As if there weren't already enough reasons to love Vodka.

The Many Uses of Vodka
By: Dahlia Rideout

Aside from being a fantastic drink, vodka has many uses which you may not have known about. Since vodka is one of the world's most popular drinks, many of us have a bottle handy in the home. And since it's typically filtered and pure, it makes a handy liquid to have around.

Here are a few uses:

1.To remove a bandage painlessly, saturate the bandage with vodka. The solvent dissolves adhesive.
2.To clean the caulking around bathtubs and showers, fill a trigger-spray bottle with vodka, spray the caulking, let set five minutes and wash clean. The alcohol in the vodka kills mold and mildew.
3.Clean jewelry. Soak the jewelry in vodka for five minutes, then rinse, and dry.
4.Clean lipstick from clothing. Rub the stain with vodka, then throw into your regular wash.
5.Remove the glue left behind by a bumper sticker. Rub the glue with a soft, clean cloth soaked with vodka
6.Prolong the life of razors by filling a cup with vodka and letting your safety razor blade soak in the alcohol after shaving. The vodka disinfects the blade and prevents rusting.
7.Spray vodka on vomit stains, scrub with a brush, then blot dry.
8.Using a cotton ball, apply vodka to your face as an astringent to cleanse the skin and tighten pores.
9.Add a jigger of vodka to a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo. The alcohol cleanses the scalp, removes toxins from hair, and stimulates the growth of healthy hair.
10.Fill a sixteen-ounce trigger-spray bottle and spray bees or wasps to kill them.
11.Pour one-half cup vodka and one-half cup water in a Ziplock freezer bag and freeze for a slushy, refreshable ice pack for aches, pain or black eyes.
12.Fill a clean, used mayonnaise jar with freshly packed lavender flowers, fill the jar with vodka, seal the lid tightly and set in the sun for three days. Strain liquid through a coffee filter, then apply the tincture to aches and pains.
13.To relieve a fever, use a washcloth to rub vodka on your chest and back as a liniment.
14.To cure foot odor, wash your feet with vodka.
15.Vodka will disinfect and alleviate a jellyfish sting.
16.Pour vodka over an area affected with poison ivy to remove the urushiol oil from your skin.
17.Swish a shot of vodka over an aching tooth. Allow your gums to absorb some of the alcohol to numb the pain.
18.Soothe a sore throat. Add a tablespoon of vodka to glass of warm water and gargle. The alcohol helps numb the sore throat.
19.Eliminate swimer's ear. If you don't have rubbing alcohol, fill an eardropper with vodka, and squeeze it into the affected ear, then let it drain out

A few thoughts:
#1 - And the alcohol won't burn that cut of yours at all.
#7 - Isn't the vodka what got you in this mess in the first place?
#9 - What is a jigger?

And my personal contribution to this list:

#20 - Or you could just drink the vodka and forget all of these troubles and pains.

D'oh!

Don't worry, they're not talking about you.

I think I have a crush on a plant.

IN THE NUMBERS:

A 2008 study by Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron has estimated that legalizing drugs would inject $76.8 billion a year into the U.S. economy — $44.1 billion from law enforcement savings, and at least $32.7 billion in tax revenue ($6.7 billion from marijuana, $22.5 billion from cocaine and heroin, remainder from other drugs).

While I will not advocate for the legalization of all drugs - though the argument behind this is strong, it doesn't quite gel with my beliefs - I do believe the time has come to legalize marijuana.


BENEFITS:

Tax revenue. (The estimated 6.7 billion almost seems conservative.)

Law enforcement savings. (Check out the wikipedia article for the war on drugs.)

Job creation. (Some job loss seems likely for the DEA but think of how many jobs could be created if these tax revenues were invested in drug rehab clinics, drug education/awareness programs, and health care in general.)

Human cost. (The amount of human life lost in the name of the drug war is sickening.)

Relief of overcrowded prisons.


WHY NOT?:
Health effects. (Yes, much like there are health effects of tobacco and alcohol usage. Take your tax revenues and treat these effects.)

Gateway drug. (Yes, much like the gateway possibility of tobacco and alcohol usage. Again, take your tax revenues and educate about this possibility.)


WIll IT HAPPEN?:
Probably just pipe dreams for now. BUT, I am hopeful that by the time today's 20 somethings become 50 somethings that the legalization of marijuana will be a very real possibility.

Come again?

On Darwin’s Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution
by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education and, to an even greater degree, religiosity.

There is a strong relationship between education and belief in Darwin's theory, as might be expected, ranging from 21% of those with high-school educations or less to 74% of those with postgraduate degrees.





?????!????? The question asked was, "Do you, personally, belive in the theory of evolution, do you not believe in evolution, or don't you have an opinion either way?" It's one thing for your creation belief to exclude evolution but it's a whole 'nother story to just outright reject the whole of evolutionary science. It's kind of like saying, "I don't believe in the truth." or, "My own eyes are lying to me."

Paintball is sexy

"Hey boys, I'm awfully dirty, won't someone help me get clean??" Silly boys:













You see, the reality of paintball is actually much closer to this:



Also, Greg, I was hoping your outfit would look something like this:



Or even better, this:



Whatever you do, do NOT wipe:

At what temperature is Farenheight and Celcius the same?

Hey so I was on the plane on the way here, laying across a full row of seats on the half empty flight from Houston to Amsterdam, and I noticed something on the little screen that shows you how far you have (or have not) flown. It said that the outside temperature was -55 Fahrenheit/-45 Celsius (or something like that). It took a double take, but as far as I could remember Celsius was always a lower number than Fahrenheit. Almost a day later, Tal, Donovan, two of his roommates, and I were riding the train back from Rotterdam at 4:00AM and I brought this up. Maybe it wasn't the best time to try and visualize the point of intersection of an equation none of us really even remembered, we were not up until 4:00AM in the library studying and drinking coffee. We looked it up the next day. It really does intersect, but at a temperature few of us will ever experience. Hello from Holland.

"majority" supporters mean alot

Coincidences indeed! I'm pretty excited that Paloma brings this up, support of GLBT rights is something I feel really strongly about (and if anyone in Austin is so inclined, I'm interested in attending Texas Lobby Day on March 2nd but want a partner). I feel like this is a situation where being a supporter is often a silent thing outside of the people we actually come into contact with on a personal level. I was inspired a couple months back to become a member of Atticus Circle , a group recognizing that as members of the majority, we have a unique responsibility to impact progression otherwise minority groups would never win fights for equal respect. Recently it lead me to a T-shirt project, Gay? fine by me that I think is great (though I wonder if it makes as much impact here in Austin, I'll make sure to wear it while traveling). I opted for the Gay marriage?fine by me T-shirt in hunter green, because the marriage/adoption rights issues are the current gaping thorn in my societal side.

"Whoa, heavy post for just getting back to this blog thing" ....yeah, sorry about that... um, yes Paloma, I'm in for Hey Homo!

I love my friends!

I think I have a crush on a drag queen.

We all go through phases right?

My last phase was the phase of the funny. Comedians and comedy shows alike just kept poping into my life. Not only did I have the privledge of watching Kevin Nealon, Kids in the Hall (for free thank you Meg and Chris!), and Eddie Izzard but I also saw a TON of amatuer comedy - I even had a close friend venture into that realm.

Now to be clear, this is not quite the same as that phenomenon of "I was thinking about buying the XL7 Bladdity Blah Red Car and now I see it everywhere!", or "I just learned about transcendental meditation and now I can't pick up a magazine or turn on the tv without hearing about it!" But I do think these two things - phases and coincidental connections - are close cousins. The distinction is - and correct me if I sound way off here - that "phases" are more about your life's happenings over an extended period of time, whereas "coincidental connections" are more about you just paying witness.

My point is, I think that I'm about to enter the phase of the transvestite/transgendered/drag queens, LBGT at large. At least that's what I'm hoping for. And I figure Antony Hegarty (above) and a crush on a drag queen puts me off to a good start. Oh, and my lesbian cousin got married yesterday to boot!! Come with me to Hey Homo??



P.S. No, I do not personally plan to become a transvestite, transgender, or drag queeen ... or lesbian. "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

For the visually oriented folk:

Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait

Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month.

This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the roles and responsibililties of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2008

[ Several new images coming soon; and my apologies for the slow-loading website. In a few weeks these JPEGs will have a cool zooming function, using Microsoft's new SeaDragon technology. Please stay tuned! ~cj, December 2008 ].



IN A NUTSHELL, THIS PROJECT IS REALLY RAD! Here's a teaser of one of the full images and it's progressive stages of zoom BUT you should definitely check out the slow-loading website too!

Light Bulbs, 2008
72x96" (The displays are massive!)

Depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage (inefficient wiring, computers in sleep mode, etc.).

Putting the US bailout in perspective - Part Two

On a slightly more serious note:

Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, wrote a letter to President Barack Obama outlining the steps that must be taken to address our current financial crisis. My hunch is, he knows what he's talking about.

Stenigno and Donovante, how are your respective countries holding up? Any bailouts for the Performance Arts?

Putting the US bailout in perspective - Part One

South Korea Gives Music Industry $91 Million Bailout
2/5/2009 By Brock Thiessen

If you’re sick of the Conservatives and their arts-cutting ways, you may want to consider making the move to South Korea, a country whose government cares enough about its music industry to give it a $91-million bailout.

South Korea’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry this week unveiled the new rescue plan, saying the government aims to “globalize” the country’s pop music and help the industry bounce back from music piracy. Ministers hope the five-year plan will double the country’s annual music sales, both online and in the shops, and make music a $1.2 billion industry in South Korea by 2013, the ministry said in a statement [via Agence France-Presse].

As part of the bailout package, the ministry will fund the construction of several new concert halls, a K-pop hall of fame, a Korean version of the U.S. Billboard charts and an annual music awards ceremony. The ministry will also help financially support 35,000 noraebangs (karaoke bars without alcohol) by providing them with new music equipment.

"It's crucial to protect songwriters from online piracy in order to globalize K-pop music," a ministry official told AFP. "It's difficult to expect a songwriter to produce good contents when his products are being easily stolen."

Stenigno encouraged me to share more on this blog.

I've long been a fan of story telling in all of its various forms. Within the past year or so, I've become increasingly interested in a quite particular (and maybe peculiar) niche of story telling - how artists ready themselves prior to engaging in the creative process.

I've read the story of a graphic novelist who, every morning, pays a visit to her greenhouse. There she spends the next quarter of an hour pressing her own ink and then, sitting at her greenhouse drawing table, swirls pen and ink on blank pieces of paper until words or picture come out.

I've also learned of a well-known musician who, after suffering from two debilitating strokes, began to sketch birds as a way to both recover his facilities and to re-engage that inventive part of himself.

The clip below is from Vivian Kubrick's (daughter of Stanley) documentary, Making 'The Shining'. Jack Nicholson prepping for the famous axe-through-the-bathroom-door scene is a thing of beauty.

so this quick video came on tv during the break between shows. they sometimes do that on one of the channels down here. which means that 1/5 of australian channels do it because australia only broadcasts 5 effing channels. i miss watching seinfeld 4 times a day. anyway it was kinda weird but funny so i went and found it on youtube. it's also in german, which makes it a bit weirder, but it's subtitled too. here it is