To celebrate their 10th birthday Google has brought back their oldest available index dating back to 2001.

This article: Racism and the Race -- Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive brings to the forefront one of the issues that's such a huge factor, but that everyone is tiptoeing around.

Racism in this presidential election really scares me. I know how racist lots of people are. Those who were born after desegregation not only don't have, but cannot understand the racism of those who remember "colored" drinking fountains, and lunch counters where black workers weren't welcome, and different doors into hospitals, different treatment at the hands of the justice system...it's impossible, I think, for us to understand how radically the world changed because of Lyndon Johnson and his courageous decision to end his own political career and give the south to the Republicans, so that all people, regardless of skin color, would be protected under the law.

Segregation didn't even start in some southern states until the 70s. I was one of the first kids bused into a "bad neighborhood". And ya know, when I left the chain link fence, and went home with a school friend...there wasn't anything "bad" about the neighborhood...it was just filled with black folks. The houses were just like the houses in our blue collar neighborhood...filled with kids and peanut butter and laughter.

But that's not how the grown ups saw it. They threw rocks at our buses, angry at the government for busing white kids into a black neighborhood, and taking it out on the cowering 6 year olds in the bus. I can't even imagine how horrible it was for the black kids bused into the white neighborhoods.

To this day, older towns in the South (this may be true in the North, I don't know), are divided along an unspoken, but firmly dividing line. It's weird. I recently visited a whole bunch of places, and every town had a street, or an avenue where one neighborhood stopped and the next racial neighborhood picked up...and there's this sort of weird zone between the two where almost nobody goes.

I think the "black" thing is a much bigger issue than many people think it is. Especially those of us that are progressives. We want to believe that it doesn't matter, that people have evolved in the 40 years since Selma, that equality has taken hold in the hearts and minds of the people around us.

But I fear that it hasn't. I think the Republican-fed hysteria about "affirmative action taking away jobs from good white people" has taken root and grown strong. Media distortion of crimes have made people afraid of black men. I have two black families in houses across and catercorner from my house. One of the men is a doctor, and one of them is a social worker who fosters teen boys. The first thing I heard from a few neighbors was how our property values were going to go down. In the 21st century! Seriously. And when I said "Erm...how does a doctor make property value go down?", they looked around and whispered "Well...you know...", as though I were going to be part of their racist conspiracy by refusing to say "Wait? You mean because they're Black?"

Racism is alive and growing, and I fear that it may be the downfall of not just Obama, but of the entire country. For if the electorate defines what's right by the color of the candidate's skin...we have lost so much more than hope. We've lost our humanity.

I've been doing a lot of political stuff over at SpiderFarmer.com, but everyone needs to know about this insanity from the freak who is one ancient, cancer-ridden, heartbeat away from the nuclear codes:

Can you imagine having to pay for the CSI (crime scene investigation-fingerprinting, photography, etc) if your home was robbed? What if a bill came for the breathalyzer tests if you’d been hit by a drunk driver? When Sarah Palin was mayor, the city of Wasilla had the most egregious policy against victims of rape in the state of Alaska, possibly the entire country. The rape kit, a set of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following a sexual assault, was charged to the victim.

Read more at the Alaska Report.

In a scant few hours, scientists will make the first attempt to circulate a beam in the Large Hadron Collider.

Live Webcast

This Metafilter post has a bunch of good info, plus some folks with boots on the ground covering the event.

Igor has really been enjoying Bad Bear Detectives by Daniel and Jill Pinkwater. It’s the story of two Bad Bears and a missing shipload of blueberry muffins.

Yesterday we tried a new raisin bread recipe that didn’t work as expected, so today we made bread pudding. While he’s upstairs at quiet time, I’ve hidden the pudding, and put footprints around the house with rhyming couplet clues on them. We'll see if he can be a good enough detective to find the pudding in time for snackies. Plus, we get to wear hats, because without hats, we'd be spotted as polar bears in no time.

Dig my sister's band. (Well, sister once removed? She's my sister in law from my first marriage...whatever the lineage issues;) Edie Lustie is the grooviest thing, and here's a video to prove it. ;)




Check out their MySpace Page for lots cuts from their new album. The new CD kicks much ass. Rock on, lustily.

The NY Times has confirmed that Obama has chosen Delaware’s 65-year-old Senator Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee’s Vice Presidential running mate.

Touted as reasons to put him on the ticket are his decades of foreign policy experience (including a recent stint in war-torn Georgia), and as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Now, I'm not even going to get into the "crusty old white establishment dude is hardly CHANGE" issues with this nomination. But let us remember that this is the same Senator who has voted for the war in Iraq over and over and over again, while decrying it as a travesty the whole time. If he was so against it, why didn't he vote to withhold funding?

He sponsored the RAVE Act. When it wouldn't pass debate, he attached it as a rider to the AMBER Alert bill, so that it was passed without debate or public discussion. He voted for the new bankruptcy laws which favor usurious interest rate corporations over people suffering financial distress. He voted for No Child Left Behind.

Has he done some good stuff in the Senate? Absolutely. Here's what On The Issues has recorded.

In any other campaign, Biden would have been a fabulous selection. But this campaign? It's pretty hard to claim Biden is an agent of change. But then Obama has already started failing the constituents that brought him to the light. Pandering to the religious right...like they're ever going to vote for a black man, voting for FISA, skipping votes so he doesn't have to defend them.

I have to tell you, I'm disillusioned. Biden pulls the curtain off the Obama of Oz machine, and shows that it's just the same old cantankerous men running the machine just like they've always done.

Anyone who has purchased a house in the last 10 years of so has see what monsters Home Owner’s Associations have become. It’s especially egregious in Texas, where the State Representatives gave HOAs the power to take your home. They are no elections when it comes to management teams, and there is no arguing or winning against them. Most of the time, courts won’t even take cases against HOAs, that’s how powerful their lobby is in Texas.

Witness this latest example of Lawn Nazi behavior:

By STEVE STOLER / WFAA-TV — Dallas Channel 8 — sstoler@wfaa.com

If there’s one thing Texans are serious about, it’s pickups.

But a Frisco man says his truck is being targeted simply because his homeowners association doesn’t think it’s classy enough.

Jim Greenwood said he never dreamed his HOA would have a problem with his new Ford F-150 pickup. Then he received the first of three notices threatening him with fines.

“Mr. Greenwood, you’re violating a subdivision rule that prohibits pickup trucks in your driveway,” the notice reads.

Stonebriar HOA rules allow several luxury trucks on driveways, including the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche, Honda Ridgeline and Lincoln Mark LT.

But most Ford, Dodge or Chevy pickups are restricted.

“It’s very frustrating and confusing. It’s hard to imagine how an HOA would try to dictate what type of vehicle you can drive and park in your driveway,” Mr. Greenwood said.

Bill Osborn of the HOA board said the association also prohibits boats, trailers, golf carts and RVs in driveways.

“The high-end vehicles that are allowed are plush with amenities and covers on the back. It doesn’t look like a pickup,” he said. “It’s fancier.”

Mr. Greenwood appealed, claiming his Ford F-150 isn’t much different from the Lincoln Mark LT.

“The response was: ‘It’s our belief that Lincoln markets to a different class of people,’ ” he said.

“Furthermore, one board member told my wife that if we don’t like it, we can move.”

HOA officials said that many Stonebriar homeowners own pickups but that they abide by the rules and keep them parked in their garages.

“A Chevy Suburban can be in the driveway,” Mr. Greenwood said. “If we had a big Hummer, that could be in the driveway. If we had a Lincoln Mark LT, that could be in the driveway. But a Ford F-150 can’t.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

McKinney Ford dealer Bob Tomes agreed. In Texas, he said, truck owners should have the right to park their pickups on their driveways – even in a gated community.

Now, if it were me, I think I’d be enlisting the mighty smack down arm of the Ford Marketing Division…because I’m sure they have pockets deep enough to fund the fight against this elitist bullshit. Fords aren’t good enough to be seen on the street? Surely Ford will want to squash that pretty quickly.

ZOMG! My Bath Bombs instructable came in 22 out of 14,000 to go in the The Best of Instructables Volume I.

Thanks everyone who voted!

Paris Hilton responds to wrinkly old white dude. In response to McCain's comparison of Obama to Paris Hilton, Paris presents her energy policy and discusses VP possibilities.

This is one of the funnier moments of the campaign so far. Paris, bless your evil, vain little heart for willing to break character long enough to do it. Hysterical!

A global research group of scientists have recently completed research which suggests that cannabis-like substances may hold the key to healthy skin.

Researchers from Hungry, Germany, and the United Kingdom have presented a paper which will be published in the October issue of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) journal that suggests that the human body produces endocannabinoid compounds that resemble the active ingredient in marijuana, THC.

Read more at Soapy Hollow

I do this all the time. I look at some impossible home project, and suddenly in my mind, I'm Bob the Freaking Builder. I am apparently quite insane.

None of the walls are straight. Not one. There is not a single 45 degree angle in that entire room. The potty is crooked enough that I can't even fathom how to work around it. I've already cut my tiles from 12x12 to 6x6, and that's still not small enough I don't think, to work around the weird damn angles.

Plus I have to take a sharp right out of the room where the potty is, to the room where the vanities and sinks and tub and shower are...and I have no idea how I'm gonna make that work.

And...to top it all off...none of the tiles are actually 12x12. They're like 11 3/8 and 11.5, and 11.75....but none of them are the same damn size, making it almost impossible to get cuts where the tiles are the same size.

On the plus side, at least I'm not paying a contractor $100 an hour to realize how completely incapable of using a blue chalk line my builders were.

Also on the plus side, if I ever figure out a way to make it work, I'm gonna be so darn proud of myself.

And of course, if it doesn't, there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in a small town in Texas this weekend. Yea and verily shall there be a disturbance in the force.

I've just put my "how to make soap molds" up at Instructables. Feel free to visit and vote. ;)

On the potty front, I've discovered that the potty has been installed crooked, and none...not a single one...no walls in that room are plumb. Hooray! *facepalm*

Nothing could be more fun that working in a teeny tiny room where nothing is plumb. What could go wrong? Pity me. Really.

But now, I'm taking Igor to the pool. As an assistant, he's earned some slippery slide playtime with his friends.

Boy and I headed out this morning in a quest for tile and other building supplies. And we found them! Whee! It's not exactly what I would have chosen, were money and time no object, but it's gorgeous Italian tile. However, moving 9 cases of tile may have been a bad, bad idea.

We went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore...the prices were amazing, and the selection was better than Lowes. I got all the tile, plus grout, plus spacers and incidentals like sponges to clean up grout, and two 5'x7' rugs for under $300. As my mother would say, "What a bargain!".

Plus, at the Goodwill store next door, I found shorts overalls...in black! I are American Gothic, no? ;)

I've just finished taking out the baseboards and pulling all the concrete nails out of the tiny water closet potty room. Then I filled the holes and did the first layer of leveling and floating the floor. Tomorrow I'll go buy a tile saw, since I can't find mine, and I'll probably blue line/chalk the layout I have in mind, if the floor is level enough without having to do another layer of float.

I'm hot, and sweaty and tired. Feels pretty good, actually. :)

Man, what a crazy few days. First, the potty in the master bathroom decided that it would be fun to break a seal. Yay! And because the builders carpeted the bathroom...I don't know why I didn't notice that in the plans...it meant I had to rip out the bathroom carpet. I've decided I'm going to put tile in. Only, it's a crazy room with a zillion corners and tiny little 5" crannies. And I've been to 5 flooring stores and haven't found anything I like. It's quite possible that I've set myself a task that will drive me mad.

Ok...more mad.

Then I blew up my wordpress site and it's taken me 3 days to figure out what's going on. Now I've figured it out, but I'm not sure how to fix it.

It refuses to rain, goes up to well above 100 degrees, and our poor duckpond is down by 3 feet, I'm worried that the ducks may start some sort of muddy evolution, and by gods if ducks discover thumbs, then we're all doomed.

I had an eye exam, discovered that I need glasses, and then discovered that buying said glasses was going to require a second mortgage. Good lord. And the sales staff at Lenscrafter sniffed at me because I wasn't dressed like the rest of the trophy wives that frequent the area. I had to laugh. And then I left, I mean...obviously I didn't give them money...but it really did amuse me.

So, my regular glasses are going to take a couple of weeks...leave it to me to pick the impossible to find frames...but I picked up my sunglasses today. OMG! I can see. I had no idea I couldn't see, until I could see. Wow.

So, as metaphors go...I can see my way to getting all the projects done...somehow. :)

How fun is that? I saw these little bundt pans at the store...and being a soaper, I couldn't help but make soap to go in them. ;)


Guess what else? My how-to on making Bath Bombs has been featured on Instructables and nominated for the Instructables book. Whee. :)

So, I'm making an "How To" small batch of soap. (In bundt cake molds, I think they'll be really adorable if they work.) Now, working with small batches is really tricky, especially batches that have known seizing oils...and it is not any easier when one is trying to keep a curious 5 year old out of the way.

I just splashed raw soap on to my face when he startled me while I was trying to stir and take a picture at the same time. OMG, that hurts. Ow.

And now for my Emo moment: Oh, my art, how I suffer for thee!


Heh.

Continuing our interview series, I’d like to introduce everyone to Janine Predmore. Janine is the owner/operator of Lemming Central and Things That Make Scents. Things That Make Scents offers an array of products to make your reality smell good (try the tarts…they are amazing), and Lemming Central is a “sample box” company that distributes samples of products from artisans across the bath and body spectrum.

Thanks to Janine for taking the time out to talk to Soapy Hollow!

Cake Wrecks. "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong."

Hysterical!