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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
TNA Genesis: The Beginning of the End?
I hate to beat a dead horse or piggyback on Al's geometry lesson posted below. But as a wrestling journalist, it's usually my duty to cover the sport objectively, even if I don't like the product.
As such, I gave TNA a chance on January 4 (and going forward) because it was a "new era." While I didn't actively dislike TNA before then, I didn't follow it as fervently as others.
To me, it was the 1997 Florida Marlins of wrestling - sure, there were a handful of homegrown future stars, but the bulk of the product relied on past their prime former Superstars thrown together to make a run at the top.
Yet I had several TNA fanboys (who actually now seem more simply like WWE haters) telling me I needed to "cross the line" and that TNA was different, fresh, alternative, insert adjective here. They were wrestling, not sports entertainment - and no sirree, they don't just push WWE retreads simply because of their name value.
Then, I saw a 3-hour Impact where, not counting the outstanding Angle/AJ main, there was about 25 minutes of wrestling content in a 2 1/2 hours, every wrestler who has either ever been tight with Hulk Hogan or released from WWE in the past year show up and booking that made me feel like I was watching a "History of WCW Nitro" seminar.
Fine. First night, gotta establish new stuff, etc.
Then came Genesis.
Know what I saw on Sunday night?
I saw a PPV where the ring setup was changed to look exactly like a 1990 WCW PPV.
I saw 8 matches, all of which featured someone who made their name in WWE (half of which featurd people who have been in WWE within the last 18 months, no less).
I saw Daniels, a TNA stalwart who challenged for the TNA title just weeks ago, jobbed out in the second match to Sean Morley - who looked exactly like the Val Venis that hadn't been relevant since 2005, character and all, just with a different name.
I saw not one second of Jeff Hardy, Orlando Jordan, the Nasty Boys or 90 percent of the other "namedrops" that showed up on the Jan. 4 Impact.
I saw Hogan blatantly namedrop Vince McMahon in an attempt to bash his product - when McMahon's is, at least in terms of ratings, 3x the product Hogan's company puts out.
I saw two matches I had just seen (good or bad) on the 1/4 Impact.
And I saw two more matches where there was a last minute bait and switch replacement. Sure, I'd infinitely rather watch Kevin Nash and Ken Anderson than Scott Hall and Bobby Lashley, but the point remains.
Does any of this sound like a bad WCW flashback to you?
Because it does to me.
Yes, they pushed the homegrown guys a bit. Beer Money Inc. went over "The Band," Matt Morgan & Hernandez won the tag titles, and A.J. Styles is still the TNA champion.
Great. Booker T was WCW champion at the end too.
Unless Hulk Hogan has grand plans to get out of the Impact Zone, TNA has a very good chance of being dead by the turn of 2011.
Considering that people can get into the Impact Zone for free (seriously - it's $20 for a picture of you riding the Mummy inside the park, but Impact tapings are basically just another attraction) there will always be a crowd.
But he's already alienating the diehards within the Zone, and within a year, the nostalgia kick for those who started watching TNA again will have worn off.
What'll be left is a crowd full of attraction seekers that will make the old WCW Disney taping audiences look like the ECW Arena by comparison and a 1.0ish rating of apathetic TV viewers who are stuck in 1998.
The only reason I watched WCW in its dying years was because it was habitual. The product was god awful, but the cable loop in my college dorm didn't have TNN, so if I wanted to continue watching wrestling on Monday nights (like I had since 1986, when my parents used to let me stay up late one night a week to watch WWF Prime Time Wrestling), it was Nitro or nothing.
The way things are going for TNA, a lot of their diehards might find themselves in a similar position.
Changes, indeed.
-Louie Dee
PWI Contributing Writer
3 comments:
- King Raj said...
As a devoted WWE fan, I finally decided to watch an episode of TNA Impact. Needless to say, it seems to be another carbon copy of WCW with a UFC octogon. Now I'm not hating on TNA, I really like the talent that they have groomed for years such as A.J. Styles. He is probably the only wrestler that seems to be on a higher platform in terms of performance than anyone else in pro wrestling. I'm getting tired of these cheesy storylines in WWE though I think they are in the right direction with promoting young stars like Sheamus, Yoshi Tatsu, Drew McIntyre, The Miz, John Morrison and Kofi Kingston. Having been born in the beginning of the 1980's, pro wrestilng had so much appeal and intrigue to even the casual fan. But watching former great stars like Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and I could go on and on, it hurts me that these and many others are not what they used to be and though they are legendary names in this industry, they just are no longer relevant and the writers whether TNA or WWE, they just do not know what the true fan wants. I understand that pro wrestling is a demanding business, but so is pro sports. I miss the bloody matches where both competitors are giving their all to appease the fans. I miss the technical and creative offense that this wonderful sport made me believe. The passion is there, but the creativity isn't.
Recently, I was watching a DVD of the history of the Four Horsemen and the stories were timeless and historic. Watching the classic matches of that era and the wrestlers in that time brought smiles and pride that made wrestling what it is. So, please WWE, do something or real fans like myself will just fade away and will not care anymore.
- January 19, 2010 at 3:36 PM
- Carlos Pimentel said...
Hulk Hogan is sadly stuck in the past. As much as he wants to stick it to McMahon, I feel that he wouldn't mind too much being in Bret Hart's position of having one more 'Mania moment.
As for TNA, it has its moments. And that's all you can ask for nowadays is moments. These corporate wrestling companies are burned out from trying to keep the product fresh, that it becomes stale and loses its creativity. And as fans we always like to bad mouth them because we can. But imagine being those writers.... Sure we'd write amazing storylines for a couple of months... But after a while, it would get stale.
What happened at the end of Genesis was a disgrace. Ric Flair making his presence felt by tarnishing the image of AJ Styles. TNA is suppose to be the house that Styles built; he's not suppose to become a carbon copy of Ric Flair.
- February 12, 2010 at 12:40 AM
- Carlos Pimentel said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- February 12, 2010 at 12:42 AM


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Just putting the word out that the Skyline Snowkite Masters will take place the first weekend in February, celebrating an older format... No entry Fees, No Competition, Just a Fun for All Freeride Rally, inviting all riders to enjoy the mountain with like minded friends.
We believe that instead of entry fees, you should put your hard earned cash towards fuel for the road trip, lodging, and apres' kite beverages at the local watering hole. You can expect prizes and some adventurous challenges along with live music and kite-minded entertainment each night. Sponsors from leading Kite Brands have kicked in to provide free lunch on the hill each day, and some killer prizes. This is a great opportunity to demo new 2012 gear as well, riding side by side with manufacturer reps.
Bring your Mountain Riding Mindset to Skyline for the annual gathering... and if you cannot make it, please road trip somewhere to enjoy mountain freeride kiting. Jackson Hole Kiters are hosting a rally the week before in Wyoming on January 27-29.... and Montana Kite Sports is hosting their annual Snowkite Rodeo later in February on the 17-20th during Presidents Day weekend. Get out and ride the Rocky Mountains this winter... FREE RIDE that is.
Brian Schenck

subset: commoncrawl


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Nobody's Email: God Made Liberals Too…
Nobody Gets Email
Here's a fun bit from FLOYD…which gives you the idea that God makes all things, and we have to ask…in his wisdom?
(Thanks to my Nobody self)
2 Comments »
They have always been here and sometimes they come as chameleons. It must be something to do with evolution. And popular memory:
Chris Berg says 'Lincoln' (the film) is a whitewash:
Spielberg whitewashes some of the great stains on the Lincoln presidency…
Take one memorable scene. In Congress, a fiery New York Democrat, Fernando Wood, accuses the president of being a tyrant. Lincoln, Wood shouts, is a ''violator of habeas corpus and freedom of the press, abuser of states' rights, radical republican autocrat ruling by fiat and martial law''.
The film skates quickly over the accusation. Wood seems ridiculous. He describes the president as ''our Great Usurping Caesar''. He supports slavery, a much greater tyranny. But many of his claims were correct.
The Lincoln administration declared martial law. It suspended the writ of habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain civilians without charge and without trial….
Many civilians were locked up for selling alcohol to soldiers, even though there was no law against it. Others were locked up for ''disloyalty'' or using ''treasonable language''…. At least 14,000 people were locked up as political prisoners during the war, according to the historian Mark E. Neely, jnr….
Lincoln's administration suppressed at least 300 newspapers. Most of the suppressed papers were Democrat ones. Nineteenth-century journalism was proudly partisan.
Lincoln authorised torture, too. The technique, also used against civilians, is eerily familiar…
Essentially, a high-powered hose was sprayed against a person's body until skin broke. This ''shower'' could last for hours.
Comment by Amfortas | February 9, 2013 |


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Author Notes: When my sister moved away, she left me with a bunch of groceries she didn't want to throw away, including a package of frozen baby squid - which I promptly shoved in the freezer and ignored for a few months while I tried to work up the nerve to cook squid for the first time.
When I finally bit the bullet, I decided I didn't want to go the lemon/oregano/garlic/balsamic that's ubiquitous in Mediterranean restaurants, and used a smoked paprika, lemon and cumin marinade inspired by North African spices.
I'm really happy with the results - these little calamari skewers are spicy and flavourful and entirely different from any other grilled squid I've ever had. Thanks, sis. :) - Izzbell —Izzbell
Food52 Review: True to its name, Izzbell's North African-inspired calamari is a bright and spicy dish that will make a great addition to your summer grilling repertoire. The recipe comes together with ease but the platter of perfectly grilled squid – served simply with sliced bread and lemon wedges – makes quite an impression. Smaller squid will work just as well if you can't find the babies—and remember, garnishing with a squeeze of lemon is key! - Annie "Smalls" —Annie "Smalls"
Serves: 4
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 5 min
pound cleaned baby squid (tubes and tentacles)
teaspoons smoked paprika
teaspoon ground cumin
teaspoon salt
teaspoon pepper
pinch ground cayenne pepper
garlic clove, minced
cup olive oil
Bamboo skewers
Lemon wedges, for garnish
- In a small mixing bowl, combine smoked paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic, along with zest from the lemon. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, stirring until you have a smooth, runny paste.
- Juice the zested lemon into a second small bowl. Spoon in 2 tbsp of the paprika paste and stir until combined. Cover and set aside.
- Pour the remaining paprika paste into a large zip-seal bag. Add squid, and toss to coat evenly with marinade. Seal the bag closed and transfer to the refrigerator to marinate for 30 minutes.
- While the squid is marinating, soak bamboo skewers in cold water to prevent them from charring, and preheat a gas or charcoal grill on high heat.
- After 30 minutes, remove the squid bodies and tentacles from the marinade and gently thread onto skewers (I like to use two skewers to prevent the food from spinning around, but it's not entirely necessary). Discard the marinade.
- Place the skewers directly onto the preheated grill, and cook for about 2-3 minutes per side or just until the squid turn opaque. Remove from squid from heat immediately, and drizzle with the lemon juice and paprika mixture.
- Garnish with lemon wedges. Serve with a loaf of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Squid or Octopus Recipe
More Great Recipes:
North African|Cumin|Paprika|Shellfish|Seafood|Grill/Barbecue|Entree


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Friday, September 27, 2013
Back at it
6 comments:
- cafe selavy said...
- September 28, 2013 at 5:01 AM
- Surfland RoadDistrict said...
Hi Bob,
Congrats! I'm a big fan rooting from the sidelines. I would love to be more than a cheerleader, though. If, at some time in the future you need to produce your own film to stay viable, I can perhaps help you with that. I would be delighted. (No charge: it's the Light Farm mission.)
Warmest regards,
d ross
- October 1, 2013 at 8:52 AM
- Andy said...
Let me know if I can help!
- October 2, 2013 at 12:20 PM
- Georg Holderied said...
Oh yes please go on!
Old 55 was my favourite instant film.
Now my 4x5 waits for new instant sheet film.
- October 15, 2013 at 3:34 AM
- Zachary Stephens said...
I'm glad to see you back at it. Bringing back this type of film would be a great thing for the photographic community.
- October 16, 2013 at 10:25 AM
- JKruppa said...
Someone recently gave me a few sheets of Polaroid 55, only two of which were any good, but it's gorgeous stuff. I've mainly been using Polaroid 664 (now very inconsistent even when kept refrigerated) and the recently discontinued Fuji FP 3000B (both 3.25 x 4.25). Over the last six months or so, I've made a point of shooting at least a few instant shots with my 4x5 during every portrait shoot, and my clients (both private and magazine editorial) love the look. I'm consequently aching to have a good instant black and white film on the market, so I'm pulling for the New55 project in a big way. I will be a steady customer once you go into production.
- December 5, 2013 at 10:29 PM


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California Department of Transportation
Date: May 24, 2012
District: 7 – Los Angeles and Ventura counties
Contact: Maria Raptis
Phone: 213-897-9372
LOS ANGELES - The California Transportation Commission (CTC) today allocated $1.7 billion in funding for transportation projects that will strengthen the state's economy by sustaining and creating jobs and provide congestion relief for motorists statewide.
"The benefits these projects bring to California are a huge boon to the economy, and the investment in our transportation system will continue to serve motorists for generations to come," said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.
Approximately $872 million of the funding was provided by Proposition 1B, a transportation bond approved by voters in 2006. In total, more than $13 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been distributed statewide.
Some of the notable projects that received funding include:
- $224.1 million – Golden State Freeway (I-5) HOV lanes from Magnolia Boulevard to Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The project extends from Empire Avenue to Burbank Boulevard and includes interchange modifications and railroad realignment. The work is scheduled to begin in early 2013 and the total project cost is estimated at $452 million. The lead agency is Caltrans District 7 in partnership with the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
- $37.6 million – Baldwin Avenue Grade Separation in El Monte. The project will construct a double-track railroad bridge over a four-lane roadway. The lead agency is the Alameda Corridor East Construction Authority with funding administered through Metro.
- $5 million – North Spring Street Grade Separation in Los Angeles. The project will widen the roadway to accommodate traffic lanes, a median, sidewalks and bike lanes and seismically retrofit the North Spring Street Bridge. The lead agency is the City of Los Angeles with funding administered through Metro.
- $52,000 – Landscape, sidewalk and crossing safety improvements from 10th to Santa Paula streets in Santa Paula. This project will encourage safe pedestrian mobility and includes a bicycle path that will, in the future, provide connectivity with a planned 31-mile trail from Ventura to Santa Clarita. Funding for this project is administered through the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC).
Yesterday's allocations include $766 million in federal funds that will be applied to various local transportation programs statewide. The remaining allocations came from assorted state and federal transportation accounts.
Please see the attached file for more information about all projects that received allocations today.
# # # #


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Brand: Yogalife
Size: 23x12x7,5cm
Weight: 0,50kg
Type : Corkwood
You will always ger a good grip around yogabricks made out of cork.
The material is stabile to give you a good support even under heavy loads, still a little weight absorbing to feel natural in contact with your skeleton (ex. under your spine or head).


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A Ninja Bike Escape From Zombie Land HD - Multiplayer Racing Game
- Publisher: Kyeonggin Min
- Genre: Action
- Released: 3 Aug, 2013
- Size: 65.9 MB
- Price: FREE!
- App Store Info
DescriptionWhat happens when you throw five shinobi on a zombie-infested motorbike-riding mission? Find out by joining them in Naruto Bike Race Escape From Zombie Land!
"It shows the Naruto-verse in a fresh and interesting way that you won't find anywhere else!"
"If you love Naruto, you have to try this game. Where else can you find these characters ride custom bikes? With zombies behind them, no less!"
Welcome to Konoha, home to fresh new shinobi talents waiting to break free and be legends or, better yet, be the next Hokage. But before you get there, these young shinobi will get their own share of missions ranging from the simple and basic to the complex and the weird. Weird is where we will put this game. Join Naruto and his team as they embark on one of their weird missions aboard their customized motorbikes as they ride and fly away from crazed zombies until they find their way back to the safety of Konoha!
- Naruto-inspired theme and interface
- Simple and easy instructions partnered with challenging gameplay that will definitely get you hooked
- Five playable characters — Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Rock Lee
- Custom-designed motor bikes for each character
- Facebook and Game Center Integration for some friendly competition to double the fun!
- In-game items to increase your score, help you through the game and make it more entertaining


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Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Set
Spock and roll.
- Turn the geeked-up classic kids game into a super-geeked up dice game.
- Full set of 7 different colored dice with custom-printed dice bag.
- Great for fans of The Big Bang Theory.
We've decided many things here at TG HQ with a simple game, such as a coin toss or rock, paper, scissors. But we always make it a bit more complicated than just the ordinary way to play. Tackle Coin Toss; Rock, Paper, Scissors with Real Rock, Paper, Scissors; stuff like that. It's sort of like updating an old classic into a new classic. That's why we love Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock. And why should you ever use fingers if you can use dice? Exactly! Combining our love with RPSLP and rolling dice, we present the Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Set.
Each Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Set comes with seven different-colored dice. Each has 5 sides of battling power (rock or paper or scissors or lizard or Spock) and one side of roll again. Keep the custom-printed dice bag on your belt and bust them out whenever any decision needs to be made. Who will decide where your office will eat lunch? Which person gets to pick a button to prevent nuclear war? The dice know. So, get a Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Set today and never be uncertain again.
Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Set
- Your favorite childhood game . . . evolved . . . now with dice!
- Set of 7 dice (each a different color) with a dice bag with the legend printed on it.
- Great, of course, for fans of The Big Bang Theory.
- Dice colors: red, blue, black, pink, yellow/orange, grape-ity purple, and green.
- Dice Size: 18mm


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Some of the biggest market movers from the hedge-fund world will take turns praising or attempting to bury a slate of stocks Monday when the 19th Annual Ira Sohn Investment Conference gets under way in New York City. Let's take a look back to last year's conference to see who nailed their calls -- and who didn't.
Bond guru Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Capital may have some indigestion over his short call on fast-food purveyor Chipotle Mexican Grill . "I hate the chart, I like the products," he said at the time, while also expressing discomfort with the stock's P/E ratio and labeling earnings growth unimpressive. "All you need to compete with CMG's core business is a taco truck," he said.
The stock closed Thursday at $504.98, down from its March intraday peak above $620 but still up nearly 39% from its level the day before Gundlach's Sohn presentation. We'll see if Gundlach, who is scheduled to appear Monday, has better luck this year.
It's been a rough ride for Dex Media Inc. since investor Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital made a bull case for the digital-media stock, which had closed at $13.71 the day before the Sohn presentation. The stock enjoyed a "Sohn boost" in the wake of the bullish remarks, jumping more than 20% the day after the conference and reaching an intraday peak at $23.86 on May 20. It's been downhill from there, with the stock, which is also held by hedge-fund titan John Paulson, ending Thursday at $7.86, a drop of 44.4% from its pre-Sohn level.
Let that be a reminder of the perils of jumping into a position in any particular security just because a highly successful, high-profile investor makes what sounds like a compelling case.
Of course, not everyone had a bad post-Sohn year, as the table above illustrates. So who nailed it last year?
Keith Meister of Corvex had one of the best calls of the conference. The former Carl Icahn protege sang the praises of telecom firms TW Telecom Inc. and Level 3 Communications Inc. , predicting M&A activity in the sector would benefit both firms.
From May 7 of last year, the day before the conference, through Thursday, shares of Level 3 rose more than 84%, while TW Telecom shares advanced 16.5% over the same stretch.
On the short side, Jonathan Jacobson of Highfields Capital Management fared well. He urged a short positions in Digital Realty Trust , calling the firm's dividend payouts unsustainably high and predicting the stock price could fall as low as $19 a share.
Shares never fell that far, bottoming out just above $43 in early December, but remain down more than 22% from their closing level of $68.87 a day before Jacobson's presentation, ending Thursday at $53.84 a share.
Among those scheduled to return for this year's conference include Bill Ackman, who made a bull case for Procter & Gamble, which has gained ground since then. Ackman has sold off most of his stake in the firm.
Among other heavyweights on the card, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital will be back. Einhorn last year made a bull case for Oil States International , which is up around 3% since then. Shares closed at $94.40 a day before last year's conference, peaked at more than $110 in the fall and now change hands in the mid-$90s.
More on MarketWatch:
Ackman, Icahn: Our kind of activist investing isn't bad for America
How Warren Buffett is like a mutual fund
--William Watts
Follow William @wlwatts
Follow The Tell @thetellblog


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From Bob McGinn of the Miwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Tight end Jermichael Finley is at least two months away and maybe several months more from being in position to sign with a team, a source familiar with the situation said this week.
Finley, one of the 10 unsigned players on the Packers' unrestricted list, visited Seattle on March 12. John Schneider, who was scouting for the Packers when they drafted Finley in 2008, is the Seahawks' general manager.
The Seahawks thanked Finley for coming and informed him in so many words to stay in touch after the passage of time would presumably mean additional healing for his bruised spinal cord, according to sources.
Obviously few teams are willing to green light Finley after such little time has passed from his spinal-fusion surgery. They also don't appear willing to sign Finley to a lucrative deal with his health being such an uncertainty.
The longer Finley is on the market, the more salary-cap space is going to be used up everywhere across the league, including money being given to the incoming class of rookies. It's not looking as if Finley is going to make anywhere near the $7 million he earned per season last time around.
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text: Unrivaled. The original 2X10 mountain bike group took pro racing by storm the day it was released and has dominated ever since. It's no secret why: XX delivers flawless X-Glide Technology shifting in the heat of battle. It saves weight so you fly up the climbs. And it's proven reliable in the most punishing conditions. When it comes to competition, XX reigns supreme. View Entire XX Series


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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - The Georgia College & State University men's basketball program and head coach Terry Sellers have announced the signing of Kurt Thompson.
Thompson comes to Milledgeville from Grossmont College in San Diego where he played for head coach Doug Weber. Thompson is originally from Brisbane, Australia, graduating from Brisbane Boys College high school in Toowong. Thompson is the second signee for the Bobcats this spring from Australia (Trent Fildes - Adelaide, Australia).
Thompson scored 13.4 points per game while shooting 58.2 percent from the field. He also averaged 4.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. He was named All-Pacific Coast Conference Second Team. Thompson was also recently honored as the 2008-09 Grossmont College Men's Scholar Athlete of the Year. He carries a hefty 3.6 grade point average.
"Kurt is a 6-foot-3 guard that really understands how to play the game of basketball," said Sellers. "He is a gym rat that really loves to compete. Kurt is a great fit academically and athletically here at GCSU and we are thrilled that he has decided to continue his career as a Bobcat."
The Bobcats are fresh off a 22-7 season in 2008-2009. GCSU made a trip back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 and had its third 20-win season in the past four. The Bobcats lose a trio of seniors including Shaun Keaton (2006-09) who was named All-Peach Belt Conference (PBC) First Team and first team National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC)/NCAA All-Southeast Region in his senior season.
Visit www.GCSUBobcats.com to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GCSU Athletics Hall of Fame. The GCSU Department of Athletics sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, GCSU prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the Bobcats' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at Twitter.com username GCSUSID for up-to-the-minute reports.


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Release Date: 2009 |
Two-Headed Boy (1)God damn it....ffs (3)...TheAJMetal (1)The only thing more lazy than Brokencyde's new album is their music videos....encmetalhead (1)As a reviewer you get some great albums, some awful albums, and on a rare occasion BrokeNC...
TheMoonchild (1)Really? I could swear I asked the kids and they told me something dfferent....MysteriousNewUser (3)A lot better than people give it credit for....YoWassupBros (2.5)It's actually not nearly as bad as you've been led to believe. Album's title says it all....CREAM (4)Taken in the right context, this album succeeds in unexpected ways...
bigdickedguy (1)Ugh...br00talsamitch (1)Nothing good comes out of this piece of crap....
Album Rating: 1.0brokeNCYDE review, guys.
No, but I think this was completely necessary...
Probably the best brokencyde review...
Album Rating: 1.0Err, thanks. I actually enjoyed writing it.
I'm over this. We're only giving them more than their fifteen minutes by doing these reviews.
Album Rating: 1.0Yeah, but the other reviews were TBTs... the world needed fixing.
dumbdumbdumbbrokencyde blah blah suck suck shite shite
There's only so many ways you can say "this band sucks". And we all agree. Hell, anyone with a brain agrees.
It's time to move on.
Album Rating: 1.0Much better than the other two. Kudos.
I must be the only one who thinks Soulja Boy is significantly worse...
There's only so many ways you can say "this band sucks"
I'll pay that. It's a great review. But I think this needs to be the final word on the matter.
Album Rating: 1.0Thank you, both of you. I know it's a bit unnecessary, but for the sake of Sputnik having at least one solid review per album...
Soulja Boy is worse.
Ghost pos?
Waior, you love this site don't you?
I love you for your Jenna...its oh so true.
Pos'd of course, fuckin' grand review.
I pos'd cuz this review is so much better than the others. nice work m8.
Digging: Employed to Serve - Eternal Forward Motion
Album Rating: 1.0burn, I do like this site, yes. Is it that obvious? Jenna loves you. And thank you.
Glass, why thank you.
Album Rating: 1.0lol, 78 awful votes. These dudes get way more attention than they should.
Album Rating: 1.0come on Waior, just what we didnt need... another goddamn Brokencyde review... no matter how well written it is (which it is)
Digging: Full of Hell - Weeping Choir
Review was hilarious, pos'd.
Haha, this is brilliant. A good review, and funny to boot. I'll be honest, I'm glad you posted this for one main reason: I was considering listening to this record so there was a sensible review on here, and now I no longer have to :p
Great stuff, pos.
Album Rating: 1.0What makes you think that we need another review for this?
Oh wait, you're the only person that managed to form intelligent and intellectual thoughts about this "music" without delving into the realm of "Omg Brokencyde is sooo bad they like cannot play at all"
Everyone is now banned from any further reviews of this band.
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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LONG BEACH – The MemorialCare Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Memorial today is unveiling its new pavilion to VIP guests.
Th 3:30 p.m. unveiling event, at 2810 Long Beach Blvd., will mark the first time that people will have full access to the new 64,000-square-foot pavilion, complete with behind the scenes tours.
Along with a ceremonial ribbon cutting, there will be the unveiling of a special community art piece, constructed with the help of the "community crane project."


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The first half of the 2013 commercial real-estate transactions and results for apartments and office/retail buildings are in. Using various online tools and interviewing real-estate brokers who specialize in coastal commercial real es-tate, I have analyzed the first half of 2013's apartment and office/-retail markets for commercial properties located in the 92106 and 92107 ZIP codes.
Apartments in the 92106 and 92107 ZIPs: five sold transactions totaling $8,473,000, with an average capitalization (CAP) rate of 4.59 percent, and an average price-per-unit equal to $201,738. The average market time was 50 days. In 2012, there were 11 transactions with an average price per unit of $186,055.
Office/retail buildings in the 92106 and 92107 ZIPs: only one sold transaction totaling $800,000 at 4932 Newport Ave. The price per square foot was $229. In 2012, there were a total of eight sold transactions in the 92106 and 92107 ZIPs. There are currently only four office/retail buildings for sale in the 92106 and 92107 ZIPs.
For both apartments and office/-retail buildings, the low CAP rates, high prices and low velocity of transactions are clear indicators that we are in a seller's market, meaning there is a low supply of apartments and office/retail buildings listed for sale and there are a lot of buyers looking to invest.
If you're considering selling your commercial real estate in a favorable market by the end of 2013, contact your local broker and get started with a free opinion of value.
— Tony Franco is a coastal commercial real-estate expert. He can be reached at (858) 717-1697.


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The Gamba
What Is a viola da Gamba?
The viola da gamba (also called the "viol" or "gamba") is not a fretted cello!
It may look like one, but a cello has 4 strings and a viol usually has 6, like a guitar, or 7. In addition, the viol's frets aren't permanently set, like those of a guitar, but are instead made of gut tied onto the neck, like those of a lute, and are therefore movable.
Viols are bowed, like cellos, but the bow is held differently-not overhand, as is a violin or cello bow, but underhand, like a pencil or chopsticks.
Viols are also tuned differently than are cellos. Cellos (and violins and violas) are tuned in fifths. Viols are tuned in fourths, with a third between the third and fourth strings, just like a lute and almost like a guitar. Chords can easily be played on the viol with the bow and are often included in solo music.
Like the cello, the bass viola da gamba is part of a family. The smallest, highest-sounding member is a treble viol, equivalent to the violin. Next larger and deeper in tone is the tenor viol, approximately equivalent to the viola. Even larger and deeper-sounding is the bass viol, equivalent to the cello. The largest, deepest size, the double bass, is the only viol played in orchestras today.
Viols have a long history. They were perhaps most popular in the 15th to 18th centuries, from about the time of Henry VIII of England, who played them, to that of Louis XIV of France (the Sun King). Shakespeare mentions them in several plays, including Twelfth Night.
The sound of the viol is sweet and shimmering, quieter than that of violins, violas, or cellos. Viols smaller than double basses are, in fact, too quiet to be effective in large orchestras or big concert halls, which is why they are no longer very common. But many people today love the particular timbre of viols and the Renaissance and Baroque music written for them. Concerts are usually given in small halls or churches, which suit viols well.
Composers for the viol include
J.S. Bach, Marin Marais, Henry Purcell, François Couperin, William Byrd, and Orlando Gibbons.
You can find recordings with viols by
Jordi Savall,
the Rose Consort,
Weiland Kuijken,
Mary Springfels,
Paolo Pandolfo,
Sex Chordae,
Jonathan Dunford,
Les Voix Humaines,
the New York Consort of Viols,
John Mark Rozendaal
Jay Elfenbein and
Hille Perle,
among others. Serendipitous searches of Early Music sections of your local and virtual record stores may also be rewarding.
Content © http://www.vdgsgny.org
At the Columbarium
Previous Concerts
New Publicity Shots


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MOUNT DESERT — The Maine Wardens Service said its divers recovered the body of a second man who disappeared after their boat capsized on a lake on Mount Desert Island.
Officials say the body of 38-year old Corey Farley of Seal Cove was found Saturday afternoon in less than 30 feet of water, not far from where the boat capsized, and near where the body of 67-year old Richard Weimer was recovered.
Divers were in the water less than 15 minutes before finding Farley. His body was being transported to the medical examiner's office in Augusta.
Wardens recovered the body of Weimer, of Charlton, Mass., on Thursday afternoon.
The two men were fishing and were last seen on the pond Wednesday afternoon.
Out & About
Maine Road Trip Quiz
Letters to the Editor
Death with dignity gives people choice
Out & About
Out Late: The Front Porch is fun from the first step
Out & About
Learn Maine lingo
Out & About
Search for the stars on this map of famous Mainers


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Facebook Trend – What Song Was Number One the Day You Were Born?
If you've been on Facebook in the past couple days, you may have noticed a fun new trend: people are posting the song that was number one on the charts the day they were born.
The meme basically goes like this:
1) Find the song that was number one the week you were born.
2) Find that video on YouTube.
3) Post it to your Facebook wall with no shame.
With that in mind, we took an office poll, checked a site that archives Billboard charts, and found our own. We issue them here with a standard disclaimer that they may not reflect our actual modern-day musical tastes — or maybe they do and we just don't want to admit it.
Also, NO CALLING US OLD, punks. Tell us your song in the comments!


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Click in the field to pick dates from a calendar or type the dates in dd/mm/yyyy formate.g. 26 May 2019 is 26/05/2019.
We are two families with our own private villas in Orlando who have joined together to offer our villas and a select group of other villas to people wishing to have the holiday of a lifetime near Disney, Orlando, Florida.
Offices in Shropshire, UK and Kissimmee, Florida.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
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Thursday, November 30, 2006
An Either/Or Question
"al-Qaeda was on the ropes in Iraq. It made up no more than 2 percent or 3 percent of the folks killing Americans and Iraqis. Military spokesmen in Baghdad and the U.S. Central Command's Gen. John Abizaid said we'd decimated the al-Qaeda leadership in Iraq and the group wasn't likely to be much of a player in Iraq's future.
This week, President Bush declared that al-Qaeda is the primary enemy in Iraq, fomenting the sectarian slaughter, which he said is definitely NOT a civil war."
These two opposing views cannot both be true. Assuming the article is accurate, this means that either Gen. Abizaid or President Bush is desperately confused.
One of them is a constructive public servant, and the other is a complete waste of space - about as much use as Anne Frank's drumkit, to put it bluntly.
But which is which?
I suppose history will be the judge.
What Flying Rodent Didn't Learn At School
I always love this time of year, as Scots congregate to indulge in the centuries-old tradition of getting pissed on whisky and retelling heavily fictionalised accounts of Scottish history.
Let me sum up the Scottish history I was taught at school in a single sentence -
There once was a brave and noble people of great industry and artistry who lived in the idyllic glens of Scotland, and the bastard English slaughtered, bribed, stole etc. etc. etc. (repeat ad infinitum).
It's amazing to me how deeply held this basic belief is in Scotland, presumably because enormous, violent, unwashed highlanders are more easily romanticised when they're all dead.
Put another way, conceptual flame-haired loonies are more cuddly than real ones planting axes between your eyes, burning your house and stealing your livestock.
Now, the highland Scots clans, on whose apparel traditional Scots dress is modelled, were essentially wiped out as a people in the years following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Their way of life had been largely unchanged, give or take linguistic evolution and farming innovations, since the Roman invasion of Britain.
Think less of Braveheart, with its comical, eloquent Scots, and more the first ten minutes of Gladiator, when Russell Crowe and the legions face off against head-chopping German tribesmen.
"Ihr seid verfluchte Hunde!", indeed.
All that came to an end in the mid-eighteenth century - butchered without mercy, their crops burned, driven from their homes, their children seized and brought up in the tutelage of the victorious culture.
So here's your question - who perpetrated these outrages upon the highland clans?
If you said the English, no wee dram for you.
The Scots were victorious at Culloden, and proceeded to devastate the countryside and its people, but they did so in the colours of the British government. The duke of Cumberland may be remembered as "the Butcher", but the knife-work was done with gusto by lowland and highland Scots (plus some Hanoverian Germans, but I'll save that for a rant about the royal family).
Anglicisation put an end to the real traditional Scots way of life - brutal tribal warfare, cattle rustling, pillage - in about twenty years. Think of it as the Scottish equivalent of gifting smallpox-infected blankets to the Injuns.
Cut forward sixty-odd years and a novel called Waverly is released to great acclaim in London and Edinburgh. Suddenly, the noble savage of the highlands is the height of fashion, lords and ladies disport themselves in tartan, old Scots dirges are heard in high society, and the image of the kilted, bagpipe-playing Scotsman is born.
It's kailyard fiction from then on. The highland clans join the long list of exterminated or subject peoples, eulogised in penny dreadfuls and plays for the delight of the merchant class alongside the native American and the exotic oriental.
Kitsch imagery for the Royal gallery, in other words.
I'll call it historical perspective, which is famously the perspective of the victor, and it's difficult to scrutinise the highland clans when they're buried in mass graves below one's feet.
So how would the average 21st century ceilidh-goer be received in 17th century Scotland?
Remember that scene in Back To The Future III?
Offended nationalists can call me a prick in the comments.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
How To Win The War On Terror
It's a humungous bummer, man. How's a traitorous pinko supposed to enjoy the abject defeat of our evil leaders when all these innocent people keep getting slaughtered?
Still, as Larry notes, fervent warfans are still prone to fatuous historical analogies, and seldom miss an opportunity to castigate us commies for our ignorance.
I'm always enraged by this, since I'm a well-read chap, so I thought I'd offer President Bush the benefits of my vast historical knowledge in planning the next phase of his righteous battle against evil.
First, always deploy your cavalry on the flanks, to prevent attacks from the rear.
Keep at least two units of veterans in reserve, and commit them at the critical moment. Keep your poorest units closest to the enemy, and the enemy will most likely waste their arrows on poorly trained troops.
Always keep to the high ground, and if your enemy has superior numbers of archers, you should attack them with infantry as quickly as possible. If fighting against war elephants, train your troops to avoid them by making channels in their ranks.
Beware Greeks bearing huge wooden horses, they're probably filled with soldiers.
Never embark on a land war in Asia, and only invade Persia if your name is Alexander.
Never invade Parthia, or you'll be drinking molten gold for breakfast.
Oh, and beware the Ides of March.
And to think, the warbloggers say us lefties don't understand the military mind! I think I should be given command of British forces in Basra, a bit of crucifixion would soon quiet down the natives.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Shit, They're Onto Us! Hide The Memes!
He's clearly grasped the basics, as he recognises that "bloggers have no professional standards", but I don't think he goes quite far enough.
Now, if he'd said "The internet is infested with gibbering cranks relentlessly reinforcing each other's paranoid delusions", I would've given him more respect.
I've always thought that any person trying to base a coherent worldview upon the ramblings of internet eccentrics is rather like a sprinter warming up for the hundred meters by nailing his dick to the starting line.
Alas, his complaint is not that bloggers are, by and large, delusional mentalists with wildly fluctuating bi-polar Napoleon and persecution complexes - he's alarmed that there's "no form of redress" for people offended by content. The poor dears.
Just in case the government decides to chase this long punt upfield, I'd like to take this opportunity to note that the Prime Minister is a maniacal, crotch-sniffing puritan, the Chancellor is a pie-faced oaf with all the charisma of Marc Bolan after the accident, and the Home Secretary resembles a rather stupid potato.
The lot of them can go piss up a rope, if you ask me.
And so can bloggers, now that I come to think of it. Ingrates, troglodytes, misanthropes and cheese-mongers.
P.S. I exaggerate, as usual - for an introduction to some of the many bloggers well worth a look, you should pick up the Blog Digest 2006, edited by Justin McKeating of Chicken Yoghurt fame.
He's done the hard work of tracking down many intelligent, poignant and witty bloggers, which should save you the trouble. I'm in it, but don't let that put you off - it's well worth a read, and would probably be the ideal gift for any bloggers you know.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Pictures Speak Louder Than Words
"The majority of Scotland's religious crime takes place in the west of Scotland with a third linked to football, new statistics have shown.
It also centres around Catholic and Protestant sectarianism and is often fuelled by alcohol, the study revealed."
All together now...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Scotland the What?
There's a clear lesson to be drawn from these figures - the English are a mere 7% more small-minded and parochial than the Scots.
I've already explained the precise circumstances in which I would support Scottish independence, and this isn't it. Since my previous suggestion hasn't been adopted, I've decided to change tack.
I suggest that all Scottish nationalists congregate in the barren wildernesses of central-northern Scotland and found a new state - let them declare independence from Scotland itself, and live out their tartan-and-shortbread fantasies in the confines of the Peoples' Republic of Teuchterstan.
Let the glens resound to the skirl of the pipes, the bars overflow with real Scottish ales and the sheep rest uneasily in their fields. Revive the auld Scots language and let the poetry of Burns clot the ears of glorious Caledonian patriots!
So long as they all sod off and leave me in peace, I'm not really that concerned. God only knows what we're going to do to quiet down the purple-faced, xenophobic little-Englanders infesting the Beeb's site, but I'd be inclined to support carpet bombing.
In Which Flying Rodent Laments The Ravages of Time
29 today, and I'm celebrating by nursing a brutal hangover. Quite why I thought that Shetland vodka and Jameson's whisky would complement each other is unclear, but I have the rest of the day to contemplate my poor decision-making.
I suppose I should reflect upon the lessons I've learnt in almost three decades walking the Earth. I think I can sum it up fairly easily.
If I could go back and change it, I'd do more of the things my mother told me not to, with twice the commitment and three times the enthusiasm.
I would've said yes to that Mediterranean holiday and found the money somewhere, I'd have done all the illegal things people tried to get me to do, I'd have kissed that girl when she wanted me to, rather than laughing and changing the subject.
Seize the day by the throat, and hump it into insensibility.
That's why I'm sitting here monkeying about on the internet.
Update!: If you'd like to contribute a birthday present for me, send your credit card details and PIN number to email@example.com. All donations gratefully accepted!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Armed Police 1 Neo-Nazi Thugs 0
This has led to many an observation that Paris produces "the worst football hooligans in Europe".
This statement is entirely false - considering their brutality, moronic racism, xenophobia and neo-nazi links, Paris surely produces the best football hooligans in Europe.*
The worst football hooligans in Europe are probably Monaco fans, whose support is composed of champagne-swilling squillionaires. Mind you, if you were going to be stabbed, it's probably classier to be done in by a gold-plated, jewel encrusted lock-knife than a ten Euro Saturday night special.
*On a similar note, why do people refer to World War One as "The Great War"?
Surely World War II, with its higher death toll and devastation of entire continents, was loads better.
Credit where it's due, I say.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Vampire Hunters Vexed
London Evening Standard
18th May 1897
The God-fearing citizenry of London was shocked yesterday by the Britannia Hansom Cab Company's blasphemous prohibition of the holy cross, as the heathen owners of London's largest cabriolet service mocked our Saviour by forbidding their drivers to wear His holy symbol.
Ladies swooned as the news spread, and Christian men were moved to utter impolite oaths of frustration.
"This ruling is the product of a syphilitic mind," said noted physician, sawbones and vampire hunter Doctor Abraham Van Helsing M.D., D. Ph, D. Litt, etc., etc. "If an honest Christian man cannot protect himself against the devilish attentions of the unquiet dead in his own hansom cab, then I say that England has quite taken leave of its senses."
"It is linguistic rectitude rendered mentally infirm, I tell you. This country is departing to the hounds - it seems that a gentleman must now bow to the sensitivities of the Transylvanian, when there is scant evidence that the Transylvanian pays homage to the traditions of Old England."
"I'd send them all back where they came from, if I had my way. The very pits of Hell itself, that is."
(Cont. overleaf)
Top O' The Mornin' To Ye!
The cheeky scamp that he is, this time he's showed up packing homemade bombs, a pistol and a knife, ready to mete out rough justice upon the politicians who have the audacity to begin doing the job they've been getting paid to do for all this time.
Presumably, the price of hand grenades has gone up due to inflation while he was inside.
Rumour has it that this was an attempt to garner some publicity for his new book, although quite why he feels that the world needs a glossy hardback depicting the minutae of his sorry life is far from clear.
Here's my concise summation of the Michael Stone story -
"Chapter One: I'm an evil-minded, moronic nobody.
Chapter Two: I'm an evil-minded, moronic murderer.
Chapter Three: I'm an evil-minded, moronic murderer in prison.
Chapter Four: I'm a free, evil-minded, moronic, murdering nobody.
Chapter Five: I'm an evil-minded, moronic, murdering nobody in prison, again.
The End"
Still, I must say that today's antics are significantly more frightening than his previous appearance, during the marathon at the Olympics -
Michael Stone - Top O' The Mornin' To Ye!
Thursday, November 23, 2006
The Blog Meme - Satan's Chewing Gum
Thankfully, it's a simple question - what ten things would you never do?
I can think of at least a hundred, but I've whittled it down to ten teeth-grinding horrors.
10. I will never kick a man when he's down.
A few years in a Scottish high school drums it into you - as soon as the fucker hits the deck, jump on his head.
9. I will never support the England football team.
Nothing personal, my Southern cousins, but as a child I was molested by the '86 World Cup squad. In the feverish hell of my dreams, I can still see Gary Lineker's maniacal face bearing down on me like a big, sweaty naan bread, while Peter Shilton screams "Fucking handball ref!" over and over, in a despairing Midlands mantra of heartbreak and horror.
8. I will never say "Boo!" to a goose.
I'm not an animal lover, I just realise it would be largely pointless.
7. I will never have sexual intercourse with Jodie Foster.
Rumour has it that she is on the other bus.
6. I will never read another John Grisham novel.
Like being beaten with electric hammers, viciously stamping the words "plot twist", "ethical dilemma" and "moral of the story" into your skull. Tedious, obvious, jack-hammers of banality from a man with all the soul of a coked-up accountant in a titty bar.
5. I will never use the phrase "Political correctness gone mad" in anger, even if it's entirely merited.
I'll just ink a tattoo of a scrotum on my forehead as a warning to all to stay clear.
4. I will never hurt a fly.
Not that I'm a Buddhist, it's just that baby seals give more sport.
3. I will never learn Russian.
Too fucking complicated, and let's face it, what's the point?
2. I will never convert to a religion.
If I wanted to live my life according to the eccentric diktats of an oppressive, all-powerful being that refuses to explain its cruelty and insanity, I'd get married.
1. I will never let sleeping dogs lie.
If there's one thing I can't abide, it's dishonesty.
I apologise if my choices seem obvious, but the unusual pledges were already taken.
Update! I've been reminded that I'm supposed to pass this on, like some electronic VD of the brain.
In that spirit, I'll nominate Clairwil, The Ill Man, NMJ at Velo Gubbed Legs, Pisces at The Far Queue, Binty McShae the Average Tosser, Wyndham the Triffid, Ion at Ionetics, the Wisdom Weasel, Larry at Tampon Teabag and John at Konichiwa Bitches, purely to see which of them can tell me to fuck off in the most brutally cutting fashion.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
If It's PBF Day...
Given Britain's recent policy debates, I thought I might introduce you to my favourite polemicist. I imagine some of you may have made his acquaintance already...
On Democracy...
"I have spoken hitherto of the possibility that democracy may be a self-limiting disease, like measles. It is, perhaps, something more: it is self-devouring. One cannot observe it objectively without being impressed by its curious distrust of itself - its apparently ineradicable tendency to abandon its whole philosophy at the first sign of strain. I need not point to what happens invariably in democratic states when the national safety is mentioned.
All the great tribunes of democracy, on such occasions, convert themselves, by a process as simple as taking a deep breath, into despots of an almost fabulous ferocity. Nor is this process confined to times of alarm and terror: it is going on day in and day out. Democracy always seems bent upon killing the thing it theoretically loves. All its axioms resolve themselves into thundering paradoxes, many amounting to downright contradictions in terms."
On Elected Leadership...
"If he (a political candidate) is a smart and enterprising fellow, which he usually is, he quickly discovers there that hooey pleases the boobs a great deal more than sense. Indeed, he finds that sense really disquiets and alarms them - that it makes them, at best, intolerably uncomfortable, just as a tight collar makes them uncomfortable, or a speck of dust in the eye, or the thought of Hell.
The truth, to the overwhelming majority of mankind, is indistinguishable from a headache. After trying a few shots of it on his customers, the larval statesman concludes sadly that it must hurt them, and after that he taps a more humane keg, and in a little while the whole audience is singing "Glory, glory hallelujah," and when the returns come in the candidate is on his way to the White House."
On Theories of Government...
"In every age the advocates of the dominant political theory seek to give it dignity by identifying it with whatever contemporaneous desire of man happens to be most powerful. In the days of monarchy, monarchy was depicted as the defender of the faith. In our present era of democracy, democracy is depicted as the only safe guardian of liberty. And the communism or super-communism of tomorrow, I suppose, will be sold to the boob-oisie as the only true palladium of peace, justice and plenty.
All of these attempts to hook up cause and effect are nonsensical. Monarchy was fundamentally not a defender of the faith at all, but a rival and enemy to the faith. Democracy does not promote liberty; it diminishes and destroys liberty. And communism, as the example of Russia already shows, is not a fountain that gushes peace, justice and plenty, but a sewer in which they are drowned."
If anyone's still reading and enjoyed those snippets, you'll find more here.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
For The Love Of Christ
In a sane country, the news that certain companies forbid visible jewellery would be met with yawns and rolling eyes, whatever the religious connotations of said trinkets and baubles. Sadly, this is not a sane country, and those yapping little doggies that enjoy barking at the moon over such trifles will doubtless seize this opportunity.
And so Britain's idiot-driven culture war continues apace, as the horrifying news breaks that a school has been forced to drop its plan to serve a halal Christmas dinner. I imagine anyone who's ever eaten a kebab and possesses a functional brain (and such people do exist) will be deeply concerned.
But, to return to the story of the air-hostess who has been forbidden to wear her holy necklace at work, I'm struggling for words. I'll let the lady herself, Nadia Eweida, give us her opinion.
"It is important to wear it to express my faith so that other people will know that Jesus loves them..."
Ms Eweida said people of other faiths were allowed to wear visible religious symbols such as headscarves and she wanted to be allowed to do the same.
I'm secure in the knowledge that I bask in the love of the Lord already, but I think it's worth pointing out that if Ms. Eweida were to holiday in Holland, she'd be forbidden to wear a burqa.
A fact that, looking at her photograph below, strikes me as particularly ironic.
Nadia Eweida - With a face like that,
I'd wear something to distract the punters too.
Update!: It's just occurred to me that the Romans were probably showing off their famed sense of humour when they nailed our Saviour and Lord to those bits of wood.
He was a carpenter, after all. If he'd been a plumber, they'd probably have flushed him down the toilet.
Brazil Nuts
BRASILIA - The mayor of a small Brazilian town has begun handing out free Viagra, spicing up the sex lives of dozens of elderly men and their partners.
"Since we started the free distribution of sexual stimulants, our elderly population changed. They're much happier," said Joao de Souza Luz, the mayor of Novo Santo Antonio, a small town in the central state of Mato Grosso.
Souza Luz said 68 men over the age of 60 had already signed up for the program, which was approved by the town's legislature and has been dubbed "Happy Penis," or "Pinto Alegre" in Portuguese.
And to think, in this country we make our pensioners pay Council Tax and TV licences, and we have the temerity to describe ourselves as "civilised".
Still, it's a damn good explanation for story number two from Brazil today...
PASSO FUNDO - Geneticist Adil Pacheco took blood samples on Friday from three puppies in a poor neighborhood in Passo Fundo in southern Brazil to settle a dispute over a claim they were born from a cat...
...Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, said her cat Mimi had given birth to the three puppies as well as three kittens, which did not survive. And she, her husband Rogerio Jorge da Silva, 26, and several others in the town believe a neighborhood mutt named Dog is the father of Mimi's pups.
This may seem like a suspicious story, until we consider the possibility that that Ms. de Souza's granny has accidentally mixed up the worming tablets with a more potent preparation.
No wonder Mimi looks stunned.
Update!: Sadly, I must report that the tale of Mimi's canine kittens is a hoax.
In other news, Flying Rodent is sad to inform you that Santa Claus does not exist.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Pornography For Women
Visitors from warmer climes may be unfamiliar with the concept, but after ten at night the airwaves buzz with thinly-veiled excuses to show clips from dirty movies, dressed up as documentaries.
Watching in a spirit of academic interest, I was amused to see a female director announce her intention to trudge that well-worn path, the "pornography for women" wheeze.
This has been tried before with little success, since most women are less inclined towards shutting the curtains and making the beast with one back to amateurishly-shot bumping and grinding. Plus, those female enthusiasts that do exist seem content with the shameful debauchery already committed to film.
My theory is that womens' pornography already exists, and is readily available at newsagents and supermarkets across the land. Unlike their male counterparts, the titillation stems not from the attractiveness of the ladies involved, but their wrinkles, botched plastic surgery and bags under the eyes.
Well-toned flesh is replaced with visible ribs, and the only curves on these girls must be on their stomachs. Hair should be unkempt, make-up should run in unsightly streaks and the only close-ups should be on cellulite.
It's Now! and Heat magazine I'm talking about, of course. From observation, I'd say that photos of Lindsey Lohan answering her door in her dressing gown and soap starlets the worse for wear at 2 a.m. provide a near-sexual thrill for many ladies.
Why this should be is a mystery to me, but the market has spoken and it seems that the nation takes an unhealthy interest in the puffy red faces of drunken Big Brother contestants.
So I'm looking for financial backing for a business venture. I propose to publish "Eat it, Bitch!" magazine, a full-colour glossy in which I relieve myself into celebrities' drinks when they're not looking, shave their pets and put unpleasant insects in their handbags, then photograph the amusing results.
"This Creme Brulee Tastes Funny! - Christina unamused by mouse-droppings"
It would also feature an eight page fold out spread, in which former models and It Girls crawl on all fours pleading for tenners while a troop of shrieking chimpanzees hurl clumps of shit at them.
I think we're onto a winner here, folks. There's a huge gap in the market for starlet-taunting, for those with the vision to fill it.
Sling me a couple of grand, a camera, a large snake and access to Paris Hilton's toilet, and we'll be millionaires within months.
*Also known as the "Masturmentary".
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Milton Friedman Has Passed Beyond The Veil
Friedman was a giant amongst his peers and his legacy will endure beyond his passing. His wit and wisdom were always an inspiration to me, as he strove to carve his own path through this life in the face of adversity.
My introduction to his work was his magnum-opus, "Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola", a tour-de-force of razor sharp one-liners, although his greatest achievement was surely his country-rock classic, "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore".
It's only a shame that he couldn't have gone to meet his maker after being elected governor of Texas, but this world is but a veil of tears from which none depart content.
Farewell, Milton, country-singer and humourist par excellence - and may your spirit find solace at the great ranch in the sky.
Update!: It appears that I've made a mix-up and it is in fact Milton Friedman the economist that has passed on. I thought Kinky was looking a little good for a 94 year old.
Fellow commies and moonbats, if it's comedy you seek then head over to Harry's Place and watch the "Decent Left"tm attempt to eulogise the deceased economist and father of monetarism while maintaining their cover as lefties.
Seriously, it's like watching a room full of shamefaced vicars trying to tie knots in their dicks.
It's actually got so bad that tonight's host is trying to distract them with posts harshing on Stalinist cartoons and Muslim attitudes to female masturbation. If it gets any worse they're going to have to break out the footage of George Galloway saluting Saddam.
Ah, the Eustonistas - waving, not drowning, in a sea of their own self-righteous onanism.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Further Meditations Upon Capital Punishment
Over the past few days, however, I've been perusing the musings of various belligerent bloggers and have found myself pulled from pillar to post by their persuasive arguments. But I'm still terribly confused.
One second they're shouting "They should string the bugger up!" and the next they cry "Hanging's too good for the bastard!".
I wish they'd make their fucking minds up, I don't know what to think.
Something Stinks, And It's Not The Dog
They join the ranks of vacant, money-grubbing, media jezebels Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman and P. Puff Diddy Daddy in their frenzied attempts to part us star-dazzled uglies from our money.
Sadly, P. Puff Diddy Daddy has declined to name his scent "Eau de Cretin", and Beckham's "Instinct" seems similarly inappropriate.
So I wonder, who will be the next celebrity to bottle their personality? Personally, I'd like to see the advertising campaign for Tom Cruise's "Insincerity", purely so I could listen to women remark to each other "When I get a whiff of Tom Cruise's Insincerity I almost pass out".
I also like to think that the public would flock to sample "Oleaginous" by Donald Trump or Simon Cowell's "Vermineuse".
No doubt you have ideas as to potential celebrity scents - I'd advise you stay away from Michael Jackson, though.
Not because any jokes would be in poor taste, just because he's a fucking mentalist and he'd probably try to bum your pet poodle or some such perversity.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Stop Me If You've Seen This One
From the geek-nirvana that is Boing-Boing.
Jerry Springer Show,
14th November 2006
(Theme music, applause, Jerry to center stage)
JERRY: Alright, thank you!
(Cheers, hoo-ahs)
JERRY: ...And welcome to the show. Has your partner ever cheated on you, disrespected you or thrown you out? Today we're gonna be talkin' to couples whose relationships are going wrong. Our first guest is Iran, who says that her man badmouths her in front of his friends and goes through her things looking for evidence she's been cheating. She says that he needs to change if their relationship is going to work. Come on out, Iran!
(Music, cheers, IRAN walks on stage, pumping the air and whooping, sits).
JERRY: So Iran, what is it that your man does that upsets you?
IRAN: Okay Jerry, so America's all, like, up in my face all the time, disrespectin' me and bein' all aggressive. Him and his friends is always out messin' wit other women all the time.JERRY: You say he's playing around with other women, do you know this for sure?
IRAN: Damn right I know it for sure, he's been f***in' that ho Iraq mornin', noon and night for three goddamn years-
(Loud booing, hissing)
IRAN: Yeah, yeah, that's right!
Iran: "America gots to show me some respect".
JERRY: And you've got something you'd like to say to him today?
IRAN: Yeah, Jerry, but I'll only speak to America on, like, certain conditions, okay? First, he's gotta change his behaviour. Second, he's gotta stop messin' wit them skanks he's been foolin' wit and third-
(Hoots, howls, "Yeah!"s)
IRAN: - And third, he's gotta show me some respect, you know? He's gotta give me some space, respect my privacy and not be snoopin' into my nuclear programme all the time.JERRY: Okay, so let's see what America has to say for himself. America, get on out here!
(AMERICA emerges, loud booing, hissing. AMERICA walks to the front of the stage, throwing gangsta hand shapes and hitting his chest).
AMERICA: What? What y'all beefin' at, huh? Y'all want some, huh?
JERRY: Okay, America, sit on down now. Your girl has something she'd like to say to you. Go on, Iran.
IRAN: Yeah, America, you gots to stop disrespectin' me all the time. Like, when you was up at the UN building talkin' trash and callin' me a terrorist-sponsorin' ho -
(Screaming, howling, "You go girl!"s).
AMERICA: Yo, yo Jerry, Iran had that comin', she can't keep the house tidy, keeps leavin' nuclear waste and s**t lyin' in the bathroom and-
IRAN: (Jumps up, pointing, restrained by BOUNCER) You no-good son of a bitch, how many times I gots to tell you that's for peaceful purposes, you a**hole?
(Ecstatic shrieks of excitement)
JERRY: So, America, is there anything you'd like to say to Iran?
AMERICA: (Sits back, rearranges genitals, coughs, wry smile) Yeah, well, there is. (Takes IRAN's hand) Iran, baby, you know I love you, and we had some good times and stuff, but I been seein' someone else.
CROWD: Ooooooh!
IRAN: (Look of startled horror) Who? Who the f**k you been messin' on me wit?
AMERICA: A girl that don't give no money to no terrorists or build no nuclear warheads.
JERRY: Well, let's meet her. Israel, can you step out here please?
(ISRAEL enters stage left, smiling and waving, kisses AMERICA. IRAN screams and grabs ISRAEL by the hair, furious punching ensues, AMERICA tries to seperate the two).
IRAN: You f**kin' bitch, I'll f**kin' drive you into the f**kin' sea, you f**kin' bitch!
(Enter BOUNCERS, stage right)
JERRY: Hey, come on now, break it up, calm down!
(general melee, blood and hair fly)
CROWD: Go Jerry, go Jerry, go Jerry... (repeat ad infinitum...)
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Embracing Our Imminent Enslavement As a Positive Experience
With the Democrats back in business, I can't wait to begin meekly surrendering to our totalitarian foes - the only questions are, how soon do we start submitting, and how enthusiastically?
I'm so eager to throw myself at the feet of our cave-dwelling enemies, howling and urinating in canine terror like a puppy in a thunderstorm, that I need to take a few deep breaths and construct a strategy of incremental submission.
It seems a bit premature to begin grovelling and pleading for mercy immediately, so I suggest a lengthy period of craven appeasement. We could start by sending sushi and fruit-smoothies to the Taliban. All that camping out in the desert must be hungry work, after all.
Next we should send a respected figure of great power and authority in our pinko ranks - say, George Galloway - to negotiate with Osama Bin Laden, offering him lordship over the 'Stans.
It might be a bit tough to locate OBL, since he's been keeping a low profile recently, but if Galloway can return to these shores bearing a worthless, weasel-worded non-aggression pact, we'll be well on our way.
From there, all that would remain would be to splash a little eau de capitulation behind our ears and invite our new Euro-Jihadi masters to crush us like over-ripe tomatoes beneath their Nike jackboots.
I just can't work out who to surrender to first - the Iranians, the North Koreans or the Syrians? What about Al-Qaeda or the Taliban?
Oh well, never mind. Being a commie and a pinko, I'll happily throw myself upon the mercy of whichever shower of bedraggled thugs demands obedience.
Then I can start collaborating, which is where the fun really begins.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Royal rushed to hospital
November 11th 2006
Update! This particular incident reminded me of the D-Day commemorations a few years back...
Prince Charles Enjoys RAF Fly-Past
6th June 2004
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Most Profound Metaphor in World History
"The man is reported to have got down on all fours, lowered his trousers and fixed a Black Cat Thunderbolt rocket to himself in front of a group of friends at the end of a firework display in the Monkwearmouth area of Sunderland on Sunday."
Fuzzy mobile phone footage shows a blinding white flash and the group of spectators laughing...
A spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service said: "We received a call stating there was a male who had a firework in his bottom and it was bleeding. He was attended to and taken to Sunderland Royal hospital."
The man, whose injuries include a scorched colon, is still in hospital."
It occurs to me that this is perhaps the most profound metaphor in world history, although I'm not sure what for.
Voting? Drunkenness? Militarism?
I'm at a loss.
Still, I imagine this horrific incident is beyond many of our imaginitive powers. To assist, I thought I'd post a graphic representation of the dire consequences that may ensue when slack-jawed stupidity and anal pyrotechnics* are combined.
Warning - there is a nasty bare arse in this video, so do not watch it at work.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Exeunt Rummy, Stage Left
It seems but a few short years since he was lecturing the French and the Germans on the need for pre-emptive war, of which neither nation has any practical experience worth mentioning.
As Chirac and Schroder stridently warned the Americans to change their policy, lest they be led into unmitigated disaster, one liver-spotted hand raised a single-fingered salute in defiance of their defeatism.
That hand belonged to Donald Rumsfeld - that unmitigated disaster soon belonged to America.
To see Rummy knifed in the back was unforgiveable - here, here was the man who delivered to the United States the debacle they so desperately craved, that the networks, the newspapers, nay, the people themselves had called for with such venom.
"Destroy our credibility as a freedom-loving nation!", they cried from Oregon to Florida, and he did. They howled, "Let the blood of the foreigner stain the front pages of the world's media, and to hell with them!", and Rummy was on hand to give the country what it demanded.
Rumsfeld was asked, and truly Rumsfeld delivered.
And after all this hard work, after all his desperate efforts to make the United States the most despised nation on an Earth which encompasses China, Iran and North Korea, this was the thanks they gave him?
A man that slaved, day and night to deliver that which was required of him by plebiscite, and they just cast him out onto the scrap heap?
Shame on them.
Nonetheless, it was truly heartwarming to watch America's leading civilian warmongers weep fat, salty tears for the fall of a man who took the U.S. military, the most terrifying war machine since 1940, and bled it like a pneumonic Plantagenet monarch.
It was like watching the men who fell under the command of George Armstrong Custer raise their bloodstained, dead hands in salutary tribute, except those guys actually fought.
But shame is theirs that left this great architect of nihilistic horror out in the cold, with only the crusts of FOX News interviews to nourish him in the bleak night of political obscurity.
Farewell, Donald Rumsfeld, and know that the goodwill of all haddock-brained hate-patriots goes with you.
Update! - You might as well hear it from me, you're about to hear it from everyone else.
Update 2! - This brought tears of joy to my eyes back in the day, so anyone nostalgic for the fighting styles of Donald Rumsfeld should check this page out.
At Work...
...As usual, but I've got a bit of time tonight and tomorrow, so I'll catch up with a lot of the comedy I've been missing and serve up the choicest cuts.
Something tells me there's going to be a lot of nuttiness batting about the sewers of the blogosphere today.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Party Decrees Execution "Double-Plus Good"
I'm almost afraid to go on holiday, there would be nothing worse than getting home to discover everyone had spent the whole time I was away holding Kim Jong Il's head down the toilet and pulling the flush.
Still, I see that the news has gone over well with those whose fierce commitment to universal human rights flops like a stiffy in a scissor factory the moment we, the Americans or the Israelis rev up our war machines to unleash some kick-ass whizz-bang upon lunatics and civilians alike.
This being the case, I'm sure you can envisage their not-at-all bloodthirsty reaction (364 comments so far) to the butcher of Baghdad's impending execution. It's good to see that none of the "muscular liberals" (see also "pretend-lefties who demand uncritical adherence to the agenda of the Republican Party") have wasted any time sniffing out dissent from the party line.
There's little point in commenting upon the responses of those hermanos who cheerfully admit their right wing lunacy, other than to observe that they must be enjoying the novelty of eulogising the execution of someone who a) isn't black, b) is actually guilty and c) has a mental age that stretches to double figures.
Most of the Iraqis that have survived the last three years seem to be happy enough with the news, which is understandable. Even those who have fled the country in fear of their lives are jubilant.
At least the fact that the Shi'ites have spent the last two days celebrating by firing their machine guns into the air, rather than into the backs of their neighbours' heads at point-blank range, should put a cap on the body count in the short term.
I suppose we should let this be a lesson to dictators - don't slaughter your people, or we'll sell you chemical weapons to use on your internal and external enemies and feed strategic data to your armed forces to help you win wars.
Oh, and then after twenty five years we'll depose you, hand you over to a kangaroo court to provide an unconvincing veneer of legality before stampeding your death sentence onto the breakfast news just in time to coincide with internal elections.
I suppose this means that Dick Cheney was right - the Iraqis are trying to influence the US political process!
Not that the notion of Saddam being legally strung up by a political court, then literally strung up to suit the Machiavellian needs of an unscrupulous and bloodthirsty cabal of warmongers, doesn't have an ironic ring to it.
Rummy congratulates Saddam on his impending execution
As regular readers might have guessed, I'm opposed to the death penalty in principle, even for genocidal maniacs like Saddam. Involvement in unnecessary bloodshed, however justified we might feel it is, lowers us to their level.
That said, I have the perfect solution for this moral quandary - an evil dictator, a Shia majority baying for his blood, and the obvious involvement of American political pressure in his impending execution? How to keep even more blood from being spilled on the flags of our nations?
Well, why not release Saddam into a Shia enclave of Baghdad? Much like our right wing blogging brethren, they have a preference for the swift delivery of summary justice in darkened rooms and back alleys.
A Sunni male in Sadr City? He wouldn't last five minutes.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
I Heart Art
Work is too horrible to contemplate for the next few days. Entertain yourselves - I suggest clicking on "Assorted Oddballs" or "From the Land of Horizontal Rain".


text:
Three starts into the son of Tiger Ridge's career trainer, Scott Lake feels the timing is perfect for a first attempt in a stakes race even though his charge still has plenty to learn.
So far the youthful exuberance hasn't kept Ju Jitsu Jax from winning. He rattled off three victories in Delaware and Maryland over eight weeks, starting with his Sept. 8 debut. He has yet to race over a 'fast' track and his second start at Laurel Park on Sept. 27 was a "debacle" of a race according to Lake.
"First he takes a total right-hand turn coming out of the gate," he said. "Then he gets sent up around horses, gets to the lead and then does that thing with his ears and starts waiting again. It's part of the reason he didn't get a big (speed) number in the race, but he's still learning."
Since his last race, fate helped steer Ju Jitsu Jax to the annual clash of Florida-breds and California-breds. Lake and Cole have been dominant forces in the Mid-Atlantic by picking soft spots across the region. They had a similar plan with this colt, but both are happy Saturday will be the colt's first stakes test.
"Right after his last race we thought about coming down here, but we looked instead at a stakes at Charles Town that ended up getting canceled," said Lake. "We would have been favored in a race at Penn National, but they were having problems with their track and weather. In the end, we decided we'd be stupid not to make the Sunshine Millions for all the money it offers."
Orseno: 'Snow Cone Won't Melt in Sunshine Millions'
Live Oak Plantation's 5-year-old turf mare Snow Cone was doing too good to go on vacation, despite a disappointing finish in her last start, and trainer Joe Orseno convinced her owners she deserved another chance in Saturday's $500,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
The Florida-bred daughter of Cryptoclearance will again face the late Harry Aleo's Wild Promises after falling too far behind the front-runner in the My Charmer Handicap (G3) at Calder Race Course on Dec. 6. Orseno says the scene shift should improve his charge's chances.
"I know Wild Promises is a tough filly and she ran a big race last time," said Orseno Thursday morning. "I think this time there's more speed to go with her. She shouldn't get the same easy lead she got at Calder. She got loose on a turf course that was pretty chewed up and most of us had no chance to make up any ground."
Snow Cone went to Santa Anita for this same race last year and finished in a dead heat for fourth. She won just once in eight starts in 2008, but Orseno says there were plenty of excuses.
"It looks like she hasn't been running very well, but she's been in some really rough races," he said. "Honestly, we know now it looks like she needs to be on the outside. She's been trapped in a lot of cases and hasn't been getting a chance to show her best."
Orseno will call on jockey Joe Bravo – a fellow star on the New Jersey circuit – to deliver the trip that will let Snow Cone show her best.
"I've known Joe for 20 years and I really trust him to put this mare where she belongs. I know he's going to understand what she needs to do and that she's going to run a big race, because she's doing really good right now.
McPeek Sets Plans for Talented 3-Year-Olds
Trainer Ken McPeek shipped into South Florida for the winter season with divisions at Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows and high expectations after a good season in 2008. Thanks largely to promising juvenile talent, the Lexington-native has gotten the new campaign off to a fast start with eight winners, including impressive allowance victories by three different 3-year-old colts.
Lansdon Robbins III and Sam Delaney's Danger to Society and Silver Wing Stable's Free Country each won 'a other than' allowance races at 1 1/8 miles on Jan. 8 and Samotowka Stables and partners' Theregoesjojo won his 'a other than' allowance condition going seven furlongs two days later on Jan. 10. All won over several other highly-regarded young prospects.
"Naturally, we'd like to keep them apart for now," said McPeek Thursday morning. "Right now we're looking to run Danger to Society in the ($150,000) Holy Bull Stakes (G3) here (Jan. 31 at 1 1/8 miles), Theregoesjojo in the race at Fair Grounds ($200,000 Risen Star Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 7) and Free Country in the race at Tampa Bay Downs ($225,000 Sam Davis Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 14)."
In addition to this accomplished trio of potential Kentucky Derby (G1) prospects, McPeek also has another highly-regarded 3-year-old colt in Marvin Delfiner and partners' More Than Willing, although the son of More Than Ready is still a maiden after two starts. He finished a closing third in his debut at Churchill Downs on Nov. 8 and second as the favorite in a six-furlong maiden test on Jan. 3 behind highly regarded Checklist.
"He's entered for a race Sunday. He's got to get past his maiden, but we certainly think he has the potential to go on to bigger objectives once he gets that (maiden) done. It's a nice problem to have (keeping the talented 3-year-olds apart)."
McPeek picked out for purchase three of the four youngsters at different yearling sales: Danger to Society (by Harlan's Holiday) for $300,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July, Theregoesjojo (by Brahms) for $42,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October and More Than Willing for $140,000 at Keeneland September. Free Country was purchased by his owner for $10,500 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sales.
While the colts in the McPeek barn are making most of the news so far this season, the stable also hopes to be well represented by 3-year-old fillies as the season unfolds with Live the Dream Racing's Dream Empress and Steve Stan Stable's Striking Dancer each about to begin serious training.
"They both got a month off after their last races last year, so they are about 30 days behind the colts," said McPeek. "Both are ready for their first breeze of the season in about a week and could be ready to run by late February or early March. They're both on schedule."
Dream Empress is a daughter of Bernstein who ranked among leaders of her division last year after winning the Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on Oct. 3 and finishing a game second three weeks later in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita on Oct. 24. She subsequently finished fourth as the favorite last out in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29.
Striking Dancer is a chestnut daughter of Smart Strike that has shown her best on turf so far, breaking her maiden at Churchill Downs by 5 ¾ lengths on Nov. 1 in her third career start. She started with two good tries sprinting, and finished a fast-closing second in the Caressing Stakes over the Churchill course on Nov. 29.
In addition to running Danger to Society in the Holy Bull Stakes on Jan. 31, McPeek will send out Allen Paulson Living Trust's 7-year-old A.P. Arrow in the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) that afternoon as the son of A.P. Indy makes his first start since finishing seventh behind Curlin in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) at Belmont Park on Sept. 27.
The homebred chestnut will be making his first start since being placed with McPeek after trainer Todd Pletcher guided his career through earnings of nearly $1.5 million with highlights including victory in the 2007 Clark Handicap (G2) at Churchill Downs and a half-length runner-up finish behind Spring At Last in the Donn last year.


text:
Federal Judge Consolidates Two Wolf Lawsuits [AUDIO]
A federal judge in Washington D.C. has consolidated two lawsuits filed by coalitions of environmental groups over the recent transfer of wolf management in Wyoming to the state. Doug Randall reports. Local officials say the increase in drilling in Laramie County has not led to more fires. Click past the jump to listen to Wyoming Radio News.


text:
If you aren't at least a little afraid about the general state of our economy, and the global economy for that matter, you haven't been listening to the news. Ultimately, we rely on other people's spending habits and budgets to pay our own bills, and that understandably makes one nervous when input prices have been rising at an unprecedented rate as they have been.
During the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He went on to define that fear as the "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
Roosevelt was right. It isn't the market fundamentals that present the danger; ultimately they are pretty good. It's the concern that we will be unable to capitalize on opportunities because we're paralyzed by uncertainty.
Perhaps we should look at tougher times as being great liberating times in which to be bold and innovative. Very few people try new strategies in very good times.
A great motivator
While fear can freeze us in inaction, it also can be a great motivator. Now is the time to increase your strategic initiatives and implement changes in marketing strategies, rather than withdrawing. It's time to really identify what's worked best in the past and step up those efforts.
Another key is to not focus on the hourly swings of the futures markets, the daily trends in the beef complex or the latest action of the Dow Jones. I've talked to numerous producers who have been totally sidetracked from their goals because of concerns about the macro economy.
I'm not suggesting you bury your head in the sand and ignore reality; I'm suggesting you take a longer-term approach and embrace the fact that in every negative lies a potential opportunity.
When times are tough, you need to expand your horizons. Perhaps you need to look at retained ownership, running stockers or taking advantage of recreational opportunities in a more serious light.
Number one is to keep a positive attitude and a long-term perspective. After all, the long-term outlook for ag and the beef industry is exceptional. Focus on the 80/20 rule and surround yourself with proactive, optimistic people. Evaluate your efforts and spending. Now isn't necessarily the time to cut back on either front, but there are probably areas that aren't producing results.
Whether it be a recession or the cattle cycle, businesses can and do profit in the lows as well as the highs. Managing in down times is about honestly facing conditions, being proactive and taking action.
Troy Marshall is editor of Seedstock Digest and a contributing editor to BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly. To receive BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly, a free electronic newsletter delivered each Friday afternoon, sign up at beefmagazine.com.


text: my friend is using pinguy on a notebook, installed proprietary amd radeon drivers, then adobe flash player non-free, using any browser, when watching a clip in HD he gets framedrop to almost freeze then it continue to work for a bit then more framedrop, the sound is playing nice only the vid lags. He have a asus notebook(i dunno the model) with a radeon HD6590 integrated. Any tip?


text:
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Tag - Eyeglass Loupes
- Construction & Demolition Robots Market Expected To Reach $2.5 Billions By 2025
- Industrial Automation Services (IAS) Market – Emerging Product Trends & Market Opportunities
- Now People Can Complain for Abusive WhatsApp Messages in India
- Spotify Expands its wing to India
- Indian Government Changes E-Commerce Policy: Top Vendors To Revamp Business Model


text:
Obama taking "fiscal cliff" fight to the public
With little evidence of progress in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations in Washington, President Obama today takes his message on the road: The president will travel to a toy manufacturing facility in Hatfield, Pa., where he will make the case that Congress should immediately extend the Bush-era tax cuts on income under $250,000 per year.}
Mr. Obama's destination appears designed to underline his argument that passage of that extension will help boost holiday spending, and, in turn, the overall U.S. economy. He will tour one of two manufacturing plants of The Rodon Group, which makes parts for Tinkertoys, K'NEX Building Sets and Lincoln Logs, among other products.
K'NEX and The Rodon Group, its subsidiary, boast that the vast majority of the parts in their products are now made in the United States. Mr. Obama is expected to make the case that the companies depend on consumer spending, and that the extension of the tax cut will help keep the company making toys and employing workers. K'NEX has moved much of its production from China to the United States over the past four years.
K'NEX CEO Michael Araten donated to Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign. His company is located in Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia, which broke for the president over Mitt Romney 57 percent to 42 percent on Election Day.
Mr. Obama's trip is an attempt to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to gain additional leverage in the seemingly-stagnant debate in Washington over how to avert the combination of tax hikes and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" which is set to kick in at the end of the year in the absence of a deal. He argues that Democrats and Republicans should extend the Bush-era tax cuts now as discussions over other aspects of the "fiscal cliff" continue.
The key players in the negotiation are Mr. Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, who are seeking to craft a deal that is palatable to their party bases. Mr. Obama wants Republicans to agree to allow the Bush-era tax cuts on income over $250,000 to expire, something the vast majority of Republican lawmakers say is unacceptable; Boehner wants Mr. Obama to agree to significant cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, something the vast majority of Democrats oppose.
Boehner has said he is open to raising revenues by closing loopholes in the tax code and eliminating deductions, but he has said he will not accept increases in tax rates - and many House Republicans fear that if they vote for tax hikes, they will face well-funded Tea Party-aligned primary challengers in their next election. Negotiators for Mr. Obama are reportedly calling on Republicans to make a specific proposal for what cuts they would like to make to entitlements. If the Bush-era tax cuts expire on the highest earners, tax rates on income over $250,000 would increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, the rate under President Clinton.
Late Thursday, House Republicans said they rejected an offer from the Obama administration that was presented by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House Congressional Liason Rob Nabors in meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The $4 trillion offer would have raised taxes $1.6 trillion over a decade and cut $400 billion from Medicare and other entitlements, to be worked out next year.
It would also have extended the payroll tax cut, raised the estate tax to 45 percent on inheritances over $3.5 million, kept Medicare reimbursement rates from being cut (the "doc fix"), extended unemployment insurance and added $50 billion in infrastructure/stimulus spending in the first year, with more such spending in the future. House Republicans characterized the offer as a joke. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, called it a "step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff, delaying again the real, balanced solution that this crisis requires."
On Thursday, Boehner's tone concerning the negotiations abruptly turned negative: After stating Wednesday that he is "optimistic that we can continue to work together to avert this crisis and sooner rather than later," on Thursday he said he was "disappointed" and that there is a "a real danger" of going "off the cliff." Boehner said that "no substantive progress had been made" over the last two weeks of talks.
The White House said Thursday that the remaining obstacle in negotiations is that Republicans have yet to accept that tax rates on the wealthiest Americans need to go up. Mr. Obama campaigned on raising those races, and national exit polls after Election Day and more recent polling show that 60 percent of Americans support increasing those tax rates. Boehner and other Republicans say that raising those rates will have a chilling effect on small businesses and ultimately harm the economy and reduce hiring.
"The President has already signed into law over $1 trillion in spending cuts and we remain willing to do tough things to compromise, and it's time for Republicans in Washington to join the chorus of other voices - from the business community to middle class Americans across the country - who support a balanced approach that asks more from the wealthiest Americans," Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday.
In an attempt to reach a breakthrough in negotiations, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet and Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander have reportedly sent White House and congressional negotiators their plan for an agreement, which includes not-yet-released specifics on entitlement reforms and tax cuts.
Taxes and entitlements are far from the only issue in the "fiscal cliff" standoff: Negotiators are also trying to avert the automatic spending cuts to defense and non-defense programs set to kick in after the end of the year. Those $1.2 trillion in scheduled cuts are the result of a 2011 deal that resulted from House Republicans' reluctance to raise the debt limit. The deal proposed by Geithner Thursday would reportedly have postponed those cuts for a year.
In addition, negotiators are seeking to agree to a mechanism to raise the debt limit once again - it is scheduled to be reached early next year - and avoid another messy battle over what is a difficult vote for many Republicans to extend the nation's debt load. Boehner said Tuesday that "any increase debt limit has to be accompanied by spending reductions that meet or exceed it."
Earlier this week, Boehner shot downa call by Rep. Tom Cole, the GOP deputy whip and former chair of the National Republican Campaign Committee, to accept Mr. Obama's proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for most Americans now. In an effort to weaken Republican resolve, Mr. Obama has previously called on Americans to tweet about the importanceof extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, and appeared Wednesday with middle class Americans to drive home the point.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday that the comments by Cole and some other prominent Republicans - most of whom are not in Congress - were a sign that Republicans are starting to accept Democratic demands. "Why am I optimistic?" he asked, according to Slate. "Because you can smell the winds. When so many Republicans say, hey, we're going to have to give in to the Democrats, that's how it works around here. That's the beginning of their beginning to agree with us, or being required to agree with us."
Groups on the left, meanwhile, are trying to ensure that Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats do not agree to significant cuts to entitlement programs as part of a deal. Moveon.org dispatched "tens of thousands" of members to state and district offices of lawmakers Thursday to encourage them to "defend the middle class by asking the wealthy to pay their fair share and by preventing any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits." While the White House has signaled that Social Security is off the table in the negotiations, some Democrats have shown some opennessto significant cuts to Medicare and Medicaid - after the fiscal cliff negotiations are completed.
McConnell said Tuesday that instead of engaging in campaign-style events in Pennsylvania, the president should be in Washington. "The people he needs to be talking to are members of his own party so he can convince them of the need to act," he said.