This is a place for me to express my thoughts on racing, the environment, science, politics, and whatever else might cross my wandering mind.
It will be an overflow of random ideas, reflections, notes and quotes to be enjoyed by those of you who take the time to read it.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you down the road...
Peace,
7.24.07 leonardo dicaprio presents...
Cheers to Leo for using his fame to better the world around him. Leo is good people.
7.11.07 the art of the juggle
Because anything in it's highest form of art is incredible, and because I love the Beatles.
6.27.07 the downfall of western civilization
In the aftermath of the emancipation of Paris Hilton from LA County Jail and her exclusive tell all one hour Larry
King Special, I log onto CNN.com and see in the top headlines this terrible news - Sore Jaw Could Undo Hot Dog Champion!
I read the article and suddenly I was overcome by an acute sense of shame. Shame that I took 3 minutes out of my life to read about a hot dog eating champion.
(it strikes me strange, those words together- hot dog. eating. champion?)
But then I realize, sometimes it's the bigger things in life, like hot dog eating champions, that make you ponder the deeper meaning of all this craziness we live in...
Why do we consider this news? And by WE I mean all of us collectively -- the American people and the media who feeds it to us on a silver spoon. With REAL things going on in the world like, I don't
know, let's say the 3568 US soldiers killed in Iraq, not to mention the thousands of Iraqi deaths, the devastation in Darfur, why the hell are we devoting so much time to mindless celebrity gossip
and hot dog eating contests? I don't know the ratings but I am curious to know which Larry King episode was watched more, Angelina Jolie talking about refugees or Paris talking about her changed life after jail? A hottie talking about important issues or a hottie
saying "That's hot." I have nothing against Paris. Sure she is rich and famous for nothing other than being born into a rich and famous family and
I know you want to, but you can't hold that against her. But I digress, that's not my point.
Could it be that a good looking girl (even Angelina) makes herself less attractive when she is talking about important things when compared to the good
looking girl that doesn't say anything important but just looks good? Does it kill the fantasy when the beautiful girl starts talking about
Darfur? Is she too real for the fantasy then?
It reminds me of a guy I once dated in North Carolina who basically told me that he couldn't date me because he had a problem with the fact that I was racing cars.
He wanted a trophy in heels. He wanted a girl who could commit herself to his life because she didn't have her own. As you can imagine,
that position didn't suit me very well and we broke up. I had always thought that men found women with ambition
and careers attractive, but I was disappointed to discover that I was wrong. Some men don't want a strong woman, they want a
girl that dreams about her wedding dress, not a girl that dreams about winning a race at Daytona. I was far too strong of a
woman for him. I am a subscriber to the fact that it takes a real man to date a strong woman.
And if you're Angelina Jolie, you probably thank god every morning that Brad Pitt falls into the real man category.
So why is our society obsessed with celebrity gossip? Is this need for mindless entertainment an escape mechanism, like an ostrich hiding their head in the sand? If I don't see/think/talk about the war in Iraq, it's not happening?
Is war and death and struggle and tragedy too deep for us to think about on a daily basis so we would rather fill our minds with insanely unimportant Britney Spears gossip?
You could argue that news organizations are businesses that need money from advertisers to stay alive and in order to land those advertisers,
they need an audience. If the audience is demanding entertainment news instead of real news, they deliver. Supply. Demand. Business.
Money. The Root of all Evil.
And while I'm at it, this is hardly the stupidest, most indulgent thing we do. I just heard that some Hollywood
starlet spent $500,000 on a closet. The woman
needed a 360 degree scan of what she looks like before she walks out the door. I mean she couldn't possibly trust a mirror
like the rest of us. It's a level of indulgence and arrogance I find difficult to wrap my mind around. This woman is the antithesis of this man,
one of my heros.
I don't pretend to know or understand what the mass hypnotic brain freeze is behind it, but
I find it to be a sad pathetic embarrassing reflection on our society. I know that just because we busy ourselves with
insanely unimportant daily gossip to take our minds off the sadder side of life it doesn't make us bad people... or does it?
Is this proof, as Ryan Reynolds so eloquently coined in his blog, that
we are all a bunch of "giganticly wasteful f*#@!ing super retards"? (Score: Ryan Reynolds 1 Us 0)
PS. This article is interesting: A study
shows viewers of The Daily Show and Colbert Report are more informed about current events than viewers of FOX News. Hmmmm, those are two of my favorite shows, interesting...
6.18.07 seaworld & busch gardens conservation fund
I spent the past few days in Florida learning about the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation
Fund -- a non-profit, private charitable foundation committed to work with purpose and passion on behalf of wildlife and habitats worldwide,
encouraging sustainable solutions through support of species research, animal rescue and rehabilitation and conservation education.
Most of you probably know me because of my race car driving, but I am also very passionate about protecting the biodiversity of the Earth on both land
and water. I have a degree in biology from the University of California San Diego. While I studied there, I was a volunteer at the Scripps Aquarium and
Project Wildlife -- a wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and release center. I have spent the last several years of my life completely dedicated to racing
and this trip to Florida reminded me of how much I love, and miss, being around animals.
I spent time at Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, and SeaWorld learning about all the research, rescue, rehabilitation, breeding, and education programs that
are part of the SWBG Conservation Fund. I met penguins and bald eagles and sloths; I fed lemurs and sea lions and sting rays and hippos. I even got a
ride from a bottlenose dolphin named Diego. It was an incredible experience and I was reminded of the day -- a long, long time ago -- that I decided I wanted to study marine biology.
When I was a young girl, my mom and I visited SeaWorld in Orlando. We went to the killer whale tank during a time when there was no show and no crowd,
the stadium was empty. I was peering into the tank trying to catch a glimpse of the killer whales, but I saw nothing but water.
Before long I was greeted by a curious killer whale looking back at me and our eyes locked on each other. I could see how intelligent those eyes were,
peering back at me from the other side of the glass. At that moment, my mom snapped this picture. It was the moment I fell in love with the ocean
and all the animals in it. It is amazing how one moment in time can change your whole life. That experience with the killer whale is the reason I earned
a degree in biology and my scuba diving license. Perhaps this will sound childish to you (I was, in fact, still a child), but I felt like the whale and
I were kindred spirits, as Henry Beston once said:
"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. In a world older and more complete than ours,
they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of
the splendour and travail of the earth."
6.09.07 a day for the ladies at belmont park
It was a historical day at the racetrack today, Rags to Riches became the first female
to win the Belmont Stakes since 1905. She captured the hearts of the world today and you could hear it in the roar of the crowd as she sauntered to the winner's circle.
It was a fitting day to remember her.
She was, and still is, the queen of them all...
Over thirty years ago an undefeated filly by the name of Ruffian burst onto the horse racing scene and captured the hearts of millions.
It's hard to put Ruffian into words, but those who know her will agree that not only was she the fastest filly the world has ever seen,
but arguably the greatest race horse to ever walk the Earth. She won every race she ever ran and smashed track records with ease.
Even in her final tragic moments that are so painful to remember, it is important to know that she was in the lead, where she had lived her life.
Frank Whiteley (Ruffian's trainer played in the movie by Sam Shepard) said it all as he stopped outside her stall after her death,
"That stall will never be occupied as long as I have this barn. There will never be a horse worthy of entering it."
Rags to Riches' girl power win couldn't have come at a more appropriate track (Ruffian ran her first race and is buried at Belmont Park)
or on a more appropriate day because tonight on ABC, the made for tv movie Ruffian airs on ABC at 9 pm EST.
I've been waiting for this movie to be made since I was about 5 years old.
Last March, San Francisco banned all plastic bags and now Oakland is set to follow suit. C'mon Charlotte, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Chicago, Miami, New York, and everyone else for that matter--
let's all follow their lead.
Cheers to GM for becoming the first automaker to join the coalition of environmentalists and businesses urging US carbon caps.
I have to share Ryan Reynold's (aka Van Wilder) excellent blog on competitive eating. I'm completely with you on this one Ryan, well written.
Ryan is now blogging for the Huffington Post. Gotta love a guy who is not only funny, but smart too. And kinda sorta okay looking.
"Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation."
-- Nelson Mandela
"The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun." -- Ralph Nader
"Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find." -- Quoted in Time
In the aftermath of the emancipation of Paris Hilton from LA County Jail and her exclusive tell all one hour Larry King Special, I log onto CNN.com and see in the top headlines this terrible news - Sore Jaw Could Undo Hot Dog Champion! I read the article and suddenly I was overcome by an acute sense of shame. Shame that I took 3 minutes out of my life to read about a hot dog eating champion. (it strikes me strange, those words together- hot dog. eating. champion?) But then I realize, sometimes it's the bigger things in life, like hot dog eating champions, that make you ponder the deeper meaning of all this craziness we live in...
Could it be that a good looking girl (even Angelina) makes herself less attractive when she is talking about important things when compared to the good looking girl that doesn't say anything important but just looks good? Does it kill the fantasy when the beautiful girl starts talking about Darfur? Is she too real for the fantasy then?
So why is our society obsessed with celebrity gossip? Is this need for mindless entertainment an escape mechanism, like an ostrich hiding their head in the sand? If I don't see/think/talk about the war in Iraq, it's not happening? Is war and death and struggle and tragedy too deep for us to think about on a daily basis so we would rather fill our minds with insanely unimportant Britney Spears gossip?
And while I'm at it, this is hardly the stupidest, most indulgent thing we do. I just heard that some Hollywood starlet spent $500,000 on a closet. The woman needed a 360 degree scan of what she looks like before she walks out the door. I mean she couldn't possibly trust a mirror like the rest of us. It's a level of indulgence and arrogance I find difficult to wrap my mind around. This woman is the antithesis of this man, one of my heros.
I spent the past few days in Florida learning about the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund -- a non-profit, private charitable foundation committed to work with purpose and passion on behalf of wildlife and habitats worldwide, encouraging sustainable solutions through support of species research, animal rescue and rehabilitation and conservation education.
I spent time at Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, and SeaWorld learning about all the research, rescue, rehabilitation, breeding, and education programs that are part of the SWBG Conservation Fund. I met penguins and bald eagles and sloths; I fed lemurs and sea lions and sting rays and hippos. I even got a ride from a bottlenose dolphin named Diego. It was an incredible experience and I was reminded of the day -- a long, long time ago -- that I decided I wanted to study marine biology.
When I was a young girl, my mom and I visited SeaWorld in Orlando. We went to the killer whale tank during a time when there was no show and no crowd, the stadium was empty. I was peering into the tank trying to catch a glimpse of the killer whales, but I saw nothing but water. Before long I was greeted by a curious killer whale looking back at me and our eyes locked on each other. I could see how intelligent those eyes were, peering back at me from the other side of the glass. At that moment, my mom snapped this picture. It was the moment I fell in love with the ocean and all the animals in it. It is amazing how one moment in time can change your whole life. That experience with the killer whale is the reason I earned a degree in biology and my scuba diving license. Perhaps this will sound childish to you (I was, in fact, still a child), but I felt like the whale and I were kindred spirits, as Henry Beston once said:
It was a historical day at the racetrack today, Rags to Riches became the first female to win the Belmont Stakes since 1905. She captured the hearts of the world today and you could hear it in the roar of the crowd as she sauntered to the winner's circle.
