workin a lot and still managing about a book a week. it helps if some of them are silly bathroom reading books "why do men have nipples?" and "why do men fall asleep after sex?" i can't answer the second one yet because i haven't gotten there yet, but the answer to the first question i actually knew before i read the book thanks to an article in playboy. seriously, they have good articles :) anywho, it's because for the first 6 weeks all babies are girls. then the girl making gene is suppressed and boy parts develop.

so to ruin the book for you, here are my favorite topics:

asparagus makes people's pee smell because of a sulfur compound called mercaptan. interestingly, those that lack the gene to break it down can enjoy non-stinky pee.

sugar doesn't make kids hyperactive, it's during times when kids would get most excited that they would happen to be having sugar: parties, holidays, weddings, etc.

you're hungry after eating chinese food because you're mostly eating carbs: rice, noodles, low calorie veggies.

our sight can improve with carrots only if you're already deficient in beta-carotene, otherwise you'll just turn yourself orange.

sperm is more nutritious than fattening. typically only a teaspoon, it's about 5 calories, containing vitamin c, phosphates, zinc, among others.

masturbation will not cause blindness or stuttering, in fact keep doing it it will reduce the risk of prostate cancer :)

you friends fans need to stop peeing on jellyfish stings. use sea water or vinegar if available. peeing can actually make it sting worse.

don't suck out venom from a snakebite, you're more likely to infect the wound site.

hiccups are caused by distention of the stomach from food, alcohol, or air and even excitement or stress.

facts about farts (check out my mythbuster video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuIC8NvoHlQ):
farts can travel up to 10 feet per second, you produce about a liter of farts a day, passing gas about 14 times a day, women fart as much as men, and only 1% of the fart makes it stinky.

choosing lesser of two evils means being peed on over being spit on.

don't worry about catching diseases from the toilet, it's the phone you have to worry about at 3,894 germs per centimeter squared, the keyboard has 511, and the mouse has 260.

don't hold that sneeze in, you could cause fractures in the nasal cartilage, nosebleeds, burst eardrums, hearing loss, vertigo, detached retinas, or facial emphysema, yikes! sneezes travel up to 100 miles per hour, look out farts!

i have the most awesome story! i went to st augustine with friends last weekend and i took the camera out to take a picture of the "welcome" sign cause i'm silly like that. i set the camera in my lap and when i got to the beach i must have been so excited that i got out and the camera fell out and i didn't notice. when i went to take a picture and i freaked when i couldn't find it. it's a nice camera, expensive, and not yet paid for. i looked frantically in the car, in the front, in the back, under the seats. nothing. i go back to my friends on the beach hoping they're playing a prank on me after all everyone knows my cameras are my babies. we go back for a second search and one of my friends notices something on the windshield. there's my camera under the windshield wiper blade! someone came along, found it, and returned it! sometimes people do the right thing but to the receiver it's the most amazing act of kindness ever!

we thought we were going to miss it cause of the damn cloud cover all day but luckily it cleared in time. here's a pic, click on the pic for more, and when i get film back even better ones will be posted!

they are easy and mostly free or cheap, or worth it in the long run and you may not have heard of them. maybe it will give you some ideas and i hope you share them!

~see if your store recycles the plastic bags
~make two sided copies and reuse office paper even junk mail to print on the backside (used to piss off my professor but how can they turn down being green?)
~turn off clock on microwave (with the light constantly being on it uses more power than running the microwave!)
~drop of peanuts at UPS stores to reuse
~send old sneakers to: Nike Recycling Center, c/o Reuse-A-Shoe, 26755 SW 95th Ave., Wilsonville, OR 97070
for more info clicky: http://letmeplay.com/reuseashoe
~use compact fluorescent lights (CFL) (cost more, last longer and uses less energy saving you money)
~use LED Christmas lights (same as above and they're prettier :)
~if you still write letters here is a way to make the paper into an envelope: http://www.letterfu.com/

~i've also been riding my bike to run errands (i've attached a milk crate to it) and get exercise
~my clients and i ride the bus whenever possible (good for the environment, keeps money in my pocket)

~i am going to start using canvas bags for grocery shopping, for little purchases i always tell them no bag

Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?

Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman.

ok people go to freerice.com you can improve your vocabulary and donate food. set it a your homepage so you spend a few minutes doing something good while you're surfin' the net. do it. it's easy.

also go to breastcancersite.com and donate mammograms. click "register" and all you have to do is enter your email address (none of the hassle of name, password, and address crap). they'll send you a daily email reminder with link included. follow the link and click donate. it takes less than 10 seconds. make it a part of your email checking routine. do it. it's easy.

thanks to beckka because it was she who inspired me to look for this:

Thank you:

ripper__
luvlorn
lurkingfeline
just_yoo

for your generous donations!
You guys are awesome!!!

::EDIT:: i made my minimum $100 fundraising goal literally overnight. i sent out emails and the next day i had $120 in donations which made my team achieve our fundraising goal of $500. and 3 days later i more than doubled my goal and achieved my new goal of $250-i get a free t-shirt and a relay for life bag :) i have raised more than double any other member on my team and i raised 40% of the money my team raised. i am damn proud of myself and really thankful to you guys who donated and those that couldn't sent me nice emails.

hey guys if you don't read the whole post, here's the skinny:

i'm participating in the local american cancer society relay for life.
please go to my american cancer society website and donate:
http://www.acsevents.org/relay/fl/gainesville/ymvalliere
thanks!

Here's the full info:
More than 1.3 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year. This is a staggering statistic, but there is hope. Hope is the reason I’ve decided to take action against cancer by supporting the American Cancer Society Relay For Life® event in Gainesville, Florida.

Relay For Life is an overnight event that brings our community together to help support the American Cancer Society and its lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. The Society works hard every day to prevent cancer and save lives by supporting groundbreaking research, affecting public policies that protect us from cancer, and educating people on how to prevent or detect cancer early. The Society helps people with cancer right here in our own community. And our efforts at Relay For Life can help the American Cancer Society to keep working toward a cancer-free future.

I want to invite you to show your support in the ongoing fight against cancer by joining us for this year’s event. Please click on the link below for more information, including details on the inspirational Survivors’ Lap and the moving Luminaria Ceremony. We hope to see you there! If you can’t join us, will you please visit the site and make a donation to support our efforts? Either way, you will make a real difference in the lives of people facing cancer – and in the lives of the people who love them. Thank you!

On February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists for the first time. At 12:18pm, 1,500 pounds of explosives were detonated in an underground parking garage below 1 WTC. Six people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the attack and thousands were injured. On this day, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation remembers each of the victims of the 1993 attacks and extends our condolences to the families of those who were killed and our thoughts to all who were affected.

I hope you will join us today in remembering the innocent lives lost at the World Trade Center fourteen years ago. In tribute, we invite you to read remembrances created by loved ones of the victims:

Click here to read the tributes

You can also listen to Mike Hurley, former Director of Fire Safety for the World Trade Center, describe his experiences on February 26, 1993:

Click here to listen to Mike Hurley's podcast

The World Trade Center Memorial and Museum will tell the stories of each of these victims and the experiences of those who were affected on that day. In doing so, we can honor and remember our history for generations to come.

To learn more, please visit http://www.buildthememorial.org/

©2007 World Trade Center Memorial Foundation

why are so many pro-lifers for the death penalty? (found on a button-in a feminist store)

why are so many pro-choicers against the death penalty? (flip side-from shawn)

you all probably know where i stand on abortion, but i don't know where i stand on the death penalty. i'm still on the fence.

so what do we do with the nuclear weapons waste that has to be safeguarded for 10,000 years? WIPP (waste isolation pilot project) has to come up with ways scare people away from exposing the waste. Currently there is a 16 square mile repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico. i don't suggest a vacation there. they plan to mark it with red flags, thirty-two 26' stone columns with warning symbols in multiple languages. There's also going to be a mini-library of maps and lessons on radio activity. their fear is that in 10,000 years time "people and machines will be likely to be communicating in (or with) a different tongue." but i figure the earth's people will have long fried themselves in 10,000 years time. at this rate will we make it another 200 years? i mean we're producing waste that's so bad it's got to be protected for 10,000 years, that's bad!

ACTUAL transcript of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. This radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on 10-10-95.

Americans: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."

Canadians: "Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision."

Americans: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."

Canadians: "No, I say again, you divert YOUR course."

Americans: "THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH. THAT'S ONE-FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP."

Canadians: "This is a lighthouse. Your call."


ok, so it's not actually true, as you can read for yourself here:
http://www.snopes.com/military/lighthse.htm
but it's funny as shit!

Here is a free way to donate to cervical cancer research:

Go to maketheconnection.org click on "click here to make the commitment and you'll be asked to enter your first and last name. then you fill out your address and in a few weeks you'll receive a free bracelet kit; it costs you nothing, not even shipping charges. For every one that is ordered, Merck Pharmaceuticals donates $1 for cervical cancer research. It would be great to get Merck to donate the "up to $100,000" they have agreed to!

i received mine a couple of weeks ago. when i put mine together, i'll post pictures of it so you'll know it's not one of those stupid gimmicks :)

:: EDIT :: as promised:

"the probability of someone watching is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions."

so very true it would seem!

so ya know those really cool inspirational stories you get in your emails? the one about daisy saving thousands of lives during 9/11, or winston churchill's life being saved by the poor farmer's son who later would invente penicillin and save his life again, or kurt warner loving brenda and her down syndrome kid? guess what? fiction!

according to the truthorfiction.com website. of course i can't say for their sources, but i do believe when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

practice abstinence:
no dick, no bush