This is why I'm pale!

According to this article by Cosmopolitan, via Yahoo news, a girl from Rhode Island died at the age of 26, due to melanoma, the worst skin cancer, she got from tanning all the time.

As tragic as it is for anyone to die so young, I wasn't one bit surprised when I saw my friend link this story.

Apparently she had worked as a lifeguard for a few summers, and while working under the beach sun for 40+ hours a week, she was only using SPF 4 lotion. She was also using tanning beds nearly weekly to keep her tan in the offseason. She battled the disease for 4 years, and despite the ups and downs, and a few chances of hope, like when her doctors said her tumors were shrinking, she finally succumbed to it and related causes in December of 2008.

It's a shame, but even something as small as keeping your skin shiny can end up taking you out. Most people that get skin cancer think they're invincible, that they're not in danger because it's not lung cancer, or breast cancer. But even skin cancer can kill you, and shouldn't ever be taken lightly.

Now I see why...

In this story from the LA Times, many celebrities have started wearing tinted sunglasses at press events and movie openings, apparently to look stylish while also protecting their vision.

This definitely explains a lot, as I'd noticed this trend a few months back, and it's just been getting bigger.

The first time I noticed, it was Robert Downey, Jr. wearing some purple glasses at a premiere sometime last year. I didn't really pay much attention, as I just thought they looked pretty neat myself, especially since my favorite color is purple. Then I kept seeing more celebs doing it, like as the article states, Chris Evans wearing some brown glasses at Captain America. I even saw a picture of Johnny Depp and RDJ together, BOTH wearing purple lenses. It was at that point that I started to get a little confused by this new, explosive trend. I couldn't figure out why so many famous people were doing this, I mean I know fads explode in Hollywood, but I don't remember anything extensive as this. But this article here definitely helped fill the gaps. I actually thought it might have something to do with the flashes on cameras, so once I read this it all made complete sense. They like to be seen, their emotions are pretty important at premieres, to express their excitement for the big, new picture. But I couldn't even begin to imagine how annoying it must be, to have those big bulbs flashing off cameras in their faces all the time.

Truthfully, I like the new look. It's nothing too over the top, and it seems like something even normal people could pick up on without having to spend an arm and a leg.

I think this may be the last cold snap before the big heat moves in.

As anyone around here might know of, weather in this area's crazy anyway. But for the most part we kinda warm up through the spring a little, then have a dip in temperatures, then it starts to shoot up into the 80s, 90s, and even higher, especially last summer.


This weekend, in my opinion, may be that one final cold snap. Temps got down into the 30s and 40s overnight, which is just plain silly for April. Come mid-week, they're predicting we jump back into the 80s again.

I'm not even sure why I'm assuming anything. Our weather's just ridiculous! I will say that with each passing day, leading back into May and the 1 year anniversary of the big one, I get a little anxious. And the last few weeks, we've been getting back and forth weather, with phases of strong and severe storms.


I really hope we don't get a sequel to last year's insanity...

Volcano starts rumbling in Mexico

In this piece by the Houston Chronicle, a volcanic mountain in Mexico, dubbed "Popo" for short, is apparently starting to churn under the ground, and is alerting many scientists and government officials.

While I hope this won't be a big problem, it definitely is a big nerve-racking.


Apparently there are around 25 million people that live close enough to the volcano to be affected should it erupt, so government officials have started taking action by issuing some early evacuations to about 60,000 people in the path of possible lava flows. Many of the locals are "shrugging it off", as the article says, as most of the people that live close by are actually primarily indigenous, so they believe that the volcano is the spirit of a heart-broken man from ancient times, and that if he chooses to release his anger on them, then it is their time to go. While the locals might not be too worried, U.S. geologists and Mexican officials and police are noting that volcanoes are just far too unpredictable not to prepare for the worst.


I, personally, don't know anyone that lives in Mexico, but my girlfriend's step-father is down there visiting family. I'm not sure how close they might be to the volcano, but I sure hope nothing bad happens, to them, or anyone down there for that matter.

I'll cross my fingers for you, Mexico...

This is definitely going to be a love/hate football season...

According to this article by the Associated Press, Peyton Manning has more or less been put in charge of practices up in Denver, which means they're starting to run his signature no-huddle format.

I can't tell you how excited I am to see him keep playing the same way I've watched him for the last decade or so.

As the article states, while the change to the offense isn't exactly official yet, they're already practicing the hurry-up, no-huddle style that made Peyton and his Colts famous over the last several years. I definitely see the Broncos going far this year. It's nice to see that all of the players have welcomed him into the team, and are ready and willing to be molded by the master. It's also going to be interesting to see how the altitude change will affect Manning, as well as all the other new players to the high-up environment. It sounds like it might actually be an advantage to them, as going into lower altitudes will lower the pressure on their bodies, and extend their performance, while when other teams come into Denver, they'll have to adjust big time.


While I'm still not completely comfortable with being a "Broncos fan", I'm definitely excited to see what happens this coming season, not only with Manning's new team, but also with the reconstructed Colts. This is definitely a love/hate relationship I have with all the changes...

I think my Arab World class is really fortunate.

So I have Arab World with Dr. Gubera on campus. It's really an interesting and fun class. He's got quite the unique sense of humor, and a looooot of knowledge. We talk about a wide range of things relating to that part of the planet, but yesterday something really interesting happened.

Someone brought up the recently released picture of a couple American soldiers, with a couple Afghani soldiers, in which they're holding a couple body parts from an apparent suicide bomber or something. They've been rather controversial online, as the soldiers have slight smiles, so many people are claiming it's a display of "war trophies".

What made this interesting was a man in class named Brandon. I really think he's the best thing to happen to our class. Dr. Gubera calls him Captain America, but he was actually a Sergeant in the Army not long ago. When this picture was mentioned, he instantly chimed in to explain it, and I'm really glad he did.



Apparently, our government, while not really explaining WHY they want it, has expressed to our troops that they want literally everything documented, via pictures, reports, etc.. A lot of these pictures will be of troops simply displaying limbs from an attempted suicide bombing, really just to show the approximate size of such, probably just so the "boys upstairs" can keep records of things like that. The reason people are misrepresenting it as a trophy picture is the smiles.


The thing that, unfortunately, too many people fail to realize is how smiles work. These men are in a foreign place, without their loved ones, risking their lives, all day, every day, constantly worried that the next man walking up to shake their hand might be strapped with explosives. Are they expected to just sit and dwell on the horrors they see daily? They're taught to use humor to make it through the day. Who's to say there wasn't a man off camera that cracked a quick, unrelated joke, and these soldiers heard it, and just as a reflex ended up smirking?

Brandon informed us that they'll often times laugh while cleaning up a bombing attempt. "What an idiot. This guy just wasted his own ass to try and take us out, and didn't even do anything. Talk about dumb! Haha!" It's almost a sigh of relief. He told us even the Arab soldiers they fight alongside laugh at the extreme fundamentalists that carry out such actions.

I can tell you, after last year's tornado, even I had to deal with things like this for awhile. I was switching between bawling like a baby, and laughing hysterically every five minutes. I'd see that so many things were gone and destroyed, I'd worry about those that got hurt, and I'd cry. Then I'd see a random, bright yellow MSSU shirt of mine, stuck at the top of a tree. And instantly, I'd say "Well, how in the hell am I gonna get that down? Man, I really liked that shirt, but at least the tree looks good in yellow!"

We're taught to use humor to get through the tough times in life. That's how we as humans survive. So many people take things out of context, it's just not fair to the men and women fighting and dying overseas. You see a picture, that isn't even supposed to be on public record by the way, and instantly assume it's displaying a trophy? Why must things constantly be twisted?

Nobody can keep their hands to themselves anymore...

According to this article from The Guardian, some secret service agents were relieved of duty in Colombia after allegedly involving themselves with some prostitutes.

As disgusting as stuff like this is, I'm honestly not surprised.


The 12 agents were removed and replaced with more secret servicemen to watch over our President at the summit in Colombia, after reports arose that they'd been caught in the company of some rather promiscuous women. It's rather frustrating to see anyone in general doing such things, but even more so when it's someone that we Americans pay (via taxes of course) and trust to protect our Commander In Chief. There's so much issue in the news with the "sanctity" and "institution" of marriage being violated, mostly by non-heterosexual people, when things like this go on daily and hardly anyone pays attention.


I really hope more people get their heads on straight, stop acting like stupid, horny animals everywhere they go, and start worrying more about the people that do such nasty things rather than those that just want equal rights. Not intending this to be a rant about gay rights or anything like that, but really, why can't we throw our eyes in the direction that might make more sense?