Live Your Dream

Will whiskey make you frisky????

2012-02-11T03:31:00.006-06:00

Mark Twain: "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough."

Bourbon is from Kentucky.

And bourbon is a distinctive product of the United States. But bourbon does not necessarily refer to the modern Bourbon County in Kentucky; it refers to an entire region of that name which now includes 34 Kentucky counties, and probably once included hundreds if not thousands of backyard distilleries.

Starting in the late 18th century, this region was known for several decades as "Old Bourbon." During this period, whiskey became the region's most important export. Because most people living there still called the whole region "Old Bourbon," any whiskey shipped from the area was labeled "Old Bourbon Whiskey."

Though, technically, bourbon can be made anywhere is the U.S., 97% of all bourbon is distilled and aged somewhere near Bardstown, Kentucky. One reason is said to be the iron-free water filtered through the high concentrations of limestone, unique to the area. But the biggest reason is tradition. Anything called bourbon that is not from Kentucky (unless it's Jack Daniels, a faithful bourbon style), is suspect.

Bourbon must be at least 51% corn, aged in new charred-oak barrels, distilled to no more than 160 proof (80% alcohol), barreled at no more than 125 proof (62.5%), and bottled at 80 proof (40%) or more. Most bourbon is 70% corn.

These are my favorites (prices are in USD, of course):

Premium

Woodford Reserve (??) 90.4 Labriol & Graham Versailles, KY 37.99

Basil Hayden's (8 yrs) 80 Jim Beam Clermont, KY 36.99

Maker's 46 (??) 94   Maker's Mark Loretto, KY 34.99

Four Roses Small Batch (??) 90   Four Roses Lawrenceburg, KY 29.99

Maker's Mark (6 yrs) 90   Maker's Mark Loretto, KY 22.99

Wild Turkey (8 yrs) 101    Wild Turkey Distillery Lawrenceburg, KY 21.99

Wild Turkey   (6-7-8 yr blend) 81   Wild Turkey Distillery Lawrenceburg, Kentucky 19.99

Moderate

Jim Beam Black (8 yrs) 86 Jim Beam Clermont, KY 19.99

Old Forester (6 yrs) 86 Brown Forman Louisville, KY 18.99

Cheap*

Jim Beam White (4 yrs) 80 Jim Beam Clermont, KY 14.99

*I include this category because, on a routine basis, I prefer 80 proof. Also, I drink Manhattans. In a 2/1 mix with vermouth, subtlety and nuance are lost. Beam is mediocre but consistent. (I also own Beam stock, LOL.)

All of these prices are from Binny's, except for the Forester, which is from Foremost. In Chicago sales tax is around 9.5% plus a Cook County liquor tax of $1.03 on a fifth. :-(

Best uses of bourbon:

1- The Manhattan Cocktail

This drink was reputedly invented for or by Jenny Jerome (aka, Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mom) in connection with a New York political campaign. This more or less guarantees that it is a ladylike, though strong, drink. The story may be apocryphal. Regardless, I prefer that the drink be made with bourbon, though some Philistines, usually Canadian, insist that it be made with rye.

1 jigger bourbon
1/2 jigger sweet vermouth (M&R or Noilly Prat)
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 Collins maraschino cherry, with perhaps a little juice (Collins maraschinos are bigger and firmer than supermarket brands... also more expensive.)

Shake the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker (instead of stirring them), creating a froth on the surface of the drink. (There's no evidence that whiskey bruises, LOL.) Serve in a stemmed cocktail glass.

2- The Mint Julep

Michele insists the best use of bourbon is the mint julep, regardless of whether or not it's Derby Day.

These are direct quotes:

"I think that the best mint juleps want 100 proof bourbons, because they frost the cup better, and interact with the bruised mint better.

"You should never, never, never use simple syrup.

"A mint julep should be lots of bruised mint, about a teaspoon of spring water, a little bit of bar sugar, 100 proof bourbon, crushed ice, and a mint sprig in a silver or pewter Jefferson cup. It should never be a sweet drink, but rather a refreshing one.

"BRUISE the mint, do not crush it. Use the back of a spoon, or a pestle."

(NOTE: Forester makes an excellent and inexpensive 100 proof. So does Wild Turkey. Be careful of the silver when brusing the mint. Michele, me is hoping for silver Jefferson cups for Valentine's Day...)

Hors d'oeuvres

To go with your bourbon, you may want some hors d'oeuvres, and then maybe some breakfast the next day...

1 - Poor Man's Pate de Fois Gras

1/2 lb liverwurst
3 oz ceam cheese
4 tbsp mayonnaise
1/3 cup cream
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp dry sherry
1/4 tsp each S&P
tiny pinch cayenne
tiny pinch nutmeg

Fork mash and blend the liverwurst, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and cream, then add everything else and thoroughly blend. As curries differ, you may wish to add yours gradually to ensure that it remains only a subtle undertone.

Place in a buttered pate mold, or in individual pots, and cover with clear plastic wrap

Refrigerate before serving. It may seem runny, but refrigeration firms it up.

2 - Gudrun's Special Grilled Pate

Use the above recipe, but omit the curry, cayenne, and nutmeg. Add 2 tbsp finely chopped onion, and add horeeradish to taste. Spread on small cocktail rye slices or quartered rye slices. Place on broiler pan and grill under a broiler flame until they begin to brown.

3 - Onion Canapes

English Muffins
Butter
Lemon Juice
Sharp Cheddar
Sweet Onion (such as Italian Red Torpedo or Vidalia)
Paprika

Get some miniature silver dollar English muffins (available from Wolferman's), or cut them out of full size muffins with a cookie cutter.* Or just cut up some muffins, lazy.

Cut each circle in half, spread with butter, and sprinkle a little lemon juice.
Add a suitably sized piece of sweet onion, cover with sharp cheddar, sprinkle on a little paprika, and broil until it bubbles.

*Waste not, want not: The crusts from the cutouts can be saved and used for Gudrun's famous "nest eggs." Put butter in a nonstick pan, add the gutted muffin, and crack an egg into the hole. Add S&P. Cook to desired done-ness, turning if you wish. Add some sauteed Canadian bacon, Hollandaise, and a black olive for a reasonable and not too heavy facsimile of Eggs Benedict. (I use bottled Hollandaise :=P)

We Don't Need no Steenkin' Rules

2012-02-01T21:22:00.002-06:00

...especially when they are fallacious.

There are plenty of things people do with language that are irksome, actually break language rules, and bring out the vigilante spirit in almost any thinking person:

An actor being interviewed says, "Between he and I." Give me a break... It's good that his lines are written for him. But failure to correctly use the objective is catching on, I guess because it's regarded as cool, or maybe because they heard that idiot.

"Where are you at?" is ridiculous. But "Where you at?" which might be disparaged by many, sounds fine to me. Call me ghetto bitch. LOL.

Repeated parts of acronyms: example: A(utomatic) T(eller) M(achine) machine, ATM machine :=P.

Less (an amount), when it should be fewer (individuals): example, less people.

"Anyways": horrible sounding, but an actual word. Once again, I think people just think it sounds cool. Anyways, I don't know why people can't just say "anyway."

"Irregardless": also a word. But, irregardless of the consequences, why not just say "regardless"?

"Ax" for "ask" (same as "liberry" for "library"): not even grammar... enunciation.

BUT (and I am now violating a supposed rule of grammar), there are many "rules" of grammar that are not rules of grammar at all. They are myths that developed from over simplifications by school teachers, medieval monks struggling to translate Latin to English, or simply people trying to impose their stylistic preferences. You yourself have doubtless heard these rules and perhaps even ascribe to some. But, thinking about them, you'll have to agree that all they really do is undermine the confidence of would be writers. Good writers, on the other hand, generally discard them because the result of applying them would be stilted and unreadable verbiage.

You can't start a sentence with the word “however.” Wrong! It's fine to start a sentence with “however” so long as you use a comma after it when it means "nevertheless."

You can't start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction like "and," "yet,” or "but." This "rule" has no historical or grammatical basis and, if applied, would inhibit rhetorical effectiveness.

You can't start a sentence with the word "because." Because you can, LOL. Stylistically, fragments can be useful.

You can’t end a sentence with a preposition. “This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put.” (Winston Churchill) Feel free to end your sentences with prepositions. Break the non-rule. What are you waiting for?

You can't split an infinitive, and (its corollary) you can't split a verb phrase. I want to boldly tell you that it's okay to split infinitives. Splitting an infinitive is often an improvement in terms of elegance. The rule against splitting may or may not relate back to 19th century concepts of a "prestige" form of English, or to the fact that in Latin (once the scholarly language of the world in which most treatises were written), and also in Greek, the infinitive is one word with no equivalent of the "to" marker. The rule against splitting a verb phrase is probably an outgrowth of the rule against splitting infinitives.

A run-on sentence is a really long sentence. Nope. A run-on sentence can be short. A run-on sentence simply lacks proper punctuation or conjunction. This is a run-on sentence: "I am right he is wrong."

Tired of the Same Old You???

2011-09-27T20:51:00.014-05:00

Shape shifting as a mythological, fantastical, illustrative or literary device is as old as dirt. It exists in ancient legend, poetry, children's literature, all forms of performance art, and modern diversions such as movies and computer games. Though there are a variety of ways in which shifts occur, shifts are clearly divided into (1) voluntary, and (2) involuntary. They can be shifts into human, nonhuman, or inanimate forms, and can include out-of-body experiences. The one critical issue is, "How physically real can they be?" Answer: Shape shifting can't be real, except in the case of a few color changing animals, and then it's coloration, not shape. EXCEPT, of course, in a virtual reality such as Second Life, or alternatively (or complementarily) in a controllable dream.

Voluntary shape shifting is just that: a voluntary transformation based upon some selfish motive. This may be profit, revenge, or, most importantly here, amusement - not necessarily in the form of a practical joke, but in the sense of obtaining experiences otherwise unavailable. (Prolly never done in SL.)

Involuntary transformation, on the other hand, is often the result of action by a deity, a curse, some evil being, an "infection," or use of a potion. The drama of dealing with this transformation - overcoming the curse, defeating evil, or receiving just deserts for irresponsible or malevolent behavior, makes for good storytelling. Iz why the stories, LOL.

MULTIPLE MYTHOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATIONS (or How complicated can it get?)

Transgender humans are a simple form of shape shifting in that they involve only a few "appendages" and represent only a matter of degree in other areas. Disguising one's gender may present one with opportunities otherwise unavailable.

Such shifting is common in mythology. For example, Zeus disguised himself as Artemis to get close enough to Callisto to take advantage of her.

The beautiful Callisto was a companion nymph of Artemis (aka the Roman Diana), all of whose nymphs took a vow of chastity. Zeus (aka the Roman Jupiter) was determined to have her, and, to evade the scrutiny of his wife Juno and get close enough to Callisto to seduce her, disguised himself as Artemis. He was successful, and of course Callisto got pregnant. The REAL Artemis, enraged by all of this, expelled Callisto from her group. Then either Zeus, trying to cover things up, or Juno, out of anger, turned Callisto into a bear, even though it wasn't in any way her fault. (*sigh... Typical.)

Callisto was a bear, but her son Arcas was of course human. He grew up, and became a fine hunter of bears. This was an obvious recipe for disaster, but tragedy was averted by Zeus, who turned them both into heavenly formations, Callisto into the constellation Arctos (the Great Bear - Ursa Major), and Arcas into the nearby constellation Arctophylax (the Little Bear - Ursa Minor).

In Second Life, so many follow the example of Zeus that it's hardly worth mentioning. Unfortunately, they don't have his abilities to remedy any unfortunate situations thus created.

Ancient myth shape shifting score: Deity -> Tranny -> Furry -> Human -> Celestial Body Hmmmmmmm...

LITERATURE

Puck or Robin Goodfellow, being a faerie, is a ubiquitous character in English and Celtic folklore. In Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck is a minion of Oberon, the Fairy King, who sends him to obtain juice from the flower love-in-idleness as part of a plot to punish Titania. Puck makes mistakes, creates chaos, and his humorous mischief drives the play.

Shape shifting? Puck transforms Nick Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, so that Titania, the fairy queen, will fall in love with the beast and will forget about her little changeling boy, whom Oberon has other plans for. As for Puck himself...

“Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:

Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.”

Puck busily uses "love juice" to create chaos, and then restores order among lovers. The quote “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” describes the exaggerated silliness of their behavior Well... It wuz all a dream anyway.

Shakespearian shape shifting score: Devil -> Horse -> Hound -> Hog -> Bear -> Fire
Man -> Donkey

Changeling Boy (Human taken and raised by faeries)

SUPERHERO AND OTHER ENTERTAINMENT-BASED SHIFTING

Insert your favorite superhero here: ________________. Superman and Hulk stand out, but almost all have transformational powers. I am not going into superhero abilities, simply because they are totally made up for the purpose of producing dramatic storylines, and there are far too many of them. I'm also not going into non-heroic transformations. There are literally dozens of tropes common in literature, television and movies. You know all of them... Hulking out, biological mashup (for example, The Fly), bitten by a whatever, "I just woke up that way," the 50-foot marshmallow, etc. So, ignoring the effect of changing clothes in a phone booth, let's examine the most common shift, therianthropy (from human to animal): wolf, dog, cat, etc.

THERIANTHROPY

Lycanthropy, or changing into a werewolf, is the best known form of therianthropy. The werewolf seems rooted in European folklore and myth, and in anthropology. But a human->wolf metamorphosis is common in Turkish and Asian legend, and all over the rest of world as well.

Cynanthropy, sometimes spelled kynanthropy, is chagrining oneself into a dog (weredog). This is the most common therianthropy after lycanthropy. Obviously one can't alternate between dog an human form, but the term also applies to ppl suffering from the delusion that they possess both human and dog anatomical features. Legends relating to dog-men seem to emanate from China and other areas of Asia, and focus on humans turning into dogs, dogs into people, and attendant bestiality. :=P

Ailuranthropes (werecats) are common in European and African folklore. A werecat may become a super-sized housecat. (I have one of these, inherited from my daughter, though I was told initially that it was merely a Bengal.) On continents where larger felines exist, legend also has them as lions or leopards, tigers, jaguars, cheetahs or panthers. (I refuse to digress into the neko experience: do it yourself :=P.)

Native American legend contributes skin-walkers, persons with the ability to transform into any animal they wish. A requirement of this transformation, however, is that they be wearing the pelt of the chosen animal. (I have seen some really nice rabbit pelts in SL, but I don't know much about bunneh transformation in legend. And I further refuse to digress into Furry Fandom :=P.)

LUCID DREAMING

So actual physical shifting is PROBABLY impossible (without drastic surgery or a virtual existence). But what about spiritual shape shifting? What about lucid dreaming?

A lucid dream is a dream in which one knows that one is dreaming. Furthermore, it's a dream that the dreamer can actively participate in and manipulate. Lucidity occurs when, in the midst of the dream, because of some clue or realization, the dreamer realizes that it's a dream. Though lucidity and dream control are not exactly the same thing, achieving lucidity will lead the dreamer to do things not possible in reality. The potential for adventure, fantasy, and transcendence is exciting and amazing.

You can even try this at home!!! (But don't hold me responsible for your health or happiness... :=P)

Good dream recall is the first step toward lucid dreaming. Without good recall, any lucid dream one has may be forgotten entirely. Some people keep notes on their dreams, though to me this seems a bit extreme. I'm not that scientific... Girls just want to have fun!

Many have noted that lucid dreams are common during morning naps, when you wake after about 1 or 1.5 hours. This is because we tend to remember dreams when we awake directly from REM sleep. (LOL, I knew I wasn't just lazy.)

Mnemonically Induced Lucid Dreams (MILD) occur immediately after waking up and before falling back asleep. Induction requires setting your alarm at intervals of 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours.

Wake Initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD) uses relaxation and meditation to induce a dream while maintaining consciousness. This is a great technique if you can master it. I found that it works especially well while at one's place of employment... Uh, nm.

Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) is ideal for beginners: Sleep 5-6 hours, get up for an hour, and then go back to bed.

And what are the benefits of learning lucid-dreaming??

Explore Alternate Realities.

Improve Your Problem Solving Skills - Solve problems on demand unhampered by conscious logic (LOL). Really, lotsa inventions were dreamt up this way.

Face Your Fears - Ask your boss what his problem is.

Create Confidence - Practice and rehearse your actions, and experiment with different outcomes.

Be More Creative - You might be the new Salvador Dali. Or you might write a werewolf story with a first person point of view.

WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER...

2011-09-07T13:29:00.004-05:00

I read lots of books!!!!! The best 17 are here:

America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It - Mark Steyn

Humorous confirmation of what you already know about the Muslim agenda. The EU's birth rates are so low that native European populations are halved with each successive generation. Europe's Muslims are multiplying -- but they are not integrating culturally. But as Europe slips into a long Eurabian night, America 's population still climbs at a healthy rate, and is still able to politically and culturally integrate immigrants.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis

The housing and credit bubble: In the old days, people put 20% down (of their own money) and the lender financed 80%. The loan was paid off, in its entirety, over a long haul (30 years), to the original lender, often a Savings & Loan. In the mortgage crisis days, the loans were "originate and sell," the mortgage makers/lenders getting their fee up-front, and immediately selling the mortgage to another entity to collect the loan payments. The mortgages were then bundled into bonds and sold as real estate investments, all of which, using smoke and mirrors were made to look like “good investments,” which the ratings agencies went along with. And, of course, some found a way to make money on all of this, by betting on default. (One reason all of this collapsed was the belief that home prices could only go up, and therefore defaults wouldn't matter, and therefore many loans could be to ppl who couldn't really afford them, ARMs with teaser starting rates but with eventual rates that ppl would find impossible to pay.)

In the Garden of the Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - Erik Larson

The true story of William Dodd, the impecunious and thrifty new American ambassador to Germany, and his family, who witness the rise of Hitler in an atmosphere of mounting oppression and terror. Though his son and daughter are initially entranced by the New Germany and the infectious enthusiasm of young Nazis, they watch with alarm as Jews are attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of horrific new laws are circulated.

Faithful Place - Tana French

A Dublin Murder Squad detective must deal with tragedy and investigate his own likeable but horribly dysfunctional family.

Six (6) Jacquelyn "Jack" Daniels thrillers (Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, Fuzzy Navel, Cherry Bomb) - J.A. Konrath

Chicago homicide detective Jacquelyn "Jack" Daniels pursues a succession of monstrous killers. Jack is a mature woman with an estranged ex-husband, an outspoken elderly mom, an annoying private eye ex-partner, and a crazy cat acquired from a serial killer. She can't sleep and her love life is hopeless, mostly due to the demands of her job. Despite all this, Jack's attitude is positive and even light-hearted. Jack balances the horror of her cases with a quietly self-deprecating sense of humor.

Four (4) Harry Hole thrillers (The Redbreast, The Devil's Star, The Snowman, Nemesis) - Jo Nesbo

Harry Hole is a loose cannon on the Oslo Police Force Homicide Squad. He's a heavy drinker, continuously in trouble because of it, but he's also a brilliant detective. This, of course, is the only reason he survives.

Three (3) Michael Kelly thrillers (The Fifth Floor, The Chicago Way, We All Fall Down) - Michael Harvey

Cynical, wisecracking Chicago Private Investigator Michael Kelly gets involved in political corruption, bio-terror, murder, etc.

Now, back to my reading...

Standard and Poor's and Moody's Created the Mortgage Mess

2011-08-08T19:10:00.006-05:00

The government is still paying, and adding to the deficit, to fix their mess!!! And who gave them a license to rate anyway???

There is no question that the U.S. deficit requires immediate and forceful action. But ask yourself this... How can a ratings agency, staffed by broker wannabes who blissfully ignored the quality of the securities that led to the mortgage disaster a few years ago, be so arrogant as to reduce the credit rating of the world's largest economy, a sovereign nation that historically has always paid its bills?

S&P claims to be the "breakaway leader" in global risk assessment. Well, if its primary mission is to assess credit-worthiness of tradeable securities, its own rating is FAIL.

Thanks to the bean heads (not counters) at S&P and Moody's, the country experienced a financial meltdown, largely resulting from mortgage backed securities rated AAA by S&P, which should have been rated B-, or maybe C, since they were packed with subprime mortgages almost certain to default. They didn't consider the possibility that overblown housing prices might decline. (Of course, a number of smart investors bought insurance on the bonds they KNEW would fail. Hence the bankruptcy of companies like AIG.)

Who's paying for this mess, besides the investors who lost their investments? The U.S. government (aka, US), that's who. in addition to the $700 billion used to prop up banks and car companies, the government has made financial recovery commitments of about $12.2 trillion, and of that has spent $2.5 trillion. On what? On this: $1.6 trillion on purchases of high-grade corporate debt and mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae; $330 billion insurance on debt issued by financial institutions and poorly performing assets owned by banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac;and $528 billion in lending to banks. (Source: NY Times)

The S&P decision is really nothing more than an opinion, one based upon an analysis already found to have contained a $2 trillion error. The federal government has a far better debt-to-income ratio than many AAA-rated companies: IBM, Boeing, Chase... Why does S&P think it's more likely to default than they are?? Some of the COUNTRIES that retain Triple-A ratings: Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the U.K., France... LOL.

For conspiracy buffs the answer to this question of "why a downgrade now" is easy... S&P has some agenda of its own that will capitalize on international perceptions of the ability of the U.S. to pay off and control its debt. But WHO ELSE shares the agenda? And WHAT is it? Somebody is gonna make lotsa money.

- Some institutions are required by covenant to hold only AAA-rated debt. They may be forced to dump treasuries. The traders, primarily at hedge funds, will pick them up cheap. When the price of treasuries recovers, these traders will walk away with a nice profit.

- The traders could also take advantage of a spike in interest rates. They will buy the higher-yielding debt and then sell it when rates come back down.

- Currency speculators will profit.

- Precious metals will rise.

- The weakening of the dollar will improve the cost base for transport, lighting, heating, and manufacturing in countries exporting to the U.S.

- If the dollar weakens, U.S. multinationals operating abroad and repatriating euro profits back to the U.S. will show greater gain.

- Interest rates will be higher increasing the borrowing costs of US companies, thus aiding their competitors. Product costs will increase.

- Profitability will decrease and shares will lose value.

- Jobs will be lost.

- Purchasing will decrease, and the economy will stagnate.

- Also, banks want more interest. The debt is a big red herring. Keep your eye on the ball.

So war is expensive. So is fixing the result of S&P's prognostications. And war is waged on many fronts in this "global" economy. Somebody is gonna make lotsa money. For our own safety, the ratings industry must br subjected to scrutiny and oversight! If you only buy AAA-rated assets, you can say you're being responnsible, but you're not... You're only relying upon some supposedly disinterested party's research. Do your own research when you can. Ratings agency judgements should not be part of the rules for how anyone or any institution must act.

This slideshow link says it all: https://docs.google.com/present/view?skipauth=true&pli=1&id=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn

LOLLAPALOOZA HITS 20!!!!

2011-07-30T23:16:00.008-05:00

It's Lollapalooza's 20th annivesary, Grant Park Chicago, Aug 5-7, and here is the line-up:

http://lineup.lollapalooza.com/

Over the years, Lollapalooza has intruced such artists as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, The Cure, Primus, The Killers, Rage Against the Machine, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, Metallica, X Japan, Soundgarden, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Alice in Chains, Tool, Hole, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Strokes, Lady GaGa, and Green Day.

Unfortunately, it's sold out :=P (But I guess you can get tickets from scalpers, or for the many after-shows.)

Attendees should also plan to see Marilyn's statue, about a mile north on Michigan Ave. Her panties give perving a whole new meaning.

Le Guide Culinaire

2011-06-17T01:18:00.011-05:00

Who Said Food?????

In response to widespread popular demand, I have prepared an index of the recipes I have published in this blog thus far. Please feel free to disagree with my own ratings of specific recipes or ideas... But, trust me, it's all good... :=P

Sheila's Irish Soda Bread 3/16/11 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2011/03/aran-soide.html

Plum Pudding 12/3/10 ★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2010/12/plum-pudding-underrated-treat.html

BBQ Tips 5/22/10 ★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html

Savory Oatmeals - Golden Oats Medleys 12/25/09 ★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2009/12/goodbye-aughts-hello-oats.html

Date Nut Pinwheels - Russian Tea Cookies 12/18/09 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-made-you-cookie-but-i-eated-it.html

Beef Bourguignon 9/24/09 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Black Bean and Roast Beef - Steak Salad Nagy 7/31/09 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

Shrimp Arnaud 12/18/08 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/12/omg-its-shrimp-arnaud.html

Glazed Red Cabbage - Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts 12/9/08 ★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/12/prepare-to-fire-retro-rockets.html

Layered Crab Dip 11/25/08 ★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

Cannoli 11/8/08 ★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/11/holy-cannoli.html

Almost Better than Sex Cake 10/7/08 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

Fresh Fruit Bottom Crust Pie 8/18/08 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

Orange Shrub - Raspberry Shrub - Special Shrub 8/9/08 ★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/08/shrub-is-not-bush.html

Rumaki - Traditional and Gudrun's 7/14/08 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

Salade Nicoise 5/25/08 ★★★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/05/yummedy-summer-p.html

Transylvanian Paprikahendl - Mamaliga - Impletata 5/6/08 ★★★
http://livyurdream.blogspot.com/2008/05/vampires-in-sl.html

Lindens, the New World Reserve Currency????

2011-03-27T10:24:00.015-05:00

$L

A reserve currency, in its purest definition, is a currency held in large sums by major central banks in many countries. It must be a currency they can sell or trade without limitation, and, for it to be recognized as reliable, it must be issued by a very large and historically stable economy. It then tends to become the pricing medium for products traded internationally, and for commodities such as oil, gold, etc.

While World War II was still raging, the Allied powers prepared to rebuild the international economic system. Hence the Bretton Woods Agreement, which established the International Monetary Fund, now part of the World Bank. In the agreement, 44 countries agreed to make the dollar the anchor currency for the new economy, effectively ending the long-standing hegemony of the British Pound Sterling. The agreement was that U.S. dollars could be exchanged at a fixed rate for gold. This left out input from a lot of countries, but they were in no position to bargain. (LOL, I'm such a Jingoist :=P)

After WW II, European countries and Japan deliberately devalued their currencies against the dollar in order to boost exports to the only customer left standing and to encourage development.

Foreign aid money flowed out of the U.S. through the Marshall Plan. We ramped up defense-spending for the Cold War, and we bought lots and lots of foreign goods. By 1960, the number of U.S. dollars in circulation began to exceed the amount of gold backing them up. On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. As a result, Bretton Woods officially ended and the dollar became a "fiat currency," i.e., a currency backed by nothing but the promise of the issuing government.

That did not change the dominance of the dollar. The top reserve currency is selected by the banking community for the strength and stability of the economy that backs it. A currency might be abandoned for a currency issued by a larger or more stable economy, but this can take a relatively long time. And there must be a viable and widely recognized alternative.

The United States dollar is the most widely held reserve currency in the world. Throughout the last decade, an average of two thirds of the total allocated foreign exchange reserves of countries have been in U.S. dollars. The euro is the second most widely held, and the euro share has risen slightly, but the trend is not pronounced.

Foreign held dollars represent interest free debt for the U.S. Asian nations have assumed more and more U.S. debt, buying up bonds and holding dollars. This is specifically to prevent their currencies rising against the dollar and undercutting their booming exports to the U.S. This debt is huge. Trillions and trillions. And it's scary. Speculators could wage war on the dollar. Arab states are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil. And lots of investors in gold and silver want you to buy gold and silver :=)

But let's face it... Most ppl predicting the demise of the dollar are really just trying to sell you other things at inflated prices or sell you things in quantities that WILL inflate their prices. (And all of them are happy to accept dollars in payment.) Other currencies are still pegged to the dollar. Banks achieve security by investing in multiple currencies. One devalues, another increases. The probable scenario is a gradual process of diversification into other currencies such as the euro, not a precipitous sell-off of dollars in a switch to something else.

But what if there WERE TO BE a new world reserve currency?? What COULD replace the dollar as the world reserve currency? I, for one, advocate the Linden. I have several reasons:

1 - It has recently shown serious gains against the dollar. It is now worth $.00406 - WOW.

2 - The Linden is backed by the precious commodity, vaporware. You've heard of the rare earths used in everything from computers to car mufflers?? Well vaporware is like that. It is essential to Linden technology. Trust me, SL is full of big ideas that will revolutionize the way you play. Look at V2.

3 - Vaporware II? Where else can you sell land the doesn't REALLY exist? (Well, of course you can. But where else is it legal?)

4 - Vaporware III? You can even sell thin air - air not even having the added value of being pumped at a gas station. You can buy air to live in or do business in up in the sky.

5 - In 2009 the total size of the Second Life economy grew to US$567 million, about 25% of the entire U.S. virtual goods ("vaporware") market.

6 - Vaporware is rapidly becoming indispensable as well as precious. No one in the world can live without it. It's central to much entertainment.

7 - The Linden has a unique status in the world economy. After all, there are some words you never hear in SL - bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle, bamboozle. Hmmm.

8 - The Linden is a terrific tax shelter. (At least so long as no one is looking, and no one has.)

9 - You will never see a sign in SL that says "We do not accept Lindens." And I don't care WHAT country you THINK you're in.

10 - Lindens are far more widely recognized than Monopoly money. Or chocolate doubloons.

Hmmm... If you're smart, you'll help keep the dollar from falling!!!

BE A TIGHT ASS!!!
(No, that's not mine... sigh...)

Arán Sóide

2011-03-16T00:53:00.017-05:00

Love It or Leaven It

Many Europeans (Poles, Germans, Serbs) and people of various other cultures have used soda to leaven their bread. Some of the earliest known users were American Indians who used pearl-ash (potash, a natural soda in wood ashes) in their breads to make them rise. Pearl Ash was used prior to 1800 to make cakes by combining it with an acidic ingredient in the dough. One such ingredient is buttermilk and another is sour milk, both of which provide lactic acid. Whether or not it was invented by Native Americans, soda bread was known to be popular in the U.S. a long, long time ago.

Actual bread soda was introduced in the early 1800s, and it made it easy for people who had no oven and could not store perishable (and therefore relatively expensive) yeasts to make bread. The bread could be cooked in a “bastible” — a big cast-iron pot with a lid that would be put directly on the fire, or on a “bakestone’ which hung above the fire.

It’s not known exactly when soda bread came to Ireland, but it’s pretty clear that the Potato Famine which began in 1845 spurred its popularity. How did this bread become identified with the Irish? A state of poverty made it the easiest bread to put on the table.

Traditional soda bread was made of flour, soda, salt, and buttermilk. It was often round, and a cross cut into the top functioned in several ways… It let the devil out (if he was in there), allowed air to circulate and promote rising, and made it easy to break into four pieces. The other typical form is, of course, the loaf. As we know, other ingredients are often added for special occasions, such as St. Paddy’s Day, or to suit personal taste.

This version of soda bread might be called by some, a spotted dog. But it isn’t. :=P

Sheila's Soda Bread (one loaf)

3 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups currants or dark raisins

2 eggs beaten

2 tbsp melted butter

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in currants or raisins. Combine eggs, buttermilk, and shortening. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients, and mix just until flour is moistened. Turn batter into greased loaf pan,

5 1/4 by 9 1/2. Bake at 350F about 1 hour.

Remove from pan immediately. Allow to cool thoroughly before slicing.

Da Bears...

2011-01-22T20:42:00.007-06:00

Bear down, Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears have captured nine NFL Championships – eight NFL Championships and one Super Bowl – second most all-time behind their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers. The Bears' rivalry with the Green Bay Packers is one of the oldest and most storied in American professional sports, dating back to 1921.

The Bears hold the NFL records for the most enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (26) and the most retired jersey numbers
(13). The Bears have also recorded more regular season and overall victories (704) than any other NFL team.

One famous victory was their 73–0 victory over the favored Washington Redskins at Griffith Stadium in the 1940 NFL Championship Game; the score is still an NFL record for lopsided results. The secret behind the one-sided outcome was the introduction of a new offensive tactic by George Halas: the T-formation.

The Chicago Bears fight song, "Bear Down, Chicago Bears," was introduced in 1941. Though Jerry Downs is listed as the composer, it actually is an alias for Al Hoffman who also wrote the words and music for the song "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake."

Bear down, Chicago Bears!
Make every play clear the way to victory!
Bear down, Chicago Bears!
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly!
We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you’re wearing the crown
You’re the pride and joy of Illinois.
Chicago Bears, bear down!

FYI - Do Bears poop in the woods? Yes. Do bears poop as they hibernate? No. Bears the only mammals that do not pee or poop for the entire time they are in their winter sleep. Hopefully, tho, they will poop on Green Bay on Sunday!!!! :=P

Michele and I Wish You a Happy 2011!

2010-12-31T00:44:00.011-06:00

_________________________________________________________

Another original poem by me:

Time does not know it passes.
It does not know how to measure itself.
But we know time...

We see it in the sun and the moon.
We see it in the stars.
We see it in the seasons.
We see it in layers of earth, rings of trees.
We see it in our faces.

We have devised measures of time.
We have seconds, minutes, hours, days...
When a year ends, we make a lot of noise!!!!

GOODBYE TO THE OLD YEAR, HELLO TO THE NEW!

Plum Pudding - an Underrated Treat

2010-12-03T15:05:00.013-06:00

Where's the "pud" ????

Okay, you missed "Stir It Up" Sunday, but there's still time to make your Christmas pudding! Of course, maybe you made it last year, for consumption this year, but probably you didn't, and maybe, just maybe, that's too long to keep it.

Christmas pudding (a.k.a. plum pudding) is an ancient but much maligned delicacy. Its origins go back to the 15th century and perhaps even to Roman times. In times gone by, to preserve animal feed (which you might want to eat yourself), excess cattle were slaughtered in the fall. Meats not immediately consumed were cooked with fruits into pies for preservation (i.e., mincemeat), at least into the beginning of winter. This resulted in LOTS of pies, just in time for Christmas. Prunes were incorporated into the mixture, hence the notion of plum pudding. At some point there was a divergence of the savory and the sweet. Mince pies were still made, but new techniques were more frequently used to preserve meats. At the same time, the sweet pudding got sweeter, and the plum pudding we now know eventually took shape in Victorian England.

I have a theory or two about why it has a bad reputation. First, it should be taken in small doses, not the larger portions we are accustomed to for dessert. A little goes a VERY long way. Second, it traditionally relies upon suet as the shortening used. This doubtless, and very reasonably, resulted from its meat pie origin.

"What," some might ask, "is suet?" Most of us were told about suet, for some strange reason, in grammar school. (I think it had something to do with explaining "pemmican." We all know what pemmican is, LOL.) Anyway, suet is raw beef or mutton fat - hard fat found around the loin and kidneys. For many, this is not appetizing. Nevertheless, it can be obtained easily from butchers. Those who wish to eat it are advised to tell the butcher it will be used in cooking, not to feed birds :=P

My advice is: USE BUTTER!!! And I don't mean margarine. Some would say this makes it an Irish plum pudding. To them I say, yeah!!!

Ingredients

* Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
* Grated rind and juice of 1 orange
* 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
* 1 cup sultanas
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 heaped tablespoon chopped almonds
* 1 heaped tablespoon chopped glacé cherries
* 1 tablespoon chopped mixed glacé peel
* ½ cup soft, dark brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons mixed spice (equal parts cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,
and ginger - maybe some allspice)
* 3 tablespoons brandy

* 1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
* 1 cup flour
* 1¼ teaspoons baking powder (added to flour)
* pinch salt (added to flour)
* 2 eggs, beaten together
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 4 oz (1 stick) butter

Preparation

If you ever enjoyed a plum pudding from Marshall Field's (a now defunct Chicago institution), you doubtless have one or more lovely madder or blue ceramic pudding bowls. If not, any pudding bowl will do. A tight lid is desirable if available. You will grease the bowl with butter before adding the pudding.

Mix together the first 11 ingredients, including the brandy, in a large bowl. Cover and leave for several hours or overnight.

Combine the breadcrumbs with the fruit mix. Blend the flour, eggs, salt and butter together, add it to the fruit mix and stir well. If the mixture seems dry add a teaspoon or two of milk.

Put the mixture into the pudding bowl and cover tightly using the lid or several layers of wax paper held in place with string. Place the bowl in a saucepan large enough to accommodate it, and add water to about two thirds up the side of the pudding bowl. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a very low simmer. Cover the saucepan. Simmer like this for about 6 hours. You will probably need to add water.

The cooked pudding will keep indefinitely. When it is needed, steam it for about 2 hours in the bowl. Flambé with brandy, and serve with hard sauce.

You can buy hard sauce in a jar, or you can make your own::

* ¼ teaspoon vanilla
* 1 tablespoon half-and-half
* 2 tablespoon brandy
* ¼ cup unsalted butter
* ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar

Beat the butter until it is light and fluffy and has turned pale in color, about 5 minutes.

Add the sugar a little at a time, stirring continuously, until incorporated.

Add the brandy, half-and-half and vanilla, stirring continuously until well blended (the sauce should be smooth).

Cover and refrigerate until needed. Serve at room temperature.

To flambé, warm a small amount of brandy slightly, then light it and pour it over the pudding when you bring it out. This is done to create an impressive visual presentation and introduce drama into the finale of the meal. But not too much. Unless you're a terrorist or otherwise want to blow your home to smithereens, DO NOT use that 150 proof rum. Never use overproof liquors of any kind in cooking or near an open flame. And don't drink them undiluted as they can be harmful to the human body.

Mad* Trite, and VERY Annoying

2010-10-24T19:54:00.004-05:00

*Meaning similar to wicked or hella (neither of which have become trite yet, I don't think).

I could almost scream!!!!

These are the 12 most annoying expressions I hear almost every day, not in order of their frequency or anything else:

too much on my plate -Too busy (lazy) to take on more responsibility; only thinks about eating and is prolly full of whatever is on her plate.

on the same page - To look at an issue from the same perspective. (If it's the same book :=P )

no problem - What's no problem? Being nice? Doing your job? Are you too haughty to say "you're welcome"?

that's just wrong - Egregiously (or impossibly), but often just humorously, wrong... But sometimes it isn't wrong at all, just wrong. (I sorta like this one. It could have a permanent place in our idiomatic lexicon).

don't go there - When this is said, you are usually already on the subject to be avoided... Otherwise, self explanatory.

think outside the box - Hackneyed, but this one will stay with us. (Do the "Nine Dots Puzzle," a.k.a. the "Christopher Columbus Egg Puzzle." The solution lies outside the square.)

my bad - Baby talk... I did it, but don't hold me responsible. Use of an adjective instead of the noun "mistake" is intended to be cute, I guess.

go for it - Do I need your permission?

you go, girl - A portable Feminine Urination Device (FUD) http://www.go-girl.com/what-is-gogirl.asp. Allows a woman to pee anywhere, but provides no privacy. (Available in pink or camouflage.)

too much information - Usually not too much, just something you don't want to see, hear, etc., because it is distasteful, or like the You Go Girl FUD, just shouldn't be discussed in normal conversation.

I am not going to lie to you - Huh? I thought you were. (If you need to state that what you tell me next is not going to be a lie, you must have serious credibility problems.)

at the end of the day - Means when everything has been taken into consideration, this is the important thing... It took you a whole day? Or will it be an evening affair?

~~~

Though I have a very full plate, at the end of the day, it was no problem to think outside the box and devise a twelve-step program to limit your use of such expressions:

- Recognize that you have a problem habit (if you do).

- Pay Attention to when you use these phrases and how they sound.

- What is your reason for using the particular phrase?.

- Know that you want to stop to improve your presentation of self.

- Make a commitment.

- Learn to express yourself more effectively... not easy.

- Accept responsibility - only you can do this.

- Enlist support.

- Find suitable phrases for reflex situations.

- Punish yourself.

- Reward yourself.

- Persevere.

I’m not gonna lie to you. It’s difficult to change one’s habits. But that's all folks! I’m leaving the hard stuff up to you. Go for it! LOL.

Götterdämmerung

2010-10-13T20:38:00.011-05:00

A lot of you have asked me about my name (pronounced Gutrune, gʊd'rūn'), and I usually point out that I named myself after a favorite actress, the lovely Gudrun Landgrebe (not well known in the U.S.). The original Gudrun, however, was a major figure in Norse mythology. She was really a very sweet person, but sometimes bad things happen to nice people. I hope this summary of the legend isn't too boring.

Gudrun (Guðrún Gjúkadóttir) had two brothers and a half brother: Gunnar, Hogni, and Gotthorm.

In the tale, Gudrun, who is without husband, falls in love with Sigurd. Sigurd himself is in love with the valkyrie Brynhilde, and pays no attention to Gudrun. Gudrun's brother Gunnar, however, wishes to marry Brynhilde, and this is impossible because Brynhilde has sworn to marry only a man who can defeat her in combat. Only Sigurd can do this. **SIGH**

Gudrun's ever-helpful mother provides a potion to make Sigurd forget his love for Brynhilde and recognize Gudrun's beauty and passion for him. However, Gunnar, exrecising his authority as Gudrun's brother, will allow Sigurd to marry Gudrun only under the condition that Sigurd also win Brynhilde for him. **DOUBLE SIGH**

Sigurd does this. Disguised as Gunnar, he passes Brynhilde's test, and an astonished Brynhilde accepts him as a suitor. The two queens, Gudrun and Brynhilde, are married on the same day.

Later, Brynhild and Gudrun are bathing together in the Rhine River (apparently comparing racks). Brynhilde comments that the water washing Gudrun will soon wash a greater beauty (herself?). Gudrun, more than a little annoyed at the remark, clues Brynhilde in. When Brynhilde learns that she had been tricked into marrying Gunnar, she plots revenge and (ashamedly) tells Gunnar that Sigurd had overstepped the bounds of propriety with her. Naturally, Gunnar gets very angry, and he has Sigurd killed (by Gotthorm). The vengeful Brynhilde goes on to kill Sigurd's three-year-old son, and wills her own self to die. When Sigurd's funeral pyre is aflame, Brynhilde throws herself upon it – thus passing on together into the realm of Hel.

Poor Gudrun is completely overwhelmed. Wracked with sorrow and delirious with grief, she predicts the death of her brother Gunnar. Out of her wits, she goes to live in the forest.

Meanwhile, King Atli's (Attila the Hun's) Hunnic Empire continues to grow. Although Atli had overthrown the Goths and seized many treasures, legends of gold and the beauty of Gudrun (YES!!!!) catch his interest. Atli wants both, and his Huns hasten westward.

Though not looking, our poor widowed queen has found another king to marry. Urged on by her mother, she marries Atli. Foremost in Atli's mind, however, is the rumored gold. Atli and Gudrun go to live in Hunland.

Eventually, obsessed by the idea of the gold, and thinking he can somehow get his hands on it , Atli summons Gunnar and his brother Hogni to Hunland. His herald claims that the King of the Huns wishes only for their assistance. He is growing old and wants his sons by Gudrun, Erp and Eitill, to have strong protectors after his death. He implies that Gunnar and Hogni might one day rule the Hunnic Empire in their names. Although Gunnar suspects a trap, he and Hogni make the trip.

When Gunnar and Hogni reach Hunland, the real reason for the invitation becomes apparent. At first Atli demands gold as the price for their lives. His huns burst out and rush them from their mead hall, but the brothers beat back the attack.

Seeing that the brothers are powerful fighters, he shifts tack to the idea that, since Gudrun is now his wife, they owe him the gold in compensation for Sigurd's death. Gunnar and Hogni know this is not Gudrun's idea, and besides the battle has already begun. They call upon their Goth allies amongst the huns, and carnage ensues in a battle for the mead hall. They capture Atli. Gudrun, however, pleads for his life. Mocking him as an unfit warrior, they let him go.

Atli then goes throughout the countryside rallying his warriors who return to beseige the mead hall. Finally they burn it forcing out the defenders and taking Gunnar and Hogni into captivity. Gudrun pleads for them, but Hogni is killed and Gunnar is cast into a pit of adders. Gudrun sends Gunnar a harp, and the music stills the snakes, except one, which bites him... Gudrun hears him cry out as he dies. Gudrun is once again heartbroken and furious.

There are Viking funerals for Gunnar, Hogni, and the fallen Huns, and a funeral feast is readied in the remains of Atli's mead hall and palace.

NOW FOR THE GOOD PART:

Finally appearing at the feast, Gudrun presents two goblets to her husband, toasting his health.

As he drinks deep from the goblets, Atli feels regret over the loss of the gold. However, he also feels satisfaction that Gunnar is dead. Gudrun then announces that, in vengeance for her brothers, she has slain their sons Erp and Eitil. The goblets were made from their skulls and had been filled with a mixture of their blood and honey. The remnants of their bodies have been fed to Atli's hounds. As the mead hall explodes in horror and anguish, Atli turns pale and falls into a swoon. He is carried to his bed, as sick though he had been poisoned.

Gudrun is not yet done. She enters his bedroom, wakes him, and drives a knife into his breast. She then sets fire to the hall.

Full of sadness and remorse and detesting her life, she tries to drown herself by jumping into the sea with an armful of stones. The waves find her revenge fitting, however, and instead of drowning her, carry her to Sweden, where she marries another king, Jónakr.
______________________________________________
N.B. ~ "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" is a reference to Brynhilde's famous death on the pyre in the opera Götterdämmerung. It means we should not assume the outcome of an activity. It plays upon an American working class perception of Grand Opera with overweight sopranos singing Brynhilde's final arias.

Various name spellings:

Atli = Attila
Brynhilde = Brynhildr, Brünhild, Brunhilde, Brunnhilda
Gudrun = Gutrune
Gunnar = Gunther
Hogni = Hagen
Sigurd = Siegfried

SOURCE: Various Wikipedia articles

Another Lucid Dream

2010-08-21T11:46:00.001-05:00

For any of you who are interested in a short erotic tale, you can find one here:

http://dreamaware.blogspot.com/

N.B. ~ As for the blog title, "Lucid Dreams" (or dreams you know you're having)... I personally have never had any problem daydreaming. For those of you who do (that is, those of you who want to daydream more, but don't know how), my blog links a "how-to" site on lucid dreaming. This blog promises that its techniques will allow you to control your dreams and make your dreams what you want when you want. LOL.

Gagapalooza, August 6-8, Chicago

2010-08-06T20:08:00.008-05:00

A few years ago (2007) Lady Gaga was a side-stage act at Lollapalooza. Today she joins the other top billings - Soundgarden, Green Day, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix - headlining 100+ other groups and artists including Devo, Spoon, MGMT, The Black keys, Neon Trees, Empire of the Sun, et al.

Lollapalooza fans attending the festival will find it larger this year. Thirty five more acres of Grant Park will provide breathing space and boost attendance. (For the last two years attendance has been about 75,000 per day, pretty much what the existing space could handle.)

I'm pretty sure those of you that planned to go have already bought your discounted passes and made up your custom line-ups, LOL. Nevertheless, the tickets still available are $90 per day or $215 for a 3-day pass.

http://www.lollapalooza.com/

Una Bella Gnocca

2010-07-21T12:33:00.014-05:00

Summertime. Fun in the sun. Bikinis, daisy dukes, playsuits... My GF Michele insists that I have the best derriere in SL. For my part, I think hers is far better.

The highly subjective and judgmental issue of what constitutes a nice female posterior is an extremely frequent subject of conversation. But then, I believe that discussion of the female form constitutes one of the most important subjects of discourse in Western culture — the appreciation of the beauty of the booty, its sexuality, and its place in the tradition of the nude in art. This is not a new thing. For example, the adjective callipygian is hundreds of years old and is based upon an ancient statue of Aphrodite narcissistically admiring her own butt reflected in water, originally in the Sanctuary of Aphrodite in Syracuse (Sicily, not New York, Michele - Yes, I know it’s your alma mater).

callipygian–adjective - having well-shaped buttocks. Also, callipygous. Origin: 1640–50; Gk kallipýg ( os ) with beautiful buttocks; referring to a statue of Aphrodite ( kalli- calli + pyg ( ḗ ) rump + -os adj. suffix) + ian

There are those who insist that there is a GOLD STANDARD of female derriere today, and that it's known as the APPLE BOTTOM, formerly the HEART SHAPE. What?? This makes very little sense. The only apples I have ever seen shaped like bums, good or bad, are misshapen freaks. Maybe an apple upside down... or tomato. Or maybe a pear. (This, of course, is not to be confused with overall body type. A woman's bust, waist, and hips are her physical inflection points, and the ratios of their circumferences are used to define her basic shape. These are sometimes described as banana, pear, apple or hourglass shapes. A banana is straight, a pear hippy, an apple wide-shouldered, and an hourglass, well, you know. The banana and apple shapes are considered somewhat androgynous - sorry girls. An hourglass, on the other hand, points us in the right direction.)

I don't think the perfect feminine derriere is shaped like a fruit of any kind. The perfect posterior simply has excellent symmetry, form, and structure. It is full, round, and shapely, while also being taut, firm, and compact. Above all, it must simply be aesthetically appealing, nicely curved and sleek, with beautiful contours. A pert, shapely, well-rounded derriere is a good derriere, round and full buttocks being the key, with shapely curves and feminine voluptuousness.

In all fairness, in researching this blog, I ran across more than a few shapely male bottoms. Not to be negative though, they lack a certain something... that softness and voluptuousness that is present in even a very taut and firm female derriere. Butt let’s not go off on a tangent.

So the combinations and permutations of the features that make up a fine female derriere may be too numerous to elaborate. In any case, there are a huge number of variations on good booty out there, and I will not attempt to categorize them all. I will give mention, however, to the latest attempt to quantify bootyliciousnes by an English psychologist named David Holmes:

In this procedure, a woman assesses her assets on a scale from 1 to 20 (20 being best) in the following categories: S = overall shape, C = circularity, B = bounciness (less is preferred), F = firmness, and T = skin texture. She then calculates this: V = the ratio of hips to waist. (Interestingly, despite wide differences in preferences for body type, scientists have discovered that the waist-hip ratio is strongly correlated to the perception of attractiveness across all cultures.) And plugs it all into this formula: (S+C) x (B+F) / (T-V)

The closer she is to 80, the better. But once again, this attempt at measurement is based upon extreme subjectivity.

There is one specific feature, however, that is left out, and that I think truly enhances the female posterior's ability to make a singular impression... This is whether or not it SMILES. If you've got one that does, hunny, you are IN LIKE FLYNN!!! (Flynn? Well, Samantha maybe...) And if you don't have one, or have one that FROWNS, you know that too :(

So we’re back where we started. Like female baboons whose enflamed scarlet backsides ensnare their mates, so the human female's buttocks will beguile the male. We will continue to be influenced by the myth of the two Syracusian sisters, farmer's daughters, whose impeccably shapely hindquarters won them wealthy husbands. And, rightly or wrongly, we will continue to see all of life’s little wins and losses in terms of our booties. *SIGH*

By the way, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Alba have vastly different posterior types, BUT THEY BOTH SMILE!

“Now there's a broad with a future behind her.”
Actress Constance Bennett, remarking upon Marilyn Monroe's derriere

Why Do Guys Think Nutshots Are Funny?

2010-07-02T19:09:00.009-05:00

I left work and wuz picked up by my spouse yesterday evening in the midst of the Taste of Chicago mayhem across the street. Behold a group of teens (prolly students at my university) wuz trying to raise cash to go to Taste. One wuz wearing a huge blue animal head (Sonic the Hedgehog?) to attract attention.

For those of you who don't know, The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held annually the 10 days leading up to the 4th (this year June 25th-July 4th). More than 50 restaurants attract literally millions to the Grant Park to enjoy a variety of food from popular restaurants serving ethnic and Chicago-style specialties. Events include live music by well-known artists on multiple stages, nightly film performances, and fireworks. The festival culminates in 4th of July fireworks at three locations along the City's 26-mile lakefront. All performances are free, but food tickets sold at the entrance are not.

So this group of kids wuz tryin to raise money for food tickets: $2.00 for a nutshot! :=P Needless to say, the car in front us of stopped (traffic wuz already standing still), and the young driver got out, paid his money, and gave it a shot. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Needless to say, age notwithstanding, spouse thought it hilarious.

This led me to ponder the popularity of nutshots, and WHY they seem funny, mainly to men... as a form of entertainment, or as a means of raising money? All I can say is that, going by this, it seems there are plenty of entertaining things at Taste BESIDES the acts. However, I wouldn't laugh if a girl got hit between her legs. I would feel bad for her. You would think that guys would feel another guy's pain, especially if the kick or the hit was hard enough to cause damage to the goods. Why do guys laugh?

I guess it's like slapstick really... comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense. Some part of a guy's brain harkens back to the days when he used to watch cartoons as a kid. It's the humor of when somebody steps on a rake and gets slapped in the face by the pole, often found in children's cartoons and light film comedies aimed at younger audiences, I think it makes men laugh the most. It's more of a guy thing. A lot of girls will say the Three Stooges are the stupidest thing they've ever seen.

On the other hand, I'm sure that not all guys react to a nutshot with laughter. Some guys will grab their nuts, exclaim "OOOH~" and proceed to shudder uncontrollably. Personality probably has a lot to do with it. Or the circumstances of the nutshot itself.

Speaking of slapstick, some argue that this form of humor goes back to Church liturgical dramas in the Middle Ages, of all things, and some argue it was present in Greek and Roman theater as well. Beating the devil off stage was a stock comedic device in otherwise serious religious plays. But of course you couldn't kill him, whatever you did to him, LOL .

If I obtain added info on nutshots, I'll let you know :=P

BBQ Tips - Your opinion isn't in my recipe, LOL!

2010-05-22T14:04:00.010-05:00

These tips are not necessarily intended to all be used together. Also, my favorite stores and foods may not be yours. Don’t be judgmental… we’re all entitled to our opinions, LOL.

You already know how to grill stuff (zones, indirect, etc.), so I won't go into that, but I will say get a grill with a good ash-catcher so you don't burn down your deck. And always…

Choose the correct method of cooking for what you’re trying to prepare.

Rinse your meat (yes, it’s dirty). Rinse your vegetables too.

WATCH YOUR MEAT CLOSELY even if it seems to be taking a long time and you think you can relax with a cocktail. You can’t, LOL.

Unlike the center of a steak, the center of a burger can harbor germs. Cook ground beef to 155°F.

Marinate your chicken in bottled Italian dressing.

Marinate your steaks in bottled Italian dressing.

Coat your veggies with bottled Italian dressing.

Marinate your boneless pork loin in bottled Italian dressing. (Use several tablespoons, and wrap it in saran with sliced onions and minced rosemary and thyme overnight. If extra garlic is desired, pierce meat and insert slivers. Grill indirect for a little over an hour.)

If you want to, make your own Italian dressing, LOL.

If you wish to use to subsequently use your marinade as a sauce (rather than waste it), boil it.

Try white barbeque sauce on chicken, seafood, and pork. (1 qt. mayonnaise, 3/4 qt. apple cider vinegar, 1/2 c. corn syrup, 1/4 tbsp. cayenne pepper, prepared horseradish, lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper) Use it in cole slaw and potato salad.

Buy good fresh sausage, Italian (Dominick’s is okay, hot and/or mild) or Polish (Andy’s in Chicago for all your Polish sausage needs, http://www.andysdeli.com/). Most ppl in Chicago eat Vienna hot dogs. If you live in upstate New York, like Michele, you prolly favor Zweigle's white hots over Vienna for hot dogs. Zweigle's ships these and a variety of other fresh and pre-cooked sausages nationwide (http://www.zweigles.com/order_online.asp).

Stuff your hamburgers with blue cheese (spread about a tablespoon of a mixture of equal parts blue and cream cheese with some parsley and onion powder between two 2 oz. patties and press together sealing the edge). These can also be marinated in red wine.

Slit your hot dogs and stuff them with cheddar cheese, then wrap them in bacon to hold it in. Also use some water soaked tooth picks. (This used to be called a "Francheezie" and was once a staple at every greasy spoon in Chicago. What ever happened?)

(Many things can be served with added strips of bacon, a la Razzie.)

Since these are barbeque tips, something needs to be said about pork ribs and especially tips. Spareribs are large but have the least actual meat. (There's a lot of fat and gristle on each rib. The fat can make the ribs more tender than baby back ribs.) Baby back ribs are smaller and less fatty than spareribs, but have more meat. St. Louis Cut ribs are spare ribs with the breastbone ”rib tips” removed. St. Louis cut rib racks are almost rectangular in shape and therefore cook evenly. (Find out how to trim spareribs St. Louis style here - http://www.bbq-book.com/news2006/html/october_2006.html).

Yes, barbeque tips. Many barbeque connoisseurs will argue that rib tips, bony and more heavily marbled, are the most flavorful of rib meats. They are also cheap. You do them pretty much as you would any ribs. Sprinkle with a dry rub (for example - 2 tbsp. paprika, 2 tbsp. light brown sugar, 2 tbsp. salt, 1 tbsp. ground red cayenne pepper, 1 tsp. dry mustard, 1 ground bay leaf), cook them on the grill 2-3 hours at about 300°F (relax, these DO take a long time), cut into 1” cross-cut strips, and serve with your favorite sauce.

If you barbeque anything, serve it with Wonder Bread.

Husk your corn and wrap it with butter, salt, and paprika in a double layer of foil. (With a double layer of foil, it won't burn. Removing the husk removes the risk of bugs, and rinsing it removes insecticides... cleaner, seasoned, and tastier though less picturesque).

☆☆☆☆☆ FIVE STAR recipe special: Gudrun’s Secret Simplified Rumaki appetizer (or meal even - see this blog’s posting for July 14, 2008).

RUH-ROH!

2010-04-29T15:34:00.010-05:00

Dancing near Lacie Deere and her hunny Razor Summers at Hotlanta, both of whom are very up on contemporary lingo, I hear it all the time. But it wasn't until I saw an episode in which House said it with a Scooby-Doo accent that I realized how thoroughly this meme had permeated our means of communication in 21st century America. Where did it come from? And what does it mean?

First of all, it is NOT "rut-roh." Rut-roh means something totally different. Rut-roh implies something truly heinous. In the words of the Urban Dictionary, in the context of hooking-up, rut-roh is "a pre-meditated and fully thought out MISTAKE": for example, a disgusting choice of mate material. If enough rut-roh's come in a series, the perp generally establishes the reputation as a skank or a man-whore.

Where it came from is also not so obvious. Astro was a canine character in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show, The Jetsons (see Wikipedia), and was designed by Iwao Takamoto. Astro was more advanced than present-day dogs, in that he had a rudimentary grasp of the English language. However, being of Japanese origin and a gR-R-owling dog as well, he placed r's in many places they shouldn't be, or in place of other letters such as "l." For example, "I love you, George" would be "I ruv roo, Reorge." Astro's signature expression was "Ruh-roh!" (or "Ruh-roh, Reorge!"), supposedly the canine variant of "Uh-oh!" (an expression of dismay or perhaps some other emotion). Scooby Doo's signature expression was "Ruh Roh Raggy!" (Uh Oh Shaggy!) - He was also designed by Iwao Takamoto, but later.

So Scooby Doo was the more recent but not the original progenitor of the expression. The widespread usage of ruh-roh is real, however, and it remains mysterious. Scientists and social theorists have not quite figured out just why young adults, boomers, and even older individuals feel the need to utter the phrase at the first hint of a humorous mishap. It's not as if anyone even watches the show Scooby-Doo anymore.

Slang’s primary reason for existence is to establish a sense of community among its speakers. When slang is used, there is a postulated unit of cultural ideas or practices which are transmitted from one mind to another through writing or speech. Those ideas evoke membership in the same “tribe.” Because belonging is so important, slang is used as a powerful manifestation of identity.

So probably, use of the term is symbolic of belonging to an age cohort. And perhaps because parents also watch cartoons, and perhaps because of reruns on the cartoon channel and late night TV, probably more than one. Scooby's name itself was based upon the "doo-be-doo-be-doo" of a Frank Sinatra song ("Strangers in the Night"). So that explains that part too, LOL.

Michele, btw, LUVS to do her gardening in a bikini…

Harem

2010-04-07T23:35:00.012-05:00

There's a new fun group in Second Life. The group is called "Harry's Harem." Members can expect to have a really good time and learn all about SL club dancing from one of its leading practitioners and experts. Requirements are that you be out for fun and friendship, and that you be able to dance the night away while staying out of trouble. Prospective members can apply to Harry Bailey. (You had better drop him a notecard as his IMs may be capped.)

So it's a harem? In modern colloquial (and humorous) English, "harem" may denote a number of (usually) female followers of another person, and this probably applies to Harry's Harem. (see Wikipedia) But in the backs of our minds is the fantastical mystery of the harems of our imaginations, fueled by the exotic luxury of places like the Topkapi palace, the legend of Ishtar and exotic dancers such as Salome, and the romance and cachet of words like serraglio. Myths abound. Now is a good time to bust them. Let's look at what a harem really is, the behaviors associated with it, and the myths that came about.

Myth: A harem is a sexually charged orgy room guarded by eunuchs.

Truth: The harem is simply the women's quarters of a Muslim household, be it in a palace or whatever, as opposed to the men's quarters (the selamlik). It's where the where the women carry out their everyday business.

The word harem comes about because female seclusion is emphasized in Islam, and any intrusion is haram or "forbidden." A harem can be a few women, a few dozen women, or as many as the quarters will accommodate.

A Muslim harem does not necessarily consist solely of the head of household's wives and concubines, but also their young offspring of either sex, female servants, and any variety of other female relatives, In a sense, it's the private living quarters of the Sultan and his family within a palace complex which also contains men's quarters and administrative areas. Though the harem is rapidly disappearing in the 21st century, some still exist in the more remote areas of the Muslim world.

Myth: Harem girls use belly dancing to get their way with the Sultan.

Truth: This dance form is traditional in the Middle East and is not a dance of seduction. Though done in harems by the women of the harem, it is mostly for their own entertainment, to celebrate special occasions, or simply pass the time of day. Music and dance are very much a part of everyday life. Little girls learn the shimmy dance as soon as they can walk, and doing it as a response to jubilant music is almost automatic. It has little sexual connotation. (This does not mean that the Sultan never comes by to watch.)

At both the Paris Exposition in 1889 and the even better Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, the "Streets of Cairo" was featured. This themed area included a dancer called "Little Egypt." The term "belly dance" was coined by American promoters who wouldn't have known or cared what the dance was called in its native land. Their only interest was attracting crowds to ogle the exotic dancers.

Myth: Salome did a traditional seductive dance called the "Dance of the Seven Veils" for her horny stepfather Herod. As a reward for her performance, she requested John the Baptist's head on a platter. This was because she was in love with John and couldn't have him any other way.

This is partly true, but that Salome was the dancer is traditional, not Biblically explicit. (The traditional name Salome is based on the accounts of Flavius Josephus, the Roman-Jewish historian.) In addition, it was her mom her who instructed her to do the nasty. And the "Dance of Seven Veils" was a theatrical creation, though based upon a mythic reality.

Salome was the daughter of Herodias and the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee. John had condemned the marriage of Herodias and Herod because Herodias was the daughter of Herod's brother Aristobulus and also the divorced wife of his half-brother Philip. John's public disapproval angered Herod and Herodias, and Herod imprisoned John but was afraid to have him killed because of his reputation and popularity. This was not enough for Herodias, however, who contrived to get even. She pressed her daughter Salome to seduce her stepfather Herod with a dance and make him promise to give her whatever she wished. At her mother's behest, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Somewhat unwillingly, Herod did her bidding and had John decapitated.

Salome as seductress and femme fatale was popularized by Oscar Wilde who put the Biblical story on stage and made John's execution a crime of passion. Wilde's play subsequently inspired the Richard Strauss one-act opera. In the opera, Herod's lust for Salome is emphasized. Salome, in turn, desires John the Baptist — a not entirely new idea at the time — but John rejects her, and the only way Salome may have any part of him is to demand his head be given to her. Salome fulfills her passion by kissing the dead lips of John's decapitated head. (Eeeeeeeeeewww!)

This more familiar version of Salome depicts her as the seductress of her stepfather and the murderer of a saint, thereby making her the symbol of the erotic and dangerous woman, the femme fatale. In the play and a later movie, Salome was played by a true femme fatale, the beautiful Maud Allan. And it was only Strauss's opera in which Salome stripped her veils for King Herod. The Dance of the Seven Veils is not a traditional dance based upon Ishtar's descent into the underworld. It was a Broadway and then a Hollywood gimmick, and it wound up making both the dance and Salome household words.

In the play, Herod becomes fearful and has Salome killed as well. In actuality, according to Josephus, Salome was long-lived, married twice, and raised several children. (Also note that this Salome was distinct from Salome, the follower of Jesus, who was present at the Crucifixion.)

Myth: Belly piercings were a seductive tool for harem girls.

Truth: Speaking of Hollywood gimmickry, this one is pure tinsel. A series of scandals rocked the movie industry in the 1920s: Fatty Arbuckle involved in the death of Virginia Rappe at a wild party, the murder of William Desmond Taylor amidst revelations of his bisexuality, the drug-related death of Wallace Reid, and host of other incidents. In the resulting backlash, a production code was devised to ensure morality in the movies (the Hays Code, 1930). Among other things, costuming rules became very strict: Actresses were not allowed to show their navel or wear two piece costumes.

During the filming of the 1903 movie, "The Vision Of Salome," a censor stopped the filming because of the costume the actress Maud Allan was wearing. Maud was sent to wardrobe where they quickly fixed the problem in a somewhat mischievous fashion. An elaborate costume necklace was ripped apart and used to join the top and bottom of the two piece costume, finishing it off by draping the remains around the belly. A fake jewel was then glued into Maud's navel.

They weren't worn in the harem, but belly dancers would forevermore wear belly chains and navel jewelry. :=P

What 12 Levels?

2010-03-07T12:33:00.008-06:00

For whatever reason, Michele, bless her little heart, decided that I needed a Second Life tag that says "Thinks on 12 levels." I really like this tag, in that it is simultaneously intelligent-sounding and enigmatic. In fact, it's my favorite. But the more I wore it, and the more ppl asked me what it meant, the more I thought it might actually reflect a reality.

I kept wearing it. The organism evolved. I eventually began consciously thinking on 12 levels. Ppl still asked me what 12 levels I was thinking on, and I tried to summarize, but I found it diificult to do so. Eventually I began to feel that my 12 levels required codification. Hence, Gudrun's 12-Level Paradigm of Awareness and Thought:

Level 1 - Thoughtless reaction to external forces. (Like being pushed in SL... even a prim has this.)

Level 2 - Reflex and instinctive action, which also requires no awareness or thinking. Human beings share this behavior with plants and animals.

Level 3 - Learned behavior. We learn what is advantageous or disadvantageous to us, and this creates conditioned reflexes. This is also shared with animals.

Level 4 - Next we have verbal thinking - the indirect exchange of experiences through words. Animals do this to whatever extent a species can communicate feelings. People also communicate ideas.

Level 5 - Abstract concepts are then created by identifying essences and common elements. These are then manipulated to form systems of science, art, and technology. We begin to identfy causes, effects, forces, and processes that go beyond personal need or emotion.

Level 6 - We reify abstractions such as the family, society, God, and nations. (An individual then perceives their own self as part of these abstractions - unless they're completely alienated):

Level 7 - What do I have (material and abstract non-material - part of self-worth).

Level 8 - What do others have (material and abstract non-material).

Level 9 - What do others think of me (how does the world valuate me - another part of self-worth).

Level 10 - Are they right or wrong? How has it impacted my behavior?

Level 11 - What do they think I think of them (how do they see me and my probable actions in relation to themselves and their interests).

Level 12 - Are they right or wrong, and does it make a difference? Do all or some of them think it makes a difference, and if so, how many (differences and/or ppl)? (The real question: If an election were held tomorrow, would I win?)

So that's how I think on 12 levels. Obviously I have WAY to much time on my hands...

Vancouver Winter Olympics

2010-02-09T09:02:00.006-06:00

As the countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics nears its finish, the enthusiasm of fans and athletes cranks way, way up. It's one of those times when people who normally DO sports with all the verve of champion amateurs and top ranking professionals take the role of SPECTATOR just to see how they stack up. My Sweetie Pie, Michele, is no exception. (Of course, her ability to assume the role of a mere watcher of speed and figure skating is severely hampered by her consummate lust to compete in and/or judge those sports - She easily becomes overwhelmed by a craving for the smell and feel of metal on ice and for the music of the rink. She then quickly heads for the nearest ice patch and leaves me alone to contemplate my sedentary nature or maybe take a nap. :=P )

Starting Friday, over seventeen days, 2,500 athletes from 80 countries will compete in 86 medal events.

ICE events:

Bobsled
Curling
Figure Skating
Hockey
Luge
Short Track Speed Skating
Skeleton
Speed Skating

SNOW events:

Alpine Skiing
Biathlon
Cross-Country
Freestyle
Moguls
Nordic Combined
Jumping
Snowboarding

The schedule is here: http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-schedule-results/

Want to follow Team USA in the 2010 Olympics? Link to http: //teamusanews.org/ where you can regsister for the latest info and updates. (Thanks to Liza Peiffer at Team USA News for providing us with the link!)

N.B. ~ The pixxies were taken at our ice rink which will be open to the public until St. Patrick's Day, the official start of spring (for some ppl) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Malvern/180/240/91/

I Can Haz Cheezburger!!!!

2010-01-26T01:13:00.000-06:00

Dis be boutz teh song, "Cowz wif Gunz."

Cowz iz F-A-T, S-T-U-P-I-D, D-U-M-B hurd anjimalz. Dey iz not kittiz!!! Dere mindz reflekt upon nuthin. Dey cannot organize cept to mill aboutz.

So dey iz razed to be eeted by other anjimalz, namely youz adn me. Dey makz gud burgerz.

Teh song sez a leader cow emergicated mongst dem name of Cow Tse Tongue. Smarter den most, he hided in teh forest, readed books on revolooshun. He speeked boutz justice, but nobuddy paid no a10shun at allz.

But wen he mooed "We must fite adn escape or be dedz!" they paid a10shun. Dis cow wuz den took away by teh thoriteez. Nobuddy spected he hadded an Uzi. He broked loos adn setted teh killing floor on fire yelling, "Run cowz run!"

He picked up teh horn of a bull adn jumped up on teh hay, adn gotz teh cowz singing:

"We fitez for free cowz
And holdz hi our larj hedz
We gon run freely wif teh Buffalo, or bee ded
Cowz wif gunz."

Dey crashed teh gate, tipped a truck, and setted fire to teh feed. When po-lice ppls came, dey throwed cowpies. Dey setted fire to lunch stands. All teh while dey sang:

"We fitez for free cowz
And holdz hi our larj hedz
We gon run freely wif teh Buffalo, or bee ded
Cowz wif gunz!"

Teh President wuz tired of teh bullshit. teh cowz wuz surrounded by 10,000 copperz and - OH, NOES!!!! - teh cowz wuz outsmarted (adn outgunned).

Teh cowz waited and prayed. dey mooed dere last moos, dey chewed dere last hay. TRUST ME, LOL, NO CHICKENZ CAME TO DERE RESCUE!!!!

Dis is why I can haz cheezburger!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-31T10:31:00.000-06:00

Goodbye aughts, hello oats...

2009-12-25T15:07:00.000-06:00

~ Oatmeal ~

The dour grain
Food of poverty
Feed for the dray
Gray in my bowl
Old and cold

Boiling water
Steamy kitchen
Hot coffee
Hills and vales of porridge
In my bowl
Rivulets of cream
And a handful of raisins

Puffed fat and creamy
Lovely in my bowl
Sticking to my ribs
Can be supper too
In another world

Congee gruel
Crispy fried scallions
Sweet or salty soy
Kanji, ganji, bubur
Okayu, juk, lugao
Barley, quinoa, rice
Sesame, chili, tiger sauce

Golden oat grains
Big, round, delicately brown
Crisp crumbled bacon
Sun in my bowl
Amazing rich and full

~ Gudrun Gausman

That was an original poem by ME. :=)

So, the "aughts" are over and it's a New Year once again. What exactly are we going to do to improve ourselves? Well, we don't want it to be too hard, and we don't want to give up being [n]aught[y] (even though the aughts are over). Hmmmm...

Oatmeal (1) may help reduce high blood pressure, (2) may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes, (3) contains a wide array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and is a good source of protein, complex carbohydrates and iron, and (4) may actually reduce the risk for certain cancers.

We all know about adding fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and sweeteners to oatmeal, but other things can make it very different indeed. It's not just for breakfast any more. So for the new year, eat more oatmeal! (And No, I don't work for the Quaker Oats Company.)

GOLDEN OATS MEDLEY (instead of rice, noodles or other grains) ~ The Quaker Oats Wholegrain Cookbook

Ingredients (Serves 4)

1 1/2 cups Quaker Oats, uncooked
1 egg, beaten
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup chopped green pepper*
3/4 cup chicken or beef broth
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine uncooked oats and beaten egg in medium sized bowl; mix until oats are thoroughly coated. Saute green pepper in butter in a large skillet. Add the oat mixture to the green pepper mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for 1 to 3 minutes, or until the oats are dry, separate, and lightly browned. Add the broth and salt and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates.

*Try some fried onion along with the green pepper.

VARIATIONS using the basic “Golden Oats Medley” recipe above...

GOLDEN OATS ORIENTAL: Substitute 3/4 cup water and 2 Tblsp soy sauce for broth. GOLDEN OATS PILAF: Substitute 3/4 cup mushroom slices and 2 Tblsp chopped green onion or chives for green pepper. GOLDEN OATS FLORENTIN: Substitute 1 cup chopped spinach or broccoli for green pepper. GOLDEN OATS ROMA: Substitute 1 cup thinly sliced zucchini and 1 garlic clove, minced for green pepper. GOLDEN OATS LORRAINE: Add 2 crisply cooked bacon slices, crumbled. GOLDEN OATS PROVENCAL: Add 1 medium sized tomato, chopped. GOLDEN OATS WITH HERBS: ADD 2 Tblsp parsley flakes, 1/2 tsp oregano leaves, 1/2 tsp basil leaves.

MARK BITTMAN'S OATMEAL WITH SCALLIONS AND SOY SAUCE

Ingredients (Serves one)

1 cup rolled oats (steel cut recommended)
2 cups water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon scallions for stirring, 1 teaspoon for garnish
A couple shakes of sea salt

1. Combine water, salt, and oats in a medium saucepan and turn the heat too high. When the water boils, turn to low and cook, stirring frequently, until the water is just about absorbed (about 5 minutes).

2. Turn off heat, stirring in 1 tablespoon of scallions and soy sauce while the pot cools down. Sprinkle that last teaspoon of scallions on top for extra crunch.

Note: You can also do this in the microwave. Some will call this sacrilegious, and sure, maybe the texture is compromised a tad, but if you're in an office or getting anxious thinking about a pot, it's fine. Just cook the oats, water and scallions for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, and add soy sauce and extra scallion garnish after.

A description of "congee" is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congee

I made you cookie... but I eated it.

2009-12-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

Cookies CAN buy you love. Not the kind that cools in the warmth of the sun, but the kind that lasts at least as long as there are cookies on the plate. It has always been clear that if you give someone a cookie, you have fed them, but that if you give them a really good cookie recipe, you have given them not only a gift that provides sustenance, but also the means to obtain undying love. But this is true ONLY if they prepare them correctly and don't eat them all themselves...

Here are TWO recipes for really good cookies. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Date Nut Pinwheels

Filling:

1 1/4 cups (8 oz) chopped dates
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Dough:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (plus extra for rolling surface)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon clove (optional)
wax paper or parchment

Prepare dough:

Sift together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, and optional clove.

Cream butter gradually adding brown sugar. Add 1 unbeaten egg and the vanilla, creaming well.

Blend in the sifted dry ingredients.

Chill the dough for about an hour. (You can divide the dough in half, put it in plastic wrap or bags, and flatten it somewhat as this is what you're going to do anyway.)

Prepare date filling:

Combine pitted chopped dates, sugar, and water in saucepan. Cook over low heat until thick, stirring constantly. Cool thoroughly. Add chopped walnuts.

Roll, cut, and bake:

Roll out half the dough on a floured surface to a 10"x18" rectangle, trimming ragged edges. Spread with half the filling. Roll as for jelly roll starting with the 10" side. Wrap with wax paper or parchment. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Chill at least 2 hours.

Cut into 1/4" slices (turning the roll as you cut so as not to flatten it on one side), and place onto lightly greased baking sheets at least 1 inch apart.

Bake in moderately hot preheated oven (400ºF) 8-10 minutes. (These burn easily, so watch them closely.)

Makes two to three dozen cookies.

Russian Tea Cakes

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar (plus approx 1/3 cup additional for coating)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1-2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. (Don't burn the bottoms.) Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.

Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Makes about three dozen cookies.

Girl on Ice

2009-12-05T17:08:00.000-06:00

Michele, ma belle, je t'adore.

For any of you who are interested in my short new erotic fantasy, it is here:

http://dreamaware.blogspot.com/

Also, the blog containing this fantasy links a "how-to" site on "lucid dreaming" (or dreams you know you're having). This site promises that its techniques will allow you to control your dreams and will make your dreams what you want when you want. LOL.

Boeuf Bourguignon

2009-09-24T00:11:00.000-05:00

As the days turn cooler, comfort foods such as stew come to mind. What better than this, the grandest of all stews?

There are hundreds if not thousands of recipes for boeuf bourguignon, but, strangely, all of them are more or less identical. My recipe will be presented two ways. (Reasons: [1] My son hates mushrooms, the poor misguided child, and [2] some ppl like their beautifully sauteed mushrooms straight up.) The essential ingredients for boeuf bourguignon are, of course, bacon, beef, onions, and two (2) bottles of good red wine (one for the stew, the other for drinking). Additionally, I find that a Manhattan (shaken, not stirred) serves to keep me out of the wine until the food is well under way. In my Manhattan (a drink invented by Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mother, in case you’re of the opinion a whiskey drink is not ladylike), I place two Collins maraschino cherries with stems. Now, in this blog, Gudrun does not normally endorse any company, product, or institution, but just this once I'm going to make an exception. Collins cherries (found primarily in liquor stores) are much larger, plumper, and tastier than supermarket maraschinos. But you have to buy the big bottle... the ones in the little bottles are (or seem to be) smaller. It also helps if you marinate them in brandy. But I digress...

Technique #1 - Everything in the Pot

2.5 lbs beef - well marbled rump or chuck (rule of thumb - 1/2 lb per person)
1/2 in thick slice bacon
12-14 v small onions
salt & pepper
2 tblsp flour
good red wine (something you would enjoy drinking)
pinch thyme
bay leaf
4 sprigs parsely
small clove garlic
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, whole (if small), sliced, or quartered
1 tblsp tomato paste

Cut the meat into 1-1.5 inch cubes. Cut the bacon into small strips or cubes ("lardons"). Lightly brown the bacon in your nicest, heaviest stew pot, then remove and reserve the bits. Brown the onions in the fat, then reserve them with the bacon.

In the same pot, brown the meat thoroughly, tossing with salt and pepper, and letting the juices in the bottom of the pot get very dark. Add the onions and bacon, sprinkle with flour, and brown slightly. Add wine to barely cover the meat, and add the thyme, bay leaf, chopped parsley, and crushed garlic. (I use fresh parsley and garlic, not the stuff in jars.) Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

Clean and prepare the mushrooms. (Okay, I do buy fresh sliced mushrooms!) Add the mushrooms and tomato paste, simmering another half hour or so, and correct the seasonings if necessary.

Serve with a salad and crusty French bread and butter (for sopping up the gravy).

Technique #2 - Mushroom Lovers/Haters

Same list of ingredients. Cook the stew as above, but don't put in the mushrooms. Separate preparation preserves the delicate mushroom flavor for the aficionado, and segregates the mushrooms for those who don’t like them.

2 tblsp butter
1 tblsp oil
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, whole (if small), sliced, or quartered
Optional: 1-2 tblsp minced shallots

Clean and prepare the mushrooms. The mushrooms must be DRY and the skillet un-crowded.

Heat the butter and oil over high heat. As the butter foam subsides add the mushrooms. Toss and shake the pan. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from heat. This should take 4-5 minutes. Toss the shallots with the mushrooms if desired and sauté 2 minutes. Season to taste.

Wine: The obvious choice to cook boeuf bourguignon and accompany it would be a French Burgundy. While these have the reputation of being quite expensive, excellent bottles of “village” wine can be found in the $15-20 range. And red Burgundies are Pinot Noir (except for Beaujolais), so there are plenty of reasonably priced domestic examples of this variety (as well as Gamay) to choose from. But any full-bodied, young red will do. The dish would be great made with a Rhone, Bordeaux, Rioja, Chianti, domestic cabernet, or whatever. (~N.B. - See vintage chart in February 13th blog, "It Was a Very Good Year...")

The Paradox of the Collar

2009-08-31T02:18:00.000-05:00

"I have all these darned collars cuz I thought they were really kewl jewelry..."
Gudrun in "Fashion Denuded"

Like so many people, I was unaware that a Gorean lifestyle existed until I joined a community which included an on-line expression of that existence, in this case Second Life.

Gor is the imaginary world described in John Norman's "Chronicles of Gor," a twenty-seven novel science fantasy series filled with exotic images, philosophy, and erotica. The early books of the series are viewed as being plot-driven. Later books, though maintaining numerous threads of plots and sub-plots from the others, became more philosophical, sexual, and action-oriented. (I confess to having read none of them. I am not Gorean nor do I aspire to be Gorean. I am mainly interested in the Goreans of Second Life - whose behavior may or may not bear any resemblance to that of characters in the books - and how they role-play within Second Life. All information contained herein was gathered as an "observer," from secondary materials, or from reports by individuals within Second Life Gor.)

In the novels, the human inhabitants of Gor are transplants from earth, brought there by the extraterrestrial insectoid rulers of Gor, the Priest-Kings. These humans roughly reflect various groups from earth's Mediterranean Classical period and include Romans, Greeks, Native Americans, and Vikings. Remember that the Goreans are technologically advanced space travelers. Though Gor is technologically advanced and humans are permitted to engage in advanced applications of architecture and medicine, human transportation and weaponry is frozen in the periods the humans represent. This restriction on technology is to protect the Priest-Kings themselves and the other various indigenous and transplanted Goreans from the violence for which humans are known. Hence, the "space-opera" cum swords and spears.

Gor is highly detailed in terms of flora and fauna, and has a wide array of fantastical creatures, making Second Life an ideal venue for its visual realization.

Gor has a complex array of customs, and the lifestyle that results is very controversial. Many disapprove of it, but this is probably because of an undue emphasis on the master/slave relationship. The books are not strictly sexual. They focus on detailing Gorean society at large. This contrasts with the focus that you see in some of the follower communities that concentrates on the master/slave relationship. In many cases it seems it is the key element and perhaps its only purpose. (This may be especially understandable in Second Life, though, given the predilection for hanky panky, the penchant for going beyond the constraints of real life, and the easy means of implementation :-). Anyway, it's Norman's own fault:

"Strong men simply need women. This will never be understood by weak men. A strong man needs a woman at his feet, who is truly his. Anything else is less than his fulfillment. When a man has once eaten the meat of the gods he will never again chew on the straw of fools." ---Explorers of Gor - 12

Hmmm, that's a mouthful (er... sorry).

"Freedom permits a woman to live without a man. Slavery makes a woman need a man’s touch... Slavery, of course, is the surest path by means of which a woman can discover her femininity. The paradox of the collar is the freedom which a woman experiences in at last finding herself, and becoming herself." --- Magicians of Gor, page 160

We can view the quotes above as the main aspect of the Gorean belief system: Men dominate women to satisfy their own needs - be it a piece of poon or a piece of Bosk (not a pear, btw) - and women like it and find it a revelation. If a woman does not, she is weak and foolish. All women are inferior to men and can only be happy being owned by men. (This is, of course, an idea we've only recently gotten away from in modern western civilization.)

The three fundaments of Gorean culture are:

1. The home stone,
2. the caste system, and
3. the natural order.

Gor

"Gor" is, in fact, Gorean for "home stone," and this underscores the importance of the proprietary concept. So what is this home stone? According to the books, back in the day, "each hut was originally built around a flat stone which was placed in the center of the circular dwelling. It was carved with the family sign and was called the Home Stone. It was, so to speak, a symbol of sovereignty, or territory, and each peasant, in his own hut, was a sovereign... Later... Home Stones were used for villages, and later still for cities. The Home Stone of a village was always placed in the market; in a city, on the top of the highest tower. The Home Stone came naturally, in time, to acquire a mystique, and something of the same hot, sweet emotions as our native peoples of Earth feel toward their flags became invested in it." ---Tarnsman of Gor, 2:26-27

Caste

Gorean society is divided into castes, each profession or occupation belonging to one. All Goreans belong to castes except for three groups: slaves, outlaws, and the Priest-Kings. However, this caste system is not inflexible. There are opportunities for altering caste, though men seldom avail themselves of these because one's caste becomes internalized and a source of great pride.

There are five high castes. In order of importance they are:

The Initiates (white) are the spiritual guardians. They represent the Priest-Kings, and their skills relate to ritual, mythology and superstition. (The religious conditioning of the men of Gor, based on superstition though it might be, is, however, as powerful as a set of chains.)

The Scribes (blue) are the scholars, writers, and historians.

Third is the caste of the builders (yellow). Architecture and building are very advanced on Gor, and for centuries the builders have been producing magical amenities for Gorean life (such as eternal light bulbs).

Physicians (green) also practice what is on Gor a very technologically advanced discipline, older people being rare because of youth serums invented centuries earlier. (No need for Viagra among THIS male population, and it's a good thing since DOING THAT seems a main preoccupation.)

Finally we have the Warriors (scarlet red, so as to render the blood less shocking, lol).

Aside from the high castes there are many different lower castes, all with their own colors. Though it's not required for caste members to wear their colors in everyday life, most do it because they are proud of them, either wearing clothes consisting only of the caste colors or clothes where those colors are dominant. The colors of the lower castes can actually be more interesting:

Merchant...Color Gold & White
Slaver...Color Blue & Yellow
Pot Makers...Color Brown/Green
Saddle Makers...Color Tan (leather)
Metal Workers...Color Steel Gray
Players...Color Red and Yellow Checks
Lighter of Lanterns...Color Striped Green White & Red
Tarn Keepers...Color Gray & Green
Wood Carriers...Color Brown & Black
Charcoal Makers...Color Black & Gray
Singers...Color Aqua & Red
Assassin...Color Black
Thieves...Black, three-pronged tattoo on right cheek (dunno why they get a caste - guess they're not outlaws)
Peasant...Color Brown

The Natural Order

This brings us to the last pillar, the natural order, in which males have the predisposition to be dominant while women have the predisposition to be submissive.

A few words on slavery:

Slavery is quite common in Gor. Most slaves are female, a single female slave being a kajira, the plural being kajirae. There are also male slaves on Gor, but they are less common, mainly for economic reasons - normally they are not really worth anything at all.

One male slave is called a kajirus, kajiri plural. "Any woman, properly mastered, makes an excellent slave." --- MAGICIANS OF GOR, Pg. 143 "...a captured female is almost invariably collared; a captured male is almost invariably put to the sword." --- Assassin of Gor, Pg. 51

So, Men are usually killed rather than enslaved. This is partly because most Gorean men would rather die than be made slaves, so the simple subjugation of a Gorean man is often quite difficult. Men simply do not hold the same value as women do on the slave market for the effort needed to subdue them usually outweighs their monetary worth.

From what I can determine, there is a much higher ratio of slaves in Second Life than exists in the books. I think that many young girls in Second Life think it will mean just being cherished, having sex a lot with someone you like, and getting lots of kewl outfits. In Second Life, this last on its own could account for a margin of popularity.

In reality though, a slave is a thing. It doesn't even have a name if the master decides against it. It's something that is there to be used as seen fit, that can be treated many ways, including violently, without any fear of consequences at all. However, this Gorean slavery is very much more service-oriented and basically supports the "natural order," not BDSM. This is not to say you won't find a variety of torture devices scattered about Gor.

Though it may be consensual behavior among adults, slavery will always carry a stigma. It degrades even as virtual role-play, and portrays the violation of basic human rights. That having been said, a lot of people seem to enjoy playing the role.

The Sims

Many Gorean sims are observer friendly. The status of an observer is somewhat that of a ghost, meaning you are wearing a tag depicting you as an "OOC entity" (OOC means out of character) or "observer," and are ignored. You are free to wander around, but an observer is not part of the role play. I have visited the City of Tharna, Port Kar, Port Kos, Herlit, Hellenos, Briarhaven, and the Gorean Woodlands. Each city sports markedly different architecture, and a feature of each is the hospital or infirmary prominently located at or near the center of town. This reinforces the importance of architecture and medicine as important fields of Gorean endeavor.

I also visited the villages of Midgaard and Iskander Pass. While standing around on the Midgaard dock wondering where to go, I witnessed one of the raids which are so common in Gor. A band of outlaws suddenly rezzed one by one in the foggy moonlight and then headed for town. An alarm was sounded. A pitched battle ensued in which the local militia, under Captain Hamlet Hellershanks, was able to keep the raiders from breaching the village gates. The battle was interesting… not a mass melee, but numerous one-on-one actions in the forest. And, of course, some unfortunates were taken prisoner.

Some piccies of places visited are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slgurl/

Interviews

I was fortunate to be able to interview some residents of Second Life Gor. Alyndaw Yootz is a Mamba, a member of the Mamba People, a group representing a Gorean jungle tribe that is reputedly cannibalistic. Anjel Goodnight was forced by circumstance to become a Panther to survive as a child and is now Combat Commander of a mercenary group. Araya Tebaldi is a slave, happily submitting to and being dominated by her male Master. Finally, Gertjan Koenkamp is Ubar of Briarhaven Gardens and Tavernmaster of Tarnburg. Here are some of their views on aspects of the Gorean lifestyle.

How did you discover Gor? How did you discover Gor in Second Life?

Alyndaw: Well, Gor is something I read about a while ago. I once read one of the books and I have to say I wasn't all that impressed. In SL though I came across it while searching for something else and as I'm always ready to explore new things thought I'd at least take a look. As it happens I decided to make it my main activity in SL at least for the time being.

Anjel: From a book at a friend’s house, "Warriors of Gor"... from a woman I met while in SL working a club on the main land.

Araya: I was on IRC and knew of Gor there but never got into it. When I came to Second Life it was the first place I came to.

Gertjan: I was in SL for maybe a month or three. I had seen people dress a bit Middle Age, but had no idea what it really was, until I met a girl in a club... She was wearing silks and I was wondering what it was… Gor… So I start asking questions. She turned out to have no master, so she made me her master. Me… I didn’t know a thing about it, but I learned even though my English was very, very poor.

What led you to the role you play?

Alyndaw: I've been to a few different Gorean lands and the ones I like most so far are Shaba and Woodlands - they are pleasant places to live and not too much of the Slaving. I'm a woman who likes her freedom and the company of others who do too. Sex plays a part for me but not the whole story so to find a role which has adventure, commitment, and other fantasy play ;-) is great. Let's say it's the company of like-minded women and the opportunity to interact in a pretty intensive way.

Anjel: Timbra, the woman I met in SL was into Gorean role play. She had a library on Gor so I did some more reading and she provided me with some much needed insight on female based characters in Gor.

Araya: It is an extension of who I am.

Gertjan: Well that’s easy to answer... it helps my English very well. Before I was on SL, I couldn’t write any, so I can say, yes, an excellent way to learn English.

Recognizing that Gor in SL is generally an RP within an RP, what is your Gorean back-story (i.e., what shaped your Gorean character and resulted in her being what she is)? - Not asked of all respondents.

Anjel: My back story is quite intriguing as I wanted to keep my human heritage: my mother was human my father an Initiate or guardian of the temples of the Priest Kings. I have a twin sister and we started our lives in Gor as Panthers when we became separated from our parents in a raid. We were later re united with our mother who was an established female mercenary, and at that time we became mercenaries and now we are well established: my twin sister the High Commander of a Merc group and I Combat Commander of the same group. Our mother is also a High Commander of a different Merc group. My Gor mother and my twin sister were invited to the Hall of Warriors, and they did sit at the table with the highest of the Red caste in Gor which is a huge step for Gorean females. We never saw our father again it is said he turned back to face the raiders so we could escape and was killed.

How do you yourself fit into the overall organization of Gorean society? - Not asked of all respondents.

Anjel: My character is a bit of a rebel: our enemies love to hate me whereas our allies for the most part welcome my bow. As Mercenaries we do not go out on traditional Gorean raids or even much hunting save for our own serveries. We instead wait for calls to aid those we have contracts with. This includes Gorean cities and several Gorean outlaw groups. Gor is a harsh place for a female warrior.

Is it safe to say there is a range of Gorean RP communities in SL, some that strictly adhere to the books while others are only loosely based?

Alyndaw: Very true but that's what makes it fun - there is room for everyone to find their niche - and societies evolve and become something different over time. I'm pretty new so I can't say with any certainty, but what I've seen tells me that there is something for everyone who is looking for an adventurous and alternative 'lifestyle.'

Anjel: There are no Gorean communities that adhere to the books. There are Gorean communities that call themselves By the Book (BTB), but they are only sticking to certain phrases in the books. Sad thing is a lot of John Norman’s writings were presumptions, and I dare say he uses "it is presumed" far too much. But as for your question, yes there is a very wide range of communities in SL.

Araya: Absolutely. Not only that but they do not interact well together, one believing they are better than the other. Personally I have my preferences, but feel there is room for everyone here in SL.

Gertjan: Well BTB ( by the books) or whatever... it’s just like how you want it to be... It’s like the Bible... Everybody has his own version. Some call it Disney… Some call it the real Gor… But is there really a Gor in SL? ...Don’t think so… We play with real people with real feelings. That makes it different.

What percentage of Gor RP in SL closely follows the books? Any guess?

Alyndaw: Not a clue, sorry as it's so long and I only read the one book.

Anjel: I have not been on a Gor sim where the RP follows the books. I think this question is a bit vague. I mean one phrase in a book would be deciphered 10,000 different ways by 10,001 different humans. I have been in Gor communities in SL that closely follow several phrases in the books and in fact base their rules and laws on those phrases, but I'm thinking in an RP environment one would think it would evolve, not rotate around one phrase in a book. My guess would be .00001%.

Araya: It is difficult to really know but no city is completely by the books. That would be impossible as the books do not detail every single aspect. The books leave lots of room for interpretation.

Gertjan: Not much I guess...maybe 5 %. For most it’s just a shooting game… or to have free sex.

There are a lot of very serious role-players in SL. Can you comment on what makes women slaves? Freewomen? Panther girls? – Asked of women.

Alyndaw: I would say it's the need to experience a different world - one which you can't (or don't) in RL. A lot of SL is pretty similar to RL and why would someone want that? It would be an interesting question as to why people want to be in SL - a lot of reasons I suspect but maybe with one underlying one - a safe way to try out a different role. I found a place with the Mambas in Shaba but I could probably have ended up in similar tribes elsewhere.

Anjel: Female slaves (kajirae) are either born into slavery or are submitted... A freewoman (FW) is a very precarious character - she must know her place and must keep herself fully covered including face veil in some communities, and must never act submissive in front of a male or she would be collared...Panther (Huntress) - all panthers according to the writings are either runaway slaves or runaway freewomen who ran to keep from being collared. They turned to the forests for hiding and are said to be amongst the best bows in the books which holds true in the SL community.

Araya: I suppose it is all about the person behind the avatar. Some stick with what they know and some stretch themselves. I have seen women play men and do very well at it. Perhaps even better than a man would!

There are a lot of very serious role-players in SL. Can you comment on what makes people choose specific roles? – Asked of men.

Gertjan: If you like fighting you will choose to be a warrior. In my case I don’t like to fight so I choose a more peaceful role as a Tavern master in Tarnburg or as the Ubar of a school. But some are really good actors… they can play any role. But for me as a non-English it’s hard.

How do these women playing vastly different roles relate to each other? - Asked of women.

Alyndaw: Sometimes surprisingly well. There can be a lot of affection there and trust is important even within the “safe” environment of SL. I've met a few people outside of Gor who seem to have been somewhat traumatized by experiences they've had in SL.

Anjel: In the books Panthers despised all freewomen and slaves I suppose because of their past or possibly just the direction John Norman took with the Panther, as for freewomen and kajirae same thing. What happens in the Gor SL community holds pretty true with the books a lot of freewomen and kajirae are at odds with each other basically over men, lol.

Araya: They are all women and Gor is a man's world. A freewoman can quickly be enslaved if she is not careful in her actions. Panther girls are typically run away slaves or freewomen escaping impending slavery or an unwanted companionship.

Why do freewomen have female slaves? – Asked of women.

Alyndaw: I don't, and I think the Panthers, Taluna, and Mamba like me have slaves much less often than those city or townsfolk - you will have to ask the owners why.

Anjel: Mostly for status I would think to show they own something. A freewoman with a kajirae would not have to do much including service her man; if she was in a mood she would get her slave to warm his bed.

Araya: Free women would have slaves to do the cooking, cleaning, sewing and such. They would also help her to dress and look after the children.

Why do men choose to have slaves? Would most rather have freewomen? - Asked of women.

Alyndaw: Whhoo - Again not a question for me really but if I were speculating I'd say it was something to do with needing to be in control and being satisfied by someone else wanting to please them. I don't mix with those people really.

Anjel: Again a lot is a status thing if a warrior has a long chain of slaves he is looked on highly...most men in Gor would rather submit a freewoman, use her and move on. In the ceremony when a freewoman goes into a free companionship with a man she has a certain amount of time to decide whether she wishes to be a freewoman or submit also all her belonging's become his. There is a contract that is signed in Gor.

Araya: Free women were valued on Gor. They were the ones allowed to have a man's baby and have it follow in its father's footsteps. A slave gives birth to a slave. Only a freewoman can give birth to a man's heir. A freewoman too was subject to her Companion's rule and he would discipline her if she got out of line.

If you could have only one, would you prefer a freewoman or a slave? - Asked of men.

Gertjan: Doesn’t really matter... both are fine… A freewoman is a bit easier to play with. To have a slave, you need to keep her busy with chores, etc., a lot more work than a freewoman. Compared to a slave a freewoman can be a bit dull play.

What is your attitude toward Gorean slavery? How do you feel toward the slaves? – Asked of men.

Gertjan: It touches my ego a bit when a woman wants to be my slave. I see it as their "game," but I am glad we don’t have it in RL, although if I look at some Middle Eastern cultures... hmmm. But I would never have one in RL. A woman is equal to me, and I will take care of her as she will take care of me. But if she like to be one, I have no problems with it, but I think it will make me feel a bit guilty... I don’t like it if it’s coming one way... So have to make her happy too.

Why would a woman become a slave? - Asked of men.

Gertjan: Well that was something I was wondering about too. Why does a woman want to be a slave? The freewoman movement has made the woman free...but here I see they want to have a master that controls them. They tell me they need that. They want someone to have control over them. They want to take care of a man in every way they can. I still don’t fully understand that. But I am a man… I doubt if there is a man that really understands woman. (~N.B. – Part of Gertjan’s job is headmaster of a school for slaves.)

Can you comment on relations between men and women in general and whether the Gorean lifestyle is fulfilling or mere fantasy?

Alyndaw: Hmm - there is so much variety - is it really meaningful to generalize? Some men want genuine equality and some hate the idea - fear it even. Gor is very unequal although there is a large contingent of strong women in SL Gor.

Anjel: I myself have managed to stay away from any Gorean relationship although at one time there was an arranged FC between me and a warrior but it did not go well.

Araya: The relations between man and woman vary. A Master and his slave will relate very differently than a free man and his Companion or even a free man and a Panther. A freewoman could not compete easily with a slave for the attentions of a free man for fear of acting as a slave would and landing her in a collar. It is a fine line. Panthers kept to themselves and stayed out of the way of men unless trading, lest they be caught and enslaved by the free man. For me it is very fulfilling. With that said the books ARE fiction and the Gorean lifestyle is NOT possible in real life.

Gertjan: That’s difficult to answer… I am single in RL, so I can’t really answer that question. I am not fully Gor in SL - I do other thing besides that too, and have some normal relations outside Gor as well sometimes. And she doesn’t need to be a slave. I can be perfectly happy with a normal woman too.

Realizing that for some, Gorean life is a reality while for others it's just an RP, what are your own opinions of Gor's mores, ethics, beliefs?

Alyndaw: Not me in real life although I would like some of the more risqué aspects to bleed into my own life. I have a strict moral code which is as non-judgmental as I can be - I believe that we should do nothing which hurts another but otherwise there should be good sense. Gor is nothing like that and there is enough violence and coercion for me to not want it to become real.

Anjel: Though North America is a free country no government on this continent would sanction a Gorean lifestyle. It would be seen as a cult or like nudism - lots do it but it is a private personal thing. I myself would never be part of a "real" Gorean lifestyle.

Araya: Gor's morals, ethics and beliefs are not terribly different than those of our society with one exception. They have honor and value honesty and truth. They value life and nature. The DIFFERENCE, being that men RULE.... They are the natural leaders.

Gertjan: Like I said before, for me it’s a way to learn and improve my English. I enjoy the ways of Gor but not all of them. That’s more my personal character. I don’t like to hit women – that’s not me. I can’t in RL, nor can I do that in Gor. They have to ask for it, to be whipped… even then it’s hard for me to do. In Gor man has honor, but to be honest, not many have honor in SL Gor... too much of a game for most.

What's your typical Gorean day like?

Alyndaw: Wander around a bit, chat a bit; role-play more seriously when I have a good chunk of time online. I would probably do more if I had the time.

Anjel: Most days I look for RP in nearby communities (sims) and wait for calls to aid. When these calls come I am usually the first one on the boat and the first one engaged in battle and yes very often the first one down. I live Gor in SL and spend upwards of 50 plus hours a week in SL Gor on my computer, which isn’t an easy balance when I have a 40 hour a week job.

Araya: Here in SL the typical day would be chores, such as cleaning, and cooking, giving tours, and generally speaking serving the Free. This would include bathing, dancing, or entertaining as well as delivering messages, going to market. Chores might include milking the bosks, making cheese, tending the gardens or stocking the kitchens. Of course, there is also the dancing, paga serving, and serving in the furs (i.e., serving sexually in bed). (~N.B. – When I met Araya, she was in silks. She was quick to point out that this was because of a dance contest she had been in, and that normal slave work attire would be a plain kamisk.)

Gertjan: Well what’s typical in Gor for me... Well, I travel a bit between the city of Tarnburg and the Briarhaven School... As a tavern master I keep an eye on the tavern...making trade to get the best drinks or food...trading furs...a bit of a merchant to. Most of the time it’s a bit of talking and trying to keep the City slaves busy so they don’t get bored. But as Ubar, I just keep an eye on business...make sure that the girls (the teachers) do their work, and help with teaching myself, of course. (However, an Ubar, well normally he takes over the admin of a city when there is trouble like a war...He is capable of doing every job of a high class warrior, scribe, etc.) I rarely travel to other cities, not really interested in that. I am fine where I am and have enough to keep me busy most of the time. And if there is nothing, I will be outside Gor doing my business (I own Sims and a shop, am a builder to). So I am a bit of everything …grins. Well wishes from Gertjan Koenkamp, Ubar of Briarhaven Gardens and Tavernmaster of Tarnburg.

YAY!! MYSTERY SOLVED!!!

2009-08-15T10:41:00.000-05:00

This is truly worth a few blog lines. It has been bothering me for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time...

We all know that commas and periods ALWAYS go inside quotation marks, right? But this is strictly an American convention. The British don't do it this way. They place their commas and periods logically rather than conventionally depending on whether the punctuation belongs to the quotation or the sentence containing it. So why do we Americans have this convention? Are we not able to make logical decisions? Are we simply too lazy to do so?

As with many such differences, the American rule follows an older British standard. Before the advent of mechanical type, the order of quotation marks with periods and commas was not given much consideration. The printing press required that the easily damaged smallest pieces of type for the comma and period be protected behind the more robust quotation marks. The typesetter’s rule was standard in early 19th century Britain, and the U.S. style still adheres to this older tradition both in everyday use and in non-technical formal writing. The grammatical rule was advocated by the extremely influential book The King’s English (1906), by Fowler and Fowler.

* “Carefree,” in general, means “free from care or anxiety.” (American style)
* “Carefree”, in general, means “free from care or anxiety”. (British style)

Today, most areas of publication conform to one of the two standards above.

The American English quote-mark-last rule is often not applied if the presence of the punctuation mark inside the quotation marks will lead to ambiguity, for example when describing keyboard input:

In the File name text field, type “HelloWorldApp.java”, including the quotation marks. [14]
Enter the domain name as “www.wikipedia.org”, the name as “Wikipedia”, and click “OK”.
The domain name starts with “www.wikipedia.”. This is followed by “org” or “com”.

Thank you, Wapedia (http://wapedia.mobi/en/Quotation_mark#2.)

Yummedy Summer Dinner Salads

2009-07-31T20:31:00.000-05:00

Well, you should know I have legitimate excuses for not posting in such a long time, but I'm not making any. Just be thankful I'm (somewhat) back to share with you these delightful summer repasts.

GUDRUN'S SPECIAL BLACK BEAN AND ROAST BEEF SALAD*

1 lb. deli roast beef, thin sliced and done to your liking

Dressing:
3/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
pinch oregano
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
*reserve a little dressing, or make some extra for drizzling

Beans:
2 c. black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
jar of chopped pimiento
minced parsley

Mix the dressing and let flavors blend at room temperature. Add more salt, pepper, and oregano as needed. Add bean mixture and refrigerate overnight.

Roll slices of beef and arrange with beans on a bed of Boston (or similar) lettuce. Garnish with sliced red onion, avocado and roasted red peppers. Serve with fine quality sandwich rolls.

*adjust all ingredient quantities to your needs and taste

STEAK SALAD "NAGY"

Dressing:
1 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. chopped dill pickle
2 1/2 tbsp minced onion
1 1/2 tbsp German/Austrian wine
1 tbsp chopped spinach
1 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp worcestershire
1 raw egg yolk (pasteurized, of course**)

Meat:
1 lb. beef tenderloin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp MSG (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Greens, etc.:
Watercress, curly or Belgian endive, pitted black olives, cantaloupe or avocado.

Cut meat into 1 inch cubes. Shake meat with spice mixture, and quickly brown to the desired degree of doneness. Let cool 1 or 2 minutes. Serve over greens garished with cantaloupe or avocado and olives with dressing on the side.

**Davidson's pasteurized shell eggs are available in most states - http://www.safeeggs.com/

Michele's Favorite Wine Is Groovy...

2009-04-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

…Grüner Veltliner, to be exact, made from a variety of grape widely grown in Austria and the Czech Republic, but almost nowhere else. No longer strictly the province of cork-dorks, Gru-Vee has become increasingly popular. And it's very food friendly, standing up well against Chardonnay, and going especially well with spring cookery - things like asparagus and ham, YAY!!!

Zippy and refreshing, groon-er FELT-leen-er (as it is properly pronounced) is the perfect wine for the coming spring and summer. (Sometimes it's a little sprightly when first opened as the result of a bit of carbon dioxide added during bottling to maintain freshness.)

Grüner means green in German, and the wine is called this not because the grapes are green (which they are), but because in the opinion of many the wine is best drunk young. Indeed, in Austria it is the tradition to drink it as young as possible. Nevertheless, while much of it is intended to be drunk young, some of it is capable of improving with long, long aging.

A Gru-Vee typically has a perfumed nose, with hints of grapefruit or other citrus and, most notably, freshly ground white pepper, its most distinguishing characteristic. The plains of Austria produce a more citrus-y flavor with spicy notes of pepper, while the steep vineyards along the Danube produce pure, minerally wines intended for laying down. Some are vaguely sweet, others as dry as stone. Some Gru-Vees can be (but typically aren't) up to 14 percent alcohol :=)

Of course, we have to get past the 1985 antifreeze scandal - certain Austrian wines imported into the U.S. were found to be (lightly) contaminated with diethylene glycol. (LOL, I guess it was cheaper than sugar.) Fortunately, the aftermath of this scandal produced some of the most stringent wine laws in the world. The bottles topped with red-and-white-striped seals assure us of complete purity.

Many are of the opinion that Gru-Vee has suffered in popularity from the problem German wines have always had, labels littered with long German words that no one understands. Hmmm, let's go looking for a Nigl Kremser Freiheit Kremstal or, better yet, a Weingut Brundimayer Kamptaler Terassen Gruner Veltliner. Fortunately, top producers are busily redesigning their labels with minimal text and maximum visual impact.

Sampling wines from different vineyards side by side can be very interesting. This is especially true for those with some age that have become more expressive of their terroir. The great Austrian Grüner Veltliner vineyards are:

Wachau (fruity crowd pleasers)
Loibenberg
Ried Schütt
Kellerberg
Achleiten
Steinriegl
Hochrain (Wösendorf)
Honivogl

Kremstal
Senftenberger Piri

Kamptal (spicy and challenging)
Käferberg
Ried Lamm
Spiegel
Zöbinger Heiligenstein

On the whole, it tastes like nothing else, and it is easier to drink and better with food than most inexpensive Chardonnays. I usually don't worry too much about food pairings, I simply open a bottle and enjoy, but some thoughts are:

Asparagus
Artichoke
Prosciutto
Green salad vinaigrette
Pad Thai
Fondue
Fish
Shellfish
Rouladen
Fresh Polska kielbasa
Wiener schnitzel

Lucid Dreams

2009-02-25T13:14:00.000-06:00

Well, I decided to try my hand at erotic writing. Many advise against using your real name and true incidents in writing erotica, but somehow those cautions don't seem particularly relevant to Second Life where many of the more rigid social conventions really don't hold sway. However, since this blog has always basically been PG-13, I didn't want to publish here, so I created yet another blog. Initially I linked the new blog from this one, but a wise and knowing friend pointed out that, in spite of the content warning, it could still catch some ppl unawares. This led me to unlink it.

For any of you who are interested in my short erotic tale, it is here:

http://dreamaware.blogspot.com/

As for the blog title, "Lucid Dreams" (or dreams you know you're having)... I personally have never had any problem daydreaming. For those of you who do (that is, those of you who want to daydream more, but don't know how), my blog links a "how-to" site on lucid dreaming. This blog promises that its techniques will allow you to control your dreams and make your dreams what you want when you want. LOL.

It Was A Very Good Year...

2009-02-13T22:04:00.000-06:00

Weather has a huge impact on wine. Severe weather can damage vines, and the temperature and the sun in a given region impact the flavor and character of grapes. Though winemakers may have the technical means to compensate for inferior years, no tweaked wine can surpass a well-made wine from superior raw materials. This is why vintage charts remain important in spite of technology and the improvements in mass-produced wine.

The information in Gudrun's Simplified Vintage Chart is gleaned from a number of sources (for, as I said in my previous post, I can't drink 35 bottles of wine a day). It includes only those vintages that you are still likely to find in the stores you might visit. It also includes vintages from areas not often included in charts (such as Austria where Michele's favorite wine comes from, a wine that is full-bodied and flavorful, not at all resembling the German wines that have simlar names). Unfortunately, I can't find current charts on lesser known North American vintages: those from the Great lakes region - Michigan, Ohio, and the Niagara Falls area - and from the Finger Lakes area, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island in New York.* Wine is now produced in all 50 states, and most ppl don't realize that, prior to 1850, the nation's leading wine-producing state was... Ohio, LOL.

Most vintage charts also provide an indication of when to "hold" a wine vs. when to drink it. Assisted by Mother Nature's effect on the way the grapes happened to grow, I have simplified this decison as well, at least for the time being and until there are new vintages to be considered. In general, for the years in this chart, you should hold your Bordeaux, Burgundies, and Rhones, and drink everything else (though of course you can drink the others too if you want to and have absolutely no self-control).

Incidentally, the blending of young wine with a selection of older reserve wines is the bais of most Champagne making. Only about 10 percent of Champagne is vintage dated, and this typically indicates an exceptional wine. This might be an example that producers in other regions could perhaps follow. A good bottle of Champagne in a specific style can always be had. Also, Champagne tends to keep for a very long time.

*NB ~ Anthony J. Hawkins did a comprehensive chart of North American wine (and the world), but it ended in 2002 and I haven't yet found an up-to-date chart for these regions :=( If anyone has one, please share it with me.

Wine - A Beginning

2009-02-02T22:08:00.000-06:00

Wine Aroma Wheel

Okay, here we go, and this won’t be the end of it. I have been drinking Meukow Cognac watered with Crispin hard apple cider, and, OMG, boy (or boi), is it good!

France has the lowest death rate from heart disease in the industrialized western world, despite the French habits of smoking, eating fatty foods and shunning exercise. Only Japan, with its low-fat diet of fish and rice, has a lower rate. Is this because of wine consumption, or is it merely portion control? Who knows... In any case, I can’t drink 35 bottles of wine a day, which is the equivalent of what the mice drank in the well-known longevity experiment.

One notable observation is that post mortem studies show that dead alcoholics have relatively "clean" arteries. Of course, for this group, the dangers of alcohol abuse greatly outweigh any benefit from alcohol. We’re not gonna go there, LOL. :=P

But wine is a very good thing, something that humans have imbibed for thousands of years. Wine is a mild natural tranquilizer, serving to reduce anxiety and tension. As part of a normal diet, wine provides the body with energy, with substances that aid digestion, and with small amounts of minerals and vitamins. It can also stimulate the appetite. In addition, wine serves to restore nutritional balance, relieve tension, sedate and act as a mild euphoric agent to the convalescent and especially the aged. (Gawd...)

Some wines taste better, but a lot of ppl have trouble describing wine. For your benefit, and as my first installment on wine, I present the following, gleaned from the University of California at Davis Wine Aroma Wheel (and the Ashland Vineyards site). The wheel itself is a little hard to decipher, hence this representation, but with a little practice you will soon be coming up with even more better descriptive terminology than what is offered up here. :=)

General	Specific	More Specific

Fruity	Citrus	Grapefruit
		Lemon

	Berry	Blackberry
		Raspberry
		Strawberry
		Black Currant (Cassis)

	Tree Fruit	Cherry
		Apricot
		Peach
		Apple

	Tropical Fruit	Pineapple
		Melon
		Banana

	Dried Fruit	Strawberry Jam
		Raisin
		Prune
		Fig

	Other	Artificial Fruit
		Methyl Anthranilate


Spicy	Spicy	Licorice/Anise
		Black Pepper
		Cloves

Floral	Floral	Geranium
		Violet
		Rose
		Orange Blossom

Micro-
biological	Yeasty	Leesy
		Baker's Yeast

	Lactic	Yogurt
		Sweaty
		Sauerkraut

	Other	Mousy
		Horsey

Sherry	Oxidized	Oxidized


Pungent	Cool	Menthol

	Hot	Alcohol

Chemical	Pungent	Sulfur Dioxide
		Ethanol
		Acetic Acid
		Ethyl Acetate

	Sulfur	Wet Wool, Wet Dog
		Sulfur Dioxide
		Burnt Match
		Cabbage
		Skunk
		Garlic
		Natural Gas, Mercaptain
		Hydrogen Sulfide
		Rubbery

	Petroleum	Diesel
		Kerosene
		Plastic
		Tar

Earthy	Moldy	Moldy Cork
		Moldy

	Earthy	Mushroom
		Dusty

Woody	Burned	Smoky
		Burnt Toast
		Coffee

	Phenolic	Medicinal
		Phenolic
		Bacon

	Resinous	Oak
		Cedar
		Vanilla


Caramel	Caramel	Honey
		Butterscotch
		Diacetyl (Butter)
		Soy Sauce
		Chocolate
		Molasses

Nutty	Nutty	Walnut
		Hazelnut
		Almond

Herbaceous or
Vegetative	Fresh	Cut Green Grass
		Bell Pepper
		Eucalyptus
		Mint
		Canned/Cooked Green Beans
		Asparagus
		Green Olive
		Black Olive
		Artichoke

	Dried	Hay/Straw
		Tea
		Tobacco

If you would like to purchase your own copy of the Wine Aroma Wheel, please visit the UC-Davis Bookstore to purchase a copy for $5 plus shipping & handling.

Musings on Play in a Parallel Universe

2009-02-01T15:43:00.000-06:00

Immersion in a make-believe world is a means of escaping our responsibilities and concerns, as an antidote to the everyday work and worry of our advanced society.

The propensity to absorb oneself in make-believe originates in childhood, when a simple prop could make one a princess, a movie star, a soldier, a hero or a villain. As adults we immersed ourselves in music, books, storytelling, movies, television, or structured games, and each of these pursuits probably required progressively less imagination. But once upon a time, radio listeners had their imaginations piqued by some fundamental sound effects created by plungers, tom-toms, rain boxes, canvas, silk, tin cans, rubber balloons, pillows, cellophane, and bottles. Then movies and television presented us with complete pictures of stories, at first amateurish, but later technically sophisticated. Now, in the computer age, the “tools” of immersion have become powerful and complex, simultaneously requiring both less and more imagination to create a truly immersive experience.

Computer games have given us the ability not only to imagine, but to participate in an alternate reality and to actually influence it. But some of these alternate realities no longer fit the definition of game. They can’t be won or lost and have no end state. But they are fun and addictive. They are truly virtual worlds in which we can actually live an alternate life.

Early computer gamers indulged their fantasies in text based games while mastering clearly defined environments. But technology advanced, reality caught up with fiction, and people became truly able to “jack in” to a virtual world in a sensual and even affective way. An electronic image can give you an actual presence in a virtual reality that is not truly physical, but is certainly relational and definitely emotional.

Classification schema of game-players abound: One set of classifications might be the achiever, the explorer, the socializer, or the killer. Another might be the role-player, the storyteller, the power-gamer, or the war-gamer. All immerse themselves, but to different degrees and in different ways. How does this relate to Second Life, a “game” in which others as well as one’s own self have a presence?

One type of Second Life “resident” uses SL mainly for extension of his or her real life or RL. These individuals cannot or do not want to differentiate SL from RL - they want to extend their RL into SL. This player mixes SL and RL freely, meeting fellow players for lunch in the real world, possibly engaging in business transactions with them, or dating. There is not much imagination at work or role-playing going on. This can become serious business vs. simple fun and enjoyment.

The extensionist has no real “second life.” This can make her just a little threatening to the virtual worlds of others, because she tends to bring RL needs and arguments to it, and tries to enforce RL customs and rules, sometimes diminishing the freedom of others and inhibiting herself as she does so.

A second type of resident is the immersive role-player. For this person, SL and RL are separate – different lives with different rules. This is the basic intention of role-playing games, but it is antithetical to the extensionist idea of what a virtual world could or should be. This can be dangerous to the role-player’s very virtual existence. The extensionist does not always understand or accept the kind of separation the real role-player requires, and, if the role-player’s persona is not sufficiently outrageous and unbelievable, can label it deception and fraud.

To deal with these realities, the role-player may hybridize. The hybrid player may seem to be an extensionist, but actually is not. This player has a pseudo-life that may closely resemble that player’s real life, differing only in some minor or perhaps some pivotal way. There is no desire or willingness to merge SL with RL. But there is danger here as well, and that is that there is always the possibility of emotional damage to other players whose own imaginations rely upon the truth of the way others represent themselves.

This brings us to Gudrun’s non-mutually exclusive Second Life Paradigm of Existence in a Virtual World:

Parenthetic markings are intended to differentiate players of differing motivation. All of this, of course, is intended to be confusing. :=P

La raison for participation in SL is some element of personal fulfillment in one or more of these categories. This grows out of the simple desire for an enjoyable experience and the individual pursuit of goals and desires while opposing external interference.

At no time in real life does one person reveal the totality of their personality to another. This is not deception: each one of us knows that there is much going on within us that is not being revealed. One can only express their true desires and feelings to the extent they are compatible with what others are willing to accept. Otherwise, discourse becomes discord, isolation, or worse.

In any life, most of us do not always tell people what we really think of them. Conversely, we may not want to hear from them what they really think of us. We might guess at their true feelings, but really do not care about them except to the extent they affect our relationships. Most everyone participates in this kind of politeness and deference.

In living our second lives, we must keep a firm grip on the fact that the social self that others present to us is not the whole of their personality. As in real life, we mature, and the reactions of others as we present ourselves to them affects our feelings toward ourselves and our self conception. Of course, we also dynamically mold an image of ourselves for others. In our interactions we "take the role of the other" to evaluate the way we come across in any given situation, and we adjust our behaviors (and perhaps more importantly, the amount of information we divulge about ourselves) accordingly. And we must keep in mind players’ differing reasons for participating in a virtual world.

Much of the fun of a virtual world is the illusion. When all illusion is worn away, are you left with something that feels almost like a job? It’s probably a bad thing when playing a game makes the player feel annoyed and obligated. Is that what we’re here for, LOL?

Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T21:38:00.000-06:00

“Soon after George W. Bush came to office, eight years ago, he told a confidant that ‘There's no Nobel Peace Prize to be had’ in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. He turned his attention instead to places farther east in the Middle East, with mostly horrific results. But, as Obama told his listeners at AIPAC last June, there remains the Talmudic imperative of tikkan olam, ‘the obligation to repair the world.’ In four years, or eight, he may well have won no Nobel medal, made no final repair. But the obligation of constant engagement is deep; the cost of negligence is paid in blood. And, what is more, history has proved that the seemingly impossible can be achieved: the Irish and the English have all but resolved a conflict that began in the days of Oliver Cromwell, and on January 20th an African American President will cross the color line and move into the White House, a house that slaves helped build.”

David Remnick, in the New Yorker

OMG - It's Shrimp Arnaud!!!!!

2008-12-18T00:06:00.000-06:00

A yummedy holiday recipe (and I will spare you any shrimp jokes...)

Hey, you can buy Arnaud's remoulade sauce from Arnaud's restaurant in New Orleans, and I'm sure it would be delish, but I came by my receipt fair and square from the Antoinette Pope School Cookbook (Chicago), my favorite source of recipes new and old (but mostly old)...

Serves 4-6

1 lb cleaned, cooked shrimp, the bigger, the better (2 lbs uncooked shrimp will yield 1 lb cooked)

Arnaud sauce:
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
1/4 cup strong mustard
1 tsp salt
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh green onions (w/tops)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 clove chopped/pressed garlic
Lemon juice/vinegar as needed

Put 1/3 of the sauce on the shrimp (or all of it) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours...

Garnish with parsley, and serve with crackers...

To my taste, serve with lemon wedges and squirt as needed...

:=P

Prepare to fire the retro rockets...

2008-12-09T22:19:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure that NONE of you out there eats enough cabbage. And - don't let my Second Life moniker fool you - neither do I (except on St. Patty's Day, LOL).

Though cabbage is available throughout the year, it's at its best during the late fall and early winter months. Cabbage belongs to the Cruciferae family of vegetables along with kale, broccoli, collards and Brussels sprouts. That means it's GOOD for you...

One cup of cabbage provides you with 90 percent of your daily requirement of Vitamin K (?, LOL), 50 percent of your vitamin C, and 15 percent of your dietary fiber.

The phytonutrients in cruciferous vegetables...

1) work as antioxidants,

2) signal our genes to increase production of the enzymes involved in detoxification,

3) lower our risk of cancer (including lung, colon, breast, ovarian, and possibly bladder) more effectively than any other vegetables or fruits, and

4) generally promote gastrointestinal health :=P.

Red kraut? Blue kraut? Yikes!!!! Red cabbage has leaves that are a dark red purple. However, this color varies depending on the acidity of the soil in which the the cabbage is grown. For this reason the same plant sports different colors in different regions (acid=red, alkali=green), and on cooking, red cabbage will turn blue! Vinegar, wine or fruit is needed to keep it a pretty ruby color. (Hehee - Has anyone tried red, white, and blue cabbage on the Fourth of July? Or maybe have it for the upcoming Inauguration Day?)

The holidays are of course, the perfect time to increase your cabbage intake. What goes better with that crown roast of pork, or your turkey or goose, than a sweet red cabbage concoction with golden accents. And a ubiquitous holiday side dish is Brussels sprouts - perhaps with some nutty overtures added to make it special.

Glazed Red Cabbage with Golden Raisins

2 tbsp butter
1 Clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 lbs red cabbage, shredded
1 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Caraway seeds
1 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup red wine
1/3 cup Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot or skillet over medium heat and sauté the garlic.

Add the cabbage, then stir in the honey. (You could put the raisins in now, but I would keep them out to maintain their color.) Cook for an additional minute. Pour in the wine and water, add the seeds, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for at least 15 minutes, probably longer, until the cabbage is somewhat wilted (to taste). Add raisins toward the end to plump them.

Season. Serve hot.

Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts

2 1/4 cups peeled roasted chestnuts (or 12 oz canned whole chestnuts, or cooked, peeled, vacuum-packed ones)
1 1/2 lbs Brussels Sprouts, trimmed
3 tbsp Butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400°F
Using the point of a sharp knife, make a small cut on the flat side of each chestnut
Bake chestnuts in their skins for 20 minutes
Trim the stems of the sprouts and deeply score with a cross
Allow chestnuts to cool slightly, then peel removing both the outer and inner shells
Place the Brussels sprouts in boiling water in a large saucepan and cook until just tender (5-10 minutes, or longer if preferred)
Drain well

Return to the saucepan, with the chestnuts and butter. Over a high heat, toss until the butter is melted. Season to taste, and serve immediately.

X--> Alternatively, instead of butter, you can sauté 6 slices of bacon, chopped, in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels and drain. Heat bacon drippings in skillet over medium-high heat. Add lightly cooked Brussels sprouts and chestnuts and sauté until Brussels sprouts begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and cook until brussels sprouts are tender and most of liquid is absorbed but mixture is still moist, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in bacon. Season to taste and serve.

*Hey, use your imagination, and if your cooking doesn't turn out, don't blame me. (Thanks to Rod Blagojevich's erratic and quid pro quo funding, my not-for-profit test kitchens just aren't what they should be. :=P)

Dipsomania

2008-11-25T20:45:00.000-06:00

Holiday Colors Layered Crab Dip

This is really good and really fast. (As with all my recipes, adjust it to your taste and needs...)

A lot of people disdain canned crabmeat. I think it can be delicious. In any case, canned crabmeat is better than no crab in your crab dip, or, worse yet, pollock.

You can get lump crabmeat in a can (chunks picked from the body or backfin). On a budget, however, you might want to settle for flake or regular crab, small pieces from all parts of the crab. You may find blue crab from the East Coast of the United States, but more likely it will be from Southeast Asia. Trader Joe's crabmeat is supposed to be good. A lot of people like Phillips crabmeat, which comes in plastic tubs, but it's from Vietnam, and the meat is less rich and not as sweet as blue crab meat from the mid-Atlantic states.

Soaking the meat in ice water for 10 minutes, then draining it and patting it dry will take out a lot of the "canned" taste. I have also heard of using milk water or lime water, depending on what you're gonna do with the crab. Never forget to pick over the pieces to remove all bits of shell or cartilage that got into the can along with the meat.

Ingredients:

3 8 oz. tubs of soft (spreadable) cream cheese (use Kraft)
1/4 cup grated onion
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 12 oz. bottle Bennett's chili sauce
2 8 oz. cans crab meat
4 Tbsp. fresh parsley (or just use sprigs)

Instructions:

Mix cheese, onion, Worcestershire and lemon juice together. Spread in (maybe 3) shallow highly decorative serving dishes. Spread chili sauce over top. Spread crab over chili sauce. (This is why you might want nice crab. If you mix it up, who cares.) Sprinkle with parsley. (DO NOT PUT ON THE CHILI SAUCE AND CRAB UNTIL YOU ARE ALMOST READY TO SERVE IT.)

Holy Cannoli!!!

2008-11-08T23:59:00.000-06:00

There's a popular Italian dessert called cannoli that was invented in Sicily in about 1 A.D. I never really liked cannoli, and I just figured out why... The reason I never liked them probably is that I usually get the supermarket kind (or something similar). There are several special things about making cannoli that everyone who wants to savor the real thing should know. These special things make them more expensive and more trouble, but good.

Many places use mass produced shells that are dense and hard in order to increase the shelf life of the filled product. The shell should be as thin and light as possible, and it should only be filled when you are ready to serve it. Also, wine is an essential ingredient in the shell as it produces little bubbles that make it airy.

For more flavor you need a blend of sheep's milk and cow's milk ricotta. You can do a 70/30 blend - you decide which is 70 and which is 30, LOL.

Sometimes cannoli does not have candied citrus in the filling. The making of the filling becomes more time-consuming with the candied citrus, but you must have it for the authentic product.

Chocolate - only use tiny dark bitter chips and not too many. You want to complement the orange peel, not overpower it.

Garnish with chopped Iranian or Sicilian unsalted pistachios (NOT colored peanuts!!!!).

It is said that you will never find two cannoli recipes that are exactly the same, and many swear that the taste and the experience of eating a well made cannoli can never ever be forgotten. Well, here is one of the many recipes, but a classic version nevertheless.

Shells (12 shells)

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 small egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon white wine
shortening, for frying

Filling (serves 8-10 - you is prolly gonna lose some shells)

1 pound fresh italian ricotta cheese (70/30 mix)
3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 or more teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely chopped glazed cherries
1 tablespoon chopped citron or candied orange peel
2 tablespoons semi-sweet mini cocolate chips
Chopped pecans or walnuts, or, preferably unslated Iranian or Sicilian pistachios
heavy whipping cream for proper consistency (2 tablespoons)

Directions

To make shells, mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.

Cut in butter.

Add enough egg liquid to from a medium dough, not too firm and not too soft.

Knead for a few seconds and cover dough with a warm bowl. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 uniform pieces, and roll into 5.5 inch rounds.

Place loosely on lightly greased cannoli forms overlaping the end and pressing to seal, flaring out the edges slightly. Let stand a few minutes.

Fry one or two at a time in hot melted shortening (about 360°F) for approximately 1 minute, turning to brown all sides (or deep fry).

Remove from hot grease and drain on paper towels, seam side down.

Let cool a minute or two before trying to remove metal tube.

To remove the tube hold cannoli shell down on the paper towel and carefully slide the tube out one end.

Leave cannoli shells on paper towel, seam side down, to cool completely. (Shells can be made and stored between paper towels in an airtight container several days prior to filling.)

Combine 70/30 mix of ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

Add only enough cream for the proper consistency.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Shortly before serving, add cherries, citron, nuts, and chocolate chips into the ricotta mixture, being careful not to over mix. Pipe into shells.

Garnish with additional confectioners' sugar, candied fruit, nuts, shaved chocolate, and/or whipped cream.

Keep refrigerated until time, but not too long.

AARRRRRGH!!!!!

2008-11-02T12:47:00.000-06:00

OpenSpace Sim Prices SHOULD NOT Be Going Up! VOTE To Stop This ridiculous increase! (JIRA MISC-1776)

Effective 1st January 2009
Monthly maintenance USD$75->USD$125
Upfront fee USD$250->USD$375

"We will no longer offer an educational or non-profit discount for new Openspaces. As mentioned earlier, this is due to the increased back end resource required for us to support Openspaces in the way that they are now being used. For the small number of Educators that already have Openspaces, we will be contacting you directly to discuss this change."

Educators? What about those who are students of virtual world and what those worlds can become? These are the people who have created Second Life as we know it.

Academic pricing is ubiquitous in the real world. Anyone creating something of value and not-for-profit should be offered the possibility of doing so at reduced cost, even if it requires some proposal or certification process. One shouldn't have to be affiliated with an insitution: how many true artists are?

There is a clear rationale for the educational discount: the people getting the discount (often as high as 50 percent) are using the product for teaching and learning. So the seller is both supporting education (the development of human capital) and is also promoting their product, in this case a successful SL, full of user-developed fun and entertainment. These discounts feed into a much bigger package - these developers (whether technicians or artists or both) produce great resources for the casual user, student, or trainee professional, and this encompasses wide and inspired educational goals.

There are those who might say the new price is not excessive. The fact is, it's a huge price differential, and will destroy much of what is good about Second Life.

So log in and vote or you may be saying goodbye to you favorite SL attraction, and to many you haven't even seen yet.

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1776

A Chocolate Confection for Gudrun...

2008-10-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

Theobroma cacao: food of the gods...

Montezuma drank it before visiting his harem...

Casanova preferred its seductive powers to those of champagne...

Several recent studies showed that between 40 and 70 percent of women prefer eating chocolate to having sex... (?????! I thought you could do both! And I know they go good together!!!!)

Chocolate contains several soothing :=) substances: phenylethylamine which occurs naturally in the brain and reaches peak levels during orgasm; tryptophan, cuz it makes serotonin, causing sleepiness (the reason you fall asleep after Thanksgiving dinner), but which also can produce feelings of elation; and finally anandamide which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain (and which means "internal bliss"). So it may cause feelings of love, passion or lust; rapid mood change; a rise in blood pressure; increased heart rate; and feelings of well being. But is it an aphrodisiac? Naaahhhhh!

Gudrun's "Almost Better than Sex" Cake (no credit for Robert Redford)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 3.5oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 8oz carton sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 4oz pkg German's chocolate (grated)
1 6oz pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients thru water and mix well.
Stir in choclates and nuts and mix again.
Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan.
Spoon in batter.
Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool 25 mins.
Remove from pan.

Berries and chocolate, yum…

2008-09-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

Michele Norsk is a visionary - that's the only way to put it. Michele came up with purple, chocolate, and glasses long before anyone else did. But what else is out there on the fall wardrobe scene? Michele says berry colors in dresses and skirts and high vamp shoes, add big blousy romantic tops, with lots of lace and frills and big sleeves, big slouch bags, and anything satin!

I certainly agree with that, but I'm thinking... grey, the anti-black, and black and white as well. I'm also thinking purses of all kinds... Something to add that touch of color.

The history of bags and purses is the history of an item that has increased in beauty and meaning over the centuries, that is used by individuals to carry their valuable possessions and keep them at hand for ready use. What a person possesses is important, and what that person possesses must be used to advantage. You gotta get everything you need into your purse. The content, and the vessel that contains it, of course, can vary considerably by individual and situation.

Were purses originally used to carry money? Prolly not. In what, for example, did Jack carry his beans? Purses and handbags have their origins in the early pouches used to carry seeds, religious objects, and medicine. Not money, but treasures, nevertheless, with value and meaning.

Eventually people began to mint coins, and what could be more convenient to carry money than a bag fastened to your belt by pins or cords. These bags were carried by both men and women, and the purse was used in various forms all over the world. During the Middle Ages, purses were hung down on cords attached to the belt (sometimes in somewhat private locations :-P). On the other hand, the purse was often impressive and exquisite, embroidered and decorated with jewels, its decoration dependent on the status of owner and intended to display that status for all to see.

When paper and leather money later appeared, it was carried in hats, boots, and pinned to clothing (in the early 20th century, with the help of a safety pin). For men, this eventually gave way to the use of the wallet, a small bagge, or purse, dating to the 16th century. And all that loose change found a place in the pocket, the introduction of which also dates to the 16th century.

In the 15th century, an elaborate love-purse was a wedding gift from a groom to his bride. But by the late 18th century, women’s clothing was more form fitting and pockets for girls were not an easy addition. Women began carrying small, embroidered drawstring bags or purses, often silk, called reticules. The Victorian period brought a large variety of bags. Bags often coordinated with an outfit and were made of many different fabrics. By the mid 1800’s, bags changed from simple drawstring styles, to a flat style, that could be made in either a circular or square shape and was often heavily decorated with beading and needlework.

Vogue saw the possibilities for coloring up with a handbag way back in 1919 (see the piccie above - but they lacked color presses :P).

At the present stage of purse history, the term "purse" is primarily associated with a female accessory. Men's wallets have not evolved in exactly the same way. Modern purses are largely, but not exclusively, the domain of ladies.

The traditional shades of color for purses have ranged from black to brown, and shades of white, winter grey, cognac, and sand to claret. Now almost any color can be had to complement any ensemble. But always of great importance is the quality of the materials used for the container itself. These materials reflect enormously, just as much as any other single aspect of the wardrobe, upon the carrier of the container and its contents. Apart from that, the handbag must carry all that is needed. Years ago, it was ladylike to carry as little as possible, and a small bag was typical. Today women are gone from home for longer periods of time, frequently working or if not, often with children along . The size of the typical bag has increased to meet the need.

How many handbags does one woman need? A handbag has fewer calories than chocolate and is a heck of a lot cheaper than therapy! Today, along with its obvious utilitarian functions, as Vogue pointed out so long ago in 1919, "A bag is just one more excuse for 'smartness.'"

Well, I will throw one of my own in here, cuz if I'm not "smart," no one is. btw, one of the best places I've found for bags, many styles, many colors, with a nice hang is BAIASTICE, New Fashion Main Store (152, 126, 25). And for a really nice leather travel case (not to mention shoes), try Lassitude & Ennui, Nouveau.

He stuck in his thumb, and pulled out a plum...

2008-08-18T01:12:00.000-05:00

...and said, "What a good boy am I!" (LOL)

Bottom Crust Fresh Fruit Pie (adapted from Martha Stewart Living Bottom Crust Plum Pie) - Makes 1 nine-inch pie - Martha's recipe uses only plums, prolly cuz she's Polish; I use what I've got.

Ingredients

- 1/3 cup flour
- One pie crust - If you're smart, you'll just buy it at the supermarket.

If you're really good, you'll make it from scratch.
- about 5 not-too-ripe plums, washed, pitted and quartered (freestone is always best)
- about 5 apricots, washed, pitted and quartered
- handful of blueberries to fill it out
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling (and you can use more, cuz there's no such thing as too sweet a pie)
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
- Creme fraiche, for serving (or you can skip the exotic tartness and just use whipped cream)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Transfer to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. (Some ppl like to "seal" a crust - I'll let you figure out how to do that.)

In a large bowl, combine plums, apricots, blueberries, sugar, flour, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Toss to combine. Mound fruit in the lined pie plate. Dot with butter, and fold the pastry up over the fruit. Transfer to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the pastry with granulated sugar. Bake until the fruit is tender, the juices in the center of the pie are bubbling, and the pastry is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool slightly before dusting with confectioners' sugar for serving.

The Wall V-2, Final Days

2008-08-14T00:52:00.000-05:00

PeaceFest 08 is a three day Second Life benefit event for worldwide peace running from the 15th Aug to the 17th. Covering ten sims, this festival will feature over 80 events, including live music, theatre and dance performances, art exhibitions, panel discussions and a rally at the SL Central Park.

All proceeds from PeaceFest 08 will go benefit several charities including Amnesty International, UNICEF, Kids4Peace, Uthango Social Investments, and others.

The NMC Campus, Peace Train (the group sponsoring PeaceFest 08) and the Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) are delighted to announce that 'The Wall V-2' will be performed in Second Life as part of this great festival at 2pm SLT on the 15th August and 17th August 2008.

Access to the venue is via. the following SLURL:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Campus%20West/127/47/612/

A Shrub Is Not a Bush...

2008-08-09T23:20:00.000-05:00

Nor is it furry... (oops). A shrub is an ancient drink, as old as spirits themselves. It's most often made with brandy or rum. It's truly a drink for all seasons. It can be cooling in the summer, or it can make a wicked hot toddy in the winter. It uses up fruit that has seen better days, and the fruit itself can enhance desserts such as cake and ice cream :P.

Orange Shrub

Benjamin Franklin's favorite libation was an orange shrub (a documented fact). However, from what I've seen of it, this recipe is MUCH better than HIS was.

6 oranges
8 oz cold water
2 lbs sugar
8 oz FRESH orange juice
2 fifths of rum (I would use cheap Virgin Islands rum, Cruzan or Ron Rico - use Ron Rico, I own stock in the company...)

Wash the oranges, peel off their rinds, and place the rinds in a gallon jar. Add the juice and 8 oz cold water. Close the jar and let stand for 3 days, stirring occasionally.

Strain into a pot, add 2 lbs of sugar, and bring to a boil. Let cool, add an additional 8 oz of FRESH orange juice, and strain again. Add the rum, jug it, and wait a week or two :)

Raspberry Shrub (adapted from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas)

1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brandy
1 tsp lemon juice

Crush the raspberries and strain the juice. Add sugar, brandy, and lemon juice, and stir. Bottle and let sit for a week or more.

Lemon Shrub (adapted from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog - good for what ails you, esp. in the winter time)

Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups rum

Combine all ingredients, stir well, bottle, and set aside in a cool place. It will be ready to drink after about a week.

To serve, mix 2-3 parts boiling water to 1 part shrub.

Gudrun's Special Shrub

Any apropos rotting fruit that's around (i.e., good in a drink, and not too rotten). My last shrub contained strawberries, peaches, and some dried Cherokee blackberries that were too seedy to eat in their raisin-dried form.

1 cup fruit
1 cup sugar
1 fifth VI rum (Ron Rico is fine)

Put it in a Mason jar with as much of the rum as you can. Put it in the fridge for 2 weeks. You can replenish the rum as you drink it. Eat the fruit, even tho it discolors a little. It's good for you.

Ars sine Scienta Nihil Est

2008-08-06T03:10:00.000-05:00

The Second Life production of "The Wall," approaching the end of its run, has been running for many weeks now, and has entertained a huge number of people. The performance schedule for this fine spectacle and its contributors’ contributions have been chronicled before in this blog. Therefore, this particular post has a special focus on some good friends, the production’s Creative Director, Ms. Debbie Trilling, and the superbly talented creator of its animated puppets, Mr. Duggy Bing.

Like so many of us, Debbie first heard of Second Life in the mainstream media as it grew in popularity and became an object of interest more or less universally. Like many “residents,” she came from an IT-related RL background and like many she avoided any scripting, regarding it as too much like RL work. Though Debbie still considers SL a relaxation and an escape from her first life, she gradually found that her scripting talents complemented her newly found leisure preoccupation. In Debbie’s own words:

“Second Life offers an opportunity to create almost anything that one can wish for or can conceive of. Although I cannot create anything of note using a pencil and paper or paintbrush and canvas, I appear to have a knack of picking up any new piece of software and taking it to a high level of competency within a short period of time. As such, although I cannot draw or paint, I can do some quite cool things using a high specification PC, mouse, tablet and pen, software and then meld it all together using a programming language. I consider myself as a ‘Technical Artist’, rather than a ‘Natural Artist’. My art is made of algorithms and pixels, rather than oils and parchment. Second Life came natural to me. It was the ‘game’ I had always been looking for; I just didn’t know I had been looking for it until I found it.”

In the course of exploring SL and discovering this new artistic outlet, Debbie met another longtime friend of mine, Duggy Bing, who needed some help scripting the cartoon creatures that became his now well-known and successful line of “Cartoonimals.”

Duggy’s SL story is slightly more succinct:

Duggy Bing: ”Hi Gudrun!”
Gudrun Gausman: “How is you?”
Duggy Bing: “Am good how ‘bout you?”
Gudrun Gausman: “k”
Gudrun Gausman: “Can you give a little backstory on your Cartoonimals? Doesn't have to be much...”
Duggy Bing: “Well, I started building animals for fun, to decorate my waterfall”
Gudrun Gausman: “LOL”
Duggy Bing: “ppl liked them and passersby offered to buy, so I started the skyshop over my house. Soon the shop got bigger, had to tear house and waterfall down for prims. Then simowner quit so had to move...bought my own sim. And that’s my story. The end."
Gudrun Gausman: a man of few words :P Sheesh!

(btw, Duggy’s Cartoonimals store was featured in SL Showcase: cute, whimsical scripted animated cartoon animals; pajamas, animal slippers, unique hats, baby carriers, monkeys, cats, zebras, turtles frogs, dogs, skunks, fish, kangaroos, elephants, dinos, lions, and marine animals.)

During this period, Debbie also created the collection of particle sculptures she calls her “Particle Garden,” and open- sourced the script for her extremely popular (and she says notorious) “Random AV Profile Projector.” (One of Debbie’s earlier efforts, the “Random Lover,” is quite a bit more notorious and has gotten me, personally, in quite a bit of trouble, albeit because of lapses in my generally reliably good judgement.)

In the end, though, it was her Particle Garden that caught the attention of Velazquez Bonetto and won her an invitation to join the Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP), a collaboration of artists working in Second Life to experiment and share ideas and techniques to create New Art. And it was with Velazquez Bonetto and in the framework of this group, that this production of “The Wall” came into being.

Creating a spectacle in the spirit of, but not identical to the original, involves many challenges, some relating to the production itself, some merely technical.

“Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' has a number of iconic images, notably the giant puppets, the Crossed Hammers and the wall itself. All these are included in our production. However, we did not want to simply produce a copycat of the original but instead create a unique artistic vision and interpretation. Our production of 'The Wall' therefore adds other components that were not in the original version. We also re-mixed the soundtrack in a number ways - some subtle, others obvious. A dedicated Floyd fan will find much that they recognize in our production but will also see and hear entirely new components and concepts. Hopefully there is nothing that we have added that they might object to; we were very conscious of keeping to the spirit and essence of the original.

“The biggest technical challenge is without doubt getting the seven Controllers to remain in synchronization with the soundtrack being streamed into SL. This caused the biggest heartaches and headaches during the early days, especially when we were still performing on a Class 4 mainland sim.”

[NB ~ the team is most grateful to the NMC Campus for later providing them free with a Class 5 full sim on which to stage ‘The Wall, and also to Haven Colville of ‘Havens Paradise’ for the free use of a four-sim amphitheatre.]

“However, we have since learnt a number of tricks and techniques and can now pretty much guarantee that on a normal day within SL that synchronization will be within half-a-second to two seconds over a 45 minute period. This is an acceptable level of tolerance. When SL is having a bad day, however, there is little or nothing that we can do to restore synchronization once it has been lost. Some things you just can not control, either in RL or SL, and when this happens, although disappointing, we just have to live with it. Fortunately, such instances are rare.

“[Though] there were no real organizational problems or challenges to speak of. Once it was agreed that CARP would stage ‘The Wall’ as a major production, and that I would act as Creative Director and Velazquez as Producer, it was a matter of allocating particular segments or elements of the show to one of the core members, and refining that work to fit into the show. For the most part a spirit of co-operation existed. However, that is not to say that a certain amount of professional and artistic conflict did not arise during the creation process – it most definitely did. For example, there were calls from a number of quarters that we should reduce the size of the wall, saying that is was too big and dwarfed the dancers. I resisted this suggestion vigorously, arguing that not only is there a symbolic message behind a massive wall and a tiny human being in front of it, but the visual impact of the show would be diluted with a smaller sized wall. Both sides of the argument presented their case in a forthright manner. In any event, over time, the wall has increased from 50m x 20m to 60m x 20m to its present size of 70m x 30m. And if we were to re-build the production again, I’d want to make the wall even bigger ~ perhaps 90m or 100m x 45m.

“As Creative Director I was granted final veto over other artists’ ideas and contributions. This could be a psychological strain sometimes. Emotionally it has been a challenge because we are all experienced artists in our own right, often passionate and sometimes opinionated ~ myself probably the worst! Emotions can run high about an idea or contribution, and often have. Fortunately we have Josina [Burgess] who compliments her delicious design and colour-sense with skilled negotiation and diplomatic skills. In every instance where creative conflict has occurred, once a final decision has been made, the team have wholeheartedly supported it.”

DEBBIE’S PET PEEVE: Facelights!

“Facelights ruin artists’ work! Because of the way SL lighting works, one person in the audience wearing a facelight can possibly ruin the show for every other member of the audience. We have spent many hours over several months perfecting the lighting systems on ‘The Wall’. Most of our promotion politely asks that patrons refrain from wearing facelights at the venue. We have ushers who politely ask wearers to remove their facelights. We give shout-outs before the show asking that people detach their facelights; we even send them polite IM’s. But still a small hardcore refuses to remove them. The problem is essentially technical. SL (or more specifically OpenGL) only allows the rendering of eight lighting sources, In SL, two of these sources are allocated to the sun and moon. Therefore, in practice, only six lights sources are available. Moreover, a client can only render the nearest six sources. So, if you happen to be seated near to someone wearing a six-source facelight, you will be unable to see any of the lighting effects that we have carefully crafted into ‘The Wall’; if they are wearing a four-source facelight then you’ll only be able to see two of ‘The Wall’ lights and so on. Watching the ‘The Wall’ in a facelight-free zone is a completely different experience to watching whilst wearing or seated near to someone wearing a facelight. In the facelight-free zone it is a panoramic festival of colour; with facelights nearby, it is gray.”

Trust me, seeing someone in the audience wearing a facelight is enough to bring Debbie to tears. You might as well trot a horse through her living room.

"The Wall, V-2" has run through July. There will be two final performances at the Second Life PeaceFest 08 festival - 2pm SLT on Friday 15th & Sunday 17th August 2008... Then it will be over.... Proceeds go to a variety of charities.

Please check Debbie’s profile for links to her “Particle Garden,” Exploratorium project, “Gravity’s Rainbow," and other projects, and Duggy’s for the Cartoonimals store.

A Yummedy Summer BBQ'd Appetizer

2008-07-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

TRADITIONAL RUMAKI
(Bacon, Chicken Liver, and Water Chestnut Kebabs)

Adapted from: BBQ USA by Steven Raichlen

1 lb. chicken livers (about 16 livers)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cream sherry
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 - 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 slices peeled fresh ginger, crushed
2 whole star anise
8 drained peeled canned water chestnuts, cut in half lengthwise
8 slices bacon, cut in half crosswise
About 16 small (6-inch) bamboo skewers

Clean the chicken livers. Combine the soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and star anise in a bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Add the chicken livers and let them marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 1 hour.

Remove the chicken livers from the marinade and blot them dry with paper towels. Set the marinade aside. Wrap each chicken liver, along with a water chestnut half, in a piece of bacon, securing it with a skewer.

Strain the marinade into a saucepan over high heat, let it come to a boil, and boil until thick and syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes.

(The BBQ USA recipe deals with heat zones, etc. OMG, like I'm going to set up heat zones. I have two zones, hot and not.)

Grill the rumaki until the bacon is crisp and the livers are cooked (pink in the center), 2 to 4 minutes per side, basting them with the boiled marinade. To test for doneness, squeeze a rumaki between your thumb and forefinger; it should be gently yielding, not soft and squishy. Or, cut into a rumaki with a paring knife. Only the center should be pink. Be ready to move the rumaki should the dripping bacon fat cause flare-ups.

GUDRUN'S SECRET RUMAKI:
(Bacon, Shrimp, and Water Chestnut Kebabs)

Use shrimp instead of chicken livers, and use chili sauce in a bottle (such as Tiger Sauce) instead of that complicated recipe (no marination needed). But the complicated recipe is REALLY, REALLY good.

If you don't have chili sauce, try apricot preserves and hot Chinese mustard (you may have some left over from take-out). :P

The Wall in Second Life, Version Two

2008-07-06T01:01:00.000-05:00

The Cybernetic Art Research Project proudly presents...

** THE WALL V-2 **

On July 21 1990, nine months after the dismantlement of the Berlin Wall, Roger Waters and an all-star cast performed "The Wall" at the Potzdamer Platz in Berlin. The performance was watched by a live audience of 250,000 and an estimated half-billion people on television…

And now, an international team of artists working with the Cybernetic Art Research Project (CARP) bring a unique vision and live performance of "The Wall" to Second Life ™...

The original CARP version of "The Wall" was performed in SL fourteen times, to 1260 attendees. Each performance filling sims and to rave reviews.

And now, the NMC Campus are delighted to bring you "THE WALL V-2"!

The CARP Team have updated and re-scripted near every element of the show, as well as adding entirely new effects and surprises. "The WALL V-2" is now even bigger, more colourful and more visually stunning than ever before!

"The Wall V-2" will be performed at twice-weekly at NMC Campus West:

EVERY FRIDAY 2pm SLT

EVERY SUNDAY 2pm SLT

Access to the venue is via. the following SLURL:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Campus%20West/127/47/612/

The CARP Wall Team:

Creative Director: Debbie Trilling (UK)
Producer: Velazquez Bonetto (Germany)
Wall Design: Elfod Nemeth (UK)
Animated Puppets: Duggy Bing (US)
Animations: Caravaggio Bonetto (Austria)
Original Music: Junivers Stockholm (Sweden) & Josina Burgess (Holland)
Stills Photography: Adec Alexandria (UK)
Dancing & Joyfulness: Klute Copploa (France), Southern Riptide (US)

with valuable contributions from:

Scio Kamanchi (US)
Gypsy Paz (US)
Lyddyn Tzara (US)
Celeste Moonlight (US)
DJ Jenns (UK)
George W Bush (US)

and, of course, Pink Floyd's incredible album 'The Wall'

Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha

2008-06-28T16:57:00.000-05:00

There must be Elves

Well, I've decided that elves in Second Life are even more diverse than humans. I did a little Elf research, and thought I knew something, but as is so often the case, further investigation proved I knew nothing. At least part of this is because there have been so many different interpretations of elf-ness in various and sundry virtual realities, of which SL is only one.

There are some things I can say for sure: Elves live in an imaginary world along with fairies, witches, dragons and pixies. They often live in the deep green woods. They love to dance and make music. They often but not always wear long, pointed ears. They have created fantastic kingdoms in which to role-play. Their lands are peaceful retreats from the rest of the metaverse, and, according to tel'Mithrim, all elves follow the Way - "No Elf shall do intentional harm to another Elf, and except in a case where an Elf acts with malicious intent, he shall be helped by other Elves." This pact protects all those of Elven blood. Any Elf found to be in violation of the Way through action or inaction shall be cast out (N'Tel Quess). But there are also Dark Elves, selfish and pleasure loving, who would have no qualms about enslaving other species, such as humans (*shivers*).

Speaking of their lands, I've been variously told they encompass as many as 35 or 70 sims, with a population of 1200-1400 elves. The most organized group of Elven sims I have come upon are those owned by the Lady Forcythia Wishbringer, regarded by many as their Queen, and, at the very least, Queen of Elf Circle continent. These sims include ElvenGlen, ElvenMoor, ElvenVale, ElvenStone, Elf Haven, Shea Nectaris, Shea Cognoium, Shea Ingenii, and Shea Imbrium. There is also a group of partner sims, owned by others, but bound by the Elf Circle Charter: Ceilich, Elf Harbor, Farhaven, Mystica, The Fairy Crossing, The Glimmering, ElvenValley, Falathrim, and The Green. It was at ElvenGlen that I gathered much of my information. (The Elf Circle Charter is available to all who wish a copy. It describes the customs and organization of Elf Circle.)

TIGGS

TIGGS Beaumont (who is technically not an Elf, but a dragon - "Two dark rkf - drow - are my mentors" ) provided some lovely insight, off-the-cuff, while dancing. "[I have given] you Elf Circle Charter 2.0. This should explain a bit. But it has much more meaning I think to you, than you may realize. You will be traveling all of Elf Circle lands I trust? [They are] varied, and wonderfully aesthetic, creativity abounds, but... The most important for me, is the honour, integrity, spirit, and friendship found here. Often, when a group grows as this one has, it loses its sense of family. Elf Circle does not. We are a family of many beings. All accepted for whom we are. No fights between drows and elves, orcs and fairies. Oh petty differences, as in all large groups, but... loyalty to the charter's ways, "friendship” for all. We are Elvenae. And here, in Circle lands, is the Heart of Elvenae. Yes, a world we "play" in, but one which we bring ourselves to. The one thing people do not realize at first, is we also bring these Elvenae ways back out to RL. It is inevitable." At this point, TIGGS drifted off into a conversation with friends, whom I believe were merfolk... TIGGS pointed out that human avatars were free to role-play at will, respecting the customs of the lands they found themselves in.

Astrid

Elves seem to abjure politics. However, they have rulers, and they are sometimes combative and into weaponry. These are the seeming ongoing contradictions in Elvendom. They seem averse to discussing politics, which seems strange given what one might hear about Elf society. Astrid Zhangsun tells me it's a rule in Elflands, just to keep the peace. (Wow.)

Astrid could, I'm pretty sure, be correctly described as a Dark Elf (**double shivers**), and has a Bast as a Profile portrait. Asked about her Bast, she explained it was the only adult dragon she has, and that she had just got her. The first time I met Astrid, she was wearing a lovely dress. The second time I met her she was a (very) sexy warrior carrying a battle mace who had just come from a tournament (where she had used a battle mace for the first time), frustrated cuz she kept hitting the wrong key (LOL). Apparently she was stuck going shopping with her BF, even tho she herself had thought they might pursue some more romantic endeavors.

Astrid did clarify the politics of Elvendom somewhat: "You mean politics in Elfland? Okay, well we don't really have a political structure here. We have a Queen, High Council, Guardians, and Greeters. Each has their duties. So you want to know about Elven society? Okay well for the most part, think of the hippies in the early 70's. [LOL.] But there is an undertone of ick here too. ...I have only just experienced this myself." Well, I guess that's politics...

Padiel

Elves love music and dance. Padiel Montgomery is a composer and musician who graciously invited me to his tree dwelling, a natural abode of the type favored by elves. He treated me to renditions of several of his pieces, including "Mixing the Magic, and "Rain on My Wings." Padiel is a spell-casting Elf with a magic staff (very impressive), and some typical Elven pets including two owls, a pixie familiar, and a dragon. He was the first to report that he observed any Elven holidays (Solstice, but it's cuz he is an Elven Druid), and that he had favorite Elven foods (bread and honey). His favorite ritual is the dance in the Elven drum circle where Elves share fellowship and their love for one another. Padiel's music is available both in SL and in RL: http://76.18.77.46:8000 for SL play, and http://76.18.77.46:8000/listen.m3u for internet play.

Padiel was also first to comment upon the species he perceived as dwelling in various places: Forests (esp. hollow trees)? "That is for Wood Nymphs." Caves? "Ack.. Trolls and Dragons." (poor TIGGS) Underground? "Dwarves, hehe." Wells and springs? "Bugs.. really cute ones :)"

And, in addition to being a musician and composer, is a builder. He built his lovely home, including its fountains and effects, and also does things like garden sets and animations. He makes romantic fountains, Elvish garden sets, and intimate glass showers. Unfortunately, Elven lands are PG, so, even though all Elves are fond of animations, his tree dwelling, with its romantic animations, must be located elsewhere :P

Nilmë

Nilmë (a.k.a., Gert Grigges) is a longtime friend whom I only vaguely knew had an Elven side. He was not at all hesitant to tell me about himself. "I am a Maia, posing as an Elf. From Wikipedia: 'The Maiar (singular: Maia) are beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium (Book: The Silmarillion). The Maiar are lesser Valar and the helpers of the (greater) Valar. Being of divine form and possessing great power, the Maiar could wander the world unseen or shape themselves in fashion of Elves and other creatures; when wearing a mortal guise their bodies could be killed, but their spirit would live on.' I've taken/been given the name 'Nilmë,' meaning 'Friendship' in the Quenya language. I'm also known as 'The Lord of Lag.' (Yea, and also as The "Hugmeister General." :P)

Nilmë is a member of the "Builders of Valimar" group. The Builders currently live in the sims Valimar, Valarinde and Lorien. (Valimar/Valmar is a city of the Valar.) He doesn't bear arms, and currently does not practice magic or cast spells, but he could: The Maiar are powerful enough (see e.g. the story of the Maia Olórin, a.k.a. Gandalf who took the guise of a Wizard).

Nilmë has never tried to number the variety of Elves in SL, but was willing to comment upon other species often associated with Elves. "Drows: No clue (don't occur in Middle Earth). Orcs: Warring servants of the Dark Lords; It is said that they were in origin corrupted Elves captured by Melkor. Before the beginning of the First Age. In appearance, Orcs were squat, swarthy creatures. Most of them preferred the darkness, being blinded by the light of the Sun, but the kinds bred later in the Third Age, such as the Uruk-hai, could endure the daylight. Faeries/Faerie: The lands of the Elves in Aman, more commonly known by their Elvish name Eldamar, a word variously translated as 'Elvenhome', 'Elvenland,' or 'Elvenesse.'"

As for where Elves live? Forests (esp. hollow trees)? Caves? Underground? Wells and springs? Nilmë says, "None and all of the above: Most Elves lived in Aman (Continent originally lying in the far West of Arda, now removed from the World) and Middle-earth." Hmm...

As for what Nilmë thinks of humans: "The youngest of the races of Arda, men are unique in possessing the Gift of Men, death, by which they leave the world after an allotted time and go beyond it. What is to think of them? Some of my best friends are Men..." ;)

The Elven Way

From the Web page of tel'Mithrim, or the Grey Company (http://www.grey-company.org) in the Common tongue, which LOL prolly has nothing to do with SL:

The Elven Way

All elves follow the way- "No Elf shall do intentional harm to another Elf, and except in a case where an Elf acts with malicious intent, he shall be helped by other Elves." This pact protects all those of Elven blood. Any Elf found to be in violation of the Way through action or inaction shall be cast out (N'Tel Quess).

Elven Holidays

Yenearsira - Winter Solstice, the Elven new year. A day of rebirth.
Sheelala - A day of games and practical jokes celebrated in early spring.
Ehtele'mele - Vernal equinox. A week of romance and song.
Faradome - Summer Solstice. A celebration of the battle between Corellon and Gruumsh One-Eye. A night of orc hunting.
Yavieba - Autumnal equinox. A week of reflection and a time to remember those who have left this world. Most important decisions and judgments are made during this week.

Favorite Elven Wines

Saerloonian Glowfire-pale wine, luminous, taste reminiscent of pears.
Saerloonian Topaz-yellow amber wine w/ nutty quality and bold fruit overtones.
Mead-sweet wine of fermented honey.
Elverquisst- a ruby-colored liquor magically distilled from sunshine and rare summer fruits. Utterly smooth, the liquor is nonetheless flecked with gold and has an iridescence of both COLOR and flavor. It is highly prized at all times, but in the autumn rituals it is savored as if it is the gift of one final, perfect summer day.
Evermead-THE elven mead, imported from evermeet. The one to which all others are compared and found wanting.
Clarry-Table wine blend sweetened w/ honey and spices.
Arabellan Dry-fine red wine, very dry woodsy overtones and a slight berry taste.
Berdruskan Dark-heavy sweet and burning, almost black, HIGH alcohol content.
Morimatra-a spiced wine favored by the Drow.

Other Items Of Interest

Kholiast-elven card game consisting of a 1000 card deck, dice and a very difficult method of counting points. A high elf favorite.
Shalaquin-long necked elven instrument, plucked or strummed string tension is controlled by a ratcheting wheel.

AND IF ANYONE HAS ANY FAVORITE ELVEN RECIPES, BY ALL MEANS, DROP THEM OFF!

Yummedy Summer :P

2008-05-25T20:01:00.000-05:00

Ten Percent Innocent

About 40 fashion weeks are held in different cities around the world every year. But the Big Four are in New York, London, Milan and Paris, and they are the most prestigious. Smaller fests are found everyplace on the globe. But ask yourself this: "Why would anyone ever hold a fashion show in New York, London, Milan, or Paris?" Have you ever been there? Have you seen how the locals dress? And I'm pretty darn sure they don't dress any better in the other places that you might not visit. Geez! Why not Peoria? Dubuque? Grand Rapids? Schenectady? At least there they don't park their cars on the sidewalk, thus impeding your sexy walk!

Fashion is the most important way to communicate who you are without saying a word. It's so sweet when a fellow fashion fan wants to take a picture of your fabulous ensemble, or when someone hot gives you the once-over and a nodding look of approval. (Even sweeter is when they want to add you to their friends list or even take you home for the evening.)

I think the true fashionista lives in SL. It's only here that this particular spirit can truly run wild. But SL for most is a sort of part time thing. So, of course, we're really running late seasonally, which SL time usually is, or early, or in-between, or who cares? I'm here to present you with my spring/summer fashion choices. What you should look for and what you should buy... And where… Hmmm... I'm so judgmental...

I have a few ideas what might be hot this season: bold flowers, bigger than your head; menswear with a feminine look; wide (studded) belts; gladiator sandals; statement coats; statement jewelry; clutches and odd handbags. My fashionable friend Michele Norsk has similar but slight different ideas: animal print sundress/halter dresses (accessorize with gladiator heels, or with chunky heel sandals); large flower print dresses or skirts (match the skirts with bold solid tops); halter top dresses in bold colors with soft sweater fabrics, and empire waists; terry cloth shorts and hoodies; tops in bold colors with front plackets, and puffed shoulders or sleeves; floral print bikinis like BCBS Mas Azria line in RL.

Retro shorts

But I’m not as judgmental as my friend Michele, who both inspires me and seems to be prescient about trends. This warm afternoon, outside the institution of higher learning that I work in, I saw a young woman a dark blue blousy top and fitted hotpants, perhaps in cotton sateen. Her look was not entirely successful, perhaps due to her shoes. But an hour later, I happened to see another young woman wearing a similar pair of cuffed shorts in a stiff reddish fabric with platforms. The effect was more flattering on her. I was intrigued on this warmish spring day: Will we see more of the look on the streets? Michele then brought me (completely independent of these observations) a vision for the summer: retro, 1950s, Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner…

Michele has rules for shopping and dressing. Michele's 12 commandments: (1) Don't rule out freebies, but don't rely on them either. (2) If it looks cartoonish, it is. (3) Have lots of shoes... many styles, colors, heels, flats, boots, casual, dressy and organize them accordingly. (4) ALWAYS look at the details in SL clothing... it’s as important to the look as it is in RL. (5) Accessories and hair and nails make a difference... ALWAYS take the time to create a whole look. (6) Makeup: what do you mean you only have one skin? You NEED to be able to adjust your makeup to the moment and don't forget your fingernails and toenails. (7) Don't be afraid to use an illumination tool to backlight your look. It’s a special cheat we can use here!! (8) Don't be afraid to try a new store, but put your favorites in their own inventory slot. (9) Lindens aren't the same as dollars and Euros; don’t be afraid to spend some. (10) NEVER wear the same thing day after day. And most importantly… (11) Dress in a way that is comfortable to the personality of your avi: If you dress like Ms. Manners and act like a hooker (or vice versa) it just won't work. Finally… (12) Improvise: use the stuff in your inventory to create new looks that work for you.

Boy clothes

I do not ascribe to all of Michele’s dicta. For example, I stick to one shape, one (or two) skins, and pretty much the same hair color. I opt for consistency and recognizability. I really like wearing men's clothes sometimes. It's a big change from what I usually wear. (btw, I bought these by accident cuz the pecs on the mannequins looked like boobs, LOL.)

Shoes?

Michele thinks gladiator shoes are hot. Aviva Kuhn, on the other hand, not only likes to have lots of shoes, she has fallen for a specific pair of shoes. I mean she is in love with her shoes. She has coveted these shoes. She fondles these shoes. She kisses these shoes goodnight. This is pretty bad for a married woman with small children…

Aviva may well be SL’s reigning shoe expert. As the hottest dancer at a hot club, Zanadu ( Lesten - 213, 245, 47) she pays a lot of attention to her feet and what’s on them. In addition, she sees her shoes as a way of celebrating her extreme sexual liberation. The male-female relationship is reduced to a playground for sexual pleasure, while the intensity of female friendship is experienced with a new, satisfying and comfortable emotional intimacy. While celebrating classic femininity, shoes can be the bond that creates sisterhood among independent women.

Needless to say, we all have subsequently visited the maker of these shoes, are totally amazed at the prices charged, and are also amazed at the quality, fit, and hipness of these shoes. These are impossibly high, impossibly hip, and impossibly expensive heels…

Stores I like…

I should point out that these are not stores I just heard of, these are stores I have visited and bought at repeatedly. Judge for yourself…

High end shops:

BAIASTICE & ARTRANSFER GALLERY - Fashion and Art, centro italia (87, 22, 32)

Gisaci - Upscale Clothing, Armidi (91, 131, 30)

*Muism* Main Store, Muism (189, 113, 25)

Super high end shoes:

Stiletto Moody Shoes, Deauville (45, 29, 22)

More moderate clothing:

Blaze* Fine Fashions - Quality, Triumph (100, 139, 251)

DE Designs, DE Designs Ladies Clothes (85, 122, 38)

French Gallery - Haute Couture D, Pickerel (106, 226, 129)

KA Designs Island, Fair Isle (221, 150, 23)

Luminosity, Luminous Island (83, 117, 31)

Never 30, lingerie, wedding, formal New Paris (129, 235, 29)

Rebel Hope Designs-RH Engel Jewelry, Monarch Bay (213, 83, 27)

UK Couture Island, UK Couture Island (228, 129, 22)

WRONG, AlterNation (161, 158, 38)

More moderate, but v, v nice shoes:

D2TK Main Island Store (opening, D2TK (189, 179, 68)

Lassitude & Ennui, Nouveau (65, 63, 30)

Shiny Things, Shiny Falls (170, 180, 37)

ZY Creations, Belial (232, 79, 44)

Jewelry:

Digital Dragon (113, 113, 23)

EarthStones Jewelry - Main Store, EarthBound (124, 138, 25)

RICX's FINE JEWELRY, Nepessing (60, 76)

A nice store:

Enysy Mikita Desgns, Sammy's and Britta's Playhouse, Egill (153, 166, 22)

Special mention:

Annapurna Onomatopoeia's Yak & Yeti FREE jewelry clothing and furnishings, several locations including Salzburg - Winter Sports - Roman, Salzburg (181, 83, 27) (The jewelry will knock your socks off.)

Summer food

Salade Niçoise
From The Way to Cook, by Julia Child (R.I.P.)

For 6 to 8 servings

1 large head of Boston lettuce, washed and dried
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed, blanched, refreshed in cold water, and dried
2/3 to 1 cup salad dressing, such as Oil and Lemon Dressing (recipe follows)
3 or 4 fine, ripe tomatoes, peeled if you wish, cored, quartered, and seasoned before serving
8 to 10 ounces oil-packed tuna, drained and flaked

1 quart French Potato Salad (recipe follows)
8 hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise
1 can flat anchovy fillets packed in oil, opened and drained just before serving
1/2 cup black Niçoise-type olives
3 or 4 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup minced parsley

Assembling the salad: Shortly before serving, line a handsome, large and wide salad bowl or a roomy platter with lettuce leaves, drizzle a little olive oil on them, and dust with a sprinkling of salt. Toss the beans in a mixing bowl with a little of the dressing, and correct seasoning. Drizzle a spoonful or two of the dressing over the tomatoes. Season the tuna lightly with a spoonful or two of dressing. Place the potatoes in the center of the bowl or platter; mound beans at strategic intervals, interspersing them with tomatoes and mounds of tuna. Ring the salad with the eggs, and curl an anchovy on top of each. Spoon a little more vinaigrette over all; scatter on olives, capers, and parsley. Serve as soon as possible.

Oil and Lemon Dressing—Garlic Variation
From The Way to Cook

For about 2/3 cup, enough for 6 to 8 servings

2 strips of fresh lemon peel (1 by 2 1/2 inches each)
1 clove garlic, mashed and minced
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more, if needed
1/2 tablespoon Dijon-type prepared mustard
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup fine fresh oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Mince the lemon peel very finely with the salt, scrape it into a mortar or bowl, along with the garlic, and mash lemon and garlic into a fine paste with a pestle or spoon. Beat in the mustard and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice; when thoroughly blended, start beating in the oil by droplets to make a homogeneous sauce—easier when done with a small electric mixer. Beat in droplets more lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

French Potato Salad
From The Way to Cook

For about 1 quart, serving 6 in combination with other items

1 1/2 pounds warm cooked and sliced potatoes
2 tablespoons finely minced shallots or scallions
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine, chicken stock, or potato-cooking water
1 1/2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil, optional

Boil or steam the potatoes in their jackets until they're cooked through but still firm. Peel while still warm, and slice into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Turn the warm potatoes into a bowl and toss gently with the shallots or scallions, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, the wine, stock, or cooking water, the vinegar, and the parsley. Let steep 10 minutes or so, tossing gently several times. Then correct seasoning, toss with the optional oil, and the potatoes are ready for serving.

Vampires in SL

2008-05-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

Introductory words, the first paragraphs of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, annotated by Leonard Wolf (Wolf,lol)

Jonathan Harker's Journal (kept in shorthand.)

“3 May. Bistritz.--Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible.

“The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule.

“We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenburgh. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. (Mem. get recipe for Mina.) I asked the waiter, and he said it was called "paprika hendl," and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians.

“I found my smattering of German very useful here, indeed, I don't know how I should be able to get on without it.

“Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania; it had struck me that some foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with a nobleman of that country.

“I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia, and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian mountains; one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe.

“I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey Maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina.

“In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons in the South, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the West, and Szekelys in the East and North. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it.

“I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (Mem., I must ask the Count all about them.)

“I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it; or it may have been the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was still thirsty. Towards morning I slept and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then.

“I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was "mamaliga", and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call "impletata". (Mem., get recipe for this also.)”

The Recipes

Paprikahendl

4 lb. chicken, cut into pieces

2 tblsp. shortening

2 onions, chopped

2 tblsp. Hungarian sweet paprika

1/2 cup tomato juice

2 tblsp. flour

1/2 c. sour cream

Salt chicken pieces. Lightly brown onions in fat. Blend in half the paprika. Add tomato juice and chicken. Simmer covered 1 hour or until tender. Remove chicken. Add remaining paprika to sauce, then add flour beaten into sour cream. Simmer, stirring, 5 minutes or until well blended. Put sauce through sieve, food mill or blender. Heat chicken and pureed sauce together over low flame. Arrange chicken on warm platter. Pour half the sauce over, pass the rest separately. Serve with flour dumplings.

Mamaliga

3 c. water

salt

1 c. corn meal

2 tblsp. butter

1/2 c. sour cream

4 slices or equivalent pieces feta cheese

Bring salted water to boil and add corn meal. Cook like porridge while stirring frequently for 25 min. Grease deep casserole with butter. Pour in porridge, cover with sour cream, and arrange feta on top. Put in 400 degree oven for 10 min. Serve when Mamaliga is golden on top, garnished with one poached egg per person (optional). Serves 4.

Patlagele impulute (impletata)

Wash and cut one eggplant in half. Score the surface, salt well, and set aside for 1/2 hour, then gently squeeze excess moisture from halves. Place eggplant halves face down in a buttered frypan and let them cook gently, covered, until tender. Scoop the center pulp out of each half, leaving one half inch of meat attached to the skin. Mix the pulp with salt, pepper, onions, and any ground meat. Brown mixture in a frypan, then press gently into eggplant shells, sprinkle with bread crumbs and melted butter, and brown in a quick oven.

The Superstitions (from Gudrun’s Vampire Friends)

A lot of lore has grown up around the vampire, and I have asked some of the finest examples, comprising a spectrum of vampirism (but only girls :P), to comment. (And I’m much too tired to do anything further with this.)

Is there a true vampire community here in SL? Is there more than one?

Melanie Milland: There are lots. Second-Lifestyle ones, who don't play in roleplaying games, and RPG vampires.

Dilynrae VanDyke: There are many Vampire communities here in SL... A search for "Vampire" in groups reveals 100 results. I myself am a loner. I don’t belong to a group.

Sara Rachmil: Maybe and Yes. But why follow the crowd? Are you that dependent?

Wynterskye Gray: I don't think that there is one single all inclusive group but there are many, many families, clubs, groups and factions in SL as well as many loner vampires who don't belong to any organization.

How many kinds of vampire are there in SL?

Melanie: That is almost impossible to say, SL is so huge. There are the gothic vampires, the roleplay vampires, and those break down into those from Vampires:The Masquerade, those from Blade, those from Underworld, and whatever mixes of those. They're organized in clans and sects, and each has their own history and abilities.

Dilynrae: The number of vampire types is limited only by the imagination. *S*

Sara: Depends what ideas you follow. Book....Movie... Game... Myth... It's like religion really. Ideas and rules are changed very often to fit what one particular group wants and thinks works best.

Wynterskye: I couldn't even begin to guess that. By it's nature being a vampire is a very personal thing I imagine there are as many kinds as there are personalities.

Are vampires usually bloated, ruddy, purplish, or dark in colour? Pale with long nails and teeth? Suavely charismatic? Or are they of some other appearance (describe)? Do they morph?

Melanie: They come in many shapes and sizes. From Nosferatu (who are irredeemably ugly) to suave vampire playboys and glamourous vampiresses, gothic styles to ballgowns, and even vampires in jeans and t-shirt; some that could pass for human, and some who can't. Many have red eyes, though. I do, too.

Dilynrae: Male vampires? Unusually handsome, strong, confident individuals... charismatic... self centered and vain. Usually force their will on their victims. Female Vampires? Radiate an unearthly beauty, usually quiet, can suck up the attention span in a room by just walking in without saying a word. A female vampire usually has victims throwing themselves at her, begging her to bite them.

Sara: Again, this varies. There is no set rule or look. In my opinion, Vampires should be sexy, as in most all myth and in books they are considered highly sexual beings.

Wynterskye: With so many different kinds of Vampires there are many different looks also. There are many who look quite scary and epitomize the 'horror' aspect of vampires but my experience is with the more 'human' appearing crowd. The typical male vampires I've been around are usually hyper-masculine, kind of a combination of a vampire and a muscle beach body builder. The typical female vampire also highly accentuates her femininity. Once again combining the best of both worlds human and vampire.

What makes being a vampire attractive to you?

Melanie: If there were vampires in real life, I could imagine being one. It's a fascinating possibility, immortality, power, riches. All you have to do for it is to kill, and to a vampire, that comes naturally. I'm a roleplay vampire, and the stories we write and play out are thrilling, entertaining, and sometimes blood-chilling, too. Beats all TV and mosts books, really.

Dilynrae: The ability to control people without even trying... I have so many offering themselves to me... I can walk into a room, and my IMs light up like crazy. "Ooooo you're a vampire... bite me bite me!!"

Sara: They are charismatic, sexual, powerful, smart, and masters of influence.

Wynterskye: I've always been fascinated with vampires. Not only the possibility of eternal life but the pure sensuality exuded by vampires both male and female. I never considered becoming a vampire in SL because I assumed it would, at best, be a pale physical representation instead of the feeling of being a vampire. I was wrong, after being an SL vampire for quite awhile I find the appeal and the excitement as strong now as ever.

Are you a vampire in RL?

Melanie: No. But I wouldn't mind being one, if I could be one like the one I am portraying here in SL. Here I'm a pureblood, a daywalker. I live at night, even in RL, I get up in the late afternoon or evening and I go to bed when the sun comes up. But there are things you can't do at night, and having to rush home at 3 am from a great party is not what I want from life! Well, unlife, as it were.

Dilynrae: I love for my neck to be bitten and I have sucked hard enough on a lover's neck to draw blood... its a rush you can't explain...

Sara: No. But, f 'n’- A, I'm tryin!

Wynterskye: No...but if the opportunity ever arose I don't think I would hesitate in taking that step.

How are vampires created in SL?

Melanie: That depends on many factors. Some just buy stuff and declare themselves vampires, and who's to say that's not alright to do. Others become vampires through the games they play. I play in CCS, I own a roleplay sim named Damnation. We have 7 races, and of those seven, only Vampire was fitting for me. Thus I became a vampire in SL. I was always a fan of vampire stories and movies, it came naturally.

Dilynrae: Like any other Avie I suppose!!! hehe Seriously though, it takes commitment to the lifestyle. You have to figure out what your parameters are, and work to stay within them. ME? I am a living vampire in the Kim Harrison Vein. Born of Vampire parents, the vampire virus embedded deeply within your genome.

Sara: Pixels [LOL]

Wynterskye: In many ways. Some buy a skin and some fangs and are vampires. Some join vampire clubs and groups. Others, like myself, are invited into a family and given the blessing as a reward for serving that family.

What's your favorite part to bite?

Melanie: I'm conservative, after all i'm 914 years old - oops, did I just say that? - so I prefer the classical neck bite. Wrists are good, too, though.

Dilynrae: I love to start in the hollow of the neck, just under the jawline... teasing, working my way down to the hollow of the neck just above the collarbone. The turn of the neck just at the trapezius muscle is the place I like to bite the most.

Sara: I dare not say, but, girls, I'm more than happy to show you.
Wynterskye: Well...I personally love the neck or the inside of the thigh. Since I am a lesbian I never bite males anyways so anywhere that a woman would enjoy being bitten is my favorite :P . Use your imagination.

How many have you bitten (SL - and/or RL if you're also one there)?

Melanie: I can't tell. It's like asking you how often you've been to the supermarket in your life. I stopped counting long ago.

Dilynrae: Quite a few in SL... I don’t really keep count. In RL? three...

Sara: I lost count. Seriously.

Wynterskye: Actually I've bitten only a very few...I don't feed regularly like some. Instead I feed when I find a host who piques my interest.

Does it turn you on?

Melanie: It's ... pleasant ... with the right victim. Some are just fast food, though.

Dilynrae: Of Course!!! Why do it otherwise?

Sara: Yep.

Wynterskye: Definitely, it's extremely sensual. A bite, for me, is more than a bite it's a bonding. I would compare it to sex but, in some ways, it's much more personal. A bite doesn't equal a relationship by any means but it does symbolize a tie between two people.

Do you get a rosy glow when feeding? Does your victim?

Melanie: They pale. At least when I'm thirsty. I don't get any rosy glow at all. I just feel very satisfied.

Dilynrae: heeeeeee yesh!

Sara: Nope.

Wynterskye: I don't know if I get a rosy glow but the people I have bitten have told me that they were quite flushed *giggle*.

Do you have a favorite "blood doll"?

Melanie: I only have one, and you know very well who that is, so stop fishing :)

Dilynrae: Bliss Crimson!!!

Sara: Nope. But that sorta sounds like a band name.

Wynterskye: No..no favorites. I don't feed often enough to have favorites.

Do you sleep in an earth-filled coffin? If so, where is the earth from?

Melanie: No. I sleep in a nicely upholstered one. Old Vlad caused a lot of rumours, really, and Stoker's account of it didn't help. Vlad sure was a strange one and liked the symbolism of his home's earth. He was never required to sleep in it, he just liked the smell. He also had a garlic allergy, that has since then been attributed to our entire race. But it was just him.

Dilynrae: I sleep in a bed. I alluded to the style of vampire I am earlier. As a living vampire, I am born with the vamp virus in my very cells... I can walk in daylight, wear a cross (and usually do) even worship God if I like. The hunger is there, but I do not need blood to survive, at least not until my first death. Once undead, all the usual vampire limitations apply.

Sara: No. That’s old school. And truly only the upper class do oldies that. I would take a guess that the earth filled coffin would have dirt from EARTH.

Wynterskye: Absolutely not...I do have a coffin that I use occasionally but mostly I prefer my comfy bed.

Can leading a virgin boy through a graveyard on a virgin stallion identify a vampire grave by the horse balking or by holes appearing in the earth?

Melanie: We don't sleep in holes in the ground. So there aren't any earthy graves. These days, we have houses, mansions, castles, or condos, and that is where we keep the coffins. And i sure would get cranky if someone led a horse through my dining hall.

Dilynrae: I'm sure it would... but if you REALLY wanna find us, lead a virgin female through and vampires will come out of the woodwork!!! Hehehe.

Sara: No.

Wynterskye: Never spent much time around virgin boys so I have no idea. I would wonder about the intelligence of such a move though.

Are you concerned about vampire hunters?

Melanie: No. They mostly try ineffective means. They pick that stuff up from Hollywood movies and think they can confront a real vampire. Most never find one. Those who do don't live to tell of it.

Dilynrae: No. I'm not a real threat until I'm undead. Hehehe.

Sara: They're pretty weak and feeble. That’s a no.

Wynterskye: LOL...nope, they are few and far between and essentially harmless.

Which of the following scare you:

Melanie:

Garlic - No. That was just Vlad who didn’t like it

Sunlight - I'm a daywalker, so, no. But some vampires do have a problem with UV

Running water - No. That's witches

Holy water - No. If you have been turned into a vampire and believes in it as a human, you're susceptible. Purebloods never had religion, so we couldn't care less.

Crosses - See above

Communion wafers - Same thing

Mirrors - No. I'm not scared of them. They just don't show me, so I don't have any. And don't ask me how I do my makeup - it takes decades of practice to learn to get it right!

Wooden stakes - Those are nasty. I can't revive as long as it's in. But when it comes out, the person who put it in better run fast. In a fight, i can grab it and yank it out. And no one will find me asleep, I made sure of that!

Decapitation - Yes. That's messy. Also so ruins the hairdo. Seriously, now, purebloods can't be killed by such easy means. But getting shortened like that can cost us a few centuries. We do avoid it when possible.

Matzo balls - I remember "Love at First Bite" - I really had to laugh about the shrink and his Star of David.

Licorice rabbits - Why?? [cuz they scare the poo out of them, lol?]

Dilynrae:

Wooden stakes

Decapitation

Sara:

Communion wafers – Ewwww

Licorice rabbits- Ewwww, too. [????????…]

Wynterskye: Only really scared of mirrors when I wake up with a bad case of bedhead. Not partial to crosses but that's based more on personal opinion. Being decapitated is certainly scary, where would I wear my necklaces? Licorice rabbits are definitely the scariest of any on the list *shudders and gags*

N.B. ~

A mass hysteria commonly referred to as the "18th-Century Vampire Controversy" swept Germany and Austria from about 1721 to 1734 and eventually spread to other locales as well. This outbreak was largely rooted in local superstition, but was also fueled by two well known cases in which it was thought that dead persons, previously bitten by vampires, had returned to feed on the living. Government officials had investigated these cases. They had examined the bodies, filed official reports, and eventually had written books on the subject. These officially recorded instances, of course, served to feed the hysteria.

The vampires were corpses who left their graves at night to suck the blood of the living. The victims grew pale and feeble and wasted away, and sometimes became vampires themselves, while the vampires grew fat, got rosy, and enjoyed excellent appetite. Suspected corpses were exhumed and desecrated in an effort to stop the supposed attacks. These corpses were often staked or beheaded. Sometimes necklaces of garlic bulbs were placed on them. Sometimes licorice rabbits were strewn about.

The controversy was quelled when Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician, Dr. Gerhard van Swieten, to investigate. His investigation conclusively proved that vampires did NOT exist. As a result, laws were passed that effectively ended the hunting of vampires and the acts of grave desecration intended to slay them.

Superstition, of course, always threatens to create such controversy anew. There have been recent examples such as the Highgate Cemetery and Birmingham outbreaks in England, which resulted in vampire hunts. Fortunately, Dr. van Swieten is still with us to further confirm his original findings and dispute the existence of such creatures. He is now a robust and lively 308 years of age.

Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in SL - again

2008-05-01T21:20:00.001-05:00

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than advertising a really good show...

Since you probably can’t read the lovely poster above because of font size, here’s what it says:

The Cybernetic Art Research Project proudly presents…

Pink Floyd, The Wall

A collaboration of international artists bring a unique vision and live performance of “The Wall” into Second Life

“Amazing. Not so much viewed as it is experienced” Metaverse Messenger
“All I can say is WOW. GREAT show” Second Arts

Every Saturday and Sunday 2pm SLT throughout May 2008
4-sim Mankind Tracer Amphitheatre @ Havens Paradise
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Havens Paradise/19/233/22
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Havens Paradise/13/243/22
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Havens Paradise/13/12/22

“Mother, should I trust the government?”

Creative Director: Debbie Trilling
Producer: Velazquez “The Global Wizard” Bonetto
Wall Design: Elfod Nemeth Animated Puppets: Duggy Bing
Costumes & Animations: Caravaggio Bonetto
Music: Juniverse Stockholm & Josina Burgess
Machinema: Eifachfilm Vacirca Dancing & Joy: Klute Coppola
and, of course, Pink Floyd’s incredible album “The Wall”

with valuable contributions from:
Haven Colville, Scio Kamachi, Gypsy Paz, Lyndyn Tzara, Celeste Moonlight, DJ Jenns, Adec Alexandria and George W Bush