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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
skippy's new years eve music club
diana krall & the clayton-hamilton jazz orchestra - new years eve
skippy's new years music club - bonus trax
Labels: music, skippy's music club, youtube
say hello
year-end "end of the year list" list
kevin drum's top ten whines about blogtopia (and yes, we coined that phrase)
ed kilgore's list of things that conventional wisdom knew were inevitable, but didn't ever happen
jon swift has his annual best blog posts of the year as chosen by the bloggers themselves, including this humble space, and thanks, jon!
jeremy remmers @ the moderate voice gives us his idea of the best and worst of 2008
show me progress shows us the missouri political year in pictures
miss cellania has 2008: a look back at miss cellania (which reminds us of the top 20 stories on skippy in 2006 of a couple years ago)
hello, you must be going
scott gration, a senior official on obama's transition team, called and emailed several of president bush's pentagon appointees about 10 days ago to inform them they were being dismissed.
those calls and emails were followed up by an email from jim o'beirne, the special assistant to the secretary of defense for white house liaisons, who expressed exasperation that gration informed the employees directly instead of letting o'beirne's office know first.
meanwhile, and insert your own "space" joke here, the wife of nasa head michael griffin is staying classy by using an on-line petition to convince obama not to fire her husband. an on-line petition?? what is she, a blogger? asspress:
rebecca griffin, who works in marketing, sent her message with the subject line "campaign for mike" to friends and family. it asked them to sign an online petition to president-elect barack obama "to consider keeping mike griffin on as nasa administrator."
she wrote, "yes, once again i am embarrassing my husband by reaching out to our friends and 'imposing' on them.... and if this is inappropriate, i'm sorry."…
a cash-strapped nasa last week also sent — by priority mail costing $6.75 a package — copies of a new nasa book called "leadership in space: selected speeches of nasa administrator michael griffin, may 2005-october 2008."…
"it sounds like the only thing left is to stencil mike griffin on the side of shuttle," joked paul light, a professor of public policy and a presidential transition expert at new york university. "i've never heard of a campaign to keep one's job that goes beyond the edge of private discussion."
it's news to us
the only thing more disgusting would be indiscriminate linkage to the piece just to get some cheap traffic hits.
[ed. note: she is awfully cute, tho.]
more voting
sore loser
Norm Coleman On Bush's Last Eight Years
Originally uploaded by Aaron Landry
Labels: flickr, losers, politicians, republicans
the bernie madoff "s- - t"
a hedge fund investor who poured millions into saratoga's equine economy has abruptly stopped all new construction on his huge horse farm and wants to sell his thoroughbreds after losing some $7.5 billion in the bernard madoff scandal. - times unionyes...that's a "b" after $7.5.
Labels: financial markets, horses, madoff, new yawk, wall street
put this on your "to do" list for 2009
despite recent storms, state surveyors reported tuesday that snow levels in the sierra nevada are below average for this time of year, making water rationing almost certain in 2009 with california's water supply in crisis....in october, the agency announced that it would deliver just 15 percent of the water requested by cities and farmers statewide in 2009 - the second-lowest level since deliveries began in 1962.- sfgate
Labels: california, drought, water, weather
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
skippy's tuesday night music club
Labels: music, skippy's music club, travel, youtube
accolades coming out of our asses
when it rains, it pours. no sooner had this humble space won our second coveted golden turkey award, then we get nominated as finalists in the spectacular weblog awards for 2008.
that's right, we have been nominated as the best large blog (authority between 301 and 500). now, we had no idea we were a large blog, let alone that we had any kind of authority whatsoever, never mind 301 to 500. but that's the category we are finalists in, along w/these other fine blogs:
best large blog (authority between 301 and 500)
sister toldjah
miss cellania
skippy the bush kangaroo
the agonist
mombian: sustenance for lesbian moms
yes, we know what you're thinking. how can we ever hope to compete w/
voting is scheduled to begin on jan. 5 of next
got time warner?
what an awful way to ring in 2009. it turns out that viacom claims it has been trying to negotiate a "fair" renewal of its prized cable channels for months and months, but reputedly time warner cable has been unresponsive and "unreasonable" so talks have stalled.
...at 12:01 am on january 1st, just after the ball drops in time square, time warner cable's 13.3 million subscribers will lose 19 viacom channels -- comedy central; cmt: pure country; logo; palladia; mtv; mtv 2; mtv hits; mtv jams; mtv tr3s; nickelodeon; noggin; nick 2; nicktoons; spike; the n; tv land; vh1; vh1 classic; vh1 soul. - nikki finke laweekly
Labels: corporations, hollywood, teevee
this day in history - 1940
despite a quadrupling of traffic volumes, the original roadway north of the los angeles river largely remains as it was when it opened in 1940. trucks and buses were banned in 1943, though the bus restriction has since been dropped; this has kept the freeway in good condition and relatively safe, despite its outdated design. this design, state-of-the-art when built, includes tight "right-in/right-out" access with a recommended exit speed of 5 miles per hour (10 km/h) and stop signs on the entrance ramps; there are no acceleration or deceleration lanes. while the curves are banked for higher speeds, they were designed at half the modern standard. - wiki
time for someone in the government to start the conversation of our "modern day" infrastructure.
Labels: history, los angeles, youtube
6 degrees of kevin bacon
...we'd heard that along with hollywood boldfacers jeffrey katzenberg and steven spielberg, bacon and his wife, kyra sedgwick, lost money in madoff's devastating $50 billion ponzi scheme, and bacon's rep, allen eichorn, confirmed it for us. "unfortunately, your report is true," he wrote. - new york magazine
Labels: financial markets, hollywood, madoff
best of the worst
and kevin drum @ mojo has a contest running, asking you to send in your own home-made videos that say "goodbye" to awol.
but seriously, kevin, you say awol is a "serious contender" for worst president ever...who else is even close?
pawnshops go upscale
people pulling up to pawnshops today are driving cadillacs and bmws...lee amberg, owner of aa classic windy city jewelry & loan in affluent evanston, ill., said he's been seeing cartier watches, two-carat diamonds, david yurman jewelry and pieces from tiffany's. one client, he said, brought in a fur coat from saks fifth avenue that retailed at $9,000. she told him she needed a loan to help buy private-school uniforms for her child. - wsj
Labels: economy
environmental news stories
Labels: climate change, energy, environment, food safety, ocean, pollution
Monday, December 29, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club - rip delaney bramlett
eric clapton, delany bramlet, bonnie bramlet, bobbie whitlock, dave mason - poor elijah
robert writes us:
delaney's songwriting credits include "superstar" for the carpenters, "never ending song of love" and eric clapton's "let it rain." on a personal note, he dueted with me on two songs: "small change deal" and "that's why they call it a shot" from my 2005 album built myself a greenhouse. he was a sweet, talented man and he will be very much missed. he leaves behind his wife, suze, as well as former wife, bonnie and daughter bekka. i received this news from my co-producer and best friend chad watson who was at delaney's side during his final days at the ucla medical center.
delaney had been in failing health for some time, but he never lost his faith or his sense of humor. i'm sure he's in heaven now, jamming with all his old friends.
for more on delaney:
-robert morgan fisher
delaney, bonnie & friends - never ending song of love
rest in peace, delaney bramlet
skippy's monday night music club
Labels: skippy's music club, youtube
what a tripp
bristol palin, the 18-year-old daughter of former republican vice-presidential candidate sarah palin, gave birth on saturday to a healthy 7 lb., 7 oz., baby boy in palmer, alaska.what is with the naming of babies in that family? i'm sure that bristol could earn some marketing moolah if she names the next one "nascar."
...the baby's name is tripp easton mitchell johnston and he was born at 5:30 a.m - people
all hell breaks loose in the middle east
while bush has been briefed on the situation by secretary of state condoleezza rice and national security adviser stephen hadley, he has opted not to interrupt his final vacation as president to make a public statement on the crisis. for someone who has enjoyed the most vacation days as sitting president — including days spent relaxing in comfort during hurricane katrina and in the lead-up to 9/11 — it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that bush prioritizes vacationing over crisis management. - think progressworst president evah.
Labels: aWol, israel, middle east
glow in the dark hellish breezes
the breeze is critical in planning for diablo canyon emergencies, but scientists doubt pg&e's model is good at tracking it. if so, it won't be able to predict where winds would carry nuclear contamination in case of an accident. - san luis obispo new times
Labels: energy, environment, nuclear power
Sunday, December 28, 2008
skippy's sunday night music club
"little stevie" and miss diana ross - "i'm going to make you love me"
the incomperable marvin gaye - "what's going on"
Labels: music, skippy's music club, youtube
santa arrived in ohio
yes, ohio, there is a santa claus!
and in the small town of ashland, ohio, about 50 miles southwest of cleveland, santa's name is lance.
well, lance, inc., actually – it's a corporation.
a rarity in recent times, lance inc. is in the news -- not for something negative like excessive executive pay in the face of shareholder losses and employee firings – but for compassion and kindness. for no apparant business reason, the snack food corporation swept into ashland and gave 274 unemployed bakery workers a reason to celebrate this year.
the story begins in october when the archway cookie factory was closed by its owners, a private equity firm. despite assurances that the closing was temporary, within days, the locks were changed, bankruptcy was filed, and the almost 300 employees were left without jobs or benefits. even in ashland, hard hit by the economy and losers of over 200,000 jobs during the Bush administration, the closing came as a blow.
...as of last week, 60 of the original 274 archway employees were back to work, with their seniority, health benefits, and pay intact, as lance re-opened the bakery with plans for full-capacity production by the end of 2009.
not satisfied with bringing good cheer to the 60 rehires, lance gave each of the former archway employees a $1,500.00 gift card and the promise that bringing all of them back to work is the intention. - examiner.com
Labels: cookies, corporations
can cookies get this kid to the inauguration?
adam feingold is rolling in dough. cookie dough, that is.
the 15-year-old sandburg high school freshman is hawking tubs of cookie dough to raise money for next month's trip to washington, d.c.
he and the entire 160-member marching eagles band will perform at president-elect barack obama's inaugural parade.
each member is responsible for raising $598 for the trip.
so far, adam, who plays the clarinet but can also play the trumpet and tenor saxophone, has raised about $150.
not bad, considering he's also been cramming for finals. and he's not just selling the dough. he's actually baking it....tubs of cookie dough cost $14.50, and they come in about a dozen different varieties.
to buy a tub from adam or to make a donation in his name, contact carl sandburg highschool at (708) 671-3100 - southtownstar.com
environmental news sunday
'eat local' movement catching on nationally. "it's really amazing how it's just exploded," says jennifer maiser, a san francisco database consultant who was part of a small group credited with coining "locavore," as part of an "eat local" challenge they mounted three years ago. - palm springs desert sun
ash spill deepens safety debate. a deluge of coal ash sludge that broke through a dike at tva's kingston power plant onto a 300-acre stretch of fields, homes and rivers has made the site ground zero in a fight over how "clean" burning coal to produce electricity can be. - nashville tennessean
risk of diagnosis exceeds risk of not taking action. as california gov. schwarzenegger explained to columnist thomas friedman, "if 98 doctors say my son is ill and needs medication and two say 'no, he doesn't, he's fine,' i'll go with the 98. it's common sense -- the same with global warming." - portland oregonian
Labels: climate change, coal, ecology, energy, environment, global warming, governator, nuclear power, organic, pollution
Saturday, December 27, 2008
skippy's saturday night music club
Labels: skippy's music club, youtube
is cerberus doing the same thing to chrysler
"cerberus capital management lp and a group of private equity investors bought mervyn's from target corporation in 2004 for $1.25 billion. the investor group, which structured the buyout as two separate purchases – one for retail operations and one for the chains valuable real estate holdings, has earned more than 250 million in profits…the mervyn's store chain, by contrast, is in liquidation…"
by stripping out mervyn's valuable real estate, selling premium parcels and then leasing its own buildings back to the store at exorbitant rates, cerberus guaranteed a big profit for itself and bankruptcy for mervyn's. - california progress report
when the firms bought mervyns for $1.2 billion in 2004, they promised to reenergize the retailer. but, as it turns out, what they did was suck the life out of it. one of the first things these leveraged-buyout firms did was saddle the company with $800 million worth of debt. the new owners then promptly paid out $400 million of that to themselves in the form of dividends. - the trumpet.com
...well-connected cerberus executives john snow (former secretary of the treasury), cerberus executive dan quayle (former vice president of the united states under george bush sr.), and an army of highly-paid lobbyists will be working behind the scenes to get cerberus off the hook as quickly and cheaply as possible. so far this year, cerberus has spent nearly $2 million on lobbying, while chrysler has spent $5 million, according to senate records. - chrysler death watchlet cerberus fix the mess with chrysler....not the taxpayers.
Labels: bankruptcy, cars, corporations, greed
someone got their goat
a giant straw goat erected each christmas in a northern swedish town has been burned down - yet again.. - bbc
images from a webcam posted near the world-famous gävle goat showed a blackened skeleton and clouds of dark smoke were all that remained of the once towering straw goat. - the localh/t to bryan at why now?
top 10 worst real estate markets for 2009
Labels: california, economy, foreclosure, housing bubble
who obama should have named secretary of labor
as the creator and executive producer of discovery channel's emmy-nominated series dirty jobs with mike rowe, mike has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 200 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid. from coal mining to roustabouting, maggot farming to sheep castrating, mike has worked in just about every industry and filmed the show in almost every state, celebrating the hard-working americans who make civilized life possible for the rest of us. - the discovery channel
Friday, December 26, 2008
skippy's boxing day nite music club
joan baez - the boxer
skippy's boxing day nite music club - bonus trax
dave foley, joe flaherty - where do monsters go at christmas?
w/special appearance by dave thomas as bob hope
from a dave foley xmas special on the cbc, here's the ultimate bowie/crosty christmas...
the corporate soap opera...broadcom
the ex-wife of billionaire broadcom co-founder henry t. nicholas 3 has sued to break up their joint trust, alleging nicholas misspent $60 million of their fortune, ordered his private investigators — once dressed in gorilla masks — to stalk her and threatened to have her "whacked." - oc regshe also claimed that her ex-husband spent $1 million on detectives who tailed her, their three children, and her boyfriend as far as europe, and once "stalked [her] in gorilla masks and cameras outside a coffee shop when she was with a girlfriend." - ceo.comnicholas, broadcom's co-founder and chief executive officer from 1991 to 2003, was indicted in june on 21 counts of securities and accounting fraud for conspiring to backdate — and inflate the value of — $2.2 billion in employee stock options. also charged in the case was william j. ruehle, broadcom's former chief financial officer. - ocregthe register is publishing an article about the e-mail because it sheds new light on this influential business leader during a period in which the government charges that, as ceo of a large public company, he was breaking laws pertaining to securities, accounting and illegal drug use. the e-mail is now in federal authorities' hands....according to the four-count drug indictment against nicholas, the warehouse was a lavishly decorated retreat in an industrial park on el camino real, near his laguna hills mansion, which nicholas created "to distribute and use controlled substances."- ocreg...one possible e-mail in the dispute is an april 2002 message nicholas sent to his former wife in which he wrote that he was "not fully functioning" because he was using cocaine, methamphetamines and other drugs while working as broadcom's chief executive officer. - oc reg..perhaps the most astonishing story of all involves henry t. nicholas, former chief executive of semiconductor firm broadcom. a colorful civil suit claimed nicholas built a secret "sex cave" under his california home to host drug- and prostitution-fueled parties.
a subsequent 2008 indictment from the u.s. district court in santa ana, calif., charges nicholas with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, ecstasy and speed, and alleges that nicholas had hired prostitutes for himself and clients and supplied the prostitutes with drugs. the trial begins in 2009. - financial postthe former manager of billionaire henry nicholas' personal fortune has pleaded guilty in federal court to two misdemeanor counts for attempting to conceal bank withdrawals exceeding $10,000, a plea that could send him to jail up to 18 months under sentencing guidelines. - oc regbroadcom corp. today "terminated" a senior vice president whose resume listed degrees from uc irvine that he never earned.
...manian, who has worked at broadcom since 1996, earned $3.28 million in 2007 - oc reg
Labels: ceo, corporations
obama the golfing president elect
golf.com has performed an important service. it has posted five photographs, taken by apphotographer gerald herbert, that shows president-elect barack obama on vacation in hawaii playing golf. this is invaluable as we all know that nothing, not even a cnn special called "obama revealed," reveals the soul as ruthlessly and efficiently as how one plays the old scottish game. - golf.com
i want to save the environment...but
how many kangaroo steaks will australians eat this holiday season? not enough, according to a growing body of academics who say that giving up beef and lamb for kangaroo would reduce australia's greenhouse gas emissions and ease pressure on a drought-stricken land.
...it is not a new concept. environmentalists have long touted kangaroo as an ecologically sound alternative to hard-hoofed livestock, which erode australia's drought-parched soils and damage its delicate waterways. but the push to address climate change has given new impetus to an old idea. - international herald tribune
Labels: environment, food, kangaroo
the best present opening
Labels: california, horses, sports
hoppy kangaroo blogging friday
Kangaroo, Pouch -5- (Macropus rufus) by RS
Originally uploaded by Robertsphotos1
Labels: flickr, kangaroo blogging friday
Thursday, December 25, 2008
skippy's christmas music club - bonus trax
the drifters - i'm dreaming of a white christmas
skippy's xmas nite music club - bonus trax
bob rivers - me and mrs. claus
holiday sadness
the one and only eartha kitt has passed away.
a family friend of the sultry entertainment legend has confirmed that she died of colon cancer today. - black voices
in 1968, lyndon and lady bird johnson invited kitt to a celebrity women's luncheon at the white house to offer her views on inner-city youth. taking the event seriously, not as a publicity stunt, kitt pointedly criticized the vietnam war and its impact on poor minorities. an infuriated johnson put out the word that kitt's rudeness had reduced the first lady to tears, and kitt found herself essentially blacklisted across the country -- afraid of incurring the government's wrath, venues simply refused to book her. it was later revealed that kitt was made the subject of a secret federal investigation; her house was bugged and she was tailed by secret service agents. when the fbi failed to find evidence that kitt was a subversive, the cia compiled a highly speculative dossier that attempted to portray her as a nymphomaniac. unable to find work in america, kitt moved to europe, where she would spend most of the following decade. - answers.comadieu, miss kitt. adieu.
skippy's christmas nite music club
the rx party - imagine/walk on the wild side
cry 'ho ho ho' and release the dogs of christmas
and it's w/bittersweet fondness that we enjoy the last barneycam christmas:
can't be christmas without elvis...part two
it can't be christmas without elvis
"the junky's christmas" (part one)
"the junky's christmas" (part two)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
skippy's christmas eve music club
camryn manheim steamroller - been ridin' on a one horse open sleigh
skippy's christmas eve music club - bonus trax
chris pirillo - blue vista
skippy's christmas eve music club - bonus trax
christmas singers - the most wonderful time for a beer
skippy's christmas eve music club - bonus trax
some weird girl - i'm dreaming of a wide penis
not safe for work! or kids! or anybody w/taste! or who likes singers that can stay on key!
oh, hell, it's not safe for anybody!
it's just an honor to be monkeyfisted
we at skippy international are beside ourselves w/pride. this humble space has won yet another golden monkeyfister award.
we actually tied w/mike finnegan of c&l for the coveted damned good blogohood citizen honorarium for our work in highlighting and linking to, in monkeyfister's words "small market bloggers."
readers of this space know that we were the proud recipients of one of the first golden monkeyfisters way back in 2006. we are beyond words to describe our feelings upon winning another one.
merry xmas
happy holidays to you and yours, christy!
christmas eve - 1968
forty years ago, the biggest tv audience in history tuned in to watch humankind's first close encounter with another world, as the crew of apollo 8 reached lunar orbit. here, the apollo historian and film-maker dr christopher riley gives his perspective on the mission and how that christmas eve of 1968 changed the world. - bbc
Labels: environment, space, youtube
no such thing as clean coal
an environmental disaster of epic proportions just happened in tennessee. monday night 2.6 million cubic yards (the equivalent of 525.2 million gallons, 48 times more than the exxon valdez spill by volume) of coal ash sludge broke through a dike of a 40-acre holding pond at tva's kingston coal-fired power plant covering 400 acres up to six feet deep, damaging 12 homes and wrecking a train.
according to the epa the cleanup will take at least several weeks, but could take years. officials also said that the magnitude of this spill is such that the entire area could be declared a federal superfund site.
...as many people in the blog world are noting, it's this sort of thing that really makes the proposition of clean coal so absurd. even if you can scrub all the co2 out of it, you still have so many other toxic waste products associated with burning coal that have to be stored that carbon emissions are just a part of the problem. - treehugger
Labels: disasters, energy, environment
mad about banks
right back atcha
too cute for words
kitty playing w/remote control mouse
bernie's criminal enterprise affects l.a. foodies
it's a good thing nancy silverton still has her day job.here's hoping that nancy's sister gail didn't lose everything along with her, as gail is part owner of the gelato bar which supplies their amazing gelato to spoon, here in santa barbara.
the la brea bakery founder and queen of l.a.'s restaurant scene is among the legions of investors who've lost their fortunes in the alleged $50-billion fraud attributed to new york financier bernard l. madoff.
...silverton said she learned the bad news from her father when she called him at his office as she was driving up to napa valley about two weeks ago.
"he said, 'I want to tell you something. everything's gone. we lost everything.' " -latte times
Labels: banking, criminal, food, los angeles, restaurants
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
skippy's tuesday nite music club
christmas singers - grab your balls like michael jackson
granted, the video quality sucks, but this time of year, what child doesn't want to grab his balls like michael jackson?
using spare tires as fuel for the suv
liposuctioning unwanted blubber out of pampered los angelenos may not seem like a dream job, but it has its perks. free fuel is one of them.
for a time, beverly hills doctor craig alan bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his ford suv and his girlfriend's lincoln navigator. - forbes via ecorazzi and autobloggreen
Labels: cars, gas, los angeles
christmas movies that aren't about christmas
yesterday while watching tv we happened to catch a glimpse of two different movies that, interestingly enough, were set during the holidays, but most definitely were not about the holidays.
first, on bravo, we watched the beginning court room scene and subsequent reinstatement of their poltergeist-chasing business of ghostbusters ii. we had forgotten that that film was set during christmas time, until we saw the sidewalk santa ringing his bell for change outside of the courthouse as peter venkmen, ray, egon & their lawyer emerged triumphantly from winning their trial (by exorcising the ghosts of the scoleri brothers, whom the judge had sentensed to electrocution years before).
then, we switched over to american movie classics to catch the bombing of the american naval base in hawaii in michael bay's pearl harbor. of course, since this was the date of dec. 7th, which will live in infamy, it was christmas time. a few scenes showed tinsel and santa just before the bombs exploded.
the actual attack sequence is the only good thing about that film, and once it was over, we did something more productive (switching over to a law and order rerun, we think. one w/lenny). but we got to thinking: what other great films are set during the holidays, but are definitely non-holiday in their themes?
by that we mean, not "counter" to holiday themes, (ie, bad santa, a funny, but still very holiday-centric movie). but rather we mean that the timing of when the action takes place is incidental to the action, themes, and character development.
off-hand, aside from the two above we saw, we can think of die hard and gremlins. both take place during christmas time. but either could easily take place any other time of the year, and still pretty much would be in tact.
any suggestions?
those traditional thanksgiving clams
but we are using this space to consider the non-traditional fare that we've come across in the last few years. one thanksgiving many years ago when mr. & mrs. skippy had neither the time nor energy nor the inclination to spend a day and a half preparing a huge turkey dinner w/all the trimmings, they decided that year to celebrate the bountiful harvest by having spaghetti w/clam sauce, one of their fav dishes in the non-holiday days.
the joke, from then on, was the "traditional holiday clams."
another great food to be enjoyed this time of year can only be found up beachwood canyon in los angeles. beachwood canyon is a lovely series of roads that snake into the hollywood hills (and in fact, is where the famous hollywood sign resides). a few blocks up the canyon on gower street is the convent of the angels, one of the last convents in america where the dominican nuns are cloistered.
and the hip foodies in los angeles know that this time of year is when the nuns offer their home-made ('convent-made'?) pumpkin bread for sale. better than fruitcake, more substantial than any holiday pie, but not as over-sweet as cakes, this great bread has the texture and quality of fresh-baked gingerbread, only with the taste of pumpkin.
the pumpkin bread makes great gifts, because not only is it delicious, the whole story of cloistered nuns making dessert from scratch is a rather christmas-y kind of tale to start with.
mr. & mrs. skippy always buy a few for presents to co-workers and friends, and are sure to keep a couple of extra loaves for their own holidays.
does anyone else have some non-traditional tradtions for holiday treats?
[cross-posted at you look hungry]
american express doesn't like poor people
kevin d. johnson returned from a dreamy jamaican honeymoon in october eager to check out wedding photos and help his new wife open stacks of beautifully wrapped wedding gifts.
before getting distracted by the fun stuff, the 29-year-old entrepreneur opened the mail. johnson's mood soured when he got to a letter from american express, saying it had slashed the credit limit on his account.
johnson was surprised, since he has a perfect payment history and a high credit score. and he was floored by one of the reasons american express cited: it didn't like where he shopped."other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with american express," the letter said. johnson complained to american express by phone and letter.
...american express declined to discuss johnson's account. but it confirmed that it examines spending patterns. it's just one of many tactics that credit card companies are using to try to keep default rates from growing higher. along with studying shopping habits, american express considers which mortgage lender a customer uses and whether the customer owns a home in an area where housing prices are declining. - atlanta journal constitution
Labels: banking, class warfare, consumerism
recent college grads getting ready to rumble?
a new report by the u.s. army war college talks about the possibility of pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.
"widespread civil violence inside the united states would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security," said the war college report.
...u.s. sen. james inhofe, r-okla., and u.s. rep. brad sherman, d-calif., both said u.s. treasury secretary henry paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he pushed for the wall street bailout in september. paulson, former goldman sachs ceo, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.- bizjournals
Labels: bailout, class warfare, economy, war
bribery and influence peddling
Lego Hair
Originally uploaded by squarecircle
oh...i just feel so much safer now
san onofre nuclear plant under tighter federal scrutiny. federal inspectors said monday they will ratchet up scrutiny of the san onofre nuclear power plant after discovering that a battery meant to power safety systems had been inoperative for four years....apart from the battery, the commission discovered seven additional safety flaws that it described as minor in themselves -- including poor documentation and inconsistent follow-up on potential problems -- but that taken together formed a troubling picture.- latimes
Labels: energy, nuclear power
Monday, December 22, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club
some hallucination or other - santa in the sky with reindeer
is there even really a country of france or not?
this letter was a fake. it should not have been published.
doing so violated both our standards and our procedures in publishing signed letters from our readers.
we have already expressed our regrets to mr. delanoë's office and we are now doing the same to you, our readers.
this letter, like most letters to the editor these days, arrived by email. it is times procedure to verify the authenticity of every letter. in this case, our staff sent an edited version of the letter to the sender of the email and did not hear back. at that point, we should have contacted mr. delanoë's office to verify that he had, in fact, written to us.
we did not do that. without that verification, the letter should never have been printed.
but try to convince wen ho lee of that.
that will learn them
i wonder why incurious george has the sudden interest now? is it because voice of america reports:
Mr. Mugabe said he had taken control of agriculture by seizing nearly all white-owned farms, and that it is now time to take over all foreign companies, in particular foreign-owned banks.
Labels: aWol, banking, foreign policy
Sunday, December 21, 2008
skippy's sunday nite music club
harry potter, ron weasley, draco malfoy, albus dumbledore - the chipmunk song
Saturday, December 20, 2008
skippy's saturday nite music video
the kids @ bev facey community high school - christmas shoppin'
granted, these kids are terrible singers and dancers, but you can't beat their enthusiasm, and who doesn't like grease parodies? ("sell me more, sell me more...")
Friday, December 19, 2008
skippy's friday nite music club
santa & the elves - bohemian christmas rhapsody
merry xmas to him, al franken
the intense scrutiny of "voter intent" resumed today by the five-member board charged with directing minnesota's recount in the u.s. senate race between incumbent republican norm coleman and democratic rival al franken, and the day's rulings turned the challenger's slight deficit into a triple-digit lead.
on thursday, the board reviewed coleman's challenges of hundreds of election day ballots, and the day's work saw the unofficial margin between the candidates dwindle to within a handful of votes.
then, as the board took up and rejected more coleman challenges today, franken pulled ahead in the opening minutes and steadily built his advantage to about 250 before the panel recessed until monday.
we write letters
one reason civil rights are important to me is because i'm denied them. my partner of 15 years and i are can't get married. and pe obama thinks that's fine. he also thinks i should be fine with listening to a man whose compared my relationship to polygamy and incest giving the invocation at his inauguration. as a christian (the whole 9 yards, steward of my church, teach sunday school etc), i am offended at the choice of a preacher of such hatred in the name of christ to represent my sectarian identity. as some who believes in the separation of church and state, i'm offended that there would be an invocation or benediction at the inaugural at all. and as a queer, i have only one conclusion - pe obama wanted a sister soulja moment to make the chuck todds of this world happy. for obvious reasons, the democrats need a new minority group to slap around. it's my misfortune to be in the one you've chosen. i hope you've succeeded in making the villagers happy.
please remove my name from all your mailing lists. after more than 30 years of active participation in the democratic party, i'm changing my voter registration to unaffiliated. maybe rick warren's parishioners will phonebank for you in 2012.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
skippy's thursday nite music club
not r. kelly - trapped in the clauset part 1
part 2
part 3
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
don romano & andrew mack - have a bowie/crosby christmas
just in case you don't get it, here's the original...
mad about caroline kennedy
question of the day...
Labels: questions
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
skippy's tuesday nite music club
some guy - a barack obama christmas carol
shoes for industry! shoes for the dead! shoes for industry! hi, i'm joe beets
Monday, December 15, 2008
skippy's monday nite music club
janice dickinson - 12 days of christmas
this one's for cookie jill
i don't care who wins; it is nice to do that we will have a guy who can handle his pretzels in the white house.
Labels: food, obama, white house
this thing in iraq?
nope. it's really a guazzabuglio.
well, it is...
Labels: iraq war
Sunday, December 14, 2008
skippy's sunday nite music club
two stoned guys - oh chronic tree
question of the day...
alaska gov. sarah palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize saturday if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her campaign as the republican vice presidential nominee.
damage to the wasilla bible church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said. no one was injured in the fire, which was set friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to james steele, the central mat-su fire chief...
some idiot has a lot of explaining to do...
Labels: lawlessness
u.s. president george w. bush had two shoes thrown at him sunday during a news conference in the iraqi prime minister's office in baghdad.
the man who threw the shoes, apparently a journalist, shouted an arabic phrase, which reportedly translated as, "this is a farewell kiss, dog," the new york times reported sunday.
bush ducked and narrowly missed beingstruck by the first shoe, and the man threw a second shoe, which also came close to hitting the president.
"all i can report is it is a size 10," bush said jokingly...
credit where credit's due: awol may be one of the most reviled people in the world today, but he just keeps on smilin'. maybe he's finally said eff-it and hopped off the water wagon, who knows...
Labels: funny stuff
Saturday, December 13, 2008
skippy's saturday nite music club
camryn manheim steamroller - have you ever had fruitcake?
Friday, December 12, 2008
skippy's friday nite music club
some dude in a hat - christmas carols in a minor key
minnesota canvassing board sides with him, al franken
the coleman campaign, however, is now asking the minnesota supreme court to halt the counting of the absentee ballots until, per the star tribune's reporting, "the justices can rule on the campaign's request that they order counties to follow a standard procedure in identifying wrongfully rejected ballots." for the time being, the coleman campaign merely appears to be seeking a constituent standard for the counting of the absentee ballots, rather than to preclude them from being counted in their entirety,
indeed, with the missing ballots having been restored to franken's total (although that ruling also may become the subject of a coleman lawsuit), it now appears as though the absentee ballots could well tip the balance of the race in franken's favor. whereas the state had originally estimated that between 500 and 1,000 absentee ballots had been rejected improperly, that estimate is now up to 1,600 wrongly rejected ballots. a pre-election poll showed franken leading by 8 percent among absentee voters, which would translate to a net gain of 128 ballots if there are indeed 1,600 such ballots to be counted. this estimate, however, is fairly crude, and nobody knows exactly how the rejected absentee ballots might break, although from my previous conversations with officials close to the franken campaign, franken also believes that a plurality of such ballots will be counted in his favor.
producers to actors: you can't get what even george w. bush recommends for americans
the tax agency said the optional standard rate to calculate deductible operating costs for business vehicles will rise from 50.5 cents a mile to 58.5 cents for the final six months of 2008.
and the producers are refusing to increase that number, even tho the government allows almost twice that.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
skippy's thursday nite music club
eric stiffler & kevin spellman & some elves - crank that santa claus
question(s) of the day...
Labels: questions
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
skippy's wednesday nite music club
the delgados - all you need is hate
rollback to the future
america can't afford wal-mart any longer


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
GGA necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 99 diseños de 13 diseñadores freelance.
Global Guest Active "independent partners in success "
Global Guest Active - We are wanting to be an independent partner in success for accomodation providers across the globe, offering a unique service , we believe and stand for integrity, resolute, honesty ,respect and power ,we want something to be an authority and world recognizable logo, although we want it to be very corporate in look , design and color and be a name sinonimous in the accomodation industry across the globe.
This logo to be viewed and displayed across world accomodation providers being from 5 star hotels to youth hostels.
The log will be displayed as counter displays, stickers, plaques etc etc.
We require guest to be able to visual see this from a distance eventually recognizing color and design.
We want a logo which is recognizable and easily idenitified by guest and world accomodation providers. the colors will be corporate in look , working around the black, gold , blue, silver , red, grey , hoping to only use no more than three colors. The wording required is the words Global Guest Active, in smaller font will be our moto "independent partners in success "we would like these words to portray exactly what they mean.
raised lettering comes to mind but not really, something which is bold and dynamic and moving into the future with look , color and imagination.
remember this will be as counter display and will also be the launch of our website design, be imaginative and creative , we are dealing with the 6 star to 1 star hotels in different countries .
Ideas - maybe a globe , hotels, people incorporated somewhere could work, i dont know you are the professionals.
Be brave but humble in design, i trust you will give me exactly what we are looking for. TRY MAYBE IMAGE OF GLOBE IN SHAPE OF EYE WITH GLOBAL GUEST ACTIVE RUNNING ON THE BOTTOM AND MAYBE LETTERS GGA IN CENTRE OF GLOBE MAYBE IN GOLD LETTERING AND BLACK GLOBE BLACK OR GOLD LETTERING AT THE BOTTOM, AND EVEN FURTHER BELOW, independent partners in success in italics black or gold. we will be an online type of tracking company with accomodation providers being a main clientel, so we need to represent the Hotel motel industy and this is to be displayed in their lobby and front desk reception when guest check in.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
The Burns Bulldogs held off a furious rally by Ashbrook for a 29-24 season-opening victory after leading by 17 points in the fourth quarter.
�We survived,� Burns coach Matt Beam said. �I can�t take many of those.�
The outcome was in doubt until the final seconds ticked off after a pair of runs from Green Wave quarterback Austin Mitchell lost two yards and Ashbrook couldn�t stop the clock.
Burns� edge appeared secure when senior quarterback Chris Montgomery capped a 12-play drive with a 12-yard touchdown run to make it 29-12 with 6:59.5 remaining.
But the Green Wave�s Isaac Wright quickly turned the tables with a 95-yard kickoff return to cut it to 29-18 as the two-point conversion was no good.
After a three-and-out by Burns, Ashbrook�s Marquis Myers finished an eight-play drive with a two-yard scoring run with 3:09.4 to play. Another failed conversion left the margin at five.
�I�ve been doing this 25 years,� Ashbrook coach Greg Hill said. �This is the craziest game I�ve ever been involved in...It�s a heck of a way to finish a first game. Hopefully we can build on it and have a good season.�
The Bulldogs� Jalen King broke off a 32-yard run into Green Wave territory on the first play of the ensuing drive. Then Ashbrook�s defense tightened and forced a turnover on downs, tackling Montgomery in the backfield on fourth down.
Mitchell�s passes to Trey Brice, Cameron Davis and Zac McElhaney, a 14-yard run of his own and a pass interference on Burns moved the Green Wave all the way to the Bulldog 23. Mitchell�s run on the ensuing first down lost two yards before he was forced to run instead of spike the ball after a snap problem on the game�s final play.
�I wanted to have the one play at the end to have a chance to win it or lose it,� Hill said. �And we didn�t get that opportunity.�
Montgomery had touchdown throws of 12 yards to King and Tylan Ruff and ran for a two-point conversion in the first quarter. Montgomery then scored on a two-yard run as the Bulldogs built a 22-6 halftime lead. It could have been larger if not for three lost fumbles in the opening half.
�We just made some mistakes that we�ve got to clean up here,� Beam said. �There�s no doubt if we don�t clean them up we�re going to be in trouble.�
Z�Andre Givens had a one-yard scoring run in the first half, then a 99-yard catch-and-run touchdown reception from Mitchell in the third quarter.
�Hats off to Ashbrook, coach Hill and their group for continuing to battle, play hard,� Beam said.
Burns will visit Hunter Huss and Ashbrook hosts Crest next Friday.


text:
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) marketing gurus effectively took part in the just ended Rotary intercity conference held in Lira town, north of Kampala where a representative of the Executive Director made a presentation on the topic: UWA conservation and Tourism Activities and sustaining our Partnership with Rotary. We were also invited to Exhibit our products. UWA which recently signed an MOU with Rotary District 9200 to promote conservation and tourism and encourage Rotarians to visit the parks also exhibited her products and services during the function between 8-th February,2013. UWA has since the signing of the MOU engaged in a number of programmes together with Rotary and a number of Rotarians have visited the parks, under this programme. For Lira's intercity conference, UWA offered the bus, which took delegates to Lira and brought them back to Kampala. During the Lira Trip, the delegates were able to enter Murchison Falls National park, and had a stopover at Chobe Lodge where, they had lunch. The Rotarians were keen to learn about the UWA products and bought a number of retail items as shown by the sales report from Grace. Mr. Stephen Masaba, UWA's Business Development Manager who represented the ED, made a presentation featuring tourism product, conservation activities, history of the relation with rotary, achievements during the 4 year period and suggestions for improving the partnership value. The delegates appreciated the presentation and passed a resolution to thank UWA for the partnership and support and to continue working with the conservation agency. The District 9200 Rotary Governor, Geeta Manek, expressed interest in coming to visit Gorillas. UWA was also invited to the next District Conference and Assembly to be held on 24th to 27th April 2012 in Mombasa. This will also mark the inauguration of the new rotary district 9211 9200 will be split in two districts and the ceremony to install new district governor. The authority was implored to exhibit and participate in this important event. The conference agreed to continue implementing more aspects of the MOU, which cover the following areas: Marketing Uganda as a tourism destination, promoting domestic tourism Conservation of wildlife in general, Friending/ naming/sponsorship of a gorilla under the friend a gorilla campaign, Reforestation/tree planting programmes, Implementing joint community projects, Organization and participation in Rotary and UWA conferences events The District Chair, Robert Nsibirwa, will arrange a meeting to meet the BOT and ED UWA as part of partnership building. There will be more and regular meetings of the technical committee for implementation of the MOU as specified in the MOU Over 300 Rotarians from different clubs in the district. It is important to keep the contact and re-energise our relationship as rotary is a respected institutions, whose values are admired by many. End
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photo courtesy of TSA
HANOVER, Md. (AP) — Transportation Security Administration officers found a pair of razor blades in the running shoes of a passenger traveling through Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, but it appears the blades were manufactured into the shoes.
The blades were found during an X-ray of the shoes Tuesday.
Authorities questioned the passenger, but it appeared the blades were manufactured into the sole of the right shoe.
Officials had to pull apart the sole of the shoe to remove the blades, which were described as rusty and a little over an inch in size.
The passenger was allowed to catch his flight.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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text:
Gold Camp Road/Helen Hunt Falls in Colorado Springs
Posted 10 February 2007 - 12:10 AM
As for Helen Hunt Falls I have found some pictures where "things" showed up along with people feeling, seeing, and sensing things in this area. I am doing a video documentary on both these places and would greatly appreciate any info I can get to help me out with this. If you have heard anything, experienced anything, or can help my anyway please to so. You can reach me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Troy Burnique
Posted 06 September 2007 - 04:56 AM
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me
Amanda Greer
please excuse the email address, its very old
Posted 13 September 2007 - 02:49 AM
like i said i haven't been in these areas at night but i believe some would say it's possible to hear or see the ghosts of railroad workers at these sights since gold camp road was originally a railroad going from cripple creek to the colorado springs area.
Posted 13 September 2007 - 12:34 PM
Here are some links to a site that sheds some light on the mysteries of Gold Camp Road (plus my own personal site):
Gold Camp Road
Some Great Gold Camp Road Pics
The Imperial Casino Hotel
Not A Ghost Of A Chance -- The Story Of My Three Years At The Imperial Casino Hotel <-- Click Here For My Personal Website
Posted 19 December 2007 - 07:55 PM
About a month ago I went up to gold camp with my friend Yoshi (yes that is her name). We are both really close friends and she remembers me telling her the "lengends" behind Gold Camp since Freshman year. I personally was skeptical at first and even though I heard noises in the first tunnel before, I still didn't think anything was there. So at about 11PM I picked up Yoshi and we headed up to Gold Camp. We drove up to the first tunnel, drove about in the middle of it, stopped and turned off the car and lights and just waited. We started to hear faint noises as if someone were walking on wood very slow and another person was banging on metal. Well those were the noises that I hear every time I go there. So we figures "oh yeah, let's go to the second tunnel to see if anything happens." So we are sitting in the second tunnel, car off, lights off, and nothing is really happening. So we just sit there for a bit more and Yoshi yells "Oh my god! Turn the lights on Zack!". At this point I thought see saw something but there was nothing there. Then this truck started coming at us from near the end of the tunnel. I start up the car, go out of the tunnel about 75-100 feet and pull to the side to let him pass.
After the truck passes I turn my car around and stop for a minute and Yoshi says "I think there is something on your car." I said "Ok let me take a look." I look in my rear view mirror and my side mirror and nothing is behind me so I open my door. Right about when I'm gonna step out this car comes out of nowhere and just comes to a very slow stop about 50-60 feet behind me. I think to myself "Where did this guy come from?" So I close my door and drive through the second tunnel and pull off to the side to let him by. This guy was driving extremely slow (about 5-7 mph) so we had to wait for a bit. He stopped in the second tunnel for about 3 seconds and continued to keep driving. As he was driving through the tunnel Yoshi said to me "Uhhh...Zack...there's something not right about that car." Of course I just said "Relax, this happens all the time. It's just a normal car Yoshi." The whole time Yoshi kept looking at the car the whole time and never took her eyes off it. Since it was her first time up there I just thought she was being paranoid but right when the car started to pull up beside me, I knew something was wrong. I got a very curious yet cold feeling inside of me and I started to look at the car as he started to pass.
I look in the driver seat and there is a bald man about in his late 20's-early 30's but he was deathly pale. And as I saw him, he slowly turned his head and looked at me and Yoshi. Both of our stomachs dropped at this point and it became extremely cold. The car pulled forward about 5 feet or so and the guy looks over his shoulder about 3 or 4 times at my car like he saw something but he wasn't quite sure. At this point I was freaking out inside because I knew that I saw something out of place. The car just keeps driving at a slow pace and right when the road curves, the car disappears. It didn't even look like he turned, it looked like his just vanished. Yoshi and I were both like "WTF!" and I put my car in drive and started to haul BAD_WORD to see if I could catch up with him. We went around the corner and he wasn't there. So we flew down the mountain at about 40 MPH looking for this guy. We even checked the parking lots but he was nowhere to be found.
Now remember, this car was going extremely slow and we would of caught up to him within 20 seconds at the most. But we hauled BAD_WORD all the way down the moutain and he was nowhere to be found. At this point, we were both freaking out because we saw a ghost but it looked like a normal person in a normal car. If you were to see this guy on the road driving, it would look like a just another Joe. In perspective it may not seem that exciting but when you actually see a ghost when you don't believe in them, it is exciting. Especially when you expect to maybe see a figure or an outline of a person if you did ever see a ghost. And I can tell you, if I ever saw that car again I could recognize it in an instant. It looked like an early to mid 80's car but I couldn't tell the model because it was just generally odd looking. The feature that stuck out the most on the car was, the glass of the right rear tail light was broken.
So after this whole exciting experience, I went home and told my brother about it. Surprisingly enough he believed me. He told me a while back (6-8 years ago) someone commited suicide in his car outside one of the tunnels. Surely enough, I think that's the ghost we saw. Believe it or not.
Edited by DukeofBoogie, 30 December 2007 - 09:24 AM.
Posted 20 December 2007 - 02:49 AM
Now Helen Hunt Falls we've gotten quite a bit of activety from there, quite a few good EVPs (one with QUITE the attitude, lol. The guys were asking whatever was there to move something and we captured a voice saying "I don't WANT to move anything!") and a very strange experience (quite frightening too) that we're still talking to a few people (local native americans and a couple other people in the paranormal world) about trying to figure out. But not ready to share that here yet, made that mistake on the TAPS message board and got ripped apart by people saying we were on drugs and whatnot, so yeah. :/
And then there is the Gold Camp Road up in Victor, CO that we are working on a case with Victor PD with our sensitive in our group. They believe one of the spirits she may be communicating with from there may be the vicitim of an unsolved murder. I do not recommend anyone without 4 wheel drive going up to that road because it is quite rough, especially if you take it all the way back to the Springs. We even have problems with it in our Jeep and can't get to it right now cause of the weather so that investigation is on hold at the moment.
Anyway, not saying that there can't be anything up at Gold Camp Road in the Springs, just that its really hard to do any serious investigations with all the commotion up there all the time. We've had nights where the 3 of us girls had to sit in the car with all the equipment while the guys spent all night with CSPD doing arrests, nights were kids were just messing with us (making noises, pretending to be ghosts and stupid things like that) nights standings outside the tunnels while cars zipped through the tunnels at 40mph one after another, people stopping us and asking if we were filming for TV and if they could be on it, lol, we've had it all. Ugh....
Posted 20 December 2007 - 01:32 PM
Has your group done any investigations in Cripple Creek?
Not A Ghost Of A Chance -- The Story Of My Three Years At The Imperial Casino Hotel <-- Click Here For My Personal Website
Posted 20 December 2007 - 11:32 PM
Posted 21 December 2007 - 12:08 AM
Did I mention that I used to live in Divide and worked at the Imperial Casino and Johnny Nolon's in CC?
Not A Ghost Of A Chance -- The Story Of My Three Years At The Imperial Casino Hotel <-- Click Here For My Personal Website
Posted 21 December 2007 - 05:31 PM
We've heard alot about many of the casinos being haunted in CC, but have been so busy with the community in Victor lately that we haven't really had time to move that way yet, but I'm sure we'll get to it sometime next year. One of our memebers is a Victor PD officer and the CC PD backs them up a lot so we should be able to make some friends over there and ask about getting into a couple of the casinos for investigations
The Hotel we should be doing sometime in early-mid January, we've already got the green light from the owner, just gotta wait for a night whenever the entire group is free. (work schedules are a nightmare right now with the holidays!) No one wants to miss out on it, can't say I blame them!
Posted 02 March 2008 - 10:37 PM
Posted 03 March 2008 - 12:37 AM
I've been recently becoming more and more interested in the three tunnels up at Gold Camp... I have been up there several times with friends throughout the last three months or so and only once have felt something out of place, but nothing too out of the ordinary has ever happened to me. Does anyone know how to get to the third tunnel? We're wanting to find where it is.. during the day.. and then maybe after a couple times we will walk up there at night. I don't know exactly where it is though... is it even visible from the road during the day?
There isn't a 3rd tunnel there, the original Gold Camp road isn't even in the Springs, it's in Victor, CO.
Hope that helps....
Posted 05 March 2008 - 01:07 AM
Posted 04 June 2008 - 10:05 PM
So yeah i have plenty of stories. Ive been up there almost every other day this summer so far. So ask and i will tell.
Posted 25 July 2008 - 05:26 PM
Here are the basics of what I discovered:
-In 1987 the 3rd tunnel was closed to traffic due to rotting timbers and fear of collapse, therefore it would be highly unlikely that a school bus full of children would be driving through a closed tunnel.
-The "blood spots" that are found in all the tunnels, and especially the 3rd, are actually rust formed because of how iron rich the rocks are in this area. To prove it I took a rock from the 3rd tunnel and gave it optimum conditions to rust and within a day or two it looked just like the "blood spots"
The 3rd tunnel is actually a little tricky to find if you don't know exactly where to look as it was on old gold camp road. Now gold camp road takes a different route. At the trail head above helen hunt falls there is a closed road that takes you about a mile to the tunnel.
It is closed off with a large iron gate on both sides. The park department and I personally suggest that you DO NOT climb the fence and go in the tunnel. In 2006 there was a fire inside the tunnel that destroyed all of the remaining supports. It is considered dangerous enough that they did not even investigate.
I spent countless hours day and night exploring gold camp road and did not see or even hear anything rather than a lot of teenagers either looking for a scare or trying to scare someone else. As an experiment we played a little joke on some people that were parked in a tunnel. I was dressed in a white suit and had a rope tied around my neck. After making some noises with a walkie talkie we had planted in the tunnel earlier they exited the tunnel very frighted. As they were exiting they were being followed, by a tree limb tied to a fishing line that was looped to our side. By this time they were running and screaming. Just as they came out of the dark tunnel they saw me dressed in complete white jump off the side of the cliff. They where hysterically sceaming and jumped into their car and left very promptly. I am sure they had a great story to tell when they got home. We also put lots of finger prints on there windows to add some effect. The point of this whole joke, besides being very funny, is that sometimes what we think is happening is something completely different. Whether it be someone else messing with you, you imagining things or misinterpretation. I really do not believe that any of these tunnels are haunted, just creepy.
Despite my opinion I love hearing all your stories and am currently publishing more on the website about this. If you would like to talk to me or tell me your story please email me at firstname.lastname@example.com
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text:
In my conversations with South Sudanese politicians in the western part of the country (the states that cozy up to the CAR), few topics elicited such energetic entreaties to action as the presence of the Mbororo. The Mbororo are nomadic, or at least itinerant, herders. Originally from West Africa, where they're also known as Peulh, they have spread as far east as Ethiopia. (By some accounts, the most violent conflict on the South Sudan/Ethiopia border pits Mbororo against Hausa – two groups usually thought of as West African.) Sedentary folks, maybe especially farmers and politicians, often portray the Mbororo as recent arrivals, as invaders who destroy fields. Though it may be true that the level of armament held by the herders has increased in recent years (a response to rises in cattle thievery and other defensive imperatives, whatever other offensive goals they may harbor), most are not newcomers. Mbororo have made use of western Sudanese space for some two hundred years.
I gained a window onto contemporary nomadism while talking with an Mbororo chief in Wau, Western Bahr-el-Ghazal state. (I should note that the category Mbororo is a nested one in western Sudan. In Darfur, both Mbororo and other groups of West African provenance, like the Fulani, are placed in the broader category Falata. This "Mbororo chief" – how he described himself to me – was probably technically Fulani, for he sold traditional medicines. His willful elision of such distinctions may indicate new solidarities taking shape.) In explaining the exactions meted out against his people (massacres of humans and livestock, theft), he portrayed himself as a law-abiding, yet victimized, South Sudanese citizen. But when he started showing me his treasured collection of faded family snapshots, a different picture emerged: "These are my children in Moundou (eastern Chad)...this is my mother in Ndjamena...this is my wife and daughter in the Congo...this is my wife in Kampala...this is my wife in Rwanda..." He learned English in Nigeria, Uganda and South Sudan. His life has stretched from Senegal (where his grandfather lived) to Sudan.
The professed pacifism of people like this Mbororo chief has not stopped politicians from seeing them as a danger in need of eradication. The fear is that they are "tools" of the government in Khartoum. In this reading, the Mbororo are simply the next group the North has unleashed on the South – invaders sent to squat and appropriate land. "We learned the lessons of Abyei," was how one politician put it. That is, they see the Mbororo movements as analogous to those of years past involving Misseriya herders, who some southerners see as having planted themselves in borderlands in order to further northern claims to disputed territory. This is not a full picture of either region's politics, but it is an analysis that has proven an effective mobilizer. Other criticisms of the Mbororo include that they collaborate with the Lord's Resistance Army and that they are the authors of rapacious environmental destruction, particularly through hunting and gathering honey (one of the region's main products) with poison.
In all of these accounts, despite being a tiny minority, Mbororo appear an existential danger, in the manner so evocatively described by Arjun Appadurai (channeling Mary Douglas) in Fear of Small Numbers. Support for anti-Mbororo measures reaches to the highest level of government. South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit recently gave a speech in Raga, north and west of Wau, in which he exhorted his compatriots of the need to get rid of the nomad menace. One appointed official I met in Wau stated that South Sudanese troops are standing guard on the border to prevent any Mbororo from entering. He explained, "Everybody in Africa has his country. They should go back to their country!"
I asked him, "What is the Mbororos' country?"
"We don't know!" he replied, and he and the assembled crowd of suit-clad functionaries (most sported a South Sudanese flag lapel pin) burst out laughing. When the chuckles subsided, he added, "They are not part of our citizens. They are not among the tribes in South Sudan."
Back in Juba, I rang mobile phone after mobile phone in hopes of reaching high-level officials. Every call ended with the message that the subscriber could not be reached, the tell-tale sign of a switched off phone. In the weeks before and after Christmas the city empties. The INGO and diplomatic crew decamp for northerly climes, and the government descends to Kampala and Nairobi, where their families live. Schools in South Sudan remain basic (universities have yet to re-open after independence last July), and so anyone who can afford to do so keeps his clan in another regional capital with better educational opportunities.
If "everyone in Africa has a country", why are only some forms of (opportunistic) nomadism visible, and vilified, as such?


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American Idol will also be on Thursdays @ 8 starting next week , the 23rd , so it will be Survivor~vs~DWTS~vs~ AI , I know what i'm watching !
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Dollar General builds new retail store in North Troy
by Richard Creaser
copyright the Chronicle 9-12-2012
NORTH TROY — Dollar General confirmed this week that it will build a 9,100-square-foot store in North Troy. The store is expected to open by the end of October.
"Seventy percent of our stores are located in smaller, rural communities with fewer than 20,000 people," said Dollar General Communications Director Rebecca Sanders on Monday. "While we do have stores in larger, urban and suburban areas, our focus has always been on meeting the needs of rural communities. This store was just a great fit for us."
Dollar General operates a dozen stores in Vermont, including one in Richford and another in Lyndonville. When they open, the North Troy store will employ between six and ten people, Ms. Sanders said. The exact number of employees will be determined by customer traffic.
The North Troy project is unique on several levels, Ms. Sanders said. Most Dollar General stores are in leased buildings, but in North Troy the store will be custom built on Main Street. The average Dollar General store is also a modest 7,200 square feet, but the North Troy store will measure 9,100 square feet.
The size of a store is typically related to the variety of merchandise it carries coupled with the store's proximity to its competitors, Ms. Sanders said. The geographic and demographic profile of the North Troy location indicated that a bigger store would be better able to serve its customer base.
Dollar General labels itself a "small-box retailer," combining the buying power of 10,000 locations in 40 states while tailoring product lines to meet the needs of its customer base, Ms. Sanders said. Shoppers can expect to see a wide variety of brand name goods at affordable prices, she said.
"Easy to navigate stores, low prices and convenient locations are what we strive for at Dollar General," Ms. Sanders said.
Alan Bellis is the senior project manager at the Ohio-based Zaremba Group, the company responsible for construction on the project. Mr. Bellis said construction is slated for completion on October 24, with the store opening the following weekend.
"It's a pretty aggressive timeline but it can be done," Mr. Bellis said. "I wasn't personally involved in the permitting process, but I would guess that this project has been in the works for the better part of a year."
Ms. Sanders was unable to verify the construction schedule.
"I do know that we will make an effort to let people know about our grand opening when that time comes," she said. "We're thrilled to be able to open this store and become a part of your community. We hope that people will be as pumped up and excited about this new store as we are."
Dollar General sells clothing, accessories, food, health and beauty products, household and outdoor products, baby items, school supplies, toys, and more.
contact Richard Creaser at [email protected]
For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Editor's Pick pages. For all the Chronicle's stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.


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Kaiser Family Foundation, NASTAD Release ADAP Report
"2009 National ADAP Monitoring Project Annual Report," Kaiser Family Foundation, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors: The report was released on Tuesday during a live webcast and panel discussion, which examined recent trends and challenges for the coming year, including the likely impact of the nation's recession on ADAPs and their clients. The report found that the total ADAP budget reached $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2008 -- up $100 million from the previous year. In addition, the report says that most state ADAPs were able to balance available resources and demand for services in FY 2008, despite the fact that 21 experienced budget cuts. The report also found that three states -- Indiana, Montana and Nebraska -- did not have the resources to serve all eligible clients and established waiting lists. According to the report, 62 people were on waiting lists as of March 2009 (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 4/7). In addition, NASTAD on Wednesday released its most recent "ADAP Watch" report (NASTAD release, 4/8).This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.


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1947 Jeep CJ-2A - Wild WillysPosted in Project Vehicles on March 1, 2010
As the saying goes, no project is ever really done. Over time, it is not uncommon for Jeep owners to make changes to meet their own unique needs. This can include anything from adding another row of seats to accommodate a growing family to cutting fenders to accommodate growing tires. When Todd and Deb Zick purchased their yellow '47 CJ-2A fourteen years ago, they lived in Fargo, North Dakota, and initially set the Jeep up for mud running. Since that time, the Zick family has relocated to Rapid City, South Dakota, where they are active members of the Black Hills 4Wheelers club. In fact, Todd has been the chairman of the widely-popular Dakota Territory Challenge for the past three years, so it is only natural that his "Wild Willys" has evolved to withstand the rigors of infamous South Dakota trails such as Hal Johns and Kong.
When Todd bought the flatfender, the body was atop a Suburban chassis, the springs were hard-mounted to the frame at both ends, and it was set up for farm implement tires. Todd kept the Suburban frame, but reinforced it with three crossmembers and a huge belly plate. The entire suspension and drivetrain have been revamped several times over the years to meet the demands of harder and harder trails. Three years ago, Todd ditched the leaf springs he had been running and replaced them with Rubicon Express 51/2-inch TJ coil springs and Rancho RS9000 shocks. The springs are mounted outside the frame to allow enough length for the proper spring rate and articulation, while still keeping the overall height manageable. On top of the front coils, threaded spring buckets allow Todd to fine-tune the ride height. Triangulated four-links were designed front and rear with three-foot-long lower links constructed from 2-inch, 0.500-wall DOM tubing filled with 1.25-inch-shank, 1-inch-bore rod ends used in conjunction with high-misalignment spacers. The uppers were made from 1.5-inch, 0.250-wall DOM tubing with Daystar Poly Flex joints at the ends. The exceptions are the front upper 3/4-inch rod ends to clear the radiator support at full stuff.
Triangulated front suspensions create enormous bumpsteer with traditional steering boxes and drag links, so Todd ditched the mechanical linkage for a full-hydraulic orbital valve setup. The orbital is mated to a single-end, 2-inch-bore, 8-inch-stroke hydraulic ram from an agricultural application that is mounted behind a unique guard on the tie rod. This combination allows Todd to turn 39-inch Super Swamper TSLs on TrailReady aluminum beadlocked rims no matter how bound up in the rocks. Todd and Deb have been running the same set of tires for years, but Todd added more biting edges with a grooving iron last spring and hopes to get another season out of the Swampers before having to buy a new set of tires.
The first time Todd wheeled in the Black Hills, his Willys had a carbureted 350 small-block Chevy and an NP205 transfer case. The lack of gear reduction and stalling at odd angles made the Jeep unmanageable in the rocks. Now, a bone-stock 350 with throttle-body injection provides simplicity, good low-end torque, and the ability to run at any angle. The engine is topped with a York compressor that has been converted to deliver onboard air for the ARB Air Locker, airing up the tires, and running pneumatic tools. Power from the small-block is routed through a TH350 three-speed automatic topped with a Lokar shifter. The heavy NP205 was replaced with a smaller, more compact transfer case that still retains cast iron, gear-driven construction. The venerable Dana 300 Todd selected has been upgraded with every part in the JB Conversions catalog. These include 4:1 gears that are more than twice as low as the NP205's stock 1.96:1 gearing, 32-spline front and rear output shafts, and twin-sticks for the front-wheel-drive maneuverability necessary on South Dakota's notoriously tight trails.
Up front, the Dana 44 axle seems undersized when taxed with 39-inch Swampers, but Todd has had good luck with the combination of an ARB Air Locker, 5.38 gears, Yukon chromoly axle shafts, and Longfield 300M U-joints. The Longfield joints don't use needle bearings and are thus prone to wear, but Warn hubs keep them from spinning when the Wild Willys is headed down the pavement. In the rear, a Ford 9-inch from an F-150 was added after the housing was shaved for more ground clearance and reinforced with a 3/8-inch plate. Full-floating Chester axleshafts are 31-spline at the carrier and 24-spline at the housing ends. When he was still living in Fargo, Todd bought the second True Hi9 third member in production from the manufacturers at Weivoda Auto, located just down the road. The third member uses 5.38 Richmond gears, a full spool, and is still going strong after all these years. Weivoda also machined the housing ends and drive slugs for the full-floating conversion on the rear axle. Stopping power comes from the a hydroboost system and disc brakes that use the same 1/2-ton Chevy rotors, calipers, and spindles at all four corners.
Body and Interior
When Todd converted to coil springs, he stretched the wheelbase on the Willys out to 101 inches. To accept the longer wheelbase, six inches of sheetmetal were added to the hood and fenders, and another four inches were added to the rear fenders. The longer front end provides plenty of clearance between the HEI distributor and the firewall, solving a common problem on most flatfenders with GM V-8s. To access the engine, Todd built fenders that attach to the hood and grille, complete with inner fenders. The entire front end then tilts forward for access to the engine compartment.
Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the windshield frame is actually from a CJ-3A, not the original 2A. Behind the glass, occupants are protected by RCI plastic bucket seats and a six-point rollcage that Todd fabricated himself. The floors were replaced with expanded metal for better visibility, and the transmission hump is made from diamond plate. The rear fenders were notched to move the seats back, and more diamond plate is found in the form of a tool box that spans the distance between the fenders. Under the box, a 14-gallon aluminum fuel cell feeds the small-block. Todd and Deb even added a spare tire mount on the back of the cage to carry a fullsize spare for runs that require it, like the Dakota Territory Challenge.
Good, Bad, and What's It For
Todd and Deb's Jeep works wonderfully in the technical rocks of South Dakota, but with no sway bars and a tall ride height, it can get light in off-camber situations. Deb maintains that once you get used to how the suspension reacts it is very predictable, a claim she backs up by driving the Jeep to work during the week. Also, their 13-year-old daughter Abby Jo has become so attached to the Wild Willys since she started driving it on the trail last year that both she and Deb have claimed it as their own. Seeing the writing on the wall, Todd is currently in the process of building a TJ so he will have something to drive in the future.
Why I Shot This Feature I was really drawn to the owner-built parts on this flatfender, from the tilt front end to the coil suspension. There aren't many components on the Jeep that Todd didn't build himself, and he isn't afraid to try new ideas. He is also humble enough to admit when they don't work and go back to the drawing board to improve his Jeep. After fourteen years he has the Wild Willys pretty dialed in, and the combination of big tires and little sheetmetal work great on his home turf in the Black Hills. -Harry Wagner
Hard Facts
Vehicle: '47 CJ-2A
Engine: 350 TBI Chevy V-8
Transmission: TH350 automatic
Transfer Case: Dana 300 w/ JB Conversions 4:1 gears
Suspension: Triangulated four-link (front and rear)
Axles: Dana 44 (front), Ford 9-inch (rear)
Wheels: 15x10 TrailReady beadlock
Tires: 15x39.5-15 Super Swamper TSL
Built For: Crawling in the Black Hills


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Hopefully I've solved my overheating problems with the lenovo. First using the nvidia blob seems to have lowered the gpu temperature, but it wasn't enough. Turning off the "discrete graphics" and trying to run the thing with the Intel GPU led to scary kernel crashes. I've realized that cpufreq does not take into account cpu temperature (that's kind of dumb isn't it). The few posts I found had solutions of the form "cpus should never overheat" and "reapply thermal paste" … yeah that's very useful. My acpi does not output temperature for some reason, though lm_sensors seem to be working, so it seems cpuspeed daemon won't work I guess. So it's either hacking cpuspeed or the simpler solution just lowering the maximum speed of the cpu. That seems to be working beautifully. I tried very hard to overheat it and it's still good. I can't really tell that it's slower so I don't really care.
Still I hoped this would have been solved long ago. I sort of assumed it was actually.
Before I managed to "fix it," I have come up against the "run fsck manually" message, which I filed as a bug against fedora only to get "what did that look like and that shouldn't happen nowdays" response. Well I am not about to replicate this as I actually need to … you know … do work. And I don't want to end up spending the day reinstalling the computer in case the filesystem really does get hosed.
Anyway, not too happy with the Lenovo anymore. There are plenty of problems with this hardware. Given how much everyone was raving about lenovo, I expected a lot better. Next time (which given how this hardware seems to be working is going to be soon) i will buy another one of those linux preinstalled laptops. The hardware will suck, but at least I won't have to buy windows.
I wish I could buy a laptop and have it for years. That doesn't seem to be a possibility. First you buy a laptop and must install a bleeding edge distro to get all the hardware to work. Then by the time the version of the distro you use is reasonably mature and bug free (or you can use a different long term supported kind of distro) then your hardware breaks down, forcing you to buy a new laptop. The cycle of life!
I wish people built things that meant to last for more than 1-2 years.