LSB：Light SB

40% lighter than the normal one

As we hide ourselves in the last of the melting snow

The Leisure Society might seem like a tongue-in-cheek name for your band when the daytime occupation of the frontman is at a fabric and wallpaper warehouse. Although Nick Hemmings has been making music for the better part of fifteen years, of course there are bills to pay and for now he does it through labor, not leisure.
But that may be fixing to change, as Hemmings and Leisure Society were nominated recently for the British Ivor Novello Award for The Last of The Melting Snow  Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Theres a lush and gorgeous loveliness to their sound, with rootsy warmth lying just beneath the surface. On this track I can almost hear the last rivulets running off the tin roof and dripping onto the bed of pine needles outside; the end of a very long winter.
The Last Of The Melting Snow - The Leisure Society
Their debut album The Sleeper is out now on Rough Trade; The Independent wrote, Its a uniquely British take on Americana: almost as if Scott Walker or Nick Drake had gone country, making music for coalminers rather than cowboys. I also hear distinct flourishes of simplified American 50s summery-pop on tunes like A Matter of Time, like the Brit answer to Grizzly Bears aesthetic  listen here.
This album is a magical listen from start to finish. It makes me feel all golden warm, and drowsy with good dreams.

To Ningbo and Back Again

We took a 2 hour trip yesterday to Ningbo to check out the town and visit our friend Qiu Dan Ling (Anita). The weather was so hot and muggy that we wished it rain, and boy, did it! Before the storm however, we made a visit to Tian Yi Ge, a very old private collection of books and associated building that was founded by this man, Fan Qin (1506 - 1585). There were many old buildings and a very nice garden setting in which to walk around and see displays of ancient books, mahjong tiles and art.We walked around the gardens looking at all of the carvings and decoration... ... including this structure which is a Zun Jing Pavilion, a building built to store and respect the classics. It was originally built by a local government school, but then moved to its current location in 1934! Sophie consistently runs everywhere at top speed and RARELY falls down no matter what surface she is running on - she's very sure footed. However today her shoe caught a crack in the walkway and down she went skinning her hands. No blood though. Peter rushed over to comfort her - what a good big brother! Fortunately, the wounds weren't anything a little ice cream couldn't fix. It was so darn muggy today. You can see the hair sticking to her sweaty little mosquito-bitten mug. Some shots of the kids at the Tian Yi Ge park. Balancing the camera on a "monopod", or what the rest of the family unknowingly calls a "rock". ... and just off camera on the left side there are about 20 people watching us try to get this shot. We never quite got it as it took awhile to herd the kids into position, but we got close :) We then went to lunch and timed it PERFECTLY as it started downpour like crazy. We hung out in the restaurant until there was a break, then we headed off to find Dan Ling's office in a modern office building in downtown Ningbo. Meanwhile, she had come out in her work clothes, in the downpour to find us! Eventually, through liberal use of cellphone technology we hooked up. She showed us around her office - she works for Web English, which has a very modern facility for teaching English, and we met her co-workers, some Chinese and some westerners who were all so nice. After her shift was over, we went to dinner at a local restaurant... Finally, we all jumped on the bus and headed back to Hangzhou. We had a very tired driver and this big bus was WEAVING. We tried singing "99 bottles of beer" to keep him awake but on retrospect we think this just annoyed him! Finally I asked Dan Ling to say something to him. She asked him if he was ok to drive and he said he was, but now he knew we were watching him so he perked up. The next thing we knew, he had his headphones on and was serenading us with some old fashioned songs he was listening to. Nice ambiance!

It's That Time of Year -- Robin

Yep, it’s that time again. Time for mistletoe and holly and candy canes. But when you’re a parent, it’s also time for…the questions.Usually the questions come in groups of two or three and the answers are simple and we can move on quickly to eating our candy canes. But this year, my son is six-and-a-half, so the questions came fast and furious. And I was completely unprepared…• Will Santa visit our house this year?• And Uncle Buddy’s house, too?• Even Georgia?• How does he visit everyone’s house in one night?• Is he magic?• Was he always magic?• Was he born magic?• Does Santa have a mommy and a daddy?• Does Santa have brothers and sisters?• Is Santa married?• Do they have kids?• Why not?• Why don’t they just have their own kids?• Was Santa born from his mommy’s tummy?• Right after Santa was born from his mommy’s tummy, what did she do?• Why?• But why?• But…but why do we need to go to church more often now?• Oh.• Can I have some juice?So I feel bad saying this, but I’m a little concerned about Easter now. (And if anyone out there knows what Santa’s mommy did right after he was born from her tummy, please let me know. I’m at a loss here!!!)- Robin

Forensic Science for the 21st Century: The National Academy of Sciences Report and Beyond

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU commented on the previous post about a conference they are hosting in April. It sounds interesting and worth giving greater prominence to. Heres what they posted:
Forensic Science for the 21st Century: The National Academy of Sciences Report and Beyond
The Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University will host an international conference on April 3-4, 2009, in Tempe, Ariz., on the future of forensic science, with special attention to the highly anticipated report of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, “Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community.”
In addition to experts from universities such as the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Law School, the University of Michigan Law School, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Virginia and ASU, among others, participants will include state and federal judges, the NAS committee chairmen, the president of the American Association of Forensic Sciences, directors of the FBI laboratory and the Innocence Project, and prosecutors, defense attorneys, forensic scientists, and criminalists. Papers will be published in the ABA-ASU journal, Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, and in the Oxford University Press journal, Law, Probability & Risk.
As part of the conference, The Honorable Harry T. Edwards, Senior Circuit Judge and Chief Judge Emeritus of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and co-chair of the NAS Forensic Science Committee, will deliver the annual Willard H. Pedrick Lecture. The title of Judge Edwards’ talk is, ‘Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.’
For more information about the conference, co-sponsored by the National Judicial College and the Criminal Justice and Science and Technology Law sections of the American Bar Association, and to register, go to http://LST.law.asu.edu.

The Evolving Story of Hyundai

In 1986, Hyundai’s first export to the U.S, the $4995 Excel, developed embarrassing quality problems, and the company found itself grist for late night talk shows. But John Krafcik recounts with pride Hyundai’s turnaround, from laughingstock of the American auto market back in the 1980s, to seventh best-selling brand in the U.S., and fifth largest car maker in the world.
By 1998, Hyundai’s name was so tainted in the U.S. that its market share fell to .4%, and the company was on the verge of pulling out altogether. But instead, says Krafcik, Hyundai determined to redeem itself, and win back car buyers with a focus on quality design and manufacturing, and with “America’s best warranty.” The 10 year, 100 thousand mile power train guarantee the company put in place, says Krafcik, was “an incredible clarifier for the engineering team,” forcing them to design systems for “infinite life.” Hyundai’s “top down, hierarchical management approach” proved critical, too. Chairman Chung Mong Koo combines “Bill Gates, Barack Obama and the Pope,” and “when he says we must do something, the company aligns well around that goal.” In 2001, Chung declared that Hyundai needed to beat Toyota’s quality standards in five years.
Unlike BMW’s approach of challenging the car owner, says Krafcik, the more “humble” Hyundai engineers focused on ergonomic engineering. An “obsessive customer focus” meant getting cars at early stages in the hands of real drivers, and using feedback to improve designs. Indeed, unlike Toyota, which imposes an engineering freeze at a certain point in development, Hyundai resolved to adapt to suggestions even late in the car development game: “If there’s an imperative for a late quality change, the system is adaptable to that change.” Also, Hyundai chose to design and build cars where it sells them. The result speaks for itself, say Krafcik: Hyundai’s achieved strong, consistent quality performance, rivaling the industry leaders globally.
Current challenges for the company involve developing a proprietary hybrid solution (with a novel lithium polymer battery) to achieve 35 mpg by 2015; and confronting “residual brand issues.” The economic crisis, which has reduced the world’s appetite for cars, could prove advantageous for “agile” Hyundai, believes Krafcik, which has been positioning itself prominently in the downturn, by, for instance, saturating the Super Bowl and Academy Awards with ads. Huge recent gains in “brand perception” have “Hyundai on a roll”, and Krafcik expects that the company’s persistence and passion will pay off, despite the grim times.

Laptop Computers

Eight of the best sites for buying or researching laptop computers. Know of another site that should be included here? Leave your suggestions at the bottom of the page. (Related searches: Used Laptops, Laptop Battery, MacBook Pro)
1. Laptop Reviews at CNET.com - Reviews and buying advice on Mac and Windows notebooks and laptop computers including recent introductions from HP, Dell, Apple and Samsung. The editors look at the good, the bad and the bottom line, and serve up their favorites. You can also find the right computer for you with a step-by-step guide that looks at operating system, memory and processor among other deciding factors. (reviews.cnet.com)
2. Laptops, Notebook Computers and Tablet PCs from HP - Official Hewlett-Packard site offers a range of laptop computers for home, home office and business use, with products focused on cutting-edge entertainment and gaming, ultra-portability, mobile workstations, companion PCs, multi-media functionality, affordability and more. Cant decide? HPs laptop finder can help you find the notebook thats right for you. You can also purchase accessories like batteries, docking stations, memory and more. (welcome.hp.com)
3. MacBook from Apple - The official site of Apples 13-inch MacBook features comprehensive product information including design, features, graphics and technical specs. Flip through the photo gallery, watch a video and buy online here. (www.apple.com)
4. Laptops and Notebooks at eBay - Over 35,000 new and used laptop computers up for auction or immediate sale here, many offering free shipping. We saw models from Dell, HP, IBM, Toshiba and Sony, some starting as low as $100. You can refine your search by screen size, processor type and speed, memory, hard drive capacity and other variables. Laptop accessories available elsewhere on the site. (computers.shop.ebay.com)
5. Laptop Computers at Dell.com - The complete line of Dell Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptops available for purchase here. Narrow your choices by operating system, memory, weight, screen size and a host of other options to build the laptop thats right for you. If you need more help, a laptop selector and live chat are at your service. A palette of laptop designs are offered for those who want more than a basic gray or black model. (www.dell.com)
6. Leaner Laptops, Lower Prices - The recession is good for PC buyers, according to this April 2009 article from the Wall Street Journal, as companies like HP and Dell are rolling out cut-rate laptops and mini-notebooks under $500 that will appeal to frugal buyers. The cheap laptops have limitations but are still much better than they used to be, and analysts see even further price drops in the future. (online.wsj.com)
7. Laptops at Walmart.com - Laptops from HP, Acer, Dell, Toshiba and others, starting at $599, can be purchased here at the online home of Walmart. Search by a number of variables including type, screen size, brand or price or use the Computer Finder to help find the right fit. Save more on a laptop bundled with accessories and get free shipping if you have it sent to a nearby Walmart location. (www.walmart.com)
8. Laptop Project Speeds Learning at Hunt - May 2009 article looks at the advantages and concerns prompted by a laptop pilot program at North Carolinas public Hunt High School, where both teachers and students were given laptops for in-class learning and instruction. Success or failure of the pilot will determine if North Carolina provides laptops for high school students statewide. (www.wilsontimes.com)
More related searches: Wireless Router

Colorado Rockies Team Report

INSIDE PITCH The Rockies are hopeful shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will be ready to play Tuesday when they open a series with the visiting Astros. He didn't seem worried about leaving Sunday's game with an injury that brought back bad memories. Tulowitzki left the game with the Marlins in the top of the ninth with a left quadriceps injury. He pulled his quadriceps in the sixth inning when he attempted to field pitcher Aaron Cook's errant throw after Cook fielded a comebacker. Tulowitzki said he felt his quadriceps "tweak" when he made a sudden movement on Cook's throw to second base. "It happened when I was going full speed to the bag and had to stop and go the other direction," Tulowitzki said, "and I kind of tweaked it a little bit." Tulowitzki missed 47 games early last season when he tore his quadriceps tendon from the bone, an injury that hampered him the rest of the season. He said this latest injury is not nearly as severe as the one he suffered last year. "My (left) leg, obviously, is weaker than my other one," Tulowitzki said after the game. "So it's expected a little bit. But at the same time, it's sorer than normal. ... It doesn't do any good for me to try and go back out there and blow it out again, then miss two months." Tulowitzki has started to emerge from his early season slump, having raised his average from .198 after play Thursday to .237. He has three straight multi-hit games, along with seven RBI in his past seven games after none in his previous 17 games.NOTES, QUOTESRHP Taylor Buchholz, who is on the 60-day disabled list with a strained ligament in his right elbow he injured in spring training, rejoined the Rockies Sunday. He had been rehabilitating at the extended spring camp in Tucson, where he has thrown three bullpen sessions of 30-35 pitches, limited only to fastballs. Buchholz said he has thrown his curveball while playing catch. He hasn't thrown it hard but has made good progress. Buchholz, who was one of the best set-up men in the N.L. last year, might begin throwing simulated games by the end of the month but was unsure of any timeline for when he might rejoin the Rockies.The Rockies have used 27 different lineups in 30 games.The Rockies have not gone more than one game without a home run. They have played 29 games and are tied for second in the National League with 40 homers.1B Todd Helton's triple in his first at-bat Sunday was his first triple since June 5, 2007, when he tripled twice against the Astros. Helton, who is seven hits shy of 2,000, had his 11-game hitting streak end May 9. But in his past seven games, Helton is 11-for-27 with three doubles, a triple and a home run.When the Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the first inning Sunday, it was their first lead since May 6, when they beat the Giants 11-1 and ended a stretch of 27 innings without a lead.The Rockies could benefit from Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension for violating MLB's drug program, but manager Clint Hurdle didn't see it as a happy event. "The sad part is that for whatever reason, there are individuals who don't get it," Hurdle said. "It's sad to me as an ex-player and coach and now as a manager, there are so many guys who are clean and they are thrown under a black cloud. It's even sadder to me as a parent who has a daughter who relies on human growth hormones to have people not understand the impact and value." Hurdle's daughter, Madison, who turns 7 in August, was born with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder that can create low muscle tone, developmental delays, morbid obesity, cognitive disabilities and behavior problems. BY THE NUMBERS: 54 Career wins for RHP Aaron Cook, who had been tied for second place in franchise history with Pedro Astacio and now needs four victories to reach 58 and tie Jason Jennings for the most Rockies wins all-time.QUOTE TO NOTE: "I sleep in it a lot. Until I have to (use the bathroom). And then I get up. It definitely takes away from of the soreness. It definitely doesn't hurt. And I do anything I can to help." 1B Todd Helton, 35, on the hyperbaric chamber he has been using since his back surgery in late September.ROSTER REPORTRHP Huston Street earned his fourth save and the 98th of his career Sunday. He has made seven consecutive scoreless appearances dating to April 26, a span of six innings in which Street has allowed three hits and one walk with six strikeouts.RHP Matt Daley, 26, an undrafted player out of Bucknell who made his major league debut April 25, has not been scored upon in six of his seven outings. He has allowed three hits and one run in seven innings overall for a 1.29 ERA, and no runs and one hit in four scoreless innings at Coors Field. Daley pitches from a crouch and steps toward third base, giving him something of a crossfire approach to right-handed batters. "The one thing he's showed us is guts," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He's not short there. He throws strikes and pounds the zone. He's handled left-handers well (they're 1-for-12 and right-handed hitters are 1-for-10). He's become a piece out there late to put into a game when we have a lead."IF Ian Stewart is hitting .194 with four homers, 13 RBI and 22 strikeouts in 67 at-bats. Stewart took three called third strikes Saturday and then pinch hit Sunday and was called out on strikes. "It's been an ongoing conversation with Stew about swinging the bat and staying on the fastball," said manager Clint Hurdle, adding the topic was discussed last year and that he and hitting coach Don Baylor individually and jointly have discussed the matter with Stewart this season. "Strikeouts are part of the game. They're easier to live with when you're swinging; you're swinging at strikes and you're firing the barrel. The bat's in his hands." MEDICAL WATCH: INF Jeff Baker (sprained left wrist) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 27. LHP Franklin Morales (strained left shoulder) went on the 15-day disabled list April 22. He threw a bullpen session May 9. RHP Ryan Speier (strained left hamstring) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 19. He threw a bullpen session April 27. RHP Taylor Buchholz (partial tear in right ulnar collateral ligament) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 22. The Rockies are being very cautious with Buchholz, trying to make sure the partial tear doesn't become a full-blown one and require Tommy John surgery that would sideline Buchholz for about a year. LHP Jeff Francis (left shoulder surgery in February 2009) went on the 60-day disabled list April 5. He likely will miss the entire season. Recovery time ranges from six to 12 months, meaning it's possible Francis could pitch in September but not very likely. ROTATION: RHP Aaron Cook RHP Ubaldo Jimenez RHP Jason Marquis LHP Jorge De La Rosa RHP Jason Hammel BULLPEN: RHP Huston Street (closer) RHP Manuel Corpas LHP Alan Embree LHP Glendon Rusch RHP Jason Grilli RHP Matt Belisle RHP Matt Daley CATCHERS: Chris Iannetta Yorvit Torrealba INFIELDERS: 1B Todd Helton 2B Clint Barmes SS Troy Tulowitzki 3B Garrett Atkins INF Omar Quintanilla INF/OF Ian Stewart OUTFIELDERS: LF Seth Smith CF Ryan Spilborghs RF Brad Hawpe OF Dexter Fowler OF Matt Murton

Minicar Owner vs. the IIHS

As the so-far happy owner of a 2009 Honda Fit, I read the results of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's minicar crash tests with some dismay — as in, oh joy, there goes my already not-super-cheap car insurance premium. That's despite the headline being purely Dog Bites Man, as in we all know small cars will end up on the short end of head-on crashes with much larger cars. If anything, the whole exercise begs the question of why IIHS didn't just face the Fit, Yaris, and ForTwo off against the Honda Pilot, Toyota Sequoia, and Mercedes GL-class, respectively. Surely minicar drivers are impressively fucked in front-offset collisions with 2-1/2-ton SUVs.IIHS's prescription is that minicar intenders opt instead for high-MPG midsize cars. That's not totally objectionable (*), though in listing as alternatives the Camry and Ford Fusion hybrids plus the VW Jetta diesel IIHS effectively exhausts the current U.S. market in such vehicles. At least it makes them look more reasonable than if they had followed their logic to its conclusion that if we really wanted to be safe, we should all drive the largest possible vehicles. In fact, it's just as easy to interpret the IIHS results as favoring a shift to more light, small, slow cars with advanced safety features like my dear little Fit.This is a story of externalities (of course), and in a world that's stupidly been populated with oversized cars and light trucks, the minicar driver sacrifices his or her lower extremeties in a severe crash so that drivers of legacy vehicles can be more lightly injured. Stick us in a high-MPG tanks instead, and there's a good chance that the aggregate damage from crashes will be increased — which on its face is socially undesirable if not obviously so from the insurance industry's perspective. Were small vehicles much more prevalent than they are now in the U.S., then the public could rely on the good performance of the better-engineered small cars on the usual crash tests (including IIHS's main efforts) in judging their safety.AIG scandal aside, I've long assumed that my insurance company (if not insurance companies in general) does a terrible job of disentangling vehicle and driver effects. When I gave up my 1998 BMW M3 for a 2001 Honda Prelude with 45 fewer horsepower and barely 55% of the sticker price, my insurance premiums increased — not unlikely because Preludes were favored among fast-driving youth whereas the venerable E36 M3 was (a few trust-fund babies aside) actually favored among low-risk guys going early-middle-age-crazy (like me). So I was not dinged when I traded-in the 'Lude on an E46 330Ci, and I found that the subsequent Lexus was treated as if I were the little old lady from Pasadena; the Fit, on the other hand, is taken to be a greater risk despite its comparative dirt-cheapness. It may not help that the insurance company calls the car a 2-door notwithstanding that there's no such thing as a 2-door Fit.So: insurance companies are stupid and their trade association doesn't know what's good for them. It perhaps goes without saying that some of the other statistics they deploy — high accident and fatality rates in minicars relative to the general automotive population — aren't worth a bucket of spit unless they've carefully controlled for driver effects (cheap cars are driven by the relatively young) and usage patterns (minicars are citycars and used in collision-rich environments). Screw them and I suppose I'll take my medicine in 5 months when the car insurance renewal comes in.-------------------(*) IIHS correctly observes that the minicars' mileage, at least with U.S.-spec drivetrains, is good but not spectacular. The Fit's main virtue is in the efficiency with which it encloses space given its exterior dimensions and its lack of the small SUV's excess poundage and middle finger waved in the face of aerodynamics.

April County Council Report

-Submitted by Kay H.Dear 4-H Members,At this past County Council meeting, officer elections were held. The final decisions were made as follows:President: Mary BVice President: Amber YSecretary/Community Service chairperson: Tori BTreasurer/Fundraising chairperson: Tiffany BReporter/Publicity chairpersons: Jeffrey K and Kay HHistorian: Sophie PRecreation: Laura MDistrict V Delegates: Tori B, Kay H, Jeffrey K, and Mary BFormal officer installations will be held at the 4-H Awards Program on May 3rd, 6:00 pm, at Living Faith Fellowship. 4-H has some other exciting events coming up! Quickly approaching is 4-H County Events Day this weekend, on April 19th, 8:30 am. It will be held at Creekside Community Church, and 4-H members from around the county will be giving speeches, demonstrations, and illustrated talks in their various project areas. There will also be a talent show and a fashion revue. A concession stand will be available, and he proceeds will go to the Heifer International project. Don’t forget to bring your spare change, as this is the last opportunity to donate to the cow banks and support this worthwhile service project. Hope to see you there!Also coming up is Jr. Congress, which will be held May 9-10 at Mid. Florida Baptist Assembly. Jr. Congress is an event where 4-H members aged 8-13 years old can attend workshops in various areas, and have fun learning new things. This will give you a taste of what overnight camping is like! The cost is $30.00, and the Registration Deadline is May 2nd. For a brochure, please email Mr. Terry at eterry@ufl.eduWe are looking for Youth Fair non-livestock committee members. If you would like to be involved in making Youth Fair decisions and planning for next year‘s fair, then feel free to join. Youth members and adults are welcome. Contact Mr. Terry for more information.Please be aware that the Standards of Excellence paperwork deadline is April 25th.Our next County Council meeting will be held on May 20th, immediately following the 4-H Volunteer Dinner. Please join us to learn more about County Council and how you can become involved!

Smith's Edge Knife Giveaway

I've had a love-hate relationship with my knives. I don't like to think about them but I use them all the time which tends to have disastrous results.Because I've never taken the time to sharpen my knives except maybe three times over the course of my marriage I have a history of lopping off fingers here and there with my dull and poorly functioning blades. Drives Andrew crazy I tell you.Well I was sent some knife sharpeners from Smith's Edge, a company that specializes in sharpening all kinds of things and you know what? They worked great.They sent me one of their diamond sharpening steels but I haven't really found a time to use it--plus having to worry about getting the angle just right always makes me nervous.But they also sent me the free-standing knife and scissors sharpener you see above and a ceramic pull-through sharpener. I used them both and was surprised how easily they sharpened (who knew kitchen safety was so attainable??)If you're looking for a knife sharpener here are a few things to keep in mind:Look for a sharpener that has both a coarse and a fine grit. "Arkansas Stones" are considered some of the finest sharpeners and are known for sharpening tools while taking off the least amount of material.Carbide materials are much more thorough, take away more material and sharpen in three or four strokes.A flat stone is good for flat tools but a round stone or rod is necessary for serrated edges.Anyway, I liked the tall sharpener because it easily handled scissors and I happily went around sharpening all my scissors in the house. However, I liked the smaller tool too because it fit nicely in my kitchen drawer--convenient for storage. Both put good edges on my knives and both were easy to use.Courtesy of Smith's Edge one winner this weekend will get to choose their own sharpener of the three I've mentioned here--you can decide which of these three fill your own personal knife sharpening needs the best.Here's how to win:Before 12 am Monday morning click here to reach the giveaway entry form then enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.This giveaway is open to all readers so good luck!

who take care of you atter you give birth to a baby?

Well i give birth to my daughter through ceasarian section, its more painful than having a normal delivery. My hubby was the one who accompanied me while i was in the hospital. Its just takes 3-4 days then we go our home. I am very thankful to my hubby because he was working abroad and he decided to go back here in our place to see me and our daughter. Now our daughter was 19 months already.

Using forensic linguistics in the criminal justice system

As you know, the Crimepsych blog is on something of a hiatus until later this year. To keep you going, Im delighted to bring you a guest post from John Olsson of the Forensic Linguistics Institute. John is one of the UKs most experienced forensic linguists, with over 300 criminal cases in his portfolio. He kindly agreed to answer a few questions about how forensic linguistics contributes to solving crimes. You can find out more about John and his work over at his comprehensive website. Tell us about some of your cases I mostly get asked to give an opinion on the authorship of a text, which can be a book, a set of mobile phone texts, letters, emails and so on. I also do plagiarism analysis. For example, about four years ago I was approached by Lew Perdue, the novelist, who claimed that his book had been plagiarised by Dan Browns Da Vinci Code. This was a very big case and it went all the way to the US Supreme Court. Most of my work is criminal work. I did the authorship analysis in the case of Garry Weddell, the police inspector accused of murdering his wife. He was released on bail and later shot his mother in law and then himself. I also did the linguistics in the case of Julie Turner, the woman whose body was found in an oil barrel in Yorkshire. What other kinds of cases do you get involved in? I often get asked by coroners to look at suicide notes, or other texts surrounding incidents of suspicious death. I also do a lot of hate mail work and Ive done quite a number of product contamination cases. I also do a lot of insurance and other security work in fraud and forgery cases. Mobile phone text authorship is also a key area in forensic linguistics. How would you describe Forensic Linguistics? There are two parts to forensic linguistics: language as evidence and the language of the law. Language as evidence involves the linguist being asked to give an expert opinion on the authorship, or possibly meaning, of a text. This involves making an analysis, writing a report and going to court to give evidence. How do you find the experience of giving evidence in court? I enjoy it and I also believe its right that we should be made to defend our views. Lawyers should not hesitate to be as probing as possible when it comes to experts. When was forensic linguistics first used? Forensic linguistics was first used in an analysis of a suspect statement in 1968 by a Swedish linguist by the name of Jan Svartvik. However, it did not make its first appearance in court in any serious way until the 1990s. How long have you been practising as a forensic linguist? I have been practising since about 1995, working with police forces all over the UK and the US, and with lawyers in the UK and abroad. I have prepared over 300 reports for court and have given evidence many times, mostly for prosecution. Do you think forensic linguistics has been beneficial for the justice system? I believe forensic linguistics has had a major impact on the justice system in that it has helped courts to clarify the linguistic evidence either in favour of or against suspects. How should police officers and lawyers brief forensic linguists? Its important that lawyers and police officers brief experts carefully. In a few cases people have overbriefed experts, giving them information which is not only unnecessary, but which the expert should not know. Another important factor is when to approach the expert. I suggest the earlier the better - even if it is just to get an opinion on the viability of a particular piece of evidence. How can Forensic Linguistics be used in a criminal investigation? To identify the author of a text, such as a ransom demand or suicide note, or series of hate mail letters, mobile phone texts or emails. To clarify the meaning of a word or phrase. For example, in one case I was asked the meaning of a slang word in a murder trial and to evaluate the word in context and assess its meaning within the scope of the crime that had been committed. What should investigators, solicitors or private clients consider when requesting help from Forensic Linguists? The primary issue is whether the expert is appropriate for the task. Even forensic linguistics is becoming more and more specialised. Most linguists will be happy to tell the client if there is someone else who is better qualified or more current in the particular area under examination. How long does a Forensic Linguist need to analyse a piece of evidence? It very much depends on the evidence. In cases where there are many texts (whether emails, letters, mobile phone texts, etc) it can take several months. However, where there are only a few texts to analyse, the work can be completed within a week or ten days. Most linguists will give a preliminary opinion at little or no cost. Is the science behind it robust enough to use in a trial as evidence? Forensic Linguistics has been used successfully in courts many times, both in the UK and abroad. I believe linguistic evidence stands up as well as any other kind of forensic evidence in court. Behind every case is a considerable body of research: we base our conclusions on linguistic principles, on evidence from language databases, on previous experience and findings. In fact, just like any other forensic scientist, we use all the tools available to us. What difficulties have you come across when analysing a piece of evidence? All evidence is difficult to analyse: you can never underestimate the task. Perhaps the most difficult task is estimating the contribution of a particular piece of evidence to the overall case. Does it tend to support an identification of a suspect? Does it tend to support the identification of someone other than the suspect? It is important not to overstate an opinion or cause problems for courts by being over-confident. All forensic scientists have these issues. Where do you see the future of Forensic Linguistics? The only future that matters is that the justice system is well served and that investigators and lawyers are given useful, honest, impartial advice and evidence. I believe forensic linguistics can do this, and so will remain a good servant of the justice system. It is the integrity of the justice system that counts - nothing else matters. Find out more: Crimepsych posts on forensic linguistics The Forensic Linguistics Institute (Johns website) Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University Forensic Linguistics Discussion Group Two books by John Olsson: Wordcrime: Solving Crime Through Forensic Linguistics Forensic Linguistics: Second Edition

Kmart For Christmas

Well Christmas is soon approaching and all the sites are getting ready for their great deals. What about the layaway program provided by these people. This layaway program is exclusive one for the upcoming christmas. Kmart Lay-Away enables the customers of kmart to reserve those ‘hot’ items early, pay over time and pick them up before Christmas. So you don't need to wait for your deal until you get the money. Well for me the best deal which I like in this site is the Lenovo laptop for $999. Well I am actually a fan of lenovo if you can see my earlier laptop which I brough with the help of the money from this blog.Well if you are planning to buy any, just look at this site deals.

The Ultra Modern Bikini Sofa from Ferlea

Geometry seems to play a part in the "Bikini" sofa design from Enzo Berti that features a squared pouf that transforms into a backrest. Manufacturer Ferlea enhances the strong visuals of this ultra modern sofa with sharp contrasting solid and striped fabrics that really add to the bold angles. Ferlea has made a strong presence in the Italian furniture market since 1959 and has worked with notable designers including Rodolfo Dordoni, Aldo Cibic, and Alberto Livore to name a few. See the entire collection of modern furniture designed by Enzo Berti from Ferlea here. Post from The Ultra Modern Bikini Sofa from Ferlea

Paris

Before we walk away entirely from the ill-fated Cuban affair, I must share a highlight.Date 1: We took a walk along the waterfront with Senor Suave. The Willamette River has a great pedestrian walk that continues along both sides with special walking paths across the many bridges. Hot Cuban Boyfriend (HCF) is smart, funny, and hot (key boyfriend ingredients), and we were just learning that as we walked. It was a great date.About 20 minutes into the walk, he asked me for a second date: Paris. France, not Texas. (You may pause to seethe with envy) We went to Texas on a different date, but the second date was Paris, France. HCF picked me up in a stretch limo, flew us first class to Paris, where we stayed at the Hotel Du Louvre, and ate at the Tour Eiffel. That’s right. The Louvre has a hotel. F-a-a-a-n-c-y. And, the Eiffel Tower has a restaurant. Actually, it has two restaurants, but only one is fancy. We ate there. It was his birthday, and he'd footed the bill to bring me to France, so I decided to be magnanimous an take him to the Eiffel Tower for dinner.As a fancy French restaurant, my menu didn't come with prices. Uh-oh. And, being France, the numbers weren't all that advantageous to the dollar to begin with. It was all worth it. HCF felt pampered. But, the bill roughly matched my rent for my glamorous Portland apartment.I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.Anyway, Hot Cuban Boyfriend had to work during the day, so I entertained myself. Here's how:

Lasagna - Sunny Does It Her Way

Cooking For Real with Sunny AndersonRecipes are Made to BrokenLatin LasagnaSpring Goddess SaladPomegranate Margaritas Sunny seems like one of those gal pals you always like to stop by and see and on whom you can always count for good eats.Today, she’s doing classics that break the rules, but not “the laws of flavor”. She’s starting with a Latin Lasagna. Interesting.She adds 2 pounds of Roma tomatoes to the food processor with half a red onion and one seeded and ribbed jalapeño pepper and one poblano pepper. She adds some fresh lime juice (to add some Latin flavor) and some oil. She’s using precooked lasagna noodles and reminds us that we’ll need some extra moisture.I would say half the time I use precooked noodles and the other time I use regular ones. I do think the result is always slightly better with the conventional pasta. But there’s not enough difference to ignore the convenience of the precooked ones.Sunny seasons the mixture (heavily) and pulses it until coarsely chopped. Sunny adds oil to a pan and a bit of butter. Ooh, she has one of those cool glass-doored refrigerators. What kind IS that?Moving on to her spicy cocktail, she tells us she loves to infuse her simple syrups with something. She’s funny, she says why not make something complicated out of something simple? I have certainly been known to follow that rule in my kitchen.She adds water and sugar to a saucepan. She pokes holes in a habanero pepper, adds that to the saucepan and puts it on the heat. The habanero is so hot that you don’t need to slice it to get its flavor.That’s very clever. I don’t know why you couldn’t that in a tomato sauce or even with a salsa too. Just poke a few holes in the habanero, cook it in the tomato sauce or let it sit in the salsa and then remove it before serving. I’m going to try that.Into her oil and butter, she adds ground pork to brown. Using pork, instead of beef, “latinizes” her lasagna. She reminds us that the tomato sauce she’s making is really a salsa. She adds lots of sliced mushrooms to the pork with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. She stirs quickly and sets it aside.I like her riff on why she’s not cooking the mushrooms for long. Because she’s using precooked noodles, she WANTS the mushrooms to give off some of their liquid as they cook…to soften up those lasagna sheets.Sunny’s quite right about that. Have you ever been a bit lackadaisical about spreading the ricotta to the bitter end of each precooked noodle and maybe not having the sauce cover ever inch? Those little bits never get soft and they taste dry and brittle, so I’m glad she’s emphasizing the juicing up of those noodles.She squeezes out thawed frozen spinach really, really well and gathers up her other ingredients. She mixes the spinach with one egg and ½ cup of already grated parmesan. (I’m definitely not with her on that. I’d rather use a cheaper pecorino romano and grate it myself.) Sunny does say it’s okay to buy it grated, because she’s going to use it right away. She squeezes in a tub of ricotta and adds cumin, salt and pepper. She loves cumin as much as I do. She mixes that altogether. It looks yummy.I would do one thing a little differently. Just to pump up the flavor a tad more, I always soften an onion in oil (for this recipe I would then add the cumin, cook it on low heat for 2 minutes) and add the spinach to cook for a couple of minutes to get rid of any moisture. After cooling it slightly, I add that to the ricotta and other ingredients.Sunny doesn’t grease her 9 by 13 dish (I would) and she spreads 1/3 of the tomato mixture from the food processor on the bottom. She places over 4 lasagna par-cooked noodles, overlapping them. I never do and then I end up having to break the 4th one up to fit in the dish. I will try that next time. (I just looked at my box of precooked noodles and it says, in tiny print, that you SHOULD overlap your noodles. How did I not know that? Thank you, Sunny, for alerting me to proper noodle handling.)To assemble the lasagna, Sunny spreads over half the ricotta cheese and spinach mixture. She spoons over the pork and mushrooms and covers that with thick slices of mozzarella and another 1/3 of the salsa; then more noodles, the rest of the ricotta mixture and the rest of the meat mixture. More noodles, more tomato sauce and mozzarella slices and finally some extra Parmesan goes on top with a drizzle of olive oil.Sunny covers the lasagna with foil and cooks it at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes. She’ll uncover it to finish the cooking. I’m thinking Sunny covers it to aid in the production of steam, but I don’t like to. It takes way too long to heat up. I’d rather it got too brown too fast and THEN cover it.One other thing I would add. I am incapable of making a lasagna, WHICHEVER recipe I'm using, without a béchamel sauce. Even if I think I can live without it, as I’m about to put the top layers of stuff on, I quickly whip up a two cup quantity of white sauce. I spread it over the top layer of noodles and then cover the top with cheese and bake as usual.Sunny warned us that her lasagna suffered from “drippage”, so she put a sheet pan underneath, If you add an extra layer of béchamel, that may well happen, so be sure you secure the battlements with a sheet pan to catch any juices getting loose.There’s a commercial for the new season Dinner Impossible with the once disgraced Robert Irvine. Frankly, I’m not bothered about the whole thing…anymore. Apparently, I WAS when I first wrote about it, but time and distance have softened me. He was superb on the show and his amplifying his resume was a dumb mistake, but had no bearing whatsoever on his qualifications for producing a great meal in the most extreme of circumstances.Sunny gets started on her salad. She washes romaine and breaks it up into little pieces. She’s making a Green Goddess salad dressing. She adds ½ cup mayonnaise, ½ cup sour cream, 1 anchovy, cilantro (THAT’S is a different spin) and ¼ of a cucumber WITH skin. Hmmm, interesting. She says that's what makes this a SPRING Goddess dressing. Sunny finishes the dressing with a little clove of garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. She says it’s also good as a vegetable dip. She processes it until it’s smooth.She takes out the lasagna after 40 minutes and uncovers it. She turns the oven up to 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes and returns it to the oven until the top is brown and crunchy.Sunny slices a red onion to add to the romaine lettuce. (I might add a bit of cucumber in there to mirror the dressing as well.)For the Pomegranate Margarita, Sunny adds lime juice to a shaker with ice and a splash of triple sec and then tequila and pomegranate juice. She adds the spicy infused simple syrup and shakes it all up and pours it into a lowball glass, ice and all. She loves it.Sunny pours the dressing over the lettuce and red onion. She tosses it together.She spoons some salad on to her plate with a beautiful piece of lasagna. Sunny reminds us to let it sit for a bit before serving, so it comes out in a nice slice. She tastes it and raves and has a bit more margarita. She’s even happier now. “You get to break the rules without breaking the flow of the flavor.” Good show, good recipes, great host.

Shopping mall

MSN QnA Beta is closing on May 21st

This blog post contains the following sections: QnA Beta site is closing Stay connected with your QnA friends via Windows Live MSN message boards Goodbye from the QnA team QnA Beta site is closing We are ending the QnA beta test and are closing the QnA site on May 21, 2009. First and foremost, we want to thank you for your participation. Since we introduced QnA, we’ve learned a lot about this new way of communicating and creating valuable content. At this time, we are closing the QnA site, but the experience of running QnA and gathering all of the great feedback you’ve shared with us will certainly influence future product direction. When QnA moved from the Live Search organization into MSN we announced that we'd be looking for new ways to share questions and answers across MSN and provide new opportunities for you to engage with each other and share your opinions, ideas, and knowledge. That mission has not changed. Questions and answers are still important to MSN and your feedback has been very valuable for our future product strategy. You’ll see more ways of how MSN will empower people to connect and communicate over the coming months. In the meantime, you can continue to get great information from Live Search and connect with others through Windows Live. You can ask questions, get answers, and have discussions on a variety of topics in the message boards throughout MSN (see bottom of this post for links to the MSN message boards). Windows 7 Beta and RC users, you can now ask your questions on Microsoft Answers. Stay connected with your QnA friends via Windows Live Before the QnA site closes you may want to connect with your QnA friends through Windows Live. That way, even after the QnA site is gone, you can stay in touch with the community members you’ve come to know and enjoy. Here's a quick tutorial from David-QnA: Scenario: David-QnA wants to add T to his Windows Live network. Step 1: Sign in to QnA Step 2: Navigate to T's QnA profile page and click "View Windows Live profile" Step 3: A new browser window opens showing T's Windows Live profile. On that page, click the link "Add to your network." (If you weren't signed in to QnA, you may be asked to sign in to Windows Live.) Step 4: On the "What's your name?" pop-up (which you'll get if you haven't previously done this) verify your First and Last names and either leave the box checked or un-check it next to "Allow everyone to see my last name so people on Windows Live can connect with me." Step 5: On the next pop-up write a message to T (optional), and either leave the boxes checked or un-check them next to "Show this person on my profile page" and "Add this person to Windows Live Messenger." Click the "Send invitation" button. Step 6: You will get a confirmation saying that the invitation has been sent. Click the "Close" button. Scenario: QnA member T wants to see if anybody has invited her to be a part of their Windows Live network. Step 1: Sign in to QnA Step 2: Click on "Your QnA" to get to your QnA profile page and click on the link "View your Windows Live profile." Step 3: Click the link "View invitations." Step 4: You will see any pending invitations. Either keep the boxes checked or un-check them next to "Appear in each other's profiles" and "Add me as a Messenger contact so we can chat online," and click the "Accept" button. Step 5: You will get a confirmation that the person has been added to your network. You will also have the option to add this person to different categories (example: Friends). And that's how you can stay connected with your QnA friends through Windows Live! For more details on using your Windows Live profile, please see Windows Live Help for your profile.

Rock a Bye Baby!

The blog candy is closed. Winner announced here.Today I have a fun interactive card using a So Sketchy Sketch of Allison's (which I tweaked a bit!), and my first video upload! When I first saw the half circle sketch I was a bit stumped what I should do with it, but I guess I've just had babies on the brain lately (wink!) and am really excited about what the sketch inspired!Simply add a punched or die cut circle to the top with a scalloped circle behind it for a bonnet and you have a little baby peeking out! I used Blush Blossom CS and pale peach Copic to make some cheeks and a little upturned nose, then a pen to make simple eyes, mouth and curl. The shimmery coral paper you see is Paper Temptress Rocket Red Pearlescent CS. I used the lid of a pitcher to trace a half circle the size I wanted on the paper since all my dies were too small, the diameter of the circle is 5 inches, so 2.5" tall when folded. With the addition of the head, it still fits in an A2 card. :) I added a bit of Gable Green punched with the Threading Water Punch to the top and a little Cuttlebugged strip to the front. I substituted some tied ribbon for the butterfly, tried to make it resemble one with the bow as best I could. DP is Basic Grey Porcelain (thank you, Cammie!)The sentiment is from my "Wee Tees". You'll see how appropriate that is here in my first video upload (fingers crossed I did it right!), go easy on me with the quality, I just wanted to capture the motion for you (I decided to spare you me singing a lullaby) My baby rocks!!!! If you try making this fun card, please link this post if you share it and also let me know so I can come check yours out! :) Now for the candy! Patricia the Paper Temptress has a pack of ALL her assorted metallic colors up for grabs! (The mica/metallic line 25% off this month!) To enter, please leave a comment on this post with a request for a project you'd like to see here on this blog (or request for something using a particular stamp set or technique), I will randomly draw a winner and post the lucky person's name this weekend! Looking forward to reading your comments! :)Be sure to check out the new videos today on StampTV, too!PS If I can score a tripod, you just might see more videos in action here, would you like that??

Sweet treat!

Quickie post, I am stamping up a storm to get ready for a baby shower tonight, but here is a simple cupcake topper I made with "Wee Tees" and a safety pin! I stamped the polka dot background from Gina's "Bold Flowers" in pink onto my Basic Grey paper (onesie is stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa) and added the little cupcake image from my "A Charmed Life" set (omitting the jump ring part of the image), isn't that fun? (betcha wine isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think of onesies LOL!) I inked up just part of "sweetest" from the Wee Tees set to make "sweet" underneath. Ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I attached the safety pin with a glue dot, and the tied ribbon with a glue dot on top of that. TIP: Use a doublesided DP for these so they look just as pretty from the back as from the front (I figured that out AFTER I made this mock up LOL! it's all good, the 13 new ones I made are!) ;) This style of cupcake topper coudl be so easily adapted using the "Little Tees" for a girly slumber party or "Just So Sporty" for an after-game celebration! (substitute toothpicks for the pins) I'll be back from the shower with stamped gifts and decor ideas I used ( think stamped onesies, a centerpiece, framed art, and embellies on the table! I think it's going to be so cute! Can't wait! :)PS Do you have a shopping list for your Gina K coupon code yet?? Hurry, it expires soon!!

May 4 cultural programming submission deadline.

A meeting of the Bexley Public Radio community programming advisory committee is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday May 4, 2009.The meeting will be conducted at the Bexley Public Radio office, 2700 E. Main St., Suite 208, Columbus, OH 43209.The sole agenda item for the meeting is to accept hand-delivered submissions for cultural programming. The deadline for cultural programming submissions is 5:00 p.m. Monday May 4, 2009.As an alternative to hand delivery, submissions may be mailed to the Bexley Public Radio office. Submissions that are mailed must be delivered to the office prior to the 5:00 p.m. April 6, 2009 deadline. There is no admission fee charged for the May 4, 2009 meeting as there will be no discussion of programming matters. There is a $200 fee for each cultural programming submission. Submissions will be reviewed by officers of Bexley Public Radio. Thereafter, the officers may make comments and recommendations about the submissions to the community programming advisory committee. Cultural programming submissions shall include a description of the proposed program, a production budget, identification of funding sources for the production, identification of funding sources for broadcast and how the production will provide training for students. The submission shall also include a description of why the program will be of interest to Bexley audiences and Bexley area audiences.Letters of recommendation from three individuals shall be included as part of the submission. The letters of recommendation shall include original signatures. At least one of the letters of recommendation shall be from a resident of Bexley who currently resides in Bexley and has resided in Bexley for at least fifteen years. As an alternative to fifteen years of residence, a letter of recommendation may be provided by a person conducting business or a professional practice in Bexley for at least five years.At least one of the other letters of recommendation shall be from an individual residing in neighborhoods contiguous to Bexley for a period of at least five years.A person submitting a cultural programming proposal may request waiver of these residence requirements. A request for such a waiver includes an explanation of why a residence requirement is not appropriate for considering the submission.A submission fee of $200.00 shall be included with the submission. Payment of the fee shall be by check or money order payable to Bexley Public Radio.A submission shall include a budget for the programming proposal and a plan for financing the programming.Submissions shall be in accordance with the committee meeting schedule. Ten (10) paper copies shall be delivered to the station business office by the deadline for submissions. The paper copies shall be made on recycled paper.A submission shall include a written transfer to BPRF of all intellectual property rights in the submission.2009 submission fee: $200.00 per program concept.

Did I Hear RR Correctly?

I don’t want to ruin anyone’s lunch, but I must share this truly awful sounding recipe that Rachael made this morning. It was a SAUCE for a browned-potato-in-the-oven-type thing, which frankly I didn’t even know NEEDED a sauce.I do feel a bit bad, though, because RR said this was a recipe of her mother’s. I DO think a mother’s recipes must be given respect, but I just can’t hold my tongue on this one. (Listen, none of us is immune from horrible family recipes. Take my mother’s Jello Mold with Vegetables! PLEASE! Yes, I did say vegetables. I don’t remember it too clearly because I’ve blocked it from my memory, but I think CELERY was involved.)I could have sworn RR said the sauce for the potatoes was made from Horseradish Sauce, Applesauce and Crumbs, which sounds so ghastly I thought it was a first, even for her. Yet, on her website, she has a perfectly benign sauce made from mustard and sour cream (but with crumbs, as well). I didn’t record it and I wonder if I was dreaming, but I don’t think I could have made up the horseradish and applesauce combination. Here's the recipe on the website...with THE MOST UNATTRACTIVE PHOTO I’VE EVER SEEN. Maybe I DID hear her wrong, but my ears usually perk up when something so awful is about to be cooked. NOTE:One of my favorite readers, Deb, sent me this picture from her mother's recipe box - a Jello mold with CELERY! I'm so glad I wasn't making it up! (Deb had the lovely idea to gather together her mother's recipe cards and scan them and make a book for family members. She also included some old photographs. What a great way to remember one's mother

Bull Shark

One small task short of perfection

or maybe two. The dishwasher didn't use up all the stuff on the bench first time round. And as it doesn't have a Cat in the Hat type side arm, I need to be involved in the cleaning of the bench. At 9.30pm.The one small missing task was actually, bloody dishes notwithstanding, that Favourite Handyman fell asleep with the children tonight instead of uploading all the garden photographs which I took this morning. Today was going to be a blog-with-pictures-day. Now it will probably be next month and everything will look out of date and I will sigh and not use it. And you won't get to see what happened when we cleared lots of scrubby trees and put horse poo and pea straw down and then let the sun, the annual weed seeds, the pumpkins, the blackberry, the sunflowers and the rampant perennial weeds do all of their many growing things. Last month when I wasn't looking, another adult and his Dad put a small gate and some chickenwire there as well, which adds to the rampantness of it all. A gate doth not keep out ivy/blackberry/nasturtium/convulvulus - but it does provide a frame for the glory of these imports.So the perfection of the day part. All of our firewood is now stacked. Much of it is stacked under our new lean-to, a sunny space with a transparent roof where there is still room for winter pots of blueberries and lemons and silverbeet and maybe just maybe some ginger. The chooks had some time out in the temporary shelter while I made alterations to their palace. They don't like being grabbed by children much, and Brighid and Fionn are alternately frustrated and enraged by this.Favourite Handyman mowed the lawn. Brighid and I are going to rake up the long clippings tomorrow.I went to the dump. We filled the boot of our station wagon right to the ceiling with beer bottles, broken crockery, endless broken plastic pots and bits of tarpaulin and just junkety junk. I am going again soon. The look of simplicity that I want, the calm almost emptiness, is a way off yet.After more than 12 months of gentle cajoling, stroppiness and just plain endless persistence, FH has agreed to me gifting two of our lounge chairs to the Salvation Army. So we now have no wallpaper, vastly fewer items of clothing and possibly no more bank statements from 1996 in our lounge and there is going to be more space yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two fewer chairs on which to pile nappies and socks and underwear and then all the much bigger things on top so it is really difficult to find the little things just before work and then they fall down the back and. well and and and and and. If you don't recognise this, then you should say a prayer of thankfulness for your skills of not being hopeless. Or maybe you should go and open your smelly cupboard and do some washing. At least my lounge laundry mess is clean.We have been eating from our garden. So have the caterpillars. When the chooks eat my garden, I eat their eggs. When the caterpillars eat my garden, I do not eat their butterflies. Yesterday I made clever food. Clever food is when I haven't made it before. Clever cheapo special food is when it grows wild in my garden and I haven't made it before. Yesterday was my debut effort with nasturtium leaves. I made pesto with the remaining pine nuts from that week when I went mad and spent $23 just on pine nuts. (Supposedly to save money by making my own pesto. Supposedly.) Not content with just nearly burnt and then whizzed pine nuts, I added garlic (from my garden of cooooooooooourse), parsley, nasturtium leaves and mint leaves (allllllllll alllllllllll allllllllllll from my garden) and some olive oil. Then I folded in some parmesan cheese and then I mixed it into some mashed potato and made it all green speckled and then I cooked up onions, carrots, broccoli (er, yes actually the broccoli is from our garden, as were the caterpillars which I fished off just before cooking), thyme and fish in a oven-proof and element-proof dish and then I plonked the green speckled mash on top and put it in the oven and everybody ate it. It tasted nice, but it looked pretty homely rather than dinner party fare.Oh how could I forget? I ate our blackberry harvest.One blackberry.It was very yummy and yet - and yet - I do look forward to an improved yield next year.

CATS!

Daylight See the dew on the sunflower And a rose that is fading Roses whither away Like the sunflower I yearn to turn my face to the dawn I am waiting for the day . . . Midnight Not a sound from the pavement Has the moon lost her memory? She is smiling alone In the lamplight The withered leaves collect at my feet And the wind begins to moan 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 Every streetlamp Seems to beat a fatalistic warning Someone mutters And the streetlamp gutters And soon it will be morning Daylight I must wait for the sunrise I must think of a new life And I musn't give in When the dawn comes Tonight will be a memory too And a new day will begin Burnt out ends of smoky days The stale cold smell of morning The streetlamp dies, another night is over Another day is dawning Touch me It's so easy to leave me All alone with the memory Of my days in the sun If you touch me You'll understand what happiness is Look A new day has begun~ "Memories" from CatsFinally I went to watch this musical last night! There is no basis of comparison since I have not had a chance to watch it before. There were some minor trials and I thought I would not have the chance to watch it again. The first ticket I bought was for opening day, and I was in Phuket then. The second ticket I bought was on the day of the retreat. In the end, a friend kindly offered to buy me the tickets and I got to watch it in the end.The performance is great! Nice music, with even nicer dance choreography! Nice makeup too, although there are supposed to be cats of all breeds. Cats from the gutter, cats on ships, main cats characters in the moonlight. And the song "Memories" - beautiful, haunting and touching! How I wish there can be another run then I can watch it again!

A new video

This is a shot I took of Lisa and our audiologist Rachel. She's the voice you hear in the videos, but do not see much. Rachel has been such a blessing to us. We're so thankful to be working with her...Lisa is in for a new visit. This happened Wed Oct 15th. This time I videoed the software a bit so you can see how it works. Also Lisa is given a test for her to try out the new settings. Again, this is the first test, and Lisa misses a lot of words. But I found this interesting because it reveals the areas she has trouble hearing right now...http://www.youtube.com/v/mkhafhJJEKEThis next video is from the first day that Lisa had her cochlear implant activated. She's talking to Tom's parents in Florida. Our audiologist warned that we may be discouraged trying the phone so soon. So our hopes weren't too high... The video is kind of funny, though.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bfJNUHb1mcI was encouraged to post these videos because so many people said they enjoyed the other one.Thanks for praying,and thanks for stopping by today.Tom & Lisa Seward

When online publications erase writers' careersFelix Salmon

Back in March, I wondered why the NYT was breaking the web, yet was hopeful that it was some temporary snafu, and that it would be fixed sharpish. But no — it's still insanely broken, and Thomas Crampton is only one of hundreds of journalists who have seen their careers thoughtlessly erased by an idiotic marketing stunt. This hits home for me, because, between now and then, my name was summarily erased from more than 4,000 blog entries at Portfolio.com, when the site hired Ryan Avent to replace me. Now, everything I wrote has Ryan's name on it instead of mine. You could call it erasing my career, I suppose. It can be fixed quite easily — if Portfolio.com stays up, which it's far from obvious that it will — but I'm told there are no staff available to fix it. In general, web publishers care much, much less about preserving their archives and honoring incoming links than you'd ever believe possible. I'm not sure why that is, but it's those of us who are paid by media companies to write things online who tend to bear the brunt of those actions. Maybe we should start insisting on adding clauses to our contracts, whereby we're automatically given our archives and full rights to republish them wherever we want, the minute that incoming links get broken or the site goes down. Such clauses shouldn't be necessary, but sadly I think they probably are.

Dealing with the DMV

As a relatively new resident to the state of Maryland, last week I had the less-than-enjoyable task of getting a new driver's license and changing the registration on my car. The whole process started back in March when I started researching what exactly was required to get a new license and registration. It's different in each state, but in Maryland, I found out I would need a state safety inspection, proof of ownership of the car, proof of insurance and a standard application form to get Maryland license plates. To get a Maryland license, the Web site said I would need my birth certificate, another form of identification (such as a passport) and two examples of proof that I lived at the address I was claiming was my home.I started rounding up documents, had my mom mail me my birth certificate, asked the leasing office for a copy of my lease, scrounged around for a piece of mail from a government agency. So far I hadn't spent a dime.Then I took my car for inspection.Turns out my baby needed two new tires and the rear cylinders replaced to the tune of $530-ish. Ouch.But once that was done, I had everything I needed to go to the MVA last week. I was secretly dreading this trip, fearing that I would be stuck waiting forever and that I'd be told I was missing something even though I did my research.Long story short, the actual MVA process went pretty smoothly. I probably only waited about 15 or 20 minutes even though the place was packed. And now I can say I'm the owner of a new license with a pretty decent picture (much better than my passport!) and my car's sporting new plates.Do you have any DMV success or horror stories? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments! As a relatively new resident to the state of Maryland, last week I had the less-than-enjoyable task of getting a new driver's license and changing the registration on my car. The whole process started back in March when I started researching what exactly was required to get a new license and registration. It's different in each state, but in Maryland, I found out I would need a state safety inspection, proof of ownership of the car, proof of insurance and a standard application form to get Maryland license plates. To get a Maryland license, the Web site said I would need my birth certificate, another form of identification (such as a passport) and two examples of proof that I lived at the address I was claiming was my home.I started rounding up documents, had my mom mail me my birth certificate, asked the leasing office for a copy of my lease, scrounged around for a piece of mail from a government agency. So far I hadn't spent a dime.Then I took my car for inspection.Turns out my baby needed two new tires and the rear cylinders replaced to the tune of $530-ish. Ouch.But once that was done, I had everything I needed to go to the MVA last week. I was secretly dreading this trip, fearing that I would be stuck waiting forever and that I'd be told I was missing something even though I did my research.Long story short, the actual MVA process went pretty smoothly. I probably only waited about 15 or 20 minutes even though the place was packed. And now I can say I'm the owner of a new license with a pretty decent picture (much better than my passport!) and my car's sporting new plates.Do you have any DMV success or horror stories? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments!

What We Talk About When We Drink With Tibetans

The first matter in Dharamsala was to confront Indian beer. We chose McLlos pubhardly an ideal Indian venue, the decor of the place being clearly inspired by TGI Fridays, but authenticity matters little to the travel-weary and unshowered. Besides, only two places in McLeod Ganj serve alcohol. McLlos is a three-story monster overlooking the town square, serving up expensive curries and paneer pizzas, and offering a wide selection of Himachal Pradeshs finest brews. Over the entrance hangs a photo of Pierce Brosnan posing with the wait staff, an oddly reassuring sight, though its a stretch to imagine Pierce spending a languid evening pounding back bottles of Thunderbolt Lager. We opt instead for Godfather, and it tastes like fermented hell. Some stylish Tibetans sit down at our table. The Tibetan youth are quite the party animals, it turns out, and lead a cosmopolitan life as far as North Indian hill stations go. Oblivious to the limitations of their surroundings, they live as though McLeod Ganj were NYC. They pile onto noisy motorbikes (often blaring dance music through speakers under the seat), speak English capably, abuse the Indian waitstaff in Hindi, stay out all night with tourists, chat up girls, drink their faces off, dress as sharply as anyone. Their calm, peaceful outward mien, their sharp eyes and Buddhist smiles, seem to melt away under the acid-bath of Indian ale. Bad booze, the great equalizer. One of the Tibetans, Sangye (which means Buddha in Tibetan, I believe), has just returned to Dharamsala after two years spent abroad in Austria, and couldnt be happier about it. He looks around the room excitedly, almost unable to believe hes home. I practically have to strap him to his chair. I love this bar! I love Dharamsala! I love it! I love it! This is the best bar in the world! Jamyang, another Tibetan, buys me a Thunderbolt. Rotten. I notice that the quality of Indian beer varies by the bottle, owing to the complete lack of quality control. Even the shape and colour of the bottles themselves are subject to the laws of chance. Youre as likely to get a green or brown bottle as a clear one, which causes me to consider what other random variables are at work in the breweries of Himachal Pradesh. We drank deeply, we drank hard. We drank with a professional cricket team, and we drank with Austrian hippies and American expats. So swept up in the moment we were, that we neglected to note the closing time of the front gate of our hotel: midnight. It was now well past, and we were locked out. I climbed the gate, as the monkeys do, but it was impossible to reach my room from the balcony. So Sangye brought us back to his place, escorted by packs of yammering street dogs vying for our loyalty, and we all slept on the hard floor of his tiny apartment, underneath posters of Tibetan pop stars and Lenny Kravitz. It was there that Sangye drunkenly, but seriously, gifted me with his personal theology: The main purpose of Buddhism, and of every religion, is to loosen the bowels. Religion allows you to shit freely. Think about it. I had never conceived of religious worship in gastric terms, but I had to admit it warranted further study. The next day, Jamyang took me to his familys cafe on Bhagsu Rd for some Tibetan thentuk (noodle soup). I met a Dutch couple who had taken a six-month leave from their jobs to teach English and study Buddhism at the relevant local institutes here in McLeod. They ran an English conversation class at a local school at the base of the hill, and asked me if I might like to give it a try some time. An hour a day was all they needed, and no qualifications necessary. Sure, why not, I said. I showed up at the school that evening at 5:30 PM, where I was matched with a group of eight students, Tibetan refugees, some newly-arrived, some longtime residents of McLeod Ganj. A few were monks or nuns, and all ages were represented. I sat at the center of a semi-circle and went around the room, trying my best to spread the conversation around equally. A few were better in English than others, and helped those who were having trouble. The monk to my right, in particular, understood almost nothing and got constant verbal cues from the well-dressed girl on my left, whose English was almost fluent. I wondered why she bothered with conversation classes, as she spent most of the class helping the others. But the conversation classes were also a great social institution of the town, and they seemed to be full of Tibetan twentysomethings who were presumably single. I left it at that. I asked the students about their life history, where in Tibet they were from, and how long theyd been in India. A couple of them were born in Dharamsala, others had fled Tibet in childhood. Two of them fled later in life, because theyd been in jail in Tibet for political reasons, distributing leaflets or joining in rowdy protests. The oldest guy in the group, a leather-jacketed man of 38 years, had spent twelve of those years in the slammer. They told me this with a shrug, as if it meant nothing to them, like it was just a part of the Tibetan coming-of-age. The story of the Tibetan exile is a familiar and sad one, and every visitor to Dharamsala hears it, for it is in fact the story of many of the towns residents. Fleeing the oppression and brutality of the Peoples Republic of Chinas military presence in Tibet, the exile makes his way to Lhasa, leaving his family behind, probably for good. From there, they hire a kind of rogue sherpa who takes them on a punishing month-long trek over the Himalayas, through deep forest and under the cover of night so as to avoid snipers. They eat little (one guy told me he ate nothing but boiled grass), sleep barely a wink, suffer severe frostbite and snow blindness and often death, walking tirelessly towards the Nepalese border, where they are received by monks and kept in Kathmandu until they regain their health. From there, they are taken to Dharamsala to meet His Holiness, and brought into a monastery if they so desire, and their life as a refugee begins. Things are much better here, the students insist. They rarely speak of China. Its in the past. Their indifference amazes me. Tibet was once the great terror of Central Asia, the empire of the steppes. There is little of the conqueror in these Tibetans. They seemed to have moved past their own history. Sure, there are political rallies and uprisings in Lhasa, for which the Dalai Lama is typically blamed, but in general they have turn the other cheek (in the direction of the West, as it were). No Tibetan that I met spoke ill about the Chinese as a people, only as a government, and I never once heard a warlike word. The easy answer is that Buddhism played a role in their pacifism, but Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in the 6th century; I doubt that it took fourteen additional centuries to finally settle in. I dont know. I kept going with the conversation classes, but I found a monk to tutor one-on-one instead. Next post is about him. (A note on the publishing schedule of this blog: I realize Im way behind here, but there are lots more posts in the pipeline. Right now Im in a country with little to no Internet access, much of it highly restricted [if I tell you it's in Southeast Asia, I'm sure you can guess the country]. But I am not dead, not even slightly. And this blog will rise from the ashes and terrorize the world anew, but only after Ive had a proper week in a suitably cool place [did I mention it's hot in this part of the world?]. So Ill see you then.)

I am 20 and Fabulous - Best Skin Care Products for 20-something Year Olds

Doesn’t it seem like just about every skin care line focuses most of their attention on anti-aging treatments? I mean, gosh. What about our age group? Our skin needs attention too. So for those of us who were born in the late ‘70’s to mid ‘80’s, here are some skin care products that are suitable for our generation. So, embrace your youth while it lasts, because before we know it, we too will be reaching for Maybelline Age Rewind on the shelves. 1. The Body Shop Vitamin E Cream Cleanser It seems like a mere 15 minutes ago, our moms were commanding us to take our vitamins. Well, hey, they were right. And our skin needs it too. This cream cleanser by The Body Shop is infused with vitamin E, shea butter, and organic soy oil. It compliments any skin type, so it’s gentle enough to use daily. 2. Philosophy Falling In Love Perfumed Body Lotion Is it just me or do a lot of perfumed body lotions lack in the moisturizing department? Um…isn’t that kind of the purpose of body lotion? Well, I’ll keep names to myself for now, but thank God for Philosophy. Their sweet fragrance, Falling In Love also comes in a body lotion that actually moisturizes and conditions the skin, leaving it soft and silky. 3. Mistral Shea Butter I’m a huge fan of multi-purpose beauty products. Not only are they economical, but also it saves more room in my bathroom and cosmetic bag- especially for traveling. Alright, I’ll cut to the chase- this 100% natural white butter comes from a shea tree in Africa. In case you’re unaware, shea butter has amazing healing properties. It solves various skin problems such as chapped lips, dry skin, sunburn, and even hair. 4. Billy Jealousy Wipe Out Eye Cream Puffy eyes and dark circles occur at any age…do post-adolescent hangovers ring a bell? Well, this eye cream by Billy Jealousy is made with lactic acid, which helps alleviate puffiness, and licorice, to help diminish rings around the eyes. Unless you want your new nickname to be Lord of the Rings, perhaps you should give this a try. 5. Clinique Liquid Facial Soap- Extra Mild If you’ve got dry skin, then this is the cleanser for you. The name is pretty self explanatory- it’s mild, so it’s safe to use twice a day. You might also want to consider using its sidekick, Clinique Clarifying Lotion Mild, as the two work well together for dry skin types. 6. Fresh Brown Sugar Body Polish Ah, another one of my beloved multi-purpose beauty items. Pamper your skin with this exfoliator and moisturizer in one. It has a soothing citrus scent and its grainy particles from the brown sugar smooth away impurities and dead skin cells. 7. Not Soap Radio Say It With Suds You’re The Perfect Roommate bath/shower gel Pardon the lengthy name, but is this not the coolest shower gel? It’s the perfect little gift for the perfect roommate (though I’m sad to say that many of you don’t exactly have a great roommate. But, I empathize… good ol’ college days). It has a cherry/almond scent and it’s formulated with natural shea nut oil. So show your appreciation to your roomie in soap form. Mmm…don’t steal a drop when you’re in the shower! ;) Reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and crows feet! Save 20% on your next Botox injection. This miracle in a bottle will knock off ten years! Yep, we 80’s babies are somewhat ignored in the skin care industry. But who cares, right? As you can see, we still have access to awesome products for our face and body. Plus, we just happen to be the object of 30 and 40 somethings’ envy.

Shakespearean Characters in MV

One of the questions in the interview over at Historical Novels was "How many Shakespearean characters are in THE MASTER OF VERONA?" Now, I've thought about how many plays I referenced, but I've never done a strict character count. So I guessed, counting characters off the top of my head, and came to seventeen. But since then I've gone back and done a real count. I could still be missing some, but by my current tally, it's twenty-three. But some of those are really cheating, and no one but me would know about some of them. Here's the list: Plays Referenced: R&J, Shrew, Merchant, Much Ado, M4M, 2 Gents, Macbeth, Caesar, &pA&C. And in one of the short stories, I sneak in a reference to 12th Night as well. Crossover Characters: Prince Escalus (R&J) Mercutio (R&J) Lord Capulet (R&J) Lord Montague (R&J) Lady Montague (R&J) Tybalt (R&J) Friar Lawrence (R&J) Nurse’s Husband (mentioned in R&J) Benedick (Much Ado) Valentine’s Father (mentioned in 2 Gents) Petruchio (Shrew) Kate (Shrew) Ferdinand (mentioned in Shrew) Mentioned, but not Seen: Lady Capulet (R&J) Grumio (Shrew) Lucentio (Shrew) Vincentio (Shrew) Don Pedro (Much Ado) Don John (Much Ado) Shylock (Merchant) Bellario (mentioned in Merchant) Valentine (2 Gents/R&J) Escalus, Prince of Vienna (Measure For Measure) The reference to Valentine and his father is sneaky in the extreme, and really shouldn’t count until the next book, when he truly appears. Lucentio appears only in reference to his father, which is again very sneaky. I made up a name for the Nurse’s Husband, since Shakespeare never gives him one. Same for lady Cap. As you can see, very few of these people appear in the novel under their Shakespearean name. p For the record, I've played nine of these characters onstage.

Five to Go: Here Come the Bile

This will ramble. Don't expect cohesion. Or coherence. As always these opinions are my own, and do not represent the editorial board of The Lance or any of its volunteers.The problem Windsor, I think, is that deep down, you don't really want a student newspaper.I took an office at the Lance in 2004, and am making my exit here four years later, and in that time, I've never found anyone who didn't already work for the paper who had anything good to say about us.You think this is our own fault. You think we bring it upon ourselves with the advertising, the choice of advertisers, wire copy, lazy reportage, sensationalism or any other of the myriad claims made against this newspaper in the past four years. But I am constantly amazed by the venom this publication generates among some people on campus.When the pub got closed, it wasn't long before the targets turned to The Lance. "Why do we give money to a paper we never read? Take that money for the Pub we don't go to." Why not take it from the radio station you never listen to and takes twice as much of your tuition? Nope, never. I can only assume this is because something like CJAM falls into a sort of 'out of sight, out of mind' category. Buried in a far away corner of the CAW Centre, few outside of the station's dedicated staff and volunteers even remember it's there. Whereas The Lance gets plastered all over campus, making it an easy target. People see the stacks of papers littering the cafeteria and assume people are using them as napkins. It's not my fault you people can't use a recycling bin.As far as the other criticisms, allow me to retort.The number of ads: I'll assume something I was told in '04 holds as true today if not moreso: If the paper operated on student fees alone, it would come out once a month. Sad reality: ads are required to keep the paper coming out once a week, in colour. Don't tell to the editors to cut their salaries, they make f**king peanuts as it is, and deserve their meagre sums for the level of work they put into it.The types of ads: At the first national newspaper conference I ever attended, ad policies were the topic of the day. Some felt they were ethically necessary, and refused ads from the military, or tobacco or alcohol or companies with questionable environmental practices. Those were the idealistic students who ran college papers.Others felt they were the most ludicrous ideas they had ever heard, and laughed them off as naive. These were people like Lewis Lapham of Harper's, and Ken Alexander of The Walrus, both of whom were quick to point out that they would take ad money from whoever wanted to hand it over, if it meant getting another issue out. Because these men understood that in the world of print, survival is the highest priority, and gave their readers enough credit to tell the difference between running an ad and making an endorsement.Survival is even more precarious in the world of student publications. The Lance makes ad money from national and local customers. Nationally, ad sales are down across the board on account of the recession [also a reason I'm making my exit]. So we turn to local to hopefully pick up the slack. So if a strip club wants to pay us a grand for a full page ad, if it's the difference between the black and the red, hell yes we'll take it. If it were up to me, there'd be classifieds stuffed with escort ads in the back. But I'm without scruples.Wire copy: I've fought tooth and nail for this, always. You do not live in a bubble. No one thinks they're more globally connected than a university student, yet none of them seem to care about what might be happening at schools across the country. Shut your damn face. One or two wire stories in an eight page news section does not suggest a dearth of local content. Now, when the Opinion section was running wire copy a few weeks ago....THAT suggests a dearth of local content, and serves to strengthen my original thesis: you don't really want this paper.Not that some criticisms are not valid. I can't lie, I've rubbed the bridge of my nose on more than one occasion over the current news section. Local produce? Flu shots? Is this the Amherstburg Echo? I know it's the end of the semester, but damn.And yet I know from experience, if the news editor had run stories more city than school based, there would be a pile of angry emails criticizing the lack of campus-centric content.You do not want this newspaper. Don't even get me started on the oversight committee, some lame-brained misguided endeavour by a crew of legacy grabbing instigators conducted in a fashion even the most peabrained of observers found fault with, and managed to last about half a year before losing its chair. You people care so little about this paper you won't affect change even after you've fought for the right to do so. And the editors are to take you seriously??"Well why the eff do you care, Trail? Your ass is out the door anyway."This is true, and do not misconstrue this as sour grapes. The fact that I still love this newspaper and cherish my time there is why I find all of this so frustrating. Bitching about something and doing nothing to try and improve what you see as problems is a dick move. You complain about ads, but it's not like an increase in student fees would be met with applause [despite not increasing in six years]. You complain about content, but refuse to volunteer or write stories. And this song and dance never changes. It's the nature of campus publishing, known too well to any of us dumb enough to put more than two years into it. By the time you can reach a compromise with anyone, they graduate, and a new crop of rabid young world changers comes storming in and you start with them all over again.You do not care about this newspaper. You do not want this newspaper. It could disappear tomorrow and you would not even notice, and you're too stupid to realize how tragic that would be.

Back in Georgia

From Lee Goodall, the new Georgia State Director for Organizing for America: Since Inauguration Day, Organizing for America has been dedicated to making real the change we fought for during the election. But to be successful, we need to hear from you -- your effort and commitment are the backbone of this movement and this organization. That's why I'm so excited to announce that we're back on the ground in Georgia, and starting this Thursday, April 16th, we'll be hosting Listening Tour Town Halls across the state.Will you make your voice heard and join us on the Listening Tour? At Listening Tour meetings, you'll get a chance to meet new state staff members, hear about some lessons learned during the general election, and offer your thoughts on how we can organize Georgia going forward. Your ideas will be used to write a Georgia-specific plan for Organizing for America in 2009 and beyond. The campaign brought an unprecedented number of new voices into the process -- we need to make sure those voices remain at the center of the debate as the President and Congress work on providing solutions for our economy. But these meetings are not just for folks who were involved in the campaign -- we're hopeful that every Georgian will get involved. We can't stop growing our movement now. We've never had a better opportunity to shape our future -- and just like during the election, we'll do it from the bottom up. Sign up now to attend a Listening Tour event.I look forward to seeing you, Lee Lee Goodall Georgia State Director Organizing for America P.S. -- If you can't make it to a Listening Tour event, you can still get involved with Organizing for America in Georgia. Let us know how you'd like to see Georgia organized.

When Funny Isn't Really Funny

Farris and Rogan in "Observe and Report" - Judy Holliday and Walter Matthau for the New Millennium? Seth Rogan turns in something of a major performance in Jody Hill's "Observe and Report," playing a character nearly as messed up as the movie surrounding him. This is unexpected and yet it really isn't.Rogan came to movies a fully-formed character actor, despite mentor Judd Apatow's misguided attempt to foist him on us a leading man in "Knocked Up." He's a budding Walter Matthau and, from where I sit, he and Jonah Hill are ready for a Gen-X update of "The Odd Couple."Jody Hill, meanwhile, is a filmmaker with a lot of great ideas rattling around his head, the best of which was to see the sublime Anna Farris as the new-age Judy Holliday and cast her opposite Rogan. Hopefully, Rogan's next film will be advertized as "Rogan's Back ... and Farris's Got Him." I could watch these two forever. But, oy, then there's this movie. Wait 'til you see it. "Observe and Report" is the kind of "comedy" (I'm going to sound very old now) that expects us to laugh at characters and situations that aren't remotely funny. And I guess that we do laugh. Nervously."Observe and Report" has attracted the kind of reviews in which the critic in question has felt obliged to call the film "funny" but with some kind of modification. My favorite: "Numbingly funny." (I won't identify the critic.)Personally, I'd opt for "squirmingly funny."Since I retired as a working critic, I am fond of commenting to my wife after just about every other movie I see, "I liked it but I have absolutely nothing to say about it." I mean, take "The Reader" as a case in point. Prestige film, right? Yet, I would find it living hell to have to write about it.But "Observe and Report" is one of those seemingly nothing movies that makes me feel terminally opinionated. In it, Rogan plays an all-too-familiar modern male figure suffering from what I call testosterone poisoning. Rogan's Ronnie Barnhardt is a pathetic, self-deluded loser who uses his expendable position as security chief at the depressingly typical Forest Ridge Mall to run roughshod over people - mostly other workers at the mall, most minority workers. Almost immediately, "Observe and Report" positions itelf as an edgy social comedy/social commentary.And, initially, it works on that level. But the problem here is that (1) there is only one character who is even remotely sympathetic (a sweet woman named Nell, played by Collette Wolfe) and (2) Hill has little else but contempt for these characters (sweet Nell included). Even Ronnie's mother (Celia Weston) with whom he still lives, doesn't get off here. She's a flatout drunk who brags that she's "f****d" all of Ronnie's friends.After a while, as the worthless Ronnie abuses a series of equally worthless victims, the film becomes, well, squirmingly funny.The dubious moral of all of this: People are crap.Note in Passing: In real-life, Ronnie wouldn't be even remotely amusing. There's an on-going case in Riverside, Ca. regarding a lost puppy named Karley (right) that was being returned to its owners by a neighbor when another neighbor - a gung-ho, take-charge, authoritarian firefighter - stepped in and took over, only to eventually beat the puppy to death when it didn't want to go with him. Karley suffered a cracked skull in three places; her nasal cavity and ear canal were crushed, and she lost an eye. She had to be euthanized. Check out this sad case on Justice4Karley. No, a man like Ronnie Barnhardt is no laughing matter.

Bug bag

Conservative Milbloggers Begin Speaking Out Against DADT

Dan Choi is an effective advocate for the movement to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law because he's not only an articulate West Point graduate and an Arabic linguist, but he's also walked the walk as an infantry officer in the streets of Iraq. In fact, his breadth of experience allows him to highlight just how ridiculous the DADT policy is in 2009 because he's a soldier's soldier--as evidenced by the support he's received from the troops in his own unit. So, with Dan leading the way--while also providing political and philosophical cover--we're beginning to see more conservative milbloggers come out in favor of a repeal of DADT. Take Uber Pig writing at Blackfive on Friday for instance: Word on the street is that Baron Von Steuben was gay. Also, I'm pretty sure if you read some of that greek stuff, you'll find there were some gay dudes hanging out in phalanxes. My position has long been that gay dudes have the same duty to serve as breeders, and that shouldn't be interfered with. Uncle Jimbo, of course, outed himself almost three years ago with the same opinion. And even if a majority of active duty folks disagree with us on this, they'd be at least a little bit troubled by the case of Dan Choi. Dan is apparently an excellent Arabic linguist who has served in harsh environments, is a graduate of West Point, is respected by his fellow soldiers, loves his unit, and has sworn to defend his country with his life. He's not like some of the guys I know of who used their newly found sexuality as a means to leave the Army before their term was up. There are no charges of improper relationships between him and a subordinate. The only complaint is that he went on national TV and didn't lie about his sexuality. According to Aaron Belkin, Obama can, at any time, suspend the implementation of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Doing so would save the career of what appears to be a good man. So you know what? It's time for Obama to put his money where his mouth is. Uber Pig took some heat in the comments, but he's also writing on the same site which saw his conservative colleague Uncle Jimbo call for a repeal of DADT two and a half years ago--as Uber Pig mentioned above. Back then, Uncle Jimbo had this to say: My view is that since there are currently a number of gay troops and little difficulty due to their presence, there is no need for the ban. We have effectively progressed beyond the point where most members of the military even care about sexual orientation in any way that would preclude them working side by side with gay people. But it didn't end with Uber Pig's remarks at Blackfive on Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, The Sniper had publicly joined the "repeal" crowd at his conservative milblog: I'm sure I'll get some hate mail for this or even lose some readers. . . I don't care. I'm standing with Uber-pig and Uncle Jimbo from Blackfive on this one... if they want to serve, let them serve. Bad behavior (like this) will be dealt with on a case by case via the UCMJ. But I doubt that will be commonplace. I once knew a guy who was an excellent linguist (and no, not all linguists are gay) but he was gay and when he came out of the closet he wanted to be honest so he told the command. He wanted to serve, he just didn't want to be a liar. They railroaded him for two years, tried to make him out other gays, relegated him to driving a bus (a waste of his language skills), and then when he was two months out from an honorable discharge they tried to screw him over by giving him a gay-out discharge which would have stripped him of his benefits... after serving his four years the best he could. He wisely hired a lawyer who promised a PR nightmare and years of court battles for the Command and the army so they gave up. He was a lucky one. This BS needs to stop. All it takes is stroke of the pen. Obama's got that pen. Make it stop. Dan Choi is the type of officer America's Army needs. And he's the type we can ill afford to lose. That's hard to deny--and it's even more irrefutable for those who've had to deal with tricky situations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Who out there wants to say they wouldn't go to war with this guy simply because he's gay? Not many Iraq and Afghanistan vets, that's for sure. And that's why we're beginning to see veterans coalesce around the movement to repeal the DADT law--regardless of their views on other political issues. It's outdated, it hurts readiness, and those who've been there can see this.