Fun Fact #11: "It's a Small World" is too small for this world

It's no secret that Americans are becoming more and more obese, it seems as though every day a new study is released proclaiming how dangerously fat Americans are becoming. But this article just struck me as especially sad because it declares Americans are too fat for one of my favorite childhood rides.

I chose this picture because it was the first one that popped up when I googled it and because I loved the stylish outfit that the couple in the center of the boat are wearing. I'm especially a huge fan of their matching hats (click on the picture to see them in all their glory), which I chose to include it even though it's obviously dated

"It's a Small World" was built in the 1970s (when Americans were lighter), and now Americans have become so heavy that the boats can't deal with extra weight and get stuck:

The Small World ride now must accommodate adults who frequently weigh north of 200 pounds, which it often cannot do. Increasingly, overweighted boats get to certain points in the ride and bottom out, becoming stuck in the flume.

The ride monitors attempt to leave empty seats on many boats to compensate for the hefty, but this routinely antagonizes the hundreds of paying customers waiting in line. When a boat does bottom out, a long line of other boats backs up behind it, their passengers slowly going mad from listening to the ride's theme song.

The ride monitors must then track down the stuck boat and attempt tactfully to help a rider or two to exit at one of the emergency platforms, which the riders in question do not always deal with graciously

The visual imagery this quote provides is just kinda sad, can you imagine being asked to get out off a ride because your extra weight caused the boat to get stuck? How awkward would that be? I've been to Disneyland countless times and "It's a Small World" has often stopped but I always thought the ride had just stalled for mechanical reason. I once saw some a heavyset couple getting off a boat when the ride had stalled, but I never realized that it was because they were causing their boat to sink and therefore delay the whole ride.

This article also totally reminded when Space Mountain was stopped when my family and I were on it It happened because a car with a lot of heavy people had gained too much momentum and was going too fast, it was about to hit a lighter car in front of them when the ride was stopped. All the lights were turned on, and I can promise that the ride is far scarier when it's lit because you realize how close the beams are to your head.

Fun Fact #10: I'm becoming more emotional

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I don't show much emotion and that sometimes flinch when certain people touch me,which makes me sometimes appear to be an elitist bitch (though my totally not). But I think my experiences in Pittsburgh are making me into a more sensitive individual for better or worse.

I have developed a tendency to cry when I watch certain crappy TV shows. I used to occasionally cry with shows, such as that one brutal episode of Grey's Anatomy where the mom has to tell her daughter that she'll be dead from cancer in a matter of months. I also cried hysterically with one episode of Futurama, which I rarely watch, because it involved a dog waiting until his death for his master to return home because his master promised him that he'd return. Just try to watch the final scene without tearing up a little...

But recently I've started to cry whenever I watch a episode of Cold Case. Now I don't even like Cold Case or think it's a particularly good show, so I don't even really know why I watch it.

And it's not the whole show that gets to me, it's the last like three minutes. All the episodes end with this montage in which the dead person (who almost always died some years ago) stares at their friends and loved ones in the present day while some melodramatic song plays in the background. This usually includes the person who killed them, because the show stresses the idea that people you trust will one day kill you and that justice will only be served by an intrepid detective (with horrible hair) and her team. And the part that inevitably sets me off on a crying jag is when the dead person lovingly looks at the person who cared most about them when they were alive. I really don't know what's become of me.

Sometimes these scenes are well done, but most times they're just hokey. They shouldn't cause me to cry, but for some reason they do. I think I need to stop watching the show before I become too sensitive for my own good. My future career plans, though they've toned down a lot, still call for me to be an insensitive bitch most of the time.

Fun Fact #9: The SD wildfires and Katrina are totally differnt situations

I've been paying a lot of attention to the various media sources covering the devastating wildfires. One thing I've been noticing in the coverage is the that comparisons between the wildfires and Katrina are being made a lot. And while I realize comparisons are inevitable, some statements have been made that really irritate me. I'll fully admit my bias toward San Diego considering it is my home, but I still think a lot of the statements would irritate me even without that bias.

A perfect example of these statements can be found in a post from The Daily Kos, a relatively popular political blog. The author discusses the differences in the government response to Katrina compared to San Diego:

Why is the Federal response ..FEMA...to these Wildfires so different that the FEMA response to Katrina? Why aren't there white people begging for water and shelter in a urine/feces filled stadium? Is it because FEMA "learned" from the the mistakes of Katrina, or is it something more obvious?

The wildfires have happened in an area where the people are affluent and white. Everyone is stumbling over themselves congratulating themselves
over how great the Federal response it to the wildfires.

Katrina happened in one of the poorest areas of the country.
San Diego is one of the wealthiest areas of the country.

California has a Republican Governor, Louisiana had a Democratic Governor.

Bush was on Vacation during Katrina.

California Wildfires is happening to RICH WHITE PEOPLE. Katrina Happened to BLACK PEOPLE.

This is not the opinion of just one person, I've read/heard a lot of people making similar statements. But many of these statements seem to stem from broad assumptions and are comparing two totally different situations.

First of all, not everyone in San Diego is wealthy. Yes, cost of living is expensive in San Diego and most people in the affected areas tend to be at least middle class. But since when has being middle class meant you were rich?! The fire did hit some very expensive homes, but it also hit a lot of "normal" homes as well. Some of these people have lived in the area for decades and therefore bought the houses when they were far cheaper. I know plenty of people who lost their homes and I wouldn't call many of them "rich". And even if only "rich" people had lost their houses, how can one try to argue it's not a personal tragedy for them? Yes, it may be easier for them to rebuild, but they still lost their home and all the memories in it. Being "rich" doesn't meant that it wouldn't be a painful experience.

Also, the fires didn't hit a lot of the poorer areas of the city because it stayed in the suburbs, though even if they had I'm sure I'd still be reading accounts of "wealthy" San Diego being hit. And yes, a lot of people in the suburbs are white, but people seem to forget that San Diego, as a whole, has a huge Hispanic population. San Ysidro, an area that's predominantly Hispanic and relatively poor, was evacuated too.

Secondly, as I previously mentioned, the fire hit the suburbs of San Diego, not Downtown where a lot of the city's resources are located. Katrina basically encompassed all of New Orleans. Qualcomm, the stadium where many evacuees were forced to go, is a totally different situation from the Superdome in New Orleans. The fire wasn't happening near it, people weren't trapped there, and vehicles could easily reach it to deliver supplies. Communications (cell towers, etc. ) didn't go down in San Diego like they did in New Orleans, so people were still able to communicate. Also, the local government in San Diego did a great job at responding quickly and effectively to the threat, while the local government in New Orleans certainly faltered on that front during Katrina. And beyond that, San Diego experienced a major fire almost exactly 4 years ago, people knew to be prepared and many knew how foolish it would be to stay.

The seemingly better response shouldn't be attributed to FEMA "caring" more about people in San Diego because they are "wealthy" or white. All in all, I believe that San Diego (and the surrounding counties) were more prepared for a wildfire than New Orleans was for Katrina. People didn't try to "sit it out" and got out quickly, which helps explain the small amount of deaths. And I think that FEMA (and Bush) have appeared to be more proactive because it's their first chance since Katrina to prove to the country that they aren't total screw-ups. I'll admit that California's relative wealth and power (especially compared to that of New Orleans) has helped (and probably will continue to help) the relief efforts. But I think this factors into the state being able to help the victims more, rather than FEMA wanting to help the state more because of it's relative "power".

Basically, I'm just sick of people comparing the two disasters and coming to the conclusion that the wildfires aren't as bad solely because they happened to "rich", white people. Both disasters were totally different and horrible in their own ways, so stop comparing them...

Fun Fact #8: I recently experienced the most awkward date of my life

So, since moving to Pittsburgh I've gone on a lot of dates with various guys, some have obviously gone better than others. But nothing will top the sheer awkwardness of the one I experienced last week.

This kid was relatively good-looking, albeit in a slightly nerdy way, and he was had a degree from Carnegie Mellon University, so there seemed to be some potential. But the date rapidly went downhill due to his need to tell me the most absurd things. CKC has heard them, but I still felt the need to share them. So here's a list of the "fun facts" my date told me about himself:

1.) His mom was a lesbian but he was totally against gay marriage. He got so worked up that he across as blatantly homophobic.

2.) He told me, in his words, that he was a "xenophobe" and didn't like any "foreigners".

3.)He hates all "intellectuals" and doesn't understand why someone would want to go law school. His time at CMU, according to him, was a nightmare because he was surrounded by lots of "Asian intellectuals, most who couldn't speak English".

4.) He somehow plans to be successful in life by getting his current boss fired and taking over the company, even though no one really likes him there. I think his attempt at a coup is doomed to failure due to the total lack of support he'll have in the aftermath.

5.)He loves musicals and plays, but he's only seen two in his entire life. I've never had someone tell me mundane details of Rent than this kid. He seemed to totally fixate on things.

6.)His favorite TV show is "Sex and the City" and his favorite character is Charlotte. Not because she's the prettiest (which is reason most guys give), but because she behaves how all women should behave...

7.)He believes women today are far too aggressive and need to learn how to be "sweeter". Ambition is not a plus in a woman.

8.) He's 25 and divorced because his ex-wife didn't want to have children immediately.

Obviously, this date did not end with a promise of a second date. There was something totally off about this kid, but I cannot place it. Maybe he had Asperger's or something like that? I'm totally going to assume that's what the problem is, because I did that with someone else once and I still believe my diagnosis was right on the money.

(Not so ) Fun Fact #7: San Diego County is basically burning to the ground

People tend to think the biggest natural threat in California is earthquakes, but from my experience earthquakes, as a major threat, pale in comparison to the wildfires and they've struck San Diego County again. Both of my parents have been evacuated and now all we can do is hope that their respective houses survive the fires.

The last major fire I experienced was when I was in a senior in high school. School was canceled for a week and there was ash everywhere, it was hard to breathe sometimes. But that seems like nothing compared to these fires. I've moved around a lot in San Diego and it sounds like the fire has hit many of my childhood homes.

I hate when things like this happen because it always makes me want to do something to help. But what can I really do? I just pray that my family (and friends and their families) will all be okay in the end.

Fun Fact #6: I dislike Erik Prince

Erik Prince is the founder of Blackwater, a private military company that has a strong presence in Iraq and is tied to various evangelical organizations. Blackwater has recently been investigated by Congress due to allegations that members of the organization smuggled weapons into Iraq that later found their way into the hangs of Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been deemed a terrorist group by various organizations. Blackwater is probably best known for the high number of civilian deaths attributed to the group and the December 2006 killing of a VP guard in Iraq by a drunken Blackwater employee.

You would think with all these accusations against the company that Prince would step and "face the music" (for lack of a better term). But in his recent interview with Newsweek he comes across as whiny and at best sounds like an insolent child trying to deflect all responsibility from himself and his organization. Obviously, the CEO of a company is expected to protect it all costs, but I think his evasiveness with the public hurts Blackwater's image more than it helps it. He doesn't answer questions directly and instead provides a sort of half-answer.

An example of this can be seen when Newsweek asked him outright about the high civilian casualty rate:
Newsweek: On recent allegations and events, Blackwater [has been accused of] a higher civilian casualty rate than other contractors and a higher per-convoy casualty rate.
Prince: We operate … in Baghdad, which is where you also find the vast majority of U.S. military casualties, death, attacks. … There's 170-some security companies operating in Iraq. Many [don't have] the screening, vetting, training, oversight requirements we do.

There is no attempt to really explain why the high causality rate may not Blackwater's fault, he basically just says that there are a lot of deaths in Iraq. But how does that explain why his contractors have a high civilian causality rate? He just brushes Newsweek's statement under the table.

People like Prince tend to rub the wrong way. I'm not a super moralistic individual or anything, but I believe that people should try to avoid being evasive when asked about certain key issues (which civilian casualties certainly are).

I think I have too much time on my hands here to mull over issues like this, but on the positive side I also have the time to read articles and stuff that I probably wouldn't have had time to read were I still in school.

Oh, and in regards to my last "political post", I chose not to include Ron Paul in my list of viable candidates because I don't think he has the slightest chance of gaining the Republican nomination. And even if he was able to miraculously pull that off, I doubt he would be able to steal many people from the Democrats because of his obvious pro-life stance.

Fun Fact #5: It's "ridiculous"....

I hate when people spell "ridiculous" incorrectly, especially when it's in in the form of "rediculous". I've seen it more times than I can count in the past few days, both in supposed "professional" documents and random places online. It's become my newest spelling pet peeve. My favorite use of "rediculous" had to be when someone was complaining about their hatred of improper spelling and punctuation.

My hatred of the word "rediculous" led me to Google it to make sure it wasn't some weird internet trend. And that search led me to one of the most random websites ever: http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

It's actually a pretty useful website, but reading it shows you how obsessed some people are with language. The very first entry covers one of my favorite mistakes:
When you turn 360 degrees you’ve completed a circle and are back where you started. So if you want to describe a position that’s diametrically opposed to another, the expression you want is not “360 degrees away” but “180 degrees away.”

I make stupid grammar and spelling mistakes too, but today was just espcially brutal in regards to the sheer amount of mistakes that I saw.

Fun Fact #4: Old people can be pretty weird sometimes

This morning I was basically accosted by an old woman, who was probably around 4 feet tall and weighed like 50 pounds, because I was yawning.

I was walking back from the gym, surely looking lovely in my sweaty clothes, and I yawn because I'm tired. This tiny old lady appears out of nowhere and shouts at me, "Do you know your mouth is open?" I awkwardly respond that I do, and she gives the biggest/weirdest smile ever. And then walks away, but not before she pokes me the stomach for good measure. I just stand there, my mouth of course gaping, and this random guy who saw the whole thing just walked by laughing. I still have no idea why she thought poking me would help better convey whatever psychotic message she was trying to get across. I also really don't like when people touch me, so it just made the situation that much better.

I don't know why awkward people enjoy talking to me. I don't like talking to random people and I don't think I come across as especially nice or interested in them. But it's like they seek me out to talk to me, maybe it's karma because I, on a very rare occasion, will mock something (or someone) that I regard as awkward.

My favorite awkward moment ever though has to be when this trashy meth addict, who was carrying around a teddy bear, wouldn't stop looking at me in this weird bar in Eugene. Ronnie, of course, thought it was hilarious.

Fun Fact #3: We have really only known a Bush or Clinton in the White House

I'm still relatively friendless out here, so this blog is one of the only ways for me to share my "fun facts" with people. I've tried with my grandmother, but she's pretty hard of hearing and it basically resorted to me shouting random facts at her.

I have plenty of time at work to cement my status as a "news junkie" since my job has me attached to the computer for much of the day. I read this article, which I've linked to at the bottom, in "The Economist" a few weeks ago and a certain section has stuck with me. The article concerns Hilary Clinton and devotes a lot of time to analyzing the gender gap among her supporters and her of becoming president.

But the key quote, for me at least, wasn't about the gender gap, but was the following statistic: "Over 100 million Americans have never known anybody but a Bush or a Clinton in the White House," suggesting that "American political life is in the hands of a small group of insiders who are organized around semi-royal families."

It's an obvious fact when one looks at the presidential record, but it never really hit me until now. I know that Reagan was in office when I was born, but the only presidents that I truly remember are either a Bush or Clinton. And it increasingly looks like this trend is going to continue.

Obama continues to falter in the polls and the Republicans are struggling to find a candidate that the entire party could support. I personally believe that Giuliani is the only candidate that could beat Clinton in the national arena. I think he could easily siphon off enough liberal votes, especially against somethings as divisive as Clinton/Obama ticket (which many people are predicting), to take the White House. But a lot of Republicans don't even like Giuliani and the likelihood of him winning the Republican primaries is in no way a sure thing.

But then again, I really have no idea how this election is going to turn out. All of the front-runners have a potential major political liability attached to them. Clinton is a woman, Obama is black, Edwards will forever be associated with failed Kerry campaign, Romney is Mormon, Giuliani is socially liberal in a lot of regards, and McCain (who can barely qualify as front-runner these days)comes across as a flip-flopper.

Politics have always both fascinated and repulsed me. I would never pretend to be an expert in regards to them, but they're always interesting and make me think.

Article Link: http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9904609

Fun Fact #2: I'm great with nicknames

I've decided to record my reasoning for all the random nicknames that I came up, and people used, throughout college for posterity's sake. I figure it'll be useful to have someplace to look back on and be like, "Oh, so that's why I call her Ronnie". So here's the list of the nicknames that I think are worthy of being recorded.

Ronnie: As we all know "Ronnie" is a name fitting only for a pedophile (this has since been confirmed in the movie "Little Children"), so how did poor Erin end up with such a winning nickname? Basically I was bored, and probably drunk, and decided Erin rhymed with Aron and Ronnie just developed from that point on. Ronnels is another winning play on Ronnie that was sometimes used.

Ray-Ray: This one seems pretty obvious, Rachel leads Ray which turns in Ray-Ray. But even such a simple nickname has so many special memories attached to it. Such as when it became "VP Ray-Ray, the Betrayer" due to her refusal to have a sick friend over. Or my personal favorite, when it became "Wei-Wei" for a short while due to the vast similarities between Ray and "Wei-Wei", a character in "Stick It", which is an amazingly weird film. In hindsight, I think I was the only one who really thought that nickname was funny...

Hannah, Blonde and Stupid: Though Hannah now goes by Nanners, her original nickname of "Hannah, Blonde and Stupid", HBS for short, (an obvious ode to "Sarah, Plain and Tall") was far better and I'm sad that it didn't stick. I truly don't remember how Hannah earned such an amazing nickname, but it must've been something exceptionally stupid or because I was just kind of being a bitch. This nickname may seem really mean, but it was always said with affection.

Cum Dumpster: Sadly, no one really uses this name for Rose anymore, with the loan exception of HBS (I'm totally bringing that nickname back). This nickname stemmed from a dull night involving Rose and I looking up sexual slurs on wikipedia. "Cum Dumpster" was obviously the catchiest sexual slur on there and it stuck after becoming her nickname during a game of beer pong. It was affectionately shortened to Cummy and was even used to the general public. Certain people, especially HBS, would occasionally shout it in front for young children.

CKC: This stands for "Cancer Kelly C." and was created solely as an attempt to stop CKC from slowly killing herself through smoking. Though the nickname has stuck, CKC still smokes which shows that the creation of the nickname was in vain. But future lung cancer and CKC did become closely associated, to the point that she received a homemade cake in the image of a cigarette (though some people couldn't tell what it was). If CKC continues to smoke, I plan to instruct her children to refer to her as "Mom CKC".

Downy: I saved this one for last because I refuse to go into the details of the creation of this nickname solely because it makes me sound like a horrible individual. Let's just say that the night involved heaving drinking of Manischewitz and conversations about major life choices that are not generally compatible with alcohol. That night actually ended with a game of "catch the keys", a supposed sobriety test, in which I chucked the keys at Ray-Ray's face and she collapsed onto the lawn making people think I had actually injured her (which was totally not the case). But the name Downy has stuck, much to Laurel's chagrin, and many people think that it actually refers to the way she used to act when she got drunk. But let me go on record and say that's totally not what it refers to.

So those are the memorable nicknames I remember people using in college. Luckily I never received one because I basically refused to answer to them and would get sulky if certain stupid ones were used (such as Stubby).

Fun Fact #1: Not all of my facts are fun or even facts

I decided to start this blog as a way to share my "fun facts" with certain people who miss their daily "fun fact".

These "facts" (which probably isn't the proper word for them) tend to be something I find interesting that I decide other people should know about. Even if they could care less about the subject. I'm sure that people miss hearing all my thrilling facts about Latin American dictators, women in colonial Mexico, and whatever else caught my attention.

My "fun facts" also tend to be opinions about people I interact with and things I observe. And while I realize that opinions aren't facts, I'm a pretty stubborn individual and often see my opinions as facts anyways. So the title still works.