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My upbringing, along with a certain aspect of my nature, occasionally lead me to question why I do what I do, which is Make Art. On the face of it, a wood block with bits of paper glued to it seems useless, even to me. Certainly it would seem, although pretty, also pretty useless to the people who reared and educated me. Even now, some of the people who visit my booth at art shows must surely go away with that opinion when they pick up the block and discover that it does not even open; it is not a box. Although a box is not a complex technology, it does have a purpose–to hold things, to organize. If I were to make a box and make it large enough, it could hold an entire collection of useless things–even my collaged blocks–and that would make it useful, but with some futility to its usefulness.
And it's not far, then, to the question, "If I make useless things, am I useful?"
I am going to abandon this line of questioning before I get mired in it because it is impractical in its practicality. Art, which masquerades as a materiality, is much more than that. So, frankly, are we humans, whether or not we are lovers or makers of art. The question "What's the use?", so delightfully musically elaborated upon in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, is too small for who we are. What we love is what we love, often for no good reason, or at least none that we
can articulate. Furthermore, what cheers and encourages us in life–even makes it worth living–can often be proved by some scheme of logic to be gratuitous. One could even say that life itself is gratuitous. But we are here anyway, and that is what we must deal with–practically. And here, also, is this collaged block.
Perhaps the puzzled visitors to my art booth, upon discovering the block does not open, are not really asking "What's the use?" but "How shall I relate to this thing? How does it fit into my life."
That is a personal question. I can't answer that for another person, any more than I can tell them what their favorite color should be, or with whom they should fall in love. I like to see the art I make go home with people who have connected with it, even "fallen in love." Personally, that is why I buy art. I can't buy all the art I love, but I love the art I buy.
I cannot explain exactly how this works, but these apparently useless pieces I spend my days making do somehow, sometimes, in their abstractness and wordlessness, speak to people. I am always surprised when somebody seems to "get it" because I'm not certain I always get it myself. The thing I know is that I love to create and that there is nothing in the world I want to do more than what I am doing. Somehow, sometimes, that message seems to be communicated in the art.
The thing about handmade things, whether or not they have an apparent use, is that something of the spirit of their maker is invested in them, whether or not the maker or receiver are conscious of that being the case. Every now and then I look around at the walls and surfaces of my home and realize that the many pieces of art I own are somehow challenging and comforting me, and also nurturing my own creative spirit. Furthermore, they are giving me pleasure.
That is no small achievement for an inanimate object.
I am a great appreciator of the work of the British sculptor, Henry Moore, who died in 1986 at age 88. In a 1964 article published in a French journal, Moore is quoted. "I believe that art in itself is akin to religion," he said. "Art is, in fact, another expression of the belief that life is worth living."
If I may borrow a religious term, art is "sacramental." It does not just sit there, it speaks, it conjures connections, stirs our feelings and imaginations, surprises, delights, and moves us, and reminds us of how wonderful it can be to be a human being. An artwork conveys something of its creator when that person is in his or her very best mind, which is the creative mind through which the artwork came to being. Furthermore, it is emblematic of some sort of striving and triumph, the completion of a tiny heroic quest undertaken in order to create the artwork. A work of art presents us, then, with a living experience, perhaps stirring to life some beauty sleeping within us. Now I am not saying that any of the art images I've posted here are necessarily doing that for you, but I am saying that there is art that can speak to you like a friend, and that is personal and valuable. Maybe even, in the grand scheme of things, useful.


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Instead of burning Korans, why not debate the merits of all the "holy" books?
By Robert Johnson
A Christian preacher in Gainesville, Florida wants to burn Korans this Saturday, the ninth anniversary of 9/11. Muslims around the world are upset and some are taking to the streets to demonstrate their anger that anyone would want to burn what they consider the word of God.
From the start of the Abrahamic "revealed" religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, violence has been a key factor promoted by all three of them. For example, Numbers 31:15-18 has Moses instructing the Israeli army, "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." This repulsive instruction to murder all the little boys and the women who were not virgins and to keep all the virgins for themselves is even worse than what is being reported out of the Congo, of using rape as a weapon. And to make it even worse, in verse 31 the priest Eleazar claims this order Moses gave originated with God. As the Deist Thomas Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, "Is it because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honor of your Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference?"
Christianity has shown through the Inquisition, the 30 Years War, ad nauseam, that violence against those who disagree with them is their chosen path whenever possible. Due to their lack of real power in secular governments, the last person they were able to murder via the Inquisition was the Deist, Cayetano Ripoll. They murdered Ripoll for his Deism.
Islam's "holy" book, the Koran, also contains disgusting calls to violence but seems less centered on murdering "little ones" than the Bible is. For example, Surah 3:151 says, "We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve because they ascribe unto Allah partners, for which no warrant hath been revealed. Their habitation is the Fire, and hapless the abode of the wrong-doers." Surah 9:5 says, "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." There are many other instructions in the Koran to wage war against nonbelievers.
The reason the Abrahamic "revealed" religions all need to resort to violence whenever possible to deal with nonbelievers is due to the incredible lack of God-given reason in all of them. They can't stand the application of God-given reason on their doctrines and false claims to having received divine revelations. Even the celebrated Christian classic by C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, falls flat on its face when confronted with reason.
If the Gainesville, Florida Christians could defend the claims of Christianity and their Bible, they would not burn the Koran, they would debate it. However, debating the Koran would open up their Bible to debate. There is no way to defend either the Koran or the Bible in a way which satisfies our God-given reason.
God Gave Us Reason, Not Religion
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/Deist1737

subset: commoncrawl


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This is the make and take card I camp up with form my newest downline's open house this week! I love these new colors, they are just so bright and cheery! I am not a big fan of purple, but I must say Concord Crush is starting to grow on me for sure!
Wonderful Women
1 year ago


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Lost and Found
Posted by cann0nba11 on October 3, 2007
In March I was robbed. Two saxophones were stolen from the trunk of my car. Yeah, I know… I should not have left them in the trunk; I should have carried them inside when I got home. My hands were full when I walked into the house and I fully intended to go back out and get them, but having two young kids can often be distracting. Needless to say I didn't make it outside again that evening. The next morning as I walked to my car I noticed that the trunk was partially open. I knew right away that they were gone.
To put this in perspective, these horns are top of the line professional instruments worth thousands of dollars each. I've owned each of them for 20 years. Professional musicians become one with their axes like baseball players to their glove or jockeys to their horse. It's a bond that is hard to explain and is equally hard to break. Think of that NRA "pry it from my cold, dead hands" bumper sticker and you get the point.
The night that they were stolen the theives canvassed our street and painted racist graffiti on some of the brick houses and the sidewalk. I was the only one that lost anything of value. Paint can be removed, but recovering stolen instruments is not so easy.
After completing a police report I blasted emails to my musician network and posted messages on a few web sites including www.saxontheweb.net. Then I printed out a flyer and visited every pawn shop that I could find, about 20 in all. I was absolutely bummed out. My alto is a cream of the crop vintage 1960 Selmer, and my soprano is a fairly limited edition Yamaha that is highly sought out. Also, my father gave me this soprano when I got to college, and he passed away ini 1999. Lots of sentimental value. The thugs had absolutely no idea of the value of their illgotten booty. My fear was that they would be pawned for a hundred bucks, or worse, be recognized as too valuable to sell and then tossed into a dumpster. Either way I expected to never see them again. My wife, known for the occasional premenition, felt differently. She thought that we would get them back.
About two months later I got a phone call from a fellow sax player in town. He said that he thought he found my horn. I gave him my detailed description and serial number and asked to see it. I learned that he heard another guy talking about "finding a saxophone in the road on the south side of town." He called the guy and it was in fact my horn. I was stoked! Then he told me that it had a dent at the bottom of the body. Oh well, at least I have my alto back. It is the more valuable of the two, financially speaking.
When I got the horn back I saw that there was more damage than I thought. The hardshell case had a dent the size of a quarter at the base, and the energy that created this dent was transferred to the instrument. A saxophone is a highly complex instrument with many rods, keys, springs, and more importantly many properly aligned and spaced tone holes that are closed by precisely aligned pads. Even the smallest air leak out of a closed key makes an instrument not respond properly. My alto was seriously misaligned. The body was not only bent, it was slightly corkscrewed. This pulled the holes away from the keys and made for a very manually intensive repair job. Fortunately I've got one of the best repairmen in the business (Ken Beason) and he has repaired my horn. The $700 repair cost is well worth it given the vintage of this sax.
So I got one of my horns back. That is pretty friggin' incredible. Who woulda thought? Then last Sunday evening I got an email that literally jolted me out of my chair:
From saxontheweb.net: Your post indicates that you had a Yamaha 62R with a serial number of 0319. If that's so, then it's being sold by someone on ebay right now.
Holy crap! I ran downstairs, told my wife, and we both grabbed our laptops to log on and see. There were only 33 minutes left in the auction! I freaked… my heart was racing. Do I bid? Do I contact eBay? I called the detective on the case, but it was 11:30 on a Sunday night; there's no way he will answer. I decided to bid super high on the item to make sure I won and then deal with law enforcement later.
I placed a bid of $5,000, and had another browser window open with an $8,200 bid ready just in case. Sue was ready with a $10,000 bid under her ID just in case someone came in at the last minute. There's no way we were going to let this slip away. I won the auction with a price of $3,050. Now the fun begins.
I emailed the seller acting as if I didn't know it was stolen. At this point I didn't know if the seller was the thief, or just a guy that found it in a pawn shop. Through eBay communication I asked for the sellers address and said that I would be paying with a cashiers check. I also asked if the shipping fee could be waived since I lived in the same city as the seller. The next day he responded he would, but only if I paid via PayPal instead of a cashiers check. I countered with the "I don't trust PayPal" argument and offered cash. He then asked for my phone number. Hmm…
By this time the detective had finally made contact with me. I called him and told him where we were in the deal and he said I should try to get the sellers phone number so we could track him down. The detective had requested an expedite from eBay to get the seller's contact info. Anything I could do to find the guy would be quite helpful to the case, since eBay might take a week or so to get the detective the info he needed. It turns out that the seller responded to me outside of eBay and the email address was a fully formatted military address at Lackland Airforce Base. This gave the detective what he needed and the next day he contacted the seller directly to tell him that he had sold a stolen horn.
The seller denied that it was stolen. Then, in a smart move, he called the local police to verify whether or not the detective he spoke with was really a detective. Once this was confirmed he then wanted proof that the horn was in fact mine. Since it was purchased 20 years ago I definitely didn't have any sort of receipt. Fortunately I gave the serial number of the horn to the detective on the day that we reported the horns stolen. For a moment this wasn't good enough… apparently non-musicians don't know that instruments have valid serial numbers. I then described more of the contents of the case as well as the stickers that were on the case. This sealed the deal since they were not shown in the pictures used for the auction.
The detective then learned that the seller bought the horn at a local pawn shop for $100. Seriously… a $3000 instrument for $100. It was pawned the day after it was stolen. The person that pawned it was Jesse Gomez, a thug already wanted for a few crimes. I'm waiting to hear back if this guy gets arrested. If he pawned lots of other stuff they should have enough evidence to launch a thorough investigation on him.
What pisses me off is that it looks like the pawn shop sat on the horn for five months before putting it out for display/sale. Assholes. And, I may have visited the store where it was sold during my initial tour of pawn shops the day after I was robbed. I plan on visiting the store this weekend to see if this is the case.
Ultimately I am a very luck and blessed person. To think that I would get not just one but both of my horns back was unimaginable to me. But my wife was confident that we would get at least one back. She actually had a strong feeling that we would get the soprano back, not the alto. Heck… nobody's perfect. 😉
5 Responses to "Lost and Found"
October 4, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Glad to hear you got your horns back, PC. While I am not any where near the musician you are, the thought of losing my voice and not being able to sing again is not something I like to ponder.
October 14, 2007 at 9:06 pm
You are a good man and deserve some good luck. God is smiling right now!
April 9, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Glad you got your horns back. Amazing story. Guess i won't be leaving any saxes in the car!
By the way, you didn't get "robbed". You got burgled. There's a difference.
April 9, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Any follow-up with the pawn shop?


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"Clapperton reached Sokoto on October 20, 1826, where he was escorted to the same house he occupied on his first visit. He was cordially received by Sultan Bello, whom he found reading an Arabic translation of Euclid's Elements."
-Frank T. Kryza, "The Race for Timbuktu" published in 2006 by HarperCollins
I am often intrigued by the life and times of pre-colonial rulers in Nigeria and Africa. I found most of them cruel, inhuman and blood thirsty. Sometime ago at the popular Nigeria soccer board-Cybereagles, I posted a comment about how disgusted I felt learning about the ignoble deeds of pre-colonial rulers in Nigeria. I detest the forceful subjugation of the culture and peoples of north and central Nigeria by the crusading Fulani Islamic war lords. I detest the reign of terror of the Arochukwu in Eastern Nigeria. I loathe the blood thirsty war mongers of the Ijaiye and Ibadan warriors in the West. I argued that the savageries of the wars, the pillage and the inhuman treatment of pre-colonial kingdoms and society made it convenient for the enslavement of Africa, first through the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and then through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Colonialism itself started with the greediness of these rulers who sold out to colonialist for glass ware, mirrors, umbrellas and alcoholic drinks. They signed treaties they could not understand and give away their lands to the colonialist. Every history books I have read hitherto paints gloomy and horrible pictures of these rulers. They are constantly depicted as ignorant, chauvinistic simpletons. It was therefore a huge relief for me to unearth the heroics and intellectual sagacity of Sultan Mohammed Bello in all his dealings with European explorers.
I also found out that the problem with my thesis, before now is that I have been looking through distorted lens, or at best half truths of the writers of these books. The true picture as I found out recently depends on who is writing the history book. Whether you look at the history of Old Oyo empire, the Borgu Kingdom or the kingdom/Emirate of Kano, Zaria, Borno and/or the Arochukwu of Eastern Nigeria, you will surely found large swath of heroics laden with brutal and barbaric attitudes prevalent in any part of the world at that time in history. Barbarism is widely prevalent in every culture and peoples. It is not peculiar to Africa alone! War is barbaric and no empire/kingdom has ever risen to prominence without fighting just and unjust wars!
But then that is not necessarily the focus of my piece here, in late November I was wandering through the cavernous labyrinth of our local regional library when I found this book, "The Race for Timbuktu-In search of Africa's City of Gold," authored by Frank T. Kryza, a twenty year veteran of the energy industry and former Connecticut newspaper reporter and editor. Mr. Kryza spends 11 years in Africa before he researched and wrote the book. He provided a narrative history of the first phase of colonization of Africa and the struggles of Africa's immediate pre-colonial rulers to come to terms with the changing dynamics in the world around. I found his writings on Sultan Mohammed Bello quite revealing and engaging. It completely changed my perception of this illustrious son of Africa.
Frank T. Kryza, got majority of the materials he used for his book, published in 2006, from research he conducted into books written by early explorers such as Captain G. F. Lyon, Oudney, Dixon Denham, Hugh Clapperton, Richard Lander, Cillie and Connel de Mezeieres, supplemented by commentaries and analysis of Bovill and Hallett, "two of the greatest twentieth-century historians of Africa."
At page 125 he painted this salubrious encounter between Hugh Clapperton and Sultan Bello:
"Clapperton found Sultan Mohammed Bello sitting on a carpet in a thatch-roofed cottage dressed in a blue cotton robe with a white muslin turban worn like a Tuareg, concealing the lower part of his face. He was reading alone. The sultan, a youthful forty-four, looking "noble," just under six feet tall, with a "short curling black beard, a small mouth, a Grecian nose, and large black eyes," had a wide reputation as a man of learning. He began a theological discussion with Clapperton, who demurred, saying that he was "a Protestant . . . who having protested more than two centuries ago against the suggestions, absurdities and abuses practiced in those days, had ever since professed to follow simply what was written in the book of Our Lord Jesus."
Here I found the Amir-al Mumini of the whole of black Africa, discussing freely theology with a Christian so called "kafir." We need to remember that this encounter took place in 1824, during the apogee of the sultanate. At this time the territorial of the sultanate of Sokoto stretched from Bornu in the East to Timbuktu in the West and beyond; a vast land that currently consist of more than 7 countries in West Africa.
His intellectual mien and understanding of foreign cultures over-awed the British explorers so much so that they all appreciated his position as leader of the faithful, even though they are not Moslem. We can contrast that to our modern day charlatans masquerading as sharia war lords. I believe if Clapperton had walked to modern day Zamfara and goes to the mosque to argue with the Imam, he would have been instantly beheaded. Herein lies the problem with modern day politicians who hide under religion, be it a so-called born again who almost got away with amending the constitution in a bid to install himself as dictator for life, or the governor facing a tough re-election who readily used religion to mislead his people into voting for him even though he had stole the treasuries blind!
There is more insight to Sultan's Bello's mind at page 125, where we learnt that Clapperton's co-explorer (Denham) who had joined the Sheik of Borno in raiding the Caliphate's towns for slaves was not only spared but his books and personal effect were returned to him:
"The sultan returned books belonging to Denham that his agents had retrieved in Mandara during the failed slave raid, including a copy of Sir Francis Bacon's essays and Denham's journal. Bello ingeniously wondered aloud why his old friend the Sheikh of Bornu had sent an army into his territory and why an English explorer had joined it. Clapperton replied lamely …Dropping this awkward subject, the sultan asked what each book contained. He wanted Clapperton to read aloud to him, saying that he found the spoken sound of English quite beautiful."
Now contrast that to the pitiful apathy the education system in the modern day northern Nigeria had turned to. Here is a sultan willing to learn from any books, albeit a book written by an infidel. If the present crop of northern Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist had their way, Arabic will be the only language taught in Northern schools. Any knowledge outside Islamic teachings will be forbidden. Where do they get their rabid hatred from learning from, definitely not from Sultan Bello.
There is more at page 125:
"Although Clapperton was the first European to come to his court, Sultan Bello was well informed about the civilizations north of the Mediterranean. Clapperton, for his part, had to admit that Europeans knew nothing about the kingdoms of Africa. He stated that "my people had hitherto supposed yours devoid of all religion and not far removed from the condition of wild beast, whereas I now find them to be civilized learned, humane, and pious."
I often wondered why Europeans think Mungo Park discovered River Niger, when Africans had swam, drank, fish and boat on the Niger for centuries before them. The truth is that Africans knew more about Europe, than European knew about Africa before their explorers came to Africa.
Perhaps the most sagacious portrait of Sultan Bello can be found in page 126:
"Clapperton presented the Sultan with presents from George IV, including ornamented pistols, razors, gun powder, a spyglass, a silver tea tray, a sextant, and a compass. He showed Bello a planisphere of the heavenly bodies, discovering that the Sultan knew the signs of the Zodiac, some of the constellations, and many of the stars."
Usually when Europeans explorers presented these things to African rulers the next thing African rulers, does is sign treaties with the king of England and gives up their land. The Sultan however was impressed but not swayed. He is after all widely a man of knowledge, he had attended at a very early age Sankore University in Timbuktu. He had studied the signs of the Zodiac, he had read ancient Greek books. This to me lays the difference between him and other rulers in the pre-colonial days. Knowledge. The key to saving Africa from misery is knowledge, education and the pursuit of good. Fanaticism brooks no knowledge; it is diametrically opposed to reason. Nigeria's religious fanatics, be it the Islamo-fascist type or the rabid ethnic parochialism thrives solely on ignorance. This is why they killed with reckless abandon.
The following exchange between Clapperton and the Sultan further typifies the latter's sagacity. The Sultan had a detailed grasp of international affairs. He knew that the English navy had sunk the Algerian fleet in 1816 and that England had begun to colonize India:
"You were at war with Algiers," he told Clapperton, "and you killed a number of the Algerines."
Clapperton replied that they were "a ferocious race," who made slaves of Europeans.
"You are the strongest of Christian nations," the sultan said, "you have subjugated all of India."
Clapperton replied that England had simply given India "good laws and protection."
Kryza concluded at page 127 that it was no accident that Bello raised the concern, shared by Arabs, of England's intentions in India, as well as the British attack on Algiers. In the case of India, Bello's advisers believed that England had sent smooth-talking emissaries first, followed by hard-hitting merchants, completing the job of annexation with an armed force. "This was the model they feared the English would now use in Africa. (They were right.) To Bello, England had conquered India by trickery." Here is an African pre-colonial ruler who clearly sees through the ruse of the English so-called exploration.
We learn more about his knowledge of Africa's topography at page 128:
"The Sultan drew on the sand the course of the River Quorra [the Niger] which he also informed me [Clapperton] entered the sea at Fundah [250 miles north of the Niger-Benue confluence]. By his account, the river ran parallel to the coast for several days' journey, being in some places only a few hours, in others a day's journey from it. Two or three years ago, the Sea, he said, closed up the mouth of the river and its mouth was at present a day or two further south; but during the rains, when the river was high, it still ran into the Sea by the old channel."
As we know today, this information is right on the money, but the Europeans of that era thought "the people of the dark continent" don't know anything happening in the next village. This information as Kryza noted more or less shook Clapperton's (nay all Europe's) belief that the river terminated in a lake. He asked Sultan Bello to have the map drawn on paper but the map he got simply confirmed the erroneous ideas of England's leading geographers. A very smart move by the Sultan as he didn't want further reconnaissance to provide the English with more accurate geographical information something they eventually got from another misguided pre-colonial ruler.
Clapperton on his second trip to Sokoto, arrived on October 20, 1826, where he was escorted to the same house he occupied on his first visit. This time around, the sultan as usual was ready to forestall any attempt to colonized Africa. According to Kryza, "Bello correctly (and presciently) understood that the explorers were the thin end of the wedge, the vanguard of the scramble for colonization that was, in fact, about to begin." Sultan Bello refused to allow Clapperton proceed any further, and in the words of Clapperton himself "He was desired to say that I was a spy, and that he would not allow me to go beyond Sokoto; hinting at the same time, that it would be better I should die as the English had taken possession of India by first going there by ones and twos, until we got strong enough to seize upon the whole country." How prescient can anyone be! This and many others made me proud to be an African. We at least know one African ruler tried his best to resist colonialism. We know unlike many others did not dance jig upon the sight of a mere umbrella and sell his people out to the European.
What lessons can we draw from the Sultan for the present crop of leadership in Nigeria and Africa in general? Our leaders need to be well informed of events happening all over the world and not just their neck of the wood. Can we point to any Nigerian president in recent memories that can boast of having read any book at all, not to mention Euclid's Elements? ("Euclid's Elements (Greek: Στοιχεῖα) is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria circa 300 BC. It comprises a collection of definitions, postulates (axioms), propositions (theorems and constructions), and mathematical proofs of the propositions. The thirteen books cover Euclidean geometry and the ancient Greek version of elementary number theory. With the exception of Autolycus' On the Moving Sphere, the Elements is one of the oldest extant Greek mathematical treatises[1] and it is the oldest extant axiomatic deductive treatment of mathematics.[2] It has proven instrumental in the development of logic and modern science." Excerpted from Wikipedia).
We have had in Nigeria semi-educated half illiterate leading the most populous countries in black Africa. A country that has produced Nobel laureates and outstanding scholars from all works of life but could only succeed in producing his first university graduate president in 2007! I know many will say education has nothing to do with our crisis, but the problem with Nigeria as Chinua Achebe put it is that of leadership. Just look at the haphazard decision making of our immediate past president, ignoring countless advisers and our constitutions in pursuit of a failed third term agenda. We need for instance to thoroughly discussed the issue of United States Africa's command in Africa. Should we allow the command to be situated in Nigeria or any other place on the continent? What do we gain and what do we lose by the presence of sole superpower army on the continent. Any parochial leader without foresight will surely sell out his people to perpetual slavery. The oil boom we are experiencing now, has pushed many oil producing countries like Dubai to invest their surplus foreign exchange earnings in their countries as well as invest in near comatose U.S banks. They are taking advantage of the housing crisis to take over American banks like Citibank et al. Iran is investing it's oil surplus is uranium extractions for nuclear power, whilst our power grid are collapsing everyday. And today we learnt Libya entered into a nuclear energy power production pact with France. Our leaders once again are busy doing "siddon look." There is definitely a problem of leadership in Nigeria and the earlier we learn from the sagacity of Sultan Bello the better for us.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Posted by FURIOUS FRANK ON NIGERIA at 1:44 PM
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There are very few days where I can say "today was easy". Having three kids 4 and under with another on the way is, I'll be honest, super hard most of the time. "The days are long but the years are short" could not be more true for our family. I just want to document for the memory books how amazing today has been. Today is the first day in as long as I can remember where I can honestly say "today was easy". Everyone has been calm, I woke up feeling refreshed, the kids have all had amazingly good attitudes, they haven't been whiny, they've been completely compliant, they didn't completely trash the house, nap time was a breeze, and we even got out of the house for a few hours.
I've struggled so much lately to feel like I'm enjoying my kids rather than just feeling completely defeated and irritated with the whole parenting gig. Lately we've been totally struggling with the kids whining about every little thing, nap times have been a battle to enforce, and getting them to eat meals let alone anything decently healthy without it being a huge drama fest has been impossible.
So today...
This beauty woke up at 8 (an hour or two earlier than normal) which worked out perfectly because we all got to eat breakfast together. I turned on a movie for the boys so that I could get my Monday laundry haul started while Harper played toys.
By 10:30 Harper wanted to take a nap so I put her down and worked on some more laundry while the boys calmly kept watching their current favorite show "Curious George". I was able to get lunch made and on the table for them...
They ate veggies when I asked them to without a single complaint !!!! (This never happens people) and I was able to reward them with a pack of gummies after they finished which is something I love doing! I love being able to surprise them with something special to reward them for good behavior without having to bribe them with it first. Honestly, for most people this might seem like no big deal but for me it was SO refreshing.
You also really can't be having a bad time when you get to look over and see this sweet and silly face.
or these cuties....with food in their teeth and all.
Bath time is normally such an ordeal, and it ends up killing my back so most of the time I rush through it just to get it over with. Today I took my time, let her play, and watched her explore and learn. She even said a new word "bubble" and it was the cutest thing ever. She enjoyed being lathered and massaged with soap and warm water and when we were done she cuddled right up into my arms to keep warm. Her sweetness is something I never want to forget. In the meantime the boys remained calm (never happens) and didn't wreak havoc while I was busy with their baby sis.
We had to make an unexpected last minute trip out of the house which is normally super chaotic and stressful but today everything flowed. I was able to get ready for the day (which normally doesn't happen once all 3 kids are up) and get all of the kids ready without everyone whining and losing it over not getting their pants on right, or having to wear shoes and socks, or whatever else gets complained about when getting dressed every single day. We stopped at Starbucks as a treat because I want them to know that I appreciate their good behavior, that I do enjoy them and love them, and their good attitudes don't go unnoticed or get lost in the frustration and distraction of the bad behavior. I hate getting to the end of the day and feeling like there was no positive, I didn't show them grace and love enough, and that they feel weighed down by my expectations. Every day feels like survival mode...survival mode gets really old really fast. Not just for me but for everyone in the house and I hate it. Sure more crazy days are ahead of us, days I completely fail, days they fail, and days where we scrape by just to survive it but today was lovely in every single way and I want to remember it. Today was easy. Today won't be everyday and that's okay but on the occasion that today does come around I want to remember it and cherish it.


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Lookin' for Luis
Gary Handman (
(no email)
Tue, 7 Jan 1997 14:51:06 -0800
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Anyone got any good leads on a decent video print of L'Age D'Or? Our copy
makes the film look even more surreal than it actually is. I've heard rumors
of a (now out of print) laser disc... I'd settle for almost anything better
than our old Tamarrel's vhs copy...
Gary Handman
UC Berkeley


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A Different Kind of Mommy "Me Time"
Irregular as I already am with my blog posts, even more things have been going on offline that have made my blogging life even less regular. I'm now officially an apprentice photographer! I can't even begin to express how exciting this new journey is for me. My camera was bought all the way back in 2015 with…… Continue reading A Different Kind of Mommy "Me Time"


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- Original Title : Blazing Saddles
- Movie title in your country : Blazing Saddles
- Year of movie : 1974
- Genres of movie : Comedy, Western,
- Status of movie : Released
- Release date of movie : 1974-02-07
- Companies of movie : Warner Bros. Pictures, Crossbow Productions,
- Countries of movie : United States of America,
- Language of movie : Deutsch, , English,
- Durationof movie : 93 Min
- Average vote of movie : 6.7
- Youtube ID of movie : iLNQv19YpG4
- Translation of movie : EN,DE,FR,IT,RU,PT,HU,PL,ES,SV,NL,ZH,DA,TR,EL,
- Cast of movie :Don Megowan (Gum Chewer), Slim Pickens (Taggart), Robyn Hilton (Miss Stein), Carol Arthur (Harriett Johnson), the Teutonic Titwillow), Dom DeLuise (Buddy Bizarre), Richard Collier (Dr. Sam Johnson), Madeline Kahn (Lili Von Shtüpp, Jack Starrett (Gabby Johnson), Alex Karras (Mongo), Burton Gilliam (Lyle), aka "The Waco Kid"), Count Basie (Himself), Charles McGregor (Charlie), David Huddleston (Olson Johnson), Liam Dunn (Rev. Johnson), Mel Brooks (Gov. William J. Le Petomane / Indian Chief), Gene Wilder (Jim, George Furth (Van Johnson), Karl Lukas (Cutthroat #1), Harvey Korman (Hedley Lamarr), John Hillerman (Howard Johnson), Cleavon Little (Sheriff Bart)
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Editor : John C. Howard, Screenplay : Norman Steinberg, Story : Andrew Bergman, Producer : Michael Hertzberg, Director : Mel Brooks, Screenplay : Alan Uger, Director of Photography : Joseph F. Biroc, Screenplay : Richard Pryor, Editor : Danford B. Greene, Screenplay : Mel Brooks, Original Music Composer : John Morris, Screenplay : Andrew Bergman
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Strive. So I employed an instructor to compel me to be far better.
You know what was hard for me? Getting up early. Just like I understood being a great business person wouldn't pan out if I really did not obtain healthy and balanced.
Yet the opposite is much worse.
A year as well as a fifty percent back, I was eating like crap, not functioning out, as well as normally really feeling terrible. Which isn't really visiting turn out if they are serious concerning becoming a company person. They want to pass off the marketing. I obtain thousands and also thousands of e-mails a year from http://ift.tt/1S2vHof people claiming they have actually been helping months at something and they aren't seeing results. But I had not a problem working eighteen hours a day, taking meeting after conference, and also placing in the real job.
This blog post initially showed up on garyvaynerchuk.com.
This is what's happening with the health and fitness want-repreneur world today.
That's why I state to you: just begin the work currently. I have actually been functioning out for sixteen months currently and also I enjoy, however if you informed me sixteen months ago that this just what I would certainly have now, I may state "Ehhhh …".
I desired to pass off rising as well as running. I made a substantial way of living change, as well as I am so happy I did.
But it made me understand something about the present state of health and fitness entrepreneurs. They default right into just what is very easy without recognizing just what is difficult: running a real company. They desire to go straight for the mirror selfie so you can get a number of Instagram likes, then call that their "company".
Health and fitness entrepreneurs intend to do the marginal work and still expect a read more big return. It was difficult. But success originates from adversity; it comes from looking a difficulty directly in the eye and also having the perseverance to pointer up and also pursue it.
Well guess just what? It's not excellent enough.
I have compassion for for how long it could take for something to come with each other in a huge method. Everyone defaults to just what comes simple to them. Powering through exercises. And I intend to radiate a light on it.
Enjoy the complete video clip of my ideas here:.
In the last sixteen months of my life, I have actually changed something major regarding myself: I have actually begun being healthy and balanced.
Physical fitness "entrepreneurs" intend to pass on replying to tweets all day to obtain the word out. You did all that. You have the body. Now reach business side of points as well as grow that muscle too. Not eating just what I desired to eat. It was a hard life, as well as I understood swiftly that I couldn't maintain a life like that. They began in physical fitness as well as currently they intend to make cash simply by having those guns or that body. I didn't want to do it. It can be disheartening. I desired to pass off lifting, squatting, extending. The number of times have you come throughout a write-up and also just stopped everything you were doing and also read it fully and attempted to absorb it. I do that on a consistent basis. And also I am sure several of you visitors do that too. Whether you start a link in your email or you come throughout something pertinent to you on Facebook, Twitter or various other social networks site. You recognize you have stuff to do, however you are forced to check out. That is exactly how I really felt about this article I'm showing you. I really assume you need to review it and also discuss it with any individual you believe might take advantage of it. Exactly what are your thoughts? Do you have any type of tales related to this you could discuss?In an unusual http://ift.tt/1oSXc8r means, functioning out has shown me that more compared to anything else. That need to be noticeable. You have the chops. They wish to work off functioning hard to produce an excellent appealing blog post, or doing a bunch of podcasts to obtain a larger audience. It's very easy for physical fitness business owners to do the rise, to do the squats and deadlifts since that is precisely what got them to where they are now. Do it. Yet it was very easy to develop 50M buck companies.
Everybody is opting for exactly what is easy. Be attentive. Do not slow down.
The post Here's What's Wrong With Fitness 'Entrepreneurs' appeared first on The VenusFactor.Reviews Weight Loss Blog.
from The VenusFactor.Reviews Weight Loss Blog - Original Post


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Hi guys! It's nice to get caught up on here - it's hard work posting from being on vacation because there are always way more pix than usual and more fun stuff going on - I don't know how Meghann did it when she was on vacation last week!!
The last four days were chock-full of delicious, indulgent food, which was fabulous. But while I enjoyed every sip and bite, eating food that is less "clean" eating that I am used to makes my stomach hurt after a while and I woke up feeling a bit nauseous this morning. I was sooo ready to get back to my normal eating plan, starting of course with a Green Monster!! I had one of these bad boys before going to the gym.
At the gym I took a spinning class, which was a bit tough but it felt great. However, it was sooooo much hotter than normal, hence the title of this post. I don't know if it was hot because we were all working harder than usual or because it is a freaking sauna in Chicago today?!? I also did some weights and some crunches.
(I didn't mention this yesterday, but yesterday was my "off" day. Even when training for a marathon, it's important to have at least one day of complete rest so that your body can recover!)
When I got back from the gym I was starved (my body is used to having already taken in like 3000 calories by this time of day thanks to Vegas!), so I heated this soup up that I had had in the freezer. I made it a couple weeks ago so I don't remember the exact proportions of the ingredients, but it is mostly carrots, chickpeas, and spices, blended with my immersion blender. I threw some whole wheat croutons on top, and it was really good! Goodies from Amazing Grass!!! I love everything they make!!! Today I attended a workshop by Dr. Bruce Perry, who is a nationally recognized neurologist who specializes in child trauma. It was a very informative lecture, but the whole time I was half thinking about what he was saying, and half planning dinner....
I had some Gimme Lean sausage that I wanted to use up, and I wanted to be creative with it. I don't like the texture by itself, so I wanted to do something different with it this time, so I made it into a type of sloppy joe with sauteed onion, tomato paste, spices (oregano, S and P), and a bit of Truvia to make it a bit sweet a la sloppy joe style. Then I wraped up dollops of this mixture into some crescent rolls, and baked them for 10 minutes. The result: A+!!!! Even though these were total vegetarian food, even Mike devoured them.
On the side, I made a zucchini gazpacho - basically a cold soup made with zuccini, tofu, some veggie broth, and spices. It too was really good, and I purposefully didn't eat the whole bowl so that I could save it for lunch tomorrow. It will be SO good on a hot day!
Snack: Another snack, which was not as good as the chocolate Superfood, but was still VERY good by both Mike and my standards
Last snack of the night: I threw this into the blender with some ice and a cup of soy milk, and it was VERY good. It had a great, fruity flavor. But because the texture was too icy, I decided to throw a banana in too, which made it even better. I can't wait to try the rest of my Amazing Grass products! Talk to you all soon! :)
** I also had a late night snack of 100 calorie chocolate-baked almonds!


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Last year, right around this time, we would constantly hear that there was going to be a big snow storm the next day. The aggravating part was that this was almost never true! Today was one of those days. Almost ever teacher was telling us about a big blizzard watch on Wednesday, and that school could be canceled.
You never know, anything can happen. Right now I'm coming down from a migraine. My head just started hurting after drama, probably because I had to talk over some other people how will remain nameless. Have you ever had a feeling that you're slowly loosing one of your close friends because of their relationship with someone else. I learned today that it can be one of the worst experiences.
Here are some crazy sports Photoshops brewed up at SomethingAwful.com.
Haha, today's blog of the day is…
What's the deepest you've ever dove underwater?
Filed under: Funny |


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So, that said, I see from another blog that of the first three up, the only one I remember is Jenn Hirsch. Unfortunately, the blog was too busy being smart-alecky about her looking like Katharine McPhee (who was forgotten until she started appearing on the show *Smash* a few weeks ago) to tell the reader whether she made it through or not. I'm thinking not because a) she is not a screamer; b)she is not blonde and needs a serious makeover to meet Idol standards; and c) my earlier sources say she did not. Too bad, because she was the only one who I found engaging.
The next two who did not make it through, Lauren and some guy. I don't remember either of them except I think Lauren was one of the ubiqitous blondes.
The first one I see is Josh LeDet. I like Josh LeDet but he may soon make me tired. I always start out really liking some R&B gospel guy and then he ends up over-emoting and over-selling himself in the performances and I get sick of them.
Two more *who are these people* types are sent home. Why bother even telling us about them at this point?
Next up is Haley Johnson (blonde) who also has big breasts. They show her singing a few bars in the Vegas group round with Reed Grimm (I think they mention Reed's name here too so we remember he is a contender) but other than that we are left knowing only that she is blonde and has big breasts. I'm not going to hold her hair color and breasts against her but she better sing well or she is going into the BBBimbo slot.
Next up are Neco Starr who has a catchy name and River St. James who has a stupid name. They are both R&B singers but Josh LeDet has that genre covered so I don't even have to watch to know they are going home.
Then we see some poor *who is this guy* contestant fail at his final song in a very embarassing way. That was actually pretty sad...they could at least have told him he could or could not start over.
Elise Testone walks in next and we see a clip of her singing *Its A Man's World*. And maybe it is something about her last name which calls to mind testosterone, which makes me think she is rather manly herself. She also looks a little *rode hard and hung up wet*. But, I am not opposed to her alto bluesy voice as long as she doesn't overdo it.
Ah, finally! Here is Reed Grimm and the show gets to pimp him (he is slated, I believe, to be number 2 or 3 but not the winner). They show a replay of his triumphant drum version of Georgia and then show him scatting the final Vegas song. Does he do more than scat? Scatting is great...but Reed is making me hate it. He's trying to out-Casey Casey and we've already seen that show.
Erika Van Pelt comes up next. She is not quite blonde and has a big old voice. They panned her last performance and I'm not sure why. She also needs a makeover to meet Idol standards and for that reason, I'm not sure Nigel is going to allow the judges to like her enough for her to make it very far. I am looking forward to hearing her perform. I think I might like her.
Then the country sweethearts, Chelsea someone (who has brown hair...how did this happen...I bet it gets progressively lighter as the show goes on) and Baylie Brown (who is blonde). They are pretty but entirely interchangeable country singers and I suppose which one goes the furthest is going to depend on which one gets pimped most by the judges in the early days.
And then..the moment I have been waiting for: Richie All Hat and No Cattle Law swaggers in. We are reminded that he has had some personality conflicts with HeJun and Germaine and that he didn't come here to recycle music...he came here to MAKE music. We see a clip of uninspired performance of *Ring of Fire*. He cannot even make one of the best country songs ever written for a low voice sound interesting. He sucks up to the judges saying *how much he has learned* and *how much more he wants to learn* but they aren't having it and he and that stupid black hat go home.
Ah, here comes HeJun, our comedian. He is sweating water and wants to hug JLo when he is told no because that is every Asian man's dream. For the first time (I think) we learn that he actually has something worthwhile to go home to as he teaches special needs kids. Of course he goes through...they would not have wasted the solid one hour of tape on him in the prior episodes if he wasn't going to make it to the top 24.
The next contestant, Jessica Sanchez, is not someone I find appealing. I find it even less appealing that her family of 45 is depending on her to support them for the rest of their lives. She is a Diva Wannabee and the sooner she is sent packing the better for me. It appears she will have quite a bit of competition in that genre so she better start working on her personality.
Phillip Phillips walks in next. I'm sorry but I don't get the Phillip Phillips Love. He is a white guy with a guitar who is moderately good looking. But he keeps forgetting the words and is voice is nothing special. He jumps around a bit with the guitar which Randy thinks is *quirky*. I think its dumb. Inexplicably, he goes through.
For the next 5 minutes, its the Colton show. We are reminded of the bond he has with his sister Schuyler, we are reminded that he tried out last year and didn't make it. We see scenes of his last minute audition and his stupid hairstyle which he has changed to another stupid hairstyle to be more hip. We see scenes of him being upset when Schuyler is sent home in Vegas. And then, as if he hadn't already stepped all over her moment in the sun to get to the top 40, we see him using the fact that he stomped on her dreams as *inspiration* for his final entirely over the top emotive performance of *Fix You*. I'm pretty sure Schuyler would like to fix him and not in a good way.
Then its the Jersey Shore/Real Housewives of New Jersey duo: Brielle, who looks and acts like Snookie; and her mother Camille, who looks and acts like Caroline Manzo. We have seen these acts before and it makes us sick. Go away Jersey girls. Brielle low sings with no enunciation while Camille worries about her self-tanning lotion and tries to hog the camera. My only solace about Brielle going through is that surely I am not the only one who finds her unlikeable and that she will go home quickly.
And finally, the cliff hanger. Will Adam Gokey Brock make the top 24? He is sobbing about all he wants to do is sing, sobbing about his daughter Whitney, sobbing about his wife and friend and lover Sarah, sobbing sobbing sobbing. We see him do a final performance which Simon would call *self-indulgent*. I tell myself, he is NOT Danny Gokey. I tell myself it is NOT his fault that he acts like Danny Gokey. But I cannot get over it and will never be rooting for him. Although, if he doesn't make the top 24, I am compassionate enough to hope they have a psychiatrist on hand along with some strong meds to get him on the plane home because I think he might actually chain himself to a slot machine to avoid leaving.
Tomorrow is the final show before we can FINALLY start hearing some music! You may have noticed that we have added some photos to the blog (including one of us when we were both having a bad hair day) and will add more as time goes on. If you like the blog, tell your friends and family about us! And once again, we welcome comments and hope you sign up as followers if you haven't already!


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Sunday, October 2, 2016
Genres: Who knew there were so many?!
The middle level students have been studying the many literary genres that exist! Understanding these genres helps each student know which types of books they like/dislike. This will help them choose books as well as provide ways to challenge themselves as readers. Understanding individual genres also helps students understand how to approach each type of writing. Each genre has it's own specific traits. Knowing these will provide students with the information necessary to increase their ability to read and understand the texts. Author's also write nonfiction texts (persuasive writing, autobiographies, information, biographies, etc) for different reasons than author's write fiction text (realistic fiction, mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, etc). Knowing this will help students set their own purpose for reading. Knowing their purpose will help them determine the strategies they will need as a reader to understand each writing piece.
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Okay, so the pictures I used of my twin sister Ashley and I all growed up in the last post were from our trip to Hawaii and I was already talking about her so now I can't stop thinking about that trip.
So Hawaii. It sounds totally fancy, right? Well it was! I hadn't even been on a plane before and suddenly I was watching Harry Potter 5 in a tube of metal while laughing in the Pacific Ocean's vengeful FACE. Okay, it wasn't that fancy. It was five old fat Mexicans and some pudgy Mexican 20-somethings riding around in two rented buses. Our first stop was Costco and when we did eat out, it was at Denny's and Wendy's. My family isn't very adventurous and I was in Hawaii with the more exciting side. It was a lot of fun though and it was definitely crazier than anything I would have done for myself on my 20th birthday. In fact, I got to celebrate my birthday with my friends afterward and I'm pretty sure I just drank a lot.
So we spent about a week on the biggest island, Kona, and we were split up over two ridiculous two-bedroom suites complete with kitchen and wrap-around balcony. Unfortunately, there were more than two of us in each suite so I was sharing a room with my grandma and her sister and sharing a bed with my sister, who I have already mentioned in the last post was extremely smelly for a number of years. This was a hotly debated point the whole trip.
Stephanie: Dude, you need to take a goddamn shower before you get into this bed.
Ashley: I did! After we went to the beach! (Ashley gets really shriekey, so make sure you imagine the maximum level of feral rage from her at all times.)
Stephanie: You still really smell. Did you use soap?
Ashley: Yes!
Stephanie: Did you put on deodorant afterward?
Ashley: YES!
And she'd still smell awful and I'd just have to deal. I had complained to Mom about the whole situation before we even went and Mom promised she'd pack a brand new deodorant stick of the manly kind my sister liked. I thought I was safe from her funk, but apparently it's the olfactory equivalent of a black hole. After a few days of me constantly complaining about her smell and her adamantly insisting that she had put on deodorant, I started to feel a little bad. Maybe she had an actual problem. I mean, we had been to the beach pretty much every day we were on Kona. That should have done something for her smell if she was also putting on deodorant afterwards. Maybe when we got home, I needed to talk to Mom about taking Ashley to a doctor.
Anyways, my family is fat and apparently into dumb things because we spent a lot of our time in Hawaii at hotel entertainment and in the developed tourist areas so my cousins could fawn over Coach bags and shit and do a minimal amount of walking. Whoopee. Somehow though, we all ended up on the other side of the island one day and Ashley and I got to run around exploring caves and smoking craters. It was the most amazing thing. I'd never seen rain like we did there (until I went to Oregon and Washington last year). Light, completely soaking showers that came and went like they were connected to a light switch near a five-year-old. Everything was so green! I would trade every other day I had in Hawaii to have stayed there a little bit longer.
We parked pretty close to this fenced area which overlooks a huge drop that I immediately almost lost my cell phone over.
And this is what I was hanging over. Herp derp, 19-year-old me.
We trekked down the longest winding path. It was thin and rough and completely surrounded by tropical forest. When the trail finally spat us out at the bottom though, we were in what was basically a crater. Above my right shoulder is about where I was hanging off that fence.
It was pretty warm down there due to the steaming holes in the rock we were standing on. After a fair amount of dicking around in the crater (there's only so much to do but it was cool), my cousin Noni wrangled us up because los gordos were tired and hungry and bored.
It was completely dry coming down the mountain, but on the way up, it started just pouring down rain on us. This photo was taken less than 15 minutes from the ones in the crater and it had already stopped raining once we'd booked it up the mountain.
I don't know how we got more time to explore, but somehow we talked the younger cousins into running around more forest with us.
I was always bummed out by this picture because you can't tell that I'm pointing to a ridiculously long path that leads off into the forest to, I assume, an old temple that the natives won't go near.
On the way back to the hotel, we made a pit stop in a completely random place and as we were waiting around for everyone to finish using the restroom, we realized we were right next to the most amazing beach completely covered in very fine black sand. Ashley and I wandered over to get a good look at it and realized that there was a giant turtle washed up on the shore. I was a little worried that it was dead, but we went up to it and it was alive and awesome. As we were trying to figure out if it would need help back into the water, we spotted another one a little further up the beach. And another. And, looking back, one we'd walked right past to get to the one we were at.
I won't lie: I was girling out a lot about being surrounded by adorable turtles. Shoot, I had already been SO excited that the snails in Hawaii had pointed seashells instead of the round ones I'm used to. (I think snails are pretty much the cutest things ever. My mom used to gross out when I was young because she'd come outside to find me laughing and covered in them. She used to nearly vomit about pretty much everything, but now she's about as vulgar as I am.) We walked back to tell the family that there were turtles everywhere and once everyone had gotten about a million pictures, we saw the sign:
I know I won't be the first person to say this, but I really had no idea how fucking beautiful Hawaii is. I have countless pictures of the forests and the beaches and the sky that I won't subject you to. When you see a photo of an impossibly blue ocean, Hawaii actually has that. I just assumed it was modified and changed like everything else we see, and it was almost hard to believe my own eyes were seeing something that was clearly too beautiful to be real. Once you get away from the landscaped tourist areas, there is something very wild about Hawaii. The culture shock hit me hard in some places because I've always lived in California and Hawaii is very much it's own place. All the names of every place are at least ten letters long and there are some words they use a lot there that I had never heard, like mahalo, which means "thank you."
Most of the trip was on Kona, but we spent a few days in Waikiki. As I was brushing my teeth before packing up my toothbrush to switch islands, Ashley came in and opened her deodorant. The metal seal was still there. I seriously almost hit her. I had felt absolutely terrible for being rude to her about it. I had started to question the reason for her years of reeking and SHE HADN'T PUT ON DEODORANT THE ENTIRE WEEK. Ashley is a very convincing liar because once she's told a lie, she will never back down from it. One time, she walked out of the bathroom when she knew I was waiting for her to leave. I went in and the most massive bowel movement I've ever seen was clogging the goddamn toilet. So I walked out and demanded that she plunge that shit immediately. You know what she said to me? "You were in there last. It was probably you." Balls of fucking steel on that woman. She looked me in the eye knowing full well that I still had to pee like crazy and said that.
Waikiki was eh. It was a big, crowded city and I don't remember much about it. My pictures devolved into mostly shots of strange things like these:
Somewhere in there we saw the Pearl Harbor memorial, but my camera couldn't focus enough to get a good picture of a tiny 3-D model of a boat with people drowning in the water. And we visited the Dole Plantation and rode around in a little train while listening to some truly hilarious songs about pineapples. Speaking of which, I honestly had no idea what a pain in the ass pineapples are to grow. It's like a four-year investment for one pineapple. We hit up the Polynesian Culture Center and watched some crazy shows and ended up near a huge group of Japanese school girls on tour. Also, everyone in Hawaii is super nice all the time. Ashley fell right on her face in a parking lot and at least three people stopped to see if she was okay.
If I ever go back, I will definitely put some time into exploring all the bridges to nowhere and all the small towns off the tourist path. I definitely saw too many ukelele renditions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.


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Author a unix shell script to update DNS records via API
Budjetti $10-30 USD
I have a Powershell script that I need re-coded as a unix shell script. The script calls an API to update the DNS A record of my domain, which has a dynamic IP
The Powershell script is at this link: [url removed, login to view]
I need the script converted to a shell script that will work as shown on this page: [url removed, login to view]
Be sure the script executes /sbin/ddns_custom_updated 0 or 1 at the end, depending on success of failure
Myönnetty käyttäjälle:
Hello, I have years of experience scripting in Bash, experience with DDNS, and interfacing with REST via bash (curl). Regards, Erik
8 freelanceria on tarjonnut keskimäärin %project_bid_stats_avg_sub_26% %project_currencyDetails_sign_sub_27% tähän työhön
I have 15 years of experience in Linux server administration and PHP Programming. Message me, let's discuss the project.
Hello, I have experience in writing custom script. Let me know if you have any questions. You can also visit my profile to see my ratings and comments from previous works. Thanks!
Hi, THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY. Check good reviews from customers I have previously worked for. Its my duty, as I have done here before to deliver on this. Kindly let's start work. I have completed projects in so Lisää
Hello, In every UNIX / Linux system, there are a daemon called ddns (Dynamic DNS daemon), and maybe it can be the solution for your problem. If not, I can write required scripts!
hello I have read your requirement. I can help you to finish this work. Can you provide more information about this project? Thank you
I can write the script in Bash as required, but would need access to a NameSilo account. Python can also be used, instead of Shell if you are okay with it.


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I can't begin to tell you how such a simple thing could pay me back so much.
Sometimes, it's so easy to focus on the big things, to think of accomplishments and achievements in such a macro sense. I see people make big life lists and check things off, and I wonder what I've really done in a year. When I look for big steps or changes, it seems like I haven't moved forward at all, like all I really did this year was to tread water and survive.
But that's not the truth. I'm not who I am last year, and my world isn't what it was last year, and it's not because of any grand gestures. It's because of the little everyday things that I do and that I am. It's because of the deliberate way I choose to live. It's because of kindness.
My relationship with BG is so amazing, and truly she is so amazing, not because of any activities I do with her but because I listen to her. I see the person that she is, big feelings and all, and I do my best to give her what I understand she needs.
I have friends, true friends, in both my local and blogging communities because I stop and take an extra second to show kindness to everyone I come across and particularly to people who need it. Stepping up to make sure other people's needs were met made me braver, made me clearer and stronger, and made me part of something bigger than myself, something that I would never have believed I even deserved.
And, miracle of miracles, I've been kind to myself. I learned to stop fighting with my feelings no matter how overwhelming and to just accept them. I learned to stop trying to fix myself because I'm not broken. I was so afraid of how I would handle having two kids, but I let myself be afraid. I decided it was okay to be afraid, okay to not know what I was doing. It was okay to write and okay not to write. It was okay to not be excited, to not love every second of everything.
And right now? Sleep deprived, overwhelmed, milk drenched and cranky? I'm okay.
And all because of a little kindness.


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Nuestra sombra gastada! by Many Fingers (Our Worn Shadow)
It is so exciting to discover music every day, i look for new albums, new bands, new people ... and i always get surprised about the music. That's really good. I had this album in my mp3 since 2 weeks ago and finally i started to listen today coming back home from the weekend....
What's Many Fingers? Many things, many instruments, many instrumental songs, many home made sounds, many people doing great things, many many many....
From the first notes you realize you are listening to something interesting, something to discover in deep. To be honest i have only listened to this cd just once. So we can work together knowing much more about this new band. The band leader is Chris Cole, coming from Movitone & Soeza bands and he has worked a lot with Matt Elliot. He plays many instruments, in this new project most the songs start with piano, guitar & drum but step by step many instruments are added making a lush sound enviroment that takes you to another place, just enjoying what you are listening to.
Chris Cole is from Bristol and you can find more information about this work at:
The CD also contains an interesting DVD.
Something to be appreciated because of the high price of the CDs in Spain.
Have a nice week! Me...i go on vacation for 1 month far away from Madrid.
Keep in touch! and see you soon.
Have a nice week! Me...i go on vacation for 1 month far away from Madrid.
Keep in touch! and see you soon.


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Friday, June 10, 2016
Lover's Rock Reggae Mix @DJ.Marcus
9 comments:
Thanx, sounds wicked :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:03 AM
wicked sounds rastaReplyDelete
yow big dj; can't do the CD version for this one.?ReplyDelete
It baaaaaddd!!!!!!!!!!!
- AnonymousFebruary 7, 2017 at 9:06 AM
thanks bro wicked mixReplyDelete
Up and runningReplyDelete
Very helpful suggestions that help in the optimizing website.ReplyDelete
thank for sharing the link.
i listening all your song i'm your fan.ReplyDelete
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The Chicago Tribune | 12/12/2009 12:00:00 AM
U.S. May Take New Look at `War on Drugs'
Dec 11--If you had asked me 10 years ago whether the United States will ever change its interdiction-focused counternarcotics policies -- and perhaps even decriminalize marijuana consumption at home -- I would have told you, ``never.'' Today, I say, ``perhaps.'', 110896
The bill now goes to the Senate, where supporters say it has a good chance to pass, given its bipartisan support in the House. The 10-member panel, modeled after the 9/11 Commission that made recommendations to Congress and the White House after the 2001 terrorist attacks, would have to issue its report in 12 months.
What's interesting about the planned independent drug policy commission is that the idea didn't come from a pro-legalization advocate, nor any leftist or libertarian crusader. The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), opposes decriminalization of drugs for non-medical use, and is as mainstream as members of Congress come.
But Engel's frustration over the results of the U.S. war on drugs is symptomatic of Washington's growing skepticism about U.S. anti-drug policies these days.
Since 1980, the United States has spent nearly $14 billion trying to stop drug-smuggling from Latin America, the bill says. While U.S. drug consumption has declined significantly as a percentage of the population, there are still 25.7 million users of marijuana, 5.3 million users of cocaine and 453,000 users of heroin. Meanwhile, U.S. law enforcement and prison systems are overwhelmed by prosecutions on drug-consumption charges.
Read more here.
Semana International delivers news about Colombia in English. Find more in our home.


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Wednesday evening from 5pm to 8pm, I shall be at the store "Adornments on Queen" with a small table featuring a selection of my jewelry for sale. The store is located a 338 Queen Street East (near Parliament) in Toronto. Come by and join us for a free tea and discounts throughout the store.
And just to get you in the mood for winter and of course, Black Friday sales, here's a treasury of some of my favorite Black Friday deals from Etsy.


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By Glenn Erby
As Carmelo Anthony heads towards his impending free agency, his reputation and value among some NBA executives might surprise even him.
ESPN's Chris Broussard spoke with several league executives about Anthony, asking them about Anthony's strengths and weaknesses and if they thought he had enough drive to win a title on his own.
The answers are revealing, but not that shocking.
One executive compared him to Stephon Marbury. and another said worse.
"He's probably Robin on a championship team instead of Batman. He has Batman talent, but the intangibles are missing."
"He's not a winner."
I think Anthony will continue to open himself to such criticism as long as refuses to change his game to make his teammates better.
Anthony has had stretches this year where he's jacked up 26 shots or more in a game, while having 3 assist or less. He must make a concerted effort to make his teammates better or he'll never be considered a winner in this league.


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I am starting out on a new venture and becoming a consultant for Lori Rose and her homeopathic treatments. Lori will give me 20% of any sales made using my code of ST007, which I will in turn donate to Greyhound Gap.
Several years ago our great big hug monster Jim developed corns which on a tripod who had lost a leg to bone caner is a serious problem. We tried the usual route of treatment at the vets and despite having the corn hulled twice it returned each time. This is when we first came into contact with Lori who made up a homeopathic treatment, which to our delight got rid of Jim's corns and they never returned.
Since then I have used several different products from Lori each with the same success rate and Lori has also made up a treatment for our tiny Whippet Gangley who is suffering from a neurological illness that can't be treated with conventional medicine. In May Gangley was going downhill his so fast we truly thought the end was fast approaching. Since starting her treatment in June the decline and slowed down and she has enjoyed a wonderful summer, going for walks without falling over and has generally improved.
Alfie Bear has suffered from being itchy since he arrived and despite various tests at the vets nothing was uncovered as to the cause. Alfie also only has three legs and the itching makes him utterly miserable. Again we asked Lori to make up a treatment for Alfie and again it has been so good we have been able to reduce the piriton and hope to stop it altogether soon. I might also add that Lori also treats us humans and has me walking pain free from a cluster of corns for the first time in 3 years!
Lori is a lovely lady who always responds quickly to cries for help and has 5 rescue Irish wolfhounds of her own, she is a Professional Homeopathic Practitioner with a very busy and successful practice. Her work consists of Homeopathic consultations by means of my clinic, online and telephone consultation.
Lori has worked with animals for many years both in the healing and rescue capacity and started a charity called Lurcher Lifeline, which later became Animal Lifeline.
So if anyone needs some help please Contact Lori via her websitehttp://www.lorirosehomeopathy.com/index.php and if you use my code ST007 at the checkout Greyhound gap will get 20% from the sale.
Sue x
PS Walk count down 10 days to the off


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At the very beginning of 2013 I made my first costume that was entirely from scratch (no bought or altered parts), Asuka (Shunya Yamashita figure ver) from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
(Later that year I completely remade it because I'm a high strung bitch bordering on the side of crazy. It is definitely my best costume. This is my favorite picture, possibly ever, taken by Ken Eden.)
Two weeks later I celebrated my 21st birthday in Vegas with Chloe, who I am forever indebted to for introducing me to such crazy awesome people. Within 3 hours of landing in Vegas, I was tucked into bed by my ever wonderful roommates. I'd say it was a successful 21st birthday.
Did I mention that the day we flew to Vegas was also me and my boyfriend's 3rd year anniversary? I can say so much about him, but mostly that I don't know what drives me crazier: him or the fact that I love him to pieces.
Then Fanime came around. More costumes were made, including Huntress and Robin from the Batman comics.
We also celebrated my boyfriend's birthday! I think people will still be talking about his cake when we're all old and grey. Thanks Jan!
I fast forwarded to Fanime (which occurs in May) because nothing much happened in the late winter/early spring because of some family issues. You know, your typical Asian daughter fare. Which ultimately ended with me moving out of my parents' place into a really great house with my boyfriend and other awesome cosplayers. Shenanigans happened, some of the most memorable being our housewarming party and drunk dancing with the cat.
Some weeks after, I attended Anime Expo for the 3rd year in a row...despite having planned not to attend. It has to be my least favorite convention, ugh. But I went to model for the Liz Lisa fashion show, which a few of my friends were running. Mostly, I just went to see friends. Because summer and shit. Why the fuck not.
I cosplayed briefly, but nothing new. But you know what was a new experience? Stripping in the middle of L.A. live and jumping in the bushes for a photoshoot. What? I swear it was a first time!
And then the biggie: my first San Diego Comic-Con! I don't know why, but it's online enormity made me think that I would never ever go. Especially with how difficult it is to get tickets. But I did! And it was fantastic, I don't care what the haters say about its commercialization and whatnot. You get every penny's worth of the $175 you spend, and there's always merch to grab or panels to watch and just loads of things to do overall! If I could stress one other thing it would be the gorgeousness of San Diego. I'd never went before, but the area surrounding SD is so lovely and exciting. We had things to do every night in the Gaslamp, barhopping and clubhopping was so much fun. Highlights of nightlife included open bar industry party, the worst knock off Fat Tuesday ever, getting my ass grabbed at a random bar (that has never happened to me...ever...and I was wearing a frilly super unsexy skirt), and being VIP big ballers.
I also had a new cosplay for this: genderbend Dante from Devil May Cry
After SDCC was Japan Expo. Meh. Con was boring, friends were fun! I didn't do anything new, but we did get a topsy turvy DMC group together.
And that was the end of summer. Holy shit, so much happened. Barely anything happened in the fall in comparison, but that's because of classes and such. I don't think there's much of a point even going over the fall season, because that's when this blog started so you can just go a few posts back and see what I did haha.
The year ended with my faves coming up from SoCal for a New Year's Party! We dressed monochrome without even realizing it. You can't sit with us.
So that was 2013 for me. I'm going to lie, there have been some VERY difficult patches in regards to this year's major events, and sometimes I still feel like a ticking time bomb. But sitting here in my chair, eating a bag of hot cheetoes (post-con reverse diet) and looking at what my life has become...it ain't so bad.
Saying I'm a drama-free person would be a lie (and plus, anyone who says that shit are the people you should be wary of anyways). Drama is the result of differing views, clashing opinions, and the reality that the world isn't a happy hand holding utopia. If I were truly a drama free person, I would be an utterly boring yes man. I'm not afraid to lead the direction I want my life to go in. And I'm finally okay with the fact that there will be people who won't agree with the life I lead - because I don't want to live an ordinary one.
And let's be real, I secretly love when the tide changes so suddenly because I get to see how I can meet the challenge and overcome it. Here's to 2014 and may it be filled with crazy friends and crazy adventures.


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Saraswati yantraHoly being of experience and Creativity
This Saraswati copper yantra is used for Understanding, Guidance & Creativity. Holy being Saraswati bestows intellect, look after and is the sponsor goddess of learning and music. This occult Saraswati Yantra sharpens the intellect, improves grasping power, increases connotation & brain. It is a necessary for natives who are stupid or bother suffered breaks in their experience, and for natives who are effort from the bad stuff of a malefic Jupiter. This Saraswati Yantra ensures strike in studies and high objective in competitive examinations. It is a convinced drug for mental disorders, brittle literary growth and mental illness. Saraswati Yantra also develops & increases the knowledge, understanding & authority of creative arts, especially fine art & music. In totaling, Saraswati Yantra has the power to bless marital women with a jocular life & bridal elation, and solo ones with an copy comrade ">HTTP://WWW.DHYANSANJIVANI.ORG/


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EBSD Teachers Required In Coventry ans Warwickshire
- Recruiter
- Zest Education Ltd
- Location
- Salary
- 110.00 GBP Daily
- Posted
- 05 Oct 2017
- Closes
- 25 Oct 2017
- Sector
- Education & Childcare
- Job Type
- Consultant
- Contract Type
- Permanent
Are you a qualified teacher with experience of working within a EBSD setting, who is looking for flexible work to fit around your lifestyle?
I am currently recruiting SEND teachers to work in EBSD settings across Coventry and Warwickshire
I am looking for outgoing, resilient, and tenacious practitioners who can commit to a minimum of 2 days per week to provide cover to my school partners.
About the Role:
- Primary
- Secondary
- Immediate start
- Full time / part time - temporary
- Competitive rates of pay
The following criteria is essential:
- Be eligible to work in the UK
- Must hold relevant teaching qualifications
- Have previous experience of working in a PRU or EBSD setting
- Have recent classroom experience as teacher in the UK
- Have excellent communication and relationship building skills
- Possess valid references, DBS/police checks
Additional benefits of working with Zest Education:
- Competitive pay rates that are negotiable based on experience
- A dedicated consultant
- Weekly pay scheme
Zest Education are a Birmingham based boutique style agency, who believe in pairing small consultancy friendliness with big agency experience.
We have many positions available, both part time and full time. Often temporary roles can lead to a more permanent contract. Zest Education will work with you right the way through your recruitment journey, to ensure that you are settled in and completely satisfied with your new role.
Does this interest you?
Zest Education


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In photos from last Thursday's amfAR gala at Cannes, it might look like auction host Uma Thurman wasn't perturbed by the surprise open-mouthed kiss she fielded from "playboy industrialist" and Fiat heir Lapo Elkann. With a gracious smile, she stood for the cameras as he pressed his sweaty face against hers.
Elkann, who formerly worked as the CEO of Fiat and a personal assistant to Henry Kissinger, had placed the winning $196,000 bid for two tickets to the Victoria's Secret fashion show. When he posed for celebratory photos with Thurman, he went in for the kiss.
Those pictures belie the reality of the situation: As Thurman's rep later made clear, the kiss was "not consensual." "It is opportunism at its worst. She wasn't complicit in it," Thurman's rep said in a statement. "Somewhere in his head [Elkann] must have thought it an appropriate way of behaving. It clearly wasn't. She is very unhappy that this happened to her and feels violated."
Elkann's behavior springs from the prevalent belief that while an unwanted kiss might be uncomfortable, it's benign; that since it doesn't involve sex organs, it's not sexual assault; that it's okay to take the kiss first and ask permission later. Elkann's actions also were informed by the idea that celebrities owe the public some intimate part of themselves, a notion furthered by the routine obligation for celebrities (especially women and people of color) to remain composed in front of the cameras or risk embarrassing the company that hired them and coming off as frigid, angry, ungrateful divas.
Another famous example: The surprise kiss Adrien Brody planted on Halle Berry at the 2003 Oscars. When he stepped onstage to accept the Best Actor award, Brody overtook Berry by dipping her into a full-on kiss. "I bet they didn't tell you that was in the gift bag," he began, as if she'd be crazy to object. "It's obvious from the tension in Berry's closed eyes and the way she sort of disgustedly wipes her face as he begins his speech that the incident wasn't pre-planned or welcome," wrote Stacia L. Brown at PostBourgie in 2008. "I'm still left wondering, even after all these years, why there wasn't more controversy or fall-out surrounding this moment."
Indeed, the general response to Brody's forced make-out was one of amazed admiration. USA Today published Susan Wloszczyna's weak-kneed homage to the "swooningly smooth" nonconsensual kiss. Wloszczyna wondered, "Who could blame women for wondering in unison, through tears and smiles, 'Who is that guy?'"
The "surprise stranger kiss as romantic gesture" has roots as American as "V-J Day in Times Square," the iconic photo of a World War II sailor smooching a nurse. It's long been hailed as the epitome of patriotic romance, though a 2005 interview with the nurse, Greta Friedman, revealed it was more akin to a sexual assault. "Suddenly, I was grabbed by a sailor. I did not observe anybody taking pictures. I was anxious to get back to work," she recalled, calling herself a "bystander" to the incident. "It wasn't my choice to be kissed. ... The guy just came over and grabbed."
Friedman's body language — her limp left arm, contorted right arm and tight fist — is visibly tense and uncomfortable, like Berry's. The sailor exerts his physical will on her by clutching her face, like Brody grabbed Berry's, and like Elkann seized the back of Thurman's head with both hands. The world reacted to "V-J Day in Times Square" with sentimentalism; the audience at the 2003 Oscars and the media critics applauded Brody's bold display of joy and lust, barely, if ever, stopping to question whether Berry enjoyed it — and even if she did, whether Brody ever gained her consent. The other sailor in "V-J Day" laughs at the spectacle of his compatriot snatching an unsuspecting woman on the street; Jack Nicholson and Nicolas Cage, whom Brody beat out for the 2003 Oscar, cheered Brody on.
The kiss Elkann forced on Thurman has aroused far more controversy than the one Brody foisted upon Berry. This can be explained by four social phenomena. For one, mainstream media has recently engaged in far broader and deeper conversations around rape culture, which likely gave Thurman more leeway to voice her anger. There's also a nascent celebrity trend of speaking out against haters and violators. The fury for Thurman that Berry never saw is indicative of an imaginary hierarchy of sexual assault, which says that Brody is handsome, talented, and swoon-worthy, so Berry should count herself lucky. Since no one's swooning over Elkann, Thurman seems more justified in her protests. Berry, the only woman of color to ever win a Best Actress award, also faces more and stricter barriers to raising a fuss.
But the most disheartening part of these images is that the women remain composed and gracious, even as their bodily autonomy is invaded. Thurman went along with Elkann's too-close hug at first. After Brody grabbed and kissed her, Berry turned around with a good-natured laugh.
Elkann, Brody and the "V-J Day" sailor took the risk of forcing a kiss on an unsuspecting woman in places where they knew they'd face at least temporary impunity: a charity gala, an awards show, a bustling public square brimming with patriotic zeal, a space in front of the camera's watchful eye, where women would be unlikely to scream or sock them.
And the audience clapped.


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Monthly Archives: November 2011
Almost There!
5,000 words to go people! I have finally caught up with the target word count that the NaNoWriMo organisers set for each day so over the last three days of November I should easily be able to complete the challenge … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo – Day 21 – Dear Blog
Dear my lovely, Anything Goes blog, I am so sorry that I have been neglecting you, only writing to you a few words of complaint about NaNoWriMo once a week. I know you thrive when I feed you with long … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo – day 14
I have decided that novel writing isn't for me. My short attention span isn't conducive to writing something that is so long. I'm not exactly struggling to write the words, I'm just not that into it anymore. I'm bored of sitting … Continue reading
NaNoWriMow – Day 7
A week has past since starting National Novel Writing Month, and my word count at the end of the day is 11,013. To be on target I should have another 600 words, but I'm tired and want to sleep, so I'm … Continue reading
Baby I'm a Firework!
Remember remember the 5th of November… The night to celebrate the failings of a guy named Guy, who tried to blow-up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, hasn't always been my favourite night. When I was very young I spent … Continue reading


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LeBron James, heir to the entire NBA, has a chance to pull off an amazing feat tonight. With a Cavs win they will advance to the franchise's first appearance ever in the NBA Finals. It's only fitting that LeBron should pull it off against the Pistons.
Think back, 16 years ago, when another young player was being embraced as an NBA superstar. The Detroit Pistons also stood in his way, and he was able to lead his team past them for his first appearance in the NBA Finals. Of course I'm speaking of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Jordan took over many of those games against Detroit, so much so that the Pistons instituted a "Jordan Rules" defense. After what LeBron did to Detroit in Game 5, I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar tonight. Jordan eventually made the Pistons pay for their focus on him by passing off to teammates, and I'm sure that LeBron will also do whatever is necessary for his team to win.
After falling down 0-2, and hearing a lot of talk about how playoff tested Detroit was going to be unbeatable, LeBron has his team poised for the biggest win in their history. It also could prove to be the point in time that fans everywhere can look back at and see where LeBron rightfully became "King James".
Saturday, June 02, 2007
It's Only Fitting That LeBron Advance To The NBA Finals After Beating The Pistons
Posted by BDoc at 8:06 PM
Labels: chicago bulls, cleveland cavaliers, detroit pistons, king james, lebron james, michael jordan, nba
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IndomitableTrue to the pattern set over the last few days, today is sunny so far, but there are predictions of thunderstorms every day into next week. I'm not complaining, though. I'll take rain over tornadoes any time!
Metal tangs dusty air,
and devils dance—
lightning threads fire in the west.
Green sky looms,
thunder threatens—
gorged black clouds oppress the light.
Fire stabs, scattering
the blood of clouds—
fat warm drops blessing my face.
Trees bow before the wind
but I stand, arms outspread,
welcoming the storm.
c. 2006, Keanan Brand
Updated Sunday, June 14: Another fierce but brief storm overnight, one that knocked large branches down on my roof, which will now need to be inspected for holes. And, despite the sun, there was a short spate of rain. Go figure.


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June 26, 2013
Coppertone Water
Before heading out to the pool, I always make sure that each child is covered in Coppertone Sunscreen from head to toe. I love that the company offers products for babies, kids and adults!
To buy the products we received to review, please visit Coppertone's official website to locate an online retailer. You can also purchase Coppertone products in drug stores near you.
*As a member of the Coppertone Water MOMS, I receive product samples and promotional items to share and use as I see fit. No monetary compensation has taken place and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.
Labels: 2013 Summer Shopping Guide, Kids, product review


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The Poor
Plans for social ascension are announced now and then
By men in tailored suits,
Whisked away afterwards in limousines.
But the poor are not whisked away.
They remain, whistling through dark alleys, same as before.
Kind Hearts long to raise them to respectability.
Poor Kind Hearts!
What good's respectability,
Naked, all by itself, without a foil?
Starving, racked with frenzy,
They can rise like a single beast, striking a blow unbelievably savage.
In bare sufficiency they build structures so elegant, so subtle,
They escape the attention of those who purport to study them.
Some fear them for their sarcasm, irreverence, sudden spikes of passion;
But these, to a lively mind, are the very reasons to love them.