Nowadays (at least in the stores that I've been in) it's so rare to find toothpaste that isn't "whitening" or soap that isn't "antibacterial"... 5 years ago these properties of soap and toothpaste were a lot rarer. Everyone knows that too many antibacterial things are bad because the bacteria will develop resistances, but why have antibacterial stuff become so popular? And this tooth whitening stuff... do people know what's really going on with that? Don't the bleaches etch away at the outer layer of your teeth? Don't they remove your outer enamel to expose the lighter enamel and dentine? It's all a bit senseless since the natural color of teeth is ivory - not white. If I'm the only one not buying these products, then that's not going to do anything. Somehow, I need to get other people to think more about these things so they can also boycott them. I think once the limelight moves away from the evils of cigarette companies, people can start pointing fingers at and scrutinizing other corporations.

What have you done today to make your life better?

(While this sounds like a good mantra to think about every day, I have some reservations. How do you know if something is genuinely valuable? Also, if days go by and you haven't done anything of value, you'd eventually develop a psychosis.)

Sparkling/shiny lipsticks contain ground-up fish scales.

Photographs should be alive. They should be on display, or at least in albums which are easily accessible. If they are unsorted and in boxes, and no one looks at them or remembers them, then there's almost no point in having them.

Homophobic males are more sexually aroused by gay porn than males that have more ambivalent attitudes.

What is it with African American males and athletic wear? Why do they always have to wear sweats, caps, sneakers, basketball/football jerseys, headbands, etc? And what is it with the really baggy clothes and bling bling? I know I'm generalizing a bit... but non-professionals aside, they all seem to dress this way. Why do they dress like this? Is their masculinity so frail that if they don't dress like they are athlete, or don't dress in clothes that occupy twice as much space as their own bodies, they'd be ridiculed by other black men?

Whoever chucked a whole bunch of Maxim and FHM for recycling... thanks for giving me more stuff to read! I just finished "The Sexual Life of Catherine M" which was really interesting. If you don't know who she is, she's a French art critic who has had a LOT of sex in her life, with a LOT of different people (she only remembers/knows 49). It was pretty crazy, but it was very genuine and personal. I respect that because often the stuff that people write doesn't relate to them essentially. My next read, apart from my textbook on Organizational Change, should be Sun Tzu's "The Art of War."

Faith requires passion, and passion is not something we can learn. We have to experience it ourselves, or else we do not understand it at all. (A lesson from Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling")