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|Mama kisses Papa on his 80th Birthday
I used to think in the photo
sometimes your eyes
would blink, your lips
tremble slightly.
I would stare hard and long,
Waiting for miracles,
for you to wave
your hand at me.
In dusky light, in morning sun,
I stared away,
pretending life
had never changed,
that death had failed to conquer you,
that you had found
a place to hide
far from Death's wrath.
I told myself to keep the faith.
You would return,
absent yourself
from the spring scene
of that photo, leave behind trees
and your sidewalk,
and suddenly
come back to who
you were to me,
father and friend,
not a snapshot anymore, not
old memories
poured into this broken heart,
not a shadow
but flesh and bone.
© 2007 Salvatore Buttaci
|My father Michael at age 2 in 1907
|Papa at 16
My father's hands
fluttered like bird wings
when he told stories
they felt gentle around my shoulders
made me know without doubt he loved me
applauded life even in his pain
trembled in those final deathbed days
and when I look at these old photos
Papa is waving at the camera, as if death…
as if it never happened.
© 2008 Salvatore Buttaci
Despite these twenty-seven years
empty of your laughter,
I can still see you
smiling at the camera,
cake knife in hand,
slicing that first piece
of your birthday cake
Mama baked
(after the click and flash)
you gently let fall
into her plate.
© 2008 Salvatore Buttaci
|Mama, Papa and I in 1975
|Mama and Papa in 1932
My father never missed a day of work
In all his years of labor: from dishwasher
When he was a teenager new to this land
To welder at the Curtiss-Wright plant
In Woodridge where daily he inhaled
The noxious fumes that in the end proved
The cause of his sad passing.
We sons and daughters learned from his example:
Pretend we were too sick to go to school?
Why, we wouldn't dare!
He was a fine man of principle who refused
To follow the work antics of the sheepish crowd.
"I do what's right," he'd say. "To hell with
who likes, who doesn't like! Remember this:
Give an honest day's work for an honest
day's pay. Don't look to fool the boss.
He's a worker too. You want him to be fair?
Then you be fair with him!"
My father conducted his life strictly
by the rules. Into his 80s, he still walked
straight as a soldier, his head lifted high.
That man was unafraid to stare life in the eye.
He taught us there's no shame in hard honest work;
Still, he encouraged us to go to college
So we would earn more, working with our minds.
"In your success," he'd tell us, "never look down
on those who work with their hands. We workers
built this country!" and you could hear the emotion,
the pride, choking in his throat.
His voice would tremble when he'd say,
"In the walls of every tunnel,
down in the dark subways, all those miles
across every single bridge,
you'll find a piece of us. God bless the working class!
We made America what she is today."
© 2004 Salvatore Buttaci
|Papa posing as a farmer: 1932
|Papa hunting in Pennsylvania: 1928
Dear Papa, when images of you tiptoe
to mind and suddenly I think you standing there,
once more in flesh and bone,
my heart's desire is to embrace you
listen to your voice speak tenderly,
together spin technicolor spheres of laughter
in that quiet meeting hall of memory.
It is a temptation to which I gladly would succumb
to hear you once more say how, though gone,
you live on in sweet Paradise, but I am too strong,
too weak, unable to disown the world of breath
and stone. Instead, like a boy unsure, lost, confused,
in the gray of this joyous reunion, Papa,
I hesitate and you are lost.
© 1999 Salvatore Buttaci
|Papa in 1969
|Papa in 1984
|Papa and Mama renew their vows 50 years later:1982
I can still hear Frankie ask,
"Why didn't we save at least one
of Papa's horses?" as we all
gathered together that sad old
April Papa passed away.
Those little horses Papa sketched
in the margins of his papers,
those little horses with reins
and funny-looking cowboys
sitting on saddles, booted feet
in stirrups, tall wide-brimmed hats
above mustached smiles ––
"They look like dogs," I told him.
"They look like horses, dummy,"
Anna said. "Horses are bigger,"
I said. "They're dogs," Then Papa
took up his pencil again, this time
stretching the little horses' legs,
thickening them down to wide hooves,
fattening their bodies and their heads.
"The cowboys look too small now,"
I said, to which Anna shook her head
disgustedly. But Papa was patient.
He sketched some more, his hand
rounding out, elongating, shading in
the faces, extending boot size, giving
the cowboys twenty-gallon hats that
would've buried their heads had Papa
not allowed them to float in the air
above his cowboys' eyes. Papa's horses.
We all remember them. How can it be
in all his notebooks not one single
little cowboy rides one single
little horse inside the confines
of the paper's red margin?
© 1998 Salvatore Buttaci
I saved my father in a book,
wrote his marrow and his bones
on blue-veined lines
and delighted how he walked
through the stanzas of my poems.
I saved him in a book,
traded sorrow for sweet songs
sung in happier times
and recited all his wisdom
inside the pages of these poems.
I lured my father to this book,
enticed the fellow from his stone
with magic rhymes
inviting him to stay
in the shelter of these lines.
I saved him in a book
in the comfort of these poems
in the heartbeat of my verse
in the cadence of these words
in his dance across the pages
where he lives forever ageless
I saved Papa in this book
© 1997 Salvatore Buttaci
Michael Buttaci was born July 05, 1905, and died April 20, 1987. I was blessed to have had him for my father. He taught me the importance of being honest, honorable, and true to myself. By example he showed me how a good man loves God and family and others.
Once when I was a teenager, my father was relating a story about his mother who had passed away in 1939. Throughout the story he held his white handkerchief, dabbing his eyes and blowing his nose, until finally I said, "Pa, Grandma's been gone for twenty years. Why are you still crying?" He looked at me, flashed one of those enigmatic smiles and replied, "If I live another two hundred years, I'll still be crying."
Oh, Pa, in your absence, I know exactly what you meant. Time heals, but it leaves scars. And wonderful memories too.
Salvatore Buttaci writes poems, stories, articles, and blogs everyday.
His two flash fiction collections were published by All Things That Matter Press and available at Amazon.com.
His book about Sicily and Sicilians, still selling copies after 16 years: A Family of Sicilians...
He is the author of two recent chapbooks:
What I Learned from the Spaniard... (Middle Island Press)
and Boy on a Swing... (Big Table Publishing)
A retired teacher, Buttaci lives in West Virginia with Sharon, the love of his life.


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Costco is turning into Walmart
Costco Quality Declining
While I realize that Costco products will vary from store to store based on the Region it's becoming more apparent that the quality of products they sell is on the decline.
Made in China - Sold at Costco
Yesterday I visited my local Costco and they were out of the usual frozen produce that I buy. But they did have a new item.... frozen Organic Asparagus. I'm not a huge fan of Asparagus, but it's tolerable... so I picked up the package to read about it. Turns out it's imported from China! That's right my neighborhood Costco is now importing food from China. Just like the horrible salmon that Walmart Imports from China. I suppose they can't grow Asparagus in the United States? Or maybe it's just cheaper to ship it 10,000 miles in refridgerated cargo ships? Then offload the cargo in Los Angeles and truck it to my local Costco? Well if that's the case then those Chinese Agricultural workers must be really rally low paid wouldn't you think?
Sadly this is the case with many products on display at Costco especially now that Christmas shopping season is in full swing.... quality on the decline. Name brands disappearing in favor of cheap imported no nome products.
So I walked over to the side of the store opposite of the food area. The tool row to be more specific. I picked up item after item and read the country of origin. China, China, China. I know tools... and you can just look at these tools and see the inferior quality. Costco in the past has carried some name brand American Made products in this area... but that is all gone. All the Lighting products... made in China! If not for the food items and the gasoline I'd probably just let mey Costco membership expire. I can buy the same quality merchandise at Walmart, and the prices at Costco on this imported Chinese Crap are not better than Walmarts. In fact I'm seeing more and more items that are not cheaper than Walmart. Case in Point Mobile Synthetic Motor Oil... cheaper by far at Walmart. And not a Chinese Product.
I also tried to find a decent blanket at my neighborhood Costco and the selection was pathetic and again all Chinese made and just horrible quality. Who would carry blankets in the fall right?
Well I hope that Costco gets it's act together and goes back to carrying quality items. It's getting harder and harder to find qauality in Costco. Harder to find it anwhere any more. Americans have settled for Crap over Quality and this is the result. A disposable product society which sends our dollars abroad in exchange for items which will be in the landfill in a matter of months.
I'd also like to see Costco do a better job of disclosing the origin of their Kirkland product brand. Some Kirkland products are okay, some are good, some are not very good at all.
This really makes me wonder even if the Banking System were ever fixed if Americans could ever be smart enough consumers to demand the quality that used to be available. It is not cheaper to buy cheap crap and replace it over and over. It's cheaper to buy quality items that last... it's also a much better way to treat the planet.
Costco is turning into Walmart.
Feel free to coment. I would love to hear about American Made quality products that you may be finding in your local Costco that are absent in mine.
No comments yet.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Pipe Supports are products used to support piping systems under thermal, seismic and other dynamic load conditions. We bring the most experience, the highest quality product, and the best engineering innovation to bear on any engineered pipe support problem in the Fire Fighting industries. Pipe supports offered in this section are designed to support pipe from a base structure where vertical adjustment may be required.
Our range of pipe support systems includes Clamps, Hangers and Channel Support System that provides the perfect solution for every type of application. Thanks to their speedy installation, simple fastening, reliable load values, and excellent vibration control values.


text:
Oil-in-water set
From Specac
The oil-in-water set is supplied complete with matched IR quartz transmission cells with path lengths of 10 mm (rectangular), 50 mm and 100 mm (cylindrical) along with a cell holder.
|Matched cell pairs enable repeatable measurements
|Large filler openings enable fast and efficient loading and removal of sample
|Measurement of highly volatile samples: Stoppers ensure retention of highly volatile samples
|Transmission range approx. 40,000 cm-1 to 2,700 cm-1.
|Three different path lengths: 10 mm, 50 mm and 100 mm


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News Columns & Blogs
An All-America City again
Congratulations to Wichita for landing its fourth All-America City award on Friday from the National Civic League. Going into last week's finals of the annual contest, which had 143 entries, it was hard to imagine that the 31 other finalist cities had success stories as impressive as the three in Wichita's 2009 bid: the Opportunity Drive campus on East 21st Street, Visioneering Wichita and Mennonite Housing Rehabilitation Services. The honor entitles the city to more than bragging rights. Especially amid the sharp decline in employment at the city's aviation manufacturers, the All-America City title signals to business site-selection teams and others that Wichita isn't standing still but actively working to improve itself and the lives of its citizens and youths.


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Android Geo Fencing App Project
|This developed project work for parents and their children's. The parents and children's both should have GPS based smart phones. The application is used to track the child's location using their smartphone. To access this application, parent need to create an account by filling up basic registration details and create a login id and password. Using valid login credentials, parent can login and access the application modules.
After successful login, parent need to add their child details and also need to create a login id and password for their child in order to track their location. While registering their child name, parent need to set a geo fence around their children by selecting a point on map. Parent can also update the fence around their child. Besides geo fencing, a new user can register by selecting the application type and access a module which will be helpful in their day-to-day life. Add task is the module which allows registered users to add a task for a particular location by selecting a point on map and filling up the task description. Application will store the task and will alert the user when user reaches the task location via notification. User can perform the desired task and finish the task once the desired task is performed. Another type of module is setting boundary where user first need to register and select the type of user. Setting boundary is useful for those people such as fishermen as well as peoples who lives nearby boundary between two countries. User need to select the boundary area to get notified once he/she reaches nearby boundary. This module will notify the user whenever user reaches nearby to boundary.


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Occasionally we come across a product that bestows an immediate glow, changing our look (for the better!) in an instant. Since we'd be remiss to keep them to ourselves, we highlight these genius finds in our Instant Makeover series.
We all complain about the dry winter air and the chapped lips that come with it, but what about those cold gusts of wind that make rattle your windows? Not only are they bone-chilling in the deep of winter, but they also make certainly beauty looks impossible—namely, a glossy lip. One of my biggest pet peeves is taking having hair stuck to my lips, which makes for icky lips and icky hair—and I haven't even made it to the office yet!
That's why I decided to swap out my sticky glosses for Rimmel London's Show Off Lip Lacquer ($5.99, us.rimmellondon.com), which is the best non-sticky lip gloss I've found. A lipstick-lip gloss hybrid, this lacquer goes on easily like a gloss and provides intense color, but in a lightweight formula. And the best part — it's not sticky. Within seconds of applying, this non-sticky lip gloss has that high-shine finish but with more of a lipstick texture. In a nut shell, it dries, but it doesn't dry out your lips.
Read more: A Dab of This Oil Removes Static Hair


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Give this high-fiber main dish a try. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add 1 cup brown rice and saute until grains turn golden brown. Slowly add 3 cups water, 1 teaspoon low-sodium chicken-flavored bouillon, 1 small onion chopped, 1/2 pound mushrooms sliced and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg. Boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add water as needed to keep from drying out. Cut 1/2 pound asparagus tips into 1-inch pieces. Stir into rice, cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons finely grated Swiss cheese and garnish with fresh parsley.
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/health-tip/art-20049238
Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below.
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization and proceeds from Web advertising help support our mission. Mayo Clinic does not endorse any of the third party products and services advertised.
A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.


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Liverpool want to sign Marko Grujic in January
Liverpool want to sign Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic in the January transfer window, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The report claims that Reds chief Jurgen Klopp is a big fan of the 19-year-old, who has also been linked with the likes of Chelsea, Inter Milan and Roma.
Grujic has come to prominence in the Serbian Super League, playing a key role in his side's title challenge this season, so it's not entirely surprising that some of Europe's big clubs have been watching him.
Do you have what it takes? Sign up today and send over your 250 word test article: http://gms.to/haveyoursay3
It appears, though, that Liverpool are currently lead the race for the dynamic midfielder, with the same report claiming that representatives of the club talked with the youngster after he scored in Red Star's 7-2 victory over Cukaricki on Sunday.
In fact, when asked about a potential move to Liverpool, the talented youngster stated: "I'll try to respect the club, the fans and the general public, but again I think that for myself I have to choose the best environment where I get the chance to play and where I work with good coaches in good conditions.
"It is certain that I remain here until the end of qualifying for the Champions League. I had a talk with Liverpool but I did not receive yet any agreement. I'm still a Red Star player."
£5m gamble
With the Liverpool Echo claiming that Grujic could cost the club as much as £5 million, Klopp will certainly be hoping that the teenager proves good value for money.
At 19, it's unlikely that Grujic would become a regular name on the teamsheet at Anfield in the immediate future, but the talented teenager certainly has the attributes to blossom in England.
Both a creator and scorer of goals, Grujic has a great deal of pace and natural ability, so could prove an exciting coup for the club. Perhaps Klopp will make him his first Liverpool signing.
Liverpool fans: do you expect Grujic to sign for your club in January? Have your say below!News Now - Sport News


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- Male
About the artist1989: Born in Nashville, USA
"My new series "Relativity" depicts individuals floating in time and space. I chose to paint the figures with no distinct faces so they would relate to every man and every woman. This particular series is a very honest representation of where I am currently in my own life. Having recently graduated college and being thrown off my feet into the real world, I was extremely overwhelmed. I still was not sure what path to take or which way to go in life. I began to realize that most people are familiar with this feeling of uncertainty. With that idea, I sought out to create a series that was a visual representation of an emotion that has been universally felt by all people: A sense of uncertainty, and ultimately struggling to achieve a balance in life."
Source: Alex Hall's website
Other artists that may interest you


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As Marriage and Family Therapists and Moms, we often get asked "How can I discipline my toddler and keep my cool?" "What are the most effective ways to deal with tantrums?" "What do I do when my toddler won't stop crying?" "How can I get on the same page with my co-parent?" You asked, and we are ready to answer!
Erika Labuzan-Lopez, MA, LMFT, LPC and Melanie Graves, MA, LMFT have paired up to create a new workshop. Our goal is to provide you with practical skills and help you gain insights into your own parenting. We want you to walk away from the workshop feeling more confident with the tools you have to pull from and how to integrate them into your parenting style.
In the workshop, you will learn:
-How to keep calm in stressful parenting situations
-Tools, tips, and resources to incorporate healthy and effective discipline in your home
-How to develop a parenting plan that everyone can agree on
Plus, we will be:
-Recording a follow up video to answer any lingering questions you have after the workshop
-Providing you with handouts and materials to take home and utilize with your family
-Doing some really awesome giveaways, including 2 free 30 minute personalized parent planning sessions with us and a book package of our favorite parenting books
Here's the details:
When: April 9. 2016 8:30am-12:30 pm
Where: University of Houston-Clear Lake
How much: $50 per couple, $25 for individuals
You can email us at @gmail.com with any questions you may have.


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The Pines Apartments
Welcome to The Pines!
Our beautiful apartment community located in Harrisburg, PA places you minutes away from shopping, restaurants, schools and I-81 and 83. Located in Susquehanna Township, The Pines Apartments offers 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartment homes with private entrances that feature spacious floor plans, huge walk-in closets, private balconies or patios and washers/dryers in every apartment! You will also enjoy our state of the art fitness center and sparkling swimming pool. At The Pines Apartments, we welcome your entire family, even your pet. Call today to schedule a tour.
Our professional and friendly management team will make you their first priority!
Quick Facts
From $694
1 – 3
1 Bath – 2 Bath
Square Feet
900 – 1,500


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Burnt Chex Mix
Yesterday we went to the library and also ran an errand that we had to do (okay, okay, so I wanted to use the sauna and free child care at the gym one more time before my week pass ran out.) In the afternoon I read four library picture books to the kids and Isabel read two of her books to me. In the evening I had Joey take charge. He had them do their math and writing. Even though all Joey really did was tell them to do their work, I am sure the kid appreciated it coming from their dad and not from their mom, AGAIN.
Luke and Isabel then helped me make Chex Mix! I had never made it before and it was kind of fun even though I burned it. I am trying to be better at having Luke and Isabel (and Sylvia I guess) help me with cooking. Joey is really good at letting them help. He lets them crack the eggs and everything.


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MLS# 20170658 :: Tamassee SC Lots/land Real Estate
No Recent Price Change
529 The Bear Boulevard #lot 50
Tamassee, SC 29686
- Lots/land
- Residential Lot
- active
Agent Remarks
Mountain and Lake Views from this dockable waterfront home site located in Fiddler's Cove, a private 35 acre small craft and fishing lake with very few home sites located in the SC Foothills. Lot 50 is 1.18 acres in size with mixed trees and 110 feet of shoreline. With a gentle slope to the lake, it is suitable for multiple home styles.
Exterior Features
HOA Info
Hoa: Yes
Lot Info
Acreage Range: 1-5
Lot: 50
Lot Description: Trees - Hardwood, Trees - Mixed, Gentle Slope, Waterfront, Mountain View, Pond, Private Lake, Water Access, Water View, Wooded
Acres: 1.18
Misc Features
Property Features
Restrictions And Easements: Subdivision Restrictions
Property Info
Inside Subdivision: Yes
Lake: Fiddlers Cove
Lake Front: Yes
Sale / Lease Info
Sale Rent: For Sale
SqFt Info
Tax Info
County Taxes: 223.60
Tax Year: 2015
Tax Rate: 6%
Unit Info
Utilities / HVAC
Water Co: Salem
Utilities Available: Electric, Propane Gas, Public Water, Septic, Telephone
School Elem: Tam-salem Elm
School Middle: Tam-salem Middl
School High: Tam-salem High
Courtesy of Jim Smith of Tri County Properties


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Breakups happen. Whether it's a rock band or any other type of relationship, things don't always work out. And that's fine. That's life. But one would hope that all the parties involved — those being "broken up" with, as it were — had some first-hand knowledge of the loss before, say, everybody else in the world with an Internet connection.
When Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman casually announced to Rolling Stone a few months ago that Ween, the weirdo cult rock duo, was "retiring" after a quarter-century, it wasn't a complete surprise. The band hadn't recorded anything since 2007′s La Cucaracha, and their most recent tour had featured some epic and embarrassing drunkenness. But before publicly declaring Ween's demise, Freeman forgot to mention it to his bandmate, the guy who'd co-founded Ween and shared his fake last name and knew every chord to every Ween song because he'd co-written them: Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo Jr.
"This is news to me, all I can say for now I guess," Melchiondo posted on Ween's official Facebook page shortly after Freeman's bombshell. Whatever your personal opinions of Ween — even if you thought "Push Th' Little Daises" was the most annoying song of the '90s — you have to admit, that's cold.
But don't feel bad for Melchiondo. Long before the Ween breakup he apparently never saw coming, he'd already launched a second career as a fishing guide. It may sound like another sad example of a once great artist pursuing a wacky non-music profession for lack of anything better to do. (Remember when David Lee Roth was driving in ambulances around New York, pretending to be an EMT?) But Dean's (sorry, Mickey's) Archangel Sportfishing is a completely legitimate business. He's a Coast Guard licensed captain, and Red Cross certified in first aid and CPR. He's got a 23-foot charter boat docked in Neptune, N.J., and six days a week, starting every morning at the oppressive and very un-rock-star hour of 5 am, he takes paying customers out to the Atlantic Ocean to catch fish. Reading his website, you get the distinct feeling that nothing happens on these excursions that will ever be grist for the Ween songbook mill. "It is not necessary to tip the Captain," Melchiondo's site informs potential customers. "But if you want to buy me a beer afterwards I will totally drink it." Shine on, you crazy diamond.
I called Melchiondo after he'd finished an almost 12-hour day at sea. He was cooking burgers and watching the Dodgers/Phillies game on TV out of the corner of his eye, as was I. Many words were said, many of them curse words, especially when Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning, giving the Dodgers to an arguably undeserved 5-3 victory. But that's neither here nor there.
On the "general information" section of your fishing website, it says "No bananas on board the boat." Is that an inside joke I'm just not getting?
That's actually a really old and real superstition. In a sailor's world, it's like breaking a mirror or seeing a black cat. Some people will go so far as to not allow Banana Boat sunscreen on their boat. Or Banana Republic shirts. Or anything with a picture of a banana on it. A lot of tackle shops sell "No Banana" stickers. It's pretty gnarly. It's not unique to me.
Why are bananas so scary?
There are a lot of theories on how it originated, but I think it had something to do with early explorers. They'd go to these tropical islands and load up on bananas, and the bananas would be infested with spiders and snakes and all kind of critters.
Snakes would burrow into bananas? Were they huge bananas or tiny snakes?
I don't know, honestly. The other thing is that bananas accelerate the rotting process of other things that are around it. So bananas are just bad news.
But you don't actually believe in this, right?
I totally do. I've seen it. It's bad luck. I don't even like it when I see someone eating a banana before they get on my boat.
Seriously? Come on.
It causes everything from the not-so-bad side, like you'll end up having a really crappy fishing day, to the really severe side, like engine problems or getting stuck in a storm. It's funny, a lot of people saw that on my site and thought it was a reference to the Ween song "Bananas and Blow." They thought it meant no cocaine on the boat.
And that's verboten too?
Of course there's no cocaine allowed on my boat! It's against the freaking law.
Just checking. I don't think cocaine and fishing would go well together anyway.
It's a terrible idea. Who the hell would want to do that on a boat on a rough sea? But whatever.
There's a photo of you holding something huge on the front page of your website. It looks like a dinosaur.
Hold on, let me look.
Is that typical, to get something that big?
We catch fish like that all the time. That's a big one, but it's only bigger by like five or ten pounds over something I would expect to see every day. Striper season just ended on July 1st, but it's nothing for us to catch twenty fish like that in a day.
When you're catching fish, does size matter, or is it the motion of the ocean?
Size doesn't matter at all. I have a creek behind my house filled with little sunnies and small mouth bass. When my son was little, I'd take him out there with corn or bread and catch 'em. I just love to fish. Your objective is different based on what you're doing. The really memorable ones aren't always the biggest. It's the ones that put up the biggest fight. Like tuna.
Tuna likes to brawl?
Tuna are brutal. When you're trying to reel in a tuna, you don't see anything. Your line is going straight down. I've been on boats where people have fought with a tuna for three hours or more. They get exhausted after awhile and another guy comes in. A tuna will break your spirit.
How often during a typical fishing trip do you or your passengers quote Jaws?
Every single day we do it. What are you, crazy?
It's that common? And that doesn't get annoying?
Well sure, yeah. Especially when they do the obvious stuff. There's always some guy who says, "We're going to need a bigger boat," and then I have to pretend it's funny and I haven't heard it eight million times. But I'll join in sometimes. I was doing it today. [With a surprisingly good Quint impression.] "Cage goes in the water, you go in the water. Shark's in the water. Our shark."
[With a not surprisingly rotten Quint impression.] "This shark, swallow you whole."
It never stops. Especially when we're shark fishing. Then you're almost morally obligated to quote Jaws during the entire trip.
One of my favorite scenes in Jaws is when the three shark hunters are in the hull, comparing scars and war stories. Do you have a story like that? A tale where you're like "That's the fishing trip where I thought I was going to die?"
Well, I never thought I was going to die, but I had a scary run-in with a shark about a year ago this week. I took these two guys from Philadelphia flounder fishing, and they got seasick. They were throwing up over the side of the boat, and my mate and I were fishing in their place, trying to decide how long we should keep them out. And all of a sudden, a great white comes right up next to the boat. It surfaced like a submarine. It was small for a great white, like 800 or 900 pounds.
That's small?
Yeah. It was right next to us, and it looked at us with, you know, the doll's eyes.
Did the seasick guys stop throwing up after that?
Not really. [Laughs.] I don't think they noticed.
Do great whites care if there's vomit in the water? Isn't that reason to look for food elsewhere?
I would bet it attracts them because they're basically feeding on everything. They have an amazing sense of smell.
And to them, Phillie dude vomit is a delicacy?
Sure, why not? It's just chum. For me, the scariest moments of being on a boat aren't the fish. It's the really rough seas, when the wind comes up out of nowhere and starts knocking you. Or fog. Fog on the ocean is really horrible, because sometimes it gets so thick you can't even see the guy standing right in front of you. And then you're navigating completely by instruments, and you don't know if someone else is going to run into you. But I've never been afraid of a fish. I've had moments of "What the hell?" Like when a whale comes up right next to the boat and sprays you with water.
See, that's how you and I are different. A whale squirts me with his blowhole, I would defecate myself in terror.
Yeah, but they're smart. They know you're out there. They're not going to crash into you.
Have you had scarier moments on the ocean or on tour with Ween?
On tour, definitely. Without a doubt.
Can you give me an example?
A lot of times — well, most times when you're on tour — you don't know where the hell you are. Especially when you're overseas, not only do you not know where you are, you don't speak the language. I have this bad habit of going out after shows to get something to eat. I can't eat before a show, I can't be on stage filled with food. I like to play hungry. So I go foraging for food usually at two or three in the morning. I walk out of the hotel with one of the roadies or whoever and we go looking for a waffle house. And that's how you can find yourself in the wrong part of town.
Which countries have the most dangerous 24-hour waffle houses?
We do. The United States, hands down. You want to be terrified, walk into any waffle house in Gary, Indiana at 3 am.
Are you familiar with Krusty the Clown?
From The Simpsons? Yeah, of course.
There's an episode from the late'90s, I don't know if you remember it, when Krusty fakes his death and becomes a fisherman.
Yeah, yeah, I remember that one.
But then Bart and Lisa track him down, and remind him how much he loves being a star, and how he can't live without the adoration of strangers. Do you have any of those regrets or reservations?
Do I miss being a star? [Laughs.] I don't know if that's how I'd describe it.
But do you miss the attention? Ween was never U2, but they had and have a loyal cult following. Can the quiet life of a fisherman compare with that? If I can steal a line from Lisa Simpson, what about the great feeling you get from knowing you're better than regular people?
Well, for me that's not the great feeling I get from playing music. What's rewarding about being in a band has nothing to do with crowds and adulation. It's the music. I've been trying to tell people this for years, but no one really gets it. I get together with my friend Tom Matthews, who's a great guitar player that lives around here. I have a little shed that I rent, it's behind a body shop, and I go there to write and record and just play with Tom. I get just as much if not more satisfaction doing that, when the music is really good, then I get being on stage in front of a huge crowd.
I love a good shed hootenanny as much as anybody, but isn't there something to be said for making a connection with an audience?
I don't even notice the audience half the time. I'll communicate with them if I feel like I have something to say, but I'm really more locked in with the guys on stage and in the moment. I'm very anxiety prone by nature. I always have been, it's in my family. But when the music is good, I forgot sometimes. It almost freaks me out. I don't know where I am and what I'm doing. It's almost like I'll be in the middle of playing and I'll just wake up and realize, "Oh my god, I'm in front of 10,000 people that are staring at me."
You black out?
Not black out like you do when you drink too much. I just get lost in the music. And that's awesome. You can't buy that. The rush is incredible. It doesn't matter if I have the flu or problems at home, I get on stage and it all just disappears. And it's the same way when I'm on a boat. I have to wake up at a ridiculous hour, like 4am or earlier, because I have a long drive down to where the boat is docked. And sometimes I didn't get any sleep the night before. But when I get there and I step on my boat, the anticipation hits me, and all my anxieties are gone.
How far does that adrenaline take you?
All day. Until I'm back on shore, when the sun's coming down or already gone, and then my body just quits. It's the same thing with touring. When you're on a really long tour, out on the road for two months, on the last night of the tour your body just quits on you. It's like your brain sends a message to your body saying "It's over. Shut everything down." You can barely lift up a pencil you're so tired. Fishing and playing music are very similar for me in that way.
When Aaron announced that Ween was over, you posted on Facebook that it was "news to me." Were you being sarcastic?
No, that was genuine. I was taken completely by surprise. It didn't throw my life into chaos, because I was already operating under the assumption that we were going to take a long break. Aaron had just gotten out of treatment, and I knew that the best thing for Ween was not to go on tour right away.
Treatment? Meaning …?
It's no secret that he's been battling alcohol addiction for a long time. I thought we were going to take a break, and I was excited about it not because I wanted the time off but because I wanted Ween to be spiritually happy and healthy again. It was becoming a drag.
Because of Aaron's drinking?
Touring was really tough on Aaron's addiction, and I want him to be happy, first and foremost. He's my best friend. There's no reason to put yourself to the test in that environment. But no, it wasn't just a drag because of that. It's … [long pause] being in a band should be fun. It's a great feeling to write a song and record it and know it's going to be around forever and you get to release it and play it a thousand times in front of people. It's a really cool feeling. And when it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's time to take a break because something is wrong.
Ween's 30th anniversary is in 2014. Is there any chance of a reunion by then?
I don't think it's going to take that long. But that's just my opinion. I can't tell you what Aaron is thinking or what he wants to do. I think there's a little tinge of regret there. I can only speak for myself, but as far as I'm concerned, as long as Aaron and I are both alive on this planet, Ween is still together. We've never broken up. The idea of quitting is just laughable. This isn't something you can quit. This is a life sentence.
You make Ween sound like Scientology.
It's close. You can't get out of this band. [Laughs.]
I was listening to that old Ween song, "Cover It With Gas and Set It on Fire," and one of the lyrics is "He's a hobble with a wobble at the gang rape."
Yeah. And?
Were you at all hesitant about mentioning gang rape in a song? And not just once, it gets called back again and again.
It's about a mutated troll on LSD. I mean, it's got the word "rape" in it, but it's got nothing to do with rape. Nothing in that song is supposed to make any sense. The next line is "It's an earth chock, war plot, peppermint lasso." If you think there's some kind of statement in there, you're fucking doing more drugs than we were.
Well, what about "Piss Up a Rope?" It's got lyrics like "You can wash my balls with a warm wet rag" and "On your knees, you big-bootied bitch, start sucking."
I wrote that song for my wife.
Really? Are you being serious?
"Piss Up a Rope" is just a funny expression that I copped from my dad. When I was a kid, he used to say, "Aw, go piss up a rope." It was just nonsense. It was like, "Aw, go shit in your hat" or whatever. It was funny because it was stupid and meaningless.
What's the trick to writing lyrics that are both misogynistic and funny? Is it just not caring if the listener gets offended?
I never think about how people will react. And the humor part of it, that occupies a very small space of what we do. It's not like we have a quota for each record of how many songs have to be funny.
But a lot of your songs are funny. Are they not intended to be funny?
They are, sure. But there's a lot of humor in music in general. Even Prince has a wicked sense of humor. When he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, he obviously wasn't taking himself seriously. The Beatles were funny as hell. If you watch those early interviews with them, their shit was so witty and off-the-cuff. And they were constantly being misunderstood. It's the price you pay for trying to bring some humor to music.
But the Beatles never wrote lyrics like "You fucked up, you fuckin' Nazi whore!" Lucy was in the sky with diamonds, not at a gang rape.
You're asking can anything be funny? Can things like rape be funny?
I guess I am, yeah.[Long pause.] There are probably things that should be off limits, but it's all about the context. It's how you use it. A line like "he's a hobble with a wobble at the gang rape," that's probably the right context.
Right, right. [Laughs.] There aren't any women advocacy groups who'd have a problem with a hobble with a wobble, even if he is at a gang rape. I don't think so, anyway.
(This story originally appeared, in a slightly different form, on MTVHive.com.)


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* Virgin Australia H1 net profit A$4.4 mln vs A$21.5 mln loss
* Underlying H1 profit highest since 2007
* Company cancels plans to go private after shareholder discussion
* China's HNA owns 20 pct of Virgin, has been selling assets
* Share price drops 6 pct to near record low (Recasts throughout, adds shares, fresh CEO quote)
By Byron Kaye
SYDNEY, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd , Australia's second biggest airline, scrapped plans to potentially go private on Wednesday, sparking concerns that a major Chinese shareholder, HNA Tourism, may be about to exit, and leading to a sharp fall in its share price.
The surprise decision overshadowed the airline's best underlying half-yearly profit in a decade. Small shareholders have stuck with their investments in hopes the company would make good on plans to buy them out at a premium.
Just 10 percent of Virgin's stock is openly traded on the share market but analysts watch its register carefully since it includes Richard Branson, with 10 percent, and Singapore Airlines Ltd, Etihad Airways and China's Nanshan Capital Holdings Ltd and HNA Tourism Group Co Ltd , which each hold about 20 percent.
HNA, part of an aviation-to-services conglomerate, has been selling assets to alleviate severe financial strain after a $50 billion acquisition spree over two years sparked scrutiny of its opaque ownership and use of leverage.
"Following discussions with the major shareholders the board has decided not to privatise the company," Chairwoman Elizabeth Bryan said in a statement on Wednesday.
Bryan did not give a reason for the company's decision to reverse a move it flagged in 2017.
Asked about the decision on an analyst call, Virgin CEO John Borghetti said he was "here to run the company and we're doing the best we can".
"It's the decision and we move on," he added.
Virgin shares were down 6 percent at 24.5 Australian cents by mid-session, close to the record lows the stock has traded at after years of losses and rising debt forced it to sell more shares. The broader market was down 0.4 percent.
The company meanwhile posted a 142 percent jump in first-half underlying profit and swung to an interim net profit for the first time in two years as more Australians chose to fly and fewer seats enabled it to charge higher fares.
The airline added that it expected an improvement in underlying performance in the second half of fiscal 2018.
Underlying profit was A$102.5 million ($79.80 million) for the six months ended Dec. 31, from A$42.3 million the previous year. Net profit of A$4.4 million compared with a A$21.5 million loss a year earlier.
Last week, Virgin's larger rival and Australian flagship carrier Qantas beat market expectations with a record first-half profit, also largely because of fare hikes and higher demand at its domestic unit.
HNA, which bought into Virgin in May 2016, was not immediately available for comment
$1 = 1.2845 Australian dollars Reporting by Byron Kaye in SYDNEY and Rushil Dutta in BENGALURU Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore


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The rise of hugely insufferable women
Not all grown men are suave, sexy, progressive George Clooney/Viggo Mortensen/Colin Farrell lookalikes with sharp blue eyes, stubbly outgrowths and abs like World Cup forwards, all hearts of gold, full heads of hair and perfectly sculpted genitalia custom designed to satisfy a small harem, make birds sing and goddesses purr.
Not all adult men are strong and dependable, loyal and true, able to make you laugh, sigh, moan, buy you a drink, jump start your Mini in the rain, smell good all over, build a deck, parallel park a tractor-trailer, and feel sufficiently secure in their masculinity and humanity to champion gay rights and women's rights and pelican rights.
Conversely, not all men are of the other ilk either, the sweaty, overweight, woman-hating Republican homophobes in titanic SUVs, bad marriages and sad comb-overs, twitchy fearmongers who hate all foreigners and wear their baseball hats and grubby hoodies in fancy restaurants, men who spit on the sidewalk and blow their noses like open trumpets into the street, immature adulterers as eager for a war and a beatdown as they are for 20 minutes with a meth dealing gay hooker.
Did you already know all this about men? Does it seem forehead-slappingly obvious to suggest, despite all the clichés, lousy track records and Tiger Woods, that men come in such a huge array of shapes, styles and configurations?
Well of course it is. After all, the male creature has been dissected and bisected and demonized since time immemorial, from hero to Great Oppressor, father to magnate, hunk to egomaniac and back again in the time it took you to read this sentence.
But oh, is it ever worth remembering in light of what is right now being dubbed, with various degrees of pleasure and concern, confusion and delight, "the rise of the woman," "the new conservative feminism," "the end of men," and on and on, all sorts of amazing, disorienting pro-female bellwethers and signs, indicators and shifts.
It is something to behold. Right now I'm vainly attempting to cross-reference Hanna Rosin's fascinating mixed-bag article from the Atlantic that ran under the delightfully obnoxious headline "The End of Men: How Women are Taking Control of Everything," and mixing it with all the feverish stories about California's landmark political races, Carly and Meg and Pelosi, too, influenced by everyone's favorite winkin' ditzball from hell, Sarah Palin.
And I'm tossing in a dash of pop culture, all the MIAs and Lady Gagas and Miley Cyruses, the Kathryn Bigelows and the ditzbombs of "Sex and the City," trying to parse and understand and see some sort of through-line.
I am not having much success. Most women -- and many of us men -- are cheering madly at all the newfound roles, powers, titles, successes and attentions, from Hillary's stunning presidential run to Bigelow's Oscar to (even) Meg Whitman's pile of billions that could very well buy her the election.
But holy hell with the lost gospels of Mary Magdalene, many are also booing, hissing, screaming their frustration, entirely furious that many of third-wave feminism's cornerstone values -- abortion rights, humanitarianism, anti-racism, don't kill stuff -- are being violently, stupidly co-opted, inverted, perverted, repackaged, skinned like a moose and shot from a helicopter like a wolf skittering across the Alaskan tundra.
In short, most progressive women are right now discovering a brutally painful truth, one that men have known for millennia: With power, glory and long overdue cultural advancement, comes a whole delightful s--bag of downsides, drawbacks, jackals and bitches to poison the party. Fun!
See, long was it believed, via some utopian/naive vision held by "enlightened" men and women alike, that if and when the feminist movement -- all three waves of it, really, from Virginia Woolf to Betty Freidan, bell hooks to riot grrls -- finally started to get everything it desired, there would surely be some wonderful sea change in the culture, a new paradigm to replace all the ugly, outdated structures of power and ego erected by old white men, something far more fluid and interesting, liberal and heartfelt and, well, nonmasculine.
A funny thing happened on the way to the cultural revolution.
Turns out that original vision is only about half right. Maybe a third. For as much as we now have cause to celebrate the new female empowerment, there appears to be more than enough reason to cringe and sigh and scream into the Void: "No no no, oh hell no, this is not what we meant at all."
Examples are, sadly, legion. Witness, won't you, the zeitgeist's nightmare trifecta of largely insufferable women, the Sarah Palin/Carly Fiorina/Michele Bachmann hydra-headed hellbeast of pseudo-women, one part huge cash reserves, one part evil grammar-abusing ditzball psychopath, one part sassy misinformed moxie, overlaid with wonky ideas of motherhood, love of guns and ignorance of sex and reproductive rights.
These, along with Meg "I'm a Billionaire!" Whitman and Nikki "Sarah Palin hugged me!" Haley, et al, are the apparent "champions" of a perverted kind of new womanhood, some sort of mutant breed who claim it's entirely possible, even desirable to be "pro-life and pro-feminist," which is a bit like saying you're "pro-oil spill and pro-environment."
In other words: Sorry, no. No f--ing way. This is the rule: You do not ever get to say you're any kind of feminist or champion of women and mothers everywhere, and in the same breath add that you also believe no woman should have control over her reproductive powers and, by the way, poor immigrant women should be sent back to Mexico and guns should be legal for all.
Of course, such rhetoric matters not at all. This is the bad news: "Feminism" is right now dying a death of a thousand tiny wounds at the greasy hands (and tiny minds) of the Tea Party and the sneeringly misogynist Republican party, a new strain of semi-educated right-wing nutcase claiming all the revolutionary power of feminism, but none of that icky stuff known as "actual meaning."
What do you make of it? As I say, men have endured similar lopsidedness, unfairness, egomania for ages. I personally wince a thousand times a day at all the lugnuts, NASCAR thugs, frat boys, wife-beaters, spitters, abusers, beer-bongers, sack tappers, popes, pastors, Glenn Becks, Adam Sandlers and Dick Cheneys I see slither across the newswires, men who work like demonslugs to make my entire gender look bad. And I'm sad to report, they're often hugely successful.
Now it's women's turn. Most women I know -- powerful, independent, wondrously self-defined creatures of talent and intellect, sex and love, insight and intuition -- are fully helping co-create the new female empowerment. But then they read about Sarah Palin endorsing Carly Fiorina with a wink and a rifle shot and a claim of "new" feminism, and they cringe straight down to their ovaries.
Welcome to the great ideological power struggle, ladies. Welcome to being fully empowered, misunderstood, demonized, celebrated, vilified, adored, loathed, loved, championed, deified, and ruined to the core. You're gonna love it. You're gonna hate it.
Mark Morford's latest book is 'The Daring Spectacle: Adventures in Deviant Journalism'. Join Mark on Facebook and Twitter, or email him. His website is markmorford.com. For his yoga classes, workshops and retreats, click markmorfordyoga.com.
Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate, and is frequently cross-posted to Huffington Post. To join the notification list for this column, click here and remove one article of clothing. To get on Mark's personal mailing list, click here and remove three more.
This column also has an RSS feed and a very handy archive page.


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Belize is located along the northeastern coast of Central America, directly bordering the countries of Guatemala and Mexico. Much of Belize is coastline to the Caribbean Sea.
Belize covers a total area of about 9,000 square miles, making it the 152nd largest country in the world, and a little smaller than the state of Massachusetts. Belize has a coastline that spans approximately 240 miles. The capital of Belize is Belmopan, while the largest city is Belize City. Belize City is situated along the eastern coast of the country, and it had a population of approximately 60,000 people in 2010. Belize has a total population estimated to be over 340,000 people, as of 2014.


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Mama's Monday Must Do - Give up your clothes!
Today is the last day to join in with the Give Up Your Clothes For Good campaign for Cancer Research UK by TK Maxx. All through April they have been collecting donations of clothes, accessories, shoes, cds, books and home goods.
I have kept meaning to sort out my wardrobe which is bursting at the seams.
I have a quite shocking amount of clothes, and in particular, dresses. I hardly ever throw anything out and still had the dress I wore to collect my GCSE certificate! I also used to have an office based job so have amassed an almighty amount of wrap dresses, shift dresses as well as party dresses, summer dresses and maxi dresses. I also have 4 bridesmaids dresses stuffed in there which need room for the beautiful material to breathe!
I counted them all and had 10 maxi dresses, 19 cocktail dresses, 34 "work" dresses, 22 summer dresses, 14 jumper dresses and a few too many evening dresses for someone who never goes out anymore! Outrageous!
So I was ruthless, for almost the first time ever and got rid! Out with anything I haven't been able to fit into in over 3 years (basically all pre baby) and anything that is too short for a 30 year old mother of two.
Hooray, my good deed for the day. A good few bags for the TK Maxx campaign and some room in the wardrobe! (Room to buy a couple of new ones?!)
You still have time to drop off a bag tonight!


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If you do not remember your bib number, contact Anju Nair at firstname.lastname@example.com
As part of our fundraising efforts, Expanding Lives' Associate Board holds an annual 5K to expand our reach to even more young women. Our event includes a 5K race and lots of kids' activities.
On or before June 24, registration fee is $30 for adults and $25 for children (12 or younger). After June 24 the fees increase $5. Race day registration is cash only.
Whether you won't be able to attend or you just want to help a Chicago student be able to participate in our 5K, you can sponsor a CPS student
Register and/or sponsor here >
7:00am: check-in & registration opens
8:00am: 5K start time for runners
8:15am: 5K start time for walkers (strollers welcome)
Breakfast and water will be provided for all participants.
T-shirts are ensured for all those (adult and children) who register before June 24.
Prizes are available for top finishers in each category and raffle prizes from local businesses are available for all.
Packet pick-up: July 8 at 7am
From Chicago: Take I-94 North to Exit 33B towards Willow Rd. Erickson Woods is immediately on the left as you get off the interstate.
Parking is available in the park as designated. If the lot becomes full there is street parking on many of the side streets opposite of Willow Road, as well as adjacent office complexes and shops.
If you are interested in volunteering at this event, please contact our volunteer coordinator at: email@example.com
Volunteers are expected to help set up, facilitate, and clean up the race, from 5:30am to 12:00pm on June 24.
Volunteers will be given a free t-shirt and free breakfast for their help. We welcome volunteers that are not available for the entire time, but the shirt and breakfast will not be guaranteed.


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For Eddie Campbell fans.../
So, a couple of things different about this edition of Le Critique Sauvage, neither of which involves the fact that I'm now referring to the name of this blog in its French incarnation. No, dear readers, the couple of things are about the book I'm writing about: Firstly, it's not out yet, and secondly, I loved it to pieces. It's the second of those that presents the most problems for me, as I'm sure you can imagine. How am I supposed to be snarky and make cheap jokes when I enjoyed the damn thing? Anyway, THE FATE OF THE ARTIST: For those of you who took my and Jeff's recommendations to read the last issue of The Comics Journal for the interview with Eddie Campbell, I should probably start off by telling you that his new book really is as good as it looked. There's a book that I loved, years ago, by Michael Ondaatje (the guy who wrote The English Patient, which was the basis for the movie of the same name, but better), called The Collected Works of Billy The Kid. It was a biography of the eponymous cowboy, but not in the conventional sense – Instead, it was fictional pieces about the people and things that Henry McCarty had touched in his life, excerpts from newspapers, or people's recollections, or poetry, all complete pieces in and of themselves that also added up into something entirely different when taken in context with each other. That's what Campbell has done in this book, about himself. He's following through on one of his promises/threats in the TCJ interview in a way, creating something that has the sensibility of a graphic novel without necessarily fitting into the narrow definition of what a graphic novel is supposed to be. Instead, we get a collection of prose, fumetti, fake newspaper strips (of which my favorite is easily "Angry Cook," where Hayley Campbell fails to experience the many joys of the kitchen and swears a lot) and short comic strips that come together to tell the story of Campbell's mysterious disappearance and suspected death. It's a book that ties together things from his previous books. There's the human element from The King Canute Club (and Graffitti Kitchen, which I always end up putting in with that book); not just the way that Campbell reduces emotions and events to a basicness that makes everything seem universal, but also the way that you can tell that he loves the way that people are, and act. There's also the investigative element of something like How To Be An Artist, where the book has a framework that tries to hide the autobiographical core inside another genre, and After The Snooter gets represented as the story itself is about what happened after Campbell's depression/midlife crisis from that book affected the one thing that he'd always had before: the ability to be creative. When I put it like that, mind you, it sounds like this terribly heavy and difficult book, and that's entirely the opposite of what it is; despite the sleight of hands involved, this is still very much full of the humor that made his earlier work so wonderful, and even if you ignore everything beneath the surface, it's still a very funny book. It's just that it's so much more complex than his earlier work, as well.
When I was reading it for the second time – it really invites multiple readings; as soon as I finished it the first time, I immediately turned back to the first page and started again – I realized that it felt like nothing to me as much as what happens when Eddie Campbell gets influenced by Chris Ware. I'm not quite sure where that came from, because it's not as if this reads anything like anything that Ware has done. It's more in the format of the thing, which involves recreations and pastiches of past eras and storytelling techniques (There's also a running theme of Campbell's continuous self-depreciation written in the third person, which now that I think about it, mirrors some of Ware's writing. Hmm) that loop around a larger story that refuses to completely reveal itself on first sitting, just as Campbell himself refuses to do in the book itself, until the epilogue adaptation of an O. Henry essay.
None of this is very pull-quote-tastic, is it? You've probably all fallen asleep already, or skipped to Bri's shipping list for the week or something. If you're still here, I'll try to summarize: If you're an Eddie Campbell fan, you will love Fate of The Artist. If you're not an Eddie Campbell fan, but want something more from your comics than Infinite Crises and Wars, Civil or Secret or whatever, then this is something that will not disappoint: A graphic novel that lives up to the "novel" part of the term, something that is vast and messy and beautiful and ambitious. Never mind Comic (or Trade) Of The Week, this is easily a contender for Comic Of The Year. Excellent and then some, and highly recommended when it comes out in April.
This Sunday, by the way? Reviews of books that will actually be on sale when I post 'em.


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|My name is Grigorios Tsagkatakis and I am an
associate researcher at the Signal Processing Lab (SPL)
of the Institute of Computer Science (ICS),
Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH).
Panagiotis Tsakalides .
I hold a BSc (2005) and an MSc (2007) from the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece. I was awarded my PhD in Imaging Science from the Center of Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, USA in 2011. Research Interests Signal and Image Processing, Machine Learning, Compressed Sensing, Matrix Completion, Manifold Learning


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I am delighted to welcome you to our rapidly improving school, Rushden Academy. We are part of a highly successful trust called Tove Learning Trust (TLT) and have excellent collaborative networks across the trust. Staff really enjoy working at Rushden Academy and our high staff retention figures demonstrate this fully.
Team Rushden are on the cusp of something great, our results are rapidly improving and our intake numbers are increasing. Visitors are impressed when they visit our school commenting on the strong Team Rushden values permeating across all aspects of school life. We have built a culture where together, students and staff are united in transforming our school.
We are proud of our achievements to date and regularly communicate this widely. There is a strong drive to excel in lessons and to behave respectfully towards each other and our community. We are proud of the curriculum that we have on offer, not only does it deliver the content pupils need to excel in today's society but it also develops their imaginations.
Our sixth form provision, The East Northamptonshire College (TENC), is shared with two local secondary schools, sharing our expertise not only at KS5 but also at KS4 with cross moderation and quality assurance systems. We also have an outstanding nursery onsite, which is open term-time only and many of our staff use this excellent provision for their children.
Mrs Jane Burton
Rushden Academy
How vibrant year 11 parents evening was last night with an incredibly high turnout, over 80%! Thank you, thank you. It is fantastic that students are clear about what they need to work on and they say they have all the resources they need. As ever we are so keen to know how we can help further, after all we are on this journey together.
Due to increased numbers expected this September we are advertising early for Math's and English teachers.
Head of Year 7 - Mr C Smith (interim)
Head of Year 8 - Mrs M Blackmore (interim)
Head of Year 9 - Mr S Harris
Head of Year 10 - Mrs A Gurnham
Head of Year 11 - Miss R Burrows
Head of Year 12 & 13 - Mr P Chapman
This organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We operate a Safer Recruitment policy and all personnel involved in regulated activity will be required to complete an enhanced DBS disclosure.


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Cloud Based Consept for a Future Contact Book
In this paper the concept of cloud based contact book and initial user evaluation results are described. One of the key findings of the study was that users are having different identities. These identities could be used to determine who is able to reach the person at any given moment and what communication channel is used to make a contact.
CCS_Contactbook.pdf — PDF document, 427 kB (438218 bytes)


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I must get back into the habit of regular writing! This week's Friday Fictioneers contribution does not flow as well as I would like, but I can't quite seem to fix it and meet the word limit requirements.
Mother's decision to enrol me in Girl Scouts was met with much resistance
Father resented Mother's attempt to transform me into the son he'd always wished for; my eldest sister, Feminist Fran, was appalled by the sexist tendency to name Boy Scouts after animals and Girl Scouts after baked goods; and Grandma was worried that I would be eaten by a bear.
Recognising the futility of resistance, Grandpa offered some advice: "if you are lost, follow the animal tracks."
Lost. Alone.
As I walked, I wondered which animal was responsible for the metal-like tracks that I was following.


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Il n'y a aucun billet dans cette page
18 December 2017 | in Hosting, Summer Universiade, Multisports
A university sporting event can last for over an hour if it's a half marathon, or just 10 seconds if it's the 100 M dash. What all have in common is a moment of truth where the margin of victory is decided. While this moment is short, it is not fleeting. The work to prepare mentally and physically to perform at one's best does not flutter away.
This same principle applies to Summer Universiade organisers. From attribution day a city might have several years to prepare. Meanwhile, the 12 days of competition pass by seemingly as fast as the blink of an eye. But it's these days of strategic planning and execution that largely determine game day performance.
While numbers alone don't tell the whole story, it hints at what FISU and the host city do to prepare to hold a first-class sports event in Taipei this year.


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Working and homeschooling is a tricky balance. A child intensive curriculum, one in which the child is responsible for his work and corrections is wonderful in theory, but doesn't always work the way it is supposed to in practice. Some children just want to be doing something else. Anything else. So they need a certain amount of supervision and motivation to get their assigned work done.
My son is this way. Even though on a good day he can get all his work done in a couple of hours, except for his reading, many days he will daydream, get distracted, hug the cat, get up to get a snack (5 minutes after breakfast), try to sneak and check his email, his blog or his skype messages, etc. It is hard to get anything done in this chaos. I know his frustration. As a work at home writer, I tend to do the same thing most days, allowing anything to prevent me from tackling my job.


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Posting Guidelines
I reserve the right to remove content from my blog. I control the content because I want to and it is mine to control.
You are a guest, so respect your host. I will help you respect me by setting expectations.
I tolerate:
- Opposing viewpoints and analysis.
- People who show respect and kindness and toleration, especially to their opponents.
- Logic and reason.
- Conciseness and preciseness.
- Respect and civility.
I don't tolerate:
- Vulgarity, including sacrilege.
- Rudeness of any kind.
- Logical fallacies, especially ad hominem attacks. (That's when you say something like, "He's wrong because he's X.")
- People who don't read the posts and comments and try to comment anyway.
- People who don't debate by addressing the fundamental weaknesses in their own arguments.
- Long posts.
- Verbose posts.
- Useless posts.
- Off-topic posts.
- Emotional posts.


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All at DGA are thrilled to share that Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India will be publishing THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS by Arundhati Roy in June 2017. It is her first work of fiction since THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, which won the Booker prize nineteen years ago in 1997.
'I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked ones) in THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS have found a way into the world, and that I have found my publishers,' Arundhati said of the news.
In a joint statement, Simon Prosser of Hamish Hamilton and Meru Gokhale of Penguin India said, 'To publish this book is both a pleasure and an honour. What an incredible book it is—on multiple levels; one of the finest we have read in recent times.
The writing is extraordinary, and so too are the characters – brought to life with such generosity and empathy, in language of the utmost freshness, joyfully reminding us that words are alive too, that they can wake us up and lend us new ways of seeing, feeling, hearing, engaging. It makes the novel new – in the original meaning of novel.'
Her agent David Godwin said - 'Only Arundhati could have written this novel. Utterly original. It has been 20 years in the making. And well worth the wait.'


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Our Story
A note from the Founder:
It all began with a small book entitled, "The Art of the Personal Letter". I became captivated with the profound meaning and value of the legacy letter. What a treasure to hold, read and reread. What a powerful connection to that one line of people we call family!
Having grown up in Italy, I still consider Florence or "Firenze" my home (beata me, Italian for lucky me). How natural that I would want to find a home of equal splendor for this memorable heirloom letter. Alas, it was borne: an exquisite personalized album made of both beauty and love. Finally, your heart message, your special photo, your family coat of arms and family name, all wrapped in the finest Legacy Letter Album.
You will want to follow our Legacy Lines collection in the days ahead as we explore textiles, ceramics, jewelry, wood, and leather in Tuscany in order to bring you more beauty, elegance and quality craftsmanship to portray and transmit the love of family.
Let us help you celebrate legacy, heritage, and love.


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By Darren on March 14, 2012
Thanks for Shedworking for putting our first post on there site. Please follow link:
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By Darren on March 7, 2012
This is the beginning…
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GJ [email protected] Anime Special's Extended Ad Posted
posted on by Karen Ressler
NTV aired an extended promotional video on Tuesday for the Blu-ray and DVD release of GJ [email protected] (pronounced "GJ-bu Guruguru"), the sequel special to GJ Club (GJ-bu).
The special aired on Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. (Monday night) on NTV. The DVD and Blu-ray Disc will both ship on May 14. The Blu-ray Disc will retail for 6,800 yen (about US$66), and the DVD will retail for 5,800 yen (US$56). Both versions will include the 46-minute special, bonus footage, and a recording of last May's GJ-bu music festival.
The story is set during the spring vacation immediately after Mao and the others graduate. As the season turns and sakura flowers bloom, Kyōya is once again suddenly stuffed into a bag. When he is let out of the bag, Kyoya looks around and sees New York — except the room looks exactly like the GJ Club's room.
The first 12-episode television anime series adapted Shin Araki's GJ Club (GJ-bu) moe light novel series. Araki launched the original light novel series as the "first four-panel novel" in 2010; each of the nine volumes contains 36 short stories about high school students, and each story is only four pages long.
Yoshiyuki Fujiwara (Blue Exorcist, Sword Art Online) directed the first anime at the studio Dogakobo (Yuruyuri). Hiro Shimono, Maaya Uchida, Yume Miyamoto, Suzuko Mimori and Chika Arakawa starred in the series.
The series premiered in Japan in January 2013 and ran through March. Crunchyroll streamed the series in various countries outside of Japan as it aired.


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How we are run
Midland Heart is an independent charitable registered provider of social housing, registered with the housing regulator, Homes England.
Midland Heart is also a major provider of care and support services and a number of the care schemes it runs are registered with – and regulated by – the Care Quality Commission.
The Midland Heart Board of Directors safeguards our vision and has responsibility for the overall management and performance of the group.
The Board is supported by our Executive Management Team which, led by Glenn Harris, our Chief Executive, oversees the day to day management of the group.
As a business with charitable and social purposes, we strive to be an ethical, transparent and accountable organisation. We have adopted and comply with the Code of Governance of our Trade Association, the National Housing Federation, as the Code against which we measure our governance practices to provide governance assurance to Stakeholders. We have a Code of Conduct which outlines our values and the standards of behaviour we expect from all employees of Midland Heart, and also from our Board and Committee Members.
Each year we publish a Value for Money report to evidence that we are efficient in our spending, so that we are in a position to continue to invest in homes and communities, and in so doing, fulfil our social purpose. We also publish a breakdown of the categories of our expenditure as we wish to be transparent about how we spend our money.
Residents are actively involved in the governance of our business with customers sitting on our two customer facing board committees, as well as customers being involved in scrutinising aspects of our delivery of customer services and in the procurement of goods and services. Customer involvement is key to us improving our services and we support and train our customers to ensure they can play an active and effective role in helping and challenging management to continually improve our services.


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March 9, 2017 — With 6 years of experience in building Augmented Reality experiences, more than 100 AR installations worldwide and millions of people entertained, INDE is taking technology-based edutainment to the next level. 2017 sees the launch of its first fully interactive AR system custom-built for Tekniska Museet, the Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm.
Besides simply immersing people in incredibly realistic digital environments, BroadcastAR 2.0 also features live interaction, allowing viewers to control the movement of characters on a large screen. This new level of interactivity and enhanced 3D content quality are making user experience more realistic than ever, and the greatest moments are automatically captured by the system so they can be easily shared with others.
Alex Poulson, INDE's CEO said: "We're very proud to be launching BroadcastAR 2.0 to the masses. As pioneers in the AR space we've always tried to push the boundaries of how institutions worldwide entertain and educate, and BAR 2.0 promises to take it all to the next level. In equal parts interactive, immersive, educational and entertaining, we hope that Tekniska and its visitors love the experience as much as we loved building it all out for them."
"Nobody can be left indifferent before the huge impact and presence of digital development in our daily life, and we want to be the hub who offers inspiring experiences to our audience", said Min-Jung Jonsson, Head of Creative Development at tekniska museet.
With the launch of the fully interactive version of big-screen Augmented Reality experiences, now available worldwide, award-winning UK company INDE provides a next-generation tool to museums, science centres, zoos, theme parks, shopping centres and other education, entertainment and marketing spaces and events to engage, educate and entertain their audiences in a brand new and unique way.
The National Museum of Science and Technology is Sweden's biggest museum of technology. Since its start in 1936, the museum has received millions of children and adults curious to see, feel, touch and understand technology
Since 2011 INDE has built AR systems worldwide for clients such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Institution, Beijing Aquarium, Universal Studios, BBC, 20th Century Fox and Coca-Cola.


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VMZinc, V.M.Zinc,Titanium Zinc, Elzink, Rheinzink, aluminium, corten, copper, roofing, Systems, cladding, Facades, Panels, fabrication,
Architectural Cladding Australia installs VM Zinc, El Zinc and Rheinzink for facade and roof in varying panel profiles such as Standing Seam, Express Panels, Cliptray, flatlock and Cassette Panels. Contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com or on 03 9561 0896 to find out more information and to get a quote.
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| © 2019 Archclad™ , Notting Hill , Victoria | ABN 13 141 735 686


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Ginger Champagne Granita
Catering your own New Year's Eve party?
Then follow the advice of catering pros: Let "make ahead" be your mantra. The more food you can prepare before your party, the more you'll relax and have fun.
Make and freeze this fabulous Ginger Champagne Granita. This recipe can be made up to 2 days ahead.
Ginger Champagne Granita
Makes 6 servings
- 1 bottle champagne
- 2 to 3 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- Put all ingredients into heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Pour into bowl and cool to room temperature.
- Pour mixture into 8-inch square metal baking pan. Freeze until icy around edges (about 45 minutes).
- Use a fork to rake frozen edges toward the center. Repeat raking into the center every 30 minutes until frozen through, about 5 hours total. Cover; keep frozen.
- To serve, use large spoon or ice cream scoop to mold.
- Serve in a martini glass, frosted parfait glass or in a small dish. Garnish with fresh mint and berries.
Note: Because you're dedicated to organic living, OrganicAuthority.com recommends using certified organic ingredients, when available, in all recipes to maximize flavor, while minimizing your risk of exposure to pesticides, chemicals and preservatives.
Recipe and photo courtesy of Sam's Club


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With its special blend of 67% acrylic, 17% wool, 8% polyester 7% nylon and 1% lycra-spandex, our extremes cold-weather boot sock really delivers when temperatures drop. It features a fully cushioned foot and lower leg for comfort and warmth. Heel and toe areas are nylon reinforced, and a non-terry vamp reduces bulk at the ankle for greater ease of movement


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It's time to have a safe plate dayBy Riverine Herald
THE Echuca West Neighbourhood Watch will be out again for a Safe Plate Day tomorrow.
Held five times a year, the days are designed to reduce the number of number plates stolen by securing them with one-way screws.
Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Len Wills said attending these days was "very, very important" — in case you haven't already.
"There have been so many plates stolen since Christmas, but we're trying to slow the theft down," he said.
"Supermarket carparks are the worst places for it at the moment. People go in to get their shopping and walk out to find their plates gone."
As well as the screws, residents are encouraged to find the safest place to park and keep an eye on vehicles to make sure everything is safe and locked.
"So many people are getting their valuables stolen from unlocked cars," Mr Wills said.
"Nine out of 10 cars can be locked by the press of a button these days, it's not hard."
The Safe Plate Day will be held in the Echuca Bunnings car park from 9am until 2pm.
"We'll be there in full force," Mr Wills said.
The Echuca West Neighbourhood Watch is always welcoming new volunteers. If you're interested, contact Mr Wills on 54801083.


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Area eighth-graders are meeting with counselors this semester to determine the courses they will take during the next four years of their education, as part of a new high school curriculum that will begin next school year.
The curriculum creates new graduation programs and dissolves the system that requires students pass four courses each of math, English, science and social studies and replaces it with four required English credits and three credits each of science, social studies and math.
State lawmakers heard testimony last week on what the new law will look like, and some complained that the new curriculum is too difficult to understand,
"It's a complicated law, and so it is going to take a lot of effort on the district's part to make sure we get information out to parents and students," said LeAnn Estep, Amarillo Independent School District's director for career and technical education.
Eighth-graders choose a specialized endorsement program, each of which has a program of study, in areas including math and science.
There's no requirement that all schools provide every course that the law lists, and AISD will offer each endorsement, but each high school campus will not offer every program of study, Estep said.
Students interested in programs not available at their school will be able to take courses at other campuses, she said.
"It is individualized, so it's no longer one-size-fits-all, and students have a lot of choice in their plans to graduate," Estep said. "The thing about it is I think it is more relevant to students, because they're able to make choices in electives and core classes that are related to their career interests.
River Road Superintendent Randy Owen said relationships between high schools and community colleges will become increasingly important as students pursue courses not available at their high schools. He said the district may also move to block schedules to allow students to attend classes on other campuses.
Communication with parents and students will remain an ongoing priority, Bushland ISD Superintendent Don Wood said, and the district is discussing an addition to its counseling staff to accommodate the students' needs and maintain records of each of their individual plans.
"It is flexible, and they won't be tied into a plan," Wood said. "We want parents to understand if students change their mind, they will have the opportunity to do that as they go forward. We don't want them to be stressed out that they chose (an endorsement) and have to stick to it."
State Board of Education member Marty Rowley said the changes will involve a greater level of involvement from parents, counselors, teachers and other educators than has been required in the past.
"I think any time we see a change - and this is a fairly dramatic change - in the way we do education, particularly graduation requirements and curriculum, there will be a period of transition, and as we go through it, I think we all just need to be patient and diligent to make sure we're doing everything we can to make it successful."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.