Linky roundup

Stuff I thought was interesting today:

Hello Kitty goes traditional for Japan's youth

Twirling and sliding in a bright red and black kimono, the cat that epitomizes cuteness for legions of fans the world over performed traditional steps normally reserved for geishas and kabuki actors to a rapt audience of mainly preschoolers.

Memoirs Of A Kawaii Kitty?



Lock of Che Guevara's hair to be auctioned

Gustavo Villoldo, 71, was involved in Guevara's capture in the jungles of Bolivia, according to unclassified U.S. records and other documents. He plans to auction the hair and other items kept in a scrapbook since the joint CIA-Bolivian army mission 40 years ago.

Disgusting. Auctioning off a mass-murderer's HAIR. What will we see next, Christie's having an auction for Hitler's fingernail trimmings? Gacy's lucky shirt?




Study Finds Surge in Bipolar Diagnoses

His mother, Susan Montanile, said Charlie was a precocious, disobedient and moody 3-year-old. He later had vivid, violent nightmares and violent outbursts in school.

"He would cycle even within 10 minutes, from hysterical giddiness and laughter watching TV" to screaming when she called him for dinner.

It was "like walking on eggshells," she said. "You never really knew within a given hour what was going to happen."

Psychiatric medicine has helped, but has also caused weight gain, drowsiness and other side effects.

Montanile worries that the new study might embolden skeptics who blame "bad parenting" and think afflicted children are simply misdiagnosed brats.

A generation ago, bipolar kids were likely mislabeled as simply truants or troublemakers, said Christine Walker, of Winnetka, Ill., whose 7-year-old son, Schuyler, was diagnosed a few years ago.

"This has always existed," Walker said. "It just didn't have a name, it didn't have a face."

Welcome to my life for the past thirteen years. I don't care how much Bipolar Disorder is being diagnosed or how much anti-psychotic medication is being prescribed for it.

For all we know, kids and grownups have suffered from this for hundreds of years or more, and have lived with it untreated. Maybe children who suffered like this used to be beaten or institutionalized (or both). I can completely understand why.

If there's anyone who thinks my daughter was misdiagnosed, I wish there was a hidden camera in this house RIGHT NOW so you could see for yourself. We're in the process of trying to find a shrink specializing in adolescent medicine that takes our insurance, because her medication (which worked brilliantly for the past two years) either needs to be increased or changed.



A brief moment of schadenfreude... heh...

Who's an idiot now?

I really should feel sorry for the guy; it's rather unChristian of me to snicker when someone's hurt that badly. I apologize.





Fried cookie dough named Best State Fair Food

It was the third year in a row Gonzales has been honored. Last year, his fried Coke earned him an appearance on national television and was mimicked by fry cooks at other state fairs.

That's one thing I will NOT be consuming at this year's State Fair of Texas. In fact, unless they sell Tomato Soup On A Stick, I'm probably out of luck.