Good Things About America

Booze.

It's everywhere. The novelty of going grocery shopping and being able to buy milk and hard liquor at the same time has not worn off. Another good thing is the sales. My mom recently went shopping in Arizona and wrote about her experience:

'I went to Fry's grocery store because they had a sale on wine. All wine was discounted 25%. I bought 24 bottles for $125.00!!!! I saved $100.00. Unbelievable. This would never happen in Canada. Can you imagine walking into the LCBO and see a sign saying "all wine 25% off? I don't think so!!!'

God bless America indeed.

As you all know, I want to go into neuropsychology as a profession. Why? Because of crazy shit like cysticercosis.

Today in class we learned about a dude who contracted a parasitic infection from eating improperly cooked pork in Mexico. The parasite LAID EGGS IN HIS BRAIN which later hatched and died, and left holes and scaring in his brain. He was left with significant cognitive impairment [due to other issues as well like a seizure disorder and stroke] and we had to examine his cognitive testing results.

Is that not the grossest thing you've ever heard of? Check out the MRI of a patient who had cysticercosis.

I Was Run Over by a Car Today

Can you guess which foot was run over by a car?




Idiot making a right on red. I have the right of way and start crossing the street. She looks left, I'm coming from the right, she presses the gas pedal before looking right. I try to stop walking, realizing in horror that she's about to hit me, skid forwards with my left foot [I'm on ice]. She runs over my foot and I fall backwards on the road while punching the hood of her car to make her aware that I'm there.

The best part? SHE starts yelling at ME because *I* wasn't looking where I was going.

Amazingly, nothing was broken, just a little tender. She did get my good foot, so now I am balanced with two quasi-gimpy feet.

The sad thing is, if I were actually hurt, I would have had to drag myself home, get my health insurance card, call my HMO and tell them I was hit BEFORE going to a hospital or else nothing would be covered.

I know I'm going to die here, I just don't know when.

*poof*

Maternity Leave

I was out for lunch with some girls from class and we were discussing maternity leave [I don't know why]. I made a comment about my friend who had a baby who is still enjoying her year off and my American friends were shocked - maternity leave?? WITH PAY?! Their jaws dropped. Confused, I asked how much Americans get and the response?

No paid maternity leave, minimal unpaid.

I looked it up on wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternity_leave#Americas

Check it out - the US gives 0 weeks paid maternity leave and 6 weeks unpaid. Given that the importance of early mother-baby bonding has been emphasized in research for years now, I am surprised [and sadly not surprised] to find this out. Curiously, the only other countries that appear to offer no paid maternity leave include:

Lesotho
Australia [weird, huh?]
Swaziland
Latvia [apparently offers 10 paternity days but not maternity days??]

I'm not sure if a lack of a number indicates missing data or whether that means maternity leave isn't offered. Regardless, when countries such as Ukraine, Yemen, Iran, El Salvador, and Nigeria are offering more maternity leave than you are, you're in bad shape.

I would also like to highlight Denmark's policy on maternity/paternity leave:

1 year. To be shared between the parents as they see fit.

Man, I love this country. Who's moving there with me?

Maybe Low Voter Turn Outs Aren't So Bad

Should the people really rule in a democracy? What if their opinions are formed based on twisted logic, false facts, and batshit craziness? Maybe if we did that more often, we wouldn't have videos as infuriating as this:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/02/18/why-we-do-what-we-do/

*poof*