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If you struggle with food and eating, you've probably told yourself that it all comes down to willpower. You need to get serious, try harder, stay committed… you need to gain control once and for all!
But it doesn't work. Yes, you have moments, or days, or even years where you have your eating under control, but eventually your willpower runs out.
You think it's because something is wrong with you, but what if nothing is actually wrong? What if your body and mind are working exactly as designed?
What if fixing your relationship with food and your body is not about willpower at all? What if there is a different way?
Introducing Intuitive Eating: Intuitive eating is about reconnecting to your body's inner wisdom about what, when, and how to eat.
It's not a diet plan or a new set of rules about how/what/when to eat. And contrary to what you may have heard, it's not about only eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full.
It's a whole new way of relating to food and your body. A peaceful way. A satisfying way. An empowering way.
My work is about helping people understand the true causes of their struggles with food. I help people learn how to listen to and trust their bodies. Willpower gets removed from the equation because it isn't needed anymore. What a relief!
Read what others have to say about coaching with Daxle:
"I felt like I was aware of my hunger and fullness but still felt unhappy with the food choices I was making despite this. With her patience and feedback, I was able to recognize so many critical judgments I still had and begin to unravel patterns that were really effecting my life. Within a short time, I gained crucial insight into my motivations and was able to make noticeable progress towards intuitive eating and feeling more satisfaction from my food."
"Rather than feeling overwhelmed and helpless, I now feel empowered to make healthy choices with self-compassion. I am so thankful to have found Daxle, and I can say with certainty that the time, energy, and money I have invested in her coaching services have been a worthwhile investment in myself."
"The strides I've made with Daxle are things I never thought myself capable of achieving. Pushing away unfinished food because I'm full, taking a handful of chocolates and eating only 1 or 2, throwing out a dessert because it simply doesn't taste good, not thinking about food for hours at a time, eating the thing that I want without hating myself for the next two days, and letting go of the idea that what I eat defines who I am, are things I believed were only for people with "will-power" that I didn't possess."
"Daxle has given me incredibly useful tools so that I don't have to dive into a bag of chocolate and can really discover what emotion I am actually trying to feed."
"Overall, I am much more relaxed about food and eating, my binges are essentially gone, I feel better physically, my digestion has even improved. I highly recommend anyone struggling with food and eating issues to work with Daxle!"


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This utterly charming and heart-warming solo piano recording of an Australian pianist Paul Hankinson became a hit of the last Xmas sale madness. It literally sold out in one day not just because of over 10 years of the artist's Berlin residency, but due to simply irresistible beauty of the music itself.
It is inspired by Schubert's music, but despite the title just two pieces are drawing from the famous Winterreise cycle. Closing Gute Nacht and the preceding: Komm mit Mir, using a line from the final Leierman song as a leitmotif. Otherwise it is more like variation on the mood that an interpretation of Schubert's masterpiece per say. At least I can feel it this way.
This music takes over you and keep pampering you in a time capsule. Literally time stops and the pace of the music and a decay of chords keeps building the cocoon up. An amplitude makes your pulse slowing down in the natural way and almost "forces you" to relax, calm down and look around. With this deliberately delivered perspective you keep watching the life around and it looks like the silly rad race to you. That reflection hits your inner-self in the way that you start questioning yourself what the hell really matters in life?
In many regards the feeling that Paul's Winter Journey brings is close to what Glass' Metamorphosis does. It kind of twists the time, changes the sense of the intervals. Makes new meaning for the Silence. And looping your memories library into the internal slide projection.
Therapeutic and completely incapacitating. The Luxury which, despite of whatever the success definition is for you, hardly few can afford with days passing by like they do in our daily Dance Macabre steps. Therefore, this reflection and time for daily musing, are simply necessary. For the sense of balance, for the mental hygiene, for the sense of the self-identity. No one can disagree.
That alone might be the best explanation for this massive success. Sure, that the time was right and a hunger for peace massive at the time it went out, but these are just circumstances. There are always some, better or worse, doesn't matter – the life will always adjust itself to it.
What really matters is the power that this music possesses. Without that factor it wouldn't move anyone. Wouldn't touch any soul. It would just fade into nothingness like an ad jingle, the buzzing of a mosquito or any other irritating sound as lots of them every day's life serves.
So, treat yourself and plunge into it. And enjoy that someone's imagination brings such some pearls to life, from time to time.
You can buy this music here.
I would like highly recommend reading artist's own reflection about that music which makes a perfect preface to the listening as well as showing incredible sources for inspiration and here in that text also very unique sense of humour. Enjoy both an intro and the music.

subset: commoncrawl


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Work/LifeTaking time to live life will only inspire your work. Balance between work and life means something different to everyone. At AeroVironment, we offer a variety of plans to help you successfully balance your life with your career aspirations.
AeroVironment | Educational Assistance Program
AeroVironment is committed to providing employees with the tools and skills necessary to perform the individual's role and responsibilities. Developing our employees is critical to our success and we recognize that outside resources may be required to meet this objective. We also recognize that employees may want to expand their skillsets in areas beyond their current role as well. We as a company want to support those personal objectives. The Educational Assistance Program covers both company required and non-required training. Assistance for required training will cover course fees, time and travel. Approved non-required training will be covered up to $1,000.00 per year.
AeroVironment | Tuition Assistance Program
Continued education offers reward and benefit to both the employee and the Company. To assist employees with reaching their educational goals, AeroVironment offers a Tuition Assistance Program.
Coursework must be completed at a regionally accredited institution. Coursework, unless otherwise stipulated in the Program, is not required to be associated with a degree or certification program. Vocational, technical, and/or trade school programs may also qualify. Undergraduate, certificate program, vocational and trade school coursework may be in an area of study related to the business or industry. Graduate degree programs must be related to the employee's present position (job-related) or provide development for a future identified position in the company. Undergraduate level and other courses not related to a degree program will be reimbursed up to $5,250.00 per calendar year. Graduate degree program courses will be reimbursed up to $8,000.00 per year.
DocumentsApplication for Tuition Assistance Tuition Reimbursement Program Policy Info on Education Assistance Program Application for Educational Assistance
AeroVironment provides free workplace electric vehicle charging for all employees and guests. We have over 55 chargers of various types (AeroVironment branded EVSE, EV50, TurboCords, TurboDocks, 120 Volt and 240 Volt receptacles) available at our Simi Valley and Monrovia facilities. Charger availability is on a first-come basis.
Vacation is accrued each pay period and you can begin using your accrued vacation time as you earn it. Accrual is based on hours worked, no including overtime or hours worked past 40 hours in a work week. From the start of your employment, up to your third anniversary date, you will earn a maximum of 2 weeks (80 hours) of vacation. From your third anniversary date up until your twelfth anniversary date, you will earn a maximum of 3 weeks (120 hours) of vacation. From your twelfth anniversary date on, you will earn a maximum of 4 weeks (160 hours) of vacation.
You will be allowed to accrue and bank a maximum of two times your annual accrual rate. If you reach your maximum capacity, your bi-weekly accrual will stop until you have reduced your account to accommodate additional accrual.
Paid Sick Leave
AeroVironment provides all employees with a maximum accrual of 10 days (80 hours) of paid sick time per year for use when absent from work for the diagnosis, care (including preventative care), or treatment of an existing health condition for you and certain members of your family or a death in your family. You may also take time off to seek help if you or your family member are the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for the purpose of treatment, assistance, and other purposes authorized by law.
Jury and Witness Duty
Employees who qualify for jury duty leave will receive pay for up to 80 hours of jury duty service per calendar year. If the jury duty service exceeds 80 hours, employees may elect to use any accumulated vacation time during a leave under this policy, and may keep any jury duty fees received. Employees are expected to cooperate with AV in rescheduling jury service to minimize interference with AV responsibilities. Employees also are expected to report to work when it does not conflict with their court obligations, including returning to work for partial work days. To qualify for jury duty leave, employees must submit to their supervisor a copy of the jury summons, and also must submit proof of service at the completion of the service.
AV provides employees time off when subpoenaed to appear as a witness. Time off provided to testify as a witness will ordinarily be unpaid. If the employee utilizes paid vacation time or is unpaid for the time off, any witness fee received belongs to the employee. If the employee is testifying on behalf of AV, the time is charged to AV work time and any witness fee received should be turned in to AV.
Voting Time Off
Generally employees are able to find time to vote either before or after their regular work schedule. Employees who do not have sufficient time outside of their regular working hours to vote in a statewide election may request time off to vote. If possible, employees should make their request at least two (2) business days in advance of the election. Up to two (2) hours of paid time off will be provided, at the beginning or end of the employee's regular shift, whichever will allow the most free time for voting and the least time off work.
Bereavement Leave
Employees are eligible for a leave of up to five (5) days if a death occurs in the employee's immediate family. Time off under this policy is unpaid, but an employee may elect to use any accrued sick time during this leave. If an employee has not accrued any sick time or has used all accrued sick time while still on leave, he/she may elect to use any accrued vacation time during the bereavement leave. For this policy, immediate family includes a spouse, domestic partner, parent, step-parent, parent-in-law (including parent of domestic partner), grandparent, child, sister, or brother as well as a step-child, step-brother or sister, or brother or sister-in-law. Employees should notify their supervisor as soon as possible in the event of a death in the family for which they are requesting bereavement leave.
Leave of Absence
AbsencePro is our third party processor for employee leaves of absences including personal, medical, family, military and workers compensation leave. They will provide the appropriate notifications for the type of leave, collect the necessary documentation and help track the time off. Our partnership with AbsencePro will help to support P&C's initiative to improve processes, increase efficiency and maintain compliance. Employees will continue to work with their manager when they want to take time off in order to coordinate their leave with business needs, insurance, time entry, etc.
DocumentsHoliday Schedule Vacation Advance Form Your AbsencePro Program Info Leave of Absence Claim Form AbsencePro – Report Your Leave Online
SupportLinc | Employee Assistance Program
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides you and your household members with free, confidential assistance to help with personal or professional problems that may interfere with work or family responsibilities and obligations. In addition to available face to face counseling sessions, participants can easily schedule video counseling sessions with a licensed mental health provider from within their home state through the Counselor Connect program. Services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via a toll-free nationwide number. You and your household members can receive up to 3 counseling sessions per person, per problem, per year. Go to www.supportlinc.com or call 888.881.5462 to be immediately connected to an EAP counselor.
1in4 Anti-Stigma Campaign
CuraLinc, AeroVironment's Employee Assistance Program provider, is launching the 1in4 Anti-Stigma Campaign beginning January 4th. The 1in4 initiative focuses on normalizing the need for behavioral health resources and removing barriers for those who want to access care. CuraLinc hopes to raise awareness of mental health concerns by opening up the conversation regarding these significant – and treatable – issues. To view this important information, go to www.1in4.info. Curalinc is a free service to all AeroVironment employees and their dependents.


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by Staff writer
The co-founders of Instagram are both leaving the company which they sold to Facebook in 2012 for $1bn.
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger said they are leaving Instagram to explore their "curiosity and creativity" once again.
Instagram was purchased by Facebook in 2012 for $1bn (£760m) in cash and stock and now has more than one billion users.
Kevin Systrom, 34, and Mike Krieger, 32, started the picture-sharing site in 2010, and continued to run the service even after it was acquired by Facebook.
There had been rumors of tension between the pair and Facebook, to which their sudden departure now seem to confirm.
In a blog post, Mr Systrom said: "We're now ready for our next chapter.
"Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that's what we plan to do."
There was no animosity in the blog post and Mr Systrom said the pair both remained "excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook".
Tuesday, September 25
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by Joe
(New York )
I just purchased a 5x8 utility trailer which has 4.80x12's on it now. I am going to be hauling an 2004 Yamaha grizzly 660 on it it and was wondering if I could take off the fenders and go with a bigger tire and how big I could go.
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by dyob
(richland center wi)
I am rebuilding a trailer and will have a lawn mowing service. I may have up to two riding lawn mowers and in winter two snowmobiles. Can I use a spare tire from a 2000 Intrepid as tires for my trailer?
I plan on buying three so I have a spare for my trailer also.
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by Art
I have a home built 8" x 5' utility trailer with an old motor home axle. Tire size is 7 x 14.5".
When I am pulling the trailer at a moderate speed of 40 or below it seems to bounce but at higher speeds it rides smooth. I purchased new tires about 9 months ago and now have noticed one tire is wearing in the center and the bounce didn't go away.
My concern is why the bounce and now why is the tire wearing like this?
Have you checked the pressure of your utility trailer tires? The wearing of the tire in the center sounds like a classic sign of over inflation. See Tire Wear Problems for more details which affect utility trailer tires as well as others.
If the wear is not spread around the entire circumferance of the tire, it could be a suspension related issue.
Another thing to pay attention to is if you are changing the load and travelling substantial distances with different weights. Ideally you should be increasing tire pressure when you add weight and lower it when you don't have a load. You would notice a difference in the bouncing if you change the pressure according to the loads you carry.
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by Marge
Our latest excursion showed us how important trailer tire care really is.
We are accomplished travelers and it seemed like we were prepared. Fluids in the RV were good, air pressure in the RV tires, good, the trailer brake was in working order, and we had everything we needed to get from point A to point B, or so we thought…why didn't we look at the trailer tires?
I followed the RV in a Ford F10, pulling a car on a rented U-Haul trailer, keeping and eye on the 27-foot trailer the RV pulled. Inside this trailer, we had enormous amounts of stuff. I suspect it was very close to carrying its full capacity weight limit of 10,000 lbs. Underneath the trailer were four little neglected trailer tires. Why didn't we think of those little tires too?
As I followed the RV and trailer, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When we stopped at a rest area, we noticed the tire pressure in our trailer tires looked a little low and figured the next time we stopped, we would just put in a little air and be on our way. At a Gas N'Go, we gassed up, checked the contents of the trailer, did our potty break thing, and considered everything to be all right, but we soon decided to stop for the day. It was about 100 degrees outside.
The next day it was still hot. Temperatures were around 105 degrees. The road was hotter yet and our trailer tires were taking the heat. As I followed the RV and trailer, I saw bits and pieces of a tire from the rear right side of our trailer explode and fly all over the place. We had failed to realize how the heat would affect our worn and under inflated trailer tires.
I promptly got on the phone and told my husband we lost a tire on the trailer. He had felt it go and promptly pulled over to the side of the deserted, hot road. We rummaged around in the trailer and with much sweat and a few curse words, extracted the spare tire from the trailer, soon realizing the spare was beautifully mounted on a rim that did not fit our trailer. Another lesson learned; know your spare tire fits your equipment. I managed to find a shop that graciously removed the tire from one rim and put it on the correct rim for $10.00. We aired up both the tires to the correct pressure and were on the road again with no worries.
Wrong. During the demise of our first trailer tire, the other tire on the right side had had to do a lot of extra work. It (the other trailer tire) decided after another 150 miles that it needed to blow up too, this time taking a little bit of the side of the trailer with it. In neglecting to do what we should have done and what we knew to do, but didn't do, we paid the price. The moral of the story, be aware of the outdoor temperature, uneven tire wear, tire pressure, and trailer weight, otherwise those over looked little trailer tires will get you back. When it comes to trailer tire karma, treat your tires good and they will do the same for you.
Carrying a spare for your trailer doesn't hurt either.
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Angry right-wingers have white hot emotional meltdown over Trump's 'flip-flop' on mass deportations
What is Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's current position on the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants he promised his followers all year? No one is sure.
Hispanic leaders who met with Trump on Saturday told BuzzFeed News that Trump indicated to them that he is looking for a "humane and efficient" solution for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S..
New campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN on Sunday morning that the candidate's policy on mass deportations is still "to be determined."
Many of Trump's right-wing, anti-immigration supporters are howling with outrage over the possibility of any deviation from the plan to forcefully deport all undocumented immigrants. The promise has been a main selling point of the Trump campaign since its launch in June of 2015, when Trump said that Latino immigrants coming to the U.S. are "rapists," criminals and "drug dealers."
If Trump flips on deportations, I'm on board with the idea he's a Democratic plant.
Seriously, this would be the end of the GOP.
— Drew McCoy (@_Drew_McCoy_) August 21, 2016
Trump no longer "telling it like it is!" Just another typical politician. https://t.co/wKKvTao5Rm
— (((Karen Grubaugh))) (@kleegrubaugh) August 21, 2016
Trump changes from TruCon to liberal squish when it comes to immigration, but we should definitely trust him on SCOTUS #lolnothingmatters
— Kyle Foley (@KFoleyFL) August 21, 2016
They said if I voted for Rubio we'd get a nominee who is squishy on immigration- and they were right! https://t.co/QbBDIm5lyf
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) August 21, 2016
As media scramble to figure out Trump's evolving position on immigration, remember he cares *only* about feeding his ego. Policy irrelevant.
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 21, 2016
From Day 1, Trump based campaign on beating Hispanics & immigrants like piñatas. I don't buy his August conversion. https://t.co/dDJdFg8gmn
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) August 20, 2016
At conservative website Red State, commentator Kyle Foley said, "Trump's base is built around this hardcore stance that the wall should be built and the illegal immigrants should be deported. They railed against 'Gang of Eight' Marco Rubio for his perceived weak stance, however they will most likely justify Trump's flip-flop because let's face it, nothing matters to them. It's almost like Trump simply told them what they wanted to hear in order to win. Lord knows what he actually believes when it comes to immigration."


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I've made Panna Cotta before and honestly if you've never had Panna cotta, one bite will have you hooked. This creamy Italian dessert is traditionally made with unflavored gelatin which is the setting agent. I chose to use Agar- Agar or 'China Grass' as its known back in India. Agar-Agar is the vegetarian substitute for Gelatin. The basic challenge recipe is for Vanilla Panna Cotta, I added lychee juice to make a Lychee Panna Cotta with a colored Lychee Gelee.
Recipe Source: Giada De Laurentiis' Panna Cotta. It's well reviewed, simple and delicious.
Variations allowed: If the vanilla does not appeal to you, I am also giving you a recipe for chocolate Panna Cotta. You have a choice between the two. However, the vanilla can be modified, I generally add vanilla bean, you could also add a bit of matcha (powdered green tea), or fruit. Speaking of fruit, I'm going to give you one recipe for strawberry, and another for coffee gelée, essentially homemade Jell-o. Gelée can be poured on the bottom, top, or layered in with your Panna Cotta (though it takes a few extra steps to do this). So make the vanilla or chocolate recipe, but feel free to play with this it. I just want you to start with a base recipe. What you top it with, or garnish with is also up to you. Have fun, and get creative. In regards to the cookie, if you want to add nuts, or use a different chocolate, go for it.
Preparation time:
• 20-25 minutes to prepare the Panna Cotta - at least 6 hours to chill
• 20-25 minutes to prepare the cookies 6-8 minutes to bake
Equipment required:
• Small mixing bowl
• Two medium sized heavy bottom pot or saucepan
• Wooden spoon and/or whisk
• Glasses or ramekins - something to pour and serve your Panna Cotta in
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Silpat or wax paper or parchment paper
• Baking sheet
• Small bowl
Lychee Panna Cotta with Lychee Gelee
Adapted from Giada's Vanilla Panna Cotta
For the Panna Cotta:
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
2 tbsp Agar-Agar flakes (if you have bar, chop it and then measure)
8 tbsp Hot water
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/3 cup (80 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 can Lychees in syrup
For the Lychee Gelee:
1 cup Lychee Juice
3 tbsp Agar-Agar flakes
12 tbsp Hot Water
Yellow Food color
1. Dissolve the agar-agar in the hot water, takes about 5-6 minutes. Then bring this to a boil on medium heat until the agar-agar completely dissolves. While the agar-agar dissolves, prepare the cream mixture as it is important that all ingredients are warm before adding the agar-agar.
2. Reserve 6 lychees from the can and puree the rest with the syrup in a food processor until smooth. Pour into a fine mesh strainer to extract the lychee juice. Discard pulp. You should have about two cups of lychee juice. Save one cup for later use in the gelee.
3. Combine the milk,cream, lychee juice, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Bring upto heat,making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes. Now stir in the dissolved agar-agar.
4. Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
5. Refrigerate at least 2-3 hours before layering with the lychee gelee.
6. For the Gelee, dissolve agar-agar in the hot water. Bring upto heat until agar-agar dissolves completely. Warm the lychee juice before adding it to the agar-agar. Add yellow food color. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes before spooning into panna cotta glasses. Allow to set for 4 hours. Garnish with reserves lychees cut into pieces.
Nestle Florentine Cookies
Recipe from the cookbook "Nestle Classic Recipes", and their website.
These cookies are incredibly sweet; I cut back on the sugar by half.
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate
Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
2. To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
4. While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).
5. Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
6. Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).


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Who needs IBM? Synnex gets nod for new Fujitsu enterprise storage
After being dissed by IBM last fall, which took away its System x distie business, Synnex got a boost this week for its midrange and enterprise storage practice when Fujitsu Computer Systems tapped it to handle several new products typically reserved for closed-distribution model industrial distributors.
Synnex will get to handle the new Fujitsu ETERNUS8000 and ETERNUS4000, which let customers mix 8Gb Fibre Channel or iSCSI host channels in the same system. Other features offered by the storage devices include LUN-level, disk-data encryption with WAN optimization, MAID (massive array of idle disks) technology that allows companies to more closely monitor power consumption, and ETERNUSSF, which is Fujitu's storage management software. Pricing for the ETERNUS4000 model starts at $39,000 for a system that is configured with dual controllers, dual power, four Fibre Channel server connections and ETERNUS Storage Manager.
Matt McManus, vice president of channel sales for Fujitsu, says his company felt comfortable with authorizing Synnex for these products, given its track record with Fujitsu's mobile technology. Among other things, he believes Synnex will help introduce Fujitsu to important VARs in the healthcare vertical as well as resellers who are building practices with entry-level SAN and NAS solutions. Synnex will also help Fujitsu build out its reseller representation in several geographic regions where it has light coverage, although McManus declined to be specific about which ones. The goal is to focus on VARs who will lead with Fujitsu products. (Currently Fujitsu has about 1,500 authorized resellers; about 150 have the greenlight to sell its storage products.)
One other note for resellers interested in this Fujitsu line: the company currently is offering 60 percent off its demo equipment for these products.


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A FORMER World Player of the Year, a Real Madrid 'Galactico' no less, who cost £56m last time he moved – could Kaka be the midfield menace that both Manchester United and Arsenal are angling for this transfer window?
With the imminent transfer of Spurs' Gareth Bale to Real, and the news that Mesut Ozil is staying put, Brazilian attacker Kaka has made it clear he wants to leave Spain, and soon.
The news has put top clubs around Europe on alert, and despite the rumours that AC Milan is a likely destination, it's clear that two of the Premiership's big boys, Manchester United and Arsenal, could do with his services.
Since joining Old Trafford, David Moyes has been linked, albeit sometimes ridiculously, with a parade of talent – Cesc Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara, Marouane Fellaini, Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, even Bale.
What is clear from these rumours is that Moyes is in the market for a midfielder.
And at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger recapturing Mathieu Flamini, while a solid piece of business, is not the sort of transfer activity that the fans crave after a similar summer of disappointment.
With Kaka out of favour, hankering for a move from Real Madrid, the player should be within both's budget, and there's time to do a deal – could the Premier League have a new star player in the coming days?
Month: August 2013
Jose Mourinho launches his own cartoon
CHELSEA boss Jose Mourinho is to be the star of a new cartoon series called Mourinho and the Special Ones.
The self-styled Special One has been used as the basis for the show, which is launching first in his native Portugal before expanding to other countries, as well as a series of spin-off trading cards and computer games and apps, and even a grassroots coaching programme.
A spokesman for developers Sports Stars Media said: "The opportunity of a lifetime comes by when you least expect it and for Alex and his friends, a chance meeting with their hero, changes their lives forever.
"What was supposed to be a simple football match attracted the attention of the world's greatest football coach. The Special One himself, Jose Mourinho.
"Mourinho is so impressed with Alex and his friends that he decides to help them follow their dream whilst also settling a few old scores with his longtime nemesis, Viktor Von Haii, the owner of the Junior Sharks football team.
"Alex and his team mates have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But do they have what it takes to be the best and realise their potential to become…. The Special Ones."
Opposition fans drive Man City motorists crazy
NEW research has shown that fans of Man City are most likely to cut up cars with a rival team's supporters inside.
A survey by Confused.com found that when it comes to driving etiquette, almost one in 5 fans (18%) would discriminate against drivers of cars with stickers/scarves of arch rivals displayed.
Manchester City fans are most likely to discriminate against rival drivers – possibly displaying Manchester United scarves/stickers in their cars.
Plus, they are almost twice as likely (31%) to discriminate than Man United fans (17%).
Second worst were West Bromwich Albion fans, followed by Sunderland fans, Cardiff City fans and Norwich City fans.
Kazakh team warned by UEFA over ritual animal slaughter
UEFA has threatened Shakhter Karagandy with disciplinary proceedings if they continue to perform the ritual slaughter of animals around games.
The Kazakh champions caused a stir when they slaughtered a sheep at the Astana Arena the day before last Tuesday night's 2-0 Champions League play-off first-leg win over Celtic, leading animal rights group PETA to express its outrage in a strongly worded letter to UEFA president Michel Platini, urging the organisation to punish Shakhter.
There were concerns that Shakhter would repeat the ritual at Parkhead in the return leg this evening and, although it is now clear that will not happen, European football's governing body has made it clear that disciplinary proceedings will be launched if the practice is repeated.
In a letter to Shakhter executive director Yerden Khalilin, UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti said: "We were informed that an animal slaughter took place at some point prior to the UEFA Champions League fixture involving FC Shakhter Karagandy and Celtic FC at the Astana Arena on Tuesday 20 August 2013.
"Although certain practices may be culturally rooted, they have no place in or around a sporting arena or event.
"In this context, I would like to make you aware that animal slaughter on a football pitch or in a stadium before, during or after a UEFA competition match – or with reference to a UEFA competition – is totally improper, and will not be tolerated.
Goaltastic Fantasy Football League gameweek two
A GAMEWEEK low on goals has meant a pretty tight spread of scores from the Goaltastic League this week.
But with it only being two gameweeks in, nevertheless there's plenty of movement in the table and a new leader, How I Met Your Mata.
Below them, Fawlty Torres (2), TEMPO (3), Kone 2013 (=4), The Rebels (=6) and shipthecheese (9) all climb in the top 10.
One of these elite, TEMPO, was also the top scorer this week with 67 points – an early one to watch perhaps?
To enter the league for free, visit fantasy.premierleague.com and then join the competition by using the code 148075-41877.
Mourinho move for Willian sticks knife in both Real Madrid and Spurs
OH HOW we've missed you Mourinho.
The Special One is well known for doing things his own special way, and that extends from the touchline to the transfer market, but this week's work will take some beating.
Despite a medical being completed and a transfer fee being arranged between Anzhi Makhachkala and Tottenham Hotspur for midfielder Willian, an 11th hour bid by Chelsea this week saw the Brazilian winger change his mind and agree a move to Stamford Bridge.
This is despite Chelsea owning more attacking midfielders than you can shake a Oscar, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Andre Schurrle-shaped stick at – a strange move it seemed at first.
Rumours were rife that the swoop would allow Mata to become the bargaining chip needed to prise his top target Wayne Rooney away from Manchester United – which could still be a possibility.
But now it appears that Gareth Bale's mooted £93m move to Real Madrid is on hold as Daniel Levy won't let Bale leave without a replacement in the bag.
So the Willian move has messed with both Chelsea rivals Spurs and former employer Madrid's dealings, and made his own business look much more likely too – talk about two birds with one stone, Jose.
PETA calls for end of animal sacrifices at football matches
ANIMAL rights campaign group PETA has appealed to UEFA president Michel Platini to ban the ritual slaughter of animals in European football.
The call for action follows the killing of a sheep by Kazakh side Shakhter Karagandy before their home Champions League play-off match against Celtic.
On Monday, a day ahead of the Hoops' 2-0 first-leg play-off defeat at the Astana Arena, the animal was sacrificed in the corner of the stadium by the home side before they commenced a training session.
At the pre-match press conference, the Kazakh club's Russian manager Viktor Kumykov acknowledged the "tradition" but was reluctant to discuss its precise nature. It is understood the same ritual is carried out at the club before all big games.
Shakhter travel to Glasgow to play the second leg next Wednesday night.
In a letter to Platini, PETA points to UEFA's claim to be "forward-looking" and Platini's own words describing UEFA's "duty to protect the game, the players and our values" and asks him to use his influence to stop any further slaughter in this season's Champions League and Europa League.
"We are deeply disturbed that a sheep was stabbed to death in an attempt to bring good luck to the Kazakh team," says PETA associate director Mimi Bekhechi.
"We hope Mr Platini will agree that animal sacrifice has no place in modern society, and we hope the UEFA will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that the beautiful game is not further stained with the blood of animals."


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If there is anything that bloggers can attest to, working from home isn't always easy. There are constant distractions and, while sitting in your pajamas all day sounds like a blast, it's not so much fun if you are constantly distracted, or if you office is a huge mess. The truth is you spend a lot of time in your home office, so you want it to look nice.
Don't get lazy or too busy to make it a room you enjoy being in each day. Use your creativity to brainstorm new ideas and be open to implementing changes. If you're unhappy with your working space, it's time to make a transformation. See four ways to enhance the look of your home office.
Decorate the Walls
Bare walls are boring. Think about your interests and what you've seen other people do. Use it has a chance to add color and character to the room. One idea is to hang a few World Maps Posters because they're tasteful and artistic; they're also ideal for travelers who could mark off where they've been (and where they hope to explore next). Another suggestion is to hang a gallery wall of pictures. Whatever it is you choose, make it unique and vibrant. If nothing else, promise yourself you won't leave the walls blank.
Furnish the Space
Take a look at how you're currently working. If you're sitting in one folding chair in the middle of the room, then it's time to upgrade. Purchase a large, sturdy desk that has multiple storage areas. Consider adding a side table, sitting chairs or couches if there's room. Make it comfortable for you and anyone who visits. Extra seating is a great way to make it feel more relaxed. There's no need to crowd the space, but fill it to the best of your ability with nice furnishings.
Improve your Décor
Remove your old décor and bring in an entirely new style. Don't do what you've always done. Start fresh and enjoy the change of pace. Head to the local thrift store and find unique tables, lamps and display pieces. Bring in items from other rooms in your home and watch it all come together. Use this activity as a chance to personalize your office and add sentimental embellishments like photos.
You need to get organized. Take time to declutter your space and get rid of what you don't want or are no longer using. Purchase new organizational tools that'll help you get the job done right. Ask the family to help, and it'll go faster. This is your chance to purge what's taking up space and make it look presentable again. You want to be able to walk and know where your belongings are in your office. Use storage bins and drawers to divide and conquer. Don't stop until every item in your office has a home.
Decorating is a challenging undertaking. Once you're committed to the project, dive in and don't look back. These are four ways to enhance the look of your home office.


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Greeting card blank inside.
Story on back of card
This escapee from a nearby farm lived wild in the bush until we lured her onto our farm. When the owners arrived to collect her she jumped right out of the cattle race to rejoin my cows. It seemed she really wanted to stay so I bought her. The neighbour joked her name was "dinner"! I made it Dinah after Alice in Wonderland's white cat.
The Murray Grey is an Australian beef breed. It originated in 1905 on a farm beside the Murray River as a result of a chance mating between a roan Shorthorn cow and a black Angus bull.
Card Size: 120mm x 120mm
Printed in Australia on 300gsm paper.
Original painting 24cm x 26cm oil on board.
Copyright 2012 Feather Flower Brush


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Hairy Curtains: Another Hidden Painting
Sorry the postings have been sort of slow the past few months, I've been doing a million different projects and my new painting series had to be put on hold until the end of the month. While I was working on my new site, I went through an old folder of images and came across this one.. I can't believe I never got around to posting it!
I did The Travelers (aka: The Hair Curtains) a couple of years ago for a show in Miami, as the sister piece to One Plus Two Plus One.
The Travelers, acrylic on wood
One Plus Two Plus One
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Archive for the 'humor' tag
Photo Republished at Excellent bad advice
My photo was used to illustrate this post
"Here's that bad advice you were hoping for" is a Tumblr that picks out letters to advice columns (as well as direct requests from readers) and writes scathing, hilarious responses:… (Image: Free Advice, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from swanksalot's photostream)
click here to keep reading :
Excellent bad advice
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I'll tell you what's funny (to me)
Earlier today…
To quote the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (one of my favorite online resources): "Almost every major figure in the history of philosophy has proposed a theory, but after 2,500 years of discussion there has been little consensus about what constitutes humor."…Considering what we know about MacFarlane's politics – he's a liberal, an Obama donor, a supporter of LGBT rights, etc. — it's unlikely that he actually intended to come off as a sexist boor who was belittling women. Indeed, it's possible he intended quite the opposite – but as any grad student in literary theory could tell you, artistic intention isn't that important. His shtick was fundamentally confusing: What kind of comedy was the boob song – juvenile and sexist mockery, or institutional parody? Or both at once? And who was its intended target? Worst of all, the confusion evidently struck many viewers, especially women, as profoundly unfunny.
I'll tell you what's funny (to me)
A Glimpse into the Brokered Convention
Charles Pierce on the GOP clown show:
You have to give the Republican party credit. Faced with a down economy and a vulnerable incumbent, the GOP has managed to put together not only an incredibly mediocre field of candidates, but also a nominating process that seems to have been designed by angry ferrets on crystal meth. It is an altogether remarkable parlay.
Take, for example, the events over the weekend in Missouri. A while back, Rick Santorum won a non-binding primary in that state and the problem with non-binding primaries is that they're not, well, binding. Consequently, the parceling out of delegates — which is, after all, the point of the entire exercise — was left to local Republican caucuses. And, while all politics is indeed local, it does not necessarily follow that all politics is sane. I know from following the Republican presidential candidates that the soul of America is in its small towns full of white people where reason and good old common sense prevail. And, when it doesn't, well, hell, just call in the law.…
An off-duty police officer, hired as security, eventually filed a trespassing complaint against the Paul supporters and notified on-duty police in the area municipality of St. Peters, who, along with police from other jurisdictions, arrested two Paul supporters and ended the caucuses early. A joint-jurisdictional police helicopter arrived on the scene. Kipers said about 10 officers arrived in total. "Two people were arrested for trespassing after receiving numerous warnings to leave the school property," the St. Peters police said in a press release. "Both subjects were transported to St. Peters Justice Center where they were booked for Trespassing and released on a summons."
(click here to continue reading Missouri: A Glimpse into the Brokered Convention – Esquire.)
The Gingrich Group
Rep. Barney Frank returns serve to Newt Gingrich1. If you're keeping score, Newt is losing.
"Well, he's just lying," Frank told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Thursday. "It is, of course, lobbying."
He added: "He is clearly the highest paid historian in American history. People complain if you go into the humanities, you don't make as much money, but this may do a lot for that career path."
Gingrich has repeatedly accused Frank of helping to cause the subprime mortgage crisis by failing to stop Freddie Mac from loading up on bad loans while serving on the House Financial Services Committee. But he defended himself on Thursday, blaming Republicans for turning a blind eye to reforming the mortgage giant during their decade-plus in the majority.
"If Tom DeLay was taking my advice during the period when I was in the minority, Bill Clinton wouldn't have been impeached, we wouldn't have gone to war in Iraq, and he wouldn't have gone on the dance show," he said.
Frank brought up Gingrich's recent comments that since the payments were handled by his firm, the Gingrich Group, he couldn't recall all the details about them.
"Frankly, I thought the 'Gingrich Group' were his wives," he said in a jab at the thrice-married Republican.
The comedy routine continued as Matthews brought up a recent interview with former lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff's in which he said Gingrichs was "engaged in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains."
"Don't you mean 'historian' Jack Abramoff?" Frank deadpanned.
(click here to continue reading Barney Frank: 'I Thought The Gingrich Group Was His Wives' | TPM2012.)
and more:
Frank said Gingrich's anger over his and Dodd's role in the financial meltdown was absurd given that Republicans were in charge of the House and — excerpt for a brief period — Senate, from 1995 to 2007.He noted that he worked on reform legislation on mortgage in his first year as chair in 2007.
"It's interesting, the charge is failure to stop Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay from deregulating," he said. "This notion we caused the problem that started while they were in charge even by Gingrich's standards is very odd."
(click here to continue reading Barney Frank Slams Newt Gingrich For Calling For His Imprisonment | TPM 2012.)
Gingrich claims to be an historian, but he never claimed to be a good historian…Footnotes:
- if you've forgotten, Gingrich fulminated that Barney Frank should be thrown in prison for his Freddie Mac involvement [↩]
links for 2011-04-16
Santorum by and large stayed on message but was tripped up a bit when a student asked him if he knew that the choice of his slogan, "Fighting to make America America again," was borrowed from the "pro-union poem by the gay poet Langston Hughes.""No I had nothing to do with that," Santorum said. "I didn't know that. And the folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that it came from that, if it in fact came from that."
Though walking down lower Broadway near Wall Street, I did see a not uncommon New York City street scene with a man pulling down his pants and underwear and adjusting his clothing naked while everyone just hurried by. Given it was so close to Wall Street, I also took it for a metaphor for what the country's financial center has done to the average person.
links for 2011-04-14
That pill-popping, boy-crazy nincompoop Ayn Rand has got a lot to answer for. Indeed, it's not too much of a stretch to say that we owe at least part of the recent economic crisis to her and her philosophy of Objectivism, since former Fed chief Alan Greenspan was a lifelong disciple of both. The two first met in the '50s. Back then, a gang of acolytes, calling themselves the Collective, used to gather at Rand's apartment on East 36th Street every Saturday night so they could tell each other how smart they all were. Along came Greenspan one evening, shy and somber.
America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we're broke and in so much debt that 40 years from now our granddaughters will still be hooking on weekends to pay the medical bills of this year's retirees from the IRS, the SEC and the Department of Energy.
Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
Most Americans know about that budget. What they don't know is that there is another budget of roughly equal heft, traditionally maintained in complete secrecy. After the financial crash of 2008, it grew to monstrous dimensions, as the government attempted to unfreeze the credit markets by handing out trillions to banks and hedge funds. And thanks to a whole galaxy of obscure, acronym-laden bailout programs, it eventually rivaled the "official" budget in size — a huge roaring river of cash flowing out of the Federal Reserve to destinations neither chosen by the president nor reviewed by Congress, but instead handed out by fiat by unelected Fed officials using a seemingly nonsensical and apparently unknowable methodology.
The budget plan that Budget Committee Chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has put forward for the House Republicans is truly stunning. It takes the war on America's middle class not to the next level but about three levels down the road.
There's something we should start with, though, when we think about this budget. And that's where we are now. Mark Sumner points us to this graph:
That's the deficit, and that big orange stripe, the one getting wider by the year, is how much of the deficit the Bush tax cuts are creating.
Apple Inc. has added a do-not-track privacy tool to a test version of its latest Web browser for keeping customers' online activities from being monitored by marketers.
The tool is included within the latest test release of Lion, a version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system that is currently available only to developers. The final version of the operating system is scheduled to be released to the public this summer. Mentions of the do-not-track feature in Apple's Safari browser began to appear recently in online discussion forums and on Twitter.
The move by the Cupertino, Calif., company leaves Google Inc. as the only major browser provider that hasn't yet committed to supporting a do-no-track capability in its browser, called Chrome. Microsoft Corp. and Mozilla Corp. both offer do-not-track features in their latest browsers.
The Other Writers: "We did all of that writing for free, and now that you made a bunch of money, we're entitled to some of it!"
AOLHuffPo: "LOL!"
The Meal that Ended My Career as a Restaurant Critic
Funny tale from a former professional food critic, Steve Silberman, which begins:
It's easy to imagine that being a restaurant critic would be one of the best jobs on Earth — particularly when millions of people are eager to churn out lengthy reviews for free on sites like Yelp and Chowhound.
As someone who was the food critic for a glossy magazine in San Francisco in the 1980s and quit, however, I can tell you that being a roving palate-for-hire is a mixed blessing. While dining out is one of life's most enduring pleasures (and is certainly a rare privilege on a planet where one in six people are starving), having to eat in restaurants several nights a week, while manufacturing an opinion about every bite, can get to be a drag.
Of course at first, being a critic in one of the great restaurant cities on Earth felt like getting paid to have sex with someone you love.
takes a detour through some well told anecdotes, and leads to a moment I can relate to:
I returned just as the chirpy waiter brought the coup de grâce, which looked like evidence from a crime scene: a dish of angry red flesh with a knob of pale bone jutting out of it. This, apparently, was my "grilled veal chop with wild forest mushrooms."
I had ordered the chop medium-rare, but it arrived bleu, as the French say; ultra-rare, chilly in the center (calf sashimi, if you will), with crimson blood pooling on top, drowning the chanterelles, porcini, Hen O' The Woods or whatever they were in the unmistakable taste of pennies: copper-laden hemoglobin. This was like veal à la Dexter.
Having only recently re-embraced meat-eating, it was as if all the gluttonous karma of the West took its revenge on a lapsed vegetarian in a single meal. I feared that if I tried to choke down all that raw meat, I'd end up strangling — spewing bloody chunks of calf, clots of cream, and skeins of raw fettucine across the starched tablecloth as a horrified busboy tried to administer the Heimlich maneuver.
Enough! Check, please.
(you should certainly click to continue reading The Meal that Ended My Career as a Restaurant Critic | NeuroTribes.)
links for 2011-01-19
In 1964, Lyndon Johnson needed pants, so he called the Haggar clothing company and asked for some. The call was recorded (like all White House calls at the time), and has since become the stuff of legend. Johnson's anatomically specific directions to Mr. Haggar are some of the most intimate words we've ever heard from the mouth of a President.
We at Put This On took the historic original audio and gave it to animator Tawd Dorenfeld, who created this majestic fantasia of bungholiana.
In "The Soul of A Man," director Wim Wenders looks at the dramatic tension in the blues between the sacred and the profane by exploring the music and lives of three of his favorite blues artists: Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Part history, part personal pilgrimage, the film tells the story of these lives in music through an extended fictional film sequence (recreations of '20s and '30s events – shot in silent-film, hand-crank style), rare archival footage, present-day documentary scenes and covers of their songs by contemporary musicians such as Shemekia Copeland, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Garland Jeffreys, Chris Thomas King, Cassandra Wilson, Nick Cave, Los Lobos, Eagle Eye Cherry, Vernon Reid, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt, Marc Ribot, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Lucinda Williams and T-Bone Burnett.
Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr tweeted on Thursday that he is planning to write an autobiography. According to Marr, no deal has been made but he has been approached with a serious offer to pen a tell-all about his time in the Smiths.
Sam Peckinpah's Long-Lost Script for The Texans Unearthed — and Vulture Has the First Fifteen Pages! — VultureHow's this for true grit? Famously combative, alcoholic, and drug-addled filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs) is, as Chevy Chase might joke, "still dead" (he passed away in 1984 at the age of 59) — but that doesn't mean Bloody Sam can't make a comeback. Vulture has learned exclusively that producer Al Ruddy (The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby) recently unearthed a script for a Western called The Texans that Peckinpah wrote in 1980 but never got around to making.
Antonio McDyess is the chillest chill bro in the Association. He's Serge Gainsbourg, stubbled, disheveled, and in love. McDyess is the serpentine rise of smoke from Tom Waits' cigarette. He's Chet Baker's My Funny Valentine—the especially long version that forgets you're listening. Antonio McDyess is all these things and a Quitman smile.
Orson Welles and I were talking one time about the relative merits of John Ford and Howard Hawks at their best, and finally Welles summed it up: "Hawks is great prose; Ford is poetry." There haven't really been very many poets in pictures, but the one pretty much everybody agrees about now is the Frenchman Jean Renoir. He was also Orson's favorite director—as he is mine—and Ford was so impressed by Renoir's Grand Illusion (l937) that he wanted to remake it in English. Luckily, studio-head Darryl Zanuck told him to forget it; he would "just fuck it up."
Caboodle Ranch – Colbert Show
Stephen Colbert had a funny exposé on Craig Grant's Caboodle Ranch, in Lee, Florida
In Lee, Florida, Craig Grant trains his 650 cats to take over America's government, law enforcement and failing schools. (05:32)
|The Colbert Report
|Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
|The Enemy Within – Caboodle Ranch
If the video won't load, go to the Colbert Show's website directly, it might work better there
Craig Grant tells how he started the Caboodle Ranch
I was renting a two bedroom condo by the beach with my son. It had all the comforts and conveniences of home. Nice furniture, a short walk to the beach and close to work. Then my son moved out on his own for the first time. He left his cat, Pepper, with me because he couldn't take it with him. I didn't like cats but I agreed to keep him. I wasn't used to being alone and I guess Pepper wasn't either.
We slowly began to get along. A couple months went by and I found out Pepper was pregnant. Oh great, now what? She had five kittens. I wanted to give them away because I didn't want my beautiful home destroyed, but my son told me they had to stay with their mother for 8 weeks. Over that time I learned that every cat had his own unique personality and it wasn't long before the kittens were swinging from my curtains. I didn't care. Something had changed… I didn't want to give them up.
But with six cats, complaints started from the condo owner and the neighbors. I knew I had to look for other places to go. They weren't safe in the neighborhood. I found a B.B. lodged in the side of one of my cats and another was bitten by a pitbull that I know was set loose on purpose. Something had to be done. I wasn't sure what to do at first, so I built a shed in my son's yard and lived in it for a while. Then I found an advertisement in the paper from a realtor offering five acre partials on a tree farm; owner financing, low money down and low monthly payments… the problem was that it was 100 miles west of Jacksonville. I drove out to see it and I loved it.
Over the next months I bought five more partials. I now have 25 acres. I cleared a small area and bought an office trailer as a shelter for my cats. I put in a pet door and padded shelves for them. We moved out there in November of 2003, the day after Thanksgiving. By that time I had 11 cats. I had taken in abandoned and stray cats from the neighborhood and areas that I work as a contractor. I had 22 cats by the spring of 2004. I moved the shed out to the property and made a little cabin out of it. I thought it would be for me, but many of my cats wanted to sleep next to me… so I moved back into the office trailer where we had more room.
(click to continue reading Caboodle Ranch: About Us.)
links for 2010-12-20
How many of these cables, rather than being the unvarnished facts which reveal the public lies are actually another layer of lies from bureaucrats trying to appease their bosses? It's funny how transparency can reveal all sorts of unexpected things isn't it? If only there were professional people who gather facts and research issues and interview subjects who could be called upon to investigate such things.
Feral Pigs in Dallas
SOUTHLAKE, Texas—Police officer Ric Salas is mounting a sting operation to catch a gang of vandals terrorizing this affluent Dallas suburb.
His plan: lure them with corn, trap them in a pen—and avoid their pointy tusks.
The police officer is on feral-pig patrol, charged with fighting back the stout, smart, snouted invaders that are tearing up flower beds and street medians in search of roots and grubs. One evening recently, they dined at—and trashed—the parking lot of a Verizon office building.
Wild pigs, descendants of animals brought by the Spanish conquistadors, have foraged in Texas for centuries and have long been a pest on ranches. But as cities and suburbs swallow up more land, they are becoming an urban nuisance as well.
Eradication methods common in rural Texas, such as shooting feral pigs from helicopters, don't lend themselves to a more urban setting. So police departments and animal-control officers are trying new ways to stymie the wily wild swine, methodically tracking the marauders' hoofprints and setting up night-vision cameras to monitor their movements.
(click to continue reading Texas Calls in the Law in Its Beef With Feral Porkers – WSJ.com.)
There's a joke to be made here, but I'll leave to you, the humble reader…
links for 2010-12-01
I think it was Michael Eisner, the head of Disney at the time, who was quoted as saying, 'He's ruining the movie.' Upper-echelon Disney-ites, going, What's wrong with him? Is he, you know, like some kind of weird simpleton? Is he drunk? By the way, is he gay? … And so I actually told this woman who was the Disney-ite … 'But didn't you know that all my characters are gay?' Which really made her nervous."
links for 2010-09-10
On the commentary track of the 2004 "2 Disc Special Edition" DVD for the film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Terry Jones stated that to his knowledge Ireland had banned only four movies, three of which he had directed: The Meaning of Life, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Personal Services.
Lawmakers Alin Popoviciu and Cristi Dugulescu of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party drafted a law where witches and fortune tellers would have to produce receipts, and would also be held liable for wrong predictions, a measure which was part of the government's drive to increase revenue.
Romania's Senate voted down the proposal Tuesday. Popoviciu claimed lawmakers were frightened of being cursed.
Still a Virgin
Still a Virgin, originally uploaded by swanksalot.
I know it is an ad for a probably inane film, but I still laughed.
Shot with my Hipstamatic for iPhone
Lens: John S
Flash: Off
Film: Pistil
From IMDb:
Four guys, one camera, and their experience chronicling the exhilarating and terrifying rite of passage: losing your virginity. As these guys help their buddy get laid, they'll have to survive friends with benefits, Internet hookups, even porn stars during an adventure that proves why you will always remember your first
Like I said, utterly and irredeemingly lame.
I'm Comic Sans, MoFo
There are days when I miss working in an office with other people, and not just with cats and computers.
Listen up. I know the shit you've been saying behind my back. You think I'm stupid. You think I'm immature. You think I'm a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I'm Comic Sans, and I'm the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.
(click to continue reading Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency: I'm Comic Sans, Asshole..)
I'd love to print this entire rant and leave it out by the coffee machine. Sigh.
People love me. Why? Because I'm fun. I'm the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business' website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.
When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I'm banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I'm shredding "Reign In Blood" on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I'm racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who'll kill me if I don't cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.
Read more and giggle


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The Coffee Mag
Coffee lovers can rejoice as there is a new print and online publication aimed directly at the caffeine fiends. Mel Winter and Iain Evans have teamed up to bring you TheCoffeeMag, a Durban based publication about coffee and coffee culture in South Africa. We chat to Mel and Iain about coffee, publishing and the future of both. DIY: Who is involved with TheCoffeeMag? What are each of their roles in the publication and its online endeavour? Mel: Currently... Read More