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Submission + - TiVo purchased by Rovi for $1.1 Billion (

Major Blud writes: TiVo, maker of one of the first consumer DVR's has been purchased by IP powerhouse Rovi (formerly known as Macrovision) for $1.1 Billion. The combined company will go by the TiVo name. Shares of Rovi (ROVI) were up 3.7% to $17.99 in premarket trading. TiVo (TIVO) shares closed Thursday up 2% to $9.42.

Submission + - Apple Is Said to Be Working on an iPhone Even It Can't Hack (

An anonymous reader writes: Apple engineers have already begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts.

If Apple succeeds in upgrading its security — and experts say it almost surely will — the company would create a significant technical challenge for law enforcement agencies, even if the Obama administration wins its fight over access to data stored on an iPhone used by one of the killers in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., rampage. The F.B.I. would then have to find another way to defeat Apple security, setting up a new cycle of court fights and, yet again, more technical fixes by Apple.

Comment Re:how about no (Score 1) 487

Do you know that in Mississippi, an ID is not required to vote? I line up and tell the poll worker my name and address and am handed a smart card to put in the machine. The logic from the Justice Department is that it is RACIST to ask for ID at a polling location. Seriously.

Thankfully there is a voter ID act that we'll be voting on in November. Of course I guess the Feds may still have their way and strike it down :(

Apache Resigns From the JCP Executive Committee 136

iammichael writes "The Apache Software Foundation has resigned its seat on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee due to a long dispute over the licensing restrictions placed on the TCK (test kit validating third-party Java implementations are compatible with the specification)."

Kentucky Announces Creationism Theme Park 648

riverat1 writes "On December first, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that a creationism theme park is expected to open in 2014. Park developers are seeking state tourism development incentives and could receive up to $37.5 million over a 10-year period. Gov. Steve Beshear said he does not believe the incentives would violate the principle of church-state separation because the 14-year-old tax incentives law wasn’t approved for the purpose of benefiting the Ark Encounter. The park will have a 500 foot replica of the Ark with live animals on it and a Tower of Babel explaining how races and languages developed. The park will be turned over to Answers in Genesis after it is built. They are a non-profit organization which may allow them to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion."
The Courts

Judge Berates Prosecutors In Xbox Modding Trial 285

mrbongo writes with this excerpt from Wired: "Opening statements in the first-of-its-kind Xbox 360 criminal hacking trial were delayed here Wednesday after a federal judge unleashed a 30-minute tirade at prosecutors in open court, saying he had 'serious concerns about the government's case.' ... Gutierrez slammed the prosecution over everything from alleged unlawful behavior by government witnesses, to proposed jury instructions harmful to the defense. When the verbal assault finally subsided, federal prosecutors asked for a recess to determine whether they would offer the defendant a deal, dismiss or move forward with the case that was slated to become the first jury trial of its type. A jury was seated Tuesday."
XBox (Games)

Xbox Live Enforcement — No Swastika Logo 473

itwbennett writes "It's one of those questions that really should never come up, but as blogger Peter Smith points out, Stephen Toulouse, the head of Xbox Live enforcement, is used to fielding all sorts of strange questions. Recently, one of those questions was apparently 'Can I use a Swastika as my logo in Call of Duty: Black Ops?' When Toulouse responded with the obvious answer ('No, of course you can't, we'll ban you.') he was met with some pushback by people he refers to as 'contrarians' and 'internet pundits' who decided to educate him on the long and storied history of the swastika as a symbol of good fortune and how just because the Nazis used it, it doesn't make the symbol itself a bad thing. Toulouse covers the topic on his blog in a post titled Context and it's an interesting read if for no other reason than to get a peek inside the day-to-day issues the Xbox Live Enforcement team deals with."

3 Drinks a Day Keeps the Doctor Away 470

Nzimmer911 writes "Heavy drinkers outlive non-drinkers according to a 20 years study following 1,824 people. From the article: 'But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.'"
Classic Games (Games)

Nostalgic Elation — the Super Mario Crossover 67

eldavojohn writes "Sure, they're stepping all over proprietary rights and copyright, but something must be said about the amount of bliss-filled nostalgia inside Exploding Rabbit's Super Mario Crossover. If the plumbers never really did it for you, you can now kill those goombas as Link, Mega Man, Samus, Simon Belmont, or Contra's Bill. Goodbye jumping and spitting; hello slicing, whipping, and shooting. Is this one of the early firsts in the new genre of video game mashups?"

Simpler "Hello World" Demonstrated In C 582

An anonymous reader writes "Wondering where all that bloat comes from, causing even the classic 'Hello world' to weigh in at 11 KB? An MIT programmer decided to make a Linux C program so simple, she could explain every byte of the assembly. She found that gcc was including libc even when you don't ask for it. The blog shows how to compile a much simpler 'Hello world,' using no libraries at all. This takes me back to the days of programming bare-metal on DOS!"

Own Your Own Fighter Jet 222

gimmebeer writes "The Russian Sukhoi SU-27 has a top speed of Mach 1.8 (more than 1,300 mph) and has a thrust to weight ratio greater than 1 to 1. That means it can accelerate while climbing straight up. It was designed to fight against the best the US had to offer, and now it can be yours for the price of a mediocre used business jet."

Comment Re:HDMI Cables (Score 1) 650

RadioShack tried to sell me Monster branded speaker wire. "The thicker copper gives a larger radius for the bass frequencies to travel on the outside of the cable." I didn't laugh in his face, but I did buy the cheapo wire that was good enough for my purposes.

United States

Submission + - MS State CS Student Busts Texas Script Kiddie (

jiminim writes: "Mississippi State University student Wesley McGrew discovered GhostExodus' exploit against a Texas hospital's climate control system. Wesley, who's research is into SCADA security, informed the FBI who quickly apprehended GhostExodus (Jesse McGraw)."

New York To Ban iPods While Crossing Street? 487

An anonymous reader writes to mention Reuters is reporting that New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens. "Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes. 'I'm not trying to intrude on that,' Kruger said. 'But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem.'"

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Comment Re:QR Codes w/wo Shamir Secret Sharing (Score 3, Interesting) 167

A variant of this would be to use shamir's secret sharing to back up shards of your key in places you trust. Back it up one share in each of ten places with 5 share threshold; 5 have to get compromised before your secrets are lost, and if you hear about one getting compromised you can rekey for the other 9.

Comment Re:Citation Needed (Score 5, Insightful) 373

Interestingly, the residents are a micro version of those same poor displaced whale-watchers. What's happening to them is a free market economy. They rent an asset owned by someone else. That owner has an unarguable right to seek the best return on their investment: It is greatly in their interest to rent their property for as much money as they can.

Why aren't you angry at the landlords for raising rents and using the Ellis act to evict people? That's not Google's fault. Google isn't driving people out; they're just paying their employees well and adapting to their needs (in this case, providing a shuttle from SF to Redwood, since a number of employees live in SF).

Why aren't you angry at the city for not issuing housing permits for more economic high-density housing? ( Google isn't the one that lobbied and protested to keep the 120-year-old Victorian your 60-year-old woman lives in intact, instead of replacing it with a highrise.

Sure, it sucks that the place you lived forever is changing in ways you don't like. It sucks that residents' NIMBY-esque actions to stop that change turned out worse for them in the long run, because someone came along that's willing and able to pay more for your space than they are, and they resisted the kind of development that would've helped to make enough space for everyone.

If you don't want to be driven from "your" rented home, you have to own the place you live. If you can't afford to own it but you can afford to rent it, that means you're living in a kind of bubble: Your landlord thinks the land is worth more than what you're paying, meaning they think they can get more rent for it later, meaning at some point or another the occupant will be paying what the owner wants, whether the occupant is you or someone working for a startup that's getting paid five times what you get paid. It's a free market, and shit like this happens.

Comment Re: Citation Needed (Score 5, Insightful) 373

Yes, clearly my slashdot account with excellent karma in good standing for ten years is a Google PR sock puppet.

I have a bias, just like others do. But, as it happens, I live in the city, work for a tech company in the city, and walk to work. I don't use the Google shuttle, I don't personally care what happens to it, but it's simple fact that the Google shuttle isn't the problem, isn't the cause of the problem, and isn't even a symptom of the problem; the protesters have simply selected it as a symbol.

Comment Re:Not Cool (Score 2) 373

If nothing else, the Google shuttle could be considered simply a form of non-monetary compensation to Google's employees. (In the same way that all their free food is actually taxed as income.)

That's the way an economy works. They might not be paying cash for it, but at the end of the day they're making less money because some of their compensation is in the form of a free bus ride down the Peninsula.

Comment Re:A Car? (Score 1) 373

Individual employees driving cars (or even carpooling) would be worse for the environment and worse for traffic. A lot of the folks probably don't own cars (it's hard to own a car in San Francisco); they'd be paying for parking, which would actually drive rents up further. Space is space, whether you're putting yourself in an apartment or a car in a parking space.

Public transportation doesn't go directly to where they need to be to work, and it doesn't go there as quickly as the Google shuttle would (what with making a lot of intermediate steps.) That said, the tech companies in the area generally *will* provide a stipend of some sort for employees that can efficiently commute via mass transit. (For Google, that usually means BART or CalTrain, not busses.)

One more reasoned argument seems to be that Google should have encouraged public transportation to provide the routes they need instead of doing it themselves. That, however, isn't how the free market works. I can easily imagine the outrage at "Google's manipulation of the city government to bend the mass transit system to their will," so I rather doubt it would actually mollify the protesters any.

Comment Re:i dont get it (Score 5, Insightful) 373

Sort of. The protesters latched on to that as a visible and easily protestable symbol of the real problem.

It's easy to get really, really angry at a super nice charter bus that's picking up the young and well-paid tech workers from your neighborhood (perhaps that you've lived in for a decade or more) that you're about to get kicked out of because you can no longer afford the rising rents.

Comment Re:Transportation is evil (Score 4, Interesting) 373

The protesters basically want Google employees to leave San Francisco and stop causing rents to go up. They are angry at Google for making it easier for the employees to live here. The better pay means landlords can charge higher rents, and the landlords are using a loophole (the Ellis act) to evict residents that have been there longer, which usually means (due to rent control) they're paying less.

It's not even an economic niche. It's an island that's being overtaken by rising tides, and the field mouse on the island are protesting the schools of fish that are taking up residence.

Comment Misleading Headline (Score 5, Informative) 221

Wow. Misleading headline is horribly misleading. Quote from one of TFAs:

“We’re really disappointed that the TSA is removing them from our airport,” Martin said. “It is a great disservice to the flying public.
“People had become comfortable with the scanner. It certainly did speed the process and removed the need for the enhanced pat-down.”

i.e., it's not the "removal of the scanner" that "removed the nead for the enhanced pat-down," as the headline deceptively implies. Rather, the scanner itself removed the need. However, as a seasoned frequent flier, I'm quite acquainted with the fact that security checkpoints that do not have body scanners are not subject to an "enhanced pat-down," as Martin implies in the article.

Comment Re:Translation (Score 1) 866

"...conversion by various enzymes."

Though I'll grant that biology does just boil down eventually to chemistry and physics, at the high school level, anything enzymatic is squarely on the side of biology.

Though, of course, for brewing, the enzymes are /largely/ a black box, and you're correct that the other aspects of brewing/fermenting are more about simple chemistry.

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Smart Lab

The gold standard in measuring body composition!

Used extensively by the NFL, the military, health care, and other organizations, Bod Pod is the most popular service offered by the SMART Lab. The Bod Pod provides a measure of your muscle to fat ratio, an indicator of overall health, and is a great tool for tracking fitness improvements.

When you come to the SMART Lab, a highly skilled research assistant will show you how to sit quietly inside the pod for less than three minutes while the system measures the displaced air around you. There's no discomfort and when you're done, you'll receive an accurate and comprehensive report of your body composition that you can use to make informed decisions about your health. The report provides you with your fat and muscle mass (body fat percentage, and lean mass percentage), and much more, such as estimated resting metabolic rate (RMR).

The Bod Pod is based on whole-body air displacement plethysmography, a scientifically validated method for measuring human body fat percentage. Because of its accuracy, the Bod Pod service is ideal for those who wish to track how they are doing before, during, and after starting a new exercise, diet, or other health program. See the "Track Your Progress" package for how to save 20% on repeat assessments.


text:
(276) 783-6092

To Purchase Tickets, Call The Lincoln Theatre® Today!

(276) 783-6092 Song of the Mountains® incorporates both traditional and contemporary performance styles in featuring old-time and bluegrass music from the region’s brightest stars.

Song of the Mountains

Song of the Mountains® is produced through an unprecedented collaboration between The Appalachian Music Heritage Foundation®, UNC-TV, regional bluegrass and old-time musicians, and the generous contributions of loyal supporters.

We're not the only ones excitedhappypassionate about Song of the Mountains®...

Meet our wonderful sponsors


text:
SonoStudy: Ultrasound of heart and lungs identify preeclamptic pregnant patients at risk

In anesthesiology literature (not yet on pubmed), heart and lung ultrasound has entered the mix to identify pregnant patients at risk for respiratory failure – looking for hypocontractile heart and B lines! Oh yeah! It has received a lot of press, see here, here and here :

“Chicago — (March 18, 2014)

An ultrasound of the lungs could help doctors quickly determine if a pregnant woman with preeclampsia is at risk for respiratory failure, suggests preliminary research published in the April issue of Anesthesiology.

About 60,000 women worldwide die as a result of preeclampsia, which causes severely high blood pressure. Potential complications include stroke, bleeding and excess fluid in the lungs – called pulmonary edema – which can lead to respiratory failure.  The study suggests a lung ultrasound can help doctors easily learn whether a woman with preeclampsia is suffering from pulmonary edema and ensure she receives the correct treatment.

“Lung Ultrasound is fast, safe, noninvasive and easy to use,” said Marc Leone, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and vice chair of the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, Hopital Nord, Marseille, France. “We found it allowed us to quickly assess whether a woman with preeclampsia had pulmonary edema and confirm the severity of the condition.”

Doctors often measure urine output to determine if a woman needs fluid administration, but the results are wrong about half of the time. “Lung ultrasound enables the medical team to identify which women really need the fluid treatment,” noted Dr. Zieleskiewicz, the study’s  first author.

Pulmonary edema is typically caused by heart failure, but also can be caused by lung inflammation. Researchers analyzed the use of lung ultrasounds, which can assess lung  edema, are easier to use than cardiac ultrasound and can be performed with devices commonly found in maternity wards. Lung ultrasound highlights white lines mimicking comet tails, irradiating from the border of the lungs. These lines are the reflection of water in the lungs.  The detection of three or more lines strongly suggests the diagnosis of pulmonary edema.

Researchers performed both cardiac and lung ultrasounds before and after delivery in 20 women with severe preeclampsia.  Five of the 20 women (25 percent) had pulmonary edema prior to delivery according to lung ultrasound, while four (20 percent) had the condition according to the cardiac ultrasound. The lung ultrasound identified a patient with non-cardiac pulmonary edema, which the cardiac ultrasound did not detect.

The test results could help ensure that pregnant women with pulmonary edema not be given intravenous or excess fluids, which worsens the condition and can lead to respiratory failure.  Typically, women with pulmonary edema are treated with oxygen and medication to lower the blood pressure or rid the body of excess fluid.  In real time, lung ultrasound also serves to observe improvement or worsening of pulmonary edema.”

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JAX JUMBO SHRIMP 2017 PROMO SCHEDULE scroll down for details

We may have a new name but our great firework shows haven’t changed. We will light up the sky 15 times in 2017 at the Baseball Grounds, including Opening Night (April 12) and two holiday shows (July 3 presented by Nimnicht Family of Dealerships and Sept. 3). Every Friday is NAPA Family Fireworks night.
Bring your true best friend to the game this season, as we invite fans to take their dogs to one of our four Bark in the Park days (May 8, June 5, July 19 & Aug. 14).
We hope your family will join us for one of the 12 Baptist Health Sunday Family FUNDays. For the second straight season, families can play catch on the field pregame, enjoy special activities on the concourse, and, most importantly, kids will get to run the bases after the games.
The Jumbo Shrimp will have three special jerseys during the 2017 season. They will rock ugly Christmas sweater jerseys on July 9, honor the past with Jax Red Caps uniforms (picture) on July 22 and wear Aquaman jerseys on Aug. 6 for Super Hero Weekend presented by Baptist Health. The Christmas and Aquaman jerseys will be available for auction, while the first 1,000 fans on July 22 will get a replica Red Caps jersey presented by Florida Blue as they enter the gates.
Back by popular demand, the Jumbo Shrimp will host 12 Mavericks Live and Budweiser Thirsty Thursdays at the Baseball Grounds. Fans can purchase $1 (12-oz.) beers and $2 (24-oz.) Budweiser products at selected stands starting April 13.
Back again for 2017, Jumbo Shrimp players and staff will wear red each Friday to support the military, and fans who wear red save $1 on a ticket at the box office, or can donate the $1 to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. The Jumbo Shrimp will wear their new Bold City red jerseys for 2017 and a limited number will be auctioned at the end of the season to benefit Jacksonville United Service Organizations (USO). In addition, we will honor our armed forces with three Military Appreciation Days on May 28, June 29 and Aug. 23.
We will have 12 giveaways (Opening Night, July 3, 10 Saturdays) this season that range from hats to bowling shirts to a shrimp neck pillow (yes, we went there).
Along the giveaway line, the Jumbo Shrimp will have two bobblehead nights in 2017. On July 1, the first 1,000 fans will get a bobblehead of Jacksonville native and former MLB all-star Vince Coleman in his Raines High School uniform. We will give away a Main Street Bobble Bridge presented by Community First Credit Union on Sept. 2 as part of Fan Appreciation Weekend.

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Loving…Lanvin for H&M

These right here are the reason why I will be at the Mall of America bright & early on Nov 20 (all photos courtesy of Nitrolicious)

These are totally Lanvin and totally feed my glamourpuss side. I am in love with that sheer jacket, the floral dress, and (dare I say it) that velvet jacket! Anyone that knows me knows I DO NOT do velvet or velour – I absolutely detest that fabric, but that jacket above just may make me change my mind! Correction…so, upon closer inspection I’ve learned that the jacket is actually faux fur. I’m not really a fur kind of girl, so I actually would prefer that it be velour, but I still do like the silhouette and detailing of the jacket. I’m also really digging those pumps and many of the dresses would be perfect for a New Years eve outfit (one of which I just may get since this New Years will be my 1st in L.A.!!). The prices are really reasonable as well and even the men’s collection is quite dapper, fresh, and chic.

I am quite impressed with the collection, but I really hope that it’s made as well and feels as good as the photos make it appear. As of late I have been disappointed in retail/high-end designer collections (I have Target to thank for this, hmph), so I’m really hoping that H&M does Lanvin some justice…I mean this has to satisfy me until I can afford some pieces directly from Alber Elbaz and his design team themselves!

About missheree

Greetings! I am Sheree, a fashion and costume designer from Miami, FL and Minneapolis, MN respectively. While fabric is my personal medium of choice, I find inspiration is all areas of art and this blog is a representation of that. From fashion to illustration to graphic design to architecture, Sparkleshock is here to do just that - add sparkle to your mind and shock your senses.

Posted on November 2, 2010, in Loving... and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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Oh. My. Goodness. I swear I’m still alive. I took a much-needed hiatus this summer, which was literally and figuratively filled with soaking in the sun and playing in the sand while taking breaks from the surf (and chaos).

If you took a peek at my Instagram feed (I hope you did!!), you saw the summer kicked off with the annual ladies trip to Vegas; a week later we packed and moved out of our Seattle home (yes; after living in the great, fantastic city of Seattle for 22 years, it was time to say goodbye); followed by 4 days in our Portland temp apartment before the boys and I left for our 5-week adventure back East to visit with family and friends (yes, it was an adventure; no, it was not a vacation); returned to Portland and, then a week later, moved into our new house. Smooshed in there, I worked on an assortment of client-related projects (YAY!) and we sold our Seattle home (eh-ay.).

The most popular question about the past 2.5 months I received was the following: FIVE weeks? Why?! (I guess that’s actually two questions.)

Basically it boiled down to this: Portland would’ve asked us to leave had we stayed in the apartment (as nice as it was) for the summer. Yes; we could’ve explored the city and visited every nook and cranny possible. I love my boys and know we would’ve driven each other mad in that small space, six floors up from street with a tiny balcony, and not-so-great shades in the bedrooms, which makes for two very worn out boys (and mama!) by mid-afternoon with a serious case of cabin-fever after 10 minutes of “quiet time.” (BTW: do you know how early the sun comes up in the PNW over the summer? Let me tell you: EARLY! And the boys don’t waste a single second of daylight).

Also, between placing a bid on the house a full week after we left Seattle and the move-in date, we had a six-week gap. We played it out right for our family’s well-being.

As for the hiatus, I promise I’m returning to this blog. I’ve really missed this place. Life just was too busy and this space – a space I deeply care about – had to be put on the back burner for my own well-being. I had to be realistic in asking “What will be accomplished today?” as I went through the daily checklist over the summer. Posting here was always pushed to the bottom. I needed to step away and take care of… well… of life and learn – and relearn – its many lessons.

I learned moments have to be treasured so those little things can be seen, felt and remembered, which ultimately was a lesson about being present. As cliche as it sounds, everything happens in its own time (sometimes at a snail’s pace!), which was a major lesson in patience, as well as a lesson in persistence and grace. Listening to your gut needs to rank higher than listening to other voices swirling around your head, which was a lesson in speaking up and acting upon it; not irrationally or impulsively, but with thought and care. These lessons have been hard ones to learn – and relearn – but such important ones to keep a firm hold of day in and day out.

I promise I’ll see you soon. Very soon. xo

P.S.: this lesson was definitely confirmed numerous times:

Come hang out with this lil’ bird!
like sparrow | tweet with sparrow | sparrow’s pins | sparrow’s snaps


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Facebook to introduce cross-site posting?

Facebook screenshot

Look at this photo. Notice something odd? (Other than the weird gaps where I’ve edited out the surnames, that is). Instead of the usual hyperlinked name “Joe Bloggs posted on your wall…” it’s instead saying “Facebook User Joe Bloggs…” now, that may seem minor; but consider this, what is the point of distinguishing the fact that someone posting something on Facebook is a “Facebook User”? Currently, the only people who can post anything on Facebook are Facebook Users. It’s needless information. And, what’s more, it wasn’t there a minute ago. This is a screenshot that I just took of my Facebook for Android application, after noticing the sudden change (previously, the application had highlighted names, like every other version of Facebook).

So, why would Facebook go to the effort of modifying their code to make this meaningless distinction? Well, it’s possible they’re doing it to distinguish between, say, people posting on my wall, and Applications/Fan Pages/&c. But this seems rather unnecessary – if I see that William Shatner (if only!) or FarmVille (gag unto me with a spoon!) has posted on my wall, I’m usually immediately aware that they’re not someone I went to high-school with.

The more likely explanation, then, is that soon people who aren’t Facebook Users will soon be able to post things on Facebook. It could be that in the near future you may see “Digg User DonkeyBites4 has posted a link on your wall…” or “YouTube User schmoyoho has posted a video to your wall…” basically, it’d be Facebook Connect, only in reverse. The motive is obvious; the more internet content drawn into Facebook, the more of your attention is captured and monetised by Facebook.

Assuming they do this, I’d lay 2:1 odds of yet another privacy debacle as they try to figure out how to manage the nightmare of managing privacy settings when linked in to multiple external websites. “Photos tagged of me are visible to users of YouTube, but not Digg, or Slashdot users with less than Excellent Karma”, anyone?

Of course, this is all speculation, based solely on what may be little more than a glitch in the Facebook client for Android – it’s not currently showing up on the desktop, mobile or touch versions of Facebook site – but then again, the Facebook Android client was just updated several times recently, and it’s possible that in the process someone accidentally left in a bit of code signalling what may just be the future.

Published in: on August 28, 2010 at 7:11 am  Comments (2)

Dispatches from the wilds of I-don’t-use-f*cking-Twitter

Twitter is the crushing revelation that brevity isn’t the soul of wit.

Published in: on July 31, 2009 at 11:33 am  Comments (2)

Dispatches from the wilds of unemployed belligerence

Once again, dear readers, we find ourselves witness to the political lunacy that deservedly earns that tag “only in America, folks!” I am speaking, of course, of the website Less Jobs, More Wars. Now, before you start lambasting me with incredulity; “what’s wrong with that?”, “that’s a great idea!”, &c., let me explain something: the site is satirical. That’s right. The truth of the matter is that their real beliefs are so palpably absurd that they’re practically obscene: these panty-waist liberals don’t actually believe in the excellent philosophy of less jobs and more wars. Quite the opposite; they actually want more jobs and less wars. That’s right, you heard me, MORE jobs, LESS wars. And what’s worse, they actually mock the rational (pro-unemployment, anti-pacifism) view. Extraordinary!

Indeed, even as you sit (undoubtedly at your office desk) reading this, the liberals are conspiring to steal your precious free time and replace it with back-breaking hard work! There was another political leader who gained prominence for revitalising a flagging economy and creating new jobs – you know what his name was? Hitler. That’s right, I said it, Godwin’s law be damned, these jerks are out-and-out Nazis. Not only is it bad enough that they think that you should be working more, but they want all sorts of other people in the workplace – women, for instance! even single mothers! Indeed, so great is their fetish for suffering (“employment” being the “politically correct” parlance) that they even want to put criminals in the workplace! If you don’t believe me, just ask one! They’ll tell you that “reformed criminals” deserve a “fair go” in the workplace – apparently we’re supposed to believe that just because they’ve “served their time”, little Johnny-baby-eater can be trusted with our precious paper-clips. NOT IN MY STATIONERY CUPBOARD, thankyouverymuch.

Now, as if all that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve decided to compound their sins by taking away our god-given right to blow shit (and people) up. Human beings love war, we revel in it – it’s in our very nature. We invented flint weapons before fire, the wheel, writing and religion. Just look at the predominant genres of computer games currently being sold: First Person Shooters and Real Time Strategy. We love movies like Saving Private Ryan, A Few Good Men and Forrest Gump. Who here can honestly say they didn’t stay up all night devouring Sun Tzu’s The Art of War the first time they read it? Who doesn’t get weak at the knees at the sight of John Rambo, Horatio Hornblower or Winston Churchill? There’s nothing we love more than a good war – so much so that we’ll go to war on the flimsiest of excuses. And yet these long-haired hippy pinkos want to take away a universal pastime that pre-dates history itself, an activity so natural even ants do it – and for what? Because it’s not “nice”? Not “good for us”? “A tool for major corporations to exploitatively reap huge profits at the expense of innocents”? Mark my words; give in, and they’ll use the same excuse to take candy from babies next. War is what makes the world a place worth living – just imagine a world without war; what would we do? Sit around crocheting place-mats? Have high tea and discuss the latest BBC miniseries staring Colin *swoon* Firth? The men of the world would end up such a bunch of pillow-biting nancy-boys that there sure as shootin’ wouldn’t be any baby makin’ getting done.

At least it would save them the trouble of stealing the candy.

Published in: on February 12, 2008 at 6:03 pm  Comments (2)

Dispatches from the wilds of apologetica

The dream, dear friends, is at an end. Any hope that we might be an egalitarian and moral society has been quashed. The Liberal party, you see, has agreed to say “sorry”. To the naked eye, that might seem like a good thing, but remember:

True love means never having to say you’re sorry.

For so long, under the auspices of the Howard government, the Australian people loved their native inhabitants. We loved them stubbornly and unrelentingly. We loved them even though they didn’t love us back. We loved them even though they didn’t appreciate all that we had done for them. We loved them even though they didn’t deserve it. We loved them even when we held big marches to say that we didn’t. But now, with a few poorly-chosen words, we will wash that all away, destroying centuries of loving relationship. Now, with that last great bastion of tolerance and open-mindedness sailing off into the twilight, it is painfully apparent that our nation is at the beginning of a long painful decline into unthinking prejudice and intolerance. Farewell, John, we’ll miss you.

Published in: on February 7, 2008 at 5:01 pm  Comments (1)

Dispatches from the gilded cage of the cutting edge

(Wherein our intrepid hero tweets merrily at the coal-miners)

Some time ago I read an article on the recent trend of pharmaceutical companies out-sourcing their drug testing to India. You may, if you wish, read it here. However, any opinion you form will either be in accordance with mine, in which case it is superfluous, or in contradiction, in which case it is wrong. Consequently, you are better off simply reading the following, and then smiling and nodding as if you were even capable of keeping up with my extraordinary intellect.

You might feel inclined, you see, to feel sympathy for these third-world guinea pigs. You might feel that we in the developed world are somehow “exploiting” them. This is, of course, utter nonsense.

Imagine, for instance, that you were dying of cancer. You would, naturally, be willing to try anything and do anything to enhance your chances of survival. How would you feel, then, to discover that you were not able to receive some revolutionary new drug that may well save your life, whilst meanwhile, some third-world slacker is getting the drug for free – perhaps even being paid to take it, just because it hasn’t been “proven safe” yet. What an entirely typical absurdity of modern life!

Now, some might say that they are assuming the risk of some short-term side-effects that may turn up in testing, that you won’t have to suffer them, but when the short-term side-effect you’re suffering is death? Not only are these third-world guinea pigs selfishly hoarding the drugs for themselves – they’re actually killing members of our society! Furthermore, the simple fact is that whilst we may be testing for short-term side-effects on the peoples of the third world, they are enjoying the benefits of seeing the long-term effects that we in the developed world suffer all the time.

For instance, by the time citizens of the third-world can afford auto-mobiles, they will benefit from crumple-zones, roll-bars, air bags, &c., &c., &c., courtesy of the thousands of first-world denizens that so valiantly wrap themselves around telegraph poles all in the furtherance of science. They never had to suffer asbestosis because we were considerate enough to ensure all the testing of asbestos was done on us. By the time they can afford mobile phones, they’ll know whether they cause brain tumours. By the time they can afford iPods they’ll know all about the risks to their hearing. By the time they get wi-fi Internet access, they’ll know whether it causes autism. By the time they get computers, they’ll know about the risks to their eyesight and have wrist-rests to prevent RSI. By the time they get electricity, they’ll know all about the dangers of electrocution and the risk of living under high-voltage power lines. And by the time they can afford food, they’ll know all about regulating fast-food advertising, increased risks of diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, low GI, regulating to prevent obesity epidemics, &c., &c., &c…. and all because of the suffering we in the developed world are experiencing right now.

The fact of the matter is, they are actually exploiting us. They are simply standing idly by, watching our suffering, and doing nothing for their own selfish benefit. What’s worse, they don’t even bother half the time to learn from our hard-learnt lessons! After all, haven’t we spent centuries practising genocide and ethnic cleansing, holy wars and totalitarian governance, haven’t we lived centuries in societies without social security, public health-care, education, legitimate justice systems and equal rights? What an extraordinary insult it is to the suffering of our forefathers that they ignore all that we did that they might know better, just so they can go and “do their own thing”. A petty man might take umbrage at that, might get angry, even wrathful. Not I, however. No, I will continue to risk my life on a daily basis with the latest cell-phones, the most leather-upholstered air-conditioned cars, the newest cuisines and most intriguing philosophical ideas, the largest televisions and fastest computers, the sweetest cakes and the smallest mp3 players, the finest beers and softest mattresses, and countless other burdens of modern society, all in the interests of scientific inquiry, to safeguard their and their children’s lives. Because I, you see, am the better man. I only wish, one day, that they might learn to be as noble, unselfish and caring as we.

Published in: on January 26, 2008 at 11:21 am  Leave a Comment

Dispatches from the wilds of Barbaria

(Wherein our intrepid hero exudes a raw, primal masculine energy in an extremely hairy sort of way)

Throughout history, some of the greatest minds that our species has spat violently onto the world have sat mere inches above fine, noble, dignified beards – Socrates, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, George Bernard Shaw, Lord Kelvin – this is just a smattering of those great intellects who saw fit to adorn themselves with a fine set of whiskers – and let us not forget the moustaches: Einstein, Tesla, Twain, Nietzsche – it is fair to say that enwhiskered personages have made no small contribution to civilization as we know it.

Then consider the un-bearded, the clean shaven, the childlike simps who have smooth-cheeked their way through history – Kant, Napoleon, Edison, Nixon… jerks, the lot of them! Maybe if Sartre had grown himself so much as a ‘tache, he wouldn’t have been such a downer. And yet, one rarely sees a beard these days. Worse still, when you do, in the media, the bearded person is almost always a shattered husk of a human being. If you see a man with a beard on a modern television show, you can be sure that he’s either a drunk, his marriage is failing, he’s crazy, or he’s unemployed, &c., &c., &c…. And the less said about the portrayal of bearded women in the media, the better. One cannot wonder if, were they to make a mini-series on, say, the life of Abraham Lincoln, it wouldn’t end with him divorced, drinking himself to death in a log cabin in the woods after having lost the civil war. He did have a beard, after all.

Indeed, just the other day I had some clean-shaven simpering moron yell at me as I was crossing the street, calling me “Abraham Lincoln” as though it were derogatory. What marvellous things, I wonder, must this man have done to consider being compared to the great emancipator as an insult? He must, I assume, have been driving that battered old minivan to the launch-pad of the rocket that he built single-handed to fly to the moon – in his spare time, of course, when he wasn’t busy creating peace in the middle east and ending world hunger. He must, of course, be a truly amazing man. After all, he’s mastered the complex science of shaving.

What truly disturbs me, however, is the commentary I receive from people I know – people who, I had presumed, were intelligent, rational beings (though it is, I must admit, a personal failing of mine that I tend to expect intelligence and rationality from my fellow human beings). It cannot be described as anything short of unashamed prejudice. What’s more, it is apparently considered reasonable to expect this prejudice. I was warned, before going on my latest trip, that my beard would result in frequent “random checks” by airport security personnel. I’ve also been warned that my beard would hurt my chances of getting a job, damage my romantic prospects, and just generally result in my being treated as a second-class citizen. I find it astounding that people take the growth of facial hair to be indicative of anything other than a desire to grow facial hair, and yet, I find myself the recipient of perceptions that, despite all evidence to the contrary, I am now a person of diminished intelligence, competence, and general respectability. And for what? Because I choose to comport myself in a way that some of the greatest minds in history have done? Do we truly imagine that, were I ever – in a fit of brain fever – to attempt to enter one of those smoke-choked sweat-factories filled with wannabe-epileptics that we call “nightclubs”, that the bouncer who would almost certainly squeeze some idiotic concoction of a reason for not letting me in from his pea-sized intellect knows better than Socrates? And can we really, in this modern age of “tolerance” excuse such naked prejudice? Oh, certainly, I could remove my beard with far greater ease than one could change their gender, race, or sexual preference, but does that really make the prejudice any less disgusting? And does it not disturb anyone that we haven’t had a prime-minister with a beard since 1914? The only thing that gives me cause for hope is knowing that I will, single handed, bring back the beard. Indeed, not to long after I visited New York, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien grew beards. Coincidence? Hardly!

Oh, you could tell me that there are far worse forms of discrimination going on, but really, if relativity’s your only justification, then we oughtn’t complain about anything, because no form of suffering that we’re undergoing could possibly compare to what’s going on in the Sudan at the moment. The sad fact of the matter is this: the human race is, and always will be, filled with ignorant, unthinking jerks – and no matter how hard we work to change perceptions and end discrimination, all it will ever result in is a change of the criteria of discrimination. Ultimately, I think we all know the sad truth that there is only one solution: we must kill everyone.

Except the people with beards, of course.

Published in: on January 20, 2008 at 11:31 am  Comments (1)

Dispatches from the land of sweet linguistic irony

(Wherein our intrepid hero answers awkward, unasked questions about sexuality)

One might feel inclined these days, to feel a certain degree of fondness for the metrosexuals that adorn our city streets, imagining them to be modern-day dandies – honest-to-goodness Beau Brummels in our very midst. One might be inclined to think “ah, it is so marvellously lovely to still have an appreciation for the aesthetic so visibly on hand“. One might, of course, be inclined to think a lot of things, but on this particular point, one would be wrong. My interest is not, however, to produce some lengthy lecture on the evils of metrosexuality – I am sure, given time, the relevant religious institutions shall take care of that duty for me. However, I shall say this: unlike the dandies of yesteryear, the modern metrosexual is not, in fact, an aesthete. Certainly, they place importance on their grooming and appearance, and I can certainly understand how one might make the mistake, however, beyond their own outward appearance, metrosexuals do not aspire to the aesthetic greatness of the dandies. They do not wish to elevate themselves and their surrounds to a level of art, so much as they want to look good in a tight pair of jeans. However, I shall digress no further on this, as the point I really wish to make is entirely one of linguistic etymology.

Now, most people are probably aware (or able to guess at) the (supposed) etymology of the term “metrosexual“. It is, so our dictionaries tell us, a fusion of the words “metropolitan” and “heterosexual“, and is intended to convey the idea of a sort of person who has a thoroughly urbane sense of style. However, clever though the term may be, it seems rather misleading as, after all, metrosexuality is not really about sexuality at all. One might, of course, argue that the stylistic behaviour demonstrated by metrosexuals is generally similar to the stereotypical style of the modern homosexual, and that this connotation is implied in the term – indeed, the term does relate specifically to heterosexual males. However, given that the term is only really specific to heterosexuals because it would seem, in the popular view, superfluous to use it to describe a homosexual man, and does not specifically describe a sexual preference so much as a stylistic one, that does, I feel, seem a rather long bow to draw. Particularly when, as I shall show, there appears to be a simpler explanation which is much more closely tied to the meaning of the words.

Now to begin with, let us take the word heterosexual. This is a compound of two words – hetero, from the Greek heteros, meaning “other” or “different” and sexual, which, well, I’m sure you can figure it out. Now the next word is of course, metropolitan. Intriguingly, the politan comes from the Greek polis, which means “city” – and gives one pause for thought. After all, if meterosexual specifically refers to urbane urban males, should not the word for city – polis – be the appropriate one to use in the word? Combined with the fact that the word specifically refers to heterosexual males, shouldn’t the hetero be in the word too? Shouldn’t, really, the word be heteropolitan? Perhaps, however, our answer can be found by examining the meaning of the word-stem metro, which comes from the Greek meter, which means “mother“.

I am sure that your clever minds can now deduce the correct meaning of the word metrosexual. However, what really gives one pause for thought is this: one can imagine that this circumstance is merely an amusing linguistic accident – a morphemic Freudian slip, if you will. Certainly, the commonly understood etymology of the word (metropolitan + heterosexual) would seem to imply this is the case. And if it were the case that a more correct term could not be formed with the same rhyming cleverness, I might be inclined to agree. However, as I have demonstrated, heteropolitan really does make more sense, and would work just as well (not that, frankly, I would want to see it to enter common usage). Which brings to mind, then, the alternative that makes me wonder so: what if it was done on purpose? What if, in fact, this whole time, metrosexuals the world over have been the butt of some cunning linguist’s joke?

Wouldn’t that be simply marvellous?

Published in: on January 18, 2008 at 9:00 am  Leave a Comment

Dispatches from the decline and fall of western grammaticisation, part two

(Wherein our intrepid hero sighs as he sees all that once was torn down by all that’s left behind)

I do hope, gentle reader, that you do not imagine me unreasonably or thoughtlessly biased against the ever-so-humble Macquarie dictionary. For whilst it is true that I hold but few motes of warmth for it in my heart, I can assure you that I approach each instance of rampant stupidity as an entirely novel event, and in a thoroughly dispassionate and scientific manner.

Thus, you can imagine my surprise and disappointment in discovering the current winning selections of the Macquarie dictionary’s “Dictionary wit” competition. Simply put, they wish for their readers to utilise their considerable intellects (sadly deluded, as they are, to the cognitive condition of their readership) to produce definitions for words in the tradition of that fine dictioneer, Dr Johnson, of whom they provide an example with which you are hopefully already acquainted:

Take, for example, his entry for oats:
A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Dr Johnson did not hold a high opinion of creature comforts in Scotland.

As you can see, those fine Macquarie minds are even kind enough to elaborate on the point, for those for whom the words of Dr Johnson are impenetrably vague. The Macquarians continue:

In more modern dictionaries, Chambers is known for the odd moment of wry humour, as in the following:
eclair n. a cake, long in shape but short in duration, with cream filling and usu. chocolate icing.

Macquarie Dictionary would like to develop this tradition and invites you to submit witty definitions for inclusion. The definition must, as the Chambers definition does, satisfy the normal dictionary expectations as to explanation of meaning, but give it that little added spike of humour.

I imagine you are, at this point, protesting – how could I possibly take issue with this endeavour? It seems, in fact, precisely the sort of initiative to give the Macquarie that spark of brilliance it so desperately needs – and indeed, in principle, I agree. In practice however, I am afraid I must take issue. Observe, for instance, the winning entry for November:

able to drive a tank

Ah ha ha, how terribly droll. However – and one does so hate to be a pedant – but, how, precisely, does that “satisfy the normal dictionary expectations as to explanation of meaning”? Humour being so terribly subjective, I shall leave it to your own good selves, gentle readers, to decide whether or not it has “that little added spike of humour“.

However, let us not be too hasty in our judgements, November is, after all, traditionally a slow month for witticisms, and it is unreasonable for us to expect the minds of these great epigrammatists to be on fire all the time (a wish that we might, however, reasonably hold for the dictionary). Let us turn our attention, then, to the latest winning entry, where no doubt we shall find that this unfortunate definition was just a one-off. Therefore, the winning definition for December:

Mr Robert Myers
subordinate clause
Santa’s helper

Oh dear*.

*an expression, chiefly to be found of use in face of distressing circumstances – and also the Macquarie.

Published in: on January 17, 2008 at 10:07 am  Comments (3)

Dispatches from the decline and fall of western grammaticisation*

(Wherein our intrepid hero longs for the weighty tome that is the O.E.D. – that he might cudgel a few people with it)

The fine and proud institution that is the Macquarie Dictionary is holding an online poll to determine the word of the year, out of what are, apparently, their latest additions. Amongst the sterling selections you will find “arse antlers” – because apparently “tramp stamp” simply doesn’t cut it, “germ phobia“, because apparently “Mysophobia” simply isn’t accurate enough, and “globesity” – whose definition seems to run counter to the word itself. Then there are the splendid suggestions of “Read dating” – a fad which I am sure will last sufficiently long to merit permanent canonisation in our lexicon, and “Helengrad” – a New Zealand colloquialism relating specifically to their current government, and therefore definitely worth immortalisation.

However, as irritatingly stupid as these “words” are, they are not the worst. No, that honour goes to the word “Couply” – adjective Colloquial 1. suited to a couple: a couply movie. 2. indicative of an established couple: matching clothes are so couply.

To begin with, this word clearly takes the adverbial form, despite [not-quite-so] clearly being an adjective. Of course, in defence of the Macquarie, the English language is most definitely in dire need of more irregular words. Secondly, it is a word that is entirely superfluous. Consider the two proffered usages: the first, “a couply movie” is easily satisfied simply by using the possessive form of “couple” – e.g. “a couple’s movie“. Certainly, there is precedent for this form of usage, such as “a chick’s flick” and “a lad’s mag“. Admittedly, it is usually abbreviated to “chick flick“, but that is most certainly as a function of rhyme, as opposed to “couply”, which is most certainly as a function of rampant stupidity. In the second example, the implication is quite simply entirely off. Matching clothes are not “couply”. They are creepy. See also: weird, sad, distressing, disturbing, awkward, and indicative of serial-killer potential.

I am reminded of an anecdote, related to me by my close friend Jordan, of an incident in an Australian court of law. An issue relating to the definition of a word came up, and eventually the Judge directed one of the junior associates to fetch a dictionary, in order to end the dispute. As the lackey headed for the door, the Judge called him back, instructing him: “Not the Macquarie.”

I am well aware that language evolves over time, and that not everyone will like all the changes. However, that does not mean that those in charge of overseeing and regulating the evolution of our language need to give in to every idiotic whim of the idle minds of the public. In this particular evolutionary path, I am more than happy to welcome a little intelligent design. Indeed, I do, in my own small way, hope to harness this power for change by resurrecting common usage of the 2nd person singular pronoun, “thou”. It is, after all, the appropriate singular form, and was only discarded in the Victorian era out of politeness. Which goes to show, I think, just how stupid Victorian era etiquette was. However, whilst I realise that one might feel, at least at first, a little stupidly self-conscious and “old-timey” using thou, one must remember that it worked perfectly well for Shakespeare, and the alternative is to accept that eventually, Macquarie will add “youse” to their dictionary.

Assuming, that is, the editors can still remember how to spell.

*See Macquarie, I can do it too, only better.

Published in: on January 14, 2008 at 11:40 am  Comments (1)

Dispatches from the wilds of (Oxy)Moronia

(Wherein our intrepid hero is confounded by absurd telemarketing)

Just a short anecdote, my doves, on a recent occurrence:  I received a phone call, whilst going about my day-to-day business, from a charming young chap interested in assisting my beloved employer in lowering his overheads, with regard to mobile phone costs. The premise of the offer was simple: this company (something-or-other-Tel) purchases telephonic services from Telstra at wholesale rates, which they then on-sell at “wholesale” rates. The part of this complicated financial arrangement with which we are most interested, however, is the summarised description of the service provided, which my good friend Shane (which may well have been his name) presented to me:

“We…” he explained in that semi-excited, quasi-enthusiastic tone common to telemarketers with breathtaking offers to share “…cut out the middle-man.

It was at this point that I hung up.

To recap: Shane (for I am fairly certain that this was probably his name – I’m pretty sure it started with an “S” and had an “e” in it, and I don’t think it was “Steve”)  is offering to purchase wholesale phone access from our current phone provider, and then on-sell it to us. By thus inserting Shane into our telephonic billing cycle, we shall, Shane assures me, cut out the middle man.

Published in: on December 4, 2007 at 4:28 pm  Leave a Comment


text:
The Sky Net Computing

The Sky Net

Contribute to science and use your computing power to process radio astronomy data!

Radio astronomers use radio telescopes to observe the Universe at radio wavelengths, they “listen” signals from distant galaxies, stars and other objects in the Cosmos. Signals from those telescopes are then processed through great number of computers connected via internet, thus simulating a powerful supercomputer.

Joining this project, only small packets of data will be processed through your computer,  which you won’t even probably notice. That’s because it uses just the spare processing power.

So be in for a good thing and help scientists to discover the Universe and write history.

About ~ wolfrayetstar

Science enthusiast and visual artist - hobbyist. Begginer in astrophotography and huge fan of nerdy jokes.
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text:
specialteas.com is gone?!?!

79 Replies
Tea_d-off said

Thank you! Yes, it was the black tea with dried raspberries and raspberry leaves…sooo good! I’ve tried a couple since I ran out and haven’t found one that even comes close. But I’ll give Upton Tea a try.

lavushka said

no problem, hope you like theirs! we’ve found this specific tea – and the general selection – quite comparable to SpecialTeas!

Newbie here. Just found this site! I too am distraught over the demise of SpecialTeas. Teavana doesn’t carry the same flavors that were my favorites and the prices are outrageous. I’ve ordered from Upton for years and love their single estate teas but have not thought their flavored offerings were as good, at least for my taste. BTW the Special Tea store in Victoria BC is not related to the online company SpecialTeas. They carry lots of Rooibus teas.

I am equally disappointed with Special Teas gone. I am going through the lists of all the stores that everyone was nice enough to put up. Thank you for such a great starting point in this search. I am really going to miss the Russian Samovar blend with the white or green FOPs, the Russian Caravan Blend, the the sheer variety of Oolongs that Special Teas had. I am going to especially miss the time I called them to check my order and had a person answer on the 2nd ring and not have to transfer me. That absolutely blew my mind and I will feel bad changing my loyalty.

Has anyone tried http://www.specialtea.com? It is a Canadian site and since the loony and dollar are within 1.5 cents it is no big deal to convert. I am going to try a $30 order and hope the best. Their variety looks good, hoping the best for their quality as well.

Also I have found a low cost medium quality fix for Sencha, Genmai-cha, and Hoji-cha. Tea Yamamoto Yama. Their “Family Pack” is 7 oz for less than $4. I drink at least half a pound of Genmai-cha a year. It is not the best I have ever had, but for the quantity I drink it is an excellent deal, especially compared with $6 an oz from other folks. My favorite part is it has a wide distribution and I can get it online, at the corner asian market, and even Epcot Japan (Still less than $4 per 7 oz in Disney!!!).

T-Wren said

I too was very sad to see Specialteas go…and to Teavanna of all things !
Silk Road Teas provided Specialteas with some of it’s competition grade teas.
Silk Road personally inspects & imports mainly from China-black,green,pu-er , white & oolongs. You won’t find any flavored blends , however, and they do sell out . Check their website to see current offerings.

Drink T said

I wish I had the opportunity to try some of Specialteas teas. However, I would like to let you know that I also personally cup, select and import my teas direct from the source. I also personally hand-blend small batches of tea. Some of Specialteas customers have come to me because I carry a very good quality PiLoChun. My website is www.drinkt.com

joelbny said

Oh good, a SpecialTeas grief support group! I miss them so much. The quality, price, and consistency was second to none. Where else could you find so many types of quality Chinese Green and Black and Indian/Ceylon estate teas in the same place?

Maybe they supplied Teavana, but look at Teavana’s website and inventory, it is a joke by comparison to SpecialTeas… ST catered to connoisseurs. And they had those cool free samples, the perfect way to try new varieties! Oh well… whoever ran ST should restart a new high-end US tea importer, the economy is turning around again so now is the time.

For now I’ve been using http://www.theteastop.com and https://www.itoen.com/loose-leaf-tea.html has some good chinese and indian as well, although of course their specialty is Japanese.

drlesley said

I am happy to have a support group for SpecialTeas grievers too. I am a charter member by dint of my addiction to their Gyokuro. Since my supply was cut off I have been bereft. It seems as though they had used a blend because even the really top quality expensive Gyokuro I have tried as a replacement isn’t the same. SpecialTeas blend had a kind of barley genmaicha taste but it was labeled “Gyokuro Asahina Extra Fine (No. 700).”

Does anyone have any info about this? I would be so grateful. I am saving a pack or two of the old Special Teas just so I can smell it for replication purposes. There must be a company that made it that supplied it to Special Teas from Japan.

joelbny said

not sure who their Japanese supplier was, did you try asking on teachat’s forums? the board isn’t as popular as it once was, but still a knowledgeable and erudite crowd

And these are probably the most reputable Japanese Tea companies that serve the West, if specialteas was dealing with an exporter and not directly with farms or processors it may have been one of these:

catmyser said

I agree with everything everyone has said above. I can offer further direct “historical” comparisons of Elephant Tea in Atlanta, then Teavana, and SpecialTeas. I discovered Elephant Tea in person in Atlanta more than 10 years ago. We LOVED everything about it, including the owner Andrew and his wife, who were wonderful! The friends who were with me loved it so much they seriously researched a possible franchise in North Central Florida with the owners. Elephant Tea was AWESOME in every way, the shops, the teas, the tea accoutrements, with fair prices. Then Elephant Tea became Teavana, and immediately became MUCH more expensive, and never as charming, but more “industrial” in every aspect of its tea shops, tea quality, and drinking experiences. A friend suggested SpecialTeas and I never looked back. They had by far the best quality teas (and I have traveled to 60 countries and compare fine teas everywhere I travel) and by far the best prices. I would never shop anywhere else. My own favorites were/are: Madagascar Vanilla, Chocolate Creme as others have mentioned, Earl Grey de La Creme as others have mentioned, and Raj Caramel. I had bought in reasonable bulk such that I am only just discovering that SpecialTeas no longer exists! Since the Madagascar Vanilla is my #1 fave and I drink it daily, has anyone else found another superb quality vanilla with the same rich, deep (not merely surface) vanilla? Has anyone else discovered another rich caramel? Have any better chocolate creme or earl grey de la creme come on the market that are comparable? I am SUPER BUMMED!!!

Special-Teas, Etc. is a small mom & pop tea shop with many, many teas to choose from. You might want to try our “Vanilla Bean” or Cream Earl Grey. We have over 100 blends! www.specialteasetc.com

Jude said

If anyone would like to trade for some SpecialTeas, I can offer:
- a full unopened 2 oz bag of their Chamomile Flowers Special Selection,
- a nearly-full 2 oz bag of their Organic Blanc de Cassis,
- about an ounce of their Organic Chun Mee and
- about 2 oz of their Keemun Special Grade

Bluestem said

I have quit drinking tea since Special Teas went out of business. I always ordered the Nuwara Eliya BOP loose leaf tea from them. It made wonderful iced tea. I ordered some from Upton and it wasn’t very good. Anybody know the best internet option for a loose leaf Nuwara Eliya? Thanks

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text:
Over the last couple of years, there’s been a ton of “reboots” in the movies – Spiderman, StarTrek, Prometheus (Alien), and others.

So I was reminded that I should reboot my blog. Well, not really a reboot, but I’m going to get going and update this thing.

The first post of this reboot is on my new job. I started April 16 at Metafore’s Calgary office where I’m the new Consulting Services Manager – Western Canada. I manage a senior team of technologists here in Calgary as well as Edmonton and Vancouver.


text:
Google pins its rainbow colours to the mast

googleOver a billion people visit Google every day. Today they will be met by Google’s protest over the violations of gay rights in Russia as the Winter Olympics get underway.

In case the rainbow doodle left you in any doubt, Google then quote the Olympic Charter underneath that states that “every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport without discrimination of any kind”.

Left Foot Forward today have given us ‘5 good reasons why LGBT activists are protesting against Russia‘ – many of which result in the Olympic Charter being little more than an aspiration for an openly gay athletes in Russia.

Google were joined by Channel 4 who also turned their logo rainbow for the day. The TV channel stated that they wanted to wish good luck to all athletes competing at the Games – gay or straight.

Channel 4 rainbow logo for Sochi Winter Olympics
Hynd’s Blog tips its metaphorical hat to Google, Channel 4 and the transformative power of sport.

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Legends of the Bird – Piasa Bird #121

Cake #121 at the Piasa Bird

Oh man, was I stoked for this one! Although Miles and I would eventually see a record 10 cakes in total during our rainy tromp through Illinois, when I began planning this trip a few days prior, the one cake I was beyond excited to see was the one at the Piasa Bird!

                                                   Cake #121 at the Piasa Bird

The origins of the Piasa (pronounced Pie-a-saw, which let’s be real, I had no idea this was the way you said it until I saw the pronunciation written down) Bird date back to 1673 when our good old Illinois friend Father Jacques Marquette was traveling down the Mississippi River with Louis Joliet and made note in his diary of a “birdlike monster” painted on the bluffs that are now known as Alton, IL.

In his diary, Marquette wrote that the Piasa Bird “was as large as a calf with horns like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger’s, a face like a man, the body covered with green, red and black scales and a tail so long it passed around the body, over the head and between the legs” (source). And if you take a look at the pictures I took during our cake hunting trip, you can see what he was talking about.

                                                   Cake #121 at the Piasa Bird

The Piasa Bird itself supposedly got its name from the Illini tribe of Native Americans who named it after a bird that devours men…lovely!

Despite how cool the history of this painting is, prior to our trip, I had never heard it before and was mainly intrigued about the location because 1.) I love sketchy cave paintings 2.) The Piasa Bird is located off the Great River Road, which if you’ve never been, I highly recommend! It’s a two lane road through Illinois that has beautiful caves and green bluffs on one side and a beautiful scenic view of the river on the other. This trip marked one of the first, but certainly not the last time I would get to take the Great River Road during my cake hunting adventures, and it never disappointed!

                                                   You know there’s sketchy stuff in there!

Plus as luck would have it, the rain held out long enough for us to really take in the area of the cake and the painting, and even get as close to the cave openings behind the painting as the cop parked at the site would allow us to…which was not very close, sadly.

img_2526I think Miles enjoyed this cake stop too as there were many interesting things for him to smell and he even got to look super majestic atop the sign for the site, which is something he never tires of getting to do.

So after spending quite a bit of time at this location admiring the cake and the Piasa Bird and reading all the signs we could, Miles and I felt satisfied that we had learned all that we could from this location and said our goodbyes until the next time our travels took us to this part of Illinois.

Sunshine in My Pocket – Alton Visitor Center #120

Cake #120 at the Alton Visitor Center

And just like that, the clouds parted, the rain lifted and for a few quick cake sightings, we were engulfed in glorious, glorious sunshine.

Miles and I were determined not to miss this opportunity to bask in the break in precipitation, and so we scurried over to Cake #120 at the Alton Visitor Center and took turns admiring its majesty.

Pretty much like all other visitor centers in pretty much all the other places you’ve ever visited, this one boasts pamphlets and brochures galore about all the unique and wonderful things there are to do in Alton, which were mostly locations that had cakes, so I didn’t have to worry about missing anything.

Cake #120 at the Alton Visitor Center

I will say that due to my many cake-ventures that took me over the river, I was a pretty frequent visitor to Alton in 2014, and it is really something to see. It was the first place I drove past every time I made my way into Illinois, and there was just something breathtaking about driving over the architecturally incredible bridge and then arriving in a place I was starting to get to know pretty well.

Cake #120 at the Alton Visitor Center

Alton is also home to the Great River Road which has been named the Best Fall Drive in the Midwest and let me tell you, even on a rainy day in June, it is still pretty spectacular! But I think the part I enjoyed most about Alton was the way it felt like such a nice small town so close to home. And with how many times I traversed it in my travels, it was always a welcome sight because I knew that no matter how far into the wilds of Illinois I went, as soon as that bridge was in view, I was on my way home.

Cake #120 at the Alton Visitor Center

Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head – Robert Wadlow Statue #119

Robert Wadlow

Besides being an applicable title for this blog post about rainy day cake hunting and just some great lyrics to hum along to whenever it’s stormy out, this song has the perfect couple of lines for Cake #119: And just like the guy whose feet / Are too big for his bed / Nothing seems to fit…well you know how the rest goes. But the reason those lyrics are so significant for this cake is because it is in honor of Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in the world!

Robert only lived to the age of 22 but when he died he was 8 feet 11.1 inches tall! He was born in Alton, IL in 1918 and by the time he was 9 years old he was already over 6 feet.

Cake #119 at the Robert Wadlow Statue

His impressive stature was due to a pituitary anomaly that caused his body to continually make the growth hormone, so if he had not died so young of a foot infection, there is no telling how tall he may have grown to be.

Robert had planned to become an attorney but because of his size and brittle bones, attending classes was difficult for him, and so he joined the circus at age 19 before taking to the road at age 20 with his father as a spokesperson for the International Shoe Company.

A Replica of Robert Wadlow’s Chair

When Robert died in 1940 most businesses in Alton shut down for the day so that the whole town could honor their favorite giant. Then in 1985 a bronze statue of Robert was erected and placed across from the SIUE Dental School.

While all of this history is incredibly fascinating, I do have to say that dragging a waterlogged pup through a space that is mostly occupied by a literally giant mannequin is not an ideal situation to admire a cake! However seeing the statue/mannequin was admittedly pretty amazing and by this point we were already as drenched as we were going to get, so we carried on even amidst strange looks from passersby with umbrellas who pretty much just shook their heads as they watched us frolic, and I can’t say I blame them.

Rain on Our Parade – Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower #118

img_2506It finally happened. On the fourth cake of the day, our luck ran out and Miles and I were treated to a sudden and heavy downpour just as we pulled into the parking lot for Cake #118 at the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower. So, since the day had otherwise been mostly sunny, we did what seemed like the only plan of action – waiting in the car and bonding over our shared conclusion that Illinois was not a fan of our cake adventures.

Entrance to the Confluence Tower

While we waited, it was practically impossible not to admire the enormous structure directly in front of us. Soaring to a staggering 180 feet, the Confluence Tower was constructed in 2010 to commemorate the location where Lewis and Clark set sail on their momentous expedition. With viewing platforms at 50, 100 and 150 feet, you can not only take in the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers but supposedly you can also see all the way to the Gateway Arch if it’s a clear enough day, which, of course, on the day of our expedition, it was anything but.

Miles admiring Clark’s biography

So for one of the first times, but certainly not the last, this Cake Monster swallowed what was left of her pride (and let’s be honest, vanity, because there is no coming back from rain on curly hairs) and decided it was time to let Miles run wild in the rain so we could continue with our hunt.

As you walk up to the entrance to the Confluence Tower there are two little areas with concrete steps and water running over them on either side with a likeness of Lewis and his biography on one and Clark on the other. Since we were basically alone at this point in the day, and we were already soaking wet, I let Miles decide which side to check out first and because he’s a history buff, he chose Clark and jumped right into that side’s water steps without a second thought.

Cake #118 at the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower

The cake itself was a bit behind the tower just past a little water fountain that again Miles sampled as we passed by because a pug’s gotta do what a pug’s gotta do, and I was too waterlogged and soggy to stop him.

After we had walked around a bit, I saw there was a museum type place located a few feet from the cake, and so I poked my head in just to look around and of course Miles saw his opening and barged in after me as if he had been there many times before. The teenagers who were working the front desk thought seeing Miles was the best thing since sliced bread and didn’t even stop him from looking around and sniffing all the artifacts he came across. They even said that we could climb the tower if we wanted to for free, but as I realized just how many steps that would amount to with a lazy little pup, I had to pass saying we had other cakes to visit before our time in Illinois was over.

Cake #118 at the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower

So we said goodbye, and like Lewis and Clark, headed back into in the wild Illinois unknown, hoping for good weather, a strong sense of direction and hopefully no further obstacles on the way to our next destination.

Cake #118 at the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower

Welcome to Illinois Where the Street Names Are Confusing and a Pup’s Dreams Don’t Matter – Lewis and Clark State Historic Site #117

Cake #117 at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site

Miles James is a simple pup. He likes simple things like food, a good rawhide to chew on, his various stuffed animals and visiting cakes. And so he was absolutely devastated when we arrived at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site during our Illinois adventure, and he was told he had to wait in the car because the cake was inside the building.

Ok, quick rant: For real, I did not understand then and I do not understand now why some cakes were placed inside buildings – like business type buildings with events and people and operating hours!  Also some of these buildings were not open on the weekends, so in order to make sure I saw all the cakes, I had to plan specific days off work to check out some of the indoor cakes – not ideal, yo! I guess I can assume that a small reason why some cakes were inside was to preserve those cakes from the elements and general vandalism, but what about the other poor cakes? Are they not good enough to have an inside house and not an outside one? *sigh* End rant.

Cake #117 at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site

What made this inside cake even more of a frustrating find was the fact that it was incredibly difficult to locate. For some reason my GPS (aka my old school Garmin) wasn’t bringing me to the right location, and I kept driving down the same street expecting to see a turn I had missed or a big statue or even the cake, but nothing. I drove down and around this same location so many times a kindly police officer even asked me where I was headed and when I told him, he just said, “Yeah, there are a lot of Lewis and Clark things around here, but I’m sure you’ll find it eventually.”

Cake #117 at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site

Luckily, or unluckily as it may be for Miles, I tried a slightly different route to my new favorite road and that led us to the cake location. Once we arrived, I promised Miles that I would be quick and pretty much skip-ran to the building where I could see the cake in the window, praying the building was open. Thankfully it was!

Since I had Miles waiting in the car, I didn’t get a chance to really poke around too much in the museum part, but I learned that this historic site was home to Camp River Dubois which served as Lewis and Clark’s winter camp from December of 1803 to May of 1804. During that time the men who camped with Lewis and Clark helped prepare for the spring expedition by gathering supplies and hunting. Pretty neat actually to see another Lewis and Clark location after Miles and I had previously checked out the Boat House in St. Charles on a cake hunt that seemed so long ago.

Thankfully the sky had turned cloudy but hadn’t started to pour yet, so even though Miles wasn’t able to be with me, I still enjoyed a short walk around the cake and the front of the building where there was an interesting (and super reflective) rock? statue? commemorating the location.

Cake #117 at the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site

Miles Gets Schooled – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville #116

img_2492And so the Cake Monster and Miles James Illinois adventure continued with a thankfully still sunny second stop at Cake #116 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville or SIUE.

Cake #116 at SIUE

Previously Miles James and I had visited the cake at Lindenwood University as well as the cake at Webster University, and both times I was more than a little worried about the rules governing cute little pug pups on campus. And even though both of those cake hunts occurred without incident, I still had a few butterflies in my belly about tempting the pug policy at yet another institution of higher learning.

But just as we were lucky enough to still be cake hunting in the sunshine, we were able to tramp about campus at least for a bit without even running into a solitary student, which was nice. The one person we did run into was a fellow cake hunter who was ADAMANT about taking a picture of Miles and I in front of the cake, which I suppose isn’t all bad as that photo turned out to be one of my favorites from the year-long hunt.

Cake #116 at SIUE

However even that assertive encounter that brought me in front of the camera for a quick cake pose, didn’t deter the quiet simplicity of roaming a college campus relatively undisturbed. And the campus itself was pretty impressive. The idea for a college institution in the Alton/East St. Louis/Edwardsville area began in 1955 when locals began to realize that there were not enough opportunities in the area for those interested in attending a higher education institution that was close to home and affordable.img_2488 By 1957 two campuses were opened, one in Alton and one in East St. Louis, but as enrollment climbed, those in charge looked for a larger, more permanent home for the college and settled on Edwardsville where ground was broken for what would become SIUE in 1963.

Cake #116 at SIUE

Apparently the campus is also famous for the Mississippi River Festival which ran from 1969 to 1980 and featured such well-known artists as Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead and Elton John. While there are apparently no plans to revive this festival, this Cake Monster, for one, thinks that that sounded like a pretty sweet set up and would definitely be on board if it were brought back.

I Bless the Rains over in Illinois! – Clinton County Courthouse #115

Cake #115 at the Clinton County Courthouse

It was always something with Illinois, I swear. 🙂 First, I was visually assaulted with mannequin after mannequin after mannequin on my first trip across the border with Mama Monster, and then on this trip, it stormed so often that I eventually just realized that if you love something as much as I love cake hunting, you’re willing to go for it even at the risk of frizzy hairs and a wet puppy smell that lingers in your car for weeks.

Cake #115 at the Clinton County Courthouse

The first cake of the day was at the Clinton County Courthouse in Carlyle, IL. And thankfully at this point in the hunt, the sky was still only rumbling and had not yet burst open, so we were able to enjoy the cake in a general state of dryness – although Miles James did make a silly pug face at having to be woken up from his car nap for a courthouse cake with sailboats on it, which, if you think about it, might have been a pretty obvious suggestion for the type of vehicle we should have been traveling in the rest of the day!

From what I can gather, what makes the Clinton County Courthouse worthy of a cake is the fact that it is the county seat of Carlyle, IL.

Cake #115 at the Clinton County Courthouse

I did discover that Carlyle is home to Illinois’ largest man-made lake and that Clinton County is named for DeWitt Clinton, a former governor of New York, who helped build the Erie Canal. Overall not too shabby, I suppose.

As usual, Miles James was a crowd favorite and was given quite a few head scratches and compliments on our short trip from the cake to the car, and the cake itself was very well done, but even this warm reception back into Illinois was not enough to prepare us for the eventual torrents of water that were to plague the majority of our day – is it obvious that I’m still bitter? 🙂 🙂


text:
Juffali’s ex-wife names PM in legal action

Juffali’s ex-wife names PM in legal action

Lawyers representing the ex-wife of Saudi billionaire, Doctor Walid Juffali, have named Prime Minister Doctor Kenny Anthony as a respondent in a case to be heard here.

HTS News 4Orce broke the news last night during its evening newscast.

Anthony confirmed that he and his Attorney General have been named as respondents in the case.

Lawyers for Juffali’s ex-wife are seeking a declaration from the court that the appointment of the Saudi billionaire as Saint Lucia’s Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is invalid and unlawful.

“That would be a very interesting contest because you know I like a legal contest,” Prime Minister Anthony told HTS News 4Orce.

In February this year, a British Judge dismissed Juffali’s claim of diplomatic immunity, giving his ex-wife the opportunity to pursue legal action to claim some of the Saudi national’s fortune in the UK.

Juffali has filed an appeal.

Prime Minister Doctor Kenny Anthony, a former University of the West Indies Law Lecturer, has consistently defended his administration’s refusal to accede to requests to waive the Saudi national’s diplomatic immunity.

Of the case that has been filed naming him and the Attorney General as respondents, Anthony said:

“We will deal with that very soon.”

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  1. Anonymous
    February 26, 2016 at 10:00 am Reply

    what a shame!

    1. Anonymous
      February 26, 2016 at 11:29 am Reply

      What is shameful? If u are saying shame on the thieving woman the I agree.

  2. 1
    February 26, 2016 at 11:01 am Reply

    Silly little white girl!

    1. Charles Avril
      February 27, 2016 at 6:10 am Reply

      you’re a little racist what is her colour got to do with claiming her rights under British law you need to crawl back under a rock, whence you cometh Jack…Char

  3. Nick
    February 26, 2016 at 12:01 pm Reply

    Looks like the prime minister is a defense lawyer for the man. Again taxpayers here will be paying the bill for his trip to London and other foolish deeds.

  4. Frustrated citizen
    February 27, 2016 at 5:01 pm Reply

    Kenny I pray to god u take a piece of jail under this one…and all the rest will learn …urll foolish politians believe urll are untouchable ..forgetting who put urll deh to run the affairs of the country …uwp SLP LPM all are the same .

    1. 1
      February 27, 2016 at 5:23 pm Reply

      You may have forgotten the UN funds Scandal-right.
      This was an actual crime orchestrated by the UWP, where millions were stolen under their stewardship.

      The Prime Minister has NOT committed any crime, unlike your party.
      I won’t even talk about the Taiwanese funds where your party were pocketing in millions.

  5. Harold Edwards
    February 28, 2016 at 3:16 pm Reply

    Forgive my ignorance but can’t the PM refuse to attend claiming diplomatic immunity?

  6. confused
    March 2, 2016 at 7:28 pm Reply

    I am seriously confused! So because of diplomatic immunity, she can not touch her ex, but she can have the Prime Minister as a respondent?

Leave a Reply


text:
Dealing with Difficult People

Dealing with difficult people can be one of Life’s toughest problems. The biggest thing to consider is that you have the power to control your own emotions. Often times difficult people try to wrap you up in their drama. The old saying “Misery Loves Company” rings true.

At times it happens that a difficult co-worker creates problems for you while at work, it could be something like doing things his own way without even asking you that whether you are comfortable or not. There are different kinds of difficult people and all of them are not easy to deal with. These people not only make the environment tough but also disturb others by performing such acts that are difficult to cope with under normal circumstance. It is sometimes very hard to make these people realize that what they are doing is wrong. Different types of  people have different set of tendencies and they can change it with the passage of time as human psychology is full of possibilities and can do wonders when it comes to behavior and making other friends. The simple rule of law in this regard is that a person you cannot deal in a positive way is a difficult person and all of us come across this kind on a daily basis. It is also to be noted that psychology sometimes derives such rules or laws that tare far from reality or actuality. It is also worth mentioning that all sorts of difficult and hard tendencies can be found in the people who are our friends , relatives or even loved ones. These could a negative imaged friend , aggressive boss , a complainer , a yes boss personality which could be also be a called as super agreeable , a person considering himself a jack of all trades  when actually he knows nothing, a person having negative thought or pessimist and the most peril types is the one who fears in making decision especially thinking that someone would be unhappy.  I will now present seven of the most wanted and workable tips that would not only make your life easier but will also allow you to deal with all kinds of people.

Make sure your not one of them…….

Weird but a real phenomenon , most of us are never ready to accept that we are a difficult personality and always believe in the wrong fact that we always create possibilities for others to come forward without any issue but actually we never do so. Our attitude and the patience should be such that it demonstrates the highest level of patience and satisfaction from the opposite side. These are the factors that decide our personality and comfort level with others. Corporate or the the business world is a place that has no emotion and feelings so people are never concerned about the personal problems. To  be successful in all walks of life you should have a welcoming attitude for others.

Listen to the issues carefully……

It is one of the most important factors that lead to resistance from the opposite side and eventually makes a person difficult to deal. People often think that they are not understood by the others and they are not aware of the issues of the problems that are being faced. The best way to make them feel that the information they are giving is correct , however it is advised to validate the information before moving ahead. It is most suitable and easy way to deal with all sorts of difficult people.

Firm Attitude……

Difficult people always misunderstand the facts, procedures, and policies, this sort of situation is never helpful under and circumstances and always leads to disagreement and stern opposition when satisfaction level is not met. In this situation it is always advised to let them know the facts in a kind and polite way , this would not only clear the ambiguities but will also build their confidence . The truth is always better then a promise that is never fulfilled or any other excuse in this regard.

Never Resist…….

It is an established fact that resisting the boss , employee or co-workers is never liked by the organization. It is proven law of human psychology that people tend to resist more when they face resistance themselves. In case of difficult people the situation or the scenario could be even more complex and difficult . It is advised to never show resistance of any kind while dealing with  these people. Always listen to the point of view of others and make them realize that you are the one with a solution. It will not only strengthen the bond but will also allow you proceed in a calm and friendly manner.

Don’t Be Silent……

This type of situation makes a person think that you are not interested in what is being said, It could also be called a type of resistance that makes people uncomfortable . Acknowledgement is what people always want to have and if you nod your head yes then it makes them feel that they are at the right place to explain the issue. If silence is not broken then a common conclusion is never attained an neither of the parties will accept the point of view of  the other.

Know the Results….

While dealing with other people know what the outcome would be and try to convince them in a calm manner. If the results are known  then 50% resolution has been attained without any issue. The art of letting them know will also make it possible to resolve the remaining 50% . Validation in a positive way will never make them feel that there is no resolution and the discussion was worthless.

Utter facts and make them believe in them…..

Difficult people are 90% negative and often use the word never or it is never possible. In order to deal with this negativity it is always required to continue a fact based discussion and also make it possible for them to switch. Make them realize that use of the extreme terms will never resolve the issue. It is also recommended to know the issue before hand so that you can help yourself in gathering the required information.

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