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|Parkenstein Losing Face
Monday, January 2, 2012
PARKENSTEIN! Part the Second
20 comments:
- Samantha Dugan said...
The brilliance of a great writer is their ability to paint a powerful and real image. I am now going to go dunk my eyeballs in acid to try and rid myself of the gag-inducing image of Parker "suckling" Miller. Thanks for that...
- January 2, 2012 at 11:17 AM
- Thomas said...
I'm a 95 on this series.
Still, I have to say, since I graduated at the top of my law class with Summer Come Soon honors, I know a law suit when I see one and if this unauthorized biography continues, and continues under that ridiculous Italian-German pseudonym, I shall have to pack my Philadelphia lawyer handbook and cheat-sheet and make my way to...where does this blog come from anyway?
- January 2, 2012 at 11:32 AM
- Marcia Macomber said...
What a wonderful start to the New Year!
There are so many wonderful phrases I can't possibly pick a favorite. Although your jab at Republican rhetoric certainly is at the top of the list!
I can hear Mel Brooks wonderful violin music in the background soundtrack (although methinks it doesn't really calm the monster!)
Can't wait for more....
- January 2, 2012 at 11:33 AM
- Pamela Heiligenthal said...
The HoseMaster is baaacckkk!!! Woot!
- January 2, 2012 at 11:39 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Try to think of it as a metaphor, not reality. Everyone always knew Miller sucked, I just brought it to life. I'm sort of twisted.
This blog comes from the lower levels of Hell. That is, wine country.
Only one more chapter of Parkenstein! It has a happy ending.
Woot! back at ya. Even if Woot is a Lot18 competitor, thank you. I think.
- January 2, 2012 at 2:21 PM
I always thought that grade inflation was going to kill off Parkerstein, but it turned out to be waist inflation, plus the effort involved in blowing up that inflatable doll he called Millerstein.
Have you ever considered that Millerstein is just Steimanstein reincarnated?
- January 3, 2012 at 1:50 PM
- Thomas said...
I wish I knew who all these people are. Does Martin Feldstein have anything to do with this? Wasn't he the guy with the movable humpback?
Oh no, that was Marty Feldman. What's he got to do with this story?
- January 3, 2012 at 2:21 PM
I feel dirty and unclean having read your Parkenstein posts... having said that- dirty, unclean, delighted, and full of wicked wonder at what I've read, is
better than just dirty and unclean!
- January 3, 2012 at 3:35 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Huff and Puff,
Harvey is a self-created monster, the horrific Parkenstein Monster would never exist but for the life-giving Suckling of Parkenstein. Therein lies the tale. Steiman is just the Hindenberg reincarnated.
Marty Feldman was wall-eyed. Parkenstein's monster eyes wallets. Subtle difference.
David in Dundee,
Dirty and unclean is redundant. Like blogger and dull.
Don't be a stranger.
- January 3, 2012 at 4:17 PM
- PaulG said...
There is hope for the wine world, as we enter the new year, the global economy in decline, TCA again on the rise, global chilling turning Napa into Lake Chelan. But the Hosemeister is back, and we give thanks. Just for the line "He wanted to sleep with me and kill me both, which is how I felt about Alice Feiring" we are happy happy happy happy happy!!!!
- January 3, 2012 at 4:28 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Thanks for chiming in. I'm not sure my return is cause for anyone's celebration, but thanks for noticing. Now let's have some fun at the expense of all the blowhards.
- January 3, 2012 at 4:34 PM
- Unknown said...
I don't get it.
-- Terence
- January 4, 2012 at 1:36 PM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Hey Terence,
Yeah, I know. Me neither.
- January 4, 2012 at 3:26 PM
- Lousy Grapes said...
I'm at a total lose for words. Parkenstein is horrific and though I wish only to destroy the foul beast there is also an inner feeling of great sorrow. For his creation is not his fault and though eventually his destruction is imminent it will not be without some sorrow. For he knows not the beast that he is.
- January 4, 2012 at 7:05 PM
Highly amusing and rather Gothic! My one beef would be that you pick on Mencia and Albarino, two of Spain's more elegant and less Parkerstein grapes, rather than disgustingly overblown Monatrells or Garnachas of Jumilla or Campo de Borja or even horribly oaky modern Riojas so beloved of Big Jay. Keep it up though...
- January 5, 2012 at 6:17 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Lousy Grapes,
Thanks for the Cliff's Notes version of Parkenstein! The more I thought about the Parker/Miller thing, the more the Shelley classic started to ring true. And thus my crappy little parable was born.
You Kay Guy,
Point taken. I should have chosen the grapes with greater attention to detail--though what makes you think this piece is about Miller? Or anything?
- January 5, 2012 at 7:40 AM
- Gerry Dawes said...
I agree with UK Spanish Wine Dude about the Galician grapes, Mencia and Albariño. Thank God Miller stayed out of Galicia, though he did slap 90 pts. on a Valdeorras coop Godello wine that the Spaniards claimed was a 1.5 Euro cooking wine (it turned out to be a switch and bait; the importer switched the wine, keep the same label and baited the Spanish market).
- January 5, 2012 at 8:56 AM
@ Uk SWD
"My one beef would be that you pick on Mencia and Albarino ..."
I've really got to pay closer attention, could have sworn he was referring to Carlos getting kinky with an albino.
- January 11, 2012 at 7:24 AM
- Miguel said...
First time I'm here and I'm very glad of it, thanks to be here with us Ron.
- January 26, 2012 at 12:24 AM
- Ron Washam, HMW said...
Not sure I make any more sense in Spanish than in English, but thanks for dropping by.
- January 26, 2012 at 8:56 AM


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Thursday, December 03, 2009
HRTV Offers Live Coverage of "Delta Jackpot Night" This Friday
Vinton, LA, Dec. 2 -- HRTV (R) will once again provide complete live coverage of "Delta Jackpot Night" from Delta Downs on Friday, Dec. 4.
Annually one of the biggest racing days in Louisiana, "Delta Jackpot Night" features six stakes races with a combined purse of $1.6 million. The outstanding night of racing is topped by a pair of 2-year-old races -- the Grade 3, $750,000 Delta Jackpot (at 1 1/16 miles), and the Gr. 3, $500,000 Delta Princess (one mile), powered by Youbet.com.
HRTV's in-studio hosts and analysts -- Laffit Pincay, III, Jeff Siegel, Peter Lurie and Zoe Cadman -- will provide in-depth analysis and commentary throughout the Delta Downs card. The network's coverage will be supplemented by the onsite presence of Caton Bredar, who will supply interviews and late-breaking news, from trackside.
In addition, HRTV's new weekly handicapping show, "The Edge," which normally airs on Friday evenings, will be moved to Thursday this week (7:30 p.m. CT) and devote its 30-minute format to an informative, detailed analysis of "Delta Jackpot Night's" Pick 4, which carries a $100,000 guaranteed payout. (The Pick 4, which starts with race six, commences at 8:04 p.m. CT.)
The show will be co-hosted by Aaron Vercruysse and Joanne Jones. Racing fans may also view "The Edge" online, via http://www.hrtv.com, beginning at 7 a.m. ET on Friday.
Read more articles in the HRTV category.

subset: commoncrawl


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New and Selected Stories
Sherman Alexie
Grove Press: 480 pp, $27
Sherman Alexie's characters live in a kind of dreamscape, a limbo between Native American and white culture, between city life and the reservation.
All sorts of fantastic, improbable things happen in this in-between space. Students channel famous Indian warriors in their high school classes. Donkeys are taught to excel at basketball, the national sport of every Indian tribe.
Against all odds the Native American characters in "Blasphemy," Alexie's new anthology of short stories, wander, stumble and blunder their way into moments of clarity and redemption. And they are liberated by laughter.
"The two funniest tribes I've been around are Indians and Jews," one of his characters quips, "so I guess that says something about the inherent humor of genocide."
Over the years, Alexie has carved out a space in American literature as the great, tragicomic bard of the modern Native American experience. The stories in "Blasphemy," written over the course of the last two decades, offer ample proof why.
Consider "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," a story that reads like an upside down, demented Bible parable about Jackson, a hopelessly lost Seattle alcoholic.
"I'm not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless," Jackson says, "because it's my secret story, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks."
Jackson is blundering around Seattle with his drinking buddies when he spots a feathered headdress — it looks like the lost "powwow regalia" that belonged to the grandmother he never knew. Upon closer inspection he finds the secret clue his family left in every headdress. So he undertakes a "quest" to earn the $1,000 he'll need to buy it back.
What follows is a melancholy, tender journey through the world of drunken Seattle. Jackson's Indian friends help him on his quest, and then disappear again and again. Along the way, he has a memorable, brief encounter with some lost Aleuts from Alaska who've been waiting at the Seattle docks 11 years for a ship to come in.
"I cried with them for a while," Jackson says. "The Aleuts sang their strange and beautiful songs. I listened…They were lonely for cold and snow. I was lonely for everybody."
Read that story, and many of the others in "Blasphemy," and you'll feel you've been transported inside the soul of a deeply wounded people. But they are a people too comfortable in their brown skins to allow those wounds to break them.
Instead, the Native American people in Alexie's stories hold on to their dreams and to their traditions. They talk again and again about being warriors like Crazy Horse — but their battles are in school classrooms or on the basketball court. Native traditions have seeped into their blood, even if they are only "half-breed" (i.e., half-white) Indians, as many characters in these stories are.
"The creator has gifted us with a half-breed who can sing full-blood," says the Indian elder and prison inmate in the story "Scars," after hearing and seeing something quite extraordinary: a blond-haired prisoner who knows his tribe's "powwow songs."
Reading Alexie is like listening to a man tell stories by a campfire. His writing isn't the most stylish you'll read, but the tales themselves are unforgettable and filled with a dizzying array of characters and magical incidents.
In "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," an unemployed man named Victor is headed to that Southwestern state from his reservation in the state of Washington to lay claim to his father's remains. (The story was adapted into the 1998 film "Smoke Signals").
Victor hooks up with an annoying old friend, Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a tribal storyteller who spins tales no one on the reservation wants to hear. One involves Victor's departed father. In telling it Alexie crafts an unforgettable image of the Spokane tribe's millennial history, and the now-extinct salmon that once leaped at the waterfall that runs in the center of the city that carries the tribe's name.
"I'm going to travel to Spokane Falls one last time and toss [your father's] ashes into the water," Thomas says. "And your father will rise like a salmon, leap over the bridge, over me, and find his way home."
There's something timeless about that tale, and many others in "Blasphemy," which consists of 15 previously published stories and 15 new ones.
Unfortunately, not all of the new pieces are gems, including, oddly, the very first in the collection. "Cry, Cry, Cry" relates an especially grim tale of methamphetamine addiction. It's a story that feels, to this reader, exploitative and shallow and lacking in the humanity and insight that is so present in the rest of Alexie's work.
But these are small missteps. And they detract only slightly from the great triumph of Alexie's work in "Blasphemy." These are stories that define the fortitude of a people. With irony and sardonic wit, the Native men and women in Alexie's imagination find a way forward, and they endure.


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Gray Wolf
Gray Wolves in Alaska
Alaska is home to the largest remaining population of gray wolves in the United States. Though one of Alaska's most iconic creatures, the state has a long history of killing wolves through various means. Early in the 20th century, wolves were hunted with virtually no controls, and bounties were common.
But the wolf's fight in Alaska hasn't been against extinction — the state's wolf population is healthy, with estimates ranging from 7,000 to 12,000. Instead, their fight has been one against inadequately monitored control programs which aim to increase game populations through controversial methods. As game populations declined in the 60s and 70s, state-sponsored wolf control commenced and included aerial gunning.
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Height: 26-32 inches at the shoulder
Length: 4.5-6.5 feet from nose to tail-tip
Weight: 55-130 lbs; Males are typically heavier and taller than the females.
Lifespan: 7-8 years in the wild. 12 years or more in remote or protected areas.


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John Wilson Named Chair of New Consortium, Dec. 20, 2001
SOCORRO, N.M., December 20, 2001 -- John L. Wilson II, professor of hydrology at New Mexico Tech and chairman of the university's Earth and Environmental Science Department, recently was elected chairman of the Board of Directors of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI).
The newly formed consortium currently includes a charter membership of 43 U.S. universities, all with graduate degree programs in hydrologic sciences and a major commitment to research in that field.
CUAHSI was established to facilitate advancements in the hydrologic sciences by providing university researchers access to the most appropriate data, instruments, and technologies; creating hydrologic understanding to address pressing national and international problems; nurturing public perception of hydrologic sciences through programs of education and outreach; and assuring applicability of advances through a program of technology transfer.
Wilson has been a New Mexico Tech faculty member since 1984.


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Fulham slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Charlton Athletic at Craven Cottage in their final pre-season friendly of the summer on Saturday afternoon.
The Whites dominated the first half and went in front after just five minutes through Damien Duff.
But the Addicks hit back in the second period to snatch the win after efforts from Johnnie Jackson and Yann Kermorgant.
In the behind-closed-doors friendly, Martin Jol named a strong starting line-up against Championship Charlton, perhaps hinting at the XI that will take to the field against Norwich City next weekend in Fulham's opening game of the 2012/13 Barclays Premier League season.
With Aaron Hughes absent through injury, Chris Baird partnered Brede Hangeland at centre-half, with Sascha Reither and John Arne Riise taking up the full-back positions. Mark Schwarzer was between the sticks.
The midfield comprised of Duff, Mahamadou Diarra, Mousa Dembele and Alex Kacaniklic, with Bryan Ruiz tucking in behind the Mladen Petric.
Duff was denied an early claim for a penalty when he tumbled under a challenge from Rhoys Wiggins with just two minutes on the clock.
But Duff was to make his mark on five minutes when he started the move that led to Fulham going in front.
The Irishman picked up the ball in the middle of the park, before playing in Kacaniklic down the left. The young Swede got to the byline and pulled the ball back to Duff, who sidefooted home from eight yards.
At the other end, Michael Morrison headed over on 23 minutes when he met a Jackson corner, before Diarra nodded just wide from Duff's set-piece delivery on 33.
The first chance of the second half came on 50 minutes, Kacaniklic latching onto a floated pass from Ruiz but seeing his header loop just over.
Summer signing Hugo Rodallega entered the fray on 54 minutes to replace Kacaniklic. Rodallega went up front alongside Petric in a move that saw Duff switch to the left flank with Ruiz moving to the right wing.
Shortly afterwards Duff stung the hands of Ben Hamer after being put in down the left by Petric, before Charlton were handed a great chance to level when Jackson's cross was met at the far post by an unmarked Bradley Pritchard. He took a touch but saw his shot superbly palmed away by Schwarzer.
The impressive Duff nearly made it 2-0 on 58 minutes in fortuitous fashion when his cross from the left was deflected onto his own crossbar by Chris Solly.
However, Charlton made it 1-1 on 70 minutes. Kermonrgant's flicked pass caught the Fulham defence flatfooted and the sliding Jackson beat the offside trap to slide home the equaliser.
And the Addicks went in front on 77 minutes. A Pritchard cross from the right was only cleared as far as Kermorgant and he lashed home a fierce half-volley from the edge of the box.
Solly then curled a good effort just over on 81 minutes, before Rodallega's free-kick was pushed away unconventionally by Hamer.
Charlton could have had a third when Bradley Wright-Phillips rounded Schwarzer but the big Australian got back to make a sliding tackle on the striker.
And the Addicks held on to secure the win and inflict a first defeat of the pre-season campaign on Fulham.
Fulham: Schwarzer; Riether, Hangeland, Baird, Riise; Diarra, Dembele (Sidwell 66), Duff, Kacaniklic (Rodallega 54); Petric (Briggs 81), Ruiz (Frei 81).
Subs: Stockdale, Kelly, Kasami, Burn, Trotta.
Charlton: Hamer; Solly, Wiggins, Cort (Taylor 65), Morrison; Pritchard (Wilson 81), Hollands (Kerkar 65), Stephens, Jackson; Wright-Phillips (Cook 90), Kermorgant.
Subs: Sullivan, Evina, Smith, Green, Hayes, Wagstaff.
Competition: Friendly
Date: Saturday 11 August 2012
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Venue: Craven Cottage, London
Referee: Andre Marriner
Team line-up is not available.
Team line-up is not available.


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A Nielsen analysis of a media use study conducted by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) found that 77% of adults are reached by broadcast radio on a daily basis, second only to television at 95%. This study, in which consumers were physically observed consuming media throughout the day, found that Web/Internet (excluding email) reached 64%, newspaper 35%, and magazines 27%.
In a deeper analysis of audio media titled "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio," Nielsen found that that 90% of consumers listen to some form of audio media per day. The 77% who listen to broadcast radio surpass the 37% who listen to CDs and tapes and the 12% who listen to portable audio devices. Broadcast radio also continues to play a major role to all ages, with almost 80 percent of those aged 18 to 34 listening to broadcast radio in an average day.
"There are a lot of critics out there who want to write off broadcast radio, but this analysis of real-time media consumption shows that it continues to play a very strong role," said Dr. Michael Link, VP of Methodological Research at The Nielsen Company.
While the recent emergence of portable audio devices like the iPod and other MP3 players was considered a threat to traditional forms of audio, this study's evidence suggests that the new technology has had a positive effect on radio consumption. In fact, radio was found to have a higher reach (82%) among those who listen to portable audio devices, compared to the average reach for all audio consumers.
"This study proves that radio is still a popular medium for the tech-savvy, MP3-playing 18-34 year old consumer," said Jeff Haley, President and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). "This groundbreaking observational study of today's consumer proves that the primary source of new music is the radio."
The study was conducted by observing the media usage among participants in five DMAs (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Seattle) in the spring and fall of 2008. Many of the broadcast listening trends were consistent with the findings from Nielsen's 51-market radio ratings released in September
"The results of this study confirm radio's importance with all socio-economic groups within the United States, as well as with those that consume other audio platforms that had been perceived to be usurping radio's audio dominance," said Bob McCurdy, President of Katz Marketing Solutions.
Another key takeaway from the reports is that broadcast radio is the dominant form of audio media at home, work, and in the car.
Other findings highlighted in the report include:
Download the full analysis on radio and audio usage.


text: The Living Room Floor 19. September 2016 Damon culture, Leadership, stress, teams, Technical Debt (2) Over the years, I have struggled to describe the frustration of building on top of systems full of technical debt to my non technical friends. I have never cared for drawing comparisons between building, say, a bridge and software. I'll give it a try for once with someone more personal than a bridge: your living room.No one sets out to build an unusable living room. It just happens. We find ourselves with an inexperienced builder, or a builder who usually builds tree houses, or two builders who disagree with each other and we eventually find ourselves in a living room with problems. The floor looks as though it's designer was attempting to pay homage to Picasso and Pollack at the same time. Rather than floor joists on standard centers covered with OSB, there's a bizarre pattern of joists held up by columns in the basement and some areas are not covered with flooring at all: gaping holes straight to the basement.Now the painters show up and they complain. They can't put the ladders just anywhere (since there are holes in the floor) but they lay down some boards and they get the living room painted. Next the carpet company shows up. After complaining to the general contractor (who tells them to find a solution, not complain) they grudgingly stretch carpet over the gaps in the flooring. Here's where the real fun begins. Some children can walk across the floor no problem, but adults sink in and trip. Occupancy is granted and the owners arrive. They try to place their couch and their nice modern LCD TV stand in the most natural places. Things fall over. The TV gets a crack in it. The builder, having detailed knowledge of how the floor looks underneath, shows them precisely where they can place the couch and the TV stand. Things are stable, as long as the owners stop changing the living room layout. It's really hard to never change the living room, though. When you have some friends over to watch The Sportsball Game, you have to sheepishly inform your guests that depending on where everyone sits and stands, the experience may be less than ideal.Technical people will understand the frustration of the painters and the carpet layers. You show up hoping to do good work, and you just can not. There's no easy way to re-do the floor while also allowing people to use the living room either. You obviously can't go back in time and make the floor builders plot a new course.My heart goes out to the poor owners. They had no say in how the floor was built. I suspect and I hope that no one would claim that efforts to fix the floor were inspired by the ego and the laziness of the carpet layer. Sure, the carpet layer does want to do good work, but it's the suckers who have to live in the house who really have it bad.And yet I can't overstate the frequency with which I encounter this in businesses. The users are suffering. The business has a huge support team. Sometimes the support team has to help fix an obscure issue caused by the latest Windows 10 update, but more often they have to help perform rudimentary tasks for the users because the system just doesn't work. The business has to budget a painful amount of the development team to help support, creating a drag on forward progress. Releases are not predictable because it's really difficult to build on top of the mysterious living room floor. Releases are difficult to test and impossible to roll back. Engineers leave the team for green field projects. They'd like to do their best work and they hope to get in on new construction before someone decides to build the floor out of rope and glue.With tangible and quantifiable evidence of the cost of difficult to maintain software all around, the business will often tell a developer something along the lines of "I'm not paying to rewrite that piece just so your life can be easier." Well, I'm sorry that's how you see it. My advice is to never re-arrange the living room again, but if you do it's going to cost you.


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Former Bodyguard to Lady Gaga, Jay Z + Beyonce Dead at 43
The former bodyguard of Lady Gaga and her pals Jay Z and Beyonce was killed on Monday, Sept. 2 in Miami, Fla.
In a bizarre scenario, Norman Oosterbroek, 42, was tasered while naked and ultimately died. He stood 6-foot-five and carried 280-pounds on his frame, so he cut an imposing figure and those stats would make it seem that he effectively protected his clients.
However, he was killed by cops upon trespassing on the grounds of and breaking into a Miami mansion around 10:45PM local time earlier this week. Reports indicate that he was harassing and hitting a resident of the mansion and ingesting what authorities suspected were drugs. He also put up a violent struggle against the cops.
As a result, the man nicknamed the "Dutch Giant" was tasered.
While he served as a human shield for some of our favorite pop stars, he couldn't save himself from a taser's volts. He died at a hospital shortly after.
In addition to the likes of Mother Monster and Jayonce, Oosterbroek also guarded Nelson Mandela in South Africa, so he was dispatched for some incredibly high profile jobs.
Further details regarding this incident are TBD.


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Tuesday will mark one year since George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin.
The gap between what we all thought we knew then and what we know now is as wide as Sanford's Lake Monroe.
Zimmerman wasn't a white man who gunned down a black kid. It was a half-Hispanic man — who says he has black family members — who gunned down a black kid.
The Sanford Police Department didn't ignore the possibility of racial motivation — or worse, condone it — during its investigation.
In the days after the shooting, before the world was watching, Investigator Chris Serino asked Zimmerman point blank, "Had this person been white, would you have felt the same way?" and, "You got any problems with black people?"
And Trayvon was not the thug that some, resorting to faked photographs, desperately tried to portray him as. He was a lanky 17-year-old without a criminal record, though he had been suspended from school at the time he was killed.
Try as they might, this case didn't fit any of the convenient, uncomplicated molds favored by so many civil-rights activists, bigots, pundits and members of the public.
The divide over Trayvon's death is what happens when people draw conclusions — and battle lines — before they have the facts. They become invested in supporting their conclusions — and winning the battle — instead of learning the truth.
Some wanted this case to be about a black teen who was shot and killed for no reason except that a Neighborhood Watch volunteer didn't like his skin color. A subplot involved either apathetic or bigoted Sanford cops who sat on their hands instead of arresting the known killer.
Others wanted the case to be about a vigilant neighborhood watchman who, through no fault of his own, became involved in a confrontation with an aggressive teenager with murder on his mind. In this version, the watchman feared for his life and had no choice but to pull out his weapon and shoot.
More likely the truth is somewhere in the middle of those two popular narratives.
But rarely do people describe it that way.
It's far easier to choose and consume news that validates the version you want to believe. George Zimmerman's a victim? Watch Sean Hannity. Oh, you say that Trayvon Martin was murdered in cold blood? Tune in to Lawrence O'Donnell.
Or blame the media, if you prefer. We report news as it develops. Sometimes that results in mistakes.
But a news story, by its nature, evolves. So should the public's opinions. When new information emerges, people should be open to changing their minds.
Doesn't happen. Too many people today don't want to be informed. They just want their beliefs validated.
They don't want to be discerning. They want to be spoon-fed.
Knowing what we know today, it seems clear that Trayvon was walking back the town house he was staying at from a 7-Eleven where he bought a fruit drink and Skittles.
Zimmerman saw him and called a non-emergency number to report him as suspicious to Sanford police. At some point the two started fighting and, according to witnesses, Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman.
That seems to be corroborated by Zimmerman's injuries as well as witnesses who say it was Zimmerman yelling out for help on the 911 tapes and not Trayvon.
Whether Zimmerman's injuries were serious enough for him to fear for his life and shoot Trayvon will be a question for the judge when she decides whether Zimmerman is immune from prosecution in a "stand your ground" hearing set for April.
It's a question already answered by millions of Americans who made up their minds long before the evidence emerged.
I'd like to say we learned something from Trayvon's death. Something about giving the facts a chance to play out before we judge. Something about altering conclusions — even those that seemed logical at first — once the facts no longer support them.
But we've learned nothing. All you have to do is look at the shootings in Newtown, Conn., just two months ago to see that.
The gunfire that killed all those 6- and 7-year-olds and their teachers had barely ended before new battle lines were drawn and conclusions made.
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more with my 6 year old. Any question I have, the instructor is quick to answer it.
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of my classes with them online. I recommend this class to anyone that is looking into
online classes."
-Maribel Flores
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I also think that SBCC has a wide variety of classes to fit everyone's needs."
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Just a few advantages of SBCC Distance Learning:
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|Learning how to navigate through information via the Internet can help in your personal and professional life. Achieving a level of competency with your computer skills will only increase your abilities in the workplace as well.


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Some 2,277 private tech companies were acquired in 2012, according to a recent report by M&A database CB Insights.
For the 331 startups, which disclosed valuations and financials of the deals, acquirers paid $46.8 billion.
More than 50% of the startup exits were less than $50 million, while over 80% were less than $200 million. Only eight $1 billion startups were acquired in 2012.


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"Lite Geology" Focuses on Earthquakes, Oct. 23, 2002
SOCORRO, N.M., October 23, 2002-The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) published the most recent issue of its newsletter Lite Geology. The current issue focuses on earthquakes.
The featured article, "Earth Briefs," discusses the importance of using earthquakes for predicting volcanic eruptions. For example, the massive 2001 eruption of Mount Etna, Italy, was preceded by the largest swarm of earthquakes in that area for the 20 years prior. The article goes on to state that these low magnitude earthquakes are caused by magma movement in the Earth's crust, which radiates movement up to the surface.
The article mentions three different varieties of volcanic earthquakes: volcanotectonic, which can not be traced to a body of magma; long-period earthquakes, which are the result of magma migration; and tremors, which are almost always associated with eruptions.
The article also mentions that the magma bodies beneath the Valles caldera, Jemez Mountains, and area around Socorro are being monitored by scientists at New Mexico Tech and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information, visit http://www.ees.nmt.edu/Geop/Research_and_Outreach/research.html
The second featured article, "New Mexico Earthquakes: Mid-1800s through 1998," discusses the strengths and frequencies of earthquakes in New Mexico, primarily the area surrounding Socorro, referred to as the Socorro Seismic Anomaly (SSA). "The area within the SSA occupies 1.6% of the total area of the state," the article notes, "but accounts for 37% of the earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or greater, or 47% of the earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater."
The article also introduces the two different scales for measuring the intensity of earthquakes. The Modified-Mercalli Intensity Scale, commonly used before seismographs, utilizes buildings and other surroundings as pinpoints, and Richter Magnitude measures intensity using seismographs.
A sidebar titled "Earthquake Exercise at Alamogordo, New Mexico" tells about a city-wide exercise that took place in August 2001. The exercise simulated the results of a magnitude seven earthquake, testing a variety of local agencies and their capacity for handling emergencies.
"New Mexico's Most Wanted Minerals" page features sulfur, giving its description, most common uses, formation, location, and other names for the soft mineral.
The "Postcard From the Field" section, titled "Afield, Horseback" tells a story about the author's adventure in the field while mapping the geology of the San Felipe Pueblo on a stormy April day.
Lite Geology, an award-winning quarterly magazine published by the NMBGMR, is devoted to increasing Earth science awareness by showcasing contemporary geological topics, issues, and events in an easily understood, fun-to-read format. It is designed to be less technical than most of the NMBGMR's other publications and is primarily directed toward educators and other members of the public who have an interest in geology and the related Earth sciences. Subscriptions to the magazine are available free of charge for New Mexico residents. Out-of-state subscribers are asked to contribute a $4 per year subscription fee to the NMBGMR to cover the cost of printing and mailing the periodical.
For more information about Lite Geology, or any other NMBGMR publications, write to the Bureau Publications Office, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801, call (505) 835-5410, or visit the Bureau's website at http://geoinfo.nmt.edu.


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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
TSG Release Hop - When I Grow Up
I think that I may have actually squealed when I saw this set! It's called When I Grow Up and it so reminds me of my little girl, Ashlynn, who clops around the downstairs in a pair of my platform heels that she keeps in my craft room! lol How the heels found a home in with my stamps, I'll never know but that's where she hides them so that she can play with them ;)
When I Grow Up is a 4x6 set that includes a total of 15 stamps and will sell for $15.00.
Would you like to win the new When I Grow Up stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter's blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter's blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the 'it' blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter's Blog Hop Challenge post.
You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, March 31st with the winner being announced during the release party chat.
Card Recipe:
Stamps: There She Goes - When I Grow Up
Paper: Gina K, Water Colour, Suede, October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket, MME, CTMH
Ink: Versafine Onyx black, Vintage Photo, Saffron
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Xyron, Chalk Pencil, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water brush, Scallop Punch, MFT Jumbo Scallop Die, Twine, Corner Chomper
42 comments:
- Lyndal said...
Love the colours and the embossing Kim :)
- March 28, 2012 at 5:18 AM
- Angel said...
Couldn't be cuter! Fun layout and amazing coloring as always!
- March 28, 2012 at 5:33 AM
- Rosie Gustafson said...
Love the card. Thank you for sharing.
- March 28, 2012 at 5:53 AM
- Heather said...
Gorgeous, love the image :)
- March 28, 2012 at 5:57 AM
- Luanne said...
love your coloring and vibrant colors of card
- March 28, 2012 at 6:02 AM
- Indy said...
Such a cute card!
- March 28, 2012 at 6:03 AM
- Alina said...
Cute card! Love this stamp set!
- March 28, 2012 at 6:32 AM
- Mary said...
Love the papers, the imbossing, your colouring...need I say more LOL
- March 28, 2012 at 8:42 AM
- Mary-Anne V said...
Wow love all the embossing on your card... never thought of embossing pp. will have to try.
- March 28, 2012 at 8:42 AM
- Anita said...
What an adorable card! I love the layout.
- March 28, 2012 at 8:46 AM
- Stampin Cats said...
Love the colors and you used twine.
- March 28, 2012 at 8:47 AM
- Shari said...
your card is great! I really like how you did his shirt, it looks amazing!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:22 AM
very fun card.
- March 28, 2012 at 9:24 AM
- Miriam Prantner said...
This is just fabulous! Perfect papers and embossing, and your coloring is just so vibrant and deep! He totally stands out and is adorable!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:28 AM
- Elizabeth said...
Absolute love it, the coloring, the layout, the different layers, just awesome!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:37 AM
- Sue D said...
Fabulous card--I like your coloring, layout and papers.
- March 28, 2012 at 9:49 AM
- sharon g said...
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the embossing!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:50 AM
- Sandi J said...
Love this card - the colors, layout, papers - wonderful!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:57 AM
- Ann said...
Beautiful card love the layers, textures, stitching and the bold colors. Super layout. TFS Ann Lind
- March 28, 2012 at 10:43 AM
- Marie / Legojenta said...
Great card, love the large scalloped edge =) TFS!
- March 28, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Great card!! I love all of the bold colors!! So fun!
- March 28, 2012 at 12:02 PM
- Feikje said...
Love the colors! Nice rope you used! Very nice card!
- March 28, 2012 at 12:13 PM
- miatagal said...
Adorable card, Kim; thanks for sharing such great inspiration and your amazing creation. Love the colours you have used!!
- March 28, 2012 at 1:06 PM
- Luv2talk said...
Love the sketch on this one. Loving all the layers.
- March 28, 2012 at 1:53 PM
- Natasha G.P. said...
Your shapes and textures are WOW!
- March 28, 2012 at 2:47 PM
- Kelly Collins said...
Your coloring is amazing Kim and I love how you embossed the papers.
- March 28, 2012 at 2:58 PM
- Mary J said...
Just brilliant, I love it!
- March 28, 2012 at 3:00 PM
- Directmailscrapper said...
Great coloring -- terrific colors!
- March 28, 2012 at 3:10 PM
- Candace said...
Love these colors and all the embossing! Awesome card!
- March 28, 2012 at 4:30 PM
- canadian_liner said...
Amazing colouring--can't figure out if you stamped on patterned paper or if you managed to create texture with your colouring? Fun, vibrant card!
- March 28, 2012 at 5:35 PM
- Pam said...
Fabulous coloring! Love this set!
- March 28, 2012 at 7:14 PM
- Barb's Boys Inspired said...
Yes, ADORABLE is the word!...and your colors are so rich!
- March 28, 2012 at 8:07 PM
- Cathy said...
gorgeous colors, super cute card.
- March 28, 2012 at 8:19 PM
- Renuka said...
Wow.. I just love the way you used your colors and the background. Fun card!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:37 PM
- howo34 said...
Great card, I love your coloring!
- March 28, 2012 at 9:40 PM
- Elena said...
Your coloring is super, Kim! Love your card!
- March 29, 2012 at 4:20 AM
- Jennifer J said...
This set it cute. I like your card.
- March 29, 2012 at 5:14 AM
- Susan said...
Love the way you've coordinated your colouring to go with your papers. The textured background adds interest too!
- March 29, 2012 at 10:41 AM
- Jan Garber said...
Your coloring and piecing is amazing! I am loving this whole set!
- March 29, 2012 at 2:53 PM
- Theresa said...
So totally fabulous! Love all the great layers and colors.
- March 29, 2012 at 3:44 PM
- Holly AKA KopyKat said...
so cute, what a great set
- March 29, 2012 at 8:22 PM
- Jackie said...
What fabulous use of rich colors! This card is just perfect!
- March 30, 2012 at 7:49 PM


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Scholars A-Z
Born on 1200
'Abd Al-Rhaman Ibn Nasr ibn 'Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Nabarawi al-Shafi'i (al-Adawi al-Shairazi) is an Egyptian scholar who flourished probably in the time of Salahuddin (sultan 1169-1193). He wrote a handbook for the use of police officers in charge of markets (muhtasib; hence, Spanish almotacen; t...
Born on 1600
Abd Al-Rahman ibn Faqi Mahmud was appointed as Qadi (judge) in 1553 CE to the post of Imam (leader of prayer) and Dean of the University of Sankore, Timbuktu. Click here for more information.
Abu l-Hasan 'Ali ibn Abi l-Rijal, was an Arab astrologer who was active in the first half of the ninth century. He penned the famous, Kitāb al-Mawālīd, or 'Book of Nativities'. Click here for more information.
Born on 988 Died on 1061
Abul Hasan Al-Misrî, was a physician and author of many medical writings of which the most popular was his commentary on Galen's Ars Parva which was translated by Gherardo Cremonese. For more detail click here.


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Traineeship at Liebherr in France
At four locations in France, the Liebherr Group provides the resources for a successful start in professional life. In two to five years, trainees graduate as specialists in technical or commercial professions that are in demand. Among the potential careers, for example, are Bac Pro, DUT or Licence Professionnelle.
Overview of professions
- BAC PRO Chaudronnerie Industrielle (metalworker)
- BAC PRO Maintenance des Équipements Industriels (industrial mechanic)
- BAC PRO Mécanicien Systèmes Avioniques (avionics technician)
- BTS Assistance Technique d'ingénieur (industrial master metalworker)
- BTS Conception et Réalisation en Chaudronnerie Industrielle (metalworker)
- BTS Electrotechnique (electronics technician for production engineering)
- BTS Maintenance et Après-Vente d'Engins de Travaux Publics et Manutention (mechanic for construction machine technology)
- BTS Moteurs à Combustion Interne (specialization - combustion engines)
- DUT Hygiène Sécurité et Environnement (national diploma in occupational safety - environmental protection - health protection)
- Ingénieur en Génie Mécanique (mechanical engineer)
- Ingénieur Méthodes Industriel (industrial processes engineer)
- Licence Professionnelle Maintenance des Systèmes et Tests en Environnement Complexe (bachelor of system maintenance)
- Licence Professionnelle Technique Industrielle Spécialité en Techniques Industrielles (bachelor of industrial aviation and aerospace technologies)
Career start at Liebherr in France
Career start at Liebherr in France
Career start at Liebherr in France
Career start at Liebherr in France
Career start at Liebherr in France
Successful start in professional life
Liebherr in France intensively prepares its apprentices and students of combined vocational and educational schemes for professional life with plenty of hands-on experience and the use of modern workplaces. The wide selection of occupational training and academic study courses ranges from aviation and aerospace technology to boiler construction and procurement and logistics management. As outstanding specialists, graduates can expect a career in engineering and business management professions.


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I just sent a cordial (but picante!) email to Matt Richtel, the New York Times correspondent who seems to be making a career out of pulling the curtain aside on the Wizard-of-Oz that educational technology has apparently become. Richtel's latest, a front page article, no less, draws broad conclusions about the failures of educational technology from the fact that lots of Silicon Valley masters of the universe send their children to a local Waldorf school where....da, da, da, dum...no computers at all are allowed. The crux of the article is as follows:
1) Learning is about engaging things, and tech is a distraction.
2) Lots of high powered Silicon Valley types are willing to pay 18k a year to insulate their kids from computing so they can do artwork and knit socks.
3) Kids appreciate a chance to do tangible, hands-on work.
OK--let the rebuttal begin....
1) As I argued in two posts earlier this year (see post #1 and post #2) the key to effective deployment of any pedagogic tool (including composition books, chalkboards...and classroom wikis) is good pedagogic design. Period paragraph.
2) Richtel's latest article is badly flawed given that all of his data is anecdotal, site-specific and non-longitudinal.
3) While Richtel's past articles make an effective case that the hype surrounding ed tech is much like the proverbial fire that yields more light than heat, Richtel falls into the same trap by making a fetish of Waldorf, a pedagogy that he shows little understanding of, even as he lauds it.
4) Oh, yes, lest I forget: Richtel does mention that tuition at the one school he profiles is $17,500 for primary grades. Friends, without being unkind, I dare say that the children of Amazon and Google executives who run through $17k on a family vacation can well afford to have their kids knit socks and tell stories in school. If we marched into an East Palo Alto school, where families struggle just to make ends meet, and suggested that children should be insulated from learning how to use these tools at an early age, we would meet a chilly reception, and rightly so. The Google execs have enough cash, cachet and connections to educate their kids in technological literacy later. I dare say that many of our families don't have such a luxury.
Your feedback is warmly welcomed in the comment box or directly to my email. I'll also read your physical letters, but only if you keep the penmanship neat. And no socks, please.
Dr. Allen Selis
Head of School
South Peninsula Hebrew Day School
Monday, October 24, 2011
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Students on Way to Prom Stop to Help Accident Victims
Twenty kids were in a limo on the way to their high school prom in Florida when a van flipped right in front of them.
Dressed in tuxedos, dresses and high heels, the teenagers scrambled out of the car and helped save the five adults and two kids that were trapped inside.
Even though the students were left startled and a bit traumatized, they still went to the prom and their friends even helped the kids get the blood out of their prom clothes. (NPR)


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Although a torn ACL will prevent Canadian women's Olympic gymnastics team captain Christine (Peng-Peng) Lee from competing at next month's Games, she told IG she aims to provide leadership, advice and moral support to the team in London.
Lee, who was named Gymnastics Canada's Women's Gymnastics International Athlete of the Year for 2011-2012 on Saturday, injured her knee while training vault at the Canadian championships in May.
"I am so honored to be team captain and can't wait to be there with the team through their Olympic journey," Lee said. "I want to make sure the team always stays positive and supportive with each other through this process, and that they enjoy the Olympics and stick together as a team. Also, I would like to pass on some of my experiences of being part of a team and handling different pressures that they may come across."
Lee, who led Canada to an Olympic team berth through its performance at the Olympic test event in London in January, said she is eager to resume training after she undergoes knee surgery.
"My knee is doing really well," said Lee, who has committed to compete for UCLA. "I have had lots of treatment on it, and the mobility is coming back much faster than I thought. I'm not quite sure when I will be able to train on it again. I am taking it day by day right now. Once I undergo surgery I will have a better understanding of when I can start training again and what rehab I should be doing."
Lee said she looks forward to joining the Canadian team in London on July 19. Twelve gymnasts are in contention for the five-member squad, which will be decided following this week's Olympic trials camp in Gatineau, Que.
"I will not be training while I am there, but I will be doing some rehab exercises for my knee," she said. "I am staying at the High Performance Center but will be getting day passes to the Olympic Village so I can be with the team."
Although Lee's Olympic participation will be free of the pressure of hitting her own routines, she said her role as team captain will require her to control her nerves in a different but equally challenging capacity.
"My teammates will be looking to me for advice and leadership," she told IG. "As we get closer to the Olympic Games, the athletes and I will get more nervous and trainings will become more intense. I try to stay calm and always try to get everyone to stick together as a team because, during these pressures, having your team support you makes the experience more enjoyable. Everyone on the team is going after the same goals and dreams, and no one should feel isolated, because every member plays a substantial role. By having a positive attitude throughout the process and supporting one another, I think the team will do really well."
External Link: Gymnastics Canada Gymnastique
Lee is featured in the following issues of International Gymnast magazine:
To order back issues, click here.
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Benefits & Features
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At SKINS, we strive for excellence by making sure that the little details deliver real benefits. That's why the S400 Women's Extra Warm ¾ Tights incorporates a low profile waistband for less bulk under your ski gear, articulated knees to help prevent bunching, and zigzag stitching at the hem for stretch and strength around the the lower knee.
SKINS thermal fabric is a blend of Polyamind and Elastane, which combines high pulling and abrasion resistance with excellent breath-ability and a soft feel against your skin. The brushed interior helps to release heat back to your body to give you a thermal advantage in cooler temperatures.
With innovative technology and a slick look the S400 Women's Extra Warm ¾ Tights are sure to become a mainstay in your wardrobe


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Anna Nichols
|Year Inducted:
- Started intercollegiate athletic program for women at Brandeis and was a pioneer in starting women's intercollegiate athletics in the Boston area.
- Coached the 1957 Women's basketball team to an undefeated record, a first at Brandeis in any sport.
- First women's coach of a men's varsity college team in the country, the Men's Swimming and Diving team.
- Inducted into Brandeis Hall of Fame, October 16, 1998


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Junior Kirsten Daamen has earned a spot on the Dutch National Team's 15 player travel roster for this week's trip to Hungary. Daamen and her squad will play a pair of games on their four day trip.
May 15, 2012
At first, I was staying with the team manager, but then on Friday I moved into a house with two teammates. It is a really nice house. I have my own room and the house is within walking distance to the grocery store and a few other small food places. We have today off, the two other girls went home so I am alone in the house. The house is in Almere, which is about 15 minutes away from the gym where we will play our home games.
Today on my day off, I have to do some laundry and will just walk around to see what is close to the house. We are provided with a car but I don't know how to drive a stick shift. Something I probably should have learned before I left! The car is very small, compared to cars in the US, but is average size here in Holland.
One of my cousins got married on Saturday, so after practice my dad and I went to the reception. It was really nice seeing family that I have not seen in 9 years.
My dad left yesterday, so I am really on my own now. All of my family here has already said that they will come to everything that they can.
Today the coach announced who would be traveling to Hungary for four days to play two games. Only 15 people were selected to go and I was one of those 15. If you are not selected to go you still have to practice. I'm excited to go. I have never been to Hungary before, so it should be interesting.
I have attached a few pictures. The black building is where I practiced on Saturday and Sunday and it is where we will play all of our home games. There is also a photo of the car. It is tiny. The other day three of us had to fit in with six travel bags and three backpacks!
I will write and send a few pictures after the trip to Hungary!
- Kirsten


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The Royal Lahaina Resort on Ka'anapali Beach might best be described by what it isn't rather than what it is. Big Box Maui resorts do it up in grand style. The Royal Lahaina Resort takes a subtle approach, the road less traveled by
Fonuts founders, former Bazaar by Jose Andres pastry chef Waylynn Lucas and freelance baker Nancy Truman, have conspired to deliver a healthy, modern take on the doughnut
The Steep Canyon Rangers are bluegrass' surprise sensation. The band is currently on tour with actor Steve Martin
Lappert's Hawaii ice cream is a family tradition
It's time Vancouver gets added to the list of must visit food cities—and one restaurant, L'Abattoir, to the Vancouver best restaurant lists
What you probably haven't experienced on Ka'anapali Beach, Maui is Cirque Polynesia at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa
The Hawaiian Sailing Canoe Association's, Wa'a Kiakahi festival was held June 10-12 on Ka'anapali Beach on Maui


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As a visitor to the Millmerran Museum you will reminisce of a time gone by when you see the displays collected from the local district, many of which have been donated by the families of the district's pioneers. This is not a stark and sterile museum, it's a living, breathing and continually evolving collection from the people and the stories of Millmerran, housed in 11 buildings on site. Experience the museums' collections of pioneering histories and photographs, war, railway, schooling and dairy industry memorabilia along with so much more.
One item of interest is the Water Baby, a steam launch - built entirely on Yandilla Station in 1877 was both a pleasure craft, taking guests for trips on the river, also used to rescue stud sheep during times of flood.
The Millmerran Museum also has a large section of written local histories and photographs - appointments are recommended for family research.
Large groups and bus groups are most welcome. You can bring along your lunch or catering can be organised (by prior arrangement).
Millmerran Museum is a part of the Toowoomba Region Transport Heritage Trail. The tourism office is available to answer all of your regional tourism questions.
Note: Information on listed products and services are provided by the operator and were correct at the time of publishing. Rates are indicative based on the minimum and maximum available prices of products and services. Please visit the operator's website for further information. All prices quoted are in Australian dollars (AUD).


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Feb 26, 2013
BOSTON, Mass. - A fan bus will be available for Friday's men's ice hockey ECAC East semi-final game at Norwich University. The bus will depart the Clark Athletic Center at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, March 1. A sign-up sheet will be available in the Athletics Department main office for anyone wanting to make the trip to Vermont to cheer on the Beacons.


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By NICK McQUEEN
The Hays Larks' 11-game winning streak came to a halt Wednesday as Hays fell 6-2 to the visiting Liberal Bee Jays at Larks Park.
Liberal plated five unearned runs to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning, and Liberal starter Tyler Wiedenfeld kept Hays hitless through five innings.
Hays starter Jeff Chesnut (1-1) took a tough-luck loss as he allowed five unearned runs after an error in the sixth. Hays went through five pitchers in the game, and didn't record a hit until Elvin Rodriguez' double in the sixth. Hays scored one run in the sixth on an RBI fly out by Aaron Cornell, and in the eighth on an RBI single by Rodriguez.
Hays fell to 14-2 overall and 10-2 atop the Jayhawk League. Liberal snapped a four-game losing streak, and improved to 9-7, 5-7 in
league play.
Hays is off Thursday before it travels to Derby for a three-game league series against the Twins.
For more on the game, see Thursday's HDN.


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Dennis Hopper, the maverick director and costar of the landmark 1969 counterculture film classic "Easy Rider" whose drug- and alcohol-fueled reputation as a Hollywood bad boy preceded his return to sobriety and a career resurgence in the films " Hoosiers" and "Blue Velvet," died Saturday. He was 74.
A longtime resident of Venice who also was known as a photographer, artist and collector of modern art, Hopper died at his home of complications from prostate cancer, said Alex Hitz, a friend of the family.
A frail-looking Hopper, whose battle with prostate cancer was revealed in October, was able to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in late March.
In a more than five-decade acting career that was influenced early on by working with James Dean and studying at the Actors Studio, he made his film debut as one of the high school gang members who menace Dean in the 1955 classic "Rebel Without a Cause."
Hopper went on to appear in more than 115 films, including "Apocalypse Now," "Cool Hand Luke," "Giant," "Hang 'Em High," "Rivers Edge," "Rumble Fish," "Speed," "The American Friend," "True Grit" and "True Romance."
But it's his role as the long-haired, pot-smoking biker Billy opposite Peter Fonda's Wyatt (Captain America) in the hit movie "Easy Rider" that gave Hopper his most enduring claim to fame.
The low-budget tale of two bikers on an ultimately tragic cross-country odyssey after scoring a big cocaine sale, "Easy Rider" became a generational touchstone.
"We rode the highways of America and changed the way movies were made in Hollywood," Fonda said in a statement Saturday. "I was blessed by his passion and friendship."
The movie, which boasted a star-making performance from a little-known Jack Nicholson as a boozy small-town lawyer who goes along for the ride and gets his first taste of marijuana, set old-guard Hollywood back on its heels.
"The impact of 'Easy Rider,' both on the filmmakers and the industry as a whole, was no less than seismic," Peter Biskind wrote in his 1998 book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood."
"Hopper was catapulted into the pantheon of countercultural celebrities that included John Lennon, Abbie Hoffman and Timothy Leary," Biskind wrote. "He was surrounded by groupies and acolytes. He may have started down the slippery slope to megalomania and grandiloquence on his own, but he had plenty of help."
"Easy Rider" won an award at the Cannes Film Festival for the best movie by a new director, and it earned co-writers Hopper, Fonda and Terry Southern an Oscar nomination.
"Hopper and Fonda were renegades, Hollywood-bashers, the Vietcong of Beverly Hills," Biskind wrote. "To them, it was vindication, beating Hollywood at its own game, proof that you could get high, express yourself and make money all at the same time."
Commenting on the success of "Easy Rider," Hopper said: "Nobody had ever seen themselves portrayed in a movie. At every love-in across the country people were smoking grass and dropping LSD, while audiences were still watching Doris Day and Rock Hudson."
Another signature role was in "Apocalypse Now," director Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 nightmare vision of the Vietnam War. Hopper played a counterculture photojournalist, who is encountered in the compound of Marlon Brando's insane, renegade Col. Kurtz and is prone to his own crazed rantings.
"Dennis Hopper was part of that sort of misfit, rebel-persona generation where you just didn't hit your mark and say your lines and try to create a movie icon type of presence," said Peter Rainer, film critic for the Christian Science Monitor. "He was much more rough-hewn, rough-edged and intuitive as an actor, and this created a lot of problems early on."
Indeed, Hopper survived being shut out of major studio films for a number of years after a legendary run-in in the late '50s with old-guard director Henry Hathaway on the set of "From Hell to Texas."
The highly volatile actor also survived his own well-documented descent into drugs and alcohol that reached a low point in the early '80s while making a film in Mexico.
"I ended up walking off into the jungle, naked, in the middle of the night, somewhere down near Cuernavaca," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. "I was convinced they were listening to my mind and my friends were being gassed."
During the last five years of his "abusing," he said, "I was doing half a gallon of rum with a fifth of rum on the side, 28 beers and 3 grams of cocaine a day — and that wasn't getting high, that was just to keep going, man.
"I was a nightmare. I finally just shorted out."
A post-rehab Hopper received a supporting actor Oscar nomination playing, ironically, the alcoholic father of a high school basketball player who sobers up briefly to become an assistant to Gene Hackman's coach in the inspirational 1986 film "Hoosiers."
But, as Hopper told The Times, "I'm not usually in one of those movies that leaves you feeling good when you leave the theater."
That same year he appeared in "Blue Velvet," writer-director David Lynch's disturbing film in which Hopper played the mystery-substance-inhaling psychopathic killer Frank Booth, a character Time magazine critic Richard Corliss described as possibly "the vilest sadistic creep in movie history."
"When people ask what I was inhaling in the mask, I say it was [Method acting teacher] Lee Strasberg," Hopper later told the London Evening Standard.
As an actor, Hopper carved out his own particular niche as what one journalist called a "serial portrayer of weirdos," including the maniacal bomber in "Speed" and the eye-patch-wearing villain with the shaved head in "Waterworld."
Hopper, Rainer observed, "really gets inside the craziness" of such characters.
"He's able to do that because — and this is where the Method part probably comes in — he somehow taps into the craziness in himself," Rainer said.
After "Easy Rider," Hopper was dubbed "Hollywood's hottest director" by Life magazine. He went to Peru to direct "The Last Movie," in which he played a movie stuntman who remains in a remote mountain village after a Hollywood film company shoots a violent western whose production has a powerful effect on the villagers.
Released by Universal in 1971 after Hopper spent more than a year editing it at his home in Taos, N.M., "The Last Movie" won the Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival but was panned by most movie critics and quickly pulled from theaters.
"As a piece of film-making," summed up Charles Champlin, then The Times' movie critic, "it is inchoate, amateurish, self-indulgent, tedious, superficial, unfocused and a precious waste not only of money but, more importantly, of a significant and conspicuous opportunity."
It would be years before Hopper got another chance to direct, most notably the 1988 film "Colors."
But, as Biskind noted of the period after the high-profile failure of "The Last Movie," Hopper "did do some acting, and directors learned to work around the drugs."
Far more prolific as an actor since his mid-'80s career resurgence, Hopper continued to work steadily in films and television.
In 1991, he received an Emmy nomination as lead actor for his portrayal of a murderous Southern racist in the Showtime movie "Paris Trout."
He also showed up in commercials, including ones for Nike and for Ameriprise Financial in which the old Easy Rider told aging baby boomers that it was "time to redefine" retirement.
Hopper more recently played record producer Ben Cendars in the TV series "Crash."
He was born May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kan., and spent most of his childhood living on his grandparents' farm. His father served in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and his mother managed an outdoor swimming pool in Dodge City.
After the war, the family moved first to Kansas City, Mo., and then to San Diego County.
A 1954 graduate of Helix High School in La Mesa, he had acted in school productions and had won a scholarship to the National Shakespeare Festival at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
His debut TV role as an epileptic in the TV medical drama "Medic" aired in early 1955 and led to the 18-year-old Hopper being signed to a contract with Warner Bros., by whom he was cast in the role of Goon in "Rebel Without a Cause."
Hopper thought he was the best young actor in the world, he later said, until he saw Dean in action.
"The man was doing things I couldn't conceive of," Hopper said in an interview on "Inside the Actors Studio."
"He wasn't doing things that were on the written page. I mean, I could give a great line reading; I could do great gestures. I could preconceive everything, but he wasn't preconceiving anything. He was improvising. He was doing things that weren't on the page. He was using his imagination. He was expressing things with his body and through himself that were just way beyond my understanding."
The last time he saw Dean, who was killed in a car crash in 1955 at age 24, was at the end of working with him on "Giant," the Texas-set epic in which Hopper played Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor's sensitive son as an adult.
"The most personal tragedy in my life was Dean," Hopper said in a 1987 Vanity Fair interview. "I was 19 years old and had such admiration for him."
Even after Dean's death, the young actor's advice stuck with Hopper.
"I was a very good technician," Hopper recalled in a 1990 interview with the Chicago Tribune, "but Dean was, like, so loose, creating all these wonderful things. So I grabbed him during the 'Chickie-run' scene, and threw him into a car, and I said, 'I thought I was the best, and now I see you, and I know you're better, and I don't even know what you're doing.' He said, 'Well, you have to do things, not show them. You have to take a drink from the glass, not act like you're drinking. Don't have any preconceived ideas. Approach something differently every time.' "
Hopper laughed. "That was the beginning of a lot of problems for me with directors."
On the set of the 1958 western "From Hell to Texas," Hopper refused to read his lines and gesture exactly the way the director, Hathaway, demanded in a scene. And, Hopper later recalled, Hathaway had him do take after take from 7 in the morning until about 10 at night before Hopper finally "cracked" and did it the director's way.
But the damage to Hopper's movie career was done: Warner Bros. dropped him and, he later said, that was the end of his career in Hollywood.
He moved to New York City, where he studied acting with Strasberg. He also became a professional photographer, shooting portraits for Vogue and other magazines. And he married Brooke Hayward, the daughter of actress Margaret Sullavan and producer Leland Hayward.
Hopper's Hollywood career was reinvigorated when his old nemesis, Hathaway, gave him a second chance by casting him in a small role in the 1965 John Wayne western "The Sons of Katie Elder" and later in the 1969 Wayne classic "True Grit."
Hopper also appeared in the low-budget, late-'60s drug movie "The Trip" and the biker film "The Glory Stompers," but he spent most of the decade making guest appearances on TV shows.
Throughout that period, Hopper told Playboy magazine in 1990, "I was looked on as a maniac and an idiot and a fool and a drunkard. And suddenly, I made 'Easy Rider,' man, and the whole world opens up to me."
Hopper's art will be the subject of an exhibition planned to open in July at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Hopper was married five times — to Hayward, with whom he had a daughter, Marin; Michelle Phillips; Daria Halprin, with whom he had a daughter, Ruthanna; Katherine LaNasa, with whom he had a son, Henry; and Victoria Duffy, with whom he had another daughter, Galen.
In January, Hopper filed for divorce from Duffy, whom he married in 1996. She reportedly stated in court filings that Hopper filed for divorce to cut her out of her inheritance, which Hopper denied.
Hopper's wife, children and one grandchild survive him, as does his brother, David, Hitz said.


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The question keeps spinning in our minds, just like a ball bouncing deeply inside the brain: is our website really secure? Surely, that's a very tough topic to answer. But one thing is true in all cases: there are not any websites "completely" safe from attacks. Given the uncontrolled and anonymous nature of the Internet, the concept of a bulletproof website is merely a pipe dream.
More specifically, Web servers are inherently public machines, being accessible by many people around the world, and clearly exposed to several well-known attack techniques. The value of the information stored on servers varies widely, depending on what kind of sites they are hosting, but it's always appealing to potential attackers. However, there is a lot that we can do about securing our website.
We are well aware of many attack methods which might end up exposing, modifying, or deleting sensitive data, so our site is well assured against them. Also, we have updated our software accordingly, stopped unnecessary services on the server, closed unused TCP ports, encrypted data, and the like. What else could be vulnerable? Many times, it's not properly considered or ignored: assumptions made by developers.
Designers and programmers need to make many assumptions. Hopefully, they will document their assumptions and usually be right. Sometimes thought, developers will make poor assumptions. These might include that input data will be valid, will not include unusual characters or will be a fixed length. That brings us almost immediately to the well-known "SQL Injections," widely documented in several articles on the Web, in conjunction with Cross Site Scripting attacks. Here is where this article comes in.
In the rest of the article, I'll cover what Cross Site Scripting is, how it works and how it can be avoided, increasing our site's security level and, hopefully, bringing an overall improvement to our security strategy.
{mospagebreak title=What is Cross Site Scripting?}
To understand what Cross Site Scripting is, let's see a usual situation, common to many sites. Let's say we are taking some information passed in on a querystring (the string after the (?) character within a URL), with the purpose of displaying the content of a variable, for example, the visitor's name:
As we can see in this simple querystring, we are passing the visitor's name as a parameter in the URL, and then displaying it on our "welcomepage.php" page with the following PHP code:
echo 'Welcome to our site ' . stripslashes($_GET['name']);
The result of this snippet is shown below:
Welcome to our site John
This is pretty simple and straightforward. We're displaying the content of the "name" variable, by using the $_GET superglobal PHP array, as we have done probably hundreds of times. Everything seems to be fine. Now, what's wrong with this code? Nothing really. But let's modify the querystring by replacing our visitor's name passed in the URL:
with something like this:

Do you remember the PHP code included in our "welcome.php" page? Yes, you're correct. When we modify the querystring, the following code is executed:
echo 'Welcome to our site ' .

The output of this code is an alert JavaScript box telling you "Hey, you are going be hijacked!" after the "Welcome to our site" phrase.
Very ugly stuff, right? That's a simple example of the Cross Site Scripting vulnerability. This means that any pasted JavaScript code into the URL will be executed happily with no complaints at all.
Keep reading. There's more yet to be revealed!
{mospagebreak title=Going deeper into JavaScript}
Following the same concept above described, we might build a new URL for achieving more dangerous and annoying effects. It's just a matter of including a little bit of JavaScript.
For instance:
name=">healthy food
If we take a deeper look at the code above listed, we can see clearly what's going on. Within the regular link, the JavaScript code is inserted to redirect users to a completely different site. The expression seems to be an apparently innocent link, but it's in fact hiding something else, the JavaScript embedded in the link.
We might send out this link to someone else, so our unworried recipient would click the link to find out a little more about healthy food, and instead being redirected to a different site location, getting something he or she would never expect to see.
Our site's reputation could be seriously wounded, as we can fairly imagine, if someone is taking care of sending around our URL with the JavaScript code embedded in the link, to numerous recipients. That would result in the nasty redirecting effect previously described. And recipients wouldn't be happy about it at all!
Having presented the most commonly used Cross Site Scripting techniques, we need to tackle a proper solution to avoid their ugly effects and prevent ourselves from becoming victims of them.
Let's see how the problem can be solved.
{mospagebreak title=Preventing Cross Site Scripting}
First off, we need to follow simple and straight rules, applicable to common scenarios, where user input is always involved.
Always, all the time, and constantly (pick your term), check to ensure what's coming from POST and GET requests. However obvious, you should never pass by these steps.
If a specific and particular type of data is expected, check to ensure that it's a really valid type and that its of the expected length. Whatever programming language you're using will give you the possibility and the power to do that easily.
Whenever possible, use client-side validation for adding extra functionality to user input checking. Please note that JavaScript validation cannot be used on its own for checking data validity, but it may help to discourage some evil-minded visitors from entering malicious data while providing useful assistance to other well-intended users.
Remove conflicting characters from user input. Search for < and > characters and make sure they're quickly removed. Single and double quotes must be escaped properly too. Many professional websites fail when dealing with character escaping. I hope you won't.
We might go on endlessly, with numerous tips about validating user data, but you can get a lot more from just checking some other useful tutorials and articles. For the sake of this article, we'll show an example to prevent Cross Site Scripting using PHP.
{mospagebreak title=Coding for our safety}
Let's define a simple function to prevent the querysting from being tampered with external code. The function "validateQueryString()" is the following:
function validateQueryString ( $queryString , $min=1,
$max=32 ) {
if ( !preg_match ( "/^([a-zA-Z0-9]{".$min.",".$max."}=[a-zA-Z0-9]{".$min.",".$max."}&?)
+$/", $queryString ) ) {
return false;
return true;
Once we have defined this function, we call it this way:
$queryString = $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'];
if ( !validateQueryString ( $queryString ) ) {
header( 'Location:errorpage.php' );
else {
echo 'Welcome to our site!';
Let's break down the code to see it in detail.
The function performs pattern matching to the querystring passed as a parameter, checking to see if it matches the standard format of a querystring, including GET variable names that only contain the numbers 0-9 and valid letters either in lowercase or uppercase. Any other characters will be considered as invalid. Also, we have specified as a default value that variables can be from 1 to 32 characters long. If matches are not found, the function returns false. Otherwise, it will return true.
Next, we have performed validation on the querystring by calling the function. If it returns false — that is, the querystring contains invalid characters — the user will be taken to an error page, or whatever you like to do. If the function returns true, we just display a welcome message.
Of course, most of the time, we really know what variables to expect, so our validation function can be significantly simplified.
Given the previous URL,
where the "name" variable is expected, we might write the new "validateAlphanum()" function:
function validateAlphanum( $value , $min = 1 , $max =
32 ) {
if ( !preg_match( "/^[a-zA-Z0-9]{".$min.",".$max."}
$/", $value ) ) {
return false;
return true;
and finally validate the value like this:
$name = $_GET['name'];
if ( !validateAlphanum ( $name ) ) {
header( 'Location:errorpage.php' );
else {
echo 'Welcome to our site!';
The concept is the same as explained above. The only noticeable difference is that we're taking in the "name" variable as the parameter for the "validateAlphanum()" function and checking if it contains only the allowed characters 0-9, a-z and A-Z. Anything else will be considered an invalid input.
If you're a strong advocate of object oriented programming, as I am, we might easily include this function as a new method for an object that performs user data validation. Something similar to this:
$name = $_GET['name'];
// get variable value
$dv = &new dataValidator();
// instantiate new data
validator object
if ( !$dv->validateAlphanum( $name ) ) {
// execute validation method
header( 'Location:errorpage.php' );
else {
echo 'Welcome to our site!';
Pretty simple, isn't it?
In order to avoid Cross Site Scripting, several approaches can be taken, whether procedural or object-oriented programming is your personal taste.
In both cases, we've developed specific functions to validate querystrings and avoid tampered or unexpected user input data, demonstrating that Cross Site Scripting can be prevented easily with some help coming from our favorite server-side language.
As usually, dealing with user input data is a very sensitive issue, and Cross Site Scripting falls under this category. It is a serious problem that can be avoided with some simple validation techniques, as we have seen through this article.
Building up robust applications that won't make poor assumptions about visitor's input is definitely the correct way to prevent Cross Site Scripting attacks and other harmful techniques. Client environments must always be considered as a pretty unsafe and unknown territory. So, for the sake of your website's sanity and yours, keep your eyes open.


text:
Silicone Hydrogel lenses are the latest development in soft contact lens
materials. They are healthier than conventional soft lenses because they
allow up to 6 times more oxygen to pass through them and increased oxygen
transmission results in better overall eye health. Advantages of silicone
hydrogel lenses over conventional soft lenses include: more resistance to
protein deposits, less drying of the lenses, lower risk of eye infection,
easier handling due to increased rigidity of material, and much lower
incidence of complications with extended wear use (overnight wear).
The convenience of 30 days continuous wear (PureVision and Focus Night & Day),
as well as the lowered incidence of eye health complications are quickly making
silicone hydrogels the most popular lens of choice for both eye care
practitioners as well as patients. Most eye doctors believe that within the
next 5 years, more patients will be wearing silicone hydrogel lenses than any
other lens material.
The current brands of spherical silicone hydrogel lenses available,
in order of highest oxygen transmissibility to lowest, are:
Studies have indicated that some lens care cleaning systems are
compatible with silicone hydrogels, while others may cause adverse reactions
due to toxicity. Aquify, Optifree Express, and ClearCare multipurpose
solutions have all been FDA approved to be used with silicone hydrogels.
AOSept has proven to be an acceptable hydrogen peroxide based system to
use with these lenses. In some studies, Renu Multiplus has been shown to
cause an adverse corneal reaction when used with some silicone hydrogel
lenses (source Contact Lens Spectrum, August 2005). Additionally,
UltraCare and SoloCare are not recommended for use with
silicone hydrogel lenses.
Most people would benefit from wearing silicone hydrogel lenses as
compared to conventional soft lenses due to the health advantages, however,
these lenses are especially useful in the following types of patients:
people with high prescriptions; those whose eyes show signs that they require
more oxygen; wearers who experience end of day discomfort, dryness, or
redness with their conventional soft lenses; people who wear their lenses
for more than 12 to 14 hours a day (including overnight wear); and kids
and teenagers who tend to routinely over wear their lenses. Additionally,
since the Focus Night & Day as well as the PureVision lenses are approved
for 30 days of continuous wear, they can be considered as a useful
alternative for people contemplating refractive surgery.
Silicone hydrogels may not be the lens of choice for all patients.
These lenses are generally more expensive than non-silicone lenses so a
more price conscious consumer may not prefer this option. Also, in some
wearers, the silicone material tends to attract more lipid deposits,
which may cause blurred vision and discomfort. There are some cases
where a patient is not able to adapt well to the more rigid silicone
material, which may result in some minor defects to the corneal integrity.
These complications are rare and generally the health advantages and
increased comfort that most wearers experience far outweigh the incidences
of adverse reactions in those who do not adapt well to the material.
(c) 2006 AC Lens, Reproduction Prohibited without Express
Focus Night & Day were the subject of a three year study by Ciba Vision.
The company reported that the performance of this silicone hydrogel (SiHy)
contact lens indicated that wearers enjoyed improved corneal health and
reduced frequency and symptoms of contact lens related eye health symptoms.
In particular, the study of 317 patients showed that Focus Night & Day
wearers had less problems with red eye, reduced dryness (22%) and
neo-vascularization (the development of new blood vessels in the cornea)
was reduced by 13%. During the first 8 months of 2005, Silicone Hydrogels
represented 24% of all soft contact lens sales � more than double the figure
for the same period of 2004. Ciba lenses represented almost 50% of silicone
hydrogel sales during this time.
Order Discount Silicone HydroGel Contact Lenses At ACLens.com


text:
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The in canon tale of the daughter Rose never thought she could have. When my mother found me, fate seemed to link us together. Not only was I the daughter she never dreamed she'd have, I was unusually unappetizing for a human. However, being raised by vampires does not come without conflict. This is my tale about growing up Cullen and finding love in the most unexpected place. The world's largest coven is about to get a whole lot larger!
Sorrowfully, I do not own the Twilight saga or any of its characters. They belong to the glorious Stephenie Meyer. But Emmalie is MINE, as is the plot. :)
1. Becoming Cullen
Rating 4.1/5 Word Count 2243 Review this Chapter
It was a cold overcast day, the day my mother found me. It was two weeks after another joyless Christmas and the January air bit bone-deep at the usual low of -4 degrees Celsius. The ground was still unthawed and frozen against my bare feet, but at least most of the snow had been shoveled off the cobblestone walks. The bleak day suited my lifeless future. Young as I was, I remember it all vividly. They were honeymooning in Prague, since they had honeymooned in most every destination location the Travel Agency offered.
It was a lover's stroll at sunset; her slender hand was laced in his large calloused one. They were walking, enthralled in one another, when my mother heard my four-year-old whimpers. Twelve blocks away and still she heard it. She did not start out as my mother but she adopted me, calling me her own from the moment we met.
Dragging my reluctant father to the very alley I was in, the two of them flew around the corner like a stray gust of wind. They were dressed tastefully, elegance that did not belong in such a wicked alley. The contrast of beauty and filth was nearly blinding. He hung back his massive size, casting a shadow, but she approached with vigor. I think he was resistant because this was not the first time she sought out a child. Her heart longed to be a mother, a aspiration unattainable because of what she was. She was an aunt and for a while it pacified the desire she had. But her niece grew up so fast it soon left her with more yearning than fulfillment. It gave her but a taunting, fleeting glance at what she craved most. Once she thought that her happiness was dependant upon her ability to conceive, but somewhere along the line that notion changed. Unethical as it might be, she wanted me.
When my father saw the man with the mustache striking me with the broom, he let his reflexes take charge. I was swiped out of harm's way and placed in my mother's cold but consoling embrace. Both she and I would remember this as the first time she had ever held me. My head nestled against her, blocking my vision from my father's violent confrontation.
"You bastard! Why don't you beat up someone who can fight back," a voice thundered, amplified by the surrounding walls. My eyes clamped shut in fear of seeing a fight.
"She is my ward. The orphan brat needs to be taught to..."
But that was all I heard, for the shattering of flesh and bone ended him short. At the time, the sounds, while scary, were unbeknown to me. Her arms tightened protectively about my small frame. We departed from that alleyway, walking at a hastened pace, but not too fast to draw unwanted attention. My father must have seen the immediate attachment in her eyes for he chided her.
"You can not keep her, Rosalie," he commanded in a muted growl. They were speaking English now, a language that any good street beggar knew well.
"But she is an orphan," she objected, her voice whining with ballad-like tones. I noticed her perfect angelic features, her rich milky skin.
"Then she'll go to an orphanage where orphans go," he replied coldly. He ran his huge hands through his untidy chocolate curls in aggravation. I think now he was upset about the life he took. She, however, was not burdened with the same guilt.
"Why did you have to pick now to show your alter benevolent ego? You know we can not keep her," he barked in her ear as she strolled on, unmoved by his antagonism. It occurred to me that they were discussing me. I did not mean to interrupt but my sobs slipped from my mouth. Pain besieged me.
"Ahhh ouch, Mia, ohhhh, Mia," I cried. Mia was my word for mother, the real Czech word was maminka or mamina. She began to rub my bruising hurts, her hands acting as the ice. I suppose this is when he decided to pry me from her arms so he could precede with his plan, a plan he liked to call 'get rid of the stray orphan girl.' Squirming in his iron grasp, I called to her.
"Mia, Mia, Mimi," I screamed frantically, my regard already set in stone. I kicked with all the might I could gather being sleep deprived and starved. When he finally surrendered and gave me back, I was hostile.
"I'm here, sweetling," she whispered, angelic timbres ringing in my ears. I think my mother must have flashed her pleading eyes at my father, eyes that could get their every request, for he relented.
"She can stay the night in the hotel with us but no longer. Be reasonable, babe."
At the hotel, my mother doted upon me, washing me gently and braiding my golden brown hair. She shared her lavender vanilla French shampoo, the one which she normally allowed no one to so much as waft with out permission. Sniffing me, she then toweled me off with the oversized fluffy towel she never traveled without. At that moment, she gleamed at me as if she was overly pleased with the fact that the sewage smell no longer clung to me. My filthy soiled smock was thrown out and she clothed me in a soft cotton baseball t-shirt that fell to my bony ankles. I loved that t-shirt. It was mine from that day on.
I was always small for my age but I was clever. I curled up with her and watched cartoons, my skin tingly clean and my hair smelling like lavender. I felt safe lying against her winter embrace, despite my shivering. To my left, my father sulked on the coral settee. Now I realized it was more the fact that I stole away his honeymoon attention than it was that he disapproved of me. Who could blame him? Here they were in the most exclusive honeymoon suite and I was watching 'Sesame Street' with his wife.
Dinner that night consisted of every entree, appetizer, and dessert on the menu. Room service sent up several carts to deliver our oversized order. I ate well, but like all four-year-olds, the food kept my attention for a matter of minutes. She would have force fed me if he did not stop her.
"Rose, leave her be. She knows if she is hungry or not. Humans do not take in as much as we do and she is small," he reminded as she spooned crème Brule between my lips. She was so joyful and passionate, like a girl who had discovered dolls for the first time. Her eyes were honey, glazed with love; his were dark and worried.
It was later that night when I woke up crying for 'Popeye' that he first really held me. 'Popeye' was the only cartoon I had ever watched prior to tonight. It was my name for him and in my four-year-old mind, it fit. He was an extremely strong and grouchy man. I held out my arms to him, crying harder when he did not come right away. My pretty new mother had left the room minutes ago with the phone plastered to her ear. Now that she was gone, he looked totally clueless about what to do. At first he looked at me, then he went to the room's door to peer down the hall in attempt to find her. But when he walked away, my sobs were louder and he came back and scooped me up.
"Popeye! Popeye! Popeyyyyyyye!" I cried on his stone shoulder.
"Popeye is here, little one, don't cry." And in his arms I stopped weeping. After a short while I stopped trembling, too. My mother slipped back in just as he was gently tucking me in under the covers of the four post bed. She smiled in approbation and then kissed him and me. They were my parents from that instant on.
My mother was and is the most beautiful creature on earth and my father was her equal, a masculine idol himself. She was exquisitely attractive; he was extraordinarily buff. They looked young, around eighteen to twenty, with the facade of high school sweethearts turned newlyweds. But in actuality, they had lived longer than most grandparents. They were the best parents on earth but hardly human.
Before we left Prague, I was christened in an old cathedral, St. Nicholas church, near the Old Town Square in the historic district. I was appropriately named Emmalie Alice Marie Cullen.
For the next six months, we resided on the rural coast of Greenland, keeping to ourselves, renting a small fisherman's cottage while he was out at sea. My English, though baby talk, was pretty fluent for a four-year-old and before a month's time, I was reading. My mother was overindulgent, giving me everything while my father was the practical disciplinarian. I think this was a hard part for him to play; he would have much preferred to be my personal jester. And often he was making me laugh until I cried. But I needed structure. It was good that he accepted the role, for my mother could not stand to see me cry, at least not at first. I believe the times I found myself in the biggest trouble were the times I directly challenged him. I see now that he was only looking out for my best interest, but then it seemed like he was being a big bully.
It was one of those misty days in Greenland when both Mia and Popeye took turns going out to eat. I ate little of my breakfast that morning which displeased Popeye but he just gave me 'the look.' Then I lied to Mia when she came back and told her Popeye fed me lunch. When Popeye came home to our little cottage, he was less than thrilled about the fit I was throwing for his wife about dinner.
"I's is not little anymore. I's don't have to eat. I's big like you!" I screamed throwing my little four-year-old body under the table. She was more hurt than frustrated, but she was not angry. She would have let me throw fits well into my teen years. Popeye on the other hand yanked me out and started the questions that he knew the answers to.
"Did I just hear you raise your voice? Are you the same girl who did not eat any breakfast?" he interrogated, giving me a harmless shake. I was always mad when he was the mean Popeye and not the funny one.
"She did not eat breakfast?" my mother questioned, overly worried.
"No! How did she eat for lunch?" barked my Popeye in response.
"She told me you fed her," my Mia confided in a small voice, her eyes darting back and forth between us.
"Emmalie Alice Marie Cullen! Did you lie to your mother?" I did not look scared. It's strange because most children would have been afraid of Emmett in his happy moods but not even his bad moods fazed me. I looked at him defiantly and glared. His response was simple; he swiped me up and forced me into my chair.
"YOU WILL CLEAN YOUR PLATE AND THEN YOU'RE GOING STRAIGHT TO BED," he commanded in a fierce voice.
"No," I refused in my peppy little voice. Then I made the mistake of throwing my plate. He of course caught it and the confetti of noodles, then glared at me. In an instant I was scooped up and carried to the corner. My nose pushed in with a mild slap to my rear. Instantly I started crying. He then sighed.
"You have to stay here for four minutes. Do you think you can do it?" Popeye questioned his voice now mildly upset.
"No, Emmett, please. She is crying.....she will not do it again. Let her out," my Mia begged in a child-like voice. She was always my advocate.
"Rose, you have got to be kidding me. In our day, she would have received this plus a good sound leathering. She is staying here for four minutes!" Popeye declared, annoyed at her resistance. I heard my Mia pout at his words.
"Emm, baby, please! I can't stand to see her unhappy," she griped, stomping her foot.
"Rose, really, you are worse than her. You are going to have to get better at this," he said firmly. He still had his hand on my shoulders pushing me into that corner. "Three minutes," he announced, I think for both our sakes. She groaned in agony. He requested, "Emmalie, Popeye has to go distract your Mia. Do you think you can stand here like a good girl?"
I nodded. Anything that got me his praise was worth doing. And distract her he did. They sure did make a lot of noise. But when I tried to see what all the fuss was about, I was told to get my nose to the wall. Standing there in that corner, I had no idea how he was diverting her. Now I have a crystal clear picture of what they were doing. After my Popeye claimed it had been three minutes, I was let out, redeemed. And my Mia had a new found appreciation of 'corner time.' Needless to say, she never complained again.
- Author
- jacklynnight
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- Published
- 24 Feb 09
- Updated
- 09 Jan 12
- Status
- In Progress