Grape Juice is Great Juice - I've been saying this all along! Grape juice is the best juice in the world, but cranberry is a close second. Apple juice is just gross, but cider is good. The article is actually about antioxidants, though. Quoth British researcher Alan Crozier, "Purple grape juice made with Concord grapes contains the highest and broadest range of ployphenols as well as having the highest antioxidant capacity. Other high-ranking produces include cloudy apple juice and cranberry juice drink."

Ballmer says Google is insane - So is that what he calls his reflection? I've always just addressed myself as "self." I'd say something like "It'll be smooth sailing from here, Self." Ballmer, scary-looking CEO of Microsoft and really crazy dude, is all up in arms over Google (again) over their development plans for the new Docs & Spreadsheets product, among other things. That man is going to have a heart attack, mark my words.

The Problem, in A Fundamental Nutshell: 'Is Your Baby Gay?' - I tried to think of something for this one, but Southern Baptists just aren't funny. Mohler, "one of the leading voices of the... Southern Baptist Convention," asked on his blog what Christians would do if there was testing available to detect imminent homosexuality in fetuses and a hormone patch that could prevent it. It's sort of an interesting question, after you get past the disgusting bigotry of the way it's asked.

By the by, the new dog is named Abigail, and she was spayed on Friday. I haven't gotten any pictures because the light has sucked for the past couple of days.

I should be pretty pleased. I'm not.

CO, SC, SD, TN, VA, and WI (at least) passed amendments to their respective state constitutions to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. I'd like to take this opportunity to note that none of these amendments actually changes the status of gay marriage in those states. None of them have ever allowed gay marriage, and DOMA protects them from having to recognize unions from other states. This is a preemptive attack by conservatives against the possibility of change. You know, Virginia was starting to grow on me. I was beginning to think I might be able to settle down here someday. So much for that idea.

Hey Virginia, you might want to update your slogan.

I'm in VA, but I can't vote on it because I'm a New York state resident, on the books.

I've been out for a good number of years now. It was Friday 13 December 2002. That's a long story for another day. I was lucky though. Even though I come from a relatively conservative area in upstate New York, I didn't get much trouble about it. My family was, for the most part, very accepting. I don't know how people, especially young people, deal with it when their friends or family reject them for their sexuality. I wish there was something I could do for them. In fact if you're in that situation, contact me, I want to help if I can.

The most important thing for me about coming out is that it makes people think. It's one thing to hate "gay people" (or other less tasteful terms) and entirely another to hate a person you've known for years. A lot of people that have a problem with homsexuals actually are afraid of the Big Bad HomoMonster™. Come out. Come out as an ally. Be the person that destroys the Big Bad HomoMonster™, even if it's just for your immediate family and friends.

I found this image on Wikipedia. Yes I'm addicted to Wikipedia.

"Save the young person. Why should we worry about curing AIDS? Haven't we got a huge overpopulation problem as it is?"

Even now, I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. I'm not a violent person at all, and I would never wish harm on anyone, but I just have a hard time understanding how a person can come to their second semester in college and not be more informed and have a little more critical thinking ability than to make a comment like that. I like to think that I'm a very tolerant person, but I just cannot stand for intolerance. I managed to quell my anger for long enough to get through class, but the professor caught an earful afterwards. She was sympathetic, and I thanked her for redirecting the conversation before I said things I would regret.

I thought that I had fulfilled my quota of remaining calm in the face of intolerance for the day, but apparently it's not a quota-based system. Like a trooper writing tickets, I just deal with as much as there is, with no minimum, and apparently no maximum.

I was discussing the world population problem with a professor today. I asked him if my fear that society may be selecting away from intelligence (more on that later). He said that I could have a valid point, but there were other factors to take into account. When population density in Europe reached a critical level, it allowed the plague to spread rapidly kill one third of Europe's population, with mortality rates as high as 70% in some cities. With the population density and mobility increasing steadily, my professor speculated that a crisis of this nature is not infeasible. "Maybe it'll be AIDS," he said. "Look at what it's doing in Africa already." Now, this statement by itself might not seem so bad, but he has also expressed, in an offhand sort of way, that he doesn't approve of homosexuality. He has also admitted that he's not terribly accepting of diversity. In that light, and given my day, can you blame me for being a bit upset? This was a man that I looked up to, who inspired me to persue my selected branch of animal science. I still greatly respect him professionally, but I've lost all respect for him as a person.

Ever have one of those classes that just goes on forever, and you look at your watch and see that it's only halfway over? Organic is not one of those classes. When I look at my watch the class isn't halfway over, it's over by half an hour. One hour of organic chemistry makes my brain shut off, which makes the scheduled class time 15 minues too long to begin with. I have no idea what posesses my professor to think that an extra 30 minutes might help.

So my phone battery is like Skittles™ now. It's five (differently colored but similar tasting) different flavors of messed up. For example, I just turned it back on. Five minutes ago it said it was holding full charge. I bet you could guess what it's telling me now. Yup, full charge. God I hate technology.

Tonight I'm gonna make some onigiri. For those of you who aren't gonna click the link, it's a neat little japanese food where you take a ball of sushi rice, fill it with something yummy (in my case canned salmon [with the little vertebra and everything]) and wrap it in nori (dried seaweed). Then you put it in your mouth and masticate. Then you go get yourself a fresh pair of shorts because it is just that good.

Coretta Scott King passed away today. She was an active and influential civil rights supporter, and she will be dearly missed. Ironically, Samuel Alito was confirmed today as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His decisions, while they seem rational at first glance, have a decided lean towards the denial of civil liberties. I'm upset. This Bush character has put way too many people on the bench for my taste. Today is a dark day indeed for civil rights. That's why it's more important than ever to be socially and politically active. Nobody is going to affect any change by hibernating until the next election. There's work to be done now

I hopped around a lot tonight. I had stuff to talk about. *shrugs*