rodneyj43

Yeah, I know. It seems everybody and their sister has done a funny "Speed Dating" spoof on youtube now. But back in September, my covivant and I didn't know that, and thought it would be fun to do a little improv acting scene around people meeting at a speed dating event. We just put the camera on a tripod and went for it. We did three of them one evening, just for the fun of it.

From the page: "Ayn Rand is one of America's great mysteries. She was an amphetamine-addicted author of sub-Dan Brown potboilers, who in her spare time wrote lavish torrents of praise for serial killers and the Bernie Madoff-style embezzlers of her day. She opposed democracy on the grounds that "the masses"�"her readers�"were "lice" and "parasites" who scarcely deserved to live. Yet she remains one of the most popular writers in the United States, still selling 800,000 books a year from beyond the grave. She regularly tops any list of books that Americans say have most influenced them. Since the great crash of 2008, her writing has had another Benzedrine rush, as Rush Limbaugh hails her as a prophetess. With her assertions that government is "evil" and selfishness is "the only virtue," she is the patron saint of the tea-partiers and the death panel doomsters. So how did this little Russian bomb of pure immorality in a black wig become an American icon?

Two new biographies of Rand�"Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller�"try to puzzle out this question, showing how her arguments found an echo in the darkest corners of American political life.* But the books work best, for me, on a level I didn't expect. They are thrilling psychological portraits of a horribly damaged woman who deserves the one thing she spent her life raging against: compassion."

From the page: "The Health Council of the Netherlands has advised Health Minister Ab Klink that young children and pregnant women should be vaccinated against the A(H1N1) flu virus. The council also says GPs should be less ready to prescribe the antiviral drug Tamiflu. In his fortnightly interview, virologist Ab Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Centre told Radio Netherlands Worldwide about the recommendations.



As expected, the Health Council says flu jabs should be provided for children aged between six months and four years. The most important reason is the pressure that children with serious flu symptoms or bronchial infections would put on hospital intensive care units.

"Every winter, many children end up in intensive care with bronchial infections. Under normal circumstances, we can give them excellent treatment. But if 30 or 40 percent more children need this type of care because of the flu, there would be a problem," says Mr Osterhaus.

As there is no approved vaccine for children younger than six months old, the Health Council says their parents and other children in the family should be vaccinated.

Two jabs
The council also says that women who are over three months pregnant should be offered flu jabs. It aims to clear up any past confusion by giving an unambiguous recommendation. The Netherlands is sticking to two jabs per person, but vaccine stocks are still high enough to meet the needs of an extended vaccination programme.

While in the UK, the antiviral drug Tamiflu is freely available on the internet, for Dutch patients it's harder to get hold of the medicine. The Health Council says GPs should be cautious about writing prescriptions for Tamiflu for fear that the A(H1N1) virus could develop resistance. Up to now, one patient in the Netherlands has been found to be infected with a Tamiflu-resistant virus, but this proved to be an isolated incident.

Photo: Flu vaccine being produced at Novartis. ANP"

From the page: "Newsline 9 November, 2009: The World focuses on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the end of communism 20 years ago today. In a special programme Newsline speaks to Berliners about what this momentous event means to them.

Celebrating the fall of the wall
World leaders are in Berlin to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Listen to a report by correspondent Nik Martin"

These two are mad creative. I love their recordings and videos.


From the page: "Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn collaborate on music. This is what it sounds like.

Contact:
pomplamoosemusic@gmail.com

our music on iTunes:
tinyurl.com/Pomplamo [tinyurl.com/Pomplamo] ...

or download mp3's from our mySpace.
myspace.com/pomp [myspace.com/pomp] ...
Covers are FREE. Originals are $1.
Credit card, PayPal, or Google Checkout:

our mySpace:
myspace.com/pomp [myspace.com/pomp] ...

our Twitter:
twitter.com/pomp [twitter.com/pomp] ...

Nataly's YouTube Page:
youtube.com/Nata [youtube.com/Nata] ...

Jack's YouTube Page:
youtube.com/Jack [youtube.com/Jack] ..."

I've been worried that this run-up was a Dead Cat Bounce and now my fears seem to be confirmed. We are just starting to hear about the recovery of the banking industry; and it's no because they've been loaning money (quite the contrary). New regulations are on the horizon as well and there's no way the "recovery" could have happened this fast and it was disgenuous of the mainstream media to say it 'might be'. Even NPR is guilty of trying to get the small investor back in the market so the large ones can make a good showing at the fiscal year by fleecing them. It's shameful. I'd say stay out of the stock market completely for a couple of more years at least, lest you'll be one of the ones fleeced.

From the page: "The sudden decline, coming only days after the Dow was flying above 10,000, left many traders asking the same question: After a stunning seven-month rally, is the stock market finally running out of steam?

Many economic and financial worries, from the troubles of hard-pressed consumers to the travails of Citigroup, dragged financial shares lower through the day. The losses more than wiped out the market�s gains from the day before, when a government report seemed to suggest that the nation�s longest recession since World War II might be ending.

But even though the worst may be over for the economy, many investors now fear that any recovery will be slow and that the recent optimism in the markets may turn out to have been misplaced. Even after the decline on Friday, the broad market was still up nearly 15 percent this year.

�oeThe market needs and demands to see evidence that things are getting better, not just that they may be getting better,” said Anthony Chan, chief economist for JPMorgan�s private wealth management. �oeWe need to beat expectations before the markets raise eyebrows and say it�s safe to get back into the water.”

The Dow industrials fell 249.85 points, to 9,712.73. The S.& P. 500 was off 29.92 points, or 2.8 percent, to 1,036.18. The Nasdaq declined 52.44 points, or 2.5 percent, to 2,045.11.

The day began with unsettling news from the Commerce Department. A report on consumer spending showed the largest drop in nine months, a dreary data point that met Wall Street expectations but reinforced the notion that the recovery of the United States economy would be slow and halting. The decline was tied to the end of the government�s cash-for-clunkers program, which gave car buyers thousands of dollars in vouchers for the purchase of new vehicles. Overall spending fell 0.5 percent in September, and personal income levels remained flat because of higher unemployment rates and decreases in wages."