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In a rollicking match, Australia outscored Syria, confirming their progress into the knockout phase of the Asian Cup.
3-2 it ended and, as much as the three goals-for will bolster confidence in the offensive capabilities of this current arrangement of Socceroos, the two goals-against offered a sobering reminder that even a rudimentary, cross-heavy opponent can rattle the Australian defence, for whom lapses remain an issue.
The problem of Trent Sainsbury's suspension was solved in the manner expected, with Mark Milligan sliding back into central defence, and Massimo Luongo coming into the midfield.
Syrian striker Omar Al Somah's height, as matched up with Milligan, was a valid concern, but the passing Sainsbury offers is more adequately replaced by Milligan than Matt Jurman.
Syria won a corner early and attacked with all the hunger a team in their desperate position should be expected to; Syria had a huge swathe of supporters in the Al Ain stadium, and how they were yearning for a good Syrian performance, with their team having been poor against both Palestine and Jordan.
Tom Rogic was also looking hungry for Australia, and nice soft feet allowed the Roos almost to escape on the counter.
His final pass to Chris Ikonomidis was just a little heavy. With Syria pushing so hard, rushing to regain the ball after losing it in the Australian defensive third, counter-attacking opportunities were there, if we had ball-players nimble and skilled enough to play through pressure.
Rogic is one of our most nimble, our most skilled.
Although, in the above sequence above, the pass was off, it's that first and second touch Rogic makes that separates him from so many other Australian players; those touches, if attempted by anyone else, might clank horribly off the feet.
Syria spent the opening 15 minutes dominating the chances. Al Somah sent a towering header over the bar; winger Omar Khrbin sent an angled shot wide, after an Australian mistake gifted him the ball in shooting range.
Al Somah then revealed the full extent of his might, controlling a high ball, with Socceroo tacklers bouncing off him like eager nephews being manhandled by a slightly too vigorous uncle, tinny in hand, at the family picnic kick-around.
Jamie Maclaren missed a golden chance to put his country in front, heading Rhyan Grant's fine cross wide.
That chance interrupted a series of Syrian chances, all as good as the solitary reply the Roos managed. If not quite wilting, Australia were certainly trembling under this Syrian pressure, white-knuckled and teeth gritted.
Grant, gifted the starting right back spot by Josh Risdon's unfortunate injury, has not looked like a stand-in. His positioning – knowing when to stay forward, and when to retreat into the more traditional defensive rest position – is exemplary.
Here, you can see him bide his time up the field, aware of his team's dominance of numbers at the back, knowing the pressure he applies simply being higher up the park is an asset that can be suddenly utilised.
Luongo, after a period of rumination, eventually takes advantage of Grant with a superb ball, controlled just as superbly by Grant, winning a corner.
Syria had the ball in the net, bouncing in directly from an angled free kick, but the play was called back for a foul on Milligan.
It took 25 minutes, but the Syrian boil had simmered back down, and this goal would have hurt Australia had it stood; the Roos had survived the worst of the initial storm. Set pieces would be an ongoing threat for the Syrians.
Luongo, as he had in the first game, was the deepest placed of the midfield three; this makes sense alongside Rogic and Jackson Irvine, but nonetheless neuters Luongo's attacking abilities somewhat.
Rogic, in the mood, was providing plenty of attacking incision; this pass was a beauty, and Maclaren might have done better with his shot, which was admittedly saved sharply by Ibrahim Alma.
Mabil had a volleyed chance from a short corner, but smacked his shot wide and into a crowd. He made amends a minute later, with a wonderful goal the kind of awesome strike I can't remember anyone other than Rogic scoring in recent years.
A quick free kick was hurried along, and the ball shifted to the right. Stopping, jutting inside, Mabil unleashed a curling drive that punched into the side of the goal, Alma beaten emphatically.
He ran over to Graham Arnold to celebrate, a celebration he would later say was meant in support of mental health and speaking out. He's become an instant starter for the Roos over the last two months, and a true emerging star.
The lead lasted less than a minute. From the kick off, an angled long ball was hit from right to left. Mat Ryan came out to punch, but the ball spilled to the left wing, with a Syrian charging in to cross.
In the middle, you can see Milos Degenek lose his man for half a second, Khrbin peeling away behind, with Degenek only a metre or so too far away from him.
It was a perfect cross, and Khrbin had a free header. Ryan saved it, but could not stop the rebounded effort.
With a team so reliant on crossing and headed chances, Degenek's lapse was critical. 1-1 it was at half time, with two quickfire goals to end the first period.
The tussling resumed after the restart, with Syria probing physically and aerially, and Australia more terrestrially.
Ten minutes into the second half, Rogic again stunned the watching world with a pass of such long-range incision, he might well have fired the ball out of a sniper rifle.
Turning and collecting himself on the right wing, Rogic saw Ikomomidis with his hand up, on the other side of the pitch, and with at least six players in between.
Rogic, sending packing rate calculators into a froth, smacked a bouncing pass through a whole fleet of defenders – it probably should have been cleared, but the angle of the pass was such that it seemed to inspire a mix of hesitation and fear of an own goal in the defence.
Ikonomidis tapped it barely over the line, and the referee's goal-line watch buzzed into action. 2-1 to Australia.
For Rogic, it's not only a matter of ability, but mood as well; he can always play this well, but only when he feels buoyed enough, or perhaps Bhoyed enough, if you'll pardon the pun.
Mark Milligan had the ball bounce up onto his arm, having miscontrolled in the box. It was a penalty dodged by the finest of margins, with the referee having surely seen the ball strike the arm, but evidently judging it as being unintentional.
Syria hit 73 long passes on the night, and the bulk of them came at this point, as the second half rolled on, with clipped passes testing the vigour and fuel of the Australian defenders, often required to rush back to clear under pressure.
Australia had a chance to ice the game, with the newly substituted Apostolos Giannou combining with Ikonomidis well. The latter's cross was intended for Giannou but was intercepted by Mabil, whose touch set up Rogic, who scuffed his shot.
Machinations here all slightly misaligned, but a promising sequence nevertheless. The next attack was as fluid, unfortunately, aborted by a Rogic offside. This is the exact kind of interplay, with an aversion to hit-and-hope crosses, that must be played against a deep, fearful defence.
In other words, the kind of play we didn't see against Jordan.
Giannou smacked a shot against the post, played in by a one-two with Mabil. Syria and Al Somah continued to remind Australia that crosses and headers were still a threat that needed constant vigilance.
A soft foul against Milligan gave Syria a free kick within range, capping a small surge in energy by the underdogs. Khrbin stood over it and shot. Ryan saved but, in the aftermath, a cross was flung in, and Al Somah went down in the box.
After an eternity of deliberation time, the referee pointed to the spot. It was a penalty that looked dubious at best, outright confected at worst – it appeared, upon later review, that Al Somah had tripped over his own teammate.
Al Somah scored the spot kick, and levelled the match. Ten minutes remained.
Syria staged a late bombardment on the Australian penalty area, desperate to head home a winner. Australia knew that a draw would be enough to progress from the group, but could not afford to retreat meekly.
Jurman came on for Luongo, a sign that defensive steel was now the priority.
But Tom Rogic, capping his man of the match performance, gave the game the winner it craved with a stunner.
Offered all the time and space to measure his shot on the edge of the box, Rogic sent a thudding shot past Alma, the concussive reverberations of which sent Syrians crumbling to the turf, exhausted and winded.
This match showed Arnold and the team can adjust; there were long stretches of Australian possession here, but uninspired and ill-suited crossing did not hallmark the play as it had against Jordan.
This arrangement of personnel was also pleasing, and gelled nicely; the chance-creation was shared among all the right players, with Aziz Behich, Grant, Mabil, Ikonomidis and of course Rogic all chipping in with good moments.
The passing flowed easily from Milligan, to Luongo, to Rogic, and one wonders if dropping Degenek to make way for Sainsbury's return might be the right thing to do heading into the next phase of the cup.
Ikonomidis consolidated the sense that Kruse's time as a starter is over, and Mabil is a wonderful, potent threat.
The shakiness we saw in defence can be partly explained by Sainsbury's absence, but the team's inability to assess and adjust for Syria's fairly one-dimensional approach inspires a small kernel of worry, and will be more severely punished by other, better teams.
Still, onward we go and, if Japan beat Uzbekistan, the Roos will face the Uzbeks in the next round.
As a final note, I have to announce that this will be my last Roar column, at least for a while.
I've been offered an ABC cadetship, a role that will take me to Perth for 2019, and rather away from football as my primary area of concern.
It also unfortunately means I won't be allowed to act as a Roar football expert. This is my 351st article for The Roar and, after hundreds of thousands of words written, I want to thank all of you Roarers for reading them.
I believe The Roar is a unique place in the Australian sports writing landscape, and it's the crowd that make it so special.
There is no other place of which I'm aware where football is discussed with as much fervour and insight as it is here, and even though I've only occasionally taken part in conversations – heated or otherwise – below the line, I want every user to know how absolutely valuable I think these conversations are.
I want to thank Patrick Effeney and Daniel Jeffrey for turning what began as a hobby into a paid gig, as well as all of you Roarers, both complimentary and critical, who have read and responded to my writing over the past five years.


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Tall pet gates for large dogs are very handy when it comes to containing large pets in a suitable area, and prevent them from accessing another room in your house.
Such a barrier should be tall enough so that a large jumper doesn't jump over to the other side.
Some of these gates are used as freestanding structures especially on wider openings.
In addition, creating a barrier in doorways or other indoor openings will help prevent your best friend from accessing table food, garbage bins and stoves.
Dogs are lovable pets and are indeed man's best buddy. When these pets are left on their own, they can become messy and also create havoc. Therefore, it is important to ensure that they are well contained in an area before stepping out of your house to run some errands.
These barriers are constructed with durable wooden or steel material. Others are pressure or hardware mounted.
Here are some of the top tall designs.
Carlson Extra-Tall Walk-Thru
This Carlson-gate is constructed with chew proof, non-toxic and lead-free, steel material. It is 41-inches in height. It comes with a 6-inch extension included to help cover a width of 29 inches to 40 inches. Additional extensions can also be bought. It has a walk-through door-opening that is 16-1/8 inches wide. This door has a safety lock that is a one touch release design for easier opening even when hands are full.
Find Discount & Over 2000 Reviews Here
It also has another smaller door that is 10 by 7 inches to allow small pets to pass through while keeping the larger ones in. The space between the vertical bars ranges from 2.25 to 2.5 inches. It can either be pressure mounted or screwed firmly in the wall. It comes with the hardware for mounting it to the wall.
Unipaws Foldable Pet Gate
This Unipaws Pet Wooden Gate is made of espresso wood and has an attractive white finish. It measures 36-inches in height and opens up to 60-inches wide. It consists of three panels joined together by sturdy heavy metal hinges.
It is fitted with support feet to avoid tipping and for added stability. Rubber pads at the bottom of each panel provides additional stability and protects the floor from scratches. It comes assembled and the freestanding design provides easy setup anywhere in your house.
Flexi Extra Tall Gate
This Flexi Gate is extra tall measuring 38 inches in height. It is also extra-wide expanding to fit openings and stairways up to 76-inches. It has a small pet door measuring 10 by 7 inches to allow small pets to pass through. It is constructed with chew-proof sturdy steel material.
It is wall mountable. The gap between bars measures 2.75-inches. Comes with wall mounting brackets and is easy to install. Ideal for those who has a giant or large breed dogs.
Superior Deluxe Large-Gate
This deluxe large-gate features rubberwood construction with beautiful, oak finish as the main frame. It has black metal wire slats at the center. It is 36.2-inch tall. It fits a width of 61.8 to 90.2 inches. The wire bars are 1.75-inch apart. The walk-through door is 19.5-inch wide. The door opens in either side and is easy to open even with one hand.
Pricing & Reviews,Ratings Here
It is fitted with side panels to keep the structure freely standing without tipping over. To prevent the structure from sliding or damaging the floor, it has been fitted with rubber feet underneath. It is ideal for pets weighing 17.6 to 88 pounds.
Swing-Close Expandable Gate
This swing-close expandable gate is 40.5-inch tall. It is constructed with durable steel material. It fits openings that are 38 to 42.5 inches wide. If you have a wider opening, you can buy extra extensions. It has a walkthrough door that swings open on either way and is 18 inches wide. The door has an auto shut feature and can be operated with one hand. The metallic-bars are 1.5 to 2.25 inches apart.
Discount, Ratings & Reviews Here
It is available in black and white colors. It can be screwed into the wall or pressure mounted. It usually comes with the right hardware for mounting on the wall. It is easy to install and use.It is ideal for hallways and doorways.
Pet-Studio Extra-Tall Design
This sturdy extra-tall-gate is constructed with steel metal and has some plastic parts. It is 41-inch tall. It fits on a standard doorway. It fits openings that are 30 to 35.5 inches wide. It has a walkthrough door that self locks and also swings open in both directions. It is easy to open and has a stop mechanism to keep it open. This walkthrough is 18-inch wide. The bars are 1.5 to 2.25 inches apart.
Pricing & Reviews, Ratings Here
It is white in color and is pressure mounted. It is easy to use and install. The bars are 2-1/8-inch apart.
Cardinal Gates Extra Tall
This Cardinal-gate features sleek, chew-proof, steel construction. It measures 36-inch in height. It fits areas that are 29.5 to 32.5 inches wide. It can also expand to cover a maximum width of 54.25 inches with the use of extensions. The bars are spaced 2.5-inch apart.
It is a pressure mount type. It has a walk-thru door that swings open in either side. The door also has an auto close and lock feature. It is available in both black and white colors. It is powder coated and has a clean design.
Images courtesy of Amazon

subset: commoncrawl


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by Gregory Roberts, DC, CES
[sixty-six.org] [updated 26.Apr.13]
Understanding Armor and the Body
Body armor is meant to keep you in the fight. It should protect the vital organs which,
if hit, would quickly take you down and prevent you from putting rounds on target. The
possibility of saving your life is a secondary benefit of body armor. With this purpose in
mind we must understand those structures we need to protect – which we can
realistically protect while still maintaining a great degree of mobility.
Our primary concern is the heart and the large blood vessels which sprout from the top
of the heart: the superior vena cava, the arch of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk.
These vessels are collectively referred to as "the great vessels".
The heart is important for its obvious function of providing pressure to circulate blood to
the lungs via the right side of the heart and then on to the body via the left side of the
heart. Within the body the heart lies left of center, with its apex near the left nipple.
Thus, while fitting a plate as a general guideline we must select a plate which will cover
the nipples to ensure the entire heart is protected. Note that in some individuals the
nipples may be more lateral than the apex of the heart.
The great vessels of the heart lie directly behind the uppermost portion of the sternum,
known as the manubrium, and sit directly on top of the heart. The great vessels wrap
and twist around each other, making it likely that a hit to one will likely perforate
another and result in massive hemorrhage.
Arguably the most important of the three great vessels in the Aorta, due to its size and
high velocity of blood flow, 5 liters a minute. The average 165 pound man has 5 liters
of blood in his body and thus can completely bleed out within one minute if the Aorta is
dramatically perforated. Loss of consciousness can occur with less than 40% of blood
loss, approximately two liters, and thus can occur in well under a minute.
Of equal importance to the heart is the respiratory diaphragm, the muscle which, when
contracting, allows you to decrease air pressure within your lungs and thus draw in air.
Destroy the diaphragm and you destroy one's ability to breath. Protecting the entirety
of the respiratory diaphragm is not realistic, but the majority of it will be protected by a
properly fitted plate. The diaphragm is dome shaped, following the bottom of your rib
cage and doming up into the chest cavity.
Protecting the vertebral column goes without saying – we wish to protect as much of this
as possible without sacrificing mobility. Unfortunately, protecting the entire vertebral
column is not realistic at this time.
It is important to note that a hit to the lungs may prove to eventually be lethal through
blood loss or tension pneumothorax, but is not nearly as lethal as quickly as a hit to the
heart and its great vessels. The liver and kidneys, while highly vascular, are also not
immediately incapacitating and thus are of secondary concern. The rest of the viscera
in your abdomen are of tertiary concern.
Finding Balance: Protection vs Mobility
When properly fitted a chest plate should not impinge on the anterior deltoids or
pectoralis major muscles when punching out with a handgun or carbine. Any
impingement on the shoulder may create discomfort, premature fatigue and possibly
even aggravate certain shoulder conditions. In some cases too large of a plate may
prevent a shooter from assuming an ideal hold on their weapon. This, and even
discomfort, can translate to misses down range.
A slightly smaller chest plate which fits with no impingement while punching out will not
expose the heart as long as it still covers the nipples. A smaller plate will translate to a
small increase in exposure of peripheral lung tissue and abdominal viscera, but these
are organs which can take a hit without immediate consequences to the shooter. As
stated previously, a shot to the lung, liver or kidney is not immediately fatal. This
should be considered when choosing a plate that fits properly.
Positioning of the Front/Chest plate
The top of your chest plate should be at the level of your suprasternal notch, which is
also known as the jugular notch. Tracing the sternum with a finger superiorly, the soft
spot you reach at the top of the sternum is the suprasternal notch. If you press in with
your finger and choke yourself you are in the right spot. The chest plate should ride at
least level with the top of your sternum while standing. An easy way to ensure this is
to place a finger in your suprasternal notch and position the plate such that the top of
the plate touches the bottom of your finger.
Positioning of rear/back plate
Find the most prominent bony eminence at the base of your neck. This is your vertebral
eminence. Count down two bony spinousus (or measure down about 1.5 inches) and
that should be above the level of the superior aspect of your sternum and thus level
with the top of your front plate. Positioning at least this high will ensure your entire
heart and the great vessels are protected from a shot to the back. The front and back
plate should be level with one another when viewed from the side.
Side and Shoulder Plates
Side plates are intended to protect the highly vascular elements of your abdomen. They
were introduced to prevent troops from bleeding out in the chopper on the way to the
field hospital. Side plates were not necessarily intended to protect the heart, but if you
wear them high up into your armpits you can protect some of the lower portion of your
Protecting your heart from a shot to side is accomplished by shoulder plates, such as
the ones manufactured by Crye Precision.
To Sum it Up
Chest/Front plate: Even with top of the sternum while standing and covering
the entirety of each nipple. For best fit, the plate should not impinge on the
shoulder when presenting a weapon.
Back/Rear plate: Should lie no lower than an inch below your vertebral
prominence. A back plate one size larger than a chest plate is optimal.
Side plates: The higher they ride the better.


text:
How is everyone? I am back from my holidays in Germany and I have way too much to tell you.
They were fantastic this year. As you know I am from Germany so you might think that visiting my hometown was not that interesting. But I tell you, I had a truly great time thanks to my family and friends. And my cat :D Gosh I missed that little cutie!
Comment ca va?
Je suis réturnée d'Allemagne et j'ai trop à vous raconter. Mes vacances étaient fantastiques cet année. Comme vous savez, je suis d'Allemagne, alors vous pouriez penser "Ah, c'est pas très intéressant de visiter ma ville natale". Me je vous dis, j'ai passée un temps super grace à ma famille et à mis amis. Et grace à mon chat ;D Elle m'a manqué, la belle.
The night before I flew to Germany, I went partying with one of my friends from Scotland (Brooke). We went to three or four bars/clubs but actually the first one was the best one. We drank Pina Colada♥ But the picture was bad...
So here is us.
La nuit avant de partir en avion, je suis allée faire la fête avec une amie d'Écosse (Brooke). Nous sommes allées dans... 3 ou 4 bars/clubs je crois mais en fait la prémière bar était super.
On a bu une Pina Colada ♥
Mais la photo n'est pas bonne.
Alors voilà nous.
A girl from the Uk Gyaru community said that dip dye looks much better with curls and she's right.
However, that night I couldn't decide on an oufit.
First I wanted to go with this but ~
I don't know.
Or with this (slightly different)
At this end, this was my choice and I am quite happy about it.
A la fin, cela était ma choix et je l'aime tant bien.
Picture of a christmassy pub. Actually not from this night, but who cares:)
Une photo d'un pub avec de la décoration de Noel. Je l'ai pas pris la nuit que je suis sortie avec Brooke mais bon :)
The flight was good and I had nice food at Amsterdam Schipol.
Le voyage c'est bien passé et j'ai pris un bon repas à Amsterdam Schipol.
je suis désolée mais je vais continuer en Anglais maintenant.
Spanish food ♪
Here I used the Sleek Blush I was talking about and MAN I love this shit! *insert American accent*
The cookies ♥
So sweeties, I will continue with two or three more parts of what I did in my holidays~
hopefully it is not too boring.
And as for New Years resolutions~ you can still stay tuned for that. I actually found a really good one for myself but I will let you know about that later.
Geeez I wrote so much today.
Now I have to get back to working on... the Cold War, Arab Spring and learn Spanish vocab.
That's right, British sweeties, it's that time of the year: FINAL EXAM TIME.
Whilst in Germany you take your important uni exams in February, here it is January. -.-
Thanks for reading and have a nice day.
xoxo Keki
ps: I changed the layout again. :D


text:
My mentor Arnie Schwartz told me I would never be a trial lawyer until I was arguing to the jury, and I knew they were laughing at me, and I kept arguing anyway. I've had that experience. But I say you're not a real lawyer until you've been unfairly sued for a large sum of money. I passed that milestone on February 15, 2000. It began with Bob Dorband taking control of my fax machine. It got that intense look it gets when it's been possessed by the adversary, and out it came, a complaint filed in Portland Federal Court entitled Stephen M. Cohen v. Charles Carreon and Gary Kremen. The last pages came out of the fax machine. When I got to the prayer for relief, where Cohen claimed $50 Million in damages, it was a relief. The amount was so outlandish. If you say you're going to kill me by shooting me with a .22, it's believable, and it's scary. If you say you're going to kill me by dropping the Empire State Building on my head, it's laughable. So I laughed.
I continued laughing as I read the allegations. Cohen alleged that Kremen and I had conspired, years before we ever met, to arrange the theft of the Sex.Com domain name. Then we had encouraged Cohen to steal it and develop the website to its present profitable state. Now, in the last stages of the plot, we were suing to acquire control of the fully developed asset.
I immediately knew the genesis of Cohen's thinking. Kremen's original business plan was a two-page document. The first page was just a scrawl of notes in Gary's awkward hand. The second page showed initials, among them "CC," next to some percentages. So Cohen concluded I was CC, had known Kremen since 1994, and as we say in Oregon, had been "lying in the weeds" for five years, waiting to bushwhack him. Or more likely, Dorband concluded there was enough evidence to claim the allegations were made in good faith, and planned to use the suit to drive a wedge between Gary and myself. If I wanted out, but just wasn't saying it, this lawsuit was my exit vehicle. I could claim a conflict of interest and kiss Kremen goodbye, with my legal dignity intact. And that would get rid of the first lawyer who had really tried to move the ball.
Because the story was bogus, I wasn't worried about liability, as long as I got my defense from the Oregon Professional Liability Fund (the "PLF"). The PLF insures me for legal malpractice, but Cohen's claim wasn't for malpractice. He was suing me for representing Gary Kremen, and for calling him a liar. He was alleging that I had "exceeded the bounds of zealous advocacy," and strayed into defamation. While truth is a defense to defamation, insurance defense lawyers always hate it when they ask you a question like, "Did you say he was a thief?" and you say, "Yes." Right away they think you were injudicious or something. I thought lawyers were supposed to call things by their true names. Liar, thief -- if the shoe fits, make 'em wear it!
But throw me a frickin' bone here! I was deprived of some important elements of a proper legal education. Most lawyers learn how to behave from watching their lawyer dads, or while hanging out with their lawyer uncles. I learned from watching 70s TV shows like "Judd for the Defense," and "The Young Lawyers" (they had cool cars, sweet little blonde hippie chicks in trouble for clients, and sparred in court with conservative judges who nevertheless had a streak of fairness). If I had only once in my life been to a golf course, or a tennis court, or an athletic club frequented by lawyers and their families, I would have realized that a lawyer is not expected to be a fiery advocate in search of justice. A lawyer must cultivate a careful manner, and in all things, particularly public speech, refrain from the sort of bluntness that attracts attention.
So yes, my press release said that Cohen stole Sex.Com. And the PLF agreed to cover my defense. They assigned Portland attorney Susan Eggum to be my lawyer. I had learned about her recently after she had resolved a scandalous case involving unconscionable tactics used by attorneys hired by the PLF. She was receiving kudos in the media for her ethics and savvy. In Portland law, she was hot.
I met her in April, 2000. Susan was crisp, trim, with short black hair and a manner both attentive and extremely efficient. An air of sharpness and clarity surrounded her, but maybe it was just the Portland sunlight coming through the window of her office. We discussed the case, and I knew I was in good hands. She accepted my statements at face value, expressed sympathy for my situation, discussed strategy, and had me out of her office in less than an hour.
This type of crisp efficiency makes some women good lawyers. A man would have interviewed me for two hours, and then taken me out to a long working lunch where we could swap war stories. Women seem more interested in cutting to the chase. They don't vibe to the drama and the hype, and tend to look at all legal tasks as chores. Maybe it's this matter-of-fact attitude that makes women better at multi-tasking. Have you ever seen a woman simultaneously juggling a baby on her hip while sorting laundry, heating a baby bottle, telling the kids not to track mud into the kitchen, and all the while keeping an ear on the Oprah show? The art of doing all of these things is not doing them at once, but rather doing them in sequence really close together. When you put that kind of attention to lawyering, you get a final product like a meal that comes to the table with all of the ingredients prepared properly and presented at the right time. It is logical that nature would select for women with nervous systems well adapted to multi-tasking, since nature hamstrings them with the care of infants while making no countervailing provision for extra time to accomplish all the household tasks that also fall to her lot.
Men, on the other hand, enjoy cooperating with a group of other men to accomplish a single goal, such as chasing down a giraffe on foot for five days and stabbing it to death with sharpened poles. Or getting together a pack of dogs and chasing bears up trees, where you can shoot them with arrows. Given half a chance, men will paint their faces with blood and howl at the moon to announce their conquest over the foe. When this type of mentality is applied without additional refinement to the practice of law, you get a lot of guys trying to hammer every peg, whatever the shape, into the same damn hole. You get narrow issues pursued with monomaniacal zeal and a lack of comprehensive strategy. You get people who are sure of their case, and lose because they never bothered to think that the jury just might agree with the other guy's view. You get a lack of empathy and a lack of insight.
This difference in temperaments has traditionally been resolved in the law by means of the lawyer/legal-secretary relationship. These relationships can be quite lovely and charming, sometimes to the chagrin of the lawyer's spouse, who sees less of him than the secretary, and instead of presenting him with the rewards of work well done, gives him bills, kids to put through college, and a mortgage. Fortunately, lawyers are masters of concealment, so spouses are spared the pain of knowing how deeply these relationships go and how much of a bond develops. When I worked in L.A., I often referred to my secretary Victoria inadvertently as my wife, and referred to my wife Tara as my secretary. Indeed, it is not uncommon to meet a retired lawyer and his second wife, and discover that she was once his secretary, and that the young woman who put him through law school is no longer on the scene.
A good legal secretary has several of the qualities of the ideal girlfriend. She always listens to everything her boss says. She thinks he is charming, witty, urbane, and whatever nebbishy characteristics he has, are agreeable and endearing. She corrects his spelling, straightens his tie, and reminds him not to be late for court and appointments. She makes excuses for him and can provide convenient alibis on occasion, although only a rogue or a coward shifts his mistakes to his secretary. If, in addition, your secretary is also attractive, such that you have a living adornment sitting in your office to inspire the envious whispered admiration of other lawyers, it can be kind of like having a facsimile of a happy relationship. And it can be tremendously productive.
My wife is my legal secretary, and she has many of the characteristics of the perfect girlfriend. What I particularly like is the way she listens to me eagerly when I'm yelling about how we'll get those blankety-blanks, watches approvingly as I smash my fist into my palm to demonstrate how severe justice will be visited upon the wrongdoers, and then hands me my dictaphone with a tape already in it and says, "Do you want to do it now?" This kind of relationship is stimulating on many levels, and when you've married your secretary, a strange thing happens. She begins to thrive on sexual harassment.


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text: The Mango Balloon, Volume 3 has received an exceptionally good review from John Shand in the weekend's Spectrum (Sydney Morning Herald). 4 and a half stars, and much great praise for all involved! The band (including guest Shenzo Gregorio) plays tonight for Jazzgroove at Foundry 616 in Ultimo. Read the review here.


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Listen to an entire year of audio newsletter cover articles from The Berean Call, as read by Dave Hunt, T. A. McMahon, and producer Gary Carmichael. This repackaged CD album contains quality audio files, playable on ANY compact disc player, car stereo, or computer. This is not a compressed MP3 file, but a full broadcast-quality CD-audio file. Enjoy all 12 feature articles (approximately 4 hours total) from 2009, presented in the order in which they were originally published.
Includes the following Newsletters:
The Power of His Resurrection (original)
Divine Opportunities
True Love - Part 1
The Battle over True for Our Youth
True Love Part 2: Morals and Meaning
Israel and Prophetic Proof - Part 1
Israel and Prophetic Proof - Part 2
Refashioning God
The Old Paths
The Messiah & The Cross
The First and Final Lie: Self-deification
The Cradle and the Cross


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Solar operations and maintenance is a hot topic these days due to the number of solar PV installations in the United States that are maturing into a post-warranty stage. At this juncture, utility-scale solar asset managers are taking a look at their options.
For most multi-megawatt installations, asset managers typically have an O&M plan in place since back the project was in its engineering and design phases; however, it's been a long road since those plans were first developed and, as we all know, plans change.
The reasons for seeking a new solution to O&M are varied. Perhaps it is because of failures in the original plan or whether business needs have changed or the company you've contracted with isn't doing the best job. Whatever the case, there are several options for post-warranty stage solar O&M from which to choose.
The three options for ongoing solar operations and maintenance service that plant owners and operators are as follows:
- Stick with the Original Equipment Manufacturers Contract
- Manage O&M In-house
- Sign a Deal with a Third-Party Provider
Let's explore each of these options.
OPTION 1: Stick with the Original Equipment Manufacturers Contract
Here are some of the pros and cons to consider when deciding whether to stay with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for post-warranty operations and maintenance (O&M):
- PRO: Keeping communication open about upgrades to the control systems and the solar equipment.
Knowing firsthand when a control system has been upgraded or improved upon can mean a lot to the bottom line if these upgrades affect performance. Sometimes this also means better OEM parts pricing.
- CON: OEMs may always be trying to sell to you.
Yes, it's true keeping communication open can help with system upgrades. However, to whose advantage is this really, the OEM or the plant owner? For the OEM, they may see the opportunity to keep the sales channel open. When a piece of equipment fails, will the OEM be more apt to sell you new, more costly part instead of repairing the existing equipment? And, will you receive dozens of sales calls and emails worked into your day-to-day maintenance updates?
- PRO: Familiarity with Equipment.
When equipment fails, often the best solution is being able to go direct to the manufacturer for replacement or repairs. This could mean lower risks of long down times diagnosing equipment problems.
- CON: Many Points of Contact.
Going directly to the OEM may mean that you will have numerous points of contact to keep all equipment in working order. You'll still need in-house staff to diagnose which piece or pieces of equipment failed. This person or team would need to contact the correct OEM and have good follow-up ensuring the anomaly has been fixed. The list of potential contacts may include; the company who manufactured your inverter, the company who manufactured your panels, and then there's the monitoring system company, the racking company, the combiner company, and the list goes on. Also, note that equipment failures could turn into a finger pointing game where you spend more time than you'd like managing the OEMs and maintenance issues. It might be easier to take the O&M in-house.
OPTION 2: Manage O&M In-house
Solar power plant owners that choose to manage their own O&M in-house must ensure their personnel:
- Are equipped with appropriate skill-sets
- Understand the how the complete system functions
- Have the qualifications and experience
- Can manage spare-part inventory
- Have a firm grasp on quality control
- Understands and can manage all maintenance procedures – both scheduled and emergency services.
- Have good time management experience
Some of the pros and cons of choosing to manage your O&M in-house are as follows:
- PRO: Lower costs.
Not having a flat monthly fee and being tied to an ongoing contract certainly is appealing. Your costs are tied directly to the employee's time and the cost of parts and other maintenance needs. You are assured that you are only paying for services you need. This option offers the most control of your solar farm.
- CON: More pressure on managing staff.
Optimizing photovoltaic system performance completely depends on the in-house staff. O&M will only be as effective as the people managing it behind the scenes. Hiring, firing and managing staff takes time and energy. Staff must understand how to meet performance targets and be able to effectively perform the scope of services required for preventative maintenance as well as emergency services. Should an employee be underperforming, the effect can trickle down to degrade system performance too.
- PRO: More direct control over maintenance.
Managing solar O&M in-house you will have more control over maintenance, because you are solely responsible for it. You set the schedule, make the inspections, keep spare parts inventory in check, clean panels, and monitor the system for anomalies. If there is a failure, it's under your control.
- CON: Too much time and energy dedicated to maintenance.
Having direct control over your own maintenance may sound comforting; however, this is a double edge sword. While you have complete control of the maintenance when managing it in-house, you may not have the resources (both time and staff) to effectively manage it 24/7/365. Logistical and employee issues may turn into a nightmare.
- PRO: Availability of technicians for emergency services.
Providing your own in-house O&M team means you dispatch the technicians for emergency services. There's no waiting for a call back from the O&M company, your staff can respond as quickly as you schedule them. Again, you're in complete control.
- CON: Cost of shift-differential or overtime for emergencies.
A total system failure may happen on a holiday weekend. Is your in-house O&M staff required to respond and fix it within a certain time frame, no matter what? Depending on how you've hired your employees, any monitoring, outage repairs, or emergency services may be part of their daily duties or you may end up paying a shift-diff for nights, weekends, and holidays. For most solar farms, 24-hour monitoring and fast emergency services assures maximum ROI, but this comes at a cost that can weigh heavily on an already taxed plant operator who needs to balance employees, vacation coverage, sick days, employee issues, budgets, and ROI.
OPTION 3: Sign a Deal with a Third Party Provider
There are many reasons solar power plant operators and owners decide to use a third party O&M provider.
You may have contracted services from the EPC company that constructed your array for O&M after the system was commissioned. Now you've discovered that just because a company built your solar array it doesn't mean they are the best people to maintain it for years, or even decades down the road. They may have already failed as an operator since the system went live, or other issues have cropped up. Or, you may have been managing your solar O&M in-house and the headaches of doing it all yourself are just too overwhelming. Whatever your obstacles have been, signing a deal with a third party provider may be right for you.
Here are some of the pros and cons in contracting with a third party solar O&M provider:
- PRO: Third Party Providers are Focused on O&M Only
Few companies are positioned to only offer solar O&M services. A company that takes on the challenge of offering O&M services as a stand-alone service will be highly motivated to operate and manage your solar power plant to the highest standards. It is their core business, so you can expect excellent customer service and the highest quality workmanship.
- CON: There may be a learning curve.
The lack of familiarity with the ins-and-ours of your particular system may take some time for the technician to get acquainted with its nuances. If you have decided to go with a third party solar O&M provider, you'll want to be confident that the company will conduct a complete system review as soon as possible. This will ensure they are up to speed with what has happened during the development and construction phases and will know as much as possible about the system to proactively schedule maintenance. That way, in an emergency situation, you can be rest assured that long troubleshooting times won't be needed to cypher out system-specific design or operational issues.
- PRO: Capable solar service technicians are a phone call away.
Third party solar O&M providers will be capable of dispatching capable solar service technicians, sometimes in different states at the same time. In your O&M agreement, specific times will be detailed for emergency services, preventative maintenance visits and any other O&M service related response that could be needed. You'll have in writing what kind of service you can expect to receive.
- CON: Turnover rate and lacking equipment.
Unless you find an experienced O&M company with deep energy experience and equipment that they own to provide contractual services, you take the chance of getting in with a company that may have high turnover rates with their contractors or one that lacks the proper equipment to get the job done. Both of these instances will result in longer down times. If the technician is not familiar with your site, or doesn't have the correct equipment or tools to perform the required repairs, the time they waste getting up to speed or waiting on equipment is time you can't recoup. Time loss is energy loss, so be sure to find a reliable third party partner.
- PRO: More cost effective.
Outsourcing your solar O&M can be more cost effective because you will not be adding permanent positions to your existing work force.
- CON: Creates an added reporting structure.
Although one call, will do it all with a third party contractor, it still removes the service outside of your organization and under the control of another company. When you are turning your installation over to another company you'll want to ensure they have a solid, presentable plan to minimize plant downtime, reduce risk of power production losses, produce expected or greater than expected investment returns, and maximize overall solar output. The O&M provider should have a proactive approach to solar O&M and be able to show detailed record keeping procedures and checklists for preventative maintenance. The bottom line on outsourcing your O&M to a third party service company is, do you trust them?
Miller Bros. Solar (MBS) is a chosen leader in operations and maintenance (O&M) solutions due to the company's project expertise, full construction capabilities, and 160+ pieces of heavy equipment. MBS is one of the few electrical contractors that can simultaneously self-perform multiple utility scale solar projects while exceeding client expectations, controlling costs and adhering to timelines and customer schedules.
Miller Bros. Solar provides O&M services for solar projects in the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
For more information, visit http://millerbrossolar.com or call 610-832-1000.


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Do you have a contract with them that expressly states 1) who the ideas belong to, 2) establish the timeline or expectations of the project, 3) when the working relationship is concluded?
It is not unethical to work with one firm to produce one part of a project, and another to implement or take action on the plan.
It *is* unethical to go behind the back of the first firm if the intention or contract states that you will continue working with them.
Consider their position. If you were them, how would you interpret the actions you're proposing?
Happy to help more if I know more details.
It all depends on the scope of service that both parties agreed to.
For example, when we are hired to produce an IT evaluation or process improvement, etc... we will get the report done in an unbiased way.
At the end of the engagement, if there is a second phase or implementation, we will automatically produce a proposal. The assumption is the client will likely ask for other proposals and we can be in the mix.
So depending on the scope of the work, I would assume that the contracted firm expects they would need to earn future work.
But you want to be open and fair with them. If they have not done it, you may want to suggest they provide a proposal as well.
Well, it may not be the nicest thing but I believe it's far from unethical. I own an application development agency, Launchpeer.com, and I understand it's the nature of the business. If we one day decided we didn't want to do 'free' work anymore we could charge for the type of service. In short, we agree to do free work so we as the agency have to understand this could happen.
All depends on the understanding with which they provided their proposal and what level of 'work' they delivered to you.
If the work is just what they would consider to be part of their sales process then you should be okay but if they went above and beyond with the expectation of winning the final project then there are ethical questions for you to consider.
Having said that, this is how many larger firms operate. They send out RFIs and then based on the information they get back they refine and re-issue a more detailed specification in their RFP.
If you know what you're doing and are clear at the start then there shouldn't be a problem
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I can't believe we are now less than a week away from CT50! In one week, I will be hobbling around Treman campsite getting ready to pack up and head home.
The first time I was ever on trails in Ithaca, we were aid stationing for this race. I think it was in 2012…I had just started to run on trails, and by trails I mean Seneca Park was my favorite place to run. Not that there's anything wrong with Seneca Park–but it's flat, untechnical, and wide. I think at the time I was probably training for a road marathon or something and I needed to run 10 miles or so. I went with Eric, Ron and Mort to do the first 5 of the course. I think after the first half mile, I was already cursing and throwing a fit, and by 2, Ron and Mort were gone. I may have made it another mile or so…hiking…and then hiked back. "Who the fuck runs that kind of shit?" I think I said something like that.
And that attitude continued for years. It was a well-known fact around here that I despised running hills. In fact, I refused to do it. If there was a flat option, I'd take it instead. If the hill was the only option, I'd walk it. And bitch. The whole way up. I don't know why. Looking back, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm not soft. WTF was wrong with me?
I don't know when the switch flipped. I'd say probably sometime during training for Virgil last summer. I realized that hills don't kill me. They make me stronger. They make me feel like a badass. And they give me a great ass and quads. Win. Win. Win.
We've aid stationed every year of the race since that first time. I've never really gone on the course…that first time scared me off I guess…Last year, I went out to run part of it again. And I couldn't believe how breathtakingly beautiful everything was. I kept stopping to take pictures, to take it all in, to enjoy. Enjoy. Hiking up the stairs next to Buttermilk Falls, I was enjoying myself. Huh?
Now…I'm not going to lie and say I like hills. There are people who I think genuinely love to climb and run up steep shit. I am not one of them. Climbing is not fun to me. It IS, however, a challenge. And man do I love challenges. I love looking back on them and saying "wow I was really strong and here's how I can be stronger next time." I love thinking about the strategy of the challenge–what can I do to emphasize my strengths as a runner and minimize my weaknesses? I love the focus that it takes, the getting from point a to point b in the quickest, most efficient way possible.
I am excited for next weekend. I wish it were now (except for this godforsaken heat and humidity that needs to go away). I'm ready for the work, the pain, the beauty in the suffering that all of us will share out there on the trails. I'm ready to push my body, to see what my training allows me to do this time around.
There are things that I can reflect on and know that I did well this cycle (compared to my only other 50 mile training cycle): I ran more miles, with more elevation gain, at a faster overall pace. I trained specifically for this race by working stairs in–at White Lady's Castle and at Letchworth–at the end of runs, in the middle of long runs, and when I didn't want to do any more stairs. I did more mid-week mid-distance running. I felt stronger during most of it.
There are things that I wish I'd done better: My diet wasn't the best (I craved chicken wing dip and Oreo McFlurries this cycle), but it wasn't the worst either. I find it tough when running huge miles to a. get enough calories of the "right stuff" and b. feel like actually preparing the "right stuff" and c. actually want to eat the "right stuff" when you know that you can technically eat junk because you just burned 2000 calories on your run…I was ok, but there's definitely a ton of room for improvement.
There are things that I am nervous about: The weather has been ungodly hot and humid. It's supposed to break between now and next week. I can't control it either way, so I'm doing my best not to worry. There will be a lot of other Rochester people out there. This is a good thing in some ways–seeing familiar faces can be a big boost energy-wise. But I can be a head case. Why am I behind this person? Why I am in front of this person? That person loves hills/is super experienced at ultras/is a better runner than me…I need to speed up/slow down/quit running all together. I think I will be ok on race day–I have gotten much stronger mentally, and I know that a lot can change in a 50 mile race, even just in the course of a mile or two…
The things I need to do the rest of the week: Hydrate well. Keep my nutrition on point. Visualize feeling strong and in control out there all day Saturday. Get an actual plan together for the race. Focus on me and what I am doing on Saturday and not worry about others. Follow my plan. Stay in control. Embrace the suck when it happens. Love what I'm doing. Love my body for allowing me to do it. Love my husband for being there to crew for me, to support me through all the training, to be my coach and voice of reason during training and during the actual race.
As with many of my "great" plans for races, it started with a "who the f would do that?" changed to "I wonder how it would feel to do that or how fast I could do that…" and it's going to end with an epic adventure next weekend!!!


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Last Saturday was one of the highlights of my blogging career when I got to take the family to see 'WONDER' AND attend a Q&A session with the cast and crew of the film. To see stars like Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson was exciting but what was the highlight of the day was the film. More about it in a later post. But for now, I am absolutely delighted to share this announcement by Lionsgate UK…
To celebrate World Kindness Day on November 13th, Lionsgate UK will join in the spirit of the day by welcoming audiences across the country to free preview screenings of Lionsgate's WONDER more than two weeks ahead of its December 1st UK release. Members of the public will have the opportunity to be amongst the first to see the inspiring, heart-warming film in over 300 cinemas nationwide for one day only.
Starring Academy Award® winner Julia Roberts, Oscar® nominee Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay and based on R.J Palacio's New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the story of August Pullman. Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie becomes the most unlikely of heroes when he enters the local fifth grade. As his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all struggle to find their compassion and acceptance, Auggie's extraordinary journey will unite them all and prove you can't blend in when you were born to stand out.
In order to attend a free screening of WONDER simply head to www.wondermovie.co.uk and select your local cinema to download your free tickets. Tickets must be booked by 5pm GMT November 13
WONDER is directed by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) from a screenplay by Chbosky, Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) and Jack Thorne ('This is England '90'). The film also stars Mandy Patinkin (Homeland) and Izabela Vidovic (Homefront).
WONDER IS IN CINEMAS DECEMBER 1st


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By Jon Muchin
For something so many people can so easily identify, pop music is hard to adequately define. It doesn't conform to any real type of genre; the Beatles (at least in their early days) and Daft Punk could be reasonably described as pop artists and yet – perhaps I'm blowing some minds here – their respective music exists in entirely different sonic strata. Folk, R&B, rock, country, rap, even jazz all can coexist within this manufactured label. The name pop comes from an external definition (technically, pop music is music that is popular, in the same way that fan is short for fanatic), but pop, in its most common construction, belongs to that class of definition through distinction in much the same way as the Supreme Court defined pornography: we know it when we hear it. There is undeniably something "pop" about pop music.
And for most of my life, I haven't really cared for pop music. Sure, I like early Beatles (and late Beatles and pretty much anything even tangentially related to Beatles) and I like Daft Punk and a lot of pop artists in between, but by and large I don't like pop music. If you were to ask me what I listen to, I would never answer with pop. I just can't really explain why.
But pop is genre-amorphous! I like many of the styles it incorporates, and yet I don't identify as liking "pop." Some of my distaste is probably the commoditization built into the music, but I'm aware that's an inconsistent position. Commoditization has never stopped me from blasting the fuck out of some Hendrix, even though his estate would put his likeness on Electric Ladyland Vibrating Condoms if the abundant jump in safe sex didn't mean risking the next generation of Jimi fans.
So, in the spirit of new beginnings, I've decided to use 2014 to throw myself into pop music present and past to try and see what all the fuss is about. Maybe it will turn out that I'm just not a "pop guy," but I have a feeling I'll find that I haven't been giving it a fair shake. This idea is loosely based on (fine, ripped off from) Nathan Rabin's year-long series of articles acquainting himself with country music, though I don't know how often I'll follow up or where this will take me.
First up: Pure Heroine, the debut album from teenage megastar Lorde.
The things I knew about Lorde before yesterday: she's 17, she writes her own songs, and "Royals" is catchy as all hell. This would be an early test – could I identify what's pop about her sound and "Royals" in general?
That track stands out for a few reasons. The beat is monstrous from the get go, a booming bass and clipped snare sound and a simple hooky vocal over the top. On Pure Heroine Lorde spends a lot of time in a mid-alto, a place in her range where her voice sounds relatively bland. It's in the lowest depths of her register that Lorde really stands out, and that's where "Royals" lies. "I've never seen a diamond in the flesh," she struts in her Adele-light voice, kicking off with a burst a song that is both indictment and celebration of the aesthetic pleasures of being alive and a teenager. The song has you from there.
Structurally, "Royals" is pretty similar to almost every track on the album. There's almost no instrumentation beyond a drum machine heavy on the booming bass and a dub-step-reminiscent synth that pervades nearly every song. The first I remember anything to break up that combination was the on the tenth track, "A World Alone," which starts off with a mellowed-out Strokesian guitar riff. Otherwise, Lorde and her producers have constricted the Pure Heroine's instrumental palette in a way that unfortunately begets monotony (the album has some hypnotic qualities, but I found my attention flagging more than falling into reverie).There's only so much you can do with so few sounds, especially since all the songs lie in roughly the same place in Lorde's voice (if not in the same key). In lieu of instrumental variety, Lorde offers up stacked harmonic vocals, which propel the chorus of "Royals," but elsewhere come off sounding like nursery rhyme. Befitting that theme, she is enamored of repeating lyrics, another tactic that occasionally pays off. "White Teeth Teens" turns a repetition of its final few phrases into a beautiful swelling fugue, but also contains cringe-worthy lines like "We got the glow in our mouths. White teeth teens are out."
The album's main themes, the alienation-cum-celebration of modern life and consumerism, are well-worn pop tropes; Frank Ocean's breakthrough Channel Orange returned again and again to these ideas, among other, just last year. There's a certain sweetness, too, in the childish poetry of Lorde's songs (and the song titles like "Ribs" and "Swingin Party"). She seems, for one, to have little idea of how to construct imagery. In "400 Lux," she sings "you drape your wrists over the steering wheel," though maybe she simply wasn't old enough to drive when she wrote the track. In the interest of fairness, "Maybe the Internet raised us, or maybe people are jerks" is a great lyric.
Pure Heroine is ultimately a fusion of folky singer-songwriter music – some of these songs wouldn't sound out of place on a Jenny Lewis or a Feist record if you swapped in a guitar – with pseudo-dub-step instrumentation. I'm not saying that give her a guitar and she'd run off with Sufjan Stevens to write an album about a rural New Zealand province, but she's not too far from that world either. Most of it works, and what's more, she's 17 and has plenty of time to grow. A solid first effort.
Lorde – Pure Heroine
Motown / Universal, 2013
Rating: A
Listen Now: "A World Alone", "Ribs", "Swingin Party", "400 Lux"
Jon Muchin is a Boston-based musician, blogger, music enthusiast, and self-professed sports junky. He intermittently posts random word associations about athletic goings on at thewhole42minutes.blogspot.com and tweets @allormuchin.


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Dear David,
Do you think we have come far enough that an out gay man can play heterosexual roles in Hollywood and be accepted by the American pubic?
~I.M. Curious
Dear Mr. Curious,
My trainer was yearning over Matthew McConaughey the other day and was amazed that Mr. McConaughey may no be as hetero as widely assumed.
I pointed out that he attended the Academy Awards for the first time with his mother. I think there is a lot of inauthentic marriages in Hollywood because the public is NOT ready to see a gay man pretend to be straight. I don't think I am, really. Because in movies contrary to the stage we "live" them and think they are real. That is one of the stage effects of film.
More important, there is no general awareness that people can be attracted to their own sex at some times in their lives and not at other times. Being gay for some men can be kind of off-again, on-again situation. So our Hollywood romantic stars MUST be heterosexual for the public to want to see them.
This goes way back. Robert Taylor was married to Barbara Stanwyck, a kind of unlikely couple:
Tyrone Power was married to Annabella, a French star. Another unlikely couple:
I think when Hollywood male star marries a script girl or a lady bartender, or has a series of vague girlfriends from Las Vegas, there is a lot to think about there. For myself, I couldn't care less. But I only think that it is sad to give up having a really great and meaningful relationship with somebody because your career doesn't allow it. That's sad. A little bit like going into a convent.
You're invited to a book party for my new novel "Love in the Loire" at the Rizzoli bookstore in New York at 31 W. 57th St. between 5th and 6th Avenues. Book Party starts at 5:30 pm, Thursday June 2, 2011. If you are in or about New York, please come.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Bothered by a Guy Who is not Hot
Dear David,
What do you say when someone wants to have sex with you and is very insistent? In a bar or somewhere. No one you really know.
~Bothered by a Guy Who is not Hot
Dear Guy,
I always say "You don't want to sleep with me. I'm terrible. I hardly move. Ask anyone."
When you're seated beside them at a table and they reach into your crotch you turn and say, "Pardon me, am I in your way?"
I have never known these to fail.
You're invited to a book party for my new novel "Love in the Loire" at the Rizzoli bookstore in New York at 31 W. 57th St. between 5th and 6th Avenues. Book Party starts at 5:30 pm, Thursday June 2, 2011. If you are in or about New York, please come.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Gay Role Models for Older Gay Men ~ How to Be Gay in the 21st Century ~ Video
My thoughts on gay role models for older men. Enjoy your holiday weekend!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Role Models for Older Gay Men?
(Salvador Dalí & Coco Chanel image via firelily tumblr blog)
Dear David,
I am in my sixties and seventy is looming ahead. I am in good health and good form but I don't see any older gay role models I want to be like. What are your ideas?
~Mr. Mature
Dear Mr. Mature,
I faced the same problem and my role models wear actually women. As I reviewed people's lives as they grew older I admired Coco Chanel and Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl. Chanel made her comeback at seventy after the war and Elsie Mendl fled Paris and went to Hollywood during World War II and was very successful interior decorator there and in her eighties. She got a facelift, put her hair up like Betty Grable and went to work. I think the inspiration here was they worked. You may have to change careers but plan to work. Writing a book, taking nude photographs, designing t-shirts. There's lots of stuff to do the world is waiting for. You may be one of the role models younger gay guys will copy.
Does anybody know where this is?
More Gossip:
Even more news on Arnold Schwarzenegger. Early in his bodybuilding career he was supported by a very gay guy in Spain. I have photographs of them in their apartment...Next Week!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Handsomest Man in the World & Men's Fashion Advice
Don't forget about my book party tonight for my latest book "Love in the Loire." (Details on right side of blog). I will read something witty and wonderful from it. I'd like to see you. Please come. Wed. May 25th at 7:00 PM / Books and Books / 927 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Also, today I have this request:
Dear David,
I like your fashion directions very much for men but I am never going to be that tall and thin. Never was and am not going to get better. What are your fashion directions for us with the lower, broader physiques. I want to look younger and with it but I don't want to look freaky. Help!
~Fashion for the Average Guy
Dear Fashion for the A.G.,
Does this help?
1. The shorter, tighter jacket. This doesn't need to squeeze you in, but the butt should just meet the button hole in the front. No looseness. Somehow is makes you look tall and thinner no matter your build:
2. Try turning the collar up. It makes you look a little more dashing and Cary Grant like:
3. White about the face. The white shirt without a tie and dark jacket will make you look with it. For evening or parties stick a hankerchief in your breast pocket. That look is back and makes you look a little devil-may-care:
4. Recently I am seeing the v-necked t-shirt under jackets and that looks good. Somehow extra skin makes your face go up. But plain, please. A white or dark T-shirt. No colors. Gray is the new black:
5. I love this new Zegna jacket. All sort of unfinished. Just for those dress-up moments but you don't have to be thin or tall for this. It really looks new:
6. The scarf. You can get away with this if it is under control like this:
7. Your hair. Comb it straight back and up. If you're young it can go pretty wild. More mature, keep it under control but it can go up:
Don't be afraid of blonding your hair in a way that looks like you really meant to do it. The streakier and dark roots the better. It can make you look younger and stand out:
8. Lastly, I love this look and I do it.Take a regular tie and tie it like a bow tie when you are really dressing up. It is kind of correct and it really isn't faggy. Just sort of front edge:
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Too Much Sexy Time?
Dear Davids Gay Dish,
I have a sexual problem. My partner, whom I love very much, is extremely sexy and when we have sex he usually wants to do it two or three times. I find that after once I am really out of the mood, which I think is common. Yet I don't want to disappoint him. What do you suggest I do?
~Super Saturated in Sex
Dear S.S.S.,
Now listen, this is what I do. The first time around do something he likes to do but doesn't result in you having an orgasm, just him. I think you know what I'm talking about. Then when he recovers and is gung-ho for a second round you will be in the mood and can hurl yourself into it with abandon. This is a problem but one you are lucky to have. As for the occasional third round, you can either try laughing at him or be a good samaritan.
(Photo via blog Onefinegay)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Advice on Stress in Advertising
Dear David,
I like my job very much. I work in advertising and the people I work with are fun and interesting but management can be very arrogant and difficult and changes direction all the time. And the clients are always disorganized and don't know what they want. Plus always treat us like underlings. You worked in advertising. How did you handle it?
~Distressed Daily
Dear Distressed Daily (I love your name),
I worked for many years as Worldwide Creative Director for Revlon at Grey Advertising in New York. Every year Advertising magazine published a list of the ten worst clients in the business. Revlon was always number one.
I used to tell my staff, pretend you are a nurse in a mental institution and the patients think they are in advertising. Your job is to keep them calm and non-violent. Agree with them, smile, speak slowly and calmly, never get angry. These meetings are their therapy. And remember, you are a nurse, not a doctor. These people are never going to get well. It always worked fine.
We were paid very well to do these jobs and when leaving a meeting I would say to my senior writer, "What were you thinking about?" and she would say, "My jewelry, and you?" And I would reply, "My real estate." And we would sweep away.
(Cast of Mad Men image via celebrations.com)
Friday, May 20, 2011
Women's Fashion Advice ~ How to be Gay in the 21st Century ~ Video
My advice on women's fashion, hair and beauty for this year. Enjoy!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
My boyfriend has no taste in clothing!
Dear D.G. Dish,
You have been talking about men's fashion a good bit so I thought I'd tell you my problem. Although it isn't a very serious one. I like to dress in style and I think I look good most of the time but not overdone. My boyfriend has no taste in clothing at all. He'd wear blue jeans to a wedding. I keep suggesting that he wear this or that and it's like whistling into the wind. He just doesn't hear me and just doesn't care. It doesn't particularly bother me except that he's a good-looking guy with a good body and I want him to look great. Maybe I just want to show him off at his best. Maybe I should just forget it. What do you think?
~Fashion Perplexed
Dear Mr. Perplexed,
First, you have a good-looking boyfriend with a good body. Fantastic. And you are probably most interested when all his clothes are off anyway. But here's what I think. It has worked for me in the past. You want him to wear a navy blue blazer, for example. Go to Armani. Get him a really expensive blazer. Take him along so you are sure it will fit. He will look in the mirror and I promise he will see the difference. And when he hears how much you are paying for it he will know you love him a lot and also he will have to wear it. It's expensive. You can follow this with a great pair of shoes. A really expensive pair of jeans. A great white shirt. And he will look spiffy in these simple clothes. You can follow up with a suit if you have a wedding or great party to go to. When it costs a lot, they will wear it. Try it. You'll see.
Here's a fashion suggestion for next fall. I haven't liked the double-breasted cardigan but under a jacket this looks good. Even that unnecessary scarf is good here:
You are invited to a party for my new book "Love in the Loire." I will read something witty and wonderful from it. I'd like to see you. Please come.
Wednesday, May 25th at 7:00 PM
Books and Books, Miami Beach
927 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL 33139
You can also purchase it on my website: DavidLeddick.net or Amazon.com
Also, please don't forget if you need a portrait done to go to my talented nephew Ethan Winslow. You can view a few of his wonderful portraits here.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Handsomest Man in the World ~ Eduardo Goicolea
It's Handsomest Man in the World time. This week my selection is my trainer Eddy Goicolea. He posed for the cover of my book "The Millionare of Love" and has a book of his own called "Fit + Together" on how to stay fit using your lovers body as gym equipment. Hello! At any rate, here is Eduardo Goicolea. If you are in or around Miami and Miami Beach you should try to have him train you. Email me at email@example.com if you need a personal trainer.
I tell him every time I see him that I owe my body to him completely. And he tells everyone that I have the solidest butt at the gym. To which I say, "You must keep your butt firm and solid because you never know when you may need it."
Also, please don't forget if you need a portrait done to go to my talented nephew Ethan Winslow. You can view a few of his wonderful portraits here.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thoughts on Montevideo, Uruguay
(Salvo Palace, Independence Plaza, Montevideo, Uruguay. Walter Rawlings—Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images)
I have just returned from Montevideo where I have a home and where I had gone to help a friend buy an apartment or a house. He got to Montevideo ahead of me and had already seen a number of apartments when I arrived.
Perhaps I should explain that Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay, a little pie shaped country crushed between Brazil and Argentina with a great Atlantic coastline. Very underpopulated. Three million people and a million and a half in Montevideo, a beautiful old city with modern sections stretched along the River Platte. The Platte is 40 miles wide at this point so it is like being on the ocean, and the city stretches along an esplanade with many beaches.
My friend saw some tiny one bedroom apartments in modern buildings, some with water views, and then saw a house with me that another friend was just finishing remodeling. The tiny apartments and the very large old house were both about $140,000. My friend immediately changed his mind and wanted a house. And got one very shortly with the help of my excellent real estate agent. A beautiful old house just remodeled into a gay guest house. Five bedrooms, each with a different wall mural, everything redone. And he got it for $110,000.
Brazilian money is pouring down into Uruguay at this point and I guess this blog is to encourage you to come down and buy a great house. Get a group of friends and come down. You'll love it. It's like the 1950's.
Also, since I seem to be in a promoting frame of mind today, here are some examples above of portraits painted by my very talented nephew Ethan Winslow. Have a child's portrait done now before they get older. Or your lover's. Or your own. Here is mine below with my dog Sophie. I do look like this. Honest.
If you would like a portrait done, please email me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I will put you in touch with Ethan.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Faithful but Broke
Dear David,
I am in a relationship that I feel is permanent and which I believe is very right for me and very right for him. Except for one thing. My lover/boyfriend/partner is not good at anticipating problems. And when they occur, I wind up having to bail him out financially.
For instance, I knew he was short on money for a large mortgage payment coming up. We were about to take a vacation and he said, "Oh, I can borrow the money from my friend Ken or my Dad when we come back if I don't have it." We returned. Ken didn't have the money. Or did Dad. So I had to pay it. Although I had warned him about it well in advance. It makes me angry and I don't want to be angry with him. And to gripe a little more, he doesn't seem to be too concerned that I have had to cough up the money once again for something he hasn't worried about. What is your suggestion?
~The Faithful Lover
Dear Faithful but Broke,
To tell you the truth, there isn't much you can do. If you don't pay for him the situation will only get worse, higher payments come due, more money is needed. One of my favorite quotes is "Most problems go away when you throw money at them," which is true. But less fun when it's your money but not your problem. Finally everything you have is yours together so perhaps you can look at it as you paying a debt of yours but not of your making. One thing I would strongly advise. Both of you should make wills where it is clearly spelled out that your worldly goods go to the other person. I am amazed at the long-term gay couples who do not have wills. Get it done if you haven't. It will make you less angry.
(Photo above by David Vance from my latest Book, How to be Gay in the 21st Century)
Friday, May 13, 2011
My thoughts on Miami ~ How to be Gay in the 21st Century ~ Video
Hello everyone, here are my thoughts on the future of Miami. Enjoy!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Life IS So Exciting
Dear David's Gay Dish,
I want to be everywhere at the same time, life is so exciting. How should I plan? What should I do?
~Full of Fun
Dear Full of Fun,
And long as you are not excited because of the mood enhancers you are taking, here's a plan:
1. Think of another country you'd like to live in. Plan on how to do it. Visit it first.
2. Learn another language. Spanish is the new must. The most widely spoken language in the world.
3. Read fashion magazines. They tell you a lot more about how to look and where to go. I think GQ and Details magazines like that are hopeless. European men's fashion magazines are excellent.
(image via dreamstime.com)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Who is This Weeks Handsomest Man in the World?
What do you think of this weeks handsomest man in the world? Do you know who he is? I found him in a magazine and he is quite handsome if you ask me.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
More Fashion Advice for the 21st Century
Dear Davids Gay Dish,
Your blog is making me nervous about how I dress. I am not sure what is age appropriate anymore. Help me.
~Lost in Fashion
Dear Lost in Fashion,
Your letter came in the nick of time as I was just getting ready for this week's fashion direction.
Here's a very simple picture of a black suit and white shirt. Notice that it is a snug fit. The jacket is short and the jacket just buttons:
Here's another more casual look. Tight jacket. Tan pants. You can carry a large bag. We all have a lot of stuff:
I think this leather-edged jacket looks very new:
If your body is good enough a tight long-sleeved T-shirt is good. Note the pompadour hair, you can probably get away with this:
Does your body looks like this? You must try:
Your blog is making me nervous about how I dress. I am not sure what is age appropriate anymore. Help me.
~Lost in Fashion
Dear Lost in Fashion,
Your letter came in the nick of time as I was just getting ready for this week's fashion direction.
Here's a very simple picture of a black suit and white shirt. Notice that it is a snug fit. The jacket is short and the jacket just buttons:
Here's another more casual look. Tight jacket. Tan pants. You can carry a large bag. We all have a lot of stuff:
I think this leather-edged jacket looks very new:
If your body is good enough a tight long-sleeved T-shirt is good. Note the pompadour hair, you can probably get away with this:
Does your body looks like this? You must try:
Monday, May 9, 2011
Frisky But Risky
I have a very successful career in New York. I am in my mid-forties. And I have decided that I am going to take a three month break and pay some attention to myself. However I risk damaging my public relations career, perhaps irrevocably. What do you think?
~Frisky but Risky
Dear Frisky but Risky,
Bravo. We all have our destinies. And this urge to stop and reconsider who you are and what you are doing with your life is being taken at exactly the right time. The world is changing so rapidly we must not base our futures on what is possible in the world today. In ten years you will be very different and so will the world so the time is ripe to rethink things.
I think you should think about where you would really like to live and don't just limit yourself to the United States. Think about your private life. Whom do you want to love? And again, don't limit yourself or be afraid of criticism. Conformity exists in the gay world too, and you can ignore this.
And work on your body and health. You are probably not halfway through your life. Keep your body strong and looking good. You will need it later. At the end of your three months be brave. And if you feel you want to do something different, go for it. I have had six careers and at no point did I ever like my life more than I do right now.
(typographic world map by vladstudio)
Friday, May 6, 2011
Aging Parents ~ How to Be Gay in the 21st Century ~ Video
Advice for a blog reader who wanted to know how to handle their siblings and the care of their aging father.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
The Drag Queen's Pal
I am a straight man who has been following your blog which I find very informational. Here's my problem. All my best friends are cross-dressers, transgender, homosexual. What should I do about this? What is my mother's fault? Is it really a problem?
~The Drag Queen's Pal
Dear D.G.P.,
Actually you sound quite adult and sophisticated. If you like hanging out with men in dresses, more power to you. What does come to mind is that perhaps you might like to know real women better but are hesitant to. I am assuming that your are not having sex with any of your girlish pals. So think about that a bit. Who are you sleeping with? Maybe, a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is modern woman would suit you fine. This is the 21st century where men and women must take more equal roles. You are on the leading edge.
(Photo of Amanda Lepore & Cazwell via patriciafield.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Split Personality
I live in a small town in the Midwest. I have a good job which I like, friends, family, a life I like. Except there I pretend I am heterosexual. I come to Miami Beach several times a year where I have great friends I have contacted through emails and there I am homosexual. I am in my latter thirties and do not see clearly where this is going to lead. Anywhere?
~Split Personality
Dear Mr. Split Personality,
An obvious reply is that as long as it doesn't bother you, just keep bobbing back and forth between your two lives. Except I think it is more complicated than that. I think you probably don't want to grow up to the point of having a real life with a real lover and so you continue a life in the Midwest that is like a teenager's. Friends and family and security. And Miami is you venturing forth into sexual fulfillment. And you are falling slightly behind schedule if you are approaching forty.
I again repeat what I have said so often. When you have a secret life the only one that it is a secret to is you. Probably most of the folks back home you know are homosexual, they don't want to embarrass themselves by discussing it. And what's the point?
I do feel that we must push forward in growing up, as down the road no one is going to your sleepable and all those friends and family will age and disappear. You need to keep renewing your life. That I believe and can advise you to do. At some point you will have to be brave enough to get a job in Miami and work on your new life.
(Photo via enriquesantos.com)
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Handsomest Man in the World
Here's this week's entry for Handsomest Man in the World. He's the Spanish model Jon Kortajarena who has done many Tom Ford ads and was given a role in his movie "A Single Man." He currently is doing ads for David Yurman, the jeweler. More on David Yurman later, the Tiffany of the 21st Century.
Let me know what you think. Here are more photos.
I am having some feedback that you want more mature men. You have only had David Gandy so far whom I consider quite mature, I will take your feedback into consideration and feature a range of men.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Can You Really Trust a Man?
Dear David,
Can you really trust a man?
Dear Peter,
I have been mulling this question myself in a personal relationship and my conclusion is that you just have to. One of you has to go first.
I will say that I have dealt with any number of people in non-romantic situations where I have been very honest and upfront with them, despite their reputations for undependability and treachery. And I have always found that they treated me as I treated them. They were never dishonest with me.
I think the same thing applies in personal romantic interchanges. You must trust him. That is the only way he can ever trust you. And remember what I have been saying (to the point that it becomes boring) whatever happens, you are the one who lived, you are the one who felt something, you are the one who cared about someone else. If he only winds up feeling guilty, that's his problem.
(Heart in Hands photo via Art Vision's flickr photos)
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I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post.
Life keeps happening and time is just flying by. There have been so many things going on and I haven't been able to do all the things I had planned. My little Etsy shop will still be opening tonight at midnight, despite life's recent challenges.
Please stop by and have a look.
I will be adding new items every week.
I wanted to share a photo of the pouf that I made recently.
When things get stressful and I can't sleep, I crochet.
Thanks for stopping by!


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The provincial government is looking for community champions to honour and the West Coast is encouraged to help a local get picked.
The province has recognized over 300 British Columbians with BC Achievement Awards since 2003 and three West Coasters have been honoured so far: Brenda Reid-Kuecks in 2008, Joe Martin in 2012 and Keith Gibson in 2014.
The program's community outreach coordinator Gabrielle Giraud told the Westerly the awards recognize a wide range of recipients from coaches of local sports teams to community-minded small business owners and committed volunteers.
"It's kind of an all encompassing award. It celebrates everyone who's doing great stuff in their community," Giraud said.
Nominations can be submitted online at www.bcachievement.com and Giraud hopes to see the West Coast put forward a diverse selection of local heroes before Jan. 15's nomination deadline.
"It's nice to see someone from your community win something like this and it does give them that greater recognition across the province and attention to where you're at," she said.
"A lot of people use these awards to help promote what they're doing in their communities so it helps the individuals gain recognition in the work they're doing."
She said recognizing local all stars helps build and promote communities.
"It's a way for you to give back to the community and the people in your community because otherwise they may not get that recognition and it does build a better community overall and it helps build up the people in the community who are doing great work," she said.
"They are doing amazing things and they are supporting the community and promoting the betterment of their community but they may not be getting the recognition through the work they're doing."
An advisory council of independent community leaders will review the nominations and award approximately 20-30 BC achievers at a ceremony in Victoria.


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The summer transfer window is yet to open, but with reports in the papers suggesting Luis Suarez is happy to stay at Liverpool, no business will be more well-received by the club than the sentiments he has been quoted as saying.
Turn the clock back just less than a year and speculation had emerged surrounding Luis Suarez's future. The Uruguayan striker was in bang in the middle of a 10-game domestic ban, and all the noises coming from his camp – himself and his agent likewise – was that he was unsettled and that he was keen to move on to greener pastures, i.e. a club that could offer Champions League football.
Nearly 12 months on and the future looks brighter for Suarez and Liverpool.
"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to me. I'm very happy here and my family is happy here. If we could win the Premier League and bring the trophy home it would be incredible, a dream come true."
And why would Suarez be considering elsewhere right now? He has just recently collected the PFA Player of the Season award, having amassed a total of 30 goals and 12 assists in the Premier League. He's destined to be awarded the Golden Boot, and has a serious chance of collecting a Premier League winner's medal. He's a key part of a young, talented, and maturing side, with a progressive manager, challenging up at the top of the Premier League for the first time in years. It could hardly be more exciting for Liverpool right now, and with Suarez in tow, the outlook is even more positive.
Rumours that Real Madrid are planning a big-money move for Suarez are unlikely to tempt Liverpool, but the potential to unsettle Suarez in noteworthy. A player of his quality can't be content at a club languishing down below the Champions League spots. But with Liverpool's progression, and Suarez's contribution to the cause, keeping a player of his calibre isn't quite as taxing.
In Suarez, Liverpool have one of the very top players in the world. He is arguably one of only four or five who could even consider themselves to have reached a standard anywhere near comparable to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He already earns big money – his recent contract extension took his earnings to over £100k per week – and he has carved out a niche in a side which allows him the freedom to express himself on the field. He has the faith of the club and the fans, and is at a club chasing major honours.
No matter how much is spent at Anfield in the summer, no piece of business they do will be better music to their ears than Suarez's happiness. The type of talismanic ability he possesses isn't readily available, and no replacement can be guaranteed to touch on what the Uruguayan has achieved for Liverpool this season.
Tottenham's shambles in the last summer transfer window showed the devastating effect the loss of one key player can have. No matter how much quality they brought in to accommodate for Gareth Bale's departure, they haven't found a mixture that can make up for what he brought to the side.
Competing on multiple fronts next season will require Suarez to be at his fiery, most rampant best. Ensuring Suarez is happy will keep Liverpool happy, and vice versa. The relationship is currently two-way between the club and player. As long as it stays that way, it could flower into something far more beautiful than it already has become.