I Speak of Dreams

True Class

I didn't know S-Train before, I got to him from a random walk that stopped by Oblomovkova

But he shows us how to behave with restraint and dignity:

When you run a business that's open to all of the public, you meet all kinds of people. And I met an official S-Train Canvass troll recently. And a very nasty, foul one also (in e-mails and comments that is). Check this:

DDR & Weight Loss.

How do you motivate a person to change her attitude? How do you motivate someone to change her behavior?

This girl made an astonishing change....by playing a video arcade game, Dance Dance Revolution.

At this time, I was a senior in high school and weighed about 235 lbs. Four and a half years later, I now weigh close to 140 lbs and I would’ve never guessed how much that trip (OR a video game) would affect me with my health/weight, and in growing to be a better, more self-confident person.

(note: this is a site that markets a home dance pad).

What is Dance Dance Revolution?

To someone watching a round of Dance Dance Revolution (or DDR for those in the know) for the first time, the game looks like a combination of high-impact aerobics class and a legs-only version of Twister. A player stands on a metal pad in front of the DDR machine and chooses a song. Once the song begins, the game screen shows a series of arrows pointing up, down, left and right. As the arrows move toward the top of the screen, the dancer steps on the corresponding arrow on the metal pad. The faster the song, the faster the player has to step and jump. And the more accurate and timely the player's steps are, the higher he or she scores.

Evidently, the game is quite addicting.

If you are travelling, you can fiind the closest game by using this site

If you are still confused, here's photos and FAQs.

DDR is one of a class of games called bemani

(oh, I forgot--Jason wrote about it, but Cory told me.

from The Cat News Network
toThe Beeb

The "witch bottle" was discovered buried in old foundations in the Lincolnshire village of Navenby.

Containing bent pins, human hair and perhaps urine, the bottles were supposed to protect a household against evil spells.

In related news, the Norwegians seem to have gone round the twist.

Salvia clevelandii

Salvia clevelandii has the most incredible fragrance. The flowers are sort of ball-shaped and not very interesting, but the foliage exudes a delightful fragrance year-round. It is relatively hardy--I go by the Sunset New Western Garden Book , which says it is hardy to about 20 degrees F.

Things You Should Never Plant

If you have indoor-outdoor long-haired pets:

forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica or M. alpestris). It is fabulous while growing, but then sets seed. The seeds are tiny and hairy; any animal coming close to the plant is immediately covered with seeds, which are difficult to remove.

Suburbia as Drug and Sex Ridden As Urbia

It is an epidemic.

Executive Summary For the last several decades middle-class families have been fleeing from the cities to the suburbs, in part because many parents see the suburbs, and suburban public schools in particular, as refuges from the disorder and social collapse they see as endemic to America's urban school districts. Parents believe that suburban public schools provide children with safer, more orderly, and more wholesome environments than their urban counterparts.

This report finds that those perceptions are unfounded. Using hard data on high school students from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, one of the most comprehensive and rigorous studies of the behavior of American high school students, it finds that suburban public high school students have sex, drink, smoke, use illegal drugs, and engage in delinquent behavior as often as urban public high school students. Students also engage in these behaviors more often than most people realize.

Bibliotherapy: Marriage

For my money, this is the best "how to grow a good marriage" book:
(Tell Me No Lies, Bader & Pearson), who run The Couples Institute in Menlo Park.

Also, I think this, Before You Marry: Ask The Tough Questions is the book I've given away a couple of times to younger friends.

Patricia Vanlester's litigation history

An investigation by WKMG-Local 6 reveals Patricia Vanlester has filed 15 previous claims of injuries at Wal-Mart stores and other places she has shopped or worked, according to Wal-Mart, court files and state records. Her sister, Linda Ellzey, who accompanied her on her November 28, 2003 visit to Wal-Mart, has also filed a prior injury claim against Wal-Mart, with Vanlester as her witness, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

Asked whether Vanlester's frequent injury claims might cast doubt on the veracity of her latest allegation, her attorney, David L. Sweat, of Port Orange, said, "No comment." He did stress, though, that Vanlester "has not filed a claim nor have we decided to file one" related to last week's incident.

Walmart Legends, Urban Myths, and True Facts.

A collection of scams and stories connected to Walmart. Somehow Walmart has become this sort of iconic land of myth generation. What started me thinking about it was this link from In High Cotton.

Baby bites Snake (actually, this has a lot of coverage) here, here, and here
(if those links have expired, it's Toni Barnard and her son Trevor of Semmes, Alabama, shopping at the WalMart on Wal-Mart on Schillinger Road).
Did a rattlesnake bite a man in WalMart?

Patricia Vanlester a one-woman disaster. But lots of people fell for her trampling story.

There's even a whole site devoted to the stories of people who have been injured while shopping at Walmart.

Platonic love

Medic Mom, whose company I enjoy, has a nice quote about quilting and quilting supersitions.

On second thought, I think I will let my daughter be the first to sleep under the new quilt that I am making so that she will have a memory of sleeping under and brand new quilt to carry with her.

Here are some old quilting superstitions I found interesting:

---If an unmarried girl puts in the last stitch of the quilting, she will be an old maid.

I have this platonic relationship with quilting and other handcrafts. That is to say, I like the idea of making things; I like having had made things....I just never get around to making things.