The price of Mercury Falls has been drastically reduced!First of all, I adored "Mercury Falls," and can't wait for the sequel. Second of all -- Yippee! Amazon's finally letting us lend our books on Kindle!
It ain't gonna get any cheaper, and the price could go back up at any time. So get Mercury Falls now on Kindle for $3.99 or in paperback for $7.48!
Know someone who got a Kindle for Christmas? Give -- or LEND -- them Mercury Falls!
A few weeks ago, I let you know that Amazon now allows you to give Kindle books as gifts. Now they've announced another cool feature: you can LOAN books on Kindle! For details on how to do this, go here.
Whoohoo! Amazon has finally made Kindle books loanable!
As the storm swept north, the National Weather Service reported that there was snow on the ground in every state except Florida. That included Hawaii, which had 7 inches on the top of the Mauna Kea mountain.How cool is THAT??? (Oops. I forgot. Blame it on Global Warming.)
Read Loughner’s rantings: “I can’t trust the current government because...the government is implying mind control on the people by controlling grammar. No! I won’t pay debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver! No! I won’t trust in God!”Too right.
Watch the video in which Loughner, wearing a trash bag, a hoodie and a bizarre mask, appears to “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” by Drowning Pool and burns the American flag before leaving the viewer with this message: “I want you never fearing of wrongful incrimination by local police [cult leaders].”
His favorite books: everything from Animal Farm to The Wizard of Oz to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Mein Kampf to the Communist Manifesto.
What are we to glean from all this? That heated rhetoric from the right led to the shootings? Huh?
How about this: He’s a nutjob. A twisted, sick mind that exploded. All the back and forth about heated political rhetoric, all the attempts to capitalize on this tragedy, won’t change that.
The motivations of the shooter are irrelevant. It is OUR motivations we should examine and understand. The reaction to the shootings reminds us how political extremism saps our humanity. It’s the same dynamic that allows young men to strap on explosives and go blow themselves up in crowded markets — the trumping of tender feeling by delusional political obsession. You would not, if it were your wife shot in the head in Tucson, flutter your fingers on the keyboard and wax snarky about Obamacare. You would not, if it were your father, murdered in a grocery store parking lot, carp about Sarah Palin’s rhetorical excesses. You would not, if it were your third-grader, your darling daughter killed on a Saturday morning because she was in the student council and wanted to meet a real congresswoman, pontificate about our cherished Second Amendment rights. The victims had blood to shed — these online observers seem cold, bloodless and inhuman.Thank you both for reminding us what's important and what's not, gentlemen.
Press your fingers, not into the carnage, seeking something crimson to underscore your point, but against your own neck. Find a pulse, if you have one, and then try to conduct yourself accordingly.
“I hope you help those in need,” reads the message on the page before Christina’s picture. “I hope you see rainbows.”Enough with the hypocritical angry-making already.
On the page after her photo, the message reads, “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.”
_____"China has produced a number of other elderly horny folks in recent years."I can't believe this one slipped by a news editor!
The loudest noises heard in the lead car of Metra's Rock Island District train No. 416 this morning were from the train whistle.Faster, please! Lately there's been a blowhard sitting at the far end of my usual train car. He pontificates loudly to his seat mate all the way in to the city, and he's never got one good thing to say about anything or anyone. Bleah.
Annoying phone conversations and loud chatter from passengers? Not any more, if all goes according to plan.
Today marked the inaugural run for Metra's "quiet cars," where cell phones, noisy electronic devices and loud conversations are off-limits in the first and last cars on trains during morning and evening rush hours.
A top House Democrat said the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) should change how members of Congress are screened at airports. “We’ve had some incidents where TSA authorities think that congresspeople should be treated like everybody else,” he said. “Well, the fact of the matter is, we are held to a higher standard in so many other areas, and I think we need to take a hard look at exactly how the TSA interact with members of Congress.”Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) Remember that name and vote the bum out next time he's up for reelection!
Sure, immigration is an important issue to Latinos nationally, but it comes in well behind the economy, education and health care. In Chicago, it is at the bottom of a list that includes extreme poverty, gun violence and troubled schools.Well said, Ms. Cepeda.Silly conversations about ethnic solidarity have distracted us enough.
Fear of being a “bag lady” is the secret worry of every older woman. I’ve written and talked about this before, and the subject always gets a nod or a grimace of recognition.Cut this out and share it with every woman you know, regardless of her age or marital status.No woman wants to be a burden on her children – or grow old alone, worry about money.
SUPAKITCH & KORALIE - VÄRLDSKULTUR MUSEET GÖTEBORG from elr°y on Vimeo.
I couldn't have done it at all. That's beautiful... and awesome. I really admire people with talent like that.Some Illinois-based Web businesses were furious Thursday at a legislative plan that would require online retailers, such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, to collect a 6.25 percent state tax if they have commissioned affiliates in the state.Illinois blogger Marathon Pundit and lots of others will be losing his Amazon Associate status if Quinn signs that bill.
That puts at risk huge revenue streams for such Illinois-based Web sites as FatWallet.com, CouponCabin.com and BradsDeals.com, which receive much of their commissions from sending customers to major online retailers. Their commissions are at risk because large retailers have shown in the past that they will sever business relationships with affiliates like those to avoid collecting state sales tax, called a use tax in Illinois, on products they sell.
The bill, passed Thursday afternoon, needs approval from Gov. Pat Quinn.
"I feel like I've been completely flipped the bird," said Tim Storm, chief executive of FatWallet, based in Rockton, near Rockford. "Essentially, 30 to 40 percent of our revenue gets shut off instantaneously."Good going there, Governor. We're going to lose business and see more people out of work because of this short-sighted bit of legislation. And, on top of that, people who are hurting and who can buy things more cheaply are once again given the shaft.
FatWallet officials were busy Thursday scouting ways to leave Illinois, Storm said.
"The reality is that as a business owner with 52 employees, we're not going to just get shut down because of a law Illinois passes. Our customers don't care whether we're in the state of Illinois," he said.
Brad Wilson, founder of BradsDeals, in Chicago, said about half his revenue would be in jeopardy, along with 20 jobs at his company.
"We don't have much choice. If this is going to stick, we literally can't physically be in Illinois," Wilson said. "My wife is from Cleveland and would be thrilled if we moved back there. That's the kind of thing that's going through my head."
House Votes to Repeal “Job-Killing” Health Care Law 236-181Yay!
You know I am a fan of Nic Cage and Ron Perlman (whose very existence made the “Hellboy” movies possible). Here, like cows, they devour the scenery, regurgitate it to a second stomach found only in actors and chew it as cud. It is a noble effort, but I prefer them in their straight-through Human Centipede mode.Go Roger!
You Are Chinese Checkers |
 You live a hyper, fast paced life. You rarely ever slow down. You are good at juggling many things at once. You are the ultimate multi-tasker. You enjoy being in a group - in fact the bigger the group, the better. You are an enthusiastic competitor, and you can be a little ruthless when you play games. |
Braun surfaced Wednesday on the South Side at the scene of a shooting in the 6900 block of South Marshfield Avenue to say that if elected mayor, she won't tolerate violence and will push for more community involvement and economic development. When a reporter asked about the tax returns and how she is paying her bills, Braun asked what media outlet he was from and told him her business is fine.My Magic Cheezburger and I note that in four paragraphs we find that Girlfriend is an opportunist ("DO NOT WANT"), that Girlfriend will continue to dodge questions about her taxes and bills ("MEBBEH"), that Girlfriend will and does resort to "I'm Rubber, You're Glue" tactics ("DIS BURGER IS BORKED"), that Girlfriend is willing to use classic bait and switch tactics ("WIN") and that Girlfriend once again fails to get her facts straight ("PLEH:(").
"Some of you may work for the Tribune or the Sun-Times, and last time I looked, the Tribune was in bankruptcy," Braun said.
"There's a kid laying up dead," she said, as she got into a waiting car near where blood was still frozen on the street. "Come on guys, be responsible yourselves."
As of Wednesday evening, Chicago police said neither of the two teens shot had died in the incident.
[A]black elected official backing Braun, who asked to remain anonymous, disagreed, noting that Chicago’s $1 billion-a-year structural deficit is the No. 1 issue facing the next mayor.Ya think??? It's pretty bad when even her supporters are are starting to agree with the Magic Cheezburger, which tells Girlfriend that when it comes to the office of Mayor of Chicago, "U NO CAN HAS".
Of course, more hilarity ensued.
Deaths stemming from train-vehicle collisions and pedestrian accidents at public railroad crossings in Illinois increased last year, safety officials said Tuesday.But I did tell you so.
The 17 fatalities reported between January and November last year at Illinois rail crossings, and 10 deaths of pedestrians hit by trains, reversed a recent decline in collisions, according to statistics compiled by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Now that former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun has changed her mind and released her federal income tax returns Tuesday, we not only have a clearer understanding of why she wanted to put it off until after the mayoral election but also what may have motivated her to come out of political retirement in the first place.It doesn't indicate any underlying sense of good judgment, either. In fact,
Simply put, it looks like she needs a job, and these tax returns aren’t going to help her get one on the 5th Floor of City Hall.
Following in the footsteps of Bill Brady and Alexi Giannoulias, Braun neither paid nor owed any federal income taxes for either 2008 or 2009, her returns show.
Business losses wiped out what little income she reported during those years. Unlike either of those other two non-tax-paying candidates, though, there’s not much evidence to suggest Braun has any underlying wealth.
Braun’s tax returns, coupled with the fact she lives in a house encumbered with about $2 million in mortgages (which she has on the market for $1.9 million), would suggest an individual facing serious financial distress.What does my Magic Cheezburger have to say to Ms. Mosely Braun about these revelations?
"UR DOIN IT WRONG"This leads me to two questions:
According to the trusty Magic Cheezburger: "SOOOON"Alas, poor Jesse! Once again deprived of the position of Chief Behind-the-Scenes String-Puller of Chicago. And he was just... so... damned... close this time, too.
"With this fund-raising being as successful as it is, as God is my witness, I will not go hungry again." -- Moseley-BraunOh, Carol! You are the gift that keeps on giving!
... must be an official product of the...
Just saying...The faster foreclosures happen, the better it might be for the real estate market, a study from Old Dominion University suggests.Really?
Two researchers used modeling and simulation to examine the lingering impact of foreclosures.
"The neighbor who is paying the mortgage finds out about their neighbor who isn't, and it creates something called the moral hazard problem," Seiler said. "The paying neighbor asks himself why he should continue paying his mortgage when his neighbor stopped paying a year ago and nothing bad has happened to him. It creates an incentive for people to do a bad behavior, one that's harmful to others in the market. This problem is quickly getting out of control and someone needs to step in."Ouch, indeed.
Seiler likened it to taking off a Band-Aid. It hurts to pull it off quickly, but then it's over. Pulling it off slowly lengthens the pain.
This flies in the face of government programs to slow or stop the foreclosure process and keep people in their homes.
The Jay Pritzger Pavilion, the Bean and the McCormick Tribune Plaza and ice rink, the Lurie Garden and Lake Michigan, all in one shot. Sweet!
"You know how when you sit on your phone when it's in your back pocket and it calls the last number that was dialed? His wife was the last number he'd dialed," said Winnetka police Chief Joseph De Lopez. "The conversation led her to believe there was someone holding him hostage."Heh!
In the popular vernacular, it was a butt dial, the bane of many a chagrined cell phone user. This time, it led to a frantic 911 call from a wife. Soon, more than 30 gun-toting officers converged on Carleton Washburne School, which also houses the District 36 offices where the man works.
Given Braun's history of demonstrably bad judgment, and the fact that Jesse Jackson's filthy fingerprints are all over this turn of events, I'm confident she'll do or say something -- and probably a lot of things -- to get herself blown right out of the race.And it took less than 24 hours for her to serve up this juicy gem:
Mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun today said she won't make her tax returns public before next month's election.Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!! Keep 'em coming, Carol! Show us how much you really don't want to win the primary, let alone the mayoral race.
"Because I don't want to," Braun said when asked why she wouldn't be releasing them in the time before the Feb. 22 election.
We're numb, we're numb, Emanuel.That's just fabulous!
Does Carol Moseley Braun still ring a bell?
So Danny's name's the first that will appear
It's him and Gery Chico at the rear.
Your voice, your choice, Emanuel
Stop using words much worse than damn or hell
Disregarding typical nursing-home rules, Beatitudes allowed Ms. Nance, 96 and afflicted with Alzheimer’s, to sleep, be bathed and dine whenever she wanted, even at 2 a.m. She could eat anything, too, no matter how unhealthy, including unlimited chocolate.Sign me up right now.
And she was given a baby doll, a move that seemed so jarring that a supervisor initially objected until she saw how calm Ms. Nance became when she rocked, caressed and fed her “baby,” often agreeing to eat herself after the doll “ate” several spoonfuls.
Dementia patients at Beatitudes are allowed practically anything that brings comfort, even an alcoholic “nip at night,” said Tena Alonzo, director of research. “Whatever your vice is, we’re your folks,” she said.
In a private room inside the upscale East Bank Club, a group of young Latino professionals that included staffers from several Chicago mayoral campaigns sat down recently to talk about a shared interest: power and how to get it.Actually, the Illinois GOP should take a page or two right out of this playbook.
Juan Rangel, co-chairman of Rahm Emanuel's mayoral bid and head of the influential United Neighborhood Organization, stood at the front of the room. Before him, he saw the next generation of Chicago's political leaders, corporate chieftains and cultural tastemakers.
As the city gears up to elect its first new mayor in 21 years, Rangel said Latinos are at a crossroads and, with his UNO colleagues, is preparing up-and-coming professionals for a place at the table, no matter who replaces Richard Daley.
"It's not about being altruistic; put that aside," Rangel, 45, told the 36 smartly dressed men and women who had gathered for a lesson in political hardball through UNO's Metropolitan Leadership Institute. "If you don't have power, you'll never get to first base."
I knew a read a lot, but documenting my year in books has been a real eye-opener for me. First, here's my December list, followed by links back to my monthly lists for 2010:December – 19/181
Kay Thompson – From Funny Face to Eloise, Sam Irvin*
Home at Rose Cottage, Sherryl Woods*
Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature’s Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Inoclasts, and Misanthropes, Bill Peschel*
Mary Ann in Autumn: A Tales of the City Novel, Armisted Maupin[1]*
Invisible: An Ivy Malone Mystery, Lorena McCourtney*
Return to Rose Cottage, Sherryl Woods*
The Hangman’s Daughter, Oliver Pötzsch[2]*
Call Me Mrs. Miracle, Debbie Macomber[3]*
How I Learned to Love the Walrus, Beth Orsoff*
A Dog Named Slugger, Leigh Brill*
Zero Game, Brad Meltzer[4]*
A Christmas Story: The Book That Inspired the Hilarious Classic Film, Jean Shepherd*
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish Without a Trace, Frank M. Ahearn[5]*
The Matchmakers, Jennifer Colgan*
Skitty (Shipscat), Mercedes Lackey[6]*
A Better Mousetrap, Mercedes Lackey[7]*
A Tale of Two Skitties, Mercedes Lackey[8]*
Saint Training, Elizabeth Fixmer*
Millie’s Fling, Jill Mansell*[1] I adored the original Tales of the City series, so this was like meeting a cherished old friend after an absence of many years -- perfectly lovely.
[2] Fascinating fictional mystery set in 17th century Bavaria, based on the actual history of the author’s ancestors – the Kuisl family, who were executioners for centuries in that area.
[3] I generally like Macomber’s books, especially her Christmas angels series. This, however, was a direct rip-off of Miracle on 34th Street. I’m disappointed, quite frankly.
[4] Think John Grisham’s Pelican Brief goes to Congress. Just okay, okay?
[5] First lesson? It’s a bad idea to buy this book with anything other than cash. That’s fine with me, as I was more interested in how this is possible from a writer’s point of view.
[6] Novella.
[7] Novella.
[8] Novella.
That's a thing of beauty, isn't it?Vick is not allowed to own a dog while he is on probation, and PETA wants the restriction extended when he is up for review in 2012. In the same way convicted pedophiles are not allowed to be alone with children, PETA's board says, it believes convicted animal abusers should be denied unsupervised access to pets.He may have paid his debt to society, but he'll never pay his debt to all those dogs he already killed and/or abused.
"Children and animals are completely defenseless to an abuser," Lange said.
Frank still urges Anthony to move inside without him. Anthony tells him to be quiet.Go read the whole thing.
"Some people say I'm crazy. Some people say I'm loyal. I just say he's my brother," Anthony says.
"I love him," Frank says.
Meanwhile, Anthony, who is expected to remain in the hospital for several days, has been fielding calls in his room from long-lost relatives who read the story and got in touch after an estrangement of nearly 20 years.Update 2:
"It's kind of hard to talk to people when they're crying and you're crying," Anthony said Wednesday, lying in a hospital bed, a breathing tube in his nose and an IV in his arm. He said he's looking forward to getting reacquainted with his seven half-siblings and 17 nieces and nephews.
"It took that article to get me back to my family," he said. "A couple of days after Christmas, but I still enjoyed the present."
A 34-year-old businessman moved by a Tribune story about homeless twin brothers is paying for a week's hotel stay for one brother while the other remains hospitalized.That's a lot of love all the way around.
The west suburban businessman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was looking for an opportunity to help and do something more than put a check in the mail.
"A lot of people talk the talk, including myself," he said. "But walking the walk is another story."
What do you do when your sweetheart asks you for something that is not commercially available anywhere at any price?Now that's real love!
Well if you're me, you make it yourself!
Daisycat watched a little girl wearing light-up shoes stride and trip her way down the auditorium walkway at a recent Christmas concert we attended. She declared "*I* want a pair of shoes like that!"
Well. The only problem is that the shoe sizes of light-up shoes stop at kid's size three! I searched high and low, and there are a lot of other people searching for this impossible gift also. All of the "answers" websites come up empty. The only "adult" light up shoes are clear acrylic platform heels for women that have lights in the soles.
Not...quite Daisycat's style...
Mr. Monkey Toes:
One most happy Nana and pal:
My Christmas was full of magic. And yours?
