do my best to check in and moderate comments before I shut down for the night. Comments made after around 7:00 p.m. Central Time will not likely be seen until the morning of the 17th, and will therefore be held in moderation until the following morning.

My heart goes out to the family of 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and to all the other families and individuals who know first hand the harsh realities surrounding anti-LGBT bullying and harassment.

To those who have experienced the humiliation of being tormented simply for being who you are: You are valued, loved and appreciate by more people than you may ever realize. Your life is precious and other people’s lives are enriched by your presence in the world. Please be good to yourself — you deserve it!

Posted by Lottie — Copyright © 2009 Rambling On

Help!

So, I decided to have a couple of drinks last night. I wasn’t terribly drunk, but I was feeling good. Bonnie and I were listening to The Beatles, who we both love. I thought I’d share this amusing exchange:

Lottie: Which movie did they sing Help in?

Bonnie: Help.

Lottie: Yeah.

Bonnie: Help.

Lottie: Uh huh.

Bonnie: The name of the movie is Help.

Lottie: [cracks up laughing like a total dork] See, you can’t talk to me about these things while I’m doing this. [motions to glass of Jameson on the rocks]

OK, so maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, the song has been playing in my head all day, and it occurred to me how perfectly appropriate it actually is right now. So it is with deep love and gratitude that I dedicate this song to my best girlfriend and sister of my heart.

Getting To Know You – Part IV

In May of last year, I started writing a series entitled Getting To Know You. The purpose of the series was to address some of the questions, concerns and misconceptions about online and long distance relationships. I became sidetracked and involved in other things, and never got around to finishing the series. Although it’s been nearly a year, a recent inquiry has inspired me to write another segment.

I have been in a long distance relationship for more than eight years — the relationship was initiated online, and my husband and I recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary. I am writing from my own experience and perspective. My goal is to help shed new light on the subject and work towards removing the stigma attached to these kinds of relationships.

Each part of the series address a different question or topic. In Part I, I addressed the question, “How can you fall in love with someone you don’t even know?” and explained my thoughts on what it is to truly know someone; in Part II, I discussed questions regarding liars and psychos on the internet; Part III addresses what to do if it turns out that the person you fell in love with online has bad breath or body odor, or if you’re not sexually compatible. I know these things may sound funny or superficial at first, but I believe they are legitimate concerns that deserve genuine responses.

Now on with the show! The next question I had wanted to deal with is:

Aren’t you worried he or she will cheat on you? Isn’t it easier to cheat when you’re in an online or long distance relationship?

Celebrating Atheism

“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” Psalms 14:1

A few months ago, I was browsing one of my favorite blogs, and came across a post that I immediately knew I would reference today.

The post is entitled Happy Atheist’s Day. It was written by B.T. Murtagh, author of QuarkScrew. Here is an excerpt:

“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” Psalms 14:1

I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a smugly ignorant theist throw this line at me, like I’d never heard it before, blithely ignoring the fact that I don’t give any credence to the source. I’ve finally decided that I’m just going to adopt and own the putative insult in their psalm, much as the early US adopted the “Yankee Doodle” song. That makes today Atheists’ Day for me (I speak for no one else). Fine, I’m a fool!

The question remains, of course: ”What kind of a fool is he?”

After reading the post in its entirety, which I highly recommend, I am happy to join B.T. in embracing the title of fool.

Happy Atheist’s Day!