Best ad for marriage equality EVER.

This is what America looks like... according to Time Magazine.

These are the covers that America saw at the same time as the rest of the world received much grimmer headlines.

Fox Falsely Dubs Alleged White House Attacker as "Occupy Shooter"

If you can't Occupy Wall Street, at least keep Wall Street Occupied - send your junk mail credit card offers back to the bank.

This is for real. Berkeley feeling it's roots.

Faith - the two legged, WALKING dog.

Faith the Dog

She's one of Oprah's all-time favorite stories of hope. Faith the dog was born with the odds against her. When Jude and her family met Faith at three weeks old, she had two severly deformed front legs and her mother was trying to smother her. Watch the inspiring story of how this family rallied around Faith and taught her how to walk like a human.

The Magic Mushroom Experiment.

The "study involved 18 healthy adults, average age 46, who participated in five eight-hour drug sessions with either psilocybin — at varying doses — or placebo. Nearly all the volunteers were college graduates and 78% participated regularly in religious activities; all were interested in spiritual experience.

Fourteen months after participating in the study, 94% of those who received the drug said the experiment was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives; 39% said it was the single most meaningful experience.

Critically, however, the participants themselves were not the only ones who saw the benefit from the insights they gained: their friends, family member and colleagues also reported that the psilocybin experience had made the participants calmer, happier and kinder."

The importance of touch in medical care.

Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance

This might be a great way to explain the movement to kids...

1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald.

2. “Fortune” is a word for having a lot of money and for having a lot of luck, but that does not mean the word has two definitions.

3. Money is like a child—rarely unaccompanied. When it disappears, look to those who were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while you were at the grocery store. You might also look for someone who has a lot of extra children sitting around, with long, suspicious explanations for how they got there.

4. People who say money doesn’t matter are like people who say cake doesn’t matter—it’s probably because they’ve already had a few slices.

5. There may not be a reason to share your cake. It is, after all, yours. You probably baked it yourself, in an oven of your own construction with ingredients you harvested yourself. It may be possible to keep your entire cake while explaining to any nearby hungry people just how reasonable you are.

6. Nobody wants to fall into a safety net, because it means the structure in which they’ve been living is in a state of collapse and they have no choice but to tumble downwards. However, it beats the alternative.

7. Someone feeling wronged is like someone feeling thirsty. Don’t tell them they aren’t. Sit with them and have a drink.

8. Don’t ask yourself if something is fair. Ask someone else—a stranger in the street, for example.

9. People gathering in the streets feeling wronged tend to be loud, as it is difficult to make oneself heard on the other side of an impressive edifice.

10. It is not always the job of people shouting outside impressive buildings to solve problems. It is often the job of the people inside, who have paper, pens, desks, and an impressive view.

11. Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending.

12. If you have a large crowd shouting outside your building, there might not be room for a safety net if you’re the one tumbling down when it collapses.

13. 99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and the occasional slice of cake for dessert. Surely an arrangement can be made with that niggling 1 percent who disagree.

Surfer almost swallowed by whale.

Wonder Woman skates!

Occupy Wall Street IS RELEVANT. Join the movement.

See mom, video games CAN be useful. Gamers solve HIV enzyme puzzle.

Gamers playing the game Foldit figured out in 3 weeks what scientists have been working on for years. Read more about the science behind this HIV enzyme here.

I think this is what the 99% are referring to.

Redefine fairytale, redefine female.

Don't just save gas... SAVE SPACE.

Hilariously frightened (mostly) teenaged boys.

Go here to see the slideshow of visitors to the Nightmares Fear Factory in Niagara Falls.

Black and white twins.

Great article on homophobia in skateboarding.

It's about time! Thank you Patrick Welch for a well written piece. Start reading on page 50.

We Are The 99%...

I am. You probably are too.

Finally, pro-choice fights back.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

My puppy's song...

Shotgunning grandmas.

Female sperm?

Sperm cells have been created from a female human embryo in a remarkable breakthrough that suggests it may be possible for lesbian couples to have their own biological children...

Skater girl photos!

Australia adds 3rd gender option to passports!

A tribunal in Australia has created the country’s first legally recognized same-sex married couple and overturned a government decision about a transwoman’s new passport.

Grace Abrams was refused a female passport by the Foreign Affairs department despite having undergone transition between 2001 and 2005.

She married her partner Fiona Power while still transitioning, and the authorities said that in order to get a new birth certificate and therefore a passport identifying her as female, she would have to divorce.

Ms Abrams went to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) arguing that a birth certificate was required to prove that an applicant for a passport is an Australian citizen, and that other documents verify her gender.

The tribunal agreed, and ordered that she be issued with an Australian passport identifying her as female, thus also recognizing her same-sex marriage.

I am Lil Wayne's newest fan.

I don't even really know his music, but how can you not love this guy after seeing him so stoked on skating?!?

Nickled and Dimed, ten years later.

If you haven't read Barbara Ehrenreich's insightful book Nickled and Dimed, reading her afterword from the latest edition gets to the point in just a few pages. If it was tough to get by in America on minimum wage in the year 2000, imagine what it's like now.

Oxelo girls longboard video, starring my girls!

SAN FRANCISCO DAYLIFE from Oxelo Skateboards on Vimeo.

Women in action sports and the gender bias they face.

Cara-Beth Burnside is a legend in women's skateboarding, no doubt. She's paved the way for younger female skaters to receive more respect and exposure because she's been ripping for more than 20 years.

However, action sports as an industry still fails to see even her as more than an opportunity to sell their pink bikinis and their flower printed equipment. Female skaters face an especially tough challenge given that their sport doesn't highlight their curves in swimsuits at tropical locations, nor has it been sanctioned by "respectable" organizations such as the Olympic Games. Add to that the fact that women only make up about 12% of skateboarders, compared to 31% of surfers and 24% of snowboarders, then it's no wonder that glass ceiling remains without a crack.

This quote pretty much sums it up for me... "At Vans, skate icons such as Tony Alva, Steve Caballero, Jeff Grosso and Hosoi are part of a "Legends" program. But Doug Palladini, who is both the president of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association and vice president of marketing at Vans, points out that although Vans respects everything Burnside has achieved, with so few women's skaters, it makes little business sense to include her."

To me, this sounds like our politicians thesedays - so concerned about winning their next reelection that they lack the moral fortitude to do what's right for the long term. What they don't realize is that they may win this battle, but they're losing the war. That is what skateboarding is doing by not taking Cara-Beth and others as seriously as they should.

Sponsor a female legend now, before it makes "business sense", and become the industry legend long term.

Stunning electron microscope photos.

Check out photos of the ordinary and of things you never knew existed magnified hundreds of times...

100% skateable house.

See the full photo album at Archinect.com.

Kid's reaction to meeting first gay couple.

He breaks it down so simply...

Great new instrumental album!

My bff's little bro is releasing his first album of classical guitar music! If you like Kaki King, you'll love Ryan Ayers. Listen to his first single "Jut".

Libyan political graffitti.

Spring and early summer footie.

Skate and paint.

Beautiful and scary time lapse video of Phoenix dust storm.

First India skate video.

INDIA from Oxelo Skateboards on Vimeo.

Ironic and sad. NY motorcyclist dies on protest ride against mandatory helmet laws.

Homophobic men most aroused by gay male porn.

Most gays didn't need a study to believe this, but experimental evidencenever hurts...

"One study asked heterosexal men how comfortable and anxious they are around gay men. Based on these scores, they then divided these men into two groups: men that are homophobic, and men who are not. These men were then shown three, four-minute videos. One video depicted straight sex, one depicted lesbian sex and one depicted gay male sex. While this was happening, a device was attached to each participant's penis. This device has been found to be triggered by sexual arousal, but not other types of arousal (such as nervousness, or fear - arousal often has a very different meaning in psychology than in popular usage).

When viewing lesbian sex and straight sex, both the homophobic and the non-homophobic men showed increased penis circumference. For gay male sex, however, only the homophobic men showed heightened penis arousal.

Heterosexual men with the most anti-gay attitudes, when asked, reported not being sexually aroused by gay male sex videos. But, their penises reported otherwise."

I love science!

Out there, and RAD.

Beat boxer, R+B singer, comedian, and all around unbelievable performer Reggie Watts. Listen to him on Radiolab.

Photographic time travel.

It's simple: take a photo of your old photo in the place it was taken. You can submit yours to the site dearphotograph.com with a caption.

Expressionist dog pee.

Amazingly awesome, not so much in the Biblical sense.

First transsexual skateboarder interview.

Hillary Thomspon, the first openly transsexual... by idosk8

Empowering with maps!

A sad sign of the times: man robs bank for $1 to get healthcare in jail.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A great rendition of Gimme Shelter.

Playing For Change Foundation uses music and arts education to create positive change around the world. See more about the foundation here.

This is my bet of what the apocalypse looks like.

Photos from the volcano eruption in Chile this week.

Cat hugs kitten.

I couldn't help myself...

This is an UNdoctored photo.

Here is its context:

Read how it was taken here.

Funny Shi(r)t.

The San Francisco headquartered shirt company Headline Shirts has funny designs and even better snarky descriptions for each t. These are my favorites:

It's never too late to try something new.

And I thought that picking up skateboarding at 28 put me in late in the game! This guy is 76 and started when he was 65. Rad.

Read his interview on SFGate.

Children of Immigrants Are America's Science Superstars.

Here's something to note the next time you get into a debate over U.S. immigration policy, "...70 percent of the finalists in the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search competition -- also known as the "Junior Nobel Prize" -- were the children of immigrants even though only 12 percent of the U.S. population is foreign-born". Just saying.

Read more about this here.

DIY: Make your own solar charger in an Altoids tin.

A fun project for tinkerers, or just buy one here to make it look like you made it yourself :)

Bulletproof dogs.

There more than just good training that goes into these Navy SEAL dogs who helped kill Osama bin Laden. Hundreds of thousands of dollars more, in fact. Read about their gear and training here.

Jet packs, for real.

Awesomely small living.

An entire office made of cardboard.

See the entire album on inhabitat.com.

Ellie Runs (and sings).

Ellie Goulding is a fairly new British artist I've taken a liking to recently and she's got a great program getting people to run with her in the cities where she's touring. Go to her main site for info about her music or to the Ellie Runs site for info about her running.

I swear, I know these people...

This past week's SNL was one of the best I've seen in a long while and this was my favorite clip.

Brazil approves same sex civil unions.

Despite Catholic protests, Brazil's highest court has ruled that same sex couples should have the right to a civil union. Although they didn't legalize gay marriage, this ruling is still great progress for the country with the most Roman Catholics in the world.

Read more here.

Osama bin Laden version of Where's Waldo.

Houses made from plastic bottles.

Read more about houses built with unconventional materials on the Building Blog.

Argentina:

Mexico:

Serbia:

25 tips all Mac users should know.

Google gets on board with It Gets Better campaign.

The real reason people are obsessed with President Obama's birth certificate.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Artist's depiction of San Francisco.

First Jell-o, now toothpicks!

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Tom Chic.

Through fashion and film lesbians are carving out their place in Thailand, despite its conservative culture. Read more here

Tom Chicboutique.

Yes or NoThailand's first mainstream lesbian themed movie.

Bees on restaurant rooftops!

This is my friend's mom! She brings a whole new meaning to the idea of eating local.

Cats love dolphins?

A new way to avoid foreclosure.

Advertise on your house!

Goodbye Glenn Beck.

Beck is leaving Fox News so we can all take a sigh of relief, for now. I'm sure he'll find somewhere else to espouse his far Right Wing Fringy McFringerton views, but at least his audience won't be so vast.

Finally, a workaround to ditch the electoral college system.

Legislation that would change California's adherence to the electoral college system of national politics is making progress. AB459 would give California's 55 electoral college votes to whichever candidate won the national popular vote, instead of giving all 55 votes to the candidate that won a majority of California's districts. States that pass similar legislation would agree through a compact to do the same. The laws wouldn't go into effect until states representing 270 electoral votes, a majority and the number needed to elect a president, agree to the compact.

This approach avoids the nearly impossible process of amending the Constitution while still affecting the way we elect our nation's leader. Thus far Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey and Maryland - with a total of 73 electoral votes - have passed the legislation proposed by National Popular Vote, a nonprofit based in Silicon Valley and founded by Stanford Professor John Koza, who came up with the idea. Adding California's 55 votes to that tally would go a long way to reaching the 270 needed to put the compact into action.

Read more about it here and here.

Another dog story with a happy ending, but not for the faint of heart.

Dog found living on floating debris 3 weeks after Japan tsunami.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hopeful study shows that it's not that hard to go BPA free.

Aside from drinking water out of glass or stainless steel containers instead of plastic bottles, there is a lot more we can do to eliminate BPA from our lives. The good news is that those efforts will be rewarded almost immediately. A recent study showed that after only three days of living BPA free, the level of BPA in the participants' systems dropped by more than 60%!

Read more on the study here and find examples of BPA free food storage products here.

Chatty twin baby boys.

People put a lot of dumb videos of their kids up on YouTube, but this one is enthralling! These 17 month olds are having a real conversation, no doubt. I wonder what they'll be like when they have words...

Yet more super cool ideas for how to green our energy sources.

Ever feel down about how we've screwed our planet? Got green anxiety? I sure do sometimes, but reading about innovations to dig us out of this whole makes me feel much better. Check out the Earthtechling website for info on how these ideas (and more!) will be put into action to make our energy sources more renewable and less damaging to the environment.

Parakites

Container ship kites

Trying to un-gay yourself? There's an app for that.

Apple has approved an app designed by Exodus International, a Christian group that says it can help people rid themselves of "unwanted same sex attractions". Not only did Apple approve the app, but they gave it a "4" rating, meaning that it had what the company deemed, "no objectionable material".

To sign the petition to have the app removed, visit change.org.

UPDATE!!

Thailand's got talent... and tolerance for tranny's.

One of the contestants on the tv show Thailand's Got Talent revealed their male to female transgender identity by switching seamlessly from soprano to a masculine tenor mid song. And the crowd went wild! The audience's reaction is the best part.

Dog in Japan refuses to leave injured friend.

Before you watch the video, just know that both dogs have been rescued and are receiving veterinary care. Read a translation of the voice on the video here.

It's a start...

Coca Cola and Pepsi are battling over who can produce the most plant based bottle for their sodas, which could have a huge impact on the amount of plastics produced and disposed of each year world wide. Read more here and here.

Need to find a place to charge up your electric vehicle? There's an app for that.

Not only does PlugShare ease electric car owners "range anxiety", it also subverts the idea that we have to wait for charging infrastructure to be expanded before we hop onto the e-car bandwagon. It allows you to post your address if you wish to let people give you some pocket change to charge at their home in a pinch. Privacy issues aside, this is an excellent grass roots response to the lag in a support system for cleaner vehicles.

Download the FREE app here. Happy charging!



Find out more about electric cars in general.

First surfing kickflip!

I can't believe they only gave the guy 10,000. He's been working on the trick for 4 years!

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Because I love Gaga.

The most transparently immoral political action I've ever seen.

The union issue in Wisconsin continues to amaze...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The definition of wasteful packaging. Bananas in plastic.

No Impact Man.

I couldn't go this far, but it's amazing to see that it CAN be done. I love the evolution of mom in the story. Read the blog or watch the movie and get inspired to be better to the world!

Parazit, the Iranian Daily Show

                       

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Kambiz Hosseini & Saman Arbabi
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Read more about them here.
                       

This is your mug on drugs.

In response to the terrible meth problem that has plagued the Northwest over the past decade, Multnomah County has instituted an ad campaign featuring before and after mug shots to help educate people about what meth does to those who use it. The first ones were only taken 6 months apart! I'd say it's a little scarier than a fried egg...

 

 

Everything is OK.

Live free and die free. Or go shopping and stay scared. Your choice.

America's future supports repealing DOMA.

As a follow up to my earlier mention of Obama's changing stance on the issue of whether or not denying gay people the right to marriage is unconstitutional, here's what the nation thinks...

Good news for gays! Obama administration rescinds support for DOMA.

I count myself among those who have been annoyed with Obama's stance on gay marriage, but today marks an important change in his administration's treatment of the issue. Obama has stated in the past that his personal view of marriage was that it should be between a man and a woman but that he advocated for civil unions so that gays weren't completely denied partnership rights. DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act that his Attorney General has been defending, defines marriage along such lines and essentially makes gay Americans second class citizens.

The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution asserts that it is illegal to deny a specific group (let alone a marginalized group!), their rights and is being used to argue that DOMA is unconstitutional. Obama now agrees with this rationale and has directed his administration to stop defending DOMA in the courts.

Read more here.

Lady Gaga convinces Target to change it's tune.

Here she goes again with her super-homo-gay agenda. In exchange for getting the exclusive rights to sell a special edition of her new single, "Born This Way", Target has promised to stop the donations to anti gay groups and has committed $500,000 to LGBT community projects. Read more about Target's prior political donations here. Listen to Born This Way and read it's progressive lyrics here.

Thank you Ms. Gaga.

UPDATE!! 3/9/11

Anti Palestinian BART ads stir controversy.

I saw this BART ad a couple of weeks ago and found it to be pretty inflammatory.

Apparently I'm not the only one. The ads were replaced with different ones from the opposition...

To read more about the story and BART's ad policy, click here.

Reduce, reuse, recycle, RETHINK. The zero waste home.

I read about this family in a magazine and loved their commitment to the cause of being greener. You can read Bea's blog here.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Coral reef inspired homes for Haiti.

I don't know if this is actually a plausible design, but it sure is cool.

3D printing is the wave of the future.

Whether it's a plastic iPhone tripod, a metal airplane component, or real transplantable human organs, 3D printing can make it all. If that's not cool enough, the process also reduces waste and improves customizability and will someday soon be very cost efficient.

The process is just like the laser printers you've got at home, but replaces the ink with things like nylon, plastics, and metals. Designs are drawn up on a computer and sent to the printer as usual, but instead of placing one layer of ink onto paper it builds layer after layer of material into a three dimensional object. Printers would generally be built like this:

To read more about how it works, click here or watch this demo: