tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7682883526484973272024-03-05T13:34:59.132-08:00Tales In The Key Of LifeMy take on things that go on in this thing we call living...stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-63688049460569156512012-11-09T21:34:00.000-08:002012-11-10T09:04:41.529-08:00'Nails Jane,' a novel by Trista DiGiuseppi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
'Nails Jane' by Trista DiGiuseppi – a Review by Steve Tuffill</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2gGLpXMDVbSbtyUhQpj4ydzJyYnICYgPxv7MUcwCuv4a4izRZGW4gfhVZxCU3NjWQbtemmhgQeC6xDj8o3x3NPJQjEvwDEaSrmVJVPDrQTbRSMhNyHN6QPGb5GKWKxOFhh_fQYSVBo-mj/s1600/Nails+Jane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2gGLpXMDVbSbtyUhQpj4ydzJyYnICYgPxv7MUcwCuv4a4izRZGW4gfhVZxCU3NjWQbtemmhgQeC6xDj8o3x3NPJQjEvwDEaSrmVJVPDrQTbRSMhNyHN6QPGb5GKWKxOFhh_fQYSVBo-mj/s320/Nails+Jane.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
<h1>
</h1>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nails-Jane-Trista-DiGiuseppi/dp/0615558666/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">'Nails Jane' is a novel by Trista DiGiuseppi, available HERE on Amazon</a></span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">and <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93513" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE on Smashwords</a></span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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This story blends traditional sci-fi themes with those of
religion, philosophy and fantasy.</div>
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<br /></div>
From the get go, we are immersed in action and it seems that
we will be in constant conflict with all kinds of challenges. We are thrown
into an opening scene where two factions are aggressively in conflict with each
other. Later on in the book, landing on distant planets and cohabiting with
wolves, our popular protagonist runs the gamut of senses where we feel what she
feels. There are hopes and fears, joys and tears and every single emotion
imaginable.<br />
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<br /></div>
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DiGiuseppi uses a device in her novel by employing specific reflective
short paragraphs in italics that present the self-discovered thoughts of the
Narrator, someone called Ati. But it is far more complex than that. You might not
find this kind of structure in a novel that has come through a conventional
publisher, and quite possibly much of this would have been removed as being
inappropriate.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I feel that this novel is somewhat anachronistic, because I
sense that certain things should have already happened before the action
begins. This applies particularly to the more religious elements in the story,
even though she cocks many a snook at conventional religion. But, nonetheless,
setting this anachronism aside, the story is a riveting read. Certainly, the
scene at rise makes the reader feel that he or she has hit the ground running.</div>
<h2>
Trista DiGiuseppi’s Style:</h2>
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This is what makes this book so different. DiGiuseppi has
structured this book in a way that makes it very unique indeed. As a writer
myself, I applaud the fashion in which she has departed from convention in many
ways by publishing this sort of material.</div>
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Much of the story is written describing present-day America
in all of its detail. We find camps with homeless people, street corners, even
grocery store parking lots described in exhaustive detail. I feel a kind of
vicarious intimacy with these scenes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The only question I have about the book, which I think I
should mention early on in this critique, is that it assumes that conventional,
God-fearing and Jesus-worshiping religion as we know it today in the 21<sup>st</sup>
Century would still be around even at the beginning of the futuristic landscape
that she has painted. This, I believe, detracts quite strongly from the reality
that she has carved out in her story. Even the maverick methods used in writing
this story are totally acceptable. Having read many books using different descriptive
techniques such as books by Salman Rushdie, William Burroughs and other
alternative writers, I think this is an interesting way of using multiple themes, played out in the form of a novel. It is almost as if it has been written
like a screenplay but in words. This cinema-vérité approach, however
unconventional, is something that I would welcome seeing more of. Reading
this novel, it sometimes feels like the author was mixing themes in Dante’s “Inferno” with
ideologies from Burrough’s “The Naked Lunch” and descriptive passages from Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.”</div>
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However, this would seem far too simplistic a summing up of
a work where so much is being put into describing humans, humanity and all their
magnificence, set against an evil (in the guise of Versinon) that pervades all
of creation. I do not want to wax too religious, since this novel is a tender
effort at re-aligning people’s understanding of religion and all that it
entails. Many a time, I myself have had thoughts such as these, that are found throughout
the novel and which persuade a belief in perhaps the supernatural, but more
importantly the feeling of spirituality. This of course negates the purpose of
religion for the sake of religion, and I applaud this.</div>
<h2>
Descriptions and Characterizations:</h2>
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The scenes are painted with poignant animation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DiGiuseppi paints pictures that, even though painful, engage
the reader. Take for example the “flesh and metal” description that appears around
the beginning of part two, after Ati has been reborn and is spoken by Marou (who
takes up the narration from this point): </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I cupped my
ears in pain as the sound impossibly tore through space.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Monster wrapped
its long, black fingers around my wings and attempted to tear them from my
back. My flesh burned as the thing began to grind its pointed, metallic grip
into my feathers and bone.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take also for example the invitation in the initial chapter to
the Puritan banquet. Gustav invites Ati to a banquet, (and DiGiuseppi describes
this in an interesting fashion): </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘“</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I would like to invite you
to a banquet! My people do not hold these festivities often, but the food is
remarkable,” he said. As he spoke, his eye twitched and a pungent odor wafted
from his mouth.’ </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Spoken by a man wearing ‘large rubber gloves and matching rubber
boots’ hardly describes a conventional invitation to a banquet. Be that as it
may, we are quickly reminded that this is the future and nothing conventional
is likely to happen at the banquet. The banquet is a trick to get Backsliders
in there as a sacrificial penance, but it all goes horribly wrong. Chanting
Christian chants, the Puritans go down like flies as they surrender, dropping
the syringes they were going to use to poison everyone, and everyone is frozen
into inactivity. </span>DiGiuseppi does a great job of describing this.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout, DiGiuseppi employees <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=768288352648497327" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">zoomorphism</span> and,
if it is appropriate to talk of it as such, the opposite of anthropomorphism,
(since zoomorphism is assumed to be the antonym), but clearly is not. What I am
describing is the liberal usage of animal traits to describe the beings in ‘Nails
Jane.’ For example, this is delicately expressed in the chapter with the
wolves, and appears throughout the book in liberal quantity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here Ati is beginning to come back to her complete memory of
everything that went before, and she remembers Eva, her clone figure (or was it
perhaps the other way round?):</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“On my infant
world, under three moons, I sat with Ati as she reminisced. It was at that
moment I recognized her scent.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
story goes on to talk about how humans might mask the place and animal scent, and
how this might make it difficult to recognize someone in the way that an animal
would recognize another animal. DiGiuseppi explains this in dialog:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now that I
sit next to you, and you are no longer a product of unnatural creation, I smell
her. And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">only</i> her.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And so here is presented yet another reason why animals can
be confused by multiple scents. The story can only bring us closer to the
animal kingdom and the way they coexist.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Something that I noticed while reading all of these animal
characterizations, was that it resonated for me a lot like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Alice Through
The Looking Glass,’ and the personification of tiny creatures, (who all have very
valid points of view!) is very much the domain of Lewis Carroll. Sometimes when
a famous author is typecast, it is hard to understand that that type of writing
will never appear again from the same pen. (I dread to think what would happen
to a modern-day ‘Jabberwocky!’) Nevertheless, this looks like another part of
DiGiuseppi’s style and again I applaud the way that this was brought into being.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
DiGiuseppi describes humans as being: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“…magnificent,
magical and innovative. They are alchemists — building things from other
things. The human is amazing by design, perfect in many ways yet flawed by their
arrogance. They are powerful, intelligent, and beautiful — and they know it.
Humans mask these qualities by distorting projections of themselves, puppeteers
beneath strings of Institution…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is a remarkable piece of truthfulness, and I might add that it applies to more
than ‘Nails Jane!’</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
book has a nice balance of tranquility and violence. While the beautiful and
sacred process of creation, death and re-creation has some prosaic qualities,
the description of the actual strife between beings and monsters ranges between
visions of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ — you can almost smell the fetid
reptilian flesh hanging from the jaws of the dinosaurs, and feel the crash, as
these monstrous bodies thunder down to earth and lay still, never to move
again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Other
things in ‘Nails Jane’ are reminiscent of the ‘Da Vinci Code’ where ciphers
lead to clues, and there is one enormous meaning behind everything. This is
also very well-executed and there are some nice touches, like when Ati, James,
and Thal attempt to defeat the Ruin in the basement of the cathedral in
Chicago, where the code pans out to 101, a familiar entry-level course code,
this time in basic cryptography.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There
is no doubt about it. This book would make a great movie!</span></div>
<h2>
The Plot:</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Versinon is an outer-space life-hating phenomenon that has
interrupted the course of human history, bringing war and destruction. A mini
synopsis begins Chapter 3 and describes the evolution, “Nails Jane”-style,
bringing a fourth class of being into the story, the Naturals. (So far, there
are Backsliders, Puritans and Humanoids (Versinon’s trusted troops), all
coexisting in this motley universe aggravated by the effects of Versinon.) Fact
is, Versinon has had his wicked way on mankind and all other sentient life on
whatever planets he can get his hands on. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main character, Ati, appears to be just a soldier
fighting a losing battle against all odds including her own identity. We slowly
see Ati progressing through an arduous journey of self-discovery, as she poses
a serious challenge to the organized religion factions, managing to save not only the entire
universe but also helping the creators of this universe survive right to the end. Ati was raised
by her Grandfather and we see the interactions in a series of flashbacks that
help flesh out the rest of the story. The transformations she undergoes take
her to the point of death at the end of Part One and all of this hints at a
further transformation beginning in Part 2.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Part 2 sees the re-creation of Ati and the restoration of
her memory, which comes in stages, while she is mentored by her guardian, who
is in charge of her re-creation. We are given a short “breather” before she has
to return to Maug, the planet of the wolves, which is already under attack from
the Snakes, but will be shortly under attack on another front from the Monsters. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here Ati catches up with her humanoid friends and the story
that was left from before is taken up again. Although the story seems to
contain many flashbacks and, in this respect, points back to the time when she
took the abortive mission, hoping to return home, but crash landing on the ice
planet, Maug’s frozen sister planet, where she dies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They win the battle but there is loss of life and our
friends are exhausted from the combat. And now they are planning a return to Vaylock
and ultimately to Earth where they will regroup and finish what they started. Briefly
on Vaylock they find the video transmitters which are sending a false message
to Earth, overpower Bangkor, but not before James retrieves a whole folder full
of codes and Ati broadcasts a message to their compatriots on Earth, revealing
the whole plot of deception to them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back on earth they land in Chicago and head for a massive
cathedral since it is within the coordinates. Pretty soon our friends find a
locked basement, opening it with the code retrieved from Bangkor’s folder, but
not without some further deciphering, since it is a three digit code rather
than a four digit code. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And in the basement, working at a computer, Ati finds her
and Eva’s husband, Robert, who does not recognize her and even feels that
trickery has brought them together. Feeling failed by the rebellion, Robert
refuses to believe that Ati is the reincarnation of his deceased wife and
declares his vehemence for the Council. At the same time he shares the fact
that they will all be fighting a common enemy, Versinon. The other macabre fact
is that Robert is in control of the Ruin, the evil slithering mass of metal,
flesh, wires, blood and electricity, that he intends to use to annihilate Versinon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Robert gives the fateful command and sadly this leads Ati’s
faithful friends to expire after a very one-sided fight that is more the result
of the structure collapsing than a hand-to-hand combat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
James’s last breath discloses to Ati that she is pregnant
with Marou’s child. And he tells her that Marou told him to protect her since
he (Marou) is now her Keeper. Before Robert can get the Ruin to crush Ati with
falling concrete, No<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">é, the Humanoid appears with the tablet
and takes control of not only Robert, but the Ruin and Robert’s console. </span>No<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">é
shoots Robert dead with his gun after he protests that it is all Ati’s fault.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
No<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">é, after
declaring that it would be a waste of bullets to shoot Ati, since he did not
know what she was anyway, walks off into the distance accompanied by the Ruin, walking
faithfully at his side.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ati falls asleep by her dead
friends. She awakens to the sensation of being licked by a cat (since the cats
tongue is like a rasp.) It is indeed a cat, and beyond long she finds herself
in conversation with her. Her name is Pei. And Pei leads her to the City of
Cats where she meets her mother, Queen Guinevere, who is dying of some terminal
disease and will not live much longer, succeeding the feline throne to Pei. At
the time of the Queen Cat’s passing, Ati is reunited with Marou where she
confronts him with her pregnancy. He denies intentionally making her pregnant
and somehow, he manages to convince her of a higher objective. Marou flies with
Ati across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean and then on to
Australia since this is where they think they will find the lost outcrop of Humanoids.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After traveling westward for
some time, they arrive on the Australian coast in the ruins of a large city. In
the basement of an abandoned school they find a control hub like the one under
the cathedral in Chicago. But nobody is there. There is a scent down there
among the devastated equipment that is familiar to Ati and she thinks that she
can follow that scent. They find many Humanoids gathered together in a
clearing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Marou feels that he can sense the
presence of Death in the sacred place beneath the rock formation that was once
called Three Sisters. Marou confronts Death himself and accuses him of
mismanagement. To make amends the creature discloses where to find the Ruin:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 1.0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Fly until the moon rises,
behind you. You will find the beast there…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They find an abandoned factory
and sure enough there is the Ruin. Marou attacks the Ruin and sparks fly from
the Beast. Humanoids run out of the facility to see what is going on. Ati takes
them on one at a time and curiously they see dead bodies and <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">appear not to wish to engage</span>. Finally, the Ruin attacks Ati head on and she decides to call its
bluff. She calls him Olar and he remembers his identity as a famous scientist
who is able to save her life, but who now engages in destruction only. Since Olar,
the Ruin, is no longer thinking rationally, Marou finishes it off and now they
turn to the annihilation of Versinon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They entered the facility and
after a long struggle they find Noé, at the heart of the facility who explains
to them that he does not need a set of hubs anymore since the computer system
he has built there controls everything. To prove the point he ties both Marou and
Ati up with a gesture from his tablet. Ati sees through his veiled threats and
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">if she</span> promises never
to return. She tells him she will accept his terms on one condition, that she can
save one human life by taking an infant with her. Noé agrees to these terms and
Ati goes to choose a child.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At the point when Ati secures the
child from the capsule, she kicks the tablet from Noé’s hands, and with the
tablet she reunites with Marou, who uses the tablet against Noé and triggers
off a gigantic interaction which eventually destroys the computer facility and
Marou too.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is left to the imagination as
to how Ati arrived safe and sound back at her beautiful birthplace, on Laero, where
there is tall grass, waterfalls, soft milky clouds and everything that describes
order, contrasting with the penultimate chapter which is a sort of treatise on
chaos and how beautiful it might be, painted by a painter or sculpted by a
sculptor.</span></div>
<h2>
The Story</h2>
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DiGiuseppi writes in the first person, and this makes this a
very reflective piece of prose. I think if this had been done differently the
novel would not have been so strong and compelling as it no doubt is. At this point
I should state that the novel is full of some beautiful hand-drawn illustrations
which are surprisingly powerful in their appeal. </div>
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<br /></div>
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A very powerful method that DiGiuseppi uses is
multiple-perspective story-telling. It is almost as if DiGiuseppi is writing a
screenplay and filling it full of attitude shots, that pick out the players so
well, you feel that they are there in the room with you perhaps just a few feet
away.</div>
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DiGiuseppi describes feelings very well and the almost
tranquil intermission of life on the planet, Vaylock, permits some hard looks
at the characters that make up the scenes. The back story that makes up the
telling of the search for Ati’s husband, Robert, keeps the fascination alive
with the stark reality of living on another planet and making sallies down to
earth in the guise of doing missions for Ati’s section commander, Bangkor. From
this perspective, the almost hopeless search for her husband is kept alive.</div>
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Chapter 5 sets the scene almost like some of the stanzas in
Dante’s Inferno. Or perhaps it was Milton’s Paradise Lost? </div>
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<br /></div>
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Chapter 7 is called “Memories” and is again a story within a
story but attempts to flesh out Ati’s background. The passage which comprises
most of the chapter is in the familiar self-reflective italics and describes an
awkward childhood with a difficult transition into a somewhat psychedelic adulthood
and a marriage where she bears a son who lasts minutes before dying. There is
an odd kind of death wish which she seems to inherit and the quasi-religious
capitalization of personal pronouns and abstract nouns seems meant to draw
attention to the language of Scriptures intermingled with the narrative.</div>
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Indeed this whole chapter is a psychedelic treatise on the
trance formation from being human in all of its fragility to transcending that
bodily form and turning into a being formed with plasma energy. This is
especially poignant after Chapter 6 reveals that the woman found on earth is
Ati’s apparent clone, making it just that more distressing because it is also
discovered that she too is in fact married to Robert.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The story continues with Ati’s transmogrification into her
new form via the opening of the transport capsule. DiGiuseppi describes all of
this with intense sensuality, appealing to all the senses and reading like a
psychedelic novel. </div>
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Indeed there are many very nice touches throughout the
novel. For example when Ati meets the Seer, it is depicted as liquid metal, a
Mercury figure with a watery androgynous tone. Again, the italicized short
paragraphs of self reflection interplay with her exposition of thought to the
reader. She questions it in her thoughts, asking whether she is in fact dead,
and it replies with a philosophical answer.</div>
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We have to remember that, after leaving the planet of the
wolves, and being misdirected, crash-landing on a godforsaken icy planet,
breaking her arm and having given up all hope of a safe return to Vaylock, Ati
goes through another session of self-discovery, where her relationship with
Eva, her clone, is yet again examined. Ati is told yet again that she exists
only as an experiment. For someone who is supposedly only an experiment, very real things are happening to her. The reader feels what she
feels, complete with her burning injuries. Other truths are unveiled at this
time and this becomes another stage in a story where a little more is revealed
about what is going on prior to Part Two.</div>
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The more that I read this story, the more I thought that it is not the novel of an
atheist, but more a story written by someone engaged with a sense of
spiritualism and a hate of organized faith, (where people are told to blindly
accept what they are shown.) “Nails Jane” is an attempt at re-creating
spiritualism, replete with deities, other gods, demigods and races of humanity,
intermingled with species and animal forms who all have a logical reason to be
there. It is not a novel where the novelist has attempted to re-create the
story of creation and a belief in God. This is a somewhat nervous look at the
future of mankind and highly imaginative story about an alternative view of
creation and how things might turn out.</div>
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Nonetheless, the figures are very believable and highly
lovable, from the computerized Wolf King, to the feline and vulpine creators of
beings. Human qualities such as compassion, empathy, endurance and trust abound
throughout the novel, which just goes to emphasize that it is a novel about
humans and how they deal with certain situations. On the other hand, the story
is full of superhuman, and somewhat supernatural beings and these go a long way
to making it a riveting read.</div>
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<br /></div>
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DiGiuseppi has done her utmost to keep the reader in suspense, right up to the final few lines of the story. There is twist after twist, and nothing is predictable. The characters are very likable and the central character, Ati, turns out to be a remarkable individual, who like the person that most of us aspire to, takes strife with resolve, reasons with a super-power brain and shows true passion and emotional engagement. She is also humble but also omniscient. A similar character could play a true heroine in Greek mythology.</div>
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Finishing my read of this book left me with a deep sigh as I lay contemplating what I had just read...</div>
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About Trista DiGiuseppi:<br />
<br />
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<br />
TRISTA DIGIUSEPPI is a writer and artist native to St. Louis, Missouri. She specializes in dark<br />
fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Nails Jane is her first published novel. Trista graduated from the<br />
University of Missouri-St. Louis and studied Psychology, Writing, Studio Art, and Anthropology. She<br />
worked in Special Education for ten years, teaching children with autism how to read and write. She<br />
now happily resides with her husband, and their Little Black Cat, in St. Louis.<br />
<br />
* * *<br />
<br />
(copied from the final page of 'Nails Jane')<br />
In the midst of all things apocalyptic, in a land riddled with collapsed cities and broken bridges, a<br />
book was found. Dusty and tattered, this book was still legible. Humanoids tramped over it, ignoring<br />
its subtle presence. Animals sniffed at it, peed on it, and otherwise contributed to its gradual decay.<br />
Backsliders, in their brief return to the forsaken planet of Earth did not take notice of this book.<br />
Until one day, a young boy picked it up from the soot of a fallen building. He told the Backsliders that he found a book. A marvelous book, he said. A book with animals and adventure. A book about a Girl who had no other name. He had to bring it along with him across the galaxy, to distant places. He had to read it aloud on the spaceship ride, which brought comfort and amusement to the rebel soldiers onboard. A boy found a book once long ago and this book was his treasure and torture. In the pages of this book, the boy learned about Good and Evil, hate and love, and above all else, friendship and kindness. As the boy grew into a man and the man grew into an even older man, he kept the book by his side. As heroes died and planets fell, as the rebels scattered and humanity diminished, he read and reread the book, keeping its meaning alive in his heart.<br />
<br />
The old man passed the book on to his granddaughter – a young woman unaware of her true origin. It<br />
was not long after that, he died. The granddaughter kept the book with her for as long as she could. Its story remained in her memory – even beyond death.</div>
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stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-66132533474933845952012-11-09T17:15:00.003-08:002012-11-09T17:15:55.542-08:00People Have A Very Short Memory, Don't They?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"People never know what they like, they like what they know..." - Anonymous</i></div>
<br />
Many people go through life bumping along and never settling down at anything, really. These are probably the happy ones. For the things they like are the things of the moment... The happiest folks are the people who have a short memory for the sad things and a real lasting memory of the things that please them.<br />
<br />
In other words, where is <i><b>your</b></i> comfort zone? Perhaps it is at home with the family. Or, perhaps you have no family and feel most comfortable in your ride, heading out for a great day at the beach. Do you really know what gives you pleasure? Are you satisfied with what you are doing in life? Let's face it, just lately, we have all had to tighten our belts and get along with far less than ever before. But has this impacted your life? Are you less well off? (I don't mean financially - everyone has had to deal with the business of doing more for less and there are a lot of long-faced folks out there who have had to take a major salary cut just to keep working.)<br />
<br />
I think I have discovered the key to happiness. People who are satisfied with what they have and are not constantly yearning for bigger and better things have got to be the happiest people in the whole world. But, don't get me wrong. A large chunk of us have had to put aside our ambitions, just to mark time while things get back together again...</div>
stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-9243241587466686202012-11-09T17:14:00.003-08:002012-11-09T21:54:09.316-08:00Gender Bender Meets French Twist - A Farce by Steve Tuffill (April 2006)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="WordSection1" style="text-align: left;">
<h2>
“Gender Bender Meets French Twist”</h2>
<h3>
A One Act Farce by Steve Tuffill</h3>
<h4>
copyright © Steve Tuffill 2006-2012</h4>
No part of this work may be reproduced without permission from the author. <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.9pt; margin-top: 18.4pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.4pt;">SETTING:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.45pt; margin: 0.55pt 0.5in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">INTERIOR:
“DAVE’S BAKERY,” A BAKERY THAT DOES LUNCHES, IN SOLVANG, CALIFORNIA – DAY,
NOON. BOILING HOT – AT LEAST 100F</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 10.9pt; margin-top: 15.9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CHARACTERS:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.5pt; margin: 0.65pt 0.1in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;"><b>RACHEL
WISE</b>, is a waitress who has had a gender change six weeks ago and who is
enjoying a new life in a different environment. Before, she lived as a “he” in
Los Angeles, where even the next-door neighbors don’t even know each other. Now
she is settling into this lively little Danish community where everyone knows
everyone else. She is adjusting well to being a female and getting to know
heterosexual couples. She has just celebrated her 33<sup>rd</sup> birthday. The
gender change operation was about six weeks ago...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.5pt; margin: 11.65pt 0.1in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>RUPERT SNELL</b>, is an
entrepreneur, who likes to buy ideas but has very few that are really his own.
Amazingly, many of his business enterprises are a resounding success. He is
thirty-five years of age. His latest marriage has lasted seven years. They live
in a villa close to Solvang in Buellton, CA.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.5pt; margin: 11.6pt 0.1in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>RUPERT’S WIFE, FIONA</b>, is a
very sweet girl, with a heart of gold. It has always been a mystery how she
ended up with RUPERT. (They married pretty soon after her eighteenth birthday.)
She is about 5 foot eleven and has long shoulder length straight black hair and
gorgeous blue eyes, making a classic Celtic look. She has a kind of gamin
prettiness, a trim, slim body with long, beautiful tanned legs which she likes
to show off. She is twenty-four, but could be mistaken for a twenty-year-old
with those innocent–looking eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.5pt; margin: 11.55pt 0.2in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>CLAUS BORMAN</b>, is unmarried
and a very tall, big built German, with a muscular tanned body. He has the
shape of a body-builder but follows the profession of accountant, something
that he has done since college. However, he is an unstable personality, having
had several failed suicide attempts with sleeping pills. Somehow, luckily, his
brother SVEN has always managed to be there to get his stomach pumped before it
is too late. CLAUS has a sallow liverish look about him, probably from the
atrocious way he has treated his body. CLAUS and SVEN are twins and therefore
have the same birthday and age – thirty-six. CLAUS talks American without a
trace of accent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.5pt; margin: 11.6pt 0.1in 0in 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;"><b>SVEN
BORMAN</b>, brother of CLAUS, is married, but his wife, Glenda, tends to lead her
own life, going to poetry readings and art galleries. SVEN does not suspect any
infidelity, even though they hardly have five minutes for each other every day!
However unstable this sounds, SVEN has a very firm head on his shoulders which
is not soft. Many has been the time when he has had to confront personnel from
the emergency services at some ungodly hour in the early morning to deal with
something his brother has done. (SVEN sounds a lot like Artie Johnson – “Very
intressting – but schtoopid!”). The brothers live in L.A. in the same block as
RACHEL when she used to be a guy, Rob Katt. They</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">knew him as the friendly bar
tender at their favorite bar, The Flamingo Coop, in Los Angeles.</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></span><br />
<div class="WordSection2">
</div>
<div class="WordSection3">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 11.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SCENE
AT RISE:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The place is almost
deserted. Only one table has people sitting there. RUPERT and his wife are
there and are getting ready to order lunch</span></i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">. <i>The speakers are playing seventies
music, like Seals & Croft, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and balladeers
like Cat Stevens...</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 13.6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">The
waitress, who is our main protagonist, RACHEL WISE, saunters over to their
table, order pad at the ready.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">She approaches the table. We
see the main door open as more people come in for lunch.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.7pt;">RACHEL
(walking over...)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-top: 1.7pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt;">I’ll be
right over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Welcome to Dave’s! What can
I get you to drink? Let me tell you about our great special today...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll have a glass of water
with lemon. Then I’ll just have the usual bread roll and soup, OK?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-top: 1.75pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">And
for you ma’am?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">Diet
Coke, no ice. I’ll have a tuna melt, on a whole wheat bun...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt;">OK –
that’s a water with lemon, diet coke, no ice, a bread roll with the soup, and a
tuna melt on whole wheat bun. <i>(To RUPERT and FIONA) </i>Coming right up.
I’ll bring your drinks right over...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RACHEL <i>(walks over to new</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt;">customers)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hi my name is RACHEL, and I
am your waitress today. Okay, now what can I get you folks to drink? We have a
great special today...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">CLAUS
<i>(cutting RACHEL short...) </i>Can you get me a strong black coffee, please,
Americano style with the hot water, no cream no sweeteners, thanks. <i>(looking
at the menu) </i>I’ll have a French Roll salad. SVEN?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I'm shorry; I am not
familiar mit zee menu. Do vyou haff zee Cherman beer?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.6pt;">RACHEL <i>(rattling
off list...)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We have Schlitz, Bud, Bud
Light, Coors, Fosters, Heineken, Molson Golden, and Dortmunder Pils – I guess
you could call that the German one...</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">OK, I’ll haff zee Pilss. Do
zhyou just haff a roast beef sandvich, straight up on zee Italian hearty veat
bread roll, please? I’ll haff zee full size mit plenty off Provolone cheese,
cilantro, lots off olives, salad, tomato, pepper shakes ant honey mustard.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt;">(Rachel
walks away to place the order at the window...)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">SVEN <i><br />(Turning
to Claus, in a</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> stage
whisper)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Did you hear zee voice? Did
you see zee valk? If I am not mistaken, she calls herself RACHEL, but she iss
zee</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">reincarnation off Rob, from
zee “Flamingo Coop”! She looks just like him. Funny how he mysteriously
disappeared about a couple off months ago, back in late March! <i>(His voice
goes up at the end of this speech...) </i>I tell you, life gets craschzier
every seengle day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Our
bartender, Rob, from down below, where we live, was a really fine barista, and
made extremely good coffee along with the great cocktails he served. <i>(Mysteriously)
</i>Liked the way he looked too! <i>(Turning around 180 degrees...) </i>Don’t
be ridiculous! You are crazy! She is a girl! How can a girl be a guy? How could
she have changed from one gender to another, just like that. Wait a minute, it
doesn’t seem possible, although she really does look like Rob... <i>(Barely
believing that he is saying this...) </i>Could Rob have had one of those
sex-change operations? <i>(His eyes light up) </i>best thing he could have
done... <i>(Gazing over at the pastries) </i>I could have a piece of that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL <i><br />Giving
the brothers their</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> order)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">One
French Roll salad and a roast beef on Italian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT
<i>(to FIONA)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">...I am getting another great
opportunity here that could win us plenty of business. I should have one of
them Pulitzer prizes for my business ideas... <i>(briefly pausing for effect)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Get this picture. A small
town near here, out in the fields with the tree-huggers, a sleepy little village,
and in that village a 70’s music store with 70’s décor, even 70’s type people,
Hall and Oates playing, Seals and Crofts perhaps, a love-in...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.75pt;">FIONA <i>(Cuts
him off...)</i></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Suppose
people don’t like seventies music? Suppose all people want to do is fornicate
with each other? Suppose nobody likes your boring ideas any more?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .05pt;">I
couldn't care less. People always like my ideas. I’ve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">suckered
a million people and still they come back for more. Why the hell do you care?
I’ve paid for your life, three times over... Hell, I even own this restaurant,
yet I don’t see the help</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt;">coming
over to my table to “sucker” up to me... They should kiss my feet for all the
benefits I worked into their contracts. I expect at least that from all of my
staff...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You never worked any
benefits into my contract. So what's in store for us tomorrow then? Another
boring day at the races? Can’t we ever do anything I like to do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, I don't know yet. I'm
kind of “last-minute.” Ideas for things to do don't ever flow until an hour or
two after I get up and usually when someone suggests them to me. Gosh, Fiona, <i>(accusingly)
</i>you have never even tried to get used to that. I just wish one day we could
just roll out of bed, head out into the unknown and enjoy each other’s company
as if we had never even been to bed together!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So what's the use in talking
to you, then? I don’t know why we are still together. I’m just your whipping
post!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One French Roll salad here
and a roast beef on Italian over here. Provolone, salad, tomato, cilantro,
olives, with the honey mustard... Anything else I can get you folks?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">No thanks! Boy, am I hungry!
I could eat an elephant ---- among other things. <i>(said with relish...)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">FIONA <i><br />(returning from an extended interlude in the ladies
restroom.)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They have lavender soap in
the restroom. Here smell my hands! You know, some people’s bathrooms are better
than most peoples’ homes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: .15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">...Now
in this property, I really want to create a spa for everybody - somewhere
anyone can go, listen to seventies music,</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: SimSun; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection7">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.2pt; margin-right: .2in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">get a massage, meet a girl
or a guy, eat a bang-up meal in a bang-up eating-house. I want to create a
place where people can show love to each other again...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.15pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .1in; margin-top: .25pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Supposing
we don’t want seventies music? Suppose we don’t really want to show our love,
and all we want to do is bang each other? Isn’t that all people ever want out
of a relationship?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: 13.25pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; text-indent: 3.15in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">RUPERT <i>(Ignoring FIONA again...) </i>...I really don't
know that the youngsters today can write any kind of real music anymore. All
they do are covers, covers and more covers. I will see that the record industry
creates something brand new for people to enjoy. Today, I am going to the bank
about that new record company I want you to run for me...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .4in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Yelling) </span></i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Are you telling me that this
waitress, who calls herself Rachel, used to be our Rob, from the “Flamingo
Coop”? I want to find out more about this. <i>(Mysteriously) </i>I really don’t
know what to think anymore. I don’t know what I feel about Rob or Rachel. <i>(Defiantly)
</i>We should see if he wants <i>out </i>of the closet! I always wondered where
he went...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .4in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-right: .1in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Vot did ROBERT effer do to
syou? Vy are you so intent on makink trouble verever ve go? You know eet’s not
necessary to be aggressive to be a man. Compassion ant basic hooman kintness
are two schtrong attributes zat make a man eeffen stronker schtill...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-right: .3in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">You
know, we may be brothers from the old country, <i>(pensively) </i>but sometimes
I wonder about whether you are a man or not. You are always ducking out of any
confrontation. <i>(Conclusively) </i>D’you remember how it was at school? You
were always the first out in the school yard and you loved a good game of ball!
So, let’s “ball” out Rob! OK?!!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.35pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .1in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hey, hey, hey! Schtop it
man! Schtop now! Zis iss gettink to be a ridiculous argument about nussink.
Since school ve haff both done different things. And zee only thing szyou need
to do is to get out off yourself, ant live a life for a change. You need to
take a chill-pill... Let yourself go... Decite vot your preffrences are, and,
voila! You vill be a new person, just dyink to get out...</span></div>
</div>
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<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.65pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: right; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .1in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">What is
it to you? Your boring life has never taken you anywhere anyway. You should
wake up to what is going on around you. I’m fully awake. Go on Sven, wake up
and smell the coffee...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt;">SVEN <i>(defiantly)</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-right: .2in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Eet’s all zee same as eet
ees to zyou...! I smell molten tar, not coffee. And zyou are not olt enuff to
rememper the disgusting “Ersatz Kaffee” we used to haff in zee olt country.
Look, instead of sinkink about rattlink peoples’ cages, vy not sink about all
zee really great moments in your life. Zhen, sink about zis: today is ze first
day off zee rest off your life! And, I’m sorry! You only get vun life,
votteffer that Chames Bond character sinks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.65pt; margin-right: .3in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh all right then! So what
do you want <i>me </i>to do? It better not be anything embarrassing or
confrontational...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 14.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-top: 1.6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">Is
everything all right, guys?</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-top: 14.9pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: center; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 1.05pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-top: 1.6pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Don’t
ve know you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-top: 1.65pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">I don’t
know what you are talking about!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .1in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Vell, eeff szyou ask me, I
sink syyou look just like our bartender from zee “Flamingo Coop” in LA, ----
ROBERT. <i>(Pausing) </i>I am so shuure about zis, I sink I am goink crazee. Vy
do you look like a voman now?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.05pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">RACHEL
<i><br />(really rattled now,</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.65pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span>hesitation
in her voice...)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: .7pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I really don’t know what you
are talking about! My name is Rachel. Always has been – always will be. Is
there something wrong with your meal?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.05pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-top: 1.65pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">No –
but zere seems to be somesink wronk mit you...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.05pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.4pt; margin-bottom: .7pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .3in; margin-top: .5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">I still
don’t know what you are talking about! Look I can void the charges for the
sandwich. Can I get you another drink? How</span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.15pt; margin-top: .5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: right; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.2pt; margin-right: .1in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">about
another Dortmunder Pils? Here, let me fill that glass of water for you... <i>(Claus
pushes her away and grabs her by the hand)</i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-top: 15.05pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-align: center; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 1.05pt;">SVEN</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-top: 1.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">OK, get
me anuzzer Pilss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.25pt; margin-top: 1.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">And you
are gorgeous... I always wanted to hold your hand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.7pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .65in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 13.4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; text-indent: 2.5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RACHEL
<i><br />(really terrified now, her voice faltering considerably...)</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.55pt; margin-right: .1in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I really don’t know what you
are talking about! My name is Rachel. Always has been – always will be. I’ll
call Security... Oh all right then... I can’t resist this moment since it’s
been so long coming...</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.05pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 3.15in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.1pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.45pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .2in; margin-top: .4pt; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just let yourself go... I’ve
been coming here for a few weeks now and I wanted to get to know you...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I thought it was you. But I
just wanted to live my new life. I hadn’t made up my mind as to whether I
wanted to come out of the closet. But people are people and I liked it when you
came to my bar, Claus. Even that crazy brother of yours has some class! (I said
“<i>class” </i>not <i>“Claus!”) </i>Of course you know me – I’m Rob, your
bartender from down below in Los Angeles... I’m now a girl <i>(shamelessly) </i>–
what do you think?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">Vere’s
my beer? OH MINE GOTT!!!!!!!!!</span></div>
</div>
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</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .65pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">OH!
Whoaadamydoing? I do want a piece of that...What do you call yourself? Rachel
is it? Come here...! <i>(Grabbing her more strongly so that she drops the water
jug, which spills its contents right down Claus’s shirt, adding to the
sensation he is feeling.) (Claus throws caution to the winds...) </i>Let’s make
out here on the table...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RUPERT
<i>(from across the room...) </i>...and I would like a nice bakery in the
restaurant too, something with a juice bar, where they have vitamin and
supplement additives in the blended drinks...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RUPERT <i>(standing
straight up)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">WHAT
THE HELL???</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.35pt;">CLAUS,
CAN SZYOU HEAR ME? SCHTOP THAT RIGHT AVAY! EET’S INDEECENT! I never sought
you’d turn out like zis... I alvays tried. Do szyou schtill vant to be mit mee?
<i>(Sensing</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">disinterest) </span></i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, OK then. I’ll not get in
your vay, but I don’t vant to know szyou any more!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">CLAUS <i>(continuing)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">RACHEL, you are so gorgeous,
darling... I am so overjoyed I found you here! Let me get close to you. I’ll
move in with you. Where do you live?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL <i><br />(more
excited now, no more</i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> hesitation
in her voice...)</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">I
really don’t have a place to live. I have a room in a house with three other
girls and there’s nowhere for you. Don’t you have a place, or are you still
shacking up with your brother?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -1.1pt;">You
got it...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We can work this out. I
don’t believe how much I want to be with you, only you!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">Hey,
do you guys know each other?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">Well
yes, but not the vay szyou are sinkink!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Can’t you hold that in until
after you have clocked out, RACHEL? You never mentioned a boyfriend.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">I used
to know him when I was a guy! <i>(Triumphantly)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And now I can enjoy him as a
woman enjoys a guy! We are an item! Yes, darling, yes! <i>(Even more
triumphantly.)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don't know what to say to
this. My employees are screwing up again. FIONA! <i>(He bellows) </i>We are
leaving right now! Get your things!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt;">What’s
your problem then? RACHEL needs support and sympathy. She is now a beautiful
woman, so she must be treated like a lady...!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.75pt;">RUPERT
<i>(Whimpering...)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don't know about that.
Girl or boy, used to be girl, or used to be man, they shouldn’t be making out
right here in the restaurant. Oh my God! Does she use the guys’ or the gals’
restroom? It’s all so unhygienic!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you are not in the car in
one minute, consider our divorce to be the next thing on the agenda!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So why should I care or even
listen to you again, RUPERT, then? What have you really done for me ever?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.6pt; margin-right: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: auto; mso-line-break-override: restrictions; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; punctuation-wrap: simple; text-autospace: ideograph-numeric ideograph-other; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before you knew me, you were
bagging groceries in Ralph’s! I discovered you! I don't know how you will
survive without my money. You have nothing without me...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t give a fuck about
your money, your wealth, and all of your crazy ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">RUPERT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shitty business...! <i>(Muttering
to himself.)</i>I suppose I could look up Pam, she always wanted me for <i>me</i>,
and she’s only an hour away. Let’s see, I could end this marriage very quickly
here in California...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hey guys, I want you to know
that I am on your side and want to help you. I, myself, know what a bad
relationship can do to a person’s spirit! And you have truly liberated your
soul. So be yourself.<br /></span></div>
</div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Thanks
FIONA! I always knew that you would be the real friend when I met you and
RUPERT. I can’t figure out why, but I knew that RUPERT would be such a flake
when the chips came down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">So
what are you guys doing now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I don't know yet. I'm kind
of a last-minute person. I want to enjoy life with CLAUS for a few weeks first
but the big problem is that we have to find somewhere to live...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Why not here? I could put
you both up. I have a long, long lease on an apartment that that RUPERT has
forgotten about. He gave it to me as an engagement gift ten years ago</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">SVEN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">CLAUS – find szyour own vay
home! I am sure szyou understantt that I vill not be zsere ven you finally get
home eeff you effer do. I vill talk to szyou through my attorney. Goodbye! Eet
ees sad zat our relationship asss brothers should ent zis vay! And don’t effer
call me again!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh God, what have I done?
RACHEL, help me, I don’t know what I have done...! My brother...! I always
relied on him for everything. What will I do now?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt;">You
don’t need to worry. You and I have everything we could ever need together.
This is how it is: I need you and you need me. That is all that matters.
Nothing else does. Least of all your brother and all of his uptight little
circle. That’s in the past. Now you can be the Claus I have always known and
loved and there is nothing left to get in the way! Don’t worry! He’ll forget
quick enough. Besides, once you get to know the real me, you won’t have time
for thoughts about him any more <i>(blowing him a steamy kiss...)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">I know
you guys will want to enjoy time together as soon as you are able to. So here’s
my cell number. Call me when you’re ready and I’ll come and pick you up and
take you to the villa. It’s about a mile over that direction towards the beach.
I know we are all going to like it. You guys will have plenty of room – in fact
the guest room is all ready for you and we have plenty of food and a whole
cellar full of wine. Rupert was crazy about Red</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Zinfandel. We have just
about every variety of California wine here. Sandra Oh would have been real
jealous...!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">RACHEL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt;">Thanks
so much! We’ll contact you as soon as I’ve clocked out!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.25pt;">CLAUS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks so much, FIONA! I
don’t know we could have done this without your help and encouragement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">FIONA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: -.15pt;">No
problem! Anyone would have done that for anyone! Let’s drink to a great new
friendship! <i>(She raises the bottle she is holding in her hand, which happens
to be Sven’s abandoned Dortmunder Pils, and takes a great swig from it, sighing
afterwards with gusto!)</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[Jukebox plays “If You Can’t
Be With The One You Love, Love The One You’re With” by Stephen Stills]</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">CURTAIN
- </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;">END</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.1pt;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.55pt;">© Steve Tuffill 2006-2012</span> </span></div>
</div>
stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-85299233214209997862011-03-20T23:06:00.000-07:002011-03-20T23:06:27.971-07:00The More We Change, The More We Stay The Same<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Have you noticed how much more focused we are just lately?<br />
<br />
Things <i><b>impact</b></i> us more. Like the quake in Japan. Those poor people took the brunt of a major earthquake with hundreds of aftershocks that are still happening even now, and a terrible tsunami that took the lives of thousands. Not to mention the damage to their nuclear power plants and the ensuing trouble that has caused.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyN-_4bzDpLZd16Nqa5pSoQQLJuoJWvyzzWxUL-5FcUbpv8IxYRwlGe5HnZSI1FpHH0j2-x3uZcHYOkPzBSuJIaix1_S6nyd8JoIiEZ-G5jh7PejdQMcu-G0EoFd9MS3xdAUyq8RAUwPBF/s1600/HPIM2945.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyN-_4bzDpLZd16Nqa5pSoQQLJuoJWvyzzWxUL-5FcUbpv8IxYRwlGe5HnZSI1FpHH0j2-x3uZcHYOkPzBSuJIaix1_S6nyd8JoIiEZ-G5jh7PejdQMcu-G0EoFd9MS3xdAUyq8RAUwPBF/s400/HPIM2945.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Actually it is the nuclear accident that I want to talk about. I was listening on the radio today and I heard a thyroid cancer specialist telling people not to stockpile potassium iodide because it wouldn't do any good for radiation that might make it here over five and a half thousand miles away. Are you kidding me? What were those people thinking about? It would be a different story if they were thinking of packaging it up and sending it off to help those poor people in Japan. But I doubt if that was the reason for their trip to the pharmacy.<br />
<br />
Well, the other thing is the drama that unfolds before our eyes. All of this has become much more available because of high speed Internet networks and connections that hook the world up practically in real-time! I think the most dramatic thing has been the capability of a news story, replete with scary pictures and video, to go viral on the Internet in fractions of a second.<br />
<br />
Along with this, has emerged the new critical society, where everyone has an opinion, and this collective opinion has replaced whatever went before. Wait a minute! What actually did go before? Well, we had "Opinion" columns and editorial content. We still do have these. But nowadays, if someone makes a comment, the whole world gets to find out and really quickly too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvhmwoDUlCSLpZFjpeoRzrQsLDrNv2Xf4OxP72z5ENU7t-dmoGWlV9dtyKmWRdO72PA3GYoN2DmnT0fx2KI3w-nyrVnJ3xAbbbzZd7by2gL5KABWSpB5csOq7eYcPW7O4MyA4wSQC-571/s1600/100+Universal+City+Plaza+30th+Floor+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqvhmwoDUlCSLpZFjpeoRzrQsLDrNv2Xf4OxP72z5ENU7t-dmoGWlV9dtyKmWRdO72PA3GYoN2DmnT0fx2KI3w-nyrVnJ3xAbbbzZd7by2gL5KABWSpB5csOq7eYcPW7O4MyA4wSQC-571/s400/100+Universal+City+Plaza+30th+Floor+001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We are just getting to explore the localization part, since before people were really reluctant to give out their location. Now, the location helps in the overall data mix, to provide more detailed information about trends and other things. If you allow a social network access to your location, that network can add this information to the general information about where people are and this adds to the usefulness of the data.<br />
<br />
I see the future as being very interesting indeed. Without wanting to labor the topic of natural disasters, just recently, some scientists in California have managed to hone their prediction skills for the likelihood of a major quake here, and they are using some pretty advanced techniques. They are using satellites to measure the movement of the ground with GPS (Global Positioning System), tracking how far the ground has moved after a quake. This then allows the data to reveal how much stress is now bearing on the known fault lines.<br />
<br />
This new technology came into its own during the 2010 April Mexicali quake that was felt between Mexico and Fresno, CA. The data that came from that quake was plentiful and opened up a whole new range of possibilities for earthquake forecasts, something that everyone would be grateful for. Even Japan's automated warning system only gives them 30 seconds. It could be more for Los Angeles, because of the logistics inherent in our unique fault system and where the populated areas are located.<br />
<br />
Another thing that was revived after the Mexicali quake was the theory of a prominent Japanese seismology professor, Dr Kiyoo Mogi, whose ideas about this emerged some twenty years ago. His theory was that small quakes begin appearing in a circular formation around a central point and at a certain critical time, the doughnut hole (in the center of the doughnut) could be the scene of a major quake. His "Mogi Doughnut Theory" is talked about even today and Cal Tech scientists have based some of their work on his theory. <br />
<br />
<br />
</div>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0Valencia, CA, USA34.3898162 -118.564229134.3721092 -118.59341160000001 34.4075232 -118.5350466tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-28838701235923787492010-11-02T22:00:00.000-07:002010-11-02T22:00:49.656-07:00There is a Season, Turn Turn Turn!<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"...To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn), There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn), And a time to every purpose, under Heaven<br />
A time to be born, a time to die, A time to plant, a time to reap, A time to kill, a time to heal<br />
A time to laugh, a time to weep..." - </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: x-small;">The Byrds - "Turn Turn Turn"</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is the eve of the General Election here in America, November 2, 2010, and every single race with very few exceptions are extremely close, meaning of course that for every one American, another wants to vote opposite!</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are seeing the intense coverage, the pollsters and the pundits, all analyzing and assessing the figures as they emerge from right to left, from East to West. Almost predictably, the Right has the Right and the Left has the Left, meaning that a Democrat is likely to be elected in Hawaii, and California too, and a few Republicans will be elected in the Right.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course it is never as simple as that. Tom Brokaw had an interesting comment to make on the NBC Nightly News analysis show with Brian Williams. In fact it was very insightful. He said that it is now never the same every two years. Also he mentioned the fact that the Tea Party has had an effect on the Republicans, who have never been so diverse in living memory, with new diversity members headed for Washington!</span></span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And Sara Palin is telling the President that "...enough is enough", deploring the change in America. It would seem that much of America feels the same...</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And just to add to the mix, the Hispanics are coming out in force as voters. This will be a challenge for Harry Reid in Nevada since he probably needs to learn how to say "Muchas Gracias" said José Diaz-Balart of Telemundo, commenting on this overwhelming majority of Hispanics in today's political arena, another new phenomenon.</span><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Other stuff - there has never been quite so much money spent on political campaigning ever before, particularly here in California. Meg Whitman spent hundreds of millions on her campaign, where over two thousand commercial messages would be seen promoting her campaign each day on television. It makes you wonder how Jerry Brown could even be predicted the winner of this race! However, thinking a little deeper, this means that he has the backing of a lot of special interest groups.</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The truly crazy thing about this is that it will all be over tomorrow. True, the politicians will have to get to work, but the voting will all be over. However, don't let's forget, the pattern is now similar to Europe, that of stalemate, where nobody is truly satisfied. half vote one way and the other votes the other. I saw the same thing happening in Great Britain where a Labor Party (British version of Democrats) win over and over in a highly marginal race kept occurring. In the end an unelected Prime Minister (a phenomenon that could only occur in Great Britain) stepped down to a sigh of relief from everyone British, and now the Conservative (Republican) Prime Minister is busy dismantling all the programs that the outgoing party put in place (when the country could barely afford it!) In situations like this, there are many more truly unhappy people, so the politicians are going to have to work a lot harder to solve the real problems, and amazingly enough, after all the hype, the recession is still here in America, 9.6 million are unemployed and nothing about it has really been fixed!</span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div><div style="background-color: transparent; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's see what happens next! </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-91248225272732372532009-12-01T18:45:00.000-08:002009-12-01T18:45:36.193-08:00What Were You Doing, (In C Sharp Minor)I got stuck in a mess on the L.A. freeway system this morning.<br />
<br />
Oh Yes, I never said, did I? I have a job now. I am writing web content, among others things. Well, I left for work at a little before the usual time and, as I approached the freeway, i slowly became aware of a massive back-up, several miles long, and, after hearing the radio traffic news, I heard it had gone back as far as the next town...<br />
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Anyway the long and the short of it was that I spent around an hour and ten minutes going a distance I usually do in ten minutes most days and I guess, compared with other people, I got off lightly!<br />
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The humorous side of it was that the whole sig-alert was down to a gigantic truck spilling its load of... guess what? Pomegranates! First thing that went through my mind was: Persephone, stuck in Hades after eating the fatal fruit! Classic Greek mythology always seems to repeat itself, doesn't it!?<br />
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Got to work. I was late for one meeting, which went ahead anyway and a massive amount of stuff started to pile up.stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-67014927305329912612009-07-29T21:53:00.000-07:002009-07-29T22:01:16.433-07:00The Language of the WorldI speak seven languages. Really? Which languages? European languages? Asian languages?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Iiroubyd4uwP61R7IXrq_GbRupZTvUxtFeUaF0fKeGqXFquNMJC8T2dwMulYRlWItZm5D7FPV61u_Gw1ETRu35Lm_H6kYG0z5Vqi5QkkOSyb0ekfD0OJEQso0WAFSq06DZlCboR60R0V/s1600-h/2004_07_10_18_03_35.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Iiroubyd4uwP61R7IXrq_GbRupZTvUxtFeUaF0fKeGqXFquNMJC8T2dwMulYRlWItZm5D7FPV61u_Gw1ETRu35Lm_H6kYG0z5Vqi5QkkOSyb0ekfD0OJEQso0WAFSq06DZlCboR60R0V/s320/2004_07_10_18_03_35.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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In my mind I am conjuring up a visual image of the person who speaks all of these languages. How do they get daily practice speaking not just one other language than their "mother-tongue" but all of the ones they profess to speak...<br />
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It seems to radiate outwardly in a kind of a wave. Let's say the mother-tongue is English. In school we may have learned French, Spanish, German, even Italian. At a stretch, we may have learned Russian, but this is a far harder language to learn with past passive participles and other oddments.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxKjSKcZWdW1d3T4-_J7-iEBrnya6JPOTjpFGcuDoJTA0vBA4hyphenhyphenxMWVX8zpS6VTukelY0EKwV0IzRCiwnKPD47TtHC2jFxrbTmIZ-xze058T0asEo9aDVgORi7fsLWHz5WV2eD-AHTdBE/s1600-h/HPIM2948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxKjSKcZWdW1d3T4-_J7-iEBrnya6JPOTjpFGcuDoJTA0vBA4hyphenhyphenxMWVX8zpS6VTukelY0EKwV0IzRCiwnKPD47TtHC2jFxrbTmIZ-xze058T0asEo9aDVgORi7fsLWHz5WV2eD-AHTdBE/s400/HPIM2948.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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Going out with the ripples, it is unlikely that we would learn Portuguese or Greek. Even less likely that we would learn Romanian, Serbian or Croat. It is even less likely still that we have a command of Catalan or Basque. But we might. Following this theme, Asian languages are going to be really hard to learn, because they have no relationship to anything in our experience, unless we have spent time there in an Asian country with Asians and speaking an Asian language. And Asians are remarkably good at English, so why would we need to learn their language?<br />
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I began to learn Korean. I was fascinated with the culture. I got good at conversational Korean, but never learned the alphabet. This was a mistake, because I couldn't relate to anything which had been written, only spoken. Now, if I try and remember anything, it's a distant memory. And this was only a few months ago...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwSzg_UU_WWVEmCQ3f63Ldh8wX61pLqn3a3zv6t9F3d4yylF3HMUOm7al91VC6dPryma_Cd2-GsmC36X-GLdIy6WMIhoBJ8qt9A2Eb-7PBBGOcRIhE6XbDYbB7aB-KsOW3ow3Tc1rX5I5/s1600-h/Leafy+Wall+Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwSzg_UU_WWVEmCQ3f63Ldh8wX61pLqn3a3zv6t9F3d4yylF3HMUOm7al91VC6dPryma_Cd2-GsmC36X-GLdIy6WMIhoBJ8qt9A2Eb-7PBBGOcRIhE6XbDYbB7aB-KsOW3ow3Tc1rX5I5/s400/Leafy+Wall+Banner.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I think what I am coming to is that to successfully learn any language, you need to have a strong knowledge of the culture and also have someone who speaks that language spend time with you, helping you understand all the nuances and tricks in learning to speak it. Oddly enough, I remember enough about Korean to know that you have to use different words to say goodbye to someone who is leaving you than if you are leaving them!<br />
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Something which is really helping is the emergence of the Web 2.0 culture and all the social networks. This is helping stimulate bonds of friendship between really indigenous boundaries. It will be interesting to see how far this really goes. Even the Chinese censorship and blocking of outside web links is not having an adverse effect on social media. The word is still getting through. And woe betide you if you are an Iranian dictator who wants to stop a fair election! The word also gets out here too.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RZLPh_DBIjLTvyw7SlDbI5884ia9hlmMx5b48l0uQW4tpnQ3QPdXW0nNiTSVzR248_vVWlm5mEsj7sL5XmDBQF4BAiyZ0SaOFtFkzCPaZZkt3YTgP7z7BHMuFgTjwi0S2QQSlBtH1KaO/s1600-h/Nikon+Coolpix+-+GeoSat+Dishes+003+(crop).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RZLPh_DBIjLTvyw7SlDbI5884ia9hlmMx5b48l0uQW4tpnQ3QPdXW0nNiTSVzR248_vVWlm5mEsj7sL5XmDBQF4BAiyZ0SaOFtFkzCPaZZkt3YTgP7z7BHMuFgTjwi0S2QQSlBtH1KaO/s400/Nikon+Coolpix+-+GeoSat+Dishes+003+(crop).jpg" /></a></div>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-91811060096864653792009-04-20T21:48:00.000-07:002009-04-22T21:04:04.832-07:00Outrage, Twitter worm author gets a job at exqSoft Solutions...Why does someone who intentionally wanted to do harm to millions of people deserve a job more than me?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMw1nvKA9q4tP1rlzdb19hlMCYydOEVOsDPEU1odXXvtbIrmuURxCAHD3E9DF63tZbUqzdVeb_qYk3DXvC9bW0id4gJyj3yxYpn9UFKx3prIQpbGZdUFRnlhtV5VoaYEa_sSnSNXszktK/s1600-h/Worm+Job+Offer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMw1nvKA9q4tP1rlzdb19hlMCYydOEVOsDPEU1odXXvtbIrmuURxCAHD3E9DF63tZbUqzdVeb_qYk3DXvC9bW0id4gJyj3yxYpn9UFKx3prIQpbGZdUFRnlhtV5VoaYEa_sSnSNXszktK/s400/Worm+Job+Offer.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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"It's because he can code, Steve," I hear you shouting. Yes but that's all very well, but a 17 year-old? People do improprietary things every day and sometimes they are punished and other times they are rewarded. It is such a crazy world. I mean, why would this dude get a job and the inventor of that terrible virus "Melissa" be headed to jail?<br />
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I think that it probably feels better to do the right thing. Every day I and other people too, are presented with situations where, if we said nothing, we would be undercharged, or we would not have to suffer the consequences of what would happen if we had spoken up. But for some reason, it always feels better to "face the music!" <br />
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I don't know about you, but I feel better at night. I sleep better if I know I have done the correct thing. <a href="http://josephsoninstitute.org/michael/">Michael Josephson</a> has written a book about ethics. In fact Michael Josephson writes a weekly column about how ethics make the world a better place. You can <a href="http://josephsoninstitute.org/speakers_consultants.html#josephson">hear this on the radio too.</a> The amazing thing is, there is so much quality to living an ethical life. The knock-on effect of your actions are very far-reaching! You have no idea how far-reaching they really are until you come to view it all from a point outside of yourself. Then you will see.<br />
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Well, here's hoping that I made a difference to somebody's life today!stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-66402353403201640212009-04-18T15:52:00.000-07:002009-04-18T15:52:29.859-07:00If Music Be The Food Of Love, Om On.....We look endearingly at mantras. We gaze lovingly at yantras,<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40BzIlgv0MUpur-96_gEIg2G5hPs6Rs5Cx_bzxTSvMkCvYMBEj0hjr856414FCoAYfdLUqspqYBPk2KbhO1bQquiNOQT5ljy3NL23q00LPBB_TVuOcgriusd9IvacyUiMR86R-fOjvxc0/s1600-h/Painty+Thing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40BzIlgv0MUpur-96_gEIg2G5hPs6Rs5Cx_bzxTSvMkCvYMBEj0hjr856414FCoAYfdLUqspqYBPk2KbhO1bQquiNOQT5ljy3NL23q00LPBB_TVuOcgriusd9IvacyUiMR86R-fOjvxc0/s320/Painty+Thing.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>and yet we still cannot ground our chakras. Have you heard the crystal bowls being played? I had a friend who played the bowls. Their steady but haunting music had a positive effect on my thoughts. I was able to instill really great ideas in my head.<br />
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We need to breathe deeply and consider all of the great things that happen in our world. We need to be grateful for all the things we do have. We need to look forward to the things that will be coming to please us in the future.<br />
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There is so much in this world which is sad and dismal, we need to correct the balance. We can do that by being positive and upbeat. We need to look at happy things and face the brightness of the sun and shiny happy people. If we do that, all the shadowy, evil things will take their place behind us.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Every awesome day begins with the sun rising and warming our bodies. Even in winter, the sun comes for a few hours to warm up the earth. After the winter solstice, the days grow longer and the nights grow shorter all the time. That period is soon.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">"When the white eagle of the north is flying overhead,<br />
and the browns, reds, and golds of autumn lie in <br />
the gutter, dead.<br />
Remember then the summer birds with wings of fire<br />
flaying come to witness springs new hope,<br />
born of leaves decaying.<br />
As new life will come through death, love will come<br />
at leisure, love of love, love of life and giving,<br />
without measure gives in return the wondrous yearn <br />
for promise, almost seen.<br />
Live hand in hand, and together we'll stand</div><div style="text-align: center;">on the threshold of a dream." - The Moody Blues </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuRGpvlly_5N8wsY0DwMmUJz3GvYnN8ntN8GG-woiZzm__aujwyIlMKVhY40Ws4my3DZuR-76KL3XTje4DkR-zJxK4AHbTspljUNBZZoEjgdskK8eS9-YWNY4040-jn92k63DY7WjfrTp/s1600-h/Orange+Waves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJuRGpvlly_5N8wsY0DwMmUJz3GvYnN8ntN8GG-woiZzm__aujwyIlMKVhY40Ws4my3DZuR-76KL3XTje4DkR-zJxK4AHbTspljUNBZZoEjgdskK8eS9-YWNY4040-jn92k63DY7WjfrTp/s400/Orange+Waves.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-40200011949958565972009-04-09T10:51:00.000-07:002012-11-10T09:09:07.334-08:00Great Indian Food You Are Going To Love!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">An Indian dish called dhansak. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRgEpJUqzyJHYhVRsUOYXHf3txAqgMxPfJI4u5fIiaonF6O_-nCUYkcQkRNzYfYzzFGuxuWW6lWGIJlqgW8NUc408U9trsTF2c11-xlyVEGigPS1qws8w_TthwEV5MhjNfTWlCMJi9QrF/s1600-h/dhansak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRgEpJUqzyJHYhVRsUOYXHf3txAqgMxPfJI4u5fIiaonF6O_-nCUYkcQkRNzYfYzzFGuxuWW6lWGIJlqgW8NUc408U9trsTF2c11-xlyVEGigPS1qws8w_TthwEV5MhjNfTWlCMJi9QrF/s400/dhansak.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">It is made with four types of lentils (aka <b><i>"</i></b><b><i>dhal"</i></b> or <b><i>"</i></b><b><i>dal"</i></b>) and chicken. (Apologies to all the vegetarians out there.) The complete Indian (Parsee) name is murgh dhansak (meaning chicken curry made with lentils in a savory sauce.) Most restaurants who serve this dish make it medium spicy, so if you don't like any spicyness in your food, you may like to request it <b><i>mild. </i></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWefmjp3uH1OESWyPKQ1gc8GDFZ5NDRHvxcmYVoduWxYSHHczhKJzPt2_n1BhxKz9POsW5mG5901u9hB8KGG0ecRrR0xM3HiLt6U0f__R3m8l1FkC41PQIwDGftNW0NNUDSXvtwR11QL5T/s1600-h/800px-3_types_of_lentil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWefmjp3uH1OESWyPKQ1gc8GDFZ5NDRHvxcmYVoduWxYSHHczhKJzPt2_n1BhxKz9POsW5mG5901u9hB8KGG0ecRrR0xM3HiLt6U0f__R3m8l1FkC41PQIwDGftNW0NNUDSXvtwR11QL5T/s400/800px-3_types_of_lentil.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b><i><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">It is eaten with Pulao Rice.</span></i></b> Meantime here is the recipe for those who want to create it at home:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;"><b>Rice Method: (start this around 15 minutes to the end)</b></span></span></span><br />
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<table align="left" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="pbSortable" style="height: 210px; width: 346px;"><tbody>
<tr><td nowrap="nowrap" width="35">2 cups</td><td> Indian Basmati Rice</td></tr>
<tr><td>6 tbsp</td> <td> oil</td></tr>
<tr><td>1 tbsp</td> <td> whole cumin</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>6</td> <td> whole cloves</td> </tr>
<tr> <td width="75">1 stick</td><td> cinnamon</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>8</td> <td> whole black peppers</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>1/2 </td><td> onion, sliced thinly</td></tr>
<tr><td> </td><td> salt</td></tr>
<tr><td>1/2 cup</td> <td width="75"> frozen peas</td></tr>
<tr><td width="65">2 </td> <td> large black cardamon seeds</td> </tr>
</tbody> </table>
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Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add the pepper, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. Fry until brown. To this add the cumin and onions and fry until onions are soft and pink. Meanwhile wash and soak rice for 1/2 hour. Then add the rice to the pan and fry for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 4 cups water and cook until rice is done.<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b>Dhansak Method</b>:</span><br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="pbSortable" id="table2" style="text-align: left; width: 743px;"><tbody>
<tr><td height="112" nowrap="nowrap" style="text-align: center;" valign="top" width="75"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1/4 tsp </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/4 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/2 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 tbsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/2 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/2 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 cup </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
2 1/2 cups </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
1/4 cup </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2 </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/2 cup </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 1/3 cups </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2/3 cup </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/4 cup </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 tsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">11/2 lb </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2-inch piece </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">6 </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1/4 cup </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">4 </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
4</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
2 tsp </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 tbsp </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2/3 cup<br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1 1/3 cups </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1 tsp</span></span></span></div>
</td><td height="112" style="text-align: center;" valign="top" width="84%"><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">seeds from 3 cardamom pods<br />
</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ground nutmeg<br />
cloves </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ground fenugreek<br />
chili powder </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ground star anise </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">coriander </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">ground black pepper </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">mixed dal (lentil), washed and soaked for 1 hour </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">you will need: toor, masoor, urad and moong 1/4 cup each. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">water </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">chopped cilantro </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">large onions, chopped </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">diced pumpkin </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">diced eggplant </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">diced potatoes </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">vegetable oil </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">garam masala </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">boneless chicken breasts, cubed </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">fresh ginger, peeled and grated </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">garlic cloves, crushed </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">chopped fenugreek leaves </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">large green chilies, finely chopped up </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">(you could make this only one chili, if you want a mild dish!) </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">large tomatoes, chopped up </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">tomato paste </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">dark brown sugar </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tamarind water </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">chicken stock </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">white wine vinegar </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-weight: 400;">juice of 1 lemon<br />
salt and pepper</span></span></span></div>
</td> </tr>
</tbody> </table>
<br />
<span style="color: #663300;">Heat a dry skillet pan until it's hot, then add cardamom, cloves, and all the ground spices (nutmeg, star anise, pepper and fenugreek), and dry-fry for 4-5 minutes or until the spices are toasted and releasing their aroma. Put the dal (lentils mix) into a saucepan with the water, 1 tablespoon of the chopped cilantro, 2 tsp of the spice mixture, the onions, pumpkin, eggplant, and potatoes.</span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcYbXUZDgbu9L-2TzEdO0eclvnCRZWLyVGiytyVEbHvhOcKr4hul-QaAcU4r83_saZBRU-ZlJSgQejKCB0R3YQ6rn6ZJEff8U7nNBH67QIghnhcNZqMSjoGHw_eBywRcFCRPHYUNnTI5C/s1600-h/Dhansak+Vegetables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEcYbXUZDgbu9L-2TzEdO0eclvnCRZWLyVGiytyVEbHvhOcKr4hul-QaAcU4r83_saZBRU-ZlJSgQejKCB0R3YQ6rn6ZJEff8U7nNBH67QIghnhcNZqMSjoGHw_eBywRcFCRPHYUNnTI5C/s400/Dhansak+Vegetables.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes or until the vegetables and lentils are very soft. Remove from the heat and puree in a blender (that's right! in a blender) to a smooth sauce.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">Heat the oil and fry the remaining spice mixture with the garam masala. Add the chicken cubes, and fry on all sides to seal. (It is sometimes helpful to get the chicken going first by pre-cooking in a microwave.) Add the ginger, garlic, the remaining chopped cilantro, fenugreek leaves, tomatoes and green chilies to the skillet and cook for 10 minutes. Reminder: about twenty minutes into this final section of cooking, you will need to start the rice. Don't forget, because it is great when both gets served at the same time! Add the pureed dal mixture to the chicken with the tomato paste, sugar, tamarind water, and stock. Simmer gently, covered, for 35 minutes or until the chicken has cooked through and is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add the vinegar and lemon juice.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #663300;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">Simmer for 5 minutes and serve on silver platters </span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzcYSYBW_7LmUc-naa0emT5DMRieorVRQNDrV3T7Dl9fugnL3YsYrZIweKHch0litYrr2u-aTeHFOlIgE7-ET9eeiyPTBIASJSrbJE3sJlYjr72OUxG84TMMQoU6j6-LFwo23o7YUOs5W/s1600-h/silver_oval_26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzcYSYBW_7LmUc-naa0emT5DMRieorVRQNDrV3T7Dl9fugnL3YsYrZIweKHch0litYrr2u-aTeHFOlIgE7-ET9eeiyPTBIASJSrbJE3sJlYjr72OUxG84TMMQoU6j6-LFwo23o7YUOs5W/s400/silver_oval_26.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">with Basmati (jasmine, pulao or whatever rice! It really is best with Basmati. Look at my separate recipe for the rice, which needs to be started 11 minutes before the rest of the dhansak is ready.)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">Also, you might </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">want to break out the mango chutney and lime pickle! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="color: #663300;">Serves 4 - Enjoy!</span></span></span></div>
stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-80629402713350381142009-04-08T22:58:00.000-07:002009-04-20T22:29:15.341-07:00The Global VillageIn my last blog, we touched on the Global Village. I wonder how many of you really understand this whole concept? I mean, it is one thing to know of the Global Village and entirely another to realize the implications of it too.<br />
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The Global Village is the phenomenon where we see that goods from around the world are easily available in our stores and in places where we would have struggled to obtain these items before. Of course the original term, "Global Village" was coined by Marshall McLuhan where he showed that the electronic hook-up of the world via the World Wide Web and what went before, made the distance between global areas so much shorter in terms of time.<br />
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Instantaneous movement of information has caused this phenomenon and it is clear that along with the information movement, so have goods and items from all over the globe, become easy to move into any area. In a way, this has been a little hurtful to some people, and extremely beneficial to others. Let me explain: the people who had come to rely on a certain methodology for trade, had to rethink their way of doing it, because of all the new people from all over arriving on the scene...<br />
<br />
So, now we see a completely different landscape emerging and goods and products are much more easily available in every area (at least every Western area!) <span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">Also we are seeing </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;">implications for forming new sociological structures within the context of culture. So the global village is actually helping us learn something new about our world.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">There are many other things which the Global Village has changed about our lives. This blog is far too small for me to comprehensively go into all of them... I might do a Global Village Part #2 later on. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Watch this space! OK see you all for Powerblog #3! </span></span>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-4706579132375526792009-04-08T15:37:00.000-07:002009-04-20T22:29:51.890-07:00Coffee Facts You Might Just Not Find At Starbucks!Wow - what a plain title I hear you say!<br />
<br />
Sorry, I am trying to create 30 100 word powerblogs by May 01, 2009! So here goes... My friends all say I can talk about anything under the sun (or the hind legs off a sick donkey!) I'll leave you to be the judge of that!<br />
<br />
So here we are fishing for my first topic...<br />
<br />
Let's talk about coffee, shall we? How much does anyone really know about coffee? First of all, it is grown all over the world, usually in hot places. (I.e. British coffee beans don't exist, or at least you won't find any called British, nudging shoulders with bags of beans from exotic places like Kenya, the Goald Coast or Java!)<br />
<br />
Now that's out of the way, isn't it strange that although you don't see much coffee being grown in Britain, they sure drink a lot of it... Much more than say twenty years ago. Reason being is that they have improved their catered coffee over 700% since then. Gone are the days of the transport cafe, where a cup of "brewed" coffee was a mug of steamed milk with pretend coffee essence stirred in out of a bottle with the brand name "Camp" on it!<br />
<br />
I can feel a blog about the Global Village coming on, but don't hold your breath. That's next!<br />
<br />
OK, so to carry on, the coffee used to (after they ditched the stuff out of the bottle and started getting particular about how the powdered stuff would taste) be split into "arabica" and "robusta" beans. The difference was in the taste. The "robusta" beans had a coarse earthy taste to them and really lacked the delicate pungency of the "arabica" beans. Then the coffee importers would use so many parts "robusta" to so many parts "arabica."<br />
<br />
To cut a long story short, we are all spoiled for choice now. British coffee drinkers can get their coffee from Costa or Starbucks. And the choice is no longer restricted to which brew is ordered, since the coffee can be created as a traditional Italian-style blended drink, along with the shots of expresso-made coffee added to it to create a perfect "Caffe Macchiato" (spotted coffee, rather like the spotted cow, really!)<br />
<br />
I won't bore you with the rest. You can go to a Starbucks and just read the wall...<br />
<br />
Happy coffee drinking! See you all on the flip-side for Powerblog #2!stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-10358670033663814402009-03-18T17:40:00.000-07:002009-03-21T10:23:20.298-07:00The Headache of Trying to Get Just Any Job!You see people working, everywhere. You wonder why everyone is working and you are not.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhkLdhb8sDE0cgszj_jit3BGUdraarrR_TZ7S9rRNUBtIV4HhZ3CMVAecyyDPXghdDx_0MpYQkEezP1gHk6fQq3bct-h2Q9l9tlBD3jvjC5rYPHcH9HjHVPKwBQtNw0kuR_UvrEDvdmyup/s1600-h/HPIM5013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhkLdhb8sDE0cgszj_jit3BGUdraarrR_TZ7S9rRNUBtIV4HhZ3CMVAecyyDPXghdDx_0MpYQkEezP1gHk6fQq3bct-h2Q9l9tlBD3jvjC5rYPHcH9HjHVPKwBQtNw0kuR_UvrEDvdmyup/s200/HPIM5013.JPG" style="cursor: move;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiBq0gyS7VPEZuYsr7_2EaUMJOxGKrp8Uxj53zrBA05yREEGLfoTRGp8-VtNeoDU12HoFSyDEZu2eH_-881RrN39duNNJbWIh47kYS30BzzhFT0DFAPhm5Z8BcUO8X0xTFQ9LU4sZOhq4/s1600-h/Leafy+Wall+Banner.jpg" imageanchor="0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsiBq0gyS7VPEZuYsr7_2EaUMJOxGKrp8Uxj53zrBA05yREEGLfoTRGp8-VtNeoDU12HoFSyDEZu2eH_-881RrN39duNNJbWIh47kYS30BzzhFT0DFAPhm5Z8BcUO8X0xTFQ9LU4sZOhq4/s400/Leafy+Wall+Banner.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><br />
<br />
The President passes some fabulous law which will remove the burden of $1,200 a month on "just-in-case" health insurance to 65% being paid by the employers and 35% paid by you, effective from September last year. Only you don't qualify, because you were laid off just six days too early (August 25th.) So you wonder why this doesn't work for you because in reality, you have a far greater need than all of those "chosen few" who just happened to get in at the right "event time!" <br />
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Oh and the other thing going on is that you cannot get any more unemployment benefit because the benefit just ran out after six months... So you apply for the benefit again, hoping they won't turn you down. The nice thing is, you are dealing with an ethical government office. They'll play it straight provided you do too. Sure enough, they approve your additional emergency relief. However, this only gives you ten weeks! At least it buys you some time!<br />
<br />
After all, you played the whole thing straight, while there's some woman driving a Mercedes Benz and living in a mansion claiming food stamps! Huh! That doesn't sound right, does it... Makes the stuff AIG are allegedly doing, sound like small potatoes. But wait a minute, I thought all the skullduggery was over, no?<br />
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So what have you been doing to find work? Well, forget about "job" jobs. You may as well go and stand in line down on San Fernando Road along with those friendly folk from South of the Border, and wait to be chosen for semi-agricultural work at $7 per hour, except that you really don't want to jeopardize what you may have coming in from the Department of Employment Development.<br />
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So, what about Craig's List? Hmmm, they seem to have regular jobs every day. But wait, these are so competitive, that for every one you apply for, there are 10,000 others applying in the same second you apply. And wait, Craig's List themselves tell you that 89 - 99% of these jobs may not really exist, because this is the amount that get "flagged" for non-compliance with their code. Yes, you got scammed at least a couple of times. One scumbag has all of your details. God knows what he will do with all of this information. You do some damage limitation. First of all, what does he want the information for? Hang on! We need to know why he is a scammer first, right? OK - here's how we know... because we leave our browser open at the exact same page on Craig's List where his posting was yesterday, and it says right in the middle of the screen, "This posting has been flagged for removal" - so we go to the link under the word "flagged" and that is where we find the conciliatory note which explains why they prefer flagging over moderation,and, frankly, I wouldn't want that job either... Enough said. <br />
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Wait a minute, didn't we send off a resume, containing all of our information in good faith? Yep, we did! Bummer! That means that we will either be spammed to death by this guy or it will pose a security threat to our personal information. The key question to ask is "What did he want to do?" Well, the answer to this may end up being in your email a couple days later (if he's smart) or the next morning or the same day, if he is not smart. Mine came the next morning. "If you want this job you have to go to this site - link to click. Don't click it. But there may be clues in what he sent you, which will give his game away. This one was fairly straightforward. You actually click on the link and there's a page telling you that all employers need a person who really wants to further his education. There are three options, all of which take you to that famous alma-mater in Arizona somewhere, otherwise known as the fast-food university. You click on "No Thanks!" and it gives you one further option to sign up for something you really don't want!<br />
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This is mild. Other scams are after identity theft. Yet others will explode your screen with porn and other nasties, provided the browser you use doesn't intercept it first. (Mine does.) Nowadays, people are pretty well protected from this. That is why the scammers have to be so clever, and make sure that it all comes from the clicks made by the person they are scamming! <br />
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Enough of scamming! Back to the legitimate job search... And so, you very judiciously signed up for the Federal Jobs email, religiously emailed out every day, listing hundreds of jobs, albeit for careers like Marine Biologist in Taiwan etc... (These are all the 39,000 federal jobs that Jessica Holmes made such a big journalistic thing about the other morning on the KTLA Breakfast Show.) But let's not lose hope, eh? One day we'll see something there which will match your skillset. Along with these, we are seeing a whole new slew of jobs from the FBI. However, most of these are for Washington, DC and somewhere in Virginia. Now, the County, they still have openings, but wait, isn't there a hiring freeze?<br />
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Which brings me to the jobs that actually exist, but which have not been filled yet, but which you have to know somebody to get even the interview. These are around, but, as I say, if you don't know someone, forget it... I just really don't know how employers have the face to advertise a job and bring someone to an interview, and then change their mind. Others advertise jobs which don't exist. And employees at some recruiting companies, not all, mind you, are like hungry dogs....<br />
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So there are a bunch of people who are nice enough to phone you and see how you are doing... One has left a message. You phone them back. "Hi June! How is it going?" is your friendly opener.<br />
"It's been so quiet. There is nothing for you right now... tell me how you have been getting on?"<br />
So you tell her. You had a really successful interview and you are just waiting to hear... Wrong! She now wants to know which company. You stupidly tell her. And then you are surprised that the job is no longer open when you call the company back to find out what the next step is going to be!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9YjNiUYp2ACfherz0XRAmarmGDpoV22pvWastY60dASVJDAIIS_pf2IYy7Tfl7sbU1J5amrxWEkf4oEejZXE7MjY0qk6uM27KmkkWVA7Jk5eqh-jLin-c6tvwr18CgqfqDgPzTobr-0q/s1600-h/20040314_0125PM.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9YjNiUYp2ACfherz0XRAmarmGDpoV22pvWastY60dASVJDAIIS_pf2IYy7Tfl7sbU1J5amrxWEkf4oEejZXE7MjY0qk6uM27KmkkWVA7Jk5eqh-jLin-c6tvwr18CgqfqDgPzTobr-0q/s200/20040314_0125PM.JPG" style="cursor: move;" /></a>A couple of kids came to my door the other afternoon. "Hi my name is XXXXX, and mine is YYYYYY!" they chirped, with a professional polish you would only hear in SoCal, as their father stood down at the street, watching every move. "We want to share with you our fund-raising drive for our school", as they opened an envelope with a glossy magazine and a list of hand-written names. I didn't wait for them... I told them that I had been unemployed for quite a while, and I didn't really have any spare cash to hand out.... Then I went to talk to the Dad. It turned out that he was unemployed too! Maybe not for so long as me... but he pointed me to a couple of web sites, albeit useless to me for job-hunting in my line of work, but then again, isn't that just how the Internet has turned out?<br />
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So what is the word on the street? In this inquitous society we live in, there is nothing obvious about how we get this business of finding a job done. The Internet, despite Monster, Dice, BrassRing, Indeed.com, Craig's List, CareerBuilder, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and a hundred other job boards, won't help you get a job.<br />
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I am told the only way is to go round banging on doors the old fashioned way. Trouble is, who is going to offer you a job if you don't know anyone?stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-21063473700487276802009-02-01T14:09:00.001-08:002009-04-16T16:19:48.984-07:00I'm the Dude - I have a PhD in Making Ends Meet!I thought that this recession that we are in all over the world is so severe, that I should add some thoughts to the mix. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, meaning perhaps that we should become more inventive in order to survive.<br />
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Another expression we might be hearing in some quarters is "the algebra of need." This is a neat phrase, intended to tie the pure mathematics of survival in with the global issue of need and the know-how to make ends meet when everything is scarce. This phrase was first coined by William Burroughs in his sixties novel "The Naked Lunch." <br />
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Here's the kicker - it is so far-reaching that everyone takes a bite. So how do we survive?<br />
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First, everyone needs a job. How is that going to be achieved? Well, we need to get away from the climate which is negating our ability to expand. This is easier said than done. We need to pump a cash injection into all the areas of our life where we are seeing things getting cut back. Some areas will no doubt die and will never come back. People will lose their jobs and homes, and it will be a long drawn-out struggle to get back to work after that.<br />
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Second, the optimism that was so much a part of America seems to have taken a dive too. Eveywhere you look there is something going on which is extremely distasteful. Crime is up (although I have to say that the Los Angeles violent crimes are down, partly due to the fact that gangs are getting rounded up...) In an economy like this, it is no wonder that people are resorting to criminal means to stay solvent... But that is not really the focus of what I want to talk about. I think we have to look at the things we should be grateful for. If you still have a job, great! You should be really grateful. It is getting harder and harder to secure any job. Someone told me that they had overheard a person trying to get a job at the popular grocery store, Trader Joe's: "Sorry!" the clerk was telling him, "you are behind 1,000 lawyers and 5,500 bankers who all applied for work here last month." Someone once told me that Trader Joe's pays particularly well!<br />
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Another story I heard was that someone who had been working for a very well-known and prestigious company had been escorted to the door after 30 years of service. A disgraceful end to a perfect work record. Someone else was woken by the phone at six am from her company, telling her that she needn't report for work that day. Another firm moved out of their premises and changed the locks over the weekend. Workers arriving on Monday were unable to access the building where they had worked for a number of years, after bidding each other goodbye and wishing each other a nice weekend. In perfectly respectable companies employees have been told that they must take a mandatory two weeks unpaid vacation, after which they must return to work with a salary reduced by 6% to 10%. <br />
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The long and short of it is that there are now fewer jobs and many more qualified people to fill them. This is not good for the employee or person looking for work... In California where I live, 10% of people are out of work and claiming unemployment benefit, and the State is wondering how they will be able to continue to pay benefit to these people. So this now means that people, who if they felt that it was hard to get a job before, will find it ten times harder now, just to get an ordinary job. People working will need to be particularly careful not to do anything to jeopardize their position, since employers have every excuse to lay people off now.<br />
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Other than that, we are seeing the economy go mad. In the grocery stores, packages are being redesigned to cleverly disguise their size and capacity. (Next time you look at a can of beans, see if the bottom of the can has been designed with a great big concave base to it, like a big chunk has been bitten out of it. You won't see this unless you turn it upside down.)<br />
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Other packaging has been reduced in proportionate size, but looks exactly the same. The only way to see the difference is by holding it up with an original size package (conveniently pulled from the shelves by judicious merchants, not wishing for any trouble.) This size reduction is apparently because market-researchers understand that the public are more worried about rising prices than anything else.<br />
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So the price stays the same, but the quantity you get for it is reduced. However, you can't really do this with fruit and vegetables! I am wondering if they have any plans to manufacture donuts with hollow insides or wider inner rings? Will a "Veinte" at Starbucks take on the form currently used by a "Grande?" Of course we are going to see this everywhere, since the manufacturing industry has had to take the initial hit on the economy, in front of everyone else... Gone are the days when a slight blip on the economy's radar meant that a small business owner had to survive on a bank loan, rather than actual liquidity. Now they are not loaning anyone anything.<br />
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The other visible signs we see are in the high street. Stores which used to be there are gone. Restaurants, chain stores we have known and loved for tens of years are all disappearing. Who is doing well? I know the Waltons won't be losing any sleep!<br />
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Indeed, there are companies out there who are doing extremely well now and announcing record profits and earnings. Other, more household names, have had the worst fourth quarter on record. In the UK, household names like Woolworths have closed, never to return. I think there has been a landmark change in the way that people are now using their money to purchase things. <br />
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One thing is certain. If we are able to survive this recession, we will be able to survive anything they want to throw at us in the future. <br />
<span id="hwContLayer" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; background: gray none repeat scroll 0% 0%; font-size: small; font-style: normal ! important; font-weight: bold ! important; height: 100%; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: auto ! important; position: absolute; top: 1008px; width: 5px; z-index: 10000000;"></span>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-24523349364652030432009-01-28T15:50:00.001-08:002009-01-29T21:31:29.393-08:00Socializing In So Cal... all about Twitter!Let's face it - we exist on our social interactions. The Internet has just made it easier to do so. Our social interactions are just a part of how we communicate with each other today and applications like Twitter form an important part of this...<br />
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My experience with Twitter has been interesting as it has been varied. I started off with a couple of dozen followers, all of whom left me within a few short days, only to be replaced by others. I am now approaching 250 followers and I am following nearly 600. There are people who are hell-bent on having 2,000 followers and wish to get there in a few days! I have no such desire apart from not having enough time to concentrate on this. Also, don't believe anything you hear about the right and wrong way to run your Twitter account. I have explored a lot of Twitter and the co-applications (such as FriendOrFollow or retweetradar or even the infamous Twitter Grader.) Indeed, I have found some really useful applications like Twitscoop and Power Twitter (which runs from within Mozilla Firefox 3.05 as an add-on.)<br />
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People who think they are knowledgeable have put links to their mini-tutorials on Twitter. Click the link and you will have a bunch of rules, from one to twelve about what you should or should not do. If there was one rule which I will shout over the noise it is: BE YOURSELF! <br />
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So many people think that there is a way to be if you are on Twitter. Just as an experiment, I started three Twitter accounts. If you have been directed here from one of them it is probably the main one, http://twitter.com/stevetuf. FYI there are two others: one which I started because I wanted to see how or if I could direct the kind of people who end up being followers. Don't worry! I couldn't. Twitter just took its own course. Now I find that people follow me and I just follow them. Every day I look at Twitter. Occasionally I will post an update. Some days go by with me posting nothing. It's nice and easy and laid back like that. Why worry?<br />
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My main interest in Twitter was to explore its use as a social networking medium and I picked up a lot of the focus for this from George Siemens's CCK08 course at the University of Manitoba last fall. Certainly, Twitter can be looked upon as a powerful phenomenon which is changing the way we think about a lot of things. Certainly we can look at it as being a worldwide news spreader. It is amazing how quickly news spreads over Twitter, (exponentially faster than over conventional news-breaking media.)<br />
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So, what do I think about Twitter? I'll tell you. It is a media to which everyone should be signed up. They should have a handle which reflects their personality and character. It can also reflect a brand name, to which an individual is tied in some way, perhaps because that individual has a financial interest in the brand, or that the individual is a key figure in the organization which is supported by the Twitter account. Another variation is the account which represents a somewhat anonymous brand (e.g.: NASA) but these are far and few between. In the main, Twitter handles are like JoeBlow or MaryAnn. Others are more descriptive like BirdWatcher or CupcakeLover. (I made these up - they may even exist!) The most important thing is that the BirdWatcher does characteristic things as updates, not unrealistic things. For example: BirdWatcher should not be seen shooting grouse or pheasant and CupcakeLover oughtn't be peddling porn. Even more subtle, if we continually see updates from Birdwatcher which decries his love of the country: "Got myself real dirty the other day, shovelin some mud..." this might persuade someone like me to unfollow BirdWatcher. I think you get the idea.<br />
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And Twitter is really nowhere to be gross, profane or just plain nasty! (I have unfollowed people for their liberal use of the F word, (in the same way as I have unfollowed people who are overly religious and try and turn everything into a gospel.)<br />
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The people I am following seem to be split into three types: 1) plain ordinary folk who talk about the struggles they have with life every day 2) superstar professional microbloggers like Pistachio, ShelIsrael, Blonde2.0, Pop17 and CaliLewis, and others I have found who have a very defined avatar with an interesting slant on life like pastaqueen (and I love hearing what pastaqueen has to say!) and 3) everyone else, who can be a million different things. If I have left anyone out, sorry! I am not superhuman. I remember most of you but not all 572 people! That's too hard!<br />
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One thing I have seen is the amazing way people manage to post videos which are not very good. Either they are unprofessionally made, or the person who is making the video hasn't bothered to write a script before talking directly to the camera for a whole twenty minutes, stopping every few sentences to correct something they obviously hadn't rehearsed. This is absolutely unforgiveable! And you really won't get a second chance! Others produce the slickest best-rehearsed material and stun me with their sheer professional ability. No wonder they are in the big league.<br />
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Above all - I think that people don't realize that the difference between having PowerTwitter and just plain old Twitter, is that pictures and videos come straight through, so if they are bad, I am going to be much more annoyed with them than if I was a plain old Twitter user. So pictures and videos should be looked at first before posting...<br />
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My Twitter wish list: 1) I would really like a way to head for a specific time in the time line to go back to something which was said (usually only a few days ago) and 2) it would be great if, next to the avatar picture on the left, there was a symbol which tells me they're not following me! I posted this on Twitter but so far, nobody has come back with the solution.<br />
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See you all next time!<br />
<span id="hwContLayer" style="-moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; background: gray none repeat scroll 0% 0%; font-size: medium ! important; font-style: normal ! important; font-weight: bold ! important; height: 100%; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: auto ! important; position: absolute; top: 216px; width: 5px; z-index: 10000000;"></span>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-91698320805186212602009-01-04T10:17:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:39:47.255-07:00What's New About Country and Western?Well - it has been a while since I last blogged. Christmas and New Years was hectic like it always is... Meantime there has been time for me to reflect on the world.<br />
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Despite the horrible news from Gaza about so many people being maimed and killed, the world is trying hard to be a better place. I think the whole world is fed up with war-mongering and wants to do what it can to stop all the killing. Here is some good news, albeit only relevant for those folk in San Francisco, but anyway...<br />
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According to <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/CaliforniaFireNews/%7E3/500500510/2008-big-year-in-california-wildland.html">California Fire News</a>, the response time to emergencies has improved enormously in the metro San Francisco area, and, following a new protocol, the 911 Call Center has improved the time it takes to dispatch emergency help to those people who really need it fast. For just about a year now, dispatchers have dispensed with the "further questions" approach before dispatching emergency teams, and, depending on the priority of the symptoms reported over the telephone, there is now no delay in getting people out to the scene of an emergency, whereas before, several questions needed to be asked to determine the priority, therefore taking up valuable time. This new approach has meant that now, instead of emergency workers arriving at a scene late one in four times, they now arrive late one in every five times. Although this doesn't appear to be monumental, try multiplying this figure by a hundred! This then means that whereas before, out of every 400 people's emergencies, 100 were late arrivals, now out of the same figure, 400, only 80 now are late arrivals, and we can expect the figure to keep dropping as the new technologies all take effect. Emergencies are really costly, and we should be very grateful for the support we get here in the USA. <span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: small;">C</span><span style="font-size: small;">alifornia had a record-setting wildfire year in 2008, with over 1.7 Billion dollars spent fighting wildland fires! There were some sad stories. But there were also many stories of heroism and courage too.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: small;">The other topic which came to mind was the film industry. Clint Eastwood has produced two new movies after a long time doing other stuff. He is 78 and still raring for more(!) He is going to be doing a story about Nelson Mandela this year. It is interesting that the film, "Gran Torino" is about an old guy who encounters some Asians who move into his neighborhood, and the movie deals with his very unique way of handling this. The old Eastwood of "High Plains Drifter" fame is still there, but, after the event, he has a lot to say about the presence (or lack) of political correctness, and somehow his old-style commonsense wins through in the end. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: small;">This demonstrates the incredible changes we have gone through in just the last few years. Where did all the old cowboy westerns go? Why is all of this so foreign to us now? I think someone should do a remake of classic "western" movies like "Monte Walsh", "High Noon", "High Plains Drifter" or "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance" dressed up in a modern "western" genre, just as an experiment. I have always believed that these films have a place in our current society too, since the "West" was won at some stage, and, if nothing else, they serve as a piece of history, however politically incorrect they may or may not be.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: small;">See you next time around... :) </span></span>stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-54501543006363396892008-12-20T10:54:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:54:39.745-07:00Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense!Yea - French. It means: "Evil be to he who evil thinks..." It's a motto. There are some really great mottos around. This is probably the opposite of the one which exhorts: "Pay forward!"<br />
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Let's take a step back for a minute. You are probably thinking, "Wow! I bet he's going to tell me that there is so much evil in the world!" Well - you know. But just think what all the good in the world does too, huh?<br />
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There has been an increase in really beautiful, thought-provoking reality shows on American TV recently. I am a firm believer that they all really started <a href="http://www.oprah.com/index">with the fine example that Oprah Winfrey gives us all! </a>Some of the shows that I have recently viewed are:<br />
<blockquote><i>Secret Millionaire - a show where real life millionaires give away their own money to deserving people they meet who have fallen on hard times. These people come from a real mixture background. We see those who have grown up against a backdrop of "old money" and those who started with nothing and built a multi-millionaire empire out of nothing. The common denominator is that they take time to visit folk who are literally on the breadline and in doing so, learn about how people who have next to nothing are living. It is a marvelous exposition of the human spirit and what it can achieve.<br />
</i></blockquote><blockquote>Molly Shattuck, wife of Mayo Shattuck III, CEO of Constellation Energy, was a recent participant in the show, and she actually gave away more than $100,000. She says (about the name, <i>Secret Millionaire</i>): “ I think it’s so obnoxious. But I absolutely am in love with the concept and in love with the show. I think it’s so important.” (quote courtesy of <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2008/12/vvvi_despise_the_name_secret.html">David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun</a>) Molly drives around with her Mom, and we hear her Mom tell her that she has always thought that Molly was great just doing what she does, but that this had given her the opportunity to see the human side of Molly. We see her tearfully visiting a young widow with three boys who is living in a house which is literally falling apart. Aside from the angst which is obviously generated by the real danger of living somewhere where there are holes in the roof among other very real dangers, we are immediately aware of the sadness and emptiness generated by a recent loss of a life partner to some horrible deadly medical condition, in this case cardiac arrest.<br />
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So, everyone grows a little bit on the Secret Millionaire. <br />
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Another participant, Greg, in another show, comes from a different background, but nonetheless, is inspired by the really ordinary people, doing ordinary things to help their fellow human beings in need. The show starts with Greg being dumped off the bus in the harsh reality of this end of Vegas, and immediately we are seeing people being arrested and all the other aspects of the hard life on the streets! It is interesting to see that this is the North end of Las Vegas, a town which most of us see as being a magical land with fairytale lights and beauty. He starts off living in a "hotel" which he has a difficult time understanding to actually be a hotel, because he encounters cockroaches and other really filthy things in his room, for which he is working, because he doesn't have enough money to pay when he gets there. During the show, he visits a day center for teens in trouble, a lady who helps out people who have fallen on hard times with food and groceries, and he goes to a skateboard park, where a wheelchair-bound 16-year-old is doing tricks in his wheelchair! The kid's dream is to help others, so Greg helps that dream come true with a check. Greg also helps all the others with check donations from his own money.<br />
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In yet another show, we see a Los Angeles, self-made millionaire and his wife going to live in Watts, a depressed area of L.A., and we can sense the immediate danger felt by them as they drive into the area from the nearby area where they really live, which is so different. The amazing thing is that they are welcomed into the community just like anyone else, which proves the community spirit which exists in these places. Later on they too donate money to some really deserving people, one of whom is helping ex-convicts who are literally dumped off the bus, when they are released from jail. <br />
</blockquote>Anyway - this is just an example of some of the truly wonderful things happening on TV in America. You can catch this on Fox (I expect these will be mirrored around the world. But I live in the USA, so this is my primary focus.) Of course, we have been watching "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition" for a while now on ABC, and this is another example of people doing stuff for other people who have fallen on hard times. Ty Pennington and his crew of designers and builders take a week to rebuild houses that have fallen into disrepair and create mansions out of hovels for deserving families.<br />
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I think that there are too many really terrible sad stories on the news. It would be great if someone could come up with a good news station which broadcast only good news. I somehow think this would be a challenge though...<br />
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See y'all next time!stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-28658413705204577632008-12-15T08:56:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:55:58.764-07:00Taking Connectivism Out Into The World Of LifeWell the course is over. Students are still interconnecting. There will be a buzz of that going on for a long while...<br />
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What will I do now? My thoughts about this are: I will continue to blog. I will continue to bring you useful stuff. And I will continue to stimulate my brain and yours too. Talking of which, I have been acquainted with Alzheimer's Disease recently. A couple of people who are close to me, know exactly what it is to have someone suddenly deny knowledge of you right there and then... It is devastating, particularly if you love that person very much.<br />
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Several theories have been put forward for how the disease develops. However, the over-riding theory is that the brain starts to die because it is not getting enough exercise. Getting exercise to the brain can come in all kinds of ways. Now they are saying that one of the most widely used methods of brain exercise is surfing the Internet. In fact, scientists from UCLA have done a study on people aged 55 to 76, and have discovered that all of these "emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults."<br />
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Hmmm, what is middle-aged now? It is getting more confusing what with people living longer. Perhaps they mean 60?stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-56823994880263060132008-11-27T23:42:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:57:02.783-07:00The Twitter-Connected, Interstitial Hyperbole Lives On....So, who says I can't dream up fascinating titles?<br />
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I have done a bit of work on the layout... I hope you enjoy it. The CCK08 course concluded in a blaze of glory today. I was sadly absent. i don't know how I missed it. I was somewhere else taking care of something quite important in my life, so I came back to the Eluminate session about half an hour after people had said their pieces. I am trying not to be too cut up about it. As George said: "I think I'd like to offer a course without any content again..." So there is always going to be good input from that direction. Right now, the closed eLearning course is up on a wiki, so everyone can read anyway (here is the link to the course which I finally found: http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wiki/IntroEmergingTech) - I have no idea why it was so hard to find this page... but I bet you all have had an experience of looking for a needle in a haystack...stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-62830309739815152762008-11-26T08:10:00.001-08:002008-11-26T08:35:15.432-08:00Into the Wide Blue Yonder...with Connectivism!Well - twelve weeks flashed past. I have learned a lot about new technologies (http://www.masternewmedia.org/). I have seen the direct results of social networking (http://www.twitter.com/stevetuf) and I have been introduced to some amazing people (http://www.wikieducator.com.) <br />
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It has been a fabulous experience and it is not going to stop here. I intend to go on and explore some more.stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-40390013261430700942008-11-19T20:47:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:58:36.320-07:00Stretching Out and Finding Roots in My Branches...I have met an enormous amount of really interesting people during the CCK08 course. In fact, it is such a small world, that I now have a real problem trying to keep up with all the friends I have made all over the world. The problem is time! <br />
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Yes, time, is the grim reaper of my contact with other people. I never ever thought that this would ever be a problem. Now I find that to gather with other people who live all over the world, I have to plan the time zones... Happily, a regular weekly meeting which is held between people who live in Mexico, Israel, Turkey, Argentina and Germany, to name a few places, seems to be convenient at 11:00 am PST. But this is generally too late for people further West like those in Korea and other Asian places!<br />
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It is so strange that we should be coming up against these limitations now, when all the other technological problems of the world are rapidly dissolving, this is a problem that will probably never be resolved, until we become more <b><i>virtual.</i></b> This will mean a change to the virtual components of ourselves. I mean now, there is no feel or touch. Someone mentioned the absence of smell and touch in a conference on corporate learning I attended today. So, if you have been following my blog, you will have noticed that the first emphasis I made was on our proximity, and how, in some countries, people are quite comfortable to be inches away from each other, whereas in countries like Great Britain, USA, Canada, this would mean invasion of a "comfort zone." <br />
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So, will we become more and more androgynous as time wears on? Will we lose our sexuality, our individuality in favor of a more asexual existence? Will our immortality increase in deference to our longevity and lack of offspring? Will we really find it comfortable in a society where nobody questions the lack of contact and ordinary tenderness?<br />
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Give me your thoughts and ideas....stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-67438382369909154062008-11-05T20:52:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:59:38.456-07:00Swinging Along in the Mid-Term...Well here we are. It's past eight weeks into the CCK08 Connectivism course. I have to admit that, although I was pushing hard to stay on top at the beginning, this has now been pushed aside in my struggle to find a job to pay the mortgage!<br />
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Isn't that sad? What I have been doing though, is spending some time with the SL Experiments group, run by Nergiz Kern. This has been enormously interesting to me and I can see how powerful education can be in an application like Second Life.<br />
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So I have spent a little time there, and I have also been doing what I do best on <a href="http://connectivism-cck08.pbwiki.com/">my own website</a> and also on <a href="http://slexperiments.pbwiki.com/">Nergiz's Second Life Experiments Wiki</a> site. I can say quite unequivocally that I really love creating web pages! I could spend my entire life doing this. It is wonderful to know what I enjoy doing. It is entirely another matter to secure a job that pays enough for me to be able to sit back and really do this for the rest of my life!<br />
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I cannot say that I haven't noticed some stuff about Second Life in passing through the portal as it were... for one thing, they have some situations which they haven't managed to fix which are still happening after a long time period... <br />
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There is a lot of "unwritten" stuff going on. A "newbie" can enter SL with a lower than standard computer and have a miserable time with "lag." Also, there are little things like the following situation: if you teleport somewhere from a sitting position, you will look crippled somehow well after you have arrived at your destination, even though, you, the person it is all happening to, cannot see this! I am told that this has been a problem for some time. Another thing, I was in an area this afternoon and I was walking along a road. Before I could do anything about it, my legs and thighs were sunk down in the road and it looked like I was wading along!<br />
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It is obvious that there are several basic things which have to be learned, before anyone can really benefit from the experience in Second Life. Apart from the usual allurances which would entice anyone into the environment and perhaps make them stay in spite of the obvious problems with the experience they are having, it is a very exciting environment, where absolutely anything goes, but virtually! Having said that, there are two levels in the main "grid" - PG and Mature. Linden Research saw fit to create a Teen Second Life too, probably to siphon off any problems with underage membership. Be that as it may, it only serves as a separation point, the cut-off age being eighteen years of age.<br />
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But the really complex stuff must come later, like making your avatar move in a special way, growing wings or attaching objects. I saw a fascinating demo of a whiteboard, given by a software developer who is well-versed in JavaScript, which is fed by an external site off an iFrame. This is advanced manipulation of the Linden grid and very useful for education. I have to say that the simple things, like learning to make your avatar dance, is really very easy. What would be interesting would be to learn how to make the avatar interact physically with other avatars. And I know that this is possible. It's simple silly little things which I don't understand, like this: if you are dancing and want to IM someone at the same time, or even in Local Chat, how can you make the avatar carry on dancing as your keys leave the dance activation keys (F9 F10 F11 and F12) to type the message? Perhaps you have the avatar programmed to dance on a joystick gesture/mouse gesture and all of this is automated? Perhaps you have a speech-to-text programmed so that your fingers never have to touch the keyboard anyway... I don't believe this is what happens. Because I have heard people talking and using Local Chat and IM all at the same time as they are making their avatar do incredible things! <br />
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Apart from that, it is still a very interesting environment which I would still like to explore some more...stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-68337391263407171652008-10-29T20:00:00.000-07:002009-04-18T16:00:45.459-07:00I'm Still Slammed! So Slammed!Nothing much to report this week. I attended the Elluminate session this morning. We discussed quite a lot of stuff, but it really seemed pretty inconclusive. <br />
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On the bright innovative side, I researched the Second Life and Teen Second Life Virtual worlds, and wrote an article about it on IT Toolbox (http://it.toolbox.com/wiki/index.php/Second_Life_Virtual_World) <br />
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So not a lot to tell you... Hopefully next week we'll see some changes take place!<br />
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If you read this - go out and vote!stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-54471838051082168242008-10-23T16:09:00.000-07:002009-05-08T15:21:15.288-07:00The Game of Virtual Pilot...I wanted something new to do so I played <a href="http://www.lufthansa-usa.com/useugame2007/html/play.html">Lufthansa Virtual Pilot</a> here:<br />
I did very well. Let's see how well you do.... OK?<br />
Have a terrific day!<br />
:)stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-768288352648497327.post-8005759846573401892008-10-16T11:52:00.000-07:002008-10-16T11:55:25.858-07:00Whew...! I'm Maxed Out...!!!You know, I just don't have time for anything.<br /><br />So I am just going to post this little short piece and then maybe things will change by Friday. Right now I am slammed with a massive writing project. If I don't complete this, I will have a major problem....<br /><br />So, dear readers, be patient... I will be back! :)stevetufhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09563384099416081198noreply@blogger.com0