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Beggar's Feast is a rags-to-riches picaresque about the clash of worlds and the revenge of empires, about fate and history and harbours and birthright and brothels and moneylenders and metal-benders. Our main character in this sprawling novel is one Sam Kandy, born in a tiny village in what was Ceylon; his strange odyssey to affluence and power touches down in Australia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, spanning three marriages and many families, city and country, and all of the 20th century.
The easy postcolonial comparison might be Rushdie or Ondaatje, but Sam Kandy, the inventive and ambitious scrabbler, also has a bit of Saul Bellow's Augie March, while his humble beginnings ("a no one from nowhere"), his invented name, his climb to money and manners and motorcars and English suits and silver cigarette cases remind me of that other signifying cipher upstart, Jay Gatsby.
Like all such literary characters and social climbers and magnates, Sam Kandy is not always sympathetic; he can coldly flee connections and wives and sons and daughters, or leave his driver to be beaten to death by a May Day mob, but there is something endearing about the cad. Should we worry about liking such a figure, a Trump, a Madoff? Or does a writer simply report what is there, as if showing a force of nature, a monsoon or a killer wave looming over the supporting characters?
Indeed, the cast of Beggar's Feast is huge, but Boyagoda, a sharp and subtle writer, slips easily into many different characters' heads and their internal rhythms, and lyrical lines abound: the quartz-coloured eyes of woken dogs in headlights; the translucent furze of crushed insect wings on headlamps; women's laced throats arching in wonder at the long shadow of the new bell tower; flowers made yellow beneath a light that looked like a giant drop of perfect water; an older woman described as a birdcage wrapped in a bed sheet.
The scenes of stowaways and refugees and diasporas and shadow lives are very timely, with Tamil refugees in Canadian headlines and Italy divided dealing with waves of migrants from all sides. In a strange scene during the Second World War, Kandy is summoned to the docks of Colombo by Lord Mountbatten to take possession of six Ethiopian prisoners with padlocks through their lips, and Kandy hides them in his village.
Kandy grows fat on war spoils and overflowing dockside warehouses, but after the war he falls from grace, his empire declines, and he seems powerless to alter his fate, despite all he has made and possessed in his life.
Beggar's Feast is a book very much concerned with fate and birth and free will, an almost Elizabethan fixation with "jurying stars" and "blood and birth hour" and the "rock-face logic of blood and stars and caste." Can beggars choose their fates? Perhaps in rare cases, but for most, the die is cast at birth by caste, class and colour.
The last chapters of Beggar's Feast are less weighty; in fact, they are upbeat and farcically hilarious. Toward the end of his life, Sam Kandy's traditional village becomes a Disney-like tourist attraction, playing at being a village. "Villagers not selected to be villagers became ticket takers and staffed the refreshment stand." White swimming trunks are imported because the locals refuse to wear loincloths, hidden cassettes provide background music because the advising folk-culture professor thinks the local tabla men do not rate. Tourist cameras snap like grasshoppers at "history and memory conveniently located and reasonably priced." Malice and grudges and black deeds and poison are not evident in this model village; no weeds in this garden of the world.
These ending parts are very funny and the book takes on a totally different feel. Sam Kandy relaxes and seems redeemed by his third wife, the loving Rose, and their 14 children, and the book, too, which might have seemed very serious, is redeemed as well, made into a satirical feast.
Mark Anthony Jarman writes this from Ireland. His most recent book is My White Planet.


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(77021, 77030, 77054 zip codes)
Here's an update on available houses, townhomes, condos, and rentals available near the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas!
Single-Family Homes
0 new single family homes came on the market yesterday which is located in the Texas Medical Center area.
0 mid/hi-rises were listed yesterday for the Texas Medical Center area.
1 Condo/Townhouse was listed yesterday in the Texas Medical Center area.
1 Bedroom/1.5 bath/964 sq ft for $85,000 (Year built: 1982) MLS # 19448947
From the listing report, " This lovely two level condo is located in an attractive complex with easy access to the Medical Center, the Museum District, and Downtown. The open living/dining/kitchen areas lend a feeling of spaciousness, and the sliding glass doors up and down provide an abundance of light. The bedroom is very spacious and has two closets. Features include a patio, balcony, granite kitchen counters, laminate flooring downstairs, and all appliances. The perfect condo in the perfect location. A must see. "
The Texas Medical Center is a competitive area when it comes to real estate in Houston. You really have to move quickly if you want to rent a place in the Texas Medical Center. 0 active rentals were placed on the market yesterday.
New Construction
0 new construction properties were listed for the Texas Medical Center area.
If you are looking to buy a house, townhome, or rent out a property in near the Texas Medical Center, please do not hesitate to visit TexasMedicalCenterLiving.com. We are up-to-date with the latest and greatest inventory in the most coveted areas around town including near the Texas Medical Center. If you are open to other areas in Houston, please visit our list of Houston search sites.
This information is provided to you by the Lion Real Estate Group.

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About a year and a half ago, the staff at Finn McCool's attended the culinary version of boot camp, when celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay visited the restaurant and whipped them into shape for the reality television show "Kitchen Nightmares."
In March, Chef Ramsay returned to the Westhampton Beach establishment, and, unlike some of the other restaurants featured last season on this popular show, found the business flourishing.
The results of Chef Ramsay's second visit to Finn McCool's will air on FOX-5 this Thursday, September 4, at 8 p.m., as part of the kick-off episode for the continuation of the "Kitchen Nightmares" series. The episode is titled "Revisited: Gordon Returns" and runs for two hours. The series, which is the American version of a British show called "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," first aired on American television last fall and shows how Chef Ramsay can turn around struggling restaurants.
According to Arthur Smith, the executive producer of the show, there were 10 restaurants featured during the first season of "Kitchen Nightmares," though only six will be revisited in Thursday night's show.
"[There was] only time for six in the show," Mr. Smith wrote in an e-mail that was sent through the station's public relations department. "Layla's closed, and that was part of that show. Sebastian was sold ... and Seascape was sold," he added, referring to other local restaurants visited by the chef during the first season.
Chef Ramsay's first visit to Finn McCool's originally aired last year and was recently re-run on the channel. The upcoming episode recaps the success Finn McCool's has experienced following Chef Ramsay's fine-tuning, and is something that sets the restaurant apart from others featured on the show that were either closed or sold to new owners.
"[Chef Ramsay] was very pleased because, basically, the end result was that we did what he said," noted Buddy Mazzio, the owner of Finn McCool's. "We tried to stay close to his original plan, and things worked."
Mr. Mazzio noted that since Chef Ramsay's work on the restaurant, there has been a 37-percent increase in business. "It's a tremendous amount of work, but the dividends are phenomenal," Mr. Mazzio added.
The restaurant's placement in national and international media has also drawn in customers from as far afield as Australia and Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Mr. Mazzio.
"The other day a couple was here ... they had landed in [Los Angeles] and flew to New York just to come to Finn McCool's," he said, noting that the couple was from Australia. "We got 3,600 e-mails when the rerun aired a couple of weeks ago."
Chef Ramsay's original plan for the restaurant included introducing more fresh, local foods—especially seafood—and changing different aspects of the establishment's interior, explained Brian Mazzio, Buddy's son and the head chef at Finn McCool's. As a result, the establishment is no longer strictly an Irish pub, but rather a restaurant, he explained.
"It was originally a generic menu, like a diner menu," said Brian Mazzio, who has worked at restaurants across the East End and in Manhattan. "All our foods are now fresh and local."
He went on to say that he stops in at Cor-J Seafood in Hampton Bays every morning to buy fresh fish.
"We all live on an island. We have great shellfish and calamari," Brian Mazzio said, emphasizing that this was Chef Ramsay's philosophy as well.
Before Chef Ramsay's visit, many of the menu items were frozen—mozzarella sticks and corn fritters were the big sellers, Brian Mazzio explained.
He also pointed out framed pictures hanging in Finn McCool's that show the metamorphosis of the interior of the restaurant. The photos show that the pre-"Kitchen Nightmares" Finn McCool's used paper placemats on the dining tables, and had televisions mounted in the dining area. These pub-like items have been replaced by more elegant tablecloths and, with the absence of televisions, the dining room appears more sophisticated.
"Now we're competing with restaurants, not pubs," Brian Mazzio said. "We're not doing Starr Boggs, though," he added, referring to the another popular Westhampton Beach restaurant.
Brian Mazzio emphasized that the restaurant's metamorphosis was not an overnight sensation; He said that many of the regulars at Finn McCool's, when it was still strictly an Irish pub, deserted the establishment when it transformed into a fine-dining restaurant. At the time, he said that his father, Buddy, wanted to switch back to a more basic menu.
"I said he could order the fried stuff, but he could find someone else to cook it," Brian Mazzio said, explaining how his father wanted to can Chef Ramsay's original plan for the restaurant.


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National Interschool Wushu Competition- Day 6
Today was Day 6 of the Wushu Competition, our final 2 competitors did well in the events.
First up was Darren Tan in the C-Div Nan Gun:
Darren did well and after an agonising tie at 8.26 for 3rd and 4th, results came out with Darren in 3rd place for another bronze medal for VS C-Div
Our final competitor in the individual events was Fung Jin Jie in the Cudgel 2nd International Routine:
Despite facing stiff competition and the usual variance in scoring, Jin Jie did very well and scored 8.81, narrowly missing the Gold by 0.08 only
Well done boys!
We now have the important Group Events to train for.
We have a fighting chance in both divisions and in order to achieve our goal, you know that the next week will be tough.
But I believe in you- because I know you will fight, not for fame; and you will fight, not for reward; but you fight for your pride and belief in who you are.


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News Story
Sunday, September 6, 2015 • 10:13 am
Not such a grey day for Silvia
Suzanna Aromando won the Vicky Laing STX Equine Fitness Horse Care award at the 2015 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. This prize is awarded to the groom of the best cared for horse, in recognition of their hard work and dedication.
Suzanna looks after Silvia, the ride of her husband, Warren Lamperd. A dressage rider herself, they trade Suzanna grooming for Warren at Events, with him driving her to dressage shows.
"Silvia loves being pampered, which is lucky given she is grey. I do lots and lots of shampooing."
This year's competition was judged by Anne Varley. Explaining her choice Anne said: "Silvia always looked beautiful. Suzanna's stable management was excellent – I watched her morning, noon and night, without her knowing I was watching, and she was always busy, always totally committed to the horse."
The runner up prize was awarded to Khia Cadney-Moon, the groom of Mark Todd's ride Leonidas II.


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Social Sculpture cannot be dissociated from Joseph Beuys who originally coined the term and went on to inscribe it in a highly political and social context, beyond materiality, with a utopian vision for social transformation. It is also the title of Anna Schwartz Gallery's current group exhibition in Sydney, curated by Charlotte Day, who selected process-based and performative practices, which are situated in an expanded field of sculpture. These call forth action and interaction in playful sense of subversion.
Directly engaging with the viewer, Agatha Gothe-Snape's work marks different points of and within the gallery. Her large wall-text instructions, which hover above the exhibition boldly read: DO NOT APPROACH THIS END OF THE ROOM DO NOT CROSS THE YELLOW LINE (2011). Placed not far from the wall as if to underline the statement, Lauren Brincat's installation The Quick and the Dead (2011) is composed of an erect taxidermied cobra and a yellow triangle (caution!) attached to a wriggling rope, which issues from beneath a near by wall. It does the trick, even if only momentarily. The space-delineating yellow line is wittily placed near the entrance of the exhibition and not, as one might expect, at the far end of the room, thus supposedly setting the boundaries for the visitorin the vast gallery space of a former railway building. At the same time, the artist offers several different possibilities to move within it, as proposed in the subtle gouache drawings Choreography #2; #24; #6 (2011) conceived specially for the show.
The exhibition space is again referred to in Sanné Mestrom's installation Compression Chamber (2011) composed of 19 sculptural elements, occupying a rectangle of densely scattered objects on the concrete floor which also draw attention to each step made. Mestrom presents here a little history of sculpture, including processes of substraction and addition, modeling, carving or casting in a variety of different materials with uses and reuses of pedestals, readymades and assemblages as well as theoretical discourse (a cardboard box contains annotated photocopied books). The installation's close relationship to the space in which it is arranged manifests itself through each sculpture weighing 6.5 kg, precisely calculated by the artist according to the volume of air in the installation's assigned rectangle. It also references the artist's previous engagement with space in both historical and political terms, such as her earlier work A history of space is the history of wars (2006). The installation's inventory, a stack of posters to be taken along by the viewer is in itself a sculpture, reminiscent of one of Felix Gonzalez-Torres's paper stacks.
Just opposite and parallel to Mestrom's installation, Laresa Kosloff's Race shape (2011) occupies the room in a linear display of five steel hurdles painted in different colors. Kosloff's video Agility drill (2011) is shown next to it, in which an amateur performer is led by the artist, movement by movement and dressed in identical sports clothes, to overcome the actual steel hurdles. While the exhibition's political theme is far from being overt (apart from its title), the pronounced guidance that is underlined in Gothe-Snape's and Kosloff's work calls forth a critical stance. In a playful subversion, the linearity and order that these pieces emphasize is upturned through some of the other works in the exhibition: Kate Mitchell takes a businessman on a piggy-ride in her video Lost A Bet (2011), Stuart Ringholt's Untitled (wing-chair – pink (2009), a fragment of an old bath-tub is presented as an elegant arm-chair, and Brincat's ping-pong table entitled Good Table (2011) has become acceptable for the dining-room. Finally, Joshua Petherick's Simultaneous Solitudes (2011) made of several photocopy cartridges and enlargements interrogates the act of reproduction and turns them into a sculptural ensemble.
Placing the viewer literally on a platform, the exhibition unfolds as a spatial choreography. Revisiting Beuys' definition, German artist Karin Sander's earlier work Personen auf Steinsockeln (People on stone pedestals) (1986) comes to mind in which a group of people firmly stand on 20 small beton stones, creating a sculptural collective, a miniature version of as Beuys put it: a social organism as a work of art with the creative potential to transform itself.


text: Sammy Watson is a native Tuscaloosan who began his radio career at age 19. Most of his on-air days were spent in country music and he now holds down the afternoon slot on Catfish 100.1. He loves country music and always attends the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival in the Gulf Shores area. Sammy was elected to three terms on the Tuscaloosa City Council and now serves as Community Relations Director for DCH Health System. Sammy is active in the Tuscaloosa community and serves on a number of boards including the Police Athletic League, Shelton State Community College Foundation, Easter Seals, and Presbyterian Apartments. He is a Meals on Wheels volunteer. In the past, he served on the boards of the Tuscaloosa Public Library, Kid One Transport and Chaired the Presidents Community Advisory Council at the University of Alabama.


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Mukulika Banerjee (London School of Economics)
A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in May 2011 was especially rewarding as I was allowed a preview of a soon-to-be-reopened section that will showcase the Met's treasured collections from the Muslim world. This wing will compliment the Museum's other collections from other great world civilizations, Greek and Roman, Egyptian, European and so on. But rather than 'Islamic Arts' the new wing will be called 'Arts of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and later South Asia'. Innocuous as this innovation might seem to the casual visitor, it demonstrates a contemporary and fresh take on how we define and locate our understanding of the Muslim world and its civilisations. As Curator Dr. Navina Haider puts it, "Islam is much larger than a few countries put together; it is a religion, a philosophical system, whose meaning cannot be exhausted through artefacts." Besides, unlike other civilizations, Islam does not coincide with a specific territory or country, it can be found as much in New York as in Tehran or Istanbul. The cluster of rooms are thus organised to reflect this. Each room houses the treasures from specific countries but also leads into and is flanked by others to which it is related in chronology, politics and influence.
Even under dustsheets and partitioned by temporary walls, the new wing looked truly sumptuous. Highlights include a meticulous recreation with original materials of a nobleman's house with its exquisite proportions and intricate carvings, the mihrab of a mosque from Isfahan, a 24 ft. Mughal carpet cascading down a regal stage of marble, exquisite vessels that celebrate the discovery of cobalt dye and numerous paintings, manuscripts, and carpets. In each display, the thought that has gone into showing these treasures for maximum effect is in evidence: the non-reflecting angle of the glass on the cabinets housing manuscripts, the star shape of another echoing the shape of the roof, the innovative material to cover the walls of a modestly proportioned room to enhance its importance, the grouping of objects by colour to draw our attention to their form and so on.
The piece de resistance is without doubt the Moroccan courtyard that was still being constructed during my visit. With exquisite care and patience, doors, lintels and walls were being chiselled and shaped by artists who had been invited specially from the Maghreb. In the same spirit, a contemporary young British sculptor had been commissioned to recreate the missing centrepiece on an ancient water basin in another room. In these examples one sees in action the philosophy of such a museum; not only will these galleries display treasures from the past but they will also establish their links into the present. These examples demonstrate that the formidable skills required for creating masterpieces continue to exist in unknown artists in our contemporary world, even though their only signature is to be found in the beauty of the displays and in their occasional poetic defiance of museum planning to introduce innovations during the making, that are even better than what was commissioned in the blueprints.
Thus this new gallery at the Met breathes fresh life into the idea of civilisation itself. By walking through these rooms, one learns that while coherent, bounded and ambitious, civilisations are also porous, cumulative and inclusive. The water basin made from older Roman mosaics that were bordered by more recent motifs and hues, now being restored to its full glory by the work of a contemporary Western sculptor, is the perfect example of this idea. If one of the main aspirations of the creators of this new gallery is to show that Islam is not to be found 'out there' but to be discovered in its influences and insights everywhere in the world, it is a success. In this it is also a fitting tribute to the hugely influential writings of the scholar Edward Said who taught at Columbia University, just a few blocks up the grid in Manhattan. Said argued in his book Orientalism that the Orient was a creation of the mind, an act of power, a geographical fiction, rather than a place we could find by travelling to it. If the naming of the gallery aspired to show the breadth of the Islamic civilisation, the visitor has to only glance underfoot to experience this viscerally. The floors in each room are made from stone sourced from those countries – pale pink sandstone from India, burgundy from Turkey or ochre from Egypt. But in the spirit of this new gallery, the transitions between them are made through thresholds and doorways that have been shaped in the rich variety of arches, which Islamic civilisation brought to them.
Islam at the Metropolitan
Mukulika Banerjee (London School of Economics)


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I cannot recall what these shredded white roots are, but they sell tons of it every day. And the guys check their phones whenever possible.
The Thiri Mingalar market is an amazing tableau of colors, shapes, and people for a photographer. It seems safe, and there are other foreign visitors present. Highly recommended. Next time, I will take a film camera and try black and white. Wear boots or high shoes because there is a lot of squishy stuff underfoot.
Photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 camera with Olympus 9-18mm lens or a Fujifilm X-E1 camera, with most RAW files processed with PhotoNinja software.


text:
The Watts TK-9A Backflow Preventer Test Kit is a compact portable device made for testing all reduced pressure zone backflow prevention assemblies and double check valve assemblies, and pressure vacuum breaker assemblies. It consists of a gauge, test valves, 3 hoses with female-threaded swivel couplings, three adapters, 1 securing strap, and an instruction guide.
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The Captiva Island Historical Society is well-known for its programs designed to educate, enlighten and entertain residents and visitors on the island's rich history.
The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company is the presenting sponsor for this season's programs.
"It is with gratitude that the Captiva Island Historical Society recognizes The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company for their continuing and generous support, which helps us defray the cost of this season's programs," CIHS Board President Tom Libonate said.
Article Photos
Shown are, front from left, The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Executive Vice President Robin L. Cook, Captiva Island Historical Society Board President Tom Libonate and Trust Company Vice President Phyllis Gibson; back, CIHS Events Committee Co-Chair Mary Jane Vinson, CIHS Treasurer Mike Boris and CIHS Secretary Molly Downing.
The programming kicked off in November with Launch, Lunch and Look, a cruise to Boca Grande for a private buffet lunch and docent talk at the historic Gasparilla Inn. On Dec. 8, CIHS partnered with McCarthy's Marina for a dedication of the century-old Pops Randall House at City Dock, also known as Andy Rosse's.
A double-feature movie night will be held on Jan. 16 with the CIHS Captiva Memories documentary series: Volume IV "Artists & Authors" and Volume IV "South Seas: Captiva's Enduring Paradise." There will be complimentary refreshments and a cash bar beginning at 5:30 p.m. at The Community House on Sanibel, followed by the showing at 6 p.m. Event tickets are $10, and seating is limited.
"The Captiva Island Historical Society does important work by preserving and interpreting the history of the island and providing education about the remarkable people and events that have shaped its past," Al Hanser,chairman of The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company, said.
For more information or tickets, visit captivaislandhistoricalsociety.org.


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Service, Quality, Excellence
Thank you for visiting The Auto Clinic's new website!Here at The Auto Clinic, we work hard to keep your vehicle up and running and in great shape!Custom Exhaust Specialist!!!
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Tip - Make sure you change your oil every 3 months or 3,000 miles, what ever comes first. This is a very important, cheap way to help maintain the life for your vehicle


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Dr. GEORGE PAUL is the Chief Researcher and Consultant at the Institute of Banking Studies (IBS), Kuwait.
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Dr. GEORGE PAULis the Chief Researcher and Consultantat the Institute of Banking Studies (IBS), Kuwait.
IBS is the central organization of all Kuwaiti Banks.
At IBS, he functions in various roles such as: Chief Researcher, Consultant, Advisor, and Senior Faculty for the Finance, Investment, Banking, and Strategic Management related programs and projects , undertaken for the Kuwaiti Financial Institutions.
He has an MBA degree (1977) from theCochin University of Science and Technologyand the Fellow Title (Doctoral Qualification; 1985) of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India.
Previously, he worked in positions such as Finance & Accounts Executive at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Faculty and Consultant at the Administrative Staff College of India, and Consultant at the Tata Services (Tata Group of Companies, India).
He had lead / designed / participated in a large number of applied research and consulting studies related to Banks, other Financial Institutions, and Companies. He has numerouspublications and research works related to finance, investments, banking and strategic management to his credit. He also had directed, designed, advised, and taught in numerous executive development, training and educational programs related to corporate finance, investment, banking, and strategic management.
He was born in Kerala, India. He is an Indian citizen, currently residing in Kuwait, with his family.
His current interests are in the areas of Corporate Finance, Investments, Banking, Internet Finance, and Strategic Management of Organizations.
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Heel lifts are commonly prescribed with prescription medication to reduce the inflammation and pain experienced in the Achilles tendon. Heels lifts and the Achilles tendon work together by pushing the heel of the foot upwards, toward the leg, to reduce pain in the back of the foot. Heel lifts may be prescribed when the tendon is affected by disease or injury or even when the muscles are underused and the tendon begins to tighten involuntarily.
Heel lifts and Achilles tendon treatment can also be used for conditions related to injury from sports or from chronic inflammation of the tendon. In most cases, the lifts are prescribed along with an anti-inflammatory medication that reduces pain and swelling significantly. The heel lifts should be worn consistently regardless of the type of shoes you wear. House shoes and slippers should also be fitted with lifts when you are using lift treatment methods for Achilles tendon pain.
Other Treatments
Heel lifts and Achilles tendon treatments work to reduce pain and heal injuries, but you may also have some other treatments to use during the healing process. For example, you may need to perform some stretches designed by your physical therapist to regain the full use of your tendon. You may also need to rest your tendon for a specific period of time in addition to wearing heel lifts throughout the time your tendon is healing. Each treatment will work to help you get back on your feet quickly.


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Tagged: Larry Brown
Remembering Jim Hardin
On what would have been his 72nd birthday, I am remembering my Yankee teammate and friend, Jim Hardin. I used to call him Twiggy. He started with the Orioles in 1968, and the first time I faced him was on September 27, 1969 at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles were in first place and Twiggy was doing well. This turned out to be a pitcher's duel. Aside from Joe Pepitone's Home Run to lead off the bottom of the second, neither team was getting many base runners. Twiggy gave up four hits in seven innings; I gave up six in nine, and the Yankees won 1-0. That's how I ended the 1969 season with a 17-16 record. Twiggy ended with an 18-13 record – his first full season in the majors. That turned out to be his best season. Twiggy blamed the decision to lower the pitching mound for his arm problems.
The Orioles traded Twiggy to the Yankees for Bill Burbach on May 28, 1971. I remember Twiggy being very excited to play in New York – and you have to remember, the Orioles were great in those days and we were not. He never said it, but I'm sure he was unhappy spending two consecutive World Series' in the bullpen without ever getting to pitch. I know it frustrates me that I never played in a post-season game; Twiggy came so close, twice. One more thing: Twiggy got robbed on his trade to the Yankees, literally. After being informed of the trade, he drove his own car up from Baltimore in a rainstorm that night. He stopped to eat and came out to find that someone had broken into his car and stolen everything he had.
Twiggy pitched his first game wearing Pinstripes on May 31, 1971, the second game of a Monday afternoon doubleheader against the Oakland A's. He came in to pitch the top of the seventh after Gary Waslewski was pulled for a pinch hitter. With the A's ahead 5-3, Twiggy got Larry Brown and Rollie Fingers out, gave up a double to Bert Campaneris, and the struck out Joe Rudi. After Frank Baker got a two-out single, Ralph Houk pinch hit for Twiggy. Not a bad first game.
Sadly, Twiggy's arm troubles persisted and he missed most of August. The Yankees released him at the start of the 1972 season. He hooked up with the Braves for a while, but his career was over. Twiggy built a new career in sales, and became a scratch golfer and master fisherman. He got his pilot's license. In 1991, Twiggy and a couple of his friends flew his plane down to Key West, went fishing, and were on their way back to Miami for a golf tournament. Just a couple of minutes after taking off, his engine stalled. He crashed in a shopping center parking lot – and expertly avoided a little league field filled with kids not far away. All three passengers died in that crash. Jim Hardin, who was just 47, become the second of three Yankees to die in a plane crash. He was a good man and I miss him.


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The More the Merrier
One mother of three says going from one child to two children doubles the amount of work; adding a third child increases the work exponentially. But having twins or triplets? Surprisingly, the advice experienced moms give for new parents of multiples can easily be applied to parents of "singletons," as they call them.
"Take it one day at a time, one life lesson at a time," says Lisa Cartini, whose twin daughters are 14 now. "Enjoy what you have right now and don't worry what tomorrow will bring." Try not to think: "What if they are crying again tomorrow all day?"
The difference with bringing home two or three babies at a time, Cartini explains, is that "It's everything at the same time. You have two screaming babies at once and who do you go to first? They both want your attention."
When adding a second or third child to a family, at least it seems easier to appease the older child when a new one arrives, Cartini says. But two new infants don't understand that one might have to wait a minute.
Like any new parent, parents of multiples need to "accept that things are not always going to be neat and tidy and perfect," says Kelly Carter, who founded Multiple Moms Mingle five years ago. "Be willing to accept help and pay for it if you need to. Hire a college student or a night nurse or a nanny." When her twins, Ashley and Brooke, were born six years ago, she found a local college student to watch them while she wrote thank-you notes, showered or straightened up the house and baby gear.
The stuff multiplies quickly, adds Ann Canastra, who gave birth to boy and girl twins Quentin and Madeline 9 months ago. "My garage looks like a garage sale," she jokes. "It's just my stuff."
With the news of twins, the size of one's vehicle needs to be considered along with day care openings for two infants and the budget for diapers and maybe baby formula.
Put simply, "Multiples are expensive," Canastra notes. "I have learned to be better at couponing" and not worrying about new clothes vs. hand-me-downs.
For some families, hiring a nanny may make more economic sense than paying for two or three kids in day care. Carter went the nanny route and Canastra uses a licensed, private home day care provider.
And once the twins are home, preparing to leave the house is not as simple as grabbing the car keys. "There were no twin carts when I had my babies," Carter says of today's stores.
Plus it's instant movie-star status when venturing even to the supermarket with twins or triplets. "Everybody wants to ask you questions," Canastra says.
Parents of multiples have been asked plenty of questions: "Were you surprised?" "Are they sleeping through the night?" "Are they real?"
Parents should decide—before they hear it for the first time—how they will handle the question of whether they received fertility treatments, the mothers advise. About half the members of Multiple Moms Mingle used fertility treatments to assist in getting pregnant and half were "spontaneous." About 132,000 sets of twins are born each year in the United States and approximately 6,000 sets of triplets.
Parents-to-be of multiples should be upfront about their need for support. When a friend promises to bring over dinner, get a date, Canastra says.
Carter's cousin passed around a "help list" at her shower so friends and family could sign up for a specific day to help provide a meal, stop at the store or baby-sit. "People would come in pairs or threes," Carter recalls, because they were afraid to take care of twins on their own.
Another type of support is a club or organization for moms, especially one devoted to parents of multiples. "Joining my club was one of the best decisions I ever made," says Cartini of Parents of Multiples Club of Central New York. "I have gotten so much information and help from the ladies."
"With women working outside the home more these days and families spread out, the need is even greater for a support group," says Multiple Moms Mingle founder Carter, who also teaches in the West Genesee School District.
Multiple Moms Mingle sponsors an Internet board for questions. "You can post a question any time of the day or night and someone will respond," Carter says. Discussions cover dentists, pediatricians, day care and more. The board is only open to members of the group. The monthly meetings are for parents only, but play dates get arranged as well as twice-a-year family gatherings. Multiple Moms Mingle has more members with younger children, according to Carter.
"The need for support never ends," says Cartini of Parents of Multiples, whose questions now involve high school situations. "As children grow, clubs grow. You just have different needs." Check out www.nys.motc.org to see the listing for Parents of Multiples.
As with any new addition to the family, parents need to make sure to find some "me time," as Canastra says. With three children, the parent who's going out has to take one, she says, and the parent who stays home gets to choose which child will go.
Parents should be prepared for changes in friendships, too. It can be difficult for friends without children to understand or relate to new parents, especially those with twins or triplets, according to these moms.
But the twins may be starting on the greatest friendship of their lives. "When the chips are down, they are each other's best friends," Cartini says. "I firmly believe that they do" have twin intuition. "They have their own way of communicating."
"I never had a sister and I feel they are lucky to have each other," Carter says. "They will laugh and giggle." They do get on each other's nerves because they spend so much time together, but the flip side is "They can't get enough of each other." After age 3, they moved to separate bedrooms and this fall they will start first grade in separate classrooms.
Similar to "singletons," as they grow, twins "have more of their own identity," Cartini notes. "They don't want to dress alike and they have their own friends." And they certainly "don't like to be referred to as 'the twins.'"
Cartini's twins Halie and Hollie "are just a joy to me…I wouldn't want it any other way." ■
Eileen Gilligan, an award-winning writer and mother of two, lives in Baldwinsville.
Pictured Above: The Canastra family: Dan and Ann, who's holding twins Madeline and Quentin, 9 months old, with son Carter, 3, at their feet. The Carter family: Jim and Kell, with daughters Ashley (in pink) and Brooke (in blue), age 6.


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Facing unmeasurable odds, the sixth Harry Potter film must lift the baton, after the previous one dropped it in a pile of horse manure.
Still, with the same director at the helm, David Yates, we're beginning to get a sense of continuity in the franchise, as we're slowly moving towards the final showdown.
The darkness is spreading all over the world, and the magic community is in a state of unrest. Dumbledore enlists the help of Harry, to learn more about the Dark Lord, from the teacher who once taught him. Meanwhile Draco Malfoy has a special part to play for the dark side. Harry also finds an old book, with some very valuable notes.
Hermione and Ron finally become an item. Harry smooches yet another girl (this time it's Ron's sister, Ginny). And we lose a dear character.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is so many light-years ahead of the previous film that it's not even funny. Gone are the ridiculous plot-lines, the cartoonish characters, and the ridiculous plot-lines. Wait, I mentioned plot-lines twice, right? Well, they really were that stupid.
This time the fight against the Dark Lord is back in focus, as all the elements are being lined up for the final showdown. Even though the Unmentionable One doesn't actually show up here, his henchmen do a great job of terrorising everybody.
The film starts by slowly establishing that the darkness is seeping out into the real world - out among "regular" people. We hear rumors that attacks are occurring everywhere, and that people are disappearing. When the students arrive at Hogwarts, they face added security measures. Is this just paranoia? No, late at night when everyone is sleeping dark creatures try to penetrate the shield around the school. With a few very simple moves the film quickly creates a surprisingly effective sense of danger and claustrophobia. There's something really sinister at play here. Make no mistake, it's time to get out your wand and choose a side.
The wizards know this, and because the film works so well, so do we.
Despite the darkness, or perhaps because of it, the film takes the time to give us some great moments between our three young wizards. It even gets a little playful here and there.
Even though I'll still call Hermione's sanity into question, I like the way her and Ron's relationship develops. There's not an awful lot of room for Emma Watson and Rupert Grint here, but they make the best of it, especially Watson, who obviously enjoys sinking her teeth into the complicated emotions of her character. The scene where Hermione shares her frustrations with Harry is one of the best in the film. And it's just two people in an empty room! Another great moment comes when the boys are lying restless in bed at night talking about girls. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's moments like this that makes everything else work. It's during these small scenes we're reminded what the big fight is all about.
Is this a good time to mention a completely unnecessary character that I absolutely love? Luna! She's back! God, she's so freakin' weird. What's the progress on her getting her own movie?
The biggest surprise of the film is Draco Malfoy. Remember him? He's the snotty kid who was supposed to be Harry's archenemy, but ended up being a joke. He's been walking around restlessly on the sidelines for five movies, but this time he finally has a proper part to play in the story.
Actor Tom Felton, whom I've criticized quite a bit, must be thrilled! Perhaps that's why he's been able to take control of his performance. He's turned down the volume and made Malfoy not only tolerable, but actually transformed him into an interesting character. We finally learn that Malfoy is not just a d**k, he's actually in league with the Dark Lord himself. He's become quiet and brooding, and there are hints of bitterness and regret in the performance. He's no longer a buffoon, he's a real threat. I didn't think it was possible to salvage Malfoy, but they've done it!
Alan Rickman's Professor Snape has also been waiting patiently in the wings. He's been in every one of the other films. He hasn't always had too much to do, but sometimes the sight of him lurking silently in the background was enough. With this character Rickman creates his third memorable screen villain (quick, what's the other two?). Though, I'm still not a hundred percent sure he really is a bad guy. Rickman is equally good in ordinary dramas, but he seems to get a special kick out of these villainous characters. That definitely shines through in this film. Snape finally gets to step out of the shadows and take part in the drama. And it's fantastic to watch.
In sharp contrast to Rickman's Snape we find Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. The character could have been reduced to a funny old guy in a hat, but Gambon finds a warmth in the composed headmaster, which I absolutely love. He's mysterious and strange, not because the script needs him to be, but because he cares a great deal for his students, and does everything in his power to protect them. Though I'm sad about the reason Gambon took over the role (original Dumbledore Richard Harris died after the second film, you'll recall) I'm still glad he did.
Perhaps this is a good time to cover director David Yates, who was also responsible for the previous film, The Order of the Phoenix. Before he was drafted to the Potter universe he did the State of Play (2003) miniseries and the TV-movie The Girl in the Café (2005). He's also directing the 7th and 8th Potter films, The Deathly Hallows: Part I & II (2010/2011). Yates is an even more curious choice than Mike Newell, who directed the fourth film. Yates has done absolutely nothing that would make anyone think he could handle anything in these films. Except the actors, of course, and perhaps that's the key. The performances from both Rupert Grint and Emma Watson - which previously have been all over the place - are perfectly in sync with Daniel Radcliffe's Harry, and as I mentioned earlier, even Malfoy now works! Is this Yates' fault? Let's say it is.
It terms of the visuals Yates also seems to have hit his stride. The fifth film had its moments - especially in the finale - but this film is almost pitch perfect. Perhaps he wasn't such a bad choice after all?
The Half-Blood Prince ends with two big set-pieces. First Dumbledore and Harry search a for an important piece of the Dark Lord's past. The sequence begins with two tiny fragile figures entering a vast dark cave. It ends in a sea of fire. The next sequence is the final showdown (I'm keeping this a bit vague to keep the spoilers to a minimum). All major characters, most of them representing the dark side, face off against each other.
I'm so impressed with these scenes. When I hear the words "wizards", "magic", "battle against evil", it's scenes like these that come to mind. They're epic, they're touching, they made me jump out of my seat! There are two films left in the series, and yet I still feared for Harry's life! When a film can pull that off, it's doing something right.
The Half-Blood Prince is an impressive return to form. It doesn't quite beat the third film, but it taps into an emotional ore, none of the other films have reached. Though the plot may seem a bit weak at first - Harry gets a cool magic book (cricket... cricket...) and he attempts to get a teacher to talk about another student (more crickets....) - the whole thing fits beautifully into the overall plot. The screws are effectively tightened throughout the film, ending in a spectacular, heartbreaking finale.
The darkness is no longer "on the way", it's HERE. It brings melancholy and sadness with it. We're close to the end now, we made it, but at what cost? One thing is certain: Harry is no longer an innocent boy. I don't know how the final showdown will play out, but I know this: It won't be quiet and it won't be pretty.
I can't wait.
And so we've reached the end of this little marathon. Well, not quite. I'll be wrapping up the whole experience in the next blog. Maybe I'll try to say something profound about the world, about society or something. Maybe I'll just be happy that it's over.
I can promise one thing, though: There will be prizes! Do check it out.
Feature running time: 153 minutes
Number of pages in novel: 607
Hermione Hotness Factor: 7/10. She's in a dress again. It's low-cut. I'm a bad person.
The Weasley Twins Creepiness Factor: 4/10
Voldemort-o-meter level: Zero. He's a kid in this one! You could squash him like a bug, or a small animal.
Best moment:
Harry and Dumbledore's secret mission in the dark cave.


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Alpha decay is a type of ionizing radiation in which alpha particles are ejected from the nuclei of unstable atoms. Alpha particles are large, powerful subatomic particles that are very destructive to human cells; however, they tend to lose their energy quickly, limiting their ability to penetrate materials. There are many ways in which science successfully uses alpha radiation in a beneficial way.
Cancer Treatment
Alpha radiation is used to treat various forms of cancer. This process, called unsealed source radiotherapy, involves inserting tiny amounts of radium-226 into cancerous masses. The alpha particles destroy cancer cells but lack the penetrating ability to damage the surrounding healthy cells. Radium-226 has mostly been replaced by Safer, more effective radiation sources, such as cobalt-60. Xofigo, the brand name of Radium-223, is still used to treat bone cancer.
Static Eliminator
Alpha radiation from polonium-210 is used to eliminate static electricity in industrial applications. The positive charge of the alpha particles attracts free electrons, thus reducing the potential for local static electricity. This process is common in paper mills, for example.
Sciencing Video Vault
Smoke Detector
Alpha radiation is used in some smoke detectors. The alpha particles from americium-241 bombard air molecules, knocking electrons free. These electrons are then used to create an electrical current. Smoke particles disrupt this current, triggering an alarm.
Spacecraft Power
Radioisotope thermoelectric generators are used to power a wide array of satellites and spacecraft, including Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2. These devices function like a battery, with the benefit of a long life span. Plutonium-238 serves as the fuel source, producing alpha radiation resulting in heat, which is converted to electricity.
Pacemaker Battery
Alpha radiation is used as an energy source to power heart pacemakers. Plutonium-238 is used as the fuel source for such batteries; with a half-life of 88 years, this source of power provides a long lifespan for pacemakers. However, due to their toxicity, difficulties with patients in traveling, and problems with disposal, they are no longer used.
Remote Sensing Stations
The Unites States Air Force uses alpha radiation to power remote sensing stations in Alaska. Strontium-90 is typically used as the fuel source. These alpha-powered systems enable unmanned operations for long periods of time without the need for servicing. Local opposition to the use of radiation is prompting the air force to replace many of these devices with alternative power sources, such as diesel-solar hybrid generators.
Heating Devices
Alpha radiation is used to provide heating for spacecraft. Unlike radioisotope thermoelectric generators that convert heat to electricity, radioisotope thermal generators make direct use of the heat generated by alpha decay.
Coast Guard Buoys
The U.S. Coast Guard uses alpha radiation to power some of their oceanic buoys. Like in many of the other applications, the alpha radiation provides a power source with a long lifespan. Strontium-90 is the typical power source for these buoys.
Oil Well Equipment
The oil industry uses alpha radiation to power some of their offshore equipment. This provides a long-lasting power source for remotely located devices that have limited access to crews. Strontium-90 is the typical fuel source for such batteries.
Seismic and Oceanographic Devices
Alpha radiation is also used to power a wide array of seismic and other oceanographic devices. These unmanned devices are often located in isolated locations, such as on the ocean floor, which limits the practicality of short-term batteries. Strontium-90 is the most common material used in these alpha decay batteries.


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Mahlia Milian slides her tongue up and down that fat black dick!
Mahlia Milian gets on all fours and leans back in to that cock!
Mahlia Milian gives a close up at her shaved pussy getting pounded!
Mahlia Milian bounces on that dick as hard as she can!
Mahlia Milian spreads those ass cheeks wide as she begs for more!
Mahlia Milian squeezes that dick with her tight wet hole!
Mahlia Milian isn't afraid of a nice fat cock and when she first set eyes on this monster dick she wasn't about to run away! Just watch as she sucks and fucks that cock until she gets a face full of cum!


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These felt toys are great for Easter crafts and decorations. Make this felt chicken family puppet toys to create your … Read more
One more idea for Easter decor. Easter is a great opportunity to be creative and have fun with your kids. … Read more
Are you looking for great Easter toy ideas for kids that you can make with minimal effort? I made detailed … Read more


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He stood at the front of the classroom. His classroom. His palms were sweaty in anticipation of the first lecture of the school year, just as they were at the start of every year, and his cheeks were starting to flush. He scrawled his name across the blackboard and then leaned over the desk at the front to shuffle through some of his notes one last time. He loved public speaking, especially teaching, but he always got so jittery before any kind of presentation. The exhilaration afterwards was worth a little stress in the beginning, though. Had he ever tried any drugs, he imagined that how he felt after class was what it felt like to be high.
As he shuffled through his folder of notes, he came across a letter from Chloe he had received a few days ago. Even though there had been much time and distance between them since their years together at Dartmouth, they still kept in touch, still wrote "I love yous" and "I miss yous," and spoke often on the telephone. As he began rereading the note, tracing his fingers along her loopy handwriting, he was startled from his reverie, suddenly, when a young woman walked into his classroom.
She was tall and lithe, with strong cheekbones and a big, wide smile. Her hair was long, a mess of fiery curls and her green eyes sparkled when the light hit them. He was stunned instantly by her beauty and the sense of deja vu that washed over him looking into those eyes. He had to look away quickly or he'd betray the storm of emotions and not-so-kosher thoughts she seemed to stir up within him just with her presence.
"Good morning, Professor," she said with a smile, "does it matter where I take a seat?"
"Um, uh, a-a-a-a-a-a-nywhere's fine," he managed to stammer, turning every shade of red and purple with embarrassment.
"My name is Rosemary Winship, if you need it for attendence," she stated, as she took a seat in the center of the front row. She pulled out a notebook, a copy of the English literature anthology for the class, and a pencil. Then, she reached into her purse and pulled out a small mirror, which she opened with a quick flick of her hand. She looked at her reflection, using her fingers to rug a couple spots on her face, and then flicked the mirror shut again, placing it back in her bag, which hung on the back of her chair.
He couldn't take his eyes off her the whole time, and he stared without even knowing he was doing so, still leaning awkwardly on his desk at the front with one hand, clutching Chloe's forgotten note in a tight fist with the other. His heart beat so fast he could hardly breathe and his mind was racing. It wasn't just her beauty that had him in such a state, though she was certainly striking, but there was something in the air around her. He wanted to tell her all of his hopes and dreams and fears, he wanted her to know his inner workings, what made him tick, and he wanted to hear everything about her, too, to get lost in her depths and drown in her wisdom. He thought about winding his fingers through her hair and kissing her passionately; he thought about waking up next to her; he dreamed of sitting across from her at a dinner table, hands interlocked; he longed to hug her until there was no more sadness left; he yearned for the simplicity of sitting in silence in the same room, each absorbed in their own book and thoughts; he heard church bells and babies crying.
She looked up from her desk and smiled at him, and parted her lips as if to say something to him, but then, before she could get the words out, several other students filed into the classroom, and suddenly the moment was gone. The room filled with laughter and chatter, and Rosemary got up and moved to the back row to sit with some of her friends.
He turned his gaze back down to his desk, shook his head a little to release himself from the fog of passion that had consumed him. His fist relaxed, and Chloe's note dropped to the floor, which he didn't notice, as he shuffled together the rest of his lecture notes and, with a deep breathe, addressed his new class.
"Let's begin," he said. "I'm Professor Steinberg, and this is English Literature 232."


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This post i have been keeping for so long already. I still remember i visited these place on the malay friends fasting month, June 2015.
Me & my family will come here at least twice a year cuz we have some relative staying here. At the same moment while we pay them a visit, we goes explore something fun to do nearby.
Anyway, one of my relatives lives at Kampung Melayu, Gambang. Just few minute drives from Karak High way Gambang exit.
There's some kopitiam and mamak stall nearby. Grab some brunch dulu. Hungry after been driving for 3 hours +
|Im having my brunch here.
Restaurant Lai Meng
|Wild boar Curry Wantan Mee. With a tons of fuzhuk, yong tofu and balls for only RM5.00
As you guys can see from my picture, its really a very kampung kampung's. This is one of a few chinese village here.
|This is the place where i stayed for this coming 3 days
|Cant find this kind of kampungs at KL anymore
|Very ada kampung feel eh...Love the feeling here...It brings back my childhood memories.
|Amoi sibuk buat pose xD
|Well, perigi...do you guys saw this before?
This well is still functioning and my aunt & uncle still using it
|Self plant winter melon. As big as my head @@
|Hi Sunnies
|Poke poke poke, dok dok dok
|Milo Ais Ikat Tepi
What is my aunt doing behind there?
|Owh, shes sharpening her Ruber harvesting knives
|She does it every evening and goes for rubber harvest as early as 3am everyday
|This is what they use for rubber harvest from the rubber tree. A very strange looking ''L'' shaped knives.
Sun's already set....What next?
Dinner Time !
|Simple and tasty home cook dinner. Thanks Aunty & Uncle fore treating us so well ^^
Day 3 Bukit Gambang Safari Park - Coming up very soon


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WordPress sent me some statistics about the last 12 months of blogging, and I have added some of it today…
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. It would take about 3 days for that many people to see my blog if it was an exhibit at the Louvre Museum. It was a bit weird reading this, as I've been to the Louvre, and cannot imagine my blogs being in a gallery or museum! Some days, it was viewed over 500 times an hour, and by people from 167 countries around the world.
In 2013, there were 348 new posts, so I was not too far off of writing and publishing a daily blog. The total archive of this blog has hence grown to 867 posts, one published in July 2011, the rest since 2 September 2011.
They highlighted my top five posts, but apparently some of my most popular blogs were written before 2013, and WordPress said, "Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again."
The trick now is to find out what those topics were!!
So what do the statistics mean? Not much really, other than I write quite a lot, and I do have a lot of wonderful 'Bleaders' as Julie Powell called her Blog-Readers. If I was in business, and relying on this blog as a tool to attract clients, it would probably mean something quite different, perhaps mostly to my business plan and bank account!
But forget the stats, this blog means a lot to me now, for a number of reasons;
- it is a very useful communication tool
- it is my memory bank
- it helps immensely with managing some of the symptoms of dementia
- it works my Neuroplasticity
- it is creative
- it has brought a lot of wonderful new friends into my life
- it gives me a focus on the days I feel lost to the symptoms of dementia
- it has connected me with students all over the world
- it is a resource in a number of universities and education centres for dementia degrees and courses
- it has helped define me beyond the diagnosis of dementia
- blogging = sharing and caring
- it occasionally inspires others
- it has helped me receive and accept criticism more easily
- it has improved my writing
- it has inspired me to write and publish more poetry
- it gives me something to do when I am home alone, which is a lot of the time
- it educates others
- it reduces the stigma, discrimination, and isolation
- and provides me with meaningful and fun-filled engagement
There are a few pitfalls of blogging, the biggest for me having been some comments that have at times seemed particularly mean, maybe not intended to be hurtful, but hurtful none the less. It is too easy to take them personally, and difficult to not feel very wounded some of the time. What I write is my opinion, and at no time do I every declare it to be a 'fact'.
What is a fact anyway? Often simply someone's 'research conclusion', that in the future, another scientist or researcher will prove to be untrue!
But positive or negative commentary and feedback is always useful, and perhaps more so if it makes you consider something from someone else's position.
On this blog, my opinions are my own, at all times, and my blogs are based on how I feel and see the world, most often as a person diagnosed with dementia. And, I love receiving your feedback; it contributes greatly to my world. Thank you.


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The cool thing about shortbread is that it's super versatile. You can bake it up plain and sweet, fold in herbs, add a thumbprint for stuffing, cut back the sugar for something between a scone and a cracker – the possibilities are really endless! I served this savory shortbread as a brunchy finger food, and they were delicious! They sort of reminded me of mini quiche, but these were simpler to make.
Think of these as the less-sweet sister to those lavender marmalade thumbprint cookies from Monday.
Savory Herbed Shortbread with Pesto-Filled Thumbprints
- 1 1/2c Earth Balance
- 1/4c sugar
- 2t salt
- 1T dried thyme
- 2 1/2c all purpose white flour
- 1 batch of vegan cashew basil pesto (You'll definitely have left over pesto.)
Cooking Directions
- Cream together the Earth Balance with the sugar, salt, and thyme.
- Add the flour, mixing well until you have a nice dough, and form the dough into a ball. If the dough is crumbly, add more Earth Balance, 1T at a time, until it forms a ball easily. Stick the dough into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Form the dough into balls about 2 tablespoons at a time. Flatten each ball, and then (you guessed it!) use your thumb to make a little dent in each one. Spoon pesto into the center to fill in the dent, and place them on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 20 minutes, or until they look golden brown.
Let your shortbread cool completely before serving. Just like with sweet shortbread cookies, you'll want to put natural wax paper between layers, if you have to stack these to store them.


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I NOTE, with interest, the recent letters regarding the continuing road rage which is caused where the dual carriageway over the railway narrows to single at the Hotham park wall.
Since this has been happening for years, I, and I have since discovered others, have raised this issue and the misuse of the roundabout at the Arun Leisure Centre by queue jumpers with the highways department at West Sussex County Council on many occasions.
We have also proposed low-cost solutions, but these have all been rejected.
We British are a fair-minded people as evidenced by our admirable practice of queuing.
In his letter, Mr Holm rightly said that the volume of traffic at the Hotham Park roundabout causes slow movement of traffic back to the dual carriageway; therefore, it is reasonable (and our good practice ) for drivers to form a queue.
However, in this situation, it makes perfect sense to erect a sign at the entrance to the dual carriageway stating 'Use both lanes and filter in turn on joining carriageway'.
This will then remove the road rage which occurs every day and possible obstruction of the hospital roundabout by queuing traffic.
Come on Ben Whiffen and colleagues at WSCC Highways, it is the time of goodwill to all men... give us a Christmas present by solving this long-standing problem.
Anthony Beach
Shirley's Garden


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No podcast this week, so instead I'm posting the panel that I moderated with Jessica Rey, the White Ranger from Power Rangers: Wild Force, from the first ever Rose City Comic-Con. Jessica was amazing and I can't wait until I get to (hopefully) hang out with her and other rangers in the future.
To download right click and select "save as" HERE!!! Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes.
All content © 2009-2010 by Chronicles of the Nerds


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Watch the Full HD Video at Twinks
Hottest young gay twinks the web has on offer.
Description: This cheeky duo really love a bit of condomless cock. They fuck hard and bareback on the couch and produce some incredible chemistry for the camera - not to mention some cock-riding action that had us all wishing we could jump on board for a ride.


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Black Baroque Pearl Necklace with Silver Heart
Price: £125.00 In stock
Beautiful hand knotted freshwater pearl necklace with silver T-Bar toggle clasp approx 18 inches in length. The sterling silver hammered heart that hangs attractively from the toggle clasp measures approx 2cm X 2cm.
The pearls are around 7-8mm diameter with a slightly irregular shape know as the "baroque" pearl.
The pearls are lovely iridescent colour displaying different shades dependent on how they catch the light.
Please note that the pearls ordered may show slight colour variation from the photograph as each necklace is unique however they are all beautiful and this contributes to their charm.


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WaterAid is the Water Industry's National Charity and is an international non-government organisation. Its mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest countries. WaterAid and its partners work with individuals and families in their communities and use a mixture of lower-cost technologies to deliver lasting water supplies, sanitation and hygiene solutions.
The event was a resounding success raising £25,000, doubling last years' total!


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|11 2/3", Oak, Veela
You scored 57 wisdom, 16 bravery, 15 emotional, and 22 martyrdom!
|Oak signifies wisdom, endurance, protection, and authority. The veela hair as a wand core means that you are slightly unpredictable but very powerful.
|My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|Link: The Harry Potter Wand Test written by sputnik845 on Ok Cupid
Indeed, you are 70% erudite, 41% sensual, 37% martial, and 41% saturnine.
|Thoth, the Egyptian God of secret wisdom, intellect, geometry and other forms of higher mathematics, was also the God of books and learning, of writing and numbers. And above all, he was the God of Magic. Indeed, he was the first and greatest of all magicians, said to create miracles from nothing by the mere vibrations of his voice alone.
Within his main temple were said to be stored his books of magic which were open for the edification of all, providing those absorbing this magic understood its sacred content. Over the centuries, these books were said to have been carefully translated by various priests of secret orders until finally, the Greeks compiled them as the works of Hermes Trismegistus.
One book most everyone is familiar with which is attributed to the mysteries of the God Thoth is the Tarot, considered to be an unbound book of symbols that may be read in an endless variety of sequences imitating the random nature of existence itself.
The Fifteen Gods
These are the 15 categories of this test. If you score above average in …
…all or none of the four variables: Dagda. … Erudite: Thoth. … Sensual: Frey. … Martial: Mars. … Saturnine: Mictlantecuhtli. … Erudite & Sensual: Amun. … Erudite & Martial: Odin. … Erudite & Saturnine: Anubis. … Sensual & Martial: Zeus. … Sensual & Saturnine: Cernunnos. … Martial & Saturnine: Loki. … Erudite, Sensual & Martial: Lug. … Erudite, Sensual & Saturnine: Coyote. … Erudite, Martial & Saturnine: Hades. … Sensual, Martial & Saturnine: Pan.
|My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|Link: The Mythological God Test written by Nitsuki on Ok Cupid
|the Wit
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.
I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.
Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais
|My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid


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It's already clear that the next House speaker will face crippling mutinies by the 45 Republican rebels who knocked off John Boehner and intimidated Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. And that's because the insurgents know they can defy their party leadership without fear of retribution from the voters because Republican gerrymandering protects them.
Yes, gerrymandering has been around since the dawn of American politics. But gerrymandering today is a different game – played on a national scale, operating with 21st century digital efficiency, capable of overruling the popular vote. It has baked gridlock into our political system.
Never before in our history has one major party mounted a national campaign to control gerrymandering in state after state, as Republicans did in 2010. And never before have party strategists been armed with sophisticated computer software that can help them carve districts down to the individual street and home.
Thanks to gerrymandering, all but two of the 45 anti-Boehner rebels are guaranteed re-election in politically engineered monopoly districts that insulate them not only from Democratic challengers but also from the dictates of their party leadership, as John Boehner learned in five tormented years as speaker.
Districts Stacked in Favor of Republican Rebels
Their congressional districts are so stacked in their favor that in 2014 they beat their Democratic opponents by an average 38 percentage points, a devastating margin. Only two had competitive general election races. Three had such slam-duck districts that no Democrat even bothered to oppose them.
With protected political monopolies back home, the Republican rebels take little or no political risk and pay no political price for overthrowing a Speaker or for bringing Congress to a halt. What gives them that immunity is partisan gerrymandering and party primaries with shockingly low turnouts, mainly party loyalists and extremist voters.
And so, ironically, the roots of Mr. Boehner's downfall grew out of a Republican Party strategy in 2009 to follow the advice of Karl Rove, Republican campaign mastermind, who told them pragmatically: "He who controls redistricting can control Congress."
Following the Rove dictum, the Republican Party poured $30 million, mostly raised from corporations, into what they called "RedMap," a strategy to dominate the once-a-decade redistricting process in 2011 by capturing majority control of as many state legislatures as possible in the 2010 election.
To see how Republicans pulled off this maneuver continue reading.


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7 Beginner Real Estate Investing Mistakes to Avoid
There are a lot of mistakes that can be made in Real Estate. In fact, many savvy investors still make mistakes or have overcome huge mistakes in their investing careers. The keys are to recognize, avoid, learn and move forward from these potential pitfalls. Here are 7 beginner mistakes when investing in real estate.


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Not, necessarily, together. These are just two simple and delicious recipes I've done recently, which are great for summer.
|Blueberry Crumble
Nothing says summer like a crumble. Fruit crumbles are so straight forward, and of course, best with fresh summer fruit.
I was at my parents the other night and my mom made delish rhubarb crumble, made with fresh rhubarb, everybody's favourite!
|Jan, mixing up a crumble.
Let's take a closer look, shall we:
While the fruit is macerating make the crumble topping. Mix flour, brown sugar, and rolled oats in a bowl. Add a little cinnamon. Then, using your hands, mix in cubed, cold butter, until you have pea sized crumble pieces.
Spread crumble topping evenly over filling and bake until golden brown and/or there are juices bubbling up the sides. Let cool and enjoy!
Flavoured Vodka
Last summer, my friend Stephanie and I decided to try making flavoured vodka with Skittles. It turned out to be really tasty, altough it did take awhile, since you need to wait for the Skittles to dissolve, and then filter the product to get rid of some sediment.
|Lime, Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, Cherry and Grape
This summer we decided to try Jolly Ranchers instead, and it was ridiculously easy, and again, very tasty.
Now I know this doesn't sound particularly sophisticated, but it was fun and easy. If you were to have friends over you could make some pretty tasty drinks by mixing up some flavours. One idea: watermelon flavour vodka with club soda and muddled mint. Do you have any ideas for the other flavours? Maybe lime vodka for a twist on a Margarita?
If you are curious to try here's how.
1. Sepearate JR flavours.
2. Put in bottles.
3. Pour in vodka.
4. Let sit over night.
5. Shake and enjoy.
We used two of the big bags of JR's and each flavour got about 10 ounces of vodka.
|Quaffably Delicious!


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BNY Mellon is one of the world's 10 largest investment managers.* We combine the scale of a full-service investment firm with the focused expertise of autonomous investment boutiques, each with its own style, strategy and management team. We provide a foundation for successful investing.
Learn more about our investment boutiques, global distribution and investment solutions.
*According to Pensions & Investments, May 2013. Based on total worldwide assets under management as of December 31, 2012.


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apple almond smoothie
Apple, Almond Smoothie
Apple almond smoothie is so filling and refreshing. If you are wishing to skip a meal, then apple-almond smoothie is one of things to go for. Apple and almond is combined together with honey and blended to get this rich smoothie.
- Apples- 4 pcs
- Almond- 100 gms
- Milk- 50 ml
- Honey – 4 Tbsp
- Soak almonds in milk for 10-15 minutes.
- Peel and core apple and dice them.
- Combine all the ingredients in a food processor.
- Blend them to a fine and smooth consistency.
- Serve cold.


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WATCH: Pregnant Woman Choked During Steelers Game Sunday
Pittsburgh police are investigating a violent incident at Sunday night's Steelers game in which a pregnant woman was choked.
A man in Chargers gear was recorded tangling with Steelers fans during a brawl in the stands when an unidentified Steelers fan choked his wife.
Heinz Field officials are investigating as well.
There's no word what may have sparked the altercation.


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The Learning Tree is a progressive, established Montessori school that offers year-round, all-day care to children 2 ½ to 6 years of age. We are a truly child-centered program, with an amazing staff of seasoned educators and a deep commitment to the practice of excellent early childhood education. We've been supporting families since 1979, and are located in a beautiful house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
At The Learning Tree we focus on the emotional and social development of children. We also provide an academically rich and inviting environment for them to freely explore, in addition to a large play yard. We believe that the ability to be healthy relationship with others is critical when it comes to success in the world and personal satisfaction in life. At The Learning Tree children are mindfully guided toward deepening their understanding of who they are as individuals while learning how to be in community with others.
Please call us to learn more about our dynamic and lively program or visit our admissions page for information about our application process and upcoming open house dates.
The Learning Tree Montessori Preschool
1721 15th Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98122
Non-Discrimination Policy
The Learning Tree does not discriminate by race, religion, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, political ideology, ancestry, age, marital and parental status, disability or retaliation in either admission or hiring policies. We welcome and celebrate diversity.


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LVR blended learning Centre
How to Make Hard Choices
The Power of Believing That You Can Improve
How the News Distorts our Worldview
Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are
Just How Small is an Atom?
The Power of Introverts
8 Secrets of Success
What Makes a Good Life?
Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator
The Divided Brain
How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries
How Great Leaders Inspire Action
The Puzzle of Motivation
How to Make Stress Your Friend
All it Takes is 10 Mindful Minutes
How to Stay Calm When You Know You'll Be Stressed
The Hidden Power of Smiling
Animations of Biology That We Can't See
A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit
How to Find Work You Love
How Bacteria "Talk"
Are Athletes Really Getting, Faster, Better, Stronger?
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Friday, March 25, 2011
Cruisin' and Crochetin' 2011
This granny square cuff was made on the way to New Orleans, our departure city. We had to make a quick stop for me to buy more yarn before we set sail.
Had to have biegnets from Cafe Du Monde on Decauter. Lovely sunny day to wait in line and watch the busy traffic. The cafe au lait was strong and delicious with the hot, crispy beignets covered in powdered sugar. My son said they were definitely worth the wait.
One of our stops was Cozumel, Mexico where we went to an adventure park for ziplining, repelling and snorkeling. I'd never done anything like it and tried not to freak out at the top of the first tower. But it was exhilarating! We will try some local zipline places this summer!
Of course, I couldn't just sit in the sun doing nothing, so I worked on a mini granny square necklace. Very happy with the results.
Relaxing trip, lovely weather, wonderful food. As we drove North towards home yesterday, the temperature fell ten degrees every couple of hours. Woke up at home this morning to blooming Bradford pear trees and new snowfall. So lucky to have had our tropical break!
6 comments:
Love the granny square cuff!ReplyDelete
Thanks CrochetBlogger! It was fun to do something quick in the midst of my other more time consuming projects!ReplyDelete
I agree that the granny square cuff is cool!!ReplyDelete
Did you design that yourself?
I can just picture a coverlet I've seen in black and bright colors and would love to have a cuff like that? I think there'd be a market.
Contact me if you decide to go into production.
Yes, I designed the cuff, Annie. I can make one with black and bright colors. I'll keep you posted.ReplyDelete
Love this post! It looks like you had a great time, and I love that crocheted jewelry!ReplyDelete
lol love your 'keep calm, carry yarn' I love crochetting in the car.ReplyDelete
Thanks for liking up to Make & Share Today!
Got more crats? Come back every friday and saturday!


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In this edition of La Joie de Vivre, we continue where Part One of our four-part series left off.
In part one, Dawn, Rivka, and Bobby spoke about whether they felt their experiences were reflected in the highly public research into same-sex parenting. They also delved into the ways that they coped with the absence of a stable parent of the "missing" sex in the home.
In this, the second part, they tackle some of the questions about the impact of their upbringing on their later sexual choices and point of view.
|Bobby = B
R: For me, my mother, you know she had some of that pornography around and the books and stuff. What I found even more distressing than all that – I didn't realize then, but I realize now, she was very invested in trying to figure out what my sexuality was. A boy would be over and she'd be like, "you know, I think he wants to kiss you." And I'd be like, "yeah, well so what? He can go kiss a doorknob." I literally just completely closed down that way. I was just completely androgynous. I never flirted with a boy ever, in my life. And then, in a sense, the way I got married was sort of perfect. We were like, "do you want to live in this place or that place? Do you want to have this many kids or this many kids? Who's going to work and who's going to stay home? Okay, done deal. See you in four weeks, under the huppa.*"
B: You had something to add, Dawn?
D: Well it's interesting. You know, I had very low expectations of marriage. What I was looking for was stability in my marriage partner. My husband and I, now we've been married for almost 30 years.
B: Wow.
D: And he's a very moral, good man. And we've never had a lot of money. But we've always had stability in our relationship and in our home. And I didn't see that growing up. My father had a lot of disposable income. We did travel to very nice vacation spots and I loved hotel swimming pools because I would have the whole pool to myself, while my father was off gallivanting with his partner in the gay cruising area nearby. We would actually switch hotels 50 miles out. It could've been Ft. Lauderdale, and my father would find out about another gay cruising area, and we'd actually switch hotels 50 miles down the road. There there'd be a swimming pool so I could have that pool all to myself while my father was out again. So this is where our vacations were very interesting for my brothers and I; and I loved that pool looking up at the starry night sky. I didn't realize how lonely I felt inside at the time, how rejected and abandoned I felt inside. It wasn't until much later that I realized that my father had chosen very selfish vacation spots that would meet his needs. But you know, going to Disneyland, or going to beautiful gardens once, was great, but out of the whole vacation, a lot of it for me was spent alone.
B: It sounds like it was kind of a byproduct of, sort of, the culture of –
R: Well I think there's two impulses in the culture. Dawn is hitting on one of them, you know, get in as much "gay fun" and gay sex as possible in four days, and then the other part of the culture was, "We're better than they are." And they could be – "They" was any heterosexual that walked by you. Which was everybody. "They" was the teacher, the librarian, and everybody else. You know, "we're better, we're smarter, we're more advanced, we're more honest." It was for a couple of years, a buzz, every woman's a lesbian. "You're really a lesbian. You just don't know it." And then there was the hierarchy with them, of lesbianism. Who's more of a lesbian, who's been a lesbian longer. Who cashed out and got married and did the hetero thing. There was status in certain things. [----break off]
B: So you were saying there was a difference in the way they dealt with your brother versus the way they dealt with you and your sister.
R: Yes, me and my sister. I mean, my sister was cute. She was a cute child and she's much younger. So she was sort of also a trained dog, being cute and adorable and accepted. Because there was a point when the whole thing sort of collided and merged into the hippie culture and the music culture. My mother got hooked up with some hippie people and also with some people in the music industry, you know, like the New York Dolls. These gender bending – I don't know if you've ever heard of the New York Dolls. But they all dressed in drag. She was really into the drag scene. And having these guys over. Most of them were just mean and dumb. My sister and I were just invisible at one point. We just sort of didn't exist. And my brother was more gregarious. He would be the one to make the drinks and serve them to everyone. He learned very early how to please. But I think that what Dawn was saying is that no matter which way you slice it, whether it was the social or the political or the sexual, it was always about them. When you sent me the questions, I looked up some stuff. One thing I found was this tiny quote from this woman, somewhere in New England, some scholar in New England, and she says something to the effect of, "gay parents tend to be more motivated and committed than heterosexual parents, because they really want those kids." And I thought to myself, that just shows how this woman supposedly – I guess she's heterosexual, I don't know – this woman academic absorbs the gay community's hatred of women. And even the lesbians, in a weird way, they hated heterosexual women.
B: Yeah, there was a definite – I felt, I always felt that both gay men and lesbians had a similar misogyny. Because lesbians want to be more like men and then gay men want to be hypermasculine.
R: So she said, they're going to be better parents because they want it. And what I sort of saw her actually saying is that because heterosexuals can get pregnant by accident, or in the back of the car and they didn't mean it, that they didn't want those kids. And to me, there's a huge aspect that they're missing in this picture, called sacrifice. You get pregnant in the back of the Chevy, and you have a baby, that's a sacrifice. And that's where parenting comes from and they didn't get that. They so did not get any of that. And their research shows and their statements show even now, that they don't get it. Everything – there was no concept of childhood. There cannot be a concept of child or childhood when the only identity is sexual.
D: Can I add something, Bobby?
B: Yeah, sure, go ahead.
D: For me the environment was very sexualized from infancy forward. A lot of sexual experimentation was going on in the home. And in the subcultures where I was taken to, my father was involved in all different aspects of experimentation. I wouldn't limit it to just "gay." When I say the GLBT umbrella, I am including every form of sexual experimentation you could fit in there. He was into Craig Russell big time by the time I was 8 or 9 years old. And everything was about Craig Russell.
B: Who's Craig Russell?
D: Pornography, you know, these kind of underground men's magazines. Where they'd be pornographic but you could be wearing scantily clad underwear. My father was actually an underground male model for underwear in a community magazine. So what I picked up was that he and his partner also had an affinity for underage boys. I have to say this –
|Bobby = B
B: You know, I have to jump in and say something. You know, I saw that so much in the gay male culture and you know, you get viciously attacked when you even allude to it by GLAAD and by HRC. But I think that finally with this issue of Tom Daley, that diver, the 19-year-old who got preyed on by that 39-year-old screenwriter, and then –
R: After his father died.
B: Yeah, and then the Huffington Post defended it. I think that finally the gay community can't deny it anymore.
R: You can't shame anybody. I saw that too. My mother would have all these gay guys come over. There was one guy, his name was Joe, who was supposedly a travel agent. And every time he came over there was another boy he brought. Not a little boy. Maybe 14, 15, 16. I don't know exactly. They were always very thuggish. You know, monosyllabic. Like street kids. You know, always with a Bronx accent. Petulant, surly, street kids. And he'd buy them a new pair of sneakers, and everything was Quaaludes and Nebutol. And those popper things.
B: Yeah, the poppers.
R: And it wasn't until years later that the dime dropped in my head about what was going on, 'cause I was like eleven, maybe. And I realized what was going on and I said to my mother – because she let my brother go off with him, I said to her, "how could you have done that? How could you have let him go off with him?" And my mother said, completely, without batting an eye, she said, "your brother was seven then. He only likes twelve and up." Like this is okay?
B: Oh my God.
B: Oh my God.
R: And it was a fixed like, twelve and up, not six, not five, not three not four. Twelve and up.
B: Well, you sent me that thing that Apple has a new app for twelve-year-olds to find sex.
D: Yes, Bobby, what my father was afraid of, this is him very involved in other gay men. Whenever he brought other gay men to the home, he had a fear that any one of his gay friends could hit on my brothers. And so he was a bit guarded when he found out, he would come from working late, and he was wondering why one of his partners was sitting at the kitchen table playing cards with my brothers and I. He was very upset about it.
B: Well at least he had a fatherly impulse.
D: He did. The other thing, I was afraid to bring boyfriends home, even in my young teens because my dad would hit on the good-looking ones.
B: Are you serious?
D: He would actually – he and his partner at the time actually hit on a very good-looking boy I brought home that was about fourteen or fifteen. And they wanted 3-way sex with him up in the bedroom. This all happened right before my eyes; I couldn't believe it. Even though I'd seen so much already, I would still be stunned by there being no boundaries around sexuality, around the number of partners, around age, around various types of sexual practices. There were no limits.
B: Right, and you know, they just broke another story from Alabama with the same thing.
*Huppa is a special canape used in traditional Jewish weddings.