Category Archives: Current Events

Cancer is not a game, and neither is sports anymore


This has been eviction week #2 which meant outpatient surgery to remove two perfectly round 2cm sized fibroids that were benign but excruciatingly annoying as hell for the last few months. While it was a very easy procedure, it does mean that I am spending a lot of time just lounging around and reading a lot.

As a result, I’m sharing some of the articles that I found the most compelling. One stands alone and then others all follow a theme.

Just call me Arianna Jr as I curate my way to a decent post for the week!

The first is by a lady who I recently started following on twitter and who has already enlightened me so so much about what it means to be living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. She is @AdamsLisa on twitter and her post is:

Breast cancer is not a Facebook status game

Here’s an excerpt:

Anyone who has breast cancer and uses your FB status update as an indicator of whether you support their cause is not very enlightened. When I rank “how to help those of us with cancer,” sharing one of these paragraphs as a status update is the lowest possible method of showing support. There are endless ways to do that. I think it actually is the opposite; sharing these status updates makes people feel they are doing something real for breast cancer causes when they aren’t.

Those status updates have ALWAYS rubbed me the wrong way but there was a part of me that pulled away from criticizing them because I didn’t want to seem callous or to offend anyone who might actually have cancer who appreciated those sentiments. Finding out that someone with cancer viewed these status games the same way I do means that I will be saving this link to post in those comment threads should they show up in my timeline again.

And now – on to sports! Which is supposed to be a game, but also isn’t so much anymore. In all of these stories, the themes are this (In My Humble Opinion anyway)

1) The media – with the exception of the people writing these articles – is AS MUCH to blame for the spreading of lies as the person actually telling them. Sports writers are interconnected with the leagues and teams they cover to the detriment of actual journalism. They don’t double check anything that might shed a less than heroic light on the players/coaches/programs/teams/leagues that essentially pay their salaries. Fans want feel good stories, owners want the same and so on and so on.

2) Heroes should be people you know, not people you know of.

First a story from last week – the Baseball Hall of Fame non-vote – this will be the first of a few from David Zirin (@EdgeofSports on twitter) who has been speaking my exact opinion on many sports topics recently.

The Baseball Hall of Fame’s Epic Fail

My favorite lines:

The Hall of Fame voters of the Baseball Writers Association of America have made what’s being called “a powerful statement.” That statement was, “we are a collection of sanctimonious, hypocritical muttonheads.”

..while Mike Piazza’s only connection to steroids seems to be that he suffers from back acne. If only he had a better dermatologist, he might be celebrating today.

So yeah, obviously my deep Piazza love means I was outraged that he was passed up when by all accounts he should be a first ballot hall of famer. But, the larger point to Zirin’s post is pretty much mine – the same baseball writers who ignored every sign of steroid use and who wrote of the glorious exploits of these players during the 90′s are now sitting there judging these same players and declaring them not worthy of the Hall due to cheating that THEY refused to investigate!!

Then there is the Manti Te’o tale of an invisible dead girlfriend that again – was aided and abetted by the traditional sports media and was finally exposed in a brilliant investigative report by Timothy Burke & Jack Dickey of the Deadspin blog:

Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax

Lennay Kekua’s death resonated across the college football landscape—especially at Notre Dame, where the community immediately embraced her as a fallen sister. Charity funds were started, and donations poured into foundations dedicated to leukemia research. More than $3,000 has been pledged in one IndieGogo campaign raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

///

Te’o's story moved beyond the world of sports. On the day of the BCS championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama, CBS This Morning ran a three-minute story that featured a direct quote from Lennay Kekua:

Babe, if anything happens to me, you promise that you’ll stay there and you’ll play and you’ll honor me through the way you play.

Of course, the bottom line is that there never was a Lennay Kekau. She was fake. It’s a long, well documented post that is worth following to see just how deep the hoax goes – and to see just how easily these Deadspin writers were able to unravel it. All those other “news” outlets – the South Bend Times, CBS, etc – they ALL just took the story at face value and never checked anything out.

Worse still, as we go back to David Zirin – is that there has been a deeper tale of problems at Notre Dame that no local media is writing about:

Crying for Manti Te’o

(Athletic Director Jack) Swarbrick revealed that a private outside firm had been hired to investigate just who had perpetrated this “cruel game.” The athletic director even cried. His behavior only raises more important questions than anything Te’o will face tomorrow. Why hasn’t there been any kind of privately funded, outside investigation into the alleged sexual assaults committed by members of the football team? Why was there no private, outside investigation into Coach Brian Kelly’s role in the death of team videographer Declan Sullivan? It says so much that Te’o’s bizarre soap opera has moved Swarbrick to openly weeping but he hasn’t spared one tear, let alone held one press conference, for Lizzy Seeberg, the young woman who took her own life after coming forward with allegations that a member of the team sexually assaulted her.

Oh yay – a college football program (and local media surrounding it) that is all OVER this FAKE dead girl, but couldn’t lift a finger to properly document two REAL deaths connected to the team. Lovely.

Finally – how could I ignore the biggest liar of all? Lance Armstrong – who, at this point, may be sending some money to Manti to thank him for taking away some of the heat from HIS story this week!

For this, I turn to another sports writer who I have often enjoyed, but who has also often been accused of being duped too frequently by the people he covers (yet he was brutal on Barry Bonds)…Rick Reilly:

It’s all about the lies

It’s partially my fault. I let myself admire him. Let myself admire what he’d done with his life, admire the way he’d not only beaten his own cancer but was trying to help others beat it. When my sister was diagnosed, she read his book and got inspired. And I felt some pride in that. I let it get personal. And now I know he was living a lie and I was helping him live it.

Yup – as I stated from the beginning – point #1 – the media has a huge role in all of these stories. While their purpose is to BE journalists like the Deadspin reporters, they unfortunately end up nearly always becoming part of the story as they let things get too personal, get too financially wrapped up or just love to bask in the same glory of the superstars they are covering.

Which again takes me back to my last point:

Heroes should be people you know, not people you know of.

I’m talking about it


We interrupt the December theme of ornaments and recipes for this dark shot of reality.

It’s political, but it shouldn’t be, so I have to get my thoughts out here.

Friday’s tragedy in Newtown Connecticut was devastating. The nation has reacted in sadness and with empathy for the families who have suffered and unimaginable amount of pain. So it has been on everyone’s mind in some form.

Yesterday while driving past an elementary school on the way to our Sunday morning trail run, just the sight of the school gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. I have no connection to that school, know no one there, but just seeing a place that is supposed to be filled with innocence and learning and knowing how one was shattered just a few days before shook me deeply.

This morning I received a message from the high school principal where 16 attends school. He was re-assuring the parents about all the precautionary steps they take to keep our kids safe.

It was a stark reminder that our children have never known a time when they didn’t have to go through lock down drills to guard against school shootings.

I never endured those. I had fire drills and earthquake drills, but I was blessed to go to school AFTER the nuclear drill scares and BEFORE the school shootings started.

For whatever reason the drills I did go through didn’t particularly frighten me. Mostly because there was a sense that the cause was “natural” (I put that in quotes since obviously fires can be started by humans but I think you get the gist of it, right?). What we were training for were things not under human control. It wasn’t that HUMANS were trying to harm us, it was the weather or nature or basically non-human related events.

In this child’s mind anyway. Those drills didn’t teach me to fear random humans. But those lock down drills sure do.

It’s domestic terrorism. Plain and simple. But there is no cause they are fighting for. No specific group we can target to guard against. Nope, it’s just random acts of terror simply because a violently inclined disturbed mind has easy access to weapons that can kill more and more people more accurately and faster than ever. It can be a mall, a church, a school, a workplace, a community gathering, a movie theater, a beauty salon, etc etc etc. Any place where people gather as they go about their regular day.

It’s infuriating and as the President said last night at the memorial service in Newtown – it has GOT to stop.

So, let’s talk about what everyone says we shouldn’t talk about yet, but that which if we do not talk about NOW, will never get talked about because there will be yet another shooting resetting the “you can’t talk about this yet!” clock.

(did ya get that? yeah, I didn’t either but that’s kind of the point)

Here’s my personal take on guns: They should not be easier to obtain than a driver’s license and a car.

I am not the first one to say this and I know there have already been people writing about how the desire to own a military style weapon is just like the desire to own a Ferrari. It’s just a high end gun/car! Why should that be banned?

Well, because cars are not guns, that’s why (apples..oranges…ya know)

Cars are not built TO KILL. Yes, when not operated properly, they DO kill…but…that is not their primary purpose. The car I drive has been on the road for over 10 years and 140,000 miles and hasn’t harmed a soul. Ok, perhaps a bug or two and that one lizard (ick) but you get the drift. Yes, I know many gun owners will say that the guns in their locked cabinets have not harmed anyone either. I know that. But WHY were they even built? What is their main purpose? To cause harm.

So why is it easier to get a gun than a car?

I have just helped my 16 year old through the process of obtaining his driver’s license. First an online training course that took many hours and a test before he could get behind the wheel. Then 6 hours of professional training and several dozens of hours practicing in between. Then another test. Now he has his license, but he is still not driving. Why? No car yet. He needs insurance which is expensive as any parent knows. And there is the matter of buying a car and having the money to put gas in it, etc etc.

Now, I fully support the right to bear arms. But a RIGHT does not translate to NO REGULATION. There are still some conditions that I believe should be met in order for my neighbors and I to possess weapons designed solely to cause harm. Conditions and training and yes, LIMITS to the types of weapons and ammunition you can own.

After all, there are vehicles that are not street legal. There are vehicles that are only driven by law enforcement or the military.

Look, I know many responsible gun owner’s. They love their guns. One person is a collector. It’s her primary issue that she be able to keep what she owns. But guess what? They don’t have military grade weapons and ammunition clips or enough ammunition to BE their own army. Guns are locked over THERE and bullets over HERE. Responsible. Exercising their right to bear arms as it should be.

I fully support being able to keep things that way.

But I do NOT support keeping things as they are now with little to no consistent regulation on who can purchase a gun, where and what kind. The same applies to ammunition.

We cannot watch yet another senseless tragedy go by without an honest conversation about what we can do to prevent these. And then we must translate the conversations to action.

I think, I HOPE, that the world just sent a message to the President and Congress about what this next term of theirs should be focusing on. And I hope they stay focused, and stop letting lobbyists rule their votes. They represent the people, the children, of this country. And it is time they show it.

May 9th – Leadership


It’s funny because I was going to post something on my political site about the one issue that has disappointed me with this President in terms of lack of courage and leadership.

No need for that post anymore :)

Really – is there anything else to say about the day? Being the political junkie that I am it pretty much dominated my world in the hours leading up to the announcement. Reading reactions after just solidified to me why this needed to happen. So many heart warming from people whose lives were touched so positively by hearing a sitting President state his support for them. Sure, I worked. I went out to dinner with the boyfriend. I had the usual tussle with 15 over how he is preparing  for his AP exam. But all of that happened somehow in the background. The boyfriend and I walked about this and how it is such a no brainer to us but then, we live in So Cal. Even though voters in our state made a huge mess of things in ’08, in our experience personally this is no big deal.

In fact, we’ve come so far that at one point last night I saw a tweet go by that pretty much summed it up (wish I could remember who it was but they were flying so fast & furious it was impossible to keep track:

“Openly gay Congressman Barney Frank is talking to openly gay TV host Rachel Maddow about POTUS supporting marriage equality. LOVE”

 

 

Dear Constitution


Sigh – here we go misinterpreting you again! Yet another public figure says something incredibly stupid, his/her employer punishes him/her and people react by yelling about the First Amendment and the rights to free speech.

Uh – WRONG!

When did people start confusing the rights of CONGRESS to enact laws with the rights of EMPLOYERS to discipline employees? Let’s look at the particular paragraph in question shall we?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

See the emphasis that I put up there on those words? CONGRESS and THE GOVERNMENT. Not – Your Employer..or Your Sponsor..or even Your Mom! No – all that means is that you cannot be put into jail or fined by the state for the crap that flows outta your mouth (or onto a blog post even) unless you are making threats against a public official.

But, Ozzie Guillen voicing his respect for Fidel Castro? Not illegal. Nope, not one bit. And guess what?! No one has arrested him! He hasn’t been given a ticket  by the state of Florida. His rights to free speech have, indeed, NOT been violated.

His employer suspending him for 5 games? Totally legit. You see, his employer has no obligation to allow Ozzie – as a representative of that company – to say whatever he wants to say. (I know some will argue the merits of whether his statements were offensive or not and whether 5 games was enough or too much or whatever. That’s well and good, but remember it is just NOT a violation of free speech so don’t even bring that up!)

The Baseball Nerd covered this point nicely as well.

To expand this further, remember that radio & TV stations can suspend DJs/hosts for saying dumb/offensive things. It’s the same employee/employer relationship. You can still SAY those things all you want, just not into their microphones. Again – not being ticketed, not being put in jail – just being told by your employer quite legally to shut the hell up.  That’s NOT a violation of free speech rights by any stretch.

Yes, this is obviously a sore spot for me. Nothing bugs me more than people not quite grasping such a basic concept. Or, trying to hide behind it when they do blow it. It’s even worse when media talking heads feed into the ignorance.

So anyway, I just wanted to say that I am sorry. Some of us still understand you Constitution. Unfortunately our platforms don’t tend to be as loud as those who get it wrong :-/

With respect, me.

 

Dear Trayvon


Dear Trayvon,

Where do I begin? I heard your name for the first time thanks to a tweet in my timeline and read your story. I was immediately outraged but ever skeptical of biting into a quick read/react cycle I held back on re-tweeting anything or signing any petitions. I added your name to my Google News home page to keep up with the case.

No matter what came of it though, I kept on getting stuck on one detail – you were simply walking home from the store. It was raining, so you had your hood up from your hoodie to cover your head.

Of course you wore a hoodie! The vast majority of male (and even female) teens do. I know mine has told me more than once that the hoodie only comes off when he’s at home – maybe – and for PE or football practice. Otherwise..well…look at the photo I posted from his learner’s permit:


Black hoodie – down off his head for the photo, but there nonetheless. Really, how much different does he look from you?


Two teenaged boys. Wearing hoodies. Mine has walked to and from school and the store before. He’s walked home at night before. I would not even question allowing him to walk to the Baskin Robbins on the corner for some ice cream. He has his own money and a cell phone. He’ll be fine! Right? In fact, I am 100% confident that had he been walking through your apartment complex that night he would have been fine. Completely and totally fine.

You should have been fine Trayvon. You should have been able to walk home without hassle. You were doing NOTHING WRONG. NOTHING. Walking. Talking on the phone. With your hoodie up. That’s IT. There was absolutely no logical reason for a guard, or policeman, or neighborhood watchman to ask you what you were doing. None.

But see, there is a big difference there. I’m parenting a son who doesn’t ever have to be aware of how the color of his skin – or his general racial background – might be threatening to the people he walks past. I don’t have to warn him about doing his best to appear as harmless as possible. I don’t have to carry around that extra layer of fear in my heart that he could be detained by police or confronted by someone simply because of the color of his skin.

We don’t talk about “Driving while white.”

We don’t talk about “Walking while white.”

And Trayvon, when an adult neighborhood watchman did confront you? Of course you were scared! Of course you were probably confused beyond belief. Because all you were doing was walking home. With Skittles and an iced tea. Talking on your phone. YOU felt threatened. YOU were the one who was not safe. YOU were the one who screamed for help out of fear for your life. Of course you fought back! YOU were the one attacked when you should not have been. They say your attacker is free thanks to a self defense oriented Stand Your Ground Law in Florida. How about YOUR right to Stand Your Ground? All you had was your fists. No match against a much larger adult and his gun confronting you for NO LOGICAL REASON.

As all the details come out about how those last minutes of your life were spent, as it becomes more and more clear how WRONG it is that the man who pulled the trigger is not in jail, something I read yesterday made flame spit out my ears:

“We are taking a beating over this,” said (Sanford Police Chief Bill) Lee, who defends the investigation. “This is all very unsettling. I’m sure if George Zimmerman had the opportunity to relive Sunday, Feb. 26, he’d probably do things differently. I’m sure Trayvon would, too.”

Trayvon, there is not one damn thing you could have done differently because you did nothing wrong. Nothing. Blaming you in any way for what happened is like blaming a rape victim for wearing provocative clothes and “asking for it”. Why the hell our society feels the need to shame victims in order to somehow lessen the guilt for the damage done by their attackers is beyond me.

I sure don’t. Society didn’t fail George Zimmerman.

Society failed YOU Travyon.

Because YOU should be FINE.

You. Should. Be Fine. You should be safe, and ALIVE and home and fine.

I hope, at least, that you can feel the love from all of us.

Love,Me. 


My favorite stories about the Susan G. Komen foundation – can they recover?


Unless you have been away from just about every possible media source the last 3 days, you have probably heard about the utter public relations fail of  the Susan G Komen foundation. At best, they have naively applied an entirely NEW criteria for grant funding to various Planned Parenthood clinics around the country essentially blocking PP from any further money. At worst, their pro-life heavy executive group conspired to take advantage of the recent GOP Congressional attacks on PP and pull funding because they disagree with 3% of what PP does in their clinics.

What made it such a PR debacle is that, the worst case scenario seems the most likely given the steps taken in the past year which were easily exposed. They didn’t even control the messaging here – the press release about the withdrawal of funding was made by PP, not SGK. And just like that a non-profit organization that enjoyed fairly close to universal support  lost a large chunk of it’s reputation. Even with rumblings in the past about their aggressive lawsuits against ANYONE who uses the words “for the cure”, and being criticized for not seeming to care about environmental factors that contribute to increased cancer rates, the majority of the public viewed them with warm and fuzzy feelings. I’ve walked in two of their 3-day walk events (the 1st one I did was actually an Avon 3-day) and I’ve donated to walkers every year when I couldn’t participate myself.

Now? Many people I know who were signed up to walk in 2012 canceled. People funneled donations directly to PP effectively erasing the lost funds. Employees of SGK resigned. Regional SGK chapters (every single one in California for instance) rebuked the home office decision.

Yes, they are a private non-profit that can take political stands if they choose. BUT – they spent 30 years NOT doing that. Their mission was to fund breast cancer research, detection, treatment and awareness ESPECIALLY to segments of the population who didn’t have easy access to medical assistance. Thanks to SGK, people were literally kind of up to HERE with pink ribbons! Which is a GOOD thing because lordy – were we ALL totally aware! But they flushed all that away by taken was so obviously a political position on a very polarizing topic – abortion rights and access. In 24 hours they jumped into one of the hottest pots of oil you could choose! So dumb. When you rely on donations and volunteers you want to INCREASE your pool of potential donors, not DECREASE it drastically.

3 days later now – as of earlier this morning – they have reversed their decision. But, not before inviting scrutiny on themselves that they really couldn’t pass IMHO. The earlier complaints I mentioned are back in the news. A not so flattering documentary is being released this weekend about them and it was filmed BEFORE any of this happened. The main brain trust of the group has had their political agenda exposed. Even if that whole group (including the founder) stepped away, I am not sure the organization could recover. Only 17% of money donated goes to actual research? The President is drawing a $500k salary? They granted $7.5 million to Penn State and never thought of pulling THAT money away after the child rape charges yet they pulled $650k from PP due to a NON CRIMINAL congressional investigation?

So much they have to overcome. I have the strong feeling that even after backing away from this, more stories will surface about their questionable activities and they will be tainted for the long haul.

Anyhow – here are some of my favorite articles I read this week that I shared on my Facebook page and which sparked some great discussions.

Top Susan G Komen official resigned over Planned Parenthood cave in (The Atlantic – focus on background motivations))

How Komen Flushed Their brand in 24 Hours (Winning The Internet – marketing angle)

The Race for Respect - (Margaret and Helen – because everything they post on politics is brilliant and funny)

Komen’s Choice - (New Yorker Commentary)

And – my two favorite quotes from those stories that pretty much sums up the whole issue here:

“Maybe we should stop Walking for a Cure and start Walking for Respect. I mean it. Really.”
- Helen

“In American politics, women’s bodies are not bodies, but parts. People like to talk about some parts more than others.” – Jill Lepore

 

 

2011 Year in Photos by Pete Souza – a set on Flickr


 

My beautiful city

2011 Year in Photos by Pete Souza – a set on Flickr.

I’m sharing this here because I don’t think of this set of photos as being political in nature. What it IS, is a history of the year in the White House which, no matter your political persuasion, is OUR history too. What I love – and you need to take the time to click through all of these – are the comments by Pete Souza describing the scenes and/or why he chose the shots and angles that he did. Mr Souza has been photographing President’s for decades. If there is ANY job I would love to have – it is his. Witness to everything. Literally EVERYTHING that goes on around the President.

Let there be…….dark!


I left for work yesterday morning pondering the internet situation in our house which had completely died on Wednesday night. Ok, not completely – the wireless network crapped out – one computer could still direct connect to the modem. I figured I would call Time Warner, upgrade to their wireless networking system because I am tired of maintaining the router myself (and clearly the “new” Netgear router was a piece of trash), get the first appointment they had and then figure out how we would get through without wireless. You know, such a deep deep, real world problem – no wireless internet – no laptops – no Xbox live – HORRORS!

So, of course the planet had to remind me just how insignificant no wireless internet for one night might be by unplugging us completely.

We now know that ONE – get that? ONE worker in Arizona had a total brain fart and pretty much ended up disconnecting the entire southern California grid at 3:20pm yesterday. Woosh! Massive black O-U-T. Several million people without any power. Cell phones spotty at best – though working enough to figure out where family was and to hear that school would be closed today and then also that work would be open.

I mean, really? ONE GUY did all that? can you say infrastructure breakdown?

Thankfully the early radio reports that we might not be back up until Saturday were wrong and we had power by 2am at my house so it was not even 11 hours.

But hey - we made the best of it! Here’s a few things I am thankful for:

  1. That I bought gas on the way in to work when my yellow warning light came on. I am notorious for not wanting to stop anywhere on my way in to work yet something in my brain said “just do it!” and I am very glad I did.
  2. That I did at least have $10 in my wallet – which is rare since I hardly ever had cash, but I had saved some for the JV football entrance fee tonight.
  3. That we had a gas stove and a really nice BBQ
  4. That it was a gorgeous summer night with almost no wind and that the moon was ablaze and that we could see every star.
  5. That our refrigerator water supply died a year ago so I always have jugs of drinking water on hand.
  6. That I love candles and always have a ton and that we always have lighters around
  7. That we have a battery powered radio and even found batteries for it!
  8. That I have had issues in the past with my garage door opener so we are all very familiar with how to disengage the motor latch and roll it up and down manually. (something my neighbors apparently didn’t clue in to since everyone’s cars were in their driveways?!)
  9. That I have been putting out those solar battery powered landscaping lights around my large yard over the last two years and that Son #1 immediately thought of bringing them inside as it got dark – PERFECT sources of life – safe and effective. One in each bathroom and then we were all carrying them around with us.

    Perfect emergency lights!

  10. That we all love playing board games and that Scrabble didn’t sell at the garage sale!! We started a mini bonfire in the shell of a dead bbq, hung a flashlight from the roof of the patio cover for a spotlight, turned on the radio and played Scrabble for a couple of hours. It was so fun! Plus, I won despite Son #2 taking my damn letters I wanted to use every turn!
  11. That somehow through the spotty cell phone signal, I heard from my parents, a friend I was supposed to meet for dinner, and that the texts & voice mails from my workplace and from Son #2′s schools got through. Somehow so did the Padres score text messages – as they lost yet again – ironically IN Arizona, the source of our darkness!

Overall, it was a kind of fun night! I’m back at work today, the JV football game is apparently ON for later and Time Warner is still coming out to fix the internet tonight.

Oh, and something else is still happening. SDG&E sent a notice two weeks ago that they need to replace a corroded power line. Which means – yes – no electricity from Sat at 10pm until Sunday at 8am.

Piece of cake.

 

Advice for east coasters – seriously!


Yes, I know I  participated in the fun that we on the west coast poked at you guys yesterday. In my defense, I waited until a few after hours your earthquake and I knew full well that everyone was totally fine. Once that was cleared up, well…some ribbing had to be done! Heck, you guys were doing a fine job making fun of yourselves. It took exactly no time at all for the quintesential earthquake damage photo to circulate on every single social media page:

The funny part being that this is an old photo from some other weather event used to symbolize DISASTER!

There were also some really funny tweets mostly coming straight out of the DC media making fun of spilled lattes and such. It was all very amusing ONLY because, other than some building/property damage, everyone was perfectly OK.

Of course, Fox News distinguished itself from the media hysteria by claiming that the Washington Monument was leaning. There *are* cracks near the top of the tower, but no, it was never tipping over!

But honestly, I know it is scarier over there since buildings are absolutely not built to withstand such shaking. Although, they apparently should be as all the follow up reporting shows that there are plenty of fairly shallow and potentially active faults on the east coast.

So, you know that last year San Diego was hit with a pretty good sized shaking on Easter Sunday. I blogged the details and our household reactions here. A few things you SHOULD remember in all seriousness:

  • There WILL be aftershocks. Some of those may be as strong as the original. I was still feeling shakes several months later. It reached a point when I would anticipate them because I would realize it had been several days since a shake and I knew we were ‘due’. Usually within 24 hours we would get one. One even hit while I was in my car which was quite trippy as that has never happened. I felt it since I was at a stop light. It was light someone was shaking my car side to side but then I noticed the car in front of also visibly shaking and the light poles swaying. That was at least two full months after the original quake.
  • While it is calm, scan the buildings where you spend the most time. Your house, your office, your gym perhaps. Locate the items that are most likely to shatter/collapse/fall and then look for a clear spot AWAY from those things. My friends rode out the Easter earthquake in a grocery store and the first thing they ALL did after the first wave was run AWAY from the large glass front windows towards the lightest aisle of items – bread!
  • If you are in the habit at home of keeping your shoes off (I am), always make sure a pair are handy in case any glass does shatter so that you can slip them on and avoid walking over glass shards.
  • Know where your gas shut off valve is and how to turn it off.
  • I know it is said all the time, but really – keep bottled water on hand. That’s the first thing you need & often the first thing to be compromised if you happen to be right on top of a fault and the heaviest damage is around you.
  • If you are outside, stay there, and if you are inside, stay THERE. The worst thing you can do is panic and run around. Think about it – there is no warning for an earthquake. They last, at the most, maybe a minute with the most violent shake being right there at the start so by the time your brain registers what is happening, the worst is over. You are not going to outrun one. You can scan your surroundings and protect yourself by ducking and covering and at least getting away from any large glass items or potentially heavy falling ones, but that’s about it.

And honestly? Feel completely free to point and laugh mercilessly should even one snowflake DARE to fall in San Diego. I am totally admitting right now that my fair city (and me) would freak the fuck OUT.

Cinderella in real life – complete w/ evil step sisters!


This image floating around Facebook today says it all – absolutely classic that some brilliant observer caught the similarities:

UPDATE: Just as quickly as this flew around the web, word spread that it was a photoshopped image. Which it is so I feel compelled to post this correction of sorts. Some creative soul changed the colors of the cartoon images to match the real life ones. It’s still pretty funny ;-) )