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Using eBay to Find Outdoor Supplies on the Cheap
Getting into the swing of summer happening is a cinch at eBay. You can always find great bargains on pool supplies, patio furniture, and (especially in the winter) patio heaters. Prices — even including shipping costs — may even beat the best deals at your local discount store.
Keeping your green thumb happy
You no longer have to find a special nursery to find rare and unique plants. Just read your landscaping book and run a search at eBay for the plants you want. You can find almost every exotic plant you desire. Here's a lay of the land:
- Horticulturists from the Pacific Northwest are selling seeds and flats of their cherished lavender and herbs.
- A nursery in Indiana, rosemeadownursery, specializes in miniature roses, and is selling them by the dozen for spring.
- Sellers from Hawaii are selling cuttings and seeds from those luscious Hawaiian plants.
There are rules for nurseries that ship to different states. Some states require bare root shipping. The seller removes all dirt from the plant roots and ships the plant in a moisture-laden container. California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona have special plant rules. More information can be found on the eBay help page.
Or click Site Map on the Navigation Bar. On the site map, look for Is My Item Allowed at eBay? and click it.
Swimming pool equipment
Yes, eBay has its share of 6-foot inflatable alligators, water wings, underwater exercisers, and swimming-pool basketball sets. But eBay is also an excellent place to save money on swimming-pool equipment and parts.
Anyone who has ever used a mechanical pool sweep knows that they are pretty temperamental items, and you need to work on them from time to time. There are sellers at eBay who sell brand new replacement parts for these pool monsters at a major savings from your local pool store.
Pool equipment of all kinds, including test equipment and supplies, can be found at lower-than-discount prices.
Calling all sports
One of the better aspects of getting involved in a sport is buying all the stuff you need to perform the sport looking your best. You can, of course, find individual sellers devoted to all your sporting needs, but eBay also has complete stores devoted to sports, as well. eBay covers everything you need, whether you are a participant or merely a fan. You won't find better bargains anywhere.
You can look for everything from camping equipment, to paintball supplies, and even curling. (Yes, curling.)
You may want to rent (or buy) a timeshare for your vacation. If you want to practice your game, you might want books and videos or get practice nets and putting greens for your home or office. See how a theme is put together? You also might want golf memorabilia (a Tiger Woods 1996 Rookie card, PSA 10, is worth $37,000), autographs, perhaps even a pair of tickets to the Ryder Cup or the Masters.
You may be surprised to discover that pool tables among the items for sale at eBay! zBilliards has been selling full-size billiard tables at eBay for a few years. The proprieter originally got interested in using eBay in his business when he saw his mother's collectible business turn from pretty good to a pretty big moneymaker with a little help from eBay.
Adam Ginsberg is the man behind zBilliards. He contracted directly with overseas factories to produce the tables according to his own exacting specifications (talk about branding!). He imports the tables directly and keeps them in his Los Angeles warehouse.
Tables sell at eBay for amazingly low prices, and a quick glance at the feedback rating reveals that Ginsberg has plenty of happy customers. Many of the feedbacks also reflect comments by the installers that the tables bought from Ginsberg were half (or even one-third) the local purchase price.


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From what I understand, The Walking Dead is a pretty good show and is actually quite popular. I've heard a lot of good things about it, though I have yet to be able to actually sit down and watch it. That isn't going to stop me from finishing a request though and here it is. As requested, here is chibi Daryl Dixon. So hang around and take a look, and don't sue me if it isn't perfect.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!

subset: commoncrawl


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- Stocks To Watch
U.S. Steel: Another Day, Another Upgrade
- Order Reprints
- Print Article
U.S. Steel (X) had been down so long, it was starting to look like nothing would ever lift it up.
Then the upgrades started coming, and shares of U.S. Steel started to run. Its shares have returned 44% during the past three months, outpacing Commercial Metals Company's (CMC) 21% gain, Steel Dynamics (STLD) 18% rise, and Nucor's (NUE) 9.7% advance .
And wouldn't you know it, here's another upgrade, this time from KeyBanc, propelling shares higher today. KeyBanc's Philip Gibbs and Tyler Kenyon explain why they like U.S. Steel:
In our late October report on X, we noted the Company was "scratching the surface" on operational improvement, and we expected shares to edge higher over the near term. While X shares have appreciated by 16% since that report vs. the S&P 500 of +4% and the [Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX)] of +3%, we believe shares have more room to run based on our positive carbon hot-rolled steel pricing revisions for 2014: meaningful raw material cost tailwinds (coal, scrap, iron ore); low Street EPS and EBITDA expectations for 2014-2015; an ever-increasing interest rate environment (benefits for pension exposure); more evidence of European macro stability; and above-average likelihood of incremental operational efficiency announcements such as a joint venture or tolling agreement with Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI).
Gibbs and Kenyon raised U.S. Steel to Buy from Hold and expect it to earn $2.05 in 2014, well ahead of the consensus estimate of $1.21.
While Gibbs and Kenyon are bullish on U.S. Steel, They're not nearly as positive on Commercial Metals Company, Nucor and Steel Dynamics. They explain why:
Commercial Metals Company, Nucor Corporation, and Steel Dynamics, Inc. are more in line with Street estimates to reflect our expectation for early 2014 metal spread compression vs. late 2013 levels as scrap costs have run more aggressively than underlying steel pricing realizations over the last 60-90 days. More specifically, January ferrous scrap costs are anticipated to rise $15-$45/long ton month-over-month vs. our previous expectation of +$5-$10. We expect the upside to be short-lived post-January as the recent rise was predicated by a combination of supply-side constraints via late 2013 weather conditions and upstream suppliers withholding supply from the market to make up for a dismal 1H13. Moreover, U.S. ferrous scrap prices now appear overvalued vs. seaborne iron ore, a condition we expect to unwind in mid-2014 as scrap flows improve with a better economy, seaborne iron ore prices weaken, and impacts from [Nucor's] late 2013 DRI commissioning foster a ceiling for higher end ferrous scrap.
Shares of U.S. Steel have gained 5.2% to $31.02 today at 11:17 a.m., while Commercial Metals has dropped 0.5% to $20.22, Allegheny Technologies has dropped 0.6% to $35.43, Steel Dynamics has declined 0.3% to $19.48 and Nucor is off 0.2% to %53.27.


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You Like it Different
when you travel
Handpicked independent guides in just ten cities. Art, Food, Music, Sports. Step away from your day to day.
We've gathered some of our favorite people from around the world
...and invite you into their local scene
A different perspective
You're different when you travel. You know it and we know it. You do stuff you don't find time for back home, like browsing arty photos in a gallery or flipping through racks of vintage dresses or slipping a lock into place on a bridge or ordering wine with lunch or having sex in the middle of the afternoon or wandering a cemetery or taking a cooking lesson. Read more
You chat with your taxi or Uber or Lyft drivers if they speak English, and you laugh with waiters as they take your order and you listen to the audio guide voice in the museum or the tour guide who walks you through town. You'd like to have friends to call up, or friends of friends. You'd like to make friends, just for the afternoon.
You watch the old men at their game of bocce or hear the fans in the pub cheering their team or push through the crowd exiting a bookstore reading and you feel outside it.
And though you're different when you travel, you're still you. And you know you don't belong in this new place.
And you aren't about to risk rejection.
Why do you travel at all? Like this, to these cities? Sure it's a break from the day to day, but so is the beach.
You're here because you like feeling different, because the truth is you are carrying that different person in you all the time. The one who got goosebumps in Art History 202 and lost a full night's sleep finishing Anna Karenina and slept soundly on an overnight ferry.
And that is your tender soul and you do not want to put it out there to be rejected by reality and we just completely get that because we are like that too.
But we also know that the protective part of you watching over that tender soul of yours, that part does not remember correctly this truth: your tender soul is a badass longing for connection and interaction and a reminder of what it's like to give a damn about the way the light looks different in the early afternoon. With all due respect to your instinct for self-preservation, get over it.
You didn't come all the way here to read the New York Times at a cafe or catch up on a novel on a park bench or sleep until noon. You came because that innermost part of you insisted on equal footing for a while, on making you different for a while, and knows that nothing makes that possible like a change of scene, a smack down reminder of who you are and what you love.
So for God's sake make the most of it. Time is running out. This is no time to be shy. Put yourself out there and the world will bow in admiration. Extend a hand and another one will grasp it.
They want to meet you, too. You remind them of their own tender hearts, that have maybe visited the place you have come from, they understand why you're here.
If you want to tag along with us, we'd love to have you. Close
Jamie Wong The best coffee I ever had was in a small bar run in a backstreet of Rome in a neighborhood a far enough walk from the Spanish steps to justify a primi and secondi at lunch, but close enough to squeeze in four cappuccinos at four different cafes with enough time to enjoy the Borghese before closing. Read more
Jamie is an entrepreneur and producer and founder and CEO of Vayable. She also founded Paramita.org, an online platform for meditation courses and Project Empathy, a virtual reality series and social justice program to help the prison population that she co-created with Van Jones. Jamie has been named a Forbes Up and Comer and Business Insider's top founders to watch and Huffington Posts top 50 non-technical founders. Jamie has appeared on major networks such as CBS, BBC, CNN and Bloomberg, and her writing has appeared in top-tier tech publications such as Fast Company, Entrepreneur and Sundance Channel. She has a masters degree in journalism from Columbia University and formerly worked as a producer at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Michael Moore and PBS Frontline. Close
Erik Blachford My first job out of college was guiding cycling tours in Europe for the already legendary Butterfield & Robinson. My first espresso, my first real baguette, my first Vespa ride, my first time driving a large stick-shift van through narrow cobblestone streets… Read more
Erik is an active private company investor and a Venture Partner at Technology Crossover Ventures. He sits on boards including Zillow Group, Peloton, Siteminder, Tour Radar, Liftopia, Varsity Tutors, Busbud, and Vayable. Previously, he has served as CEO of Expedia, Inc. and IAC Travel (including Expedia, Hotels.com, and Hotwire), Butterfield & Robinson, and Terrapass, and as Executive Chairman at Couchsurfing. As President and SVP of Marketing at Expedia, he led the team that built the Expedia brand. Non-profit boards include Cutting Ball Theater and World Wildlife Fund (U.S. National Council). As an independent film and theater producer and executive producer, he has mounted shows at the San Francisco Fringe Festival and helped finance several independent feature films. Erik holds a bachelor's degree in English and theater from Princeton University, a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia Business School, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State. Close
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Because You Don't Travel (just) to Read the International NY Times
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"Do you believe in life after death, young man?," asked the aging mother of suicide victim Alice Liddell.
"No. Sometimes I wish I could," said Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard, investigating the suicide.
"You won't as you get older. If you're like me, you'll find you'll pray for total nothing," responded Mrs. Liddell.
[From P.D. James' Cover Her Face]
It surely must rank as one of the saddest statements I've ever read. I was on an airplane, flying somewhere to speak, and reading (as I often do during my time aloft) in an effort to keep up with current events in my specific fields of interest. The cover itself first caught my attention. In big, bold, ugly gray letters across the front of the September 18, 2000 issue of Time magazine—right next to the frightful visage of an elderly man with rubber tubing snaking across his face and into his nostrils to provide the life-giving oxygen he so desperately required—was the mournful phrase, "DYING ON OUR OWN TERMS."
When I opened the cover and began to read the feature article—"A Kinder, Gentler Death"—by Time staff writer John Cloud, I was shocked. Not so much by the graphic images of people in the throes of dying. Not so much by the pictures of seriously sick people attached to a menagerie of machines. Not even by the photographic reproduction of the stark "Do Not Resuscitate" order for a terminal hospital patient.
What shocked me most was the heart-rending comment of Felice Gans, a 72-year-old retired psychologist and terminally ill patient who had been interviewed by Mr. Cloud for his article. Mrs. Gans was suffering from incurable pancreatic cancer. Her prognosis was, to be quite blunt, undeniably dismal. She had no hope of any recovery, much less of a cure. She tearfully acknowledged to the reporter that many days brought her "stark terror," and that she spent "part of every day mourning my own death." She then said, ever so sadly, "I sometimes wish that I had a belief system" (as quoted in Cloud, 2000, 156[12]:64, emp. added).
I could not help but be struck by the excruciating emptiness of the poor woman's addled admission. I wondered quietly within myself—as I watched out the window of that giant Delta jet—about how many people around me at that very moment might be able to make the same painful proclamation? In the muted silence of my own mind, I reflected on the question of how many millions of people through the millennia—facing the paralyzing prospect of their own imminent death, and the simultaneous cessation of their physical existence—must have expressed the selfsame sentiment (if not outwardly, at least inwardly) as did Mrs. Gans. I settled back in the airplane seat, soft drink in hand, and pondered the almost palpable pain of the sad souls who march stolidly through the machinations of life—watching at its end as the flailing fingers of finality enshroud their intended victim—and coming to the realization in their heart of hearts that it was all for nought. As a chill ran through my body and goose bumps made their way up and down my arms, I could not help but be reminded of the words of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier: "For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.' "
As I write this, it is 2003—almost three years to the month after I first read the article about Felice Gans, who died on October 7, 2000, at the age of 72. The obituary that appeared under her name in the New York Times on October 10 stated with elegant simplicity: "As she wished, there will be no funeral service." What, you may ask, has caused me to put pen to paper now in order to record this event?
Actually, I began the research and writing of this article shortly after reading her obituary. But it was not just Mrs. Gans' death that spurred me to write the article you hold in your hands. There were other factors as well, one of which was the death, on Friday, May 17, 2002, of Harvard University's eminent evolutionist and agnostic, Stephen Jay Gould, who died of cancer at the age of 60. Dr. Gould's professional career was perhaps the envy of all who knew him, and his accomplishments in the academic community were, to say the least, prodigious. In 1975, he won the Schubert Award, which is presented annually for excellence in research to a paleontologist under the age of 40. In 1980, his columns in Natural History magazine (which eventually reached an astonishing total of 300—written without missing a single month between 1974 and 2001) won him the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism. In 1981, his book, The Panda's Thumb (his second collection of essays), received the American Book Award for science. Also in 1981, he was one of the first twenty-one "exceptionally talented" people from a variety of fields to receive the then-new MacArthur Foundation Awards (which granted to him $38,400 a year for five consecutive years). By the time he died, Gould had been awarded no less than 41 honorary doctorates (see Shermer, 2001, p. 221). Compare that to the famed Harvard biologists Edward O. Wilson and Ernst Mayr (both of whom are decades older than Gould), with 26 and 16 respectively. And in 2001, according to the dust jacket of his next-to-last book to be published, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002), the Library of Congress named Gould as one of America's eighty-three "Living Legends"—people who embody the "quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance."
Six years earlier, on December 20, 1996, Dr. Gould's fellow evolutionist and beloved friend, Carl Sagan of Cornell University, died at the age of 72—also from cancer (myelodysplasia, a rare blood disorder that often leads to acute leukemia, causing bone marrow to manufacture a large number of immature and displastic [misshapen] blood cells). Sagan's life, too, in many ways, was the envy of all who knew him. And, like Gould, his worldly accomplishments were similarly prodigious. He had been awarded 23 honorary doctorates, had received 89 different awards, prizes, and/or fellowships, and was associated with 293 professional societies, advisory groups, etc. In addition, he had authored 500 scientific articles, and had authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited 31 books. As Michael Shermer (who serves as editor of Skeptic magazine) concluded in his book, The Borderlands of Science: "Whether Carl Sagan's life is measured qualitatively (through narrative biography) or quantitatively (through scientific biography), he really had a wonderful life" (2001, p. 238, parenthetical items in orig.).
But, sadly, none of this means anything when you are lying flat of your back on a hospital bed, dying of incurable cancer. While in just such a bed at one of the nation's leading bone marrow transplant facilities (the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington), and after hearing that thousands of people had been praying for his recovery, Dr. Sagan stated (in a remark found near the end of the last book he ever wrote):
If there were life after death, I might, no matter when I die, satisfy most of these deep curiosities and longings. But if death is nothing more than an endless dreamless sleep, this is a forlorn hope. Maybe this perspective has given me a little extra motivation to stay alive.... The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
While I do not think that, if there is a god, his plan for me will be altered by prayer, I'm more grateful than I can say to those—including so many whom I've never met—who have pulled for me during my illness. Many of them have asked me how it is possible to face death without the certainty of an afterlife. I can only say it hasn't been a problem (1997, pp. 215,221, emp. added).
But the same Carl Sagan also penned these words: "I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue." Yet, as Dr. Sagan went on to note, he could not make himself believe such, and felt it was nothing more than "wishful thinking" to do so (p. 214, emp. added).
Carl Sagan was not the only one, however, who wanted to believe that a part of him would "live again." After his death, his third and final wife, Ann Druyan, wrote on the back dustcover of his last, posthumously published book, Billions and Billions:
I sit surrounded by cartons of mail from people all over the planet who mourn Carl's loss.... Some of them say that Carl's example has inspired them to work for science and reason against the forces of superstition and fundamentalism. These thoughts comfort me and lift me up out of my heartache. They allow me to feel, without resorting to the supernatural, that Carl lives (1997, emp. added).
And Ann Druyan was not alone in this feeling. In the postscript of what eventually was to become perhaps his most famous Natural History essay—an article titled "Nonoverlapping Magisteria" about how science and religion should be able to get along with each other since they are authorities (magisteria) in their own (nonoverlapping) fields—Stephen Jay Gould wrote the following upon learning of the death of his dear friend:
I dedicate this essay to his memory. Carl also shared my personal suspicion about the nonexistence of souls—but I cannot think of a better reason for hoping we are wrong than the prospect of spending eternity roaming the cosmos in friendship and conversation with this wonderful soul (1997, 106:62).
Notice any similarity in all of these statements? Felice Gans, mourning her imminent death from incurable pancreatic cancer, bemoaned: "I sometimes wish that I had a belief system." Carl Sagan, realizing that he was dying from myelodysplasia, wrote: "I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue." And Dr. Gould admitted that while neither he nor Carl Sagan believed in the existence of a personal, immortal soul, "I cannot think of a better reason for hoping we are wrong than the prospect of spending eternity roaming the cosmos in friendship and conversation with this wonderful soul."
Sad statements, these. Whether echoed by a woman who relatively few people knew, or by two distinguished scientists who were known by practically the entire world, the sentiment remains the same: Wouldn't it be grand to have a belief system that could sustain me through the "stark terror" that accompanies "part of every day mourning my own death" (to use Mrs. Gans' exact words)? Wouldn't it be terrific to have a belief system that could promise—and actually deliver on the promise—that "some thinking, feeling, remembering part of us will continue" in "friendship and conversation" (to use Sagan's and Gould's words)? Wouldn't that be nice? Indeed it would.
But the terrible triplets of atheism, humanism, and evolution cannot promise any such belief system. And if they could, they never would be able to deliver on the promise. They cannot even offer comfort or solace in the here and now—much less for an eternity to follow. And while the advocates of atheism, humanism, and evolution are willing to ridicule what they derisively term "religious fundamentalism" for its advocacy of the concept of life after death, they certainly have nothing better to offer. John R. Baker, writing under the title of "Fundamentalism as Anti-Intellectualism" in The Humanist, admitted as much when he stated:
Fundamentalism is part of a fantasy world that many people believe or wish to be true. These people wish that the reason for human existence is an afterlife and that their lives are guided by a benevolent deity. In actuality, events in the universe may be based upon chance and physical laws that have always existed, and human existence has no other meaning than that we exist (1986, 46:34, emp. added).
The case of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the world's most famous atheist until her unfortunate demise at the hands of one of her greedy coworkers in 1995, provides the perfect example of exactly that—life without meaning. On January 23, 1999, the Internal Revenue Service auctioned some of Mrs. O'Hair's belongings in order to satisfy the federal government's claims against her estate. Included on six different pages in her personal diaries was this forlorn cry: "Somebody, somewhere, love me!" (see Leadership, 1999, 20[2]:75).
Ask yourself: How many other sad souls scream that same sentiment daily? If the writings of those in the atheistic/humanistic community are anything to go by, the number must be legion. In the preface to his biography of Carl Sagan, Keay Davidson provided some autobiographical material about himself when he wrote: "By the 1960s I had ceased to believe in God. Without God, the cosmos seemed drabber—just molecules and plasma—and quite pointless" (1999, p. xi, emp. added). Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, in his widely acclaimed book about the origin of the Universe, The First Three Minutes, wrote in equally depressing terms.
It is almost irresistible for humans to believe that we have some special relation to the universe, that human life is not just a more-or-less farcical outcome of a chain of accidents reaching back to the first three minutes, but that we were somehow built in from the beginning. As I write this I happen to be in an airplane at 30,000 feet, flying over Wyoming en route home from San Francisco to Boston. Below, the earth looks very soft and comfortable—fluffy clouds here and there, snow turning pink as the sun sets, roads stretching straight across the country from one town to another. It is very hard to realize that this all is just a tiny part of an overwhelmingly hostile universe. It is even harder to realize that this present universe has evolved from an unspeakably unfamiliar early condition, and faces a future extinction of endless cold or intolerable heat. The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. But if there is no solace in the fruits of our research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself. Men and women are not content to comfort themselves with tales of gods and giants, or to confine their thoughts to the daily affairs of life; they also build telescopes and satellites and accelerators, and sit at their desks for endless hours working out the meaning of the data they gather. The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy (1977, pp. 154-155, emp. in orig.).
In point of fact, such melancholic musings are quite common in the writings of evolutionists and those sympathetic with them. William Provine of the University of California lamented:
The implications of modern science, however, are clearly inconsistent with most religious traditions. No purposive principles exist in nature. Organic evolution has occurred by various combinations of random genetic drift, natural selection, Mendelian heredity, and many other purposeless mechanisms. Humans are complex organic machines that die completely with no survival of soul or psyche. Humans and other animals make choices frequently, but these are determined by the interaction of heredity and environment and are not the result of free will. No inherent moral or ethical laws exist, nor are there absolute guiding principles for human society. The universe cares nothing for us and we have no ultimate meaning in life (1988, 2[16]:10, emp. added).
Oxford University evolutionist Richard Dawkins commented on this very point in his book, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life.
[I]f the universe were just electrons and selfish genes, meaningless tragedies...are exactly what we should expect, along with equally meaningless good fortune. Such a universe would be neither evil nor good in its intention. It would manifest no intentions of any kind. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but pitiless indifference (1995, pp. 132-133, emp. added).
In his 2002 book, What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee, anthropologist Jonathan Marks of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte admitted:
Science gives us authoritative ideas about kinship, which force us to reconceptualize our place in the order of things, which is by that very fact disorienting. But it doesn't stick around to explain it to us, to reintegrate us, to give new meaning to our existence. That's the problem with Darwinian theory, of course. It tells us our ancestors were kin to apes, the products of eons of ordinary biological processes of survival and reproduction, and not merely zapped into existence in the Garden of Eden, but it doesn't tell us what that means or what to do about it. It just walks away from the wreckage. And the question of who and what you are is not trivial (p. 222, emp. in orig.).
Or, as Richard Dawkins put it in The Selfish Gene:
My own feeling is that a human society based simply on the gene's laws of universal ruthless selfishness would be a very nasty society in which to live. But unfortunately, however much we may deplore something, it does not stop it being true (1989, p. 3, emp. added).
He then added in River Out of Eden:
...[W]hen the utility function—that which is being maximized—is DNA survival, this is not a recipe for happiness. So long as DNA is passed on, it does not matter who or what gets hurt in the process.... Genes don't care about suffering, because they don't care about anything.... This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous—indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose (1995, pp. 131,95-96, emp. added).
On September 11, 2001, America was attacked on her own soil by terrorists who commandeered commercial airplanes and flew them into the two World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. Thousands of people lost their lives as destruction rained from the crystal blue sky of that beautiful Tuesday morning. Almost immediately, a religious awakening of sorts began in our country. Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives stood on the steps of the Capitol and sang "God Bless America." Marquees at movie theaters, fast-food restaurants, businesses, and church buildings across the country rang out with the words, "GOD BLESS AMERICA!" Suddenly, it was fashionable to echo God's name again—without blaspheming it. Practically overnight, it was acceptable to pray—in public no less! Unless, of course, you had no personal belief system.
Sadly, many people do not. One such person actually chose to boast about it. Writing in the "My Turn" column of the December 10, 2001 issue of Newsweek magazine (where readers are allowed to express their opinions in a three-column spread), Linda Sapienza penned a response to the "religious awakening" in the United States. Under the title of " 'God Bless America?'—I Just Like the Tune," Ms. Sapienza explained how, when she was just a young child, her mother took her to worship on Sundays. She also talked about her father: "A scientist by profession, his world was one of physics and logic." And, she admitted, "[w]hile my mother endeavored to bring me to God, my father taught me about the solar system and Newton's laws of motion."
Then, one day a "watershed" event occurred in her life. When she was but seven years old, a Sunday school teacher forced her to relinquish the seat in which she had been sitting. She remembered all too well how, afterward in the morning worship assembly, "I sat next to my mother and sang 'Onward Christian Soldiers.' All the while my face grew hot under my Easter bonnet because I knew that someday I would have to confess my disbelief and disappoint her."
Three years later, at the tender age of ten, Linda reached the conclusion that the "religious life" was not for her. Thus, when she ran into the preacher one day during a trip to the grocery store with her mother, she told him forcefully: "I don't believe in God." She then explained: "That night, I told my mother about our exchange and waited for her surprise or anger. She just sighed. She had seen it coming all along."
All of that would be sad enough. But the story does not end there. As Ms. Sapienza went on to write:
I appreciate the power yielded by faith. I just don't feel it myself. My secularism doesn't exclude me from the sadness and mourning that all Americans have experienced since September 11. I am shattered, and yet I don't pray. "God Bless America" is soothing simply for its tune. When the president invokes God or reads from Scripture it gives me no comfort.
Ms. Sapienza ended her essay with a reference to the story she told in the first paragraph about the Sunday school teacher who made her give up her seat. She stated emphatically: "I'm hanging on to my seat. I won't give it up twice" (2001, 138[24]:14, emp. added).
That statement about faith—"I just don't feel it myself "—says more than perhaps Ms. Sapienza intended. It is illustrative of so many people in today's modern, twenty-first century society. "Faith" (i.e., a belief system) may be OK for others, but it's not something they themselves have any desire to possess. For whatever reason(s), they feel they simply have no need for it. Pascal Boyer, in his book, Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, titled one of the chapters "Why Believe?" In the second paragraph of that chapter, he asked:
Why do some people believe and not others?... We would very much like to have a precise and meaningful answer to the question, Why does so-and-so have religious beliefs that leave others perfectly indifferent? (2001, pp. 297,318).
Good questions, those. More often than not, however, there is no "single reason" as to why people choose not to believe. Theologian James A. Pike, in his classic text, A Time for Christian Candor, addressed this point when he wrote:
Often, behind this calm attitude of indifference are specific factors in the personal histories of individuals which have set up blocks to current religious interest.... These roadblocks are: "Isn't religion unscientific?"; "Which is the true religion?"; "Isn't ethics enough?"; "Doesn't evil disprove God?"; "I have my own religion." ...Most people, however, are polytheists. They are under claim from various of these gods; no one single thing dominates, and their lives are torn.... One who worships many, is many (1964, pp. 14,16,23).
In his book, Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Myths, Alister McGrath observed:
Some people are searching for the meaning of life, for personal fulfillment, and for a belief system that will make sense of the world and their place within it. Others believe that they have found them and need search no longer.... It is quite possible that a person's life is actually based on a whole set of unrecognized presuppositions..." (1993, pp. 81,86).
Indeed, some people are searching. And yes, it is possible that what they believe—or refuse to believe—is "based on a whole set of unrecognized presuppositions." I would like to explore here why this is the case. [NOTE: This examination of why people choose not to have a personal belief system is not intended to be exhaustive. Elsewhere (Thompson, 2000, pp. 59-141), I have discussed numerous additional reasons for men's unbelief—parents and upbringing, education, pride, immorality, intellectual intimidation, the hypocrisy of believers, unjust acts committed in the name of God, etc. The items below are intended to represent only a sampling of the excuses people frequently offer for their lack of belief.]
"Where's the Evidence?"
First, there are those who believe there is no justifiable reason to believe in God and an afterlife because, quite simply, there is not adequate evidence for such a belief system. A prime example of such an attitude can be found in the 1973 Humanist Manifesto, whose authors wrote:
We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the question of the survival and fulfillment of the human race.... Promises of salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices. Modern science discredits such historic concepts as the "ghost in the machine" and the "separable soul." Rather, science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces. As far as we know, the total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body (pp. 15-17, emp. added).
Lewis Thomas, the renowned medical doctor who served for many years as the director and chancellor of the famous Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, lamented: "We do not understand the process of dying, nor can we say anything clear, for sure, about what happens to human thought after death" (2002, emp. added). Psychologist Steven Pinker, director of the Center of Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT, wrote in his book, How the Mind Works:
For anyone with a persistent intellectual curiosity, religious explanations are not worth knowing because they pile equally baffling enigmas on top of the original ones. What gave God a mind, free will, knowledge, certainty about right and wrong? How does he infuse them into a universe that seems to run just fine according to physical laws? How does he get ghostly souls to interact with hard matter?... We feel cheated because no insight has been offered... (1997, p. 560, emp. in orig.).
Belief in God (or life after death) is considered by many to be not only "a pursuit of the inconceivable," but "a quest of the unknowable" as well. As Pike noted:
One of the first major beliefs to go for most people when they jettison a conventional authority-based scheme of doctrine is the conviction about life after death. The rejection is commonplace, regardless of how the matter has been viewed or phrased in the religious tradition or semantics of the person: whether as the resurrection of the body, as eternal life, or as immortality (1967, p. 112).
The atheist, agnostic, skeptic, and infidel have jettisoned such beliefs, and have complained that evidence for God is sorely lacking. Furthermore, they suggest that God represents little more than some sort of "projected longing" on man's part that no longer is defensible. As Pike went on to note, according to the cynics and critics, "[t]he cosmic projection of our ignorance and fears is no more" (1967, p. 177). Neither things nor deities, we constantly are reminded, necessarily exist just because we desire them. [I might hasten to point out, however, that just because we do desire something does not mean necessarily that it does not exist! Additionally, one cannot help but wonder if the unbeliever cannot find God for the same reason the thief cannot find the policeman?]
"Feeble Souls"
Second, there are some who are of the opinion that those who do possess a personal belief in God and an eternal afterlife are "feeble souls" who choose to believe in such things "from fear or absurd egotism"—to use the words of the late, world-class physicist, Albert Einstein. Interestingly, it was Carl Sagan who quoted Einstein's words in his posthumously published book, Billions and Billions: "Many of them [people concerned about Sagan's ultimately fatal illness—BT] have asked me how it is possible to face death without the certainty of an afterlife. I can only say that it hasn't been a problem.... I share the view of a hero of mine, Albert Einstein:"
I cannot conceive of a god who rewards and punishes his creatures or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egotism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in nature (1997, p. 221, emp. added).
As long ago as 1878, anthropologist Max Muller noted that some people view faith as an "infantile disease."
Every day, every week, every month, every quarter, the most widely read journals seem just now to vie with each other in telling us that the time for religion is past, that faith is a hallucination or an infantile disease, that the gods have at last been found out and exploded (as quoted in Evans-Pritchard, 1965, p. 100).
The famous satirist H.L. Mencken put it this way: "The most common of all foibles is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief preoccupation of mankind.... Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing" (as quoted in Pinker, 1997, pp. 554,560). Boyer observed:
As for evidence...whatever believers consider to be "evidence" for the existence of gods, spirits and ancestors, as well as their powers, has always struck all outsiders as evidence for no such thing. In fact, it is evidence only at the price of violating the requirement that we should only have refutable beliefs.... Religious claims are not refutable at all in this sense.... [S]keptics tend to see belief as a form of mental negligence. People are said to believe in supernatural agents because they are superstitious, they are led astray by their emotions, they are not mentally balanced, they are primitive, they do not understand probability, they are not scientifically trained, they are brainwashed by their culture, they are too insecure to challenge received wisdom. In this view, people believe because they fail to (or forget to, have no time to, are unwilling to, or just cannot) censure ill-formed or poorly justified thoughts. The beliefs would vanish if people were more consistent in applying commonsense principles of mental management like the following: only allow clear and precise thoughts to enter your mind; only allow consistent thoughts; consider the evidence for a claim before accepting it; only consider refutable claims (2001, pp. 300,299, parenthetical item and first ellipsis in orig., emp. added).
The sad fact is, there are some people who think that belief in God is indicative of some kind of "inner weakness" based not on any actual evidence, but rather on a conspicuous lack of evidence. As one English schoolboy put it, "faith is believing what you know ain't true." Perhaps it was this kind of thinking that caused Steven Pinker to write:
People everywhere beseech gods and spirits for recovery from illness, for success in love or on the battlefield, and for good weather. Religion is a desperate measure that people resort to when the stakes are high and they have exhausted the usual techniques for the causation of success—medicines, strategies, courtship, and, in the case of the weather, nothing.... Believers also avoid working out the strange logical consequences of these piecemeal revisions of ordinary things. They don't pause to wonder why a God who knows our intentions has to listen to our prayers, or how a God can both see into the future and care about how we choose to act. Compared to the mind-bending ideas of modern science, religious beliefs are notable for their lack of imagination (1997, pp. 556,557, emp. added).
Ah, yes. Religion—a "desperate measure" of those poor "feeble minds" that possess a "lack of imagination." Or, as Karl Marx put it, "religion is the opiate of the masses."
"Who Needs God?"
Third, there are those who believe that man needs no personal belief system because he is able to say, as the infidel poet William Ernest Henley did in his famous composition, Invictus: "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." Such people simply have no need for God. They can, as it were, pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and stand on their own two feet. The famed evolutionist of Harvard, George Gaylord Simpson, ended one of his books with these words: "Man is his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny" (1953, p. 155). In his book, A New Reformation, John A.T. Robinson listed "three motives which have impelled men, particularly over the past hundred years, to question the God of their upbringing and of ours." Included among those three reasons were these two: "God is intellectually superfluous" and "God is emotionally dispensable" (1965, p. 107; the third was that "God is morally intolerable").
The late, eminent United Nations biologist, Sir Julian Huxley, wrote: "The God hypothesis is no longer of any pragmatic value for the interpretation or comprehension of nature, and indeed often stands in the way of better and better interpretations" (1957, p. 58). Dietrich Bonhoeffer, while in a Nazi prison, wrote:
Man has learned to cope with all questions of importance without recourse to God as a working hypothesis. In questions concerning science, art, and even ethics, this has become an understood thing which one scarcely dares to tilt at any more. But for the last hundred years or so it has become increasingly true of religious questions also; it is becoming evident that everything gets along without "God," and just as well as before. As in the scientific field, so in human affairs generally, what we call "God" is being more and more edged out of life, losing more and more ground... (1958, p. 145).
Atheist Antony Flew of Reading University in England suggested that God no longer is required by the human race because for quite some time He has been "dying by inches"—what Flew referred to as "the death of a thousand qualifications" (1955, pp. 96-97). Or, as Carl Sagan put it, "there seems less and less for God to do" (Shklovskii and Sagan, 1966, p. 19). The famous French infidel, François Marie Arouet (better known to us by his pen name, Voltaire), once remarked: "If God did not exist, we should have to invent Him." Today, that dictum has been reversed to say, "If God did exist, we should have to abolish Him!" As Boyer observed: "We humans are generally not very keen on invisible hand explanations" (2001, p. 298, emp. in orig.).
The late psychologist Carl Jung stated that "the decisive question for man is, 'Is he related to something infinite or not?' " (1961, p. 325). That may or may not have been considered an accurate assessment in Jung's day, but in the view of many, it certainly does not appear to be such today. As Pike wrote in his volume, If This be Heresy: "The common response is the declaration—even by some theologians and clergy—that it really doesn't matter, one way or the other" (1967, p. 164). As Pike went on to note: "If He was, He is; if He isn't, He wasn't" (p. 178). Sadly for many people today, He "isn't." End of discussion.
"Science Makes God Unnecessary"
Fourth, there is a prevailing view—especially in our age of advanced technology—that science somehow has rendered God "unnecessary." Our English word "science," derived from the Latin scientia, means "knowledge." The procedures of study and investigation that lead man to a proper understanding of the world in which he lives, we properly designate as science.
Science is indeed a wonderful enterprise, and those who are its practitioners are on an admirable quest. These dedicated men and women labor diligently to comprehend the intricacies and complexities of our Earth and Universe, and to explore and explain their multitudinous mysteries. The reward of their unending search—knowledge that can impart wisdom—is well worth the time and effort expended in the quest. Who among us can doubt the value of the scientific endeavor?
Within the past several hundred years, science has made great strides that have affected our lives in both a permanent and positive fashion. Germ theory was developed, antibiotics were discovered, vaccines were invented, and life-saving surgical techniques were pioneered. Within the lifetimes of many who read this article, science has performed feats so amazing that at times they seem to defy description and strain credulity. The genetic code has been elucidated, smallpox has been eradicated worldwide, successful manned space flights have been dispatched to the Moon, and robotic rovers have scoured the surface of Mars. Rarely does a day pass that we are not reminded of scientists' successful search for the knowledge that has become so highly prized by the human race—and so beneficial to its continued existence on this planet. Hardly a day passes that man's future does not grow brighter as a result of the passing of these scientific milestones, and the use of the wisdom they have imparted to humanity.
Scientific success stories, and the rewards they confer, arrive at practically breakneck speed. Today the citizens of most developed countries are better fed, better clothed, and healthier than they have ever been. Transportation, educational, medical, industrial, and even recreational facilities are vastly improved, compared to those of previous generations. We are the smartest, best-educated, most mobile people ever to have lived on the Earth. Deadly diseases are being conquered, life spans are being increased, and daily living is being made more pleasurable as a result of our continued scientific advancements. All should be well with us. But is it?
There are growing indications that as our scientific prowess has grown, our ever-increasing knowledge of the creation has diminished, or replaced completely, our knowledge of the Creator. As scientists have enjoyed increasingly more frequent—and more impressive—successes, an attitude has developed which suggests that science, and science alone, can provide answers to all of life's questions. As long ago as 1935, agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell advocated such a view when he observed: "Whatever is attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know" (1935, p. 243). Almost thirty years later, the preeminent atheistic evolutionist of Harvard University, George Gaylord Simpson, echoed the same sentiment when he stated:
It is inherent in any acceptable definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observations are not really about anything—or at the very least they are not science (1964, 143:769).
Thus, with pronouncements that practically rival divine fiat, we are informed that everything of ultimate importance must be addressed, studied, and defined by the scientist and his method. All knowledge, we are assured, flows from science, and "what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know."
Flush with one success after another stemming from his incursions into the natural world, and drunk with self-infatuation, man, in his egotistical pride, has drifted farther and farther from his Creator. As a result, humanity progressively struggles to cut itself loose from the moral, ethical, and spiritual apron strings of God, and from the objective standard represented by His Word. Finally, at least in the eyes of some, science itself acquired the status of a god. The Creator-God of heaven no longer was needed nor acknowledged. "Science" had replaced His infinite wisdom, and organic evolution had replaced His creative power. "After Darwin," said Sir Julian Huxley, "it was no longer necessary to deduce the existence of divine purpose for the facts of biological adaptation" (1946, p. 87). At the Darwin Centennial Convocation held at the University of Chicago in 1959, Huxley boasted:
In the evolutionary pattern of thought there is no longer need or room for the supernatural. The earth was not created; it evolved. So did all the animals and plants that inhabit it, including our human selves, mind, and soul as well as brain and body. So did religion (1960, pp. 252-253).
This kind of thinking generally is known as scientific materialism—the concept which suggests that science is to be viewed as the whole of reality because it provides the key to all knowledge. Everything of ultimate importance in the world has been relegated to the discipline of science. [Such an attitude is based on what is known in philosophical circles as the fallacy of reductionism. In committing this fallacy, the advocates of scientific materialism have incorrectly reduced the whole to one of its parts.]
Baker, John R. (1986), "Fundamentalism as Anti-Intellectualism," The Humanist, 46:26-28, 34, March/April.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (1958), Letters and Papers from Prison (New York: Macmillan).
Boyer, Pascal (2001), Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought (New York: Basic Books).
Cloud, John (2000), "A Kinder, Gentler Death," Time, 156[12]:60-67, September 18.
Davidson, Keay (1999), Carl Sagan: A Life (New York: John Wiley & Sons).
Dawkins, Richard (1989), The Selfish Gene (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press).
Dawkins, Richard (1995), River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books).
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1965), Theories of Primitive Religion (Oxford, England: Clarendon).
Flew, Antony G.N. and Alistair C. MacIntyre, eds. (1955), New Essays in Philosophical Theology (New York: Macmillan).
Gould, Stephen Jay (1997), "Nonoverlapping Magisteria," Natural History, 106[2]:16-22, March.
Gould, Stephen Jay (2002), The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Humanist Manifestos I & II (1973), (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus).
Huxley, Julian (1946), Rationalist Annual. See also: L.M. Davies (1947), "The Present State of Technology," Transactions of the Victoria Institute (London: Victoria Institute), 79:70.
Huxley, Julian (1957), Religion Without Revelation (London: Max Parrish), second edition.
Huxley, Julian (1960), "The Evolutionary Vision," Issues in Evolution, [Volume 3 of Evolution After Darwin], ed. Sol Tax (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press), pp. 249-261.
Jung, Carl (1961), Memories, Dreams and Reflections, ed. Aniela Jaffé (New York: Random House).
Leadership magazine (1999), 20[2]:73-75, Spring.
Marks, Jonathan (2002), What It Means to be 98% Chimpanzee (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).
McGrath, Alister (1993), Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Pike, James A. (1964), A Time for Christian Candor (New York: Harper and Row).
Pike, James A. (1967), If This be Heresy (New York: Harper and Row).
Pinker, Steven (1997), How the Mind Works (New York: W.W. Norton).
Provine, William B. (1988), "Scientists, Face It! Science and Religion are Incompatible," The Scientist, 2[16]:10, September 5.
Robinson, John A.T. (1965), A New Reformation (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster).
Russell, Bertrand (1935), Religion and Science (London: Oxford University Press, 1961 reprint).
Sagan, Carl (1997), Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium (New York: Random House).
Sapienza, Linda Angeloff (2001), " 'God Bless America'? I Just Like the Tune," Time, 138[24]:14, December 10.
Shermer, Michael (2001), The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press).
Shklovskii, I.S. and Carl Sagan (1966), Intelligent Life in the Universe (New York: Holden-Day).
Simpson, George Gaylord (1953), Life of the Past (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press).
Simpson, George Gaylord (1964), "The Nonprevalence of Humanoids," Science, 143:769-775, February 21.
Thomas, Lewis (2002), "On Science and Uncertainty," [On-line], URL: http://www.philosophy-religion.org/handouts/uncertainty.htm. [This is a reprint of an article by Dr. Thomas that appeared in Discover magazine, 1:58-59, October 1980.]
Thompson, Bert (2000), Rock-Solid Faith: How to Build It (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).
Weinberg, Steven (1977), The First Three Minutes (New York: Basic Books).
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App Review:Tap Studio Pro by Drop D Studios
by Dustin on
August 16, 2010
Filed under Games, Staff Favorites, iPhone, iPod Touch
Tap Studio Pro is one of my most favorite games on the Itunes market! If you enjoy guitar hero, rockband, and Tap Tap Revenge you might like this as well. The game is very simple, you pick your song from your library and tap the notes that you wont.
On this version of the game you can choose to have 3 or 4 rails. which are red, green,blue or purple. You can also use the multi feature to tap two or more rails at the same time. You can hold them down and make a stream of rails! If your music has an album cover you can use it for your background. Make your music the way you wont too, or get some online from the online features where thousands of songs have been made to tap too! Record as many songs as you like there is no limit!
Overall: This is a great app, Worth the price
My Rating: 8/10
What I liked: Choosing your own music.
What I didn't like: I liked everything!!


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4631 McKinney St
Houston, TX, 77023
United States
Archi-Arts has been designing, building and importing our very unique, but ever growing collection of home furnishings. We emphasize natural, simple and classic designs and we do our best to manufacture in as green a way as we can. We still build our furniture the old fashioned way using high quality and properly dried solid wood. We take great pride in what we do and we hope that you will enjoy our products for many years and perhaps even generations to come.


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Contractors' Liens
A contractors' lien functions in the same manner as a mechanic's lien and is defined under "Mechanics' Lien Law (Civil Code 3109 et seq.). Article XIV, section 3 states that "Mechanics, persons furnishing materials, artisans, and laborers of every class, shall have a lien upon the property which they have bestowed labor or furnished material for the value of such labor done and material furnished...."
The law ensures that those who provide construction-related work and services for the improvement of the real property of others are paid for the work and services in the event the property owner fails to pay the contractor, or the contractor fails to pay the subcontractors or material men. This is accomplished by imposing a lien on the improved property, thus making the improved property security for payment.
Mechanics' liens must be enforced through judicial action. As a prerequisite to filing a court action to foreclose upon the lien and sell the property, the claimant must record a claim of lien in the county in which the real property subject to the lien is located.
The preliminary 20-day notice must be given no later than 20 days after the labor, services, equipment or materials were first furnished to the job site. Architects, engineers, and surveyors must give notice within 20 days after the work of improvement has commenced.
The law provides that anyone who furnishes labor or materials to a consumer can record a "Claim of Lien" or "Mechanic's Lien" against a consumer's home if they are not paid. Even if a consumer has paid the general contractor in accordance with the contract, if that contractor fails to pay any subcontractor or materials supplier who performed work or supplied materials in connection with that project, a consumer still runs the risk of having a Mechanic's Lien filed against his/her home and may risk foreclosure. A consumer could be required to pay a bill twice to keep from losing his/her home.
Department of Consumer Affairs
Contractors State License Board
9821 Business Park Drive
Sacramento, CA 95827
(916) 255-4041
(800) 321-2752 (forms, applications, information)
Department of Motor Vehicles
Lien Sale Section, Reg. 46
PO Box 932317
Sacramento, CA 94232-3170
(916) 657-7617
Publications available: A Consumer's Guide to Filing Construction Complaints and What You Should Know Before You Hire A Contractor, Contracts Fact Sheet


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Find Used Cars in Toledoat CarsDirect.com. Whether you live in Sylvania, Maumee, Toledo or Perrysburg, there are dozens of used car dealers in Metro Toledo, so finding the right vehicle for you can take some time and research. The fourth largest city and metropolitan area in Ohio, Toledo and the larger Northwest Ohio region offer a unique combination of small-town living in some of the outlying suburbs like Swanton and Bowling Green while also offering the amenities expected of a suburban lifestyle in cities like Monclova and Oregon. Although you could spend a lot of your time searching for a vehicle, wouldn't you rather watch the Toledo Mud Hens during the summer or the Toledo Walleye hockey team during the winter? By using CarsDirect.com you can save time and get prompt, professional and courteous service.
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Top 10 Wedding Videographers in Westminster
Dickiebow Films is the perfect destination for brides looking for one of the top 10 wedding videographers in Westminster. Dickiebow Films brings both personalisation and a wealth of experience to a more distinguished cinematic wedding film. Dickiebow Films owner, Paul Liddement has been featured in magazines, television and many blogs around the world for his masterfully created wedding work. Paul is recommended by many of the very best wedding venues the region has to offer, as his relaxed storytelling style approach just works as a tried and trusted wedding supplier..
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Olivia + Matthew, Le Petit Chateau wedding. A stylish and fun packed wedding that was energetic but sophisticated throughout. A very relaxed and smart couple, who kept everything calm and collected whilst keeping the electricity flowing throughout the day. This wedding story was full of laughs and enjoyment throughout and the few moments there were where Olivia and Matthew had some time away, the moments they had lasted a lifetime. Le Petit Chateau was the perfect setting for this lovely day. The videography and photography captured this day very well.


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SRAM pART Project 2012 for World Bicycle Relief
Artists create sculptures with SRAM parts for charity
As an industrial designer, David Zimberoff loves great art. And as SRAM's Global Marketing Director, it's his job to promote SRAM. With the bike-part-based sculpture pART Project, Zimberoff got to combine the two — and raise money for a good cause.
The premise behind pART Proejct is simple: SRAM gave 22 talented artist 100 bike parts and asked them to create a piece to be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to World Bicycle Relief.
The first pART Project raised $140,000, which translated to 5,000 bikes donated in Africa.
On June 22 and 23, the second pART Project auction will conclude in Velo Village in British Columbia.
Cyclists and art fans can bid on the pieces now. You can view the pieces in this gallery.
"I have had the idea for many, many years, but only implemented it last year," Zimberoff told BikeRadar. "The goal was, I would select some bike parts – from SRAM, Truvativ, Avid, RockShox, Zipp, Quarq – I would invite 50 artists to make a sculpture, and we would auction it off for World Bicycle Relief. We displayed them at Interbike, and then had an auction in Chicago, with a $100-a-ticket dinner. We raised $140,000. I thought, wow, this is really powerful."
From that event, SRAM paid for 5,000 low-maintenance bicycles to be given to those in need in Africa.
The goal this year is $50,000 for the Velo Village auction, and then $250,000 for pART Project 3, which will be held in New York City this winter.
"Everybody donates their time, and donates the pieces," Zimberoff said. "So it's a high rate of return."
Zimberoff finds the artist through networking and his extensive contact list in the design and agency worlds. He is recruiting artists now for pART Project 3.


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Many of you have already seen the collection of Official Lost T-Shirts that I featured on my list of 108 Lost T-Shirts To Celebrate The End and my original list of 101 Lost T-Shirts for the Ultimate Lost Fanatic. If you plan on picking any of the official shirts up from the ABC TV Store then be sure to use the coupon code LOSTFINALE10 at checkout to score $10 off all orders of $50 or more! Sweet savings!
Use the coupon code LOSTFINALE10 at the ABC TV Store for $10 OFF your order of $50 or more!
Here are some of the non T-Shirts products that you can buy at the ABC TV Store:
LOST Smoke Monster Silk-Screened Print, $45.95. To commemorate the final season of LOST, award-winning graphic designer (and die-hard LOST fan) Ty Mattson has created 8 original prints inspired by the show. The series celebrates the mystery and mythology of LOST in a modern, minimal style reminiscent of another era. Each poster is a unique hand-pulled, silk-screen print measuring 18×24 on 100lb. white cover.
LOST Viewing Party Kit, $39.95. Now you can throw a party in Dharma style! This exclusive set includes 10 paper plates, 10 plastic cups, 10 heavy stock paper coasters, 10 paper napkins, 10 balloons, a bottle opener and 10 stickers so you can identify your condiments Dharma style. All items are packaged in a white box with a Dharma label on top. Get yours now for your next Lost party, the series final is Sunday, May 23rd!
LOST Dharma Pint Glasses – Set of 6, $29.95. Which Dharma symbol is your favorite? You will never have to choose with this set of Dharma pint glasses. This set of six pint glasses features the Dharma station symbol Looking Glass, Orchid, Motor Pool, Dharma, Security, and Tempest on the front of each glass.
LOST Mr. Cluck's To Go Cup, $19.95. In a hurry? Take Mr. Cluck's on the road or anywhere with this Mr. Cluck's To Go Cup. Featuring the Mr. Cluck's chicken mascot, a plastic straw and an easy-to-clean design, you'll have trouble finding an excuse not to use this fun graphic tumbler. Enjoy sipping on your favorite beverage and don't forget, "Have a cluckety-cluck-cluck day!"
LOST John Locke Bobblehead, $14.99. Stoic and mystical Jonathan "John" Locke is best known for being handy with tools and a superb hunter of the Island's animals. The long-time paralyzed Locke was immediately healed upon crashing on the Island and proved to be extremely helpful to the survival of the group. Celebrate the man and the mystery with your own Locke bobblehead.
If it's shirts that you're interested in then be sure to check out these two massive lists of LOST T-Shirts, including ones from the ABC TV Store!


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Fulton & Meas: Arms control
We agree with Tony Flitcraft's article in which he claims that the Second Amendment protects our rights as U.S citizens to bear arms. A survey done in 1994 conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Americans use guns to protect themselves from intruders/criminals breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year.Although we agree with Flitcraft, we also need to regulate gun control to help keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. We should regulate what type of guns certain age groups can purchase. Example, age group 18-21 should only be able to purchase hunting rifles. Another example could be the age group 21-26 could only purchase hunting rifles and handguns. After that age group it particularly shouldn't matter, people should be responsible enough to be able to control what they do with the guns.The people of our country should be able to protect themselves. When the Second Amendment was written, we needed guns to protect ourselves from England and the government. Now, we use guns for protection from one another in the U.S and also to protect our loved ones. Yes, our crimes in the U.S now are mostly gun involved, but that doesn't mean we should take the right to bear arms from people, just because certain people can't control their actions with a gun.In conclusion, don't let the government take your right to bear arms. By the government doing so, we show we are weak and don't have independence. Flitcraft quotes Hitler saying that the people should not have the right to bear arm because Hitler thinks that he should have all the power. Do you want your government to be the same and be controlled the rest of your life?Nate Fulton & Tiernan Meas, Silverthorne
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It is imperative that 80 percent of the air for combustion enters the firebox from below a wood/coal grate to insure an efficient and clean burning fire. Our standard heavy cast iron grate (shown above) is adequate for a wood fire.
A much heavier cast iron shaker grate is also available as an option for dense coal use.
Owner's Manual for Eagle III
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The official Dragon meet will be held April 29 through May 1, 2016 at the Little Switzerland Inn, Little Switzerland NC.
This is a fabulous location ON the Blue Ridge Parkway and 45 minutes from downtown Asheville NC. For flyers the airport code is AVL.
Be advised that the owner is also my personal friend and everything will reflect on me. I've secured rooms at 30% off the regular rate for the entire weekend and anymore you may need. He gave us a 30 day window to make reservations at the hotel. Slim but possible chance to get it extended.
This place is awesome. Great location. Great food and a fun BAR that doesn't close at 11! It does not have cooking provisions in the rooms so plan for that. Spruce Pine is a few miles away for gas/Walmart/shopping and other local eateries.
Please call ASAP to make your reservations. Advise them you are with the Celica club for the discount.
I will update THIS post as necessary.


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Latest News
Budget bites into Charlotte historical sites
The state budget now before Gov. Bev Perdue would force staffing cuts at some state historic sites and museums, likely resulting in shorter hours, reduced programming and increased reliance on donations and admission fees.
Three sites - Tryon Palace in New Bern, the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer, and the Roanoke Island Festival Park in Manteo - would eventually have to become self-supporting, or close some or all of their exhibits.
Tryon Palace, which just opened the new $60 million N.C. History Center in October, would see a 36 percent cut in state funding in the coming budget year, a 57 percent cut in the next year and loss of all state funding by the 2014 budget year.
The attraction is regarded as a major economic engine in New Bern and the surrounding area, drawing people from every state and from abroad. The palace, which got about $4.1 million in state money for budget year ending June 30 and raised more than $1 million more from ticket sales and private sources, is said to generate $41 million in spending in Eastern North Carolina each year.
Read the complete story at charlotteobserver.com


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3.63 Carat Oval Blue Zircon
3.63 Carat Oval Genuine Blue Zircon
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In the event that there is ever a problem with your jewelry or you are in need of other services that are not covered under our lifetime warranty, your jewelry can be mailed back to our office for evaluation. Once inspected, should charges apply, you will be notified prior to any work being done to service your jewelry.
Please Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to return your item(s) to take advantage of our free lifetime warranty or request additional repair work needed to service your Princess Bride Diamonds jewelry.


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Infant Coats Keep Your Little Ones Cozy
Making sure that your baby is warm throughout fall and winter is imperative to ensuring the health of your little one. Still, finding the right baby coats and jackets doesn't need to be a hassle. You should always be able to find a perfect option for your child—regardless of gender, size, style or price point. Whether you're looking for one piece to add to your child's collection of winter wear or a lightweight jacket to protect your son or daughter from the fall breeze, you're guaranteed to find it among these great values.
Styles of Baby Jackets for Any Occasion
Just because your child is an infant doesn't mean that he or she can't look wonderful for every occasion. With an incredibly broad selection of baby clothes, coats and jackets, you'll always be able to find exactly what you're looking for. For example, there are a ton of options in children's blazers for the holiday season. On the other hand, finding a great infant winter coat for your child is also a wonderful value from brands like Okie Dokie.
Compliment Baby Boy & Girl Winter Jackets with Accessories
Winter coats are perfect for keeping your children warm, but purchasing a few accessories for them never hurts either. Pick up a nice pair of warm gloves to complement your son or daughter's infant outerwear. They'll love the way that they look and you'll love knowing that your little one's hands are always warm. Looking to take the outfit one step further in both fashion and function? Pick up a scarf for your child to keep him or her stylish and warm all winter!


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Jennifer E. Bethel*
Allen Ferrell**
Gang Hu***
This paper explores the economic and legal causes and consequences of the 2007-2008 credit crisis. We provide basic descriptive statistics and institutional details on the mortgage origination process, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). We examine a number of aspects of these markets, including the identity of MBS and CDO sponsors, CDO trustees, CDO liquidations, MBS insured and registered amounts, the evolution of MBS tranche structure over time, mortgage originations, underwriting quality of mortgage originations, and write downs of the commercial and investment banks. In light of this discussion, the paper then addresses questions as to whether these difficulties might have been foreseen, and some of the main legal issues that will play an important role in the extensive litigation (summarized in the paper) that is underway, including the Rule 10b-5 class actions that have already been filed against the banks, pending ERISA litigation, the causes-of-action available to MBS and CDO purchasers, and litigation against the rating agencies. In the course of this discussion, the paper discusses three distinctions that will likely prove central in the resolution of the securities class action litigation: (1) "no fraud by hindsight"; (2) "truth on the market"; and (3) loss causation.
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'Trail of blood' photos shown at Pistorius trial
The first policeman to arrive at the South African home of Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius on the day he fatally shot his girlfriend testified Thursday with graphic details and photos of the bloody scene he encountered.
Col. Schoombé Van Rensburg walked through what he found in the bedroom and bathroom at Pistorius' home on that fatal Valentine's Day morning last year, South Africa's Times Live reported.
Van Rensburg said he and Warrant Officer Hilton Botha followed the blood trail from the bottom of the stairs where Reeva Steenkamp's body lay covered by towels and black plastic trash bags, through Pistorius' bedroom and to the bathroom where she was shot.
Pistorius, 27, has said he accidentally shot Steenkamp, 29, thinking she was an intruder. Prosecutors at his murder trial in Pretoria say he intentionally shot her after a heated argument.
Times Live describes a series of court photos showing an air gun and baseball bat leaning against a glass display cabinet at the entrance to the bedroom and a gun holster lying on a bedside table.
A cartridge case was found in the wardrobe passage outside the bathroom entrance. Three cartridges were inside the bathroom.
The blood spattered cricket bat that Pistorius used to break down the bathroom door after the shooting sat on the bathroom floor next to a bloodstained towel.
Pistorius's cocked 9mm Parabellum pistol lay on the bathroom mat next to two cellphones. Pieces of the broken toilet door were scattered across the floor.
EARLIER:Pistorius lawyer challenges investigators' competence
A tearful Pistorius was pacing in the kitchen, van Rensburg recalled. The policeman said he asked the athlete what had happened, but Pistorius didn't answer. Van Rensburg said he asked Pistorius to stay in one area of the kitchen, which he did.
"We then followed the trail of blood up the stairs," van Rensburg said as chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel led him slowly through the sequence of events that night.
Earlier, a photograph of Pistorius' blood-stained prosthetic legs was used by his chief defense lawyer to attempt to show that the athlete was wearing them, as he says, when he broke down a toilet door with a cricket bat to get to the girlfriend he fatally shot.
The image, showing the prosthetic limbs with white socks and stained with Steenkamp's blood up to the knee, was displayed by lawyer Barry Roux on a TV monitor. Roux was trying to reinforce the Olympian's story that he shot the model by mistake, then broke through a locked toilet door to help her.
Pistorius, a double amputee who made headlines around the globe at the 2012 Olympics in London, faces a possible life sentence in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and three firearm-related offenses.
Contributing: Associated Press


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The menopause trap
The onset of menopause is something most women dread. Along with their physical symptoms, their sex lives with their partners can often also be affected.
Years ago, every woman was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as soon as they reached menopause.
It was the standard treatment for women with symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness and loss of sex drive (libido). It was also thought to have long-term benefits in preventing heart disease, osteoporosis and possibly dementia.
Oestrogen and progesterone are hormones that play an important role in a woman's body and when levels fall around menopause a range of physical and emotional symptoms is triggered. HRT helps to restore hormonal levels, allowing the body to function normally again.
For many years, HRT was even seen as a fountain of youth that would keep women healthy and sexy long after menopause.
This all changed in 2002 when a $1 billion Women's Health Initiative study in the US was halted when researchers noticed an unexpectedly high rate of breast cancer and heart disease among women taking part in the research.
This alarming finding frightened millions of women and their doctors away from hormone therapy at menopause.
Gynaecologist John Eden, head of the Sydney Menopause Centre at the Royal Hospital for Women, disputed the findings.
Dr Eden said the majority of the participants in the study had been over 60, were not newly menopausal and would not normally be treated. He was among clinicians around the world who believed the results of the study were exaggerated and widely misinterpreted.
A decade later, medical professionals agree that the 2002 findings were flawed and that hormone replacement therapy may not be as risky as once believed. Several studies have been undertaken and the latest, the Kronos early estrogen prevention study was presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society in Florida in October.
In this study involving more than 700 women researchers concluded that oestrogen/progesterone treatment started soon after menopause appeared to be safe, relieved many of the symptoms of menopause, and improved mood, bone density, and several markers of cardiovascular risk.
Confusion persists among women and medical professionals about the best treatment for menopause.
I have spoken to many women who have been too frightened to take HRT but suffer from symptoms affecting their libido and their relationship with their partners.
Australasian Menopause Society president, Jane Elliot, says women should have easy access to HRT.
"A whole decade of women have missed out on this treatment," she says. "It is not for everyone. It's not a panacea, but it certainly should be something women feel they can consider."
Dr Elliott says the warnings on products are "extreme".
One in eight women do not receive treatment, according to Dr Eden, and experience severe flushing for many years.
He says he prescribes anti-depressants more frequently now than 10 years ago. "Having 10 to 20 hot flushes an hour, day and night, without relief, is enough make anyone depressed."
I've always suspected that medical professionals were worried about writing scripts for HRT because of the 2002 report and fears that amounted to a scare campaign.
This was confirmed in a recent Sun Herald article about Sydney GP, Ginni Mansberg. She and many of her female GP contemporaries prescribed it for themselves – even though they don't for patients, out of fear for being sued.
Dr Mansberg says: "Menopause is a 10-year process for a lot of women and they should have the option of HRT.
"The panic is so out of control that women are walking around with no sleep; they can't function and they feel old and have no sexual function."
GPs should not talk women out of taking HRT but should explain the risks and benefits and give them an informed choice. Why should women feel miserable during menopause, if they don't need to?
The excellent Jean Hailes for Women's Health, a not-for-profit organisation providing services for women across Australia, conducted a webcast in October called "Fifty Shades of Midlife - Menopause, Mood & More" which was streamed all over Australia.
The panel consisted of five women – a GP, clinical psychologist, sex educator, naturopath and gynaecologist.
It was a live, interactive event where the health experts gave practical advice for managing menopause. They talked about sexuality and maintaining intimate relationships when you get older, mood, emotional wellbeing and mental health.
They told women "to embrace menopause" and they gave the thumbs up for HRT.
Certainly well worth viewing – especially with your partner.
Matty Silver is a sexual health therapist based in Sydney, www.mattysilver.com.au.


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Lulu and I recently went to a Japanese sushi bar and enjoyed platters of delicious rolls. When I came home, I was determined to serve the same gorgeous-looking sushi for the family. I reinterpreted the caterpillar sushi with a combination of hoisin sauce and kaffir lime sauce. The caterpillar outer layer is imitated with thinly sliced avocados. Unlike most of the "fancy" sushi rolls you'll find at restaurants, this one's vegetarian.
I have to admit I was very proud of how they turned out. And to my surprise, it wasn't that complicated. Sometimes, improvisation ends up with beautiful results!
Don't forget to enter your name and email address to be able to participate in my Haute Potato Cookbook contest. I will pick one winner next Monday. And if you already have a copy, I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon. Thank you!
Making furikake rice seasoning:
In a wok, dry toast the sesame seeds for about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Finely chop one small nori sheet.
In a bowl, combine the chopped nori, salt, ½ teaspoon sugar and sesame seeds. Toss well.
Cooking sushi rice:
Wash and rinse the rice thoroughly in several water baths. Unlike basmati rice, no soaking time is needed. Drain as much water as possible.
I placed the rice in a rice cooker with water and waited for about 20 minutes. You could also cook the rice on the stove. Just follow the instructions on the package or use the same procedure as for cooking jasmine rice.
Once the rice is cooked, sprinkle with rice vinegar and light sesame oil (if used). Using chopsticks, gently stir the rice without breaking the grains of rice. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Prepping the avocados: Slice the avocado in half and remove the pit. Using a sharp chef's knife, cut the avocado into very thin slices. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon lime juice to avoid oxidation and cover with plastic wrap.
For the tofu (I added leftover fried tofu):
Drain any liquid from the tofu. Pat dry with a paper towel. Slice the piece of tofu into thin slices. In a non-stick pan, heat some oil and fry the tofu slices and transfer to a plate, leaving as much oil as possible in the pan. Once the tofu is cool enough to handle, cut the pieces into ½" strips. Set aside.
Prepping the carrots and jicama: Combine the vegetables with 1 tablespoon vinegar. Toss thoroughly. Drain and discard any liquid. Add sugar and set aside.
For the kaffir lime sauce: In a small saucepan, dissolve the cornstarch in 6 tablespoons water. Add the corn syrup and kaffir lime leaf. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low. Stir constantly for about a minute. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Add the tahini, lime juice and yogurt.
Assembly time:
Line 2 sushi mats with plastic-wrap on both sides.
Place one small nori sheet on one mat. Sprinkle with furikake seasoning. Wet your hands with warm water and take one handful of rice. Divide it in half. Put one half in the nori sheet and spread it evenly., stopping ½-inch before the end of the rectangle. Cover with the other sushi mat. Gently press so the rice adheres to the nori sheet. Flip the whole thing over so the rice is facing down over the mat.
Remove the mat on top. Place long strips of carrots, jicama, the cucumber matchsticks and fried tofu in the center of the nori sheet. Using the sushi mat as a guide, tightly and slowly roll the sushi mat away from you until the rice meets the other end of the rice to seal the sushi. Press gently with both hands for about 10 seconds. Remove the rolled sushi and transfer to a cutting board, seam side down.
Cover the top of the sushi with the sliced avocado. Cover with plastic wrap and press gently with both hands to ensure the avocado adheres to the roll and is spread out evenly.
Dip a very sharp kitchen knife in hot water, then wipe it clean. Cut the caterpillar roll in half, then cut each half in half one more time to make 4 pieces. Repeat the same procedure with the 9 remaining nori sheets, wiping the knife clean after slicing each roll.
Line a large platter with the kaffir lime leaves. Place the sushi rolls on the leaves.
Top the rolls with kaffir lime sauce and finish with a drizzle of hoisin sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Garnish with rolled pickled ginger on one side of the platter and wasabi paste on the other side.
Serve at room temperature with hoisin and kaffir lime sauce on the side.
Don't over-stuff the nori sheet or the sushi roll will burst; the diameter of the roll should measure about 2 inches.
I used these particular vegetables but you can add any other vegetables that are in season.
You can find all the ingredients listed above in Korean / Japanese markets.
You can prepare the ingredients in advance, chill in the refrigerator and assemble the sushi the next day.
You could add unagi (eel) to the filling and garnish with salmon roe. I wanted to keep the rolls vegetarian.


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Even for Glee, butt stuff is a strange theme. A lingering shot of Blaine bending over in his dark jeans is one thing. Then someone's dad starts singing Jonathan Coulton's arrangement of "Baby Got Back" while backing that thang up, and it's the fifth least ridiculous element to the scene. Then a montage shows the Warbler boys taking steroid shots in the ass. There's a Uranus pun. And speaking of Jonathan Coulton, stealing his arrangement without credit is a pretty asshole move, assuming that's what happened. Adam invites Kurt to watch them sing the song. "No strings," he says. "No, seriously. We didn't pay for this one."
Setting that aside, "Sadie Hawkins" is difficult to take seriously, and not only because Finn's bright idea is to take his LGBT-friendly club and make the girls ask the boys to a dance by way of singing songs to them. The ridiculousness just keeps mounting. Tina's crushing on Blane now? And she sings a romantic dance invitation to him and expects him to be into it? And he can't just politely agree to go to a dance with Tina as friends? And he isn't annoyed that Sadie Hawkins dances are just a spin on the same traditional gender roles that don't apply to his love life? He's lovesick over Sam? Okay, that I get. Somebody's been reading my fan-fiction, er, these reviews. So Blaine gets over it just because Tina tells him they're going to the dance together as friends? Tina and Blaine solve their problems by doing nothing? Is this a trick? Is the point that Tina and Blaine didn't actually solve their problems and wound up with even bigger unrequited crushes? Am I going to be typing in questions forever now?
Lauren Zizes is back. You remember, the independent girl who thinks she's hot stuff and walks around McKinley like she owns it. The one who had Puck all moony for half a season. Yeah, well now she's sad and pathetic because boys don't ask her to dances or something. Sugar's there at her side, and Artie opens the dance with a bitter speech about not being asked, but happy ending: Sugar and Artie wind up together. Deja vu! It's almost like Sugar and Artie were a thing a few episodes ago. And Finn gets another scene in the faculty lounge, in which he pours himself a cup of coffee after spitting it out a few weeks ago, the one joke in history that made me like Finn. Glee's smorgasbord continuity can have a powerful effect in certain circumstances, but this is just arbitrary plot filler. Nice of Glee to remember that team member who helped New Directions finally get to Nationals, though. Like offering a hand and then pulling it away with a slick "Too slow." At least Zizes gets her mojo back at the end. Good thing Joe accepted her invitation to dance. How else could she improve her self-esteem?
On top of the arbitrarily bone-headed characterizations—as opposed to the purposely bone-headed characterizations like Sam, whose conspiracy theorizing delivers us from all this standalone headache—and the continuity snags, "Sadie Hawkins" is cheesy in the grossest ways. We're talking the congealed ring of Velveeta around what remains of a bowl of queso at the end of the night. Kurt is attracted to the Adam's Apples, NYADA show choir, even though Rachel warns him off and she's the only person he knows at the school. Okay, so he's probably mostly enticed by the titular Adam, who founded the club back in the early '90s and has been ruthlessly pillaging other artists' work for decades but is also cute and has an English accent of some variety. But that rendition of "Baby Got Back" recalls Liz Lemon's half-time dance at the WNBA game, and all the while Chris Colfer is giving the script his all, really selling how Adam's ass is successfully seducing him. Taken as a crush, fine. Taken as an audition, Kurt once had a bunch of guys sing "Teenage Dream" just to get him to join, so what else you got?
The list goes on. Rachel goes all Megan Draper about Brody being late for dinner and not having a cell phone because this is television, and Brody defuses her by saying that she is priceless, sweeping her off her feet to the imagined music of Ryder singing "I Only Have Eyes For You," and offering to buy a place nearby. Is it really this hard to get laid in New York? Rachel stays on-theme with the asshole response. "Why don't you just move in?" she asks, already preparing an elaborate lie to tell Kurt. But then that's Rachel, all boyfriend and no friend. And that's nothing: Puck and Kitty start to like each other. If she gets pregnant, Glee can really start over again.
Actually that might not be so bad. Blaine crushing on Sam—shot in stolen impressions, happy memories, close-ups of lips—is a welcome re-do of Kurt crushing on Finn, an attempt to learn from that storyline's mistakes. Nothing is stressing Blaine more than the need to avoid seeming predatory. He can't even enjoy his crush without thinking about how it might look. And now he doesn't even feel comfortable with his best friend, Tina's assertions about her own friendship with Blaine notwithstanding. Speaking of which, Tina crushing on Blaine is exactly like Rachel crushing on Blaine, except it's running longer than an episode. After spending an episode last year telling Tina she'd be the star this year, Glee sidelines her until it needs someone to humiliate. And then it tells us "Sadie Hawkins is about empowerment." It's time for Tina to move to New York, take over that half, and lay down the law with Rachel and What's His Chest.
Fortunately, "Sadie Hawkins" has some style—the out-of-time sequence of Kurt's invitation to check out the Adam's Apples, the step-by-step transition from fantasy musical number to classroom reality, the surprisingly evocative conspiracy sequences like the anticipatory serial-killer shots of Blaine at the dance before Sam rushes in—and it's dependably funny throughout. Brody's auditioning for Magic Mike: The Musical, Zizes runs the Too Young To Be Bitter Club, Kurt says Brody and Rachel are "as inseparable as the twins in Side Show." Blaine's not-getting-it shrugs and supportive smiles during Tina's song had me busting up. Brittany describes the sounds of Marley's crush on Jake as "whimpering like a suckling puppy." Kurt says Adam is 22. Plenty of jokes to surf over this standalone.
Unfortunately the conspiracy plot ties into the serial arc. Sam spends a lot of time studying guys' faces is what I would note if I were Blaine. The salient point, though, is that Sam discovers that Warblers have been doping. Even Four Loko is against the byzantine rules of competitive show choir. And Sam dug up someone who will testify. Somehow they think disqualifying Dalton will un-disqualify them? And what of the Mennonite mash-up singers? Can I watch their show instead?
Stray observations:
- Kurt thinks college is just like high school. So get ready for NYADA regionals!
- Coach Beiste got the strength and courage to join football because of a Sadie Hawkins dance. So many teachable moments with these people. It's exhausting. But as always, Beiste is a good advice dispensary. "Life's not about waiting to get asked."
- Tina got the theme of "snowflake" because Sadie Hawkins dances used to be called snowballs and not because it's January in Ohio.
- In season nine, Brittany is going to be the only character who knows this is a television show. "The music usually starts when I say something like "It's Britney, bitch" or I do one of my magical turns."
- I sincerely thought Rachel was going to get run over as she started crossing the street, stopped, and turned back twice in a row. Missed opportunities!