TresSugar

The Joys Of Parenting

GiggleSugar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 01:00:00 -0700

After a long day at work, this dad settled down for a quick snooze and made the mistake of leaving his big baby unattended. There was a little mischief in the making and the end result left dad wide awake, white as a ghost, and with a broken vase to clean up off the floor. Who said a headache couldn't double as a wake-up call?

Antiques Roadshow Gets Racy

GiggleSugar — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:17:36 -0800

The Antiques Roadshow tends to be a bit on the dull side (unless you like watching people haul junk out of their basements in hopes they've somehow got Leonardo daVinci's original sketch of the "Mona Lisa"). Here, it's livened up by a painting with a curious inscription that provides a bit TMI, much to our hilarity and the owner's discomfort. After all, it is his mother we're laughing about here...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Save or Scrap?

TresSugar — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Victor Fehrenbach, an F-15 fighter pilot in the US Air Force, has been serving his country with honor for 18 years. In that time, he's flown 88 combat missions, logged 1,500 fighter hours, and received nine air medals. He's gotten word, though, that his record doesn't matter as much as the fact that he is gay.

Under the Pentagon's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, he will be fired two years before he could receive a full Air Force pension, which he discussed recently on The Rachel Maddow Show. Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which allows gay people to serve in the military as long as they don't disclose their sexual orientation and which forbids their supervisors from asking if they are gay, was enacted in 1993 and approved by Bill Clinton, who saw it as a compromise between his campaign promise to let all people serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation and what was a ban on gays in the military.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell is based on the premise that being gay "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of moral, good order, discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability." Many argue that it's time for President Obama and Congress to review - and get rid of - Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Do you think it's a good policy based on sound reasoning, or is it antiquated and discriminatory?

A&E's Obsessed Explores Extreme Hoarding

TresSugar — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:35:00 -0700

Do you have a slight problem with being messy? This week's A&E’s Obsessed, in its exploration of the obsessive compulsive disorder extreme hoarding, will have you cleaning up your apartment or desk and feeling for poor Russ, who can't stop buying things and also can't bear to throw anything away. "I get attached to things," he says, "because I don't have people to care about."

As a result, Russ's apartment is packed to the gills with furniture, mattresses, antiques, and tchotchkes that literally keep him from getting past his front door. In fact, he admits he's slept in front of it before because he couldn't get past his junk. He sometimes even sleeps outside, where he says there's at least fresh air and no feeling of claustrophobia. To find about Russ and extreme hoarding, read more

Why would someone accumulate so much stuff that his home becomes uninhabitable and unfit for guests? According to Russ's cognitive behavioral therapist, a hoarder cannot distinguish the level of an object's importance with respect to other objects. Everything is important, everything imbued with sentimental value, everything may be something the hoarder will need in the future.

In Russ's case, losing his mother was the trigger for his hoarding. "When I touch or hold a keepsake," he says, "it's like being held nearby her." But we're not just talking about photos of his mother or things she owned. Russ struggles with his therapist to throw away a dime store Santa figurine because it's wearing a purple scarf - his mother's favorite color.

Lucky for Russ, he has a great therapist and the true desire to let go of these objects and their relation to his losses so that he can clear the way for a new life.

Giggle Links

GiggleSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:30:00 -0800

Who said men and high fashion don't mix? - Best Week Ever
Margaret Cho's poem to Miley Cyrus. - Defamer
10 famous paintings re-created in Lego. - Oddee
Backstage at the Westminster Dog Show. This pup gets fluffed. - Cute Overload
Devolve me! Upload a picture and look like a caveman. - Open.Ac.Uk
Save that junk! Antiques Roadshow 2550. - College Humor
A heart-shaped ox? - World of Wonder

Skipped Church? Check Out the Pope's New YouTube Channel

LibertySugar — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:00:30 -0800

The Catholic Church's stance on some issues (such as decriminalizing homosexuality) might seem antiquated, but now the pope can say he's taking steps to enter the modern era. On Friday, the Pope Benedict XVI unveiled his very own YouTube page.

The Vatican hopes to increase the papal audience, while also staying on top of the pope's Internet image. Even so, the site isn't meant to encourage believers to spend countless hours listening to the Church's message. The 81-year-old pope previously has warned the younger generation of the dangers of "obsessive" online networking.

The pope may be infallible, but he's not embeddable - the embed feature has been disabled. But you can comment . . . pending approval.

Changing Everything? Obama Sparks Conversations on Race

CitizenSugar — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:30:04 -0800

Stephen Colbert doesn't see race - people tell him he's white and he believes them because he watches Antique Roadshow - but he does talk about it, which is half the battle. But some black people perceive strategic colorblindness, or avoiding talking about race, as evidence of prejudice.

Thankfully Obama has become an icebreaker into the murky waters of race relations. And white and black people are noticing an ease in what psychologists call "interracial anxiety." A black medical student from Birmingham, AL, said “Before Obama, there was always this thing - ‘He’s a black doctor,' but now I’m going to be a physician who also happens to be black."

Considering there's long been a link between interracial anxiety and previous exposure to race, it's not surprising that a black soon-to-be president is easing conversation. However, as recently as last Summer there was still a divide between how blacks and whites perceive race relations - whites perceive them as better. In a study, nearly 60 percent of blacks said race relations were bad while only 34 percent of whites said the same.

In addition, there's a concern that Obama transcends race, like Oprah, and that many people see him as "not that black." So while his star quality may ease everyday relations for him and his family, it could do nothing for the everyday lives of other black Americans.

Source

Would You Be Sad to See Your Local News Anchor Go?

Molly — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:30:44 -0800

This weekend the New York Times ran a story about the plight of the local news anchor. Apparently due to the current economic situation and need to cut spending, some cities have realized that it simply costs too much to keep veteran local anchors with extremely high salaries.

According to a study cited in the article, slightly over half of American households still watch local news over big network news or the Internet. There's always something more personal about inviting the local news anchor or sports reporter into your home around dinnertime every night. Plus, local news stories can be the most personally interesting, heartwarming, or YouTube sensational of all. That said, with the Internet and network newscasters with nationally famous faces and personalities, it's understandable that the slightly antiquated local news guys are facing a rough time. So what do you think, would you be sad to say goodbye to your local nightly news team?

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Dear Poll: Have You Ever Had a Secret Admirer?

DearSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:00:00 -0700

Perhaps in this day and age when letters have become antiquated, and when a flux of anonymous emails, no matter how sweet, tend to seem creepy, the idea of an honest-to-goodness secret admirer no longer exists. But I’d like to think that it does - remember in Love Actually when Keira Knightley’s character gets the knock at the door from her husband’s best friend with the cards confessing his love? That’s romance! So what do you think; is this notion out of date, or have you ever had a secret admirer?

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Group Therapy: Guns in Our Home

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:00:00 -0700

My husband's parents are moving, and they are getting rid of a lot of their stuff. One of the other things that my father-in-law said he is going to give to us is his antique gun collection. He has a big collection of guns and ammo, and apparently it's worth a decent amount of money. I truly hate guns. I've always found them unnecessary and dangerous, and then my brother was shot in a robbery when we were in college and spent a month in the hospital, which just sealed the deal.

I do not want these guns in my home. I have a six year old son, and I don't want him anywhere near the guns, which apparently are all still in excellent and functional condition. I've explained this to my husband and he sees my point, but he also doesn't want to offend his father by rejecting the guns. I think that part of him just thinks they're cool too. He says that as long as we don't keep the guns loaded, have them locked in the display case, and firmly teach our son that they are not to be touched, then they will never be a problem. He's probably right, but I don't even want to have to look at them in my home or have my son see them.

I've had to remind my husband that we agreed to never have firearms in our home, but he says that because these are antique, they don't count. I understand that his father will be offended if we don't take the guns, but I will be offended if we do, and I'm the one who has to live with them in my house. Am I being too rigid and unreasonable? What can my husband and I do here?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: To be involved in more GROUP THERAPY, click here]

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