Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Cousin's Web Site
My cousin, Kevin Gould, has a web site up with his modeling photos and acting resume/credits. Way to go Kevin! Here's a link to the site: http://www.kevingouldonline.com/
Monday, October 27, 2008
Cookies from ISA Certification Department
Bruce and I received a nice cookie bouquet from the ISA certification team in response for some work we have been doing for them. It was a terrific and appreciated surprise. I've attached a pair of photos.
The card read, 'Ernie + Bruce - Thank you for all your hard work. we appreciate it. You Rock, The Certification Team'.
Very cool!
The card read, 'Ernie + Bruce - Thank you for all your hard work. we appreciate it. You Rock, The Certification Team'.
Very cool!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Star Trek Episode Song
I found this on YouTube. Some guy wrote a song including the name of every episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. If you know me, you know I am a big Star Trek fan and this video just had to be posted.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Snuggie Cult
Anyone seen this commercial. It's too funny. This is going on both of my blogs.
This is a real product, but it makes these people look like they are in a cult.
This is a real product, but it makes these people look like they are in a cult.
Friday, October 10, 2008
World Bank Under Cyber Siege in 'Unprecedented Crisis'
By Richard Behar - Fox News
The World Bank Group's computer network — one of the largest repositories of sensitive data about the economies of every nation — has been raided repeatedly by outsiders for more than a year, FOX News has learned.
It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution's highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank's network for nearly a month in June and July.
In total, at least six major intrusions — two of them using the same group of IP addresses originating from China — have been detected at the World Bank since the summer of 2007, with the most recent breach occurring just last month.
In a frantic midnight e-mail to colleagues, the bank's senior technology manager referred to the situation as an "unprecedented crisis." In fact, it may be the worst security breach ever at a global financial institution. And it has left bank officials scrambling to try to understand the nature of the year-long cyber-assault, while also trying to keep the news from leaking to the public.
Click here to see the e-mail.
The crisis comes at an awkward moment for World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who runs the world's largest and most influential anti-poverty agency, which doles out $25 billion a year, and whose board represents 185 member nations. This weekend, the bank holds its annual series of meetings in Washington — and just in advance of those sessions, Zoellick called for a radical revamping of multilateral organizations in light of the global economic meltdown.
Zoellick is positioning himself and the bank as an institution that can help chart a new path toward global financial stability. But that reputation, more than ever, depends on the bank's stable information infrastructure.
The fact that the information vaults of the World Bank have been repeatedly pried open won't help Zoellick's case.
While it remains unclear how much data has been pilfered from the bank, it's a lot. According to internal memos, "a minimum of 18 servers have been compromised," including some of the bank's most sensitive systems — ranging from the bank's security and password server to a Human Resources server "that contains scanned images of staff documents."
Click here to see bank memos about the intrusions.
One World Bank director tells FOX News that as many as 40 servers have been penetrated, including one that held contract-procurement data.
Despite the gravity of the break-ins, the bank is trying hard to pretend to outsiders it didn't happen. "There were attempts to hack the bank's computer systems last summer," says a World Bank spokesman. "However, there was no compromise of confidential information." Requests for on-the-record interviews with Zoellick and other top officials were declined.
Meanwhile, the bank's treasurer, Kenneth G. Lay, has been briefing Zoellick's senior management team regularly on the situation since April.
Other bank officials are also sleuthing. The bank's chief information officer, Guy De Poerck, has engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to do a confidential million-dollar assessment that is expected to tell him what's going on in his own department. And a 22-page internal report by a computer security company named MANDIANT, dated August 18, fleshes out many details of the June-July breaches. But very few people have ever seen the report, and nobody has been permitted to retain a paper copy.
At the same time, De Poerck has been downplaying the problem to the bank's 10,000 rank-and-file staffers as mere intrusion "attempts" in his e-mails. Yet most of those staffers have been asked to change their password three times in the past three months.
"As previously reported in mid-July," CIO De Poerck and a senior bank treasury official wrote in an August announcement to employees, "we would like to reassure you that there is no evidence that Bank staff personal information is at risk from the recent external attempts."
It's unclear how that statement squares with an internal memo to De Poerck a month earlier revealing that a sensitive Human Resources server "that contains scanned images of staff documents" had been successfully breached. De Poerk declined to comment to FOX News about any of these details.
Click here to see De Poerck's memo.
In reality, the situation is serious enough that federal investigators have been called in. "We're not talking about hackers playing games or messing up our website," insists a senior member of the bank's IT department at its Washington headquarters. "It's about the FBI coming last summer and saying, 'You should take a look at your systems because we think something weird is going on.' It's about the intruders knowing what information they wanted — and getting to it whenever they wanted to. They took our existing data stores and organized them in a way that they could be easily accessed at will."
In plainspeak: "They had access to everything," says the source. "They had the keys to every room at the bank. And we can't say whether they still do or don't until we fully and openly address what's happening here."
The data raids are not a matter of stealing inconsequential bits and bytes. The World Bank's data center is literally a treasure trove of vital financial information from around the globe. As a clearinghouse for financial data from both governments and companies, the bank's computers could provide intruders with both a financial and intelligence gold mine — from inside information on bids and contracts to the minutes of confidential board meetings.
If the bank takes a position in a currency, for example, that currency usually moves in response to the bank's actions. Stocks and bonds can also swing up and down based on World Bank announcements. "If you know beforehand that the bank is going to put an order in for oil pipelines in Chad or healthcare systems in India, you can actually make a good amount of money," says one insider.
Although the bank typically provides only a fraction of the financing for a project, its influence on those projects is immense. Private corporations see the bank's stamp of approval as a guarantee that their own larger investments will be safe — and profitable. Knowing in advance what projects the bank's board will reject could be just as profitable.
Some insiders fear that contractors — perhaps even governments — might be seeking advance knowledge on the status of the bank's anti-corruption probes. "The bank knows the books of countries almost as well as the countries do — including the corruption at times," says one insider.
The first breach of the bank's secrets was discovered in September, 2007, after the FBI —while at work on a different cybercrime case — notified the bank that something was wrong. The feds pointed to a part of the bank's network that led out of the Johannesburg hub of the International Finance Corp. (IFC), a bank arm that lends to the private sector.
Within a week of the tip, teams of bank investigators sent to Johannesburg discovered that intruders had gained full and total access to all of IFC's worldwide information — including all incoming and outgoing e-mail — for at least six months. "They were downloading everything and anything," says one insider, who says that IFC's monitoring systems were extremely weak. "They [intruders] had full access."
Investigators discovered that the intruders were using a so-called "cluster" of IP addresses from Macao, China. But since those addresses can be spoofed (i.e., disguised) the discovery doesn't prove that the breaches actually originated in China. Nonetheless, bank officials and its executive director for China clashed behind closed doors over whether or not China's government is involved in the break-ins.
Bank sources tell FOX News that Johannesburg is one of several secret "hubs" containing a "common data store" (or CDS) that the World Bank Group has established around the globe. In layman's terms, a CDS is the cyber-world's version of a bomb shelter where every piece of an organization's data is replicated and backed up in case of a data-wipeout at headquarters in Washington. While it's known that IFC data was accessible at the hub, it remains unclear if all World Bank Group data was compromised there.
The second major breach — of the bank's treasury network in Washington — was discovered in April 2008. The World Bank's Treasury manages $70 billion in assets for 25 clients — including the central banks of some countries. It carries out substantial collaborations with the world's finance ministers on public wealth and debt management, runs an active bond-trading desk in Washington, and does everything from currency trading to capital markets financings.
After a forensic analysis of the treasury breach, bank investigators discovered that spy software was covertly installed on workstations inside the bank's Washington headquarters — allegedly by one or more contractors from Satyam Computer Services, one of India's largest IT companies.
The software — which operates through a method known as keystroke logging — enabled every character typed on a keyboard to be transmitted to a still-unknown location via the Internet.
Upon its discovery, insiders report, bank officials shut off the data link between Washington and Chennai, India, where Satyam has long operated the bank's sole offshore computer center responsible for all of the bank's financial and human resources information.
Satyam was also banned from any future work with the bank. "I want them off the premises now," Zoellick reportedly told his deputies. But at the urging of CIO De Poerck, Satyam employees remained at the bank as recently as Oct. 1 while it engaged in "knowledge transfer" with two new India-based contractors.
Satyam — one of the largest and most prestigious IT companies in India — is publicly listed on the NYSE and boasts having $2 billion in sales and more than 150 Fortune 500 companies as clients. In 2003, Satyam — it means "truth" in Sanskrit — won a much-heralded and lucrative five-year "sole source" contract to design, write and maintain all of the World Bank's information systems.
The contract — which began at $10 million and grew to more than $100 million by 2007 — was suddenly not renewed this year. Satyam so far declines to comment.
Then came the June-July breaches in Washington. They were similar to the Johannesburg attack, as the same group of IP addresses from Macao were used.
This time, however, the cyber-burglars used a different spyware. They broke into an external server run by the bank's private sector development unit. They were able to acquire passwords — including the password for the systems administrator.
That enabled them to jump into the servers at MIGA, the bank's giant insurance arm. It was there that they captured the security administrator's password as he was logging on to his computer.
It took ten days for bank officials to detect that they'd been invaded. Once they did, they shut down all external servers, except for e-mail — which it turns out the invaders were already using as their entrance point. By the end of July the invaders "had completely mapped out the topography of the bank's information systems," says one expert — "where everything was, the types of servers, and the types of files on the servers."
What the intruders did with all that information is the World Bank's most sensitive and painful mystery. It has clearly left the institution in a highly vulnerable position.
And the same may go for bank president Zoellick. Bank insiders say that he needs desperately to get the security of his own house in order. Despite the vast sums that the Bank spends on data and data storage, its information systems are deeply in disarray.
Today the total cost to maintain the bank's information infrastructure is at least $280 million per year. But according to one disgruntled bank staffer, "We don't even have an internal search engine that works."
The truly alarming fact, however, is that someone — or many people — seem to know their way around the bank's most valuable resource very well, even though they aren't supposed to be there at all.
The World Bank Group's computer network — one of the largest repositories of sensitive data about the economies of every nation — has been raided repeatedly by outsiders for more than a year, FOX News has learned.
It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution's highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank's network for nearly a month in June and July.
In total, at least six major intrusions — two of them using the same group of IP addresses originating from China — have been detected at the World Bank since the summer of 2007, with the most recent breach occurring just last month.
In a frantic midnight e-mail to colleagues, the bank's senior technology manager referred to the situation as an "unprecedented crisis." In fact, it may be the worst security breach ever at a global financial institution. And it has left bank officials scrambling to try to understand the nature of the year-long cyber-assault, while also trying to keep the news from leaking to the public.
Click here to see the e-mail.
The crisis comes at an awkward moment for World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who runs the world's largest and most influential anti-poverty agency, which doles out $25 billion a year, and whose board represents 185 member nations. This weekend, the bank holds its annual series of meetings in Washington — and just in advance of those sessions, Zoellick called for a radical revamping of multilateral organizations in light of the global economic meltdown.
Zoellick is positioning himself and the bank as an institution that can help chart a new path toward global financial stability. But that reputation, more than ever, depends on the bank's stable information infrastructure.
The fact that the information vaults of the World Bank have been repeatedly pried open won't help Zoellick's case.
While it remains unclear how much data has been pilfered from the bank, it's a lot. According to internal memos, "a minimum of 18 servers have been compromised," including some of the bank's most sensitive systems — ranging from the bank's security and password server to a Human Resources server "that contains scanned images of staff documents."
Click here to see bank memos about the intrusions.
One World Bank director tells FOX News that as many as 40 servers have been penetrated, including one that held contract-procurement data.
Despite the gravity of the break-ins, the bank is trying hard to pretend to outsiders it didn't happen. "There were attempts to hack the bank's computer systems last summer," says a World Bank spokesman. "However, there was no compromise of confidential information." Requests for on-the-record interviews with Zoellick and other top officials were declined.
Meanwhile, the bank's treasurer, Kenneth G. Lay, has been briefing Zoellick's senior management team regularly on the situation since April.
Other bank officials are also sleuthing. The bank's chief information officer, Guy De Poerck, has engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to do a confidential million-dollar assessment that is expected to tell him what's going on in his own department. And a 22-page internal report by a computer security company named MANDIANT, dated August 18, fleshes out many details of the June-July breaches. But very few people have ever seen the report, and nobody has been permitted to retain a paper copy.
At the same time, De Poerck has been downplaying the problem to the bank's 10,000 rank-and-file staffers as mere intrusion "attempts" in his e-mails. Yet most of those staffers have been asked to change their password three times in the past three months.
"As previously reported in mid-July," CIO De Poerck and a senior bank treasury official wrote in an August announcement to employees, "we would like to reassure you that there is no evidence that Bank staff personal information is at risk from the recent external attempts."
It's unclear how that statement squares with an internal memo to De Poerck a month earlier revealing that a sensitive Human Resources server "that contains scanned images of staff documents" had been successfully breached. De Poerk declined to comment to FOX News about any of these details.
Click here to see De Poerck's memo.
In reality, the situation is serious enough that federal investigators have been called in. "We're not talking about hackers playing games or messing up our website," insists a senior member of the bank's IT department at its Washington headquarters. "It's about the FBI coming last summer and saying, 'You should take a look at your systems because we think something weird is going on.' It's about the intruders knowing what information they wanted — and getting to it whenever they wanted to. They took our existing data stores and organized them in a way that they could be easily accessed at will."
In plainspeak: "They had access to everything," says the source. "They had the keys to every room at the bank. And we can't say whether they still do or don't until we fully and openly address what's happening here."
The data raids are not a matter of stealing inconsequential bits and bytes. The World Bank's data center is literally a treasure trove of vital financial information from around the globe. As a clearinghouse for financial data from both governments and companies, the bank's computers could provide intruders with both a financial and intelligence gold mine — from inside information on bids and contracts to the minutes of confidential board meetings.
If the bank takes a position in a currency, for example, that currency usually moves in response to the bank's actions. Stocks and bonds can also swing up and down based on World Bank announcements. "If you know beforehand that the bank is going to put an order in for oil pipelines in Chad or healthcare systems in India, you can actually make a good amount of money," says one insider.
Although the bank typically provides only a fraction of the financing for a project, its influence on those projects is immense. Private corporations see the bank's stamp of approval as a guarantee that their own larger investments will be safe — and profitable. Knowing in advance what projects the bank's board will reject could be just as profitable.
Some insiders fear that contractors — perhaps even governments — might be seeking advance knowledge on the status of the bank's anti-corruption probes. "The bank knows the books of countries almost as well as the countries do — including the corruption at times," says one insider.
The first breach of the bank's secrets was discovered in September, 2007, after the FBI —while at work on a different cybercrime case — notified the bank that something was wrong. The feds pointed to a part of the bank's network that led out of the Johannesburg hub of the International Finance Corp. (IFC), a bank arm that lends to the private sector.
Within a week of the tip, teams of bank investigators sent to Johannesburg discovered that intruders had gained full and total access to all of IFC's worldwide information — including all incoming and outgoing e-mail — for at least six months. "They were downloading everything and anything," says one insider, who says that IFC's monitoring systems were extremely weak. "They [intruders] had full access."
Investigators discovered that the intruders were using a so-called "cluster" of IP addresses from Macao, China. But since those addresses can be spoofed (i.e., disguised) the discovery doesn't prove that the breaches actually originated in China. Nonetheless, bank officials and its executive director for China clashed behind closed doors over whether or not China's government is involved in the break-ins.
Bank sources tell FOX News that Johannesburg is one of several secret "hubs" containing a "common data store" (or CDS) that the World Bank Group has established around the globe. In layman's terms, a CDS is the cyber-world's version of a bomb shelter where every piece of an organization's data is replicated and backed up in case of a data-wipeout at headquarters in Washington. While it's known that IFC data was accessible at the hub, it remains unclear if all World Bank Group data was compromised there.
The second major breach — of the bank's treasury network in Washington — was discovered in April 2008. The World Bank's Treasury manages $70 billion in assets for 25 clients — including the central banks of some countries. It carries out substantial collaborations with the world's finance ministers on public wealth and debt management, runs an active bond-trading desk in Washington, and does everything from currency trading to capital markets financings.
After a forensic analysis of the treasury breach, bank investigators discovered that spy software was covertly installed on workstations inside the bank's Washington headquarters — allegedly by one or more contractors from Satyam Computer Services, one of India's largest IT companies.
The software — which operates through a method known as keystroke logging — enabled every character typed on a keyboard to be transmitted to a still-unknown location via the Internet.
Upon its discovery, insiders report, bank officials shut off the data link between Washington and Chennai, India, where Satyam has long operated the bank's sole offshore computer center responsible for all of the bank's financial and human resources information.
Satyam was also banned from any future work with the bank. "I want them off the premises now," Zoellick reportedly told his deputies. But at the urging of CIO De Poerck, Satyam employees remained at the bank as recently as Oct. 1 while it engaged in "knowledge transfer" with two new India-based contractors.
Satyam — one of the largest and most prestigious IT companies in India — is publicly listed on the NYSE and boasts having $2 billion in sales and more than 150 Fortune 500 companies as clients. In 2003, Satyam — it means "truth" in Sanskrit — won a much-heralded and lucrative five-year "sole source" contract to design, write and maintain all of the World Bank's information systems.
The contract — which began at $10 million and grew to more than $100 million by 2007 — was suddenly not renewed this year. Satyam so far declines to comment.
Then came the June-July breaches in Washington. They were similar to the Johannesburg attack, as the same group of IP addresses from Macao were used.
This time, however, the cyber-burglars used a different spyware. They broke into an external server run by the bank's private sector development unit. They were able to acquire passwords — including the password for the systems administrator.
That enabled them to jump into the servers at MIGA, the bank's giant insurance arm. It was there that they captured the security administrator's password as he was logging on to his computer.
It took ten days for bank officials to detect that they'd been invaded. Once they did, they shut down all external servers, except for e-mail — which it turns out the invaders were already using as their entrance point. By the end of July the invaders "had completely mapped out the topography of the bank's information systems," says one expert — "where everything was, the types of servers, and the types of files on the servers."
What the intruders did with all that information is the World Bank's most sensitive and painful mystery. It has clearly left the institution in a highly vulnerable position.
And the same may go for bank president Zoellick. Bank insiders say that he needs desperately to get the security of his own house in order. Despite the vast sums that the Bank spends on data and data storage, its information systems are deeply in disarray.
Today the total cost to maintain the bank's information infrastructure is at least $280 million per year. But according to one disgruntled bank staffer, "We don't even have an internal search engine that works."
The truly alarming fact, however, is that someone — or many people — seem to know their way around the bank's most valuable resource very well, even though they aren't supposed to be there at all.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Darth Balloon
My friend Jessica Lum shared these photos with me. She recently moved from Campaign to Albuquerque, NW with her finance. These in particular were too cool not to post.
"That's no moon..."
"That's no moon..."
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Timpano
For the first time in almost 7 years I'm making Timpano. I have made it 5 or 6 times.
What is Timpano? It's easier to show you
It's a pastry shaped like a drum stuffed with pasta, tomato sauce, chicken, meatballs, sausage, vegetables, cheese and more...
There is a great blog entry with a longer explanation and some photos on Terry's Table.
My kids are old enough now that I can try it and this is a big thank you to my family for helping me recover from foot surgery. Lots of people went out of their way to help me recover and I wanted them to know I appreciate their efforts.
I first became aware of Timpano like many others through the movie, "Big Night" starring Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver and Isabella Rossellini. The movie is about a failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers who gamble on one big night to try to save the business. The big night features a feast of epic proportions and is amazing to watch.
Here is the feast scene. (Forgive the music during the intro, I didn't post this clip.):
Finally if you are curious about "Big Night, here is the original trailer.
Many thanks to an old dear friend, Jonathon Breen, that I've lost contact with for steering me towards this movie many years ago. Jonathon if you are out there drop me a line sometime.
What is Timpano? It's easier to show you
It's a pastry shaped like a drum stuffed with pasta, tomato sauce, chicken, meatballs, sausage, vegetables, cheese and more...There is a great blog entry with a longer explanation and some photos on Terry's Table.
My kids are old enough now that I can try it and this is a big thank you to my family for helping me recover from foot surgery. Lots of people went out of their way to help me recover and I wanted them to know I appreciate their efforts.
I first became aware of Timpano like many others through the movie, "Big Night" starring Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver and Isabella Rossellini. The movie is about a failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers who gamble on one big night to try to save the business. The big night features a feast of epic proportions and is amazing to watch.
Here is the feast scene. (Forgive the music during the intro, I didn't post this clip.):
Finally if you are curious about "Big Night, here is the original trailer.
Many thanks to an old dear friend, Jonathon Breen, that I've lost contact with for steering me towards this movie many years ago. Jonathon if you are out there drop me a line sometime.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Conversation between my youngest sons
My wife over heard this conversation between our 6 Year Old Son and our 5 Year Old Son this morning while they were playing (this was in character).
6 Year Old Son: I don't like your tone.
5 Year Old Son: I guess you can be the big genius.
5 Year Old Son: Give me 50 bucks and I will let you into my school.
6 Year Old Son: Then I will kill you.
5 Year Old Son: Give me 50 bucks.
6 Year Old Son: Let me tell you something.
5 Year Old Son: It's these two guys talking.
6 Year Old Son: good job. You two are unconscious. Sorry.
5 Year Old Son: Don't fight me like that, I am a good guy.
6 Year Old Son sings. "super zapper loudness".
5 Year Old Son: those are the pirates. I will throw something at you.
6 Year Old Son: That doesn't hurt, I have a windshield.
5 Year Old Son: ahhhhhh. Take that!
6 Year Old Son: Good job you guys, thanks. Are you happy that I used my criminal mastermind?
5 Year Old Son: Yes. Boom, ahhh.
6 Year Old Son: uh oh. There is a mean soldier. He is good, but he is mean. He has a big blaster.
5 Year Old Son. 6 Year Old Son, he's not mean.
6 Year Old Son: I don't like your tone.
5 Year Old Son: I guess you can be the big genius.
5 Year Old Son: Give me 50 bucks and I will let you into my school.
6 Year Old Son: Then I will kill you.
5 Year Old Son: Give me 50 bucks.
6 Year Old Son: Let me tell you something.
5 Year Old Son: It's these two guys talking.
6 Year Old Son: good job. You two are unconscious. Sorry.
5 Year Old Son: Don't fight me like that, I am a good guy.
6 Year Old Son sings. "super zapper loudness".
5 Year Old Son: those are the pirates. I will throw something at you.
6 Year Old Son: That doesn't hurt, I have a windshield.
5 Year Old Son: ahhhhhh. Take that!
6 Year Old Son: Good job you guys, thanks. Are you happy that I used my criminal mastermind?
5 Year Old Son: Yes. Boom, ahhh.
6 Year Old Son: uh oh. There is a mean soldier. He is good, but he is mean. He has a big blaster.
5 Year Old Son. 6 Year Old Son, he's not mean.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
One of my favorite actors, Paul Newman, has passed away.
Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET
Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.
Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.
In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.
ADVERTISEMENT
He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."
Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."
He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie"
With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."
Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.
A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."
Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel directed by Scorsese "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.
He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.
His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)
As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."
But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."
He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.
In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."
Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.
Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.
In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.
"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.
Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.
In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."
In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."
Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.
He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.
"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.
Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway crushed and covered with ribbons.
"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.
In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.
In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.
He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.
Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.
Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.
Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.
He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.
Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.
He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.
Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."
In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.
"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.
Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.
___
On the Net:
http://www.newmansown.com/
Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET
Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.
Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.
In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.
ADVERTISEMENT
He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."
Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."
He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie"
With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."
Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.
A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."
Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel directed by Scorsese "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.
He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.
His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)
As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."
But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."
He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.
In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."
Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.
Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.
In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.
"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.
Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.
In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."
In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."
Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.
He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.
"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.
Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway crushed and covered with ribbons.
"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.
In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.
In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.
He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.
Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.
Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.
Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.
He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.
Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.
He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.
Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."
In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.
"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.
Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.
___
On the Net:
http://www.newmansown.com/
Monday, September 15, 2008
US in 'once-in-a-century' financial crisis : Greenspan
Sep 14 02:18 PM US/Eastern
The United States is mired in a "once-in-a century" financial crisis which is now more than likely to spark a recession, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said Sunday.
The talismanic ex-central banker said that the crisis was the worst he had seen in his career, still had a long way to go and would continue to effect home prices in the United States.
"First of all, let's recognize that this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event," Greenspan said on ABC's "This Week."
Asked whether the crisis, which has seen the US government step in to bail out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was the worst of his career, Greenspan replied "Oh, by far."
"There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen, and it still is not resolved and it still has a way to go," Greenspan said.
"And indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes.
"That will induce a series of events around the globe which will stabilize the system."
Greenspan was also asked whether the United States had a greater-than 50 percent chance of escaping a recession.
"No, I think it's less than 50 percent.
"I can't believe we could have a once-in-a-century type of financial crisis without a significant impact on the real economy globally, and I think that indeed is what is in the process of occurring."
The former Federal Reserve chairman also predicted that the financial crisis would see the failure of more major financial institutions, even as embattled Wall Street investment giant Lehman Brothers scrambled to find a buyer.
"In and of itself that does not need to be a problem.
"It depends on how it is handled and how the liquidations take place. And indeed we shouldn't try to protect every single institution."
On Saturday, Democrat Barack Obama's campaign seized on a warning from Greenspan about John McCain's tax plans to portray the Republican as economically reckless.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television Friday, Greenspan said the nation could not afford 3.3 trillion dollars of tax cuts proposed by McCain without matching cuts in spending.
Greenspan, a long-time friend of McCain and a Republican, said about the Arizona senator's plans to extend massive tax cuts imposed by President George W. Bush: "I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money."
McCain has said he would pay for his cuts by ending pet funding projects for US lawmakers' districts known as "earmarks."
The United States is mired in a "once-in-a century" financial crisis which is now more than likely to spark a recession, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said Sunday.
The talismanic ex-central banker said that the crisis was the worst he had seen in his career, still had a long way to go and would continue to effect home prices in the United States.
"First of all, let's recognize that this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event," Greenspan said on ABC's "This Week."
Asked whether the crisis, which has seen the US government step in to bail out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was the worst of his career, Greenspan replied "Oh, by far."
"There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen, and it still is not resolved and it still has a way to go," Greenspan said.
"And indeed, it will continue to be a corrosive force until the price of homes in the United States stabilizes.
"That will induce a series of events around the globe which will stabilize the system."
Greenspan was also asked whether the United States had a greater-than 50 percent chance of escaping a recession.
"No, I think it's less than 50 percent.
"I can't believe we could have a once-in-a-century type of financial crisis without a significant impact on the real economy globally, and I think that indeed is what is in the process of occurring."
The former Federal Reserve chairman also predicted that the financial crisis would see the failure of more major financial institutions, even as embattled Wall Street investment giant Lehman Brothers scrambled to find a buyer.
"In and of itself that does not need to be a problem.
"It depends on how it is handled and how the liquidations take place. And indeed we shouldn't try to protect every single institution."
On Saturday, Democrat Barack Obama's campaign seized on a warning from Greenspan about John McCain's tax plans to portray the Republican as economically reckless.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television Friday, Greenspan said the nation could not afford 3.3 trillion dollars of tax cuts proposed by McCain without matching cuts in spending.
Greenspan, a long-time friend of McCain and a Republican, said about the Arizona senator's plans to extend massive tax cuts imposed by President George W. Bush: "I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money."
McCain has said he would pay for his cuts by ending pet funding projects for US lawmakers' districts known as "earmarks."
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Lost Star Wars Scene
This has a bit of choice language in it but it's pretty darn funny. (I had the wrong clip posted, it
s correct now.)
s correct now.)
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Funny Cat Story - 'My Cat is a Vampire'
I used to have two cats, Amadeus and Minuet. My wife sent this story to me and it really made me laugh and remember. I had to post it.
---------------------------------------------
My cat might be a vampire
By Bob Rybarczyk
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
08/19/2008
I might be raising a vampire cat.
I don’t understand cats.
I just don’t. I never really have. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched our cats doing something and wondered what in the hell they’re thinking. They think a piece of paper makes a perfect platform for a six-hour nap. They refuse to eat the last few pieces of kibble in their dish, and yet they are all too happy to drink out of the toilet. You get the point.
What surprises me the most is that they seem to keep coming up with new ways to be weird. I’ve only been around cats for the last four years or so, but you’d think four years would be more than enough time to figure out a species that can be amused for days by a pipe cleaner. Nope.
We have two cats in our house, Frisco and Charlie. Frisco is 14, large enough to exhibit his own gravitational pull, and generally disgruntled. Charlie is less than a year old, apparently made of balsa wood and rubber bands, and a complete idiot. They are Fatboy and the Freakshow. The immovable object and the unstoppable force.
Big fat Frisco sleeps 23.99 hours a day. When he’s not sleeping, he’s eating or seeking out a new place to sleep. His hobbies include sleeping and gaining weight. Charlie barely sleeps at all and is about as bright as a slab of poorly cooked liver. He finds everything to be either fascinating or terrifying. There is no middle ground. One second he can be sprinting through the house like he’s being chased by Satan on a scooter, and the next he’ll be lying in your arms waiting for you to rub his belly.
When we first introduced Charlie to Frisco last winter, Frisco spent the better part of a month hiding in the basement. We weren’t sure if he was afraid of Charlie or just really hacked off at us. Eventually they found a way to peacefully coexist. They weren’t buddies by any means, but they made it work.
A few months ago, that all changed. Charlie decided, I guess, that he was tired of avoiding Frisco. Instead, he began assaulting him.
At first, Charlie would simply run up to Frisco and start whacking him in the head or wrestling with him. It seemed like the kind of things kittens do when they want to play. Frisco, being the cranky old man that he is, would want none of it. He’d fight back but would give it a minimum effort. His goal was not to play, but to inflict just enough pain to get Charlie to go away. Unfortunately, despite weighing more than several third-world nations, Frisco is a mediocre fighter. He gets in a good shot once in a while, but for the most part all he does is get Charlie in the mood for more shenanigans.
None of this really seemed all that weird or surprising. Kittens, especially male kittens, enjoy a good whack in the head once in a while. When I was a kid, a crack upside the noggin was a good time.
A couple weeks ago, however, Charlie changed his tactics, and this is the part that has me confused. Charlie, you see, has begun licking Frisco. Now don’t start going all, “Awww, isn’t that adorable,” because you haven’t heard the entire thing. I actually thought it was adorable the first time I saw it, too. I should have known better.
The first time I saw it, Charlie walked up to Frisco as if he were in the mood for a ruckus, but instead of whacking Fat Boy upside the head, he put him in this kitty-headlock sort of grip and began licking Frisco’s head and ears. “Aww,” I said. “Isn’t that…” But before I could finish, Charlie’s mouth opened, exposing his little kitty fangs, and he bit Frisco right in the neck.
This did not go over well with Frisco. Not one bit. He cracked open a six-pack of pain and went after Charlie like he was made out of delicious turkey. If there had been a crowbar nearby, Frisco would have, through sheer force of will, grown opposable thumbs and wielded it like a baseball bat.
Charlie’s fast, and Frisco tires after about two seconds of activity, so the little one was able to get away unscathed. I figured I’d never see anything that stupid again.
Again, I should have known better. The very next day, Frisco was sleeping on the floor and Charlie climbed on top of him, licked his head and ears, and chomped him in the neck. Once again, Frisco raged against the machine. This time, though, Charlie didn’t instantly flee. He stuck around for what he probably thought was a rollicking good time.
Oddly enough, Frisco didn’t really seem all that homicidal. He fought back, but not like before. Instead, he rolled around with Charlie a bit, whacked him on the head a couple dozen times, and chased him away. I didn’t get it.
As the days went by, I saw the same thing over and over. Lick, bite, scrap. Lick, bite, scrap. Frisco had to know that whenever Charlie licked him, a bite in the neck was coming. Right? Frisco’s stupid, but he can’t be that stupid. You’d think that he’d kick Charlie in the chin any time he stuck out his tongue.
And why is Charlie even bothering to lick Frisco in the first place? Does he think Frisco’s going to be fooled by the bizarre display of faux affection? Or does he do it because he finds Frisco tasty? Why bite him in the neck in the first place? Was the usual form of wrestling not entertaining enough?
You see, this is all stuff I don’t understand. Dozens of questions, not one single answer. I’m left to simply wonder. It makes me crazy. I’d give anything to have the cats speak English for even a few minutes, just so I could ask them these things.
Although, you know, even if I could ask them, they’d probably just shrug and say they had no idea why they do what they do. They’d probably ask me why I spend so much time sitting in front of the computer or eating things that don’t taste like dead birds.
Maybe it’s better that I don’t know. I suppose as long as Charlie doesn’t start biting me in the neck, I shouldn’t worry about it.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Charlie’s a vampire, and that it’s just a matter of time before all of us, Frisco included, become his mindless slaves.
Nah. Vampires don’t drink out of the toilet.
---------------------------------------------
My cat might be a vampire
By Bob Rybarczyk
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
08/19/2008
I might be raising a vampire cat.
I don’t understand cats.
I just don’t. I never really have. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched our cats doing something and wondered what in the hell they’re thinking. They think a piece of paper makes a perfect platform for a six-hour nap. They refuse to eat the last few pieces of kibble in their dish, and yet they are all too happy to drink out of the toilet. You get the point.
What surprises me the most is that they seem to keep coming up with new ways to be weird. I’ve only been around cats for the last four years or so, but you’d think four years would be more than enough time to figure out a species that can be amused for days by a pipe cleaner. Nope.
We have two cats in our house, Frisco and Charlie. Frisco is 14, large enough to exhibit his own gravitational pull, and generally disgruntled. Charlie is less than a year old, apparently made of balsa wood and rubber bands, and a complete idiot. They are Fatboy and the Freakshow. The immovable object and the unstoppable force.
Big fat Frisco sleeps 23.99 hours a day. When he’s not sleeping, he’s eating or seeking out a new place to sleep. His hobbies include sleeping and gaining weight. Charlie barely sleeps at all and is about as bright as a slab of poorly cooked liver. He finds everything to be either fascinating or terrifying. There is no middle ground. One second he can be sprinting through the house like he’s being chased by Satan on a scooter, and the next he’ll be lying in your arms waiting for you to rub his belly.
When we first introduced Charlie to Frisco last winter, Frisco spent the better part of a month hiding in the basement. We weren’t sure if he was afraid of Charlie or just really hacked off at us. Eventually they found a way to peacefully coexist. They weren’t buddies by any means, but they made it work.
A few months ago, that all changed. Charlie decided, I guess, that he was tired of avoiding Frisco. Instead, he began assaulting him.
At first, Charlie would simply run up to Frisco and start whacking him in the head or wrestling with him. It seemed like the kind of things kittens do when they want to play. Frisco, being the cranky old man that he is, would want none of it. He’d fight back but would give it a minimum effort. His goal was not to play, but to inflict just enough pain to get Charlie to go away. Unfortunately, despite weighing more than several third-world nations, Frisco is a mediocre fighter. He gets in a good shot once in a while, but for the most part all he does is get Charlie in the mood for more shenanigans.
None of this really seemed all that weird or surprising. Kittens, especially male kittens, enjoy a good whack in the head once in a while. When I was a kid, a crack upside the noggin was a good time.
A couple weeks ago, however, Charlie changed his tactics, and this is the part that has me confused. Charlie, you see, has begun licking Frisco. Now don’t start going all, “Awww, isn’t that adorable,” because you haven’t heard the entire thing. I actually thought it was adorable the first time I saw it, too. I should have known better.
The first time I saw it, Charlie walked up to Frisco as if he were in the mood for a ruckus, but instead of whacking Fat Boy upside the head, he put him in this kitty-headlock sort of grip and began licking Frisco’s head and ears. “Aww,” I said. “Isn’t that…” But before I could finish, Charlie’s mouth opened, exposing his little kitty fangs, and he bit Frisco right in the neck.
This did not go over well with Frisco. Not one bit. He cracked open a six-pack of pain and went after Charlie like he was made out of delicious turkey. If there had been a crowbar nearby, Frisco would have, through sheer force of will, grown opposable thumbs and wielded it like a baseball bat.
Charlie’s fast, and Frisco tires after about two seconds of activity, so the little one was able to get away unscathed. I figured I’d never see anything that stupid again.
Again, I should have known better. The very next day, Frisco was sleeping on the floor and Charlie climbed on top of him, licked his head and ears, and chomped him in the neck. Once again, Frisco raged against the machine. This time, though, Charlie didn’t instantly flee. He stuck around for what he probably thought was a rollicking good time.
Oddly enough, Frisco didn’t really seem all that homicidal. He fought back, but not like before. Instead, he rolled around with Charlie a bit, whacked him on the head a couple dozen times, and chased him away. I didn’t get it.
As the days went by, I saw the same thing over and over. Lick, bite, scrap. Lick, bite, scrap. Frisco had to know that whenever Charlie licked him, a bite in the neck was coming. Right? Frisco’s stupid, but he can’t be that stupid. You’d think that he’d kick Charlie in the chin any time he stuck out his tongue.
And why is Charlie even bothering to lick Frisco in the first place? Does he think Frisco’s going to be fooled by the bizarre display of faux affection? Or does he do it because he finds Frisco tasty? Why bite him in the neck in the first place? Was the usual form of wrestling not entertaining enough?
You see, this is all stuff I don’t understand. Dozens of questions, not one single answer. I’m left to simply wonder. It makes me crazy. I’d give anything to have the cats speak English for even a few minutes, just so I could ask them these things.
Although, you know, even if I could ask them, they’d probably just shrug and say they had no idea why they do what they do. They’d probably ask me why I spend so much time sitting in front of the computer or eating things that don’t taste like dead birds.
Maybe it’s better that I don’t know. I suppose as long as Charlie doesn’t start biting me in the neck, I shouldn’t worry about it.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Charlie’s a vampire, and that it’s just a matter of time before all of us, Frisco included, become his mindless slaves.
Nah. Vampires don’t drink out of the toilet.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Second Foot Surgery - Screw Removal
Here are pictures of the screw removed during my second foot surgery. The screw is about two inches long and had to be removed to allow proper mobility in my big toe. My surgeon has done an excellent job throughout this process.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Big Cookout
I went to a big cookout at my folks last night with Shannon and the boys. My friend Bruce and his brother and sister were there. My dear old friends, Craig and Heather were there with their girls. I've know both of them since grade school back in New York. They live close by but it's been 1year and two months since I last saw them. What a crime, there really is no excuse for it being so long. Hopefully I'll see them again soon, in a matter of days or weeks, not months or years.
At any rate the big event was a lot of fun, most of it spent trying to cram the details of 14 months into 4 or 5 hours.
The food was good and the conversation was good too.
At any rate the big event was a lot of fun, most of it spent trying to cram the details of 14 months into 4 or 5 hours.
The food was good and the conversation was good too.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Comcast Data Limit
Comcast to make monthly Internet use cap official
Thursday August 28, 6:21 pm ET
Comcast to set official limit on Internet use to deter bandwidth hogs
It's official comacast is imposing a data transfer limit. I'm a comcast user, I doubt I'll go over but it still kinda stinks.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.
Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.
"We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive," the company said in a statement on its Web site.
Customers who go over the limit are contacted by the company and asked to curb their usage.
"We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily," the company said.
Comcast floated the idea of a 250 gigabyte cap in May and mentioned then that it might charge users $15 for every 10 gigabytes they go over, but the overage fee was missing in Thursday's announcement.
Curbing the top users is necessary to keep the network fast and responsive for other users, Comcast has said.
Comcast stressed that the bandwidth cap is far above the median monthly usage of its customers, which 2 to 3 gigabytes.
Very few subscribers use more than 250 gigabytes, it said. A user could download 125 standard-definition movies, about four per day, before hitting the limit.
The cap is also above those of some other ISPs. Cox Communications' monthly caps vary from 5 gigabytes to 75 gigabytes depending the subscriber's plan. Time Warner Cable Inc. is testing caps between 5 gigabytes and 40 gigabytes in one market. Frontier Communications Co., a phone company, plans to start charging extra for use of more than 5 gigabytes per month.
Thursday August 28, 6:21 pm ET
Comcast to set official limit on Internet use to deter bandwidth hogs
It's official comacast is imposing a data transfer limit. I'm a comcast user, I doubt I'll go over but it still kinda stinks.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Comcast Corp., the nation's second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site.
Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.
"We've listened to feedback from our customers who asked that we provide a specific threshold for data usage and this would help them understand the amount of usage that would qualify as excessive," the company said in a statement on its Web site.
Customers who go over the limit are contacted by the company and asked to curb their usage.
"We know from experience the vast majority of customers we ask to curb usage do so voluntarily," the company said.
Comcast floated the idea of a 250 gigabyte cap in May and mentioned then that it might charge users $15 for every 10 gigabytes they go over, but the overage fee was missing in Thursday's announcement.
Curbing the top users is necessary to keep the network fast and responsive for other users, Comcast has said.
Comcast stressed that the bandwidth cap is far above the median monthly usage of its customers, which 2 to 3 gigabytes.
Very few subscribers use more than 250 gigabytes, it said. A user could download 125 standard-definition movies, about four per day, before hitting the limit.
The cap is also above those of some other ISPs. Cox Communications' monthly caps vary from 5 gigabytes to 75 gigabytes depending the subscriber's plan. Time Warner Cable Inc. is testing caps between 5 gigabytes and 40 gigabytes in one market. Frontier Communications Co., a phone company, plans to start charging extra for use of more than 5 gigabytes per month.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
International Society of Arboriculture
I work at ISA or the International Society of Arboriculture. There were two local news stories about our organization recently. You can follow these links to learn more about where I work.
ISA Interview Part #1
ISA Interview Part #2
Enjoy! You can also visit our consumer oriented site to learn more.
ISA Interview Part #1
ISA Interview Part #2
Enjoy! You can also visit our consumer oriented site to learn more.
Monday, August 11, 2008
More Foot News
It's time for Foot Surgery, round two!
I saw the surgeon today and as expected talked to him about removing the screw from my right foot. This is a five minute procedure and they won't put my out completely but they will send me to 'dreamland' as they put it. This is classified as a surgery, so I get to go through the entire pre-op procedure again, curtailing medication, having a pre-op physical, fasting, etc... Afterwards I will walk out on my own two feet, and I will be in a post op-shoe/slipper.
The downside of all this is I will miss two days of work and I will need someone to drive me home from the surgi-center and stay with me for 24 hours while the anesthetic wears off.
The bottom line is although the screw removal is indeed a five minute procedure, it's all a bit more involved than it appeared to be.
I saw the surgeon today and as expected talked to him about removing the screw from my right foot. This is a five minute procedure and they won't put my out completely but they will send me to 'dreamland' as they put it. This is classified as a surgery, so I get to go through the entire pre-op procedure again, curtailing medication, having a pre-op physical, fasting, etc... Afterwards I will walk out on my own two feet, and I will be in a post op-shoe/slipper.
The downside of all this is I will miss two days of work and I will need someone to drive me home from the surgi-center and stay with me for 24 hours while the anesthetic wears off.
The bottom line is although the screw removal is indeed a five minute procedure, it's all a bit more involved than it appeared to be.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
My Foot and the Office Move
My foot is gradually improving. I see the surgeon again tomorrow for some follow up work. X-rays, check up, etc... Part of my foot is still numb, and will remain this way for months. Most significant is I have little to no power in my big toe. There is a screw holding the bones of my big toe and next two toes together. These bones should move independently and thus I have little power in my foot. I walk funny on my right foot, and thus both it and my left (good) foot hurt frequently. Climbing ladders is out of the question and going down stairs is a little awkward.
When I see the surgeon he will schedule a short procedure to remove the screw. It will take five minutes and supposedly I will be walking immediately after. I'll be out of shoes for a few days while the new dressing is on my foot. Sounds ok, regular shoes are pretty snug right now anyway.
All this made my recent office move a little more challenging. I manage an IT department of two (myself included) for a company of 35. We recently purchased a larger and much nicer building. The other IT guy and I planned for about a year how to get our network infrastructure, phones and other IT resources moved smoothly with minimal downtime.
I couldn't lift anything heavier than a CPU because of my foot, but my coworkers all seemed to understand, pitch in and watch out for me.
Due to a change in the responsibilities of the moving company the other IT guy and myself wound up moving most of the monitiors, printers, and CPUs ourself. It wasn't overly heavy but the repetitious nature made my foot hurt. I was in pain and couldn't walk most nights just before the server move. For two or three days we moved CPUs, monitors and printers, for staff who were away at our annual conference. All in all it was 40 or so workstations, which wound up being 40 CPUs, 40 monitors, 30 printers, and many other odds and ends. Factor in trips out of the old building and trips into the new building that was many many trips back and forth.
Bruce, the other IT guy was quite tired, and worked very hard. Even in good health I would have been tired, but I was in a lot of pain due to my foot. Still it had to be done.
The big push was last Thursday. Our T1 (internet) and PRI (phones) were switched to the new location and the hardware was moved. Our goal was to have our web site and e-mail back up in 6 hours, with 5 key workstations running by the end of the day. We were back up and running in 3 hours and had probably 75-80% of the workstations up by the end of the day. It went better than we could have hoped.
We're still working on post move clean up and odds and ends but things have really slowed down and I'm feeling much more relaxed.
I am pleased with how the move went and I am very happy in the new building.
I've been tempted to take up NWN2 modding again, but remain torn about this. You can read more about this on my RPG Blog.
When I see the surgeon he will schedule a short procedure to remove the screw. It will take five minutes and supposedly I will be walking immediately after. I'll be out of shoes for a few days while the new dressing is on my foot. Sounds ok, regular shoes are pretty snug right now anyway.
All this made my recent office move a little more challenging. I manage an IT department of two (myself included) for a company of 35. We recently purchased a larger and much nicer building. The other IT guy and I planned for about a year how to get our network infrastructure, phones and other IT resources moved smoothly with minimal downtime.
I couldn't lift anything heavier than a CPU because of my foot, but my coworkers all seemed to understand, pitch in and watch out for me.
Due to a change in the responsibilities of the moving company the other IT guy and myself wound up moving most of the monitiors, printers, and CPUs ourself. It wasn't overly heavy but the repetitious nature made my foot hurt. I was in pain and couldn't walk most nights just before the server move. For two or three days we moved CPUs, monitors and printers, for staff who were away at our annual conference. All in all it was 40 or so workstations, which wound up being 40 CPUs, 40 monitors, 30 printers, and many other odds and ends. Factor in trips out of the old building and trips into the new building that was many many trips back and forth.
Bruce, the other IT guy was quite tired, and worked very hard. Even in good health I would have been tired, but I was in a lot of pain due to my foot. Still it had to be done.
The big push was last Thursday. Our T1 (internet) and PRI (phones) were switched to the new location and the hardware was moved. Our goal was to have our web site and e-mail back up in 6 hours, with 5 key workstations running by the end of the day. We were back up and running in 3 hours and had probably 75-80% of the workstations up by the end of the day. It went better than we could have hoped.
We're still working on post move clean up and odds and ends but things have really slowed down and I'm feeling much more relaxed.
I am pleased with how the move went and I am very happy in the new building.
I've been tempted to take up NWN2 modding again, but remain torn about this. You can read more about this on my RPG Blog.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Eldest Son's Award Winning Artwork
Here are the pieces of art that won at the county fair. I blogged about this recently. My eldest son is quite talented. Sorry about the glare on the first two pictures, perhaps I'll try again later without the flash on.
1st place for his water color painting.
1st place for his pencil sketch.
He took 3rd place for his charcoal drawing.
He won tops honors for artwork overall in his age group. The grand prize for his category!
1st place for his water color painting.
1st place for his pencil sketch.
He took 3rd place for his charcoal drawing. He won tops honors for artwork overall in his age group. The grand prize for his category!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Eldest Son at the County Fair
My eldest son is an talented artist. This year he entered the art contest at the County Fair. I was proud of him for putting himself out there and entering in several categories. He's very talented and I expected him to place in at least one category.
He did place. He did more than that! He took 3rd place for his charcoal drawing, 1st place for his water color painting, 1st place for his pencil sketch and he won tops honors for artwork overall in his age group. The grand prize for his category!
Again I was pleased he entered something. I was proud enough at that point. I am thrilled beyond words for him. I always tell people he's talented and it's not just fatherly pride. Looks like others agree!!
He did place. He did more than that! He took 3rd place for his charcoal drawing, 1st place for his water color painting, 1st place for his pencil sketch and he won tops honors for artwork overall in his age group. The grand prize for his category!
Again I was pleased he entered something. I was proud enough at that point. I am thrilled beyond words for him. I always tell people he's talented and it's not just fatherly pride. Looks like others agree!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
