my grandfather played the sax....

And I rather think he would like this one...

For you Steven...



love,
chicken

my brother's gal...and words she sent to El Cid today...

My brother has had a long relationship with a woman that has been there...waiting for my brother to give up on his fantasy...to see her reality...I think he has finally turned a page...one can hope.

This is a something she sent to my mother today...which was passed to my brother's...sisters...haha

The Souls of people, on their way to Earth-life,
pass through a room full of Lights;
Each takes a Taper, often only a spark, to guide it in the dim country of this world.

But some souls are of rare fortune, and are detained longer and have time to grab a handful of Tapers, which they weave into a Torch.

These are the Torch-Bearers of humanity, its Poets, Seers, and Saints, who lead and lift the race out of darkness, towards the Light.
They are the lawgivers and the Saviors, the Light-Bring..ers, Way-
Show..ers and Truth-Tell..ers, and without them,
Humanity would Loose its way in the Dark.....

"PLATO"

Now Wendy...what a beautiful way to tell my mother...you are one of the clan...

in an odd way...after many years...your voice young one...has come to the point that El Cid...actually recognizes what our brother may just now be seeing...as the zen master says..."We shall see"

Love,
The Lass

Plato...hmmm....I just purchased Aristotle...but Plato has rested by my bedside for more years than I would care to admit...

oh and the picture is of the two guys...probably arguing over Sophism...I would guess...

the mind of a child...

I am not shy about being proud of my nieces...down right giddy about them. So...here is a little note I received from my baby sister...with the attached photo...

This is what a creative child (Meagan) does with her leftover mustard and ketchup after having a hot dog... hee hee Just had to take a picture. Love you


Meagan wants to own a restaurant...and be the Chef...I took the girls for cooking lessons while in Alaska...Meagan fell in love with it...But she does have a flare...just not sure about the medium...or the message...

But, this aunt...well...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...Is it not?





Love,
The Lass

Oh...time for me to go to sleep...

I could have told them that...

I worked on an employee survey ...for the company I work for. And...just as predicted...there was trouble in river city...and just as in all things....trouble with a capital T....stands for the end of a career...and the beginning of a new message...just not certain...that they get it...because even the lowest on the rung...could have said...

nothing is working...

So...the business obituary of my boss...

Well, that was a surprise. Not the announcement that Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) CEO Aylwin Lewis was stepping down, but rather that Sears even had a CEO. Given the tight control that Chairman Eddie Lampert has exerted over the discount retailer, it was easy to forget that there was even a body keeping the CEO title warm.

In reality, Lewis had little chance for success from the start. He came from Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), where he worked to sell fast food, not a diverse field of clothes, hardware, tools, and appliances.

True, many companies think that bringing in an "outsider" offers a fresh perspective, but instead, investors often come away disillusioned. Simply having run a previous company isn't always enough. It's more important for a CEO to have a thorough knowledge of the business, and how it fits into its industry.

While outsider CEOs have certainly enjoyed some successes, their ranks are also littered with abundant failures. Blockbuster's founders nearly ruined the Boston Chicken franchise when they took over. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) reeled when Bob Nardelli brought his General Electric (NYSE: GE) background and cronies in (good luck, Chrysler!), even as Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) prospered.

Yet with Lampert running the fiefdom, having divisions report directly to him, Lewis was left with little more than a title and a figurehead position. Even if his role was more operational, Lampert didn't give him much to work with there, either.

As a numbers guy, Lampert seemed more interested in financial gimmickry than retail basics. He slashed costs to get Sears to post profits, rather than investing in his stores to build and strengthen its brand as a retailer. While Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) maintained, brightened, and expanded their stores and offerings, Sears was content to sell off real estate and use credit swaps to make numbers. Lampert didn't care that same-store sales deteriorated each and every quarter since the company emerged from bankruptcy. In fact, he fell in with the crowd that argued that monthly comps were unimportant. Funny how the only companies that seem to feel that way have falling comps.

Sears is now being broken up into five autonomous divisions, with Lampert supposedly staying out of the decision-making. Certainly, the company needs a fresh infusion of some sort of entrepreneurial spirit -- assuming it isn't already too little, too late.

Lewis' abrupt departure creates a void that might be tricky to fill. Then again, I'm not sure this will be too big a problem. After all, who really remembered that Lewis was there in the first place?

So...what will Lewis's tombstone read? Well...maybe it should read...I once had a chance...And I chose not to dance...and now I am deep in the ground...with nothing to show...for hanging around...at least not in my last job....

Listen...all the glib comments will not help the situation...and Lambert should learn...that hedge funds are not running a business...and yes...Virginia...there is a Santa Claus...he just came a little late this year.

Love,
The Lass

Now...what will they do for seconds...after feeding at the trough? I wonder.

and one last thing...it is easy to say a man failed...much more difficult to have helped him to succeed....I think he could have used some help...but that is me...



just dancing...a little humor never hurts...or maybe there really is trouble in River City...I wonder...

a trolley...MRI...and morality...and I have my own theory...

A young man named Joshua Green is an Associate Professor at Harvard University. Don't let that bother you.....he is quite bright...and he asks good questions...so forgive the Harvard thing.

Now...here is what the young lad says:

I study moral decision-making using behavioral methods coupled with neuroimaging (fMRI). My research focuses on the interplay between emotional and "cognitive" processes in moral judgment. Sounds very important to me...however, he does this with an interesting problem...The Trolley problem.

Rationalist philosophers such as Plato and Immanuel Kant conceived of mature moral judgment as a rational enterprise, as a matter of appreciating abstract reasons that in themselves provide direction and motivation. In contrast to Plato and Kant, "sentimentalist" philosophers such as David Hume and Adam Smith argued that emotions are the primary basis for moral judgment. In more recent years, the rationalist banner has been carried by developmental psychologists such as Lawrence Kohlberg. Likewise, some contemporary researchers, most notably Jonathan Haidt, have emphasized the importance of emotion in moral judgment. My research program aims at a synthesis of these two perspectives. In my experiments I present people with moral dilemmas that, if I'm right, elicit a complex combination of reasoned and emotional responses.

What you ask? Well the great moral dilemma...

Moral Dilemmas and the "Trolley Problem" The moral dilemmas that I use in my experiments are often adapted from dilemmas devised by philosophers to probe our moral intuitions. The most famous example of these is the "Trolley Problem," which goes like this: A runaway trolley is hurtling down the tracks toward five people who will be killed if it proceeds on its present course. You can save these five people by diverting the trolley onto a different set of tracks, one that has only one person on it, but if you do this that person will be killed. Is it morally permissible to turn the trolley and thus prevent five deaths at the cost of one? Most people say yes. Now consider a slightly different dilemma. Once again, the trolley is headed for five people. You are on a footbridge over the tracks next to a large man. The only way to save the five people is to push this man off the bridge and into the path of the trolley. Is that morally permissible? Most people say no.

These two cases create a puzzle for moral philosophers: What makes it okay to sacrifice one person for the sake of five others in the first case but not in the second case? But there is also a psychological puzzle here: How does everyone know (or "know") that it's okay to turn the trolley but not okay to push the man off the bridge? My collaborators and I have collected brain imaging data suggesting that emotional responses are an important part of the answer. (Click here to download the paper.)

In our more recent work we have collected brain imaging data suggesting that "cognitive" factors are important as well and that emotional and "cognitive" processes compete for control of behavior. (Click here to download the paper.) For example, consider the following moral dilemma: It’s war time, and you are hiding in a basement with several other people. The enemy soldiers are outside. Your baby starts to cry loudly, and if nothing is done the soldiers will find you and kill you, your baby, and everyone else in the basement. The only way to prevent this from happening is to cover your baby’s mouth, but if you do this the baby will smother to death. Is it morally permissible to do this? According to our theory, this dilemma is difficult and uncomfortable because it creates a conflict between a strong emotional response (“Don’t kill the baby!”) and a strong "cognitive" response that points in the opposite direction ("But if you don’t kill the baby, you gain nothing and have much to lose.") Two findings from our most recent neuroimaging study support this interpretation. First, we have found that in response to difficult moral dilemmas such as this a brain region associated with response conflict (the anterior cingulate cortex, or ACC) exhibits increased activity, suggesting that the difficulty associated with dilemmas such as this results from response conflict and not just a need for extended computation. Second, we have found that in response to dilemmas such as this brain regions associated with cognitive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, or DLPFC, and inferior parietal cortex) exhibit greater activity when people favor the promotion of the best overall consequences. In other words, when people say, "Yes, it’s okay to smother the baby," they exhibit increased activity in parts of the brain associated with high-level cognitive function.

My take:

Well, here is where I dabble a bit, into my own views.. You see, I think that God...gave us hard wiring for certain things...one being a social...moral...cognitive, synaptic code...for the answer to the first Trolley Dilemma...for the good of the community...He also gave us another code...for the second dilemma...We simply are hard wired. However, the second dilemma is not the same as the first....because it involves our choice...to personally harm a person...with our own hands...in otherwords...we play God...at that moment, and we really don't like that position...thus the confusion...although the math is the same...one sacrificed for the many...our evolutionary code provides us with the a pretty easy answer...but when push comes to shove...we can't. Put a mechanical means in our way...and luck is still involved...and it really is not by our hand..it is the "switch" that does him in. But...push an innocent to save others? Our wiring for this is also coded...do not harm an innocent...that takes over...and the others...become secondary...thus the dilemma... God...does not play dice...

So...I asked one of the women at work...what would you do? She is a bible...study gal...and said..."If I knew one of the people on the tracks...it would make a difference." She added, "I am going to ask my husband tonight."

This got everyone else involved in the question...and here is the question for all of us..."If you were the fat man to be thrown off the bridge...would you jump to save the others?...and make the man's dilemma go away."

In any case...it is worth discussion...and thought...and more discussion...and then...think about this little dilemma...it happens quite often...just not with trolleys...but it does.



OH...and it Green's work is not enough...

At Rutgers, an anthropologist is investigating the neural circuitry of romantic love by putting besotted volunteers in a brain scanner and asking them to stare at a photograph of their beloved. At Harvard, a business professor is comparing brain responses to different advertising images, while an English professor is preparing to look at what happens in a reader's brain when she encounters a metaphor in Proust. At Rice University in Houston, a music professor is planning to study the cognitive basis for sight-reading. Even perceptions of racial difference have been examined in an M.R.I. machine.


We want to understand our biology...but one thing is certain...

The majority of individuals respond ''yes'' to the first scenario and ''no'' to the second. Now...how about the guy sacrificed in the first dilemma...how do you think he answered the question...same way we all do...that is more interesting to me...

OH...and when they find the receptors and regions for love...they have of course...they need to dig around in there a bit...and see if romantic love...is next to our love of chocolate receptors....just wondering...because our store is full of chocolate for some holiday in February...which by the way...I don't celebrate...

Love,
The Lass

A moral to the story...and a good one...I think

Arthur and the Witch:

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighbouring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question?... .What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.

But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.

The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur.

He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered.... is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.

And so it was, the neighbouring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened

The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

What would YOU do?

Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

Now ....what is the moral to this story?

The moral is.....
If you don't let a woman have her own way....
Things are going to get ugly

Love,
the Lass

Say it ain't so....

MMM sent me his daily email...and this time he sent me a link...partly because of my blog page...a picture from the Sistine Chapel. MMM...knows how much I love the picture and the story...so this one was a shock I tell you...but here it is...direct from...www.beliefnet.com

The Sistine Chapel was created 500 years ago by Michelangelo... or was it?

It is one of the wonders of the world. It covers 550 sq m, took three years of back-breaking work to create, and has been marvelled at by millions. Now, a controversial study is throwing new light on the 'inspiration' behind Michelangelo's greatest masterpiece.

By Peter Popham
Thursday, 24 January 2008

It's anniversary time. The genesis of the Greatest Work of Art Ever, Anywhere – so popular that the curators of the Vatican Museums have made seeing it insanely complicated and expensive in an effort to reduce the crowds – began 500 years ago this spring, when Pope Julius II persuaded a reluctant Michelangelo Buonarroti to take on the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But even before the festivities can properly begin, they have been overshadowed by the return of an ancient controversy.

In contrast to other great Renaissance figures such as Shakespeare, of whose lives we know practically nothing for certain, Michelangelo was intimately chronicled during his own lifetime – in dozens of letters he wrote to his beloved father and brothers, and in two biographies, one by Vasari. We know in vivid detail what the great artist was up to month by month, often day by day. His tortured relationship with the warrior pope who was his greatest patron emerges vividly from the chronicles of his age.

We can even picture him at work, thanks to a sketch he drew illustrating a humorous poem on the torment of painting the ceiling – head thrown back, bottom thrust out to give him support, "belly hanging like an empty sack,/ beard pointing at the ceiling... my face, from drips and droplets/patterned like a marble pavement..."

We can also readily imagine the speed at which he worked, slapping paint on to wet plaster, driving himself across the enormous surface to get it covered in time.

The critic Waldemar Januszczak, who had the chance to scrutinise the ceiling from close quarters from the top of a television scaffold, wrote: "I could see the bristles from his brushes caught in the paint, and the mucky thumbprints he'd left along the margins. The first thing that impressed me was his speed. Michelangelo worked at Schumacher pace. Adam's famous little penis was captured with a single brushstroke: a flick of the wrist, and the first man had his manhood."

But behind the rich, almost cinematic certainties that history has given us about the painting of the ceiling – concerning the people, the relationships, the materials, the time frame, the technology – lies an impenetrable area of shadow.

Before he dipped the brush in the paint and set to work on his God and Christ, his Adam and Mary and all the rest, how did Michelangelo prepare himself? We know that, unlike his peers and predecessors, he did not use cartoons to transfer existing designs directly on to the wet plaster, because there are no the telltale peg marks left in the plaster's surface. We know that in some cases he worked from small drawings because a grid can be discerned over the finished work, indicating that he upscaled from a smaller sketch.

But what the norm for his preparation was we simply don't know – because Michelangelo didn't want us to know. Throughout his life he hated showing drawings to outsiders. Vasari claimed that this was because they revealed the endless effort he expended in reaching the perfection at which he aimed. Though he was dependent, like all Renaissance artists, on the patronage of the powerful, even men like Cosimo I were unable to get him to part with a single drawing. Before moving from Rome to Florence in 1518, he burned all the drawings in his house in Rome. Another terrible bonfire took place, on his instructions, at his death. Even Michelangelo's closest friends possessed only a tiny number of drawings, all of them highly finished.

Yet despite this well-documented niggardliness, the world's great museums are awash in Michelangelo drawings: the consensus among Anglo-American and Italian scholars is that there are around 800 in existence, including those of the Risen Christ and the Labours of Hercules in the Royal Collection, and the artist's preliminary sketch for the Sistine Chapel's fresco of the Creation of Man, in the British Museum.

But if three eminent German scholars are to be believed, the methods by which Michelangelo prepared for the epic struggle of painting the 300 figures on the chapel ceiling remains a mystery, and the drawings that are said to explain it merely mystify it. In a beautiful and weighty new book, Michelangelo: Complete Works, they insist that only a small minority of the drawings currently attributed to the master are definitely by him.

British critics have given the thesis a hostile if not derisory reception – Brian Sewell, commenting in the London Evening Standard, declared: "I fervently dispute the dismissal as copies of many of Michelangelo's drawings, concluding from the author's conclusions that they have no knowledge of the practice of drawing in the Renaissance."

But even those to whom the idea of the world being awash in phoney Michelangelo drawings is anathema concede the objective reality of the uncertainty. "From his own day to the present there has been a remarkable degree of consensus concerning the corpus of Michelangelo's painting, sculpture and architecture," David Ekserdjian writes in The Sunday Times. "By contrast, his figural drawings remain the victims of extraordinary connoisseurial mood swings... Around 1900, Bernard Berenson and others took a minimalist view, numbering the total of autograph sheets around 200... this figure has been slowly but surely climbing since the 1950s, especially in what might be described as the Anglo-American and Italian axis, towards a figure of around 800."

The German scholars take the figure back down to around 200 again, so that, for Ekserdjian, "turning the pages of reproductions is a surreal experience, as some of the most beautiful drawings ever made are summarily dismissed." The iconoclasm of Frank Zöllner, Thomas Pöpper and Christof Thoenes knows no bounds: not only are vastly valuable treasures in the collection of the Queen brought into question, but also the "preliminary sketches" of the Creation for the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Famous drawings of Adam, one of the British Museum's greatest treasures, are cruelly and casually dismissed as fakes.

"They prove upon closer inspection chiefly to be early copies after the finished fresco... occasionally deliberately trying to pass themselves off as original sketches." A second Blitzkrieg is under way.

The scorn of Sewell and Ekserdjian is less persuasive, however, than the gentle scepticism of the Germans, who caution that their views – "each attribution", they emphasise, "has been weighed up again and again in a lengthy process of review" – should only be taken "as a starting point for future discussion".

The vested interests of the great museums in favour of granting authenticity to works of such vast popularity and financial worth should not be underestimated – nor their influence, however subliminal, on the art critics. When the British Museum unveiled its gorgeous show of Michelangelo drawings in March 2006, only one critic, Richard Dorment, insisted that the Emperor was wearing very few clothes.

There is, he insisted on pointing out in the Telegraph, "remarkably little consensus... as to what a Michelangelo drawing looks like and how many of them there are" – and the museum's failure to take account of that fact he deemed "a crushing disappointment". The curator, he said, had simply accepted attributions published 50 years before. "The ordinary visitor would never guess that only three of the 80 or so drawings attributed to Michelangelo on display are universally accepted by all scholars as being by the hand of the master."

This is one of those scholarly rows, like the unending debates over the real authorship of Shakespeare's plays, that is an entirely harmless spectator sport. Somebody, somehow did write King Lear, and the endless theories about who exactly the author might have been throw weird, oblique beams of light on that and all his other masterpieces.

Michelangelo certainly painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, spattered with drips, belly sagging, beard sticking straight up – and if the question of how he prepared for that Schumacher-like feat remains a mystery, then so much the more interesting.

It was in any event an impossible commission, from the artist's most demanding, impossible patron. Raphael's painting of Pope Julius II as a hollow-eyed, white-bearded figure clutching a money bag in one hand and the arm of his throne in the other, fails to do justice to one of the most bellicose megalomaniacs ever to occupy St Peter's chair, which is saying a bit.

Julius was, writes the papal historian Eamon Duffy, "a very dubious Father of all the Faithful, for he had fathered three daughters... while a cardinal, and he was a ferocious and enthusiastic warrior, dressing in silver papal armour and leading his own troops through the breaches blown in the city walls of towns who resisted his authority."

He was, however, the greatest papal patron of the Renaissance, giving inspired commissions to Raphael, Bramante and Leonardo as well as to Michelangelo.

Michelangelo's relationship with the pope was tormented. The artist from Arezzo, who turned 33 in 1508, was already famous as the sculptor of David, completed in 1504, and recognised as the genius of the age. Julius summoned him to Rome and commanded him to create a preposterous thing – a vast sepulchre worthy of a Pharaoh more than a pope, which was to contain 40 life-size figures and would become the eighth wonder of the world.

Perhaps fortunately, this monstrous monument was never finished, but what the artist called "the tragedy of the Tomb" pursued him long after Julius's death and interment in 1513, with rows over lousy assistants, inadequate budgets and revisions of the contract. In 1506, after one nasty spat, Michelangelo bolted from Rome on horseback.

But Julius, for all his megalomania, had a clear view of Michelangelo's worth, and after the artist had been prevailed on to apologise, got him to execute a bronze statue of him – subsequently melted down into a cannon.

Then, even while the agonies of the tragic tomb continued to pile up, Julius threw another amazing job at Michelangelo. The walls of the Sistine Chapel, the private chapel of the papal household, were already adorned with works by 15th-century masters including Botticelli and Perugino. The ceiling was painted blue, dotted with gold stars. The chapel had long been in disuse because of a large crack in the ceiling. Now Julius wanted it to be drastically renovated, and commanded him to paint 12 large figures of the Apostles on the ceiling.

At first, Michelangelo was reluctant because, as he told the pope, painting "is not my profession". The discussions continued through March and April. Finally, in May the artist grudgingly agreed, writing stiffly on the receipt for the initial payment of 500 ducats, that he, a sculptor, had received 500 ducats for the painting in the Sistine Chapel.

In the event, the commission multiplied, from a mere 12 figures, albeit giants, to more than 300, and the first phase of work continued to 1512. Twenty-four years later Michelangelo returned to complete the work and in May 1536 he was at work on The Last Judgement, the "Day of Wrath" which occupies the whole of the wall behind the altar, with its awesome vision of the dreadful fate of sinners, among whom Michelangelo was bitterly fearful that he himself would be counted – even though he included a portrait of himself as St Bartholomew, displaying his flayed skin.

This, his final work in the chapel, was revealed to universal praise in 1541. Thousands of people still gaze up at it in wonder every day.

The source of Michelangelo's inspiration was the belief, as he put it in a poem, that, "Whatever beauty here on earth is seen,/ To meet the longing and perceptive eye,/ Is semblance of that source divine, / From whence we all come./ In this alone we catch a glimpse of Heaven." Art had religious value because it was the only way to glimpse the divine intention.

To come close to that high ideal, the work must be as finely realized as possible – hence, it seems, his refusal to let out of his studio anything that was not perfect; and hence the impossibility of understanding exactly how he pulled off his great achievements: a mystery that somehow makes them all the greater.

Now...the significance of this is great...and I will say...this has lead me on the pursuit of truth....where will this lead? God only knows...

I am undone....at least for now...



The Agony and Ecstasy has long been one of my favorite movies...and the theme therein...has been a model for relationships to me...collaboration...A little agony tonight...


Love,
The Lass

El Cid...and her favorite musical piece...

El Cid...better known as my mother loved this musical work of art. She played this daily for years...and I would learn to love it as well...



I thought of this today, because I heard this on the way to the store...and it took me back to my youth...my mother...and her love of this...Scheherazade...

I think I love this symphony...not only because of the haunting melody...but because of the poetic meaning...Meaning? Well...yes of course.

Scheherazade (IPA: /ʃəˌhɛrəˈzɑːd, -ˈzɑːdə/), sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād (Persian: شهرزاد Šahrzād) is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

The famous tale goes that every day Shahryar (Persian: شهريار or "king") would marry a new virgin, and every day he would send yesterday's wife to be beheaded. This was done in anger, having found out that his first wife was betraying him. He had killed three thousand such women by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter.

In Sir Richard F. Burton's translation of The Nights, Shahrazad was described in this way:

"[Shahrazad] had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of by gone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred."

Against her father's protestations, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the King. Once in the King's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved sister, Dunyazad, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night. The King lay awake and listened with awe to Scheherazade's first story and asked for another, but Scheherazade said there was not time as dawn was breaking, and regretfully so, as the next story was even more exciting.

And so the King kept Scheherazade alive as he eagerly anticipated each new story, until, one thousand and one adventurous nights, and three sons later, the King had not only been entertained but wisely educated in morality and kindness by Scheherazade who became his Queen.

The nucleus of these stories is formed by an old Persian book called Hezar-afsana or the "Thousand Myths" (Persian: هزارافسانه).

you see...myth, legend...and music...all go together...

Love,
the Lass

oh...and one more thing...

Scheherazade shows her true genius in the final movement, "The Festival at Baghdad; The Sea; Shipwreck on a Rock; Conclusion." The music begins with an impatient Sultan, his theme hurriedly coaxing Scheherazade to finish the story. He can barely contain himself by this point, in his excitement to hear what happens next. Each morning, when the executioner has arrived at his door, the Sultan has sent him away, saying "Come back tomorrow," so that Scheherazade can continue her tale.

She continues to spin her tales of wonder while gradually bringing in every theme from the previous movements, deftly tying everything together. By this time, the Sultan has forgotten to tell the executioner to return the next day. We hear his low voice at the end, finally subdued and tamed by Scheherazade...

Let that be a lesson...to Sultans and men of bits and bytes...

It is the Southern Cross...

A tune...and a journey...one day this lass will visit the hemisphere...that will see her witness the Southern Cross...and on that occasion...She will certainly will make the journey...with sails...and a mate...to share the view...

Spirits are using me...what heaven brought you to me...



Just doing a little dreaming...and enjoying an afternoon of reading...and a little writing.

Oh...the lyrics...

Got out of town on a boat, going to Southern islands.
Sailing a reach before a following sea.
She was making for the trades on the outside, and the downhill run to Papeete.

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas,
we got eighty feet of the waterline, nicely making way.
In a noisy bar in Avalon, I tried to call you.
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away.

Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are using me, larger voices calling.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, looking for that woman-girl who knows love can endure.
And you know it will, and you know it will.

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
you understand now why you came this way.
Cause the truth you might be running from is so small.
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day.
So I'm sailing for tomorrow, my dreams are a dying.
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain.
I have my ship and all her flags are a flying.
She is all that I have left and music is her name.

Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are using me, larger voices calling.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten.
I have been around the world, looking for that woman-girl who knows love can endure.
And you know it will, and you know it will.

So we cheated and we lied and we tested
and we never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do.
You will survive being bested.
Somebody fine will come along, make me forget about loving you at the Southern Cross.

and one person's interpretation...

There is a love lost theme in there, but i dont think he gets the girl. i think the nautical theme is also quite literal for the songwriter, there is so much reference to it

the first verse describes the fact that the ship has 80ft of waterline, i cant figure out any relevance other than the literal. then the stuff making for the trades etc...he is describing sailing around Polynesia in the south pacific

i think he realizes that she's not coming back (during a midnight watch) and accepts all his got is his boat - the music. with all her flags flying, and 80ft of waterline, she would be quite a ship - maybe something enough to cling to in the face of a lost love

the woman will survive being bested - he wont find another better - until someone else comes along, who can make him forget about the southern cross, and her. but - he can never forget the southern cross, and sadly not her either

i could be way off here - but the boat thing is strong for me


Well...this is for MMM...our discussion tonight...What do you think the lyrics mean?
Hmmm???

haha

Like the Zen Master said..."We shall see."

Love,
The Lass

a friendly giant and a tune...

I was humming a tune this morning...somehow this little tune popped into my mind...and it brought back memories...of a young lass...a tv...and a friendly giant.

The Friendly Giant debuted on radio in 1953 in Madison, Wisconsin. Homme, Rusty the Rooster and Jerome the Giraffe, characters on the program, moved to Canada in 1958. The show became a staple of CBC programming for more than 25 years.

\
"One little chair for one of you..."

It introduced generations of children to books and music. Homme was the creator, writer and star of the show.

The show started the same way every day, with Friendly opening the drawbridge and reaching down with a gigantic hand to arrange, "One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle."

Then, he invited viewers to, "Look up. . . look waayyy up." There he stood, joined by his friends Rusty and Jerome, and they would set about singing chatting and reading stories to young viewers during the 15 minute show.

Homme was awarded the Order of Canada in 1998. He was too ill to travel to Ottawa to receive the award, so Romeo LeBlanc, then governor-general, made a special visit to his home in Grafton, Ontario, to present the medal. The giant was a gentle man...

So...as a little lass...I would look up...waaaay up to see the giant...and listen to the song...that filled my mind today...with visions of another time...and a land very far away...

oh...and the tune???



so look up...look waaaaay up...

Love,
The Lass

Tooling...Tool....

It is simply Tool...and that is never simple...methinks MMM and I have no schism here, we are sober in our agreement...and it doesn't take Forty Six and 2, to determine that our geometry is not a parabola...nor is our evolution.

Simply Tool...like I said...never simple...



I found this one for you MMM...you know me...always looking for the edge of the abyss...or is it that we share a disposition...



you shared yours...well this is mine...

Love,
The Lass

It is official...the smile...and lisa G....is her name....

Not all mysteries should be revealed. Some should remain sacredly left to our imaginations. Once a mystery is solved, then the quest for the answer no longer holds allure. I love a mystery. Why?

I believe in mystery and multiplicity. Even my religious belief has made me comfortable with ambiguity. "Hints and guesses," as T.S. Eliot would say.

When I was young, I couldn't tolerate such ambiguity. My education had trained me to have a lust for answers and explanations. Now, at age 53, it's all quite different. I no longer believe this is a quid pro quo universe...faced my own dilemmas too many times and been loved gratuitously after too many failures.

Whenever I think there's a perfect pattern, further reading and study reveal an exception. Whenever I want to say "only" or "always," someone or something proves me wrong. My scientist friends have come up with things like "principles of uncertainty" and dark holes. They're willing to live inside imagined hypotheses and theories. But many religious folks insist on answers that are always true. Me, well I love closure, resolution and clarity, while thinking that I am a person of "faith"! How strange that the very word "faith" has come to mean its exact opposite.

It's the people who don't know who usually pretend that they do. People who've had any genuine spiritual experience always know they don't know. They are utterly humbled before mystery. They are in awe before the abyss of it all, in wonder at eternity and depth, and a Love, which is incomprehensible to the mind.

It is the ultimate mystery of the universe, from which all mystery comes. If you can ponder the mystery of God...then all mystery becomes almost spiritual...and all spiritual things, lead to some tiny moment...of revelation, only to be thrown back into the abyss of question...thus being humbled by mystery.

So, although intellectually I like knowing the name of the lass...Lisa Gherardini. And a little about her life...she was the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. It was the eyes, and the smile, and the mystery that drew us in. So much so, that many thought it was a self portrait...some enterprising individuals, superimposed the artists features onto hers. But, that was part of the splendor, the mystery...now solved. We know the name...she was real, and she was us. Little does this give my heart reason to celebrate...

The magic was in the mystery. Or at least I think so.



Do you smile to tempt the lover? or to hide a broken heart?

Ah...are you warm? are you real? or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?

You see...a mystery...

Love,
The Lass

Remembering Jannine....

Some people come into your life for a reason...just as my baby sister did. Just when I thought life could not get any more complicated in our household...a surprise announcement...mom is pregnant...Yikes!!! Is that possible? Well, indeed it was...

One morning I was a happy go lucky child with only a brother to cause me distress...then the fateful day arrived...and all hell broke loose.

Now here is a little thing I remembered. My first boyfriend...well my only one in my youth was named Wayne. He was a wonderful person, and quite handsome by all standards. Wayne was and is someone special and for a young lass...the perfect first love. So it would be that I would go to his prom...I would share in a fishing expedition...and witness his graduation from High School...

There would be many days I would remember...but then there was Jannine...my baby sister who...would "join" us frequently on excursions...Did I say frequently? I mean...all of the time...no really...I MEAN ALL OF THE TIME...

Now...I loved my baby sis...but really...did she have to be there all of the time? I wound up being the baby sitter on more than one occasion...well all of the time...while el cid was attending University...

Now Jannine being Jannine has always had very good self esteem...no problem with her little ego. Which by all accounts is the sign of a well adjusted person. However, there is a limit.

Let me explain.

There are certain events that are important in life. Like graduation from High School. And Wayne's was important to me. We had met when I was twelve, and simply never left each other's side for all of those years. We attended Mass together...and took long walks together...dreamed our dreams of the future together...Oh...and shared many of those moments with Jannine...my ever present witness...haha

Well, on Wayne's big day...he dropped by the house to show off his car...a mustang...and to visit with me...well I thought it was me he came to visit.

After a quick toast with faux champagne...a picture was taken...with the little red head and Wayne toasting this momentous occasion...after Wayne left...the redheaded vixen...very proud of herself...ushered Wayne to the door...at five years old...I believe she was a vixenette...or vixen wanna be...I digress.

So the wee Lass turned to el Cid and announced..."I am going to marry
Wayne one day." I looked a little stunned I am sure....and I asked.."What makes you think so?" And the little vixen answered confidently..."Because he came to see me on his graduation day." "Don't you think he came to visit me?", I replied. "Sure", she responded. "But that is because you are always hanging around."

Now...Wayne didn't marry either one of us...and my little sister may have had a crush on the boy who would always remain...my one true love...but I think...no I know...he came to visit me that day...or at least I thought he did...until...you know who, burst my bubble...

Well, all is forgiven...and besides, I did pick out your husband...one good turn...deserves another...happy anniversary...as well...two birds with one stone...you do know how to simplify things.

Love the lass..

To the True Companions...

Is there really more ways to skin a cat?

One of my co-workers used this phrase today...and that got me to thinking...Is there really more ways to skin a cat? And where did that come from?

OK...so this is something you need to know.

There are several versions of this saying, which suggests that there are always several ways to do something. Charles Kingsley used one old British form in Westward Ho! in 1855: “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream”. Other versions include “there are more ways of killing a dog than hanging him”, “there are more ways of killing a cat than by choking it with butter”, and “there are more ways of killing a dog than choking him with pudding”.

Mark Twain used your version in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court in 1889: “she was wise, subtle, and knew more than one way to skin a cat”, that is, more than one way to get what she wanted. An earlier appearance is in ’Way down East; or, Portraitures of Yankee Life by Seba Smith of about 1854: “This is a money digging world of ours; and, as it is said, ‘there are more ways than one to skin a cat,’ so are there more ways than one of digging for money”. From the way he writes, the author clearly knew this to be a well-known existing proverbial saying. In fact, it is first recorded in John Ray’s collection of English proverbs as far back as 1678.

Some writers have pointed to its use in the southern states of the US in reference to catfish, often abbreviated to cat, a fish that is indeed usually skinned in preparing it for eating. However, it looks very much from the multiple versions of the saying, their wide distribution and their age, that this is just a local application of the proverb.

The version more than one way to skin a cat seems to have nothing directly to do with the American English term to skin a cat, which is to perform a type of gymnastic exercise, involving passing the feet and legs between the arms while hanging by the hands from a horizontal bar. However, its name may have been suggested by the action of turning an animal’s skin inside out as part of the process of removing it from the body.

Thanks to world wise words...you know where this comes from...

However...that still doesn't answer the question...

Well if you like quantum like I do...there is this...



There's More Than One Way to Skin Schrödinger's Cat

Authors

V. Enol'skii
M. Salerno
A. Scott
J. Eilbeck

Journal / Anthology

Physica D
Year: 1992
Volume: 59
Page range: 1-24

Description

Two methods for studying quantum discrete dynamical systems (i.e. with a finite or countably infinite number of degrees of freedom) are described and compared for: (i) The discrete self-trapping (DST) equation, (ii) The Ablowitz-Ladik (AL) equation, and (iii) A fermionic polaron (FP) model. The first method, called the quantum inverse scattering method (QISM), emphasizes the relationship between the quantum theory and classical integrability. The second method, which we call the number state method (NSM), can be extended to systems that are not classically integrable. Thus the two methods are not equivalent.

Yikes...but I think her point is this...

How often have you caught yourself saying that there could be no other possible solution to a problem – and that that problem leads to a dead end? How many times have you felt stumped knowing that the problem laying before you is one you cannot solve (or so it seems). No leads/options or solutions. Time to apply Creative Critical Thinking process.

Did it feel like you had exhausted all possible options and yet are still before the huge mountain – large, unconquerable, and impregnable? When encountering such enormous and complex problems, you may feel like you are knocking against a steel mountain. The pressure of having to solve such a problem may be too overwhelming for you.

But rejoice! There might be some hope yet - Creative Critical Thinking!

With some creative problem-solving techniques you may be able to look at your problem in a different angle. And that angle might just be the end of the tunnel that leads to possible solutions.

First of all, in the light of creative problem-solving, you must be open-minded to the fact that there may be more than just one solution to the existing problem. And, you must be open to the fact that there may be solutions to problems you thought were unsolvable earlier. Such possibility is possible with Creative Critical Thinking.

Now, with this optimistic mindset, we can try to be a little bit more creative and critical in solving our problems.


So...is there another way to skin a cat?

There’s certainly more than one way to skin a cat. But which is the right way?

Well...just think about it...then share it...with someone who is in need of some fresh ideas...or skinning techniques.

Love,
The lass

erik Mongrain

For the guitar playing...magnificent man...who simply is just special...and here is one of my favorites...

Awesome...



and a little Hollywood magic from a wonderful movie...August Rush...



"I believe in music..."



Finding each other...in the notes...the harmony....just like I think my grandfather and Stella did...

Once upon a time...they too heard the music.

Love,
The Lass
Goodnight to my grandparents...Steve and Stella...in heavenly harmony at long last, I am sure.

How you treat a waiter...

Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver.

This Fortune 500 CEO learned a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter...and I agree with this for many reasons.

The Waiter Rule:

Most would agree that CEOs live in a Lake Wobegon world where every dinner or lunch partner is above average in their deference. How others treat the CEO says nothing, they say. But how others treat the waiter is like a magical window into the soul.

And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, "I could buy this place and fire you," or "I know the owner and I could have you fired." Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.

Whoever came up with the waiter observation "is bang spot on," says BMW North America President Tom Purves, a native of Scotland, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, who lives in New York City with his Norwegian wife, Hilde, and works for a German company. That makes him qualified to speak on different cultures, and he says the waiter theory is true everywhere.

Who wrote it down? The Waiter Rule? Well that would be Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management. Raytheon has given away 250,000 of the books.

Among those 33 rules is only one that Swanson says never fails: "A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person."

Swanson says he first noticed this in the 1970s when he was eating with a man who became "absolutely obnoxious" to a waiter because the restaurant did not stock a particular wine.

"Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with," Swanson writes. "Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles."

The Waiter Rule also applies to the way people treat hotel maids, mailroom clerks, bellmen and security guards. Au Bon Pain co-founder Ron Shaich, now CEO of Panera Bread, says he was interviewing a candidate for general counsel in St. Louis. She was "sweet" to Shaich but turned "amazingly rude" to someone cleaning the tables, Shaich says. She didn't get the job.

Shaich says any time candidates are being considered for executive positions at Panera Bread, he asks his assistant, Laura Parisi, how they treated her, because some applicants are "pushy, self-absorbed and rude" to her before she transfers the call to him.

Dave Gould, CEO of Witness Systems, experienced the rule firsthand when a waitress dumped a full glass of red wine on the expensive suit of another CEO during a contract negotiation. The victim CEO put her at ease with a joke about not having had time to shower that morning. A few days later, when there was an apparent impasse during negotiations, Gould trusted that CEO to have the character to work out any differences.

CEOs who blow up at waiters have an ego out of control, Gould says. "They're saying, 'I'm better. I'm smarter.' Those people tend not to be collaborative."

"To some people, speaking in a condescending manner makes them feel important, which to me is a total turnoff," says Seymour Holtzman, chairman of Casual Male Retail Group, which operates big-and-tall men's clothing stores including Casual Male XL.

How people were raised

Such behavior is an accurate predictor of character because it isn't easily learned or unlearned but rather speaks to how people were raised, says Siki Giunta, CEO of U.S. technology company Managed Objects, a native of Rome who once worked as a London bartender.

More recently, she had a boss who would not speak directly to the waiter but would tell his assistant what he wanted to eat, and the assistant would tell the waiter in a comical three-way display of pomposity. What did Giunta learn about his character? "That he was demanding and could not function well without a lot of hand-holding from his support system," she said.

It's somewhat telling, Giunta says, that the more elegant the restaurant, the more distant and invisible the wait staff is. As if the more important the customer, the less the wait staff matters. People view waiters as their temporary personal employees. Therefore, how executives treat waiters probably demonstrates how they treat their actual employees, says Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes, a former waitress and postal clerk, who says she is a demanding boss but never shouts at or demeans an employee.

"Sitting in the chair of CEO makes me no better of a person than the forklift operator in our plant," she says. "If you treat the waiter, or a subordinate, like garbage, guess what? Are they going to give it their all? I don't think so."

CEOs aren't the only ones who have discovered the Waiter Rule. A November survey of 2,500 by It's Just Lunch, a dating service for professionals, found that being rude to waiters ranks No. 1 as the worst in dining etiquette, at 52%, way ahead of blowing your nose at the table, at 35%.

Waiters say that early in a relationship, women will pull them aside to see how much their dates tipped, to get a read on their frugality and other tendencies. They are increasingly discussing boorish behavior by important customers at www.waiterrant.net and other blogs. They don't seem to mind the demanding customer, such as those who want meals prepared differently because of high blood pressure. But they have contempt for the arrogant customer.

Rule works with celebrities, too

The Waiter Rule also applies to celebrities, says Jimmy Rosemond, CEO of agency Czar Entertainment, who has brokered deals for Mike Tyson, Mario Winans and Guerilla Black. Rosemond declines to name names, but he remembers one dinner episode in Houston a few years back with a rude divisional president of a major music company.

When dinner was over, Rosemond felt compelled to apologize to the waiter on the way out. "I said, 'Please forgive my friend for acting like that.' It's embarrassing. They go into rages for simple mistakes like forgetting an order."

Rosemond says that particular music executive also treated his assistants and interns poorly — and was eventually fired.

Odland says he saw all types of people 30 years ago as a busboy. "People treated me wonderfully and others treated me like dirt. There were a lot of ugly people. I didn't have the money or the CEO title at the time, but I had the same intelligence and raw ability as I have today.

"Why would people treat me differently? Your value system and ethics need to be constant at all times regardless of who you are dealing with."

Holtzman grew up in the coal-mining town of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and in the 1950s saw opportunity as a waiter 90 miles away in the Catskill Mountains, where customers did not tip until the end of the week. When they tipped poorly, he would say: "Sir, will you and your wife be tipping separately?"

"I saw a lot of character, or the lack thereof," says Holtzman, who says he can still carry three dishes in his right hand and two in his left.

The Golden Rule:

I suppose we all observe each other to make a judgment as to how we believe we will be treated. The Golden Rule is also part of the Waiter Rule. For me, it is more important how someone treats their family, their loved ones...than how they initially respond to me. Why? Well it has to do with how that person is, with those he really has a relationship with...If he speaks disparagingly about an ex wife or girlfriend...he most certainly will treat me the same way...If he puts his needs before that of his children...he most certainly will do so with me. If he sees others as needing to fit his criteria to "please" him as it were...or sees the needs of his parents as inconvenient...he will most definitely see any frailty in me as inconvenient. You see, I am not special...I am just one of the people in his life...and if his life is full of inconveniences caused by his loved ones...I will be seen that way...

It is arrogant to think that people will treat us differently...because we are somehow special...the truth is...that is a telling view as well.

So, it came as no surprise to my sister...that my discussion about the priorities of my friend John...are a good indication...that he is someone that understands...the golden rule...as it applies to his children, his ex wife...all of which reflects his consideration, selfless understanding...and a desire to do right by them...and in doing right by them...he gains far more satisfaction. Would it be nice to have someone who is less dedicated to his children? No...clearly not for me...although it might in the short run provides a little more ease...in the long run...it would not do...not at all...For the other side of this coin...is that one day...after all the commitments that take priority are completed...that I will know...that I too have gained...a person who understands...that it is the joy of giving love...agape...where the greatest joy is realized...

So...how do you treat a waiter? Well let's hope...with the same consideration and smile...that you would like to receive...

I rather like that...

Love,
The Lass

oh...and maybe this will help...



And remember...both John and I, actually include waiters in our conversations...the benefit...I learned something new...and he was good company...

Rocco's World...

My brother-in-law...Rocco Moschetti, is a bug guy...no really he is...

But...what you may not know...is he is a world famous Pest Control...person. Really...just look at this.

A little advertising doesn't hurt...haha

Date: 07/09/2007

COMBAT PROVEN FLYTRAPS NOW AVAILABLE TO MUNICIPALITIES

The elimination of human generated waste is essential to civilization.

We owe a huge “Thank Youâ€쳌 to those people who handle our garbage and trash and even more to those who work with our sewage and wastewater. Without them civilized life as we know it would quickly grind to a chaotic and nasty halt.

City and county administrators know whatever can be done to make the difficult jobs of municipal sanitation workers easier and more comfortable pays big dividends in the level of community services the municipality provides. Better and safer working conditions produce a better job attendance and increased productivity.

One extremely important aspect of improving the work environment for sanitation employees is fly control.
Flies are dangerous. In addition to being carriers of filth, flies aid in the transmission of over 65 harmful human diseases, including typhoid fever, dysentery, anthrax and tuberculosis.

And now "combat provenFlies Be Gone traps are available to cities and counties everywhere to handle this problem, effectively and without environmental harm.

Poisons may work, but often prove as much a health hazard as the flies themselves. Non-poisonous, non-toxic Flies Be Gone traps are the only reasonable answer for municipal administrators who understand the ramifications of the potential problems.

Only the size of a football, each trap catches up to 20,000 flies. Easy to use, Flies be Gone is disposable and requires no maintenance.

Each unit comes complete with protein based natural fly food Ultra Biomass, exclusive only to Flies Be Gone. Ultra Biomass is effective for up to four weeks, unlike short life synthetic baits used in many other traps.

Used outdoors, Flies be Gone provides a strategically effective fly defense perimeter over half an acre.

In high demand by pest control professionals, Flies Be Gone traps are now used extensively on horse ranches, zoos, and near restaurants.

And by the US Department of Defense!

World famous pest control expert, Rocco Moschetti, testified that he used Flies be Gone for nearly 2 years under some of the harshest conditions imaginable. At Camp Fallujah, Flies Be Gone was the only fly control method available due to restrictions on spraying. Working alone, the Flies Be Gone traps allowed our troops to work and eat in a fly free environment without the need for pesticides.

Municipal sanitation workers deserve the same level of protection as our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We recognize their important role in making civilized life possible.

The Flies Be Gone motto is: 18 Billion Flies can't be Wrong.

So...Rocco...world famous...that you are...

from the not famous lass

just thought I would mention it...haha Thought I wouldn't do it...didn't ya? Well that will teach you...

Ok..Lori and Dubai...

My friend Lori has a friend Lisa...who is now living in Dubai. She is working for IBM Middle East. Lisa is one very fortunate lass...Why? Well, Lisa never got a college degree...she simply worked for a company that specialized in software for hospitals. That little job, has taken Lisa all over the world, and now it has taken her to Dubai.

Lisa will be there for the next two years. So...me being me, suggested to Lori, that we should pay her good friend a visit while she is there...and Lori being Lori, called Lisa...

Lori..."My friend wants to visit Dubai...what do you think?"
Lisa..."Come...I will show you guys everything."
Lori..."Do they have beads?"
Lisa..."They own the bead factories."
Lori..."Ok...we'll come."

So...I am going to Dubai next January. We have made the deal...and I just completed my list of things to do...

Australia has always been a place I have wanted to visit...but since this opportunity has come up...well...I think that before I die...it will be Dubai...

and you should go to...why you ask? Well ...



So...Lori and I will make the journey...and you know...once again...it was the beads...go figure.

Love the Lass

oh...and Lori...I really do like your beads...truly I do...oh...and to my brother in law Rocco...I know, I know..been there...done that...but Rocco...I haven't...so there.

Marty...and chess

When you have an uncle your age...well you have to explain things...or maybe not. But, my mother's baby brother was born within months of her eldest daughter...that would be me. So, it shouldn't be a surprise...that my relationship with Marty was more like a cousin...I think you get the point.

But, I was thinking of Marty and his life...and well it occurred to me that Marty did very well for himself. A family of educators...or at least three...and all made their mark. Marty is no exception.

Marty taught me my first game of chess...or should I say...he slaughtered me in chess... Marty was someone I just liked...I suppose it was because he put up with his niece...and he was kind enough to teach me this wonderful game...even though...I didn't learn much...or didn't have the opportunity to learn much...well I digress..

Nice to see he has done well...both professionally as well as personally. Oh...and my chess game...let's just say...Marty always won...and I guess that is why...I like the tradition of losing...makes me feel like home...

Dr. Marty Jacobs

Adolescent, Career and Special Education

Dr. Jacobs has served in many leadership roles at Murray State University: Department Chair, Residential College Head, and Program Coordinator are significant examples of his administrator/leadership work over time.

Currently, Dr. Jacobs teaches undergraduate courses and graduate courses. At the undergraduate level, he is instructing students preparing to be secondary educators and in reading education courses (middle and secondary levels). At the graduate level, Dr. Jacobs is the instructor of several curriculum development courses.

So...Marty...I just wanted to let you know...I did finally win a game of chess...but you know it wasn't quite the thrill I thought it would be...I suppose losing does have something good in it...sort of ...like the Red Sox, always hoping...then they win...and ...now what do you do to follow that? Quit playing...well...that is me of course...

Love,
The Lass...

Oh...and the move Marty "taught" me ...fool's mate...gotta love him...
Fool's Mate.
Moves
-----
1. f3 e5
2. g4 Qh4++

Never got to use that one...maybe I should have "taught" my nieces...nope..they probably would not get fooled...oh well.

Congrats...to the toony...toonett...I am proud of you...

Mariah's little Toon drawing...wins on Disney's Toontown...and that is a talented girl...well it is genetic...of course...haha... Not bad for twelve..

But...so is her love of reading...

Dogs Mind Their Manners, Don't Interrupt the Readers: NO PRESSURE: Library Program Uses Pets to Entice Kids to Read.

By S.J. Komarnitsky, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Jul. 5--WASILLA -- Flopped on a pink blanket, eyes closed and drool dripping from his floppy jowls, 4-year-old Ben E. Ficial bore the look of a weary beast. Then again, the boxer may just have been content with a job well done.

For almost an hour, he and a 3-year-old black Lab mix named Chyanne had patiently listened to a string of children read to them from books like P.D. Eastman's "Go, Dog. Go!" and Eva Ibbotson's "The Great Ghost Rescue."

The children, ranging in age from 3 to 11, took their job as seriously as military cadets, lining up to wait their turn and making sure to give their charges parting pats and hugs.

Meanwhile, the dogs did what they do best, licking faces, listening without interruption, and giving the children an excuse to read even when their canine audience wandered off to sniff a nearby building, or take a sip from an offered water bottle.

The Read to a Dog program, which runs from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturdays through July 22, is new to the Wasilla Library.

Held on the lawn at the Old Wasilla Town Site across from the library, it is modeled after similar Lower 48 programs that use trained dogs to help kids with reading problems. The idea is that children feel less pressured reading to a dog than another person.

"The dogs just listen," said youth services librarian Karen Davis. "There aren't any of the expectations."

In some places, children work one on one with the dogs in indoor settings run through school districts. The Wasilla program is less formal. Anyone can come, and, in practice, it has been less "read to a dog" than "read with dogs around."

Those who came Saturday followed a familiar pattern.

While the adults sat on a picnic bench or grass, the youngsters settled in next to the dogs, picking a spot on the blanket or nearby lawn. Several brought their own books to read, and all made sure the previous children had finished reading before starting their turn.

Once reading though, they paid little mind to their canine audience and didn't seem to notice or care if their charges wandered off as Chyanne did to find shade under the picnic table.

Asked bluntly if she thought Chyanne listened to her rendition of "The Great Ghost Rescue," 11-year-old Mariah Moschetti quickly responded, "No."

While the readers Saturday did include two children with special needs, most didn't appear to have any trouble with their reading. Instead, the appeal was the dogs.

Sydney Jacobs said her three grandchildren begged her to go, convincing her to come even though she wasn't feeling well.

The children have their own dog at home, but it's a husky mix with a short attention span, she said. Ben and Chyanne, in contrast, are happy to lie around listening.

Betsy Woodin said the program is a highlight for her 8-year-old son Calvin Anderson, a third grader at Finger Lake Elementary.

"He feels like he's doing something for the dog," she said.

While most jumped right in to reading, others took time to warm up to their subjects. Six-year-old Cassidy Hoffman, a blond-haired first grader described by her mother as naturally shy, shook her head when asked if she wanted to read to the dogs.

Eventually coaxed by her mother, she moved to the picnic bench and started to read silently from a Clifford book, and later began reading out loud.

Dawn Diaz, who owns Ben and Chyanne with her husband, Bob, said the dogs enjoy the attention even if they don't always appear to be listening to their readers.

All she has to say at home is, "Do you want to go read to a kid?" and the dogs go nuts, she said.

Diaz said the couple first got interested in the reading to a dog program while living in Maryland. Ben is too personable not to work with people, she said.

"He was just completely love in a little package," she said.

When they moved to the Wasilla area in 2003, they started looking for similar programs.

Both Ben and Chyanne are trained therapy dogs, certified by national organizations that vouch for their mild manners.

Besides the reading program, Ben has also made the rounds at multiple Valley schools, senior centers and a local youth shelter, Diaz said. He even has his own business card printed with his picture. The card also lists Bob Diaz' name, but Ben's picture gets more attention, he said.

Adults would probably come up with many reasons for the dogs' appeal. Mariah Moschetti couldn't offer any such deep analysis. She said she wasn't even sure which dog listened to her read. But she said, "It's something I like. I can't point to why, but I like it."

FOR MORE INFORMATION about the Read to a Dog program, call the Wasilla Library at 376-5913.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

So, congratulations Mariah...on your first contest win...and your little prize...which I suppose you will use to create more. I agree with the Toontown Council...you did a good job young one...now remember you come from creative types...so it is in your blood...keep it up!!!

Love,
your lass...aunt didi...