text:
Falling, Part 3

A four part story of queer angels, old gods, syncretism, identity and social media tribalism. Mythic sci-fi?

Lions from Ishtar Gate, Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Photo Josep Renelias, CC BY-SA 3.0 License

(Read Part 1 and Part 2 by clicking on these links.)

Enki is one of his oldest forms, and unlike the others. Magic, yes, trickster, yes, but not a messenger. And a god of the sea. It’s an elemental change, as well as a cultural and temporal one, and it takes some effort.

Michael can’t help him with this one. Ishtar was the Mesopotamian war god, along with so many other things. Too many things to easily fit in the Almighty’s order. The meagre position He’d offered her could never have satisfied the Queen of Heaven. And besides, virginity was anathema to her. So she’d gone underground and retained her independence, such as it was. The Almighty had turned a blind eye as long as she kept a low profile.

Enki begins to see, with a new flexibility, what they might achieve together. Michael doesn’t see it. He sees Ishtar’s power as a tool to help them hold the Host together and keep Lucifer at bay. Enki sees the possibility of a new epoch.

He takes a train to Berlin and goes straight to the Pergamon Museum, where her gate is kept. It is glorious still, tiled in blue and gold and decorated with the sacred animals of Ishtar, Marduk and Adad. He stands beneath the towering archway and hopes she won’t be annoyed that he calls her away from her home. He’s technically senior to her, but she never was one to bend the knee. Like someone else he knows. No wonder she’d never come to a compromise with Lucifer.

He whispers her name up into the archway. Whispers her many titles, too, to flatter her. Around him, tourists mill, ignoring him as he wishes them to. He feels powerful, stronger than he has in centuries. The feeling fills him with joy. Why did he relinquish this so easily?

She appears in a haze to begin with, through a subtle rip in the fabric of reality, but soon she stands solid before him, in a blaze of indigo and gold. Her eight-pointed star hangs at her neck, her lion is tattooed on her shoulder, and she’s adorned with lapis. As dangerously beautiful as she’s always been.

She takes an audible breath when she sees him and steps around him, as if to check he’s real.

“Ishtar,” he says.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again.” It’s been so long and yet, standing beside her, he instantly feels a connection as deep as blood.

“There’s an empty throne in Heaven,” he explains.

She smiles. Her eyes sparkle like the stars in an inky sky. “Well, then. You know what my price is.”

Ishtar drags him to a bar she likes in Berlin. He tries to explain his vision — a new epoch, free of this new tribalism that’s so like the old tribalism. He recalls the optimism in the early days of the digital age. All that potential. But he suspects she’s only half listening as she makes a concerted effort to get him drunk. Drinking with him has amused her ever since she’d tricked him and taken the mes, the original templates for human skills and understanding. He’s never resented her for it. It’s her nature to do such things. And he’s always been fond of her. She’s a difficult person not to admire.

“You want peace and love and bunnies?” she teases, matching him beer for beer and slowly drinking him under the table. “You’re going soft in your old age.”

“Compassion,” he says. “Real communication. They’re trapped in these isolated little bubbles, so damned lonely yet tearing each other apart. Nobody listens. They only scream at each other.”

She nods. “I see that. There’s connection there too, though, a way for people to find community. I know the anger can take over. But for some of them, Enki, it’s because they’ve been abused, marginalised. It’s no fun when you’re forced to live on the outside. You have to play by your own rules, find ways to circumvent a power that seems so overwhelming. And it’s been a long time.” She shakes her head and drains her drink.

He knows she’s talking about herself, as well. He flushes and looks at his drink. He should have fought for her, for all of them, but he didn’t. He capitulated and lost himself.

“I want to rewrite it,” he says. “Make it work for us. A new age.”

“Who is us?” She raises her eyebrows and fixes him with a look. “Your precious Michael? Will he really serve as my general? I find that hard to believe.”

“If he says he will, he will. He’s never been a king or wished to sit on a throne. Better that someone does. I think he needs that as much as any of us. I know there are details we need to work out. I can call him, if you like.”

“Not yet. You and I can deal. Him, I’m not so sure about. I have a cell near here that can help. But it’s femme only. You’ll have to shift, first. I hear that some of your forms do that.”

He swallows and nods. He’s always lived around the edges, carrying messages, acting as a negotiator and go-between, bartering in forbidden knowledge. He knows how to change his shape, how to collapse the binaries that seem so rigid to others, rewriting the rules and bending the stuff of creation. But Loki was always best at shifting. He’d been many things — whatever it took to get the job done. Loki, the herald of Ragnarok and its mastermind. As he searches out the familiar old form within him, the form that Lucifer so desperately wanted to talk to, he can feel the end coming. He welcomes it like an old friend.

Read the Part 4 here.


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Cherry Almond Coconut Macaroon Cookies: My Future Son-in-Law’s Favorite

February 17, 2012

I made points with my future son-in-law when he was visiting recently.  He and my daughter were over for dinner and I had an array of desserts – pies, cakes and these macaroons.  Somehow he had missed them on his first trip through the buffet line but found them just as they were leaving. He tried one and the look on his face was pure ecstasy. Really.  I said to him that I was pleased that he liked them so much and asked him what was so special about them that they evoked the reaction they did from him.  His response? “Coconut and cherries – what more can you ask for?” That darlin’ boy got to take the rest home.

Cherry Almond Coconut Macaroons
Makes 2 dozen

1             14 ounce bag of sweetened flaked coconut

½          cup sugar

¼          cup all-purpose flour

¼          tsp. salt

4           egg whites

¼          tsp. almond extract

½          cup finely chopped maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 325°.

Line a baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper (not wax paper).

In a food processor pulse the coconut a few seconds so that the coconut shreds are chopped into smaller pieces.  Do not over process.

In a large bowl, combine processed coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well combined.

Add egg whites and almond extract and beat until well blended.  Stir in cherries.

Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.

Remove from oven and let cool on pans for 2 minutes.

Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Store in an airtight containers.

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Feature Friday is when I deep dive into the inspiration behind one of my pieces. Most of my pieces are based on a life lesson I have learned, or something I have observed around human behaviour (an area I have always found fascinating!). The colours, textures, and style are all deliberate and symbolic to tell a story that captures what inspires me. With all that being said, what I love most about contemporary/abstract art is that what you see is open to interpretation. Red can mean passion to one, and anger to another.

This piece, is titled “Reveal”

Behind the deep blues and risen yellow are layers and layers of blended lines.These layers represent our various paths. The ones we have taken, contemplated, and withdrawn from. The contrast of each of the lines, begin to blend together with each layer added. Somehow, over time, in our lives we go from being kids with big dreams, to influenced teenagers and then pressured adults.  The clear, simple paths of wanting to follow our dreams, our passions quickly turn into the practical, rational, and predictable lives most of us lead. When you look closely at the painting, you can see the lines are faintly there, because our dreams and desires never leave us. We are reminded of them when we travel, read or meet new people.

To me, blue has always represented stability, a colour we trust (the sky is always blue) and I have always, quite simply, associated yellow with happiness (think smiley faces!). The yellow triangle is slightly risen from the painting. Each side, representing ones needs, wants and drive. I believe that when one truly recognises, and owns what it is they need (from themselves, and those around them), what they truly want out of life, and find the spark (or inspiration) to drive them to achieve it all, it is then, that they reveal themselves.

What do you think of this piece?

Interested in purchasing this piece? Check it out on my Etsy Shop or contact me for more info.

  1. It’s always interesting to hear an artists story behind their work. So often we have our own interpretations of what we see. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to follow your blog and see what you post next!

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What an 8 Team Playoff Would Look Like This Season.

Submitted by M-Dog on December 2nd, 2018 at 6:22 PM

The current 4 team playoff this year leaves out two of the five P5 conferences (and also the top G5 team).

Based on the committee’s discussions about Georgia, it almost left out three of the five P5 conferences.

This is the third year in a row that the Big Ten champion has not gotten in (although Ohio State did get in as a non-champion).  The Pac 12 is also left out again.  It has been left out three of the five years of the CFP’s existence.

This is not a sustainable situation.

Keep in mind that the CFP is an artificial construct, created by an agreement among the P5 conferences.  If it keeps leaving out 40% to 60% of those conferences, it will not survive.

It needs to be expanded beyond 4 teams.

An 8 team playoff is the sweet spot.  It allows the five P5 conference champions to all get in, the top G5 team for “fairness” / anti-trust reasons to get in, and two worthy at-large’s to get in.

Based on this year’s conference champions and the committee’s rankings, the 8 teams would be:

- ACC champ:  Clemson  (#2 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- Big Ten champ:  Ohio State  (#6 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- Big 12 champ:  Oklahoma  (#4 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- Pac 12 champ:  Washington  (#8 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- SEC champ:  Alabama  (#1 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- G5 “champ”:  UCF  (#7 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- At Large #1:  Notre Dame  (#3 seed, based on CFP rankings)

- At Large #2:  Georgia  (#5 seed, based on CFP rankings)

Based on the CFP rankings, the first round of games would be:

#1 Alabama (SEC champ) vs. #8 Washington (Pac 12 champ)

#2 Clemson (ACC champ) vs. #7 UCF (G5 "champ”)

#3 Notre Dame (At Large #1) vs. #6 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)

#4 Oklahoma (Big 12 champ) vs. #5 Georgia (At Large #2)

Those are some compelling matchups that include all five P5 conferences, the top G5 team, and two worthy at large’s.

A twist on Seedings:  If it was up to me however, I would only seed the top 4 ranked teams – #1 through #4.  The bottom 4 ranked teams – #5 through #8 would be seeded randomly via a lottery draw.

So, #1 would still play #8, #2 would still play #7, etc., but which teams are #5 through #8 are would be determined randomly from the bottom 4 ranked teams.

This keeps the G5 team from always being the sacrificial lamb having to play the #1 or #2-seed every single year.  It also adds some actual drama and excitement to “Selection Sunday” where the seeding lottery draw could be done real-time, ala the NBA lottery.

This year, the top 4 teams would be #1 ranked Alabama, #2 ranked Clemson, #3 ranked Notre Dame, #4 ranked Oklahoma.

The bottom 4 ranked teams would be Georgia, Ohio State, UCF, Washington.  These 4 teams would randomly draw for seeds #5 through #8.  Any one of them could get matched up with #1 Alabama.  Any one of them could be matched up with #4 Oklahoma, etc.  It would be up to the draw.  This would help keep the first round from getting too stale with possible mismatches.

Should all P5 champions get in, even if they have multiple losses?  I would say yes.  If you win a P5 conference championship in December, you have something on the ball, even if you got off to a slow start.  If Northwestern had beaten Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game, then they would be a team that has gotten it together by the end of the season.  They are not just an “8 and 4” team.  They are ready to compete in a playoff environment.

Why 8 is much better than 6:  The problem with 6 is that it has most of the logistics issues that 8 has, but without the benefits.

The main benefit of 8 over 6 is that it helps preserve the integrity of the regular season . . . the very DNA of college football.

The two at-large’s in an 8 team playoff retain the incentive to schedule quality OOC opponents, for the same reason that incentive exists today with a 4 team CFP.

Even if you are Alabama, you cannot assume that you will automatically win your conference and get a P5 auto-bid.   You will want to be in a position where you can get in via the at large route, competing with a group of other at large candidates.   With 2 at large's, you know you won’t have a shot of getting in if you schedule like Washington State does.

As far as 6 goes, it is better than 4, but it still has two big problems:

If 6 includes all five P5 conferences plus a G5 team, then it becomes just a pure auto-bid system.  There are no at large’s.  There is no incentive to schedule quality OOC games, just win your conference.  OOC games become exhibitions.

If 6 is instead “top 6”, or “top 5 plus top G5” (i.e. no auto-bids), it will still regularly leave out conferences and worthy at large’s in favor of conferences like the SEC which will frequently get multiple teams in.

If you are going to expand, an 8 team playoff is the way to go.

As shown for this season, it allows the five P5 conference champions to all get in, the top G5 team to get in, and two very worthy at-large’s to get in.  It also solves both the “Notre Dame problem" and the perennial “second SEC team problem” without screwing the rest of college football.

December 2nd, 2018 at 6:34 PM ^

You don't need 8 teams.

You have 5 major conferences. You have the group of 5.

There it is. 6 teams. Conference champs go, best group of 5 team goes. Let the conferences sort out how they want to decide their champion. Makes the regular season matter all year long.

If Notre Dame doesn't want to join a conference, they can go fuck themselves.

December 2nd, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^

I agree. Why not say any conference champions with two losses or less, qualify for the playoffs. If a four loss team wins the conference championship, open up that spot to an at large team.  If I recall, an 8-8 team was in the Super Bowl a few years ago (Arizona Cardinals?). Once something like that happens, the relevance of the regular season is greatly diminished, ie college basketball.

December 3rd, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^

I like this, but would add one more qualification: the conference champion must have had at least one non-conference game be against a major conference team (maybe counting Notre Dame as an ACC team for this purpose).  Teams that play only cupcakes for non-conference games should not be rewarded.

December 2nd, 2018 at 10:15 PM ^

Do you like the Tourney in college basketball?

This proposal makes college football much more fun and makes the conference season extremely meaningful.

Win and you’re in. Right now is just not optimal as deserving teams are left out. Yes, there will always be teams left out but at eight you’re definitely getting a legit champion as everyone is represented and gets a chance. Also, eight is still an absurdly low percentage for teams that make up college football.

Sign me up for this idea.

snarling wolverine

December 3rd, 2018 at 6:39 AM ^

You do realize that under the model described above, Michigan basketball wouldn't have made the NCAA tournament last year, since we didn't win our conference and weren't one of the top two at-larges?

In fact, we wouldn’t have made the tournament in 2013 either.

Northwestern went 0-3 out of conference this year.  This model makes non-conference games completely irrelevant.  Only the conference season matters, which then favors teams in garbage divisions like the B1G West.

December 3rd, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^

If the goal of playoff expansion is to enfranchise all Power 5 schools with a seat at the playoff table then the possibility of an unworthy team sliding in via upset is a possibility that has be accepted.  Otherwise, it's just back to the beauty contest system we have now where polls overvalue the SEC and everyone else is out in the cold.

December 5th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^

I think this actually incentivizes conferences to reexamine how they pick a champion. For as much as I hate the Big XII, they have 1 vs. 2 and would have been happy with either winning the conference. As long as you have unbalanced divisions (see SEC East before Georgia resurgence) you always have the possibility of a statistically inferior team winning a 1-off conference championship game. That's on the league structure and no team should be penalized because they followed the rules and won. Maybe the B1G needs to look at realigning the divisions more frequently. Maybe they need to move to a round robin. Maybe they divide the conference into 2 divisions based on past performance and decide the champion out of the "better" division. The point is, when you don't play everyone, you make rules that can make you look dumb.

December 3rd, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^

Whether you have a 3-4 loss conference champ, or an undeafted conference champ, I think it should be rewarded to win a Power 5 conference chapionship. And that reward should be the playoffs, at a chance to measure your success. It also brings the adrenaline factor into playoffs......A team that is flying high after winning their conference championship, as an underdog can create a problem for for a team that has been the favorite all year in all their games. Brings excitement to what could end up being a boring "SEC tailgate party" postseason

December 3rd, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^

A team that is flying high after winning their conference championship, as an underdog can create a problem for for a team that has been the favorite all year in all their games. Brings excitement to what could end up being a boring "SEC tailgate party" postseason

Agreed.  It's hard to win a P5 conference.  When you do, you are a team that is playoff-ready at that point.  Regardless of what happened in September.

And with an 8 team playoff, you still have some at-large's available for compelling non-conference championship teams.

December 4th, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^

The way to think of this is through the lens of European club soccer.

Your conference is your league (English Premier League, Bundesliga, etc.) and the playoff is the Champions League.

The top leagues (England, Spain, etc.) get more bids into the Champions League. Lower level leagues (Belgium, Russia, etc.) get fewer bids. The P5 conferences are the Englands and Spains of of the world. The G5 conferences are the Belgiums and Russias.

In my mind, most leagues would do away with the conference championship game in this scenario because you would want teams playing as many of each other as possible to determine a real champion, similar to how the European leagues play each team twice, home and away. This way you don't have the possibility of Northwestern getting in at 9-4.

This scenario also ensures maximum SEC whining, so it can't be bad.

Kermits Blue Key

December 3rd, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^

I do not like the 6-team proposal. Having a first round bye would be an enormous benefit, and that piece would still need to be left to polls and committees - no thanks. 8 teams so that no team gets an unfair advantage due to archaic polls and biased opinions. 6 teams only works in the NFL because the rules are clear about how to earn those spots, and it's not subjective in any way.

Goldenrod Mandude

December 3rd, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^

The CFP is horse shit until you have at least 8 teams playing. It is currently the most archaic, bullshit  way to crown a champion in any sport at any level. Have LSU play Northwestern in November at Northwestern.  Have Georgia play MSU in November in Lansing. The NCAA and all the tit sucking conferences don’t have the balls to do the right thing. They’d rather take the money and put on all these horseshit conference title games in a dome or warm weather.

December 3rd, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^

Need to have a consistent formula and factor in conferences can have some ups and downs, or worse upset in championship game.  Power 5 + 3 at large.  Herbstreit would be happy and GA makes it, think he wanted that more than his alma mater where he was a captain!  Solves the PITA ND issue, which is no question this year.  Based on the final #'s, Washington moves up to #8 and Central Florida moves down.  Easy call for committee with QB being out.  Quarterfinals at higher seeded home field, then move to neutral for semi and championship game.  Bama v Washington.  Clemson v. Michigan (fun watching FR QB against Don Brown). ND v OSU. OU v GA.

December 3rd, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^

The goal is to find the sweet spot between auto-bid's and at-large's.

If the CFP is all conference champ auto-bids, then you will kill any incentive to schedule quality OOC games.  They will become meaningless exhibitions.

If the CFP is all at-larges, then you have the "SEC beauty contest" issue you have today, and too many conferences are shut out year after year.  At some point if you keep leaving out 40% to 60% of the conferences, they will feel disenfranchised and retaliate by shit-canning the whole system.

8 teams gets you to the sweet spot between auto-bid's and at-large's.  You can reward conference champions while still leaving room for worthy at-large's like Georgia this year.

It's a sustainable system that maximizes quality without involving just the same few teams every year.

rob f

December 3rd, 2018 at 5:48 PM ^

ND relegated to G5-level unless and until they become full members of a P5 conference.

Not only that, but if one or more G5 teams that ARE in a conference goes undefeated while ND loses one or more games, the highest-ranked undefeated G5 team is guaranteed a CFP slot over ND.  Otherwise the committee picks the best team for that particular at-large slot from among G5, ND, or a higher--ranked at-large P5 team.

Essentially, this means that for G5 teams including Notre Dame, there is NO guaranteed spot unless it is earned by the rules and if it isn't, then that slot goes to the best at-large team.

If ND doesn't like it, too f'n bad. Join a conference or suffer the potential consequences.

December 3rd, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^

6 is dog shit. Byes are massive, massive advantages in college football. Also, if there's only conference champs without at-larges you will certainly get a weird team that is definitely not the best team in the conference in there every once in a while (a Northwestern or a Pitt this year).

8 is the only good number. There's never more than 8 elite teams. You don't have byes. You can get all the power champs AND have 3 slots for the committee to correct for fluke conference champions.

December 3rd, 2018 at 9:01 PM ^

I've proposed this before!

8 geographically based conferences.

2 OOC games and 8 conference games.

4-team playoff for conference championship, and all teams who don't make the conference playoff get to schedule two more conference games against conference opponents they haven't yet played (one home, one away).

All conference winners make the 8-team national playoff. Other bowls carry on as before.

December 4th, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^

Cool. Do the first round after the last game of the season, then play the bowl games at the normal time. Problem solved.

By the way you agree with me as you stated below. The problem is that college football isn't going to move to 8 conferences. But we do have 5 major ones and the G5.

And if the conferences want to be represented by the best team, guess what? They'll get rid of the conference championship game once a terrible team flukes into a win and start playing as many conference regular season games as possible.

December 5th, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^

Makes the regular season matter all year long.

If Notre Dame doesn't want to join a conference, they can go fuck themselves.

I know there's a lot of ND hatred around here, but that's ridiculous. That's a non-starter. Can't force anyone to join (or stay in) a conference. ND means too much in terms of $$ and exposure for college football to exclude them.

December 2nd, 2018 at 6:37 PM ^

The only thing I don’t necessarily agree with with this is having a G5 autobid. There isn’t going to be a UCF every year that would deserve a spot.

December 3rd, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^

Frankly, the G5 autobid is a Realpolitik thing.

Not always appealing, but necessary I think.

It fends off anti-trust / political intervention in the system that is just around the corner.

The CFP is not just a P5 monopoly anymore if there is always a seat at the table for the G5.

An 8 team playoff (vs. 6 or 4) let's you do this without giving away too much.

December 4th, 2018 at 6:06 AM ^

#1 UCF's best win this year is over #42 Cincinnati.  If UCF truly just wants a chance at a national title while playing in the American Athletic Conference then they need to give themselves a chance with a very tough OOC schedule.  They should have played an OOC schedule that looked like this: LSU, Iowa, Oklahoma State, and Oregon.

Otherwise every big fish in a small pond should never schedule a decent team in their OOC schedule, because it is an easy ride in to the playoffs.

#2 If anyone should be getting sued it should be the students suing the midmajor schools for spending an amount equivalent of $1,000 per student in tuition on the sports program so they can pretend to be on the same level as the big boys.

Look at how many kids leave college with massive college debt with interest...It could be $5,000 less per kid at those midmajor schools if they were honest about their programs and dropped down a level.

December 4th, 2018 at 7:29 PM ^

You do realize they can't schedule unilaterally, right?  I'm sure UCF would have loved to play some big time P5 teams, but they need those teams to accept games against them.  Same problem Loyola this year, and Gonzaga for many years, had in basketball - good teams won't play them because the upside is very low.  It's easy to say "just schedule better teams" but it's a lot easier said than done.

December 3rd, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^

I agree. If we all think the G5 team is a top 8 team, then give them an at-large by ranking them in the top 7 or 8. However, the best G5 team will not always (in fact, more often than not) be one of the best 8 teams. They don't deserve it. The best system would have produced these teams and matchups this year:

1. Alabama vs. 8. Washington

2. Clemson vs. 7. Michigan

3. Notre Dame vs. 6. Ohio State

4. Oklahoma vs. 5. Georgia

December 2nd, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^

They should do this while eliminating divisions and conference championship games.  Reduce conferences to 10 teams so that you can play a round-robin and determine the conference champion that way. Tough luck for teams like Rutgers that would get booted from conferences that no one would take.

Red is Blue

December 3rd, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^

I agree with the idea of eliminating the extra conference championship game.  While reducing conferences to 10 teams would be the best outcome, the conferences aren't going to let someone dictate to them how many teams they're allowed to have.  So, it would be up to the conferences to decide how to select a champion without having a championship game.

December 2nd, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^

A couple of big pluses for this format:

1). Puts bigger emphasis on winning your conference.

2). Should incentivize teams to play tougher September inter-regional matches like Mich vs Georgia as 1 loss will not kill your playoff chances.

Other thing they should include with this is mandatory 9 game conference schedule.

December 2nd, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^

G5 could win a game but not 3 straight. Let them compete with the other teams for an at large. Truth is, most years they would be an underdog against a power 5 runner up. The anti-trust concern is valid but the G5 are too dependent on the P5's revenue to push the issue.

Also, college football should tell Notre Dame (and the other independents) to go fuck themselves. If they want to participate, they can go through the ringer of conference play.

You could allow a trigger where if a division winner has 2 or 3 fewer losses or whatever but loses the CCG that it triggers preemption of conference champ by the highest rated team. Think the Big 12 used to have a rule similar to this related to the BCS? This alleviates the issue of mediocre division winners screwing things up but it does minimize the importance of some conference championship games. Has to be based on a set of rules agreed upon in advance.


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Executive and senior leadership can be exhilarating and immensely rewarding and yet at other times it can seem quite a lonely place. One to one coaching offers a highly bespoke, confidential and uniquely challenging approach to tending to your own continuous professional development. It enables you to invest in the time to review your own leadership skill set, to take stock of your current performance and to focus on nurturing your underused or undiscovered talents.

Why choose executive coaching?

Do you feel it's time for something to change in the way you work? Do you believe that if only you could tweak or develop a certain aspect of your performance you could enhance your achievements? Are you convinced that you have more to offer but need to gain clarity about how to release your full potential? Do you want to close the gap between your current performance and your potential performance? Coaching offers a powerful approach to personal, professional development. Coaching puts YOU at the center of the process; you choose the focus and commit to bringing about the growth you wish to see. Coaching asks positive, powerful, far-reaching questions which challenge your current perspective enabling you to move beyond your own obstacles to achieve your goals.

As your coach, I will actively listen, ask incisive questions and provide honest, respectful feedback designed to help you use your own resourcefulness to achieve your goals. By offering support, challenge and confidentiality, I hope to enable you to make the most of a precious opportunity to achieve your aspirations.

"Executives and HR managers know coaching is the most potent tool for inducing positive personal change, ensuring better-than-average odds of success and making the change stick for the long term"

The Ivy Business Journal

How can executive coaching help you?

Working with a coach to increase and enhance personal leadership effectiveness is becoming widely recognised as a powerful learning and development approach. Wherever you or your team wish to bring about positive change and growth, coaching can bring about excellent outcomes.

Executive coaching themes may include:

  • Enhancing or developing leadership or strategic skills
  • Managing and leading change
  • Confidence or resilience building
  • Developing interpersonal relationship skills
  • Leading organisational re-development
  • Transition to a new role

How does executive coaching work?

  1. An initial free, no-obligation telephone or face to face meeting to establish your unique needs and to help you decide whether coaching is for you.
  2. Session 1 typically focuses on agreeing a contract which provides clarity on confidentiality, duration and frequency of sessions and coaching parameters. Time will also be spent exploring and identifying the goals and objectives you have for the process and what you would like to achieve.
  3. Typically coaching includes around 4-6,  90 minutes sessions. They can be calendared every 2-6 weeks according to your needs. These are guidelines as the exact timings can depend on the individual's goals and diaries.
  4. All coaching sessions will be conducted within a confidential environment. Coaching aims to support you with positive learning, action and change.
  5. A range of positive, transformational techniques based around incisive questioning, feedback and support will deeper awareness, new perspectives, clarity and increased effectiveness, confidence or resilience - depending on your personal goals.
  6. Each session will include opportunities to "check in" on progress and/or review goals.

Helping you to achieve your goals and improve your performance whilst deriving a sense of satisfaction, purpose and worth from your working life.


text:
Black Forest Rug in Raven and Plum Kitten

These incredibly durable braided rugs can be used to add color and texture to any room, be it inside or out.Braided Solid Pattern Polypropylene and Viscose Black Forest Area Rug
Shape: Rectangle

Made In USA
Primary Materials: 60% Polypropylene 20% Viscose 20% Polyester
Secondary Materials: Polypropylene and Viscose
Pile Height: Flat
Care: (1) rinse or hose with water and lay flat to dry. may use a mild detergent. (2) vacuum regularly using a hard surface attachment. vacuuming with a beater brush is not recommended.
Easy Care
Primary Style: Braided
Primary Pattern: Solid


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Random Musing Before Shabbat – Vayishlakh 5778 – Who Will Say #MeToo for Dinah?

Not surprised that many are choosing to focus on everything but the rape of Dinah this week. It’s hitting far too close to home in these times.

Exactly a decade ago I wrote for parashat Vayishlakh a musing entitled “No One’s In The Kitchen With Dinah.” Just three years back, I revisited it again, in the midst of the period when many were trying to remind us that #blacklivesmatter. Today, it gets revisited and revised from a different perspective.

I started somewhat frivolously with this set of parody lyrics to “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” because of it’s obvious “Dinah” connection:

I’ve been reading from the Torah,
all the livelong week
I’ve been reading from the Torah,
in the hopes I’ll get a peek
Of the secret hidden meanings
found between the lines
Yet they somehow still elude me,
I can’t see the signs

Torah please reveal,
Torah please reveal
Torah please reveal your secret truths
Torah please reveal,
Torah please reveal
Torah please reveal your truths

Shechem thought that Dinah was lovely
Took as if she were a pri – i – i – ize
Dinah’s bro’s said “this ain’t a problem”
If you goys all circumcise,” we’re singing

Oy, oy, oyddly doy doy
Oy, oy, cut off your diddly oy doy oy
Oy, oy, oyddly doy doy
So the goys got circumcised

While the Shechemite men were healing
While they all were resting in be – e – e – ed
Some of Dinah’s brothers came stealing
Into town and killed them dead, they’re singing

Oy, oy, we got our revenge
On those lousy Shechemites
Oy, oy, now us all will dread
Mess with us you’ll wind up dead

When the deed was done they told Jacob
And an angry scolding to them he gave
For what they’d done to his reputation
And not their murd’rous acts so grave, he’s singing

Oy, oy, look at what they’ve done
How am I supposed to do business now?
My ferkhakhte sons must be crazy
Their deeds I can’t disavow

In the sturm und drang of our story
There is one voice that we’ve not heard
Didn’t anyone ask Dinah?
Of what she thought there’s not a word, she’s singing

Oy, oy, don’t they want to know
What I’m thinking, how it makes me fee – ee – ee – eel?
Oy, Oy, they do not seem to know
That a woman’s pain is real!

Well, I could go on…but I won’t. It’s silly, and almost trivializes what is otherwise a most troubling piece of Torah text-the story of the rape of Dinah, and the revenge done by her brothers. It’s no laughing matter. Two wrongs simply never add up to a right, and in this case, we have wrongs compounded upon wrongs compounded upon wrongs, ad nauseaum. Over the years, in writing about this parasha, I’ve taken all the parties to task: Shechem, for his impetuousness, and for being a rapist. Jacob’s sons for the deceit, trickery, and murderous deeds. The good people, the Hivites of shechem, for their casual willingness to be circumcised whether it was truly in repentance for what Shechem had done to Dinah, or simply in order to satisfy their own lust. Jacob, of course, for caring not so much about what had happened, and who had done what, as he did about what it did to his reputation, and his ability to conduct business with the people in the region.

I’ve never tackled Dinah herself. There are interpreters of Torah who fault Dinah by interpreting the text to imply that Dinah was out where she shouldn’t be, or being flirtatious. How typical of the generations of misogynist redactors and interpreters of this sacred text to fall back on a “blame the victim” mentality. Others ask us to place ourselves in the values and ethics of the time when the story is taking place. I reject both of these whitewashings categorically. Historically, we’re far too good at apologetics.

As you may know, I am particularly fond of working to redeem so-called irredeemable texts. I’ve found no footholds at all in this story other than the classic “well, it’s a great lesson on how not to behave.” I don’t find that satisfactory. The only place left for me to turn is to Dinah. Yet she is absent from the text.

As our society explodes in new found disgust for sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior that has plagued us for millennia, perhaps the time is ripe to take the task of being Dinah’s voice on.

Prone as I am to inventing creative midrash, as I have done so often in these musings, I do not feel I can legitimately do so in this case. It’s not that I can’t imagine what Dinah might have felt and thought–I surely can. It’s that I don’t feel qualified, as a male, to even try to put words in Dinah’s mouth, thoughts in Dinah’s head, and feelings in Dinah’s heart.

The words above are words I wrote a decade ago. Today, it’s even worse. Though I am fairly well convinced that I have not treated a woman in a way that might be perceived as sexual harassment or sexual discrimination, as all these icons fall about me, I am forced to wonder if I am even deluding myself.

Given my predilection for championing those of lower socio-economic standing, I could rationalize that it is very success of these men that is the cause of their treatment of women. I’m not one of these successful men, perhaps because I don’t have their drive, and thus I’m not prone to abuse my power like they are. However, I know this is horsehockey, plain and simple. Men who mistreat and abuse women come from across the socio-economic spectrum. I imagine some men, unhappy with their perceived lack of success even though they have a big male ego, take their unhappiness with their own lot out on the women in their lives.

Maybe, because I am educated, I am better able to control myself, I wonder. Horsehockey again. It’s not education – clearly – for misogynists, rapists, abusers, and their ilk also come from across the educational spectrum.

I am, for all effects, a religious professional. Maybe that’s it. Horsehockey yet again. It’s not religion – that’s more than obvious. There are plenty of pious and righteous sexual abusers out there – including clergy, and candidates for U.S. Senate, and even Presidents of the United States. Some even argue that the sexually-repressed nature of some forms of practiced religions are responsible for creating abusers.

I can say that I strive, daily, to treat all people equally and with respect. I admit that I sometimes do fail to live up to that desire. I can say that, in all honesty, I have never been tempted to ignore anyone’s “no”or “wait” or “stop” (not that I have found myself in that sort of situation that I can recall. I have, however, been on the receiving end of having a please stop this harassment go unheeded. I have hesitated to say this, because, in this moment of “metoo” I did not want to distract from the moment. Women have endured millennia of systematic abuse and mistreatment, and perhaps, now, the time is finally come when we will be forced to deal with this virus infecting humanity.

I am fortunate that I lived a life in my youth in the 60s (and to this day) in which my circle of family and friends included people of all colors, beliefs, sexual preferences, etc. It has sometimes included men that, at least conversationally, talked about women in a way that always made me uncomfortable. I sometimes spoke up about it, but I did not always do so, and I regret that. Yes, I am sure there were moments of “locker room talk.”  I may have spoken words that could be seen as objectifying women. I will not attempt to justify that simply because “times were different then.” This is not only the opportunity for women to speak out about their abusers, it is time for men to change. It is time for society to change.

I cannot speak for women. I cannot pretend to know what Dinah felt. I remain unworthy to even try, even though I can certainly imagine it. So please, men (and women) let’s find ways to give voice to Dinah this Shabbat, and forever on, until we have learned the hard lessons from this story and millennia of abuse and harassment of women.

Great female scholars and writers, Jewish and not, like Anita Diamant, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Phyllis Trible, Drorah Setel, professor Renita Weems (from whom I was privileged to learn at Vandy) and so many others are far more qualified and capable to imagine Dinah’s viewpoint.

So my challenge to myself and to you (whether you are male or female) this Shabbat is to seek out the feminist and women’s commentaries and interpretations of this biblical story (along with others) and see if they help bring any greater insight into why this troubling text is part of the canon. (See below for some references.)

Here’s a couple of links to get you started:

And of course, there are many, many books like “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary,” “The Red Tent,” and even the older the “Women’s Bible Commentary.” They’re in my library along with many others-and should be in yours, too!

Shabbat Shalom,

©2017 (portions ©2007) by Adrian A. Durlester

Other Musings on this Parasha:

Vayishlakh 5777 – My Prayer or Me Prayer
Vayishlakh 5775 – No One’s In The Kitchen With Dinah (or Eric or Michael)
Vayishlakh 5774 – Biblical Schadenfreude
Vayishlakh 5773 – That Other Devorah’s Tale
Vayishlakh 5772 – One and Many, Many and One
Vayishlakh 5771/5763 – The Bigger Man
Vayishlakh 5769 – A Fish Called Wonder
Vayishlakh 5768 – No One’s in the Kitchen With Dinah
Vayishlakh 5767-Wrestlemania
Vayishlakh 5766-Like Deity, Like Deity’s Child
Vayishlakh 5765-B’li Mirmah
Vayishlakh 5762-Don’t Get Mad–Get Even!
Vayishlakh 5761-No Doubt? No Wonder!

About migdalorguy

Jewish Educator & Musician, Technology Nerd and all around nice Renaissance guy
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Australian speaking tour

(13 April) Updated: I shall be visiting Australia during the first week of May and speaking at a number of events in Victoria and New South Wales, including the keynote lecture at the Hot Science, Global Citizens symposium in Sydney (5-6 May), a public lecture at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum (5 May), a lunchtime lecture at the University of Wollongong (4 May), the Dean’s Lecture in the University of Melbourne’s School of Land and Environment (3 May) and the annual forum of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research (2 May).


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Mike the Psych's Blog

What if psychologists ruled the world? In real life?

Helicopter parenting isn’t helpful for child’s development but nurseries are!

A recent study of more than 400 children, starting at the age of two, suggests that helicopter parenting harms a child’s emotional well-being.

This is a term used to describe parents who become over-involved in their children’s activities.

Toddlers whose mothers intervened more frequently in their play grew up to be less able to control their emotions and behaviour.

At age two the children were filmed playing and tidying up with their mothers. The activity was scored on how controlling the mother was – was she helping or intervening when the child became frustrated?

Over the next eight year the researchers returned to see how the children were developing. They interviewed them and teachers and parents and measured behaviour such as emotional control.

“When mothers are too controlling at age two and don’t allow their children to experience a range of emotions and practise managing tim, the child loses out on an important learning opportunity” said Nicole Perry from the University of Minnesota who carried out the study published in the journal Development Psychology..

The ability to regulate emotions ( a key component of emotional intelligence) was linked to a host of adaptive outcomes, including mental and physical health, greater peer likability, healthier social relationships, positive teacher-student relationships, and greater academic adjustment.

If parents want better outcomes they should send their children to a nursery. A recent French study has found that children sent to nurseries have better social skills and behaviour than those kept at home by parents.

Opportunities for socialisation and stimulation offered by quality centre-based childcare might prevent children from developing emotional difficulties, according to an observational study of 1,400 children who were tracked from birth to the age of eight.

Parents were asked to complete questionnaires at three, five-and-a- half, and eight years of age. They were asked how easily their children made friends, their behaviour and social skills. At four, eight, and twelve months of age parent were asked what childcare support they used.

The researchers found that for psychological development a nursery or crêche staffed by professionals was better than being cared for informally by family, friends, or a childminder.

Children who had been to a nursery, daycare centre or crêche – formal childcare (26%)- had lower odds of poor social skills, difficult relationships with peers, and behavioural problems, compared to those who received informal childcare (30%) or went to a childminder (45%).

If they had been in formal childcare for a year the odds were even lower. In contrast those who had been cared for by a childminder appeared more likely to have behavioural problems.

It seems girls do better than boys which they say is because formal childcare is about internalising behaviour, more common in girls than boys.

The study doesn’t prove cause and effect and the families were better educated and more affluent than average and the researchers couldn’t assess the quality of the childcare.

However the researchers concluded that “Access to high quality childcare in the first years of life may improve children’s emotional and cognitive development, prevent later emotional difficulties, and promote pro-social behaviours”.

In France 97% of children start school at three (in contrast to Scandinavian countries where they start later than in the UK) and formal childcare provision is open to everyone.


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On TV: Vietnamese Shrimp Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Vietnamese Summer Rolls Video

These Vietnamese summer rolls are the perfect summer appetizer. Fresh herbs, chilled shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and thinly sliced vegetables are rolled in rice paper and dipped in a yummy peanut sauce.   They are light and refreshing and the ideal food to enlist your guests’ help in making.

Year ago, before I went into business for myself, I worked for a large catering company.  For one particularly large event, summer rolls were on the menu and I rolled hundreds of them.   They turned out beautifully and made a stunning presentation, but ever since I’ve preferred the do-it-yourself approach when it comes to summer rolls.  Not only does it take some of the prep off the cook, but it is a great way to get your guests in on the action.

Simply prep the peanut dipping sauce and ingredients in advance and lay them out decoratively with a big bowl of warm water.   Demonstrate how to make a summer roll to one or two guests and then step back as everyone gives it a go.

For tips on how to roll the summer rolls, check out my demonstration on the Charlotte Today show by clicking here or on the image above.  Happy cooking!

Vietnamese Shrimp Summer Rolls – Printer Friendly Recipe
Makes 16 rolls

For the peanut dipping sauce:
1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons water
2-3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
1 large garlic clove, minced
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce

For the Rolls:
24 (21-30 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
16 rice paper wrappers
1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned (sliced thinly)
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed
4 green onions, trimmed, white and green parts julienned
1 English hothouse cucumber, seeded and julienned
4 ounces rice vermicelli noodles, cooked to package directions, rinsed under cold water, and drained
2 Serrano chilies, sliced (optional)
Serve with: 1 head Boston Bibb lettuce, leaves gently removed and rinsed

For the peanut dipping sauce, whisk together all the ingredients in a small bowl. If too thick, add a little more water to thin the sauce to your desired consistency.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil. Add the shrimp and boil until cooked through, about 3 minutes. Drain the shrimp and allow them to cool before slicing them in half lengthwise.

Organize all of your ingredients for the rolls. Fill a large bowl or pot with hot water. Making one roll at a time, place the rice paper wrapper in hot water and let it soak for 10 seconds until it just becomes pliable. Remove the wrapper from the water and lay it on a clean cutting board. Place three shrimp halves in the middle of the roll and then add a little of each of the remaining ingredients. The chef instructor will demonstrate how to roll the summer rolls. Once all the summer rolls have been assembled serve with the Bibb lettuce (the rolls can be wrapped in a lettuce leaf) and the peanut dipping sauce.

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Red Circus Shelf - Mini Me Ltd

Red Circus Shelf

Regular price $27.30

This gorgeous Circus shelf is handmade in China using quality wood and finished with ecological, non-toxic water based colors. These shelves look amazing in a kids rooms (or anywhere!) while also encouraging imaginative play.

Measured without the flag: 33.5 cm x 39.5 cm x 16 cm

Birch-plywood   10mm/0.40 inch and ecological, non-toxic water based color (the shelf can be normally cleaned, the color does not fade)

practical and full of fantasy piece of furniture. Toys and figures  are always fun to put away.

Notice:  the flags that hang across the circus is not included. Only the little rainbow flag on the top is included.

Lovely brand that creates ecological, non-toxic products for kids. Design that connects interior living and playing to develop childhood  fantasy and adventure spirit. Natural materials suitable for kids and ecological, non-toxic water based colors for the nicest wooden shelves you can imagine for the little ones rooms.

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web wcco campaign 2018 election guide Kirsten Kennedy: 2018 Election Guide

(credit: CBS)

Welcome to WCCO.com’s 2018 political guide!

We reached out to all Minnesota candidates running for U.S Senate, Governor, U.S Congress, Attorney General, Secretary of State and State Auditor this fall. Candidates were asked to provide a two-minute video discussing their platform as well as answer a set of our viewer’s questions.

Above is the video and below the answers Kirsten Kennedy provided. This is not a paid advertisement nor does WCCO endorse any candidate.

Responses from Kirsten Kennedy Democratic candidate for the 8th District:

Do you support changing the law to release non-violent drug offenders currently serving federal prison terms?

Yes. The vast majority of federal drug offenders are nonviolent, as evidenced by the data provided by the US Department of Justice. These figures reveal that 76 percent of federal drug defendants did not possess a weapon. Of those who did possess weapons, 25 percent proved that the weapon played no role in the offense. Only 18 percent of federal drug defendants were found to possess a weapon that could possibly have had any connection with the underlying drug offense, and fewer yet involved the actual use of a gun or other weapon.

We also know that these laws disproportionately affect people of color, and we also know that a lot of non-violent drug offenders are sentenced to life sentences based on mandatory minimums, which means that we have an increasingly elderly prison population without the infrastructure to support them.

We need to reform the federal prison system – not to parcel it out to for-profit prisons, whose only interest is in keeping the inmates profits. We must invest in reentry and retraining programs. Currently, there is a waiting list of 16000 inmates for basic literacy skills. 16000 people who want to learn to read but can’t even get that basic need met. Women in prisons can’t get access to feminine hygiene products when needed. We need to work on recidivism reduction programs. We have an aging prison population in a setting that is not designed to provide care for elderly inmates, who present a wide variety of problems as they age. We must change our system now.

But first and foremost, we must look at this from a public health model point of view – the first step in dealing with an epidemic in public health is prevention. It is the fastest, safest, cheapest way of dealing with epidemics on any scale.

Should Congress appropriate $25 billion to build a security wall along the U.S.-Mexico border?

Absolutely, unequivocally no.

Should children brought to the United States with their parents illegally be given a path to U.S. citizenship, or should they be deported to their native countries?

First, we must stop the abhorrent practice of separating children from their families at the border. Second, we must make a path forward for our DREAMers and our undocumented immigrants. If we were to offer the 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country a pathway to citizenship, we’d add $1.5 trillion to our GDP. Further, we would accrue $5 billion in additional tax revenue in over just 3 years. Providing citizenship for them not only makes economic sense, it makes humanitarian sense as well.

Do you think North Korea will “denuclearize,” as President Trump says it will?

No, I do not, and there has been no evidence produced to the contrary, despite President Trump’s claims. In fact, they’ve increased their nuclear activity. President Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong II only served to fuel that country’s nuclear ambition and give them legitimacy on a
world stage.

Do you believe in climate change, and should the U.S. rejoin the Paris climate accords?

Yes, I believe in climate change. For those who do not, you may be entitled to your own opinion on whether or not climate change exists, but you aren’t entitled to your own facts. Scientists and experts in so many different fields of study from all over the world agree that climate change is
real. We are seeing the global effects of allowing fossil fuel buildup to go virtually unchecked
since its discovery.

We must rejoin the Paris climate accords, and we must make alternative energy accessible and affordable to the working family now. We must look at phasing out fossil fuel cars by 2030 and moving to 100% renewable energy by 2035 and redeveloping and reinvesting in our infrastructure to support this, which has the added benefit of creating jobs and economic development throughout our nation.

Canada is retaliating for the U.S. tariffs by imposing tariffs of its own on Minnesota products. Among the Minnesota products: grain, aluminum, boats and boat accessories, packaged dairy products, ATVs, and much more. China imposed retaliatory tariffs on Minnesota soybeans and pork products. Do you believe it will hurt Minnesota producers?

Absolutely, this will hurt Minnesota producers. Canada is our largest trading partner – soybeans and pork one of our largest exports. We cannot throw a boulder into an ocean and think that there won’t be ripple effects and that these ripple effects won’t hurt our economy.


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Bilingual Marketing Coordinator - S

Company Name:
H & R Block
Develop, implement and help drive the marketing portion of the district-based market plans down to the office level
Work with District Managers to identify and prioritize marketing opportunities in the district on a weekly basis
Assist Office Leaders in the development and execution of office-level local marketing plans that address the strengths and opportunities of the office staff and retail trade area
Lead local marketing event/ street team tactics that offer a high opportunity for growth in the District (e.g. Latino Blitz, client segment targeting, under-performing or hidden office, competitive blocking, or other)
Ensure offices meet tax season office appearance standards
Ensure consistency and compliance with brand management guidelines at the district and office levels
Research community organizations and businesses for partnership opportunities
Design, produce and distribute compliant topical tax support collateral needed to execute local marketing tactics and programs
Increase marketing acumen at the office level
Experience in Brand Marketing Program implementation
Experience with media, events, and promotions
Strong project management skills, resourceful and results-oriented
Balanced mix of tactical and creative skills
Outstanding team player and relationship building
Excellent ability to communicate clearly and concisely
Title: Bilingual Marketing Coordinator - S
Job ID: 145736BR
Address: Town & Country Shopping Ctr 828 W Mckinley Ave
City: Mishawaka
State: IN

Don't Be Fooled

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text:
Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Missing Veteran, Missing Man, Mysterious Disappearance

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy
Jesus Words

Add this to Digg!

Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Find missing Joseph Weber!
He is a missing military veteran and
He suffers from PTSD.
And he has traumatic brain injury.
What happened to Him?

Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Find missing Joseph Weber! Mr. Weber was 28 years old at the time of his disappearance. He lives in Sunnyvale, California. Mr. Weber was last seen on November 24, 2014. He was last seen in San Francisco, California. At the time of his disappearance, Joseph was 28 years old. His current age is 31 years old. His race and ethnicity are unknown. He is described as 6’2″ tall and 190 pounds. It is unknown what Joseph Weber was wearing when he was last seen. There is no description of any distinguishing physical characteristics. Joseph has no known scars, birthmarks, tattoos, or piercings.

Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Joseph Weber is a 28-year-old De Anza College student. He is also an Iraq War veteran. He was reported missing by his family. Mr. Weber left his home in Sunnyvale on November 24, 2014. And he was last seen in San Francisco. The California Highway Patrol found his car in the Golden Gate Bridge employee parking lot. They located it on on November 27th. This is according to police reports. Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Captain Jeff Hunter says, “At that point we have CHP check surveillance cameras.” He continues, “There are images of him on the bridge with a crowd of people,” Hunger said.

Find Missing Joseph Weber!
More Circumstances

There were clues of what may have happened to Joseph Weber. There are no signs he jumped off the bridge. But there no signs he walked off the bridge either. He has not been seen since. Joseph served two tours in Baghdad as a military police officer. His family is desperately seeking him. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). And he has a traumatic brain injury he suffered in an explosion while serving overseas. Mr.Weber has concerns over mid term exams in college. He also going through a divorce. His cell phone is off and there is no banking activity.

Joseph Weber’s mother has set up a Facebook page for him. On April 8, 2015, over five months after her son vanished, his mom posted.

Our son Joseph Weber who went missing without a trace 11/24/2014, and is still missing, went to high school with a kid, (and I kid you not), named Joseph Weber. A couple of weeks ago our local Police Lt. called to say that this other Joseph Weber showed up at a VA Hospital and was a Veteran with PTSD. He called to let us know it wasn’t our son.
Well tonight on the news we see that Police here in killed a robber wielding a knife at an attempted robbery. The Police Lt calls to tell us that if we read the news tomorrow, that it is not our son but the other Joseph Weber who was shot by Police. Can’t think of anything else to say right now. frown emoticon. Except for we loose another Veteran whom the VA couldn’t help.

Find Missing Joseph Weber!

Joseph’s family are suffering what they call indescribable pain. They have no idea where their loved one is or if he is alive or dead.
They are experiencing the frustration of believing that the system (the Veteran’s Administration-VA) had failed their son instead of helping him. Added to this they are told incorrect police information about their son being confused with someone else. This family deserve answers. Joseph needs to be brought home. He is somewhere right now. Someone (s) has some piece of information that can find Mr. Weber. Is some (s) you? Do you have any information about the whereabouts of Joseph Weber? If so, refer to contact information below.

Please keep Joseph Weber in your sight and call 9-1-1 or the Sunnyvale Police at (408) 730-7100.
Case #CR14-8741

A Facebook page has been set up for this missing veteran. Use Facebook? Consider clicking to “like” this page.

The above image and additional information are courtesy of LostNMissing, Inc.,

About findmissing 2685 Articles
I'm a Christian, meaning that I have a relationship with God, through trust in HIs Son Jesus. I'm a pro-life blogger, and I have three websites, focused on the sanctity of life. The first one is, which is specific to calling for an end to abortion through educating people about alternatives and pro-life news and opinions. The second site,, is also devoted to ending abortion through reaching out to moms in crisis and educating them on alternatives. This second site has the broader aim of celebrating the sanctity of all human life. Born and unborn. I want to reach a broad audience through the second site. The third site,, is devoting to finding missing persons, identifying the unidentified, and bringing justice to victims of crime.

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Equipment Dust Covers

DigitalDeckCovers fabric dust covers act as a filter to trap dust, dirt, lint, pet hair, ocean salt and spills before they can ever reach your gear, providing system protection that will likely prolong its life since these contaminants are one of the biggest causes of equipment failure.  Each dust cover is custom cut, designed, and sewn to exactly fit the dimensions of your equipment. With a massive database of over 4,700 items, we make it easy to find your custom dust cover and order online.

This is one I ordered for my smaller, wall-mount TV.  I also purchased a custom cover for my older Standard Horizon chartplotter.


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A trip to the West
drinking bird
I had never been to the Northwest states, nor to Western Canada, so I decided to remedy this lack last month. I started in Seattle, and set out to cross Washington State, northern Idaho, and visit Glacier Park in Montana, going on later to the Canadian Rockies. We stopped along the road to photograph this lake:

I am not sure what it is named. We then saw some very interesting formations, apparently the result of a cataclysm millions of years ago. This brought a quantity of lava, which was then massively eroded. It is called Dry Falls:

We went on to Idaho, visiting an ancient Catholic mission, Saint Cataldo. It was built by Jesuit missionaries among the Coeur d'Alene Indians in 1848. Father Ravalli, an Italian born Jesuit, was responsible for the design. He built the church with the help of the Indians, but did a lot of the work and decoration himself, including the sculpture of some statues [in wood].

This is the interior of the mission church

Coeur d' Alene lake, nearby, is quite pretty
Coeur d'Alène lake

Glacier National Park was our next destination. The drive towards it is exciting.

It gets progressively more rugged

more clouds...
road to Glacier park

I will continue with more pictures of Glacier Park in the next few days.

  • 1
Wow, the landscape is breathtaking!

There are just too many places I'd love to visit, but I probably will never make it! At least I can see it through your photos!

Thanks for sharing! ^-^

  • 1


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New Reggae Release: Likkle Lightning – Sunshine (@likklelightning)

likkle-lightning-cdbabysunshineresizeJamaican/U.S. based Roots Reggae artist Likkle Lightning is back! After taking a short break to complete his recordings, the singer is now gearing up to release his long awaited studio album entitled, “conditions of life.”

With his previous releases he captured the attention of global Reggae enthusiasts with catchy songs like “early morning flash,” “mama Africa” and “temptation.” Likkle Lightning now returns with his latest single, “sunshine.” Produced by his own Sonhi Production record label, “sunshine” is another uplifting, solid roots tune from the man many call the righteous warrior. It, along with the aforementioned songs and several others, will be on the “conditions of life” album.

Listen “sunshine” here and Download here.

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Sports News of Fri, 7 Dec 20183

StarTimes to show Asante Kotoko’s friendly clash with Black Meteors on Adepa TV

Ghana Premier League broadcast rights owners StarTimes have hit to gear with the live telecast of domestic football matches with the friendly clash between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the Black Meteors set to be live on Sunday.

The giant media outfit will produce and telecast the game live on their Adepa TV Channel 247.

This will be the first time a friendly match involving a local club and a national team will be live on StarTimes.

Television exposure has been credited for the growth of several leagues across the globe and this is the attempt by rights holders StarTimes to offer a similar path for the game in Ghana.

With domestic football non-existent for the past six months, expectations are high for the patronage of the game.

The game which will be played at 15:00GMT will also offer the Black Meteors the opportunity to also sharpen up their preparations for the U23 AFCON qualifier with Togo on the 18th of this month.

The Porcupine Warriors have been seriously preparing for the upcoming clash with Kenyan side Kariobangi Sharks in the round of 16 clash.

The 23-time record Ghana Premier League winners were handed a walkover in the preliminary round of the competition after Cameroon failed to enter a club for the competition.

Kotoko has had a wonderful preparation under new Coach C.K. Akunnor playing a series of friendly matches to prepare for the Kariobangi clash.

The absence of the Ghana Premier League has forced the Porcupine Warriors to resort to playing friendly matches as the only way on preparing for the clash.

Kotoko is set to travel to Ethiopia for camping after their clash with the Black Meteors.

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About a moon

Re has a special thing for the moon. Every night without fail, he looks out for it and when it is not visible, he asks, “Has the moon come?”

Some days we can see it from our living room window, some days we actually walk back with it. Some days we sight it from the park, or on our way back from the beach, or driving back, from the car.

Last week, Re and I were driving back from the library and Re claimed the moon was ‘follering us’. And indeed Mr Moon tailed behind for quite a while and then, the car took a right turn northwards and suddenly, he vanished out of sight.

“Oh no! The moon has taken the wrong way,” he exclaimed.

Oh, really?

“Yes. I think he got lost!” Re seemed very concerned.

“Don’t worry. He’ll find his way back. He should just ask somebody for directions,” I replied.

“Yes, moon must ask for dilekshuns!”

Which I am sure he did. Because by the time we reached home, there he was, again.

The other day, it was new moon day and Re as usual was looking for his favourite evening buddy. I pointed out the crescent and said, “Look! There he is!”

“No, that’s not the moon. That’s the moon’s cuzzin.”

And that’s how the gibbous moon came to known as the moon’s brother and the half-moon as the moon’s sister. There are no-show days of course. When I tell him that the moon has gone for his cuzzin’s birthday party. Or to his naani’s house. Or that it’s a holiday and he is still sleeping, so will come late tonight.

Some day, I will have to tell him that they are all just one person. Right now, I don’t have the heart, so I am letting Re enjoy the visual of a large moon family, complete with dada, mamma, cuzzin, brother, sister and whatnot.

To Re of course, the moon is whole, luscious and in all its glory. We still haven’t got talking about waxing and waning, although a friend, Meera sent me this delicious story about it.  I am planning to read it to Re soon. You can read it here:

Someday we are going to ask the moon over for a playdate. And his cuzzin. Yes, we are.

You are invited too.


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No Reservations: Meeting Bourdain

We were as giddy as school girls, my lifelong friend and I, as we were whisked down the East Coast Parkway to The Ritz Carlton. How could it be, that two middle-aged moms from The Northwest had ended up in Singapore, heading to meet famous bad boy chef and author, Anthony Bourdain?

It was 2005, not early in his career, (he’d been a successful writer for years at this point, and his Food Network show was extremely popular), yet really just prior to his blast into the fame stratosphere.

I’d actually met him once before in Singapore, at a gala dinner he’d hosted upon the launch of his A Cook’s Tour, a book I subsequently credit for getting me through a poorly-timed vaycay to Thailand during monsoon season…my kids swam in the pouring rain while I sat in the adjacent hotel patio bar, drinking gin and tonics and losing myself in that Bourdain wit.

But I digress…

Bourdain had graciously accepted my offer to meet in Singapore, I’d mentioned on a fan chat site that I’d like to gift him with a ceramic durian. If you’ve seen his early shows on SE Asia, you’ll know he actually loved the stinking fruit.

So we sat together in The Chihuly Lounge of the Singapore Ritz, Bourdain buying us wines, he himself a draft Tiger Beer. We talked about what had brought us here, his books, his series. He bought another round.

Anthony Bourdain was just who you’d expect him to be…an Everyman, genuine and someone proud of his (then) life journey. He shared that he was as surprised as anyone about his climb to fame. He was very sincere about this. And, maybe just a little concerned by it.

We asked what was next for him, and he basically stated he was “gonna ride the fame train as long and as far it would take him”.

We talked about Vietnam, a place I’d also recently visited, and he said that (at that point), it really was his favorite country he’d been to. He said that, down the road, (after he’d milked the celeb game for as much as he could get), he envisioned a life of retirement there, chilling on a beach, drinking beer.

Over the subsequent years, I fell off away from my Bourdain fan-girlism. I didn’t really like the way he was portrayed as the expert for travel adventure and as King of all foodies. “6 Things Anthony Bourdain Says You Must Try!”, and, “Bourdain Advises Never To Do This!”, were headlines I kept seeing, and nagging in the back of my head was the memory of our meeting. He just didn’t come off as anyone who wanted to become preacher and saint to the (travel) masses.

I don’t pretend to know what led him to end his life. I suspect that not being able to reconcile with the worldwide fame was maybe in there. I hope he’s found peace, though.

I’m just going to imagine him on that Vietnamese beach now, drinking a 333. Rest well, Tony.

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Paleokastritsa – Discovering Corfu Part 2

Corfu, Paleokastritsa, Greece, Beach, Paradise, Travel

Beautiful Paleokastritsa

Corfu is an island rich in culture, nature, with many places to visit and explore. My family and I did a tour called ‘Discover Corfu‘ which included visiting Kerkyra Town ( mentioned in my last post), and we also visited the north west of the island where there is a village that is like a paradise because of it’s turquoise-blue waters, a village called Paleokastritsa.

Paleokastritsa is one of the favourite places people want to see in Corfu, as it is famous for its unique beauty, and that it something you have to see by yourself. The distance between Kerkyra town and Paleokastritsa is about 25km, so it is a short journey and on the way the landscape is so beautiful, there are many olive trees, cypress trees and lemon trees.

Cave, Corfu, Beach, Travel, Sea, Fish, Diving

In the ‘Deep Blue Eye’ Cave

On arrival we enjoyed a lovely Greek lunch ( a post about Greek food coming soon!), and after that we went for a boat trip to the Paleokastritsa caves. The trip takes about 40 minutes and costs 10,00 Euros per person, we were taken to four different grottos to see the ‘deep blue eyes’ caves. My son was really amazed with the colour of the sea, there were many fish in different colours (he would be looking for Nemos’s and Dory’s look alike!). It was a beautiful trip, a must do for adults and children. You also have the option of doing a trip near the caves on your own and hire a small pedal boat which is more for couples or small groups of about four people. The weather is hot hot hot, and can get easily to it’s 40’s Celsius so I suggest using a high factor sun block, a hat and a bottle of water.

Corfu, cat, monastery

A cute cat having a nap at the Monastery

Paleokastritsa beaches are lovely but sort of crowded so it is up to you if you want to spend the day there. We were in a tour so our next stop would be not far away in the Monastery of Theotokou. This is a 13th century monastery, the walls are in a soft yellow colour, it is  a well maintained and peaceful place with a lovely bell tower. There is a dress code for visiting the monastery and women are given a sort of shawl to cover their shoulders, you may light a candle if you wish and make a donation or visit the souvenir shop.

Corfu, Heart, Love, Travel, Sea, Diving

The Heart Shaped Lagoon

Our last stop was in the village of Lakones, located in a hill not far from Paleokastritsa. Most tour coaches stop here because it is the perfect spot for taking pictures to the shaped heart lagoon, it will definitely take your breath away and it is one of the most amazing views I have seen in my life.

Soon I will be writing about all those delicious meals we had in Corfu, it will be a special post about Greek food.

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Navigation from peripheral vision

The problem with navigation applications during the act of navigation is that there is way too much information at hand. Once I start a navigation app, the two questions I have in mind are “When do I need to turn, and in what direction will it be?” I am under the assumption that most navigation occurs in the context of a city, while driving or biking — distractions are unsafe and unwelcome.

On a long drive, I pondered up a hands-free way to navigate without looking at a screen or listening to a nagging voice. Here’s my attempt to answer this question in the form of a smartphone app:

The app sits just inside your peripheral vision, and its sole purpose is to kick into gear when your next turn approaches with highly visible indicators. For example, if a right turn approaches, the app’s screen:
* fades from a neutral color to yellow, as if to say slow down
* a HUGE arrow facing in the direction of your turn slides down from the top. When the vertex of the arrow reaches the bottom of your screen, make the turn.

The idea is that you can navigate to a location without ever looking at a device after the initial destination’s input — the information about the next turn is fed to the user without any effort. Less time with your head down, fewer deaths on the road, and sharper focus on what lay ahead.

Try looking off to the side, and hit the ‘Right Turn Approaching’ button below:

Tuesday: A big day for Genetically Modified Food

Update: California disappointed me. Prop 37 did not pass.

I’ve been diving into the history of Genetically Modified foods lately. I find the difference between attitudes in Europe and those in the U.S. really striking (Yep, we’re an easy-going bunch of eaters in comparison). Here’s a snippet from an article titled Europe angers US with strict GM labeling posted in Nature Biotechnology in 2003 right when Europe began establishing its import bans on Genetically Modified Organisms:

…the new regime—agreed to in late November 2002 after lengthy negotiations between ministers of individual member states—extends labeling to end-products such as sugars and oils even when GM ingredients cannot be detected in them because they are physically and chemically identical to products derived from non-GM crops. Even meat suppliers who feed their animals with transgenic grain will have to GM-label their products.
Food items will be exempted only if they were derived from crop material of which less than 0.9% was genetically modified. Comprehensive tracing of GM corn shipments will be essential to verify this. The effect will be that North American manufacturers will soon find their corn- or soy-based foodstuffs—virtually all of which are GM-derived—tagged with what the National Grain and Feed Association (Washington, DC) has likened to a “skull and crossbones on the packet.”

The CFR put out a great report in April of 2001 with a great introduction to the rampant skepticism of GMOs in Europe. Paints us Yankees as corn-dog scarfing ne’er-do-wells. To remedy this, Californians will vote Tuesday whether Genetically Modified food must be labelled in the state — a right Europeans have enjoyed for a decade. Also within the bill are restrictions on use of the word ‘Natural’, ‘Naturally made’, ‘naturally grown’ and ‘all natural.’

It’s amazing that entire aisles of our supermarkets cannot be fed even to the swine of Europe.

The Corn Aisle

On a related note, I recommend watching the film (or even just the trailer) of Genetic Roulette and reading Michael Specter’s take in the New Yorker. I agree with the idea that seeds are at the root of the issue, but I have a huge amount of faith in the growing popularity of organic seed libraries sprouting all over America.

Go humans!

Felix Baumgartner’s freefall from near-space makes me wish we had a real manned mission planned — the world is INTO IT, judging by the millions tuned in. Maybe Red Bull would sponsor it?

Bitcoin and Morality

Bitcoin — a currency by most measures — is consistently framed as ‘amoral.’ Let’s think about why currencies are not compatible with morality.

An unethical or amoral use for a unit of exchange says nothing about the unit, and everything about the user. Those who don’t understand Bitcoin seem to think its uses make it good or bad. Cash, silver, gold, diamonds & bitcoins: These are units of value that can be used to purchase things no matter how the larger society perceives them.

The fact that you can buy drugs, guns, and assasinations, with Bitcoins is indisputable. Bitcoin was not built for the narrow purpose to purchase ‘illicit’ things. Teddy bears, maple syrup and beef jerky are all for sale. It was built to be a secure network of exchange, secured by the computing power of its participants. Sure, Bitcoin’s creator endowed its very DNA with an offhanded critique of our current banking system, but Bitcoin is at its core lacking an ethical or moral position.

I can’t blame Gawker headlines for this persistent problem when it comes to the common man’s perception of Bitcoin. The currency is scary once you get know it. Let me introduce you to a world using Bitcoin:

Transactions can be anonymous (1). Sending money from neighbor to neighbor or Alaska to Istanbul is instantaneous and free (2). Money can be stored with a memorized passphrase, or stored on paper in a vault (3). Only complete disconnection from the Internet can stop a transaction from occurring or disrupt the network (4).

This seems pretty liberating to say the least. But of course, with all disruptive technologies, one can forsee problems.

Can you see why I want Bitcoin to be understood correctly, free of moral relativism? It is a unique unit of value built for the Internet age which has been derided since the beginning. Placing a moral judgement upon what is essentially an open source algorithm is like calling a tomato evil. Learn more about Bitcoin here.

“What is true for you is true for you, and what is true for me is true for me.” – Protagoras

  1. There are numerous mixing services.
  2. The double spend problem is real, but difficult to perform (read more). After 6 confirmations (usually after a few minutes) a transaction of coins from point to point can be reasonably trusted. See the comments for more discussion on this. A technical explanation.
  3. See Brainwallet. Pick a long, memorable phrase, and use that to generate a private and public key (this is printable).
  4.  The nodes, miners, and clients spread across the world make Bitcoin the largest distributed computing project ever. Ever.

Donations appreciated. Find me @danielmorgan.

Toast to Technology

Obama was in town, and had a nice meal with

•John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

• Carol Bartz, President and CEO, Yahoo Inc.

• John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems Inc.

• Marissa Mayer, Google VP

•Dick Costolo, CEO, Twitter Inc.

• Larry Ellison, Co-Founder and CEO, Oracle Corp.

• Reed Hastings, CEO, Netflix Inc.

•John Hennessy, President, Stanford University

•Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO, Apple Inc.

• Art Levinson, Chairman and former CEO, Genentech Inc.

•Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google Inc.

•Steve Westly, Managing Partner and Founder, The Westly Group

•Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook Inc.

Beethoven and Miles Davis as extreme limits for media capacity

From the FAQ for Bandcamp (a music-selling platform):

What’s the maximum upload size?
It’s 290MB, or more precisely, 305,088,054 bytes (that’s 297,937.6 kibibytes or 290.95 mebibytes to you, Lieutenant Commander La Forge). Never you mind that though. The important thing is that it’s the exact size of “Inamorata and Narration by Conrad Roberts” from side 4 of Miles Davis’ Live-Evil (assuming we’re talking 16/44.1, which we always are). If you have something to say that’s longer/larger than that, you are a jam band and we cannot be a party to the dissemination of your output (j/k jam bands, we love you too — but please take a quick hacky-sack break at 26:29).
Reminds me of the maximum length of a CD (74 minutes), which has to do with Beethoven’s 9th:
An audio compact disc (CD) holds up to 74 minutes, 33 seconds of sound, just enough for a complete mono recording of Ludwig von Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder’) at probably the slowest pace it has ever been played, during the Bayreuther Festspiele in 1951 and conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. [via the IEEE Information Theory Newsletter, Dec 2007]
I guess the lesson here is that it’s good to stay away from arbitrary limits when working with disruptive technology!

Is there a peak to user-generated content? Wikipedia contributions are on the decline in an age of decline

The ecosystem of Wikipedia, and probably other wikis in the Wikimedia group, appear to be suffering from an over-vigilant team of editors who are increasingly quick to revert changes from less-active contributors. The newness and community-driven aspect of Wikipedia is suffering, in tandem with a decrease in fresh registrations. Let’s not be rash here, but the research presented below (by Ed Chi and colleagues at the Palo Alto Research Center) points out a freaky decline in distributed knowledge-creation—a decline that we just don’t need in this age of, well, decline.

Jim Giles in New Scientist writes:

“Occasional” editors, those who make just a single edit a month, have 25 per cent of their changes erased, or reverted, by other editors, a proportion that in 2003 was 10 per cent. The revert rate for editors who make between two and nine changes a month grew from 5 to 15 per cent over the same period.”This is evidence of growing resistance from the Wikipedia community to new content,” say the Palo Alto team. Chi told New Scientist that the changes could harm Wikipedia in the longer term by deterring new editors from taking part and so reducing the number of people available to spot and correct the vandalism that constantly threatens the encyclopaedia. “Over time the quality may degrade,” he warns.

Chi thinks that Wikipedia now includes so much information that some editors have turned from creating new articles to improving existing ones, resulting in more disputes about edits. Such disputes are not a level playing field because established editors sometimes draw on extensive knowledge of Wikipedia’s guidelines to overwhelm opposition in a practice dubbed “wikilawyering”.

via: New Scientist

I started for a number of reasons

  • I find it disturbing when people unwittingly carve out a huge chunk of their day to interact on a small screen, whether it be for text messaging, web browsing, or for playing games. This is a lo-fi behavior in a hi-fi world. We can do better than this.
  • We often communicate with people geographically close to us at great volumes through small devices, though we can more genuinely, accurately, and more humanely communicate face to face.
  • Cellphones, especially those with the internet enabled, drown out what should be a natural process of questioning one’s surroundings. When a Google search can answer most questions, what’s the point of being mindfully engaged with the world around you?
  • We must consider our ability to be mindful, attentive, and engaged in an age of ubiquitous technology.
  • I believe these questions can be asked most powerfully through images and photography. There will, however, be infrequent pull quotes from relevant articles such as this:

An acquaintance of mine has a teenage daughter. Like most teens in this century she spends her day texting her friends, abbreviating her life into 140 character hints, flinging these haikus out to an invisible clan of mutual texters. It’s an always-on job, this endless encapsulation of the moment. During dinner, while walking, on the toilet, lounging in bed, or in any state of wakefulness, to chat is to live. Like all teens, my friend’s daughter tested the limits of her parents’ restrictions. For some infraction or another, they grounded her. And to reinforce the seriousness of her misconduct, they took away her mobile phone. Immediately the girl became physically sick. Faint, nauseous, and so ill she couldn’t get out of bed. It was if her parents had amputated a limb. And in a way they had. Our creations are now inseparable from us. Our identity with technology runs deep, to our core. via Kevin Kelly @ technium

To get the latest from whatsonyourthing, follow it on Tumblr, or subscribe to the feed. Thanks!

Army opens Mil internet access to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Vimeo

Picture 1
Photo by tcmhitchhiker

Today was the day that Army bases were ordered to stop blocking social media sites. No Youtube, yes Vimeo. No Myspace, yes Facebook. Seems arbitrary, but those are the sites I prefer anyway, so I would be happy were I in the mil.

It’s interesting what remains banned… The list includes:

(a) YouTube,

(b) 1.FM,

(c) Pandora,

(d) Photobucket,

(e) MySpace,

(f) Live365,

(g) hi5,

(h) Metacafe,

(i) MTV,

(j) BlackPlanet,

(k) StupidVideos,

(l) Filecabi,http://www.

Check out the official order below…

Continue reading “Army opens Mil internet access to Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Vimeo”

Post to Friendfeed, Twitter, and the “realtime web” in 3 seconds flat from your Wordpress blog [tutorial]

To make a realtime WordPress (self hosted) blog:

Two plugins and one checkbox on Friendfeed:

1) Get Wp-sup. SUP is the protocol that updates Friendfeed, kindly developed by Friendfeed. It’s an instantaneous ping the moment a post goes up (one second) INFO: Check out this FAQ page, where you can also test the manual update of SUP. Also see the Google Code page.

2) Media RSS makes sure your images are in enclosure tags so Friendfeed can wrap its pretty head around them. If you have three mp3 files in your post, they will show up. First image is slapped in there too. For an example see this MONEYDICK mp3+image post translated to Friendfeed style.

3) Notify twitter when your blog is updated by checking the “Post my FriendFeed entries on Twitter by default” to the “Advanced Twitter Settings” page. Now the instantaneousness of Friendfeed hits twitter.Three seconds to twitter reference of your blog post. See below:
3.1) Extra sauce: Show Friendfeed comments on your blog with “Friendfeed Comments.”

Become an Enabler (of the realtime web)

RSS doesn’t need to change, it just needs some patching.

There’s crazy talk coming out of Mr. Gillmor about RSS dying, as though there’s something wrong with it. There’s nothing wrong with it. It will continue to be the protocol for those who read blogs. Steve Gillmor’s sensationalist post (replete with Beatles photos) didn’t make much of a point against RSS except that he doesn’t like non-fulltext feeds (and he has a lot of “Friends” on Twitter). But his major complaint with RSS is that it’s not realtime:

…realtime has swept past the field as though the rest were sleep-walking. Realtime is the time for artists, for interpreting the stream and sending deeply nuanced signals with humor, music, respect for the dialogue but none for the chattering of the false debates of the cable networks. (via)

I defer to Dave Winer who developed RSS for a response:

…RSS is as dead as HTTP and SMTP, which is to say it’s alive and kicking. These protocols get widely implemented, are so deeply ingrained in the infrastructure they become part of the fabric of the Internet. They don’t die, they don’t rest in piece. They become the foundation for everything that follows. via:#

But RSS does have limitations. If you’re a content creator, you use an RSS or ATOM feed. Because users don’t know when you’ve posted content, you offer Email subscriptions, or you post your content on Twitter with Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed updates every 30 minutes… hardly the ‘realtime’ web.There’s really no faster way than to integrate with Friendfeed or a WordPress Twitter plugin like “Tweetsuite.”

So what’s the fastest way… I’m talking 2 seconds… to get your content posted on Twitter/Friendfeed and in front of the eyeballs of whoever gives a damn?

The Future

When Twitter Search gets it’s makeover, perhaps the clunkiness of RSS, (when paired with Friendfeed) will truly create a functional real-time web. We don’t yet have the search figured out for ‘now’ but it’s happening slowly.

Friendfeeders–who are now getting used to the realtime nature of content, don’t always play nice with Twitterers. Users like Robert Scoble have forsaken Twitter for the dynamic true realtime conversational nature of Friendfeed: Imagine commenting on a twitter post as naturally as commenting on a blog post!  Content creators like scoble in the realtime web must help lead the charge for content creators to post their content on Twitter+Friendfeed as it happens. Only with SUP + RSS + Twitter + PersonRank-enabled Twitter search will we have an Internet where realtime happens.

An unsubstantiated rumor of Twitter’s power:

Jayaram told of being in the Twitter offices in San Francisco on March 30, when the Twitter engineers noticed that the word “earthquake” had suddenly started trending up. They didn’t know where the earthquake was. Several seconds later, their building started to shake. The earthquake had been in Morgan Hill, 60 miles south of San Francisco, and the tweets about the shaker reached the office faster than the seismic waves themselves. (via)

Note: this post will appear immediately after I post it for my twitter/friendfeed followers, but will be lost and forgotten, even if I schedule it for the Pacific Time lunch break.


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French Antique Religious Church Gothic Confessional 1800s

Regular price $8,900.00

French Antique Furniture Religious Gothic Confessional

Country : France
Wood : Walnut and oak
Style : gothic
Date : circa 1850
Depth: 118 cm/46"
Width: 240 cm/94"
Height: 241 cm/94"

Very good antique condition

This item is available in our Warehouse in France. It will be shipped to our La Grange Texas Warehouse with our next container. The price including shipping and custom clearance.

We are a French American family business. We spend several months per year buying fine and rare antiques in France. We buy directly at the source. We don't use a third party. We have our own facilities in France and in the USA. We ship several times a year containers to our La Grange Texas warehouse.

Le Vieux Moulin Antiques

2006 Valentine Road
La Grange, Texas 78945

+1 979 208 9080 (September to May)
+33 6 95 40 59 81 (June to August)