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BB’s (possibly stolen) PROMPT for 04/18/15

Still thinking about Rick Walton and thought I’d share some more of his wisdom. When I was taking a beginning picture book workshop from him some years ago, he pointed out some of the problems with the “bad” picture books:

  • They should not be didactic or display a laundry list of “rules” about your subject.
  • They should be from a child’s POV, not from the grandmother’s, or be head‑hopping among various members of, for instance, a family including adults.
  • If you have a “message” give it throughout the story — be subtle!
  • Show, don’t tell, what’s going on in your story.
  • Boring repetition is an interest killer ‑ use repetition for a specific purpose.
  • Characters need to be “real” within the story ‑‑‑ no “cardboard” characters allowed.
  • You get more bang for your buck if you include some level of emotion within your story.
  • Long sentences are boring ‑‑‑ young children have a finite attention span.
  • The MC (a CHILD) should solve the “problem” of the story, not the adults.
  • Turn on your X‑Ray vision and bore a straight light throughout the story without digressions.

Come to think of it, these aren’t half‑bad ideas for writing for OTHER ages too!

Your prompt is to grab a bunch of picture books from home or at a library and put them to the test. Which ones followed the suggestions above, which one didn’t? Which would you love to read over and over to a child?

YES! I DID IT! And my favorite (and I’ve read it to ADULT students over and over, and even to some “kids”. AND I still laugh and enjoy it every time. It’s Why the Banana Split, by (you know!) Rick Walton.

  • We see through words AND illustrations what’s happening, story‑wise.
  • Nothing boring or nonsensically repetitious about it.
  • No long, boring sentences.
  • A little mystery as to what’s going on.
  • The emotional content (and the clever, hilarious reactions of the characters) are spot on.

Hey, this was fun, looking over my old notes and admiring Rick’s wisdom once again. Maybe, for tomorrow, I’ll tell you what else he had to say about the GOOD picture books!

(Feel free to re‑use my prompts, modified to YOUR specifications ‑‑‑ I “stole” them too from Carol Lynch Williams, AnnDeeCanDee, Cheryl, The ABC Writers Guild and others . . . )

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Filed under Changes, Friends, Prompts

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Illinois is In To Hire A Diverse Workforce with the Support of Best Buddies Jobs

Chicago Breakfast

On December 9, 2014, City Club President and Best Buddies Illinois Board Member Jay Doherty and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton hosted an I’m In to Hire breakfast to encourage employers to consider hiring individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn spoke about the importance of this movement of workplace inclusion. Senator Cullerton, also a champion of diversity, signed an Illinois Senate Recognition of the Best Buddies I’m In To Hire campaign when it first launched in October, 2014.

Over 70 corporate representatives attended the breakfast, and almost 20 employers in the Chicago area made a commitment to hire people with different abilities.

Two of those employers, Norwegian American Hospital (NAH) and Berglund Construction, have already hired Best Buddies Jobs participants. NAH hired Duncan in February, 2015 as a Dietary Assistant. From maintaining the cleanliness of the doctor’s lounge to preparing trays for distribution to patients across the hospital, Duncan’s strong work ethic and eagerness to work make him an ideal employee.

Berglund Construction hired Ashaana in April, 2015 as an Office Assistant. Visitors entering Berglund Construction are greeted by Ashaana. Her daily responsibilities include maintaining the kitchen and break areas, filling the copiers, stocking office supplies, in addition to various projects that are assigned to her on a weekly basis. Ashaana’s supervisor says that Wednesdays and Thursdays are her favorite days of the week because Ashaana is in the office!

The “I’m In To Hire” breakfast included several notable guest speakers including Best Buddies Illinois Jobs participant Danny Huff and his supervisor Katrina Smith from Silicon Valley Bank. Danny said he feels more independent since having a job. “I like getting up in the morning, having breakfast, and then coming to work! I’m working hard for the money.” Danny has developed strong working relationships with colleagues and looks forward to their weekly lunches out of the office. “I feel energetic. I feel happy coming to work every day and being around my co-workers.”

Katrina commented on her initial hesitations of hiring an individual with disabilities. “It was the fear of the unknown, not knowing what or who to expect,” she said. But her perspective completely shifted one year ago when Danny started working there. “It is an awesome feeling to know that this job is one of the reasons that Danny smiles every day and feels like an integral part of society.” Silicon Valley Bank values Danny’s work ethic and motivation to contribute to his community in a meaningful way.

The Best Buddies Illinois Jobs staff continue to work with Chicago employers who attended the breakfast to identify high impact roles that Best Buddies Jobs participants can fill. Candidates have interests ranging from office support to food service. Best Buddies screens each candidate to ensure that they are qualified for the job before referring them to potential employers. We invite Chicago businesses to engage in the “I’m In To Hire” campaign and hire dependable, motivated, and productive employees.

For more information on how to get involved, please contact:

Mia Pollock
Jobs Program Supervisor, Best Buddies Illinois
101 West Grand Avenue, Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60654
Tel: 312.828.9313

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About Best Buddies

Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

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a typical son

two of us are tall and the other one of us is short and has Down syndrome

Chicken Corn Chowder for the Blogger's Soul

Thought bubbles of inspiration, attempted humor, and most likely a lot of pictures and music. (WARNING: You are the only one reading this.)

Best Buddies Young Leaders Council

Educate, Engage, Empower.

michael crawley

Every person is an equal member of the human family.

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Barbie Party Supplies

29 Jun

This article is a categoric listing of the names of the extended friends and family characters that have been merchandised for the iconic Barbie doll during her decades-long career as the world’s most famous fashion doll. This is a chronological listing, featuring issue dates for the first year of release for a given character doll, and an end date where applicable. Names can be and often are re-used by Mattel, sometimes with spelling differences, which has led to two or more different characters having the same name, often at or around the same time frame
Barbie Party Supplies – Throw an enchanting party, where Barbie™ and Teresa™ star as Liana™ and Alexa™, with this dazzling party pack. Includes 8 invitations, heart-shaped dinner plates, cups, forks, spoons, activity placemats, 16 napkins, tablecover, centerpiece, mylar balloon, 24 balloons (2 colors), curling ribbon (2 colors), crepe paper rolls (2 colors), heart confetti and cake candles. ($43.65 if purchased separately)

More Barbie Party Supplies

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Standing by a Classic Coming of Age Flick

Greeting, everyone! I’m back from my brief hiatus, and I’m ready to share with you the most memorable movies of the 80’s.

Everyone remembers the first friends you had when you were a youngster. Chances are, that friend meant the world to you. However, it’s just as plausible that after a while, you gradually went your separate ways, only to bump into each other once in a blue moon at social gatherings or other similar events. Your dynamic isn’t quite what it used to be.

This brings us to today’s picture, Rob Reiner’s 1986 coming of age tale, “Stand by Me”. Based on the novella “The Body”, penned by Stephen King, this flick concerns four 12 year old boys who set off in pursuit of the dead body of a recently deceased boy of their own age, Ray Brower. They are especially curious as none of them have ever glimpsed a corpse before.

The gang consists of our hero, Gordie LaChance (Wil Wheaton), an aspiring writer who is still grieving over the loss of his favoured older brother, Denny (John Cusack), his close friend, Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), whose entire family are notorious for being aimless slackers, the cocky and talkative Teddy DeChamp (Corey Feldman), who suffers abuse at the hands of his father, and amicable Vern Tessio (Jerry O’Connell), who always finds himself the butt of every joke.

Their trek brings them closer together, but ultimately it strives to tear them apart, as they each learn several essential life lessons. They also have to deal with local jerk Ace Merill (Keifer Sutherland), who is determined to reach the body before the boys do…

“Stand by Me” is the first film I remember watching as a youngster that actually resonated with me, and I felt for the boys’ respective home problems, especially Gordie’s. He still harbours his grief from his brother’s death, and feels as though his parents wanted him to die instead. One of my favourite scenes in the movie comes about when Chris comforts Gordie over this confession. River Phoenix’s acting at this point almost always managed to make me empathize with both boys, who are struggling with growing up in their own unique ways.

The movie is my second favourite adaption of a King novel (after “Shawshank Redemption”, of course), and the actors all perform credibly in their roles. Wil Wheaton excels as a nice guy, in stark contrast to his roles in “Star Trek” and “The Big Bang Theory”. Jerry O’Connell is hilarious as bumbling oaf Vern, while Corey Feldman employs his usual mouthy schtick for the portrayal of the obnoxious, but ultimately sympathetic Teddy.

The real stand out actor to me was River Phoenix, as his character attempts to make a better life for himself regardless of people’s perceptions of his family. It’s hard to believe, while watching his movies, that he died at such a tender age, do that the world will never get a glimpse of what his career could have been.

Richard Dreyfuss brings a nostalgic tint to the story as the adult Gordie reflecting on his childhood pals. He acknowledges that “friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant”. This sum up of childhood friendships is bound to strike a chord with anyone in the audience who fondly looks back on their childhood and general innocence.

“Stand by Me” rates as a 4 out of 5 star rating in my book, as it blends coming of age with adulthood successfully. I reckon that mature adolescents would enjoy this flick. It’s additionally worth watching for the title song by Ben E. King. All together now- “When the night is young”…

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I am a lover of books, 80's movies and simply acting of any kind! My blog is mainly about sharing my enjoyment of these interests with people with similar pastimes.

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Macro Mystery Challenge

What’s this?

6 Responses to “Macro Mystery Challenge”

  1. What is: something new that you’ve killed in the name of photography, Alex.

  2. Anonymous Says:

    Bzzzzt! Not.

  3. OK, honestly, it looks like a rather dirty rat’s tail, which makes it no less creepy than my first answer!

  4. Alex, Close up Images of Bugs for 800.
    The answer is, In the 40’s The Mills Brothers had a hit song about this larva.
    “What is a Glow Morm?
    Ooh! so close, It’s an Inch Worm.

  5. A one point when I lived with Ricky, we kept a possum. Not a bad pet ‘cept it was up late at night. One night we were awakened by the male nurses next door. Thinking it was a rat, they almost killed it until we came to the rescue.

  6. corndoggie Says:

    Could you pet it?

    Dawg went out to do her business last night and chased something off the back porch. A flashlight showed dawg harassing a rat corpse… but it was only little Possum Pete playing, er, possum. I grabbed dawg, Pete seemed unharmed, and after I stuffed dawg back in the house Pete made his way into the night.

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Space Virus Prevention Airstream

DSC_6876 DSC_6877

A couple of pics from the new Smithsonian Aerospace museum . The first moon walkers were evidently required to stay in this modified Airstream for a quarantine period to prevent a “Moon Virus” from wiping out the entire population of the Earth. No worries, all they brought back were a few rocks and sterile lifeless dust. Still, after their recent accommodations the Airstream must have seemed as welcoming to them as Boatdog finds his to be. This great new museum at Dulles Airport also features the original Wright Flyer, The Concord, The Discovery Space Shuttle, hundreds of other historic restored aircraft and even the Enola Gay! Good times!

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Vibrational Healing for an Empowered Life – The Big Seance Podcast #103

Vibrational Healing for an Empowered Life - An Interview with Karen Frazier on The Big Seance Podcast: My Paranormal World #103 - Visit

What is an energy healer? And are chakras real? Psychic medium and author, Karen Frazier, shares wisdom from her brand new book, Higher Vibes Toolbox: Vibrational Healing for an Empowered Life

Listen in Apple Podcasts!
Listen in Google Play Music
Listen in Stitcher
Listen in iHeart Radio
Direct Download Link

In this episode:

Episode Teaser :00

Intro :32

Welcome back, Karen Frazier! 1:06

Karen’s Bio 2:07

Karen has a new book called Higher Vibes Toolbox: Vibrational Healing for an Empowered Life. 4:01

What exactly is an Energy Healer? Empowering YOU! 7:33

Singing Bowls and Chakras 11:56

Everybody has a frequency 17:45

Patrick talks about author Karla McLaren and her complete turnaround on chakras. And just what IS a chakra? 18:19

Do we have proof that chakras physically exist and can be worked on by energy healers? 22:14

What in the world are solfeggios? 24:51

The book breaks down the chakras, what they do, and how they may relate to health and issues in your life. 26:01

What in the world is a meridian? 30:12

Auras 30:47

Sending good vibes to someone. 34:38

The 8 Steps for Healing 38:27

Self-honesty without judgement 39:55

Thoughts become things. Patrick’s big Oprah moment! 42:46

How will The Great American Solar Eclipse affect us? (This was recorded before the eclipse.) 46:35

The horrible energy of the last year. 53:56

Closing comments about the book. 55:56

Karen Frazier’s Shameless Self Promotion! 57:49

A quick shotgun dream interpretation about grocery store dreams 1:00:08

International Podcast Day is September 30th! 1:01:58

Tons of Listener Feedback! 1:02:23

Recently I had the honor of being on Karen A. Dahlman’s new YouTube show, Creative Visions TV

Outro 1:09:46

#Paranerd Hashtag 1:11:24

Outtakes 1:12:02

For more on Karen Frazier

Karen Frazier on Facebook

Twitter: @AuthorKFraz

The Big Seance Podcast can be found right here, on Apple PodcastsTuneIn RadioStitcherGoogle Play Music, and iHeart Radio. Please subscribe, submit a rating, or share with a fellow paranerd! Do you have any comments or feedback? Please contact me at Consider recording your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! You can also call the show and leave feedback at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. The candles are already lit, so come on in and join the séance!

About Patrick Keller

Patrick Keller is an educator, blogger, and the host of the Big Séance Podcast, which is a place for paranerds to have an open discussion on all things paranormal, but specifically topics like ghosts and hauntings, paranormal research, spirit communication, psychics and mediums, and life after death. He’s the founder of the now inactive Missouri Spirit Seekers and has spent a lot of time experimenting with spirit communication tools and techniques, such as EVP. Patrick also has a passion for spending hours at a time in cemeteries and loves cemetery photography. Visit! View all posts by Patrick Keller

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The Sister Who Saved Her Family

My youngest sister, Shira Beth Brenner, was born 26 years ago today, sending rays of sunshine into a house that was in darkness.

Mood music:

You might think it’s hyperbole for me to say she saved the family. We were surviving after all. But we were surviving badly, reeling from the death of my brother barely two years before.

Shira helped us smile again, simply by being born.

I was a bitter 15-year-old home sick with the flu and a Crohn’s flare up the day she arrived. She was an especially adorable baby and was a welcome distraction from everything that was going on at the time.

She’s quite a kid. If not for the big chip on my shoulder, I might have been more like her in my 20s. I’m happy with how my life turned out and believe I had to go through the dark stuff to get here. But Shira has really been an inspiration to me. She crisscrosses the globe without fear and has an easygoing way about her that’s nearly impossible to crack. I know, because I’ve tried.

I’ve always been the teasing sort of brother. I tell everyone who will listen that I remember when I could fit Shira in a beer mug. I remember once, when she was about 4 or 5, she told me to stop teasing.

“I can’t help it,” I said. “I tease you cause I love you.”

“Then don’t love me,” she shot back.

Naturally, I told everyone about that exchange, and with more than a little glee.

Around the same time, I was having a lot of parties in the basement of the Revere house. The morning after, Shira would often make the rounds, stopping at the various friends who would be passed out asleep on my bed, on the couch or on the floor.

Even back then, no matter how much I drank the night before, I would always wake up early so I could sneak cigarettes without being seen.

I’d always enjoyed watching her make the rounds. My guests didn’t always enjoy it, but that was fine with me.

In more recent years, as she traveled and I got absorbed with work, marriage and parenthood, we didn’t see much of each other, save for some holidays and a couple birthday dinners.

But I’ve seen a lot of her this year, as my father’s stroke forced us all closer together.

We siblings have worked in shifts, helping to keep Dad out of trouble. He may have trouble seeing, swallowing and walking, but he still likes to keep everyone busy. Shira usually gets the task of sleeping over on Saturday nights. If my father wants to count coins, move furniture or look up stock quotes, Shira gets to be his eyes, hands and legs in the evening, after a day of hectic activity (she’s been dancing and doing a lot of performances. There’s nothing this kid can’t do).

She never complains and always smiles.

I’ve heard it said that a kid like her lives life on a rainbow, always in a zen-like state despite all the hard reality around her.

In Shira’s case I think that’s true. And it’s something we can all learn from. She’s not oblivious to the reality around her. She just handles it with a lot more grace than the rest of us.

You could say she’s doing for the family today what she did the day she was born — giving the family color and light at a time when we need it most.

Happy Birthday, kid.

3 thoughts on “The Sister Who Saved Her Family

  1. Greetings Bill,
    I saw your post on Audrey Clark’s wall(facebook).
    What a heartwarming story. At once I was struck by fond memories of my beloved brother Patrick(Sept. 1957-Aug.1997). Patrick and I had a wonderful relationship, though, growing up, he teased me, relentlessly. Also, memories of my late sister, Christine, who in 1983, at the age of 18, lost her 3 year battle with cancer.
    I was not saddened reading your story, but found it somehow comforting, imagining this is the relationship I would share with both my brother and sister, today, were they still upon this, the material plane.
    Many thanks for sharing in such a warm sensitive, yet humorous, way.
    Rev. RavenHawk Ruane, H.Ps

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A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words!!! (Or, On T.J.McCann’t III)

As McCann Sees His Paper – The Conquering Legal Eagle! (Click to enlarge.)

Well, over at ObamaReleaseYourRecords, there is another literate Birther practicing law without a license. (Or brain.) His name is T.J. McCann III, and he has penned 11 pages of pseudo-legal quackery. An image of Page 1 is above. He would get an “A” on it in Junior High School Civics, for grammar and punctuation.  His mother would brag on him and show it to all her friends. However, in Law School,  he would get an “F” and a trip to the shrink’s office.

This is because McCann does not start his analysis with Wong Kim Ark, the seminal case in determining the meaning of natural born citizenship. Instead, he uses his Frequent Flier Miles to go back in time to Calvin’s Case, and then engages in some kind of fantasy/masturbatory  legal analysis from that point forward. He dismisses the Wong Kim Ark decision with:

1898 U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898) (same definition [as Vattel] and C.J, Fuller‟s dissent confirming Vattel‟s definition of a “natural born Citizen”);

Ooookaaay. . . Here is my critique, using one picture to save all the little consonants and vowels from having to work on Labor Day: (Don’t forget to mouse over the image below, too.)

As Others See McCann’s Paper – The Flat-Footed Daffy (Click to enlarge.)

Here is a link to the whole paper at ORYR:

There is a scribd there, but here is a pdf in case you have problems with scribd:

McCann’s Natural Born Defined

Enjoy the Zaniness! I bet World Net Daily picks it up and runs it.

Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter

Note 1. The Second Image:  This is the famous screen actor, Daffy Duck, about whom Wiki says:

Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character produced by Warner Bros. He has appeared in cartoon series such as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, where he usually has been depicted as the best friend and occasional arch-rival of Bugs Bunny. Daffy was one of the first of the new “screwball” characters that emerged in the late 1930s to replace traditional everyman characters who were more popular earlier in the decade[citation needed], such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye. Daffy starred in 133 shorts in the Golden Age, making him the third-most frequent character in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, behind Bugs Bunny’s 166 appearances and Porky Pig’s 159 appearances.

Daffy first appeared on April 17, 1937, in Porky’s Duck Hunt, directed by Tex Avery and animated by Bob Clampett. The cartoon is a standard hunter/prey pairing for which Leon Schlesinger’s studio was famous, but Daffy (barely more than an unnamed bit player in this short) was something new to moviegoers: an assertive, completely unrestrained, combative protagonist. Clampett later recalled:

“At that time, audiences weren’t accustomed to seeing a cartoon character do these things. And so, when it hit the theaters it was an explosion. People would leave the theaters talking about this daffy duck.”

Virtually every Warner Bros. cartoon director put his own spin on the Daffy Duck character – he may be a lunatic vigilante in one short but a greedy gloryhound in another. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones both made extensive use of these two very different versions of the character.

The rest can be read here:

About Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter

Hi!!! I am a Girl Reporter on the Internet. I am 31. Plus I am a INTP. I have a Major in Human Kinetics, and a Minor in English. I have 2 cats, and a new kitten! I write poetry, and plus I am trying to learn how to play guitar. I think that is all??? Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter View all posts by Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter

13 responses to “A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words!!! (Or, On T.J.McCann’t III)

  • Monkey Boy

    Hah! What a freakin’ Maroon!

    A “natural born citizen” is a “self-evident” status upon birth because that offspring could not possibly be a citizen of, and owe allegiance to, any other country or peoples.
    (all emphasis mine)

    I would like to ask him about Jonathan Pollard, Kim Philby, and Aldrich Ames, but the craven wimps won’t board any of my posts.

    I’ve tried all sorts of stratagems like posing as a birther and ODS victim. I’ve tried including links and straight text, but no go.

    Yet, I noticed that they allow Rikker to create havoc and devastation among the birthers. Maybe, they adopted him as a ‘token.’

  • Monkey Boy

    From the Maroon:

    This feudal oblige and extension of the dominion of the Crown to ANY territory held by the King, even making “natural born subjects” of those born in America, contributed to British settlers leaving Britain in the first place and ultimately became a primary factor in the “Declaration of Independence”, with colonists declaring themselves free of such an involuntary burden of the Crown while having no protection and no representation.

    It would really make a lot of sense to try to escape the authority of the King (or Queen) by going to another place where his/her authority is near absolute.

    In truth, most of the Colonists were originally economic immigrants escaping the stranglehold ancient land titles. They could come to North America or the Caribbean, remain English, kill a few Indians, and gain a piece of dirt for themselves.

    The Colonies were Royal possessions, but most were issued charters by Royal proclamation that granted the charter holders certain rights that exempted them from certain restrictions on residents of GB proper.

    For Instance, Maryland was chartered to allow practice of the RC religion, Pennsylvania to allow Quakers free exercise of their beliefs. Virginia and Massachusetts was chartered as commonwealths for their citizens, so there was no feudal authority to grant land there.

  • Sam the Centipede

    McCann’s cloud of insanity finishes with this puff of drivel:

    One cannot reasonably be both a natural born Subject of Britain and a natural born citizen of the United States.

    McCann provides absolutely no argument to back up this insane assertion, presumably because there is none, it is a complete figment of birthers’ fetid imagination.

    So how dare this treasonous lying racist say that the nationality laws of foreign countries should dictate the citizenship of Americans? Are the United States of America beholden to the laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? Wasn’t a Revolution fought to establish that they are not? Yet this traitor wants to give primacy to For’n Law!!!

    As for the rest of it, it’s the same lying logic-chopping mountain of prairie dog feces as Farrar and Apuzzo regularly trot out. Almost no correct statements, much out of context, everything of substance refuted.

    In short, FAIL!!!

  • Monkey Boy

    If there is a British lawyer on the board, could you tell me if Jenny Jerome became a British citizen by marrying W. Churchill’s father in 1874?

  • Reality Check

    Thanks for mentioning this article on my show last night. I had missed it originally. The comments on TJ Mc’s article at ORYR are priceless. Maybe I should invite TJ Mc to debate Frank Arduini or Slarti on my show?

    • Slartibartfast

      Somehow, I doubt the great and powerful TJ McCann, sooper jean-yus law-knowing-guy would deign to debate a dishonest obot like myself (and Frank would just wipe the floor with him…).

      I had forgotten about this article—I’ll have to inform TJ the wise of the insightful review you did of his paper. 😉

  • Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter

    Hi Slarti and RC!!!

    I think I will go over to John’s blog and see what McCann has to say.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

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Tag Archives: CoinLab

A Bitcoin Primer

by CoinLab.com Authors: Chris Koss, Mike Koss January 1, 2012 What if you could store and transfer money safely, securely, cheaply and quickly anywhere in the world yourself, without relying on anyone else? Bitcoin is a new technology that has the potential of … Continue reading

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Tag Archives: sarcastic

My whore-like existence

The brilliance of this blog is a lot like an orgasm from a celibate man. It’s more than you expect, a little overwhelming and will most likely get you right between the eyes.

Like an intellectual money shot that gets in your eyes and blurs your vision for a moment.

FYI, some of these images are meant to be disturbing.

A little like a mental Rolfing that leaves you refreshed, but in a little or a lot of pain.

So, that being said, here is the wisdom.

Your shit is not that fucking important.

Before you dismiss that, think about it, not read it and sip your soy milk, 2 shot, caramel latte with cinnemon and sprinkles that you paid $6.99 no less, and actually think about it.

Let me define “Shit” for you.

Shit is a generic term with rude imagery for a purpose.

It denotes your politics, food choices, pets, children, religious beliefs, and anything not covered previously in this sentence.

Now for the other shoe.

Not that fucking important means Not that fucking important to anyone else.

This whole train of thought was brought on by some over the top statements on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by some serious attention whoring drama queens that all make the same sad desperate “Look at me” statements.

If you like (Insert person, cause or belief) then unfriend me now. (Insert a whiny point of view usually based on poorly reported biased news.)

It wears on you after awhile.

One particularly stunning woman I know made this comment to anyone thinking about voting for a political candidate that they don’t like.

I didn’t unfriend her, but I did unfollow her, she is a fan of the blog. (I truly hope she reads this and understands that its nothing personal, but she is a dipshit. She also like to post lingerie pics that are worth seeing. Don’t judge me.)

Unfollowing is a good way of making sure that when I post, they get my post, but I don’t have to be bothered with their fleshy-headed bullshit any more than I have to.

At first glance, you might think there is a mean edge to this post, today.

Far from it.

This is more of the blogging version of tough love.

Like a stern parent or a tough cop, occasionally, I have to go upside your head to get your attention and change your perspective.

And, like all children of stern parents, you try to rebel, bitch about how harsh it is and then, years later, you realize how goddam right I am.

Your welcome.

And yet, there is also a seedy side to this.

Like I have said before, to achieve the pure innocence that I have, you have to travel just as far down other side of the scale so it all balances out.

And yet, I never rebelled against my parents.

I don’t view that as a weakness of character, especially when its the opposite.

You would have to know the absolute forces of nature I call mom and dad just to understand that synchronicity made total sense.

Mom is a total therapist, been a professional psychic for over half a century, and dad is the original man, a mechanic with a rock solid lock on how a man behaves in the world.

My gratitude for the luck of my birth and my parents is boundless.

And here we are.

I do not view their influence as having to do with the cruder side of this blog, that unfortunately, is all me.

I have taken what they gave me, and turned myself into some sort of sex worker in print.

You come here, once a week, do your business, avoid eye contact, then leave awkwardly.

You could at least leave the money on the dresser on your way out.

Or a cup of coffee.

Mmmmm coffee.

Leave a comment

Posted by on August 12, 2016 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , ,

The End is Near, maybe.

I am the harbinger of doom, you’ve been warned.

To judge by the results, I have been breaking mirrors as I hit black cats to make them cross my path so that they can knock over the salt as we walk under a ladder.

The bad luck/shit karma storm seems to be endless.

Not for me mind you, but for everyone around me.

I exist in the eye of the shit storm.

And I feel bad mainly because Karma has been my bitch for a few weeks now.

But that is not what I am hear to talk about.

You all seem to hate the positive shit, you’ve proven that over and over.

The positive or uplifting post are among the least read.

The one’s that detail people held down by Fate and fisted by Karma?

Shit, you can’t get enough.

It boggles the mind and makes me feel bad.

Not to complain, but you do treat me like a whore.

No eye contact, just do your business and leave the page.

Leave the money on the dresser as you go.

So be it.

Why so cheerful today?

Ok, you asked for it, here is the roll call of crap.

This has all been related to me since I wrote last weeks blog:

  • I have had a half dozen people tell me about a close relative with a shitty prognosis involving cancer.
  • 3, count them 3, acquaintances have told me they are getting divorced.
  • 5 car accidents.
  • 1 cat rape involving an out of control horny bulldog. (Sorry, I laughed so hard at this one, I almost shit myself. The dog/cat owner has unfriended me on FB and will not return texts. Still funny.)
  • 2 people related having ED for the first time. (We are getting older, fellas. Its called Viagra, look into it.)
  • An old acquaintance’s child was sentenced to 20 years in prison. (Isn’t meth wonderful?)
  • I got a flat tire on my bike. (Really not much compared to the rest, but I SUCK at changing tubes. All about me.)
  • A married couple I know decided to spice up their bedroom activities and try some new things. They ended up in the ER later trying to get a string of beads out of her butt. (Pissing off people left and right today.)

It seems to be a time for keeping your head down.

Survival instinct kicks in and you learn to adapt and keep the shit stink from finding you.

So you don’t necessarily avoid people, but you are seeking out people either.

I know, that sounds mean, kind of because it is.

But I mean it in the nicest narcissistic way.

In the end, I look on the activities and things that have gone on in the last week as a cautionary tale of sorts.

But the moral of the story is this:

Be bold but be careful and if the bulldog of life looks your way?

Cover your ass.

Posted by on May 15, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hating a stranger.

Its not often, but sometimes, when I least expect it, I instinctively hate people.

Case in point, I am in Starbucks, its not my favorite one, but its still a Starbucks.

For those of you that pay attention, its the “Icebox”, so named because the temperature is always at 60 degrees, Winter or Summer.

I used to think this was a bad idea, then I realized that on those days that I am there for an hour or more, I buy more coffee to keep me warm.

Maybe the manager is a genius.

And in she walks.

Something about her screams “Bitch”, loud and clear.

Of course she is on her cell phone, what else would she be doing?

And maybe it is just because I didn’t like her from the beginning, but I swear that the people around her moved just a touch more away from her than you would normally.

Maybe its an unconscious thing, just some sort of evil presence, like a low level fart in an elevator that you don’t know who did it, but you know it wasn’t you.

Anyway, she gets thru the line, gets a spinach quiche. (Red flag – Spinach quiche is the food of choice of pedophiles, serial killers and overly monied coffee hoes.)

Her drink, when it came, had a lot of foam, another red flag but I’m gonna let that go.

As luck would NOT have it, she sat at the seat next to me.

Conversation still going on.

Here are the highlight quotes.

  • “Marshal is having problems at school, he failed a test and the teacher is being a bitch about it. I told him he could stay home this week and calm down.” (My comment is to fucking long to put here, so its below.)
  • “Jack is still arguing about the alimony, I mean, I gave that asshole my life, and thats going to cost him.” (Lesson learned boys, some people, not all, just some people, when they are flat on their backs the meter is running. Talk amongst yourselves.)
  • The car is still not running right. Every time I put it in gear, I have to let off on the gas COMPLETELY. (You mean revving it and dumping it into gear is NOT good for the tranny?)

It was the Polish astronomer Copernicus who first offered the model of the universe that had the Sun at its core and not the Earth.

And it was the shithead sucking down a frappuccino sitting next to me that first offered the model of the universe that had Marshal at its core.

That means the center of the universe was somewhere local, still in his pj’s during mid morning and crying like a pussy.

For a long moment I was outraged.

We are currently raising a generation of kids that are being taught that, God forbid they ever encounter a problem, the only proper response is to freeze in place and over analyze it until someone comes along and either solves it for them, or it goes away on its own.

That was a shitty long moment.

The highlight was when I made her leave.

Its called the creep move.

It is a beautiful study in low level emotional intimidation.

I began to furiously scratch my armpit, the one closer to her.

I grunted slightly.

Once I could see her staring, I stopped scratching and smelled my fingers.

Wait for it……..

I scooted a half an inch towards her.

Then I turned my head, locked eyes, and smiled.

If you have ever seen someone fleeing a burning building, that is a lot like how she left.

Hung up her phone, stood and stomped her little feet out of Starbucks.

Even left her coffee creation behind.

I would feel bad, but, after all…

I didn’t like her to begin with.

Posted by on April 24, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Perhaps I have become jaded.

I have talked about too much, written about too much, offended -maybe- too much.

And there’s nothing left.

Seriously, after almost 600 posts written for this ungodly beast of a blog, I think I have seen it all.

Maybe its time to hang it up, call it a day, piss on the fire and call in the dogs.

Its been a pleasure, but this will be my last-

Wait a minute.

I forgot about what I saw this morning.

I was taking a bike ride to my favorite breakfast place.

And then I saw him.

Homeless? Of course, we’ve met, right?

But the first homeless with Down’s Syndrome?

Like a “Special” unicorn. Rare doesn’t even begin to describe it.

And before you hate mail gangbang me en masse, I am the only one of thousands who passed him and I stopped.

And brought him coffee and McMuffin.

So bite me.

Both cheeks, and what the hell, crack too.

Be my guest.

His name is Kevin.

He laughs a lot.

He has family, but they “Don’t like me.”

As he talked, and he liked to talk, I began to take stock of the physical cues.

Meth is his drug of choice.

That realization washed over me like a wave of different emotions.

Outrage, anger, confusion, desolation, you name it.

And finally, acceptance.

It sucks, its screwed up.

But it is what it is.

Jaded rotten shit that I am, this little scenario still pried $20 out of my stingy wallet.

Hey, I’m an asshole, not a heartless asshole.

(Plus, I later called a church I know that does homeless outreach. They are on it. I will deny this later if you ask.)

I am golden.

I hung out for the better part of an hour.

We talked, well, Kevin talked, lonely guy, and laughed.

It was as nice as it was heartbreaking.

As I left, Kevin claimed he was going to go get another McMuffin.

Its 50-50 that McMuffin means meth.

Call me a cynic, but ask any drug counselor and they will explain this one to you.

So I rode my bike and sorted.

I spend a little too much time in my head.

Not in that healthy “Dealing with my emotions” way.

More like the book “Flowers in the attic” kind of way.

(Think of children locked away in the attic.)

Scary place to be sometimes.

Another hour of pedaling and I have come to this:

Life is what it is. Live it, enjoy what you can, survive the bad, and be happy.

Most wisdom breaks down to this.

See you next week.

Leave a comment

Posted by on March 6, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta

Court is a lot like the classical version of hell.

Horrible and boring.

I stand accused, M’lord. Guilty as charged. Mercy, M’lord, mercy.

Here is my vile crime.

I drove 2 blocks without my seatbelt on.

Chain my ass up and send me to Russia.

The truly unfortunate part of all this is that an officer of the law happened to be pulling up to a stop sign just as I turned onto my street.

Bad enough to get the ticket, but add to it my total inability to pay the damn thing on time and you have a recipe for creating my own misery.

When the ticket goes beyond 30 days, the fine doubles.

When it goes beyond 120 days?

It would be more merciful if they just held me down and beat me to death.

As it is they added a civil penalty of 10x the original fine.

Land of the free, home of the brave.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, purple mountains majesty. Now pay your fucking fine and shut your mouth.

I found out years ago that if you show up, plead guilty and act polite they will reduce it back to the original fine amount.

So here I am.

Exiting the parking garage, I am treated to a wonderful site.

About 150 people in line, waiting to get in.

The line is moving briskly as we are shuttled thru the metal detector, manned by armed men.

There are about 50 people left between me and my own trip thru the metal detector when the excitement begins.

It seems a guy has been stopped at the metal detector because he forgot he had a piece of metal on him.

The metal in this case appears to be a Saturday Night Special.

A .25 calibre piece of shit that just earned him a trip to jail.

The legally armed men at the metal detector do not seem to be accepting his excuse of “Man, I forgot I had that shit on me!” and are jacking a brother up off to the side, while another legally armed man puts the gun in a baggy.

The level of stupid here is pretty impressive.

Hard to beat.

Me and the 50 people in front of me all saw this little production of “Our town- Thug life edition”.

Think of it as a cautionary tale for our times.

Don’t be that stupid, people.

So, when the guy two people in front of me got stopped at the detector for a pocket knife with a 5 inch blade, I am sure we were all a little shocked.

No more felonies are committed and I manage to get inside on time to make it to my assigned court room.

And there on the door of the courtroom, is my entire reason for being a consistent asshole to the universe.

“All cases for Division 1 will be rescheduled. Court is closed due to illness.”

Karma, you giggling bitch.

Well played.

Posted by on February 27, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rock bottom.

When a 21 year old stunning blonde in a bar does the “hair flip with a giggle” move on a guy, it can be breath taking.

But when a formerly stunning blonde who is not aging well does it in a Starbucks to a guy half her age she met in line?

Not so much.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes there is nothing hotter than a woman well out of her 20’s that has enough experience in the world to be comfortable in her skin.

And it blows the younger competition out of the water.

But it is a tough act to pull off.

Such is not the case here.

Its more like a bad actress in a shitty play with no rehearsal who’s dying of a wasting disease caught by making out with some  un-vaccinated homeless illegal with lip sores at some sort of 70’s style key party in a random flip flop club in a questionable side of town on the wrong side of the tracks an hour past closing time on a school night.

(Lines like that are why I write this blog.)

The guy, mid 20’s and dumb like a stick by the looks of him, is not even noticing.

He has this sort of Lumpy Rutherford innocence to him that is as charming as it is alarming.

In fact, the more I watch this guy the more I feel I may owe sticks an apology, because they could not POSSIBLY be as stupid.

Who knows, maybe they’re made for each other?

Sounds like a bad tv show, she is the aging cougar with unidentified crotch itch and he is at the other end of the tard spectrum.

And together they fight crime and bump uglies.

A mid-season replacement show this fall on FOX.

“Old ho and the tard.”

The better thought process is, why the hell should I care where he gets his STD’s? If not from her, then from elsewhere, and I really don’t want to know where she got hers. (Although it probably involved a trip to TJ and an admission ticket to the “Donkey show”.)

(May have gone to far at this point. Give me a minute here.)

A test reader has just pointed out to me that, in my attempt to be amusing, I may just be an ass and total douche.

Entirely possible.

I make a big show of denigrating your reading of this blog, that I don’t care, its not for you, blah, blah, blah, the usual crap I throw out there.

Truth is, I need you to read this stuff and either laugh and shoot coffee out of your nose or hate it like a pedophile has moved into your neighborhood and has become BFF’s with your kids.

(Test reader has just called me a dick and is refusing to be involved from here on. Never a good sign.)

So lets dial it back a notch, slow things down.

Like a slow jazz singer trying get his groupies worked up to have a shot at a sloppy handjob after the show.

I give up, despite my admittedly half-assed attempts to get out of the mental sewer I find myself in, I can’t seem to get over the curb.

Like a literary quicksand, the more I struggle, the deeper I sink.

So I give up.

That is the beauty of writing a weekly blog.

There’s always next week.

Leave a comment

Posted by on February 13, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The asshole within.

I gotta get out of this business.

Being the literary coffee house witness is beginning to take its toll.

I no longer have the ability to filter what comes out of my mouth or onto the page.

The only filter is one I developed, the one that tries to phrase everything in the most shocking or shitty way.

Its like the blogging version of PTSD.

The blog has touched my mind, but not in a good way.

More like a creepy uncle with clammy palms kind of touching.

And yeah, there is baggage that comes with that. (From the blogging, I don’t have a clammy-palmed uncle.)

But, I am not a danger to anyone else, unless you read the blog, then we are all victims together.

Great, lets form some sort of touchy-feeling support group to sob about “What the blog did to me!”

That might be a symptom of the problem in this country.

Previous generations, like your grandfather’s on back, the one’s that built this country? They worked, got shit done, and kept their issues to themselves.

They rarely missed work.

I could be wrong, but it seems like we are teaching society that, God forbid ANY problem pop up, STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND THINK ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS!

Don’t move forward until you have coddled your inner child until they are every bit as spoiled as we are.

Recipe for disaster, but maybe I am being harsh.

“Time to cut bait.”

I hate having my thought process interrupted but that phrase caught my attention.

It’s one of those cultural adages that means “Time to get to work”.

The guy sitting next to me is wearing a pretty expensive suit and used that phrase.

Funny, he doesn’t look like a fisherman.

He is on an iPhone 6.

He looks like aging middle management in an expensive, but boring, suit.

It appears he is in insurance of some sort.

And, like his suit, the man is boring.

I have spent less than 15 minutes in his presence and I can vouch for the fact that the man is less exciting than toilet paper.

And thats pretty boring.

But, its a slow day, especially when your blog is about observing other people.

And he is the only cookie in the jar.

So what can we tell about him just from looking?

He has no taste in suits, but he is smart enough to go somewhere to buy his suits that the salesman has decent taste.

He’s a bad salesman, you can tell that just from looking at his hair.

Comb-over. Bad sign.

Also, fiddles with his pen as he talks, also a bad sign.

In poker, they call this a tell.

It means he’s nervous, bluffing and feeding someone a line of shit.

And there are lots of lines of shit in the insurance game.

For those who sell insurance, if you are offended, stop lying to yourself.

Time to get rid of him, he is souring my morning.

I look at him, smiling slightly and hold up my hand till he notices.

“Hang just a second.” He covers the receiver with his hand. “Can I help you?”

I look friendly and a little wide eyed at this point. (Or at least as much as possible. This is not in my wheelhouse really.)

“Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior? Can we talk for a minute?”

“I gotta go.” He says this into the receiver, packs up, mumbles some sort of excuse why we are not chatting and flees the scene in under 45 seconds.

And peace returns.

Leave a comment

Posted by on February 6, 2015 in Uncategorized

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,


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How to Use Social Media to Boost Your Site’s SEO

Hand holding a Social Media 3d SphereMost website or blog owners have one goal in mind: to get more traffic to his or her site. The Google Penguin update required many people to change their marketing tactics. This update weeded out sites from their search engine that were thought to be of low value. One of the best ways sites bounced back from the lack of traffic caused by the update was by increasing their efforts on social media.

In order to have a successful SEO and social media strategy, you must ensure your profiles and website are up to date. You must also provide fresh content on a regular basis in order to remain relevant to your audience. Here are a few tips for improving your social media marketing to improve your website’s SEO.

Use a Vanity URL

Vanity URLs contain the name of your business. On Facebook, your business’s vanity URL should read If that name isn’t available, as is the case for many common business names, add your location to the URL.

If you build custom log homes in Lincoln, Nebraska, your name should reflect that. It would then read or whatever city your business is in. This will improve your business’s visibility in the search engines not only for your social media profiles, but for your website as well because, of course, you’ll link your profiles to your website and vice versa!

Learn What Others Are Saying

Following Twitter’s trending topics is an excellent way to find out what people are talking about. You can change your settings for trending topics from locally to regionally to nationally or even worldwide. By finding out what others are saying, you can create content catered specifically to those questions, problems or memes.

When you share this content with the appropriate hashtag for the trending topic, users will share your content, providing you with natural and relevant backlinks to your site. Research shows that retweets and shares on social media sites helps content get indexed more quickly, too.

Grow Your Audience

Authority plays a significant role in the power of social networking sites to build your website’s SEO. Search ranking algorithms consider the authority of users who retweet and share content in addition to the number of shares the content receives.

The more influential you are (and your followers), the better results you’ll see in the search engines. That doesn’t mean that you should use unscrupulous means to get lots of followers; those followers would be of little authoritative value. Instead, build your audience and follower base steadily by providing great content and engaging in conversations.

Shareability is becoming more and more important in how Google and other search engines rank of search results for particular keywords. Engagement on social media has effects not just on how visible your web presence is to the search engines, but also increasing activity on the part of your customers. Make sure your social media strategy considers SEO.

Alicia Lawrence is a content coordinator for WebpageFX. She enjoys helping her clients boost conversions through SEO. When not at work, she enjoys planning her dream custom log home and blogs at

About BizBrag
BizBrag – An all-in-one Online Marketing Platform, LAUNCHES your small business across the web providing visibility and introductions to new customers in a unique fashion. BizBrag provides a centralized, easy-to-use location with everything your small business needs for online marketing and more. Forget huge fees, set-up costs and technology quagmires, BizBrag is a simple to use solution that even non-tech business owners can enjoy.

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What Do I Love About the Illini Union?

The Illini Union is definitely a wonderful representation of our campus. It has gorgeous exterior, lovely outdoor fountain, luxurious furniture, historical atmosphere … I love the Illini Union because I have had a lot of wonderful time in this building, and I would like to share them with you.

In the basement, there are many little restaurant, and my friends and I love to find a small but quiet corner beside the vending machines. We can study, eat, or chat as much as we want. This spot is super convenient because whenever we want anything, we can just get up and buy things, then be back in five minutes. I have spent a lot of time here.

The Union also hosts a lot of events, and you can easily check them out on its website. During the summer, I watched a couple of soccer games of UEFA with other people in the lobby by using the projector and the giant screen. It was a lot of fun to cheer with a large group of strangers, and I didn’t really have a lot of similar experiences like this before. Every weekend, there will be movie nights, and those movies are all very famous and interesting. More information could be found on poster inside the Union or online.

Also, if you just want to interact with other people and get some professional help to deal with problems in daily life, there are weekly workshops hosted by the Counseling Center about various topics. I personally love these workshops because I feel relaxed when I am with a group of people sharing similar experiences and feelings.

There are so much more about Illini Union that you can explore, and I hope you enjoy it like I do!

From the Illini Union

From the Illini Union

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Matt Schaub on J.J. Watt playing offense: ‘Definitely all for it’

On Tuesday, NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt said he would be interested in helping out the Texans on offense.

On Wednesday, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub responded, enthusiastically.

“Definitely all for it,” Schaub said. “It would add to his legacy. He’s a big target. I wouldn’t mind just throwing it up and letting him go after the ball. He could be a mismatch for us. We’ll see how it goes. He’s definitely lobbying hard.

“But,” Schaub added, “I saw some ‘highlights’ of him on the Jugs machine. He looked a little shaky over there.”


text:
Moritz Gräter

Moving ahead: GFT invests in CODE_n Alumnus parkpocket

In our first interview with parkpocket, Karoline Bader, CFO of the future mobility startup, told us all about their initial idea and vision. A lot has happened since then: the team backing siblings Karoline and Stefan Bader worked hard; parkpocket celebrated a product relaunch today. Originally based in Munich, they grew immensely and recently opened a second office in Stuttgart, located in the CODE_n SPACES. This goes hand-in-hand with even bigger news: GFT, the initiator behind CODE_n, has invested in the startup once selected as finalist for the CODE_n15 CONTEST.

Around half a million – that’s the amount GFT invested in the startup with the parking solution; however, the bond between the young company and its investor goes beyond money. Ulrich Dietz, CEO of GFT and CODE_n initiator, believes that the parkpocket solution “will solve a very essential issue. An issue that millions of people face on a daily basis.” To Stefan Bader, CEO of parkpocket, Ulrich Dietz has taken on the role of a mentor: “For us, GFT is a partner and advisor, rather than just an investor,” he says. The relationship is also special in the sense that, while GFT has acquired quite a few firms in the past, this is its very first startup investment.

Embedded into the CODE_n Ecosystem

With the opening of an office in the CODE_n SPACES, parkpocket is automatically embedded into the CODE_n Ecosystem – even more so now than they were before. Although CODE_n has been set up as an international startup initiative, bringing in partners and know-how from all over the globe, being based in the CODE_n SPACES Stuttgart means: being close to Baden-Wuerttemberg’s strong industrial environment. As a future mobility startup, parkpocket will definitely be benefiting from the fact that the automotive industry is literally right around the corner.

pp2 Furthermore, parkpocket’s target market is set to be big in Stuttgart, too: up to 40 percent of the traffic volume in Germany’s cities is caused by people looking for parking spaces, with Stuttgart high up on the list of traffic issues. The parkpocket app aims at solving exactly that: helping people find the right parking spot, on-the-go, easily and with great comfort. Even better: the solution lets users compare parking fees, something that can save you a lot of money in Baden-Wuerttemberg’s capital.

The new version of the app, which also includes information such as opening hours of car parks, the availability of handicapped parking and charging stations for e-mobility-cars, is now available for download. We’ve already tested it and particularly like the ability to calculate the duration of the drive to the parking spot and the walk to the final destination. Well done to our friends from parkpocket – and of course, a warm welcome from the whole CODE_n family!

parkpocket is also part of Wayra, the Telfónica startup program. Wayra has the news about the investment in their blog as well: read more here

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Ready for DrupalCon 2013

Next week DrupalCon 2013DrupalCon 2013 is happening right in the backyard of our Engineering HQ in Portland. And we’ve been busy crafting new Drupal specific improvements to our PHP agent in time for the conference. (Those updates came out Wednesday!) But before we talk about those great enhancements, let’s take a look at the other major and minor features we’ve released to give you the best application performance management for your Drupal application!

Audit Log
We’ve added support for audit logging. The audit log contains all the data that New Relic sends up to our servers. This gives Sys Admins and Security Admins a view of the data being sent to New Relic. That’s one more feature that gives you additional confidence in your web application security.

Error Types
The PHP agent now captures the error types for any errors that occur. This allows you to selectively include or exclude certain error messages. This is especially good news when you work with frameworks that can be overly chatty with some warning errors.

CPU Burn
Have you always wanted to know how much time was used for a particular transaction trace? Now you can! We’ve added the additional information for transaction traces to report the CPU burn that occurred to satisfy that transaction. You can now investigate those CPU-intensive transactions, which will save both time and money.

CPU Burn

Show Full URL in External Transaction Traces
For all your external services calls, New Relic will now show you the full URL instead of displaying only the domain. You can also choose to configure New Relic so that the trace includes the URL parameters.

Full URL

Key Transactions
The biggest feature we released recently in PHP land is support for Key Transactions. This feature allows you to identify those important business transactions you want to monitor and manage – regardless of the overall application throughput. With just a couple of clicks, you can track the most important transactions in your business. Now you can make sure they perform well compared to their historical norms.

Key Transactions works well with related features such as Alerting, SLA reports, and App Map to give you more ways of staying informed about your business-critical transactions. To learn more about Key Transactions, please read about the feature launch and the follow up post, which includes a video.

Key Transactions

Coming Up
In our next post, we’ll give a tour of the latest and greatest improvements in our performance monitoring support for Drupal users. Stay tuned for more information on the New Relic presence at the conference – where you can talk to our PHP team and learn even more!

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Interested in writing for New Relic Blog? Send us a pitch!


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Basic Principles at Holland Center, Lodgepole

By October 20, 2017 16 Comments

You think I’m exaggerating when I say that from up there on the hill, you can watch your dog run away for three days, but Holland Center Christian Reformed Church, Lodgepole, SD, is so far off the beaten path, it makes Alton, Iowa, my home, feel congested.

Nothing but endless rolling grasslands all around. Perkins County is not just “big” country, it’s gargantuan. When I pulled up to the church Sunday morning, I couldn’t help wondering how often Holland Center gets a visitor in a place where there are probably more pronghorns than people.

The CRC’s “find a church” list claimed Holland Center is five miles south of Lodgepole, then three miles west. That’s where I found it. You pass just one ranch on those three miles of gravel over nothing but big-shouldered range land so barren cattle have to wander for forage. It’s the deep freeze come January; scorching heat like you wouldn’t believe in July.

Only buffalo are suited for such a nasty climate, and you don’t have to go far to find the place where a state historical marker claims the Last Great Buffalo Hunt went down in 1882.

I wanted to go to church at Holland Center. Call me crazy. I was out in the far reaches of South Dakota anyway last week, so I got myself into the closest motel I could find, twenty miles away. I’d been driving all day, so I walked into a steak house/bar on a downtown street, a place jammed full of cowboys, so full I never got farther than the front door. I asked the woman at the motel desk about other places to eat. Only two, she said. The other one has a Thai cook, she told me, so they serve Thai food.

Two huge men, my age, walked in the place after I ordered, obviously first-timers too. We were the only three customers in the place. Straight out of Hee-Haw they were, bib overalls big as army tents, seed caps on both their noggins, both slightly hard of hearing which made it clear they had no clue what to order from an odd menu. Neither did I. One of them said he’d been in Vietnam forty years ago, but he didn’t know what to make of it either. “This is foreign food,” one of ’em  said, shocked. When the owner walked in, an Asian woman, they were chuckling to themselves about only wanting hamburgers. “You a foreigner?” one of them asked. I’m not making this up.

I got up early on Sunday–the denominational listing claimed services start at eight (you read that right). Holland Center isn’t exactly  seeker-friendly. I got there a touch early anyway, walked in past an entire family of greeters–five or six kids, grandpas and grandmas all in a line. Hearty smiles on handsome people who looked trim and scoured by the unforgiving country they call home.

I didn’t expect people to get out of pews when I walked in, but they did, stepped right out to greet me. It was precious really. Pastor shook my hand warmly. They share him with a Methodist church down the road; hence, the meeting time: “he’s got to get back to Prairie City.”

People told me he does far more than meet their expectations. “I call him a ‘Reformed Wesleyan,'” an old man told me, grinning. He introduced himself by name, then told me that his grandad, more than a century ago, had moved out to Perkins County from Grand Rapids when his wife came down with asthma. He’d been furniture maker. They stopped near Lodgepole, which, likely as not, was actually a town back then.

They started a church up out in the country, he told me, when they heard about a bunch of Dutch people (Dutch as in,”from the Netherlands”) who had some land just west a ways. So they put the church in the middle and called it Holland Center. Made some sense, I guess.

I liked the “reformed Wesleyan” preacher, quite frankly. He tried his best to get out some baseline principles about being a believer, took scripture that morning from the very beginning, book of Genesis, because he wanted to establish some foundations in a manner that he gambled was a bit airy and even a little professorial. He apologized for not hitting a scripture in his usual fashion. He wanted to establish what was absolutely basic about the Christian faith.

He held forth from a clump of hand-written notes, but hated standing behind the pulpit so much he’d come out in front time after time after time to explain a point more vividly. It was hard not like a preacher that earnest.

But that Sunday morning, the real sermon was right in front of me, where an old man who’d gone out of his way to greet me sat in pew with his wife. He’d not introduced me to her earlier, made no mention of her, even though I stood right there beside him–and them. He didn’t regard her at all, a gender attitude I determined was less chauvinistic than simply cultural.

But once the pastor started defining basic principles, that old rancher laid his arm around his wife, held her shoulder, stroked her back, let her know he was there, almost as if they were kids again, spooning in that tempered moment in all of our lives when, try as we might, we can’t go a minute without touching the person we love. A couple times, with his hand, he smoothed her hair in the back, and when he did I realized I’d never seen an old man do that before, not in church, not in public. It was moving, beautiful.

When the worship was over, he looked for me again as he helped his wife into the wheelchair he’d left in the aisle beside them, a wheelchair I hadn’t noticed. “The wife’s got Parkinsons,” he told me, smiling at her, at his love, as if they were newlyweds.

There are two hymnals in the rack at Holland Center CRC, one of them, for the record, is the blue Psalter Hymnal in plastic covers that will keep them from harm for a ton of years yet. Music?–traditional. And get this: a male organist!–amazing.

And the singing?–nothing to write home about, dominated, oddly enough, by men’s voices. Somehow–maybe it was because last week was the week of Harvey Weinstein–somehow I found that beautiful too.

Way out there in the country, where once upon a time the buffalo roamed and proghorns stayed alive in grueling winters by following those endless herds through snow that could well have killed them had the bison not stamped it down, way out there twenty miles from Tip Top Motel and Suzy’s Thai menu, last Sunday morning, I worshiped the Lord in an old white frame church on a hill in the middle of nowhere, and was blessed by a sermon on some basic Christian principles.

What a joy.

James Calvin Schaap, a professor of English at Dordt College and president of the Chrysostom Society, is the award-winning author of twenty-two books. He lives in Sioux Center, Iowa.

  • Daniel Meeter says:

    Boy oh boy, I would have loved to be with you for this. I think you saw God’s face.

  • mstair says:

    amen, Jim! … love reading your descriptions … !

  • Duane VB says:

    Thanks for sharing your story. A beautiful story really…..

  • Delightful, Jim. Thanks for your “report”.

  • Tom says:

    Thank you for this beautiful story, this is the stuff that really matters. Thank you, too, for not mentioning Trump, the NRA, etc., etc., etc. This is infinitely more powerful and meaningful and filled with truth than some of the other “screeds” I read on this journal and we need to hear more stories like this.

  • Harvey Kiekover says:

    Vintage Jim! Thank you for showing us a remote place brought stunningly close to us readers. Basic principles indeed: they brought you back to them and you brought us with you! Thanks.

  • Lynn Setsma says:

    Jim, this is great! I’ve been in that church but just on a tour by dear friends who live in the heart of Lodgepole. And, yes you can watch your dog for three days. Beautiful country. Hope you had a chance to visit the General Store in Lodgepole. There is another great experience.

  • Diana Walker says:

    Your words have wings that take me to places like Holland Center. And Suzy’s. And into witnessing a long time love. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  • Al Mulder says:

    I just love watching that dog run away.

  • John Wesselius says:

    We stopped there on a family vacation. Back in the late 1990’s early 2000’s, I had spent several years visiting every school district in the Dakota’s and wanted to spend a vacation without driving interstate highway’s. Sioux Center to Platte to Pierre to Lodgepole ( because there were 3 letters to the editor of the Banner from Lodgepole SD. in one year ) to Teddy Roosevelt North Unit and into western Canada. Camped at Shade Hill SD looking for Hugh Glass monument. Thanks for reviving the memories. ( that was a 6,000 mile road trip with elementary school age girls in a van with no air conditioning. On the way back following the east side of the Missouri from Bismarck south it was 105 and we stopped to swim in a road side lake near Pollock SD.

  • Lynn Japinga says:

    Beautiful essay, Jim. You capture the grace and foibles of humanity so elegantly and respectfully.

  • Cory Van Sloten says:

    Haven’t been there but would love to go sometime as some of my wife’s ancestors are buried there. Makes Lebanon Christian Reformed Church of rural Sioux Center where I serve seem congested too! What were those crazy Dutch folks thinking when they homesteaded there? Thanks for sharing your experience!

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Shareef named interim CEO at Cellution

Dara Shareef, director of strategic investments for First Columbia, a Latham real estate development company, will become interim CEO for a Rochester company called Cellution Inc.

Dara Shareef

Dara Shareef

First Columbia has an ownership stake in Cellution, which makes software that allows businesses to monitor and manage their cell phone usage.

Cellution is also establishing a local office at First Columbia, and Shareef, who will spend three to four days a month in Rochester, is already looking to hire a sales person for the Latham office.

Shareef is also looking for a permanent CEO who will take over the helm for founder Chuck Serapilio, who now serves as president of global business development.

Cellution was founded in 2001 as Total Wireless Now. The company has customers in the United States and abroad, including a Fortune 500 bank and a European construction materials firm.

Shareef says he hopes to have a new CEO in place by next year.

Larry Rulison

Comments are closed.


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Posts filtered on Category

Category: Goblet Of Fire

The Mysterious Mr. Ollivander

What do we really know about wizard Mr. Ollivander? He is an old man described as having “eerie, moon-like eyes”. Mr. Ollivander remembers every wand he has ever sold. His only uses three cores for

Will Ron live or die in Deathly Hallows?

I have always wondered what will happen to Ron Weasley at the end of the series. It seems as if there are clues that predict his fate throughout the books. I pray that Ron’s off handed comment about

Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?

As I wait with baited breath for Order of the Phoenix, I have begrudgingly accepted the fact that the movies will stray from canon in the Harry Potter series. I am not thrilled with this, but I have

Dolores Umbridge: Sinister Civil Servant or Diabolical Death Eater?

In the world of Harry Potter fandom, there is no greater insult than to refer to someone as an “Umbridge.” (I have had the unfortunate opportunity to cross paths with one such headmistress myself). We

The symbol on the spine: Never tickle a sleeping dragon?

As I hop from fan site to fan site I have seen many theories on the meaning of the symbol on the spine of the Deathly Hallows Bloomsbury children’s edition.  I have seen theories that range

Where are the horcruxes?

I have theorized as to what the horcruxes might be, so I thought it would be interesting to talk about where Harry might find them.  One theory I have is that Harry will find a horcrux in Albania. We

Gary Oldman’s birthday today. Time for random thoughts about what’s “beyond the veil.”

Since Gary Oldman, the actor who plays Sirius Black, turns 49 today, I thought I would share my thoughts on everyone’s favorite maruauder. It’s no secret that Sirius is named after the dog star

By the way, here is a picture of my copy of Goblet of Fire

I posted earlier  about the survey which planted Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the number two spot in Briton’s most unfinished books. Well, I just thought I would share pictures of my copy of

They won’t believe what they are missing…

Have you ever picked up the Harry Potter books and thought. among other things, that you are going to get completely made fun of for reading them? As an adult fan of the Potter series, many of my

David Yates speaks on movie length

A  recent article has a blurb about David Yates and this summer’s Order of the Phoenix: “David Yates, director of this summer’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” said some of today’s big


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I have probably a couple thousand dollars worth of dating, relationship and style books on my desk and on the bookcase next to my desk. It seems, every week, another author comes out with another book on one of these topics.

I want to get rid of them — and fast — so I am going to move some OTE giveaways over to Twitter. Because I clearly lack creativity, I am calling them Twitterways.

I will do them sporadically, but usually during “typical” works hours.

Good luck.

Kristi Gustafson Barlette

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One Response

  1. julie says:

    Is this just going to be for the books or for all givaways?…I have yet to get on the twitter bandwagon and dont want to miss out on anything.

    thanks Kristi!


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Monthly Archive for October, 2013

: October, 2013

Talk Back: November 2103

Read below about how our contributors learned new things while working on this month’s edition of Life@Home. Holiday Spirits  Brianna Snyder: Not sure what booze you should have on-hand for a perfect

My Space: Brian Fruscio

Story and photo by Suzanne Kawola/Life@Home We all have favorite spots, places where we feel most comfortable or at home. Sometimes it’s a favorite chair or nook in a room; other times it’s outside

How to perfectly stock your liquor cabinet for the holidays (or whenever)

Holiday Spirits By Brianna Snyder/Life@Home   Love it or try to avoid it, alcohol is a staple of most holiday parties. Most people get caught up in the festivities — or the stress — of the

How to be a gracious host for holiday houseguests

Make yourself at home… By Melissa Fiorenza/Life@Home According to a 2012 survey, 36 percent of travelers said they enjoy staying with friends and family during the holidays, while the

Vineyard: Willamette Pinot

It can be too subtle — or just the right thing Story and photo by Alistair Highet/Life@Home I am ambivalent about Pinot Noir in general. I know, we are all supposed to gush over the wines made with

Table@Home: An ad hoc Thanksgiving

Family Style By Caroline Barrett/Life@Home The door is open, we say. Paul and I agree upon this Thanksgiving call to friends and relatives. Everyone is welcome, we tell them in phone calls and

Dish: At home with Elliot Cunniff

By Steve Barnes/Life@Home Rabbit has long been a staple of peasant cuisines, though in this country it most reliably appeared only on the menu at rustic Italian restaurants.

Kitchen Crumbs: Tasty Tidbits to brighten up your cooking

By Caroline Barrett/Life@Home “My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor.”  —comedian Phyllis Diller The First Thanksgiving We know the early settlers didn’t

Help Me…Choose a Pet

By Jennifer Gish/Life@Home Sure a spouse is nice to cuddle up next to at night, and there’s nothing like sloppy toddler kisses, but sometimes you just want to plop on the couch next to a creature that

Food Trends: Get the professionals to make boutique sausage for you

Linked In By John Adamian/Life@Home   Certain delicious rustic, elemental foods are too much trouble to make at home, even if our great-grandparents may have done it. Sausage is one such tasty


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Become a Citizen Arborist and Lead Your Community to Action

Photo: Vahagn Karapetyan

TreePeople’s Citizen Arborist program is designed to train and produce a trusted network of community members who help keep our trees healthy and thriving. Certified Citizen Arborists are expert volunteers who support their neighborhoods in caring for their local trees. They are on the front lines of growing a healthy urban forest and improving the environment of Los Angeles. Peter Diep, who was recognized with TreePeople’s Volunteer of the Year award, led his first street tree care event right after earning his official Citizen Arborist status in the fall of 2012.… Read more >>

Vote for an Empowered Future

From our beginnings, TreePeople has been about a different paradigm. Instead of bemoaning the state of the environment, we inspire, engage, and support people to take personal responsibility to heal the ecosystem. So it’s encouraging  to see that 267 projects have come forward with ideas to fix LA in response to what is perhaps the city’s largest crowd-sourced philanthropic endeavor ever:  the Goldhirsh Foundation’s My LA2050 Challenge

Recognizing that LA has real challenges, and real potential to meet these, My LA2050 will award ten winning projects with $100,000 each.… Read more >>


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The Blog and the Bullet

An Aggregator On The Best Blogs Concerning Racial Issues, White Supremacy, and Other Radical Musings

Views: Feminism, Appropriation, and Racism

Posted by Jack Stephens on April 14, 2008

Some more views across the blogoshpere on the recent controversy surrounding Marcotte and BFP. However, it is not just about one incident but a whole history of appropriating ideas from people of color in order to benefit those white “intellectuals” and “activists. As “Sudy” says, the “demand for writers/bloggers to “stop stealing” far exceeds the events (disasters) of this week or just BFP herself…I’m not talking about one singular instance that set me off into a knee-jerk reactionary post, I’m speaking about a maddening phenomenon of disregarding BODIES of work.”

High on Rebellion:

Anyone who reads BFP regularly knows that she has done a lot of writing on immigration and particularly the racism and sexism faced by immigrant women in the US during the current climate of hysteria.

And now, she is understandably upset that Amanda Marcotte from Pandagon has published an article that happens to make all the same points BFP has made time and again and her blog – and yet, at no point has BFP been linked.

Sylvia dissects Marcotte’s post on Alternet bit by bit, pointing out each phrase that Marcotte appropriated from women of color and men of color:

THAT’S the sinister nature of appropriation. And in this instance, by not linking to anyone that inspired her viewpoint — forget BFP, even — Amanda tapped into this narrative that has been tapped into by countless folks online and offline. And each leaking into this scheme hurts and makes the victims of invisibility less than charitable once someone white sees us and says, “Hey, what’s wrong? Please write us a book report with cross checks and proper cites, perfect spelling and grammar, and completely objective — that means don’t interpose your oversensitivity into it — yes, please write us a great screed telling us everything very clearly about what’s wrong. One ‘t’ uncrossed, and you lose your argument. And please, make sure you note everyone involved; if you fail to do so, that’s intellectually dishonest and we’ll refuse to engage with you!”

She also wrote:

I can’t keep doing this to my stomach and my health, my consciousness and my emotions, my work and life. And since the woman I did it for has asked for it to stop, I will honor that.

“Sudy” at A Womyn’s Ecdysis:

BFP was certainly part of my thought process, but this demand for writers/bloggers to “stop stealing” far exceeds the events (disasters) of this week or just BFP herself. This post vomited on the years of hearing echos in the blogosphere with no visible credit or citation to others’ contributions. My links are specific, but my point is wider. I’m not talking about one singular instance that set me off into a knee-jerk reactionary post, I’m speaking about a maddening phenomenon of disregarding BODIES of work . And I’m tired of something that is so deeply problematic being casually normalized by writers and readers of feminism.

Fetch Me My Axe:

Look. It’s not that difficult a concept. A woman who’s under the radar, relative to you, posts important news stories that are, in turn, under the radar. Both her under-the-radarness and the stories’ have to do with, surprise, marginalization in ways that go beyond simple sexism: y’know, racism AND sexism, for instance. She works hard at building community and getting the word out about important stories. You, on the other hand, are primarily concerned with self-aggrandizement.

For a year or two or more, you steadfastly ignore her, on the whole. Certainly you don’t bother to link to the stories she’s covering; that would be too much like giving someone else credit. No. You wait. Maybe you’re even at the same conference as this other woman, not so long ago, wherein she speaks on these same issues. And then, you post the stories and the POV the woman has been eloquently -trying- to get you to listen to for all this time…without a hint that you know who this person is. Kudos rain in. For you. Applause, applause, there’s nothing like applause.

Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of my Black Sisters:

But, as so often happens in the blogosphere, the voices of WOC are suppressed, silenced and downright ignored. Appropriation is the rule of the day, the law of the land, where WOC are concerned. We have been resisting oppression in this world for centuries, for generations, and no one wants to hear our voices. Very few want to give us credit for calling attention to the myriad injustices that exist in this world. As so often happens, when WOC give voice to the many isms that affect women the world over, we are simply derided, castigated, tagged-tarred-and-feathered as “angry”, “bitter”, “mean”, “bossy”, or the worse of all epithets—”hard to get along with”.

Team Rainbow:

In the months that Team Rainbow has been online, I have never once felt the need to get involved in any inter-blogular conflict. However, “X”‘s co-opting of BFP’s once powerful message is a matter that goes beyond interpersonal/interblog politics. It is a powerful symbol of a larger problem, which is the silencing of WOC writers, activists, and leaders by the more privileged sectors of the feminist movement. I can’t hold a candle to BFP’s brilliance, her breadth and depth and relevance of knowledge regarding WOC issues. So today I will write about my own people, my own heritage, and where we went wrong.

XicanoPwr writes:

I have read many blogs, but there is something about Brownfemipower. I have never met Brownfemipower personally, nor have I talked to her personally. But her words were powerful to inspire me to think in new ways, especially when it came to women issue. She has not only opened my eyes, but has challenged me.

En lucha mi amiga!

Rebbecca of Burning Words:

It’s a bit of an understatement that [X] doesn’t exactly have the best record on race issues. The sort of feminist issues that you’ll see covered at Brownfemipower’s essentially never see the light of day at Pandagon, and she’s been called out more than a few times over the years for dismissing and silencing women of colour when they’ve called her out about offensive comments that she’s made.

The SmackDog Chronicles:

And what does it say for AlterNet, which has never seen fit to allow more radical activists of color to impugne their pages, but frequently allows established A-list liberal feminist bloggers like Amanda Marcotte (and antiporn “leftists” like Bob Jensen and Gail Dines, too, BTW) to claim to represent the entire “progressive” diaspora unopposed and unburdened by actual debate and discussion???

Think Girl:

White feminists (and I am one myself), leave behind your notions of what feminism entails. We need to stop centering feminist work on such things as pop culture analysis, white women’s body images, and abortion. I’m not saying we should never talk about such things, but that feminism must work in step with so many many more movements: anti-racism, anti-classism, environmental issues, immigrant rights, anti-U.S. imperialism, LGBTQI rights, disability rights, anti-prison industrial complex, and so much more than I could quickly list here. Just as importantly, when we link with these movements, we must be careful to give credit when credit is due. We must expand our views to build coalitions, not for any less noble reason, such as to diversify our work. Please, join in this transformation; it is long overdue.

I end with Jessica Hoffmann saying:

you are bigger and more beautiful and insightful and important and revelatory and warm and liberating and transcending than i can even begin to express in words.

wish i could give you a hug and cook a hot, colorful dinner for you.

i’m cooking for some local make/shift folks tomorrow night, and you’d better know there will be many a toast in your honor.

[Many o’ Hat Tips: High on Rebellion, ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!]

2 Responses to “Views: Feminism, Appropriation, and Racism”

  1. littlem said

    Hi, Jack. Thank you for posting this aggregate and providing a space to air views on this matter.

    I posted this on Amp’s blog, and in the spirit of actually taking action to create change, as opposed to repeating yet another refrain of the Progressive “We Need To … In the Future We Must …” Rhetorical Chorus and letting the actual issue at hand fade into the distance, I thought I’d repeat it here:

    Well, I think the point has been made that people are noticing the phenomenon.

    So let’s make it stop.

    And that means that mainstream white feminist authors who
    agree that this is a problem, and who have acknowledged that (there’s that word again!), make — and continue to make until the problem is rectifiedpublic statements demanding that the prominent white feminist author who has committed the most recent instance of this repetitive and historical phenomenon acknowledge and credit her sources.

    (By the way, I’m repeating myself on this point because so far the above has not happened.

    And I don’t think I have to harp on the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from lack of activity by the alleged supporters of “Doing the Right Thing” — if they fail to challenge an author who, as long as the sources in the article in question remain unacknowledged and uncredited, continues to refuse to “Do the Right Thing”. We’re all smart people here.)

    Thank you again, Jack, for taking the time to compile all that material and post something on the subject. Because clearly it needs to be reiterated.

    (And you know, I’m just musing here … as a lecturer and writer myself, if it were me (and G*d knows I know — and thank the Deity — it is not), and my article, and several communities outside of my own accused me of cultural appropriation … and there was more than one person of some prominence — with a reputation at least arguably equal to mine (like, say, someone working for a known and visible Legal Defense Fund) — whose ideas I’d been even arguably discussing without giving them credit — even if it looked a little teeny weeny bit like that (there’s this standard in some professions that’s known as the “appearance of impropriety”, you see) — I’d certainly want to revise that article and credit them before they got wind of it and/or even thought about questioning me — or my book publisher, or my agent, or the other publications for which I write — directly.

    Because — even if the only thing I was concerned about was my own personal career and reputation, and I didn’t give a d*mn about anything else related to the matter — *cough cough* — that???

    Could be really embarrassing.)

  2. […] This link to the Blog and the Bullet on appropriation and racism. […]

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text:
Fight For Your Right To Reunite

As per usual I was late to the party regarding ITV’s The Big Reunion.

The show has proved a hit with nostalgic critics and fans hurtling towards the big 30 or over.

In a nutshell washed up 90’s bands Liberty X, 5ive, the Honeyz, Atomic Kitten and B*Witched are all reforming for another shot at the big time at the Big Reunion gig.

The shows producers have really tapped into something with their worts and all approach, showing the fallout of the pop star lifestyle of the decade dubbed ‘The Noughties’.

A member of 911 became an agrophobic (you know like Sheila from Shameless), one of 5ive had  a breakdown along with one of the twins from B*Witched, and of course we had Kerry Katona.

I suppose it goes to show excess doesn’t always come into play when you’re a rock star.

We’re also given a fascinating insight into the cut throat music business.

When you’re hot you’re scorching, but when the flames are doused the ashes are tossed away like a bag of rubbish.

The nostalgia factor has struck a chord with me, as I was a teenager in high school when these bands were all topping the charts regularly.

Whereas for so long the 80’s was seen as the retro guilty pleasure decade, it seems the90’s is now starting to get a similiar reputation The reunions of the Spice Girls for the Olympics and Steps certainly was the precursor for this show, and guaranteed many more will come out of the woodwork within the next few years.

Expect pop bands such as All Saints, Another Level, Eternal and maybe The Corrs (fingers crossed on that one) to take a bite of the cherry sooner rather than later.

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