I just got an email from Google in regards to their new “interest-based advertising” program, and it appears that Google is spying on it’s users…

“Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user’s previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. “sports enthusiast”). To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network. As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the “sports enthusiast” interest category.”

From what I’m reading, Google is tracking which websites you visit and using that information to classify you (and your computer) with specials interest categories.

I checked out the Google Privacy Policy and it looks like Google recently made some changes to the policy (it was last updated on 3/11/2009) in order to start collection this information about your web activity:

“…To serve ads that are relevant and tailored to your interests, we may use information about your activity on AdSense partner sites or Google services that use the DoubleClick cookie…We use cookies, web beacons or other technologies to record information about what ads your browser is shown, as well as what ads you click and other actions you take on our sites and services…”

Big Brother is watching!

From the demented creative minds behind such classic songs as “Dick in a Box” and “Jizz in my Pants”, I present to you: “Im on a Boat!”

Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live, actually has a band called “The Lonely Island” that writes and produces these hilarious songs for SnL and they even released an album titled “Incredibad”. Pretty funny stuff!

On a side note…Who knew that T-Pain was actually a human!? I thought he was just a Vocoder…

Okay, so I’ve never changed a diaper in my entire life (neither has Stefan). But, since I’m almost 6 months pregnant, I guess diapers are going to be part of my life for the next couple of years or so! I recently stumbled upon gDiapers and they sound like a fabulous alternative to the gross, plastic Pampers that are cluttering up the landfills of the world (on average, a baby goes through over 2,000 diapers per year and normal diapers are not bio-degradeable…ewww). gDiapers are a happy medium between Crazy Hippy (cloth diapers) and Average Ignorant American (Winnie the Pooh Pampers).

When I first started thinking about diapers, I knew that I didn’t want to use the standard plastic diapers, but I also didn’t think I could deal with the hassle (and grossness) of cloth diapers. Especially since we live in the tropics, I couldn’t imagine keeping my baby wrapped in plastic in this humidity. And, gDiapers seem to be the perfect solution!

gDiapers have a washable/reusable cotton outer cover, a snap in liner and a plastic-free diaper that fits into the liner. Once the diaper is used, you remove it from the liner and you can flush it, compost it (wet diapers, not the poopy ones) or throw them away! Since gDiapers are plastic-free, you don’t have to feel guilty about tossing them, if you choose not to flush or compost. The bottom line is that gDiapers are around the same price as regular plastic diapers, but they are better for the environment (they are bio-degradable) and better for your baby (they are breathable, which make babies far less susceptible to diaper rash).

I ordered our first round of gDiapers from gDiapers.com, since I highly doubt there are any retailers in Puerto Rico that carry them . I’ll be sure to write a review after we try them out!

Nadya Suleman (if you havn’t heard about her already…) is a California women that recently gave birth to octuplets. She has been deemed “The Octumom” by the media and she conceived her 8 most recent children via invitro fertilization despite the fact that she is single, on welfare and ALREADY HAD 6 YOUNG CHILDREN.

There is no way that this women is sane, yet a doctor decided it was in her best interest (ie: he got paid) to have more children?

Nadya then had her PR people (people on welfare have PR people. I love California!) announce the birth of octuplets to the media, then kept her identity hidden while she phished for $2million from the media for her exclusive 1st interview. She didn’t get $2million, but she did have her exclusive interview with Ann Curry on “The Today Show”

Making matters worse, everything that comes out of this womens mouth is a lie! She claimed she was not on public assistance (she collects food stamps and disability for three of her older children that have ADD and autism), she claims that she receives aid from her church (when contacted by the media, the church had no knowledge of Nadya attending their fellowship, let alone receiving “aid”), she denied ever having plastic surgery (yeah, right, here are the before and after pictures), she denied having an interest in Angelina Jolie (it’s since been discovered that Nadya sent Angelina Jolie letters for over a year), etc. Nadya’s real name isn’t even Nadya! It’s Natalie!

Essentially, it appears that Nadya Suleman had this master plan to make millions off of her babies (she was demanding $2 million for her first interview AND wanted a TV show) and it is slowly crumbing before her as she is revealed to be a sociopathic liar. So now, she has 14 kids that she can’t possibly care for, no job, no money and guess who gets to pay her millions of dollars in hospital bills and pay for care for her children? ME! And the rest of the California tax payers!

Oh, and if you are wondering how a women on welfare affords plastic surgery and manicures, she’s on workers compensation and has collected over $160,000 for a “work-related back injury”. How a women with a debilitating back injury goes through several pregnancies, including carrying 8 babies in one pregnancy, totally escapes logic. Don’t ya think?

Every where I turn I hear another news story about big businesses laying off thousands of workers because of “the recession”. My mom works for Sony and she is wondering if she is going to have a job after wave after wave of layoffs. Because, you know, poor Sony must be on the brink of bankruptcy because of this crazy “recession”! There only choice is to fire (or force into retirement) thousands of their loyal employees. Right? Well, according to Sony, profits will now come in at a mere $1.54 billion for the fiscal year ending in March 2009. Yes, Sony profited $1.54 BILLION dollars. As in, after they paid all of their employees and expenses, they walked away with $1.54 billion dollars last year. Good thing they laid all those people off! Otherwise, they would have only made like $1,539,000,000.00.

Now I’m sure you’ve seen Caterpillar splashed across the news because they have been “forced” by “the recession” to lay off tens of thousands of their employees. Caterpillar reported revenue of $2.9 billion for 2008 (after expenses and taxes, they profited $385,000,000). Poor, poor Caterpillar !

Now why would businesses like Sony and Caterpillar use a supposed recession as an excuse to lay off employees? Because that way people feel sorry for Caterpillar, rather then become outraged that they would lay off “lifers” (employees that have worked their entire lives there), so that the company can look better on paper. Look shareholders! Profits are up $2million from last year (because we fired a bunch of loyal employees)! Yippy!

I understand that companies (mine included) need to constantly restructure and “cut the fat” so to speak, but I just don’t appreciate them blaming their greed on the recession.

Brazilian model, Mariana Bridi is fighting for her life after losing both hands and feet to an infections caused by an untreated urinary tract infection.

Mariana is 20 years old and began feeling ill in late December. When she visited the doctor, she was told that she had kidney stones, but when her condition did not improve, it was discovered that she had a simple UTI (urinary tract infection) that had developed into septicemia since it had gone untreated. Mariana’s hands, and then her feet had to be amputated as her condition deteriorated due to the lack of circulation caused by the septicemia. Unfortunately the outlook for Mariana does not look good and she could also lose her life.

How weird and sad is this story? A simple UTI and she could end up dieing from it.

Here is the full story: CNN

As of today I am 14 weeks and 3 days pregnant (only 25 weeks and 4 days to go!). Stefan and I went to our 1st doctors appointment today and I got the basic physical stuff done. I got weighed, which I was interested in seeing how much weight I have gained so far, and to my surprise I havn’t gained any weight. I usually fluctuate between 118 and 122, and I weigh exactly 120lb right now. I was surprised because I definately feel bigger and I can see obvious changes in my body already. My waist is definately noticably thicker then it was pre-pregnancy and there is a mini baby bump .

We also got to see the baby for the first time on the sonogram machine. Although, in true Puerto Rico fashion, the sonogram’s print function was broken, so we had to take pictures of the sonograms screen with my camera:

And, here is a video of the fetal heart beat:

Although it is still too early to see the sex of the baby (that is usually done between 18 – 20 weeks), the doctor predicts that it is a boy by the sound of the heartbeat. Apparently girls heartbeats are slightly faster. Who knows how accurate that really is, but she’s got a 50/50 chance of being right .

Today Barack Obama is being inaugurated into his new job as President of the United States of America. Ever since he announced that he was running, America was all abuzz with talk about the possibility of a black president. And after learning about Barack’s family history (I saw an awesome biography on his life on a Jetblue flight…) I got to thinking…Why is everyone calling him “black”? His mom is white and his dad is black, so since he’s half white, half black, why is he automatically “black”. Is it because he identifies himself as a black man (which he probably learned through being identified by others as being black), or is there some sort of rule that as soon as white genes are “tainted” with any black genes, you are automatically “black”? My cousin Chelsea’s mom is white and her dad is black, but I don’t identify her as “my black cousin”. If people ask about her ethnicity, I just tell them that her mom is white and her dad is black. I thought that was called mulato (which is someone of mixed race), but apparently that is not politically correct anymore? With the USA being so overly politically correct, I have to wonder why there hasn’t been some sort of genetic standard set up to positively identify races, so as to avoid any confusion…haha.

I guess I just think it’s stupid that any black genes and you are automatically black. If Barack Obama identified himself as a white man, people would scoff and say that he is not a white man, even though he is just as white as he is black. All because he is slightly tanner then the average white person?

For something that the government is so anxious to categorize everyone with (race), it seems stupid that you can make up your own ethnicity. Both my parents are white, but I can mark “black” as my ethnicity on my job applications/college apps/etc, if I “identify” with that race. Does that seem stupid to you? I think it’s the governments way of getting around being racist. Why do any of these institutions need to know what race you are anyways? Besides the fact that they need to enroll/hire a certain amount of each race to prove that they are not racist…

Supermodel Karolina Kurkova got blasted in the press for strutting down the catwalk during Sao Paulo Fashion Week, carrying along what one newspaper called “cellulite and back fat”.

Calling Karolina fat, of course brought out all the “average” womens opinions to her defense. But seriously? Karolina is packing too many pounds in the picture above. She gets paid millions of dollars a year to walk down a catwalk, showing off designers clothing. Would it kill her to watch what she was eating and exercise a couple of times a week? Keeping her body up to supermodel status is in fact her job (that she makes $5million a year doing). I would be pretty pissed if I paid her $250,000 to walk my runway, only to find that everyone is talking about her fat ass, rather then my sexy swimsuits that she was wearing.

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Karolina obviously took what the media had to say to heart, because she promptly lost the extra weight. Here she is 6 months after the runway show mentioned above:

…you build an elaborate tunnel system in your home, out of trash, get lost in said tunnel and die of dehydration?

“An eccentric loner is believed to have died of thirst after becoming trapped in a bizarre and intricate network of tunnels built from rubbish in his home.

Investigators believe the labyrinth was so complicated that Gordon Stewart, 74, may have become lost inside it. It is thought he may have died as a result of dehydration, after becoming unable to find his way out of the stinking mass.

Neighbours had become concerned that they had not seen him for several days and raised the alarm.”

The full story at: The Daily Mail