Quotes, URL's, Links And References-by:older Femmes, Butches, Ftms, Mtfs, Queer, Etc. [Archive] - Page 23

sweetlady

10-21-2007, 09:22 AM

:o

:)

8:30AM Sunday October 21, 2007

New Zealand Herald

NEW YORK - J.K. Rowling has outed one of the main characters of her best-selling Harry Potter series, telling fans in New York that the wizard Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts school, is gay.

Speaking at Carnegie Hall on Friday night in her first US tour in seven years, Rowling confirmed what some fans had always suspected -- that she "always thought Dumbledore was gay", reported entertainment website E! Online.

Rowling said Dumbledore fell in love with the charming wizard Gellert Grindelwald but when Grindelwald turned out to be more interested in the dark arts than good, Dumbledore was "terribly let down" and went on to destroy his rival.

That love, she said, was Dumbledore's "great tragedy".

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said.

The audience reportedly fell silent after the admission -- then erupted into applause.

Rowling, 42, said if she had known that would be the response, she would have revealed her thoughts on Dumbledore earlier.

Fans on the top Potter fan site www.TheLeakyCauldron.org were divided on the news, some uncertain Rowling wasn't going to backtrack on the announcement, others saying it was unnecessary, and some welcoming the extra information on Dumbledore.

"This is even more awesome because it adds another layer to Dumbledore's character, which is already so rich and complicated. I hope he got over Grindlevald (sic) and fell in love again," wrote Amanda.

Rowling said she had read through a script for the movie adaptation of the sixth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and corrected a passage in which Dumbledore was reminiscing about past loves by crossing it out and scrawling "Dumbledore is gay" over it.

Rowling, a mother of three, is now estimated to be worth US$1.12 billion , making her the first dollar-billionaire author.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- the seventh and final book in the boy wizard series -- became the fastest-selling book in history when it was released in July.

More than 11 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours in the United States and Britain.

htp://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10471179

(f)

Aut disce aut discede.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-21-2007, 09:24 AM

(p) (p)

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/customslideshow?buddyJS=slideshow20071019131847.js&title=Pictures%20of%20the%20week&size=12

(f)

Cogito ergo sum.

I think, therefore I am.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-21-2007, 09:27 AM

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

http://www.tnt.tv/series/savinggrace/

Everlast: Saving Grace THEME!!! (Whole song too.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxu21fYnKMw

Saving Grace Theme Song:

http://www.rhapsody.com/everlast/videos/savinggracethemesong (The musician speaks briefly before the song.)

Lyrics:

Saving Grace

One time around the block
2 times around the clock
3 times don't cross the little lady

So pretty & oh so bold
got a heart full of gold on a lonely road
she said "I don't even think that God can save me"

(Am I) gaining ground
(Am I) losing face
(Am I) lost & found by Saving Grace
Thankful for the gift My Angel's gave me

Born alone
We die alone
nuttin' but sittin' here by the phone
waitin for the Lord to send my callin'

Street wise from the boulevard
Jesus only knows that she tries too hard
She's only tryin' to keep the sky from fallin'

Any man says it's Heaven & Hell
Prob'ly got somethin' useless to sell
You ask me if I'm saved but what's it to ya?

Blow a quarter
cop another eighth
you're runnin' out of high, you're losin' your faith
Throw your hands up & scream halleluiah

halleluiah x4 Amen

One time around the sun
another year older and my work ain't done
it's time for me to write the final chapter

Deal the cards & roll the dice
sex drugs & rock n roll are my only vice
tryin' to figure out just what's here after

halleluiah x6 Amen

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_lyrics_to_the_song_'Saving_Grace'_by_ Everlast

(l) Music videos have wonderful clips from the 8-episode first season! I definitely NEED to download this one for sure. Superbly-edited music video. (y) (y)

(f) Have a spectacular Sunday!

Docendo discimus.

We learn by teaching.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 05:55 PM

(f) (f)

The river of information that flows across the Net makes a ripe target for critics of the signal-to-noise ratio, but when it comes to getting a real-time, if fractured, picture of a sprawling disaster, online is the place to go. That's proving true again as wildfires turn parts of Southern California into little pockets of hell. As has become customary, an instant Wikipedia page was tossed up to collect and present an updated overview of the story, but Flickr has photos, YouTube has video, Google has maps, and assorted blogs, both individual and mainstream media, are full of micro-details.

Retired editor and mobile computing expert Jim Forbes, who is among the refugees, reports that his shelter had full WiFi service. "Lots of people brought notebooks when they left their home, so there was a whole lot of IM traffic in and out of the shelter," he writes. "The local cell networks were subsumed by traffic early in the day so people were texting friends and loved ones a lot."

Firestorm 2.0 - Using Social Media Services to Track The California Fires:

http://www.centernetworks.com/california-fires-social-media

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7257110?nclick_check=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_wildfires_of_October_2007

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=fires+california+October+2007&m=text

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=fires+california+October+2007&search=Search

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&tab=lb&ie=UTF-8&q=california+fire&scoring=d

http://sosdfireblog.blogspot.com/

Fire Blogging, A Refugee's Observations and Why I Love my Ultra Portable and Verizon Broadband:

http://forbesontech.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/10/fire-blogging-a.html

'Fire blogging' tech expert on how fellow evacuees and networks are holding up:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/20911

(f) (f) Good thoughts and prayers to everyone involved.

Si vales, valeo.

If you are well, I am well.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 05:56 PM

(~) (l) (~)

1. Playing by Heart (1998)

Love and lust swirl around contemporary Los Angeles, kicking up dust in the lives of Paul (Sean Connery), Joan (Angelina Jolie), Keenan (Ryan Phillippe), Mark (Jay Mohr) and Hannah (Gena Rowlands). The ensemble cast ably encapsulates many of the possibilities of romance in the bars, clubs, living rooms and motel rooms that make up the slippery battleground of the war between the sexes.

Cast:

Sean Connery Jay Mohr
Madeleine Stowe Ryan Phillippe
Angelina Jolie Jon Stewart
Anthony Edwards Dennis Quaid
Gillian Anderson Ellen Burstyn
Gena Rowlands

Review:

You will either love this movie or hate it. Use this as your guide: if you enjoyed BOTH "Love Actually" AND "Closer", you will like this movie. If you liked "Love Actually" but not "Closer", your immediate impression of this movie will be "Nobody talks this way!" and you will be right. If you liked "Closer" but not "Love Actually", you will roll your eyes and scoff through the last 15 minutes, and you'll be correct to do so. But if you liked them both, you'll be able to sit back, relax, and be carried along by the flow of the narrative, the dialogue-not-dialogue, and many charming set-pieces. This movie really wants to be a stage play, but works as a movie too. Stand-outs: Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson, and Jon Stewart, all of whom give stand-out performances.

2. Big Eden (2000)

Successful but lonely New York artist Henry Hart (Arye Gross) returns to Big Eden to care for his ailing grandfather and winds up confronting his unrequited passion for his high school best friend and his feelings about being gay in a small town. As Henry works though his emotions, the townspeople quietly conspire to help him along, until Henry realizes new possibilities for both friendship and romance. Eric Schweig and Louise Fletcher also star.

Cast:

Arye Gross Eric Schweig
Tim DeKay George Coe
Louise Fletcher Nan Martin
Veanne Cox O'Neal Compton
Corinne Bohrer John Dossett

Reviews:

An unabashedly sentimental movie with the perfect balance of heartbreak and joy. In the center of the story, Arye Gross is a revelation, but the whole ensemble cast shines. By the end, you'll wish you could visit this magical town.

This Movie has it all. Touching scenes of real life relationship problems, comedy, loving family relationships, great scenery and acting with a touch of hollywood fantasy thrown in.You will laugh, cry and leave feeling really good about life. All performers are great but Louise Fletcher really stands out.

This is a lovely film. It is tasteful and very touching. There is not a single negative aspect in the movie, and you will love that. It is the kind of movie that leaves you smiling after watching it. It is a wonderful love story!!! I am ready to watch it again!!!!!

(y) (y) I agree! Netflix kep recommending this film the past couple of years (or longer) but I didn't rent it. Since I missed the first 15 or 20 minutes of this superb film when it was on cable over this past weekend, I'm adding it to my netflix queue as well as moving it towards to top so I can watch it soon. GREAT film, 5 stars!

(f)

Sidere mens eadem mutato.

Though the stars may change, our spirits remain the same.

Sweetlady

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 05:57 PM

:| :| :| :| :|

:s :s :s

Q U O T E D

"Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that. ... Social games represent something that has been missing. Most of the board games are purchased by women for families. It is this gaming world that can be re-energized. We used to have families sit down and play a game together. A lot of video games today are very isolated. You don't see mom and dad, sister and brother, sitting down like they used to play, say, Monopoly. That represented good mentoring time for families that just isn't happening now."

-- Pong inventor Nolan Bushnell would rather see video-game violence confined to the occasional family fistfight

http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/Index.cfm?AD=1&ArticleID=17133

:o No way.....what about Wii games like tennis and other two-player games? :)

(f)

Veni vidi velcro.

I came, I saw, I got stuck.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 05:59 PM

^o) ^o) ^o)

Though street crime is relatively low in Japan, quirky camouflage designs like this vending-machine dress are being offered to an increasingly anxious public to hide from would-be assailants.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/20/world/20japan.xlarge1.jpg

October 20, 2007

Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place

By MARTIN FACKLER

TOKYO, Oct. 19 — On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.

These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.

Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.

There are pastel-colored cellphones for children that parents can track, and a chip for backpacks that signals when children enter and leave school.

The devices’ creators admit that some of their ideas may seem far-fetched, especially to crime-hardened Americans. And even some Japanese find some of them a tad naïve, possibly reflecting the nation’s relative lack of experience with actual street crime. Despite media attention on a few sensational cases, the rate of violent crime remains just one-seventh of America’s.

But the devices’ creators also argue that Japan’s ideas about crime prevention are a product of deeper cultural differences. While Americans want to protect themselves from criminals, or even strike back, the creators say many Japanese favor camouflage and deception, reflecting a culture that abhors self-assertion, even in self-defense.

“It is just easier for Japanese to hide,” Ms. Tsukioka said. “Making a scene would be too embarrassing.” She said her vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by the ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves in black blankets at night.

To be sure, some of these ideas have yet to become commercially viable. However, the fact that they were greeted here with straight faces, or even appeared at all, underscores another, less appreciated facet of Japanese society: its fondness for oddball ideas and inventions.

Japan’s corporate labs have showered the world with technology, from transistor radios to hybrid cars. But the nation is also home to a prolific subculture of individual inventors, whose ideas range from practical to bizarre. Inventors say a tradition of tinkering and building has made Japan welcoming to experimental ideas, no matter how eccentric.

“Japanese society won’t just laugh, so inventors are not afraid to try new things,” said Takumi Hirai, chairman of Japan’s largest association of individual inventors, the 10,000-member Hatsumeigakkai.

In fact, Japan produces so many unusual inventions that it even has a word for them: chindogu, or “queer tools.” The term was popularized by Kenji Kawakami, whose hundreds of intentionally impractical and humorous inventions have won him international attention as Japan’s answer to Rube Goldberg. His creations, which he calls “unuseless,” include a roll of toilet paper attached to the head for easy reach in hay fever season, and tiny mops for a cat’s feet that polish the floor as the cat prowls.

Mr. Kawakami said that while some of Japan’s anticrime devices might not seem practical, they were valuable because they might lead to even better ideas.

“Even useless things can be useful,” he said. “The weird logic of these inventions helps us see the world in fresh ways.”

Even some of the less unusual anticrime devices here reflect a singular logic. A pair of women’s sunglasses has wraparound lenses so dark no one can see where the wearer is looking. These are intended to scare off sexual harassers on Tokyo’s crowded trains, where the groping of women is a constant problem.

The same is true of some of the solutions for schoolyard bullying, a big problem in Japan. Kaori Nakano, a fashion historian, wrote a book with a chapter on how to ward off bullies with the “pseudohoodlum” attire. Her advice includes substituting a white belt for the standard black one in Japanese school uniforms, preferably with metallic studs or tiny mirrors, and buying short socks with flashy patterns.

“Japan is so fashion conscious that just changing the way you dress can make you safer,” Ms. Nakano said. “Culture plays a big role in risk prevention.”

Ms. Tsukioka said she chose the vending-machine motif because the machines are so common on Japan’s streets. For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, hiding the child. The “manhole bag” was also her idea.

Ms. Tsukioka said her disguises could be a bit impractical, “especially when your hands are shaking.” Still, she said she hoped the designs or some variation of them could be marketed widely. So far, she said, she has sold about 20 vending-machine skirts for about $800 each, printing and sewing each by hand.

She said she had never heard of a skirt’s actually preventing a crime. But on a recent afternoon in Tokyo, bystanders stared as she unfolded the sheet. But once she stood behind it next to a row of actual vending machines, the image proved persuasive enough camouflage that passers-by did not seem to notice her.

She said that while her ideas might be fanciful, Japan’s willingness to indulge the imagination was one of its cultural strengths.

“These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched,” she added, “but in Japan, they can become reality.”

^o) ^o) ^o)

(f)

Damnant quod non intellegunt.

They condemn what they do not understand.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:00 PM

;) ;) ;)

www.Anagramsite.com

A quick way to appear smart, or demented...

Rock fans know "Mr. Mojo Risin" as the anagram chosen by The Doors' frontman Jim Morrison in their 1971 hit "L.A. Woman." Now, you too can rearrange your name to create a mysterious alter ego! Find anagrams for other celebrity names too, as well as politics, food, sports, and—oh, the possibilities!

http://anagramsite.com/

:) Hmmm....."176 anagrams found" for sweetlady.

(y) Cool tool.

;)

Bene qui latuit bene vixit.

He (She) lives well who lives unnoticed.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:03 PM

:o

Tailgating America

Fire up the Foreman Grill.

Tailgating has been described as "the last great American neighborhood ...where no one locks their doors and everyone is happy to see you..." This site keeps the game day spirit alive with parking-lot & stadium info, tried-and-true recipes, and cool tailgating furniture and accessories.

http://www.tailgating.com/

;)

(f)

Carpe jugulum. :[ :[

Go for the throat. ;)

Sweetlady

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:04 PM

:D

Game: Gnome Herder — Mac

Like sheep, only mythical

With this challenging 3D game, round up, wrangle and capture the naughty flying Gnomes so you can return them to their lonely wives. Feel free to shoot them with acorns.

http://www.macgamesandmore.com/gnomeherder_freegame.php

;)

(f)

Veritatem dies aperit.

Time discloses the truth.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:06 PM

:s :s

;)

Hats of Meat

Stinky couture

Throughout history, hats made out of meat have been the ultimate fashion statement. From beef and poultry to pork and sausage, all of your carnivorous favorites are now ready to wear on top of your head.

http://www.hatsofmeat.com/

:o :o

(f)

Vox clamantis in deserto.

A voice crying in the wilderness.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:09 PM

:| :| :| :| :| :| :|

Q U O T E D

"A shortsighted and often just plain stupid federal government has allowed itself to be bullied and fooled by a handful of big wireless phone operators for decades now. And the result has been a mobile phone system that is the direct opposite of the PC model. It severely limits consumer choice, stifles innovation, crushes entrepreneurship, and has made the U.S. the laughingstock of the mobile-technology world, just as the cellphone is morphing into a powerful hand-held computer."

-- Walt Mossberg adds his voice to the "Free My Phone" campaign

http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20071021/free-my-phone/

"We also need much greater portability of phone hardware. Because the federal government failed to set a standard for wireless phone technology years ago, we have two major, incompatible cellphone technologies in the U.S. Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. use something called CDMA. AT&T and Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile use something called GSM. Except for a couple of oddball models, phones built for one of these technologies can’t work on the other. So that limits consumer choice and consumer power. If you want to switch from AT&T to Verizon, you have to swallow the cost of a new phone.

But the problem is even worse. The government didn’t require the CDMA companies to include a removable account-information chip, called a SIM card, in their phones. So, unlike people with GSM phones, Sprint and Verizon customers can’t keep their phones if they switch between the two carriers, even though they use the same basic technology. And, the government allows the GSM carriers to “lock” their phones, so a SIM card from a rival carrier won’t work in them, at least for a period of time. Techies can sometimes figure out how to get around this, but average folks can’t.

The carriers defend these restrictions partly by pointing out that they subsidize the cost of the phones in order to get you to use their networks. That’s also, they say, why they require contracts and charge early-termination fees. Without the subsidies, they say, that $99 phone might be $299, so it’s only fair to keep you from fleeing their networks, at least too quickly.

But this whole cellphone subsidy game is an archaic remnant of the days when mobile phones were costly novelties. Today, subsidies are a trap for consumers. If subsidies were removed, along with the restrictions that flow from them, the market would quickly produce cheap phones, just as it has produced cheap, unsubsidized versions of every other digital product, from $399 computers to $79 iPods."

-- Walt Mossberg

8-|8-| Japan and the three Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) have enjoyed G3 or third generation (that is, STANDARDIZED) cell phone services for years. The U.S. cell phone marketplace is indeed laughable. Reminds me of the old days (so I have heard, that is - not that I was "there".....) when FAX machines could not "talk" to one another. Standards = Interoperability. Simple. ;) ;)

(f)

Damnant quod non intellegunt.

They condemn what they do not understand.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:13 PM

8o| 8o| 8o| 8o|

Ever since the AP nailed Comcast on its surreptitious interference with BitTorrent file transfers last week (see "Sorry, upload of the video 'How to Choose a New ISP' cannot be completed at this time"), folks have been wondering if the cable giant is putting the secret squeeze on any other applications. Unfortunately, the answer appears to be yes. The Electronic Frontier Foundation did a little testing and found Comcast was playing similar shenanigans with the Gnutella peer-to-peer system, interrupting communication between nodes with forged reset packets that leave users in the dark about the source of the failure. And Kevin Kanarski has evidence of the same trickery on, of all things, Lotus Notes, hardly a vehicle for massive files of copyright material.

As the EFF says, "When an ISP starts arbitrarily zapping some of the protocols that its customers use, they instantly endanger the cascade of innovation that the Internet has enabled. ... If this type of conduct is allowed to continue, many innovators will have to get active assistance from an ISP in order to have their protocols allowed through the ISP's web of spoofing and forgery. Technologies like BitTorrent and Joost, which are used to distribute licensed movies and are in direct competition with Comcast's cable TV services, will be at Comcast's mercy." Outrage abounds, and rightly so.

http://svextra.com/blogs/gmsv/2007/10/sorry_upload_of_the_video_how_to_choose_a_new_isp_ cannot_be_completed_at_this_time.html

http://kkanarski.blogspot.com/2007/09/comcast-filtering-lotus-notes-update.html

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/10/comcast-traffic.html

:o :o What I want to know is WHY local TV stations' consumer advocates have not picked up on this story....especially in Philly where this firm in headquartered. Grrrrr. And I was stymied as to why my cable modem was so molasses-slow for so long! :| :|

:)

(f)

Carpe Diem,

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:15 PM

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

http://www.maxablog.com/2007/04/they_may_look_l.html

"high dynamic range" technique:

http://stuckincustoms.com/2006/06/06/548/

WOW!!!! http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/182191565_0537107963_b.jpg

!!!!! http://static.flickr.com/72/217440037_8ca190627e_b.jpg

(l) These BLEW me away:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/387019269_068fd16670_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/118/300341306_9e15b08472_b.jpg

.............to produce stunning images:

BEST, BEST, BEST SLIDE SHOW I have EVER seen!

http://www.treyratcliff.com/index2.php

(l) (l) These links are definitely keepers, IMHO. :)

:D

(f)

Mors Certa, Vita Incerta.

Death is certain, life is not.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:18 PM

8o| 8o|

Posted on Wed, Oct. 24, 2007

Boeing must rebid for helicopter deal

Its plant in Delco was to build 144 aircraft for the Air Force. Then rivals challenged the contract.

By Henry J. Holcomb

Inquirer Staff Writer

A year ago, the Air Force picked Boeing's newest Chinook to replace aging Black Hawks as the military's new search-and-rescue helicopter.

There was talk of adding 100 to 400 jobs and expanding the assembly line at the Ridley Township headquarters of the Boeing Co.'s Rotorcraft Division in suburban Philadelphia.

But now, challenged by Boeing rivals Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky - and the Government Accountability Office - the Air Force is restarting the competition. A draft of the new call for bids was expected to be issued by early this morning.

With orders for 144 helicopters at stake, the process is beginning to feel like a hot and ugly political campaign.

Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., for example, says the Chinook is too big, that its twin rotors will blow people it is trying to rescue off their feet.

Not so, Chicago-based Boeing counters. It fired back questions about whether its rival, new to building helicopters, could deliver on time and handle the job. In the Air Force rating system, the Chinook got highest performance marks, it noted.

All three defense contractors have major operations in the Philadelphia region.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), a Chinook supporter whose district includes the Boeing plant, calls the unfolding saga a "strange process."

He's a retired three-star Navy admiral who has worked at high levels of the Pentagon procurement process. "Everybody is being allowed to resubmit their bids and change whatever they want to change," Sestak said in an interview.

And, Sestak said, after Boeing won last year, the losers were given extensive briefings on why they lost. But Boeing, as the winner, got no information on its rivals.

"The Air Force has addressed that," said Frans Jurgens, a senior Lockheed Martin spokesman. He then quickly e-mailed a transcript of a media discussion with Sue C. Payton, assistant secretary of the Air Force for procurement. It quoted her as saying: "We believe, and having talked to our contracting people and our lawyers, that the playing field will be leveled based on information given to all parties."

The process took another strange turn this week.

The Air Force attempt to level the playing field by giving Boeing details on its rivals, akin to what they got about Chinook, has been challenged by one of the bidders. People familiar with the process say field-leveling briefings scheduled for tomorrow have been canceled.

The estimated total costs of each entry, including maintenance and fuel over the life of the aircraft, were not that far apart: Boeing's HH-47 Chinook, $38.9 billion; Sikorsky H-92 Superhawk, $38.5 billion; and Lockheed Martin's US101, $35.9 billion.

If another company's bid is chosen to replace Sikorsky's Black Hawk, it would be a second big downdraft to Sikorsky, a unit of United Technologies Co.

The aviation pioneer earlier lost the competition for new presidential helicopters, dubbed Marine One when the president is aboard, to a Lockheed Martin team that includes AgustaWestland. Marine One has been a Sikorsky since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Sikorsky, based in Stratford, Conn., declined requests for interviews.

Lockheed Martin says the qualities that helped its US101 win the Marine One contest also make it good for search-and-rescue.

"It is light, quiet, and it has three engines. If you lose one, you can complete the mission," Lockheed Martin's Jurgens said. "The Chinook is loud and big. You know it's coming from a good ways away."

Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky want current search-and-rescue pilots to have more influence in the process.

Their entries have single main rotors and a vertical tail rotor akin to what these pilots now fly. In contrast, Boeing's Chinook has two big rotors, working in tandem and powered by a pair of jet engines. This design was invented in Philadelphia by aviation pioneer Frank Piasecki, who heads Piasecki Aircraft Co.

Pilots, like pickup truck drivers, have favorite brands. "But a man shouldn't say what the best is," Sestak said. Those decisions, he said, should be based on a process that measures cost and capability.

Chicago-based Boeing notes that its entry is a variant of the Army's special-operations helicopter, the Chinook CH-47G, which is equipped for in-flight refueling, has larger fuel tanks for longer range, and bears sophisticated electronic warfare countermeasures to fend off enemy planes and missiles.

Lockheed Martin says that's irrelevant.

"In special ops, you plan the mission, you choose your landing zone. You infiltrate and exfiltrate on your terms. Search-and-rescue is different. When there's a downed pilot, you land where he or she is, and the enemy is expecting you," Lockheed Martin's Jurgens said.

Sestak recalled rescues from his Navy years and declared the newest versions of the Chinook to be agile and able to carry equipment that aids rescues. Boeing's mock-up shows six stretchers and medical gear in the forward cabin. The rear can carry an all-terrain vehicle or a boat and has machine guns on both sides and the rear ramp.

In an August demonstration flight at Fort Campbell, Ky., Army pilots put the latest-generation Chinook through an hourlong series of maneuvers that included landing in tight spaces and planting its rear wheels on a ridge with the front in hover while troops exited on a ramp at the rear.

The search-and-rescue version will have the latest digital controls and an ability to detect and avoid utility wires, a threat in urban rescues, said Rick Lemaster, program manager for the search-and-rescue version.

With tandem rotors, the Chinook is less vulnerable to wind gusts when hovering in tight situations, he said.

The Air Force has said it hoped to complete the new bidding and make a decision next spring.

That was before the meetings set for tomorrow were canceled.

Boeing's reaction to this latest delay was swift. "We won fair and square," Joseph L. LeMarca, a retired Air Force officer who is Boeing Rotorcraft's communications director, said yesterday. "We believe we have the best aircraft and that the war-fighters need it. . . . We've got to get this process out of the hands of lawyers and back in the hands of acquisition folks."

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20071024_Boeing_must_rebid_for_helicopter_deal.htm l

:| :| Amazing what happens when big bucks are on the line. You won. No, wait, you didn't... try again. Bullsh*t.

:|

(f)

Sidere mens eadem mutato.

Though the stars may change, our spirits remain the same.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:20 PM

;) ;)

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/10/19/christmas-music-parody-blue-vista/

Lyrics:

I’ve had a blue desktop with Vista.
I’ve been so blue. XP, I’ve missed ya.
Dialogs popping up thanks to UAC.
Just ain’t the same, dear. At least it’s not ME.

And with those blue wallpapers with white text
I can… wait a minute… that’s not a wallpaper.
What the hell’s a STOP ERROR. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL?

And I had a blue, blue blue blue screen.

Oh, Windows Vista… why ya gotta do this to me?
Cancel or allow? Of course I want you to allow.
If I didn’t want you to allow, I wouldn’t have done it in the first
place.
Step on my blue suede shoes if you wanna, I don’t care.
Just get better, please. Please?!

You’ll be doin’ all right, with your Leopard in sight,
But I’ll have a blue, blue Vista.

8-| 8-| Definitely "geeky", but I liked it. (y) (y)

(f)

Carpe noctem.

Seize the night. (S) (S)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:21 PM

;)

http://www.extremepumpkins.com/

Cute: http://www.extremepumpkins.com/pukingpumpkin.html

http://www.extremepumpkins.com/giantikpum.html

Somebody has TOO much time on their hands:

http://www.extremepumpkins.com/mapofusa.html

:o CW: How to preserve your pumpkin:

http://www.extremepumpkins.com/pumpres.html

(f)

:[ :[ Carpe noctem. :[ :[

Seize the night.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:23 PM

:[ (S) :[ (S) :[ (S) :[

http://www.101halloweenideas.com/

(f)

:[ :[ Carpe jugulum.

Go for the throat. ;)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:26 PM

(f) (f) (f)

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571&om=1&ll=32.990236,-116.930237&spn=0.946815,1.842957&source=embed

(l) (l) Thoughts and prayers are with this family and all affected by these fires, including pets and horses.....(l) (l)

(f)

God/Dess Bless,

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:31 PM

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

http://www.iamboredr.com/media/455/Beautiful_Paper_Art/

http://www.iamboredr.com/files/8cd0c4df45cd730d.PNG

(y) (y) I really enjoyed this web site. Amazing artwork. (y)

(l)

(f)

Veritatem dies aperit.

Time discloses the truth.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 06:32 PM

(8) (8) (8)

Dictionaraoke

Words + Music...

Created by "an online collective of experimental musicians and audio collage artists" known as "Snuggles," this site rocks like no other. Just click the speaker icon next to AC/DC's "Highway to Hell"—or any of the other 100 songs listed—and see if you don't agree.

http://www.dictionaraoke.org/

(y) (y)

(f)

Si vales, valeo.

If you are well, I am well.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:40 PM

<:o) <:o) <:o) <:o)

Less than a week after throwing in the towel in its antitrust fight with South Korea, Microsoft finally called an end to a similar slugfest in Europe with a tired "No mas." After taking a brutal uppercut from the Court of First Instance in September (see "And the award for best continuing role as a monopolist goes to "), the Redmond Rumbler announced today that it would not appeal and would comply with the EU's antitrust rulings, issued three years ago.

The rulings required Microsoft to unbundle its Media Player from Windows (which it did) and to make it easier for rivals to build software that works smoothly with Windows (which it's been arguing about). In capitulating, Microsoft said it would slash the initial charge and royalty rate for its interoperability information for any developer, including open source. With that, the EU stopped the clock on a 3 million-euro-a-day fine that Microsoft had been racking up over the course of its defiance.

Apparently, the key to reaching a resolution was to clear away all the lawyers and turn to personal diplomacy. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes became fast phone friends with daily calls over the past three weeks, and the deal was sealed in person over dinner at a little restaurant in the Netherlands (Ballmer had the crow en croute). "I sincerely hope that we can just close this dark chapter," Kroes said later. "I feel a bit sad because it took so long, it took so many years, and during those many years consumers suffered from the fact that Microsoft didn't go along with what the Commission asked it to do." Microsoft mumbled something about continuing "to work closely with the Commission and the industry to ensure a flourishing and competitive environment for information technology in Europe and around the world." There remain some outstanding issues, including how much of that accumulated fine the EU will impose, and in case Redmond starts backsliding, Kroes said, "Microsoft should bear this in mind. The shop is still open, I can assure you ... there are a couple of other cases still on our desk."

The message is meant for more than Microsoft. The EU continues to show a willingness to jump in where U.S. regulators won't, and that has to be a sobering thought for companies like Intel, which looks like it's getting a pass from the FTC, but has until January to answer EU charges that it violated antitrust rules by selling its chips below cost to strategic customers, among other things.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7202936

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7248502

http://svextra.com/blogs/gmsv/2007/09/and_the_award_for_best_continuing_role_as_a_monopo list_goes_to_.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119304824519766949.html

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7246902

<:o) <:o) <:o) <:o)

(f)

Carpe noctem.

Seize the night. (S) (S)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:42 PM

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

http://www.murrayscheese.com/

Cheese Basics: http://www.murrayscheese.com/cheese_cheesebasics.asp

Cheese Glossary: http://www.murrayscheese.com/cheese_glossary.asp

HISTORY OF MURRAY'S FROM THE BIG CHEESE:

http://www.murrayscheese.com/about_murraysstory.asp

Find ALL Cheese! http://www.murrayscheese.com/products.asp?dept=4

Education (and is there ever lots of ways!): http://www.murrayscheese.com/edu_main.asp

(l)

16 TYPES of BLUE cheese:

http://www.murrayscheese.com/prodsbycheesetype.asp?cheesetype=Blue

(l)

Fresh cheese:

http://www.murrayscheese.com/prodsbycheesetype.asp?cheesetype=Fresh

;) ;) I think I might have been a mouse in a previous life...:o

:)

(f)

Okay, so who moved my cheese?

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:46 PM

(h) 8-| (h) 8-| (h) 8-| (h) 8-|

(~) (~)

PORTALS

By LEE GOMES

Editing on Big Films Is Now Being Done On Small Computers

October 24, 2007; Page B1

WSJ

Like any modern professional, Naomi Geraghty took her laptop with her when she went on a business trip in January. The machine got a lot of use -- but not just for email.

Ms. Geraghty is a film editor and was spending 10 days at the Irish coastal home of Terry George, director of "Reservation Road," starring Joaquin Phoenix, which opened across the U.S. last week. Mr. George couldn't travel for the editing, so Ms. Geraghty loaded a copy of Avid editing software on her Apple MacBook and went to him.

Most people have a mental image of film editors hunched in the dark over editing consoles with lengths of film pinned to the wall behind them. These days, they sit at computers, moving scenes around as easily as paragraphs in a word processor.

Video files are so demanding, editing computers used to cost tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars. But as Ms. Geraghty's tale suggests, even relatively low-end personal computers, laptops included, are now so powerful that Hollywood pros have joined student filmmakers and indies in taking advantage of them.

It's one more example -- along with music recording and graphic design -- of the way cheap computers are blurring the distinction between professional and amateur tools. Not that just having software makes you good at something, as a quick trip around the Web makes clear.

Ms. Geraghty says that while she enjoys the comfort of her regular editing studio, a notebook is not without its charms. "I could look out over a fishing harbor," she says. "It was the best view I've ever had from a cutting room."

Like "Reservation Road," the typical Hollywood feature film these days is an analog-digital hybrid. Reels of film might be developed at a lab such as Technicolor, but then $1.5 million scanners digitize them and put them on a $100 generic USB hard drive. From there, it's on to the editors.

Editing on computers is so much easier than editing physical film that it's how nearly all movies are now cut. USC's film school once had 50 editing consoles; now it has only two. Indeed, editing may have become too easy. "You can easily recut your movie 10 times a day," says Matt Furie, who teaches editing at USC. "Some students go off the deep end and cut, cut, cut. We tell them they need to discipline themselves to push away from the desk, drop the mouse and just think."

Like others, Mr. Furie suggests that one of the reasons there are so many rapid-fire cuts in today's movies is that editing software has made them so simple to do.

Editors are lucky in that theirs is one of the few industries with intense software competition. Anyone paying attention to computers the past 20 years will understand its dynamics.

Avid, of Tewksbury, Mass., is the long-established leader. Your average Academy Award winner typically is cut on an Avid. The company was one of the first in the field, and designed its software to work the way editors were used to working. For example, Avid's programs, like most software, use folders. But they're called "bins," after the canvas bags into which editors used to toss small lengths of film.

Avid software does just about anything you could ask -- for a price. The company's flagship Media Composer package runs $5,000. Philip Hodgetts, who follows the industry for Creative Planet, says Avid has an epic fight on its hands from newer, lower-cost alternatives. Apple sells Final Cut Studio for $1,300, while

Adobe's Premiere Pro is just $800.

While film still is central in big Hollywood features, it's unclear how long it will be before even the biggest feature movies go all-digital. The buzz in technical movie-making circles these days involves the two-month-old, ultra-high-resolution digital Red camera. Boosters say it looks nearly as good as 35mm film -- and costs around $30,000, or about the same as renting a 35mm camera for 10 days.

Thanks to cheap computers, a similar sort of creative destruction is happening everywhere in the industry. Color adjustment used to require expensive oscilloscope-like monitors. It first moved to specialized -- and expensive -- software, but lately it's done with relatively low-cost (say, $200) "plug-ins" by companies like Red Giant Software.

Angus Wall, editor of "Zodiac," a film released earlier this year, says the real impact of all of this digitization is to bring simplicity and artistic control back to the process. He says postproduction work on the typical Hollywood movie is a vast assembly line of runners, technicians, assistants and others. With Murphy's Law in force at every step, it isn't always easy for filmmakers to get the results they want.

The "Zodiac" crew, by contrast, sought to rethink and streamline the process. Right on the set, the digitized film went into a computer; after that, just a handful of people were involved. While the skills were different, coordinating the work of these editors and others wasn't much more difficult than what happens in an average office with a typical PowerPoint presentation. "It's revolutionary and empowering, because you don't have to worry anymore about some nameless person somewhere not doing their job right," Mr. Wall says. "You start to see the joy come back into the movie-making process."

Corrections & Amplifications:

An earlier version of this article misidentified the name of Avid's Media Composer software package.

(y) (y)

(f)

(um) (um) May Your Smile Be Your Umbrella. (um) (um)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:50 PM

:o (o) :o (o)

;)

The boomers put their own spin on marking the end of life.

TASTE

The New Death

By STEPHEN BATES

October 19, 2007; Page W13

Writing in Encounter magazine in 1955, the British anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer argued that death had become the great unmentionable. The Victorians were prudish about sex and candid about death, he said, whereas Westerners of the mid-20th century were garrulous about sex and, well, stiff about stiffs. Death be not loud.

In pop culture nowadays, though, death is mighty loud. Traveling exhibits like "Body Worlds" are popular and profitable, with preserved cadavers dribbling basketballs, hurling javelins and pondering chess boards. HBO's "Six Feet Under" frothily blended sex and death for five seasons. Alice Sebold's 2002 novel, "The Lovely Bones," narrated by a dead girl, spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller list. Amazon's "Death & Grief" section has more than 10,000 titles. Ernest Becker's "Denial of Death" sells well enough to seem oxymoronic.

But we shouldn't be too hasty in congratulating ourselves and deriding earlier generations as uptight and self-deluded. We can chatter and chortle about death without honestly confronting it. In fundamental ways, our culture is reinventing death rites and, in the process, growing further apart from death itself.

The old attitude toward death is poignantly illustrated by "The Undertaking," a documentary airing on PBS's "Frontline" Oct. 30. It features Thomas Lynch, a Michigan funeral director, essayist and poet whose books include a 1997 volume called "The Undertaking: Life Studies From the Dismal Trade." In the film, we see the dead being embalmed, dressed, powdered, laid out for display and even cremated. Most hauntingly, Mr. Lynch talks with a couple who face the imminent death of their two-year-old son, blind and unable to speak since birth as a result of a rare genetic abnormality. The mother says that she can't imagine life without him, but the "traditions that we follow . . . maybe will help us survive."

Those traditions seem to be withering, as Mr. Lynch acknowledges. He told me about "theme" funerals that focus on the deceased's favorite pastimes, "golf or bowling or boxing." Once a gift to the dead, the funeral is fast becoming a gift from the dead, planned in advance like a bequest. With "pre-need" funeral arrangements, survivors can be saved from having to make difficult choices. "People say they don't want to be a burden to their children," Mr. Lynch recounts. "I say, Why not? They've been a burden to you."

In funeral rites, venerability once provided solace (the community's traditions live on even as individuals die) as well as caution (your day will come too, buster). For many Americans now, by contrast, ancient rituals are intolerably old-fashioned and rigid, at once crusty and procrustean. "In an era where options surround us everywhere from the toothpaste selection at the grocery store to a hundred versions of white paint at the hardware store," Amy Meyerson writes in Obit, the Web site of a soon-to-be-launched death-centric magazine, "it's natural that our choices regarding the dead be equally complete and equally reflective of the individual consumer."

A stroll through the exhibit floor of the National Funeral Directors Association convention, in Las Vegas earlier this month, suggests that death options are indeed as plentiful as toothpaste brands. You can get a casket that's biodegradable wicker, or big-and-tall, or cowboy-style ("rustic pine" with "hand-forged iron hinges" -- and it "can be personalized with a brand"). Coming soon: a casket modeled on "the popular 'Photon Torpedo' design seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Even hair reliquaries have a distinctive 21st-century look. Trifac Inc. markets shapely models called the Lotus, the Lumen, and, um, the Hymen.

Cremations accounted for less than 10% of American deaths in 1980; now they're up to a third, and the Cremation Association of North America expects them to pass 50% by 2025. Mobility stokes the flames. When we stayed put, Mr. Lynch says, we planted our ancestors. When we flit from place to place, ancestors need to be portable. Now, as "Frontline" shows, not only can you watch the cremation; you can step up and throw momma to the flame. Afterward, her ashes can be reheated inside molten glass to form an attractive crystal ball, or processed into diamonds, or blended into plant food -- which, come to think of it, is where we're headed anyway.

The funeral association's neo-necro products represent only part of the new mortality. "Deathcare," as it's called, is abuzz with change. Some folks get buried with their BlackBerrys -- survivors can text their sorrows away. A developer in Las Vegas has proposed a "stylized version of the Coliseum in Rome," featuring a mausoleum, a gift shop, a "virtual casino" -- whatever that is -- and, balm for bereavement's sting, a tavern. In The Threepenny Review earlier this year, Bert Keizer described one frolicsome funeral: A woman biked to the grave, pulling a cart that bore the colorful casket. The dead man's young son sat atop the casket and pretended to drive. To Mr. Keizer, it seemed like "a desperate attempt at saying 'Howdy!' to Death."

According to anthropologist Nigel Barley, a family in Lancashire, England, a few years ago, wanted "Dad" chiseled on the churchyard tombstone, but the vicar insisted on "Father." If "Dad" were permitted, he said, "it will not be long before we have Cuddles, Squidgy and Ginger, which would make the last resting place sound like a pets' cemetery." Such a dispute is unimaginable in the U.S., chummy yet individualistic, and, it should be said, increasingly fond of burying its pets, a lucrative sideline at the funeral directors' convention. Hidebound tradition is the grimmest reaper of all.

Though it's far from the norm, sassy, saucy death-chic is spreading. As Mr. Keizer observes, attitudes toward death change as belief in the afterlife fades. Goodbye isn't quite the same when the departed is headed for a hole or a furnace and no place else. Sociologist Tony Walter suggests that squinting at death is fun when, as now, death isn't staring unblinkingly back at you. In a global war or pandemic, the topic may not seem so amusing. For their part, boomers want a final, Woodstockian opportunity to jolt the culture, even though much of their original audience, the easily scandalized older generation, is getting its groove on elsewhere.

What's wrong with all this? At the individual level, funerary frivolity trivializes both the death and the life that preceded it. At the social level, tradition and ritual, passed from generation to generation, create a common framework for discussing life's ultimate questions. When we choose customized, individualized, let-it-be-me funerals, we start slipping from lingua franca to tabula rasa. Soon, we're talking only to ourselves.

Mr. Bates teaches at the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

^o) If it isn't one thing, it's another. And that obstinate vicar in England has no sense of humour whatsoever. Why not put "Dad", or any other endearing name on a head stone? Who is he to judge?

(o) Life is too short to sweat this small stuff.

(f)

Cum recte vivis, ne cures verba malorum.

If you live properly, don't worry about what the evil ones say.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:53 PM

;) ;)

Wild-Bird-Watching.com

It's cheaper than blood pressure medication.

Birds don't have credit problems or expensive car repairs; watching them flutter about with nary a care can help you forget yours. Do the birds, and yourself, a favor by learning to preserve local species with suitable bird houses, backyard feeders, and more.

http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/

:D

(f)

Birds of a feather, flock together.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-24-2007, 11:56 PM

:D

Macaroni and 4 Cheeses

Show: Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger

Episode: Old Favorites

Cooking spray
1 pound elbow macaroni
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen pureed winter squash
2 cups 1 percent lowfat milk
4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (about 1 1/3 cups)
2 ounces Monterrey jack cheese, grated (about 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until tender but firm, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, place the frozen squash and milk into a large saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally and breaking up the squash with a spoon until it is defrosted. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until the mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the Cheddar, jack cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper. Pour cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to combine. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to the baking dish.

Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and oil in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for 3 minutes so the top is crisp and nicely browned.

Nutrition Information

Nutritional Analysis per Serving Calories: 392
Total Fat: 11 grams Saturated Fat: 2 grams
Protein: 18 grams Carbohydrates: 56 grams
Fiber: 3.5 grams

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33706,00.html

(i) I wonder what ingredients are required for a lower fat version? :o

(f)

Damnant quod non intellegunt.

They condemn what they do not understand.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-25-2007, 12:08 AM

8-) 8-)

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/25/sjp__shock_narrowweb__300x457,0.jpg

October 25, 2007 - 10:28AM

The Sydney Morning Herald

Charlize Theron, Jessica Alba and Halle Berry are regularly named the world's sexiest women. But who are the unsexiest women alive? A men's magazine decided to find out.

The list, published in the latest edition of Maxim Magazine, named Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker as the No. 1 Unsexiest Woman Alive.

The magazine said Parker was the "least sexy woman in a group of very unsexy women" that ironically starred in a show with the word "sex" in the title.

Troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse was voted No. 2 because of her "hemorrhaging translucent skin, rat's nest mane and lashes that look more like surgically attached bats".

The mag listed Grey's Anatomy Sandra Oh at No. 3 for her "cold bedside manner and boyish figure".

Pop star Madonna took out the No. 4 spot for her "self-righteous bellyaching and rapid postnuptial deterioration".

"Combine a Paris Hilton-like pet accessorising fetish only for dirt-poor foreign babies with a mug that looks Euro-sealed to her skull, and you've got Willem Dafoe with hot flashes," Maxim Magazine said.

Britney Spears came in at No. 5 for "losing the ability to perform".

The mag also said two children, two ex-husbands and a slight weight gain also helped Britney nab the No. 5 spot.

Maxim Magazine's list of the world's unsexiest women:

1. Sarah Jessica Parker
2. Amy Winehouse
3. Sandra Oh
4. Madonna
5. Britney Spears

http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/sjp-named-the-worlds-unsexiest-woman/2007/10/25/1192941199037.html

:| :| Give me a break. Please. ;) ;) Not to mention the mis-spelling of the word "sexiest" in the article title.

(f)

Smoke 'em if you got 'em,

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-25-2007, 12:13 AM

(y) (y)

Broad vision ... Brad and Angelina are looking to Europe for a better quality of life.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/24/brangelina_lead_wideweb__470x208,0.jpg

October 24, 2007 - 4:01PM

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are looking for a house in Europe so that their four children and future offspring can have a "broad vision of the world," the actor said in a interview.

"While we are very nomadic, we would like to have a base in Europe. More attention is paid here to what is going on in the world and it is easier to get to Africa and Asia from here," he told XL Semanal, the weekly magazine supplement of the ABC newspaper.

"We want our children to have a broad vision of the world. Spain, Italy and France have lots of quality of life and that is healthy," he added.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/brangelinas-european-move/2007/10/24/1192941135568.html

(y) Can't say that I wouldn't do the same. Quality of life IS much better is certain places throughout Europe, I definitely agree. (y) Good for them.

(f)

(um) (um) May Your Smile Be Your Umbrella. (um) (um)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:06 AM

(f) (f) (f)

http://www.judithblacklock.com/image/autumn_1.jpg

http://www.molbio.wisc.edu/image_library/image_gallery/fall_flowers.jpg

(l)

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2308124/2/istockphoto_2308124_fall_flowers.jpg

http://www.pleasantlakesoftware.com/images/Cottage%20Astor%20Lavender.jpg

http://www.floresflowers.com/3Aster2Oblong.jpg

(l) http://www.dajensen-family.com/jpg/olbrich_22_sm.jpg

http://www.dajensen-family.com/jpg/olbrich_23_sm.jpg

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/images/20041019_2-f6187-11-515h.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/brooklyn/1/0/g/3/BBG_JapaneseBridge.jpg

(l) (l) http://www.oregonscenics.com/j-grdn-fall.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/mastergardener2k/mums.JPG

(Gasp): http://www.donaldpell.com/pics/fallTreelg.jpg

Zinnias: http://msucares.com/news/print/sgnews/sg04/images/sg041007_200.jpg

http://www.quansettnurseries.com/firstlight.jpg

http://webs.lanset.com/pathline/_borders/goldenr2.jpg

(l) (l) http://hiddenlakegardens.msu.edu/seasonal_interests/fall/fall1.jpg

http://abqstyle.com/albuquerque_photo/rio_grande_botanic_garden_3.jpg

http://www.acadiamagic.com/images-w/wild-gardens-113.jpg

http://www.boscobel.org/grounds/images/Rose_Garden_fall.jpg

http://www.oregonscenics.com/ga-j-gdn-fall-scene.jpg

(l) (l) (l)

(f)

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life." ~P.D. James

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~George Eliot

"October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter." ~Nova Bair

falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly

~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.”

- Albert Camus

(f)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l) (&) (l)

P.S. Between COMCAST (cable modem) failing night before last ("due to scheduled maintenance"..... and not being able to log in to the B-F web site since then.......I didn't think I'd EVER get this posted. ;)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:08 AM

(y)(y)(y)(y)(y)

Straitjacket Bush

The president's warmongering remarks on the Iranian threat suggest he is psychotic. Really.

October 25, 2007

Forget impeachment.

Liberals, put it behind you. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shouldn't be treated like criminals who deserve punishment. They should be treated like psychotics who need treatment.

Because they've clearly gone mad. Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war.

That would be with Iran, and you'd have to be deaf not to hear the war drums. Last week, Bush remarked that "if you're interested in avoiding World War III . . . you ought to be interested in preventing [Iran] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." On Sunday, Cheney warned of "the Iranian regime's efforts to destabilize the Middle East and to gain hegemonic power . . . [we] cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions." On Tuesday, Bush insisted on the need "to defend Europe against the emerging Iranian threat."

Huh? Iran is now a major threat to Europe? The Iranians are going to launch a nuclear missile (that they don't yet possess) against Europe (for reasons unknown because, as far as we know, they're not mad at anyone in Europe)? This is lunacy in action.

Writing in Newsweek on Oct. 20, Fareed Zakaria, a solid centrist and former editor of Foreign Affairs, put it best. Citing Bush's invocation of "the specter of World War III if Iran gained even the knowledge needed to make a nuclear weapon," Zakaria concluded that "the American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. . . . Iran has an economy the size of Finland's. . . . It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are . . . allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?"

Planet Cheney.

Zakaria may be misinterpreting the president's remark about World War III though. He saw it as a dangerously loopy Bush prediction about the future behavior of a nuclear Iran -- the idea being, presumably, that possessing "the knowledge" to make a nuclear weapon would so empower Iran's repressive leaders that they'll giddily rush out and start World War III.

But you could read Bush's remark as a madman's threat rather than a madman's prediction -- as a warning to recalcitrant states, from Germany to Russia, that don't seem to share his crazed obsession with Iran. The message: Fall into line with administration policy toward Iran or you can count on the U.S.A. to try to start World War III on its own. And when it comes to sparking global conflagration, a U.S. attack on Iran might be just the thing. Yee haw!

You'd better believe these guys would do it too. Why not? They have nothing to lose -- they're out of office in 15 months anyway. Après Bush-Cheney, le déluge! (Have fun, Hillary.)

But all this creates a conundrum. What's a constitutional democracy to do when the president and vice president lose their marbles?

The U.S. is full of ordinary people with serious forms of mental illness -- delusional people with violent fantasies who think they're the president, or who think they get instructions from the CIA through their dental fillings.

The problem with Bush is that he is the president -- and he gives instructions to the CIA and military, without having to go through his dental fillings.

Impeachment's not the solution to psychosis, no matter how flagrant. But despite their impressive foresight in other areas, the framers unaccountably neglected to include an involuntary civil commitment procedure in the Constitution.

Still, don't lose hope. By enlisting the aid of mental health professionals and the court system, Congress can act to remedy that constitutional oversight. The goal: Get Bush and Cheney committed to an appropriate inpatient facility, where they can get the treatment they so desperately need. In Washington, the appropriate statutory law is already in place: If a "court or jury finds that [a] person is mentally ill and . . . is likely to injure himself or other persons if allowed to remain at liberty, the court may order his hospitalization."

I'll even serve on the jury. When it comes to averting World War III, it's really the least I can do.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks24oct25,0,7749742.column?coll=la-util-opinion-commentary

(y) Great idea!!

(f)

Peaceful dreams (S)(S)

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:11 AM

:D:D

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/21/travel/day-600.jpg

Day Out | Long Beach, Calif.

Retro Soul of a Changing City

A FORMER Navy town and California's fifth largest city, Long Beach is making a bid for tourists with attractions like the comprehensive Aquarium of the Pacific and the just-expanded Museum of Latin American Art. Its newly polished seafront stands in for Miami on TV series like “Dexter” and “CSI: Miami,” which are often shot on location there, 20 miles south of Los Angeles.

But travelers in search of the soul of Long Beach will find it in the three-block collection of a dozen-plus vintage and retro shops on Fourth Street between Cherry Avenue and Junipero Avenue, earning it the nickname Retro Row.

People go to Retro Row “and make a day of it,” said Kathleen Schaaf, owner of the vintage apparel shop Meow (2210 East Fourth Street; 562-438-8990; www.meowvintage.com), a magnet for Los Angeles stylists and costume designers as well as independent-minded fashionistas.

Ms. Schaaf specializes in “dead stock,” never-worn clothing from the 1940s through the '80s, ranging from 1970s striped tube socks ($4) and rhinestone-studded and prescription-ready cat-eyeglass frames ($65) to an iridescent turquoise sharkskin suit ($250). Pastel-painted 1950s refrigerator doors front the dressing rooms, salvaged neon signs decorate the walls, and midcentury mannequins model the clothes at the wittily time-warped shop.

West of Meow, the two-year-old Vintage Collective (No. 2122; 562-433-8699; www.thevintagecollective.com), a 25-dealer mall, mixes apparel and furnishings from the Art Deco and Modern eras. “We're trying to make it a lifestyle store so there's something for everyone,” said Davin Gumm, an owner of the spacious shop.

There, home items range from a Heywood-Wakefield tallboy dresser ($1,300) down to Art Deco cocktail shakers in their original caddies ($20 to $75), and clothing from a 1950s boy's fringed suede jacket ($55) to pre-1970 Levi's jeans ($100 to $800).

Not all vintage is sacred. At Imonni (No. 2106; 562-856-8154; www.myspace.com/imonnivintage), Eiko Wise, a Tokyo native, sells women's dresses from the 1960s through the '80s, often altering the designs “if they are too big or ugly,” she said. Dresses range from $20 to $48 for a remade model.

Liberty on Fourth (No. 2146; 562-433-8601) stocks 1940s and '50s leather biker jackets ($150) and Rebel8 T-shirts ($28) designed by the tattoo artist Mike Giant. It is also the home of Big Ed's Rockabilly Record Store (in the back), where you can pick up new CDs by current acts (Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys) and classics (the recently deceased Janis Martin) for $15 to $18.

On the east end, stop by Sneaky Tiki Boutique (No. 2234A; 562-439-2600; www.sneakytikiboutique.com) for Hawaiian shirts both new and old ($45 to $300) and the owner Jennifer Hill's costume necklaces made from vintage beads and gems ($24).

Two doors down, Xcape (No. 2236; 562-433-9911; www.xcapelongbeach.com) deals high-quality midcentury modern furniture.

Shoppers will find Portfolio Coffeehouse (No. 2300; 562-434-2486; www.portfoliocoffeehouse.com) well situated on the corner of Fourth and Junipero for a caffeinated pick-me-up.

But save your appetite for the Pike Bar & Grill (No. 1836; 562-437-4453; www.pikelongbeach.com), a rehabbed 1950s diner west of Cherry Avenue. Owned by Chris Reece, a former drummer with the punk rock band Social Distortion, it serves lobster tacos ($9.95) and fish and chips ($9.95) along with music, live or from D.J.'s, every night except Sunday. On “iPod Sundays,” MP3-toters can hear their playlists broadcast throughout the joint.

(y) Definitely cool place to visit.

(f)

"In the midst of Winter I finally learned there was in me, an invinceable Summer."

- Albert Camus

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:13 AM

:D:D:D

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/10/21/travel/prac-600.jpg

October 21, 2007

Practical Traveler | Sound-Proofing Hotels

Blessed Silence Is the Newest Amenity

By MICHELLE HIGGINS

JUST about every traveler has a story about noisy hotel guests. The loud snorer next door. The blaring television down the hallway. The amorous couple.

Then there are the culprits inside the room itself. The rush of water through clanking pipes. The rattling air-conditioner ducts. The humming of the minifridge that seems only to get louder when you’re about to fall asleep.

And then, just when you’ve hit REM sleep, the alarm clock in the empty room next door goes off. It’s enough to negate the super-plush bed and hypoallergenic pillow menu that hotels have been offering to help you get some shut-eye. Indeed, of all the complaints that guests have about hotels, noise continues to top the list, according to a recent guest satisfaction survey by J. D. Power and Associates.

But you won’t find those guests at AmericInn. That’s the hope anyway of the mid-range hotel company based in Chanhassen, Minn. Last month, the fast-growing chain began advertising a new sleeping amenity called SoundGuard at its 213 hotels. It’s not an electronic gadget or a bedding accessory, but a construction material. Instead of wood-frame construction, the hotel uses masonry blocks filled with sound-deadening foam, in addition to drywall that is 5/8-inch thick, instead of ½-inch, to muffle noise.

While some hotel chains avoid drawing attention to their cookie-cutter design, AmericInn has turned it into a promotional asset. “We think it’s a real point of differentiation,” said Arnold A. Angeloni, chief executive of AmericInn.

Hotels have tried to one-up one another with everything from custom-branded mattresses to aromatherapy candles to feather-soft sheets to help guests sleep — everything short of dispensing Ambien in the minibar. So why not sound-proof hotels?

Spotting an untapped marketing opportunity, hotels are increasingly installing double-paned windows, noise-deadening door gaskets, thicker walls and even listening to heating and cooling systems to find the quietest model.

Take, for example, the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel, which recently created a “quiet zone” on its sixth floor for daytime sleepers. Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., housekeepers are barred from noisy chores like vacuuming in that zone and bellhops can’t use unwieldy carts to carry luggage. The hotel now bills itself as “the only sound proofed luxury hotel and spa within the Vancouver International Airport.”

To help drown out distracting noises, Loews Hotels, a luxury hotel brand based in New York, has been offering free sound-masking machines that emit white noise for light-sleeping guests.

And, in an example of how noise complaints are redrawing traditional hotel layouts, luxury hotels like Le Parker Meridien New York have eliminated most of the internal doors that once connected two guest rooms.

“They are the culprit many times of people complaining about noise from room to room,” said Steven Pipes, vice president at the Jack Parker Corporation, which owns the Parker Meridien. The move was so successful in reducing noise complaints, the same tactic was taken at its sister property, the Parker Palm Springs in Palm Springs, Calif., when it was overhauled in 2004.

Other hotels are incorporating noise-muffling construction into their hotels. Kimpton Hotels is installing double layers of sheet rock for added sound insulation, and is staggering electrical sockets to prevent noise from seeping between rooms. And AmericInn is so obsessed with sound it’s even installing gaskets and door sweeps to minimize hallway noise, as well as placing flat-screen television sets on tables instead of mounting them on walls.

The company is so intent on promoting its noise-canceling efforts that it submitted its hotel rooms to a Sound Transmission Class test — a widely used measure that rates how well walls, floors, windows and doors block sound. A score of 25 means that normal speech can be distinctly heard through walls, while a 45 means that yelling is rendered inaudible. An acoustics expert hired by the hotel chain found that its rooms rated 50 or higher — even a blaring alarm clock would be muffled.

So besides asking a hotel its Sound Transmission Class score, how else can hotel guests arm themselves against noisy neighbors? David Braslau, the acoustics expert hired by AmericInn, said it was impossible to know just by looking at the hotel. Luxury buildings, he said, usually shoot for a Sound Transmission Class of 60 or 65. But higher hotel rates don’t always mean a quieter room. Mr. Braslau once stayed at the Plaza Hotel in New York, which is currently being converted into a smaller hotel with private residences, and had to change rooms because the elevator near his room was so loud.

Mr. Braslau offered some advice from his own travels.

Ask for a room at the end of a hallway, away from high-traffic (and noisy) areas like elevators and lobbies. If you’re easily bothered by humming machines, ask the front desk for a room away from the hotel’s cooling system, which can be on rooftops or hidden behind shrubbery.

Rolling up a towel and shoving it up against the door won’t keep out much sound, Mr. Braslau said. “If there’s a gap under the door, you can almost hear anything going on.”

Paradoxically, he pointed out, airport hotels tend to be the quietest — at least in terms of exterior noise — since they go to great lengths to block out the sound of roaring jets with double-paned windows and thick exterior walls. And in noisy cities, he said, the quietest rooms are often the ones that face an inner courtyard, rather than the street.

If all else fails, of course, there are always earplugs.

;);)

(f)

Aut disce aut discede.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:14 AM

(y)(y)(y)

Doris Lessing, outside her London home, receives flowers from a friend shortly after being informed that she won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/OB-AS397_lessin_20071018182700.jpg

READBACK

By CYNTHIA CROSSEN

In Her Own Words

In Her Memoir 'Under the Skin,' Nobel Prize Winner Doris Lessing Wrestles With Memories' Truth

October 19, 2007 WSJ

Doris Lessing wrote her autobiography in self-defense.

In 1992, Ms. Lessing learned that five biographers, including one she had never met or even heard of, were writing her life story. "No matter how second-rate, biographies sell well," she later wrote. "Writers may protest as much as they like, but our lives do not belong to us. They belong to the publicity machines."

Ms. Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature last week, makes a tempting target for biographers. As she tells her own story in "Under the Skin," published in 1994, she had a rough-and-tumble childhood on a farm in Southern Rhodesia with parents deeply scarred by World War I. She was a high-strung adolescent, dropping out of school at the age of 14. Then, after two husbands and three children, she became a poet and joined the Communist party. And all this was before she was 30.

What makes "Under the Skin" different from so many memoirs is that Ms. Lessing openly wrestles with herself over which memories are "true" and which have been distorted by age, guilt or vanity. As she admits, she's only in a little better position to tell her life story than her biographers. "You see your life differently at different stages," she says, "like climbing a mountain while the landscape changes with every turn on the path." Even more troubling is this question, which she italicizes: "How do you know that what you remember is more important than what you don't?"

Ms. Lessing has a remarkable memory for the travails of early childhood, the infuriating vulnerability to everything, the relentless clashes with parents and other authority figures. Anyone who was ever forced to take an afternoon nap will be thrown back into that timeless agony. And the astounding cruelty of forced tickling. "No hatred on earth is as violent as the helpless rage of a little child. Nature knows what it is doing, prescribing amnesia for early childhood."

Ms. Lessing always had progressive political and social ideals, especially about the so-called Native Problem, the "toe-rag" poverty of so many black Rhodesians. In her 20s, she became a self-declared Communist, and began a short period of proselytizing. At a time when the word Communist is almost a profanity, it's worth hearing an unapologetic account of why Communism appealed to this intelligent and sensible woman.

Later, she totally repudiated Communism, calling it "mass psychopathology." Communists, she said, were "murderers with a clear conscience."

Ms. Lessing has written more than 50 works of fiction, but she is best known for "The Golden Notebook," published in 1962, which the Swedish Academy cited as a "pioneering work" for the "burgeoning feminist movement." For many years, "The Golden Notebook" was a feminist bible, a social realist's guide to the psychological and sexual discontents of modern women. Although it seems far less avant-garde today than it did 45 years ago, it's still a wonderful book. But Ms. Lessing has regrets about "The Golden Notebook," too, describing it as her "albatross."

The feminist revolution "has produced some of the smuggest, most unself-critical people the world has ever seen," she said. She found herself "increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture."

The second volume of Ms. Lessing's autobiography, "Walking in the Shade," picks up her life in London in 1949, where she has emigrated with a small child but no husband, no job and no place to live. That book ends in 1962, and she has said there will be no third volume.

Ms. Lessing, now 87 years old, wrote "Under My Skin" when she was in her early 70s. "Had I written this when I was 30, it would have been a pretty combative document," she wrote. "In my 40s, a wail of despair and guilt. Now I look back at that child, that girl, that young woman with a more and more detached curiosity."

Reading "Under My Skin," I couldn't help wishing that more memoirists would get a few more years under their belts before writing about themselves. "Under My Skin" is mature in the best sense of the word, a graceful harmony of confidence and doubt, pleasure and pain, humor and gravitas.

(y)(y)(y)(y)

(f)(f)

Sidere mens eadem mutato.

Though the stars may change, our spirits remain the same.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:18 AM

:o:o

:)

First Airline to Fly the A380 Is Devoting Half Its Vast Space To Just 72 First- and Business-Class Passengers

By BRUCE STANLEY in Hong Kong and DANIEL MICHAELS in Toulouse, France

October 24, 2007; Page B1

Sitting in a pumpkin-colored leather bedroom suite on board Singapore Airlines' first Airbus A380, Christina Zeller runs her finger around the edge of a dinner plate decorated with a raised pattern resembling caviar. She recounts how hard it was to get that pattern just right.

"It was either too grainy, or not grainy enough, or not the right color, or it wouldn't stand up to 10,000 washings," says Ms. Zeller, who leads the accessories unit at French fashion house Givenchy, hired by the airline to create the look and feel of the plane's interior.

Singapore Airlines is raising the bar in the global race to pamper premium passengers with the first commercial flight of the A380, planned for tomorrow from Singapore to Sydney. The 12 first-class passengers will nestle in fully enclosed cabins reminiscent of luxury yachts. Each suite boasts a private coat closet, a 23-inch video screen and ergonomically designed reclining seats, in addition to a built-in bed, expandable to a double size for traveling couples who want to nap.

The 60 seats in business class are 34 inches wide -- nearly twice as wide as typical 19-inch economy seat.

Altogether, almost half the cabin space is reserved for the 72 premium passengers. But a key question for the industry is whether allotting so much space to a carrier's best customers is the wisest use of this plane's voluminous real estate.

The A380 is the biggest passenger jetliner ever built. The combined floor space of its two decks could contain nearly nine squash courts, and each is longer than the distance the Wright brothers covered in their first motorized flight. Airports have had to widen runways and install special jetways just to handle the plane.

Yet Singapore Airlines is providing just 471 seats on the aircraft, which has 50% more floor space than the previous record-holder, Boeing Co.'s 747-400. That jumbo jet seats about 400 passengers in a typical three-cabin layout, so the legroom on the A380 is lavish, indeed. Even the 399 economy-class passengers on Singapore Airlines' A380 will have their own USB computer ports, with full miniature keyboards, and seats that recline 115 degrees.

When the airline and Givenchy talked to passengers, they discovered an important distinction. Business-class passengers are often flying on their companies' money, and so they want to take full advantage of all the goodies on board, including a choice of more than 100 movies, 180 TV shows and 700 music compact discs and videogames. First-class passengers, in contrast, are accustomed to high-end living, and mostly just want to sleep.

Their blasé attitude prompted the Givenchy designers to ensure there was "nothing showy and nothing too obvious," Ms. Zeller says. Instead, everything down to the fine cotton bed sheets, with carefully finished stitching, had to feel luxurious. "An expensive idea realized in a cheap way is awful," she adds.

For Givenchy, SIA was a dream client, Ms. Zeller says. When middle managers balked at the cost of more adventurous proposals, SIA Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng frequently overrode them, she recalls -- though some of Givenchy's ideas, such as double-faced cashmere blankets, were too much even for him. (The compromise: wool blankets with cashmere trim.)

SIA is charging a premium for all this luxury. First-class fares on the A380 between Singapore and Sydney are 20% higher than for the same route on the airline's 747-400s -- bringing the one-way fare to around $6,000, excluding taxes and extra charges. Business-class passengers pay a 15% premium, about $4,140 one way, excluding taxes and charges.

Mr. Chew says SIA, which is among the world's most profitable airlines, is able to charge above-market rates for its products because "if you want to live in Trump Tower, you've got to expect to pay a bit more." (There will be no premium on economy-class seats, where at least eight different fare levels apply and can vary from month to month.)

All told, the airline has 19 of the superjumbo jets on order and plans to deploy them on high-demand routes where it can boost capacity without having to increase the number of flights to busy airports that may not have room for more planes. Early next year, it expects to start daily A380 service between Singapore and London's Heathrow Airport, followed by flights to Tokyo, Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Ticket sales began last month, and demand has been "exceedingly positive," says SIA spokesman Stephen Forshaw, though he declined to give specifics. "There is clearly a place in the market for superior products like those we have unveiled on the A380."

It isn't just SIA that is going the cushy route with the A380. Seven of the 14 carriers that plan to fly the jet -- Emirates Airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Air France-KLM SA, Korean Air, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. and SIA -- have configured their planes with an average of 503 seats, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a Sydney-based consultancy. That is nowhere near as many as the 853 passengers the aircraft is certified to carry.

Demand for first-class service probably is "recession proof," says Shukor Yusof of Standard & Poor's Asia Equity Research in Singapore. But he notes that corporate demand for business-class seats on the A380 could dry up in a severe economic downturn and that an external event such as the terror attacks of September 2001 or the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome could pinch profits.

Some carriers that have ordered the superjumbo are hedging their bets and tailoring some of their A380 models to the needs of specific regional markets. Emirates, for example, is exploring a 644-seat jet -- the densest configuration of any A380 customer so far -- that would fly from Mumbai or New Delhi to Dubai, ferrying the tens of thousands of "guest workers" who shuttle between home and the hotels and construction sites of fast-growing luxury and business destinations in the Gulf states.

Future versions of the A380 might embrace a more mass-market model. "There are other airlines, low-cost carriers for example, that might want an A380 one day and might want to make it all-economy," says John Borghetti, executive general manager of Qantas, the only other carrier so far to reveal details of the interior it plans for the A380. (Among other things, it plans to take advantage of the plane's roomy upper deck to install business-class seats three rows abreast, in a 2-2-2 configuration.)

When Airbus introduced the A380, it triggered lots of buzz about the possible extras it could accommodate, from showers and gyms to casinos and bowling alleys. Such fanciful talk died down as carriers focused on the plane's economics.

"The manufacturer provides floor space. It's up to the airline to maximize revenue and profit from that floor space," says Chris Tarry, an aviation consultant based in Tunbridge Wells, England. An onboard gym, he says, might be "good from a marketeer's point of view, but how are you going to make money from it?"

Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., delayed delivery of the A380 for almost two years due to production problems that angered customers and spawned turmoil among the company's senior management. It justifies its $20 billion investment in the A380 with predictions of strong demand for flights to hub airports, traffic that Airbus says the superjumbo is ideally designed to serve.

To date, it has received firm orders for 165 A380s from 14 different customers. It needs to sell about 420 of the aircraft to reach the break-even point.

A380 Orders by Airline: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/AI-AL535_A380_20071023152449.gif

The 12 first-class passengers will nestle in fully enclosed cabins reminiscent of a luxury yacht. Each suite boasts a private coat closet, a 23-inch video screen and ergonomically designed reclining seats, in addition to a built-in bed, expandable to a double size for traveling couples who want to nap.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/OB-AS678_A380_0_20071023170836.jpg

(y)(y) Nice to see a WOMYN tather than the typical "business" man:

Singapore Airlines aims to raise the bar in pampering premium passengers. All together, almost half the cabin space on its first A380 is reserved for just 72 first-class and business-class passengers.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/OB-AS680_A380_0_20071023170832.jpg

The 60 seats in business class are 86 centimeters wide -- twice as wide as typical 48-centimeter economy seat.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/OB-AS682_A380_0_20071023170828.jpg

A study found that business-class passengers, who are often flying on their companies' money, want to take full advantage of all the goodies on board, including a choice of more than 100 movies, 180 TV shows and 700 music compact discs and videogames. First-class passengers, in contrast, are accustomed to high-end living, and mostly just want to sleep.

;) I simply cannot imagine EVER flying in one of these Spam Cans. (You know the American version *would* definitely be like sardines with Doll House seats......)

Plus, if it's not Boeing, I'm not going.

;)

:)

(f)

Ab Iove principium.

Let's start with the most important.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)

sweetlady

10-26-2007, 12:20 AM

(y)(y)

DECLARATIONS

Sex and the Presidency

By PEGGY NOONAN

October 20, 2007; Page W14

WSJ

Where do things stand now with Hillary Clinton? What is her trajectory almost a year since it became clear she was running for the presidency?

Some time back I said she doesn't have to prove she is a man, she has to prove she is a woman. Her problem is not her sex, as she and her campaign pretend. That she is a woman is a boon to her, a source of latent power. But to make it work, she has to seem like a woman.

No one doubts Mrs. Clinton's ability to make war. No close or longtime observer has ever been quoted as saying that she may be too soft for the job. Instead one worries about what has always seemed her characterological bellicosity. She invented the War Room, listened in on the wiretaps, brought into the White House the man who got the private FBI files of the Clintons' perceived enemies.

This is not a woman who has to prove she's tough enough and mean enough; she is more like a bulldozer who has to prove she won't always be in high gear and ready to flatten you. In private, her friends say -- and I have seen it to be true -- that she is humorous, bright, interested in the lives of others. But as a matter of political temperament and habit of mind, she is neither patient, high minded nor forbearing. Those who know Mrs. Clinton well, and my world is thick with them, have qualms about her toughness, not doubts.

But she is making progress. She is trying every day to change her image, and I suspect it's working. One senses not that she has become more authentic, but that she has gone beyond her own discomfort at her lack of authenticity. I am not saying she has learned to be herself. I think after a year on the trail she's learned how to not be herself, how to comfortably adopt a skin and play a part.

Her real self is a person who wants to run things, to assert authority, to create systems and have people conform to them. She is not a natural at the outsized warmth politics demands. But she is moving beyond -- forgive me -- the vacant eyes of the power zombie, like the Tilda Swinton character in "Michael Clayton." The Boston Globe, dateline Manchester, N.H.: "Clinton is increasingly portraying herself more as motherly and traditional than as trailblazing and feminist." In a week of "Women Changing America" events Mrs. Clinton has shared tales of Chelsea's childhood and made teasing references to those who are preoccupied by her hairstyles and fashion choices. On "The View" she joked of her male rivals, "Well, look how much longer it takes me to get ready." This was a steal from JFK's joke about Jackie when she was late for an appearance: "It takes her longer to get ready, but then she looks so much better."

Her fundraising emails have subject lines like, "Wow!" and "Let's make some popcorn!" Her grin is broad and fixed. She is the smile on the Halloween pumpkin that knows the harvest is coming. She's even putting a light inside.

In New York this week she told a women's lunch that "we face a new question -- a lot of people are asking whether America is ready to elect a woman to the highest office in our land." She suggested her campaign will "prove that America is indeed ready." She also quoted Eleanor Roosevelt: "Women are like tea bags -- you never know how strong they are until they get in hot water."

But Mrs. Clinton is the tea bag that brings the boiling water with her. It's always high drama with her, always a cauldron -- secret Web sites put up by unnamed operatives smearing Barack Obama in the tones of Tokyo Rose, Chinese businessmen having breakdowns on trains after the campaign cash is traced back, secret deals. It's always flying monkeys. One always wants to ask: Why? What is this?

The question, actually, is not whether America is "ready" for a woman. It's whether it's ready for Hillary. And surely as savvy a campaign vet as Mrs. Clinton knows this.

Who, of all the powerful women in American politics right now, has inspired the unease, dismay and frank dislike that she has? Condi Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein? These are serious women who are making crucial decisions about our national life every day. They inspire agreement and disagreement; they fight and are fought with. But they do not inspire repugnance. Nobody hates Barbara Mikulski, Elizabeth Dole or Kay Bailey Hutchison; everyone respects Ms. Rice and Ms. Feinstein.

Hillary's problem is not that she's a woman; it's that unlike these women -- all of whom have come under intense scrutiny, each of whom has real partisan foes -- she has a history that lends itself to the kind of doubts that end in fearfulness. It is an unease and dismay based not on gender stereotypes but on personal history.

But here's why I mentioned earlier the latent power inherent in the fact that Hillary is a woman.

It is true that 54% of the electorate is composed of women, and that what feminist sympathies they have may be especially enlivened this year by a strong appeal. It is not true that women in general vote in anything like a bloc, but it is probably true -- I think it is true -- that they share in a general way some rough and broad sympathies.

One has to do with what it is to be a woman in the world. To be active on any level in the life of the nation is to be immersed in controversy. If you are a woman, the to and fro, the fights you're in, will to some extent be sharpened or shaped by what used to called sexism. There isn't a woman in America who hasn't been patronized -- or worse -- for being a woman, at least to some degree, and I mean all women, from the nun patronized by the bullying bishop to the congresswoman not taken seriously by the policy intellectual to the school teacher browbeaten by the school board chairman to the fare collector corrected by the huffy businessman. It happens to every woman.

Conservative women tend not to talk about it except to each other, and those conversations are voluble and pointed. They don't go public with their complaints because they're afraid it will encourage liberals to pass a law, and if you wanted more laws, or thought laws could reform human nature and make us all nice, you wouldn't be a conservative. Their problem is sharpened by the fact that some conservative men are boorish and ungentlemanly to show how liberated they are. But I digress.

Or rather I don't. The point is there are many women who will on some level be inclined to view Mrs. Clinton's candidacy through the lens of their experience as women, and there is real latent sympathy there if she could tap it, which is what she's trying to do.

But first, or more important, she will have to credibly and persuasively address what it is in her history -- in her -- that inspires such visceral opposition. That would be quite something if she did, or even tried.

(y)(y) Not Maureen Dowd at the NYTimes, however Peggy is definitely a conservative, so I don't often read her columns. This one was worth the read, IMHO.

(f)

Docendo discimus.

We learn by teaching.

Sweetlady & Wyatt the Boxer (l)(&)(l)