MADONNA) // (CHILD

MADONNA) // (CHILD
So Strong; yet so calm: Mary's Choice.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "With the film's Laserdisc release, Variety first reported in March 1994 that observers uncovered several scenes of subliminal antics from the animators that supposedly featured brief nudity of the Jessica Rabbit character. While undetectable when played at the usual rate of 24 film frames per second, the Laserdisc player allowed the viewer to advance frame-by-frame to uncover these visuals. Whether or not they were actually intended to depict the nudity of the character remains unknown.[31][32] Many retailers said that within minutes of the Laserdisc debut, their entire inventory was sold out. The run was fueled by media reports about the controversy, including stories on CNN and various newspapers.[33] A Disney exec responded to Variety that 'people need to get a life than to notice stuff like that. We were never aware of it, it was just a stupid gimmick the animators pulled on us and we didn't notice it. At the same time, people also need to develop a sense of humor with these things.'[34] Another frequently debated scene includes one where Baby Herman extends his middle finger as he passes under a woman's dress and re-emerges with drool on his lip.[31][32] There is also controversy over the scene where Daffy Duck and Donald Duck are playing a piano duel, and during his trademark ranting gibberish, Donald supposedly calls Daffy a 'goddamn stupid nigger.' but this is just a misinterpretation, he really says 'doggone stubborn nitwit'"

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The voice of Roger, Charles Fleischer insisted on wearing a Roger Rabbit costume while on the set, in order to get into character"

Conspiracy (civil) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conspiracy (civil) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A civil conspiracy or collusion is an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective.[1] A conspiracy may also refer to a group of people who make an agreement to form a partnership in which each member becomes the agent or partner of every other member and engage in planning or agreeing to commit some act. It is not necessary that the conspirators be involved in all stages of planning or be aware of all details. Any voluntary agreement and some overt act by one conspirator in furthance of the plan are the main elements necessary to prove a conspiracy. A conspiracy may exist whether legal means are used to accomplish illegal results, or illegal means used to accomplish something legal.[2] 'Even when no crime is involved, a civil action for conspiracy may be brought by the persons who were damaged.'[1]"

Sophism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sophism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In modern usage, sophism, sophist, and sophistry are derogatory terms, due to the influence of many past philosophers.
A sophism is taken as a specious argument used for deceiving someone. It might be crafted to seem logical while actually being wrong, or it might use difficult words and complicated sentences to intimidate the audience into agreeing, or it might appeal to the audience's prejudices and emotions rather than logic; e.g., raising doubts towards the one asserting, rather than his assertion. The goal of a sophism is often to make the audience believe the writer or speaker to be smarter than he or she actually is; e.g., accusing another of sophistry for using persuasion techniques.
A sophist is a user of sophisms, i.e., an insincere person trying to confuse or deceive people. Sophists will try to persuade the audience while paying little attention to whether their argument is logical and factual.
Sophistry means making heavy use of sophisms. The word can be applied to a particular text or speech riddled with sophisms."

Sophism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sophism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Plato is largely responsible for the modern view of the 'sophist' as a greedy instructor who uses rhetorical sleight-of-hand and ambiguities of language in order to deceive, or to support fallacious reasoning. In this view, the sophist is not concerned with truth and justice, but instead seeks power. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all challenged the philosophical foundations of sophism."

Virtue word - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virtue word - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A virtue word is a word intended to invoke a positive image, sometimes for the purposes of propaganda.
A virtue word is usually very abstract and often appeals to the listener's emotions."

Loaded language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Loaded language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In rhetoric, loaded language (also known as emotive language or high-inference language) is wording that attempts to influence the listener or reader by appealing to emotion.[1][2][3]
Loaded words and phrases have strong emotional overtones or connotations, and evoke strongly positive or negative reactions beyond their literal meaning. For example, the phrase tax relief refers literally to changes that reduce the amount of tax citizens must pay. However, use of the emotive word relief implies the tax was an unreasonable burden to begin with."

Loaded language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Loaded language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "In rhetoric, loaded language (also known as emotive language or high-inference language) is wording that attempts to influence the listener or reader by appealing to emotion.[1][2][3]
Loaded words and phrases have strong emotional overtones or connotations, and evoke strongly positive or negative reactions beyond their literal meaning. For example, the phrase tax relief refers literally to changes that reduce the amount of tax citizens must pay. However, use of the emotive word relief implies the tax was an unreasonable burden to begin with."

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com: "The United States no longer leads the world in educational attainment, partly because so few low-income students — and surprisingly few middle-income students — graduate from four-year colleges. Getting more of these students into the best colleges would make a difference. Many higher-income students would still graduate from college, even if they went to a less elite one. A more educated population, in turn, would probably lift economic growth."

Sunday, May 29, 2011

James W. Wagner

James W. Wagner: "He also has had significant experience in raising funds from private philanthropic sources. All of these notes resonated with the priorities of the institution in 2003."

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Shocking photo created a hero, but not to his family - CNN.com


Shocking photo created a hero, but not to his family - CNN.com: "'The Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I fear?' the Psalm began. But there was another passage at the end that touched Zwerg in a place the other students didn't know about: 'Though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will receive me.'"
Zwerg later tried to explain to them that what he did as a Freedom Rider was an outgrowth of what they had taught him, but they remained angry. "These are the two people who instilled my Christian beliefs, my ethics," he says, "and now they were saying, this time when I lived my faith to the fullest, they didn't accept it."
The closest he got to some sort of reconciliation was a conversation with his mother. She told him that her concern was for his dad. "She said, 'You'll never know the shock. We knew you were doing something, but we learned what happened to you from seeing your picture on the front page of the Milwaukee Journal. Until you have a child of your own, you'll never understand.' "
Though he became a pastor, Zwerg says his most profound exposure to faith came as a Freedom Rider. "I never felt so alive theologically," he says. "My prayer life was never so meaningful. My whole awareness of the power of love when I heard King say in his last utterance, 'I've been to the mountaintop, and I've seen the Promised Land.' I know those of us who were in the movement can say we were there, too."

But coming down from the mountaintop, after the movement, was deflating, Zwerg says. He couldn't find that bond again. "It's a tremendous downer. You look for it everywhere. I've never experienced it since. The closest thing I've experienced to it is the love of my wife."






Friday, May 27, 2011

Mark Zuckerberg's new challenge: Eating only what he kills (and yes, we do mean literally...) - Postcards


This year, my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have. This year I've basically become a vegetarian since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself. So far, this has been a good experience. I'm eating a lot healthier foods and I've learned a lot about sustainable farming and raising of animals.

I started thinking about this last year when I had a pig roast at my house. A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don't have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from.

SMBC Theater - Orientation

Aussie student finds universe's 'missing mass' - Yahoo! News

Aussie student finds universe's 'missing mass' - Yahoo! News: "'Whenever I speak to people who have influence, politicians and so on, they sometimes ask me 'Why should I invest in physics pure research?'. And I sometimes say to them: 'Do you use a mobile phone? Some of that technology came about by black hole research'."

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Dog with two broken legs finds owner after storm - Yahoo! News

Dog with two broken legs finds owner after storm - Yahoo! News: "Pets are often forgotten victims of natural disasters such as the fierce storms and tornadoes that have battered the Midwest the past few months. The Human Society of the United States has sent rescue teams to find pets in Joplin, Missouri, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and other hard-hit areas."

Hundredth monkey effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hundredth monkey effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The hundredth monkey effect is a supposed phenomenon in which a learned behavior spreads instantaneously from one group of monkeys to all related monkeys once a critical number is reached. By generalization it means the instantaneous, paranormal spreading of an idea or ability to the remainder of a population once a certain portion of that population has heard of the new idea or learned the new ability."

The Tipping Point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tipping Point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"'The Law of the Few', or, as Gladwell states, 'The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.'[3] According to Gladwell, economists call this the '80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the 'work' will be done by 20 percent of the participants.'[4] (see Pareto Principle) These people are described in the following ways:"
Connectors are the people who "link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together."[5] They are "a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack [... for] making friends and acquaintances".[6] He characterizes these individuals as having social networks of over one hundred people.   Gladwell attributes the social success of Connectors to "their ability to span many different worlds [... as] a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy."[7]




Mavens are "information specialists", or "people we rely upon to connect us with new information."[4] They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is "almost pathologically helpful", further adding, "he can't help himself".[8] In this vein, Alpert himself concedes, "A Maven is someone who wants to solve other people's problems, generally by solving his own".[8] According to Gladwell, Mavens start "word-of-mouth epidemics"[9] due to their knowledge, social skills, and ability to communicate. As Gladwell states, "Mavens are really information brokers, sharing and trading what they know".[


Salesmen are "persuaders", charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes others want to agree with them.

The Stickiness Factor, the specific content of a message that renders its impact memorable. Popular children's television programs such as Sesame Street and Blue's Clues pioneered the properties of the stickiness factor, thus enhancing the effective retention of the educational content in tandem with its entertainment value.


The Power of Context: Human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. As Gladwell says, "Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur."[11]   Gladwell also discusses what he dubs the rule of 150, which states that the optimal number of individuals in a society that someone can have real social relationships with is 150.[12]

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com: "Finally, Mr. Marx says Amherst does put a thumb on the scale to give poor students more credit for a given SAT score. Not everyone will love that policy. “Spots at these places are precious,” he notes. But I find it tough to argue that a 1,300 score for most graduates of Phillips Exeter Academy — or most children of Amherst alumni — is as impressive as a 1,250 for someone from McDowell County, W.Va., or the South Bronx."

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com: "It is tempting, then, to point to all these changes and proclaim that elite higher education is at long last a meritocracy. But Mr. Marx doesn’t buy it. If anything, he worries, the progress has the potential to distract people from how troubling the situation remains.
When we spoke recently, he mentioned a Georgetown University study of the class of 2010 at the country’s 193 most selective colleges. As entering freshmen, only 15 percent of students came from the bottom half of the income distribution. Sixty-seven percent came from the highest-earning fourth of the distribution. These statistics mean that on many campuses affluent students outnumber middle-class students.
“We claim to be part of the American dream and of a system based on merit and opportunity and talent,” Mr. Marx says. “Yet if at the top places, two-thirds of the students come from the top quartile and only 5 percent come from the bottom quartile, then we are actually part of the problem of the growing economic divide rather than part of the solution.”"

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com

Top Colleges Overlook Low-Income Students - NYTimes.com: "In his 2003 inaugural address, Mr. Marx — quoting from a speech President John F. Kennedy had given at Amherst — asked, “What good is a private college unless it is serving a great national purpose?”"

Monday, May 23, 2011

Bambi's Mother LIVES


Always joked, "To this day, have never been able to watch the Walt Disney Movie BAMBI without crying when he loses his mother in the forest fire.   After watching this video, don't think that will be a problem anymore.  Then again, why bother seeing it again.  Without the loss, what was the struggle Bambi  overcame  / life's lesson learned?

Kinda reminded me of a scene with my mother all of a sudden screaming, hollering having enough of them, "GODDAMN FUCKING MOVIES," coming into her house. 

HBO cable was new thing in television. We hadn't had it very long. Was laying in a  bean bag, back in my sister's room, the only other T.V. in the house, watching a movie with Bert Reynolds, DELIVERANCE, when a scene happened where this hillbilly forced this fat guy to squeal like a pig.  It was several years later I learned he was being SODOMIZED.  Never occurred to me what I had just watched was......SEX.  Have never seen her pitch a fit like that when a woman got raped on HBO.  That's just wrong!


Anyway,  squealing like a pig is fun if done right.  God Almighty was I scared the first time.

Married... with Children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Married... with Children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The show follows the lives of Al Bundy, a once-glorious high school football player (who scored four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High School) turned hard luck salesman of women's shoes; his tartish, obnoxious wife Peg; their attractive but dimwitted and sexually promiscuous daughter Kelly; and Bud, their unpopular, girl crazy, oily but comparatively smart son (and the only Bundy who ever attended college). Their neighbors are the upwardly mobile Steve Rhoades and his wife Marcy, who later gets remarried to Jefferson D'Arcy, a white-collar criminal who becomes Marcy's 'trophy husband' and Al's sidekick. Most storylines involve a scheming Al being foiled by his cartoonish dim wit and bad luck. His rivalry and loathing for Marcy play a significant role in most episodes."

Monday, May 16, 2011

Long Arm of the Law Penalizes Texans Who Nab Catfish by Hand - WSJ.com

Long Arm of the Law Penalizes Texans Who Nab Catfish by Hand - WSJ.com: "Mary Grigsby, 58, a rural sociology professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is working on a book on noodling, tentatively titled 'Fishing for Collective Identity—The Intersection of Gender and Class in the Identity Work of Rural Men and Women Noodlers.'
Noodling, she notes, is usually done by a group of people and 'instills close ties of trust, respect, reciprocity and provides recognition of manhood for the initiates.'"

Stephen Hawking says afterlife is a fairy story - Yahoo! News

Stephen Hawking says afterlife is a fairy story - Yahoo! News: "'What could define God [is a conception of divinity] as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of that God,' Hawking told Sawyer. 'They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible.'"

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Gingrich woos religious right in presidential bid

Gingrich woos religious right in presidential bid: "Gingrich is expected to lay out a political vision that intertwines fiscal and social conservatism, drawing from a newfound interest in religion he has infused into his work in recent years.
It's a message he's expected to make Friday at the Georgia Republican Party convention in what advisers are billing as a formal announcement speech that will marry the concept of American exceptionalism with an emphasis on God-endowed rights.
'I think he is going to use language that is aligned with fiscal conservatives but has a truth and appeal to people concerned with moral issues,' said his spokesman, Rick Tyler."

Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit - San Antonio Express-News#page-2#page-2#page-3#page-3#page-3

Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit - San Antonio Express-News#page-2#page-2#page-3#page-3#page-3: "“I believe their hypothesis, that there are certain breeds that are more likely to be involved in these deadly events,” Herbold said. “I believe that. And the troubling thing that they revealed in here was that in many cases, these animals were members of the household or a family member's. It wasn't a mad dog, roaming the street.”"

Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit - San Antonio Express-News

Pit bulls' reputation takes new hit - San Antonio Express-News: "The study's authors argue that pit bulls deserve the special attention they get. Pit bulls, originally bred as fighting dogs, have different attack patterns than other breeds, they say — attacking indiscriminately, without warning and, often, with little interest in stopping.
“There are going to be outspoken opponents of breed legislation, who say: ‘My pit bulls lie with my baby and play with my rabbit.' And that's fine,” said Dr. John Bini, now chief of surgery at Wilford Hall Medical Center, who led the study while serving a fellowship at University Hospital. “I just think we're seeing something here, and I think it does warrant a discussion as to whether this is a risk that a community wants to take.”"

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

What We Can Learn from the Schwarzenegger-Shriver Split – TIME Healthland

What We Can Learn from the Schwarzenegger-Shriver Split – TIME Healthland: "Psychiatrist Scott Haltzman notes that 25 years is a pretty long time to stay married. For much of human history, people rarely even lived long enough to see that anniversary, so in many ways, it's new ground. 'Staying married past this landmark is a special challenge,' says Haltzman, 'made even harder in a society that holds out the promise of so many options, and drives home the message that 'you deserve your happiness.''"

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Florida Bill Could Muzzle Doctors On Gun Safety : NPR

Florida Bill Could Muzzle Doctors On Gun Safety : NPR: "It's not just questions in the examining room that lead the NRA to charge pediatricians with a political agenda. Out of concern for the high number of firearms injuries among children and adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics is also on record supporting gun control."

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Iraqi Child in Acclaimed War Photo Tries to Move On - NYTimes.com

Iraqi Child in Acclaimed War Photo Tries to Move On - NYTimes.com: "The photo of Samar had far-reaching impact, for it was visual testimony to a particular scourge of this war: the shooting of innocent civilians as they approached American checkpoints or foot patrols, killings made possible by liberal rules of engagement aiming to protect soldiers from suicide car bombers. The image was a point of discussion at the highest reaches of the Pentagon as it considered ways to reduce civilian casualties.
The Iraq war delivered few singular images for the popular imagination, partly because the country was too dangerous for photographers to move around freely, but also because in an age of saturated media coverage and short attention spans, it may be more difficult for news images to take root in the collective memory."

Friday, May 6, 2011

How Lightning fan outwitted petty HOA over playoff sign - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports



How Lightning fan outwitted petty HOA over playoff sign - Puck Daddy - NHL Blog - Yahoo! Sports: "Steven Paul, 28, is a Tampa Bay Lightning season ticket holder who's justifiably excited with his team in the Eastern Conference finals, eight wins away from the Stanley Cup.
Like many other Bolts supporters, he flaunted that enthusiasm within his community. That is, until his Home Owner's Association crushed his freedom of expression like an over-reactive parent."



Roots of terror untouched by bin Laden's death - CNN.com


Roots of terror untouched by bin Laden's death - CNN.com: "Analysts say in Pakistan and Afghanistan there is also the powerful perception that the U.S. is waging war with Islam. The perception is intensified by almost 10 years of U.S.-led military occupation in Afghanistan, where thousands of civilians -- who had little to do with al Qaeda or the Taliban -- have been killed.
The Pakistani security establishment's decisive break with all militant groups, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and better governance -- achieving these objectives will be a painstaking and complicated process that will take time, but they could be the real keys in the fight against terrorism in this region, far more so than the death of one man."