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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
May 11, 2015

Michelle Obama: I Faced Certain Questions Because Of 'Fears And Misperceptions' Around My Race

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/09/michelle-obama-tuskegee-commencement_n_7249232.html

Michelle Obama said on Saturday that she faced a unique set of questions when she was on the brink of becoming the nation's first African-American first lady during her husband's presidential campaign.

While Obama said that she was subject to questions that could be expected of the spouses of many candidates, she added that she believed she faced certain questions because of the "fears and misperceptions" of others.

"As potentially the first African-American first lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations, conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating?" she said during her commencement address at the historically black Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. "Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?"

Obama also referred to incidents in which she was accused of displaying "uppity-ism," and called one of Obama's "cronies of color" and "Obama's baby mama." She said that it "knocked me back a bit" when a cartoon of her appeared on the cover of the New Yorker with an afro and a machine gun.
May 11, 2015

@_FloridaMan Beguiles With the Hapless and Harebrained

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/us/both-hapless-and-harebrained-florida-man-enlivens-internet.html?_r=0

MIAMI — Dangling into the sea like America’s last-ditch lifeline, the state of Florida beckons. Hustlers and fugitives, million-dollar hucksters and harebrained thieves, Armani-wearing drug traffickers and hapless dope dealers all congregate, scheme and revel in the Sunshine State. It’s easy to get in, get out or get lost.

For decades, this cast of characters provided a diffuse, luckless counternarrative to the salt-and-sun-kissed Florida that tourists spy from their beach towels. But recently there arrived a digital-era prototype, @_FloridaMan, a composite of Florida’s nuttiness unspooled, tweet by tweet, to the world at large. With pithy headlines and links to real news stories, @_FloridaMan offers up the “real-life stories of the world’s worst super hero,” as his Twitter bio proclaims.

His more than 1,600 tweets — equal parts ode and derision — are a favorite for weird-news aficionados. Yet, two years since his 2013 debut, the man behind the Twitter feed remains beguilingly anonymous, a Wizard of LOLZ. (The one false note is his zombielike avatar: The mug shot belongs to an Indiana Man.)

*snip*

Florida Woman Covers Husband in Barbecue Sauce, Threatens to Carve Him Up Like Roast Chicken

https://twitter.com/_Flor1daWoman/status/586598965954666496


BWAHAHAHA!
May 11, 2015

giant stationary boundary stretching across US and Canada to Arctic



I've never seen a frontal boundary that long before. Amazing.
May 11, 2015

tornadoes and you

Being all into weather as I am, I have endless compassion for those of you in the run-like-hell-to-your-safe-place areas. My area rarely gets them. Hurricanes ? Hell, we get lots of notice to board up or leave and take advance precautions. Lightning ? Stay off golf courses with metal clubs and you'll probably be ok. Hail ? A major PITA but rarely fatal. Torrential rain ? You usually have time to do something constructive (notice I'm listing Florida drawbacks ) High heat and humidity ? Another PITA but rarely fatal unless you stay out in it for way too long and don't take proper precautions.

Tornadoes ? Kinda like earthquakes. Except your house and/or barn and you go flying up into the sky, probably never to be seen again.

to all of you who must cope with and dodge those nasty tornadoes!

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!

May 11, 2015

Movoto Insider - Move To Articles (my latest guilty pleasure)

http://www.movoto.com/insider/move-to/

Here you can find out the Chamber-of-Commerce-ish reasons to move to any decent size place in America, like:

29 Things You Need To Know About North Idaho Before You Move There

http://www.movoto.com/id/moving-to-north-idaho/
May 10, 2015

social anxiety disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety_disorder

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterised by an intense fear in one or more social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life. These fears can be triggered by perceived or actual scrutiny from others. It is the most common anxiety disorder and one of the most common psychiatric disorders, with 12% of American adults having experienced it.

Physical symptoms often accompanying social anxiety disorder include excessive blushing, excess sweating, trembling, palpitations and nausea. Stammering may be present, along with rapid speech. Panic attacks can also occur under intense fear and discomfort. Some sufferers may use alcohol or other drugs to reduce fears and inhibitions at social events. It is common for sufferers of social phobia to self-medicate in this fashion, especially if they are undiagnosed, untreated, or both; this can lead to alcoholism, eating disorders or other kinds of substance abuse. SAD is sometimes referred to as an 'illness of lost opportunities' where 'individuals make major life choices to accommodate their illness.'Standardized rating scales such as the Social Phobia Inventory, the SPAI-B and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale can be used to screen for social anxiety disorder and measure the severity of anxiety.

The first line treatment for social anxiety disorder is cognitive behavioral therapy with medications recommended only in those who are not interested in therapy.[6] Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in treating social phobia, whether delivered individually or in a group setting.[7] The cognitive and behavioral components seek to change thought patterns and physical reactions to anxiety-inducing situations. The attention given to social anxiety disorder has significantly increased since 1999 with the approval and marketing of drugs for its treatment. Prescribed medications include several classes of antidepressants: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).[8] Other commonly used medications include beta blockers and benzodiazepines.

HTH, as always. Happy Mother's Day all.
May 10, 2015

Newsman Thomas Roberts, TV host Kelly Ripa honored by gay media group

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/10/awards-glaad-idUSL1N0XZ2K720150510

MSNBC news anchor Thomas Roberts and talk show host Kelly Ripa were among honorees at GLAAD's annual media awards on Saturday, which recognize representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Roberts, 42, who came out as gay in 2006, accepted the group's Vito Russo Award for promoting equality in the gay community.

The award, named after the activist and film historian who was one of the founding member of media advocacy group GLAAD, was presented to him by Lynda Carter, best known as television's "Wonder Woman" in the 1970s.

"It was liberating, and frightening as hell," Roberts said, recalling the period when he became open about being gay.
May 10, 2015

snow on May 10th, always blows my mind



I guess I've lived in Florida way too long.

from: http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
May 10, 2015

unfortunately, until DNC convention 2016 and probably for a bit afterwards....

who you choose as your candidate will not please some. I've never seen you get uncivil. I understand the enthusiastic support for Mr. Sanders. I'm just not sure he can win the general election, but if he wins the Dem nomination, I'll enthusiastically support him. Same with Secretary Clinton. Same with whoever wins the nomination.

May 10, 2015

Neighbors complain of drones flying over Winter Park back yards

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/neighbors-complain-of-drones-flying-over-winter-park-back-yards/32820188

WINTER PARK, Fla. -

It seems like drones are everywhere these days. You can read about them all over the Internet, see them in parks across the country and now, for some Winter Park neighbors, they're flying around back yards.

The problem is, the residents are concerned because they tell Local 6 they don't know who is doing it.

One video a viewer sent Local 6 shows a drone flying just feet off the ground in one woman's backyard as she and a man look at it.

"It's like 'Terminator 2,'" she said.

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