Keywords Matter in Ways You Never Think

Keywords- do they really matter?

I recently started a new blog that I plan to use to detail all of the cats I have adopted or rescued over the last 20 something years, which I named 'Cat Adoption Stories'. It seemed like a perfect name for all the cats I've adopted or rescued, and I hope other people post their pictures and stories as well.

The problem is, the only relevant word the ads were seeing on my page was 'adoption', meaning that all of the ads were about adopting overseas children, adoption options, blah blah. Nothing that has to do with cats or any other animals. I do have to say that as an adoptee, I really didn't appreciate all those 'adopt foreign children' ads on my page. I'll probably get paid back for that here by having a ton of those Google ads on this page. Sigh.

Anyway, I carefully went through and slowly removed each reference to that word and replaced it with 'rescue' or 'pets', and I checked the ads every time I removed the words. I can say I did not get appropriate ads until I removed every reference to the 'A' word except for the original title. It appears that Google ads does not recognize the link between the 'A' word and animals, pets or cats. So, I have replaced every reference to the 'A' word except in the blog title. Which I think is sad, as so many wonderful people 'A' or rescue cats all the time!

It is sad for cats or rescue groups, that they cannot use a perfectly acceptable word on their websites because it has been 'monetised', but I think this is proof you can get around it.

Music Scams- GLightFirm & Afton

Music ScamsFirst of all, I should clarify why I am calling these companies scams. They may have valid services, but the way they market or approach people is, in my opinion, scammy.

This week, poor VvonV was contacted on his Sparklejet Band's FaceBook and MySpace pages with two different solicitations.

The first one was from a company called 'Afton'. They sent a note from a woman who claimed she gets paid to 'browse' MySpace for bands. She states that she liked the music and thought the band would be a good fit for a gig set up for Feb 19 at some venue (named the venue, but not the town or state). I got deja vu, because a couple of years ago I got contacted by someone with almost the same wording regarding my band.

That kind of perked my ears up, because while it's true that I used to have a band, and I had pictures posted on my MySpace, I did not have any links to my actual music. So I knew that whoever wrote it was scamming, because they couldn't possibly have listened to my music and thought it would fit in with some show. Turns out THAT company turned into what is now Afton. I don't like the misleading comments they send in their notes. I don't believe for a second that anyone from their company listened to Sparklejet's music at all. Researching brought up many google pages titled 'Afton Music Scam'. Apparently, many musicians feel that whatever setup Afton has regarding ticket sales and payment is a scam. Thankfully, we don't personally know, because we did not sign on with them. Check them out carefully before you decide to.

The second music scam solicitation he got was from a company called GLightFirm, and it also was presented as a note from someone trying to make it sound like they were a recording or publishing company. After checking out their website, it becomes apparent they are nothing of the sort. What they are is someone who 'qualifies artists through production evaluation'. WTF? I read the whole site, and as far as I can tell, it's just some people who want your band to pay them to critique you. I'll do that for $5!

What's interesting is that one of their tabs gives information about their 'referral' program. Yep, an affiliate program. So the person who sent VvonV that misleading note most likely doesn't even work for GLightFirm, and was just throwing out random notes to every band they could find on MySpace for the sleazy affiliate link money.

That's the problem I have with these companies, and why I call them scams- because they are not up front or honest about what they are, what they do, what they cost... or even whether or not they've even really listened to your music. I have nothing against affiliate links- I use them myself. But I do not solicit people I don't even know in a misleading manner just to make a sale. That's sleazy.

Please, bands, especially young ones, be very wary when approached by anyone about your music. It's flattering, but 99/100 times it is some shark wanting to make money off of your desire to produce music, not by helping you produce, market or sell your music.

Why I hate Craigslist Pet Ads

I hate Craigslist. Mostly because they are popular, and more specifically, because they are popular for advertising pets for sale. Craigslist COULD be a great resource for shelters wanting to rehome animals instead of killing them, but instead, Craigslist pet ads are swamped with sleazy backyard breeders.

It draws the most stupid of the stupidic, because on the pets page it specifically states " no pet sales or breeding please -- rehoming with small adoption fee OK"

Now that is stupid. Because 50 times a day someone with 6 inbred pups posts an ad stating that they are 'SELLING' and 'rehoming' the pups for 50-400$ each.

Every single one of those backyard breeders are aware that they are breaking the rules by advertising the sale of animals, but Craigslist does nothing about it.

Any check of the flag help forum reveals multiple people every hour whining about why their ad was flagged off- even people openly admitting to selling animals. The majority, however, claim that they aren't. Boo, hoo. Why did my ad get flagged? Often there are ads that say 'Glad you flagged me- now me and my backyard bred pitbulls can repost right at the top of the pet pages!'

The forum can be pretty harsh, and they call out backyard breeders and irresponsible people, but Craigslist really does nothing to support them. Some of the people on the flag forum are jerks, but can you blame them for having to work with such a**holes?

The only power anyone has is to log into Craigslist daily and flag off the backyard breeders, and the people responsible for the glut in shelters having to kill animals.

I hate how Craigslist forces it's members to police the ads and enforce the 'no pet selling' by flagging them off- enough to have written a specific article giving all the details of How to Avoid Having Your Ped Ad Flagged Off Craigslist.I think it covers a lot of things. If you think it doesn't, please let me know.

Why Jury Duty Sucks

Who Can Afford to be on Jury Duty?

VvonV has recently been scheduled for Jury Duty. He got the mailed order, and had the option to lie in order to get out of it, but he didn't.

So, yesterday morning he had to report downtown at court for Jury Duty. Meaning, that he missed work. Most people don't know that if you do Jury Duty, your employer has no obligation to pay you while you miss work.

Meaning, that VvonV missed a day's work, and will not get paid for it.

There are all kinds of ways to get out of Jury Duty. The most obvious of these would be making statements that show you are racist. There are a ton of other commonly known ways. The thing is, VvonV didn't resort to any of those things. It's one of the million reasons why I love him to death.

But, he's been brought back again today. Which means another day with no pay. As far as I know, the only reimbursement you can get for Jury Duty is parking fees, which for VvonV would be about $7 a day.

It doesn't look good, in that he hasn't been sent home yet today- I hope he's not going to be signed on. We cannot afford for him to not get paid for days/weeks/months of him being on a Jury, just because he is an honest person.

I can't count the times I've gotten screwed over because I was honest. I understand why a lot of people are dishonest- you get rewarded for it. For some people, I'm guessing myself and VvonV, it's just impossible not to be honest, even when you are aware of what being honest will entail. What it will cause.

I just hope whoever he's being kept on for will plead guilty or have their case dismissed, because we absolutely cannot afford for him to not get paid while he's serving as a juror. And it's not likely he'll be dismissed, because he's the perfect combo of being a minority (spanish) as well as being destructively honest. He's an attorney's wet dream.

UPDATE
He ended up losing over a week on this jury duty. For which he had to pay for lunch everyday down by the courthouse... with a reimbursement of about $80 for his mileage and gas. It was about some Indian (from India) gangster who'd assaulted another by using some Indian bracelet as 'Brass Knuckles' on his face. Guilty, but got no time even with prior convictions. WTF? I wish selfish people like that would think of other people. The judge, prosecutor, lawyers all get paid, but all the people on that jury (and their families) suffered lost wages, just to see them get convicted... and then slapped on the wrist and let go. I can see why people lie through their teeth to avoid jury duty- we really needed that week of VvonV's pay that he didn't get because of some selfish criminals.

Dogs on Chains

If There's Anything I HATE, it's Dogs on Chains

Today, on the way to driving Z to school, I saw a little puppy stuck on a four-foot leash attached to a fountain in the front of someone's yard. Puppy yelping and all that.

I live in one of THE best neighborhoods in town. So good, in fact, that I will probably shortly not be able to financially continue to live here. Suffice to say, it's not a barrio.

I drove past slowly, and the homeowner came out and stared at me aggressively. I didn't say anything, I just shook my head.

Later this morning, I drove past again, and the puppy was still there. Again, the homeowner stared/glared at me. This time I stopped. The guy approached my car and said- 'Do you have a problem?'
To which I said, yes. I do have a problem with people who chain their dogs.

But here's the key, and it might help other people who care about animals- I did not say it in an aggressive way, even though I was approached aggressively. I said it in a sympathetic way... and added that I used to have an animal welfare organization in Santa Barbara years ago.

So how it turns out is this- (his story) He found this abandoned puppy on his worksite and took it home. He was working in the yard, and wanted the puppy to be near him, but didn't want him running in the street, since he'd recently had a hit and run on one of his cats.

Context is everything.

Having a dog restrained, but near you, such as working in the yard, is a really good thing. Eventually they will learn to shadow you while you work, without running into the street. The fact that the puppy was yelping was not because it was being restrained needlessly, it was yelping because it was not near enough (in it's opinion) to it's new owner. Those are all good things, if the owner deals with them correctly.

End being- his work entails things that VvonV and I might need, so it's a good resource. People are less likely to cheat or screw people over when they live down the block from each other.

Rich people and poor people alike, good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods alike- you never know what people are doing with their pets. You can't assume just because you live in a good neighborhood that people are not abusing their pets. The key is whether or not you will confront what appears to be pet abuse, and how you approach it. If I had approached this in a confrontational attitude, I doubt I ever would have found out what the real situation was. I probably would have been told to fuck off. And I would have left thinking that this was an animal-abusing person.

I think this is a flaw that a lot of animal activist and vegetarian people have. That they get confrontational when there's no need to. I can't think of any situation that's ever been resolved peacefully when approached aggressively. There are a lot of people who have been long-term vegetarians because of their association with me, and it was never confrontational. Providing free vegetarian food without a sermon seems to me to be pretty effective. Telling people that 'Meat is Murder' might be true, but it will only isolate the people you are trying to reach. Cooking vegetarian food, and being generous with it will make better of an impression. People rarely change their viewpoints when they are put on the defensive. I have no doubt this applies to many other topics than animal rights or vegetarianism.

Being involved with animal concerns or vegetarianism often sucks, because you are constantly being bombarded with reports of cruel things that just break your heart- but there are other things that happen once in a while that make you feel better. Today was one of those days for me. It was nice to hear that someone was doing something to allow their pet to be near them while they were working.

All that aside- Yes, I do hate the chaining of dogs. I can't think of a better way to develop a neurotic, aggressive, unhappy dog that will happily bite your child's face off. If you have to chain your dog, you do not need to have a dog. I doubt that chaining your husband or wife (which is also pretty common, though it rarely involves physical chains) would have better results.

Bottom line, in my opinion, is that chaining of dogs is cruel. If you have to chain your dog in order to force it to stay with you, then you are better off not having dogs. And they'd certainly have a better life not being around you. Give them to someone who doesn't chain them.

Microsoft XBox Live Billing Practices

Does Microsoft XBox Live engage in Shifty Billing Practices?

One of the sucky things about having Fibro and CEBV is that it makes it very difficult to be organized. I used to be massively OCD- I knew my bank balance to the penny on any given day, planned grocery shopping and menu planning a month in advance, had all of my Christmas presents purchased AND wrapped by the summer before. Luckily, I didn't have the constant hand-washing type. Any drawbacks I might have had were overshadowed by my extreme organization.

After having Fibro and CEBV, not so much. What I'm left with is the need to have all labels on all products in my house (including pantry, medicine cabinet, fridge and freezer, cds, books) facing forward. Like most Fibro sufferers, my short-term memory is for shit. Meaning, that I often give out my phone number from 10 years ago instead of the one I've had for 6 years. Or my previous address. Or the ones from Santa Barbara from 18 years ago. Somehow I store information, I just don't have access to it until at least a year later. That sucks.

What is my point? Well, in researching the crack-head billing that VvonV has gotten from Virgin Mobile (that's going to be a separate entry), I realized that I have been charged all kinds of fees from Microsoft XBox Live. Years ago, I would have noticed the same day I was charged, since I was on top of every bill or speck of dust that appeared.

As it stands, I realize that over the last 3 months, I have been charged over $125 in billing from Microsoft XBox Live. It started on 7/15 with an $49.99 charge, and follows with 7 more charges in the amounts of either $6.25 or $12.50. I did not authorize any of these charges.

I have purchased other Microsoft downloads, to which I submitted my credit card info. I signed my son up for XBox live, under the impression it was free. Since my son has no access to my credit card, I'm guessing Microsoft used my CC info from my previous orders in order to process these charges.

I'm also going to guess that while my son was playing his XBox, he was presented with options of further game-playing, and that he clicked 'yes' to those, not knowing (how could he.. or me?) that they were not free, and would be charged to my credit card. And that they were automatically charged to my stored CC information. That's my guess now, anyway.

Obviously, I am going to contest these charges. It seems crazy that a game geared towards children should allow them to charge things to their parent's CC.

Solutions? I think having a password would be helpful. That would mean that when XBox tries to solicit a child into racking up charges, their parent would have to punch in a password agreeing to those charges, since the are the ones paying for it. Alternately, if they would send an email confirming a supposed 'charge', it would alert the parent that a charge has been made, so they don't discover it by accident 3 months later.

Just last month I had to contest a 900 charge on my phone bill. Seems that my youngest son was playing RuneScape, and someone came on and promised him some great weapon if only he would call 'x' number. Well, that 'X' number somehow captured our telephone number, and charged my ATT phone account two charges of 9.95. For nothing, as my son obviously was not given what was promised. He is too young to understand that people generally suck and are exploitive. Contacting ATT, I was able to reverse the charges, as their check showed that the number called was not a business, it was a number capture site. We were lucky it was reversed, and that it was only for $20 and not $200 or $2000.

So- I'm not liking the charges from XBox, and am now going to have to talk to my son about them- even though I can't find any info online about how to contest them, or even what they are for.

The practice of businesses stopping sending 'real' invoices or statements out gets hyped by how they are saving so many trees, but that's really worthless if they don't send email invoices or statements. I am an 'out of the closet' treehugger, yet I disagree with not getting a paper or email invoice or statement.

Virgin Wireless is guilty of this as well. I only found out about these charges by researching excessive Virgin charges, which I didn't see because my credit union has stopped sending paper statements.

Whatever happened to just running an honest business?

Does Pork Carry Swine Flu?

Many People are Under the Impression that Pork is Safe

Why do so many people think that eating Pork carries no risk of transmisssion of H1N1 Swine Flu?

Probably part of that lies with the Pork Lobbyists and Industry members who have worked very hard to get this claim across. It's in their monetary interests to keep Americans eating Pork, even though their market has fallen by around 30% in recent months.

But what does the CDC say? The CDC actually provides contradictory information.
However, in answering their own questions, they state the following-

"Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses."

That last part is the interesting part. "Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses."

Now, if pigs did not have the Swine Flu Virus, or did not be needed to be cooked at a certain temperature in order to kill it, the sentence should read- "No care needs to be taken regarding cooking or handling pork products and Swine Flu, as Swine Flu is not contractable through pork products ever. Care should however be taken to cook Pork at certain temperatures in order to kill other viruses and pathogens it may have."

But it does not say that. It says specifically that cooking Pork to 160 degrees "kills the Swine Flu virus".

Now, you may love Pork. And you may always cook it 'properly', or enjoy taking risks, but to say that the Center For Disease Control states that Pork is not contaminated with the Swine Flu Virus is incorrect. They actually provide cooking methods to kill it and other viruses.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swineflu/key_facts.htm

You have AIDS. Or not. Or maybe?

Don't know if you have AIDS or the Swine Flu?
Well, apparently this author doesn't, either. How to Learn Absolutely Nothing About AIDS. Which is sad, considering that they wrote a 'help' article titled "How to know if you have AIDS". This has to be one of the most irresponsible articles I've ever read.
I understand the mentality of writers on eHow, because I have written articles for them. This author has managed to get on page one of a search 'How to know if you have AIDS". And they are sprinkled with Google ads for AIDS testing, which probably pay very well. But the information they provide is for shit.

Here is an article about how to clean a pond filter for comparison. It was written by me. It should be easy to see that the article actually tells you how to do what is claimed in the title. It also lists warnings. And, in the resources section, there are links to other sites that may be helpful about the same topic.

Today in the news it was presented that from 60-90 thousand people (mostly children) will die this fall from the Swine Flu. It seems important that people be able to tell the difference between flu symptoms and AIDS. But, that's just me. Picky.

One interesting thing that has come out about the Swine Flu- they are finally saying WHO has more of a risk of having the Swine Flu be fatal- people with underlying health problems such as Diabetes, Immune Disorders, Neurological disorders and respiratory problems. Since I have Fibromyalgia and Chronic Epstein Barr, I have everything except the diabetes. You can bet I'll be making my kids wash their hands when I pick them up from school.

I guess I should feel lucky that I do not have to rely on articles like the one above to be able to tell if me or my family suffers from a Flu or AIDS.

However, in this "AIDS" article, the links provided are for weight loss, spinal surgery and back pain. No links to any real help about AIDS. But all well-known good paying links. I find that really sad.

My children are not teens yet. But I talk to them honestly about things like sex and diseases. But when they're in their teens, they might get a sense of modesty that doesn't allow them to ask me things directly like they do now. I'd like to think that the information they'd find on the internet was helpful and factual. I cringe thinking what they would not learn about AIDS from this article.

If you are interested in the origins of AIDS, a really good book that posits a reasonable scenario is Aids and the Doctors of Death. Other books on a similar topic are The Plague Dogs and Doctor Rat.

Passive Earning

Passive Earning- What's up With That?

I get the whole idea of passive earning in the context that it makes money after you've made the effort. But it really isn't passive. It should be called 'deferred earning'. In fact, I think that's what I'll call it from now. Everybody loves a new buzzword.

But Deferred Earning is more correct. I got a big boost in earnings yesterday from something I wrote a couple of months ago. No idea why. The point is that when I wrote it I made nothing. What I'm making on it now is not passive, it's either retroactive or deferred. Actually, now I'm leaning towards retroactive. Claiming that it's passive is just hype.

Truth is that writers just don't make what they used to. Neither do copywriters, editors, proofreaders, etc. I don't make anything near what I used to on a once off basis, or as a salaried job. So it kind of seems silly to claim that I make money 'passively' when what it really means is that I don't get paid up front anymore to write, but that if I set things up the right way I can write for free and get paid for it later. Now when I write I'm actually getting paid retroactively- but still not as much as I used to make.

I came across a very recommended site for posting articles for pickup. I looked in one category that I have expertise in- ponds. I was very surprised to see that on the first page were two articles with the same topic- turtles in ponds. The part that was surprising was that the first and fourth articles were essentially clones. The secondary one had copied essentially everything in the first- just shifting aroung the content and using synonyms. And this is a very respected site for writers and for people looking for content. Not very trust-inspiring. The worst part was that the site had no provision for reporting plagiarism. And they are one of the leading sites for writers/content.

The proliferation of the non-content driven turnkey website is really garbaging up the internet. Sad.

I Hate Conglomerates

Conglomerates? I Hates 'em

I hope nobody (in the words of our dear ex-pres Bush would say) 'misinterpretises' me when I say I hate conglomerates. Meaning, I don't like them.

What is wrong with conglomerates?

Nothing, if you like big porkfat pigs. And even saying that is an insult to pigs. Because pigs are cute and sweet and smart. And congloms are just greedy and nasty.

I resent the conglomerate that bought out Green Giant- specifically the vegan sausages they used to make. And because the conglom already owned Morningstar Farms, we were presented with Morningstar's sausages. Except that they aren't vegan, and they taste like shit. So I don't buy them and I don't eat them.

I hate that the locally owned 'Olive Tower' coffee house was pushed out by gay-haters and replaced by a dinky Starbucks. As if Starbucks isn't 'teh gay'. Or that the local video rental place, 'At The Movies' was pushed out by Blockbuster. Blockbuster doesn't have the specialty Indie and Foreign movies that I like, and they don't stock many subtitled movies.

Christiansens and Drug Fair both shafted their union workers, while attempting conglom buyouts and were paid back by going belly-up. Drug Fair is now a Mexican pastry shop.

The College Pharmacy, where I was employed as office manager and bookkeeper for 6 years while pregnant with both my boys (bless them, they were very flexible towards a pregnant Fibromyalgia/Epstein Barr person) was bought out by Rite-Aid. I wasn't actually pregnant for 6 years! Not bought out in the sense that there is now a Rite-Aid instead of the pharmacy that had been in business in the same family/location since the 20's. No- bought out in the sense that they were paid to close down to avoid competition with Rite-Aid. Now there is a thrift store where the pharmacy used to be.
And the Rite-Aid that bought them out has since gone into bankruptcy. So the Tower District, which used to have 2 pharmacies- Drug Fair and College Pharmacy now has none. And no grocery stores.

Recently, our local Gottschalks has gone under the knife. I worked there as a teen as a seasonal gift-wrapper and later as a model for their print, fashion show and TV commercials. They were huge in local charity promotion. Their stores are now being bought up by bigwig sharks.

Now, Long's is being taken over by CVS pharmacy. Is it my imagination, or is there a huge sudden surge of takeovers of small family-owned businesses by big congloms?

When ConAgra took over LightLife foods, all of the sudden their vegan products were reformulated to include eggs. Why? Because ConAgra is huge on beef and also owns egg industries. It's incestual cross-producting. But they lost a customer, because I do not buy products with eggs in them. When big congloms buy out organic and 'health' businesses, the first thing they do is start pumping genetically modified ingredients into them- which is then no longer healthy. Google Monsanto, because eventually Monsanto will have every business in their back pocket. And you'll be eating soylent green 24/7.

What's my point? Look at your labels. See who owns the companies you've been loyal to. You'll be surprised at the garbage that gets pumped into them once a conglom owns them.

Support your locally owned business owners. Support your local organic farmers. Join a CSA. Pretty much do everything BUT support conglomerates. I am proud to say I have NEVER shopped at our local WalMarts who have put so many local businesses out of business. Shop at your local Farmer's Markets.

In other words, give the big conglomerates a massive middle finger.

Dizzy Feet Foundation or Dizzy Head Holmes?

Ok, I'll admit that I've never watched Dancing with the Stars, or You think you can dance, or any of those other inane celebrity shows. I do, however like to watch Ballroom dancing competitions and dance theatre productions. I took ballet and tap dance as a teen. In fact, I like watching all kinds of different dancers from around the world. Ethnic dancing is highly underrated. What I don't like, however, is BAD dancing.

So, Imagine my horror...

When I inadvertently stumbled across that creepy YouTube video of Katie Holmes that somehow people have mistaken for dancing and singing! I was actually looking for Shel Silverstein's "Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout". OUCH. I have nothing personal against her that I don't have against any other overhyped d-list Hollywoodian. But, for chrissakes- Judy Garland?

Here's my problem with it all- gesturing with your hands, moving your hat, rubbing your thighs, walking back and forth, and winking are not dancing. In the same way that squacking in a studio, having your voice manipulated, autotuned and backed up and then mouthing the words somewhat near what the recording is doing is not singing. And this I know because I am a musician and singer, and my fiance is a musician and singer.

I then had to look up the original video of Judy Garland just to clean my eyes and ears out. That lady might have been a druggie and a drunk, but she had talent singing, dancing and acting, even when obviously high. So sad that Garland's poor son was in the audience.

So what's my point?

Reading other people's comments on the video led me to Dizzy Feet Foundation, (dizzyfeetfoundation.org) a charity supposedly created by the non-dancing Holmes and 3 other people. She supposedly donated her WHOLE $700 something 'appearance fee' to this charity. Wow. I checked out the website and was massively underwhelmed. It is supposedly a charity to help underpriveleged children attend dance academies. No information, no details of the program. There are two links on it asking for donations, though. In the uninspired video that makes up the whole main page, there's lots of people talking about how great dancing is, but nothing about DizzyFeet in particular. One of the founders does state that their goal is to help 10 children a year. TEN!
The website is really amateur and poorly developed. And, it's only a .org.

My question is- why did Katie Holmes have to torture me with her terrible performance, supposedly to raise money for this shady-looking charity, when she and her husband have the megabucks and could afford to fund the entire program themselves? Jeez, they could pay for 100 children just by themselves. How much money do they donate yearly to Scientology which helps nobody?

I have a problem with rich people who give so little in real terms back for what they've gotten. After all, every penny they have is directly from people who watch their movies or shows. Every penny. On top of that, at what point do rich people ever have enough money? Can't they budget? After they've made their first 20 million, can't they find a way to hold onto some of that money through tangible assets? And then say- hmm, I don't really need the rest of this? Maybe I should do something good with it? Lets just say I'm not too impressed that Katie gave her 'performance fee' to the charity. Giving it an additional couple million in financing might have moved me a bit. After all, she could write it off on her taxes, eh?

I don't think about celebrities all that much, or about rich people that much, but every once in a while something assaults my ears and eyes and forces me to. Which annoys the crap out of me. Then I just try to remember how little-known it is that Benny Hill not only made a lot of people laugh, but he actually did something with his money. So now I'm going to go look up some old Benny Hill videos and remind myself of the good old days when performers actually had talent, and when some of them used their money for more worthwile ventures than Scientology.

Just saying.

Signs of an abusive relationship

This just in-

This was just posted in one of my favourite crime websites, PYSIH (People You'll See in Hell) (link to follow), and it was so detailed that I wanted to iniclude it here. Here goes-

For those of you who have not experienced the joy of an abusive relationship, here are some warning signs that your beloved is in actuality nuts and may kill you when you try to get away:
1. Has a substance abuse problem in which they turn from Jekyll to Hyde.2. Freaks out if you even hint of dating someone else.3. Starts to show up unannounced after work to say “hi!”4. Goes bananas at the mention of someone else you were dating.5. Makes a big show of “solving your problems” for you without you asking.6. Does everything they can to make you more dependent upon them.7. Moves into your house as soon as humanly possible.
After moving in/marrying you:
1. Begins going through your phone/cellphone messages and demanding to know who they are from.2. Listens in to your phone calls.3. Goes ballistic over wrong number calls, insinuating you are seeing someone.4. Opens and goes through your mail “accidentally.”5. Times your grocery store runs and then says, “That took you way too long. Where did you really go?”6. Times your arrival home from work by the second.7. Makes it perfectly apparent to all your friends that he/she hates them.8. Resents any time whatsoever that you spend outside the house without them.9. Begins to take control of all finances, giving you an “allowance”, all in the name of “saving.”10. Makes life relentlessly miserable for you if you don’t do it “their way.”11. Verbally abuses you, then apologizes.
Critical stage:
1. Begins to physically abuse you, sending you to the doctor.2. Does not let you leave the house without them, then acts like a violent lunatic in public if you are even so much as looked at by someone of the opposite sex.3. Insists that you are having an affair, especially when they’re drunk or high.4. Throws tantrums, specifically destroying sentimental items you love.5. Degrades you verbally in public.6. Goes crazy if you voice the intention to go visit your friends or family. Your friends are all “whores,” “sluts” or “drug addicts;” your family members are all “losers” and “assholes”.7. Attempts to get you fired from your job, to get you to quit your job, or conversely, to give them all the money you make from your job, so that you have no financial resources.8. Takes away or disables your mode of transportation.
When you leave:
1. Literally canvasses the city on foot or by car, looking for you.2. Sits outside your work, waiting for you. Sits outside your friends’ houses, waiting for you. Sits outside your family’s houses, waiting for you.3. Calls you endlessly, begging you to come back, until you change your phone number.4. Contacts people they “think” you had an affair with and threatens to kill them.5. Empties any joint bank accounts and steals any money from you they can.6. Relentlessly stalks you. As time goes by, destroys anything of yours that they have in their possession.7. Begins outright threatening you with physical harm.8. Threatens suicide, saying they can’t live without you.9. Buys a gun and shoots you, reasoning that you have destroyed their life and now you need to be destroyed in turn.
Welcome to my world. Come on in. The water’s warm. And for all you Monday morning quarterbacks, let’s play, “At what point do you think the restraining order would change things?” Clue: When they get out of jail for stalking you under the jurisdiction of the restraining order, they’re so man they’re heading directly over to your pad to blow your head off. They should come with a warning label: EFFECTIVE ONLY AGAINST NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS.

Kitty Genovese Syndrome is alive and well in 2009

It kind of says it all that on a google search of 'Kitty G', the very first link that shows up is for Kitty Genovese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

Which should be odd, because if you ask 10 people who Kitty was, probably at least 7 would have no idea. What happened to her eventually became what is called the 'Bystander Effect'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect

How long ago did that happen? Yet today her death hasn't changed anything. People still don't act when they see someone being beaten or killed. They don't report child abusers or child molesters. It's sad.

What would it take YOU to stand up, speak out when something is obviously very wrong?

Make that a goal- fight against wrong.

c