The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth. Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.
In a re-posting of one of my most beloved posts ...
Rennie Adoption: A manual
Welcome
Congratulations on your decision to adopt a Rennie! Many of these fascinating creatures are in need of good homes where they will be loved and cared for. While keeping a Rennie can be expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes confusing, the results can be well worth all the effort. A well turned out Rennie who is happy and healthy is amazing to watch in action. The guidelines below will help you care for your new charge, but they are only guidelines. Every Rennie is quite unique and you should get to know your Rennie's personal quirks, preferences and skills.
Introduction
The most important step in caring for your Rennie is selecting the right one. Rennies come in many varieties. You will find them of both sexes, and in every imaginable size, color, age, health and plumage. But, far more important than their physical differences are the differences in their personalities. Every Rennie has a very unique set of skills, preferences and attitudes, and you need to take these into consideration as you make your choice.
If you have a nervous condition, a Daredevil Rennie is not for you. Likewise, do not adopt a Fighter Rennie unless you have a large yard in which he or she can chase around other Rennies with a sword. If you have small children in the house, you might prefer to adopt a Rennie other than the Arms Collector, and if you like your nights silent, keep in mind that Stitching Rennies are known to stay up quite late, whirring away at their machines, punctuated by occasional loud bouts of cursing.
Food & Drink
Once you have selected a Rennie and brought him or her home, your first concern may be, "What do I feed this strange creature?" Luckily, most Rennies are not picky about what they eat, and indeed, will consume with relish most anything you offer them. Do not be afraid to offer your Rennie exotic or strange foods. They have a highly devolved sense of adventure and will likely at least try whatever it is. Keep in mind, that through some strange quirk, your Rennie will enjoy almost any food more if it is presented on a stick.
Your Rennie requires large quantities of water. Your Rennie will want large quantities of liquor. There is a very fine balance between the two that you must find to keep your Rennie (and in cases of more belligerent Rennies, yourself) happy and healthy.
Rennies are very affectionate creatures, and will often cuddle and love on you for treats. Favorite treats tend towards chocolate or nice liquor, though your Rennie may have different favorites. Recently, several varieties of Rennie have devolved a taste for Sushi, so you may wish to try that as well.
Sleep
While your Rennie may seem to have inexhaustible supplies of energy, they need a good nights sleep like any other creature. When they are having fun, but are exhausted, usually at the end of a faire day, they may behave much like a 4-year-old, insisting on staying up and playing, "just a few more minutes." It is advised that you be firm with your Rennie and insist that they come home and go to bed. It is also advised that this will almost never work, and when it does, Rennie goodbyes have been know to take upwards to two hours at a large gathering. Sit down near the door and have another drink.
Grooming
Rennies take great joy in grooming both themselves and others and can take hours to prepare in the morning. Rennie females, in particular will often need the help of others in preparing for the day. While they may seem inconsequential or frivolous to you, each pin, knot, and accessory is very important to your Rennie. When your Rennie is being slow in the morning, exhortations of "Hurry up!" will not speed matters along. "What can I hold/tie/pin/pull/lace?" will work much more efficiently.
That being said, by the end of that self-same day, your Rennie may be unrecognizably dirty, disheveled and grungy, though likely quite happy. While Rennies appreciate and enjoy a shower or bath every day, like sleep, this is not always something they feel is required. If your Rennie shows no inclination to bathe after a long day, helping them undress and drawing a bath or starting the shower for them may encourage them to get clean.
Please note that your Rennie will take great joy in all their clothing and accessories, and will constantly want to be adding to the horde. Every once in a while, please go through all your Rennies "garb" with them and help them to let go of pieces they no longer wear. Promising to donate the pieces to another Rennie will help ease the pain of separation, as will offering to replace it with something the Rennie likes better. New garb can work as a treat even better than chocolate or liquor.
Under no circumstances get rid of anything from a Rennies garb without their knowledge and permission unless you want your sweet happy Rennie to instantly transform into Furious Rabid Fighter Rennie and attempt to take off your head.
Communicating with Your Rennie
Rennies are extremely intelligent, and will likely understand everything you say, possibly in several languages. It is far more likely that you will not understand your Rennie when they are speaking in BFA, Gaelic, Romany or some other obscure or not so obscure language. Also, they can get quite animated when speaking about their favorite hobbies or most history. The correct response to almost anything from, "I can't do French seams in the gussets in that camica because the twill is too thick to turn twice," to "Henry VIII and Cardinal Richelieu weren't even alive at the same time, and France and England were at war in 1620! They can't put the Musketeers in England!!!!" is a nodding of the head and saying, "Yes, yes, of course.
There are two terms your Rennie may use frequently that you will need to be familiar with right off. The first is a loud exclamation of "HUZZAH!" This is a Rennie sound of joy and excitement, something you wish to hear often. The second is "privy." Your Rennie is asking where the bathroom is, and you'd best show them quickly unless you want to be cleaning up Rennie messes. Eliminating in garb can be a difficult and time consuming process.
All other terms can usually be picked up with familiarity.
Your Rennie and Play
Rennies have a highly devoloped sense of play and will often play any opportunity they get. The idea of what is play varies greatly from one Rennie to the next, though they will almost always be happier to play in groups. Some may enjoy contact juggling, some fencing, some equestrian pursuits, some computer games. However nearly all Rennies, whether or not they are skilled, thoroughly enjoy the arts of Music and Flirting. Given a good tune and the opportunity to sing, stomp or clap along, most Rennies will be quite happy. Likewise, what may seem to the untrained observer as heavy duty sexual harassment is usually two Rennies who have missed each other's company greeting one another. Unless your Rennie looks truly upset, it is better to leave him or her alone in these situations. See more under the Breeding section.
Your Rennie also loves toys. Amongst Rennies, favored toys may be sharp, shiny, pointy, sparkly, made of wood, leather, metal, pottery or fur. Get to know your Rennie to discover his or her particular preferences.
Illness, Injury, and Keeping Your Rennie Healthy
For some reason not yet determined by modern science, Rennies seem to have a slightly greater concentration of diseases, which range from irritating to debilitating, than those not of the breed. Common ailments can include hypoglycemia, fibromyalgia, MS, diabetes, osteoporosis and a range of bum knees, trick elbows and the like. These will likely only slow your Rennie down, not stop them completely. Your Rennie and others around him or her are usually well advised on the maladies in the group and will band together to take care of one of their number that is ill or injured, so that they can all return to the fun as soon as possible.
An injured Rennie is for some reason fairly happy. They do like to show off gruesome scars and talk about their gory wounds. Should your Rennie become injured, your best course of action is to simply dress the wound, give them a drink of water and then your Rennie will go back to whatever it was doing. Except in the cases of extreme injury, they tend to be a hardy breed.
To keep your Rennie as healthy as possible, make sure that he or she drinks plenty of water, gets lots of rest and exercise and limit their consumption of fried food on a stick. Keep the supplies for dealing with heat stroke, sunburn, dehydration and hypothermia on hand, as these are the most frequent complaints. Make your Rennie wear sunscreen. He or she will protest this. Make them do it anyway. Make them reapply frequently and when they get burned anyway, make them put on Aloe gel. They will protest this as well. Insist. While Rennies are extremely intelligent, sometimes they're not very smart.
Breeding your Rennie
Nearly all Rennies love children, whether or not they have one of their own. They like to play with children, talk to children and show children things that interest them as adults. The adult Rennies overdeveloped sense of play makes them perfect companions for children, barring a tendency amongst the entire breed to curse. A Rennie child very nearly is raised by a village and may have dozens of Aunties and Uncles not related to them by blood scattered all over the continent.
Despite decades of observation by many interested parties, no one has yet determined a successful program for breeding Rennies. Their sense of high drama, passionate natures, and overly affectionate friendships have clouded the issue so deeply that it is still a mystery how they manage to breed at all. So, should you wish to breed your Rennie, it is suggested that you adopt an already mated pair. Even that is no guarantee of success.
You Rennie may have its own ideas about breeding. The best course of action to take should this happen is to stand back and observe your Rennie closely. In the event of a heartbreak step in and feed your Rennie his or her favorite treats. While this will probably not heal your Rennie, it will make them more pleasant to be around until they find another potential mate.
Conclusion
While the above may make adopting a Rennie seem daunting, it is an enterprise with great rewards. They are attractive, affectionate creatures, who will brighten your life for many years to come. Thank you for your interest.
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Several people have said they have seen this elsewhere and that is a good thing I intended it to be read by all Rennies and Rennie wannabes out there in Cyberland.
Federal officials are urging consumers to put off eating foods that contain peanut butter until they can be they are sure they do not contain products manufactured by the Peanut Corp. of America, some of which were found to contain salmonella.
Food and Drug Administration officials said Saturday that peanut butter and peanut paste made from ground roasted peanuts, manufactured in Peanut Corp.'s Blakely, Georgia, plant were found to contain the bacteria, although a direct link to the strain that has now sickened 474 people in 43 states has not been found.
Six deaths may have been connected to this salmonella outbreak.
Peanut Corp. announced an expanded recall of peanut butter and peanut paste produced from its Georgia plant Friday night. Peanut Corp. doesn't directly supply to supermarkets, so brand-name peanut butters are not expected to be affected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The chatter on one forum is about one wing-nut bemoaning the fact that he feels 'put upon' because he espouses bigotry and hatred and then reacts with typical bitterness when he his called for what he is.
He regurgitates the same bile and sputum the wing-nut talking heads spew and then wonders why people point out his errors along with his sympaticos off the edge on the wing-nut fringe. Who have come out of the fetid swamp they fester in to bemoan alongside him and to attack those that dare to stand and expose them for what they are.
Why are these people so afraid of reality? Why do they hate - people, creativeness, honesty anything new, etc., you name it, so much?
They love to dish out the heat but can not stand the heat when it comes back at them ... why is that?
President Barack Obama said Friday he wanted legislation in Congress to permit federal funding on stem cell research and overturn a ban imposed by the shrub.
Obama, who favors medical research on stem cells derived from human embryos, said he was still exploring an executive order to revoke the shrub's ban.
"But I like the idea of the American people's representatives expressing their views on an issue like this," he said, lauding a "bipartisan" consensus in Congress that such research is ethical and potentially life-saving.
If the research could yield hope for victims of degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, "I think that sends a powerful message," he said.
In blocking federal funding for stem cell research, the shrub condemned thousands of people potentially saved by this research to certain death.
Stem cells are primitive cells from early-stage embryos capable of developing into almost every tissue of the body.
Scientists believe they could prove key in finding a cure for a number of serious diseases, including also diabetes and cancer.
Beekeepers who are battling a mysterious ailment that led to the disappearance of millions of honeybees now fear the sting of imported Australian bees that they worry could out-compete their hives and might carry a deadly parasite unseen in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allowed shipments of Australian bees to resume despite concerns by some of its own scientists.
Australia had been shipping the insects across the Pacific for four years to replace hives devastated by the perplexing colony collapse disorder. But six weeks ago the Australian government abruptly stopped the shipments, saying it could no longer be certain the hives were free of a smaller, aggressive bee that has infested areas near the Great Barrier Reef, U.S. officials said.
Early this month, the USDA decided to permit the bee shipments to resume with some precautions, and the first planeloads arrived in San Francisco last Monday.
Beekeeper Ken Haff of Mandan, N.D., says he fears the foreign hives could kill off his apiary. "We've got enough problems with our own bee diseases that we don't know how to treat, and they open the border to a whole new species that could carry God knows what," said Haff, a vice president of the American Honey Producers Association. "That's a total slap in the face for us."
*****
Well, Ken what else did you expect from the shrub and the cabal and their sycophantic repugicans in the eleventh hour?! A caress and a peck on the cheek!
If the Australians themselves halted the shipments in the first place then one would think they had reason to believe they were 'unsafe' but that cut into some repugican's pockets so 'safety' be damned ... the almighty dollar in their pockets trumps everything you know.
The shrub prepares to leave office with no evidence that public opinion toward him is softening during his final days in power, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
When asked about the shrub’s performance over the last eight years, 22 percent of respondents said they approved. That matched the shrub’s job-approval rating for much of last fall, the lowest of any presidency ever. In the current poll, 73 percent disapproved of his performance over the course of his two terms.
Disapproval cut across party lines, with Democrats, Independents and even 34 percent of repuugicans critical of the shrub's performance.
I was thinking about the year 2012 and all the speculation of the repugicans of running Sarah Palin for president of the United States and the joke that it is.
However, it may not be as much of a joke as it seems.
According to the most accurate calender the world has ever known - that of the Maya - has the end of the fifth age of the fives ages of man occurring in 2012.
And Palin becoming president would be the end of the world without a doubt.
Thankfully that will never happen!
The Maya got it wrong because Sarah Palin will not be elected president nor will the repugicans be allowed to steal the election for her - ever!
The world can rest easy knowing it will not come to a blinding halt in the year 2012.
From the "Odd Human Rites and Rituals" Department:
The Times of India reports that two young girls have been wed to frogs in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district, "to prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village''.
The girls, Vigneswari and Masiakanni, dressed up in traditional bridal finery -- gilded sarees and gold jewellery -- married the frog 'princes' in separate, elaborate ceremonies at two different temples in the presence of hundreds of villagers.
Amidst chanting of vedic hymns, the temple priests garlanded the brides and tied the magalsutras on behalf of the frogs pronouncing the two as wives of the amphibians before the sacred fire at the auspicious hour.
The villagers threw themselves into the ceremonies with gusto. While residents living in the western part of the village acted as relatives of the brides and those from the eastern part play-acted as relatives of the grooms. The ceremonies had all the usual elements of a traditional marriage including a sumptuous feast.
However, unlike the fairy tale `Frog Prince', where the ugly toad turns into a handsome prince when the princess kisses it, the Villupuram village belles bid their amphibian grooms goodbye and lead a normal life thereafter. As for the terrified frogs, they are thrown back into the temple ponds after the ceremony.
Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama Radio Address on Inauguration Week January 17, 2009
Good morning. On Tuesday, the world will be watching as America celebrates a rite that goes to the heart of our greatness as a nation. For the forty-third time, we will execute the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next.
The first Inauguration took place 220 years ago. Our nation’s capital had yet to be built, so President George Washington took the oath of office in New York City. It was a spring day, just over a decade after the birth of our nation, as Washington assumed the new office that he would do so much to shape, and swore an oath to the Constitution that guides us to this very day.
Since then, Inaugurations have taken place during times of war and peace; in Depression and prosperity. Our democracy has undergone many changes, and our people have taken many steps in pursuit of a more perfect union. What has always endured is this peaceful and orderly transition of power.
For us, it is easy to take this central aspect of our democracy for granted. But we must remember that our nation was founded at a time of Kings and Queens, and even today billions of people around the world cannot imagine their leaders giving up power without strife or bloodshed.
Through the ages, many have struggled for the right to live in a land where power does not belong to one person or party, and many brave Americans have fought and died to help advance that right. Through the long twilight struggle of the Cold War, our transitions from one President to the next provided a stark contrast to the suffocating grip of Soviet Communism. And today, the resilience of our democracy stands in opposition to the extremists who would tear it down.
Here at home, transitions also remind us that what we hold in common as Americans far outweighs our political differences. Throughout the current transition, President Bush and his Administration have extended the hand of cooperation, and provided invaluable assistance to my team as we prepare to hit the ground running on January 20th.
There is much work to be done. But now, all Americans hold within our hands the promise of a new beginning.
That is why the events of the next several days are not simply about the inauguration of an American President – they will be a celebration of the American people. We will carry the voices of ordinary Americans to Washington. We will invite people across the country to work on behalf of a common purpose through a national day of service on Monday. And we will have the most open and accessible Inauguration in history – for those who travel to the capital, and for those who choose one of the many ways to participate in the Inauguration from their own communities and their own homes.
Together, we know that this is a time of great challenge for the American people. Difficult days are upon us, and even more difficult days lie ahead. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in great turmoil. And there is so much work that must be done to restore peace and advance prosperity. But as we approach this time-honored American tradition, we are reminded that our challenges can be met if we summon the spirit that has sustained our democracy since George Washington took the first oath of office.
Addressing the nation that day, Washington explained his decision to serve, saying, “I was called by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.” This Tuesday, we can reaffirm our own veneration and love for our country and our democracy. We can once again provide an example to the world, and move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and progress at home.
In a sure sign of what we can expect from the repugnicans on everything we as a People want ...
Senate repugicans on Friday blocked a bill that would have delayed next month's nationwide shutdown of analog TV signals until June 12, but Democrats vowed to bring the measure back for a vote next week.
The bill was defeated even after President Barack Obama on Friday urged lawmakers to postpone the February 17, 2007 transition amid mounting concerns that too many Americans who rely on analog TV sets to pick up broadcast channels won't be ready.
Obama called for a delay largely because the federal program that subsidizes converter boxes for those viewers hit a $1.34 billion funding limit this month.
But Senate repugicans fear a delay would confuse people and burden public safety agencies waiting for wireless spectrum that will be freed up by the switchover. (No one would be confused - well no one other than repugicans, anyway - and the need of the 'freed up' frequencies is all a myth in the empty voids the repugicans call their minds anyway)
The opponents also said a delay would be costly for television broadcasters that have spent several years preparing for the analog shutoff. (You mean a few percentage points of your net worth don't you - tell the friggin' truth ... oh, wait these are repugicans we're talking about - never mind.)
repugicans also say they do not want to push back the transition date until Congress comes up with a plan to fix the coupon program. (Typical repugican - don't think ... rush in ... fuck things up ... let everyone else pay for it.)
Faux News is desperately lying to try and rewrite history: the only glimmer
This president inherited a budget surplus, but he also inherited what he called “the trifecta of bad times.” There’s the president headed out to marine one right now. […] he inherited the 9/11 attacks. He inherited the recession and he inherited some tough times on wall street.
The only glimmer of truth in the statement above are the words ... inherited a budget surplus. The rest is a big pile of horse-hockey. Now if they had used usurper for the shrub - that would be truthful and the idiot (his policies) was the direct causation of the economic meltdown and the recession - so when did he 'inherit' what he caused in the first place?! As to the 9/11 attacks - he ignored the flashing neon warning signs put up by those that did the attacking saying they were going to attack ... so inherited is not the correct term there, either. Stupid arrogance is a better term.
When I checked to see who has been reading this blog this morning I noticed a comment from young lady made about two hours ago in which she said ... "I just LOVE your header on the blog! That's to cool! :)"
Thanks, Susanne, I try to have several headers that I rotate on a haphazard basis and I am working on more.
Also, I went to her blog and found some wonderful imagery - Susanne it turns out is a photographer, and a pretty good one, too, unlike some of my efforts.
Her blog is Sue's Daily Photography ... check it out ... she has some great work of hers posted.
