portrait of a man from a village in Southern India, by babasteve

child from Zimbabwe

child from Zimbabwe, by babasteve

Woman from Mozambique

portrait of a woman from Mozambique, by babasteve

holy.

cow.

y'all are NUTS!!!!!!!!!

and i'm working on forgiving all of you for sabotaging my blog! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i've just spent the past hour and a half sitting on my couch laughing my butt off.

THIS is what i come home to!!!!???????

OMIGOSH!

for the record, i have no idea how ANY new readers can make ANY sense of whatever wednesdays. its madding, i tell ya. maddening.

so, yeah, i'm slightly confused about just what all happened around here, but y'all left JUST ENOUGH of a trail for me to figure things out. correct me if i'm wrong:
tam made a VERY WEAK attempt to close out WW - which was actually more effort than i expected of her.
but alece, and the rest of you, had none of it!
then there was much talk of a blog prank/sabotage/surprise.
y'all decided to take over thursday's post with some random game.
cathi spent an entire evening inviting others to the party.
a few of you stopped by to welcome me home.
then cathi sang me a song while she couldn't sleep. (yes. i nearly cried. ...from laughing so much!)
and.
um.
did i get all that right?

i feel so loved.

and sabotaged.

all at the same time!

suffice it to say, i missed y'all.

:)

Dabei geht es, wie sie auch beschreibt, um Globalisierungsopfer. Aufgebaut ist dieses Stöckchen auf Ingo Vogelmann: Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar

Das Thema Globalisierungsopfer merken wir gerade bei den seit gestern Ex - Beschäftigten der Fa. Nokia. Natürlich erwartet die Welt von Deutschland, dass wir nicht wie in Asien Handys zusammen schrauben wollen. Andererseits gibt uns unser Schulsystem keine andere Wahl.

Trotz vergangener Kritiken an Hauptschulen, Pisa - Studien und der Tatsache, dass Bildung nirgendwo auf der Welt so gut und günstig zu bekommen ist als in Deutschland. Nur nutzt sie nicht jeder.

Als ich vor 20 Jahren nach Deutschland gekommen bin und natürlich auf die Hauptschule musste, haben meine Mitschüler sich daran hochgerissen, dass ihnen keiner sagen darf, was sie lernen sollen und dass sie selber wissen, wie das alles so geht. Und das im zarten Alter von 12 Jahren.

Die meisten davon haben es nicht weiter als zu einem Baumarkt geschafft. Zum Handy zusammenschrauben hätte es bei den meisten nicht gereicht.

Trotz alledem ist die Zukunft für die Ex - Beschäftigten von Nokia nach dem gleichen Muster gestrickt, wie in Ingo Vogelmann: Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar beschrieben.

Können wir da helfen? Die einzelnen sicher nicht, aber ich denke, wenn man den Namen Nokia aus seinem Leben raus lässt, würde es dem Unternehmen über kurz oder lang nicht gut tun.

Wie können wir das bewerkstelligen? Z. B. ein Unternehmen wie die Deutsche Telekom, oder T-Com, oder wie auch immer sie sich jetzt schimpfen: RAUS AUS DEM VERKAUF MIT NOKIA!

Um auf das Stöckchen zurück zu kommen: Ingo Vogelmann hat dieses Stöckchen in die Welt hinausgeworfen, um im speziellen Fall einen Beitrag zu leisten und ich finde, wir sollten ihn unterstützen.

Das Stöckchen fliegt weiter an:

BARBARA
VIRGINIA

Bitte einfach einen Link auch auf Ingos Post
http://www.ingovogelmann.com/2008/05/16/die-wurde-des-menschen-ist-unantastbar/
setzen und die PayPal-Spenden-Email finance(at)l2music.net angeben. PayPal ist sicher, schnell und man benötigt keine Kreditkarte.

Ihr könnt natürlich auch schreiben ohne zu spenden, bzw. spenden ohne zu schreiben, beides oder auch weder schreiben noch spenden.

Ich persönlich habe vor nicht all zu langer Zeit für einen (anderen) guten Zweck gesammelt und aus der Aktion ist noch etwas Geld übrig. Das werde ich spenden:-)

Marvin Minsky
The Emotion Machine (2006) 61

I noticed there are some Swedish men who follow this blog and as women (Swedish or otherwise), we are curious as to how your side of the species flirts. Some are general questions...some very specific.

Do Swedish men give compliments randomly to women? If not, are they trying to hit on the girls?

Do you think women should hit on men or vice versa?

Do you celebrate Valentine's day? Why or why not?

Do people flirt in public? On the train, at the store, etc...

What are signs of flirtatious behavior?

Why do men need to be on the verge of blacking out to hit on women?

Does the 'player' culture exist?

What do you expect to happen on a first date? (not a first encounter, if that was the case)

Are Swedish women really that boring? Or are the Swedish men really that boring?

Indulge, please, if you would like....what type of genra (spelling? where did my spell check go?) do you play?

Today's Shutter Sisters post is on photographing hidden messages! Andrea wrote, "I was walking with a friend who was overwhelmed with work and being pregnant and trying to keep up with all of it. She was in tears by the end of the conversation, not knowing what she should do. At some point we looked down and noticed that we were standing on a bike path that said 'Slow down.' "

Well, THIS was a quandary. So far, I have been meeting the daily challenges with photos I shot previously. But I KNEW I didn't have any hidden message photos (and I didn't think hidden Mickeys quite hit the mark!). So I definitely needed to take a new picture. But we are leaving in an hour to go to some friends' house for a game day.

As I was pondering my options, I looked up and saw the photo above, perfectly framed. It was just the right message for this week, which was not an easy parenting week. It was a great reminder that emotionally, my children are delicate and fragile and do need to be handled with care.

(P.S. More picture magic: Emily lately does NOT want her picture taken, so I was pleased to be granted permission to take this picture of her this morning!)

Saturday morning is pretty much the only morning of the week when I don't have to set my alarm clock to wake-up earlier than I would if I didn't set my alarm clock. During the week it's typically set for 5:10 AM, and it typically wakes me up. On Sunday mornings it's usually set for 6:30 AM, but I usually wake up before that time. And then there's Saturday mornings - no set alarm clock, but I still wake-up before the dawn. I think that it has everything to do with me totally being 'a morning person'. I've been waking up between 4 AM and 6 AM for the past 30 years. Before my current Air Force / Department Of Defense career I delivered newspapers early in the morning before school.

This morning I ventured on over to Florida City (where all of the food is at), and I ate a MASSIVE breakfast at the Cracker Barrel courtesy of my longtime waitress Debbie. Incidentally Debbie is one of the few good people that was an integral part of the last few years of my previous life who is now a part of my new Life. Oh yeah - the meal was livin' large and outrageously scrumptious. This just in - I'm up a pound or two to 166.

Saturday mornings are also 'laundry mornings' in my household. Every 38 minutes I'm washing a new load of dirty clothes, and every 48 minutes I'm drying a new load of clean clothes. I'm efficient like that.

And so there ya go - the debut edition - the pilot episode if you will of 'Saturday Morning Shenanigans'. We'll do it all over again next week, and in next week's edition I'm gonna reveal a secret passion (and talent) of mine that developed over the course of a decade of Saturday mornings back in the 1970s into the 1980s. It's a 'can't-miss' episode that all of Life Pointe Church will be talking about the next day at Homestead Bayfront Park. You won't want to miss it pal ! 

Gay Activist sends condolences to her long term partner, family and friends, and celebrates her many achievements for our community.

Obituary, Montreal Gazette

Friday 9th – Business Assist Main Street, Ambulance Assist 121 State Street, Assist Springfield PD Case Relay, Motor Vehicle Accident Marton Road, Animal Problem 183 Main Street, Vin Check 165 Main Street, Parking Problem Clough Ave, Trespassing Bridge Street, Citizen Assist 289 County Road, Found Property Main Street, Juvenile Problem 19 Ascutney Street, Vin Check 782 County Road, Citizen Assist 2 Wells Street, Suspicious Person 146 Ascutney Street, Motorist Assist County Road, Citizen Assist 29 Union Street, Juvenile Problem Buena Vista Ave, Citizen Assist 8 Wells Street, Assist Ambulance 68 Jarvis Street,

Saturday 10th – Property Watch, Animal Problem Cole Hill Road, Assist Woodstock PD Serve Citation to Djaun Smith For Possession of Stolen Property, Suspicious Activity 7 Central Street, Overdose 546 County Road, Citizen Dispute Kirsten Gould vs. Barbara Griggs 17 Main Street, Citizen Assist / Landlord Tenant Issues 24 Durkee Street, Assist Brownsville Constable, Business Assist Main Street, Motor Vehicle Accident 22 Ascutney Street, ATV Complaint 2757 Route 5,

Sunday 11th – Assist Windsor County Sheriff With Click It or Ticket Program Price Chopper Parking Lot, Elizabeth Thurston Involved in Citizen Dispute Jarvis Street, 911 Hang up 289 County Road, Property Watch,

Monday 12th – Trespassing Complaint 29 Union Street, Vin Check 21 Cherry Street, Assist Springfield PD Case Relay, Hit & Run Main Street, Citizen Assist Route 44, Assist Ambulance 34 Maxwell Perkins Lane, Fraud Investigation Terri Cardillo vs. Brian Sears County Road, Assist Ambulance 49 Cedar Hill Drive, Noise Complaint Disruptive Group 63 Main Street,

Tuesday 13th – Welfare Check 68 Jarvis Street, Theft 19 Ascutney Street, Trespassing Old Mill Pond Condo’s, Assist Claremont NH PD With Investigation Information, Assist Ambulance 72 68 Jarvis Street. Suspicious Activity Dewey Ave Aaron Settles Arrested For Possession of Marijuana,

Wednesday 14th – Business Assist Main Street, Assist Springfield PD Case Relay, Vandalism 17 State Street, Citizen Assist 203 Main Street, Vehicle Vandalism 65 State Street, 911 hang Up 2725 Route 5, Trespassing 65 State Street, Suspicious Activity 2757 Route 5, Assault 59 State Street,

Thursday 15th – Burglary 119 Main Street, Found Property 65 State Street, Burglary 28 River Street, 2nd Vehicle Vandalism 65 State Street, Property Watch, Medical Assist 8 Timson Ave, Assist Weathersfield PD Service Of Restraining Order On Richard Robbins Route 5 South, Assist Weathersfield PD Obtain Restraining Order For Diane Cushman Re Her Daughter 29 Union Street, Business Assist Main Street, Welfare Check

Doing good for others makes us feel good.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study led by Michael Steger, assistant professor of educational and counseling psychology in the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development.

Steger launched the study to find out what makes people happier: seeking pleasure or taking the harder road of trying to become a better person.

“I’ve always been interested in learning how people find meaning in life,” he said.

To answer that question, he and his colleagues asked a group of 65 college students to complete an online survey each day for three weeks. The students were asked to note how much time they spent in pleasure-seeking activities and how much time they spent in activities such as helping others and listening to friends’ problems.

The survey-takers also were asked whether they felt happy or sad and how purposeful their lives felt.

Those who spent more time in meaningful activities were happier and felt more life purpose than those who mainly sought pleasure, the study showed. To make sure the finding was valid, Steger’s team administered a nearly identical survey to another group of students over a four-week period.

The conclusion was the same.

“The results (of the study) present an enormously optimistic picture of people that, as a cynic, I was very happy to see,” Steger said.

The study, headed for publication in the Journal of Research in Personality, isn’t the first research project Steger has undertaken to learn more about why human beings react to life in different ways. Last year, while still at the University of Minnesota, he published a study showing that the way people express many positive personality traits often is a result of genetics.

Steger now is updating a section, “Meaning in Life,” for the second edition of “Handbook of Positive Psychology” published by Oxford University Press.

“More research on life meaning could help psychologists unite the many ways they try to understand the events, states, traits and institutions that define and determine human happiness,” he said. “Meaning matters.”

The latest issue of Vogue Germany features Claudia Schiffer as a totally topless catwoman. Not that posing sans-clothing is anything new for celebrities, but the recent rash of nudie portraits for Vogue in particular has us wondering: is naked the new black? How long before we see C-List celebs trying to keep up by taking it off for lesser known mags? Can we expect to see Courtney Love or Britney Spears reviving their fledgling careers by posing for Mirabella?

P.S. Her nipples appear to be airbrushed out. Unless she suffers from a rare disease where they're invisible. In which case, Claudia, my sincere apologies.

just want to ask for help,  i promise if i'll get more than 140, i'll donete rest to children, ill children or who dasn't have where to live, for children who have problems.

to donate http://rpgifts.net/good_people.aspx

I wish I was heaps gangster.

If I was one of those "hot curvy Asian chicks" (as if they really exist), I could be the token Asian chicks in rap videos. HA HA

One mistake would be fatal for me. I should prepare my self to take punishment forms started from physique's torture untill sharp-heartbreaking insults. Added with pulled out the things she ever gave to me included Tommy (my little pekingesse) which was suddenly becoming night-cries and dreams I met him again. She handed him to unknown person and I couldn't do anything but crying and crying.

When I was six by then Mother and Me having dinner in a restaurant. Just because I failed counting one 'till a hundred in English, she left me behind just like that. I sat there, didn't know what to do and how I could get home was a horrible story.

When I was nine, around the time we were in park, she pointed to one girl who was playing jumped rope. She's very smart, she said, not like me and she wished she could have one. I know what she's trying to say. In recalling this I'm very surprised : how is that as a child I knew what's in her mind!
When she asked for my opinion, I knew by then what she wanted was to find deeply-sad on my face of dissapointment and begging for her to pull back her wishes replacing me with that jumped-rope girl.
Just the opposite, I answered, "Why don't you find out if she wants becoming your daughter?" - more and more she went angry and left me behind.

Finnaly I found out the formula to conquer her heart, merely to have her love. By doing what she wanted, everything would be fine.
But it wasn't save anything. During struggling to win her heart, I would find an obstacle which made me nervous and ended up with mistakes. This point she never knew : when I get nervous I couldn't think reasonable, nervousness aimed me to the next mistakes and that's what she disliked.

When I was eleven I driven out home since 10 minutes late from school and had the same as I didn't know how to run the sewing machine. There was father who kept calling me back from Aunt. But it didn't change anything eventhough Aunt advised her over and over again.

When I was thirteen Mother done an adjustmen soon as given birth for Careen, my little sister. She didn't drive me out anymore but left home anytime I made a mistake. She tormented my soul in purpose and I should down on her knees, begging for her to come back home, it happened continuosly. She always had a plenty ways to knock me down in front of Father. If I have made a mistake or there something she thought unsuitble, she would left for Aunt and slipped a note on the table next to the phone written "It's all my fault".

One day with restless faced, My Father came and begged me to behave good and pleased her. "Do it for Careen" he said. Mother always leaving home without my little sister who still needed her milks.

So of course, one night I pondered this.
I didn't know what exactly I have done, where I went wrong, why they're all became my faults, even I wondered about what "mistake" is?
Then followed by questions about what is "lack" compared with "carelessness" which combined with " foolishness" ?

For Mother everything must be perfect, mistakes are un-acceptable.
If I abled to do this I would win her heart. A mistake which I thought was a "carelessness" or just say it's my "foolishness" would threatened my position.

I finally became conscious that hopes were just like a leak-bottle. It wouldn't ever fulfilled with water. Expected she would change was just like waiting for the moon falls down on to my palm.
All whole my live, I realized, I would always to appear perfect in front of her.
Perfect means having her love, the restricted love which would dissapear soon as you made a new mistake. The situation would never ever change. That's the fact.

When I was fifteen, 2 hours after she angry and insulted me that bad, calling me as un-expected child, I decided leaving home to nowhere.
By then I hope my name along with starving waif picture of mine unfurled on the local newspaper followed by words "Missing".
But it never happened, even I never being asked to another relatives whether I alive or already dead.
I believed since then that she was trying to be honest to me, that I never been expected. As if I'm vanished swallowed down to the earth.

Seeing as I’ve begun to bite the hand that feeds me, I might as well do the job properly and gnaw the fucker right off.

I work for Corgan Research, one of the country’s oldest MR firms. It sucks and is run by a complete maniac called Barry Corgan - big C, little organ, or so we suspect. Barry inherited the company from the founder, his father, so he’s always been rich and has never had to relate to people. He dresses like Gregory Peck in The Boys From Brazil, only shorter and without the moustache or charisma and a Barry’s a bit more of a nazi. The only way he ever communicates with anyone is by shouting at them. Thank fuck he hardly ever condescends to visit us. The odd occasions he does is usually to gloat about his empire to boozed up potential clients.

As head of the company he has established a culture of fear, pettiness and disaffected slovenliness. Thanks to a careful maneuvering around, or in some cases a complete flouting of, industrial relations and tax laws everyone in the entire building is paid well below any industry minimums. This results in everyone only doing the bare minimum they can get away with without getting fired and ripping the system for anything they can whenever opportunity arises. Barry treats every employee as if they are a thief and this sort of punitive management style filters down through the whole organisation. He routinely fires people on the spot so everyone fears and despises him, hates their job, and is suspicious of their co-workers. Interviewers are the lowest of the low, everyone has more power than us and despite the fact that none of them would have jobs if we weren't here, I understand that most consider us some sort of subhuman troglodytes. Unfortunately, they're occasionally correct. It's a truly demoralising work environment.

The two main surveys we do are one for a big tobacco company on smoking habits. Our conspiracy theory has me certain the information they get from this is filed away for future legal cases to prove the vast majority of smokers smoke more than one brand of cigarettes so, when you try to sue them because of your lungs are rotting and your cock's fallen off, they can say How do you know it was OUR cigarettes that caused your cancer? Pretty evil, huh? 

The other is for The Cuntingwealthy Bank, interviewing their customers about their level of satisfaction with the service they receive. This is gold because we have to rewrite customers’ actual responses into less offensive, more company-positive messages that are then passed on to the branches to contribute to employee KPIs and are posted on the internal website so the shareholders can see what a great company they own. Also a wee bit evil, no? It goes against everything market research is supposed to represent. If there was ever integrity in the simple gathering of information to find truths it has been corrupted by Barry and his corporate shit-sucking mates. It makes me wonder why we bother calling people at all for this project - we could just make the shit up, that is what we’re doing most of the time anyway.

The problem at its root is that the business of market research is a fiction. Our company produces nothing. Numbers on a page that are the result of meticulously engineered questionnaires tailored to produce the exact outcomes desired by the client. The manner in which the work is carried out is completely irrelevant. You could pay people top dollar for the best work or, like Barry does, pay the bare minimum to keep yourself out of jail and say bollocks to quality. The end results are indistinguishable from one another, so unless you have any interest in people as anything other than earning potential, it makes sense to create a shithole like Corgan’s.

This does not, however, change the fact that Barry Corgan is an evil dog-felching bastard and his empire is thoroughly contemptible. I believe, if you employ people, you have a duty to provide them with an environment where, even if their job is meaningless, they feel as though they are respected, they're paid properly and treated with basic human dignity. Barry Corgan is a rotten-to-the-core-son-of-a-whore and I would happily beat the fucker to a stinking bloody pulp and then do a shit in his hat. Fuck you Barry!!!

Maria Bonnevie
age: 34
nationality: Swedish
watched in: I am Dina (2002), Reconstruction (2003)
favorite role:

I know, I've watched so little of her but what I've watched I've loved. So I hope I get to watch more.

Keanu Reeves
age: 43
nationality: Lebanese / American
watched in: Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Dracula (1992), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Little Buddha (1993), Speed (1994), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Chain Reaction (1996), Feeling Minnesota (1996), The Devil's Advocate (1997), The Matrix (1999), The Replacements (2000), The Gift (2000), Sweet November (2001), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Something's Gotta Give (2003), Constantine (2005), The Lake House (2006)
favorite role:

And before you get mad at his "high" ranking (AKA is Keanu Reeves better than Helen Mirren????!!!!!) again, this is not a countdown by rank because it's too tiring to rank them by preference. Keanu actually almost didn't make it because, well, he's not really a great actor. He's good enough. Enjoyable to watch. And what he lacks in talent he makes up with being extremely pretty. Haha. Anyway, let's just say that there's something about Keanu that I can't resist.

Catherine Deneuve
age: 64
nationality: French
watched in: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964), Belle de Jour (1967), La Sirene du Mississipi (1969), La Dernier Metro (1980), Dancer in the Dark (2000)
favorite role:

Fanny Ardant
age: 59
nationality: French
watched in: La Femme d'a Cote (1981), Vivement Dimanche! (1983), Elizabeth (1998), Paris Je T'aime (2006)
favorite role:

Maybe I love them more because I love Francois Truffaut but whatever. They're still formidable actresses...and women.

Paul Rudd
age:39
nationality: American
watched in: Clueless (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Object of My Affection (1998), Friends (2002-2004), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy 2004), P.S. (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), Veronica Mars (2007), Knocked Up (2007)
favorite role:

I know, he has better roles than clueless but I'm sentimentally attached to it. I just enjoy everything he does, even though he's been doing mostly supporting work. Well, as the saying goes: It's not how small the role is, it's how you use it.

Rachel Weisz
age: 37
nationality: English
watched in: Stealing Beauty (1996), Chain Reaction (1996), Swept from the Sea (1997), The Mummy (1999), Sunshine (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), About a Boy (2002), Constantine (2005), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Fountain (2006), Eragon (2006), My Blueberry Nights (2007)
favorite role:

She's just so beautiful to watch on screen. (umm...haha. sorry, my mind doesn't seem to want to function anymore]

Alan Rickman
age: 62
nationality: English
watched in: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Rasputin (1996), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Love Actually (2003), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
favorite role:

Ah, yes. I first saw him in Rasputin and fell in love (though, how I could fall in love with him as Rasputin, who's not supposed to be lovable beats me.) Of course his beautiful beautiful (and not to mention sexy) voice helps. I even love him as Snape, and it's not a loveable role. It's that voice, I say, it mesmerizes.

Michelle Pfeiffer
age: 50
nationality: American
watched in: Dangerous Liasons (1988), Batman Returns (1992), Dangerous Minds (1995), To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999), The Story of Us (1999), What Lies Beneath (2000), Stardust (2007)
favorite role:

Totally not related to her acting but I can't believe she's 50. She really, really doesn't look it.

ps: ignorance is a bliss??