Black Friday Indeed for Walmart

Oh what the hell is wrong with people. An employee at a Valley Stream, NY Walmart died after being trampled by really anxious shoppers. According to the NYT, shoppers broke doors off their hinges around 4:55am and things got ugly and dangerous.

From NYT: At 3:30 a.m., store employees called the Nassau police to report that the crowd was growing quickly, the police said. Officers came by to try to organize the line, but were called away to a Circuit City, a Best Buy and a B.J.’s Wholesale Club nearby, to deal with crowds there. .

A young man is dead. Jesus people, it's just shopping. *k



Photo Fox News




Photo just before stampede from NYPost.com

Before and After

I created my avatar (above), and then made her over. My hair is back to blonde now. Time well spent! k

I gotta hot waist, but the hips are too big.

This is what asa brings to my life. A Something to get in the way of my usually productive work day. Seriously, if it weren't for him i would slave, slave, slave away; probably finishing my PhD in 3 years instead of 5. Instead of slaving, i've made a simpsons avatar of myself. Now you too can be part of the fun. I'd like to point out that there was a time when my hair was actually this color AND i had blue lipstick. And if you had seen me after the hampden haircutter from hell gave me a mullet, this haircut would've been true to life too. Art imitates life? www.simpsonsmovie.com j

life in the fire zone

Los Angeles is currently surrounded by flames.  Fires in multiple directions, covering the city with an odd yellow glow that's pretty until you step outside and try to breathe in it.  Mike Davis has some fascinating and controversial things to say about LA's unique position of having "the longest wild edge, abruptly juxtaposing tract houses and wildlife habitat, of any major nontropical city."  This means not only that I pass the occasional coyote on my street at night, but also that the edges of the city run right into fire zones.  Zones where destructive fires are guaranteed at least every couple of years. 

Davis' position is clear: A chapter in his book Ecology of Fear is titled "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn."  And I tend to agree.  It's one thing to live in a state where there will be earthquakes once in a while, it's quite another to build multi-million dollar houses in a known fire zone (which is a bit narrower than a whole state, and thus more easily avoided) because greedy real-estate developers had building restrictions loosened for their own gain.  This shit is crazy!  Davis calls for controlled fires in these regions, which have been proven effective at preventing the spread of wild fires, but rich folk don't want those fires in their backyards.  I guess they'd rather wait for the big ones. Why should they even have a say, when other people's insurance premiums are raised to help them rebuild in these same fire zones?

The photo above has not been altered in any way (naturally, since I can barely use Photoshop), but cameras have limitations.  The colors were actually reversed:  The sky was whitish, and the sun was red like raspberry Jell-O.

*L

Fuck the auto industry

You all know how super pumped I was and am about this election and a future president Obama. And there are bound to be disagreements and disappointments over the years. But unless Obama decides to increase farm subsidies, NOTHING could be more disappointing to me than his support of an auto industry "rescue package." Indeed, I'm quite pissed. I've written every senator and congressman I can think of, as well as Obama himself. I'm sure it won't matter.

The American auto industry has been making sub-par cars for years, while at the same time actively working to lower environmental standards and block research into alternative forms of auto energy. Let them fail: they are not failing b/c of the bad economy, but because of their poor products and bad business model.

Instead, why can't congress be creative and put together a package for pension support, unemployment and job retraining for the workers in this shit industry. Giving the American auto groups a bail out will only temporarily stave off the massive loss of jobs that will occur someday when there are no bailouts left. Argh! j

by Callie Shell for TIME

I'm so proud

Meet Maria. She's asa's friend and awesome and crazy b/c she just ran the entire NYC marathon in under 4 hours but superb b/c she ran for obama. This photo is from the NY times! I find it all very inspiring.
J