It's Made From Animal:
*The information
that follows is from PETA's website.*
The following product is made from animal:
"Arachidonic
Acid.
A liquid unsaturated fatty acid that is found in liver, brain,
glands, and fat of animals and humans. Generally isolated from
animal liver. Used in companion animal food for nutrition and
in skin creams and lotions to soothe eczema and rashes. Alternatives:
synthetics, aloe vera, tea tree oil, calendula ointment."
Buy Stuff From This Company:
According to PETA, this is an animal-friendly company. "Those marked with a dot (·) meet the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals (CSCA). Those marked with an asterisk (*) manufacture strictly vegan products:
"·*Allens Naturally, P.O. Box 514, Dept. M, Farmington, MI 48332-0514; 800-352-8971"
Organization of Interest:
Information is taken directly from the Idealist website, which you should visit, if possible (http://www.idealist.org/).
This Month's:
New York Cares,
Inc.
116 East 16th Street
6th Floor
New York, New York, 10003
Phone: (212)228-5000
Fax: (212)228-6414
Email: ny_cares@nycares.org
http://www.nycares.org
"Mission: To unite and enable caring New Yorkers to help people in need and improve our city through volunteer service and creative giving.
Founded in 1987, New York Cares coordinates more than 300 team-based, flexibly-scheduled community service projects each month. New York Cares volunteers plant flowers in community gardens, serve meals in soup kitchens, tutor children, visit the elderly, paint murals in public schools, bridge the Digital Divide and much more. In addition to our year-round volunteer programs, New York Cares organizes four large scale service events every year: New York Cares Day, The New York Cares Secret Santa Program, New York Cares Spring Clean-Up Day and The New York Cares Coat Drive.
Whad up wid dat?!:
I remind you that the point of this article is not to persuade but to inform and provoke thought. Information is taken directly from http://www.excite.com.
"College Clinics
Refuse to Enroll RU-486 Regimen, Reports Why Life?
Updated 10:05 AM ET November 14, 2000WASHINGTON, Nov.
14 /PRNewswire
"Colleges from Maine to Florida have formed a blockade against the RU-486 regimen," said Cathy Brown, director of Why Life? (an American Life League division), following a survey of colleges along the Eastern Seaboard.
"Our lengthy survey has confirmed that in every state running the entire length of the Eastern Seaboard, college after college, university after university, from Maine to Florida, all conclude that the RU-486 regimen is lethal, dangerous, complicated and controversial," Brown said. "Unlike the FDA, which has been corrupted by the Big Abortion industry, campus medical personnel have aligned themselves in defense of student moms and their innocent preborn children. They have blocked the RU-486 regimen from their campuses. We expect that colleges throughout the length and breadth of America will do the same."
ALL's survey confirmed that each college and university contacted will not permit RU-486 onto its campuses. Those colleges which have just said "No!" to the RU-486 regimen include: Colby College and the University of Maine; colleges throughout New Hampshire; Castleton and the University of Vermont; Boston U; Providence in Rhode Island; Yale University and the University of Connecticut; Fordham, Syracuse, LeMoyne and Wells in NY; Allegheny, Franklin, Marshall and Penn State in PA; the University of Delaware; Rutgers and Princeton in NJ; Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland; the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of South Carolina; the University of Georgia at Athens and Georgia Tech; and the entire Florida public university system.
Colleges will block the RU-486 regimen, Brown said, because of the deadly action of the two chemicals involved (Mifeprex and Cytotec). Mifeprex kills the preborn person by starvation. Cytotec, used off label, induces contractions to expel the dead preborn child; Cytotec, according to the drug's manufacturer Searle, has killed mothers. The drug is specifically labeled with a warning; it is not to be used by pregnant women because it can cause the death of the mother and her baby.
Campus physicians and gynecologists warn of the "dangerous ramifications" of RU-486 regimen. "It's an extremely dangerous process," said Dr. Christine Peterson, director of student health at the University of Virginia.
Why Life? is a division of American Life League, the nation's largest pro- life educational organization with more than 375,000 supporting families.
Contact: Scott Weinberg of American Life League, 540-659-4171"
Update on Tibet:
Information is taken directly from the ICT website, which you should visit, if possible (http://www.savetibet.org).
"Rare Tibetan
Buddhist Sculpture Consecrated as a Tool for Peace
Religion: Believers say three-dimensional mandala can transform
negative emotions into compassion.
By TERESA WATANABE, Times Religion Writer
Los Angeles Times, Sunday, November 19, 2000
In a 1,300-year-old ceremony of chants, incense and clanging cymbals, a rare and sacred Tibetan Buddhist sculpture was formally consecrated in Glendale on Saturday and offered as a blessing for universal peace.
"With so much violence in the world, we cannot stay as silent spectators," said Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa, who sponsored the project with his Los Feliz Buddhist center. "Whatever benefit we can bring, we must do our part to bring."
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the bejeweled icon of intricate art and intense spirituality can transform negative emotions into compassion and altruism. It is the first three-dimensional mandala--a circular design representing a map to enlightenment--ever built in the United States.
Along with its peace blessings, the mandala project represents an urgent race to preserve Tibet's vanishing cultural and religious art heritage.
Once a standard fixture in most large Tibetan monasteries, the mandalas have been all but wiped out amid the destruction of more than 6,000 monasteries under five decades of Chinese Communist rule. The effort to build one here took 11 months, $250,000 and supporters ranging from high lamas to such Hollywood celebrities as Stephen Stills and Sharon Stone.
The completed work, representing a celestial palace filled with 100 wrathful and peaceful deities, is known as the Shi-Tro mandala. It will be on display for three months at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale before moving to the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena.
After that, Gyatso hopes to take the mandala around the nation, along with a curriculum in peace education for schools and community groups.
The icon, based on a 7th century blueprint, was built by a team of artists led by Pema Namdol Thaye. The 33-year-old artist is one of the few Tibetans left in the world with the artistic skills and deep knowledge of esoteric Buddhism required to build the mandala.
The soft-spoken Thaye, who meditates before work each day to remove his own impurities, said that each of the hundreds of elements of the mandala is dense with spiritual meaning.
As one example, he pointed to a figure of one Buddhist deity embracing his consort. Thaye explained that it symbolized the union of female wisdom and male capability; his sword represented cutting through ignorance, while his garland of skulls signified the conquering of the "three poisons" of ignorance, desire and hatred.
But the mandala, sponsored by the Chagdud Gonpa T'hondup Ling center, seemed to move even those unfamiliar with its intricate meanings.
"The sheer beauty of it appears to carry the artist's intention, which is to release the vibrations of peace," said the Rev. Michael Beckwith of the Agape International Center of Truth in Culver City. "When someone spends so much time in prayerful intention, the work becomes both artistry and ministry."
Others, however, seemed perplexed. "It's mystifying--there are so many deities and no explanation," said Barry Keehn, executive director of the Japan-America Society. "You find yourself pondering the philosophy."
The three-hour consecration ceremony at Forest Lawn featured both ancient Tibetan rituals and interfaith blessings from Christian and Jewish clergy. Before flickering candles and hundreds of offerings of flowers, liquid and sweets, the Most Venerable Gonjang Rinpoche of India led the ceremony that Tibetan Buddhists believe brings down sacred energy of the deities to empower the mandala.
Once that energy is sealed within, the mandala is able to instantly liberate all who come into contact with it from the consequences of their harmful actions, or negative karma, Lama Gyatso said.
After the Tibetan ritual, Protestant minister Ron Beans and Catholic priest James Cavanaugh blessed the mandala with terms more familiar to non-Buddhists.
Beans read the Sermon on the Mount, while Cavanaugh blessed the mandala "as a symbol of religious devotion, which leads us to the path of nonviolence and universal peace."
For Gyatso, whose team has worked around the clock in the last five weeks to complete the project, the mandala's blessing is clear:
"For people to try to recognize their own kindness, nurture it, treasure it and widen that quality," he said."
What a Show:
The following episode of a t.v. show is worth taping:
Kay, so, you may or may not want to tape this episode, but I can't think of one *to* tape and this is a commentary that I wrote for DOBOA so here you go.
Felicity
10 May 2000
Summary: Greg dumped Felicity because he claimed that she was only dating him because he wasn't Ben. Felicity begged Meghan to take her out and show her a good time, then she got Elena and Julie to come too. They went to a 'crazy' club and partied and had a grand ol' time, until Javier brought Ben to the club so that he and Felicity could talk. When Meghan found out, she whisked Felicity away and they stopped at a convenience store before finally ending up at another one of Richard's Pizza Parties. While at the convenience store, they ran into Greg, and Meghan confessed to everyone that Greg is her Ben (turns out they got married in a sandbox when they were kids.) Then Felicity got drunk and said some mean stuff to Ben, but then he fixed it all by finding this reel of filme (a Chaplin movie) because in his mind, the turning point in their relationship was when he never showed up when they were supposed to go see that movie together. So that's them. Noel is in love with Ruby, but is torn because of her whole ordeal with Wade/pregnancy. Sean loves Julie, and when he asked her about what she thought, she said maybe, which made him gleeful. Tracy finally finished Elena's apartment and it looks amazing. Javier got engaged.
Commentary: It was funny, and touching, especially when Ben gave Felicity the film and referred to it as a time machine (you know, so that they could go back and watch the movie again and stuff.) It wasn't as good as the Shawn's Documentary episodes, but it was still entertaining.
One of my favorite lines: "Open your squinty little eyes that are so cute!"--Javier to Ben about how Felicity doesn't hate him
Where's That From?
Last month's quote was from "Berg" Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. First one to guess the source of this month's line wins a prize!
"Well Mike Bergan takes The Rules and spits on them...MORE!"
It's Poetry Daddy O!:
Peajacket
Always runs around
in him crap
And him always lick me
And I love him too
--Mary Marble
Petty Pectin Trivia:
Only 1% of all the water in the world is useable.
Song of the Month:
"Take On Me," by Ah-Ha on some album that evidently does not exist. It's Shadow's song for this boy that she's waaay over and oddly enough it's also one of my songs for someone and she burned it twice for me on these CDs she sent me so yeah, it deserves the title Song of the Fucking Month Yo.
Hmm, that's strange...:
*This article was taken from http://www.excite.com*
"Owner of
Returned Stolen Car Finds Body in Trunk
Updated 8:53 AM ET November 20, 2000LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
- A man whose car was stolen in the Los Angeles area got more
than he imagined when police found the vehicle and returned it
a few days later.
The owner opened the trunk hours after the car was returned on Friday, and found the body of a man who had been missing since Nov. 10, said Harry Drucker, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy.
The car, a Buick Park Avenue, was recovered by police from the city of Maywood southeast of Los Angeles.
"They contacted owner, who goes to get car, opens the trunk and finds there's a little something extra in there that wasn't there before," Drucker said.
The victim, identified as 22-year-old Mark Jaimes, was apparently shot to death and his body shoved into the trunk of the car, said sheriff's deputy Cruz Solis.
When the owner found the body, he drove the car to a sheriff's station and told deputies at the front desk, "I think you guys want to go out and look at my trunk," said sheriff's Sgt. Henry Saucedo.
Jaimes' car, a 2000 Ford Mustang, was recovered in Maywood. "
Blocking the Wall:
Visit Blocking the Wall Online: http://www.dhak.net/btwonline
10 THINGS I
HATE ABOUT YOU
(1999) ***
Directed by Gil Junger
Starring Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Larisa Oleynik, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
For a teen romantic comedy, this one is actually pretty good. It's the only one that contains a thoroughly appropriate reference to 'Bikini Kill,' at any rate, so it deserves its props.
I'm a teenager, okay, or at least I remember being one somewhere along the line. I have never behaved in such a way or witnessed people behaving in such ways as are usually depicted in the dumbed-down, pseudo-hipster teen comedies mass-marketed like tube tops these days. Think Frankie Avalon and Annette Funnicello with cell phones, condoms, and a wide range of expletives, and you have the normal studio version of the teenage flick. Of course, 10 Things comes nowhere near debunking the usual formula, but it tries. How does it even attempt this, obviously insurmountable, obstacle of superficialty? Well, the characters remain themselves. John Hughes did it, long before Gil Junger ever got the idea to rip off The Taming of the Shrew, and he did it better. But all comparisons aside, I'm pleased that the artsy/smart/bitchy girl (played by Julia Stiles, who is simply superb) does not need to be transformed into the Homecoming Queen in order to realize her full potential. The popular/beautiful/bitchy sister (Larisa Oleynik, obviously not doing too much acting) does change her spots, but not too awful much. The film graciously stays true to Shakespeare's story of two sisters, one a beauty and one a shrew, the good sister forbidden to marry (in 10 Things, it's "date") until the shrew is similarly accepted by any suitor willing. Hold on, here's where the plot becomes an SAT word problem. Larisa's character (who will hereafter be known as "the sweet one") is crushed after by the delightfully dweeby Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but she has her eyes on the token "popular rich bonehead." When informed of the father's plans for his daughters, the Dweeb enlists the financial aid of Rich Bonehead to bribe someone, anyone, to court The Shrew. Enter The Rebel, played by movie-star-in-the-making Heath Ledger, who looks like Val Kilmer but talks like Russell Crowe, and desperately tries to slough off his Australian accent until an obviously written-in line asks "what about the accent? Is it real?" Thus clearing up the audiences concerns. The Rebel agrees to court The Shrew, and-oops!-falls in love with her. All goes fairly well until.....you get the picture. As for the climax: of course in a teen comedy all things must happen at THE PROM, but along the way a good story (gee, I wonder if it has anything to do with the source material...) props up a strong cast in what is undoubtedly one of the best post-Hughes teen flicks out there. It's about freaking time. -Shadow O
Stuff That Rules:
Answering questions rule. Okay, so I just joined this Random Questions email list and all we do is ask and answer kick ass questions and then laugh about our answers and stuff and vent about life and praise each other and comfort each other in times of need and make up in-joke after in-joke and it just rules. Yes I do realize that I need a life and no I don't care.
Dude/Chick of the Month:
Alright, I couldn't think of anyone to put here so I asked you guys and you didn't offer up any suggestions, so let us all use this next month to contemplate one male and one female worthy of the titles Dude and Chick of the Month so that we may have an article here in the next newsletter.
Whoriscopes:
In lieu of whoriscopes this month, here's a little piece of advice Sally would like to share with you:
If you let it, it will rummage through your wardrobe closet of well-dressed memories until they lay thin and ripped; tie the fashion scientist down, glamorize , coat, and apply plenty of glue.
Contacting The IPS:
email:
Notes From the Editor:
We're still trying to get new members so if there's anyone that you've been meaning to invite to join the IPS, then by all means invite them to join now!
Song stuck in your head that deserves the Song of the Month title? Send it in. Avid about a worthy cause? Tell us about it. Your suggestions may not appear immediately because I write these so far in advance, but I promise I'll use it sooner or later. This is your newsletter so let me know what you wanna see in it and I shall do my best to please you. So it is written; so shall it be.