Raul Vergara Every smart search engine optimizer starts his or her career by looking at web pages with the eye of a search engine spider. Once the optimizer is able to do that, he or she is halfway to mastering the task. |
Natalie Davis Lots of folks, hoping to enjoy the benefits of higher-quality, higher-nutrition foods, make the choice to go organic. More than 60 percent of Americans - nearly twice the number in 2004 - purchased organic food products last year, and organic foods are among the fastest-growing segments of the food industry. |
Dave Nalle Inspired by a series of articles by Sadi Ranson-Polizotti, a healthy dose of ego and the realization that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it occurred to me to share my thoughts about some of the fun and eclectic music on my iPod. |
Westminster’s Dog Show Winner Not Beloved By All
Myself regularly watches the Westminster dog show as myself has two dogs that are performers of the highest order. One, a dachshund, can, yes he can, sing and dance. Next year he plans to try out for American Idol. The other dog is a big bad-looking Belgian Malinois who cannot, ahem, either sing or dance. Although she demands to be included when dancing and singing are upon so I have made her the designated piano. Something she’s perfectly willing to do as she positions herself to my front, her back at the ready. It’s not exactly “air piano” but I can pound out a handy tune upon her big, broad back and at times her rump makes for wonderful drums.
I marvel at the dogs as they dutifully romp around the ring. Every one of those show dogs know they are beautiful and they know the crowd loves them. This year’s winner is a bull terrier, the so-called “pit bulls” of such bad press. A press they rightly deserve although I suppose the times we hear about vicious attacks by pit bulls are likely a very small percentage of pit bulls owned across the land. Which doesn’t matter, by me, as these dogs have been bred to be mean and no matter how wonderful the owners, pit bulls are too often apt to return to their instincts for unknowable reasons.
I would never own one is what I’m saying here and to those who declare their pit bull to be the one that shatters the pit bull stereotype in their love and kindness I think these owners are only fooling themselves.
Then I must compare the pit bulls to my own piano-back Belgian Malinois, herself a very high strung breed that must be watched and monitored constantly. The Belgian Malinois is a Belgian shepherd and looks much like a German shepherd save for that low-to-the-ground rump the German shepherds exhibit. Yes, my Belgian shepherd could be vicious but these dogs are not bred to be vicious.
They are bred to be trained for a viciousness upon command. Indeed the Belgian Malinois has replaced the German shepherds across the land as police and rescue dogs. These are dogs meant to have a “job” and this job becomes their life focal point. Sometimes the “job” requires a bad canine attack as ordered. The point being that if dog protection is sought, why not get a dog that only gets vicious when commanded to do so? My Belgian shepherd in no way resembles a pit bull but I’m betting if someone attacked me she’d be way more dangerous and vicious than a little pit bull. Beyond that, the piano dog looks mean and bad and most times that quite enough.
Although the shepherd is a friendly dog that loves people and here’s something people don’t know-the dachshund rules the dog roost around this place.
Still, when people ask me if my dog bites, I discourage any contact between her and strangers. This dog has never bitten or attacked any other living creature and go on, she lives with a little dachshund and four cats. It’s simply not a wise idea for anyone, owner or stranger, to encourage immediate contact with a strange dog. My own canine loving self has been bitten for petting a dog that the owners assured me was loving and kind.
None of this is to say that pit bulls can’t be great dogs and indeed my daughter owned one once that was naught but a big puppy. And Rufus is as handsome as dogs go. I worry that this win might encourage more people to acquire these high-strung and unpredictable dogs, perhaps people looking for protection that, as I’ve argued, could best be obtained by judicious purchase of another breed.
From CNN.com:
He's a wonderful pet," owner Barbara Bishop cooed. "My grandson used to sleep with him in the crate."
But in some parts of the country, dogs that look like this Best in Show winner are seized, muzzled and in some cases, destroyed.
Cities in about 20 states have either enacted or are trying to pass "BSL," short for breed specific legislation designed to control certain types of dogs that are deemed dangerous.
Pit bulls and pit bull mixes are the main target of such laws and ordinances, along with American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers -- part of the so-called "bully" breeds, with stout bodies and distinctive heads. Owners can be fined and even jailed.
Heh. Jackson Katrina Song Due Out Soon
Seems Michael Jackson has been, eh, “vacationing” in Bahrain of United Emirates port fame. Although of late we hear that Jackson and his Arab prince are on the outs and Jackson has moved on to Germany.
Whatever the case, Michael’s prince friend has announced that Jackson’s Katrina single will be out by the “end of this month”.
Yeah. Right. Michael Jackson’s been threatening the release of a song dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina for well over six months now.
Please do not hold your breath. We hear songsters willing to join Jackson in this endeavor never materialized because ol’ Michael doesn’t pay his bills.
From Yahoo News:
Nearly six months later, after questions about exactly who would be
participating, the prince who has been hosting Jackson during his self-imposed exile in Bahrain says the song will come out by the end of this month.
Speaking of Michael Jackson
Not that we are surprised.
It seems Debbie Rowe, Michael’s “wife” and “mother” of his two children, received quite the sum for birthing and giving up her two children like the child-bearing whore that she is.
Please forgive, but this lady gave birth to two children and willingly gave them up for money and a nice mansion. Now she wants them back? As if she deserves them?
I also recall this lady’s testimony during Jackson’s trial. She practically laid herself prostrate at the songster’s feet. Not to mention her lies on the witness stand.
While we feel certain that those two innocent children deserve a more normal life than one with a known pervert who requires they wear veils in public, I hardly think their ersatz “mother” would be much better.
I surmise Rowe’s lawsuit isn’t so much about re-gaining the children she gave up but a shot across the bow because Jackson’s not paying any other bills so why would be pay Rowe?
From IMDB:
Michael Jackson agreed to pay his ex-wife Debbie Rowe $900,000-a-year in hush money after they split, according to new court documents. The former Mrs. Jackson also picked up a mansion in Beverly Hills, California, and a lump sum of at least $4 million as part of a divorce settlement. The legal documents have been made public as part of a new custody battle as Rowe fights for the couple's kids Michael Jr and Paris. Obtained by entertainment news website Tmz.com, the documents feature court transcripts from a hearing last June, in which Jackson's lawyer, Thomas Hall, told Judge Stephen Lachs, "Mr. Jackson was under an agreement with Petitioner (Rowe), which he was to pay her four or five million dollars up front, gave her a mansion in Beverly Hills, and then was to pay $900,000-a-year, for a number of years, if she abided by agreement terms." Jackson reportedly stopped paying Rowe her annual stipend after claiming she violated their confidentiality agreement by publicly speaking about him.
Curious George Deemed Politically Incorrect
An animated movie of this beloved children’s character debuted recently and it would seem in this new era of political correctness, monkey George has been looked at anew and deemed a cultural horror.
You can’t make it up folks.
From SFGate.com:
For the politically correct Bay Area parent, the "Curious George" children's books are a minefield of cultural horrors through which to tiptoe. Imperialism. Animal abuse. Bad parenting.Puh-leeeeze, George's defenders say. They're children's books, whose charm has not dimmed -- 25 million books and countless swag sold -- even if ideas about political correctness have evolved since the first George adventure was published in 1941. Sometimes a speechless, mischievous monkey is just that -- a monkey, not a metaphor. Besides, George's tales are no more un-PC than those of that royalist warmonger, Babar.
Both camps are wondering how "Curious George," the animated movie that debuts today, will translate details of the popular series of children's books for the more heightened sensitivities of 2006.
The Curious George oeuvre was the work of the husband-and-wife team of H.A. and Margaret Rey, German Jews who escaped France with the first book's manuscript as the Nazis invaded. Most of the seven stories they wrote feature the antics of a monkey whose sweet curiosity gets him in trouble until he's rescued by the nameless Man with the Yellow Hat, George's keeper/parental figure/pal with bail money.
To some, that's the core of an unhealthy relationship.
Speaking of “Air” Musical Instruments …
…in which case I must wait for the first annual “air piano” competition and one that allows dogs for pianos at that, for those who play a great air guitar, read on.
The 2006 air guitar championships are underway. Indeed tryouts will be held in ten cities across the land with a grand prize of, gasp, a trip to Finland! To compete in the international version of this competition, a competition that, who knew?
Click on the link to obtain contest locales near you. Oh, and please ask about the upcoming piano dog competitions.
The 2006 US Air Guitar Regional Heats will begin on March 2nd in New York City. After winning the World Championships in 2004 and 2005, The USA placed no better than 7th in last year's world championships. This year, Team USA is redoubling its efforts in the annual search for the greatest air guitarist in all the land.
Regional competitions will be held in at least 10 cities nationwide. One winner from each regional will be flown to New York City in June 2006 to compete for the title of US Air Guitar Champion. The winner of the US Finals will win a trip to Finland to represent the USA in the 11th annual Air Guitar World Championships.
US Air Guitar is devoted to taking our nation's unofficial pastime out of the bedroom and putting it up on the world stage. US Air Guitar is an official member of the World Air Guitar Association and each year sends the US Air Guitar Champion to compete for the world title in Oulu, Finland.
Speaking of Politically Incorrect Monkeys
It’s been a while but I did include a blurb about a real monkey that had a little smoking problem.
This post was put up way back in May of 2005 and since then, due to the uproar over such anti-social behavior as smoking, we understand the monkey has been weaned of his tobacco habit.
Heh.
More Gossip/Speculation HERE
Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)
You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."
Dependin'g on the channel you tuned,
You got Rob and Laura - or Ward and June.
It felt so good. It felt so right.
Life looked better in black and white.
I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys,
Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys,
Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train,
Superman, Jimmy and Lois Lane.
Father Knows Best, Patty Duke,
Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too,
Donna Reed on Thursday night!
Life looked better in black and white.
I wanna go back to black and white.
Everything always turned out right.
Simple people, simple lives
Good guys always won the fights.
Now nothing is the way it seems,
In living color on the TV screen.
Too many murders, too many fights,
I wanna go back to black and white.
In God they trusted, alone they slept,
A promise made was a promise kept.
They never cussed or broke their vows.
They'd never make the network now.
But if I could, I'd rather be
In a TV town in '53.
It felt so good. It felt so right.
Life looked better in black and white.
I'd trade all the channels on the satellite,
If I could just turn back the clock tonight
To when everybody knew wrong from right.
Life was better in black and white!
Startling History
Does anyone remember seeing this or listening to this? It is a exerpt of the Senate Hearings on Iran-Contra Gate from 1987. At a lecture, recently, an old news video of Lt.Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration, was being played. There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning! He was being drilled by a senator;
"Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?"
Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir."
The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, "Isn't that just a little excessive?"
"No, sir," continued Ollie.
"No? And why not?" the senator asked.
"Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir."
"Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned. "By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered. "Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?"
"His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied.
At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. Why are
you so afraid of this man?" the senator asked.
"Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of", Ollie answered.
"And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator.
"Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth."
The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip.
By the way, that senator was Al Gore!
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