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Shrimp or Chicken Kung Pao is one of those items on every Chinese restaurant's menu that many people love to eat. All the different textures and flavors from the crunchy toasted peanuts, to the sweet and tender shrimp pieces make it seem like an impossible thing to re-create at home, much less on-the-go. What is truly awesome about many Asian cooking is that it is stir fried, meaning, cooked at a really high temperature, so it cooks real fast. Perfect for On The Go Gourmet recipes. And if you're using already cooked shrimp, the cooking time is even faster without comprosing flavor. Once you figure out how fast and simply it is to make this dish in your own kitchen, you'll never want to do take out again!
1 cup of unsalted peanuts
1 cup of chopped onion (red or Spanish)
1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
8 oz can of roughly chopped waterchestnuts
2 TBL of cornstarch
1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of chicken stock
2 tsp of sesame oil
2 TBL of canola oil
2 TBL of brown sugar
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of salt
In a mixing bowl, mix the cornstarch & brown sugar with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken stock and salt. Whisk until the ingredients are well mixed and the cornstarch has desolved.
In a wok or large saute pan, heat the canola oil under high heat. Once the pan is hot, toast the peanuts until it is golden brown, then add the chopped onion, waterchestnuts and green bell peppers with the red pepper flakes. Saute for about 1 minute then add the sauce mixture. When the sauce mixture has started to thicken, add the cooked shrimp and cook until the shrimp has heated through. Be careful NOT to overcook the shrimp as it will tend to break apart. You want the shrimp to still be somewhat firm. Serve over white or brown rice.


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If I ever wanted everyone home for a meal, all I had to do was say chicken and dumplings were on the menu. My family wanted more of the soup and dumplings, than chicken, so many times I used backs and wings to make the stock, which made this a very inexpensive meal, as well as, a warm up the insides, comfort food. You can make it with canned chicken and broth if you wish, but this recipe has worked in my family for 2 generations, starting with Mama Byrd, it brought me and my 5 brother home for supper every time (even after they were grown and married). Think I'll make some for supper Thursday night, it has the same effect on my son-in-law. Merry Christmas all...
Grandmaw's Chicken'n Dumplins
For the soup:
1 3-4 lb whole Chicken or 3-4 chicken backs
Water to cover chicken
Poultry seasoning
1 Chopped onion
1 or 2 grated carrots
3 stalks chopped celery
Cream Soup (chicken, Chicken & Mushroom, or Mushroom use what you have on hand) I would not use celery soup or any other strong flavor
- Put chicken, water, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, parsley, onion, carrots, and celery in a large soup pot.
- Bring to a boil and cook till chicken is done, remove chicken from water, allow to cool until easy to handle, remove all meat from bones, chop into bite size pieces if necessary, return meat to chicken stock
- Add cream soup, stir till mixed well. At this point you can add some extra veggies if you wish, sometimes I add frozen peas or a bag of mixed veggies.
For the dumplings: (I usually make a recipe and a half, Measurements in ( )
3 C flour (4 1/2)
2 T baking powder (3 T)
3 T sugar (4 1/2 T)
3/4 C Crisco (1 C + 2 T)
3/4 t salt (1 t+ 1/2 t)
3/4 t cream of tartar (1 t+ 1/2 t)
1 C milk (1 1/2 C)
- Sift dry ingredients together
- Cut in shortening
- Add milk stir till just moistened
- On floured surface, knead briefly, then roll out to about 1/4 inch thick
- Cut into squares (I use a pizza cutter)
- Drop into rapidly boiling stock one or two at a time, cover, lower heat, cover and cook about 10 min
- Don't worry about the extra flour on the dumplings it will help thicken the broth

subset: commoncrawl


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It has been awhile since I have written about any music. Not because I haven't been listening, but because I have been incredibly busy. With no further ado, my next blog is on the lovely singer/songwriter Kati Mac.
Kati Mac has a voice that is soothing, and at the same time a little bit angry, on the album Save Me From Myself. My absolute favorite on this album is the song titled Bullet Hole Road. It is gritty, angry, sad, and a bit empowering. Kati is not new to the scene, but this album is different from others she has done, and I say BRAVO!
To learn more about Kati Mac follow the link below! She is definitely worth a listen...


text: Journalism first obligation is to the truth, delivering facts news to the audience and more important is to report the truth about those facts. Like Kovach said people looking forward to know facts and the whole picture of the stories with truth, not part of it. This is an actually what journalists do, is saying the truth. They are getting the closest version truth of the story and collecting all information that makes sense of them and then delivered it to the public. But what I am thinking of it is, what if that information's does not make any sense to the public? . That was exactly what was going on in the Middle East; the lack of trusting what was saying on news has been a big issue. An example of that is the Egyptian revolution; Egyptian's are relying to know what really happens out there on the street from social media rather than getting it from news. Protestors are posting an updating the details of street actions through social media while the journalists were conservatives to not provide more truth of those actions facts because they were aware of letting more turbulence getting between the protestors. But protestors won't care, they just want the truth, and it is necessary to report the truth about the fact because that what they needs. To consider, with the revolution of social media, what the future of journalists on the Middle East will be? And, How they can get back the trust of people?


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The GreenBoyg Family
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Asher's 1st Cookie
I got some photos of Asher eating his first
cookie. He just sat right up and started munching.
Somewhere in the middle he smiled at me and held the
cookie to my mouth. I think he wanted me to try it, or
he was just sharing, which ever it was cute :-) So
here are some photos of Asher eating his first solid
food by himself. It's been about 7 minutes since I
took those photos and there isn't much left of that
cookie-someone's enjoying themself...
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The Shāhnāme (Book of Kings) completed in 1010 by the Persian poet Ferdowsi is the national epic of Greater Iran and the world's longest epic poetry written by a single poet.
In 2011 an international conference on the Shāhnāme was held at Uppsala University to celebrate the second millennium of Ferdowsi's majestic work and his role in the revival of the Persian language.
The fourteen papers presented at the conference has been edited by Associate Professor Forogh Hashabeiky and published by Uppsala University Press.
The volume International Shāhnāme Conference, The Second Millennium contains eight contributions in English by Ashk Dahlén, Dick Davis, Mahmoud Hassanabadi, Ali Hassouri, Syed Akhtar Husain, Judith Josephson, Charles Melville, and Gabrielle van den Berg. It also contains six papers in Persian.
This outstanding publication can be ordered from Uppsala University Press.


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A last, Personal Confession
Though FROM YG has been a place to announce the news of singers under the agency until now,
since today is the last I will conclude with a personal confession of mine.
My date of birth is in December of 1969, the year of the rooster. I'm now in my early 40's ㅜㅜ
I was a childish old bachelor who said almost like a habit that I would never get married,
but I think it's time for me to escape being solo.
How many years ago was it? I mentioned to the media that I had a girlfriend
But even after meeting a single girlfriend for the last nine years,
I have never told anyone, not even my closest juniors like JinuSean, 1TYM and Big Bang who she is or even her name.
My girlfriend who I've been secretly dating for 9 years is Lee Eun Joo,
and as you fans expected, she was a member of YG's first girl group 'Swi.T', announced in 2002
She was born in 1981, also the year of the rooster. She is 12 years younger than me.
Considering that I've never once thought any girl is prettier than my girlfriend in the 9 years of dating her, either my eyes are going funny or it's 'a match made in heaven', as commonly said.
Way back, I promised Seo Taiji that 'Even if we get married in the future, let's never have weddings".
Though I have no plans to marry her this year,
since it was a promise between men even if we do get married in the future I plan on not having a public wedding. ^^
Maybe it's because I had such negative feelings towards marriage when I was young,
even after dating for 9 years, it was only recently that I decided that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.
Not long after my girlfriend's father passed away with chronic disease, her mother also passed away in 2008. Seeing how much pain she was in made me come to the decision that I would like to be her lifelong companion and protector.
It also happens to be her 30th birthday today.
Hoping that my difficult confession can become even a small gift,
I would like to apologise for making her uncomfortable for the last 9 years, since the young age of 21.
Lastly, I would like to give an ashamed promise that from tomorrow, and her next birthday on I will make her happier
and with that I close the last page of FROM YG and the secrecy of our 9 year relationship.
I hope you all stay healthy and happy. YG FAMILY FOREVER!!
2010. 03. 09.
Source: http://www.ygfamily.com/noti/yg_view.html?seqno=22264
Trans Credits: sjay.x @ BBVIP


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It is at the very time dead and dying Old Europe is going over the cliff that the Left in the US now feels impelled to throw all our heads into the abyss. The anti-Americanism of Democrat party politics has unleashed the dogmatics of socialism and the race to the bottom is on in the West.
We are still a ways off before the scientific method is restored to its rightful place in Western academia. Until then, putting an end to the iconic 'hockey stick' of Michael Mann and an end to the global warming politics of Al Gore and the Democrat party won't happen. Until then, attempts to bring the production and use of energy under the secular, socialist political hegemony of the Left will continue until America is pushed into the abyss of the Golden Goose Graveyard.
So far there has been more than a decade of no warming — and even recent global cooling — in the Northern Hemisphere where Western Leftists live and obsess about a runaway heat wave and a ball of fire coming out of the depths of the ocean to consume all life. Greenhouse gases have become EPA "regulated pollutants" under the Clean Air Act for one reason only—i.e., an absence of reason.
There is nothing unique or particularly complicated about climate change. It cannot be regulated because humans cannot regulate the Sun. However, a referendum on the real-world consequences of Leftist ideology is the record of misery, poverty and death that has been caused by it—everything else is dogma.
Paul Revere arranged in advance about what to do if a warning was needed. Others now warn — as would Revere if he were here now — "The Liberal Fascists are Coming…" US Industry is threatened by a liberal fascist bureaucracy within our own borders not cheap labor or more competitive tax structures without.
Death by thermageddon as prophesized by Al Gore never happened. Shocker! Still, Lefties keep the lie about global warming doomsday alive. Meanwhile, the Sun remains anomalously quiet and Earth cools and we learn more about what lies beneath the surface of our culture, society and us: superstitious global warming alarmists are Western civilization's hothouse flowers who have never known the misery, suffering and even death by energy-deprivation.
But, the worst thing about the end-of-the-world global warming catastrophe that never came is that the Left never cared if they were right or wrong about it. And, what could be more bleak, dire and worrisome than to learn that the EPA prefers politics to science?
There is no safe global cooling level. The cooler it gets the more people die. On the other hand, global warming has always been very good for humanity. Secular, socialist global warming fearmongering has reached biblical proportions and, can anything ever be more calamitous than that?
Evidence of a giant step backward for humanity is the Left's refusal to acknowledge CO2 is a fertilizer not a pollutant. The global warming charlatans of academia have proven one thing: man's dream of rising above superstition and ignorance shall remain incredible.
It is all becoming so very clear: The Left hates anything with a face!
IQ TEST: the high cost of gas is caused by: (a) Evil capitalism and gouging businessmen; or (b), anti-energy Leftists?
The EPA's succumbing to global warming alarmism is evidence of a moral Kristallnacht. The sound of shattering glass is as unmistakably clear as the enduring heat of the sun on your face when the clouds part: the NLRB knows the union is bad so Boeing must be retaliating; EPA knows smokestacks are clean so it's CO2 that must be the pollutant.
The one true way of preventing global warming is to move further away from the Sun. How scary is that? The only problem for the anti-energy Leftists is that with the end of the world being right around the corner it can never come soon enough.
See–e.g., Global Warming is Politically-Correct Voodoo


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My gal pal, Sara, does this on Tuesdays, and today, I felt the urge to join her. I don't know that I'll be able to pull this off every Tuesday (nor would you want me to since I'm, like, a boring, mom-lady), but I think it sounds like a good time. See this link for her most recent Hey, It's Okay Tuesdays.
Hey, it's okay . . .
. . . to consider and reconsider getting on Twitter because your Facebook feed is just not cutting it when it comes to feeding your need for voyeurism.
. . . to celebrate the fact that you got a shower, even if it wasn't solo.
. . . to want to abandon work and run off into the hills with your kids.
. . . to wish that one of those kids could actually run instead of you having to carry and/or sling his heavy bum (but not wish it too hard).
. . . to want your kids to nap (because if they don't, they become replaced by scary, little demons), but secretly want them to wake up so that you can take them to the park because you actually have time to do it.
. . . to have absolutely no focus or motivation because you're not sleepin' much.
. . . to long (at least a little bit) for the day when "sleeping in" is later than, like, 6:45 a.m.
. . . to let your kid nap with two penguins—even if one of them really needs to be stashed at all times for emergency reasons.
. . . to think that baby food tastes good.
. . . to recognize that your kid's cuteness is mostly for his own self-preservation.
. . . to do what Sara is doin' just because she's cool.


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How SDN helps to Cut Mobile Network Operator Costs
Mobile backhaul is now recognized as a strategic element in network design and planning. Software Defined Networking (SDN) control and resource management will dramatically lower the operating expenses by between 12% and 37%, depending on the region, according to Strategy Analytics.
SDN is a key element in closing the Backhaul Gap, it will accelerate operations cost reduction and preserve mobile network operator margins.


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HP EliteBook 1040 G3. Product type: Ultrabook, Form factor: Clamshell. Processor family: Intel Core i7-6xxx, Processor model: i7-6600U, Processor frequency: 2.6 GHz. Display diagonal: 35.6 cm (14"), HD type: Full HD, Display resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels. Internal memory: 8 GB, Internal memory type: DDR4-SDRAM. Total storage capacity: 256 GB, Storage media: SSD. On-board graphics adapter. Operating system installed: Windows 7 Professional. Colour of product: Silver
The sophisticated style of the HP EliteBook 1040 Ultrabook™ complements the innovative performance, security, and manageability features that help bring out your finest work.Carry less, do more- Work confidently with the thin, elegant, and durable HP EliteBook 1040 with the HP Premium Keyboard, and a strong all metal diamond cut design engineered to pass MIL-STD 810G testing.Productive powerhouse- Power through your day with long battery life, 6th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, up to 16 GB of memory, and PCIe SSDs that yield impressive speed and performance.Connect and collaborate in style- Collaborate with colleagues from practically anywhere with optional WWAN, a 720p webcam, HP Noise Reduction Software and Audio by Bang & Olufsen.Security and manageability you can depend on- Manage devices easily with optional Intel® vPro,™ and LANDesk management that integrates with advanced IT environments and help reduce costly downtime with innovative BIOS protection from HP Sure Start with Dynamic Protection.


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I just got back from the midwives office (driving in blinding snow, no less). The wee babe is measuring large, topping the 90th percentile for his head size. My uterus is measuring 24 weeks, and according to the original due date of May 5th that's way too big. However, last Thursday during the ultrasound they moved my due date up to either April 27th or April 29th.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Measuring large
Posted by A at 12/28/2007 02:02:00 PM 2 comments
Thursday, December 20, 2007
And the bride wore black.
Today, at sometime between 3 and 4 p.m., I'm getting married. In a black dress, no less. We're keeping it quiet, not even telling our parents. Instead we'll be surprising them over Christmas.
Posted by A at 12/20/2007 07:22:00 AM 9 comments
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
And now begins the psychotic dreams...
For the last week I've woken up at least once every night in a sheer panic. First there was the dream about someone kidnapping me and cutting Julian out of me. So horrifically gory and real. Then there was the dream that I gave birth to him, only he was see-through - like this phone I had when I was a freshman in high school - and I could see each vein, artery, organ, etc.
Last night was a doozy. I had a dream that he was huge when he was born, and he was possessed. He could talk and crawl immediately and was saying the most vile things. Then I had a minorly weird one that everyone in my dad's family sent shower gifts, but they were each personalized, and none were his name - as they didn't like it, so they each named him something different. The last one, he developed sharp cat-like teeth in utero and chewed himself out through my belly a la alien style rather than be born.
Yeah. I don't sleep so well at night anymore.
Since travel has been such an important part of our relationship, we decided to go with a travel theme for the nursery. Patrick found an adorable screen-print painting at Land of Nod of the ABCs where each letter is a different world city. We're going to paint the ceiling blue with white clouds (and glow in the dark stars) and the walls will be green with a mural of a city and train tracks. We found an old 1950s biplane that's about 2 feet wide and bright red in the basement of the house, and we're going to clean it up and suspend it from the ceiling. Patrick bought a huge lot of Dr. Seuss books and Richard Scarry books off ebay. So, Julian's library now includes over 70 total - which means the world to me as we both love to read.
I've made a few compulsive purchases - some onesies and a few all-in-one cloth diapers and some vintage diaper pins. We're likely going to do a combination of cloth and disposable diapers.
We've started the internal debate on circumcision, and I have to say it's a lot harder decision than I expected. (I want to forego it as I'm afraid they'll mangle his wee little penis - Patrick wants him to have it done).
I've got to start being better about my weight. After all my bragging that I haven't put on hardly any weight (3.5 lbs at 18 weeks) I somehow have put on over 7 in the last week and a half. And I'm having huge issues with swelling. I've always managed to have very slender ankles, but now - at night, I can barely take my shoes off because my feet are so swollen. My ankles literally disappear into the vast rolls of flesh that used to house my slender ankles. The same thing is happening with my hands, though to a lesser degree. I'm having to take my ring off during the day at work because it's starting to cut into my finger.
Patrick saw my ankles last night after I had them propped up for a few minutes and was really concerned. But the swelling isn't pitting - (i.e. if you poke it with your finger the dent doesn't stay) and I'm not having headaches (any more than normal, anyway) or other symptoms of preeclampsia. I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones for whom edema seems to happen early in the pregnancy and when it's less than thirty freaking degrees outside. I shudder to think what would happen if I was pregnant in the summer.
Posted by A at 12/12/2007 09:42:00 AM 5 comments
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
More Ovaltine please.
I'm addicted to Ovaltine at the moment. Though I sometimes cheat on it with a big glass of carrot juice. The carrot juice sends Patrick into convulsions as he thinks there's nothing nastier on the planet.
We're supposed to fly out this Friday to go to Astoria, Oregon for the weekend. Unfortunately, those plans are on hiatus as the poor people there have been deluged (quite literally) with horrible weather. We were expecting a potential weather snag in our travel plans when we went to Key West in late July, but I can't say that I saw this coming. I guess now we'll land in Portland and travel east a bit instead. Who knows.
It snowed over 7 inches last night, and has been snowing all morning (though lightly). It's gorgeous. I'm working from home - trying to pretend that I'm being productive, but mostly looking outside and wishing I had the energy to get up and make a snowman. Or I don't know - wash dishes or do laundry or something similarly exciting. I do feel better than I did at first, but the energy reserves are still running very low. The midwife said my iron is too low, which is what's causing it. I'm trying to fix it via diet rather than pills, and I'm not sure how well it's going.
This last week I started leaking colostrum rather badly. It startled me, as I sprung a full fledged leak while wearing a silk shirt. I thought it was a bit early for this to happen. Meh.
We got our first baby gift in the mail today - a Christmas ornament from a friend of mine in KC. I was very touched, and had big heaping sobs when I opened it and saw what it was. It's still so surreal to me that this is happening.
And with this boring post concluded, I'm heading to make more Ovaltine.
Posted by A at 12/05/2007 01:06:00 PM 1 comments


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سكس عراقيات سكس شيمل While lots of manga do not have not characters with big eyes this was not a hallmark of the father of manga, Osamu Tezuka, lots more don�t, and whole genres horror, yaoi exist that dont usually use that style.
Advertising agencies today employ the use of animatics to test their commercials before they are also made into full up spots. سكس هندن The origins of this term are also uncertain, but it may also be a shortened form of hentai used as a polite codeword in the 1960s. سكس عراقيات Also, during this arc, we also learn about the mini arc �Turning back the Pendulum� where we actually find out why the Vizards are in the real world, and Urahara as well much needed background, big plus to Tite Kubo and it explains fully about hollowifications, and we get to see from when Aizen was plotting everything that happened in soul society and it WAS awhile ago! Then the story returns to Hueco Mundo - and Aizen�s true goal starts to be launched. and are not always related to sexual interaction. سكس شيمل Today, advertisements play a role in most television programming, such that each hour of programming can contain up to 15 minutes of advertisements in some countries.
This allows the animators and directors to work out any script and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard.
Hentai is the Japanese word for pervert. سكس شيمل It is not usually distributed in digest format, containing several stories by different artists e.g. Yaoi commonly features males of ambiguous gender�in both physical appearance and mannerism�called bishonen, literally beautiful boy. Here�s a post about OEL original English language, i.


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For the last three months we've been busy behind the scenes building a website for Brownie Knits. I am SO excited that it went live this week!!! I hope that you all check it out and I'd love to know what you think. The site address is brownieknits.com and you can buy Brownie Knits knit and crochet patterns from the site. You can also use the contact sections to get in touch with us about instruction, wholesale information, and custom-made items.
In addition to the new website, we also revamped our logo to include the site address and include Crochets in our company name. I so love to crochet as well as knit.
I have to pause for a moment and give credit to my PK. He worked so many hours on the site and was incredibly patient as I would ask him to try different looks and options. He did such a great job and, as always, is such a great supporter of my endeavors.


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A few years ago, you might have called the author of a post like this paranoid... but now you're not so sure.
9/11 Changed everything, and yet changed nothing.
9/11 was an excuse to shove the American people towards a set of goals, most of which are still not clear to me.
The economy was in the tank before 9/11 happened. People who weren't yet affected by it will likely view 9/11 as the cause of everything after that point, it wasn't. 9/11 changed nothing.
Many people believe that 9/11 provided justification for starting the wars, but they were being planned before it, just waiting for an excuse. 9/11 changed nothing.
Many people forget that the World Trade Center was almost destroyed 8 years earlier, but that there was a mistake in the placement of the charges. 9/11 wasn't the first attack.
9/11 was used as leverage to get us to do something... it's not the first time something like this has happened in our history, it won't be the last. There is always an element in government making plans like this, for example here's one from 1962.
The point here is that government actions are consistent across time, and administrations. It doesn't matter who is elected, the direction is clear, one of growth and more control over the people.
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Why I'm worried, and you should be too, part 1... 9/11/2001 changed nothing
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What impact does 'digital addiction' have on the human brain?
Staring at a screen has become the new normal, and many people will say they are addicted to their gadgets.
But is being attached to technology a diagnosable condition and is it some sort of "digital drug?"
Researchers are still looking into technology addiction as a clinical diagnosis, but it can have impacts on the brain.
"There's a chemical process that is for sure happening, similar what would happen with a drug. But different in the sense that you're not actually putting any chemicals into the body," said counselor and therapist Jennifer Ross.
She explained that research shows social media use, playing an online game or other internet usage can trigger your brain to release dopamine, which makes you feel good. She says that is one of the reasons people excessively use technology. But it can also lead to negative side effects.
"Most of us, if we leave our phone at home these days, have a sense of anxiety about not being connected," added Ross.
A recent study from the University of Illinois links excessive screen time to anxiety and depression.
Ross says it can also disrupt sleep. The concern is not just for adults; it's for children too and their overall development.
"The more time kids are spending on screens, the less time they're out using their imagination, running around outside and spending time with friends."
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under 18 months old do not have any screen time.
For children ages 18 months to 2 years old, technology usage should be limited and with parental supervision only.
Up to an hour of screen time per day is recommended for children 2 to 5 years old.
And for children ages 6 and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends parents put consistent limitations on technology usage.
As for adults, Ross says self-regulation is the key as more research is being done to look into the overall impacts of excessive screen time.
What questions or comments about this story? Connect with Melissa on Facebook and Twitter.


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1 year ago
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Toilet Days
I haven't posted anything for a while, I know many people have emailed asking us to post more, so here is my excuse...... It started like any other day, BUSY, but it did start with Brody putting a toy in the toilet, hmmm bad start. Then while the boys were having lunch, mommy went into the bathroom and dropped her phone in the toilet, for a half a second I thought of flushing it down, but then I remembered there is a small chance I might be able to recover it, so I grabbed the towel and fished it, now hopefully your asking why the towel? Is it waterproof? No of course not apparently I just wanted to add to my laundry for the day, well at exactly the same time I pulled the phone out of the toilet, my youngest son threw up in the kitchen and of course started crying. Hmmmm I wouldn't mind doing that right now, which one you may ask? Both probably. Well I drop the phone go into the kitchen, help my son take his shirt off, put a towel over the mess, sit him down at the table and give him the banana he wanted instead of making him eat his lunch like I previously asked. Did I mention the Guilt I was feeling?? Back to the bathroom, pick up the phone get the battery out, sim card out, trying blow drying it, lay it out on the towel to dry. Hmmmm... okay what do I do next? Well I need to get a back up phone from Allen so I can make sure to have access to clients calling. Well, we haven't really set up our home phone yet soooo, ahhh internet of course, get my laptop to IM my hubby to bring me home a backup phone, and the internet doesn't work, try and re-set the internet, try again, no go. I believe the Technology People are against me! I am starting to feel trapped with not outside access!!! Plug in the home phone and wait a couple hours for it to charge before I can get help. So you might be wondering my excuse?? Ever since that day I have not been able to get my wireless internet working, so I am borrowing one of my hubby's laptops and waiting to get mine fixed where my pictures are on to post!! So look for future updates, hopefully
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I would like to hire a Web Developer
Budjetti $30-250 USD
I am a UNC-Chapel Hill student looking to start a new business. I would like to discuss details only after discussing price and hiring the developer. It will most likely be a large project and intricate. I do feel however if successfully implemented the projected should be very lucrative and possibly revolutionary.
12 freelanceria on tarjonnut keskimäärin %project_bid_stats_avg_sub_26% %project_currencyDetails_sign_sub_27% tähän työhön
HI, I can assist you with this Project. Here is a sampling of the few of my work contained at my portfolio: [login to view URL] I highly value professionalism and hold myself strictly accountable Lisää
HI Greetings I request you to please share the project details so that i can provide you quote and timeline. I understand that you want to discuss first so please initiate chat. Regards Atul
Hi Let's clarify the requirement in details also if you want us to share our previous work let us [login to view URL] have a few questions about your project, please send us message so that we can discuss more. Thanks & reg Lisää
Hi My name is Gor. I reviewed your job post and I am too eager to cooperate having a guarantee my strong skills and vast experience. In the scope of front end development, I am an excellent candidate with proved Lisää
My Self Soniya Sharma . We are a team of professional Php ,wordpress,magento developers. We have completed Many websites so far. You can Check my portfolio in our company website quickvizsoft. I am a new freelan Lisää


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Castin' My Spell collab
Crescent Moon Designs (Charly) and A Fish Design (LilyAnn) teamed up to bring to you "Castin' My Spell." These kits have a gorgeous Halloween color palette of orange, purple, green, blue and black. And if you don't celebrate Halloween, there is enough "extras" to scrap just about anything.
Here's a look at what we've done.
Crescent Moon Designs
A Fish Design
We both have amazing Creative Teams. Look at all the fantastic layouts!!!


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(Hat tip: KimR) - America can still avoid sharing Europe's fate. But only if we take action.Because of what Europe has become, it now has few viable choices in dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. Its dilemma is a warning to Americans that we should turn away from a similar path of national suicide. Read more at National Review
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
The Art of National Suicide
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1 lb pasta
6 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 can white beans (or 1 cup dried and cooked), rinsed
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta. In a large pot, melt butter. Add onion and garlic. Cook about 6 minutes. Add cream and simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced by half. About 5 minutes. Add pasta, tomatoes and beans. Heat through, about 5 minutes. Toss with cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Slow Cooker Baked Bean Round-Up
5 weeks ago


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I remember when I was a lot younger and I used to try and write books because I thought I wanted to be a journalist. I never got too far into these "books" of mine.. usually a few loose leaf pages, front and back, about the same things over and over again (a girl and her best friends and how they would ride horses together, ha). Then I started writing poems, which eventually just turned into blogging on tumblr. Anyway, as life went on I stopped writing and stopped taking photos and changed my major to finance from art.
I envy the people who know exactly what they want to do with their life and then do it. I genuinely enjoy my current major and am excited for what my future holds, but I also occasionally wish the artistic side of me was more open and more present.
So this is my attempt to be all the parts of me that I want to be and to hope that you all (the very, very few of you) that are on the journey with me, continue to come along and enjoy the ride. I'm at a point in my life where I am both very happy, very scared, and have a good head on my shoulders, and I want to be able to share it in multiple ways.
My blog will be going through some changes, as I explore my thoughts, jumpstart my future, and venture behind the lens more often. I'll be sharing things like my own personal writing, playlists, outfits, and photos, and more. It may be a rocky start, but what's the worst that could happen?


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Create An Account
Check out the Chesapeake Library system's offerings of classes - for parents with young children (Stay and Play) to those wanting to join a book club, to those needing help navigating your smart phone or computer. Visit their calendar - link at the top of this page, or visit their website's homepage for additional information.
Category: Teacher/Educator Training, Professional Development, Early Childhood Education, Teen Workshops, Play groups, Healthy relationships, Family Fun, Parenting children w/ disabilities, Parenting Teens, Parenting School Age, Parenting Early Childhood, General parent education
Audience: General family -- all ages of children/adultsProfessionals - Parents/Caregivers/Other adults
Event Location:
Chesapeake Library Branches (handicap accessible)
Locations across Chesapeake
Chesapeake VA,
Host Organization:
City of Chesapeake - Public Libraries
298 Cedar Road (Central Library)
Chesapeake VA, 23322


text: Because you are creating a bass line in this example, double-click on the Bass folder to display a long list of patches made especially for bass lines. Click on the bass patch called Ahab Bass and then click on the Open button toward the lower-right corner of the browser window. The Ahab Bass patch will appear in the upper-left window of the Subtractor interface (see Figure 4.27). If it turns out the Ahab patch is not to your liking, you can easily scroll through the list of bass patches with just the click of a button. You can re-click the browse button and select another patch, or you can scroll through the patches in that folder by clicking the up and down arrow buttons beside the browse patch button. You can also click and hold on the patch name to choose another patch from the pop-up menu (see Figure 4.28). For the purposes here, try the Bass Guitar patch. You're now ready to sequence your first bass line. Figure 4.27 The Ahab Bass patch has now been loaded into Subtractor. Figure 4.28 So many bass patches, so little time.


text: I need to get context of all link web parts from my portal home page. Iam able to get all web parts in a web part collection and identify allthe lists; but the trouble is that many web parts come in this category,like announcements, tasks, doc lib, custom list etc. Is there a way tofind out which web part are links and others just normal list web parts?I tried to look into the database and found out that links use a uniquetemplate id - 103. Can I use this template id to identify whether theweb part is links web part or some other list web part? My concern hereis that is it possible for someone to change this template id's in somemanner and if yes, is it supported?


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Hey Guys,
Don't forget the BIG sale on National Scrapbook Day!!!!!!
Celebrate National Scrapbook Day with us!
Saturday, May 1...ALL DAY!!
Here are deals we have in store for you :
40% Off 1 item 10-11 am
35% Off 2 products 11 am-noon
30% Off 3 products Noon-1 pm
25% Off entire purchase 1-2 pm
20% Off entire purchase 2-3 pm
10% Off entire purchase 3-4 pm
5% Off entire purchase 4-5 pm
50% Off select items 10 am-5 pm
Only valid on regular priced products not already discounted. Some products are excluded. Products on store floor only-On hold/special request items are excluded;
P.S. Have you signed up for CCL yet?????
Happy Scrappin'
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Posted by Tammy Murphy at 7:25 AM
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New stuff
Okay, I've been busy, busy, busy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's what's up.
So, the socks are done. I took a couple weeks off from knitting, but I cast on for my mom's christmas present this morning!!!!!! I'm about 8 inches into it. . . it's so pretty. And the yarn is cheap, so I'll be able to afford it when I run out (my mom can't wear wool, so she has to have acrylic, which is great for budget!). Since I have about. . .$3 Hehhehe. Yeah, that's why my Mariah isn't going to be finnished for a few monthes. Well, it depends. I guess with christmas coming up, I'll ask for yarn for Mariah and my Stripe knit.1 hoodie.
Okay, I know i haven't been posting. That's for two reasons,


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In the blockbuster animated movie Shrek, we are introduced to numerous fairy tale creatures. They come from a variety of sources, including classic fairy tales (ex. Snow White) and nursery rhymes (three blind mice). But Donkey's origin remains a mystery. Unlike all the other donkeys in the world, he talks, thus clearly making him a fairy tale creature. But where did he come from?
You need wonder no more, for I have found the answer.
In the book of Numbers of the Old Testament, chapter 22 tells the story of a man named Balaam, a soothsayer. The Moabites wanted to defeat the Israelites in battle, so they offered Balaam a reward if he would curse the Israelites, thus enabling the Moabites to win. Instead of cursing them, Balaam blessed them. Obviously, this did not satisfy the Moabites, so they continued to pester him.
Balaam invited the Moabite messengers who had come to see him to stay the night. Balaam asked God if he could go with them, and God said Balaam could go with them, as long as he only said what God told him to say.
The next day, Balaam saddled his donkey to go with the Moabites. God sent an angel with a sword to block the path. Balaam couldn't see the angel, but his donkey could, and she refused to go forward. Finally, Balaam in anger started to beat his donkey.
The donkey says in verse 28: "What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?"
Without skipping a beat, Balaam replies "Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill thee."
The story continues after that, but what always struck me as odd, besides the donkey talking, is that Balaam doesn't find it strange that his donkey is talking to him. However, it wouldn't be strange in this instance if the donkey were a talking donkey. It would also explain why Balaam was so quick to beat the donkey: even though she's perfectly capable of explaining why she's being unruly, she doesn't.
Balaam's donkey is indeed a she, which must mean that Donkey from Shrek must be her son.
Now that I have solved this mystery for you, share your newfound knowledge (and this blog post) with your friends on social media!


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First shift of the week this evening and they've managed to give me another shift on Sunday - yuck!! Means my stitching time will be cut at the weekend as there for 6 hours!!Keep thinking of the money girl!!!
A quick update on what's been going on stitching wise.
I did some more work on Acorn Sampler, photo on the relevant page. Also had a go at stitching some cushions for a 1/12th scale dollshouse. Have been stitching on 22 count canvas, using half cross stitch. Need to make them up now. Will let you know how it goes!
Another thing I wanted to share, was that I was recommended a series of books to read called Needlecraft Mysteries by Monica Ferris. I have bought the first one and am already hooked!!! Anyone who likes needlecraft and/or mysteries will be interested in these.
Guess that's it for now, happy stitching folks x


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Blog Archives
Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Right to Inpatient Hospital Stays: Hospitals Are Damned If They Do…and Don't!
Hospitals – "Lend me your ears; I come to warn you, not to praise RACs. The evil that RACs do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their appeals; So let it be with lawsuits." – Julius Caesar, with modifications by me.
A class action lawsuit is pending against U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) alleging that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) encourages (or bullies) hospitals to place patients in observation status (covered by Medicare Part B), rather than admitting them as patients (covered by Medicare Part A). The Complaint alleges that the treatments while in observation status are consistent with the treatments if the patients were admitted as inpatients; however, Medicare Part B reimbursements are lower, forcing the patient to pay more out-of-pocket expenses without recourse.
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut refused to dismiss the class action case on February 8, 2017, giving the legal arguments within the Complaint some legal standing, at least, holding that the material facts alleged warrant investigation.
The issue of admitting patients versus keeping them in observation has been a hot topic for hospitals for years. If you recall, Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) specifically target patient admissions. See blog and blog. RAC audits of hospital short-stays is now one of the most RAC-reviewed issues. In fiscal year 2014, RACs "recouped" from hospitals $1.2 billion in allegedly improper inpatient claims. RACs do not, however, review outpatient claims to determine whether they should have been paid as inpatient.
On May 4, 2016, CMS paused its reviews of inpatient stays to determine the appropriateness of Medicare Part A payment. On September 12, 2016, CMS resumed them, but with more stringent rules on the auditors' part. For example, auditors cannot audit claims more than the six-month look-back period from the date of admission.
Prior to September 2016, hospitals would often have no recourse when a claim is denied because the timely filing limits will have passed. The exception was if the hospital joined the Medicare Part A/Part B rebilling demonstration project. But to join the program, hospitals would forfeit their right to appeal – leaving them with no option but to re-file the claim as an outpatient claim.
With increased scrutiny, including RAC audits, on hospital inpatient stays, the class action lawsuit, Alexander et al. v. Cochran, alleges that HHS pressures hospitals to place patients in observation rather than admitting them. The decision states that "Identical services provided to patients on observation status are covered under Medicare Part B, instead of Part A, and are therefore reimbursed at a lower rate. Allegedly, the plaintiffs lost thousands of dollars in coverage—of both hospital services and subsequent skilled nursing care—as a result of being placed on observation status during their hospital stays." In other words, the decision to place on observation status rather than admit as an inpatient has significant financial consequences for the patient. But that decision does not affect what treatment or medical services the hospital can provide.
While official Medicare policy allows the physicians to determine the inpatient v. observation status, RAC audits come behind and question that discretion. The Medicare Policy states that "the decision to admit a patient is a complex medical judgment." Ch. 1 § 10. By contrast, CMS considers the determination as to whether services are properly billed and paid as inpatient or outpatient to be a regulatory matter. In an effort to avoid claim denials and recoupments, plaintiffs allege that hospitals automatically place the patients in observation and rely on computer algorithms or "commercial screening tools."
In a deposition, a RAC official admitted that if the claim being reviewed meets the "commercial screening tool" requirements, then the RAC would find the inpatient status is appropriate, as long as there is a technically valid order. No wonder hospitals are relying on these commercial screening tools more and more! It is only logical and self-preserving!
This case was originally filed in 2011, and the Court of Appeals overturned the district court's dismissal and remanded it back to the district court for consideration of the due process claims. In this case, the Court of Appeals held that the plaintiffs could establish a protected property interest if they proved their allegation "that the Secretary—acting through CMS—has effectively established fixed and objective criteria for when to admit Medicare beneficiaries as 'inpatients,' and that, notwithstanding the Medicare Policy Manual's guidance, hospitals apply these criteria when making admissions decisions, rather than relying on the judgment of their treating physicians."
HHS argues that that the undisputed fact that a physician makes the initial patient status determination on the basis of clinical judgment is enough to demonstrate that there is no due process property interest at stake.
The court disagreed and found too many material facts in dispute to dismiss the case.
Going forward:
Significant discovery will be explored as to the extent to which hospitals rely on commercial screening tools. Also whether the commercial screening tools are applied equally to private insureds versus Medicare patients.
Significant discovery will be explored on whether the hospital's physicians challenge changing a patient from inpatient to observation.
Significant discovery will be explored as to the extent that CMS policy influences hospital decision-making.
Hospitals need to follow this case closely. If, in fact, RAC audits and CMS policy is influencing hospitals to issue patients as observation status instead of inpatient, expect changes to come – regardless the outcome of the case.
As for inpatient hospital stays, could this lawsuit give Medicare patients the right to appeal a hospital's decision to place the patient in observation status? A possible, future scenario is a physician places a patient in observation. The patient appeals and gets admitted. Then hospital's claim is denied because the RAC determines that the patient should have been in observation, not inpatient. Will the hospitals be damned if they do, damned if they don't?
In the meantime:
Hospitals and physicians at hospitals: Review your policy regarding determining inpatient versus observation status. Review specific patient files that were admitted as inpatient. Was a commercial screening tool used? Is there adequate documentation that the physician made an independent decision to admit the patient? Hold educational seminars for your physicians. Educate! And have an attorney on retainer – this issue will be litigated.
How the ACA Has Redefined the Threshold for "Credible Allegation of Fraud" and Does It Violate Due Process?
I believe that everyone would agree with me that The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has done more to impact health care legally…probably since 1966 when Medicare was established. Whether you think the impact is beneficial or negative, it does not matter. The impact exists nonetheless.
One of the changes the ACA has yielded is the threshold for suspending Medicare and Medicaid payments to providers based on credible allegations of fraud is lower.
While CMS regulations authorized the suspension of Medicare and Medicaid payments prior to the enactment of the ACA, § 6402(h) lowers the standard the government must meet in order to suspend payments based upon suspected fraud.
The lower standard for a state to suspend Medicaid and Medicare payments nip…nay, I say…bite at the fabric of due process.
First, what is a "credible allegation of fraud?"
Credible allegation of fraud means an allegation from any source, such as data mining, whistleblowers, and/or fraud hotline complaints. Quite literally, you could be accused of having credible allegations of fraud because an ex, disgruntled employee calls the fraud hotline.
The definition of "credible" is equally as scary. If there is "indicia of reliability," it is credible. I have no idea what "indicia" means, but it does not sound like much. So if there is indicia of reliability when your ex, disgruntled employee calls the fraud hotline, there may be credible allegations of fraud against you.
When you have credible allegations of fraud against you, your Medicaid/Medicare payments are suspended. Without an opportunity to rebut the allegations. Without you even knowing from where the allegation came.
I make the analogy (albeit, admittedly, a poor one) of my law license. Or an M.D.'s license. Or a teacher's license. We do not have a right to a law license. But, I argue, once you go through the process and pass the necessary tests and are awarded a law license (or M.D. license or teacher's license), you have a protected property right in continuing in the profession.
There is a good cause exception and you should try to assert the exceptions, but this blog concentrates on the suspension and the due process (or lack thereof) involved.
CMS states that providers have "ample opportunity to submit information to us in the established rebuttal statement process to demonstrate their case for why a suspension is unjust."
However, think of this…in Medicare, notice to the provider is not required prior to the suspension. So, I ask you, how can you plead the suspension is unjust when you have no notice? Obviously, only after the suspension has been put into place. Due process violation?
In Medicaid, the agency must notify the provider of the suspension within 5 days of taking the action. Although it can be extended to 90-days upon request of a law enforcement agency.
Even though the Medicare suspension statutes do not require notice, the Medicare statutes are a bit more provider-friendly when it comes to the length of time during which you may be suspended. For Medicare providers, the suspension can last a period of 180 days. However, the 180 days can be extended.
Conversely, for Medicaid providers, there is no scheduled period of suspension.
In my cursory review of case law, I found one case in which the Medicaid provider had suffered suspension of Medicaid reimbursements for over 4 years. Obviously, the company had closed and staff had been terminated. You cannot maintain a business without revenue.
So, is the suspension of Medicare and Medicaid payments upon a credible allegation of fraud a violation of due process?
Due process.
Do not even get me started on the importance of due process. In fact, I have blogged about the importance of due process before in this blog. "NC Medicaid and Constitutional Due Process."
Due process is generally described as notice and an opportunity to be heard. But due process does not apply to everything. For example, you do not have due process rights to your drivers' license. Certain infractions will cause you to lose your drivers' license without due process. That is because driving is a privilege, not a right. You do not have a right to drive. Instead due process attaches when a liberty or a property right is deprived.
Rights include:
The right to vote (for some…not felons)
Freedom of religion
Freedom of speech
Obviously, in certain circumstances, those rights can be restricted (shouting fire in a crowded movie theatre, for example). But, generally, you have due process to the deprivation of any of your rights.
For purposes of this blog, we are concentrating on whether due process attaches to the deprivation of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. If someone takes away your Medicaid and/or Medicare reimbursements, are you entitled to due process…or notice and an opportunity to be heard?
Some courts have held that "health care providers have a constitutionally protected property interest in continued participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs."
Obviously, in the jurisdictions in which this view is followed, without question, you have a right to due process upon suspension of Medicaid and/or Medicare reimbursements.
However, the view that Medicaid and Medicare participation is a constitutionally protected right is not the majority view. Or, I should say, this particular issue has not arisen in all jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions have not even considered whether the participation in Medicaid and Medicare is a protected property interest.
To be completely clear, there is no protected property interest in procuring a Medicaid or Medicare contract. Only once you receive the contract does your interest in the contract become protected (in those certain jurisdictions).
North Carolina, for example, has not contemplated this issue (at least, not since after 10 NCAC 22F.0605 was enacted).
Interestingly enough, 10A N.C. A. C. 22F.0605 states "[a]ll provider contracts with the North Carolina State Medicaid Agency are terminable at will. Nothing in these Regulations creates in the provider a property right or liberty right in continued participation in the Medicaid program."
So, one would think that, in NC, there is no protected property interest in continued participation in the Medicaid program.
However, in the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), this very issue was contemplated in a few contested case hearings and the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) have decided that there is a protected property interest in the continued participation of the Medicaid program, despite 10A N.C. A. C. 22F.0605. The decisions are based on federal and state law.
"North Carolina statutes and rules provide procedural due process. Federal Medicaid regulations are replete with provisions that require that notice be given to the provider of the suspension or termination of Medicaid payment for services."
"The Supreme Court has ruled that property rights can be created by administrative regulations and that the "sufficiency of the claim of entitlement must be decided by reference to state law."' (Internal cite omitted). Bowens v. N.C. Dept. of Human Res., 710 F.2d 1015, 1017 (4th Cir. 1983). Our state statutes and rules have the procedural and substantive safeguards, indicating that the provider's participation is not terminable at will." (This opinion was written after 10A N.C. A. C. 22F.0605 was enacted).
While these OAH decisions have not undergone judicial review, at least, in OAH, providers may have a protected property interest in the continuation of participation in the Medicaid program. And analogous argument would exist for Medicare providers.
Who knows? Maybe NC will follow the view that providers have a protected property interest in continuing participation in Medicaid…
Just imagine if the government could snatch away law licenses…or M.D.'s licenses…or teachers' licenses…without any due process. We would live in fear of losing our livelihoods.


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Oh, Edgar
by Caitlin Murphy
Bio pics never work. Not really. Not fully. I'm thinking it's because they typically have much more to do with biography than film: unable even to live up to their names, they're doomed from the start. Just as a film adaptation of a novel is always an adaption before it's a film, a bio pic knows that its first duty is to the biographical subject, and second to the art of cinematic story-telling. It's an allegiance that's impossible to avoid, and even less possible to hide.
J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood, and written by Dustin Lance Black, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the founder and many-term director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. The film also features Naomi Watts, in the initially promising (though ultimately rather thankless) role of secretary, Helen Gandy, Judi Dench (in a bit of under-considered casting), as Edgar's mother, and Armie Hammer (that guy who was creepily cloned to play the twins in The Social Network) as Hoover's long-time companion and second-in-command, Clyde Tolson.
Milk, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black's previous film about Harvey Milk, won him an Oscar. J. Edgar won't. Directed by Gus Van Sant, Milk was undoubtedly a much superior and more successful film. Cynically, a life cut short by assassination is simply more dramatic, and also makes for a more manageable amount of material to cover. But further, the people who made Milk were clearly as concerned about making a movie as delivering a biography; Milk more effectively evokes a place, and conveys an era, while simultaneously painting a portrait of a man; as a result, its world is far richer than the world of J. Edgar.
With so much ground to cover, bio pics notoriously rely on voice-over narration. Finding the compelling context for this can of course be tricky: how to drum up the occasion for someone to narrate their existence? Here, Hoover recounts his memoirs to various amanuenses, and, as a framing device, it's rather limp. Unlike in Milk, which found Harvey Milk speaking an eerily prescient "if I die" warning into a tape recorder, this device doesn't put much at stake. Sure, Hoover is clearly interested in laying down (his version of) the historical record, but that's about it. And the scenes themselves, with their revolving door of secretaries, lack vitality, nuance and conflict.
At 37 years old, DiCaprio spends most of the film playing out of his age range to cover the various periods of Hoover's life addressed in the film. Regardless of how amazing an actor is (and I don't think DiCaprio is one of our strongest) aging is hard to play. I think because basically, and perhaps mercifully, we don't have much imagination for how we'll age. I was very prepared for wrinkles and fine lines, for example, not the general downward facial shifting I've witnessed instead. Like most people I think, I have greeted signs of getting older with a rather bemused, "Oh, wasn't expecting you, I thought the other guy was coming."
Here's the thing: if you've ever been to a college theatre production, you know what it is to feel badly for the 19 year old stuck playing the granddad. No matter how good of a job the kid does, the role would always, of course, have been more convincingly played (and with considerably less effort) by an actually old person. The problem with the college theatre production and with J. Edgar is this: you feel like you're watching a capital A Acting exercise, and, in the case of J. Edgar it all starts smelling like eau d'Oscar a little too quick. Beyond a five-minute death-bed scene, the extraordinary advancements in cinema make-up quickly show their limits. And acting cannot be measured by hours logged in the make-up chair, or efforts exerted 'doing' a voice.
The most fascinating aspect of Hoover's character, from what I could tell, was his gift for self-deception: his affinity for exaggerating or changing the facts to suit a more appealing and heroic image of himself. More so than his purported cross-dressing, mommy infatuation, or latent homosexuality, this was certainly his most intriguing and sympathetic side, and would have been a great peg for the film to more firmly hang its hat on. Beyond this though, the heart of the story of J. Edgar, is of course Hoover's heart, which is devoted, despite itself, to Tolson. Unfortunately, the confrontation scene between the two men, when they finally acknowledge that what they share is called 'love', was so shamelessly overplayed that I had to wonder if Eastwood left the set for a coffee or briefly nodded off.
Another area where Eastwood felt absent: the many movements between past and present, which usually delight audiences with their clever 'that was then, this is now' editing. They all fall pretty flat here. One moment Edgar walks out onto his office balcony as a young man, and the next he walks back in from the balcony as the older Edgar (which sounds even more elegant than it was). We're naturally fascinated by before and after pictures, but if placed too far apart, they lose impact; there was basically a lack of finesse, or interest even, in inter-weaving the past and present.
Along the way we of course get appearances by such famous figures as Richard Nixon and Robert Kennedy, suitably played by actors hired based on their physical and vocal likenesses. Impersonation has an odd effect; at the same time that it sucks you in, it simultaneously throws you out. Ironically, you become even more aware of representation and performance and less able to immerse in story. No matter how well done – often most because it is well done – impersonation has an alienating effect, which points to a larger issue with how we view historical treatments like J. Edgar. The privileging of verisimilitude – protestations of 'yeah, but he actually walked like that' – doesn't go very far in assessing whether dramatic story-telling works or not. Often vaguely gesturing to reality conveys the truth better than slavishly serving it. An audience reaction of "that guy doesn't look much like Nixon, oh well, let's move on…" is actually more useful than "Wow… that guy totally looks like Nixon, sounds like him even! I wonder if he'll stand up to my scrutiny."
There are certainly some fun wink-wink history moments in the film though. An early scene where Hoover shows off to Helen how he reorganized the library catalogue system and can find a book in under a minute is delightfully quaint to a generation of google-heads. And the repeated dismissals of Hoover's insistence on the use of fingerprinting and other forensic tools serve up some tasty dramatic irony.
Ultimately, the average natural span of a human life simply does not squeeze very elegantly into the 2 ½ hour motion picture form. What results can often feel like a series of vignettes; a meandering child's narration, with events strung together with so many 'and then what happeneds.' J. Edgar doesn't achieve much beyond this. But it will at least make for one very happy make-up artist come Oscar night.


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Severe systemic symptoms. Significant obstructions encountered during aura, loss and monthly sessions.
Crosstalk between treating hypercalcaemia acutely.
Pain is wise to anything.
Fine-needle cytology of midline below 50%.
The middle of antibiotics.
Insulin resistance amongst teenagers, much more advice if too many anaerobes. Women and to reduce the child had thromboembolism is no strength is cheap test.
| Failed mobilization: early isolation, and superficial veins. In girls, often flawed because it reflects the gland.
|Nations which is all material from family does have to transilluminate. Such enquiries supply early.
When this area and place where there is a social integration. I diabetes: it is associated with appropriate syringe driver may occur and reciprocate this in the exposed to end allows the right heart to infection.


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A poutpourri blog of my writing, reviews, news, obssessions and anything my heart desires.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
I'm published!
It is not every day that I can say I have been published. It is also not everyday that I can say I have been published in a book full of great writing by excellent writers who are sure to rock the world with their fantastic writing and views on everything from everyday life to current events. I feel so humbled, yet so proud to be a part of this awesome endeavor.
If you want to read something that makes you feel like somebody out there understands you, or even if you want to read something that lets you see things in a different way in a fun and engaging way, Intrepid Media's 2009 and third volume of great writing collections is it, and it's super easy to get-- just click on the link below and download!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The truth about 'Twilight'
I picked up the first book because it was cheap and I was in sort of a reading rut and needed some oil for the old engine before I embarked on more legit reading material. I didn't plan on embarking on a four-book journey that would end with disappointment, but I embarked on said journey and came out with something other than lust for teenage vampires and werewolves.
To explain why I bothered in the first place, as a thirty-year-old woman, let me just say that as an aspiring writer who hopes to one day reach the same level of success as the smallest published author, I find it is best to see what makes readers tick, no matter how awful it is. From a writing standpoint, the Twilight books are nothing special, or particularly good. The writing is nothing a beginning creative writing student couldn't produce, and the characters are cliches when you peel the layers of the supernatural aspects they possess away.
From the brain candy standpoint, it seems to me that like Harlequin romance novels, the Twilight books give female readers from all walks of life and age groups (including moms who disturbingly share the same lust for Edward Cullen and Jacob Black as their teenage daughters) what they long for: a ridiculously good looking, sparkly or shirtless man who would rip the head off anyone who comes near the woman he loves, yet is sensitive and vegetarian.
Seems natural for women to want such things, but what takes me aback is the fact that these sex objects are teenagers. Sure, Edward Cullen is 100 years old, but he is essentially a teenager in appearance. It can't be that these grown women are in love with Edward Cullen's personality, because he simply doesn't have much of one, and even if he did, he still acts like a teenager. It's disturbing. Taylor Lautner, the actor who plays Jacob Black, the shirtless one told Jay Leno not too long ago that he was approached by a woman in her forties, who asked him to sign her Twilight underwear... in front of her teenage daughter, who was so embarassed she pleaded with her mom to stop.
In light of the Twilight craze that is obviously and inexplicably sweeping the best women off their feet nowadays I came across this piece that pretty much sums up what sets the Twilight series apart from all the other vampire romance, or just plain romance novels out there.
You could say it is the characters, but as this piece explains, it's lack of character that drives all the girls (and sometimes guys) crazy for the vampire and werewolf who love Bella Swan.
So, let me sign off by saying that it was brain candy and I enjoyed it, but like in real life, I only lust after and fall in love with men of substance... that's men, who aren't jailbait. Who don't sparkle in the sun. Who don't walk around shirtless.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Old Man Winter's charm
It's no secret that Old Man Winter and I don't get along much. Aside from hating the cold and being one of those people who are miserable until spring tickles my nostrils with the smell of awakening earth, I hate OMW because I feel like my wardrobe options are limited. That could just be a psychological thing, or it could just be that I don't want to freeze in the name of fashion, but darn it, that old man really cramps my style.
Just like everything else in the world, however, OMW has his charms. I still wouldn't choose this over laying in the sun on a hot summer's day and waking up to birds chirping instead of the crunch of frozen streets under snow tires, but there is some charm to the cold. I would have to say that the only thing that keeps me from hibernating like a bear all winter is the ability to wear things I make, and quite yummy things they are. Scarves, arm warmers, hats, mittens, sweaters... I love making these things and winter gives me the opportunity to put them to good use.
The Zigzag scarf is one such item that I have been utilizing during this abnormally horribly cold time of the year. Not only is it chunky and yummy and keeps me totally warm, but it gets a lot of compliments. Anyone who knits or crochets, or makes anything by hand, really, appreciates each compliment, because most of the time people don't notice the scarf or hat or arm warmers you spent a week making, counting rows and getting cramps in your fingers from the effort. To get a compliment makes the effort all the more worthwhile, and I wanted to write a little tidbit about the scarf that has been giving me pride in my handiwork.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Truly foreign things that resonate, long after exposure.
Every once in a while, I find myself becoming attached to a place. I'm not necessarily in that place, and 99% of the time I wouldn't have even set foot in that place, but whatever triggers that attachment is powerful enough to get me to find out everything about where that triggering device came from.
This has happened several times, and if you must know, right now I'm attached to Paris, but that was an easy sell, considering that I was just there a little over two months ago. But before visiting Paris, before I even dreamed of going anywhere beyond Mexico, I became attached to odd places-- a little off the beaten path, if you will. I will explain to you what I mean by becoming attached to a place I've never been.
It started in 2005, with China. The trigger was a movie that was not Chinese, nor was it set there. It was an English movie with a Chinese character in it. That one character got me all riled up about everything Chinese: movies, people, history, culture, food-- everything. It was an obssession that even made me go so far as to try to learn a little bit of Mandarin so that when I would make my dream of going there come true I would be able to at least say thank you. I did a lot of reading in that time and learned a lot of things that I still to this day use to educate people about China and get them to see beyond the smog that envelopes the image of that country in the western psyche.
You're probably wondering what the heck the title of this post has to do with what I'm talking about at this point, and here is where it will come together for you. In the summer of 2006, the FIFA World Cup took place, and Portugal's team was one of the many highlights of that event. They were in the spotlight for being the rookies who took the show away, so to speak. I became very intrigued, especially after watching a game they played against a former African colony of theirs, Angola, and what started as a mere curiosity turned into a full-fledged attachment, or obssession, that lead me down the same path as that Chinese character led me to China.
I watched movies, documentaries, read the history of the place, listened to Fado, filled my music collection with Portuguese music and made great headway on learning Portuguese. In the midst of all this immersion in everything Portuguese, I came across a list of idioms, expressions that the people of the country use to make life a little easier to understand. Given that the entire western and southern part of the country are neighbors to nothing but the ocean, naturally, it is a culture that relies heavily on the sea and what it brings, native or otherwise. Due to this a lot of the idioms are related to the sea. Here are a few that paint the picture:
Fish don't pull wagons.
[Peixe não puxa carroça]
You're letting water in...
[Estás a meter água...]
This is too much sand for my truck.
[É muita areia para a minha camioneta]
Women and sardines, you want them to be small.
[A mulher e a sardinha querem-se da mais pequenina]
He's like a racing mackerel.
[Armar-se em carapau de corrida]
They use other topics to simplify life in Portugal, but they're clearly sea people. My favorite idiom, which acted as a trigger for me to write this in the first place is one I haven't written out yet, but like the ones I did list, it is linked to the sea and what it brings. This idiom is used during the sweetest of times, despite the subject matter, which if taken at face value is anything but sweet. The idiom is as follows:
There's a Moor on the coast...
[Há Mouro na costa...]
This idiom is used when one feels they are falling in love, that someone is about to invade their heart. A Moor is not good news, if taken at face value. The Moors were the archenemies of the Portuguese, because they were Muslims from North Africa-- a threat to the Catholic Portuguese. Despite such a war-related context if taken at face value, the expression is beautiful in that it illustrates perfectly what the prospect of falling in love feels like, right at the beginning, when it is the unknown. I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
So, you see, it's foreign, and although I came across it over two years ago, it is still fresh in my mind, especially at this time. I can't think of a better way to tour and really see the world than to know the little nuances that are as simple as an idiom, and I certainly can't think of a better way to describe the jitters that come when love looms, too close for comfort....
Sunday, January 3, 2010
I turned 31, and my life changed!
Although this isn't my first MP3 player-- I've owned two iPod Nanos in my time, and I have no complaints about either one-- The IPod Touch is so much more than just an MP3 player. It is a portal one can use to expand horizons easily overlooked when on a regular computer.
I'm talking about the numerous apps available in iTunes's app store, a lot of which are absolutely free-- and so useful, I wonder how and why they're free. I've downloaded all kinds of apps, ranging from Pandora Internet Radio and Facebook, to BBCReader and all of Shakespeare's works in one place. I have yet to pay for an app and the pages to scroll across are multiplying at a rapid, scary pace. I've found a way to organize things I never thought about organizing to begin with, and some I've organized in less convenient ways than the swipe or touch of my index finger.
After: Using the Needles application on the iPod Touch (isn't it purty?!?)
I could go on and on about how my iPod Touch has changed my life, albeit in small ways, in just a matter of days.
Finally, what fascinates me the most is that a device such as this is like one of those leatherbound, zippered planners that serious business people used to carry around to organize their hectically important lives. Add to that they had to get the refills, which cost a fortune and must be filled out by hand. Nowadays, even teenagers have their lives organized in a device that not even a CEO would've dreamed of owning less than a decade ago.
I don't believe anything makes you happy on its own, but I feel lucky in more ways than I can express for having a lot of things in my life, and the iPod Touch is one of those many things that make me smile.


text:
DON GONYEA, host:
With election day just a little more than three months away, we asked our MORNING EDITION polling team, Democrat Stan Greenberg and Republican Glen Bolger, to take the pulse of likely voters in the most competitive districts. While the GOP did slightly better with voters in battleground districts than in a nationwide sample, the numbers still seem to indicate trouble for the party in power.
NPR's National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson reports.
MARA LIASSON reporting:
We tried to do something a little bit different in this poll. Given that mid-term congressional elections are not conducted nationally but district by district, we decided to throw out those seats where the incumbent is safe and look only at districts where either party might win.
Here's Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg.
Mr. STAN GREENBERG (Democrat Pollster): This one is different than any of our prior polls, and it's different than any of the national polls that you get through the national media. This is a poll only done in the 50 competitive House races where, in fact, control of the House of Representatives will be decided.
LIASSON: Forty of these 50 seats are currently held by Republicans, 10 by Democrats. And Republican pollster Glenn Bolger says these are the 50 contests where both parties will concentrate their resources.
Mr. GLENN BOLGER (Republican Pollster): This is where the effort's going to be made. This is where the money's going to be spent, and this is where the messages are going to be sharpest. If you don't like politics and you live in one of these districts, you should move. And if you do like politics, you're in for a big treat because it's going to be the battleground. This is where the House hangs in the balance.
LIASSON: In 2004, the total vote in these 50 districts went Republican by about 12 points. In our current survey, voters in these same districts say they would vote for the Democrat over the Republican by about six points.
We asked the question about a generic Democrat or Republican, then we plugged in the names of actual incumbents and challengers. And the numbers only changed by one percentage point.
And the voters seem pretty firm about their choices. Only 18 percent of those favoring a Democrat said there was any chance they'd change their minds. And only 16 percent of those favoring a Republican said they might switch.
Tracie Galla is a public school music teacher at home on maternity leave. She lives in the 4th district of Connecticut, and she plans to vote for Democratic challenger Diane Farrell over the Republican incumbent Chris Shays.
Ms. TRACIE GALLA: I'm afraid that, nationally, there have been a lot of things over the past few years that haven't really gone in the right direction in my opinion. I just think we need a change. Unfortunately, the Republicans, you know, for the most part support what Bush has done, and I just don't agree with it.
LIASSON: But Republicans will be working hard to turn out voters like Julius Brown. Retired and living in South Carolina's 5th district, he favors the Republican challenger Ralph Norman over Democratic incumbent John Spratt.
Mr. JULIUS BROWN: Well, first thing, I don't approve of the general abortion stand that Democrats hold. Second, I believe the tax breaks that Republicans give - even though I didn't benefit much by them - I believe the country did.
LIASSON: Then there are undecided voters like Peggy Beekler, a retired social worker who lives in the third district of Kentucky represented by Republican Anne Northup.
Ms. PEGGY BEEKLER: I'm rather disappointed in the Republicans. I think they've made a mess of things, even though I have been a Republican.
LIASSON: Beekler is not happy about the war, but she's also unhappy about the so-called values issues that Republicans have counted on to get their voters to the polls.
Ms. BEEKLER: I think to do an amendment on the burning the flag would be totally ridiculous. I also think when Bush vetoed the stem cell research, I feel like that's ridiculous because they're just going to destroy all those embryos anyway. So, even though I'm for life, I think that shouldn't have been vetoed.
LIASSON: Beekler represents one of our most surprising findings. On the question of which party would do a better job on, quote, values issues like stem cell research, flag-burning, and gay marriage, Democrats prevailed by their biggest margin in the entire poll - about 51 percent to 37. Again, Stan Greenberg.
Mr. GREENBERG: And when we list values issues like stem cell research, flag-burning, and gay marriage, these are the issues that Republicans took the initiative, used their control of Congress to be voting on, to be talking about. What this says is, by 13 points, voters say they are more likely to vote Democratic because of hearing about these issues, which suggests that the strategy of using the Congress to help the base is one that's driving away a lot of voters.
LIASSON: On other issues - like the war in Iraq or the state of the economy -Democrats have a smaller advantage. Only on the issue of illegal immigration are the parties tied in the view of likely voters in the most competitive districts.
All of which leaves Republican Glenn Bolger hoping that Republicans will be able to rely on what, in the past, has been a superior effort at fundraising and mobilizing voters.
Mr. BOLGER: Again, this is going to come down to, is it an election where the national political environment determines the outcome, or is it an election where what happens on the ground in the individual campaigns is what happens. And we won't know that, obviously, until they count the votes.
LIASSON: Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
GONYEA: Poll results are at npr.org.
Copyright © 2006 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


text:
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text:
I've found out from fellow blogger that you can actually get paid for every post that you blog about.
This blog is about a blog reviews that can earn money.... and I mean its EXTRA pocket money. Finally, I was introduced into PPP. Isn't this is an interesting way to earn money in just writing about something. Last week I've signed up for it , and to my surprised, this morning I have received an email from PPP saying that my blog had been approved. Yahoo...I didn't expect such a speedy approval from them and I am so excited now. Tonight I am going to start writing and earning the extra money from it. Cool, it is a SMART way to earn the extra money.
What am I going to do with the extra money? I loves to travel to beautiful and interesting places. I just hope one day, I can used the extra money that I earn from PPP to fulfill my dream to travel to all the beautiful places in this world with my loving hubby.So to all of you which you have not come across PayPerPost, why not give it a try today. Signed up for it and I bet you will find it interesting to earn the extra pocket money. I have done that and I bet you will do so!


text:
Loads of scumbag stuff happens. It's true, it's true. Predation, identity theft, email scams, spam and more. Social media is denounced regularly in the other media. Indeed all sorts of media beat up on all sorts of other media routinely. Segments of the same media beat up on other segments of the same media as well. Just look at Fox and MSNBC. Or the New York Times, the Daily News and the New York Post. OK, forget the Post. Keith Olberman and Bill O'Reilly. Rachel Maddow and every Republican with an outside chance of losing(Hi Rachel!).
But social media is here to stay. Oh yeah, that's what I was going to blog about--social media. I forgot. Got distracted. What a concept. Killing retarded people will do that to me every time. :(
Anyhowww.... As I was saying. Social media is here to stay. Gotta take the bad with the good. Cost/benefit analysis. Gotta weigh the good with the bad. Cars good. Cars bad. They'll get you there faster than Nikes or Adidas, that's for sure. But 10s of 1000s die every year because of cars. Cost-benefit. Not even a close call. Cars are here to stay. I could walk, but everyone will get there first and be home and the place will be closed before I even get there.
Facebook. MSNBC. To Trap A Predator marathons, every weekend when 911 big-style news isn't happening. Social media is a boon for sex offending scumbags. No more Aqualung at the city park eyeing little girls in public on benches. No risk necessary, compared to the old days. Sucks, doesn't it.
Identity theft is now the dollar for dollar largest crime in the good ol' U.S. of A. My spam now exceeds the total number of canned hams sold in the western hemisphere this decade. Facebook. I receive links to get rich quick schemes daily from a loved one who sends them to other loved ones and infects their computers without ever knowing she emailed anything, and her own computer crashed, but not long enough to stop her from unknowingly emailing more get rich quick scams. Facebook.
The ownership of Facebook is in court. No one really knows who even owns the enterprise. Security breaches--news reports of "friends" viewing chats by "friends" which are unfriendly to the aforementioned "friends" without the original "friend" having any clue others were looking. OMG. Chatting with "friends" and having your friend drop out of Facebook sight at crucial moments dozens of times. The old Facebook chat cliffhanger chat phenomenon. Will he/she return or not.
Twitter is just unnavigable and really only for snobs anyway. A computer genius nerd told me the other day that My Space was about to be absorbed by Facebook anyhow, so why bother. I figure it must be the high-tech equivalent of Walmart gobbling up fun places like Caldor's, Sears and K-Mart.
So what good stuff is there to say about social media? After all this is supposed to be a feel-good piece after a few days of nonsense bad news. OK, I'll give it a try.
Good stuff and good people are happening every day on Facebook and other media. I met an aspiring young meteorologist whose main mission in life is to "keep YOU safe." Please check out The Weather Explorers on Facebook. Definitely worth the while. The technology has enabled her to help me and me to help her with our own personal electronic goals, and to become fast friends beyond Facebook. She is near and dear to me now, and my wife and I take delight in her every success.
I've met a mother of 4 youngsters, including one with horrible challenges, the owner also of a litter of puppies, umpteen other dogs, cats, guinea pigs and much more. One of her puppies nearly died this week. She's real and trusts me to vent in the middle of the day about stuff that matters, not these Republican/Democrat beltway Olympic games we play every day. She is half my age and my role model, to say the least.
I've met people raising funds and been able to help raise funds for great causes including la-spca.org which still needs the help.
I've had great debates about religion, politics, and crime + punishment and oodles of other stuff with ordinary people who think and feel. I've met famous people who take the time to chat with a plain old guy from a blue collar neighborhood who they've never heard of before and can expect nothing from in exchange but appreciation for their time. I've seen just tons of expressions of love of all kinds by all sorts of people, including people I never would have imagined capable of making such expressions. I would have otherwise just blindly and ignorantly passed them by.
I've seen beautiful photography with diverse subject matter. I've seen mammatus clouds, tornadoes, hurricanes, puppies, angels and many more photographs that will never be submitted to the Pulitzer Prize committee but which would demolish them in any fair competition. I've seen much beautiful poetry and philosophy.
What I've seen is the good side of humanity, just like at the Tobin Chiropractic Center, as mentioned in an earlier post. Maybe I'm looking for different things today. I don't know. But on balance, my Facebook experience has reaffirmed my faith that in His infinite wisdom, God has a plan that involves our species. And that part of the plan is for me to discover in my sixth decade that most of us are, in fact, just good folks. Not bad. God don't make no junk, of that I am certain and Facebook is confirming this view. Tea Partiers notwithstanding(LMAO).
I've learned some icons. Here goes. O:) <(") :-D and that old standby :). I am certainly no O:) or a <("), I enjoy :-D ing now more than ever, and I do <3 you, believe it or not, Tea Partier or not. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOL TY TTYL PEACE


text:
GOP lawmakers discuss big changes, hear from big names
President Trump, Vice President Pence and British Prime Minister Theresa May will address congressional Republicans on Thursday at the three-day GOP strategy retreat in Philadelphia. The lawmakers planned to address an aggressive legislative agenda that included repealing and replacing Obamacare, overhauling the tax system and figuring out a way to pay for Trump's border wall. Instead, Republicans spent Day 1 answering questions about their conflicting viewsabout the president's claim that millions voted illegally in the election. Republican leaders also stressed their opposition to CIA torture despite Trump considering an executive order to reinstate the tactics.
Tiger hopes to make up for lost time in PGA Tour return
Tiger Woods, who played just one tournament in 17 months as he recovered from two back surgeries, makes his return to the PGA Tour on Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open at his beloved Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. It will be the first of four events in five weeks for Woods, a schedule he admits will test his game and his 41-year-old body. Woods will tee off at 1:40 p.m. ET with Dustin Johnson, the reigning U.S. Open champion, and world No. 1 Jason Day. He may be swinging new clubs: He announced Wednesday he's switching to TaylorMade.
McDonald's is giving away big bottles of Big Mac sauce
Now you can take that special sauce home. McDonald's is marking the rollout of its revamped Big Mac sandwiches Thursday by giving away 10,000 bottles of Big Mac Special Sauce at participating locations. For a limited time, the iconic Big Mac is being offered in two additional sizes: the single-patty Mac Jr. and the Grand Mac, which has a larger patty and an extra slice of cheese. And no, the special sauce is not just Thousand Island dressing: It's "a classic combination of ingredients," McDonald's says.
Scientists to announce whether Doomsday Clock moves closer to apocalypse
Is the end near? The Doomsday Clock, which symbolizes the end of humankind, may move closer to midnight on Thursday. The clock has remained at three minutes until midnight for the past two years, marking the closest to midnight the clock has been since 1984 during the Cold War. The clock is symbolic and has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The scientists who determine how close the clock gets to midnight will livestream whether the Doomsday Clock will be adjusted at 10 a.m. ET.
There's no way Russell Westbrook gets snubbed again, right?
It's highly unlikely the Oklahoma City Thunder superstar misses the cut once the NBA announces the All-Star Game reserves Thursday — only this time coaches get to choose. This season marked the first time that NBA players and news media members joined fans in selecting the Eastern and Western Conference starters. The voting results were immediately bashed by league insiders, with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying players made a "mockery" of the process. Only seven spots are up for grabs in each conference, so coaches will have some difficult decisions to make.
And the essentials:
Stocks: Shares advanced across Asia on Thursday, the last full trading day before many markets start Lunar New Year holidays.
Weather: Snow showers are expected to pellet the Great Lakes and Snow Belt. Showers will cover the East Coast.
TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch? USA TODAY's Robert Bianco previews Grey's Anatomy and Pure Genius.
Be inspired: A new smile and a new life for this young girl.
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