Quotes, URL's, Links And References-by:older Femmes, Butches, Ftms, Mtfs, Queer, Etc.

[sweetlady]

Posted on Wed, Feb. 02, 2005

Mergers narrow telecom choices for consumers

By Michael Bazeley Mercury News

SBC's proposed $16 billion purchase of AT&T is another reminder of the dramatic technological and regulatory changes sweeping the telecommunications industry and reshaping the choices consumers face when they shop for communications services.

The notion of phone companies battling one another for local customers is all but dead. Instead, the emerging competition is between phone giants, such as SBC Communications and Verizon Communications, and cable behemoths such as Comcast.

Both are encroaching on each other's turf, hoping to entice consumers by bundling Internet access and phone and television services into all-in-one packages.

Mobile phone companies and Internet phone start-ups such as Vonage will try to steal away slices of the telephone market. But experts predict the lion's share of the phone market will go to the regional Bell phone companies and cable companies.

Whether this new type of competition will be good for consumers or not is open for debate. Outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell has said that this type of ``intermodal'' competition is as good as any for consumers.

But consumer advocates see it differently.

``It underscores the fact that the vision of rigorous competition for the residential customer has failed,'' said Mark Cooper, analyst with Consumer Federation of America. ``We're getting a duopoly, and it's a crummy duopoly. Two companies is not enough to trigger vigorous price competition or innovation.''

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was supposed to spur competition in the local phone market by requiring the regional Bell phone companies to share their massive networks with competitors.

Competitors such as AT&T and Sprint were to lease phone lines from the Bell companies at regulated wholesale rates, allowing them to resell local phone service to their customers.

But bona fide competition never emerged. And a federal appeals court eventually struck down the price controls. The Bush administration decided in summer 2004 not to fight to keep them.

AT&T pulled out of the market for local calling -- including in California -- shortly thereafter, saying it couldn't compete without price caps. SBC's acquisition of AT&T, announced Sunday, would completely eliminate the historic New Jersey company as a competitor.

``Basically, it was cost-prohibitive to set yourself up as local phone company,'' said Allen Long, an East Bay telecommunications consultant.

At the same time, technological advances have dramatically altered the communications landscape.

Phone calls can now be routed across the Internet with relative ease, opening the phone industry to a slew of companies.

The remaining four Baby Bells dominate most phone markets for now. SBC is believed to control about 90 percent of the local residential market in California.

But most consumers, if they can't already, will soon be able to choose their phone service from among a handful of providers. In the Bay Area, those will likely include SBC, Comcast, several wireless companies such as Verizon and start-ups like Vonage and Voice Pulse.

To date, cable companies have been slow to roll out their phone services as they work through technical issues. But that is expected to change.

The number of cable Internet phone users in North America jumped tenfold last year, from less than 50,000 to close to half a million, according to a study being released today by Infonetics Research.

The growth will pick up this year, said Infonetics analyst Kevin Mitchell. Comcast, for example, plans to have 15 million Internet phone subscribers in 20 markets by year's end, he said.

The cable and phone companies will try to attract customers by bundling their array of services into competitively priced packages.

SBC already bundles local and long-distance phone service with Internet access, mobile phone service and satellite television. The company has announced plans to spend $4 billion laying fiber-optic cables, in part so it someday can beam Internet-based television programming into homes.

The cable companies are countering by bundling television, high-speed Internet access and phone service into one package.

``It's going to be head-to-head competition between the Bells and the cable companies,'' Long said.

For now, the cable companies appear to have the edge in that competition. They can add Internet phone service more quickly than companies like SBC and Verizon can add video. Moreover, cable Internet access has a speed advantage over the phone companies' DSL offerings in most markets.

``Who's got the more complete story?'' said David Willis, analyst with the Meta Group. ``The cable guys with video-on-demand and other services, or the telco guys that can sell you cheap telephone and Internet access? The cable guys have much more upside.''

Regardless of which industry dominates, consumer groups say many customers will end up losers.

Most consumers have no need for the expensive bundles offered by cable and phone companies, Cooper said.

Natalie Billingsly, an analyst with the consumer arm of the state Public Utilities Commission, says her concern is that competition works for all consumers, not just those willing to pay for expensive bundles of services.

``Do the consumers have viable competitive pricing across different price points?'' asked Billingsly, of the Office of Ratepayer Advocates. ``Competition isn't working for the general phone user. For the basic residential user who wants dial tone and maybe voice mail, this won't do it for them.''


(*) (*) I wonder how many years it will take for WIRELESS service providers to get their acts together (literally and standards-wise) so that these terrestrial telecom firms becoming monopolies again becomes a meaningless exercise. Look at Japan and G3 wireless there. They never had to build physical network infrastructure for terrestrial telephony; they skipped a commuinications' generation by going wireless. (o) (o) Off to check on Doc again. (first day of a four day chemo treatment at home.....so far, seems okay. It's ME that's sick! :( :( (S) (S) Maybe some sleep will help. (S) (S)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Posted on Wed, Jan. 19, 2005
By John Paczkowski www.siliconvalley.com

What's the difference between God and Larry Ellison? God doesn't think he's Larry Ellison. Yeah, it's an oldie but it's particularly apt today because only Larry Ellison would claim to have taken two companies the size of Oracle and PeopleSoft and integrated them in less than two weeks. Speaking to a gathering of customers at Oracle's corporate headquarters in Redwood Shores, Ellison confidently proclaimed that the task of integrating the two firms is largely over. "I don't mean to be glib -- but I think the merger integration is complete," Ellison said. "We are done. There is nothing left to do." It was a brazen claim, even for Ellison. Together the merged companies employ some 50,000 workers and support 23,000 applications customers and 1,300 applications partners. No matter how much planning was done, to say that all of them have made a smooth transition in 12 days is audacious; to actually believe it is ... Ellisonian. No one has ever successfully merged two such vast and established software companies. Still, if anyone can do it, I suppose it's Ellison. And he's off to a good start. He smartly retained 90 percent of PeopleSoft's development and support organization and with its help plans to to release in 2008 a new applications suite, dubbed "Fusion," that will serve as a migration point for customers on disparate PeopleSoft, Oracle and J.D. Edwards applications platforms.

(*) (*) Ellison and Gates tie in my mind as top dog meglomaniacs. ;) Meaning that their software product lines suffer in an R&D environment that promotes arrogance. Still, Oracle's databases are everywhere. Whenever I worked on a media asset management project where Oracle was involved - it was more often a systems' integrator performing custom enginering that made the experiences with Oracle as a company, tolerable. :| :| (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

http://www.viasf.com/boombags/product.html

(*) (*) ;) Too funny.

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Well, that explains the "more than a hint of megalomania":

Handwriting analysts and psychologists have long maintained that a person's doodles and style of writing contain clues to their character and attitude to problems. So when a page of doodles allegedly made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, fell into the hands of a reporter for the Daily Mirror, she did what any good tabloid journalist would do: She called a handwriting expert. The resulting analysis, which set off a buzz in the British press, concluded Blair was, among other things, "slightly out of control, very frustrated and stressed." "There is a lack of curves and a lot of irritability which he is struggling to keep under control," Emma Bache, a graphologist who examined the doodles explained. "There is also a lot of retracing of the strokes, which I have never seen him do before. He is feeling very much under pressure, so an obsessive-compulsive nature is coming out. The pressure he is putting on the pen is also quite heavy, which is an indication of stress and tension. He is someone who doesn't like to lose face. ... He is incredibly stubborn; you can see this from the way the 't' in 'taxes' is below the baseline. Even when he knows he is wrong he won't back down. ... There is more than a hint of megalomania about him which I haven't seen before." That last bit there should have been a tip-off. Because it turns out the jottings that Bache analyzed weren't done by Blair, but by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, a revelation that gave everyone over at Downing Street a good laugh. Said a spokesman: "We look forward with amusement to explanations by a variety of psychologists and graphologists of how various characteristics ascribed to the prime minister on the basis of the doodles, such as 'struggling to concentrate,' 'not a natural leader,' 'struggling to keep control of a confusing world,' and 'an unstable man who is feeling under enormous pressure,' equally apply to Mr Gates.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1461520,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4220473.stm

(*) (*) This one was too funny to pass up! I loved it! <grinning> ;) ;)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

HP: For circuits, swap silicon for molecules
Published: January 31, 2005, 8:00 PM PST
By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com

With a recent breakthrough in making circuits with molecules, Hewlett-Packard hopes to change chip history and expand its own role in the process.

Researchers from the Palo Alto, Calif.-based computing giant have created devices called crossbar latches that can be used to perform calculations in microprocessors, the same function silicon transistors now have.

The difference is that crossbar latches--which consist of a grid of microscopic wires linked by molecules at their intersections--are far smaller and, potentially, far cheaper to make because they are produced using processes more akin to inkjet printing rather than the ornate etching processes required for today's chips. Both factors give chipmakers an opportunity to dodge some of the technical difficulties and painful costs awaiting them in coming decade.

HP has already shown how crossbar latches can be used in memory.

"This is the final piece of the puzzle for building a molecular computer," said Phil Kuekes, senior computer architect and primary inventor at HP's Quantum Science Research (QSR) unit.

Adoption of crossbars across the industry could also lead to royalties for HP, which may try to license it, added Stan Williams, director of the QSR. HP is so confident of its technology that is aiming to get elements of crossbar technology incorporated into 32-nanometer chips, which will hit commercially in 2011 or 2012. The company will try to get its technology ensconced in industry road maps guiding equipment makers and semiconductor designers.

"There is a recognition that there is going to have to be innovation," Williams said. "We'd like to introduce some aspect of it into that (32-nanometer) node."

HP, however, isn't trying to find a way out of the conflicts many semiconductor designers face. Researchers from the South Korea, Japan and the United States--including IBM and Intel--will next week publish papers at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference detailing ideas for new types of chips and transistors.

"The single biggest advantage we have is that we can do it now," Kuekes said. "We think we can make complex devices sooner."
Although experts and pundits have declared the imminent death of Moore's Law for three decades, the end appears to be in sight. The principle, which states that chipmakers can double the number of transistors on a silicon chip every two years, has enabled the industry to shrink the size and cost of things like computers and cell phones while improving their performance.

Unfortunately, traditional silicon transistors can't be shrunk in size much longer. Circa 2021, there won't be enough atoms inside traditional transistors to contain the flow of electrons. Hybrid chips that contain elements of traditional silicon chips and some undetermined materials or structures will appear in the first half of the next decade, and chips based on the new materials are predicted to emerge in commercial production in the 2020s, if not earlier.

What it looks like

A single crossbar latch consists of a three wires: a "latch" wire and two control, or clock, wires. The latch wire lies under the other two. The wires are connected by molecules, which transfer electrical impulses from one wire to the next. (In the latches used to perform calculations, it is a layer of a common acid made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.)
In layman's terms, a series of electrical impulses will close the molecular switch between the latch wire and the first clock wire. The impulses will then open the switch between the latch wire and other clock wire. In digital terms, a computer interprets this action as a "0". Conversely, opening the first switch and closing the second becomes a "1."

Earlier, Kuekes had produced crossbar latches that could perform basic calculations, but they couldn't store partial results for later usage. The new crossbar latches, however, detailed in an article in the Journal of Applied Physics, can: They conceivably perform transistorlike functions.

A key attribute of the switches is that the junction between the wires can be as small as 2 nanometers. The equivalent junction in current transistors inside 90-nanometer chips is about 60 nanometers, meaning that far more crossbar latches can be put into the same space that now holds transistors. Traditional transistors, in fact, will never be able to hit these limits, Kuekes said.

"The three most important things are size, size and size," he said. "When you get down to around 15 nanometers, the physics of semiconductor transistors will not work."

Shrinking the electrical junctions in a chip also generally increases performance, but the switches in the experimental crossbar latches only flip at about a tenth of a second.

Just as important, chips made on crossbar latches could be cheap to manufacture. The wires are put into place through nano-imprint lithography. In this technique, a customized mold is placed into a film later; the imprints left by the mold become the templates for the wires.

The molecular switches, meanwhile, do not have to be placed individually at the juncture of the wires. Only wires at the junctions will carry a current.

"Essentially, all of the other molecules are sacrificed," Williams said.

http://news.com.com/HP+For+circuits%2C+swap+silicon+for+molecules/2100-1006_3-5557954.html?tag=nefd.top

(*) (*) I love articles like this! They explain so much as well as provoke critical thinking.....Have a really nice Thursday everyone! (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Alone Again, Naturally
(Gilbert O'Sullivan)

In a little while from now,
If I'm not feeling any less sour.
I promised myself, to treat myself,
And visit a nearby tower ..........
And climbing to the top,
Would throw myself off,
In an effort to, make clear to whoever,
What it's like when your shattered .......
Left standing in a lurch,
In a church with people saying .....
My God, that's tough, she stood him up,
No point in us remaining .......
I may as well go home,
As I did on my own,
Alone again, naturally.

To think that only yesterday,
I was cheerful, bright and gay.
Looking forward to, and who wouldn’t do,
The role I was about to play.
But as if to knock me down,
Reality came around,
And without so much as a mere touch,
Cut me into little pieces.
Leaving me to doubt, all about God and His mercy,
Oh, if He really does exist,
Why did He desert me?
And in my hour of need,
I truely am, indeed,
Alone again, naturally.

It seems to me that there are more hearts,
Broken in the world that can’t be mended,
Left unattended, what do we do?
What do we do?

Now looking back over the years,
And whatever else that appears.
I remember I cried when my father died,
Never wishing to hide the tears.
At sixty-five years old,
My mother, God rest her soul,
Couldn’t understand why the only man,
She had ever loved had been taken.
Leaving her to start, with a heart so badly broken,
Despite encouragement from me,
No words were ever spoken.
And when she passed away,
I cried and cried all day,
Alone again, naturally .....
Alone again ................................. naturally.

http://users.cis.net/sammy/alonea.htm

(*) (*) ;) This one goes back to high school I think. I thought of the song title and a friend sent me the link with the lyrics. (a) (a) (f) (f)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: February 3, 2005
WASHINGTON

Do male nipples prove evolution?

Not at all, according to a Web site for a planned Creation Museum devoted to showing that the Bible is literally true.

Nipples may be biologically de trop for men, an "expert" on the site notes, but that doesn't mean they resulted from natural selection. They could just as well be a decorating feature of the Creator's (like a hood ornament). Who are we to question His designs, since we cannot presume to comprehend His mind?

The virtual tour of the museum, to be built in rural Kentucky, says its exhibits will explain many such mysteries, like the claim that T. rex lurked around Adam and Eve - "That's the terror that Adam's sin unleashed!" - and how "Noah and his family survive 371 days alone on an animal-filled boat" ("a real 'Survivor' story").

The philosophy of the Creation Museum, part of the "Answers in Genesis" ministry, is summed up this way: "The imprint of the Creator is all around us. And the Bible's clear - heaven and earth in six 24-hour days, earth before sun, birds before lizards. Other surprises are just around the corner. Adam and apes share the same birthday. The first man walked with dinosaurs and named them all! God's Word is true, or evolution is true. No millions of years. There's no room for compromise."

Personally, I've decided to stop evolving. No point, really. Evolution is so 20th century.

As with Iraq, President Bush has applied his doctrine of pre-emption on evolution, cutting it off before it can pose a threat to our well-being.

Ever since he observed during his 2000 campaign that "on the issue of evolution, the verdict is still out on how God created the earth," Mr. Bush has been reeling backward as fast as he can toward the Garden of Eden, which, if creationists are to be believed, was really "Jurassic Park."

Seeing the powerful role of evangelicals in getting Mr. Bush re-elected, teachers across the country are quietly ignoring evolution, even when the subject is in their curriculums.

Many teachers take the hint on evolution even without overt pressure, Cornelia Dean wrote this week in Science Times: "Teachers themselves avoid the topic, fearing protests."

On eBay, you can even find replicas of the stickers that a Georgia county put on science textbooks to warn that evolution is "a theory, not a fact." Talk about sticker shock.

So much for the Tree of Knowledge. Mr. Bush gives us the Ficus of Faith.

I knew the president, Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich wanted to wipe out the psychedelic "if it feels good do it" post-Vietnam 60's and go back to the black-and-white 50's - a meaner "Happy Days."

They wanted to yank us back in a time machine to a place before Vietnam was lost, free love was found, Roe v. Wade was enacted; they could roll back science to smother stem cells' promise. (Since it was reported last week that all human embryonic lines approved for federally financed research are tainted with a foreign molecule from mice, the administration can't even feign an interest in scientific progress. Who'd a-thunk that science's great hope would turn out to be Arnold Schwarzenegger?)

I misunderestimated this ambitious president. His social engineering schemes in the Middle East and America are breathtakingly brazen.

He doesn't just want to dismantle the 60's. He wants to dismantle the whole century - from the Scopes trial to Social Security. He can shred one of the greatest achievements of the New Deal and then go after other big safety-net Democratic programs, reversing the prevailing philosophy of many decades that our tax and social welfare systems should equalize the distribution of wealth, just a little bit. Barry Goldwater wouldn't have had the brass to take a jackhammer to that edifice.

The White House seems to think Social Security was corrupt from the moment it was enacted in 1935. It wants to replace it with private accounts that will fatten the wallets of stockbrokers and put the savings of Americans who didn't inherit vast fortunes at risk.

Mr. Bush and his crew not only want to scrap the New Deal. By weakening environmental and safety protections and trying to flatten the progressive income tax, they're trying to eradicate not just one Roosevelt but two, going after the progressive legacy of Theodore.

With their brutal assault on history and their sanctimonious manner, they give a whole new meaning to Teddy's philosophy of the presidency. Bully pulpit, indeed.

(*) (*) Maureen gets right the heart of it, as always. Her sparkling wit and extraordinary writing skills are such a treat, especially when she vivisects the Village Idiot. Geez - it really a challenge since 9:00 p.m. EDT last night to avoid seeing or hearingthe V.I. either on TV or even some web sites. I have succeeded in hearing "blah, blah, blah" however for the rare time that I accidently hear his voice. ;) ;) What a complete nimrod! And it's wonderful that Maureen Dowd can write and have her column published without fears of revenge. (o) (o) Time to get off my soapbox and get some things done in the F2F world. (*) (*) (*) (*)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

From the Desk of David Pogue: What Is Nanotechnology? NYTimes
================================================== ======

A couple of Sundays ago, "CBS News Sunday Morning" ran my
segment about the coming era of nanotechnology. During the
preparation of the story, I had two great experiences.

At one point, I set out to illustrate an interview subject's
comment that the earliest fruits of this technology are
pretty mundane. One of his examples was "nanotechnology
pants," which turned out to be Dockers Stain Defenders
slacks; as a gag, I put them on and prepared to dump a cup of
coffee onto my own thigh to see just how well they'd resist
staining.

I warned the camera crew, though, that this would have to be
a one-take deal; once the pants were wet, I figured, you'd
see the dark spot and we couldn't do a retake. Imagine my
shock, though, when the coffee rolled off as though from a
duck's back, leaving the pants not only unstained, but
completely dry! (The pants don't feel any different from any
other cotton pants.) We wound up filming the dump-the-coffee
shot six times, and the pants never did get wet. Man, remind
me to wear them next time I'm on a plane with children.

My other favorite moment was interviewing Steve Jurvetson,
managing director of a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm
that invests heavily in nanotech companies. Since only a
couple of his sound bites made it onto the show, I thought
you might get a kick out of reading a longer excerpt.

David Pogue: Everybody's heard of nanotechnology, but not
many people know what it is. What is it?

Steve Jurvetson: We define nanotechnology as the manipulation
and control of matter at the nano scale, nano scale being a
billionth of a meter. It's about 70,000 times smaller than
the width of a human hair. It's smaller than the wavelength
of light, something you would normally not ever be able to
see. And it's much smaller than anything we manufacture
today.

The reason that it's so exciting, though, is not just that
it's small. It's that everything changes at that scale. The
physics you may have learned in school is completely
different. In fact, it's wrong and doesn't apply at that
level. Notions like temperature and electricity and magnetism
are completely different.

For example, if you take a simple aluminum can, a Coke can,
and grind it down to the nano scale, to a 20-nanometer
particle, it would spontaneous explode in air. It becomes
rocket fuel.

The nano scale is relevant if it somehow aggregates up to
something we care about. You might start small, but these
small things may start to glom together into larger things,
like a memory chip or a solar cell. And that would be
something you would see and use as a product. So nanotech is
an entirely new way to make products and services that'll
change the world.

DP: Where are we on the road there? How early is this?

SJ: Comparing to the auto industry, it's before the Model T.
It's people tinkering in research labs around the country.
Raising money for further development of their products.

DP: How big are the investments being made? How big is the
excitement?

SJ: The government is a great example. Right now, nanotech is
second only to the space race for Federal funding of basic
research and development. So the US government absolutely
believes that this is the future technology wave. The
National Science Foundation of the US estimates it will be a
trillion-dollar market.

And I might point out the internationally, the U.S. is not
number one or number two. We're number three, if you consider
the EU as an entity and if you consider Japan as an entity.

And we, for one, see it as an incredible boom in innovation.
We think it'll be more important than the industrial
revolution itself, restructuring not only the bases of many
industries, but the fabric of society itself. That'll take
some time, but it has that potential.

DP: And what percent sure are you that it's real?

SJ: I'm 100 percent sure it's real. The really difficult
question is when. If you go out 100 years, there's no
question. This is an inevitable trajectory of miniaturization
that's going on in all of the sciences. It's sort of a
crossroads of the chemists and the physicists and the
geneticists. So I think there's no question that's where
science is heading.

I'd say most of what the average person has heard of in
nanotech will take 50 to 100 years: their bloodstream robots,
the fanciful notions of the future. And much more, frankly
industrial and mundane products -- solar cells, memory chips
-- those'll be within 10 years.

DP: Now, I understand that nanotech involves manipulating
individual atoms. And I understand these incredible possible
results. But I'm missing how we get from there to there. Can
you give us one example from energy or medicine or
manufacturing?

SJ: Sure. The one that jumps to mind is the memory-chip
industry. Computers, cell phones and electronic equipment
need memory chips that keep getting cheaper and faster, and
have higher storage.

But right now, we are at the teetering edge of our
capabilities to build chips, because of waste heat. Our
current computers are incredibly inefficient. They're like
toaster ovens that happen to compute on the side as a by-
product.

Enormous effort is put into fans and heat and cooling
solutions for existing semiconductors. Some estimates by
Intel show that if we don't change the way we build chips, we
will have chips that are hotter than the surface of the sun
in 10 years. That's just an untenable trajectory. Something
radical has to change, or the industry will come to a
grinding halt.

For example, there's a company in Denver that takes a
molecule that's similar to chlorophyll, the chemical in
plants that helps convert sunlight into energy. Modifies it
in a way that helps store information for a memory chip. They
take an otherwise standard chip from the manufacturing
facility. And rather than replace everything on a portion
where you want memory, they splash a beaker of these
molecules on 'em. They self-assemble, meaning they attach
automatically to exposed silicon or exposed aluminum,
whichever you might need. Anywhere you had exposed metal,
you've got a memory cell. You splash and rinse, and you've
manufactured a memory chip on an otherwise normal chip.

The customer who buys a computer wouldn't know there's nano
inside, if you draw an analogy to Intel inside. All they know
is their memory chips were cheaper, faster, lower power.

DP: Now, this term self-assembly is making me a little
nervous, because Michael Crichton tells us that if things go
wrong, these self-assembling nano-factories will take over
and merge with biology and reduce the world to grey goo.

SJ: I really enjoy reading his books. Just like "Jurassic
Park," a very colorful nightmare. So should we be worried
about that? No. I think there's a big difference between a
self-assembly technique and autonomous agents that run amok.
That's in the domain of science fiction.

The self-assembly I've been describing in these products are
more like, you know, crystallizing salt from a beaker of salt
water. Yeah, the crystal self-assembles, but that doesn't
mean it has any ability to do anything other than form salt.
It's about that simple.

And I think the regulatory regimes we have and frankly, a
history of societal debate, that groups are springing up this
early, long before there's any product that's actually a
threat, is a good sign. Because I think it means people's
eyes will be opened and they'll be participating in debates.
So I'm fairly confident we as a society can navigate that.
But it doesn't mean we should be complacent and not have
plenty of people thinking about it.

(*) (*) (h) (h)

(k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

By DAVID BERNSTEIN Published: February 3, 2005 NYTimes

CHICAGO

HOMARO CANTU'S maki look a lot like the sushi rolls served at other upscale restaurants: pristine, coin-size disks stuffed with lumps of fresh crab and rice and wrapped in shiny nori. They also taste like sushi, deliciously fishy and seaweedy.

But the sushi made by Mr. Cantu, the 28-year-old executive chef at Moto in Chicago, often contains no fish. It is prepared on a Canon i560 inkjet printer rather than a cutting board. He prints images of maki on pieces of edible paper made of soybeans and cornstarch, using organic, food-based inks of his own concoction. He then flavors the back of the paper, which is ordinarily used to put images onto birthday cakes, with powdered soy and seaweed seasonings.

At least two or three food items made of paper are likely to be included in a meal at Moto, which might include 10 or more tasting courses. Even the menu is edible; diners crunch it up into a bowl of gazpacho, creating Mr. Cantu's version of alphabet soup.

Sometimes he seasons the menus to taste like the main courses. Recently, he used dehydrated squash and sour cream powders to match a soup entree. He also prepares edible photographs flavored to fit a theme: an image of a cow, for example, might taste like filet mignon.

"We can create any sort of flavor on a printed image that we set our minds to," Mr. Cantu said. The connections need not stop with things ordinarily thought of as food. "What does M. C. Escher's 'Relativity' painting taste like? That's where we go next."

Food critics have cheered, comparing Mr. Cantu to Salvador Dali and Willy Wonka for his peculiarly playful style of cooking. More precisely, he is a chef in the Buck Rogers tradition, blazing a trail to a space-age culinary frontier.

Mr. Cantu wants to use technology to change the way people perceive (and eat) food, and he uses Moto as his laboratory. "Gastronomy has to catch up to the evolution in technology," he said. "And we're helping that process happen."

Tucked among warehouses and lofts in the Chicago meatpacking district, Moto attracts a trend-conscious crowd. Some guests leave scratching their heads; others walk away spellbound by a glimpse of Mr. Cantu's vision of the future of food.

William Mericle, 41, described recent meal at Moto as "dinner theater on your plate." He did not care for all 20 small dishes he sampled, but he said he liked most of them. He found Mr. Cantu's imagination appealing. "He's mad-scientist-meets-gourmet-chef," he said. "Like Christopher Lloyd from 'Back to the Future,' if he were more interested in food than time travel."

Mr. Cantu believes that restaurant-goers, particularly diners who are willing to spend $240 per person for a meal (the cost of a 20-course tasting menu with wine at Moto) are often disappointed by conventional dining experiences. "They're sick and tired of steak and eggs," he said. "They're tired of just going to a restaurant, having food placed on the table, having it cleared, and there's no more mental input into it other than the basic needs of a caveman, just eat and nourish."

At Moto, he said, "there's so much more we can do."

Mr. Cantu is experimenting with liquid nitrogen, helium and superconductors to make foods levitate. And while many chefs speak of buying new ovens or refrigerators, he wants to invest in a three-dimensional printer to make physical prototypes of his inventions, which he now painstakingly builds by hand. The 3-D printer could function as a cooking device, creating silicone molds for pill-sized dishes flavored, say, like watermelon, bacon and eggs or even beef Bourguignon, he said, and he could also make edible molds out of cornstarch.

He also plans to buy a class IV laser to create dishes that are "impossible through conventional means." (A class IV laser, the highest grade under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's classification system, projects high-powered beams and is typically used for surgery or welding.)

Mr. Cantu said he might use the laser to burn a hole through a piece of sashimi tuna, cooking the fish thoroughly inside but leaving its exterior raw. He said he would also use the laser to create "inside out" bread, where the crust is baked inside the loaf and the doughy part is the outer surface. "We'll be the first restaurant on planet Earth to use a class IV laser to cook food," he said with a grin.

He is testing a hand-held ion-particle gun, which he said is for levitating food. So far he has zapped only salt and sugar, but envisions one day making whole meals float before awestruck diners.

The son of a fabricating engineer, Mr. Cantu got his start as a science geek. "From a very young age, I liked to take apart things," said Mr. Cantu, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest. "All of my Christmas gifts would wind up in a million pieces. I actually recall taking apart my dad's lawnmower three times to understand how combustible engines work."

When he was 12, he took a job as a cook and busboy, mainly to earn money for remote-controlled airplanes and helicopters that he then took apart. But the restaurant business rubbed off on Mr. Cantu, and after high school he attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, Ore. A series of jobs followed, nearly 50 in all, Mr. Cantu said. He worked as a stagiaire, or intern, in some of the top kitchens around the country, eventually talking his way into a job at Charlie Trotter's, a well-known restaurant in Chicago. He became a sous-chef there before opening Moto last year.

Mr. Cantu has filed applications for patents on more than 30 inventions, including a cooking box that steams fish. The tiny opaque box, about three inches square, is made of a superinsulating polymer. Mr. Cantu heats the box to 350 degrees in an oven and places a raw piece of Pacific sea bass inside it. A server then delivers it to diners, who can watch the fish cook.

Assisting Mr. Cantu with what he calls his " 'Star Wars' stuff" is DeepLabs, a small Chicago product-development and design consultancy. Mr. Cantu meets weekly with the crew of aerospace and mechanical engineers, programmers and product designers at DeepLabs for brainstorming sessions.

"I tell them I want to make food float, I want to make it disappear, I want to make it reappear, I want to make the utensils edible, I want to make the plates, the table, the chairs edible," Mr. Cantu said, "I ask them, what do I need to do that?"

Ryan Alexander, an industrial graphic designer at DeepLabs, said he and his colleagues at the company, which has designed more conventional products for Motorola and Home Depot, are enthusiastic about Mr. Cantu: "We don't say no," he said.

Using engineering, graphics and animation software, DeepLabs designers have begun to turn Mr. Cantu's dreams into realties.

They have created mockups of his all-in-one utensil, a combination fork, knife and spoon, as well as utensils with pressurized handles that release aromatic vapors. The latest prototype is a utensil with a disposable, self-heating silicone handle that can be filled with liquefied or pureed foods. A carbon-dioxide-based charge heats the food (soup, for example), and the diner squeezes the handle to release it onto a spoon. Mr. Cantu envisions many applications for such a utensil, from military meals to cookouts.

Mr. Cantu said his experiments and kitchen inventions could one day revolutionize how, where and what we eat. "This will tap into something," he said. "Maybe a mission to Mars, I don't know. Maybe we're going to find a way to grow something in a temperature that liquid nitrogen operates at. Then we could grow food on Pluto. There are possibilities to this that we can't fathom yet. And to not do it is far more consequential than just to say, hey, we're going to stick with our steak and eggs today."

(*) (*) How cool! Have a wonderful Friday! (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Yesterday was Groundhog Day and the day of the State of the Union Address.

As Air America Radio pointed out, it was an ironic juxtaposition: one
involved a meaningless ritual in which we looked to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the other involved a groundhog.

(*) (*) So much said in so few words. ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/nerdwatch/

(*) (*) ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

The Jheronimus Bosch Adventure Game is a modern-day variant of Bosch's painted fantasies. The game is set in a decor of images from the Boschian world, for which the famous paintings The Pedlar and The Tabletop with the Seven Deadly Sins have served as points of departure. One or more players can play the game on the Internet at the same time. In the adventure game several difficult missions have to be accomplished on the fly. This all happens in a series of small games. The challenge is to find a balance between 'surviving' and the 'good living', but it's also of major importance to stay healthy in dark middle ages. Because at the end of the game the last judgment will be passed by Jheronimus Bosch himself? Shall you land in virtual heaven or will you burn in Bosch's hell?

The Jheronimus Bosch internet game is an online multi-user learning and adventure game. It is possible to play this game by several players a-synchronically from different locations. The combination of simultaneous and a-synchronous gaming creates opportunities for both, as well for single-use gaming as for multi-use gaming; the game results will be encountered for each single user individually.

http://lab.v2.nl/projects/bosch_game.html

(*) (*) Way cool. (h)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

http://www.rockrage.com/media/fonts/musicfonts.html

(*) (*) :o

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Here's a quick and easy way to ruin your PC brand: Sell it to a Chinese manufacturer. According to a survey published by Merrill Lynch, legions of IBM customers will consider switching vendors as a result of the sale of the company's PC divsion to China's Lenovo. "Almost half of IBM PC users said they would consider switching, a high figure even recognizing that not all will," said Merrill Lynch VP Steven Milunovich. "More problematic for IBM is the finding that PC switchers might buy less of other IBM products as well." No doubt. Certainly, IBM's customer loyalty is already suffering. Witness James Gaskin's latest screed in ITWorld. "I think the IBM PC sale to Lenovo is the worst kind of management stupidity and darn near traitorous," Gaskin writes in a piece entitled "The IBM PC Deal Sucks." "If Lenovo makes most of the IBM PCs already, yet IBM loses a billion per year or whichever number you trust about this story, that tells me IBM management overhead has gotten seriously out of whack. Speaking of whack, let's go to Armonk and whack two of every three executives with a pink slip and see if the PC division can make a profit now. Bet it will. Second, how can management of the world's most advanced technical manufacturer (at one time, anyway) get suckered into outsourcing the majority of production to a single overseas vendor? Suddenly that vendor can afford to buy out the company they've been working for? If I was an IBM shareholder, I might start a class action suit for fraud against management for letting this happen while they're supposed to be 'stewards' of my capital investment."

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2428/050203ibmlenovo/

http://www.itworld.com/Comp/nls_networkingibmpc050203/

(*) (*) And to think back to when IBM was considered "blue chip". :| :|

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Q U O T E D

"People put a lot of interesting stuff in Altoids tins. Usually it's one of two options, either drugs or condoms."

-- MIT grad Limor Fried adds MP3 players to the list of accessories one can secret away in the "curiously strong" mints' tin box.

(*) (*) too much. ;)

(k) (k) ,Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Posted on Fri, Feb. 04, 2005
PLAYSTATION PORTABLE OFFERS 4-INCH SCREEN

By Dean Takahashi San Jose Mercury News

Setting the schedule for a horse race with Nintendo, Sony said Thursday that it will launch its new handheld game gadget in the United States on March 24.

The first million people who buy a $249 PlayStation Portable also will receive a free copy of the ``Spider-Man 2'' movie, which is stored on a two-inch disc and can be viewed on the handheld's four-inch diagonal screen.

The handheld also will be bundled with accessories such as a memory card for storing digital media, headphones and a sample disc of digital entertainment. Sony said 24 titles will be available around the time it goes on sale.

The bundle and price suggest that Sony's target is far afield from its rival Nintendo's traditional handheld market of young kids.

Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America in Foster City, said the company is including the movie to show off the gadget's ability to display digital pictures and play music as well as games that approach the PlayStation 2's quality in graphics. By emphasizing the total entertainment experience, Sony is trying to appeal to older gamers and even non-gamers.

``We want to expand the market,'' Hirai said. ``It's a true portable entertainment device.''

But the PSP price is $100 more than Nintendo's DS, which has sold almost 3 million units since its launch n the United States and Japan in November. The DS handheld comes with two screens, but the screens are smaller than Sony's and aren't suitable for viewing movies.

``We're happy about Sony's price,'' said Perrin Kaplan, vice president of corporate marketing at Nintendo of America in Redmond, Wash. ``We think they are going after a different market. But we are having success getting older gamers to buy the DS.''

Hirai noted that the value of the accessories and movies adds up to about $75. Games will be sold separately for about $40, the same price as Nintendo's games.

The PlayStation Portable has sold more than 800,000 units since its launch in Japan in December. By March 31, the company expects to hit its target of selling 3 million units worldwide, Hirai said.

Nintendo, by contrast, hopes to sell 5 million units by the end of March. Nintendo will be launching the DS in Europe in March, Kaplan said.

Among the games available for the PSP at the launch, about nine will be published by Sony. Six will be from Electronic Arts of Redwood City. At least 23 more titles will be launched later in the year, Hirai said. Nintendo's DS has 16 titles now and will have eight more by March.

Schelley Olhava, an analyst at market research firm IDC, said she expects both devices to be sold out for some time and that both devices appeal to gamers.

Said Richard Doherty, an analyst at the Envisioneering Group: ``It's clear the performance and graphics will be better on the PSP, but both systems are going to sell very well.''

Among the losers in the portable gaming market could be Nokia, whose N-Gage game phone has sold only 1.4 million units after being on the market since fall 2003. Gerard Wiener, general manager of the N-Gage business, said Thursday that his company will make announcements related to new versions of its hardware at upcoming conferences.

Sony, meanwhile, will reveal details of its upcoming PlayStation 3 video game console at a chip conference Monday in San Francisco. The PlayStation 3 isn't expected to launch until 2006.

(*) (*) Gotta run! Have a lovely Saturday! (f) (f) (f) (f)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

By JULIA REED Published: February 6, 2005 NYTimes

When I was 15, I studied in France, at the University of Strasbourg, for six weeks. On weekdays, my fellow American students and I ate lunch in the school cafeteria and discovered the wonders of braised rabbit and coq au vin, followed always by an apricot tart or napoleon (my first ever!) at the nearby patisserie. On weekends we toured the country by train, fortified by bread and (real!) cheese, along with copious amounts of cheap red wine. Already weight-obsessed, I was sure I'd put on at least 10 pounds. But when I stepped off the plane, the jaws of my waiting parents and my best friend literally dropped. It turns out I'd lost 10 pounds -- I'm not sure I've looked as good since.

Mireille Guiliano had quite a different teenage experience abroad. As an 18-year-old from a small town in eastern France, she spent a year as an exchange student in the well-to-do Boston suburb of Weston, Mass., where she discovered the distinctly American joys of bagels, brownies and chocolate chip cookies and gained 20 pounds. When her own parents met her ocean liner in Le Havre, they were as stunned as mine were, but for a different reason -- her father told her she looked like a sack of potatoes. ''I could not have imagined anything more hurtful,'' she writes. ''And to this day the sting has not been topped.''

Never fear -- Guiliano's story has a happy ending. After a few miserable months during which she gains more weight, cries herself to sleep and hurries past mirrors clothed in shapeless flannel shifts, her mother brings in the family doctor, a k a ''Dr. Miracle.'' He detoxes her with leek broth for a weekend, teaches her to become a master of both her ''willpower'' and her ''pleasures,'' and supplies her with recipes including one for apple tart without the dough. She learns to love walking, finds her ''equilibrium'' and goes on to become C.E.O. of Clicquot Inc. and a director of Champagne Veuve Clicquot. Most remarkably, despite the fact that she dines out 300 times a year and enjoys two- and three-course meals for lunch and dinner every day -- always accompanied by a glass of Champagne -- she has remained thin.

Guiliano recommends Dr. Miracle's plan as the French way, but it is not unlike the advice that American nutritionists on Web sites and at spas and clinics across the country dispense every day. It is exactly the advice I got last year at Dallas's Cooper Clinic during my annual physical: if you want a glass of wine with dinner, don't eat the bread or skip the baked potato. Do some aerobic exercise; if you're over 40, lift weights. Keep a food diary and cut out the processed junk. Slowly changing your eating habits is far more effective than any crash diet. You don't have to deprive yourself if you learn to make trade-offs. And on and on.

Somehow, though, these sensible stratagems are more palatable coming from Guiliano, who was once fat herself, and who now happily lives in America, where she first fell victim to our bad habits. She knows we eat too fast in front of the TV or with newspaper in hand, while French women make a ritual out of every meal. She knows we eat portions that are too big and food that is too bland. French women, on the other hand, stress flavor and variety over quantity and, therefore, are more satisfied with less. (Bland food and too much of one kind, a big bowl of pasta for example, breeds boredom, which leads you to alleviate it by eating more.) She knows our tendency to gorge ourselves on Snickers bars rather than savoring a single piece of fine dark chocolate. French women eat slowly and ''with all five senses.''

Indeed, much is made of the superiority of French women in all things, from chewing to ''using the same scarf to create a different effect'' to ''preserving spark and mystery'' in long-term relationships. Apparently, they're even better at being happy -- ''the French woman understands intuitively that one does not laugh because one is happy; one is happy because one laughs.'' This gets a tad tiresome, but I forgive Guiliano her patriotic fervor and her endless aphorisms because she is on to something. After all, I lost 10 pounds by walking off my daily pastry and eating small portions of once exotic dishes (at the university cafeteria they never filled your plate). Also, who can blame her for branding? If a lot of what she dispenses is universally sound advice with a French label, she's smart to apply it. We may profess to despise her compatriots in all their arrogance, but secretly we still find Paris far sexier than South Beach.

I think our problem with the French has always been jealousy. We have an inferiority complex, at least stylewise. French women can do more with a scarf. We wish we had their innate chic, their effortless discipline, their easy appreciation of all things sensual -- their impossible thinness. When I begged my parents to send me abroad, it was not to, say, Germany that I wished to go. Desperate to be sophisticated, it was French that I wanted to learn, France that I wanted to know. (Now of course, I wish I'd studied the far more useful Spanish.) Despite all our achievements in what used to be the exclusively French provinces of fashion, food and wine, the real milestones for many of us remain our first Chanel suit, our first sip of Petrus or Chateau d'Yquem, our first time at La Grenouille or La Tour d'Argent. And then there is the fact that while close to two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight, French women really don't get fat.

The reason behind that most enviable difference, says Guiliano, is that ''French women take pleasure in staying thin by eating well, while American women see it as a conflict and obsess over it.'' Put another way, ''French women typically think about good things to eat. American women typically worry about bad things to eat.'' She says she is constantly appalled that American cocktail parties are filled with chatter about diets, a subject that shouldn't be deemed proper conversation. She says eating in America has become ''controversial behavior'' and that our obsession with weight is growing into nothing less than a ''psychosis'' that she believes adds stress ''to our already stressful way of life,'' which is ''fast erasing the simple values of pleasure.''

She urges us to relax. Walk to the market, breathe in the fresh herbs, cook a good dinner, have a glass of wine or champagne (preferably Veuve Clicquot). Just sip it slowly (she makes hers last through a meal). She rejects the ''American rule'' of ''no pain, no gain'' and describes exercise machines as a ''vestige of Puritanism: instruments of public self-flagellation to make up for private sins of couch riding and overeating.'' By all means go to the gym if you really love it, she says. Otherwise take the stairs and pick up some weights in the privacy of your own home. She finds walking an indulgence that allows time for ''freedom of thought,'' and says French women walk an average of three times as much as American women do. She proudly reports that during the 2003 blackout she easily made it past the younger people in her building who were huffing and puffing on the stairs.

Sometimes these ''simple values'' seem perhaps too simple. Many of us need the discipline of the gym and don't have time to stroll to the open-air market (which probably doesn't exist where we live) or set a proper table twice a day. My own early lessons in the civilized life sadly didn't take. The summer I returned from France, a McDonald's opened in our town and a Big Mac suddenly seemed as exotic as a nicoise salad. I failed miserably at what Guiliano calls ''recasting,'' emphasizing quality over quantity in both meals and exercise.

But, armed with her book, I am willing to try again. There is no scientific ''food plan,'' just suggestions and seemingly indulgent recipes, including one for fingerling potatoes and caviar. Guiliano reminds us that a half-dozen oysters contain only 60 or 70 calories, that soups fill you up and supply much-needed water to your body (''The theory goes that the French, who eat soup up to five times a week for dinner, eat better and less.'') Her mother's ''soupe aux légumes'' is worth the price of the book alone, but I am less sure about her own ''Chicken au Champagne,'' which requires you to pour a cup of champagne over some chicken breasts and then broil them. After tasting one, I can say with certainty that I'd rather have the Champagne in the glass and that I would definitely not serve the chicken to company along with, as she suggests, brown rice and mushrooms. I'm also not entirely sure about Dr. Miracle's apple ''tart'' with its cabbage leaf ''pastry'' (not for eating, necessarily, but ''for presentation''). Still, sans cabbage leaf, it's a good idea, and her snapper with almonds is good full stop, as is the delicious tagliatelle with lemon.

Guiliano ends the book with a list of more observations about French women. They don't weigh themselves, they don't snack all the time, they eat more fruit but would never give up their bread or other carbs. They dress to take out the garbage, they understand the importance of a good haircut and expensive perfume, they know love is slimming. Part of me wanted to throw the book across the room, while the other part was memorizing the list. I actually found myself resolving to learn to eat with all five senses -- or at least to try to turn off ''All My Children'' during lunch breaks. I did not even throw up when I got to the line that encouraged me to savor ''all the little things that make each day a miracle,'' so that I may not need a shot of Scotch (French women don't drink hard liquor) or a quart of Haagen-Dazs to get me over the top. At the very least, we would all do ourselves a favor to make like Colette, for whom the table was ''a date with love and friendship '' instead of the root of all evil.

Julia Reed is senior writer for Vogue and author of ''Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena.''

(*) (*) Je'tiem (l) (l) Have a lovely Sunday afternoon. (f) (f) (f)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and a sleeping Doc the Boxer (S) (S) (S)

[sweetlady]

FRANK RICH Published: February 6, 2005

LET us be grateful that Janet Jackson did not bare both breasts.

On the first anniversary of the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction that shook the world, it's clear that just one was big enough to wreak havoc. The ensuing Washington indecency crusade has unleashed a wave of self-censorship on American television unrivaled since the McCarthy era, with everyone from the dying D-Day heroes in "Saving Private Ryan" to cuddly animated animals on daytime television getting the ax. Even NBC's presentation of the Olympics last summer, in which actors donned body suits to simulate "nude" ancient Greek statues, is currently under federal investigation.

Public television is now so fearful of crossing its government patrons that it is flirting with self-immolation. Having disowned lesbians in the children's show "Postcards From Buster" and stripped suspect language from "Prime Suspect" on "Masterpiece Theater," PBS is editing its Feb. 23 broadcast of "Dirty War," the HBO-BBC film about a terrorist attack, to remove a glimpse of female nudity in a scene depicting nuclear detoxification. Next thing you know they'll be snipping lascivious flesh out of a documentary about Auschwitz.

This repressive cultural environment was officially ratified on Nov. 2, when Ms. Jackson's breast pulled off its greatest coup of all: the re-election of President Bush. Or so it was decreed by the media horde that retroactively declared "moral values" the campaign's decisive issue and the Super Bowl the blue states' Waterloo. The political bosses of "family" organizations, well aware that TV's collective wisdom becomes reality whether true or not, have been emboldened ever since. They are spending their political capital like drunken sailors, redoubling their demands that the Bush administration marginalize gay people, stamp out sex education and turn pop culture into a continuous loop of "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm."

With Sunday's Super Bowl, their crusade has scored a touchdown. MTV has been replaced as halftime producer by Don Mischer, the go-to guy for a guaranteed snoozefest; his credits include the Tony Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors and the 2004 Democratic National Convention at which the balloons failed to drop. (His subsequent cursing was heard on CNN, but escaped government sanction because no Republicans were watching.) Fox Sports Net has changed the title of its signature program "Best Damn Sports Show Period" to "Best Darn Super Bowl Road Show Period." The commercials, too, will "be careful" and in "good taste," according to the head of marketing for Anheuser-Busch. Fox, which recently pixilated the bottom of a cartoon toddler in a rerun of the series "Family Guy," now has someone on full-time rear-end alert: it rejected a comic spot for Airborne, a cold remedy, showing the backside of the 84-year-old Mickey Rooney as he leaves a sauna.

This might all be laughable were the government not expanding its role as cultural cop. But it is. The departures of Michael Powell, the Savonarola of the Federal Communications Commission, and John Ashcroft, whose parallel right-breast fixation was stimulated by a statue in the Justice Department, are red herrings. "Thank God he's gone, but God help us with what's next," said Howard Stern upon learning of Mr. Powell's imminent exit. He's right. After all, L. Brent Bozell of the Parents Television Council condemned Mr. Powell for "four years of failed leadership" in fighting indecency. (Mr. Powell's commission had the temerity to actually reject some Parents Television Council jeremiads, which are distinguished by their inordinate obsession with the penis.) Mr. Bozell, whose organization has been second to none in increasing the number of annual indecency complaints from 111 in 2000 to a million-plus last year, is angling for a tougher successor and may well get one.

His wish has in effect been granted even before Mr. Powell's chair is filled. The second Bush term began with the installation of a powerful new government censor in another big job, Secretary of Education. Margaret Spellings hadn't even been officially sworn into the cabinet when she took on "Postcards From Buster," threatening PBS with decreased financing because one episode had the show's eponymous animated rabbit hobnobbing with actual lesbian moms while visiting Vermont to learn how maple syrup is made. Though Buster had in previous installments visited Muslims, Mormons, Orthodox Jews and Pentecostal Christians, gay couples (even when not identified as such on camera) are verboten to our new Secretary of Education. "Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode," Ms. Spellings wrote in her threatening letter to Pat Mitchell, the C.E.O. of PBS.

The letter, as it happened, was unnecessary: Public broadcasting says that it had decreed on its own only a few hours earlier that it would not distribute the offending show - the most alarming example yet of just how cowardly it has become and how chilling the Janet Jackson effect has been. (Since then, some two dozen member stations out of a total of 349 have rebeled and decided to broadcast the episode anyway.) But the story won't end with this one incident. Ms. Spellings' threats against PBS are only the latest chapter in a continuing saga at an education department that increasingly resembles an authoritarian government's ministry of information.

A month before the election, The Los Angeles Times reported on its front page that the department had quietly destroyed more than 300,000 copies of "a booklet designed for parents to help their children learn history" after Lynne Cheney, who has no official government role, complained about its contents. The booklet burning occurred under the watch of Rod Paige, the education secretary who, we would later learn, was simultaneously complicit in another sub rosa exercise in heavy-handed government information management: the payment of $240,000 in taxpayers' funds to Armstrong Williams, a talking head and columnist, to plug Bush administration policies on radio and TV.

Mr. Paige fled his post last month without adequately explaining what he knew about these scandals. Enter Ms. Spellings, previously a White House aide who by some accounts had been a shadow administrator of the education department during Mr. Paige's out-to-lunch tenure. With all the other troubles in public education, why would she focus on a single episode of a single children's program on her second day in the job? We don't yet know. But her act was nothing if not ideologically synergistic with still another freshly uncovered Bush propaganda effort. Just as Ms. Spellings busted Buster, two more syndicated columnists copped to receiving taxpayers' dollars, this time siphoned through the Department of Health and Human Services, to help craft propaganda for a Bush "healthy marriage initiative" that disdains same-sex couples as fervently as Ms. Spellings did in her letter to PBS.

What makes this story more insidious still is the glaring reality that the most prominent Republican lesbians in America are Mary Cheney, a former gay and lesbian marketing liaison for Coors beer, and her partner, Heather Poe, who appeared as a couple in public and on TV during the presidential campaign. That Ms. Spellings would gratuitously go after this specific "lifestyle" right after taking office is so provocative it smells like payback specifically pitched at those "pro-family" watchdogs who snarled at the mention of Ms. Cheney's sexual orientation during the campaign whether it was by John Kerry or anyone else. Surely Ms. Spellings doesn't believe in discrimination against nontraditional families: by her own account, she was a single mother who had to park her 13-year-old and 8-year-old children in Austin when she first went to work at the White House. Then again, President Bush went on record last month as saying that "studies have shown that the ideal is where a child is being raised by a man and a woman" (even though, as The New York Times reported, "there is no scientific evidence that children raised by gay couples do any worse").

That our government is now both intimidating PBS and awarding public money to pundits to enforce "moral values" agendas demonizing certain families is the ugliest fallout of the campaign against indecency. That campaign cannot really banish salaciousness from pop culture, a rank impossibility in a market economy where red and blue customers are united in their infatuation with "Desperate Housewives." But it can create public policy that discriminates against anyone on the hit list of moral values zealots. Inane as it may seem that Ms. Spellings is conducting a witch hunt against Buster or that James Dobson has taken aim at SpongeBob SquarePants, there's a method to their seeming idiocy: the cartoon surrogates are deliberately chosen to camouflage the harshness of their assault on nonanimated, flesh-and-blood people.

This, too, has its antecedent in the McCarthy era. In his novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," Michael Chabon was extrapolating from actual history when one of his heroes, a gay comic book artist, is hauled before Congress to testify about pairing up "strapping young fellows in tight trousers" as superheroes. A Senate committee of the time did investigate the comics. Its guiding force was the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's fear-mongering 1954 tome "Seduction of the Innocent," which posited that Batman and Robin could corrupt children by inducing a "wish dream of two homosexuals living together." The decency cops of that day, exemplified by closeted gay right-wingers like J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn, escalated a culture war into one with human costs by conflating homosexuality with the criminality of treason.

One big difference between that America and ours is that the culture industry, public broadcasting not included, has gained much more power since then. Should Sunday's Super Bowl falter in the ratings, its creators will lure that missing audience back next year with wardrobe malfunctions that haven't even been invented yet.

But gay parents whose "lifestyle" is vilified by a cabinet officer don't have that power. They're vulnerable even in a state like Vermont that respects their civil rights. "I feel sick about it," Karen Pike of Hinesburg, Vt., told The Burlington Free Press, after learning that PBS had orphaned the "Buster" episode showing her, her partner and their three children. "I understand they get public funding, but they should be the one station we feel confident in, in knowing that what we see there represents our country."

No one had told her that some stories are no longer welcome. You have to wonder if anyone has told Mary Cheney: Focus on the Family could not have been pleased to read last week's New York Post report that she has hired Bill Clinton's high-powered literary dealmaker to peddle her own story as a book.

(*) (*) (*) POWERFUL COMMENTARY!!! KUDOS TO THE COLUMNIST!! (h) (h) (h) (h) (f) (f) (f) (f) I absolutely agree! (*) (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
An exhausted Sweetlady and her hurting Doc the Boxer (from chemo)

[sweetlady]

The Trip (2002)
It's 1973, and gay rights activist Tommy (Steve Braun) is about to embark on the journey of a lifetime when he meets an older man, Alan (Larry Sullivan), whose political views skew as far right as Tommy's do left. In spite of their differences, they fall in love, but four years later they're torn apart when an anti-gay book Alan once wrote re-surfaces. Does their love deserve a second chance?
Starring: Larry Sullivan, Steve Braun
Director: Miles Swain

Rated R For sexual content, language and some drug use

(*) (*) (*) I liked it and would watch with friends again. (*) (*)


Gone But Not Forgotten (2003)
Drew (Aaron Orr) is a forest ranger who meets yuppie Mark (Matthew Montgomery) after he falls while rock climbing. Mark wakes up in the hospital with amnesia and sees that Drew has remained by his side since the accident. Drew offers to move in with Mark to help him out until he regains his memory, which propels the two men into a passionate affair. But things start to change as Mark's memory slowly returns. …
Starring: Aaron Orr, Matthew Montgomery
Director: Michael D. Akers

(*) Poor production. Seemed like a college-student did the filming and editing. The music and sequences were inappropriate. I almost stopped it a few times it was that bad. I do not recommend this film. :( (*) (*) (*)

(*) (*) Well, I do habve a couple more netflix films here including "Shrek 2", (h) (h) why not? I need a good laugh. Badly. :|

({) (}) and (k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Virgo Karma Profile

With its analytical mind and penchant for helping others, Virgo is one of the most selflessly virtuous Signs of the Zodiac. The Sign of the Virgin possesses high-minded ideals toward which it works constantly; second-best just doesn't satisfy Virgo, who requires perfection in all things. Virgos apply the same high standards to themselves that they do to their friends and loved ones; at least they're fair about their scrutiny and diligent criticisms! That's right, Virgo tends to place too high a premium on perfection, and sometimes can't seem to let well enough alone. Others can begin to feel a bit hen-pecked when Virgo's around, due to the Virgoan tendency to criticize constantly and focus on minor (often unimportant) details.

All this nervous attention to detail can leave Virgo itself feeling a bit harried at the day's end. The Sign of Virgo rules the stomach and digestive tract; have you ever developed a stomachache just from worrying too much? That's how many Virgos feel all the time! They may work themselves into a self-critical, nervous frenzy and be simply unable to unwind. But what is all this focus on perfection for? Perfection isn't exactly a human trait; as humans, we tend to verge more toward chaos, or at least toward somewhere in the middle. Even Virgo interestingly enough, when Virgo is out of synch it might actually become quite sloppy. As do all extremes, Virgo's obsession with perfection needs balancing.

Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, all this hyper-attention to detail may be drawing Virgo's attention away from more important matters or from larger truths. That old saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees," could easily apply to Virgo. Could this be on purpose? Virgos should think about whether they might be focusing on the details as a way to avoid the truth of the bigger picture. But they should also try not to let that suggestion send them into an over-analytical frenzy! Virgo's truly analytical mind is both a strength and a weakness. The same quality that makes Virgos wonderful accountants, lawyers and researchers may also make them think too hard about things not deserving of so much attention. Virgo must try to learn to distinguish what does merit close scrutiny and criticism (such as a public policy that hurts more than it helps) from what doesn't (such as the way your family takes off their shoes by the front door and leaves them there in a messy pile).

There are some very real health risks in never allowing oneself to relax and unwind. Virgo can be something of a hypochondriac, and hypochondria can actually lead to real medical conditions. And even if it doesn't, what's the fun of constantly worrying about possible health problems? Virgo must learn to relax and let go, which may be easier said than done. Those born under its exacting influence may have to look to other Signs of the Zodiac for help and inspiration. For example, Sagittarius is perfectly able to see that forest that Virgo is never able to see for all the trees. As the Sign of the Philosopher, Sagittarius concerns itself with the larger truths that Virgo may miss or not understand. Virgo can look to Pisces to learn to stop criticizing and start understanding the reasons behind others' shortcomings; perhaps criticism isn't the best way to help someone. And Gemini can inspire Virgo to relax and use that sharp mind for fun, not toil.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/atplay/virgo3.jsp

(*) (*) Fits to a "T"! ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/love/gallery.jsp?floc=g-kissing_women1&gname=kissing_women

(*) (*) Only two to three seem genuine and authentic to me.....the others seem very posed as if for a het man's enjoyment. My 2 cents. ;) ;) (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Macca keeps it clean to Bowl 'em over

04/02/2005 - 14:21:14 A year after the Janet Jackson boob, US television has come up with the perfect way to clean up its act at halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday: hire Paul McCartney to entertain.

A year after the Janet Jackson boob, US television has come up with the perfect way to clean up its act at halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday: hire Paul McCartney to entertain.

Paul McCartney will be the only performer during the National Football League’s 12 minute extravaganza in Jacksonville, Florida.

He promises not to cause the same furore Jackson stirred up last season when Justin Timberlake tore open her top at the end of the show and revealed her bare breast - the infamous “wardrobe malfunction”.

And so, the former Beatles star has come full circle. Considered among the most edgy entertainers in the world during the 1960s, he has now become the safe choice.

“I had a slight inkling that there might be something like that attached to it,” McCartney said last night.

“That’s OK. It’s an honour to do it.”

McCartney’s play list – he has hundreds of songs to choose from – is a secret, although everything has been vetted and approved by the NFL to ensure he doesn’t sing anything that might be offensive.

The 62-year-old icon joked about the possibility of exposing flesh during the halftime show.

“I can assure you I won’t,” McCartney said, “because I’ll be naked”.

Fox, which is televising the game, has opted against an eight-second delay of the telecast as a way of preventing something inappropriate from airing. Short delays on live events became much more popular in the aftermath of the Jackson affair.

“Basically, we’re treating the Super Bowl as a news event,” spokesman Dan Hill said. “We don’t believe in tape delaying news events.”

The Jackson episode dominated conversation about the game for weeks afterward. It prompted congressional hearings, stricter Federal Communication Commission rules and triggered fines against the US stations that carried the game.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=132626336&p=y3z6z7x4z

(*) (*) What GREAT news! Paul rocks! (h) (h)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

La Dolce Musto
by Michael Musto
February 1st, 2005 10:03

Let me graciously glide you through the decades, starting with the '60s Broadway musical Good Vibrations, a harmless theme park entertainment that pie-facedly borrows from Mamma Mia! (it throws in the expected "surprise" gay twist and the de rigueur post-curtain reprise medley) while jumping the gun on All Shook Up (there's a nerd, an interracial couple, and even an Elvis sighting). But though it's bulimic and contrived and seems to think the BEACH BOYS songs were really just about cars and girls, I was sort of buoyed by the cute, spirited cast and dopey doings. Critics will bitch the show to high heaven—guess what it names a character just so they can sing "Help Me, Rhonda"?—but they have themselves to blame for the jukebox genre; the scribes are the ones who raved about Mamma Mia! simply because it opened shortly after 9-11, when they were desperate for any escapist crapola to hang onto.

The surf turned to smurfs when the '70s came back with a big, old smiley face that went a little bitter. At a promo event for MIKE CARBONARO's Big Apple Comic Book, Art, and Toy Show, I treaded delicately while hobnobbing with TV Land types over warm potato salad and Mountain Dew. Three's Company's pert JOYCE DEWITT entered, saying, "I'm late because I was putting on 400 pounds of makeup!" That's OK, Joyce, what else have you been working on? "They're doing an A&E Biography about Three's Company and I'm writing three books, describing what I've learned from the most amazing spiritual teachers on the planet." Hmm, I was starting to notice a three trend.

But anyway, when John Ritter died, did you really bury the hatchet with SUZANNE SOMERS? Oops. Non-spiritual moment. "I never had a hatchet with Suzanne," she said, steaming, "and I don't want to talk about Suzanne. That's Suzanne's drama and you'll have to ask her about that!" Tense silence. The Mountain Dew went flat. No hatchet indeed.

I counted to three, then ran over to ERIN MORAN (Joanie from Happy Days) for comfort and asked what she's working on. "Nothing," she said, cutely scrunching her face. "It's so hard to get a break in this business." OK, but do you think Chachi (SCOTT BAIO) was overrated? "I do! He's a sweetheart and he's cute and everything, but . . . " She stopped herself. "No, he's a nice guy. He has a strong Italian father and he wouldn't have been overrated without that. Italians are very close." (I know; that's why I always look so suffocated.)

Moving on to the '80s—nah, let's race forward to the '90s, to get as far away from Three's Company's backstage devilry as possible. The '90s were the land of Forrest Gump, grunge, FIONA APPLE, and other uplifting phenomena, and they're all back—things happen so quickly here—via Nerveana, a Tribeca club dedicated to the Prozac decade, the one that had me at hello. So did the club; I adore nothing more than a well-executed theme, and this place—basically the upstairs to the '80s haven the Culture Club—turns it out like a Spice Girl at an open bar. The Beverly Hills 90210 mural is perfection, the O.J. car chase on the TV screen still compels, and even the cocktail ideas are divoon. (The LORENA BOBBITT "tastes like fresh cut strawberries.") What I could have done without at the opening were all the reporters running around asking people, "So what characterized the '90s anyway?" Honey, if you can remember, you weren't there.

Less than zero

I can't even remember the present—yes, we've blissfully segued into now—though I do recall the recent wrap party for Fox's ex-con drama Jonny Zero at the Cutting Room, where I overheard someone from the show say, "They ran the fourth episode second! It made no sense!" Yeah, but it made more sense than if they ran the fourth episode fourth. And it made way more sense than the fact that star FRANKY G wasn't showing up because he couldn't tear himself away from the Steelers game.

Sense (and some sensibility) was restored at DENISE RICH's Fifth Avenue luxury pad last Monday, when notables gathered to watch the DVD release of JAMES TOBACK's When Will I Be Loved over couscous and champagne. Was Toback, like every other moviemaker, praying he'd get Oscar nominations the next day? "Unfortunately," he told me, "with a marketing budget of zero, my chances are zero. I'm not bitter because I know the game. When I made
Fingers 25 years ago, HARVEY KEITEL said, 'Jimmy, what's wrong with these people? All this shit is getting attention and nobody knows we exist.' Well, now a French director, JACQUES AUDIARD, is remaking Fingers. Maybe I have to wait 25 years till I'm a cripple in Brazil for this movie to have its day in court. Or we could screen it every night here, charge $3,000 a ticket, and call it the Denise Rich Theater!" Uh-oh, another three word. Don't come at me with a hatchet, Joyce.

The nominations came out—no PAUL GIAMATTI? Are you people crazed?—and I found myself chatting about them with DELROY LINDO at the Court TV event for the harrowing The Exonerated at 21 Club, where rich people mixed with black guys falsely accused of rape. "I'm thrilled," Lindo said, "for DON CHEADLE, SOPHIE OKONEDO, JAMIE FOXX, and the young lady from Maria Full of Grace." (Well, let's hope she doesn't nab the gold or it could lead to an embarrassing moment: "The winner is . . . the young lady from Maria Full of Grace.") Did Lindo get scads of money to do The Exonerated? "Money! This is the payment right here," he said, laughingly pointing to a plate of hors d'oeuvres. "But it was a worthwhile project with wonderful people. I got into acting because I wanted to change the world." And when he does it, I rarely want to change the channel.

Finger me Elmo

But let's point to the future with some food for thought and discuss how the family values crowd is aghast again about the threat of cartoon homosexuality. The strangest aspect of this doofy debate is that the liberal argument seems to always be, "But how could a cartoon character have sexuality?" Honey, tell that to everyone from Prince Charming to Mickey Mouse to Yogi Bear, all of whom had hot girlfriends. The reality is, cartoon characters do often have sexuality; the public just doesn't make much of it because it's straight and pretty routine. If it were gay, everyone would not only notice, they'd shit themselves, so creators have to put it in via signifiers and suggestions to get their point across while denying it like crazy. The JERRY FALWELLs find this dangerous. I find it wonderful. And by the way, forget SpongeBob and the starfish. The Squidward character is a total screamer!

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0505,musto,60647,15.html

(*) (*) Sometimes writers have to go a little ways off in the weeds to make their points. :o :o

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Mary M. seems to be on the same level as others who hung with J.C.

http://www.magdalene.org/contents.htm

******************
Monday, Aug. 11, 2003
Mary Magdalene Saint or Sinner?
A new wave of literature is cleaning up her reputation. How a woman of substance was "harlotized"
By DAVID VAN BIEMA

The gorgeous female cryptographer and the hunky college professor are fleeing the scene of a ghastly murder they did not commit. In the midst of their escape, which will eventually utilize an armored car, a private jet, electronic-surveillance devices and just enough unavoidable violence to keep things interesting, our heroes seek out the one man who holds the key not only to their exoneration but also to a mystery that could change the world. To help explain it to them, crippled, jovial, fabulously wealthy historian Sir Leigh Teabing points out a figure in a famous painting.

"'Who is she?' Sophie asked.

"'That, my dear,' Teabing replied, 'is Mary Magdalene.'

"Sophie turned. 'The prostitute?'

"Teabing drew a short breath, as if the word had injured him personally. 'Magdalene was no such thing. That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church.'"

Summer page turners tend to sidestep the finer points of 6th century church history. Perhaps that is their loss. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, now in its 18th week on the New York Times hard-cover fiction best-seller list, is one of those hypercaffeinated conspiracy specials with two-page chapters and people's hair described as "burgundy." But Brown, who by book's end has woven Magdalene intricately and rather outrageously into his plot, has picked his MacGuffin cannily. Not only has he enlisted one of the few New Testament personages whom a reader might arguably imagine in a bathing suit (generations of Old Masters, after all, painted her topless). He has chosen a character whose actual identity is in play, both in theology and pop culture.

Three decades ago, the Roman Catholic Church quietly admitted what critics had been saying for centuries: Magdalene's standard image as a reformed prostitute is not supported by the text of the Bible. Freed of this lurid, limiting premise and employing varying ratios of scholarship and whimsy, academics and enthusiasts have posited various other Magdalenes: a rich and honored patron of Jesus, an Apostle in her own right, the mother of the Messiah's child and even his prophetic successor. The wealth of possibilities has inspired a wave of literature, both academic and popular, including Margaret George's 2002 best-selling historical novel Mary, Called Magdalene. And it has gained Magdalene a new following among Catholics who see in her a potent female role model and a possible argument against the all-male priesthood. The woman who three Gospels agree was the first witness to Christ's Resurrection is having her own kind of rebirth. Says Ellen Turner, who played host to an alternative celebration for the saint on her traditional feast day on July 22: "Mary [Magdalene] got worked over by the church, but she is still there for us. If we can bring her story forward, we can get back to what Jesus was really about."

In 1988, the book Mary Magdalene: A Woman Who Showed Her Gratitude, part of a children's biblical-women series and a fairly typical product of its time, explained that its subject "was not famous for the great things she did or said, but she goes down in history as a woman who truly loved Jesus with all her heart and was not embarrassed to show it despite criticism from others." That is certainly part of her traditional resume. Many Christian churches would add her importance as an example of the power of Christ's love to save even the most fallen humanity, and of repentance. (The word maudlin derives from her reputation as a tearful penitent.) Centuries of Catholic teaching also established her colloquial identity as the bad girl who became the hope of all bad girls, the saved siren active not only in the overheated imaginations of parochial-school students but also as the patron of institutions for wayward women such as the grim nun-run laundries featured in the new movie The Magdalene Sisters. In the culture at large, writer Kathy Shaidle has suggested, Magdalene is "the Jessica Rabbit of the Gospels, the gold-hearted town tramp belting out I Don't Know How to Love Him."

The only problem is that it turns out that she wasn't bad, just interpreted that way. Mary Magdalene (her name refers to Magdala, a city in Galilee) first appears in the Gospel of Luke as one of several apparently wealthy women Jesus cures of possession (seven demons are cast from her), who join him and the Apostles and "provided for them out of their means." Her name does not come up again until the Crucifixion, which she and other women witness from the foot of the Cross, the male disciples having fled. On Easter Sunday morning, she visits Jesus' sepulcher, either alone or with other women, and discovers it empty. She learns — in three Gospels from angels and in one from Jesus himself — that he is risen. John's recounting is the most dramatic. She is solo at the empty tomb. She alerts Peter and an unnamed disciple; only the latter seems to grasp the Resurrection, and they leave. Lingering, Magdalene encounters Jesus, who asks her not to cling to him, "but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father ... and my God." In Luke's and Mark's versions, this plays out as a bit of a farce: Magdalene and other women try to alert the men, but "these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them." Eventually they came around.

Discrepancies notwithstanding, the net impression is of a woman of substance, brave and smart and devoted, who plays a crucial — perhaps irreplaceable — role in Christianity's defining moment. So where did all the juicy stuff come from? Mary Magdalene's image became distorted when early church leaders bundled into her story those of several less distinguished women whom the Bible did not name or referred to without a last name. One is the "sinner" in Luke who bathes Jesus' feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them with ointment. "Her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much," he says. Others include Luke's Mary of Bethany and a third, unnamed woman, both of whom anointed Jesus in one form or another. The mix-up was made official by Pope Gregory the Great in 591: "She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary [of Bethany], we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark," Gregory declared in a sermon. That position became church teaching, although it was not adopted by Orthodoxy or Protestantism when each later split from Catholicism.

What prompted Gregory? One theory suggests an attempt to reduce the number of Marys — there was a similar merging of characters named John. Another submits that the sinning woman was appended simply to provide missing backstory for a figure of obvious importance. Others blame misogyny. Whatever the motivation, the effect of the process was drastic and, from a feminist perspective, tragic. Magdalene's witness to the Resurrection, rather than being acclaimed as an act of discipleship in some ways greater than the men's, was reduced to the final stage in a moving but far less central tale about the redemption of a repentant sinner. "The pattern is a common one," writes Jane Schaberg, a professor of religious and women's studies at the University of Detroit Mercy and author of last year's The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene: "the powerful woman disempowered, remembered as a whore or whorish." As shorthand, Schaberg coined the term "harlotization."

In 1969, in the liturgical equivalent of fine print, the Catholic Church officially separated Luke's sinful woman, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene as part of a general revision of its missal. Word has been slow in filtering down into the pews, however. (It hasn't helped that Magdalene's heroics at the tomb are still omitted from the Easter Sunday liturgy, relegated instead to midweek.) And in the meantime, more scholarship has stoked the fires of those who see her eclipse as a chauvinist conspiracy. Historians of Christianity are increasingly fascinated with a group of early followers of Christ known broadly as the Gnostics, some of whose writings were unearthed only 55 years ago. And the Gnostics were fascinated by Magdalene. The so-called Gospel of Mary [Magdalene], which may date from as early as A.D. 125 (or about 40 years after John's Gospel), describes her as having received a private vision from Jesus, which she passes on to the male disciples. This role is a usurpation of the go-between status the standard Gospels normally accord to Peter, and Mary depicts him as mightily peeved, asking, "Did [Jesus] really speak with a woman without our knowledge?" The disciple Levi comes to her defense, saying, "Peter, you have always been hot-tempered ... If the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her? Surely, the Savior loves her very well. That is why he loved her more than us."

Them's fightin' words, especially when one remembers that the papacy traces its authority back to Peter. Of course, the Gnostic Gospels are not the Bible. In fact, there is evidence that the Bible was standardized and canonized precisely to exclude such books, which the early church leaders regarded as heretical for many non-Magdalene reasons. Nonetheless, feminists have been quick to cite Mary as evidence both of Magdalene's early importance, at least in some communities, and as the virtual play-by-play of a forgotten gender battle, in which church fathers eventually prevailed over the people who never got the chance to be known as church mothers. "I think it was a power struggle," says Schaberg, "And the canonical texts that we have [today] come from the winners."

Schaberg goes further. In her book, she returns to John in light of the Gnostic writings and purports to find "fragments of a claim" that Jesus may have seen Magdalene as his prophetic successor. The position is thus far quite lonely. But it serves nicely to illustrate the way in which any retrieval of Magdalene as a "winner" inevitably shakes up current assumptions about male church leadership. After Pope John Paul II prohibited even the discussion of female priests in 1995, he cited "the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men ..." That argument would seem weakened in light of the "new" Magdalene, whom the Pope himself has acknowledged by the once unfashionable title "Apostle to the Apostles." Chester Gillis, chair of the department of theology at Georgetown University, says conventional Catholics still feel that Mary Magdalene's absence from many biblical scenes involving the male disciples, and specifically from the ordination-like ritual of the Last Supper, rule her out as a priest precedent. Gillis agrees, however, that her recalibration "certainly makes a case for a stronger role for women in the church."

Meanwhile, the combination of catholic rethinking and Gnostic revelations have reanimated wilder Magdalene speculations, like that of a Jesus-Magdalene marriage. ("No other biblical figure," Schaberg notes, "has had such a vivid and bizarre postbiblical life.") The Gnostic Gospel of Philip describes Magdalene as "the one who was called [Jesus'] companion," claiming that he "used to kiss her on her [mouth]." Most scholars discount a Jesus-Magdalene match because it finds little echo in the canonical Gospels once the false Magdalenes are removed. But it fulfills a deep narrative expectation: for the alpha male to take a mate, for a yin to Jesus' yang or, as some neopagans have suggested, for a goddess to his god. Martin Luther believed that Jesus and Magdalene were married, as did Mormon patriarch Brigham Young.

The notion that Magdalene was pregnant by Jesus at his Crucifixion became especially entrenched in France, which already had a tradition of her immigration in a rudderless boat, bearing the Holy Grail, his chalice at the Last Supper into which his blood later fell. Several French kings promoted the legend that descendants of Magdalene's child founded the Merovingian line of European royalty, a story revived by Richard Wagner in his opera Parsifal and again in connection with Diana, Princess of Wales, who reportedly had some Merovingian blood. (The Wachowski brothers, those cultural magpies, named a villain in The Matrix Reloaded Merovingian, filming him surrounded by Grail-like chalices. His wife in that film was played by Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who will also play Magdalene in Mel Gibson's upcoming Jesus film ... Sorry, this stuff is addictive.) The idea that Magdalene herself was the Holy Grail — the human receptacle for Jesus' blood line — popped up in a 1986 best seller, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which inspired Brown's Da Vinci Code. When Brown said recently, "Mary Magdalene is a historical figure whose time has come," he meant a figure with a lot of mythic filagree.

Ellen Turner was 48 years old when she first learned that Mary Magdalene was not a whore. Through Catholic school and a Catholic college, she attests, "I thought about her in the traditional way, as a sinner." But eight years ago, the 56-year-old technical writer tapped into a network of neo-Magdalenites through her connection with the liberal Catholic groups Call to Action and Futurechurch. The discovery that, as Turner puts it, Magdalene "got the shaft" started her thinking about how to change the situation. She was happy to find that the two organizations, which see Magdalene's recovered image as an argument for their goal of a priesthood open to all those who feel called, coordinate celebrations around the world on her feast day.

Last month Turner and her husband Ray played host to such a celebration at their home in San Jose, Calif. About 30 participants drove in from as far away as Oakland. After meeting and greeting and strolling the meditation labyrinth in Turner's backyard, the group held something resembling a church service, with an opening hymn, a blessing over the bread and wine and readings about Magdalene from the four Gospels. There was no priest, but Turner herself read what, if this were a Mass, might be a homily. "From the beginning," she intoned as the sun sank over Silicon Valley, "her view has been ignored, unappreciated. The first to see the risen Lord — those with more power have sought to marginalize her. Yet she is faithful. She remains. She cannot be silenced."

http://www.danbrown.com/media/morenews/time.html

(*) (*) Can anyone tell that I am a recovering Catholic? ;) Eight years of Catholic school and 4 hears of CCD in high school provided ENOUGH stuff for a few years of intense therapy... :| ;) Call my spirituality of the past 25 years running close to that of the Hopi Native Americans along with an unshakable belief in angels and spirit guides. (a) (a) (l) (l) (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Heard about the "sushi Nazi?" Well, the infamous "soup Nazi" immortalized on a legendary "Seinfeld" episode (and who the sitcom's writers have said is based on a real line-around-the-block New York City soup seller), Kazunori Nozawa has rules. The one and only sushi man at this small, nothing-to-look-at sushi bar insists you go by those rules---and he doesn't make California rolls. He layers perfect pink salmon with translucent seaweed noodles, steeps heavenly mussels in a rice-vinegar broth and enfolds elaborate hand rolls in toasted sheets of seaweed. Some flavors are subtly concealed---and like the proverbial Chinese puzzle box---appear magically as others vanish, awakening your taste buds to Nozawa's handiwork. --Gayot.com

Address: 11288 Ventura Blvd., Unit C
Studio City, 91604
Neighborhood: East Valley
Type: Japanese

http://www.la.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/cgpportal.woa/wa/path?urlpath=%2Fdining%2Fasianpanasiansushi%2Fsush inozawa%2F833

(*) (*) Forget California and roll into this traditional succulent sushi. I've been here several times when I lived here as well as on subsequent trips to LA. It's my absolutely favorite sushi place in the world, including some in Japan where I was on business trips. The "sushi nazi", as they call the owner - gives you what he thinks you'll like when you sit at the sushi bar. Eventually, as I came in with various friends, he finally asked me what I wanted.....which my answer is always Hamachi sahshimi.....(yellowtail tuna). Yummy! ;) ;) Now I'm hungry!

Peace,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

About LiveJournal

LiveJournal is a simple-to-use (but extremely powerful and customizable) personal publishing ("blogging") tool, built on open source software.

Joining the site is free. Users can choose to upgrade their accounts for extra features.

http://www.livejournal.com/

Features: http://www.livejournal.com/site/about.bml

(*) (*) Think I'll create my own site.....when I have time that is.... ;)

Peace,
Sweetlady (h)

[sweetlady]

http://erasing.org/i_ate_ipod_shuffle/

(*) (*) ;) ;)

(k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

The Airline Napkin Wipeoreum
“We Wipe Your Smile While You Fly”

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinair/

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinaira/index-a1.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinaira/index-a2.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinaira/index-b-c.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinaira/index-d-h.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinair/index-i-o.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinair/index-p-s.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinair/index-t-y.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~napkinair/index-other.htm

(*) (*) <teehee> I'm sp punchy after a long nap this afternoon. (S) (S) Have been up since 2:00 a.m. last night....and every night before that since I can remember back to right after xmas, 2004. (S) (S) (S) Doc's staying the night at the vet on I.V. fluids since late this morning. Chemo (the third installment) was just so painful for him. (and killing me to keep trying everyting I can to keep him as comfortable and hydrated as possible):( :( He's in a good place and is resting (actually asleep) well. (o) (o)

Peace,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

The Wi-Fi detection ring was developed to give mobile computer users the ability to detect 802.11b/g signals, while providing a unique, fashionable and ultra-portable product package.

The prototype circuit collects and rectifies an RF signal in the 2.4GHz range, whereafter an Atmel Tiny microCONTROLLER (oops, original post said 'microPROCESSOR'), detecting the presence of a DC voltage, thusly engages a flashing LED.

Due to the simplicity of the circuit design, the prototype unit does not discriminate between other sources of 2.4GHz RF, eg. "leaky" microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc. Future production units would feature surface-mounted components to decrease the detector profile and microcontrollers that discriminate between other RF sources, as well as indicate whether the Wi-Fi nodes are open/closed/encrypted, etc.

Looking at the prototype image, yes, it does look like a dogs breakfast. However, future iterations will have a bit more care put into the physical design and layout. The 3D concept and mockup images demonstrate the future direction of the product design.

The maximum detection range appeared to be roughly 40 feet (line of sight), which is not exactly great, but this can likely be blamed on the antenna and the lack of a sensitive tunnel diode, which a future improved version will both utilize.

More on: http://neil.moon-beam.com/users/kris/index.htm

(*) (*) (h) (h) VERY cool! (h) (h)

Peace,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

All this hurly-burly over HD DVD and Blu-ray, and here they're getting leapfrogged already. Tokyo-based Optware Corp. says it's developed an optical storage technology capable of writing 3.9 terabytes of information on a single disc. Dubbed Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD), the technology records data on discs in the form of laser interference fringes, enabling discs the size of today's DVDs to store more than 200 times as much data, with a transfer rate of over one gigabit per second. Sounds promising. Certainly, HVD could solve the current disc space to floor volume issues that enterprises are running into. Still, as Brian Babinea, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy group, notes, it's difficult to assess HVDs' true potential without seeing them in action in a business environment. "Until these products actually hit the market, it's all speculation," Babinea told IT Observer. "HVD offers tremendous amounts of capacity, but they need to prove that the data can be accessed quickly without any quality degradation. Until then, it's a science project," he said.

http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/02/04/holographic/index.php

http://www.ebcvg.com/articles.php?id=579


(*) (*) Storage capacity and associated costs have been plummeting for years. These new developments will be no different - I disagree with the analyst in this article. I'll bet that he has stock in either new format DVD or Blu-ray companies for sure! ;) ;) (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

or in other words:

PEOPLESOFT MERGER MEANS RIVALS MAY NEED TO COOPERATE

By John Boudreau Mercury News Sat, Feb. 05, 2005

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/10825086.htm


(*) (*) Two rivals cooperating? We'll see. :|

Peace,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Posted on Mon, Feb. 07, 2005

CONCERN OVER BACKLASH LEAVES CARRIERS COOL TO DIRECTORY

By Sam Diaz Mercury News


Privacy was never supposed to be an issue.

When the cell phone companies sat down a couple of years ago to talk about making cell phone numbers available through the national 411 directory, the message was clear: If it involved any risk of upsetting customers over the privacy of their numbers, then all bets were off.

Now, the issue of privacy -- along with legislation that attempts to force the issue -- has taken center stage, slowing efforts to add cell phone numbers to the directory and possibly sending the idea to its grave before it even gets off the ground.

Sprint PCS said last week that it will delay its rollout of the cell phone directory -- dubbed Wireless 411 -- for at least a year. Verizon Wireless pulled out of the plan shortly after discussions started. And Cingular Wireless -- now the largest national cell phone carrier, following its acquisition of AT&T Wireless -- has taken a non-committal stance on the issue.

Collectively, that could spell disaster for an idea that was intended to serve two growing groups of consumers: the small-business owners who use their cell phones -- also known as wireless phones -- as their primary business phone, and the younger generation of cell phone users who no longer bother with home-based ``landline'' phones.

``Every carrier is running for the hills,'' said Roger Entner, a Yankee Group analyst who views the 411 directory as pretty much dead. Only one of the six largest cell phone companies -- T-Mobile -- remains committed to the service, planning to offer it later this year.

But Greg Keene, chief privacy officer for Qsent, the Portland, Ore., company selected to manage the 411 database of cell phone numbers, said the service is something that's in demand and won't go away.

``Over 50 percent of consumers want this service, as long as it has good privacy protection built in,'' Keene said, referring to the results of a 2004 survey that studied consumer reaction to the idea. ``When more than half of the people want it, then it lives, especially as more and more people move away from landline phones to wireless phones.''

Originally, Qsent had hoped that cell phone companies would start offering the 411 service to their customers in the first half of this year. Then the cell phone numbers belonging to those who wanted to be listed would be added to the 411 directory -- but not a phone book or Internet database -- by the end of the year.

But without the support of the nation's largest carriers, that's an unlikely scenario, said Entner, the industry analyst.

The concept of Wireless 411 has been in development for a couple of years and was gearing up for a launch when a fast-spreading e-mail -- now recognized as an urban myth -- started flooding e-mail inboxes in December. The e-mail issued a warning about a soon-to-be-released cell phone directory that would be handed over to telemarketers unless the numbers were registered on a federal do-not-call list by a deadline date.

The e-mail's message was wrong -- but the fallout showed just how sensitive the issue of cell phone privacy remains, said Janee Briesemeister, a senior policy analyst for Consumers Union.

``The fact that that e-mail spread like wildfire is indicative of the concern that consumers have about this issue,'' Briesemeister said. ``While the e-mail was not 100 percent correct, the fact that people responded to it so strongly shows that the public is concerned and wants to keep control of their cell phone numbers.''

Unlike calls on a home-based landline phone, incoming cell phone calls are usually billed per minute, prompting users to be selective about who gets their number. Landline phone numbers, with an unlimited-use model, have always been listed in the 411 directory, as well as the phone book, unless the customers pays to be unlisted.

``Wireless has grown up differently than the landline telephone did,'' said Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson. ``There is a zone of privacy, if you will, around wireless. People don't just automatically give out their wireless numbers. They decide whether someone will have their number or not.''

The Qsent plan for managing the 411 database of cell phone numbers, he said, addresses those privacy concerns:

• The directory would be established on an ``opt-in'' basis. Only customers who ask their cell phone provider to add the number to the directory would be included. Customers who do nothing would not be in.

• The numbers would not be printed in phone books or be available on the Internet.

• The numbers also would not be part of the landline 411 directory itself. Instead, Qsent would maintain the directory, and operators who handle 411 calls -- whether from landline phones or cell phones -- would reroute callers to the Qsent directory for a listed cell phone number.

But consumers need more than just the promise of a cell phone company to make sure their numbers stay private, Briesemeister said. Laws -- whether one federal law or 50 state laws -- need to be in place for protect consumers from being listed without their consent or knowledge.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill in September that requires written permission of the customer to allow the listing of a cell phone number. South Dakota passed a similar law recently and several other states have bills pending, Briesemeister said. A federal bill, similar to one that died last year, has been reintroduced in Congress this year.

Still, some wonder if the government's intervention may have done more harm than good in determining the fate of wireless 411.

The state law, for example, requires written permission by cell phone customers to list their numbers in the directory. Collecting signatures and managing that paperwork -- and trying to accommodate a different law for each state -- suddenly becomes more trouble than it's worth for the cell phone companies, said Dan Miller, an analyst with Opus Research in San Francisco.

``It reached a point where the expense of defending putting it up exceeded the benefits they could offer their subscribers,'' Miller said. ``It creates too much business risk and cultivates more ill will than good will.''

For Sprint PCS, the cloud of confusion generated by the legislation helped push the company into a wait-and-see delay for at least another year.

``We do believe it can be a valuable service to those who want it when provided on an opt-in basis,'' said Sprint PCS spokeswoman Caroline Semerdjian. ``It's one of those services we'll have to evaluate more.''


(*) (*) Amazing how just when we got state and national protection from telephone marketers.....up pops yet aother privacy issue. As Rosanna Rosannadanna used to always say, "It's always something!" ;) (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D.

Published: February 8, 2005 NYTimes


Look closely at the top of your doctor's head the next time you get a chance. Do those odd gray hairs worry you at all? Do they speak to you of wisdom and experience? Or do they remind you it may be time to leave the old fool for a source of more up-to-date care?

In Britain, the National Health Service imposes draconian limitations on physicians wishing to work after age 65, and essentially forbids work after 70. The policy is clearly intended to guard the population from doddering idiots, but some may argue it squanders the best talents instead.

We know all about dog-years and cat-years. No expert yet has come up with an estimate for doctor-years. How old do doctors really become, after 10 years in practice, or 50? Can we safely drag wrinkled, elderly frames around like tortoises, knowing that at work we are relatively immortal? Or should we retire while still chronologically young but, in doctor-years, obsolesced beyond repair?

I once had two colleagues who graduated from medical school over 40 years apart. The young one was fresh out of training, the old one heading for retirement. Watching the two of them at work was one of the best possible lessons in the passage of medical time.

The old doctor had taken care of some patients for decades. The intermittent half-hours they spent together had coalesced over the years into tight, loyal partnerships.

The young one had never takLen care of a patient for more than a couple of years before saying goodbye and moving on.

The old doctor had learned medicine from a set of principles that were almost antique, as the drugs and tests of successive decades were replaced by newer, better models.

The young one was fully versed in the newest tests and drugs, and had only a passing acquaintance with the historic standbys.

The old doctor, although reasonably conversant with computers, was a hesitant typist who preferred paper charts, prescriptions, textbooks and journals to computerized medical records and cyberliterature.

The young doctor played the computer keyboard like an organist at a Wurlitzer. Doctor and patient often plumbed the Internet for information together. Patients could take home freshly printed data analyses to study for themselves.

So which one of these doctors did the better job? As far as I was concerned, they were in a dead heat.

The old doctor, warm and informal, loved many long-term patients deeply, sometimes to the extent of forgetting they were patients, not friends. Just as you might avoid mentioning a friend's weight problem, drinking habits or bad breath, delicate issues were sometimes let slide in a culpably unprofessional way.

The young doctor never let anything slide. Still, the atmosphere in that office was formal and more than a little chilly. Nothing smoothes the rough edges of medical care like some mutual affection - a lesson the young doctor had yet to learn.

The old doctor used tests and medications fluently - up to a point. Some of doctor's habits were admittedly outmoded. Still, the years had left behind a certain supple flexibility of practice: after witnessing enough changing fashions in medical care, a doctor generally learns that most "best practices" are evanescent.

The young doctor chose tests and treatments based on the premise that there was a single right way to do things. That doctor had yet to learn that absolute trust in any drug or treatment is often a major mistake.

The old doctor stored important details about patients in memory, and nowhere else. The doctor's hesitantly typed notes recording office visits were brief and old-fashioned - a few sentences at most, difficult for anyone else to interpret.

The young doctor remembered little about each patient from visit to visit, but typed volumes, and was a big fan of medical software that supplies preformed phrases, sentences and paragraphs - the results of an entire physical exam, for instance - at the click of the mouse. Sometimes the mouse clicked just a little too quickly and erroneous information crept into the charts.

Insurance reviewers occasionally confused the old doctor's terse notes with incompetence. Patients occasionally complained bitterly about the young doctor, deploring that habit of pounding the computer keyboard for the duration of their visit and never once looking them in the eye. Both doctors, learning of these misunderstandings, were mortified and furious. Colleagues who had to wade through charts belonging to either one just tore their hair.

In some ways, the young pup was much too young for the work, and the old dog much too old. In other ways, each was just right, and would never be better.

Does the practice of medicine have a natural life span? Every doctor, every patient (and every insurer) would probably answer differently.

(*) (*) Well written and I agree! (especially with vets for Doc the Boxer)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Times are changing in the outlaw camp known as Deadwood, as civilization threatens its citizens' hard-won claims. With the camp becoming a town, new arrivals will struggle with the settlement's founders-and in Deadwood, power struggles have a way of turning violent.

Don't miss the season premiere of the award-winning HBO drama series from writer/producer David Milch Sunday, March 6 at 9pm!

http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/

(l) (l) I LOVE this show!!! This one is on HBO. I also really like the L Word as well as Huff - both on Showtime. Huff's first season just ended I think. Better than the regular TV networks for sure. ;) ;)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Confused by "old" medium, Napster belated realizes TV ads are supposed to include movement, sound, monkeys: At $2.4 million per 30 seconds, Super Bowl ads aren't exactly the most cost-effective way of pissing away a $30 million marketing campaign. Just ask Napster, the venture behind this year's most forgettable Super Bowl spot. The company's ad -- in which viewers were treated to a stationary sign claiming it costs $10,000 to fill Apple's iPod with music, but just $14.95 a month to rent all the DRMd music you could ever want from Napster's To Go service (see "And what happens if my rental music goes condo?") -- placed dead last in USA Today's annual survey of the commercial competition. Napster shrugged off the paper's rating, saying its spot wasn't intended to entertain, but to educate. "Did it have pigs or monkeys in it? No," Napster spokeswoman Dana Harris told News.com. "We weren't trying to make people laugh; we were trying to make people understand something."

http://www.napster.com/tvspots/index.html

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/10808291.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/admeter/2005-ad-meter-results-chart.htm

http://news.zdnet.com/2102-9588_22-5566754.html?tag=printthis

(*) (*) Doh!! ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

So, Carly, you feel like you're getting enough family time? If Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's relationship with the HP board is as good as she claims, why all this buzz? First we hear rumors that the directors are considering taking some of Fiorina's operational duties away from her, and now comes word that legendary venture capitalist Thomas Perkins is returning to the board. On Monday, HP announced Perkins, a partner in the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, would re-join the board, replacing outgoing member Sanford Litvack. Coming as it does after recent reports suggesting HP's board has been unhappy with the company's uneven performance under Fiorina, Perkins' return seems a bit more loaded than HP would have us believe. "Here is a guy who has deep, deep technology connections, has previous HP experience in his background, a long history in the PC industry, a guy who I think will vigorously review business decisions,'' said Harry Blount, a Lehman Brothers analyst who does not own any HP stock. "I think it is a very positive move that brings some energy to the board."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10844764.htm

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7409117

(*) (*) Kleiner Perkins, et al. rocks and I once had an office in the same office complex at 3000 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park....near Palo Alto back in the late 1980's....talk about some technical geniuses running around. :o Extremely high energy and lots of excitement! I'm not impressed at all with good ole Carly's fighting a few years back with members of the Hewlett family or some of her business alliance targets and activities. I think beinging in SEASONED folks is a great idea! (h) (h) (h)

(k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

1000 Brix in your pocket?

http://podbrix.com/

(*) (*) (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

California bill proposes a ban on cloning pets
Posted on Tue, Feb. 08, 2005 By Andrew LaMar
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - With a Bay Area company making international headlines by pioneering commercial cloning, a state legislator said Monday he will try to outlaw the practice in California.

Assembly member Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, plans to introduce legislation banning the sale of cloned or genetically altered pets -- a measure that, if it were to become law, would slam the door on a Sausalito-based company's lucrative new business.

Genetic Savings & Clone Inc. gained notoriety as the world's first company to clone a cat and then offer the service commercially. For $50,000, the firm delivered a clone to a paying customer for the first time in December.

The company has four more cats in the works. One could be delivered within the week, company officials said.

Levine said the practice should be stopped because the nascent industry is unregulated and the pet world already suffers from overpopulation. More than 1 million animals are euthanized at California's shelters each year, he said.

``Cloning and sale of pets is not ready at this point in time,'' Levine said. ``There's no consumer protection, and this is not a regulated industry.''

Three animal-protection groups plan to join Levine for a Wednesday press conference endorsing the measure. They are Californians Against Pet Cloning, United Animal Nations and the American Anti-Vivisection Society.

Lou Hawthorne, Genetic Savings & Clone's chief executive officer, said he is taken aback by Levine's bill because his company has taken extra steps to meet high ethical standards.

The company counsels clients that cloning is not a replacement for a lost pet but more like ``a later-born identical twin.'' In addition, genetic modifications can produce pets without the disorders of their donors, which is better for the animals and their owners, Hawthorne said.

``We're one of the most ethical companies in the world,'' Hawthorne said. ``I'm just baffled. There's no justification for doing that.''

The company, created in 2000, has tried to clone a dog but has not had success. In December 2001, however, the company produced the first feline clone, a shorthair calico named CC, for ``Carbon Copy.''

The issue has generated extensive debate among pet-lovers. Critics say the money used for cloning would be better spent to support shelters or find new homes for the animals stuck there. Others say the practice is ethically wrong.

Hawthorne defended his business, noting that genetically modified plants and animals are commonplace. If concern over pet overpopulation is driving the bill, then animal breeders should be shut down, he said.

``What I'm wondering is what's the basis of this,'' Hawthorne said. ``You can't start randomly banning things without some justification.''

(*) (*) With all that WEALTH in both the Silicon Valley and surrounding areas as well as in southern CA - if pet parents want to clone their beloved pet and have the $50K or more to do so - they'll get their wish. Myself? I don't believe that my pet's soul would move over into the cloned animal's body. But then, that's just my view. There is only one Doc the Boxer for me. (a) (*) (*)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Posted on Tue, Feb. 08, 2005
ASTROPHYSICISTS TRADE LATEST FINDINGS, THEORIES

By Glennda Chui

Mercury News


The planetary zoo just got stranger.

Scientists meeting in Colorado theorized Monday that some of the planets around distant stars could be mostly carbon, coated in black tar or oil with layers of pure diamond beneath.

Others said they had found the smallest planet yet. It orbits a pulsar, a former star that exploded and collapsed into an unimaginably dense object about as wide as Mountain View that spins 160 times per second, spewing deadly radiation.

Still another team of researchers announced the discovery of a dusty disk around a brown dwarf -- a failed star that never grew big enough to ignite and burn hydrogen, as our sun does. It's the sort of disk that gave rise to our own solar system.

``That's a pretty neat discovery,'' said Alan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., who was not involved in any of these developments. ``It really just pushes our understanding of what's going on, and it's going to push our definition of what a planet is.''

All were announced at an astrophysics conference in Aspen, Colo. In the 13 years since the first planet outside our solar system was detected, an additional 125 have made the official list, and 20 more are being announced this week.

In theory, there's no reason why some of those planets should not be rich in carbon, like certain meteorites that fall to Earth, said Marc J. Kuchner of Princeton University.

Such a planet might consist mostly of carbides, hardy ceramics that line the cylinders of motorcycle engines. But deeper down, layers of graphite -- a pure form of carbon -- could be squeezed into diamond.

While no such planets have been discovered, Kuchner said they could be identified by their atmospheres, which would be dry and smoggy and full of compounds such as carbon monoxide.

The first planets detected outside our solar system circle a pulsar called PSR B1257+12, which formed in the death throes of an exploding star about 1,500 light years away in the constellation Virgo.

Now the discoverer of those planets, Alex Wolszczan of Pennsylvania State University, has announced the fourth and probably last member of that unusual system: a planet about one-fifth the size of Pluto.

Such a small thing cannot be detected around a regular star with current technology, he said. But the extremely regular spin of the pulsar makes detection easy.

Finally, Kevin Luhman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported finding a dusty disk around a brown dwarf that is barely bigger than a planet itself.

More than half the brown dwarfs surveyed have these disks, said Ray Jayawardhana of the University of Toronto. This means they are a lot like young suns, and must form the same way.

``The question is, can they also have planets around them?'' he said. ``And the answer is, quite likely.''

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10846716.htm

(*) (*) (h)

(k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

Monday, February 7, 2005 Posted: 11:03 AM EST (1603 GMT)

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- After getting a taste of the radio business in college, software designer Craig Patchett never lost his interest in broadcasting. But without a job in radio, it seemed likely to remain one of those unfulfilled passions -- until something called "podcasting" came along.

Now, Patchett's creating shows and sending them out to the masses every day -- not over the airwaves to radios, but over the Internet, from his personal computer in Carlsbad, California.

His listeners download his shows to their iPods and other digital music players.

Patchett, 43, is among a growing number of people getting into podcasting, which is quickly becoming another of the Internet's equalizing technologies.

Less than a year old, podcasting enables anyone with a PC to become a broadcaster. It has the potential to do to the radio business what Web logs have done to print journalism. By bringing the cost of broadcasting to nearly nothing, it's enabling more voices and messages to be heard than ever before.

"It was just one of those things where you read about a technology and it clicks in your head: This is perfect and something I want to get involved with," said Patchett, whose podcasts focus on Christian and family programming.

For listeners, podcasting offers a diverse menu of programs, which can be enjoyed anywhere, anytime. Unlike traditional radio, shows can be easily paused, rewound or fast-forwarded. The listener doesn't need to be near a PC, unlike most forms of Internet radio.

The number of regular podcasts is well more than 800 and growing daily. Many focus on gadgets, technology and podcasting itself. Others highlight new bands and music or discuss the latest developments in politics, movies and sports. There are podcasts for beer lovers and wine aficionados, even a few for astronomy buffs and for activities performed in the buff.

Productions range from stream-of-consciousness rants punctuated by "uhs" to highly professional shows complete with sound effects and music. Unlike radio, there's no time limit, deadlines or government oversight of what's said.

"There are going to be podcast stars who are just entertaining to listen to," said Adam Curry, a former MTV personality and a driving force behind podcasting. "There will be Howard Sterns who can use the seven dirty words on their shows."

Before podcasting arrived, Curry was frustrated by the state of broadcasting on the Internet, which is often done by streaming feeds. Unlike with traditional radio, streaming costs grow with the audience, and it's difficult for listeners to save the show or do anything else with it afterward.

By comparison, regular downloads of audio files can be more evenly distributed over time and let listeners move programs to portable devices. Before podcasting, however, there was no simple mechanism to do that automatically.

Curry saw potential in a technology called Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, which automatically feeds text from Web logs and other sites to subscribers so they can read summaries from many sites at once.

After meeting with Curry in 1999, RSS co-inventor Dave Winer updated the protocol so that attachments, such as MP3 audio files, could be sent along with text.

But there was no program that could automatically transfer the files to a music player -- until last summer when Curry taught himself the AppleScript programming language and created a small program called iPodder.

It caught the attention of programmers.

"Within in a week, not only had people improved the script dramatically, but they started creating their own versions in Python, Perl and Java" programming languages, Curry said. "A whole new category of software had been created."

Curry also started up a podcast, "Daily Source Code," to give the programmers something to listen to. But it didn't take long for other shows to appear.

"Basically, it was a radio show for a very small community, which just grew astronomically," he said. "Before I knew it, people were sending me links and clips from their own podcasts. We didn't even have the name 'podcast,' we were calling them shows, audioblog posts all kinds of different names."

It was in a September 15 online post that Dannie Gregoire of Louisville, Kentucky, coined "podcast."

When entered into a Google search, the word now returns 1.6 million results. Curry says his own podcast now has 50,000 listeners, and Gregoire has created a portal that organizes podcasts by content. A number of Web sites do the same, including Curry's ipodder.org and Patchett's godcast.org.

But is there money to be made? Maybe, podcasters say.

Gregoire, who runs one of the go-to Web sites for anyone interested in the phenomenon, says he's looking at a number of business models, including offering a service to host shows or simple tools to put them online.

"Even though it's relatively easy, there are still stumbling blocks," he said.

Real radio stations also are taking note. Public radio's WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, has started podcasting its weekly "American Stories" segment, which saw its downloads jump from 30 downloads in the first week to 57,000 in December.

"Those are the kinds of trend lines that get your attention," said Bob Lyons, the station's director of radio and new media initiatives. "They certainly got ours."

The corporate world is also jumping in. Thomson Petersons, best known for its college guides and test-prep books, was expected to announce plans Tuesday to begin podcasting 10-minute audio files offering students general advice on college admissions, financial aid and standardized tests.

Podcasting isn't likely to threaten traditional broadcasting any time soon, as the number of digital music players is only in the tens of millions, compared with hundreds of millions of radios. But as the player market grows -- and more devices such as cell phones become capable of playing audio files -- it could pull away advertising dollars, especially those that target younger generations.

Public radio is showing the most interest, both in distributing traditional programs as podcasts and looking for new voices.

"It's easier for us to jump into this because our profit model is still very similar to the profit model of podcasting, which is put something out there and then figure out how to ask money for it," said Brendan Greeley, site editor of the Public Radio Exchange, a distributor of programming.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/02/07/podcasting.ap/index.html

(*) (*) Except for the religious aspect, I loved this idea! Like taking B-F on out via wireless.....How very, very cool. (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

The Twelve Days Of Christmas, performed by "Twin Peaks" cast members

http://www.glastonberrygrove.net/texts/tp12days.html

(*) (*) (l) (l) ;) ;)

(k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Welcome to Google. Now shut up. In a lot of ways, Google is a model of a progressive company, projecting a sense of fun, creativity and higher purpose. But on the subject of what its employees can say publicly, it's a strict constructionist. When it comes to talking about the inner workings of the company, there's one rule: Don't do it. That's the rule newbie Googler Mark Jen apparently broke, and as a result, he's now free to explore other opportunities. In January, Jen simultaneously signed on at Google and began blogging his experiences and impressions on a site called Ninetyninezeros (one zero short of googol). A week later, the blog disappeared, only to return a few days later in edited form, with Jen's explanation that he was trying to respond to some concerns of his employer. Make that trying and failing. Word gradually emerged in the tight community of Google watchers that Jen was frogmarched off the campus in late January. And if a memo has gone 'round reminding employees that blogs may build the company but kill a career, no word has leaked out.

http://news.com.com/Google+blogger+has+left+the+building/2100-1038_3-5567863.html

http://99zeros.blogspot.com/

http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-02-08-n55.html

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/004157.html

(*) :| :| (*)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Radio frequency detector glasses:


http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week05/OG/html/1291-1/US06850166-20050201.html


(h) (h)

Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Would you like to add "lose weight" and "finish screenplay" to your Amazon shopping cart? If you're considering posting your desires and grand designs to 43 Things, a social networking site designed to help people find others who share their aspirations, you should probably know that you'll be sharing your hopes and dreams with Amazon as well. Salon reports that 43 Things, which tries very hard to look like a grassroots Web site, is actually an Amazon-funded start-up masquerading as one. What are Amazon's plans for the venture? The company's not telling. But I, for one, am hoping for insolvency, because leading folks to believe they're sharing their souls with kindred spirits, when in fact they are entering their innermost thoughts into the database of the Web's biggest retailer (which undoubtedly has some goal-fulfilling products to sell them), is one of the lowest things I've run across in a looong time.


http://www.43things.com/home/

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2005/02/08/43/index_np.html

Amazon's 43 secrets

Why does the Web's biggest retailer want you to confide your hopes, dreams and aspirations to a Web site called 43 Things? It's not telling. :o :o
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Katharine Mieszkowski

Feb. 8, 2005 | Shortly after Salon's cover story on tagging was published on Feb 7, we received an e-mail from a reader urging us to look into the relationship between a site featured in the story, 43 Things, and Amazon.com.
The Web site, which is produced by a start-up that calls itself "The "Robot Co-Op," is a place where visitors can confide their hopes, dreams and goals and connect to other people with the same aspirations. To all outward appearances it looks as if it is yet another grass-roots Web start-up. But it's actually funded primarily by Amazon, although neither Amazon nor the Robot Co-op wanted users of the site to know that -- at least not yet.
------------------------------------
Tagging: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2005/02/08/tagging/index_np.html

-----------------------------------
Steal this bookmark! :o :o
Tagging, the Web's newest game, lets you see what other people are reading and thinking. Welcome to the key-worded universe.
Feb. 8, 2005 | Tagging as it is used at some of the Web's most interesting and lively new sites is launching a revolution of self-organization on the Internet. You could call it the latest twist in the ongoing evolution of social networking software. Except there's a difference: On social networking sites like Orkut or Friendster, people join, and then declare their alliances to each other explicitly. On sites that employ tagging, the networks emerge, implicitly, out of the shared interests of users. Order isn't proclaimed, it just happens.
What 43 Things does for personal goals, the bookmark-sharing site del.icio.us does for everything its users are interested in on the Net. Here, what people are looking at and saving from the Web becomes the basis for learning new things, and making connections with each other. "It's like Friendster for knowledge as far as I'm concerned," says Howard Rheingold. "I look to see who the other people are on del.icio.us who tag the same things that I think are important. Then, I can look and see what else they've tagged... And isn't that part of the collective intelligence of the Web? You meet people who find things that you find interesting and useful -- and that multiplies your ability to find things that are interesting and useful, and other people feed off of you."

Social networking: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/06/15/social_software_one/index_np.html

:o :o
http://del.icio.us/ del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.

:o Once you've registered for the service, you add a simple bookmarklet to your browser. When you find a web page you'd like to add to your list, you simply select the del.icio.us bookmarklet, and you'll be prompted for a information about the page. You can add descriptive terms to group similar links together, modify the title of the page, and add extended notes for yourself or for others.

:o You can access your list of links from any web browser. By default, your links are shown to you in reverse chronological order, with those you've added most recently at the top. In addition to viewing by date, you can also view all links in a specific category (you define your own categories as you add the links), or search your links for keywords.

:o What makes del.icio.us a social system is its ability to let you see the links that others have collected, as well as showing you who else has bookmarked a specific site. You can also view the links collected by others, and subscribe to the links of people whose lists you find interesting.

(*) (*) Hmm, I think I'm getting a salon.com membership/subscription today as their articles are not only good, but are visionary as well. (h) (h) (o) (o)

Have a lovely Valentine Weekend everyone! (l) (l)

Love, peace and (k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Posted on Wed, Feb. 09, 2005

Audioblog.com lets bloggers include sound, video files

By Michael Bazeley San Jose Mercury News

The push-button ease of blogging opened online publishing to the masses. Virtually anyone today can create a blog in minutes.
But as bloggers look for new ways to express themselves through audio and video, the technology gets more complicated. Editing a short video and getting it to play successfully on the Web is not for the technologically faint of heart.

Enter Audioblog.com, a Web-based service run by Eric Rice, an East Bay digital media producer. Audioblog.com simplifies the task of posting audio and video files to Web sites. ``We said blogging is now a platform, people are constantly publishing, so let's now do the audio thing,'' said Rice, who already was doing an online radio talk show when he founded the company.

The Audioblog service costs $4.95 a month. To get audio onto their Web sites, bloggers can upload an MP3 or WAV format file to the Audioblog servers, or call into the service from any phone.

Audioblog records the phone call and automatically creates a new entry on the blog. Additionally, bloggers can record their message over the Web with a recorder the company created using Macromedia Flash.

(Google's Blogger service offers a similar tool, but its features are limited.)

``I love the fact that you can record from any browser or any computer,'' Rice said. ``Audio can be complicated. And now it's just `get an Internet connection and record.' ''

The advent of podcasting -- the ability to easily subscribe to and download audio programs to iPods and other portable digital players -- is pushing audio blogging to new heights. Rice said podcasters are finding new uses for the phone-blogging feature.

``People use this to record conference calls or they report live, on location, if you will,'' he said. ``It's an amazing mobile recording tool.''
Audioblog has been used far and wide, Rice said. Bloggers covering the Democratic and Republican national conventions filed audio reports from the convention floors with their cell phones. And a group of police officers filed audio dispatches -- with the help of a satellite phone -- from an expedition to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Rice recently added video to the service. Members with a camera attached to their computers can create video blog dispatches with much the same ease as they can audio posts.

That feature could become especially popular this year as video blogging appears poised to take off as a phenomenon. Video bloggers held their first national conference last month. And services such as Our media.org are emerging to offer free hosting for bulky video files.

``We're kind of at the crossroads with video now,'' Rice said. ``We added a video blog capability to our service because we said, `Let's get ready.' ''

(*) (*) <eeHaaa!> Very, very cool. (h) I'll have to try this our during my spare time. ;) Okay, I'll *make* the time as it sounds like alot of fun that might take my mind away.....FAR, FAR away..... ;)


(k) (k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the (now eating) Boxer

[sweetlady]

(o) Oops, got to hit the books sometime today since Sunday's the deadline and with Doc being in the I.C.U. Monday until late Tuesday night and then yesterday at his oncologist, this lady is tired. :| No chemo though during his visit yesterday - because I insisted that 14 POUNDS LOST IN 5 WEEKS was TOO MUCH and that I wanted him to have a week of rest and to eat...maybe gain a couple of pounds back. (l) (l) <sigh> I love when I can finally get through to a specialist - who finally listened to my written questions (so I wouldn't forget) and all of my concerns were answered for the most part. (l) (l)

Love, peace and delightful thoughts of such kind and compassionate friends. Thank you so much! ({) (}) ({) (}) ({) (}) ({) (})


(k) (k) (from me) and doggie (k) (k) 's from Doc.

Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

From CEO to 404 in 60 seconds

"The page you requested cannot be found." That was the message that greeted you early today if you tried to call up Carly Fiorina's executive bio on Hewlett Packard's Web site (which says a lot about how surgically efficient HP wanted this excision to go). The bio was back a few hours later, but Fiorina was not. Early this morning, HP announced that Fiorina, its CEO since 1999, had resigned, ending a contentious tenure that put her at odds with the company's board. Fiorina led HP into its controversial merger with rival Compaq (see "Independent auditor approves HP layoffs"), but has had little explanation for the declining margins and market share losses it suffered in the years that followed. HP's share price has dropped 50 percent during Fiorina's reign, 70 percent from its peak and 5 percent over the last two months. And now it seems HP's board of directors, whose displeasure with Fiorina was no big secret, has finally had enough (see "So, Carly, you feel like you're getting enough family time?"). Certainly, the former CEO's parting words suggest her departure wasn't quite voluntary. "While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision,'' Fiorina said in a statement. "HP is a great company and I wish all the people of HP much success in the future." Fiorina will be replaced, for the time being at least, by Bob Wayman, HP's CFO, who will serve as interim CEO until a new leader is chosen. News of Fiorina's ouster will undoubtedly cheer those who have called for a spin-off of HP's profitable printing-and-imaging unit, arguing it's worth more on its own. Investors and analysts celebrated the move, sending HP shares up almost 7 percent.

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/fiorina/index.html

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10855541.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/3090460.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/10847075.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10855440.htm

http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/detail.asp?view=detail&symb=HPQ&siteid=mktw&dist=mktwstoryquote

(*) (*) I am ALL for womyn/women running huge corporations - but Carly definitely did damage to HP during her tenure in my view. I've been wondering for months during and after the ill-fated push she made for the merger with Compaq - WHEN she'd get da boot. About f'ing time. ;) ;) (a) (a) (a) I for one will not be buying her book which is sure to be wrriten either by Carly herself or a ghost-writer.....hmmm, maybe an opportunity for such a person like me? Nah, just kidding. I would take a ghost-writing project for someone I really admired. I have principles, ethics and personal integrity.(a) (a)

(k) (k) ,

Sweetlady and Doc the Handsome Boxer (a) (a)

[sweetlady]

Victim Soul

What Pope John Paul II is teaching us through his suffering.

PEGGY NOONAN Thursday, February 10, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

I have been thinking about John Paul II. Everyone has, I suppose. The pope yesterday missed Ash Wednesday services at the Vatican. This after a recent hospitalization.

Ash Wednesday reminds Catholics that we will leave this world some day, that from dust we came and to dust we will return. We are asked to renew our spiritual lives, to give up some small pleasure and give that sacrifice to God, at least until the spring, and Easter.

The pope's long physical decline is part of a long goodbye that carries within it meaning. I want to talk at some length about how some see that meaning, and about how I saw John Paul 18 months ago.

After seeing him I thought: I saw a saint at sunset. It was actually early morning, 7:30 a.m. according to my notes, on July 2, 2003. A brilliant morning in the middle of the worst Roman heat wave in a century. The city was quiet, the streets soft with the heat.

Hundreds of us had gathered in the Piazza Del Suffizo, in the shadow of Bernini's colonnade, the marble columns that curve outward around St. Peter's Square. The breeze was warm, the pounding heat gathering, and we fanned ourselves with thin green Papal Audience tickets. The crowd was happy--chirping nuns, clicking tourists.

We were about to see the pope at his weekly audience. Among us: A group of deaf Italian adults in white baseball caps, with silk Vatican flags--green, gold and white--tied around their necks. Members of a choir from the Archdiocese of St Louis. A group of nuns from the Little Mission for the Deaf in Bologna, Italy. There was a man from Monterrey, Mexico, with his wife and two children. As the crowd grew we were pressed close, and began talking as if we knew each other.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"To see the pope," said the man from Monterrey. "He is the most important Christian in the world. He is the follower of Christ." When minutes later I read the quote back to him from my notebook he edited it. "He is the most important person in the whole world."

I talked to a woman with a hat made of hay. Spiky yellow straw actually, the brim down to shade her face. She was wearing a big white clamshell suspended from a necklace. She was 45 or 50 and looked like pictures of the older, weathered Greta Garbo. She told me she was on a pilgrimage. She had walked hundreds of miles in a tour of Marian sites. She and her husband--bearish, gray-bearded--had departed upper Austria in May, and had arrived the preceding day, July 1. They had walked on highways and small roads. She showed me her diary of the pilgrimage; in neat, clear script she had documented every church they had seen along the way. Her husband had drawn pictures of cathedrals in blue ballpoint ink. He had taken snapshots of little chapels and pasted them in the diary. "Here," she said to me. She pointed to a page on which she had drawn her feet after six weeks of walking. They are comic line drawings of angular feet bruised by exaggerated calluses. Next to them she drew the lotions and bandages she had put upon the wounds. They had gone to mass every day of their journey, she said. And why had they come here?

"Why? To see il Papa!" She gestured as if to say: This is the culmination.

We filed through metal detectors that did not seem to work--no beeping or bopping, no one watching things closely--and were directed through a paved area just off St Peter's square. (Later, when I would return to it, a young priest would tell me, "We think he may have been crucified just under here." I shook my head. "St. Peter. It may have been just about here, down there." And he pointed at the pavement.)
We entered the Paul VI Audience Hall, an enormous concrete structure, cavernous and modern, like a big suburban evangelical church. Rows of fixed seats were pointed toward the stage. People were filing in single file and in groups, hundreds of them, then thousands. I walked among them and heard the language of France, England, Mexico, Austria, the Czech Republic. There were groups from West Africa, Germany, Poland, Scotland, Portugal and Brazil. A Romanian chorus of middle-aged women began to sing softly in their seats. When they finished, a choir from Bialystok, Poland, 30 young women and men, began to sing lustily.

Suddenly there was a rustling up front. Dozens of African women danced in, laughing and clapping in floor-length white cotton dresses. On the hems were sewn the words "Archdiocese of Freetown," Sierra Leone. They sat next to Catholic school children from Rwanda, who were clapping and shaking tambourines.

I thought: The whole church is here.

The room rocked. Cheering here, drums there, an American spiritual crooned somewhere in the back. The choruses would pick up each other's sound, so that a group from Santo Domingo would sing, and as they finished a young male choir from Poland, in white tie and tails, would take up the song, and then as they finished a group of American Indians--in native dress and full headdresses they looked like beautiful peacocks--would break into native drums. I thought the disparate but unified members of the audience, as they echoed and supported each other, were like a living symbol of the church every day in the world.

Something came alive on the stage. Two Swiss guards in their purple-and-orange uniforms, big red plumes on their black helmets, entered the stage and stood erect in the middle, with metal staffs. The audience began to applaud.

Then a flurry of cardinals and bishops in black, with red and purple sashes. Then two papal chamberlains in white tie and tails.

We looked to the left of the stage. There was movement.
It was him, the pope--20 minutes early. The woman next to me, a regular audience-goer, laughed. "When he's ready, he's ready these days," she yelled to me over the noise.

The pope was rolled onto the stage. He was seated in a brown wooden chair that rested within some kind of wooden rig on little wheels. They pushed him forward slowly. It was like a wheel-throne; it was like the kind of big wooden roller they use to get something off the top shelf at Home Depot. It looked both practical and absurd.

He was dressed all in white, bent forward in his chair. White surplice, white beanie, white gold-fringed sash. As the wheel-throne reached the center of the stage a scrum of aides and cardinals surrounded his chair. They helped him to his feet, helped him gain balance, helped transfer him to a white upholstered high-backed chair. Then they turned it toward the audience.

He looked out at us. We looked back at him. His face was--oh, his face!

I thought of the little girl on John Paul's last trip to Canada, two years before. She was a child, 6 or so, and she had it in her head that the pope was the best person in the world. So her parents brought her to a big outdoor mass, and she was chosen to give him flowers. She walked up to him with her little bouquet and held it toward him. He leaned his upper body toward her in his chair. Then she turned and ran sobbing from the stage with what seemed like panic. Because he was old and his head was big and his neck and back were curled and the effort to lift his head so you can see his face draws his features down, and the Parkinsonian mask that freezes his face makes him look angry, or ill-meaning, or sad. So the poor girl ran.

Now the crowd took to its feet and the applause was continuous. But it was muted somehow, not full of joy as the crowd had been before the audience had begun.
His cassock was too short--six inches off the floor. We could see his white cotton sport socks. We could see his worn brown shoes. This is a pontiff who wears old loafers, like a working man, like a regular man, and not the traditional silk slippers of a pope.

"We love you, Papa!" someone called out. "We love you, Holy Father."

He lifted his head with effort. We took our seats. Suddenly I realized the purpose of a Vatican announcement that had been issued the week before, when I had just arrived in Rome. The Holy Father, the press office said, would not go hiking in the hills this summer as he had in the past, but instead would work through his vacation writing a memoir of his early years. Rome buzzed; how amazing that the old man would produce a book on his time off. What they didn't notice, what had been cleverly obscured by the announcement, is that the pope's legs don't work anymore. Of course he isn't hiking.

When I mentioned this later to a priest in Rome, he laughed. He told me John Paul has grown sensitive about speculation regarding his illnesses, and had recently groused, half comically, to an American cardinal, "Tell those American journalists the pope doesn't run the church with his feet."

The pope read to us from remarks typed on white letter-size paper. His voice was blurry and thick. The papers trembled in his hand. He spoke in Italian. The thin-necked microphone was sensitive; we could hear him breathe between the sentences.
People in the audience became distracted. Then the pope spoke in Polish and his voice became stronger, and even though most of the people in the audience didn't understand what he was saying they quieted, and leaned forward.

He had a bad tremor in his left arm. During the translation he leaned his head and rested his chin on his left hand, in an attempt to control the tremor.

Then the pope cleared his throat and spoke in English. But the only words I could make out were, "the spirit of the Beatitudes." Later I read the Associated Press report of the pope's message. He had spoken of Psalm 145, which he called "a song of praise for the morning." It ends, he said, "in a proclamation of the sovereignty of God over human history." It reminds us, he said, that "the Lord shall reign forever."

Schoolchildren from Santo Domingo cheered the old chant: Juan Pablo, Segundo, el padre de el mundo.

He raised his right hand to acknowledge the chants. The playfulness of the past--the way he used to wave with both hands, up and down, and say "Woo woo!" to the children who cheered him in New York and Chicago so long ago--is not possible to him any more.

And yet as I watched him I realized I did not see him as ill and frail. I saw him as encased--trapped in there, in an outer immobility. And yet inside he is still John Paul.

I thought: he is a victim soul. His suffering has meaning.

He is teaching us something through his pain.

He sang to us a little at the end, like an old man sitting in the sun. Most of us couldn't tell the words or the tune but he was doing it for us, and there was something so beautiful and moving in it. I turned to a friend. "We are hearing a saint singing," I said. I breathed it in, let the sound enter my ears. I wanted to put my hands over them and hold the sound in my head.
Then John Paul made the sign of the cross. The cardinals came and knelt before him and kissed his hand. A group of American Indians mounted the stage to kneel before him. Dozens of newly-wed couples in gowns and tuxedoes mounted the stage two by two to receive his blessing. Then the sick--children rolled out onto the stage in hospital beds, people in wheelchairs.

I always get the feeling with John Paul that if he could narrow down who he meets and blesses to those he likes best it would not be cardinals, princes or congressmen but nuns from obscure convents and Down syndrome children. Especially the latter. Because they have suffered, and because in some serious and amazing way they understand more than most people. Everyone else gets tied up in ambition and ideas and bustle, but the modest and limited are able to receive this message more deeply and openly: God loves us, his love is all around us, he made us to love him and play with him and serve him and be happy.

I know a woman who once worked with the retarded. The Down syndrome children would ask her to comb her long blond hair, and then they'd get lost in it, lost in the beauty of it. They touched it and patted it and walked through it like curtains. It takes a kind of spiritual genius to know a hunk of long blond hair is heaven. They knew. The pope knows they know.

And then the audience was over. The scrum of handlers and Cardinals descended again and surrounded the pope. They hauled him up, helped him transfer from the white chair back to the wheel throne. And then they began to push him off the stage.
He turned to us, raised his right hand and made a halting sign of the cross. And then the Poles in the audience broke into the song that went back to the beginning, the authentic sound of 25 years ago, when John Paul first walked onto the Vatican balcony and looked out at the world. They had sung it for him at every stop along the way of his long papacy, through good times and bad. "Stolat! Stolat! May you live a hundred years."

I stayed until the very end, two hours. Then I turned to see all the people standing behind me, to see their faces so I could describe them someday. And I was taken aback.

Because they were gone. Most of them, two-thirds, had already left. They were gone before the pope had even left the stage. As if they'd had their ticket punched--I saw the old guy--and were on their way next to see the cats in the Coliseum.

His whole life is a goodbye tour now. He knows they come to see him in part because they want to be able to say, "I saw John Paul the Great." And so there is around him a sense of inescapable twilight.

An explosion of joy and sadness will mark his passing. Joy because it is time now for a younger man to put his stamp upon the age. Sadness because he isa giant, the last pope of the old age. And something else. After him the real modern world begins, the new one, the post-9/11 one, and all will be in play. He was the last fruit of the old world. His presence was definite and dense as the Vatican itself.

His suffering is his witness. It has a purpose. It is telling us something. Yesterday, in thinking about this and remembering that audience, I called the great writer and thinker Michael Novak. He thought aloud for me. St. Therese of Lisieux, he reminded me, believed her suffering could help others. She would take her moments of pain or annoyance or sadness and offer them to God, believing that they became united with God's love, united that is with something infinitely powerful which works always for the betterment of man. She would ask God to take her suffering and use it to help the missionaries of the world. She knew, Mr. Novak said, what Dostoevsky knew: there's a kind of web around the world, an electric web in which we're all united in suffering and in love. When you give to it what you have, you add to the communion of love all around the world. Therese was a Carmelite. Mr. Novak spoke of George Weigel's observation that the pope has a Carmelite soul, a soul at home with the Carmelite tradition of everyday mysticism.

What should the pope's suffering tell us? Several things, said Mr. Novak. He is telling us it is important in an age like ours to honor the suffering of the old and the infirm. He wants us to know they have a place in life and a purpose. He not only says this; he lives it. He was an actor as a youth; he teaches by doing and showing, by being. His suffering is a drama he is living out quite deliberately. John Paul stands for life, for all of life. He wants to honor what the world does not honor.

But why, I said, does God allow this man he must so love to be dragged through the world in pain? He could have taken him years ago. Maybe, said Mr. Novak, God wants to show us how much he loves us, and he is doing it right now by letting the pope show us how much he loves us. Christ couldn't take it anymore during his passion, and yet he kept going.

Which reminded me of something the pope said to a friend when the subject of retirement came up a few years ago: "Christ didn't come down from the cross." Christ left when his work was done.

Mr. Novak noted that John Paul II has often spoken of the need to heal the thousand-year breach in the church between East and West. The pope believes his work did not end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, that it includes attempting to repair the great split between Rome and Constantinople and Moscow. Mr. Novak said he may well be using his suffering, giving it to God to heal it. "He will be a very unhappy man if he doesn't get to Moscow before he dies," said Mr. Novak. "St. Peter may have a lot to answer for."

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "A Heart, a Cross, and a Flag" (Wall Street Journal Books/Simon & Schuster), a collection of post-Sept. 11 columns, which you can buy from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Thursdays.

(*) (*) Peggy Noonan is yet another extraordinarily gifted writer although the Wall Street Journal is a bit right-leaning and red for my personal tastes. For balance, I also have a subscription the the WSJ - as the NYTimes can be extremely left to the point of falling over.... ;)

Have a lovely Thursday filled with hope and loving optimism.

Bai Ling,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer (l) (l)

[maineforshore]

(o) Oops, got to hit the books sometime today since Sunday's the deadline and with Doc being in the I.C.U. Monday until late Tuesday night and then yesterday at his oncologist, this lady is tired. :| No chemo though during his visit yesterday - because I insisted that 14 POUNDS LOST IN 5 WEEKS was TOO MUCH and that I wanted him to have a week of rest and to eat...maybe gain a couple of pounds back. (l) (l) <sigh> I love when I can finally get through to a specialist - who finally listened to my written questions (so I wouldn't forget) and all of my concerns were answered for the most part. (l) (l)

Love, peace and delightful thoughts of such kind and compassionate friends. Thank you so much! ({) (}) ({) (}) ({) (}) ({) (})


(k) (k) (from me) and doggie (k) (k) 's from Doc.

Sweetlady

~~~~~

Sweet lady & Doc the Boxer

I am glad that they finally are listening to you and your concerns about Doc.
This is the way life should be ;)

I hope that Doc continues to eat well and gain weight

Thinking they should always be concerned about you and your concerns with Doc (f)

charlie

[sweetlady]

~~~~~Sweet lady & Doc the Boxer
I am glad that they finally are listening to you and your concerns about Doc.
This is the way life should be ;)
I hope that Doc continues to eat well and gain weight
Thinking they should always be concerned about you and your concerns with Doc (f) charlie

Charlie, thanks so much for your kind posting. Doc has been eating today.....and I have left food out for him for the first time in his life...so that he can eat when he wants to. I have also added some pedialyte to his water.....and got those frozen popcicles (Pedialyte and other kinds) for when he has chemo again and doesn't want to eat.

I've decided to leave his files at his regular vet's just in case I need to take him there again. But unless it's an emergency like Monday and Tuesday this past week, I'm done with his regular vet. Eventually I'd like to find another one when things get calmer.

Take good care and stay warm. Thanks again, SO much!! (f) (f) (f)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Einstein dies and goes to heaven. At the Pearly
Gates, Saint Peter tells him, "You look like Einstein,
but you have NO idea the lengths that some people will
go to sneak into Heaven. Can you prove who you really
are?"

Einstein ponders for a few seconds and asks, "Could I
have a blackboard and some chalk?"

Saint Peter snaps his fingers and a blackboard and
chalk instantly appear. Einstein proceeds to describe
with arcane mathematics and symbols his theory of
relativity.

Saint Peter is suitably impressed. "You really ARE
Einstein!" he says. "Welcome to heaven!"

The next to arrive is Picasso. Once again, Saint Peter
asks for credentials. Picasso asks, "Mind if I use that
blackboard and chalk?"

Saint Peter says, "Go ahead." Picasso erases Einstein'
s equations and sketches a truly stunning mural with
just a few strokes of chalk.

Saint Peter claps. "Surely you are the great artist you
claim to be!" he says "Come on in!"

Then Saint Peter looks up and sees George W. Bush.
Saint Peter scratches his head and says, "Einstein and
Picasso both managed to prove their identity. How can
you prove yours?"

George W. looks bewildered and says, "Who are Einstein
and Picasso?"

Saint Peter sighs and says, "Come on in, George."

(*) (*) I LOVE it! ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

As the woman passed her daughter's closed bedroom door, she heard a
strange buzzing noise coming from within. Opening the door, she observed
her daughter giving herself a real workout with a vibrator.

Shocked, she asked, "What in the world are you doing?"

The daughter replied, "Mom, I'm thirty-five years old, unmarried, and this
thing is about as close as I'll ever get to a husband. Please, go away and
leave me alone."

The next day, the girl's father heard the same buzz coming from the other
side of the closed bedroom door. Upon entering the room, he observed his
daughter making passionate love to her vibrator.

To his query as to what she was doing, the daughter said, "Dad, I'm
thirty-five years old, unmarried, and this thing is about as close as I'll
ever get to a husband. Please, go away and leave me alone."

A couple days later, the wife came home from shopping trip, placed the
groceries on the kitchen counter, and heard that buzzing noise coming
from, of all places, the family room. She entered that area and observed
her husband sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. The vibrator was next
to him on the couch, buzzing like crazy.

The wife asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

The husband replied, "I'm watching the ball game with my son-in-law."

(*) (*) ;) ;) (a) (a)

({) (}) 's,
Sweetlady & Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Peasant's Quest: The Movie ("You don't look like a peasant. You don't smell like a peasant. And you certainly aren't on fire like a peasant!")

http://www.homestarrunner.com/filmstyle.html

(*) (*) :o ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady & Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://iparklikeanidiot.com/

(*) (*) ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Q U O T E D

"What would she get if the firm had done well? A country?"

-- Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of the Yale School of Management, is boggled by former HP CEO Carly Fiorina's $21.1 million severance package.

(*) (*) :o :o Geez! What a racket!

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Party supply sales soar in Palo Alto: "She is one pisser of a gal." That's how a character on the cop show "NYPD Blue" recently described Fiorina. And given the reaction in some parts of the valley, it's clear she was not in the running for Miss Congeniality, and not just among HP's rank-and-file, who by some accounts celebrated by dancing in the middle of Page Mill Road. "She was East Coast abrasive and put in charge of a company famous for its very civil executive culture," Paul Saffo, a director of tech think tank Institute for the Future, told TheStreet.com. "I remember writing at the time that the HP and Compaq merger was ill-considered. HP was trying to figure out what it wanted to be, and was looking for anything to distract it from what it should be doing. It was an ego-driven deal. She's got the worst case of testosterone poisoning of any CEO I've ever seen." Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, associate dean of Yale University's school of management, was even less kind in his assessment of Fiorina. "I think Donald Trump is a more positive role model for men than she is for women,'' he told the Mercury News. "At least there is a self-mocking with Trump. She actually believes in the deification.''

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/10865344.htm

(*) (*) My, my.....dancing in the middle of very busy Page Mill Road? This ringing mudslinging sounds like Carly made few friends and quite a few enemies. Still, she's laughing all the way to the bank....and it's a crock she's getting so much severance especially with HP stock performance (and other growth indicators) being down. :( :( :| :| Enough said.

Peace,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine.

Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. There was often a social gathering or a ball.

In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's and now the date is very commercialised. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The History of Saint Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm


(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) Happy Valentine's Day!!!

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Bulgarian Obicham te
Burmese chit pa de
Cambodian Bon sro lanh oon
Cambodian kh_nhaum soro_lahn nhee_ah
Canadian French Sh'teme
Cantonese Moi oiy neya
Cantonese Ngo oi ney
Croatian LJUBim te
Danish Jeg elsker dig
Dutch Ik hou van jou
Dutch Ik ben verliefd op je
Filipino Mahal ka ta
Filipino Iniibig Kita
Finnish Mina" rakastan sinua
French Je t'aime
French Je t'adore
Gaelic Ta gra agam ort
German Ich liebe Dich
Greek s'ayapo
Greek (old) (Ego) philo su
Hungarian Szeretlek
Hungarian Szeretlek te'ged
Indonesian Saya cinta padamu
Indonesian Saya cinta kamu
Indonesian Saya kasih saudari
Iranian Mahn doostaht doh-rahm
Irish taim i' ngra leat
Italian ti amo
Italian ti voglio bene
Japanese Kimi o ai shiteru
Japanese Aishiteru
Japanese Chuu shiteyo
Japanese Ora omee no koto ga suki da
Japanese Ore wa omae ga suki da
Japanese Suitonnen
Japanese Sukiyanen
Japanese Sukiyo
Japanese Watashi Wa Anata Ga Suki Desu
Japanese Watashi Wa Anata Wo Aishithe Imasu
Japanese Watakushi-wa anata-wo ai shimasu
Japanese Suki desu
Romanian Te iu besc
Romanian Te Ador
Russian Ya vas liubliu
Russian Ya tebya liubliu
Russian Ya polubeel s'tebya
Russian Ya Tibieh Lublue
Scot Gaelic Tha gra\dh agam ort
Serbian ljubim te
Spanish Te quiero
Spanish Te amo
Swedish Jag a"lskar dig
Swiss-German Ch'ha di ga"rn
Thai Khao Raak Thoe
Thai Phom Rak Khun
Vietnamese Em ye^u anh
Vietnamese Toi yeu em
Vietnamese Anh ye^u em
Welsh 'Rwy'n dy garu di.
Welsh Yr wyf i yn dy garu di (chwi)
Yiddish Ich libe dich
Yiddish Ich han dich lib
Yiddish Ikh Hob Dikh Lib
Yugoslavian Ya te volim

http://www.stvalentines.net/howiloveyouissaid.htm

(l) (l) ,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

08 Feb 2005

Chocolate, wine and romance aren't just the quickest ways to your true love's heart. A University of Michigan Health System cardiologist says these Valentine's Day traditions are also the way to a healthy heart.

“The spirit of Valentine's Day, with intimacy, a little wine, some chocolate, bringing home flowers or sweets, is a tradition we should follow throughout the year. It's one day of celebration that we should continue on a daily basis,” says Melvyn Rubenfire, M.D., director of Preventive Cardiology.

Chocolate's little secret

Don't feel guilty if you bring home a box of chocolates for your sweetheart as part of your Valentine's Day celebration this year. “Chocolate has good antioxidants that are cardiac- or vascular-protective,” explains Rubenfire.

These antioxidants - also known as flavonoids - are also found in fruits, vegetables, tea, and red and white wine, and they reduce the risk of blood clots and heart disease.

The amount of flavonoids in a particular chocolate depends on processing. White chocolate has the fewest flavonoids, while dark chocolate has the most. Rubenfire says it isn't clear whether milk or dark chocolate is better for you, “but there are benefits to chocolate that go beyond their good taste.” Oddly, in addition to protecting the heart, chocolate also may alleviate coughing, for instance.

A recent study in England found that cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, contains the flavonoid theobromide, and that theobromide was nearly three times more effective in stopping persistent coughs than codeine.

While there are many potential benefits from eating chocolate there is a limit to how much we should eat. “Just like most foods, eating chocolate in moderation can have benefits but it's full of calories from fats and sugars, so we've got to be very careful not to eat too much,” explains Rubenfire.

Rubenfire notes that chocolate is relatively high in fat and dark chocolate is high in saturated fat; still, it isn't as dangerous as palm and coconut oils found in some sweets.

Warming up with wine

As you cozy up to your loved one with a glass of wine or champagne this Valentine's Day, take heart. Wine and other alcoholic beverages can also have benefits for your cardiovascular health.

“Wine and other spirits are actually associated with a better long-term prognosis in adults. Longevity is increased with moderate use of alcoholic beverages of all types,” says Rubenfire.

In particular, wine seems is a good choice because of its high antioxidant content. “Moderate use of wine is pretty well demonstrated to be healthy for us, and of course makes us feel good,” he says.

Alcoholic beverages increase the amount of the “good” cholesterol, or high-density lipoproteins - HDL cholesterol - in the blood.

“All alcohols produce them to a similar degree. As you raise the levels of HDL cholesterol, the risk of heart attacks and strokes can decrease,” says Rubenfire.

Still, drinking alcoholic beverages should be done in moderation. To reap the benefits, limit your intake to an average of one serving per day for women and two per day for men. A serving is equal to:

-- 12 ounces of beer
-- 4 ounces of wine
-- 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits
-- 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits

Drinking to excess can counteract the positive effects of alcohol and actually increase the risk of accidental deaths, alcoholism, liver disease (including cirrhosis), obesity, stroke, some cancers, high blood pressure, heart muscle disease, fetal alcohol syndrome, irregular heart beat and even sudden death.

According to a study published by the American Heart Association, drinking an average of three or more alcoholic beverages per day over the long-term is associated with these increased risks. Alcohol use should not be viewed as a way to prevent or treat heart and vascular disease and should be avoided during pregnancy.

The romantic side of heart health

“The intimacy and spiritual relationships or connections that one can have with their significant other are very important to your health - cardiovascular and otherwise. Longevity and the feeling of health and wellness are all promoted by the Valentine's Day spirit,” says Rubenfire.

There's good evidence to show that regular sexual activity is beneficial for both men and women, he says. Research has shown that, for men, having sex at least three times per week cuts the risk of stroke and heart attack in half. In addition, a satisfying, emotionally intimate relationship seems to be a key ingredient in our overall health.

“It's very important to realize that support systems and social relationships are very important to our wellness. We've all heard of the married couples who are married for many, many, years and when one of them dies, the other dies shortly thereafter,” he says.

Rubenfire attributes this to the fact that there is a lot of evidence that suggests people who are ill but who have a good support system through a spouse, friends or family, live longer than people who don't.

Healthy Valentine's Day suggestions

-- Give a box of chocolate-covered strawberries to your valentine instead of solid chocolates. They're lower in fat and calories.
-- For those who prefer not to drink alcoholic beverages, mix your favorite fresh fruit juice with sparkling water to toast your romantic evening.

The heart-healthy Chocolate Valentine Cake recipe:

Ingredients:

-- 1 1⁄2 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
-- 2 cups or one 19-ounce can of cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
-- 4 eggs or 1 cup of egg substitute
-- 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
-- 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
-- 1⁄2 cup fresh raspberries (optional)
-- 1 teaspoon powdered sugar for garnish
-- 9-inch non-stick heart shaped or round cake pan

Why chickpeas? They're delicious. Using legumes instead of flour adds fiber and protein and reduces unhealthful spikes in blood sugar.

Directions

-- In a small bowl, melt the chocolate in a microwave oven for two minutes on medium power.
-- In a blender or food processor, combine the chickpeas and eggs.
-- Add the powdered sugar, baking powder and chocolate and process until smooth.
-- Pour the batter into your cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
-- Allow the cake to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar and fresh raspberries

For more information, visit:

Medline Plus: Wine and heart health
nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/ency/article/001963

American Dietetic Association: Attention chocolate lovers
eatright.org/Public/NutritionInformation/index_12404

University of Michigan Health System
2901 Hubbard St., Ste. 2400
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2435, USA
Phone 734-764-2220
Fax 734-615-2169
med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/reporter.htm


(*) (*) (l) (l) (l)

Peace and love,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Each February 14th, Americans expose their romantic sides in order to capture the interest and heart of a loved one. Every year, American greeting card companies create more than $277 million worth of Valentines. There were 25,617 florists nationwide to help both men and women select the right flowers to send to loved ones this year. And lastly, perhaps to help substantiate the rumored uneven ratio on campus, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 1998, there were 114 unmarried men to every 100 unmarried women in the 18 to 44 age categories. These statistics may not prove to what extent lovers seek to please their mate, but nevertheless there is little question that Valentine's Day is steeped in centuries of tradition and culture that persist to this very day.

The true nature and past of Valentine's Day is mysterious and not well understood. Many details of the history's origin are missing. Incomplete history makes both the date and Saint Valentine's life a puzzle.

Two spring Roman holidays might have marked the original selection of February 14. On February 14, Romans celebrated a festival in the name of Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage that focused on young women and motherhood. On February 15, a Roman holiday named Lupercalia or Februarca celebrated Lycaeus, mother of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. Sacrifices of wolves were thought to improve the fertility of village women for the upcoming year and wolf fur was worn to improve the chances of pregnancy. Young Roman men would randomly select the names of local women from jars and escort them to the festivity's dances and dinners. It was believed that if the escort was successful then the young woman would make an excellent and fertile wife. This random love-match may have lead to the custom of 'selecting' a Valentine for the holiday.

Saint Valentine himself is an unknown and confusing figure, even to Catholic Church scholars. Three separate martyrs are recognized with the name Valentine or Valentinus. Legends centering on these figures contain a common theme of defiance for the sake of love.

The first legend states the Saint continued to perform marriages despite a Roman Emperor's ruling that men remain single. The Emperor was concerned with the dwindling military enlistment and determined that limiting family life and ultimately marriage would encourage men to join the infantry and train as better soldiers. Valentine continued to perform Christian marriages despite the strict rules on matrimony, and was ultimately imprisoned. Emperor Claudius II had him put to death on February 14 in 269 A.D. Allegedly, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as a special holiday for Saint Valentine in 469 A.D.

The second legend states that Valentine died while helping save faithful Christians from Roman prisons. In the era when Christians were persecuted for their religious beliefs, Valentine would arrange escapes from Roman prisons to prevent the faithful from being tortured or beaten.

Perhaps the most popular legend centers on an imprisoned priest during the Dark Ages. Local children missed him during his imprisonment and would throw flowers into his cell through the prison bars. He fell in love with the Jailer's daughter, who visited often during his confinement. Some sources state that she returned his love because he had cured her blindness. He would send her love letters frequently as a means of communicating his love. Right before he died, he wrote her a love letter signing it, "From Your Valentine".

These tales have persisted over hundreds of years. Saint Valentine was a popular character in Middle Age stories, especially in the countries of France and England. Valentine's Day is one of several holidays that was allegedly integrated into the Christian calendar in order to encourage pagans to convert to Catholicism. By keeping the Roman date but by changing its religious significance the romantic qualities of the holiday were preserved while dismissing the sacrifice rituals.

Although the story behind Saint Valentine is unclear, many of the symbols of Valentine's Day are better understood as universal signs of love. Symbols of Valentine's Day include doves, hearts, roses, and Cupid. Doves are magical messengers that bring good luck and fortune. Hearts have traditionally been thought to contain the soul and the emotional center of the human body. They represent love, passion, and desire. Roses are one of the most popular gifts for Valentine's Day but the significance of the flower's color denotes how serious the gift is. Red roses represent love and passion, white true love, yellow indicates friendship, and black means farewell. Lastly, Cupid, son of Venus or Aphrodite in ancient mythology, would play matchmaker to Roman and Greek mortals. His angelic and innocent physique transcends pagan myths and he continues to shoot lovers with his arrows, especially on this special day of the year.

http://www.wpi.edu/News/TechNews/010214/valentine.shtml

(l) (l) (l) ({) (})

Love,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

TOP VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
by Garth Gibson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)Instead of eating chocolates you'd rather eat your competitors

2)Instead of a candlelight dinner you'd prefer Breakfast at Tiffany's

3)Instead of love letters you write her sales letters

4)Show her you love her by letting her do your BOOKS

5)You are a risk taker... you decide NOT to give her flowers

6)Instead of saying you love her with a card you write I love you on bills of receipt

7)Instead of the usual love songs you sing classic Broadway tunes from the musical "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."

8)Your idea of a Romantic spot is a seat on the New York Stock Exchange

(*) (*) :o :o :( :( :| :| There's always an obtuse web site among the bunch of nice ones...... ;)

(k) (k) ,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Just some of ones created on this web log:

http://www.acme.com/heartmaker/hearts.cgi

;) ;) (k) (k) ,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.xmission.com/~tssphoto/valentine.html

http://www.xmission.com/~tssphoto/images_val/val1.html

http://www.xmission.com/~tssphoto/images_val/val2.html

http://www.xmission.com/~tssphoto/images_val/val3.html

http://www.xmission.com/~tssphoto/images_val/val_4.html

(*) (*) What beautiful old Valentines! They just don't make them like they used to back in the old days. (S) (S) Off to take Doc for a quick walk and get ready for bed. Long day tomorrow with school work that didn't get done this past week. Have a lovely Sunday! (f) (f) (f)

(k) (k) 's,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

1. Bread and Tulips (2000)
Pane E Tulipani
A cosseted, unhappy housewife (Licia Maglietta) taken for granted by her philandering, self-centered husband (Antonio Catania) finds bella fortuna when she hitchhikes to Venice and starts to construct a new life for herself. Blossoming with her newfound independence, the woman begins a tentative relationship with a lonely, suicidal waiter (Bruno Ganz) that bodes well for both of them.
Starring: Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz
Director: Silvio Soldini

(*) (*) (*) (*) I really, really liked this one and would watch it again!! (*)


2. The Notebook (2004)
Based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, this drama chronicles an enduring love that withstands both war and disease. It begins in a nursing home, where a man (James Garner) arrives every day armed with a notebook from which he reads stories about a couple, Noah and Rachel (played by Ryan Gosling and Allie Nelson), to an unresponsive woman (Gena Rowlands). Who are the characters in the book, and why does the stranger insist on reading about them aloud?
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner, Gena Rowlands, James Marsden, Sam Shepard, David Thornton, Joan Allen, Kevin Connolly, Tim Ivey, Starletta DuPois
Director: Nick Cassavetes

(*) (*) (*) (*) (*) Absolutely LOVED this one!!! I'd BUY this one to watch again and again. Exquisite love story. (l) (l) (l)


3. The Terminal (2004)
Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is a man without a country; his plane took off just as a coup d'etat exploded in his homeland, leaving it in shambles. Now, he's landed at Kennedy Airport, where he meets a beautiful stranger, Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). But with a passport that nobody recognizes, Viktor is quarantined in the transit lounge until authorities can figure out what to do with him. Is he doomed to live in "no man's land" forever?
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Barry Shabaka Henley, Zoe Saldana, Eddie Jones
Director: Steven Spielberg

(*) (*) I LOVED this film; it made me laugh out loud which I so needed this weekend. I would watch this again for sure. (l) (l) (l)

(l) (l) Happy Valentine's Day a day early from us,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

However - I CAN understandsome of these experiences..... ;) ;)

The Waiter You Stiffed Has Not Forgotten
By JULIA MOSKIN

Published: February 2, 2005 NYTimes

THAT evil lurks in the hearts of waiters? Now you can find out. But can you stomach the results?

An anonymous New York waiter wrote online recently: "In my fantasy, I become Darth Vader the next time a customer asks about the wines by the glass, then says, 'Merlot! Waiter, haven't you seen the movie "Sideways"?' Then I will slice off his head with my light saber."

Grievances, including friction between kitchen and dining room staff, rapacious management and near-universal bitterness over tipping, are being revealed with gusto on the Internet by restaurant staff members. As a customer, to read Web sites like www.bitterwaitress.com, www.waiterrant.blogspot.com and www.webfoodpros.com is to wonder nervously, "Could they be talking about me?"

Each month, www.stainedapron.com publishes a new extreme example of customer obnoxiousness. (One forum is titled "Keep Your Brats at Home!") On bitterwaitress.com, the most popular page is an annotated database of people who give bad tips (defined on the site as "any gratuity under 17 percent for service which one's peers would judge as adequate or better"). Anyone can add a name to the database, along with the location, restaurant, amount of the check, amount of the tip and any details, most of which cannot be printed in a family newspaper. (A disclaimer reads: "We are not responsible for submissions. Uh-uh, no way, not in the least.") There are almost 700 entries.

"That stuff is childish," said Timothy Banning, a California chef who often posts to www.ontherail.com, a San Francisco-based site for chefs. "And it makes the industry look bad."

But most servers say that letting off steam helps them do the job. "It's so important for us to have a place to vent," said Becky Donohue, who waits on tables at Mickey Mantle's in Midtown and writes occasional posts at www.girlcomic.net. "It's amazing that more waiters don't kill people," she said.

Many in the industry protest that the rage-filled, often incoherent blogs and posts don't represent the feelings of most restaurant staff members, And so far only a small slice of the industry is active online. "Unlike a lot of people, chefs and waiters don't have computer access at work, or enough time to fool around on the Net," said Bryce Lindholm, a Seattle chef and manager who participates in a Yahoo discussion group for restaurant employees.

But the result of these forums, say Mr. Banning, Mr. Lindholm and others, is that the symbolic wall between the kitchen and the dining room - the wall that prevents customers from knowing what is done and said by waiters and cooks - is coming down. And how do they loathe us, the customers? Now we can count the ways.

"I don't think civilians really have any idea how the staff really feels: namely, that they just can't wait to turn the table, get their tip and see the back of you," Mr. Lindholm said. "Let's be honest."

Referring to restaurant customers as civilians is common, and indicative of the siege mentality that longtime cooks and severs tend to adopt. "I'd say waiting tables is one of the most stressful jobs you can have, short of being a firefighter or an inner-city police officer," said Bruce Griffin Henderson, a singer-songwriter who did 10 years as a waiter in New York. "You have no control over anything, but you are responsible for everything. You are always being squeezed by three immutable forces: the customer, the kitchen and the management."

But recent interviews revealed some fresh irritants for the more than eight million Americans who worked in restaurants in 2002 (the most recent year for which figures are available according to the United States Department of Labor). Waiters must now enforce bans on smoking, drinking by minors and cellphone use, and are enduring an influx of Euro-rich tourists who, restaurant staff members say, often pretend not to understand American tipping practices.

Chefs say they are being driven mad by an ever-changing spectrum of diets, allergies and food issues. Gillian Clark, the chef at Colorado Kitchen in Washington, contributed thousands of words to a forum at www.washingtonpost.com on the subject of customers who demand changes to the menu. "I explain to them that they are in my restaurant," she wrote, "and they must have the flounder the way I make it."

Ms. Clark is relatively tolerant of customers with genuine health problems, but many bloggers reserve their most towering rages for customers with real or imagined dietary restrictions. Last year a server at a Sizzler steakhouse in Norco, Calif., was arrested after a fight with Atkins-dieting customers over whether vegetables could be substituted for potatoes. Participants in online forums reacted with understanding, though the consensus was that Jonathan Voeltner, the server, had gone too far in following the customers and covering their house with maple syrup, flour and instant mashed potatoes. "Use the forum, dude!" one poster urged. "Blow off the steam here."

According to www.waitersworld.com, one Washington restaurant customer recently insisted that the restaurant's $10 minimum should be waived for him, because gastric bypass surgery had rendered him unable to swallow more than a few mouthfuls at one sitting. "So why are you in a restaurant?" wrote one cook. "WHY WHY WHY?"

These writers are immoderate in their rages, but they do not discriminate. They harbor contempt for tourists, New Yorkers, Southerners, Jews, Christians, women, men, blacks, whites, American Indians. Fat people. Thin people. "My greatest dream is to keep a party of doctors waiting for 45 minutes," Mr. Lindholm said. "They are arrogant as customers, and besides, they keep me waiting in their offices. Let them wait in my restaurant."

Serious complaints about sexism, racism, drug use, hazing and management are common, but the servers' greatest source of rage is, of course, tipping. "It's the only job where your hourly wage is totally dependent on how random people feel about you," Ms. Donohue said. "How many times have you gotten bad service at Kinko's? Do you get to dock their pay?"

The vengefulness of the posts, and the recurrence of anecdotes that involve adding foreign fluids to customers' food, from breast milk to laxatives, is enough to turn anyone who dares to enter a restaurant into a nervous, toadying wreck. Jesse Elizondo, a waiter who has worked in New York restaurants for 10 years, says that's because customers generally forget how vulnerable they are to the good will of servers. "I can never understand why anyone would be even the slightest bit rude to someone who is about to touch your food," he said.

Mr. Elizondo said he discovered the forums after a bad night at work on Restaurant Row, when he went home and typed "waiter" and "revenge" into an Internet search engine. He is amazed by the challenges that customers bring into the dining room, he said, adding: "The cellphones are a big problem for us. And you wouldn't believe how many people think they can bring their own liquor, or keep their big plastic water bottle on the table. I try to assume that people just don't know any better, but sometimes it's impossible, especially with the Europeans who act so sophisticated when it's time to order the wine but so ignorant when it's time to tip the waiter."

Online venting has become a vigorous art form for many servers, especially those who are waiting on tables to finance careers as writers or performers. "Where else can you observe human nature at its worst, night after night?" Ms. Donohue, a comedian, said. "The whole system seems to invite bad behavior."

Rima Maamari worked her way through college at a Toronto steakhouse, and said that she never intended to write about waitressing when she joined a blogging circle for writers. But, she said, "everyone was so interested in reading about the stuff going on behind a waiter's poker face" that her reports from the front became her only subject. "People feel very strongly about this stuff, and not only waiters," she said. "I got a lot of bitter e-mails from people about how they shouldn't have to tip for bad service." One customer, an ex-waiter, wrote on www.bitterwaitress.com, "You people should QUIT WHINING or get another job."

Aline Steiner, a customer who was working online at the East Village cafe Teany last week, said she had visited some of these sites, including www.shamelessrestaurants.com, a controversial New York-based site where employees post anonymously with complaints about their employers.

"I think that as long as it's anonymous, there is no validity, and no harm done," she said. "But if they really want things to change, all of these issues are going to have to come out somehow. People want to be aware of how their vegetables are grown, how their chickens are killed. They should be aware of how restaurants work."


:| :| I'm so glad that I always leave at least 20 percent based on how folks treated me when I waited tables for four years between 1973-77. (meaning business men left big tips and many horse-wife type lunching women left little or nothing....surprisingly enough...) Regardless of the gender of the wait-person, if the service is superb, I have sometimes left fifty-percent tips. What ticks me off is that few folks realize that those tips are the REAL $$ since they're making less than minimum wages. I remember making 85 cents and hour and needing to make decent tips.

More recently, subsequent visits to my favorite restaurants most often have the wait-people remembering me and as a result, they and I both have another fun experience, I get exemplary service and they get another great tip. Sounds fair to me! (a) (a) Money is merely the exchange of energies.

(f) (f) Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By MAUREEN DOWD Published: February 13, 2005 NYTimes
WASHINGTON

There are many angles for romance.

In the movie "Silk Stockings," Fred Astaire uses geography. He croons to the leggy Soviet apparatchik Cyd Charisse that he loves "the east, west, north, and the south of you."

In "My Little Chickadee," Mae West rolls her hips and eyes and goes with arithmetic. "A man has $100 and you leave him with $2," she lectures a class of schoolchildren. "That's subtraction."

Physics, of course. As an old boyfriend used to say: "It's all electromagnetic."

And then there's my favorite: the alphabetical approach.

I once had a crush on a guy who told me he was reading great works of literature from A to Z, and had gotten as far as K. So I went to a bookstore and picked out classics from L to Z and sent them to him. I couldn't find one for X, so I stuck in a tape of "The X Files." He liked the present, but the romance never went east, west or north. Just south.

Still, my ears perked up when I recently heard the tale of a New York journalist who gave his wife an unusual birthday present: a list of books from A to Z that would help her better understand him.

I decided to adapt the idea for Valentine's Day, and get some lucky guy the books from A to Z that would help him better understand me.

I prowled Borders, but the more I looked, the more I fretted. I could start with "All the King's Men," but it's pretty obvious that I'm interested in the nexus between politics and dishonesty.

I love Shakespeare, but if I put in "The Taming of the Shrew," would I send the wrong message?

Everything suddenly seemed fraught. What inferences would he draw from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"? Would he find me stuffy if I included "Ethan Frome"? Pretentious if I threw in Ovid? Mirthless if I chose the shame-spiraling "House of Mirth"? Hostile if I picked "Be Honest - You're Not That Into Him Either"?

High-maintenance if I selected "Empty Promises," Ann Rule's true stories of love affairs that ended with a horrible crime? Scheming if I put in Zsa Zsa Gabor's seminal treatise: "How to Catch a Man, How to Keep a Man, How to Get Rid of a Man"? Needy if I chose the Deepak Chopra cookbook to nourish body and soul, unlock the hidden dimensions in your life and harness the infinite power of coincidence? Pandering if I stacked the deck with guy-lit like Nick Hornby, Frederick Exley's "A Fan's Notes," John Keegan's "The Face of Battle" and my Mom's recommendation, "365 Ways to Cook Hamburger and Other Ground Meats"?

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed not only risky, but the height of presumption to expect someone to devote that many hours to fathoming someone else's psyche. What guy would drag himself away from ESPN's "SportsCenter" to read "Sense and Sensibility" or from beer and pizza to devour "Cakes and Ale"?

It strikes me that there must be a gender difference here. From my own unscientific sampling, I think it's far rarer for women to ask men to read their stuff than it is for men to ask women to read their stuff. Poor Condi Rice couldn't even get George W. Bush to read her presentation of his foreign policy goals in Foreign Affairs during his 2000 campaign.

While I hardly ever hear from female readers who want me to read something, male readers are constantly e-mailing and sending me stuff to read: op-ed pieces, essays, letters to the editor or letters they've written to friends, e-mail messages their girlfriends or wives or buddies have written about me, original poetry, lists of favorite CD's and books, unpublished manuscripts, novels, jokes, business advice books, plays, TV sitcom treatments, recipes for cranberry orange nut bread. One guy even sent me his script for "George W. Bush: The Musical." (Georgie sings to Big Daddy: "Any war you can start, I can make bigger; I can make any war bigger than you.")

One reader sent me his latest humor column, "Have Pity on the December Baby" - "a look into the lonely world of living in Santa's shadow" - and said to call if I wanted to discuss his publication fee.

Sometimes, if I don't read their work and write back, the authors send me snarky notes complaining about my insensitivity.

While I could never give a guy I was dating the A to Z on me, I'd love to read the A to Z that guy would choose to give me on himself. I just hope it includes "The X Files."


(*) (*) ;) ;) (f) (f)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

The following is the list of nominees for the 77th Annual Academy Awards. The winners will be announced on Feb. 27, 2005.

BEST PICTURE
"The Aviator"
"Finding Neverland"
"Million Dollar Baby"
"Ray"
"Sideways"

DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, "The Aviator"
Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"
Taylor Hackford, "Ray"
Alexander Payne, "Sideways"
Mike Leigh, "Vera Drake"

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Don Cheadle, "Hotel Rwanda"
Johnny Depp, "Finding Neverland"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"
Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"
Jamie Foxx, "Ray"

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Bening, "Being Julia"
Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"
Imelda Staunton, "Vera Drake"
Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby"
Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Alda, "The Aviator"
Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways"
Jamie Foxx, "Collateral"
Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby"
Clive Owen, "Closer"

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator"
Laura Linney, "Kinsey"
Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"
Sophie Okendo, "Hotel Rwanda"
Natalie Portman, "Closer"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
John Logan, "The Aviator"
Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
Keir Pearson and Terry George, "Hotel Rwanda"
Brad Bird, "The Incredibles"
Mike Leigh, "Vera Drake"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Kim Krizan, "Before Sunset"
David Magee, "Finding Neverland"
Paul Haggis, "Million Dollar Baby"
José Rivera, "The Motorcycle Diaries"
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, "Sideways"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"As It Is in Heaven" (Sweden)
"The Chorus" (France)
"Downfall" (Germany)
"The Sea Inside" (Spain)
"Yesterday" (South Africa)

ANIMATED FEATURE
"The Incredibles"
"Shark Tale"
"Shrek 2"

ORIGINAL SCORE
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, "Finding Neverland"
John Williams, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
Thomas Newman, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
John Debney, "The Passion of the Christ"
James Newton Howard, "The Village"

ORIGINAL SONG
"Accidentally in Love" from "Shrek 2"
Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Mallery, David Bryson and Daniel Vickrey

"Al Otro Lado Del Rio" from "The Motorcycle Diaries"
Jorge Drexler

"Believe" from "The Polar Express"
Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri

"Learn to Be Lonely" from "The Phantom of the Opera"
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart

"Look to Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)" from "The Chorus"
Bruno Coulais and Christophe Barratier

ART DIRECTION
Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, "The Aviator"
Gemma Jackson and Trisha Edwards, "Finding Neverland"
Rick Heinrichs and Cheryl A. Carasik "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Anthony Pratt and Celia Bobak, "The Phantom of the Opera"
Aline Bonetto, "A Very Long Engagement"

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Richardson, "The Aviator"
Zhao Xiaoding, "House of Flying Daggers"
Caleb Deschanel, "The Passion of the Christ"
John Mathieson, "The Phantom of the Opera"
Bruno Delbonnel, "A Very Long Engagement"

COSTUME DESIGN
Sandy Powell, "The Aviator"
Alexandra Byrne, "Finding Neverland"
Colleen Atwood, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Sharen Davis, "Ray"
Bob Ringwood, "Troy"

MAKEUP
Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Keith Vanderlaan and Christien Tinsley, "The Passion of the Christ"
Jo Allen and Manuel García, "The Sea Inside"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Born Into Brothels"
"The Story of the Weeping Camel"
"Super Size Me"
"Tupac: Resurrection"
"Twist of Faith"

SOUND MIXING
Tom Fleischman and Petur Hliddal, "The Aviator"
Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane, "The Incredibles"
Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands and William B. Kaplan, "The Polar Express"
Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa, "Ray"
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger, "Spider-Man 2"

SOUND EDITING
Michael Silvers and Randy Thom, "The Incredibles"
Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard, "The Polar Express"
Paul N.J. Ottosson, "Spider-Man 2"

VISUAL EFFECTS
Roger Guyett, Tim Burke, John Richardson and Bill George, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash and Joe Letteri, "I, Robot"
John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier, "Spider-Man 2"

FILM EDITING
Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Aviator"
Jim Miller and Paul Rubell, "Collateral"
Matt Chesse, "Finding Neverland"
Joel Cox, "Million Dollar Baby"
Paul Hirsch, "Ray"

SHORT FILM – ANIMATED
Birthday Boy
Gopher Broke
Guard Dog
Lorenzo
Ryan

SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION
Everything in This Country Must
Little Terrorist
7:35 in the Morning
Two Cars, One Night
Wasp

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Autism is a World
The Children of Leningradsky
Hardwood
Mighty Times: The Children's March
Sister Rose's Passion

(*) (*) I'll keep my own views to myself.....for once ;) ;)

Have a fun rest of your Sunday. I'm back to the grad work salt mines. (S) (S) Long night tonight for sure. (S) (S)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Some of these are already my favorites!

http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/01/cx_vg_0202featslide_print.html

Carpe Diem!
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer (l) (l) (l)

[sweetlady]

If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers.

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail

18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests

21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?


There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

(*) (*) :o :o (h) (h) Things to make you think.....that's what the email subject line said. :| Oh well, interesting entertainment I hope. (S) (S) I am SO TIRED! I think that I'll just post the rest ofm my assignments a day late - and I have had a drive failure as well as two days of not having access to my courses - so it's not like I making excuses, rigiht? ;) Doc has been like he was as a puppy the last two days and I'm so grateful. He wants to eat all the time, play a little and he actually did the "boxer run, run, run" for about 30 seconds earlier today. Of course I was a delighted mommy. (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

Have a lovely and smooth week!

Love and Bai Ling,
Sweetlady and Doc the handsome Boxer

[sweetlady]

Turing Train Terminal:

http://www.monochrom.at/turingtrainterminal/pictures_eng.htm

**********************
Whew! For a minute, I was worried that extraterrestrial life wasn't as advanced as we'd hoped: "Our goal was to make something that would add to the mystique of Hello Kitty's origins, and at the same time work within the grandiosity of the Hello Kitty phenomenon (if you will). A crop circle — being of similar disposition — seemed to be a perfect fit." Of course it did:

http://www.viceland.com/issues/v11n11/htdocs/surface.php
**********************

Build a Tesla out of Oil:

http://www.angelfire.com/80s/sixmhz/trashy.html

************************

Everything old is new again:

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C3739/

**********************

How I Feed My Cats with Linux:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7403

**********************

On Valentine's Day:

http://www.zefrank.com/valentine/

*******************

True Art or Fake?: http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~simkin/quizzes.html

*********************

Proof that the Queen should invest in double glazing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1415492,00.html

:| :| Talk about losing some MAJOR HEAT! :o :o
*********************************

There MAY be life on mars as we speak:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html

***********************************

Wearable warnings:

http://www.worthersoriginal.com/index.php?id=wearable_warnings


(*) (*) Have a nice weekend everyone. I'm one week behind on one course and still have THIS week's work to get done and submittted. :| :| Stay warm, wherever you are.

Hugs,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 11, 2005

Commentary, Page A10

Carly Fiorina's Seven Deadly Sins

By RICH KARLGAARD


1. Acting like a rock star.
In the U.S., only entrepreneurs get to act as rock stars. Hired
guns do not. Carly Fiorina failed to grasp this distinction. Here,
we celebrate Gates, Buffett, Dell, Ellison, Jobs, Schultz, Fred
Smith. . . even Leonardo di Caprio as Howard Hughes -- borderline
crazies overcoming great odds. We love our entrepreneur rock
stars so much we let their sins slide. Carly was excoriated for a
boneheaded move -- giving Compaq shareholders 37% of HP's
profitable printer division in a swap for Compaq's flagging PC
business. Founder-CEOs are allowed to get away with far worse.
Ellison nearly took Oracle down in 1990 by overlooking shoddy
accounting. (Oracle is an exemplar of accounting today.) Jobs's
first bold act after reassuming Apple's reins in 1996 was to buy
NeXT Software at an inflated $400 million and kill the company.
Because he owned NeXT, Apple's purchase made him rich. Yet Apple
shareholders forgave Jobs because, well, he's a rock star. And he
has made good on that faith.


2. Failing to see the cheap revolution.
Carly allowed HP to drift on the wrong side of the defining
divide in the global economy. The cheap revolution has two
elements: plummeting hardware costs combined with the Web-
mediated ability to run world-class operations from anywhere.
Dell is on the right side of the cheap revolution divide. It
sells powerful servers for under $5,000 and keeps overhead low in
Round Rock, Texas, where the average three-bedroom house sells
for $200,000. HP sells servers for tens of thousands and keeps
high overhead in Palo Alto, Calif., where the average three-
bedroom sells for $1,500,000.


3. Failing to see the consumer revolution.
A huge shift has occurred in the last five years. The coolest
tech products now go straight into the consumer market. Until a
few years ago, most got a footing in the business market first:
Copiers, PCs and cellphones were expensive products that only
became cheap riding the Moore's Law curve over time. Today, the
most transformative products and services go straight for the
consumer: Blackberry, Apple iPod, eBay, Orbitz, Google, WiFi and
so on. Carly has ineffectively maneuvered HP into this consumer
field.


4. Obsession with size over flexibility.
Carly is blamed for ignoring a tech truism that large mergers
never work. Maybe we need to go deeper and challenge the very
premise of these mergers: that large scale is a requirement of
success in the global economy. By merging with Compaq, Carly
clearly believed this. But maybe the opposite is true -- that
speed and flexibility now trump scale. The cheap revolution has
armed startups and small companies with powerful, cheap
technology and access to global labor pools. You don't need a
large organizational unit to manage your outsourcing initiative.
Just go to www.elance.com.


5. Letting talent go.
The recent passing of Walter Wriston reminds me of a memorable
refrain in his book, "The Twilight of Sovereignty." In an era of
freely flowing information, "capital will always go where it is
welcome and stay where it is well-treated." By capital, he meant
money and human capital. Carly mustn't have read his book. Aside
from chasing away shareholder capital, she chased away talent,
from Michael Capellas on down. For high-IQ tech companies, talent
loss may be the greater sin. The most dynamic -- Microsoft and
Oracle during the '80s and '90s, and Google now -- have always
been obsessed with recruiting and keeping talent. This week
Google said it would rather slow its growth than lower the talent
bar. To be fair, Carly didn't start the talent drain at HP -- it
began under John Young and continued under Lewis Platt; but she
didn't stop it, either.


6. Not tolerating strength in others.
A few months ago, I visited Peter Drucker on his 95th birthday.
We talked about his great life's work -- the study of what makes
an effective executive. He said the good ones tolerate strength
in others; the bad ones don't. Gates has Steve Ballmer. Michael
Dell has Kevin Rollins. Larry Ellison has Jeff Henley. Carly had
no one like that.


7. Lack of focus.
We conclude with Drucker's other great insight: Effective CEOs
pick two tasks and devote their energies there. When those tasks
are done, they don't go to #3. They make a new list. One
overlooked trick to maintaining focus, Drucker told me, is to cut
travel. "Make your reports come to see you. Use technology, it's
cheaper than traveling. I don't know anybody who can work while
traveling. Do you?" Carly, globe-hopping in her Gulfstream,
worked 100-hour weeks. But she was focused on too many tasks.
Which is no focus at all.


Mr. Karlgaard is publisher of Forbes magazine and author of
"Life 2.0" (Crown Business, 2004).


(*) (*) :o (a) (a) Enough said. ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

From the Desk of David Pogue: Uninstalling Woes

As you know, I review new products all the time. Then later,
after I return the hardware products to the manufacturers, I
have to clean out the detritus their installations leave
behind on my Windows PC. And today was housekeeping day.

The first program I spotted was Adobe Acrobat 5, which I
don't need any more because I now have Acrobat 6. But when I
tried to remove Acrobat 5 (using Windows's Add/Remove
Programs program), a message said, "The system indicates that
the following shared file is no longer used by any programs
and may be deleted: C:/program Files/Dell/ShareDLL/djbsdk.dll.
If any programs are still using this file and it is removed
those programs may not function. Do you want to remove the
shared file? Yes/No."

WHAT THE...!?!? Like I'm supposed to know if some other
program is going to need C:/program Files/Dell/ShareDLL/
djbsdk.dll?

No normal person could possibly know that -- heck, no
technology columnist could possibly know that -- which can
mean only one thing: That whoever writes that kind of error
message is lazy and mean-spirited. (Not to mention
uneducated, as indicated by the run-on second sentence.)

Let's move on to program #2, from Creative Labs. This time,
when I clicked REMOVE, it whirred for a moment and then said:
"Do you want to completely remove the selected application?"

Ummm, no. I actually clicked REMOVE because my index finger
had an itch. DUH!

The third program, Firefox .08, I didn't need anymore because
I have Firefox 1.0 now. But I can't uninstall version .08,
because a message says: "Uninstall log folder not found:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Mozilla/Mozilla Firefox/0.8.
(en)/Uninstall/Uninstall Log Folder."

The next removal, of the Virgin Player software, required
THREE confirmations that yes, I really, truly, cross my heart
and hope to die, DO want to remove this darned software, hard
though Richard Branson may find it to believe.

And let's not even talk about all the crud in my "Currently
installed programs" list that I didn't put there, that I have
no idea whether it's doing me any good or not. ("ADP Sample
Data?" "Dolet Light?" "Digital Line Detect?" "Windows Media 8
Encoding Utility?")

If all the best and the brightest programmers work at
Microsoft, you'd think they could answer questions like
these: If I click Remove, why must I be asked twice more if I
want to remove something? Why can't Windows keep track of
which programs need which pieces, so Microsoft's long-
suffering customers don't have to judge whether some shared
DLL file is still necessary? When we install a new program,
why aren't we asked if we'd like it to replace the older
version, rather than making us mop up afterward?

Of course, you already know the answer. Microsoft doesn't
improve this kind of thing because it doesn't have to. It's got
a bad case of a little thing called Monopoly Complacence.

(*) (*) :| :| :| (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Virtual mapping is being used to build a highly detailed,
three-dimensional model of central Philadelphia, down to the
last cornice, mailbox and shrub.

By ANNE EISENBERG

Published: February 17, 2005 NYTimes

VEHICLES that move slowly down the street, pausing regularly to take photographs with remote-controlled cameras, tend to make the police a bit nervous. But one trailer loaded with imaging equipment that made its way through the streets of central Philadelphia wasn't spying - although at first, Secret Service agents had their doubts.

Both the vehicle and a plane that flew over the same area were taking authorized pictures of each building and its surroundings, at the behest of the downtown improvement district. Now the terabytes of imaging data are being used to build a three-dimensional model of central Philadelphia, down to the last cornice, mailbox and shrub.

The city model can then be integrated with other information, like listings of shops and rental space, so that one day people who'd rather be in Philadelphia will be able to be there virtually, from their computers. Apartment seekers, for example, will be able to click their way through the neighborhood, taking a virtual walk and checking out the view from the windows of apartments that strike their fancy.

Victor Shenkar, the founder and chief executive of the company that offers the program, GeoSim Systems, based in Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, said the simulated city would offer many possibilities, among them matchmaking. "We believe that this virtual city we are building will be a great stage for human introductions," he said. People who visit a virtual art gallery, for example, might meet others there.

Dr. Shenkar honed his modeling and visualization tools developing a virtual Golan Heights to train Israeli pilots. He is the former head of research and development for the Israeli air force, where he served for 21 years. Now his company is busy mapping three-dimensional urban areas both abroad and in the United States, including not only the business district in Philadelphia, but soon, the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dennis Culhane, a professor at Penn and director of the cartographic modeling lab there, brought the project to the campus. Most of the data collection is already done. "A little trailer towed by a car went up and down the campus sidewalks, and planes flew over the same area," he said. Snow and ice have temporarily halted the progress of the trailer, but work will resume soon.

Dr. Culhane envisions many applications for the model, among them recruiting students and keeping in touch with alumni. "The university is the perfect place to create this kind of environment," he said. "There is a community of people who were once part of it and still feel attached to it, as well as potential students who want information." The model may become the basis for a new interface for the school's Web site. "Instead of a series of flat pages on the Internet site, people could navigate through the campus," he said, clicking on buildings, for example, and getting access to Web resources or encountering other people with whom they could chat. "The information would be delivered via Web pages but navigated by this three-dimensional space," he said.

The software might also be useful in campus planning, he said, including visualizing how buildings would fit into 18 acres of land the university recently acquired. "We can take architectural models of buildings and insert them into the campus model and see what they'd look like in the space," he said.

Dr. Culhane expects computer games to be another benefit of the system, when students in the University's new master's program in gaming technology begin to take advantage of the database.

"The buildings look true to life in the model, and the graphic detail is incredible," he said, making the virtual campus a good backdrop for a game.

In the central business district of Philadelphia, data collection for the model has been completed. "They've flown and driven through every single street," said Paul Levy, president of the center city business district. Dr. Levy said all had gone smoothly, except for "some hectic moments with the Secret Service" before the purpose of the trailer was clarified.

(*) (*) (h) (h)
(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

From its humble origins as a geeky novelty, the thumb-size
U.S.B. flash drive has grown into a billion-dollar market.
Inside a flash drive, there is lots of storage and no moving
parts.

By DOUGLAS HEINGARTNER

Published: February 17, 2005 NYTimes

FROM humble origins as geeky novelties, thumb-size U.S.B. flash drives have grown into a billion-dollar market. More than 54 million of them were sold worldwide last year, up from less than 2 million in 2001, according to the research firm Gartner Dataquest. Sales are expected to top 100 million in 2006.

The flash drive - also known as a keychain drive, pen drive or memory key - is basically a flash memory card (the type used with digital cameras) that connects to any computer with a universal serial bus port.

What sets flash drives apart from conventional hard drives is their lack of moving parts, which makes them durable, not to mention silent. Flash-based memory also consumes little power, which is especially important for mobile gadgets like cellphones and organizers. Flash-based memory now runs in the background on devices ranging from video game consoles and set-top television boxes to digital cameras and inkjet printers.

Flash memory was developed by Toshiba in the 1980's. The name was coined by Toshiba in 1984 to emphasize how quickly the cards can write and erase data. It is also a bit easier on the ears than "simultaneously erasable EEPROM," which was the technology's working name.

Flash is a form of nonvolatile memory, meaning it retains data even after power has been turned off (unlike a computer's random-access memory). Previous versions of nonvolatile memory existed, but they could be written to only once. Flash memory, however, can be rewritten any number of times, and its speed comes from the fact that it writes and erases data in chunks, instead of byte by byte.

The first flash memory standard, Compact Flash, was introduced by SanDisk in 1994 and is still in use. That card contained four megabytes of storage; today various manufacturers offer Compact Flash cards of four gigabytes and more. Compact Flash has since been joined by other formats, including Secure Digital, SmartMedia, MultiMedia Card and Memory Stick.

But U.S.B. flash drives really took off only when U.S.B. ports became standard issue on computers. And the U.S.B. 2.0 standard, introduced in 2001, meant data could be transferred 40 times faster than with the original U.S.B (480 megabits per second versus 12), which made flash drives a viable alternative to burning a CD.

Another thing flash drives have going for them is price: a generic one-gigabyte drive can be had for under $100, about a dime per megabyte. "These things are becoming commoditized," said Joseph Unsworth, an analyst with Gartner. "The price is declining tremendously."

That is great news for the consumer, but those shrinking margins mean manufacturers have to find other ways to shine. Mr. Unsworth foresees a two-track future for U.S.B. flash drives, with one segment of the market occupied by "very simple, very cheap, very dumb" drives intended solely for transferring data, and the other occupied by drives that try to pack extra punch.

The easiest way to do so is by changing a drive's appearance, which accounts for the dizzying array of flash drives shaped like ducks, cats, beetles or sushi. A more substantive approach is to offer extra features, like an LCD screen or an MP3 player; flash drives also double as voice recorders, radios and Wi-Fi adapters.

But perhaps the most promising development involves loading the drives with smart software. Some automobiles, for example, come with U.S.B.-friendly audio systems, but Mr. Unsworth sees in the pipeline a flash drive that "runs all your car's diagnostics and stores it" so mechanics will be able to "pull up the entire history of your car, and all the work that's been performed on it."

Flash drives, Mr. Unsworth said, may even become the preferred way of delivering new software. A drive could come preloaded with, say, a photo-editing software suite and ample space to store photos. Likewise, a banking-oriented drive could contain all your monthly statements, bills and passwords. "All the information would be on your U.S.B. drive," Mr. Unsworth said, "and you wouldn't have to plug in your credit card information all the time."

To get this ball rolling, two major companies in the industry, SanDisk and M-Systems, unveiled last month a standard called U3, with the goal of using U.S.B. flash drives as a way of making software mobile. "It's about moving not just the data," said Kate Purmal, chief executive of U3, the company set up to promote the platform, "but also the applications, including all the personal settings that you have, and using them on any machine."

U3 will focus on Windows-based systems. Ms. Purmal said SanDisk and M-Systems would begin shipping the first U3-compliant flash drives with preinstalled software this summer.

(*) (*) How cool! (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

How to pack a fresh brain for shipment:

http://nybb.hs.columbia.edu/pathologist.htm

***********************************

Top 100 Gadgets of all time:

http://www.mobilepcmag.com/features/2005_03/top100gadgets.html


*************************************

Knorsong, a music video from the TV show "Big & Betsy" (site not appropriate for those offended by animated singing pigs with flatulence issues):

http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/gallery/showmovie.shtml?knorsong.mov

***************************

(*) (*) (h) (h) Well, my day has been totally filled with all kinds of errands including getting my SUV at the dealer for a new battery and other things. I got to drive a VAN as my free rental.....was that ever an experience. Doc preferred to sit in the passenger seat rather than in the back seat. Rumor has it that snow is coming again on Monday....I'll believe it when I see it however SUV has a full tank, and I drove to the oncologist's for special food for Doc so he doesn't run out. He's "off" next Wednesday and then the four week's of different chemo treatments start again the following Wed. :| Oh well, at least he's been feeling much, much better and I'm so delighted for him. (l) (l) (l) (l) He's my little boy!(l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Beals: 'The L Word' about love, attraction

Friday, February 18, 2005 Posted: 11:47 AM EST (1647 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- Ask Jennifer Beals what she's learned playing a gay gal on "The L Word," Showtime's sexy melodrama about lesbian life in L.A., and she sizes up the human condition: "There are more similarities among us than differences."


One notable example is how all manner of girls and boys will join in welcoming "The L Word" when, back for its second season 10 p.m. ET Sunday, it reunites the dishy Sapphic sisters played by (among others) Mia Kirshner, Katherine Moennig, Erin Daniels and Leisha Hailey. And finds Beals' character, Bette, in a real stew.


This season Bette will face fearsome funding problems at the art museum she runs. Worse, it looks like her relationship with Tina (Laurel Holloman), her longtime partner now pregnant with the child they had dreamed of parenting, is on the rocks.


"What a brutal year! It's awful!" Beals chuckles. "There's this moment in the eighth episode where Bette has one little moment of victory and joy. I burst into tears when I read it. 'Something good happens to Bette, everyone!' I was so excited."


A veteran actress who at 41 appears barely older than she did as the welder/would-be ballerina in 1983's "Flashdance," Beals says she originally came to "The L Word" far less focused on portraying a fashion-forward lesbian than on the challenge of depicting an art museum boss.


A lesbian relationship "is about love and it's about attraction," she reasons. "I understood love and attraction. I didn't know anything about art."


The art of "The L Word" has been its spicy recipe of explicitness blended with a hip California lifestyle anyone might fantasize about.


By design, the series is au courant. But thanks to Bette and Tina, with their ups and downs, it has scored a bit of unsought currency: Since "The L Word" premiered, gay marriage has been certified as a wedge issue splitting the nation.


"I'm always shocked that gay marriage is such a big deal," says Beals over coffee in a Lower East Side patisserie she loves visiting when she's in town. "You have to realize how precious human life is, when there are tsunamis and mudslides, when there are armies and terrorists -- at any moment, you could be gone, and potentially in the most brutal fashion.


"And then you have to realize that love is truly one of the most extraordinary things you can experience in your life. To begrudge someone else their love of another person because of gender seems to me absolutely absurd.


"It's based in fear, fear of the other, fear of what is not like you," she says. "But when you are able to see lives on a day-to-day basis, rather than reducing it to politics, then it humanizes a whole community of people that were otherwise invisible. I think pop culture is really helpful in letting people see another side of life."


One side of life she had a personal stake in displaying: "I requested that we make Bette biracial," says Beals, herself of mixed-race parentage.


This gave the series another useful twist, allowing Kit, a straight friend played by Pam Grier ("Foxy Brown"), to become Bette's half-sister. "A biracial character is something I would have liked to have seen on TV when I was a child."


Since she took a break from Yale to make off-the-shoulder sweat shirts de rigueur in "Flashdance," Beals has logged dozens of films. Among those for which she feels special pride: "Devil in a Blue Dress," "Roger Dodger," "Twilight of the Golds" (a 1996 Showtime movie) and "In the Soup," an independent feature released in 1992. Also "Flashdance," which she made, then -- refusing to bank on its spectacular success -- followed up by heading back to Yale.


"I never wanted to be a superstar," says Beals, flinching. "My heart just did an 'uhhhhhhhhhh' at the thought of it." No wonder. This is a private person who identifies her husband only as Ken, and loves describing the Philosophy of Sanskrit class she's currently enrolled in, but declines to say where.


Hers is a career she's happy with, she says, "and I hope I'll be acting till the day I die. It's something you can never finish, never get to the center of."


Happily, she isn't finished with "The L Word": It's already renewed for a third season, which means the series' sisterhood will reconvene in Vancouver, where it's shot, in a few months.


Then Beals can again rely on one more thing she's learned playing a lesbian: That in their shared state of undress, actresses will protect each other from the camera's prying eye.

"You can say, 'I don't feel so great about this part of my body today. When we roll over, can you make sure your hand is covering that cellulite?' And you can have her augment things: I've had scenes where I went, 'Can you just lift it up, so I look a little bit more ripened?'

"Every guy I've ever done a love scene with has forgotten. But women understand what you mean, they understand how important it is," says Beals, smiling at this case of sisters doing it for themselves: "I'll cover yours if you cover mine."

(*) (*) ;) ;) (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

BUELLTON, California (AP) -- Frank Ostini can't seem to keep his cocktail napkins in stock.

The owner of the Hitching Post II restaurant, featured in the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways," is on pace to blow through a three-year supply of 50,000 in the next few months. Customers, it appears, are plucking napkins as souvenirs.

Since the October premiere of "Sideways," which features nearly two dozen locales including Ostini's Western-style restaurant, business has been brisk during what is usually a slow season for Southern California wine country.

Filmed primarily in the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley, 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara and 21/2 hours from Los Angeles, the movie about two friends on a wine-fueled odyssey before one gets married, has sparked interest in an area normally overshadowed by Northern California's wine country.

The Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau published 10,000 "Sideways" map for tourists wanting to retrace the adventures of the movie's two buddies, Miles and Jack. Within a month of the film's release the maps were gone and 30,000 more were printed. The map also has been downloaded nearly 5,000 times from the bureau's Web site since December.

"We couldn't have imagined it would be this big," said bureau spokeswoman Shannon Turner Brooks. "We had faith it was going to be well-received, but thought it would be an indie or art-house movie that would have limited coverage."

Not so -- "Sideways" recently won the Golden Globe for best musical or comedy and is nominated for five Oscars, including best picture. The film has made about $50 million (euro38.6 million) at the box office and the Oscar buzz prompted Fox Searchlight to release "Sideways" to 1,000 more theaters last month.

Wine tourism
Now, some businesses are offering "Sideways"-themed packages.

Guests at the Wine Valley Inn & Cottages in Solvang, for example, also receive a gift certificate for a meal at a Danish restaurant and a bottle of wine from the Firestone Vineyard, among other items. The restaurant and vineyard are two places Miles and Jack visit.

Marie Knelange has decided to integrate the film into her own wedding in May. Knelange, who recently moved from Montana to Santa Barbara County with her fiance, Nathan Naidas, plans to shuttle about 60-70 wedding guests to three wineries.

"We're movie buffs and we wanted to do a wine tour as part of the wedding," said Knelange, 36, "so when we saw the movie it was a perfect fit."

If "Sideways" is released on DVD before her wedding, Knelange would like to give copies to her bridesmaids.

"Everybody will think we're crazy, but we wanted to do something different," she said.

Bob Gifford, a Chicago resident who visits California on business several times a year, decided after watching "Sideways" to include a first-time stop in wine country in January.

"We saw the movie a month ago and wanted to see what it's all about," said Gifford, 57. "The movie definitely enhanced it."

At the Sanford Winery, customers recognize tasting room manager Chris Burroughs from a scene in which he pours, as Miles, the connoisseur, teaches Jack, the novice, about the subtleties of wine. Burroughs has been asked to pose for pictures and sign bottles.

"Even though I feel a little absurd, people recognize me and it's part of the experience," he said.

Burroughs adds that visitors shouldn't be misguided by some of the messages in the film, which he calls "a twisted love song to wine."

"We're not trying to put wine up on a pedestal," he said. "It's just fermented grape juice."

Still, he and other locals don't mind watching the film spread word about the Santa Ynez Valley, which despite its award-winning vintages has long been overshadowed by vineyards north of San Francisco.

"We hope that the movie creates a greater awareness that California wine is not confined to just the Napa Valley," Burroughs said.

Big business
Back at the Hitching Post, where Ostini was getting ready for customers to arrive one recent evening, advance bookings have tripled, filling the dining rooms and prompting him to consider expanding hours. Business, he says, is up 30 percent.

"The attention we've received has been incredible," said Ostini, 52. "It's taken us to a different status."

The walls of the restaurant's bar, where Miles bellies up, are adorned with pictures from the film and a giant wine bottle signed by the cast.

Indeed, the film's star might not be anyone in the cast but one of Miles' favorite wines -- the Hitching Post-produced Highliner. Of 350 cases of the 2002 vintage released in December, only 100 remain. Ostini expects to release at least 600 cases of the next batch.

Ostini acknowledges he had concerns when filmmakers first approached him. He worried that portraying a couple of guys draining glass after glass might portray the wine industry in a bad light. Instead, the film seems to have inspired novice drinkers to sample different varieties.

"It's the best marketing decision we've ever made," he said. "This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

(l) (l) (l) (l) (l) How lovely for the wine creators, B&B's and other tourist places mentioned in the film. (f)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx

(*) (*) (h) (h) ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: February 20, 2005 NYTimes

There have been a lot of gaffes about women lately.

And as Michael Kinsley trenchantly observed, a gaffe occurs not when somebody lies, but when he says what he really thinks.

We got a brutal glimpse into the thinking of a certain segment of the male species reading the transcript of the condescending musings of Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, on the "intrinsic aptitude" and "variability of aptitude" of women.

Whatever point he was trying to make, he ended up making this one: It's not female aptitude that's the problem, it's male attitude. He confuses the roles society assigns to women with what women might really want. The "different socialization" Dr. Summers talks about may be getting worse, thanks to goofballs like him. How did he get to be head of Harvard anyway?

We also got a scalding peek into the locker room mentality in Jose Canseco's new book, "Juiced." In a segment called "Slump Busters," Mr. Canseco writes: "As everyone knows, baseball players are very superstitious. Players who are struggling start talking about how they need to go out and find something to break their slump. And often enough it comes out something like this: 'Oh my God, I'm 0-for-20. I'm going to get the ugliest girl I can find and have sex with her.' "

Mr. Canseco nobly points out that he never stooped to this tactic. "I'd rather go 0-for-40," he protests. But he tattled that many of his fellow athletes did seek out "slump busters." What a lovely term used by our sports heroes, our boys of summer.

"It could mean the woman was big, or ugly, or a combination of both," Mr. Canseco explains. He said that golden boy Mark Grace, the former Chicago Cubs first baseman, who seems like the kind of nice guy and good sport you'd want to bring home to mom, defined a slump buster as making out with the "fattest, gnarliest chick you can uncover."

Mr. Grace has talked about slump busters himself in interviews over the years, telling the sports radio talk show host Jim Rome that if a team was enduring a losing streak, the guys would persuade one player to break the curse by going out and rounding the bases with an ugly woman. Mr. Grace called it "throwing himself on the grenade" for the good of the team.

Mr. Canseco agreed: "However you slice it, it was bound to be unpleasant."

With steroid-infused sensitivity, the former Oakland A's slugger also explained a couple of other words in the baseball argot: Any girl you met on the road and went to bed with was referred to as "road beef," and any "road beef" you flew in was known as an "import."

Even some men I know felt awful for the unwitting slump busters who would now read "Juiced" and realize that the best night of their lives was actually the worst. That really cute baseball player they thought liked them just the way they are, as Bridget Jones likes to say, was really holding his nose to break a curse. Way harsh.

At the dawn of feminism, there was an assumption that women would not be as severely judged on their looks in ensuing years. Phooey. It's just the opposite. Looks matter more than ever, with more and more women spending fortunes turning themselves into generic, plastic versions of what they think men want, reaching for eerily similar plumped-up faces and body shapes.

Pretty soon, we'll be back to the era when flight attendants - or should I say stewardesses? - are canned if they gain a few pounds. The New York Post reported that the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City would start weighing all its waitresses, and "Borgata Babes" "who gain more than 7 percent will lose their jobs unless they lose the weight."

Consider this gender differentiation: A gorgeous, fit guy who sleeps with an overweight, unattractive woman is "throwing himself on a grenade" for the team. A gorgeous, fit girl who sleeps with an overweight, unattractive man is lucky to have found romance in "Sideways" and "Hitch."

In Neil LaBute's play "Fat Pig," Jeremy Piven's character drops an overweight woman he likes - even after she offers to staple her stomach for him - simply because he can't bear his friends' mockery. TV is full of "Beauty and the Beast" pairings, with fat, lazy husbands and foxy, impressive wives.

One thing is for sure, though. Guys who look at fat women as "slump busters" are fatheads.

(*) (*) GO MAUREEN!! (h) (h) (f) (f) (f)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: February 19, 2005 NYTimes

GRAND FORKS, N.D., Feb. 16 - From a chenille-slipcovered sofa in the basement of their friend Dave's mom's house at the edge of a snow-covered field, Brad and Other Brad, sock-footed pioneers in the latest technology revolution, are recording "Why Fish," their weekly show.

Clutching a microphone and leaning over a laptop on the coffee table, they praise the beauty of the Red River, now frozen on the edge of town, and plug an upcoming interview with a top-ranked professional walleye fisherman. Then they sign off.

"I'm Brad" says Brad, in real life, Brad Durick, a 29-year-old television advertising salesman.

"And I'm Brad," says Other Brad, a 44-year-old newspaper writer, Brad Dokken. "Until next week, keep your hook in the water, keep your line tight and keep it fun."

Their show, mostly ad-libbed, is a podcast, a kind of recording that, thanks to a technology barely six months old, anyone can make on a computer and then post to a Web site, where it can be downloaded to an iPod or any MP3 player to be played at the listener's leisure.

On an average day, about 100 people download "Why Fish" from its Web site. That is not a huge audience, but two fishermen can dream. Some popular podcasters say they get thousands of downloads a day.

Since August, when Adam Curry, a former MTV video jockey, and David Winer, an early Web log writer, developed the podcasting technology, 3,075 podcasts have sprung up around the world, according to a Web site, Ipodder.org, that offers downloads of podcasting software.

From "Say Yum," a California couple's musings about food and music, to "Lifespring," a Christian show whose creator said he had a vision to podcast, to "Dutch Cheese and American Pie," by a Dutch citizen planning to move to the United States, these shows cover a broad variety of topics.

Podcasts are a little like reality television, a little like "Wayne's World," and are often likened to TiVo, which allows television watchers to download only the programs they want to watch and to skip advertising, for radio or blogs but spoken.

And as bloggers have influenced journalism, podcasters have the potential to transform radio. Already many radio stations, including National Public Radio and Air America, the liberal-oriented radio network, have put shows into a podcast format. And companies are seeing the possibilities for advertising; Heineken, for example, has produced a music podcast.

Inevitably, politicians are taking note, too. Donnie Fowler Jr. put out "FireWire Chats" by podcast in his bid to become chairman of the Democratic National Committee, saying Democrats had to embrace new technology if they wanted to reach a grass-roots audience.

Still, most podcasts are made by people like the two Brads, who record from basements, bedrooms or bathrooms, and devote their shows to personal passions.

In Southern California, three men have hit the Top 50 on Podcastalley.com, a podcast tracker, with "Grape Radio," a "Sideways"-like program about wine. Their expertise? They drink wine and like to talk about it.

There are music podcasts - cover songs, punk and "The Worst Music You've Ever Heard." There are many religious podcasts, nicknamed Godcasts. Then there is "Five Hundy by Midnight," a Midwest gambler's musings on Las Vegas.

There are podcasts on sports and on bicycling, on agriculture and on politics. There are poetry podcasts and technology podcasts.

In Northern California, Devan and Kris Johnson, young newlyweds, offer "Say Yum," recording themselves making dinner and playing music after work. (A snippet: "I hope everybody gets to eat avocados.") But they are not even the first of their genre; one of the first and most popular podcasts is recorded by a young married couple, talking about their lives, and sex lives, from their farmhouse in Wayne, Wis.

There are even podcasts about podcasting and several Web sites, like Podcastalley.com and Podcastbunker.com, that review and rank podcasts and provide links to them.

People who study consumer behavior say the rapid growth of podcasts reflects people's desire for a personalized experience, whether creating a stuffed animal at a Build-a-Bear store or creating playlists for their iPods.

"It's about control," said Robbie Blinkoff, an anthropologist at Context-Based Research, a consulting firm in Baltimore that has done several studies on how technology changes human behavior.

"Making something of their own, feeling like they've put it together, there's lots of self-confidence in that," Mr. Blinkoff said.

The potential audience for podcasting is huge; Apple alone has sold 10 million iPods in the last three years, about half of those in the last few months of last year.

And already, several podcasts have found sponsors. Dave Whitesock, who under the show name Dave Miller records the "Miller Report," a daily podcast from Grand Forks, got a limousine company to help pay for his report in exchange for a daily mention: "For when you need a stretch limo in Grand Forks."

While some podcasters take hours to edit their shows, many simply embrace dead air and the "ums" that come with what Mr. Whitesock called "Live to Hard Drive."

Brian Race, a radio station manager in Georgia who runs Christianpodcasting.com on the side, picked up his cellphone in the middle of a recent podcast to discover his mother on the line. He kept on recording.

The rawness is part of the appeal.

"Everyone says, 'They're amateurs, they're amateurs, they're amateurs,' but sometimes, frankly, it's more interesting to listen to someone who's not a professional but who has something genuine or interesting to say," said Michael W. Geoghegan, an insurance marketer in California and the host of "Reel Reviews," a movie review podcast intended for people heading to the video store.

Mr. Geoghegan said he had "multiple thousands" of downloads a day. He does no editing. "People stumble when they speak," he said. "I think the listener appreciates when it's not superpolished as it is on a commercial station."

Podcasting has tended to be contagious; after Mr. Geoghegan stumbled on a Web site about podcasting in September and started his show, he persuaded three friends who like wine to start "Grape Radio."

Mr. Whitesock, too, stumbled on a Web site about podcasting, and persuaded the two Brads to do a fishing show, and then another friend to do a movie review show. This month, they added a music show in which a radio disc jockey for a local Clear Channel station plays local music he would not get to play on the air, and persuaded the part-time mayor of Grand Forks, Dr. Michael Brown, an obstetrician, to do a monthly show, and put his State of the City address on podcast, too.

"We can reach people in the rest of the world who might say, 'Hey, Grand Forks is a great place to move to,' " said Dr. Brown, who said his shows had been downloaded by about 100 people, including some who wrote in with complaints. "And technologically advanced young people say, 'I can stay in Grand Forks.' There is a place for them here."

In California, the Johnsons of "Say Yum" added clip-on microphones to their usual after-work routine to create their show.

"I'm usually cooking, and Devan's usually playing music, so we just chat over the music," Ms. Johnson said.

Brian Ibbott had always loved making mixed tapes and CD's. His podcast, "Coverville," has become one of Podcastalley's most popular, and in many ways it is like a real radio show, without the advertising. Sunday is all-request day, and listeners can call in their requests. Mr. Ibbott, 35, plays back their recorded requests before the songs.

"I don't know that I'm doing it so much as a protest against radio as I am to develop the radio show I always wanted to hear," said Mr. Ibbott, who lives in Colorado. The last great radio station nearby, he said, was bought out by Clear Channel. "And they got the same playlist everyone else did."

He pays a few hundred dollars to Ascap and BMI to allow him to play copyrighted music, he said, and is negotiating with the Recording Industry Association of America, which has filed lawsuits to prevent unauthorized music downloading.

Mr. Ibbott, like the Johnsons and most podcasters, work in technology jobs. But then there are some like Steve Webb, who fits his Christian show "Lifespring" in between his regular job as a windshield repairman. He was on a Cub Scout trip with his son, he said, when he woke with a vision that he was to do a podcast.

"I felt it was leading in the Lord," said Mr. Webb, 50. "I felt he wanted to have a voice in this new media. After all, the Gutenberg Bible was the first thing printed on the printing press."

Technology watchers say that like blogs, some podcasts will be widely heard and influential, while others may end up with no more reach than local access cable programs. But many podcasters, like the two Brads, say they are simply happy to have an outlet for their passion. As Mr. Durick said, "You love to talk fish if you're a fisherman."

(*) (*) (h) (h) (h) (h) (*) (*)

({) (}) and a few (k) (k) 's,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

You'd think Rupert Murdoch would laugh all the way to the bank if the liberal magazine The Nation cut a check to conservative Fox News. But the "fair and balanced" ad staff at FNC have rejected a TV spot that The Nation says Bravo, CNN, MSNBC, and TBS/TNT have accepted.

The ad goes like this (watch it here):

It peels away layers of obfuscation. Shreds lies. Slices through White House fog. And you can try it for four weeks absolutely free. It's The Nation - America's hottest, most widely read journal of opinion. Nobody owns The Nation - not Time Warner, not Murdoch. So there's no corporate slant, no White House spin, just the straight dope.

The Nation has asked FNC how they might alter the ad to get it on the air, but Fox will not give a reason for the rejection. "We have the right to reject a spot. We do not need to give a written statement regarding the rejection," wrote a Fox ad rep to a buyer for The Nation. TBS/TNT hesitated to accept the ad at first, too, but relented when The Nation agreed to omit the references to "Time Warner" and "Murdoch."

"We finally have a little money to promote the magazine and they won't let us spend it," says Nation publicist Mike Webb.

The Fox rebuff is the latest episode in the strange relationship between the lefty magazine and the righty network.

In February 2003, Fox took out an $8,700 back page ad in The Nation, which only two years earlier had dubbed the network "a calculated mouthpiece for the right that remains thinly veiled behind its misleading mantra, 'fair and balanced.' " Nation readers revolted at the ad: 250 wrote letters, and at least 50 cancelled their subscriptions. When The New York Times wrote about the reaction of The Nation's faithful to Fox's first spot, the network called and booked a second.

Why did Fox want to advertise in The Nation anyway? Maybe it was trying to win new viewers, though it seems a tough sell to Nation readers. Perhaps it merely wanted to crow to liberal "elites" about its lead in cable news ratings. Or maybe it was intended as a poison pill, to anger Nation subscribers and put the magazine in a tough spot. The Nation could have avoided that, of course, if they simply refused Fox's ads. But Webb says that wasn't considered. When the Fox ad came in, Webb recalls, the reaction at The Nation was " 'Oh no,' and 'Let's charge top rate.' "

Fox bought two more ads last year, each costing $7,395. One ran in the magazine's Republican convention issue. A couple days later, the network first rejected The Nation's TV spot.

Webb insists the magazine wants to sell subscriptions, not pick a fight. "We're not just trying to make a stink, we're actually trying to spend our money wisely/efficiently," he writes in an email.

Fox did not return phone calls. (CORRECTION: I called the wrong part of Fox and reached a spokesperson who handles Fox television stations, not Fox News Channel. That was dumb. For all the grim details—and Fox's response—please click here:

http://villagevoice.com/blogs/pressclipsextra/archives/2005/02/fox_fumes_at_pr.php

On the story itself: Asked why Fox rejected The Nation's ad, Fox News Channel spokeswoman Irena Briganti answered, "I guess we're more selective than others."

Ouch.

(*) (*) :| :| <rasberries> to Fox, which I'd never watch or listen to anyway :| Talk about GRIMLY conservative! :| :(

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

As Harvard Prez ignites women-in-science flap, this writer recalls her path to M.I.T.

by Geeta Dayal February 9th, 2005 2:47 PM Village Voice


Harvard president Lawrence Summers is facing his latest—and biggest—public relations disaster. Ever since he suggested in a speech last month that the lack of top female scientists could be due to "innate differences" in genetics and upbringing between men and women, the national outcry has been fierce. "It's pandemonium," says Harvard junior Simon Rich, president of The Harvard Lampoon, of the situation on campus. Some alumni are threatening to stop giving money. The New York Times ran a major article questioning Summers's leadership skills. The National Organization for Women has called for his resignation.
I went to school down the street from Harvard, at M.I.T. While growing up, I was never made to feel that there were "innate differences" between men and women when it came to anything; besides, both of my parents were scientists. My father, an eccentric chemistry professor, only once remarked that there were innate differences between me and my two brothers. "You're smarter than they are," he said. "You should be a scientist." He'd sneak me into the nearby Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University on weekends to do my homework as a kid and started me on thick textbooks about physics and organic chemistry as soon as I learned how to read. By the time I was 12, he had me proofreading the scientific manuscripts he was preparing for publication, and at age 13 I applied to work in my first chemistry lab. I had just bought my first Kraftwerk record—The Man-Machine—and decided that robots were the future and that I wanted to be one.

That summer I worked in my first laboratory, teaching a giant magnet connected to a robot arm how to conduct chemistry experiments. I met a kid there who was a year or two older than me, and he was applying to a place called M.I.T., where, according to what I'd heard, everyone liked robots if they weren't robots already, and where everyone believed technology was the future. I looked up to him, partially because he seemed to know more about robots than I did, and we became fast friends. We fell out of contact, but a few years later, he—by then a student at M.I.T.—encouraged me to apply there, and I did.

A few months before I got to campus in the autumn of 1997, I got a letter from a tiny group calling itself the M.I.T. Extropians. They had mailed an inflammatory—and wholly unauthorized—eight-page pamphlet to the entire incoming freshman class, myself included. In it, they praised hoary teenage standbys like Ayn Rand, Beethoven, and Nietzsche; waxed philosophical about life extension, cybernetics, and neural networks; and disturbingly issued several sweeping statements about women and minorities, lashing out against affirmative action and M.I.T.'s liberal diversity policies. These guys were much more strident and extreme than Summers could ever be accused of being, even considering his worst verbal gaffes.

The pamphlet included choice lines like "The average woman or 'underrepresented minority' at M.I.T. is less intelligent, less intellectual, and less ambitious. . . . The average woman majors in the softer, less mathematical majors, by contrast with the average man, who majors in the harder, more mathematical majors." The examples they offered of these "softer" majors were biology, my chosen field of chemistry, materials science, architecture, and civil and environmental engineering. It went on to say, "Ask upperclasswomen, better yet ask a sorority (who set out to rush 40% of the freshwomen every year), how often a group of women will sit down on the weekend, or Friday night, to discuss what Bell's Theorem and the Aspect Experiment imply for a hidden variables interpretation of quantum mechanics."

The pamphlet ended with a ludicrous "Open Letter to the Prometheans, Class of 2001," a list of recommendations that included reading bad sci-fi and listening to chestnuts like Mahler's Fifth Symphony, and—finally and most crucially—the signatures of all three of the M.I.T. Extropians. Finally I could see who these morons were.

One of the three names was my buddy from high school—the one who encouraged me to come to M.I.T. in the first place. I felt like I'd been kicked in the face.

When I got to campus, I confronted him. "How could you do this?"

He looked bemused. "I didn't mean you," he said. "You deserve to be here. We meant, like, other girls."

I wanted to punch him but restrained myself. Besides, I'd never punched anyone in my life. And he was taller.

That's the only time in my life that I've felt discriminated against for being a female in science. Happily, M.I.T. was an open, democratic system—no one cared if you were male or female, black or white, robot or nonrobot, as long as you could do the work. Being a great scientist or engineer has little to do with those superficial human designations. As students, we were joined by a single bond: We were all nerds. Besides, there were plenty of other girls at M.I.T., and I was relieved to find out that nearly all of my classmates thought that the Extropians were completely out of their minds. They got into major trouble with the administration, and M.I.T. refused to recognize them as a legitimate student group. A few guys from the M.I.T. humor magazine even dubbed themselves the M.I.T. Entropians, and handed out hundreds of copies of their own pamphlet, a ferocious line-by-line parody of the original.

Years later, after I graduated, I ran into two of the three M.I.T. Extropians in New York City. What had happened to those three weirdos who fantasized about being lone misunderstood geniuses, of being Ender in Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic Ender's Game? The ones that were going to cryogenically freeze themselves for life after death, who were going to upload their brains onto computers, who were investigating the deepest issues in artificial intelligence? None of them were actively doing science anymore. My former friend had discovered raves and told me excitedly that he'd spent the past year getting wildly immersed in San Francisco's psychedelic trance scene.

"No more Mahler?" I asked.

"No more Mahler."

Geeta Dayal is a writer living in Brooklyn. "The Acid Test," her story on LSD research, appeared last month in the Voice Education Supplement.

(*) (*) as Rosanna Rosannadanna used to always say, "It's ALWAYS something!!" ;) ;)


(S) (S) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Exposing the 'Darknet': Are Al Qaeda terrorists using your personal computer?

by Patrick Radden Keefe February 15th, 2005 11:03 AM Village Voice

When he walked out of Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution in California five years ago, Kevin Mitnick, the most notorious hacker in the United States, faced a peculiar probation requirement. For three years following his release, he was obliged not to touch a computer keyboard or use a cellular phone. Mitnick himself attributed this novel constraint to the fact that the judge in his case had bought into "the myth of Kevin Mitnick—that I could launch nuclear missiles by whistling into a phone." But the desire to physically isolate him from any type of computer was also a frank admission of failure on the part of the authorities: The FBI was so inept and Mitnick so adept with communications technologies that they regarded him as a practitioner of a kind of black magic. In a broader sense, the episode illustrates a digital divide between those who have mastered the capabilities of networked technologies and those who have not. This divide has traditionally been exploited by identity thieves, pornographers, spammers, and copyright pirates. But in the last several years, terrorists have increasingly exploited it as well.
Paul Wolfowitz announced recently that American authorities will pursue Al Qaeda in "cyber sanctuaries," signaling a new theater in the ever evolving war on terrorism: the Internet. The American campaign in Afghanistan had a noticeable impact on the infrastructure of Al Qaeda, but rather than "smoke" the terrorists out, as President Bush declared it would, the war on terror has simply driven them further underground, decentralizing the leadership, atomizing the threat, and increasingly pushing terrorists onto the Web. If American forces are unaccustomed to pursuing adversaries through the caves of Afghanistan or the streets of Baghdad, they will have even more trouble tracking

Al Qaeda online, because Internet technology favors the fugitive criminal and the migrant threat, and because terrorists know how to turn the new digital divide to their advantage. In this evasive game they have at their disposal a most unusual accomplice: unwitting Americans with personal computers and Internet connections.

It emerged last year that Fortress ITX, a Clifton, New Jersey, Internet company, inadvertently hosted an Arabic-language website that urged attacks on America and Israel and supplied instructional pamphlets on kidnapping and urban guerrilla warfare. The emergence of this "virtual terrorism" should not be surprising, nor should the fact that Fortress ITX was unaware of it. Despite their wish to turn back the clock on various advances of the modern era, the followers of Osama bin Laden have proved surprisingly capable with the tools of the Internet. In addition to the use of explosives and automatic weapons, Al Qaeda trainees are instructed in computer encryption. Bin Laden associates employ cutting-edge steganography, which involves implanting a text message into a single image or letter on a website. Last July Pakistani authorities captured Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a kind of one-man IT department, who helped bin Laden maintain his network by sending encrypted messages to e-mail addresses in places like Turkey and Nigeria. Sites like the one discovered in New Jersey are now the preferred means of communication for Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Seven years ago, there were only a dozen websites associated with terrorist groups; today there are over 4,000.

What's more unsettling is that American computer users may assist in this growth phase for Al Qaeda. The appeal of the Internet for those engaged in any sort of crime is twofold. First, it's possible to conduct business in near complete anonymity provided you can divert pursuers by routing your activity through neutral networks and computers to cover your tracks. And second, most people running those networks and using those PCs are so completely naive about this technology that for the sophisticated criminal, hijacking the hardware is child's play.

The average American computer user comprehends only a minor fraction of what his or her machine can do. Word processing, Web surfing, and burning the odd CD hardly exhaust a computer's capabilities, and consumers who shell out $2,000 every couple of years to purchase a new computer for these purposes are a little like the bourgeois urbanites who use a Viking range to boil water and reheat takeout. But a computer is connected to the outside world—and that makes the naive owner of a networked PC vulnerable. A few years ago a computer-savvy New York identity theft ring stole the credit histories of more than 30,000 people, and used them to empty bank accounts, take out false loans, and run up credit card bills. In 2003 over a thousand people had them hijacked by a group of hackers representing porn sites, who secretly used the computers as portals through which to transmit material onto the Web. The programs didn't harm the computers, and wouldn't show up unless users were looking for them. "Here people are sort of involved in the porno business and don't even know it," said Richard M. Smith, the computer researcher who first noticed the problem. Another security analyst believed the ring could be traced to the Mafia-connected computer underground in Russia—but couldn't say for sure.

Terrorists have become experts at identifying unguarded server space from which to upload material. Jihad videos were recently discovered on the servers of George Washington University and the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department. Some of the more sophisticated terrorist sites migrate from one server to another, often several times a day, in order to evade the authorities. "Reverse proxy servers" allow a user to cloak his identity behind a "front" computer, by transmitting material through that computer onto the Internet while making it appear that the front computer is in fact the server.

It's not only civilians who are vulnerable to the menaces of the Web. In the late '90s a group of analysts at the National Security Agency launched a war game called Eligible Receiver, in which they downloaded easily accessible software from hacker websites to see what kind of damage they could do. They determined that it would be possible to shut down the U.S. electrical power grid and disable the command-and-control elements of the U.S. Pacific Command. Not only could the FBI and the Pentagon not foil the simulated attacks, the chain of proxy servers was such that they couldn't even identify where all but one of the attacks were coming from. When Congress's General Accounting Office released its annual Computer Security Report Card for 2003, the Department of Defense received a D. Homeland Security got an F.

If a sort of arms race between the good guys and the bad guys has developed with respect to Internet technology, it's clear that the bad guys have a decisive head start. Big bureaucracies are uniquely ill equipped to keep up with rapidly evolving technologies. Stubborn institutional culture, clogged channels of communication, and the sheer number of employees in American law enforcement and intelligence agencies make it difficult to shift with the technological sands. Last month it emerged that the FBI had undertaken a $170 million overhaul of its antiquated computer systems—which will likely be abandoned because of technical problems.

In 2002 four Microsoft engineers published a paper in which they coined the term the "darknet." This was essentially an extensive and opaque Internet black market, "not a separate physical network but an application and protocol layer riding on existing networks," in which peer-to-peer sharing and other forms of piracy succeeded in flouting copyright laws and distributing material that was effectively contraband. Today it is obvious that the dark side of the Internet is much more extensive—and much more dangerous—than this initial interpretation suggested. Terrorists have strong incentives to master new technologies and exploit this country's 159 million Internet users in a virtual game of hide-and-seek.

What is most extraordinary and ironic about this predicament is that developments that throughout the 1990s we tended to think of as unequivocally good—the free flow of information and ideas, the exponential acceleration of communications, the "borderless" quality of the Internet—now appear to cut both ways, to have a dramatic downside. The dark regions of the Internet have allowed Al Qaeda to reconstitute itself as a virtual terrorist group, one that is beginning, through its masterful distribution of propaganda, to resemble not so much an organization as a movement, and one that has used America's accelerated rate of technological growth to its own advantage. The only option for law enforcement and intelligence agencies is to become more skilled with network security technologies—or to hire those who already are. Three years after his release, Kevin Mitnick was allowed to use the Internet. He set up a computer security consultancy. Perhaps the Department of Homeland Security should look him up.

Patrick Radden Keefe is the author of Chatter: Dispatches From the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping (Random House). He is a student at Yale Law School.


(*) (*) Provocative things to make me think....or worry about...yea, yea, that's JUST what I needed to read..... ;) As if we don't get inundated with mass media images of destruction and violence. I'm all for living way, WAY out in the mounntains or woods, preferably in BOTH! And of course with broadband Internet connections....... ;) ;)

Got to run......course rooms are down (again). Seems like alot of b.s. for paying $4K per quarter and not being able to access my two PhD courses. What a rip. Plus the points that may be taken off my "A" grades for late postings - which is another Major P.I.T.A. (pain in the ass).

Take good care and stay warm with the coming snow or rain on the west coast. (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.angelofthesea.com/

http://www.angelofthesea.com/lobby.htm

History: http://www.angelofthesea.com/history.htm

A Day at the Angel: http://www.angelofthesea.com/adayat.htm

Rooms: http://www.angelofthesea.com/rooms.htm

Recipe of the Month, Eggs Switzerland:

http://www.angelofthesea.com/recipe.htm

(*) (*) Stayed here several times over the years and it is truly a romantic get-away. Cape May is best visited in the winter in my view since the crowds are all done home and although many places are closed, there are still lovely 5-star restaurants and other B&B's open. As well as walks along the beach....bundles up of course! ;) ;) And then back to sip in front of a warm fireplace.....yummy. (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

A man in a Florida supermarket tries to buy half a head of lettuce.
The very young produce assistant tells him that they sell only whole
heads of lettuce. The man persists and asks to see the manager. The
boy says he'll ask his manager about it.

Walking into the back room, the boy said to his manager, "Some asshole
wants to buy half a head of lettuce." As he finished his sentence, he
turned to find the man standing right behind him, so he added, "And this
gentleman has kindly offered to buy the other half." The manager
approved the deal, and the man went on his way.

Later the manager said to the boy, "I was impressed with the way you got
yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who think on their
feet here. Where are you from, son?"

"Canada, sir," the boy replied.

"Well, why did you leave Canada?" the manager asked.

The boy said, "Sir, there's nothing but whores and hockey players up
there."

"Really?" said the manager. "My wife is from Canada."

"No shit?" replied the boy. "Who'd she play for?"
--
(*) (*) ;) ;) (a) (a) LMAO!

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Count the "F's" in the following text:



FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...


(see below)





Managed it ?
Scroll down only after you have counted them, okay?
Do you think there are three? How many ? 3?











Wrong, there are 6 !!--no joke.
Read it again.
The reasoning behind it is further down.









The brain cannot process "OF".
Incredible or what ? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.
Three is normal, four is quite rare.

--

(*) (*) :o :o :o :| :| ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

How to destroy the earth

http://ned.ucam.org/~sdh31/misc/destroy.html

(*) (*) WAFWOT for sure. ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

By JIM DOHERTY

Published: February 24, 2005 NYTimes

Spring Green, Wis.

WHEN the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created a little more than four decades ago, the aim was to preserve, intact, what one of the original planners called a "completely undisturbed" cross-section of northeastern Alaska's spectacular mountains, rivers and tundra. Ever since, oil companies have been eager to tap the rich formations they believe lie under its ecologically fragile coastal plain. This spring, the struggle between conservationists and developers over the nearly 20-million-acre refuge promises to heat up as Congress considers an energy bill that would open it for exploration and drilling.

But aren't the creatures whose welfare the refuge is supposed to protect - all those grizzly bears, caribou, musk oxen and wolves - entitled to participate in the process, too? Don't they have a right to be heard? I started thinking about this one summer day a few years ago after a bush pilot deposited my wife and me with our backpacks on a bumpy meadow not far from the refuge's border with the Yukon Territory. We were making camp late one afternoon beside a fast-running stream where two valleys came together. Although it was mid-August, the barren peaks of the Brooks Range were already dusted with snow and the willows bunched up here and there along the stream had turned bright yellow.

I was boiling water for tea when I had the feeling I was being watched. Sure enough, we had company. A grizzly and her two burly youngsters were shambling toward us through the brush.

By then we had encountered a number of grizzlies. Each time they had fled. These were not so inclined. As they approached on all fours, the fur on their humps glowed with the fiery hues of the sunset behind them. When they stopped, we held our breath. They seemed perplexed, perhaps angry. Had they been planning to spend the night there? It would have appealed to them for the same reasons it did to us: good water, nice view.

Then they plodded off, settling down on a hillside a hundred yards away. Through binoculars, I watched the mother recline against a boulder. The cubs curled up beside her. All three peered intently in our direction.

Decisions, decisions. Should we risk cooking a meal? We decided against it. What to do with the food pack? I hid it under a pile of rocks nearby. It contained only enough provisions for breakfast; we had cached our main pack elsewhere.

It was the longest night of our lives. After the wind picked up, it was impossible for us to hear what was going on outside the tent. I lay awake pestered by second thoughts. We should have brought a guide. We should have brought a cellphone. We should have brought a gun.

Then I recalled a conversation I'd had the previous week in Fairbanks with Ave Thayer, a tall, taciturn outdoorsman who had been the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's first manager. Mr. Thayer frequently took solitary treks in the Alaskan wilds, unarmed and unafraid. When I asked why he didn't pack a pistol or rifle to guard against bears, he said that he was better off without one. People who carry firearms, he explained, are apt to feel overconfident and behave in an incautious manner that bears may perceive as threatening.

Mulling Mr. Thayer's point over in my tent, I concluded that, if he was right, grizzlies must have a kind of sixth sense that enables them to divine human intentions, and react accordingly. In which case, I reasoned, my wife and I were safe because, as any bear could tell, we meant no harm and were scared half to death. Thus reassured, I fell asleep.

In the morning, our neighbors were gone. So, it turned out, was our food pack - a small matter. The important thing was, we were still there. The creatures had given us the once-over and left us alone. Unwilling to push our luck, we broke camp, moved on to other adventures and then returned home to regale family and friends with our story about sleeping with bears. But it's more than a story. It's a blueprint for giving the refuge's wildlife a vote on oil production there.

Call it the grizzly test. Require all would-be developers to take it. If you want to drill for oil in the refuge, first you have to spend a couple of weeks roughing it there. No guns, no phones, no guides. Just you and the bears. Let them look into your heart. If they're reassured by what they see, you pass; if they feel threatened, well, according to Ave Thayer, there are worse ways to go.

Those who survive the grizzly test earn the right to submit their drilling proposals to Congress. But who knows? Perhaps a solitary stint in the refuge is enough to make even the most avaricious developers think twice. Once they've discovered for themselves how magnificent the refuge is; once they've watched caribou lope across the tundra, listened to wolves howl, beheld the mesmerizing effects of light and shadow on limestone mountains riddled with caves and turreted with hoodoos - once, in short, they understand why so many folks consider the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge sacred ground, they might undergo a change of heart and decide to leave it the way it is.

(*) (*) <sigh> How true. What a great suggestion - spending s few days without any weapons and sleeping in a tent with grizzlies and cubs around. What a great idea! (l) (l) (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

With a market capitalization of just $300 million, TiVo is certainly ripe for acquisition, but it's hard to imagine Apple on a list of potential buyers for the digital-video recorder company, let alone topping it. But that didn't stop investors from driving TiVo's share price up 18 percent on the basis of what was pretty clearly unsourced speculation. "What we hear on the street is that Apple is interested in their business and that they are a takeout target," analyst Steven Kroll Jr. of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. told Reuters. That's certainly a neat little rumor. But does Apple CEO Steve Jobs really want to take on a headache like TiVo? I don't think so. Not with the recent surge in Apple's share price. Analyst Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research told the San Francisco Chronicle that such a deal is "extraordinarily unlikely." "At this point, there is simply no reason for Apple to buy TiVo," he said. "Apple's business is not based on a subscription model, so picking up the subscription base doesn't do anything for them."

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/10973554.htm

http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/wallst/tivo-apple-40845.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/24/TIVO.TMP

(*) (*) :o :o It's getting kind of old hearing about TiVo already. There's so much more EXCITING, bleeding-edge storage technologies already in production, much less moving out of R&D (research and development). Even blue and green lasers have become state of the art. Sheesh. :| :|

({) (}) and some (k) (k) (k) 's,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

And while the Apple of today might not seem a fitting suitor for TiVo, the Apple of tomorrow just might be. Certainly, a TiVo acquisition would make more sense if Apple was, as PBS columnist Robert Cringely recently speculated, planning to transform the Mac Mini into a media hub for an iTunes Movie Store. "I think the Mac Mini is a fixed component in a system that will extend iTunes to selling and distributing movies," he wrote in a recent column. "The first hint came to me a day or so before the MacWorld show when right at midnight my computer stopped playing Apple movie trailers. The only way to watch QuickTime movie trailers (the closest I get to a movie since we have little kids) was suddenly through iTunes 4.7, which takes you straight through the iTunes Music Store. The regular QuickTime player wouldn't work. Apple had made no announcements, nor had they upgraded QuickTime, so I'd say it was a glitch that presaged the eventual replacement of that player for the selling of movies. Since then Apple fixed things and the QuickTime player now works for playing trailers, but I had already seen the future. Now go back to Steve's MacWorld performance, which you can see on the Apple Web site. What the heck is Mr. Ando of Sony doing there? Nominally he's sharing the stage to herald the ability of Apple's new iMovie 5.0 to import high definition video from a new Sony consumer HD camcorder. Apple will also be selling the Sony camcorder online and in its stores. But you don't get the head of Sony at your event just to sell camcorders. And Jobs explained it himself -- it is the "Year of HD" and nearly all of the year is yet to come. As he darkly hinted, we can expect further announcements." If Cringely is right about this, then Apple might have good reason to be interested in TiVo. TiVo would provide an easy way to put an iTunes/iMovie store in the living room, an area Apple clearly has quite a bit of interest in. And, thanks to the DVR company's recent acquisition of Strangeberry, it would give Apple a home networking application that easily receive and route all manner of digital media to a broad assortment of home entertainment devices. It's a stretch, but it could be that Apple's got big plans for the mini, plans to transform it into digital video recorder, broadband entertainment content/services device, and a home network digital media streaming device all in one.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050120.html

http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/unwireyourlivingroom.html

http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/archives/000252.php


(*) (*) Hmmm....TiVo vs Microsoft: The Future Battle Over Connected Home Entertainment? We all knew that Sony was also in this unholy alliances monopoly mix, right? Good thing I have more important things to worry about - such as Doc, that's for sure! (l) (l) If I really cared about this technology BS, I just might get an ulcer like the old days... ;) ;) Not for moi! ;) I am an objective observer who has strong opinions..... ;) ;)

On a lighter note - we're getting snow until tomorrow and a damn nor'easter coming on Monday. AS long as the back roads to the oncologist care clear for next Wed., I am content. (mostly anyways....)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

ABBA Road trip: http://www.coudal.com/abbavideo.php

**************************************

Slowtron's How To BBQ a Man "Celebrate the times. Oh, the times."

What better way to mark the dwindling of summer than with one last barbecue? We're happy to provide you with Slowtron's simple recipe for food, folks and fellowship. http://www.coudal.com/bbq.php

**************************************

Exhaust Flame Thrower Kits:

http://www.axdo.net/

***************************************

(*) (*) Have a lovely Thursday evening. I'm lighting a few candles and reading a book for awhile....sitting on the sofa with Doc the Boxer.(f) (f)

Peace,
Sweetlady and Doc

[sweetlady]

In other news, Ken Lay was appointed Director of the Treasury

Oh, this is rich. Claria, a venture that in its previous incarnation as Gator confused users into installing adware on their computers, has somehow managed to get its "Chief Privacy Officer" named to the Department of Homeland Security's privacy advisory board. In a statement sent to News.com, Department of Homeland Security Chief Privacy Officer Nuala O'Connor Kelly defended the inclusion of a Claria representative on the committee. "I am proud of, supportive of and grateful for those individuals in the public and private sector who are willing to take on the hard tasks, fight the good fight, and who surprise us with creative, fresh and unconventional thinking, and who make change where change is needed through their hard work and personal dedication," Kelly said.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/gator/Confused.asp

http://news.com.com/Adware+maker+joins+federal+privacy+board/2100-1028_3-5587653.html

(*) (*) What next? ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

In life's final exam, the section intended to gauge your
maturity and wisdom will probably look like this. "Mark each
statement true or false: More money always makes you happier.
A larger strawberry always tastes better. More megahertz
always means a faster computer."

Too easy? All right, then, answer this: Why are so many
people convinced that more megapixels means a better digital
camera?

Within three years, camera companies rolled out four-
megapixel cameras, then five, then six and seven. Now, if you
can believe it, eight-megapixel consumer cameras are
available for under $600.

Let's get one thing straight: the number of megapixels is a
measure of how many dots make up a digital photo, not its
quality. An eight-megapixel photo can look just as bad as a
three-megapixel one -- just much, much bigger.

The problem with this digicam arms race is that more
megapixels mean bigger files. You need a much bigger memory
card, you'll pay more for the camera (for its faster
processing circuitry) and you'll have to wait a lot longer
for those giant files to download to your computer. Once
there, they also take longer to transfer, open and edit.

All right. Now that you've been given the Lecture, it's only
fair to acknowledge that more megapixels do come in handy in
three situations. First, an eight-megapixel photo has enough
resolution for giant prints -- 20-inch-by-30-inch posters,
for example. Second, more megapixels give you the freedom to
crop out a huge amount of a photo to isolate the really good
stuff, while still leaving enough pixels to make reasonably
sized prints.

Third -- let's be honest here -- it's fun to blow people away
by telling them you have an eight-megapixel camera.

Five big-name camera companies make eight-megapixel models
under $800: Nikon, Olympus, Konica Minolta, Canon and Sony.
(Sony declined to provide a camera for evaluation in this roundup, saying that its entry has reached the end of its life cycle. Memorial services have not yet been scheduled.)

Fortunately, these companies didn't just slap eight-megapixel sensors into so-so cameras. Each company also incorporated excellent lenses, fast circuitry and other hallmarks of high-end cameras. In other words, these cameras give you eight good megapixels.

All of these cameras are heavyish, black and fairly bulky; if you want one of those slim, silver credit-card cams, forget it. Each offers full manual controls, a pop-up flash and a detached, easy-to-lose lens cap. Each can capture photos in either the JPEG format or what advanced shutterbugs call RAW format - huge, 13-megabyte files that when transferred to a program like Photoshop or iMovie can be miraculously "reshot" with different exposure, white balance and other settings, right on the computer.

Three models in this review - the Nikon, the Minolta and the Canon - fall halfway between traditional consumer cameras and more professional models. They offer powerful 7X to 10X zoom lenses that can bring you much closer to the soccer field or the school play than the usual 3X zoom. All three feature liquid-crystal-display screens that flip out from the camera body and rotate, making overhead, ground-level and self-portrait shots much easier. (As a bonus, the screen is protected when it is snapped shut against the camera back.)

Note, too, that when you peer into the eyepiece viewfinder of those three cameras, you don't actually see out the lens. Instead, you see another tiny L.C.D. screen (an EVF, or electronic viewfinder) - an approach loved and loathed by various shutterbug factions.

You can expect exceptional photos from all four cameras, far superior to what you get from a $300 consumer camera. (You can see some samples at http://www.nytimes.com/packages/video/technology/iguana.mov Here's what else you can expect.

KONICA MINOLTA DIMAGE A200 At $587, this is the least expensive eight-megapixeler. (These prices come from shopping.com, which identifies the lowest price from a highly rated store.) It's also among the smallest and lightest, yet the rubberized, hand-turnable zoom ring makes it feel precise and professional.

This model gets brownie points for its exceptionally clear menu system, its comfortable body design and an antishake feature that does wonders for slow-shutter and fully zoomed-in shots. (The Nikon has a similar feature.)

And if you want to take movies with your camera, this is the one to get. It can capture TV-size, TV-smooth movies up to 15 minutes long. Better yet, the autofocus and that awesome zoom ring operate while you're recording, which is unusual for a digital still camera.

Subtract a few points, though, for the flash, which doesn't pop up by itself (you have to haul it up manually), the lack of a printed manual and the limited number of canned presets like Portrait, Sports, Night and Sunset. (In fact, that's the whole list.) And the A200's viewfinders turn grainy and slow to focus indoors at night, in large part because the camera lacks an autofocus assist lamp (which helps a camera focus in dim light).

CANON POWERSHOT PRO 1 Canon's octamegapixel camera is also compact - except for the L.C.D. screen, that is; it's two inches diagonally, a lot nicer than the 1.8-inch screens of its rivals. The PowerShot's price is nice, too (about $635), the illuminated top-mounted L.C.D. status screen is helpful and the photos are absolutely terrific. To its further credit, Canon is the only company that includes a memory card (a 64-megger).

With due respect, though, the most fitting adjective for this camera is annoying. The nano-dial that turns the camera on and off requires thumbs the size of Barbie's. And when you half-press to focus, the image on the screen freezes momentarily - and frustratingly. (The Nikon also exhibits this quirk.)

Worst of all, though, is the electronic zoom ring: the zooming lags behind your turning, which can drive you crazy.

The PowerShot Pro has plenty of great features and, in good light, takes excellent pictures. But certain aspects of it can get on your nerves.

NIKON COOLPIX 8800 What a list of great features! Crystal-clear close-ups 1.2 inches from the subject; truly helpful image stabilization; a wireless remote control for self-portraits and shakeless shutter presses; 15 preprogrammed scene modes; 30 frames-per-second movie recording, with zoom (30-second length limit); and a best-in-class 10X optical zoom, which makes this model what a Nikon spokesman calls "the über-soccer camera." (Nikon also offers the Coolpix 8400, which lacks the 10X zoom and the vibration damper and costs about $80 less.)

Unfortunately, the list of disappointments is equally stunning. For starters, this Coolpix (about $725) is the only eight-megapixel camera without a zoom ring. To zoom in and out (and noisily at that), you have to hold down the + and - buttons, which feels so three-megapixel.

Second, the manual-focus system cries out for a rethink. The operation requires both hands, the screen doesn't magnify the image to help you out and the on-screen scale doesn't display actual distances.

Finally, this camera falls to its knees in dim light. Its autofocus often flails helplessly indoors, zooming futilely in and out; if the subject is more than five feet away, the autofocus assist lamp just twiddles its thumbs. If birthday parties and Thanksgiving dinners are among the scenes you hope to immortalize, you'll find Coolpix distinctly uncool.

OLYMPUS EVOLT E300 This is one big, weird-looking camera. Because light is mirrored off to the side, the usual hump over the lens (where a prism usually sits) is missing, so the Evolt looks as if it has been scalped.

The Evolt isn't in the same category as the cameras described above. It's a digital single-lens-reflex camera, which means that you can't preview the picture on the screen; you have to compose your photo by peering through the glass eyepiece (although that's a wonderful, bright, professional-feeling experience). You don't get movies or sound, a tilt-and-swivel screen, a powerful zoom or a remote control. A digital S.L.R. is a pure, unadulterated still-photo machine, with fast focusing, fast startup time, a catalog of available lenses, days-long battery life and practically no shutter lag (the delay after you press the shutter button).

No wonder, then, that the Evolt easily outshoots its three more compact, more consumer-oriented rivals, even though its price is in the same ballpark ($723 after a $100 rebate that's good through March 31).

The colors pop, autofocus can't miss and the flash pops up so high, your subjects' likelihood of having red eye is next to nil. There's even an ultrasonic vibrator inside that shakes dust off the sensor each time you turn the camera on.

Now, there are better digital S.L.R.'s. The widely adored Nikon D70, for example, has zero startup time and takes sharper photos than the Evolt. But it will cost you at least $900, with lens, and that's after a $200 rebate. (Just a few days ago, Canon unveiled a new superfast, sub-$1,000, eight-megapixel digital S.L.R. of its own, called the EOS 350D.)

THE BOTTOM LINE If you're like most people whose photographic ambitions involve birthdays, weddings, soccer games, holidays and children, here's the cold, hard truth: eight megapixels is three or four megapixels too many.

But if you foresee having to print out posters or heavily cropped 8-by-10's, then the Olympus Evolt E300 is clearly the sharpest shooter of the bunch. Of course, buying it involves giving up some delicious features, like digital movies and the ability to compose your photos on the screen.

If you're not prepared to make those sacrifices, then consider the Konica Minolta Dimage A200. It offers great photos, superb movie capture and a minimum of annoyances, all in a relatively small, inexpensive package.

Either way, these cameras ought to tide you over at least until the 24-megapixel models come out.

(NYTimes technology writer David Pogue wrote the above article.)

(*) (*) (d) (d) or whatever you prefer by candlelight (fireplace flue needs to be cleaned out so no fires until then..) Have a relaxing evening wherever you are. Doc and I will be snug as bugs in a rug...or fleecy blankets on da couch! (l) (l) (l)

Peace,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

High Fidelity (2000)
Vintage record store owner Rob Gordon (John Cusack) has been dumped by his girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), because he hasn't changed since they met. In an attempt to figure out where things went wrong, Rob revisits his top five breakups of all time. As he seeks out his former lovers to find out why they dumped him, he continues his efforts to win Laura back. Based on the Nick Hornby novel, the film is a clever, funny tribute to the music scene.
Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle
Director: Stephen Frears

(*) (*) (*) I love this movie. I would watch it again many times and it will just get better and better. Cusack lets the viewer crawl inside his inner being and feel all the frustration of a guy who wants to commit, but just can't convince himself that he will be okay if he does. I love the way John Cusack talks to the viewer. And the supporting cast is brilliant. From Jack Black to Sarah Gilbert to Iben Hjejle (who was absolutely wonderful). And the music! If for no other reason, see this movie to hear the absolutely awesome song variety. This movie touches all emotions, but can be enjoyed by both sexes.
(*) (*) (*)


Shrek 2 (2004)
In this knockabout comic sequel to the animated smash hit Shrek, the cuddly ogre (Mike Myers) and his lady love Fiona (Cameron Diaz) return to her homeland to tell her parents (John Cleese, Julie Andrews) the good news about their marriage. But Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is far from happy and has a few things to say about the new union. Other characters include the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas).
Starring: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, John Cleese, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett, Larry King, Jennifer Saunders, Conrad Vernon
Director: Andrew Adamson, More


(*) (*) (*) (*) Shrek 2 was hilarious from start to finish! (*) (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

1. Cold Mountain (2003)
Anthony Minghella directs this tale based on the best-selling book about wounded Civil War soldier Inman (Jude Law) making the long, treacherous journey to his home in Cold Mountain, N.C. Along the way, he thinks of his love, Ada (Nicole Kidman), who has fought for sanity and her father's farm's survival while Inman has been gone, even with a brave young drifter named Ruby (Renee Zellweger, in an Oscar-winning performance) there to lend a hand.
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman

(*) (*) (*) (*) FABULOUS!!!! I'd see this again for sure!!

******************

Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Director: Anthony Minghella
Slick Beverly Hills divorce lawyer Miles Massey (George Clooney) falls for Marilyn, the ex-wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of one of his clients, in this old-fashioned screwball comedy from the Coen brothers. Soon the two are involved in a lighthearted game of cat and mouse -- with love on the line, the stakes are worth playing for. Note: This movie is rated PG-13, not PG (some discs were printed incorrectly).
Starring: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Cedric the Entertainer, Julia Duffy, Michael A. Tessiero, Jack Kyle, Edward Herrmann

(*) (*) (*) I'd see this with a special someone for sure!! (*) (*) (*) (*) (*)

(l) (l) (l) Sorry that I forgot that I saw these on cable. ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the very, very handsome BOXER

[sweetlady]

By JAMES TARANTO
February 25, 2005; Page A18 Wall Street Journal

Only 1,348 days until the presidential election, and Hillary Clinton is looking like the front-runner. In part this is because she's the only runner (other than John Kerry, who seems to think he's still challenging President Bush). The diminished Democrats have a weak bench, and while the GOP has a surfeit of plausible candidates, there's no heir apparent to Mr. Bush.

Sen. Clinton has been staking out a position as a moderate, especially on foreign policy. On Sunday she appeared on "Meet the Press" from Baghdad, where she praised the Iraqi elections, opposed a precipitous U.S. withdrawal, and laid out a doctrine of "vigorous engagement" in the world. This is heartening to those of us who have been troubled by the Democratic Party's hard-left isolationist turn since 2002.

It's also smart politics. Unlike Republicans, Democrats win the White House only when they run as moderates. Yet moderate views have sunk many a Democratic contender in the primaries. Just ask Joe Lieberman, who peaked last year with an 11% second-place showing in Delaware.

Hillary, however, has a secret weapon: Republican loathing. Right-leaning Web sites bristle with hostility for New York's junior senator, who once blamed a "vast right-wing conspiracy" for her husband's sex scandal. "Hil has no core values, except a love of as much power as she can get," says a typical post on Lucianne.com1. "She is the most dangerous woman in the world." Such sentiments will make her attractive to her party's Angry Left base, which otherwise would find her positions on issues like Iraq objectionably reasonable.

They may help her in the general election, too. One reason Democrats failed to unseat President Bush was that they were blinded by their hatred for him. This made them overconfident, as they mistook their emotions for facts, assuming that because they couldn't stand him, he must be (as one candidate put it) a "miserable failure." They obsessed over nonissues (Halliburton, Mr. Bush's National Guard service), and they failed to realize that their totally negative campaign reflected badly on them, not on Mr. Bush. If Mrs. Clinton is the nominee in 2008, Republicans risk repeating these mistakes.

(*) (*) always like to see Dems gaining ground although I'm registered Independent. ;) ANYTHING that pushes the conservative christian right red tide back to the stone age is fine with me.(h) (h)

Liberally,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

I'll Link to That: Hunter Thompson, Larry Summers, Hillary, Condi and the Internet's patron saint.

Thursday, February 24, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST WSJ

This week, an homage de blog. Or would that be homage du blog? James Taranto will know. It's good to have an editor, especially one I would characterize as a nonintrusive stickler. He always knows my topic, doesn't know my view, corrects my spelling and grammar. [De? Du? It's all Greek to me!--ed.]

Today I post thoughts blog-style. There is, however, a theme. Find it.

Hunter Thompson, RIP. Tom Wolfe, a genius, goes over the top in his praise of Thompson. Wolfe and Thompson were of the same journalistic generation, and we are all chauvinists for our era. But Hunter Thompson was not Mark Twain, who was a genius, nor was he the great comic voice of America in the 20th century.

He was a reporter/diarist who helped create a new journalistic form, to which 30 years ago he gave the even then embarrassingly corny name "gonzo journalism." It was highly personal, eccentric, with the writer at the center of the story, and it had its moments, the best of which was "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," which had a different sound, a different attitude, and a whiff of anarchy that seemed liberating.

In time Thompson's swashbuckling came to seem joyless, aggressive and half dead. What he thought fed his gift (drugs, alcohol) killed it. He must have been very scared to get tanked like that to write. The empty page, the blank screen, is scary. But so is a mortgage. So is the stillness of a courtroom before you make the closing argument. And so is a broken leg that needs fixing fast. We all have jobs. You take a bad turn when you start to think your next work must be marked by genius because you are a genius. Thompson's death is an occasion not for inspiration or celebration but compassion. Not pity, but a sense of universal idiocy, and sympathy.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006325

The Larry Summers story continues. What choice does it have? It could end, but its authors would have to have the good sense to put a period in and change the subject.

Tuesday he faced an angry faculty gathering where "his ears were pinned back," as one reporter said. Summers now seems to be saying he made a mistake in airing the idea of gender-related differences in the interests and aptitudes of scholars. But here is what he may be forgetting, for people under pressure often lose track of their lack of culpability: Summers did nothing wrong. He thought aloud about an interesting question in a colorful and un-defended way. That's what universities are for.

His mistake was stepping on the real third rail in American cultural politics. It's not Social Security. It is attempting to reconcile the indisputable equality of all people with their differentness. The left thinks if we're all equal we're all alike. Others say we're all equal but God made us different, too, and maybe he did that to keep things interesting, and maybe he did it because each human group is meant to reflect an aspect of his nature. Our differentness is meant to teach us his infinite variety and complexity. It's all about God.

But what the Summers story most illustrates is that American universities now seem like Medieval cloisters. They're like a cloister without the messy God part. Old monks of leftism walk their hallowed halls in hooded robes, chanting to themselves. Young nuns of leftist deconstructionism, pale as orchids, walk along wringing their hands, listening to their gloomy music. They become hysterical at the antichrist of a new idea, the instrusion of the reconsideration of settled matter. Get thee behind me, Summers.

These monks and nuns are the worst of both worlds, frightened and so ferocious, antique and so aggressive. Will they exorcise Summers from their midst? Stay tuned. But cheers to the Ivy League students who refuse to be impressed by these relics.

Hillary. Forget her prepared speeches, put aside her moderate statements on Iraq and abortion. This is how you know she's running for president in 2008. Ten days ago a reporter interviewed her in the halls of the Senate (another kind of cloister) and asked if she planned to run for president. She did not say, "I'm too busy serving the people of New York to think about the future." She did not say, "Oh, I already have a heckuva lot on my plate." She said, "I have more than I can say grace over right now."

I have more than I can say grace over right now. What a wonderfully premeditated ad lib for the Age of Red State Dominance. I suggested a few weeks ago that Mrs. Clinton was about to get very, very religious. But her words came across as pious and smarmy, like Tammy Faye with a law degree. Maybe she still thinks in stereotypes; maybe she thinks that's what little Christian ladies talk like while they stay home baking cookies. Whatever, it was almost as good as her saying, "I'm running, is this not obvious to even the slowest of you?"

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006000

Condi Rice. The new secretary of state has been doing something both different in public and, I suspect, not without meaning. When she meets with the leader of another country and poses for the handshake photo-op she never looks at the leader. She always looks at the journalists witnessing the event instead. She gives them her warmest, most connected smiles.

http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/fra/zxxx/W020040714460871882129.jpg

Then, when the picture taking is over, she turns to the foreign leader with a more neutral look, makes eye contact and chats. I don't think this is an accident. I suspect it is the administration's way of finally fighting back against 50 years of embarrassing and compromising pictures of American leaders meeting with leaders such as this, this and this. The Bush White House doesn't want those pictures. They may be inconvenient down the road. And so administration members on meeting foreign leaders give all their jolly warmth to the moment, as it were, and not the man. Interesting. And Rice is not alone. The photos the Bushies don't want us to see are:

http://www.earthstation1.com/WWIIPics/TehranConference431129-FDR&StalinConfer.jpg

http://www.presidentschildren.com/images/amycarter.jpg

http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/interactive/asianow/0010/albright.nkorea/1.albright.kim.ap.jpg

http://gfx.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2003/09/29/bushchirac.jpg

The patron saint of the Internet. St. Isidore of Seville, inventor of the encyclopedia, is said to be the leading contender for the title, but I hope he doesn't get it. The obvious patron saint of the internet is St. Joseph Cupertino. St. Joseph was a great man of the 17th century, and is my second favorite saint.

http://www.scborromeo.org/saints/isidores.htm

http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/JOSEPH.htm

Many saints were deeply intelligent, and some were geniuses, but St. Joseph Cupertino, God bless him, was a bit of an idiot. Great saints like Teresa of Avila (my favorite: her common sense had a kind of genius to it) wrote books. St. Joseph Cupertino couldn't even read them. He had a low IQ. He was accepted to the priesthood only when a small miracle occurred: His big final test question dealt with the one part of the Bible he'd managed to fully memorize.

What was so special about St. Joseph? His intellectual dullness left him modest; the fact that no one seems ever to have loved him left him not angry but humble; the violence inflicted on him by others left him sympathetic to their frustrations. He thought nothing of himself, and God knew. He loved God with pure and complete ardor, and God knew that too. And God filled him with what most others could not be filled with because they were so full of themselves, and that was love. God poured so much love into St. Joseph that he was lit with it, floated with it. It literally left him airborne.

St. Joseph would pray, and then have visions, and soon he would begin to float. He would come to and find himself in the top of a tree and climb down with great embarrassment. It angered his superiors--who is this idiot to be so filled with love? Smarter people deserved visions! They also resented the fact that the local peasants began to follow him, for they and not the monks and nuns could see something special, the man was a saint. (He was: he'd be sent out to beg for food for the monastery and wind up giving the poor peasants his shoes and cloak instead. One cold winter day he came back naked.) Instead of wearing his shoes, the peasants saved them as relics.

Animals too seemed to understand St. Joseph. They felt the love within him like a mighty vibration. Maybe it was the exact opposite of an earthquake vibration dogs are said to feel. They didn't run from him but to him, and were quiet when they were with him, and put their heads on his knee. Birds would follow him. He'd tell them to shoo but they wouldn't, and he'd laugh. They flew all around his head. He died in obscurity after finally having been assigned never to leave his cell. The best essay on him is in "Saints for Sinners" by Alban Goodier.

Why is St. Joseph Cupertino the obvious patron saint of the Internet? Because he flew through the air, lifted by truth. Because no establishment could keep him down. Because he empowered common people. Because they in fact saw his power before the elites of the time did. And because it could not be an accident that the center of the invention of the Internet, ground zero of Silicon Valley, is Cupertino, Calif., named for the saint centuries ago.

Was God in this? Of course. Does God do such things for no reason? He does not. Has the church recognized St. Joseph Cupertino as patron saint of the Internet? No. But the church was always slow to give him his due. If you want to tell the pope that St. Joseph should be patron saint, you can reach him at john_paul_II@vatican.va.


(*) (*) (*) Superb points especially about Condi's sour puss except for media cameras and St. Joseph Cupertino as patron saint of the Internet. What fun! ;) ;) Peggy CAN write and she certainly has some strong opinions for sure. :o :o Reminds me of someone....<hmmmm> ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Desperate House Flies:

http://www.desperatehouseflies.com/

*******************************
This place sucks: a Super Friends/Office Space mashup (Sites not suitable for the easily offended):

http://www.idiotwork.com/pages/tps.html

*******************************

Evil Dead Live: http://www.evildeadlive.com/EDL1web.jpg

********************************


(*) (*) Have a delightful Friday evening everyone! Doc is sleeping (this was his week off chemo so he's been like his old self lately and his mama is sending thank you prayers to all the folks who sent kind, healing energies his way. (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Mozilla foundation announces latest "patch" for Internet Explorer: The Mozilla Foundation released an update to Firefox yesterday, the first since the browser's official launch last November. Version 1.0.1 features a number of stability and security fixes, including two for serious flaws that could allow malicious attackers to spoof the source displayed in the "Download Dialog" box or to spoof the content of Web sites. "I'd encourage users to get this release, especially if they've been prone to phishing attacks or spoofing," said Chris Hofmann, director of engineering with Mozilla. "A lot of work in this release focuses on those areas."

http://www.mozilla.org/

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=60403364

(*) (*) I'm moving to this web browser when I get a new computer sometime soon. Internet Explorer sux. Netscape is much better in my opinion. And friends tell me that Mozilla rocks. (h) (h)

({) (}) and a few (k) 's,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By ALEX WILLIAMS

Published: February 27, 2005 NYTimes

AUREEN SPILLANE, an executive at a shoe and handbag maker in New York, always thought a $100,000 salary equaled serious success. Like many professional people, however, when she finally broke the barrier, she was a bit deflated to learn that it was hardly salvation. It still took her several years of "hoarding away" and avoiding standard Manhattan indulgences - fancy food, fancy clothing - in order to afford a down payment on a one-bedroom fixer-upper on the Upper West Side.

"It's not the big shiny number that you think about when you first get out of college," said Ms. Spillane, who is in her mid-30's. "Don't get me wrong, I'm making a nice living, I enjoy what I do. I'm certainly in a better position than a lot of people."

"But Melania and I don't shop in the same places, let me tell you," she said, referring to the latest Mrs. Trump, Melania Knauss. "I'm not jetting off to the Bahamas."

There was a time not long ago when earning six figures was a significant milestone among upwardly mobile professionals. If you were young and single in one of the nation's big cities, you could live in a building with a doorman, drive a European car, eat at fine restaurants and vacation in Jackson Hole. For married people it meant a suburban home and college savings accounts for the children.

Beyond the lifestyle, $100,000 was a psychic achievement; it meant joining the meritocratic elite. The prospect of "six figures" kept white-collar workers toiling for 20 years, confident that hard work would be rewarded and that the American social contract was securely in place.

Certainly $100,000, which is more than twice the national median household income of $43,527, is still a princely wage in most of the country, placing you in the top 5.2 percent of American wage earners with full-time jobs, according to the 2000 census. Even in New York City, only 7.5 percent of full-time workers make that much. But $100,000 isn't what it used to be. It has been devalued, in the practical sense by inflation and psychologically because it is now a relatively common salary for newcomers in fields like law and banking. For today's executive strivers in the more affluent cities, there is a new grail: $200,000.

"It's the new black," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president in charge of compensation at Salary.com, an online career service based in Needham, Mass., that tracks executive pay. "There's a lot of bunching between $100,000 and $150,000. That's the vast majority of the people who used to aspire to $100,000. Now they are aspiring to $200,000 or $250,000."

"It's the players," he added, echoing a common sentiment, "who make $200,000."

While a salary of $100,000 is still "rarefied," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington in charge of its living standards program, in many regions "it's not uncommon for households in that range to feel pinched."

Housing in cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco can cost three or four times that of the national median, Mr. Bernstein said, to say nothing of the escalating prices of big-ticket items like education and health care.

"There are certainly cities in this country where it takes an income of a couple of hundred thousand dollars to start to genuinely feel affluent," he said.

Not for nothing did Senator John Kerry propose rolling back tax cuts during the presidential debates on those earning more than $200,000, symbolic of "the rich." Not for nothing did the Nestlé candy company change the name some years back of its $100,000 bar. It is now the 100 Grand bar. It seems $100,000 doesn't summon the old magic.

Passing the $200,000 threshold these days appears to be a ticket to the good life much in the same way that crossing the hallowed $100,000 barrier was during the prime yuppie years of the 1980's. About 1.9 million tax filers (or less than 2 percent) reported gross adjusted incomes between $200,000 and $500,000 in 2002, the last year for which the Internal Revenue Service has compiled statistics. The year a similar percent of tax filers had incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 was in 1987

In the 1985 film "Lost in America," Albert Brooks's character was able to build up a big enough nest egg as a $100,000-a-year advertising executive that he could abandon the white-collar life before he turned 40 to travel the country in a luxury motor home with his wife.

"Twenty years ago a person would have thought that if they were making $100,000 they were rolling in the dough," said Karen Ramsey, a certified financial planner in Seattle. Now, she said, clients "will be making $100,000, $120,000, and they'll be looking at me and saying: 'We're just getting our kids through school. If we have any left over for a vacation, we're lucky.' "

Adjusted for cost-of-living inflation in the New York metropolitan region, a $100,000 income in 1987 would be worth about $170,000 today. And yet it still seems that another $30,000 or more is needed to be a "player." Part of the explanation may be the almost perverse escalation in the price of commodities favored by upwardly mobile professionals: whether $170 Diesel jeans, which have replaced $30 Levis; $3.95 lattes from Starbucks versus 25-cent coffee from a deli; or the must-have $449 iPod that supplanted the must-have $75 Sony Walkman of the Reagan years.

When Patricia Belden, a 39-year-old developer of affordable housing in Boston, was a student at Cornell University in the mid-80's, she dreamed of a six-figure income. "I would be satisfied with the life that would buy," she recalled thinking. Ms. Belden passed that milestone and is not complaining. But when she and her husband, a violin maker, recently shopped for a home in Boston for themselves and their newborn son, they settled for a loft in the city's trendy South End.

Sounds chic, Ms. Belden allowed, except the family has subdivided a space the size of a large studio into a three-bedroom apartment, what she calls "a ranch house in the sky."

The couple's big extravagance was a permanent parking space for $20,000. "My father told me, 'Honey, don't worry, we paid $20,000 for our first parking space,' " Ms. Belden said. "But it came with a house and a garage."

Compensation experts said the expectations of many white-collar workers were turbocharged in the late 1990's, during the long run-up in the stock market and the high-tech boom.

"Only in the latter half of the 90's did starting salaries break $100,000 a year," explained Hussam Hamadeh, a co-founder of Vault.com Inc., a Web-based career services company. "At that point $100,000 stopped being an eye-popping salary and started to become routine. After all, if 'everyone you know' is making at least $100,000 a year, there's nothing very exceptional about it."

By the time professionals in certain high-earning fields are in their mid- or late 30's, they're at least within striking range of the new $200,000 goal. A senior creative executive at a major New York ad agency, for example, earns about $170,000, according to salary statistics compiled by Vault.

A senior vice president at a major public relations firm typically earns up to $160,000, with perhaps another $15,000 in bonuses. In the high-technology field the majority of "e-commerce marketing directors" surveyed by Salary.com earned $120,000 to $150,000 in total cash compensation. The top quarter, however, earned an average of $204,800.

The legal profession is perhaps the most clear-cut example of changing expectations due to changing pay scales. "There was a time when if you were making $100,000, you were a partner, and that wasn't that long ago," explained Jon Lindsey, a managing partner of Major, Hagen & Africa, a national legal recruiting firm. "In New York they now look at $100,000 as a living wage, but not much more."

Last year the median base salary for first-year associates at firms with more than 501 lawyers was $120,000, moving up to $185,000 for eighth-year associates, according to figures from the National Association for Law Placement.

Noble Black, 29, hardly considers himself living it up. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia a few years ago, moved to New York and took a job in securities law in the Manhattan office of the firm McKee Nelson. His starting salary, he said, was $135,000.

"You think you're going to be making all this money, but it all goes so quickly," said Mr. Black, who left after a few years to work as a consultant to the television show "The Apprentice" (and is now an associate real estate broker for the Corcoran Group in New York).

Mr. Black didn't find much sympathy from his family back in Mississippi, where $100,000 is still a country club income. "You go home and tell them how much you're making, and they think you're doing so well, but then you tell them about the rent," he said, recalling the $4,650 monthly rent for the apartment he shared with a friend in Symphony House, near Columbus Circle.

It was only when his annual compensation began to approach the new affluence threshold that he began to feel he was building real equity. "A couple of years making close to $200,000 puts you into that good place," Mr. Black said.

Robert H. Frank, an economist at Cornell said: "A lot of people think this is about spoiled people who can't keep up with the Joneses, but it's really deeper than that. There's a consumption standard that every group has. If you ask, 'How am I doing?,' it's always, 'Compared to what?' And people hardly ever look down."

If they did, it might seem a bit odd to see a number they had spent much of their lives staring up at longingly. Then again, Mr. Coleman of Salary.com is not sure people will ever quite strive for the $200,000 life in quite the specific way they dreamed of a $100,000 one. The latter "is a natural milestone," he said. "It's a power of 10."

"One hundred thousand is magical because it is 100 - 100 is perfect, remember when you're in school?" he said.

The real point, perhaps, is the dreaming itself, the sense among many professionals that there needs to be some light flickering on the horizon to get you through the long hours and the stress of a career. In that sense, Mr. Coleman said, the dream salary of today is the same as it's always been. "It's beyond reasonable expectation," he said, "but not beyond hope."


(*) (*) (*) (*) ANYONE?? Butch or femme RELATE to this????? I would LOVE to hear from femmes and butches who have been in this place.

If you have read this far, PM me.

Love, Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By BEN RATLIFF

Published: February 25, 2005 NYTimes

Irite albums, but you're looking for the undercurrents to it all."

"You've got it perfectly," I said.

He produced a disc, onto which he had burned six pieces of music. "Well, then, let's start with Sonny Rollins and Paul Bley."

Dealing with great jazz improvisers often means dealing with masters of certainty: people who for most of their lives have been trusting their impulses to make things up on the spot. Mr. Metheny, 51, extends that certainty to talking, exhaustively, about music - both in specifics and at a conceptual or historical remove.

He is ecumenical and opinionated, practical and quite idealistic, a cheery defender of his own causes. Although he is a jazz musician at the core and is generally thought of as such, he does not believe his purpose in life is to further the cause of the guitar in jazz, or even of jazz itself.

On the telephone before we met, I had asked him whether he would be talking about a lot of guitarists.

"The guitar for me is a translation device," he answered. "It's not a goal. And in some ways jazz isn't a destination for me. For me, jazz is a vehicle that takes you to the true destination - a musical one that describes all kinds of stuff about the human condition and the way music works."

The Prodigious Professional

Growing up in Lee's Summit, Mo., Mr. Metheny began to develop his certainty as a high school-age professional in Kansas City. In 1975, when he was 21, he made his first album, "Bright Size Life," with a trio including Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on drums - and started to make a major change in jazz. It introduced a lyrical strain in the music that didn't come from the blues or old popular standards; he wasn't aggressively overplaying, as many jazz-into-rock guitarists were at the time, and he suggested new areas of harmony that had not yet flooded American jazz pedagogy, but soon would.

A few years later he formed the Pat Metheny Group and has kept it together since 1977, playing music that is melodically rich, harmonically advanced, besotted with the possibilities of electronic effects and recording technology, and usually kind of glossily pretty. That prettiness - and the adaptations he's made to the sound of the guitar, especially the guitar synthesizer, with its limpid, brasslike sound - has been insurmountable for many people who prefer their jazz based in the rudiments of swing and blues. But his audience has never abated.

Pay attention to his work, and he will eventually get around to whatever it is you like, whether it is "Question and Answer," a record of tough, imaginative post-bebop and post-Coltrane playing with the bassist Dave Holland and the drummer Roy Haynes, or his solo acoustic records of moody strumming, or separate collaborations with his heroes Ornette Coleman, Jim Hall and Derek Bailey. His is a startlingly, almost illogically wide swath of music.

The Pat Metheny Group has recently reshaped to bring in some of jazz's best young players, including the trumpeter Cuong Vu, the harmonica player Gregoire Maret and the drummer Antonio Sanchez. Its new album, "The Way Up," Mr. Metheny's first for Nonesuch Records, is the group's most ambitious work.

Ascending melodic passages keep driving through it, and though certain themes do return after long stretches, this is not short-form music, like most jazz. It is a 68-minute-long, through-composed suite, reminiscent in parts of Steve Reich, and its score has no repeat signs. The tour for the album started this month in Toronto and arrives at the Beacon Theater in New York on April 1 and 2.

Sonny and Hawkins

In 1963 Sonny Rollins made a fascinatingly tense record with his saxophone-playing role model, Coleman Hawkins. Called "Sonny Meets Hawk!," the recording had an almost transparently psychological subtext: Mr. Rollins wasn't trying to best or outsmart Hawkins so much as to be very, very himself, with all possible eccentricities, in the face of his idol's magnificence.

"He was a young guy at the time," Mr. Metheny marveled, listening to Mr. Rollins's emphatic, darting lines in "All the Things You Are," harmonically at odds with Hawkins's, on the opening chorus. "That feeling is such a great feeling - like 'I can play anything, and it's all good.' Not to analyze it, but Hawk was kind of like his father. And it's like Sonny's saying, "yeah, but . . . ."

What especially attracts Mr. Metheny to the track, though, is Paul Bley's piano solo. It is made of elegant, flowing phrases that dance in and around the tonality and the melody of the song; it builds momentum and becomes carried away with itself. Mr. Metheny calls the solo "the shot heard 'round the world," in terms of its aftereffects in subsequent jazz, especially through Keith Jarrett. He describes Mr. Bley's solo as having an "inevitability."

"His relationship to time," Mr. Metheny said, "is the best sort of pushing and pulling; wrestling with it and at the same time, phrase by phrase, making these interesting connections between bass and drums, making it seem like it's a little bit on top, and then now it's a little bit behind." (He held an index finger straight up, and moved it slightly to the right and left, like a bubble in a carpenter's level, or an electronic tuning meter.)

"But there's also this X factor," he continued. "It's the sense of each thing leading very naturally to the next thing. He's letting each idea go to its own natural conclusion. He's reconciling that with a form, of course, that we all know very well. And he's following the harmony, but he's not. It just feels like, 'Why didn't anybody else do that before?' "

There is a plainspokenness, a kind of folkish natural feeling, to Bley's lines and his harmony, I added. Is the idea of "inevitability" related to that?

"Well, for me," he answered, "let's keep jazz as folk music. Let's not make jazz classical music. Let's keep it as street music, as people's everyday-life music. Let's see jazz musicians continue to use the materials, the tools, the spirit of the actual time that they're living in, as what they build their lives as musicians around. It's a cliché, but it's such a valuable one: something that is the most personal becomes the most universal."

A Lasting Impression

Next we hear "Seven Steps to Heaven" by Miles Davis, performed live by the Davis Quintet - including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams - in 1964. It is fast and confident, even in its improvised coda; Williams's drum solo crackles like gunfire, and Davis's solo is coolly imperious.

"This is the first record I ever got," Mr. Metheny said, as a prologue. "I got this when I was 11. My older brother Mike, who's a great trumpet player, had a couple of friends who were starting to get interested in jazz. He brought this record home. I always hear 'jazz is something you really have to learn about, and you develop a taste for it, and da da da,' that whole rap. But for me, as an 11-year-old, within 30 seconds of hearing this record" - he snapped his fingers - "I was down for life."

We listened to it silently. "They were really rushing," Mr. Metheny said when it finished - meaning the tempo was too fast.

"I know Herbie really well, and I knew Tony very well, too, and I've talked with them about what was actually going down that night. They thought it was one of the worst gigs they'd ever done. But I was listening to Tony here. The same way the Bley thing opened up this universe - well, Tony, too. It's such an incredibly fresh way of thinking of time. It sums up so much of what that period was. The world was about to shift."

Mr. Metheny redirected his thoughts. "What I was going to talk about is Miles's solo. It's this completely invented language that happens to line up perfectly with all the things we now have quantified in jazz, in terms of its language and grammar. It wasn't quantified then, as it is now, that if you see this kind of chord, you're going to play this set of notes. This is not an easy tune. It's not like playing on a blues. It moves around a couple of keys, then a bridge, does a weird move that you've got to deal with. He deals with it in such an abstract, hip way. It's melody, and it has this whole thing of glue - the way ideas are connected with other ideas on a phrase-by-phrase basis."

Davis had to slow down his imagination to a much calmer tempo than the song's, I suggested, to imply so much swing in each note and phrase.

Mr. Metheny took a deep breath. "Yeah. You know, that word swing is almost a political buzzword. To me, in the language I'm using here, that's the glue I'm talking about. The connection of ideas.

"But there's another way that music connects: with who the person is, the time he's living in, how he's able to manifest a sound that represents all that. To me, that's swing, and it doesn't have anything to do with jazz." (His accent renders the word "jee-azz.")

"Swing is kind of this quality? It exists in human interaction. In the way somebody talks and moves. I find its resonance in architecture, and literature."

Acting?

"Yeah, acting. And refrigerator repair."

A Pioneer of Bossa Nova

Mr. Metheny's popularity jumped to a much higher level in 1979 with his record "American Garage." For about 15 years afterward, he toured almost constantly, with no roots other than an apartment in Boston that kept the rain off of his answering machine. Now he lives in an Upper West Side high rise, with his French-Moroccan wife, Latifa, and their two young sons, Jeff Kaiis and Nicolas Djakeem.

For a few years during that touring period, he spent a lot of time in Brazil and got to know Antonio Carlos Jobim before the great composer died in 1994. (The influence of Brazilian music on Mr. Metheny, rather than the reverse, is an often-disputed point.) Mr. Metheny wanted to hear "Passarim," a three-and-a-half minute condensed masterpiece from Jobim's last album whose words protest environmental pollution; it appears on the CD of the same name in English and Portuguese, and we listened to the Portuguese version.

Mr. Metheny smiled as the music started. "It's so much more than a tune. This is really like composition. Especially that little bit." He backed up the disc to where the chorus of female voices, made up of Jobim's friends and family members, repeated lines over descending and shifting harmony.

Jobim's catarrhal voice re-entered. "See, you could call this part the bridge," Mr. Metheny observed, "except that it keeps spinning off into this other stuff, kind of like in 'Desafinado.' It should end there, after he's finished, but it doesn't and it goes into this whole other thing. Then it keeps modulating into these different keys."

The music suddenly shifted from bossa to waltz time. "This is so advanced," he said. "The beauty of the harmony - major triads moving down throughout this whole thing, with different kinds of voices. Plus, all that glue, melodic glue: it never stops, from the first note to the end. Where are we now? We're almost two minutes into the track, and nothing has repeated yet. I mean, that's advanced the way Paul Bley is advanced. There's a connection there."

It works because Jobim's ideas are complete within themselves, I suggest, and he wills them to fit together, regardless of traditional ideas of structure.

"Yeah," Mr. Metheny agrees. "It's like when you first wake up in the morning and you don't really think about what you're doing, and maybe you write your best stuff. You're not in the way. When talking about writing, I often use the analogy of archaeology. There are these great tunes all around. Your skill as a musician allows you to pick them out without breaking them."

Bringing the Music to Life

After Bley, his hallowed supernova - and then issues of rhythm, melody, harmony and extended composition - Mr. Metheny wanted to talk about touch. He put on Bach's Fugue No. 22 in B-Flat minor, from the pianist Glenn Gould's 1965 recording of "The Well-Tempered Clavier," Book I, and read along from the score.

"B-flat minor, the saddest of all keys," Mr. Metheny said, at the end. "The main reason I picked this was the way he was able to invoke this almost lyrical, vocal, singing quality from an instrument that doesn't involve breath. We all have the same mandate, in a way: we try to communicate the kinds of phrases that would be believable if somebody were singing them."

Part of the reason that some people resist jazz guitar-playing, Mr. Metheny said, is because guitar players don't convey that sense of breath. "Saxophonists have a very wide dynamic range. They're dealing with a ratio of about that" - he spread his hands to indicate a foot. "With guitar we have a ratio of about this" - he spread his thumb and index finger to indicate about four inches - "in terms of what we can do with our touch."

Mr. Metheny talked about how Gould made phrases of music come almost physically alive. "No two notes are ever the same volume. With the guitar, you really have to model in your mind this wider thing; you're trying to create the illusion of a bigger dynamic range. The guy who defined that, on guitar, was Jim Hall, who opened up five or six degrees of dynamics on both sides by picking softer. He could then make certain things jump out a little bit more."

Making Every Moment Count

Two hours into the marathon session, Mr. Metheny seemed as fresh as when he came in. Preferring to continue without a break, he produced a snack and kept talking. Near the end, we got around to his favorite guitar solo of all time: Wes Montgomery's chorus and a half on "If You Could See Me Now," from "Smokin' at the Half Note," recorded in 1965 by the Wynton Kelly Trio with Wes Montgomery.

As a young musician, Mr. Metheny did everything he could to sound like Montgomery, including playing without a pick and improvising parallel lines an octave apart. "But when I was 14 or 15," he said, "I realized that what I was doing was really disrespectful because that wasn't me, that was him. I grew up in Lee's Summit, Mo. I didn't grow up in New York City. I'm white; I'm not black. I'm from a little town where you couldn't help but hear country music, and I loved it. I always wanted to address those things with certain notes, qualities of chords, kinds of voice-leading."

He cued the solo. We listened once, then listened again while he talked.

"This is such an incredibly strong melodic opening," he said, during the first four bars of the solo, before Montgomery moves into triplet patterns in bars five through eight. "And also, that first phrase is pretty full, like a full speaking voice, but then he's really soft here. It's almost like Glenn Gould; every note's a different volume."

In the second chorus, the band starts to swing harder, and Montgomery plays powerful, earthy phrases in the second A section. "Then there's the blues factor in all of this, too, which he just tucks in there," Mr. Metheny said.

Toward the end of each section, Montgomery forecast the beginning of the next part, building some tension; each time, Mr. Metheny was ecstatic. "He's starting a new thing, setting it up. And now, look at this" - during the second chorus - "just quarter notes. He gets two or three levels above the time, and then gets right back in the pocket."

"It's really hard to play a short solo," Mr. Metheny said when the track ended. "Like an eight-bar solo. Every single thing about it has to count. And that's like Bach, almost."

(*) (*) (*) Pat fans??? PM me. I am SO into jazz. Enough said. (l) (l) (l) (l) (l) (l)

(k) (k)
Sweetlady and Doc

[sweetlady]

By MANOHLA DARGIS

Published: February 25, 2005 NYTimes!

I hesitate to describe the pocket-size documentary "Sunset Story" as a gem of a film. Lovingly directed by Laura Gabbert, it is certainly a gem, small and, in its very modest way, perfect of its kind. But there is every reason to believe that the film's subjects - an elderly twosome named Lucille and Irja - would find the word gem overly precious, perhaps insulting. These are women, after all, who regularly participate in protests and union rallies, and whose home is adorned with a sign reading "Free Mumia," on behalf of the death row celebrity Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Mumia sign hangs off a metal railing overlooking the courtyard of a residence called Sunset Hall, which advertises itself as "a nonprofit retirement home for free-thinking elders." No kidding! Founded in Los Angeles more than 80 years ago, Sunset Hall was established as a home for religious liberals. As the filmmakers soon make apparent, however, the current residents tend to lean rather more left. The complete works of Lenin sit on the shelves of the home's common room and the residents are more interested in current affairs than bingo and "Wheel of Fortune." (Perhaps not unexpectedly, they do complain a lot about the food.) Lucille's television is always tuned to CNN, and she keeps tabs on the editorial pages of The New York Times.

A former social worker, Lucille Alpert arrived at Sunset Hall several years ago, within two weeks of Irja Lloyd, a one-time teacher for the disabled. It was a match made in progressive heaven. It was also a godsend for the filmmakers, since half the battle in documentary is finding the right subject and Lucille and Irja make not just worthy subjects but excellent company.

The sharp-tongued Lucille, an irrepressible force with a voice and manner reminiscent of the actress Ruth Gordon, is an ideal foil for the gentler Irja, whose bad health and dependence on a wheelchair have yet to slow her down. Each day, Lucille pushes Irja into a new adventure, the sharp taps of her cane beating out an energetic rhythm. "Are we connected?" Irja asks. "I'm with you," Lucille answers.

A mix of observed scenes and talking-head interviews punctuated by an occasional off-camera question from the filmmakers ("Can we talk about sex?" Answer: Yes and no), "Sunset Story" is, for the most part, a miniature-scale portrait of two friends. But it is also a deeply affecting, sometimes eye-opening look at what happens to some of the elderly. When tucked out of sight and often mind, in convalescent homes and the occasional spare bedroom, the elderly can be among our culture's most invisible members. The residents of Sunset Hall are the sons and daughters of activists and agitators; sometimes the residents fought for their rightful place in the world, sometimes they fought on behalf of others. They are not about to go gently into the night, an inspiring lesson for those who will not be joining their demographic anytime soon.

Not that the world seems to care where they go. In one of the film's most painfully pointed scenes, the residents gather outside the gates of the home during a fire drill. The image of these frail men and women, many bent over in wheelchairs, takes your breath away. It isn't only that many of them look defenseless without the protection of the home; it is that they look almost alien, like visitors from another planet, one called very old age. As the residents wait to return inside, a parade of young schoolchildren begins walking past the home, many staring openly. Ms. Gabbert shows this fleeting intergenerational moment in slow motion, and its poignancy is as stark as it is discomforting.

Because the filmmakers wanted to tell a personal story, they don't explore the history of Sunset Hall in any depth. (It is worth noting that the documentary, which plays in shortened form next month on PBS, is several years old.) They don't mention that the home was established by the Women's Alliance of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles and has, during times of financial trouble, relied on good Samaritans like Pete Seeger and Barbra Streisand. And I have qualms about some scenes with residents who are lost in a cloud of dementia, which feel unnecessary. One of the strengths of "Sunset Story" is that it introduces us to a pair of extraordinary women who have kept their dignity and independence in a world that conspires against them having either. The story of Lucille and Irja may break your heart, but it will also make your day.

'Sunset Story'

Opens today in Manhattan.

Directed by Laura Gabbert; director of photography, Shana Hagan; edited by William Haugse; music by Peter Golub; produced by Ms. Gabbert, Caroline Libresco and Eden Wurmfeld; released by Vitagraph Films. At the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 73 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Irja Lloyd, Lucille Alpert, and staff members and residents of Sunset Hall.

(*) (*) Anyone interested in getting older?? I thought this was pretty cool. (*) (*) (*) (h) (h) (h) (h) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sweetlady]

By MAUREEN DOWD

Published: February 27, 2005 NYTimes

WASHINGTON

It was remarkable to see President Bush lecture Vladimir Putin on the importance of checks and balances in a democratic society.

Remarkably brazen, given that the only checks Mr. Bush seems to believe in are those written to the "journalists" Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Karen Ryan, the fake TV anchor, to help promote his policies. The administration has given a whole new meaning to checkbook journalism, paying a stupendous $97 million to an outside P.R. firm to buy columnists and produce propaganda, including faux video news releases.

The only balance W. likes is the slavering, Pravda-like "Fair and Balanced" coverage Fox News provides. Mr. Bush pledges to spread democracy while his officials strive to create a Potemkin press village at home. This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names; it prefers tossing journalists who protect their sources into the gulag to giving up the officials who broke the law by leaking the name of their own C.I.A. agent.

W., who once looked into Mr. Putin's soul and liked what he saw, did not demand the end of tyranny, as he did in his second Inaugural Address. His upper lip sweating a bit, he did not rise to the level of his hero Ronald Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Instead, he said that "the common ground is a lot more than those areas where we disagree." The Russians were happy to stress the common ground as well.

An irritated Mr. Putin compared the Russian system to the American Electoral College, perhaps reminding the man preaching to him about democracy that he had come in second in 2000 according to the popular vote, the standard most democracies use.

Certainly the autocratic former K.G.B. agent needs to be upbraided by someone - Tony Blair, maybe? - for eviscerating the meager steps toward democracy that Russia had made before Mr. Putin came to power. But Mr. Bush is on shaky ground if he wants to hold up his administration as a paragon of safeguarding liberty - considering it has trampled civil liberties in the name of the war on terror and outsourced the torture of prisoners to bastions of democracy like Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. (The secretary of state canceled a trip to Egypt this week after Egypt's arrest of a leading opposition politician.)

"I live in a transparent country," Mr. Bush protested to a Russian reporter who implicitly criticized the Patriot Act by noting that the private lives of American citizens "are now being monitored by the state."

Dick Cheney's secret meetings with energy lobbyists were certainly a model of transparency. As was the buildup to the Iraq war, when the Bush hawks did their best to cloak the real reasons they wanted to go to war and trumpet the trumped-up reasons.

The Bush administration wields maximum secrecy with minimal opposition. The White House press is timid. The poor, limp Democrats don't have enough power to convene Congressional hearings on any Republican outrages and are reduced to writing whining letters of protest that are tossed in the Oval Office trash.

When nearly $9 billion allotted for Iraqi reconstruction during Paul Bremer's tenure went up in smoke, Democratic lawmakers vainly pleaded with Republicans to open a Congressional investigation.

Even the near absence of checks and balances is not enough for W. Not content with controlling the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and a good chunk of the Fourth Estate, he goes to even more ludicrous lengths to avoid being challenged.

The White House wants its Republican allies in the Senate to stamp out the filibuster, one of the few weapons the handcuffed Democrats have left. They want to invoke the so-called nuclear option and get rid of the 150-year-old tradition in order to ram through more right-wing judges.

Mr. Bush and Condi Rice strut in their speeches - the secretary of state also strutted in Wiesbaden in her foxy "Matrix"-dominatrix black leather stiletto boots - but they shy away from taking questions from the public unless they get to vet the questions and audiences in advance.

Administration officials went so far as to cancel a town hall meeting during Mr. Bush's visit to Germany last week after deciding an unscripted setting would be too risky, opting for a round-table talk in Mainz with preselected Germans and Americans.

The president loves democracy - as long as democracy means he's always right.

(*) (*) Wish that I had a column like hers! ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By MICHAEL MARMOT

Published: February 27, 2005 NYTimes

London

IT'S that time when the world holds its breath: the annual ritual when we wait to see which glittering and famous person will become even more glittering and more famous. But the Academy Awards are more than just a spectator sport. They are a matter of life and death. On average, the winners live four years longer than nominees who don't win.

The Oscar winners are a quirky example of a phenomenon that is remarkably widespread: the higher your status in the social hierarchy the better your health and the longer you live. It appears to be a global syndrome. Americans with more income or education have better health than Americans with less; a Swedish Ph.D. graduate has longer life expectancy than a Swede with a master's degree; a British civil servant at the top of the employment hierarchy has greater longevity than one not quite at the top; health has been improving for Russians with university education, getting worse for those without. The reason the Oscar winners are so interesting is that they give insight into what is going on.

We are used to thinking that poverty is bad for health. Indeed it is. Life expectancy in some sub-Saharan African countries is less than 40 years compared with 80 years or more for people in the best-off countries. By these standards even poor Americans are not poor, yet they have shorter lives, as much as 20 years shorter, than richer Americans. The unsuccessful Oscar nominees, or the Swedish master's graduates, or the second-from-the-top civil servants, are certainly not poor. Yet each of these groups has worse health than those above them in the hierarchy. There is a social gradient in health that runs from the top to the bottom of society and affects all of us.

A way to understand this link between status and health is to think of three fundamental human needs: health, autonomy and opportunity for full social participation. All the usual suspects affect health - material conditions, smoking, diet, physical activity and the like - but autonomy and participation are two other crucial influences on health; and the lower the social status, the less autonomy and the less social participation. By participation I include the positive feedback one receives from social recognition and being a valuable member of society.

To understand the power of this force, consider the disparity that exists among Oscar winners themselves.

In their work, Donald Redelmeier and Sheldon Singh, the two scientists who studied the Oscar winners, also showed that the life-enhancing effect did not extend to screenwriters who won the prize. To understand why, try to name a screenwriter who has won an Oscar, much less what he or she wore to the Academy Awards ceremony. It's likely that you can't because screenwriters get little recognition, award winners or not. As writers from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne have told us, screenwriters are at the bottom of the Hollywood totem pole. A successful novelist told me he writes books for satisfaction and recognition and screenplays for money. The satisfaction and recognition count more.

Differences in autonomy and social participation underlie the other examples of the social gradient in health. High-grade civil servants have more control over their working lives than those below them in the hierarchy. Higher control is associated with lower risk of heart disease, back pain, mental illness and ailments that make people stay home from work. Autonomy and participation have a direct effect on the body's stress pathways, which, in turn, affect the biological pathways that increase risk of heart and other diseases.

As bad as poverty is for health, what is at issue here is inequality. The link between inequality and health has profound implications. No one is in favor of poverty. Inequality is different. Libertarians might justify it as simply the result of policies that were pursued for other reasons, like freedom from state interference. Some economists justify it as providing incentives for the wealth producers to raise all boats. Some businessmen claim that low wages mean low costs to business and hence greater competitiveness. For some any justification would be cant - they like inequality because they are on top.

Those who argue that inequality is simply an inevitable part of life should not be complacent. Inequality, it seems, harms health. In this regard, it's worth noting that the United States ranks 27th in the world in life expectancy - behind countries with half the national income per capita of the United States and with a fraction of the expenditure on medical care, according to the United Nations 2004 Human Development Index. A lot of factors are at play in life expectancy, but it is notable that all but three of the 26 countries preceding the United States have more equal income distributions. These income inequalities indicate broader social inequalities.

The most egregious effects of inequality in the United States are seen on the streets of the inner cities among people with little hope for the future. The more subtle but far- reaching effects are seen in workers with insecure jobs; in people who fear that major illness will be a financial catastrophe; in poor or even middle-class people whose lives offer them little opportunity for control or meaningful social participation. These inequalities are in part inequalities in income, to be sure. But it is not just inequality of incomes that is at issue. More fundamentally these inequalities indicate a society that works well for those at the top, and far less well for everybody else.

My level of sympathy for the almost-did-it millionaire actors is, shall I say, appropriate to their misfortune. That is why, as the glitterati step out of their limousines on Oscar night, my thoughts will be elsewhere.


Michael Marmot, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, is the author of "The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity."



(*) (*) I'll be doing something else as well. Sunday nights = weekly deadlines for assignments. :| :| Okay, maybe a peek or two. ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Experiencing the ephemeral: Christo and Jeanne-Claude help us reimagine Central Park

by Leslie Camhi
February 18th, 2005 4:48 PM Village Voice

I lived in Paris, but I never saw The Pont Neuf Wrapped (1975-85), a temporary work of art in which husband-and-wife team Christo and Jeanne-Claude draped that 400-year-old bridge for two weeks in some half a million feet of silky beige fabric. I lived in Berlin, but I never witnessed the Wrapped Reichstag (1971-95), an epic undertaking they planned for nearly a quarter of a century, in which Germany's monumental parliament building, symbol of the country's tragic past, lay encased like a chrysalis for 14 days in 100,000 square meters of silvery textile, bound with blue rope.
I live today around the corner from the couple in lower Soho, where my partner, an artist who moved here in the 1970s, claims to have spotted them repeatedly over the decades at the local ATM. I'd never caught sight of them until, with hundreds of other world media representatives (including Bulgarian state television), I sat beside the Metropolitan Museum of Art's venerable Temple of Dendur one recent morning to hear them speak about The Gates—7,500 saffron portals hung with pleated curtains that currently flutter over the walkways of Central Park. Yet their work has occupied one corner of my mind for decades; they're a ubiquitous presence in contemporary art. And when they stepped onto the podium, holding hands, I caught my breath, for in their aging figures, I glimpsed my own mortality.

Such autobiographical details may seem gratuitous or self-indulgent, but the dualities they conjure—at the intersection of art and life, and between endless expanses of imagination and the finite, fleeting quality of experience—are central to the oeuvre of these artists, who have long toyed with the limits of perception. Who can possess The Gates, materially or sensually? A work of extreme beauty and a vast populist spectacle, free and accessible to all, it represents an act of generosity on the part of Christo and Jeanne-Claude comparable to the potlatch ceremonies of Native American chieftains in the Pacific Northwest, who dominated their neighbors by overwhelming them with gifts.

Over the project's opening weekend, gracious art collectors, one serving only saffron-colored hors d'oeuvres such as cheese doodles and smoked salmon, offered us ethereal views from their apartments high above Central Park South and West, but their windows could not contain the work. And even if you walked all 23 miles of footpaths framed in gold (as some will certainly), you couldn't do it in all kinds of winter weather, or at all different times of day, when the February sun, streaming low at morning and evening or bearing down from high overhead at noon, transforms the opaque curtains into glowing, translucent screens for the shadow play of leafless branches, and as the wind, blowing this way and that, half reveals brilliant patches of sky, pieces of vegetation, and the park's distant vistas.

And because it eludes the grasp of friend and foe, of critics, collectors, the art market, the media hype, the Christo and Jeanne-Claude groupies, and even, one suspects, the artists themselves, The Gates offers an exhilarating sense of freedom, drawing you ever deeper into a space that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park's makers, conceived as "a translation of democratic ideals into trees and dirt."

Christo, born Christo Javacheff in Bulgaria in 1935, escaped Sofia's Stalinist art academy for Vienna and later Paris, where he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, a French general's daughter, in 1958. She applied a military commander's organizational skills to the realization of his quasi-utopian architectural visions, partly inspired by the model of Russian constructivists such as Vladimir Tatlin; they began signing their works together in 1994.

He wrapped things: first cans, chairs, bottles; later, with her, monuments, museums, and coastlines. Some of their earliest collaborative efforts were riffs on the iron curtain; a wall of oil barrels, for example, blocking the Rue Visconti in 1961, evoking both Parisian revolutionary barricades and the newly constructed Berlin Wall.

An impulse similar to wrapping—exposing hidden qualities in an object, a work of art, or nature by partially concealing its surface—is also at play in The Gates, the couple's only realized project in New York, where they've lived since 1964. Here what lies revealed, in all its glory, is the sensual topography of Olmsted and Vaux's masterpiece. Christo and Jeanne-Claude insist on discussing their work in purely formal and technical terms—so many tons of steel, so many yards of fabric, a color they love. But ambling beneath their saffron veils, I felt the wonder of a child before his mother's skirts, peering up as, billowing, they disclosed bits and pieces of nature. The park's 19th-century monuments—portraits of forgotten poets like Fitz-Greene Halleck—stood in marvelous, mute contrast to this luminous apparition, soon to disappear, which will linger in memory.

If, following the lead of Romantic poets, you prefer to experience art and nature in solitary contemplation—a state that can be hard to come by in Central Park right now—forgo the horse and buggies doing a brisk business around the park's southern perimeter. Head uptown. In the far recesses of the North Meadow and Harlem Meer, the crowds and noise thin out, the park becomes wilder and still more beautiful, and you can hear the curtains flapping in the breeze.

http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0508,camhi,61293,13.html


(*) (*) This exhibit ends today....and I didn't see it in person. I hope the $21M the two artists paid to create it is worth it. Seems so after seeing other projects in Colorado, California and Japan. My art preferences are for Native American artists, especially Hopi. (l) (l) (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

The World's Top 10 Universities


When it comes to ranking institutions of higher learning worldwide, American universities dominate. That's the word from a new list of the world's most prestigious and famous universities created by The Times of London Higher Education Supplement, reports the AAP news service. Led by Harvard University, fully seven of the top 10 schools are in the United States. Oxford and Cambridge are the only British universities to make the cut in the top 10, although two other schools--the London School of Economics and Imperial College came in at 11th and 14th respectively.


Why an international list? "Leading universities increasingly define themselves in terms of international competition," said John O'Leary, editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings are based on the opinions of 1,300 academics in 88 countries, as well as the latest measures of research excellence and teaching.


The most expensive colleges in the United States are... (And No. 1 at $36,750 for just tuition will really surprise you!)


The top 10 universities in the World University Rankings are:
1. Harvard University (United States)
2. University of California, Berkeley (United States)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
4. California Institute of Technology (United States)
5. Oxford University (United Kingdom)
6. Cambridge University (United Kingdom)
7. Stanford University (United States)
8. Yale University (United States)
9. Princeton University (United States)
10. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)


Following are the No. 1 rankings in selected categories:


I Only Want the Best


* Best Overall Academic Experience: University of Chicago
* Professors Bring Material to Life: Marlboro College
* Professors Get Low Marks: Stevens Institute of Technology
* Professors Make Themselves Available: St. John's College (New Mexico)
* Toughest College to Get Into: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* TAs Teach too Many Upper-Level Courses: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


All I Ever Do Is Study!


* Students Never Stop Studying: California Institute of Technology
* Students (Almost) Never Study: SUNY at Albany
* Great College Library: Brigham Young University
* This Is a Library?: Spelman College


The Smiley Face Factor


* Happiest Students: Pomona College
* Unhappiest Students: New Jersey Institute of Technology
* Dorms Like Palaces: Pepperdine University
* Dorms Like Dungeons: University of Oregon
* Great Campus Food: Wheaton College (Illinois)
* This Is Food?: St. Bonaventure University
* Most Beautiful Campus: Wagner College
* Campus is Tiny, Unsightly, or Both: Drexel University
* Best Quality of Life: Davidson College


Where's the Game?


* Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Notre Dame
* Best Jock School: University of Florida
* Dodge Ball Targets: Eugene Lang College
* Everyone Plays Intramural Sports: University of Notre Dame
* Nobody Plays Intramural Sports: Eugene Lang College


Animal House


* Top Party School: SUNY at Albany
* Major Frat & Sorority Scene: DePauw University
* Reefer Madness: Bard College
* Lots of Hard Liquor: Washington and Lee University
* Lots of Beer: Washington and Lee University


They Never Wear Togas Here


* Stone Cold Sober School: Brigham Young University
* Students Pray on a Regular Basis: Brigham Young University
* They Don't Inhale: Brigham Young University
* Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch: Brigham Young University


Politically Correct


* Most Politically-Active Students: Claremont McKenna College
* Election? What Election?: Rider University
* Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: Texas A&M University-College Station
* Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton: Warren Wilson College


I'm Okay, You're Okay


* Most Diverse: George Mason University
* Lots of Race/Class Interaction: McGill University
* Gay Community Accepted: Eugene Lang College
* Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative: University of Notre Dame


Red Tape, Green Money


* Students Most Satisfied With Financial Aid: Claremont McKenna College
* Students Dissatisfied With Financial Aid: Hofstra University
* School Runs Like Butter: Middlebury College
* Long Lines and Red Tape: Florida A&M University


Best Bang for Your Buck


* Best Bargains-Public: New College of Florida
* Best Bargains-Private: William Jewell College


The complete listing is in "The Best 357 Colleges: 2005 Edition," which also has two-page profiles on each college with information on academics, student body, campus life, admission, and financial aid.


The top 10 most expensive colleges in the United States:


1. Landmark College: $36,750
2. Sarah Lawrence College: $32,416
3. Kenyon College: $32,170
4. Trinity College (Connecticut): $31,940
5. George Washington University: $31,710
6. Hamilton College (New York): $31,700
7. Bowdoin College: $31,656
8. Wesleyan University: $31,650
9. Columbia University: $31,472
10. Colgate University: $31,440


Source: Chronicle for Higher Education
************************************************** ***********************


The Princeton Review has identified the nation's "best value" colleges--the schools where you get the most academic bang for your buck.


The Top 10 Best Value Colleges:


1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2. Amherst College
3. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
4. Rice University
5. Bates College
6. Grinnell College
7. Southwestern University
8. University of Texas at Austin
9. Lake Forest College
10. Claremont-McKenna College


(*) (*) I thought this was an interesting read. (a) (a)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/favorite/

(*) (*) OKay, most of them are pretty conservative, but there are a few that provide relatively balanced views. (*) (*)

(l) (l) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

all seekers of high political office...

THE NATION
21 February, 2005

Our Godless Constitution
by Brooke Allen

It is hard to believe that George Bush has ever read the works of
George Orwell, but he seems, somehow, to have grasped a few Orwellian
precepts. The lesson the President has learned best--and certainly
the one that has been the most useful to him--is the axiom that if
you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. One of his
Administration's current favorites is the whopper about America
having been founded on Christian principles. Our nation was founded
not on Christian principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only
entered the picture as a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was
conspicuously absent.

Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was
too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of
Alexander Hamilton's flippant responses when asked about it:
According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need
of "foreign aid"; according to another, he simply said "we forgot."
But as Hamilton's biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never
forgot anything important.

In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is
mentioned only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as
Gore Vidal has remarked, in the "only Heaven knows" sense). In the
Declaration of Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to
"the Laws of Nature and Nature's God," and the famous line about men
being "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights."
More blatant official references to a deity date from long after the
founding period: "In God We Trust" did not appear on our coinage
until the Civil War, and "under God" was introduced into the Pledge
of Allegiance during the McCarthy hysteria in 1954 [see Elisabeth
Sifton, "The Battle Over the Pledge," April 5, 2004].

In 1797 our government concluded a "Treaty of Peace and Friendship
between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of
Tripoli, or Barbary," now known simply as the Treaty of Tripoli.
Article 11 of the treaty contains these words:

As the Government of the United States...is not in any sense founded
on the Christian religion--as it has in itself no character of enmity
against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen--and as the
said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility
against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no
pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an
interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

This document was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering
and President John Adams. It was then sent to the Senate for
ratification; the vote was unanimous. It is worth pointing out that
although this was the 339th time a recorded vote had been required by
the Senate, it was only the third unanimous vote in the Senate's
history. There is no record of debate or dissent. The text of the
treaty was printed in full in the Philadelphia Gazette and in two New
York papers, but there were no screams of outrage, as one might
expect today.

The Founding Fathers were not religious men, and they fought hard to
erect, in Thomas Jefferson's words, "a wall of separation between
church and state." John Adams opined that if they were not restrained
by legal measures, Puritans--the fundamentalists of their day--would
"whip and crop, and pillory and roast." The historical epoch had
afforded these men ample opportunity to observe the corruption to
which established priesthoods were liable, as well as "the impious
presumption of legislators and rulers," as Jefferson wrote, "civil as
well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and
uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others,
setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true
and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others,
hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest
part of the world and through all time."

If we define a Christian as a person who believes in the divinity of
Jesus Christ, then it is safe to say that some of the key Founding
Fathers were not Christians at all. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas
Jefferson and Tom Paine were deists--that is, they believed in one
Supreme Being but rejected revelation and all the supernatural
elements of the Christian Church; the word of the Creator, they
believed, could best be read in Nature. John Adams was a professed
liberal Unitarian, but he, too, in his private correspondence seems
more deist than Christian.

George Washington and James Madison also leaned toward deism,
although neither took much interest in religious matters. Madison
believed that "religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind
and unfits it for every noble enterprize." He spoke of the "almost
fifteen centuries" during which Christianity had been on trial: "What
have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence
in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both,
superstition, bigotry, and persecution." If Washington mentioned the
Almighty in a public address, as he occasionally did, he was careful
to refer to Him not as "God" but with some nondenominational moniker
like "Great Author" or "Almighty Being." It is interesting to note
that the Father of our Country spoke no words of a religious nature
on his deathbed, although fully aware that he was dying, and did not
ask for a man of God to be present; his last act was to take his own
pulse, the consummate gesture of a creature of the age of scientific
rationalism.

Tom Paine, a polemicist rather than a politician, could afford to be
perfectly honest about his religious beliefs, which were baldly deist
in the tradition of Voltaire: "I believe in one God, and no more; and
I hope for happiness beyond this life.... I do not believe in the
creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the
Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by
any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church." This is how
he opened The Age of Reason, his virulent attack on Christianity. In
it he railed against the "obscene stories, the voluptuous
debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting
vindictiveness" of the Old Testament, "a history of wickedness, that
has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind." The New Testament is
less brutalizing but more absurd, the story of Christ's divine
genesis a "fable, which for absurdity and extravagance is not
exceeded by any thing that is to be found in the mythology of the
ancients." He held the idea of the Resurrection in especial ridicule:
Indeed, "the wretched contrivance with which this latter part is
told, exceeds every thing that went before it." Paine was careful to
contrast the tortuous twists of theology with the pure clarity of
deism. "The true deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists
in contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his
works, and in endeavoring to imitate him in every thing moral,
scientifical, and mechanical."

Paine's rhetoric was so fervent that he was inevitably branded an
atheist. Men like Franklin, Adams and Jefferson could not risk being
tarred with that brush, and in fact Jefferson got into a good deal of
trouble for continuing his friendship with Paine and entertaining him
at Monticello. These statesmen had to be far more circumspect than
the turbulent Paine, yet if we examine their beliefs it is all but
impossible to see just how theirs differed from his.

Franklin was the oldest of the Founding Fathers. He was also the most
worldly and sophisticated, and was well aware of the Machiavellian
principle that if one aspires to influence the masses, one must at
least profess religious sentiments. By his own definition he was a
deist, although one French acquaintance claimed that "our
free-thinkers have adroitly sounded him on his religion, and they
maintain that they have discovered he is one of their own, that is
that he has none at all." If he did have a religion, it was strictly
utilitarian: As his biographer Gordon Wood has said, "He praised
religion for whatever moral effects it had, but for little else."
Divine revelation, Franklin freely admitted, had "no weight with me,"
and the covenant of grace seemed "unintelligible" and "not
beneficial." As for the pious hypocrites who have ever controlled
nations, "A man compounded of law and gospel is able to cheat a whole
country with his religion and then destroy them under color of
law"--a comment we should carefully consider at this turning point in
the history of our Republic.

Here is Franklin's considered summary of his own beliefs, in response
to a query by Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale. He wrote it just
six weeks before his death at the age of 84.

Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the universe. That
he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That
the most acceptable service we render to him is doing good to his
other children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated
with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I
take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard
them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.
As for Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire,
I think his system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us,
the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it
has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the
present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though
it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it,
and think it needless to busy myself with now, when I expect soon an
opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm,
however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good
consequence, as it probably has, of making his doctrines more
respected and better observed, especially as I do not perceive that
the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his
government of the world with any particular marks of his displeasure.

Jefferson thoroughly agreed with Franklin on the corruptions the
teachings of Jesus had undergone. "The metaphysical abstractions of
Athanasius, and the maniacal ravings of Calvin, tinctured plentifully
with the foggy dreams of Plato, have so loaded [Christianity] with
absurdities and incomprehensibilities" that it was almost impossible
to recapture "its native simplicity and purity." Like Paine,
Jefferson felt that the miracles claimed by the New Testament put an
intolerable strain on credulity. "The day will come," he predicted
(wrongly, so far), "when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the
supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed
with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
The Revelation of St. John he dismissed as "the ravings of a maniac."

Jefferson edited his own version of the New Testament, "The Life and
Morals of Jesus of Nazareth," in which he carefully deleted all the
miraculous passages from the works of the Evangelists. He intended
it, he said, as "a document in proof that I am a real Christian,
that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus." This was
clearly a defense against his many enemies, who hoped to blacken his
reputation by comparing him with the vile atheist Paine. His
biographer Joseph Ellis is undoubtedly correct, though, in seeing
disingenuousness here: "If [Jefferson] had been completely
scrupulous, he would have described himself as a deist who admired
the ethical teachings of Jesus as a man rather than as the son of
God. (In modern-day parlance, he was a secular humanist.)" In short,
not a Christian at all.

The three accomplishments Jefferson was proudest of--those that he
requested be put on his tombstone--were the founding of the
University of Virginia and the authorship of the Declaration of
Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The
latter was a truly radical document that would eventually influence
the separation of church and state in the US Constitution; when it
was passed by the Virginia legislature in 1786, Jefferson rejoiced
that there was finally "freedom for the Jew and the Gentile, the
Christian and the Mohammeden, the Hindu and infidel of every
denomination"--note his respect, still unusual today, for the
sensibilities of the "infidel." The University of Virginia was
notable among early-American seats of higher education in that it had
no religious affiliation whatever. Jefferson even banned the teaching
of theology at the school.

If we were to speak of Jefferson in modern political categories, we
would have to admit that he was a pure libertarian, in religious as
in other matters. His real commitment (or lack thereof) to the
teachings of Jesus Christ is plain from a famous throwaway comment he
made: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty
gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." This
raised plenty of hackles when it got about, and Jefferson had to go
to some pains to restore his reputation as a good Christian. But one
can only conclude, with Ellis, that he was no Christian at all.

John Adams, though no more religious than Jefferson, had inherited
the fatalistic mindset of the Puritan culture in which he had grown
up. He personally endorsed the Enlightenment commitment to Reason but
did not share Jefferson's optimism about its future, writing to him,
"I wish that Superstition in Religion exciting Superstition in
Polliticks...may never blow up all your benevolent and phylanthropic
Lucubrations," but that "the History of all Ages is against you." As
an old man he observed, "Twenty times in the course of my late
reading have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be
the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!'"
Speaking ex cathedra, as a relic of the founding generation, he
expressed his admiration for the Roman system whereby every man could
worship whom, what and how he pleased. When his young listeners
objected that this was paganism, Adams replied that it was indeed,
and laughed.

In their fascinating and eloquent valetudinarian correspondence,
Adams and Jefferson had a great deal to say about religion. Pressed
by Jefferson to define his personal creed, Adams replied that it was
"contained in four short words, 'Be just and good.'" Jefferson
replied, "The result of our fifty or sixty years of religious
reading, in the four words, 'Be just and good,' is that in which all
our inquiries must end; as the riddles of all priesthoods end in four
more, 'ubi panis, ibi deus.' What all agree in, is probably right.
What no two agree in, most probably wrong."

This was a clear reference to Voltaire's Reflections on Religion. As
Voltaire put it:

There are no sects in geometry. One does not speak of a Euclidean, an
Archimedean. When the truth is evident, it is impossible for parties
and factions to arise.... Well, to what dogma do all minds agree? To
the worship of a God, and to honesty. All the philosophers of the
world who have had a religion have said in all ages: "There is a God,
and one must be just." There, then, is the universal religion
established in all ages and throughout mankind. The point in which
they all agree is therefore true, and the systems through which they
differ are therefore false.

Of course all these men knew, as all modern presidential candidates
know, that to admit to theological skepticism is political suicide.
During Jefferson's presidency a friend observed him on his way to
church, carrying a large prayer book. "You going to church, Mr. J,"
remarked the friend. "You do not believe a word in it." Jefferson
didn't exactly deny the charge. "Sir," he replied, "no nation has
ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The
Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man
and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the
sanction of my example. Good morning Sir."

Like Jefferson, every recent President has understood the necessity
of at least paying lip service to the piety of most American voters.
All of our leaders, Democrat and Republican, have attended church,
and have made very sure they are seen to do so. But there is a
difference between offering this gesture of respect for majority
beliefs and manipulating and pandering to the bigotry, prejudice and
millennial fantasies of Christian extremists. Though for public
consumption the Founding Fathers identified themselves as Christians,
they were, at least by today's standards, remarkably honest about
their misgivings when it came to theological doctrine, and religion
in general came very low on the list of their concerns and
priorities--always excepting, that is, their determination to keep
the new nation free from bondage to its rule.

This article can be found on the web at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221&s=allen

(*) (*) Indeed! (*) (*)

(o) (o) Back to the books! (and enjoying this sunny afternoon since big-time snow as in a nor'easter enroute tomorrow and Tuesday) (h) (h) Ah, peace and quiet!

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Jesus & Satan Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument
about who was better on the computer. They had
been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired
of hearing all the bickering.. Finally fed up, God said,
"THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up
a test that will run for two hours, and from those results,
I will judge who does the better job."



So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and
typed away.


They moused.


They faxed.


They e-mailed.


They e-mailed with attachments.


They downloaded.


They did spreadsheets.


They wrote reports.


They created labels and cards.


They created charts and graphs.


They did some genealogy reports.


They did every job known to man.



Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan
was faster than hell.



Then, ten minutes before their time was up,
lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder
rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went
off.



Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed
every curse word known in the underworld.



Jesus just sighed.



Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them
restarted their computers. Satan started searching
frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost
everything when the power went out!"



Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his
files from the past two hours of work. Satan observed
this and became irate.



"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated!
How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"



God just shrugged and said, "Jesus saves."



(*) (*) LMAO especially since I had a hard drive crash two weeks back and am installing a back-up system here at home as well as an off-site back-up. :| :| too funny. (h)

<watching the snow fall get heaier and heavier this afternoon>

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

At the Anti-Awards Ceremony, a Definite 'Sideways' Tilt

At the Anti-Awards Ceremony, a Definite 'Sideways' Tilt
By NICK MADIGAN

Published: February 28, 2005


ANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 27 - "More beer for this table!"

Samuel L. Jackson, the host of the Independent Spirit Awards, was making sure the guests had what they needed Saturday in a huge white tent by the beach.

As he described the event's 20-year history, Mr. Jackson recalled that cocaine was once a staple of Hollywood gatherings. "In 1992," he said, "everyone was so wired, the whole show only took 23 minutes."

The Spirit Awards, an impertinent event begun in 1986 in a local restaurant with a lunch special, as Mr. Jackson put it, have been the hot ticket in town for years. Held annually on the day before the Oscar ceremony, the show honors films made and financed largely outside the major studio system, and it is everything the Academy Awards is not.

Four-letter words are no problem. Actors sing silly songs about nominated pictures. Guests in jeans wander about, getting free drinks from the bars or slipping outside for a smoke.

"Even the pretentious people try not to be pretentious," said the actress Elizabeth Peña, who has starred in a string of independent movies. "It's loose, it's casual."

With all the noise about the Oscars, it might be easy to conclude that not much else counts when it comes to giving awards in Hollywood. And yet the movie industry is full of kudos, a feast of inwardly directed rapture that begins in early December; goes into manic overdrive in January and February as every guild, association and foundation in town, it seems, has an event of its own; and culminates in the orgy of self-reverence that is the Oscars.

But with falling television ratings in recent years for major awards shows, the academy, at least, appears to be taking a page out of the Spirit Awards' book. Why else hire Chris Rock?

Here in Santa Monica, the Spirits' script skewed heavily toward regarding the whole awards thing as a big joke.

The actor Tom Arnold, clutching a glass and a wine bottle, regaled the audience with a song in homage to "Sideways," to the tune of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." The first verse set the scene:

"Sippin' a riesling, sippin' rosé/ My oh my, what a fine chardonnay/ Helpin' my pal dodge his fiancée/ Sippin' in Solvang, north of L.A."

And then the bridge: "To my ex I've been a bastard/ Wine is all I've mastered/ And that's why I'm getting plastered."

The audience, which included Jeff Bridges, Jodie Foster, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei, Quentin Tarantino and Salma Hayek, laughed along, as they did to tributes to the other best feature nominees - "Maria Full of Grace," "Kinsey," "Primer" and "Baadasssss!"

"Sideways" won the category and took five other awards, for best director (Alexander Payne), screenplay (Mr. Payne and Jim Taylor), actor (Paul Giamatti), supporting actor (Thomas Haden Church) and supporting actress (Virginia Madsen).

"I really gave my heart and soul to some small, unreleasable films in the past," Mr. Church said as he accepted the award. He said he had loved working with the "Sideways" cast and crew.

"Especially when you get to guzzle wine," he said, "you just love them so much more."

Ms. Madsen said she had spent 17 years making nonstudio movies. "I know how hard it is to get independent films made," she said, "and how hard it is to get anyone to see them."

Mr. Jackson wondered how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had failed to nominate Mr. Giamatti, especially considering that both Mr. Church and Ms. Madsen were Oscar nominees. "You were robbed, man," Mr. Jackson said, to much applause.

But Mr. Giamatti said in an interview backstage that he did not feel cheated by the lack of an Oscar nomination.

"I never expected it," he said. "I'm not that kind of fellow."

Mr. Giamatti was far more intrigued, he said, by the fact that his Independent Spirit Award - the first thing he had ever won - displayed a bird tethered by the leg. "Doesn't look very independent, does it?" he asked.

Televised by the Bravo cable channel, the show included awards to Catalina Sandino Moreno for leading actress, in "Maria Full of Grace," which also earned an award for Joshua Marston for best first screenplay; to Spain's "Sea Inside" for best foreign film; to Zach Braff's "Garden State" for best first feature; and to Rodrigo de la Serna for best debut performance, in "The Motorcycle Diaries," a film that also took the best cinematography award for Eric Gautier.

The documentary award went to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky for their film "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster."

"Finally," Mr. Sinofsky said, "there's an award show that Michael Moore's not at. Makes it easier for the rest of us."

(*) (*) This was great fun to watch for the first time. I also skipped the Academy Awards last night for the first time in years. <thinking that I had better things to do> The Independent Film awards were so much more relevant to me anyway being a film buff of NOT-BLOCKBUSTERS. Sure the dresses are wonderful to look at and dream of finding a knock-off in a vintage dress shop, but I preferred the laid back dress and attitudes in Santa Monica Saturday afternoon. (h) (h) (h)

(k) (k) .
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By MANOHLA DARGIS

Published: February 27, 2005


THE Academy Awards are famously vulgar, dependably boring, grievously misguided and widely deemed by both casual viewers and critics a monumental waste of time. But if you pay close enough attention to the Oscars, which will be broadcast this evening - and, in particular, to the nominations - you can learn a lot about the industry. The show reveals what the industry is thinking in the moment and lets us catch sight of the future. The event may be the ultimate in self-affirmation - we like ourselves, we really, really like ourselves! - but it reflects a larger conversation this otherwise publicity-driven industry does not always share with the rest of us.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gets plenty wrong, but it gets plenty right, and has since the first awards ceremony, in 1929. That event, a low-key dinner held in a hotel, is principally noteworthy because the academy presented what were effectively two awards for best film of the year: "outstanding picture" and "unique and artistic picture." The first went to William A. Wellman's "Wings," a smash about fighter pilots in love; the second went to F. W. Murnau's masterpiece, "Sunrise," a moody romance that was the most expensive silent film ever made by the Fox studio. The studio's chief believed Murnau was a genius. But genius does not necessarily bring in paying crowds, and the film did not make back its costs. The next year the academy designated just one award for the favored film of the year: outstanding picture.

You can read the history of the Academy Awards - and by extension American movies - as a continuation of that initial split in the award for best film. Part of what makes the Oscars such an addictive spectacle is that there are few times when the struggle between cinematic art and industry, vision and profit plays out as openly as during the awards show, with its veneer of high seriousness and molten core of greed. The Academy Awards make new careers, jump-start flagging ones and bump B-list players to the A list. It is an unabashedly exclusive club. For those who do make it in, the academy can seem wonderfully welcoming; for those who do not, it can be a long, cold wait outside those velvet ropes.

Consider the academy's honorary awards, which I always thought of as the I've Got Good News, I've Got Bad News Award. The good news is you just won an Oscar. The bad news is you are about to croak. These awards used to be given to innovators like the young Walt Disney and an occasional respected veteran. By the late 1950's, however, with the classic studio system in collapse, the academy was mostly honoring older members. Alas, this gambit took on a macabre cast when those honorees started dying. More than a third were gone five years after accepting their statuettes. In an attempt to pay tribute to those who built Hollywood, the academy transformed the awards into memorials, as much for the industry as for the honorees.

The movie industry is in robust health now and, fortunately, so are the recent winners of the honorary awards. Since the mid-1990's, only two have passed on, which is why I am not concerned about this year's recipient, the director Sidney Lumet. The honorary awards now essentially function as lifetime achievement awards for older members who were in some way overlooked. In this respect, the academy is just following its habit of spreading the wealth. The awards show is one of the world's most elite popularity contests, but in order to understand how the awards function and the academy's more baffling choices (where is Paul Giamatti?), it is important to understand that this insular organization is also strangely democratic.

The democratic urge starts with the nominations - and to understand the Academy Awards, you have to understand the nominations. Currently, 183 cinematographers select the nominees for cinematography, 375 directors pick those for director, and 128 documentary filmmakers select the nominees in their branch. With 1,277 members, the actors' branch constitutes the largest voting bloc by a third, one reason so many acting awards go to big, showy performances. Most nominees are chosen through preferential voting. That means if your first four preferences for director are Guy Maddin, Joel Schumacher, Oliver Stone and Manoel de Oliveira (none of whom made the cut), but your fifth is Alexander Payne (who did), your vote still counts. The academy works hard to make sure that no member is left behind.

Not that the academy doesn't play favorites.

Perhaps the starkest examples of this favoritism is in the leading-actor category, where repeat winners are the rule, not the exception. Seventy percent of the actors who have won an Oscar for a leading performance have been nominated at least one other time in the same category. Laurence Olivier racked up nine nominations for actor, Jack Nicholson eight, while Marlon Brando, Jack Lemmon and Dustin Hoffman each earned seven. It seemed improbable at the time that a newcomer like Adrien Brody, who won actor for "The Pianist," could beat out contenders like Daniel Day-Lewis. But if a newcomer takes on the mantle of tragedy - as a dying drunk or a disabled scrapper - his odds of winning improve.

In truth, Mr. Brody's win should not have been such a surprise. Every other contender that year had already accrued several nominations and won at least one award. Playing a Holocaust survivor helped Mr. Brody (likewise Roberto Benigni). The academy likes heroes and survivors. It likes villains, too, but only if they entertain. Tom Cruise's performance as a misogynist self-help guru in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 film "Magnolia" won the star a nomination for supporting actor, but the character was too dark, the movie financially negligible, so Michael Caine took home the Oscar for his turn as the kindly abortionist in Miramax's more popular "Cider House Rules." Miramax has a long history of pawning off bologna as foie gras.

The company's influence and the academy's parochialism are most transparent in the foreign-language category. Since 1993, Miramax has had at least one nominee in that category; in 1998, it had three. Its longstanding rival, Sony Pictures Classics, had the remaining two. The domination of these companies testifies to their savvy and muscle, but reflects poorly on the academy. Film organizations from foreign countries put forth the nominees, which is how pablum like "The Chorus," a hit in France (and a Miramax title), are nominated. The academy screens each submission just once and on a double bill, which can be disastrous for a slow-moving entry paired with a crowd-pleaser. Films with American distribution have an obvious edge.

The reason foreign-language films matter is that they have often served as a bellwether for aesthetic adventurousness in the American movie industry. Following World War II, as European film production resumed and titles from abroad began trickling and then pouring in, the academy instituted an honorary award for foreign-language films. Among the films to receive such awards were classics like Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon." The big Hollywood news for 1956 was the best-picture winner "Around the World in 80 Days," a bloated spectacle from an increasingly moribund industry. But history remembers the foreign-language film nominations. Among that year's nominees was "La Strada," whose director, Federico Fellini, would receive 12 nominations from a besotted academy before winning an honorary Oscar in 1992. (And, yes, he died the next year.)

During the 1950's, classics of foreign-language cinema continued to receive nominations; even Jean-Paul Sartre earned a writing nod. In the 1960's, the academy's writing branch singled out Marguerite Duras and Vladimir Nabokov, Alain Robbe-Grillet and Michelangelo Antonioni. In 1968, the director's branch nominated Gillo Pontecorvo for "The Battle of Algiers."

Good films still get nominated. This year the writing branch nominated two of the finest American films from last year, "Before Sunset" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." But the near-invisibility of foreign-language cinema in the nominations and the absence of most of the world's leading auteurs speak to a troubling cultural isolationism.

Hollywood was built by European immigrants who replenished their creative reserves with talent imported from the Continent and the United Kingdom. The studios now look toward the East, but principally for remake fodder; these days, they divide their resources between small but safe specialty films that rack up awards and pricey special-effects-driven spectacles that emphatically do not.

Tonight all eyes will be focused on human-scaled nominees like "Sideways" and "Million Dollar Baby," even if the movies that drive the new American movie machine are fueled by technical and scientific achievements. Inside the gold-plated statuettes, the heart and mind of the artist may yearn to be free. But what we know from today's Academy Awards is that in the long struggle between art and industry, art is taking a serious beating.



(*) (*) BRAVO, BRAVO!!! (8) (8) (8) to my ears and preaching to the beyond-saturated - having been in "da biz" for many years. I'll still watch Clint's five time winner film (via DVD from netflix) since he directed and acted in it, among other reasons, although I'm not a fan of Hilary Swank at all. (personal preference I suppose) I prefer seeing older actresses win these awards after so many years of fabulous performances than "young kids" who have their whole career ahead of them like Swank. But then? Barbara's first role ever, in a movie called "Funny Girl" won her an Ocsar in 1965 and she was pretty young if I remember accurately as a girl of 10 years old. ;) ;)

({) (}) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Dennis Franz interview:

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1029017_3_0_,00.html


(*) (*) It's amazing that 12 years have passed so quickly since NY.P.D. debuted. This interview supported my opinion of Franz for sure. What a gem! I hope that he finds other kinds of acting work since he's played cops for most of his acting career. It's really a delight to read about nice guys. (*) (*)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

You love that person with all your heart, mind, and soul. But do you have what it takes to live happily ever after?

Thanks to a 22-question quiz from Dr. John Gottman of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., you can find out. This survey is simple, but quite perceptive. It tests couples on how much they know--and don't know--about one another. Those who know the most about their partner's likes, dislikes, interests, and hobbies are most likely to enjoy married life and make it last a lifetime, report The New York Post and London's Daily Mail.

The most important part of any relationship? Friendship. "Friendship is overlooked, although it is equally important to men and women," Gottman told the Daily Mail. "Seventy percent of the passion, romance, and sex for men stems from friendship, and the percentage is even higher for women."

The best way to make your friendship stronger is with a detailed "love map." To do this, memorize important information about your partner--hopes, dreams, worries, fears, and more. "Remember the major events in each other's histories," Gottman told the Daily Mail. "One of the most important things in a marriage is being and staying interested in your partner and keeping your partner interested in you."

Answer these 22 questions and then see below to find out what your answers mean.

1. I can name my partner's best friends.
2. I know what stresses my partner is currently facing.
3. I know the names of some people who have been irritating my partner lately.
4. I can tell you some of my partner's life dreams.
5. I know my partner's basic philosophy of life.
6. I can list the relatives my partner likes the least.
7. I feel that my partner knows me pretty well.
8. When we're apart, I think fondly of my partner.
9. I often touch or kiss my partner affectionately.
10. My partner really respects me.
11. There is passion in our relationship.
12. Romance is still part of our relationship.
13. My partner appreciates the things I do.
14. My partner likes my personality.
15. Our sex life is mostly satisfying.
16. At the end of the day my partner is glad to see me.
17. My partner is one of my best friends.
18. We just love talking to each other.
19. There is lots of give and take (both people have influence) in our discussions.
20. My partner listens respectfully even when we disagree.
21. My partner is usually a great help as a problem solver.
22. We generally mesh well on basic values and goals in life.

What your answers mean:

15 or more positive answers: You have a lot of strength in your relationship.

8 to 14 positive answers: This is a pivotal time in your relationship as there are strengths you can build upon, but do focus on the weaknesses that need your attention.

7 or fewer: Your relationship may be in serious trouble and could be headed for the rocks. If you're concerned about this, it means you probably still value the relationship enough to get help.



(*) (*) Although it's been years since I was IN a relationship, I found this article to have some terrific guidelines (and questions). (l) (l) I also believe that friendship is very important. ({) (})

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

:| :| maybe facilitate online courses although this and other cities are quite beautiful!

More Dutch Plan to Emigrate as Muslim Influx Tips Scales

By MARLISE SIMONS

Published: February 27, 2005 NYTimes

AMSTERDAM - Paul Hiltemann had already noticed a darkening mood in the Netherlands. He runs an agency for people wanting to emigrate and his client list had surged.

But he was still taken aback in November when a Dutch filmmaker was shot and his throat was slit, execution style, on an Amsterdam street.

In the weeks that followed, Mr. Hiltemann was inundated by e-mail messages and telephone calls. "There was a big panic," he said, "a flood of people saying they wanted to leave the country."

Leave this stable and prosperous corner of Europe? Leave this land with its generous social benefits and ample salaries, a place of fine schools, museums, sports grounds and bicycle paths, all set in a lively democracy?

The answer, increasingly, is yes. This small nation is a magnet for immigrants, but statistics suggest there is a quickening flight of the white middle class. Dutch people pulling up roots said they felt a general pessimism about their small and crowded country and about the social tensions that had grown along with the waves of newcomers, most of them Muslims."The Dutch are living in a kind of pressure cooker atmosphere," Mr. Hiltemann said.

There is more than the concern about the rising complications of absorbing newcomers, now one-tenth of the population, many of them from largely Muslim countries. Many Dutch also seem bewildered that their country, run for decades on a cozy, political consensus, now seems so tense and prickly and bent on confrontation. Those leaving have been mostly lured by large English-speaking nations like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where they say they hope to feel less constricted.

In interviews, emigrants rarely cited a fear of militant Islam as their main reason for packing their bags. But the killing of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh, a fierce critic of fundamentalist Muslims, seems to have been a catalyst.

"Our Web site got 13,000 hits in the weeks after the van Gogh killing," said Frans Buysse, who runs an agency that handles paperwork for departing Dutch. "That's four times the normal rate."

Mr. van Gogh's killing is the only one the police have attributed to an Islamic militant, but since then they have reported finding death lists by local Islamic militants with the names of six prominent politicians. The effects still reverberate. In a recent opinion poll, 35 percent of the native Dutch questioned had negative views about Islam.

There are no precise figures on the numbers now leaving. But Canadian, Australian and New Zealand diplomats here said that while immigration papers were processed in their home capitals, embassy officials here had been swamped by inquiries in recent months.

Many who settle abroad may not appear in migration statistics, like the growing contingent of retirees who flock to warmer places. But official statistics show a trend. In 1999, nearly 30,000 native Dutch moved elsewhere, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. For 2004, the provisional figure is close to 40,000. "It's definitely been picking up in the past five years," said Cor Kooijmans, a demographer at the bureau.

Ruud Konings, an accountant, has just sold his comfortable home in the small town of Hilvarenbeek. In March, after a year's worth of paperwork, the family will leave for Australia. The couple said the main reason was their fear for the welfare and security of their two teenage children.

"When I grew up, this place was spontaneous and free, but my kids cannot safely cycle home at night," said Mr. Konings, 49. "My son just had his fifth bicycle stolen." At school, his children and their friends feel uneasy, he added. "They're afraid of being roughed up by the gangs of foreign kids."

Sandy Sangen has applied to move to Norway with her husband and two school-age children. They want to buy a farm in what she calls "a safer, more peaceful place."

Like the Sangens and Koningses, others who are moving speak of their yearning for the open spaces, the clean air, the easygoing civility they feel they have lost. Complaints include overcrowding, endless traffic jams, overregulation. Some cite a rise in antisocial behavior and a worrying new toughness and aggression both in political debates and on the streets.

Until the killing of Pim Fortuyn, a populist anti-immigration politician, in 2002 and the more recent slaying of a teacher by a student, this generation of Dutch people could not conceive of such violence in their peaceful country.

After Mr. van Gogh's killing, angry demonstrations and fire-bombings of mosques and Muslim schools took place. In revenge, some Christian churches were attacked. Mr. Konings said he and many of his friends sensed more confrontation in the making, perhaps more violence.

"I'm a great optimist, but we're now caught in a downward spiral, economically and socially," he said. "We feel we can give our children a better start somewhere else."

Marianne and Rene Aukens, from the rural town of Brunssum, had successful careers, he as director of a local bank, she as a personnel manager. But after much thought they have applied to go to New Zealand. "In my lifetime, all the villages around here have merged, almost all the green spaces have been paved over," said Mr. Aukens, 41. "Nature is finished. There's no more silence; you hear traffic everywhere."

The saying that the Netherlands is "full up" has become a national mantra. It was used cautiously at first, because it had an overtone of being anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim. But many of those interviewed now state it flatly, like Peter Bles. He makes a long commute to a banking job in Amsterdam, but he and his wife are preparing to move to Australia.

"We found people are more polite, less stressed, less aggressive there," Mr. Bles said. "Perhaps stress has a lot to do with the lack of living space. Here we are full up."

Space is indeed at a premium here in Europe's most densely populated nation, where 16.3 million people live in an area roughly the size of Maryland. Denmark, which is slightly larger, has 5.5 million people. Dutch demographers say their country has undergone one of Europe's fastest and most far-reaching demographic shifts, with about 10 percent of the population now foreign born, a majority of them Muslims.

Blaming immigrants for many ills has become commonplace. Conservative Moroccans and Turks from rural areas are accused of disdaining the liberal Dutch ways and of making little effort to adapt. Immigrant youths now make up half the prison population. More than 40 percent of immigrants receive some form of government assistance, a source of resentment among native Dutch. Immigrants say, though, that they are widely discriminated against.

Ms. Konings said the Dutch themselves brought on some of the social frictions. The Dutch "thought that we had to adapt to the immigrants and that we had to give them handouts," she said. "We've been too lenient; now it's difficult to turn the tide."

To Mr. Hiltemann, the emigration consultant, what is remarkable is not only the surge of interest among the Dutch in leaving, but also the type of people involved. "They are successful people, I mean, urban professionals, managers, physiotherapists, computer specialists," he said. Five years ago, he said, most of his clients were farmers looking for more land.

Mr. Buysse, who employs a staff of eight to process visas, concurred. He said farmers were still emigrating as Europe cut agricultural subsidies. '"What is new," he said, "is that Dutch people who are rich or at least very comfortable are now wanting to leave the country."



(*) (*) An opportunity to live for a year or two in either Amsterdam, Netherlands or Antwerp, Belgium was such a wonderful dream, especially since I have visited both places already. It was like stepping back centuries in history. And now who would want to continue to live where it's getting more and more dangerous to live? I'm no racist, but I do have concerns about the fanatical Islamic fundamentalists immigrating to these and other EU countries. Oh well. It's a huge world. And the Internet is providing web based training opportunities both for the instructors, designers and potential students or learners. (*) (*) (*)


(f) (f) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

The big jump: Will Lee prize the Pulitzer tradition?
by Roy Malone

"Lee Enterprises buys Pulitzer,'' ran the big headline beneath the masthead of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 31. But, the Pulitzers wouldn't sell out, would they?

Huh, yeah ... they did.

For weeks the news had dribbled out that the locally owned Pulitzer Inc. might be sold, restructured or something. Still, the final decision was shocking and sad.

The proud name of Pulitzer, through three generations and 126 years of St. Louis journalism, will soon be history, sold to a second-tier newspaper chain without much in the way of journalistic credentials.

http://www.stljr.org/


(*) (*) A former client being sold? :( :( Pulitzer and it's amazing history and traditions. Is nothing sacred anymore? (f)

Peace,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

by Jason Harper

A rugged Wyoming dude ranch tests citified Jason Harper against his homesteading heritage

The riders are kicking up plumes of dust in the distance, silhouettes backlit against the expanse of bald plain and comb-over scrub brush. Hooves make small explosions in the dry dirt as the wranglers blitzkrieg after runaway cows. The sound of mothers bleating for calves floats back to us on a light, cold breeze. I'm atop my own horse, impatience blooming. Our group—a collection of expectant faces topped with mint-new cowboy hats—has been stuck with guard duty, eight newbies forming an equine barricade around a dozen cows and calves. One calf is doing a slow circle around its sad-eyed mother, going nowhere. This is killing me. I'm not built for patience, and neither is Apache, my not so imaginatively named paint horse. His ears are antennaed to where the action is. Bill, the head wrangler, lopes up, bringing in four more head. He's a sun-aged, bristle-mustached ranch vet with happy blue eyes and an easy-going way. Our group respects him. He directs us to begin the slow dance of pushing the cows across the range, over a paved road, to a fenced-in field. I give my horse a disappointed tap with my Tony Lamas. "Jason," Bill says, "you come with me." He points out two cows with calves in the distance, where the real cowboying—it's used as a verb out here—is going on. "Let's get them." I put exultant heels to horse. Apache loves to run.
We're "pairing" today, a process of separating mothers and newborn calves from the herd so that the calves can later be branded. I am one of a dozen guests at the Hideout at Flitner Ranch in northern Wyoming. This is our first real day cowboying. Yesterday in the corral, we got a lesson in "cow psychology," the process of using cattle's ingrained flight response to get them to go where you want. Basically, you position yourself in the opposite direction and spook them the other way. Sounds simple but nuances abound, particularly since cattle like to stop short and duck back or dart laterally across your horse's path. Bovine doesn't always mean slow and stupid, we're learning. Stupid, sure, but these suckers can haul.

I cull the big mother and bleating calf from the calfless group, aiming them toward the barbed-wire fence. Earlier, I'd ridden between a bunch of cows and the fence, and Bill had hollered out, "Try not to do that. If the boss catches you between the fence and cows, he'll yell that the fence is doing its job, you better get to yours."

My cow bolts, breaking hard left toward open plain. Apache knows his job even if I don't, and we're suddenly galloping to cut her off. I'm too slow, and the cow beats us to the open space, tail whipping the air. Apache, without any urging, puts on more speed, giving chase. We're bounding over hills, cactuses, rocks, and I'm powerless to stop the valiant run. We're rushing toward a deep, dry wash, and my boots are coming out of the stirrups. Bill is counting on me, I think. This is in your blood, I think. You should be good at this.

The cow is getting away.

One boot comes free from the stirrup, and I'm leaning dangerously in the saddle. Hell. I yank on the reins and Apache is bellowing—it's nothing like a neigh—and I'm pulling for all I'm worth and I'm looking for a good spot to land that isn't cactus or rocks and I think I've taken falls from a horse before and it's been all right and …. Apache gives it the hell up and comes to a sudden stop, his withers rising up and down and up and down. Lather soaks my pant leg. I'm still in the saddle, but the cow is only a funnel of distant dust. I feel miserable.

Welcome to dudedom.

My cowboy story doesn't begin with my week at the Hideout. It doesn't even begin with me.

My family is from a desert valley in northern New Mexico. My great-grandfather bought what would become the Harper Ranch in 1907, after traveling from Missouri by wagon train. He immediately purchased his first cattle. My granddad, John Harrington Harper, known as J. H., was born in the bedroom of that ranch house in 1914. Almost seventy-nine years later, he would die of a heart attack two rooms away, slicing bread in the kitchen early in the morning. Granddad, who was always annoyed at my late-sleeping ways when there was work to be done, which there always was, jokingly condemned, "People die in bed." He, no surprise, did not.

If every family has its hero, Granddad was ours. He was a gentle, quiet guy who had a tremendous romance with his wife. He was also a cowboy in the finest sense of the word, without affectations, a man's man without machismo—a Louis L'Amour guy. A great campfire cook (campfire biscuits made straight out of a flour sack), he had a knack for fixing anything with ingenuity and baling wire (yesteryear's duct tape) and could split barbed wire with a rifle shot.

J. H. wore long-sleeved blue shirts every day—light chambray in summer, denim in winter. Never rolled the sleeves up. A straw cowboy hat working, a fine felt version when going out on the town, a brown cowboy-cut suit at weddings and funerals. He was an inch shorter than my six feet and much shorter than my dad's six feet three inches, but his body was thick with muscle, stout with vitality and daily hard work. I share his strong wrists and his wide hands, but the ability to fix stuff skipped me over completely.

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/Editorial/Article/data/cntraveler/2005/02feb/wyoming.xml/


(*) (*) <EeeHaaaa!!!> Something to make me smile so much that I have lipstick on my earlobes! (k) (k) (k) (k)

After adjustusting Doc's kerchief and <waving her cowgrrl hat>

Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Three photographers reveal new ways to look at the land of the Old Ones. By Libby Stephens

A new West is emerging. Or, at least, new ways to look at the old West. Three photographers each on assignment for stories in our March 2005 issue, delved deep into the Southwest to explore new frontiers. They came back with stories to tell. Photographer Bill Hatcher found a fresh take on an ancient civilization (the Chaco Meridian theory). Lee Cohen photographed the birth of an 812-mile (1,307-kilometer) trail sure to rival the Appalachian (the Hayduke Trail). Ace Kvale captured the second coming of a once-drowned wonder (Glen Canyon). Here are outtakes—exclusive to the Web.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_01.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_02.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_03.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_04.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_05.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0503/photo_06.html


(*) (*) And lots more if you continue on the last link. Photo five is breathtakingly beautiful, as are some others. (l) (l)

Peace,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

What do you get when you combine the best of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah? The Four Corners region, an outdoor action zone too big for any one state and too wild to be defined by straight lines on a map. From the slickrock of Canyonlands to the alpine summits of the San Juans, this is America's adventure heartland—and here are its sweetest spots.


Kayak Trip
LAKE POWELL, UTAH/ARIZONA

The idea of paddling Lake Powell might strike some as a guilty pleasure at best. The completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 was perhaps the environmental movement's most dramatic defeat—one that drove Edward Abbey to heights of literary fury.

But veteran river guide Les Hibbert says that he abandoned the Colorado River's free-flowing stretches to set up a kayak-touring operation here without regrets. "Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is far more of a wilderness," he says. "Especially during the off-season, when you can paddle for days without seeing even a fishing boat."

Powell's tentacles slip into 94 side canyons, where sea kayakers can navigate a silent world of red sandstone cliffs framing gorges too narrow for powerboats.

Hibbert's company, Hidden Canyon Kayak, operates trips that include side canyon hikes. "When you get out of your boat," Hibbert says, "you're basically in Glen Canyon before the dam."


Information: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (+1 928 608 6404; www.nps.gov/glca).
Outfitted trips and rentals: Hidden Canyon Kayak (800 343 3121 [U.S. and Canada only]; www.hiddencanyonkayak.com).
Rock Climb
CASTLETON TOWER, UTAH

Of all the mighty monoliths on the Colorado Plateau, the climbers' favorite is Castleton Tower, which combines great rock, challenging routes, and a stunning position atop a 1,200-foot [367-meter] cone of scree.

First scaled by the legendary Layton Kor in 1961, a feat immortalized in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, Castleton now sees hundreds of ascents each year.

Renowned climbers Greg Child, Jay Smith, and Kitty Calhoun have set up shop here and are spearheading an initiative to protect 221 acres [89 hectares] at the tower's base from development.

Fortunately for nonexpert climbers, two of the best climbs are also relatively moderate: the four-pitch North Chimney and Kor-Ingalls routes, both 5.9.


Information: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Moab Field Office (+1 435 259 2100; www.blm.gov/utah/moab).
Guides: Moab Desert Adventures (+1 435 260 2404; www.moabdesertadventures.com).
Alpine Ride
COLORADO TRAIL, COLORADO

This Denver-to-Durango route is something of a trans-Rockies grail for mountain bikers: 470 miles [756 kilometers] of high-elevation single- and doubletrack, replete with enough technical twists and grueling climbs to challenge the most committed riders.

The final leg of the Colorado Trail, though, distills the essence of the whole into a thrilling 20-mile [32-kilometer] pedal that competent mortals can complete in a single day. It starts at the crest of the La Plata Mountains at Kennebec Pass [11,750 feet/3,581 meters] and drops nearly 4,000 feet [1,219 meters] into the mountain biking hotbed of Durango.

This one's about feeling the pull of gravity and mastering the art of tight turns on world-class singletrack. Get an early start to beat the inevitable afternoon thunderstorm.


Bike rentals, detailed route information, and maps: Hassle Free Sports (+1 970 259 3874; www.hasslefreesports.com).
Ancient City
PUEBLO BONITO, NEW MEXICO

"Not easily interpreted" is how guide G.B. Cornucopia describes Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

An extraordinary architectural masterwork of the ancient Pueblo Indians (A.D. 850 to 1250), this four-story "great house" has at least 600 rooms spread over four acres [1.6 hectares], and it is linked by roads and ramps to structures throughout the valley—and miles beyond.

Yet there is scant evidence that people actually lived here. "It might have been religious, it might have been economic," says Cornucopia. So come to relish the mystery. You can explore dozens of chambers within Bonito itself, then fan out on side hikes.


Information: Chaco Culture National Historical Park (+1 505 786 7014; www.nps.gov/chcu).



(*) (*) National Geographic sure provides information to all kinds of places.....and not only in the paper version of it's magazine! (l) (l) Sometimes taking these virtual tours can bring back sunshine and a lighter heart on dark days in my opinion. (l) (l)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://disobey.com/ghostsites/


:| :| :| :| :|

Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

SedonaCam:

http://www.earthcam.com/cams/arizona/sedona/index.html

EarthCam and Gateway to Sedona bring you live views from the heart of Sedona, Arizona. There are few places on earth with the spectacular red rock scenery of Sedona, Arizona, a place of magnificent, towering formations, brilliant sunsets, and clear, starlit nights. One of the most memorable “gateways” to the area is the scenic drive from the near-7,000 ft. elevation of Flagstaff, through Oak Creek Canyon, to Sedona at 4,500 feet, with impressive red rock cliffs rising above and lush greenery bordering a year-round bubbling creek below. Toward the end of the Canyon drive, the castle-like natural monument, Cathedral Rock, looms in the distance. Passing through Uptown Sedona, other famous red rock spires take form, including Coffeepot Rock, Chimney Rock and Thunder Mountain in West Sedona; a short drive down Highway 179 brings close-up views of Courthouse Butte, Snoopy Rock and Bell Rock in the Village of Oak Creek. Our camera is located at Canyon Villa Inn of Sedona, a luxury bed and breakfast in the heart of red rock country.

(*) (*) Now, THIS just made my day!!! Have a fun Tuesday.

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

By ELAINE SCIOLINO

Published: February 9, 2005 NYTimes

PARIS: THE CROISSANT looked golden-brown and flaky, but one bite was enough.

Mireille Guiliano declared it "disgusting."

The waiter apologized. The regular croissant vendor wasn't baking. But Ms. Guiliano, the author of the best seller "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), was not about to waste all those calories on a second-rate bread product.

"Life is too short to drink bad wine and to eat bad food," she said. "This is all about fooling yourself."

Self-deception and sensuality are the secrets of how to eat well and stay slim, according to Ms. Guiliano's bonbon of a book.

In her world, Frenchwomen instinctively understand the centrality of food as a tool of seduction. And seduction, she writes, "figures prominently in the Frenchwoman's sense of herself."

To that end, Frenchwomen eat small portions. They eat whatever they want - even chocolate - but certainly not every day. They use ultrafresh ingredients and avoid processed foods. They drink a lot of water, but never take wine without food.

Frenchwomen are never too busy to go food shopping several times a week or to make their own yogurt from scratch. They are never too cash-strapped to buy farm-fresh items from open-air markets. They never eat in front of the television or standing up. They eat slowly, savor every bite and make dining a ritual - using all five senses and enjoying multicourse meals on separate plates.

"In the United States, everyone is always in a rush," she said. "People have to realize how great it is to be for hours around the table. Except for the bed in the bedroom, the table is the only place where you connect."

Parenthood is no excuse for inaction. "People say they are busy with three young kids," said Ms. Guiliano, who does not have children. "Well, there are choices to be made. Maybe you can't watch your reality show for 20 minutes."

And Frenchwomen never say diet.

"I hate the word 'diet,' " she said. "It's all about deprivation. All the women I meet who are on a diet are unhappy and grumpy and boring."

Ms. Guiliano, 58, uses her own happy history to prove her thesis. The 5-foot-3-inch, 112-pound Frenchwoman gorged on brownies and cookies as an exchange student in Massachusetts in the 1960's and gained 20 pounds. She gained 10 more upon her return to France, shedding them all after a doctor taught her about moderation.

She created Clicquot Inc., the American subsidiary of Champagne Veuve Clicquot, and now serves as its chairwoman. She and her husband, Edward Guiliano, the president of the New York Institute of Technology, divide their time between New York and Paris.

They can squeeze 150 guests into their duplex in the West Village for dinner. They grow blueberries, tomatoes and fresh herbs on the smaller of its two terraces. Their pied-à-terre in the chicest part of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris is much more modest, accommodating only four comfortably for dinner. Their small family house in Dix Hills on Long Island is home to 4,000 bottles of their wine collection.

The book is a confection that she whipped up (complete with favorite recipes) over summer and fall weekends. "It was very easy," she said. "There was no research."

Indeed, Ms. Guiliano's message can be found in just about any women's magazine or nutritionist's booklet. And she acknowledges that it is by no means a comprehensive analysis of French eating and drinking habits.

She does not address the role of genetics in a woman's weight or the fact that a large segment of Frenchwomen seem naturally smaller-boned, smaller-hipped and less cellulite-laden than many other Westerners.

She does not deal with the fact that obesity is growing at an alarming rate throughout France, although it is still at much lower levels than in the United States. Or that takeout and fast-food restaurants have proliferated in France in the past 25 years. (McDonald's in France is more profitable than in any other country in Europe).

When questioned, she confesses that Frenchwomen with bad eating habits and excess adipose do exist. "There are plenty of Frenchwomen who are fat," she acknowledges. "But all of my friends are like me."

On one level, Ms. Guiliano exudes the je ne sais quoi of that certain type of Frenchwoman who seems effortlessly slim, elegant and serene. She wears her newly found fame as effortlessly as her Armani trousers, Ferragamo pumps, Revillon mink coat and Louis Vuitton handbag.

She giggles as she lets it slip that she always wears sexy (but comfortable) lingerie that she would never entrust to a maid to launder. She boasts that some American men who have read her book have written to say, "You're my kind of woman."

But there is a steely discipline behind her pleasure-loving approach. One of the main goals of staying slim is to remain appealing to men, and that is hard work. No matter that decades of feminism have taught women to think and act for themselves.

"A Frenchman wants his wife to be very elegant, very thin," she said. "It's never said, except in the silence. There is pressure. A woman works on herself."

An advance team from "Oprah" recently spent a day in Ms. Guiliano's Paris apartment watching her make homemade yogurt and prepare her now famous "Magical Leek Soup," which is eaten and drunk exclusively for an entire weekend to purge the body before the adventure with pleasure dining begins.

"There have been predictions that there will be a leek shortage in America!" she exclaimed, adding, "People are telling me that I have changed their lives."

She is also being celebrated in the French press.

"If Americans refuse to take the advice of French in diplomatic matters, they seem clearly open to dietary advice," wrote the popular French daily Le Parisien about her book. Le Figaro calls her "the Pasionaria of eating well."

Ms. Guiliano said that she has been showered with offers to be the host of a television cooking or lifestyle show and to write a sequel about other secret habits of Frenchwomen. American designers have suggested that she wear their dresses to the Oscars, and there is talk of a movie, she said.

Champagne Veuve Clicquot is reveling in her success, and is promoting its Champagne at some of her public appearances. LVMH, its parent company, by contrast, has not even sent a congratulatory note, she said.

Even though the book has been translated into 11 languages, no French publisher has signed it, but she said a number of them are negotiating. "The French are afraid to take risks," Ms. Guiliano said. "They philosophize all day long and at the end of the day, there are no decisions."

So it is not surprising that her love of French food and respect for French eating habits does not extend to the French work ethic.

"I could have never done all this in France," she said. "France is a class society. They kill you if you want to be an entrepreneur here. I would get an ulcer in three weeks."



(*) (*) QUITE the difference from American womyn who "eat and run" rather than savoy as French as well as other European womyn do. Been there and enjoyed a slowly served supper taking three hours. Here? Folks would be screaming for their food to be served faster. :| :| Indeed true. (a)



(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers' defense lawyers may choose to treat their client like an idiot, but do they really have to treat the rest of us that way too? Because, honestly, I think you'd have to be a little slow to buy the gentle-giant-of-the-ponderosa portrait of Ebbers they proffered in U.S. District Court in Manhattan yesterday. (I know they'd have been cited for contempt, but when Ebbers described his heart condition by saying "[my] pumper isn't pumping the way it should," the prosecutors really should have hummed the theme from "Bonanza.") Taking the stand yesterday, Ebbers denied that he knew anything about the fake accounting entries that falsely inflated WorldCom's revenues and profit, and said he lacked the knowledge to understand them anyway. Under questioning by his lead attorney, Reid Weingarten, Ebbers explained how he had dropped out of two colleges before getting his degree in physical education and how he worked as a milkman, bread delivery man and basketball coach before ending up in telecommunications, an industry of which claims to have only limited understanding. "I know what I don't know," Ebbers said in response to a Weingarten question asking him to reconcile his folksy persona with the responsibilities of running one of the nation's largest telecoms. "I don't know technology, I don't know accounting. ... I was not technically competent to lead WorldCom for the indefinite future." "I don't know technology, I don't know accounting?" Here's a guy who headed up one of the hottest telecoms of the late '90s, who gobbled up company after company after company, and he's saying he had no idea whatsoever he was presiding over the most ignominious accounting fraud in corporate history? Surreal.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=69048

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2005/nf2005031_4191_db035.htm


(*) (*) MCI STIFFED me $20K on a project once. It only took that one time to learn an extremely expensive business lesson. I hope they continue to hang MCI (okay, okay, their former owner Worldcom execs as well) on a rope like they used to in the 1800's.......vigilante jjustice! I'm sure he'll get a cushy room at a minimum security (if security at all) facility. :@ :@

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady

[sweetlady]

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:pmqCVaAn5AEJ:www.tomsmithonline.com/comedy/com-rhms.htm+rocky+horror+muppet+show&hl=en


(*) (*) ;) (h)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Turns out the cloaking device used by the Romulans in "Star Trek" to hide their spacecraft isn't as far-fetched as one might think. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have devised a plasmonic cloak that renders objects nearly invisible. Using an array of plasmons -- tiny electronic excitations on the surfaces of some metals -- the researchers were able to cancel out the visible light or other radiation coming from an object, making it for all intents and purposes invisible. Thing is, the object was very, very small. Larger will be harder. "Things like airplanes are very complex objects -- complex shape and complex materials -- and I do not know to what extent our concept can be applicable to that," researcher Nader Engheta told LiveScience. "We are still in the conceptual stage, and there are several important questions that have to be answered before any practical scenario can be considered."


http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Cloaking_device

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050228/full/050228-1.html

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7047872/


(*) (*) Kewl!! (h) (h) Now I can be a mouse in the corner for those deliciously delightful situations when I've wanted to be invisible......;)


(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

For an outfit that's not working with Google on a Firefox-based browser, the Mozilla Foundation sure has gotten cozy with the search giant. Speaking at the FOSSDEM conference in Brussels, Gervase Markham, a Mozilla staff member, said on Sunday that Google has underwritten a significant portion of Firefox's development. In fact, according to Markham, 10 of the hires the foundation made in the past year were possible only because of its sponsorship deal with Google (Firefox includes Google as its default search option). "The Google deal has provided a significant stream of income for the foundation," Markham said. "Without that deal the foundation would not have been in a position to have hired some of the people that it has." Perhaps Google's support of Mozilla is just a bit of "do-no-evil" altruism. Maybe it's just a sly way to compete with Microsoft, financing a venture that is slowly but surely winning users away from Internet Explorer. But maybe it's something more. Lest anyone forget, Google did host Mozilla Developer Day last year (see "Mozilla Developer Day actually Google Browser Rumor Day"). And one of its latest hires was Ben Goodger, the lead engineer behind Firefox, as a full-time employee. Now maybe, as Mozilla Foundation President Mitchell Baker says, Mozilla and Google aren't working on a browser. But looking over all this, one can't help but think they're in cahoots somehow.


http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39189475,00.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/9722174.htm

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1722576,00.asp


(*) (*) ;) ;)


(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/11021540.htm

Posted on Tue, Mar. 01, 2005 siliconvalley.com

By Michael Bazeley

Mercury News


Having trouble unloading your 1980s PC or that rusting bicycle on craigslist?

There's hope yet. Craigslist users will soon be able to reach out to a new universe of potential buyers.

The San Francisco online classified ads site plans to collect millions of ads and beam them into deep space May 15, accompanied by a videotaped greeting from craigslist founder Craig Newmark. ``We believe there could be an infinite market opportunity,'' Newmark quipped in a press release.

Users consent by checking a box next to their listings: ``OK to transmit this posting into outer space.''

Craigslist Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster won an eBay auction over the weekend -- at $1,225 -- for the chance to send a message into outer space. Florida's Deep Space Communications Network -- an audio and video production company -- will transmit the postings at least one light year into space using its existing satellite broadcasting gear.

Rumor has it that Hollywood has already commissioned a TV show about the event -- called ``List in Space.''


(*) (*) I wondered when craigslist would add oujter space...they seem to be everplace else! ;) Doc and I are resting after his second "first of four" weeks of chemo again. We both took a nap this afternoon....he's sleeping again and his mama is, well you know where his mama is! ;) ;)

Peace,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

"I can picture someone standing near the queen whispering into her ear, "Do it; you'll never get a chance like this again! For the love of god, woman, just lop his head off!"

-- One Slashdot poster fantasizes about Bill Gates' knighthood ceremony taking an unexpected turn


(*) (*) ;) ;)

(k) ,
SL and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates received an honorary knighthood from the U.K.'s Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace this morning. Gates was awarded the title KBE, or Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his contribution to enterprise, employment, education and the voluntary sector in the U.K. and in recognition of his efforts to reduce poverty in the developing world. Now, there's no doubt that Gates has done a great deal of good through through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A month doesn't pass without the announcement of some new grant from the foundation, whether it be for developing schools for at-risk youth or research into vaccines for infectious diseases. But Gates' contributions to enterprise aren't so clear cut. On the one hand we have a capitalist success story of legendary proportions; on the other, "embrace and extend," "smother and extinguish" and a host of anticompetitive business practices, behavior I imagine, not befitting a KBE. Certainly the open source community found Gates' knighthood a bit ironic. Said open source advocate Bruce Perens: "Being a convicted monopolist apparently doesn't keep you from getting knighted. I suppose monarchy and monopoly go well together."


http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/mar05/03-02GatesKnighthoodPR.asp

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/1998/microsoft111398.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-01-sir-bill-usat_x.htm


(*) (*) "Sir Crashalot"........I LOVE THIS!!! ;) ;)

(k) (k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

http://www.wheresgeorge.com/

(*) (*) ;)

(k) ,
Sweetlady and Doc the Boxer

[sweetlady]

Magic Eightball:

http://www.shuchow.com/eightball.html

(*) (*) By no means created by the sharpest knife in the drawer, but cute. ;)

(k) Sweetlady and Doc the boxer

[sweetlady]

There's lots of chatter in the media today about the speech Urs Hoelzle, a vice president of engineering and operations at Google, gave at EclipseCon yesterday. In it,