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As Coach Sellas Tetteh name 30-man Squad for Ivory Coast Encounter … Leone Stars Depart to Accra for a week Intensive Training

A 20-man delegation of 15 home based players, a foreign based and four technical staff left Sierra Leone for Ghana on Monday afternoon as the Sierra Leone Football Association starts the countdown in preparation for the match which according to the SLFA President, Madam Isha Johansen "will change the political and social dynamics of Sierra Leone” should Leone Stars be victorious in the September 3rd AFCON 2017 qualifiers against Ivory Coast.

The SLFA President called on closed ally; Ghana FA President, Kwesi Nyantasaki to assist in facilitating a conducive atmosphere for the home based national team players as well as the foreign based players to use as a training ground in preparation for the encounter against the Elephants of Ivory Coast.

Madam Johansen wished the players good luck and reminded them that this should not be considered to be a leisure trip.

"You guys are on a mission; the journey towards victory for Leone Stars starts from today," Isha Johansen said.

Head coach, Sellas Teivi Tetteh has named a 31-man squad for the crunch Ivory Coast encounter in Bouake and the Ghanaian born tactician has expressed satisfaction over the improvement of his squad noting that the team is developing both mentally and physically.

“We are taking the team to Accra to reduce the pressure and tension from the fans at home who would like to see the team succeed in the historical match and in the process create a conducive atmosphere for the boys to concentrate on the task ahead. This is a very important match for the country and for the team of young players who have never played in the AFCON finals. We are going to do our best and come out of the match with our heads raised up,” Coach Sellas Tetteh assured Sierra Leoneans shortly before departure on Monday afternoon.

The luxury hotel and sports complex in Accra owned by former France international (Ghanaian born) Marcel Desailly will host the players who are expected to engage in a series of matches against top Ghanaian premier clubs. Veterans Tony Baffuor and Abedi Pele will also be part of the host preparations.

Home based called up

Donald Wellington, Mohamed L. Bangura, Prince Barrie,       Kwamie Quee, Ibrahim A. Kamara, Ibrahim Kabba, Christian Moses, Abu Kanu, Kempson Fofanah, Mohamed Kamanoh, Yeami Dunia, Abu Suma, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Ibrahim Sorie Barrie, Unisa Koroma

Foreign Based Called up

Solomon Zombo Morris (France), Alhaji Dauda Conteh (Guinea), Umaru Bangura (Switzerland), David Simbo (Belarus), Hassan Sesay (Finland), Gibril Sankoh (China), Mohamed Kamara (Finland), Khalifa Jabbie (Maldova), Alfred Sankoh (Turkey), John Kamara (Latvia), George Davies (Germany), Mohamed Bangura (China), Abdul Sesay (Finland), Julius Woobay (Slovenia), Sheka Fofanah (Denmark)

Copyright 2014 The Sierra Leone Football Association.
Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being giving to the Communications Desk of the FA as source.


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Haiku by Cat IV

Haiku by Cat Elsa Clair Waiting

Guest Haiku from Susan C. Willett of Life with Dogs and Cats

We’re joining the Thoughtless Thursday Blog Hop Sponsored by our SlimDoggy friend Ruckus the Eskie and co-host Love is being owned by a Husky

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  1. No tip for you.
    The Island Cats recently posted…What’s That Wally Doing?My Profile

  2. My cats wait forever too and don’t have much luck.
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  3. For our cats, the service is alwaystoo slow.

    Purrs (and wags) from the gang at Life with Dogs and Cats!
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    • I bet they don’t leave tips either.
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  4. The expression says it all!
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  5. oh I hope you get some tuna soon.
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Help For Authors

If you haven't visited WhoMovedMyBuyButton, a website started by Authors Guild, do yourself a favor and drop by. The website is the direct result of multiple author complaints about Amazon's exercise of the nuclear option they exercise to remove the Add To Cart buttons from displays of books by publishers who have "offended" Amazon in some contractual dispute.

When you visit the site, you'll learn about the history of the conflict with Amazon. You'll also gain the tools needed to allow you to track the status of your books on Amazon.

Takeaway Truth

Authors need all the help they can get.

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Sunday, June 19, 2016

White Rock Lake

Sit back and buckle in for an interesting variation on the vanishing hitchhiker, from the Lone Star State!

Drivers on the roads around White Rock Lake near Dallas, Texas, may encounter a young woman, soaked to the bone and wearing what appears to be a white evening gown from the 1920s. If the driver decides ot be a good samaritan and stops to offer help, the young woman will ask to be driven to an address on Gaston Avenue. In some versions of the story, the young woman explain that there has been an accident and her car has fallen into the lake, while in others she is barely verbal due to a stupifying state of shock. Upon arriving at the destination, the driver will discover that the young woman has vanished, but that there is water covering the seat where she had been sitting.

In some versions of the story, the woman will specify that the house to which she has asked ot be driven belongs to her father. On arrival, the driver will observe that the young woman has fallen asleep, will go to the house and knock on the door. The door is then opened by an elderly man who is angered when this stranger claims to be bringing the elderly fellow's daughter home - you see, she had dided years earlier when her car plunged into the lake, and he doesn't appreciate these sorts of jokes. It is at this point that the driver returns to the car to find that woman is gone and the seat is wet.

The identity of the woman is not known, nor is why she is trying to reach the house on Gastone Avenue.

There is one other variation on the story, one which is much, much creepier and bears no resemblance to the hitchiking ghost story outside of the presence of a young woman in an evening gown. In this version, people boating on the lake or out at the docks at night report seeing a body floating face down, carried (seemingly by the currents, though we know better) towards the observers. It appears to be the body of a drowned young woman in a fancy evening gown.  As the body come close to the observers, it turns over, and those present can see that the skin is bright white, as if drained of bloood. As it reaches the observers, the eyes spring open and the body emits a ghastly, disturbing shriek. Allegedly, those present always run away at this point, because, let's face it, so would you and I.

Commentary:  There really are two separate ghost stories here, whether or not they have the same origin is unclear.  The first is a standard vanishing hitchiker story, but with the ghost leaving behind water rather than a jacket or sweater (which, when you get down to it, is just really damn rude on the ghost's part).  The second is a much stranger and more sinister story that has some truly creepy and disturbing elements.  I suspect that this is a case where elements from one story (woman drowning when a car plunges into a lake) were adopted into a new story because, let's face it, the vanishing hitchhiker story is ubiquoutous to the point of becoming a bit boring.  Another possibility is that the creeepier story, of the floating corpse, is the original tale, and that it was adopted into the ubiquoutous vanishing hitchiker story by people getting their stories a bit garbled. Regardless, while I appreciate the hitchiker story as a form of folklore, I am much more likely to tell the latter story should I be sitting with friends around a campfire.

The ghost story has also become an element of one of Dallas's odder pop-culture moments. In October of 1967, local radio personality Chuck Boyles decided to invite his listeners to join him at White Rock Lake in order to search for the phantom and try to solve the mystery behind her (lest you are inclined to think of this as a serious investigation, keep in mind that he was a radio DJ given to the self-promotion necessary to that profession and that this was likely intended as a goofy lark).  While he likely expected to result in a few dozen people coming out (he set the meeting for the very early hours of the morning, likely to discourage many people from joining him), something in the neighborhood of 1000 people (mostly under the age of 25) arrrived.  This, in turn, resulted in the police coming out, hoping to prevent a riot. While there was a bit of mischief, it was, ultimately, anti-climatic and nothing happened.  However, the city government was sufficiently displeased to put Boyles in a position where he felt the need to make an on-air apology a few days later.

And that, my friends, is how you ensure the continuation of a piece of folklore. My gratitude goes ot Chuck Boyles, even though those living near the lake were likely less than please with him.

Sources: Wikipedia, iO9Phantom SeekersDark Haunts

Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia

Chuuk Lagoon, also known as Truc Lagoon (let's hear it for languages with semi-compatible phonemes!) is a natural harbor in the Caroline Islands.  The Japanese navy used it as a home base during the second World War.  This came to a sudden end on February 17, 1944, when a two-day battle began, resulting in the destruction of the base. More than 50 ships and hundreds of aircraft were destroyed, and thousands of Japanese soldiers lost their lives (400 of which are said to have been trapped in the hold of a ship which sank, drowning the men.
Since the war, the lagoon has become a popular destination for scuba divers who want to explore sunken wrecks (some sources place credit for this popularity with a 1969 documentary by Jacques Cousteau).

Although a significant number of bodies were eventually recovered and returned to Japan for burial, many remain in the depths of the lagoon. Many of those who have dived at the lagoon report supernatural goings-ons.

Several of the ships that sank were cargo ships, including at least one loaded with trucks, and divers have reported hearing the sound of automobile engines starting and idling under the water. Similarly, many divers have reported hearing machine-like grinding noises coming from the engine rooms of some of the sunken ships.

Divers have also reported hearing human voices emanating from the water, and rumor holds that the locals consider the islands to be haunted, with a television crew (from the inaccurately-named "Destination Truth") claiming to have heard stories about floating lights near the caves on the island, disembodied human voices heard throughout the island (though especially in the lagoon area), and one of the crew claiming to have been touched on the shoulder when nobody else was present.

By the way - you should check out the diver's photos available here.

Commentary:  Considering that battlegrounds across the world attract ghost stories, it is only natural that the same be true of a naval battleground (battlewater?), especially considering the volume of dead and the difficulties of recovering bodies from the water as compared to dry-land battlegrounds.  While the Japanese government has made efforts to recover and bury bodies from the lagoon, it is still common for divers to find human remains while exploring, which says more about the nature of massive shipwreck sites than about the efforts of the Japanese government.

I wonder about a few things here, though.  The first is whether or not the locals truly consider this place to be haunted, or if that is a European/U.S. story that we place on the location because in our ghost story traditions it seems like it should be haunted (haunted burial grounds, which is what this place has become, though a standard part of European and therefore U.S. folklore, are not a universal part of human views about burial places).  I don't know, and if any of the readers have had reason to visit Micronesia, perhaps you could inform me. If they do consider it haunted, I then wonder if this is a native view, or if it is something imported with wreck-diving tourism in the 1970s and later.  Again, I genuinely don't know, and would be grateful if any of my readers could fill me in.

Similarly, I know that many non-competitive sports sub-cultures have developed their own superstitions and supernatural beliefs common throughout (try talking to a surfer some time, or a mountain climber, and you will see exactly what I mean).  If so, then I would wonder whether or not those beliefs have fed this growing legend. I have already begun contacting divers that I know in order to ask them - if they get me any information, I will update this entry accordingly. (Edit to note: I have spoken with a couple of divers so far, they both think that this is likely a dead-end. While they have encountered supernatural divers, they have not encountered a supernatural view common to divers).

One final note - I have observed that, as with many other ghost stories of more recent vintage, the haunting of Chuuk lagoon is one that appears across the internet, often with the exact same information repeated over and over again, not quite word-for-word, but without much variation - so it's not the copy-and-paste style of folklore spread that I have noted for other ghost stories, but it is something close to that.  If you type Chuuk lagoon (or Truk Lagoon) into Google, you will pull up many web pages, but I only cite three below, because, frankly, no matter how many I went through, I never found anything new pertaining to the ghost stories, so I just included the first three that I found. Again, I have to wonder whether or not this suggests that the over-use of a few specific sources may be resulting in stagnation of folklore.  I also noticed that none of the sources cited primary print references for the ghost stories, instead relying on hearsay, other websites, and a relatively recent television show - this makes me wonder whether or not this legend may be more recent, originating in the 1990s or later, as the internet made sharing details of dives easier.  If this is the case, then perhaps this is a story that is emerging, rather than stagnating.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Manchac Swamp, Louisiana

Manchac Swamp, in Lousiana, is home to two separate supernatrual stories. The first is that the swamp is home to the rougarou (apparently a local dialect version of Loup Garou, which is the American South version of the werewolf). This beast is said to haunt the swamp, looking for victims to tear apart.

But, the actual ghost story comes courtesy of the legend of an alleged Voodoo priestess named either Julie White or Julie Brown. She lived in a small town in or near the swamp in the early 20th century, and apparently liked frightening her neighbors for fun.  Amonf her activities was her frequent statement that "one day I'm gonna' die, and I'm takin' alll of you WITH ME!" I like to think that this was followed by her rubbing her hands and cackling. She was also known to routinely predict disasters, including the destruction of neighboring towns, only to have her predictions come true in short order. The neighbors took to calling her "the oracle."

Well, in 1915, she died, and a hurricane struck New Orleans, destroying (some sources say burying) her town...taking it all with her.

Since then, people entering the swamp have reported hearing her singing her song (if it is Julie Brown, I hope that song is "Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun"), and often hearing a woman's voice scream eerily, echoing thoughout the swamp. It is said that those who have entered the swamp to test the spirit routinely leave as terrified believers in the paranormal.

Commentary: I looked this story up on multiple websites, but each of them had the same story, sometimes almost word-for-word, so I linked to only the most relevant sources below. This lack of variation (and lack of detail) is a bit irritating. But this is often a frustration in seeking out ghost stories.  I also was disappointed that details of the werewolf story were typically light, though I didn't persue that as much as I might have, since I am more interested in ghosts than monsters.

This story is the source of local tourism, with Cajun Pride tours taking people to the cabin where the alleged priestess once lived, as well as the cemetary where she is supposedly buried. While I am skeptical of the story and the motives behind it being spread, I am nonetheless glad that I heard it. It may be a by-the-numbers voodoo story, but it is still fun.

Sources:, iO9, Abondoned! blog,

Arch Duke Ferdinand's Car

The assasination of Archduke Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, triggered World War I...and if you didn't already know that, please go back to high school and try to pay attention.

The vehicle, unlike the world, went away from the assasination unscathed. It's subsequnet owners, drivers, and various passengers and bystanders, however, were reportedly not so lucky. It's first post-war owner, the Governor of Yugoslavia, was involved in four collisions, losing his arm in one of them.  This allegedly led to him wanting the car destroyed, but it nonetheless ended up with his friend Dr. Strikis...who apprently died when the car somehow overturned and crushed him.  The car then continued it's winning streak when it was owned by a Swiss race car driver, and it threw him out during a drive through the mountaisn (whether this occured during a race or a pleasure drive is unclear). Next, it was bought by a farmer, and whent he car was being towed (after stalling during a drive) it's engine roared to life, the car kicked into gear, and it caused a collision that killed the farmer and the man driving the towing vehicle (NEVER doa  favor for the owner of a haunted car). Finally, a new buyer decided that the problem wwasn't the obvious demonic nature of the vehicle, but the paint job (it is often described as "blood red"), so he painted it blue, and as a sign of gratitude, the car went and got itself into a damn head-on collision, killing the new owner and his guests as they drove to a wedding.

Now, one would think that being the mobile site of the spark that set Europe on fire, throwing much of the world (as Europe's colonies did become involved) into blood and fire would be enough. But some evil, demonic vehicles apparently have to be over-achievers. Apparently this one just wanted to say "in your face, Christine!"

Commentary: If this all sounds a little too much like the stories involving James Dean's famous "Little Bastard" car...well, there's probably a reason for that. You see, the stories involving the car can't really be traced to earlier than 1959, four years after James Dean's death. Moreover, the story was popularized (and possibly invented) by professional tall-tale teller Frank Edwards in his book Stranger than Science. It is, of course, possible that the story was circulating in some form prior to 1959 - the curse involving the car that was present for one of humanity's most destructive bouts of collective of insanity is, after all, just begging for frightening tales - but the timing of Edward's publication seems just a little too close to the beginnings of the "Little Bastard" story.

It should also be said that most, if not all, of the story is obvious B.S. For starters, post war, there was no governor of Yugoslavia, as it was a kingdom.  Also, how could the car be through that many collisions and yet be relatively unscathed (the intact car is on display of the War Museum in Vienna)? Then there is the lack of specifics regarding many of the incidents.  It all seems rather hard to accept.

Sources: Jalopnik, athingforcars.comSmithsonian Mag

Return to Babylon, Haunted Film

The film Return to Babylon is a bit of an interesting oddity, a silent film released in 2012 (similar to The Artist), it tells the tales of Hollywood's early years, focusing on the scandals that made and broke the stars of the silent film era.

According to the director, Alex Monty Canawati, he had wanted to make a silent film in the style of those from the 20s, and, one night, found a bag on a sidewalk in Hollywood. The bag contained 19 rolls of unused black and white 16 mm film. Canawati decided that, with this, he'd make his movie.

The film was shot on a shoe-string budget, despite having a number of well known stars in its cast. It never found a distributor, thanks in part to the sheer oddness of making a silent film in the modern era (though, yes, The Artist was successful), and so it took a while for people to see Return to Babylon...but when people did begin to see it, they saw something disturbing - not the content of the story, but things that were happening on screen.

In some scenes, the fingers of characters elongated into inhuman, possibly claw-like appendages. In others, the faces of the actors appeared to change into the faces of demonic monsters or desiccated corpses. In one case, an actor opens their mouth, and fangs appear.

The film makers insist that there were no special effects, and that they did not design these weird changes. The usual take is that the special effect that could do this is one referred to as "morphing", which would not have been feasible on the film's miniscule budget.

In interviews, cast and crew described numerous spooky happenings: feeling watched, feeling people poking or shoving them, hearing strange sounds without a clear source, and so on. Jennifer Tilly, who plays Clara Bow, has been especially vocal about this.

What was the source of these strange phenomenon? The film was shot in the homes and other favored places frequented by the stars whose fates the film dramatizes. Perhaps these locations are haunted, and this showed up on film. Maybe it's the film itself, those canisters that mysteriously came into Canawatti's possession - did some mysterious power want these images unleashed on the world and make the film available as an avenue for this?

Whatever the answer, the film remains a creepy mystery for now...

Commentary: ...or perhaps not. While neither I, nor anyone else aside from possibly the filmmakers, can say exactly what is going on in the footage, there are a number of possible explanations that are not supernatural.

For starters, some of the spooky images are, well, not really what they are claimed to be. For example, in a scene where an actor allegedly grows fangs - if you look closely at the image, it becomes clear that there are no fangs, just teeth and a low-quality image that makes the perfectly normal teeth reflect in a slightly odd way.

Some of the images, though, are decidedly odd. Even there, though, there may be a bit more going on in the natural world. Turns out that transferring from an old reel of film to digital medium for distribution (or online viewing) can cause some weird image distortions. In addition, I have my suspicions that the relatively low-resolution black and white image providing by the film may make it more open to cheaper post-production digital manipulation than a 35 mm color print or high-definition digital image would be. And, frankly, having looked at some of the images, they appear to me to be pretty clearly examples of blurrier images promoting Pareidolia rather than the horrific items that they are claimed to be.

Then, of course, there's the story of the film discovery...which seems like perfect fodder for an attention-getting ghost story, rather than a true event. I don't know, maybe running into bags of unused film does happen from time to time in Los Angeles (it never happened when I was down there, but maybe I was just hanging out in the wrong part of town), but that just seems...a little to convenient, I suppose.  Also, there's the fact that the film couldn't find a distributor, and that the filmmakers needed to draw some attention to it in order to remedy this problem. Put that together, and, as an outside observer, it seems likely to me that the story was added at a later time (maybe with some special effects work) in an attempt to draw attention to a film that wasn't getting any.

Also worth noting - the director is either nutty or (more likely) a hilarious prankster, and has claimed that various places where shadows or hair cover the faces of various actresses demonstrates that they have become "Christ Like" and that, perhaps, his movie is part of biblical prophecy.

Added Bonus: Of course, we can't leave the entry about a haunted film without included a trailer and clips, now can we? For whatever reason, Youtube is not letting me embed the clips, but the links below should get you where you want to go.

First off, the director is either crazy or funny, I am not sure which:

Next, a short film on the film...

...and the trailer

Sources: WikipediaWeek in WeirdThe ParanormalisticsStrange


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Old Canoe Plus Windsurfer Creates Small Tri

Here is an old commercially-made canoe, coupled with windsurfer parts, re-created into a small tri. Sailor Mark Schoenhals shares about his craft called DRAGONFLY with us in the videos below.

I am only sharing 3 of the videos he made about this project in this post. To see all of them you can visit the videos page on Mark’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/birchmark/videos

Mark writes:

This summer I began work on a small homebuilt trimaran using an aluminum canoe and an old wind surfer as raw materials. It was Jim Gallant’s design that inspired me to go for the canoe conversion. The result has been a fun little craft I call Dragonfly. (more…)

Texas 200 in a Cross 18 Trimaran

Sailor Eric Dahlkamp entered his Cross 18 trimaran in the Texas 200 sailboat event this summer. He produced some great videos to share with us about his adventure.

His Cross 18 is great-looking in addition to being a great sailboat. I LOVE the way this craft is setup for comfortable sailing (especially with that bimini top :-)

Just check it out. You’re gonna enjoy his videos below.

Eric Writes:
This past June my brother and me participated in the tenth annual Texas 200, June 12-16. 2017. We sailed my Cross 18 trimaran. Texas 200 website: http://www.texas200.com/ (more…)

Bolger Teal with Storer Outriggers

Sailor Jan Cudak put some nice outriggers on his small Bolger-designed monohull. Things may not always work out the way they did for him, but we love it when they do :-)

The outriggers, by the way, were designed by Michael Storer and can be purchased either at Duckworks or via Michael’s website.

I mentioned them in 2014 on this page. And Jan shares the following pictures and video with us.

Many thanks Jan! (more…)

Really? Two-Thirds of a Trimaran?

When our smalltri friend Hans Schipper sent us the following info I wasn’t going to post it. The craft is not, after all, a proper small trimaran.

Then I took a closer look at his ideas for daggerboard and rudder and it just seemed like I must post his pics and short vids. What he has created is very creative. And as always seems to be the case with Hans, they display an incredible amount of thought process when it comes to solving whatever the issue(s) at hand. (more…)

Triak Modifications for Bigger Sailing Winds

Sailor Thom Davis shares info (and a video) about modifications he has made to his Triak. As explained in this post, his mods are geared towards making the boat a better sailer in bigger winds.

Thom also introduced me to George Yioulos, from West Coast Sailing, who is the new Triak distributor. I’ll be sharing some info George sent to me in coming days. I link to their website below for anyone who might want more info about the Triak.

— Joe (more…)

Spirit 422 Trimaran Now Available

We first heard about the Spirit 422 trimaran in this post here. And now it seems Italian sailors / boat developers Paolo and Danilo (Paul and Daniel) are now seeing their dream become a production boat reality.

I received the following email from Paul this week (Since Paul wrote to me in Italian, the following is derived from Google’s “translate” feature): (more…)

New Chryz10 build for 2017

Another Chryz10 trimaran from sailor (and self-boatbuilder) Christofer Olsson? Yes!

We’ve seen him in action before, including here and here.

It’s almost finished and ready for sea trials. (We’re looking forward to that report. And check out his blog too — www.chryz10.com :-)

Chris tells the story about this new boat below. And he shares a some pics and a “walk-around” video as well.

(All I can say is Chris’ sailing mind & boatbuilding skills amaze me. Seriously.) (more…)

Triple A Trimaran with Rowing Flappers

Sailor Hans Schipper has been tweaking his Triple A trimaran some more. He has come up with some rowing flappers.

It seems like coming up with a boat motor alternative is on the mind of small tri folks lately. Hans offers some pics and a short video below.

He writes:

The sailing season is starting up slowly. Last week I was invited to show a presentation of the Cool Finn om the Hiswa, the biggest Dutch boat show, as a example from creative re-use of old material for the Amateur Boat Building Award. I received an honorable mention. It was nice to be at at the boat show and meet other boat lovers. (more…)

Paraw Double Outrigger Sailing Canoe Plans

Sailor Lorenzo Acompañado II has published plans for a 20-foot Paraw. The Paraw is a traditional double outrigger sailing canoe in the Philippines.

Lorenzo has published some information, along with boatbuilding plans for a Paraw, on his website: https://samaloutrigger.wordpress.com/

The following text and pictures and video are shown on his website (and used here with his permission)…
(Click on the images to enlarge them a bit) (more…)

Mini-Hydroptere Foiling Trimaran

Sailor and self-boatbuilder Jim Gallant Jim Gallant is building another small trimaran. His first one was BEST GUESS – 20 foot plywood/fiberglass/epoxy tri based in Poulsbo, WA.

Jim informed me that he sold BEST GUESS and is now building another sailboat … a foiler based on a 1991 prototype of the famous Hydropter trimaran.

So far, Jim has chosen to use a hull from an old Solcat as the vaka for his boat and is using masts (cut down to fit his specs) for crossbeams. (more…)

Vantage 475T Trimaran Under Construction

vantage-475t-trimaran-4Sailor Algie Bennett is at it again. He is currently building another small trimaran.

He shows off some more of his serious boatbuilding skills too :-)

It’s no wonder, given all of his previous work with the CLC double outrigger kayak he built.

He is calling this model the Vantage 475T, although the name of this specific craft will be NEMESIS.

At the moment, you will see that only one ama is attached to the boat. Algie still took it out for a test sail though … hence the video below!

It’s is an open cockpit daysailer with plenty of room for a sailor to move around. It’ll have lots of buoyancy in the amas – to drive it hard and fast. And I’m guessing the whole package is going to be a rather light sailboat (compared to many others).

Be sure to visit the build page for this boat (link below) for more detailed pictures. (more…)

Seaclipper 10 Sail Trials in Norway

seaclipper-10-trimaran-in-norwayThe Seaclipper 10 is a fun little trimaran. We’ve featured it in previous posts, especially here here and here.

Below are a couple of videos featuring Seaclipper 10 sea trials from 2014 in central Norway.

Two of the more notable features of the SC10 are its cockpit seating coupled with robust, buoyant amas. Both serve to make the boat a comfortable platform upon which one can comfortably sail. Sailors with certain physical limitations are often attracted to the SC 10 because there is no need for hiking out. (more…)

Meet Meermark Double Outrigger Canoes

meermark-trimaran-double-outrigger-sailing-canoe-1Ever heard of the Meermark double outrigger sailing canoes? No? That’s okay.

I only recently found out about them … thanks to small tri friend Tony Watermann (Thanks Tony).

As Tony noted, they appear to be somewhat similar to, but perhaps less costly, than Windrider 17s and others. I tried to contact Meermark’s manufacturers directly, at least twice, and get some more info from them. They never responded to my questions.

Not a problem though … little ole’ me just wanted to clarify some things :-) (more…)

SeaRail 19 Trimaran Now with On-the-Water Folding System

Just received this bit of news from the folks who sell the SeaRail 19 trimaran. It now comes with an “On-the-Water” Folding System. It comes from this page on the SeaRail website, which states:

The SR-19’s new folding system is widely based on the f-boat system and is engineered using triangulation methods, allowing for the use of much lighter material while increasing its overall strength. This new folding system will only add 8 pounds to the SeaRail’s overall sailing weight – bringing that weight to just over 700 pounds (fully laden). To prevent drag which has plagued similar systems, the new SR-19 system is mounted above the hull chine, well away from the flow line. (more…)

MacGregor Venture Hobie Trimaran Now Sailing

macgregor-venture-hobie-trimaran-sailing-2Today we have the best update yet from sailor Travis Haggard regarding his self-styled, self-named “MacGregor Venture Hobie Trimaran.” Why do I say BEST UPDATE yet? Because the boat is now SAILING of course!

As you may recall, this boat came about as an idea to create a trimaran by attaching Hobie 18 hulls (for outriggers) to a used Macgregor Venture 21 sailboat. We first featured it here. Then posted an update on his building project here. And then posted another update here.

This is a serious DIY project. And it’s not for the foolish … or faint of heart. (more…)

Paraws in the Philippines

paraw-sailing-adventureHere are a few of the many YouTube videos featuring Paraw outrigger sailing canoes. They are amazingly fast, in addition to being colorful.

I love the unique trampoline configuration. While the center hull itself is almost completely decked-over, the wide tramps allow for many passengers.

One thing I am not sure about are the steering control lines attached to the rudder. There are no tillers or push-pull sticks, just control lines. Is that comfortable on the hands? One of the videos below seems to show the control line being fed through a block. If anyone can find a video or illustration that offers some more details on the ways this control line is arranged then we’d appreciate links in the “comments” section below. (more…)

Zeta Trimaran Hits the Water

zeta-trimaran-first-sail-3 The first Zeta trimaran, a new design from Richard Woods, is now under sail. We first featured the Zeta here.

Here are some pics and a video of the first sail of the first boat. Looks pretty good, especially with light wind.

One obvious goal of the pictures is to emphasize the boat’s lightness in weight. That is surely a great feature, especially for guys that want to easily trailer (or cartop) a boat to a nearby body of water, go sailing for a couple of hours, and then pack the boat up for the trip back home. (more…)

Sardine Run 19 Trimaran Sailing in France

sardine-run-19-trimaran-under-sailHere is a video update for the Sardine Run 19 trimaran. It comes to us from Allel Behidj of the Sardine Run boatyard in France.

We first featured this boat prior to the first one being built. And the Sardine 19 concept is now reality.

This sailboat, made with modern composite materials, looks terrific … especially with those inverted bows. (more…)

Ultralight 20 Trimaran for Sale in Canada

ultralight-trimaran-max-5The Ultralight 20 trimaran, designed and built by Warren Light Craft, is a high-tech, amazing sailing machine. Seriously.

Canadian sailor, Max B., currently has his UL20 up for sale. He has really enjoyed sailing it.

Max shares a few words about the boat here (below). He also provided us with some pics and also gave us permission to share the video he had posted on Facebook featuring his sailboat. If anyone is interested in contacting Max for possible purchase of his boat can reach him at: (more…)

Skin-on-Frame Double Outrigger Sailing Canoe – Perahu Katir

perahu-katir-sailing-canoeHere is a skin-on-frame double outrigger sailing canoe currently in sea trials right now. The designer/builder is SOF expert Dave Gentry, who features the following info on his “What’s New” page at his website.

This sailing canoe is an attempt to create an extremely lightweight, yet seaworthy, outrigger in SOF. It’s modeled after a boat called “Perahu Katir,” which is a type of Jukung from Northeast Java. (more…)

F-Boats in the R2AK

r2aktriFrom what I can tell, it appears a couple Farrier-designed boats have fared well in the R2AK Race.

Team “Mail Order Bride”, sailing a F85SR – Farrier “Super Racer” trimaran – have finished.

And it appears Team “Un-Cruise Adventures,” who are sailing a F-25c trimaran, are also approaching Ketchikan harbor.

The 1st place finisher was still a multihull … a large 32-foot beach catamaran sailed by Team “MAD Dog Racing”. (more…)


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Why Boxed Wine is Definitely the Way to Go

Featured Article, Living & Spending, Shopping Savings, Videos
on April 16, 2015
Why Boxed Wines Are the Way to Go

Let’s start here: the average bottle of wine contains 750 ml, so depending on your chosen boxed wine, it can contain up to FOUR times that amount, likely blowing the cost-per-bottle out of the water without breaking a sweat.

Beyond cost effectiveness, boxed wines sport the perfectly airtight (and easily repurposed) wine bag—lending them the oft-used descriptor of “bag-in-a-box” wines, but also allowing for extended freshness. So they’re doubly perfect if you’re the type that never finishes a bottle in one sitting. “Waste not, want not,” we say! And at the end of the day, availability of quality boxed wines truly has come a long way since their advent a few decades back, so you’re sure to find a variety that suits your taste.

Watch below to learn more as Chef Brian Morris echoes our own sentiments in favor of boxed wine forever.

Looking for the ultimate in cost-conscious wine pairings? Check out the Best Wine Pairing for Microwave Meals!

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Friday, 15 October 2010

Ai Weiwei

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. © Magnus Andersson

Last Monday I was down at Tate Modern to witness the opening of the new installation in the Turbine Hall by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. For those that don't know, the Tate Modern is housed in an old disused power station (designed by the same man who gave us the classic red telephone box as well as Battersea Power Station). The size of the building is enormous and the Turbine Hall is one huge empty space; a real test for any artist to inhabit with a single piece of work.

The turbine hall in Tate Modern. © Magnus Andersson

For me, the most impressive works to date have been Anish Kapoor's 'Marsyas' and Olafur Eliasson's 'Weather Project' (below), who both really made the vast space their own. This time was different the doors were opened for us, I couldn't see anything at all. As we drew closer I noticed that there seemed to be a beach of some kind at the far end of the hall. My first impression was one of disappointment.

The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson in 2003. © Magnus Andersson

It turned out that my fears were unwarranted. Although smaller in size than some of the previous Unilever Series, it is certainly one of the most thought provoking. What first appears as a beach of pebbles soon becomes a vast ocean of slightly over sized sunflower seeds.

There is over 100 million of these hand crafted seeds. © Magnus Andersson

Once you are in it, it then becomes clear that they are not 'real'. There's over 100 million of them. In fact they are individually crafted and hand painted by skilled artisans, and it took a small army (1600 of them) over two years to create.

A TV reporter lies in the porcelain seeds. He asked his crew: "Why am I doing this?" © Magnus Andersson

The sheer work that has gone into creating this is breathtaking and Ai Weiwei makes several comments on both mass production (Made in China) vs. individuality and Chinese history during the Cultural Revolution; something which he experienced first hand.

The foot steps. © Magnus Andersson

Ai Weiwei himself is one of the most significant living artists on the planet today. You might not have heard his name but you have most certainly seen his work before. He was involved in the design in some of the Chinese Olympics venues. But he is also an activist risking his life. He believes in mass communication and he also dares to go against the Chinese regime, (requiring brain surgery for his efforts). He's a massive Twitterer, blogger and his Wiki page is fascinating. If you are in London anytime before May 2, 2011, go see it! Just make sure that you read the artists' notes before you dive in.

Ai Weiwei about to be interviewed on live TV. © Magnus Andersson

He's also a cool dude. During the photo call he took the time (and I mean a looong time) to stop, pick out his
compact digital camera, take a few pictures of us while we were shooting him; then he tweeted it. Nice.

Close up of the porcelain sunflower seeds. © Magnus Andersson

Bad news came through yesterday though, with reports that the constant walking on the seeds created a fine cloud of porcelain dust, which in no way is healthy for you, so for now the exhibition is one to be looked at as opposed to immersing yourself in. What a shame. Picking up a handful of the seeds and inspecting them up close was a massive point in this work of art. Hopefully they will sort it out.

Ai Weiwei throws his creation up in the air. © Magnus Andersson

I may or may not have kept one of the little porcelain sunflower seeds for posterity. ;)

Pps. Exhibition gets a 5-star review in The Guardian.

No comments:


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Predicting the future

This post on Powerline reminded me of a book I read…

Obama, meanwhile, seems too arrogant to recognize the blowback his arrogant, and indeed hostile, approach to our traditional allies is bound to produce. This is not surprising. Obama’s policies towards our traditional allies are the product of attitude, not of calculation. He may well be temperamentally unable to calculate their costs.

Oh yeah… This one.

On Manticore, the administration of Prime Minister High Ridge focuses on strengthening its political position. The Royal Manticoran Navy’s budget has been cut down to satisfy the new government’s welfare projects and political finance schemes. Manticore’s allies, most notably Grayson and Erewhon, are infuriated with the new government’s carelessness and outright rudeness in foreign affairs. From their seats in the House of Lords, Honor Harrington and Hamish Alexander voice their opposition to the High Ridge Administration’s policies, and the government takes actions to discredit the war heroes.

Sound familiar? That was written in 2002.

If David Weber has a functional time machine I need to borrow it.

This entry was posted in Weird Stuff, WiFi. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Predicting the future

  1. Wow. I never even thought of similarities there. Nice catch, Alan!

    Weber writes fiction, of course, but one has to wonder sometimes…;)

Comments are closed.


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Customer Service Fail

ZerCool experienced customer service fail at Cabela’s in MN.

I think it’s important that people speak up about bad service. Hopefully Cabela’s in East Grand Forks, MN will get the message.

This entry was posted in Fail. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Customer Service Fail

  1. ZerCool says:

    First – thanks for the link!

    Second – I’m going to be back in that area next week, and may take the moment to stop in and speak to a manager. I don’t expect it’ll change anything, but it can’t hurt.

  2. Lance R. Peak says:

    I work in the oilfield and just trained a 20 year old to be my night hand on site. He is a very mature 20 year old and had some money saved up even before he came to work with me.

    After talking with me over three months, he decided to go ahead and buy an AR-15. I had told him shop the big stores to see more merchandise, but always try to buy local if possible. (personal preference there, I like giving my 2A money to those who need it more which is another of my opinions)

    He went to the Cabela’s in Rapid City and well, they treated him pretty much like ZerCool got treated. They ignored him first, then talked down to him and tried to sell him only the cheapest model of everything, and didn’t even want to show him higher end models. He said they appeared to have the opinion of “Well you’re not 50, fat, and balding so you must only have at most $500 to spend.” From other things he told me it sounded like they patronized him as much as the stereotypical “good ole’ boy dealing with a female wanting to buy a gun.”

    Couple that with the way I myself was treated in the Billings, MT Cabela’s when I knew more about the item the counter guy did and yea, it’s nice to walk around and look at all the toys, but I’m not going to be buying much if anything at any Cabela’s from now on.

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Monday, 20 August 2012

Design Team Project #1 featuring Chocolate Baroque Steampunkery Stamps (by Lesley)

A very happy Monday morning to all our lovely Snazzys DT blog visitors!

Well, where did the last four weeks go I wonder?  This year sure is whizzing by at breakneck speed and suddenly it's my turn to post a creation again, lol!  This month the DT are showcasing some smashing quirky steampunk style stamps from Chocolate Baroque and I decided to alter an old book picked up for a few pence from my local charity shop.

I've picked up several old unloved books with the intention of giving them a 'makeover' but this is the first one I've actually done and it was great fun.  First of all I cut out the aperture then tore away the pages to the depth I wanted and I also cut a square from the back pages to a depth of about 1cm but not the back cover.  I forgot  to take a pic of that but all will be revealed, lol!.  I applied a layer of Gesso to the whole cover of the book and followed this with a coat of light acrylic paint (I used Studio Trad Tan) and also stuck a lot of the pages together using the multi medium.  I then blended Distress Inks over a large piece of tissue paper and when dry scrunched it up then applied it to the cover with matte multi medium (Studio again).  I applied Distress Stains and Distress Inks to card, dried and then embossed with an embossing folder before tearing into pieces and applying these to the book with multi medium.  I then applied a layer of multi medium over the whole thing.

Now you can see why I cut the square out of the back pages!

To make the drawer I blended DIs and then randomly stamped some of the images from the stamp sheet before creating half a box and putting in some metal bits and bobs.

All the word images were stamped onto card previously blended with DIs and the other images were stamped with black Archival Ink, cut out and coloured with DIs.  The Tando Creative wings behind the heart were painted with gold Acrylic Dabber and sprinkled with gold embossing powder before drying with the heat gun so the paint bubbled a bit.

The rest was just adding loads of Ideology and fab Snazzys Steampunk metal bits and bobs (they have a great selection).

While I remember a big thank you to the lovely ladies who joined in our impromptu Steampunk Challenge last week and my congratulations to the winner.  Such a hard task to choose just one as all the entries were brilliant and wonderful inspiration for everyone else.  There were a few entries I'd like to have a go at myself!

Last but not least, don't forget to leave an extra comment HERE to be in the random monthly draw for this month's prize.

Have a lovely week all!

Lesley  Xx


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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Four Preppy Paws

Heidi Barraza owns Four Preppy Paws, the high-end pet shop located in 103 Charles Street, in Beacon Hill, Boston. Heidi opened the shop last year and she manages it with the important help of Cricket and Chatham Barraza.
The management team is pictured above!

The shop offers a variety of clothes, accessories and treats. They also commissioned the Beacon Hill dogs calendar.

The little Nicolas, pictured below, visited the shop with his puppy Woody and his mom. He is feeding Woody with a cookie that Heidi gave to him. Heidi is selling delicious treats, including cookies from Polka Dog Bakery.

While we were at the shop, one of Heidi's customers walked in and referred that her sister's dog died after eating some dog food she bought at Trader's Joe. The brand wasn't in the pet food recall list , but it was produced by one of the companies selling other brands that are in the list.
We are very sorry for the small Yorkshire Terrier. With Heidi your dog is as safe as houses: the food she sells is organic and you are not running any risk.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Four Preppy Paws is my favourite shop! Heidi is great!


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“Ah-ha gotcha” moments

I’ve been realizing lately that a number of cool features in both Firefox and Thunderbird are “ah ha… gotcha” features.

These are features that even though you hear or read about them, and maybe even see them, they don’t really come across and hit you until you’re able to experience them in a way that resonates.

Extensions, I think, fall into this “gotcha” trap. There are some many extensions that people often don’t know where to start… and sometimes they install extensions that aren’t useful to them, so they don’t get the full value of the feature. But when they find that one extension they can’t live without, watch out. Thunderbird’s “Saved Search Virtual Folders” feature is another one down there in the pit.

And, despite the relatively simple concept, so, too, are microsummaries.

When I first heard about microsummaries, I thought “Oh, Live Bookmarks. Yeah, yeah… I had heard of this before. Cool idea. Stock prices. eBay auctions. Word of the Day. Yeah, yeah… got it.”

Of course, I don’t really own any stock and I don’t do eBay and I’m proud of the fact that I know only 268 words. So microsummaries didn’t really “click” with me… until I was sitting at my desk one day, wondering what the weather out at the airport was like.

Enter the NOAA METAR Microsummary!2

It pretty much does what you’d expect from a METAR microsummary, with some niceties thrown in to save space on your toolbar.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve been enjoying getting weather updates right to my search box throughout the day.

I think my secret plan was to install this microsummary at work, so I could know when it was getting nice enough that I should take a couple-hour “coffee break” to run a couple of laps around the pattern. “Hey, I just do what the microsummary tells me to!”

Seriously though, this specific use of the (microsummary) feature was what resonated with me enough to really grok how useful microsummaries are… and that’s always a fun experience.

It amazes me that I’ve been involved for some time now and I still learn about new features I didn’t know about, or new ways to use those features.

It’s pretty neat that, as a community, we still manage to create features in our products with “ah ha, gotcha”-factor so consistently.

1 Although, with so much [entirely appropriate] emphasis placed on them in the 2.0 release marketing push, that’s becoming less the case, I think.
2 Yes, that webpage is ugly as sin. But… “Dammit Jim, I’m a build/release engineer, not a web designer!”


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Monday, June 3, 2013

The ISM report: US manufacturing slowest since 2009

Today's ISM report confirmed what was already visible in the Markit PMI figures (see discussion) - the "spring slowdown" in US manufacturing is here. The table below shows the breakdown of the month-over-month changes - orders and production seem to be the main drivers. Weakness in Backlog of Orders does not bode well for the sector going forward.

Source: ISM

The ISM manufacturing indicator is now at the lowest level since 2009:

Bond prices rose as a result, with the expectation that the US growth is not nearly as robust as some have thought. Of course bond investors are still in a selling mood, and we are likely to see yields drift higher.

10y note futures (source:
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

7 mistakes you can make using social media

Rothstein, Arthur,, 1915-, photographer.

Instructor explaining the operation of the parachute to students, Meacham Field, Fort Worth, Tex.

1942 Jan.

1 slide : color.

</b> Title from FSA or OWI agency caption.
Transfer fro...

1.     Dabbling. If you only do a tiny amount you are going to get a tiny pay back. Unfortunately, like most things in life, you get back what you put in. This is why it’s so important to be involved in creating social media content that you find meaningful. If you write about or Tweet about something you have no interest in then you will find it difficult to sustain your effort over the months ahead.
2.      Ignoring it. If you ignore social media and hope it will go away what will happen is that intrepid individuals, your competition, will start doing it. Do you even know how many of your competition are tweeting or blogging or Facebooking? Social media is coming and you can't stop it. Get on board.
3.     Not aligning your social media goals with the goals of your business or your personal goals. The goal of social media is not to simply acquire more followers. Sure, there are plenty of people who want to just do that, but a business needs to align social media to its business goals and individuals need to align to whatever their personal goals are. Engaging with followers is key, focusing on quality, not just quantity.
4.    Thinking it's just a marketing and PR thing. Human resources, purchasing, the canteen, investment analysts and R&D and every other department can all benefit from the research, communications and feedback service that social media provides. Don't leave it all to the marketeers. Every division can use social media just like every division can use a telephone. Social Media can be everywhere.
5.     Copying others, not innovating. I can understand it when you start off, you look at what’s been done by other big players and you emulate, but eventually copying won’t be enough. You’ll need to come up with something new and innovative yourself. That will take real creativity and an environment where people can experiment, test, fail, and still survive. Innovation will draw on your best talents and allow you to leapfrog your competition, if you get it right. There are risks, but there are real rewards to innovation too.
6.     Being too serious. Sure, social media is serious at times, but it’s also light-hearted ;-). And don’t expect all of your messages to be super cool and super important. Sometimes you’ll put your foot in your mouth with social media. Don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world.  If you do make a mistake, don’t forget to smile! ::-)
7.     Not moving on. Social media is changing fast. Services are evolving too. Twitter is changing how it will support the software that links with it. LinkedIn is offering your contact details to anyone who is willing to spend enough to buy them. Facebook is asking for money to get all your followers to see your posts. The only constant in social media is change. Build an evolving cycle of review and test and implement into your plans and look at all emerging options on a regular basis. Keep up to date with social media blogs too and stay tuned for new developments.
The most important services of the year 2020 are still only a developer’s dream, but if you stay in touch with what is going on you might be able to catch that dream.
And follow this blog for regular updates and soon a list of social media resources.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Email will Evolve into Social Email

Recent McKinsey’s research indicates that some office based workers spend 28% of each day (13 hours a week) dealing with e-mails. (McKinsey Quarterly, Nov 12)

The email Inbox has served as a task list for the past two decades. Its folders can be used as a filing system.
In some cases huge amounts of company knowledge are locked up in emails and inaccessible to those who might benefit from that information.

Email is an inadequate repository, difficult to search and slow to cross reference. Online programs such as Evernote provide the option to extract, tag and annotate the contents of email, but it is personal solution with security issues for many businesses, as the snippets you extract are stored in the cloud.

But we do need something better than standard email. And why? Productivity increases due to technology in the workplace have slowed down in the past few years.

McKinsey estimates that 25 to 30 percent of time spent on email could be saved if the main channel for communication was moved to a social platform. Employees could locate knowledge faster and reduce unneeded email distribution and CCing.

Attachments could also be better managed and more accessible.

With a social network key questions can be easily accessed and commented on by all employees.

Collaboration is easier when you are using a social media tool. Poor collaboration is responsible for poor project delivery and project failure.

One study published in the Academy of Management Journal (Subramanium and Youndt) indicated that companies with better collaborative management achieve superior financial performance.

Academic research also shows that innovation is generated more rapidly when collaboration is a central feature of the teams studied.

Email on its own isn’t good enough any more, particularly if an organisation is looking for competitive advantage. The Facebook generation is part of the workforce and a new style of collaborative working is on its way.

And for all those blue collar workers and frontline staff without an email account, a social network will provide access to company information and a way to contribute.

Gartner, stated in 2012 that; “Social networking services will replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20% of businesses by 2014".

What do you think?

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

TV & radio are dying! And they are lashing out at Social Media.

Last week I listened to a radio news program interviewing a lawyer warning business people about the dangers of social media, how they could get sued if one of their employees said the wrong thing on Twitter.

There was no opposing view given, like how the words of any client facing staff can affect a company at any time. Or anything about the benefits of social media to business. At all.

It sounded like scare mongering. I suspect that TV and radio executives and journalists aren't even conscious of what they are doing. They feel the ground moving and they lash out. Their all powerful roles as arbiters of what is news and what should be popular is disappearing. Fast.

How do I know this? My thirteen year old daughter almost never watches TV. She uses YouTube and Facebook. And I rarely watch live TV too. And I don't like TV news any more. I don't like someone selecting what's important for me. Sure, I record an occasional TV program, but I could get that on Netflix, if they ever get their act together and deliver popular programs.

How long before it all vanishes? I mean the way it's currently structured. I want radio that's more like podcasts and TV that's more like YouTube. I want greater selection, control on when I watch or listen and the arbiters of taste to all retire. Their time is up. A change is coming.

My challenge to you is, can you spot the dinosaur riders of TV and radio as they try to stop social media taking over? If you do, or have ever heard this happen, please report it below in the comments.
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text:
Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Share your Social Security experience!

Mr. W

November 11th, 2011

Subject: Investigation report by Elsa Housseas and Nilsa DeLeon.

Dear Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Commissioner Astrue, Elsa Housseas, Nilsa DeLeon and Social Security legal department,

This letter is a response to the investigation report by Elsa Housseas and Nilsa DeLeon from the Social Security Astoria and Jamaica branch. I want to thank them for their work in putting this report together, and it is very much appreciated that the government has such a program for its citizens. Social Security expects me to comply with the Federal laws and regulations, which I have always done and will continue to do, and I expect the same from Social Security staff.

Unfortunately, when agencies make an internal investigation like this one, where actually the person who is part of the problem is co-writing this report (Mrs. Housseas), it is common that information is not always reflecting the truth or a lack thereof, for reasons of embarrassing or fraudulent information revealed, to protect the agency in question and its staff. Only an outside investigation would be honest, truthful and actually effective. It certainly reflects in this report and without sending me any of the requested documents on how you came to those answers, and leaving out the main issues altogether, underlines my statement that this internal full investigation is unprofessional and useless to me.

Here is my response to this incomplete report. I hope that, with a collective effort, you all will be able to address all the missing issues that were not addressed in your first report.

1)     Paragraph One in your report:
a)     I also repeatedly requested in advance from Mrs. DeLeon a copy of the information you created this report from, including a printout of my computer file for cross checking.
b)     I repeatedly requested a copy of the authorization form with my signature on it, which you documented that you have on file, which you sent via email to Chase Bank to release my bank information, a requirement for the bank to release this information.
c)     I repeatedly requested information about where in your rules and regulation it says that you can add $80 cash money that I had in my pocket one day during my re-determination, and count it as additional income for months.
d)     I repeatedly requested information about on which documents Mrs. Disman made six changes of my supplemental security income (SSI) record, and a total of 8 changes in less than 3 months

2)     Paragraph 3
On June 26, 2009, S.S. made an adjustment based on my self-employment tax return income; I did not question that at all, because it is part of the annual adjustment process based on my tax return. But since you brought it up, why does it take you until the end of June to make an adjustment that was submitted to your office in April, when you have the time to change my account 8 times in 3 months? More details on that below.

3)     Paragraph 4
a)     Your quote; “I stated I had $80 cash on hand from March 2008 until April 2010.” This statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Please provide a document where I made this statement for 2 years.

4)     Paragraph 5
a)     In order for Social Security to access clients bank information, Social Security needs a signed
authorization form on file by the client. The bank needs a copy of this authorization form in order to release personal bank information. This is required by Federal law. Mrs. DeLeon told me on the phone on April 14, 2011, that this document does not exist and that S.S. has no signed authorization form on file, but Mr. Dapiton checked the box on the web request-form he sent to Chase bank on May 13th, 2010, that in fact he has such document on file.

5)     Page 2 Paragraph 7
How is it possible that the Astoria branch can add $80 cash a month without showing me proof that this was additional income to my annual tax return I provided to S.S.?

a)     I made it clear to your staff that I cannot show proof of $80 income every month, but they insisted that they don’t make the rules. Please send me documentation and show me those rules they are referring to, because this happened more than once at the Astoria branch and is not a mistake. This was intentionally and strategically pushed on me and it was the commissioner’s office that had to make this adjustment, because the Astoria branch refused to comply with the Federal law.

6)     Page 2 Paragraph 8
a)     “Ms. Pat Paul mailed me the rules and regulations.” Sending me rules and regulations is not the same as mailing me a requested copy of the signed authorization form needed by Social Security to access my personal bank information from my bank.
b)     I requested this information from the Astoria branch, Nilsa DeLeon and the commissioner’s office and Chase Bank. To this date I have not received this signed request form, which is required by Federal law, in order to release personal bank information from your clients.
c)     On February 12th, 2011, Mrs. Housseas sent me also a letter including the Code of Federal Regulations where she highlighted in yellow the following under (g):

If you don’t give us permission to contact any financial institution and request any financial records about you when we think it is necessary to determine your SSI eligibility of payment amount, or if you cancel the permission, (and the following was underlined in red ink by her) you cannot be eligible for SSI payments.

I see this as an imitation tactic by Mrs. Housseas, telling me that I will lose my benefits if I don’t comply, when in fact I am the one complying with the Federal law. I feel this is abuse of power to intimidate me, and they continue to single me out. I have always cooperated with Social Security and always will; just ask me what you need and I give it to you. Please show one proof of document that you can attach to this intimidating statement she made here to justify this intimidating behavior, and proof to all parties involved in my case, where I was not in compliance or was not cooperating with Social Security, and explain why you felt the need to highlight and underline in red ink such a statement.

In addition, you didn’t address the following:

1) On May 27th, 2011, I send a letter to Mrs. DeLeon, informing and requesting documentation from her about how Mrs. Disman made six changes on my supplemental security income (SSI) record, in less than 3 months and a total of 8 changes altogether were made in less than 3 months. For 3 months it was changed every 9 and a half days. Please explain why Mrs. Housseas and Mrs. DeLeon failed to send me the requested documents. Since Mrs. Housseas and Mrs. DeLeono failed to address this completely, it gives me the feeling that I was singled out for no legitimate reason at all.

Here are the dates of the letters from 2011, the people who sent me the changes, including Mrs. Housseas:

February 8th, by Disman
March 7th, by Disman
March 23rd, by Wilson
April 2nd, by Disman
April 11th, by Housseas
April 13th, by Disman
April 18th, by Disman
April 25th by Disman

2) On July 1st, 2011, I sent a letter to Mrs. Housseas and Mrs. Deleon about the waiver of the overpayment. I was responding to the letter I received from Mrs. Housseas. Mrs. Housseas sent me information on what S.S. paid me and what S.S. should have paid, but there were no supporting documents on how she calculated those payment numbers, even after I clearly requested those documents. How am I able to check her statements without having the documents she was working from? I am sure by now it is clear that I can not trust how the Astoria branch does business with me and it became mandatory for me to request all documents the Astoria branch is working from.

3) On April 4, 2011, I send a letter to Mrs. Disman also requesting documents about the last overpayment, because she said she had received documents from the IRS of additional income from October 2010 until December 2010. I never heard back from her, and needless to say, I did not receive the documents she was referring to from the IRS, that showed I had additional income. It gives me the feeling that I was singled out again for no reason at all.

4) On January 3rd, 2011 and February 1st, 2011, I sent a letter to Mr. Dapiton requesting the document he sent to Chase Bank to release my personal bank information. On the request form he sent out to Chase on May 13, 2010, he checked the box, that he has a customer’s signature/authorization form on file. Again, he never mailed me this document, and Mrs. DeLeon told me on the phone that this document doesn’t exist. To confirm this information, I wrote to the Chase legal department and they have confirmed that such a document doesn’t exist.

5) You also failed to address the last overpayment that was dropped, and several hundred dollars that have been taken out of my account. When you drop an overpayment charge, don’t you have to pay me back the money you have taken out? And why was I not notified by the Astoria branch that the overpayment was dropped? Why did I have to find out this information from Mr. Wolf from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s office?

6) I am a recipient of the PASS program and the Astoria branch at one point in May 2011 cancelled the PASS payment. I called Mr. MacGowen, who handles the PASS program on May 6, 20011, and asked him why my payment was reduced and if my PASS application was cancelled. He told me on the phone that my PASS was not cancelled, and that somebody at the Astoria branch made this change. Mr. MacGowen could not explain to me why that change was made at the Astoria branch. He was able to adjust this matter and I was paid the balance within one week. I was never notified by the Astoria branch about this action. This type of behavior by the Astoria branch gives me the feeling that I was singled out again and again.

7) You also failed to address the abuse of power, the lies, the disrespect and humiliation, which is a lot more than, quote: “not being satisfied with the service I received”. The Astoria staff on a regular basis and consistently lies face to face and they have a full strategy in place on how they deal with me as a client and how they intimidate me on a regular basis; see the example below.

Example: At a meeting with Ms. Paul on June 22nd, 2010, I was requesting documents, but she told me that Social Security doesn’t provide any documents to their clients. I was looking for the letter I received from S.S. and told her, but it says it in the letter S.S. send to me. At that point I was feeling anxiety coming on and I was very nervous about having an anxiety attack again. I couldn’t find the paragraph in the letter Social Security mailed to me. I kept insisting that it says in the letter that I have the right to request documents from my file; she kept insisting that this is not possible. While I kept insisting and managing to control my anxiety at the same time, she picked up the phone and called her supervisor, asking the supervisor if there was a policy to release documents to clients. The supervisor told Ms. Paul on the phone that there is no such policy and backed up Ms. Paul. Come on you all, what do you call this? I kept looking for this paragraph and finally found it and showed it to Ms. Paul. She took the letter and walked away from the desk to talk to the supervisor, which was helpful to control my anxiety. When she came back she was all friendly and her personality changed 100%. As a result of me being able to show her in the S.S. document sent to me that I had the right to request documents, I was able to get my document printouts, which is all I was asking for. I feel that this is strategically planned, they use abuse of power and are non-compliant with the Federal law, including clearly the supervisor as well.

In closing:
Having said all that, in addition a whole other layer of problems are not included in this report. What the Astoria branch has created is a very unprofessional and an unhealthy mental environment for its clients. This is also the reason why I wrote to the Astoria branch that it is best for me to address my issues via mail and phone going forward, because I have a mental condition and this type of environment you all have in place in Astoria is putting my mental health at risk for having more anxiety attacks. I first experienced anxiety attacks when I was on public assistance, another government agency, where I experienced the same abuse of power and ended up in a mental institution and treatment.

Overall my experience with the Astoria branch is what I call in my life, “a disgrace to the human race.”  I am a community leader for the LGBT community and an activist. Telling me that the employees at
the Astoria branch were reminded of doing their job right, when they are trained to do what they are told by their supervisors, which is exactly what they did, is of no service to me nor to all the clients at the Astoria branch. If this is happening to me it happens to other clients, because they have a whole infrastructure in place on how to hold back documents clients are entitled to and how to intimidate clients. When dealing with your staff I could clearly see how they back up each other and also how they use the abuse of power to intimidate me, the client. By threatening me to lose my benefits if I don’t comply with the Federal laws is ironic, because I am the one who is complying with the Federal law, and for that, you are putting me through all this! Your branch is making me feel like I am a second class citizen, when all I did and will do is asking for my rights as an American citizen and what I am entitled to by law. And by doing so, I have to put up with your abuse.

I am looking forward to receiving all the requested documents, information and explanations I addressed in this letter and I thank you in advance for taking the time to do so.

I also want to be very clear that my motivation is to comply with the Federal law and make it better for all the S.S. clients. I also will provide any documentation you request and I will answer any questions you may have.

Mr. W


text:
Your annual membership gives you

  • free access to our monthly luncheons with a 1 hour CEU included.
  • reduced admission to our quarterly institutes and annual conference
  • news and information about events relevant to social workers and other clinicians
  • an easy-to-access report of all the CEU events you've attended through CSWA-S (useful for license renewal)
  • exclusive access to the members-only forums and online community, where you can network, make referrals, seek (or provide) consultation on cases, debate the issues, or just socialize

Price: $40.00


text:
Monday, October 25, 2010

Mail love

As you know, I am taking part of the DQS9 - but my partner is having some trouble with the International Mailing. She has sent it out twice and it is taking forver to get here. I can only imagine the worry she is going through - I waited 2 weeks for the doll quilt I sent out to be received, and I was a nervous wreck!!!
Anyway...the mamas felt I should receive an angel quilt.

And...look what Carol sent me
DQS9 The goodies
That quilt is a work of art, Carol is incredibly talented! I wish I could show you this quilt IRL, but if you want to see it, you have to come to my apartment ;)
Miss V and I read through the embroidery book, and she found a lot of projects she wants me to help her sew! It'll be mostly me sewing, but that's fine. The book is really cool, I'll have to share some pictures from it.

And, here you have the quilt:
Isn't it just unbelievably pretty?!

A Spoonful Of Sugar said...

What a happy little quilt! Hope your other quilt arrives safely:)

mtnchild said...

That quilt is so cheerful, and just plain gorgeous!

carol said...

I forgot to tell you the name of that quilt. Dummy me should have put if on the back. I named it, "Flowers by Mail" and how true it was, huh? They did come to you by mail!! :D

ladydi said...

It's beautiful, and what a perfect name for it!


text:
In final preparation for his 4th of July performance in Philly and an impending tour, singer/songwriter John Mayer played a hush-hush show for a small crowd Tuesday at Temple University.

photo courtesy of Heather DeLuca

The concert, not open to the public and consisting of radio industry execs such as myself, was billed as a final tour rehearsal, took place inside the Liacouras Center on the Temple U campus.  But it didn't appear to me that Mayer or his band needed to work out many kinks.  The entire set, which last a little over an hour, sounded extremely tight.  Reworkings of songs like 'Half of My Heart', which appeared on John's album Battle Studies, and a testing of new material like 'Paper Doll' were so sonically perfect they seemed to cut through the arena air space like a knife.

I wish he'd have delved deeper into his catalog of hits and broken into 'No Such Thing' or 'Bigger Than My Body', but maybe Mayer is saving those moments for the actual Born and Raised Tour, which kicks off Tuesday in Cincinnati, OH.

John recently announced his new album Paradise Valley, his first since being sidelined by throat surgery to repair vocal chord damage.

In addition to his performance along the Ben Franklin Parkway Thursday for Philadelphia's 4th of July Welcome America celebration, Mayer has two area dates this Summer of SoJO, August 23 at Susquehenna Bank Center along the Camden Waterfront, and September 1 at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.

Me with John Mayer and my bestie Theresa

Boy is he tall!  Cute too, but shy.


text:
iPhone 5 Is Coming – Are You Wanting? [POLL]
One thing about technology that we have to accept is how quickly it can change - new apps, new improvements, new models, and all for the sake for you to have the newest and the best at all times.  Come September 12th, the iPhone goes one step further again!


text:
Your gift  to Somos Patria is not tax deductible. Althout....

Somos Patria is a nonprofit- non polical affilated organization. We support ideas, investigations and proyects that advance the interes of  the Dominican community  in and out of Dominican Republic. We severe limited on the amount of money coming for corporations and rather depend on individual's support. Maxim donation for corporation is set to $1110.00/year

Every contribution—whatever amount you can afford—will go a long way here. We'll roll it right into paying for the top-notch reporting and eye-opening investigations. Please give today so we can strengthen our effort and increase our impact . Being independent  can make a real difference. Thank you

Click Here To  Donate

Somos Patria Membership

The privileges to join SP include the following.
- Attendance to social events
- Subscription to the newsletter (4 times a year)
- Subscription to the Member’s Directory (Once a year)
- Medical information from Dominicans and spanish doctors
- Discount rate for Dominican professional providers services
- Use of the Dominican Library

The events hosted by SM are listed in the following.
- Juan Pablo Duarte’ Day event (January)
- February 27 Indepence Event (February)
- Seminar Series (February thru May)
- Photography workshop (March and October)
- Radio Station program invitacion (August)
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- “Cenado con los Tiburones”- Informar dinner with local autorities (TBA)

The fees are
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To join us, please fill out this form and send it along with your check made payable to
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text:
if everyone had a killer, maybe we'd be better off.
hunted down one way or the other
maybe we could find the time to talk.
no one seems to notice that there's something in the shadows.
they're too busy with the full swing of conversation
and the "what's up?" and the "what's up?"
and guardian angels never visit us.
they're too high for our eyes to see them.
a killer would be the closest thing to a reason to believe
that there's nothing you can do now
if even if in the springtime
if even in the sunlight you meet the cold eyes.
and what do you do when everything is better off chasing you?
and what do you do when __
look in the mirror. still it never sleeps.
and indecision is the bouncing ball
you can never follow or read along with.
look out for the back stab stab
it's your hand
it's your arm
it's your arm
if everyone had a killer maybe we'd be better off.

Lyrics submitted by charcoalsketch

Killer (Quiet) (The Bruces cover) song meanings
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    General CommentThank God someone finally found this! I've been searching everywhere for it. Absolutely beautiful song.
    badtowndisasteron June 16, 2008   Link

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text:
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Just getting in

Just got in about thirty minutes ago from choir rehearsal. The director worked our voices tonight as he always does. I feel like I am getting horse.
Anyway I have a couple of songs in mind to put out on youtube, hoping that I can accomplish this by Friday of this week. I want as many people as possible to check it out and comment.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Monday Morning

I trust that everyone had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was busy, in fact I am just trying to regroup from it. Friday evening my daughter had cheerleading practice as she always does but right after there was a cookout to celebrate the end of the season.Saturday morning was the superbowl game so I went to take a final for a TECA class and then made it to the field where the games were going on. They did not end until about 7:30P.M. But of course we had to hang around an hour or so later to get uniforms and all of that together. When we got home, we ate and I prepared for church service the next day. I had to sing for two services, the 8:45 and the 10:45. Service was so awesome and we sang our buts off,we were "off the chain". Right after the second service we had a meeting to prepare for an upcoming Christmas event to be set up like a Christmas Winter Wonderland. When we got home, I finshed preparing dinner and got to some unfinished housework which did not get finished. Don't you just sit back and think man, there needs to be more hours in the day!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Search for Event

I have started to look for events or occcassions for which I may be able to sing at. I am waiting to hear from a friend who plays lead guitar with a band to see if a singer is needed. Also I have been looking for some free music concerts. I don't care about the genre. If it's free or priced well maybe I can go.
Right now I'm pretty tired. I am just leaving work and just thought I would check in. I am supposed to be at choir rehearsal tonight pray for me you all that I push myself to go. You know how you feel sometimes when you just want to go home and crash after work and go nowhere else nor do anything else. It's one of those days. I am going to try to make it though.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Post Thanksgiving Thoughts

Hello All! I trust that everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My family and I had a fun filled day. We played TABOO and CLR, a game that should have been played with some type of chips, but we ended up using money(hey, now we don't want you to think that we are gamblers, LOL). This was trully fun and exciting, I won about 34 dollars, my son won 27, and my daughter won 37. I won't brag, but you know my family just dominated each game.
Any hoo, did anyone catch some overdue zzz's? We got a little bit of that in too, right after we got in from the Black Friday sale.I had never been to one. That was a trip. Although I did find a deal or two, I may pass next year.

Monday, November 22, 2010

My Facebook Business Page

I recently posted a picture on my business page of facebook. In addition, I have been trying to send messages to some people to increase my fan base. The techinical(saving/storing pictures) is something that i am still learning to do, however, I posted a picture on facebook and have gotten a few people to follow me. A week ago I had none. Today I will continue to try and post a more interesting background to this blog and a picture as well.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Checking in

Hey everyone! What's happening? So much going on, I tell you. This is that time of the year that you want to be joyous and thankful, and for the most part you really are. It's just that sometimes you think about a loved one that is not here anymore and you think about people who are going through some rough times, it will bring you done if you let it. So what I have been thinking about is just thanking God to be here and helping somebody else get through the holiday season by giving what I can; a smile,joke,conversation,whatever I have within  my power to do I want to do.
I went to choir rehearsal last night and will go Wednesday as well (preparation for church anniversary) this is really helping me  with my vocal chords.Right after we had a special prayer for a choir member whose husband was killed a few days ago. You all keep her in mind as well.
I am still pushing and look forward to you hearing and seeing more exciting things from me.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Meeting the challenges

Even if it seems that I may not, I am actually learning a lot. I just spent about two hours on twitter trying to get things "popping:" like my daughter would say.  Sometimes all it takes is to just sit down and read the tutorials that are being offered and make as much sense of them as  you can and go for it. I think that I am getting twitter somewhat, you have to play around with it. Now I want to retrieve some pictures that I have stored somewhere and see if I can beautify this site with them. That's a challenge, cause I don't really know how to do that.  I am certainly going to get help on it.
Im supposed to go to Choir rehearsal tonight but it has been cancelled. I am now going to the premier of For Colored Girls, really looking forward to that.
Oh, is there someone who can confirm whether or not there is a concert that will feature both Eric Benet and Fantasia Barrino in Houston,TX at the Reliant Arena on December 5,2010?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

trying to post a picture and get twitter going

I been trying to get my twitter going and not sure of what Im doing, Does any one feel me on that? Anyway the past week and for this week the focus for myself  has to been to ad a picture or two to a couple of social networks including this blog. Pray for me that I get the ball rolling. I know that learning this technical part of it all only increases my marketability. Any advice on helping me meet the challenge is very welcome.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Day two of blogging for janice emmons

Hey guys, the goal within the next couple of days is to jazz things up a bit. I am still very excited, just moving like I have a touch of mollasses on my tail, but"it's all good"!
I made it to choir rehearsal last Wednesday. It was good although I ran late. That's not cool. It has been a while since I have sang with a choir, so it also has been exciting. I have also performed with a a gospel group and choir in Chicago, as well as a band called Wonder Two. Some things you really miss and wish could still be a part of your life. The reality of it all is that the music is always in you and always changing.
At any rate my loves, I plan to add more things to this blog vocally and hope that you all enjoy. Dont't hesitate to give feedback.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

My first blog

Greetings to everyone this fine Tuesday! At this very moment I must say that I am feeling somewhat apprehensive and reserved yet excited and eager to become a blogger! What better way is there to embark upon an aspect of technology that you have never tapped into than to tap into it for the purpose of incorporating what you love doing. This truly has me going you guys!
 What a great opportunity to communicate and learn. I want to share more of what I feel as a singer to as many as would welcome me. I know that vocally, I can give something to the world that would add more beauty,love, and joy. It is a goal of mine to sing more and to sing from my heart for" that which comes from the heart reaches the heart".


text:
Q: How can I prove that I bought X copies of SOTMC ?

A: There are a couple of ways to do this.

1. Add me over Steam : http://steamcommunity.com/id/tamasbako

2. Send me your steam inventory link so we can verify the purchases.

Q: Can I buy more than one copy somehow ?

A: We are working to solve this issue as I realize buying more than 5 copies is painful, hopefully this gets sorted for the next sale.

A: Yes! You can now pay 25 and 50 packs in the SHOP through this blog.

Q: How’s that non-US players pay more for their copies (i.e.: EUR 1.99 in Europe, GBP 1.99 in UK, etc.)

A: This is standard Steam pricing. Hopefully we can adjust this also or make PayPal payments available directly on this page so anyone can pay in USD and don’t worry about regional differences.

If you have more questions, please send them through.

Comments are closed.

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text:
Official Lollapalooza Aftershow w/ Slander
:: Sun, Aug 06 ::

Table Reservations View Floorplan RSVP

First Name:

Last Name:

*Phone Number:

Select Package:

Package Types:

  • Two Bottles of Effen Vodka *Fridays

  • Corporate and Large Events

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  • Belvedere and Moet Magnum *Fridays

  • Bachelorette Party

  • Total Guests:

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    *Note: All reservations must be received prior to doors opening on day of the event to ensure response time. Limited availability.

    First Name:

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    *Note: All guest list must be received by 8:30pm day of the event.

    Sunday August 6th!

    C3 and Sound-Bar Present

    An Official Lollapalooza after-show featuring Slander!

    Advance tickets for this event are strongly encouraged and available at