Tuesday, March 25, 2008

what's a Scirnce Museum?

Did ANYONE look at this before publishing it online??
(Click on it to see it full-size.)


Wednesday, March 19, 2008

In other words, yes they do

QUESTION POSED TO DOVE BY ME:
Does Dove test any of their ingredients or products on
animals? Does dove use vendors that test on animals?


ANSWER FROM DOVE:
This responds to your recent inquiry regarding Unilever's policy on
animal testing. We recognize the concern of organizations such as PETA
and individuals such as you, with respect to this very complicated and
complex issue. Globally, Unilever is committed to the elimination of
animal testing. We would like to take this opportunity to outline our
initiatives in this area and the significant progress we have made
toward meeting this goal.

Our position is, and has historically been, that we do not test any
finished products on animals except where required by government
regulation. In such cases, as part of our ongoing commitment to
eliminate animal testing, we encourage the local authorities to change
these regulations. In addition, we do not use animal testing when there
is an accepted alternative test or existing information available to
evaluate the health impact and safety of our products. In further
pursuit of this goal, Unilever has committed a significant amount of
time, effort and funding to developing acceptable, non-animal
alternatives:

- Unilever currently spends approximately $4 million per year globally
to develop novel risk assessment approaches to assure safety without
animal testing, such as the development of biological and computer-based
modeling techniques. We believe these technologies will help replace
animal testing altogether.
- One of the major barriers to eliminating animal testing is the very
deliberate pace at which government authorities approve such
alternatives. In 2005, Unilever helped launch the European Partnership
for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA). The aim of this
initiative by the European Commission and industry is to increase and
coordinate efforts to significantly accelerate the rate at which
alternatives are agreed to, validated and put into practice. The
organization communicates regularly with a mirror group that includes
animal welfare organizations. Its goal is to ensure that every
opportunity is taken to refine, reduce and replace the use of animals.
- In the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, we continue to support the
passage of legislation that promotes the elimination of animal testing
through the development and acceptance of alternative methods.
As soon as non-animal alternatives are validated and accepted by
government authorities, they are accepted by us along with the many
companies and organizations with whom we collaborate.
We appreciate that you contacted us about this issue and we thank you
for your comments.

Sincerely,
Your friends at Unilever

jk, jk, BFF!

Monday, March 17, 2008

a yard full of Maggies!

This commercial is awesome...makes me want a pal for my grey, Maggie.

this is how we do it

This weekend I went to a Nintendo DS party, hosted by my friend Hilary (well, and Nintendo, of course). We learned 4 different games, great food was provided (and drinks, too), and then at the end of the evening, we took home a free Nintendo DS and a game! I got Brain Age 2, which is awesome and has sudoku on it. Here's proof. Of course I'm the one stuffing my face.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

rock around the caucus

Here are some pics I took yesterday. I voted and I caucused. And my office was also a voting location, but of course not my voting location. Mine was 35 miles away, so I had to drive 45 minutes, caucus for an hour and a half, and then drive back to work to finish my shift. But the whole experience was very interesting and totally worth it.

me voting:



pics from what it looked like pulling into work:




This is a pic from my view at my caucus:

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Your Voting Rights in Texas!

"The employee is allowed reasonable time off to vote if polls are not open two consecutive hours outside the employee’s regular shift. This time off is paid. In addition, Texas law states that an employee must be permitted to attend a precinct convention of a political party in which the employee is eligible to participate. Texas law also states that an employee must be permitted to attend a county, district, or state convention to which the employee is a delegate."

"A Texas employee must be allowed time to vote – time off paid for by his or her employer – unless the employee has two consecutive, non-working hours during polling hours. The law has been understood as giving the employer the right to specify the hours that an employee may take to vote. Nevertheless, employers must pay the normal employee wages for the time taken."

If your employer does not follow these laws they face a fine up to $2,000.

sources:
http://www.complianceposter.com/state-voting-laws.aspx
http://hrheroblogs.com/theword/2008/02/26/time-off-to-vote-for-employees-a-state-by-state-survey/
http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/vce/0502.html

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Restaurant of the Year by VegNews Magazine...

Spiral Diner in Dallas is now open!

1101 N. Beckley Ave
Dallas, TX 75203
214-948-4747

Go check it out - I promise you won't be disappointed.