audacity of huge

this is going to be a random bunch of stuff i have found interesting lately...

the other day, i was at cvs with my friend from work, alice, and we turned a corner and she said, "look! they have the condoms locked up." i look over and sure enough... ALL of the condoms were behind lock and key at a cvs. i was shocked and dismayed. "THIS is exactly why you have people who can't afford kids having too many and why people are trying to have abortions and then other people getting upset about that. i can't believe it! i'm so upset!" and i really was. i was livid and about to go on a tirade. i started talking very loudly. she looked at me and said, "i should've realized you'd get so upset and not pointed it out." maybe she shouldn't have. but now i know. i have half a mind to walk in to the cvs and buy all the condoms and stand on the street and hand them out to anyone who needs them. and, btw, this is a cvs that is in the heart of downtown columbus with LOTS of low-income, "urban" people around. people who take the bus wearing no shoes. and they don't have easy access to condoms. can you imagine me standing out there handing them out? maybe i should. AND do it on the day when they have abortion protests across the street at the statehouse. THAT would be an interesting day...

anyway, i was reminded of this the other day when i read this article ironically titled "spreading the love" on jezebel. it says that "STD rates are through the roof" - where? HERE IN THE US!!! education and protection is all you need. and we could have both and there are people pushing against it. it's heart breaking. maybe this is common practice at cvs - having the condoms locked up. admittedly, i dont buy them that often, so i haven't really paid attention. but here's the truth, peeps, so listen up: if you need a condom, let me know and i will get one for you or send you a few bucks to buy some for yourself (i'm guessing they might not be that effective after going through the usps - as much as i love the mail system, i'm pretty sure heating and pressing condoms is not a good thing...).

it is wed night and i am at home listening to my little brother's game (player). either the team they are playing isn't very good, umary is AWESOME (which is clearly one of the reasons), or... something else... but my brother's team had 60 at half against the opponent's 17. i kid not. here is a fun video of my brother's team preparing for the season. [player just scored!!! oh and here is an excellent article about how he red shirted the past year - he's so well-spoken!!]


i found this video on boingboing and thought it was really really interesting... thought i would post it here in case you missed it. you can read comments on boingboing or the original designer's site on vimeo which explain why the US isn't in it.

Visualizing empires decline from Pedro M Cruz on Vimeo.

what do you think?