Low Disc Space

I need to clean this computer... That is my agenda today...

No words needed...

Just watch it...

A PSA for all stupid cunts at baseball games!

A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face with a baseball at a Little League game is suing the young catcher who threw it. Elizabeth Lloyd is seeking more than $500,000 in damages to cover medical costs and pain and suffering... stemming from the incident at a Manchester Little League game two years ago. She’s also seeking an undefined amount for pain and suffering. Lloyd was sitting at a picnic table near a fenced-in bullpen when she was hit with the ball. Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher. The lawsuit filed April 24 alleges Migliaccio’s errant throw was intentional and reckless, “assaulted and battered” Lloyd and caused “severe, painful and permanent” injuries. A second count alleges Migliaccio’s actions were negligent and careless through “engaging in inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity” near Lloyd. She continues to suffer pain and anguish, incur medical expenses and has been unable to carry out her usual duties and activities, the lawsuit says. Matthew’s father, Bob Migliaccio, said they were concerned for Lloyd when it happened. Then his son started receiving threatening and nasty letters, he said, and he started getting angry. “The whole thing has almost been surreal,” Migliaccio said. “We keep thinking it’s just going to go away, and then a week and a half ago a sheriff shows up at my door to serve my son the papers.” Migliaccio said as angry as he is about the lawsuit, he’s almost more angry with Little League. He said they’ve volunteered hundreds of hours over the years, and he believes Little League should assist in defending their son.

 “I ran over to see if she was all right,” Matthew said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. “She said she was OK. I was just on with warming the pitcher up, and I was not horsing around.” Anthony Pagano, a lawyer for the Migliaccio and his family, says the lawsuit is “frivolous” and “disgusting.” The Asbury Park Press explains how the family has reacted to the incident: The incident and the lawsuit have made the family decide to step back from the league. Bob Migliaccio said he has taken a break from coaching, while his wife, Sue, has stepped down as manager of the league’s snack stand. Matthew continues to play, his father said. “Matthew still plays, but we want to step back because we did not want it to be uncomfortable for anyone,” Bob Migliaccio said. Migliaccio hopes the incident does not affect his son’s love of the game. “He never stops playing,” Migliaccio said. “Baseball is what defines him at this time.” A Little League spokesman says their insurance doesn’t cover spectators.

I don’t get it. How did she get hit in the face with a ball if the bullpen was fenced in? That doesn’t make any sense at all. I mean are you telling me this kid zipped it through a little hole and it kept enough speed to hit this lady and break this ugly, money grubbing bitch's face? That sounds highly improbable? But on the flip side why would you ever sit behind the pitcher if there was no fence? That's like asking to get hit... it's not like sitting in the stands... you're offered little to no protection from the action whatsoever... That would be like me going to a fucking Wings game and asking the arena if I can sit in the middle of the ice during the game... What's going to happen, my dome is going to have a face to face meeting with a puck... Common sens people... common sense... I mean obviously an 11 year old is going to overthrow his pitcher at least 25% of the time. I’m telling you right now something is not right here. This cunt should be ashamed of herself... suing an 11 year old boy... 2 years later no less... I'm fucking speechless... someone needs to find this bitch and slap her in her broken face... This may be the end of The Little League as we know it...

Real "Junk" Food Here!

Mao Sugiyama, a self-described “asexual” from Tokyo, cooked up, seasoned and served his own genitalia to five diners at a swanky banquet in Japan last month, Calorie Lab reported.

In most cases, “asexual” is a word used to describe a person who is non-sexual. Sugiyama, however, embraces it as a way to show that he does not affiliate with either gender.

Sugiyama sparked a firestorm of interest on April 8 with one tweet:

“[Please retweet] I am offering my male genitals (full penis, testes, scrotum) as a meal for 100,000 yen… Will prepare and cook as the buyer requests, at his chosen location.”

Just days after Sugiyama’s 22nd birthday, the artist underwent elective genital-removal surgery, divvied up the severed penis shaft, testicles, and scrotal skin between five people, and garnished it with button mushrooms and Italian parsley.

On April 13, five of six diners who signed up for the $250-a-plate feast, sat down to dinner. The sixth person was a no-show.

The next day, an organizer posted a blog containing pictures of the event. Images showed dozens of people who attended the event just to catch a glimpse of the rare treat.

The extra diners were served crocodile-based dishes while Sugiyama cooked up the exclusive meal.

The story went viral in Japan. Some showed even more interest, while others complained. But Calorie Lab called Japanese authorities, who deemed the banquet legal because there is no law against cannibalism in the country.

 

I always have said that my people will eat anything. Nice to know that Japan has no laws against cannibalism. If you don’t have enough money to cremate your loved ones, just host a buffet...

Dear Jeff

Oh my... what to say here... we've known each other for so long now... You were my first friend upon coming into, that, at the time, new journey... we've maintained that closeness through the best and the worst times... Now as we begin this new journey together, I find myself loving life again.

I love you.

This watch is AWESOME!

Check out the amazing watch design from the recent ECAL graduate, Fiona Krüger. For her thesis project she created a line called ‘Memento Mori’ which is inspired from Mexican imagery of the famous ‘Dia de los Muertos’ (Day of the Dead festival) and a 17th century watch of Mary the Queen of Scotts.

The watches are shaped as human skulls and detailed intensely in gold metalwork. The solid silver and mineral hand cut glass have all been hand crafted. A gold and rhodium plated brass dial was specially laser cut and engraved to give the watch that perfect touch. The blue colored steel hands move by an ETA 2824 mechanism. The strap material is an exclusive blued calf leather with a sliver buckle.

Some beautiful pieces

I am not much of a jewelry wearing person... I currently (regularly) wear 1 ring, and that's my hide ring... and I wear 3 baby rings that my Midget gave me... and that's it...

Well a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a wonderful set that I will own someday soon...

Take a look and tell me that you think...

Midget...

You got your hands all goopy with paint today, and you swam with no fear, jumping straight into the 5ft area, you're lucky I was right there to pull you up... sometimes your total and utter lack of fear scares the shit out of me...

G and Ayumi

Yeah, they're dating... who gives a shit... you fucking people need to seriously grow the fuck up, and remember that the both of them are regular people, just like you and I...

Dear Sarah

While I am writing people... I thought I would write you... and let you know how special you are to me... We've saved each others lives... not many people in the world can say that about their best friend, and truly mean it.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you... and miss you terribly... I miss the time we used to spend together and just do weird and crazy things...

I can't wait to hug you again...

Until then... listen to this song...

Yasu is fucking hot...

Dear Microsoft

Fuck you... in your mother fucking eye... my CD Key for Windows is too, fucking valid you piece of mother fucking shit... and no I am not going to sit on the phone talking to your stupid Indian mother fucking call center assholes who barely speak English, or any other fucking language I currently speak...

Again, fuck you, in your mother fucking eye.

Dear Linda

Thank you for taking us swimming today, Midget had a lot of fun, and so did I. You weren't your "pain in the ass" usual self today (except when your car's battery died)... it was cool...

Thanks.

Dear Trent

You are lazy... You are ungreatful... You are unappreciative...

Oh, and when you ask me "Where do you want to eat?" (especially after you ask me to pay for it), and I tell you, and you totally disregard my suggestion and drive home... don't make snarky remarks at me like "Thanks for lunch Fawn!", because it was your own fucking choice to drive home, instead of drive to my chosen destination.

Manhattan MondoHub

The Manhattan MondoHub is awesome... I already have 19 (full) USB ports... I would love to have a couple of these to help manage all of my peripherals...

Any Last Requests- Reboot

Recently one of my readers messaged me asking me to start doing an old segment that I used to do called "Any Last Requests?", it was solely regarding Death Row inmates and their last meal and information regarding their crime if it's available.

So here goes...

MISSOURI LAST MEAL...April 10, 2002

Bovine lover Paul Kreutzer

The skinny....
Paul Kreutzer was the fourth inmate put to death by Missouri in 2002 and the 55th since the state's death penalty was reinstated in 1989.

The crime...
Kreutzer was convicted of raping and murdering Louise Ann Hemphill at her northeast Missouri home on September 2., 1992. The autopsy showed that Hemphill's skull had been shattered with a baseball bat, her throat had been cut and she had been strangled with a belt.

The alibi....
Kreutzer, 30, had said he could not have killed Hemphill because he was across the Mississippi River committing two burglaries in rural Illinois at the time of the killing. The alibi is a recent change from the 10-year-old defense put forth by his lawyers: that he is guilty but should not be executed because of mental defects caused by a childhood of horrific abuse.

A note to parents...
Among abuse the allegations made against his adopted parents: that he was physically abused; that he was forced to drink his own urine after wetting his bed; that he was told to have sexual relations with a cow as punishment for a sexual fixation on his younger sister; and that he was chained to his bed as punishment for having sex with the animal.

The cliche'
Along with his identical twin brother and younger sister, Kreutzer was adopted by Don and Ruth Kreutzer when he was 3.

Maybe, maybe not....
Missouri Division of Family Services records on Kreutzer were excluded from his trial as hearsay. But five of the agency's officials testified that they believed Kreutzer's abuse claims to be true.

His parents have long denied the abuse allegations, but say they believe their son's claim of innocence. Like Kreutzer, they blame earlier guilty pleas on lawyers who liked their chances with the "mental defects" defense better than challenging the facts of the case.

His last meal was grilled ham & cheese sandwich, onion rings, cheesecake and returning to his first love... milk.

「君がいるから」

Holy shit folks... for one... I usually despise covers of my favorites songs, they are my favorite songs for a reason, mostly the vocals and the guitars...

But this cover of Acid Black Cherry's 「君がいるから」  is absolutely amazing...

3 Songs...

Three songs that I'm currently addicted to...

The Invisible Wall

I know you can't see it, I guarantee you it exists
It's a nice looking enclosure, I assure you
It wasn't always there though, was it?
It took an awfully long time to construct, didn't it?

What gall you have to ask of it's purpose!
The truth is, I should be giving you the recognition that you deserve
I started it's assembly when you took issue with my taste in song
That wound was deep, but it supported another row of bricks

The onslaught of abuse
I was a whore, I was a horrible mother
Thank you, for providing another line
The wall is towering now

I feel so warm and comfortable inside
I'm not letting you in
My soul is healing nicely now,
That you are on the outside

Dear Linda...

What you have done is unforgivable... if anything happens as a result of this... I swear on everything I hold dear, you will regret it...

You think I hate you now... your right, but this hatred is nothing compared to what I will feel if anything happens as a result of this...

That is all.

Dear Linda...

Just because you can't hear things when they are louder than most bass systems on the fucking road, doesn't mean that I have to shut my mouth...

In closing... Get a mother fucking hearing aid...

That is all...

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Scam...

Sitting here watching my Midget watch Sesame Street, and chatting with my good friend Benaren, regarding his ridiculous love for the little clear stone known as the diamond...


Yep, you guessed it folks... Soapbox time...

I’m going to offend all of my female readers here and get a silent applause from men around the world. But ladies I’ve got to spell it out for you- congratulations, you’ve been fucking brainwashed. Women want to go into debt for a useless rock that sits on their hand because of a very cleaver marketing campaign. Moreover, they could get the exact same rock for a tenth of the cost but refuse to do so because this campaign was so effective. The diamond industry has effectively manipulated human pride to make themselves rich.


For us women, comparing jewelry is our phallic posturing contest: look at how big MY dic… errr, I mean, diamond is."


Let's start off with a few little known facts about this beloved (yuck...) stone.


There’s no denying that diamonds are a "traditional (yet highly expensive) symbol of romance and love. Why, a man needs a diamond ring to ask the woman of his dream to marry him, right (Just so you know Jeff, if you give me a diamond, I'll likely punch you in the face with it...)? But was it always that way? Did you know that someone worked very, very hard to make diamond rings de rigueur (prescribed or required by fashion, etiquette, or custom) in marriage proposals? Or that diamonds aren’t actually rare at all? Or that they make lousy investments?

1. The Earliest Use of Diamonds: Polishing Axes.

If you ask a hundred people what they think of first when they hear the word “diamond,” I bet you get 99 who say a diamond engagement ring.

Truth is, the majority of diamonds mined today are used for industrial purposes – and that may also be the very first use of diamonds by humans.

Harvard physicist Peter Lu and colleagues found that ancient Chinese used diamonds to polish ceremonial burial axes in the late stone age or over 4,500 years ago.

The axes, which are made from corundum (or ruby in its red form and sapphire in other colors), were polished to a mirror finish. Corundum is the second hardest naturally occurring substance on Earth and close examination of these axes revealed that they could’ve been made only with diamond abrasives.

It’s quite fitting since today, 80% of mined diamonds (about 100 million carats) are used for the industrial purposes of cutting, drilling, grinding, and polishing.

2. Diamonds are not the hardest substance on Earth.

“Diamonds are the hardest substance on Earth” is practically a mantra for jewelers trying to impress you with its physical properties, if at first, you’re not swayed by its beauty. Too bad it’s not true: while diamonds are the hardest natural mineral substance, it is not the hardest substance known to man.

In 2005, physicists Natalia Dubrovinskaia and colleagues compressed carbon fullerene molecules and heating them at the same time to create a series of interconnected rods called Aggregated Diamond Nanorods (ADNRs or “hyperdiamond”). It’s about 11% harder than a diamond.

3. De Beers: The Diamond Cartel.

I can’t talk about diamonds without talking about "De Beers™", the company that single handedly made the diamond industry what it is today. De Beers was founded by Cecil Rhodes, who also founded the state of Rhodesia which later became Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Rhodes Scholarship is also named after him, and funded by his estate.

Rhodes started by renting water pumps to miners during a diamond rush in 1867 in Kimberley, South Africa. He later expanded into mines, and about twenty years later became the sole owner of all diamond mining operations in the country.

Rhodes built De Beers™ into a diamond cartel (well, they prefer “single-channel marketing” and since they’re one company, they’re technically a monopoly). De Beers™ mines diamonds, then handle their sales and distribution through various entities (in London, it’s known as the innocuously named Diamond Trading Company; in Israel, it’s simply called “the syndicate”; in Belgium, it’s called the CSO or Central Selling Organization.).

If you want to buy diamonds from De Beers™, you’ve got to play by their rules: diamonds are sold in events known as “sights.” There are 10 sights held each year, and to buy, you have to be a sight holder (these are usually diamond dealers whose business is to have the stones cut and polished and then resold at diamond clearing centers of Antwerp, New York, and Tel Aviv).

The diamonds are sold on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. A sight holder is given a small box of uncut diamonds priced between $1 and $25 million. De Beers™ set the price – there is no haggling and no re-selling of diamonds in uncut form. It is rare for sight holders to refuse a diamond package offered to them, for fear of not being invited back. And those who dare to purchase diamonds from other sources than De Beers™, will have their sight holder privilege revoked immediately upon discovery.

In the early days, De Beers™ controlled about 90% of the world’s diamond supply. Today, its monopoly on diamonds has been significantly reduced. It is estimated that the cartel now controls about 60 to 75% of the world’s diamond trade... Though in my opinion, that's still to damn much...

4. So Why The Name ‘De Beers™’?

Short and simply put, De Beers™ was actually named for the brothers Johannel Nicholas de Beer and Diederik Arnoldus de Beer, whose farm Cecil Rhodes bought when diamond
mines were discovered on it.

5. Diamonds are Rare!

Diamonds were actually quite rare in the past, but not anymore. While it’s true that the process of extracting diamond is quite laborious (mines move many tons of dirt per carat of diamond found) and that gem-quality diamonds are relatively few (only about 1 in 1 million diamonds are quality one carat stones, only 1 in 5 million are 2-carat; and 1 in 15 million are 3-carat), diamonds are not rare in an economic sense because supply exceeds demand.

To maintain the high prices of diamonds, De Beers™ creates an artificial scarcity: they stockpile mined diamonds and sell them in small amounts.

Donna Bergenstock, a marketing professor at Muhlenberg College, points out their scarcity is a myth, one created long ago by De Beers™, the South African company that's dug up most of the world's diamonds.

"There are … billions of dollars of diamonds sitting in vaults — in London, in South Africa — that De Beers™ specifically keeps off the market in order to artificially raise the price of diamonds," she says.

The supply is so vast that if DeBeers hadn't controlled the world market for decades, diamonds would be much cheaper.

"The diamond is really just a piece of carbon. It's just a rock," says Bergenstock.

Perhaps De Beers™ chairman Nicky Oppenheimer said it best: “diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for the deep psychological need they fill.”

6. Moon-Sized Diamond?

So- diamonds aren’t rare on Earth, and it may not be rare in space either. In 2004, astronomer Travis Metcalfe of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and colleagues discovered a diamond star that is 10 billion, trillion, trillion carats! The cosmic diamond is a chunk of crystallized carbon, 4,000 km across (that's 2485 miles across), some 50 light-years (50,000 years away) from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus. It’s the compressed heart of an old star that was once bright like our Sun but has since faded and shrunk. Astronomers have decided to call the star “Lucy” after the Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds(how absolutely fitting if I do say so, myself). According to scientists, if we wait long enough, our own sun will eventually turn into one such large diamond star!

I have an idea... I'm going to invent warp travel, build a ship, and travel to that star and mine the motherfucker... take that De Beers™... Who's with me?

7. World's Most Famous Diamonds.

Just because they’re not rare, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t exceptional diamonds. There’s the 45-carat Hope Diamond (and its famous Curse), the mystical Koh-I-Noor Diamond, and the largest diamond ever found, the 546 carat Golden Jubilee.

Here’s a truly fascinating story about the little known, Bokassa Diamond. In 1977, a bat-shit insane, Central African dictator named Jean-Bédel Bokassa declared himself an emperor and asked Albert Jolis, the president of a diamond mining operation, for a diamond ring (he made sure Jolis knew that nothing smaller than a golf ball-sized rock would do!).

Jolis didn’t have the money to buy such a large stone but if he didn’t deliver one, his company would lose the mining concession in Central Africa. So he devised a clever ruse: Jolis found a large piece of black diamond bort (a poorly crystallized diamond usually fit only to be crushed into abrasive powder) that curiously resembled Africa in shape. He ordered the diamond polished and mounted on a large ring. A one-quarter carat white diamond was then set roughly where the country is located on the continent.

Jolis presented the “unique” diamond to Bokassa, and the clueless emperor loved it! He thought that the $500 ring was worth over $500,000! Just two years later, when Bokassa was overthrown in a coup, Jolis heard that he went into exile with his prize diamond ring, and noted wryly: “It’s a priceless diamond as long as he doesn’t try to sell it.”

Now that is fucking hilarious.

8. The Most Brilliant Advertising Campaign of All Time: "A Diamond Is Forever".

The 1930s was a bad decade for the diamond industry: the price of the diamond had declined worldwide. Europe was on the verge of another war and the idea of a diamond engagement ring didn’t take hold. Indeed, engagement rings were considered a luxury and when given, they rarely, if ever, contained diamonds.

In 1938, De Beers engaged N.W. Ayer & Son, the first advertising agency in the United States, to change the image of diamonds in America. The ad agency suggested a clever ad campaign to link diamonds to romance in the public’s mind. To do this, they placed diamonds in the fingers of Hollywood stars and suggested stories to newspapers on how diamond rings symbolized romance. Even high school students were targeted:

N. W. Ayer outlined a subtle program that included arranging for lecturers to visit high schools across the country. “All of these lectures revolve around the diamond engagement ring, and are reaching thousands of girls in their assemblies, classes and informal meetings in our leading educational institutions,” the agency explained in a memorandum to De Beers™.

The agency had organized, in 1946, a weekly service called “Hollywood Personalities,” which provided 125 leading newspapers with descriptions of the diamonds worn by movie stars. The idea was to create prestigious “role models” for the poorer middle-class wage-earners. The advertising agency explained, in its 1948 strategy paper, “We spread the word of diamonds worn by stars of screen and stage, by wives and daughters of political leaders, by any woman who can make the grocer’s wife and the mechanic’s sweetheart say ‘I wish I had what she has.’”.
   
In 1948, an N.W. Ayer copywriter named Frances Gerety, had a flash of inspiration and came up with the slogan “A Diamond is Forever.” It’s a fitting slogan, because it reminds people that it is a memorial to love, and as such, must stay forever in the family, never to be sold. Ironically, Gerety never married and died a spinster.

But equating diamonds with romance wasn’t enough. Toward the end of the 1950s, N.W. Ayer found that the Americans were ready for the next logical step, making a diamond ring a necessary element in betrothal:

“Since 1939 an entirely new generation of young people has grown to marriageable age,” it said. “To this new generation a diamond ring is considered a necessity to engagements by virtually
everyone.” The message had been so successfully impressed on the minds of this generation that those who could not afford to buy a diamond at the time of their marriage would “defer the purchase” rather than forgo it."

Then the clever ad agency went one step further. N.W. Ayers noted that when women were involved in the selection of the engagement ring, they tended to pick cheaper rings. So De Beers™ encouraged the “surprise” engagement, with men picking the diamond on their own (with the clear message that the more expensive the stone, the better he’ll look in the eyes of a woman).

They even gave clueless men a guideline: American men should spend at least two months wages, whereas Japanese men should spend three. Why? Because they can:

But the guidelines differed by nation. A “two months’ salary” equivalent was touted in the United States, whereas men in Great Britain got off the hook with only one month. Japan’s expectation was set the highest, at three months. I asked a De Beers representative why the Japanese were told to spend so much compared to the Americans or the English.

“We were, quite frankly, trying to bid them up,” he answered.

In 1939, when De Beers™ engaged N.W. Ayer to change the way the American public view diamonds, its annual sales of the gem was $23 million. By 1979, the ad agency had helped De Beers expand its sales to more than $2.1 billion.

Despite this hype, diamonds aren't forever; they can be damaged or destroyed. The value of diamonds varies widely depending on grade and, despite efforts at standardization, is basically arbitrary--experts often disagree sharply on the worth of a particular gem. Sure, the same can be said of paintings or other collectibles. The difference is that the world diamond market is largely controlled by a single private enterprise, the South Africa-based De Beers™ cartel. The geniuses behind De Beers™ recognized early on that a stable, profitable diamond industry depended on controlling both supply and demand. De Beers™ rarely discovers new sources of diamonds; rather, it focuses on controlling existing ones, limiting production, and if necessary buying up surplus gems and stockpiling them to prop up the market. It sets prices arbitrarily and cuts off supplies to dealers who buy through unauthorized channels. On the marketing side, De Beers™ hired advertising firms, starting with N.W. Ayer in the late 1930s, to render axiomatic the idea that diamonds = true love. De Beers and Ayer didn't invent diamond engagement rings but did rescue a fading concept--in 1932 worldwide diamond sales had been only $100,000. Ayer's ploys ranged from planting news stories about newly betrothed celebrities flaunting big rocks to positioning diamonds as heirlooms, preventing the market from being flooded with secondhand goods. (The market for used diamonds is dismal, by the way.) The campaign worked--U.S. wholesale diamond sales increased from $23 million in 1939 to $2.1 billion in 1979. The J. Walter Thompson agency performed a similar miracle in Japan in the 1960s, essentially creating a tradition of diamond engagement rings out of thin air.

9. Diamonds are Actually Lousy Investments

De Beers™ is quite famous for never lowering the price of diamonds. During the Great Depression, the cartel drastically cut supplies and stockpiled diamonds to prop up their price. But do diamonds make good investments?

Unless you’re a certified diamond seller, the answer is no: you won’t be able to sell a diamond ring for more than what you pay for it. And the reason is simple: with diamonds, you buy at retail and sell at wholesale, if you can sell it at all.

In 1982, Edward Jay Epstein wrote an intriguing article for The Atlantic, titled “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?” In it, he wrote about an experiment to determine a diamond’s value as an investment.

The Atlantic conducted another experiment to determine the extent to which larger diamonds appreciate in value over a one-year period. In 1970, it bought a 1.42 carat diamond for $1166. In 1971, the highest offer it received for the same gem was $889. Rather than sell it at such an enormous loss, Watts decided to extend the experiment until 1974, when he again made the round of the jewelers in Hatton Garden to have it appraised. During this tour of the diamond district, Watts found that the diamond had mysteriously shrunk in weight to 1.04 carats. One of the jewelers had apparently switched diamonds during the appraisal. In that same year, Watts, undaunted, bought another diamond, this one 1.4 carats, from a reputable London dealer. He paid $4063. A week later, he decided to sell it. The maximum offer he received was $1565.

Why is there no active after-market for diamonds? It is estimated that the public holds about 500 million carats of gem diamonds – if a significant portion of the public begins selling, then the price of diamond would plummet. To prevent this from happening, the diamond industry spent a huge sum in making diamonds “heirloom” properties to be passed down for generations, keeping the price of diamond artificially high (so people wouldn’t be tempted to unload them for fear of losing money) and discourage jewelers from buying diamonds from the public.

10. Artificial Diamonds

The idea of making artificial diamond isn’t new. H.G. Wells proposed exactly such a thing in his story “The Diamond Maker” in 1911. Since then, scientists have come up with ways to create synthetic diamonds and
diamond simulants like cubic zirconia – but experts could always tell them apart. Until now.

In the past decade, scientists have perfected a technique called Chemical Vapor Deposition, where carbon gas cloud is passed over diamond seeds in a vacuum chamber heated to more than 1,800 degrees. In a matter of days, they are now able to “grow” diamonds that are virtually indistinguishable from natural ones, even to the experts:

Seeking an unbiased assessment of the quality of these laboratory diamonds, I asked Bryant Linares to let me borrow an Apollo stone. The next day, I place the .38 carat, princess-cut stone in front of Virgil Ghita in Ghita’s narrow jewelry store in downtown Boston. With a pair of tweezers, he brings the diamond up to his right eye and studies it with a jeweler’s loupe, slowly turning the gem in the mote-filled afternoon
sun. “Nice stone, excellent color. I don’t see any imperfections,” he says. “Where did you get it?”

“It was grown in a lab about 20 miles from here,” I reply. He lowers the loupe and looks at me for a moment. Then he studies the stone again, pursing his brow. He sighs. “There’s no way to tell that it’s lab-created.”

But if you think that the price of diamond will fall precipitously, think again. Companies that make cultured diamonds like Apollo and Gemesis aren’t stupid: they’re not going to kill the goose that laid the diamond egg by flooding the market with cheap stones.

Essentially, they are just as greedy as those assholes from De Beers™...

Now, let's briefly discuss Blood Diamonds, or Conflict Diamonds...

What are conflict/blood diamonds?

Conflict/blood diamonds are used by rebel groups to fuel conflict and civil wars, and by terrorist groups to finance their activities.

Is The Kimberley Process just PR?

It's an agreement that is supposed to prevent conflict diamonds from getting into the market but ended up being more of a PR stunt since it's based on a system of self-policing. The U.N. reported in October 2006 that due to poor enforcement of the Kimberley Process, $23 million of conflict diamonds from Cote d'lvoire alone entered the legitimate market. Sure De Beers won't buy diamonds coming out of Cote d'lvoire, but they'll turn a blind eye to the smuggling of diamonds from there through Ghana and Mali where they are certified as being conflict-free.

Percentage in the market?

During the height of the diamond conflict in the 1990s, the diamond industry reported that no more than 4% of the diamonds in the market were conflict diamonds, when in reality it has been shown to be closer to 15% .
Asking for conflict-free certificates is not enough!

In April 2006 after a scathing report by Partnership Africa Canada about activities in Brazil, an internal review showed that 49 of 147 Kimberley Process certificates were fraudulent. Besides these fraudulent certificates, real certificates could still be issued if conflict diamonds were smuggled and mixed with legally traded ones before being certified.

Children in India are cutting and polishing the diamonds!

Children in India can become "bonded" — forced to work to pay off the debts of their family. These children end up working in the diamond factories.

Children in conflict zones are being used as soldiers!

The images in Blood Diamond with child soldiers are very real. They are drugged and brainwashed to handle the manslaughter they are forced to do.

Now, if you've truly read and taken to heart, all that I've written here, here are some diamond alternatives for you...

Absolute™
Diamonique™
Moissanite™

A simple price example...

Absolute
Diamond
Moissanite (By the way, these "diamonds" will fool all currently available diamond testers...)

Personally, I like the Absolute one the best, simply because, it's well... pink lol.

In closing, I personally doubt that I'll ever own a diamond. I don't feel the need to. Just give me Diamonique, Absolute or Moissanite, and I'll be a totally happy woman.

Lvl 6 True Seeing

I told myself, this would my last time putting pen to paper, recalling you.
There wasn't a need to expound... You understand.
I surmised, my quiescence would be an extravagant courtesy to you.
But we can both acknowledge that, that's mendacious.

I'm so tenacious now!
More tenacious, than you thought I'd be, aren't I?
You had preferred to have me stay in that vacuum a little longer...
But I knew it was time to make a break for it.

Down there, I was blind to everything...
Out, I now see everything, and it's all so exquisite.
The road ahead looks immeasurable...
As I traipse it alone.

Each tiptoe brings injury, far beyond the reach of my imagination.
Even so, I will never relinquish my capability to shout.
I will shout it from the rooftops, for her.
I refuse to be taciturn!

What had been four, turned to two...
Two became three, became two...
Nothing more, nothing less.
I have come full circle, haven't I?

Down there, I was blind to everything...
Out, I now see everything, and it's all so exquisite.
That road ahead looked immeasurable... But I can see it clearly now...
My future, where someone will walk it with me, side by side...

I love these shoes!

However... I do not like the price... $399...

An Awesome Picture...

Today's choking, yet entirely Fucked Up Fact...

Yesterday I was scouring the web, looking for interesting things to post in my blog... It's usually a simple, yet tedious process... and rarely is it ever marred by anything I, myself, find disturbing, shocking and/or offensive... because let's face it... like most people, I am an angel and a demon (mostly demon) wrapped into one meat sack, and well, most people who know me, know, that it takes a special kind of fucked up to disturb, shock, and/or offend me... Well this did it... Needless to say, I will NO LONGER be buying ANY Dow Chemical products... I refuse to lend any financial support to a company who will not help the people that it has wronged... I know, by now you're asking "Fawn, what in the holy fuck are you talking about?", and you'd be right to ask... What am I talking about? I am talking about the BHOPAL GAS LEAK of 1984... Now you're asking me, "Why should I be concerned with something that happened 28 years ago...?". Well, I'll tell you, simply because as the old saying goes, "Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors, are destined to repeat them.", I happen to be a firm believer in that statement, and from what I've read over the past couple of hours, Dow Chemical has learned NOTHING, but how to carefully, and quietly sweep this matter under the proverbial rug... It sickens me...
 

Dow shall be liable... I won't allow you to bury justice... Give the people of Bhopal what they want... Extradite the Butcher of Bhopal...

 
Now, without further adieu, a lengthy explanation...

The Bhopal disaster was an "Industrial Catastrophe" that occurred at a pesticide plant owned and operated by Union Carbide (UCIL) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Around midnight on the intervening night of December 2–3, 1984, the plant released methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 20,000-300,000 deaths. Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.
Some 28 years after the gas leak, 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it, though there is some dispute as to whether the chemicals still stored at the site pose any continuing health hazard. There are currently civil and criminal cases related to the disaster ongoing in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India against Union Carbide, now owned by Dow Chemical Company, with an Indian arrest warrant pending against Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the disaster. No one has yet been prosecuted.

The UCIL factory was established in 1969 near Bhopal. 50.9% was owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and 49.1 % by various Indian investors, including public sector financial institutions. It produced the pesticide carbaryl (trademark Sevin). In 1979 a methyl isocyanate (MIC) production plant was added to the site. MIC, an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture, was used instead of less hazardous but more expensive materials. UCC understood the properties of MIC and its handling requirements.
During the night of December 2–3, 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 42 tonnes of methyl isocyanate. The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200 °C (392 °F), raising the pressure to a level the tank was not designed to withstand. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases into the atmosphere. The gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic.
Theories of how the water entered the tank differ. At the time, workers were cleaning out pipes with water, and some claim that owing to bad maintenance and leaking valves, it was possible for the water to leak into tank 610. In December 1985 The New York Times reported that according to UCIL plant managers the hypothesis of this route of entry of water was tested in the presence of the Central Bureau Investigators and was found to be negative. UCC also maintains that this route was not possible, and that it was an act of sabotage by a "disgruntled worker" who introduced water directly into the tank. However, the company's investigation team found no evidence of the necessary connection. The Trade Union Report failed to mention that the investigation was totally controlled by the government investigators denying UCC investigators any access to inspecting the ill-fated tank.
The 1985 reports give a picture of what led to the disaster and how it developed, although they differ in details.

Factors leading to the gas leak include:

• The use of hazardous chemicals (MIC) instead of less dangerous ones

• Storing these chemicals in large tanks instead of over 200 steel drums.

• Possible corroding material in pipelines

• Poor maintenance after the plant ceased production in the early 1980s

• Failure of several safety systems (due to poor maintenance and regulations).

• Safety systems being switched off to save money—including the MIC tank refrigeration system which alone would have prevented the disaster.

The problem was made worse by the plant's location near a densely populated area, non-existent catastrophe plans and shortcomings in health care and socioeconomic rehabilitation. Analysis shows that the parties responsible for the magnitude of the disaster are the two owners, Union Carbide Corporation and the Government of India, and to some extent, the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Death is just a myth...

You are what you think. Does this mean you are what you believe, or does it mean that our thoughts, are precisely what makes us…. well, us? If the latter were to be the case, then it would make some sort of sense that we don’t need to die, if our thoughts and desires could be transferred to say, a digital version of ourselves then we would for the most part, continue to exist, right?

Okay people, I'm not drunk, and although I am mildly impaired due to lack of sleep, I am really making sense here, so try to follow me. Lifenaut.com has created a platform that enables users a place to upload and store their life journey information for generations to come. It also offers access to a unique set of features that allow people to interact with their life information in a variety of different ways including a computer-based avatar that will respond with your attitudes, values, mannerisms and beliefs. Seriously.
Lifenaut.com allows you to build a comprehensive database that’s all about you, through geo mapping, timelines, and tagging, a rich portrait of information is created. Imagine, all the places you’ve been and the people you’ve met can be stored and accessed by friends and family members. Lifenaut also lets you connect with other people who are interested in exploring the future of technology and how it can enhance the quality of our lives, or after-lives.

Lifenaut.com gives you a safe space to store your life experiences and offers users a free and offsite information back up option for personality and other life lesson information that can be accessed sometime in the future and, most importantly, LifeNaut.com lets us participate in a long-term computer science research project that explores how technology may one day extend “life” through digital technology.
All LifeNaut Mindfile Accounts are free, but there may be premium services added in the future that will be offered for a fee. Please check out Lifenaut for more information, and hey, let’s catch up in around 100 years or so…, okay?

J.aded, S.arcastic, and M.asterful

I fear that heaven isn't real
I wonder when it was
That I came to that realization
But I'm so proud to have been your girl

Having known you
Having loved you
Never having met you
Know that I will never forget you

Sometimes it hurts
Sometimes I think of you
Sometimes I've wanted to be with you
Where are you now?

The smallest thing stirs up memories
Even clichés and meaningless words
If they were shared between us
They hold significant meaning

Having known you
Having loved you
Having shared our secrets
Forever kept, I'll never tell

Having known you
Having loved you
Even though I may never see you again
I will never forget you

I lost my best friend Jason Scott Melton almost 3 years ago due to a terrible disease called Neurofibromatosis Type II... I can't believe it's been so long... I miss him so much sometimes I can't even put it into words... I loved him and I wish I could talk to him one more time... though honestly lol, I don't even know where I would start...There's so much I want to say to him...

Dear Linda...

She is my child, I will potty train her when I want, and when I feel she's ready, until then, please, shut the fuck up about it... again, she is MY CHILD... I have the scar to prove it.

I don't care if you "don't believe it" or not, I did not have sex with Jeff when we were dating, and even if I did, it's none of your fucking business... It's none of your business regarding any sex that I had when I was 17, much less 31 years old. When and if I decide to have sex with Jeff, it will be on my terms, and yet again, yep, you guessed it, it's none of your mother fucking business...

While I am being honest here... Take care of your own pets, dishes, messes and son... I am not your fucking maid, and allow me to go on record when I say, I AM ON STRIKE.

Finally, my PC, and any other equipment is MINE, I will do with it what I please, and when I please. I will not pack it up. Quit bitching about it, it's not doing any good.

I want a room JUST LIKE THIS!

ANY DAY is best celebrated with chocolate, and the people at the Akropolis shopping mall, in Lithuania, sure have a strong sweet tooth! The mall treats its shoppers with a 17-square-metre casually modeled sitting room, decked from end to end in chocolate! Seven artists equipped with 300kgs of chocolate, molded the sweet temptation to create the room’s floor, ceiling, furniture and decoration items like candlesticks, pictures, books, teacups, utensils and plates even a white-chocolate cat all cozying lying on a dark chocolate chair.

Go ahead... drool over some more images...

Madonna, Congrats... You're A Fucking Idiot...

One of Madonna's LATEST beauty indulgences are a pair of Shu Uemura "mink and diamond" false eyelashes. this bit of pricey extravagance will leave your eyes wide open. Designer, Gina Brooke has custom designed diamond eye lashes for Madonna. These mink false eyelashes are adorned with 0.75 carats of hand-faceted diamonds featuring a unique new diamond cut, the “Star Shimmer Cut”. BUT...when it comes to Madonna, none of us should ever be surprised. Not even when we find out that this particular luxury, designer eyelashes cost a whopping $10,000!

Why can't I be in San Francisco...?

Strong winds and shifting sands have uncovered an eerie reminder of San Francisco's past: discarded gravestones and broken tomb markers used decades ago to shore up the Ocean Beach seawall. The tombstones became visible this week, including bits and pieces of marble and granite that once marked the final resting places of citizens long dead. One of them is the nearly intact marble tombstone of Delia Presby Oliver, who died at the age of 26 on Apr. 9, 1890. Her remains were removed and reburied when San Francisco authorities closed nearly all the city cemeteries and moved the bodies to Colma in the early 20th century - part of a move to make space for the growing city. Oliver's original tombstone and thousands like it were used as landfill or in other ways throughout San Francisco. Some were used as breakwaters. Pieces of others were used to line the gutters of Haight-Ashbury's Buena Vista Park. Some gravestones were used to build the seawall along the Great Highway. Large tombs and crypts were dumped into San Francisco Bay.

"There's a romance to it, but no mystery," said John Martini, a San Francisco historian and former National Park Service ranger who has studied what lies under the Ocean Beach sands. "They are part of San Francisco history." Martini said strong winds often uncover all kinds of things, even the remains of shipwrecks. The timbers of the sailing ship King Philip, wrecked at Ocean Beach in the 19th century, reappeared a couple of years ago and then vanished again under the sand after a few weeks. The gravestones are like that, Martini said. "They turned up some years ago in about the same place. There was a big fuss, and then they were covered up again. How soon we forget." Delia Presby Oliver's grave marker is a heavy, solid piece of stone meant to last an eternity. The tombstone, nearly as intact as the day it was carved more than 122 years ago, was uncovered in a drift of black sand near the end of Rivera Street. She was a member of a prominent family. Her father, David Shattuck, was born in New England and served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Her parents lived on Nob Hill. Delia Presby was born in San Francisco in 1863 and married Frank B. Oliver on Oct. 27, 1885. She died less than five years later. Newspapers did not report the cause of her death, but a notice in the San Francisco Call on April 10, 1890, said, "Friends and acquaintances are respectfully invited to attend the funeral services ... from the residence of her parents No. 814 Powell Street. Interment private." It is not clear where Delia Oliver was buried, but it is likely that a person of her standing might be interred in the old Laurel Hill Cemetery, which extended south and west of California Street near what is now Presidio Avenue. In the 1920s and '30s, the city decided to move the cemeteries out of the city. The Chinese, the Jewish, the Masonic and the Catholic cemeteries were destroyed.

Laurel Hill was one of the last to go. In 1937, The Chronicle described it as "a silent city of the dead." There were 35,000 men, women and children buried there, all removed to make way for the Laurel Heights development. Martini said much of the western part of the city was built atop old cemeteries, including shopping centers, housing developments and the campus of the University of San Francisco. "They found hundreds of bodies when they did seismic work at the Palace of the Legion of Honor," he said. "It was pauper's cemetery. And there are literally hundreds of bodies under the Lincoln Park Golf Course. No one kept track of them all." In established cemeteries, like Laurel Hill and Calvary on Geary Boulevard, "The remains of the loved one were removed at no cost," Martini said. "But if you wanted to remove a headstone, or a funerary building, the family had to pay the cost." So tombstones left behind were recycled and used in various city projects. The Chronicle wrote about gravestones surfacing on Ocean Beach in spring 1977. Beachcombers were stunned. Finding them was "the strangest stuff I've ever come across in a city that's weird enough," Gail Bills, who grew up in the Sunset District, told The Chronicle in a 1977 article about the tombstones. The drifting sands soon covered them up again.

This spring, the winds were particularly fierce, said Alexandra Picavet, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which manages Ocean Beach. "This happens every once in a while," she said. "It's been a crazy year for sand." Picavet said the Park Service has no plans to remove the gravestones. Eventually, they'll be covered again by the drifting sand, only to be rediscovered in a few more years.

(The first picture is of her discarded stone, the second is her death notice, the third is her marriage notice, and the fourth is her parents house, which she resided at until the time of her death, which according to my research, was a result of TB...)

Sex and Data...

You know how to mix business with pleasure? Well, for those who want to keep their secrets close to their chest, this particular USB flash drive is definitely worth looking into. We are talking about a USB flash drive which not only boasts space on it to stash away precious data, and in addition to that, it also has a hidden function – which will keep the ladies happy, since this is a vibrator as well.

Known as the Duet, the USB flash drive vibrator will be sleek in nature, sporting the ability for you to adjust the various speeds if you want to, and of course, it is waterproof. Otherwise, how else are you going to keep it clean once you are done with your private pleasure?


Just how much storage does the Duet hold? We are talking about 16GB here, which is far more than what most of the other standard USB flash drives come with. Designers Ti Chang and Michael Topolovac did come to the realization that one of the biggest complaint from women concerning something as personal as vibrators would be the power cord issue, batteries, or having it come along with an obscure charging device.
The whole solution? Well, a USB connector was thought of to be the solution, where you simply plug it into a computer or laptop and have it go. You might want to lock the door whenever you decide to spend a little bit of alone time with the Duet, otherwise you might literally be caught with your pants down – if you don’t dig skirts, that is. Since the ladies would be the ones spending most time with this, it will arrive in a range of colors.

I would be a whole lot more wary the next time someone passes me a USB flash drive, of course, making careful note of its make and model to make sure it isn’t this particular version.

The Only Reason I'd Buy A Smart Phone...

Modern smartphones come with touchscreen displays – which is not a bad thing at all, really. Just take a look at the kind of apps and games that have been written for the platform to date and tell me that it isn’t revolutionary in any way. However, while the hard of hearing can always enjoy the use of a smartphone or feature phone because they can see, how about the visually impaired? Georgia Tech believes otherwise, and has come up with BrailleTouch – a Braille-like texting app.

This prototype app for touchscreen mobile devices intends to be the complete solution to all our modern day texting problems, without having to even look at the device’s display at all – which would also bode well for the visually impaired, of course. Mario Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Interactive Computing (IC) and the project’s principal investigator says, “Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them.”

You can check out just how BrailleTouch works in the video that you see below, and it might also help normal folk to bridge the gap with the visually impaired, since this free open-source app incorporates the Braille writing system. Initial studies that surround BrailleTouch alongside visually impaired participants who are proficient in Braille typing have shown that they are able to input at least half a dozen times the number of words in each minute when compared to other research prototypes that also have the same end game objective in mind – that is, eyes-free texting on a touchscreen display. These users were extremely proficient, being able to reach up to 32 words per minute with an accuracy level of 92%, now how about that? Imagine what kind of speed and accuracy can be achieved when the prototype app is finally polished.

Driving... not really...

You know what I think is really hysterical? We have these flight simulators to help out would-be pilots, but when it comes to teenage drivers, we just put them behind the wheel with a driver’s permit.

Why can we not put them in a simulator? After all, pilots who land airplanes for the first time often say: “It was just like the simulator”. If we can give this amount of realism to pilots in training, then why not make a realistic driving simulator?

I am guessing that this is what Honda was trying to do with this driving simulator. If you put your fifteen-and-a-half-year-old behind the wheel, then it’s probably as close to driving on the road as it can be.

It has three LCD displays to give the realistic feeling of a windshield view. The software includes programs that can make night driving, driving in fog, and highway driving. I wonder how it can do with traffic. I’m not certain what happens if the driver crashes, but I’m guessing there will be some virtual cracks on the screen with the word “CRASH”. Oh, wait, that’s what they did on the old-school version of Flight Simulator.

I’m sure a lot of you have probably realized that this driving simulator “just can’t be as good as getting behind the real wheel deal” which any pre-16 teenager wants to do anyway. Granted, you should make a rear window display or something if you want future drivers to practice parallel parking and backing around a corner.

Well, the device itself is $66,000, which is hardly worth paying for, no matter how many drivers that you have in your family.

Today's pissy, yet entirely Fucked Up Fact...

There comes a time in everyone’s life when there is need for a pregnancy test. It’s usually helpful to know if you’re going to be having a child, so cheap at-home pregnancy tests are cheap and easy to obtain. Anyway, I was surprised to see this particular test which had a USB plug on the end.

First, let me get set the record straight here... as most people who know me, know that I am a USB geek, nothing, and I mean, NOTHING... that anyone has peed on, or will pee on, is ever getting plugged into my computer. This device promises to analyze your urine for increased hormone levels which can be a sine of pregnancy. I don’t care how accurate this thing is, it’s not getting plugged into my computer, even if it is only $17.99.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

My new addiction... This game is pretty awesome, and if you have $11, and a 360, or PS3, you should definitely buy it.

DaizyStripper's new mini-album 「HUMALOID」

DaizyStripper has revealed more information about their upcoming mini-album. 「HUMALOID」 is scheduled to come out on August 1st in three types:

Limited Edition Type A (CD+DVD) – 3,150 yen
[CD]
1. 1999
2. 東京ホライズンーNIGHT AND DAYー (Tokyo horizon-NIGHT AND DAY-)
3. 彼女はエメラルド (kanojo ha emerald)
4. Paradise Lost
5. CLUB “KILLING”
6. Reincarnation

[DVD]
PV

Limited Edition Type B (CD+DVD) – 3,150 yen
[CD]
Same as Type A

[DVD]
Live footage

Regular Edition (CD) – 2,625 yen
[CD]
Same as Type A

the GazettE’s upcoming album 「Division」

The details for the GazettE’s upcoming album 「Division」 have been released, I just haven't had the time to post them until now... Looks like I'll be getting the LE...

「Division」 Regular Edition
CD only/12 Tracks/￥3059 (Tax incl.)
1.) [XI]
2.) Gabriel on the Gallows
3.) Derangement
4.) Dripping Insanity
5.) 余韻 (Yoin)
6.) 歪 (Ibitsu)
7.) 影踏み(Kagefumi)
8.) 籠の蛹 (Kago no Sanagi)
9.) ヘドロ (Hedoro)
10.) Attitude
11.) Required Malfunction
12.) [Melt]

「Division」 Limited Edition
2 CDs+ DVD/ 14 Tracks/￥ 6666 Tax (incl.)
(DISC 1) 7 Tracks
1.) [Depth]
2.) 歪 (Ibitsu)
3.) 籠の蛹 (Kago no Sanagi)
4.) ヘドロ (Hedoro)
5.) 影踏み(Kagefumi)
6.) 余韻 (Yoin)
7.) [Diplosomia]
(DISC 2) 7 Tracks
8.) [XI]
9.) Derangement
10.) Required Malfunction
11.) Dripping Insanity
12.) Attitude
13.) Gabriel on the Gallows
14.) [Melt]
(DVD included)

Stress, and Decisions...

I have decided that until I leave this hell, I'm going to start trying to handle my stress in a different manner... I am going to, instead of arguing with the stupid people I currently live with, write letters to them (that they will undoubtedly never see) here on my blog as a way of releasing my anger, hostility and overall stress... Some letters may be lengthy, while others could be anything from a few sentences to a single word. Either way, I think it will help me cope better... simply put, I'm tired of yelling and arguing with 2 of the most addlepated twits I have ever had the displeasure of knowing...

2 Days Later...

Well I said that I would begin blogging on a regular business, and then, well then, life got in the way...

My PC died on the morning of the 19th, after running Windows Defender... it strangled itself to death...

LUCKILY... I have a computer savvy tech monkey at my disposal, and he was able to fix it over the phone... So fuck you Microsoft and your silly $99 service fees for customer support, I have my own monkey, that doesn't write self-destructing programs...

So, thank you Travis, for saving me a lot of money and providing me with a $100+ piece of software for free. I appreciate everything you've done for me, these past couple of days, as well as your putting up with my insane panicked attitude. You truly are awesome.

Now today in between reinstalling EVERYTHING, and doing other general shit, I'll blog the shit that I've been wanting to blog, but haven't had the chance to, until now...

There's no "U", in "My pint".

Today, I went into the freezer expecting to grap the wonderfully tasty pint of Twix ice cream that I had just bought the day before... only to find it gone... Walking into Trent's room, I asked;

Did you take my ice cream...?

Yes...

Why? That was mine, damn it!

Because I was in the mood for ice cream...

*face palm*

Well I shall face palm no longer...

Here's a nifty gadget that can protect your favorite frozen delicacy from your jerkish ice cream stealing roommate. Ben & Jerry’s Euphori-Lock is an ingenious little device that can actually secure your favorite pint of ice cream with a three digit combination lock. Sure, the more hardcore criminals will simply saw the side of the carton or drill through the bottom, but for the rest of us, a locked up pint of ice cream certainly says NO! much better than a threatening sign. So while not its not foolproof, it is fairly easy, simply attach the device to your favorite pint and let guilt do its job. Besides... no one want to get caught hysterically sawing through an ice cream container, I know, I wouldn't. I would personally like to see a device that might taser or otherwise electrocute my freezer thieving roommate (Simply because that would be fucking hilarious, wouldn't it?), but I can see some relatively unpleasant legal ramifications of such strong deterrent measures, so for now I’ll just go with the Euphori-lock, only $6.64 at www.Ben&Jerrys.com and maybe just tell him it will electrocute him if he gets the combination wrong… that could work.

Peeing... on the go?

Which girl hasn’t been there – after a long night partying or on a long drive somewhere – inevitably you get the uncontrollable urge to pee, just when there is absolutely no bathroom in sight. Sure if there is enough jungle cover, you could go behind a tree, but that isn’t really possible on most days. With the amazing new invention, GoGirl, you never have to grapple with unhygienic dirty public bathrooms again. Now, even women can pee standing up! This funnel-like device is made of flexible medical-grade silicone. This reusable female urination device can be held against your body, forming a seal. All you have to do is aim and pee! It can be washed and carried. I’m not sure many women would see themselves washing something that just peed in; so then just dispose of it. Their patented technology guards against splashing and spilling. The GoGirl female urination device will be quite an addition to any woman’s handbag, a must-have for those times you just have to go! The GoGirl comes in two colors – Pink and Camo (Really... really?). A single pack costs $13, while a triple pack is $35.

Another Birthday gift for Midget!

I have to admit, there are a lot of advantages to introducing modern technology to toddlers, as learning tools. The only problem is that toddlers and infants generally cannot be trusted with delicate gadgets, at least mine can't. That is why, the Vinci Tab II, ‘the learning tablet’ for children is awesome. The tablet is big and sturdy so that no amount of rough usage by toddlers and infants will bring any harm to it. It features a 7-inch display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution, a 3MP camera, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor, 8GB of internal storage, a MicroSD card slot, and Wi-Fi. This Android running tablet comes equipped with three different levels of ‘premium educational applications’, and a few free interactive storybooks and animated music videos. It can run for 8 hours once fully charged.

This has been added to my Amazon Wishlist!

Gardening of the Future!

DUDE THIS IS AWESOME!

My own hydroponics bay!!!

In a world where sadly, wonderful greenery is quickly depleting, particularly with urban areas turning into concrete jungles, it’s up to us Earthlings to look for innovative ways to conserve the green. This recent unveiling by Hyundai seems to be the perfect way to add a bit of green to our living spaces. It's called the "Kitchen Nano Garden" (It sports tiered metal shelves, climate control panels, and water source attachments too!), and with this wonderful concept, you gain the ablility to add a garden to your apartment kitchen! Gardening as we know it has changed.

I totally found Midget's next Birthday gift!

For years now we have all relied on Post-it notes to remind us to do the little things that frequently slip our minds. What about those people who still don’t manage to remember anything – like the husband who always forgets the milk, or the babysitter who always forgets bedtime... Or perhaps just an overzealous artsy Midget toddler with a propensity for drawing on anything made of paper... A monster-sized Post-it table is the only solution, like the one offered by The Post-ITable by Italian design firm Soup Studio. Forget not finding something to write on, this whole desk is one giant post-it note! This playful table is made to be written on, ripped off, and stuck to the wall. Don’t worry if you run out of paper, just put on a new block, and you have a brand new table! No one will be able to miss that huge reminder on the wall!

One Heart

Have you ever had that one fleeting moment in your life
Where you could see how everything is going to be
How you just know that this is exactly how your life will turn out
I had that moment, I saw a life, with you

I had a feeling that you weren't ready
Perhaps it wasn't the right time to tell you
Maybe I shouldn't have opened up
I should have kept it all to myself

I fumbled to find the perfect words that night
I found myself stumbling over regrettable sentences
I didn't take a moment to stop and think
About how things never work out as I plan

I continue to tell myself, that I don't really care
I shouldn't have allowed myself to get so close
I continue to tell myself, that I am wrong about you
I shouldn't have allowed myself to love you

You don't see the differences do you?
The way we talk a little less
The silence a creeping march
That walks between our conversations

I wish I hadn't met you
So my heart would never know
The air of sweet promises, confusion, and silly hopes
So that it would never know, this ache for you

I continue to tell myself, I'll be better off, when it's over
I continue to tell myself, the pain will fade
Right now, it's a lie
Maybe it will be true someday

My Friends Are Awesome!

Chelsie Davis: Talked to any of your internal organs lately? My left kidney and I had an absolutely riveting discussion about Marquis De Sade's work.
Koko Mats: Everyday. Yesterday my pleural cavity and I had a transcendental conversation regarding Star Trek and Philosophy.
Chelsie Davis: Awesome, it's nice to know we have such advanced organs that can keep up with our brains seeing as they must have their own neuron firing system of some sort.
Koko Mats: Didn't you know, my pleural cavity is a Mensa member?
Chelsie Davis: No shit. Hmm. My left kidney enjoys golf and taxidermy.
Koko Mats: I was thinking about suggesting that my vagina pick up a new hobby, how do you feel about road kill collecting?
Chelsie Davis: Ha ha good way to repel dicks, meant figuratively and literally.
Koko Mats: ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ ... Good point... maybe not the best of hobbies for it to pick up...

Electronic Protection!

I recently added this wonderful item to my Amazon Wishlist... "WATERWEAR" is a water resistant case which includes specially made water resistant earphones. This would be perfect to have poolside while Midget is swimming, just incase she decides to throw my phone, or MP3 player in the pool...

Flip Flop or Thong... That is the question...

How many times has it happened to you? Spontaneously, you decide to go to the beach on a sunny afternoon.  Everything is packed – towels, food, sunscreen, the baby – only to reach the beach and realize you have forgotten your swim shorts. Never fear though, because Douglas Hamilton (Singapore-based BBH Asia-Pacific copywriter and associate creative director) has invented the perfect solution to the problem. It's called the ‘ThingThong’, this contraption is basically a dual-purpose flip-flop which doubles as a thong-style swimsuit for those "emergency situations". The slipper’s Y-straps are completely adjustable and made of thin, comfortable elastic (Though I have to truly wonder just how "comfortable" wearing a glorified flip-flop on one's junk actually is...). Basically, just slip it on and the “slipper” part of it will cover your junk! There isn’t much other than the thin straps to protect your nether areas. I'm not exactly sure how many guys are going to be clamoring to get their hands on one of these barely-there creations. After all, it takes a brave man to be seen in a thong in the first place... much less this thong, and an even braver woman, to be seen with this man.

What's up?

I haven't written in the past few days... but don't worry, I'm not going to disappear for months on end... I've just had a very busy week... I'll post a bit today, and hopefully go back to posting regularly tomorrow or the day after.

Japanese Imigration: A Cautionary Tale

Japan has one of the strictest immigration policies in the world and has historically been closed off to outsiders. It has a foreign population of less than 2% - six times smaller than the percentage of the U.S.

But what are the effects of keeping foreigners out?

Japan is facing an alarming labor shortage, says Robert Guest, the business editor of The Economist and author of "Borderless Economics."

Japan’s current population is around a 127 million. It’s on pace to be just 90 million by 2050, a drop-off of almost one-third. The nation is also aging. Almost one in four people are 65 or older – making Japan the oldest country on earth.

Guest says there’s a solution to the labor shortage: open the borders and invite more immigrants.

But that idea has hurdles.

“They don't have the idea that you can become Japanese,” says Guest. “And they don't have the idea that you can solve some of the country's chronic labor problems by importing foreign hands.”

In its health care sector, for example, Japan is estimated to be short almost 900,000 workers 2025. It started to invite foreign nurses, and since 2008 almost 600 have come to Japan.

But only 66 have passed Japan’s notoriously difficult nursing proficiency exam, which requires an expertise in written Japanese.

Japan’s health ministry has made the test easier, adding some English translations, but critics say it’s still unreasonable.

“It should be good enough that they are able to communicate verbally with people and that they are able to read the words they need to know for the tools of their trade,” says Guest. “It worked perfectly well in other countries.”

And it’s not just foreign workers who might run into obstacles. In some cases, it’s immigrants who have been living in Japan for decades.

In 1990, facing a labor shortage, Japan gave ethnic Japanese from South America long-term residence status, filling gaps in its workforce.

Japanese-Brazilians filled manufacturing jobs and became the third largest minority in Japan.

But in 2009, with unemployment running high, Japan actually offered money to them to leave the country – $3,000 for each worker to cover travel expenses.

And the flight was essentially a one-way ticket – anyone who took the offer couldn’t come back to Japan with the residence status they once had.

The government says it was only trying to help unemployed Japanese-Brazilians. They’ve stopped offering the deal and are reconsidering the residence status of those who took the money.

So if Japan won’t let in immigrants, what is it doing about its labor shortage?

It’s encouraging families to have more children, giving them $1650 a month for each child. But that hasn’t been enough to inspire a growth spurt.

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I really need to hurry up and get my nursing degree...

♂ or ♀... or perhaps... ⚦

Either way, I love her...

Though, there are days like this when I question whether or not I am raising a boy, or a girl. Today, she wanted to go see the trains, so we went to go see the train yards, with all the trains, then she wanted to go see the airplanes, so we went to tour Dobin's AFB, and she saw a bunch of planes, and then she helped (insisted) changing the air filter in the car.

Upon changing her diaper a few moments ago, I sighed with relief the lack of a penis rofl.

Text from Yo...

A few days ago, Yo was hospitalized in Japan, due to breathing problems. He's back in L.A now,  but is currently at Cedar Sinai. Sending the message;        

"I'm in hospital, getting an IV, I'm ok though.".

An email from G...

On July 4th YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz will hold their Budokan live, that will also be G’s birthday live! But there is some sad news for us fans, because that day will mark the end of the band.

The members have collectively decided to go separated ways after their last live titled “Camui Gakuen, Sparkly Male Cram School, Happy Birthday Live, Don't Cry, Let's Say Sayonara With Smiles” (what a fucking name lmao).  As for reasons behind the disbandment? G has stated that some members want to reach their own, separated goals and they can’t reach them while being part of YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz. That’s why they’ve decided on a positive breakup, in order to create something new. They hope their fans are looking forward to their new projects!

Honestly, the only projects I care about regarding the members of YFC, is G, and Chachamaru, the other members and their projects are unimportant to me.

Gold Cartridge...

This game is unnecessarily hard... I think I'm going to play a new game for a while, as I am getting highly frustrated...

Oh Come On...

Somali Islamists offer a 10 camel bounty for Obama 

It should be noted that my bro Brian was once offered 30 camels during a marriage proposal towards me, from a Turkish man via Skype...

Wow, I'm worth more than Obama... I don't really know how to feel about this.

Memories

I really need to remake this picture at some point...

Today's green, yet truly Fucked Up Fact...

Aokigahara (青木ヶ原), also known as the Sea of Trees (樹海), is a 35-square-kilometre (14 sq mi) forest that lies at the northwest base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The forest contains a number of rocky, icy caverns, a few of which are popular tourist destinations. Due to the wind-blocking density of the trees and an absence of wildlife, the forest is known for being eerily quiet.

The forest has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology and is a popular place for suicides; 54 completed the act in 2010, despite numerous signs, in Japanese and English, urging people to reconsider their actions.

The forest is a popular place for suicides, reportedly the most popular in Japan and second in the world after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Statistics vary. In the period leading up to 1988, about 30 suicides occurred there every year.

In 2002, 78 bodies were found within the forest, exceeding the previous record of 74 in 1998. In 2003, the rate climbed to 100, and in recent years, the local government has stopped publicizing the numbers in an attempt to downplay Aokigahara's association with suicide. In 2004, 108 people killed themselves in the forest. In 2010, 247 people attempted suicide in the forest, 54 of whom completed the act. Suicides are said to increase during March, the end of the fiscal year in Japan.

The high rate of suicide has led officials to place signs in the forest, in Japanese and English, urging those who have gone there in order to commit suicide to seek help and not kill themselves. The annual body search, consisting of a small army of police, volunteers, and attendant journalists, began in 1970.

The site's popularity has been attributed to the 1960 novel Nami no Tō (波の塔, lit., "Tower of Waves") by Seichō Matsumoto, which ends with two lovers committing suicide in the forest. However, the history of suicide in Aokigahara predates the novel's publication, and the place has long been associated with death: ubasute may have been practiced there into the 19th century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of those left to die.

Though I don't think you came here for a history lesson...

ON WITH THE GORE!

Note, some of these pictures are blurred... not my fault, I didn't do it, don't complain to me.

 

Pretty cool, huh?