BLAINESWORLD
#693
1.11.2010

In this issue:
1. Reflections
2. FYI
3. Map reading 
4. Reviews . . . THE YOUNG VICTORIA, etc.
5. TV alert
6. 50 years together
7. Websites
8. Computer tip
9. Love in Colorado (redhead joke alert)
10. A quote I like
11. Thought for the day
12. Advance planning department

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1. Reflections

A. Cynthia, my beautiful bride, and I had a blast at something called Asheville
Vaudeville . . . it's a monthly dose of cabaret, short plays, magic acts, music
and more.

We most enjoyed an act called Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth, a trio
of jugglers that had us laughing throughout their two routines.

Asheville Vaudeville takes place on the first Thursday of the month at
the Bebe Theatre on 20 Commerce Street in downtown Asheville . . . shows are
at 7:30 and 10, and tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door . . . 1/3 of
all ticket prices go to benefit MANNA Food Bank.

For more information, Facebook users can click:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=231738032550&ref=mf

B. We also attended an informative presentation on something known as
the Buteyko Breathing Method, conducted by Dorisee Neale (a respiratory
educator and nurse) . . .  she emphasized the need to breathe in from
the nose and, also, to breathe out through the nose . . . in addition, she
emphasized that when it comes to breathing, "less is more." 

It opened my eyes to some things--i.e., my respiratory system--that I've
never thought too much about previously.

For more information, please click:

http://www.breathdance.org/whoarewe.html 

C. A few weeks ago, I ran some pictures (mostly taken by my father)
that we had framed and hung in the hallway leading down to the
bottom floor or our townhouse . . . here are some more that he
took back when I was a kid . . . these are in my office . . . in
the middle is a mirror and below it is the plaque I received in 2006
from Bucks County Community College for the Lindback Distinguished
Teaching Award.

D. I am pleased to welcome aboard Danny Brice as my new webmaster (see also
Section 7C for information about my website) . . . if the name is familiar, it is
because you may have heard it before . . . Danny is the guy I've previously had
the pleasure of doing my computer "stuff" . . . he set up a network in
my home; in addition, he bailed me out numerous times when my system wasn't
working . . . if you have any questions about computers, do consider making
Danny your go-to guy . . . he can be reached via email, dnbrice@gmail.com . . . or
by phone, 828.683.4912.

In addition, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to Lori Hansen for having
been my webmistress for the past several years . . . she did an excellent
job, and I will miss both her help and friendliness.

***** BLAINESWORLD BEST AWARD *****

This week, it goes to Scott Cook--a premises technician for AT&T.

Last week, I mentioned that I was switching my Internet, cable and TV service
to this company (from Charter) . . . I just made the switch, thanks in large
part to Scott's help, and the transition couldn't have been smoother.

He came on time, and he completed all the work that he had to do
in much less time than I thought he would have needed . . . he was
both friendly and extremely professional, and I was most appreciative
of the fine job that he did in explaining how everything worked after
he had completed the installation.

I've already noticed how much better AT&T is than Charter ever was. The products
are better and so is the service. Also, there's no annual contract requirement.
Best of all: I'm looking forward to having the capability to tape a program on one
TV and watch it on any other TV in the house.

ONE RECOMMENDATION IF CONTEMPLATING A SIMILAR CHANGE:

This applies to a switch from Charter to AT&T . . . or, for that matter, from
any other company you may presently have to a new one . . . if your phone
service is also going to be affected, then put a voicemail message on your
old service (the one you will be switching from) to the effect that if anybody
wants to reach you, call your cellphone number until further notice . . . that
way, you won't lose any calls when the technician is making the switchover . . . only
when all is working properly should you activate your voicemail with the new service.

_________________________________________________________


2. FYI

Pat in Pennsylvania, my longtime friend, and I have been discussing an idea he has
that I think would make a wonderful gift item . . . yet rather than have me tell you more
about it, I asked him to describe it for you:

Just wanted to let your readers know I'm now offering a digital video memories package.
Basically its a means of taking old slides, film (super 8, etc) and/or video and integrating
it with video of someone talking about their family history, a person or an event(s) from the
past. It's a means to preserve and tell a family history or story and at the same time it's
a means to preserve photos, film, and videotape etc that is probably sitting in someone's
closet and wasting away. Not to mention that in the near future there probably won't be any
means for the next generations to see or view what one may have on film or VHS tapes
of family members from the past. Most of us wish we had film or tape of our parents or
other family member conveying thoughts, values, events of the past before they died, right?
So if your parents are still alive, now is a good time to preserve their memories and
incorporate all of this into a DVD of the family history. And, our children will wish they had
us do the same. So why procrastinate? Take the time to preserve your family history
now so it can be passed on to future generations. We help with preparing the story line,
recording the video interview, incorporating pictures, film and video into what will be used
in the final product. Make this a priority to have your loved ones on film for the future. 

MR. CURIOUS HERE:
  
How many people have lots of old photos, film, video of other family memorabilia stuffed in boxes
and stored in some closet or in their attic? Do you know that film and video break down over time
and eventually the images will be lost? Have you ever thought about preserving these by having
them transferred to a DVD for future generations to see? Also, as anyone thought about making
a DVD movie of their parents or other family members talking about their family history that 
incorporate the old film, photos and videos that you've been accumulating? Has anyone done
this or paid to have a similar service done? I'd be curious to know.

Please respond directly to Pat: pat.haas@verizon.net . . . and, also, feel free to send me a copy
of your response. (I'd be interested in it, too) . . . for more information about Pat, a very talented
photographer, videographer, etc., please click:

http://phillyshots.com 

FYI, part 2

* THANKS to Pat Achiles for providing another great comic:

She does comics, greeting cards, artwork for children's books and so much
more . . . for more information, call her at 215.348.4837 or email
her at: patachilles@aol.com . . . you can also get a FREE weekly cartoon
delivered to your email by clicking:

http://www.achillesportfolio.com/freecartoonsignup.htm

* For a FREE Fresco Taco, please click:

http://www.drivethrudiet.com/

* Todd in New Jersey:

Someone just shared this with me: Just remember, it's better to spend money like there's
no tomorrow than it is to spend tonight like there's no money!

And one that I heard many years ago from Soupy Sales: Don't have one for the road
because the road is already laid out!

* Joe in Pennsylvania:

Wanted to let you know I've been playing with the blog recently. The
subscription widget should work now; let me know if you are not getting
the updates. To access, please click:

http://thebulldogedition.wordpress.com/

IF YOU DO:

You'll be impressed . . . Joe writes one of the best blogs
I've come across!

* Karen in North Carolina:

Come share our pet-friendly, oceanview villa on Harbor Island, SC for a respite from the hustle
and bustle of everyday life.

Shift into lower gear--relax, enjoy and bring your binoculars if you're a birdwatcher!

Call 828.252.3612 or email beachhouse206@charter.net for more information or
to reserve your dates!

Rent 2 Nights, Get 1 Free! (1 per visit) before March 1st.

http://www.harborislandvacations.com/L206/L206PetFriendly.shtml

* Marshall in New Jersey (with a REQUEST FOR HELP):

Career public relations and corporate communications pro seeking continued contract
consulting work in all aspects of the business, including employee communications,
marketing collateral creation, and news media relations. Contact Marshall Molloy
at memolloy@optonline.net or 973.538.9438.

* Peter in Pennsylvania: 

Just wanted to reach out and wish you a happy new year. Hope you are well.

I like the recent thought of the day. Many believe that "doing what they are supposed to"
makes them a "good person," deserving of a reward.
 
The way your "thought for the day" reads by the way is very Biblical. On a lighter note,
loved the bear joke too.

There are times though that I don't like the contents at all--but spare you my feedback. I figure
you get enough people commenting on your newsletter, you don't need more.

Anyway, perhaps you haven't been able to keep up with a work out routine, but its impressive
how long you have been able to write and deliver BLAINESWORLD on a consistent and
timely basis.

* Kevin in Pennsylvania:

This is a video of a guy in NYC that recently passed away, but was the pen ultimate street
vendor. Also, excellent obit piece in NY Times Magazine section: 12/27/09.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0

* Alan in Pennsylvania, one very talented artist and a former colleagues from Bucks
County Community College:

Please check my new website and fee to pass it on:

http://ALANGOLDSTEIN.NET

* Jason in Pennsylvania (on switching email addresses):

Best way to switch email.  Don't, consolidate instead.  Use a service like GMail, Yahoo!
or Hotmail and go into your existing accounts and forward all of your mail to this single
account.  The important thing is that isn't tied to your Internet connection, for reasons
you explained in this issue. That way regardless if it is coming from BLAINESWORLD, AOL,
Facebook, Bucks, etc. , it will all land in the same place.  If you plan on getting rid of the one
email account in the future, set a permanent away message.  Something like "My AOL
account, BGinBC@aol.com, will no longer be available after July 4, 2010.  When the fireworks
go off, so does this account, so please update your address book immediately
to BGinNC@gmail.com."  

* Pat in Pennsylvania (on the same subject):

When I got Verizon Fios TV they sort of gave me email. They came in and sent out a blast
email to every person I had contracted.. Not sure how they did it, but they sent the notice
out by email to probably like 1000 people from my PC. It was pretty amazing. I did not have
to do a thing. I think they used a program called True-switch?? Then I just kept checking
my old AOL account and had like a canned statement ready telling them I switched email
addresses. I think the key was that I never resend in the old email format. I would only respond
to them with my new email address. It did not take long. In fact it was almost seamless. And if
you have a  Facebook account, it's easy for someone to find or contact you in the event that
they miss that you changed your email address. Pretty painless.  
 
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3. Map reading

The teacher of the geography class was lecturing on map reading.

After explaining about latitude, longitude, degrees and minutes, the
teacher asked, "Suppose I asked you to meet me for lunch at 23 degrees,
4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude?"

After a confused silence, a voice volunteered, "I guess you'd be eating alone."

_________________________________________________________

4. Reviews

A. Enjoyed THE YOUNG VICTORIA, an interesting costume drama about Queen Victoria
that is set in 1837 . . . she starts off as a very popular ruler, but quickly loses favor
with the public . . . (remind you of a more contemporary political situation?) . . . with the
help and love of her husband, though, Victoria manages to turn things around . . . Emily
Blunt continues to impress me as an actress; she is excellent here . . . I also enjoyed
the work of Rupert Friend as her husband . . . rated PG.

B. There's nothing much recommending in terms of new DVD releases, so
I'll instead refer you to an outstanding film that I saw after a recommendation
from my friend Natalie in Pennsylvania: THE NUN'S STORY . . . it is the moving
story of a young nun dedicated to medical work in the African Congo . . . she
struggles, though, to balance her independent spirit with the demands of a
religious life . . . Audrey Hepburn is simply superb in the leading role . . . it received
8 Oscar nominations in 1959, but did not take home a single top prize . . . no rating
at the time, but this thought-provoking film is appropriate for anybody over 12 . . .you
can get it via Netflix or Blockbuster.

C. Can you treat patients with heavily diluted preparations which are thought to cause
effects similar to the symptoms presented?

You can if you believe the holistic medical science called homeopathy . . . I'm not sure
that I do, but wanting to know more about the subject, I read an informative book
called HOMEOPATHY: BEYOND FLAT EARTH MEDICINE by Dr. Timothy R. Dooley
(a family physician).

Dooley does a good job in taking some of the mystery out of the topic, presenting
some history along the way . . . he also presented several case studies, which
I found interesting, along with this recommendation:

* The best way to get results is to make homeopathy your primary form of therapy. That
is to say, homeopathy is what you think of first and pursue first in your healthcare needs.
As a medical doctor, I say with conviction that conventional medicine is what should be
used secondarily, as a backup to homeopathy, and not the other way around. A patient
should first give their system a chance to heal naturally and only resort to drug therapy
when truly necessary.

He goes on to point out:

* Patients who want results with homeopathy, or any form of therapy for that matter, need
to be committed. This means following the advice of the practitioner, scheduling follow-up
appointments as directed, and working with the practitioner when problems arise.

After reading HOMEOPATHY, I'm not quite willing to go that route with respect
to my medical treatment . . . however, I'm at least open to the possibility that
it may work for some folks--and if that's the case, I'm glad for them.

D. I often find that the problem with autobiographies is that the author is quite
frequently too soft on himself or herself . . . an exception is CLAPTON by
George Clapton, which I found to be brutally honest.

As the author notes: "I found a pattern in my behavior that has been repeating
itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my speciality,and if something
honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other day."

Consequently, if you want to read about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, this book
won't disappoint you . . . Clapton traces every step of his career, and it was
all fascinating stuff--even his upbringing as an illegitimate child raised by
his grandparents . . . I liked the details of his early stints with the Yardbirds
and Cream, as well as the stories behind his solo successes.

There was also much information about his drug and alcohol addictions, along
with the story behind his obsession with Pattie Boyd . . .  then, just as his life was
coming together, he was struck by the death of his beloved son Conor in a freak
accident . . . yet having become a much stronger man, he took comfort in his
music and responded with the beautiful "Tears in Heaven."

I heard a CD version of this book, and though I was disappointed it wasn't read
by Clapton, I was more than satisfied by the job done by Bill Nighy (long one
of my favorite character actors) . . . if I didn't know any better, I could have
been fooled into believing that he was the author. 


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5. TV alert

A. Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea" & "Stones Into Schools" will be featured
on a special on the Bill Moyers Journal on PBS TV on Friday at 9 p.m. . . . please check
time and date because PBS programs often change--even at the last minute.

B. WHAT I HATE ABOUT ME has real women admitting their imperfections—and Style's
A-list experts share practical tips for fixing every foible . . . Saturdays at 9 p.m. on STYLE.

C. If you want to catch what might be a preview of this year's Oscars, then
the GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS is the show for you . . . UP IN THE AIR,
one of my favorites this past year, leads film nominees with a half dozen . . . Sunday
at 8 p.m. on NBC.
 
D. AZIZ ANSARI: INTIMATE MOMENTS FOR A SENSUAL EVENING . . . the
funniest character on NBC's PARKS AND RECREATIONS takes on such topics
as Facebook, Craiglist and Kanye West . . . Sunday at 10 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL.

_________________________________________________________

6. 50 years together

On my parents' 50th anniversary, I remarked to my Dad that he and Mom
never seemed to fight.

"We battled," had said, "but it never amounted to much. After a while,
one of us always realized that I was wrong."

IF YOU DID NOT KNOW MY FOLKS:

You might think the above actually happened. The truth is that my folks
also battled; however, I'm not sure that I ever saw one of them admit
that he or she was wrong.

_________________________________________________________

7. Websites

A. This clip shows the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing
a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were
affected by the German invasion during World War II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=vOhf3OvRXKg

Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmerizing to watch. The images,
projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears. She won the top
prize of about $130,000.

B. On a lighter note, if you're into dancing . . . or great piano playing, check out this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QQzbCmlZM4

Thinking out loud here . . . maybe this should be the next thing for me to take up? 

C. BLAINESWORLD, the website, remains up and running . . . to view
it, please click:

http://www.blainesworld.net

One of my favorite things to read online is THIS IS TRUE, a  collection of unusual
tidbits from daily newspapers that ends with a funny tagline from Colorado
humorist Randy Cassingham . . . to get on the FREE mailing list, click
"Blaine's Best" to the left and then "This Is True."

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8. Computer tip

You can now eliminate everything from a website you're reading except text
and photos . . .YES, that means no more annoying ads, blinking, links,
banners, promos or anything else . . . to get this FREE button for
your browser's toolbar, please click:

lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability

The end result: You wind up with a simple, magazine-like layout in a
beautiful font and size (your choice) against a white or off-white background with no
red-text-against-black business.

If you occasionally run into a Web page that Readability doesn't handle right--no big deal.
Just refresh the page to see the original. 

_________________________________________________________

9. Love in Colorado (redhead joke alert)

A redhead city girl named Carol marries a Colorado rancher.

One morning, on his way out to check on some undeveloped land,
the rancher says to Carol, "The artificial insemination man is coming
over to impregnate one of our cows today, so I drove a nail into the 2 by 4
just above where the cow's stall is in the barn. Please show him where the
cow is when he gets here, OK?"

She agrees, and the rancher leaves for the fields. After a while, the artificial
insemination man arrives and knocks on the front door.

Carol takes him down to the barn. They walk along the row of cows and when
Carol sees the nail, she tells him, "This is the one right here."

The man, assuming he is dealing with an airheaded dumb redhead, asks,
"Tell me lady, 'cause I'm dying to know; how would you know that this
is the right cow to be bred?"

"That's simple," she said. "By the nail that's over its stall," she explains very confidently.

Laughing rudely at her, the man says, "And what, pray tell, is the nail for?"

The redhead turns to walk away and says sweetly over her shoulder, "I guess
it's to hang your pants on."

PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGY:

If this tale offended any redheads, I'm sorry; it was not my
intention . . . however, I'm personally offended by all the "dumb redhead"
jokes out there . . . I mean, how come they never choose some other
group to pick on; e.g., blondes? . . . yet in this case, it was nice to see
the redhead winning for a change . . . so, technically, the "dumb redhead"
category isn't quite right for this one!

_________________________________________________________

10. A quote I like

My husband has a Brazilian expression that says: If you're smart, you will
learn from your mistakes. If you're a genius, you'll learn from other people's
mistakes.--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE  

MY TWO CENTS:

Methinks you'll like the above book . . . it was one of my favorites
from the past few years. Consequently, I'm now looking forward to reading
the author's latest effort: COMMITTED: A SKEPTIC'S LOOK AT MARRIAGE.

_________________________________________________________

11. Thought for the day 

When I Die

When I Die
If you need to weep
Cry for someone
Walking the street beside you.

And when you need me
Put your arms around others,
And give them what you need to give me.

You can love me most by letting
Hands touch hands and
Souls touch souls.

You can love me most by sharing your simchas (joys) and
multiplying your mitzvot (good deeds).

You can love me most by letting me live in your
deeds and not on your mind.

And when you say Kaddish (prayers) for me
Remember what our Torah teaches:
Love doesn't die
People do.

So when all that's left of me is love
Give me away.

Author Unknown
Adapted from Tikay Nefshot--Spiritual Renewal
Rabbis Allen Miller and Jeffrey Marx, editors

_________________________________________________________

12. Advance planning department

A. Brian in North Carolina:

Following two highly successful Lessons in Leadership events in 2008 and 2009,
 the next event presenters are nationally-acclaimed leadership coach and motivational
speaker CHIP MADERA and GEORGE FLEMING, whose Personal Transformation
workshop at Lessons in Leadership 2009 was a huge hit! Read about their presentations here.

In keeping with the Lessons in Leadership concept of "giving back to the community,"
both presenters and many other people in organizing the event have donated their
time and talents free of charge, allowing us to offer this amazing world-class
leadership training for a low $25 per person ($20 for groups of 5 or more). We also
owe a particular debt of gratitude to HomeTrust Banking Partnership for underwriting
the event.

To register, please click:

http://www.wncleaders.com/