TampaYankee

Neither. Quality cookware is expensive enough without paying significant extra bucks for a celebrity to lend his name and nothing else to the equipment. I go for a quality product and shop Overstock.com, Amazon, J C Penny Outlet, etc. for a modest discount over physical storefronts. Now, if they came with the cookware to prepare a dinner then I would reconsider. Who knows, maybe drinks afterward?

Whatever happened to AmericanMale.net? It seems to be MIA. I seem to recall seeing it a few months back.

Thanks for sharing the photos. Yummy as expected. Wonder how similar the person is to the character? He'll hit the interview couch one of these days on Graham Norton or some other show.

I never miss it. Watched it and it's original incarnation, 'Inspector Morse', for years. The actor who played Morse passed due to heart failure and his asst. Lewis was promoted. Same writers and same convoluted mysteries in quaint insulated English villages. I find Hathaway an intriguing male character on a personal as well as professional level. I could be quite attracted if I encountered him in real life.

Ashton Kutcher's Bald High School Photo. See original article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/ashton-kutcher-bald-high-school-photos_n_977841.html

You know, they added insult to injury by the arrogant response to their customer base about the increase. Sort of not only are we screwing you but we're pissing on those that object and complain. My son has been trying to get me off cable because it is such a rip-off. He even subscribed me on his own nickel. I think I viewed it two times over three months. For my interests, it was such a nonstarter. Old movies, mindless sitcoms I never watch, kids fare I outgrew decades ago. Any intersting series usally had missing or limited episodes and disappeared at inopportune times. Worst eight dollars/mo ever spent on my behalf. I thanked him and asked that he cancel.

I think it is pretty clear that NF has not been making good business decisions. Why should they start now.

UPS also runs an abusive employee operation too or did. They have deliveries planned out to the second. If you aren't aware, on most deliveries the driver just leaves the package. He may or may not ring the doorbell then he is off to keep up with the clock they have him on. My son worked for them one holiday season. He screwed up a knee keeping up with the schedule jumping off and on the truck and running back upon package drop to meet the schedule for the next stop. I'm sure conditions are no better for FEDEX and other delivery companies too. They also keep many workers on part time to avoid benefits and organizing efforts. they pay fairly well but they work the employess hard.

It is situations like this where unions earn their stripes. Such conditions were commonplace before the era of unions. It seems they might be back on the rise with diminished union influence over the last few decades. Unions brought us humane working conditions, living wages, and some excesses too. Doing away with them will not benefit the American worker.

The 4 Best and 3 Worst Sweeteners to Have in Your Kitchen Due to uncertainty about copyright status please see the article at: http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/RH/the-4-best-and-3-worst-sweeteners-to-have-in-your-kitchen

IMO the Israeli right wing has given up on peace and a two state solution. They have seen the Oslo and Camp David accords fail which most observers considered very fruitful -- each which probably went further than the present day Israeli government likes. The have seen Hamas rise from a terrorist organization to an equal or better political power. They have seen numerous periodic rocket attacks rain down on their civilian population for decades. Abbas no longer speaks for all Palestinians. Israel has seen a complete unwillingness for them negotiate on Jersualem (just as Netanyahu is unwilling in fairness). I believe they have settled for fencing out the Palestinians to prevent incursions on the Homeland and to establish numerous communities as eyes and ears and ultimately trip wires for any future hostile activities. I think this is shortsighted and dangerous and ultimately self defeating. On the other hand they see no partner that they believe they can deal with. I do not believe that either Kadima or the Labor party shares that view or goal. However, as long as Israel remains a democracy and the right wing parties keep a majority of the seats of parliament then the current attitude and strategy is likely to remain in effect. Even if they lose power, it remains unclear that the Palestinians can get their act together, for reasons I posted in an earlier message, to be a successful negotiating partner. If somehow the international community were able to force an unstable peace between two contiguous states it ultimately might lead to a very big war, or at least a bloody one. Imagine a 'soverign' Palestine getting weapons from China or North Korea. How long would Israel put up with that? This will not be forced without a lot of 'force' being thrown around. I get an uneasy feeling about unintended consequences from this type of international action attempted to force outcomes. We reaped a lot of unintended consequences for invading Iraq. Sometimes those consequences are worth it, sometimes not. They need to be considered though before hand not discoverd afterward when they come home to roost.

If the solution coujld have been achieved from such impotent action then the problem would have been solved a hundred times over in the last 40 years. Ain't gonna happen nor should it. Part of Israel's demand is secure boarders and who can blame them given the history. That doesn't mean land swaps cannot be negotiated.

The problem here is that the UN cannot create a nation by fiat while sitting in New York. Let's say they try and 'bestow' soverign rights to a 'Palastinian State'. Who is going to protect and defend those rights? The Palenstians? The UN? Are the Palestinians going to kick out or repel the settlements? Defend their own borders? If they push against Israel then Israel will simply retake the entirety of the West Bank and install Marshal Law. If Gaza threatens then Israel with pound the shit out of them and isolate them even more than before. Who is going to stop them? The US? Europe? Russia? Egypt and Syria? Excepting the US, no one will without a war. A regional war or potentially a world war. The Israelis are not going gently into the night. They have nukes if their existence is put in doubt. The US cannot do much for political reasons. To think otherwise is folly. The US is limited to providing a go-between and economic aid and some limited guarantees to smooth the transtion to two states. We cannot impose a solution that either side rejects anymore than the UN can. The Israelis have dragged their feet and worse imposed severe policies to retard effectively the realization of any practical solution, mostly due to their right wing. But they do not work in a vacuum as Israel is a democracy. While I blame the Israelis for some poor decisions and bad actions you cannot blame them for their overall reticence considering the Palestinian continued refusal to acknowledge Isarel's right to exist,even as part of a two state solution, after their historical dedication to the principle of pushing the Israelis into the sea. Without that key step, how can anyone expect them to negotiate seriously with an adversary. It is not enought to discontinue that rhetoric. That says nothing about a change in position or principle. The Palestinians have never missed an opportuinty to miss an opportunity for an agreement -- under Arafat and Abbas. First, because Arafat wasn't willing to settle for a two state solution and later probably because he didnt want to be assassinated if he agreed to one. The latter has disuaded Abbas as well as dealing with an intransigent right wing coalition. The Gazans put Hamas in power in the legislature in Gaza through elections and then Hamas carried out a coup against the executive branch Abbas faction in Gaza. That is not exactly a good faith negotiating strategy. The bottom line is that each side just isn't ready to move beyond the historical impasse to a true compromise solution whether it be the leaders or the people. It is a time bomb for Israel and continuing purgatory for the Palestinians. And the UN cannot change that, only the principles can. What this does do is make trouble for the US. Political trouble at home and political trouble in the Arab World. And we are not helped by our NATO and other allies if they lend support to this. Neither is the peace process. And we should let them know it.

He definitely looks like a very fun 'guide'.

Well, whether NF or the studios, and there probably is something to the studios greed in contributing to this, it points out that you can make more soup by pissing in the soup pot.

So let me get this right. You are saying NetFlix made more money by making less money? By losing sales to their competitor they were making more money than by paying a small increase to the studios for renting those DVDs to former Blockbuster customers or many of them? I don't know... I'm more inclined to believe we may have greed at work here. Either on the part of NF or the studios. They saw prices going up on gas, food, movie theatres and thought 'why can't we cash in?'. And they could have if done more gradually as someone above suggested. If this is a public company then I'm waiting to see how much longer this CEO will last.

Most contestants over the history were not selected for their dancing ability. Most are personalities with other credentials, acting sports, singers. Some are just manufactured pop celebrities. Most have population segments that either do or will follow them. The idea is to attract viewers in order to sell soap, not to have a real dance contest. It is an entertainment show. If you want a real dance contest show stick with 'So You Think You Can Dance' -- great young talent with established choregraphers go head to head for a chance to establish serious careers. People come on DWTS for a variety of reasons, some to resurrect careers or enhance careers. You cannot get more and much better publicity for free. Millions of people watch that show even if you cannot figure out why. Some come to change a perception. Palin did that. They invited her because she brought an audience. Chaz will bring a curious audience. He is probably hoping to find acceptance and if not that then tolerance. As for the feeling that Carson Kressley is not the best poster boy for a gay man, maybe, maybe not, but he is very acceptable to me. If you are looking for more sex appeal they are others better suited. But there is more to a gay man than sex appeal -- at least that is a message the gay community has been trying to send to the straight community. If you are looking for more articulate there are better but he is articulate. I suppose he was chosen because he is a well-known to the straight community as a gay personality. I think the gay community owes Carson and his Queer Eye pals a great deal for today improvements in gay acceptance. That includes Gay Marriage and DADT. That show did a lot to make gay people into real people that the straight community found they could live with. Much of what the straight community knew about gays was movies like 'Cruising', gay pride parades with guys in tighty whities, sometimes less, parading down the streets in a liploc; news about happenings like the Folsom St Fair or Southern Decadence, etc. That scared people. Carson and his QE buddies, and to a lesser extent the Gay Bachelor TV show, humanized Queers for the public like never before. They showed the gay community was not primarily defined by 'creepy, pervert, public libertines' but responsible people with jobs, who observe civil norms in public and have every-day life-concerns like everyone else. That helped people understand that a lot of the gay community are stable members of society. That led to an opening up of gays in society and straight society to gays. It convinced many that they are just like everyone else except for sexual preference. That gays had a real desire for the commitments and benefits of marriage and that they could hold and shoot a gun like anyone else; and share a fox hole free of sexual harassment. That they didn't have to be shunned in order to avoid catching 'the gay'. Carson may not be my type but he is representative of part of the gay community and has done much to help the gay community achieve broader acceptance. I have no problem with him being one of the gay poster boys.

That rape scene was based on a real story and court records. Took place in New Bedford or Fall River Mass.

It took much too long but I'm pleased it is behind us. Now for DOMA.

That's news to me but then I have been out of touch for a while. I was born and raised in Florida. I always wore socks, even in the house. And always whenever I wore shoes. I'm sure my brother who still lives there wears socks. Maybe it is a generational thing?

Remarkble IMO. Archimedes had it right. To paraphrase: give me the right tool and I will move the world. Of course it take an intellect to develop and correctly apply the tool too.

Netflix Is Killing Their DVD Business to Save Their Company By Adam Clark Estes | The Atlantic Wire – 6 hrs ago Netflix is dividing in order to conquer. Sunday night, the company's co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced in a blog post that they would be splitting up their DVD-by-mail and streaming services into separate businesses. Netflix will live on as a streaming-only service, and in a few weeks, the DVD service will become Qwikster, a name that Hastings says "refers to quick delivery" and that tweeting tech types are having a blast making fun of. It's unclear how long they'd planned this move but as one commenter at Fred Wilson's AVC blog pointed out, the fact that the @qwikster Twitter account is this morning still in the possession of a bored kid who tweets about smoking pot suggests the move wasn't planned too far in advance. Coming hot on the heels of customer outrage over the higher prices and a panic on Wall Street after a million of those customers unsubscribed, the announcement unsurprisingly reads primarily as an apology. But Hastings isn't apologizing for the new prices; he's apologizing for his "arrogance" in moving too fast and not explaining the company's changing direction well enough. The new direction--and the tacit explanation for the new prices--is pointed aggressively away from DVD's. As Dan Frommer quipped, "What, you think the bad name, 'Qwikster,' is an accident?" "It is the right move" says Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch: "With this move, Hastings is reaffirming his long-held belief that streaming is the future of Netflix and the future of entertainment, and Wall Street can judge its progress by how well the streaming business is doing on its own. Separating the businesses will also force customers to make a choice, and it is obvious which choice Hastings wants them to make (hint: it starts with an “N”). Earlier today, I wrote a post beseeching Hastings not to listen to Wall Street after his stock got hammered. You’ve got to give him credit for moving fast in the direction where he thinks the greatest opportunity lies." “The demise of the DVD is also inevitable points out Ryan Lawler at GigaOm, and as any savvy company would do, Netflix is paying attention to customer behavior: "All that said, separating the two could also hasten the demise of the DVD-by-mail business, if the company’s recent subscriber guidance is any indication of user's interest in a standalone DVD-by-mail service. After all, it was that part of the forecast that Netflix most badly misjudged. The company expected 3 million standalone DVD subscribers when it first gave guidance on its second-quarter earnings call, and revised that downward by 800,000 in its updated forecast." “Nevertheless, a number of indicators suggest that Hastings' move was rather hasty suggests Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic. And @qwikster's tweets aren't the only ones: "Leaving aside whether it's wise to guide a company based on a hunch about history, there are a couple of indications that Netflix might be moving too fast. Number one is that they didn't secure the Twitter handle @Qwikster or the homophone domain Quickster.com. Based on his tweets, @Qwikster is a young male who likes to smoke pot more than he likes to tweet. Quickster is owned by a domain name squatter advertising various types of flooring." I have to wonder if Hastings started to panic as Netflix stock nosedived last week. After peaking at over $300 during the summer, Netflix's share price is down to $155. It has lost almost a quarter of its value in just the past week of trading. “Short-term fumbles aside, Netflix didn't have many other options in the long-term argues Dan Frommer: "Netflix first has to convince Hollywood to stream its best movies, and it needs to train consumers to stream movies as a default behavior. That means making sure that the streaming business can stand on its own. And that means separating DVDs from the equation, and doing as much as possible to get everyone to stop using them, short of blatant sabotage. … This is pretty bold move, and things could even get uglier and less certain for Netflix in the short-term. But ultimately, it’s the right decision, and Netflix investors should be happy they have a CEO who is actively building for the future, and not sitting around, waiting for someone else to take the lead."

An added tip, one of my own. My doc says take a baby aspirin every day. It is a fact that most heart attacks occur in the morning related to blood platelets 'thickening up' over night, so I have read many times in many articles. I take the aspirin at bedtime in the hopes I won't wake up dead.

Damn Tomcal, I get tired out just reading about your exploits. It's a good tired out though -- very good!! I truly admire your stamina and sense of adventure, not to mention your exquisite taste and success in pursuit of it. Thanks for sharing.

Finally!! It's about time Obama did this. For some time I have favored a high income tax bracket increase starting anywhere in the interval $500,000 - $1,000,000 and above in contrast to letting the upper tier Bush Tax Cut expire. I'm sympathetic to truly small business capital needs. This also takes an argument away from the opponents who could lump the small business guys in with the megamillionaires. Of course it will never make it out of the House, but it will become part of the next campaign. Anything that helps puncuate the GOP hauling water for the rich Hedge Fund Managers and Big Business while letting the Middle Class and Jobless fend for themselves is all to the good IMO.