I know you are a group of crafty people so today we’re going to share those items of handiwork that you’re most proud of. It could be a sweater you knitted, a school project you “helped” your kids with, a barn you raised, a birdhouse you made, a wall you painted or just how you craftily arranged the twelve pieces of furniture to fit into your 400 square foot studio. Craftiness comes in all forms.
To put a picture into a comment you will need to host the image somewhere. Personally, Imgur has worked well for me, but you can get them from anywhere. A warning that photos hosted on Facebook should probably be saved elsewhere. Facebook’s new image viewer makes it very hard to get to the actual photo. Images you have on another site need to be the actual image file and not the page that contains them. The files in in .jpg, .png, .gif or something like that.
In the comment box tell us a little something about the picture and then include a link as follows.
Note: This article was put together by Lady_E for your reading pleasure. Show some appreciation.
Of the many themes emerging from the uprisings sweeping the Middle East, one of the most resonant and motivating have been complaints of nepotism. Before pledging to hold elections, lift onerous security laws or stop police brutality, dictator after dictator has rushed to state TV to pledge, first and foremost, that they will not foist their worthless, generally reviled and invariably criminal son onto their beleaguered country. “No, no! I was never going to do that! I promise!” they swear in a desperate attempt to appease their outraged populations. In fact, many commentators have suggested that the final straw in Egypt was the widespread belief that Hosni Mubarak was going to install his hated son, Gamel, as President in the next elections. Not surprisingly, the very first response to the protests from Mubarak was to promise that neither he nor his son would be a candidate in the elections.
This phenomenon is completely understandable. After all, nothing gets people’s hackles up like seeing some entitled douchebag sail through life smugly collecting that Ivy League degree, high paying job or important post without any acknowledgement of how underserved each of these things are. If there is one thing that unites people it is disdain for blatant nepotism and this is true the world over, from the streets of Cairo to the halls of Princeton.
So, in recognition of this powerfully unifying topic, you are all invited to submit your most outrageous example of nepotism. The rules for submission are simple. The parent doesn’t need to be a dad (how’s the autobiography going, Bristol?), nor do they have to be a dictator. But, the child must be completely unworthy of said advantages and privileges obtained by their accident of birth. After all, not all nepotism is bad. As my boyfriend points out, when the all-knowing and all-powerful God needed a job done, he did not pull out the angel org chart or call for candidates. He sent his son.
Choosing one will be difficult, I admit. To start you all off I will make my nomination for the most outrageous, undeserved on the merits and due wholly to his daddy example of nepotism. After much review and careful consideration, I submit to you Mr. Saadi Gaddafi, son of Moamar. As recounted in this excellent New York Times article, papa Gaddafi succeeded in securing for his son, Saadi, what I think is a truly remarkable feat of nepotistic influence- a spot on one of Italy’s most successful Series A soccer teams.
Fiat is the owner of Italy’s oldest and most successful team, and the team with the most fans — Juventus. The Qaddafi family built up considerable holdings in Juventus, obtaining, according to some reports as much as seven percent of shares in the clubs in recent years. In 2002, the Italian Supercup final was played in Tripoli, the currently embattled Libyan capital, thanks to these links.
It is perhaps for this reason that Saadi Qaddafi thought that he might be able to play in Serie A, despite not being good enough. The strategy was simple — pay teams to have him in their squad, and train with the first team. He might even get a few minutes on the field, on rare occasions.
Saadi was “signed” by Luciano Gaucci, the volcanic owner of Perugia, in the 2003 off-season. Qaddafi had been hanging around Italian soccer for years. He even trained with Paul Gascoigne at Lazio in the 1990s. Although he had trained with Juve, nobody had ever imagined that the dictator’s son was anywhere near good enough to actually turn out in Serie A, except Gaucci.
Despite Gaucci’s best efforts, Perugia Manager Serse Cosmi obstinately refused to play the 30-year-old Libyan. Gaucci issued a statement, at the time, which is interesting in retrospect: “Berlusconi called me up and encouraged me. He told me that having Qaddafi in the team is helping us build a relationship with Libya. If he plays badly, he plays badly. So be it.”
A number of excuses were invented — he was injured, it was the wrong game. Gaucci pleaded publicly with Cosmi, asking if he would play Qaddafi for just one half … even if he is not very good. Cosmi held firm. Qaddafi sat on the bench once without coming on. The case was resolved in a spectacular manner. On the Oct. 5, 2003 (after his first game as nonplaying substitute) Qaddafi’s urine sample was found to contain traces of an illegal substance — Nandrolone. He was barred for three months, without ever having played for the first team.
The Qaddafi saga was not over, however.
Having served his ban, Saadi finally saw some action, for 15 minutes, in a key relegation game against Juventus in May as Perugia won, 1-0. A week later an attack of appendicitis conveniently put him out for the rest of the season.
Can you beat that? Submit your choice in the comments!
Happy Friday. Bet you don’t feel like working. Let me help you out with that.
Now it’s 10 minutes closer to the weekend. You’re welcome. Have a great day.
Important Message: We are moving servers again this weekend, probably Sunday night. We’ll do our best to keep the downtime to a minimum, but depending on your ISP you might have some issues. I’m letting you guys know now so you can check Twitter and Facebook for our status.
What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening TV? You may miss your old familiar friends, but they’re waiting just around the bend!
Bob Saget as Danny Tanner
It’s tough to say which of the cast members was most excited about the end of Full House, but the smart money would go on Bob Saget—the man behind the Tanner patriarch—who immediately set about proving to the world that the hug-loving clean freak they knew was actually a filthy horndog with the mouth of Andrew Dice Clay firmly embedded in his Stephen Colbert face. From his raunchy SNL monologue to his mind-boggling entry in The Aristocrats, no one has worked quite as hard to shed his Full House persona like Saget, and nowhere has it been quite as fun to watch as in his guest spot on Entourage. These days, Saget can be heard but not seen as the voice of 2030 Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, which really doesn’t make any sense, but whatever.
(Assume all Saget links are NSFW)
John Stamos as Jesse Katsopolis
If there is one constant truth in this world, it’s that John Stamos will always have better hair than you, capiche? That hair may not have held onto Rebecca Romijn, but it’s taken him to Broadway, the Beach Boys, his own failed sitcom, a starring role in ER (did they ever reveal what that stood for?), and his current gig, a recurring role as sexy dentist Carl on Fox’s We Have Regionals Every Week, Which We Can’t Afford, and Yet We Somehow Always Seem to Have New Uniforms. If you watch it for nothing else, watch it because Stamos does. Not. Age. Have mercy!
Dave Coulier as Joey Gladstone
You know the weird thing about Dave Coulier, besides everything? It doesn’t really matter what he does in life—and he has done stuff, from participating in random kids’ shows to failing at stand-up even worse than he did on the show to reality TV—because he will, forever and always, be known only as Joey and the guy who inspired Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know. These days, Coulier can be found* playing with puppets and doing Bullwinkle impressions for anyone who’ll listen. We personally think it’s time to cut. It. Out! Quit it! But not before he answers our question: how could you dump a girl who’d go down on you in a theater?
*Or maybe he can’t be found. We actually have no idea.
Candace Cameron as D.J. Tanner
Hearts around the World were scarred for life when Cameron co-starred in the made-for-TV movie No One Would Tell with Fred Savage, portraying a couple in an abusive relationship. (“KEVIN ARNOLD WOULD NEVER HIT A GIRL, EVER!” one of us cried, and not the one you might think.) Like her brother Mike Seaver, Candice Cameron spent her post-childhood years finding men and God. Cameron ended up marrying NHL hockey player and super-Russian guy Valeri Bure. Together, they have 34 attractive blond children, a vineyard, and a very close personal relationship with Jesus. Cameron-Bure can now be seen on the really awesome ABCFamily showMake It or Break It, which is returning for its third season on Monday, March 28th, not that either of the authors of this post is counting.
Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner
Oh, Stephanie. While it was always clear that at least one of the cast members of Full House was going to fall prey to drugs, we kind of assumed it was going to be Kimmy, and that it would be something a little classier than meth, like crack. But someone had to be the meth addict with two divorces behind her before thirty, and probably because it worked so well for a book title, that role fell to Jodie Sweetin, author of UnSweetined and one-time host of the critically acclaimed* Pants Off Dance Off, in which The_Obvious contestants did stripteases for money. She is now engaged to Morty Coyle (real name) and has two daughters (one with Coyle).
*Slight exaggeration
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as Michelle Tanner
Say what you will about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, but they are nothing if not industrious. Not only did all of America watch them grow up from babies into living Bratz dolls, but they also bought their books and albums, watched their movies, coveted their clothes, featured them in their magazines and ad campaigns, and welcomed their designs into their closets and onto their runways. There’s not much these two haven’t done as adults (except wear properly fitting clothes, eat solid food, and smile) and they show no sign of slowing down, with Mary Kate appearing in this month’s Beastlyalongside Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley continuing to focus on the twins’ multiple successful clothing lines, including Elizabeth and James (named after the siblings no one knew they had) and The Row.
Andrea Barber as Kimmy Gibbler
Hola Crasstalkerinos! So, who saw Kimmy Gibbler turning out to be a completely nice and normal stay-at-home mom with presumably non-smelly feet? We sure didn’t, but sure enough, the shock of learning that Andrea Barber did not in fact die with Zack Morris in a a tragic fictional accident paled in comparison to that of learning that she seems to be a wonderfully nice and well-adjusted woman who’s traded in ruffled skirts and neon tights for…whatever it is normal people wear.
Lori Loughlin as Rebecca “Becky” Donaldson Katsopolis
Everyone knows that when you move a pretty lady into an attic with Uncle Jesse, babies are gonna happen, but Lori Loughlin, the woman behind Aunt Becky, didn’t always have as certain a future. Although her workload was far more consistent than most of her co-stars, Loughlin seemed doomed to a life of guest appearances and terrible TV movies, followed by starring roles on series that barely lasted a season or two. (Although Summerland did also star Ryan Kwanten, so, call it even?) However, in 2008, Loughlin was tapped to star in the CW’s remake of 90210, cementing her as one of the only Full House alumni capable of getting work on network TV. Sadly, this will be Loughlin’s last year in the role of Debbie Wilson, but at least she got to make out with the poor man’s Ryan Gosling for a while.
Scott Weinger as Steve Hale
Riff raff, street rat, please don’t buy that. If only you’d look closer, would you see a dumb boy? No sirree. You’d find out, there’s so much more to Steve.
Scott Weinger might’ve played dumb as DJ’s boyfriend Steve, but in real life, the man whose animated form rocked a fez-vest-harem pants-combo like no one else graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard and went on to write for shows like the criminally underrated Privileged and what some might call the greatest show of our time, starring the greatest comedienne of our time, What I Like About You. He’s currently writing for 90210, which means he and Lori Loughlin are probably sleeping together, right? Right.
Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilhoit as Nicky and Alex Katsopolis
An alarm sounded in a distant control room. A wave of panic washed over the director; he had not anticipated hearing this piercing noise. His pace quickened as he approached the door praying to God he would walk into a false alarm. His heart sunk as his worst fears were confirmed, that skinny needle that had never moved since his first day on the job was hovering over the ‘E’. Full House had run out of cuteness. Michelle was all grown up and drastic measures needed to be taken: Twins! Actually playing twins! We first learned these bouncing baby boys were on their way when Uncle Jesse uttered those classic words, “Cheese half ink a… hotdog!” This would be their first and last foray into acting. Nowadays, the boys lead normal lives and are doomed to never having individual wikipedia pages.
Buddy the Dog as Comet the Dog
From early on, friends told Buddy’s parents he should go into acting. He was a charismatic and precocious pup with perfect comedic timing. (” What are Lindsay Lohan’s chances of getting no jail time? Ruff!”) Buddy grew up in front of the audience’s eyes and went on to star in the original Air Bud when a director saw him shooting around during down time on the set. In 1995 he was recognized with a nomination for Favorite Animal Star at the Kids’ Choice Awards. (Ultimately he lost out to Milo, the dog who starred in The Mask. Rumors surfaced in The Enquirer that Milo humped the legs of the show’s producers; he was subsequently stripped of the award.) Buddy also has the distinction of being the second Full House cast member to poop on the set. He has since retired from acting and lives on one of those nice farms upstate.
Miko Hughes as Aaron Baily
You may not recognize Michelle’s greatest frenemy, but let us assure you–Miko Hughes is what nightmares are made of. If you had difficulty sleeping in 1989, it was probably due to Hughes’ scalpel-wielding role as Gage Creed in Pet Sematary. Shedding his murderous image, he took a more wholesome role in Kindergarten Cop, delivering one of the Top 5 lines. Aaron appeared in 13 episodes of Full House. That damn acting bug seems impervious to all the Raid we sprayed and Hughes continues to take on small roles. When not acting, Hughes actively participates in Native American ceremonies across the country as a dancer at powwows. (This is surprisingly not made up.)
Jurnee Smollett as Denise Frazier
Winner of the “Guess who got hot?” award, Jurnee Smollett—a.k.a. Michelle’s friend Denise—may be the most prolific actor of the cast since the show’s end. Smollett, who’s one of six children, went on to star with her family in a show where they pretended to also be the siblings of a seventh guy who pulled a Mrs. Doutfire situation for their social worker, who he also wanted to bang, or something? (Don’t understand it? Don’t worry, we didn’t either.) From there, she went on to the short-lived Cosby followed by Friday Night Lights as well as feature films such as Eve’s Bayou and The Great Debaters, all the while guest starring on every medical drama in existence. She can now be seen playing Lisa Tyler on The Defenders, if you really want to watch that.
Tahj Mowry as Teddy
If you think it’s difficult living in the shadow of a successful older sibling, try having two…who are also identical twins. Sadly, Sister Sister Brother was not deemed to be catchy enough to provide Mowry with six seasons of lip gloss money the way it did Tia and Tamera, but Tahj was able to break into the spotlight as Full House’s adorable Teddy NoLastName. Like Michelle’s other pint-sized pals, Tahj had some considerable success immediately following the show, starring as an annoying genius child in Smart Guy and other voiceover work, but once puberty hit and he grew into his ears, Tahj’s career slowed down considerably. There is only room in Hollywood for one man with Big Ears, and that, our friends, is Will Smith. Tahj Mowry, you are no Will Smith. Now, as a surprisingly attractive adult, Tahj spends his days tweeting for Jesus. #FF @BigGuyintheSky.
And just because we love you…
DahlELama and The_Obvious are on an eternal search for Ben & Jerry’s Clusterfluff, the whereabouts of the baby from Raising Hope, and Platform 9 3/4. Anyone providing one or more of these three items will receive a personalized mixtape of “Songs for Wisdom Tooth Removal.”
Yes, we all know that many, many people are on Facebook. A lot. But seeing the numbers, in visual as well as text form, shows that many of us spend way, way too much time on Facebook.
Is this where we want to be? But is Facebook a tool to enhance our social lives, or has it become a replacement for it, and does it matter? As for what it’s doing to users, it was reported on Wednesday that two researchers at Cornell found that using Facebook boosts self-esteem. On the other hand, an Oxford neuroscientist warned that Facebook and other social networking sites may be leading to less empathy, a shakier sense of identity, and an aversion to real-life interaction. While it remains to be see whether children are in imminent danger of growing up into sociopathic confused shut-ins, that a large percentage of people now spend more time interacting online (hi, guys!) than in face-to-face situations is vaguely troubling even to one who has been more or less glued to a computer since the age of eleven, when I discovered AOL message boards and was unaware that there would ever be anything better than a dial-up modem.
What does Mark Zuckerburg think about all of this? I don’t know, but I imagine it goes something like this.
It’s time to go back in time and bring out those sexy memories. Was there a song that made you want to crawl across the bed like a tiger even if you were only 15? What was playing on the car radio when you lost your V-card in the backseat? Did you blush when a certain video came on and your parents were in the room? Remember, we’re not talking about songs from last year, but those of yester-year.
George Michael’s iconic video for Freedom is so impossibly and undeniably sexy given that it featured the original supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and hot menz, John Pearson, Mario Sorrenti, and Peter Formby all half-naked and slinky. I wanted/want to lick the screen.
Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game featured another uber model of her time, Helena Christensen. Smart guy – I bet he had a fun afternoon. She probably single-handedly (heh) started the boy-shorts trend. He’s kinda hot, too.
*Keep it safe for work and remember the rules – no lady nip (PATRIARCHY!), ding-a-lings or vagine!
It’s my oldest memory. I was three. It was 2 o’clock in the morning. The knock on the front door would not stop. It was getting louder and louder. I buried my head under my pillow, but my father’s angry voice overcame everything. Everything, until the neighbors called the police. “He is no longer welcome in this house. I changed the locks and my mind” my mother told the officers. This was Europe in 1973 and the cops attempted to reason with her, but it was no use. You see, my dad had spent 17 years pushing my mother to the breaking point and had finally, and spectacularly, succeeded. He wanted to be let in, to come home, to be forgiven. My mom had different ideas. Ideas of freedom, escape, and a new beginning that, in no way, involved “him”.
He was a Cheater. In my world, this term should always be capitalized. It changed my life, my relationships, and my view of marriage and should never be taken lightly.
My parents met in New York City, through a friend, and became inseparable. They married and moved to a beautiful loft on Washington Square in the heart of NYC. My mother played the happy homemaker and encouraged my father to indulge in his photographic talent as a career. He was a cartographer by trade, but taking pictures was his passion. He was incredible by all accounts, but NY was overrun with talent and my Dad languished while trying to build his portfolio.
His knack for commercial photography finally reached a friend, who was living a fabulous bohemian life in 1960’s Germany. He invited my Parents to make the move to Europe, set up studio space, and find a rep to help my father “sell” his talent.
From the get-go, my Mom was anything but excited about this adventure. “Germany, really? What the hell am I going to do with myself?”. But, she loved my father and was willing to do anything to make him happy. And, in the beginning, he was happy. His work was well received. He managed to garner several large commercial contracts with The European Cotton Council, MCM Leather, and Braun, among others. Most of this was, in no small part, due to his rep, who worked tirelessly to sell my Father’s talent. Unfortunately for us, she had an ulterior motive… Him.
Their affair began quietly. My mom is not sure exactly when, but it was somewhere around the time that I was conceived. The pregnancy was a long time in coming and had been taxing on their relationship, to say the least. Birth control had torn apart my mother’s reproductive organs (wrong dosage) to the extent that my imminent arrival was quite the surprise to the doctors and my parents. The timing could not have been worse, but my mom was thrilled nonetheless. She dove, head first, into motherhood. To the outside world, she had the perfect life. A successful husband, beautiful home, and a miracle baby on the way. No one knew that it was all a facade.
She knew from the very beginning. He showed all the stereotypical signs; coming home at odd hours, distant, argumentative, defensive. My father was the poster boy for cheating. Yet, my mother chose to ignore it all. To this day, she tells me “it was the 1970’s in Europe. Everyone was having affairs. It’s just something you dealt with”. But, she didn’t just deal with it. The mistress/rep was invited into our home for birthday parties and holiday dinners. Her daughter and I were playmates. She was sleeping with my father while my mother babysat. The whole charade was destined to explode and leave two innocent girls in the dust. It was just a matter of time…
My mom won’t tell me what/who cracked her perfect smile, but I am grateful for that instance. The instance she decided that this was no way to live, no way to raise a child. The instance she began to respect herself, her daughter and realize that there was more to this life than taking care of my father while he gallivanted around town like the rooster that ran the hen house. She did not drag on the misery. Her decision was quick and final, almost too practical and calculated.
The story of the actual divorce and its aftermath will need to wait for another day. But, trust me when I tell you, it included late night car chases across Europe, private detectives and a final move back to the States with everything we owned. For this, and many other things, I am proud of my mother. You see, I am a child of divorce and I am a better person for it. In no way do I believe my parents should have stayed together “for the sake of the child”. It was a struggle, almost on a daily basis but, my Mom did it. She succeeded without my father and never looked back…..
There’s nothing like a great movie experience. You know when you get there twenty minutes early just in time to use the facilities, get snacks, find the best seat in the house (at least four rows up, dead center), and the line is short, like Nick Cage and Adam Sandler opening weekend short — a veritable movie theater Nirvana, that’s what this is.
You stake your claim. Perhaps you put your jacket and handbag in the seat next to you, you know as a subtle indication that you don’t want the Johnstons and their trough of children, Gummi Bears, Slurpees, and loud-talking nonsense sitting right next to you. They won’t get the message. They never do. Nevertheless, you’re comfortable, you’ve leaned back in your reclined seat, and the armrest is all yours.
Ok. Er, yeah, that’s what you used to do. Well now you should really just pull out the crime scene booties, a hair net, and perhaps a full body rain slicker because going to the movies is like taking a hot bath in someone else’s bathwater! Literally like licking the door handle of a public restroom.
Dr. Philip Tierno Jr., the director of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center, analyzed spot samples taken from the armrests and concession areas of four NYC movie theaters, as reported by Good Day New York.
Do you know what he found?! What can only be described by the good doctor as “gross contamination.”
This is a pure culture of E. coli,” Tierno said, pointing to a Petri dish from the counter top. “There could be any kind of virus there.”
At the AMC theater’s Empire 25 location on West 42nd Street — you may recall this was the home of an infestation of bedbugs leading to the theater’s closing for fumigation — there were 15 heath violations. One of which was for “evidence of mice or live mice present in [the] facility’s food and/or non-food areas.” Yoikes! He also swabbed the “butter button.” You know that little contraption that’s used to spray butter on your popcorn, yeah well, that thing came back with “environmental organisms” with likely the presence of other, potentially harmful bacteria.
Similarly, the “butter button” at the City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3 theater on 3rd Avenue and East 60th Street came back with “fecal organisms and Enterococcus” bacteria. (Man alive, sheesh.) And not to be outdone, after testing the armrests at both, “Yeast was [present], which could be found in feces or vaginally found,” Tierno said. Klebsiella, an intestinal bacteria, was also observed at the AMC location in Times Square.
What, just what?! Hold on just one damn minute. So there is literally poo covering the surfaces of various items that come in contact with your food and your arms at these theaters…along with any number of other unregulated poo instances? That’s a whole lot of “butt” on that butter button. Yes, sure, I know we live in a germ-ridden, mostly filthy environment if you put the entire world under a microscope, but who, just who, is rubbing their nethers and then shamelessly slathering those particles on the “butter button?” It makes me think that some wanton poo-man is just waiting for you to get your popcorn so he can gift the “butter button” with some of his primo ass-sauce. Is nothing sacred? Can you not just enjoy your pseudo-butter/greasy trans fats in relative peace? Apparently, no. There’s poo to ingest. Nice.
Only one of the four theaters came back with what Tierno describes as “insignificant” amounts of bacteria. Bay Plaza AMC Theatres in the Bronx has this honor. But after 43 health violations lobbed against them last November, one would hope that they’ve cleaned up their act.
Of course each of the main offenders recounted here have offered some sort of PR riddled statement, “We at the blah-blah theater consider the cleanliness of our theaters a high priority, blah, blah, safe environment, sorry you were unsatisfied, blah, and we’re working to blah, blah.”
Wake up gang. Destiny awaits. Today is another big day for our little home on the internet, so we better get moving.
We are moving servers again this weekend, probably Sunday night. We’ll do our best to keep the downtime to a minimum, but depending on your ISP you might have some issues. I’m letting you guys know now so you can check Twitter and Facebook for our status.
Please, before you come here and let us know that you’re having issues posting, do the following. Please update your browser. Crasstalk will NOT work with IE. Run the Adobe Flash updater and the Java updater. A lot of the newer functionality works with the latest and greatest version of Java, so you’ll need it. Run https://browsercheck.qualys.com/, and download any software that is out of date. Please clear your browser’s cache and reboot. If you’re having the issue of comment windows disappearing, or comments not showing up on certain pages, it’ll band-aid the problem. IntenseDebate is still having issues. Please be aware that if you’re posting animated .gif’s or other large files, it will take a while for the file to upload! Finally, if you are having problems one of us might email you. Please respond. If you leave a message saying that you’re having problems, please at least respond when we ask you questions: things like your browser type and version. When we submit ‘trouble tickets’ with IntenseDebate we need to know this information. If you’re reading Crasstalk on a mobile phone or non-standard browser, its kind of a crapshoot as to if the page will display properly. We are going to have a mobile version of Crasstalk soon enough. Thank you. -Ben
Lots of you guys use Facebook. Facebook is notoriously hard to back up. Although I’m not aware of any large server outages, if you post a lot of pictures to Facebook its good to have the important ones saved in a secure place. There are a number of programs you can download that scan through the Facebook directories and download each and every file individually, they’re hard to use. There’s a simple solution.
My parents met in New York City, through a friend, and became inseparable. They married and moved to a beautiful loft on Washington Square in the heart of NYC. My mother played the happy homemaker and encouraged my father to indulge in his photographic talent as a career. He was a cartographer by trade, but taking pictures was his passion. He was incredible by all accounts, but NY was overrun with talent and my Dad languished while trying to build his portfolio.
The story of the actual divorce and its aftermath will need to wait for another day. But, trust me when I tell you, it included late night car chases across Europe, private detectives and a final move back to the States with everything we owned. For this, and many other things, I am proud of my mother. You see, I am a child of divorce and I am a better person for it. In no way do I believe my parents should have stayed together “for the sake of the child”. It was a struggle, almost on a daily basis but, my Mom did it. She succeeded without my father and never looked back…..
You stake your claim. Perhaps you put your jacket and handbag in the seat next to you, you know as a subtle indication that you don’t want the Johnstons and their trough of children, Gummi Bears, Slurpees, and loud-talking nonsense sitting right next to you. They won’t get the message. They never do. Nevertheless, you’re comfortable, you’ve leaned back in your reclined seat, and the armrest is all yours.
At the AMC theater’s Empire 25 location on West 42nd Street — you may recall this was the home of an infestation of bedbugs leading to the theater’s closing for fumigation — there were 15 heath violations. One of which was for “evidence of mice or live mice present in [the] facility’s food and/or non-food areas.” Yoikes! He also swabbed the “butter button.” You know that little contraption that’s used to spray butter on your popcorn, yeah well, that thing came back with “environmental organisms” with likely the presence of other, potentially harmful bacteria.