Free Web Graphics & Desktop Wallpapers

Image courtesy of Darlene SanguenzaIf you haven't noticed yet, I really love websites by graphic designers. This includes digiscrapping sites, of course. I stumbled upon the website of Darlene Sanguenza last night and I would say that I am absolutely in love with her range of desktop wallpapers.First of all, I love her awesome template. I wish I have something like that for my website too but I don't even know where or how to start. Anyway, it's funny that while I was searching for new desktop wallpapers for my computer and laptop, I couldn't find one that I like enough to use. When I wasn't particularly searching for one, I chance upon it. You can bet I am already using one of these, though I shall not disclose which one. LOLIf you are also looking for creative desktop wallpapers, drop by this website of Darlene Sanguenza!

Wish List, Likes, Dislikes...

I had a brainstorm idea this morning. (Watch out world!) I belong to several online stitching groups and each group has a questionaire asking about wish lists, likes, dislikes, etc. I find it time consuming to be typing the same things over and over, so I thought... Why not put it all in my blog, and then reference this entry? Good idea, eh? I thought so! So here goes:FAVORITESFavorite fabric: 28/32ct evenweave/linen, hand-dyedsFavorite needles: 26ct petite needlesFavorite Threads: WDW, Victoria Clayton Silks, GAST, Glissen Gloss Colorwash Silks, DMC Linens, SSS (needed floss for the last 2 are in my wish list link below). Love specialty flosses.Colors (include favorites & least favorites): Favorites: soft pretty colors such as pastels; Dislikes: dark, drab colors.Themes (include favorites & least favorites): Likes: oriental themes, Fobs, Stitcher Accessories; Least favorite: religious, folksyMagazines (include favorites & any that are subscriptions): Any UK mags, Stoney Creek , JCSFavorite Designers: Lorri Birmingham (elegant designs), The Sweetheart Tree (fobs), Joan Elliot (oriental designs), as well as a few others.Favorite Foods/Drink: ice tea (or flavored hot teas), cocoa, skittles, jelly belly jelly beansCollections (things you collect other than stitching): old cameras (I’m a photographer too)Scents (include favorite & least favorite): Lilac. I have allergies and asthma so strong scents don’t work for me.Favorite ONS: Needle in a Haystack www.needlestack.com123 Stitch www.123stitch.comKeepsake Needlearts www.keepsakeneedlearts.comFavorite LNS: Don’t have one close to me. There’s a Walmart, JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels and Hobby Lobby.WISH LISTPictorial Wish List located HERECharts wanted: see link aboveKits wanted (including just charts from kits): see link aboveThreads/beads wanted: anything but DMC/Anchor floss. I don't use Anchor, and I have 2-3 complete sets of DMC.Accessories/Gadgets wanted:Leather Scissor sheaths#26 Stitch FixerDMC Brand Plastic BobbinsOtherDo you have an online photo album? My AlbumHow do you store your threads? On bobbins in plastic storage casesFloss bags or bobbins? (Cardboard or plastic bobbins?) I use both bags and bobbins. Mostly bobbins. I’m in the process of switching from cardboard to plastic DMC bobbins.Do you have pets? Yes. A little 4lb. dog named Celeste

How the US Empire Contributed to the Economic Crisis

by Ivan Eland May 09, 2009 A few — and only a few — prescient commentators have questioned whether the U.S. can sustain its informal global empire in the wake of the most severe economic crisis since World War II. And the simultaneous quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan are leading more and more opinion leaders and taxpayers to this question. But the U.S. Empire helped cause the meltdown in the first place. War has a history of causing financial and economic calamities. It does so directly by almost always causing inflation — that is, too much money chasing too few goods. During wartime, governments usually commandeer resources from the private sector into the government realm to fund the fighting. This action leaves shortages of resources to make consumer goods and their components, therefore pushing prices up. Making things worse, governments often times print money to fund the war, thus adding to the amount of money chasing the smaller number of consumer goods. Such “make-believe” wealth has funded many U.S. wars. For example, the War of 1812 had two negative effects on the U.S. financial system. First, in 1814, the federal government allowed state-chartered banks to suspend payment in gold and silver to their depositors. In other words, according Tom J. DiLorenzo in Hamilton’s Curse, the banks did not have to hold sufficient gold and silver reserves to cover their loans. This policy allowed the banks to loan the federal government more money to fight the war. The result was an annual inflation rate of 55 percent in some U.S. cities. The government took this route of expanding credit during wartime because no U.S. central bank existed at the time. Congress, correctly questioning The Bank of the United States’ constitutionality, had not renewed its charter upon expiration in 1811. But the financial turmoil caused by the war led to a second pernicious effect on the financial system — the resurrection of the bank in 1817 in the form of the Second Bank of the United States. Like the first bank and all other government central banks in the future, the second bank flooded the market with new credit. In 1818, this led to excessive real estate speculation and a consequent bubble. The bubble burst during the Panic of 1819, which was the first recession in the nation’s history. Sound familiar? Although President Andrew Jackson got rid of the second bank in the 1830s and the U.S. economy generally flourished with a freer banking system until 1913, at that time yet another central bank — this time the Federal Reserve System — rose from the ashes. We have seen that war ultimately causes the creation of both economic problems and nefarious government financial institutions that cause those difficulties. And of course, the modern day U.S. Empire also creates such economic maladies and wars that allow those institutions to wreak havoc on the economy. The Fed caused the current collapse in the real estate credit market, which has led to a more general global financial and economic meltdown, by earlier flooding the market with excess credit. That money went into real estate, thus creating an artificial bubble that eventually came crashing down in 2008. But what caused the Fed to vastly expand credit? To prevent a potential economic calamity after 9/11 and soothe jitters surrounding the risky and unneeded U.S. invasion of Iraq, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan began a series of interest rate cuts that vastly increased the money supply. According to Thomas E. Woods, Jr. in Meltdown, the interest rate cuts culminated in the extraordinary policy of lowering the federal funds rate (the rate at which banks lend to one another overnight, which usually determines other interest rates) to only one percent for an entire year (from June 2003 to June 2004). Woods notes that more money was created between 2000 and 2007 than in the rest of U.S. history. Much of this excess money ended up creating the real estate bubble that eventually caused the meltdown. Ben Bernanke, then a Fed governor, was an ardent advocate of this easy money policy, which as Fed Chairman he has continued as his solution to an economic crisis he helped create using the same measures. Of course, according to Osama bin Laden, the primary reasons for the 9/11 attacks were U.S. occupation of Muslim lands and U.S. propping up of corrupt dictators there. And the invasion of Iraq was totally unnecessary because there was never any connection between al-Qaeda or the 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein, and even if Saddam had had biological, chemical, or even nuclear weapons, the massive U.S. nuclear arsenal would have likely deterred him from using them on the United States. So the causal arrow goes from these imperial behaviors — and blowback there from — to increases in the money supply to prevent related economic slowdown, which in turn caused even worse eventual financial and economic calamities. These may be indirect effects of empire, but they cannot be ignored. Get rid of the overseas empire because we can no longer afford it, especially when it is partly responsible for the economic distress that is making us poorer. AntiWar.com

Happy Mothers Day

I really was excited to go to Women's Conference. After all, I have only had three days away in all of my motherhood career of 15 years as stated and those were even taken on three separate voyages. I felt I deserved a little break. I was excited about returning to my old stomping grounds, my college campus that I have not set foot on since I left it in 1991. I was even going to stay in the dorms with my old college roomie. I busily prepared meals, finished the laundry, had all lists and chores finished. My plane landed and we arrived on campus. We walked into the dorms and I had a sick feeling come over me. I was suppose to be excited, I was suppose to feel a bit of freedom and enjoy the walk down memory lane. But, the minute I walked into that dorm which mind you have not changed one bit, my stomach turned. I had had a dream about a year ago that my Dad was taking me to college. I was 18 again but I knew that I really was 36. I had five kids. My Dad told me that I was wrong. I was 18. I was going to college. He dropped me off. I cried. No one believed me . I had to start over. I had to be 18 again, looking for a husband,waiting for kids. It was a horrible dream. The minute I stepped onto that campus again, I felt that dream. I felt total loneliness even though I was surrounded by women. In that very moment, the moment I should have been rejoicing in to have some peace and freedom, I felt for absolute surety that being a mother was what I was born to do. It was the only thing I wanted. Even accounting all the horrible days that I wanted to leave and not return, I wanted nothing else. I wanted to cuddle my children. I had only been gone a few hours and I missed them terribly. I love being a mother. They wear me out from head to toe on a daily basis but I love them to pieces. Thank you for making me a mother my little angels. Thank you for allowing me all the opportunities to be better, stronger and more charitable than I ever thought I could be. Thank you for forgiving me for all of the times that I wasn't. Thank you for teaching me on a daily basis how far love can go and that through the hard times we become stronger and closer. It is a hard job. No doubt about it. However, there isn't a better job on the planet. The pay is horrible but the hugs and kisses make it all worth it. Happy Mother's Day to you all. I hope you all get spoiled. A special "Thank You" to my own wonderful mother who taught it all to me and still is. She is the perfect role model. I love you.

Olden white wedding dress

Anthony Kiedis Talks About His Roommate... His Son!

"He's the little love of my life, that boy, and I feel very lucky to be his dad," said Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, speaking of his 18-month-old son, Everly Bear. "You can't really care about yourself as much as you used to. It kind of takes the focus off yourself, which for me is a good thing. It also gives me a cool guy to hang out with." Anthony gushed about his son at the opening of the new shopping complex the Malibu Lumber Yard. "[Everly] is the best roommate I ever had. He's just a good hang. He's funny. He doesn't cost a lot to keep up. He's a good dancer." Right now Anthony is working on writing music, rehearsing, and surfing, then shooting a pilot for an HBO TV show, Spider and Son.Full Story: PEOPLE Technorati Tags:pregnancy maternity maternity clothes fashion style maternity style baby anthony kiedis the red hot chilli peppers

Gearing up for astrophotography

All the positive feedback Ive received for my recent attempts at lunar photography have made me more enthusiastic than ever about getting into astrophotography. Ive already got a few books on the subject; truth be told, theres a bit of a learning curve. Its going to take me a while to get good at this. And thats not a bad thing, because astrophotography can be awfully expensive: its going to take me a while to assemble all the equipment required for a basic astrophotography rig that can do more than just photograph the Moon. Ive already got two main pieces of equipment. I have a telescope geared towards astrophotographers: an 80mm Sky-Watcher Equinox apochromatic refractor, with really good colour correction (as far as I can tell) and a short (500mm, f/6.25) focal length. I also have a digital SLR sufficient to the task: a Nikon D90. (Most astrophotographers use Canon, whose noise reduction algorithms are better for stars, but a Nikon is hardly unacceptable.) In addition, I have a number of accessories for the D90 that will help: an external battery pack (to aid with multiple long exposures in the cold), a corded remote (to reduce camera shake when pressing the shutter), and a right-angle finder (to aid in focusing and allow me to see through the camera when its attached to a refractor or catadioptric telescope). I also have T-ring adapters to connect my camera to a telescope: one for a two-inch focuser (like my refractor), and one for Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. So, what else do I need? The first piece of equipment Im likely to get is a Televue Powermate. You may have heard of a Barlow lens, which increases the magnification of an eyepiece; Powermates add another doublet lens to this design to correct diverging light rays. Increasing the magnification of my refractor would really help my lunar photography. A 500mm refractor doesnt magnify the Moon very much: it presents a very small image on my cameras sensor. Doubling the focal length with a 2× Powermate would put the Moon on more pixels, making for a better image. (Alternatively, I could use my 125mm Schmidt-Cassegrain instead  it has a focal length of 1,250 mm  but its not as sharp and contrasty as an apochromatic refractor.) What clinches it for me is that Powermates have T-ring adapters (sold separately), which simplifies things: I can just stick the camera and T-ring into the Powermate, rather than sticking the camera and T-ring into a separate T-ring adapter that then slides into the Powermate. Total cost: A 2× Powermate for two-inch focusers lists for around $350-400 at Canadian stores; the T-ring adapter runs around US$50. If I want to take pictures of anything other than the Moon or the planets, Ill need an equatorial mount that will track the sky. The mount Ive settled on is the HEQ5 Pro from Sky-Watcher, which Orion sells as the Sirius EQ-G. It costs around $1,200 and has a capacity of around 30 pounds (13-14 kg): more than enough for my three-kilogram refractor. But Im thinking ahead a bit: this mount would also be able to handle Newtonian, Schmidt-Cassegrain and Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes with an aperture of eight inches (200mm) or less, or Maksutovs of six inches (150mm) or less  more than enough for a good long while. Its also light enough  about 20 kilograms  to be reasonably portable, which is a factor when you dont plan on setting up a permanent observatory any time soon. The HEQ5 Pro has a go-to computer and an autoguider port (more on which anon), as well as periodic (but not permanent) error correction (a way to train the computer to compensate for regular tracking errors in the gears; permanent PEC would have been better). An autoguider corrects tracking errors brought on by imperfections in polar alignment and gears: it connects a small digital camera to the mount and a computer: when the camera catches a guide star moving in a way it shouldnt, the computer pulses the mounts motors to correct it. This is essential in long-exposure photography. How essential it will be for me is another question: an f/6.25 refractor is pretty wide-field (and presumably more forgiving of tracking errors), and a D90s sensor will overheat if it runs for too long  and heat is a definite no-no for astrophotography (it adds noise). But if it turns out that five-minute exposures (for example) require autoguiding, then I think Ive figured out which one to get. The one generating the most buzz is Orions inexpensive $280 (U.S.) autoguider, which plugs into a computer for power and control and into the mounts autoguider port. It also requires a separate guide scope (or, presumably, an off-axis guider, which is less preferred nowadays), which would be problematic with my refractor, which has a built-in dovetail rather than using rings. On the other hand, KW Telescope in Kitchener, Ontario, has assembled an autoguider package that uses a 50mm finder scope and connects via the main telescopes finder bracket  which my refractor has. Costs $350. I was worried that 50 mm would not be enough aperture to provide the camera with a guide star to lock onto, but Alan Dyers review in the March-April 2009 issue of SkyNews assuaged those fears. (Youre on the hook now, Alan.) This will not only save me from having to buy a guidescope-and-rings combination (Orion sells packages from $325 to $380), it will also take a few pounds off the mounts, er, shoulders. Finally, if Im getting an autoguider, Im going to have to have a laptop computer to operate it  unless I opt for Orions new standalone autoguider, which doesnt require a computer but which does require a power source, to say nothing of $600 (U.S.)! And, I hate to admit it, but that computer is going to have to run Windows (gakk!): all the autoguiders under discussion here use PHD Guiding for software, and while PHD Guiding is Mac-compatible, the drivers required to connect to these autoguiders arent. (Mac-compatible cameras are more expensive; what are you gonna do?) Besides, Im not sure Id want to subject a precious MacBook to the elements. My criteria for an astronomy laptop are that it (a) be inexpensive (so as not to cause grief if I break it) and (b) have crazy-stupid battery life. I just so happen to have a candidate in mind that appears to fit these criteria: the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, a Windows netbook with a 10-inch screen, a 1.6-GHz Atom processor, a 160-gigabyte hard drive  and a battery life claimed to be as high as nine and a half hours. (See posts about this computer at Engadget and Gizmodo.) Staples has it in stock, and sells it for $450. By the time I actually get around to buying one, however, it will almost certainly be supplanted by a newer model, but its good to know that what Im looking for is more than theoretically possible. By this point, of course, I will have spent something like $2,600 including tax. This is a shopping list for the long term  in the next year or two, not the next month or two. Ill have to save my pennies and work a couple more lucrative government contracts first. Then, once this is all bought and paid for, Ill probably start thinking about a dedicated astronomical camera. But thats something best left for another post &

Climate Change and the Yolo County General Plan

I chair a group called the Climate Change Compact of Yolo County. We have been meeting for well over a year now discussing a host of issues that impact climate change in Yolo County. Every city and most every school district in the county has been attending regularly to share ideas. This past Friday we met at the Alumni Center at UC Davis for a meeting that I though was possibly our best. After we went around the room to update people on what each jurisdiction has done -- we had three presentations. The first was from Jillian Rich of PMC with an update on stimulus funding. The second presentation was from Clifford Rechtschaffen. He is a Special Assistant Attorney General. He talked about climate change and how it relates to land use planning. I have attached his power point here. I am not joking when I say that this was probably the best presentation I have ever heard on the topic. This guy was good. I walked into the meeting with 50 questions. He answered 48 of them in his presentation. I may not agree with his rationale but he really was solid and had a great understanding of what was going on in this policy area. He recognized the effort that has been put in place by the Yolo County General Plan team to address the climate change issue. We did not have any press there - but now I wish we would have taped it. The highlight of this part of the program was when Woodland Mayor Skip Davies prefaced his question with " I come from a practical community not a theoretical community." Somehow everyone knw exactly what he was talking about. The final presentation was from Mitch Sears about the City of Davis and their "Low Carbon Diet" Program. You can learn more about that on the Davis website.

Jealousy in a relationship, is it unhealthy?

Is it wrong to get jealous when some one else is moving close with our partner? People say that those who are not secure of themselves/confident of themselves get jealous. Do you agree with that? There are situations when you can't help getting jealous. Suppose if you don't get jealous at all, does it mean you don't care for the relationship enough? I think every one has his/her own limit and if some one crosses that limit he/she will definitely get jealous. A man may be loving truly his partner. At the same time if some very attractive female gets close to him, he may stumble and lose his morality. So there is nothing wrong in his woman getting jealous on the other woman in his life. If you say it is narrow mindedness to suspect your man, then you may lose him fully at one stage.

Can you smell that smell?

I love the smell of a list in the morning!
TeeVee
I watch Jeopardy. I don't Tivo it, but I try to be home by 7 p.m. so I can see it, I usually make it a few nights a week. I play along with the TV, saying the answers out loud, like I am competing. And when I know the answer and none of the contestants do, I say the answer LOUDER as if that will help. I also get irrationally attached to people on Jeopardy, for example I'll be rooting for one person to win and then I'll feel real, actual disappointment if they bet a lot on a daily double and lose the game, or if they lose in Final Jeopardy. I feel bad for them. Probably because I am loose in the brainial area.
Carry on my wayward son
The gardeners and I are in a fight. I'm not sure they know it yet, but we are, and they will know it for sure on Saturday. Last weekend they left me a nasty note on the timer mechanism for the sprinklers along the lines of "If you turn off the automatic timer again we'll report you to the landlord nah nah nah." So I called my landlord and told him I don't want mean notes from the gardeners and we are in a DROUGHT and the city has a list of ordinances (like you cannot serve people water in a restaurant unless they ask, I mean really) and if you break the water law you could be fined and if you exceed tier 1 usage your bill will cost more and WHO WILL PAY IT? The mean gardeners have the timer set to run six days a week for 45 minutes. PEOPLE. That is EXCESSIVE. So I turn off the timer and run the sprinklers manually because I don't want an $800 water bill. WILL THE MEAN GARDENERS PAY IT?
So I typed up a letter to the gardeners along those lines and attached the entire city ordinance with appropriate areas highlighted and tagged with post-it flags. Basically it says they either change the timer or they can pay my water bill. I am sure their love will grow exponentially for me.
And I can't believe I am going to say this, but I miss Francisco. I miss his strangely pruned shrubbery and bizarrely hacked trees. We used to have a beer, hang out, sometimes he wouldn't come for weeks and that was fine. The new gardeners lecture me and scold me and tell me not to walk on my own grass. They're so strict. Such grassophiles. And now we're in a fight.
The Ghetto Garden
Which brings me to this year's gardening efforts, which I plan to call The 2009 Ghetto Garden. It's my attempt to combine my countryass love of gardening with my need to annoy the gardeners. Thanks to the many readers who sent me this article about Lasagna Gardening, [no idea why the link only works half the time -- you may have to go to that site and search for it] I got the idea to use my old cardboard boxes from the storage shed out back to make walkways between my gardening piles and that will mean NO GRASS and the gardeners will probably have their little heads pop off as soon as they see it. I don't have the winter ahead (obviously) to make a real lasagna garden like in the article, but I'm going to use some of the techniques there since I can't till the soil (landlord's request -- and I have to stay on someone's good side.) On Saturday I plan to be up at the buttcrack of dawn running all my gardening errands. My budget for this masterpiece is $100, and I need soil and mulch and seedlings and other stuff. The gardeners come on Saturday so I'll be out shopping for the Ghetto Garden supplies when they find my awesome Water Wars note attached to the sprinklers, and then just as they are recovering from that they'll arrive next week to find a cardboard jungle.
This makes me so happy and I can't express why. Probably because I am evil, and should be destroyed.
No rest for the wicked
Of course I also have to work this weekend, which is going to cut into my gardening time. I don't know why I can't just drink wine and garden and read books for a living.
Reading is my cardio
I'm on this big Michael Crichton kick right now. It started right about two weeks ago in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and needed to read something that would take my mind off the thoughts that were keeping me awake. You know how you can worry about something and think about it so much that the thoughts start thinking you? That's where I was. So I picked up an old Michael Crichton favorite, Timeline. Of his books that I've read it's probably my favorite. And then I watched the movie on Netflix (I love the movies you can watch right on your laptop! Best invention EVER!) (Not that I loved the movie, by the way.) And then I re-read State of Fear and then Terminal Man (his stuff from the 1970s is great, I love the descriptions of L.A., the technology talk, the way no one had a cellphone.) Then I re-read Prey, and moved on to Jurassic Park which I finished yesterday and of course ordered the movie off Netflix to watch tonight, and now I'm on to The Lost World. Yesterday I realized all I have left at home is Congo, so I ordered all the books I don't have off Amazon.com because books count as essentials for me, and because I'm obsessed. Obsessed! I do this with books, I get into an author and need to read EVERYTHING that person has ever written, including postcards and napkin notes.
I like Crichton because he writes this insane dialogue, where an expert character will explain to a lesser, dumber character all the exposition -- not just little details, but HUGE tumbling blocks of exposition. It's his way of combining character development and technical exposition at the same time, and I think very few writers really pull that off and keep a story moving. I thought State of Fear was a little too heavy in the oratory but I never get bored with his books, I always want to know how it all ends.
Winter
The weather changed back, so the 100-degree spell ended and now it's nice and chilly and foggy out, like winter. You know, 65 degrees. Almost cold enough for a wool scarf.
Moving
Even though my office move is really boring and not dramatically far away, it's still weird. Moving is not my favorite thing to do. I forget sometimes how much I am a creature of habit, liking things to be steady and constant and yet nothing ever is. Everything changes. Things end, new things begin, nothing really ever stays the same. Sometimes that feels exhilarating because when life is crappy you can count on it to eventually change, which is hopeful. But sometimes it's disconcerting too, because you have to move along with the flow and nothing can be relied upon to stay the same forever.

Pieter-Dirk Uys (1945 - ) performer, satirist.

Uys was born in Cape Town, the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and a Berlin-born Jewish mother. He was active in theatre in Cape Town and Johannesburg in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed 20 plays and over 30 revues and one-man shows. In 1976 his soon-to-be major persona, Evita Bezuidenhout, ‘the most famous white woman in South Africa’ appeared. Inspired by Barry Humphries’ Dame Edna Everage, she was used by Uys to satirize and expose the absurdity of the then Apartheid regime. Most of their work was not censored, indicating closet approval by members of the ruling class. They also lampooned the sometimes hypocritical white liberals. Evita published her autobiography in 1990. After the first non-racial elections in 1994, Evita starred in a television series interviewing Nelson Mandela and other politicians. Pieter and Evita are also active in HIV/Aids campaigning, especially in teaching Aids awareness to children. In 2001 they gained a Truth and Reconciliation Award. They live in the town of Darling outside Cape Town where Pieter has converted the old railway station into a cabaret. In 2009 they wrote a play MacBeki: A Farce to be Reckoned With, which satirized contemporary politics reading Duncan as Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma as Macduff and Thabo Mbeki as Macbeth. Lionel Friedberg (dir). Across the Rubicon. With Pieter-Dirk Uys. South Africa 54 mins 1987. Pieter-Dirk Uys. A Part Hate, a Part Love: The Biography of Evita Bezuidenhout. Sandton, South Africa: Radix, 1990. Julian Shaw (dir & scr). Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story. With Pieter-Dirk Uys, Evita Bezuidenhout, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu. Australia 54 mins 2007. David Smith. “Jacob Zuma's ANC a target for South African satirists”. The Guardian. 19 April 2009. www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/satire-zuma-johannesburg-mbeki. “Pieter-Dirk Uys”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter-Dirk_Uys. www.evita.co.za. www.pdu.co.za.

Comfortable shoes

Fiat, Dick Cheney, Space Shuttle: What's the Buzz

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Fiat 500 (Searches increased by 441%). The future of American autos seems to rest on the cute frame of this Italian minicar. Dick Cheney (+299%). The former veep says the controversial radio personality Rush Limbaugh is the future of the Republican Party, not moderate Colin Powell (who backed Obama over McCain). Space Shuttle launch (+270%). The last mission to the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled for today. The long-planned trip aims to fix up the observatory station. "SNL" (+137%). The comedy sketch show will be adding a prime-time special to air this month, "Saturday Night Live Just Shorts." Andy Samberg will host. Halle Berry baby (+265). The star and her baby girl caught buzz in a photo stand-off with the Paparazzi. Follow us on Twitter

Not Forgotten

You're going to be so moved when you see the full set reveal for Gina's "Not Forgotten" tonight, a new set from Gina K Designs that will be a must in any stampers collection. Sometimes we need to hear fro people the most on days when we are missing our departed loved ones, and those times can be the hardest to find the right words for or right card. This set has you covered. This DP is one of my favorite prints from the Basic Grey Offbeat pack, aren't those colors and pattern amazing?? The brown in it is a perfect match for the new Gina K Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss CS I used for the base and mat. The greeting is beautiful enough to be it's own focal point when paired with a pretty DP or stamped background, here I framed it up in Petite Classic and Scalloped Nestabilities, sponging some bordering blue on before removing the die. The chocolate gingham I strung through the slit and tied is from the Floral Frenzy kit. What's this? Did I sew for you today? No, that was using my new favorite tool, the Scor Bug, I went all the way around the card using that and my Scor-Pal with three quick turns and faux- stitched it with a brown pen! I LOVE IT!! (and you will, too! Inside I added the strip of DP I had left after cutting the mat for the front and pierced and faux stitched across the top and bottom. I used the same shimmery CS from Paper Temptress for the inside, adding a greeting from the same set, along with a white paper flower adhered with a glue dot. Although many of the sentiments in the set are appropriate for those difficult "firsts", (anniversaries, holidays without a loved one), this greeting is a great one for any time you want to convey "I'm thinking of you both today, for no reason other than I love you..."For more inspiring sneak peeks from our team, please see: Carolyn King, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Gina Krupsky, Jessica Fick, Theresa Momber and our "In the Spotlight" designer Beverly Cole! Tonight is the party!!! I hope you can all join Gina K and her team ffrom 7-10 PM CST for one of our best and biggest releases ever!

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

c Waterloo Public Library 2008If you have read either of my previous reviews on the well crafted Maisie Dobbs series (over her first appearance in Maisie Dobbs and then in the fourth book, Messenger of Truth), you will recall that the series takes place in the years after World War I in England, and that the main character is Maisie Dobbs, who served as a nurse during the war, was injured, and now has opened her own practice as an investigator. I want to focus on the second book in the series, Birds of a Feather.As the book begins, Maisie's practice has grown enough to hire Billy as her assistant. We learned before that when Maisie served as a nurse in a field hospital, one of her patients was Billie. His leg was severely injured; however, due to the skill of the surgeon (who was also her boyfriend Simon). Billy feels tremendous loyalty and affection and credits Maisie and Simon for saving his leg. He and Maisie later meet in London, because he does odd jobs in the building where her office is located, and soon he is helping her in a number of ways.Maisie has also made a good impression on Scotland Yard's Inspector Stratton, who is investigating a murder. Maisie is hired to find the missing daughter of a very wealthy man, and soon uncovers a link to the murder...and further evidence of the damage done by a war that changed countless people's lives forever.The title of the book turns out to have a chilling meaning: in the efforts to get more young men to enlist in the military, some women took to handing out feathers on the streets, as if challenging men to step up and prove something. As Billy tells Maisie, many underage boys went off to fight--and die--in the war, while many others returned home with terrible wounds both in their bodies and minds. Maisie herself paid a terrible price for her service: a bomb exploded near her and Simon at the field hospital and she still bears a scar to show for it. Simon's physical injuries healed but he retreated within himself and is hospitalized in an institution for victims of shell shock.If books like Bubbles All the Way and the Stephanie Plum series seem a little light on substance, like cheesecake, the Maisie Dobbs series is a lavish feast with many courses. It's evident that Winspear does a great deal of research, and her work consistentally contains rich detail, description, and dialogue. All of this helps transport the reader back to the days of post-war London. Maisie is also a remarkable character--a strong, intuitive, intelligent and resourceful person. Each book gives readers additional insight into her life and a sense of better understanding this period of time. Birds of a Feather is available in the Adult Fiction area of the WPL.If you are interested in learning more about the books, or their author, visit Jacqueline Winspear's website.

Big Dreamzzz for Your Baby at The Corner Stork!

This is a great gift idea for every parent since we all have big dreams for our little ones. Available at The Corner Stork is this adorable pajama set, The Big Dreamzzz Baby MD. This unique, three-piece baby gift set where ECG stands for "Exceptionally Cute Garments." This adorable gift set comes with 100% cotton bodysuit that looks like sea foam-green "scrubs," mock hospital booties, a cozy cap that looks like a surgical cap, secure snap closure for the legs and the outfit comes in a white "doctor's bag" gift box. Check it out at The Corner Stork $24.99

Afternoon Links

Today in the links Karla Gomez cant seem to keep her clothes on, a couple of Mother Lovers, a mother of four gets naked for Playboy and the worlds fastest tow truck. Karla Gomez cant seem to keep her clothes on (Pics) Beth Fithen, Mother Of Four, Gets Naked For Playboy (Pics) Mark Twain Motivational Posters (Pics) Happy Birthday Audrina Patridge (Pics) How you Like Me Now: Hakeem Olajuwon Was Smooth (Video) Celebrate Mother’s Day With Jessica Biel Uncensored Clips From ‘Powder Blue’ (Video) The search for Internet’s biggest creep continues (Video) Gossip from a noted Bammeroid Buster (Sports) Mother Lover (Video) Pierced Glasses (Pics) World’s Fastest Tow Truck Driver (Video) Get out of the way! (Pic) Gabriela Endringer In May 2009 Issue Of FHM Portugal (Pics) Wag Watch #6: Aída Yéspica (Pics) Gamer Poster is Cool, Synopsis is Better (Movies) Straight to DVD - Yao Ming in My Left Foot (Sports) In Honor of LeBron’s First MVP, We Present an MVP Showdown (Video) The Zen Master Drops a F Bomb (Video) 15 of the Worlds Greatest Living Rocks (Pics) Afternoon LinksAfternoon LinksAfternoon Links

Bull Shark

Shooting Birds

This is my first post here at DadCentric and before I just kick the door down and start stomping around, I figured I should say... hi and that my name is Ryan. I maintain things over at my blog Pacing the Panic Room. You can also take a quick look HERE for a little more info about me. There. We are all properly introduced.So let's get started.When we offered to pack up the family and drive out to see our Midwife over on the East Coast of Florida and drink in her neck of the woods for an afternoon, my Wife and I thought this would be an awesome way to bond even more with her. After all, this woman is going to be teaching me how to check my wife's vagina so I can report the rate of dilation to her during the start of labor, the least we could do is go and see how she lives her life a little. When Jason first asked me if I wanted to figure out a way to contribute some photography over here at DadCentric, I honestly couldn't think of anything that would be interesting enough for a first post to get things rolling for him. I have been racking my brain, and finally a couple weeks ago, while my my wife Cole and I were finishing up a visit with our midwife, she asked if we wanted to come out to where she lived to check things out. She had been bragging about a blueberry farm and chicken ranch that she and her partner had been working on for awhile (and immediately the lights were flashing and bells dinging). I would not only get fresh eggs and blueberries out of the deal, but an opportunity to get old school and tap into my manishness and actually slaughter and prepare my own chickens... there it was. My first photo project for DadCentric was born. I was excited to have this idea for my first post. I figured a post about killing your own food for your family was a good first hello, and there's nothing more Dadly then that. But I wasn't sure how to bring it all together, until I realized I could take you all on a trip from the slaughter to a delicious dinner. I got it! DadCentric was missing some super manly cooking posts. This blog needed a cooking post! With pictures! So here we go. Here is dinner... I named the big one Broccoli (they say never to name them.) As in I will be "chopping broccoli." That was awful. I'm rarely funny. After surveying their property and admiring all the breeds of chickens, I wandered to the very back corner of the lot. I just knew these poor bastards were dinner as soon as I saw them. It was such an odd notion to see your food standing there looking back at you. "Hi, you're protein and you have been delicious my entire life." I have never killed anything before, the exception being some dumb fish I pulled out of the Gulf of Mexico, but nothing on this level. Nothing at all like what I was preparing myself to do. My father grew up on a farm; he was the youngest boy of 3 and this was second nature to him. I on the other hand grew up watching my mother sift thru plastic packages of chicken, trying to figure out which was the best buy and had the least fat. Now here I was getting ready to learn how to turn this clucking friend into food. Just to the side and out of view from this corner coop was this ominous little piece of turf. I didn't need anyone to tell me what went on here. When asked how I would like to select which one of my chickens I wanted to prepare first, I just figured, which ever one walks to the door and steps out. There was no panic, or break for it, no escape attempts. As soon as the door opened, a bird stepped out, and put up no fight when picked up and walked over to a chair. The chair was positioned just behind the coop. Here the bird was placed into a lap, on its back, and pet until it was so relaxed it fell into sleep coma. While witnessing this hypnosis by this chicken whisperer, the bird was thanked for the food it was going to give, and no sorries were said, just graciousness and calm soothed over the bird. The feet were bound and secured, so that after the head was severed it could be hung upside down to bleed out. Which only takes a surprising minute. There was no ringing of the neck, or chopping off the head and watching a bird bounce and throw itself around the yard. Immediately following the hatchet blow, the bird is hung from the hook. From there it is taken to a pot of scolding water at about 170 degrees and dipped in for about a minute and a half. This opens up the pores and loosens all the feathers for plucking. The plucking is tedious and the most labor intensive. And by far the messiest part. It took about a good 30 minutes to clean two birds. As soon as they are cleaned, they are put on ice and we finished preparing the other birds. These weighed in at about 5 and a half pounds. They were corn fed, ranged chickens. almost no fat what so ever on these guys. While plucking the chicken I realized for the first time how clean this process was. I immediately felt good about what I was preparing. For my entire life, chicken has been this thing that you purchase in a store in a plastic wrapper. As soon as it is in your home and unwrapped, it is treated like a bio-hazard. Don't let the juice get on anything, scrub your kitchen, wash your hands with hot water, keep it away from everything. Raw chicken makes you sick. It was this slimy wet germ ridden thing. Here I was with this fresh chicken and there was none of that fear. The next step is to lop off the feet at the joint, and then you can trim up the neck some. I left out the gutting pictures for the sensitive readers, but after you trim the drum sticks, you squeeze out the colon, you cut a triangle into the butt and reach in and pull out the insides. All of the innards on these birds are cooked down and fed to some happy dogs that reside on the property. Next, some final washing and last looks for any missing feathers before storing the bird on ice for transport home. And there you have it. It took about 2 hours all said to prepare 4 birds. Looks just like it does at the grocery store, don't it? Maybe minus the miserable existence of factory farming. And minus the hormone injections. I won't get into all of that. I have eaten my fair share of chicken buckets with no regrets. So on to dinner. It was getting late into the afternoon and we didn't want to stop at the store so I decided I would just make do with what we had at home to prepare this guy. There had been an old method of grilling a roaster chicken that I hadn't tried before and figured while I was on a roll I would just go for it. So we decided on Beer Butt Chicken for dinner. For anyone not familiar, Beer Butt Chicken is a method of grilling your bird with a 16 oz cool can of beer shoved up its ass filled with yummy aromatic goodness. I wasn't exactly sure how to do it, but figured it would be all the better to make it up as I went along. We got the bird ready and washed and all set to cook. I got the grill going and set it to full heat. Waited for it to hit 400. I rubbed the bird down with coconut oil and added salt and pepper to taste. Cracked open a 16 oz Pabst Blue Ribbon and drank about a 1/4 of it. I took a can opener and got that top off of the beer. Then I Filled the can with fresh crushed garlic, shallots, and lemon, and oiled up the can for insertion into the bird's ass. The can slides right in, and holds firm. So then I carefully took the bird and placed it onto the grill, using the legs to support the whole thing. Before I closed the lid I sliced up a fresh pineapple and got it grilling with the bird. Careful closing that lid down on the grill. This was a tight squeeze and I got lucky that it all fit. While I let the bird get cooking I wanted to make a nice Barbecue sauce for basting. I didn't have any sauce so i made my own, which is always better in the end then anything I buy at the store. Except for when I can afford Stubbs. So good. I realized I was out of ketchup for a base, but scored when I remembered our ketchup packet stash. So to the ketchup I added, salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic, green onions, shallots, worcestershire sauce, cumin, brown sugar, vinegar, and the amazing and magical sriracha sauce (for a little kick). I started basting the chicken once it was about halfway done. I used a liberal amount and really got the flavor cooked in. This is the finished bird. It looks like it should be reading a newspaper, right? I let this cook about 2 hours. I prepared roasted corn with this meal, chopped up a watermelon to go with the grilled pineapple, steamed saffron rice and prepared black beans for a side. I took the bird off the fire and chopped it up and laid it out over the beans and rice. A really great filling meal, the chicken was juicy and delicious and worth every bit of fuss. While we feasted on this dinner, my wife looked over at me, and with a mouth full of food and pride, she said, "I guess I can stop worrying about what we would do if we were ever stranded on an island." Ha! Like they would have a cool Pabst 16 ouncer on an island. fin

Who like smoking most?

Women: biologically the pickier sex?

A while back, a scientific revelation was made when researchers in Germany decided to investigate how exactly women go about finding a mate. Through extensive research (conducted through a controlled speed dating event), lead researcher Peter Todd of the cognitive science program at Indiana University, Bloomington, concluded that when it comes to dating, we follow the Darwinian principle: women are the choosier sex. The reason? Sex can be much "costlier" for the fairer sex, according to an episode of the Discovery Channel's "The Science Of Sex Appeal". Apparently men can have sex and walk away, yet women can face nine months of pregnancy and years of childcare. Hence women look carefully for a man with "good genes and deep pockets". The episode also talked about a survey carried out in Austria which showed that women can change their perception of a man from the car he drives. (Strange, but true.) This got me wondering: if women are indeed biologically inclined to be pickier than the gents, is that the real reason so many women are still struggling to find a man? Is it our biological make-up that prevents us from "settling" with one bloke and forcing us to think that there's always going to be someone better suited to us out there? ...

R&B's Ciara writes songs, her own ticket on 'Fantasy Ride'

NEW YORK - "You will never ever catch me," a sexy cartoon figure warns in the album art for Ciara's new Fantasy Ride.She is called Super C, "which is also my nickname," says Ciara, 23, flipping through the CD jacket after a photo shoot. Unlike Mariah Carey's Bianca or Beyonc's Sasha Fierce, C is not her alter ego. "She's my superhero character, and the superhero in all of us. She's the inner strength and drive that we need to overcome obstacles."A conversation with Ciara Harris is in part a friendly lecture on self-empowerment. "I used to be insecure about being tall," says the 5-foot-8 R&B singer, also a model who has been represented by Wilhelmina. (She's now a free agent.) "When I was younger, it seemed like all the cute girls in school were shorter. Now I love my height. It's like, 'OK, girl it's beautiful, embrace it, love it.' It's all good."She describes Fantasy Ride, originally conceived as a three-disc set ("I had planned on doing more songs") as a reflection "of me being confident and strong, and somewhat aggressive but in a fun, playful way, and a sensual way. I'm getting older, becoming a woman, and learning to embrace who I am."That doesn't mean Ciara has forsaken the fondness for collaboration that has marked her work dating back to her 2004 triple-platinum debut, Goodies, which featured Ludacris, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly and T.I. In turn, she has popped up on tracks by Elliott, Bow Wow and Enrique Iglesias.Ludacris and Elliott are guests on Fantasy Ride, along with Chris Brown and The Dream. Young Jeezy and Justin Timberlake respectively appear on the singles Never Ever and Love Sex Magic. The songs reached No. 6 and No. 13 respectively on USA TODAY's urban and top 40 airplay charts. Each has surpassed 550,000 in digital sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.A bevy of co-writers and producers including Rodney Jerkins, Tricky Stewart and Polow Da Don also pitch in. "I love writing, but it's always cool to mesh up different worlds and create something new. I also wanted to make sure this record felt different from what I'd given fans before, while showing my growth."Ciara, who was inspired by Janet and Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna, is also pursuing an acting career. She appears with Lynn Whitfield and Patti LaBelle in the DVD adaptation of the gospel musical Mama, I Want To Sing! later this year.Though Ciara says she "wouldn't mind doing more musicals," she is itching to do an action-adventure movie, "maybe something like Die Hard. Or I could have an Angelina Jolie moment, do something like she did in Tomb Raider. I love that kind of stuff the power in it, you know?"Another goal is a clothing line. "It will take time, but it's on my list of things to accomplish." Jennifer Lopez has been a source of inspiration: "She's really dope with fashion."Former Vibe and Spin editor Alan Light considers Ciara's "multimedia approach" practical. "Certainly, she'll continue to get played on radio, but there's no reliable measure that airplay translates into record sales anymore. Having the modeling and the acting and the guest appearances is more imperative in terms of building a mass career."It makes for a hectic schedule, which in June will include a gig supporting Britney Spears on her European tour."I haven't been able to do anything much other than work and sleep," says Ciara, who aims for six hours of shut-eye a night, "though lately it's been more like four."Ciara isn't sharing downtime with anyone special at the moment. "Music is my love right now. When people ask me what my fantasies are, I always say, 'To be married, to be happy with a family.' But everything's about timing."Right now I'm getting to learn a lot about myself, and that's cool."

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