Mom in limousine blue

Lies one in reserve

For babe in diaper new

High arched chariots

Warmed up urns

When crawl on roads

Chaos up churn

Screeming horns a torrential affair

High up heavens, shuffle dare,

Suits of black, poison in flow

Skies blind, darken swallow

Concerns show not when Hi-fis tall

Warnings into ears deaf fall

Global Tax fix

On wretcheds all !

The idea, based on the AP story I just read, is that "PETA said the health of consumers and cows would benefit from the switch."

I want to know what is going to happen to the women who get crammed into some booth somewhere and hooked up to a gas-pump-sized breast pump.  How will they be doing?  Can you spell "stress hormones?"

This is definitely good news for cows, but how could consumers insure that that their breast milk came from women who were vegetarian, vitamin-chugging, locavores instead of Big-Gulp-swallowing, drive-through-super-sized-meal-#10 gals?

This idea was, thankfully, nixed at B&J's Vermont headquarters.  Cooler heads prevailed in the ice cream wars.

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What does it mean when we hear that the FED “injects” or “pumps” money into the system? Or when it “bails out” a bank or corporation?

There is a simple answer to that, but first it is necessary to understand a few things in order to frame the answer.

The Federal Reserve

First of all, while it is a matter of fact, most Americans are simply unaware that the Federal Reserve (FED) is a private, non-federal banking institution. It is not owned and operated by We the People. It is not a part of the federal government, nor was it authorized by the Constitution. In fact, many of this country’s founding fathers were opposed to such an entity. The FED also has absolutely no reserves to speak of. Isn’t the name sort of misleading? As it turns out, the name is only the beginning of the deception.

At its core, the FED is a central banking system that operates outside of our government. Many early patriots like Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and James Madison warned against the adoption of a central bank into our economy, stating that it would result in the demise of our liberties. One powerful banker, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) of the Rothschild banking dynasty, is quoted as stating, “Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." As it turns out, those who control a money supply can, in no small way, end up influencing and controlling the legislation as well. Despite the earlier warnings, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, which gave birth to the Federal Reserve. This was the beginning of the disappearance of our representative form of government. As early as the early 1920’s, a popular saying originated from Will Rogers, who stated, “We have the best Congress money can buy.” Unfortunately, you and I, as American Citizens, are not the highest bidder.

With a little foresight and a lot of history to guide them, the framers of the United States government wanted to prevent this usurpation of power from the people by banking interests, and so gave exclusive right to Congress to issue the nation’s money supply and regulate its value. Because Congress is an elected body, chosen as representatives by We the People, the framers of the Constitution believed this would provide an adequate balance of power and keep the banking interests out of the personal wealth and property of free men. In 1913, however, under intense pressure from large, powerful banking interests and lobbyists, Congress was convinced to give up its Constitutional obligation and hand it over to a private banking cartel now known as the Federal Reserve.

In the early years after its adoption, the Federal Reserve printed paper certificates which were redeemable in gold or silver. These were the early “greenbacks”, which were backed by real, sound currency – precious metals. Over the years, however, the certificates were not honored by the banks and eventually were changed to instruments of debt, redeemable for nothing. You can learn more about this by researching President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102, which basically confiscated all the gold from this country under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. Those who did not comply could be held in violation of the act and fined $10,000 and/or imprisoned for 10 years. Below is an illustration of that order as it appeared in print:

You may still have relatives alive who remember this happening. Ask them about it.

Over time, the FRN’s changed and they were no longer redeemable at face value for gold. This is why the bills now say, “for all debts” instead of redeemable “in gold coin”. During the past several decades, the gold backing was eventually removed entirely and “Tricky Dick” Nixon stopped altogether the convertibility of paper notes for gold (except for transactions made on the open market) in August of 1971.

Compare the following images of United States currencies:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="2003 Federal Reserve Note"][/caption]

As you can see, the above currencies are vastly different. Of most importance is the statement that the Gold Certificate represents an actual deposit of gold coins that is redeemable by the carrier of that certificate. In case you can’t make out the fine print, the Gold Certificate states, “This Certifies That There Have Been Deposited in the Treasury of the United States of America, Twenty Dollars in Gold Coin, Payable to the Bearer on Demand”. That is, the person with the certificate can exchange the paper for gold worth $20 (at 1905 prices). That is certainly not the case any longer.

Federal Reserve Notes (FRN’s), on the other hand, no longer say that because they are not backed by metals like the original certificates – there are NO reserves. They are, as they state, instruments of debt. The fact that you hold a dollar in your hand simply means that the Federal Reserve (a private corporation) printed the money on loan to the government at interest. What the dollar represents is debt, not wealth. This is important to understand because the entire banking system we find ourselves in today is a system that perpetuates this debt – to our detriment. The system has been sharply criticized because there is and never will be enough money to repay the debts because the system generates the money that creates the debt. The more money that is created, the more debt is created – it’s that simple. Furthermore, there is no intrinsic value whatsoever to the American dollar. It is a fiat currency whose only value is what the government says it has. Thus, it is deemed, “Legal Tender.” There is no difference, intrinsically, between a $1 bill and a $100 bill. Both cost about $.04 each to make and the value of each is set by the FED. Therefore, even though both of the bills are backed by nothing and cost the same to produce, you cannot pay for $20 of merchandise with a $1 bill.

Our Current, Fractional Reserve Banking System

What continues to happen under the fractional reserve banking system we are in is the continuing devaluing of our currency, resulting in the fleecing of wealth of Americans and involuntary servitude to perpetual debt. Please also be reminded that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Section 1, states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. Because we are born into this system of financial control and manipulation, where we are forced to pay ever-increasing taxes on a debt that will never and can never be paid, we are as slaves by virtue of being United States citizens.

As the FED prints more currency, our currency in circulation becomes worth less and less until it is basically worthless and no one will accept it. As we see in the global economy today, there are several countries who are now dumping their reserves of American dollars. This flooding of American currency back into the economy has a watering-down effect on the face value of that currency, just as the printing of more FRN’s does. This is called inflation. Inflation is a “hidden tax”, which has been eating away the wealth of Americans ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. We are in a huge inflation bubble right now, as is indicated by the ever-higher prices for food, gasoline and consumer products. How far does your dollar go today? Not as far as last year? That’s inflation.

Why would our Congress do such a thing? Why would it allow for the fleecing of American wealth and the destruction of our liberties? The reason is that the FED is a great enabler for Congress towards big government (remember that our Constitution severely LIMITS government). The FED allows Congress to spend more money than it can actually raise in the form of taxes. You see, before the FED sprang into existence, Congress had to convince taxpayers that tax increases were necessary to fund a certain project. If they couldn’t convince the American people, then they didn’t get their funding, plain and simple! Yet, with the adoption of the FED, Congress can bypass that very important step! Now it simply goes to the FED with a certain amount of government bonds and asks them for more money and the FED gives it to them – with the principal due at a certain time in the future, with interest.

For example, even though the American people, on the majority, are against the war in Iraq and elected a democratic majority to Congress in 2006 with the aim of ending the war, the democrats have not fulfilled their promises; rather, they have perpetuated the funding for the war. Where did they get the money? From the Federal Reserve directly, but through the American people, indirectly. Here we begin to see the destruction of the Republic as funding of the government moved from We the People to a private banking institution, which, incidentally, is more than happy to print more and more money and collect more and more interest!

What is a government bond? In the simplest of terms, a government bond is a promise from our government to repay a set amount PLUS interest at a future date, and this promise is backed by the good faith and credit of the American people, i.e. the ability of our government to tax us to repay the debt. So, if the government needs more money, it goes to the Treasurer who prints up, say, $1,000,000,000 worth of bonds (think of them as fancy, official IOU’s), who then takes them to the Federal Reserve window and receives a $1,000,000,000 check in exchange. The $1,000,000,000 check is then deposited into the Treasury and the money is spent according to the national budget, which is approved by Congress.

For greater illustration, follow the money trail a little further. Let’s say that Congress has approved $25M of that $1B to go towards rebuilding an area stricken by a natural disaster. The $25M is spent in a variety of ways. $10M goes to clean up of the area, which is paid by check to the individual company tasked to do the cleanup. That check gets deposited into the company’s bank. At that point in time, the computer system is told that the company now has $10M more in its account, but no actual money has been created. However, as the company issues payroll checks to its employees, those checks are deposited or cashed by the individuals’ banks. When the employee cashes the paycheck, actual Federal Reserve Notes are handed to him or her and this is where physical money is actually created for the first time in the entire process.

Let’s return to the $10M deposit. Now that the company’s bank has $10M more in its vault (not really, of course, the “money” exists as computer entries), the bank is very happy. This is because, by federal banking standards, a bank is only required to keep 10% of the total money it has on deposit actually in the vault. Of that $10M deposit, they only have to keep $1M of it on hand!! So, let’s say that bank is a large bank and has $750M worth of total deposits (that is, actual persons and companies that deposited their money in the bank for later withdrawal), this means that the bank only has to keep $7.5M in actual currency in the bank’s vault! Not a bad deal, really, for the banker. But the deal gets even sweeter.

So where does the other 90%, the $742.5M go? It is loaned out from the bank in a variety of ways. For example, Joe American wants to buy a house and comes in to get a loan for $200,000. Or the local grocery store is expanding and asks its bank for a loan of $2.5M for renovations. The bank is able to loan this money to them – which isn’t even theirs in the first place – and is then able to collect interest payments from the loans it has issued because it trusts that all the depositors will not all come asking for their money at the same time. As long as there is money constantly coming into the bank, they are very happy – and, coincidentally, so is everyone else. Joe American is able to get his loan to buy his house. The local grocery store is able to get the money to renovate and generate higher sales and profits. But when the economy is stagnant, people tend to hold on to their money, not spend it. This dries up the banks ability to write new loans very quickly, making it harder for Joe American to get the loan to buy his house. Then we have credit contraction.

Sometimes (and more often than anyone really realizes) the banks make very poor decisions on those loans (some of which are considered “high-risk”) and the loans are defaulted on. When this symptom becomes widespread, we find a situation similar to what we see happening in the housing market today. And when individual depositors become alarmed over their money, they oftentimes “make a run on the bank.” Similar to what the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, depicts, such a run has seriously crippling effects on the economy. As the depositors rush the bank to pull out their money, the bank quickly runs out of funds (since it is only required to keep 10% of the funds in the vault and has loaned out the rest). Inevitably, the bank is forced to shut down and file bankruptcy because it cannot pay its obligations. What results is lost wealth for those who were not able to withdraw their funds.

In order to prevent this from happening, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was created to insure individual depositors. This insures most depositors to a total of $100,000, which, in theory, means that, even if the bank closes, the FDIC would pay the individual depositor up to that amount. So, if you had $50,000 in the bank when it folded, you’d still get your $50,000 – though you will have to wait for it.

The FDIC functions quite well for financial crises involving individual banks. However, the FDIC’s current total fund for bailing out individual depositors is right at $50,000,000,000 ($50B). That’s not very much money in today’s world. That is only enough money to insure 500,000 people to $100,000. Alarming, isn’t it? Yet, as I mentioned above, individual depositors may also be gigantic corporations. With some of these corporations in debt in the tens of billions, it will not take long for the FDIC’s funds to be depleted if a large enough ripple occurs in the economy. We are no longer seeing merely the early signs of this, but acceleration.

If a large corporation is in trouble because it can't make its interest payments to the bank, they go to Congress and say, "We can't let this corporation fold. Look at the thousands of jobs that would be lost! Look how the people would suffer!" Or, when a third world country can no longer make its interest payments to a large bank in New York, what happens? The bank goes to Congress and says, "You know, you'd better do something about this because if we have to write that loan off of our books we may be bankrupt, we could fold! And look at all of the depositors, good Americans, who have their accounts with us who would lose their deposit! Maybe the FDIC won't be able to cover it all! We could have a crisis on our hands! If our bank falls maybe the other banks will fall too and we'll have a national recession! Look how the people will suffer!" This results in what you hear about as “bail outs”.

Bail-outs and Economic Injections

Last week, the Federal Reserve decided to “bail-out” AIG to the tune of $75B. AIG (American International Group) is a major insurance company, which provides property-casualty, life and auto insurance to customers worldwide. At least one source describes AIG as “the world's largest insurance and financial services corporation.” Yet, after its stock lost 90% of its worth in September and after posting first-half losses of $13.2B, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve was worried that, if such a large company faltered, it would create systemic problems throughout the global economy (sounds familiar, huh?). So, the FED created a temporary, two-year “credit-liquidity facility” to provide up to $85B in funds to the company as a shot in the arm. Where did it get $85B to fund that “credit-liquidity facility”? You guessed it, by purchasing $85B in government bonds! Do you remember who is on the hook to repay government bonds? That’s right, Joe American taxpayer and his progeny.

On top of this, the FED also decided to “inject” $70B into the U.S. economy. So what does it mean when the FED “pumps” money into the system? It buys bonds and then pays the banks that sold them to it. This “money” then floods into the banks who then can create loans to inspire investor confidence. Bonds come in a variety of forms, and the FED has been buying large amounts of subprime mortgage bonds lately (following the subprime crisis). It must be understood that bonds are instruments of debt, as they are, in the simplest of terms, a promise to repay at a later date printed on official, fancy paper. They are, in effect, attempting to solve a debt problem with more debt. This is akin to plugging a small hole in the bottom of a rickety boat, waiting for the next leak to spring up. Or, like the game of “Whack-a-Mole”, the FED attacked one area of debt by creating more debt underneath, and there is no telling when or where that pesky, buck-toothed pest (known as debt) will rear its head again. Our economic topsoil rests upon a city of mazes tunneling under the surface, and the whole thing is starting to cave in.

The National Debt

The United States has been in debt since its inception, save for a brief amount of time when Andrew Jackson was President. He is the only President to reduce the debt to zero. He was also vehemently opposed to central banks (the Federal Reserve is one) and the fractional reserve money system they created. He broke apart the central banks established by Hamilton upon becoming President because he recognized the dire threat a central bank poses to our representative form of government. We have not been vigilant enough in understanding and countering this threat.

Fast forward a hundred and seventy-five years to the present:

According to some of the latest figures I could find, in 2003, the national debt, also known as the public debt (‘cause it’s YOURS and MINE), was $6.8 trillion ($6,783,231,062,743.62 as of 9/30/03). In that year, our government collected $1.95 trillion from Americans in income taxes. Of that amount of taxes, $318 billion was paid to the Federal Reserve in interest. This means that 16% of total tax revenue goes to interest payments on the public debt at a 4.7% interest rate. Now, I’m no genius, but I can think of a lot of things that would be better for our country to spend $318B on besides paying interest to bankers who are doing the job the Constitution entrusted to Congress!

Our national debt is currently $9.7 trillion as of September 2008 (which equates to $31,700 per person, or +$60K per taxpayer), a 43% increase from just 5 years ago. This has been increasing exponentially even through years when the budget is balanced. You’ll remember how Bill Clinton balanced the budget in his last term and wondered what he should do with the surplus. It wasn’t applied to the national debt because his little surplus would not have made a dent, yet everyone in Congress had an idea on how to spend that money, didn’t they?

**********************************************************************************

All of this will continue to increase as bail-outs occur to stave off the inevitable crash. And it is inevitable. The economic system is failing now, but everything appears to still be manageable because of the smoke-and-mirror games that are being played and the damage control being done. All fiat currencies have failed eventually, crushed under the weight of their own debt. The weakening dollar and all the signs we are seeing now: hyperinflation, rising prices, credit contractions, bankruptcies and insolvencies are all symptoms of a receding economy entering depression. This depression, however, will be deeper and will impact more individuals on a global scale than the 1920’s depression. Even banks that survived the depression of the 1920’s are falling now. That should worry you a lot. Meanwhile, the talking heads, our President and cabinet in particular, keep telling us that we are not in a recession, and they continue to pump more debt into the system, heaping the burden upon taxpayers and future generations of taxpayers. They think that no one really understands their game – after all, they have seen to it through the socialized school system that any meaningful economic curriculum does not exist in our schools to teach us the “magician’s tricks”.

Eventually, like the straw that broke the camel’s back, even the great U.S. economy will crash under the burden of its own debt. We are already seeing this in individual homes throughout the U.S. where a growing number of Americans can no longer afford to pay for health care, their mortgages, their credit cards, their student loans, etc. The result is an exponential rise of defaults and bankruptcies from individuals and on the larger, corporate scale, investment corporations, banking institutions, and large companies. Our weak economy cannot withstand this for much longer.

We’re in for a depression unlike anything the global community has ever seen. Are you ready for it? Will you be waiting in a bread line or unemployment office? How will your family provide for itself? What will your wealth be worth?

What alarms me is the increasing reliance Americans have on everyone else to provide for them to the point that kids today can’t even cook, let alone grow their own food. When the dollar is worthless, how much bread and meat will you be able to buy? And if you can’t buy it, where are you going to get it?

These are all things to think about, and oddly enough, very few are thinking about it. Very few even understand what is going on and what all of this means. Hopefully, you are now not one of them.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Artista: Black Eyed Peas
Musica: Pump It
Album: Monkey Business

We have been in school for 16 days. I have already missed 4. That's a whopping 25%! Thank God I co-teach so that those days I was gone were covered by a more than competent general education teacher with whom the kids are familiar.

Why have I missed 4 days? My son was sick... TWICE. The first time he had a virus complete with fever. The second time was much worse. He had a double ear infection and was working on cutting 4 teeth. I've never seen him so unhappy in my life. Poor thing was in so much pain and he just couldn't shake the fever until the antibiotics kicked in. I had taken him to the doctor on Monday. His ears were clear. But on Thursday, the doctor said that he probably had had the ear infection for several days. So it developed just after the first visit. :( I'll have to better time our next doctor's visit.

The good news is that he is better... except for a worsening diaper rash due to the diarrhea caused by the antibiotic. He's currently sleeping on his stomach with his bottom exposed to the air and the diaper under his pee pee. I hope I don't regret this!

The other difficulty is preparing for work at night or in the morning. Last night it seemed as if I couldn't be left alone so that I could get some instructional planning done. I already feel like my needs come dead last in the family list of priorities. I'm sure many women/mothers have felt this... Why? Why does it have to be this way? Then I feel like b@#* for defending my own agenda.

This morning was nearly impossible. I was up at 6:20 am. The following is a list of my accomplishments. I had hoped to leave somewhere between 7:15 and 7:30 am. No such luck...

1. change baby's diaper

2. dress baby

3. nurse baby

4. prepare baby's daycare bag with labeled bottles and daily info form (and feed fish)

5. pump

5. prepare pumping bag

6. feed baby solids because he's fussing and seems to be hungry early today

7. eat breakfast while feeding baby

8. give baby antibiotic (which he hates)

9. prepare cooler for pumped breastmilk

10. pack lunch

11. pack school materials and laptop

12. shower

13. dress, make-up, hair, etc.

14. pack water bottle and coffee

15. pack car

16. leave! (7:45am)

Since I fed the baby solids (I usually don't), my husband asked if I put that on the form. I didn't. I explained that I didn't because I had filled the form out before I realized that he wanted to eat. As I'm headed out the door, he yells downstairs... asking if I've changed the form... I reply nastily, "NO!" He asks me to change it. I reply that I'm not going to. In my mind that is one additional thing that he can do this morning since he drops our son off at daycare. And if he doesn't, it's not the end of the world. They'll try to feed him at daycare, he won't eat and they'll save his food or throw it out. Perhaps we loose $0.75 in the process. Personally, those cents weren't worth my sanity.

I arrive to work grumpy and out of sorts...

At the end of the day, I decided to take some "me" time. So I headed home, took a nap for 45 minutes, jogged around the block for 25 minutes and THEN went to pick up my son. I was in a much better mood and able to deal with the impending diaper rash I would discover later. Did I mention that I've been up at least 4 times a night these days as well???? Being sick wreaked havoc on Gabe's sleep schedule. Plus, he's teething and now with the DIAPER RASH... Well you can imagine. I feel like I can't expect much. Tonight we started with Motrin. I'm hoping that will ease some of the discomfort and help him AND I get some much needed zzz's.

Tur att man har vänner, Pontus tipsade mig om The Errors och deras platta; It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever, för någon vecka sedan och jävligt bra är den. Jag har jättesvårt för att dela in musik i olika genrar men Last.fm taggar det som Post-electro. Den har två spår som jag blivit förälskad i; Dance Music och Pump. Ett litet tips bara!

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Publisher : Aerosoles Company : Aerosoles

Features

• Imported

Product Description

Your feet will continue to look for comfort by calling "Here kitty, kitty!" The "Kitty Kap" is a wonderful open toe shoe with a 13/4" low heel, suede lined insole, and slip resistant.

Amazon.com Product Description

This is one cute and sweet little Kitty Kap! This versatile d'Orsay style pump from Aerosols will do more than dress you with perfection, it will keep you comfortable and light on your feet all day and night. It has a smooth leather upper with an alluring open toe, and a fully cushioned insole that will keep you comfortable, and a textured rubber outsole that will deliver sure footing and balance.

Customer reviews

Very nice shoes.. by .. Linsey Whitehead (San Antonio, Texas)
VERY cute shoes! I love them so much I'm thinking about buying another pair in a different color.

nice profile shoe, low heel, comfy by .. Angelina (Upstate NY)
I bought these in bronze for a wedding and find them to be very comfy. I usually wear a size 8 but the 81/2 fits fine. There is a band of elastic sewn in the back of the heel part that helps keep the shoe secure due to the open space of the instep. It's a nice departure from higher heels yet looks very nice on the foot due to the "peep hole." It's a good shoe for either pantsuits or short dresses. I wouldn't wear this with shoe with anything else.

Favorite pair of shoes! by .. Alex Rivas (Long Island City, NY USA)
I saw these shoes in the store and I thought they were ugly, but they looked very nice on my feet when I put them on. Alas, the store didn't have my size in the color I wanted so I bought them on Amazon. I'm usually a size 9 1/2 but I had to get these in a 9 so they wouldn't slip off my heel. They are comfortable (Aerosoles did make a name on selling comfy shoes, after all)and the heel is low, but walkable (and sexy in my opinion.) I recommend them because they can be an anything shoe. They did pinch my pinky, but once the front was broken in my pinky was able to breathe.

I'm a big fan of seat-bags for bikes.  They are small, stay out of your way, and hold everything you might need for a flat tire or small trail side repair.  However, if you forget to properly stock them, then you end up carrying around extra weight for nothing.  I was well into my ride tonight and just as I was nearing the part of the trail farthest from the car, I slid out around a corner.  When I got the bike back under control I stopped to see what was wrong.  Sure enough, the rear tire had gone flat, so I pulled the wheel out and then checked my seat-bag for an extra tube.  The tube was there along with a tool for making adjustments, but I forgot to pack my pump.  I sat there frustrated and disappointed in myself waiting for my girlfriend to arrive and bail me out.  She was riding with her brand new Camelbak, so I was sure that she'd have a pump for me to use.  Another important lesson learned, don't rely on someone else to save you out on the trail.  She was so excited about her new hydration pack that she didn't bother to put a single thing in it other than water.  No way to inflate my tire meant a 40 minute hike back to the parking lot in unforgiving bike shoes.  The take home lesson?  Take a tube and a pump with you if you ride a bike into the woods.  It's solely your responsibility and you've got no right to rely on someone else, especially just to save weight.  If someone does bail you out, buy them dinner and don't let it happen again.

Federico finished the fountain at the entrance of the museum today. We wired the pump and he hid the pump under an artificial "rock" he had made.

The squarish thing in the background is a "pila" (a water container). Federico will be converting it into a colonial style fuente before the opening.

From a storming debut of British rock juggernauts Led Zeppelin to the powerhouse comeback statement of America's biggest rock band; Aerosmith's Pump. There's something that stops Aerosmith being recognised as much as they should be other here, it could be that they became victims of the MTV posturing their rejuvenation sparked or simply that all that big rock balladry went out long ago. It could be that there's nothing like an over-the-top film tie-in hit to turn off the critics. Of course; it could simply be that they've still not topped this album since its release in 1989.

Something, I can't remember what, led me to Aerosmith's Big Ones - the compilation of their Geffen albums sometime around 1996 before the release of Nine Lives. From their this was my next purchase and the radio fodder of singles What It Takes and Love In An Elevator didn't really prepare me for what this album contain, with the exception of the sleaze of ..Elevator. From the kick off this album is a power house full of heavy riffs and thumping drums underpinned with melody and basically great songs.

Young Lust is exactly what you'd expect from an Aerosmith song with such a title; charging guitars and storming rhythm as Tyler sings the words that sums the album up entirely:

"a little bit o' nasty
you look a little sleazy
but don't get any on you

young lust
you better keep your daughter inside
or she's gonna get a dose of my pride
yeah, everybody talks about it"

As an opener it perfectly sets up what follows. Young Lust starts almost with a falter before picking up an energy that carries it along and rams it straight into F.I.N.E and sets up the rest of the album.

The songs (with the exception of Janie's Got A Gun) don't deal with heavy issues, it's lust and the energy of youth perfectly captured by men nudging their middle ages but injected with a fresh sense of urgency since cleaning up their act and at the very peak of their game. Joe Perry lays down startling lead and solo after startling lead and solo while showing off more versatility (check out the slide work of Monkey On My Back) than most guitarists of the MTV late 80's rock scene.

This album is the sound of a band getting back their edge. While Permanent Vacation threw them back into the limelight and the charts, it really didn't sound like the hard edged rockers that had produced the classics like Rocks and Toys In The Attic. Here they retain the precision that came with their comeback but they lose the shine and gloss in favour of something harder, grittier and raunchier. Most importantly, the best songs on the album are written without outside help showing that while their addictions may have robbed their earlier fortunes, it never took their ability to create great music. Every member makes his presence known on this album be it Joey Kramer's never-miss drums, Tom Hamilton's co-creation of Janie's Got A Gun or Brad Whitfords nail-it-down rhythm guitar and titling of the album (thankfully stopping it being called Here's Looking Up Your Old Address) every band member brings this album kicking and screaming into touch.

While at the time of release Janies Got A Gun was heralded for tackling the taboo of child molestation, today the lyrics no longer shock in the same way. Musically though the track is a milestone. String arrangements, distorted guitars and THAT Korg intro showed a band moving forward and willing to take risks with their sound (if only they hadn't tried the rap folly of Just Push Play on 2001's album of the same name). With musical interludes expertly splicing the gap from the sublimely fast paced to the bluesier laid back numbers, the pacing of this album means the listener loses interest and even the now-obligatory power ballad What It Takes is a cut above the average.

There's not a song that gets skipped when this album hits my cd player and I strongly recommend this album gets the listening it deserves. Maybe steer clear of the Spinal Tap like Making of Pump dvd in which Tyler suggests that he and his comrades are "like ladder makers" without a trace of irony. It's just a shame they never pushed it further.

Check out:

Young Lust and F.I.N.E rightly lodged together

Don't Get Mad, Get Even; boogie-woogie-raunch-rock as it should be

Instead, the pathetic Prime Minister reduced my diesel price from RM2.58 to RM2.50.  Badawi, you think I am stupid enough to thank you for this RM0.08 drop?  You and Najib must be fool to think that I am very grateful to the price reduction?  

And you know what, today's crude oil prices have dropped further to USD91.95 per barrel.  I don't understand why does Badawi take such a long time to reduce pump prices?  He seems to take joy in the suffering of the rakyat.  Such morbid Prime Minister.  Any wise minister would quickly reduce the petrol price.  He seems to be still dreaming when he kept denying the pressure that is mounting up for him to step down.  FOr one who is in that shoe, go reduce petrol price and flex your political muscles the right way lah!

Quick, reduce the pump price quickly!

Today oil traded at $95.71 per barrel, the lowest its been since Feb 15 when it cost $98.55. It was at its highest on July 11 at $147.27 per barrel. In July gas here in VA was about $3.90ish per gallon for regular at its peak. Right now its $3.55ish. Back in Feb gas was still below $3 per gallon here in VA. If the cost per barrel is below the price it was in February why isn't gas below $3??? In July when the price per barrel was almost $50 more the price per gallon was only about .40 cents more. I know Tropical Storm/Hurricane IKE is probably part of the reason right but gas needs to eventually go down another 50 cents.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/news/economy/gas_prices/index.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/15/markets/oil/index.htm?postversion=2008091515

ภาพที่ 1 ราคา nymex จาก oil-price.net

ส่วนราคาน้ำมันในประเทศมีการปรับลงเฉพาะดีเซลตั้งแต่เมื่อวันศุกร์ที่แล้ว (12 กันยายน 2551)

ภาพที่ 2 ราคา หน้า ปั้มในประเทศ

Wondertwinpowersactivate!

Originally uploaded by CleverGirlBek

Ok. So I’m finally starting to catch up on this end….

I finally received my Dexcom Seven STS (Fedex in Fort Myers was holding it hostage and didn’t bother to notify anyone…Seems the shipper forgot to put our unit #) which, and this is the short version, tests my glucose and gives a result every 5 minutes….

The sensor that samples the interstitial fluid is really tiny, although the applicator scared the crap out of me… I’m not big on the “insertion” devices when it comes to my pump infusion sets (sub-q catheters) as I’m a bit of a control freak- I don’t like my subcutaneous needles to go fast- I can’t handle the anticipation and the build up- I like to put them in slow and mellow…. It hurts less that way, at least for me…

Anyway, I have been wearing this thing for 2 weeks and I’m so surprised that each sensor did stay on (with strategic adhesive reinforcements and glad press and seal during showers to protect the adhesive) for the two sessions and they were not uncomfortable (occasionally the one in my belly felt like it was giving me an electrical zap…annoying, but very intermittent….

I am realizing that there is a huge learning curve for these things… As there was with my pump, which I am relearning right now as well to help get in better control…

The transmitter is manageable – fairly small- like a small disposable lighter. This week I have been wearing it in my arm (way less painful than insulin injection or pump infusion set insertion in the arm…pleasantly surprised…) as having it in my belly last week showed a whole bunch of “noise”…More likely than not the noise was from my purpley lightning bolts of fury (stretch marks from my giant preggo belly when I was carrying the big guy)…So this week I tried the arm…

The receiver is another story- not crazy about it. It’s freaking huge. I rigged a hook to it to hang it from my waistband as it came close to taking a dive a few times, and it is not waterproof. I did order a great little pouch from diabetesmall.com but I’m kind of digging being able to check the screen without opening the velcro flap…Still undecided….
This week the receiver keeps losing contact with the sensor and transmitter and it is making me nuts- a simple thing like having the transmitter in contact with my mattress or the receiver near my laptop seems to disrupt it.… So far I know not to rely on any of the numbers but the dexcom is helpful for following trends and hopefully adjusting my insulin dosages/basal rates, but I’m still testing with finger sticks like a maniac (around 10 times a day lately) and noticing some fairly wide differences in numbers…

The one thing I am really disappointed about, that I may return this and try for the Navigator, is that this doesn’t alert you to potentially dangerous trends (potential lows and highs) but it does alert you when you go above or below a certain point. I knew this going in, but I don't think I realized how important that feature is in my world... As my hypoglycemia unawareness is pretty lousy and a low leaves me out of commission for up to 24 hours these days, and interstitial fluid readings are around 15-20 minutes behind finger sticks, I would like, at the very least, a higher “low” threshold… The other day I was registering as low at 90 but my fingerstick was 45. For me, that is too late and a little scary (especially in the middle of the night) and made me wonder if one of my reasons (I had a few) for wanting this bulky technology in my life is now invalid…

I mean, trends are going to save my life, but the way I look at it- the warning of lows, in advance, could save my kid’s life and my life and will give me back more time that I am losing from recovering from the highs and lows….

More on my Dexcom Seven experience over the next few weeks…. Still trying to figure it out and make a decision…

Publisher : Hale Bob Company : Hale Bob

Product Description

Embellish your elegant evening ensembles with these deeply sophisticated Katia pumps by Hale Bob. Crinkle patent leather upper in a slip-on dress pump style with a pointed toe. A vintage-inspired gorgeous brooch style fly embellishment at the side of the toe adds timeless sophistication. Metallic leather lining and cushioned logo insole, flat traction outsole, 1 inch stacked kitten heel. Perfect for coktail hour or dressier evening soirees.

Product Description

These pumps from Hale Bob have great texture and depth and are a virtual shoe-in as your chic new everyday footwear. Dressy and tailored with suiting and noticeably alluring with knee-skimming skirts, the Katia features gleaming patent leather and a tempting kitten stacked heel. Its lightly elasticized collar and old school rhinestone fly brooch finish this shoe with real panache.

Publisher : Hale Bob Company : Hale Bob

Product Description

Polish up your dress looks with the sublime Dusty pump from Hale Bob. Printed leather upper in a dress slingback pump style with a round peep toe, tonal stitching accents and rolled leather piping trim. Heel sling strap wraps at back to create an alluring ankle strap, bold decorative adjustable buckle. Smooth lining, cushioned insole. Upper wraps over 1/2 inch midsole. Smooth dress style outsole. 4 inch leather wrapped high retro style heel.

Amazon.com Product Description

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