A birthday present for Darwin, proper Victorian Gentleman, he.

Surf punk, wasn't that his secret obsession, besides barnacles, I mean?



In such very very very bad taste. You will be amazed. Warning. Warning. Warning.

Happy Darwin Day!!!!

Today Darwin (or at least his bones in Westminister Abbey) turns 200. It is also the 150th anniversary of the publication "The Origin of Species," the book above all others (there might be a bit, but just a bit of hyperbole here) that changed my life.

I grew up Mormon. To save the feelings of family members that might, just might, read this blog, I will not mention the nightmare that this was for me as a child, but basically, I could not get the world to make any sense at all. Here I was, a child, faced with a world controlled by a nightmare of a supreme being (any surprise that I was afraid, among other things, of my closet?)--God has a tissy fit and drowns everyone but a single family? God hardens Pharoh's heart? Then why, if God caused it, is it Pharoh's fault? And what's with Job? That, combined with my father's rather more than dangerous line of work (he was a navigator in the air force, friends of mine regularly disappeared off of the air force bases we lived on when their fathers died) gave me a vision of a world that was a darker place than I could handle.

I was 10ish. And severly depressed; which my parents, due undoubtedly to the time and their own fanaticism, didn't recognize as an illness; rather, I was trouble. An honest assesment for a mormon family, which has a very narrow range of "trouble." In their own defense, I think I read much more fundamentalism into my childhood than actually existed. But, you see , I paid obsessive compulsive razor sharp attention at church ( a feat that has served me well in other aspects of my life, just not this one) and believed that my parents must believe all the wacky stuff I heard over the pulpit. I also didn't trust them enough to ever (ever! My mother died without a heart-to-heart with me) tell them my difficulties, due to the fear I had of being thrown out of the house if I dared express any sort of insufficiently rah-rah-nature to the totally alien world I was born into--I was a coward. I blame myself.

But, my parents had a copy of the "Great Books" in its own bookshelf in the house. This saved my sanity, or quite possibly my life. One of the volumes included both "The Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man," by the man--Darwin-- himself. I read them. I devoured them.

It was odd, my uber religious family was so pleased that I'd pick up and actually absorb such awkward tomes. Perhaps they were more accepting of my plight than I understood at the time. I'd sleep with the two books and wake up with bruises.

Those two books changed my life. Evolution! The world was beautiful and finally made sense. Monsters there certainly were, but understandable non-omnipotent fickle ones without an odd taste for goat meat smoke and a hankering for smiting.

Thank you Darwin, thank you Mom and Dad.

With all my love to the living and those that have passed on;

Djinn

Controversial Elephants

It all started with a cartoon by Nast in the 1800's. Since then the symbol became quite stylized.

Around 2000 the logo was altered with the stars pointing downwards. (And there are a few conspiracy-themed blogs that speculate about Satanic infiltration of the republican party.)

One controversy regarding the GOP Logo is it's trademark status. Fairly recently the Republican National Committee registered a trademark for the party symbol, and has been contacting unlicensed users (such as the specific t-shirt company in the linked article) and telling them they can't use the logo.

“It’s not a political statement – it’s a commercial statement. They’re moving merchandise,” he said........

......Legal experts said the company has a stronger case in defense of its anti-Republican shirts, which could be protected under long-standing law and under a specific amendment to trademark law that exempts parody.

Ironically, the pro-Republican shirts could more plausibly be subject to the claim they’re “diluting” the GOP brand and could be mistaken for products of the committee itself.

Since altering the logo satirically is safe from trademark infringement litigation, people of both parties engage in this sort of fun. Some of the best I have seen are from a new book called Deconstructing Dumbo. (Click the link to see many other funny ones.)





















Overall I found the conceptual humor of these creations more sophisticated and varied than others I encountered. (Scrolling downwards after clicking this link reveals an astonishingly narrow range of humor!)


As for the future of the symbol, who knows?

More Ephemeral "Art"

I could not help but laugh when I saw this preposterous cake at cakewrecks.
It seems like the baby is bursting directly out of the pregnant belly a la Alien.

But wait, there's more!
This one was really intended to portray a baby erupting out of the pregnant belly! Yikes!
Another amazing cake really looks like a newborn, but I'm not sure who would be willing to slice this cake.

The cakewrecks blog includes cakes with many different themes. A few are simply gorgeous and well crafted.

Others are simply ghastly, but might appeal to zombies.

One thoughtful contributor even crafted a crow cake for Edgar Allen Poe's birthday.


Wonders really abound at this site although there are also a lot of cakes with simple spelling errors and whatnot. The blogger's witty commentary makes it a really fun spot to visit. Enjoy! (And thanks Gee Bee for making me aware of this blog.)

Looking Forward to Warmer Weather, Happier Times

It's that point in the Winter when it's finally noticeable that the days are really getting longer. But I can't imagine the days will get ever long enough to give people the idea that they have enough time to make creations such as these. These sand sculptures are incredible! Too bad they crumble so swiftly! But at least we can enjoy these pics. (This first one features lots of storybook characters. Do you see Rapunzel with her braid out the window? ) Puss-in-boots can be better seen from this other angle. Such meticulous crenelations on the castle! Don't you just want to wander through that tunnel on the right?


I just love this dragon wolfing down someone digging in the sand.



Perhaps it would be nice to have more public art in the stimulus package. It might seem like a frill, but at least it would employ people while creating things of lasting value (one would hope).

To see more of these marvelous creations, click here!

A happy post; it could happen.

As I have mentioned George and I (in a totally boneheaded move, considering my physical condition, but I SIMPLY COULD NOT BE TALKED OUT OF IT) went to Seattle to see Lucy, our bipedal ancestor. Marvelous.

The other awesome thing we did was go to the Seattle Art Museum. Due to my annoyingly delicate condition, it required staying another night. the Art Museum itself was rather sadly and disturbingly predictable -- there is a canon. They had one of each. A Rothko, a Warhol, a Cornell, (oddly 2-d) etc. But, but, but.... besides the Bierstadt I believe I've already mentioned, and adore, there, right across the street, visible from all windows facing, uh east? is some 24 hour porn palace that had advertized in that unmistakable pink porn font "BIG BUTT SHOW." Best part of the museum. Well, it tied with the pottery and the Bierstadt. You have to understand, the juxtaposition between the marquee and the over-botoxed over-dressed, seriously anorexic, under-uh, fashion-charming clientele was, let us just say, a delight.

FDR's New Deal worked, work well, and worked quickly.

I have heard this canard being bandied about that FDR and the New Deal just deepened the recession; that it was WW2 all by its lonesome that got us out of the great depression. The simple graph, above, (thanks, Devilstower at DailyKos) shows that FDR's plan worked, worked well, and worked quickly.

Here I go again

As a democrat, I feel upset by my lack of enthusiasm for the current stimulus package. Sure, where roads are bad, fix them, but we shouldn't build a bunch of new roads and bridges we don't actually need just for the sake of employing people. All those new roads will increase our future financial obligations because we will have even more roads to maintain.

I just saw Senator Frank explaining how important it is for the federal government to send money to the states to help maintain the employment levels of policemen and the like. Usually I agree with the senator, but having lived in Massachusetts for a year recently, I was struck by the pervasive presence of police in his state. It seemed like every time anyone backed up a big truck, they had to contact the authorities in advance and have a squad of police supervise the procedure. Sooooo wasteful of tax dollars! Bloated state and local government should be cut back where possible. With the national debt the size that it is, we need to be careful what kinds of stimulus and investments we make. We need to choose projects that we will be glad we spent money on down the road.

We should invest even more in alternative energy sources. ( They tout that this plan doubles our current capacity for alternative energy, but doubling almost nothing is still almost nothing!) Scientific research-----originally included in the package, but now removed-----is a good idea for a nation facing energy problems, global warming, sick bees and an epidemic of diabetes. We could employ more people in the cleanups after natural disasters to restore economic activity promptly. And surely we could stand to improve educational programs and fund services that focus on keeping people out of the prison system. (Incarceration, even in a low-end state like Florida, costs about $20,000 per inmate per year. In Nevada it's more like thirty grand!)

I am all for a lot of construction projects, but I suspect the only thing really alluring about road construction is how much faster that is to get started than, say, nuclear power plants. I sure hope the final package strikes a good balance between the conveniently prompt projects, and the smart choices that take more planning.

More on being stupid.

Such a popular topic. I've been doing some reading, and it turns out my very condition (let me assure you, the word (the world) miserable scarcely does it justice) can be brought on by being in a car accident where airbags deploy. The medical treatment is lagging far, far behind the illness incidence. Dr. Epley is old. I see no friendly, frisky dr's in training eagerly trotting after him... I will need treatments every three to six months; what shall I do?


Hey, you doctors, vertigo. Lots of us have it. You can find us inside sitting very quietly annoying the innocents on the internet. Think what a service you would do to not only those whose life you would save (i'm effectively in house-arrest, not fun) but all the ill-advised comments you'd keep of the magical intertubes!!!!!!!

Requesting appropriate pics,

I remain,

Djinn

On being stupid.

I have a very curious disease. Officially, it's called either "inner ear concussion" or "Post-traumatic vertigo."

How does this affect me? The smarter I feel, the stupider I am.

I am much more likely to spuriously match patterns stupid than smart; that is, I see correlations where none exist. For example,I somehow figure that George is acting mean to me when he's just trying to get coffee and wake up.

I'm also, I belive, not as nice when stupid , but feel more justified in my meanness.

This this totally uncalled for, but my inadvertant experiment has proven to me that being intelligent is really stupid. That is all.

RIP Lux Interior

Way back in 2004, I went to see the Cramps at the Crystal Ballroom (in Portland, OR) directly after leaving work (I'm a lawyer.) I was wearing a suit, nylons (boring as all get-out) and mid-length heels. Three people; three deeply worried interested, serious people asked me if I were "OK," or "All Right." I assured them, that inspite of no obvious, uh tattoos, piercings, latex, pink hair, etc. I was fine. But I felt bad. I blame myself.

Lux Interior in his 60's at that show totally totally rocked his python print spandex tights/pants. Poison Ivy, also was hottt. It gave, and continues, to give me hope.

Lux died, after a good life. May angels play you random guitar riffs to your sleep.



Enjoy the commentator's perfectly correct (for some other venue) pink jacket. Enjoy Poison Ivy's perfectly correct (for this exact venue) rather too fluffy to be believed pink bra/shirt.

Love,

Djinn.

So, what's spinnin' with Djinn?

As you may remember, I've been suffering from some strange, undiagnosed dizziness, nauseous, vertiginous, exhausting disorder that a veritable raft of supposed medical personnel have been unable to sort out. I've been to one GP (numerous times, wonderful), two ENT's (take your pick, either ear nose throat DR's, or for extra spelling points otolaryngyologists (or something, too lazy for spell-check, besides I blame all those wanker 18th British Oxford-educated gentry totally obsessed with Greek, so we don't have an actual English word--misspell ho!))

Anyway, they both sucked. One diagnosed me with BPPV (Benign Paroxymal Positional Vertigo), let's call him Physician not so bad and the other (Let's call her Physician You Totally Suck) diagnosed me with nothing, after running a gazillion tests that made me sick as a very sick dog--never quite understood this metaphor.

After weeks of begging, crying, harassing phone calls, ineffective voodoo doll treatment and general hysteria, Physician You Totally Suck transferred my records to a Neurophysicisian of her choice. She worse than totally sucked and decided that I had silent migraines. I have not had a migraine constantly since Nov. 2007. Really. However, I listened (what was I thinking?) I tried her anti-migraine medicine for three weeks, (in spite of my rather horrific history using such substances) but as can be expected, such meds just kept making me sick so I threw it, and her credibility away.

Now, if you haven't been following this story from the beginning, I've been constantly dizzy (constant as in all the time) since a serious attack of vertigo in Nov. 2007. Yet, I kept on dragging myself to work every day, working hard enough to actually make a small bonus. But, every day was horrific. Dragging myself out of bed, walking (by closing my eyes and feeling my way down the hall) to my office, leaving once a day for a bathroom break (same procedure) Why? Fluorescent lights make me very ill, etc. Sometimes, I couldn't work for one or two days at a time. I'd spend them in bed. So happy. Then back to work furiously to make up for the lost time.

You have to understand, I had no diagnosis. I couldn't quit work, or go on disability, because.... uh, the medical establishment said there was nothing wrong with me in spite of my obvious agony. Fun times.

I received, in late November, my yearly approval rating. It was both horrible and strangely good. My main boss said that objectively I had performed superbly (which they found deeply confusing and didn’t seem to give much credit to), but in every subjective measurement I sucked. Of course. I was too sick to go to the bathroom, let alone spell. In their defense, I’ve now read some of the work I did when extremely sick, and it does not shine with the light of stellar intelligence. However, under all the grammatical and spelling errors, the logic is correct, hence, the success. I understand their confusion. They have been nothing but decent since my diagnosis.

Anyway, my most dear and sweet boyfriend, and Fiancee, George, discovered that the leading specialist on inner-ear disorders lived in Portland. Dr. Epley. Why didn't anyone of all the specialists I talked to even bother mentioning him? A question for someone much more intelligent than myself.

I immediately called the Epley clinic up, was quizzed for 20 minutes by a nurse of his, and was given an appointment for Dec. 11, 2008. The last day I was able to drag myself to work was Dec. 3. Miracles of Miracles, he gave me a diagnosis on Dec. 11th, and I was able to get disability. What happened? I fell down a flight of stairs Dec. 2004, and gave myself an inner-ear concussion and bppv (benign positional paroxymal vertigo—don’t ask, except to notice that the word “benign” could not be more incorrect.) Even though head trauma is a leading cause of vertigo, did any other physician ask me about same? That would be no. What?

By the time I quit work, all I could do is sleep, lay quietly in bed, and fail to keep down liquids. A couple more weeks, and I would have been in the hospital for dehydration.

Unfortunately during my appointment, sweet, sweet brilliant Dr. Epley took my nausea meds away and for some reason, did not give me a replacement.

My next appointment is Dec. 22. I am so excited!!!! However, an ice storm swoops in Dec. 22, closing the entire city, including my Dr's office. I cry. They fit me in Jan. 15th. I deal, lying in bed mostly.

Jan. 15th comes around, I show up at his office and am sent away as being too sick. !!! What!!!!!????? I told him and his nurse that I was ready for whatever they wanted to do, but I must have been that lovely shade of Wayne's world "I'm goona hurl!" green. I blame popular culture for not getting my treatment. However, I am given nausea meds. Yeah!

On the 23rd of Jan, 2009, finally, things started happening. It was like astronaut training, they stuck me in this special chair to treat my BPPV. They swung me to the right, to the left, upside down several times, put some shaky device on my ear; quite a thrill. This fixed my left ear. I'm now scheduled for Feb. 16th to treat the right ear for inner-ear concussion. My Otolith organ (it tells my body my orientation in space) is inflamed and giving random, yet always incorrect info to my head about my balance. The body sees (we are such odd spindly organisms) not falling over as perhaps the most important function it can perform. As my ears have failed me, my eyes have taken over.

What does this mean? Well, my cerebrum, usually used for functions such as speaking, thinking, short-term memory, and figuring out patent applications, is spending all of its cycles keeping me upright. Fun. Or just lying down, I get disoriented lying in bed—I fall behind my eyes even though I can feel my body on the bed. Can’t convince the head that I am safe and sound.

This wouldn’t be so bad, but the vertiginous effects are always accompanied by panic attacks. My heart goes pound pound pound; my head goes eek! My fight or flight response goes into red alert (I’ve been trying to talk it into orange, so much my style, but no such luck.)

On the 16th of February, some magic substance is to be titrated into my right inner ear. If it works, dizzy (actual) no more though I claim metaphorical dizziness as my right.

Love, Djinn

My heritage. My People.

Up until yesterday (Feb. 2, 2009), the Mormon Church directly lied about its contributions to the "Yes on 8 campaign designed explicitly to strip existing rights from perfectly decent humans who happened to have genitalia of which you (that's you all my Mormon friends, family, and random readers) disapproved. Congrats.

Here is a report with a spokesman from the Mormon church, from Nov. 9th, after the election, saying that they spent no money at all on Prop. 8.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=6496949

Money quote: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints put zero money into this," Eaton added." Turns not not so. The donations start in June and continue until the election. All previous to the date mentioned by the Mormon spokes-liar.

The Mormon church's point is what? Lying is just hunky dory unless actual financial or criminal penalties are attached? Good to know. I'll keep that in mind.

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers are not complete idiots.

This report (hint, read) by the New York Times shows that Teenagers don't engage in sexually risky behaviors any more than their predecessors did. Trust your kids, as long as you raise them to not be idiots.

Another comic by Snapdragon, plus I hate Tom Daschle.