Who loves this picture? I do!

I was doing some research on a paper when I ran across this gem. "Gay rights advocate Matthew Arnold-Lloyd of Albany, N.Y., right, meets nose to nose with an unidentified man opposed to gay marriage during a rally outside the Capitol in Albany, Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Gay rights advocates want the Legislature to approve legislation to legalize gay marriage in New York" reads the AP byline. 'Cause how better to show how much you dislike gays and gay rights than going nose-to-nose with a member of the same sex as if going in for a passionate kiss? Priceless.

Photo by Mike Groll.

What should've been a clear blue sky... but wasn't because Mother Nature decided to bless us with Cirrus Uncinus clouds.

Someone is wrong on the internet. Always. But really, guys? Chemtrails? For reals?

Here's the deal: I'm farting around on Flickr, looking at pretty pictures in an "all Montana" photogroup, when I come across a photo of excellent Montana clouds - the whispy kind that denotes only the most superb of days. It's one of the things I really love about Montana. Don't underestimate the luck of being able to look up and see fluff painted daintily across the heavens. After admiring the photo for a few seconds, I looked down to the description, where the photographer was bitching about how she was "disappointed that they didn't leave the sky alone" and how "the sky was obscured the entire time" she was in Montana. Now don't get me wrong; I like a blue sky as much as the next guy. But when it's Montana whispy cirrus vs. plain ol' blue sky? Exactly. Gimme the clouds.

So I made the mistake of posting a comment saying such. This is how I find out that the photographer is a crazy conspiracy theorist.

Ladies and gents, I consider myself to be a fine connoisseur of conspiracy theories, being that I was exposed to no less than 53 of the craziest (including the "chemtrails are a government conspiracy to kill the American people" one) conspiracy theories known to man, all by the age of 12 (I have a crazy uncle). I've seen the videos, read the tracts, and guess what? It all adds up to 'I'm A Scared Deranged Individual With Too Much Time On My Hands And Too Much Need To Be Somehow Better Or More In-The-Know Than Everybody Else So I Can Warn Them And Save Them From The Big Scary World'.

Then, understandably, she gets upset when I say she's taking the "paranoid approach". Okay, so I lack tact. She's "done research," you understand. She's an expert. I get nice. I forgot that conspiracy theorists don't like to be called paranoid. That they don't see their own crazy. They're always right, you know. I'm just ignorant. I bow out, letting her to her fear and loathing, though I tell her that I "must simply appreciate [her] beautiful cloud photography for what it is to my perception: photography of chemtrails and gorgeous (natural) Montanan cloud formations."

So, this is how gorgeous cirrus uncinus clouds get demoted to the status of vague threats on our lives. This is where you look up and see sparkling scars in our skies. This is where wind-blown ice crystals become reasons to blame every headcold, nosebleed, and cough on "someone's" wish to kill the American people. This is where we, as a society, lose it. It's more than just the lack of scientific knowledge or understanding; it's where there is an enemy around every corner. It's where, when a plane disappears into the rubble of a building, as it has been demonstrated that planes do when hard-crashing into something, it is someone trying to kill us. It's where there is no hope, no trust, no goodness in others, no escape from your own irrational fears. It's where so much goes wrong.

In defense of love.

I had never heard of Keith Olbermann before tonight when I was shown this video. It sums up all I believe on the subject. Thank you Mr. Olbermann for standing up; you give me hope.

I present as evidence Figure 1.

Figure 1: I don't care who you are, this is adorable and awesome. I hope is wasn't staged. Just look at the dads' smiles in the last panel!


Figure 2: OMG so true. Villains! All of us! Pinko commies! Nazi fascists! ... with... common ground?



A few weeks back, I discovered the tabs at the top of the famous I Can Has Cheezburger page. These tabs, when I activated the clicking control device over them, took me to magical places, places where they entertain me with celebrity lolz, graph lolz, and sometimes political lolz (when they weren't blatantly bashing conservativism). I highly recommend each of them, because it is important to get your daily dosage of lolz and other opinions.

News du jour.

In no particular order:

1) Obama won. I pray that this capital-c Change all works out as well as it is promised to, that our fine president-elect is not assassinated by haters, and that supporters of both candidates will actually listen to their candidates and treat others with respect and understanding.

2) The campaigning is finally over. Thank everything holy. Really, do.

3) My classmate's sister died this Sunday. He had been missing from the seat next to mine in French to go see his sick sister. I saw him in the hall today and asked if his sister was feeling better. "She died," he said. I can't even imagine the pain he and his family are going through. I know nothing in English or French that can even express it.



4) I have two new shirts. One has cameras and ghosts; the other has birds and a telephone.

5) I am building meself a Flickr account. It has been kinda weaksauce for the past several months, so I haven't reported on it, but now that I've got 3 rolls of some decent Photography Class pictures in there, it's getting better. If you want to help, I'm trying to decide what to send in for a photography contest.

6) Washington is apparently instituting assisted suicide. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

7) Did I mention that the campaigning is over? That means, roughly translated: "Nobody is going to try to convince Caitlin that she OMG NEEDS TO VOTE FOR THIS CANDIDATE OR ELSE for another couple years." It takes the fun out of being a big girl sometimes.