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AP Poll: Majority disapproves of Obama on oil spill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are just as down on President Barack Obama for his response to the Gulf oil spill as they were on President George W. Bush for his handling of the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Katrina, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday.
And, now, like in 2005, most Americans are angry about the government's slow response, with 54 percent saying they had strong feelings about the bureaucracy's reaction. Many doubt that Washington could really help them if they were a disaster victim.
Almost two months after the April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers and sent plumes of crude into the Gulf, Obama and his administration have struggled to contain the leak and the environmental disaster. So has BP which leased the rig.
The survey found that 52 percent don't approve of Obama's handling of the spill, a significant increase from last month when a big chunk of Americans withheld judgment. A stunning 83 percent disapprove of BP's performance in the aftermath of the explosion that triggered the spill of millions of gallons of crude. That number of Americans disapproving also was a big jump from May.
Back then, people seemed to take a more wait-and-see approach.
The survey comes as the president seeks to show more forceful leadership on the disaster and convince a skeptical public he's up to the task.
Obama's overall job performance rating didn't take a hit; it stayed virtually the same at 50 percent. That's consistent with the public's attitudes throughout his young presidency; people generally like him but don't necessarily agree with his policies.
Disapproval of Obama's handling of the environmental crisis is similar to the percentage of Americans frustrated with Bush's handling of Katrina. In November 2005, two months after the hurricane hit, 53 percent disapproved of Bush's handling of Katrina in an AP-Ipsos poll.
But people also don't have the type of emotional response to the oil disaster as they did to the hurricane; 32 percent say they feel strongly shameful about what has occurred since the rig explosion. That's compared to 40 percent who felt that way after the debilitating hurricane that killed at least 1,800 and left countless others homeless, many of whom were poor and black.
In profound ways, Katrina changed America's faith in government. It deepened the public's distrust of Washington, exposed inequalities and cemented the notion in Americans' minds that the Bush administration was inept; the president's standing never recovered. Obama is trying to prevent his presidency from being defined the same way.
Public attitudes have shifted dramatically as Americans already reeling over a recession and angry at institutions of all types — from corporations to Congress — watched oil continue to gush while both BP and the government struggled to find a solution and clean up the mess.
Far more people are focused on the spill now as oil coats beaches, kills wildlife and cripples the Gulf economy; 87 percent now say the issue is extraordinarily important to them personally, second only to the economy. And far more rate the environment — 72 percent — as very important than did last month.
More than half reported strong feelings of anger over the speed of the government's response, and about a third said they felt a strong degree of shame about what's happening in the Gulf. Nearly a third expressed strong feelings of doubt over whether the government could really help them if they were a disaster victim and more than half doubted that the government's response to the oil spill, thus far, has had any impact.
All that underscores the public's widespread lack of faith in government as well as the task ahead for Obama as he tries to show he's in command of the response. The president was wrapping up a two-day visit to the region and planned an Oval Office prime-time speech on the catastrophe later Tuesday. Obama was meeting BP executives at the White House on Wednesday.
His response is all but certain to be a political issue, defining his presidency and, perhaps, affecting this fall's midterm congressional elections if not his likely re-election race in two years.
Nearly three quarters in the poll said they thought the spill will have some impact on their own families in the next year; 63 percent said the country would still be feeling the impact in five years while 40 percent said it would be more like a decade.
The AP-GfK Poll was conducted June 9-14 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. It involved interviews on landline and cell phones with 1,044 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.


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Join Alice, Bob and Cheryl as we chat with Jo McLeay about how her network has been creating a path for sustainability before and after the conference. A little while into the show Sue Tapp hopped into the chat room and then she joined the conversation. It was great to hear about how our friends in Australia are creating virtual spaces for conversations can happen before, during and after conferences. Jo gives some great advice for anyone attending NECC.
Here is the Delicious: Geek of the Week!
(written by Cheryl)

subset: commoncrawl


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Happy New Year!
We hope you had a restful and enjoyable holiday and that 2014 will be spectacular for you. Just today, I met with a rental company to help them measure for a tent to be used at an August wedding here at Two Eagles. If you know someone getting married, or hosting another special event–anniversary, family reunion, birthday party, or even a celebration of life–please keep Two Eagles Lodge B&B in mind. We are also hosting a house concert here with Lindsay May on Monday, 1/27. See the Events page on our website for details or call me at 250-335-2342. CHEERS!


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Today's News: Our Take - Boy Meets World's Danielle Fishel Graduates From College, Reveals Engagement
Congrats - twice! - to Danielle Fishel!
The Boy Meets World alum revealed on her Tumblr page Thursday that she graduated college and that she is engaged.
In her blog, the actress revealed her fear about going back to school to finish her degree at 27, but said it was worth it. "Yes, I was sometimes the oldest person in class, I was whispered about many times, and I did forget how to do a few math equations, " she wrote. "But I persevered and sometimes I wasn't the oldest person in class, some of the whisperers became good friends, and I did so well in math, I even became a tutor. And that is how I met my fiancé."
What other TV shows should reunite?
Although Fishel did not name her husband-to-be, Us Weekly reports she is engaged to Tim Belusko. A closer look at Fishel's Twitter account also shows the actress has been tweeting about her upcoming nuptials for a few weeks. "If I had my way, my wedding reception might just be 3-4 hours of [Usher's] music," she wrote on Dec. 12.
Now that Fishel is officially done with school, she can turn her attention to the Boy Meets World spin-off pilot, Girl Meets World. Shortly after signing onto the project early this month, she tweeted that she and TV husband Ben Savage were participating in casting sessions to help find the actress who will play Cory and Topanga's 13-year-old daughter.
View original Boy Meets World's Danielle Fishel Graduates From College, Reveals Engagement at TVGuide.com
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Startup chipmaker Quantenna Communications says that it can push 1Gbps over regular WiFi without defying the laws of physics. This isn't as hyped up as it sounds at first glance. The company's initial goal is to cover houses with a combination of high bandwidth and mesh networking, making it possible to push multiple streams of video and data without glitches at slower rates—as fast as 100 to 200Mbps. Their future sights are set on the enterprise market where 1Gbps might mean something.
Quantenna can claim to have made the most interesting announcement about WiFi since Draft N devices started to ship in earnest. By providing twice or three times the current throughput, Quantenna might allow WiFi to step into businesses—as well as the homes they're initially targeting.
The company's founder, chairman, and chief executive Behrooz Rezvani said in an interview that WiFi used as a point source in a home isn't very effective. He said, "One source point cannot cut it—you cannot solve the whole networking problem by having one source, one radio." This was one of the reasons Draft N was developed in the first place: greater coverage through several different improvements. (That's the preratification marketing name for the engineering group IEEE's 802.11n protocol; the standard won't be formally approved until next year.)
Quantenna fits four to eight radios, a processor,
a DSP, and other components into a tiny package
But Draft N still can't cut it by itself, even though it marked a large improvement over 802.11g. "You cannot light the house with a single lightbulb," he said. As with lighting, even a bright bulb leaves some areas in shadow, while others are well lit. Draft N might reach two to four times further than 54Mbps 802.11g, but that still leaves some parts of a home in the dark.
Solving problems
Rezvani said that Quantenna wants to solve three separate problems for home Wi-Fi networks: overcoming interference from dense arrays of networks in apartment buildings, penetrating the thick walls often found in European homes, and spreading a signal out to cover expansive American houses from basement to upper floors.
Its solution was to use optional elements in the 802.11n standard that let them add more antennas and radios than any system sold today for the home or enterprise. Rezvani said several times in the interview that his far-larger competitors like Broadcom or Atheros could choose to enhance their products in the same way, but hadn't yet done so; I've heard nothing publicly or privately about a roadmap including these features, either, even though they have long been under discussion.
Most Draft N access points currently have either two or three send-and-receive antennas. This provides enough diversity to steer signals through beamforming—a kind of "body English" for radio waves—and to hear and differentiate fainter signals or those overlapping with other networks.
Draft N also requires two separate signal streams for spatial multiplexing. With spatial multiplexing, the multipath reflection of signals across space are used to WiFi's advantage to as much as double throughput.
Devices on the market currently use two spatial streams, each of which can use (depending on country-specific regulation) up to 40MHz "wide" channels, which are twice as wide as the normal channels used in 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. With other improvements over 802.11g, Draft N in its mandatory basic form can push 300Mbps of raw data between a gateway and a client.
Quantenna's improvements
Where Quantenna improves on this is by using four antennas each for sending and receiving and four radios for each band. With a "4x4" array, "You can shape the beam a lot better," Rezvani said. Rezvani says that their 4x4 quadruples the area covered by a current device using the same power. You can "double throughput for the same radius, or double your radius for the same throughput," he said. More antennas increase effective antenna gain.
Quantenna has initially announced three chipsets, all of them far smaller and requiring fewer external components than the equivalent products assembled from components made by other WiFi chipmakers. The QHS450 (2.4GHz) and QHS600 (5GHz) both have four radios and work in a single band; the QHS1000 has eight radios and works concurrently in both 2.4 and 5GHz bands. They'll ship in 2009.
For the home, Rezvani expects that manufacturers will use the firm's chips in 4x4 mode where the four radios are split into two sets, each transmitting the same data. This redundancy lowers real throughput, maxing out at 100Mbps in 2.4GHz and 200Mbps in 5GHz, but increases reliability by sending each bit along two separate paths.
But the same chips can give up redundancy in favor of performance, useful in an enterprise where nodes may be closely spaced. In that scenario, each set of two radios would pair with a 2x2 antenna array, allowing the single-band chipsets to handle two wide channels at the same time, and the dual-band chipset to handle four separate channels across two bands concurrently. This allows the QHS1000 to deliver a raw aggregate over 1Gbps.
The company has developed a reference design for a small, concurrent dual-band mesh node that could be used to extend signals through a home. The device uses the QHS1000 so that it can use whichever band and channels are most appropriate to spread data in a mesh among nodes, and feed out the highest throughput to devices that need it, such as streaming high-definition or high-speed data transfers. The company's mesh technology is built on 802.11s, another IEEE standard that's still working its way to market. (Mesh nodes exchange data among routes that they agree on among themselves, rather than through a hub-and-spoke layout.)
Because the design can use multiple channels at once, the mesh nodes can coordinate on changing channels in band—keeping data flowing over one band while they switch to another—or dynamically reconfigure the number of active channels by switching among 2x2 and 4x4 configurations while continuing to send data. This overcomes limitations in single-radio mesh nodes that have to reuse the same spectrum by sending the same data twice or more times to reach more distant nodes.
Rezvani pointed out that the company is more interested in getting chips into equipment makers' hands than in proscribing what their products do. He expects a lot of different kinds of products to appear, because of how Quantenna's chips can be configured for different uses from one second to the next.
Quantenna is estimating a cost of about $20 for its single-band and $40 for their concurrent dual-band chipsets in large quantities in 2009. Those prices are far higher than current Draft N chipsets, but Quantenna has integrated components that aren't usually included in the basic chipset costs.
Startup chipmakers in an established market like the WiFi realm have to come with products that are instantly mature, unique, and easy to work with. Quantenna may be far ahead of its less nimble brethren, or it may be days away from announcing similar products themselves.
In either case, WiFi is about to take a big leap forward in range, speed, and flexibility without a commensurate jump in price.


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text: III.2: Ticket Holders Generating EN Payments(as of August 8, 2003) - Shows the distribution of Ticket payments by number of ENs as of August 8, 2003. A total of 67 ENs received a payment. Thirty-five of them received a payment for only one Ticket holder, and 60 had received a payment for five or fewer Ticket holders. There is a spike representing the 7 ENs that received more than 5 payments, including 1 EN that had over 30.


text: I have inherited a couple of Wescor dew point microvolt meters, (HR - 33) along with a couple of C - 51 sample chambers, some leaf psychrometers and some soil psychrometers. I have some experience with the use of the later Wescor osmometers where the chamber is integrated with the volt meter, but I have little experience with the soil or leaf psychrometers. I would be grateful for any advice on the use of the soil and leaf psychrometers, particularly with regard to calibration and effects of variations in temperature on measurements. regards Jeremy Pritchard


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Tydskrif vir Letterkunde
On-line version ISSN 2309-9070
Print version ISSN 0041-476X
Tydskr. letterkd. vol.52 n.2 Pretoria 2015
Reading can be disturbing: A tribute to André Brink
Willie Burger
Willie Burger teaches Afrikaans Literature and is Head of the Department of Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Following his death a high number of tributes to André Brink had been published. A common denominator that ran through these tributes was the mention time and again of the life-changing effect his work had on people's lives.
The remark that such-and-such book had changed one's life is often made frivolously, but that it was made so consistently often with so much conviction about Brink's novels, makes one think that his work had a major impact on many readers' lives.
In primary school I was already an avid reader. I remember winter holidays when I cycled down to the public library daily because I had finished reading all the books I was allowed to take out the previous day. First I steadily read my way through all the children's books and later I used my mother's library cards to take out books from the "adult section": from Karel Kielblock and Kas van den Bergh to Heinz G. Konsalik. Louis L'Amour's westerns bought from the "Book Exchange" was my introduction to fiction in English.
In my standard 8 year, an exceptional teacher, Miss Oelofse, introduced me to Afrikaans literature. First she gave me some of Chris Barnard's short stories, which made me curious enough to search for his novel Mahala in the library. Thus I was introduced to the work of 'Die Sestigers' and later during my standard 8 year n Droë wit seisoen (A Dry White Season) was published and I immediately read it. At that stage I was fifteen years old and therefore very impressionable. But I can state without trepidation that that reading experience changed my life.
This novel not only formed my political consciousness-as many others attested about reading A Dry White Season during the past weeks-it radically changed the way I looked at fiction and the reasons why people read books at all. A Dry White Season made me realize that reading is not simply a pastime, not merely about the enjoyment of being drawn into a fictional world. Reading is not only about entertainment, experiencing different emotions, about escapism or a pleasurable way of spending leisure time. Reading does not merely provide interesting characters that experience exciting adventures in exotic places...
Reading can be disturbing.
The "lies" of a fictional story can upset and annoy and confront the reader with truth. Since then, I've started to read differently, with an altered expectation.
In a sense, A Dry White Season determined my career.
Throughout my career, Brink's novels provided a kind of guideline and I continue to set one of Brink's novels for first year students, often against resistance. Each year I face all the objections about swear words, graphic sex and alleged blasphemy in these novels. Often I have to face parents (and once even a student's dominee) who are upset about the disturbing effect of Brink's novels on their children. Once I even had to defend my decision to set Duiwelskloof / Devil's Valley to the dean, when students complained higher up about the atrocious Brink novel set for them. Nonetheless, I continue to set a Brink novel for the first year students, because every year there are many students who are excited, who are deeply moved, and whose lives are influenced by their confrontation with a Brink novel. This effect can obviously not be described as an "outcome", verifiable by "data based research", but it is this effect on students that I regard as the most important aim of teaching literature.
During the past 15 years I had the privilege of getting to know André personally. At our first meeting I was a bit awe-struck and told him about my first experience of reading A Dry White Season. He gracefully listened to what must have been an embarrassing tale and then told me about a man who wrote to him from India, shortly after A Dry white Season was published, stating that the novel actually told his story.
Indeed Brink not only had a changing effect on me, a number of my students and other South Africans, but on readers from across the world. After he had been forced by the ban on Kennis van die aand to write in English as well, his antithetical ideas, his questioning of the status quo, his undaunted challenging of injustice could touch many people's lives across the world, like he touched mine.
The title of Brink's 1992 novel, On the Contrary, could well serve as a motto for his oeuvre, and in fact, for his whole life. But saying "on the contrary" for Brink implied a principled opposition to all forms of repression, to every denial of freedom. But it also meant responding to repression by imagining alternatives.
Brink's contrarianism was supported by his discovery of Camus during his years in Paris. In his memoir, A Fork in the Road, he writes about the influence that French writers and poets had on him and he mentions Montaigne, Voltaire, Rousseau, Balzac, Sartre and Baudelaire. But he writes about Camus like this:
And then there was Camus. Who promptly became, and still is, one of the Baudelairean phares of my life. I do not merely admire Camus, I love him. [...] Camus: the indefatigable persistence of Sisyphus, the revolt-without-end, the struggle, literally to death, against injustice, against the lie, against unfreedom. He provided not only a map for my explorations of Paris, of France, but a blueprint for the rest of my life.
This "revolt-without-end" against injustice, against the lie, against all that threatens freedom, ran through Brink's whole life.
In his last novel, Philida, a young slave and her master's son are caught up in an impossible doomed love affair. Brink of course often used the absolute private and individual experience of love to probe collective norms. He fearlessly interrogated the postcolonial situation by focussing on love between colonized and colonizer, between slave and master, between black and white, European and African (An Instant in the Wind, On the Contrary, A Chain of Voices. Looking on Darkness was banned partly due to the portrayal of love "across the colour bar").
These impossible loves often end tragically when the lovers are forced to betray their love to fit societal norms. In Philida the young white man, Frans, promises the slave girl that he loves her, will marry her and grant her freedom, but eventually he lacks the courage to challenge his father's patriarchal authority. She insists that he should deliver on his promise and has to enter her name in the Family Bible:
The more I told her it was a book for white people only, the more she kept on: It's just a lot of names, Frans, it says nothing of white people and slaves.
Philida, it doesn't work like that, there's nothing you or I can change about it, this is just the way the world is.
Then we got to change the way of the world, Frans, she goes on nagging, otherwise it will always stay the same.
No, I keep telling her, some things just cannot be changed from the way the
LordGod made them.
Then we got to start changing the LordGod, she says.
You don't know that man, I warn her. He's a real bastard when it comes to making trouble.
I tell you that I want to be in that Book, she goes on.
I'm telling you, Philida, I keep insisting, it can't be done and it won't be done, and that's the way it is.
Then give the pen to me, she says in a temper one morning, when all the house people are busy outside, it is only her and me in the voorhuis. If you can't or won't do it, I'll do it myself. And she grabs the pen out of my hand (Philida 37-8).
Protagonists like Philida who say "on the contrary", who refuse to accept "the way the world is", are a constant feature of Brink's novels. In his early novels like Lobola vir die lewe (1962) and The Ambassador (1963) characters resist meaning forced on them on an existential level. (Camus's influence is evident in these novels, but Camus remained a central guide for Brink throughout his life.) From the 1970's onwards they refused the unjust political situation.
Like Philida, Brink refused to accept the status quo and grabbed his pen to start changing things. Kennis van die aand (1973) became the first Afrikaans novel to be banned, but Brink refused to be silenced and rewrote the novel in English in order to be heard.
In one novel after the other Brink demonstrated that the way things are, is not a natural given but a construct, that can and should be challenged-even if it implied changing the LordGod himself. And in all these novels he exposed the lies that were needed to keep the world like it is. That is why the words of Ben du Toit at the end of A Dry White Season (1979) is also true of Brink: "Perhaps all one can really hope for, all that I am entitled to, is no more than this: to write it down. To report what I know. So that it will not be possible for any man, ever again, to say: I knew nothing about it."
Creating an awareness of injustice was only one part of saying on the contrary, an ability to imagine a different world is the other part. Brink attained both due to his exceptional skill as narrator. He is often lauded as a master storyteller, his teeming imagination has been compared to Marquez and Borges and this probably explains his wide readership-in more than 30 languages all over the world.
Brink could conjure up a magic fictional world in a few sentences, whether in banal small town toilet humour (his Kootjie Emmer-stories), or experiments with complex modernist forms (Orgie, 1965) or in the unravelling and re-telling of stories in a self-reflexive postmodernist way.
Storytelling is also an important theme in his novels. Many of Brink's characters are storytellers: Ma-Roos in Chain of Voices, Rosette in On the Contrary, Ouma Kristina in Imaginings of Sand, Cupido Cockroach's mother in Praying Mantis. These stories show an awareness of our world as language, as story. It becomes clear that any understanding of the world as it is, is only one story. There are always other possibilities, other stories to tell. Lacking the creativity to imagine different stories leads to violent behaviour, because it causes a defence of that single story, as the old Seer Lermiet realizes in Devil's Valley: "Look man, there's nothing you can do about tomorrow. It comes as it must. All you can do something about is yesterday. But the problem with yesterday is it never stays down, you got to keep stamping on it."
Blindly defending a single "truth", a single story, is the uncreative response of patriarchy, traditionalism, nostalgia, nationalism and fundamentalism. In reaction to the Seer's words, Flip Lochner thinks:
In spite of my suspicion and resentment, I felt moved by something in the old fucker, perhaps in all his breed. With the lies of stories-all the lies, all the stories- we shape ourselves the way the first person was shaped from the dust of the earth. That is our first and ultimate dust. Who knows, if we understood what was happening to us, we might not have needed stories in the first place. We fabricate yesterdays for ourselves which we can live with, which make the future possible, even if it remains infinitely variable and vulnerable, a whole bloody network of flickerings, an intimate lightning to illuminate the darkness inside. (Devil's Valley, 287)
Stories are our ultimate dust and we need them to understand ourselves and the world. We need these fabrications, but they should remain infinitely variable. Accepting a single yesterday means that one has to keep stamping it down, forcing it on others.
Philida, like the other storytellers in Brink's novels, is imaginative, and dares to grab Frans's pen. Frans, like his father and so many patriarchs and administrators in Brink's novels, lacks the imagination to tell a new story, to make a future possible (even when he realizes that the fabrications of yesterday are no longer valid).
By telling stories we make the world human. By allowing a single story to become tantamount the way the world is, would be inhuman. Brink grabbed his pen and used his imagination to resist the inhumanity of single oppressive narratives. He made our world more human by saying on the contrary, and by constantly re-imagining the world, he made a more human future possible.
Works Cited
Brink, André. A Dry WWhite Season. London: Flamingo, 1979. [ Links ]
_____. A Fork in the Road. London: Vintage, 2010. [ Links ]
_____. Devil's Valley. London: Secker & Warburg, 1998. [ Links ]
_____. Philida. Cape Town: Random House Struik, 2012. [ Links ]


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Writing my own answers to this series was easy, but writing my own intro- not easy at all. I'd like to stick with the bio I've got up on Twitter: I'm pretty much full on trouble.
One Project You Are Particularly Proud Of
1: The Meet the Makers video series- I love people. I love clever people. I love creative people. I love odd people. I like makers. While working on the MtM videos, I have the opportunity to not only visit with the most interesting humans around, but I have the privilege of telling their stories to the world.
Two Mistakes You've Made in the Past
1: I speak before I think. I have a horrible habit of saying things that are very, very inappropriate. I've been known to swear, blurt insensitive things out, and to fall to pieces and cry in public. It has to stop, and I'm working at becoming more composed and more reserved.
2: Never giving myself enough time- I hate running late, but I can't seem to avoid it. It makes me feel unprofessional, scattered, and rude when I'm not punctual.
Three Things That Make Your Work Unique
1: My clear, concise writing- with a background in journalism, I approach my tutorials with the objective perspective of a reporter. It lends a clarity to my instructions.
2: My obsession with flowers- I love, love, love flowers. I think that I combine flowers in a way that speaks directly to my eye for color and texture.
3: My willingness to try things I've never done before- I'm always down to just jump in. My spontaneous attitude is intertwined here.
Four Tools You Love to Use
1: Felting needles- they are indispensable. My first published craft project was the needle felted fruit on the cover of Craft, Vol. 2. And my book, Feltique, is all about felt. I literally wouldn't have my career if it weren't for those little barbed needles. And not only do I use them for making things like Angry Birds, I like using them for mending holes in sweaters and even for applique.
2: Floral wire- I use floral wire for just about everything. When I'm making a bouquet, and want to put a tiny orchid on a long stem, I make one from floral wire. When I'm trying to get an angle on a light that keeps slipping, I tie it in place with floral wire. Lately, I've been using floral wire and pieces of fabric to make ruffled headbands (tutorial to come, promise!). My favorite is green paddle wire because it's cheap and easy to come by.
3: My Xryon tools- the X sticker maker, and the Creative Station. I was very skeptical when Xryon sent me a few of their products to try, but after working with them at the Maker Faire, I have been converted. Essentially, they are simple devices that apply adhesive- permanent adhesive, re-positionable adhesive, and even fabric adhesive. I use them to turn velvet ribbon and pieces of lace into stickers. I use them for covering boxes with decorative paper. I use them for adding embellishments to clothes.
4: Sharp scissors- I have two favorites. I like Fiskars SoftTouch Micro-Tip Pruning Snip for all of my floral projects. I have yet to find a more precise point. For cutting fabric, I love my collection of Simplicity scissors. They are made of gleaming metal, and have a weight in my hand that I just love.
Five Inspirations
1: Cocktails- they are delicious. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a lush. I really ought not to consume more than two drinks, and unless something goes horribly awry, I don't. But, I love elaborate cocktails and I love simple cocktails. I enjoy trendy drinks, like the nouveau offerings at 15 Romolo yet I also love a simple glass of bourbon. I let the flavors wash over my tounge, and over my mood. Oh, by the way, I recently had the best drink of my life. It was an Old Fashioned, mixed by Yanni at Nopa in San Francisco. He offered me my choice of rye or bourbon, and I selected the Hudson River Valley Rye, which is not the most traditional spirit, but still perfectly acceptable. Yanni stabbed the cherry with a knife, and ran it around in the glass before removing it. Then he added a thickly hewn orange peel, and two perfectly huge square ice cubes. Swoon.
2: The forest- I live in the woods, on a steep hill in the Northern California Coastal Redwood Forest. During certain times of the year my neighborhood literally qualifies as a rainforest. I am surrounded by tall, ancient trees, swirling mists, and everything is green with moss. One way I like to pay tribute is by creating miniature terrarium versions of my landscape.
3: The ocean- I did say the coastal forest right? My house on the hill is 30 minutes from restaurants and cell coverage, but 10 minutes from the beach. It's impossible for the waves, the sand, and the driftwood to not influence me. I've been surfing for almost 4 years now, and I love to go abalone diving.
4: My friend, and mentor, John Heckathorn– he is a writer and professor in Hawaii, former editor-in-chief of both Hawaii Magazine and Honolulu Magazine, and is a renowned food critic. His career arc is remarkable and I look up to him as a shining example of how to do it right. When I am nervous about things like, say, filming a segment at ABC, I can call him up and he never fails to talk me down with grounded and sweet advice. He has also been instrumental in exposing me to the most amazing food I've ever eaten.
5: My bathtub- its the origin of my best ideas. I have a massive clawfoot and it is where I like to do my thinking. In fact, it was during a long soak that I came up with the questions for this very profile series.
Now it's your turn! Share 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Things about yourself on your blog, and add the button we've made. Then, send me a link and I'll include it in a future roundup!
Grab a button unless you hate cuteness. Just copy this code and paste it into your blog template.
6 thoughts on "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Things About Brookelynn Morris"
I love your hair! It's such a vibrant color and so fun and curly!
Love this idea… Brookelynn always great to learn more inside of that beautiful head of yours! Further testament to the fact that one should never underestimate the power of a good soak in the tub!
My boyfriend thinks Nopa's Old Fashioned is the best, too. :)
Comments are closed.


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The GOPLifer project has reached its end. I have created a new site called PoliticalOrphans.com, where I'll be joined by a few friends in posting new material.
At GOPLifer I've tried to avoid first person writing. Now that it's time to pack up to move on, it might be good to describe some of the personal history and reasoning that gave rise to this project.
John McCain represented the Republican Party's last chance to turn the tide against white nationalism. It wasn't much of a chance, but it was all we had. On election night, staffers managed to stop Sarah Palin from delivering the concession speech, but no one could stop Palin from steering the party toward madness. With McCain defeated and a black man in the White House, our collective pathologies came scrambling into view like roaches crawling out of the walls.
I had been active in Republican grassroots politics for longer than I had been eligible to vote. In high school I had dinner with my Congressman and gave speeches at public events. In college I interned at the Texas Legislature. I met Rick Perry right after he left the Democratic Party. In Houston I was a donor and volunteer for Associated Republicans of Texas through which I worked on state and local campaigns. And in suburban Chicago I became a local Republican precinct committeeman in 2006.
With McCain swept to the margins and radicals firmly in control, by 2009 one could no longer be a Republican in good standing without serious moral qualms. It still seemed possible that the party could right itself, but the Tea Party movement had ushered in a wave of racist rhetoric and policy unprecedented in the party's history. To remain in the GOP with a clear conscience meant finding an outlet through which to describe and work toward an alternative Republican future.
My wife suggested I start a blog. I resisted. A blog seemed like an ideal platform for posting pictures of yourself drinking great coffee. It seemed like a lousy environment in which to wrestle with complex ideas. And the comments. Jesus, the comments…
Worse, there was no way to coherently express my thoughts on current events in a blog without creating a record that would ruin my standing in the party. Any hope I might have of one day taking a prominent role on a campaign or even running for office myself would be destroyed. Ideally, I would have preferred to develop and express these ideas behind the scenes, but all receptive forums had been burned to the ground. Any dissent would have to be public and nothing poisons a political career like candor.
I didn't read or follow blogs. For the most part, I still don't. But faced with a lack of alternatives and a very persuasive wife, I kissed my political career goodbye and built a blog.
Across the spring of 2009 I began writing out my thoughts on the state of the Republican Party. The first posts appeared on a goofy little free WordPress blog that still exists, awkwardly titled 'Building a Better GOP.' The effort had two objectives. First, I hoped that I might take a place among a growing chorus of Republican reformers. I hoped that we might link our efforts and steer the party back toward sanity. Second, I wanted an outlet for dissent, a means to gain absolution. If the party couldn't be reformed, then I at least wanted proof that I hadn't been a spineless collaborator.
Later in 2009 I began posting some material in the Houston Chronicle's public blog section. That's when things started to get interesting.
There's a commenter still posting at GOPLifer who was the first person to comment on one of those Houston Chronicle posts. Others soon joined, many of whom are still engaged here at the Lifer blog. Though I produced some good material, it was the comments section that really stood out. Thanks in large part to activity from the community on that blog, posts from the 'GOPLifer' occasionally topped the Houston Chronicle's list of most active pages.
In 2013 the Chronicle made some changes to its blog platform that undermined the usefulness of the comments section. This frustrating development required me to consider a new direction. I ginned up a logo using photoshop, bought a domain, and launched GOPLifer.com. For a while I posted pieces in both places, but by this year the flow to the Chronicle had dropped to a trickle. GOPLifer had become the home for this new community.
Right up to the summer of 2016 I still felt some hope that Republicans might change the party's direction. However, by late spring it looked like a worst-case scenario was taking shape instead. In June I had started drafting a potential resignation letter, but I still hoped I could delete it. That's not how things turned out.
After the convention I sent my resignation letter to our local party chairman and posted it on social media. I cut my last ties to the Republican Party. The 'GOPLifer' project was over.
After a few months spent mourning and exploring new directions, PoliticalOrphans.com is now ready. I have no idea what comes next for me politically, but I at least have a place to wrestle with that question. Joining me are a few collaborators who have offered to provide advice and content.
As I close up the GOPLifer blog I want to acknowledge some of the support I've enjoyed over the years.
Dwight Silverman played a key role in getting this project off the ground. When he headed up the Houston Chronicle's interactive journalism efforts he fostered this blog project. Thanks to David Frum for giving me a place at FrumForum and guiding me past some bad writing habits. Thanks to the company I work for and my clients who have patiently tolerated my occasionally public personal project. Thanks to Avik Roy who has offered me a new forum at Forbes from which to opine.
A special thanks to the hundreds of people who consistently participate in the comments section. You have created something remarkable there which I hope will grow even richer on a more suitable platform.
I want to thank all the friends and family who supported this effort by encouraging me to write and by posting GOPLifer articles all over social media.
Most of all I want to thank my wife and family. This was her idea and she pressed me to make it happen. Then she endured the toll this has taken on my free time and hers. She has tried to edit out my most glaring grammar errors and talked me out of some poor concepts.
We've had a great run here together. Time to move forward. Hope to see you all at PoliticalOrphans.com.
Thank you.


text:
|Smith DNA Official Members By Big_Y
Smith DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA Group BY-J-M172-5
and Type With tree listing
Associated YDNA Group GRP-J-M172-11
don't see yourself or see something that needs updating or fixin'? Let us know!
|The following group is created based on YDNA matches. Sometimes trees are incorrect, and sometimes the results of DNA show that believing a particular tree is yours leads to a different direction
than you originally thought. If you see an error in any tree, you are encouraged to send in corrections, sources, etc or post about it on the forum. These lines represent people's research. What the Smith DNA Project attempts to do in those cases is, with sources or reasoning, get the people together in a given group to discuss and then come to a consensus about the data for updating or correcting. We do not remove information without the people who have the trees,
if possible, being aware through a process
so they can confirm or not, or describe the issue if there is a conflict that cannot be easily resolved. We also cannot know,
nor have unlimited time to look for, places on the internet that have additional information. We rely on people whose trees these are,
as project members, and members of this Smith DNA grouping, or interested passersby providing information that will set a new light on members data.
There is a Submit Photo/Document/Source link on every ancestor page, as well
as a Suggest changes and Contact link.
Note that all groups and discussion for the Smith DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA, including for Group BY-J-M172-5 are located either on FamilyTreeDNA Smith DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA site or on the Smith DNA Project pages at smithsworldwide.org and not anywhere else, including private sites, wikitree or reddit.
Big-Y Group Time Tree
Learn More about the FTDNA Time Tree
To share your information on tree, Opt In on FTDNA
More info on Group Time Tree from Roberta Estes Blog
Big Y and SNP generations
What is a terminal SNP? Basics
Types of Variants
Big Y Block Introduction(FTDNA)
Big Y Private Variant Guide (FTDNA)
Private Variant example from DNA-Explained
Group Contact(s) :
Would you like to be a contact/moderator for this group? email email@example.com
Smith Group BY-J-M172-5 Discussion Community Forum
Have a photo you'd like to share for the group? Send to email@example.com
Latest Group Discussion Post
New Big-Y Group BY-J-M172-5 Schmidt (Smith DNA Project)
There are two Schmidts that have done both YDNA and Big-Y, with terminal SNP for both of J-FT269481. See the FTDNA Big-Y Time Tree here
Comment by smithsworldwide 2023-04-13 08:37:03
Want to comment in this group? Go to Smith Discussion Group Forum
Group Locations Members List YDNA Tip Report Beginner Guide to Genetic Genealogy Smith DNA Project YDNA Classic Chart (marker comparisons) Understanding YDNA matches Smith DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA Activity Feed edit
Groupings are made based on YDNA matches. Subgroupings are matches on STRs, SNPs or higher levels of markers and/or Big Y.The lineage may or may not be able to connect to another member, but hopefully listing the descent lines will lead to clues to prove the matches by lineage and location. If you believe you would fit into this group, please 1. join the Smith DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA (Official-All), 2. Send in your direct line that includes the earliest Smith/Schmidt for whom you have a source 3. Register on the smithsworldwide.org big tree site
|Matched Group/Subgroup
|Early Ancestor
|Migration Path
|GRP-J-M172-11 /BY-J-M172-5 YDNA on FTDNA S1-111 (J-FT269379)
|David Schmidt m Marie Elizabeth Succow
|Kit # 7023****(FTD)/ YDNA BigY
|GRP-J-M172-11 /BY-J-M172-5 YDNA on FTDNA S1-111 (J-fT269379)
|Unknown -Schmid?
|Kit # B342****(FTD)/


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Przepraszamy ale niektóre fragmenty naszej strony mogą nie wyświetlać się jeśli jest zablokowany JavaScript. Prosimy o odblokowanie go w celu poprawnego wyświetlania naszej strony.
MICRORISC koncentruje się na badaniach, rozwoju, dostarczaniu technologii i elementów zaawansowanych technologicznie producentom elektroniki, zwłaszcza łączności bezprzewodowej IQRF.
The combined sensor of air quality measuring CO2, temperature and humidity gained wireless connectivity and visualization of data in the cloud during an incredible period of seven weeks. A demonstration of implementation speed of a wireless communication into any product
A global manufacturer of pneumatic manual tools, screw assembly systems and automation has incorporated wireless communication IQRF into his products. The cutting-edge technology deserves professional maintenance and monitoring, how tools are working or where they are located. Transceivers guard the condition of pneumatic hammers working in difficult conditions (dust, temperature, vibration), including the display of data in the cloud. Maintenance and timely replacement of parts can save hundreds thousands of crowns for new tools.
We have developed a complex control system of cooling circuits of power plants. IQRF modules control rotation of 5.1 MW turbine blades to achieve the required output power of the plant Jaworzno III, Poland. IQRF technology monitors the overload of the servomotor and reports any faults in the system. IQRF wireless solution is used in facilities with the highest demands on reliability.
Networks of wireless lighting with feedback control of the system in the Slovak and Czech towns – e.g. Prešov (700 lamps), Ľubotín, Pilsen, Nitrianske Hrnčiarovce (145 lamps). The current network status can be displayed directly in Google Maps. Automatic check of the status of lamps and lighting throughout the system reduces maintenance costs.
Wireless technology IQRF allows an effective management of public lighting. Our portfolio includes specific products for lighting control networks – e.g. cowled module for outdoor environments. IQRF modules control lighting, send data on real consumption and monitor failures of individual lamps in lighting networks worldwide. Operating cost savings of such a network of lights is 40%.
See more at Menolinx or Comexys website
Wireless modules automate lighting supermarkets. IQRF allows you to selectively turn on only certain lights, control the light intensity (mainly LED), control light and transmit data about a fault. Automated control of large networks of lights in different modes as needed.
Torque wrenches for precise tightness in the automotive industry with wireless data transmission into the birth certificate of each manufactured vehicle. IQRF enables efficient and accurate control of the production process.
NPP Mochovce and Jaslovské Bohunice use battery-monitoring systems with customized control panels VCP-02. The systems are custom developed by ELTECO for Enersys, a battery supplier for nuclear power plants.
The company JULI Motorenwerk, s.r.o. was looking for efficient lighting solutions and management for production halls. The main requirements were to replace sodium lamps with LED lights, and a comprehensive lighting control system, which will take into account the high variability and frequent changes in the deployment of technology and warehouse spaces. A MESH network was created with two-way communication between the control software and lights.
Wireless data-driven modules (Data Controlled Transceivers) regulate the temperature of large warehouses and manufacturing spaces. The system allows you to control lights and other infrastructure facilities. It is the first wireless heating system easily managed by data.
IQRF technology in used in the Eprona project for remote control and monitoring of backup batteries charging and discharging.
AUSTYN International optimized old heating solution in 4-star-hotel Patria, Slovakia, in 2017.
Online monitoring of occupancy of individual parking spaces by means of a detection technology for presence of a vehicle. Continuous data collection and user-friendly installation are main benefits of the application.
Sanela Ltd. is a leading producer of complete range of sanitary electronics in Czech Republic. Wireless communication IQRF is used in several products such as toilet flush units, washbasin taps or automatic showers.
Development of software and hardware for wireless control of targets included security of data transfer, simple and secure pairing of drivers and targets, simultaneous use of multiple drivers and targets without interference, range of up to 100m, easy installation and low cost. In this application, each message must be unique in order to prevent wiretapping and misuse of command.
Wireless access and intercom systems, payment terminals and various electronic imaging systems. Network of large amounts of equipment collect, send and evaluate current data.
On-line monitoring of energy consumption and other variables of a family house. By optimizing heating, it was managed to reduce gas consumption by 15% without decreasing the thermal comfort of the population.
The study of wireless technologies and their use in the areas "Scan - monitoring - telemedicine" compares different technologies, incl. IQRF, and their possible use in sensing, monitoring and telemedicine. Compare the wireless systems of the device within the Internet of Things.
IQRF technology has been successfully used in the study "Impact of individuality of an animal on the daily picture of pH and redox potential in the rumen of cows without lactation". The probe carried out measurements every 20 seconds and calculated average values in order of 1 min. intervals. The study confirmed the appropriateness of the use of wireless data transmission technology using IQRF in the vivo method.
The system allows tracking of vehicles, their trailers and containers with regard to safety and efficient use of vehicles, trailers and individual containers. Monitoring based on GPS, GSM - GPRS and IQRF oversees more than two thousand containers for transporting bulk or building materials.
Rail Alert Asset Management system is used to manage the data from site and can be configured to trigger alarms based on sensor location, alerting configurable stakeholder groups by SMS or email. Asset management system with a broad range of capabilities from point condition monitoring to track temperature to flooding.


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A rare clip with scenes taken at a ceremony at the Syonan Jinja (from 1:23 to 3:30 in the clip), a shrine built during the Japanese Occupation with POW labour. The shrine was to have been a most beautiful of shrines with pebbled streams, stone lanterns, a stone stepped paths and torii gates and set in a 1,000-acre park with public recreational and sporting facilities. Pebbles, intended for the water filter beds at Bukit Timah, were diverted for its use. A new city was also to have been built around it. The grand plans were cut short with Japan's defeat in the war and the shrine was destroyed before the British returned for fear of its desecration. More on the shrine can be found at this post: Lost places – the shrine across the Divine Bridge.
The clip apparently shows a ceremony taking place at the Syonan Jinja on 15 February 1943, the first anniversary of the Fall of Singapore, that involved children seen who had returned from civilian camps they were sent to in New Dehli in India when the war in the Far East broke out.


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Talk about a curtain call. How many of us had a former boss that we wanted to show them what we were about?? Super Bowl XXXIII was John Elway's last game and it came courtesy of Dan Reeves…yikes.
I still thought the 98 Vikings were the best team that year but guess what? History doesn't care what The Chancellor thinks so after a 34-19 win over the Falcons; this was the crowning jewel for becoming back to back champions! And just like what happened with the early 90's Cowboys we're left with the glut of never ending questions when we're drinking and talking football…"Would they have three-peated if___?" In this instance had John Elway come back….would they have? Well that wasn't rhetorical, what do you think?
After 36 seasons and 4 other failed Super Bowl appearances the Broncos were champions. Elway was now a champion and didn't have to answer those questions anymore. The organization, city, everyone celebrated the triumph in XXXII over the Packers. They were supremely ripe for a letdown. Yet once the press conference to announce Elway's return for his 16th season came, it seemed like the Broncos would be a good defending champion. Who knew they would go on to be one of the strongest ever??
They leaned on their celebrated running game that had matured thru the previous post season. Terrell Davis came into 1998 running strong. The Achilles heel from the season before was stopping the run, the best thing to do was to get an early lead and impose your running game on your opponent while forcing them to pass. The Broncos did this with great aplomb as Davis became the first 2,000 yard rusher in the AFC since OJ Simpson in 1973.
So the Broncos went from defending champion to a team that threatened to run through the season undefeated. The champagne on ice the '72 Dolphins put away until the last team loses was ice cold as the Broncos raced out to a 13-0 record. There was a strange feeling when the Broncos entered Giants Stadium during that 14th game. They had already wrapped up the AFC West Division where they had been a wildcard entrant the year before.
For the first time in the latter half of 1998, Denver faced a team that was not intimidated by them. The Giants pulled off the upset when Kent Graham hit Amani Toomer with a late game touchdown 20-16. The dream of the undefeated season had melted away, and after a Monday night loss to the Dolphins, there was concern the Broncos had lost their edge. The playoffs beckoned yet Shanahan started resting his players. Countenance turned to anguish as some Denver fans remembered the '96 finish and upset to the Jaguars at home in the playoffs.
Uh….well Denver faithful didn't need to worry. Something about that embarrassing loss brought the fire out of the Broncos who ran roughshod over the Jags 42-14. Next up were the Cinderella New York Jets, who came in with Bill Parcells trying to become the first coach to take 3 teams to the Super Bowl. In Elway's last game at Mile High Stadium they prevailed 23-10 in a defensive struggle.
Next up, Super Bowl XXXIII and an old ally in former coach Dan Reeves. In the end, Elway threw for 336 yards in an MVP performance in his last game. Elway retired 4 months later and left us to ask that proverbial question…Would they have three-peated had Elway played another year??
What do you think??


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Though we do not fetishize non-violence or ascribe to a pathology of pacifism, we thought it was worthwhile, in the context of the current indigenous and anti-civ resistance movements, to republish these easy (and harmless to life, as opposed to capital) instructions for railway disruption, courtesy of comrades in so-called "Southern Ontario". Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The below text is for educational & entertainment purposes only.
Choose a section of railway tracks with a degree of privacy. Using no less than 12 feet of large gauge copper wire (plastic casing removed), wrap each end of the wire around the two railway ties and back onto themselves, ensuring as much contact with the railway tie as possible. As soon as both ends are securely in place, the circuit will be complete and the railway traffic signals in the area will signal that there is a barrier on the tracks. Leave promptly.


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"If you are reading this, if there's air in your lungs on this November day, then there is still hope for you. Your story is still going. And maybe some things are true for all of us. Perhaps we all relate to pain. Perhaps we all relate to fear and loss and questions. And perhaps we all deserve to be honest, all deserve whatever the help we need. Our stories are all so many things: heavy and light, beautiful and difficult, hopeful and uncertain. But our stories aren't finished yet. There is still time, for things to heal and change and grow. There is still time to be surprised. We are still going. You and I. We are stories still going."
Jamie Tworkowski.


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Judge says AOL not acting for government
Judge Melgren refuses to suppress email evidence
WICHITA — A federal judge has rejected claims that AOL and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were acting as agents for the government when they searched a Kansas man's emails for child pornography.
U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren refused Tuesday to suppress as evidence the email and attachments that Walter Ackerman claimed were obtained through an illegal search. The judge also declined to throw out statements the 56-year-old Lebanon man made when agents questioned him.
Ackerman is charged with distribution and possession of child pornography.
AOL uses a process to systematically identify child pornography sent through its services. The company maintains a database of digital fingerprints known as "hash values" associated with child pornography. It sends any matches to the center, which in turn notifies law enforcement.


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Delving into the cross roads of rationality and intuition
Welcome to our website.
My wife and I have been on a joint spiritual-journey for the past 30 years. Together we forged a relationship that accelerated our personal spiritual development. We want to share our experiences and insights, and help others to grow spiritually. Let us begin by giving you a summary of our reasons and ideas for creating this site. Continue reading


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Thursday, January 27, 2011
2. My husband turned off the computer in the middle of the "system" I had going for emailing people the Valentine Subway Art listing so I know a few people who posted about it still don't have it yet (but I don't know who)! Please email me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I will send it to you.
3. A lot of people asked if they could still have the Subway Art even if they didn't have a blog and the answer is YES! It's available in my Etsy shop- just select the 'Personalized Subway Art' listing and tell me in the notes you would like the Valentine version.
4. I am pregnant! Which I write with an exclamation point to try to feel excited about it but really all I feel is ridiculously miserably incapacitatingly nauseous. Like out-of-this-world sick day and night and even in the middle of the night so I haven't been near the computer which is why my responses have been slow or non-existent. I'm sorry! Please bear with me and hopefully I will feel human again soon. My poor husband has been having to take off work to take care of Annalise while I spend my days writhing about on the couch and crying. Prayers/good-wishes/loads-of-pity gratefully accepted. :)
66 comments:
My OB/GYN suggested I take Zantac (the acid reducer) for the nausea and it did wonders for me and I have passed that info along to every pregnant women I know. Some it worked wonders for and others it sadly did not, but it's worth the try! Hope you start feeling better I remember the feeling all too well and it's not fun at all!ReplyDelete
Many many congrats!! What wonderful news :)ReplyDelete
I hope you feel better soon :)
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 10:52 AM
aww! congrats on the pregnancy!! :)ReplyDelete
I finally posted about the art!ReplyDelete
Send mine to email@example.com
Such exciting news!!!
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Awesome!!!! Congratulations! How exciting. I can't believe you saved that for last. Glad my distracted brain didn't flit off before reading that last awesome bit!ReplyDelete
Congratulations to you! And so nice that your hubby can take off time to ease your strain.ReplyDelete
That's exciting and terrible all at the same time! I hope you feel better soon. Congrats babe!ReplyDelete
Congrats and I feel for you! Hope you get some relief soon.ReplyDelete
Congrats to you! feel better soon :)ReplyDelete
Congratulations! Such wonderful news. Hope you start to feel better soon.ReplyDelete
congratulations! you'll be happy about it soon, feel better!ReplyDelete
So sorry you are feeling so awful!! There is nothing worse they being nauseous all day!!!ReplyDelete
Congratulations, hope the nausea passes soon!ReplyDelete
Congrats! I was super sick during my pregnancy too. I want more kids in the future but the thought of morning sickness is almost enough to make my daughter an only child! I wish I had a remedy to share but nothing I ever tried (ginger, peppermint tea, etc) worked. I only got relief by never letting my stomach get totally empty and by hitting week 16! Hope you are feeling better soon!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 2:48 PM
Congratulations! How far along are you? I ended up on Zofran during my pregnancies. I hope you find some relief soon. Congrats again!ReplyDelete
Congrats! I needed IV fluids 6 times when I was pregnant and lost 18lbs in the first 3 months... take care of yourself. The only good thing was it was my first baby. I can't imagine going through that with a little one. Prayers for you!ReplyDelete
Oh happy day! I hope you feel like yourself very soon.ReplyDelete
Congrats! I hope you feel better soon!ReplyDelete
I was starting to worry about you, but I'm glad to hear it's "just" pregnancy. I hope you feel better soon - it's hard to be incapacitated when you have a little one who doesn't understand. When is your due date?ReplyDelete
Congratulations! I was terribly sick with my pregnancy with my daughter & I know how much of a toll it can take. Hope your feel better soon!ReplyDelete
Congratulations - what a blessing! You might enjoy my daughter's post to take your mind off the nausea.ReplyDelete
Wow! Such a blessing! I;m so happy for your family.ReplyDelete
congratulatons on the pregnancy :) here have a cup of lemon and ginger tea on me :)ReplyDelete
Congrats! I can't believe you left that for #4, that totally ranks as #1. Saltines and fruit punch, that's all I had for the first three months.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 28, 2011 at 5:51 AM
Congrats! and I feel your pain. I was SO sick with my pregnancy's. Tried every home remedy out there and the only thing that helped was labor. ha! I really disliked being pregnant but on the up side I had really easy labors. So good luck! Love your blog!!ReplyDelete
Oh Congratualtions!!!! When are you due? So exciting. Welcome to the world of nausea. Mine has mostly gone by 18 weeks, with the odd day here and there. Hope you feel better soonReplyDelete
Congrats to you!!!ReplyDelete
Congratulations! Hopefully the sick feeling will pass soon.ReplyDelete
Congratulations and I sincerely hope that you start to feel more like yourself soon! I'll send a prayer and a little bundle of good thoughts your way!ReplyDelete
Congrats to you! I haven't blogged, checked email, logged into fb for weeks for the very same reason. I am due mid-August. My little guy is 11-months-old. I feel your pain. I really, really do! When are you due? Congrats again, and thanks for the great crafty ideas!ReplyDelete
By the way, for what it's worth, my midwife suggested three daily doses of vitamin B-6 (50 mg three times a day) to ease nausea and to boost energy. I have been coming around after a few days of that. You might want to check with your provider, but my midwife is very conservative when it comes to taking ANYTHING potentially harmful. Hope you feel better.ReplyDelete
AND - have to mention sea sick wrist bands. They help to ease the quick onset nausea. Definitely worth the $5 in the pharmacy!
I have no advice, but congratulations!ReplyDelete
Congrats! How sweet they are....so fresh from God! (or will be in 40 weeks??) You'll forget you ever were nauseated!ReplyDelete
Zofran will save your life!!! I promise!! Just be sure to take colace (stool softener) w/ it too! Up to dose it what they give you at first will not work! I promise it is the best stuff ever!ReplyDelete
Congrats on being preg. I bought lemon drops when I was preg. Just the hard candy lemon drops in the candy section in any grocery store. They worked awesomely.ReplyDelete
Congrats...I am so sorry you are feeling terrible. I am expecting a little one in June and my doctor said Vitamin B6 if you can stomach it and Emetrol (over the counter)but it makes me sleepy though. Good luck..hopefully it won't last too much longer!ReplyDelete
Congratulations on a new addition! Prayers that you will begin to feel human sooner rather than later.ReplyDelete
So happy for you and sending you "loads of pity" as you so aptly requested! ha!ReplyDelete
Congratulations on being pregnant! So sorry you're sick though :( Hope you're feeling a little better today... glad your hubby is helping. Hang in there! Don't they say it gets better? :)ReplyDelete
congrats on the pregnancy. So sorry about the yuk part,though. I had a terrible time as well (many years ago), so I know how miserable you are feeling. Praying it passes quickly.ReplyDelete
I have an award for you! http://livinthedream07.blogspot.com/ReplyDelete
What wonderful news! I do hope you start feeling better! I love your blog, and I gave you an award! You can check it out here: agapelovedesigns.blogspot.comReplyDelete
Jessica, get to your Dr. and get some Zofran..the kind that melts on your tongue. It will help! Sorry to hear you are having such a tough time.ReplyDelete
Hey! I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award! Let me know if you accept it! :)ReplyDelete
Check it out at http://kristenscreationsandcrafts.blogspot.com/
Kristen @ Kristen's Creations
We miss you around here! Feel better soon!ReplyDelete
Congratulations on your pregnancy! :)ReplyDelete
Tack för din rara hälsning hos mig och vad bra att jag hittade hit till din fina blogg!ReplyDelete
Och hemskt mycket grattis till lilla bebisen i magen!
Congrats!! That is exciting news :) Hope you are feeling better in no time! Blessings to you!ReplyDelete
awful to feel unwell.....ReplyDelete
what a perfect wonderful reason to feel unwell for!!!!
a new brother of sister for little A....
be gentle to yourself hon....
melissa xx
- AnonymousFebruary 23, 2011 at 8:27 AM
I gave you a Stylish Blogger Award today. Thanks for inspiring me daily! :)ReplyDelete
congrats on the pregnancy! :) hugs to youReplyDelete
Congratulations to you and your family. You have such a cute blog.:)ReplyDelete
Congratulations on your pregnancy! I hope the morning sickness subsides soon, and that you have a happy, healthy motherhood journey. Have you tried Psi Bands? They helped me a ton with my morning sickness, and my girls use them now for motion sickness on road trips.ReplyDelete
Just wondering if the valentine subway art is still available.... I blogged and e-mailed you and didn't hear back??? Hope your pregnancy is going well.ReplyDelete
Yay for you! I had the most terrible nausea with my son. I never really got sick but I felt like I was going to all day long. The heartburn is what got me though!ReplyDelete
Hope you feel better soon!
Congratulations on your good news. Hopefully you will soon be feeling better and how wonderful that your husband steps up to help you out.ReplyDelete
Hope all is well and you get back to blogging soon because we already miss you!ReplyDelete
I am following you now from http://www.suitedreems.blogspot.com Sure hope you can visit my little world sometime soon!! ;)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 25, 2011 at 1:32 PM
PLEASE, PLEASE come back to blogland. You are missed!
I am a new followerReplyDelete
Love your blog
wow I would love to have a blog like yours.
Stop by any time
Just wanted to stop by and thank you for your comment at everydaymomideas.com and that I am so glad you liked my "memory of a mother" kit.ReplyDelete
I hope things are well enough with your pregnancy that you can come back soon. I miss your amazing crafts!ReplyDelete
hope things are going well for your family!ReplyDelete
I miss your blog posts, you have been an inspiration to me! COME BACK SOON!
I keep checking every so often. I hope all is well and you'll be back soon.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 6, 2011 at 7:51 PM
Hope you are well! I miss your posts and inspiration. Update soon and let us know.ReplyDelete
Kumpulan Bokep Terupdate Terbaru 2020 BOKEPJAV.FUNReplyDelete


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Continuing the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge…G is for Google? What does Google have to do with family history? The Google site is much more than just a search engine – it has become a very useful tool for genealogical research. Here are some of the ways I use Google for genealogy:
- Search for names and towns on Google
- Read all of my genealogy (and other) blogs on Reader
- Share information with my family on Docs. It is also a useful place to store info among my various computers (work, home, laptop).
- Find references to ancestors or towns in old books and newspapers, especially foreign texts, on Books. This is how I found out about a fire in my ancestors' town, my fugitive immigrant, and I located many sources for my Józef Pater story.
- Translate words, phrases, or entire texts from Latin, Polish, German, and many other languages with Translate. While the translations are not 100% accurate, you do get the general idea of the text. You can also translate directly from Google Books if the full text of the book is available.
- Set up Alerts for names or places so you don't miss any references
- Virtually walk in my ancestors' footsteps with Maps and Earth
- Remember family dates or set up an editorial calendar for a blog with Calendar
I even use Google's web browser, Chrome, their photo editing tool, Picasa, and their email platform, Gmail! The only Google apps I don't really use are the blogging platform, Blogger, and the social networking site, Google+, because I like WordPress and Facebook better. However, many other genealogists find both of these tools to be useful to their family research as well.
How do you use Google for your family history research?
[Written for the weekly Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge]


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by Robert Moorehead
At the beginning and end of each semester, my college faculty and staff gather for a fancy meal at a restaurant before a smaller group moves on to an Irish pub for a nijikai (second round of drinking). The nijikai crowd eventually shrinks down to a smaller group that heads to a third bar, for a sanjikai. At each place, everyone shares stories, laughs, and enjoys each other's company in a mix of Japanese and English. Despite the fun, at the third stop I had a "gaijin moment."
A "gaijin moment" is my Japanese adaptation of Eli Anderson's "n**r moment," in which non-Japanese are starkly reminded of their outsider status in Japan. In this case, the reminder came despite the smiles, laughter, and joyous karaoke singing of my colleagues.
The sanjikai took place at a small Japanese-style bar. The 16 people in our group settled in on couches in the back of the bar, as three Japanese hostesses came over to pour drinks for us, serve us snacks, and engage us in conversation. Thankfully, these women avoided the more dramatic flirting found in hostess bars, where the job is to flirt with customers, smile, sing, and get customers to buy drinks—what Rhacel Parreñas has defined as a form of sex work. (Anne Allison and Parreñas have produced great ethnographies of hostess work, for those interested.)
A Japanese woman in her 30s sat across from me and another foreign professor, poured us some watered-down drinks, and asked questions that non-Japanese often get—do you speak Japanese, where are you from, how long have you lived in Japan, etc. To her credit, she avoided exaggerated responses like "Oh really? Wow! That's great!" Or maybe she read the look I probably had on my face.
While I understand the history of the hostess role, I also understand the gender dynamics of paying women to serve me. Pouring drinks, wiping moisture off the glasses, re-filling drinks (with extremely watered-down booze), clapping their hands in time to the karaoke singing, and pretending to be interested in whatever I might say. I couldn't separate their smiles from the fact that they were being paid to show those emotions … that I was paying them for those emotions.
At that moment, I realized that I am unable to turn off the sociologist in my head. I couldn't get comfortable with the hostess-customer relationship. While there's no shame in working as a hostess, I would have preferred to have gone to Ing, a rock bar that several of us had unsuccessfully lobbied for. At least the bar we went to was better than the place we'd gone to previously, a depressingly dark bar where the hostesses routinely yawn, check their watches, serve stale snacks, and pour drinks that are essentially watered-down gasoline.
Then came calls for me to join the karaoke. I demurred, as I listened to my colleagues sing one Japanese song after another, from pop to rock to dance music, generations of Japanese songs I had never heard. A few English classics, like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Frank Sinatra, made their inevitable appearance. But it was the endless medley of Japanese songs that made me feel like a gaijin. Everyone was nice enough, and even the hostess eventually moved on to other people. But sitting through song after song that I had never heard before, but all my Japanese colleagues seemed to know by heart, made me realize that, despite all the music that we had in common, we grew up listening to very different things.
Odds are that if my Japanese colleagues had found themselves listening to people (try to) sing the heavy metal and rock tracks I grew up with (time for some Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden karaoke, anyone?), they would have felt similarly. As people pushed me to look for songs to sing, I drew a blank. Feeling like an outsider, I couldn't even think of what I'd look for. Not that I really wanted to sing, but I felt like such an outsider that I couldn't imagine anything I liked being in the computer system.
Eventually, I got forced to sign the last song of the night, and while people were originally searching for "Hey Jude," I got stuck with "We Are the World." Seriously. It would not have been my first choice, or my second, or my 153rd.
The next day, all sorts of songs popped into my head, making me wonder even more about what had set me off. After more than 7 years in Japan, it's interesting to see that I can still feel like a total gaijin.
So a little empathy is in order whenever a native complains about foreigners not fitting in. Fitting in is a long, bumpy road. And just when you think you're in the clear … more bumps.


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If I had to break down the percentage of topics of my non-work conversation, it would probably go something like this:
- 70%: Food
- 15%: Podcasts
- 5%: Netflix
- 5%: Naps
- 5%: Other, including but not limited to Jon Hamm, the john, ham, Jon Hamm's John Hamm, etc.
Food is a given, as are Jon Hamm and naps, but I've become a huge fan of podcasts. They're a wonderful way to pass the time when you need a little entertainment. Out on a walk? Throw on a podcast! Driving to a place? Throw on a podcast! Prepping your meez? You see the pattern here, people.
There are all sorts of podcasts for your listening pleasure, but here are my go-tos.
- The Nerdist Podcast: Chris Hardwick (stand up comedian and former Singled Out Host) and his besties/fellow comedians, Jonah Ray and Matt Mira, co-host. They have wonderfully weird and funny conversations with celebrities and each other. Kyle Clarke, Katie Levine and Scout the dog join in and hilarity ensues.
- Favorite episodes include: Thomas Middleditch, Andrea Romano, and Mitch Hurwitz. The Hostfuls are my true favorites, but check those out once you've gotten to know the hosts.
- Wits: Have you guys ever listened to Prairie Home Companion? Wits is like Prairie Home Companion if Prairie Home Companion had better writing, funnier guests and cooler musical artists. I don't hate Prairie Home Companion or anything. I just adore Wits. John Moe hosts this delightfully oddball variety show.
- Favorite episodes include: Jim Gaffigan with Reggie Watts and Thao Nguyen, Audience Choice Show 2014, Kristen Schaal with Typhoon
- WTF with Marc Maron: I resisted this one for awhile, but a friend recommended and I fell for it. Marc Maron is a comic who takes long form conversations to a new level. His honesty is charming and disarming and it allows his guests to really share with him. It feels like you're listening in on someone's therapy. Notable episodes are: Terry Gross, Henry Winkler, Remembering Harris Wittels
- The Thrilling Adventure Hour: Fans of old time-y radio and kitschy things will love this silly, delightful show. It's a serialized radio show that follows among others a a society couple that seed ghosts and the marshall on Mars. All the comedians ever are on this thing. Notable episodes are: all of them. The new episodes end in August, but there are 250 episodes to go back to and enjoy.
Now you're probably wondering: what the actual fuck does this have to do with food?
Well, I LISTEN to them during cooking. Which how I sometimes fuck up cooking. Look at how I messed up my buns.
Not MY buns. These hamburger buns. My buns are great. WINK.
The cool part about a podcast is that you never know what you'll learn. Even if you have preconceived notions about the guest, you might learn something really cool. For example: a recent Nerdist episode featured Dexter Holland. You might not know his name, but you probably know his work. He's the lead singer of the bang The Offspring. They're still touring (who knew?) but he's also getting his PHD in molecular biology studying HIV (wait, WHAT?!) This conversation was fascinating. The most interesting thing is that this guy is curious about so many things. He didn't know how to play music when he started his first band. He loves science so he started pursuing science. And he wanted to play music and continue studying science, so he did both.
And this is how he made a hot sauce. He's passionate about hot sauce. So he decided to make one. You know, as you do.
It's a nice hot sauce for casual hot sauce consumption. It's say it has a similar heat level to a Tabasco. Unlike a Tabasco, it's much more of pepper-forward vs. vinegar-forward. It was a nice kick of heat, but it didn't blow out my palate.
So, I salute you, Dexter Holland. Your hot sauce is solid. Your scientific research is baller. And your music is a major earworm.
That's pretty fly for a white guy.
Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce is available at most grocery stores and online. Try it on tacos, eggs, and all the things. Eat it while listening to The Nerdist podcast and enjoy your burrito, folks.
P.S. There are some food podcasts that I've started exploring. More on that to come.


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What about apple wedges with the chocolate peanut butter? they are delish….
Kick the Nutrition up a Notch in March
Green isn't just for St. Patty's day this March, it's also for your plate! It's National Nutrition Month and this year's theme, "Get Your Plate in Shape", helps show people how eating more fruits and vegetables, along with watching portion size can positively impact their lives. We know that when you're rushing around in your scrubs, working a 12-hour shift it's not always easy to have a balanced meal, so here are some ideas for nutritious on-the-go snacks that will help keep energy levels high:
- Natural peanut butter and apples (or celery, bananas…)
- Greek yogurt
- Homemade trail mix with your favorite nuts or dried fruits
- Kashi TLC crackers and a Laughing Cow cheese wedge
- Luna Bars
- Frozen grapes (perfect for a summer cool-down)
- Raw veggies and hummus or guacamole
- Toasetd pumpkin seeds (one of our favorite brands is Eden Foods Spicy!)
- Edamame (packs a powerful punch of fiber and protein)
If you want to learn more about making healthier lifestyle choices straight from nutrition professionals visit http://www.eatright.org/. They also have a section on creative ways to get kids excited about healthy options!
Tell us…what's your favorite nutritional snack for an afternoon or mid morning pick-me-up?


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Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. – (Colossians 3:12, NIV)
God has chosen you and made you His holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. – (Colossians 3:12, ERV)
You are always dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others. – (Colossians 3:12, TPT)
The tremendous impact that the mounting shutdowns are going to have on some of our local families continue to grow, as the governor called for the closure of all restaurants last night. Already, last evening, my husband and I could see the impact this COVID-19 crisis is having on such businesses, as we stopped at our favorite Thai restaurant, after I had picked him up from the airport. For a good twenty minutes, we were the only pair dining in the place. A few folks did come in to pick up take-out orders, and two more tables of two entered and were seated, prior to the end of our meal. Beginning today, their family business will be entirely dependent on take-out orders for sustaining their existence. I know there are so many others that are deeply impacted by this decision. As we navigate each new day, we must be compassionate and kind, gentle, humble, and unoffendable in our patience with others. We know not what the person in front, behind, or beside us is going through, and odds are, each could really use some kindness, patience and compassion in the midst of the current chaos. In a space like this we can either hide out in our own little space, or we can lift our head, look around, and seek ways to reach out and extend help where we are able. Because we are chosen and dearly loved, we are meant to love likewise. May we look for opportunities to show mercy to others, extend kindness and gentleness, be humble always, and choose to be unoffendable in our patience with others.
Because we are loved,
We're called to the same;
In Christ's Holy Name.
He arms us with strength,
Love, humility;
Empowers patience,
Most generously.
Let's extend mercy,
Kindness through God's grace;
Give as we're given,
In this time and space.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Thank You that as we do, we are equipped and empowered to love others as You so lavishly love us. Forgive us for either thinking there is nothing we can do, or for getting caught up in our own concerns. Teach us to have eyes to see the world around us as You do, so that we may reach out and do what we can with what we have been given. Show us how to love generously, live compassionately, and be unoffendable in our patience as we navigate these trying times as Your ambassadors of peace. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we love You and trust You to strengthen and equip us to be clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, so that we may love others as You call us to love. Amen.
© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. – Ephesians 4:32


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Once upon a time I met a guy.
Okay. That's not true.
Once upon a time I didn't meet a guy, but I got to know a guy because we started working together.
Uh, okay, not even all of that is true either. We never actually started working together, we actually worked apart, but our efforts came together for just over four years.
I absolutely love the look on people's faces when I tell them that my blogging partner of over fifteen hundred days is someone I've never actually met. It's such a great story.
But even great stories—no matter how epically enthralling they are—will come to the last line of their tale with bold letters that say: THE END.
That part usually feels like you've been impaled by an errant satellite antenna and now have to wrestle it out of your flesh on your own with nothing but nail clippers.
Robin Gott and I had a couple of things in common:
- We both spoke English—although he mostly speaks Swedish now as that's his current crash pad country.
- We both saw the world with a slightly skewered sensibility.
- And we both loved his sense of humor—although I've never specifically heard him say he loves his own sense of humor, I took it to be a fact because on more than one occasion, when I would receive his sketches for the next post, there'd be an array of splatter on the page that I could only assume came from a mouthful of tea when finally sitting back to surmise one's work.
But … we had one thing we did not share in common:
- The way we envisioned Scotsmen.
I saw them as broad-shouldered, well-muscled, claymore-handling kilted men who eyed me with a savage come hither look.
And Robin saw them as knock-kneed, prickly-legged, bagpipe-wheezing kilted geezers who couldn't look anyone straight on because they were also cross-eyed from too much bagpipe wheezing.
His version was a helluva lot funnier than mine so I stopped writing about them. One does not want funny in one's delusional, sigh-inducing afternoon daydreams.
I cannot begin to convey the number of reactions Robin's cartoons have produced—it's usually the first thing anyone brings up when speaking to me about the blog. More often than not, that comment is snorted, or chortled, or sniggered out by an individual retelling the tale of being in a public place while reading the post and then making some embarrassing sound of amusement that turned heads and raised brows. Coffee shop lines, grocery checkouts, and a couple of bathroom stalls. I've heard it all.
My kids had their own take on Robin's work. Oftentimes my daughter would grumble as to the awkward teenage shape her blog version body projected, and my son would beg me to stop writing about him, as surely some teacher at school the next day after the post was published would brandish their smartphone, showing him one of Robin's colored pencil drawn sketches of him and warn, "You'd better never do this in my class."
I soon came to realize that Robin's depictions of myself were wholly accurate: frizzed, limp, or muddled hair, ungainly limbs, mismatched clothes, and always an expression that conveyed anarchic chaos.
Usually, they were also more flattering than the truth.
And speaking of truth we circle back round to the facts. And the sad fact of the matter is that there are only so many hours to a day and Robin's are jam-packed full of a burgeoning family life, day job, and acting career.
Sometimes you have to whittle away the fat from the bone—cuz, you know, sleep is a thing.
And I get it. When we first joined forces, we were pumping out four or five posts a month. Solidly. For more than a couple of years. Then a few people entered my life—an agent, some editors, and a dastardly heavy breathing brute of a thing called a deadline.
We scaled back.
Once a month posts made everyone breathe easier. Except readers. And I got it. And by 'got it' I mean complaints. More people wrote in to express their dissatisfaction with the new arrangement. People NEEDED their Sunday shot of Gott—and oh, yeah, the writing wasn't horrible either.
I advised most folks to recycle old posts. Most folks advised me to go take a long walk off a short pier.
Ah well.
But we must all come together and wish Robin farewell and good luck. The artistic world will continue to benefit from his influence and presence—whether he's producing a play or appearing on film. And his doodles will live on. They are on my walls, in my text, and within my heart.
I have heard from so many people about the joy Robin's sketches have brought them, and I know everyone will be saddened to find them absent.
One day, a long time from now, my grandchildren will likely discover as they tour through one of the halls in the Smithsonian, a jar containing a brain submerged in formaldehyde.
"What's that?" they'll bend down and shout into my Miracle Ear, seeing me chuckle with self-congratulations about a long ago prediction.
"That," I'll croak out, "is science's failed attempt to understand the workings behind the waggish and whimsical wit of a man who saw the world through an enviable pair of glasses."
I will pause and smile and remember.
"I was lucky to know him, but I never met him."
~Shelley (& Rob)
For the time being, our blog is closed to comments, but if you enjoyed it, maybe pass it on to someone else. Email it, Facebook it, or print it out and make new wallpaper for the bathroom. If it moves you, show it some love and share. Cheers!
Don't forget to check out what we're cookin' in the Scullery and what we all talked about down in the pub. Plus, you can see more of Robin Gott's humor (NOW FOR HIRE- so do go check out his gallery!)–all from the only pen carved from a human funny bone.


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text:
Hi listeners! Are you looking to get rid of any household items, or are you looking for something that Freecycle cannot supply? We ask because it seems in Answer Me This! Episode 299, the show has become the audio equivalent of Loot. It's been a long time coming.
On today's agenda:
hitchhiking vs Megabus
Points of View's mailbag vs AMT's inbox
exercise vs the Olly Mann diet
1lb vs 454g
personal trainers
soft landings in playgrounds
The Loneliest Road In America
papal pocket money
accommodating the Dalai Lama
adult spring riders/rockers/animals/vehicles
Alfred Molina
Plus: Olly has a HUGE…collection of tea towels; Helen doesn't want to ride in your helicopter, unless it's too embarrassing to say no; and can anyone explain what Martin the Sound Man meant by 'Godwin Filter'? We pretended we knew what he was talking about, but really were shrugging inside.
In case you've been anxious for the past two months to find out how Helen is faring in her mission to learn to love The Great British Bake Off, you can end that anxiety by listening to today's Bit of Crap on the App, which is available for iDevices old and new, Android or Windows playthings.
If you're anxious about how to build a super-nice website, relax! Visit Squarespace.com, have a fiddle with their easy web-building tools, and while you're at it get 10% off their services for a whole year by using the code Answer.
It can't have escaped your notice that if today is Episode 299, the next episode is AMT300!!!!111!!!ZOMG!!!!! We wouldn't have got past one episode without your questions, so please keep sending them in: call the Question Line on 0208 123 5877 or Skype ID answermethis, or email firstname.lastname@example.com. And do let us know what is the best thing you've learned from Answer Me This! over the years (interpret 'best' and 'learned' as you will) in a comment here or over on facebook.com/answermethis or twitter.com/HelenAndOlly.
We will return on 16th October with AMT300 (aka #AMT300)! Be sure to join us!
Helen & Olly
••• AMT299 Child-Friendly Rating: 64%. Quite a few cusswords but little vulgar content until the very end, when Olly shoots his load. •••


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My colleague, Elaine Hom, was kind enough to invite me to sit in on her website's monthly podcast, "Reality Check." In the episode, I offered up my "Top Twitter tips and the best Twitter tools"
I was well-caffeinated, as you'll hear, but I'm generally quite proud of the final product. I hope others will find is useful for navigating Twitter in an efficient way and make some meaning out of that noise.
Listen to: Top Twitter Tools and Tips
Reality Check: Top Twitter tips and the best Twitter tools
29 May 2009 | SearchUnifiedCommunications.com