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To some people, the color of shirt you put on in the morning is political. The toothpaste you use is political. Everything is political because somewhere, somehow, sometime during the creation of that thing or state of being some person or entity involved had some political leaning that in some subtle way influenced the way they contributed to the process.

The original color of Band-Aids was white-person. Crayola originally had "flesh" as one of their crayon colors, but this was changed to "peach" as a result of the civil rights movement.

These seemingly innocuous household items--bandages, crayons--were already infused with cultural biases. No one sat down and said, "Ha ha! I'll get those rascally blacks and make their injuries stand out more prominently on their dark skin with these sticky, tan bandages!", but that's what ended up happening. These silly oversights (culturally insensitive problem areas) were caught and corrected (by establishing more inclusive and diverse solutions) in an effort to promote better business: why should only white people get skin-colored band-aids? There's money to be made by opening up new markets!

There's nothing insidious about pointing out biases that exist or have existed. Nobody is pointing fingers and screaming, "Racist!" We study our culture's problems, learn from our mistakes, and move on.

People who think like this believe the way I take a dump is political. (Seriously - find somebody who's gone off-grid and uses a composting toilet. Ask them about it. They'd have you believe that the way you urinate and defecate is a political statement.)

The way you take a dump is quite political. Squatting is how most cultures do their business, but for some reason the West looks at squatting as uncivilized or crude, despite numerous health benefits over the sitting position. This leads to a further question: why does the West seem to have a preoccupation with appearing civilized? What does that say about our culture?

While we're on waste elimination, I'm sure you could ask a feminist about what they think when a guy stands up to urinate. I'm also sure you could ask Sigmund Freud what he thinks when you ask him why a woman would want to pee standing up. It's really mind-boggling to see how many people have written about these seemingly pedestrian practices, but it's all out there.

While an individual may not know why they're doing what they're doing, they still learned it from somewhere (parents, friends, tribe, TV, Slashdot, etc.), so understanding these little daily routines can make for a fascinating cultural study.

"Politics is a component of everything" may be true but it's also meaningless. Any statement so broad is meaningless because it has no real, practical impact on anything.

Most of us are utterly clueless about how the world works and don't realize how much we take for granted. Just watch an old cartoon and count the number of political statements you didn't notice as a child.

For instance, Fred Flintstone is a white working-class caveman who lives in the suburbs and uses all sorts of dino-powered gadgets to power his "modern stone-age family." Of course, he gets into zany hijinks and sometimes makes a fool of himself, but all problems are resolved by the end and things return to the status quo--the happy, healthy two-parent household. In that respect, he is the ideal 1950s American living out the ideal American dream. That's a pretty bold political statement in a frikkin' cartoon.

These politics do have a real, practical impact, because millions of Americans grew up with Fred Flintstone's ideals floating around in the back of their collective minds. I hesitate

No, they will first sue International Paper, Bic, Dixon Ticonderoga, or Crayola. After all, paper, pens, pencils, and crayons can all be used to make copies of pages of song lyrics or a scene of a movie.

And why stop there? Since blood can technically be used as a writing medium, the RIAA and MPAA will soon take the drastic step of suing every person on Earth with blood flowing in their veins.

Close, but more of a burnt sienna.

--Ryv

http://www.crayola.com/products/display.cfm?produc t=47

Colour depth sucks, but the resolution is wicked. Stable as a rock, and no need to reboot ever! The refresh rate is alright, but my arm is getting tired.

I have long hands and a typical mouse does not fit me at all. Silly putty is great for modifing the shape of my mouse to better fit my hand. So order up a convenient 5 pound blob and experience ergonomic nirvana.

Here's where you can get a LOT of goo in eggs.

I use nothing but the best. I've been using them since grade school and they have never left me down. Why look at them purdy colors....Crayons for everyone.

For those of you who are lazy here are a couple of links to buy silly putty in bulk. From Crayola

Silly Putty Hulk no care - want Silly Putty Wonder Woman.

Silly Putty Hulk no care - want Silly Putty Wonder Woman.

Silly Putty Hulk no care - want Silly Putty Wonder Woman.

Silly Putty Hulk no care - want Silly Putty Wonder Woman.

You can buy 5 lbs of silly putty for $60. Many people have done this before, and you can do some very interesting stuff with it. Like make a potato gun that shoots baseball sized balls of putty at brick walls. There are videos of this, and the putty ball shatters like a piece of glass because of its "silly" properties.

Its fun to do other experiments like bake it, freeze it, etc...

For those of you who are lazy here are a couple of links to buy silly putty in bulk.

From Crayola

Or if you would like to buy 100 pounds of the stuff you can apparently order it directly from Dow Corning. Here's a page with step by step instructions on what to ask for and who to call.

100 Pounds or More

Give on-site tutorials using Crayola "Washable Whiteboard Markers". You (and they) will soon find that the marks made by these markers do not wash off of whiteboards, even with industrial strength graffitti remover. Your presentation will become permanent advertising right next to the developers' desks. - Dr. "Crayola can bite my shiny metal ass" Evil

The German company "Crayon" probably decided that SuSE was small-potatos and that there are other companies that might have more money to extort.

Of course, I realize I'm casting pearls before swine, explaining this. Anyone who would mod up "Trolligula" without thinking can't be the sharpest crayon in the box.

I am the sharpest crayon in the box, and my name is Green. Due to "Screamin' Green", "Electric Lime", "Jungle Green", "Shamrock", "Aspagarus", "Tropical Rain Forest", and "Caribbean Green", not to mention "Forest Green", "Yellow Green", "Green Yellow" "Spring Green", "Blue Green", "Green Blue", "Olive Green", "Pine Green", and "Sea Green", I just don't see action anymore. I remain sharp and unbroken. Recent rumours tried to push off brown as the sharpest crayon due to the immense popularity of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown", but they simply aren't true. "Razzmatazz" is also making a big showing, but no one knows what color that is so we can't say which of the original 8 is sharper in disuse because of Razzmatazz.