Miss USA 2009 Attempts to Tell Some Jokes

On Sunday night, Miss USA was crowned. Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton was given the official title of Miss USA 2009. She stated that "It feels really natural."

Dalton is a 22 year old aspiring motivational speaker. Being a winner of this amazing honor comes with some perks such as a New York apartment, a public relations team, a two year scholarship at the New York Film Academy, and an unsaid salary.


To bad it doesn't come with a decent sense of humor...

Conservative Tea Bagging, in a Nutshell...

To the surprise and entertainment of many, the media has chosen to call the recent conservative tea parties movement, tea bagging. For anyone else who has found the media's new use of the term "tea bagging" absolutely hilarious, check out this video! MSNBC took the innuendo to an entirely new level.

Bo, Oh Bo

It's fairly common knowledge that there is a Wikipedia entry for just about anything; historical events, cooking, even socks.  Yet for some reason, I didn't think that Bo, the First Dog, would have a Wikipedia entry.   Call me old fashioned, but at the end of the day a dog is a....dog.  While people across the country attempt to make this six-month-old pup a celebrity, the rest of us can just sit back and read about him on his Wikipedia page.  

The Marriage Distraction

The gay marriage debate has been distracting the American people, politicians and grassroots organizations for years. This long-running, soap opera-esque debacle has been the topic of newspaper articles, evening news reports, magazine features, blogs and youtube videos. People from both sides of the picket line have spoken up and out, expressing their views to the world.

It seems to me that the central issue to all this debating and legal calamity is a human rights issue; some call me crazy. While I deem it human rights, others say religious, political, etc. When it comes to gay marriage, all you need to do is fill in the blank of "It is a ........ issue" and someone out there has your back. Everyone feels involved, as if they have a personal stake vested in the issue.

Whether I disagree with all this or not is irrelevant. My point is that it is one of the most hot button issues of the day, consuming our thoughts and facing us everywhere we turn. As I am sure many of you know, Vermont joined Massachusetts, Iowa and Connecticut last week in being among the first states to grant equal marriage rights to gay couples.

Numerous media outlets, from the New York Times to Youtube, have information regarding gay marriage rights, especially now with Vermont jumping on the bandwagon. After reading the New York Times editorial article featuring Vermont's new law, I thought it appropriate to highlight the issue. I have personally spent much of time following the progress of the gay right's movement, including marriage equality. This Youtube video by Tyler Oakley titled "Why Gay Marriage is Wrong" is amazing. As you can see, by combining the Times, Youtube and conversations with my friends, much of my time is spent discussing this issue and distracting myself from other, less important things. Enjoy! And remember, no matter how you personally feel about the issue, you cannot disagree the issue is at least a little distracting, if not consuming.

Daft Punk at Your Fingertips

Ever since Kanye used the Daft Punk "Harder Better Faster Stronger" sample in his single, "Stronger," the incredibly catchy sample has been stuck in the heads of almost everyone at some point or another. Now there's a website where you can use your keyboard to play slices of the sample; play it like the original or spice it up and make your own personal remix of the tune!

Be careful, you might just find yourself getting distracted and wasting quite a bit of time on this fun little toy- check it out!

Glo Fish

A while ago my friend told me of glow-in-the-dark rabbits.  Naturally, I was amazed.  After looking into it a little further (and wasting countless hours), I also found glow-in-the-dark fish.  At $18 a piece, these fish are genetically altered to light up in the dark.  These fluorescent underwater friends apparently come in three colors - Starfire Red, Electric Green and Sunburst Orange.  

The GloFish Web site has endless details and information about these fish.  I am not quite sure whether this scientific innovation was necessary to the progress of humankind, but apparently someone somewhere likes them.  

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet...All the Way Home

Twitter is taking over.  It is as if every day I open the New York Times an article concerning Twitter is placed in the Living, Technology or Business sections.  If one were to search for "Twitter" on the New York Times Web site, they will get more than 10,000 results (click here for more information). This, combined with learning about Twitter in most of my classes, led me to take the inevitable leap and start my own Twitter.  Not only is it highly popular and growing more-so every day, it can easily eat away hours of your day.   Unlike Facebook or Myspace, Twitter is only "updates."  No "about me" section or your "religious and political views."  Though those things can undoubtedly be expressed through your updates, those are not of drastic, immediate importance.  

Slowly, my friends are hopping on the Twitter bandwagon and tweeting up a storm.  With close to four weeks left in the semester, we gladly accept anything that will distract us from our homework.