text:
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Fleming's Casino Royale

Having shared the recent Casino Royale film with me, The Younger Son loaned me the James Bond book by Ian Fleming on which the movie was based. I like the movie better -unusual for me, but I find the book disturbing in how it treats women. They are mostly invisible except as objects to be used. Violence against women seems to be considered a matter of course not out of the ordinary. I think I'll stick with the films from now on. I'm glad I read it, though, as I'd never read one before but had a friend in high school who read and loved them all.

The Ian Fleming Centenary, which takes place this year, has a site. There's a major exhibition here.

Ian Fleming: A Centennial Tribute

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Shelby County makes news at BoingBoing

and that ain't a good thing. This isn't the kind of attention I like:

The Sheriff's Office in Shelby County, Tennessee, is warning locals to turn in anyone who takes too many pictures of bridges or shopping malls, because they might be scouting for Al Qaeda, who are clearly slavering at the opportunity to make a gigantic media splash by getting up to some serious naughtiness on the "iconic Hernando DeSoto Bridge."

Catherine of Siena

Today is the feast day of Catherine of Siena, who died on this date in 1380. There is more information on her in the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Society of Archbishop Justus, the Catholic Information Network and nndb. The Dialog of Catherine of Siena can be read online here.

The picture above is by Tiepolo.

Alfred Hitchcock

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1980 of Alfred Hitchcock. I have seen many of his films, including The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, Sabotage, The Lady Vanishes and Psycho.

I have not yet seen the 2 embedded below.

Number Seventeen (1932):

Jamaica Inn (1939):

We have many DVDs of his work.

Hitchcock also did lots of television.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Jeremiah Wright

The Bill Moyers interview with Jeremiah Wright can be viewed here at the PBS site.

The photo above is from I didn't see copyright info there.

Alexander Scriabin

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1915 of Russian composer and pianist Alexander Scriabin.

Scriabin playing his Op. 8 No. 12 Patetico Etude in D# minor:

Evgeny Kissin plays the same piece:

Sunday Psalm

Psalm 66

1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.

6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

7 He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:

9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.

10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Elder Son loaned me Abarat by Clive Barker, thinking I might like it. I do. It is intended, I think, as a book for children or "young adults" (whatever that means), but I find it enjoyable on an adult level. There is a sequel, which The Elder Son has also loaned me. The book is extravagantly illustrated in color throughout, and the pictures of the creatures are wonderful.

from the inside dust jacket:

Once upon a world
where time is place
a journey beyond imagination
is about to unfold....

It begins in the most boring place in the world: Chickentown, U.S.A. Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, her heart bursting for some clue as to what her future might hold.

When the answer comes, it's not one she expects. Out of nowhere comes a wave, and Candy, led by a man called John Mischief (whose brothers live on the horns on his head), leaps into the surging waters and is carried away.

Where? To the ABARAT: a vast archipelago where every island is a different hour of the day, from the Great Head that sits in the mysterious twilight waters of Eight in the Evening, to the sunlit wonders of Three in the Afternoon, where dragons roam, to the dark terrors of Gorgossium, the island of Midnight, ruled over by the Prince of Midnight himself, Christopher Carrion.

As Candy journeys from one amazing place to another, making fast friends and encountering treacherous foes -- mechanical bugs and giant moths, miraculous cats and men made of mud, a murderous wizard and his terrified slave-she begins to realize something. She has been here before.

Candy has a place in this extraordinary world: she is here to help save the Abarat from the dark forces that are stirring at its heart. Forces older than Time itself, and more evil than anything Candy has ever encountered.

She's a strange heroine, she knows. But this is a strange world.

And in the Abarat, all things are possible.

LibraryThing's Most Unread Books

Evolving Thoughts has a list of "the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users". Ones I've read are in bold print. Ones I own but have not yet read are in italics.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion -begun, not finished
Life of Pi: a novel -for a book club
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses -begun, not finished
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies -begun, not finished
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex -for a book club
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West -for a book club
The Canterbury tales
The Historian: a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum -I have it but have never started it
The Count of Monte Cristo
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible: a novel
Angels & Demons -I've never heard of this one
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -for a book club
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time -for a book club
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes: a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon -I started it but have never finished it
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake: a novel
Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth -another one I've never heard of
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Friday, April 25, 2008

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Sidney Peterson

Today is the anniversary of the death in 2000 at the age of 94 of American film maker Sidney Peterson. His 18-minute short film The Lead Shoes (1949) can be viewed online here at UbuWeb, where there is also an essay on the film.

from that essay:
In our daily lives, we think of the world around us with a definite space and a definite flow of time. The Lead Shoes prove that it is not so hard to throw us off-balance both in space and in time.
Peterson makes us aware that space and time are more complicated than we think they are and they should be experienced in a more open-minded way.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth is an Academy Award-winning documentary. /film reports a sequel is in the works.

St. George

Today is the feast day of Saint George of Merry England of Dragon fame. He is the patron saint of many groups, including lepers, Palestine and Palestinian Christians.

A Novena in honor of St. George:
Say once a day for 9 days, especially beginning on 14 April and ending on 22 April, the eve of the Feast of St. George.

Almighty and eternal God! With lively faith and reverently worshiping Thy divine Majesty, I prostrate myself before Thee and invoke with filial trust Thy supreme bounty and mercy. Illumine the darkness of my intellect with a ray of Thy heavenly light and inflame my heart with the fire of Thy divine love, that I may contemplate the great virtues and merits of the saint in whose honor I make this novena, and following his example imitate, like him, the life of Thy divine Son.

Moreover, I beseech Thee to grant graciously, through the merits and intercession of this powerful Helper, the petition which through him I humbly place before Thee, devoutly saving, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Vouchsafe graciously to hear it, if it redounds to Thy greater glory and to the salvation of my soul. Amen.

O God, who didst grant to Saint George strength and constancy in the various torments which he sustained for our holy faith; we beseech Thee to preserve, through his intercession, our faith from wavering and doubt, so that we may serve Thee with a sincere heart faithfully unto death. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Faithful servant of God and invincible martyr, Saint George; favored by God with the gift of faith, and inflamed with an ardent love of Christ, thou didst fight valiantly against the dragon of pride, falsehood, and deceit. Neither pain nor torture, sword nor death could part thee from the love of Christ. I fervently implore thee for the sake of this love to help me by thy intercession to overcome the temptations that surround me, and to bear bravely the trials that oppress me, so that I may patiently carry the cross which is placed upon me; and let neither distress nor difficulties separate me from the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Valiant champion of the Faith, assist me in the combat against evil, that I may win the crown promised to them that persevere unto the end.

My Lord and my God! I offer up to Thee my petition in union with the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, together with the merits of His immaculate and blessed Mother, Mary ever virgin, and of all the saints, particularly with those of the holy Helper in whose honor I make this novena.

Look down upon me, merciful Lord! Grant me Thy grace and Thy love, and graciously hear my prayer. Amen.

The picture at the top of the post is of Raphael's painting of St. George.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I'm a liberal

I took The World's Smallest Political Quiz. My results:

The political group that agrees with you most is...

LIBERALS usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

The RED DOT on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map.

Your PERSONAL issues Score is 100%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 20%.

Yes She Can!

Hillary can too still win!

Here's how:

HT: LeftWingCracker

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Body in the Snowdrift

The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page won the 2005 Agatha Award. It's one in a series about a caterer named Faith Fairchild who is married to a priest with whom she has 2 children.

from the back of the book:

Caterer Faith Fairchild has a bad feeling about her father-in-law's decision to celebrate his seventieth birthday with a family reunion ski week at the Pine Slopes resort in Vermont - the Fairchilds' favorite getaway since Faith's husband, the Reverend Thomas Fairchild, was a toddler. At first her unease seems unfounded - until Faith comes across a corpse on one of the cross-country trails, the apparent victim of a heart attack.

Then one catastrophe follows another: the mysterious disappearance of the Pine Slopes' master chef, a malicious prank at the sports center, a break-in at the Fairchild condo, the sabotage of a chairlift. And when a fatal "accident" with the snow-making machines stains the slopes blood red, Faith realizes she'll have to work fast to solve a murderous puzzle - because suddenly not only are the reunion and the beloved resort's future in jeopardy ... but Faith's life is as well.

I don't like mysteries in which the main character keeps listing the suspects and their points of interest, and this book is definitely guilty of that. Culinary delights are described throughout the book with parenthetical page numbers where recipes can be found. Not really my thing. There are several pathetically immature marriages we get to know that don't contribute to the plot and far too many characters for me to easily keep straight.

This is not going on my list of favorites, and, although it was interesting enough to finish, it wasn't interesting enough to motivate me to read more in the series.

Bill Clinton Endorses Obama?

in 2004:

HT: O'DonnellWeb

Michael Moore Endorses Obama

excerpts from his statement at

...over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!

This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!

Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you.

But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.

Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for 'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!"

But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be decent. She's been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.

That's why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That's why he'll take us down a more decent path. ...

HT: The Huffington Post

Top 25 Creationist Fallacies

A Primer to Creationist Fallacies, Blunders and Tactical Trickery:

My favorite, of course, is the false dichotomy which sets up belief in God and acceptance of the theory of evolution as mutually exclusive.

I suppose it might be reason enough to watched Ben Stein's new Expelled video -to look for these logical fallacies and make a count of how many of them are used.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Mirrormask is a film The Younger Son and I loved when we saw it about a year ago. The Daughter had never seen it, so we showed it to her tonight. She liked it, too!

Here's what I wrote last year:

I'd been wanting to watch this movie since before it was released, but it was just too expensive. And then I found it used for $1.99. Nice!

Mirrormask is a Jim Henson Company film written by Neal Gaiman. The visual imagery is the real star of the show, but the movie itself was delightful, too, and easily viewable again.

Here's the trailer:

Here's the scene with the giants:

Roger Ebert says,
"MirrorMask" must have been a labor of love to make. Watching it is also a labor of love.

Locus Online's review concludes:
What you have here is a visually breathtaking and original film with a mostly second-hand plot. It's worth your six or seven bucks for the visuals alone. It also has the best use ever of a Carpenter's song. Trust us.

Cinematical's review opens with these words:
Anyone expecting Labyrinth 2: Back In Hot Water from the dark, Henson-produced fantasy MirrorMask will be disappointed, though creator/comic book god Neil Gaiman's many fans will thrill to finally see the writer's imagination so undiluted on the screen.

Sunday Psalm

Psalm 31

1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.

17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.

22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Friday, April 18, 2008

Casino Royale

The Younger Son assured me I would like Daniel Craig as Blond, James Blond, even though I've always preferred Sean Connery as 007. I must admit he was right. I do like the humor with which Connery plays the part, but this new Bond really is perfect.

Casino Royale (2006) trailer:

Thor Heyerdahl

Today is the anniversary of the death in 2002 of writer adventurer Thor Heyerdahl. I remember reading his book about the Kon-Tiki expedition and finding it fascinating. I read it several times while I was a teenager.

There is a page here that has information, photos and links. Go Norway has information in their Famous Norwegians section. The Bradshaw Foundation has excerpts from his lectures. The Kon-Tiki Museum has a web presence here.

The picture above is from Wikipedia.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Power and the Glory

I've read several books by Graham Greene, but it's been a while since my last one.

from the back of the book:

The last priest is on the run. During an anti-clerical purge in one of the southern states of Mexico, he is hunted like a hare. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the little worldly ´whisky priest´ is nevertheless impelled towards his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers. A baleful vulture of doom hovers over this modern crucifixion story, but above the vulture soars an eagle - the inevitability of the Church´s triumph.

The Power and the Glory is one of Time's top 100 novels. Greene's comments on the book are here.

This is a powerful book -depressing and uplifting at the same time- and ultimately about redemption.

William Hope Hodgson

Today is the anniversary of the death at Ypres in WWI in 1918 of sff/horror author William Hope Hodgson. His most famous work is the novel The House on the Borderland, published in 1908 and available online here and here. Links to some of his other works online are here. H.P. Lovecraft's essay on Supernatural Horror in Literature says,

Mr. Hodgson is perhaps second only to Algernon Blackwood in his serious treatment of unreality. Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and insignificant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and the abnormal in connection with regions or buildings.

Hodgson was also a noted body builder and ran a school of "physical culture" when a young man. He appeared on stage with Houdini in response to Houdini's challenge to anyone who could bind him so he couldn't escape. PBS reports the event as part of their Houdini timeline at their American Experience site. Hodgson succeeded in the task but angered Houdini in the process.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Do-It-Yourself Biosphere

Written instructions and a list of "ingredients" can be found in this pdf file.

I remember there used to be a nature store at the mall that sold globes that were like this, something like Edmund Scientific sells here:

I always thought that they were cool but never really trusted that they would last.

Bruce Springsteen Endorses Barack Obama

Dear Friends and Fans:

Like most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.

He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."

At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams From My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.

After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.

Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.

HT: Queer Notes

Pope Trivia Test

Here's the test.

I got 80%.

HT: Faith Central

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

In Debt We Trust

part 1:

part 2:

part 3:

part 4:

part 5:

part 6:

part 7:

part 8:

part 9:

Father Damien

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1889 of Father Damien, whose cause for canonization is ongoing.

I have seen one movie based on his life. There are some photos of the island and the church here. The Catholic Encyclopedia has a short biography, as do the National Park Service and EWTN.

Monday, April 14, 2008

I've been seeing all the broo ha ha about this film, and I thought I'd start a list of link sites relating to it. The only way I'll ever see the movie is if it gets uploaded to youtube.

Expelled Exposed is a National Center for Science Education resource site. Lots of great links.

There's a great list of links at Greg Laden's blog.

My favorite story so far is the priceless tale of PZ Myers getting Expelled from Expelled while Richard Dawkins went unrecognized and got to experience the film unhindered.

update 4/17/2008:
There's been a flap about the film containing images for which they had no permissions for use. Now it seems they used music without permission, including John Lennon's "Imagine" owned now by Yoko Ono. She is apparently not a happy camper. I saw the news at Panda's Thumb. They are claiming fair use rights since the clip is less than 25 seconds long. I'm a big advocate of Fair Use but don't know if this particular use qualifies.

There's also a wonderful report that "they" from PZ Myers to Ben Stein are in cahoots to bring down Creationism/ID. I love conspiracy theories.

Threads From Henry's Web, the blog of a Methodist author, has a post which says in part,
The problem I have is that Expelled! is also squeezing some folks out, and they are making Christianity Today a co-conspirator in that process. The ones squeezed out? All those Christians, even evangelical Christians who would like much of what Christianity Today publishes, but who accept the theory of evolution.

This is one of the many problems with this movie. It frames the controversy as one between theists and atheists, between moral people and immoral people, and thus leaves out Christian evolutionists, moral atheists, and many people who are not particularly religious or anti-religious, but are simply out there doing the best science they can. As one of those Christian evolutionists, I find this implication appalling. According to this movie and its promoters, I’m a co-conspirator with a bunch of Nazis to persecute Christians.

There've been so many articles on Expelled I didn't add them here, but now that it's been released I thought I'd add some links to comments I've seen.

Evolving Thoughts thinks the Creationism/ID folks should be given the press because it leads to more people learning about science.

Quintessence of Dust wants to expose up to the alternative Stork Theory.

Reasons to Believe sees the movie as harmful to the cause, explaining,
In Reasons To Believe's interaction with professional scientists, scientific institutions, universities, and publishers of scientific journals we have encountered no significant evidence of censorship, blackballing, or disrespect.

Exploring Our Matrix pointed me to the AAAS statement. They also have links to a few interesting blog posts and reviews.

The Panda's Thumb has the numbers on the film's opening week-end. They also report the numbers from RottenTomatoes, comment on a review from Waco, Texas, a link to the NYT review, a link to Scientific American's report on Ben Stein's quote mining, a link to the Ayn Rand Institute's press release and much more. A great place to keep up with reporting on the "documentary".

Dispatches From the Culture Wars says it flopped.

Exploring the Matrix has a couple more links here and here.

Reviews by Higgaion and EvolutionBlog.

Pharyngula has links to a thorough review of the official Expelled study guide.

The Questionable Authority is one of many bloggers discussing the attempt to spin the opening of Expelled as an unmitigated success.

Dispatches from the Culture Wars has more links.

Alternet has a review, which closes with this:
Mencken's remarks that we have the right to hold controversial and even stupid beliefs is not without merit. It's a beautiful idea, and a wonderfully American notion -- this innate sense of democratic principles that we all have a say in how things should be.

Expelled takes this idea and perverts it, arguing that truth and evidence is irrelevant. All sides should be treated as equal.

But as Mencken said, free speech does not give one the right to demand that these ideas be treated as sacred.

Scroll down to see the review at the blog The Evolution of a Creationist, which closes with this:
So what is making me angry? Honestly, it's the fact that one year ago I would have fallen for Stein's presentation—hook, line, and sinker. I'm also angry at how easily Christians fall for half-truths and outright lies. I'm angry at how often we Christians check our brains at the door and are perfectly willing to serve as messenger boys for the most outrageous urban legends, folk sciences, doctrines, and just plain idiotic belief systems. I'm angry at Christianity's penchant for dismissing the claims of biological and astronomical science despite the voluminous amount of evidence in favor of evolution.

NationalReviewOnline voices this opinion of the basic problem with ID as evidenced in Expelled:

They overhauled creationism as “intelligent design,” roped in a handful of eccentric non-Christian cranks keen for a well-funded vehicle to help them push their own flat-earth theories, and set about presenting themselves to the public as “alternative science" engaged in a “controversy” with a closed-minded, reactionary “science establishment” fearful of new ideas. (Ignoring the fact that without a constant supply of new ideas, there would be nothing for scientists to do.) Nothing to do with religion at all!

I think this willful act of deception has corrupted creationism irredeemably. The old Biblical creationists were, in my opinion, wrong-headed, but they were mostly honest people. The “intelligent design” crowd lean more in the other direction.

GetReligion says, "The film, starring Ben Stein, argues that Intelligent Design should not be systematically excluded from academia. It doesn’t argue for Intelligent Design or against Darwinism so much as for academic freedom" and argues that the documentary should be taken more seriously and given more press by mainstream media. This response surprised me. It's my understanding that the film is filled with "facts" that aren't and the worst sort of propaganda. The fact that it did reasonably well at the box office does not make me expect the mainstream film reviewers and news reporters to think it deserving of press. I see a definite difference between Expelled and the Gore and Michael Moore movies, which are at least based on verifiable facts.

Boston Globe's review sees the film as a sure sign that Science is in trouble and closes with this:
"Expelled" is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. Stein is doing nothing less than helping turn a generation of American youth away from science. If we actually come to believe that science leads to murder, then we deserve to lose world leadership in science. In that sense, the word "expelled" may have a different and more tragic connotation for our country than Stein intended.

Panda's Thum continues to post links to reviews and articles as they are published.

Thomas Robb (HT: Dispatches from the Culture Wars) says that the Jewish Ben Stein has made this movie in order to promote race mixing in the Christian community. Amazing. Why didn't I see that coming. Hobb says,
The message of the movie is not about creationism but to trap Christians into accepting, tolerating, promoting and engaging in interracial relationships and marriage. After all as Christians we don’t want to promote the evils of Darwin - do we? The trap has been set - don't get caught!

You can't make this stuff up.

The United Methodist Reporter has a review which focuses on the appeal to emotion in the film but gives the factual errors a pass.

Rachel Carson

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1964 of Rachel Carson. I remember discovering her book Silent Spring while I was in high school, and it impressed me to the point where I was a real pain around the house, mentioning its relevant points whenever the opportunity arose. I remember when DDT was banned here partly in response to that book. It didn't take me long to discover some of her other works: Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea.

Her birthplace has a website. She has a website here. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people of the century. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services site has a page devoted to her which includes many helpful links. Bill Moyers looks at her life and legacy. She is a charter inductee of Ecotopia's Ecology Hall of Fame.

This is a 2-minute intro to her work:

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Margaret of Castello

I used to have a book about Blessed Margaret of Castello (she was called Margaret of Metola in the book), and it may still be around here somewhere. Today is the anniversary of her death in 1320. She is the one who was born a blind, deformed, hunchback midget and whose parents locked her up so no one would see her until she was 14 years old, at which time they took her to a shrine to pray for a cure. When no cure came they abandoned her there.

Sunday Psalm

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The picture above is Jean-Francois Millet's Return of the Flock.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Prayer Hours

Click here to see the form for prayer suitable for the current date/hour.

The photo is from bhsher's Flickr page.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Freeware Games

This is a list of top 10 freeware games from 2007.

What does it say about me that I've never even heard of any of them? Maybe you'd best not answer that.

The Prestige

The Prestige is a 2006 film based on a Christopher Priest novel I haven't read. It stars Michael Caine, which is always a good sign, Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and has David Bowie as Nikola Tesla.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class

This is a one-hour lecture by Elizabeth Warren, who was interviewed in Maxed Out and Secret History of the Credit Card. She has authored books, but I have not read them.

This is an illuminating video. She compares the inflation-adjusted income and expenses for a 2-parent/2-child household from the early 1970's with that of a similar family from the early 2000's -the space of one generation. It's an everything-you-know-is-wrong moment and an important situation to give serious attention to. She fears we're moving from a 3-class society (in which there are a few rich and a few poor with a large majority of people firmly in a stable middle class) to a 2-class society (in which a slightly larger group of rich people is at the top and everybody else falls into a group of folks at high risk who can never hope to achieve firm financial footing).

I wish the Q&A had been included.

HT: Economist's View

Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Secret Mission

Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Secret Mission is the 2nd in this series by Michael Bond and the 3rd one I've read. I read one back in June and another one this past February. This is my least favorite so far, but it is still a fun read.

from the back of the book:

Monsieur Pamplemousse has been summoned by the director of Le Guide, the prestigious culinary magazine for which Pamplemousse writes restaurant reviews, on a matter of utmost secrecy. The director is in a pickle: his wife's aunt, whose restaurant perpetrates some of the worst food in France, is demanding inclusion in the next issue of Le Guide.

The Hotel du Paradis, home of Aunt Louise's restaurant, is a place of little comfort, and neither Pamplemousse nor his trusty dog Pommes Frites can sleep after their first dinner. But the problem is not merely indigestion. Some items served to Pamplemousse-and slipped under the table to the eager Pommes Frites-contained an aphrodisiac of undeniable potency.

So Pamplemousse must solve not only the director's problem but also the perplexing question of who is spiking this awful food-and why. Along the way he encounters a baguette of bizarre proportions and an all-girl marching band with amour on their minds. Add a soupcon of danger and intrigue-voila!-pure delight!

Singin' Star Trek Actors

Well, we've seen Shatner do it to Shakespeare, Rocketman and Taxi, and we've seen Nimoy do it to Bilbo. Watch George Takei do it to country music:

He practices, critiqued by the ST:TOS crew:

HT: The Husband

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Smelly Tassie

According to Environmental Grafitti the Tasmanian Devil is one of the 7 smelliest creatures in the world:

According to some who have encountered it in the wild its stench can never be forgotten. It’s said to reek of death which, along with its ghastly cries and vicious feeding behavior, may have given it its reputation as a fearsome creature. In reality, the devil is shy and solitary and doesn’t generally go around stinking up the joint. They aren’t even particularly prolific hunters, preferring to get together and chow down on carrion. It’s only when the devil is agitated that it starts to produce its horrible smell.

The photo above is taken from the wikipedia site.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson won the Hugo in 2006. I was drawn into this one. It's not a straight chronological narrative. Although it all happens from one character's perspective the time shifts back and forth so you get hints of some future events long before they occur.

There were mentions of several science fiction books, which I found intriguing since I had read all of them. There were mentions of jazz musicians scattered through the book, and there was a self-comparison of one of the characters to Gloria Swanson's part in Sunset Boulevard. The thread in the novel having to do with the red calf in Biblical prophecy was interesting to me since I've known people who interpreted the Bible in the same way as some of the people in the book.

from the back of the book:

The time is the day after tomorrow, and three adolescents-Diane and Jason Lawton, twins, and their best friend, Tyler Dupree-are out stargazing. Thus they witness the erection of a planet-spanning shield around the globe, blocking out the universe. Spin chronicles the next 30-odd years in the lives of the trio, during which 300 billion years will pass outside the shield, thanks to an engineered time discontinuity. Jason, a genius, will invest his celibate life in unraveling cosmological mysteries. Tyler will become a doctor and act as our narrator and as Jason's confidante, while nursing his unrequited love for Diane, who in turn plunges into religious fanaticism. Along the way human-descended Martians will appear, bringing a drug that can elevate humans to the Fourth State, ‘an adulthood beyond adulthood.’ But will even this miracle be enough to save Earth?

Scifidimensions reviews it here. SFSignal has a review here. covers it here.

SFReviews describes it this way:

Narrative techniques that from other writers might seem gimmicky or formulaic are handled with great finesse. Spin has a flashback structure, but its utilized sparingly, in a way that enhances your involvement. You really want to find out how our heroes got from there to here, and it's immensely satisfying to see how loose threads are carefully tied together, one by one. Wilson also isn't above the time-honored tradition of ending chapters on surprise reveals and cliffhangers, but compare how skilfully he does it

SFSite says,

What there is is a novel which, by grounding itself in real characters with real emotions, is all the more successful in its evocation of the sense of wonder that we expect from SF. Wilson has hit upon one of those basic dilemmas of human existence: How do you maintain a sense of hope and purpose in a universe where, the more you learn about it, the more it seems to have little or no room for either? Spin addresses the issue with style and substance, an approach that makes for one of the best science fiction novels of this or any year.

Homeschooler Public Relations

It's great to see the 51-page booklet THE HOMESCHOOLING IMAGE: Public Relations Basics free here. It assumes a willingness to actively participate in media events, interact with reporters and develop a public "face". Given those desires, this resource is invaluable.

Laura Nyro

Today is the anniversary of the death in 1997 of singer/songwriter/pianist Laura Nyro. I had several of her LPs/cassettes but have none of her CDs. There's a Facebook group here. Her official homepage marks the date:
The saddest part is that there are no new memories to be made. The gladdest part is that Laura's music is alive, vital, and accessible. Both her genius and her persona can still fill the room through her sound, and that's a wonderful, ongoing gift.

Save the Country:

I had another post on her last year.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Bob Dylan has won a Pulitzer Prize

A Special Citation to Bob Dylan for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

Blowin' in the Wind (1963):

The Times They Are A'Changin' (1964):

Like a Rolling Stone (1965):

Subterranean Homesick Blues (1965):

Tangled Up in Blue (1975):

All 5 of these embedded songs are on the list of 500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Dowsing of the Torch

China ain't winnin' the public relations race in the pre-Olympics festivities, that's for sure. There have been effective protests in Greece (when the torch was lit), in London, in France -BBC report here- (where police had assured all that security would be impenetrable) and now California (where the torch has yet to arrive).

The Housing Panic blog has some pictures, a video and an interesting suggestion. BoingBoing has had some posts on the ongoing news.

Pew Forum reports:
A federal religious freedom watchdog panel has urged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics unless "there is substantial improvement" in China's treatment of Tibet.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said China must open "direct and concrete talks" with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhism, before Bush attends the opening ceremonies.

If those talks do not occur, the nine-member commission called on Bush to first visit the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and urged Bush to request a meeting with Chinese political prisoners or dissidents during his visit.

Yahoo sports reports:
No person with even a modicum of sense could have believed the Olympics would cause China to reverse course on human rights, democracy, freedom and the environment. To believe it overnight would turn into Switzerland is not gambling, it's insanity.

Nor would anyone think that freedom seekers in Tibet, their cries mostly ignored for the last 50 years, would decide to just stand down as world attention finally turns to them just because they didn't want to embarrass the very government they believe persecutes them.
The Olympic torch makes its lone appearance in the United States Wednesday when it will be run along the waterfront in San Francisco. Crowds of protestors are expected to jeer its every flicker, if not try to extinguish it. This comes after disruptions in Greece, England and France as regular citizens do what little they can to rage against Chinese oppression and IOC corruption.

The Perfect Library

The Telegraph has a list! A wonderful list! I love these kinds of things, 'cause I'm always looking for more suggestions for books to buy. Heaven knows that's what I need -More Books!

They have annotations at the site, but here are the classics suggestions:

The Illiad and The Odyssey

The Barchester Chronicles
Anthony Trollope

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen

Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë

War and Peace

David Copperfield
Charles Dickens

Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray

Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert

George Eliot

I've got this covered, except I can't find Vanity Fair. I had a copy in high school, and I don't remember getting rid of it, but it's disappeared at some point during the many intervening years.

Their literary fiction choices:

The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James

A la recherche du temps perdu

James Joyce

For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway

Sword of Honour trilogy
Evelyn Waugh

The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Muriel Spark

Rabbit series
John Updike

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez

Toni Morrison

The Human Stain
Philip Roth

I have the ones in bold print.

They also have lists for crime novels, children's books, poetry, romantic fiction, sci fi, books that changed the world, books that changed your world, history and lives. This list is well worth considering, but I'm glad I have space enough to have lots more books than they suggest.

HT: SFSignal, where they pull out the SFF suggestions.

"Trekkie" Test

1. Yes
2. No, but I'm not into the whole weapons "thing". You can have your very own for just $69.99, though, and it'd look cool on the right wall. Not my wall, mind, but the right wall.
3. Yes

But "trekkie"? Trekkie???

Please. I'm insulted.

More about the bat'leth here at Memory Alpha.

HT: Locusts & Honey

Tom Waits' Road to Peace

Tom Waits is a Methodist.

HT: The Elder Son

Sunday, April 06, 2008

American Imperialism

Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me about the American Empire
by Howard Zinn
Narrated by Viggo Mortensen

This is a video by the author of a popular American history textbbok. His book A People's History Of The United States is available online here.

HT for the video: Monkeyfister

R.I.P. Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston has died. I first saw the news at SyFyPortal, but the news is everywhere:

Arbogast on Film
Edward Copeland

There aren't many true "Hollywood legends" still with us, and now another one is gone, as Charlton Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home after a six-year battle with Alzheimer's. CNN reports that his wife, Lydia -- to whom he had been married for an astonishing 64 years -- was at his side.

The timing of his death was oddly appropriate in several ways. Given that some of his most famous roles were religious in nature -- Moses, John the Baptist, Judah Ben-Hur -- it seems fitting that he should die exactly between the Easter and Passover holidays. His death also occurred one day after the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, and Heston was an ardent supporter of King's. He marched with King, and stood on the platform with him when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

NPR calls him a "conservative activist" and details some of those causes but makes no note at all of his civil rights connection.

Self-Styled Siren
Another Old Movie Blog:
For a man with such varied film and stage experience, who also wrote about his career, who collected memorabilia from his films, one wonders at the irony that at the time of life when memories of his career should have been his comfort, he was likely stripped of most of them due to a wasting disease. When he announced his Alzheimer’s a few years ago, he rejected pity. How can one not pity?

God's Politics
Obit Magazine

Huffington Post reports the funeral.

Sunday Psalm

Psalm 116

1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

19 In the courts of the LORD's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Blue Shoes and Happiness

Blue Shoes and Happiness is the 7th in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I have read all the earler ones:
and have enjoyed them all. They are not plot-driven. I love the characters and the setting and the writing style. I can easily picture everything. They have made a tv pilot out of the first book, and it has aired in Britain. I'm looking forward to getting the dvd as soon as it's available here.

from the back of the book:

Life is good for Mma Ramotswe as she sets out with her usual resolve to solve people’s problems, heal their misfortunes, and untangle the mysteries that make life interesting. And life is never dull on Tlokweng Road. A new and rather too brusque advice columnist is appearing in the local paper. The Mokolodi Game Preserve manager feels an infectious fear spreading among his workers, and a local doctor may be falsifying blood pressure readings. To further complicate matters, Grace Makutsi may have scared off her own fiance. Mma Ramotswe, however, is always up to the challenge.

I think the world would be a better place if only folks would listen to Mma Precious Ramotswe:
What's the point of being angry? When we are cross with somebody, what good does that do? Especially if they did not mean to cause harm.

10 Best Science Fiction Stories About Religion

SFGospel has an annotated list of its choices for the 10 best science fiction stories about religion. Here are the 10:

1. Jack McDevitt, "Gus."
2. Robert Silverberg, "The Feast of St. Dionysus."
3. Philip K. Dick, "Faith of Our Fathers."
4. Katharine Kerr, "Asylum."
5. Isaac Asimov, "Reason."
6. Robert Silverberg, The Pope of the Chimps
7. Michael Bishop, "The Gospel According to Gamaliel Crucis."
8. Rick Moody, "The Albertine Notes."
9. Ray Bradbury, "The Man."
10. Fredric Brown, Answer

It's been so long since I read SF short stories... back in college I guess, or maybe some soon after that, and I don't know which of these are more recent than that.

The 2 stories linked are available online, and I own the book the Bradbury story is in. To read the others I'd have to buy a bunch of short story collections. I'll pass on that, but I am curious about the stories...


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My Divorce Ensured I Would Never Marry Again
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By, Contributor - November 21, 2016 - Updated January 05, 2017

Sad Bride2.jpg

I regret nothing, and still feel cut off at the knees, forced to crawl through life where most walk and some even run.

I walked away from two long-term relationships (and two picked-out-but-not-purchased engagement rings) because of my resolve that I would only marry once.

Then I met my future husband John* in the course of my internship at his publishing company. He was 11 years older, my supervisor, and also happened to be living with his girlfriend of five years. The circumstances weren’t auspicious, but something genuine blossomed out of the tumultuous affair. And eight months later, while dancing to Ishmael Herring’s “My Woman and Me” in front of the town’s gazebo, John slipped an antique pearl and sapphire ring onto my left hand and asked me to marry him.

Within two years, we married in Las Vegas. Ten months later, I left our marital home with nothing more than could fit in my little car, just as committed in that moment to ending our union as I had been to eternalizing it almost a year ago.

There aren’t words to describe the overwhelming, all-consuming pain of such a decision. Sometimes, a memory will come to me — something as large as a moment from our Costa Rican honeymoon, or as small as his signature furrowed-brow face in photos — and any semblance of happiness in my new life will be overtaken by loss that reduces me to ugly, snot-ridden, body-shaking tears. In such times, there is nothing to be done but curl into the smallest, tightest ball and wait for breath to find me again.

Even filing the paperwork to commence our official divorce has been traumatic. In spite of my absolute conviction that we could not continue in our life together, I avoided it for months, finger shaking on the metaphorical trigger.

My soon-to-be ex-husband is a good man, and I wish him every good thing in the remainder of his life. I hope, most of all, that he avails himself of the notion that I’m the love of his life sooner rather than later. I regret nothing, and still feel cut off at the knees, forced to crawl through life where most walk and some even run. I cannot imagine how he suffers — most of the time I try not to.

In spite of this, I have made a life for myself that includes love. It is new, unconditional, and honest.

Christopher* and I have been close friends for 10 years, which makes it easy to talk about almost anything: our thoughts on home ownership (solidly negative), proclivities in porn (varied), whether or not to have children (potentially one, several years down the road), and even my divorce (it’s a shame that it hurts me, but otherwise not a problem). Christopher held my hand and kissed my eyes when writing this piece brought me to tears. He wraps me in his arms when I fall into the memory pit, and he tells me that it’s OK to feel the way I do and that none of it will scare him away or make him love me less.

We even talked about a life without one another, something that, after all this time, feels impossible. We made plans for me to move to Boston this spring, and sometime after we’ll move in together, adopt 20 cats, become two work-from-home writers, and try our best to be happy until we grow old and die. We’re agreeing to move forward only when it feels completely comfortable for us both.

The only thing that is completely off the table for us is marriage. I love Christopher. I want to share my life with him. But I remain firm in my promise to myself: I will only marry once.

Marriage, even when I was happy within it, did not in and of itself make me happy. Changing my name on Facebook was a thrill, as was using the word “husband,” but the nature of my relationship with John didn’t change. The only noticeable difference between engagement and marriage was the way we filed our taxes.

But breaking apart this marriage has been hell. Most of all, I feel guilty: We took vows of a private nature in a public venue, and then undermined the most fundamental of them: as long as we both shall live. There is the constant pull between knowing that I’ve made the right decision, and feeling that I failed — simply because I was someone’s wife instead of their significant other.

I want to commit to my relationship with Christopher and recommit to it every day. I want our biggest relationship decisions to be whether to live together, start a family, or travel the world. I want this feeling of compatible bliss to last forever, and I’ll work my hardest to see that it does. I've promised him that. I've promised myself to learn from my pain. I've made him promise to never ask for my hand in marriage.

*Names have been changed

This article by Liz Lazzara first appeared on Ravishly, your first  stop for feminist hugs.”

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Prudential 1st opens main Tupelo office

By Carlie Kollath/NEMS Daily Journal

TUPELO – Prudential 1st Real Estate officially opened its Tupelo office Wednesday.
The company, a new franchise in Tupelo, has a two-story building on Tom Watson Drive, next to Scruggs Farm, Lawn & Garden Home Improvement Warehouse.
Mitchell Scruggs owns the Scruggs store and the Prudential 1st franchise.
The new business came about last year, Scruggs told the audience at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, when he heard that a franchise might be available.
“I own a lot of real estate and I’m buying and selling it all the time,” he said. “I’ve built and sold homes over the years. Real estate has always interested me.”
Tracy Berry, a broker at Prudential 1st who runs the operations, said Scruggs met with the previous franchise’s agents at Prudential-Magnolia Realty to offer them a job during the “whirlwind” last year.
“We did not lose one agent during that transition,” she said. “We have a great group of agents. If it wouldn’t have been for every one of the agents that we have, we wouldn’t have been able to start a new company. They stuck with it.”
Prudential 1st started with 39 agents and now has 43. The company does commercial, residential, investment and multi-family sales. It also has an office in New Albany.
The company will showcase its roughly 30,000-square-foot office tonight during an open house from 6 to 8.
Berry, who has been in the office since July 1, said the real estate industry has been “going really good.”
“It’s not as great as it once was, but it’s not as bad as it was a year and a half ago. It’s picked up a good bit.”

Contact Carlie Kollath at (662) 678-1598 or

Prudential 1st Real Estate
Address: 3543 Tom Watson Drive
Phone: (662) 841-1122
Owner: Mitchell Scruggs

Click video to hear audio


text:
Concept 40 Living things share common genes.

Mike Wigler Mike Bishop Harold Varmus Mike Wigler and his group were among the first to clone and characterize human oncogenes. Mike Bishop and Harold Varmus worked out how retroviruses transform normal cells to cancerous ones.

Harold Eliot Varmus (1939-)

Harold Varmus

Midway through his first year as a graduate student in English Literature at Harvard, Harold Varmus had a dream that terrified him. He was an English professor — the job he was training for — but missed a day of lecturing due to illness. His students were enthralled with the news that there would be no class. Upon waking, Varmus thought that if he were a doctor, no one would be happy if he didn't show up for work. And with that thought, Varmus redirected his curiosity first to medicine, then to science, and finally to running the largest biomedical institution in the world, the National Institutes of Health.

Varmus originally planned on becoming a doctor like his father as he grew up on the South Shore of Long Island. He enjoyed the outdoors - fishing in the summer and skiing in the winter - but was inept on the football and baseball fields. He turned to reading when he attended the local public schools that were dominated by team sports.

In 1957, Varmus began pre-med studies at Amherst College but was seduced by the academic life. He drifted from science to English literature, got involved in politics, and ran the college newspaper. After completing his senior thesis on Charles Dickens, he packed up for graduate school at Harvard with a Wilson fellowship in hand.

After leaving graduate school, Varmus studied medicine at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Initially attracted by practicing medicine abroad, an apprenticeship in a mission hospital in Bareilly, India tempered this desire, and he switched to basic medical research. He first experienced life in the lab as a Clinical Associate at NIH studying gene regulation in bacteria.

A year later in 1970, Varmus went to the University of California, San Francisco to study tumor viruses with Mike Bishop. At the time, many scientists thought that these viruses caused cancer by injecting their genes into the host's own genome. Bolstering this view, viral genes from the tumor viruses were found in infected animals. But Varmus and Bishop found that these viral genes had been stolen from the animals in the first place. The genes that caused cancer came from within - they were simply damaged. For this work, Varmus and Bishop shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1989.

Varmus stayed at UCSF until 1993 when he left to run the National Institutes of Health until Francis Collins took over in 2009. Though his friends thought he didn't have the patience for the job - and he had no administrative experience outside of his own lab - Varmus stroked the egos of Congressmen of both parties enough to increase the NIH's budget from 11 billion to 16 billion dollars. And he succeeded in raising money while remaining committed to basic science - research that's aimed at understanding life, not targeted directly at curing diseases.

Despite winning a Nobel Prize and sitting next to Hillary Clinton during a State of the Union address, most people in and out of Washington don't know who he is. The student newspaper at Harvard dubbed him "Dr. Who" after he was selected to give the commencement address, and the customers in his local coffee shop mistook him for a bum when he walked in wearing his old, stinky cycling gear.

Dr. Varmus ran the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City from 2000 to 2010, as President and Chief Executive Officer. He was then appointed Director of the National Cancer Institute. He is an avid cyclist, married to Constance Casey, a journalist, and they have two sons, Christopher and Jacob.

factoid Did you know ?

Mike Wigler dropped out of college for a semester to regroup at his parents' house before deciding to become a scientist.

Yeast have about 6,000 genes; humans have about 40,000. Where did we get the other genes?


text:
A parallel nearly implicit time-stepping scheme

Botchev, M.A. and Vorst, H.A. van der (2001) A parallel nearly implicit time-stepping scheme. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 137 (2). pp. 229-243. ISSN 0377-0427

open access
Abstract:Across-the-space parallelism still remains the most mature, convenient and natural way to parallelize large scale problems. One of the major problems here is that implicit time stepping is often difficult to parallelize due to the structure of the system. Approximate implicit schemes have been suggested to circumvent the problem. These schemes have attractive stability properties and they are also very well parallelizable.
The purpose of this article is to give an overall assessment of the parallelism of the method.
Item Type:Article
Additional information:Please note different possible spellings of the first author's name: "Botchev" or "Bochev"
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS)
Research Group:
Link to this item:http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/66813
Official URL:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-0427(01)00358-2
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Metis ID: 200400


text:
Tuesday, October 11, 2005

bBoy Kris Luna Interview

Click here to view video.

Following up from the last video I loaded on my vlog, I am bringing you another interview shot from that same bBoy session. This time it is with bBoy Kris Luna of the Dead End Crew (NYC). Kris is deadly on the floor and has some serious "Hollow Backs", an impressive bBoy dance move.

A little more on how this session came about:

This summer I embarked on a new project with a fellow filmmaker, Javier Goin. This project started out as a documentary film of sorts but slowly evolved into what has become a DVD magazine called SKILLZ DVD Magazine. The journey has been a great one and we have met some truly interesting people from the pioneers of hip hop like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Wizzard Theodore to bands like the Sugar Hill Gang, Melle Mel, Drag-On of Ruff Ryders Records, to contemporary people in the Hip Hop world. It's truly been great. The project takes on a positive approach to this genre of music and culture. Too often what is associated with Hip Hop is a negative image. We attempt to show the positive with a strong leaning towards the history of the music and educating those who look at what we are doing.

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text:
Magento Community Edition,

Grouped Product

A grouped product is made up of multiple, standalone products that are presented as a group. You can offer variations of a single product, or group them by season or theme to create a coordinated set. Each product can be purchased separately, or as part of the group.

Grouped Product

Creating a Grouped Product

The following instructions take you through the process of creating a grouped product with the basic fields. Each required field is marked in the Admin with a red asterisk (*). After you complete the required settings and save the product, you can add images and complete the remaining product information, as needed.

Things to Remember

  • A grouped product is essentially a collection of simple associated products.

    Simple and virtual products associated with a grouped product cannot have custom options.

    Each item purchased appears individually in the shopping cart, rather than as part of the group.

    The thumbnail image in the shopping cart can be set to display the image from the grouped product record, or from the associated product.


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    Achal Ahmed, MD

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    Dr. Ahmed's Overview

    Dr. Ahmed graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Memphis in 2002. She works in Crystal Lake, IL and 1 other location and specializes in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and Diabetes. Dr. Ahmed is affiliated with Alexian Brothers Medical Center, Centegra Hospital Mchenry and Centegra Specialty Hospital.

    Dr. Ahmed's Experience

    Years in Practice: 15

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    Medical School: University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Memphis; Graduated 2002

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text:
Baseball Toaster Dodger Thoughts
Jon Weisman's outlet
for dealing psychologically
with the Los Angeles Dodgers
and baseball.
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About Jon
Thank You For Not ...

1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with

About Jon
2003-06-06 11:37
by Jon Weisman
Note: The Dodger Thoughts blog has moved to the Los Angeles Times.

Hi folks. I decided it was time for a new biography, one that didn't read as if I were having my first child for the second consecutive year.

So in no particular order:

I'm a native of Los Angeles, second generation on my Mom's side. Dad's from Chicago, and attended the last Cubs World Series as a 10-year-old in 1945. He is a lifelong Cubs fan, but the Dodgers were his No. 2 team even then, thanks in no small part to Jackie Robinson. Dad moved to Los Angeles as a teenager in 1951. His family got season tickets to the Rams that year, and they stayed in the family until the team moved to Anaheim in 1982.

My 13th birthday came in 1980, which is of some significance to the Jewish people. However, I was never a religious person. I flunked out of Hebrew school after my first year because most days, I stayed home to watch the Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Hour instead of attending. I was not moved to change my ways when my older brother was bar-mitzvahed in 1976, nor when my sister was bat-mitzvahed in 1978. In the case of my sister, she had herself quit Hebrew school after a couple of years, but then did a crash course at the last minute when she realized that she was going to miss out on a heck of a lot of presents if she didn't get that bat mitzvah.

Me, I didn't want the presents that badly. I was a pretty content kid. But as the time approached, my father grew a little concerned that I would follow my sister's less-than-sincere path. So, in a fashion he compares to "The Devil and Daniel Webster," he made me an offer. If I gave up my right to have a bar mitzvah, my Dad would give me a lifetime pass to the Dodgers.

Yep, that was the offer. I hope it doesn't alienate the more righteous of my readers to learn that I snapped that offer up in a second. (I would say that about 10 percent of the people to whom I tell this story are appalled to some degree.) But that's why, in at least one respect, the Dodgers are my religion.

Some time passed as details were worked out. First of all, the Dodgers, believe it or not, did not sell a lifetime pass - just a mere season ticket. And at the time, I think the Dodgers had a waiting list for season tickets - demand was greater than their allotment of 27,000. Also, I think my Dad had already committed to the Rams for one more year, and didn't want to be spread too thin.

Anyway, starting in 1982, we were the proud owners of four season tickets to the Dodgers. (Guess my Dad didn't want me to have to go alone - or maybe he just had wanted season tickets all along...)

As far as ambition went, at age 3, I wanted to be a policeman. At age 4, I wanted to be a television star. At age 5, I combined the two ambitions and wanted to be on Adam-12. At age 7, I switched to wanting to be a TV weatherman. Then around the time I was nine or 10, I wanted to be Vin Scully.

That dream lasted for quite some time, until I realized I didn't really have much of an interest in talking for a living. By the time I graduated from high school in 1985, I had been Sports Editor of the school paper and had some inkling I might want to be a sportswriter. By my freshman year at Stanford, I was pretty sure of it. I started writing for the Stanford Daily my first week there. By the time I graduated, I had covered the College World Series in Omaha and Stanford's first appearance in March Madness in 47 years. I had a column and I loved it.

The next appropriate chapter of what has already become a stunningly long-winded biography can basically be found here. In short, I loved sportswriting, fulfilled a lifelong dream by covering games at Dodger Stadium, saw many current major leaguers play in their high school days - but got frustrated with it. I left to get a Master's degree in English at Georgetown in 1992, planning to become some sort of novelist/teacher. But I took a screenwriting elective, and got hooked. I moved back to Los Angeles near the end of 1993, right after wrapping up my quick degree, and went after the screen pretty much up to now.

Depending on your perspective, I had great success or none. I wanted to write for prime-time television, and got an agent to help me to do so, but despite some real close calls, including a tantalizing moment with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I never made it. Well, I did some uncredited punch-up work with Chris Leavell and Brax Cutchin on a short-lived sitcom, If Not For You, but that was it. I did sell about a dozen half-hour children's scripts for So Weird, Hercules, Men in Black, Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles and Max Steel, among other things.

I was making a living, but frustrated by the lack of job security in the business, I've found myself taking salaried jobs outside of screenwriting since 2000, and have been a writer/editor at our museum here in Los Angeles since April 2002. I still do some screenwriting - and, as you can see, some sportswriting - and hope to be paid for both again someday. (I've got two feature screenplays that aren't spoken for, if anyone's interested in snapping them up! Oh - and "Dodger Thoughts" doesn't run on spit and axle grease, either. Well, I guess it sort of does - but still!)

Okay, let's wrap this up. Hobbies? I play softball and ski whenever I can (the latter, of course, ain't as easy where I live). I root hard for the mighty Cardinal. I love great television and was as passionate about Hill Street Blues in its day as I am about the Dodgers today. I still sometimes think my future might be as a TV critic - I did some reviews for the Times in 2002. That'll be my next blog, at any rate.

Well, that's it. If you've read this far, you deserve a prize or some help. I'll close with this: While the amount of time I've spent writing here about other things is going to dwarf the amount of time I've spent on my family, suffice it to say, I'd be nowhere, nothing, nobody, without my wonderful wife and my wonderful daughter. Update: ... and son!

Update 2: I began freelancing for Variety in 2004, and moved there full-time as a features editor in 2006.

Update 3 (March 2008): And another son!

Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.


text:
Boxers for Sale in Colorado Springs

(1 - 15 of 40)
  1. Great Males Female Boxer Pups READY .We are extremely Proud to offer those incredibly lovely and EXQUISITELY well Text Us Any Time For Mo...
    Marketplace User ·23 hours ago on Advertigo
  2. MOmoral Lovable boxer pups Available male and female , Txt via (---- Photos and contact details on Advertigo website.
    Marketplace User ·21 hours ago on Advertigo
  3. Quality boxer pups are hard tofind so each puppy will come upto date on there shots including there Veterinarian/ Shotrecords, as well as...
    Marketplace User ·22 hours ago on Advertigo
  4. I've got all the energy to love you. Hi! I'm young, energetic, and curious. I love to walk and run. I'm a growing boy, so sometimes my s... ·20 hours ago on
  5. vgsdgg Boxer Puppies For Sale$TEXT US VIA THE NUMBER ON THE PICTURE OR EMAIL US AT jerrymark CM FOR MORE INFO AND PICS Pictures and conta...
    Marketplace User ·23 hours ago on Advertigo
  6. Hi there, I am Joey. Today, January 17, is my three month birthday. Time sure flies when you are having fun. I am a typical happy boxer. ...
    Joey #CI-4027 SP ·3 days ago on
  7. Chowder is a 4 mnth old boxer/labrador mixture. He is crate trained, micro-chipped and up-to-date on his vaccinations. He will be going i... ·5 days ago on
  8. Nickname: Benny Posted Breed: Boxer / Mixed (short coat). Meet Benny! An precious Boxer mixture pup! He is currently in Colorado await...
    Marketplace User ·1 week ago on PuppyFinder
  9. **PLEASE READ: If you live in a BSL area please DO NOT apply to adopt Benny. You must also own your home, we will not adopt him to anyone... ·2 weeks ago on
  10. Scarlett - FOSTER HOME NEEDED! Want a BFF? I'm your girl! I'm initially nervous around new people, but that lasts all of about 30 seconds...
    Scarlett ·2 weeks ago on
  11. Hi, please just call me Kiki. All my friends do. I am a gorgeous red head, with some good white accents. I weigh about 39lbs. I am about ...
    Kimone aka Kiki#CI-3693SPRE ·3 weeks ago on
  12. Nickname: Georgia Posted Breed: Boxer (medium coat). Please contact Constance ( for more information about this pet. Resc...
    Marketplace User ·3 weeks ago on PuppyFinder
  13. Please contact Constance ( for more details about this pet. Rescued dog Please read! If you are interested in me, please vis...
    Georgia ·3 weeks ago on
  14. Nickname: Nixon Posted Breed: Boxer (short coat). Hello, my name is Nixon & am the prettiest Boxer you will ever meet. I am aproximate...
    Marketplace User ·Over 4 weeks ago on PuppyFinder
  15. Hi, my name is Karma. I am black and white Boxer Mixture. I weigh around 25lbs right now. I am new to the program. More info to come. Ple...
    Karma#CI-4001LCHS ·Over 4 weeks ago on

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text:
Page 10: German Shepherds for Sale in 77022

(136 - 150 of 500)
  1. ... see more at
    LAUREL ·1 week ago on
  2. ... see more at
    CLAIRE ·1 week ago on
  3. ... see more at
    RADAR ·1 week ago on
  4. ... see more at
    DREW ·1 week ago on
  5. ... see more at
    CAPTAIN ·1 week ago on
  6. Splendora is an eleven month old black GSD mixture puppy. She has an excellent, friendly temperament and is great with other dogs. We hav...
    Splendora ·1 week ago on
  7. ... see more at
    PIPER ·1 week ago on
  8. Outback is a med sized male german shepherd dog who weighs around 55 lbs. He came from an area shelter with an ear infection and some ski...
    Outback ·1 week ago on
  9. ... see more at
    MARKY MARK ·1 week ago on
  10. Glacier is a large male german shepherd dog who weighs around 70 lbs. He came from an area kill shelter. He loves humans and is great wit...
    Glacier ·1 week ago on
  11. I am currently in foster care. Please email to meet me!... see more at
    SPARTICUS ·1 week ago on
  12. ·1 week ago on
  13. ... see more at
    PAXTON ·1 week ago on
  14. ·1 week ago on
  15. Stunning German Shepperd boy. Abandoned at a Starbucks in Conroe this weekend. Gets along with children, adores people and fully vetted. ... ·1 week ago on

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text:
Monday, June 11, 2012

GCH CH Hundeleben Queen’s Armada SL

We start our Monday Morning Mop Up in Wheaton IL where the hometown Wheaton Kennel Club entertained residents with two days of doggy fun.  Day one ended with Kathleem Steen in the final ring with the English Setter, GCH CH Stargasr’n Wingfield Time Will Tell, the Longhaired Dachshund, GCH CH Hundeleben Queen’s Armada SL, the Great Pyrenees, GCH CH Beren’s Hope of Thorn Hill HOF, the Norwich Terrier, GCH CH Itsy Bitsy Tanglewood Ranger, the Pug, CH Hill Country’s Tag I’m It, the Boston Terrier, GCH CH Gunther’s Gussied Up Edna, and the Polish Lowland Sheepdog, CH Ponwood’s Smoky.

Best went to the Dachshund, Cheese.   Cheese is the Number One Dachshund and Number Seven Hound with six BIS and 19 Hound Groups.

GCH CH Beren’s Hope of Thorn Hill HOF

On Sunday, Robert Whiteny would see the Brittany, GCH CH Star Flight Jumpin Jack Flash RN OA OAJ, the LH Dachshund, Cheese, the above mentioned Pyrenees, the Norwich terrier, GCH CH Max=Well’s Diamond Thief, the Shih Tzu, GCH CH Hallmark Jolei Bells Will Be Ringing, the Keeshond, GCH CH KJ’s Its Nothing Purrsonal, and the Belgian Sheepdog, GCH CH Uri de Beauvoir.

His BIS was the Pyrenees, Beren.  It’s the second this year for the winner of the 2011 Great Pyrenees Club of America National Specialty.  Congratulations to breeders Pat Ramapuram & Susan Tucker, and owner Jacqueline Wood, and handler David Daugherty.

  1. Is there a reason that no reports have been made for any of the 3 BIS's earned by the black Staffy Bull Terrier bitch, Daphne? She has 3 in the last 3 or 4 weeks, including a B2B last weekend and yet not one mention of it here...

    1. As much as I try to publish the results of every all breed show in the US, there are shows that I miss. They are the shows which AKC does not report in their weekly wins, which have superintendents that take forever to publish results, and which no one has sent me results. This applies to many shows in the upper Midwest as well as shows in Puerto Rico, Alaska, & Hawaii.

      I will be happy to publish results if some local fancier will send me the names of the BIS winner and the Group One winners. DSP relies on our readers to keep us informed.

  2. The lovely Pyr got his first BIS at the Kokomo KC in Kokomo, Indiana a few weeks ago- so apparently this is his second!


text:
issue 288 cover

This article is from the May/June 2010 issue of Dollars & Sense magazine.

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at a 30% discount.

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Dear Dr. Dollar:

With the crisis in Greece and other countries, commentators have said that governments are “under pressure from the bond market” or that bond markets will “punish” governments. What does this mean?
—Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Queens, N.Y.

It means that money is power.

The people and institutions that buy government bonds have the money. They are “the bond market.” By telling governments the conditions under which they will make loans (i.e., buy the governments’ bonds), they are able to greatly influence governments’ policies.

But let’s go back to some basics. When a government spends more than it takes in as taxes, it has to borrow the difference. It borrows by selling bonds, which are promises to pay. So the payments for the bonds are loans.

A government might sell a bond that is a promise to pay $103 a year from the date of sale. If bond buyers are confident that this promise will be kept and if the return they can get on other forms of investments is 3%, they will be willing to pay $100 for the bond. That is, they will be willing to loan the government $100 to be paid back in one year with 3% interest. This investment will then be providing the same return as their other investments.

But what if they are not confident that the promise will be kept? What if the investors (“the bond market”) think that the government of Greece, for example, may not be able to make the payments as promised and will default on the bonds? Under these circumstances the investors will not pay $100 for the bonds that return $103 next year. They may be willing to pay only $97.

If the government then does meet its promise, the bond will provide a 6.2% rate of return. But if the “bond market’s” fear of default turns out to be correct, then these bonds will have a much lower rate of return—or, in the extreme case, they will be a total loss. The “bond market” is demanding a higher rate of return to compensate for the risk. [The 3% - 6.2% difference was roughly the difference between the return on German and Greek bonds in March, when this column was written. By May, the return on Greek bonds was up to 16%. —Eds.]

However, if the Greek government—or whatever government is seeking the loans—can sell these bonds for only $97, it will have to sell more bonds in order to raise the funds it needs. In a year, the payments (that 6.2%) will place a new, severe burden on the government’s budget.

So the investors say, in effect, “If you fix your policies in ways that we think make default less likely, we will buy the bonds at a higher price—not $100, but maybe at $98 or $99.” It is not the ultimate purchasers of the bonds who convey this message; it is the underwriters, the large investment banks—Goldman Sachs for example. As underwriters they handle the sale of the bonds for the Greek government (and take hefty fees for this service).

Even if the investment banks were giving good, objective advice, this would be bad enough. However, the nature of their advice—“the pressure from the bond market”—is conditioned by who they are and whom they represent.

Foremost, they push for actions that will reduce the government’s budget deficit, even when sensible economic policy would call for a stimulus that would be provided by maintaining or expanding the deficit. Also, investment bankers will not tell governments to raise taxes on the rich or on foreign corporations in order to reduce the deficit. Instead, they tend to advocate cutting social programs and reducing the wages of public-sector workers.

It does not require great insight to see the class bias in these sorts of actions.

Yet the whole problem does not lie with the “pressure from the bond market.” The Greek government and other governments have followed policies that make them vulnerable to this sort of pressure. Unwilling or unable to tax the rich, governments borrowed to pay for their operations in good times. Having run budget deficits in good times, these authorities are in a poor position to add more debt when it is most needed—in the current recession in particular. So now, when governments really need to borrow to run deficits, they—and, more important, their people—are at the mercy of the “bond markets.”

Popular protests can push back, saving some social programs and forcing governments to place a greater burden on the wealthy. A real solution, however, requires long-term action to shift power, which would change government practices and reduce vulnerability to “the pressure from the bond market.”

Arthur MacEwan is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and a Dollars & Sense Associate.

Did you find this article useful? Please consider supporting our work by donating or subscribing.

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text:
Friday, April 20, 2007

How Lazy Can One Be?

Ok, this has nothing to do with my normal topics, but I can't not post this. If anyone is really this busy, they need to make some serious lifestyle changes.

From the Times-Online:
A caffeinated bar of soap has been invented for people who are short of time.
Every time a person lathers their body with the soap it produces two coffee cups’ worth of caffeine. The effects are said to be absorbed within five minutes and last for up to four hours. The soap, called Shower Shock, is intended for people who are too busy to make a cup of coffee in the morning. Shower Shock soap is on sale through the US-based internet company Think Geek and costs £3.50.

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text:
Photographed in Hollywood

SNOW THA PRODUCT is a smart woman, a pretty girl, and a grounded young lady. The tomboy-Fly 24-year-old bounced into her exclusive DOPE MAG cover shoot rockin’ Jays, snap-backs and button-ups, so we already knew it was on. Time for business or, in Snow’s words: “It’s Business Time Muthaphukas!” Writer Bart White spoke with the lyrical Latina about her speedy rise in the competitive femcee fast-lane – on a competitively male-dominated rap expressway, atop a rough road paved perfect for only a few.

Born and bred in Cali, Snow now calls Texas home. Of course, with shows in New York, Atlanta, Cali and most points in between – homie ain’t home much. Like many in new media, DOPE first witnessed Snow’s storm online. We overheard this furious rant, then we visually witnessed a sophisticated señorita spitting expletives and demanding attention, and thought: ‘Why was a chick that damn cute, that damn mad?’… and determined. and undeterred. and dedicated. and DOPE. We heard “Holy Sh!t” back in 2011 and instantly knew there was something special about the kid. She possesses the elusively defined “Wow” factor. What’s even more impressive – We all are only in the midst of the very beginning. This is one Snow that will never flake. A Snow that drops all season, and will never melt. Read up and try to keep up. Homegirl is simply the truth. #WOKE

Read an Excerpt from the Full Length Interview

(Bart White: BW) Where do you get the name Snow White, or Snow Tha Product?

(Snow Tha Product: SNOW) Snow Tha Product is really what my name is now because Disney had a problem with Snow White. My friends and I wanted to be princesses and none of the other princesses have black hair except for Jasmine and Snow White. Oh and Pocahontas. But I didn’t wanna be Pocahontas cuz that would just be too obvious.

(BW) How’s it feel to have a major corporation objecting to your name? They heard about you.

(SNOW) It’s bittersweet. I wish they didn’t because that’s messed up. They already have enough money, not to mention that’s not their original story. So you can’t really get on people for stealing something you stole. But it’s pretty cool. At least they know who I am. But I’ma punch Mickey Mouse in the face when I go to Disneyland (laughs).

(BW) How would you describe your style?

(SNOW) I’m pretty aggressive and sometimes comical. Like when it comes to love I don’t really just straight up make a love song. I like to have some sort of funny aspect to it or something where I’m kind of joking. But for the most part I’m aggressive and hyper and I like to talk a lotta crap.

(BW) You’re based in Texas which is known for a slower sound, but you also use a rapid-fire delivery in your rhymes a lot.

(SNOW) I mean, Mike Jones didn’t rap very slow. And neither did Chamillionaire and Paul Wall and all of them. Slow beats, but they rap faster. As far as the business sense, the Texas and Cali indie scene influenced me a lot. But when it comes to me style-wise it was more like Midwest and some East Coast. I was a huge Big Pun and Biggie fan.

(BW) I know you like to be recognized as an individual rapper first and foremost but obviously being a female and a Latina carries its own expectations and pressures. How do you deal with that?

(SNOW) Being a girl definitely has its own double standard and other stuff that comes with it. I try to keep it as positive as I can. Just keep it pushing. But there’s stuff about me that you obviously just can’t ignore. I’m a female. If you don’t sell sex, you’re probably not gonna make it. If I don’t do certain things, you’re probably not gonna make it. That’s what everybody tells you, and that’s what everybody tries to force in your brain. But you try to work with it and work with what you got. I feel like I’ve been able to do a good job at it so far. And being Latina is not really something that can be taken out of me. I speak fluent Spanish. I grew up 100% Mexican. I went to school in Mexico for some time. I just go for the ‘I’m an American girl tryin’ to tell her story’. I’ll definitely start rappin’ in Spanish and doing what I do in Spanish when the time is right, but for now I’m just a regular rapper. Just rappin’.

(BW) How’d you get started with rapping in the beginning?

(SNOW) I originally started freestylin’. It was just a fun thing to do. It wasn’t really like a career choice. I was still gonna go to college and everything but once I saw that this was really a growing industry and that I could actually have a career and people were like ‘you’re actually good, you know you should try it.’ I really realized that music has always been what I really wanted to do and I guess I kinda put it to the side cuz I didn’t think I could do it. But I just figured if I keep trying I can. It kinda just fell in my lap to do it.

(BW) Product Pushas are your street team?

(SNOW) It’s not so much my street team. I don’t wanna call them that. We’re a whole team. It’s more my own extended team, the Product Pushas. That’s really what the Woke Wednesdays are for. It’s for them. The general public usually might not understand what we’re doing with those. But my Product Pushas like to follow what we do and they know the inside jokes. I really like to keep them in on everything. That’s who we do it for. They can win free shirts, free CDs, free merch. It’s like a real close-knit family that’s in on what I’m doin’.

Read Snow‘s Full 10-page Cover Story HOLA MUNDO! in DOPE Magazine‘s #FIRE Issue. Hits indie newsstands, street boutiques and specialty stores on 12.12.12. Also available Online.

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