text:
Carlytron obvs tagged me for this 8-random-facts thing. These are the rules:
- We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
- Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
This seemed like it'd be super easy, but um, I've already published about 8 million words describing random facts about myself in the most long winded way possible, though usually I try to sugar-coat my self-centered ramblings with "themes" or "universal truths," but this's just like, supposed to be straight up hard core ME.
OK, I just stared at the screen for like, ten minutes. How am I supposed to just write random stuff about myself? I need a theme. "Random" is not a theme. Random is the anti-theme. Seriously, I keep fighting thematic urges. Is "Things I haven't already mentioned 10,000 times" a theme? "Deep dark secrets?" Yeah, As if.
Sunday Top Ten:
Eight Totally Random Facts About Myself! TOTES RANDOM!
and Two Totally Expected Not-Random Facts!
Eight Totally Random Facts About Myself! TOTES RANDOM!
and Two Totally Expected Not-Random Facts!
10-8. "You're the worst kind. You think you're low maintenance, but you're actually high maintenance."
I don't really look like I put much effort into my appearance. In fact, it may appear as though I wear the same thing every day and've had essentially the same haircut for ten years.
I get weekly manicures, but I get my nails painted black, and I wouldn't need manicures if I didn't bite off the sides of my fingers like a little rabbit except with fingers instead of carrots. My hair's dyed/highlighted ... but I go way too long between appointments and usually sport ridic roots ...
and I've never had hair longer than shoulder-length. Ever.
9. I don't have my ears pierced ... but I have my bellybutton pierced, and a tattoo on my thigh.
8. All I know about makeup application is how to put on eyeliner so it looks like you just emerged from a beamy sweaty all night rave, but I hate going anywhere w/o eyeliner, even to bed.
My daily wardrobe is really boring, but I really hate going out if I'm not in SERIOUS COSTUME.
7. The Loner's Manifesto
My Mom enforced "Night-Light Time" for me from 8:30-9:30 every weekday evening when I was a kid. This was important time for me to write my girls' sports team novels. She wanted me to learn how to have alone time, but by then I think I was already craving it and needing it regularly, always escaping from crowds to hide in corners, under tables, in bathrooms, on the floor behind potted plants.
Or maybe it's 'cause I don't like other people that much, or I find myself so annoying I'd rather not subject anyone else to my thorough investigation of every item for sale at Forever 21, four-hour missives at Barnes & Noble, sociopathic train habits (book/ipod/etc), lame "work-outs" or whatever.
I used to go see lesbian movies alone, like I was some stealth dyke in a dark veil in the 50's, like Boys Don't Cry, Lost and Delirious, Girl Interrupted (not a lesbian movie, but come on, seriously), but really, I've seen probs 50 movies alone, usually documentaries or indie movies -- my favorite going-alone theatres are Two Boots and the Angelika and I won't do it in the suburbs, only in the city, and I don't like going alone to big-ass theatres with stadium seating and loud noises.
I want to make a joke about that footsteps in the sand poster about walking with G-d, but I won't. But isn't that poster funny? It makes Jesus sound like a stalker.
Um, ha. Ha.aha.as.hahhahaha. Ha.
6. I Believe!
Speaking of footprints in the sand or whatevs, I believe in G-d. I just do. I had my Bat Mitzvah, even though they put me in Badass Hebrew Class for all the misfits, where we'd go through a new earnest teacher at a rate of about one per month. Back then, Hebrew School was just a place to get sent to the office and get bad grades, but I took Hebrew again in college 'cause I genuinely wanted to know. So, about four years ago, I was almost fluent in Conversational Hebrew. Now I'm like "Yofi."
I add this as a "random fact" 'cause no one ever expects that I do. After all, I'm cynical and doubting and half-gay, and I curse all the time, and I make jokes about Jesus and I KNOW Evangelical Christianity is the downfall of American society. But I've never ever not believed in G-d. It's just something I've always known and never doubted.
Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy.
(Abraham Heschel)
For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
and incontinences,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which (men) embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting place.
(Thunder, Perfect Mind )
5. And Also, I Want to Have Babies.
Never doubted that either. Yesterday, Heart the Dog was all like "Yelp yelp Yelp!" and all up on our shit [Haviland/Carlytron/Riese World Revolution Meeting] and I looked at her and said, deadpan: "Heart. Seriously?" and just gave Heart the stare-down and Heart totally sat down and stopped being a hyperactive urination-station for a minute. Haviland was like: "I can totally see you in the future talking to your kids like that. They'll be like WAAAAA and you'll just look at 'em like 'Seriously? Right now? You're really doing this?' And they'll shut up. You should name your daughter 'Papi' so that you can just be like "Really Papi? Really?" all the time."
That's true. I've never ever not wanted to have babies. It's just something I've always known and never doubted.
I'm pretty sure I wanna be preggers too, though obvs not fat. I'm gonna be doing Yoga with all the lunatics from the Upper East Side. For a while I wanted to adopt, after constructing a huge senior project about orphan crisis resulting from China's One-Child Rule, and maybe I'll do that too.
But um, right now I am still a baby, and clearly cannot conceive of caring for another human 'til I figure out how to care for myself. I'd also like her to emerge fully functional like Dakota Fanning in Uptown Girls or Stewie.
4. Rebel, Rebel
When I remember high school, I remember myself as a well-behaved kid: I got good grades, my teachers usually liked me, I in the smart-kids classes and college-tracked, top o' the class, etc. Howevs , when I really think about it ... maybe I just think I was well behaved 'cause I felt like I knew so many people who were worse. 'Cause the thing is? I was, from time to time, a total bad-ass. I got caught skipping class in public school so I just started going to the nurses's office, having a fake phone convo with the operator/"My Mom," and then walking home. Because public school was boring and kind of the seventh circle of hell, socially, especially coming there straight outta nerd school.
It's way easier to get in trouble at Interlochen/boarding school, 'cause you live there. Thus, all the rules typically enforced by parents are enforced by staff and teachers, who're essentially required to act like the strictest possible parents at all times. So: sneaking boys into my room, sneaking off campus, canoodling with my boyfriend in the woods, snorting Vivran, drinking, smoking, and doing drugs were all breaking serious school rules, not just "laws" and "parental preferences."
By some bizarre unrepeated miracle, the first few weekends of my senior year, my roommate Ashley's Dad came to Traverse City, rented some motel rooms, and invite us all off campus for weekend-long revelries. I've got no clue how we all obtained permission to go--they had insane rules about those things, which's why we had to sneak off campus so often, obvs.
And I needed those weekends, too. It was right before college applications and everything started it's irreversible attack on our sanities, and I missed Ryan (my best friend) like crazy, and so I needed it. I needed dark smoky nights and I needed endless fall mornings with Krista, reading John Kennedy O'Toole out loud to each other, stuffing ourselves with fudge, smoking cigarettes and dissecting our overwhelming angsts over long Bob Evans breakfast feasts. Also, we may or may not've spent a lotta time playing guitar and singing Janis Joplin on the roof.
By the end of the year, every single one of my friends besides Ingrid and I had been suspended, expelled or at least forced to watch the "no smoking" video. How'd we escape punishment? Dumb luck, really. I think I performed an expellation-worthy act at least once a week.
The following video is a taste of our bad-assery (not really, but I only got so much time). In it, you can see Ashley & I on codeine in our dorm room (those're the scenes where I'm in pajama pants and whispering -- RETAINER FULLY ON -- about how if our room were to catch on fire, we'd be "in no capacity to deal with it"), Ingrid (my best friend, we had a very special friendship) and I planning an "alternative" campus tour on the porch of the boy's dorm, me drunk at a motel where Ashley's Dad took us all for the weekend (and my boyfriend making fun of me for being drunk), Krista in the motel, etc. ...
Little Eadie/Ree-Ree: "I'm wearing a lot of clothing because our room is so cold. I'm wearing two pairs of pajama pants. I'm wearing underwear too, of course."
Boarding School Undercover 1998
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3. Rebel, Rebel: First Amendment Activist '99
I did not have any three minute stories. I'm sure that surprises the hell out of you, because this blog is alway so brief 'n snappy. But so, to fill the three minute spot we each got at the Senior Reading, the teachers said: "Read a poem," and I was like "Um, I'd rather play Dolphin Noises on a boom box, naked." So then I wrote a flash-fiction story about this couple waiting in line for a roller coaster, and the girl's pregnant, and he's trying to talk her into riding anyhow:
"They're not gonna let me on this thing," she says to him.
He looks at her stomach. "They'll probably just think you're really fat. Don't worry about it."
She frowns at him. Sweat trickles down along the sides of his red freckled cheeks and then his neck, and she takes a napkin from underneath her left armpit and wipes it along his face, letting the sweat seep through the paper and onto her fingers, and she feels very close to him. She wishes that she weren 't pregnant so they could still cuddle, wrapped up late at night on his couch, playing Sega. Now, she's just a fat pregnant girl, ready to give birth to this monster like a Cabbage Patch Kid that'll change their lives completely, forever. She hates it. Her new idea is to pass it off to someone else as soon as it comes out, like a football.
And I read it for the Senior Reading, and it went really well. The last week, "Festival," is readings and performances for all the families/alum/recruiters/etc., including Senior Reading Redux.
I was called into the office by a woman I'll call Twatitude (clearly not one of the two male teachers who loved me. She never loved me enough.), and told my story, which she thought was a really fantastic story, honestly, was inappropriate for the Festival reading. Apparently, it "implied abortion," and they didn't want to deal with "phone calls."
In the following passage, the most offensive passage is highlighted:
"Isn't it bad for the baby to take it on a rollercoaster? Don't they have rules like this for a reason?" she asks.So, because I am a Professional Person, I cried my eyes out. It was like everything came to head that day: all my panic at the grown-up post-high-school life I was about to start, about leaving the woods, about the fact I'd chosen to stave off adulthood by drastically reducing my food intake. About my fear of leaving the only place in my whole life I'd ever been really happy, purely happy, for a moment or two, the place where I'd met my best friend Ryan who'd saved me from the near-suicidal pit I'd been wallowing in since my Dad died, about leaving my boyfriend John, leaving my best friend Ingrid, leaving Krista, Meg, Sheetal, Delp , everything, everything, everything I'd come to associate with the word "love," and though I was sick of the rules and the insanity I was also scared shitless.
"Nah," he nods his head. "Nuh-uh. Rules are for pussies. My Mom has all kinds of heart and back problems, and she always takes these things real good."
"What if this thing kills it?" she says, staring up at the ride, at the screaming kids with their legs dangling. "What if we get flipped upside down, the little cord thing snaps and it falls out and its head rams up against the inside of my stomach, what if that happens?"
I was happy enough with things that I'd even let myself be happy and I can't say if I've done that before or since: let myself enjoy something without anticipating it's inevitable terrible demise. But Interlochen was safe like that because it had to end, because high school ends, unless you're really dumb, and then you have to go back obvs.
And so that all came to a head when I was told I had to change my story. All the fear/sadness I'd been holding in. Twatitude suggested: "Read an excerpt of a longer piece," and I wailed; "Oh God, excerpts are so fucking lame and you know it," and finally I agreed to read a censored version of the story, which I created and she approved. I missed class that day 'cause I was too upset to go. It was the only time I ever fully skipped class, sans doctor's note, at Interlochen.
But before I left her office when I brought the censored story, I was composed, and reconciled, and I said: "Thank you. I was upset to leave this place, but you've just made me fucking happy to get the hell out of here. I don't want to be here, if this is who we are and what we stand for, or, rather, don't."
But the day of the reading I started freaking out again. I hated the censored story. It was bad. I liked the old one and so did everyone else. I went there not knowing what i was gonna do.
And I didn't know until I got up there and opened my mouth what I'd follow through on--I'd brought the uncensored copy with me too, just in case--that it'd be the "bad" version.
When the story ended, I walked by Twatitude and she wouldn't look me in the eye. She looked away, I dashed past, never to see her again. My favorite teacher hugged me and said "Nice work."
Then I got hands-down totes WASTED and ran into the night.
I graduated. John and I stayed in my Mom's hotel room at the Econo Lodge in Traverse City. We ate donuts and drank milk from the carton in the dark. We knew we were going to break up, because our relationship'd never worked incredibly well anyhow, there was no point in dragging it out long-distance (that was a bad formative breakup experience for me, obvs , as I thought it was possible to break up amicably, to leave no broken hearts). But we did care for each other, and love each other, though we also hated each other, and so he cried and got in his car and left the next morning, and I didn't cry and I got in mine. Then I got home, and I cried.
I hope she got like, ten million phone calls.
2. Other People's Words
I'm obsessed with quotes. I'm fairly convinced someone's already said whatever I'm thinking better than I have, and so I collect and hoard and compile and list and archive and broadcast and memorize. I've memorized a lot of Stephen Dunn. I've catalogued online three seasons of The L Word, every season of Six Feet Under, Ani DiFranco organised by topic and album, movies including Grey Gardens, Six Degrees of Separation, Pump up the Volume, Pretty Persuasion, Fight Club, About a Boy, When Harry Met Sally .. the list goes on. And on. And on.
I underline the fuck out of everything I've ever read -- underlined-to-the-point-of-destruction books include Prep (Curtis Sittinfeld), Wasted (Marya Hornbacher), The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion), Bright Lights Big City (Jay McInerney), Birds in America (Lorrie Moore), Don Quixote (Cervantes), Appetites (Carolyn Knapp) and Demian (Herman Hesse).
I've got stickies all over my desktop just for quotes, currently featuring Michael Cunningham, The Buddha, High Art, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Tegan & Sara, the Bible, Abraham Heschel, Jack Spicer, Kathy Acker, Adrienne Rich and Chris Pureka. I just can't get enough, no, I just can't get enough.
1. BTW, there's this sitcom?
So, Carly and I wrote this sitcom. If you know anyone who is:
1. Rich and wants to fund the filming of our pilot (we have a crew),
2. In development or production, preferably at HBO, FX or Showtime
3. Is a producer who wants to produce it w/your production company or whatever,
Please let us know. Our meeting yesterday w/Haviland was totes exciting, though, and we seriously have a lot of stuff in the works related to this project and others that's gonna be good for all of us. So like, stay tuned, or whatever.
And finally. Now I need to tag some people. I'm trying not to tag people that I think have already been tagged, and kindly resisting tagging a few people that I know Crystal would like me to save for her, because I'm a really, really good friend.
1. Word Verification
2. A Stranger Among Her Own ...
3. SlogreenX
4. Memoirs of the Mundane
5. Tongue-Tied
6. Surplus
7. Why Don't We Get Drunk and Blog?
8. B.S.: Not Just My Initials
Get on it, kids.


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Carjacking is a basic act available in all Grand Theft Auto games, where the player possesses the ability to steal an occupied or unoccupied vehicle. It is a fundamental feature in the games, and an inspiration for the "Grand Theft Auto" name, which is a legal slang term for a vehicle theft.
Carjacking is committed with a simple stroke of a key or button when the player character is close to a targeted vehicle. If the player character isn't already next to a front door of the vehicle (passenger's or driver's side), the player character will automatically walk or run towards the aforementioned door. Once the player character is already in the driver's seat, the name of the vehicle will flash on the bottom right of the screen (in GTA V, the vehicle's name will flash even if the player enter's the car via the passenger door and seats on the passenger seat but is not yet on the driver's seat).
Stealing an Unoccupied Vehicle
If a vehicle is unoccupied, the player may simply break in, start the engine, and drive/ride/fly away. In Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto V however, the player must often take the time to shatter a window of a road vehicle if it is locked (larger vehicles, except for helicopters, however, are unlocked to begin with) and hot-wire the vehicle before they can start the engine. If the player interrupts the carjacking by pressing any other button or key in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, GTA IV, or GTA V the player character will simply open the vehicle's door, but will not enter the vehicle. Entering a convertible will result in the character simply jumping in without interacting with any doors. But if the character exits, however, they will open the door and get out, possibly inferring that the character unlocked the door from the inside.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars implement a hotwiring minigame in order to steal an unoccupied vehicle. The minigame consist of three different types; hotwiring an old or low end vehicle will require a screwdriver, hotwiring a middle end vehicle will require the player to manipulate and bypass the ignition cables, and hotwiring a luxury vehicle uses the in-game PDA to hack the immobilizer.
In certain cases, road vehicles will automatically trigger an alarm when intruded, attracting police attention. This can be averted by tripping off the alarm by hitting it with a weapon or another vehicle, waiting until the alarm stops, and then breaking into it.
In Grand Theft Auto 1, certain vehicles may also be armed with a bomb, which is activated once the vehicle has been broken into, serving as a deterrence to carjacking attractive vehicles parked in the game.In GTA IV, if the player shoots the car window and enters the car, the alarm may be disabled. It is unknown if this is a glitch or a bug.
Stealing an Occupied Vehicle
If a vehicle is occupied by a driver, the player must pull the driver in question out before they can enter and drive away. If the player enters via the passenger's side, the player character simply forces the driver out from inside the car; if the passenger side is also occupied, the player character will pull the passenger out before entering (In GTA San Andreas, Carl Johnson will slam the passenger's head to the dashboard before pulling him/her out, though in some sports cars, he will kick the passenger to the head. Stealing an occupied tractor depends on which side he is stealing it from, wherein he will punch the driver if carjacked from its left side while if he is stealing a tractor from its right side, he slams the driver's head to the steering wheel as he would do when stealing a 2 or 4-seater car from its right side if the passenger seat is occupied). If the player interrupts the carjacking by pressing any other key in GTA San Andreas or GTA IV, the player character will simply pull out the first occupant, but will not enter the vehicle.
Whereas most games simply depict the player character pulling its occupants out, player characters in GTA San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, GTA IV and GTA V employ violence to obtain a vehicle. In these games, punches and kicks (common in lower vehicles such as sports cars and classic cars) may be used against an occupant. If the player character in GTA IV and GTA V is wielding a firearm, he may threaten the occupant at gunpoint. In addition, GTA V the character can break the window glasses and hit the driver with a gunstock, if he's holding an Assault Rifle. In GTA IV, Niko may slam the head of the driver into the steering wheel if they appear hostile towards him. In GTA IV, it is also possible to steal a vehicle without having to "carjack" them. If one aims a gun at the driver of a vehicle (or passenger), they will sometimes say something, and then get out and run away, or, they will back up and drive away, trying to avoid the player. NPCs, when carjacked, may also end up calling the police for help. By the other hand, some characters like Trevor Philips will just verbally threaten a driver to get out of the car without harming them, especially female drivers. Curiously, Michael always opens the door and the driver casts himself out of the car, without being threatened before.
For boats, the player may simply jump aboard the boat, triggering its driver to leave the controls and flee. Carjacking an occupied aircraft may be done in multiplayer modes, but is otherwise difficult in single player mode, if not impossible, as occupied aircraft are often not within reach to the player.
If the player has already saved a police vehicle, and an officer arrests a criminal, he will get into your car with the criminal in the back and you can carjack your car back and you will not receive a wanted level (it is unclear whether this is a glitch or not; it can also be done if you aim a weapon at the officer and you still won't get a wanted level). It is possible that the police vehicle that you had saved before is claimed as yours and the officer can be pulled out, as if a thug had stole your car, however, often times, policemen can also get into your car and drive your parked police vehicle off when out of sight as they consider police vehicles theirs. Using cheats and spawning a FIB Buffalo in GTA IV, the police will also get in, but unlike most vehicles spawned with cheats, it will not disappear when another vehicle cheat is used. This is most likely the game identifying it as a police vehicle from traffic rather than one from cheating. Street Criminals are known for carjacking pedestrians' vehicles, and even the player's vehicle.
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, if the player enters the passenger door while holding the sprint or the jump key, it will push the driver out and kill them instantly for unknown reason.
Interrupting a Carjack
It is possible to interrupt a carjack in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV (including its episodes) and Grand Theft Auto V. This can be done on all versions of the specific game, for example, by flicking the analog stick/pressing the key "W" before the character gets into the car. This is useful if you've carjacked the wrong car. However, if the player waits too long before getting in, there's a chance that the driver may re-enter the car and/or start attacking the player.
Repercussions of Carjacking
Carjacking is not without its dangers. From Grand Theft Auto III onwards, certain drivers will react aggressively towards the player if their vehicle is stolen, dragging the player out, either re-entering their vehicle to drive away, or picking a fight with the player; taxi drivers and gang members are usually depicted with such behaviors. Generally, pulling out a firearm will cause the attacker to run away in fright; however if the other person also happens to have a gun, he will simply pull out his gun and begin a shootout.
As expected, carjacking, as is the possession of a vehicle with a triggered alarm, will attract police attention if a police officer is within the line of sight of the crime, often resulting in the player attaining a one-star wanted level. In GTA San Andreas, however, it is possible to entirely avoid police attention during a carjacking. If the player is in the process of pulling an occupant out of a vehicle and notices an officer nearby, they can just interrupt the carjacking. This is because the police officer will only respond if the player gets in the stolen vehicle; simply pulling an occupant out will not earn a wanted level.
If the player attempts to steal an occupied car belonging to a gang member, other gang members of the same gang nearby will chase the player on foot and in car, usually using firearms such as pistols or SMGs to stop the player to retrieve their gang car back. It is very difficult to outrun a car chasing you, as they act like police officers on a 6 star wanted level, attempting to box the player in and gun them down. This can also happen when carjacking normal non-gang members, but isn't as dangerous. In this case, normal unarmed pedestrians (such as homeless people, old women, and people who do not look gang affiliated) will attempt to protect/defend the one who is carjacked (who may or may not join in), but as they are usually unarmed, they pose no immediate threat, unless gang members join in. If the player attempts to carjack a vehicle just as it begins to move and accelerates, the player will inevitably be thrown off, emphasizing the need to carjack only when a car is traveling in low speeds or is in a complete stop, however, in GTA San Andreas, if the player enters the passenger side of the vehicle, the driver may panic and begin to drive away, but CJ still gets in normally as if the car was stopped, making for a good boost of speed after taking full-control of the vehicle (especially a ZR350 or an Infernus); likewise, any NPC attempting to drag the player out of their car may be met with the same experience if the player manages to bring their vehicle's speed up. In GTA IV, the proliferation of ragdoll physics allows for both the player and NPCs to be dragged along the road while clinging to a door handle after a failed attempt carjacking a vehicle which is beginning to accelerate in speed.
- If timed correctly when stealing a motorbike from the front in the 3D Universe, the protagonist will jump over the handle bars in a flying kick-like move.
- In some GTA games, when hijacking a vehicle with a passenger, they will start screaming in fear. They will stop screaming if the vehicle stops and they exit it.
- In HD Universe, the protagonists will only attack male drivers, while they will simply pull out female drivers. This is done to avoid depictions of violence against women, however in GTA V, Trevor will attack both male and female drivers. This is presumably due to his psychopathic personality.
- If female character is chosen in GTA Online, she will still attack male drivers.
- If the player steals a motorcycle in the HD Universe (excluding The Lost and Damned) but did not immediately drive away, the player will wear a helmet. If the player alights from the motorcycle, he will discard the helmet instantly.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
- In GTA Liberty City Stories, sounding the horn immediately after stealing a vehicle with a driver will result in a one-star wanted level, but it will disappear after 5 seconds.
Grand Theft Auto IV
- The LCPD in GTA IV can legally commandeer vehicles belonging to the public. However, if they do enter a non-law enforcement cars, the icons will disappear on the radar and they can still use megaphone to call the player to stop.
- When the player has a Wanted Level, Niko will not take time to tug on the door handle of an unoccupied car. Instead he will simply smash the window and get in. This also occurs in GTA V.
- When Niko smashes the window to unlock the car, the majority of the glass will shatter outwards as if it were punched from the inside of the car. In real life, most of the glass will be inside the vehicle.
Grand Theft Auto V
- In GTA V, Franklin is sometimes able to carjack a vehicle without smashing the windows using a lock pick more commonly known as a Slim Jim , This may be because Franklin has more "Street Smarts" and is more familiar with cars since he is a car repo. However when a Wanted Level is gained Franklin simply smashes the windows on all the cars.
- In GTA Online, when carjacking or stealing a vehicle with or without a passenger, sometimes the player will receive a text saying that you have messed with them for jacking their ride and that you'll regret it. Another text message is then sent to the player giving them a bounty between $1000 and $9000. Killing the NPC will not avoid this event.
- In GTA V, the animation when starting the engine only depicts the protagonists pressing a button instead of hot-wiring (unlike GTA IV). This may imply that most cars in GTA V were equipped with a start-stop ignition button, a popular feature in most modern cars during the late-2000s.
- If Franklin were to carjack a car within Families territory, nearby Families member will start to attack the one who is being carjacked.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Denver's Cheeky Aprons launches line of functional kitchen lingerie
posted by: Mile High Mamas
Ladies, you might think your significant other is lucky to get a home-cooked meal every once in a while, but in Ashlee Coln's world, cooking is a much spicier affair.
And it's all because things got dangerously hot in her kitchen. "I've always loved to cook, but one night after a few cocktails, I realized cooking in sassy lingerie could ruin the garment and cooking in the nude usually leads to injury," she said.
Coln, 25, said nearly getting burned (while preparing sautéed mushrooms in port cream sauce for her boyfriend) put her on a mission to find a sexy but serviceable apron for her steamy cooking sessions. "I assumed it was something that already existed," said Coln, who studied hospitality at Metropolitan State College before starting an event planning business three years ago. Finding no such aprons in stores or online, she decided to create her own.
With the help of a girlfriend who sews, Coln whipped up some prototypes and Cheeky Aprons was born. She launched her website (cheeky-aprons.com) and plans to start hosting trunk shows in retail stores this week.
The Cheeky ruffled $60 "baking skirt" in a black and white vine cotton print is backed in linen. The design is complete with ties and a built-in garter belt. The basic full apron, $90, features a plunging neckline, lace in the midsection and comes in a zebra print or polka dots. Coln promises future launches that will be in high-end fabrics and feature lace and other fine trims.
Coln insists her Cheeky Aprons are sophisticated and not a Frederick's of Hollywood-style costume. "We are stressing quality and design," she said. "It's a beautiful apron that doubles as lingerie," she says.
Her website features some of her favorite recipes (chocolate lava cake) as well as apron descriptions and photos of models in the garments.
She thinks that her products are more likely to be a gift than an item a woman buys for herself. "I think it will be wonderful for bridal showers or a Valentine's gift. It's a little different; classy, but fun."
Coln acknowledges that "some women will feel this is a throw-back idea to the 'Apron Era,' where a woman's only place was in the home and kitchen." But she says, "I support whatever makes a woman feel wonderful in her own skin. The aprons make me feel feminine and sophisticated with a little bit of sass."
Aside from the desire to add "sass" to the menu, isn't it just impractical to cook when you're nearly naked? Perhaps, but that's not the point, Coln says.
"I've talked to a lot of people — friends, brides, grooms and a lot of gentlemen," Coln says. "They say that cooking was sexually intriguing for them, but that in general, aprons aren't the most attractive pieces of fabric. So when you mix lingerie with an apron, the gentlemen get the eye candy and it intrigues them at the same time. It's a beautiful balance between the utility of an apron and the sex appeal and mystery of lingerie."
Coln says her boyfriend is excited about the venture — and not just because of the eye candy. He likes that "I'm so driven," she says.
Suzanne S. Brown
April 15, 2012
Since so many guys are getting into cooking as well, will she also be coming up with a men's line as well (perhaps like Chippendales costumes)? If not, I smell a rat ….. especially based on the prices quoted.
April 16, 2012
I think they're cute!
April 16, 2012
Debating if I should buy one before getting my husbands consent:)
April 16, 2012
Ooohhhh… Love it!!
April 16, 2012
@Kayla – do it!! 🙂


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Re: What will you do after graduation?
Go on a long vacation.
Message Boards - Boba Fett Fan Club → Fans → What will you do after graduation?
Go on a long vacation.
Military career, good pay, you get a whole month of RNR, i get extra respect when i go to places when i wear the clothes.
I'm going to join when im 18, when i turn 38 or 40, ill be getting a retirement check, ill only be 40!!
Ill look into another career, maybe work at a comic shop or something, relax and live a life of ease.
Well they say "those who can do, those who can't teach"
Mel, that makes me a whole lot better about the criticism I got about my painting style many years ago.
Mel, that makes me a whole lot better about the criticism I got about my painting style many years ago.
Are you missing a "FEEL" in there? Like " That makes me feel a whole lot better...."
I am a senior this year and have to start thinking about that stuff now. I want to become a videographer but we'll see. You never know what can happen in one year. I also play the harp so that's always a option.
What am I going to do after graduation? Become a rock star, duh .
lol draco that would be fun I do play guitar so it's possible. I'm taking a Consumer Science class this year (I'm in 7th grade) all about career choices. I'm not sure what I'd like to do. There is so many possibilities. I reall enjoy politics so maybe a politician.....I'll have to think.
Hmmmmmm.........after I graduate
Well this is simple. Finish my armor, form a Clan, conquer the world, and take my rightful place as Mandalore Drakus
Go to college... oh wait... I'm already here (<---Why i haven't been on frequently)
But seriously, I'm a math major right now but I will probably be switching to Computer Sciences or Economics at some point. NNNNOOOO IDDDEEAAA what I am goin to do with my life tho. So I'm just drifting.
Don't worry Fetterthanyou, I decided on a major in college and graduate school and I STILL feel like I'm drifting sometimes.
I graduated in 07 and am busy with college. I'm on my way to being an English teacher, so I'm taking education courses and what not
High fives, class of '07!
Going to UConn for physics right now. Fun stuff, but who knows what I'll do with it. It looks like the options are basically teaching or grad school, but I guess I've got time to decide that. Unless the LHC sucks us all into a black hole, in which case I don;t have to make a decision at all!
I'm at the Military College of Vermont right now, Criminal Justice major. I was planning on taking an NROTC scholarship (Marine Corps ROTC, ooh-rah!) and commissioning after, but I've been thinking that being an officer isn't for me. The other option is to enlist in the reserves while I'm at the MCV, and try to switch to active duty following graduation. Still haven't decided.
WHOO! Here's to all the college kids here!! I feel less alone! I'm probably one of those people who will be in school forever. Im a 6th year senior so far!
If i ever graduate I'll be throwing the biggest party the east coast have or will ever see. I plan on drinking in celebration. Somebody better actually be proud of me for once then.
I'm at the Military College of Vermont right now, Criminal Justice major. I was planning on taking an NROTC scholarship (Marine Corps ROTC, ooh-rah!) and commissioning after, but I've been thinking that being an officer isn't for me. The other option is to enlist in the reserves while I'm at the MCV, and try to switch to active duty following graduation. Still haven't decided.
You know, that OSC (Offier Canidate School) is somthing you could do if you ever want to be an officer, or you could earn a Battle Field Commision, which basicly means you go form NCO to Officer......
All Marine Option NROTC cadets go to OCS between junior and senior year. Doesn't sound like something I want to do though.
Im going to say how surprised I am by how military this group is. I was under the impression that people didn't care about that much these days.
All Marine Option NROTC cadets go to OCS between junior and senior year. Doesn't sound like something I want to do though.
Its problably not...The Army ROTC director at my school a LTC, went through it and he siad it was hard.
More than that I just don't think I'm cut out to be an officer. Too much thinking, planning, coordinating, just not enough fighting. I'm leaning towards enlisting in the Marine Reserves while I'm here and switching to active duty as soon as I graduate.
If you go to a Military College, do you have to join the military, because I'm kind on the fence about it.
No you don't. Not sure about other academies like Westpoint or Annapolis, but I'll tell you how the MCV works.
There are two ways to apply: The Corps of Cadets, the military part of the college (this makes up the majority of the students, as it is a traditionally military school), and the regular civilian lifestyle (trust me, no one wants to be a civilian with all these uniformed men going around making them feel inadequate).
So let's say you join the Corps, the military track. You choose an ROTC: Army, Navy (including Coast Guard and Marine Corps options), and Air Force. In those ROTCs you get military training through all four years, and when you graduate you are offered a commission as an officer in that branch of the military. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT IT. A lot of people just go the military course to better themselves physically and mentally, and at the end tip their hat to the military and go be an architect, or a scientist, or an engineer. Despite being in a very rigid and military environment, you are not obligated to actually join the military afterwards.
Probably a longer response than you were looking for, but did I answer your question alright?
Yeah, that answers it perfectly, thanks! That's definatilly something I'll consider when I aply for a college. I just hope they don't make me cut my hair. Then I might aswell join the Army, because someone's going to die.
Hmmm, I was curious about that myself. Thanks for taking the time to outline it for us ner vod
Sorry Draco: #1 razor on top, #0 on the sides, high and tight. One of the first things they do to new recruits.
As some of you know, I have been studying Graphic Arts for a few years, and I've been so sure for so long that I'd never make it. But here I am. I graduated. And I exhibited too! And I am now a fully-fledged Graphic Designer, about to hit the world out there.
I am happy. In fact, it's beyond that, after all the hard work and pain, I'm on a high from the pleasure of accomplishment. I am done, and it feels great and satisfying.
to all of my friends here for boosting me through it with a lot of kindness and tons of positive energy sent my way,
to those who managed to bear with me and help me the best they could in the tougher times. You know who you are.
To everyone caring enough to read this, a big heartful thanks to you, too, with a big hug.
Love you all, wish me luck,
Terra xx
P.S. : Not gone, just closing a chapter of my life, and starting out another.
I will be using a new nickname on this forum from now on, as a symbol of what I have accomplished and the new cycle I'm about to start. My new name is going to be "Cin Vhetin", which is "A New Start" in Mando'a. I thought that was particularly well fitting for what I wanted.
Talk to you soon as the new me!
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Daniel Radcliffe's lady wants him to clean his act up — literally!
The Harry Potter star told the Daily Mail that girlfriend Rosie Coker has given him "a deadline of two years to be like a fully-functioning human being around the house."
What exactly does this mean Radcliffe, 22, needs to do? "I think it means I have to be able to cook for myself better than I can at the moment," he explained. "And it means that I can't leave the house in a state the way I do."
While the actor "didn't promise her anything," he joked, "I have made it my mission to improve myself. There's certainly progress to be made."
When asked whether he'd hired a housekeeper to help him clean in his NYC apartment, he told the Daily Mail his "mum [is] here and she came 'round and tidied everything up for me."
His excuse? He had two performances on Saturday of the Broadway hit How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, plus a Sunday matinee.
The star and Coker, a production assistant, met on the Harry Potter set over a year ago. "She's busy, I'm busy, but we're making it work and it's good," he told the Daily Mail. "She's helped me grow up, and I love her very much."
For access to all our exclusive celebrity videos and interviews – Subscribe on YouTube!


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In today's R&B poptart news:
British boyband hotness JLS are either (a) tipsy (b) silly or (c) both after they video themselves performed a cheesy rendition of Usher's Can You Help Me. The final moments are the most colorful: Aston Merrygold drops to his knees and rips his shirt off for the final bars. Then he tells the camera "I need a girlfriend!" and walks away, jeans sagging and exposing tight Armani briefs and butt.
Of course you do, dear. You and Marvin both.
Watch the video—and their babysitter in the background—AFTER THE JUMP ...


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Update: Neighbour praised for rescuing woman in her 80s from bungalow fire in Foxhall Close, East Bergholt
PUBLISHED: 19:36 04 August 2014 | UPDATED: 20:14 04 August 2014
A neighbour has been praised for rescuing a woman in her 80s from a bungalow in Suffolk just moments before it was engulfed in flames and thick bellowing smoke.
The property in Foxhall Close, East Bergholt, was left completely gutted in the blaze, which developed rapidly from about 1.20pm this afternoon, forcing neighbouring homes to be evacuated overnight.
The homeowner, reported to be a woman in her 80s who lived alone, was said to have been rescued from the property moments before flames were seen shooting from the front kitchen window.
Kathleen Cherry, 67, who lives nearby said one of her neighbours had dashed into the property to usher the woman to safety.
"If she hadn't gone in when she did I don't know what would have happened," she said.
"Just as she got her out flames started shooting out.
"There was thick black smoke bellowing from the window and it just got hold so quickly.
"Flames were shooting out of the window, glass was shattering - it was horrendous."
Suffolk Fire and Rescue's watch commander David Edwards said the crews were met by large plumes of smoke as they approached from the A12 and arrived to find tall flames burning fiercely through the roof.
"Within five minutes the roof had collapsed so we did not commit anyone inside - the big concern was that it may spread to the adjoining properties," he said.
"It was a fully developed fire and at that time of day we would not expect it to become so fierce without being seen a lot sooner."
Eight appliances from Ipswich, Woodbridge, Holbrook and Colchester, including a hydraulic platform, spent more than an hour tackling the blaze and stayed on site to damp down the charred remaining shell.
Babergh District Council boarded up the damaged property and checked on the adjoining bungalows, which suffered smoke damage and were evacuated. Housing officers supported the evacuated residents find temporary accommodation.
Another neighbour, who did not give his name, said the fire "completely enveloped" the kitchen in just 10 minutes and provoked some alarm that it may spread further through the close.
He said the woman rescued from the destroyed bungalow had lived there since the estate was first built 24 years ago.
An investigation will be carried out tomorrow into the cause of the fire.
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the East Anglian Daily Times. Click the link in the orange box below for details.


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If you've ever wondered about plugins for AIR applications, I just published a article called Extending AIR Applications With Plugins which hopefully should answer most of your questions.
The trick to writing a plugin architecture for AIR applications isn't really so much plugin management (installing, loading, deleting, etc.) as it is plugin security. Plugins that are privileged enough to be really powerful also have enough power to be potentially dangerous, so before an end user installs one, he or she needs to know not only who wrote it, but also that the plugin wasn't somehow modified prior to installation. That's where code signing and validation come in.
The sample plugin architecture I wrote addresses both plugin management and security. The article contains plenty of background on plugin security as well as sample code for an application called "Pluggable SearchCentral" which you can see in action below:
For more on how to write your own secure plugin architecture, see Extending AIR Applications With Plugins.


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There is a new video out marketing Cleveland and a new slogan: "Downtown Cleveland: It's here". Now, I struggle with critiquing it. One the one hand, I get its energy and optimism: the energy in Downtown is palpable, real—there is a bit of a youth movement to the core—and hence the compilation of images, sounds, and narratives that are trying to capitalize and communicate what is going down.
On the other hand, I see it as another missed opportunity. The message reads blasé. Tastes like a spoon of new car smell. In fact it could be about anywhere—Nashville, Cincinnati, Tampa, etc.; that is, instead of exposing what Cleveland really is and what's unique about it, it's distinctiveness as an attraction is buried in amenity-driven microphone-ing that screams we have sports teams and a casino and restaurants and the yet-spoiled exuberance of the young. But when you think about Cleveland—I mean honestly think about Cleveland: about its guts and soul and heart and people—is this the kind of stuff that comes to mind?
Of course not. So why do it?
Firstly, it speaks to a larger method of city revitalization that has been running America for some time. Here, the creative classification method entails imposing a rather homogenous, universal cool over a given city topography. Glitz, glamor, glass condos, and sports heroes. Bike paths and food trucks. Millennium Park Jr.'s. Etc. But with this whitewashing comes the chipping away at Cleveland's Rust Belt soul. And it is this soul, mind you, that is a real attraction. After all, what is so hot about going everywhere when you can go somewhere?
And yes: Cleveland is a somewhere and has a something. This thing is part cultural, part aesthetic, part historical, and part a consequence of having to go on in the face of adversity. It is part wit, part ironic, part self-deprecating, but also part stand your ground in the defense of where you came from. And it's all real, not ephemeral: our distinctiveness arising less from donning another city's success than stripping naked and showing our nuts and bolts. Our warts. Our knuckles and heart.
Secondly, and this speaks to the marketing machine in general, but outfits that produce messaging at this level just cannot get beyond the culture of the boardroom from which the message emerges. Corporatism repels risk. And this not only relates to branding professionals but also to the customers seeking the brand. It's like everyone knows their audience and their audience is everyone. It's all about that one type we want, they say, and we want thousands of them. It is a safe strategy, riskless. But Cleveland doesn't need safe. Playing it conservative has just kept us secure in our knowledge that we are always revitalizing. Instead, step outside, show your face to the world, as branding is and always has been about differentiation. But to do that you need to be aware and secure in knowing what makes you different.
It is alright. People will like you. And if they don't, so be it. The coolest will. Said Anthony Bourdain in his "No Reservations: Cleveland" trip:
I think that troubled cities often tragically misinterpret what's coolest about themselves. They scramble for cure-alls, something that will "attract business", always one convention center, one pedestrian mall or restaurant district away from revival. They miss their biggest, best and probably most marketable asset: their unique and slightly off-center character. Few people go to New Orleans because it's a "normal" city — or a "perfect" or "safe" one. They go because it's crazy, borderline dysfunctional, permissive, shabby, alcoholic and bat shit crazy — and because it looks like nowhere else. Cleveland is one of my favorite cities. I don't arrive there with a smile on my face every time because of the Cleveland Philharmonic.
A friend recently commented to me that authenticity and grit can't be marketed. Well, check this new video out from Memphis. They got it. I get a feel for who they are. And it makes me want to check the city out.
Richey Piiparinen is a writer and policy researcher based in Cleveland. He is co-editor of Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. Read more from him at his blog and at Rust Belt Chic, where this piece originally appeared.
Cleveland nuts photo by Flickr user The Cleveland Kid.


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Gerard Tyedmers
Jason Weathersby
Gerard is very active writing HTML5 games and has submitted some very good Firefox OS games to the Marketplace. He is a big proponent for the web, very active community member and a pleasure to work with.
Havi Hoffman
I met Gerard through the Firefox Phones for Apps program that the tech evangelism team ran in 2013-2014. He's created a couple of well-rated mobile game apps for the platform and then became an active and responsive translator on our apps localization platform. I'm glad he's becoming more involved with technical evangelism and the MozCH community. Thanks Gerard!
Colin Frei
Gerard is an active member of the Mozilla Switzerland community, regularly advocating the web, also through games he develops on Firefox OS.
Michael Kohler
Gerard is a MozillaCH community member who is very involved in Mozilla Switzerland. He also creates Firefox OS apps.


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Frozen Bread
I made a beautiful Pan con Olive bread a couple of days ago and as there are only two of us to eat it I wrapped one of the two loaves in foil and then plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. I read somewhere that if you put it in the oven for a certain amount of time at a certain temp you could return it to a nearly fresh baked condition.
Can someone on the forum answer a few basic questions for me? Do you thaw the bread before it is placed in the oven, do you leave it wrapped in the foil, at what temperture is the oven set at,how long do you leave it in the oven, and do you use your baking stone or do you place the loaf on the rack. Thanks, koka2@ comcast.net


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September 11 is a day few New Yorkers will ever forget. For those of us at Bailey House it was a time of coming together to get through that horrible, terrifying day and the weeks after when threats of Anthrax loomed and, as a friend of mine said, "Even white powder on a discarded jelly donut sent fear throughout the City."
On 9/11, I remember standing in the staff lounge at our old headquarters at 275 7th Avenue with staff members Karyn McClean, Bernie Tarver and others. We watched the second plane hit the WTC. Later that morning Denise Arzola, who was leading the Bailey House office on E. 107th Street at the time, advised us that a member of her team had been scheduled to attend a workshop being held in one of the towers. It took several anxious hours to find the staff person, who had left the area soon after the second plane hit. Meanwhile, the courageous Bailey-Holt House staff evacuated residents after the New York Fire Department warned that there might be gas leaks in the West Village as a result of the destruction downtown.
While it's hard to remember, I find that doing so helps me realize why I wake up every 9/11 with a sense of dread. It's not only what happened that day but the fact that we could no longer assume that our City was exempt from the type of violence that some people around the world suffer through every day. Let's be extra kind to ourselves and everyone around us today. Let's use the Bailey House understanding of a "trauma-informed" approach to client care and extend it to each other.
Comments Off on Remembering 9/11


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Numerical Libraries for complex actuarial computation
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More generally the NAG Library covers: Local and global optimization; Matrix functions; Nearest Correlation Matrix; Time series analysis; Linear Programming, Quadratic Programming, Non-linear programming; Regression; Survival analysis; Multivariate analysis; Ordinary differential equations; partial differential equations; Wavelets; Fourier transforms; Curve and surface fitting.
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No Surprise
December 26, 2012 5 Comments
The Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony experiment was destined to fail from day one.
Alas, the experiment is still failing.
That isn't a knock on Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire. It's a knock on the idiot who decided that putting those two players together with Mike D'Antoni would somehow work itself out. The New York Knicks are winning but their max contract problems haven't gone away.
It shouldn't be a revelation to anyone that the Knicks are winning games. They're 20-8 on the season following their tough loss on Christmas day to the re-energized Lakers. That's 20 wins without Amare Stoudemire and 8 losses without Amare Stoudemire.
No one has ever questioned Carmelo's Anthony ability as a player. For much of his career, he has arguably been the best pure scorer in the association.
It was never meant to be with Mike D'Antoni trying to lead two incompatible star players. On the flip side, Mike Woodson isn't the primary reason for the Knicks unexpected success through the first quarter of the season.
Sure, the Knicks experienced a rebirth due to the culture change provided by Woodson's insertion as head coach near the end of last season. However, it is the injury to Amare Stoudemire that has been the jump start that the Knicks really needed. It's not news to anyone that his absence has made the Knicks a better team.
A better team than they could ever possibly be with him on the floor.
Carmelo Anthony is no stranger to carrying teams on his back. He did it throughout his tenure in the Mile High City. By himself, 'Melo led his teams to the playoffs in the much more competitive Western Conference.
Without Amare, why did we think it would be any different in New York?
Outside of the Miami Heat, the Eastern Conference is weaker than the 4 nerds on the Big Bang Theory. The only reason Carmelo couldn't figure it out in New York was because he was forced to play with another star that he had no business playing with. Surrounded by a cast of players that complement rather than limit him, 'Melo has reverted back to his ridiculously efficient scoring ways.
Going small and playing Anthony at the 4 has helped. 'Melo's maturation as a player and a person should be commended. It has allowed Mike Woodson to throw out these small lineups that continue to shoot the lights. However, Amare's absence is still the biggest reason for the Knicks success through 28 games.
As a lone wolf, Carmelo Anthony was always going to succeed anywhere he played in the NBA. He may not be the leader or winner that Michael Jordan was but he can make any team a winning team all by his lonesome.
I wrote during the Knicks-Heat playoff series that Amare Stoudemire's injury from his cartoon-like punch was possibly a blessing in disguise for the Knicks in the short-term. They were clearly better apart than together back then and it is no different now. In the long-term, the issue will remain that Amare has a max contract that is virtually untradeable.
The difference between then and now is that it is no longer a given that the two stars will have to make things work.
No one could have foreseen that the Knicks would be 20-8 but after Amare was ruled to be out for at least 6 weeks, those pre-season expectations should have been raised instead of being lessened. 'Melo was always better without Stoudemire but everyone just assumed that Carmelo and his cast of geezers would be worse without Amare.
It turns out that isn't the case.
The Knicks will carry on being a successful team as long as Carmelo Anthony is the lead dog. Maybe not 20-8 good or championship successful or 20-8 good, but they will be good.
That should never have been a shocker with 'Melo running the ship.
You can follow me on Twitter @paintstheblack and subscribe to Painting the Black to get the latest posts.
Agree? Disagree? You can also e-mail me at email@example.com or reply in the comments section below.


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This post is part of a daily series that adds one ornament per day to our blog, up till today.
It's been a great year. Happy new year.
By repeating and rotating relatively small elements Zuzana Licko created fascinating ornaments that look like you are viewing the world through a caleidoscope. Combine them into majestic decorative tapestries. The central icon comes from Big Cheese, a unique collection of clip art with implied levels of meaning but no real meaning – hopefully through usage the dingbats will start to have a meaning.
The Ornament Series was produced collaboratively by David Sudweeks and Yves Peters.


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The fun thing about LeBron is that he is famous enough to inspire enough different varieties of strong feeling in people that he can now mean just about whatever you want him to mean. Prodigal son. A man in full. Coward. Traitor.
With Florida's race for governor heating up, we saw the state's GOP going with the latter two:
That's right: Rick Scott and the Florida GOP hit Charlie Crist AND LeBron in the seldom-seen, rarely heard sports/politics double burn. In the commercial, which doesn't mention LeBron, Crist is accused of running away from Florida's problems after his first stint as governor, from 2007-2011. (He began that term as a Republican and ended it as an Independent. He's a Democrat now.) In the photo above, James is just plain accused of running away. As far as hot LeBron takes go, this one has the virtue of sparing us the dimestore psychoanalysis.
Twitter response from the public as well as other Republicans was pretty negative. Shout out to the GOP's social media guy for @'ing LeBron, though. GOP doesn't back down from a fight.


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Certify and Increase Opportunity.
Govt. Certified PowerPoint 2003 Professional
Add, edit, or delete comments in a presentation
A comment is a note that you can attach to a letter or word on a slide, to a graphic or other object, or to a whole slide. Using comments is a great way to provide feedback to others about their presentation.
Add a comment
- Click a location on the slide where you want your comment to be referenced.
- Click Review > New Comment.
TIP A comment icon appears on the slide and the Comments pane opens.
- In the Comments pane, type your message in the box, and press Enter or click outside the comment box.
- Elements that have comments are indicated by a comments icon . Click the icon to see the comments about that element in the Comments Pane.
- To move between comments, click the up or down arrow at the top of the Comments Pane.
Edit or reply to a comment
- Use the Comments Pane to edit comments added by other reviewers, or reply to them.
- To edit a comment: Click the text of the comment that you want to edit. This opens a text entry box with the comment in it. Make the changes that you want and then click outside the comment box to finish.
To reply to a comment: In the comment that you want to reply to, click Reply. Type your reply in the text entry box, then press the Tab key to finish.
Delete a comment
- On the slide: Right-click the comments icon of the comment that you want to delete, and then clickDelete Comment.
- In the Comments Pane: Click the comment that you want to delete, and then click the black X.
Apply for MS Powerpoint Certification Now!!


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Facebook will team with existing job-posting companies to launch a jobs board later this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citing anonymous sources, WSJ reports that BranchOut, Jobvite and Work4Labs will be at least three of the companies that will pair with the platform.
With the rise of LinkedIn -- and its aggressive moves into social-networking functionality -- having Facebook enter the fray is an obvious play for them.
U.S. & World
Whether or not the job posts will display in the news feed is unclear.
Many bigger companies have career recruitment presences on Facebook already, but a centralized engine behind job postings and searches would feed the engagement metrics.
The Journal estimates the job-posting market is worth about $4.3 billion.


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IRVING, Texas (AP) Before Kevin Sumlin became a successful head coach at Houston and Texas A&M, he learned plenty during five seasons and two national championship game appearances on Bob Stoops' staff at Oklahoma.
Even before that, they were assistant coaches competing for recruits in the same area.
``Both of us had tough jobs trying to get guys to leave Miami and Fort Lauderdale to go to Manhattan, Kan., and Minneapolis, Minn., or West Lafayette (Ind.),'' Sumlin said. ``Over the course of time, we have kept in touch and then he hired me. ... It was five great years from a learning standpoint.''
The two coaches will be on the opposite sidelines Friday night in the Cotton Bowl, a matchup of former Big 12 rivals. Both are 10-2 with five-game winning streaks.
Stoops and the Sooners this season earned a share of their eighth Big 12 title, and would have almost certainly been in a Bowl Championship Series game if not for BCS-busting Northern Illinois. With Heisman Trophy-winning freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, Sumlin and the Aggies won 10 games in the coach's first season, and their first year in the SEC.
``You can see it, what he's doing now, he's an incredibly bright coach. I knew that,'' Stoops said Wednesday as they shared a podium with the Cotton Bowl trophy between them. ``Competitive, great worker, and I think what Kevin, the best thing he brings to A&M is the way he relates to his players, and players love playing for him. He has a way, and he's really brought attitude to his team.''
Sumlin was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M in 2002 when the Aggies upset the top-ranked and undefeated Sooners in College Station, derailing Oklahoma's shot at a second national title in three years. Sumlin was hired after that season by Stoops, a Kansas State and Florida assistant in the 1990s while Sumlin was at Minnesota and Purdue.
After three years as special teams coordinator/tight ends coach and two years as co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, Sumlin got his first head job. He won 35 games in four seasons at Houston, which was 12-0 and on track for a BCS appearance in 2011 before losing in the Conference USA title game.
Texas A&M hired him the next week.
``He really just brought that winning attitude,'' linebacker Sean Porter said. ``Coach Sumlin doesn't care about anything other than winning football games.''
Senior defensive tackle Spencer Nealy joked about finally taking a redshirt to be around Sumlin for another year.
``Confidence, coach Sumlin is Mr. Cool, dude. He's comes in with a type of swag, as some of the guys on the team would put it, that makes us feel better. He takes all the pressure off of us,'' Nealy said. ``Right when he walks in, he brings a presence.''
The Aggies are going for their first 11-win season since 1998, the year before Stoops got to Oklahoma. The Sooners are trying to win 11 games for the 10th time under Stoops.
Sumlin was on his staff for four of those 11-win seasons and that time certainly influenced how he tries to do things now.
``How you do things day to day, the competitive nature that is in the building, the expectation level,'' Sumlin said. ``The expectation level of everybody, starting with him, everybody in the building, coaches and players, is a big, big, big factor at Oklahoma. And it starts with the head coach. ... Winning games is a big part of that, but the other part of the culture and the relationships that go on there are an even bigger part of really the atmosphere that he created or that he creates now.''
Stoops is 149-36 his 14 seasons with the Sooners, nine wins shy of overtaking three-time national champion Barry Switzer for the most wins in school history. Stoops this season surpassed Bud Wilkinson, who won three national titles from 1947-63.
Mark Snyder, who spent one season with Sumlin on the Minnesota staff 15 years ago, is the Texas A&M defensive coordinator. His players have had to practice all season against Manziel and the Aggies' offense, which averages an SEC-high 553 total yards per game.
``They got prepared to play a 12-game season, and that's what we've done,'' Snyder said. ``I think people were shocked we could go into the SEC and stop the run because of the offense that we face every day.''
Snyder, the former Marshall head coach, saw something in Sumlin when they first worked together.
``You could tell at a young age he was going to be a rock star. He just had it, he gets it,'' Snyder said. ``You knew he was going to be a good football coach. He can relate to kids, especially today's kids. ... The kids have got to be able to trust you, and I think we exceled this year because of that.''


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NEW HAVEN — Police say a man who broke into a New Haven apartment bound and blindfolded a 10-year-old girl who was there alone and fled with a computer and more than $1,000.
Police believe the intruder broke into the home around 10 a.m. Friday. The girl told police she heard noises coming from the living room and soon was confronted by a man who blindfolded her and bound her hands.
The man took the money and computer and fled. Police say the girl freed herself and told a neighbor what had happened. The girl's father arrived home around 1 p.m., but police say he didn't call authorities until nearly 5 p.m.
Police are investigating. Officials with the state Department of Children and Families are assisting.
A description of the suspect was unavailable.


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San-Cap Audubon will conduct its annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) Dec. 17. The results of the local count will be forwarded to the National Audubon Society for inclusion in the 112th National Christmas Bird Count.
More than 50,000 observers participate each year in this census of early-winter bird populations. The results of their efforts are compiled into the longest running database in ornithology, representing over a century of unbroken data on trends of early-winter bird populations across the Americas. Simply put, the CBC is citizen science in action.
Prior to the turn of the 20th Century, people engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt". They would choose sides and go into the field with their guns; whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its infancy around the turn of the century, and many observers and scientist were becoming concerned about declining bird populations.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank Chapman, an early officer in the then budding Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition, a "Christmas Bird census" that would count birds in the holidays rather than hunt them. So began the Christmas Bird Count.
Thanks to the inspiration of Chapman and the enthusiasm of 27 dedicated birders, 25 Christmas Bird Counts were held that day. The locations ranged from Toronto, Ontario, to Pacific Grove, Calif. with most counts in or near the populations centers in northeastern North America. Those original 27 Christmas Bird Counters tallied a total of 90 species on all the counts combined.
Volunteers are needed for this year's CBC. Birding skills are desirable but not necessary. If you would like to participate in this year's Sanibel-Captiva CBC, you may obtain addition information by calling 239-395-3804.


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Exclusive report from Enrique Romero-Salas, ex-midfielder for Green Archers United on the Supercopa match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
MADRID – I was seated in the area of the "ultra sur" which is known for a chanting insults towards Barca more than anything. I attached a picture of their flag that covered our view when the game started.
Since the first leg was 3-2, which should have been 3-1 except for the huge error from goalkeeper Barca Victor Valdes at the 85th minute which gave Madrid a good advantage for the second leg. The game started out like it always does until Javier Mascherano committed an error trying to clear the ball which ended up with a one-on-one situation for Gonzalo Higuain whose shot went between the legs of Valdes. 1-0 RM.
A few minutes later Cristiano Ronaldo got the better of Gerard Pique with a fancy flick that lead to another one-on-one situation with Valdes. Ronaldo scored.
Down 2-0 early in the game really put Barca in a tough position which became tougher shortly after when Adriano received a red card for bringing Cristiano down (in a situation that would have led to another one on one). They replaced Alexis with Montoya, who played in Adriano's position as a right defender. This left Barcelona with fewer attacking options and with only Pedro left making most of the cuts. Leo Messi was pushed down to the midfield where they often played possession although not as dominant as the first leg but capable with only ten men but still the Real Madrid defense was tight and they had a much bigger advantage physically. The game was going really well for Madrid and they could have been up by four goals with a couple more good opportunities well saved. But just before the half ends, Messi pulled one back by scoring a beautiful free kick around the wall and past Casillas, just like that Barca needed one more goal to win the trophy. The second half was a more open game with attempts coming from both ends, unlike the first which was dominated by Real Madrid.
There were clear cut chances early in the second half from Pedro and another from Jordi Alba but Iker Casillas protected the goal really well. Real Madrid's counter attack was very effective in this game. Most of which came from the defense. Pepe, in particular, really made good passes while being a monster on defense.
Gonzalo Higuain came closest for Real who's attempt hit the post in yet another one-on-one with Valdes. Then it was Sami Khedira's turn to have a one-on-one after dribbling past three defenders but Valdes was good with his save.
An extra time attempt from Montoya could have given Barca the victory but Iker made it look easy. This game also saw Luka Modric and Alex Song debut for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. They were rivals in the English Premier League with Tottenham and Arsenal and in La Liga, they still find themselves on opposing sides. That's how it ended, 2-1 to Real which won it by away goals.
What went wrong for Barca?
This is a lesson for Barcelona's defense which cannot mistakes like this if they want to beat Real Madrid. The absence of Puyol and Dani Alves made this more difficult. Being down ten men early, they had less options on the attack and with the position they were in, they needed a miracle to win. Cesc Fabregas did not play and David Villa is just fresh from a long injury. Although it is still amazing how they can keep that ball with one less person but that type of play did not work because Real was constantly on the counter. They had Pedro and Messi trying to go against much larger players and they had to do it repeatedly because they lacked options. Andres Iniesta was really superb but could not produce today.
What did Madrid do correctly?
Madrid has a very solid back line with Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Arbeloa. None of them made errors. When you have big men like this bumping much smaller players it makes it really hard to challenge them. That type of defense plus the speed and talent on that counter attack lead by Cristiano is will be a force this year and in the next few. Much credit to their long balls today which were very effective.
I got in touch with Kicks Romero-Salas who I know has relocated to Spain. He filed this exclusive Supercopa report for Bleachers' Brew. Thanks, Kicks! Most appreciate this.


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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:05 pm
Post subject: Christmas Through The Centuries
With the holidays coming on I thought it would be fun to explore Christmas foods as they've appeared through the years.
Although many people aren't aware of it, Christmas, as we celebrate it, is a product of the Victorian era. During Victoria's long reign English and German traditions were combined, along with pagan holdovers such as decorating a conifer. And sumptuous feasting became the order of the day.
In her delightful little "Christmas Feasts From History" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981), Lorna Sass presents the following menu for a Victorian Christmas Dinner:
Individual Oyster Loaves
Roast Stuffed Goose (and vegetables of your choice)
Superlative Mincemeat, which in turn is used to make
Mince Pies Royal
Christmas Pudding with Punch Sauce
None of this sounds unfamiliar to modern palates. And, if you substitute a turkey for the goose, it's a typical American Christmas dinner.
The irony is, however, that virtually none of these dishes originated during the Victorian age. All of them go back at least a hundred years earlier, sometimes much more than that.
Take the Individual Oyster Loaves. In 1745, Hannah Glasse, in her "The Art Of Cookery Made Plain and Easy", provides this recipe. I've cleaned up the spelling and font selection:
To Make Oyster Loaves
Take all the crumbs out of three French rolls, by cutting a piece of the top crust off, in such a manner as it may fit again in the same place; fry the rolls out of which the crumb has been taken brown in fresh butter; take half a pint of oysters, stew them in their own liquor, then take out the oysters with a fork, strain the liquor to them, put them into a sauce-pan again with a glass of white wine, a little beaten mace, a little grated nutmeg, a quarter of a pound of butter rolled in flour; shake them well together then put them into the rolls; and these make a pretty side-dish for a first course. You may rub in the crumbs of two or the rolls and toss up with the oysters.
An earlier manuscript has essentially the same recipe, but says to use a "two-penny loaf." Nobody, at this point, knows exactly what size that was, however.
In 1823, in her "The Virginia Housewife," Mary Randolf has a slightly simpler recipe:
To make Oyster Loaves
Take little round loaves, cut off the tops, scrape out all the crumbs, then put the oysters into a stew pan with the crumbs that came out of the loaves, a little water, and a good lump of butter; stew them together ten or fifteen minutes, then put in a spoonful of good cream, fill our loaves, lay the bit of crust carefully on again, set them in the oven to crisp. Three are enough for a side dish.
When I updated Hannah Glasse's recipe I used Sally Lunn muffins. Lorna Sass uses Brioche buns. But neither of our recipes would be unfamiliar to Hannah Glasse. Here's my version:
Oyster Loaves
6 large Sally Lunn muffins
1 quart oysters
½ stick butter
½ cup water (or milk)
½ cup Sherry
Dash black pepper
Slice crowns off muffins. Remove crumb, leaving about 1/8th inch shell. Crumble crumb between fingers to form rough bread crumbs.
Melt butter in water. Add Sherry. Add oysters without their liquor and poach 2-3 minutes. Add crumbs and pepper, stirring. Cook until thickened.
Slightly overfill shells with oyster mixture. Return crowns. Bake at 300F until Sally Lunns are crisped and warmed through.
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Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 1855
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:21 pm
Post subject:
Delightful! Don't you love measures such as "a good lump of butter"!!
I don't think I have ever run across "oyster loaves" in any form, anywhere before. This C & Z place truly continues to fascinate!
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:43 pm
Post subject:
Oh, yeah, David. But you don't know the half of it. Adapting antique recipes can really drive you batty. Directions, 200 years ago, were often vague at best, because it was assumed (rightfully so) that the reader had a basic cooking gestalt.
A lot of times ingredient amounts were phrased "add some X." Some. Now there's a precise measurement. Or how about "a wineglass full."
My favorite is "cook til enough." Always reminds me when I was first teaching Friend Wife how to cook, and she'd ask how long to cook something. I'd say, "until it's done." Yeah, she'd whine, but how do you know when it's done? I can imagine a teenage girl, back around 1712, asking her mother, "yeah, but how do you know when it's enough?"
The real danger, when adapting recipes, is understanding that the same measurement often meant different things. For instance, a British gil is 1/5 of a cup. An American gil is 1/4 cup. Sometimes that can make a big difference in the final result. Similarly, a British teaspoon, tablespoon, etc. means level, whereas American spoonsfull traditional were rounded.
Oyster loaves really are delicious, but rather rich. I usually reserve them as a first course for that reason.
As should be obvious, the crumb, when returned to the pot, becomes the thickening agent. A modern version of these would be oysters vol a vent (sp?), which basically uses a roux-thickened white sauce to accomplish the same thing.
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 296
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:56 pm
Post subject:
Fascinating - I knew that many Victorian Christmas traditions are still observed (and that they were a combination of English and German customs) but wasn't aware that some of the dishes had much older antecedents. Most of the menu looks familiar to me - was initially perplexed by the oyster loaves, but they do indeed sound like the ancestors of oyster vol-au-vent (or feuilletes d'huitre - I wonder if they originated in France or England?).
KYH - talking of culinary history books published by museums, are you familiar with Gillian Riley's A Feast for the Eyes, published by the National Gallery in London? It covers the eras and civilisations represented in the gallery's collection (Quattrocento Florence, the Dutch Republic in the 17th century, 18th-century Venice, 19th-century Paris etc.) and is a wonderful read.
I must confess, though, to being mystified by the last item on that Christmas menu. What is shrub??
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:15 pm
Post subject:
I'm familiar with the Gillian Riley book, Rachael. But my area of interest is 17th & 18th American cookery, and the flanking years, so didn't pay much attention to it.
Shrub is a sweet punch, very popular with Victorian ladies, because they could drink it without appearing to imbibe. One contemporary observer described it as "dangerously delicious."
A typical recipe would be this one, from Anne Corbett's
The English Housekeeper,
written in 1851:
To 1 quart of strained orange juice, put 2 lbs. loaf sugar, and 9 pints of rum or brandy; also the peels of half the oranges. Let it stand one night, then strain, pour into a cask, and shake it four times a day for four days. Let it stand till fine, then bottle it.
Lorna Sass suggests it likely that oranges were less sweet in those days, and today we would cut back on the sugar. But I don't think that's 100% true. The oranges in Victorian England likely came from Spain, and would have been the equivilent of today's Sevilles.
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Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 236
Location: Madison, WI
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:42 pm
Post subject:
I wonder if they just liked it sweeter in those days. On the other hand, with 9 pints of brandy, perhaps the shrub wasn't and sweeter than today's liqueurs. I wonder if it tasted somewhat like Cointreau or Grand Marnier?
IT is interesting because I came across a concentrate for making "shrub" in a gourmet store a few years ago, and as I remember it was blueberries preserved in vinegar. There was no mention of adding anything alcoholic, and when I mixed it with water it was kind of tart, like unsweetened cranberry juice.
I am really enjoying all of the culinary history. I have a question, however, for KY Heirloomer. Why were oysters so popular across the U.S. in areas far from the coasts before rapid transportation. Were they canned or bottled? Do you know? I grew up in the Midwest and our idea of "seafood" was mostly frozen fish sticks, canned tuna, and Lake Trout which seems to have disappeared. I am not that young but also not in the nursing home age group or anything. I think I have to look into this-- especially as I have a piece of writing due. I sense procrastination coming on!
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Joined: 11 Nov 2007
Posts: 236
Location: Madison, WI
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:55 am
Post subject: I figured it out!
I found out why people were eating oysters for Christmas in parts of the U.S. far from the sea. Apparently before refrigerated transport, oysters were transported, live, in barrels of seawater. However, they could only be transported in cool months. At first they carried them in horse drawn wagons, and then they got "rapid" transport-- steam powered trains. In summer months, oysters were unavailable because they would die and spoil in the heat on the trip inland. Who would have thought it? I never would have thought about this without the posts on 19th century Christmas.
Dory (Only once this time!)
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Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 1855
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:32 pm
Post subject:
Fascinating Dory. Yet (and any other Canadians out there can tell me I'm wrong) I don't recall oysters being part of the Christmas traditions here in either the English or French cultures.
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:41 am
Post subject:
Very strange, David. Oysters have been part of the British Christmas celebration at least since the Middle Ages. And one would presume, given their penchant fot the bivalves, that it would be part of the French heritage as well.
Oysters In Gravy (oyster stew) was pretty much a fast-day staple in well to do Medieval households, including Christmas season fast days (of which there were many). Here's one such recipe:
Oystres En Gravey
Take gode Mylke of Almaundys (almond milk), and drawe it wyth Wyne an gode Fysshe brothe, an sette it on the fyre, & let boyle; & caste ther0to Clowes, Maces, Sugre an powder Gynere, an a fewe parboyled Oynonys y-mynsyd (minced onions). Than take fayre Oystres, & parboyle hem in fayre Water, & caste hem there to, an lete hem boyle to-gederys; & thanne serve hem forth
Definately not your mother's oyster stew. But cloves, mace, cinnamon, ginger---spicies we now think of as more suitable for baked goods and desserts---were all used in savory dishes right through the 18th century.
Cajuns love oysters, and they're always a part of Yuletide feasts in the swamp country. Hard to believe that their love of them didn't develop until the removal. Given that oysters were such a big part of New England cuisine, I can't imagine Acadia being much different.
I spent one Christmas in Cajun country, duck hunting. Part of the week was spent out in the swamps, but Christmas itself was spent with a family. Among the uses of oysters that week:
Oysters raw on the half-shell; fried oysters; oysters in a gumbo; oyster & cornbread dressing for the turkey, and an incredible dish of oysters in cream sauce flavored with tasso and served over pasta.
How many of those are traditional Christmas dishes depondent sayeth not.
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Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 1196
Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:58 am
Post subject:
Oysters have always been part of my family's Christmas celebration. My uncle was an oyster farmer and so we always had freshly opened oysters on the shell. When we celebrated Christmas here in Adelaide, he would fly a sack of oysters still in the shell over, then open them for us.
Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness
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Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Posts: 932
Location: England
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:35 pm
Post subject:
Oysters have been part of the British Christmas celebration at least since the Middle Ages.
Have been, but I doubt that now, except in the posher houses and then not for tradition, but for their being food of the rich. These days, British Christmas food varies depending on the family and where they are from.
My Indian mum used to do a roast capon with the usual veggies, but occasionally she would put a South Indian twist on the capon. A Coorg spice mix or something similar for example.
Confusion comes fitted as standard.
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Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 1855
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:34 pm
Post subject:
Yes, very interesting that!! I know France is joyfully scooping and slurping the lovely critters at Christmas time--and one would think that if the Cajuns are oyster happy then the Acadians from whence they came would be as well---and indeed I've done more research and in the past oyster stew was a Christmas Eve tradition which, like so many traditions has gone by the wayside for most. (And no I didn't just ask Benoit about his childhood memories!! Although his hometown it turns out has an oyster museum--a room at the back of a store--but a museum nonetheless) Oysters do show up in some reveillon menus in Quebec but as just one of many options. Cross the border here into Upper Canada and the Franco-Ontarienne would not have had easy access to seafood--traditionally. I spent most of my life on the Prairies, a thousand miles from salt water so my memories are coloured by that of course. Seafood was an exception at any time! More the land of the perogie than anything else!
While my very English grandmother would fry up a mess of oysters for breakfast (they lived near Vancouver BC so lots of access to seafoods) they weren't part of Christmas in any form. I'm wondering if there is an East/West split on this???
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!
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Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 552
Location: Central Kentucky
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:03 pm
Post subject:
Wouldn't surprise me if there was an east/west split on this, David. At least until the latter part of the 19th century, when rail transport made carrying oysters practical.
That said, the first oyster-stuffed turkey I ever had was in the upper midwest. Of course, that was later 20th century, and I have no idea whether there was an old tradition there, or just something that family did.
>Have been, but I doubt that now, except in the posher houses and then not for tradition, but for their being food of the rich. These days, British Christmas food varies depending on the family and where they are from. <
The same could be said for North America, Griffin. Oysters are very expensive.
But we've been talking about historical traditions, and until about the middle of the 20th century, oysters were plentiful, and inexpensive. In fact, a lot of what are now posh foods---oysters, lobster, Atlantic salmon---were so common in the 17-19 centuries that they were given to servents. Laws had to be passed limiting how many times a week they could be used that way.
Indeed, Atlantic salmon were so plentiful they were harvested with pitchforks.
Oysters don't show up on Victorian menus because, due to their sexual connotations, they were not considered proper for genteel society. But you can bet barrels of them were consumed at men's clubs and the like. Meanwhile if you've ever seen the movie Tom Jones, that incredible eating scene between Tom and his mother does, indeed, include oysters. Of course, neither of them were members of the Ton.
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http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=177269&hubname=Sources tell TSN that the Philadelphia Flyers have signed Vancouver Canucks restricted free agent forward Ryan Kesler to an offer sheet. The deal would be worth $1.9 million for one season.
The Vancouver Canucks have the right to match this offer, however should they choose to walk away for financial reasons, the compensation paid to the Canucks for the Flyers manouever will be a 2nd round draft pick.
In 82 games with the Canucks last season, the 22-year-old forward tallied ten goals, 13 assists and 79 penalty minutes.
Wow. Bobby Clarke and his shady tactics. Yes it's perfectly within the rules, but there has been an unwritten rule amongst GM's that if you don't go after our RFA's that we won't go after yours. Kesler at $1.9M is a joke. Grossly overpaid.
I hope Nonis works out a trade because this is rediculous.