Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fall 2010 Pictures of our Nieces

It's fall picture time!
Dora is to the right, looking cute as a bug. She is pre-school now. Growing up quickly.
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Below if Meijkan. She's about a year and a half and enjoying her first fall (that she can move in).
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Personally I think piles of leaves are full of bugs - but I am glad she has no such qualms.




If we amplify everything we hear nothing.

I really am impressed by these words from Jon Stewart about the rally and American's ability to have a discussion now adays.
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This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do.
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But we live now in hard times — not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.
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But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.
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The country’s 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen — or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.
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If we amplify everything we hear nothing.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Surprisingly Ed Could Not Read our Receipt for Dinner


Cool Vintage Monorail images

Gizmodo has a really cool "vintage monorail gallery".
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And, yes, of course the Disneyland Monorail is there, but so are some others I hadn't see.
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The one to the left here was from the 1964 World's Fair. It is totally cool.
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There are some really really old ones (including a doulbe decker 1876 built for the nation's centenital) - and the oldest was a Irish one that looks silly.
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But I really like the ones below.
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They say that "teachnically" this "rail plane" isn't a monorail since there is a guiderail below. But it is too cool not to include.


This is an early Seattle demonstration rail. Cool, huh?

Full Gallery.

Friday, October 29, 2010

New Meaning to the words "Sue Baby, Sue!"



My favorite thing about this post on Gawker is the very first person that commented:
" First they came for the 6 years olds and I said nothing (because I was 4) then they came for the 5 year olds and I said nothing (because i was 4) now they have come for me but the 3 year olds don't know how to finish sentences. "

Quite.... A ... Night

So, I had to work later than usual last night, so Eddie got home before and did the “after-work dog walk”. He takes Trevor out for a nice little walk. Well, Trev is tired from 2 days in a row at Pets at Play (emergency with the house cleaner). So Ed is tired, Trevor is tired and out of the blue a Malmut/Husky mix attacks Trevor.
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Ed, worried that the big ass dog will shake Trevor and kill him grabs and holds Trevor in his arms. The evil dog has Trevor’s head in his jaws, Trevor has a death grip on the bad dog’s mouth and tongue. A woman on the street – who knows the bad dog is bad, kicks the big dog until he let’s go of Trevor. Trevor has blood coming out of the top of his head. Ed’s adrenalin is through the roof – and before I get in the house, he meets me outside to go to the bank and make a deposit.
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Undoubtedly a good thing as I freak out as he tells me the story. If I went up and saw the bloody dog to start with I would have had a little nervous breakdown. As it is, Trevor is sluggish – but okay. Eddie is taking him to the Vet this morning – but Trev is fully up on his shots.
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And we have company coming over.
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So first a friend from Ed’s school in Wisconsin, Thurmond comes by. We drink (maybe too much) as all the adrenalin from the dog drama wears off. Then Todd (of Alex and Todd) comes up. Now he was suppose to be at dinner with us and Jamie (Mascot of the Month) but she can’t come.

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We know Alex and Todd through Walker – who also went to school with Ed in Wisconsin; but Alex and Todd are from here (well Alex is from Ireland – but here now). Todd and Walker’s wife (Kerri) used to work together at Continental. Todd brought a friend, Lorenzo who is ½ French and ½ Italian, living in London and here at a training class. Which is what brought Thurmond to this fair city as well.
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We just get through those introductions and settling down, as JoeBan – here for a different training class – shows up with Katie. Now it get’s confusing. JoeBan is a friend of Walker’s from school. But since he still hangs out occasional with Walker, he has meet Todd and Alex. Katie is in town from Chicago for a training class. She is a Kiwi from Christchurch New Zealand. Introductions are made, many people ask where this mysterious “Walker” is (he now lives in Boston, but he is a pilot based in Newark – don’t ask).
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So far
Thurmond – Ed’s school friend from Wisconsin, now married with kids in Minneapolis.
Todd – partner of Alex. Friend of Walker – who is a friend of Ed’s.
Lorenzo – friend of Alex
JoeBan – Friend of Walker and bane of Ed’s HouseFellow Duties as Walker’s house fellow (apparently JoeBan is a bit of a hell raiser). Married with a wife and an adorable son (yes pictures were shown)
Katie – Workmate of JoeBan, living outside Milwaukee with her husband. Originally from New Zealand.
Eddie and I
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Ding Dong. Randy comes in. Randy our friend. He is from Iowa and his ex-boyfriend was friends with Ed and I in LA. Also is Chris, his 20-something year old son (from a previous marriage) who is here to take the Huffington Bus to the Restore Sanity Rally.
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Before you can say skip to my Lou. Alex, Todd’s boyfriend, originally from Ireland comes in. Before the drinks can finish being poured, Stephanie shows up. Stephanie is Randy’s friend. I don’t know why she was in New York last night – visiting or lives here – by this time I was a little lost. But I do remember that she is from Australia originally.
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So we all 12 troop over to Ollie’s Noodle house to sit around one of those huge tables and laugh and eat and drink.
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It was fun – then I kicked them all out because I have an early morning meeting.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Weather Bomb Picture.

This was what I was trying to get for the post below.
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Satellite image of the October 26, 2010 superstorm taken at 5:32pm EDT. At the time, Bigfork, Minnesota was reporting the lowest pressure ever recorded in a U.S. non-coastal storm.

Weather


So... for those of you not in the States, we have had a really odd storm here. It was centered around the Great Lakes and kind of like an over land hurricane.
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So for our families in Montana and Minnesota, cold air blew in from Canada and was unpleasent.
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For us in New York, warm - humid air wa pulled in from the south and was generally quite pleasent.
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Odd

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Here is a nice post from a School Board Member that wishes more gay kids would kill themselves (wish I was kidding)


Not everyone gets into the spirit of "it get's better". Some get into the spirit of "it will get better when the rest of the fags kill themselves" (More story if you can stomach it).
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Here is the recap...
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Anyone who questions whether we need to do more to create schools that welcome every student need not look any further than Clint McCance – a Midland School Board Member from Arkansas who unleashed an anti-gay tirade on Facebook recently. Reacting to Spirit Day that encouraged people to wear purple in honor of young LGBT lives lost to suicide and to raise awareness of the bullying behaviors that contributed to those deaths, McCance wrote: “Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed therselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.”
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He responded to commenters on his original post by further writing, “No because being a fag doesnt give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then dont tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself. I dont care how people decide to live their lives. They dont bother me if they keep it to thereselves. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it.” He further writes, “I would disown my kids if they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.
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See, this isn't going to bug me. But when you let people like this deal with children (he was elected to the School Board - and serves there now) this is kind of bad for kids.
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And,yes he is fully protected bythe first amendment. But if he is going to be stupid enough to post it on Facebook, and admit it - then I am free to share it.

The Politics of Outing..


..or, more importantly, my views on this (smiley face).
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So the New York Times essentially outed Zachary Quinto this week, in a big splashy spread. The story was annoying and brings up my own conflicted emotions of this. Particularly since Mr. Quinto is in Angels in America, the quintessential play about the evil invisibility brought upon a generation.
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But it has been 25 years. Should people be outed now?
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Before, my answer was fairly simple. If public figures were working against gay rights – which in the era of AIDs meant working to kill us – then they should be outed. I was also sympathetic to outing positive role models who might make the world look upon “us” as more normal. I felt that we need visible positive people who my grandmother would be comfortable with. The Nathan Lane / Rosie O’Donnell argument – particularly if they insisted on showing same sex partners as “Dinners” or “Awards shows”. I felt free to call bullshit.
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Now. Well, Zachary Quinto has never either confirmed or denied being gay. He says it is no one’s business. Before we say this always means you’re gay note that Rupert Graves (my little British hero - up top is Rupert in Room with a View and down low is a recent picture from V (is fro Vendetta)) has said this same thing for 35+ years before getting married to his long time female companion. He said that he never confirmed because it wasn’t fair gays were asked this and straight people were not.
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Anyway, I agree that now adays it is no one’s business.
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On the other hand, I think people that demonize homos (I’m looking at you Mehlmen) it is fair to out.
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I find it reprehensible that the New York Times outs Zachary Quinto for shits and giggles when it means nothing, but DOESN’T out Ken Mehlmen when he was demonizes gay people and every gay man on the East Coast knows he is gay.




A dead generation

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Cool New Animals Discovered

Apparently they are finding new species in the Amazon all the time. The Telegraph has a slide show here. But here are some fun ones.
A Bald Parrot

Two really cool frogs.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Jane Lynch "Glamour Shoot" Odd - but I like the Tiki Bar


Odd choice. I don't like pink speedos myself, but Jane Lynch is married to a woman - so I don't really expect her to approve or not the speedo color for the men in the background.
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I do like, however, the Tiki Bar.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

My friend Liz (the vet) posted this and I Love it.

You gotta read this. Click to enlarge (particularly my mom.. this is right up her alley).

NY Times Endorses Political Hackery

I like the New York Times.
No.
I love the New York Times. It is one of the few papers in the country that still tries to cover the world - which I think is critical for people.
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And, although it is highly partisan - actually more like knee jerk liberal than Democratic - it is usually fair.
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But they have endorsed Cuomo Jr. for Governor - which is a joke. I mean, if they came out and said "Carl Palidino is a crazy man, who can't campaign so we don't think he can govern". Fine - I would get that.
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But to claim (as they did) this isn't just process of elimination shows their endorsement process is a joke and should be a laughing stock.
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The Times says "Despite several position books, Mr. Cuomo’s candidacy has been more skeletal than it should have been,... ". Let me explain what this means in real life. He hasn't given an in depth interview despite every single New York major media (TV and Newspaper) bending to talk to him on record "anyplace, anytime." He even joked about it with NBC news 2 days ago, offering up "next Thursday" only to laugh it off when the reporter said she would go anywhere to do the interview.
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The Times says, "We endorse him with the hope that he would be a bolder and more forthright governor than he has been a candidate. New York cannot afford anything like the scandal, gamesmanship and weakness that have marked the governor’s office in the past four years. " Wha..??? Endorse him on hope!?!
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Finally - the kicker in came about 1/3 of the way in - and I will be honest this is where I stopped reading. Because this is my problem with Junior - and this is what the NY Times is, at least in part, basing it's endorsement on, "He knows about the sinkholes and mudslides of Albany from the experience of his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo. " If I am not mistaken, that thought process is EXACTLY the same justification as North Korea's Kim Jong Il passing power on to his son.

Friday, October 22, 2010

True Size of Africa

I am a Geography major and I know that Africa is underrepresented on maps due to the mercator projections. But I have to say, until I saw this I didn't fully understand HOW underrepresented. Click on this to expand. This puts all Europe, USA, India, Japan and China inside Africa.
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Ron Artest: I Didn't Know This

Salon is running a series on "A Year in Sanity" about things that are going well. They did this small profile of Ron Artest, which gave me things I didn't know - AND made me feel good this morning.
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Ron Artest may seem like an odd choice for a series about sanity. After all, "sane" is just about the last word many would use to describe the Los Angeles Lakers forward whose career has been marred by controversy after self-imposed controversy. From brawling with fans to boozing at halftime to requesting time off to pursue a rap career, Artest has long established himself as one of basketball's more bizarre figures.
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So, it was perfectly in line with his oddball persona when, moments after the Lakers secured their second consecutive championship in June, Artest
thanked his psychiatrist for helping him to calm down. Few people saw significance in the remark apart from its obvious viral potential.
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But in the months that followed, it became clear that this was not another instance of the forward providing
amusing YouTube fodder. Artest's comments were made in earnest; therapy had allowed him to confront lifelong issues, and the newly-anointed champion had decided to battle the stigma of mental illness among inner-city youths -- a stigma that had long prevented him from seeking the help he needed.
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Artest has
teamed up with Rep. Grace F. Napolitano to promote the Mental Health in Schools Act and plans to auction off his only championship ring to raise money and awareness for the cause. As Artest recently told middle school students in East L.A., "When you think about mental health, you don't have to be afraid."
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Ron Artest's decision to advocate for mental health speaks to the power of redemption. Six years ago, Artest was considered the NBA's resident thug, a talent few teams considered worth the risk. But he has turned it all around. Today, he is fighting to help people who are struggling the way he did for so long. Yes, it's crazy, but Ron Artest is finally sane.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Kind of Poetic Justice


It is kind of poetic justice that the Baptist won't let Mormons be Scout Masters - no matter how "good" they are as people. Because that is EXACTLY what Mormons say about fags. EXACTLY!!!!
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I love the Mormon parents quote."I can't believe they had the audacity to say, 'You can't be leaders but we want your boys,' " Jodi Stokes told The Associated Press. "Are you kidding me? Do you really think I'd let my boys go there now?". mainly because when fags say that we are accused of being excessively touchy.
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UPDATE: ALL CLEAR Odd to get bomber warnings over the office emergency system

So it is a little odd working somewhere where you get updates on New York PD street closures. Particularly when they are on your block. But that is the trade-off when working in Times Square. It's less than two blocks from home - and so an easy walk. But it is in Times Square - so bomb target.

Update:
All Cleared! yay

The Perfect Storm

I don't know. I think I have a furlough from work on Dec 12th for a few weeks. I just sold the house in Palm Springs. Now this:
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Sometimes the universe is trying to tell your wrinkly face something.

New Jersey Skies: Like LA Today


How can brown skies look so much like home in LA and so ugly in New Jersey? (Select to expand)

China Screws Us: We are too chickenshit to note this

So, this hasn't really gotten play, but let me update ya'll.
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A while back, Japan and China got in a tussle about sea rights. Japan took a Chinese trawler that was in its territorial water and held the Captain. Quietly, China blockaded shipments of "rare earth" materials to Japan. (Story) This means Japan couldn't build all kinds of things, like cell phones, electric car batteries. All kinds of high tech things.
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Now, the US used to be the primary supplier of this, but China undercut us. A case of where no trade barriers screwed us. In fact China companies so undercut us (or the U.S.) that these Chinese companies (owned often by their army) purchased our foundries, took them apart and shipped them to China to rebuild. Using much laxer laws to extract minerals, and cheaper labor to produce them, we gave up these industries in the name of market capitalism. Worse, American (and Australian and other) companies do the Chinese government's dirty work to maintain their access to the minerals.
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Cut to this week. China is pissed off at us (the U.S. and Europe) because we keep pushing on their undervalued currency. So they have cut off deliveries of these rare earth materials to us. Story.
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We are screwed because China doesn't play by Open Market rules and we have little leverage. What are these "non-critical" things we can't make? Lasers, Wind Turbines, Car Batteries, Solar Panels, etc.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I Love Archer on FX


This show is the BEST!!!!
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If you haven't seen it you must. YOu can check on http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/archer/ and just watch the first 4 minutes of any episode. But you have to say your above 18....

Surprise: It's In the Constitution

See, here is the problem with believing Glen Beck 100%. He has been on a roll (along with other's that want to paint liberals as Nazis) that Adolf Hitler was the first that coined the idea of "Seperation of Church and State". So OF COURSE she didn't realize it was in the Consititution.

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Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware is questioning whether the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from establishing religion.
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In a debate at Widener University Law School, O'Donnell criticized Democratic nominee Chris Coons' position that teaching creationism in public school would violate the First Amendment by promoting religious doctrine.
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O'Donnell asked where the Constitution calls for the separation of church and state. When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O'Donnell asked: "You're telling me that's in the First Amendment?"
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The exchange Tuesday aired on radio station WDEL generated a buzz among law professors and students in the audience.

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By BEN EVANS, Associated Press

Monday, October 18, 2010

Reuters Pic of the Day: On Wisconsin

This was a happy week-end for my honey. And - somewhere on the field - is Phil jump jump jumping around.Thousands of students storm the playing field after the University of Wisconsin upset Ohio State 31-18 in their NCAA football game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin October 16, 2010.
REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson

Rockefeller Fountains


Rather than complain about the election cycle, I thought I would share this picture.
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Eddie and I wandered around the city a little this Saturday and I saw the fountains of Rockefeller Center working. These are honestly my favorites. They are small and run between the two flanking buildings between tall Rockefeller Center and Saks Fifth Ave.
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Usually there are too many people to get a good picture. And, once it gets cold, they are covered with Christmas flowers, so this was a rare day when it was relatively light foot traffic, sunny and pretty.
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Expand them and see how deco and cool they are. They are children riding dolphins. There are fun, and a welcome surprise after the hectic pace of Fifth Ave.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Swan Lake by Matthew Bourne - Not What I Expected


Ever since I first heard about Matthew Bourne's Swam Lake, where men play the Swans, I have been both intrigued and a little put off. I could be very cool - or it could be a gratuitous gay take on Swan Lake.
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I was very very wrong.
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Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake isn't gay. The maleness of the Swan's is perfect and within character of Swans - you know if you have ever had one of the nasty animals come at you when you have a piece of bread.
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But I digress....
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This Swan Lake is completely amazing and will blow you away - I kick myself now for waiting so long to see it.
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It is set is the beautiful hipster moment of just a few minutes and decades ago. The Queen wears (and dances) in stunning colored mid-length gowns of blue and red. Her son, the haunted Prince, dresses in pseudo military outfits.
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The ensemble dresses as bar patrons in wild 1960's fashions, and later as Royal Party Goers is high fashion duds right out of magazines today. Getting those damn women out of tutus is the best thing that could ever happen.
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They do keep the ballet structure, but instead of perfect lines of women, the male Swans dance in groups, in formation, exploding about the stage. The Swans swarm on stage and cavort like Peter Pan's lost boys all grown up. It is gleeful dancing full of swagger, bravado and fun.
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The Prince is dominated by his mother and not allowed to date the woman he wants (although to the Queen's credit, his chosen paramour is a uncouth blond tart :-), and yet the Queen herself remains coolly indifferent to her son's emotional needs. He is lost as a son, a man and a person.
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And so, when he stumbles upon the gathering of Swans, dominated by the Swan Prince with a steely sexuality, he is in love. In love with the camaraderie, the freedom and the beauty of the Swans. He becomes a Man in their presence.
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The tragedy is that he cannot bring that Man into the Court when he confronts his mother again or when he sees the woman he wants. At the Royal Ball, the Prince falls back into the thankless role of son, impotent and ignored. When the Swan Prince shows up as the Stranger at the Ball and proceeds to bring every woman to her knees with desire, we see what the Prince should and could have become.
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It was sensational.
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Homemade Holloween Costumes

"You know, when I was a kid..."
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That line normally proceeds some proclamation of mine about something (everything) that was better when I was young. In this case, Holloweenie Costumes.
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Now, when I was a kid, you had to make your own Halloween costumes - and I remember mine fondly. Actually your mother had to make your costumes, which I remember fondly.
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Until I really think about it.
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For every Robin and Marion or Jeanie and Major Heally - of which there are the cutest pictures, there is the Pinoccino where my mother used medical glue for the nose and I lost 3 layers of skin getting it off.
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Then, of course, there was the Halloween my father took me to his buddy's house in El Segundo and belated realized it was Halloween (Halloween was still for kids then, not adults). Wanting me out of the house so they could proceed with quite possibly illegal substance abuse (what the kids these days call "getting high") they wrapped me in a sheet. After my protest that being a ghost was actual living proof that one had no imagination and I refused to go out as one, they gathered the sheet with a big biker belt, took the bullets out of a gun (a very old west gun with that revolving chamber thing - this was before every Tom, Dick and Harry had a Glock) and sent me out as a Ghost Pirate. Don't ask.
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And as if to prove my point, today, Ed's Aunt sends out this picture of her three daughters circa 1968. Now, I get the ghost with gloves (apparently it is cold for many people during Halloween). The masked Pumpkin / Devil is odd, but understandable. But what is with the Pillsbury Doughboy as "Jaunty Janitor"? I see her sisters ditching her at house number 4.

Stupid Code Orange

I think this whole "Terror" alert thing has given stupid rent-a-cops more power than they deserve.
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Today I was working at the Broadway Office, which was one of the first great AT&T Headquarters. Well, AT&T is long gone, but we are there now with a few other companies. So this wall statue thingy is in the lobby.
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I go to take a picture with my iPhone and 3 Rent-a-cops descend on my like I just shot Mother Teresa!
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Apparently they were screaming at me, but my music was drowning them out.
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So, anyway, here is the artwork, which is really cool.
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But why is there some crazy ass "no picture" rule? When I asked I was told it has been in place since 9/11. Because, apparently, the terrorist want to blow up wall art?
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WTF?
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Anyway, select the picture to expand, it is very cool artwork.
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Of course, like any good Mitchell or DeYoung, once I was told no pictures I also snapped a few of the lobby chandeliers. Pretty huh?

Friday, October 15, 2010

What does Friday Dress Down Day look like with a bunch of unattractive Russian Computer Programers

Hour 5 of the cabbage harvest on the kibbutz on a drizzly Moscow Morn.
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No wonder then don't let them wear jeans during the week.

General Shelton Tells All

From The Daily Beast, an interview with the General Shelton - who was head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Clinton and Bush. He is well spoken and smart (even I disagree with him on Don't Ask). I can admire his service, honest and opinion.

Hugh Shelton was impeccably apolitical while serving as the nation’s top military man under Presidents Clinton and Bush. Now, not so much. He talks to Lloyd Grove about Bill Clinton (good), Donald Rumsfeld (bad), and John McCain (crazy), among others. Among the highlights:
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• Rumsfeld, according to Shelton, is a power-mad know-it-all who won’t listen to military advice.
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• McCain is a ranting bully with “a screw loose.”
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• Gore is a supercilious grandstander who once interrupted an Oval Office meeting to berate Shelton for a military mishap, only to be swatted away by Clinton.
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• Clinton is “a man of great character,” Shelton tells The Daily Beast about Clinton, who tearfully apologized to him for the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
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• Shelton also insists that the Pentagon’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy, recently ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge, should remain in place.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unclear on the concept of the Military in our Republic

Regardless of how you feel about Don't Ask Don't Tell, this comment from Christine O'Donnell should bug you.
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"A federal judge recently ruled that we have to overturn Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
There are a couple of things we need to say about that. First of all, judges
should not be legislating from the bench. Second of all, it’s up to the military
to set the policy that the military believes is in the best interest of unit
cohesiveness and military readiness. The military already regulates personal
behavior in that it doesn’t allow affairs to go on within your chain of command.
It does not allow it you are married to have an adulterous affair within the
military. So the military already regulates personal behavior because it feels
that it is in the best interest of our military readiness. I don’t think that
Congress should be forcing a social agenda on to our military. I think we should
leave that to the military."

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We have civilian leadership of the military precisely because our forefathers did not want a military responsible only to themselves.
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As for Don't Ask Don't Tell, it is a stupid law - but whatever. Our military already fights with our allies the British, Dutch and Israelis who letting giant flaming queers into the war. In fact Israel demands they serve (just like they were real people - go figure).

This makes we wonder about this program...


We use "Radia" here to "automatically" download software, fixes and anti-virus here. Now, I am upgrading my software and it is taking forever - but that is expected. It is a big ass file (only a few versions old).
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But look at the Estimated Time Left.
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1 hour, 64 minutes and 37 seconds.
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1 hour, 64 minutes!!
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You mean 2 hours and 4 minutes?
or
1.64 hours?
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Oh, this is going to go well.

Reality is the Enemy of Fantasy

Russian Soldiers (particularly the memories of) do not translate across the spectrum of Russian Computer Programmers.


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Once again I am working at the downtown office with the developers. And once again I am struck dumb by the reality of Russian men.
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Now, my first memories of Russian men are the Olympians - but we know that they don't normally come in that flavor.
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But my first real life encounter was in newly reunited Berlin - still home to about 100,000 Russian Soldiers. And they were hot hot hot.

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Now, I know realistically that this was colored by the fact that they were 1) young, 2) goofy and hanging out waiting to go home and 3) I was at the age where I was constantly horny. So yes, I "know" that they probably weren't as cute as I remember.
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But they totally were.
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Well, the company I work at now has tons of Russian Programmers. We off-shore some work to Minsk (which is in Belarus (White Russia) actually - I know that). And we have a lot of Russians here working.
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Russian computer programmers are just as hot as American programmers. You got your 1 or 2 diamonds in the rough, but for the most part, they are pale, have no social skills, marginal hygiene skills and Cheeto's stained fingers. The only difference is older Russian have more hair come out their ears. It's enough to put you off Russian Porn.
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almost

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Gap Logo Goes all "New Coke" on itself

It was a week. Did you see "Gap"'s new logo. If you didn't you won't. Gap pulled it as junk. Here, in case you blinked.
Gap Logo (Old and Returned) Gap Logo (New but schnitzed)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Paladino Gets A Ton of Shit for Stating the Catholic Position: Not Really Fair

This is not a slam - I dont' get why Paladino is getting hammered over this thing. Sure he is a crazy ass Republican, but this isn't "news". This is essentially exactely what President Obama said, and it is EXACTELY what the Catholic Church says. Why give Crazy Pants Paladino shit for this - if you give a pass to everyone else. At least he took out the "dysfuntional" comment after the suicides and the gay hate torture / baseball rape in the Bronx.
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Paladino Unsure if Homosexuality Is a Choice
Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for New York governor, says he can’t decide whether homosexuality is a choice. “I’ve had difficulty with that,” he told Good Morning America Monday. “My nephew tells me he didn’t have that choice. And I believe it’s a very, very difficult life for a young person.” He went on: “I believe that young people should not necessarily be exposed to that without some really, really mature background first before, so they can learn to deal with it.” The candidate, backed by the Tea Party, is under fire for telling Orthodox Jewish leaders at a campaign stop Sunday that he didn’t want his kids “to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option—it isn't.” His prepared text went further— “There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual”—but he didn’t say that in his remarks. The Republican says he was reading the speech in the car on the way to the event and simply crossed that sentence out. Paladino stresses that his feelings are no different than those of the Catholic Church, and he was merely trying to express the “confusion that people have had over this issue.”
Read it at ABC News

So fun I had to Share

From Salon - a Discussion of Glee (Some essays are so fabulous they can't be cut).
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"Glee" could be great -- if it weren't so awful
The imaginative, off-kilter dramedy is back, and it's better -- and worse -- than ever
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"Glee," who are you, to take these many forms? You delight one minute and disturb the next. You intoxicate us with she-man football coaches and grilled Cheesuses, then torture us with Afterschool Special fare about hurt feelings and religion and daddies on their deathbeds. You juggle snark and melodrama, raps and ballads, bisexual cheerleaders and earnest pillow-lipped quarterbacks with the restraint and grace of a cocaine-addled musical theater major trying to hold down a job as a host at Applebee's.
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And look, we'd be more than happy to take our menus and smile politely through overzealous talk of 2-for-1 provolone-stuffed meatloaf and happy hour specials on Main Street 'Ritas, if it never segued into a warbling, slightly ironic rendition of Meatloaf's "I Could Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," followed by a rambling confession about the control issues that arise when a brand-new relationship goes sour faster than a Red Apple 'Rita.
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Because, like that manic coke-fueled host, "Glee," you're just too deliriously strange and disturbed for us to look away. We know that you're smart and talented and you have a good heart down deep inside, even if you use too many amateur therapy terms and gag-reflex-inciting Barbra Streisand ballads to show it. But seriously, "Glee," snap out of it. Every single song doesn't have to build to a fever pitch in under 33 seconds. Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) doesn't have to dress like a Skipper doll. And we don't need a forum every week on religion or race or sexuality or whatever other modernized "Free to Be You and Me" moment you've dreamt up in the middle of the night, while besieged by delusions of grandeur about your enormous impact on the culture. Stop drinking your own Kool-Aid for long enough to realize that two nitrous-induced Britney Spears dance numbers in a row is exactly one too many. (The first one, by Brittany [Heather Morris], was awesome. The second, with Brittany and Santana [Naya Rivera], was weak, and stepped on the toes of the first.)
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Has there ever been a TV show that's at once more delightful and cringe-inducing at the exact same time than "Glee"? Ever since it returned for its second season, this off-kilter dramedy (8 p.m. Tuesdays on Fox) has been nailing its high notes while still flaunting its many flaws with even more bravado than before. Coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) is funnier than ever this season, casting aside repetitive lines insulting Will Schuester's (Matthew Morrison) hair with some slightly more creative zingers. ("Seriously, you wear more vests than the cast of 'Blossom.'") Her welcoming embrace of the new football coach was particularly memorable ("I'm sure you're used to hillbilly parents yelping adulation at you as they attempt to impregnate the tail pipes of various off-road vehicles, but you're in my house now, Biest"), as were her consoling remarks to Kurt (Chris Colfer) when his father had a heart attack last week ("I'm sorry for what you're going through, lady. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. And I guess I don't have to, I think Mary Lou Retton is like an orphan or something").
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Brittany (Morris) has also come into her own this season with the aforementioned hallucinated performance of Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" and some truly memorable dim-bulb remarks. She almost single-handedly saved a weepy nightmare episode of "Glee" last week when she gave Kurt a school report she wrote on heart attacks (in case his father's doctor wanted to read it), then she told the other kids, "I made him a card that says that heart attacks are just from loving too much." But almost every character has had a few great moments this season, from Will pathetically proclaiming "Sailing" by Christopher Cross "my jam!" to Principal Figgins' (Iqbal Theba) absurd introduction at the school assembly ("Fresh off the last-place finish at the regionals, please give it up for the New Directions!")
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Strange, then, that just when the mean-spirited, oddball humor of "Glee" is firing on all pistons, the dramatic dialogue remains utterly tone-deaf. About 40 minutes into each episode, three or four characters suddenly stand up in front of the classroom (or the school assembly, or the church) and announce their true feelings to a crowd. "I'd like to dedicate this song to my boyfriend Finn. I was wrong, I shouldn't try to control you," Rachel tells everyone in New Directions (instead of just texting Finn like a normal teenager). "I've just, I've never been this happy before, and I realize that I was trying to hold on to how you were making me feel so much that I was strangling you in my hands like a little bird. I get now that to get this relationship to work, I have to open up my hands and let you fly free." Once you clean the vomit off your shoes and you've had a minute to think about it, you'll realize that's a pretty touching message indeed.
And how many times will these characters explain to us that they're going to express themselves through song instead of words? Um, we're watching "Glee," OK? We fricking get it. And then, instead of just breaking out into song, they explain everything using words as well, words like "issues" and "this relationship" and references to being in this or that emotional "place." It's like a teenagers' Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where no one will sit down or shut up. "Mr. Shu, I've been struggling trying to figure out what I wanted to say to Kurt all day, and I realized I don't want to say it, I want to sing it," Mercedes (Amber Riley) announced last week. "This song is about being in a very dark place and turning to God. It's a spiritual song, Mr. Shu, is that OK?" Apparently Mercedes' plan is to send us all to a very dark place with her words, so that we'll be primed and ready to turn to God once she finally starts singing.
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And then, right after the whole crazy circus falls on the rough road of psychobabble and lengthy performance preambles and hugging and learning, here comes Rachel Berry again to sing "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" or "Send in the Clowns" or "The Way We Were" or some other ballad that Barbra Streisand has already marked with her gigantic BABS branding iron. Yes, everybody loves Streisand -- or pretends to, so she doesn't eat our faces off or have us killed in our sleep or get us banished to break up rocks in Siberia -- but when Rachel conjures Streisand note for note, that's just about as entertaining as bad karaoke.
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And look, there are other songs in the world besides the ones popularized by Streisand and "Dreamgirls." Why always the most obvious choices, people? Was Finn's (Cory Monteith) "Losing My Religion" really worth the effort? Why not dip into "Jesus Christ Superstar" instead? What about Cole Porter? Neil Diamond? For chrissakes, ABBA? I'm sure that anyone and everyone is begging to get onto the "Glee" gravy train these days, so why not branch out beyond the first song that springs to mind, or take a pass on the most melodramatic ballads in the history of balladry?
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And let's be honest, Lea Michele is a problem, at least in this context. We can't watch this woman sing a ballad every single week. Yes, she has an amazing voice, the kind of voice that would be awe-inspiring to hear live. But the overproduced, overprocessed sound that "Glee" traffics in takes all of the warmth and freshness of Michele's voice and turns it into a Hostess cupcake, full of sugary, stale perfection. Every single one of her solos is glazed over with the same overamplified, crescendo-loving treatment, so that they're practically interchangeable. Since we can't hear anything organic or uncertain or pure in these vocal tracks, we're left to sit through the same shots of Lea Michele's face, enduring the same mournful eyes and pursed, heartbroken lips and crippling emotions she apparently faced last week and the week before that.
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You know what proves that the sound mix could be a million times more emotionally affecting? Mercedes' numbers. Why? Because they're so often produced in the gospel style, with the sound of a blended group of gospel voices ringing out without being utterly overpolished or recorded in a vacuum. Listen to a group number by New Directions: It's mixed so you can hear the voices of individual stars, Rachel and Finn up front, Mercedes and Kurt second, etc. If they mixed New Directions numbers more like those gospel numbers, with voices that blend together as a group instead of each being souped up with that sweetening, glossy star treatment, then we could experience their sound as a whole and appreciate it as such. It would feel more exciting, more immediate -- more like a real show choir, in other words, not a roomful of battling vocalists. The Vocal Adrenaline numbers are treated this way, and that's why their performances on the show are always a little bit more mesmerizing than those of New Directions.
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"Glee" is such an original, imaginative show with so much fun and absurdity packed into it. But the psychobabble, the instant-climax song arrangements, the public service announcement plotlines, the empty tear-jerking -- all of that amateur-hour fumbling needs to get gone.
Or, as a Rachel might put it, the "Glee" writers need to realize that they're trying to hold on to the joys of creating a hit show so much that they're strangling "Glee" in their hands like a little bird. To get this show to work, they have to open up their hands and let "Glee" fly free!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

It is a beauitful day in New York

Chuck is visiting tonight for a few days and my honey comes home soon.
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Yay!

Saturday, October 09, 2010

A New Twist on an old Arguement

Ed and I have few disagreements - and those we do have are normally over esoteric items blown out of all proportion (example: the "who is the mob wife" debacle - and I apologize you had to witness that - Ed' fault).
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Anyway, Eddie and I have tussled in the past over mortgage defaults. Ed taking the line of our corporate overlords that this is sign of moral weakness. I, on the over hand, think it is a perfectly valid deal. The bank loaned you money to pay for the property. If you don't pay, they take the property. Defaulting, particularly if you are starving your kids or can't pay for health insurance, is simply honoring that bargain by giving them the house.
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Speaking of Corporate Overlords however, the Daily Show was honnoring me by showing my argument the most obvious manner possible.
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Now I don't expect the "Mortgage Broker Association" to support my argument. They have a vested interest in making sure people pay off their mortgages. But, low and below, in the do as I say category - not as a I do - the Mortgage Broker Association of America purchased a property that went way down in value in Washington DC. What did they do? The moral thing and pay for it anyway?
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Let's watch and see..... (spoiler alert - they defaulted - the rat bastards)
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The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mortgage Bankers Association Strategic Default
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorRally to Restore Sanity

Friday, October 08, 2010

"Fancy" Moustache (for Mickey)

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What is this you ask? It's Fancy. For Mickey....
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Quote: Franz Mitterhauser of Austria, Juergen Burkhard of Germany and Herve Diebolt of France, from left, pose for photographers during the European Beard Championships in Leogang, Austria, Saturday. The were prize winners in the category of chin-beard and mutton-chops imperial. More than 150 competitors took part in 17 categories to win prizes for the most attractive, fancy and eccentric beard.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

OMG!

Just saw the Project Runway last week's challenge. No One Told Me!!!
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blown away

Oh Lou....


Lou Dobbs’ Undocumented Workers
Lou Dobbs made a big name for himself on CNN with his nightly rants against illegal immigration and companies that hire undocumented workers, but it turns out he’s not so opposed to the practice in his own home. The Nation investigated Dobbs for a year and found that the former TV anchor has long relied on such workers to take care of his multimillion-dollar estates as well as the horses he keeps for his daughter, Hillary, a competitive show jumper. More than half the workers in the horse industry are illegal immigrants, and they make up about 28 percent of landscaping workers. Each November, all five of Dobb’s show-jumping horses are shipped to Florida, and the workers tag along. Undocumented Mexican immigrant Marco Salinas worked in Dobbs’ stables for two years. Pedro Gomez, also illegal, has worked for Dobbs in Vermont and Florida. So has Marco Esperanza, another Mexican worker. Rodrigo Ortega, who’s worked in America 14 years, tends to Dobbs’ garden. The workers report long hours, low wages, and no overtime pay.
Read it at The Nation

Things We Take For Granted

Imagine this. These people are honoring those who died so they can vote. Every now and then I have to take a step back from the pettiness to marvel at how much I take for granted. Like the ability to argue politically and vote. These people (or their parents) were part of the Soviet Union until the 1990s - and voting so sacred that they will die for it.
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A bit humbling for me.
.Young members of the Ata Meken political party pray to commemorate the April 7 uprising victims at a memorial complex outside the capital Bishkek, October 6, 2010. Kyrgyzstan votes in a crucial election on Sunday which interim leaders hope will help unite the country but opponents fear could trigger more violence and leave the south vulnerable to ethnic extremists and militant Islamists. REUTERS/Vladimir Pirogov

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Did you see Modern Family


... because if you did, Ed is a total "Mob Wife".

Times Square Bomber Gets Life Sentence - and is serving it

Remember when Rush Limbaugh and Fox News called those of us who said that it was okay to prosecute terrorists in court "naive"? We silly liberals didn't know how the world worked and we wouldn't get any information.
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Well, the New York Bomber was sentenced yesterday to life in prison. He has told us where in Pakistan he went to training camps. He explained why he did it and who helped him.
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And there has yet to be a Military Tribunal that hasn't ended up a mistrial because of torture or lack of evidence.
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So STFU.