Some awesome illustrations:

Illustration: Arthur Rackham's Grimm's Fairy Tales

Arthur Rackham was one of the most influential illustrators who ever lived. If you aren't familiar with his work, see Bud Plant's biography. These scans are from a first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales from 1909. This book is packed with amazing color plates and ink sketches.

I've no history of bc, so I'm waiting till I'm 39. I don't think it will be that awful, right? I'm sure I've had my boobs squished harder accidently?

Honestly, I've it doesn't involve needles, my pain tolerance is pretty high. It's pretty high with needles, too, but I have HUGE needle phobia, so there's that. I would have to be knocked unconscious for amnio or a spinal tap. Seriously -- I would be like, I don't care. Just let me fucking DIE.

GAAAAAAHHHHHH.

FWIW, I've had painless mammograms. But then I've got a rather high pain threshold, so YMMV.

I've never understood how they can get a good picture of some of the tiny ta-tas I see on some women.

Mind are pretty much a straight up B-cup, but one side is about a half-cup smaller than the other. Which made the squishing between the plates bit a challenge, I will admit. I couldn't even begin to imagine how someone with A or smaller could manage the plates. It felt like everything was being stretched in ways that nature never intended.

FWIW, I've had painless mammograms

Me, too. And I don't have a high pain threshold. I really have only had one that I would classify as "hurty." Most were uncomfortable.

Actually, now that I think about it, all our political mail has been in favor of Obama.

We've been split. At the house in which only I actually live, my brother has gotten Obama mail and my father has gotten McCain. I have gotten bupkis. On the other hand, I'm a public school teacher who's lived in Boston and San Francisco -- maybe they figure I'm broke and not worth pursuing for money.

But I do read all the Republican things my father gets and I laugh and laugh and laugh. They keep sending these "surveys" which go along with requests for money -- "Do you feel that the states should have a fundamental right to define marriage? Do you feel that the current situation overseas calls for a strong military? Do you think it important that the achievements of the current administration be protected from the Democrats?"

I saw a McCain ad last night. In LA. It was SO WEIRD. I thought it was some sort of parody or something, but it was totally a McCain political hit job.

And i thought, "this is what the rest of the country is seeing." And it was SO SLIMY.

I had a meeting with someone this afternoon who is involved with voting rights stuff, and she was saying that she's helping out with a group coming over from China to check out election stuff. She said the original organizing group was going to bring them to Boston. She was like, WTF. Why would you go there? They were like, Um, it's close to New York? So she's bringing them to Ohio, where there will actually be election stuff going on!

Election observers. In the USA. The times are indeed out of joint.

Well, these people want to learn about doing elections.