So I'm reaching out to you, o' forever wise Internet Community: if you know how to write a DNS zone file and wouldn't mind helping me, please drop me a line. Once I get it all setup, I may be able to help you out by giving you a <yourbloghere>.releasedundergrad.net subdomain, and the freedom to write all you want.

Mini-et-Moi.com has trawled through the TotLol website to bring you our Top 5 Picks of fun online videos to watch with your baby and toddler:

• Sing the alphabet song as magnetic letters appear on the screen.
• Grove to Madonna’s Wheels on the Bus. Makes a change to Mummy’ monotonous moaning.
• An animated Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.
• Laugh out loud to Elmo’s Potty Time Song.
• A little classic in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

What Mini says:

If you feel like seeing something else, click here. Why laugh out loud when you can roll on the floor laughing?

She sings Christian and Country Music, and just has an amazing voice!!!  She sings every Sunday (unless special circumstances) @ Truelife Church!

Fan-made movies/installments/episodes of any show are the ultimate expression of both love and hardcore geekery.  And no franchise in the history of science fiction has inspired more such productions than Star Trek; not just any version of Star Trek, either, but the mothership-- James Kirk's original vehicle.  There's something about that pioneering show that continues to inspire enormous dedication and passion from thousands of fans, nearly five decades later.

Prime among such fan efforts is the New Voyages series, which in many ways was a philosophical precursor to the upcoming new "official" Star Trek movie, in that both visions have re-imagined the original iconic characters with new actors, something unthinkable a few years ago.  But New Voyages, despite its admirable efforts, good stories and impressive special effects, was always an amateurish fan production.  Simply put, the acting sucks and the dialogue and direction are highschoolish.  I still heartily recommend all the New Voyages episodes to anyone who adores the orginal Shatner/Nimoy series, but beware that this is just well funded fan fiction.

Enter something called Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.  It's a genuine fan-made full-length Star Trek motion picture, supported by the New Voyages cast and crew, but driven by hardened industry professionals, including actors from all four official Trek series: Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise.  It's even directed by Tim Russ, who played the Vulcan Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager.

My understanding of the legalities of such production is limited.  But I believe that Paramount lets fans get away with making these video love letters so long as no one tries to disrespect the core material or, more importantly, make any money off of the effort.  Therefore, both the New Voyages episodes and this epic Of Gods and Men movie are completely free of charge.  To view the latter, just visit the production's official website, download a bittorrent, or watch the streaming content on Youtube.  I recommend the latter.  You can begin here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wEl0vq0CCLU

Now, I am very pleased to report that the movie is good.  In fact, I found it more enjoyable that the last couple of official Paramount Star Trek movies (Nemesis and Insurrection)... That is, if you keep reminding yourself that this is a free production put out by mostly amateurs in their free time.  Be prepared to forgive some sloppy writing, cheap special effects, sometimes problematic acting and odd pacing and you will be presently surprised by the quality of your overall viewing experience.

The story is set 12 years after Captain Kirk has presumably been killed on the Enterprise B (see Star Trek: Generations), even though we all know he was actually sucked into the Nexus, and would not be killed until Malcolm Mcdowell gets his hands on him 80 years into the future.  Suddenly there arrives a mysterious man from the past, a man with strange godlike powers, who is looking menacingly for Kirk.  It's not too much of a spoiler to reveal that this man is the now sexagenarian Charlie Evans from the original series episode Charlie X, in a role played by William Wellman, Jr., who looks eerily like a grown-up Robert Walker, Jr, the original actor who filled Charlie's shoes.

Charlie lures Uhura, Chekhov and Captain John Harriman (Allan Ruck from Star Trek: Generations) to the planet where still stands the Guardian on the Edge of Forever, that weird time-travelling structure that first wowed us in the best ever Star Trek episode, City on the Edge of Forever.  There, Charlie goes back 70 years into the past and murders James Kirk's pregnant mother, thus preventing the birth of our hero.

Fans of science fiction know what happens next.  One pivotal individual, if removed from the soup of factors that establishes causality, can be the difference between the Utopia of the Federation and the nightmare tyranny of the so-called "Galactic Order", an evil empire led by a mysterious, godlike being whose identity will please and thrill hardcore fans of the original series.

The movie is driven by a handful of main characters: All Ruck (Harriman), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekhov), Gary Graham (from Enterprise) and to a lesser extent Tim Russ.  Also contributing important scenes are Garret Wang (Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager), the babe-tastic Chase Masterson (Leeta from Deep Space Nine) and J.G. Hertzler (also from DS9). For the dedicated fanboy, there is literally an armada of cameos from other Trek actors, and part of the fun of this movie is trying to identify the various random aged faces.

Nichols and Koenig are famous not only for their iconic roles, but also for never having been given starring vehicles.  Nichols's timing is a bit off in some of the dialogue, but she does an admirable job nonetheless, and it's great to see a strong, older, black woman be given something meaty to do on screen, as well as a complete back story.  But the real standouts are Koenig and Ruck.  These two could, in my opinion, carry their own big budget, cerebral action movie.  As Of Gods and Men shows us, you don't need to be young and spry to be an action star.  Both Nichols and Koenig are in their 70s, while Ruck is just under 60.  Their dynamic is believable and sometimes even touching.

It's difficult to put a finger on exactly why I found this admittedly cheap and sloppy production so engaging.  Maybe because it was cheap and sloppy?  You can only do so much with volunteer labour and private funding, with no expectation of profit or even of recouping your investment.  I think that a big part of the movie's appeal is that it's not trying to steal our cash; it doesn't care about attracting viewers or sponsors.  There will be no one trying to hock models of the spaceships designed for the film.  There is no Burger King tie-in or on-screen product placement.  There are no superfluous characters who have been added in the background only because they "look cool" and thus can be marketed as an action figure.  There is no focus-group casting or test audience re-editing.  This is a pure, though flawed, artistic effort with a singular intent: to express love for the core material and to share that love with the fans.

If you need to see $10 million on the screen, you will not enjoy this film.  If you need your acting and dialogue to have been workshopped and test marketed, you will not enjoy this film.  If you've only seen a couple of the original Star Trek episodes, you will not enjoy this film.  But if you are over 25 years old (preferably over 40!) and have spent a goodly chunk of your life watching and re-watching the various incarnations of Roddenberry's greatest brainchild, then I strongly suspect that Star Trek: Of Gods and Men will be an enjoyable experience for you, and may even bring you some closure for the lesser characters on whom the major motion pictures could not afford to waste valuable screen time.

I, for one, hope there's a sequel.

Happy and have a gold old Bungie Day but before we say that here are some details. At 12:00 Bungie is releasing a free new map called Cold Storage this map is a remake of the map in the game called Halo that map is Chill Out. Also they have seven new gamer pictures and one new theme for your dashborad. So know we can say happy and have a gold old Bungie Day from 360Wars.

And then today, she came back over to my house. We were having fun, but then I had this kinda different idea for our game, and she like, wouldn't even listen to me. I had agreed to like, almost all her ideas, even thought I didn't like some of them. She was just kinda being... difficult. But that blew over. We went outside and hung out with Clara, who had a ton of friends over... again. E is great, but sometimes she annoying... and doesn't really take no for an answer. Like, before we were leaving, she wanted me to ask my dad if I could go see Kung Fu Panda with her. I had already seen it, but it's a really good movie so I went to ask my dad. I said "Hey Dad. Can I go with E to-" Then he cut me off. I think he was annoyed with Clara. I als later learned that he wanted to do a family night thing.

So E went home and I watched The Santa Clause 3 with my family. It was a good movie, they did pretty well with the special effects. The ending was a little cheesey but it was cute. I was going to eat dessert, but I didn't 'cuz eating late at night will make me fat or something... Plus I could become a Sleep-eater! From the Chowderepisode, when he becomes this Bearilla at night. It's so funny! I tried to find the episode, but it's not on the Internet. Just look for it on Tv. It's really funny.

I've long been told that this book is one of the must-reads for developers. After picking it up a few months ago, it took me a while to finish reading it. Having gotten through 3/4 of the book, I've decided that it's good enough to give it a decent review.

The first thing that drew me to the book was that it was written by Martin Fowler. His preface struck me was the emphasis on a set process for refactoring. I consider myself a fairly competent developer and refactoring was something I did fairly often. Or so I thought. The way I was approaching refactoring was not systematic or repeatable.

As I read further into the book, I worked through the examples of how refactoring worked but one basic thing stuck with me. When you refactor, you do it in a systematic and repeatable way. The main emphasis was that you NEVER added new functionality when refactoring existing functionality. You only add new functionality when you finish refactoring your existing code base.

This impression I got from the book, so far, was that it was extremely pragmatic and logical. The steps which Fowler walks you through, when refactoring, are extremely basic and easy to follow. As you progress through the chapters, he builds upon the concepts which he has laid down before and the learning curve is fairly smooth and gradual. While I am not finished yet, I found this to be an easy read and quite enjoyable. The examples that he presents are practical and easy to adapt to real life situations. Though I am far from one of the movers and shakers in the IT industry, my two cents is that this book is a definite must-read. The next book I need to finish - after I got sidetacked - is Eric Evan's Domain Driven Design. So far I found it to be slightly harder to follow as it's a fairly heavy read.

But we need your help!

We know that there are fan fics, stories, theories, pictures, and other evidence showing that we are right and we need your help to compile these resources for our mission to end this ridiculous rumor. Fred and George, Gred and Forge, the Weasley twins--no matter what you call 'em, you know that their separation was just wrong. Please post comments and/or shoot your information to either of us--Amy (amyismyfriend@aim.com) or Lizzy (TheLadyMelusel@hotmail.co.uk). We could also use a ridiculously cool banner and other art to add to this site to liven it up a bit.

[audio http://www.cathy-moore.com/banjo/MP3s/sail_away_ladies.mp3]

Download MP3

We had a very pleasant book launch at the Annual Meeting of the Australian Linguistic Society.

About half the papers in Morphology and Language History are on Australian languages

This volume aims to make a contribution to codifying the methods and practices linguists use to recover language history, focussing predominantly on historical morphology. The volume includes studies on a wide range of languages: not only Indo-European, but also Austronesian, Sinitic, Mon-Khmer, Basque, one Papuan language family, as well as a number of Australian families. Few collections are as cross-linguistic as this, reflecting the new challenges which have emerged from the study of languages outside those best known from historical linguistics. The contributors illustrate shared methodological and theoretical issues concerning genetic relatedness (that is, the use of morphological evidence for classification and subgrouping), reconstruction and processes of change with a diverse range of data. The volume is in honour of Harold Koch, who has long combined innovative research on understudied languages with methodological rigour and codification of practices within the discipline.

For ease of surfing and later reference for myself (and you) I split these up into categories:

Programming/Web-design
w3schools.com - a great website about all sorts of web related programming, can function as a starting point for learning a web-based language or a useful reference for experts.

php.net - The creators of php have pretty much all the information you'll ever need about php right on there own site. There are also posts from the community on nearly every reference page, providing helpful advice and additional examples.

AListApart.com - An excellent and extremely literary website with articles about website design and web programming. The articles on this site are works of art and provide expert advice on a variety of issues.

java.sun.com/[...]/api/The java API is one of the most complete and the most accessible references for any programming language (and a far cry from the relatively worthless MSDN developer network...).
______________________________________________

Humorous Sites
Uncyclopedia.org - A sarcastic, uninformative, geeky and yet hilarious wiki abot anything and everything. I would recommend searching for celebrities who you don't like or, if you just love everyone, fall back on 'Microsoft' (always a good bet).

Maddox.xmission.com - Maddox is like... Rush Limbaugh - Politics + even more conceit + more humor.

UrbanDictionary.com - Urban Dictionary... enough said.

ICanHasCheezBurger.com - Cats + Captions + Poor spelling = Hilarious (unless you are a Grammar/Spelling Nazi).

FailBlog.org - Looking at pictures of fails always makes me feel better about myself... and laugh... a lot.
______________________________________________

Others
PSDtuts.com - an excellent site for learning Photoshop techniques.

NewEgg.com - If you need to buy computer/electronic related items... Newegg is the place.

Pandora.com - Pandora creates custom radio channels based on music you like and then streams it for free to your computer. Its a great way to find new artists and songs that you might like.
______________________________________________

I might end up adding more links later, but for right now, this is a short list of my bookmarks.

Outre has a mini-ish exhibition of new work by Angelique up now called Til Death Do Us Part. The opening was last Thursday night and was well attended for a mid-week opening (as opposed to the usual Friday night shindig).

If you are unfamiliar with Angelique's work, pop in and have a look. These pieces are mostly smallish in nature, but check out the limited prints up for grabs... great stuff.

It is only on until July 23 so get in there and have a look.

... muttler

A great summary of why the Iraq War has turned more positive than negative (if you are objective) can be found by Don Surber at the Daily Mail.

It got me to thinking about some questions I would like to ask the Democrats:

1. For the last 5 years, we have heard a constant drumbeat about how we have lost the war and we need to get out, yet almost every indicator signals a victory.  How do you define "losing the war"? 
2. If the war was fought for oil, then why are we pulling uranium out of Iraq instead of oil, especially at time when it could be aruged that more oil is greatly needed?
3. Similarly, if the war was not fought because of Hussein's WMD, then why are we pulling the last of his uranium stockpiles from Iraq this week?
4. If the war had not been fought, do you think that uranium could very well be in the hands of terrorists today?
5. Ok--if you don't think we should have went to war---then if we had withdrawn troops before winning (as recommended by every Democrat leader I can think of including Obama, Pelosi, Reid...) can you explain to me how the uranium secured by our troops would not be in the hands of terrorists today?
6. If the war is lost, then why is Al-Maliki declaring that Al-Qaeda, our enemy, has lost in Iraq?
7. If George Bush is so stupid, then why do I feel safer knowing Al Qaeda is purged from Iraq, the uranium stockpiles are in safe hands, and Democracy is beginning to take hold in Iraq?

More interesting reading on the positive news in Iraq:

Judgment on Iraq: Sorting right from wrong 

It Must Suck Being Joe Wilson Today

Yellowcake Uranium moved out of Iraq

Then, for a laugh, has everyone read Rena's recent post on Cammie's hair?  It's so great!  If not, click here Hairstyles and Attitudes–Are they connected?

you'll be laughing your way to your hairdresser!

Finally, there's a sigh... to those of you who missed us @ 

look forward to more of The Daily Mercies soon.  For now, focus your sights on http://insertgracehere.wordpress.com for current posts.

Happy reading!

I left a comment for JC4X4 on his site jc4x4.org but he hasn't checked it, I have to go in half an hour so I came on quickly to say this, could someone please tell jc4x4 to check this site

Thanks

-Pengills-

"Preclinical data recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrating that cannabinoids may spur brain cell growth has reignited the international debate regarding the impact of marijuana on the brain...Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon found that the administration of synthetic cannabinoids in rats stimulated the proliferation of newborn neurons (nerve cells) in the hippocampus region of the brain and significantly reduced measures of anxiety and depression-like behavior."

NORML's tag line is "working to reform marijuana laws," so their articles are going to admittedly not veer far from the message "marijuana is good for you."

On the other hand, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency webpage on marijuana states that habitual use of marijuana can lead to impairment of critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning.

So, who's right?  Does pot destroy your brain or make it better?  There may be something to the University of Saskatchewan research, but if I have to judge by friends I've had who are heavy pot smokers, I'd have to say "smart" is not a word I'd use to describe them.  Although, come to think of it, they weren't that bright to begin with, so my data may be skewed.

The only thing I do know for certain, is that you should never have Federal Express deliver your marijuana for you.

In the vast library of historical fiction for young men and women, there are very few authors who strive to encourage young men to duty, courage, and honor, beyond simply exploiting stories for entertainment. Among the greatest of these few is R.M. Ballantyne. This great man lived in Scotland during the mid-to-late 19^th century. He had an uncanny ability to create a story with Christian characters and demonstrate Biblical virtues through them. But why is he important? Of what value are his stories young men and women? Simply stated, his novels are essential to young men and women of the 21^st century because they provide the key basis of duty, courage, and honor when others neglect to even mention such a foundation. For this reason, he is perhaps one of the greatest novelists for Christian young people of the today.

      Part of Ballantyne's greatness originates in his call to men to be dutiful, courageous, and honorable, not only for themselves and others, but for the glory of God. But how does today's worldly culture define these important virtues? Every definition given for these virtues in the dictionaries of the 21^st century lacks a purpose and a foundation, leaving a very malnourished understanding of the words. These modern and worldly dictionaries attempt to provide a simple, straightforward definition of each. Yet without a purpose, the definitions of these virtues have no value.

            Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, on the other hand, gives basis and a true purpose for these virtues in its definitions. Duty, in the 1828 Dictionary, is defined as:

That which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform. Obedience to princes, magistrates and the laws is the duty of every citizen and subject; obedience, respect and kindness to parents are duties of children; fidelity to friends is a duty; reverence, obedience and prayer to God are indispensable duties; the government and religious instruction of children are duties of parents which they cannot neglect without guilt.' (Emphasis added).

The basis of this whole definition is the Word of God. There can be no meaning to duty, courage, and honor unless God's Word is their solid foudation.

 Even though Ballantyne was Scottish, and most likely never read his contemporary's 1828 American Dictionary, his characters seem to live by the very same, rich principles contained in the definitions of Noah Webster. It is this like-mindedness that helps us to understand the foundation Ballantyne built his characters upon.

Throughout the novels Ballantyne published, characters that demonstrate Biblical reason and faith abound. A small few of these examples include: Mariano Rimini of The Pirate City, Will Wallace of Hunted and Harried, and Jack Martin of Ballantyne's most well-known novels, The Coral Island and The Gorilla Hunters. As main characters, their virtues and actions are often examined and demonstrated by Ballantyne throughout the story. Mariano, for example, tends to be very temerarious and courageous even to the point of being overzealous. Jack Martin is perhaps the most pugnacious character of these three, being somewhat physically large and muscular and very determined to fulfill his duty whenever he has the chance. Finally, Will Wallace is the calm and honorable one, being a newly converted Covenanter, and zealous for the faith.

What can these three characters teach young men and women about duty, courage, and honor? First, it sets in stone the quality of chivalry among men, who ought to be willing always to protect women and children who are in need or in danger, or even to simply provide what they need. Second, it instructs young women to place themselves under the care and protection of a man who truly desires to protect and provide for her.

The reason these virtues are stressed in Ballantyne's novels is because Ballantyne was devoted to the truth of the Word of God. For example, at the beginning of Hunted and Harried, Will Wallace is hunting covenanters, but he and his captain run across two young girls. Being very reluctant to harm anyone, Will, despite having never met the girls, steps in and fights his captain without hesitation to protect them. The Word of God teaches men to put women and children first by sacrificially loving their wives and to caring for the fatherless and widow. His duty was founded on a Biblical principle and not his own imagination or some humanistic cause.

Duty, courage, and honor are not always exclusive of one another. For instance, Mariano Rimini, in The Pirate City, is asked to take on a very serious and exceedingly difficult mission: to steal outside of the city during the night and warn the English consul of a plan to overthrow the Dey, or the ruler, of Algiers. Yet strangely enough, it was his master, a Jew, who gave this trying duty to him. Obeying him without hesitation, Mariano, a Christian, perfectly executed his duty, because the Word of God demanded that he obey all who are in authority over him. He had courage to press on, a duty to fulfill, and honor given to God in doing so.

Although indirectly exhorting the reader to a quality that a character possesses is Ballantyne's normal route, direct exhortation appears frequently, sometimes in the personal reflections of the characters. For example, in Chapter Four of The Gorilla Hunters, the main character Ralph Rover is contemplating boyhood and adventure, and his thoughts become the means of Ballantyne's exhortation to courage in young men:

I also reflected, and not without a feeling of shame, on my want of nerve, and was deeply impressed with the importance of boys being inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system... They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a dunking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. (57-58; Ch. IV)

In the novels of the modern world, encouragements to the reader to be dutiful and courageous as in this example are scarce. Having a Christian novelist, on the other hand, who exhorts in this manner, is certainly a wonderful blessing that should be well-used and well-appreciated.

Dramatically set forth in Ballantyne's literature, the most significant objective of duty, courage, and honor are taught in these great novels. That objective is to give God the glory in all we do; this cannot be accomplished unless the Word of God is our solid foundation. Young men and women who read one book by R.M.Ballantyne will learn more about true virtuousness than from any number of modern-day novels. Undoubtedly, Ballantyne is unmatched in this quality: God's Word is foundational, "for in Him and through Him and to Him are all things." (Rom. 11:36) This is what young men and women living in the 21^st century can learn from Ballantyne.

Fifteen days ago, on Saturday June 21 just before 1:30pm, I sent my first press release to the nation's major media  outlets.  I used a list of resources provided at  www.fair.org 's website.  Unfortunately seven of the email address were outdated.  I added a few more, Marketplace, The New Republic, and a few major political blogs (thru their email webforms -- politico.com & dailykos).  Here are the lucky recipients of this once in a life-time political scoop.

To: fair@fair.org, info@ap.org, letters@usnews.com, letters@time.com, letters@newsweek.com, letters@tnr.com, national@washpost.com, nywireroom@dowjones.com, editor@usatoday.com, washington@nytimes.com, national@nytimes.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, letters@latimes.com, rush@eibnet.com, atc@npr.org, newshour@pbs.org, hardball@msnbc.com, dateline@nbc.com, today@nbc.com, nightly@nbc.com, Colmes@foxnews.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, Ontherecord@foxnews.com, Oreilly@foxnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, ftn@cbsnews.com, 48hours@cbsnews.com, earlyshow@cbs.com, evening@cbsnews.com, 2020@abc.com, nightline@abcnews.com, pitches@marketplace.org

Here is the letter I sent to them.

Subject: Citizen, Silver Persinger, write in US Presidential Candidate

Dear News Maker or Editor,

I am writing today to inform you of my national campaign for US President as a write in candidate.

I have been reluctant to contact you since I announced my campaign on May 1 largely because I felt that you would not be  interested in an individual citizen's effort to participate in the national political dialog; particularly since I have no large grassroots following.  And secondly, because my platform is antithetical to the corporate media's economic interests and stranglehold on the "free press."

However, I am an advocate of the free press and view a free press as a necessity to a functional democracy.  The main reason I am contacting you today is because my "announcement" to the internet alone has not yielded significant results -- both my website, www.votesilver.org and my youtube video have received fewer than 200 views.  It is my hope that there is some independence within the media to report matters of national significance.  Objective reporting is a necessity in a democracy and there is no other way for a candidate without money to garner national attention and popular support.

I do not expect to win the election but it is my hope that I can contribute to the national dialog and influence the debate on social and economic issues -- however, I can't do it without your help.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully yours, Silver Persinger
804-683-7845

To date, I not received a single email or phone call in relation to my campaign.  This is a reflection of both the abysmal state of our democracy and the compliance of the media in perpetuating the current economic model and suppressing citizen activism.

Instant Runoff Voting would do much to improve the health of our democratic system.  Ensuring the majority is not divided amongst itself and providing more representative government, politicians, and policies.

Your assistance in spreading the word of my campaign is essential.

First of all, I would like to show you a Picture of the Bus I went on:

Here is a Picture of the "Welcome to Riley's Farm" sign:

Here is a Picture of the Flags some Soliders were holding up:

A Solider is in this Picture told us about his Life:

Here is a Picture of a Guy who told us about what he did to make Different Sculptures with 7,500 degrees:

The Picture below has taken from a Friend of mine of a Creek:

Here is a Picture of my Friend on the Bus: (sorry about the bad quality)

Here is another Picture of a Friend named Jon:

The last Picture I took is a Wild Dog that I found while I was Eating My Lunch:

As you probably can tell, I had alot of fun. I wish I could go back sometime. That was by-far my favorite Field Trip!

A Russian mathematical student was crowned Chessboxing champion after defeating a German policeman.

Chessboxing takes the two great sports of Boxing and Chess and combines them in their obvious, natural, harmonious way.

(source)

(Photo credit to Wormulus from Flickr)

The word brings a repulsive image to the minds of some people. To the ignorant mind, a feminist is a lesbian that hates men. She refuses to wear makeup or mini skirts. She never shaves her legs. She despises male chivalry and any signs of male dominance.

Even among my peers, there are some outrageous misconceptions about Feminists. About a year ago, I was chatting with a friend online and I casually mentioned that I considered myself to be a feminist. He immediately messaged me back, saying “lol so ur a lezzie?”

I was horrified and furious at the same time at my friend’s ignorance. I fought the urge to chunk my laptop out the window. But being the reasonable, passive-aggressive person I am, I simply fumed about his outrageous comment and resumed chatting with him.

As I have learned over the years, there is a slight social stigma towards feminists. Nobody ever makes fun of suffragists like Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton when we learn about them in our history classes. Yet when it comes to being a modern day feminist, many guys and girls snicker at the idea.

Feminism is not about hating men. The word feminist is not synonymous with the word lesbian. Many modern-day feminists have husbands and indulge in traditionally female activities, like wearing make up or following the latest fashion trends.

A feminist can be male or female, as proven by John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. A feminist can be liberal or conservative. Feminists aren’t always Pro-choice, Atheist or loyal supporters of Hilary Clinton.

Another common misconception is that there is no need for feminists anymore. I can see why people think this. Women in this century are accomplishing more than ever. Hilary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are making waves in their respective political spheres while celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie are changing the world every day.

But at the same time, there is gender inequality in the world of paychecks and MBAs. In other words, women who have just as much education as men are getting paid less just because of their gender.

America is a democratic nation that emphasizes freedom, justice and equality. Because of this, many American women take their right to vote, right to divorce, and the right to an education for granted.

There are some places in Africa and the Middle East where women do not have these rights. If you’ve ever picked up a copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, you’ll know that in certain Islamic countries, the status of women’s rights is at an all time low.

Of course there are some radical feminists that I don’t necessarily agree with. Some feminists are anti-capitalists, believe that marriage should be abolished or are supporters of anarchism.

These sub-categories of feminism are probably more responsible for modern-day stereotypes of feminists. These extremists, in my opinion, give the typical feminist a bad name. They forget what the whole point of feminism is and what the first-wave of feminists were trying to fight for.

If Feminism means supporting women’s rights, then I am a feminist through and through.