Sunday, March 21, 2010

someone needed to say it.

I’ve kept this post as a draft for a while now, and debated if it was worth posting. Not because it is any less important than hogzilla, but I have many friends who are guilty of these about-to-be-named faults. After talking with a friend though I decided this was no real reason to hold back.

I am a bit of a social networking site snob. I can think of no reason I will ever use a twitter or tumblr. I enjoy facebooking, but mostly consider it to be a joke as well. I had a discussion the other day about how essentially every social networking site is created for the sole purpose of self-promotion, and I believe that to be an absolute truth. People tweet because they think whatever they have to say in 150 characters (this is an arbitrary guess) or less is important enough for others to follow. People set up myspace and facebook accounts to see how many “friends” they can accumulate. And since these sites have been created with no disclaimer or guide to inform users of what is and is not appropriate, I’ve taken it upon myself to set a few standards.

1. Facebook is not the place to let people know your life is falling apart. Everyone has bad days, and sometimes those stretch into patches of just plain bad luck. But everyone on your “friends” list does not need to know how bad things in your life have become. There is actually a term for this, vaguebooking. It’s easy to spot, too- “wondering if it is worth it all” or “ready to just give up.” Having this as your status is a quick way to get people who don’t know you very well to give you loads of attention. More importantly, if your real friends are anything like me, this will only irritate them and they won’t take you seriously until you talk to them directly.

2. Facebook is not twitter. It is equally annoying when you clog my newsfeed with a different status every five minutes. I really don’t care. I don’t care.

3. Don’t put song lyrics as your status. If you’re still in high school and you’re using msn messenger and chatting with your besties, it’s fine. If you’re in your mid-twenties and still posting self-reflective song lyrics but always follow with, “they’re just lyrics, I really like the song”, reevaluate things. I really like the song Parting Gift by Fiona Apple. I think the lyrics are easily relatable, but I would never put them as my status, and I think the reasons should be fairly obvious.

4. Stop using your status as a way to make passive aggressive comments about/towards your ex. Everyone has had a bad break up(s). They’re tough, but the heartache (just like the relationship) is transient. The longer you hold a grudge, and the more you comment on his or her actions, will just add to the time it will take to get over the person.

5. Finally, stop using facebook to spread ignorance. If you have the urge to make a comment about a person or group’s race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, or ability, stop, think about the one thing you have struggled with most, and imagine someone posting it as their status.

Monday, March 8, 2010

hogzilla.


this morning i watched a national geographic documentary on hogzilla, pictured above. lisa ling investigated what she referred to as a "new monster roaming our swamps." the man who shot hogzilla is chris griffin, a professional hunting guide. he claimed hogzilla was 12 feet long and weighted over a ton, comparing its size to a rhino. national geographic investigators exhumed the hog's body- it was absolutely disgusting to see a 6-month old, decomposing hog carcass. examiners also had to dig up the severed head, because griffin buried it in a secret location to keep grave robbers from taking the head and having it taxidermed. anyway, this team of hog experts determined that griffin had exaggerated hogzilla's original size. it was a little sad to see this group of scientists call griffin out on his lie, especially after the georgia town declared griffin a hero, complete with an annual parade, after he'd killed the animal.

other interesting bits i learned from this documentary: the pig is the smartest of all domesticated animals. it has taken thousands of years for pigs to evolve into more gentler version we have today, but once released into the wild a pig's natural instincts can take over in a matter of weeks. once this happens its hair becomes courser, it begins to grow tusks, and becomes increasingly more aggressive. also, feral pigs can be found on every continent, living in every ecosystem, except antarctica.

apparently it is very likely that there are many other 800-1,000 pound boars roaming around the southern swamps. wild hogs have been spotted as far north as the canadian tundra. this is slightly terrifying, and frankly i blame factory farmers. after scientists genetically tested hogzilla's DNA they found that he had both wild and domesticated chromosomes, suggesting inter-breeding between wild and domesticated pigs. there can potentially be thousands of hybrid hogs living in the wild. though the pork industry in the united states is not on the same scale as china- apparently china is considered to be the world's powerhouse of pork production- we have a substantially large number of pork producers. i already blame factory pork farms for most of the e-coli outbreaks and antibiotic resistant MRSA.

most terrifying of all, now there's this- the hogzilla b-horror movie.



Friday, March 5, 2010

i think this speaks for itself.


i rediscovered this when i was going through the pictures on my phone. i don't remember when or where i took it originally, but i'm so glad i found it.