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Amy Gilliland lost 100 pounds through a commercial weight loss program.
Paul O'Flanagan dropped 60 pounds with help from Outward Bound.
Sara Watts is 30 pounds lighter since she started taking a new diet drug.
Shaylea Stensven weighs 190 pounds less than she did before bariatric surgery.
With New Year's Day coming and the nation's obesity epidemic continuing, it's likely many people will try to slim down.
There are many ways to lose weight, most with mixed long-term results. The most important factor in getting started might not be how people attempt to shed pounds but why they are overweight, experts say.
"If it's depression, and we start talking about weight-loss medications, that doesn't match up," said Dr. Janet Droessler, a family physician and registered dietitian with Dean Clinic's Comprehensive Weight Management Program.
Doctors are concerned about obesity's ties to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, joint problems and conditions such as sleep apnea. But medical organizations can provide only limited help, said Dr. Michael Garren, a surgeon who is medical director of UW Health's Medical and Surgical Weight Management Program.
Bariatric surgery — such as a gastric bypass, which shrinks the stomach — is often the best option for people who need to lose 100 pounds or more, Garren said, but most Madison-area insurance plans don't cover it. For people who need to lose 30 pounds or less, helping them eat better and exercise more can work, he said.
"The group in between is really in limbo," Garren said. "We don't have a great answer for them."
A national registry
Gilliland and O'Flanagan, both from Madison, are among more than 10,000 Americans on the National Weight Control Registry, a study of people who have maintained a weight loss of 30 pounds or more for at least a year.
The "successful losers" on the registry have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for more than five years. About 45 percent lost weight on their own and 55 percent did it through a program, including a small percentage who had bariatric surgery, according to the registry.
Most people on the registry eat breakfast every day, weigh themselves at least once a week, watch less than 10 hours of TV a week and exercise an average of an hour a day.
"These people have remade their lives. They've remade their environments," said James Hill, a University of Colorado obesity researcher and co-founder of the registry, which started in 1994.
They've also found ways to battle the biological urge to return to their previous weight, said Dr. Daniel Bessesen, an endocrinologist at the University of Colorado.
Weight loss makes the body more efficient, so people require fewer calories to maintain their lower weight, Bessesen said. A 200-pound person who loses 20 to 30 pounds can consume about 2,250 calories a day compared with 2,600 calories before, he said. But hormones still make the brain want more.
"They are using their cognitive brain to override that," Bessesen said.
Gilliland, 52, weighed nearly 300 pounds before she dropped to 198 pounds a decade ago on the California-based Lindora Clinic diet. The program focused on weight loss for four weeks and weight stability for two weeks, in cycles.
"By the time you reached your goal weight, you had the experience of maintaining your weight," Gilliland said.
O'Flanagan, 44, said he was heavy as a child, weighing 245 pounds by age 16. He lost 20 pounds on an Outward Bound program, which encouraged him to lose more on his own.
He got down to 185 pounds by age 20 through diet and exercise, he said, especially by greatly reducing his intake of Coca-Cola.
"The longer you do it, the easier it is to make better choices," he said.
He and Gilliland have had setbacks, however.
Gilliland, a doula, shot up to 245 pounds two years ago after caring for her dying mother and being in a car crash. But she's weighed about 210 for more than a year.
O'Flanagan, an attorney, got up to 200 pounds in his early 30s when he lived in New York City and was "surrounded by lots of good food." He's been back around 185 for more than 10 years.
He runs or lifts weights for an hour five days a week and eats many high-protein foods, such as lentils and pinto beans. "They fill you up," he said.
Medical help
Watts, 42, a stay-at-home mother from Baraboo, has lost 30 pounds since she started taking the drug Qsymia in June. She had weighed 230 pounds.
"It takes the edge off of cravings," Watts said. "It's still a struggle, but it helps."
Qsymia and Belviq, approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, usually can help people lose about 5 to 10 percent of their body weight, said Droessler, the Dean doctor. She prescribed Qsymia for Watts.
"The medications don't work on their own," Droessler said. "It's really important to have an eating plan, an activity plan, a mental health management plan and a sleep plan."
Stensven, 29, a career counselor from Madison, had a gastric bypass at St. Mary's Hospital in May 2012. Her insurance covered the procedure, which shrinks the stomach to the size of a shot glass and allows people to feel full more quickly.
"I can eat what I want to," Stensven said, "but I have to make really conscious decisions about food."
Most bariatric surgery patients lose large amounts of weight and keep most of it off, but the pounds can return if people aren't careful about what and how they eat, Garren said.
Mindful eating
Being mindful about eating helped Charlene Avery and Andrew Osmond take off pounds. They're also on the National Weight Control Registry.
Avery, 44, an occupational therapist from Middleton, lost 60 pounds over four years ending in 2008, in part through taking mindfulness classes. "The weight went pretty quick after I started the mindfulness," she said.
She remained at 160 pounds until back and shoulder injuries led her to become more sedentary the past couple of years. She shot up to 195 but is now about 185.
Osmond, 35, a halfway house case manager from Milton, weighed nearly 240 pounds in his late 20s, when his knees started to ache and he learned his cholesterol level was high. The conditions inspired him to lose 80 pounds on his own over four years, through diet and exercise.
"It's about going slow, making small adjustments and sticking with them," Osmond said.
Now he has a hobby that illustrates his new control over food, he said. He makes exotic flavors of ice cream, such as five-spice with rum, candied jalapeno with sweet corn and roasted strawberry and black pepper with balsamic red wine sauce.
"I've changed my perception of food," he said. "If it doesn't have power over me, I'm not going to be tempted by it."


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|Shmimy Women 1 Set Sexy Lace Lingerie Babydoll with G-string
|Offered by LikeMuch
This is a very sexy piece of lingerie! My fiance and I are always looking for ways to keep things new and exciting. As a big girl, it can sometimes be challenging to find good lingerie that actually fits and flatters my body. Luckily for me, I found this beautiful babydoll IN MY SIZE!!! I purchased it in purple XXL. I normally wear an XL in women's clothing, but the bust and waist measurements in the product description was a great guide that helped me pick the correct size for this particular piece of clothing. I suggest everyone looks at it before purchasing, just to be sure that they are getting the right size.
The material is sheer, both in the bust and "skirt" part of the babydoll. The cups are a bit small so if you have bigger than a DD cup, you will likely be spilling out of it like I was. But hey, is that really a bad thing? I'm pretty sure that is what most of us are going for when we wear lingerie. You can sort of see in the product photo that the front is slightly higher than the back of the skirt, which I think is really cute and it adds a little "peek-a-boo" for my fiance that he really seems to enjoy.
One thing that I am not as excited about is the g-string. I've never really been a fan of them so maybe it is just me, but I think that it fits oddly. This may just be because of my body type. They kind of just either get stuck around my hip area or they end up falling to the floor before I am ready to remove them, so I wear different panties with this babydoll. Overall I think that it's a really cute piece of lingerie and I would highly suggest it to anyone who wants to dress up and enjoy a sexy evening. I received this product at a discounted price in exchange for an honest review.
Buy it here!

subset: commoncrawl


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Our tipis make a great backdrop to any event and always have the crowd wondering to them……
we make an excellent acoustic stage, late night dance stage and open mic stage. We are regularly used as a 24/7 chillout area at festivals providing customers with a warm place to relax before bed with a hot cuppa.
Kids love the tipis and we find they are perfect to keep the childrens area dry and sheltered from the weather (hot or cold) and keep the kids interested and entertained.
Contact Us
One of our clan is always about to answer your questions. Just follow the link


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Sometimes I write stuff in my journal and then I post it here after I've edited it a kazillion times. This is one of those posts that I won't publish if I think about it too much – so I'm just writing it here and letting it go.
I've been talking to people online and talking to friends in my "real" life and reading other people's words and I am realizing that something I always heard (but thought was hyperbole) is absolutely true: 20 years is like 5 minutes. You blink and you miss it – and you can't get it back and when you try to reconnect and start over, sometimes you find out that you can't. Boats sail without you and planes take off and distance … well, distance is more than an arbitrary number.
My brother called me the other day. He told me that he had something for me. I had homework, I wanted to send an email to someone I want to know better, there was something on television I wanted to watch and I didn't want to put on a bra and change my shirt and look presentable and talk to my brother. He told me he had been out at my grandfather's house – and he had a painting that my father had done and he wanted to give it to me.
I don't think he noticed that I didn't know how to answer.
My father was an artist and I think he had some talent. Who knows what he could have done with it? He chose not to pursue it – and I'll never know why, exactly, although I can make some guesses. Soon after his death the artwork got divided up and this is the painting I got.
My mother told me that I could also have the painting at my grandfather's house – eventually. I forgot about it, actually, but 21 years later, my mother remembered her promise. It doesn't matter that I don't have a lot of his "things." I have two very small pieces of his heart and soul.
I don't remember my dad ever telling me he was proud of me. He probably said it at some point, but i don't remember it. We didn't have conversations like that. I think we don't always say things we should – things that people should hear. And by "we" I mean me.
So here goes. If your name isn't on this list, it's probably because I already told you what I want you to hear. Or I don't like you. One or the other.
Archie – Believe. Don't listen to your doubts.
Leslie – I love you. I'm sorry I'm such a jackass, but we've been friends for almost 40 years. You're stuck with me.
Griggs – For God's sake, shut the fuck up.
"Bridget" – You were wrong.
Shreck – I'm so happy we found each other again.
David – Thank you. You're kinder than I deserve.
Lass – As long as you're around, I know I'm not as fucked up as I feel 😀
Wende – Thanks for never making me feel as fucked up as I actually am 😆
Mickey B – You have such a generous soul and you brighten everything around you. I missed you.
Delmer – You're funnier than I am. I resent that sometimes, but mostly I love it.
RW – I don't understand half of what you're saying. But I want to get it.
JR – Fuck off.
Len – You can have it all. And you deserve it.
Bryan – I rarely agree with you anymore – but I still love you.
Ralph – You really knew me – knew my heart – and you loved me anyway. I'll never forget that.
MMB – I really admire you. I don't think you ever knew that.
Marcia – You're the bravest person I know. And I wish I knew you better.
"Michael" – You're cool.
Jo AnnE – You deserve someone like "Michael" 🙂
Tug – You always make me smile. That's a gift.
Erin – You inspire me and I wish I could see the wonder in the world that you see.
MoC – yeah, yeah, yeah.
What do you need to say today?
Edit: The problem with using initials is that it gets confusing. I didn't want to use the first name of the person I told to fuck off (because I was venting and didn't want a confrontation) so I used initials. Which just happen to be the same initials as a family member, who should have been on the list (and if she had been on the list, it would have said, "I think you have a lot of courage. Even though I'm not there, I always have your back."). I should have used a different name but I just didn't think it through. Sorry for the confusion.


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I have avoided writing anything about the political situation that has been brewing between the US and Iraq. I have worked very hard to not end up spewing out vitriolic rants against the Shrub and his latest bouts of idiocy. I have successfully avoided making any comment about the War on Iraq (otherwise known as "The War to Finish What Daddy Started Because I Want To And You Can't Stop Me!"). I have said very little at all about any of this.
Until now. Tonight at dinner, seated around a table with 9 other coworkers, we looked over toward the bar as the employee there turned up the sound on the television. The Shrub was on the air, giving a speech.
From my corner of the table I couldn't really hear what he was saying, but I really didn't have any desire to hear it anyway. I knew that whatever it was, it would only make me angrier, and more convinced that this war that the Shrub in his infinite and arrogant stupidity has started is a very bad idea.
See, I happen to believe in something very simple. America isn't supposed to be the one that starts the fights. We're supposed to be the ones to help end them. We're not supposed to be the one to hit first and then ask questions later. We're not supposed to be the ones to ignore diplomacy and negotiation. We're the ones that have the power to show by our example how treaties and agreements and all of that can work. And yes I know that my country hasn't always followed those rules, but I do know that the current administration has done a damn good job of making sure that very few will ever be able to trust us to follow those rules in the future.
All I can see right now is my country's already battered reputation being rapidly stripped away. And it is painful to look into the future and try to grasp how many years it will take, once that horrid little excuse for a President is finally voted out of office, for our future leaders to try to repair the damage that he and his administration have done in their blundering.
I may not like war, but I am not so naďve as to think that the human race will ever live in perfect peace and harmony. And because it is in our nature – all of us – to fight and to be greedy and to hurt other people (although some people take those to far more extremes than most), I do understand that sometimes war is the only thing that will defuse a situation. I accept that sometimes war is required and justified, and that yes it is ugly and horrible and people die, but when it is done – the type of war that is necessary – things will be better for it.
I worry about the troops over there –Iraqi and American, and all the other nationalities involved. I have friends who are on the front lines and what little details they have given us scare me by how real the danger is that they are in. Yet they are all there because they are doing their job and it doesn't matter that maybe they don't necessarily believe in the cause; they are doing what they promised they would do. And while I certainly don't agree with the philosophies and practices of the Iraqi regime, I know that the soldiers who fight on the Iraqi side are probably fighting for the exact same reasons. They may not want to fight and they might be just as scared and worried as our side, and maybe they don't even believe that what they are fighting for is right. But they are just doing their job too. And it scares me, and infuriates me, that these people – my friends and all the ones whose names I'll never know – could possibly die in a war that I cannot figure out how to justify.
I feel like I'm just spinning in rambly circles and right now I don't know how to say everything I want to say about what is going on. I'll just give up and point you to a few people who were a lot better at putting into writing what I've been thinking and feeling.
This has been an AlphaBytes entry.


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Friday, September 12, 2008
Blog... Blog? What Blog?
Have a great day and happy scrapping,
1 comment:
- seasonsmom said...
Amy, thanks so much for sharing the free shipping coupon! That was very generous of you! I received my Panama 12X12 book and love it. I got a free 8X8 and have to place the order for it by the 26th. I am hoping to get one done and use the coupon. I sure hope it works. I also have 175 free prints worth. I also hope that coupon will work on them. I love your blog and I am so glad to have met you. Blessings and I can't wait for a bit of free time to browse thru your digi links and surf thru your blogs. But time is such a commodity with 4 kids in sports and hubby working out of the country-I am sort of a single mom now. Man, it's not easy! So, I better run get some sleep and start fresh tomorrow creating a new book. I wish I had time to get some new ideas and freebies but I only have 2 days left for the free book. I guess, I'll make it simple! Blessings, Natalie
- September 24, 2008 at 11:49 PM


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A group of about 40 people held a rally in Bethel April 22 for subsistence rights. They gathered in the parking lot of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Bethel. Most of them were Yup'ik from Bethel and nearby villages. As event organizer, Tim Andrew, pulls protest signs out of a pickup truck, he says, "This has been building for quite a few years." Andrew says he's been thinking about this day for a long time: a way to peacefully protest state management that has been conflicting with Yup'ik hunters and fishermen for decades.Get the Story:
Bethel holds a subsistence rally (KYUK 4/22)


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March _ 2017 _ parkallen home kitchen
Easy Whole Grain Cinnamon Buns Posted: March 14, 2017 | Author: parkallenhomekitchen | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Good Morning! It has been so long since I've last blogged. Cinnamon rolls cinnabon copycat recipe Sorry about that. Homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting recipe Things have been absolutely nuts over here.
Mid-January, I left my full-time job at EIA for a part-time position with an agency in order to spend more time with Anna.
Pillsbury cinnamon roll king cake recipe I just couldn't handle the full-time hours anymore, it was killing the mom in me. Cinnamon rolls recipe homemade Unfortunately, it didn't work out with the agency; however, as there is always a silver lining to any crappy situation, I decided to go full steam ahead with my business, Plated Public Relations. Cinnamon rolls recipe easy quick It's been incredible and busy and oh so much fun running my own business so far. Cinnamon rolls made with yellow cake mix I can honestly say that for the first time in my career, I feel like I have agency and that I am the master of my own destiny. Cinnamon roll dough recipe with yeast I make my own hours (I work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 7:30 am – 3:30 pm), but I am quickly learning there is always more work to do then the 21 hours I set out for myself. Cinnamon roll dough recipe no yeast I am finding a balance between working my butt off and spending time with my girl. Cinnamon roll dough recipe without eggs And the best part is, my work doesn't feel like work. Cinnamon roll recipe with yellow cake mix My dad always said that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. Cinnamon roll coffee cake recipe I feel like I am finally getting there!
With two days a week with my Anna, I have two other days at home with my hubby and baby, and that's where I have time to cook.
This past weekend, we wanted to give a small gift to our neighbours who have been snow-blowing our sidewalk the whole winter long. Pillsbury cinnamon roll coffee cake recipe I couldn't think of a better gift than homemade cinnamon buns. Easy cinnamon buns recipe no yeast The only thing I hate about making cinnamon buns is the time it takes to let them rise (twice) before you can bake them, slather them with cream cheese frosting and enjoy them. Cinnamon roll recipe made with canned biscuits These buns rise with baking powder, making the whole process a lot quicker and a whole lot simpler.
Start by mixing up the filling. Homemade cinnamon rolls with biscuit dough Combine melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and stir with a fork to incorporate well.
For the dough, I used Gold Forest Grains Red Fife whole grain wheat flour. Cinnamon roll recipe pillsbury grands A great thing about this flour is that is already has natural notes of cinnamon flavour, making for the perfect cinnamon bun flour!
I added all of the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisked to incorporate.
Next, I melted butter and milk in a pot on the stove, created a well in the dry ingredients, and stirred until the dough came together. Easy cinnamon rolls from scratch without yeast I found the dough to be a little wet, so I added about 1/4 cup more flour to make it kneadable.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface, then knead a few times, until you get the kick-back from the gluten when you poke the dough with your finger.
Spread out the filling using a spatula or the back of a spoon, covering as much of the surface area as you can.
Cut the tube into 2-inch thick buns. Easy homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch Don't worry, they may look small…
Cover with cream cheese frosting and enjoy while sipping a warm, milky tea of a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Easy Whole Grain Cinnamon Buns (Makes 8 good-sized cinnamon buns. Cinnamon rolls from cinnabon I always double the recipe for extra leftovers!)
2 cups whole grain flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
Preheat oven to 425. Cinnamon roll recipe using pillsbury biscuits Combine filling ingredients in a bowl and mix with a fork until well-blended.
In another bowl, combine flour sugar and baking powder. Homemade cinnamon rolls made with biscuits Whisk together the milk and butter in a medium saucepan on medium-high to melt the butter. Cinnamon roll recipe icing Create a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the milky butter mixture. Homemade cinnamon rolls from scratch without yeast Stir until the dough comes together. Homemade cinnamon rolls no yeast or milk If the dough is too wet to form a ball, add a little more flour. Homemade cinnamon rolls using biscuit dough Transfer to a lightly-floured surface and knead until the dough springs back gently to the touch.
Roll out the dough long and flat. Cinnamon rolls no yeast allrecipes Add the filling, pushing it right to the ends of the dough, covering as much of the surface area as possible. Cinnamon rolls from frozen bread dough overnight Roll into a large spiral and cut into two-inch thick buns. Recipe for cinnamon roll icing with powdered sugar Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and add your buns. Recipe for pillsbury cinnamon roll icing Bake for 15 mins, or until tops are golden brown.
While the buns are baking, make your icing by first warming the cream cheese slightly in the microwave. Recipe for cinnamon roll icing Transfer all ingredients to a food processor and process until smooth. Homemade cinnamon rolls with grands biscuits When the buns are baked, drizzle with icing and serve warm. Cinnamon swirl pound cake recipe Enjoy, a lot!


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CNN endured the ridicule of the Internet yesterday for running a story about women's votes being ruled by their menstrual cycles. The article was based on unpublished research, and was pulled within hours.
According to a report, this was some of the information that was included in the article:
New research suggest that hormones may influence female voting choices differently depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship. When women are ovulating, they 'feel sexier,' and therefore lean more toward liberal attitudes on abortion and marriage equality. The researchers found that during the fertile time of the month, when levels of the hormone estrogen are high, single women appeared more likely to vote for Obama and committed women appeared more likely to vote for Romney.
Social media and other media didn't take long to get involved in the debate.
Here are a couple of choice headlines to enjoy, from the Huffington Post:
CNN Reports That Women Voters Are Apparently Incapable Of Cognition, According To LOL Science
And this, from Jezebel, a popular female-orientated blog:
CNN Thinks Crazy Ladies Can't Help Voting With Their Vaginas Instead of Their Brains
When the article was removed, CNN replaced the text with an apology of sorts:
A post previously published in this space regarding a study about how hormones may influence voting choices has been removed.
After further review it was determined that some elements of the story did not meet the editorial standards of CNN.
We thank you for your comments and feedback.
There were defenders of the article too, including the writer, Elizabeth Landau:
For the record, I was reporting on a study to be published in a peer-reviewed journal & included skepticism. I did not conduct the study.
Another defender said:
There is absolutely nothing in the CNN piece on Kristina Durante's study on voting and ovulation that suggests that women are weak little creatures who need to be protected from themselves, or that they are slave to all that estrogen coursing through their silly brainplaces.
[Source: SMH]
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Basque is a unique language of Europe. It is one of the few European languages not classified as Indo-European. Other European languages which do not belong to the Indo-European language family are Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian. Basque speakers are mainly found in southwestern France and northeastern Spain. However, their language bears little resemblance to French or Spanish.
Here are a few Basque phrases to demonstrate the uniqueness of the language:
Welcome- Ongi etorri
Hello- Kaixo
Good morning- Egun on
Good evening- Arratsalde on
Good night- Gabon
Goodbye- Agur
Good luck- Zorte on
Excuse me- Barkatu
Thank you- Eskerrik asko
I love you- Maite zaitut
These few phrases illustrate that Basque is very different from other languages. It is so different that its origins remain a mystery. As a result, Basque is classified as a language isolate.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
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Jake Arrieta signed with the Phillies on Sunday after nearly five years and a World Series title in Chicago.
As he prepares to move on to the next stage of his career, Arrieta shared a classy handwritten note on Twitter. But really, that note should be framed and displayed in an art museum.
His handwriting is that good.
The contents of the note were great, and still, baseball fans could not stop admiring Arrieta's penmanship. No wonder he chose to go the handwritten route.


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"Walk, walk, fashion, baby…"
Review of Toronto Fashion Week for Fall 2010
This is my first post in the real time – no archived emails anymore! Yeah!!! 🙂
Last night was a wrap-up of all events that I got to attend prior to and during the Fashion Week in Toronto. Here's a quick run-down.
Toronto designer Nada Shepherd presented her new collection prior to the Fashion Week in a clever, highly publicized way – as a 3D movie at Scotia Bank Theater. This 'innovative' approach was poorly executed and boring – albeit luckily short. 🙂 The whole movie was designed as a combat video game. However, too much time was spent on choosing the outfits for the female warriors before each combat scenes, and not much of the new collection could be seen. The quality of the 3D movie was very poor. There is a reason why it took James Cameroon years to create "Avatar". Thus, one might be better off sticking to the ordinary catwalk, and leaving the video games and 3D technology to others.
Spago Uomo invited me to see their new collection which was presented in a very casual environment of the Lobby Lounge. I loved several of their pieces and would definitely go back to the shop. It was clever though, how they incorporated male clothes on a couple of female models.
IZMA presented a new line with plenty of sustainable fur as a tribute to the Canadian wilderness. The lines were simple, elegant and innovative. Sustainable fur seems to be a magical word to keep the PETA activists absent from the fashion shows. LOL
In comparison to IZMA, David Dixon show was completely opposite – colourful, overcrowded and somewhat different. Despite the other opinions, I enjoyed it. It consisted of two shows – the Barbie collection and regular David Dixon collection – with an intermission during which champagne, beer and water were served. The show producers knew well how to get the mob going. hehe…
The first collection had the 60s theme of "Barbie meets Twiggy on Carnaby Street in London". It was playful, but at the same time it was interesting to observe older people in the crowd. They were the only ones who knew lyrics to the songs that were played. It must have taken them four decades back in time. 🙂
The David Dixon collection was less interesting than the Barbie one. Yet, I liked the pieces with feathers and fur; it must be my subconscious love for animals. LOL
That would be all for now. Sending my love and special thanks to Mrs. F.C who tagged me along to most of these events. 🙂
Filed under: Canada, North America, Review | Leave a Comment
Tags: Canada, David Dixon, IZMA, Nada Shepherd, Spago, Toronto, Toronto Fashion Week
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SUPERIOR, Wis.—The defendant's brother described finding the victim in a pool of blood as a murder trial began Monday in the death 15 years ago of Myrna Jean Clemons.
John Mattson said the Clemons had blood pooled around her head and was lying on the floor of the Allouez home she shared with his brother, Michael David Mattson.
"I knelt down to see if I could help her in any way," Mattson, 59, testified. "I knew it was helpless because she was cold. Still I tried pumping her chest."
He said he pulled an afghan over her and set a pillow under her head.
His brother, he said, was worrying about restarting the fire in the wood stove.
"It (the fire) sure wasn't a concern to me, and I can't believe it was a concern for Mike," he said.
Michael Mattson, 56, is accused of first-degree murder for the bludgeoning death of Clemons on Feb. 19, 1993.
At the time, he was serving jail time for two previous assaults on Clemons but had work-release privileges for the scrap metal business the brothers operated.
John Mattson said his brother was dropped off by bus at the house and the two had a quick breakfast before loading their truck with scrap metal. He said he went to the truck, which was warming up, and waited a short time before his brother came out and joined them.
When they returned home, Clemons was dead, he said.
He recalled his brother's first words were, "They're going to blame me."
Michael Mattson was charged with the death in 1993, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence at the preliminary hearing level.
In 2006, Mattson was charged again after telling a police investigator he hit Clemons twice with a piece of firewood.
"The state is asking you to base your verdict on that confession," Douglas County Assistant District Attorney James Boughner told the jury in his opening statement.
Public defender J. Patrick O'Neill told jurors his client only confessed because he was desperate, with no money, no future and none of the medication he needed.
O'Neill cited part of his statement to police: "What does a guy got to do to get arrested around here?"
Once Michael Mattson started feeling better, he "realized what a mistake he'd made," O'Neill said.
"Absent his bogus confession, there is not one shred of credible evidence indicating he killed Myrna Clemons," O'Neill said.
Information from: The Daily Telegram, http://www.superiorwi.com


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So I watched a lesbian movie by the name of Below Her Mouth.
It's so fucking bad! It's a porn; there wouldn't be anything wrong with the explicit, frequent sex scenes, if it weren't for the fact the story is very lack lusting. I honestly can't even tell you the story or plot besides for the fact that a straight or bi girl is engaged to a man and she meets a woman, fucks her, gets caught, and ends up back with the man, yet she remains friends with the woman. I mean, that's the story in a nut shell; in other words, a very predictable typical lesbian movie made by the Canadians(well the ending is kind of not typical since she remains with the man-usually the woman runs off with the other woman after like two days of knowing each other.=0)
The first scene of the movie opens up to Main Woman #1 fucking her current girlfriend.
They talk about something and basically Main Woman #1 no longer wants to be in the relationship so they break up. Main Woman #1 then meets up with a friend where they decide to go to the club. Upon getting ready for the night out, Main Woman #1 decides to pack with her new strap on that she seems to be in love with.
While at the club, Main Woman #1, meets Main Woman #2 in the restroom because Main Woman #2 came to the club with her friend because they were curious what it was like to hang out at a lesbian and/or women only club. Well, Main Woman #1 and Main Woman #2 actually know each other some what because Main Woman #1 is the roofer for Main Woman #2. They talk for a little bit in the restroom and Main Woman #1 is flirting with her but the other woman says no, she's engaged, and she's loyal and she came to the club because her, and her friend were curious.
Okay, one thing I don't like is that Main Woman #1 continues to go after her. She follows her out to the club floor then follows her out to the balcony. It's like, 'if it's not okay for a man to do this then it's surely not okay for a woman to do it'. It felt pretty much like harassment, if not predatory for me. I mean, Main Woman #2 kept saying, 'no, I can't, no, leave me alone', and Main Woman #1 kept coming after the other woman until the other woman just gave in. Nonetheless, because Main Woman #2 says no, and runs away with her friend, Main Woman #1 decides to take home another girl.
The fucked up thing about this catch is that the girl who's in bed asked Main Woman #1 for a ride, but Main Woman #1 dissed her. I mean, if you're going to take a girl home and fuck her like a slut, if she asks you for a ride, at least give her a ride to her place. That's the least you can do. It's only polite. =/
So that same day, Main Woman #1 is doing the roof of Main Woman #2, who decides to also take a bath. And while she does, she decides to use the water as a masturbation tool.
Her and Main Woman #1 meet up later that night since Main Woman #1 kept howling her to meet up, so she gave in and said, 'yes'. Well after the drinks, things get heated between the two. They try fucking in the back alley but the trash can guy comes out. Then they try fucking at the back of the trunk, but stopped…so then they go back to Main Woman #1's place.
At home, they do some finger stuff then Main Woman #1 eats out Main Woman #2. After that, Main Woman #1 takes out her strap on which she was packing(and that part was actually hot) and fucks the other woman. After the strap on sex, they go back to the bed and do a little tribbing. Y'all know what tribbing is right, vulva to vulva rubbing. Hmm k.
So after that, they chit chat, and they wake up to one another and then they…yep, you guessed it, have sex again!
This time there's face sitting, and more tribadism. And then they go spend the day with one another, and Main Woman #1 tells Main Woman #2 that she doesn't want to be without her, and I'm like, 'bitch, you just met her two days ago'. They go to a boat and ride out on the sea…I guess then they go back to Main Woman #2's place.
…Okay, so if you're going to cheat on your spouse, don't do it at y'alls place, words of wisdom.
So they're fucking…again…and they go to the bath tub to relax and Main Woman #1 proceeds to use her strap on again(another good scene out of two good scenes of this whole movie) and proceeds to have anal sex with Main Woman #2.
So the husband/fiance-whatever, walks in on them of course, and she chases after him, apologizes to him, fucks him, and they end up together. At the end, her and Main Woman #1 remain close friends. I think that's what happens. By that time, I had the audio off on the movie and I was drawing.
THE END! I do NOT recommend.


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Guest blogger, Dr Lynley McMillan, puts perfectionism under the spotlight. Perfectionism is closely related to her previous topic of workaholism, and affects many gifted children and adults.
Perfectionism, the relentless pursuit of a flawless result, is a psychological knife – it cuts to harm, and it cuts to heal. Let's look at the harm first – tomorrow we will look at how to harness perfectionism so that it becomes an ally, not a threat.
If you're human like me, then getting some things right, absolutely right, is a statistical impossibility. Now, getting maths right is generally easy. And getting physics right is sometimes possible. And chemistry. But think about classical music – can we really get that right? The intonation, pace, pitch, interpretation, colour? And how about relationships – is there such a thing as getting it right? Do we really ever get a human interaction right, where there is perfect delivery of a message, both parties 100% delighted with the outcome, everybody understands each other precisely?
From a psychological perspective, trying to get abstract things like people, relationships, and the arts (music, painting, theatre, sculpture) right, is actually self damaging. Yes, you read that correctly – self damaging! How? It's like asking someone to hold their breath for 40 minutes then sing the national anthem of Jamaica. It's just not possible. So by trying to get abstract things right, we set ourselves up for failure before we even start.
And that's where the cycle begins.
- First, we expect to do something that is impossible (like please people, or get relationships perfect).
- Then we get frustrated with ourselves or others when we can't get it right.
- We also say unhelpful things inside our head when it goes wrong (You dummy! Can't you learn! What a twit! etc.), which decreases our self esteem and increases our anxiety.
- Next time, we are naturally more anxious about getting it wrong, so we are physically tense, full of adrenaline (and other meaty stress steroids) and as a result, much more likely to screw it up.
Ironically, one of two contrasting outcomes occur. Either a cycle of futile pursuit of perfection, or, one of progressively giving up on ever trying to get anything right (psychologists call this learned helplessness).
But, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Join me tomorrow for a look at when to turn the perfectionism switch on, and when to flick it off.
Sneaky note to readers – I'm not convinced that Dr Lynley always dabbles in the arts with her perfectionism mode completely switched off. She has achieved some pretty amazing results. I strongly suspect that you don't need to get this business of keeping-perfectionism-at-bay perfect! It's probably another case of near enough being good enough.
This photo, by Flickr member tortipede, has attribution, non-commercial and share-alike licenses.


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Unformatted text preview: LA11: American Literature and Composition
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 Tuesday, January 12th
Today's Objectives Students will use background knowledge (which they took notes on yesterday, 1/11) to understand the experiences informing the writing of Phillis Wheatley and Abigail Adams. Students will analyze literature for symbol, allusion, and tone, and discuss how the presence, absence, or variation of these elements illustrates the historical context (or the exceptions to the expectations) of the late 1700s. Tuesday, January 12th
Today's Agenda If you have a signed syllabus, please be sure to get it in to your period's submission box before you leave today! Royalty Nominations Review Phillis Wheatley and read "To His Excellency" Complete reading guide Complete Graphic Organizer Abigail Adams: Author Biographical Information, Read "Letter to Her Daughter from the New White House." Complete Graphic organizer and the first of the Abigail Adams reading guide. Read letters from Abigail Adams to her husband, John Adams. Tuesday, January 12th Note to Absent Students Read Wheatley's "To His Excellency" and Adams' "Letter to her Daughter" (both in textbook) and complete the graphic organizer for them. Pick up a reading guide from me upon your return and complete for submission. Tuesday, January 12th
Homework for tonight: Finish graphic organizer and reading guide for Wheatley and Adams. DUE BLOCK DAY! If you were absent for the small group discussion yesterday (Monday), make sure you post on the discussion board to get participation points for discussion. On Deck for Block Day: Discuss responses to Abigail Adams Creative Writing assignment Historical background for part 3 ...
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- Fall '09
- Cullen
- Literature, Writing, Creative Writing, John Adams
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Josh McCown appears to be out front so far in the Jets' dull QB battle
There's an old saying in football that goes something like, "If you have [X] quarterbacks, you really have none." Well, the New York Jets have three quarterbacks, none of whom seems all that exciting an option.
There's the veteran Josh McCown, who has something like 13 games of high-level play on his track record that stretches back to 2002. He'll turn 38 this summer and is clearly a stopgap even if he wins the job. Reporters on scene at Jets OTAs nevertheless have come away with the opinion that he's currently the best option.
Then there's Bryce Petty, the 2015 fourth-round pick that sputtered in his starting audition last season. Petty completed just 56.4 percent of his passes, averaged a paltry 6.1 yards per attempt, and threw three touchdowns against seven interceptions. Petty nevertheless thinks he's the man for the job.
"I have the confidence now that, hey, I can play this game. I think that's a big thing," Petty said, per the New York Daily News. "Some guys need experience to build that confidence, and I think that's kind of what I needed to see that, hey, I can see a rush, I can see a defense, I can make throws, I can throw touchdowns."
The third option is 2016 second-rounder Christian Hackenberg. Many expected the Jets to select a QB in this year's draft but they did not, reportedly because they're higher on Hackenberg (who redshirted his entire rookie season) than many media members. Defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson sees Hackenberg's skill but also acknowledged that he needs some work before he's ready to roll as a starter.
"Slowly progressing … still got a little ways to go," Richardson said, per the New York Post. "He's getting better every day … that's pretty much it. Slowly progressing, man," Richardson told the paper. "He still needs to get past the learning curve. It's still too fast for him. But other than that, man, he's still got a cannon. He's firing it. When he's on point, he's on point, but when he's not, he's not, so got some growing still."
It's early yet, and there's plenty of time for the Jets to figure out who the best option is, but when you're choosing between an aging, replacement-level veteran and two young quarterbacks with little track record or pedigree, that's not exactly an enviable position to be in.
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Reading Bruno Latour, for me, is like deciphering a code. I have to re-read Greek mythology, re-formulate the typical associations to words I create, and start to re-understand the world. But this is a good thing. After finishing We Have Never Been Modern just recently, I felt compelled to jot down some notes, quotes, and subsequent thoughts.
Latour's central thesis is that the modern "project" never existed. The creation of disciplines and spheres of nature and society, science and politics, only create moderns who practice obscurantism to eclipse the full realization of the hybridity and networked character of the world.
"By all means, they seem to say, let us not mix up knowledge, interest, justice and power. Let us not mix up heaven and earth, the global stage and the local scene, the human and the nonhuman. 'But these imbroglios do the mixing,' you'll say, 'they weave our world together!' 'Act as if they didn't exist,' the analysts reply. They have cut the Gordian knot with a well-honed sword. The shaft is broken: on the left, they have put knowledge of things; on the right, power and human politics". (3)
Speaking to the work of scholars of science studies or science, technology & Society (STS), Latour says:
"Whatever label we use, we are always attempting to retie the Gordian knot by crisscrossing, as often as we have to, the divide that separates exact knowledge and the exercise of power – let us say nature and culture. Hybrids ourselves, installed lopsidedly within scientific institutions, half engineers and half philosophers, 'tiers instruits' (Serres, 1991) without having sought the role, we have chosen to follow the imbroglios wherever they take us. To shuttle back and forth, we rely on the notion of translation, or network. More supple than the notion of system, more historical than the notion of structure, more empirical than the notion of complexity, the idea of network is the Ariadne's thread of these interwoven stories" (3).
Latour explains the work that STS scholars do through interrogating some claims, namely, positivistic, instrumental science, and that it's not just about politics, not just about discourse, texts, languages and rhetorics, as many studies of constructionism or critical approaches often do. He explains further that modern thought masks their understanding of the world, of hybrids, using the ideas of naturalization, socialization, or deconstruction, individually. But its not that easy.
"Yes, the scientific facts are indeed constructed, but they cannot be reduced to the social dimension because this dimension is populated by objects mobilized to construct it. Yes, those objects are real but they look so much like social actors that they cannot be reduced to the reality 'out there' invented by the philosophers of science. The agent of this double construction – science with society and society with science – emerges out of a set of practices that the notion of deconstruction grasps as badly as possible. The ozone hole is too social and too narrated to be truly natural; the strategy of industrial firms and heads of state is too full of chemical reactions to be reduced to power and interest; the discourse of the ecosphere is too real and too social to boil down to meaning effects. Is it our fault if the networks are simultaneously real, like nature, narrated, like discourse, and collective, like society? Are we to pursue them while abandoning all the resources of criticism, or are we to abandon them while endorsing the common sense of the critical tripartition? " (6)
I have been intrigued by the question Latour poses: "what does it mean to be modern?" Modernity, postmodernity, premodernity, ancients all assume some sort of linear development through time, as I see it. Latour discusses this in terms of the "double task of domination and emancipation," and the two sets of practices and designations to which 'modern' points. He points to the first set of practices, 'translation', creates "mixtures between entirely new types of beings, hybrids of nature and culture. The second, by 'purification', creates two entirely distinct ontological zones: that of human beings on the one hand; that of nonhumans on the other. Without the first set, the practices of purification would be fruitless or pointless. Without the second, the work of translation would be slowed down, limited, or even ruled out. The first set corresponds to what I have called networks; the second to what I shall call the modern critical stance" (10-11).
Latour is attempting to unravel the creation of distinctions which abstract our thoughts into separate spheres, either as nature or culture, and posits that there is no such divide, but rather there are hybrids or 'nature-cultures' which better describe reality. So the crisis he is teasing out is inherent in Enlightenment thinking, in the ascent to Modernity, and thus it unravels the traditions of science so blessed and heavenly in Western thought and politics. So what then constitutes modern man and things? He refers to the modern constitution in this metaphorical way: "Just as the constitution of jurists defines the rights and duties of citizens and the State, the working of justice and the transfer of power, so this Constitution – which I shall spell with a capital C to distinguish it from the political ones – defines humans and nonhumans, their properties and their relations, their abilities and their groupings". (15)
As an illustrious example Latour discusses Shapin & Schaffer's Leviathan to exemplify the co-production of science and society: "questions of epistemology are also questions of social order," he says. Further, Latour explains that Boyle appealed not to logical (apodeictic) reasoning, but rather to assertions of common opinion (doxa), for gaining legitimacy. The battle between Boyle and Hobbes for claiming a place for science in society was situated in the world such that politics and science were one. Not merely interacting, but co-produced. Latour explains this also as the birth of modern science, at the break of society and nature: "Instead of seeking to ground his work in logic, mathematics or rhetoric, Boyle relied on a parajuridical metaphor: credible, trustworthy, well-to-do witnesses gathered at the scene of the action can attest to the existence of a fact, the matter of fact, even if they do not know its true nature. So he invented the empirical style that we still use today (Shapin, 1 984)". (18).
In a particularly lucid description of constructionism and co-production, Latour explains the essence of Shapin and Schaffer's text:
'Les faits sont faits': 'Facts are fabricated,' as Gaston Bachelard would say. But are facts that have been constructed by man artifactual for that reason ? No: for Boyle, just like Hobbes, extends God's 'constructivism'to man. God knows things because He creates them (Funkenstein, 1986).We know the nature of the facts because we have developed them in circumstances that are under our complete control. Our weakness becomes a strength, provided that we limit knowledge to the instrumentalized nature of the facts and leave aside the interpretation of causes. Once again, Boyle turns a flaw – we produce only matters of fact that are created in laboratories and have only local value – into a decisive advantage: these facts will never be modified, whatever may happen elsewhere in theory, metaphysics, religion, politics or logic. (18)
Latour points to the importance of non-human actors in his retelling of the Boyle and Hobbes story. By separating science from religion and politics, as Boyle did, separating it from the universal that Hobbes wished for, Boyle created a new network where "universals" could be created. It was in this network that the knowledge was situated, but eventually crossed the boundaries of science. Further, Latour critiques Shapin and Schaffer for not adequately addressing the "social" context, or what is the object/subject? What is the political context of the time? Latour lays this critique as a dig at the social constructivist tradition in Edinburgh: "Trained in the framework of the social study of sciences, they seem to accept the limitations imposed by the Edinburgh school: if all questions of epistemology are questions of social order, this is because, when all is said and done, the social context contains as one of its subsets the definition of what counts as good science. Such an asymmetry renders Shapin and Schaffer less well equipped to deconstruct the macro-social context than Nature 'out there'. They seem to believe that a society 'up there' actually exists, and that it accounts for the failure of Hobbes's programme". (26)
What then are we to do about visioning society as an entity in its own? Are we not doomed to say the the social never existed? The examples of Boyle and Hobbes is used explicitly for its importance to the modern project. For Latour, these historical actors mark the start of the modern world: "Boyle is not simply creating a scientific discourse while Hobbes is doing the same thing for politics; Boyle is creating a political discourse from which politics is to be excluded, while Hobbes is imagining a scientific politics from which experimental science has to be excluded. In other words, they are inventing our modern world, a world in which the representation of things through the intermediary of the laboratory is forever dissociated from the representation of citizens through the intermediary of the social contract (27)….Here lies the entire modern paradox. If we consider hybrids, we are dealing only with mixtures of nature and culture; if we consider the work of purification, we confront a total separation between nature and culture. It is the relation between these two tasks that I am seeking to understand. While both Boyle and Hobbes are meddling in politics and religion and technology and morality and science and law, they are also dividing up the tasks to the extent that the one restricts himself to the science of things and the other to the politics of men". (30)
Latour seems to be setting up his actor-network theory by critiquing the divides inherently placed in the "modern Constitution". He is claiming that it renders the work of mediation invisible, it covers up the necessary hybrid nature and the work "down below". By making the idea of hybrids unthinkinable or unrepresentable, it allows the expansion and proliferation of hybrids. "By playing three times in a row on the same alternation between transcendence and immanence, the moderns can mobilize Nature, objectify the social, and feel the spiritual presence of God, even while firmly maintaining that Nature escapes us, that Society is our own work, and that God no longer intervenes". (34)
Another particularly interesting point that Latour makes invokes a critique/praise of Marx. In this passage, Latour suggests that questioning the Enlightenment aspirations was a mark of understanding the contradictions of the Modern Constitution:
"Marxism realized – and finished off, as was soon to become clear – all the hopes of the first Enlightenment, along with all those of the second. The first distinction between material causality and the illusions of obscurantism, like the second distinction between science and ideology, still remain the two principal sources of modern indignation today, even though our contemporaries can no longer close off discussion in Marxist fashion, and even though their critical capital as now been disseminated into the hands of millions of small shareholders. Anyone who has never felt this dual power vibrate within, anyone who has never been obsessed by the distinction between rationality and obscurantism, between false ideology and true science, has never been modern (36)…The critical power of the moderns lies in this double language: they can mobilize Nature at the heart of social relationships, even as they leave Nature infinitely remote from human beings; they are free to make and unmake their society, even as they render its laws ineluctable, necessary and absolute" (37).
Latour suggests that a new constitution is necessary, one that is amodern, or nonmodern. It allows for an anthropology of the modern world and its materiality. The dualism that exists between objects and subjects, nature and society, is problematic, and instead Latour suggests analyzing the world through understanding quasi-objects/subjects. We can neither concede to the spheres of knowledge creation and power that are the modern epistemologies; nor can we say everything is a product of social relations, of society; nor can we do the same for the "soft" or "hard" social categories. The social studies of science began to unravel this problematic of modernism "[b]y disturbing the dualist pack of cards, [they] revealed the complete asymmetry of the first and second denunciations, and they also revealed – at least negatively – how badly constructed were the social theory as well as the epistemology that went with those denunciations. Society is neither that strong nor that weak; objects are neither that weak nor that strong. The double position of objects and society had to be entirely rethought" (54-55).
For Latour, the basis of the modern critique, in dialectics, for example, reified the modern constitution by operating within it, creating more difficulties in unraveling the boundaries of science and politics, and obfuscating the practices of mediation and translation. This is an essential argument of Latour: that the proliferation of hybrids created by the Moderns was a necessity for their authority, yet they denied their existence. "How did the modern manage to specify and cancel out the work of mediation both at once ? By conceiving every hybrid as a mixture of two pure forms. The modern explanations consisted in splitting the mixtures apart in order to extract from them what came from the subject (or the social) and what came from the object. Next they multiplied the intermediaries in order to reconstruct the unity they had broken and wanted none the less to retrieve through blends of pure forms. So these operations of analysis and synthesis always had three aspects: a preliminary purification, a divided separation, and a progressive reblending" (76).
Time becomes a marker of modernization. Only with modernization, the Modern Constituiton do we seize to link nature and culture as did the pre-moderns or ancients. But for Latour its deeper. We must have never been modern. "The asymmetry between nature and culture then becomes an asymmetry between past and future. The past was the confusion of things and men; the future is what will no longer confuse them. Modernization consists in continually exiting from an obscure age that mingled the needs of society with scientific truth, in order to enter into a new age that will finally distinguish clearly what belongs to a temporal nature and what comes from humans, what depends on things and what belongs to signs (71)… We have never moved either forward or backward. We have always actively sorted out elements belonging to different times. We can still sort. It is the sorting that makes the times, not the times that make the sorting. Modernism – like its anti- and postmodern corollaries – was only the provisional result of a selection made by a small number of agents in the name of all "(76).
Latour explains also that the modern constitution operates in a manner that simultaneously relies on the transcendence and immanence of the two poles of Nature and Society. He secedes to the position of poles, but explains that "[t]he modern Constitution is therefore correct: there is indeed an abyss between Nature and Society, but this abyss is only a delayed result of stabilization. The only abyss that counts separates the work of mediation from the constitutional formatting, but this abyss becomes – owing to the very proliferation of hybrids – a continuous gradient that we are able to traverse as soon as we become once again what we have never stopped being: nonmoderns" (88).
But what are we to do if not delve into relativism? Real as Nature, narrated as Discourse, collective as Society, existential as Being: such are the quasi-objects that the moderns have caused to proliferate. As such it behoves us to pursue them, while we simply become once more what we have never ceased to be: amoderns" (90).
In the final two chapters, Latour lays out a methodology for understanding the world of hybrids, and presents the amodern Constitution in juxtaposition to the modern one. The principle of symmetry, he describes, "proposes a slimming treatment for the explanations of errors offered by social scientists. It had become so easy to account for deviation! Society, beliefs, ideology, symbols, the unconscious, madness – everything was so readily available that explanations were becoming obese. But truths? When we lost our facile recourse to epistemological breaks, we soon realized, we who study the sciences, that most of our explanations were not worth much. Asymmetry organized them all, and simply added insult to injury. Everything changes if the staunch discipline of the principle of symmetry forces us to retain only the causes that could serve both truth and falsehood, belief and knowledge, science and parascience. Those who weighed the winners with one scale and the losers with another, while shouting 'vae victis!' (woe to the vanquished), like Brennus, made that discrepancy incomprehensible up to now. When the balance of symmetry is reestablished with precision, the discrepancy that allows us to understand why some win and others lose stands out all the more sharply"(93-94).
Anthropology, Latour (and Callon) suggest needs to absorb the principle of generalized symmetry, which has to do with the position of the researcher, such that she can follow the attribution of both human (society) and non-human (nature) properties; or in other words, the anthropologist must deal with quasi-objects to understand nature and society. One cannot "use external reality to explain society, or to use power games to account for what shapes external reality…{nor should he} alternate natural realism and sociological realism by using 'not only' Nature 'but also' Society…then comparative anthropology becomes possible, if not easy. It compares natures-cultures" (96).
Through a process of purification, and perpetrated in an external narrative, the West presents itself as those who have finally distinguished between the world of facts and the world of values, the world of materiality and the world of spirituality, and the world of objectivity and the world of subjectivity. In the laboratory, in practice, there is an ever expanding integration of facts and value, which is the internal narrative. How can the West live like this? Is this modernization? It is definitely the separation between Us and Them, as Latour states. He explains further: "It is the transcendence of science – conflated with Nature – that makes it possible to relativize all cultures, theirs and ours alike – with the one caveat, of course, that it is precisely our culture, not theirs, that is constructed through biology, electronic microscopes and telecommunication networks . . . . The abyss that was to supposed to be narrowing opens up again"(98).
So then, how do we study the values of practices through actions? Latour suggests using the phrase "mode(s) of existence" (this talk is great), which gets again to the notion of understanding the world through a symmetrical anthropology. " But the very notion of culture is an artifact created by bracketing Nature off. Cultures – different or universal – do not exist, any more than Nature does. There are only natures-cultures, and these offer the only possible basis for comparison. As soon as we take practices of mediation as well as practices of purification into account, we discover that the moderns do not separate humans from nonhumans any more than the 'others' totally superimpose signs and things" (104).
Latour is attempting to do away with relativism, to solve the issue that problematizes an amodern/nonmodern stance. In doing so he acknowledges the difficulty and extends that collectives (of humans and nonhumans in symmetrical anthropology) can be different in size and have different scopes for mobilization. "Modern knowledge and power are different not in that they would escape at last the tyranny of the social, but in that they add many more hybrids in order to recompose the social /ink and extend its scale… At each turn in the spiral, a new translation of quasi-objects gives new impetus to the redefinition of the social body, of subjects and objects alike. Sciences and technologies, for 'Us', do not reflect society any more than Nature reflects social structures for 'Them'. No one is fiddling with mirrors. It is a matter of constructing collectives themselves on scales that grow larger and larger. There are indeed differences, but they are differences in size. There are no differences in nature – still less in culture" (109)Latour is bringing together science and politics through hybrids connected in relations, in networks, never to be relativized or granted transcendent or immanent status. He plays with the local/global dialectic to illustrate this as well as to explain ways of studying the world through actor-networks, by obsessing with the connection, with the mediations, and moving away from meta-physics from studying from above or below: "Where are we, then ? Where do we land ? As long as we keep asking that question, we are unmistakably in the modern world, obsessed with the construction of one immanence [immanere: to reside in] or the deconstruction of another. We still remain – to use the old word – within metaphysics. Now by traversing these networks, we do not come to rest in anything particularly homogeneous. We remain, rather, within an infra-physics. Are we immanent, then, one force among others, texts among other texts, one society among other societies, being among beings ? (128)" Latour is explaining the equivalence of agents and actors, humans and non-humans in networks, but also redefining the locus on anthropological investigation: to nature-cultures, object-subjects, and their relations. This is how he supposes we can surpass relativism. He says, deliberating on symmetrical anthropology, "If on the contrary, we compare the translation work of collectives, we make symmetrical anthropology possible, and we dispel the false problems of absolute relativism. But we also deprive ourselves of the resources developed by the moderns: the Social, Nature, Discourse – not to mention the crossed-out God. This is the ultimate difficulty of relativism : now that comparison has become possible, in what common space do all collectives, producers of natures and societies, find themselves equally immersed ?" (126) This question needs an answer. Latour suggests that a "relativist relativism – or, to put it more elegantly, relationism – relationism… will become one of the essential resources for relating the collectives that will no longer be targets for modernization. Relationism will serve as an organon for planetary negotiations over the relative universals that we are groping to construct" (114).
The Social is no different than Nature in this respect; it gets treated the same, and it must be understood as a agent in a network. Power, Class, Authority, Domination, etc, cannot be given transcendental or immanent values, they mustn't. It is an essential flaw that Latour describes in radical political philosophies. In creating enemies that are endowed with the power legitimated to them through the critique! In Latourian fashion, then, we can ascribe agency to the oppressed in the face of authority and domination through understanding its context and contingency,one in which it is granted authority through some sort of "decontextualized rationality".
"The myth of the soulless, agentless bureauracy, like that of the pure and perfect marketplace, offers the mirror-image of the myth of universal scientific laws. Instead of the continual progression of an inquiry, the moderns have imposed an ontological difference as radical as the sixteenth-century differentiation between the supralunar worlds that knew neither change nor uncertainty. (The same physicists had a good laugh with Galileo at that ontological distinction – but then they rushed to reestablish it in order to protect the laws of physics from social corruption ! )… An organization, a market, an institution, are not supralunar objects made of a different matter from our poor local sublunar relations (Cambrosio et al. 1990). The only difference stems from the fact that they are made up of hybrids and have to mobilize a great number of objects for their description. The capitalism of Karl Marx or Fernand Braudel is not the total capitalism of the Marxists (Braudel, 1 98 5 ) . It is a skein of somewhat longer networks that rather inadequately embrace a world on the basis of points that become centres of profit and calculation. … One can follow the growth of an organization in its entirety without ever changing levels and without ever discovering 'decontextualized' rationality. The very size of a totalitarian State is obtained only by the construction of a network of statistics and calculations, of offices and inquiries, which in no way corresponds to the fantastic topography of the total State (Desrosieres, 1 990) …. (121)
Our misdeeds can be compared to our access to Nature: we must not exaggerate their causes even as we measure their effects, for that exaggeration itself would be the cause of greater crimes. Every totalization, even if it is critical, helps totalitarianism. We need not add total domination to real domination. Let us not add power to force. We need not grant total imperialism to real imperialism. We need not add absolute deterritorialization to capitalism, which is also quite real enough (Deleuze and Guattari, [ 1 972] 1 983). Similarly, we do not need to credit scientific truth and technological efficacity with transcendence, also total, and rationality, also absolute. With misdeeds as with domination, with capitalisms as with sciences, what we need to understand is the ordinary dimension : the small causes and their large effects (Arendt, 1 963 ; Mayer, 1 98 8 ) . (125)
For me, this is good enough. I appreciate his exuberant critique, but his dedication towards a new constitution of amoderns, a new symmetrical anthropology, delves into a place that feels obscure. I'm sure this is precisely because of Modernity! I am disciplined to the disciplines of science, and relegated my culture to the sphere society, distinct from one another. I am not sure I have a better answer than Latour though, my critique is one of moving foward, of application of actor-networks or a "new Constitution" or with symmetrical anthropology. It is however, insightful to start from a new place, with a new constitution to better understand the messy world we live in, one that often fields as obdurate as it does malleable, as static and fixed as it does dynamic and fluid. His "Parliament of Things" perhaps provides the best answer:
"In its confines, the continuity of the collective is reconfigured. There are no more naked truths, but there are no more naked citizens, either. The mediators have the whole space to themselves. The Enlightenment has a dwelling-place at last. Natures are present, but with their representatives, scientists who speak in their name. Societies are present, but with the objects that have been serving as their ballast from time immemorial. Let one of the representatives talk, for instance, about the ozone hole, another represent the Monsanto chemical industry, a third the workers of the same chemical industry, another the voters of New Hampshire, a fifth the meteorology of the polar regions; let still another speak in the name of the State; what does it matter, so long as they are all talking about the same thing, about a quasi-object they have all created, the object-discourse-nature-society whose new properties astound us all and whose network extends from my refrigerator to the Antarctic by way of chemistry, law, the State, the economy, and satellites. The imbroglios and networks that had no place now have the whole place to themselves. They are the ones that have to be represented; it is around them that the Parliament of Things gathers henceforth. 'It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone' (Mark 1 2 : 1 0 ) . However, we do not have t o create this Parliament out o f whole cloth, by calling for yet another revolution. We simply have to ratify what we have always done, provided that we reconsider our past, provided that we understand retrospectively to what extent we have never been modern, and provided that we rejoin the two halves of the symbol broken by Hobbes and Boyle as a sign of recognition. Half of our politics is constructed in science and technology. The other half of Nature is constructed in societies. Let us patch the two back together, and the political task can begin again. (144).


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Club SC, Sonning Common Youth Club
Multiple dates from Thursday, December 21st to Thursday, April 12th
Event Summary
Looking for something for kids to do? Club SC, Sonning Common Youth Club is open on Wednesday for years 6-8 and Thursday nights for years 9-11 from 7-9pm. We make stuff, bake stuff, do great stuff and get to go on cool trips like paintballing, trampolining and theme parks. 50p entry and refreshments are on sale. Open 7-9pm both nights, above the sports hall at Chiltern Edge. www.clubsc.co.uk
Price: 50p
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Chiltern Edge School
Reades Lane
Sonning Common
The event runs from 7:00pm to 9:00pm on the following dates.
Select a date to add this event to your calendar app.
- December 21st
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Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Useless Script
As I mentioned previously, I spent a bit of time over the weekend coming up with a script to let avatars jump on the bed at my new summer cottage. It's simple, "Hello World!" level coding, and I'm sure someone has done somewhat similar things before. Who cares? Mine makes sproingy-sproingy noises!
In any case, if anyone is interested, here's a copy of the script.
Addendum 6/15/05, 9:06am:
So, late last night, Chres and I installed this script on her bed in her chateau in snowy Afton. This script is silly and completely pointless, but dang if it's not fun! In a fit of technical fervor, I ended up adding a dialog box menu to set the jump height. (I'm going to add a timer to it today to reset the height back to the lowest setting after a few minutes.) The chateau has nice, high vaulted ceilings in the bedroom, so we were able to set the vertical height a fair bit higher. So, now you can touch the bed, and it asks you "How high do you want to jump?" The options are Mild, Kinky, Crazy, and Skullcracker. (The first three are Chres's idea. The last is mine.)
I suppose I should add a couple of cautionary remarks for this script. First, if the top surface on your bed is curved (this is common, to better simulate a real quilt), it won't work properly. Specifically, your avatar will hit the surface and bounce slightly off to one side (in the direction of the curve) before the upward impulse is applied. This is normal physics behavior (envision dropping a ball on a sloped or curved surface), but it means that you will be thrown off the bed after a few bounces. The easiest fix would be to add an invisible (100% alpha) rectangle that sits just slightly above the curved blanket. This will present a nice, flat, horizontal landing surface. You can also unlink the blanket and make it phantom, then install the script in the (hopefully flat) mattress itself. This works fine, but it means your bed is now two unlinked parts. It's also a little harder to find an appropriate surface to right click on to enter the bed, since most of the surface is covered with an unrelated blanket.
Second, be sure and make the root prim of your bed at rotation <0,0,0>. This is just like installing sit positions in furniture. If your root prim is rotated at some odd angle, you'll have to do some extra figuring to get the initial positions right when entering the bed. It can be done, but it's so much easier just to plan ahead and adjust your root prim properly.
Third, the bed will go "Sproing!" when you bump into the sides. As far as the script is concerned, a collision is a collision. This includes headboard and footboard, if your bed has one. This isn't really a big deal, I don't think, but if it bothers you, make the mattress a separate entity.
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Is organic food really organic? Maybe, maybe not
Looking at buying organic fruit and vegetables, the cost makes people think. Are we really getting organic food? How do I know if organic is organic? What if my farm supplier is located at downstream while the upstream farm is not organic hence ...read more


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Friday, 28 December 2012
28 December 2012 - Pop Tabs, Seed Beads & Wire
5 comments:
Love yout idea :) I am still following you. How many suns you still need to make before you get to 365? May i feature your pop tab sun om my blog?ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks Monique! I am happy you are still following my projects, I'm still tuned into your blog too. Yes you may feature my pop tab effort in your blog - thanks for checking it's OK.Delete
I don't know how many I need to make 365 as some days I missed (like Easter holidays) and some days I did more than one. I still have some in-progress projects to finish and ideas for more so I think I'll just keep going, though maybe not every day :-)
I´m glad you´re not stopping yet! ;-)Delete
Because I would miss your project ánd I like your company!
Thanks Yvonne - I feel the same, I was happy when you continued zentangling (in colour!!) and like having your company on this creative experiment too.Delete
Thanks Frances :-)Delete


text: Body work needed for when my guys got rear ended. 12 days to fix, shop call and says there frame damage $10000.00, they called the insurance will know tomorrow what's up. It's a 2010 75,000 miles, that plus we're trying to get compensated for lost income. At what point do they say hay will give you the money and take the van? Then I just get another used van and have the machine moved. I'm back up and running in days not weeks! Will see.


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It's not uncommon for individuals to purchase furniture for its look without providing much idea to quality. Intelligent buying practices can possibly save you a lot of headaches down the road. You could get quality furniture at a less expensive cost if you have shopping understanding and effort. These suggested suggestions below can make you becom… Read More
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Individuals typically consider how furniture looks when buying pieces. To make sure that you do not regret your purchase later on, utilize your head, and not just your eyes, when you purchase. You might bring home quality furnishings for less money by putting effort into being a wise purchaser. We have some terrific words of suggestion to make sear… Read More


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"Be Weatherby," a new online sweepstakes, offers participants the opportunity to vote for the Weatherby ad that describes them best and enter a monthly drawing for a Vanguard Series 2 or WBY-X rifle, or a PA-08 pump shotgun.
The ads, which can be viewed at www.beweatherby.com, feature the following Team Weatherby members and the character traits they exemplify:
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One Weatherby gun will be given away each month to a random drawing winner in August, September, October, November and December. The Be Weatherby sweepstakes ends December 31, 2014. No purchase necessary. To be eligible, entrants must be a legal resident of the United States and at least 21 years of age. Those who are legally disqualified from possessing a firearm are not eligible. To vote and enter the sweepstakes, visit www.beweatherby.com.
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Image courtesy Weatherby


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529 Cobby Creek Lane is a $300,000, 1,250 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.0 bath home on a 0.01 acre lot located in Seabrook Island, SC.
REDUCED!! Great Seabrook Value! This charming 3 bedroom plus loft, 2 bath cottage is the perfect selection for a beach cottage getaway, rental property, or even a full-time home. Vaulted ceiling in the great room, fireplace, laminate wood flooring, huge screened-in porch all add to the warmth and ease of this property. Master bedroom, two additional bedrooms, two full baths and kitchen round our the first level. Large second floor loft may be used as a bedroom, office or getaway space for added versatility. Pride of ownership shows throughout, making this a turn-key property to start enjoying this season! Good rental history, and sold furnished with a few personal exclusions. Excellent walk-in storage, plus space for bikes and beach gear adjacent to the 2-car covered parking area.
|Above Grade Sqft
Elv. Construction
|Interior Features
Floors - Laminate
Floors - Vinyl
Wall to Wall Carpet
Master Bedroom - Ceiling Fan
Master Bedroom - Downstairs
Ceiling - Cathedral/Vaulted
Window Treatments - All
Great Room
|Fireplace Types
Great Room
|Cooling Types
|Heating Types
Heat Pump
|Parking Types
2 Car Carport
|Exterior Features
Boat Ramp
Boat Storage
Cable TV Available
Club House
Equestrian Center
Exercise Area
Gated Community
Tennis Court
Walk/Jog Trails
Porch - Front Porch
Porch - Screened
Asphalt Shingle
|Construction Types
Wood Siding
|Land Type
|Water Source
Private Water
Public Sewer
|Property Type
|Property Sub Type
Single Family Detached
|Year Built
|Elementary School
mt. zion
|Middle School
haut gap
|High School
st. johns
Tarpon Pond Cottages
Based on information from the Charleston Trident® Multiple Listing Service, last updated 06/21/2018 at 10:09am MDT. All data, including all measurements and calculations of area, is obtained from various sources and has not been, and will not be, verified by broker or MLS. All information should be independently reviewed and verified for accuracy. Properties may or may not be listed by the office/agent presenting the information. Listing information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed by the MLS or this website.


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Location: Chinese Laundry
Location: Chinese Laundry
Tickets are available on the door or pre-purchase below. If pre-sale allocation is exhausted, remaining tickets will be available on the door.
The booking fee charged is made up of a flat $2.05 fee plus a 2.32% processing fee. The processing fee includes (but is not limited to) credit card, debit card and PayPal fees and expenses, administration and associated infrastructure costs.
Blanke is swiftly becoming one of Australia's most talked about bass artists. Usually found in dark nightclubs and dimly lit studio spaces, this up-n-comer is armed to the teeth with his signature style of bass music vibes. Blanke has drawn inspiration from trap, dubstep & bass house and is definately one to watch!


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Monday, July 27, 2009
A musical teaser
Soooo, I got inspired to make some musically themed jewelry. So far I have about 8 pieces in the works but it may grow... these things have a mind of their own sometimes.
I finished the first piece of the first set a few days ago and decided to post a bit of a teaser here so you can see what is in store.
I am always amazed at what happens when I just tinker with no real objective in mind, and this lovely heart shaped out of an upturned treble clef and a bass clef surprised me and made me grin so much. It just looked so sweet.
I'm hoping to have the rest of the series finished before summer is over and I'm planning to release each set as it is completed in between the planning and building of my new store location. Stay tuned for the release of the Musical Heart Set soon. :)
Posted by Elphie Broome at 9:55 AM
Labels: jewelry, new releases, teaser
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CoderDojo Pollokshaws Library
CoderDojo Scotland is part of a global collaboration that provides free coding clubs for young people. Learn everything you need to become a great programmer in a fun and social environment.
No previous coding experience is necessary.
Age range: 8-14 years old.
If you would prefer to bring your own laptop along please sign up for a ticket with laptop.


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I was having a piggy day and as this place was next to the place I was staying at I decided to check it out. That and ice cream truly is a vice for me. I had three scoops - mango, oreo and snickers. The...More
1 - 10 of 245 reviews
I was having a piggy day and as this place was next to the place I was staying at I decided to check it out. That and ice cream truly is a vice for me. I had three scoops - mango, oreo and snickers. The...More
We had appetizers and desserts. It was very good for the price. I would recommend. Great service too!
The location for the restaurant was great. Centrally located, with a great view of the volcano. Food was ok.
We ate here on a recommendation from our tour guide. We were disappointed ...from the guacamole dip appetizer to the hamburger. Do not recommend, especially with so many other choices
Extensive, well priced menu serving an array of Costa Rican specialities. Good range of local craft beers. Prompt, friendly service. Number of screens showing live sport from ESPN / Fox Sports. Note, like many of the eateries in La Fortuna the bar / restaurant isn't...More
Didn't try the food but visited here a couple of times for drinks, a good spot at the start of the night. Huge drinks selection, friendly staff & right in the centre of town
We had lunch here and plan on dinner before we leave the LaFortuna area. The traditional Costa Rican fare was delicious and we will definitely eat there again!
Hands down the worst service I have received in Costa Rica. Server was rude, food was slow. Server visited the table twice over the course of an hour. Avoid at all costs.
Our Collette tour group stopped here for lunch after a morning outing. We were given the option to go anywhere in La Fortuna, but we wanted to try out Lava Rocks as did most of our group. I'm so glad it was one of the...More
Our family stopped in on the way to dinner (elsewhere) one evening last week. Centrally-located. Drink menu pretty extensive for the area. We had mojitos, bloody mary's, red sangria and passion fruit juices for the kids. Service was okay, place was clean, upbeat music and...More


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My apologies on the unplanned hiatus. Life has, as it often does to all of us, thrown me a few curve balls. I'm coping (and doing fine, thanks for asking) but it meant that other things were getting my attention besides the blog. Of course, it also doesn't help that when I launched my new business in January, I started a professional blog on the ever-so-exciting topic of software for insurance companies. (I know you are just dying to read it). Since it's now a professional obligation, it gets precedence over the fun blog.
I also lost my knitting mojo for a fairly lengthy period. I was still knitting a bit but slogging along, and with some wrist pain that made sitting in front of the TV sans knitting sound a lot better than knitting after a 10-hour day at the computer. I dare say that it was not a knitter who invented the mouse. After all, who wants to use up all their hand coordination at work, leaving nothing for evening craftual activities.
Somehow last week I was feeling better and the mojo came back. Not sailing back, mind you, but floating back lightly as if on the wind, and thankfully not the gale we are getting today. Suddenly I noticed myself picking up a project other than a dishcloth or a two-by-two rib sock. Next I found myself finishing the lace edging on the bottom of the Brunello cardigan. On Wednesday, I got a whim to spin and took my Ladybug spinning wheel off to my evening knit group.
So, I'm back. So far, anyway, and with intent to stay. So long as our friends the Fates keep their curve balls to themselves…