At what age is a kid too old to breastfeed?

Would we call this "full figured"?

America's Top Model" does.

This is "full-figured" winner Whitney Thompson.

(via Webster's Is My Bitch)

The 9 Most Devastating Insults From Around the World

Serbs come in at #2...and let me tell you, the quoted insults are mild compared to many I've personally heard.
No other culture can get their vulgar on like the Serbs..except maybe the Russians...

Addendum: dalia mentions the video I posted ages ago of a Serbian Basketball player cussing someone off.
Check out his skills here.

I suppose I should be embarrassed by the fact that my people can cut with their tongues, but interestingly enough...I'm not in the least.

"Let's see... I get the cages. I get the egg-shaped protest signs. But why are they in bikinis again? Oh yeah, because PETA are a bunch of fucking idiots who are completely incapable of getting their points across without them being presented by naked or scantily clad retards. Ooh, nudity... Shocking! A hundred bucks says those are paid actresses, too."

(via Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos)

I suck at identifying rock songs...there are a bunch of bands that I always mix up.
Boston/Journey/REO Speedwagon/Toto and the like.

"...pompous, sloppy, contradictory mess, written in bad prose, whether in French or English."

The most accurate description of Jean-Paul Sartre's work that I've ever read.

5 Vacation Planning Tips
(According To Horror Movies)

Herbal Elements for Men

TCM is doing a series on Race in Film.

For the month of June, on Tuesdays and Thursdays they'll be focusing on Asians in film.

Have a look at the line up.

Interesting.

"Wade in the Water
Wade in the Water, children...
If you don't believe I've been redeemed
Wade in the Water"

All my life, I've lived close to a body of water.

I can't imagine it any other way.
If I were to move someplace that didn't have water close by, I would miss it terribly.

Every morning, I drive along the lake shore on my way to work, and sometimes I pull into the lot close by the Sunnyside Pavillion and walk through the park to the water and just stand there and look out.

When I was young, I used to walk off of busy Queen Street, and across the walkway over the Gardiner Expressway to swing on the swings facing the water.
I'd swing out and I felt like I was swinging over the water.

I'd climb over the giant stegosaurus in the park and sit there and look out.

There aren't any swings in that park anymore, and last year when they were revamping the park, every morning, as I drove by, I silently begged them not to take Steggy away...'cause you know how Toronto just loves to destroy memories...but they only painted him, and moved him over a bit.

It's comforting to be able to see something, just the way it was when you were small and without a care in the world.

A touchstone.

Nightmare Photography by Joshua Hoffine



(via Ectoplasmosis)

Dear Downtown Toronto Pedestrian,

I know you're in a hurry (aren't we all?), but when YOUR light is red, kindly keep your half-caff skim latte, and ass on the curb until you get the GREEN!
When you step out and stand 5 feet into the intersection, you make it impossible to make a right turn.
...and don't give me that fucking LOOK.
Between you, and the insane, ignoring the rules of the road cyclists it's a miracle in defensive driving that more people don't get hit.

...and while we're having this conversation, how about taking a look around every so often.
I'm tired of you assuming that everyone else is going to look out for your personal safety.
Yeah, you may have the right of way, but that doesn't mean that you don't need to have a quick peek around to see if it's safe.

Thanks,
Radmila

Today's Quote:

"The question is not how do people lose their minds, but how do we manage to remain sane?"

glumbert - Cool Optical Illusion

Velvet Paintings Of The Day



(click on Marilyn MAN-roe for more)

Back-scratching gunman shoots himself

...ok, this guy and the guy who shot his wife installing a satellite need to go out for a beer and form a support group.
I'm sure there is no shortage of Darwin nominees to join.

William Shatner Secrets:



I love The Shat

"TORONTO - The case of a Tim Hortons worker in Toronto fired almost nine years ago for allegedly stealing a toonie was put over again Wednesday as lawyers for the defendant lamented that the former employee's "frivolous" lawsuit continues to waste time and money.

Charlene Walsh, who was seven months pregnant at the time, and Amanda MacNeil were fired in June 1999 after store managers viewed surveillance video and alleged the workers were seen taking money from a cash register.

Even though the allegation centred around pocketing a $2 coin, Walsh was quickly charged by police with theft under $5,000.

Her lawyer Ernest Guiste said police had enjoyed free food and drinks from the store for years, so they were happy to do the owner a favour by arresting Walsh."



Ok.

So, they dug this shit up in the media because of timbit chick from last week?
Charlene Walsh was pregnant at the time.
Pregnant women and single moms should be allowed to steal money, and food from Timmy's, right?

Somebody pleeeze think about the children!

She's suing the franchisee for 23 million!

Too bad the human rights commission doesn't accept cases based on extortion by whacked out logic...oh wait, they DO!

How about that guy who sued a Burlington restaurant owner because he wouldn't let him smoke his medicinal marijuana at the front door of the family eatery?

Apparently, even Steve Gibson's (the smoker) wife won't let him smoke it in his home because they have small children...but, Steve thinks that he shouldn't have to walk the 20 feet from the door that the owner asked him to...to smoke his pot.

Yeah, the commission accepted that case.

Makes you want to own a business, no?

7 Jobs That Will Kill You

More proof that no good deed goes unpunished.

"Latarian Milton, the 7 year-old who stole his grandmother’s Dodge Durango and went on a disastrous joyride because he “wanted to do hoodrat stuff with [his] friends” is back to his old tricks. Latarian is being held on mental evaluation after attacking the same grandmother in Wal-Mart. Jesus be an extension cord! I would lay his butterball ass OUT after all this."

This is the kid who should be the catalyst to reform child abuse laws.
If anyone deserves an ass kickin', this little miscreant does.

I Can't Complain

I've had quite the day, dear readers.
My Mama had a mild stroke this morning, and through the help of some incredible EMS workers and medical staff at St Mike's, she's totally ok.

I'm not going to bore you with the whole ordeal..I don't have the strength.
But, I will tell you that everyone involved responded quickly, thoroughly and with compassion that makes me vaklempt.

One of the EMS guys who brought Mama to the hospital told me to meet them at the emerg, and when I finally found parking and made it to the emerg, he was waiting for me outside. He told me what was going to happen, what they were going to do, what his experience has been in these situations, and what I should do.

He calmed me down.

Mama received the injection, and by 3pm her speech was normal, and her motor skills were back.
So normal, that she told the woman who was whining about being hungry in the next bed to "SHADDAP!"

Around 4pm, the EMS guy came back to check on her!
He sat with her and gave her a little lecture on accepting medical help.
He told her that even if she was only feeling 99% ok, and 1% sick to accept the help...that they don't mind. He felt better to know that she averted a major stroke because she let them help her.

God bless you, Gary the EMS guy.

People can bitch and howl about our healthcare system...but what I saw today was compassionate and stellar.

I have renewed respect for the medical profession, from the EMS to Doctors...to St Mike's.

Thank you.

I like this trend

8 Reasons Why This is the Dumbest Generation

(I can't disagree with even one of them)

Music Graphs of the Day



click on graph for more

Happy Mother's Day

Food Porn

Saw this movie yesterday.
Wonderful.
Funny and sad.
The acting was great.
Paul Schneider's character as Lars' brother was superb.
There are two scenes with him in them that squeezed my heart. Hard.
You should rent it.

My Favourite Bowie

(By special request)


"I want them to feel like that. I'm sorry, you just fired a mother of four over a Timbit," she said.

Overzealous?
Absolutely.

Internal employee issue?
Uh, yeah.

What her marital status, financial situation, and number of children has to do with it?
Zero.

Thinking this has more to do with other shit in her employee file?
100%

Thinking that she would have been hired back even without the media attention?
Uh, yeah.

People think that it's so easy to fire someone.
It's not.
That's what the Labour Board is for, and employers are very aware of the standards...even if Managers are not.

I want to know who called the media.

Everyone thinks it's all about them....(even me)

So, I'm reading "Baby Wars" on the Toronto Life website:

"Pulp Kitchen is a small 24-seat vegetarian restaurant and juice bar in Leslie­ville, where strollers dot the sidewalks like giant jelly beans. On a summer day in 2006, Julie Forrest entered the restaurant with her friend Karen Green and their two infant daughters to get some salads and juice to go. It was late in the morning, and no one else needed to be served.

Instead of a big welcome, the hipster behind the counter directed a frosty eye at the babies in their strollers. “It was a definite F-you look,” recalls Forrest.

A few weeks later, when she walked by, Forrest saw a handwritten sign on the door: “Attn, parents with baby strollers. Our restaurant is tiny! We have parking for only one stroller inside (but not in the dining area). Thanks!” Forrest’s neighbourhood, south of Queen near Logan, is a place of class confusion: she can buy direct-trade organic coffee and drink it while watching a heavily armed police squad circling a house across her street to halt a drug-related kidnapping. These are the realities of modern downtown life that play out on her blog, Metro Mama, and the blog is right where she headed after her salad snub. Without naming Pulp Kitchen, Forrest posted a picture of the sign and her take on it: “What pisses me off is that I think they have signs like this because they think kids (and parents) aren’t cool. These too cool for school Queen Street joints don’t want the babes spoiling their image.”"

I think that the real issue is Hipsters are having kids and struggling like crazy to stay "cool".

...and while we're at it...a giant "F-you" to you selfish, childless bastards who would like to go out and not deal with screaming babies or toddlers tearing through the restaurant.

Especially when it's a tiny restaurant.

Because who cares about other people...it's all about ME!!!
...and because hipster is a mommy now...we need to get with her program.

(Excuse me while a make a reservation at Pulp Kitchen)

What kills me the most is that the biggest hipsters I've ever met, actually grew up in the 'burbs.
It's a constant struggle to capture that "urban" thing...to the point where you're a parody.

Check out the forum discussion on the article.

There are some excellent comments, like this one:

"As parents of a well-behaved five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter, my wife and I feel comfortable going out to lunch or brunch downtown for the simple reason that our kids are acquainted with the now archaic art of discipline. The old adage “kids will be kids” is great, but not when other people are paying to drink $7 lattes or take in some art. If you are sitting at Shanghai Cowgirl and your four-year-old with the grandiose name wearing the tiny Ramones T-shirt starts screaming, “I don’t want wasabi mayo!” then here’s an idea for you: hang up your hipster hat, drop the New Age child-rearing crap, and actually parent your child. Children don’t need a best buddy from Coolsville who lets them act however the hell they want. They need lots of love and lots of boundaries. So if you’re too lazy to put in the effort and say traumatizing words like “no” and “stop that” to your child, then eat at home."

Matt Hawkins, Toronto

I would like to add that this "Hipster Parenting" trend appears to be a North American thing...because while in Europe, I didn't cringe when a family sat down next to us in a cafe. Because their children sat at the table and behaved themselves, and if they didn't, they weren't consulted or negotiated with.
They were disciplined (GASP!) in public....and everything!

Sex and Violence

I find it fascinating that some people are attracted to men and women who are dangerous...you know, like serial killer groupies.

Boinkology was joking about it in one of today's posts...and then they linked to a site for inmate pen pals.

Listen, I can't help but find that site bizarre and hilarious at the same time.
Call me insensitive if you like.
But, with bios that have things like this one, or this one do...
I really have to wonder if we're being punk'd with that website.

Honestly, it's comedy.

This is the kind of art that used to hang in the office of my Dentist when I was very young. I used to stare at those drawings and all the different things that was going on in them...and get totally creeped out.

I don't know who the Artist is, since I don't read Russian.

Maybe I'm paranoid, because let's face it...it's in my blood.

But, when the US criticizes Russia over the Georgia-Abkhazia dispute, with quotes from
White House press secretary Dana Perino like:

"Moscow must "de-escalate and reverse its measures," begin playing a true mediator role in the dispute and reiterate its commitment to Georgia's "territorial integrity and sovereignty.""

As the U.S. continues to push it's nose into Eastern business encouraging the independence of small countries whose culture and history is virtually unknown to the average American...encouraging independence that would never be tolerated in the same form in the U.S. of A.

Methinks that attempting to surround Russia and continuously poking the bear is decidedly scaring me a little bit.

Eventually, even the biggest bully in the schoolyard gets stepped up to.
I fear where the US is taking us...and I only hope for a change in leadership before the ant farm explodes in our little ant faces.

Flickrvision

Somebody is uploading photos somewhere in the world right at this very moment.

Postmortem Photography



Mental Floss has a link to Victorian Postmortem photography and it reminded me of a site I linked to a long time ago called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep which specializes in postmortem photography for bereaved families.
The photos are very touching, and not "creepy" at all.
In my opinion anyway.

Race Quiz

"Lots of people assume that race is obvious, clear-cut, easy-to-define. Because of this, we often find it easy to place people in boxes, or assign racial labels that may or may not be accurate.

Usually, mislabeling amounts to nothing more than an awkward experience for one or both individuals involved. But in some contexts, such as in the medical field - where exam results, dignoses, and treatment plans may depend on racial categories - the results of mislabeling can be much more signficant such as missed diagnoses, incorrect diagnoses and/or inappropriate treatment protocols.

Take a look at the following famous faces and see if you can accurately identify their racial makeup."

Click on picture to take the test.

I suck.

(Image from Willamette)

Flashback



I didn't appreciate the animation back then...
(tell me it doesn't make you move)

Wanda Sykes on Men and Women



Love her.

Detroit City Councilwoman Schooled By Eighth Grader



More comments from the Eighth Grader, here.

(From Cynical-C)

Free Rice



For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.

Totally addictive.