No Chill 'Till Brooklyn: Papal Flame Wars and Brand-Named Happiness
So can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on? Trump and Rubio are in a flame war… WITH THE POPE? Is this real life?
And on Planet Dem, in response to Killer Mike’s comments about checking uterus boxes in presidential applications, Bernie Sanders seriously stepped in it yesterday by trying to temper those remarks, saying "I don’t go around — no one has ever heard me say, ‘Hey guys, stand together, vote for a man.’” You all know that I am not a fan of gendered rhetoric on either side of the damned nod in this election, but come on Bernie. Really? You’re proud of the fact that you’ve never asked men to vote for a man because you’re a man? Nothing to say on the inability to do otherwise because of the sole historic gender of the major party candidates for the American executive branch to this point? Bueller?
Google has NO CHILL this morning:
I think we all need a Westminster Dog Show photo break.
On another note, in case you were wondering, using expensive brand name items may make you feel better about yourself, and improve performance. So say researchers from Notre Dame, the University of Kentucky, and Penn State. Basically, if you’re told something is fancy, you’ll attempt to live up to that fancy. I think it’s like expectations and mindset: having that perfect outfit you only wear for presentations, or in my case, always making sure I was perfectly dressed and made-up for exams in college. Like putting on armor, it may change your state of mind. And to segue...
Yesterday I learned that co-founder of Cisco Sandy Lerner also co-founded my favorite cosmetics brand Urban Decay. For those outside the Valley, Lerner earned a Master's in statistics and computer science from Stanford, and co-founded Cisco while she was the director of Computer Facilities. After Cisco, Lerner co-founded Urban Decay during a mid-90’s sea of pink, red or beige makeup, with nail polishes named Toxin, Plague, Rust, etc. UD was sold to Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2000, and is now owned by L'Oreal.
I mention this because, between those two companies, Sandy Lerner contributed intimately to my every day life. In addition to, you know, emailing out this missive to people across the world, I keep UD’s Revolution lipstick in Rapture on me at all times. Lerner is also a Jane Austen scholar who founded the Women in Mathematical Sciences Initiative at Shenandoah University while owning an organic farm and tavern, amongst a long list of achievements. And I should have known that.
Have a great weekend folks. Spread that empathy gospel, will ya?