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A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Letter to Charles Sumner (Boston, 1864). https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2233,
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Spooner criticised Senator Sumner of Massachussetts for not being rigorous enough in his condemnation of the unconstitutionality of slavery. Like all politicians, according to Spooner, Sumner made too many compromises once he entered office.
The text is in the public domain.
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Some four or five weeks ago, as I was in conversation with Dr. S. G. Howe and James M. Stone, they both mentioned that, on their first reading my argument on "the Unconstitutionality of Slavery," they had been convinced of its truth; and Dr. Howe added, "Sumner always said it was true, but somehow or other he could not think it was practical."
A few days afterwards I saw Dr. Howe, and repeated to him what I had understood him to say of you, as above, and asked him whether I had understood him correctly. He said that I had; "that is, he had understood you to say, in effect, that you did not see how my argument could be met." I gave him some of my reasons for wishing his explicit testimony on the point, and he added, "I think I cannot be mistaken about it." He finally said, "I will put the question distinctly to him tomorrow."
On the 23d ult. I met him again, and he said that he did put the question to you the next day, in this way: "Mr. Sumner, I have heretofore understood you to say that Mr. Spooner's position was logical, and that you did not see how it could be answered;" and appealed to you to know whether he had understood you correctly. He said you acknowledged that he had, and that you added that "a judge, who was inclined to decide doubtful questions in favor of liberty, would be obliged to decide that question [of the constitutionality of slavery] in the same way."
At this last conversation, Francis W. Bird was present, and corroborated Dr. Howe's statement by saying that you had made a similar statement about my argument to him, at Washington, some few years ago. He added that he said to you, "Why, then, in Heaven's name, do you not take that position?" And that you made no reply?
In the foregoing account I have given faithfully the substance of their testimony, and very nearly their precise words, as taken down immediately after the last conversation.
I cannot doubt that their statements are true, for I had testimony, nearly as direct and conclusive, to the same point, a dozen years ago, from two or three different sources.Edition: current; Page: [2]
Since December 1851, you have been under oath, as a Senator, to support the Constitution; and have made the subject of Slavery your principal topic of discussion; and have made, during all that time, the loudest professions of devotion to liberty. Yet during all the same period you have been continually conceding that the constitution recognized the Slaveholder's right of property in his slaves; that those held in slavery had no rights under the constitution; and that the general government could not interfere for their liberation.
It now appears from the testimony of Dr. Howe and Mr. Bird, that all these concessions against liberty, have been made in violation of your own convictions of truth, and consequently in violation of your official oath; and that while for a dozen years, you have been making the most bombastic pretensions of zeal for freedom, you have really been, all that time, a deliberately perjured traitor to the constitution, to liberty, and to truth.
And this you have been, that you might be a Senator from Massachusetts, rather than remain in private life, and do your part towards educating the people into a knowledge of the true character of the constitution. And having once entered the Senate through the door of perjury, and treason to liberty, you have been obliged to adhere to that position, because, by advocating the truth, you would be convicting yourself of your previous falsehood.
A Senator, who, from such motives, with loud professions of liberty on his lips, falsifies, in behalf of slavery, the constitution of his country, which he has sworn to support, is as base a traitor as any professed soldier of liberty can be, who should, for money, deliver up a post which he had sworn to defend. This treason, it appears, you have been continually guilty of for twelve long years; and your ostentatious professions of zeal for liberty during that time, have, as I think, been made, in great part, with a view to hide the real treason you were committing.
My argument, in its leading features, was published in 1845. And several additions to, and confirmations of it, have been made at intervals since.
If that argument is true, slavery, from its first introduction into this country, to this time, has never had any legal or constitutional existence; but has been a mere abuse, tolerated by the strongest party, without any color of legality, except what was derived from false interpretations of the constitution, and from practices, statutes, and adjudications, that were in plain conflict with the fundamental constitutional law. And these views have been virtually confessed to be true by John C. Calhoun, James M. Mason, Jefferson Davis, and many other Southern men; while such professed advocates of liberty as Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and the like, have been continually denying them.
Had all those men at the North, who believed these ideas to be true, promulgated them, as it was their plain and obvious duty to do, it is reasonable to suppose that we should long since have had freedom, without shedding one drop of blood; certainly without one tithe of the blood that has now been shed; for the slaveholders would never have dared, in the face of the world, to attempt to Edition: current; Page: [3] overthrow a government that gave freedom to all, for the sake of establishing in its place one that should make slaves of those who, by the existing constitution, were free. But so long as the North, and especially so long as the professed (though hypocritical) advocates of liberty, like those named, conceded the constitutional right of property in slaves, they gave the slaveholders the full benefit of the argument that they were insulted, disturbed, and endangered in the enjoyment of their acknowledged constitutional rights; and that it was therefore necessary to their honor, security, and happiness that they should have a separate government. And this argument, conceded to them by the North, has not only given them strength and union among themselves, but has given them friends, both in the North and among foreign nations; and has cost the nation hundreds of thousands of lives, and thousands of millions of treasure.
Upon yourself, and others like you, professed friends of freedom, who, instead of promulgating what you believed to be the truth, have, for selfish purposes, denied it, and thus conceded to the slaveholders the benefit of an argument to which they had no claim,—upon your heads, more even, if possible, than upon the slaveholders themselves, (who have acted only in accordance with their associations, interests, and avowed principles as slaveholders.) rests the blood of this horrible, unnecessary, and therefore guilty, war.
Your concessions, as to the pro-slavery character of the constitution, have been such as, if true, would prove the constitution unworthy of having one drop of blood shed in its support. They have been such as to withhold from the North all the benefit of the argument, that a war for the constitution was a war for liberty. You have thus, to the extent of your ability, placed the North wholly in the wrong, and the South wholly in the right. And the effect of these false positions in which the North and the South have respectively been placed, not only with your consent, but, in part, by your exertions, has been to fill the land with blood.
The South could, consistently with honor, and probably would, long before this time, and without a conflict, have surrendered their slavery to the demand of the constitution, (if that had been pressed upon them,) and to the moral sentiment of the world; while they could not with honor, or at least certainly would not, surrender anything to a confessedly unconstitutional demand, especially when coming from mere demagogues, who were so openly unprincipled as to profess the greatest moral abhorrence of slavery, and at the same time, for the sake of office, swear to support it, by swearing to support a constitution which they declared to be its bulwark.
You, and others like you have done more, according to your abilities, to prevent the peaceful abolition of slavery, than any other men in the nation; for while honest men were explaining the true character of the constitution, as an instrument giving freedom to all, you were continually denying it, and doing your utmost (and far more than any avowed pro slavery man could do) to defeat their efforts. And it now appears that all this was done by you in violation of your own convictions of truth.Edition: current; Page: [4]
In your pretended zeal for liberty, you have been urging on the nation to the most frightful destruction of human life; but your love of liberty has never yet induced you to declare publicly, but has permitted you constantly to deny, a truth that was sufficient for, and vital to, the speedy and peaceful accomplishment of freedom. You have, with deliberate purpose, and through a series of years, betrayed the very citadel of liberty, which you were under oath to defend. And there has been, in the country, no other treason at all comparable with this.
That such is the character that history will give you, I have very little doubt. And I wish you to understand that there is one who has long believed such to be your true character, and that he now has the proof of it. And unless you make some denial or explanation of the testimony of Dr. Howe and Mr. Bird, I shall feel at liberty to use it at my discretion.


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http://mmajunkie.com Without Olly Bradstreet, there might be no Steven Siler.
Siler (21-9 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on Saturday fight Darren Elkins (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC 154. Both featherweights have three-fight win streaks. The winner may very well earn the right to fight an opponent with a bigger name.
No disrespect, but not Olly Bradstreet – Siler has overcome that hurdle in his career. After being thrice submitted by the fighter, who fought on the local circuit in Siler's adopted hometown of Odgen, Utah, he won a fourth bout by first-round guillotine choke.
Were it not for the stern talking-to he got from Jorge Lopez, a future UFC welterweight, he might never have gotten to that point, much less fought inside the octagon.
Siler vs. Elkins serves as the first fight of Saturday's event, which takes place at Bell Centre in Montreal. The bout streams on Facebook in advance of prelims on FX and the pay-per-view main card.
After a third loss Bradstreet in 2007, Lopez told him he needed to start training. Despite 12 fights on his resume, Siler had never set foot inside an MMA gym. He'd fought several times in school and loved the feeling. Sometimes he and Lopez would strap on MMA gloves and fight at parties. Lopez, who had started training after a trip to Brazil, would beat the crap out of him.
But the drive to drag himself into a dojo to actually learn how to fight wasn't there. It was hard for Siler to get out of bed in the first place. Going to bed every night at 3 a.m., he missed so many days of high school that his mom stopped excusing him and he got community service.
"I'd have intentions of going to school, but then I'd look up at the clock and see it's noon or 1," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "Well, what's the point of going if there's only a little bit of school left?"
In the wee hours, Siler would obsess over sports. He followed everything – football, baseball, basketball, golf, you name it. He started following MMA after Lopez came back from Brazil with a heap of fight DVDs. The two would play the old UFC and PRIDE video games for hours. But the idea of getting up for a morning run or shadowboxing was an unwanted assault on his sleep schedule.
For what he lacked in motivation, Siler excelled in cutting corners. He found a buddy to write off his community service hours without paying for them and found another to do his makeup assignments. He graduated high school.
And without much forethought, he shoved his way into the cage. A TV station aired a local MMA event on Saturday nights, and he thought it would be a cool way to get on TV. He won his first fight, and he fell in love.
Then he met Bradstreet. It was hard to avoid him – there weren't many featherweights on the local circuit. They would fight once a year for four years. He fought another local, 145-pound fighter Kawaika Kauwe, three times, going 1-2.
At 5-7 after his third failed attempt to beat Bradstreet, though, Siler's lackadaisical attitude was hurting him. It was also making him look pretty silly, losing to one person three times in a row. Lopez told him he was disrespecting the sport. He needed to take this thing seriously.
"At that time, I couldn't even dream of being in the UFC or making a life through fighting," said Siler, who at the time worked at a private contracting company servicing the aviation industry. "He was like a little brother to me. Bigger than me, but I respected his opinion. I took him up on it, and me and him went to jiu-jitsu school."
Training suited Siler. He fought two weeks after his rubber match of sorts and submitted his opponent in the second round. Fourteen months later, he submitted Bradstreet. In a two-year stretch, he put together a nine-fight win streak before running into future UFC title challenger Chad Mendes.
Building a 4-1 ledger after that setback, Siler auditioned for and won a spot on "The Ultimate Fighter 14." He made it to the quarterfinals of the reality show tournament before getting knocked out by eventual winner Diego Brandao.
Since the show, Siler has defeated Josh Clopton, Cole Miller and Joey Gambino. He's a full-fledged UFC fighter. His love for the sport hasn't faded, but now he has the moves to back it up.
"I've got a lot of submission victories, but I love standing up and catching on to a lot of the maneuvers," he said. "I never thought about kneeing anyone in the face, and then I fought Clopton and I figured I could do it. I think I'm catching on to things rather quickly."
His old foe Bradstreet is now a training partner. Lopez, meanwhile, hasn't fought since a May loss to "The Ultimate Fighter 7" winner Amir Sadollah.
Siler still doesn't wake up early. MMA fighters, as he found out, are late risers.
"We don't train until one in the afternoon," Siler said with a chuckle.
For more on UFC 154, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

subset: commoncrawl


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Roy Nelson didn't win the fight, but he likely won over many fans in a hard-fight loss to Junior Dos Santos at this past weekend's UFC 117 event.
And though Nelson is the first to poke fun at his rotund body, could the extra weight be holding him back?
In our latest "Ask the Fight Doc" installment, MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin discusses some of the myths of cardiovascular fitness and why nearly all heavyweight fighters – not just Nelson – usually are sapped by later rounds.
* * * *
Dr. B: UFC broadcasters Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg discussed it a bit during UFC 117, but is there any way for Roy Nelson to be at or near his optimal level by carrying around so much extra weight? I've seen other big guys with remarkable athleticism. However, will they always be at a non-optimum level with that kind of extra weight? Or could Nelson really be a genetic freak? It's not like he gasses out quickly or anything. Is he just an anomaly? – Anonymous
Every time I see "Big Country" compete, I am impressed that he can get such a high level of production out of that body. Roy Nelson is a perfect case study to better understand cardiovascular fitness – or what MMA fans commonly call "cardio" or "gas." (Please, no fart jokes).
Nelson's ample body and belly cause many viewers to make a common mistake. They make a direct correlation between physical appearance and cardiovascular fitness. As counter-intuitive or backward as it may seem, significantly overweight people can have impressive cardio. Likewise, thin and/or muscular, well-defined people can have terrible cardio.
Why? Because cardiovascular fitness measures the body's ability to take in, distribute and use oxygen (according to the Center for Disease Control).
Cardio is primarily a measure of the heart's ability to efficiently pump blood and oxygen to the muscles. It is not a measure or function of physical appearance.
To properly assess cardiovascular fitness, a serious athlete will undergo a test called VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake). Everyone has seen endurance athletes on TV running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike with EKG pads/wires hooked to them and with what looks like a snorkel coming out of their mouths. That's the VO2 max test. (I could get fairly technical here, but I'll assume that we've all got better things to do.)
Here's a simple test: Briskly walk up three flights of stairs. If your heart is pumping hard, your head is throbbing or a bit light, and/or you're short of breath, guess what: Your cardio isn't much regardless of how you look.
The follow-up question to me is: How good could Nelson be if he shed those excess pounds? Yes, he would be quicker, more explosive and more athletic in general. Also, if he carried significantly less weight, his personal cardio would, in fact, improve.
Ever wonder why the most elite heavyweight championship contests rarely go to a decision? It is extremely difficult for the big boys – ones of all shapes – to keep up the pace for the fourth and fifth championship rounds. Therefore, they try to finish early.
Did you see how hard both Nelson and opponent Junior Dos Santos were breathing in the third round? I loved the fight, but I was glad when it ended – and I think they were, too.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin is MMAjunkie.com's medical columnist and consultant and a noted combat-sports specialist. He is also a member of the Association of Boxing Commissions' MMA Medical Subcommittee. Dr. Benjamin writes an "Ask the Doc" column every two weeks for MMAjunkie.com. To submit a question for a future column, email him at askthedoc [AT] mmajunkie.com, or share your questions and thoughts in the comments section below. You can find Dr. Benjamin online at www.drjohnnybenjamin.com, and you can read his other sports-related articles at blog.drjohnnybenjamin.com.


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A day after Governor Quinn's limits on concealed carry were shot down, he's firing back at lawmakers, docking their pay until they pass pension reform.
Using his line-item veto power, Gov Quinn announced Wednesday that he is suspending pay for himself and for state lawmakers until the state's crippling pension crisis is resolved.
State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka says her office is checking if this is legal, but Quinn says the Illinois Constitution is "crystal clear."
"The governor has the authority, after the legislature passes a budget bill.. I can reduce that appropriation," said Quinn on the WGN Morning News. "That's what I did.. If (lawmakers) pass pension reform, then with my blessing, they can get their pay. I've suspended my own pay. I think all of us need to work together to get this job done."
The governor's salary in 2012 was a little over $177,000. The average salary for state lawmakers is about $68,000. With the state's unfunded pension debt growing by a staggering $17 million dollars a day, the governor says he can't approve paychecks for those who aren't doing their job.
State lawmakers, including many Democrats, say this move will not get the job done any faster and that Quinn should take a more active role.
"I'm the governor. I sign the bill into law. They're the legislators," said Quinn. "They have to do their job, bridge the differences between themselves, in order to bring a bill before me to sign into law."
State senator Kwame Raoul chairs the pension reform committee and said, "That's what it's about for him, getting the attention, there's an election next year. It's less to do with solving the pension. "
Many republicans agree including State Senator Matt Murphy.
"It's kind of interesting that you have a Democratic governor and Democratic super majorities in both chambers and you need political stunts like this to solve problems," he said. "The dysfunction is paralyzing."
"I've been in the trenches since day one," said Quinn. "I've done everything imaginable to get the legislature to do their job.. The taxpayers are losing millions of dollars everyday because of the failure of the legislature to put a bill on my desk, and I think this is the necessary measure to get their attention."
House Speaker Michael Madigan released a statement today supporting the governor's move saying "The governor's decision follows my efforts and I understand his frustration. I am hopeful his strategy works. "


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As producer of Channel 4's groundbreaking arts show The Tube before revamping The Brits live coverage in its mid-nineties halcyon years, Malcolm Gerrie is a pivotal figure in music television.
Having started his working life as a school teacher in his native Sunderland, Gerrie's production of The Who's 'Tommy' raised his profile somewhat and after an aborted attempt at starting a regional music television programme in the north-east, it wasn't long before Channel 4 came along asking for his services. After five successful years producing The Tube, Gerrie then went onto work on Wired and The White Room as well as The Brit Awards, The Baftas and Glastonbury Festival.
He's also produced a number of programmes for children's television while setting up his own company, Whizz Kid Entertainment. Earlier last month, he launched his latest venture on Sky Arts. Talks Music sees Gerrie chatting to some of the most influential musicians and artists of this and past generations. Guests scheduled to appear on the first series include Nile Rodgers, Ray Davies, Boy George, Jeff Beck, Giorgio Moroder and Debbie Harry & Chris Stein from Blondie.
In a rare and exclusive interview, Gerrie talks at length about his career, his time on The Tube and The Brits, his objectives for Talks Music and the future of music on television.
DiS: How did you first come to be involved in working with music and television?
Malcolm Gerrie: When I left University I started working at a big comprehensive school in Ryhope, which is a small pit village just outside of Sunderland. I was teaching English and drama there. It was a very progressive school for that part of the country. We had our own radio station and the head was very keen on the arts, and particularly music. One day he came rolling into the staff room with a copy of the latest album he'd just bought, which was the orchestral version of The Who's rock opera Tommy. And he said to me, "Have a listen to this. Maybe it could be our next production?" At first I thought how are we going to do the music from this, because it had Tina Turner on there and a huge orchestra, and he said, "I can do the music if you can do the drama!" So I took it home to listen to, and wrote to Pete Townshend who gave us permission to use all of the rights for nothing. To cut a long story short, we put it on, it was a big success, and The Who actually invited us over to where they were filming the musical. The year after that we did a production called 'Stardust', which was pretty big at the time, and LWT (London Weekend Television) contacted us about doing an hour-long documentary about how we combine music and drama at the school. And the next thing we were on the front cover of the NME!
DiS: What year was this?
Malcolm Gerrie: 'Tommy' was 1974, and 'Stardust' was 1975. The headline in the NME ran, "Was school ever like this?" with all the kids dressed up in their 'Tommy' gear. The guy who directed 'Stardust' was relatively unknown at the time called David Puttnam. Obviously he's since gone on to many bigger and better things. It was David who said to me at the time, "Malcolm, you really should be doing this full time," and he persuaded me to leave. He put me in touch with a wonderful woman who worked at Tyne Tees television up in Newcastle called Andrea Wonfor, who's now sadly no longer with us. So I met with Andrea and we clicked immediately. After a couple of months, I got asked if I'd be interested in becoming a trainee researcher at Tyne Tees for working on Miss North East. The show was called 'Glamour 77'; it was a thing they did every year for the regional heat for what became Miss Great Britain and ultimately Miss World. It was like a dream job. Four times the money I was getting from being a teacher and that really was the beginning. Me and Andrea did a bit of TV presenting for a Saturday morning kids show called 'Saturday Shake Up'. We never took 'Tiswas' up in Newcastle. Tyne Tees always opted out so this was their alternative. And then we did a show called 'Alright Now' which was the first music show I ever produced but sadly was never networked. We had some amazing bands on there. The Pretenders, The Jam, Thin Lizzy and one of only two television performances ever by The Clash, who famously always refused to do Top Of The Pops. You can pick up some of the footage on You Tube but the series itself has never been seen since. It's locked in the vaults of the BFI now I think. There are some historic performances on those tapes, and also an interview with Led Zeppelin's John Bonham just a few weeks before he sadly passed away. It was actually Billy Connolly that did the interview!
'Alright Now' caught the attention of this guy who was setting up a new channel which ultimately became Channel 4 because when we were doing 'Alright Now' there were only three channels - there was no MTV, no Sky TV, no Internet, it was just ITV, BBC1 and BBC2, and it was very hard for any stations in the north of England to get one of their shows broadcast on the network. Even with big names on board, the London companies had everything stitched up and it was a bit of a cartel. So when Channel 4 came along, Jeremy Isaacs who founded the channel wanted everything to be networked, and he seemed to favour shows coming out of the regions. We put a bid in to do a music show which worked out at about six-and-a-half hours over thirteen weeks called 'Jamming', and they really liked the idea. I was over in Sweden at the time doing a special with Abba for a kids show called 'Razzamatazz', which we did manage to get networked. It was easier to get children's TV shows networked because a lot of the big companies didn't care so much about them in so much as they didn't deliver enough advertising revenue. So I got a call from Andrea asking me if I wanted the good news or the bad news. So I immediately thought the worst when she told me the bad news was Channel 4 had rejected 'Jamming'. But then the good news was they wanted a bigger version of it to run for twenty weeks, one hour and forty-five minutes live every Friday starting on November 5th 1982, which became 'The Tube'.
DiS: How did Jools Holland and Paula Yates become presenters of 'The Tube'? Were they your original choices, or did they have to participate in a series of auditions?
Malcolm Gerrie: 'The Tube' was borne out of my frustration with music on television at that time. Because basically, there wasn't much of it, and what there was could best be described as bland. Even 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', which I think started off as a great show, seemed to lose its way a little. They'd somehow missed the whole punk thing. They were still showing people like The Eagles when all this extraordinary game-changing music was happening on our doorsteps. At the time, most music TV shows were either presented by DJs, people like David 'Kid' Jensen, Tony Blackburn or dare I mention his name, Jimmy Saville, or they were very earnest late night arts programmes presented by music journalists. And I just felt that we'd lost the plot a little bit. There was no spark, no energy, no kind of balls even. My favourite music TV show of all time was 'Ready Steady Go' which just had so much energy. They'd feature emerging black artists from the States like Otis Redding for example. So 'The Tube' was basically an attempt to put a bomb under what was the status quo of music on TV. We didn't want traditional presenters, so we put an advert in a magazine called 'The Face' which was like the style bible at that time. It was a fantastic magazine that revolutionized those kind of publications back then. So we just placed a tiny advert in the back that said: Wanted - a face for the space; and then a telephone number, and that was it. There was no mention of television or anything, and we got thousands of applications. So we decided to go around the country auditioning people for a support role in the show. One of the people that showed up at the London auditions was this girl in a full wedding dress. Veil, complete train and all, and I remember it was raining heavily and the poor girl was soaking wet when she got into the audition. Then I remember she lifted her veil and it was Boy George! So it was a he not a she, and he sat down and told us how much he was into music and wanted this job, and we just fell in love with him. He basically got the job within five minutes. He would have been Jools Holland. And as he was leaving, he told us he was in a band as well called Culture Club and left us a cassette tape which I've still got somewhere. It turned out he was going in to see EMI the following week, and they got signed to a record deal which meant he couldn't do the show! Another lad who auditioned was Jarvis Cocker. His mum drove him up to the Newcastle audition from Sheffield. I didn't know at the time because I wasn't in on that particular audition. We had to spread ourselves between the different cities. It was only years later when I was producing Glastonbury Festival for Channel 4 and Jarvis was one of the presenters then that I found out. He said, "Do you remember the first time we met?" and my response was, "I don't know. Was it on 'The White Room' or 'The Brits'? I honestly don't remember." And that's when he told me about auditioning as a presenter for 'The Tube'! Anyway, moving onto Jools Holland, there was a documentary on the BBC about The Police recording their latest album in Montserrat and Jools had the same manager as they did at the time, a guy called Miles Copeland. Jools was kind of between jobs at the time, so Miles got him to present this show and Jools did a very different take on how to present. He was full of life and very irreverent, yet at the same time because he's such an accomplished musician he actually knew what he was talking about. What really caught my imagination was during an interview he did with Andy Summers, who played guitar in The Police, Jools was asking him to demonstrate different styles of playing. So he asked him to play a funk riff in the style of James Brown, which Andy played but it actually turned out to be quite boring. And halfway through it, Jools just leaned over and pulled out Andy's guitar lead which killed the piece stone dead before saying, "I think we've heard quite enough of that!" or words to that effect. And I just thought anybody who's got the bottle to do that is my man, so I rang Miles and asked if Jools would be interested in coming up for a screen test. I'd already met Paula (Yates) because she'd done 'Razzamatazz'. She had a record out, 'These Boots Were Made For Walking', which was a cover of the Nancy Sinatra song. So we wondered what those two would be like working together, and within thirty seconds we knew we'd nailed it. The chemistry was absolutely electric.
DiS: It would be fair to say 'The Tube' changed the face of music television afterwards, even with the introduction of MTV and the way a lot of its shows' presenters interacted with one another and the viewers at home.
Malcolm Gerrie: The funny thing looking back at when we first started the show in 1982, some of the things which we take for granted now like handheld cameras for instance we had to really fight for back then. The unions had a stranglehold on television at the time. They were very powerful, and so to do something like take a camera off its tripod legs to shoot a music performance was really frowned upon. You weren't allowed to touch a prop or anything because that was a specific role for the person working in props, and so on. We used to shoot a lot of films abroad for 'The Tube'. I remember us going to Jamaica three times, and we had to take this army of people out there with us. Now, we could probably get away with a camera man, assistant producer and a sound engineer, but back in the day it required at least sixteen people. Everybody needed an assistant, a prop man, hair and make-up, electricians, it was very prohibitive. And we broke a lot of those rules. There was quite a bit of blood on the walls in terms of negotiating with the unions, but I'm glad we did because when I look at programmes like 'The Word', 'Network 7' and 'TFI' it created a whole new landscape for them to operate in. They were certainly heady days.
DiS: Looking back, which stands out as your most memorable, or proudest moment of working on 'The Tube'?
Malcolm Gerrie: Showcasing brand new bands. Not just ones who'd just been signed, but also bands who were unsigned. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Fine Young Cannibals, REM, Madonna's second UK television appearance. The record company wouldn't even pay for Madonna to go to the Hacienda which is where we were filming the show from that evening. I'd seen Madonna play in a little New York club with David Byrne and thought she was amazing, so when I heard she was coming over to the UK to meet Warner Brothers I got in touch with them about putting her on the show. And the response I got - and this is an actual quote - was, "Malcolm, I'm sorry but this girl is a no priority act. If you want her on the show you'll have to pay for her yourself, and her travel to Manchester, hair and make-up, and two backing dancers." Which I did, thank goodness! I remember we invited everybody down from Granada studios to the show, and there's a great shot of the cast of 'Coronation Street' in the front row. Len Fairclough was there! Just completely bonkers. We were constantly told no one would watch it if we put new bands on, and we proved everybody wrong. Frankie Goes To Hollywood performing 'Relax' is the one everybody remembers, but there were stacks of others. And I think the way we used to mix up genres was fantastic. Channel 4 always encouraged us to experiment, so on one of the shows we had Killing Joke sharing the same bill as Cliff Richard. And I remember Cliff standing in the audience with his hands over his ears while Killing Joke soundchecked, and then he turned me straight after and said, "They were really quite good weren't they Malcolm?"
DiS: Why did 'The Tube' come to an end?
Malcolm Gerrie: There were several factors. There was a change of personnel at Channel 4. Mike Boland, who was our commissioning editor left. They got in a new MD who wasn't really interested in music. And budgets were also getting squeezed at Tyne Tees. Andrea Wonfor who was still my boss was getting a rough ride, and saw what had happened with 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' and other music programmes that had just been allowed to fizzle out. I really didn't want that to happen to 'The Tube', and then when Andrea left as well, that was pretty much it. Without her and Mike Boland to support the show there was only one way it was going, so I decided to leave. I wanted to end 'The Tube' on a high, so we went out with a big bang. U2 wrote us a special song which they performed for the last show, and the party went on for three days!
DiS: After 'The Tube' finished you went to work on The Brit Awards. How many years did you spend on that project?
Malcolm Gerrie: I was actually asked to do it twice before but I turned it down both times. I just didn't feel I could really make a difference at that time. Back in the day, the Brit Awards was seen as nothing more than a back slapping party for the music industry, and I worry it's going that way again. They had the disaster of Mick Fleetwood and Samantha Fox presenting the show in 1989, and it became a national joke. The head of Warners, who was also the head of the Brits that year, approached me about revamping the show for television. He asked me if I'd be interested in doing the show if I was given carte blanche to do whatever I wanted, which of course I accepted. I remember going into my first ever Brits meeting with the heads of all these major record companies, and I was seen as some kind of antichrist for suggesting my ideas on changing their event. But the bottom line was, nobody wanted to do the show. Because it was seen as such a joke, it made it difficult to book any credible talent. I really had to work hard to persuade people it was going to be a different kind of show, and I'm forever grateful to those artists that believed in my vision from the start. I remember Peter Gabriel being one who wasn't convinced at first, but then once I'd managed to assure him that it was me and not the record companies who had the final say, came on board. Once we got Peter locked in that was the first piece of the jigsaw. It then meant I could go to other people like Bjork and PJ Harvey and use Peter's name to persuade them to get involved. That really was the start of it all. I was there for eight years, but in the meantime I set up my own company called Initial and basically had the freedom to experiment more than I would've done had I been working for BBC or ITV.
DiS: What was your final year on the Brit Awards?
Malcolm Gerrie: I'm so bad with years! 1998 I think...
DiS: So you were working on the show in 1996 when Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage in disapproval at Michael Jackson's performance of 'Earth Song'?
Malcolm Gerrie: I was indeed! Jarvis was on my watch! That was a story which ended up on the front page of every newspaper in the world. It was an extraordinary sequence of events, extraordinary having Michael Jackson on the show live. With an enormous cast of people, and he'd been rehearsing it for an entire week at Earls Court. He had this massive team of security guards, and even I couldn't get in. I had to get in touch with the chairman of his record company to gain access, and actually threatened to pull the power if they didn't let me in. It was ridiculous. I was the producer of the show and I couldn't see what he was planning to do. And then of course it all went slightly different when Jarvis decided to register his "protest" at what he was watching!
DiS: Why do you think the Brit Awards have become stale again? These past few years the show and indeed many of the winners themselves have been quite forgettable.
Malcolm Gerrie: It's sad. I think there are several issues really. It's now produced by the BPI, so therefore you haven't got that arms-length between the music industry and the television producers any more. They have a vested interest in the show. It would be like Manchester United producing the whole of the Premier League. There's not that impartiality which is crucial for something like an awards show, so you end up with lots of artists just performing their latest song. It's fine if you're there and you've had a few glasses of champagne which very few people have the opportunity to do, but as a viewer I'm not seeing very much imagination coming through at all. As a TV event it isn't a spectacle. There's nothing unique about it, which going back to when I was producing it we had to fight the BPI on getting to agree with. We introduced the idea of these unique collaborations which no one had done previously. Going back again to when we had Bjork and PJ Harvey doing a cover of The Rolling Stones 'Satisfaction', it was absolutely dynamite. It was really explosive, and so later on we did Robbie Williams and Tom Jones, and then when the Eurythmics won the outstanding achievement award I flew Stevie Wonder over to play the harmonica solo on 'There Must Be An Angel'. When I compare the current set-up to its competitors; I watched the EMA awards the other week and there were a lot of fresh ideas on there, I'm just not seeing anything like that with the Brits.
DiS: What is really sad is that the Mercury Prize appears to be heading the same way.
Malcolm Gerrie: In a sense I actually think the Mercury Prize is worse. Nick Grimshaw does a great job on his Radio One show, but he would have been my last choice to host the Mercury Prize. It would be like asking John Peel to present Strictly Come Dancing. It's just not right. And I think on the music side it has become sanitised. There's some fantastic music out there. That's the one thing that never changes, despite what anybody says. And that was the purpose of the Mercury Prize. To give recognition to newer, more innovative artists. And now it appears to have forgotten that mission statement. Again, as a piece of television, I'm not seeing much creativity or original thinking going on in how its presented. The marriage of pictures and music should be fantastic. It's one of those things where one and one can make five or six. But just to stick four cameras in front of a band... I mean, it works on 'Later...', although that show tends to have good weeks and bad weeks as well. The lady who shoots 'Later...' does a wonderful job. I think a lot depends on who's available at the time and who they can get to appear on the show that week. But at least they consistently try to push the envelope and feature new bands alongside a mix of different people, so all credit to them for that.
DiS: It is worrying that since the demise of 'Top Of The Pops', music television in general appears to have lost its way. Why do you think this is? Market forces maybe, the growth of the Internet, or the rise of reality shows such as 'The X Factor' even?
Malcolm Gerrie: I don't think 'The X Factor' has anything to do with it because those kind of shows have been around forever. The likes of 'New Faces' and 'Opportunity Knocks' as far back as the 1970s for example. I think you're spot on about the Internet though. Some of the most exciting new music I'm hearing, and certainly the way artists are marrying music and pictures together, is happening on the worldwide web. That's revolutionised our lives and it's also had a similar impact on music. Although not necessarily to the benefit of major record companies. I've just been singing 'Later...''s praises yet I think as much if not more credit should also go to the BBC for sticking with a show that doesn't get a huge audience. It tends to fluctuate between 300,000 viewers on a poor night to 800,000 on a good one, which for 10pm on BBC2 isn't great, yet it's still going strong after twenty years. The BBC gets a lot of criticism and rightly so in some areas, but all credit to them for supporting and sustaining 'Later...' for such a long period of time. Back in the day viewing figures weren't that big an issue, but now the first thing any producer does when he arrives in the office in a morning is look at the previous evening's ratings. Because we're still in a recession and times are tough, it's all about the ratings and historically music programming doesn't get a massive audience. Even really successful shows like 'The Tube' or 'TFI' rarely broke the million mark. I remember one Friday evening we got 1.5 million viewers for 'The Tube' and that was considered an unbelievably massive result. Nowadays, because the budgets are a lot tighter there's been more of a tendency to pull the rug on music television at the expense of other broadcasters on the network and I think that's really sad. Channel 4 still has the occasional 'Live At Abbey Road' session but they're very few and far between and usually on after midnight which reduces their potential audience considerably. They're all funded by advertisers such as Coca Cola or Mastercard or Lynx which kind of limits how far they can go in terms of pushing boundaries, and I think for a public service broadcaster like Channel 4 that's a crime. I know they're looking at ways to try and redress that, but in terms of priorities you get the feeling music is way, way down near the bottom of the list. I also think a lot of it depends on who's running whichever television channels. If you get someone who's into music - Jeremy Isaacs who started Channel 4 was a huge music fan - then I think it will change. Sadly, at the minute, we're not seeing that. Instead it's all about the bottom line in pounds, shillings and pence. BBC4 were running some fantastic music documentaries not so long back, but the guy who was responsible for all that has left now and moved onto ITV, so whether that continues remains to be seen. What there isn't at the moment is any kind of cutting edge music programme. 'Later...' is very safe, albeit of a high quality. Even when it comes down to televised festival coverage from places like Glastonbury and V, the artists they select to show tend to be very safe. They have the same presenters across most of the festivals that are covered so there's nothing new there either. It's not in a healthy state at all. Once again, it probably needs another hand grenade underneath it all.
DiS: Moving onto your new show, 'Talks Music' which aired for the first time on Sky Arts at the start of November. How did it come about?
Malcolm Gerrie: It was an American director, a guy called Jeff Wurtz who came up with the idea. He's spent the last eighteen years working on 'Inside The Actors Studio', which has won several awards, and they had every major Hollywood actor, actress, producer and director on that show. Everyone from Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro to Meryl Streep and George Clooney has appeared on the show, you name it. He wanted to do a show that had some of the values of 'Inside The Actors Studio' but for music. He talked the idea through with several independent television companies, and my company Whizz Kid Entertainment managed to win the tender. The first hurdle we had to overcome was getting a broadcaster, so I met with the head of Sky Arts who said he was desperate to do as much music as he could, which was a lovely breath of fresh air. So we screen tested some presenters and Sky Arts came back and rejected them all. But then my Managing Director said they had an idea; why don't I present the show?!?
DiS: How did you feel about that?
Malcolm Gerrie: I had very mixed feelings about it to begin with. But then I thought if I say no, we're not going to get the commission. At the same time I had to think about whether I needed the extra stress. I'm running a company now and we've already got lots of other shows coming up. But if I don't, I knew it was something I'd live to regret for a long time so decided to take one for the team, so to speak.
DiS: Was that the first time you'd presented a show on television since doing children's television before 'The Tube' started?
Malcolm Gerrie: Yes. It was the first time I'd presented a TV show since 1980. I had to get match fit pretty damn quick!
DiS: It must have been quite daunting to start with?
Malcolm Gerrie: It was. There was no audition or training as such. I was blessed as it happens because the first person I had to interview was Nile Rodgers, and he is a gift for any interviewer. He couldn't talk very much about it, but at the time he was in London working with Daft Punk on what would become one of the biggest tracks of the year. I've known Nile for a long time so I asked if he'd like to be a guest on the show, and he agreed to do it and ended up talking for nearly four hours in front of an audience of music students from different colleges all round London. He brought his famous hitmaker guitar with him, and at every point he was talking about one of the big songs he'd worked on like 'Le Freak' or 'Let's Dance'. Then he'd demonstrate on the guitar the craft and musicology of how it came about. How he created that amazing sound. He made me feel so at ease, it was a really wonderful experience. He's an absolute treasure. What he's done for music is extraordinary. Everything he touches turns to gold.
DiS: You've got an impressive array of big names coming up on the show, people like Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, Ray Davies, Jeff Beck and Blondie's Debbie Harry & Chris Stein amongst others. Was it a difficult process organising their appearances? Were the artists and their labels co-operative?
Malcolm Gerrie: It was like a dream to be honest. Some of the people I knew already, like Jeff Beck for instance. Jeff very rarely does interviews. He doesn't do TV that much to be honest. He's actually working with Brian Wilson at the moment. I persuaded Jeff to do the theme music for 'The Tube' many years ago. I had another Geordie, Trevor Horn, produce it. In fact, we had five or six different versions of the theme music and Jeff did every one of them. When I was running my company called Initial we did a big drama called 'Frankie's House' and I got Jeff to do the soundtrack to that, which ended winning a BAFTA that year for 'Best Soundtrack'. So we became friends, but I honestly never thought he'd agree to do an interview as I know he hates doing them and he's very shy. After I asked him, he invited me down to his house and we got through three bottles of rosé and he didn't mention the show at all. So I thought this is obviously bad news. He's got me down here to soften the blow. Anyway, we were having a lovely night and I think by the time we'd finished the third bottle I built up the courage to ask him outright if he'd do the show, and he said, "Do you honestly think I'd drag you all the way down here just to say no? Let's pop open another bottle of rosé, of course I'm gonna do it!" And he was just brilliant. We filmed him in Abbey Road studios, and he did a rather poignant tribute to George Martin. He played 'A Day In The Life', and in the studio next door unbeknown to any of us was Giles Martin, George's son, who's also a producer. He then talked about why the Fender Stratocaster was so special to him before moving seamlessly into a version of 'Little Wing' by Jimi Hendrix, which I didn't know he was gonna do, so we put it in the show. You could hear the jaws in the audience hitting the floor. It was just beautiful. It helped with some of the artists I knew. We've actually got a long list of people wanting to do the show, and we've just booked Giorgio Moroder to appear on the last show of the series. He's a genius. The man who invented disco and did some wonderful soundtracks like 'Scarface', 'Midnight Express' and 'Metropolis'.
DiS: When is the last show of the series broadcast?
Malcolm Gerrie: It goes out in the second week of January. Whether he'll be the last one in the run I don't know but he's the last one for us to film anyway.
DiS: Are there plans underway for a second series?
Malcolm Gerrie: The ratings have been great so far. The Tony Bennett show which we did this week was the highest rated show on Sky Arts. The response to the series has been better than we could ever have imagined. Hopefully if that continues we'll get the opportunity to do another series.
DiS: Do you not find it slightly disconcerting that you've had to go to Sky Arts rather than one of the more traditional terrestrial channels?
Malcolm Gerrie: No, because I think the landscape's changed so much now. My youngest son is someone I'd describe as being completely channel agnostic. He doesn't care about BBC1 or ITV1. He'll just go to wherever he wants to watch something. It's a sad reflection in that aspect whereby terrestrial channels aren't showcasing more music, and when they do it's bland and safe. So all credit to Sky Arts for being the only channel that's genuinely committed to music and the arts. And they're prepared to take risks. There was a risk in me not being an established presenter, a risk in whether we'd get the artists we wanted, or whether it would be the usual people doing the promo rounds because they have a new record out. It's disheartening. You see the same people pop up on Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Alan Carr, The One Show, Lorraine. They do the whole circuit and then they're gone. Jeff Beck had nothing to promote when he came on the show. The Daft Punk album wasn't even out when Nile Rodgers came on. The other thing about Sky Arts is it's become a very credible home for artists. With shows like 'Classic Albums', they know it's more than just an outlet for holding up their latest CD and asking Joe Public to go out and buy it.
DiS: Where do you see music television in the future? Do you think shows like 'Talks Music' can revolutionise music television going forwards?
Malcolm Gerrie: No, sadly not. I think 'Talks Music' is of a type. It's basically a chat show. The intention with the format was never to break down any walls. What excites me - and what we didn't have back in 1982 when 'The Tube' was born - is the marriage of the Internet and terrestrial television is where the real electricity begins. I did a webcast via You Tube and Google for U2 that was linked to Twitter, and Bono suggested running the Twitter feed on 360 degree screen that surrounded them, so while they were playing you could see the messages people were sending. So you could see what people's reactions were there and then, and at one point Bono did a Muslim prayer, which was a pretty brave thing to do, and then tweets started coming in from North Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq, which was great. And then we started getting all these tweets from China, because Bono had made reference to the lack of civil liberties over there; a typical provocative gesture from him I guess; but then all of a sudden the screen went blank as if Twitter had been completely cut off. And at that point it felt like something had occurred purely due to the marriage of music and the Internet, and Universal approached us afterwards about making it into a TV show. Ideally, what should have happened is that show should have been on the web and TV at the same time, and then you would have seen some real sparks flying.
DiS: Can you see the music industry ever embracing the Internet to that extent?
Malcolm Gerrie: The music industry missed a massive opportunity with the birth of the Internet. Rather than waste all of its energy, time and money trying to sue then close down Napster, what they should have done is take a step back and realise this was a real chance to gain a bigger audience and bought Napster instead. It was a pointless waste of resource because while they were hellbent on closing Napster down another twelve sites like that sprung up. And now you've got millions. Same with iTunes. The genius of Steve Jobs in recognising that here was a way for selling music to a global audience and at the same time compiling a database that could tell who was buying what records, where and when they were buying them, what age they were. iTunes knew in one fell swoop what consumers buying patterns were and therefore could market its products in that way while record companies were still trying to sue and shut down all these exciting portals that were emerging. It was sad to watch. I remember going into a record company a few years ago when Top Of The Pops was in its last few months with a new programme idea called The iChart. My proposal was to link music television with the Internet and they looked at me like I was mad, and one of the industry people asked me to leave the building for suggesting they hook up with an Internet company. The ironic thing is now, the official charts are a combination of download and physical sales.
DiS: It's no coincidence that the high exposure afforded by music television in the 1980s and 1990s saw a rise in record sales, which makes it even more baffling why the music industry is reluctant to embrace both television and the internet, especially in the current climate.
Malcolm Gerrie: There needs to be some form of progressive thinking at the highest level, and also people that are prepared to take a few risks. Some of the people that run independent labels like Beggars Banquet and Rough Trade continue to operate on their own terms. Though how much power they have is debatable. The industry needs a Chris Blackwell, who started up Island Records, someone capable of kicking it into shape. Lucian Grange who runs Universal could be that person, but unfortunately he's now based on the West Coast of America and running the biggest label in the world, so I don't think he's got much time on his hands. It needs somebody to rip it up and start again. People seem to fall into two camps. They either get very threatened and intimidated and depressed and frightened by the speed of change, or they get extremely excited and motivated and see the opportunities that now lie there. Unfortunately, there are more in the first camp then there are in the second one. There is a new conservatism which we're seeing in broadcasters and major record labels and it's sad. The whole industry is ready for a shake up.
DiS: Finally, are there any new artists who've caught your eyes and ears recently?
Malcolm Gerrie: How long have you got? There are so many terrific artists out there. What's quite joyful is when you've followed an act from their early days and see them break through. I'm loathe to mention individual names because I think it's unfair but I remember the first time I heard a demo by the Arctic Monkeys and feeling the same level of excitement as I did first hearing REM or Frankie Goes To Hollywood thirty years earlier. It just sounded so incredibly fresh. Of all the artists around at the moment it would be wrong to select just one. The Mercury Prize kind of touched on a couple, but for me the real excitement comes from artists who haven't necessarily been signed. I get tapes and downloads sent to me every day, and the thrill you get from hearing someone brand new that blows you away is unbelievable. For me it's the ultimate thrill. A lot of the best new music I'm hearing at the minute is coming from places where you'd least expect it. It's coming out of the regions. I know I'm biased because I'm a Geordie but for me a lot of the best music I've heard has come from outside of London.
DiS: Do you still think it's important for artists to relocate to London in order to take that next step on the ladder? Even in the age of the Internet, that still seems to be the case by and large barring one or two obvious exceptions.
Malcolm Gerrie: Yes and no. The Internet has definitely changed things for the better. The A&R departments of both major and independent labels are now glued to the web. A big part of their job is to trawl the Internet. The great thing about all of the online music portals - Drowned In Sound included - is that it's possible for artists to get their music out there directly in a way that could never be done before. Previously it was a case of placing a cassette in an envelope and leaving it on the reception desk at Polydor, Island or any other record label you'd care to name. Or sending it in by post only for it to end up in the cardboard box along with the other 200,000 demos received that week. So from that aspect, the Internet has made a world of difference. Unfortunately, a lot of the power in the industry still has its roots within the M25, and not just the record labels but also the web companies as well. Therefore, artists still have to go to London at some point if they want to further themselves. I remember talking to Laura Mvula about this quite recently and she was telling me how long it took just to gain access to the people responsible for making all the big decisions. It was obviously quite frustrating. And I think what people don't realise is some of these "new" artists have actually been around for a while.
DiS: She was playing in Birmingham for years before she got discovered.
Malcolm Gerrie: That's where I first saw her. Emeli Sande's another one. She was a backing singer for years. Access has got better thanks to the Internet, but then the other problem there is everybody's now got access, which then makes the competition much steeper as well.
DiS: It's almost like trying to find that golden needle in a haystack.
Malcolm Gerrie: It really is, and trawling through the web can take hours. Your day just disappears like that. Before you know where you are it's midnight, and you've only just brushed the tip of the iceberg. Great talent will usually find a way through. I'm of the optimistic school that if there is someone out there that's a brilliant guitarist, or has a voice like Amy Winehouse or Adele they'll get through in the end. You can go on You Tube now and find somebody that has the potential to lift the hairs on the back of your neck, and they're probably based in Hartlepool or South Shields or Blackpool. No one's heard of them and they're trying to get a deal. There is an element of luck involved but it also takes a lot of hard work. As David Byrne said, it's the same as it ever was.
'Talks Music with Nile Rodgers' airs on Sky Arts tonight at 9pm.
Find information on Talks Music and a full schedule of featured guests here.


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Explore Community Center Wedding Venues in Nebraska
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Meadows Community Center
Omaha, NE
Community Center
Starting from $1,174 to $2,420 for 50 guests
At once affordable and flexible, the Meadows Community Center provides a quaint and straightforward venue for your wedding that can be custom designed to create your dream space. Though the building is nestled at the hub of the Meadows Community, the space can be utilized by anyone in the area. Find...
Wick Alumni Center
Lincoln, NE
Event Center, Community Center
Starting from $4,102 to $9,723 for 50 guests
The Wick Alumni Center is a classic wedding venue located in Lincoln, Neb. This beautiful, modern space features two dramatic staircases, magnificent windows, a unique second-level mezzanine overlooking the Great Hall, vaulted ceilings and so much more. With 30,000 square feet and three stories of c...
Nielsen Community Center
West Point, NE
Event Center, Community Center
Starting from $2,200 to $5,100 for 50 guests
Marry the love of your life at the Nielsen Community Center. Featuring several beautiful event spaces, including a spectacular 13,000-square-foot ballroom, this West Point, Nebraska venue is the perfect place to plan your upcoming wedding celebration. The community center's luxurious ballroom boasts...
Plattsmouth Community Center
Plattsmouth, NE
Event Center, Community Center
Starting from $2,568 to $7,652 for 50 guests
Affordable yet chic, Plattsmouth Community Center provides a welcoming space that also serves as a blank canvas for your wedding day! An abundance of amenities await, including dynamic spaces to accommodate your festivities, whether you're envisioning just an intimate gathering or a larger party wit...
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Embassy Suites Lincoln
Lincoln, NE
Hotel/Resort, Ballrooms
Starting from $4,636 to $5,161 for 50 guests
Situated just across from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, the Embassy Suites Lincoln provides an affordable yet decidedly elegant venue for your big day! The hotel's easy-access downtown location makes it truly ideal for a destination wedding or local couples with numerous out-of-town guests....
EVEN Hotels Omaha Downtown
Omaha, NE
Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Hotel/Resort, Ballrooms, Modern
EVEN Hotels is all about balance. Providing an oasis in downtown Omaha, this venue prioritizes the well-being of its guests, providing many amenities to facilitate a healthy, relaxed environment. It is the perfect spot for a quiet weekend away with your bridesmaids (or groomsmen) in preparation for ...
Lied Lodge & Conference Center at Arbor ...
Nebraska City, NE
Mansion, Historic/Landmark Building, Hotel/Resort, Rustic & Barn, Ballrooms, Outdoor
Starting from $3,811 to $10,381 for 50 guests
Located on 260-acres Arbor Day Farm is less than one hour south of Omaha, Nebraska. Lied Lodge offers a picturesque setting for your wedding celebration. From simple to luxurious, from large gatherings of family and friends to a small, intimate affair—your wedding day will be uniquely yours. The bea...
Bellevue Berry Farm Frontier Room
Papillion, NE
Rustic & Barn, Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Event Center, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $1,799 to $2,876 for 50 guests
If you're planning a country-rustic themed wedding, the Bellevue Berry and Pumpkin Ranch is a great setting for your big day. This family-owned, "you-pick" berry and pumpkin farm has operated in the Omaha area for over 30 years. The Ranch features a variety of reception locations, including their Fr...
The Old Mattress Factory
Omaha, NE
Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Historic/Landmark Building, Event Center
Starting from $746 to $1,839 for 50 guests
The Old Mattress Factory is one of North Downtown Omaha's best event locations, while also being located in one of the area's oldest historic buildings. The Matt is an ideal place to gather for a wedding celebration. With a renewed look inside the original brick walls, you will find yourself amidst ...
Charlie's on The Lake
Omaha, NE
Ocean/Waterfront View, Event Center
Starting from $1,451 to $5,480 for 50 guests
Charlie's on the Lake offers a picture perfect setting for your Omaha, Nebraska wedding celebration. This upscale restaurant boasts a warm and inviting ambience, delicious cuisine, and three gorgeous event spaces; it's a wonderful place to gather family and friends to celebrate your once in a lifeti...
Joslyn Castle
Omaha, NE
Mansion, Historic/Landmark Building, Park/Garden, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $4,660 to $7,335 for 50 guests
The Joslyn Castle was built in 1903 for George and Sarah Joslyn. The 20,000 square foot, 35-room, historic mansion lies in the Gold Coast Historic Neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Today the Joslyn Castle Trust owns the property. The Castle offers a unique and charming setting for a wedding or ev...
Venue Restaurant & Lounge
Lincoln, NE
Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Event Center
Starting from $1,461 to $4,834 for 50 guests
Crown your nuptials with the ultimate dining experience, and impress your event guests with an exclusive celebration at Venue Restaurant & Lounge in Lincoln, Nebraska. With five private dining rooms available, full catering services, and atmospheres ranging from industrial to elegant, Venue Restaura...
Danish Vennelyst Park
Omaha, NE
Park/Garden, Event Center, Outdoor
Starting from $1,835 to $3,416 for 50 guests
Looking for a wedding venue that embraces culture and rich history? The Danish Vennelyst Park is the perfect wedding venue for you to host your celebration. Charming and elegant, this space has been a symbol in the community of uniting the Danish Community since 1936. It is a lively space great for ...
The Living Room
Omaha, NE
Outdoor, Event Center, Modern
Starting from $4,631 to $7,426 for 50 guests
Nestled in the Mastercraft Building in downtown Omaha, The Living Room offers a beautiful industrial wedding venue that can be transformed into the occasion you have always dreamed of. Envision your perfect occasion set against a dramatic backdrop of warm rust-colored brick, exposed ceiling timbers,...
The Player's Club
Omaha, NE
Golf Course, Private Club, Ballrooms
Starting from $2,614 to $6,766 for 50 guests
The Players Club at Deer Creek in Omaha, Nebraska is makes the perfect location for your elegant wedding reception. The premier facility invites you and your guests to become members of the private club for a day as you celebrate the start of your new life together. The club's full-service clubhouse...
Soaring Wings Vineyard & Brewing
Springfield, NE
Winery/Vineyard/Brewery, Park/Garden, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $4,107 to $6,242 for 50 guests
Nestled in the scenic countryside of Springfield, the Soaring Wings Vineyard and Brewing offers a unique combination of laid back elegance and natural beauty on your wedding day. Family owned and operated, this winery is ideal for any kind of occasion -- whether you are hosting an intimate reception...
Bellevue Berry Farm Western Barn
Papillion, NE
Rustic & Barn, Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Event Center, Park/Garden, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $3,024 to $4,378 for 75 guests
The Bellevue Berry Farm is a family owned ranch that is deeply committed to family farming, preservation of farmland, and the values of rural America. A visit to the ranch, while close to the Greater Omaha area, is like revisiting the past when farming was the mainstay of the U.S. Economy. Your fami...
Hotel Deco
Omaha, NE
Historic/Landmark Building, Hotel/Resort, Event Center, City/Skyline View, Ballrooms, Modern
Starting from $4,687 to $6,423 for 50 guests
Within a stunning piece of historical Art Deco Architecture, Hotel Deco offers an intimate retreat from the ordinary. Located in the heart of downtown Omaha, across from the Orpheum Theatre and within steps of the historic Old Market retail, dining and entertainment district. This landmark hote...
The Ferguson House
Lincoln, NE
Mansion, Historic/Landmark Building, Event Center
Starting from $2,050 to $3,890 for 50 guests
The Ferguson House is a significant structure across the street from the State Capitol in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska. Constructed between 1909-1911 by William Henry and Myrtle Ferguson, the house is an elegant example of the second Renaissance Revival architectural style in Nebraska. Today, it house...
Omaha, NE
Event Center
Starting from $7,104 to $9,512 for 50 guests
Slowdown is located in the North Downtown area of Omaha. It's a quick drive from anywhere in the city with easy interstate access from all around, making it an ideal and convenient location for guests. Slowdown has been built from the same idea from 7 years ago – it's a permanent rock club and bar t...
Heritage Hall at Slattery Vintage Estate...
Nehawka, NE
Winery/Vineyard/Brewery, Golf Course, Outdoor
Starting from $2,116 to $3,959 for 50 guests
The Heritage Hall at Slattery Vintage Estates is a fine space to host your wedding celebration. This Vineyard and Tasting Room is a festive environment to celebrate in. Image you special day spent overlooking the lush greenery of distant trees. An outdoor ceremony on the lawn is a lovely affair at S...
The Diamond Room Omaha
Omaha, NE
Outdoor, Event Center, Modern
Starting from $5,910 to $10,483 for 50 guests
Known as a favorite locale for area weddings, The Diamond Room Omaha provides a beautiful backdrop for your big day that is brimming with an urban, chic vibe that is sure to impress. Combining dramatic decor with customizable, first class service, it is little wonder that this location is beloved as...
Scottsbluff Barn Anew
Scottsbluff, NE
Rustic & Barn, Park/Garden, Bed & Breakfast/Inn, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $1,200 to $1,359 for 50 guests
Rising out of the ruts of the Oregon Trail, with Scotts Bluff as a dramatic backdrop, Barn Anew Bed & Breakfast offers an exquisite setting for your outdoor wedding celebration. Barn Anew provides an exquisite get away perfect for exchanging vows in a calm and serene setting. From the moment you and...
Bellevue Berry Farm Buena Vista
Papillion, NE
Rustic & Barn, Banquet Hall/Restaurant, Event Center, Vintage, Outdoor
Starting from $2,676 to $3,722 for 75 guests
For a wedding venue filled with country-chic charm, host your special day at Bellevue Berry and Pumpkin Patch. This family-owned, "you-pick" berry and pumpkin farm has operated in the Omaha area for over 30 years. The Ranch features a variety of reception locations, including the Buena Vista barn. T...
The Club at Indian Creek
Omaha, NE
Golf Course, Ballrooms
Starting from $4,272 to $8,100 for 50 guests
The Club at Indian Creek in sunny Omaha is a lovely site to host your wedding celebration. Imagine wedding your love outside on the lush green lawn of The Club. Exchange vows under a simple terrace as your guests overlook the picturesque golf course. After a sweet and simple ceremony, you and your g...


text:
Emsisoft keeps Windows computers free from malicious and unwanted software, and reliably prevents phishing and ransomware attacks.
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text:
So last night I went out for drinks and a movie with some work mates. We had a great time, but on the way home, I probably heard one of the most hilarious things ever on the radio.
The CIA is hiring.
Seriously, the CIA is doing RADIO DROPS to get people to apply to work for them.
I was sort of half heartedly listening, when it occurred to me it wasn't some sort of joke advertisement. They kept going on about Clandestine Service and then finished with "See more information at CIA.GOV."
This is hilarious and intriguing to me on many levels. First of all, is no one left in military intelligence or like, the FBI or something to move over into the CIA? That seems like it would be a promotion from where I sit out in civilian land. I'm not sure of course, but in my movie-based point of reference, CIA seems like the coolest spy unit to work for.
Secondly, in the radio ad, they list qualifications as "being able to take a polygraph test" and "willing to submit to a physical exam."
Ok - able. Yes, I am ABLE to take a polygraph test. I'm wondering what they are looking fro though. The ability to tell the truth or the ability to LIE AND FOOL THE MACHINE. That's sort of fascinating to me. I thought only sociopaths can fool the machine though, so maybe that's not such a good quality.
Willing to submit to a physical exam? Yeah ok. If forty something and kind of fat works for you, exam all you want.
I kind of want to know what sort of questions they would ask you. I'm fascinated. Part of me wants to apply JUST to find out. I'm fairly sure they don't pay anything worth getting myself killed in some third world prison for, but man, it's definitely intriguing. I linked to them so they'll see this blog post and know I'm not serious and I won't get an interview. :( Part of me WANTS TO KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO INTERVIEW FOR THE CIA.
Plus, if they asked me if I would kill a man, I could answer, "In Reno - Just to watch him DIE."
Looking at their web page - does anyone else things it's freaky that they have a kids page?
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The CIA Is Hiring
Posted by Gidge Uriza at 10:11 AM
Labels: CIA, Fluff N Stuff, new job


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VANCOUVER — Oilers defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky has been reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee for an anti-doping rules violation.
While in Vancouver with the Slovakian Olympic team, he admitted to taking Advil Cold & Sinus medication to combat flu-like symptoms.
His urine sample provided after the qualification round was found to contain pseudoephedrine, in a concentration greater than the World Anti-Doping Agency limit of 150 micrograms per millilitre.
He also provided samples on Feb. 26 before and after the semifinal against Canada and both were negative.
The IOC issued the reprimand rather than a suspension because of several mitigating factors.
Before taking medication he first consulted Oilers trainer Ken Lowe and Slovakian team Dr. Dalimir Jancovic. After taking it, he explained that he admitted taking Advil Cold & Sinus on his doping control form and that he had not taken it to enhance his performance.
Visnovsky also told the IOC he was unaware that Advil Cold & Sinus contained a prohibited substance.
Pseudoephedrine was added to the 2010 List of prohibited substances as a specified substance.
This was Visnovsky's first violation. He has played in four worlds and the Turin Olympics.


text:
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- Classroom Resources | Grades 7 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  December 25
A Christmas Carol was the first book transmitted over radio!
Students write a script for A Christmas Carol on a level that primary students can read and perform. Older students record the performance and create a website to showcase photographs.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 3 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  February 20
Actor Sidney Poitier was born in 1924.
Students do a journal entry about barriers that have been broken,such as age, race, and gender, that might impede them in the future, and how they can break through those barriers.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 3 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  January 11
Amelia Earhart completed her solo flight from Honolulu to Oakland in 1935.
Students explore the definition of a hero and use the interactive Venn diagram to identify the most common characteristics of a hero.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 5 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  November 26
America celebrates Thanksgiving Day today.
After reading the book Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving, students read the letter Hale sent to Lincoln and brainstorm a list of ways to make their community better.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 4 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Analyzing How Narrative Structure Generates Empathy in Wonder
This lesson builds students' understanding of empathy by defining key terms and comparing responses to characters when they are introduced by someone else, and then when they narrate the story themselves.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 3 – 12 | Calendar Activity |  January 1
Annie Moore becomes the first immigrant to enter Ellis Island in 1892.
Students explore online resources about Ellis Island, interview an immigrant in the area, and publish their stories.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Unit
A Portrait of Our World: Making Connections and Developing Comprehension
Students engage in carousel walks, character analyses, global explorations, and genre studies while using valuable language arts strategies to build higher-level comprehension skills.
- Professional Development | Grades 6 – 12 | Strategy Guide
Assessing Student Interests and Strengths
In this Strategy Guide, you'll learn about a number of specific methods that can help you to gain a fuller picture of the interests of your students as well as what your students understand, know, and can demonstrate by doing.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 3 – 10 | Calendar Activity |  December 19
Author Eve Bunting was born in Ireland in 1928.
Students listen to a news article about the LA race riots and then read Smoky Night to discuss how a younger observer might be affected by these events and their perceptions.
- Classroom Resources | Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
A World of Readers: Libraries Around the World
Bookworms will enjoy the bytes they find in this lesson as they research and share information about online library services in places around the world.


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Dead Fred asks:Are you a Desperate Genealogist?
Click the e-book above for details!
Dead Fred's Genealogy Photo Archive, a free, fun photo genealogy research web site devoted to helping you visualize your heritage!
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Photo #65731
Last Name: Koelreuter
First Name: Joseph
Middle Name: Gottlieb
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Subject's Country: Germany
Date: 1901-1920
Photographer's City:
Photographer's State:
Type**: PRT
Comments: Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter (Nee: ) | Germany | 1901-1920 | Comments: This picture of Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuter appears on page 158 of The American Breeders Magazine, vol.1, no.3, 1910. Please see that reference for more details. There is a biographical sketch of him on pages 159-160 of that volume. Joseph was born in 1733 and died in 1806. He seems to have grown up in Germany and received a doctorate in medicine from the University of Tubingen in 1756. He later went to Russia and served in the Imperial Academy of Science at St. Petersburg. He left Russia in 1761 and moved to Calw. That is all the information I have on this picture. I am not researching this line, just saw the photo and thought I'd post it.
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The socal defenition of a broho is a chick that sleeps with bros. (Bro being typically a person who likes to go to the desert and go offroading in a truck, dunebuggy, or on a dirtbike, quad, etc.) Brohos go for the guys that not only have beer but weed. SRH, skin, DC, Dickies, and other similar brands are common in this crowd.
Kim is such a broho! She slept with Jeremy, Ryan, Adam, Mark, Mike, Sam, Josh, Anthony, and Brian. They are all friends and have no problem with it! ugh, sooo gross (I borrowed this, it was a good example)
by RandomdudefromsocalSD May 14, 2006
by Timbs March 08, 2017
A girl version of a Bro. Loves Lifted Trucks. Wears clothes like Metal Mulisha, SRH, Hustler, and etc. There hair is usually more than one color. Most likely has a bandana in there hair. Shops at No Fear, Outhouse, Tillys. Listens to Rock/Rap type of music. Usually has a naval peircing. Usually Lives in So Cal.
by kaitlloves August 28, 2007
The female equivalent of a bro. Although native to the west coast, bro hoes can be found at almost any state school campus in the greater United States.
bro ho criteria:
-peroxide damaged hair
-orange skin
-lower back tattoo (often depicting a butterfly or hibiscus flowers)
-thinks UGGs go with everything
-wears skater and surf apparel but participates in neither activity
-wears velour track suits anywhere and anytime, including movie/dinner dates and church
-has a beer gut and wears jeans that are two sizes too small (see: muffin top).
-thinks spring break in Cancun qualifies 'well-traveled'
-has a naval piercing or naval piercing scar
-dates a guy who drives a lifted truck/SUV OR drives her own lifted truck/SUV
-butt crack and thong are always visible
+ 100 bro ho points if she listens to Linkin Park, Hoobastank, or any rap-rock fusion.
+ 1,000 bro ho points if she considers Britney Spears or Jenna Jameson a personal inspiration.
"Check out that bro ho in the Von Dutch hat -- her thong is hella cutting her lower back tattoo."
by carrot-flowers April 16, 2006
a girl between the age of fourteen and tewent. her hair color either being blond, or half blond (on top section on hair) and half black (on bottom section. too much mascara is worn and eyelashes look like hairy spider leggs. they enjoy applying their makeup on in an excessive fashion one of the more popular items of makeup used by bro hos is bronzer, bronzer is a golden powder used on the face to enhance color, bro ho's apply so much bronzer their faces look more of an orange color. the rest of their skin is an orange color as well, this is from excessive indoor tanning (a.k.a.:fake'n'bake)and also spray-on tanning methods. Bro ho's are commonley found wearing "trucker hats" (hats that have been made by surf companies that resembel the style of hat most truckers wear, but have been fashoned by the companies and sold extreamly overpriced to bros and bro ho's alike. they do not carry purses but instead carry mini backpacks. each of their ten fingers has some sort of ring on it, either being over-sized or over-priced. They like to wear oversized sweatpants with the elastics at the ankels cut off. most shoes owned by bro ho's are some kind of platform shoe (variations of three to six inches tall). instead of wearing a necklace bro ho's cut a piece of black ribbon and tie it around their necks like a choker. bro ho's drive lifted full size trucks that have custom rims and oversized tires all paid for by their fathers that spoil them to a fault. commonly use words such as: like, "oh my god", totally, "for sures", dude, bro,
duuuuuuuuuuuude jays takin that slutty ass bro ho with us to mike's party only cuz shes gunna get drunk as fuck and hes gunna get to hit that shit.
by .:Ally Kelly:. December 06, 2004
A teenage girl who is extremely obsessed with bronzer, lifted trucks, the desert, dirt bikes and quads, the hot guy they saw in Tilly's or Hanger 94 and calling themselves bro ho's
They are normally the life of the party and enjoy being slutty, such showing a leopard print thong
Obssesed with taking pics of themselves and their other bro friends
Also - the female variation of a Bro
They are normally the life of the party and enjoy being slutty, such showing a leopard print thong
Obssesed with taking pics of themselves and their other bro friends
Also - the female variation of a Bro
Jane: OMG! i just saw a guy with a So-Cal shirt on...and he totally freakin lives in like San Jose, Ca...wat a poser..however his lifted F350 is pretty hotttt!
Destiny: Dude! U r such a freaking bro ho!
Destiny: Dude! U r such a freaking bro ho!
by IrishCoffee'nCream July 22, 2006
Brian Holden's Fan-Girls
Brian Holden sure has alot of Bro-Ho's!
by Dalekdude October 07, 2011
Oct 29 trending
- 1. Watermelon Sugar
- 2. Ghetto Spread
- 3. Girls who eat carrots
- 4. sorority squat
- 5. Durk
- 6. Momala
- 7. knocking
- 8. Dog shot
- 9. sputnik
- 10. guvy
- 11. knockin'
- 12. nuke the fridge
- 13. obnoxion
- 14. Eee-o eleven
- 15. edward 40 hands
- 16. heels up
- 17. columbus
- 18. ain't got
- 19. UrbDic
- 20. yak shaving
- 21. Rush B Cyka Blyat
- 22. Pimp Nails
- 23. Backpedaling
- 24. Anol
- 25. got that
- 26. by the way
- 27. Wetter than an otter's pocket
- 28. soy face
- 30. georgia rose


text:
Submitted by Suzy Brown
The Brown's Home
6029 Forrest Hollow Lane
Springfield, VA 22152
Intensive Cued Speech Practice, #4
Topic of the Week: Flicks
Join us every Tuesday evening all summer long for a fun group practice event!
Cuers of all levels welcome, great for transliterators and parents of cue kids to get practice and support from our local Cue-munity!
Family friendly event, child care provided for a flat family fee of $10.
You can find out more details, RSVP, and look up past week's Topics on our FB page:
Slideshows of every study group are available in the 'Files' section, it's easy to start your own study group wherever you may be and you're welcome to use the slideshows.
Keep Calm and Cue On!


text:
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Arturo Alvarez and Ramon Sanchez saw their dreams of competing in the 2010 World Cup Finals dashed when the Salvadoran National Team finished fifth out of six sides in the final stage of CONCACAF qualifying.
But that disappointment won't keep the San Jose Earthquakes pair from watching the action as it unfolds in South Africa, starting today with the hosts' 1-1 draw against Mexico.
"Obviously, we wanted to be playing there, but the only thing we can do is just sit back and enjoy the World Cup," Sánchez said in Spanish, with Álvarez translating. "It'll be a good one."
For a younger player such as Álvarez, who will turn 25 later this month, it's easier to avoid bitterness with thoughts of the future.
"The good thing about it is that we have the opportunity to maybe qualify for the next World Cup," said an optimistic Álvarez.
Quakes coach Frank Yallop also never made it out of qualifying as a player for Canada or as its national team coach; nonetheless, he was full of excitement heading into the opener.
"You look forward to it, but you don't realize how much you like it until the first match," Yallop said. "And then off you go."
Although the Quakes have several internationals on the roster, only one —Bobby Convey, with the US in 2006— has participated in the World Cup Finals. Convey is not, however, holding court in the back of the bus as teammates listen in rapt attention to his stories of the US' journey through Germany.
"We don't really talk about it, because there's no point," said Convey, who fell out early from coach Bob Bradley's plans after a subpar 2009. "It's just kind of negative. Everyone knows that I played in the World Cup the last time around, and I guess the natural progression would have been for me to go this time as well, but we don't really talk about it. I just focus on being here."
Yallop may have the worst case of World Cup "what-ifs" among the Quakes, though. He was a defender on the Canadian squad that needed a win at home against Mexico on the final day of CONCACAF qualifying to secure a berth in the 1994 World Cup Finals. Instead, the team lost 2-1, giving up the game-winner late, and was forced into a two-legged intercontinental playoff with Australia, which the Aussies won on penalty kicks in Sydney.
"Everything," Yallop replied when asked what participation in a World Cup Finals would have meant to him. "When you start playing, you're dreaming of the World Cup. I would have loved to be able to do that."
Just like many fans who are without their own country to root for in South Africa, Yallop's rooting allegiance lies Brazil and Argentina because of their unmatched technical prowess.
"They just look good," Yallop said. "They just do the right things. They're exciting, but they're strong."
Alvarez can get behind half of that sentiment, at least.
"I personally want to see Argentina and Messi do well," said Álvarez, who is less than enthralled by Brazil coach Dunga's defensive style. "I'm always usually a Brazil fan, but you watch Brazil and their play now is not the same."
Geoff Lepper covers the San Jose Earthquakes for MLSsoccer.com. He can be reached at email@example.com or on Twitter at @sjquakes.


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I've always been intrigued by financial advisors. It was one of the few careers where people are always asking each other, "How much money do you make?" Of course, they're not that obvious. They say things like, "What did you gross last year?" or "What are your assets under management?"
Once they have this coveted information, they quickly do the math in their head … all the while acting like they're interested in what you're saying. Within seconds, most can figure out, within about 50 cents, what your monthly take-home pay is.
With this information in hand, they determine whether or not you're full of BS. Generally, if your income is less than theirs, they feel superior and everything you say is mortally flawed. If your income is higher (and only then) you get their respect and they assume you know what you're talking about. At that point, your conversation becomes much more interesting.
This environment can lead to envy and jealousy. Think about the last big broker conference you went to. You knew who all the big hitters were, didn't you? Didn't you feel a tinge of jealousy about how much money they were making? A little? If only you had the same breaks they did (is usually what I thought).
A million years ago, when I was wholesaling I met an advisor on his company's "Grand Awards Trip." He was one of the top reps in his firm. He made a ton of money, had his pretty little wife and 2.3 perfect children. I'm sure his dog never pooped in the house either. I used to think, "Wow, what a life this guy has. I wish …"
Five years later, I had moved on and lost touch with this advisor. When I got back in touch with some of my old friends at the rep's firm, I learned he was no longer there. Apparently he had sold a ton of private placements that went into the toilet. He started boozing and his wife left him. I'm not sure, but I think he's managing a Hooters restaurant now. The money's not as good but he gets all the chicken wings he can eat.
More recently, I met a guy who became a good friend. He was a trader on Wall Street. He worked for a big hedge fund. I always was in awe of him. He had a great family. He was witty and charming. And of course, he had great toys. We'd drive in his Mercedes to the marina to take his boat out fishing. Thankfully he paid for the gas so I wouldn't have to raid my 401(k).
I knew my buddy for about eight or nine years. By this time, I had settled into the realization that others around me were just more successful and more talented. This was to be my lot in life. The perfect little family unit, unlimited funds and a dog with no bowels were just not in the cards for me.
Imagine my surprise when my phone rang early one morning and I learned that in the middle of the night, the FBI had surrounded my friend's house and he was in jail. Allegedly, he was involved in some big insider-trading scheme. Lawyers drained what money he had left. His house is up for sale and his wife went back to work. He now will be spending the next four or five years banging out license plates, between sets of tennis, at a minimum-security prison camp.
As you can probably tell by now, I just can't get seem to get this envy/jealousy thing right. I end up being jealous of the wrong people. Maybe a better strategy is to simply appreciate what I have and the work it took to get it. From now on, that's what I'll do. I've got a fun interesting career and three great teenage boys who can't seem to put anything away or pick up after themselves.
I'm going to start appreciating all that, right after I clean up my dog's latest mess.


text:
I do a cornbread jalapeño pecan stuffing for pork-chops. You can use the stove-top brand of cornbread stuffing and add the peppers etc...They come out great on the egg at 375F for an hour or until the center reads 155ish. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5136.msg144253#msg144253
My neighbor came back from a hunting trip with 65 lbs of wild boar . . . he wants me to smoke a couple of shoulders for him. I expect the fat content to be low, so I plan to wrap them in bacon first and smoke them like any other pork shoulder. Any other advice?


text:
More than 125 people attended the fourth annual Celebrate Camp Palmer day on Oct. 1.
Events included riding on the zip line, climbing the giant wall and riding up in the air via the flying squirrel event.
Fayette High School FFA students led carnival games after lunch, along with face painting, pumpkin decorating, pony wagon rides, archery and more.
POOL FUND—Several area 4-H clubs were winners in the 4-H Club Pool Fund Raiser Challenge. Overall, the effort brought in $2,350.
First place winners were 4-H Gainers and Leaders (Fulton County), Grelton Bluebirds and Prize Livestock (Henry County) and Pike Kountry Kids 4-H Club (Fulton County). Second place winners were Gold Medal 4-H Club (Wood County) and Pike Kountry Kids 4-H Club.
PEPSI REFRESH—Will Camp Palmer's third try at Pepsi Refresh grant be a winning entry?
From Nov. 1 to 30, 4-H Camp Palmer will compete in the $50,000 Pepsi Refresh Project Grant for the third try this season.
In May Camp Palmer finished in 67th place and in 36th in August. A top-10 finish is needed to receive a grant to purchase a new water slide for the pool.
Supporters are encouraged to register and vote daily by going to www.refresheverything.com
Voting can also be made by sending a text message.
CONSTRUCTION—Construction is underway on a new year-round retreat cabin at the camp. The facility will be available to youth camps, retreat groups and many users of the camp.
Skilled labor volunteers are sought to help with various aspects of the project. For more information call 419/237-2247.