text:
A typical maintenance department must track dozens, or even hundreds, of different assets that need testing, repairing and replacing. Each of these tasks requires the use of specific tools that are critical to completing a job appropriately and on time.
But what happens when an electrical technician arrives to a job site without a multimeter or wire stripper? How can a worker frame a new house without clamps or an air compressor?
Workers shouldn't have to waste time searching for the right tool, and lost or stolen equipment halts progress and eats into a company's profits.
Tool tracking and management with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), enterprise asset management system (EAM) or a stand-alone inventory solution can keep your important tools and equipment organized, so technicians can find what they need quickly, saving both time and money. And if something goes missing, you'll know immediately and can address the problem as soon as possible.
An equipment profile in eMaint CMMS showing location and other details
This guide is designed to show how you can use software to track the tools that keep your operations moving.
Here's what we'll cover:
What Is Tool Management?
Benefits of Tool Management Systems
Barcodes Versus RFID
Computerized Maintenance Management Software BuyerView 2014
Maintenance teams, contractors, electricians, field technicians and other professionals store their tools in boxes and larger equipment in a toolroom or tool crib. A failure to organize tools and equipment slows down work and reduces productivity.
Tool management is a smart choice for asset-intensive industries, such as:
These organizations track assets such as AC units, vehicles, heavy equipment or lighting, i.e., items needed to make the company money. So why shouldn't tools be tracked the same way?
This is where tool management software, also referred to as tool tracking software, can help. Often a function of inventory management, a tool management system allows organizations to create a profile for each tool, complete with images, history and current location or user.
These systems can also offer more advanced functionality, including:
Next, we'll learn about some key benefits of managing tools.
Because tool management software is related to inventory management software, the benefits are similar. Here are some of the key benefits:
|Increased oversight and collaboration
|As a result of detailed usage data, you can create reports and identify problem areas, and share this data among departments. This way, other business units can make more strategic decisions based on real-time availability of equipment.
|Reduced equipment losses
|A system that keeps track of equipment helps reduce losses that can cost companies thousands of dollars to replace a machine or in productivity.
|Improved workflows
|For organizations that maintain equipment, mobile devices are especially beneficial. Workflows are streamlined—technicians can view the location of tools and reserve them, all from their smartphones, and the system updates in real-time.
Asset management can be simplified with tagging, which allows quick identification of equipment by scanning a tag with a mobile device.
Two common methods prevail today: barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID). Each option has pros and cons, so here are some details to help you determine which works best for your tool tracking needs:
Barcodes. You're familiar with these—the vertical black lines found on every consumer product that can be quickly scanned. Barcoding is:
RFID tags. These new types of tags contain microchips that store data and can be attached like a sticker to individual tools. RFID tags:
Keep in mind that RFID tagging is often a more complicated implementation, but offers more advanced capabilities, such as scanning multiple tags at once to get information about an entire group of assets or tools.
If you manage simple tools, barcoding can offer an affordable, easy-to-use method. For more complex tools that have difficult-to-access internal components, RFID tags can make finding tool information easier.
At Software Advice, we speak with hundreds of software buyers each year. Through these interactions, we identify common pain points and requested features for each type of software. We used the gathered data to create a BuyerView.
We found that preventive maintenance is the top-requested feature in a maintenance system at 25 percent, likely because this is a task that is difficult to perform without automation.
However, in second place at 22 percent is asset management. Clearly, the need to keep track of assets, as well as the tools needed to repair those assets, is very important to maintenance organizations. Tool management software is a key tool (sorry, we couldn't help ourselves) in any maintenance operation.
To learn more about how asset and inventory management helps companies save money, check out our Three Tips to Optimize Your Spare Parts Inventory Control System.
Our service is simple and 100% free to customers like you because software vendors pay us when we connect them with quality leads. You save time and get great advice. Vendors get great referrals. It's a win for everyone!


text:
Kathy Lamsargis' "Gift of Giving" program at Feitshans Elementary School is designed to teach children that it is better to give than to receive.
Every day this December, Kathy Lamsargis would go home to find boxes on her front porch.
She's not hooked on QVC, nor is she a shopaholic. She's a Title I reading teacher at Feitshans Elementary School, and the boxes were full of items for the "Gift of Giving" program she started for students 13 years ago.
Lamsargis collects new and gently used items from friends, friends of friends, family and co-workers each year, then has a day when each student at her school can pick out a gift or two to give to a friend, family member or loved one at Christmas. Volunteers wrap and tag the presents that day at the school.
Her Gift of Giving program is designed to teach children that it is better to give than to receive.
On Thursday, 26 classes totaling 540 kids marched into the gym at Feitshans, 1101 S. 15th St., to each pick out two gifts to give from the nearly 2,000 gifts displayed on folding tables.
'It just blossomed'
Lamsargis said the roots of the program started more than 13 years ago.
"Kids would come up to me and tell me their mom was getting married, or their grandmother was having a birthday," she said. "I realized how many things I had at home that I didn't need — crystal vases, things like that — so I started bringing them to school and stockpiling them in a cabinet. Then I asked them if they'd like to pick something out to give that person on the special occasion."
Then she started thinking about what happens to all the old Christmas decorations when we get new ones.
"We take them to Goodwill, or we just throw them out," she said. "So I started collecting those. And it just blossomed."
She begins accumulating gifts for next year almost immediately after Christmas, when things go on sale.
"Friends start dropping off boxes of things right after Thanksgiving," she said. "I go to garage sales, and I look for holiday items in the summer, when no one wants them."
She stores them in her basement and up and down the steps until Christmas time.
Lamsargis' program was at Pleasant Hill School, where she taught, for the past 12 years.
But Pleasant Hill and Wanless schools closed after last year, and the students combined at K-through-5 Feitshans Elementary for the 2013-14 year.
"People didn't think it would work with more than 500 kids in the school when before we had about 200," she said.
Giving feels good
On Thursday, 16 volunteers came to help set up, wrap and work with the children if they needed help selecting a gift.
"Three women I met at a garage sale showed up this morning to help," Lamsargis said.
The students had gifts other than Christmas items to choose from.
"There are some Bath and Body works things in there," Lamsargis said. "Some things are brand new and still have price tags on them. I've seen $50 and up on some. That's something a kid would never be able to afford."
When she was dealing with fewer students, she would get them together and explain the Gift of Giving and how good giving would make them feel and tell them to be thinking about who they wanted to give a gift.
But with the larger number of children, she put together a video doing the same thing that each teacher showed to their students.
She said she encourages the students to take their presents home and give them to a loved one on Christmas Day.
"I've had mothers come to me in January almost with tears in their eyes telling me that was the best gift they'd ever had," Lamsargis said.
Kaira Traylor, a Feitshans fifth-grader, said she had picked out a glass rose for her sister and a picture frame for her father.
She said she thinks they'll like their gifts.
"And I feel good about it," she said.
Lamsargis is retiring at the end of this school year, but the Gift of Giving will keep on ... well, giving.
"I plan to continue this as a holiday project," she said.
Contact Chris Dettro: 788-1510, firstname.lastname@example.com, twitter.com/ChrisDettroSJR

subset: commoncrawl


text:
'We were able to pair the N86 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones .'
'great phone'
'neat, effective smart phone'
'fabulous Nokia N86 slider mobile phone'
'most attractive phone screens'
'refined phone'
'it a high-end phone'
'phone looks great and feels good in the hand.'
'This brilliant phone is packed with lots of exciting features. '
'The new device, which is a quad-band slider phone looks quite different from Motorola's previous models and boasts a 3.1 megapixel camera with flash, a 2.1 inch TFT display and Facebook, Myspace and YouTube applications pre-installed.'
'The stylish design of this model is what makes it distinct from other mobiles.'
'Its new design and social network friendly applications make it lovable by most of its user.'
'the phone is special and attracts any user because of its dual SIM facility. admin has written 1719 stories on this site.'
'Overall a good phone, holding plenty of multimedia features looking at the price range.'
'perfect mobile'
'Camera of Samsung C6112
The fun and entertainment part if plays vital in a mobile phone.'
'Awesome phone in all areas'
'Despite the phone being quite stylish, we felt that Motorola spent too much time on the "look†of the phone and not enough time on the "featuresâ€.'
'powerful phone'
'one of best mobiles that Motorola has ever produced and one of the best with AT&T'
'Gaming options were limited'
'The metallic surface isn't polished like the V3's keypad, which enables it to stay smudge free even after heavy usage.'
'the features are very intuitive and easy..."'
'difficult to feel the phone vibrate when it's in your pocket.'
'high class phone'
'the phone is fairly good at what it was built mainly for - making and receiving calls with no bells and whistles.'
'slim phone'
'various phone features'
'the phone is quite bulky and noticeable and when it's
and convenient to use.'
'excellent quality phone'
'It's fair to say Nokia has missed the boat in many respects with the emergence of clamshell phones over the last few years.'
'large 16 million color QVGA display'
'Its a great phone with many features.'
'Navigating playlists and tracks on your phone is clear and easy, and the phone displays album artwork and plays tracks purchased from the iTunes store just like an iPod.'
'The phone works excellent when connected to your computer, you can add playlists or songs as if the phone is an ipod. '
'The Motorola Razr V3i Dolce & Gabbana is an eye-catching slim cell phone'
'elegant phone'
'flip phone'
'small and light phone'
'internal display is equally disappointing.'
ReviewGist helps you find the best products to buy by making sense of online reviews.
We are currently aggregating 376,500 reviews
covering over 29,483 products.
© 2019 ReviewGist.com. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Some things in nature are the stuff of nightmares, like meat-eating plants that lure their victims in with sweetness.
Flesh-eating plants? Oh yes, they exist. We've turned them into the subjects of dark tales and horror movies. But the reality of them is far more morbidly fascinating than any Hollywood creation.
In areas where soil nutrients are so low that flora life struggles to survive, such a bogs or rainforest floors, some plants have made amazing adaptations, turning their bodies into wells to lure and drown victims, or topping off tiny hairs with a sweet-smelling sticky substance to trap and digest insects, or even snapping shut and trapping a curious bug.


text:
Goddess of Flowers
Description: A woman drops flowers from a basket. She's in the foreground and wears a long flowing simple gown. Her hair is down and long. Behind her is a body of water and to her right is landscape.
Date: unknown
Creator: Nakamura Fusetsu
Item Type: Refine your search to only Postcard


text:
Oxford Reference provides more than 177,000 concise definitions and in-depth, specialist encyclopedic entries across Literature. Our coverage comprises authoritative, accessible information on writers, works, movements, historical context, literary theories, and allusions—from African American literature and Irish literature to Canadian and Italian, from Classical to Romantic, from poetry to plays.
Written by trusted experts for researchers at every level, entries are complemented by chronologies, line drawings, and charts wherever useful.
Jump to:
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See all the Literature books available on Oxford Reference >
Sample resources
Discover literature on Oxford Reference with the below sample content:
Timelines of literature: from English, German, and American, to Italian, Greek, and Latin
Quotations about literature and writers from Oxford Essential Quotations
'Dialect and Obsolete Words' from The Oxford Companion to the Brontës
'Towards a Definition of the Literary Fairy Tale' from The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
Biography of Herman Melville (The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History)
Author Q&A
In your opinion, which is the most fascinating entry in your Companion and why?
I'm going to cheat, I think, and answer with a category of entries rather than a single one. I work as a literary translator, which means I have a kind of natural vocational bias towards the kinds of books that open out readers' horizons – not just books written by people who share my own little language and neighbourhood, but the books that have travelled, that have crossed borders, languages, cultures, books that may have started life on the other side of the world speaking Portuguese or Tamil but which have something to say to readers in the UK, which have travelled far and have amazing stories to tell. So inevitably my Companion to Children's Literature includes many writers and books rooted in other languages that Anglophone readers can only access through the skill and imagination of brilliant translators (books from Hans Christian Andersen to Astérix, Astrid Lindgren to Daniel Pennac); but I've also tried to acknowledge the role of these extraordinary translators as subjects in their own right. Sarah Ardizzone, Anthea Bell and Patricia Crampton are all translators who have helped to shape Anglophone children's literature by recreating foreign books for us to read, so they get their own entries, and 'translation' itself does, too. (Translators are tiresomely persistent proselytisers on behalf of their craft, and I'm no exception to that.)
What do you think is the most commonly held misconception in your subject area?
'Children's books are easy to write, 'cos after all they're only short and use only simple words. Pretty much anyone can do it. I'd quite like to write a kids' book myself if I had time…' I hear versions of this constantly. It's the lazy and rather insulting assumption that underpins all those singers or reality TV celebs suddenly announcing that they have an afternoon free so they're going to write a children's book, perhaps at the recommendation of their brand manager. ('I've had to read a lot of these children's books and they're quite boring, I think I could do it better.' – that's a verbatim quote from Simon Cowell last month. His inspired new opus will be 'about animals'.) This is not to say that all celebrity books are terrible and pointless, of course; but it takes particular skill to make a children's book work, and most people haven't got it.
In one sense, yes, it is of course true – yes, a children's book is easy to write. So long as you don't care whether it's any good. Writing an indiscriminately bad children's book is easy, sure.
Books for children, whether illustrated or not, from picture books for toddlers to graphic novels for teenagers, baby books to young adult fiction, can operate with a level of sophistication that most people seem not to have noticed. The shortage of serious review coverage certainly doesn't help to dispel those lazy assumptions, nor I think does the failure of those of us working in this area to articulate loudly and clearly enough just why these books are important and rewarding and complex, why exactly Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are isn't just a nice story with pretty pictures but one of the 20th century's great masterpieces. I've written lots of books myself, and I've never written one for children because they're too difficult – I wish more people understood this.
I don't think you'd readily find a TV gardener saying 'I reckon I could write a symphony if I had time – it's easy, you just, you know, think of some tune and get all the different instruments to play it.' Or see a boy band put out a press statement saying they're going to be designing a cantilever bridge to coincide with the release of their new album. 'We've driven over loads of bridges and most of them are rubbish, so we're going to do a new one. We're excited to share our ideas with our fans.'
Is it easy to design a bridge? Sure. But unless you know what you're doing, they're liable to fall over.
Which figure in your subject's history would you most like to invite to a dinner party? What would you ask him/her?
Actually I think it would be someone who's still alive: the incomparable genius that is Quentin Blake. I don't know if I'd be able to have a very sensible conversation with him, I rather imagine myself sitting with him in his studio quite unable to formulate all the questions I want to ask about what the world looks like inside his head and instead just smiling idiotically (Its name is Zagazoo! Mr Magnolia has only one boot!), all dewy-eyed, blissed out to be in his company and surrounded by some of the art I love most in the whole world. Who needs to ask questions?
(Oh, who am I kidding – in reality I'd probably ask 'I don't suppose I could get a glass of water, could I?' then when he was off in the kitchen I'd steal things.)
Featured blogs
Shakespeare's clowns and fools [infographic]
September 7th 2016
From the songs they sang to the costumes they wore, discover facts about fools from Shakespeare's plays.
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February 14th 2016
Find out which famous couple from literature you most resemble with our quiz.
Which fairy tale character are you? [quiz]
December 17th 2015
The best fairy tales are populated with memorable characters … which one are you?
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text:
It may seem a little late to recap a trade show that I attended two weeks ago, but as my Twitter feed can attest, people are still talking about the IHRSA show in San Diego, most notably, the folks who operate the @IHRSA Twitter page, who were retweeting reactions to the show as late as yesterday afternoon.
So it gives me some comfort in knowing that I haven't procrastinated, er, set this mega blog post aside for too long. Last week, we gave you our IHRSA 2014 photo gallery, the Bash for Augie's Quest recap and Pam Kufahl's blog post to tide you over until I could roll out this mega-post today.
Overall, I think our group came away from the IHRSA show thinking that this was one of the best IHRSA shows that we've attended. From conferences to keynote speakers to the exhibit hall to parties, this show covered all the bases. The main star, for me, was San Diego itself. With the convention center, the proximity to hotels and the airport, and of course, the weather, it's hard to top San Diego. I think I'm going to start a petition to have San Diego host every trade show for every industry every year. I'm sure the San Diego Chamber of Commerce would not mind that at all. The only other city that I would do that for is…Chicago! (Have I mentioned yet that the Club Industry Show is in Chicago, Oct. 22-24 at McCormick Place?)
Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to a dear friend during the show: my suitcase. The zippers closed just enough to get me from Kansas City to San Diego, but too many trips and too many trade shows later, the suitcase just wouldn't open anymore. I am thankful that the Westfield Horton Plaza Mall was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel, so before the show kicked into high gear, I snuck out to get a new suitcase for the return home and for many years to come. (I hope.)
In other travel news, did anybody use Wi-Fi on their flight to the show? And could it have been any slower than mine? I almost felt like I was back in the dial-up Internet days. Don't get me wrong: Technology is amazing these days. But it still could go faster.
Pam touched on the receptions we attended in her post—we got to three on Wednesday night—so I'll add my thanks to the folks at the Gold's Gym Franchisee Association and the folks at World Gym for inviting me to their receptions on Thursday at barleymash (all lowercase) and the Hard Rock Hotel, respectively. Again, the great thing about San Diego is everything is just a few blocks away. (And did I mention the great weather?)
I met World Gym's Guy Cammilleri at this show last year in Las Vegas. This year, after finally completing my feature on Guy and his family, I met his mother, a sweet, sweet lady. I also said hello to World Gym advisor Mike Uretz, who had on an awesome Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign-for-governor jacket. That jacket rivaled the Nautilus jacket I saw Dean Sbragia wearing at the Med-Fit Systems reception that I checked out just downstairs at the Hard Rock.
Three more random notes: Congratulations to The Alaska Club's Robert Brewster for his selection as the next chairperson of the IHRSA Board of Directors. Also, our best to Steve Ayers of ABC Financial, who was scheduled to undergo foot surgery after the show. And we missed seeing our friend Karen Woodard-Chavez at the IHRSA show this year, so all the best to her and her family.
Keynote Speakers
Before I get into the keynotes I attended, I just want to point out something I never saw or experienced at an IHRSA show before. IHRSA President and CEO Joe Moore got the audience to stand up and chant "We are IHRSA! We are IHRSA! We are IHRSA!" before Thursday's keynote. All of a sudden, I felt like I was in the middle of a campaign rally. I half expected Joe to go Howard Beale on us and encourage us to scream "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" It's probably for the best that he didn't go there.
I did not get to hear Sally Hogshead, who spoke on Wednesday, nor Luke Williams, who spoke on Saturday, but I did attend the keynotes of Dan Heath and Gary Vaynerchuk. Both were extremely impressive.
Heath, the brother of former IHRSA keynote speaker Chip Heath, discussed how to make better choices in life and in work (as the title of his keynote suggested). Mainly, Heath talked about broadening your options to make a decision. He said the four "villains" of decision-making are narrow framing, confirmation bias, short-term emotion and overconfidence.
Heath also said we need to widen our options within a "WRAP" framework: Widen options, Reality testing, Attain distance before deciding and Prepare to be wrong.
"No one in life is going to tell you your baby is ugly," Heath said.
Heath told the story about the poor decision Quaker made in acquiring Snapple for $1.7 billion in the mid-1990s, only to sell it for $300 million two years later. Heath also gave a nice shout-out to our friend Christine Thalwitz and the folks at ACAC Fitness and Wellness Center for their ability to attract and convert doctor referrals into members, an example of breaking out from the narrow frame of decision-making.
"We need a process that we can trust," Heath said. "We will never be perfect. But we can be better."
I got a tip about the Vaynerchuk keynote from a former colleague who heard him speak in a sales meeting not long ago. Vaynerchuk is pretty unabashed in using bad language, I was told. I had to see how that would fly with the IHRSA crowd.
As it turns out, Vaynerchuk, by my count, uttered only a couple of s-bombs, one of which came out as "sh…crap."
"I was told not to cuss," Vaynerchuk said toward the end of his address, right after he warned attendees "the s---'s about to hit the fan" in terms of social media and communication.
Vaynerchuk was all about one-liners, but this was no comedy routine. It's almost as if his speech was made for Twitter, where he has more than one million followers. Sarah Kooperman and I (yes, we reprised our role of attending an IHRSA keynote session together) were busily typing down his best lines.
I also tried to post as many great quotes from Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) on Twitter as I could during the address. Referring to how much money he made as a 14-year-old entrepreneur in the baseball card business, he said, "If you've got $30,000 under your bed at 14 years old and you're not selling weed, you're doing a good job."
Other quotes from Gary Vee:
"This room (meaning health club operators) is marketing like it's 2005, not like it's 2014."
"Every single club is a media company first."
"Instagram is the new Facebook."
"We're living through the second industrial revolution."
When referring to the different ways we communicate with each other through social media, he said, "Communication in our society has been fundamentally disrupted." He later added, "We're living in the explosion of word-of-mouth." And one more good quote: "Innovation doesn't give a crap about you and me."
As I mentioned on Twitter, this keynote may have been the most important address at IHRSA that I've heard in my years coming to the show. Vaynerchuk ended his address by hoping club operators would go back to their clubs and start a new social media channel that would improve their business. And he hoped to hear from them when they did.
"I'm looking forward to that email," he said.
Conference Sessions
I saw that our good friend Bryan O'Rourke posted a column on his blog about the Gary Vaynerchuk keynote, and I purposefully did not read it before writing this post. (I will read it soon…I promise!) I know O'Rourke picked up on some of the key social media themes that Gary Vee stressed in his address.
O'Rourke hosted another great technology roundtable at the show that included Bill McBride of Active Sports Clubs, Rasmus Ingerslev of Fresh Fitness and Steve Groves of GoodLife Fitness. (I got it right this time, Steve!) Speaking of O'Rourke, he was recently named one of the top 100 experts on Twitter by PhDInManagement.org. Way to go, Bryan!
And I always enjoy attending Rick Caro's annual financial panel. This year's panel consisted of Pierre LeComte, managing director of TSG Consumer Partners (which now has a private equity stake in Planet Fitness); Sean Naughton, a senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray; Ben Chapin, vice president of GE Antares Capital; and Nathan Chandrasekaran, principal at TZP Group LLC, which now has a stake in Lift Brands, which includes Snap Fitness.
Caro gave us the rundown of the 2013 headlines, and overall, not much has changed in the industry over the past three years, he said. The industry is still improving, Caro said, but not to the pre-recession levels of 2007. Caro expects a better year this year, but until unemployment levels continue to improve and we have a better idea of how the Affordable Care Act will affect the industry, 2014 may not be a home run year, Caro said.
Compared to financial panel sessions at IHRSA in years past, it dawned on me that I am now as old or older than the panelists. When did that happen? I did enjoy meeting three of the four panelists after the session, including LeComte, who literally took the words right out of my mouth. I was about to tell him how much I missed founder Mike Grondahl at Planet Fitness, and before I could say that, LeComte said he read my work and knew that the company is less off-the-cuff than when Grondahl was around.
One quick note about Caro: Before we almost had a knockdown-drag out at the IHRSA reception over the difference between his rich Yankees vs. my cash-strapped Royals, Caro told us that he planned to attend next month's Masters golf tournament, the final rung on his bucket list of attending great sporting events throughout the years. (I think he said he has attended 40 events in 28 years.) Those events include the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the Indianapolis 500 and Wimbledon, which is on my to-do list one of these years.
Speaking of the Final Four, wasn't it a little weird to be at an IHRSA show and not check in on March Madness? This year is the first in a long while when I actually watched as many games as I did last week. Even at the IHRSA show, I had a good time ribbing Joe Cirulli that my Missouri Tigers were going to play his Florida Gators in the SEC Tournament. Joe might have to look into scoring some Final Four tickets next week. The Gators are on a roll.
Show Floor
I probably did my best work walking aimlessly down the middle of the show floor, running into people in the industry. The quarter-mile-long exhibit hall certainly offered plenty of space to run into folks.
Right off the bat, while walking past the Star Trac booth, I saw Jim Brown, the NFL legendary running back of the Cleveland Browns. I couldn't believe it was him, and I had to get a photo. I was lucky to get that photo because after I posted it to Twitter, Brown was gone.
I was told that Brown is a friend of Star Trac owner Michael Bruno (an Ohio native) and that Brown gave a talk to the Star Trac team before the show opened. If I get my hands on that video, I hope to pass it along here. (UPDATE: You can watch the video here or up above. It's 10 minutes long and worth your time.)
As we mentioned in our photo gallery, other famous people also were at the show, albeit in cutout form, from Jillian Michaels to Chuck Norris to Michael Phelps. I walked by the Phelps swim spa booth display with colleague Laurie Kerr and told her how much great athletes just can't quit, that they always find a way to come back and compete. Sure enough, just the other day, news broke that Phelps may be planning a comeback to swim in his fifth Olympics in 2016.
(By the way, did you know you could bring your dog to the show floor? I saw one on a leash with its master perusing the exhibits.)
I got a message from Larry Gurney of The Rush Fitness Complex wanting to know if we could meet somewhere on the show floor. Once we met near the Fluidity booth, Gurney told me about this new reality TV show he is working on called "Save My Gym." Gurney, who has more than 30 years of experience running clubs in the industry, is hosting the show and is a co-producer. We'll definitely pass along more information as it becomes available, including when and where we can watch the show. If anything, this may finally provide me the reason to write that feature about him I'd been wanting to write after we had a great phone call one day while he was driving through North Carolina.
I didn't have too many scheduled booth visits (one company, Sproing Fitness, even paged me on Twitter!), but I do want to make a mention of a couple. Life Fitness showed me its new outdoor group training equipment as well as the latest technology on its cardio equipment. There's even a photo of me on one of the machines that's floating around somewhere in social media land. The neatest thing is that, just like when you can share photos simply by touching smartphones, you can touch your phone to a machine to download a workout or your personal data. Pretty nifty stuff.
One of my other booth visits was to Pivotal 5, where I had a good chat with President and CEO Adam Schumacher. Pivotal 5 now has five brands in its steed (and that's by coincidence—the company would like to add more in the future.) In addition to KettleWorX, Pivotal 5 acquired Lifeline USA last year, giving it a toehold in the suspension training sector. Schumacher told me one of his company's investors is Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and the former owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.
Finally, I want to tell a quick story that I hope will give you an idea of why I do what I do. At last year's show, as I walked by the Zumba booth several times, I kept noticing this older guy Zumba-ing his heart out in the booth. He seemed to stand out from the younger crowd, most of which were female and had long, flowing hair.
On Wednesday before the show floor opened, I saw this same guy helping set up the Zumba booth. That night at the IHRSA welcome reception, there he was again, so I had to walk up to him and say hello. It turns out the man's name is Ron Knapp, and he's an engineer who lives in San Francisco who also happens to be a certified Zumba instructor. Looking up his profile online, he's also a licensed pilot who has a certification in sailing.
We talked for a few minutes, and he kept asking me about Zumba and why I had never taken a class before. He was so enthusiastic and passionate about Zumba that if we had met in a Zumba studio, I might have hopped into a class with him.
When others see the bells and whistles of a gigantic trade show with thousands of people, I see the gray-haired man in the middle of a Zumba class and think, "Who is that guy? What's his story?" He'll definitely make for a great story for someone someday. That someone may even be me.


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Justin Bieber is a ballsy young man. He has reportedly told the writers at 'Saturday Night Live' that it's open season when he hosts the show, and serves as the musical guest, on Feb. 9.
The 'Boyfriend' singer told the writing team that everything in his life is fair game for their jokes and skits. Oh Biebs, do you really want to open that can of worms? Yeah, you do.
The singer has given the show permission to skewer him and spoof him however they see fit. Whatever gets the most laughs, right? Not even his recent blunt smoking debacle is off limits.
TMZ reports that The Biebs and his camp told the writers to push as far as they want. Wow, The Biebs is taking this hosting business seriously, now isn't he?
As we said before, celebs often come on the show after an embarrassing event or situation and poke fun of themselves to bring levity to the situation and to show that they, too, are humans. This is a strategic, calculated and smart move on his team's part to play down the photos and the drama that ensued.
We're dying to know if Selena Gomez will somehow be incorporated into the skits.
Or if Jason Sudeikis will impersonate The Biebe during the ep.
One thing's for sure – we are tuning in and recapping the ep on Feb. 9.
[button href="http://popcrush.com/justin-bieber-indian-tattoo/" title="Next: See Justin Bieber's Indian Tattoo" align="center"]
Watch the Justin Bieber 'Boyfriend' Video


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As part of the adidas Originals by Jeremy Scott Fall/Winter 2011 Collection, the designer once again manages to cook up an attention seeking colorway of his JS Wings sneaker, this time in collaboration with Korea's 2NE1 girls.
Designer Jeremy Scott recently fell in love with the 2NE1 girls, and so he dreamed up this version of the adidas Originals JS Collage Wings shoes. Vivid colors and vibrant tones collide with edgy collages, faux fur details and Scott's legendary wing design, creating a signature 2NE1 sneaker.
2NE1 is an iconic female girl group, who stands at the very front of the uprising Korean pop culture wave, which is spreading throughout Asia and increasingly around the world. 2NE1 not only has a reputation as being one of the top acts in Asia, but also as leading fashion icons.
The limited edition collaboration sneaker by adidas Originals, Jeremy Scott and 2NE1 will release November 2011 in Asia and across the globe at select retailers.


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Dear Google: People Like You Because You're Not A Walled Garden; Please Don't Put Up Garden Walls
from the thanks dept
Now, it appears that this is just a test, but just the fact that Google is thinking about it seems like a bad idea. Wheaton makes the point pretty clearly: even though he's a regular Google Plus user, he knows that this will decrease overall engagement:
Oh, go fuck yourself, Google. This is just as bad as companies forcing me to "like" something on Facebook before I can view whatever it is they want me to "like."At this point, it's well known that Google is betting heavily on Google+, but it may be overplaying its hand. A key reason why people like Google is that it didn't seem heavy-handed on such things in the past, and focused on having as open and permissive a solution as it could. Yet, in this case, it appears to be doing the opposite just to drive more (unwanted) usage toward Google Plus. Of course, the reality is that people who don't want to sign up for it won't sign up for it... and that will just lead to less engagement. And that's probably exactly the opposite of what Google really wants.
Just let me thumbs up something, without forcing me to "upgrade" to G+, you dickheads.
The worst part of this? For a producer like me, I'm going to lose a crapton of potential upvotes for Tabletop, because the core of my audience is tech-savvy and may not want to "upgrade" to yet another fucking social network they don't want or need.
If you feel the need to force your users into using your own social network, perhaps you're doing it wrong.


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Nightclub Fire Leaves Over 200 Dead
An early morning fire killed over 200 people in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria. Local police confirmed that 245 dead and 48 injured at the scene. Note: Video has no sound. Photo: Associated Press.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.


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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dear New Job,
Only 7 weeks ago you were the next step on my bread baking adventure.
I like you, New Job, but you are not what you seemed. Why have all the bakers, aside from the bakery owner, myself, and an intern from cooking school, quit or been fired in these 7 weeks? I know I've worked a few nights by myself now, but I'm trashed. Spent. Exhausted. Hangry (hungry-angry).
I'm about to come see you again tonight, New Job. Be kind.
Posted by weaverknits at 3:00 PM
3 comments:
- Rainy Daisy said...
wow. you look hu-pissed.
- April 20, 2010 at 10:53 PM
- craftivore said...
Wow, that sounds rough. Love the photo of the flour covered clothes.
- April 25, 2010 at 8:01 PM
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- April 26, 2010 at 7:46 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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DUNEDIN, Fla. — Omar Vizquel figured he had earned a roster spot. Still, he remained in suspense as he reported for work Wednesday morning.
"You never know what the plan is," said Vizquel, who turns 45 in April. "I just came here with one thing in mind: just to stay focused during the whole thing and put myself in a spot where I make them think. I think I've done that."
He had. General manager Alex Anthopoulos announced Wednesday afternoon that Vizquel would open the season as the Toronto Blue Jays' utility infielder.
"He did everything that we would have hoped for," said Anthopoulos, who brought Vizquel to camp on a minor-league contract with no guarantees.
A 23-year veteran and 11-time Gold Glove shortstop, Vizquel had to prove he could serve as a capable backup to shortstop Yunel Escobar as well as fill in at second and third base. He did all that and more, hitting at a .433 clip in 15 games.
"That is kind of surprising, knowing that my defence is what kept me in the game for this long," he said with a smile.
Vizquel also showed other traits for which he is renowned, especially his positive influence in the clubhouse and his mentorship of young Latin infielders, in this case Escobar and Adeiny Hechavarria.
"He's a pro," Anthopoulos said. "He knows how to prepare. He knows how to carry himself, and the fact that he's still in the shape he's in at this age and the fact that he's still playing tells you a lot about him and how you have a long career."
Lind, McGowan taking a break
With luck, Adam Lind could play again by the weekend, but Dustin McGowan will start the season on the disabled list. Both have been shut down, at least for a few days.
Lind felt tightness in his lower back before the Jays played the Yankees on Tuesday night. The first baseman will take three days off (including Tuesday), then try to swing a bat Friday and resume game action Saturday.
Lind's tightness is in one small spot, unlike the more generalized problem that put him on the disabled list last season. An examining physician was optimistic he could return to action within a few days and open the season April 5 as scheduled.
McGowan, who has a foot injury, briefly tried throwing on flat ground Wednesday morning, but the Jays have shut down the oft-injured right-hander because they fear the plantar fasciitis in his right foot might undermine his throwing mechanics, possibly injuring his shoulder.
"We've backed him away from any additional throwing until that discomfort subsides or any symptoms that he does feel are completely out of there," manager John Farrell said.
Spring in their step
The Jays tied a franchise record for Grapefruit League victories with a 9-3 win over Baltimore on Wednesday.
Toronto is 21-4 and has won nine straight games.
Except for catcher J.P. Arencibia, who contributed a single and double in four at-bats, all of the Jays regulars retired after two at-bats, having played almost an entire game against the New York Yankees in Tampa the previous night.
Eric Thames drilled a two-run double to raise his spring batting average to .320.
Switch at the top
Farrell has flip-flopped Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson in the top two lineup spots this spring.
Escobar was the leadoff man last year and is more comfortable there, Farrell said, so he was back on top Wednesday.
Johnson says he has no preference.
National Post


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|2011-05-29, 00:07
|Link #2422
Onani Master
PSP: Oreno Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai Portable (with a dictionary in one hand!)
PS3: Resonance of Fate
PC: Silent Storm/Sentinals and Hammer & Sickle
I forgot how much I loved Silent Storm games. They way they blend Squad Turn Based Strategy and RPG elements into such an enjoyable game is just brilliant.
The only fault has to be Panzerkleins but hey, that's what an MG42 with AP ammunition is for!
My favourite thing though is the random encounters and especially those when you find a rare weapon. I found a scoped SVT during one road block encounter in the Urals once and spent the next hour farming other random encounters for 7.62x54R ammunition!
|2011-05-30, 04:16
|Link #2424
I am a Pie
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: In a fantasy.
Does anyone own any Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force games, I'm having trouble deciding which to get, I'm choosing betweed Tag Force 2,3 & 4... 4 is the cheapes, and one of the newest (I don't want 5)
2 is less expensive than 3, but is less updated than both of the others, I'm particularly interested in getting a GX game over 5Ds, which is why I'm having trouble.
|2011-06-09, 01:45
|Link #2426
Smiling beauty
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Indonesia
Age: 30
PSP: Gods Eater Burst, Patapon
PC: Dragon Age: Origins
PS3: Gran Turismo 5
Going to update the version of my GT soon... I wish the "suspend race" function would be implemented in the endurance races instead of the championships. There's no way I could play my PS3 for 24 hours non-stop T_T
|2011-06-10, 23:01
|Link #2433
Onani Master
I have so many fond memories cutting down scores of Flood with it like wheat before a scythe.
|2011-06-11, 06:34
|Link #2436
a.k.a. Flammenkrieg
IT Support
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Down under...
L.A. Noire (PS3)
I'm finding this game's relatively slower pacing to be refreshing from other games that focus heavily on action and explosions. That, and it's made by Team Bondi.
I guess once the exams are over, I'll finish Portal 2 Co-op as well...
|2011-06-11, 14:54
|Link #2438
Le fou, c'est moi
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Age: 29
I still have fond memory of the first playthrough. I'm the type of guy who hates to die and likes to cheat (single player only of course), but I stuck it out with Halo and played it clean. I was dying over and over in some missions* and yet it was fun. I barely felt the frustration given that the game was pacing me through so smoothly.
*the mission where you stormed the Covenant ship boarding above Halo was one mission where I kept dying so many times until I finally made it with guts, luck, practiced precision, and a little plan. I thought I just sucked that much, but when I went online and all the walkthroughs said it was one of the game's hardest points, I nearly cried. Mom, Dad, your son's not a failure after all!
|Thread Tools


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NEW ORLEANS — Though weakening slightly, Tropical Storm Karen remained poised Friday to become the first named storm to hit the U.S. in what has been a relatively quiet hurricane season.
National Hurricane Center forecasters expect Karen to be near the central Gulf Coast on Saturday, likely as a weak hurricane or tropical storm. From a tiny, vulnerable island off the Louisiana coast to the beaches of the Florida Panhandle, Gulf Coast residents prepared Friday for a possible hit from the storm.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Grand Isle, La., to west of Destin, Fla. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Morgan City, La., to the mouth of the Pearl River.
The center said late Friday morning that Karen was about 250 miles (405 kilometers) south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 290 miles (465 kilometers) south-southeast of Morgan City, La. It's moving north-northwest at 10 mph (17 kph). Maximum sustained winds were 50 mph (85 kph).
Karen is expected to produce rainfall of 3 to 6 inches through Sunday night, with isolated totals up to 10 inches possible.
In Alabama, safety workers Thursday hoisted double red flags at Gulf Shores because of treacherous rip currents. Lifeguard stands were moved off the beach to higher ground. Still, no evacuations were planned. The Bayfest music festival was set to begin Friday, and organizers said the show — with a lineup including the Zac Brown Band and R.Kelly — would go on as much as possible.
In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, urging residents to prepare. State Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Latham said local schools will decide whether to play football games. He said the southern part of the state could have tropical storm-force winds by late Friday.
"I know that Friday night football in the South is a big thing, but I don't think anybody wants to risk a life because of the potential winds," Latham said.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also declared a state of emergency, citing the possibility of high winds, heavy rain and tides. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared an emergency for 18 counties.
Traffic at the mouth of the Mississippi River was stopped Friday morning in advance of the storm.
The Army Corps of Engineers said it was closing a structure intended to keep storm surge out of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in Louisiana — known locally as the Industrial Canal — where levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina led to catastrophic flooding in 2005.
Mayor David Camardelle of Grand Isle, La., an inhabited barrier island and tourist town about 60 miles south of New Orleans, called for voluntary evacuations as he declared an emergency Thursday afternoon.
Louisiana officials were taking precautions while noting that forecasts show the storm veering to the east. The storm track had it likely brushing the southeastern tip of the state before heading toward the Alabama-Florida coast. And it was moving faster than last year's Hurricane Isaac, a weak storm that stalled over the area and caused widespread flooding.
"It should make that fork right and move out very, very quickly," said Jerry Sneed, head of New Orleans' emergency preparedness office.
Offshore, at least two oil companies said they were evacuating non-essential personnel and securing rigs and platforms.
In Washington, the White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was recalling some workers furloughed due to the government shutdown to prepare for the storm.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was being updated about the storm. He said Obama directed his team to ensure staffing and resources are available to respond to the storm.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed under the partial government shutdown. It's unclear how many FEMA workers are being brought back.
While meteorologists said it was too soon to predict the storm's ultimate intensity, they said it could weaken a bit as it approaches the coast over the weekend.
"Our forecast calls for it to be right around the border of a hurricane and a tropical storm," said David Zelinsky, a hurricane center meteorologist.
Whether it's a weak hurricane or strong tropical storm, Karen's effects were expected to be largely the same: Heavy rain with the potential for similar storm surge.
Camardelle, whose vulnerable island is often the first to order an evacuation in the face of a tropical weather system, said the town was making sure its 10 pump stations are ready. He encouraged residents to clean out drainage culverts and ditches in anticipation of possible heavy rain and high tides.
"Hopefully, this one is just a little rain event," Camardelle said. "We don't need a big storm coming at us this late in the season."
Forecasters said a cold front approaching from the northwest was expected to turn Karen to the northeast, away from the Louisiana coast and more toward the Florida Panhandle or coastal Alabama. But the timing of the front's arrival over the weekend was uncertain.
Grand Isle suffered damage from Hurricane Isaac in August 2012. Isaac clipped the mouth of the Mississippi River for its official first landfall before meandering northwest over Grand Isle and stalling inland. Though a weak hurricane, Isaac's stall built a surge along the southeast Louisiana coast that flooded communities in neighboring Plaquemines Parish.
Karen was expected to pass over Gulf oil and gas fields from Louisiana to Alabama, but early forecasts suggested the storm would miss the massive oil import facility at Port Fourchon, La., just west of Grand Isle, and the oil refineries that line the Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge.
Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson in Mexico, Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Miss., and Michael J. Mishak in Miami contributed to this report.


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Rockies can't pick up De La Rosa after slam
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies left-handed pitcher Jorge De La Rosa's early-season spiral pattern continued Friday night.
Just like his previous two starts, De La Rosa enjoyed all-too-brief dominance, followed by utter ineffectiveness, then exited after 4 1/3 innings. This time, De La Rosa coughed up a grand slam to opposing pitcher Madison Bumgarner in the Rockies' 6-5 loss to the Giants at AT&T Park.View Full Game Coverage
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rockies left-handed pitcher Jorge De La Rosa's early-season spiral pattern continued Friday night.
Just like his previous two starts, De La Rosa enjoyed all-too-brief dominance, followed by utter ineffectiveness, then exited after 4 1/3 innings. This time, De La Rosa coughed up a grand slam to opposing pitcher Madison Bumgarner in the Rockies' 6-5 loss to the Giants at AT&T Park.View Full Game Coverage
After winning 16 games last year, De La Rosa (0-2) has a 9.69 ERA. His six strikeouts Friday gave him 16 in just 13 innings, but that's about the only good number that can be recited. Friday's struggles negated a majestic two-run homer from Carlos Gonzalez and three hits from Josh Rutledge, who started at shortstop while Troy Tulowitzki rested a tight right quadriceps.
The Rockies had a chance in the eighth, but some strong Giants defense and ill-fated baserunning made that chance go by the wayside.
Friday was similar to De La Rosa's last start, except for the fact the Rockies couldn't complete the comeback the way they did in beating the D-backs last Saturday. Then again, success is rare at AT&T Park, where the Rockies have won two of their last 17 games and six of their last 31.
The Rockies are willing to try to pick up De La Rosa until he can pitch like the guy who has two 16-win seasons in a Rockies uniform (2009, 2013).
"You can't just freak about it," Gonzalez said. "It's only been three games and he's not pitching the same way he was last year, but it's going to happen for him. Everybody's going to go through tough moments."
Gonzalez's fourth homer of the season, which landed in McCovey Cove beyond the right-field seating, came in the top of the third. It was the 29th so-called "splash hit" by an opposing player and just the second for a Rockies player. Gonzalez had the other one last May 29.
De La Rosa struck out four in the first two innings. The only baserunner was Hector Sanchez, who struck out but took first when the pitch bounced and catcher Jordan Pacheco bounced his throw to first base.
The Giants' Brandon Crawford tripled to open the third and Bumgarner nearly homered but ended up with a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track.
But De La Rosa unraveled with two out and two on in the fourth. He hit Brandon Hicks, then walked Crawford to force in a run. This time, Bumgarner hit De La Rosa's fastball just a little harder, and it ended up in the left-field seats. De La Rosa gave up six runs on four hits, two walks and the hit batsman.
"Bumgarner, you have to treat him like he's another hitter," Gonzalez said. "Over the years, he's proven that he can handle the bat. He hit the ball hard. First at-bat he hit the ball hard. He saw a cookie with the bases loaded and took advantage of it."
Rockies manager Walt Weiss still trusts that De La Rosa will demonstrate why he was the Rockies' Opening Day starter.
"Command got away from him, it looked like," Weiss said. "He got some balls up and out over the plate.
"He's got a good track record. I put a lot of stock in that. He was good early, looked like he had his 'A' game early, then it got away from him."
Or maybe Bumgarner took it away from him. Bumgarner's slam, which gave the Giants a 6-3 lead, was just the second by a pitcher since the team moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958. Shawn Estes had the other on May 24, 2000.
"I'm just thankful to run into something and score some runs for us," Bumgarner said. "It's a good ballclub they got, all the talent they got. They've really got some good hitters in there and good pitching."
The Rockies' Charlie Culberson doubled in a run in the sixth off Bumgarner (2-0), who gave up nine hits and four runs in six innings. Bumgarner escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the fifth and stranded Culberson in the sixth by striking out Brandon Barnes to end the frame.
In the Rockies' eighth, Nolan Arenado led off with the first bunt single of his career against Santiago Casilla, took second on third baseman Pablo Sandoval's throwing error and scored on pinch-hitter Charlie Blackmon's single. Blackmon went to second on the throw home.
A leaping Casilla snatched Pacheco's one-hopper and threw to second, where Crawford made a spinning tag to erase Blackmon.
"That's a situation where zero times out of 100 I should go until that ball gets by him," Blackmon said. "He made a good play. But he should have only gotten the out at first. I thought the ball was going to get by [Casilla]. I think that's a mental mistake on my part."
Pacheco reached base, but dashed for second on DJ LeMahieu's line drive to center and easily was doubled off by Juan Perez's throw.
"When you're running [on a] 3-2 [count], he's got to pick up the ball," Weiss said.
Giants closer Sergio Romo earned his third save with three ninth-inning looking strikeouts. The Rockies were incredulous over plate umpire Dan Iassonga's third-strike calls to pinch-hitters Justin Morneau and Tulowitzki.
Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @harding_at_mlb.


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Results 1 to 9 of 9
#1 Strange talk with a RW patient and epiphany therefrom:06-15-2008, 01:12 PM
I think this is a little unprofessional - if this guy is really a doctor, he should not be arguing politics with his patients.
PCIntern (1000+ posts) Sat Jun-14-08 06:42 PM
Original message
Strange talk with a RW patient and epiphany therefrom:
A couple days ago, a gentleman came to see me for a dental clearance for prosthetic hip surgery. This is required by the orthopedist, for should there be an active, significant dental abscess, the bacteria could take up residence on the new hip and cause a catastrophe. I have treated this man and his family for more than twenty years - he is a retired firefighter and a real physical guy: he has a bone-crushing handshake and looks like he could bench-press 500 pounds or more.
He is also a right-winger of the first order. You all know the type. We get along because he really is a moral man and has a terrific family of honest, hard-working (difficult to use that phrase these days) people. He told me a story.....
I listened to him sympathetically and then he said the magic words with a sneer:
"...and the Clintons were supposed to have FIXED health care!"
It was my turn. I gently said, "but gee, I thought everyone
agreed that they STOPPED the Clintons from 'fixing' health care. I thought it was the major defeat which was acknowledged by everyone to be a big problem for the Clintons and actually led to the eventual downfall of all health care reform in the decade and beyond." I was very nice about it and sort of perplexed, as it were, by his statement. He said absolutely nothing...changed the subject.
And then I realized...when you walk down the street and see the faceless ones, the people with the blank stare headed somewhere, you have to realize at times that the powers-that-be give not one whit for them. They know that they're content with their 'fashion' and their 'sports' and their 'music' and their movies and their TV. They are reliably unexcited and really do not care about issues, morality, wars, mis-counted votes, Supreme Court decisions. until and unless it affects them directly - and I don't mean that in an esoteric sense, I'm referring to direct unabridged contact. And then they get it wrong every time because...as the great Mel Brooks stated in his film Spaceballs: Evil will always win out over Good, because Good is dumb.
And so it goes...most of what we do to change people's minds is tantamount to peeing into the wind, but sometimes, you get through. Please let me know when someone manages...I like to hear success stories.
YankmeCrankme (431 posts) Sun Jun-15-08 08:23 AM
Response to Reply #12
14. I hate to say, but I'm very pessimistic
I don't really see any group at this point. We, as a nation, seem to have bought into the notion that you're on your own. What you get or have should be from your own efforts (a fallacy, as everything is interconnected and no one gets anything on their own). The obvious drawback to this is it is a lot easier for a corporation to defeat each individual rather than a group.
Until Americans truly feel the discomfort of their economical predicament and believe they have the right to forceful and violent confrontation to those that oppress them nothing will happen. I don't know what it is about now compared to 40 or 100 years ago, but there doesn't seem to be the support from the non-active majority to the minority of activists who fight for economic equality. I think the threat of losing a job or not having a job has more impact than the loss of our freedoms or of our government to represent us.
And they advocate violence. Big surprise there
http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=389x3453827They're not people, they're hippies!! -Cartman
It is nothing against you to fall down flat, but to lie there - that's disgrace
They think that someone should hand them everything ( the government) and when someone does earn something on their own, it should be taken away from them ( by the government, of course).
Why is it these bouncy tales always sound like same goof having a debate with an empty chair, no matter who writes it, or what the location is.
Its always the same boring story; Some idiot with NPD trying to impress the rest of the reality challenged mentally ill jerkazoids with a bad/sad fairy tale he/she spent weeks making up.
You're exactly right Dan. Whenever I picture DUmmies and liberals, I always see a dirty, scraggly hippie standing with their cheeto stained hands out saying "gimmie!"They're not people, they're hippies!! -Cartman
It is nothing against you to fall down flat, but to lie there - that's disgrace
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- May 2008
- Posts
- 11,963
This a 1/2 of 1 bouncy. What Dr. in their mind wants socialized meds. I got a statementl for a MRI/ Cat yesterday from Humana and out of 900 dollars the facility charged, Medicare disallowed around 600 and paid a little over 200 leaving me with 60 dollar balance. The government is squeezing Doctors and hospitals for lower costs pretty tight.
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Iowa
- Posts
- 1,784
A doctor? Naw ...sounds more like this person is the "check out" person at the doctor's office. Maybe this "conversation" happened when the patient went to pay his bill.
Funny thing is many people who work at a doctor's office gets "free" medical care.
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Posts
- 1,985
How can a DUmp monkey follow this:
He is also a right-winger of the first order. You all know the type.
We get along because he really is a moral man and has a terrific family of honest, hard-working (difficult to use that phrase these days) people.
- Join Date
- May 2005
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- Texas
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- 333
not even a half bounce
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GTA Online's "I'm Not a Hipster" Update Doesn't Try too Hard
Get ready to drive classic cars no one's even heard of and unleash your unmatched individuality in GTA Online's "I'm Not a Hipster" update.
According to the Rockstar Newsire, the latest update to GTA Online will feature all new content such as retro print tees, skinny jeans, new hairstyles, tattoos, animal masks and enhancements to the gameplay. You'll also see classic vehicles like the Glendale, Warrener, Blade and Rhapsody automobiles, all of which are affordable but can be tricked out if you're so inclined.
Show off your hipster cred by grabbing the Vintage Pistol and Antique Cavalry Dagger from Ammu-Nation and kill people with stuff they've never even heard of, because that's just how you roll. You'll also be able to take on dozens of new jobs and receive the following tweaks to gameplay, as taken from the site:
- Ten existing GTAV vehicles have been added to the southernsanandreassuperautos.com website for purchase, including Story Mode characters' vehicles:
- Albany Primo
- BF Surfer
- Bravado Buffalo
- Franklin's Bravado Buffalo S
- Bravado Youga
- Cheval Picador
- Dundreary Regina
- Trevor's Karin Rebel (clean version)
- Trevor's Nagasaki Hot Rod Blazer
- Michael's Obey Tailgater
- Pure Gold and Brushed Gold paint colors have been added to LS Customs in the 'Metals' category. These unlock at Rank 100.
- A new Pure Black window tint has been added to LS Customs, along with four new jazzy vehicle horns (including one which loops and speeds up / slows down as you drive).
- Eight new individual player celebrations and four new paired Celebration animations have been added.
- Players will no longer be charged Insurance costs if their vehicle is destroyed by another player who does not have enough GTA$ to pay.
- Fixed an issue where, if an insured Personal Vehicle was destroyed, both parties had to pay the insurance costs.
- Fixed an issue where some four-wheel drive vehicles had reverted to two-wheel drive.
- Players are now able to bookmark Jobs whilst in a Playlist from the Pause menu.
- Tear Gas now does more damage and lasts longer.
- A small tick has been added to the first screen in the corona if a player has played a Job before, much like in the pause menu or Next Job Voting Screen.
- The level of difficulty is now displayed when pressing D-pad down when playing Missions.
Keep a watch out for the "I'm Not a Hipster" Event Weekend this upcoming weekend to take advantage of bonuses and to take part in contests. The update is available for download now, so get to it, you filthy casuals!


text:
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Caption Contest
The Tree Swallows have returned.
This year, it appears they've chosen the box where the Chickadees lived last year, instead of their regular box, closer to the woods.
Or perhaps they're still discussing it...anyone speak Swallow?
25 comments:
"He's like this every time Idol is on."
- April 16, 2009 at 9:30 PM
- Greg said...
"What do you MEAN you don't KNOW what box you packed it in?!?"
- April 16, 2009 at 9:37 PM
- Desert Survivor said...
"I told you we should have asked for directions!"
- April 16, 2009 at 10:42 PM
- cestoady said...
WHAT !!! --- you FORGOT your toothbrush !!
- April 16, 2009 at 10:42 PM
- nina at Nature Remains. said...
I hope you're enlarging the last photo--the expressions on the faces is tooo much!
- April 16, 2009 at 11:14 PM
- Susan Gets Native said...
The one getting yelled at looks like he is saying,
"La la la la la....I'm not listeninnnnnnnng!"
I tell ya, Nina. Our houses have some sort of bird/bug connection. Our TRES showed up today checking out our gourds!
- April 16, 2009 at 11:27 PM
- TSannie said...
"Maybe if I close my eyes, the yammering will stop."
- April 17, 2009 at 1:13 AM
- TSannie said...
"Maybe if I close my eyes, the yammering will stop."
- April 17, 2009 at 1:13 AM
- Elisabeth's bright side said...
Just wonderful! You pictured them so well. Hope they are not throwen out in the end. What happen to their old box, and do they not make their own nests? You see, I don't know tree swallows, but I think it's interesting anyway. Thank you for sharing!
- April 17, 2009 at 6:20 AM
- nina at Nature Remains. said...
Elisabeth--Tree Swallows are categorized as "cavity nesters," meaning they use a hole, usually within a dead tree, as the space within which to construct their nest. They will collect grasses and feathers from the surrounding area and form a nice, soft area within this box to raise their brood.
Some birds, like woodpeckers, excavate their own holes, and build within them. Others, like tree Swallows and Bluebirds, use the holes left by others.
Nest boxes are a way to provide nesting sites in areas where, either through habitat loss (homeowners often cut down dead trees) or competition (European Starlings and House Sparrows are invasive here) native birds may struggle to successfully raise young each spring.
These birds are migratory, going south for the winter, and returning here when it warms in the spring to breed.
- April 17, 2009 at 7:31 AM
- Richard said...
Same picture...2 quotes.
"I fly all this way and all you can find is a 'Fixer-Er-Upper'"
"And while you are at it, I want a new bed and don't forget to paint the walls blue"
- April 17, 2009 at 10:20 AM
- giggles said...
"I'm not cleaning this house....again!"
- April 17, 2009 at 11:30 AM
- Marty52 said...
"You have GOT to be kidding! I TOLD you I wanted a new nest box, this is NOT A NEW NEST BOX!!!Mother said you would always pretend you couldn't hear me and I see she was right!! DON'T you turn away from me you.. you.. you swallow you!"
- April 17, 2009 at 11:41 AM
- Ginnymo said...
What awesome photos Nina!! Ha! The one does seem to be yelling at the other one.
- April 17, 2009 at 12:05 PM
- Deborah Godin said...
Who knew swallows could be hen-pecked...
- April 17, 2009 at 12:32 PM
- Mary said...
These are all great but I like Susan's: la la la la la I'm not listening to you.....
- April 17, 2009 at 2:22 PM
- Mary said...
That last pic is SO PRICELESS!
- April 17, 2009 at 2:22 PM
- Endment said...
Still laughing
don't have a caption but sure saw some good ones
- April 17, 2009 at 3:33 PM
- Lisa at Greenbow said...
Nina, this photo is priceless. Of course she is saying "I told you I wanted vinyl siding not wood."
- April 17, 2009 at 9:23 PM
- KatDoc said...
Mrs. Swallow (right): "And another thing ..."
Mr. Swallow (left): (thinking) "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." ~Kathi
- April 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM
- fudgelady said...
"Pay him no mind, he thinks he's Susan Boyle."
- April 17, 2009 at 11:25 PM
- Old Wom Tigley said...
"I tawt I taw a puddy tat"
Excellent picture Nina
- April 18, 2009 at 7:59 AM
- Julie Zickefoose said...
The neighbors must think my name is WHEREINTHEHAYULLYOUBEEN?
- April 20, 2009 at 7:35 AM
- Kathiesbirds said...
I love tree swallows! They look so clean and fresh!
As for a caption:
"Herbert! I told you to check out the neighborhood before we moved in!"
- April 20, 2009 at 6:38 PM
- Heather said...
Sorry Nina, I don't have a caption, but that last photo is priceless. Assuming the female is the one doing the yelling, the male is just taking whatever she's dishin' out - taking the "in one ear, out the other" approach. I think they're going to need to get along better than that if they expect to raise a successful brood!
- April 24, 2009 at 9:51 PM


text:
Feb. 28, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - MIT junior Doria Holbrook was named the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Diver of the Year on Tuesday, following her record-shattering performances in both the one-meter and three-meter diving competitions at the conference championships, hosted by Wellesley College two weeks ago. This is the second time in her career that Holbrook has earned Diver of the Year honors, as she also took the award back in her freshman season of 2004-05, the same year that she was crowned the three-meter diving national champion.
The native of Yakima, Wash., helped propel the Engineers to their eighth straight runner-up finish at the NEWMAC Championships by smashing Institute and conference records in both diving events.
First, in the one-meter portion, she amassed an astonishing 513.65 in prelims before easily earning the victory with a 502.90 in the finals. The previous MIT record for one-meter diving had belonged to Lori Blackwelder Peterson, who recorded a 428.50 in 1984-85, meaning that Holbrook amazingly surpassed the mark by almost a full 100 points. She also dwarfed the previous NEWMAC score in the event by over 40 points.
Then, in the three-meter event on the final day of competition, she topped herself by recording an amazing 553.30 in prelims before notching a 514.85 in the finals to cruise to victory. She once again surpassed the previous MIT record by almost 100 points, as Blackwelder Peterson's 464.30 in 1985 was the previous standard. The highest previous conference mark had been 533.60.
Holbrook will represent the Cardinal and Gray at the 2007 NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships, which will take place in Houston, Texas, from Thursday, Mar. 8, to Saturday, Mar. 10.