Sunday, July 26, 2009
Whirlwind of Seasonal Eats Part 1
Spring is finally here, with a hint of summer this week (high 70's and sunshine)!! But sadly, it is only temporary. In terms of meals from the end of March to the beginning of April, we have cooked meals that have wavered like the wind- from winter, spring, and summer meals.To celebrate the sunshine, we enjoyed many meals outdoors and ate crisp, refreshing, summer/spring-type foods:Raw Buckwheat Pepita Pate with carrots, cucumbers, and collard greens. Very palatable, much like fancy tuna/chicken/chickpea salads. Good with lots of celery seed.Raw Creamy Tomato Soup, with fresh red bell pepper, onion, herbs, and garlic for enhanced flavor, and with avocado for richness.Fresh corn on the cob. We're ready for more sweet corn to make some corn soup. But for now we enjoyed the corn with some buttery olive oil on it.Tempeh BLT's (no bacon of course), based off of this recipe. Awesome. We just started experimenting with tempeh, and it is so versatile, nutritious, and tasty. We love hearty healthy sandwiches, and the marinated tempeh with avocado and red onion was delicious!Cheezy Quesadillas with pinto beans, based off of this recipe. This was almost too rich, slightly sweet. We love the idea though and feel this is a great idea to branch from. We are making cheezy hummus quesadillas when our parents come up to visit this weekend.and Tofu Scramble Fiesta Wraps, with potatoes, black beans, salsa, avocado, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. For breakfast, we made a refreshing Raw Buckwheat Porridge with fresh blueberries and sliced oranges on the side. Zesty, fresh, and flavorful! For a nice snack, we chomped on Kettle's Baked Potato Chips (the best potato chips, and baked, too). And, we savored some Homemade Root Beer Banana Ice Cream.Stay in tune for Part 2 of "Whirlwind of seasonal eats" post - about the winter eats. :)-LK
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Heartache
My best friend Joe had open heart surgery this week. We have been good friends since 1968 when we met in 3rd grade and bonded over the Partridge Family.He developed childhood leukemia in the early 70's and was one of the first group of kids to survive. The chemo lightened his hair permanently but it also damaged his heart...as he was to discover a few years ago.The operation had some twists and turns that sent him back into surgery. His heart stopped twice.He will have one more procedure, remain in ICU for a few days then off to a cardio rehab center. He is 46 years old.We're not kids anymore. Although we are still eating the same amount of candy.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Beyond Obama’s Probationary Period
by Butler Shaffer
The 100-day cone of silence suspended above the Obama administration has been lifted and has thus far proven as uneventful and meaningless as the feared consequences of Y2K. As for any significant media criticism of the new administration, you need not spend time before the television set or searching the editorial pages of your favorite dying newspaper for evidence of same. As it has long been the mainstream media’s purpose to promote – rather than question – the political establishment’s scheme of things, it will prove to be as round-heeled as it was in the post 9-11 period.
Thus far, I see nothing to indicate a reversal of the arrogance of power for which George W. Bush was rightfully criticized, and which was a principal reason for Obama’s having been elected to the presidency. The empty slogans of change and hope were largely interpreted by most Americans as anybody but Bush! But with Obama’s continuation – and escalation – of the war system; his inconstant positions on torture; the continuing insistence on governmental secrecy; his urging of the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier decision restricting police interrogations unless a suspect’s lawyer is present; and his uninterrupted efforts to further socialize the economy – all of which were vigorously undertaken by Mr. Bush – it is apparent that his campaign promise of change had nothing to do with the destructive policies he had inherited from the previous reign.
This is not to suggest that his presidency has been without any meaningful alteration of the past. His rhetorical style is a great improvement over George W. And he has upgraded the cosmic significance of the presidency from what it was under his predecessor. Mr. Bush, as you will recall, only talked with God – the dominant voice in the conversation was never revealed – and he was the deity’s alleged choice to be president at times like these. Mr. Obama has escalated the presidency to the ultimate heights of deification. Photos of the man surrounded by a halo suggest the mindset seen in earlier civilizations in which the ruler was regarded as a god-king. A reverence for political rulers is a most dangerous practice.
The media’s servility to Obama was displayed on the night of his victory when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews told us I’m going to do everything I can to make this thing work – this new presidency. His counterpart at the same network, Keith Olbermann did, to his credit, strongly criticize Obama’s commitment to governmental secrecy, but has nonetheless spent far too much of his time – since January 20th – attacking Mr. Bush for the moral and legal shortcomings of his administration, in a major segment he has referred to as Still Bushed.
Nor can we ignore the pathetic sight of seemingly adult Americans who set the tone of obeisance to the new god-king by participating in a video chanting a pledge of allegiance not to the nation-state – as they had been conditioned to recite in the government school system – but to Barack Obama! This was the same kind of Obama-worship in e-mails from liberal friends of mine who, upon Obama’s election, enthused over their opportunity to work on behalf of his progressive policies.
But what was the progress of which my friends speak? Were they motivated by the same sentiments that underlay Chris Matthews’ previous comment? If Mr. Obama is at least continuing – and, perhaps expanding – the destructive and inhumane policies of the Bush administration, why should decent and intelligent Americans want to get to work to advance his agenda? What is the fundamental difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush that would elicit such enthusiasm?
It has been clear that what Mr. Obama’s candidacy truly represented could be reduced to two factors: (1) to satisfy the anybody but Bush thinking that permeated American society – a trait which virtually any Democrat would have satisfied – and (2) his race. He had the opportunity to become the nation’s first black president, an accomplishment that would far exceed John F. Kennedy becoming the first Catholic president. To many, Obama’s primary qualification for this office lay in the fact that he had more melanin in his system than did John McCain. To this day, the words first black president continue to echo and define his accomplishment.
I do find some encouragement in this. While I have no interest whatever in whether the president is black or Caucasian; a man or a woman; an Asian, Laplander, or even a resident of Connecticut – my preference is for the office to remain open for a few terms! – I think there is some significance in the fact that most voters did not consider his race to be a disqualifying factor for this office. At the very least, his election should quiet the Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons, and other black political activists from continuing to bleat the gospel about the white-racism that supposedly dominates America, a charge necessary to keep their political clientele in line.
But if Barack Obama’s role as president is not to dismantle the oppressive and destructive policies of the Bush administration; and if his purpose, in getting elected, was to satisfy the anybody-but-Bush sentiments, and to become the first black president, then is it not clear that he has accomplished his agenda? There is no more for the man to do! He fulfilled his tasks the day he took office. Is it not, therefore, timely for him to resign and enjoy the judgment of history as America’s most successful president: a man who carried out, as he was being inaugurated, the agenda for which he had been elected?
Of course, this would leave us with Joseph Biden as the next president, and raise the question of what governmental policies he would pursue. But to those whose inquiries are driven by a sense of realpolitik, such a question is completely irrelevant. Biden would promote the same expansionist programs as Obama, who fosters the same basic policies as George W. Bush, etc. Each is but the Puppet-in-Chief of the political establishment; the owners of the corporate-state system who offered to voters a number of candidates suitable to the corporate world’s purposes. The notion that any of these men might strike out on a course of action that deviated from what the owners desired is unimaginable. Of course, Biden could try to get Congress to approve Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential choice, leaving Boobus liberalis to now march, dream, and chant of a day when a woman would become president!
The 100th day did produce some matters of worthiness. Arlen Specter informed us that he was changing his affiliation from Republican to Democrat, an act as meaningless, policy-wise, as would Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders announcing that he was becoming a Democrat. Specter babbled some incoherencies about his ideological and philosophical differences with the Republicans, leaving us to wonder just what possible normative principles separated these two gangs. The only philosophic standard that drives politicians of either stripe was revealed by Specter’s later admission that his switch was due to the difficulties he would have getting re-elected as a Republican! Specter insisted upon the pursuit of self-interest that politicians urge the rest of us to sacrifice for some alleged greater good.
On this same day of centuriate importance, we were also told that Democrat Al Franken had finally bested the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, for a Minnesota seat in the Senate. That an amateur comedian might be outdone by a professional one was not surprising. With the Democrats now holding sixty seats in the Senate, and control of both the House of Representatives, the White House, and perhaps the Supreme Court, it does leave them in what may prove to be the embarrassing position of trying to explain how the continuing collapse of our society was due to Republican obstructionism rather than to their own policies. In the end, Al Franken’s presence – as the sixtieth Democratic member – may cause us to revise T.S. Eliot’s prognosis: This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but a giggle.
Where does all of this leave the GOP and, for that matter, that vacuous body known as conservatism ? Where they have been for more years than even their most ardent supporters will acknowledge: dead, as dead as the parrot in the classic Monty Python sketch. Like the two-brained stegosaurus – whose rear brain was destroyed by a tyrannosaurus rex as its front brain continued to munch on the greenery before it – the Republican party and conservatism are each totally unaware of their terminal condition. The conservative movement does not move, but is ossified. Its leaders can do no more, today, than seek a new image, as though appearances can be concocted that will prevail over substance. Rush Limbaugh has gone so far as to declare Sarah Palin to be the most prominent and articulate voice for conservatism. He is doubtless correct.
In contrast to Arlen Specter’s pretense of philosophic motivations, one lone principled voice remains within the GOP, perhaps representative of Albert Jay Nock’s Remnant. Ron Paul expresses views contrary to those that now represent a bipartisan commitment to the destruction of a free and productive country. But as his principles run counter to the demands of state power to which both Democrats and Republicans are firmly committed, the popularity of his ideas will continue to find expression in the only place from which a fundamental transformation of society can occur: the minds of ordinary men and women – particularly the young – who recognize that the present system no longer works.
The GOP party leaders will never get the message. I suspect that, even as I write these words, the Republicans are busy searching for their own style of comedians to run for high office. Perhaps, here in California – where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comic-relief continues to amuse – the GOP could go after the senate seats of Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein by enlisting the noted comedians Cheech and Chong as candidates.
But it is the Democrats and liberals who must await the lesson now being taught denizens of the right. Nor am I optimistic of the consequences. Those who seek – and acquire – autocratic power are unlikely to question themselves while enjoying such authority. This is what corrupted those on the Right in recent years. The political Left has long had an unquestioning attachment to violent statism that will make them reluctant to understand and accept the decentralizing processes at work within the world. From world economic planning to world environmental controls to world governments, the Left is far too enmeshed in the sociopathic premises of politics to be able to do more than generate new slogans.
Conservatives and Republicans are now experiencing the hangover from an eight-year drunkenness on state power. Whatever impact the coalescence of Ron Paul/Austrian economics/and libertarian philosophy may have in bringing America back to sobriety, I do not see such influences accruing to the benefit of morally and intellectually corrupt conservative/Republican forms. In the words of Gertrude Stein – in commenting upon the city of Oakland – there’s no ‘there’ there. The change that will serve the liberty and material well-being of individuals, rather than the power interests of institutions, will arise not from empty sentiments of unfocused hope, but from deeper levels of understanding.
May 9, 2009
LewRockwell.com
The 100-day cone of silence suspended above the Obama administration has been lifted and has thus far proven as uneventful and meaningless as the feared consequences of Y2K. As for any significant media criticism of the new administration, you need not spend time before the television set or searching the editorial pages of your favorite dying newspaper for evidence of same. As it has long been the mainstream media’s purpose to promote – rather than question – the political establishment’s scheme of things, it will prove to be as round-heeled as it was in the post 9-11 period.
Thus far, I see nothing to indicate a reversal of the arrogance of power for which George W. Bush was rightfully criticized, and which was a principal reason for Obama’s having been elected to the presidency. The empty slogans of change and hope were largely interpreted by most Americans as anybody but Bush! But with Obama’s continuation – and escalation – of the war system; his inconstant positions on torture; the continuing insistence on governmental secrecy; his urging of the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier decision restricting police interrogations unless a suspect’s lawyer is present; and his uninterrupted efforts to further socialize the economy – all of which were vigorously undertaken by Mr. Bush – it is apparent that his campaign promise of change had nothing to do with the destructive policies he had inherited from the previous reign.
This is not to suggest that his presidency has been without any meaningful alteration of the past. His rhetorical style is a great improvement over George W. And he has upgraded the cosmic significance of the presidency from what it was under his predecessor. Mr. Bush, as you will recall, only talked with God – the dominant voice in the conversation was never revealed – and he was the deity’s alleged choice to be president at times like these. Mr. Obama has escalated the presidency to the ultimate heights of deification. Photos of the man surrounded by a halo suggest the mindset seen in earlier civilizations in which the ruler was regarded as a god-king. A reverence for political rulers is a most dangerous practice.
The media’s servility to Obama was displayed on the night of his victory when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews told us I’m going to do everything I can to make this thing work – this new presidency. His counterpart at the same network, Keith Olbermann did, to his credit, strongly criticize Obama’s commitment to governmental secrecy, but has nonetheless spent far too much of his time – since January 20th – attacking Mr. Bush for the moral and legal shortcomings of his administration, in a major segment he has referred to as Still Bushed.
Nor can we ignore the pathetic sight of seemingly adult Americans who set the tone of obeisance to the new god-king by participating in a video chanting a pledge of allegiance not to the nation-state – as they had been conditioned to recite in the government school system – but to Barack Obama! This was the same kind of Obama-worship in e-mails from liberal friends of mine who, upon Obama’s election, enthused over their opportunity to work on behalf of his progressive policies.
But what was the progress of which my friends speak? Were they motivated by the same sentiments that underlay Chris Matthews’ previous comment? If Mr. Obama is at least continuing – and, perhaps expanding – the destructive and inhumane policies of the Bush administration, why should decent and intelligent Americans want to get to work to advance his agenda? What is the fundamental difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush that would elicit such enthusiasm?
It has been clear that what Mr. Obama’s candidacy truly represented could be reduced to two factors: (1) to satisfy the anybody but Bush thinking that permeated American society – a trait which virtually any Democrat would have satisfied – and (2) his race. He had the opportunity to become the nation’s first black president, an accomplishment that would far exceed John F. Kennedy becoming the first Catholic president. To many, Obama’s primary qualification for this office lay in the fact that he had more melanin in his system than did John McCain. To this day, the words first black president continue to echo and define his accomplishment.
I do find some encouragement in this. While I have no interest whatever in whether the president is black or Caucasian; a man or a woman; an Asian, Laplander, or even a resident of Connecticut – my preference is for the office to remain open for a few terms! – I think there is some significance in the fact that most voters did not consider his race to be a disqualifying factor for this office. At the very least, his election should quiet the Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons, and other black political activists from continuing to bleat the gospel about the white-racism that supposedly dominates America, a charge necessary to keep their political clientele in line.
But if Barack Obama’s role as president is not to dismantle the oppressive and destructive policies of the Bush administration; and if his purpose, in getting elected, was to satisfy the anybody-but-Bush sentiments, and to become the first black president, then is it not clear that he has accomplished his agenda? There is no more for the man to do! He fulfilled his tasks the day he took office. Is it not, therefore, timely for him to resign and enjoy the judgment of history as America’s most successful president: a man who carried out, as he was being inaugurated, the agenda for which he had been elected?
Of course, this would leave us with Joseph Biden as the next president, and raise the question of what governmental policies he would pursue. But to those whose inquiries are driven by a sense of realpolitik, such a question is completely irrelevant. Biden would promote the same expansionist programs as Obama, who fosters the same basic policies as George W. Bush, etc. Each is but the Puppet-in-Chief of the political establishment; the owners of the corporate-state system who offered to voters a number of candidates suitable to the corporate world’s purposes. The notion that any of these men might strike out on a course of action that deviated from what the owners desired is unimaginable. Of course, Biden could try to get Congress to approve Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential choice, leaving Boobus liberalis to now march, dream, and chant of a day when a woman would become president!
The 100th day did produce some matters of worthiness. Arlen Specter informed us that he was changing his affiliation from Republican to Democrat, an act as meaningless, policy-wise, as would Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders announcing that he was becoming a Democrat. Specter babbled some incoherencies about his ideological and philosophical differences with the Republicans, leaving us to wonder just what possible normative principles separated these two gangs. The only philosophic standard that drives politicians of either stripe was revealed by Specter’s later admission that his switch was due to the difficulties he would have getting re-elected as a Republican! Specter insisted upon the pursuit of self-interest that politicians urge the rest of us to sacrifice for some alleged greater good.
On this same day of centuriate importance, we were also told that Democrat Al Franken had finally bested the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, for a Minnesota seat in the Senate. That an amateur comedian might be outdone by a professional one was not surprising. With the Democrats now holding sixty seats in the Senate, and control of both the House of Representatives, the White House, and perhaps the Supreme Court, it does leave them in what may prove to be the embarrassing position of trying to explain how the continuing collapse of our society was due to Republican obstructionism rather than to their own policies. In the end, Al Franken’s presence – as the sixtieth Democratic member – may cause us to revise T.S. Eliot’s prognosis: This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but a giggle.
Where does all of this leave the GOP and, for that matter, that vacuous body known as conservatism ? Where they have been for more years than even their most ardent supporters will acknowledge: dead, as dead as the parrot in the classic Monty Python sketch. Like the two-brained stegosaurus – whose rear brain was destroyed by a tyrannosaurus rex as its front brain continued to munch on the greenery before it – the Republican party and conservatism are each totally unaware of their terminal condition. The conservative movement does not move, but is ossified. Its leaders can do no more, today, than seek a new image, as though appearances can be concocted that will prevail over substance. Rush Limbaugh has gone so far as to declare Sarah Palin to be the most prominent and articulate voice for conservatism. He is doubtless correct.
In contrast to Arlen Specter’s pretense of philosophic motivations, one lone principled voice remains within the GOP, perhaps representative of Albert Jay Nock’s Remnant. Ron Paul expresses views contrary to those that now represent a bipartisan commitment to the destruction of a free and productive country. But as his principles run counter to the demands of state power to which both Democrats and Republicans are firmly committed, the popularity of his ideas will continue to find expression in the only place from which a fundamental transformation of society can occur: the minds of ordinary men and women – particularly the young – who recognize that the present system no longer works.
The GOP party leaders will never get the message. I suspect that, even as I write these words, the Republicans are busy searching for their own style of comedians to run for high office. Perhaps, here in California – where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comic-relief continues to amuse – the GOP could go after the senate seats of Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein by enlisting the noted comedians Cheech and Chong as candidates.
But it is the Democrats and liberals who must await the lesson now being taught denizens of the right. Nor am I optimistic of the consequences. Those who seek – and acquire – autocratic power are unlikely to question themselves while enjoying such authority. This is what corrupted those on the Right in recent years. The political Left has long had an unquestioning attachment to violent statism that will make them reluctant to understand and accept the decentralizing processes at work within the world. From world economic planning to world environmental controls to world governments, the Left is far too enmeshed in the sociopathic premises of politics to be able to do more than generate new slogans.
Conservatives and Republicans are now experiencing the hangover from an eight-year drunkenness on state power. Whatever impact the coalescence of Ron Paul/Austrian economics/and libertarian philosophy may have in bringing America back to sobriety, I do not see such influences accruing to the benefit of morally and intellectually corrupt conservative/Republican forms. In the words of Gertrude Stein – in commenting upon the city of Oakland – there’s no ‘there’ there. The change that will serve the liberty and material well-being of individuals, rather than the power interests of institutions, will arise not from empty sentiments of unfocused hope, but from deeper levels of understanding.
May 9, 2009
LewRockwell.com
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Creating A Global Status Symbol
It has billionaires and big ambitions. Now India wants something that no global economic powerhouse should be without: an international symbol for its currency.The hope is that the Rupee sign will become as ubiquitous as the US dollar ($), or that instant emblem of the digital age, the @ symbol.But how easy is it to launch a symbol on the international stage and land a coveted place on keyboards the world over?It doesn't happen very often.Nowadays, designing new symbols involves rigorous testing, says Jasmine Montgomery of design consultancy FutureBrand, London."The Indian Government will have to consider very carefully how the symbol would be used in all its technical applications - how does it look on the web, blown up on posters, on mobile phones." India would not want a symbol that looked bad when it was turned upside down, she says - "like someone's bottom," for example.One of the most recent symbols to make the leap, the € for euro, had a long and difficult birth. Before that, in 1971, the @ symbol was assigned an important international role, as the critical connector in e-mail addresses. A 30-year-old computer programmer named Ray Tomlinson, looking for coding to send the first ever e-mail, surveyed the keyboard on his Model-33 Teletype and chose @ - which is apparently centuries old and has served various different functions - because it was unlikely to appear in a person's name."Read the entire Kathryn Westcott article for the BBC News: India Seeks Rupee Status SymbolThat's Right, HMKMore on The History Of The Euro.Thanks to Mark Fletcher for the original money shot.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Bloomberg tax plan is bad news for business
From NY1:The Council is overwhelmingly opposed to the mayor's sales tax plan, an opposition that turned to frustration after Page's response. One member even noted that Bloomberg keeps touting his job creation plan on the campaign trail."The administration should consult the campaign, because every time I turn on the television it seems that I am reminded that they know how to quantify jobs," said Councilman James Oddo.When asked about the impact of his sales tax plan on employment, the mayor, who regularly rattles off numbers from memory, couldn't offer a hard estimate."This is not good for job creation. I don't know. We have probably done some estimates," said Bloomberg.The chairman of the finance committee says Council officials estimate that 1,200 retail jobs could be lost because of the clothing tax repeal.Council members are floating their own alternatives to the sales tax increase, which would raise the rate by half a percentage point.The proposals include calls to bring back the commuter tax, raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, create a mortgage recording tax on co-op purchases and impose an income tax surcharge.Hey Oddo, why did your party endorse this guy again?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Terror Tactics and Techniques for our Times
Stop and think about terrorist tactics over the last decade for a minute, if you would. Al-Qaeda and similar groups tactics, at any rate, if youre confused about what constitutes terrorism and what doesnt.
Weve seen traditional explosive-vest suicide bombings, VBIEDs, regular IEDs, sniping, the use of explosively-formed projectiles, the use of jets as weapons, the use of rockets and mortars and other indirect-fire weapons, and a couple of obscure oddities like camels rigged with explosives. (No, really.)
What kind of surprises me, though, is that when you start looking at specifics, a lot of the most spectacularly successful techniques were only used for a brief period of time.
Ramzi Yousef blew up one plane, and put a hole in another, and that was pretty much it for trying to blow up airplanes in flight (at least until we invaded Iraq and everyone got their hand on MANPADS, and even thats been pretty unsuccessful). Some folks in a boat put a gaping hole in the side of the USS Cole& and nobody seems to have tried that again since. Four jets were hijacked and turned into weapons in September 2001, and& that was it. For a while, EFPs were in the news every day, putting holes in anything and everything they were aimed at. Then& they seemed to just disappear, as far as I can tell. In the early days of the Iraqi occupation, snipers like the possibly mythical Juba killed and wounded dozens and dozens of allied soldiers. There are still snipers, it seems, but nothing like what there used to be.
Why is that?
Some of it might be attributable to shifts in tactics by western forces and governments, but not all of it. Whither the EFP? Nobody ever conclusively answered whether they really were coming from Iran or not, but that several Iraqis were arrested in connection with them, and now you dont get em anymore, suggests, to me, that they were an indigenous product with no outside backing.
But that doesnt explain why additional USS Cole-style bombings have never happened since, or anywhere else. (Even the Tamil Tigers, as crazy a bunch of extremists as youll ever come across, and who had pitched battles with the Sri Lankan navy - and usually won - never resorted to blowing up boats full of explosives in the process.) Oh, navies made changes in tactics following the attack, but as far as Im aware, nobodys even tried since.
There are still terrorists willing to martyr themselves for the cause, but it seems like everyones pursuing low-budget, minimal-planning instant gratification. Its weird, really.
Im not complaining about the lack of successful, high-profile terrorist attacks in recent years, mind you. I just find it weird that the IED and the truck-bomb seem to be the enduring terrorist techniques of our time, is all. Oh, theyre effective, Ill grant you that, but so were a number of other things that, as acts of terror, were subjectively much more effective. (Sure, a VBIED could be anywhere, on any road, anywhere in the world, at any time& but how much do you really worry about that? Probably rather less than you do about the airliner youre on being hijacked and turned into a missile, or the ship youre on being captured by pirates or being blown up by terrorists. As tools for striking fear and terror into the hearts of infidels the world over, the IED and VBIED are, when all is said and done, kind of meh by now, you know what Im saying?)
For that matter, its been a couple years since any terrorists surprised the rest of the world with a new or novel tactic or technique. Why might that be?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Weve seen traditional explosive-vest suicide bombings, VBIEDs, regular IEDs, sniping, the use of explosively-formed projectiles, the use of jets as weapons, the use of rockets and mortars and other indirect-fire weapons, and a couple of obscure oddities like camels rigged with explosives. (No, really.)
What kind of surprises me, though, is that when you start looking at specifics, a lot of the most spectacularly successful techniques were only used for a brief period of time.
Ramzi Yousef blew up one plane, and put a hole in another, and that was pretty much it for trying to blow up airplanes in flight (at least until we invaded Iraq and everyone got their hand on MANPADS, and even thats been pretty unsuccessful). Some folks in a boat put a gaping hole in the side of the USS Cole& and nobody seems to have tried that again since. Four jets were hijacked and turned into weapons in September 2001, and& that was it. For a while, EFPs were in the news every day, putting holes in anything and everything they were aimed at. Then& they seemed to just disappear, as far as I can tell. In the early days of the Iraqi occupation, snipers like the possibly mythical Juba killed and wounded dozens and dozens of allied soldiers. There are still snipers, it seems, but nothing like what there used to be.
Why is that?
Some of it might be attributable to shifts in tactics by western forces and governments, but not all of it. Whither the EFP? Nobody ever conclusively answered whether they really were coming from Iran or not, but that several Iraqis were arrested in connection with them, and now you dont get em anymore, suggests, to me, that they were an indigenous product with no outside backing.
But that doesnt explain why additional USS Cole-style bombings have never happened since, or anywhere else. (Even the Tamil Tigers, as crazy a bunch of extremists as youll ever come across, and who had pitched battles with the Sri Lankan navy - and usually won - never resorted to blowing up boats full of explosives in the process.) Oh, navies made changes in tactics following the attack, but as far as Im aware, nobodys even tried since.
There are still terrorists willing to martyr themselves for the cause, but it seems like everyones pursuing low-budget, minimal-planning instant gratification. Its weird, really.
Im not complaining about the lack of successful, high-profile terrorist attacks in recent years, mind you. I just find it weird that the IED and the truck-bomb seem to be the enduring terrorist techniques of our time, is all. Oh, theyre effective, Ill grant you that, but so were a number of other things that, as acts of terror, were subjectively much more effective. (Sure, a VBIED could be anywhere, on any road, anywhere in the world, at any time& but how much do you really worry about that? Probably rather less than you do about the airliner youre on being hijacked and turned into a missile, or the ship youre on being captured by pirates or being blown up by terrorists. As tools for striking fear and terror into the hearts of infidels the world over, the IED and VBIED are, when all is said and done, kind of meh by now, you know what Im saying?)
For that matter, its been a couple years since any terrorists surprised the rest of the world with a new or novel tactic or technique. Why might that be?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Crispy French Toast
This, for Easter breakfast (at 2 PM), compliments of Kat: Ingredients: Eggs Vanilla extract Nutmeg Milk White bread Honey Bunches of Oats or similar cereal (preferably caramel/vanilla flavor), crushed with a rolling pin in a Ziploc bag Beat eggs with vanilla, nutmeg and milk. Place cereal in flat pie pan. Dip bread in egg mixture. Dip egged bread in crushed cereal, coating additionally as necessary. Place cereal-coated bread in pre-heated 325-degree frying pan. Admire the beauty; anticipate the flavor. Voila! Enjoy Easter breakfast at 2 PM (OK, fine – Easter BRUNCH!). Then clean up, laze about for a few hours, and head into Seattle for the traditional family Easter dinner at… the Spaghetti Factory! Why would the Spaghetti Factory be a place for Easter dinner, you ask? Welllll…. many years ago, when the kids were small, we went to “the cousins” house on Bainbridge Island for Easter brunch. By the time we got off the ferry that evening, we were all hungry again, and drove around downtown looking for a place to grab some quick dinner. We drove past our favorite (but always-crowded) restaurant, Spaghetti Factory and noticed unusually few cars in the lot, so we ventured in. NO wait! We had a marvelous time that Easter and ever since then, going back for a no-wait Easter dinner at the Spaghetti Factory has been tradition! Elisabeth and CJ are meeting us there in a few hours and if everyone will put up with my incessant picture taking, I might post a family photo later today. However, if I’m greeted by a chorus of “Mooooooom! No more pictures! Geeeeze!” …well, then we’re out of luck.
A day at the massachusetts library association conference
This morning, I took a trek over to Springfield, MA for the Massachusetts Library Association Conference where I spoke for a little while about some of the programs I did back when I worked at the Bushwick Branch of Brooklyn Public Library. I spoke about focusing the collective expertise of your community, user-generated collections, and a great blog post I found about the innovative corporate culture at Zappos.com.
Lucky for me, I was speaking with these folks:
A great presentation from Monica Harris and Mandy McGee from Oak Park Library (IL). Ive spoken of their awesomeness before on this blog, but do check out their innovative programming for 20 & 30-somethings. Word is theyll be presenting at the ALA Annual Meeting in Chicago as well&.
After a swell lunch with Michael Spelman and Christine Schonhart of Boston Public Library (down in Brooklyn we call that the other BPL), I dropped in on the technology trends discussion where I wisely kept quiet about the New York Yankees. For me, there were two stars of that group. The first was Scott Colford (Web Services, Boston PL), who shared some interesting tools: Prezi as a presentation tool that totally smokes the widely-hated Powerpoint, and Bumptop as a 3d desktop space (if you are on a PC). Also great was Bonnie Pierce of the Dover Town Library. Bonnie is a champion of QR codes and other 2d barcode systems, and she clearly sees the opportunites associated with linking objects and physical spaces with information and virtual spaces. Check out her site. Expect to keep hearing about this technology- Bonnie has something exciting brewing in Dover, and Ive got a QR code project in the works down in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Finally, heres another futurist gem for you. ...
Lucky for me, I was speaking with these folks:
A great presentation from Monica Harris and Mandy McGee from Oak Park Library (IL). Ive spoken of their awesomeness before on this blog, but do check out their innovative programming for 20 & 30-somethings. Word is theyll be presenting at the ALA Annual Meeting in Chicago as well&.
After a swell lunch with Michael Spelman and Christine Schonhart of Boston Public Library (down in Brooklyn we call that the other BPL), I dropped in on the technology trends discussion where I wisely kept quiet about the New York Yankees. For me, there were two stars of that group. The first was Scott Colford (Web Services, Boston PL), who shared some interesting tools: Prezi as a presentation tool that totally smokes the widely-hated Powerpoint, and Bumptop as a 3d desktop space (if you are on a PC). Also great was Bonnie Pierce of the Dover Town Library. Bonnie is a champion of QR codes and other 2d barcode systems, and she clearly sees the opportunites associated with linking objects and physical spaces with information and virtual spaces. Check out her site. Expect to keep hearing about this technology- Bonnie has something exciting brewing in Dover, and Ive got a QR code project in the works down in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Finally, heres another futurist gem for you. ...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Spain: The Latest Episode Of No Reservations Doesn’t Disappoint
Another week, another gazing over at Travel Boyfriend through blurry tears to see a similar reflection staring back. Yes, yes, I know, get over Anthony Bourdain, Travel Betty.
Well, it’s hard.
He started his television career off so irascibly, but has mellowed through the past three seasons like a fine cheese. There’s depth to him. Yes, he’s still cantankerous and that’s one reason to love him, but he’s also sentimental in a very manly and appropriate way.
For those of you who just watched the past two weeks’ episodes with him in Japan and Spain respectively, you know what I’m talking about. And for those of you who didn’t, please set your TiVos now. There will certainly be repeated airings.
Next week he explores Egypt. Having spent a good deal of time there last year, I’m curious what gastronomic successes he finds. Besides the koshary, my only memory of Egyptian food involves buffet pap and bread shaped like crocodiles. Not that I didn’t find the latter amusing. It’s just that my gag reflex still engages when I think back to the grit-marinated kebab meal we had on the outskirts of the Khan el-Khalili market.
But yes, okay, I hear you. You get the point. Tony’s show is phenomenal. It’s transcendent. It’s to be seen. And you are going to watch it so I don’t have to keep beating a dead horse into a tender succulent meal prepared by a village-dwelling culinary master like the ones Tony invariably meets weekly in his travels.
Don’t worry, next week is the Season Finale, so you won’t have to hear from me on the subject for a few more months. Until then, tune in. And maybe read Tonys blog while youre at it.
Well, it’s hard.
He started his television career off so irascibly, but has mellowed through the past three seasons like a fine cheese. There’s depth to him. Yes, he’s still cantankerous and that’s one reason to love him, but he’s also sentimental in a very manly and appropriate way.
For those of you who just watched the past two weeks’ episodes with him in Japan and Spain respectively, you know what I’m talking about. And for those of you who didn’t, please set your TiVos now. There will certainly be repeated airings.
Next week he explores Egypt. Having spent a good deal of time there last year, I’m curious what gastronomic successes he finds. Besides the koshary, my only memory of Egyptian food involves buffet pap and bread shaped like crocodiles. Not that I didn’t find the latter amusing. It’s just that my gag reflex still engages when I think back to the grit-marinated kebab meal we had on the outskirts of the Khan el-Khalili market.
But yes, okay, I hear you. You get the point. Tony’s show is phenomenal. It’s transcendent. It’s to be seen. And you are going to watch it so I don’t have to keep beating a dead horse into a tender succulent meal prepared by a village-dwelling culinary master like the ones Tony invariably meets weekly in his travels.
Don’t worry, next week is the Season Finale, so you won’t have to hear from me on the subject for a few more months. Until then, tune in. And maybe read Tonys blog while youre at it.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
ATV SAFETY EDUCATION WORKSHOP
Alachua County Public Safety / 4-HATV Safety Education WorkshopFor youth ages 8-16LEARN ATVSAFETY KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLSIN AFUN, SAFE, FAST PACEDCLASSROOM ATMOSPHEREThere is no ATV riding in this workshopJuly 18,2008At Christian Life Fellowship Church19817 W Newberry RoadNewberryFREE PARENTS’ ORIENTATION 9:00-9:45 AMYOUTH CLASSES 9:00-4:00 PMYouth supervision is possible 8-9 am and from 4-5 pm with advance notice.To Register call 352-384-3106 or email lsw@alachuacounty.usRegistration Fee: $ 5.00 payable at the workshopMake checks out to Alachua County 4HBring a lunch, drinks and snacks will be provided.For persons requiring special accommodations to 4-H activities contact Ernie Terry at (352)955-2402 or TDD/TYY (352)955-2406. Please call at least five working days prior to the program so that proper consideration may be given to the request. Upon request, for persons with print-related disabilities, this information is available in alternate formats. 4-H is for youth ages 5-18. Membership is open to all youth regardless of race, creed, color, sex, national origin, handicap or geographic location within Alachua County.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Honda, GS Yuasa JV to make lithium-ion batteries for 2010/2011 Honda Civic Hybrid
greencarcongress.com :
The Nikkei reports that Blue Energy Co, the newly-formed joint venture between Honda and GS Yuasa will begin mass-producing high-performance lithium ion batteries for hybrid vehicles in the spring of 2011. This 51-49 joint venture of Yuasa and Honda is expected to start building a lithium ion battery plant this month at Yuasa's Osadano plant, in Kyoto Prefecture, at an estimated initial cost of 10 billion yen [US$100 million] or so. The production is expected to begin at a level sufficient for 100,000 vehicles a year. Honda plans to start using lithium ion batteries with the 2010/2011 Honda Civic Hybrid.
- Thanks to greencarcongress.com for the heads-up, though some details are scarce at this point in time, and I'm not quite sure on the date or year (2010? 2011?) of the next version of the Honda Civic Hybrid as well. But it is starting to look like Honda is getting serious about adopting lithium-ion battery technology for its next generation of hybrid vehicles.
I hope to see the questions that need to be raised being answerered in time. Questions on factors such as safety, reliabity, longevity, price, temperature response and so on. Another point to note is that apparently the Japanese players (Nissan, Toyota and now Honda) are going their own way, perhaps on a divergent path from the Americans (A123Systems, Chevrolet) in this nascent field of lithium-ion hybrid batteries. We'll see how things turn out.
Update #1 : Okay so I missed the earlier announcement with some of the details :
GS Yuasa 6Ah-class prismatic Li-ion EH6 cell ... the new venture will explore modifying the cathode materials and cell structure to optimize performance for next-generation hybrid vehicles. The EH6 ... is a 3.7V, 6Ah cell with a LiNiCoMnO2 cathode and carbon anode. Specific energy for the cell is 67.1 Wh kg-1 ... the cell can provide 10 seconds of boost power at 50% SOC of 1.2 kW (3,600 W kg at 25° C).
Update #2 : Some info about low-temperature response :
It has excellent low-temperature characteristics, maintaining 90% capacity even at -30*C.
Update #3 : And some more info on safety and longevity, and probably a little bit more than you or I have ever wanted to know about SOC measurement, calibration, and data acquisition chips :
The safety of Li-ion was a concern, but new battery technologies like the A123 nanophosphate cell, the EnerDel Spinel-Titanate chemistry, the GS Yuasa EH6 design and others are as safe as NiMh, offer extremely high power (200A peak discharge rates), and last 10 to 15 years with proper charge management. By model year 2012, the majority of hybrid cars and trucks will use lithium battery technology.
It's assuring to see that this Yuasa EH6 battery is being mentioned in the same sentence as A123Systems' nanotech cell. I would like to see more data to be sure, but if this means that the next generation of lithium-ion hybrid batteries from the Japanese could be as competitive as those from the Americans, then I probably wouldn't need to worry about having to switch away from my preferred brand :)
See also :
1. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
2. 2010 Honda Insight specifications released : 41 mpg, 1.3L, 98hp, i-VTEC, CVT
3. 2010 Honda Insight hybrid concept to debut at 2008 Paris International Auto Show
The Nikkei reports that Blue Energy Co, the newly-formed joint venture between Honda and GS Yuasa will begin mass-producing high-performance lithium ion batteries for hybrid vehicles in the spring of 2011. This 51-49 joint venture of Yuasa and Honda is expected to start building a lithium ion battery plant this month at Yuasa's Osadano plant, in Kyoto Prefecture, at an estimated initial cost of 10 billion yen [US$100 million] or so. The production is expected to begin at a level sufficient for 100,000 vehicles a year. Honda plans to start using lithium ion batteries with the 2010/2011 Honda Civic Hybrid.
- Thanks to greencarcongress.com for the heads-up, though some details are scarce at this point in time, and I'm not quite sure on the date or year (2010? 2011?) of the next version of the Honda Civic Hybrid as well. But it is starting to look like Honda is getting serious about adopting lithium-ion battery technology for its next generation of hybrid vehicles.
I hope to see the questions that need to be raised being answerered in time. Questions on factors such as safety, reliabity, longevity, price, temperature response and so on. Another point to note is that apparently the Japanese players (Nissan, Toyota and now Honda) are going their own way, perhaps on a divergent path from the Americans (A123Systems, Chevrolet) in this nascent field of lithium-ion hybrid batteries. We'll see how things turn out.
Update #1 : Okay so I missed the earlier announcement with some of the details :
GS Yuasa 6Ah-class prismatic Li-ion EH6 cell ... the new venture will explore modifying the cathode materials and cell structure to optimize performance for next-generation hybrid vehicles. The EH6 ... is a 3.7V, 6Ah cell with a LiNiCoMnO2 cathode and carbon anode. Specific energy for the cell is 67.1 Wh kg-1 ... the cell can provide 10 seconds of boost power at 50% SOC of 1.2 kW (3,600 W kg at 25° C).
Update #2 : Some info about low-temperature response :
It has excellent low-temperature characteristics, maintaining 90% capacity even at -30*C.
Update #3 : And some more info on safety and longevity, and probably a little bit more than you or I have ever wanted to know about SOC measurement, calibration, and data acquisition chips :
The safety of Li-ion was a concern, but new battery technologies like the A123 nanophosphate cell, the EnerDel Spinel-Titanate chemistry, the GS Yuasa EH6 design and others are as safe as NiMh, offer extremely high power (200A peak discharge rates), and last 10 to 15 years with proper charge management. By model year 2012, the majority of hybrid cars and trucks will use lithium battery technology.
It's assuring to see that this Yuasa EH6 battery is being mentioned in the same sentence as A123Systems' nanotech cell. I would like to see more data to be sure, but if this means that the next generation of lithium-ion hybrid batteries from the Japanese could be as competitive as those from the Americans, then I probably wouldn't need to worry about having to switch away from my preferred brand :)
See also :
1. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
2. 2010 Honda Insight specifications released : 41 mpg, 1.3L, 98hp, i-VTEC, CVT
3. 2010 Honda Insight hybrid concept to debut at 2008 Paris International Auto Show
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Peter Pandemic
Three days ago, I felt like crap. Sudden onset aches, chills, and nausea with a 100 degree plus fever. I didn't go home because I did not want to expose my family to Mexican pig flu. I had not been south of the border recently, but plenty of people around here have been, so I figured my exposure was not zero. I called my doc from the car and headed to the hospital. He called back and persuaded me to go home. Without respiratory symptoms, he wasn't worried about swine flu. I slept in a separate part of the house anyway, just to make sure. And felt better the next day.A flu scare is not a trivial thing. In sight of my office is one of the largest wards of the disastrous 1918 flu pandemic -- Oakland's Kaiser Convention Center. But 2009 is not looking like 1918. We do not know what course the H1N1 virus will take but it is hard to build a bad scenario out of the numbers we have seen so far. An unfortunate toddler hauled to Texas from Mexico is the only US casualty of this wimpy epidemic. Imagine if instead of one death this week, we had seen 1,400 people dead from flu -- 200 a day. The media would be in a panic -- and so, trust me, would everybody with a fever caused by dodgy seafood.But 1,400 deaths per week from flu is normal during flu season in the United States. Tragic and worth fighting -- but normal. Some 36,000 people die during the six cold months of each year that we call flu season. How big a threat is H1N1? It looks like an outbreak that refuses to grow up. Last Wednesday, as I recovered, there were about 85 confirmed swine flu cases in the US. On Thursday, there were 109. Today there are 141. Mexico, which last week thought several hundred people had died from swine flu now believes that the number is 15 -- and in many of those cases nobody figured out what the disease was until too late. In general, swine flu has caused very mild symptoms. Nobody should ever turn their back on a potential pandemic virus. I keep six weeks food and water for my family in my basement, along with an assortment of emergency supplies. We have disaster plans, go bags on our cars, back up phones, and rendezvous plans. I never miss a flu shot and have faithfully issued paranoid warnings about flu risk here, here, and here. I live on an earthquake fault, trained as a paramedic, and frankly bow to nobody in my disaster preparedness. When I came home sick Tuesday, I asked my wife to scrub with alcohol any surfaced I had recently touched. I may be a barking certifiable disaster crank (sue me, I sleep better), but as disasters go, H1N1 is not looking all that disastrous. Exponential growth of the sort that a truly contagious virus brings would have added a zero to the number of incidents every few days. Keep your fingers crossed, but if the US does not see 1,000 flu cases by this time next week, this thing is a goner. H1N1 will Peter out -- at least from the headlines. Even the CDC decided not to interrupt normal seasonal vaccine production to crank out emergency H1N1 vaccines -- the epidemiological case for doing so is way too weak, even if the political pressure is not. This turns out to be an odd virus -- so odd, that I wonder if the smart move is not to deliberately become infected. The disease is trivial at this stage -- less lethal than seasonal flu -- but the risk is that it mutates over the summer and comes back lethal in the fall. If exposure to the H1N1 now conferred immunity later in the year, I'd consider the risk carefully. By the way, one reason that H1N1 may not be so lethal is that the virus has been circulating, thanks perhaps to bugs that got out of a germ warfare lab. Even though health officials are calling this new virus H1N1, that's also the type of virus that's in wide circulation today. And it has an interesting history. It was the dominant flu virus through the 1920s, '30s and '40s. (John Oxford of the Royal London Hospital) says it disappeared in 1957, when it was displaced by another flu virus. But then a strain of H1N1 suddenly reappeared in 1977. "Now where could it have come from?" he asks. "We reckon now, in retrospect, it was probably released accidentally from a laboratory, probably in northern China or just across the border in Russia, because everyone was experimenting with those viruses at the time in the lab." It was nothing malicious, Oxford believes, just some flu vaccine research that broke out of containment. The descendents of this virus are still circulating. He notes that most people who have encountered the newly emerged H1N1 virus seem to have developed only mild disease, and he speculates that's because we have all been exposed to a distant cousin, the H1N1 virus that emerged in the 1970s. "That escaped virus perhaps will provide some benefit now in the face of this pig thing," Oxford says. If the virus dies off over the summer, many will bow and take credit. Applaud, but don't believe it. The 1917 flu died out and came back lethal a year later. So in spite of a really impressive national (CDC) and global (WHO) response to H1N1, if the virus turns out to be too weak to spread efficiently or fails to mutate to a more viral form, our day will have been saved not by heroic human efforts but by the force of nature that shields more people than vaccines ever will -- dumb luck.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Spicy Start to the New Year!
A Spicy Start to the New Year! To start 2009 off, we couldn't have forgotten our "lucky" black-eyed peas. And since we thought of home, i.e. Texas, we made some spicy black-eyed pea casserole with spanish rice:Spicy Black-eyed Pea Casserole15 oz can black eyed peas, drained1 4 oz can green chiles15 oz can diced tomatoes, canned, unsalted1 1/4- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano1/4-1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning1/2 tsp cumin1 med. garlic, minced1/2 cup onion, diced2/3 cup green bell pepper, diced1/4 tsp salt3/4 cup canned corn1/4 tsp jalapeno powdercooked spanish riceolive oilChop vegetables (garlic through bell pepper) and saute on stove slightly. While sauteing, combine spices. Once veggies cooked, add rest of ingredients except rice and oil, and heat through. Serve over spanish rice, drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle more spices to taste.How about more spicy authentic Spanish food - Tortilla Soup!This is the best tortilla soup! Spicy, flavorful, healthy, and authentic!Spicy Tortilla Soup1/2 cup chopped onion1 -2 cloves minced garlic1 Tbsp Bragg's2 cups water1/2 cup fresh salsa1 can no-salt added diced tomatoes (~1 3/4 cup), with juice1/8 tsp salt (omit if have salted tomatoes)3/4 - 1 cup black beans (from a can, rinsed)1 tsp ground cumin1/2 fresh chopped cilantro (we like lots, and used about 1/4 cup?)1/2 Tbsp lime juiceoptional: cooked corn, green chiliesWhen serving: avocado slices and tortilla chips, optional nutritional yeastWe actually had this soup with Just Tomatoes' "Just Veggies (freeze-dried peas, corn, bell peppers...), which was good, but we would like to try corn in the summer and green chiles. Even sundried tomatoes would be a different but good addition.To cook, we just prepped everything to have the soup later in the week, but you can cook this soup in a slow cooker (add all ingredients except avocado and tortilla chips) or just heat soup over the stove in a big pot, making sure to saute onion and garlic slightly first.Top your soup with avocado, tortilla chips, and nutritional yeast!Hope you get enough spice this new year to kick off a new you (hey, maybe that spice will motivate you in keeping your resolutions!). - LK
Monday, June 22, 2009
Eco Chick’s Totally Unofficial and Entirely Subjective Earth Day Fashion and Beauty Awards
Everyones doing awards these days (Treehuggers Best of Green, The Daily Greens Heart of Green), and most of the sites include some kind of public participation and voting of some sort. Well, I wanted to do awards for some of my favorite things from the past year, and the only voter was ME! Ive been doing the green thing for quite some time and I like to think I know a little something, after all! (Really I wasnt organized enough to get a post up last week and didnt know how to tabulate votes and stuff). Without further ado, here are some of my favorite fabulously green things from the past year: Best Eco Fashion and Beauty Coverage from a Mainstream Publication 1st Place: Lucky Magazine wins this one hands down! The last year has featured not one, but TWO beautiful, entirely ecofashion spreads, and at least four natural beauty articles (including one with the fantastic Summer Rayne Oakes). Their support of eco fashion designers and boutiques is unsurpassed, and in their inexplicable (and totally enviable) way, they make everything look extra fabulous and totally easy to incorporate into ones own life. Check their online eco sourcebooks (including beauty, denim, shoes and more) for ideas and brands that have been covered in the mag. Thanks Lucky! 2nd Place: Elle Magazine has done some serious work this past year covering eco friendly designers, in the always ahead-of-the-trends way that only Elle does. Elle gets special mention for digging up lots of amazing jewelry designers who use recycled metals, unusual materials (ancient walrus tusks anyone?) and Earth-friendly processes in their designs. Honorable Mention: Shape Magazine isnt a fashion mag- I read it for the strength training tips because Ive become an obsessive gym rat in the last six months (its the BEST way for dealing with stress and makes your legs way more sculpted than a vodka martini). Shape gets kudos not only for their kick-butt strategies and healthy-eating tips (though more veg recipies would be nice!) AND their love-your-real-body stories, but sprinkled throughout each and every issue are small ways to go green (from products to new foods and drinks to actions and new companies), indicated with a little green leaf. Their April environment issue featured several great eco articles; thanks to the (no-doubt superfit) women at Shape for connecting the dots between womens health and the health of the planet. Best New Beauty Product Trend 1st Place: Oil! We spent the nineties and aughts banishing fats and oil from our diets and from our skin care routines (and from our skin). Well, turns out, our bodies need (good) fat and our skin definitely need oil- in fact, as Eco Chick beauty writer Stephanie Rogers pointed out, one of the best ways to a less-oily complexion is to use some good oils on your skin, since the skin overproduces oil when its lacking it- so organic facial oils actually cut down on shine. I swear by Saaf facial oil- it is completely organic, smells amazing, and both Stephanie (oily combo skin) and I (dry/very dry skin) use it with great results. I also use facial oil for my decolletage and neck before I go to bed. 2nd Place: Getting Beautiful from the Inside Out- One of the simplest ways to get great skin and hair, prevent aging, and reduce acne is a healthy diet filled with lots of high-antioxidant fruits and veggies, healthy fats from sources like nuts (especially coconut), green tea rather than coffee, and of course, plenty of filtered tap water. Ive been supplementing my pretty damn healthy (except for the aforementioned martinis) vegetarian diet with aloe supplements and Murads Pure Skin Clarifying vitamins , which have worked wonders on my skin by providing a boost of yellow dock, burdock, Vitamin E, and Zinc. Honorable Mention: DIY Hair and Face Masks- Ive been using the inside skin of papayas and mangos as a natural fruit acid treatment, and avocado and honey hair masks for the last couple of years, but lately Ive seen quite a few mainstream pubs pushing this old-school hippie idea. Probably because its super-affordable with so many women are looking for less-expensive alternatives to high-priced treatments, this one is way low-impact on the planet too (no packaging!). Best New Ecofashion Trend Talla Cuteness 1st Place: Attention to Dyes- never before have there been so many natural or low-impact dyes been available (well, since the Industrial Revolution anyway; before that ALL dyes were pretty ecofriendly). And none too soon! Heavy metal pollution from dyes is a serious concern in Third-world Countries where our clothes are colored-up. From Virginia Johnsons graphic printed scarves, to Tallas bright floral patterns on silk, there are tons of eco designers working to find more sustainable dyes. While natural colors still tend to dominate (see Barneys house line by Philip Lim and John Patrick Organics dreamy prairie visions) as a color-lover I never have any problem finding fun, bright colored outfits from my fave eco fashion designers. In fact, Im wearing a fun Mediterranean-blue organic linen dress by NaturevsFuture right now! :) 2nd Place: HOT Shoes- This year saw ecofriendly shoes go from cute and totally wearable to Damn!! Cri de Coeur doesnt seem to make an unsexy shoe (even their boots scream yank me off and do me! - or maybe thats just me) to Olsen Haus sharp yet kicky vegan stilettos and Charmones yummy pumps. Best Tech to Green Up Your Life on the Go 1st Place: iPhone Applications- So Apple is hardly the greenest computer company on the planet (far from it, and shame on you Apple!) but I have an iPhone and despite the fact that Ive broken one and had one stolen, I keep going back- the applications are awesome! From HopStop, that helps me navigate the ever-confusing isle of Manhattan (Ive saved money and gas NOT hopping in cabs because I get such good directions from HopStop instead) to Craigsmobilelist, there are just lots of ways you can use your phone to cut down on energy use, and shop smarter. How great that one can find local green businesses (restos, dry cleaners, green salons, and more) at Greenopia.com (there will be an iPhone application coming in the next month, for now you can search using the web browser). Power of information, for the planet! 2nd Place: Proliferation of Laptops as Primary Computer- They use 90% less electricity than a desktop, and these puppies are powerful, as well as portable- what could be better? Ive been using a Macbook as my only computer for about a year now and Ive been able to do everything I need to do, and Im on a computer all day, every day as a blogger, writer and editor.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Keeping the Bar Tab Down
I often get questions from readers who are having tented weddings, or weddings in locations where they can provide their own alcohol. This is a great plus, but, if you aren't careful, it can end up being nearly as costly as having a bar package at a catering hall or restaurant. Here are some great tips for keeping your bar costs down:1) Taste Test and Budget. Even if you are only serving beer and wine, you can blow all that savings by selecting a pricey vino. Have a night of taste testing where you invite some friends over to bring their favorite bottle of wine that's $10 or less. Do a blind tasting and decide on a winner together.... the next day.2) Limit the amount of hard liquors you serve. You don't need to offer the same varied selection that one might find at their local pub. Pick a few crowd pleasers: vodka, rum, a whiskey and you should be more than fine with all the right mixers.3) Consider a location for purchasing the alcohol that allows "buy back". Guests drink an average of 6 drinks at a wedding. That's a lot of liquor. However, most couples are so afraid of running out, that they over purchase. See if you can buy from some place that "busy back", it will make it much easier at the end.4) Add a signature drink. Consider only offering Beer, Wine and a great signature drink. We did a wedding with a gorgeous limoncello recently and it was served in an awesome glass dispenser. It made a great showpiece and kept the costs down. Are you offering a full bar? Do you have any cost saving tips to share?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Fantasy Errata has given up on the Nationals bullpen
Washington Nationals, I quit. You have defeated me. I am a relentless save vulture-r, nose constantly to the ground for the faintest whispers of an injured stopper. But, having gone through Beimel, Wells, Tavarez, and Hanrahan in multiple leagues, some of them more than once. I am done with this situation. -- Poor Greinke. Too bad you aren't in the NL, like Yovani Gallardo, who knows how to get shit done himself when his teammates suck. The entire Kansas City lineup better have avoided eye contact with Zack the rest of the night. For what's it worth, Hanrahan saved (in ugly fashion) the last game, so I guess go with him. -- Rivera seems like he did just fine tonight. -- Carl Crawford had one of the ugliest lefty v. righty pitcher at-bats I have ever seen tonight. Yeah, Papelbon throws gas, but maybe he should have been able to identify THE SAME PITCH THROWN SAME FOUR STRAIGHT TIMES! -- David Ortiz=stick a fork in him. I think Abreu and B.J. Upton not only homer before him, but have more homers than him. He looks like he can't get his hands sorted out to power on breaking balls, and his bat speed is to slow to get around on anything but a mistake fast ball. He just looks awful, and the fact that he apparently has no intention of adjusting his stance or getting off the plate does not bode well. It's amusing to watch other owners play David Ortiz every day, for fear that he'll suddenly break out. -- I hate it when Yahoo runs articles on players I have waiver claims on. Chris Coughlan* (*I'm not even going to go look it up) should be 2B/3B/OF eligible within two to three weeks, and stolen base potential from an MI position is gold. He had 34 in the minor leagues last year in less than 500 at-bats, and we all know how the Marlins run. -- Two questions: why is Ben Zobrist not starting in the OF for the Rays every game, and why is he unowned in so many leagues? Gabe Kapler (who should have been cut after Swisher struck him out before he even got back to the dugout) is blocking him? HAHAHAHAH. Gabe Kapler may have the body of a greek god, but he should be getting out of the way for Zobrist soon. -- Verlander buy low opportunities are long gone, but maybe Edwin Jackson is available? Only one walk (and that was in the last frame of his appearance) in his last start made me a believer. -- So many vulture opportunities ... yeah, they say it's only 15 days, but who knows when Soria gets back? I'd pick up Cruz immediately (he's a damn good reliever anyway, even if he only weighs 145 and is 6'2"). Farnsworth ... oh boy. Well, maybe the Royals turn to Farnsworth, and closing gigs are actually easier than middle relief, but I'd have to be desperate. -- Grabow owners, hope you cut him when you heard Capps was coming back. I know I did. Whew. -- Latroy Hawkins is doing pretty damn well. I actually think he's a buy low, not a sell high. Find an owner convinced that Valverde will be healthy for the rest of the year and offer up some scrap for him. -- Christian Guzman: NO. -- I only have Adam Dunn in one of my two leagues this year. Damn. Every one of his ratios is pointing to a career year, particularly the line drive rate. -- Jose Reyes has been heating up lately, but not enough to satisfy me! Produce shithead! -- Aramis Ramirez=complete bitch. Alexei Ramirez owners, he's doing EXACTLY what he did last year. I'd buy low on him/pick him up off the waiver wire. I mean, shortstop is a blackhole this year. He still may go 20/20, and given that he has six stolen bases already, 15/30 ain't that bad, either. -- Brad Lidge has just been awful. Awful. Should have gone with my gut and taken Broxton (I thought Broxton would come back to me). Gotta own Madson, folks. These lingering knee issues have all the signs of being with Lidge for the rest of his career.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
trading under book value
A Company's Book Value is defined by Investopedia as follows:1. It is the total value of the company's assets that shareholders would theoretically receive if a company were liquidated.2. By being compared to the company's market value, the book value can indicate whether a stock is under- or overpriced.The Price to Book ratio is used to compare a stock's market value to it's book value. The following stocks have been beaten down to the point where their market price is actually less than their liquidation value (book value). Therefore in a way the company is getting little credit for any future earnings, and in fact the market is betting earnings will decline and is valuing the company at less than the sum of it's parts. Another way to look at it is that the market is betting that book value will decline due to company specific issues.TD Bank (TD) 0.96x bookCP Rail (CP) 0.93x bookPetro Canada (PCA) 0.83x bookGeneral Electric (GE) 0.86x bookFord Motor (F) 0.75x bookBank of Montreal (BMO) 0.81x bookDow Chemical (DOW) 0.54x bookWhen you look at the Price to Book ratio for a stock it is important to note what assets the company owns and how they earn money. For example Microsoft (MSFT) has a very high Price to Book ratio of 4.4x because their main income source is from selling software that smart people develop in offices, versus Toyota Motor (TM) who manufactures automobiles in enormous facilities filled with expensive equipment and supplies; they have a low Price to Book of just over 1x. Generally companies that own and market softer goods bearing well recognized brands and having competitive advantages will have higher Price to Book ratios. This contrasts against more economically sensitive firms, and hard goods firms who's goods or services trend more toward commodities and less towards brands and intellectual property.thanks for subscribing to the moneygardener...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
is technology making people lazy and overweight?
DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE HAVE BECOME LAZY AND GOTTEN FAT BECAUSE OF TODAY'S
TECHNOLOGY? WHEN I WAS YOUNG WE DIDNT HAVE MICROWAVES AND REMOTE CONTROLS. WE
HAD TO GET UP AND CHANGE THE CHANNEL MANUALLY. IT SOUNDS CRAZY AND DREADFUL.
I DONT WANT TO SCARE YOUNG PEOPLE OUT THERE IN myLot LAND BUT YES WE ACTUALLY
HAD TO GET UP AND CHANGE THE CHANNEL DIRECTLY. WE ALSO HAD TO USE THE STOVE
TO HEAT THINGS UP. WHEN MICROWAVES CAME OUT, PEOPLE WERE AMAZED. MICROWAVE
POPCORN WAS INGENIUS. COMPARED TO WHAT WE HAVE TODAY THOSE THINGS SEEM SO
SMALL. DVD'S AND DIRECT TV HAVE MADE IT SO WE DONT HAVE TO GO TO THE MOVIES.
WE CAN JUST STAY AT HOME. NO MORE DRIVE-INS, MINI GOLF,NOT TOO MANY ARCADES.
WE CAN GET IT ALL AT HOME. EVEN IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC TO DOGS, YOU CAN NOW ADOPT
A VIRTUAL PET. ALL THESE THINGS ARE GREAT. HOWEVER, PEOPLE ARE BECOMING LAZY.
WHY SHOULD THEY GO OUT WHEN THEY CAN GET ON THE COMPUTER AND DO THINGS
VIRTUALLY. THE AVERAGE WEIGHT INDEX IS HIGHER. THEY HAVE TO CHANGE THE
CRITERIA. NOW ITS BASED ON LOTS OF TECHNOLGICAL FACTORS. DO YOU THINK PEOPLE
ARE BECOMING LAZY AND OVERWEIGHT DUE TO THE WAY TECHNOLOGY HAS MAD OUR LIVES
EASIER? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON TECHNOLOGY?
TECHNOLOGY? WHEN I WAS YOUNG WE DIDNT HAVE MICROWAVES AND REMOTE CONTROLS. WE
HAD TO GET UP AND CHANGE THE CHANNEL MANUALLY. IT SOUNDS CRAZY AND DREADFUL.
I DONT WANT TO SCARE YOUNG PEOPLE OUT THERE IN myLot LAND BUT YES WE ACTUALLY
HAD TO GET UP AND CHANGE THE CHANNEL DIRECTLY. WE ALSO HAD TO USE THE STOVE
TO HEAT THINGS UP. WHEN MICROWAVES CAME OUT, PEOPLE WERE AMAZED. MICROWAVE
POPCORN WAS INGENIUS. COMPARED TO WHAT WE HAVE TODAY THOSE THINGS SEEM SO
SMALL. DVD'S AND DIRECT TV HAVE MADE IT SO WE DONT HAVE TO GO TO THE MOVIES.
WE CAN JUST STAY AT HOME. NO MORE DRIVE-INS, MINI GOLF,NOT TOO MANY ARCADES.
WE CAN GET IT ALL AT HOME. EVEN IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC TO DOGS, YOU CAN NOW ADOPT
A VIRTUAL PET. ALL THESE THINGS ARE GREAT. HOWEVER, PEOPLE ARE BECOMING LAZY.
WHY SHOULD THEY GO OUT WHEN THEY CAN GET ON THE COMPUTER AND DO THINGS
VIRTUALLY. THE AVERAGE WEIGHT INDEX IS HIGHER. THEY HAVE TO CHANGE THE
CRITERIA. NOW ITS BASED ON LOTS OF TECHNOLGICAL FACTORS. DO YOU THINK PEOPLE
ARE BECOMING LAZY AND OVERWEIGHT DUE TO THE WAY TECHNOLOGY HAS MAD OUR LIVES
EASIER? WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON TECHNOLOGY?
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fear-conditioned respiration and its association to cardiac reactivity.
Related Articles Fear-conditioned respiration and its association to cardiac reactivity. Biol Psychol. 2009 Feb;80(2):212-7 Authors: Van Diest I, Bradley MM, Guerra P, Van den Bergh O, Lang PJ This study aimed to investigate ventilatory correlates of conditioned fear responses. Respiratory, end-tidal carbon dioxide pressure (PetCO(2)) and heart rate changes were studied in a differential fear-conditioning paradigm. Forty-two participants viewed pictures of faces. One picture (CS+) was followed by a human scream (US) during the acquisition phase, but not in a subsequent extinction phase. Conditioning of PetCO(2) (decrease), respiratory cycle time (decrease) and inspiratory duty time (increase) was established and subsequently extinguished. When participants were clustered according to their conditioned PetCO(2) responses during acquisition, only a group showing a conditioned decrease in PetCO(2) showed also a differential cardiac acceleration, a decrease in expiratory duration and an increase in inspiratory duty time in response to the CS+. These results suggest that preparation for defensive action is characterized by a tendency towards hyperventilation and cardiac acceleration. PMID: 18955105 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
A little advice
Okay, so basically I'm trying to shift my diet here. And, I'm trying to start off with a bit of a wheat grass cleanse. I'm putting about two scoops of powder in a glass of water and trying to take it straight. Kinda treating it like my new "real man's whiskey".
On the one hand, when I get the stuff down, I get this sort of energetic hum from my body. I don't really know how to describe it, you could kinda call it a warmth. I just call it "the hum", and take is as a nutritional yes from some part of my system.
On the OTHER hand, this stuff tastes like booty. Pure, hot, wet, booty. I can usually only take four or five drinks from the glass before I am borderline vomit-gagging. This is followed by a comical routine from my gastro-intestinal tract...a symphony of gurgling and bubbling that I can only refer to as "the bog of eternal stench".
I then end up standing in front of the mirror, thinking about my next glass of wheat grass, chanting to my self, "chase the hum". I then realise what I'm doing -- a grown man standing in front of the mirror, talking about a mystic hum, worried about my next helping of something people buy for their pets at petco...and I'm drinking it.
So, my questions:
1) Are you guys really sure humans are supposed to eat this stuff? Don't get me wrong, I've come around to the belief that we aren't nearly as designed for meat and animal products as we think -- but THIS stuff? ARE YOU SURE? Why would my body react so nausiatingly to something so good for it?
2) Is there something that I can mix with the wheat grass and water, like some sort of juice or something, that will make this more palletable but NOT interfere with the work of the cleanse, or this whole acid-alkaline thing I'm trying to accomplish? I'm all about the hard road, but come on...seriously, two minutes after drinking this, my farts smell like wheat grass and my significant other walks in and goes, "why does it smell like the pet store in here?".
I'm trying to get a handle on reforming from the standard american diet, and the health issues that has caused, and yeah, I was about as standard american diet as you could go.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
On the one hand, when I get the stuff down, I get this sort of energetic hum from my body. I don't really know how to describe it, you could kinda call it a warmth. I just call it "the hum", and take is as a nutritional yes from some part of my system.
On the OTHER hand, this stuff tastes like booty. Pure, hot, wet, booty. I can usually only take four or five drinks from the glass before I am borderline vomit-gagging. This is followed by a comical routine from my gastro-intestinal tract...a symphony of gurgling and bubbling that I can only refer to as "the bog of eternal stench".
I then end up standing in front of the mirror, thinking about my next glass of wheat grass, chanting to my self, "chase the hum". I then realise what I'm doing -- a grown man standing in front of the mirror, talking about a mystic hum, worried about my next helping of something people buy for their pets at petco...and I'm drinking it.
So, my questions:
1) Are you guys really sure humans are supposed to eat this stuff? Don't get me wrong, I've come around to the belief that we aren't nearly as designed for meat and animal products as we think -- but THIS stuff? ARE YOU SURE? Why would my body react so nausiatingly to something so good for it?
2) Is there something that I can mix with the wheat grass and water, like some sort of juice or something, that will make this more palletable but NOT interfere with the work of the cleanse, or this whole acid-alkaline thing I'm trying to accomplish? I'm all about the hard road, but come on...seriously, two minutes after drinking this, my farts smell like wheat grass and my significant other walks in and goes, "why does it smell like the pet store in here?".
I'm trying to get a handle on reforming from the standard american diet, and the health issues that has caused, and yeah, I was about as standard american diet as you could go.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Roseville Antique Market...part 2
As I had begun to share in my last post, the Tattered House coordinated this event, and they did a phenomenal job. The morning began slowly with a kick off time of 8:00 a.m. (it was Sunday after all) and things really picked up speed by 9:30 or so. So many shoppers, nice people and blog readers!!! When our booth wasn't filled with shoppers, the other Tracey and I took turns walking around through the other booths, meeting people and shopping. Oh, the display ideas we saw! Clinton and Becky had a booth space right in front of the Tattered House. They have a room at the Tattered House and their taste and style were absolutely amazing. She's an artist, and he is a natural born design guru...and on top of that, they were the nicest folks anyone ever met! Linda from La Maison Rustique was there, with her hubbs and her sweet, sweet lil' egg shaped trailer, which was part of her booth. (Talk about a fabulous idea!!!!) The trailer filled about half of her booth, and she had wonderful items set up outside as well. Jacque's booth was mainly rusted garden items and salvage. Her sweetie was there helping also, and they certainly have great style.Oh! The wonderful things she had in there....carts, trays, old gates...and spectacular old treasures for inside the home too. (The other Tracey got a vintage typewriter exactly like mine!) The Tattered House itself was open for shopping as well. It was eye candy heaven, I swear.Here are some shots of just a few nooks and crannies inside the shop. Um...just a couple shots of some details in Clinton and Becky's room in the Tattered House.... (I told you they were talented!) If you're ever anywhere near Roseville California, you have simply got to stop by. Erica and Sandy completely reaarange the fabulous shop every week! Our booth space looked like a sad, picked over yard sale by the end of the Market (and that's a very good thing!!!) and we headed for home, so happy we both felt we might explode from the overwhelming feeling of contentment and satisfaction...from bliss
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Bestest Wkend
Have been having fun since Thur! Took 0.5 day off from work and started our entertainment night! Caught Wolverine at Marina sq before meeting up with the guys for Cats.I have been looking forward to this musical since last Dec when we bought our tix. It's definitely worth watching!! though dear preferred Phantom to this..Overall setsHaving bought the most ex tix, we had the chance to come really upclose & personal with the 'cats'.. one actually brushed herself against me (shd be Rumpleteazer) with her mane (since I sat the closest to the aisle) during the interval!and another who mischieviously took an audience's umbrella to play..The casts were really marvellous! I wonder how long they've actually observe the real cats to portray those lazy stretchings, elegant walkings and many other detailed movements!! They must be great gymnast as well! Every moves seemed so easy n light!!My fav part was the 'Macavity cats' scene.. very catchy tune and I love their moves.. I recalled back in KC when the ELDDS actually acted this scene as well... "Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity....He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity....And when you reach the scene of crime Macavity's not there!"And of course, the most famous 'Memories' song was pretty touching."Memory All alone in the moonlight I can smile at the old days I was beautiful then I remember the time I knew what happiness was Let the memory live again ..."All in all, Cats was really breathtaking! Was soaking in the atmosphere and counting to the beat of the music... Shall catch Les Misérables when they are here in Spore the next time round!Met the guys for a drinking session last night at City Space. Another great pat-toh location with soothing live music & stunning night view on the 70th floor. Thanks hh for organizing! I must also applaud sq for making the effort to gel his hair. The first time in 2 yrs I've seen him so prim & proper.The guys gave cheers to each others' '5 yrs from now, I will......'May all their wishes comes true and I truely love this bunch of guys!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Lady Blackbird, but not Lady Blackbird
Last week we had decided that our Wednesday game this week would be a playetst for Revolucion, a game I've been working on. Prior to the game I had been thinking about having the scenario be the Crimson Sky rebellion against the Empire in the Lady Blackbird setting, but I wasn't sure John would be cool with expanding the setting under another set of rules. John, on the other hand, was thinking I'd be sick of Lady Blackbird (or something) and wouldn't want to use this playtest to run it. Once we figured out that we both had the same idea, the rest of the group got on board.So yeah, we played Lady Blackbird (the setting) without Lady Blackbird (the rules). Revolucion is a game where you play out the overthrowing of some power (The Regime) by your revolutionaries/insurrectionists (the Movement). This fits great into something John mentioned in Lady Blackbird, The Crimson Sky movement against the Empire.We ended up making up lots of details for an area that isn't touched much in the existing Lady Blackbird text, so I thought it might be fun to share the details. Here's how it went down:I ran the game, with the players being John, Paul, Shannon and Adam. As we filled in the details of the Regime (the Empire in this case) we ended up with these Mottos:- All Worlds are better under the rule of the Empire (John)- Magic belongs in the hands of the few (Shannon)- Naval technology is for the Empire only (Paul)- Peace through regulation (Adam)We decided the Empire derives its power from the land it controls, land being a very limited resource in the Blue. Ruled by Empress Sadhara Serra and the assembly of nobles, the Empire was turning out to be a pretty decent enemy.The player characters flowed pretty well from this. We ended up with these Rhetorics:- All worlds should be free! (John)- Magic belongs to everyone (Shannon)- Naval technology should be distributed (Paul)- Prosperity through republic (Adam)Everyone really brought it when fleshing out their characters, giving us this cast:Jefferson Picket, anarchist bomber (John)Hazel Winter, hippy Windblood (Shannon)Tomas Grzeszczak, commander of the destroyer ISS Hollas (Paul)Sir Lee Perkins, Professor (Adam)Shannon brought some interesting elements in with her bloodline. Apparently when a noble bloodline (Stormblood, Ghostblood, etc.) breeds into the general population you end up with lesser casters. Hazel had a noble ancestor somewhere way back (before life on the commune) who was Stormblooded, so Hazel is a Windblood. More light cloud cover than destructive storm, but handy to have around.Scenes were pretty snappy after creation was finished and we had an introductory scene as Lt. Tomas met the Illysium cell of the Crimson Sky movement. The action hinged on Lt. Tomas' interest in defecting, along with his ship, Red October style.As we moved into the spotlight scenes, Lt. Tomas got a new conspirator in the form of a Petty Officer who worked as a clerk and could pass on informaton on likely sympathizers. Hazel tried to round up some Stooges in a sailor's bar, but it feel flat as the sailors become more interested in what she could offer, not what the Crimson Sky could. Jefferson did what he did best and blew shit up under weather cover provided by Hazel, and Sir Lee started an after-hours discussion group of potential Crimson Sky students with the help of a grad student feeding him loaded questions in lecture.We also tried something new that worked out great, reaction scenes for the Regime. With marines filling the streets, Tomas got caught on base, lowering the Opposition against the Regime, but Hazel stopped an attempt by some marines to "make this walkin' park into a lookin' park." Picket stood his ground in the face of a brutal interogation with the help of his crazy girlfriend, and Sir Lee was able to get through lectures with marines sitting in by talking over their heads.At that point we had to cut it for the night, but we'll pick back up next week. Overall, it was a lot of fun to see another part of the setting, fill in what life is like on Illysium and how the Crimson Sky are taking on the Empire.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
162 Garfield Place
162 Garfield PlaceArea: Park SlopeWeb ID#: 1530062Property Type: CoopBeds: 2.5Baths: 1Price: $699,000view full listingDescriptionGarfield Place~ One of the most charming center Slope Blocks! Near all one could need as far as 7th Ave. amenities, transportation and lush Prospect Park~ This 2 bed plus features a dining room and windowed renovated kitchen, one windowed bath with original claw foot tub and more. Tin ceilings, gorgeous moldings and hardwood floors too~ All this in a cozy 8 unit self managed walk up building in the center of PERFECT PARK SLOPE. The icing on the cake is the shared landscaped garden complete with magnolia trees and teak benches. There is private and common basement storage and a bike area as well. Please call for an appointment, there will not be open houses.Contact:Jessica Buchman, SVP(718) 832-4193jessica.buchman@corcoran.comAutumn Weems(718) 369-8788AWeems@corcoran.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Felix & Oscar
Felix & Oscar are growing and changing. Not those little tiny fluffy babies now. I often see them away from Bonnie, investigating on their own.They are still shut off from the chooks and the ducks, having a safe area to run and grow.Felix is now bigger than Oscar and at times seems to really want to be with the ducks, more so than her family. She's still too little as I worry that she'll get hurt or drown in the big pond.Being bigger helps when wanting to push siblings out of the way.Oscar is a pure Sussex bantam crossed with an Isa brown. Oscar has great colouring on her wing bars.But on her back she's snow white still.Hoping both babies are little girls.I still have to watch where I put my feet at meal times as they tear around their area like there is no tomorrow.Until next time....hoo roo technorati tags: ducks, ducklings, chickens, chooks, hens, Sussex bantams
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Don't they have any shame?
I am posting a couple of pictures from the Pro-Köln/Anti-Pro-Köln rallies. They are in no particular order and they speak for themselves. I have kept my comments as brief as possible, too.Just one general remark: A lot of them are from leftist websites. What appalls me most, is the disgusting obvious smugness that leaves no doubt that those people, preposterous, simpering cartoon characters at best, violent thugs most of them, seriously think they are proud and valiant "resistance fighters"."Today we're sending a signal that democrats stand united against right-wing radicalism, racism and agitation," said Reinhard Bütikofer, former head of the Green party who attended the spectacle, while Mayor Fritz Schramma stated that the peaceful protests by "residents" showed that the city is "open and tolerant."Don't they have any shame?Resident jeweler's shop, anticipating open and tolerant protesters.Patriotic residents, proudly displaying their German identity cards.Anti-Nazi in open and tolerant anti-totalitarian outfit.The imprint says: "German Muslim -- Here at home -- That is good" (the latter in the local Cologne dialect).And more Colognophone residents.Aftermath of a peaceful, open and tolerant anti-Nazi-rally performed by residents.Open and tolerant anti-Nazi-residents rallying.Open and tolerant... oh well whatever.More open and tolerant dimwits whatevers.Unthreatening, peaceful, open and tolerant anti-Nazi-residents rallying.Open and tolerant residents against Nazis.The agenda.Peaceful resident protesting Nazi-presence.Non-resident pro-Pro Köln protester.Pro-Köln protesters with what looks like Filip Dewinter third from the right.A link to this entry at Roncesvalles will, in the future, replace the boring, lengthy, repetitive (but obviously necessary because most people are unable to think outside "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" categories) "disclaimer", saying that I do not endorse the treatment of Pro Köln by the authorities.Cross-posted at Roncesvalles.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Executive Drive Time
I used to do a radio programme on GLR. We called one of the regular features Executive Drive Time. Trevor Dann came up with that. The idea was to play driving records for people returning from their places in the country. This morning I've been trying to think of the records that were staples for that slot. These are some of them. There's a Spotify playlist here if you want to hear them.1. Bob Seger: Roll Me Away.When music critics use that horrible cliché "wide screen", this is what they're trying to describe. A few years ago I heard Alan Bleasdale on "Desert Island Discs". He picked this record. Said he'd heard it once on the radio while driving into London. I like to think that was me.2. Freddie King: Going Down.Texas bluesman King made a few records for Shelter in the early 70s. They were produced by Don Nix and Leon Russell and they're the last great blues albums. Nobody made anything in that idiom that sounded half as good again. There's a very good American comedy series at the moment called "Westbound and Down", which is all about a dumb redneck ball player. This is the theme. Perfect.3. ZZ Top: Jesus Just Left Chicago.Always makes me think of the adjective "thixotropic". Don't know why but dear God, what a rhythm section.4. Ray Charles: Mess Around.Danny Baker says this is the only record that never lets you down. I'm with him. Nothing illustrates the ecumenical nature of pop music better than this. It's all about a catfish barbecue and yet it was written by the son of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States. This record's out of the house and hot wiring the car while you're still looking for your keys.5. Richard Thompson: Keep Your Distance.The great thing about Richard Thompson is that he can sing the worthiest sentiments over the most impious noises. He knows the whereabouts of a chord that absolutely nobody else can strike.6. Montrose: Rock Candy.Ted Templeman produced the first Montrose album in the early 70s. He then made the same album with Van Halen who sold millions. All the records made since which purport to be hard rock are essentially pale copies of the first Montrose album. Every time we put this on in the HMV Shop we would sell ten copies.7. Jan & Dean: Surf City.The first record I ever danced to. I think the dance was called the Twitch. It was in somebody's living room in the West Riding of Yorkshire. We didn't even know what surfing was but we knew there was two swinging honeys to every guy and all you had to do was just wink your eye.8. Warren Zevon: Searching For A Heart.Men driving on their own are prone to maudlin sentimentality. I saw this used in a movie called "Grand Canyon" to underline just such a point. "They say love conquers all, you can't start it like a car, you can't stop it with a gun." Like he said in his last days, "enjoy every sandwich".9. Bruce Springsteen: Drive All Night.I once asked listeners to nominate records that they found erotic. The men's suggestions were terrible - a grotesque combination of lewdness and correctness. One woman rang up and suggested this. It's about a man being prepared to drive all night just to buy her some shoes. Not dinner. Not an iPod. Not a new summer outfit. Shoes.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
FRANK RICH: The American Press on Suicide Watch
NYT IF you wanted to pick the moment when the American news business went on suicide watch, it was almost exactly three years ago. That’s when Stephen Colbert, appearing at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, delivered a monologue accusing his hosts of being stenographers who had, in essence, let the Bush White House get away with murder (or at least the war in Iraq). To prove the point, the partying journalists in the Washington Hilton ballroom could be seen (courtesy of C-Span) fawning over government potentates — in some cases the very “sources” who had fed all those fictional sightings of Saddam Hussein’s W.M.D. Colbert’s routine did not kill. The Washington Post reported that it “fell flat.” The Times initially did not even mention it. But to the Beltway’s bafflement, Colbert’s riff went viral overnight, ultimately to have a marathon run as the most popular video on iTunes. The cultural disconnect between the journalism establishment and the public it aspires to serve could not have been more vividly dramatized. The bad news about the news business has accelerated ever since. Newspaper circulations and revenues are in free fall. Legendary brands from The Los Angeles Times to The Philadelphia Inquirer are teetering. The New York Times Company threatened to close The Boston Globe if its employees didn’t make substantial sacrifices in salaries and benefits. Other papers have died. The reporting ranks on network and local news alike are shriveling. You know it’s bad when the Senate is moved, as it was last week, to weigh in with hearings on “The Future of Journalism.” Not all is bleak on the Titanic, however. The White House correspondents’ bacchanal was on tap for this weekend. And this time no one could accuse the revelers of failing to get down with the Colbert-iTunes-Facebook young folk: hip big-time journalists now stroke their fans with 140-character messages on Twitter. Or did. No sooner did boldface Washington media personalities ostentatiously embrace Twitter than Nielsen reported that more than 60 percent of Twitter users abandon it after a single month. The causes of journalism’s downfall — some self-inflicted, some beyond anyone’s control (a worldwide economic meltdown) — are well known. To time-travel back to the dawn of the technological strand of the disaster, search YouTube for “1981 primitive Internet report on KRON.” What you’ll find is a 28-year-old local television news piece from San Francisco about a “far-fetched,” pre-Web experiment by the city’s two papers, The Chronicle and The Examiner, to distribute their wares to readers with home computers via primitive phone modems. Though there were at most 3,000 people in the Bay Area with PCs then, some 500 mailed in coupons for the service to The Chronicle alone. But, as the anchorwoman assures us at the end, with a two-hour download time (at $5 an hour), “the new telepaper won’t be much competition for the 20-cent street edition.” The rest is irreversible history. This far-fetched newspaper experiment soon faded, even in San Francisco, the gateway to Silicon Valley. Today The Examiner, once the flagship of William Randolph Hearst’s grand journalistic empire, exists in name only, as a flimsy giveaway. The Chronicle is under threat of closure. But this self-destructive retreat from innovation is hardly novel in the history of American communications. In the last transformative tech revolution before the Internet — television’s emergence in the late 1940s — the pattern was remarkably similar. The entertainment industry referred to TV as “the monster,” and by 1951, the editor of the industry’s trade paper, Variety, was fearful that the monster would “eventually swallow up practically all of show business.” Movies had killed vaudeville a generation earlier. This new household appliance threatened to strangle radio, movies, the Broadway theater, nightclubs and the circus. And newspapers too: “NBC’s New ‘Today’ Attacked by Papers as Competition” screamed a front-page Variety headline in 1952. The vulnerable establishments in all these fields went nuts. Most movie studios pushed back against the future by refusing to sell their old movies to television or allow their stars to appear on it. Few seized the opportunity to produce programs for the new medium. Instead, some moguls tried to compete by exhibiting sports events by closed-circuit in networks of movie houses. In 1952-53, Cinerama, 3-D and Cinemascope were all heavily promoted to try to retain movie audiences. None of these desperate rear-guard actions could slow the video revolution. Movie newsreels, movie palaces, radio comedy and drama, and afternoon newspapers, among other staples of the American cultural diet, were all doomed. And yet in 2009, Hollywood movie studios, radio and the Broadway theater, though smaller and much changed, are not dead. They learned to adapt and to collaborate with the monster. In the Internet era, many sectors of American media have been re-enacting their at first complacent and finally panicked behavior of 60 years ago. Few in the entertainment business saw the digital cancer spreading through their old business models until well after file-sharing, via Napster, had started decimating the music industry. It’s not only journalism that is now struggling to plot a path to survival. But, with all due respect to show business, it’s only journalism that’s essential to a functioning democracy. And it’s not just because — as we keep being tediously reminded — Thomas Jefferson said so. Yes, journalists have made tons of mistakes and always will. But without their enterprise, to take a few representative recent examples, we would not have known about the wretched conditions for our veterans at Walter Reed, the government’s warrantless wiretapping, the scams at Enron or steroids in baseball. Such news gathering is not to be confused with opinion writing or bloviating — including that practiced here. Opinions can be stimulating and, for the audiences at Fox News and MSNBC, cathartic. We can spend hours surfing the posts of bloggers we like or despise, some of them gems, even as we might be moved to write our own blogs about local restaurants or the government documents we obsessively study online. But opinions, however insightful or provocative and whether expressed online or in print or in prime time, are cheap. Reporting the news can be expensive. Some of it — monitoring the local school board, say — can and is being done by voluntary “citizen journalists” with time on their hands, integrity and a Web site. But we can’t have serious opinions about America’s role in combating the Taliban in Pakistan unless brave and knowledgeable correspondents (with security to protect them) tell us in real time what is actually going on there. We can’t know what is happening behind closed doors at corrupt, hard-to-penetrate institutions in Washington or Wall Street unless teams of reporters armed with the appropriate technical expertise and assiduously developed contacts are digging night and day. Those reporters have to eat and pay rent, whether they work for print, a TV network, a Web operation or some new bottom-up news organism we can’t yet imagine. It’s immaterial whether we find the fruits of their labors on paper, a laptop screen, a BlackBerry, a Kindle or podcast. But someone — and certainly not the government, with all its conflicted interests — must pay for this content and make every effort to police its fairness and accuracy. If we lose the last major news-gathering operations still standing, there will be no news on Google News unless Google shells out to replace them. It won’t. One of the freshest commentators on Internet culture, Clay Shirky, has written, correctly, that nobody really knows what form journalism will take in the evolving post-newspaper era. Looking back to the unpredictable social and cultural upheavals brought about by Gutenberg’s invention of movable type, he writes, “We’re collectively living through 1500, when it’s easier to see what’s broken than what will replace it.” So who will do the heavy journalistic lifting? “Whatever works.” Every experiment must be tried, professional and amateur, whether by institutions like The Times or “some 19-year-old kid few of us have heard of.” What can’t be reinvented is the wheel of commerce. Just because information wants to be free on the Internet doesn’t mean it can always be free. Web advertising will never be profitable enough to support ambitious news gathering. If a public that thinks nothing of spending money on texting or pornography doesn’t foot the bill for such reportage, it won’t happen. That’s why the debate among journalists about possible forms of payment (subscriptions, NPR-style donations, iTunes-style micropayments, foundation grants) is inside baseball. So is the acrimonious sniping between old media and new. The real question is for the public, not journalists: Does it want to pony up for news, whatever the media that prevail? It’s all a matter of priorities. Not long ago, we laughed at the idea of pay TV. Free television was considered an inalienable American right (as long as it was paid for by advertisers). Then cable and satellite became the national standard. By all means let’s mock the old mainstream media as they preen and party on in a Washington ballroom. Let’s deplore the tabloid journalism that, like the cockroach, will always be with us. But if a comprehensive array of real news is to be part of the picture as well, the time will soon arrive for us to put up or shut up. Whatever shape journalism ultimately takes in America, make no mistake that in the end we will get what we pay for.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
In The News: Game On!
Today's Los Angeles Times reports on the subtle nutritional shift occurring at Dodger Stadium and other massive ballparks across the country -- healthier food!Although 1,000-calorie nacho plates and 300-calorie cups of beer are still present, they are now joined by "wholesome new neighbors: curried chicken salad made with low-fat mayonnaise, turkey sandwiches on whole wheat, and fruit and yogurt parfaits."And, oh, be still my heart. Not only will fresh fruit skewers soon be available, but "for the first time, a registered dietitian, also part of the Kaiser link-up, had a hand in fine-tuning the items."This nutritional "aha" moment isn't just limited to the City of Angels."This year, the [San Diego] Padres are expanding their FriarFit program... which includes $1.50 healthful menu items for kids such as whole wheat animal cookies, a fruit cup, and 1% milk, plus a FriarFit cart offering fruit salad, sushi, veggie burgers and dogs, and a mandarin salad. This food, too, was created with the help of a nutritionist, from UC San Diego."Now it's time for zoos and amusement parks to step up to the plate. Keep the curly fries, cheeseburgers, and jumbo hot dogs on the menu if you want, but also offer options for health-conscious patrons.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Nigerian Internet Scammers Now Operate From Homes
Nigerian Internet Scammers Now Operate From HomesTo escape from the long arms of the law, the notorious Nigerian Internet scammers, popularly known as ‘Yahoo -Yahoo!’ have moved from cyber cafes to the privacy of their homes.After an investigation by a reliable news reporter who visited Lagos in the last week of June, he found out that the “Yahoo -Yahoo!” boys have gone underground since the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) swooped on the cyber cafes frequented by the Internet scammers. They now use laptops to contact their ignorant targets in the United States and other developed countries.The successful “Yahoo -Yahoo!” guys are well known on the campus of the University of Lagos in South western Nigeria, where they cruise about with their fair-weather girlfriends in their flashy cars and bling bling fashion, while their admirers and hangers-on cheer them on.“There is always a greedy Maga online who will fall for any of their various methods of Internet scams,” said an investigator. Most of the “Yahoo-Yahoo!” boys are located in both the densely populated urban areas in major cities in Nigeria, with the largest numbers in the mega city of Lagos.“In Surulere, Fadeyi and Ikeja areas of Lagos,” the investigator said. He could identify many of them in his neighborhood.“Some of them even go about with their laptops concealed in their shoulder bags,” he said. He noted that one of them nicknamed ‘small jesus” made millions from Internet scams, spent part of the money on helping the poor and the needy in his locality and returned to school and he has stopped his life of crime after graduating from the university. But only few of them have stopped Internet scams. Thousands of them are still using their laptops to hunt and scam every Maga who would be willing to believe their cock and bull stories of money laundering, oil contracts, romantic relationships, etc.If you do not want to be the next Maga of the notorious Nigerian Internet scammers, delete their unsolicited e-mails as soon as you see them in your in-box.By Ekenyerengozi Michael ChimaShomolu, Lagos, Nigeria.June/September, 2008.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Marriage-Hunting Bra
This bra installed an electronic clock, a small speaker.
When her husband put a real wedding ring on the bra , the bra will be about to separate, electronic clock will be stopped, record the time of this sexy, and a small speaker next to get married march played at the same time.
At the same time, the following heart-shaped pockets can store a marriage certificate.
CCP Games to revamp the lore of EVE Online
The sci-fi MMO EVE Online has a rich backstory that now spans 6 years. That backstory is coupled with the many contributions of (volunteer) in-game journalists who report both on the actions and machinations of EVE's players and alliances, and who also write news-style fiction that helps drive the game's storylines forward. EVE Online's Lead Writer CCP t0nyG (aka Tony Gonzales, author of Empyrean Age) has made some major announcements this week regarding changes to EVE's storyline and lore, in a dev blog titled "The Rediscovered Scrolls". The dev blog focuses on how CCP plans to address some of the issues players have noted in terms of the backstory and how it relates to them as 'capsuleers' in the setting of New Eden, given that official fiction and lore are now being released quite frequently. Gonzales says, "Unfortunately, we haven't been perfect in the execution of this effort. A balance had to be maintained between keeping the storyline fresh and dynamic while also holding fast to the core attributes of foundation material. That led to mistakes, contradictions, and general inconsistencies in the canon. We took that personally, and decided to do something about it." Continue reading CCP Games to revamp the lore of EVE Online.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Perhaps I should just call it a golf blog.
I went to see my golf coach with my spare time on Saturday. It is a testament to the quality of this guy that driving 100 minutes to get there and then 100 minutes home again at the end of the session was totally worth it. One of the attractions of dilettantism is getting new shiny stuff into your life on a regular basis. New skills are even nicer than new things for me and so getting some more advanced abilities for my golf game is more satisfying than a new piece of equipment. I felt like I was 10 feet tall for chunks of the session as I went from woeful to good in an aspect of my game that has been plaguing my scores. Im still buzzing now to tell you the truth. Any readers in the Melbourne area looking for a golf coach should check out David Williams. I ended up purchasing neither Wii nor PS3. There was finally an announcement of the Australian release date for Rock Band. The one game that would determine my ultimate console decision. It is finally coming in October. Around the same time Rock Band 2 will be released in the US. And the price gouging for this will require the Australian musical gamers to bend over and grit their teeth as they get reamed with neither reacharound nor lube. The total cost for Rock Band, 10 months after its original relase is $410 FOUR. HUNDRED. AND. TEN. DOLLARS! Dear MTV Games, GET FUCKED YOU GOUGING ARSEHOLES! Love Bruce I can buy an entire Wii for that price. On the current exchange rate, gamers in the US can purchase the same components for AU$180. Why the more than 100% price premium? It cant possibly be shipping. Australia is region free so you shouldnt have to recode anything. Why the fuck do you think you can get away with this exorbitant pricing regime? And so the dream dies. What would have been a guaranteed, day-one sale has now turned into a disgruntled non-customer. One who will actively discourage anyone I know from buying your game at that price point. Who do you think you are? Apple? So the list is now: Glenelg Motor Inn Something or someone (I cant remember) MTV Games.
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