All right, August 29 there was an earthquake somewhere around Chino Hills? 5.4, according to the USGS page on the quake. I’d heard numbers from 5.8 to 5.2, but I guess it’s settled down to 5.4 finally. Felt all the way to southern San Diego county (because it’s sandy there).

Where was I? With my family and Noelle’s family (sans her dad) in Anaheim, standing outside our hotel, just starting our 3-day vacation to Disneyland. Bwahahar!

Yes, we live in Southern California, what the heck do we need three days at Disneyland for? Well my brother, the one who recently has really fallen in love with Disney, never really went to Disneyland when he was a kid. Whereas I went quite often with my Girl Scout troop with our cookie sales money, and thusly got sick of it. (Mum said that it was much more crowded in the 90s, aka the Eisner years.) But now that my brother is working full-time, he has money to drag us all to Disneyland. *grin*

We didn’t just go on most of the rides there, but we looked through stores, caught some shows, and just generally took in the Disney atmosphere.

But before we got to that, we experienced an earthquake! This was the first time for everyone (I think?) that we felt an earthquake while outside. We were standing on the sidewalk, just talking about I have no idea what, when I felt this weird boom underneath my feet.

For a second I thought we were standing on a metal plate over some electrical works or something. But no, it was solid concrete on solid ground next to solid asphalt on solid ground. I automatically asked, “What was that?” and then the ground started moving sideways. :o I put my hand on my dad’s shoulder because I thought I might fall over, or maybe it was just for security, haha.

My mom asked, “Is that an earthquake?” and my dad said yeah, look at the windows of the hotel rattling. Then we noticed some hotel guests on the first floor standing outside their room.

Then it was all over, and everyone talked about what they thought and blah blah blah. C and my dad tried using their cell phones, but they didn’t work. :( Worked about an hour later though.

All in all, best ride of the day! (This entry is very long and Mythbusters is on in a short while anyway, so … hopefully I’ll write up our Disneyland trip. :x)

Then Daddy called and he and Mum talked and stuff and Daddy said he was trying to go to this one website but it was down and etc. A little while later Mum checked channel 4 and they were talking about it and said it was 5.2. I showed Mum the website usgs.gov and then Daddy called again.

Later that day when we were taking paint off the porch there was no Ellen or Dr. Phil ’cause channel 4 was still covering the earthquake. ;.; So we didn’t work for that long.

The next day Mum told me Hal Fishman’s commentary on the media coverage: all the journalists and whoever else were excited and everything and took up the airwaves for hours for an earthquake in cactus land? hah! Mum even teased Daddy, saying, “You called home talking about the earthquake.”

In a nationwide campaign to save energy by cutting down on air conditioning, the government has asked public workers to leave their ties and jackets home for the summer.

The Environment Ministry campaign has nothing to do with loosening up Japan’s stodgy government ministries — and everything to do with meeting targets under the Kyoto global warming protocol. Tokyo needs to cut so-called greenhouse gas emissions to 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

To help make the goal, air conditioners in government buildings will be set at a toasty 82, the maximum allowed by law. Offices usually keep the temperature at around 77.

The Energy Conservation Center estimates if all offices in Japan increase summer temperatures to 82, it could save 81 million gallons of oil in one summer.
news.yahoo.com

O_o Is that why America turned that thing down? Sheesh … 82 … on an air conditioner! I have seriously never heard of it … I didn’t know there was such a setting … 77 even would have stretched my imagination. And 81 freaking million gallons of oil! *dreams*

(Yes I know America didn’t sign whatever it’s called because we pointed our fat finger at some other country who didn’t sign and said, “They waste a lot more! We don’t see how our waste will make that much of a difference compared to them!”)

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

In a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Philadelphia, Merisant Co. said Splenda’s marketing slogan, “made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar,” should read something more like, “made from dextrose, maltodextrin and 4-chloro-4-deoxy-alpha, D-Galactopyranosyl-1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-beta, D-fructofuranoside.”

But then I wonder … what’s Equal made of? Meh, too lazy to go find out.

Too lazy to make regular posts either. hah. Oh well. New layout! (Ten days after the fact….) Finals coming up, stressing for some reason … blah. Christmas in 24 days! *lamezors* That’s all I remember …

Ahh, so that’s what that is. >_< And the trojan thing kinda scares me. I know almost nothing about them, so that’s why. But it’s too late to go find info about them.

** Thirty-three percent of those polled thought teacher salaries were “just about right.” (from here)

They thought WHAT?! >.< Dang cheapskate taxpayers. Stupid tax system that gives little money to education.

Hm, I think I’m gonna ask Mommy why my high school US Gov’t book said that a public school system is bad. I forget why.

Also, made this. Heh. It’s nothing bleeping amazing. :b And I’ve still gotta work on the glowy effect around her hands. But I like it. When I’m done, I’m putting it in EW. Finally! Something actually new to add! ^-^;;

I’m also think of splitting the visual and written parts of that site apart, then adding a link from the writing site to l.s. Why? I dunno. The idea was planted by this clique that I was interested in. It said I had to have a link to a place where my writing is. And I didn’t know if EW would qualify, being that half (or over half) of that site is my art. ^^;; But I don’t know. I might just take the lazy way out and not do it. XP

But if I do do it, there was something someone (maybe Dream) said in The Sandman that caught my eye. I might keep EW (change the name a bit) and keep it as some passageway to either site. Then I’d call my art Black Light and written stuff Blood Letters. O.o I just realized both of them are BL. ^_^;;;;;; And the problem with using those names is that I was gonna use Black Light for my wallpaper site (if I ever actually put it up o_O *doesn’t enjoy the thought of putting up her wallpapers*), and I’d have to come up with another name if I do the split. Oh well, something to think about tomorrow during classes. :P

6/09: http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=213705

“I come from a huge teen-pop phenomenon, which I think at the time was in a really poor state,” she [Christina Aguilera] told TOTP magazine. “It wasn’t about lyrics that were real, it was about catchy pop tunes that were more fun than innovative and inspiring. It was hard ’cause so many people had views and ideas about who I should be and inside I was screaming, ‘I’m not really this person!’”

Christina told the magazine, “I can’t knock ‘Genie In A Bottle.’ It got my foot in the door. As much as I loved having fans for the first time who were singing my lyrics and being in magazines—I just blew up after a while. I was growing up and it all became superficial and a bore to me. I was getting up and doing things I didn’t wholeheartedly believe in or even see the point of. So with Stripped, I changed everything. Being innovative, inspiring others to be different, to be daring. That’s the kind of artist I want to be.”

In an interview with teenmusic.com, Charlotte Church spoke out against some of today’s pop princesses—including Christina Aguilera. Church, who is making her film debut later this month in I’ll Be There, is well known for speaking her mind. While Church wasn’t too hard on Britney Spears, simply saying she just wears too much make-up, she was far harsher on Christina Aguilera. Church said, “Christina cheapens herself to make everyone look at her and the first thing that comes to mind is ‘slag’.”

http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=213059

Amy Lee said in the interview, “There are people that are hell-bent on the idea that we’re a Christian band in disguise, and that we have some secret message. We have no spiritual affiliation with this music. It’s simply about life experience.” Lee adds, “I guarantee that if the Christian bookstore owners listened to some of those songs, they wouldn’t sell the CD.”

Lee’s band mate Ben Moody said in the interview, “I’m not ashamed of my spiritual beliefs, but I in no way incorporate them into this band. We’re actually high on the Christian charts, and I’m like, What the f——k are we even doing there?”

The label reportedly requested that Christian stores pull all of the band’s products by June 30.

Hah! I didn’t know their albums were in Christian stores! ^^;;; I also didn’t know 12 Stones had anything to do with Christianity. ^^’ Oh well.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030619/ap_on_sc/shy_kids

A tendency to be shy may be an inherited characteristic that is marked by a specific reaction in the brain to the presence of strangers or novel objects, a study suggests.

Although some children are shy and others are outgoing, he said, these traits can change with time and life experiences.

“People overcome their shyness,” Kagan said. “You can also acquire shyness.”

Millions of Americans are night owls, routinely staying up past 2 in the morning and sleeping until noon whenever possible.

… left to set my own hours as a freelance writer, I watched my schedule drift later than ever. Efforts to turn in at a decent hour proved fruitless, even on days when I had managed to get up early. Around 11 p.m., an exasperating second wind would swirl up and keep me awake for hours. I’d wake up around noon, finish “breakfast” by 1 p.m. and curse yet another truncated, unproductive workday.

Scientists consider an unwillingly postponed sleep schedule to be a medical condition called delayed sleep phase syndrome, or DSPS. Caused by an irregularity of the circadian rhythms that govern the body clock, this and other sleep rhythm disorders most probably result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors, says Dr. Michael Wincor, an associate professor at USC’s schools of pharmacy and medicine. Because relatively few people seek treatment for it, estimates of the prevalence of DSPS are imprecise. Most researchers believe that 4% or fewer adults have the condition.

Experts agree that it is more widespread among adolescents than adults, with about 7% of teenagers having the condition, according to a 1989 report by the Journal of Sleep Research. Studies have shown that many teens possess slightly delayed body clocks, remaining energetic through the evening and typically requiring 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours of sleep.

DSPS is also common among college students, says Wincor. “On a daily basis, I see people with at least mild delayed sleep phase syndrome,” he says. “They’re accustomed to going to bed at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and being able to sleep until 10 a.m.”

Sleeping pills can’t remedy DSPS, so physicians sometimes prescribe chronotherapy, in which the patient goes to bed three hours later each night until he or she rounds the clock dial to the desired schedule. That is as laborious as it sounds, and those who complete it (usually missing a week of work to do so) must strictly adhere to the new routine or risk total relapse. Taking melatonin, the hormone normally secreted at night to help regulate sleep, can correct the problem in some cases.

The most effective therapy, however, is light therapy, according to sleep researchers.

*probably took too much of that article* ^^;;;; Rest of the article may be read here (requires registration).

Eh, yeah. Dunno why I stayed up past 5, though. ^^;;; I wasn’t trying that cycling through thing (don’t like the idea of sleeping in the middle of the day x_x). *shrugs* Weird.

Mon May 19, 2:12 PM ET

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—A Danish art museum director was acquitted of animal cruelty charges Monday after a court ruled that a display featuring goldfish inside working blenders was not cruel.

The display at the Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding featured 10 blenders and invited visitors to blend the fish if they wanted to. Somebody did in early 2000—and two goldfish were ground up. [X.X]

Animals right activists complained that the exhibit was cruel. Museum director Peter Meyer was fined $315 by police, but he refused to pay and went on trial in Kolding, 125 miles west of the capital, Copenhagen.

Judge Preben Bagger ruled Monday that Meyer did not have to pay the fine because the fish were killed “instantly” and “humanely.” [o_O]

During the two-day trial, a zoologist and a representative of blender manufacturer Moulinex said the fish likely died within a second after the blender started.

It was not known who turned the blenders on.

(Emphasis in article mine.)

Yuuck. Do fish go to Heaven? Is there going to be a movie All Fish Go to Heaven? Is that going to be the sequel for Little Nemo? Is it going to be rated G and geared towards kids? See your buddy die and go to Heaven! *ahem* Anyway. I’m being weird. Not out of the ordinary, but still … should keep quiet about. *shifts eyes around room* Keep people from pointing and staring.

We got rid of that book of weird true things. Dangit. I wanted to show Adam that Lizzie Borden story. Owell. I think we also got rid of Grump and Pout. XP I wonder if there was ever a book Mommy and/or Daddy bought specifically because they thought of me when they saw the title. There was Grump and Pout for N, and The Day Henry Cleaned His Room (something like that) for M88. Hah. They were funny and mean at the same time. ^.^;;; M88 got a kick out of it. N was grumpy about his. >b

Anyway. One thing that happened this weekend. Probably one of like two or three things. I was finishing Sybil and I realized it was missing 20–30 pages of the last few chapters. Grrrrrrrrs. Cruel much. I read and read for … how many days? Wednesday, or Thursday, to Sunday, then I can’t read the ENDING. Um. I can pretty much tell what the ending is anyway. >_> But still. It’s all so … unresolved. Which reminds me. How do I return something to Amazon? How do I turn into a pissy unreasonable customer?

Um. Well I started kind of to continue reading Time Enough for Love but then last night I stayed up for about an hour (past 1) reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. <.<;;; *coughs*

Hmmm … “Customers who shopped for Asian Americans also shopped for: Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki, Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia, Becoming Asian American by Nazli Kibria, A Different Mirror by Ronald T. Takaki, Yellow by Frank H. Wu, and … ‘Fallen’ – Evanescence”

O.o Iiinteresting … I don’t have any money though, anyway.

Yesterday on the way to the mall I noticed how dreary colored and muted colored all the cars are. One lime green Bug drove past while Daddy and I waited at the light. *sigh* Next car I get is gonna be bright red. >D But that probably won’t be for another 9 or 10 years …

Fed-Up Priest Starts ‘Santa-Free Zone’
Thu Dec 5,11:27 AM ET
By Ruben Baudisch

A German priest fed up with the growing commercialism of Christmas launched an anti-Santa Claus campaign on Thursday featuring bumper stickers that proclaim: “This is a Santa-free zone.”

Eckhard Bieger, a Roman Catholic priest in Frankfurt, said he is all for the holiday season, gift exchanges and family celebrations. But he believes the twinkly-eyed old man in a red costume is a commercial fraud.

“Santa Claus is a creation of the advertising industry and Coca-Cola to further commercial interests,” Bieger told Reuters.

“I don’t have anything against Christmas presents and don’t want to disappoint children,” he said. “My aim is to put St Nicholas back at the center of attention rather than this Santa Claus figure, which is just an empty shell.”

Swedish-American Artist Haddon Sundblom created the rosy-cheeked Santa used in Coca-Cola’s Christmas advertisements in 1931, and Bieger complained that it has been imitated ever since.

Christina Jacob, spokeswoman for Coke’s Germany subsidiary Coca-Cola GmbH, said the company was proud Sundblom had created the Santa Claus character the world knows today for the Coca-Cola ad campaigns used during the 1930s and 1940s.

“Sundblom used a cheery-faced Coca-Cola truck driver as his model for the portrait,” said Jacob, who had not heard of the Frankfurt priest’s campaign. “We’re naturally all proud that Coca-Cola is so closely entwined with the Christmas season.”

The modern Santa is a far cry from the severe St Nicholas who meted out punishment or gifts to children in continental Europe or the Old Christmas figure who aided drunken festivities of the English.

Bieger has distributed some 5,000 anti-Santa stickers. The stickers portray a Santa figure dressed in red with a circle and bar crossing the image — similar to the international signs for “nuclear-free zone” and “no smoking.”

“The children should be at the center of attention. We need to focus more on core values and less on commercialism.”

Bieger said he wanted to revive a tradition in which St Nicholas went from house to house on the night of December 6 and put sweets into shoes of well-behaved children.