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Monday, 23 January 2012
Honduras: the capital of crime
Honduras has the highest homicide rate per capita in the world: 86/100,000 and continually rising. That means nearly 1/1,000 people are murdered in this country! Just to compare, Guatemala's murder rate is 39/100,000 and the USA's is 4.8/100,000 and Denmark's 0.85/100,000
When I mentioned to the Unite for Sight coordinator that I was brining my family along, we soon realized that this was perhaps the first time ever a family had come to volunteer at this site – and sight-seeing trips to Tegucigalpa were not exactly encouraged. SR clearly would not be able to stand being trapped in a little room with two little boys for 10 days. And I was suddenly in the unthinkable position of being a mom of a breastfed little baby who needed to leave for 10 days. So I absolutely dreaded the trip for months. I became depressed (as alluded to in earlier blog posts) because I had committed to going but could not stand the thought of leaving little Mattias.
The more I read about Honduras, the more it worried me. I would need to be accompanied by a local guard any time I was outside of my room. There would be no freedom, no exploring. I felt so bad for the people living there and was consoled with the thought that perhaps I would do some good for these people.
I had nightmares almost nightly about my upcoming trip.
The Lorax and I sat on the couch two nights before my departure and cried, held each other. He had just three days earlier started in his new Waldorf school. He was just getting used to life in La Crosse and now I was leaving, his rock, his "mor" and now his "mom" and he understood entirely.
But then something happened. I was hurriedly packing, as always unprepared, as always panicking, but as always also making time to check email. And there it was: an email from Unite for Sight. They explained that the Peace Corps had that day pulled out of Honduras. There were too many security concerns for the volunteers. Crime has been escalating there related to drugs and often directed against foreigners. They wrote these words "we would understand if you decide not to volunteer in Honduras at this time"
YES!!!!!!!!! Yippeee!!! I wrote back after telling SR. I told them I would prefer not to go. (I am now scheduled to go, and hopefully with the whole family, to Ghana next February. It is so much safer there and we are starting to look forward to it).
After I was no longer going to Honduras, I felt alive again and happy. I honestly didn't know it was weighing on me so much until the weight of it was gone. It was nearly 0 degrees F as we picked up The Lorax from school, but all I felt was warmth. The warmth of my boys. (I just started crying while writing this.) I had this desire to simply sit in the house for days with them and never stop being near them.
I could now look at the pictures from our trip to Mammoth and enjoy them, knowing SR, Mattias and The Lorax were mine, all mine, and I wasn't going to die in Honduras leaving them behind. We are a family and I am the mom, a proud, happy mom!
Run in Yosemite - completely alone, mid January!
And the lovely new header picture is from Death Valley.
Just to ruin this sentimental blog post, I have to tell you what a week of altitude training + a little happiness has done for me:
I ran 3 20 milers in the past 5 days!
Wed: 20 miles in 2:22 (treadmill at 0% incline)
Thurs: 12 miles slow (treadmill at 0.5% incline, and same for all of the following)
Fri: 20 miles slow
Sat: 13 miles, just under 8 min per mile
Sun: 20 miles in 2:23 (again, treadmill at 0.5% incline), while talking with new triathlete friend, Lisa
Totally excited about these times that predict at big marathon PR (3:10???? dare I dream?). I am also so grateful to SR for suggesting I run at an incline on the mill which took the problem pain out of my left hamstring almost immediately. Now tomorrow: no running!!! (I have to force myself to take a break).
9 comments:
- Diana said...
I had no idea that Honduras was that dangerous. It sounds like you made the best decision by not going. Regan, my friend who used to write the blog with me, lived in Ghana for a year and absolutely loves it there. Let me know if you need any tips. I'll ask her for you.
Wow, your running is going so well! So happy for you, but don't forget to take it easy and let that hamstring heal.
One last thing, your family looks so beautiful in your new header picture. So smiley and happy. I just want to kiss those cute, baby cheeks Mattias has!
- 23 January 2012 at 09:10
Ghana is fantastic! I studied at Legon for a semester back in 1998 and travelled around the country whenever I could.
I felt safe and taken care of by the locals.
Malene (Danish)
- 23 January 2012 at 09:49
- mmmonyka said...
I like your new header a lot!
You have not done a proper research before signing up for Honduras?!? That does not sound like you!!!
Hope Ghana works out better.
- 23 January 2012 at 10:27
- Robyn said...
So pleased for you about having that load off your mind, and the new pictures are great!
- 23 January 2012 at 13:07
- Olga said...
Glad you are able to escape the scares of crime and cherish your boys, all three of them. I love the header as well, and congrats on solid runs! Great pictures, all of them.
- 23 January 2012 at 15:38
- SteveQ said...
You basically did the first 20 miles of a sub-3:10 marathon twice in one week. I didn't run that hard when I was running 2:40's!
I think I'd pick Honduras over some parts of Mexico. Or Wisconsin.
- 23 January 2012 at 17:22
Glad you are feeling better! In hindsight I hope you realize that next time you do not need an email to give you permission to change something that feels wrong for you and your family. You have made a great decision for your babies and I hope next year's trip is wonderful and fulfilling!
- 23 January 2012 at 20:30
- Kate said...
Oh, such stress! What a weight off your shoulders.
Hey, sorry for being a terrible commenter for the past several months - I do still check in here often.
- 23 January 2012 at 21:45
- DDitlev said...
3 things:
1.) Love the new header picture!
2.) Glad you didn't go!
3.) That Death valley shot makes me so jealous! ;)
- 24 January 2012 at 22:34


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After Stephen Colbert joked this week that Master Chief must have been one of the members of SEAL Team Six, which took out Osama bin Laden, Bungie dusted off that image, which it had whipped up a while back in an attempt to get a mention on the show.
For those who might think this is an Easter egg, don't hold your breath. Bungie sends its assurances that it's all a mockup. No amount of button pressing, tearful forum posting, or prayer to the deity of your choosing will make this epic armour an in-game reality. This is the stuff of dreams."
There's another shot of Colbert piloting "Justice One" a Colbert-themed Saber, at the link.
Bungie Weekly Update: 05/06/2011 [Bungie via Game Informer]

subset: commoncrawl


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M Imdb Flag
- Year: 1931
M is German director Fritz Lang's masterpiece and is often recognized as the best German movie of all time. It illustrates the portrait of a child murderer that has caused an entire city to begin rioting. The film is based on actual events.A psychotic child murderer stalks a city, and despite an exhaustive investigation fueled by public hysteria and outcry, the police have been unable to find him. But the police crackdown does have one side-affect, it makes it nearly impossible for the organized criminal underground to operate. So they decide that the only way to get the police off their backs is to catch the murderer themselves. Besides, he is giving them a bad name.


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Getting The Right Dosage of Green Tea Catechins 06/09/14
Sometimes in life good things happen by accident. Such is the case with the therapeutic dosage of catechins from decaffeinated green tea. Let me quickly explain. When I first formulated Adeeva Body Burn, which helps burn fat, improves glucose regulation and supports lean mass gains, I combined chromium with hydroxycitric acid (HCA) and an herb called Coleus forskolin. However, a few years ago it was shown that Coleus forskolin may pose a risk in patients taking certain cardiovascular medications. At about the same...read more


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LOS ANGELES — NASA's Phoenix lander got extra playtime in the Martian dirt on Tuesday, doing another practice dig as scientists tried to perfect the technique ahead of the actual excavation.
"The team felt they weren't really comfortable yet with the digging and dumping process," said chief scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "They haven't really mastered it."
The extra practice means the earliest that Phoenix would flex its 8-foot robotic arm to claw below the arctic plains for scientific study would be Wednesday.
Smith compared Phoenix's antics to a child playing on the beach with a sand pail and shovel.
"But we're doing it blind from 170 million miles away," he said.
Phoenix landed near the Martian north pole on May 25 on a three-month mission to study whether the environment could be habitable for primitive life forms. Photographs revealed its three legs touched down on what appeared to be splotches of ice that were uncovered when its firing thrusters blew away loose soil.
Phoenix got its first touch of Mars on Sunday when it scooped up and then dumped a handful of soil in a region that scientists dubbed the "Knave of Hearts." The scoop contained intriguing white specks that scientists think could be surface ice or salt.
For the second practice "dig and dump," engineers told the robot to go slightly deeper in the same region and use the camera on its arm to take photos this time.
When Phoenix starts its scientific work, it will deliver scoopfuls of dirt to several onboard instruments including a tiny oven. The oven will bake the sample and analyze the vapors for traces of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.
New photos sent back by Phoenix showed one of the spring-loaded doors on the oven failed to open all the way. Scientists hope the midday temperatures will make the door less sticky, but it can still be used with a partially open oven door, Smith said.
The $420 million mission is led by the University of Arizona and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Politics & Government
Infrastructure: Nation's physical plant another crisis for next president
WASHINGTON — As if the next president won't have enough on his plate — with the collapse of the financial markets, two foreign wars, persistent security threats and a host of other concerns — America's infrastructure is collapsing.
Whether major highways or inland waterways or the electrical grid or a quarter of all bridges, the nation's physical plant needs billions of dollars in repairs.
"We've been relying on a patch-and-pray approach, not a strategic, more thoughtful approach," said Casey Dinges, senior managing director of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
John McCain and Barack Obama occasionally talk about infrastructure. But whatever the next president does on a range of issues, such as the economy, the environment or homeland security, he'll have to take it into account.
"There are new realities," said Robert Puentes, a fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. "Energy realities. Climate realities. We need an updated infrastructure plan for this nation that meets the realities of today. We simply don't have one."
Other nations, meanwhile, are aggressively pushing new projects, mindful of the economic benefits of improved transit and green energy.
"They target their investments to meet those goals," said Polly Trottenberg, the executive director of Building America's Future, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials concerned about infrastructure. "We don't. We divvy up the pot."
Public officials, engineers and policy experts have been warning for years that crumbling infrastructure is a ticking time bomb.
Their fears came true when New Orleans' levees failed in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,000, and again last year when the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour, killing 13.
The neglect, usually because of deferred maintenance, has been widespread.
A third of the nation's major highways are in poor shape, according to the Department of Transportation. The list of unsafe dams is growing. Mass-transit systems, water-treatment plants, hazardous-waste sites and more are falling apart.
The civil engineers association gave the country a "D" on its 2005 infrastructure Report Card. It called for a $1.6 trillion five-year improvement program.
McCain and Obama haven't embraced anything as dramatic as that.
McCain returns to his signature issue — cutting earmarks, those projects that get funded without having to go through the normal oversight process.
It's a swing at a fat pitch. The transportation budget is traditionally larded with pork-barrel projects for lawmakers' home districts. Every other lawmaker, it seems, has a road or bridge tucked away in all those pages.
The Republican presidential candidate recently told AAA that "disgraceful amounts of pork-barrel spending ... have saturated our highway authorization bills."
Exhibit A, he often says, is Alaska's notorious "bridge to nowhere," a $223 million project that was to connect an island of 50 people to the mainland.
"There's no doubt we need to get a handle on wasteful spending," Puentes said. But earmarks are sometimes the only way needed infrastructure repairs get funded, he added.
Democrat Obama talks about infrastructure in his trademark lofty style.
"Now is not the time for small plans," he told the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June. "Now is the time for bold action to rebuild and renew America."
He wants to set up a national infrastructure investment bank to invest $60 billion over 10 years in projects to improve roads, ports and mass transit. Nearly 2 million new jobs would result, he predicts.
"I don't want to see the fastest train in the world built halfway around the world in Shanghai," Obama told the mayors. "I want to see it built right here in the United States of America."
China has developed high-speed trains that can travel more than 200 mph to handle passenger demand and boost the economy. The Beijing Olympics provided a showcase for the new trains.
John Horsley, the executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said that the U.S. is lagging behind, investing less than 1 percent of its gross domestic product into infrastructure. In China it's 9 percent.
"What they're doing is using infrastructure investment to position themselves to be the world leader in finance and commerce," Horsley said. "That's their ambition. Every one of our international competitors is making substantial investments in its infrastructure — airports, highways, transit, rails — for the next century. We're not."
McCain has said he wants to modernize transportation, but he hasn't offered a detailed plan. He also talks about infrastructure improvements in the context of responding to global warming.
"Each one of these consequences of climate change ... will require new precautions in the repair and construction of our roads, bridges, railways, seawalls and other infrastructure," he said in a speech last spring at an Oregon wind technology facility.
McCain does, however, want more decision-making on projects left to state and local officials.
In the spring he called for a gasoline-tax holiday when pump prices topped $4 a gallon. But economists and highway experts rejected the idea because such revenues pay for transportation projects. The tax has remained at 18.4 percent since 1993, and both McCain and Obama oppose raising it.
They also agree on the need to upgrade the national power grid to make it adaptable to plug-in electric cars. McCain wants to build 100 new nuclear power plants. Obama pushes the development of renewable fuels, such as solar, wind and other green sources.
Experts said that both candidates deal with some of the demands created by aging infrastructure, but neither has put together a comprehensive plan.
They said Obama has spelled out some ideas to get money "out the door right away" to improve conditions and create jobs, while McCain wants to safeguard what's spent.
"Those are both important pieces of the puzzle," Trottenberg said. "We are going to have to make some tough choices in terms of our long-term economic competitiveness. Infrastructure is a top, top, top issue."
Candidates agree on immigration, but ads don't show it
Time works against candidates on Social Security, Medicare fixes
Many doubt that McCain's health plan would help uninsured
On urban issues, Obama, McCain are true to their parties


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Chef Bobby Flay cooked these baked black beans, spiked with chorizo and rum, on one of his television shows, Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, to compete with a more-traditional batch of Carolina baked beans. We adore the results. If you bring them along to a summer party, reheat before serving or bring them in a crock-pot and plug it in when you get to the party. Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay's Throwdown! by Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Miriam Garron (Clarkson Potter, 2010).
Ready In


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Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack received a letter in October from 115 House members urging USDA to conduct an economic analysis on the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration rule. Now that the analysis is being conducted, 147 House members have written again, asking for a timeline for completion of the analysis. They also are urging Vilsack for a re-proposal of the rule once the analysis is complete.
American Meat Institute President Patrick Boyle says AMI applauds the lawmakers. He says the number of signatories alone, one-third of House members, is a testament to the growing concern on Capitol Hill about the proposed GIPSA rule. AMI estimates the proposal's cost at $14 billion.
"Congress is asking a fundamental and essential question, when will USDA tell us the price tag on this rule," Boyle said. "We're also pleased they reiterated that USDA exceeded its Congressional mandate in the proposed rule and that it must be withdrawn and re-written consistent with that mandate."
National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Bill Donald says the members of Congress are standing up for U.S. cattlemen and women and holding the Administration accountable for its actions. He says the proposed GIPSA rule is the most pervasive invasion of federal government into the private marketplace that he's ever witnessed.
Colin Woodall, NCBA vice president of government affairs, said the elected leaders are holding USDA accountable in a big way. He said it is unprecedented to see an agricultural issue receive this level of bipartisan alignment.
"It is clear that USDA's unpopular rule goes above and beyond the intent of Congress," said Woodall. "Withdrawing the rule and developing a solution that is consistent with the intent Congress made clear in the 2008 Farm Bill is the only acceptable solution for Secretary Vilsack. This rule absolutely cannot move forward as written."
National Pork Producers Council President Doug Wolf agrees, saying as written the regulation would be bad for producers, consumers and rural America. He says the nation's pork producers are grateful to those members who asked USDA to withdraw the proposed rule. According to Wolf USDA went well beyond Congressional intent and came up with a regulation that would cost the U.S. pork industry nearly $400 million a year.


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College of Visual & Performing Arts
- Davis College of Business and Economics
- College of Education and Human Development
- College of Graduate Studies and Research
- Waldron College of Health and Human Services
- College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences
- Artis College of Science and Technology
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- Other Offices and Departments
CVPA Calendar
Evening of Ballet »
Saturday Nov 11
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. @ Bondurant Auditorium, Preston HallThe Radford University Ballet Theatre, directed by Inessa Plekhanova, will present its traditional Evening of Ballet. This year's performance will include highlights from world famous classical masterpieces. General Admission: $7, Children: $3.50, RU Student/Faculty/Staff: w/RU ID: Free. Tickets for all other events above are available two weeks prior to the event online at radfordactivities.com or at the Hurlburt Hall Information Desk (540-831-5420).
Guest Artist Recital – Martin Jones, Piano »
Sunday Nov 12
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. @ Davis Performance Hall in the Covington CenterFree admission.
National Player's Production of "Othello" »
Monday Nov 13
All day @ Bondurant Auditorium, Preston HallOthello is a celebrated general returning home from the wars, but his dark skin and foreign origin inspire hatred from several people, especially the man he trusts most: Iago. As Iago twists the love Othello has for his wife Desdemona, everyone becomes pawns in Iago's devious plots. With contemporary clarity this classic tale examines identity, bigotry, and deceit, combining Shakespeare's language with modern clothing to transform the drama into a powerful story for America today. In the National Players' tradition of producing invigorating productions for modern audiences, "Othello" stimulates youthful imagination and critical thinking. This company is a hallmark outreach program of the Helen Hayes award-winning Olney Theatre Center in suburban Washington, DC. This is the second production in the University Performance Series.
Finding a Voice: Articulation in Silence Art by Lee Coburn | Oct. 5 - Nov. 16, 2017 »
Monday Nov 13 - Thursday Nov 16
All day @ RUAM Gallery DowntownThe Art Museum recognizes the artistic accomplishments of Radford University faculty and staff. This exhibition features art by Lee Coburn, Director of Creative and Marketing Services in University Relations. Closed Sundays.
Radford University Guitar Ensemble Concert »
Tuesday Nov 14
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. @ Davis Performance Hall in the Covington CenterFree admission.
Radford University Symphonic Band Student Conductors Concert »
Wednesday Nov 15
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. @ Davis Performance Hall in the Covington CenterFree admission.
History of Photography Class / Student Photo Show | Nov. 28 - Dec. 7, 2017 »
Monday Nov 27 - Thursday Nov 30
All day @ Porterfield Gallery 205An exhibition of special projects and work from current Radford University students in photography and students in the History of Photography class. Closed weekends. The gallery closes from noon until 1 p.m.
BFA Show | Dec. 1 -12, 2017 »
Friday Dec 1 - Saturday Dec 2
All day @ RUAM Gallery DowntownGraduating students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts studio and graphic design program exhibit their best works. Closed Saturdays.
Reception for the the BFA Show »
Friday Dec 1
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. @ RUAM Gallery DowntownMeet the artists. Graduating students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts studio and graphic design program exhibit their best works. Exhibition: Dec. 1 -12, 2017
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse »
Saturday Dec 2
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. @ Pridemore PlayhouseBy Kevin Henkes and adapted by Kevin Kling. Lilly likes everything--- naps, cheesy snacks, her baby brother, well, maybe not him, she even likes school! What she likes most of all is her fabulous purple plastic purse. But when taking it to school gets her into trouble she learns an important lesson. This lively play based on Kevin Henkes' popular book series of the wonders and woes of childhood is a sweet tale of friendship and learning consideration for others. General Admission: $8, Children: $4, RU Faculty/Staff: $6; RU Student w/ID: Free. Tickets for the Pridemore productions are available at rutheatretickets.com or the week prior to the event at the Porterfield Box Office or by calling 540-831-5289. Box Office is open from noon to 6 p.m. one week prior to opening.


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Set in Melrose's picturesque 18th century Market Square, Burts was built in 1722 as a comfortable home for a local dignitary and still reflects much of the period charm of that time. A listed building due to it architectural significance, Burts has been carefully extended and modified to offer all you would expect of a first class hotel.
Accommodation at The George & Abbotsford Hotel comprises a total of 30 bedrooms including single, twin and double rooms, larger triple and family rooms, and for a touch of luxury - our four poster room.
With each of our rooms offering en-suite bathroom facilities, colour television, direct dial telephone, hairdryer and tea/coffee making facilities we are sure your stay will be a comfortable one.
All 30 bedrooms are en-suite with satellite television, hospitality tray and direct dial telephone.
Distance from path: Start of route
Set in the stunning countryside of the Scottish Borders, the Kings Arms Melrose has all the warmth and charm you would expect from a 300 year old coaching inn.
The Kings Arms Melrose is an ideal base for those who enjoy either a gentle stroll or something a bit more strenuous. The walks around Melrose provide many enjoyable hours hiking. Melrose is the starting point for The St Cuthbert's Way and The Southern Upland Way also passes through the town.
Distance from path: On route
Tastefully decorated with a blue and white theme and natural wood finishes, the accommodation is self-contained, affording good privacy for guests. There is a sitting/dining room on the ground floor and the en-suite double and twin bedrooms are on the upper floor. The bedrooms have comfortable chairs, TV and a tea/coffee making facility. Tasty, well presented Border breakfasts are served in the comfortable dining room.
Location and supplementary information [view map]Fiorlin is a detached house of character set within its own walls in a quiet location near the town centre. There is ample private parking and secure storage for bicycles in this area of cycle trails and quiet side roads.
Distance from path: on route
A warm welcome awaits all our guest when you step across the threshold of Dunfermline House Bed & Breakfast. Once inside you will be impressed by the high standard of decor and the friendly service.
Located centrally in the beautiful Border Town of Melrose, all the communities many attractions and facilities are only a few steps away. From every bedroom window there are beautiful views of either Melrose Abbey or the Eildon Hills. Dunfermline House, although in the very heart of Melrose, is situated in a quite location. Once inside you will be impressed by the high standard of decor and the friendly service.
Braidwood Guest House is ideally situated for a delightful break in the Scottish Borders, where Mike & Helen Dalgetty will offer you only the best in Scottish hospitality. 50 yards from the St. Cuthbert's Way.
Location and supplementary information [view map]20 yards from Melrose Abbey car park.
Distance from path: on route
OS reference: 546341
If you have accommodation already arranged in Melrose, please enter the
details below so that we can arrange baggage transfer. You will not be
charged a booking fee for this stop.


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Flowers for All Garden Zones
Do you know your garden hardiness zone? Gardening zones are determined by average low temperatures in an area. Knowing your gardening zone can help guide which flowers and vegetables to plant, and how to treat your soil for a better gardening experience. Remember though, gardening zones are just a guide. Some plants might not grow well in your area even if you're in their ideal gardening zone, and other plants that aren't prone to thrive in your gardening zone might still grow in your garden.
Here are some flowers that typically grow well in specific garden hardiness zones:
Zone 3: carnation, day lily, iris, hyacinth
Zone 4: rudbeckia, hydrangea, iris, cosmos
Zone 5: Russian sage, coneflower, periwinkle, Jacob's Ladder
Zone 6: baby's breath, chrysanthemum, zinnia
Zone 7: forget-me-not, hibiscus, lavender, snapdragon
Zone 8: English daisy, aster, columbine, sunflower
Zone 9: sweet pea, impatiens, petunia, wisteria
Zone 10: bird of paradise, geranium, zinnia
Many of the flowers listed above will grow well in multiple gardening zones. If you'd like to learn which zone you garden is in, visit www.garden.org/zipzone and enter your ZIP code to find out.


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Monday, November 30, 2009
We will watch no film before its time
Richard Linklater's newest flick has opened in extremely-limited release (I believe in only two theaters in Los Angeles and two in New York). And I admit, its audience would probably be limited as well. But that limited audience will love it.
It's a valentine to Film and Theater history buffs everywhere, as it follows the travails of a young acting student (played surprisingly well by Zac Efron, he of High School Musical fame) in 1930's New York, who just happens to land a part (unpaid, of course) in the history-making production of the Mercury Theater's presentation of Julius Ceasar.
The production, which set the action of Shakespeare's play in modern fascist Italy, actually happened, and actually set the Theater world on its ear. And this film depicts many of the real-life actors/producers in all their ego/passion/rag-tag glory. Of course the biggest ego, the most passion, and the raggest tag belong to none other than Orson Welles, who is the centerpiece of the story.
As I said, Mr. Efron was quite good and believable as a young man excited about being involved in the "Theatah," in something bigger than himself. But the reason to see this movie (in fact, the reason for the movie to even exist) is the marvelous British actor Christian McKay as Orson Welles.
Mr. McKay has been wowing England with his one-man show about Orson Welles ("Rosebud"), and there's good reason. McKay not only looks like a young Welles in his prime, he's managed to capture the sound, the rhythm, the bombast and the excitement of the greatest genius to ever self-destruct in American theater.
McKay's Welles is a tornado of bluster, full of genius, insight, explosive proclamations of brilliance. And nobody recognizes (and appreciates) his genius more than he himself. Women swoon at his charm, grown men cower at his rapier insults, and fellow actors (and damn good ones, too) cower in the wings hoping that McKay's Welles might actually stop orating and give them their own chance to shine on stage.
McKay is so good that I honestly found myself thinking I was watching Welles himself, even though I knew I was seeing Efron, Claire Danes (more about her later) and other contemporary actors when they were onscreen.
If anything, McKay was too good, because when Welles is not on screen (as with the last 15 mintues of the film, sorry for the ambience spoiler there), the movie falls into the ordinary.
Also of note is James Tupper as young Joseph Cotten, who some may remember fondly from Citizen Kane, The Third Man, and other great films, and who turns out to be a major playah and ladies man; I also loved Leo Bill as the wacky Norman Lloyd, who some may remember fondly as Dr. Auslander of St. Elsewhere. (Who knew young Norman Lloyd was wacky? Or that Joe Cotten was a horndog? Not me!) These two great thespians, for obvioulsy dramatic reasons, take Effron's character under their wing to initiate him in the ways of avoiding Welles' wrath as well as chasing as much Broadway skirt as possible.
Now, about Claire Danes. I actually was disappointed in her performance the most (and she even gets top billing!), which was a shame, because I know her to be a great actor. I will insist that she has previously given plenty more subtle, realistic performances than here (hell, she was more believable in Terminator 3). But for some reason (and I'm tending to blame Linklater) she "acts" as if she's trying to be in a screwball comedy. For a supposed Ice-Queen, her character winces, minces and overly gesticulates, as if she's doing what she thinks Carol Lombard or young Katherine Hepburn would do with the part, as the wise-crackin' tough-as-nails heroine in a backstage story set in 1930's Broadway.
By contrast, every other actor seems to be doing what they think an actual human being would be doing, as they go about their daily jobs; these jobs just happen to be in the business of rehearsing and mounting a major show.
There's great fun watching the various characters chase each other romantically offstage as they try to establish their time and space (and dominance/subservience) onstage. It reminded me a little of Tim Robbin's Cradle Will Rock of ten years ago, which also centered around real-life people (including Welles) and the production of another famous New York play (of the same name). But more to the point of the blood, sweat and tears of what goes on putting a show on the boards, this film reminded me of Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy, a backstage look at Gilbert & Sullivan and the D'Olye Carte theatrical company. I'd recommend that you check out both of those films, if you are a theater/film history buff.
Art direction, costuming, set design, all primo; though the majority of the movie was shot at England's famous Pinewood Studios, I felt like I was in Depression-era New York for the whole of the movie.
I'm a big Linklater fan; I'm on record as stating that he's one of the few who can handle a good Dick. And this film only reinforces my fondness for Linklater, for Welles, and for the world of the Theater.
how safe is your chicken?
you would think that after years of alarms about food safety—outbreaks of illness followed by renewed efforts at cleanup—a staple like chicken would be a lot safer to eat. but in our latest analysis of fresh, whole broilers bought at stores nationwide, two-thirds harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease. that's a modest improvement since january 2007, when we found that eight of 10 broilers harbored those pathogens. but the numbers are still far too high, especially for campylobacter. though the government has been talking about regulating it for years, it has yet to do so.
the message is clear: consumers still can't let down their guard. they must cook chicken to at least 165º f and prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food. - consumer reports
Labels: food, food safety, regulation
the few..the proud..the forgotten
"they knew about it, they lied to us and they didn't let the american people know for years later and in the meantime, people are suffering and dying and not knowing why."
ed bauries will tell you he is a proud marine with a tortured soul ,"nothing will bring my babies back", and a broken body, "i thought of just taking my own life at times, it would be easier for my family."
riddled with searing pain and paralysis from multiple sclerosis, his muscles and nerves feel so inflamed, it's as if he is on fire: "up my neck up the right side of my face which it burns for 24/7."
...but it is not only disease that bonds him with a band of brothers, other marines, their children, their widows, from across florida and the nation. their shared bond is the water at camp lejune, north carolina. water they bathed in, cooked with and drank, decades ago, stationed at the base. water that now appears to have been
tainted with some of the most dangerous chemicals in the world. - cbs4
Labels: healthcare, military, pollution, toxins
forget the sausage making in the senate
an answer, questions in austin plant illnesses. a study published in lancet neurology confirmed that 21 slaughterhouse workers at a minnesota pork plant who contracted a mysterious neurological disorder in 2007 had inhaled pig blood and brain tissue sprayed into the atmosphere by high-pressure air hoses. - minn star tribune
Labels: food, food safety, healthcare
question of the day...
do you try to fix as much of the mess as you can before your boss finds out, or do you just seek your boss out first and say, "y'all ain't gonna like this, but..."
note to obamarahma - vastly superior invading armies have always exited afghanistan - just not on the terms they were expecting.
Labels: afghanistan, bipartisanship
the message
Labels: humor, nature, philosophy, religion
messages are there on all levels in all music
Labels: music
meeting the walrus
Sunday, November 29, 2009
environmental news stories sunday
bhopal: the victims are still being born. - bhopal is a calamity without end. on 3 december 1984, clouds of poison leaking from a union carbide pesticides plant brought death to thousands in this central Indian city. today, fully a quarter of a century later, victims of this, the world's worst industrial disaster, are still being born. - london independent
bhopal's women still bear scars of gas hell. - many women were twice afflicted by the world's worst industrial accident. those who lost family have had to nurse their grief and themselves; some 43 per cent of pregnant survivors lost their babies, and there has since been an epidemic of gynaecological diseases - edinburough scotsman
bhopal gas survivors mark 25 years of agony. - livestock outnumber humans at the arif nagar slum, a toxic wasteyard next to the site of the world's worst industrial accident, which occurred 25 years ago this week in the indian city of bhopal. - afp
will other coastal communities share leeville's fate? - for nearly a century, the homes and businesses between golden meadow and fourchon have disappeared one by one, victims of sinking land, surging surf and the occasional hurricane. the most marked change has occurred in the village of leeville - houma today
climate change threatens to push more bangladeshis into india. - many people from coastal areas of bangladesh, forced out of their homes by the effects of climate change, have started migrating towards already over-populated and infrastructure-crippled cities - and to india for their survival - indo-asian news service
alarming rise in surface water temperature in sundarbans. - scientists have noticed an alarming rise in surface water temperatures in the highly eco-sensitive sundarbans delta over the past three decades, a phenomenon they attribute to climate change - hindu
faulty promises in bid to drill off florida? - the oil industry makes its case for drilling within a few miles of florida's coast by trumpeting a new kind of drilling that is "virtually invisible" on the coast - sarasota herald tribune
current, future challenges focus for rocky mountain national park. - just more than five years before its 2015 centennial, rocky mountain national park is in a state of flux as climate change bears down on it, deferred maintenance projects rack up a price tag greater than $50 million and industry-tainted air quality becomes a primary concern among park biologists - fort collins coloradan
portland issues westside water-boil alert after e. coli found in reservoir. - for the first time in the city's history, the portland water bureau issued an emergency boil-water alert late saturday afternoon to more than 50,000 customers west of the willamette river because of an e. coli contamination - portand oregonian
gillibrand pushes for testing of e. coli in ground beef. - according to u.s.. sen. kirsten gillibrand, recent u.s. dept. of agriculture reports indicate nearly one in 300 samples of ground beef contains e. coli - dunkirk observer
australian aims to breed green sheep that burp less. - australian scientists have said they are hoping to breed sheep that burp less as part of efforts to tackle climate change. - bbc
wind turbines beginning to energize alaska: energy. - two spinning turbines dot the sky above palmer, putting the quaint colony-era town on the forefront of a grass-roots make-your-own energy movement sweeping alaska - anchorage daily news
warming will 'wipe out billions.' - most of the world's population will be wiped out if political leaders fail to agree a method of stopping current rates of global warming, one of the uk's most senior climate scientists has warned. - edinburough scotsman
shortage of water will shut power station. - low water levels will force the shutdown of the large wallerawang power station over christmas to take pressure off local water supplies. the move is the clearest impact yet of the dry weather conditions on the state's electricity industry - sydney morning herald
dead sea needs world help to stay alive. - the dead sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as middle east political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say - afp
india water demand set to double by 2030: study. - india's water needs are set to double by 2030, which could dry up its river basins, according to new research released tuesday that paints a grim picture for supplies across the emerging world. - afp
mountain removal an issue in senate race. - you probably didn't notice it, because it got the scant attention it deserved, but there was a fuss this month over coal and energy between the main kentucky democrats running for the u.s. senate - louisville courier journal
epa proposes sulfur dioxide limits for first time since 1971. - the environmental protection agency is continuing its crackdown on coal pollution with a new plan to cut sulfur dioxide — a move that would clean up the air for millions of americans and bring some relief to people who suffer from respiratory diseases - mcclatchy
three rivers sues over pollution. - four years ago, the 370-student elementary school in addyston, ohio, was evacuated because of air pollution. it never reopened. this week, three rivers local schools filed a lawsuit in state court against the former and current owners of a plastics plant near still-shuttered meredith hitchens elementary - cinncinnati inquirer
colorado cleaned up through cash for clunkers program. - colorado posted one of the highest gains in fuel efficiency in the nation through the cash for clunkers program as motorists traded in their suvs and minivans for passenger cars - denver post
Labels: australia, cars, climate change, colorado, disasters, drought, energy, environment, florida, food safety, global warming, india, ocean, oil, oregon, pollution, rivers, toxins, water
the turkey becomes a chicken
on wednesday, sarah palin excitedly announced on twitter that she was going to be running a 5k turkey trot charity race in washington state on thanksgiving day. large
crowds of people turned out to catch palin at the race, hoping to get the chance to meet the former alaska governor. palin, however, quit the race early to avoid many of her fans - think progress
stick it right back at them
go ahead. break the chains. stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. and most important: don't feel guilty about it. don't think you're doing something morally wrong.
that's the incendiary core message of a new academic paper by brent t. white, a university of arizona law school professor, titled "underwater and not walking away: shame, fear and the social management of the housing crisis."
white argues that far more of the estimated 15 million american homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages should stiff their lenders and take a hike. - sfgate
Labels: foreclosure, housing bubble, lawyers
Disneyfication Doesn't Work; Sex Sells
Back in the good old days (B.I.), a NYC resident actually had to go to Hotaling's Newstand (142 W. 42nd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues) to get out-of-town newspapers.
And during most of those days, you would see thriving businesses catering to the needs of their customers, with ever-changing film selections (though some Standards would recur) and 24/7 showings. (See Chip Delany's Times Square Red, Times Square Blue for a detailed perspective.)
Now, that area is mostly owned by The Mouse. An ESPNZone restaurant/store, a Disney Store: tributes to conspicuous, mass consumption with very little in the way of the sheer diversity the block used to offer. In a way, it's sad, since several of those stores are unlikely to survive—and it's a lot more difficult to fill a large business space than a small one.
(This doesn't mean that Eighth Avenue has been cleaned up. For instance, the scene in Brad Denton's Laughin' Boy where Danny Clayton searches down it can still be re-enacted. But the former Crossroads of the World itself has devolved into a narcissistic fantasy.)
So where has all the titillation and temptation gone? Why, over to Stately Fifth Avenue, of couse. XOXO (presumably Kiss Hug Kiss Hug, though they seem to just call it "Hugs and Kisses"), which doesn't appear to offer "delicates" as part of their line, is using their store window on 38th and Fifth for a display called Want to Watch?
Highlights are available at their website, on their YouTube Channel, and are, naturally, freely advertised by local television news stations.
Maybe that's the ultimate reason that the theaters on The Deuce were mostly closed: more people Like to Watch than can be accommodated in just a block or two.
Labels: advertising, commercial, pop culture
skippy's sunday morning music club
watch what you watch.
Labels: music, skippy's music club
Saturday, November 28, 2009
two socialites crashed the prez party? terrorism!! right wing bomb-maker? not so much...
john cole wonders aloud why those two real housewives of dc who crashed obama's state dinner are causing such a stir amongst the beltway pundits:
people are aware that the only thing that happened in the breach is that they were not officially invited, right? you all are aware out there that they went through intense screening on-site, went through metal detectors and everything else, and there was no chance they had a weapon on them. you are aware that if one of them had, as peter king suggested, "grabbed a knife off a table" and lunged for potus, they would have been tackled by any one of the thousands of security personnel there. you are aware that they were through far more security screening than it takes to get on an airplane, and tons more than any of the hundreds of thousands of people who shook hands with obama the last year on rope lines?
in short, you are aware that the only thing that was missing was their name on an official invite list, and it is looking like they were helped out by an indian dignitary.
police said no charges have been filed against mark campano, 56. police found 30 completed pipe bombs in his apartment along with components to make more, plus 17 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
campano is in an akron hospital with injuries received when one of the bombs exploded.
as police and federal authorities puzzle over campano's past and what he planned to do with the bombs, a former neighbor said campano often railed against the government.
barbara vachon lived next door to campano at the center park place apartments for several years and said he was a big reason she moved.
"he was always trying to get me and another neighbor to listen to anti-government tapes and watch anti-government videos," said vachon. "i would never watch them. he was some kind of radical, and he didn't believe in the government." …
but instead, because he's just a white anti-government extremist, hey, let's just give it a big shrug.
more on the case here and here.
a rude question
skippy's saturday morning music club
i awake
Labels: music, skippy's music club
it is what it is...
but for some reason, i feel like letting people know what i'm doing in my furry capacity. well, i'm working on a furry comic strip. it deals with all sorts of issues -- politics, religion, sexuality, you name it. but it starts out with a leonard cohen song, "heart with no companion." sadly, i'm no van gogh. but i have some drawing ability...
this is part of what i'm up to over at that fur affinity place i occasionally mention here. as far back as i can remember, i've loved all sorts of anthropomorphic animal artwork -- seems i was a furry years before furries had that name.
now i'm starting to draw my own. say what you will -- this beats the hell out of blogging about politics.
my 2 cents...
Labels: it is what it is
well, well...
by a slim 49 - 46 percent margin, new jersey voters oppose a law that would allow same-sex couples to marry, according to a quinnipiac university poll released today.
this reverses the 49 - 43 percent support for same-sex marriage in an april 23 survey by the independent quinnipiac university.
in this latest poll, same-sex marriage wins 60 - 34 percent support among democrats and a narrow 49 - 45 percent support among independent voters, while republicans oppose the measure 69 - 25 percent.
women support same-sex marriage 53 - 41 percent, while men oppose it 57 - 38 percent. white voters split 49 - 47 percent, while black voters oppose the measure 61 - 28 percent...
and therein lies one possible explanation of why the gay-marriage-or-bust segment of the lgbt community keeps losing its battles.
Labels: gay/lesbian, it is what it is
Friday, November 27, 2009
question of the day...
Labels: it is what it is, life, questions
Labels: music
the history of money
Labels: economics, financial markets
i'm sorry, skippy...
i know i had a good sweet fix a short while ago, but dammit, i really had to have just one more.
i'm good now. please forgive me...
Labels: music
according to documents filed in l.a. county superior court, arnold schwarzenegger owes the irs $39,047 from 2004 and $40,016 from 2005. in total the guv owes $79,064.00 ... and as we all know, he's definitely not saving the money for rainy day traffic violations.- calitics - latimes
Labels: california, governator, taxes, taxpayers
with dubai becoming "don't buy"
darley is hh sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum's global breeding operation which currently stands stallions in six countries around the world.
...darley commenced operations with one stallion and employed fewer than ten people at dalham hall stud. today, darley's global racing and breeding operations directly employ some 1,300 people.
today, darley stands more than 60 thoroughbred stallions through out australia, britain, Ireland, japan, and the united states of america. - darley
sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum returned to the fasig-tipton saratoga sale of selected yearlings for the first time in more than 20 years on monday night, and his ravenous appetite for racing prospects helped push the average price to the highest level since the record year of 2001.
with 76 horses sold for $25,470,000 (up 40.3%), average rose to $335,132. - thoroughbred times
wall street ended the day lower on friday, reacting to reports that dubai world, the emirate's investment vehicle, was seeking to suspend repayments on all or part of its $59 billion in debt for six months. - nytimes
Labels: financial markets, horses, middle east
thanks nasa!
the space shuttle atlantis and the international space station are separately flying around the earth until friday, and they can be seen as a pair of bright lights in the sky at certain times over the next few days. - msnbc
i'm sure some kids were told that those fast moving bright lights were santa making his way to the earliest black friday sales, though.
James Cameron's Ava-Ishtar; or, Howard the Smurf
Considering the rumors that the movie cost $500 million to make, 20th Century Fox has a lot riding on this flick.
Sure, Cameron has made movie history with Terminator, T2: Judgement Day, Aliens and Titanic. And I loved all those films.
But Avatar looks hokey. No, not the effects. The story. It really looks like Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest crossed with Curse of of the Smurf Cat People.
But speaking of effects, the buzz on line is that the movie looks best in 3D. To me, if you have to rely on a gimmick for a movie to work, that spells trouble. It's like saying The Tingler is best when seen sitting ing William Castle's electric seat joy buzzers.
I'm a Sci-Fi Geek. I read io9 daily, and I've seen all ten Doctors and I'm looking forward to Matt Smith. I even watched as much Fast Forward as I could stomach (I gave up two episodes ago...man, that show reeks!).
But Avatar looks down-right ridiculous. Unless I hear incredible word-of-mouth from my friends, I don't even think I'll watch this one on Netflix.
I'm just sayin...
she even bakes
Labels: music
Thursday, November 26, 2009
and the women tear their blouses off, and the men they -- {!}
whoa, the women really are tearing their blouses off! seventy-five years of age, and that old man is still drivin' women crazy! unbelievable.
well, maybe not unbelievable. but deeply impressive. i for one will never get tired of cohen's music -- it still hits me so strongly, it's only two or three degrees away from downright paralyzing me. no one will ever take his place.
Labels: music
queen for a day
Happy Thanksgiving
Mrs. Skippy is whipping up, along with a beautiful turkey, some baked potatoes, yams, sweet sausage corn bread stuffing, and her famous cranberry-orange relish.
what's on your menu today?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
of all animals, bears are my favorite. doesn't matter what kind of bear it is -- if it's a bear, i love it. that's just the way i am.
so when i see something like this... and i know it's just an animated commercial, and the makers are just trying to make a point...
i can't help myself. i get pissed off.
just my luck...
Labels: life
vibration creates form
sarah, palin tall
sheila schulte, 54, a resident of the villages who was wearing a button on a red, white and blue scarf that read "sarah palin for president 2012," leaned over and thanked palin for serving as a great inspiration.
palin responded, "you're welcome and i like your pin."
"i saw that, i saw that; he probably got a kick out of that," palin said. "it was just a hoot, too, to hear such a thing."
"i don't know," she said. "we'll see, we'll see."
palin did not specifically tell newsmax that she was considering a run with beck but did tout the controversial television and radio host as "bold" during her interview with the conservative magazine.
"glenn beck, i have great respect for," she said. "he gets his message across in such a clever way."
"he calls it like he sees it, and he's very, very, very effective," palin added.
happy thanksgiving, everyone...
(it had to happen eventually...)
down the penrose lane
more @ penrose on politics
safe flying to your turkey day destination
mostly harmless
entirely beneficial
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
this thanksgiving..don't hang out with "the family"
you may recognize these names from recent headlines: sen. john ensign, rep. bart stupak and rep. joe pitts. stupak and pitts have become familiar names through the media's health care overhaul coverage; their abortion funding amendment
introduced an 11th-hour twist as the house of representatives approached a vote
on a landmark health care bill.
ensign was the focus of media attention over his affair with a campaign staffer. just last night, a nevada man disclosed that he found out about his wife's affair with the state's junior senator — his best friend — via a text message.
the common factor among these political players is their involvement with the family, a secretive fellowship of powerful christian politicians that centers on a washington, d.c., townhouse. - npr
google's da bomb
His Truth is Marching On
I went running through Toronto the other day on a 17°C November afternoon. Canada's west coast is currently underwater. Sea level continues its 3mm/year creep up the coasts of the world, the western Siberian permafrost continues to melt. Swathes of California and Australia are pretty much permanent firestorm zones these days, and heat waves continue to kill thousands in Europe. The glaciers retreat, the Arctic ice cap shrinks, a myriad migratory species continue to show up at their northern destinations weeks before they're supposed to. The pine beetle furthers its westward invasion, leaving dead forests in its wake— the winters, you see, are no longer cold enough to hit that lethal reset button that once kept their numbers in check.
I could go on, but you get my drift. And if the Climate-Change Hoax Machine is powerful enough to do all that, you know what?
They deserve to win.
Amen, brother!
Labels: climate change, global warming, science
in comedy you're either in or out
from now on, she'll be known as "heide".
mega drought
calif. scientists announce proof of mega-droughts. - while californians worry
about the three-year drought dragging on, researchers say climate change soon
could create much longer dry spells--lasting decades or even centuries. and
scientists have announced the first proof after studying caves along the sierra
nevada - fresno bee
Labels: california, climate change, drought, water
obama's december jobs summit
how william r.polk would handle afghanistan.
Labels: afghanistan, jobs, military, war
skippy's tuesday morning music club
Labels: music, skippy's music club
on the acceleration to 2012
Labels: philosophy, science
Monday, November 23, 2009
a) the vatican ought to decide our domestic policy;
b) israel ought to decide our foreign policy;
c) communist china ought to decide our economic policy; and
d) osama bin ladin ought to decide who gets tried in our courts.
it's pretty clear why they're conservative, but it does makes
you wonder why they bother to call themselves american.
Labels: conservatives
abel maldonado (r) santa maria
gov. arnold schwarzenegger spilled the beans to late-night host jay leno that he's nominating republican sen. abel maldonado to fill the vacant lieutenant governor seat. - sac beethis is the same slimey politician who ran in santa barbara county's primary as both a republican and democrat.
republican sen. abel maldonado is running for reelection this year - as both a republican and a democrat.
the santa maria lawmaker turned in signatures earlier this week to qualify himself as a write-in candidate in the democratic primary of his 15th Senate District, though he is already unopposed for the gop nomination. - sac bee
Labels: california, governator, republicans
where's joe the plumber when you need him
starting jan. 1, plumbing materials sold or installed statewide that carry drinking water can contain no lead, meaning millions of dollars worth of existing inventory must be flushed down the proverbial drain.
state officials contend the law helps prevent a variety of serious health concerns that can result from lead exposure. - vallejo times herald
and speaking of plumbing problems...
...one goal of the clean water act of 1972 was to upgrade the nation's sewer systems, many of them built more than a century ago, to handle growing populations and increasing runoff of rainwater and waste. during the 1970s and 1980s, congress distributed more than $60 billion to cities to make sure that what goes into toilets, industrial drains and street grates would not endanger human health.
but despite those upgrades, many sewer systems are still frequently overwhelmed, according to a new york times analysis of environmental data. as a result, sewage is spilling into waterways.
in the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation's 25,000 sewage systems — including those in major cities — have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere, according to data from state environmental agencies and the epa. - nytimes
Labels: california, environment, lead, water
don't piss off a roo
a kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.- sfgate
let's hear it...
the five men facing trial in the sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of u.s. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said sunday.
scott fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist ali abd al-aziz ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."
the u.s. justice department announced earlier this month that ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the u.s. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed world trade center.
ali, also known as ammar al-baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed.
mohammed, ali and the others will explain "their assessment of american foreign policy," fenstermaker said.
"their assessment is negative," he said...
gee, ya think so? and this just in from yosemite national park: wild bears do, in fact, $#!+ in the woods. which segment of "murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the u.s." brought him to that realization?
Labels: 9/11, snark, war on terror
every little thing
Labels: music
Sunday, November 22, 2009
on conspiracies
Labels: conspiracy theories
rumors of anti-castro pigeons
environmental news stories sunday
did the 2008 wenchuan quake strike because china filled a reservoir? - fill a reservoir behind a new dam, and, oops, you trigger an earthquake nearby not long after the lake is topped off. now, a team of researchers suggest that this could well be what happened in china's sichuan province in may 2008. - christian science monitor
bitter fight developing over sugar beets. - virtually the entire sugar beet crop in the united states is genetically engineered to protect it from herbicides. now, a lawsuit claiming the biotech beets pose a risk to other varieties could threaten sugar production. - marketplace
slow city. - with no fast food restaurants or big box stores, the bicycle and pedestrian friendly cowichan bay has become north america's first slow city. - living on earth
obscured by war, water crisis looms in yemen. - lately, the news from yemen has been dominated by an escalating rebellion along the border with saudi arabia. but for water experts, yemen has been making news for decades because of its severe overuse of a rapidly disappearing water supply. - all things considered
tybee eyes rainwater showers. - for the past 10 weeks, students in a savannah college of art and design class have been brainstorming innovative ways for tybee island to cut its water usage while still allowing beachgoers to rinse themselves clean and use toilet facilities. - savannah morning news
zombie nuke plants. - in the face of climate change, many people who are desperate for alternatives to fossil fuels are considering the potential of nuclear power. more than half of america's nuclear plants have received new twenty-year operating licenses. these undead nukes are highly dangerous. - nation
gore to techies: shake off the lethargy. - former vice president al gore was given the global humanitarian award 2009 for his work drawing attention to the global warming crisis. In his acceptance speech, he emphasized that fundamental shifts in policy are required to stave off environmental disaster - sfgate
after the thaw. - keen skier? thinking of buying a snow-covered chalet in the alps? then think hard before making a decision. according to a recent report from the united nations world tourism organisation, melting snow caps will result in the closure of many winter sports resorts in the coming decades - london financial times
environmentalists: look at texas to see what's coming. - tony amos stands on the deck of the university of texas research station. over his shoulder, 3 miles off mustang island, just past an industrial port teeming with tankers and crew boats, an oil rig dominates the horizon. - gannett news service
california recycling program is on the rocks. - for years california has courted a reputation as an eco-friendly, green-minded leader, but the state now finds its most basic program of recycling beverage bottles and cans mired in debt and litigation - sac bee
experts fear scots face future of climate chaos if we do not mend the planet. - one of scotland's top environmental experts is warning that our weather will get wetter and wetter as global temperatures rise - glasgow daily record
canyon officials to tackle warming. - officials at the grand canyon are proposing to make the national park one of at least 50 in the country that attempts to counter and respond to global climate change - flagstaff arizona daily sun
what's ahead? warmer winters, wetter springs, experts contend. - warmer winters, wetter springs and more flooding in illinois may become the norm, wes jarrell says. "the time for debate about global warming is over," he said. "it's not a matter of opinion; it's a matter of fact. climate changes are already occurring in the midwest." - alton telegraph
more than 100 evacuated in heaviest flooding in years. - more than 100 people were evacuated from their homes because of some of the worst flooding for years in ireland. victims in co clare were accommodated in hotels and sandbags were used to protect businesses and houses, a spokesman for the local council said. - cork irish examiner
fires in spanish wetlands causing alarm. - columns of smoke and the acrid smell of burning peat now greet visitors to one of the largest wetland zones in europe, where smouldering fires in the subsoil are causing alarm among environmentalists - afp
gaza water unfit for human consumption, palestinians say. - water in the gaza strip is so salty that it is unfit for human consumption, a palestinian official in charge of water supplies inside the besieged coastal territory said on saturday - afp
google – the new eye in the sky for protecting forests? - google looks set to play a part in a called-for "new environmental world order" by satellite-monitoring the rates of deforestation of tropical rainforests and pinpointing illegal logging and land misuse, google's northern and central europe head philipp schindler has revealed - mongabay
voracious asian carp poised to upset great lakes. - conservationists and government biologists, stunned by new indications of the advance of asian carp toward lake michigan, are trading ideas for poisoning chicago-area rivers, conducting emergency electrofishing or chemically neutering the wily fish. - chicago tribune
california: an unhealthy state. - california ranks 23rd among u.s. states for the overall health of its residents, according to an america's health rankings study. among the state's challenges are pollution, high incidence of infectious diseases, and a large number of uninsured residents. - inland daily bulletin
Labels: california, climate change, drought, environment, fire, food, global warming, gm, google, gore, middle east, oil, restaurants, water, weather
wienermobile spotted in santa barbara
Originally uploaded by twomets
but we often see some strange things drive down the street here...thanks to the creative folks at prototype source.
sometimes a visual
Labels: unemployment
why is it....
Labels: congress, healthcare, senate
positive reinforcement
Labels: music
november 22, 1963
"let us not seek the republican answer or the democratic answer, but the right answer. let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. let us accept our own responsibility for the future." - jfk
Saturday, November 21, 2009
what is up with chamber of commerces?
the west virginia chamber of commerce wants the state's federal lawmakers to block health-care reform until the obama administration and congress end what the chamber says is a "war" on coal and domestic energy.
chamber president steve roberts called friday for the state's congressional delegation -- especially democratic sens. robert c. byrd and jay rockefeller -- to withhold votes on health reform until president obama and the u.s. environmental protection agency change their stance on climate-change legislation, coal-mining permit reviews, mountaintop removal and other issues. - gazette mail
Labels: environment, epa, healthcare, senate
down the penrose lane
more @ penrose on politics!
the beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it...
but the way those atoms are put together.
(found this over at fur affinity [may not be work-safe], of all places...)
light's point of view
Labels: science
skippy's saturday morning music club
Labels: music, skippy's music club
Friday, November 20, 2009
one more gong song...
ee, a-o, za-ee, za-o, ma-ee, ma-o, ta-ee, ta-o, now...
Labels: music
Prisoner of Love
I was all ready to hate it, and strangely enough, I found it quite intriguing.
Big caveat to start: No, it's not as good as Patrick McGoohan's orignial paranoia. No one can touch his startingly original premise (the show was his idea, and he wrote several episodes, and was executive producer on them all). Nor can this new version come close to McGoohan's great defiant approach to the character of Number 6. Also, we must needs give big props to the marvelous actor Leo McKern, who was one of the better Number Twos in that version.
However, as I watched the AMC remake, it occurred to me that, taken on its own merits, this new version had plenty to recommend it, and was quite engaging.
The new version has many of the same tropes as the old: A man wakes up in a new place, the Village, and is told he is Six (no prefix of the word "Number" is used to denote characters in this version; an interesting twist). The man in charge is Two. The inhabitants seem mindlessly content, but totally unable or unwilling to help Six either understand his situation or escape it.
The old standby giant white bubbles ("Rover" as it was known in the old version) keeps folks from leaving the Village, though this time with some sort of Electro-Zap ray. And Villagers leave each other with a hearty "Be Seeing You."
But there's a lot of new ideas and set pieces as well. There's one consistent love interest for Six, a doctor in the Clinic named (or numbered) 313, who appears through out the entire program. And this Village is in the desert, not by the sea shore (the show was shot in Africa, and the endless sand dunes make for a surreal landscape, giving the feeling that even if you get out of the Village and run and run forever, you'll never get anywhere).
Another change: The Villagers all have amnesia, and don't remember (or even believe) that there is any where else in the Universe ("There is only the Village"). And most radical of all, we are shown snippets of Six's back story in civilization (where he worked as an analyst for a large corporation, rather than as a Secret Agent Man like in McGoohan's original). These scenes are intertwined into the current story of Six in the Village.
If I explain any more of the structural changes, I'm in danger of giving away major spoilers of the show. And actually some commentors on the AMC forum point out that this new version owes at least as much to Ursula La Guinn and Jorge Luis Borge as it does to McGoohan.
It was not without its problems, of course. Many commentors online correctly pointed out that it moved slowly, especially in the first episode "Arrival" (quite a bad thing to do. You want to start out grabbing your audience by the throat and pulling them into your world at a rapid clip. This program, alas, did not).
Also, be forewarned: this is not easy-listening television. No multi-tasking, reading the paper, conversation or web browsing while you watch. You've got to pay attention. I'd suggest, as I did, recording it for repeated viewing.
(Another problem mentioned on the forums: the audio frequently is muddled, whether it's the accents, or deliberate "surreal" mixing of tracks, often times I didn't understand words and sentences. One viewer suggests watching with the Closed Captioning feature turned on.)
But if you were willing to stay along for the ride, a definite sense of creepy paranoia and confusing dread evolved in the second episode "Harmony." By the time Six and his supposed brother "Sixteen" have switched sides in their argument about whether they are related or not, you realize that not only is Six unsure of who's who, so are you. And then, when Six tells Sixteen's family of his death, and the family laughs uproariously while they watch the Village's soap opera on TV, a real sense of surreal horror has taken over the whole proceeding.
Two of the greatest things about this new version happens to be the stars: Jim Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellan. I was happily surprised at Caviezel's performance. While McGoohan brought a defiance in his tour-de-force as Number Six, Caviezel's quiet intensity served this new version well. Matching the tone and atmosphere of the Village, with its undercurrent of unseen forces roiling throughout, Caviezel brought the suggestion of violence and rage, rather than surface exposition. All in all it was a quite impressive performance that fit the overall production well.
And what can be said about Sir Ian McKellan, that hasn't been said by more erudite fans than myself? The man who brought us Magneto and Gandalf, as well as one of the more insane Richard III's, and a host of other stand-out performances, was at the top of his form here. A slight smile, hinting at the destruction that he could reign down on those who cross him, a wistful stare into the horizon as he struggled to maintain his control; this man is a genius in his craft (so much so that he got top billing; imagine, Number Two getting his
Bottom Line: Is it as good as the original? No. Is it better than 99% of television now? Definitely yes. And kudos to AMC, home of Mad Men (which underwhelms me, but is the darling of Blogtopia, and yes, I coined that phrase) and Breaking Bad (which I love), for taking more risks in a time of Reality doldrums and Jay Leno cop-outs.
It's re-running starting this Sunday, Nov. 22, on AMC (two hours a night at 10 pm for three consecutive Sundays). If you're game, check it out.
Til then, Be Seeing You.
sometimes these things just write themselves
utah lawmaker claims he doesn't 'mind' gays, but 'i don't want 'em stuffing it down my throat all the time. certainly not in my kid's face'
write your own punchline here.
worst idea ever
pittsburgh mayor luke ravenstahl, just seven years out of college, is igniting ire with his plan to levy a 1 percent tax on tuition collected by the city's 10 nonprofit colleges and universities.
pittsburgh depends upon its corporate owners; we should give them a break after all.
hoppy kangaroo blogging friday
Inquistive Wallaroo
Originally uploaded by J T Morling
while the bankers are raking in the big bonus bucks again
u.s. mortgage delinquencies reach a record high
the delinquency figure, and a corresponding rise in the number of those losing their homes to foreclosure, was expected to be bad. nevertheless, the figures underlined the level of stress on a large segment of the country, a situation that could snuff out the modest recovery in home prices over the last few months and impede any economic rebound.
unless foreclosure modification efforts begin succeeding on a permanent basis — which many analysts say they think is unlikely — millions more foreclosed homes will come to market.- nytimes
Labels: banking, economy, foreclosure, mortgages
Thursday, November 19, 2009
when is it free speech...and when is it a threat against the country?
the newest far-right craze is an anti-obama slogan that is making its way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, and even teddy bears: "pray for obama: psalm 109:8,"
...diana butler bass at beliefnet explains that psalm 109 is one of the "imprecatory" prayers, "a lament in the form of petition to destroy one's enemies." while perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that the psalm actually "entreats god to destroy the president" - think progress
Labels: internets, obama, republicans, violence
i find it hard to tell you, i find it hard to take...
when people run in circles it's a very...
mad world.
dedicated to badtux. he knows why.
Labels: music
bass cadet
Labels: music
empty head
DIY Sarah Palin Mask
Originally uploaded by billypalooza
faux rolls wrong video
fox has done it again, and this time, once again, fox says its misplay of the wrong crowd video was another regrettable mistake. - the
yeah..."regrettable" mistake. like giving the right wing talking point channel a broadcasting license in the first place?
our bloggy buddy, john amato, over at crooks and liars, is filing an fcc complaint against faux for this obvious manipulation of fact.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
one more, and then it's bed time...
alice in chains, post-layne staley. pretty good.
Labels: music
i've always loved her. if only i were straight and twenty years older...
Labels: music
question of the day...
Labels: democrats, it is what it is, politics
(no) thanks for the mammaries
jill wonders why more feminist bloggers aren't concerned:
so why the silence? is it because this plan to ration health care services to older women is coming directly from barack obama's department of health and human services and you're afraid to criticize it? is this what we've come to, selling our own sisters down the river rather than criticize a democratic president?
okay. tell it to the other 1899, but as for me? i don't care to hear it.
wanna guess which one of the 1900 i am?
i am the poster child for early detection. my brush with the disease was a non-event that cost less than ten grand to treat because of early detection and screening.
Life Imitates Art--or at least a Commercial
A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica's ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whisky that has been on the rocks since a century ago.
The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whisky that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.
And, since Skippy already noted that Ken Ober is not Canadian, his most notable appearanvce:
Labels: Antarctica, music, pop culture
rip edward woodward and ken ober
it's quite ironic that as we enjoy the remake of the prisoner on a&e this week, we find the news that another of our favorite tv ex-spies, edward woodward, has died at age 79. seattle pi:
his agent, janet glass, said he had been ill for several months and died in a hospital in truro, england, with family members around him...
woodward won a golden globe and received five emmy nominations for his star turn in the equalizer, which ran on cbs from 1985 to '89. the british actor, who had a heart attack during the series, played an ex-spy who helped regular people even the odds against anyone with whom they had a problem.
we loved watching mr. woodward as ex-secret agent robert mccall in the equalizer during the 80's. his tortured determination to help those in need of his services made what could have been a cheesy robin hood update into a fascinating character drama, w/loads of revenge fantasy heaped on.
also passing, on the opposite end of the seriousness scale, ken ober, the host of mtv's old 80's game show remote control. e! online:
ober began his career on star search but spent recent years behind the scenes, working in production on comedies like the new adventures of old christine and mind of mencia.
"kenny ober was and always will be the quickest wit in the room," fellow funnyman denis leary tells mtv news. "he was fall-down funny from the moment he was born—a smart, fast and hilarious human being who made many of us, including myself, laugh until we cried. as the star and host of remote control, he was a welcoming ringmaster who helped to kick-start the careers of numerous talents, including adam sandler, colin quinn and myself. he will be remembered always by each of his friends not only for his massive talent but for his true, deep and enduring friendship."
this is quite distressing. we loved the zany, meta, in-your-face anarchy of remote control, and are also fans of the new adventures of old christine.
we enjoyed greatly the work of both mr. woodward and mr. ober. rest in peace to them both.


text:
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Winnings in respect of any bet must be claimed within ninety (90) days of the determination of the outcome of such bet.
The following rules: Bookmaker Operational Rules, Racing and Betting Rules, Totalisator Operational Rules, and any other rules and notices approved by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board, are available on request.
G-Bets supports responsible gambling. Only for persons 18 years and older. Winners know when to stop. National responsible gambling toll-free helpline 0800 006 008. Click the following links to visit the Financial Intelligence Centre Act website and The National Responsible Gambling Programme.


text: This busty Scottish babe is packing all sorts of heat under her clothes. Not only is she creamy, curvy and delicious, with absolutely huge natural 38F tits, but she has a Derringer tattooed in breathtaking clarity, stuffed in am inked garter on her sweet milky thigh. Miss Paige has been delighting her viewers since she entered the business in 2011, and we're thrilled that she's started exploring the cocks on our side of the pond. Fans of punk girls, pinups and redheads will all be thrilled by the HD sex scenes with Paige and her long fire engine red hair. Those who love seeing the biggest boobs in all natural jiggling glory will likewise be thrilled to see her juicy jugs in action here on the world's best porn site.


text:
Serbian and Italian players visit 'Children's Village' in Sremska Kamenica
Present during the visit were Mrs. MIlena Vasic Stupar, (Director of the Children`s Village), Mr. Milos Vucevic (Lord Mayor of Novi Sad) and Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, (Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia) and Mr. Predrag Svilar (Member of the City Council in charge for Youth and Sports).
The FIVB officials who refereed the
Serbia-Italy matches were also part of the delegation and included, Mr. Klaus
Fezer, Mr. Gennadiy Kondakov (Ukraine), Mr. Martin Hudik (Czech Republic) and Mr. Andjelko Popovic
"Serbia is proud of the Children` s Village in Novi Sad," said Milos Vucevic, Lord Mayor of Novi Sad. "It is a well known institution. The Volleyball Federation of Serbia offered to help and we immediately agreed. We are among friends, among great athletes, in a healthy environment and I thank them all for being here and caring."
Milena Vasic Stupar, Director of the Children's Village enthused, "Today is a great day for our children. They are always happy to receive guests, and especially now when all these volleyball stars came to us. So, the kids were rushing to take pictures with them and it was very nice. We made them very happy."
"It is yet another proof that we are one great family," said Slobodan Milosevic, Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia. "It is not usual to do this on a game day, but our friends from Italy accepted the invitation and we thank them. It is important to be humane, to bring joy and happiness to our children. I am very thankful to Mr. Lord Mayor who accepted our proposal and now we are here. Once again we demonstrated that Volleyball Connects!"


text:
Installations of over 13GW meant that, for the first time, wind ranked number one for new generating capacity. Ten gigawatts was installed in just five months - it took 25 years to reach the first 10GW of wind on US power systems.
But last year's build rate should not be judged in isolation, having been driven by the end-of-year deadline for the industry's main incentive, the production tax credit (PTC), and the fear that it would not be extended.
The supply chain was devastated. Some 4,500 manufacturing jobs were lost and five major manufacturing plants closed. Installations this year are predicted to plummet to 2-3GW, followed by 5-8GW next year as the market rebalances.
These figures are backed up by data from Windpower Monthly's sister product, Windpower Intelligence (WPI), which shows big drops in mid-stream development activity such as permitting approvals and construction starts.
Welcome arrivals
However, as our US focus shows (from page 33), hope is now on the horizon. A spate of pension and infrastructure funds have been buying projects at the end of their PTC lifetime, attracted by a sector they see as forward-looking with steady returns. This is raising vital cash for developers to redirect to new projects.
This trend for non-traditional buyers in wind is not limited to projects coming out of their PTC timeframe. AWEA notes that industrial buyers, schools/universities and towns or cities bought into wind in 2012. Major retailer Walmart's plan to produce or procure 7 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy every year is a telling sign of the private sector's confidence in wind.
Grid bottlenecks are easing. While 136GW wind is currently queuing for interconnection, this is a decrease from over 300GW in 2009. This is a sign that interconnection queue reforms imposing stricter requirements to eliminate projects with low probability of proceeding to development are working.
Meanwhile, a new source of projects may open up as Native Americans make tentative steps towards realising the potential of projects on their land, which is typically located in areas with some of the best wind resource in the US.
Again, this is reflected in WPI's data, which shows that the reductions in mid-stream activity have been offset by new project announcements, site acquisitions and permitting starts, while construction completions and commissioning of projects has also increased.
Time to break free
But renewed activity may be short-lived as the PTC may once again be withdrawn in the very near future. The clock is already ticking as developers have until 1 January 2014 to start construction to be eligible.
Manufacturers that have weathered the storm have done so by innovating and diversifying. Criticism that chasing the PTC has distracted attention from making products more efficient has come even from within the industry.
As calls for a PTC phase-out from both industry players and politicians gain momentum, it may at last be time for the wind industry to get off the rollercoaster in favour of more stable footing.
Catherine Early is associate editor of Windpower Monthly


text:
By Jan K. Seigel | Published October 15, 2017 | Posted in Medical Malpractice | Tagged Tags: bedsores, elder care, facility liability | Leave a comment
A lawsuit filed in Camden alleges that Virtua Health, Care One LLC and Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation, which then operated Marlton Rehabilitation Hospital, caused or contributed to the death of a spinal surgery patient who developed severe bed sores leading to septic shock. The deterioration of Alfonzer Patrick, as reported in Law 360, is Read MoreRead More
As baby boomers age, nursing care facilities are being pressed for beds and high-quality nursing care. Recently, a Florida-based advocacy group ranked nursing facilities in the United States based on several factors. New Jersey did better than most, but there remains room for improvement. The nonprofit agency Families for Better Care supports the rights to Read MoreRead More
The National Center on Elder Abuse reports that more than 20,000 complaints of nursing home abuse are reported each year, but only 1 in every 14 incidents are actually reported to authorities. These numbers are significant because they show that countless residents may be suffering in silence. This is a tragic irony given that nursing Read MoreRead More
Although is primarily known for it's presence in the Trial Court's, Joseph Albano recently obtained a New Jersey Supreme Court decision affirming a $199,000.00 recovery for a young woman injured when she fell on steps. The defense had appealed the recovery to the Appellate Division where Mr. Albano won the case and the defense then Read MoreRead More
Recovery on behalf of the 16-year-old girl injured by electrical malfunction
Jury verdict in a catastrophic injury case
Settlement for a fractured arm in Passaic County
Settlement for a woman in Bergen County injured in a trucking accident
By Teresa R Perez - January, 2018
I have had a great experience thus far. The personal injury process is stressful and they have been helpful and courteous in getting me the right referrals. I was injured while visiting NJ and live in another state, my case is not an easy one but they are working diligently to help. I appreciate the personalized attention and highly recommend this firm.Read More
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By L C - October, 2017
After the misfortune of suffering an injury, I had the good fortune to choose Seigel Law to represent me. During my initial meeting with Jan Seigel, I found him to be extremely confident and reassuring---he totally put me at ease. I was represented by Mark Mc Bratney---an EXCELLENT attorney. He was supportive and professional through the entire process, and provided an excellent outcome for my case.Read More
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"The lawyers at Seigel Law know how to get you the results you want. Jan Seigel and His team returned every one of my phone calls, listened to me and worked with me to a desirable outcome. Seigel Law definitely goes above and beyond to protect the injured." - B.M.
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text:
NEW YORK A police officer told investigators after his arrest that his online chats about cannibalism set him on a downward spiral that was wrecking his personal life, an FBI agent testified Friday.
Gilberto Valle "claimed he did not enjoy it and he did not know why he was doing it," agent Anthony Foto told jurors at Valle's federal trial in Manhattan.
Foto testified that Valle, after his October arrest, acknowledged talking to people about a fetish of kidnapping, killing and eating women.
However, he "claimed he would not have gone through with it," the agent added.
The testimony came as the government winds down its case against the 28-year-old officer. Valle contends it was all fantasy and he intended no harm.
The trial's first week concluded Friday afternoon. Jurors were to return Monday.
The government called agent Foto on Friday to recount the arrest and initial interview of Valle last fall on kidnapping conspiracy charges.
When agents arrived to pick up Valle at his Queens home and told him to stay calm and everything would be fine, Valle responded: "I don't think so," the agent said.
Under interrogation at FBI headquarters, Valle lamented that his chats and emails with others on the Internet about cannibalism were leaving him exhausted and uninterested in sex with his wife.
He never said he harmed anyone, and he offered to help the FBI distinguish between which people on the Internet were real threats and which were not, Foto said.
The agent said that when he asked Valle why he thought he was being arrested, the officer said he believed it was for conspiracy to commit murder or attempted murder. But Foto later conceded that Valle made the remark an hour into an interview that lasted several hours.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Baum drew the jury's attention to moments when the FBI tricked his client, including when the FBI told him he been under investigation for more than a year.
"That was a lie, right? Baum asked.
"Of course," Foto responded, acknowledging that Valle had been under investigation for only a few weeks. He said the ruse was investigative technique aimed at getting the defendant to speak.
After the testimony, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe sent the jury home for the day. He spent the afternoon hearing proposed testimony from an FBI expert who studied Valle's computer history, finding numerous gruesome images and some videos.
Defense lawyers are opposing the presentation of as many as 34 ghastly exhibits of images, including women being tortured, dead bodies and body parts.
Gardephe put off a ruling on Friday on whether jurors would see the pictures, which defense lawyers say may have been saved automatically without him ever seeing them when he went on certain websites.
The government says the exhibits include a picture of a dead body with feet unattached, an image Valle's wife testified she saw when she went to one of his favorite sites and discovered why he stayed up late online.
Valle has been held without bail since his October arrest. Throughout the trial, which began Monday, Valle's lawyers have attacked government evidence as nothing more than the reflection of a man engaging in extreme sexual fantasies with like-minded people around the world. The government has conceded that Valle never met the purported Internet co-conspirators and that no women were harmed.
Jurors have heard testimony from Valle's estranged wife and from former classmates and other women who testified they knew Valle on a casual basis and never considered him dangerous. Their testimony was followed by evidence that all of them were the subjects of emails and chats describing how they could be snatched away and eaten.
Gilberto Valle Computer Photos Of Dead, Mutilated Women Wanted In 'Cannibal Cop' Prosecution


text:
What mountain biking advice does Gary Bailey have that can help you? What he says to all his students (which applies to all riders that want to reach their best):
"It all comes down to this; practice. What is it? Practice is not a race. It's also not time to go out and just bust out laps. It's time to figure out where your problems are and what you need to do to fix them. Then you must have the discipline to go work on that problem until you have it better. Like all other sports, practice is not going out and playing the game, rather, in practice, whether it be baseball, soccer, basketball or any other sport, practice is when you work on drills to improve your skills. In motocross too this is what practice should be. Unfortunately, for most though, they practice motocross by just riding laps and this not what you should be doing and will not improve your motocross skills. Rather, you will just repeat the same bad form and bad habits lap after lap. -Gary Bailey"
He even talks about Perfect Practice later in the article. This means it is time for you to stop just riding and actually start practicing! Soon you will be driving your bike (active) instead of riding your bike (passive)! Don't know what to practice? Don't know how to practice it? We are here to help you!
Practicing means focusing on one particular aspect of a skill using drills and quality repetition (not quantity, which can get sloppy) to master it. Can your corner on pavement (where there is no great traction and no fear of sliding out, hitting a tree or going off the edge of a trail) as well as our guest coach Greg Minnaar does on off-camber loose dirt? When we first coached many of our World and National Champion students they could not corner like Greg anywhere. Through understanding and practicing body position and vision first, then understanding how and why to do each of the 10 elements of cornering, doing drills on pavement and finally applying on dirt what they learned through their drills they now corner as well as Greg Minnaar on dirt! Of course most of our students don't have world championship goals, they simply want to ride more efficiently, in balance and in control with more confidence on the toughest of their local trails. Deliberate practice is the way to do that!