Hey Laura May. How was your day? Was it okay?


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---------->Oshkosh Music Scene blog I created in college

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

 

Stawberries. Yum.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

 

Diplo Remix of Four Floors

Thursday, June 17, 2010

 

Prince Buster - Wash Wash

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

 

How to succesfully bid on travel

Link:
How to successfully bid on travel

http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Successfully_Bid_on_Travel

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

 

From kinase to cancer

http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/12/1/44/1/

Friday, November 30, 2007

 

an old house in Buttes des Morts, Wisc.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

 

cool links

the university of greenland
http://www.ilisimatusarfik.gl/

http://www.eastgreenland.com/

QA from someone who lives in Greenland

http://www.kentucky.com/507/story/237569.html

Monday, July 30, 2007

 

I Can't Believe It's Science

Babies conceived in the summer struggle academically and high ceiling promote abstract thinking

http://www.seedmagazine.com

A rad magazine...

I Can't Believe It's Science (for May 14, 2007)

The five-second rule won't save your life, babies conceived in the summer struggle acadmically, and high ceilings promote abstract thinking.

by Maggie Wittlin • Posted May 14, 2007 09:33 PM

Floor Sample
Every schoolchild knows that when you drop something on the floor, you have five seconds to pick it up before it's contaminated. But schoolyard wisdom isn't enough for scientists, who rigorously explore our baseless assumptions, including the five-second rule. The field of five-second rule research was pioneered in 2003 by researcher Jillian Clarke (now a college junior), who found that significant numbers of bacteria transferred from a contaminated surface to food in less than five seconds. Now, in a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, researchers have found that the bacterial transfer rate from surface to food decreases over time, and in some cases over 99% of bacterial cells were transferred within the first five seconds. The researchers examined how quickly Salmonella would transfer from wood, tile, and carpet to bologna and bread. Transfer from carpet to bologna was very low, but wood and tile contaminated the sausage instantly. While not all of the bacteria was transferred, in some salmonellas, only 10 bacteria are needed to cause illness, and fewer than 100 E. coli bacteria can be lethal. So the five-second rule may work for very clean surfaces, but you probably shouldn't stake your life on it.
Living the Life of O'Reilly

Speaking of conventional wisdom relating to short spans of time (and it's not often I get to use that segue), you've probably heard that the average man thinks about sex once every seven seconds. If this is true—there's little reason to believe it is—Bill O'Reilly engages in name calling more frequently than a typical dude thinks about getting it on. According to a study by researchers at the Indiana University School of Journalism, during Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" editorials, the pundit calls someone a name 8.88 times per minute, or once every 6.8 seconds. The researchers analyzed 115 episodes of the editorials using propaganda analysis techniques and compared O'Reilly to 1930s radio commentator Father Charles Coughlin, who notoriously praised Hitler and Mussolini on his show. They found that O'Reilly was more of a name caller and used at least as many "glittering generalities" as Coughlin...although I'm pretty sure O'Reilly has never praised any Nazis. They also found that O'Reilly presents specific groups as either good or evil and sets up a battle between the two sides. The researchers conclude that O'Reilly is a "heavier and less nuanced" user of propaganda techniques than Coughlin. "No Spin Zone," eh?

Getting Away With Murder
Television shows like "Law & Order" and "CSI" may already be messing with the criminal justice system, encouraging juries to expect lots of damning forensic evidence at every trial. And now the BBC has gone and aided potential criminals further by airing the program How to commit the perfect Murder, a guide to forensic techniques that help expose guilty parties. Immediately after death, the program says, blood pools in areas closest to the ground, so if a body is moved to a different position, scientists will know. The writers add that poison is one of the hardest weapons to detect, and rare poisons such as polonium-210—the substance used to kill former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko—are especially elusive. Perhaps most interestingly, the program notes that some people naturally shed much more DNA than others, making a person's criminal ability partially a product of luck.

Vice Precedent
When Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything but temptation," merely broaching the topic may have made him more likely to misbehave. A new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research concludes that when people are asked intention questions about "vice behaviors," how often they plan to do something they know they shouldn't, they become more likely to engage in those behaviors. Researchers asked a group of college students how often they planned to skip class in the next week. On average, these students missed one more class than those in a control group who were asked how often they intended to floss. The researchers suggest that when people are asked about behaviors that they have conflicting attitudes about—here, a negative explicit attitude and a positive implicit attitude—they feel a "license to sin." The authors note that when people consider strategies for avoiding tempting behaviors or create a self-reward system for sticking with their plans, they can mitigate their vicious behaviors.

Conceive and Achieve
As we enter the summer months, it is important that potential parents in the northern hemisphere stay far away from each other and avoid all physical intimacy. Please. It's for the children. The results of a study recently presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting indicate that children who are conceived in June through August may be less academically successful than children conceived in other months of the year. The researchers studied 1,667,391 Indiana students, linking the score of their Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress exam with the month when the student was conceived. They found that scores for math and language were seasonal, and those conceived in the summer months had the lowest scores. The authors suggest that the pesticides used to control pests during those months may affect fetal brain development. "Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," said lead author Paul Winchester, of the Indiana University School of Medicine. Winchester acknowledges that his study does not conclusively show the effect of environmental pesticides on brain development but says it supports that hypothesis.

Raise the Roof
The Catholic Church might never have been so successful were it not for those gorgeous, vaulted cathedrals encouraging abstract thinking among congregants. A new study to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that ceiling height can affect the way we process information. "When a person is in a space with a 10-foot ceiling, they will tend to think more freely, more abstractly," said coauthor Joan Meyers-Levy, of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. "They might process more abstract connections between objects in a room, whereas a person in a room with an 8-foot ceiling will be more likely to focus on specifics." Subjects in rooms with either an eight-foot ceiling or a ten-foot ceiling first reported on their body state and then solved anagrams that, when unscrambled, related to freedom, confinement, or neither. Those in rooms with a higher ceiling reported feeling freer, and they solved freedom-related anagrams faster but confinement-related anagrams slower than those in a room with a low ceiling. The researchers suggest that ceiling hight can prime feelings of either freedom or confinement and thereby lead to specific ways of thinking.

 

Gary Coll

Gary Coll is crazy, old and hyper journalism professor who taught at UW-Oshkosh. He retired last semester. He never failed on using the most abstract examples which usually never made any sense and were often hilarious! I typed these from quotes I wrote down in the margins in my old notebook.


Quotes taken from Law of Mass Media. Fall Semester 2006 at UW-Oshkosh.
__________________________


________________________


(The first day of class)

Student:
Did your friend really write the book?

Coll:
Yeah, sure. He's my friend I guess.Okay, well, I wrote the book. The good Gary Coll wrote the book. The bad Gary Coll is what you have standing here.

(The first day of class )

As the class goes on, the sun will be getting closer to the equator and towards the end of the semester the sun will be coming back up. I look at this as kind of a metaphor for this class. We can only go downhill from here, and when it's almost done, then we'll be going back up.


Sept.11
When do you want to drain the swamp? When you are butt deep in alligators.

Sept.15
Who's going to protect you–Ghostbusters? No. The Supreme court will protect you!

Sept.15
I'm a druid. I've become a druid upon coming to college.

Sept. 20
A bad tendency of dancing is that it leads to sex.

Sept. 20
I yell at the television, that's how I get through life. My wife, she doesn't like it. She's like government. She can do several things. She can ignore it. She could stop me from saying it. She could get could get out the shotgun and blow out the tv.

Oct.4
What is this fly doing in my soup? The backstroke I think.

(Some day in October)
Greg Jones was stupid and dropped a vat of acid on himself.

Oct.25 (on discussion of illegal aliens in the US)
What if alien children start walking around? What if a child was born with the head of a duck?

Oct 24
What was Elvis in the end? A bloated druggy.

Nov.20
If you were half a class, you'd save up enough money and get me a Botox injection.

Dec. 4
You go to the store and what do you buy? Cheerios? Or do you buy the store brand. Storios?

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

 

a nice obituary

*Leone Rose (Onie) Novotny* passed away in her sleep on Tuesday, June
19th, 2007 at Bethel Home. She was born on February 27th, 1911, the
fourth child of Rudolph and Rose (Feirer) Novotny. She was preceded in
death by her parents and five siblings, Roman Novotny, Joseph (Ruth)
Novotny, Rose (Buck) Fisher, Edmund (LaVerne) Novotny and
Christine (Robert) Lehman. Onie is survived by her nieces and
nephews: Donna (Adrian) Jungwirth, Marilyn (Robert) Cornell,
Michael (Sarah) Novotny, Steven Novotny, Joel (Molly) Novotny,
Stanley (Susan) Novotny, Mary Novotny, Donald (Liz) Lehmann and
Jeannie (Dick) Hill. She is also survived by numerous grand and
great-grand nieces and nephews, along with many special friends.

Leone was a very devote, life long member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
After attending Sacred Heart School, Onie received some vocational
training and became a housekeeper at age fourteen. Her talents were
soon noticed and as a much sought after housekeeper, Onie worked for
some of the most prominent families in Oshkosh. Though, she dedicated
most of her career to taking care of the Harry Awe family after the
death of Mrs. Awe in 1935. Onie also found time to embark on a second
career as a cook for /Pucci's/ and later /Sonny's /neighborhood
restaurants. Her fabulous fritter and other recipes were well known
and enjoyed by hundreds of Oshkosh residents over the years.

Onie extended her housekeeping, care giving and cooking skills at home
and throughout her neighborhood her entire life. She lived all but the
last eight months of her 96 years in the same home in which she was
born. Friends and neighbors reaped the bounty of her kitchen on a regular
basis, but holidays always precipitated special treats. Onie's famous,
frosted cut-out cookies were year round holiday staples from New Year's to
Thanksgiving. Christmas season had a life of its own, bringing forth
literally thousands of cookies and other treats, always given away to
lucky relatives and friends. Onie took great pride in carrying on the
tradition of decorating her house each Christmas and saw to it that a
hundred Christmas trees graced her homestead before she left this planet.

Onie was an original. She was one of the strongest, most honest and
independent individuals on the face of the earth. Her work ethic was
unparalleled. In fact, she took her first vacation, ever, at age
seventy five and often commented that she had to wait three quarters
of a century to have any real fun. She was always game to travel and
try new things, including flying, which she enjoyed immensely. If we
walked into the house and said, "Come on Onie, let's go!" She would
respond with two questions: "Do I need to pack a toothbrush?" and
"Are we driving or flying?" /Well, kiddo, this time I don't think
you'll be needing a toothbrush and I think you'll be flying.
In fact, you finally get to solo. Have a great trip!

/A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, June 22 at
11 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, corner of 6th and Knapp Streets,
with Fr. Tom Reynebeau as celebrant. Friends may greet the family from
10 a.m. until the time of the Mass. Interment will be at Sacred Heart
Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Sacred Heart.

Fiss & Bills-Poklasny Funeral Home
870 W. South Park Ave.
Oshkosh
(920) 235-1170

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

 

The Secret Garden

J'taime.

---------------------><3


In each century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered. In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any century before. In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light. At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done -- then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts -- just mere thoughts -- are as powerful as electric batteries -- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live.

So long as Mistress Mary's mind was full of disagreeable thoughts about her dislikes and sour



-354-


opinions of people and her determination not to be pleased by or interested in anything, she was a yellow-faced, sickly, bored and wretched child. Circumstances, however, were very kind to her, though she was not at all aware of it. They began to push her about for her own good. When her mind gradually filled itself with robins, and moorland cottages crowded with children, with queer crabbed old gardeners and common little Yorkshire housemaids, with springtime and with secret gardens coming alive day by day, and also with a moor boy and his "creatures," there was no room left for the disagreeable thoughts which affected her liver and her digestion and made her yellow and tired.

So long as Colin shut himself up in his room and thought only of his fears and weakness and his detestation of people who looked at him and reflected hourly on humps and early death, he was a hysterical half-crazy little hypochondriac who knew nothing of the sunshine and the spring and also did not know that he could get well and could stand upon his feet if he tried to do it. When new beautiful thoughts began to push out the old hideous ones, life began to come back to him, his blood ran healthily through his veins and strength poured into him like a flood. His scientific experiment was quite practical and simple and



-355-


there was nothing weird about it at all. Much more surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.

"Where, you tend a rose, my lad,
A thistle cannot grow."

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

 

Buddha knows freedom is possible.

Buddha did not found a religion, Buddha founded an educational movement. Buddha's discovery, his enlightenment was that human beings, if they make an effort to understand themselves, they can get rid of their negative tendencies and they can develop to an unlimited degree their positive tendencies. When they do that, they can genuinely become happy. Buddha's announcement was freedom is possible. I can attain it, you can attain it.
--Dr. Robert Thurman
Columbia University

Thursday, February 08, 2007

 

vocabulaire francaise. my continuing reference list

jusqu’a présent -- until now
avant-before
Être en bonne (mauvaise) sante- to be in good health
être bien (mal) portant- to be healthy (unhealthy)
Se porter bien (mal) - to be well (unwell)
la maladie (être malade) illness, disease ( to be sick)
la fléaux- plague
répondre-to spread, transmit
su guérir- to get better, to be cured
se droguer (être drogue (e) )- to take drucks -to be on drugs
Suivre une cure de désintoxication- to be treated for drugs, alchohol, to dry out
la chirurgie- surgery
Subir une opération médicale- to undergo an operation
L’analyse médicale- medical test
Recevoir des soins- to get treament
Suivre un traitement- to undergo treatment
La douleur- pain
Aller chez le docteur- to go to the doctor
Prescrire une ordonnance- to prescribe a prescription
La médicine naturelle- alternative medicine
prendre des médicaments- to take medicine,drugs
L’assure être assure-insured person-to be insured
la couverture médicale-medical coverage
Les frais médicale- medical expenses
Être rembourse(e)-to be reimbursed
La mutuelle-mutal insurance company
Couper- to cut
cuire-to cook-
mijoter-to simmer
Le robot ménager- food processor
Le petit vin de terroir-regional wine
Le grand cru-vintage wine
Le plat mijote en sauce-dish simmered in sauce
la cuisine exotique-exotic(ethnic)food
savourer-to savor
déguster-to savor,to taste
bouffer-to eat, gobble up
avaler-to swallow
mâcher-to chew
Manger satiété- to eat one's fill
Être gastronomie-to be a gourmet
grossir-to gain weight
maigrir-to lose weight
Suivre un régime- to gon on a diet
La restauration rapide- fast food
le régime végétarien-vegetarian diet
La fête-feast, celebration
réussir- to succede
Société de consommation
La gastronomie
Le crevette-shrimp
Le homard-lobster
L’écrevisse-crawfish
Les coquilles St. Jacques-scallops
L’entrée-apetizer
Un parfum-flavours
Une boules- scoops of ice cream
L’addition-the bill
éclat-radiance
soigne- neat,tidy
ride-wrinkle
anodine-harmless/innocent
bistouri-lancet (scalpel)
lifting-facelife
paraitre-to appear (seem)
décourager-to discourage
styliste-fashion designer
bijoux-jewelry
branche-casual
Des fripes-used clothing
Une friperie- thrift/used clothing store
Pied nus- bare feet
Le droit- a right
Des témoins- witnesses
L’interpellation-questioning
Les heurts= collisions
Les gaz lacrymogènes- tear gasses
Des pancartes-signs
meilleur-better
moche-ugly
le vieillissement-to grow older
promouvoir-to promote
paraitre-to appear
la reconvalescene-recovery
grêle de balles- hail of bullets
il es très atteint- he's completely cracked
Parvenir a- to reach-to succede,
S’interroger- to question (s'interroger sur)
S’appliquer- to apply oneself
se plaindre- to complain
Femme au foyer- house wife
tendresse- affection
inquiétant- worrying
pour la plupart
fidele- faithful
équilibre-balance
allumer-to turn lights on
PGD= president directer general
pedegere- female CEO
gène-to bother
bruyant- noisy
fort- loud, strong
épuisant- exausting
remettre- to put back
remarier- to remarry
veiller sur (quelqun)--to watch something
matrimonial-matrimony
nier-to deny
s'adapter
lors- at the time of
filal- (step)
génétique- biological
Se faire entendre- to make oneself heart
Du mal a- to find diffidult
Renoncer a- to give up
L’abus- overindulgence, abuse
L’avortement- abortion
soutenir- to support
Le soutien- the support





Thursday, February 01, 2007

 

I am going to minor in french. oui oui.


c'est officiale. I am going to minor in french.
I have three french classes to take this semester and I'll be all done. One of those classes is Advanced Conversation--ha.
Though I speak it quite shittily I hope that some day I will be able to have a decent conversation with a french person without being bombarded by insults.
hahaa. actually I spoke French with a man at EAA. He was holding a giant propellor and walking through the fly market. On assignment, I shot a photo of him and when I asked if I could get his name he told me he couldn't speak english, only french. So I was like hey, je parle francais! then stuttered my way nervously attempting to tell him "je suis photographer de un journal"..then he was like "oh no no" and started walking away. I was like "comment vous appellez vous?" and he was like "oh, Jean Riviere" and everything went smoothly after that. The sad pride I had in a french speaking person understand me. well. c'est magnifique.Just to let you know my french comprehension is actually quite good. oui.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

 

His name is Elvis

Sunday, October 01, 2006

 

RIP Andrew Wallace




Early summer 2005 I shot photos of a Army National Guard group out of Wausau as they prepared to leave for Iraq. Inside the building a quiet man was standing in the middle of the room during a gear check. I shot a photo of him packing his gear and it ran in the next day's paper. His name was Andrew Wallace and September 26 he died while serving in Iraq. He was only 25. My heart sank when I heard the news, eventhough I barely knew him. Still, I find it perplexing about how emotionally detached Americans are towards the war in Iraq. My heart goes out to anybody who has known or lost a loved one to this war.

Go the link below to see more information about Wallace:

http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/oif/profiles/wallaceandrewp.html

The photo above is a photo I took from my outtakes. It's of Wallace walking up a stairs with his gear.

 

Waxing Gibbeous Sept. 30 over Oshkosh

Monday, September 18, 2006

 

a conversation with my roommate

Me: Do chipmunks like nuts?

Matt (My roommate):

Hell, I don't know.
Heck, I know what the square root to a million is but I don't know if chipmunks like to eat nuts. There goes my faith in the God damn American school system.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

 

this is for my sister. It's your predicted epitaph Chrystal!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

 

creativity

This is taken from a review of the movie Sylvia.
by
J. Sage Elwell
University of Iowa
Department of Philosphy and Religon

4] Looking into the mythic past, perhaps ancient Mesopotamian cosmogony provides the earliest template for understanding the nature of creativity. It was from Tiamat’s primordial waters of chaos that Marduk fashioned original order, and it was Yahweh who spoke into the chaos of tohu wabohu and fashioned the ordered universe. Perhaps it could thus be said that it is the nature of creativity to wrest order out of chaos. This ordering of chaos by creativity is imbued with deeply religious significance. Creativity is the primal act of the gods, it is the means by which significances and purposes are drawn out of the waters of senselessness and how islands of meaning are made.

[5] There is then indeed a certain madness, a certain chaos, underpinning the very nature of creativity. Creativity requires some form of chaos from which to fashion order; for there to be order, there must first be non-order. Within the artist this primordial chaos might be equated to emotional or psychological imbroglio. The order that the artist draws out of this chaos is her artistic creation--a world of meaning fabricated in words and images. Such creative activity has deeply religious connotations as the anchoring of existential significances by the artist. In her work she implicitly mimics the creation of the universe as she gives order to the swirling waters of her psyche fashioning poetry from the eddies of emotions.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

 

auspicious


-auspicious mandala
 

aus‧pi‧cious
[aw-spish-uhs]
–adjective
1. promising success; propitious; opportune; favorable: an auspicious occasion.
2. favored by fortune; prosperous; fortunate.


chi
also ch'i or Qi or qi
n.
The vital force believed in Taoism and other Chinese thought to be inherent in all things. The unimpeded circulation of chi and a balance of its negative and positive forms in the body are held to be essential to good health in traditional Chinese medicine.



Friday, August 18, 2006

 

Surfing to catch my fire



By JORDAN ROBERTSON (Associated Press Writer)Associated Press
July 19, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - The waves were flat at Ocean Beach, but Brian Bennett paddled out anyway. For Bennett, a surfer of 20 years, it didn't matter that he might not catch a single wave on this crisp sunny afternoon with no other surfers in sight. Surfing is what the 34-year-old ad salesman does for exercise.
"It's good to feel the electricity in the water," he said. "It's like taking a couple energy drinks. I'm up, I'm alert, and I'm a happier person."
It's not just the meditative mind trip that gets surfers in the water. Some die-hards are loath to admit it, but the sport's health benefits are many.


Sinewy shoulders. Washboard abs. Improved cardiovascular health.
Dedicated surfers accidentally build physiques that health-club acolytes would trade their memberships for.
For most surfers, though, the reason for surfing is surfing itself, said Dr. Mark Renneker, an associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The 54-year-old Renneker should know; he's a renowned big-wave rider himself.
"It's not a sport to them at all - it's a way of life," he said. "It's salubrious up the wazoo. You can't find anything that makes you as healthy."
Renneker frequently recommends surfing to non-surfers to treat high blood pressure, repetitive strain injuries and chemical addictions.
But the biggest benefit, he said, is cardiovascular.
Renneker said a surfer's heart rate can recover from intense activity as quickly as that of a triathlete, because of the focus on controlled breathing. He says asthmatics have also experienced improved respiratory functioning, and the sport's meditative effects can reduce stress even in the most anxious patients.
"It really is leaving the world, as it were, on land, and losing yourself in the rhythms of the ocean," he said. "And that has been the draw of surfing since the beginning. And then to have a really physical training ... to really progress you have to surf three times a week."
But it can also be dangerous.
Lance Harriman, 36, a surfer of nearly three decades and a San Francisco physical therapist, said top riders often limp into his practice with blown-out knees, shoulders and ankles.
Poor paddling technique can cause upper-body strain, and the water can be unforgiving to joints on big-wave wipeouts, Harriman said.
Many longtime surfers suffer from a shared malady: so-called "surfer's ear" that develops when bone grows in the ear canal from repeated wind and water irritation, especially in colder climates. The surgery involves removing the bone.
But surfers are usually ferociously eager to get back on their boards.
"The fiends take this seriously," Harriman said. "You dangle the carrot in front of them - and that's getting back in the water - and they work hard. Sometimes too hard."
Harriman said many injuries can be prevented by simple stretching and strengthening exercises and attention to proper technique. Offseason cross-training for underused lower-body muscles also helps.
But some longtime surfers scoff at the idea of injecting traditional sports training into a soulful, spur-of-the-moment passion.
Big-wave riders have always trained with breath-holding and strengthening exercises to survive tumbles from tall waves, but surfing's full-body workout is usually adequate for most others, said Bob Wise, 58, owner of Wise Surfboards in San Francisco.
"I can tell a guy's been surfing a lot when he walks through the door," he said. "They don't have much leg muscle usually ... But they're broad in the shoulders. They're lean. You can't eat that much when you're out on the water three or four hours a day. You can just tell."
Wise has tried yoga to loosen a back stiffened from years of surfing and water-skiing.
But the "best part about it was when it was over," he said, adding that he doubts younger surfers will ever stop to stretch as they're charging toward the beach.
"The kids aren't going to accept that. They're not into serenity," Wise said. "You paddle out and you don't have to worry about North Korea firing missiles for an hour. You've got your own thing going. You've got a wave to catch."

Thursday, August 17, 2006

 

Wild Strawberries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman

I just saw a movie by Igmar Bergman called Wild Strawberries. I highly recommend.
Below is the wikepdia expert on the film



Wild Strawberries (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smultronstället

Directed by
Ingmar Bergman
Produced by
Allan Ekelund
Written by
Ingmar Bergman
Starring
Victor Sjöström,Bibi Andersson,Ingrid Thulin,Gunnar Björnstrand
Cinematography
Gunnar Fischer
Editing by
Oscar Rosander
Distributed by
Svensk Filmindustri
Release date
December 26, 1957 June 22, 1959
Running time
91 min.
Language
Swedish
multronstället (Wild Strawberries, lit. The Wild Strawberry Patch) is a 1957 film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Victor Sjöström stars as a medical doctor and professor who is forced by nightmares, daydreams, his old age, and his impending death to reevaluate his life on a drive with his daughter-in-law to receive an honorary degree. The film contains many themes and devices which later became known as Bergman's artistic trademarks. The cast includes Bergman regulars Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin and Gunnar Björnstrand. Max von Sydow also appears in a small part.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. Many film critics and film scholars consider the film to be one of Bergman's best, despite having been made relatively early in his career.
The Seventh Seal, also considered one of Bergman's best films by many film critics/scholars, was also released in 1957, making it a year of prodigious output for Ingmar Bergman.
Woody Allen's 1997 film Deconstructing Harry is loosely based upon Bergman's Wild Strawberries. Woody Allen is a well-known fan of Bergman's films and many consider Deconstructing Harry as his personal homage to Wild Strawberries.
Ingmar Bergman wrote the screenplay for Wild Strawberries while he was in the hospital.

 

Giveaway newspaper war erupts in Denmark

Laura notes: In Denmark free newspapers are everywhere. You can grab at least two different free publications at any trainstation. Newspapers are changing in the United States. I wonder if we will be turning more towards web-based news or like Denmark, a more free publication news society.
I see a trend towards give-away newspapers in Wisconsin. Unfortunately we don't have such a mainstream public transportation system like other countries so distributing this papers more or a challanege. Also, how does a free newspaper compare to one that must be paid for? Will there still be unbiased coverage? If a free newspaper relies so much on advertising than is there a possibility for a bias towards an advertiser?

If the revenue for a free newspaper is generated from an interior type source (a paid advertiser)then what need is there to pertain to the exterior source (a person who buys the paper)?

Since people aren't phycially paying for the paper than why should a free publication need to uphold journalism ethics towards them?
Should we worry about advertising creeping into stories?
If it's a free publication why would the printer/publisher care?

The main question lies: If we don't pay for our news, are we then leaving ourselves more vulnerable to a corporate or advertising entity?
Could advertisers start paying newspapers to start writing stories about their product?


Giveaway newspaper war erupts in Denmark
New freebie tab hits streets; three more to launch within year
JASMINA NIELSEN

Associated Press

COPENHAGEN -- A free newspaper hit the streets of Copenhagen yesterday, the first salvo in an emerging war among free dailies in Denmark. At least three others are expected to be launched this year.

Hawkers started handing out copies of the tabloid Dato at key traffic points in the Danish capital, and copies will also be distributed directly to homes in Denmark's major cities starting today.

The newspaper, which means "date" in Danish, is being published by Berlingske Officin AS, which also publishes several other newspapers including one of Europe's oldest dailies, Berlingske Tidende. Berlingske Officin's parent company has agreed to be bought by Mecom Group PLC, a media investment company in Britain.

Rival media company JP/Politikens Hus AS plans to launch its own free newspaper, 24timer, today while Metro International SA will introduce a free afternoon newspaper next week in addition to the free metroXpress daily it already distributes in the morning. In addition to metroXpress, Denmark already has another free daily newspaper called Urban.

The battle lines formed earlier this year when Icelandic conglomerate 365 Media Scandinavia shocked the Danish media industry by announcing it would issue a free newspaper, Nyhedsavisen, to some 500,000 homes in Denmark.

Danish media companies scrambled to meet the challenge with free papers of their own. Nyhedsavisen was left at the back of the pack with a yet-to-be-determined launch date some time later this year.

Media analyst Malene Birkebaek Hubertz said some of the newspapers were likely to fold because there's not enough advertising money to sustain all of them.

Birkebaek Hubertz said the new free newspapers would have to conquer at least half of the newspaper advertising market to survive, since that is their only source of revenue. Danish newspapers sell about 3.1 billion kroner ($598-million) worth of advertising a year, according to Dansk Oplagskontrol, which surveys circulations.

The fact that many of the free newspapers will be distributed to homes has also raised concerns that they will compete with subscription dailies, which already are seeing dwindling circulation.

Read more of this story at:

GLOBE&MAILBusiness

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

 

Oshkosh has shitty streets

Oshkosh, Wisconsin is famous, sort of.
We hold the world's biggest aircraft convention every year (EAA)
We are the namesake to the famous kids clothing company, OshKosh B'Gosh.
and we have the most police per capita of any US city!<--this is a rumor, but if you lived here you would probably think it is true.

I've been living in Oshkosh for most of my life. Yeah, we have a few defining features such as a very recognizable name but Oshkosh is very much the average mid-western town. Yes, Oshkosh too suffers from a lack of social diversity in race, wealth and political ideology. We have a Walmart, several chain restaurants, a small downtown economy. But deep within the heart of Oshkosh, the city holds a secret that makes us very different from many average mid-western towns.

A message to tourist: If you come to Oshkosh, don't take the road less traveled. Because if you take the road less traveled most likely you will hit a pothole. or several.

A former aquaintance once told me about his uncle who was a former city official of Platteville. I think the uncle was the former city planner or manager or something. All I remember from this distant conversation is the person telling me about how his uncle was discusted with the condition of the streets of Oshkosh and how they are probably the worst he had ever seen in a city our size. (Oshkosh is over 60,000 people).

I live in downtown Oshkosh and unfortunately I have to pay the city each month to park in the parking lot near my apartment. One day, when I was paying for my parking tickets at city hall I asked the cashier about just where the revenue from the parking tickets goes to. She told me the money went towards upkeep of city parking lots and streets. HAH!! Oshkosh has some of the worst streets I've very seen in a city our size. I once knocked out hte exhaust on my car driving over a crater sized pothole near UW-Oshkosh. Oshkosh also seems to have some of the most strict parking restrictions for our size. Now, I know that in bigger cities like Madison, parking is obviously more expensive and strict, but I see this as being a reflection of its much larger population.

Downtown Oshkosh is not the land of booming businesses yet the parking is VERY strict. The parking lot near the convention centre, I would estimate is empty about 80 percent of the year yet most of the parking spaces have meters on them. The whole city of Oshkosh has an ordinance that cars can not park on city streets between the hours of 2 am and 5 am EVEN in the summer. The city of Oshkosh collects hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from parking tickets each year. Yes, this is undoubtedly an estimation but if you go to the city hall cashier's office you'll see a stack of hundreds of parking tickets waiting to be tabulated. Considering most parking tickets are $10 each, well you can do the math. So I guess my main question lies, If Oshkosh maintains such a strict parking ordinance..... the city must be collecting a large revenue from parking tickets.

Since Oshkosh so many streets in poor condition WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?


Click HERE for more on this topic.

 

Books to Read- Lost Cosmonaut by Daniel Kalder

New hobby: reading
I'm posting this because it's on my list of books to buy.

My favorite form of traveling is anti-tourism.
I did some traveling like this in the Dominican Republic though I found it difficult because I had a lack of money and I didn't speak spanish. (so I had to resort to speaking German or French and looking away when little kids were begging for money). Wisconsin Public Radio recently featured Kalder on To The Best of Our Knowledge.

Lost Cosmonaut by Daniel Kalder

The anti-tourist does not visit places that are in any way desirable. The anti-tourist eschews comfort. The anti-tourist embraces hunger and hallucinations and shit hotels . . . The anti-tourist loves truth, but he is also partial to lies. Especially his own.
Lost Cosmonaut documents Daniel Kalder's travels in the bizarre and mysterious worlds of Russia's ethnic republics. Obsessed with a quest he never fully understands, Kalder boldly goes where no man has gone before: in the deserts of Kalmykia, he stumbles upon a city dedicated to chess and a forgotten tribe of Mongols; in Mari El, home to Europe's last pagan nation, he meets the Chief Druid and participates in an ancient rite; while in the black industrial badlands of Udmurtia, Kalder looks for Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the AK47, and accidentally becomes a TV star.
Profane yet wise, utterly honest and yet full of lies, Lost Cosmonaut is an eye-opening, blackly comic tour of the most alien planet in our cosmos: Earth.


Sunday, August 13, 2006

 

Sunday BeeBopBalooBap



After a 14-hour work day I got to get up and shoot a triathalon at 7 a.m. I also shot the last day of the Winnebago County fair and UWO football practice. I am in desperate need of a massage.

The Oshkosh triathalon had an excellent attendance considering it is only in its second year. I love sitting by the finish line of races because people will scream and cheer runners to push it hard all the way until the finish. I used to get embarassed by telling my friends that I run but running is such a mental sport.

An example could be what I saw today.

A man screams at a woman who is on the race course. The finish line is about 100 meters away and she is walking and looks like she has nearly given up. The man yells at the woman "Finish the race!! The end is right there!! Don't Walk--Run!!!"
To the stereotypical artsy anti-athlete, I'm sure this could be interpreted as some type oc cruel fascist act, like, how dare a guy yell at a woman and tell her she should "try harder". The woman continues to walk and the man keeps on persisting that she should finish the race as hard as she started. He even goes out of his way to give her a little pat on the back to nudge her along. Guess what. She laughed, picked up her pace, and ran to the finish line. The body's strength lies so much in the mind. The persitence and support of others only makes it stronger.

I love running

Saturday, August 12, 2006

 

Saturday-the longest day

Hmm What are they doing here?
Fishing. A shot where people weren't staring at me
Have you ever stared at a computer so long that your eyes literally start to get bloodshot?
It's 8:30pm and I've been working since 7:30am. Yes, that is over 12 hours.
My head is ready to crash into the keyboard so I need to keep active.
I'm posting some photos of my work day. The photos I'm posting also aren't going to run.

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