It's reached that time - the time when I start searching through my "spam" folder for any responses to submissions that I've sent out, not because any real significant time has passed, but because I'm faulty and therefore impatient.

Scanning the spam folder has become fairly easy these days, especially since it seems the Chinese have some sort of monopoly on the "spam biz". Of course, there were no mistaken misplacements of responses, however I did receive several emails with a subject line that read:

You look really stupid rachelmallino

and I thought, hot-damn ez jamal, you're f'n right!

You know I realize tonight how blessed I am.  I came off dialysis thinking I would have a few months at most off of it and here I am a year and 6 months later and I am still off of it.  I may have to go back on, bloodwork on Monday will determine that, [...]

This is a guest post by Tisha Kulak. If you would like to write a guest post, email me.

With the increase of natural disasters around the country, it is just as important to have your finances in order as it is to have an emergency evacuation plan and sufficient insurance. As part of any family emergency plan, keep the following check list handy and avoid even more devastation after a fire, hurricane, flood, or earthquake happens.

1. Compile a Master List

In order to stay prepared for the worst, make a point to write down all of your various creditors and other account’s names, phone numbers, and account numbers. Having telephone access to your bank, your creditors, your mortgage company, and your car loan company can help prevent your finances from going crazy in an already bad situation. You can also keep a photocopied record of credit cards and driver’s licenses in the event you need to provide proof of identity and you have lost your belongings. Keep all of your financial information secured and stored at an off-site location, such as a safe deposit box. Update this list frequently so it remains accurate.

2. Keep On-Site Documents Safe

For insurance policies and other documents that remain in your home, purchase a sturdy fire-proof filing cabinet and store important papers in plastic, leak-proof bags.

3. Establish an Emergency Only Card

Having one credit card designated for emergency purposes only will ensure that when tragedy strikes, you will have enough room to purchase things you really need like food, shelter, and clothing.

4. Reserve Some Emergency Cash

Depending on the emergency, you may loose your purse or wallet and will be left without cash. Set aside some emergency funds in a protected area that you can easily access during an evacuation. Keep enough money to be able to adequately split it between the other family members in the event you become separated for any reason, otherwise some of your family will be left without.

5. Program Your Cell Phone

Most people have pre-programmed friends and loved ones into their phones but do not think about the other important numbers, such as those on the Master List, for easy accessibility. The sooner you are able to contact your creditors, banks, and other service providers, the more likely you will receive immediate help.

During an emergency or natural disaster, life can quickly become chaotic and confusing. By being fully prepared, you will not only give yourself a peace of mind but also will benefit from being able to deal with your finances and your insurance providers immediately. No one can ever be truly prepared when disaster strikes but getting a good head start is more than worth it in the end.

Tisha Kulak is a writer for Creditorweb.com, where she writes about credit card offers, finances, credit cards, and responsible credit card use.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said falling U.S. home prices are ``nowhere near the bottom" and the resulting turmoil shows no signs of abating. Ya think?

Bloomberg reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association index of applications fell 14% last week. This is the lowest level since the year 2000. And refi applications fell by 23%, also the lowest level since 2000. Tighter lending standards and falling property values are keeping prospective buyers out of the market and may extend the three-year housing slump. The decline in house prices, in turn, is making it difficult for homeowners to refinance their mortgages. Vicious circle.

…when we all stressed about the Bar Exam? And how we were all joking about how we’re going to fail and that we’ll see each other in February again? …and then it wasn’t a joke and became deadly true? Sigh.

The Bar sucked. Like, really hardcore sucked. For those of you fortunate enough not to have had to sit through it, they let you leave if you are done early, unless it’s within the last 15 minutes, so as to prevent mass chaos and distraction at the end. Well, by the time I got to the final multiple choice question, there were 16 minutes to go. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting there for 15 minutes risking double-checking and changing correct answers. So I didn’t bother reading the question, plopped an answer down (C, per BarBri’s suggestion), and raised my hand to leave. When the proctor made it over, the announcer came on saying that there were 15 minutes remaining and everyone needed to stay in the room. I, with perhaps the most pitiful face ever, asked my proctor if I could please still leave, and she let me. Phew. While we’re talking about how poorly I performed, I guess I should also admit that I fell asleep during the multiple choice. IT’S TIRING, OK?! No amount of banana chips or almonds (my snacks of choice) were able to keep me awake. I even went to the restroom and ran in place for a little bit to get the juices flowing again. No such luck. Argh.

But whatever. What’s done is done. I can sit here and think about how I probably should have gone to a BBQ on this day, or hiking on that day, or how I shouldn’t have taken Monday evening off or whatever. I can make a whole laundry list of things I should have done differently. But I won’t, because that would kill a guy. It’s over. There’s nothing I can change now. And now I await my results in November.

In the meanwhile, I am leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Europe for two weeks. We are going on a cruise from Barcelona to Nice, Malta, Rome, Florence, Naples/Pompeii, and back again. Then we are spending a couple days in Paris and a couple days in London. And it’s going to be amazing.

My internet access will likely be nonexistent. I will take plenty of pictures and will see you when I get back. Congratulations to everyone who completed the Bar, and I hope you, too, will be enjoying Stress Free Living for the next couple months.

Our favorite Congressperson here at Democratic Central is Virgil Goode, the man that liberals and moderates and citizens of the world like to mock for his righteous support of American and Judeo-Christian values.  And Virgil doesn't like being mocked.

So when Jon Stewart's The Daily Show aired a brief clip of Virgil in the Fourth of July parade in Scottsville with his campaign float being pulled by a Hummer (and nothing says "energy conservation" like driving a Hummer), and then made fun of Virgil by saying that he was "pimp", and suggesting that he could "make it rain," Virgil wasn't going to take that lying down.

"First of all, I never watch 'The Jon Stewart Show,'" he told the Danville Register & Bee said Thursday.  "I didn't ride in the Hummer. I don't even know who owned the Hummer."  (Actually, Virgil, I'll bet you do.  I have been told that it belonged to Doug Johnson, the Fluvanna County Republican Chair, though I also read on another blog that it belonged to Fluvanna Republican Ty Wigal.  http://southeastvirginia.blogs...  I am sure that you know them both.  Who was driving?  You walked alongside it for a mile and a half.  Here's the picture of you standing in front of the Hummer, taken from the Fluvanna County Republican Party website.  Does this refresh your recollection?)

The show also compared rap musicians with Republicans because they both like guns and money.

"I don't know what a rapper is," Goode said.

Goode pointed a finger at his Democratic opponent Tom Perriello for filming the parade and making it appear like he was hiding in the huge sports utility vehicle. He said Perriello and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are the candidates of celebrities, and that's why they went after him.

Jessica Barba, Perriello spokesperson, said Goode was walking in the parade and not riding in the Hummer. She said the campaign has nothing to do with the video and never had any contact with Jon Stewart.

"It was a humorous video made by someone not affiliated with our campaign," Barba said.

http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/p...

Perriello was at the same parade, walking the route while the Democratic float was pulled by a tractor running on biodiesel.

F.R.I.D.A, Feminist Response In Disability Activism (see my blogroll or click on highlighted name of blog) was so kind as to nominate this blog as one of their favorites. I won the award pictured above. This is a collective/exponential awarding process the F.R.I.D.A blog says so I am to choose just 7 of my favorite [...]

In the northeastern corner of Ecuador, near the headwaters of the Amazon River, lies the ramshackle Ecuadorean city of Lago Agrio, or Nuevo Loja (its official name).  There, in a run-down courthouse, corporate lawyers employed by Chevron have been fighting for years with a group of determined plaintiffs' lawyers.

The plaintiffs -- some 30,000 residents of Ecuador's Amazon Basin known as the Amazon Defense Coalition and backed by Philadelphia plaintiffs' firm Kohn Swift & Graf -- hope to hold the Chevron accountable for environmental abuses committed by Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001.  For details on the Texaco abuses, you can read a report at http://www.chevrontoxico.org/d... or go to http://www.vanityfair.com/poli... for a much more entertaining account.  Chevron is represented by mega-corporate law firm Jones Day, which has thousands of lawyers around the world.

Texaco spent 30 years in the region, pumping billions of gallons of oil hundreds of miles west over the Andes to Ecuador's port cities for shipment to the U.S.  Lago Agrio was the classic oil company town.  Even the name shows it -- "lago agrio" is Spanish for "Sour Lake," named after Sour Lake, Texas, which was Texaco's corporate headquarters.  The area around the city has many ecological problems. The rainforest has been all but obliterated, in this region and environmental degradation is severe, with catastrophic oil pollution in some areas.  The area is referred to as "the Amazon Chernobyl."  

The lawsuit accuses Texaco of dumping 18.5 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways from 1964 to 1990, decimating the ability of the indigenous groups to live off the rainforest (as they had done for eons).  Texaco also built roughly 1000 unlined open-air waste pits that have been leeching toxins into the soil and groundwater for decades.  The picture to the left is of one such pit.

Now Newsweek reports that Chevron received some unwelcome news in April; a court-appointed expert recommended that the company be ordered to pay $8 billion to $16 billion to clean up the jungle and any waterways ravaged by oil pollution.  And so Chevron is doing what corporate America always does -- it is turning to Washington for help.  It has assembled a strong team of lobbyists, including former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, former Democratic senator John Breaux, and Wayne Berman, a top fund-raiser for John McCain.  Chevron wants the Bush administration to revoke special trade preferences for Ecuador if the country doesn't put the kibosh on the Lago Agrio proceedings -- now in their fourth year.  Note that in American courts, this would be impossible, and almost certainly illegal.  What does this tell us about why large corporations do not serve American interests as goodwill ambassadors around the world?

"The ultimate issue here is Ecuador has mistreated a U.S. company," Newsweek quotes one unidentified Chevron lobbyist as saying. (The company claims that it's the victim of a corrupt Ecuadorean judicial system.) "We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this -- companies that have made big investments around the world."  What Chevron doesn't tell you is that Chevron already had agreed to submit to jurisdiction in Ecuador and be bound by the court's decision when years ago it requested the case be transferred out of U.S. federal court.  I infer that they thought that they could buy the Ecuadorean government.  Unfortunately for them, a more liberal, anti-Chevron government won last year's elections, causing Chevron to think that perhaps they'll just have to buy the U.S. government instead.

But the plaintiffs aren't rolling over; Newsweek reports that after the lead plaintiffs' attorney Steven Donziger made a presentation to Barack Obama several years ago (did I mention that Donziger and Obama played basketball together at Harvard Law School 20 years or so ago?), Obama co-wrote a letter with Pat Leahy to U.S. Trade Rep. Rob Portman, urging Portman to keep the American government out of this, and to let the Ecuadorean court system do its work.  

An Obama spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek last week that his position on the matter remains the same.

Leaders from Ecuador's rainforest -- from the Cofan, Secoya, and Siona tribes -- are planning a trip to Washington, D.C. in September to talk directly with Members of Congress and to Portman (unless he is the Vice-Presidential nominee; he is rumored to be on McCain's "short list.")  

"We are coming to tell the truth about Chevron's desperate attempt to quash the legal claims of thousands of vulnerable people in the Amazon rainforest who are struggling to survive due to oil contamination," said Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer for the plaintiffs.

"These people deserve their day in court without interference from Chevron," he added. "Chevron must respect the rule of law."

A final decision in the case, which could lead to the largest ever damages award in an environmental lawsuit, is expected next year.

The person who will one day call the Hinge House their home will have a lot of people to thank when all is said and done. So much beautiful, better-world work has gone into the home, not the least of which is the work of Charles Hendricks, the lead architect and advisor on the project (and the Betty board member with the most initials after his name!), and the many students at CATEC who finished the project in May.

Though many In Albemarle County have had their eye on it, it remains for sale.

The list is long, but this project is an amazing collaboration in green building. It's the first high school project of its kind in the United States. From Pella's window donations to John Meggs' Nature Neutral's building supply donations to Albemarle Heating and Air and Beck Cohen's AC/Heat work, and Murus for the HardiPlank and Benjamin Moore with the low VOC paint, this has been a collective community effort. The green features in this modular home include passive solar, energy efficient AC and heat, the use of recycled products, and the use of advanced framing technologies that maximize insulation and energy efficiency. Not only is this home sustainable and versatile (it's made of three modular units that can be rearranged a couple of different ways), but it's also a mobile classroom. Hendricks had to design the home to meet stringent SOL standards for carpentry, which means the students had to learn and construct different types of doors, roofs, materials to meet the core competencies.

The name comes from the hinged roof, which folds down for transportation possibly under bridges, a necessity given the fact that one day this home will be transported to the perfect home lot hopefully to hither (and not yon).

Another hope of this project, as well as with EcoMod and the Piedmont Housing Alliance, is that these modular designs will transform the modular industry into one that appeals to homeowners desiring renovation. Instead of building an addition to your home, you could just order one or two pieces of the modular to fit your needs.

The benefits of modular buildings are numerous. Because the homes are built in a factory, it means less on-site environmental disturbance, less waste generated, better energy efficiency (more air-tightness), and less interference from the elements.

Another Betty-worthy feature: students generated only 3 36 gallon trash bags from the construction of the home. That's impressive!

All of the proceeds for the sale of this 3 bedroom, 1300 square foot home will by given to the Catec foundation that will support scholarship funds and next year's house.

So step right up. It's yours for the taking! Contact Charles Hendricks at cbhendricks@thegainesgroup.com
BWB

p.s. photos coming!

 

 One of the premier Areas in Albemarle County is the small town of Keswick. Do not blink when you drive by or you will miss it.

Starting with the grand entrance (one of the few gated) which is key accessed and guarded.

You will be greeted with some of the finest estate homes around Charlottesville.

 

You can see by the grand signs that all details of Keswick Estates are cared for.

The grounds are perfectly manicured!

The roads are graceful and charming!

 

There is a fabulous private golf course and it is never crowded.

Lunch in the country club is a real treat!

Just remember, do not blink or you will miss it!

Better yet, when we tour for your future home, let’s visit Keswick Estates. You will be glad you did!

Looking forward to your visit!

The Red Sox pull off the unlikely imperative of unloading their biggest star. Here's where I decided enough was enough ...

Another summer, another raunchy comedy from Judd Apatow. Ben Nuckols has seen Stepbrothers, the movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in which two middle-aged slackers become family. What is the ultimate destination of a movie like this? Listen in, or read Ben’s review on the Ill-Informed Gadfly.

Recently. In the mountains.

In Roanoke Tonight

July 31:  Song of the Day.  Fleet Foxes–White Winter Hymnal

Studies have shown that if you want a music video to be included in our Song of the Day feature your chances increase exponentially if the video includes cartoons, muppets, or claymation.  (I conducted this study personally, I should know).  Studies also show that it helps if the song is good, I like the lyrics, or the girl in the band is hot.   Bribes also work (for example:  If you buy me a pizza from this fine, local establishment in return for a Song of the Day feature, consider it a done deal).  Of course I’m only kidding. (maybe).

Well anyway here’s a new video from a relatively new band that seems to be all the rage these days among those that tend to define the current rage.  The band is Fleet Foxes, they’re from Seattle, WA, and their self-titled debut album was released on June 3rd by SubPop.  Three weeks later it made it to #1 on the CMJ Top 200 chart.  (The album is currently holding steady at #2).  And yep, you guessed it, their latest video features animation.  Actually it’s a claymation and it was directed by Sean Pecknold, who also happens to be the lead singer’s brother.  Enjoy.  [Video after the break.  Studies also show that I tend to ramble from time to time]

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Cows may come and cows may go but in politics the bull goes on forever.

The bull is grazing away in the McCain and Obama camps today. Mike Glover, of the Associated Press, tells us that our hope for a future of change in the way politicians play may be futile.

For instance, John McCain’s campaign accused Barack Obama today of playing racial politics after Obie redicted Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

The Mick’s folks said Obie played the race card and called Obie’s remarks “divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.”

Divisive, negative, shameful and wrong? They say that like it’s a bad thing. Heck, it’s politics in the post-Lee Atwater world, folks, freakin’ man-up a little, will ya? Why shouldn’t Obie remind the Dems that he’s different and that’s not going to sit well with the opposition? Get the liberal panties in a knot so they’ll come out and vote.

And why wouldn’t the Republicans claim Obie is different? He is. He doesn’t have as much experience, he doesn’t have the baggage of decades of voting on issues and ticking off people in both parties.

Of course, Obie’s doing his own thing, accusing Mick of being just like Bush. Ask any evangelical conservative and they’ll tell you there’s a big difference, so he’s got his own gig going when it comes to casting his opponent in unflattering light. And that’s fine; Mick’s folks compared Obie to Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton.

It’s politics. If this is a shock and a surprise to you, go back to that nice long nap you’ve had, Rip.

Its done. That is, until (running joke that never gets old), part 2 of the bar exam, which of course takes place in February. To celebrate being done with the exam, a bunch of us went out to BonChon Chicken, a Korean fried chicken place that has pretty much the best wings I've ever had. We had 6 plates of wings, some Mexican corn, and plenty of pitchers of Coors Light. And I brought the

Today I discovered something wondrous about Portuguese sanitation. The trash cans scattered around Cascais are not trash cans at all. They’re doorways to underground chambers that hold landfills of trash under the cobblestone streets. Today I saw dumpsters collecting the refuse by picking up large sections of the pavement with their dumpsters, raising the deep tombs of trash, and emptying them into trucks. So the trash bins are like toilets that only indicate a larger disposal system underground. Why is this so fascinating? Because if your purpose is burying a city’s worth of rubbish, why stop ten feet underground? Why not just keep going with the trash? Why not dig holes deep into the center of the earth and just let stuff decompose there?

I can’t help imagining how freaked out I would be if I visited a trash can with several bags worth of waste and the trash can never filled up no matter what I put inside and suddenly I realized I had discovered a portal to China. Then I’d stick my head inside, like “What?” and suddenly I’d be a pole vaulter in the Beijing Olympics and my parents would be so proud even though I smelled like garbage.

Once again the slow chubby guy ran when no one could see him. I had a great run, although my legs felt heavy at the start of the run. I took pup, who after a morning walk, was a bit of an anchor so I slowed down for the first 1.25 with him. While I won't be running tomorrow night, have plans, I do plan to be back out on Saturday evening. I have felt great over the past few days, which might be mental or maybe it is the runs, either way, I'll take it.

JTR

It’s mix tape time once again here on the ol’ blogosphere that is cvilleMUSE!  Care to take a guess what the theme is?

[pic]

(more…)

Just in from roving correspondent Chris Miller, whose nominal job is flogging his innovative TigerTaco (inquire within), who writes, "I was at a trade show a couple of months ago and I saw something and thought of you... it's from China [what of interest these days isn't? But I digress] and I can't get their site to load right [no worries, Chris — I put my crack technical team on it and they got it working in a Guangdong minute], but it's an automatic 'sanitary shoe cover dispenser'... you stick your left foot in, and it applies one of those surgical booties, you take it out, you shake it all about ... and that's what it's all about."

"It was one of those weird/funny/cool things you stumble on (I was tempted to stick my foot in and then start screaming like it was cutting off my foot, but somehow I think the humor would have been lost in translation)."

Good call there, Chris.

There appear to be two models: the ES02 up top and the ES01, below.

I wonder if I could get my hospital to spring for one of these for the doctors' locker room.

Prolly right after they okay the treadmill I want for the OR.

Real soon now.

This is me sitting uncomfortably next to a large, sleeping man. I watched one of my Shark Week DVDs on my computer for about an hour. He watched with me (creepy?) even though there wasn’t any sound for him. Just carnage. Hoodies are security blankets for your head. A whole room for you to hide [...]

Next week, we will make a quick visit to Kentucky before everything rumbles into gear for the academic year. Sophia will begin Montessori school on August 11, and I think that she will like it there. Although I'm looking forward to watching her in her new environment, I'm a bit sad about her leaving day care. She likes to go every day, and to the extent that a 22-month old can, she's made some

All 500 copies of the laser-engraved device come pre-loaded with the documentary "Joy Division."

80GB capacity.

Apply within.

Lucky Man, Sun Kil Moon, April
Disconnect the Cables, Japancakes, Sleepy Strange
It's Gonna Work Out Fine, Ike & Tina Turner, Rhino Box Set
I Cannot have seen the light, Magnolia Electric Co., What Comes After The Blues
She & Him, You Really Got A hold On Me, Volume 1.
--------------------------------------------------------
On Planet Off, The Notwist, The Devil, You & Me
Outerspace, Computer vs Banjo, S/T
Words for Two, Six Organs Of Admittance, School of the Flower
Eyes Of Light, Awesome Color, Electric Aboriginies
----------------------------------------------------------------
Banana Slug/ Cosmonaut, 3/07-9/07, High Places
Chandelier Lake, Tilly & The Wall, O
Ellena, Juana Molina, Son
Revolutions in Physics, Gospel Gossip, Sing Into My Mouth
Cowboy Buddy, Brak, Brak Album
Mon Petit Cowboy/Mon Petit Ami, April March, Chrominance Decoder
Bloody Jack, Serge Gainsbourg, Comic Strip
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prisoner Of Mars, Stereolab, Dots & Loops
Sweet Talk, Spiritulized, Songs in A & E,
People Of The North, Oneida, Secret Wars
Golden Years, Susumu Yokoda, Life Beyond Mars
--------------------------------------------------------
Cave Formations, Quintron, Are You Ready For An Organ Solo?
Ribbons, Fourtet, S/T ep
Werewolf, Bardo Pond, on the eclipse
Moss Garden, David Bowie, Heroes

Lucky Man, Sun Kil Moon, April
Disconnect the Cables, Japancakes, Sleepy Strange
It's Gonna Work Out Fine, Ike & Tina Turner, Rhino Box Set
I Cannot have seen the light, Magnolia Electric Co., What Comes After The Blues
She & Him, You Really Got A hold On Me, Volume 1.
--------------------------------------------------------
On Planet Off, The Notwist, The Devil, You & Me
Outerspace, Computer vs Banjo, S/T
Words for Two, Six Organs Of Admittance, School of the Flower
Eyes Of Light, Awesome Color, Electric Aboriginies
----------------------------------------------------------------
Banana Slug/ Cosmonaut, 3/07-9/07, High Places
Chandelier Lake, Tilly & The Wall, O
Ellena, Juana Molina, Son
Revolutions in Physics, Gospel Gossip, Sing Into My Mouth
Cowboy Buddy, Brak, Brak Album
Mon Petit Cowboy/Mon Petit Ami, April March, Chrominance Decoder
Bloody Jack, Serge Gainsbourg, Comic Strip
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Prisoner Of Mars, Stereolab, Dots & Loops
Sweet Talk, Spiritulized, Songs in A & E,
People Of The North, Oneida, Secret Wars
Golden Years, Susumu Yokoda, Life Beyond Mars
--------------------------------------------------------
Cave Formations, Quintron, Are You Ready For An Organ Solo?
Ribbons, Fourtet, S/T ep
Werewolf, Bardo Pond, on the eclipse
Moss Garden, David Bowie, Heroes