Meow! My feline followers

I've been really busy this quarter to my summer goals of witting more Catgirl Commentary has gone off track.... but I could probably teach a course in quantitative biology given the amount of stuff I've managed to cram into my brain over the last few months.

That said I still manage to find the occasional free moment to post something on the new improved Catgirl Meowing that's hosted over at http://catgirlmeowing.nyteside.org.uk

My latest being a poll asking if people believe millennials are more anti-choice than their boomer parents!

It's baaacccckkk!

Fashionista Fridays is back! Better than ever on Catgirl Meowing's UK site. This week featuring Polteristas
and while you are there, learn how you too can make winter shelters for homeless =(^ . ^)=. Remember the most important thing is saving animals.

A pox on all their houses

The widget to the left is Google's All for Good widget, if you haven't added it to you iGoogle homepage you should ...you should check out the organizations I post here as well. =(^ . ^)=.


What bothers me.....REALLY bothers me, are the comments left on that page.

Service? Anonymous - Sep 13, 2009
Here are some things to consider... When an act is done without coercion to help another, it is the most charitable. Reasonable human beings already know how to aid those in need. When state sponsored coercion is implemented it begins to smack of forced service, or a heavy recommendation. Freedom is the right of the individual to be free and do as they may, as long as they do not infringe on the rights of another to do the same.

Today is a day to give back. Find a service opportunity near you Anonymous - Sep 13, 2009
How about.. Feeling like helping out those less fortunate? Find out how. Don't TELL me I HAVE to give back, thank you. For me personally it's not really the gadget that pisses me off, it is the LINK on igoogle TELLING me I have to. Ignore it?

Libertarian drivel, I notice that the FreeDUMB loving POCs have no problems using Google's Free services...and they have the gaul to whine about having to ignore the call to do the right thing.

Another angry non user. Anonymous - Sep 13, 2009
You know what frustrates me about this little politically correct widget? I serve every day. Thanks Google for the reminder, but can you get it off my home page? Yes, I can ignore it, but can you get it out of my face?

You don't have to use iGoogle you know, I'm sure the largest, most technologically advanced internet company on the face of the planet will not miss a freaken leech.

leave us alone - Sep 13, 2009
If we want to volunteer, we can do a google search. Stop trying to "suggest" what we should be doing. Keep it up and we will all start boycotting your oversized, internet-hoarding asses.

Maybe he should try competing against them....I'm sure the plywood sign outside his trailer park would put the fear of gawd into Google.....LOSER.

This post will be updated so that all self-centered POC are shamed equally - Alex

The more things change.....

Same group of losers, different era.

Remembering Labour

The picture to the left is the Haymarket Affair monument, on May Day 1886, the workers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. in Chicago began a strike in the hope of gaining a shorter work day. On May 3, police were used to protect strikebreakers and a scuffle broke out; one person was killed and several others injured.








I walk past that mural whenever I take the Metra to visit friends living in Chicago's Pullman district; it pays homage to the workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company, who on May 11th, 1894 staged a wildcat strike in response to having their wages cut because of the depression of 1893. At the time, Pullman was a company town, so not only did the company cut wages to maintain profitability, it continued to extract pre-recession rent from those workers who lived in company-owned housing, and were forced to shop at the company store, which may or may not accept the company-issued script in which they were paid in "lean" times.





A national boycott was launched on June 26, 1894, within four days, 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads had quit work rather than handle Pullman cars effectively bringing railroad traffic west of Chicago to a halt, prompting president Grover Cleveland to order federal troops and marshals into Chicago, resulting in 13 workers being killed, and another 57 wounded.

It is the struggles of these men, and they were all men at that point in history, and others like them we commemorate today, all those who fought for the dignity and fair treatment of all who labour, from the lowliest of dirt farmers to hot shot financial analysts.

This labour day I’m pondering what the hell happened? How did America go from a nation of brave men such as these, fighting for what was right, to a nation of teabaggers, rednecks (who were and still are “scab” labour) and religious fruitcakes who are fighting against what would benefit labour – the right to organize and fight for higher wages and better working conditions, healthcare, education, clean air and water.

Fashonista Fridays is delayed

and it's a good one too! But I'm fighting with stupid photo gallery and desktop blogging software that refuse to do what I tell them to.

Soo I'm posting this picture of *vampire* catgirls in the mean time.

Blame America.....and Jesus

Michael Wolf makes numerous valid points in his scathing commentary on Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping and subsequent 18 years of imprisonment...and how such things are an integral part of Christian conservative America's white trash culture.

Article here

Catgirl Moving, but not today

I Love Blogger/Google as their stuff is easy to use and it just works, unfortunately, I don't have enough control over the back end(which is probably *why* it works). I had some plans for Catgirl Meowing when I came up with the idea this summer.

I wanted a blog, but more interactive...Kinda like a blog + knowledge portal + Intelligent social networking I have some of the pieces her - you can see what I'm reading - books, news articles, Interesting sites I've bookmarked, etc. but only a few of them...like 5, and everything is on one main page.

I have to lay out the graphics and "more" links by hand which takes forever, then I have to go back and edit the auto generated tags as they are not quite right...not to mention how many times I had to tweek this template/CSS sheet, had to give up on my "Ask the catgirl" feature, imaginary gawds only know what happened to my streaming radio player, and I have a million call outs to web services, which are starting to make the site take forever to load.

Which is why I'm experimenting with hosted solutions like Wordpress or 2bEvolution, that support things like multiple pages (*gasp*) breaking my kitty vision into bite size pieces.

Like I said, it's going to be awhile before the move is offical, and the test site is going to change a bajillion times just like this one did back in July, but if you want a sneak peek-- http://catgirlmeowing.nyteside.org.uk

Machine Lights and SciFi Tables

Keeping with my theme of quasi-organic things , presenting Machine Lights, by Frank Buchwald, a freelance artist/designer out of Berlin German who has been focusing on lighting design exclusively since 2002.





More inside the fold »»








In Buchwald's own words:

For me, the idea of the machine lights developed over many years of dealing with the nature of modern technology, especially the mechanical artefacts of the industrial age. It is associated for me with the realization that an independent reality which withdraws itself from human access, exists behind the manifest appearances of mechanical objects and secretly determines the world of the machines. …

A common mistake of our time is the belief that machines are solely products and artefacts of human planning, design, and manufacture. Working on the machine lights was for me a guarantor and a constantly new examination of something hidden that interweaves and shapes the sphere of the machine like a secret principle…

The last piece is not part of the Machine Light per say, it's an earlier work, that resembles a bucket loader, to me at least.

I included it as a non-organiceque example of Buchwald's work that is still true to his philosophy that machines are beings with their own nature.

To see more of his work, visit his website.









The next piece comes from Sam Hewitt, a newly minted craftsmen out of the University of Lincoln(UK) with a degree in furniture design titled the SciFi Coffee Table.




I like the contrasts, notice the use of new technology (laser engraving) for the engraving vs. the traditional fan construction in the door.

Not-so Organic Flora

Did you know your not-always-friendly neighbourhood catgirl is drawing flowers? I really am, but not like that, it's from the Inorganic Flora series by Japanese illustrator Macoto Murayama, done in Adobe Illustrator.

I went through a digital art phase back in high school, but alas, life is all about choices. When you are 5-12 you dream of being a catgirl warrior princess/star athlete/super model/fashion designer/ vet /doctor/Goddess but as you get older you come to the sad realization that there are just not enough hours in the day to develop all your talents and not die of exhaustion/lose your sanity..... Not that I've ever been stable........

See more pretty flowers »»

Happy Women's Equality Day Mr. Kennedy, thank you and rest well.

On this day (August 26) in 1920, the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote became law, Ted Kennedy had nothing to do with that, but he was instrumental in getting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 passed.

Most people think of women's sports when Title IX is mentioned, and while high school and university athletics owe their existence to it, the law is much broader - covering everything from discrimination in fields such as science and medicine to other aspects of academic life such as access to health care and dormitory facilities.

My mother may have never become a doctor if it were not for Title IX, so she would of never met my father, and *poof* out of the realm of possibilities I go.

My interest in volleyball began when I was 11 years old during a family bike ride through North Avenue beach and came across a pro-volleyball tournament, dad asked if I wanted a better view and that's all she wrote. I probably would have never played high school volleyball if it were not for that random event, which would have never happened without title IX. So even if my parents did meet and have me, I would not be the same me.

Why does it matter? Obama plays basketball, never professionally or even as a college athlete, but its part of what makes him who he is. If he were a different person, would he still have become president?

And so ends one not-always-friendly neighbourhood catgirl's tribute to Edward Moore Kennedy, no sorrows as Hey We All Die Sometimes.

A not so new take on erotica.

I came across this while viewing the “The Ten Best Sex Toys” slide show in The Independent Monday.

Most of the items are overly refined takes on rather conservative stand bys (I guess hello kitty vibrators and triple penetration strap-on contraptions entries would be a tad much for prime time), but the Hot and Cold Ceramic Dildo, pictured left, caught my eye.



More inside »»

Hot and Cold Ceramic Dildo - £109
Created in collaboration with ceramist Adele Brydges, this is an unusually sightly dildo, sealed at one end with a removable cork (just add cold or hot water in order to achieve the desired temperature).

The teaser was enough for me enough to find out more about the company that offered it, Coco de Mer , which turns out to be the world's first luxury erotica boutique founded and headquartered in London 's Covent Garden neighbourhood, with a US presence in West Hollywood, California and a soon to be open flag ship store in NYC.

While the "perversions" of the "aristocracy" are the stuff of legends, until recent decades, they too had to shop at seedy shops in the "bad" part of town, making do with low quality goods, not any more, perhaps we have finally reached the point where the fetishdom seen so often on the runways and in avant-garde photo shoots has come to high street

Luxury erotica boutiques are not your father's porn shop, nor your perpetually quasi-broke anti-establishment older brother/sister's head/punk/grunge shops, or even the brick and mortar outlets of the erotic E-tailers found on the web, they feature high quality goods ranging from designer lingerie and sex toys that double as works of art to rare books and salon culture in a very up scale atmosphere, espousing sexual empowerment, social activism, fair trade and environmental responsibility.

	Jade Engraved Dragon Dildo £169 Jade has always been associated with sexuality and was traditionally offered to the gods as a symbol of enduring love Catgirl: I'm soo getting one when they are back in stock.
	Double Ended Dildo £800 Beautiful Hand Blown Glass double ended dildo by St Martins graduate Shiri Zinn. Here is where they can use Catgirl and friends as technical advisors, look at the "stops" on that thing -just say NO to sharp edges.
	Lizard Print Spanking Paddle £45 Coco de Mer's own spanking paddle, is made from exquiste navy blue leather with a beautiful lizard print. Heighten the experience with matching bindfold, cuffs, or flogger... Serving Suggestion: Apply with vigour to the lower, fleshy part of the bottom to excite the erogenous zones. Vary the pressure of the spanking to keep your lover on their toes. If you expand the picture by clicking you will notice it has a pattern, if you smack your victim....I mean parter correctly it transfers to their bum, so watch what you wear the next day:D

As the market is still new, and hopefully growing, there is plenty of room for new designers; Michael Brown's Dildo Shoes came to mind. The straps upon the forefoot, are made from black patent leather, and egg shell finish cream. to create a stunning contrast. The spikes are in two lengths, and can be interchanged, with just screwing them off and change them.

Talk about fetishware, En pointe shoes with functional dildo heels.

Random bunny post!

How many baby bunnies do you see in the picture above?

The old woman and the water bottle

I decided to run down to the coffee shop this morning and visit with Jen as I have been spending most of my summer on the north side with volleyball and nana visiting.

Business is brisk on weekend mornings, as we have a great gimmick - Lexi the communal baby! People hang out in the shop just to watch Lexi run around, squeal really really loud, and answer NO to everything they say. Babies are soooo cute when they are not yours, ya hang out with them until they wear you out, then you give them back to their parents, everybody wins!

Soo I am sitting with Lexi the communal baby, who insists on slobbering all over my water bottle even though the shop has a million cups, including at least 4 of her own, and this old lady (who looked remarkably like the one depicted in the cartoon) starts going off about how stupid people are for carrying bottles everywhere like babies, how we are not going to die of thirst, how she is 74 years old ,and how generations of people got along just fine without them.

She then proceeded to comment on my unkempt hair, running outfit, running in general, colleges(I had on a U of Chi hoodie), asks about what I’m studying, which I simplified down to medicine, prompting her to go on this long triad against doctors ,how stupid they are , and how her sister is languishing in Athens, Greece as all the doctors have left the city because of the heat(don’t know, don’t wanna know, it would probably cost me IQ points)

Now I am use to people, usually guys, striking up inane conversations with me, but old people are the worst, but it’s never about the water bottle, or the doctors, or whatever the inane bitch of the day is, anymore than The Old Man and The Sea is about the marlin.

For the record, I hate Hemmingway; to me he’s an idiot savant who articulated the essence of redneck existence that he exemplified and tried to make it sound noble. I’m pretty sure he figured out that mentality is a load of rubbish, which is why he chose to go out the way he did, BUT his writing does illustrate the thinking patterns of those who share those values.

According to them, life is suppose to be this long hard road you are to drag your rugged cross down, and gosh darn it not only are young people refusing to drag crosses like the generations that came before them, they are *running* down a paved road with water bottles that spare them from the thirst(trials and tribulations) they had to endure.

But it’s more than that, we are Santiago’s boy - the living, breathing personification of life in all her glory, only instead of being servants, we are the center of attention and admiration, instead of revering them for their exemplary adherence to traditional values and their perseverance, we do not comprehend the meaning of their sacrifices, and go on to ignore, ridicule and pity them.

I do not wish to imply that the above is applicable to all elderly people, it is not, but I believe that it does include a substantial percentage of them, and I have no idea how to fix it.

It must be horrible to be staring mortality in the face knowing that the things you thought were so important no longer matter and never really did, to admit to yourself that you may have been conned into carrying some cross for somebody else’s benefit, but that the one-true-path you have been dragging it on without question, never veering left or right, turns out to be a meandering trail though a brier patch that dead ends in oblivion.

Fashonista Fridays - more than muppets

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art

-Oscar Wilde

Which is exactly what Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Fall line is all about, who doesn't love fashion that incorporates stuffed animals!

I mean come on, discerning viewers will notice that the model pictured on the right(click to zoom) socks match the colouring of the cat on her head!

More muppet madness inside »»













Animal earflaps! .I like the ash coloured hair theme as well.


















More of the muppet pieces that have been getting all the press






















(Left) Like the Kermit Collar, the animal punchkin is a bit much.


Street style, note the green-grey-orange schema, which leads into the next section and the title of the article.













de Castelbajac is more than muppets, he is best known for his artistic streetstyle that feature colours and patterns.