$16 to Freedom

Lots of news this week, let's start with the second woman in US History to run for the office of Vice President. (You do remember Geraldine, right?) Turns out Mrs. Palin wasn't always so sharp looking! With $150,000 to spend on clothing, we'd all look so good, wouldn't we? They say that the clothing was always intended to go to a "charitable purpose" after the campaign.

Are you kidding? $75,000 in ONE DAY at Neiman Marcus??? Did they buy the whole store? She spent more on clothes in one shopping trip than some people do for a home! And to what charity? I wanna be at that Goodwill the day those clothes arrive! Lookit, right next to this t-shirt from the 80s sporting a Rubik's Cube, here's the suit she wore at the RNC! Right. Charity must be a popular girl's name among rich republicans!

They spent another $40,000 later in St. Louis and $4,000 for make-up and hair! Four thousand dollars for hair? I go to expensive stylists, and I've not spent $4,000 in a lifetime of doing hair!

Also in the news, reports show that pregnant women don't necessarily have to avoid drugs while pregnant, so long as they are done in moderation. At least for alcohol anyway. Everything in moderation, people...

More science news, people who kill themselves have different brains than normal people. Especially after. And, environmental effects are suspected!

The rate of methylation in the suicide brains was almost 10 times that of the other group, and [as a result] the gene that was being shut down was a chemical message receptor that plays a major role in regulating behaviour.

Can you imagine that hell? The things that would make a normal person happy don't give those feelings to someone who's clinically depressed! It's amazing that the brain is so flexible, even as an adult, which begs the question... can we change our brains simply by changing our thoughts?

And it's not just me who says that "programming is masculine" as techie women try to create solidarity.

Being girly and being fashionable and being pretty feminine didn't work very well when I was trying to participate in events where there was a lot of programmers because there weren't a lot of women.

It really doesn't work if you have a penis!

Finally, if you remember our earlier report about airline rates rising 1000%, here's some good news. RyanAir, the airline that used to offer £1 flights throughout Europe is expanding to America with £8 flights.

HOLY FREAKIN' COW! We can get off this continent for $16! Pardon me while I do a happy dance! They fly to Stansted (or Dublin) from New York, Florida, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston. Once in London, it's a £7 train ride to the Centre, or, another £8 flight to anywhere in Europe!!!

This changes everything.