text:
Book Notes: 'The Names of Our Tears'
"The Names of Our Tears: An Amish-Country Mystery," by P.L. Gaus. A Plume Book, New York, 2013. 240 pages. Paperback. $15.
Sometimes setting trumps plot. P.L. Gaus' newest Amish mystery, "The Names of Our Tears," has a great thing going with his beautifully evoked novels set amid the society of the "Plain People" in Holmes County, Ohio.
It is the Amish response to the murder of one of their own, 19-year-old Ruth Zook, that interests us. She has been shot in the head and then brutally trampled by her terrified horse. The old Amish widower Mervin Byler, who is on his way to buy homemade chocolates from the widow Stutzman, discovers her mutilated body. A lavishly detailed procedural commences.
Local detectives, the DEA and the EPA all get involved when cause of the poisoned watering pond on the Zook farm is found to be cocaine. Ruth must have unknowingly carried the cocaine back from a trip to the Florida panhandle. When she realizes what she has, she throws the drugs into the pond. A short time later, she is shot dead.
The most compelling character among the many for whom this murder is unrelenting torment is a young Amish orphan named Emma Wengard. Her family, riding home in a buggy, had been slain by a speeding tractor-trailer truck. A traumatized Emma, taken in by the Zooks, speaks to no one but Ruth. When Ruth is killed, Emma withdraws completely in her desire to end her suffering and join Ruth.
Gaus presents fascinating detail about an Amish society that balances "modern" surroundings with its own way of life, about a strong communal bond, about daily farm life where even a trip in a buggy can be life threatening. Ruth's body, for example, when it is finally returned to the farm, must be packed on ice during the wake since there is no electricity to keep the surroundings cool and no embalming.
Ruth is one of several unknowing Amish girls caught up in the transport of cocaine to Ohio from their vacation spot in Florida. Two other young women go missing and rural law enforcement officers, stretched thin, work closely together to maximize scarce resources. Detective Sergeant Ricky Niell joins officers in Florida to follow the slim leads there, while the rest of the crew interview reluctant family that refuses, for example, to cooperate with a sketch artist because they do not condone graven images. They do find both missing girls only to see both escape under their watch. Gaus does a good job capturing their frustrations.
Bitter, wet April weather confounds everything. In fact, Gaus throws the proverbial book at the detectives and sheriff's department. The EPA takes control of the Zook farm because of the poisoned pond, making further investigation difficult at the same time that they torment the bereaved extended family gathering to mourn Ruth. Flooding, sleet, downpours and occasional wet snow drench detectives. Things seem to coalesce into a sodden hopeless mess.
Gaus lets some issues resolve but others remain mysteries, not so much because he has another book in mind but because this is how life really is in his evenly rendered world where unlike societies intersect and people courageously push on despite harsh realities.
Rae Padilla Francoeur's memoir, "Free Fall: A Late-in-Life Love Affair," is available online or in bookstores. Write her at email@example.com. Or read her blog at http://www.freefallrae.blogspot.com/ or follow her @RaeAF.


text:
Scammers cracked Val's Gmail account yesterday, and sent mail to several (possibly all) people in her address book begging for money and saying she was stranded in Scotland.
This has happened to several other people I know, and I doubt that anyone we know would fall for this scam, but here's a warning just in case. Most of the scam letters sent out seem to say that the owner of the e-mail account is stranded there, so perhaps the scammers are themselves based there.
Here is an update, posted on 19 June 2010. It illustrates what I was talking about in the previous message about "identity theft". In this case the "phisher" was personating Google.
Val's gmail account was hijacked a couple of days ago by someone on a phishing expedition using the e-mail address
and was apparently using this Gmail address:
email@example.com (note the gg in googgle)
He sent an e-mail, ostensibly from Gmail itself, asking for name and
password details:
=== quoted phishing message ====
From: Google Quality Control Panel
Date: Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 10:29 AM Subject: Warning: from Google Quality
Control Team To:
Our Google Data network has encountered a problem due to suspicious and malicious activities. Therefore Gmail Control Team want to verify your domain details with the details on our system. Please help us with the verification process by filling out the details below so as to make a correspondence with the your details. Full Name-
Phone Number-
Thanks for using Gmail.
– The Gmail Team. –>
=== end of quoted phishing message ===
If you get a message like this, do not reply to it, but click on the arrow next to the "reply" button and select "Report phishing" and send it there.
I am sending this to all the people in my address book who have G-mail addresses. If you were in Val's address book as well you have probably already received some spam my now.
Val's account has now been restored, BUT the phisher also redirected all incoming mail to his account, and deleted it from Val's G-mail account, so she's now going through the Trash folder to restore the mail.
Also, her address book was empty, which probably means that they have the contacts list, so Val's contacts will probably continue to receive spam.
See also the previous message on identity theft and family history.
Filed under: family history | Tagged: cracking, fraud, Gmail, identity theft, impersonation, personation, phishing, scam, spam, warning spam | Leave a comment »

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Pure Light Brushed Floral Cotton Four-Piece Bed Set
- Style: Simple
- Pattern: Plain
- Color: Blue, Dark Pink, Green, Light Pink, Yellow
- Bed Size: Full/Double (Duvet Cover 2.0*2.3 Meters), Queen (Duvet Cover 2.0*2.3 Meters) King (Duvet Cover 2.2*2.4 Meter)
- Material Composition: 100% Cotton
- Number Of Pieces: 4 Pieces (Fitted Bed Sheet + Duvet Cover + Pillowcase*2)
- Applicable Age: Adults
- Care Instructions: Machine Washable, Use Non-Chlorine Bleach, Iron If Desired.
All international orders will be processed within 48-72 Hours. Orders placed after 12pm , on weekends or public holidays will be attempted to be processed the following business day. You will receive a shipping confirmation email as soon as it has been dispatched. – You can not change or cancel your order once it is fulfilled.
We will constantly provide you with updates about your order via e-mail. Your tracking number will be made available by our shipping department according to our daily system updates. Please keep in mind that tracking information may not be updated for up to 48 hours after your order leaves our location.
For more information see the page Shipping & Delivery
IMPORTANT: Returns are refunded via store credit in the form of a Harmony Gallery E-Gift Card. Harmony Gallery does not issue store credit for the original shipping charges.
With limited exceptions, we do not provide prepaid return labels; you are responsible for covering shipping costs to return.
For more information see the page Returns & Exchanges


text:
October 15, 2010
It's that time of year again. Time to max out the DVD recorder with the new fall shows, and then try frantically to sample all of them before (a) nobody's talking about them any more, and therefore everyone will care even less about what I think of them than they might have a short time earlier, and (b) the DVD recorder fills up.
But not this year. This year I'm celebrating the new fall season by canceling my cable.
I'll catch up with the season's survivors on DVD, and as for the ever narrower roster of shows that flop so ignominiously that they don't net a home video release … well, c'est la guerre. It's only mid-October and so far there are three goners – Lone Star, My Generation, and Outlaw – that will probably never resurface outside the private libraries of obsessive collectors.
It's not that I think new television is bad and old television is good and you should all get off my lawn now. As I think I've said before, I had always planned to fudge the definition of "classic" and write about modern television on this blog, too. I've done that once or twice, but the networks foiled my plans somewhat by taking a bit of a dip creatively just I was planning to start reporting here on the new fall seasons. Other than Mad Men, I haven't seen many new series that are as energetic and intelligent as some of the shows that bowed out around the time this blog debuted in 2007: The Wire, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars, Boston Legal, The Shield. Since the very beginning, the relative density of good television has been cyclical – and I think that right now we're in the middle of one of the dry spells.
Also, I'm kind of busy these days, with (among other things) some projects that will be noted here in the coming months. I try not to let real life intrude upon the watching of television, but the threat looms.
That's a partial explanation for why I've only just started on Fringe, which is now entering its third season. The other part is that since I've shifted to watching new stuff on DVD rather than "live," I have fallen behind to the point that I now define "new" as "less than three years old."
By that arithmetic, Fringe is Fox's "new" clone of its big hit from the nineties, The X-Files. It was created, if that's the word, by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. All three were writer-producers on Alias, a clever genre series that recombined the DNA of a dozen or so espionage, fantasy, and serial melodrama shows into something original. So it's a disappointment and a surprise that their latest effort is so uninventive.
Fringe is shocking in how extensively it copies from a single antecedent. It is also surgical in its skill: it manages to remove the best things about The X-Files and replace them with new things that don't work at all. It's as if Abrams et. al. took some old X-Files scripts and tried to play that Price Is Right game with them, the one where the contestant tries to match a bunch of price tags to a set of corresponding prizes. Then he or she runs over and pulls a lever, and a big sign next to Bob Barker lights up and indicates how many prices are correct. If it's less than all four, the contestant hurries back and switches the tags around before the clock runs out. In the worst case scenario, a contestant might start out with three right and end up with zero. Fringe is a zero.
(That game is one of my favorite television-derived metaphors for life, incidentally.)
Fringe centers on two crime-solvers, a female FBI agent and a "consultant" with a checkered past, who investigate mysterious phenomena as part of the Bureau's "fringe" division. Some of those phenomena appear to be related; these are collectively referred to as "the Pattern," and they may trace back to a conspiracy involving the government and a sinister Microsoft-like corporation called (ever so subtly) Massive Dynamic. Unspoken sexual tension flourishes between the two leads.
I told you: it's The X-Files with the nametags switched. In the second season premiere, there's a throwaway line which establishes that the Fringe division "used to carry the X designation" – in other words, the writers have puckishly placed both shows in the same fictional universe. That is what we goyim call chutzpah, and unless cameos by Mulder or Scully or even Walter Skinner are in the offing, it was a very bad idea.
I realize now that one of the key ingredients of The X-Files was that Mulder and Scully operated alone in the darkness. They had no anchor to anything consistent or comforting, at least not that we saw. Mulder had a backstory, but the supporting characters in the series – like Agent Skinner, Mr. X, and the cigarette-smoking man – were introduced gradually, and always as part of the ever-expanding conspiracy plotline that made up the show's "mythology." And there was a high mortality rate among these characters. Their purpose was to up the stakes, to insist that we remain invested in material that was, after all, the stuff of supermarket tabloids.
Perhaps in an attempt to mitigate their blandness, Fringe burdens its Mulder and Scully wannabes, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), with a large roster of full-time tag-alongs. There's an FBI partner, an FBI boss, another FBI partner who may or may not be dead (long story), a lady from Massive Dynamic with a spooky robot hand, a lovably eccentric scientist, his adorable lab assistant, and so on. A few of these characters prove so disposable that the writers kill them off. Others exist mainly to offer comic relief of a variety so persistent, repetitive, and unfunny – the mad scientist has a pregnant woman's weird food cravings, only it's a different craving in each episode! – that they would be better suited to Scooby Doo.
And instead of dispatching to remote corners of Vancouver (er, I mean, the fifty states), these characters converge in a warmly lit, comfy-looking basement laboratory on the Harvard campus. The show's reliance on this inviting stationary set dulls the edge of any eerie atmospherics that the writers and directors try to get going. (Remember, Mulder and Scully spent very little time at home or in the office). It also requires that most of Fringe's unexplained happenings occur within driving distance of Boston, a nagging implausibility for which the show has yet to offer a solid explanation. At least Scooby Doo worked out of a van.
I've seen dumber ideas and more generic sets of characters come to life in the hands of the right creative people. But Fringe is saddled with a dull cast, and felled by one crucial performance that is so wholly ill-conceived and executed that it becomes sort of fascinating, like a forty-some hour train wreck.
John Noble (pictured above), an Australian expatriate known mainly for a role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, portrays Walter Bishop, the father of the male investigator. Walter is Fringe's one multi-faceted character, and one of the problems with Fringe is that the writers have appended just about all of the show's facets to a single character. Walter is the Frankenberry-munching buffoon I ridiculed above; he's also a brilliant intellectual, a man with a tragic family history, a repentant villain, and the keeper of a lot of secrets that are doled out now and then as the series unfolds.
It's an unplayable role, but there are a few actors who could probably pull off the wild swings between intensity and silliness that it requires; Mandy Patinkin and Peter MacNicol (both late of Chicago Hope) come to mind. Noble doesn't get hold of either end of the character. His craggy face and deep baritone form an unusual barrier between himself and the audience. Noble might be fine doing Gilbert and Sullivan on stage, but he has none of the approachability that most successful television actors develop.
Noble could have opted to hide behind his natural stoicism (or, dare I say it: nobility) and let us guess what he's thinking most of the time. (William Hurt and William Peterson often hold back in this way.) Instead, Noble veers the other way, toward a bathos that smothers all the father-son scenes. Maybe because it's the most external aspect of the character, he fixates on Walter's uncertain mental health, deploying an exhausting repertoire of twitches, facial tics, and goofy expressions. (To be fair, some of this, such as Walter's incessant humming and singing, is scripted.) Noble is so bold in his bad choices that I'll bet he has some passionate fans; but all I can see is an actor far out of his depth.
On the other hand (pun intended), the robot-arm lady, Nina Sharp, is played by Blair Brown, and she's totally captivating – sinister, sensual, mysterious, and matronly, all at once. Nina is the only major figure on the show whose motives are at all hidden or ambiguous (another smart thing about The X-Files is that it had a ton of these characters), and Fringe mostly wastes her as a purveyor of exposition. There are shows where casting doesn't matter as much, but since almost nothing in the narrative or the look of Fringe is novel, I find myself tuning out the details of each week's x-file ('scuse me, "fringe event") and getting stuck on how good Brown is and how bad all of the other actors are.
Fringe succeeds in one and only one area. It offers an acceptable substitute for the extraterrestrial invasion that structured the mythology of The X-Files. By the middle of the first season, Fringe has shown most of its cards in this regard: it posits the existence of a parallel universe, and the ongoing storyline explores the potentially disastrous consequences of contact between it and our own. (Is it piling on to point out that the pattern by which Fringe alternates between self-contained "monster" episodes and fan-servicing "mythology" episodes duplicates a strategy worked out by The X-Files?)
The theory of parallel universes actually exists in quantum physics, and so it opens the door to do "hard" science fiction of a type that none of the major American fantasy series have attempted. Fringe hasn't availed itself of this possibility nearly enough, but its few imaginative ideas have all come out of it: a mummified madman (Jared Harris) teleporting himself, and the occasional motor vehicle, through space using a set of souped-up surveying equipment; a strange bald guy (Michael Cerveris) with futuristic spyglasses who seems to pop up at important moments throughout centuries of human history; a great second-season time-paradox episode about a grief-stricken scientist (Peter Weller) who turns himself into a cyborg time-machine; and the circumstances and setting of the long-deferred initial appearance of William Bell (Leonard Nimoy), the Massive Dynamic founder who is (sort of) the mastermind behind everything.
But those are fleeting pleasures, and in between them Fringe is just video-methadone for sad addicts who have done without an X-Files fix for close to a decade.
One Response to "Infringement"
October 21, 2010 at 11:27 am
"The theory of parallel universes actually exists in quantum physics, and so it opens the door to do "hard" science fiction of a type that none of the major American fantasy series have attempted. Fringe hasn't availed itself of this possibility nearly enough,"
Sometimes it pays to stick with a show. I found that X-Files petered out in the fourth season, it takes Fringe a season and a half to get cranking.


text:
Tallinn wedding photography – if that's what you're looking for, you're probably getting married or planning a wedding in Tallinn. Perhaps you would also like to take a wedding photo shoot in Tallinn.
I'm Luke, I'm 29 years old, I live in Wroclaw, Poland and take photos of wonderful weddings all over the world. I am destination wedding photographer. I also do photo shoots in beautiful places – for example in Scotland, Norway or Spain. More information about me can be found on the "About me" page, on my Blog and in my Portfolio!
My hobby is traveling. I would like to photograph weddings in as many countries as possible. So, if you have found this page and are planning your wedding in Tallinn or elsewhere in this beautiful World – I would like to hear about it and photograph your wedding!
If you are looking for a unique place for a bridal or bridal session, Tallinn will be a great choice! Working as a wedding photographer I take pictures in the most beautiful places in the world. If you have any questions or you want me to take a wedding session for you in Tallinn – please contact me! I usually reply within 24 hours.
I photograph weddings and engagement or bridal sessions in countries such as Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, Czech Republic or Poland. Tallinn is my next place on the "sessions and weddings map" which I would like to visit with a camera and a beautiful bride and groom!
So if you are looking for a wedding photographer speaking English, German and Polish who will take wedding photos for you in Tallinn – write to me!
If you are interested in organizing destination wedding in Tallinn and you want me to photograph at your wedding – just e-mail me! I will reply within 24 hours!
Wedding photoshoot of Karolina & Tomek on Isle of Skye, Scotland
Sarah & Ivan – beautiful wedding in Berlin & Sanssouci Palace – Potsdam, Germany


text: Reviews Reviews Profile Map Photo Latest Oldest Lowest Rating Highest Rating Lowest Reviews Highest Reviews You must be logged in to post a comment. Beach/Resort No Records FoundSorry, no record were found. Please adjust your search criteria and try again. Google Map Not LoadedSorry, unable to load Google Maps API. Driving Walking Bicycling Public Transport Miles Kilometers Previous Next


text:
UK lawmakers back prime minister's call for June 8 election
LONDON — British lawmakers voted by a resounding 522 to 13 on Wednesday to back Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap election on June 8.
The result easily surpassed the two-thirds majority of the 650 lawmakers needed to trigger an early vote. There were also a number of abstentions.
May says holding an election in June, rather than as scheduled in 2020, will give the country "certainty and stability" as it negotiates its departure from the European Union.
May is hoping to gain a bigger majority in Parliament for her Conservatives, strengthening her negotiating hand with the EU.
The opposition Labour Party and Liberal Democrats welcomed the chance to put their policies to voters, though the Scottish National Party called the election a cynical political ploy.
May dismissed criticism of her move to send voters back to polling booths for the third time in two years, after a May 2015 national election and a June 2016 referendum on EU membership,
She said that "Brexit isn't just about the letter that says we want to leave. It's about ... getting the right deal from Europe."
Britain's next national election had not been due until for 2020, a year after the scheduled completion of two years of EU exit talks.
May told The Sun newspaper that if Britain were still negotiating with the bloc in the run-up to a national election, "the Europeans might have seen that as a time of weakness when they could push us."
The early ballot will give the prime minister — or her replacement — more time to implement Brexit before another election.
EU officials say Britain's surprise election will not interrupt the bloc's preparations for Brexit talks — though they will slightly delay the start of negotiations. Leaders of EU states are due to adopt negotiating guidelines at an April 29 summit, and the bloc will prepare detailed plans for the talks with Britain by late May.
It had been hoped talks could start by the end of that month, but EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Wednesday that "the real political negotiations" with Britain would not start till after the June 8 election.
May's Conservatives currently hold 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. Opinion polls give them a big lead over the Labour opposition, and May is gambling that an election will deliver her a personal mandate from voters and produce a bigger Conservative majority in Parliament.
Now that lawmakers have approved the election, Parliament will be dissolved on May 2.


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TNB: American Dirtbag
Where are all the dirtbags? I'm not talking about these imposter dirtbags, the new-age lurkers taking up all the parking spots at Camp 4, Indian Creek and Miguel's Pizza with their pimped-out, Direct TV-receiving Sprinter vans that look like college dorm rooms on 26s.
Where are all the dirtbags? I'm not talking about these imposter dirtbags, the new-age lurkers taking up
all the parking spots at Camp 4, Indian Creek and Miguel's Pizza with their pimped-out, Direct TV-receiving Sprinter vans that look like college dorm
rooms on 26s.
You've seen these scenesters and know their dirtbag look. The token matted hair from always wearing inappropriately warm beanies (but no shirt). The Ricky
Martin face stubble carefully trimmed to suggest airs of indifference to personal hygiene. Last season's plaid shirts and gusseted jeans that everyone
swears they got on pro deal (everyone's so pro). Eating directly out of tuna cans. Frumpy down coats with duct-tape patches. Ubiquitous headlamps
worn 24/7. The unwitting satire of scarfing food in the Yosemite Lodge or dumpster diving. Talking to/about Chongo. Making tape gloves, then going
slacklining. The cheapest, most terrible-tasting beer. Playing guitar. Playing mandolin. Playing flute. Disgusting bare feet all up on your shit. Organic
buckwheat pancakes. Tongue-washing dishes. Did I already mention beards?
It's a compelling image until, hey, wait a second! Dirtbags aren't supposed to have enough money for food, let alone new MacBooks, video cameras, Euro
vans with pop tops and endless road trips!
How do these people make it work? I just want to hold them upside-down by their ankles and shake and beat them like a rug with a tennis racket because
I know their pockets are flooded with their parents' paper (patri-money). Gimme some of that! (C'mon, I just want $100.)
Today's dirtbags are essentially the hipsters of the climbing world, reveling in their ironic frugality and making climbing a vapid, image-obsessed culture
devoid of meaning. The only greater fashion paradox out there is cowboy couture. Camp 4, the birthplace of the dirtbag, should have quotation marks
around it. Even just camping there is now a complete cliche. What started out as counterculture is now fully mainstream.
Do I even need to say it? Climbing has lost its soul AGAIN! It first happened when people started buying carabiners and pitons instead of melting down
Chevy bumpers in their home-garage foundries to make their own gear. Of course, that was during a time when the leader mustn't fall mantra was still
strong like the American economy. But not falling meant climbing was not hard, which also meant it was not fun. When people started making and selling
gear onto which you could take massive whippers, climbing instantly became more enjoyable. We want our routes like we want our male porn stars: bigger,
longer and harder, baby!
Last time climbing lost its soul was when the French showed us that, le duh!, bolts can be installed just as easily on rappel, idiots! Why are
you wasting your time placing bolts on lead? Americans are so stupid! (We might say intrepid or spirited.) Because rap bolting led
to harder routes, this led to more fun, which led to more people partaking in the fun. And just like that (you guessed it), more soul lost.
Screw this. I'm not even going to go into all the times climbing lost its soul because I don't feel like reviewing every single occasion in its history
that something changed (usually for the better) and some bitchy old guy happened to be there to wax nostalgic and fart.
But first, I want to wax nostalgic about the original climbing dirtbags, the O.C.D.'s, the ones who were so tight-fisted (probably from climbing
tight fist cracks) that they couldn't even pinch a penny, mostly because pinching pennies is impossible with just a fist. They didn't climb for cameras
nor did they own things, and not just because no one had invented Photoshop and Wal-Mart yet. They possessed the iron will to climb as much and work
as little as possible, and did whatever it took to live out their non-materialistic, unglamorous dreams without any safety net. In other words, they
did the exact opposite of your mundane existence at Hewlett-Packard or whatever perfunctory job you do that any Chinese seventh grader could perform
twice as well for a third of the cost.
Take the Stonemasters. Those guys were a freewheeling, soul-having bunch. Plus, they could climb circles around everyone (except the French). They also
pretty much popularized American climbing ethics (a fancy word for rules®what's fair and what isn't fair; it's not like you go to hell or something
for having bad climbing ethics, at least no more than you'd go to hell for sneaking extra Monopoly cash when you're the banker, or fly fishing with
grenades). Before that, climbing was a lot like playground freeze tag, where all the kids just ran around arguing and making up the rules as they went
The Stonemasters would never sell out, not even for hey, wait a second! What's this ad in Rock and Ice? There's a black and white Bullwinkle shot
of Dirtbag Aaron sitting on a bear bin. He's in white pants and looks like a 1990s Calvin Klein fragrance model. The Stonemasters' website is listed
in the ad. They have a website now?! WTF? Are there any real dirtbags left?
The answer is NO! Or YES! There never was such a thing as true dirtbags, or rather, there always will be true dirtbags as long as there are people who
spend more time climbing than doing anything else. For example, I'm a dirtbag because I prefer climbing to work; yet, since I work more than I climb,
I'm a sell-out. Ipso facto, I can't win!
There's no doubt that our romantic notions of what it means to be a true dirtbag inevitably outshine the rather boring reality that people with rich daddies
usually get to climb more than the rest of us.
But true dirtbags are the ones who have no safety net and abide by the mantra that they will do whatever it takes to climb more, even sell out.
Being a dirtbag means placing dollars over values, says James Lucas, who dances for dollars and free desserts in Curry Village. If they choose otherwise,
they're fucking Buddhists with a higher level of enlightenment than the rest of us. Kudos to them!
The term dirtbag is kind of funny (I said kind of). Skiers get to be ski bums, which somehow sounds much more refined and sophisticated
than dirtbag. Hey, who's that hot chocolate-sipping Bohemian luminary over there? Oh, him? He's an Aspen ski bum, probably just got in a few
runs before tending to the stables at Kevin Costner's mansion. OK, but who's that dirty piece of shit elbows deep in the Whole Foods salad bar? That's a dirtbag.
Even surfers don't have their own grimy epithet. Probably because it's widely known that surfers don't have to work (because they're from California, where
no one works and everyone has trust funds). Plus, they're always swimming in water, so they look much cleaner.
One question is why, given that our country's unemployment for 16- to 24-year-olds is at an all-time high of 18 percent, there aren't more dirtbags
out there?
In fact, there's no better time to be a dirtbag than right now. While the rest of the country sulks over these economic doldrums (they're sad
because they'd rather be sodomized eight times a day by an evil gang of Wall Street bullies than have anything that even smells like socialism working
for them), climbers should be rejoicing about this work vacuum.
Look at Spain. They have the best climbers in the world. Do you really think it's a coincidence that Spain's unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds
is at a whopping 39 percent, more than twice ours? I've been to Spain, and even old bald men who look like they're 12 months pregnant climb 5.13b there.
That's not an exaggeration. What's your excuse? Made a kid? Big deal! You want sympathy for bringing another mindless consumer into this world? Just
admit that you don't actually want to try that hard and you never did and you never will and be happy with your choice of giving up.
On the other hand, being a parent is about the most important, selfless thing you can ever do. Respect. Being self-absorbed, selfish and self-obsessed
(this is a spectrum) are, unfortunately, the steps required in becoming a full-fledged climbing dirtbag. Actually, let me rephrase that. Being a good parent is the most important, selfless thing you can do. There are plenty of dirtbag parents out there, and I don't mean climbers who are parents.
I mean the cut-off-jeans-wearing, incest-loving rednecks that beat their kids. I hate them, and I really mean that, as opposed to when I say I hate
the annoying, perky girl in the Progressive insurance commercials. I also hate it in this usage, I mean strongly disapprove when dirtbags drag their
newborn infants to crags and park these helpless babies under frighteningly chossy cliffs just to prove to themselves and everyone around them that
having a kid doesn't mean that their selfish lives as climbers need to change in any way and that they can still climb just as hard and as often as
It's actually quite hard to be a dirtbag these days, and not just because everyone is having babies. You can only stay in Camp 4 for seven days! That's
not even long enough to get truly dirty (or figure out the beta for Generator Crack). Sure, you can camp at Indian Creek forever,
but after roughly the fourth pitch of monotonous jamming you risk dying of boredom. In the last 40 years since dirtbagging was invented, we've only
seen the growth of more rules and stricter penalties. And everything is a hundred times more expensive. This place sucks!
I'd love to see the Park Service provide reparations to us dirtbags, or anyone who has ever spent any significant amount of time in Camp 4. Give us each
about a hundred thousand dollars for all the grief and discrimination we've collectively endured. You Tased Ammon McNeely in the neck, for Christ's
sake! Just because he allegedly B.A.S.E. jumped! Plus, I know you haven't forgotten that time you confiscated all my stuff while I was saving the world
up on El Cap! I rolled wearily into Camp 4 at 9 p.m., and walked over to where I had set up my tent (a children's model from Wal-Mart that came in
a box picturing a 7-year-old blonde girl playing with a purple dinosaur). Only instead of my tent, I found a rock sitting on top of a citation, which
detailed everything you had taken from me, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, sleeping pills, vibrating massager never mind! You owe me!
If a dirtbag had a hundred thousand dollars, what would he or she do? This is an interesting paradox to think about, but given my intimate knowledge of
our species, I believe that a hundred grand would change nothing. A rich dirtbag is still a dirtbag. What's a dirtbag's favorite brand of beer? Yours.
I suppose there's nothing wrong with acting the part. Every day, we commit many worse moral transgressions than playing dirtbag like wiping boogers under
the passenger's seat of a friend's car, or taking a shower just because we're bored/cold. We could all heed Kurt Vonnegut's advice, You are what you
pretend to be. So be careful of what you pretend.
I wonder if there's some ancient Eastern wisdom I can turn to that will neatly wrap up this column and make it seem meaningful? Where's my copy of the
Lao-tse's Tao-te Ching? Oh, good, here it is, under my stack of Cat Fancy magazines. Lao-tse says that adults are constantly losing
sight of who they are by nature, always striving to be someone or something they are not, and as a result this brings harm into their lives. One way
to avoid this is to return to a simpler way of life, one with fewer possessions. In other words, Lao-tse would urge all of us to be better dirtbags. Being a dirtbag isn't about money, image or fashion, despite disturbing trends that suggest otherwise. Dirtbagging is a way of life, about
finding the means to climb as much and work as little as possible. For us climbers, I'd say that that is The Way, our virtue, and in that sense we
could all do much worse than becoming a bunch of dirtbags.
Andrew Bisharat works hard and plays dirty.


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The statement issued by President Jacob Zuma's spokesman said that Mandela was doing well and was receiving medical care "which is consistent for his age." The statement offered no other details.
Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for fighting racist white rule, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and served one five-year term. He later retired from public life to live in his village of Qunu, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
"We wish Madiba all the best," Zuma said in the statement, using Mandela's clan name. "The medical team is assured of our support as they look after and ensure the comfort of our beloved founding president of a free and democratic South Africa."
While the government sought to reassure South Africans about Mandela's health, he remains viewed as a father figure to many in this nation of 50 million people. Each hospital trip raises the same worries about the increasingly frail former leader of the African National Congress — that the man who helped bring the nation together is slowly fading away.
In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint. In January 2011, however, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. He was discharged days later.
Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison. He also had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985.
While Zuma's statement offered no further details about who would provide medical attention for Mandela, the nation's military has taken over caring for the aging leader since the 2011 respiratory infection. At 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Saturday night, the facility that previously cared for Mandela in February, everything appeared calm, without any additional security present.
Mac Maharaj, a presidential spokesman, declined to say whether Mandela had been flown by the military from Qunu to Pretoria. He also declined to say what the tests were for.
"It's quite normal at his age to be going through those tests," Maharaj told The Associated Press.
Mandela's hospitalization comes just days after the crash of a military aircraft flying on an unknown mission near Mandela's rural home in which all 11 onboard were killed.
The plane was flying to a military air base in Mthatha, which is about 30 kilometers (17 miles) north of Qunu. Military officials declined to say whether those on board had any part in caring for Mandela.
Source: AP
South African icon Nelson Mandela hospitalized
The statement issued by President Jacob Zuma's spokesman said that Mandela was doing well and was receiving medical care "which is consistent for his age." The statement offered no other details.


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Kidnap Review
If you want to learn how not to make a movie perhaps you should see Kidnap. Or perhaps if you want to have a good laugh at the film, you should see Kidnap. It is indeed a very funny movie, although the director, Sanjay Gadhvi, intended it to be a dark movie, a thriller. But alas, the result is comic.
There is this scene where the kidnapped girl Sonia (Minissha Lamba) begs her kidnapper Kabir (Imran Khan) to grant her just one wish. After all she has been imprisoned in a hellhole (she thinks, but to me looks more like a bachelor's very comfortable pad fitted with bathtub) and that too with limited water supply. She promises Kabir that she will listen to everything he says and do whatever he wants if he will grant her one wish! We all wait with bated breath to hear what it is…she says: "Give me enough water to have a bath"!
And no, this isn't a joke. It's a serious request, and the kidnapper purses his lips, pondering whether or not to grant her wish!
This movie is not just about a kidnap. It's also about Minissha's body. Clearly she has worked hard to get the hour glass figure which the director takes pains to show at every opportunity. Sonia's kidnapper Kabir has stocked his den with the most expensive and skimpy designer outfits specially bought for his victim. So while he is not busy cooking for her, he is busy watching her body. But if you think that Kabir the kidnapper is rich, perish the thought! When she offers to wash up he tells he cannot allow it as she might break a glass and the poor boy that he is, he won't be able to afford a replacement! A glass for gods sake!
It was at times like these that the audience burst out laughing. We were laughing and commenting almost throughout the movie, busy poking fun at the antics of the characters or at the stupid things they said.
There are also some needless item numbers in the movie.
The actors
Sanjay Dutt plays Vikrant Raina, a rich industrialist divorced from his wife (Vidya Malvade). A lot of reviews have mentioned that the mother daughter duo are mismatched and I agree. They look a few years apart… but I can't make up mind whether Vidya Malvade looked too young to be a mother of a twenty year old…or whether Minissha looks too old to play her daughter. I think both!
Where acting is concerned the less said the better, and that includes the anti-hero – Imran Khan. It's hard to picture this man as a bitter ex-convict. So hard that it's laughable.
Nothing good to say?
I cannot find anything good to say about this movie. The screenplay is poor, the acting below average, the casting terrible, the cinematography and sets below average. But wait…the theme isn't bad. The movie is about how young people can be wrongly convicted and how their suffering in jail can turn them into hardened criminals. And on the other hand there are other (often wealthy) individuals who commit worse crimes but get away scot-free. Noble theme but poorly executed.
Related Reading: Drona Review
Welcome to Sajjanpur review
October 6, 2008 11:46 pm
If failed attempts at movie making become so funny, I am beggining to get worried about the seroius competition my blog will face in times to come!
October 7, 2008 8:56 am
When I say "I liked movie" it doesn't mean flesh … Kidnap had good story , good thrill especially the last sequence where Imran ask Sanjay to shot , the puzzles , idea of Imran keeping hostage in her house et. al.
I think it is just taste , I like thriller , fast pace movies.
Veresh, thriller movie are my favourite genre! But as you said, whether one likes a movie or not is very subjective. – Nita.
October 7, 2008 1:15 pm
Imran doesnt look like a convict. May be they should have asked someone else to take the role.
I read an interview on one of the newspapers where the director described Imrans role as 'If Jaane Tu was Kashmir, then this is Kanyakumari' Very different.
So he only said its different, never said that its good 🙂
Goods permalinkOctober 7, 2008 11:20 pm
NEways, I hardly like indian movies, but thought this wasn't bad. You've got to give credit where it is due. If the attitude while watching a movie is to identify the gaffa's… (how the hell do I make fun of this).. then I can think of many even while watching well hollywood movies.
Let's see:
1. Vidya as Manisha's mom… did u forget that she had a child at 17/18, as per the script. … Now does that make her 34/35? Do you drool over Angelina? If so do you know how old she is?
2. Unexplained designer outfits…. the guys say he's planned it for over 3 months.. makes her stay in her own vacation home…. what are the chances that her mom's old clothes would suit her? hmm… not a chance? Well, how about the first few scenes in the house, where some new clothes are lying around with tags..? May be unexplained….
3. Imran looking too friendly…. isn't that the thought the director wants to communicate? a hardened criminal… that really isn't by nature… it is circumstantial, and because of softness… the movie keeps you guessing till the last minute.
4. Poor boy kabir… that was statement, perhaps I don't agree with. However, in the movie it so happens, that the guys is hell bent on fixing things broken previously….. so under the circumstances.. it is best to ignore it… like we do many other things.
5. The theather I went must be alien… or perhaps it had all like minded individuals… everyone was paying attention till the last minute, not a la Alfred Hitchcock style.. but certainly a good Hindi Movie style.
My recommendation: If you were planning to watch the movie, go decide for yourself. This review seems a little too biased for me. At the end of the Day, you decide.
October 11, 2008 8:10 pm
Lol..very true review..I watch almost all crappy movies,but couldn't see it after half an hour..Quit the effort..The lastest boring-skipped attempt was Drona..I think Kidnap would rate better..I am glad i threw away the hang over by watching Mumbai meri jaan..I read ur review..But I disagree.Characters are not at all overhyped..They leave footprints in your heart and thoughts..Its a must watch movie..
Err,sorry commenting out of scope..Im bit busy..Gotta go..bye..


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One of the finest joys of being a mom was the rekindling of my own inner child engaged in playful delighted interactions with my very own offspring. Shedding adult-induced inhibitions was so freeing! My son and I could sing silly songs together out loud, impersonate outrageous characters, make up our own outlandish stories engaging toys and objects in the room, as available props for fantasy enhancement.
We fought imaginary battles – where we were always the victor, danced in the rain and danced around the house; we'd create parties for no reason other than for the sheer joy of doing so; we'd belly laugh together and had tickle fests and pillow fights. We'd go for walks observing ant activity, bird behavior, cloud formation, whisperings of the wind and the trees, walked the beach and salt marshes watching the mysterious miracle of the seasonal change as my son blossomed with the seasons of his own personal growth and development. I was his hero and teacher and he was mine.
The acquisition of knowledge was a natural extension of my child's innate curiosity and interest in exploring the world around him. He gained confidence from his explorations, self- correcting the various mishaps and falls with loving encouragement and guidance as he moved through his developmental stages. Early childhood educators reigned in the wildness, fostering cooperation within a group setting, while still respecting the inner spirit of my child's natural inquisitiveness. And then, this gradual erosive stripping of natural wonder and delight started to occur as the formal structure of school environment and heavy – yeshiva studies followed by secular subjects – curriculum began to bear down on my young son. The rules, regulations and requirements became so constricting, the pressures to conform to the model of the perfect student were enormous.
The challenge for me as a parent was to preserve the happy, creative, naturally inquisitive child and his unique holistic relationship for acquiring knowledge without suffocating his uniqueness and his creative juices. It wasn't easy by any means! The day-in-day-out school drudgery of homework, long days as shut-ins following inane rules along the painful path to maturity, brain cell dendrite growth, wearing sorting hats of meaningful and disposable knowledge bytes exacted by towing-the-line-compliance to grown-ups and powers that be, made preserving the joys of being a child quite a challenge.
Summer became the primary time of renewal, saying goodbye to summer was truly a bummer. One of my big jobs, as mom, was to keep the spirit of summer alive throughout the year wherever possible in my child and in myself, as well.
We would continue to do fun things as a family, it didn't have to be elaborate, it didn't even have to be outdoors, although airing out the children briefly each day, is very desirable. We would play a game together, listen or play music, work on a projects, prepare fun meals together, offer fun – sometimes silly – rewards for tasks accomplished. Always looking to change the mundane. One time in the midst of winter we put down a beach towel in the middle of the living room floor and served dinner on the carpet with good music and whale sounds in the background. We snorkeled for pennies during bath-time and told each other bad knock-knock jokes. We put up a tent in the living room and had a camp out, hotdogs and marshmallows included. I'd send him surprises in his lunch box, anything from love notes to themed lunches like Tahiti salad with colored paper umbrellas, festive oriental paper plates and utensils along with a palm tree decorated juice box.
The bottom line? Attitude is everything; summer is a state of mind. If your children see that you are upbeat, spontaneous, funny, and relaxed not just about their responsibilities but your own as well, that drudgery is an opportunity to be creative, that project can become a venue for learning while multi-dimensionally engaging their innate curiosity about how things work, school blues can be turned into opportunities to reconnect with joy and each other.
Check the climate of your child's disposition and look to reinvigorate the summer spirit into his/her life. Offer choices whenever possible, trust them with responsibilities that make them feel empowered and reward their efforts.
Please send us your ideas for avoiding the back to school blues to: firstname.lastname@example.com. Why not send us photos of unusual and interesting lunchboxes.
We will publish the best photos and ideas and pick a winner who will receive:
- 1 carton of juice boxes
- 1 dozen assorted fruit roll-ups
- 1 lunch box


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Svetlana. Age: 27. I am a total nymphomaniac. Very open-minded and a total sex fiend who will do anything that you want as long as you ask me nicely! If you are ready for a truly unique and sexually exhilarating experience then call today. Expect a wild ride from start to finish.
Либо искомый домен заблокирован по решению суда
Zarina. Age: 30. Gentlemen, Let me start off by saying your pleasure and relaxation is my top priority. I cater to gentlemen that love to indulge in adventures and naughty fantasies!


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All About Glass
All About Glass
This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.
Designer Tomoko Azumi describes describes working at GlassLab at the Vitra Design Museum in June 2011 during Art Basel. GlassLab is a program from The Corning Museum of Glass that introduces designers to the material of glass.


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Signet Flat Carton 230mm x 150mm x 80mm - Made from 100% Recycled Material
Signet Flat Carton - 230mm x 150mm x 80mm
Looking for the ideal solution to safely ship your slim and narrow products? Look no further than Signet Flat Carton - a slim and stylish carton that comes in just the right size. Not only does its practical shape make it great for items like documents, books and more, but it also helps you economise and save on wasted space! Plus, it's made from 100% recycled material, making it an eco-friendly choice for your packaging needs.
Main Features:
- Ideal for shipping narrow or slim products
- Economizes and saves on wasted space
- Suitable for a variety of products
- Made from 100% recycled material
- Items listed in internal dimensions - Length x Width x Height
Explore our selection of cartons and boxes for more packaging options.
How long will my delivery take?
Same day despatch is available for in-stock products ordered before 3pm.*
We're proud of our track record, which has seen 95% of deliveries to most metropolitan areas made in just one day.
Metropolitan Area
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*For sourced on request products such as machinery and equipment, same-day despatch is not available. Please note that there will be a lead time for these products, subject to product availability.
*There may be a $20.60 charge for orders containing large or bulky items (excluding GST). These items may also take longer to transport. This charge does not include Machinery Equipment.
*To our Western Australia customers: in our ongoing endeavour to ensure that we are always in stock of your requested items, please note there may be a 5-6 day lead time in the event that we send your order from our warehouses on the Eastern Seaboard.
How do I track an order online?
This section allows you to track orders shipped to you over the last 8 weeks. To see the status of your order, click on the relevant order number and it will be displayed for you. If you cannot see your order, contact the Signet customer service team on 13 SIGNET (13 7446) or email firstname.lastname@example.com for further assistance.
What is Signet's Returns Policy?
We want all our customers to be happy with their products from Signet. We offer a 31 Day Satisfaction Guarantee for all products purchased through us. If for any reason you are unable to use the product you have purchased, simply return it to us within 31 Days for a refund of the purchase price, less any delivery fees. We are unable to return any products after 31 days if you have simply changed your mind, over ordered or do not want.
Unfortunately, we are unable to return any Buy to Demand or custom products, so please ensure you are entirely happy with the proofs and quotes before you sign and send them back to us.
Can I receive a same-day delivery?
We understand that sometimes emergencies do arise, which is why Signet is proud to offer a paid same-day urgent delivery service. This is a premium service offering currently only available for metropolitan customers in Brisbane and Sydney. We're always on the lookout for ways to improve our services, and this includes the long-term expansion to even more metropolitan areas across Australia.
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To make sure that you'll always receive your deliveries on time, please ensure that someone is available to receive your order. If you aren't available to accept your delivery, the driver will leave a calling card with their contact details to re-arrange delivery at a time more convenient for you.
If you're concerned that this could be an ongoing issue, please email email@example.com and we can arrange for an authority to leave goods arrangement at your premises in the event that no one is available to accept your delivery.
At Signet, we're always offering the best resolution for our customers, and so we would like to provide the opportunity for Sporting Clubs to nominate a business address for deliveries for guaranteed peace of mind when ordering.
How much do you charge for freight?
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*Refers to Inc GST pricing
How long will my delivery take?
Every order received by Signet before 3pm will be despatched from Signet the same day. We're proud of our track record, which has seen 95% of deliveries to most metropolitan areas made in just one day.
*To our Western Australia customers: in our ongoing endeavour to ensure that we are always in stock of your requested items, please note there may be a 5-6 day lead time in the event that we send your order from our warehouses on the Eastern Seaboard.
How do I use a coupon code?
Enter your coupon code in the checkout to have the offer applied to your order. The coupon code field is located in the first stage of the shopping cart under the freight total. Press "Apply coupon code", enter the coupon and press "apply". The shopping cart will automatically update to include your offer.
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Shoulder bag
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You must be 18 years or older and live in Singapore to place an order. RETURNS/WITHDRAWAL: You always have 30 days to decide if the item is right for you. H&M guarantees to refund any items, provided that they have been kept in reasonable condition prior to their return. We may apply a return fee which will be deducted from your refund. All our packages contain a return address label to use when you send items back. PAYMENT: We accept cards with Visa symbol and Master cards with Adyen. Find out more on our customer service pages.
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CHULA VISTA – Larry Lambert is no stranger to success. In his nearly 30 years as an educator he has received a gallery of well-deserved awards, including "Higher Education Teacher of the Year" and even a "Champion of Journalism" merit from the Southwestern College Sun Newspaper.
PHOTO: Larry Lambert presents information at the Blackboard Learning California Blackboard Users Group (CaliBUG) conference Southwestern College hosted last October.
Lambert has a new honor to add to his wall—inaugural member of the Blackboard MVP program. This inaugural class of 12 was selected by the online learning company because members stood out as experts, shared their expertise with others, demonstrated leadership and actively shared feedback with Blackboard.
At Southwestern, Lambert is a founder of the distance education department and has worked tirelessly to bring education into the new age.
Lambert said the award was thanks to his co-workers and those who supported online education at Southwestern.
"I am honored and humbled to be selected for this award," Lambert said. "After so many years in Higher Education and Distance Learning in particular, this is quite a surprise. Without the saintly patience of our Southwestern College faculty and of our classified professionals who have supported online learning for the last 14 years this wouldn't have happened. It is always a team that earns these kudos."
MVPs will have exclusive access to professional development trainings and will be invited to private product briefings and roadmap sessions with Blackboard executives. MVPs will continue to share their expertise by moderating the Ask the Doctors Client Q&A forum and through their own personal blogs, Blackboard blogs, social media, Tweetups, virtual office hours and more.
Blackboard CEO Jay Bhatt said MVP recipients went above and beyond the call of duty when it came to making online education available for everyone.
"We are proud to recognize Blackboard MVPs for reaching beyond the borders of their institutions and organizations to share their knowledge of, and best practices with, our products to the larger Blackboard community," said Bhatt. "This program is incredibly powerful as it provides a platform not only for users to collaborate and learn from each other, but also for our company leaders to hear directly from the people who use our solutions in the field, every day. Blackboard MVPs are truly helping improve the learning experience and address important challenges in education."
Superintendent President Dr. Melinda Nish said online education is a priority at Southwestern College and the district and Academic Senate strongly support the efforts to train faculty and upgrade technology to support distance education.
"We are incredibly proud of the recognition Larry is receiving from Blackboard," Nish said. "He has played an integral part in bringing the way we teach Southwestern College students into the 21st century. He truly deserves the recognition."


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- Adăugați în lista de dorințe Instalați Traduceți descrierea în română folosind Google Traducere?
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Anyone who knows me has heard me sing the praises of Margaret Peterson Haddix. Her Shadow Children series has hooked many reluctant readers and turned them into voracious readers in my classroom. When I saw that she was beginning a new series, I was very excited. I just finished reading Found (The Missing) and I LOVED it. The plot is difficult to summarize without giving away too much, but I will try.
A plane that appears out of nowhere. Thirty-six babies mysteriously on the plane. No pilot, not crew, no adult passengers. Then, just as suddenly, the plane disappears.
Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he's never thought it was any big deal. In fact, his parents spend more time thinking about it than he does (hence their bookshelves full of "adoption books). That all changes when he and his friend, Chip, also adopted, start receiving strange, anonymous letters. The first one says, "You are one of the missing." The second one says, "Beware! They're coming back to get you."
Jonah, Chip, and Jonah's sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a possible baby- smuggling operation, that same airplane that appeared out of nowhere — and maybe even ghosts. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing sides that want very different things for Jonah and Chip's lives.
This series promises to be just as good, if not better, than Shadow Children . The Missing is a pageturner with twists and turns you will never see coming. The next book isn't due out until Spring 2009 and I am already dying to read it! Margaret Peterson Haddix is sure to draw in many more reluctant readers with this speculative fiction series. I can't sing its praises enough!!
Filed under: reviews | Tagged: found, margaret peterson haddix, missing series, shadow children series, the missing |


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It makes sense to ask what living longer (especially with extended healthspans) might do to older folks. In our elongated golden years, marriage could look different. We might get bored. We might tyrannize social and political institutions, cackling gleefully as bizarro medicines confine our deaths to some vanishing point on the far horizon. But what is the future of childhood in a world where time just keeps unspooling? For something we're so obsessed with, youth remains a slippery idea in American life – a way of describing everything from chronological age to vibrancy to stupidity/innocence. Will those definitions play out differently when people are living to 150? Ask a doctor or a developmental psychologist about longevity's effect on kids, and you might get a boring answer. After all, if one defines childhood as a set of biological milestones – like language acquisition or learning to crawl – a longer life expectancy wouldn't make much of a difference in how those landmarks are distributed. Little Timmy will not acquire the motor coordination necessary to throw a ball any earlier or later because he is predicted to see his 90th birthday – or his 140th. (Childhood understood strictly as the biological period between infancy and puberty has shrunk slightly: The average age of first menarche for girls fell from nearly 17 to 12.6 in the past 100 years, according to a 2007 study, and American boys are reaching sexual maturity about two years earlier than they used to. But for the current crop of pubescent fifth-graders, we can thank – or blame – better nutrition and exposure to environmental hormones, not any kind of longevity-related recalibration in our soon-to-be immortal cells.) Yet our protracted lifespans have already had a huge – and somewhat tautological – effect on childhood: It's much easier than it used to be to get out of those years alive. As Slate's Laura Helmuth noted in September, most deaths up until the 20th century occurred in children and infants. Between one-quarter and half of babies and toddlers died, compared with approximately 0.6 percent in the United States today. The childproofing of childhood – which includes advances like vaccinations, neonatal medicine, and improved care and nutrition – has improved kids' odds enormously, allowing society to further humanize and even exalt the young. To track that process (from kid indifference to kid veneration) is to discover that our salad days have a long and surprisingly contentious history. In his 1960 book 'Centuries of Childhood,' the French scholar Phillipe Aries famously suggested that, for medieval society, 'the idea of childhood did not exist.' Aries pointed to early modern portraits in which children were depicted as miniature adults; to the practice of breezily fostering 8-year-olds in other peoples' homes; to the classrooms in which young people recited their lessons alongside farmhands twice or three times their age. Because kids so rarely survived their early years, he argued, they were seen as anonymous, a bit dispensable, fine to mingle among adults or exhaust their bodies with manual labor. Sexually, they were perceived as neither especially pure nor achingly corruptible: 'The idea did not yet exist that references to sexual matters . . . could soil childish innocence . . . [as] nobody thought this innocence really existed,' Aries wrote. His book came under fire for cherry-picking evidence and misconstruing the conventions of medieval art. But even if you don't fully buy his thesis – which scholars have started to view more sympathetically in recent years – there's no question that a 6-year-old in the Middle Ages inspired wildly different expectations than does the kid right now licking the railing outside your apartment. Most experts date the modern idea of childhood to the Victorian era, when the consecration of the nuclear family obliged parents to start sheltering young people from the vagaries of life (or at least to talk about doing so). This shift wasn't immediate: It kicked off in 17th-century Europe, as contraception and romantic love began to flourish, birthrates fell and couples were able to invest more time and resources in each child. The Enlightenment philosopher John Locke helped it along with his tabula rasa theory, which celebrated the radical innocence of infancy and emphasized that kids needed education to become right-thinking adults. A half-century or so later, Romantics picked up their quills and set the cult of childhood in full swing – at least on paper. In his 1789 'Songs of Innocence and Experience,' William Blake juxtaposed the pure and playful world of infancy with a fallen, soot-stained adulthood. Wordsworth idealized newborns, who he said entered life 'trailing clouds of glory' and appareling all they saw in 'celestial light.' Rousseau cooed over the native goodness of the babe, urging readers to 'hold childhood in reverence.' (He also, um, committed his kids to an orphanage soon after they were born.) The social conditions of the time didn't line up with all the tender rhetoric. Exploitative child labor extended well past the Factory Act of 1833, which capped the workday at nine hours for English children under 14. But the second half of the 19th century also saw a flowering of literature aimed toward kids (think 'Treasure Island' and 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland') and school reforms, including the beginnings of compulsory education. Across the Atlantic, the idea of the sacred, delicate young person was spreading from the upper to the lower classes. Viviana Zelizer provides a great case study in her book 'Pricing the Priceless Child.' When children from poor New York City households in the mid-1800s were run over in the street, she writes, their families generally received compensation for lost wages. But as the decades passed, parents began to demand higher and higher damages. The lives of their children, they insisted, could not be coldly assigned an economic value; they were priceless, the losses inestimable. From here it is not hard to imagine how America evolved its hypervigilant parenting culture, replete with Mozart effect evangelism and Moby-Dick board books. So what will it mean for kids when adults are living to 120 and beyond? Besides the likelihood that they will have lots of potential caretakers (or at least endure a borderline inhumane number of cheek pinches at Thanksgiving), they may be seen as even more rare and precious. Society will skew older. The years before puberty will represent an ever-smaller proportion of the overall lifespan. We can speculate that, for a certain income bracket, the cult of childhood will become yet cultier, the cocoons at once softer and more anxiously woven. (Are you 12, well-off, and reading this? Stop. You should be strategizing about how to get your baby – you know, the one you'll have 20 years down the road – into preschool.) Daniel Hart, the director of the Institute for Effective Education at Rutgers University, has a grimmer take on what longevity might do to young people. He allows that if the elderly need support, then perhaps children will be seen as valuable – 'future fuel for the economy.' But if older generations stay fit, sharp and employed, he says, 'youth would be increasingly framed as immature, unreliable and problematic.' Would we invest more resources in such a demographic? Hart notes that while poverty rates for the elderly have gone down over the past 30 years, poverty rates for children have actually increased. In 2011, Americans aged 65 to 75 owned the most wealth and assets of any age group. If we start to live healthfully into our hundreds, presumably the silver-haired share of the national kitty pool will keep growing. Furthermore, says Hart, research suggests that as the racial and ethnic background of kids diverges from that of older adults – a phenomenon that is unfolding as society sees a boom in black and Hispanic young people – hoarier generations will spend less on education and related social issues. Finally, a recent World Values Survey found that adults are increasingly looking past children for fulfillment, to individualistic goods like self-expression and professional success. In other words, future kids: You may be on your own. But who even counts (or will count) as a 'kid'? And what happens to the limbo period between childhood and adulthood, dependence and autonomy, when time approaches the status of a renewable resource? 'There's always been a tension in American history between absolute chronological age and maturation,' says Susan A. Miller, a professor of childhood studies at Rutgers. 'Age has historically been far less relevant than what someone is able to accomplish.' In the 18th century, she continues, a boy who developed quickly, growing strong and tall, was considered ready for a man's work. A century later, before industrialization took hold, it was not uncommon for 17-year-olds to graduate from Harvard, to go west, to edit city newspapers. Now, that haziness around age versus competence seems to be going in the other direction. Modern young people are testing the limits not of how swiftly they can plunge into adulthood, but of how long they can delay it. We are positioning the traditional signposts of maturity in different spots along the life journey. We get married later (or not at all). We wait to have children. We live with our parents for longer and spend more time in school. Citing evidence that brain and hormonal development continues well into peoples' 20s, child psychologists in the United Kingdom recently moved their official cutoff point for adolescence from 18 to 25. So many think pieces and novels and TV shows on 'emerging adulthood' have arisen that it would take multiple adulthoods (emerged or otherwise) to consume them all. According to conventional wisdom, this has nothing to do with lifespan. It means we aren't giving young people the opportunity to grow up. As countless writers have pointed out, today's uncertain economy and credentialing arms race make entering the job market unprecedentedly difficult. People need more education to get the positions they want, which can lead them to rely on their parents. Demanding expectations at work can quash dreams of a relationship or a family. The costs of buying a house, of childrearing, are soaring. But maybe – just maybe – longevity has bequeathed us a bit more flexibility. We've got more time to establish ourselves in our careers, to return to school, to meet the right person. Some parents and grandparents might be around longer to support their kids. If youth is a state of exploration and play, perhaps improved life expectancies will allow us to stretch it out past its previous limits. Seventy could be the new 45, 50 the new 21. In the 16th century, Erasmus defined a 'prodigy' as 'an old head on young shoulders.' A young head on old shoulders, though? What if that's just 22nd-century normal?
What does a longer lifespan mean for kids and teens?
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Today's News: Our Take - Why Everyone Needs to Watch Hulu's The Wrong Mans
Russian gangsters, car chases, government conspiracies - these aren't things you often see in comedy. At least not on TV.
Action-comedy films have been around forever, but no one has attempted to blend the genres within a half-hour comedy slot. Until now. On Monday, Hulu debuts The Wrong Mans, an ambitiouscomedy-thriller from Gavin & Stacey's James Corden and Mathew Baynton co-produced with the BBC. The duo star as Phil (Corden) and Sam (Baynton), two below-average Joes who unwittingly get sucked into a high-stakes crime caper after answering a cell phone found on the road.
"We came up with the idea about four years ago. Everything that was on in terms of comedy was just such a world apart from what we were seeing in drama, in terms of the visual ambition and plotting," Baynton tells TVGuide.com. "We were watching shows like 24 and Lost, those kind of big dramas. And really the show came out of the conversation where we were saying, why doesn't anyone do comedy that way? Why don't people attempt comedy that has big epic narrative?"
"Four years later, we now know why," producer and director Jim Field Smith interjects.
Watch a trailer for The Wrong Mans
Smith and Baynton admit there were major challenges in trying to fit the large-scale narrative of an hour-long drama into a thirty-minute comedy, but somehow The Wrong Mans strikes the perfect balance. "I think there can be a temptation to think that the drama and comedy are separate things, so you kind of try to find room for drama moments and then for comedy moments, all within half an hour," Baynton explains. "And the key ultimately was to make sure the two things were always happening at the same time. Every joke is within a story beat."
To pull this off, Baynton and Corden made sure to inject a relatable realism to the more dramatic elements. In Episode 2, Sam and Phil keep a hostage in their office building, but he show doesn't shy away from the less cinematic elements of what a hostage situation actually entails. The result: a particularly memorable scene in which Sam is caught by his boss - and former girlfriend - Lizzie (Sarah Solemani) holding a bag of the hostage's feces on his way to dispose of it.
"I think it's a good example of where I think the show really flies, when you're putting the mundane up against something huge," Smith says. "So you put Sam at work. He's got all these deadlines, he's letting Lizzie down ... and he's just trying to have a conversation with Lizzie about whether he's put the chairs out. But we know - and Sam and Phil know - there's a hostage tied up five meters away on the other side of a glass wall."
"Yes it's a comic conceit that he's got a bag of sh-- behind his back, but actually what's funny about it is the dramatic irony [of] this huge spiraling criminal plot," Smith continues.
TV characters who were supposed to die
Baynton says they were initially hesitant to include the scene out of fear of simply doing a poop joke, but thankfully, there's a realism to the humor that elevates it beyond a common gag. "We tried to make sure the comedy came out of the situation the characters were forced into rather than that they were funny, silly guys that make funny, silly decisions," he says. "So, when they get the hostage, for example, we were kind of hoping... you put yourself in their shoes and question what you'd do if you couldn't really come up with another conclusion,"
While there is a freshness to the humor in The Wrong Mans - and one that's much needed amid the current nostalgia worship of TV comedy - it's the way the Office-esque banality is juxtaposed with extraordinarily ambitious aesthetics that raises the entire genre-blended concoction to a new level. Right off the bat, The Wrong Mans sets itself apart from other comedies with a jaw-dropping car crash that serves as the catalyst for Sam's entire adventure.
"[It's] really important how shocking and stunning it is and that it all happens in the shot," Baynton says. "And I think the reason that's so important is because it happens so early on and that once you see that ... you know that there's the potential there to see those big dramatic moments. It keeps that possibility alive, because then you're playing with suspense, you're playing with the audience expectation."
25 totally unnecessary spin-offs
The promise of dramatic visuals is repeatedly paid off throughout the series - and is often done without the use of green screen or stuntmen. Baynton and Corden perform the majority of the stunts themselves, with only the precision driving left to the professionals. And since neither man is exactly James Bond material, the action sequences remain grounded. "We weren't expecting them to be superheroes," Smith says. "We wanted them to be like real people. We wanted them to be out of breath. I didn't want them to look good at fighting. ... It's funnier to see Sam fighting a trained assassin than it is for him to suddenly have all of these Jason Bourne-esque skills."
As each episode goes on, The Wrong Mans gets larger and larger in scale. Starting with a simple phone call, Sam and Phil's adventures continue to escalate at an astonishing pace until they're embroiled within a full-blown international conspiracy. There are times when the series' many twists can be hard to keep track of, but the show's whip-fast pacing is also one of its greatest assets. Because there's no dead space within the narrative, The Wrong Mans is able to undergo a full Breaking Bad-esque, Mr. Chips-to-Scarfacetransformation in just six episodes.
"It's a pretty epic ending for what starts out as a fairly gentle show, which is a very deliberate choice we made," Baynton says. "The feeling was as long as it happens layer by layer, you can end up as big as you can possibly dream. If you jumped to where it gets to in Episode 6 from Episode 1 it would be absurd. But the fun of it is getting there one by one... As it goes along you're sort of tricked into feeling it's all quite logical."
The Wrong Mans' first two episodes are available on Hulu starting Monday, with weekly episodes being released thereafter. All six episodes will be released Monday on Hulu Plus.
View original Why Everyone Needs to Watch Hulu's The Wrong Mans at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Who's leaving Congress?
A look at the retiring members of the 113th Congress.
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) — 12 terms
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Report: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Buy $11 Million Home
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are shacking up, US Weekly reports.
According to the magazine, the expectant couple purchased a 10,000-square-foot Bel Air, Calif., home for $11 million. Some of their new neighbors include Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Photos: See Kim Kardashian's most risqué nude photo shoots
West, 35, first dropped the bomb that Kardashian was pregnant during a concert on Dec. 30. "Stop the music and make noise for my baby mama," he said referring to Kardashian, who was in the audience. The reality superstar then confirmed the news on her website, writing, "It's true!! Kanye and I are expecting a baby. We feel so blessed and lucky ... Looking forward to great new beginnings in 2013 and to starting a family."
View original Report: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West Buy $11 Million Home at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Goat cheese cheesecake. I mean, why not, really? Cream cheese and goat cheese aren't all that different. I think, when I first envisioned a goat cheesecake I really intended something like this, not the savory tastes-like-a-cheese-dip version I actually made. Lesson learned. Because this version is as tangy and sweet as it is rustic and beautiful.
I was originally going to do a strawberry basil flavor combination (yes, yes, months later I've still got basil on the brain), but after tasting the heavenly almond biscotti (from Trader Joe's) that I chose to use for the crust, I decided that the basil flavor would be lost in the midst. And that strawberry almond was equally as enticing.
The filling itself is a swirl of plain almond and strawberry. Just a word of warning that baked strawberry does not stay delightfully pink, rather, turns more of an off shade of mauve. If you want pink (and next time, I think the pink would be much prettier), add a few drops of red food coloring to the strawberry batter.
The strawberry flavor, however, comes through loud and clear, tasting like a grown up strawberry milkshake with hints of almond and a slight tang from the goat cheese; however goat cheese skeptics just know that it is very mild and I doubt anyone would guess there was goat cheese in it if they didn't know. Try it. I think you'll like it and it might just convert you to the light side.
Strawberry Almond Goat Cheese Cheesecake
For Crust:
2 cups finely ground almond biscotti (from about 8 ounces whole cookies), or substitute 1 3/4 cup vanilla wafer crumbs and 1/4 cup almond meal
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
For Filling:
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
11 ounces (1 log) goat cheese, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
10 ounces whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed and drained if frozen
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
To prepare crust, mix together cookie crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl until evenly moistened. Butter and line the bottom of a 9-by-2-inch deep cake pan with parchment paper; butter parchment (alternatively, you can use a 9-inch-round springform pan if you like). Press crumb mixture into the bottom and 1-inch up the sides of prepared pan and set aside.
To prepare filling, combine cream cheese, goat cheese, sugar, and sour cream, flour, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until completely smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure there are no large chunks and that all ingredients are incorporated. Stir in vanilla and almond extract.
Pour half of the filling into prepared crust.
Purée strawberries until smooth. Add to remaining filling in food processor and pulse to combine. Pour on top of plain filling in a decorative swirly pattern. Use a butter knife or skewer to create additional swirls in the top of the cheesecake.
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until the top is just barely jiggly. Remove from oven and run a thin knife or spatula around the edge to release the cake from the sides of the pan. Turn off the heat and return cake to the oven for another 15 minutes to finish baking. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack; let cool completely to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
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In the mood for your own holiday baking? Goat cheese or not, you'll need supplies. Lucky for you, Chavrie® has so generously provided a beautiful Holiday Baking Gift Set to one L&OO reader, which includes the gorgeous white Crate & Barrel sweets pedestal pictured above, as well as a set of C&B white nesting mixing bowls, magnetic measuring cups and spoons. AND a whole bunch of free goat cheese, recipes, coupons, and more!
Congrats to comment #14, Vivek, who was randomly selected as the winner!
To Enter:
Simply leave a comment on this post with the answer to this question:
How would you use goat cheese this holiday season?
Entries open through Friday, November 25 at 11:59 CST. I'll be selecting the winner via random number generator on the morning of Saturday, November 26th. Prize will be shipped directly to the winner by Chevre®. Because of the perishable nature of this prize this giveaway is open to U.S. Residents ONLY.
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1. Follow @loveandoliveoil on twitter and tweet the following:
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2. Like Love & Olive Oil on Facebook (or if you are already a fan just say so!)
Be sure you enter a valid email address, because if your name is drawn and I can't get a hold of you within 48 hours, I will choose an alternate winner. You may also want to add me to your address book (lindsay AT loveandoliveoil DOT com), as I'd hate for your congratulatory email to end up in the spam folder.
The fine print: No purchase necessary. Giveaway open to US residents only. Void where prohibited. I was provided with an identical gift set and cheese by Chavrie®, however all opinions written are purely my own.


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AP: Rauner wins GOP nomination for Illinois governor
CHICAGO (AP) – Venture capitalist Bruce Rauner won the GOP primary Tuesday in his bid for Illinois governor, as voters embraced a first campaign by the multimillionaire who flooded the airwaves with vows to run the Democratic stronghold like a business and curb the influence of government unions.
With Republicans eyeing what they view as their best shot in years to win the top job in President Barack Obama's home state, Rauner defeated three longtime state lawmakers – including the current state treasurer. He advances to a November matchup with Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who easily won his nomination for a second full term.
"The voters are going to face a stark choice in November, a major decision about the future of our state," Rauner said in his victory speech. "It's a choice between failure of the past and a new day."
Between Quinn and predecessor Rod Blagojevich, now imprisoned for corruption, Democrats have held the governorship since 2003. But Rauner could present a serious threat, partly due to a massive fundraising campaign that included contributing more than $6 million of his own money.
For voters across Illinois, the governor's race represents a potentially transformative battle over union influence, with some voters saying they want to break an alliance between organized labor and Democrats, who have long controlled most statewide offices and the Legislature.
Organized labor battled back out of concern that Rauner could seek to weaken unions in the same way GOP governors have in other states across the Midwest.
Quinn's first re-election ad of the season – focusing on Rauner's evolving stance on raising the minimum wage – hit the airwaves Tuesday evening. Quinn has called for increasing the state's rate from $8.25 to at least $10 an hour. Rauner had initially called for a cut and later said he'd raise it under certain circumstances.
"I'm here to fight for an economy that works for everyone," Quinn said Tuesday night. "Not just the billionaires, but for everyone."
Rauner says he would model his governorship after those of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Both significantly rolled back union power in what they said were necessary steps to attract business and reduce costs. Rauner defeated state Sens. Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford in the primary.
"Rauner is going to be a bull in a china shop; we need a bull," said Tom Sommer, a 57-year-old real estate broker from the Chicago suburb Hinsdale. "It's not going to be more of the same."
Issues such as a public pension overhaul and high taxes "are coming to the fore and the old guard is not going to handle that," Sommer said, adding that he voted for Rauner because of his tough talk against the unions that represent public sector workers. That sentiment persists despite Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's push to fix Illinois' finances by overhauling the heavily underwater public pension systems, which earned him the unions' ire.
Rauner has also won supporters with his call for term limits.
Union leaders, meanwhile, sought Rauner's defeat by encouraging members to pull Republican ballots and vote for Dillard, who picked up several union endorsements.
The typically left-leaning unions spent more than $6 million on the GOP primary, both in anti-Rauner and pro-Dillard ads. Rauner raised more than $14 million, including $6 million of his own money – more than any candidate seeking a gubernatorial nomination in state history.
Rauner warned supporters about the unions' efforts, saying Quinn's "allies" were trying to hijack the election. He said legislative term limits could break the labor-Democratic alliance.
The race turned out to be far closer than polls suggested. With nearly all precincts reporting, Rauner's edge over Dillard was slightly more than 2 percentage points.
In southern Illinois, voters had another reason to want to upend the state's political order, saying they felt marginalized and neglected by a political balance weighted toward Democrats and the Chicago region.
In the last 10 years, things have gotten really bad (in the state)," said Marty Johns, 48, of Godfrey. "Throw out all the Democrats in Chicago. All of our money goes up there while southern Illinois gets the crumbs."
Johns said he voted for Dillard to "remove Quinn."
Quinn, who was Blagojevich's lieutenant governor and assumed the office after he was booted amid a corruption scandal, easily defeated a lesser-known primary challenger Tio Hardiman in his bid for a second full term.
Brady won the 2010 GOP nomination, but lost the general election to Quinn. Brady, of Bloomington, argued he built the support during that bid to defeat Quinn this time around.
Rutherford, of Chenoa, did little campaigning recently. He all but conceded defeat after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing Rutherford of sexual harassment and political coercion. Rutherford denied the allegations.
Republican primary voters also chose state Sen. Jim Oberweis, a dairy magnate, to run in November against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat. Oberweis, who defeated businessman and West Point graduate Doug Truax in the primary, has lost five of his six bids for public office.
Also on the ballot were primary races for the U.S. House, Illinois Legislature and statewide constitutional officers.