Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth? [Question Of The Day]

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Question of the Day: Do You Get a Thrill From Unboxing Gadgets? [Question Of The Day]

You know that old saying how the anticipation of an event can be greater than the event itself? Well, that seems to be allure behind unboxing. It is that magical moment where expectation meets the acquisition of the object you desire—and it can last as long as it takes to excavate your new toy from its shiny packaging. However, I'm sure many people out there consider it a mere formality—tearing through the package unceremoniously and without emotion. So, the question is: do you get a thrill from unboxing gadgets? Do You Get a Rush From Unboxing Gadgets? ( surveys) Poll results from "Are Car Alarms More Trouble Than They're Worth?" Yes: 73% No: 27% Read More: Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth?, Question of the Day: Do You Really Need a $1000 Laptop?, Question of the Day: Do You Prefer Self-Checkout Lines?, Question of the Day: Have You Made the Switch to CFLs? [lien] [EN]

Question of the Day: Do You Ever Read the Instruction Manual? [Question Of The Day]

I have this thing about instruction manuals. For some reason, I refuse to look at it when setting up a new gadget no matter how complicated things are. I break down eventually when I get stuck, but there is no reason why I shouldn't go to it right off the bat and save some time. Maybe it's a man thing, maybe it's because I'm not patient enough to read before digging into a new device—maybe it's both. Whatever the reason, I don't think I will ever change. But what about you? Do you read your gadget instruction manuals? Do You Read Your Gadget Instruction Manuals? ( polls) Results from "Do You Get a Thrill From Unboxing Gadgets?" Yes: 55% Yes, unless it is in a tough to open blister pack: 39% No: 5% Other: 1% [Image via Joel's Picasa Gallery] Read More: Question of the Day: Do You Get a Thrill From Unboxing Gadgets?, Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth?, Question of the Day: Do You Really Need a $1000 Laptop?, Question of the Day: Do You Prefer Self-Checkout Lines? [lien] [EN]

Question of the Day: Do You Ever Turn Off Your Cellphone? [Question Of The Day]

A recent survey taken by Nokia claimed that 53% of Americans have taken business calls in the bathroom. Of those surveyed, 60% never shut off their mobile devices. To be honest, I would have thought that second figure would be higher—but all-in-all the results of this survey are no surprise. Most of us feel the need to be constantly connected. We take our phones with us everywhere, ready to go at a moments notice. So, I am curious: do you ever turn off your cellphone? Do You Ever Turn Off Your Cellphone? ( surveys) Results from: "Do You Ever Read the Instruction Manual?" Yes: 19% Yes, but only when I am dealing with something complicated: 19% Yes, but only when I get stuck: 44% No: 16% Other: 2% Read More: Question of the Day: Do You Ever Read the Instruction Manual?, Question of the Day: Do You Get a Thrill From Unboxing Gadgets?, Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth?, Question of the Day: Do You Really Need a $1000 Laptop? [lien] [EN]

Question of the Day: Would You Buy a Refurbished Laptop? [Question Of The Day]

With the economy being the way it is, many of us need to face the fact that we must cut back a bit on our gadget budgets. However, that doesn't mean that we need to go cold turkey. If you are currently in the market for a new laptop, have you ever considered buying refurbished/recertified? Keep in mind that refurbished/recertified laptops were either returned, overstocked, defective or functioned as demos before heading back to the manufacturer for repair and inspection. Many of them come with warranties and should be good as new. However, there is a stigma (and horror stories) that go along with purchasing refurb gadgets for the discount. So, my question is: Would you buy/ have you bought a refurbished laptop? Would You Buy a Refurbished/Recertified Laptop? ( surveys) Results from "Do You Ever Turn Off Your Cellphone?" No, never. (Not including power outgages and glitches): 71% Yes, when in a movie theater, meeting, etc: 15% Yes (Other): 13% Read More: Question of the Day: Do You Ever Turn Off Your Cellphone?, Question of the Day: Do You Ever Read the Instruction Manual?, Question of the Day: Do You Get a Thrill From Unboxing Gadgets?, Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth? [lien] [EN]

delicious days, the book - many questions, some answers

I guess it was symptomatic, that I had just submerged my fingers in a gooey meass that was supposed to become an elastic, smooth and speckled pasta dough with poppy-seeds (basic recipe: 275g all-purpose flour, 25g ground poppy-seeds, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cinnamon, 3 medium eggs, 1 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 tbsp water, if necessary), when the door bell rang. With a sigh, I hastily cleaned my fingers and answered the door: "Hello? ... Hello? ... Helloooho???" Silence. I despise when that happens. With another sigh, this time a little louder and a tad frustrated I returned to the kitchen and continued kneading the pasta dough. But the door bell rang again. This time twice and seemingly with more emphasis. Don't you just hate that? Since I couldn't think of any outstanding orders I had made the previous days and wasn't expecting any friends - for a moment - I simply thought about ignoring it. But I'm glad my never ceasing curiosity forced me back to the door. I wiped my fingers clean again and I guess my voice wasn't as friendly as the first time when I answered the door: "HEEELLLLLOOO???!!" (as in 'dude, you better get your act together'). Finally somebody answered with a calm and gentle voice: "Where do you live?" What?!? Was there somebody playing a trick on me? It took me a second to realize that the person downstairs was referring to the actual floor we live on and his next sentence made me forget all the annoyance and made my heart jump for joy: "I'm delivering a parcel from Gräfe und Unzer." Could this be the delivery of the first bound copies of my book? It indeed was. ***sigh of utter felicity*** I spent the next hour reading and completely forgot about my semi-finished pasta dough. But don't worry, it turned out fine anyway (cooked in vanilla milk and served with browned butter and cherry compote, thank you for asking). And I started thinking about an appropriate way to introduce the book to my dear readers. Why not with a little Q and A? Over the last year I received numerous emails from readers who where interested in the whole process of writing a cookbook, some wanted advice, others had specific questions. Same with neighbors, friends & colleagues. Listed below you'll find some of them, and my very personal answers, garnished with visual appetizers from the book. delicious days - the book is now available on amazon.de German version - English version ,at the Gräfe & Unzer online-shop German or English version or in bookstores throughout Germany......and will become available on amazon.com shortly. English version How does it feel to hold the finished book in your hands? (Probably THE question these days. Everybody wants to know, my neighbors, the customers at my friend Kristin's coffee bar, my family, my friends, colleagues ... And I still haven't come up with a witty answer.) Weird. Great. Unreal. Proud. Happy. Did I mention UNREAL? How do I get published? How can I land a book deal? (Probably the most frequent question I received via email.) There's no simple answer to this one. Almost every step from the very first contact with my publishing house to signing the contract was very untypical compared to other cookbook author's experiences. I never wrote a book proposal, I never talked to an agent. On the other hand I had to deliver various concept presentations, convince skeptical editors as well as board directors and negotiate my contracts all by myself (ok, my pre-blog-pre-design law studies might have helped here a bit). While I was scared as hell in the beginning, I quickly learned that a compelling concept gives you enough confidence to fight for it, which - luckily - worked out in the end. How do I know, if it's the right publishing house for my book? Of course you're flattered when a publishing house shows interest in a book deal with you. But there's no need to hurry. Just like when applying for a new job, you should try to get a closer view on the people you would have to work with (sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes under stressful conditions). Don't let yourself be talked into something you really don't want to do, trust your gut feel. I've spoken to other publishing houses before I signed my contract, some of them had a completely different idea about "my book". Besides, I was lucky to not only have my publishing house within walking distance, even my editors do live in the same neighborhood. A benefit that couldn't be rated high enough, as spontaneous meetings were never much of a deal. How did you come up with your own concept? In the beginning it was less of a concept, more an idea, a potpourri of different features I enjoy in other cookbooks. I wanted to write a book I myself would be dying to buy when spotting it in a bookstore. Beautiful and mouthwatering - yet down to earth with realistic photography, and lots thereof. I mean LOTS OF IT. Because cooking and eating occupies such an important part in my life, I connect every recipe to a certain moment, a little story or experience. Hence personal anecdotes to recipes, just like I write them for my blog, were a must. But there is so much more to tell!? That's when we decided to have the main recipe part take turns with little, inserted chapters about friends, traveling and such, which - naturally - would be accompanied by related recipes and more photography. All in all it took at least three months of continuous adaptation until the final concept was carved in stone. How did you chose your recipes? My top requirement: I must be able to go into raptures about a particular dish. Even better: guests, test cooks and eaters must do as well. The recipe itself must be doable for a reasonably experienced cook, not rocket-science. Furthermore I wanted to present a broad selection of dishes and cuisine styles. Of course a few favorites from the blog made it in there as well... Best and worst moments of the whole writing experience? Worst: I don't have one worst moment, but I recall the nights before deadlines as particularly exhausting. While I felt extremely tired when I went to bed late at night, it was hard to fall asleep, because my mind was still in "writing-mode". Best: We had agreed, that I would send each finished chapter separately to my copy editor and I was pretty nervous when I hit the "Send-Button" for the very first time. Would she like it? Was it good enough for a book ? I'm not sure if she sensed my desire to panic, but within minutes I had an email in my mailbox, saying she didn't recall any author before who had delivered such well prepared material and couldn't wait for the next chapters. What a huge relief for me, coming from somebody who has edited some hundred cookbooks before. Maybe food-blogging is not the worst way to prepare for writing a cookbook? Pitfalls, lessons you have learned, any advice you would give aspiring cookbook authors? Backup everything, all the time. An extra external hard-disk is a good idea. Don't hesitate to fight for your conviction, but - on the other hand - don't forget, that the contracting party (publishing house, editors, etc.) knows the tricks of the trade by heart. Sometimes everybody profits from a compromise. Writing a cookbook sounds like a lot of fun, but hands down it's a considerable amount of hard work. You should already have developed a working routine (especially for recipe testing and writing, or your food photography) before signing a contract. Would you do it again? No. Just kidding... Absolutely, the last year may have been the most stressful I can remember in a very long time, but it was well worth it in the end. And I never ate that good and that much, and neither did Oliver ;) [lien] [EN]

FLDS Child Custody Testimony: Day 1

[Guest post by DRJ] This post deals with the first day of testimony in the FLDS temporary child custody hearing. It is based on the live-blog posted by the following reporters with the San Angelo Standard Times: “Standard-Times reporter Matt Phinney updates the FLDS child custody proceedings in the 51st District Court from the remote location at the City Auditorium, while reporter Sandy Rojas reports from outside the courthouse, and reporter Trish Choate is reporting at large. Jayna Boyle is reporting from Schleicher County.” The reporters have done an excellent job but there are limitations to what they can do. For instance, this is obviously not based on an official transcript, it has interruptions when a reporter has to leave the area (so parts of the hearing may have been missed), and I don’t believe the reporters are attorneys so his/her summary may not grasp all the legal issues. Absent an official transcript, the best source is to click the link and read the entire summary for yourself. However, because the website is undoubtedly getting a lot of hits and has been difficult to load and/or was down some of the time, I’ll include the highlights after the fold. I won’t make any comments below the fold in this post so everything you see past “More” will be from the San Angelo Standard Times’ blog. Also note that the children have apparently been divided into three or more color-coded groups and the attorneys are also grouped based on those groups. I’m not sure but I think the three groups are young children, teens, and pregnant minors. From the San Angelo Standard Times: “10:10 a.m. - All rise. Judge Barbara Walther enters the courtroom. 10:12 a.m. - The judge swears in people who will testify. Child Protective Services recommends that the state maintain temporary custody of the children. CPS asks to obtain DNA samples from adults to match with children. The first witness is called. Judge Walther tells a woman to take a seat, saying she will not have people jumping up and down and shouting at the court. 10:24 a.m. - The attorney for a woman whose last name is Barlow objects to: lack of notice, the hearing’s format, and failure to meet requirements of the Texas code that entitles each child to a full adversarial hearing. More attorneys make objections, and Judge Walther asks them to allow the court to get started. She says no perfect solution exists, and the state is required to get started after 14 days. The judge tells the attorneys their objections are premature. 10:26 a.m. - Men and women from the YFZ Ranch walk into the City Auditorium, take seats in the auditorium and begin watching the hearing. 10:30 a.m. - The judge swears in the first witness, an official from the Texas Department of State Health Services. He is asked about medical records from at least three women. A lull in the proceedings passes, and lawyers in the City Auditorium ask for copies of the court documents before they are submitted as evidence. This promises to be a long process. Attorneys in the City Auditorium want to know how they can make objections from the remote location. As a practical matter, Walther said she doesn’t want to cut anyone off from looking at the evidence. When lawyers in the courtroom see the evidence, a bailiff will take it to City Hall, a distance of about two city blocks. Walther said she will step off the bench to give lawyers time to view the evidence. Then they will reconvene. 11 a.m. - The court remains in recess. Attorneys mill about in packs, discussing different topics. Women and men from the YFZ Ranch lean over talking to one another, or sit and watch the scene around them. One man from the ranch sticks his finger to his mouth in a universal sign of “shh” to a group of ranch members across the aisle. The live video feed from the courthouse shows a paused shot of the judge’s bench. 11:05 a.m. - Announcement is made about a list of names so mothers in the court can find the attorneys they need to talk to. Court in recess. 11:32 a.m. - All rise, the judge is back. Several attorneys representing women and children begin making objections based on various laws, and one says negative media could skew the results. Judge Walther replies that this is not a jury trial, and that she won’t be swayed by media attention. Some call into question the way in which the medical records were presented. 12:30 p.m. - Attorneys continue to object, with the constitutional variety of objection taking the lead. An attorney hammers through a drawn-out soliloquy until the judge asks him to tell her exactly what he’s getting at. “I’m not sure, judge, that I can do that,” the attorney said. Laughter ripples among lawyers and observers. The judge launches into an offensive against the deluge of objections. “What I’m trying to get at is whether or not these children should be returned to their parents,” she said. The court hasn’t even been able to get to that, the judge said. Then she explained that this is a “looser procedure.” “We need to understand the nature of this as a temporary matter,” Walther said. 12:34 [pm] - But the massive proceedings don’t turn on a dime, and another attorney issues an objection regarding freedom of religion. Walther takes a direct route, saying she isn’t dealing with freedom of religion objections at this point, “but I’ll take it under advisement.” 12:36 [pm]- A Department of Public Safety trooper reads name after name of “husband,” “wife” and children from the bishop’s papers. For instance, a 28-year-old man is “married” to a 16-year-old girl, and they have a son. A 46-year-old man is “married” to a 19-year-old woman, but various children are listed with ages from 2 to 19. 12:42 [pm] - When he was done, Walther said that if an attorney represents one of the men named, then he or she can ask questions. “I know all of the lawyers for the male respondents were listening, and I’ll take the first volunteer,” she said. Silence ensued for a moment, and then an attorney asked whether her client is listed. “I don’t believe that’s one of the names that came up,” the DPS officer said. Walther, trying to keep chaos at bay again, said she has limited questions for now to names the DPS trooper has read. She asked whether any of the “male respondents’ ” attorneys have a response. 12:55 p.m. The judge recognizes a lawyer. “This is like an auction,” Walther said. “You scratch your nose, you’re going to get called on. You just bought it.” A lawyer asked for names on the list to be read again. “Just like I tell the juries when they ask to have the whole trial read back, y’all got to pay attention,” Walther said. She still spent the next few minutes helping sort out whether a client’s name was among those read. 1 p.m. - “We are now going to open up to global questions,” Walther announced. Under questioning, the DPS trooper said he’s reading from a list of names naming “husband” and “wife.” “But as far as mother-child, there’s just no indication,” he said. To get things rolling, the judge told the attorneys “to kind of queue up” so they can have their turn at questioning. A line about 15 deep forms in the auditorium. 2 p.m. - Break for lunch. Will come back at 2:45 p.m. 2:15 p.m. - Outside the courthouse, a television reporter asks William Jessop, who says he is an FLDS member, what he would say to his children. He replies, “Keep sweet and come home.” 3:04 p.m. - The judge walks in, and all rise for a moment. “I believe when we stopped, Mr. was making an objection about something,” Walther says, triggering quiet laughter. 3:09 p.m. - A Child Protective Services supervisor takes the stand. She was one of the primary supervisors assigned to work on the YFZ Ranch case. About 11:32 p.m. March 29, officials received a report, the supervisor says before an objection cuts her off. An attorney objects to the CPS supervisor reading from documents if they’re not submitted into evidence. Walther overrules him. The supervisor continues, saying a 16-year-old at YFZ Ranch reported abuse. When the department receives a report, it is routed to the appropriate investigator, the supervisor says under questioning from the state. Concerns came up that this case would be more than one investigator could handle, the supervisor says. A great number of children could be involved. The normal procedure is to interview every member of a household, the supervisor said. At first, 12 caseworkers were assigned to go to the YFZ Ranch. 3:20 p.m. - The CPS supervisor continues testimony: She went to the YFZ Ranch about 9 p.m. April 3. The team included herself and at least six investigators or special investigators, as well as two other CPS staff members. Also along were law enforcement officers, including some from the Schleicher County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Rangers. The supervisor asked to come into the compound and discuss reports of abuse. Law-enforcement officers told ranch residents they were there to see a child named Sarah. “The men shook their heads and said there were no Sarahs living at the ranch,” the supervisor tells the court. So the investigators asked to come in and talk to the other children. They noticed a guard tower as tall as the courtroom, the supervisor said. 3:25 [pm] - She saw two men in the guard tower looking down at the CPS investigators and law-enforcement officers, the supervisor testifies. They drove down a long, winding road to get to a two-level schoolhouse. Merril Jessop, an FLDS leader, opened some classroom doors so she and some of her investigators could interview some of the girls at the ranch, she says. Only five of the investigators were actually allowed onto the ranch. Each investigator had an interview room to talk to all of the girls who were 17 and younger, the supervisor says. In 10 or 15 minutes, the girls arrived, she said. Each investigator took a girl into the room to seek information about Sarah and “other things, too.” “Why were asking about other things,” the state attorney asks. That’s part of an investigation during a “standard interview,” the supervisor replies. They ask basic questions about daily activities and try to build a rapport. “We started to get information about some Sarahs,” the supervisor says. “Some Sarahs? More than one?” the state attorney asks. “Yes, ma’am,” the supervisor says. 3:50 p.m., TOM GREEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE - The CPS supervisor continues to testify about the raid April 3 on the YFZ Ranch: The FLDS men bring 15 girls to be interviewed, five at a time by the five investigators. The other girls stay in the waiting room where FLDS men are. The supervisor begins to hear about various Sarahs. The supervisor came to the ranch looking for a girl named Sarah who is about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, 16 years old and mother of a baby. During the interviews, CPS investigators hear about five Sarahs, although two or three could have been the same person, the supervisor said. It begins to come out that the households generally consist of one man, “the father,” who is a “husband” with several “wives” and father of all the children in the home. The investigators learn that one Sarah who has been at the ranch is 16 and has a baby, the supervisor said. The girls being interviewed have seen her the past week at the ranch but don’t know where she is. 4:22 p.m. - Back in session. Opens with objection that the CPS supervisor testimony shouldn’t be admitted as evidence. According to testimony, the CPS investigator began to find 16-year-old mothers with small children and began looking for pregnant teenagers. She found many. Saw a pattern that girls would switch names under testimony and wouldn’t provide full names. They did not, they told her, know their own dates of birth. Talk goes to girls’ classroom on the ranch. Several girls indicated there were some Sarahs on the ranch, and they went to school with Sarahs. There were no attendance logs in the classrooms. Journals were found in the classrooms. During questioning at the ranch, some girls said they couldn’t talk about certain things. “The demeanor I observed from the girls was very closed off. They would say they didn’t want to answer that question,” the witness said. Some girls would say who the father of the house is. Difficult to tell who is the biological father or father of the household. Girls talked freely about chores on the ranch and how they pray and what they believe. But as to identifying persons in the home, they couldn’t give specific information or refused to answer. 4:39 p.m. - The CPS worker testifies she asked to see some girls from the ranch, and Merrill Jessop brought a group of girls, but only one was among those requested. An objection is called out from the City Auditorium, taking a few tries before Judge Walther hears it in the county courthouse. The CPS worker is asked about the decision to remove the girls and replies that her concern is a global pattern that underage marriage and children having children is permitted. 5:10 p.m. - The decision to remove some children from the ranch came about 3 a.m. Friday (April 4), about six hours after the raid began, the CPS witness testifies. As I am listening, a policeman comes over and asks me to follow him outside because he thinks the broadband device attached to my laptop computer is a camera. I miss some testimony. Back in court, the witness is saying that things got “more scary” about 10 a.m. Friday on the ranch. There appeared to be a “situation of a huge magnitude,” with a great many officers around. The girls were not providing information, and they seemed fearful, the witness testified. The women at the ranch were upset and uncooperative at first and said they wouldn’t let the children go. A law enforcement officer then used a speaker phone to have Merrill Jessop, the ranch patriarch, tell the women to cooperate. The women then cooperated, the witness said. “In any case where we determine children are unsafe, it’s very difficult to remove children from their parents,” the witness said. The witness then says she was surprised at how the women reacted when Merrill Jessop told them to cooperate - he only had to say it once, she says. Some women continued to cry but helped children leave the school house, she said. 5:24 p.m. - The CPS worker testifies that it was not safe to go house-to-house in the dark looking for children. She says she heard there were men in trees with night-vision goggles. Asked about being afraid, she says men were videotaping her and the children, and men appeared to be posted at every entrance and around the buildings. It’s a feeling of being unsafe, she says. Law enforcement had begun mobilizing a SWAT team and a tank. Law enforcement, she says, told her, “We are here to keep you safe, and we can’t do that when it’s dark.” The people from the YFZ Ranch in the auditorium show little emotion as testimony is made. Merrill Jessop at first was not inclined to cooperate in letting CPS back on the ranch Saturday (April 5) of the raid, the witness says, but Jessop didn’t expressly say they couldn’t enter. The people didn’t present themselves to authorities but were cooperative when CPS was in the homes, the witness said. One girl gave names of 24 children and nine mothers living in her house, the witness recalls. Generally, she says, one or two men live in the homes. 5:32 p.m. - The CPS witness says many children at the compound said they were excited about coming to the YFZ Ranch; many said they came from Arizona and Utah. Later, they told investigators this ranch is Zion, and this is where they want to be, the witness testifies. Women and children began giving different names when they got to the Schleicher County Civic Center. Lists were made of the people taken to San Angelo. Again, the records from the bus didn’t match up with records from the shelters. The judge rules that children will be identified by numbers. The CPS witness says one girl said Sarah - the girl who called in the original complaint - does exist. One girl said no age limit exists for girls to get married and have children, the witness says. Witness said they were told at the gate there were no Sarahs, but workers found several on the ranch. Witness testifies she determined children younger than 17 had given birth to a child or had conceived children on the ranch. 5:45 p.m. - The investigation revealed teenage pregnancies, the witness says. The mind-set is such, she says, that the young girls believe it is the highest blessing they can have to have children. An attorney raises objection to that as “gross hearsay” and asks that some of it be stricken from the record. The question is withdrawn, and court continues. Outside the courthouse, passing motorists slow and gawk, taking photos of the unaccustomed nighttime activity. There are 16 media trucks parked around the courthouse lawn. There is no indication when today’s session might end. 5:48 p.m. - Court in recess. 6:18 p.m. - Court is back in session. 6:24 p.m. - Judge Walther says she will hear the best objection from each side to corrections made on a document. An attorney says “No objections,” to the applause of the City Auditorium. Discussion centers around children who are pregnant or who gave birth while younger than 17. At least one girl was as young as 13 when she conceived a child, according to testimony. Some girls who are reporting they are adults are likely not adults, according to testimony, and maybe as many as 50 percent of the women who say they are adults are not, according to testimony. 6:35 p.m. - The CPS witness, asked why it’s not safe to return the children to their mothers, replies that adults who live on the ranch believe they aren’t doing anything wrong to their children, that the practice of children having children is part of their culture and belief system. 6:55 p.m. - The CPS supervisor is under fire during cross-examination. A defense attorney representing a father asks the CPS supervisor whether anyone has talked to the father. No, the CPS supervisor says. The defense attorney continues to attack, asking whether families that have come forward to say they didn’t live at the ranch can go home. The CPS supervisor said she doesn’t know of any, and a home would have to be checked out before a child could go to it. 7:05 [pm] - “There are young girls that feel the pinnacle of their existence is to become married at whatever age they’re told and have as many children as they’re told to have,” the CPS supervisor says during questioning from a defense attorney. But the danger of being sexually abused for those children who are 4 and younger is 10 or 12 years down the road, the defense attorney says. “What is the danger today for those children?” she said. The CPS supervisor said the danger is that they’ll grow up in an atmosphere in which sexual abuse of children is accepted. The judge said she’ll hear from one child’s attorney. An attorney steps forward and says she represents three “alleged” minors. She asks the CPS supervisor whether she saw any YFZ men armed. No, the CPS supervisor says. She confirms that children were swabbed for DNA. “Were the children’s attorneys informed of the DNA swabbing?” the attorney says. “I believe so,” the CPS supervisor says, uncertainly. The CPS supervisor says she was not responsible for the DNA swabbing, which was done for law-enforcement purposes, and she doesn’t know how many children were swabbed. 7:15 p.m. - The CPS supervisor says, under cross-examination, that she can’t recommend any safety situation that would allow any of the children to go back to the ranch. Another attorney representing parents steps forward to question the CPS supervisor, saying: Don’t these people as a whole look younger than they may actually be? “I can’t speak to that,” the supervisor says. Everything grinds to a halt as the question arises as to exactly whom the attorney represents. One of his clients was put on “the disputed list” who was supposed to be 20, he says. “And I wasn’t allowed to see her,” he adds. He wants to know how many adults the supervisor testifying has spoken with. She has talked to 15 or 20, she responds. “What they express is they’ve done nothing wrong,” the CPS supervisor says. 7:25 p.m. - A child’s attorney asks the testifying CPS supervisor whether any of the children had broken bones, injuries or malnutrition that showed up in medical examinations. “There were some suspected broken bones,” the CPS supervisor said. The judge asks whether there are any other questions. Another child’s attorney asks whether the supervisor has identified any male who was 17 or younger and who had sex with a girl 17 or younger. “I don’t know,” the supervisor replies. Can you identify any households in which a child was caused serious injury or death? the attorney says. Yes, the CPS supervisor says. Four children’s attorneys and one parent’s attorney want to speak from the auditorium, a court official says. This is a 14-day hearing, the judge said. And questions should relate to its purpose. An attorney rises up to protest the judge is shutting down questions. The judge notes that is not what she said. In the auditorium, a child’s attorney tries to zero in on what age the CPS supervisor considers a child “indoctrinated” in a religion that she feels encourages sex abuse. “It’s just like any other investigation,” she says. “When you find one child that’s a victim in a home, you have concerns for all of them, and the ranch is considered one large home.” 7:46 [pm] - “You know, just because you stand up doesn’t mean you have a right to talk,” the judge tells someone at the courthouse. “I will recognize you.” An attorney comes forward to speak for all of the girls who are minors with children, asking for the CPS position on them. The department wants to find places together for the mothers and children if possible, the CPS supervisor says. The attorney wants to know whether the mothers are seen as victims or perpetrators. “In my investigation at this point, I see them as both,” the CPS supervisor says. “They have been raised - and they are raising their children - in the belief that it will be OK for their children to have babies when they are just adolescents.” The attorney asks a question about the termination of parental rights. “Termination is not on the table today, guys,” the judge says. A boy’s attorney asks about a reference to “children being kept in their rooms and deprived of meals.” This happened as a form of punishment, the supervisor says, adding that wasn’t a major factor in the children’s removal. “OK, do we have another one?” the judge said. “And we’re going to try this: Just give us your two best questions.” 7:56 p.m. - An attorney representing four mothers steps forward to say that none of the evidence and pleadings involves her clients and their children. “Nevertheless, they are detained at the (San Angelo) coliseum,” said the attorney whose firm represents more than 40 mothers. “There is no mother at the coliseum or at the Wells Fargo Pavilion that is an adult or that everyone agrees is an adult that is detained,” the judge said. “Your clients, the mothers, are not being held by this court.” “I’m supposed to tell the mother of my 2-year-old that she’s free to go?” the attorney said. Meanwhile, the child stays. The sect members in the auditorium applaud loudly as the attorney drives home her point. “Then if you’re going to take the position these women are being detained, then they can’t stay unless they sign something that says they want to stay,” the judge said. The attorney continues to press the judge about difficulties, such as access to her clients. “I have tried to impose some structure on this free-for-all,” the judge said. Emotions are on edge, she said. In a perfect world, I could have had one family in front of me today, the judge said. But how could she do that and meet the requirements to have 14-day hearings for all of the children? The attorney said she’ll get in trouble if she tells her how she could. Observers chuckle. 8:37 p.m. - The judge returns to the bench. “I personally am happy to work until midnight,” she said. But her staff is telling her that’s not a good idea. She begins to brief attorneys on “the game plan” when a question arises from an attorney. The upshot of that question is the judge tells lawyers to stay if they’re representing the mother of a child younger than 4 housed at the pavilion or the coliseum - and the mother hasn’t seen that child - and the mother is willing to “take up residence” with her child. She’s not saying that will be ordered, but the attorneys should stay. Attorneys can look at documents early Friday at a local church. The judge will take the bench at 9:30 a.m. Friday. 9 p.m. - The judge finishes up with a final question and leaves the bench. A San Angelo police officer walks through asking everyone to wrap it up because the building is closing. Few people remain. Outside, an FLDS woman and man walk into the night.” [lien] [EN]

Finals day discussion

As a general note, posting is going to be a bit light today and tomorrow because I have Finals, and I imagine Jake does as well (though I might be wrong about that). Each day, I'll try to come up with a question for discussion to mitigate the lack of heavy posting. Today's question is as follows. Considering our salary-cap situation, our best chance to get someone in free agency would be to use our mid-level exception, which amount to somewhere between 5-6 million dollars annually. I haven't crunched our salary number to know exactly how much of that we have to spend this year, so let's assume we can use it all. Now, assume every player on every other team in the league would suddenly become a free agent, allowing us theoretically to sign anyone we wanted with that money. Obviously, most of the best players in the league would never sign for that little, so we can throw those players out of the discussion. Of the players in the league who either make mid-level money or less, or who would conceivably be worth mid-level money next year (because they're getting older, or they're improving from being a fringe player), who would help the Wizards the most? For the purpose of this exercise, I'm asking you guys to list one player only. If you think he will sign for less than the full mid-level exception, that's fine, but list just one player. Have at it! [UPDATE] A couple clarifications. First, players on rookie contracts count, but again, give a compelling reason why they're worth mid-level money or less. Second, unless you note otherwise, assume that our main core (Big 3, all others under contract) would still remain. Finally, I'll post all the answers tomorrow and decide which one I personally like best. [lien] [EN]

Helicopter Alarm Clock Wakes You to the Sound of Mechanical Death [Alarms]

We can't speak for everyone here, but when dreaming about surfing the galaxy on our robot jet dog with integrated ice cream machine, the last thing we need is a military chopper waking us up. We don't fear the sounds of this helicopter alarm clock or the cut of its blades that launch into the air—Fido can take care of those just fine—we just fear waking up to a world in which man and his robot dog don't have their marriage recognized by intergalactic law. Here's a clip of the alarm clock in action: You can pick up your own for $35. Or you can opt for and industrial level waking device. [Toyo Trading via CrunchGear] Read More: Question of the Day: Are Car Alarms More Trouble Then They're Worth?, HappyWakeUp S60 Alarm App Uses Your Phone's Microphone to Decide When to Wake You, 10 Extremely Unusual Burglar Alarms, Home-Appliance Alarm Clocks, Wake You by Simulating Real Thing [lien] [EN]

CSI Guy and His Hot Girlfriend in her Bikini of the Day

Ewwwww Interracial kissing….I can’t believe this hasn’t been banned yet…you know that there aren’t laws about this shit…especially considering in some states you can’t fuck a woman up the ass legally, but it’s ok for a black man to kiss up on a girl who isn’t black…next thing you know they’re gonna have the right to ride in the back of the bus, or even have their own TV station. The exerpt above was written by me in , in a lot of ways, I predicted the future and my words should be seen as gospel and not smut….What it really comes down to is that girls love black dudes and black dudes love any girl who isn’t black so the whole thing makes perfect sense, especially when you give the dude some celebrity status, throw him on a TV show and make him okay to bring home to mom and dad and rich enough to pay child support after he deadbeat dads on her for new pussy, even when this pussy he’s already with is pretty fuckin’ substantial… On a sidenote I know a married white woman who carries a picture of Gary Dourdan in her wallet cuz he’s her fuckin’ dream guy and good for him for breakin’ down barriers, it’s 9 motherfuckers, the year to make some beige babies…. Here’s a video of what happened to a black dude riding with a white girl…. This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th9 at 3 am and is filed under Bikini, Gary Dourdan, Groupie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 3 Responses to “CSI Guy and His Hot Girlfriend in her Bikini of the Day”: Bob Smith Says: August 4th9 at 5 pm Ugly dude gets hot chix. How can that be? Good looking? NOOOO! Famous Actor? Close enough. Bring on the hot chix! Expletive: BMP Says: August 4th9 at 0 pm this will continue to happen regardless of the out rage, if anyone feels otherwise, they’re just fooling themselves. porch monkey Says: August 4th9 at 3 pm Of course it will continue, because white people hate blacks and always will. That’s why I tell my son stick to black chicks. White women are not worth the trouble they cause. .Leave a Reply: Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) [lien] [EN]

Notes about Opening Day

Not by me, of course, since I can't remember the last time I saw an Opening Day game. Jeff Conine, who officially retired as a Marlin on Friday after signing a one-day contract, was honored with a pre-game video montage of his career. He also was given a framed replica of his jersey from the 2003 World Series. --- The fans gave Conine a standing ovation and his pitch easily reached Fox, in the air. No real big surprise there. Actually I would've been shocked if they didn't. While the Marlins payroll may not be in line with most of the other 29 teams, it sounds like the stadium concessions have kept pace. The concession stands at Dolphin Stadium are all set up for quick credit-card swiping. That's because buying peanuts and Cracker Jack is more than a ballpark whim these days. It's a major financial decision. A bowl of nachos costs $8. A bucket of popcorn costs $5. Get up into the entree range and you're talking $9 for fish and chips or $12 for a hand-carved turkey sandwich. Ketchup and mustard are free, and so are napkins, so stop whining. For the discriminating baseball fan there are flat-screen television monitors hanging just about everywhere in the concourse-level food courts. I do hope the Marlins adopt the idea having television monitors in the all the food courts when/if the new stadium is built. Back, a gazillion years ago when I was, for all intents and purposes, a season ticket holder of the Astros there were television monitors in all the food courts around the Astrodome. Let's say you were playing the drinking game of a beer per inning, not me, of course, and one had to go rest rooms during the inning because nature called. If on your way to the facilities you heard a roar from the crowd you could always ask the people at food court what just happened and assuming you could still speak with enough diction that they understood your question the folks at food court could answer since they were following the game on the monitors. Or so I've been told. Finally, it sounds like our base coaches need to invest in someauxiliaryequipment. Coaches wore helmets on the field during a regular-season game for the first time. The problem is, they are not required by MLB to wear protective cups. Marlins third-base coach Bo Porter fielded a one-hopper in the fourth inning in a spot that had to hurt. Something gives me the idea that MLB won't have to make that a policy since it will probably be adopted by the base coaches on their own. [lien] [EN]

Jennifer Aniston Leaving the Gym of the Day

Jennifer Aniston is leaving the gym because staying in shape is important, especially when your aging body can’t land a husband, baby daddy or boyfriend and even more necessary when you’re Greek and predisposed to having a hug fucking dumpy ass. Her desperation reminds me of my friend who was equally desperate to find love. He got to the point of desperation where he had exhausted masturbation but couldn’t manage to get a girl to sleep with him, and refused to get a whore because he said that would make him feel like a loser. I would remind him that he is a loser and he’d just blow me off. As time went on, he got more paranoid that everyone around him knew he couldn’t get laid and I realized that it had gone too far one day when buying beer with him at the grocery store and dude picked up a box of tampons. I asked him why the fuck he was picking up tampons and he just ignore me. We got to the cash and when the clerk went to scan the tampons, my friend chimed in and said something along the lines of “I hate buying these for my girlfriend, it’s so embarrassing”, I looked at him like he had lost his fucking mind and he continued, “but I guess it’s not as bad as me not getting laid for the next week, if you know what I mean”….and I figured I had to stop the insanity so I ratted him out to the clerk for not having a girlfriend and that he’s just being crazy at which point he freaked out on me and ran out of the store and I haven’t heard from him since. Either way, here’s Aniston… SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Jennifer Aniston Leaving the Gym of the Day", url: "http://www.drunkenstepfather.com/index.php/2008/09/16/jennifer-aniston-leaving-the-gym-of-the-day/" }); This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Gym, Jennifer Aniston, Spandex. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 30 Responses to “Jennifer Aniston Leaving the Gym of the Day” · bobo Says: September 16th, 2008 at 3:58 pm NICE! My friend recommended me a very interesting place ☆☆☆ wealthyromanceS.Com☆☆☆ This is an online dating service where wealthy singles can join who are looking for younger unattached people to enjoy their wealthy lifestyle with. · Pete Says: September 16th, 2008 at 4:02 pm Any way you slice it, Spandex went out of style a long time ago. · Michael Says: September 16th, 2008 at 4:17 pm So you reminded your friend that he was a loser and he did what to you? · gj Says: September 16th, 2008 at 4:22 pm She is soooooo fucking hot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! · gj Says: September 16th, 2008 at 4:22 pm I wanna do ya Jen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! · Pen Says: September 16th, 2008 at 4:46 pm I call BS on the whole banning thing going on in the forum’s. · Candi Apples Says: September 16th, 2008 at 8:25 pm Jennifer Anniston does try extra hard to land a man,but it never seems to do her any good. I’m convinced that she has a toxic personality,cause there are women uglier than her that manage to keep a man. Another thing,Jennifer Annitson is doing herself no favors by sporting Spandex in public. · what the? Says: September 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm YES! The typical American retard, who “knows” a celebrity from reading about her in magazines. I don’t know her, neither do you, save yourself the breath… · FngFer Says: September 16th, 2008 at 9:27 pm Buying tampons to impress the grocery clerk?!?! That’s the funniest god-damned thing I’ve read on this site. Anustown’s big dumpy ass must come in handy, being Greek and all. · Frothy Afterbirth Says: September 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am Spandex with no camel toe = uninteresting · Martha Says: September 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm how do you know a husband is even what she wants. this may come as a surprise to some ppl but not all women what a husband and a bunch of rug rats running around. NEWS FLASH: a woman is still a woman if she never get married or have kids. what’s pathetic is writing crap about somebody you don’t know based on BS you read in a mag. this is my first time visting this site and will be my last. · hot ass woman Says: September 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm Jennifer aniston is so freaking sexy her body is so tight. I’ll marry her in a second if she’ll have me of course. I LOVE YOU JEN BABY! · double standards Says: September 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pm Let’s see george clooney is a playboy that serial dates and he’s a stud. Jennifer aniston is single and dating yet she’s desperate? Huh? Really wow what a double standard. I agree with the earlier post just because you read about jen in magazines and the internet nobody knows her she’s just trying to live her life like all of us are. Look she can’t even go to the gym without someone blogging about how desperate she is shit she’s just trying to workout! · Amy Says: September 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm You are blind! This girl hasn’t had a dumpy ass since before Friends (before she lost about 25 lbs). She has a fantastic body for any age! How do you KNOW she is desperate for a man? Hey she had a summer fling w/ douche and kicked him to the curb-good riddance. Celeb women adopt all the time as singles and she can do that any time she wants. Hell, she’s got enough cash to buy a whole daycare center full of kids. WHy does she need a man????? · Jenfraud Says: September 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm Aniston has become from ‘hot’ to ‘well preserved’. When you don’t have a talent, and relied heavily on your physique for years, you are destined to lose. But right, it’s her business and no one cares. Good luck on that TV career. · A Greek Says: September 17th, 2008 at 3:08 pm I think the story about the guy that doesn´t fuck and went to the store for tampons is about you… it is obvious that you DONT FUCK… what is also obvious is that you have never been to Greece and that you have never tapped greek ass. That said, Aniston is stinking rich, and good looking so i really dont see how i can feel sorry for her, even after reading the crap you wrote. · brian Says: September 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm Aniston is soo hot. I’m in love with this chick. jenn i wanna marry you baby · anonymous Says: September 17th, 2008 at 3:41 pm Oh yeah she’s so desperate she’s beautiful and rich with a smokin hot little body. A body better than girls half her age. Seriously who is writing this garbage? · Eli Says: September 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pm after reading this bull shit, i don’t feel sorry for her; i feel sorry for ppl like you. get a life. and just like the person above: this is my first time visiting this site and will be my last. the only reason i clicked on this was because it was a link about jennifer on the imnotobsessed page. you are just like fat ass perez hilton and that is not a compliment. rag on ppl who deserves it. this woman has done nothing to anybody, but yet, you and the media loves to try and ripe her a new asshole. · cam Says: September 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pm A lot of very AAAANGRY women posting today! Fact: Jennifer is gagging for a man; Fact: its getting harder and harder for her to land one because she’s reached a certain age and is starting to lose her looks Fact: its much better to be a man after the age of 30! · Anne Says: September 17th, 2008 at 4:18 pm It always amazes me how dumb you commentators are about celebs, so she “reminds you” of whatever……well newsflash for the reality impaired, your perceptions of her life ARE YOUR perceptions and not a reflection of reality. How bloody stupid are you? Do you really think that the image the media has cultivated over several years now is the truth? Do you think that all there is to a celeb’s life is what you see in the news? If you do that’s pretty fucking sad. For shame on you idiot commentator. And also like the person above me the only reason I clicked on your site was b/c of Aniston, she’s an amazing person, actress, down to earth, smokin hot and etc, and yes I met her once and she was so nice to everyone. I feel sorry for you and that you have to slag off a person like Aniston for not having a baby/husband or whatever, and that you probably do it for attention or some other such nonsense. You know a woman doesn’t have to have a baby/husband/bf or whatever to be happy, successful, and beautiful (which she obviously is). Why is it that so many people berate her for not having a child? What is that her only purpose as a female, brood mare? Screw that bollocks. And oh yea, so hard for her to land roles that she’s got at least 6 lined up for filming. *sigh* Reality must really burn some people eh? · Nat Says: September 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm MANiston wants a husband so bad she can taste it! We all know she stays up at night cutting up pictures of Brad and Angie while laughing hysterically and wearing her wedding gown… Shes so ~P~A~T~H~E~T~I~C~ that she couldnt even get K-Fed to take her home after she was all over him at a club… BAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! · Jen sucks balls Says: September 17th, 2008 at 5:04 pm I love how you don’t let this b-list actress get away with her stupid behavior! You crack me up. While a large segment of women scream and holler if anyone criticizes their precious Rachel Green, the rest of us (who are actually sane) are tired of her stupid ploys to keep her name in the media. She is fake, fake, fake! And the reason why she can’t keep a man is because she has no life and is boring as all Fuck! Who the hell wants to lay around in the sun and fly back btwn Mexico and Los Angeles all year? Okay, I mean anyone with a semblence of intelligence. I bet conversations with her are a friggin snoozefest too! It’s pathetic she can’t have a serious relationship. Brad only married her because he can’t be alone and he was anxious to be in a serious relationship after Gwyneth. I’ve seen that happen with a lot of men who get married for the wrong reasons and regret it. They end up finding someone else who they really, truly fall in love with and get divorced. Brad made a mistake getting married to her. PLus this liar doesnt want kids! If she wanted kids, she’d be adopting like so many single, financially able women. She’s a fraud and has been lying to everyone for years. Eff her! · marisa Says: September 17th, 2008 at 5:15 pm Dude, I agree with the above posters about the double standard. George Clooney is a stud, and Jen Aniston is desperate? #%$@! I call bullshite. George Clooney is what–60 now? Grandpa needs to settle down. And, for the record, George Clooney reminds me a lot of my Jimmy the Chimp doll from childhood. All the man needs to do is scratch his crotch and he proves himself to be pure monkey to me. Clooney want a banana? · Nat Says: September 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm Yes Jensucksballs… I have to agree! And I’m just going to go ahead and assume that all of the pro-MANiston posts are Jen herself… its not like she has anything better to do like a family to take care of like most other 40 YO wemen. · Sh Says: September 17th, 2008 at 5:46 pm you are my new best friend, thank you for calling it as you see it, Jen does want a man, why do she keep dating, huh!? only to get dumped again, she is unstable and dizzy. the different between George and Jen is obvious, George does the dumping and Jen gets dumped, she does not date, she gets crapped on and tossed aside, money is not every thing, she has no self esteem, a lot of older women have hot body’s, Halley b, meg r,Farrah f, etc, but this chick is unstable. why can’t she keep a man? they all leave her. she is desperate. · Suzy Says: September 17th, 2008 at 6:47 pm Oh yeah, Jen’s pathetic but all of you criticizing her certainly must have great tight bodies and a perfect marriage right. Get of your fucking moral high horse and GET REAL! The only reason SOME people think she’s desperate is because the media portrays her that way. And you people buy it because you want to. Because your life is so crappy, you can only feel better by believing other beautiful or sucessful people have it bad. So what if she hasn’t found anyone to marry. At least she’s brave enough to be on her own unlike some people who have to be in a relationship (even if it’s a crappy one) just to prove they’re worth something. I mean come on! What is this, the Middle Ages?! All of you out there calling her desperate and shit are just frustrated and have nothing better to do. Guess your life’s not as interesting after all. · jen is beautiful Says: September 17th, 2008 at 7:22 pm She’s been divorced for 3 years so instead of taking time and dating like normal people do she has to be desperate? If she was so desperate she would be in single bars everynight with a hoochie dress on trying to land a man any man( shauna sands is desperate walking around 24/7 in stripper shoes). Yes she wants to be married with kids one day so why can’t she date until mr. Right comes along. So single older men who date are cool but single older women are desperate? Is this the stone age? · anonymous Says: September 17th, 2008 at 7:56 pm George does all the dumping you know this personally cause you’re friends with him right? You got his number on speed dial and on the weekends you toss back a few cold ones with him cause you two are tight like that. I mean that’s the only way you could be so sure he does all the dumping. For the record jennifer dumped john, paul and that other fool she’s the one that filed for divorce from brad since you want to believe everything you read asshole. · WTF Says: September 17th, 2008 at 10:31 pm MANISTON did all the dumping BWAHAHAHHAHAHH!!! He dumped Brad Pitt bwaahahahhahahhah oh my goodnesssss!!! You’re like your idol DELUSIONAL to the MAX !!! Leave a Reply Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website [lien] [EN]

Gartner EA Summit - Day 2

As for the second day of coverage of the EA summit I attended less sessions and did more talking with other architects at the conference so I will not have a whole lot to say about most of the sessions. I did observe that there was quite the drop-off between day 1 and day 2 for some reason. I am not sure if it was due to work pressures by their employers or if there were other reasons (economy?). SOA and EA Lessons Learned This was another good session from Nick Gall. There was a great deal of discussion around further definition of SOA and then led into a case study discussion of what others have done. For me this was the best part of the presentation. It was good to see what has and hasn't worked for companies. What I didn't see in the presentation was the alignment of SOA and EA. It through me off and was expecting something different. A rename of the session would of done the trick in my opinion. The Best Enterprise Architects Don’t Work Too Hard In my opinion this was one of the best sessions at the conference. Brian Burke really got to the heart of the matter with this one. He put some really grounding around building, maturing and sustaining an EA practice at all levels. This wasn't the typical "Build it and they will come" type of pitch but a much more pragmatic approach. I agreed with 100% of what he had to say. I have some scares on my back from living trough some of the mistakes but I think we all have in some way... I like that he is so candid in this presentation where he talks about not fighting battles you can't win, don't try to change an unchangeable organization. It's was very good for folks in all different ranges between just starting an EA practice to being in the trenches dealing with adoption/political issues. I'm not sure if Brian will be writing more on this topic but hopefully he will present and write more on this topic. If you have access to Gartner they are worth a look. · Organize Your Enterprise Architecture Effort: Tips for Game Planning and Launching the EA Program · Predicts 2008: Emerging Trends Force a Clearer and Deeper Focus on Enterprise Architecture · Architecting the Emergent Enterprise: New Game, New Rules Cloud Computing - How Getting “Served” will Alter Your Architectural Plans This was one of those really meaty sessions that I will not be able to give a whole lot of details on unfortunately. Darryl Plummer did a great job of articulating this space. He went into defining the cloud and demystifying it a bit. I thought this was a message that was very much needed. Here at Microsoft we have defined the cloud in a similar way but they take a more holistic industry approach which is good for architects that are looking at wiring up multiple clouds or trying to differentiate between different cloud platforms. An area that is explored in some detail was how the architecting process and architecture decisions change when developing solutions for the cloud. This is an area in which I would like to talk more about as well. I think this is the higher order bit, more important than trying to create the all-up definition of the cloud. The reality is that there isn't going to be one major cloud, there are going to be several major cloud vendors and most companies will leverage multiple clouds for various purposes. I really liked his presentation and thought it was one of the top presentations at the conference. As a side note, I would really like to see a wiring up of this presentation and with a presentation that David Chappell presented on at an internal Microsoft conference called TechReady that was based on "a short introduction to cloud platforms" paper he had wrote. Blending the holistic space with architecture classifications and styles would be ideal. Summary So in summary, the conference was a bit different than others in the past. When looking at the agenda it was really obvious the lack of SOA and ESB tracks. It seems as if Gartner is backing away from SOA a bit. The SOA tracks were filled with relatively new concepts. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, it's actually refreshing to see some diversification.  However, I wonder if there are other motivations such as a negative market trend towards SOA. I didn't hear this from Gartner, but one has to wonder if there analysis is surfacing data like this. Time will tell... As I have stated above and in other posts, I am happy to see a more pragmatic Gartner. A few years ago I remember have consults with them and hearing that tools such as Word and Visio should not be used in EA. Now the tone has changed a bit. I had counted five sessions where EVP Tools (i.e., Office Productivity tools such as Microsoft Office) should be leveraged at certain levels of maturity. I think this is spot on. Use a tool until you outgrow it. Just because you start out using Visio doesn't mean that you will always be using it. I think this was driven home in the key note where they pulled some data from the April 2008 EA Market Survey that stated: 72% are interested in EA Tools - with 80% of you still using the "EVP tool suite" and an intranet site My time in London was filled with great conversations with some really smart architects and I want to thank all the folks that I was able to connect with and gain new perspectives on this radically evolving space of enterprise architecture. See all of you at the next event!   Technorati Tags: Enterprise Architecture,Gartner,Cloud,Events [lien] [EN]

Vanessa Carbone’s Topless for the Whales of the Day

Her name is Vanessa Carbone and she’s some ex-playmate with a cause. I guess bitches who get naked for money in hopes of capitalizing their bodies for all they are worth have more substance than whatever is inside their implants. Or maybe they just like getting naked and noticed so protesting the Japanese embasy in your thong makes sense, because before being offered a couple hundred dollars to do this she had no idea what whales are and were under the impression that whaling was just a sex act virginal dudes did to themselves while looking at her nude pictures on their computers in their mom’s basements. I hate activists. Sure, I appreciate extreme things and consider myself extreme at least when it comes to laziness, and every time I’ve been bitched at by a hippie lesbian about throwing my garbage in the river, or wearing my fur pants, or walking into a butcher shop to buy meat, I know that they are just fronting and the whole thing is for show, you know to give them some sort of purpose because their Master’s degree in something useless didn’t land them a real job and they are only fighting for a cause is to feel better about their useless selves and not because they actually care, because from my experience, recycling or not not clubbing baby seals is just too much fucking work. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Vanessa Carbone’s Topless for the Whales of the Day", url: "http://www.drunkenstepfather.com/index.php/2008/12/03/vanessa-carbones-topless-for-the-whales-of-the-day/" }); This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Activist, Topless, Vanessa Carbone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 2 Responses to “Vanessa Carbone’s Topless for the Whales of the Day” · elvagreen Says: December 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm Who cares ?! My friend recommended me a very interesting place *** MillionaireLover Com *** It’s where wealthy singles looking for someone to enjoy their wealthy lifestyle with. · Frothy Afterbirth Says: December 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pm Her tits are way too rock hard fake to give me a boner and her face is a bit fugly. Leave a Reply Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website [lien] [EN]

Condaleezza Rice Nude Pics of the Day

Here is a unconfirmed nude picture of Condaleeza Rice. I figure they look close enough to her that they are worth posting, but then again, I am ignorant and think all black people look the same. For all I fuckin’ know, this could be Denzel Washington or Will Smith or even Michael Jackson pre-death. The truth is that I’ve heard her talk and bitch seems way too serious to get naked, I’m talking showers in her fucking business suit serious. But behind every girl, no matter how tough she is to make it in a man’s world, is a little whore excited to get her pussy fucked, usually all it takes is a little alcohol to get a girl back into her natural whore state, you know one that isn’t tainted with serious jobs and serious higher education and one that rocks the stripper name her parents gave her the way nature intended before getting all ambitious and shit, makin’ her the one who got away, at least that was before today. After this past weekend, I would not be surprised if there are numerous nude pictures of me floating around via different sources. Shit was fucking so messy I still haven’t recovered and I spent the entire day in bed because my liver fuckin’ hates me. I may have to quit drinking cuz if I don’t I will die. True Story… Another true story – I doubt these are legit. This entry was posted on Monday, July 0th9 at 8 am and is filed under Condaleezza Rice, Nude. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 7 Responses to “Condaleezza Rice Nude Pics of the Day”: HorneyLohanWanker Says: July 0th9 at 9 am I would own this bitch, then have her negotiate the surrender of France to me! Fucking sweet nips and all the brie fucking cheese I could stand! underpassdweller Says: July 0th9 at 8 pm What’s her position on Foreign Object Policy? HorneyLohanWanker Says: July 0th9 at 1 pm Who gives a shit? When she is tied down, and gagged, her position is whatever you decide it is. speedmonkey Says: July 0th9 at 7 pm is it wrong that i just jerked off to this pic? HorneyLohanWanker Says: July 0th9 at 7 pm Speedmonkey if jerking off to this picture is wrong, I don’t want to be right! MrTwist Says: July 0th9 at 1 pm Nope, not her. The face is hers, but the body isn’t. It should be obvious it’s photoshopped. Take a good look at the collarbone. bobmynob Says: July 0th9 at 2 pm wow, that’s… unfortunate boobage. .Leave a Reply: Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) [lien] [EN]

Lindsay Lohan Naked is Worth a Lot of Money

10:19 AM, Filed under: Home \ Celebrities \ Lindsay Lohan So you know those Lindsay Lohan nude pictures from New York magazine that were so very popular last week? Of course you do! Well, turns out they were worth a lot of money for New York magazine, at least according to a report made by business magazine Forbes, which estimates that New York magazine could have made $500,000 in just two days from internet traffic to those photo pages. And the best part... Lindsay Lohan got nuthin'! The photographer who snapped the photos of Lohan was Bert Stern, the same lensman who was behind the camera for Monroe's famed 1962 shoot at the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles. And while some magazines reportedly spend millions to get their hands on exclusive photos of celebrities or their babies, New York paid Stern its standard fee for such assignments--and paid Lohan nothing for her participation, according to magazine spokeswoman Lauren Starke. For a site that's averaged around a million page views a day lately, the results were stunning. NYmag.com recorded a total of more than 40 million page views Monday and Tuesday, more than 34 million of which came from the Lohan portfolio, Starke said. According to New York's online rate card, the "super banner ad" of the type that appears on the Lohan photo slideshow has a CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) of $15. Multiply that by the number of views and the Lohan slideshow ads were valued at more than $500,000 over two days. NYmag.com probably charged far less than the rate-card rate, as is common in the industry. Starke said the magazine doesn't disclose revenue details about advertising deals. Still, New York's Web site no doubt made out pretty well. Some perspective: Based on its rate card, New York generated about as much revenue per day from its online slideshow as it would from four $64,500 full-page color ads in its print edition. While I don't completely agree with that figure of $500,000 for various reasons which I won't get into, New York magazine definitely made some fat cash of Lindsay Lohan's ass. And tits. Anyway, here's Lindsay Lohan in short shorts in the middle of February, because I'm sure it's really warm in LA, and she's not just trying to get a lot of attention. Photo credit: WENN / Splash [lien] [EN]

Google-Yahoo Test Gets DOJ Questions

Google and Yahoo said Wednesday that they notified the Justice Department before the start of a joint search advertising test that could lead to a broader partnership between the two companies. The two Internet giants also said they have answered questions from Justice Department officials about their arrangement. “We informed the Justice Department before we launched the test and we have been responsive to their questions about it,” said a Google spokesman. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment, citing a policy not to discuss its reviews. A person familiar with the matter said the Justice Department has asked questions about the arrangement and had not reached any conclusions about whether it posed any antitrust problems. Earlier in the day, Reuters reported that the Justice Department had launched an investigation into the companies' arrangement. The two-week test, which was expected to end this week, was part of Yahoo's efforts to fend off Microsoft's takeover attempt or to try to extract a higher offer from the software giant. Under the test, Google would deliver ads alongside approximately 3 percent of Yahoo search results in the United States. The test was intended to show how much more revenue Yahoo could extract from its search engine by outsourcing the search ads to Google, whose technology is better at matching ads to queries. By Yahoo's own estimates, Google earns on average between 60 percent and 70 percent more per search query than Yahoo. Many antitrust experts however have warned that a broader search advertising partnership between the two companies would face serious objections, as it would further solidify Google's dominant position in that market. Google and Yahoo have spoken in generally positive terms about the test, but have declined to reveal its results or discuss whether they were contemplating a broader deal. “Yahoo proactively kept the Department of Justice informed of its intention to conduct this limited test with Google and has provided information to the DOJ on the nature of the test,” a Yahoo spokesman said. [lien] [EN]

stepLINKS of the Day

I don’t like hunting, I actually like animals more than 98 percent of people I’ve met over the years, but there’s just something amazing about watching a dog hump a shot deer, and I am not quite sure what it is but I know that I laughed and as someone who never laughs, I had no choice but to post it here….I also have no choice but to post my links, but they are worth clicking, I’ve been told by at least one person that they are the best links online, but that person was me and I am kinda bias. The Hottest Soccer Wives You’ve Ever Seen GO Strippers Rejoice!!! You Don’t Have to Keep Your Tips in Your Old Underwear Anymore GO Watch Ninja Babes in Space Episode 1 GO Keeley Hazel Isn’t Naked But IS Still Fun to Look At GO Nick Hogan is a Cry Baby and is Feeling Sorry for Himself GO Beverly Hills Pimps and Hoes Do a Photoshoot GO Katherine Heigl is Boring and Reminds ME of Your Mom, Which is Prbably a Huge Turn on for You. So Here are Some Pics of Her GO Top 10 Athlete Performances on SNL if you Care… GO Cheat Your Education!! GO Use This Spray to Get Sex Today GO Patsy Kensit See Through Dress GO Sharon Stone Drags ANother Old Haggard Animal on the Red Carpet GO Flex and the City GO The KKK is Endorsing John Mc Cain, but are Pretending They Aren’t But They Are GO That Little Troll Tila Tequila has a Gallery GO Amy Winehouse Used to Look Half Decent GO Former Whore for Heidi Fleiss Turned “Actress” Denise Richards Makes a Fool of Herself on The View GO Mila Kunis is My Wife in Training, At Least that’s What I Tell Her When She Shows Up on My Computer GO Jury Watched R.Kelly Sex Tape with the Lights Off, Probably so They Could Beat Off GO Tennis Judge Has Fun with Tennis Players GO Bar Rafaeli Does A Photo Shoot In Cannes GO Funny Skunk Prank GO Find The Best Cock Sucking On Net GO Adrienne Manning’s New Swimsuit GO Bai Ling Bikini Throeback GO Susana Spears Supports the Dutch GO Awesome Fight from A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila GO I Don’t Even Have to Explain Why This is Funny GO Ali Lohan is Fucking Ugly and Went on Letterman to Promote her Shitty Reality Show GO The True Story of the Internet GO Indiana Jones and the Lego Boulder GO Get Girls to FLASH!! GO Aishwarya Rai Cleavage in Cannes GO Daily Poll - Are Daisy Fuentes’ Tits Real or Fake GO Baseball Player Hunter Pence’s Hot Girlfriend GO Miley Cyrus is Breaking Up With Hannah Montanna GO Some Funny Things You Can Get in the Harriet Carter Catalog GO I didn’t Know Jodie Foster was a Lesbian…a Huge Cheating Lesbian… GO Some Pussy Cat Doll Slutty Performance Pics GO Some Redhead Model Naked GO Odalys Garcia is a Hot Cuban TV Presenter GO Retarded Huge Tits in the Bath GO Bonus: Club Sluts You Want to Get Your Hands On GO This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. [lien] [EN]

Questions to Ask Before Changing Jobs

Over the past six months, I’ve had the same conversation with several people. It usually starts something like this: “ is interested in interviewing me for a developer position. What should I look for? What questions should I ask?” Since many people seem to be interested in switching jobs these days, I’ll re-cap the advice I gave with the caveat that these are not the questions that most of them were looking for but they are the questions I go through when I am considering a change. Why are you changing jobs? Are you really looking to change jobs or are you just dissatisfied with your current situation? In a lot of cases, it’s easier to fix your current job than it is to switch to a new one. It doesn’t matter whether it is your relationship with your boss, your benefits/salary, or just that you want more interesting projects, if you think there is any way you can resolve your issues with your current company, try talking to them first. You would be surprised at the number of times that companies are blindsided by an employee leaving. In talking with them, I constantly hear “We could have fixed that problem.” The other side of that coin is that life is too short to keep a job that you don’t enjoy doing. If there is no way to fix the situation with your current company, start looking around. My guess is that if you are talented, you’ll be able to quickly find something interesting. What do you really want to do? It’s great that you are a web developer; I’m happy for you. However, if you slog through your code every day so that you can get home and cook or knit or take pictures or whatever your passion is, you may want to consider a career change, not just a job change. Just because you are good at software development doesn’t mean you should be doing it for a living. A friend of mine once told me he was switching his college major to C.S. I asked him “Do you love it?” He responded “No, but the money is good.” I told him to switch back now before he wasted any time or money on it. If you don’t absolutely love programming, you are going to be frustrated. He switched back the next quarter. Spend a lot of time figuring out what you want to do. Then figure out how to get a job doing that. If you are unhappy writing code at company A, switching to company B may not solve your problem. If you skipped the first question, then go back and make sure you understand why it is that you are unhappy. If it’s because you don’t like writing code, find your passion and pursue it. What is your career path? Ok, so you know you want to switch jobs and you want to stay in software development. What do you want to be doing in 3 years? 5? I’ve never been one to have long term goals but you should at least know what your end game is. Do you want to own your own business? Do you want to reach C-level at a company? Do you want to retire early and pursue another passion? All of these are valid goals to shoot for but you need to know where you want to go before you figure out how to get there. Once you know where you are headed, evaluate each potential job against that path. If it won’t get you closer to your goal, then that’s a huge negative. One friend referred to this as “the next step.” As they considered changing jobs to a new company, they were looking ahead to the new paths that the new job would open up and the ones that it would close. They wanted to make sure that they weren’t headed into a dead end. As I write this, the world’s economy is struggling; even so, I get weekly requests from companies looking to hire PHP developers. There is a talent war raging right now and PHP developers are the winners. Before you decide that it’s time to make a move, however, please review these questions. Make sure you understand why you want to change jobs and where you want to go. [lien] [EN]

Princess Caroline’s Wet Sloppy Nipples of the Day

There’s not much hotter than some Sloppy Royal Tits. Not because they are worth a lot of money, or because they embody class and elegance, or because they are a product of incest to keep their Sloppy Royal Tit blood blue, but because I have no standards. Today just started. Are you ready for it? This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th9 at 2 am and is filed under Bathing Suit, Boat, Nipples, Princess Caroline, See Thru. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Leave a Reply: Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) [lien] [EN]