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In 1997 his trademark black and white makeup and black baseball bat helped draw one of the largest Pay-Per-View audiences in history. Even though millions know who Sting is, some people still confuse him with a certain famous rock star.
SCOTT ROSS: First of all, I want to get this out of the way – I love your [the rock star Sting] music.
STEVE BORDEN (professional wrestler "Sting"): Did you enjoy the years that I was with the Police, or do you like me better solo?
SCOTT ROSS: I understood you were with the police.
STEVE BORDEN: I was with the police a couple of times.
SCOTT ROSS: Were you? You want to talk about it?
STEVE BORDEN: Not right now. (laughs)
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Steve grew up in southern California. He was strong and athletic and eventually developed a passion for bodybuilding. That's where Steve's pro wrestling career began. A stranger walked into the gym one day and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
STEVE BORDEN: He had these three big guys. They were trying to break into pro wrestling, and they were looking for a fourth guy. They tried to recruit for a couple of weeks, couldn't come up with anybody, and finally said, 'What about you?'
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Steve said yes, and after ten punishing weeks at training camp, he hit the wrestling circuit.
STEVE BORDEN: My original character when I first started was 'Flash Borden.'
SCOTT ROSS: Flash Borden?
STEVE BORDEN: Flash Borden! (laughs)
ROSS (reporting): Steve also married his longtime girlfriend,
Sue, at the start of his career. It was tough for the young couple, but
despite years of travel and measly paychecks with no big breaks, Sue believed
it was just a matter of time before her husband hit it big.
SUE BORDEN: I knew he was so close to being successful. The fans -- it was undeniable. We'd go to the matches, and I could see their response to him. His charisma was so apparent. I just knew he was this close to making it.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Then in 1988, Sue's faith in Steve paid off. Steve had changed his name to Sting. In his first big match, Sting wrestled Rick Flair live on television. He became popular on the world championship wrestling circuit, but his career shot through the roof in 1997 when Sting wrestled Hulk Hogan on Pay-Per-View. Although things were great for them financially, Steve's constant traveling put a strain on the marriage.
STEVE BORDEN: I had made it to the top, but now my marriage was really starting to fail. Sue and I were like two ships passing in the night. She had a life, I had a life. But now we had two boys, two young boys. I was losing control over every part of my life.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Steve coped with his struggles by turning to pills and alcohol.
STEVE BORDEN: I told her I was taking prescription drugs. I was taking pain killers, I was taking muscle relaxers, and I was drinking alcohol. She said, 'How long you been doing this?' And I told her, 'It's been a couple of years now.'
SUE BORDEN: I thought that he should go into rehab, and he just vehemently said, 'No, no. I don't need that. I don't need to go into rehab.'
STEVE BORDEN: I begged and pleaded with her. I said, 'Look. I'll stop. I'll stop.' And I couldn't do it. About 30 days went by, and things really started to go downhill.
SUE BORDEN: I thought, I don't know what else to do. He won't go to rehab. He's not stopping. I can't live like this.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Steve was desperate for a change. For years his brother had been telling him about God's love for him. Steve finally decided it was time to listen. One August evening in 1998, he gave up running and turned to God for help.
STEVE BORDEN: I said, 'I cannot do this on my own. I need You to come save my life, save my marriage, because it's out of control.' And I invited Him to come and live in me. I told Him, 'I'm going to live my life for You from this day forward.'
SUE BORDEN: All of a sudden, he was just a 180-degree, completely different man from that moment of confessing to me the life that he had led all those years.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): As Sue witnessed the dramatic changes in Steve, she knew she needed to change, too.
SUE BORDEN: Just seeing what happened to my husband, I wanted that so desperately. It was a couple of months after he had given his life to the Lord that I truly surrendered. I had grown up in the church, but I never had a relationship with Jesus Christ. It wasn't the miracle that he experienced, the overnight, but I've had a slow and steady growth and it's been just unbelievable for our marriage, for our children. We have harmony in our home. Our children see it in us. The tension isn't there anymore. It has just been wonderful.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Steve's marriage was better than it had ever been. But the job he'd lived and breathed for more than a decade was getting too raunchy for Steve and he wanted out. When promoter Vince McMahon bought the company Steve worked for, God provided his way out.
STEVE BORDEN: Vince bought our company, and wrestling ended for me like that. I had a contract that was not assumable to anyone other than another Ted Turner entity.
SCOTT ROSS: And that was it? You walked away?
STEVE BORDEN: I walked away.
SCOTT ROSS: And now there's a movie?
STEVE BORDEN: Now there's a movie.
SCOTT ROSS (reporting): Sting: Moment of Truth is Steve's story -- his struggles with despair and addiction despite all his fame and wealth, but ultimately, it's the story of how God saved his family.
STEVE BORDEN: Man, I'll tell you what. We've experienced miracles one after another, the first one being Gracie. She's 4 now.
SCOTT ROSS: Your daughter?
BORDEN: Yeah. When we thought that maybe the time clock had ticked
too many times, the biological one, or God said, no, you know what? If
I want you to have a baby, if you want one, I'll give you one. And
He says, 'You follow me and I'll give you the desires of your heart.'
And, man, before we knew it, we had Gracie. So that was one of the first
miracles that we had. He's done so many things in our life and in
our marriage. We're raising our children now in the Lord, all three
of our kids, and restoration and reconciliation has taken place.
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.


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Being a Commerce Texas First Time Homebuyer makes you have to consider your options before you buy. The first thing you will need to consider is what your long-term goals are with being a home owner and how your goals fit in with that plan. One goal could be to stop paying rent that just increases after every lease you renew.
Buying your own home first is one of the happiest times of your life! However, a lot of paperwork and time goes into it and finding a lender with great reviews will ease much of the stress. But, the satisfaction you get from your first home closing is something you will never forget!
The benefits of being a Commerce Texas First Time Homebuyer greatly outweighs renting for the following reasons:
- Greater privacy.
- Homes typically increase in value the older they are.
- You build equity for the future.
- Your costs are predictable and more stable than renting because homes are based on a fixed-rate mortgage (Also known as FRM, which is a mortgage loan where the interest rate on the note remains the same throughout the term of the loan, as opposed to loans where the interest rate may adjust or "float").
- Good for building equity and making an investment.
When you are determining what type of home you want to buy, you must first see what type of loan you qualify for and for what price. Before you shop, it's VERY important to get an idea of how much a lender will actually be willing to loan to you.
When you are determining if you are qualified for a certain loan to be a Commerce Texas First Time Homebuyer a lender will determine this:
- What your current debt is (how much you owe in car payments, credit cards, student loans
- What your credit score is. Generally, lenders want you to have a credit score of about 640 or higher to get pre-qualified for a home loan.
- What your down payment on the loan will be and what you can afford to pay each month.
Use the HUD site below to learn more about being a First Time Home Buyer :
To get pre-qualified to purchase your home, you will need to give the lender the following documents:
- Most recent one month of pay stubs
- Most recent two months of bank statements for all checking and savings accounts , all pages even if they are blank
- Most recent retirement statements
- Full copies of last 2 years tax returns, all pages and schedules
- Last 2 years W-2's and 1099's
- Copy of DL and SS card
Here are some do's and don'ts during the process when purchasing a home:
Pay all debts on time.
Maintain the status quo.
Save as much as possible, if needed.
Deposit pay checks into your bank account .
Take on new debt .
Change jobs.
Let anyone pull your credit.
Deposit cash into your bank account.
Get married or divorced.
Sell anything.
Open new accounts.
Move money around.
Close credit accounts.
Change your work position or the way that you are paid.
To get started, please call Joy Bates with the Legacy Group of Cross Country Mortgage at 817-860-3232, email Joy: firstname.lastname@example.com or visit our website; http://legacyfinancial.com or text at 817-913-5556.

subset: commoncrawl


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"The next time you lose heart and you can't bear to experience what you're feeling, you might recall this instruction: change the way you see it and lean in. Instead of blaming our discomfort on outer circumstances or on our own weakness, we can choose to stay present and awake to our experience, not rejecting it, not grasping it, not buying the stories that we relentlessly tell ourselves. This is priceless advice that addresses the true cause of suffering—yours, mine, and that of all beings."
— Pema Chödrön
Image: Sunset by Sunny via Flickr


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This is the first of 11 posts about the challenges that business leaders will face in 2011. (Government and non-profit leaders will face some but not all of these.)
Sales representatives get discouraged in a recession. They brighten up when the economy recovers, but the recovery has been so sluggish that there is still discouragement afloat. Sales staffs may have been reduced, and sales reps are spending too much time taking orders from repeat customers. Their cold calling or warm calling has been generally unsuccessful, so they have stopped outbound calling. The only bright spot: the paper clips in their desk drawers are perfectly sorted. What should a manager do?
First, review the sales reports. Are your people really calling on the folks they should be calling on, at the right frequency? If Jones is doing business with a competitor, and you have so far been unsuccessful at getting business from him, you probably have some idea of how frequently you should touch base with him. You don't want to waste your time or his, but you want him to know that any time he becomes dissatisfied with his current supplier, you'd like his business. Maybe you contact him quarterly, maybe annually. I'll let you make that judgment, but here's something you should be adamant about: whatever frequency of contact is set, make sure it is carried out religiously.
Second, perfunctory calls are another temptation in a weak sales environment. Sales guru Kathy Maixner says,
"I tell my clients to not simply 'check in' to see if something has changed with the prospect's current relationship with his/her vendor, but rather to offer something meaningful, regardless of whether they get the business or not. Bottom line: We all want to be remembered for the RIGHT reasons."
Second, determine whether each sales rep has the right skill set needed for the current environment. The skills that might have worked in the boom are not necessarily the skills that will work today. For example, the boom-time car salesman was all about after-market accessories and providing financing. Today more customers are price conscious and trying to minimize their debt. You may need to bring in a new coach to help your people fit their selling style to today's economic environment.
Finally, motivation is vital. It does not work to say, "She's a sales professional; I don't have to do anything except sign the paycheck." Incentive programs as well as slaps on the back are vital to most successful sales programs.
Read the entire series: 11 Business Challenges in 2011


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Saturday, June 11, 2011
Addicted to the Tablet
It wasn't that I had forgotten to take my medication that was troubling me, it was that I didn't have my Galaxy Tab in my handbag. If I had a sudden urge for information or needed to seek a solution to a problem I wouldn't have my tablet to help me and would have to resort to using the tiny screen and keyboard on my mobile 'phone.
It seems that each day I find a new use or discover a new app for my Tablet. Since it's nearly four weeks since my last post about the tab, Genealogy True Confessions: I take the tablet to bed , I thought it time to report on it once more. I was also prompted by a comment on that last post this morning from Caroline Gurney.
I have found that notetaking at genealogy events on the Tab is quite easy. I can easily rest the tab in the palm of one hand and, using a one-finger method, type decent notes. I suspect that this would be difficult with a larger 10" tab, the 7' format of my smaller unit makes this possible. Early on I made a booboo and used the Tab's Memo app for notetaking but, on returning home, found it difficult to transfer the notes to another format. It can be done but not with ease. Next I tried using the Google Docs app to take notes and this worked well. I then hit a venue where the reception was patchy and I could not connect to open a new Google Doc.
In bed that evening I decided to go to the Android Marketplace to see what I could find. I downloaded a couple of note-taking apps but wasn't happy with them then I found GDocs Note, a simple app that can be used to record notes without an internet connection. When connected it syncs all notes to a single Google Docs folder. I have used this at two locations (where I did have a connection and was able to syc on the go), it is simple, basic and perfect for my needs. The ability to sync when connected allows one to have a backed up file.
At a non-genealogy function the other day someone expressed an interest in one line on my family tree. I was able to whip the Tab out of my handbag, connect to the family site and seek the desired information. My camera was missing from my handbag when I wanted to snap a photo of Joyce Ryerson for a blog post. The photo I was able to take on the Tab in difficult light was quite acceptable for a blog post.
Some other savvy shoppers, Shelley from Twigs of Yore, Tanya Honey from My Genealogy Adventure and one of my daughters have also become Galaxy Girls. I'm hoping these youngsters will teach me a few more tricks to do with my toy.
eBay has been a source of some super treasures for me. The eBay app that I have downloaded to the Tab allows me to find and bid on genealogy books and other bits wherever I am. If someone recommends a book in a meeting I can quickly see if there is one available on eBay. I can't say that Mr Geniaus is pleased that I now have even more ready access to more great buys.
If I am in a library or bookshop I can use the LibraryThing app to scan the barcode of a book I want to read or reference and add it straight to my LibraryThing Collection. When I am reading a document that quotes measurements in feet, inches and furlongs I use the ConvertUnits app to convert measurements to more meaningful metric.
I often come across a term, person or place I don't know. The Wikipedia app on my Tab gives me instant access to that 21st century reference tool. If I don't get an answer there I can use the Firefox app to search the internet or the Gmail or Calendar app to write myself a reminder to chase up an answer.
Blogger, Hootsuite and AVG Antivirus are other apps that I have recently installed but am yet to explore. I am a fan of the Tweetcaster app for tweeting. I like the free Voice Recorder app that I downloaded and may find it useful in an emergency. However if I use this at an event I will be preculded from notetaking so I will continue to use my digital voice recorder for this purpose.
I really can get by without my Tab but having it at hand makes life a whole lot easier.
6 comments:
- Greta Koehl said...
Glad to see this post summing up so many different ways to use a tablet - I am leaning toward getting one before I get a smart phone (long story about why I still have a "dumb phone") and instead of getting a reader (yeah, I'll be taking my tablet to bed, too).
- June 12, 2011 at 2:22 AM
- Sharon said...
See if there is an app called soundnote. I use this on my iPad and can record and take notes. It is brilliant. Later you can tap on a word and it takes you to the exact part of the recording.
- June 12, 2011 at 7:08 AM
- Tanya Honey said...
I enjoyed this Jill, and it has made me think about what I have and haven't found useful on my tablet. Am just putting a post together on what I've been using on it. It's great to hear from others what apps are worth a go.
- June 13, 2011 at 3:04 PM
- GeniAus said...
Greta, The tablet is the way to go.
Will look out for Soundnote, Sharon.
Tanya, can't wait to see what you have to say. - June 13, 2011 at 3:18 PM
- Shelley Crawford said...
My reply is coming! Typing away...
- June 13, 2011 at 8:32 PM
- Megthered said...
Just found this blog post. I went looking because I just got a Galaxy Note 10.1 and want to learn how this will help my research. I have a 7 in. tablet but old eyes forced me to a larger screen. I have just been playing with it, but you have pointed me in the
right direction.
- September 26, 2012 at 12:11 AM


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About This Handicraft
SIMPLE + SWEET ! You can never have enough storage.
Our Minimalistic Amari Round Bowls are available in four sizes, they are useful in every room of the home.
Each product is designed and curated by KORISSA, sustainably handmade by Fair Trade artisans in Bangladesh.
Dimensions & More Details
Size: Approximately
- (XL) 4"tall x 9"round
- (L) 3.5"tall x 8"round
- (M) 3.25""tall x 7.5"round
- (S) 2.75"tall x 6.5"round - Material: Jute
- Color: Off-White with Black stitch
- Due to the handcrafted nature, slight variation will occur in design, color, and size.
How to Care for This Item
- Dust or vacuum your basket on a regular basis, wiping with a damp cloth if necessary.
- Do not rub stains or spills from your basket as this may spread the stain and loosen the jute fibers.
- Be sure to dry properly after water damage.
- Be sure to keep out of direct sunlight, or color can change and fade.


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There was a funny old piece in the Guardian yesterday that was of the opinion that household appliances like toasters and washing machines are getting far too complicated, leaving us baffled, bamboozled and befuddled as to how to use them. This is clearly errant nonsense, in my most humble of opinions.
Unlike the author of the piece, I have far more faith in the average consumer's ability to comprehend that, for example, the Breville VTT377 4 Slice Toaster's "high lift" feature is just that – the fact that when you want to get your toast out it lifts it slightly higher, so that you don't have to burn your fingers trying to retrieve a smaller piece of toast.
"Variable browning" is scoffed at as if it's some marketing mumbo jumbo, when in fact it just means you can alter how brown you want your toast. Get out of here – the brownness of your toast is variable? How over-complicated! As for the 'reheat' and 'defrost' functions, how dare anyone want to toast some frozen bread, or warm up but not burn some toast they made earlier? Heresy!
Much is made of the complexity of washing machines, which now have a supposedly bewildering array of programs. The author bemoans the fact that machines now have, "duvet", "sports", "bed and bath", "reduced creases", "allergy" and "freshen up" cycles. If this is terribly complicated for the average punter, I'm clearly missing something. The duvet cycle is for when you need to wash a duvet. Sports would be for sports gear, bed and bath is for bedding and towels, reduced creases is for stuff that'll need an iron, and "freshen up" uses steam instead of water to take creases out of clean or very lightly-soiled items (depending on the exact model, natch).
None of this is exactly rocket science. It doesn't take a genius to think to turn the dial to "duvet" if they have just stuffed a duvet in it. Or to turn it to "Cottons 30 degrees" if they want to wash some cottons at 30 degrees, for that matter.
Many of those who left comments are unconvinced. Some bemoaned the fact that washing machines used to have only three dials, for temperature, load and spin speed. "When this needed replacing the range of wash options available on the new machines was mind boggling," according to a commenter called Thegecko. But let's just think about that. Let's say there were nine temperature options on one dial, two load settings on another, and five spin speeds on the third. How many possible combinations are there? 90, by my (I admit pretty rusty) maths. Makes the number of programs on a modern machine look positively sparse. Also, if I know little about laundry, where do I set each of those three dials to wash all my woolly cardies? On a modern machine, I would simply turn the dial to 'woolens'. Which is really the simpler system?
Similarly, while an old toaster only had one knob, that one knob would get a lot of use. You'd forever be fiddling about with it depending on the thickness of the bread, whether it was frozen or not, whether you were reheating toast and so on. Would you remember where on the one dial is best for all of these? Or would it be easier to hit a 'frozen' or 'reheat' button and let the toaster do the rest?
The Bosch TWK8631GB Styline Kettle is in trouble too, for its ability to, "Heat water to your choice of 70°C (white tea), 80°C (green tea), 90°C (hot chocolate or coffee) or a familiar 100°C (boiling)." That's right, there are four water temperature settings. How terribly, er, over-complicated. If you only ever want it boiling then – get this – you have to press 'boil' each and every time. Almost like, you know, having to press a single switch on a 'traditional' kettle.
Is it wrong for appliances to get more sophisticated, rather than less so? If you look at this kettle, it's got a number of features many people might find useful. It has a large 1.5L capacity. The heating element is concealed, which reduces limescale build-up. It has a rapid-boil function for when you're in a rush. A keep-warm function can keep the water at the desired temperature for up to 30 minutes. There is a limescale filter so the spout pours cleanly. In fact, I quite want one of these kettles (Bosch, I hope you are reading this). At £40 it's practically a steal.
Also accused of being over-complicated is the humble vacuum cleaner. Take the Vax Zoom Family and Pet Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner, about which the article decries: "The ridiculous name aside, this £150 monument to excessive disposable income includes a "crevice tool", "dusting brush", "turbo tool", "stretch hose" and "flexi crevice tool". You know, for cleaning your flexi-crevices. Which, obviously, aren't a thing [sic]." I personally wouldn't spend £150 on a vacuum cleaner either. But to say that the various flexible hoses and attachments are terribly complicated seems a bit of a stretch. It doesn't require someone with a massive brain to put a small brush on the end of a plastic hose when they want to vacuum a narrow gap, whether Vax chooses to call it a crevice tool or not.
Various experts are drawn on to talk about 'function inflation' and 'setting creep'. The iPod is held up as a shining example of making complicated things simple, and yet early iPod menu systems, as well as early versions of iTunes, were actually rather complicated. According to Amplicate, 60 per cent of a sample of over 75,000 consumers hate iTunes to this day. Even now, negotiating iTunes and its integration with the cloud and your various devices is not always a simple task – certainly not as simple as turning a dial to "duvet" when you load a sodding duvet into a washing machine.
The thing is, some appliances, gadgets and electronics are really badly designed. The issue isn't the number of functions, it's how well complexity is hidden from the user. Most people only use a fraction of the features and functions of Microsoft Word, but my five year-old can still create and save a basic document. You can bemoan the fact that you can no longer repair your "overly-complex" car all you like, but do you really want to go back to the reliability of a Hillman Imp, and hand back your air conditioning, ABS, traction control, engine management systems and a whole range of safety features? I wouldn't. Want a toaster with only one button? Fine, you can still buy one. But don't presume that the rest of us are too stupid to know the difference between frozen bread and toast.


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Grants for used EVs needed to tackle "green gap" in vehicle uptake
The UK Government has been urged to extend its plug-in car grant (PiCG) to cover second-hand electric vehicles or risk many motorists being priced out of the shift to zero-emissions vehicles.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated that the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030, and the Government has thrown its weight behind a shift to electric vehicles to cut the country's CO2 emissions.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHowever, automotive specialist Halfords has warned that current incentives around EVs are not sufficient for many households and a "green gap" between those who can afford EVs and those who can't is opening up across the country.
The cheapest electric cars start at around £18,000 including PiCG for a Smart ForTwo or Seat Mii city car. However, most family-sized cars with longer ranges are around £30,000 and upwards.
According to a poll of drivers by Halfords, the cost of electric cars remains the main barrier for two-thirds of motorists.
While sales of new EVs are rising rapidly Halfords Autocentre's managing director Andy Randall said that the emerging second-hand EV market needs more help to encourage more motorists to choose a used EV over petrol or diesel.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe suggested the UK Government could follow Scotland's lead and offer interest-free loans for buyers of used electric cars. Alternatively, he said the Government could extend the current plug-in car grant, which offers £3,000 of the list price of brand-new EVs, and offer the same contribution to used car purchases.
Around 200,000 alternative fuel cars - electric and hybrid - have been bought with help from the PiCG, including 100,000 zero-emission vehicles.
"Our research indicates that a more targeted approach to EV incentives may be required if the whole country is to join the green transport revolution." said Mr Randall.
"We believe this should include financial support for second-hand EV purchases, in the form of interest-free loans or grants, and a renewed focus from central government on targeting the ongoing EV charging infrastructure rollout in low-demand areas. This is crucial if we are to reach the ambitious 2030 target for the end of petrol and diesel vehicle sales."
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMr Randalls comments come after a report commissioned by Halfords found different parts of the country are adopting electric vehicles at dramatically contrasting rates.
The analysis found that the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Barnet, and the cities of Edinburgh and Brighton have the highest adoption rates of privately owned electric and hybrid vehicles in the UK while Kingston upon Hull, Peterborough and Plymouth have the lowest.
It also found a connection between household income and electric vehicle adoption. Areas with higher average household incomes had higher adoption rates and in areas with a higher proportion of higher income households the difference was even more pronounced.


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Chicxulub Asteroid Impact: The Dino-Killer That Scientists Laughed At
The main culprit behind the end of the dinosaurs is now widely accepted to be an extraterrestrial collision of epic proportions, one that left behind the gargantuan crater of Chicxulub at Mexico. Evidence for this theory grows more ironclad over time – yet only 30 years ago it was often thought to be nonsense.
It took a long battle to win many scientists over, researchers say. One of those researchers is University of California at Berkeley geologist Walter Alvarez, who recalls the resistance to his team's claim that such a major change could happen abruptly instead of gradually.
This reasoned skepticism "is exactly what should happen in science," Alvarez told SPACE.com. "Radical new ideas must be challenged and tested, and that really happened extensively with this idea."
Dinosaurs ruled the planet for a staggering 135 million years. Their age came to a dramatic end about 65 million years ago in the most recent and most familiar mass extinction — the end-Cretaceous or Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, often known as the K-T boundary. But the Chicxulub asteroid impact scenario was not immediately accepted when it was proposed.
The notion that a cosmic impact from an asteroid or comet triggered this mass extinction began with the discovery of a layer of clay enriched with iridium. This metal is rare on Earth's surface but relatively common in space rocks. Given this "iridium anomaly," the father-son duo of Luis and Walter Alvarez, along with Frank Asaro and Helen Michel, proposed in 1980 that an extraterrestrial collision finished the age of dinosaurs. The elder Alvarez was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist; Asaro and Michel are nuclear chemists.
"It flew in the face of the position that geologists and paleontologists at the time had for gradual explanations for everything that happened in the Earth's past, a position that went by the name of uniformitarianism," said Walter Alvarez. "The notion that this mass extinction was caused by an impact, or even the notion that there was a sudden mass extinction, raised a lot of dispute at the time, and people strongly challenged the idea." [Asteroid Impacts Bring Fire and Life (Video)]
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Geochronologist Paul Renne, director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center in California, recalled that he was "very skeptical. I was an undergraduate at Berkeley at the time, where you had the Alvarez father-and-son team, so there was probably a major incentive to accept this idea as really cool, but I thought it was really far out and nonsense, to be honest."
Throughout the '80s and '90s, different lines of investigation accumulated evidence that an extraterrestrial impact really did kill off dinosaurs.
"I was skeptical at first, but I soon started finding fairly dramatic evidence of plant extinction at the boundary," paleontologist Kirk Johnson at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science told SPACE.com.
Geophysicist Sean Gulick at the University of Texas at Austin noted "the size of the iridium anomaly was such that it was hard to argue that it was anything else but an extraterrestrial impact. But the concept seemed so fantastical that it took a long time for the scientific community to come around."
Then, in 1991, researchers found evidence that the giant crater near the town of Chicxulub (pronounced CHEEK-she-loob) in Mexico came into being about the time of the mass extinction. The explosion that created the crater, which is more than 110 miles (180 kilometers) wide, likely involved a hit from an object about 6 miles (10 km) across. The crash would have released as much energy as 100 trillion tons of TNT, or beyond a billion times the power of the atom bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
"When that crater was found, for most geologists that wrapped up the question of whether an impact was involved in the mass extinction," Alvarez said.
Gulick agreed. "Once the crater at Chicxulub was recognized for what it was, it became the smoking gun for the idea that an extraterrestrial impact caused the mass extinction," Gulick told SPACE.com. [Asteroid Impact Threat Explained by NASA's Don Yeomans (Video)]
Big dino-killer: Asteroid or volcano
Still, not everyone believes the Chicxulub impact was behind the mass extinction. For instance, geologist Gerta Keller at Princeton University maintains the explosion took place 300,000 years before the end-Cretaceous extinction. Some researchers have explored other possible culprits for the disaster, including other impact sites, such as the controversial Shiva crater in India, or even massive volcanic eruptions, such as those creating the Deccan Flats in India.
However, Renne and his colleagues have now discovered the Chicxulubimpact and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event happened no more than 33,000 years apart. These new findings, appearing in the Feb. 8 issue of the journal Science, support the idea that the extraterrestrial collision dealt the age of dinosaurs its death blow.
"I've been involved in a lot of research that's explored huge correlations between mass extinctions and massive volcanism, not impacts, so I've really come at the idea of a cosmic impact from the outside," Renne said.
"A few people have said the crater was the wrong age, but I think these new findings very strongly settle that question," Alvarez said.
Alvarez, who is the author of "T. Rex and the Crater of Doom," acknowledges that the cosmic impact may not have been the sole cause of the mass extinction.
"There were huge volcanic eruptions at the Deccan Flats to have taken place over a period of something like a half-million years about when the mass extinction did, so volcanism may have something to do with it as well," Alvarez said.
In any case, "we now have a completely different view of how the Earth works in terms of gradual changes versus catastrophic changes," Alvarez said. "I think in 1980, the general view was that all changes in Earth's past were gradual, and that if you were thinking about catastrophic ones, you were not being catastrophic. I still think that most changes in Earth's history were gradual, but when good strong evidence comes for a catastrophic event, we'll now accept it."
Future research can drill right into the heart of the crater "to study the process of what happens when you have an extremely large impact on Earth," Gulick said. "Maybe we can learn more about how this particular impact helped result in the extinction of 75 percent of all species on Earth."
This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to Live Science. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.


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The national dose banding tables are to be used by hospital trust pharmacy teams to ensure a standard approach to dose banding of chemotherapy across all hospital trusts.


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Jacksonville, FL. Blues Guitarist Davy Knowles – dubbed the "modern-day Blues Man" has accomplished a lifetime of achievements at just 30 years old. His music was selected to broadcast from Mission Control into space on the International Space Station. He has shared the stage and/or played alongside with countless legends including Joe Bonamassa, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Kid Rock, Joe Satriani, Warren Hayes, Jeff Beck, Chickenfoot, Sammy Hagar, Peter Frampton, The Grateful Dead and more. He was on the bill on Bonamassa's prestigious "Keeping The Blues Alive at Sea II" cruise. He produced and released a documentary called "Island Bound" featuring Martin Simpson, Richard Thompson and Peter Frampton. He was named a top 10 modern blues artist by Gibson Guitars. He appeared on CBS Morning Show and Jimmy Kimmel. He's had 3 top-5 Billboard Blues charted albums.
AND NOW, he has yet another amazing accomplishment to add to the list. Davy Knowles's new fully-interactive 3-D, 360/Virtual Reality concert experience app developed by 1:9 Technology was released this week. The app offers music fans the ability to watch, on demand, the entire Davy Knowles show recorded in 360 ° at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT.
A truly unique experience, the app can be used with google cardboard in 3-D 360 ° – or without in 2-D 360 °. A truly interactive experience, the user has the ability to select individual songs, or to watch a behind-the-scenes interview with the artist, allowing the user to be completely immersed in the experience. In app controls include Play, Pause, Return Home, or move to a particular spot in the video, giving full control to the user. For those who do not own a Google Cardboard headset or prefer to watch in 2-D 360 ° on their mobile device, a non-Virtual Reality mode option is available from the app's home screen.
To get a peek of the app, click the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=161ECou2sLE
1:9 Technology's CEO, Tim Hogg said on the release: "There truly is nothing like this available on the market today. It's exciting to be at the forefront of the future of Virtual Reality in the entertainment industry." It will also be available for purchase on Vimeo, viewable on a desktop or in Virtual Reality through the Vimeo app. Future releases will potentially include Oculus Rift and Gear Virtual Reality compatibility."
Get a peek of the app at davyknowles360.com . It's available for downloads on Google Play for Android and in the iTunes app store for IOS.
More information and updates on Davy Knowles at: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Reverbnation and his official website www.DavyKnowles.com.
About 1:9 Technology LLC: 1:9 Technology LLC is a Jacksonville, FL based virtual company specializing in 360 video interactivity and immersion. Formed in early 2017, 1:9 Technology employs a variety of talented individuals with backgrounds in software and VR development, as well as film production and editing. Using the latest in 360/VR technology, 1:9 Technology strives to bring innovative and exciting experiences to audiences at an affordable rate.


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Making a retirement plan requires more knowledge than you might think. You'll need to understand how inflation affects your investment account; how much income Social Security provides, and how much you need to subsidize it; and how much you can withdraw from investment accounts without draining your nest egg.
Unfortunately, millions of Americans are lacking these basic facts. This is based on a recent report from the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), which surveyed adults to determine their readiness for their later years. Here's what the troubling data showed about three crucial retirement realities many people simply don't know.
1. Americans are confused about how much income growth is needed to offset inflation
According to the IRI data, just 26% of workers were correctly able to identify the level of income growth that would be necessary to offset normal inflation over time.
Unfortunately, a failure to understand the consequences of inflation – or the returns necessary to offset it – can be an especially big problem in today's environment with prices surging nationwide. If you're invested too conservatively, your assets may not earn enough to avoid a steep reduction in buying power. And even assuming a normal inflation rate of around 3% per year, if you had $60,000 in income at 65, you'd need around $80,000 by 75 to maintain the same buying power.
Not considering inflation's impact can also be a major issue when setting long-term retirement goals. If you're planning to retire in 30 years, $1 million may seem like a generous nest egg, but its inflation-adjusted value would mean you'd actually end up with the equivalent of just $411,987 in 2022 dollars (assuming 3% annual inflation over time).
When setting savings goals, or looking at how far your nest egg will stretch, always take the time to think about how the rising price of goods and services impacts you. The good news is, there are online calculators that can help you develop a better understanding of the ways in which inflation affects your nest egg.
2. Most people don't know how much income Social Security will provide
Americans aren't just confused about how far their savings might go.
Only 42% of Americans correctly identified the average Social Security benefit. And close to four in 10 survey respondents overestimated the average, while a small number underestimated income from retirement benefits.
The problem is, the average could be much lower than expected for the millions of Americans who guessed incorrectly. In 2022, for example, it's $1,657. If you're anticipating higher benefits, this could leave you with insufficient income to cover the essentials.
The reality every future retiree must come to terms with is that they can expect Social Security to replace around 40% of preretirement income, while they'll typically need 80% or more. So when setting retirement goals, aim for a nest egg large enough to produce about 40% of what you were earning prior to leaving the workforce – at a minimum.
3. Retirement withdrawal rates are a mystery to many
Finally, IRI found about half of Americans weren't sure how much they could safely take out of investment accounts without worrying about running out of money while still relying on it. When asked about the amount of monthly income to withdraw from a $100,000 retirement account to make sure they still had funds at 95, only 28% of respondents correctly guessed $325.
If you don't know how to safely set a withdrawal rate, you could end up taking too much from your account and be left broke as a senior. Or you could take out too little and struggle needlessly. There are a number of techniques to help you figure out a safe amount, but two common ones include following the 4% rule or using required minimum distribution tables from the IRS.


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London Gay Pride
England → London
28.06 - 30.06.2024
prideinlondon.orgPride Events
A parade in centre of London followed by a party in Trafalgar Square with around 100 performers and community acts from across the LGBTQ community In addition to the main stage in Trafalgar square there are smaller stage in Soho were many of the attendee hang out before and after the parade. Soho and Old Compton street is considered the main gay neighbourhood of London
An event which turns London pink for the day and a party atmosphere in whole of central London.
The pride event is on the Saturday with most people arriving Thursday/Friday to experience Soho & Vauxhall neighbourhoods prior to the main event. Typically the city turns pink for the weekend so it is advisable to book your accommodation and any event tickets in advance to not be disappointed.
Book accommodation for the London Gay Pride
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Sports Unlimited specializes in packaging large projects to include athletic wood flooring and / or athletic synthetic flooring for basketball, aerobics, indoor tracks, and weight rooms along with complete racquetball court construction and squash court construction. These state-of-the-art products are the result of thirty-nine years experience and research.
Gymnasium and Autitorium.
Gymnasium, two Racquetball courts, basketball backstops, athletic wood flooring, volleyball equipment, bleachers, scoreboard, and wall pads.


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Trading tools
Trades in Client Profiles are conducted in the "Quick Trading" mode. Having chosen the "Apply" option, you confirm that you read, understood and accepted all the terms below.
Trading orders in the "Quick Trading" mode are sent at once. A trading order will be sent immediately once you have clicked on "Sell" or "Buy".
You won't be asked to confirm your order. Under normal market conditions and the system's productivity, the trade will be executed quickly right after the order has been sent, and you will be bound by its terms.


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Here's the latest teaser for the new David Reich et al. paper on the ethnogenesis of present-day Europeans. It's part of an abstract for a seminar to be held by Professor Reich at Jesus College, Oxford, on February 9. Interestingly, it argues that migrations from the steppe resulted in a ~50% population turnover across northern Europe from the late Neolithic onwards, which is very much in agreement with recent discussions on the topic at Eurogenes (for instance, see here).
By ~6,000-5,000 years ago, a resurgence of hunter-gatherer ancestry had occurred throughout much of Europe, but in Russia, the Yamnaya steppe herders of this time were descended not only from the preceding eastern European hunter-gatherers, but also from a population of Near Eastern ancestry. Western and Eastern Europe came into contact ~4,500 years ago, as the Late Neolithic Corded Ware people from Germany traced ~3/4 of their ancestry to the Yamnaya, documenting a massive migration into the heartland of Europe from its eastern periphery. This steppe ancestry persisted in all sampled central Europeans until at least ~3,000 years ago, and comprises about half the ancestry of today's northern Europeans. These results support the theory of a steppe origin of at least some of the Indo-European languages of Europe, and show the power of genome-wide ancient DNA studies to document human migrations.
Source: Ancient DNA documents three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans
Update 11/02/2015: Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe (Haak et al. 2015 preprint).
Haak et al., Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe, bioRxiv, Posted February 10, 2015, doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1101/013433


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Texas Train Derailment Attorney
Legal Help After a Railroad Accident
Railroad Crossing Collisions ● Train Derailments ● Pedestrian Accidents
Every year hundreds of people across the nation are injured in collisions with trains.
Families are left to grapple with the overwhelming grief at the loss of a loved one or the difficulties of caring for a critically injured person. They often don't understand how the railroad accident could have happened. Authorities and railroads typically blame the driver. They don't know if the injured person was at fault. This uncertainty can cause them to put off talking to a lawyer.
Don't wait to ask an attorney if you have a case.
It is quite possible that your loved one did nothing wrong, but was instead the innocent victim of negligence by the railroad company. The longer you wait to have an attorney investigate the case, the more likely it is that valuable evidence will be lost, the accident scene will be changed, witnesses will move or forget important details about the event. Consulting with our firm does not obligate you to hire us.
Get Experienced Legal Help with Your Railroad Accident Case
At the law office of Bailey & Galyen, we been helping injured people and grieving families pursue claims against railroads for many years.
Contact our Houston law office to schedule a free consultation. We represent clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases throughout Texas and across the U.S.
Causes of Railroad Crossing Accidents
Railroad crossing accidents involving cars and trains are a common and deadly type of railroad accident, but truck-train collisions also occur, particularly at extra-hazardous crossings.
Pedestrian train accidents commonly occur in a couple of ways:
- When a person is walking across a double set of tracks to get on or off of a train, accidentally stepping into an oncoming train, or
- When pedestrians follow a well recognized path across a railroad track (such as when a school lies close to a railroad track) and yet the railroad fails acknowledge the pedestrian traffic with warning signals or a blockade to prevent use of the dangerous path.
Train derailments and toxic chemical spills following derailments cause toxic inhalation and burn injuries to nearby residents and railroad workers. Derailments can also cause significant evacuations and loss of use of your home and property damage, in communities near the railway tracks. Train derailments can be caused by:
- A vehicle blocking the track,
- Poor track maintenance when a roadbed is not properly maintained, or
- Human error if a dispatcher puts two trains on the same track, switches a train to a track where there are standing cars, or the engineer is speeding.
Railroad companies would like you to believe that railway collision accidents occur because a vehicle driver ignored safety warnings or drove in a negligent manner. At Bailey & Galyen we know that is not always the case. We're willing to put time, effort, and resources into proving your claim.
We Work On A Contingency Fee Basis
Personal injury lawsuits are complicated and expensive to mount and that is why we take all cases on contingency, meaning there is never a fee until we recover a settlement in your favor. If you've been injured, contact us today for a FREE consultation and peace of mind from one of our Texas Trial Attorneys.
Locations Throughout Texas
We provide skilled legal representation to individuals across the State of Texas including the Dallas-Fort Worth communities of Arlington, Bedford, Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Grand Prairie, Mesquite and other cities in Texas including Houston Clear Lake / NASA, Texas.


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Jack and Wendy Volhard have been promoting our Snap-Around Training Collar in their training seminars, and books for years. Because of their well known use of this product, it is often referred to as the "Volhard" training collar. Their new revised version of "Dog Training For Dummies" is a friendly guide that shows you how to select the right training method for your dog based on his unique personality to reach your desired goals. Whether you want to teach Buddy to sit or master retrieving you will get expert training tips and techniques for you and your dog to ensure a mutually respectful relationship with your four legged friend. Much, much, more!! This new, revised publication is now available from Amazon.com (www.amazon.com).
© 2024 Handcraft Collars Inc E-Commerce Web Site All articles, photos, and information on the web site are the SOLE PROPERTY of HANDCRAFT COLLARS, INC., and cannot be copied, distributed, or linked to any other web site, newsletter, or other informational source without prior permission from HANDCRAFT COLLARS, INC.
Handcraft Collars, Inc.1995- 2024- All Rights Reserved


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Modern Home Plans And Contemporary Architectural Home Features
If you are looking for modern home plans, there are many different types of plans that you can consider. The contemporary architectural features that you desire are going to be unique to your own needs, but they will be much different than traditional home features. Contemporary homes have been popular since the mid 1900s, and are influenced by postmodern and neoeclectic design elements. You can usually identify contemporary homes and modern designs by tall windows, unique shapes, and other architectural features.
When you are inspecting the features of contemporary architectural design to include in your modern home plans, there are many different things to look for. You can usually spot these houses with contemporary features by looking for stone or wood exterior materials, very minimal ornamentation, and irregular shaped tall windows. The exterior design of these homes takes a minimalist approach, and landscaping is usually used to create the curb appeal of the home since the design is so minimalistic. Finding the best features for your home will include keying in on these different design elements and figuring out which ones are going to give you the appearance that you want for your modern home design.
Interior features of modern home plans that feature contemporary architecture include things like:
– Open floor plans
– High ceilings or cathedral ceilings
– Exposed beams, gabled roofs
– Crown moulding
– Ceramic tile or wood flooring
– Artisan materials
– Gourmet kitchen designs
– Marble, stainless steel and concrete counters
Of course, the contemporary design features that you choose for your modern home will depend on your specific tastes, but these are the types of elements that you can expect to see in most home plans that are categorised under modern and contemporary home design. The goal here is function and style above all else, and the traditional features and kitschy designs are not present in these homes at all.
Clean lines and natural colours are other contemporary design features that will likely be in your modern home plans. Creating a contemporary, modern home is a desire of many people because the style is so popular. It offers something different from traditional home styles and allows people to have a more stunning and architecturally unique home for their needs. The decor that you choose for your home should match the design features and architectural details, if you want to achieve a truly modern, contemporary look. These are things to keep in mind when you are looking for architectural design plans.


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A critical Incident is a relatively brief occurrence involving injury, loss, conflict, discovery or change of significant proportion, usually unscripted and unanticipated, with the potential to alter existing societal norms. Critical incidents are usually traumatic, threatening the bonds of trust that bind communities, but may be positive, initiating historic consequents.
A model of critical incident analysis has emerged over 15 years of collaboration. The model includes the event itself, the authorized interveners responsible for managing such events, and the larger community affected by the event. This larger community may be a nation, an industry or a society with its various customs and culture. Time-limited incidents rarely have the power to change a culture, but they often, in retrospect, symbolize a turning point or epitomize an epoch. The definition and meaning of critical incident therefore includes not just the event, but also the behaviors of those at the scene, the context in which it occurs, the impact beyond the theater of action, and the impact in the aftermath of the event. A critical incident may have consequences for days, week, months, years and even decades after the event itself has ended.
Our conference took place during July 2009 on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The conference participants together examined our understandings of the dynamics of the aftermaths of critical incidents. We examined questions such as:
- How do aftermath dynamics fit with prevailing theories and concepts in critical incident analysis?
- How do public and media narratives of incidents evolve during the aftermath?
- Who are the stake-holders in aftermath dynamics?
- Are there stages of aftermath dynamics?
- Are there more constructive and more destructive dynamics?
- Are there protective attributes of communities that mitigate risk and promote resilience following a critical incident?
- Can aftermath dynamics be managed to mitigate trauma and promote healing?
- Are there special issues for colleges and university incidents?
- How is policy shaped during the aftermath of incidents?
- What is the role of memorialization following an incident?
- Are there understandings about aftermath dynamics that are fundamental to the field of critical incident analysis?
These general and theoretical questions were examined in the abstract, and based on what is known by those who have experienced critical incidents. The conference took place at Virginia Tech to facilitate the assessment of concepts "through the lens of the Virginia Tech incident" as the conference title explains. Presentations based on other incidents, such as the World Trade Center attack and the Columbine shooting, also informed the deliberations of the conference.


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Most people know bassist Melissa Auf der Maur from her stints in the bands Hole and Smashing Pumpkins. But that's likely to change with the release of OOOM (Out Of Our Minds), her ambitious second solo CD due out 23 March.
"I see this project as a way of utilizing all of my talents and interests," says Auf der Maur. And she isn't kidding: OOOM is a multi-media experience, encompassing a CD, comic book and a 28-minute film directed by Tony Stone, the storyline of which is best described by Auf der Maur herself (see the interview and listen to the podcast below).
Auf der Maur, who financed the project herself after being dropped by Capitol Records in 2004 ("the best thing that could have happened to me," she says, "because creative survival took over"), sees OOOM as a natural extension of her creativity. "From grades 1 through high school I studied music, visual arts, performance arts, everything. So I never thought I had to choose one or the other."
MusicRadar spoke with Auf der Maur recently (she was gracious enough to school us in the correct pronunciation of her name) about the ambitious OOOM extravaganaza, what it was like to work with her idol, Glenn Danzig, and we also got the skinny on her time spent with Courtney Love and Billy Corgan. Hear it here or scroll down to read it...
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What's the basic storyline of the comic book behind OOOM?
"The comic book reflects the film and the film reflects the song, so it really comes down to 'What is Out Of Our Minds, the song, about?' Out Of Our Minds is the heart of this record. It's a cry to travel out of our minds into our hearts, standing by.
"It's about a need to go from the masculine, intelligent, intellectual side to the emotional, feminine side of everything. It's the feminine force in all of us that is on the hunt to connect with the heart of the matter in the center of all things emotion.
"Quite literally, it's a woman who is trying to unite her heart side with the rest of the world. The story of the film, which the comic book reflects, is about a timeless female character who gets into a collision and travels through time, and through that comes in contact with a Viking's heart and the center of a bleeding tree and back again. It's time travel and blood; it's the female connecting with the heart of everything."
Well, that is quite a story! Now, on the album, you have some pretty cool collaborators, people like Alan Moulder and Mike Frazer - what did they bring to the project?
"Those guys are the magic mixers. But to explain the making of the album, it was one woman and a hard drive, going from many different collaborators and studios. I worked with a couple of different producers, an old Canadian collaborator, Jordan Zadorozny, and Chris Goss from California, who I made my first record with.
"The actual making of the songs was over the course of many years and many different trips to different places and different friends. Those guys that you mentioned, the mixers, were some of the most crucial elements to tie this all in to itself. In many ways, it was like 12 different films that needed to live within one roof."
Is writing a fairly easy process for you, or is it a struggle?
"It comes very easily when I'm in creation mode. I don't write when I'm not in creation mode. I mean, I always keep notes of inspiration and diary entries. But when I sit down to write a record, I sit down to write a record for a year."
What do you demo on?
"On an old four-track Tascam cassette recorder."
Wow! Old-school. Do you play other instruments on your demos?
"I play guitar. I write most of my songs on guitar, but it's very simple, minimal. When I write on my four-track, it's a drum machine, guitar and some keyboards too.
"A couple of my songs I wrote with a drummer. Out Of Our Minds came from a really great jam with a drummer named Vince Nudo from a Canadian band called Priestess. It was a revelation to actually write with a drummer and not a drum machine. As a bass player, it is a sad state of affairs to play with some old, crappy drum machine."
Your voice sounds remarkable on the new album. Do you think you're going to surprise people who know you only as a bass player or side person in other people's bands?
"I don't know. Hopefully! [laughs] I will tell you one thing: I did make a solo record that 200,000 people on the planet bought, and lots of people heard that didn't buy it. So I know there's some people out there who know that I sing. That being said, I had not found my voice yet. With this record, I found my voice.
"I wrote that first record before I ever played a live show as a front person, and when I went on tour and played 200 shows, every day was a learning experience. Hopefully, people will hear that I've worked really hard and that I have something to say - which is, I want to share my heart with people."
The album's title track has some great guitar work. There's a very cool riff and terrific atmospheric sounds. Who did the guitar playing on it?
"My main collaborator on the record, Jordan Zadorozny. That was made during the Canadian chapter of the record, very early on in the process when I was still on Capitol. Jordan was in my first band before I joined Hole. It started as a demo. He's a longtime collaborator and a phenomenal guitar player."
And there's another song called Lead A Horse -
"That's the same crew, the exact session that Out Of Our Minds came out of. It's the same drummer, Vince Nudo, the same guitarist, Jordan Zadorozny, and me."
Now, that's an instrumental track -
"Yeah. I really wanted this record to be a journey, not always action-packed with a woman trying to tell her story. There's a couple of instrumentals on the record. I really wanted to open it up so that when the voice and the story come back they make more of an impact."
Talk to me about working with Glenn Danzig on Father's Grave. How did that come about?
"I don't even have enough hours in the day to tell you what a dream come true that entire collaboration was. I wanted to do a duet with Glenn Danzig since I first heard him when I was 17. I prayed and wrote letters and sent them to a P.O. box, and I told him about my feelings for him and what kind of a role model he's been as a persona and a person.
"I credit Glenn Danzig with how I managed to find the rock bones in me. His voice, believe it or not, influenced how I sing. I wrote that song for he and I to sing. I sent him a demo with me singing his part, wrote him a two-page letter explaining how much he's influenced me, and then I got on a plane to meet him face-to-face to show the respect of 'You gracing my record would be one of my lifelong dreams.'
"He was the most generous, sensitive punker, fiercely committed to his integrity. And he's from New Jersey!" [laughs]
And I'm speaking to you from New Jersey! Switching gears, let's go back to some of your previous bands. You originally turned down the invitation to join Hole. Why was that?
"Because I was in my own band and I was finishing my photo degree. And I had also seen Hole and I knew that it was an invitation to replace a tragically deceased individual [original bassist Kristen Pfatt, who died in 1994]. In the end, I took it as my fate that they asked me and wanted me. It was very emotionally complex, but I ended up rising to the occasion and taking the position with honor.
"But it was very intense. My years in Hole were almost as much emotional life lessons as they were musical. I was very dominated by a lot of intense experiences."
Courtney Love is such a polarizing figure. Some people love her, some people don't. Do you feel she gets a bad rap?
"Yeah. The world loves demonizing women. They're so terrified of a strong, outspoken woman. Still. Even in the 21st Century, but more so 100 years ago, 50 years ago.
"She represents things that everybody is afraid of: the madwoman. Do I think the scary parts about her are over focused on instead of her talent to offer her demons, her heart and her guts? Every single performance she's ever given, she's given all of that. Ideally, that's what people should be focusing on and not the tabloid stuff, but I understand why they're distracted."
As a musician, what was Courtney like to work with?
"Like I said, sometimes it was a lot more to with personal relations than with music. I mean, we made one record in five years, so there was a lot of stuff going on. But my work on Celebrity Skin, I'm incredibly proud of it. We worked on it for years and I think it's a very well-achieved piece of music. I'm very proud of my musical contribution to that band."
You also played with The Smashing Pumpkins for a brief period of time.
"Yeah, talk about craft. That was my ultimate music lesson. Playing with James, Jimmy and Billy was probably the biggest musical experience for growing and learning that I'll ever have. Learning their catalogue, touring for a year and playing two to five hours a night…probably the most valuable years I'll ever have in my life. I wouldn't have been able to make this record had I not done that."