Most folks think that when electronics break or become outdated, the only option is to toss them in the trash or recycle them. But on the contrary, there are a number of ways to transform dysfunctional technology into new, usable products. Read on for ways to repurpose old or broken electronic equipment — after all, reusing is even more earth-friendly than recycling!

iPods and mp3 Players

Your iPod may lack its former battery power, but that doesn’t mean you need to get rid of it. Hooking up an old iPod or mp3 player to new speakers transforms the portable player into a home stereo system. Or, use the iPod as a multimedia storage device. Download movies, pictures, music videos or slideshows onto the device and purchase an audio/video cable. Then, hook the player up to your television. Using an iPod as multimedia storage is a clutter-free way to improve your movie collection and repurpose an outdated music player.

Computers

Even if one component of a computer konks out, there are ways to remove the still-working parts and use them. For example, if the hard drive still functions properly, consider removing that piece to create an external hard drive. The extra storage will serve as a handy accessory for your new desktop or laptop.

Laptops

The computing lifespan of a laptop may be relatively short, but that doesn’t mean the device can’t serve other purposes once its been replaced. Try turning your laptop screen into a digital picture frame, or set it up next to a desktop monitor to act as a second screen. All that extra real estate comes in handy when conducting research, working on graphic design, or creating a more organized workspace.

Televisions

With new and more energy-efficient flat screens hitting the market almost daily, hanging on to your old TV set can be a struggle. But if your older model won’t broadcast an NFL game with the same clarity as a newer version, resist the urge to ditch the set. Instead, give the TV to someone who is more concerned with watching movies or playing video games than following cable channels. Older sets still play DVDs or video games with solid picture quality.

Sell or Give Electronics Away

Even if you’re not the fix-it type, there are many techies out there who love refurbishing broken or outdated goods. Try listing your item on eBay or Craigslist.org. Or, if you’re really just looking to give your used laptop a loving home, try using Freecycle.org. The site connects folks who want to give with people who want to get free stuff in their own towns.

Create New Tech from Old Tech

For a more creative spin on how to repurpose broken electronics, check out this seriously cool book and accompanying Facebook page, 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer (and other Discarded Electronics). The book features step-by-step instructions to craft an infrared camera from floppy disks, a compost bin from an old scanner, a speaker system from old hard drives and other nifty items.

To find worthwhile charities that will take broken or used electronics and give them to those in need, be sure to read the next installment of our e-recycling series!

This post is part of the Recycling Series, which is sponsored by Best Buy. No matter where you may have purchased your electronics, Best Buy makes it easy to recycle. For more information on their recycling program and to make your recycle pledge, please visit www.recycleiton.com.

Whether or not you believe properly inflated tires save fuel, more and more vehicles are coming equipped with tire pressure monitoring sensors (TPMS). Sensors mounted in either the valve or on the wheel itself measure tire pressure and alert drivers when their tires drop below a pre-set level of inflation. An Irish company (who's website is mysteriously malfunctioning as of this writing) coincidentally called Shrader Electronics has now taken TPMS to the next level.

Shrader's "talking tire" monitoring system will not only keep drivers apprised of their tire pressure, it will also provide feedback on the condition of the tire's tread as well as real-time information on road conditions, especially traction. Here's Shrader's quick description of the technology :

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Parent Talk: Saturday, April 10

Hosted by Linda O’Connor:

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Choosing a Family Pet – Is your family ready for a pet and how to choose one that’s right for you.  We’ll talk about things to consider including your family’s activity level, schedule, and budget – to name a few. For this show, we’ll talk with Gina Browning, Director of Public Relations for the Erie County SPCA.  Also joining us on the show will be Marcia Rafter Ritchie, licensed veterinarian technician and a certified dog trainer.  Marcia will share tips on training pets, including advice on whether you “can train an old dog…new tricks.”

Cepia's Zhu Zhu Pets, the whimsical motorized hamsters that conquered during last year's holiday shopping season, are coming back strong in 2010. Really, really strong: Meet Kung Zhu Battle Hamsters, the militant hamster arm of Zhu Zhu, replete with elements "that appeal especially to boys," according to Russ Hornsby, CEO of Cepia.

The new line will feature Special Forces, Ninja Warriors, Rangers, and the Skull Tribe Battle Hamsters, along with attendant battle gear, vehicles, and training arenas.

Training? According to the company:

Prior to their "training," you might mistake the Kung Zhu squad for a traditional Zhu Zhu Pet. They dart around, scurry from place to place, and coo and squeak based on the unique environment they encounter. But all that changes when the hamsters encounter the magical "Tablet of Zhu," a special training ground that transforms the Zhu Zhu Pets into Kung Zhu Special Forces or Ninja Warriors, ready to do battle against each other.

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Grover Oeder

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This article is republished with permission from Charles Hudson’s blog
Something has been bugging me about social games of late. There are a lot of great games out there – I play a lot of them. And you know what many of them have in common? There isn’t enough chaos in most of today’s social games. Let me explain what I mean. I grew up playing two games where bad things can and do happen and they really impact game play. I played a lot of head-to-head Madden football growing up. Every now and then, one of your star players would get injured and go out for the game. There was nothing you could do about that – the player was gone and you had to soldier on. I also played a lot of SimCity. You know what used to really irritate me? When an earthquake would come along and wreck my perfectly designed city. It drove me nuts.

As frustrating as these seemingly stochastic elements were in the game, they made the games more fun. There was an element of chance and risk that was beyond the control of the player. And the consequences of those seemingly stochastic elements was often grave – losing your star QB in the first quarter of a game of Madden can be lethal. Recovering from a catastrophic earthquake in SimCity is not easy and can erase tons of progress. But those elements and risks are always in the back of your mind and they make those games fun.

Why haven’t we seen that in social games? Why isn’t there flooding, frost, drought, locust plagues, and other stochastic elements that can really wreak serious havoc on your farm in Farmville? Island games where volcanoes can erupt and cover the island in ash, erasing progress? Virtual pet games where pets are resistant to training, care, or any attempt to make them obedient? I’ve seen some movement toward light penalties in games, but when will someone really push the envelope and try something riskier here?

The only reason I can see why folks have been shy in terms of integrating these kinds of game mechanics is the belief that today’s crop of social game players have a high degree of loss aversion. Put another way, the belief among social games developers is that putting in real stochastic penalties in games or other forms of anti-progress activities would not be well tolerated by the folks who play these games today. Nobody *likes* losing things in games – it’s not fun. But it can make a game so much more vibrant and complex. I do think there are some players who would rebel against changes like this – but who wants to play a game that’s almost always up and to the right so long as you do what you’re supposed to do? I think we’re missing out on something by not having more random bad things that can happen to you in the current crop of games.

Do you build or play social games? If you have thoughts on this topic, feel free to leave a comment.

PS – Hat tip to Shanna Tellerman for the blog post title and Justin Hall for chatting about it over coffee.

Charles Hudson is the host of the upcoming Social Gaming Summit.

Humans wear underpants, so why shouldn’t dogs? Neena Pellegrini came up with a line of Pants for Dogs after her male bichon frise kept "marking" her female dogs:

First product up: cute, comfy and — of utmost importance — absorbent doggie undies and thongs.

Sounds crazy to anyone who hasn’t had a dog with a bit of an incontinence/dribbling problem, or a female dog that hasn’t been fixed. But those of us who have owned and loved such a dog have spent more than a few minutes wishing Depends came in canine configurations.

Neena Pellegrini to the rescue.

She’s the founder of Pants for Dogs (pantsfordogs.com), a little Seattle-based cottage industry filling hundreds of orders for tiny- to massive-sized panties for female dogs, and, for male dogs, items she calls cummerbunds (although the waist isn’t, in a precise sense, the true target, of course). Each garment in its own way protects rugs, floors and whatever else needs protecting from the drips and streams we’d rather not contemplate (and certainly not discuss).

The business started four years ago when Pellegrini’s little male dog kept marking her little female dogs. A training issue, most would
say. But improvement doesn’t happen overnight. How do you protect the girls?

Sharon Peters of Pet Talk has more: Link | Pants For Dogs website

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Lauren Bemberry

My little Pomeranian, Mercutio, is my baby. Seriously, it's an unhealthy attachment. I just want to take him everywhere. Some places kick me out on the spot even if he's in a bag and other places like Fishs Eddy insist twice that I put Mercutio down so he could run around. Hmmm, run around in a dishware shop with stacks of breakables on the floor, thanks anyway.

Anyway, I think this attachment started with the first dog my boyfriend and I adopted, Bisou. We decided that we wanted an older dog since everyone adopts puppies — not to mention the senior citizen would be chill and already trained (score!). We were in love with a polite 10-year-old, five pound Pomeranian; unfortunately she had seizures and arthritis.

Instantly, I became a hovering mother. I read every book on pooch seizures and was determined to make her better. Her time with us was full and rich with happiness but a few months after adopting her, she passed away from an infected uterus, something that could have been prevented if she was spayed earlier on in life. But there is a happy ending, I promise.

During her time with us, Bisou and I (yes, together) researched all about how food affects dogs' health and what exactly is in dog food. Um, it's gross, like, really gross. Without her illnesses, I might not have thought twice about giving her low-grade commercial dog food. She made me a better mutter (mother+mutt=mutter).

So what's in it you ask? Let me start off by saying there are some good premium organic dog foods out there, just remember to check the labels. The good stuff like chicken, beef, and lamb, should all be the first ingredient and never followed by the word "by-product." By-products are basically everything not fit for human consumption like organs, bones, eyes, brains, hoofs, etc.

Now, you may not think that's so bad — dogs are animals, and after all, eat organs. But what also goes into those by-products are the 4Ds, dead, dying, diseased, and disabled animals, as well as road kill, zoo animals, and, legally, euthanized cats and dogs. Your pooch could potentially be eating an animal part that has cancer, other diseases, or remnants of euthanasia chemicals that could be fatal long term. Would you eat that? I didn't think so. I won't even get started on preservatives and artificial colors and flavors.

With all the scary stuff in dog food, I started making my own organic food for Bisou and now for Mercutio. I want Mercutio to live a long, healthy life, sans cancerous meat and other spooky bits. It's easy once you get the hang of it but you have to research dog diets to make sure your pooch is getting all the nutrients he or she needs and consult with your vet.

In addition to dog food, I also bake my own dog treats using organic, human-grade ingredients like organic brown rice flour and wholesome organic fruits and veggies. Humans can actually eat them but it won't taste good to you since there isn't any add sugar or salt. All treats are wheat-free and sans preservatives and artificial colors and flavors. Plus, they come in super cute recycled paper coffee bags.

And since I probably scared you all, I'm offering 15 percent off Variety Packs this week. Your pup will get to try a nutritious treat in four fab flavors: peanut butter carob, sweet potato oatmeal, banana carob chip, and apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Visit Get Lick'd to get your 15% discount!

With bedbug reports up 47 percent in 2009, New York City has been scrambling to get the epidemic under control. Getting rid of the bugs can take weeks and cost several thousand dollars. Mary Plummer and Bradley Gallo report on the city's newest solution: bedbug dogs.

NYC's New Bedbug Detectives from Bradley Gallo on Vimeo.

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Know something we don't? E-mail us at nytips@huffingtonpost.com

citronella training collar

Willetta Candle

Last night the remaining nine contestants on American Idol stumbled through the catalogue of Elvis Presley, failing for the most part to make any of the King’s tunes their own. Season-eight runner-up Adam Lambert blessedly livened things up as a guest mentor, and he was actually a great tie-in to the week's theme since Elvis also wore mascara offstage and the networks won’t show Lambert doing certain things below the hips. Glambert kept the episode afloat by actually giving some honest feedback, saying this season has great singers but a lot of them need to “wake up … let’s put on a show." (And after weeks of the judges wondering what the problem is with Andrew, it was a relief to have someone flat out tell him his singing was boring.)

The mentoring segments were filmed in Las Vegas, which added absolutely nothing to the episode but did allow Ryan to utter questionable lines like, “Let’s see what happened to Katie in Sin City … ” And to make up for all the gay jokes in his wheelhouse that he would have liked to have been making last season (there was mid-season speculation, but Lambert didn’t publicly come out until after the season wrapped), Ryan made sure to tell Adam, “My tongue is not nearly as talented as yours … you know what I mean, with singing! With singing!” Adam gracefully responded with one of those “please shut up” smiles you make when your mom tells your significant other about your potty-training travails.

The performances:

Crystal Bowersox continues to impress and show growth. For the first time this season, she actually made a left-field song choice, singing an obscure (in Elvis terms) gospel-blues tune called “Saved.” Naturally, she nailed the vocals and arrangement, and her stage persona was more energetic, sassy, and comfortable than ever before. She’s one of the few contestants this season truly using the show as training for a real career later on. Simon said good things about her, but it was incredibly distracting watching Glee’s Jane Lynch in the background and wondering what she would say if she were at the judges’ table.

Andrew Garcia’s lounge-lizard re-conception of “Hound Dog” was the kind of thing that should have fallen into the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” category. Even more miserable than his languid singing was his lifeless performance, where he doddered around stage like an old man and dragged the mic with him like it was his IV stand. With two people going home tonight, it’s really time to bid him adieu. Ellen was the only judge who liked it, and explained to Ryan that she liked it because she liked it.

After weeks of excruciating Sanjaya-esque performances, Tim Urban surprisingly delivered one of the night’s most satisfying songs. Instead of sullying “Can’t Help Falling In Love” with his usual goofy bombast, he gently picked at his acoustic guitar and offered a restrained, understated take on the oft-covered tune that was actually a bit beautiful. Ellen likened him to tequila (because she regrets him the next morning?) but seemed to mean it as a compliment, and Simon indulged in an unforgivable cliché by saying Tim “went from zero to hero in two weeks.” Is Simon now writing eighties movie trailers on the side?

Lee DeWyze continued his bid to be named Bowersox's runner-up with a bluesy, growling version of “A Little Less Conversation.” He’s finally loosened up onstage to the point where he successfully inhabits each song. Kara still wanted him to smile more and hop around the stage on a pogo stick, but Simon reminded her that “it’s about nailing the song and that was on the money.” Watch it below.

Decked out in his Back to the Future Part II-version-of-the-future finest, Aaron Kelly took on “Blue Suede Shoes.” Lambert advised the 17-year-old to put some aggression into his performance, but Aaron just looked scared and hid under a nearby couch. His performance was solid but not memorable — the main problem was the hopelessly outdated backing blues music. Kara applauded him for moving out of his comfort zone, but Simon felt it was too old-fashioned. Jane Lynch sagely nodded along in the background.

Siobhan Magnus gave us the soft and screechy sides of her musical persona this week, and the resulting version of “Suspicious Minds” was enjoyable though not exactly relevant, much like her Billy Idol meets Bride of Frankenstein hairstyle. Lambert looked like he loved her performance more than the others, which makes sense: Her voice is lovely, powerful, and idiosyncratic in a way not unlike his own. Randy confusingly likened it to the Supremes, while Kara couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Siobhan is one girl with two different singing styles. Simon told her she’s lost sight of who she is, but Siobhan wasted no time putting them back in their places. “Even I can’t pinpoint who or what I am, but I’ve always taken pride in that … I don’t think it’s necessary to be labeled.” Shine on, you crazy diamond.

After his near-elimination last week, Michael Lynche sang “In the Ghetto” on Siobhan’s advice. Even though the arrangement was slow and bare-bones, it still came across as cheesy and a bit lame. Mike definitely should have taken Adam’s advice to ignore the judges and embrace his theatrical side — at least then he’d be entertaining instead of forgettable. The judges all give him terse praise, probably because they’re not quite ready to admit he may not have been worth the save.

Katie Stevens made an interesting song choice with “Baby What Do You Want Me to Do,” but she came nowhere near pouring her frustration with the judges into her singing, which was her stated aim. Adam correctly said “she needs to sell it more,” but all the non-Simon judges liked her grrr-face façade of anger. Simon told her it was boring and she shouted back at him, “What do you want me to do?” Get voted off the show soon, Katie. Is that so much to ask?

Casey James closed the night with an acceptably old-school blues take on “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” It was good MOR white blues, but that’s kind of like saying The Biggest Loser is good for immediately forgettable melodrama. Still, his vocals were fine and, as Ellen pointed out, he did look “comfortable surrounded by a sea of women.” But perhaps she just said that because she likes to watch the muscles in Kara's neck tense up.

Odds and sods moments:

Siobhan opined that Elvis is so compelling to her because he came from practically nothing and became one of the most successful performers ever. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make things trite, Ryan declared, “Yep, rags to riches.”

Katie Stevens explained anger to us: “It’s like UGH! Not aaahhhh.”

In the long-running Fox tradition of attempting to sabotage people by implying they’re terrorists, Seacrest introduced Tim Urban as “Turban.”

Seacrest joked that Brian Dunkleman would return next week for Idol Gives Back. No one in the audience seemed to recall who that was, which means his joke failed, but Seacrest still wins, since his former Idol co-host isn’t remembered well enough to function as a punchline.

Reminding us of the importance of voting, Ryan shouted, “You don’t want to lose your favorite, because that would suck!” at a frail old lady.

Tonight Adam Lambert returns to perform, and perhaps we will finally be rid of the oppressive mediocrity that is Andrew Garcia’s singing. And with the save gone, hopefully Siobhan or Casey won’t fall into the bottom two and be forced to shuffle off their Idol coil.

Last night the remaining nine contestants on American Idol stumbled through the catalogue of Elvis Presley, failing for the most part to make any of the King’s tunes their own. Season-eight runner-up Adam Lambert blessedly livened things up as a guest mentor, and he was actually a great tie-in to the week's theme since Elvis also wore mascara offstage and the networks won’t show Lambert doing certain things below the hips. Glambert kept the episode afloat by actually giving some honest feedback, saying this season has great singers but a lot of them need to “wake up … let’s put on a show." (And after weeks of the judges wondering what the problem is with Andrew, it was a relief to have someone flat out tell him his singing was boring.)

The mentoring segments were filmed in Las Vegas, which added absolutely nothing to the episode but did allow Ryan to utter questionable lines like, “Let’s see what happened to Katie in Sin City … ” And to make up for all the gay jokes in his wheelhouse that he would have liked to have been making last season (there was mid-season speculation, but Lambert didn’t publicly come out until after the season wrapped), Ryan made sure to tell Adam, “My tongue is not nearly as talented as yours … you know what I mean, with singing! With singing!” Adam gracefully responded with one of those “please shut up” smiles you make when your mom tells your significant other about your potty-training travails.

The performances:

Crystal Bowersox continues to impress and show growth. For the first time this season, she actually made a left-field song choice, singing an obscure (in Elvis terms) gospel-blues tune called “Saved.” Naturally, she nailed the vocals and arrangement, and her stage persona was more energetic, sassy, and comfortable than ever before. She’s one of the few contestants this season truly using the show as training for a real career later on. Simon said good things about her, but it was incredibly distracting watching Glee’s Jane Lynch in the background and wondering what she would say if she were at the judges’ table.

Andrew Garcia’s lounge-lizard re-conception of “Hound Dog” was the kind of thing that should have fallen into the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” category. Even more miserable than his languid singing was his lifeless performance, where he doddered around stage like an old man and dragged the mic with him like it was his IV stand. With two people going home tonight, it’s really time to bid him adieu. Ellen was the only judge who liked it, and explained to Ryan that she liked it because she liked it.

After weeks of excruciating Sanjaya-esque performances, Tim Urban surprisingly delivered one of the night’s most satisfying songs. Instead of sullying “Can’t Help Falling In Love” with his usual goofy bombast, he gently picked at his acoustic guitar and offered a restrained, understated take on the oft-covered tune that was actually a bit beautiful. Ellen likened him to tequila (because she regrets him the next morning?) but seemed to mean it as a compliment, and Simon indulged in an unforgivable cliché by saying Tim “went from zero to hero in two weeks.” Is Simon now writing eighties movie trailers on the side?

Lee DeWyze continued his bid to be named Bowersox's runner-up with a bluesy, growling version of “A Little Less Conversation.” He’s finally loosened up onstage to the point where he successfully inhabits each song. Kara still wanted him to smile more and hop around the stage on a pogo stick, but Simon reminded her that “it’s about nailing the song and that was on the money.” Watch it below.

Decked out in his Back to the Future Part II-version-of-the-future finest, Aaron Kelly took on “Blue Suede Shoes.” Lambert advised the 17-year-old to put some aggression into his performance, but Aaron just looked scared and hid under a nearby couch. His performance was solid but not memorable — the main problem was the hopelessly outdated backing blues music. Kara applauded him for moving out of his comfort zone, but Simon felt it was too old-fashioned. Jane Lynch sagely nodded along in the background.

Siobhan Magnus gave us the soft and screechy sides of her musical persona this week, and the resulting version of “Suspicious Minds” was enjoyable though not exactly relevant, much like her Billy Idol meets Bride of Frankenstein hairstyle. Lambert looked like he loved her performance more than the others, which makes sense: Her voice is lovely, powerful, and idiosyncratic in a way not unlike his own. Randy confusingly likened it to the Supremes, while Kara couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Siobhan is one girl with two different singing styles. Simon told her she’s lost sight of who she is, but Siobhan wasted no time putting them back in their places. “Even I can’t pinpoint who or what I am, but I’ve always taken pride in that … I don’t think it’s necessary to be labeled.” Shine on, you crazy diamond.

After his near-elimination last week, Michael Lynche sang “In the Ghetto” on Siobhan’s advice. Even though the arrangement was slow and bare-bones, it still came across as cheesy and a bit lame. Mike definitely should have taken Adam’s advice to ignore the judges and embrace his theatrical side — at least then he’d be entertaining instead of forgettable. The judges all give him terse praise, probably because they’re not quite ready to admit he may not have been worth the save.

Katie Stevens made an interesting song choice with “Baby What Do You Want Me to Do,” but she came nowhere near pouring her frustration with the judges into her singing, which was her stated aim. Adam correctly said “she needs to sell it more,” but all the non-Simon judges liked her grrr-face façade of anger. Simon told her it was boring and she shouted back at him, “What do you want me to do?” Get voted off the show soon, Katie. Is that so much to ask?

Casey James closed the night with an acceptably old-school blues take on “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” It was good MOR white blues, but that’s kind of like saying The Biggest Loser is good for immediately forgettable melodrama. Still, his vocals were fine and, as Ellen pointed out, he did look “comfortable surrounded by a sea of women.” But perhaps she just said that because she likes to watch the muscles in Kara's neck tense up.

Odds and sods moments:

Siobhan opined that Elvis is so compelling to her because he came from practically nothing and became one of the most successful performers ever. Never one to pass up an opportunity to make things trite, Ryan declared, “Yep, rags to riches.”

Katie Stevens explained anger to us: “It’s like UGH! Not aaahhhh.”

In the long-running Fox tradition of attempting to sabotage people by implying they’re terrorists, Seacrest introduced Tim Urban as “Turban.”

Seacrest joked that Brian Dunkleman would return next week for Idol Gives Back. No one in the audience seemed to recall who that was, which means his joke failed, but Seacrest still wins, since his former Idol co-host isn’t remembered well enough to function as a punchline.

Reminding us of the importance of voting, Ryan shouted, “You don’t want to lose your favorite, because that would suck!” at a frail old lady.

Tonight Adam Lambert returns to perform, and perhaps we will finally be rid of the oppressive mediocrity that is Andrew Garcia’s singing. And with the save gone, hopefully Siobhan or Casey won’t fall into the bottom two and be forced to shuffle off their Idol coil.

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Winnie Beinlich

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I’m mostly in lurker mode through all your work/posts/commenters through this “torture doc” process. My interest is to comprehend it thoroughly. Don’t really know purposes of everyone participating here and related (Leopold/Kaye etc.), but for me purpose is to solidify and detail conditions in the world/USA etc., as this whole torture saga is (again, for me) a bell weather “canary in the mine” condition: all that it encompasses… the people involved, the ferocious misrepresented advocacy and misrepresentation to the public, the corrosive affect on institutions/gov AND cause/effect response internationally… again for me, at the very least, comprehending severe moral hazards as they exist is a required known.

With that said, your comment:

Because, as I pointed out here, they want to describe this as an “evolution,” but they’re basing that evolution on his diaries, which they had from the start. So if they’re claiming they’ve just decided the diaries are the only truthful way of determining who he was, then it means they ignoerd it to sustain claims that he was more than that.

I would assume that would be obvious to most who have followed your detailing of this. I find, however, that at times details tend to overwhelm the mind and I have to “step back” and take a few breaths.

But in that statement, the process of slip-shod moment-in-time assessments used as foundation upon which to propel wide ranging action, w/subsequent slip-shod >> more actions… rinse & repeat, on and on, error upon error… mess upon mess.

This is the “condition of things” out there. Looks to me like a tapestry, much wider and deeper, and much much more corrosive seen in it’s entirety than individual pieces and parts along the way.

So when you say:

This is the Iraq war all over again for them.

… for me anyway, I am always mindful of just that. Part of the larger tapestry, exemplary of enough individual events to constitute a way of doing this on such a scale that this way sucks the vitality out of so much else, sickening people who aren’t already corrupted, so on and so forth.

At the core, all the torture details are in most fundamental core, institutionalized dishonesty (lies). And this core was expressed through much more than 9/11 >> Iraq >> torture and that whole continuum.

The deceptions were expressed in most every avenue of government under the Bush Years: econ & all it’s related tentacles (SEC/FED/TREASURY/FICA-HUD, etc. etc.). It was expressed through the whole Ca. Energy Crisis/Enron thing, and in fact a whole process there similar to what topic of your article here was:

* lie about original cause (Ca. shortage of generation)
* Stock FERC w/cronies to “toe the line” (don’t look)
* ignored the forced/timed blackouts, ignored cutoff gas supply from Texas, not even look at generator plant shutdowns, etc. etc.
* Squeeze and force higher gas (fuel) prices based on fruadulent shortage.

After it was over… +/- 2 yrs after the fact, after saturating media w/original notions:
* CA. had it coming w/”not in our backyard” mentality
* ENRON (and related… there were many others) embodied morally grounded “free market” principles

… and FERC’s public denial of crimes throughout, they posted on their website confirmation that everything that CA. (and anyone watching w/clear eye) could see and said from the beginning, which I summarized above. They actually posted this. They also mistakenly posted their agreement w/various energy companies involved: that in exchange for admitting and detailing planned outages, there would be no fines/prosecutions/PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.

That template looks to me near identical to what you’ve described/summarized here.

As public was being fed “patriotism”, “freedom fries” and “liberation” along the way, I vividly recall having conversations w/people who were looking beyond headlines and deciphering details. Among common statements I (and others… both locally, in blogs etc.) made, was observation that cumulatively… eg. everything Iraq, one mega-tax cut after another concurrent w/mega-offshoring i>everything, w/simeoultaneous pronouncement of “economy is strong”, then W’s privatize SS initiative…

It seemed as though, w/these guys utter disdain for most anyone outside their elite circles, that they were deliberately setting out to backrupt the country… financially, morally, culturally.

It was Blitzkrieg on every front… saturating. Far and wide media saturation, far and wide financial reorganization, far and wide military action… and all of it covered up w/cheap, meaningless jingoism and primate based metaphors.

So now, in what could have been a major cleanup stage… this torture thing process seems just like the financial thing process:
* crimes & lies well documented, well enough detailed for anyone taking the time to comprehend them to understand.
* the public (gov) institutions w/power & authority to do something about ‘em… each and everyone corrupted along the way, gets to a point where there is opportunity for an accountability moment, as in the DOJ AW “evolution” filing that is topic of this post.
* whether financial, energy, or torture… as this opportunity arrives, these authorities utterly fail to do the job: we get something like what we’ve got in this DOJ “pleading”: “fuzzy math”, meaningless dismissall of self-evident facts/crimes w/massive (and I stress that word) affects… essentially, it seems to me, implicit acknowledgement from feds that all this shit is now institutionalized w/in US government, w/fall out in culture a factor not worthy of consideration.

Not good, not good at all. The good ship USA taking on a lot of water these days, and captains are telling the passengers to be calm.

Very useful to maintain a clear eye these days.

dog shock collar with remote

Carter Deere

I realize how many people could think about the submissive bullcrap, especially with the Princess Leia connotation. But, I guess as someone who is turned OFF by bondage, or sadism (I wouldn't get aroused by hurting the guys who beat women, since I got so graphic describing how I would do it, it would just be what they deserve), or masochism, I've never seen that. Not with Leia (I guess I was too interested in letting that metal bikini usher me into puberty, than to get my rocks off that she was chained & helpless – in my opinion, that's just sick), and certainly not with this. I felt NO dominance over one of my best friends, and she felt NO submission to me. Like she said – it wouldn't be ANY different for the point of the costume if it were Superman in the collar. But it would SO totally be different for those who are wagging their fingers at us. Which is hypocrisy.

And, Michael, you'd be right about "sending kids a bad message", if any kid had reacted any way other than "Lex, you're a bad man, let her go". If anything, I think we sent the RIGHT message to the children. Not a single one was rooting for me, or relished in her incarceration. I even said at one instance that a kid's mother (who was laughing when her son came over and shook his head at me disapprovingly) was "definitely raising him the right way." Heck, one little girl even nearly broke our plastic chain, trying to yank it away from me.

Plus, I'm with you about how alot of the guys who wanted to hold the chain for their pictures had something wrong with them. THEY got the wrong idea, in a similiar way that you did, only with a different reaction. And, never ONCE did she and I take a picture for ANYbody, or even "joked around behind the scenes", where my hand was raised against her. One of our friends did, and we both scowled at him, shaking our heads. My "look what I caught" was exactly because of what she said – she was bait for Superman. Lex is evil. Should we have been holding hands & skipping? Lex exposes Kara to Kryptonite, "defends himself" from getting his skull crushed in, and plans to let her go, once her cousin is in the collar. The second she gets far enough away from them, her wounds HEAL. Something which WOULDN'T happen to any damage the human Lex sustained.

Maybe you should've followed us around more, not only to witness these occurrences, but to also overhear ME come up with the idea of reversing the roles, and "having Lex beat to sh**". Even ripping the suit in such a way to expose my real Superman tattoo, and "reveal Lex's hidden shame". There was never an intention of humiliation for her, but I was purposely asking for it for me (but, again, not in a sexual way. Get your minds out of the gutters, and maybe you wouldn't think that other people's are in them).

Instead, we get accused of being Hank & Janet Pym. "Now with backhanding action!" *roll eyes*

When I picked up my dog Ruby on Long Island nearly seven years ago, I was surprised to discover that she talks like a human. When I ask her a question (Are you hungry? Do you want to eat dinner? Are you going to bed?), she looks me in the eye, nods her head, and opens her mouth in agreement. For years I tried to figure out the reason for her mysterious behavior — was it genetic? — by trying to track down her parents or siblings, but that search only resulted in some phone calls with sympathetic and sometimes suspicious miniature pinscher breeders who told me I should just give up. It finally dawned on me last week to ask an animal behavior expert. So I pinged Victoria Stilwell, who hosts the hilariously informative dog training show It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet. Here, Stilwell explains why Ruby talks, why dogs aren't like humans, and how dog training techniques can be applied to tame unruly children.

Why does Ruby talk? Does she think she's human?

It's a human thing to think that a dog thinks it's human. There are some things that dogs do that make people think, oh they're acting human! But dogs are just trying to work out what brings rewards, what will make them feel good.

She probably made a link that it's a form of communication that she knows will get your attention. That's probably why she repeats it — she knows it will get a positive outcome.

Is Ruby really just thinking about cookies and toys and going outside all day?

Dogs are pretty live in the moment. You're eating something that stimulates hunger, so therefore it wants to eat. Dogs are not manipulative — that is a very human trait. People say, I found urine on my bed; the dog peed because it was spiteful. Well, no. Spite is not a word you can use for a dog, it's a very human thing. The dog was just anxious and the pee was a way to transmit anxiety.

A dog will do what it needs to do to survive. It will also move towards things that give them pleasure and move away from things that make them uncomfortable.

Why do dogs tilt their heads? Do they do it in the wild too?

When a dog tilts its head to the side, it's weighing its options, and trying to understand a situation. I think they do it in the wild too, when they're assessing a situation.

Can you apply dog training techniques to human children?

Absolutely. I'm the mother of a six year old child, and I really believe that the behavior principles I've learned through training dogs can be applied to children. If you reward and make a child feel good about good behavior, she's more likely to feel better and behave better. If she does something that's not good, I'll mark the bad behavior, and she'll get a time out or have something that she values taken away from her. She's at the age now where we can talk about it. I'll say, you did this, so now you have two options: you can continue down the road you're going or you can take the other option. It's similar to the way we train dogs, where we give them choices. That promotes confidence.

What's wrong with anthropomorphizing dogs? Why can't we treat them like babies?

We're bringing these animals to live in our domestic environment, where they have to live by human rules. That can be very hard — why can't they poo and pee everywhere? In the dog world, they go when they need to, and chew and mark as they please. We have to teach them to be successful in our world. Where a lot of trainers who use the dominant style go wrong is that they misunderstand this fact.

A dog's physiological experience and nervous system are the same as a humans. But dogs might not experience emotions the same way. We don't know for sure how the dog feels love, or how it feels jealousy. I think that's the danger of anthropomorphizing — it's okay to do it to some extent but not so it clouds our understanding of dog behavior.

A lot of people think positive reinforcement training is just for little dogs and nandy pandy behavior, but it's actually based on the science of learning. If your dog does something good, you reward it, and that'll make him feel good and want to repeat that behavior. Discipline shouldn't be used to make a dog fear you — you get much better results if you use it as a guide.

Is it bad to domesticate animals? It seems apparent that it's clearly not natural for some animals, like killer whales. Can the same be said for dogs?

A good argument can be made that if the dog had a choice, it would choose this life over hunting squirrels for a living. The fact is, we have domesticated dogs and they wouldn't know how to survive in the wild.

large dog shock collars

Clinton Forgey

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Posted by Adam Charles (acharles@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 7, 2010 Share

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”

Synopsis

About fifteen years since the events of Rocky V and The Italian Stallion is trying to deal with life following the death of Adrian.  He’s opened up a restaurant, named after her, in which he tells stories of the old days to his customers and gets by on his charm and good nature.  When the opportunity presents itself for Rocky to get back in the ring for an exhibition fight against the world champion (himself looking to revitalize his public image) Rocky starts to reignite the old interior battle flames for one final match to leave it all out on the table, but to the dismay of his son who struggles to break out of his father’s shadow in his own endeavors.

Why We Love It

Of all the sequels in one of cinema’s most popular franchises this one feels most authentic and honest to the original, or at least the most connected since the third film.  Not to diminish the entertainment value of the other installments (even the fifth…to a degree), Rocky Balboa is just more of a return to the emotional struggles of the character.  With the passing of the heart and soul of the main character’s heart and soul there’s more turmoil for Rocky than ever before, which he of course meets face on like the champion that he is, thus making for some very effective drama.

This is also the first film in the series which ties most in to the actual climate of the boxing world.  Not necessarily the fighters, or even the fighting when it finally comes to that in the finale, but an objective view of the lack of popular heavyweight competition in a sport that thrived on that weight class for an entire century and came to an indefinite halt with the retirement of Lennox Lewis earlier this decade.  That’s the state of affairs the film’s heavyweight champion (played by prior light heavyweight champion of the world Antonio Tarver) finds himself in, and to his own detriment needs Rocky for more reasons than one.  He needs a fight that’ll not only increase the public interest in the heavyweight class again, but he also needs that special challenger – the one that doesn’t know how to quit moving forward and testing an opponent’s limits.  Despite Rocky’s age we know him to be that challenger.

Unlike the other films in the series though, this film doesn’t build up to the fight.  It has its training montage, and it’s got the blood and guts of the other main events from the prior five films, but the highpoints of Rocky Balboa don’t come with the final fight and lead-up training; at least, not in terms of what is most enjoyable to revisit.  It’s in the moments where Rocky unleashes his wisdom onto his son (proving that wisdom and intelligence are not hand in hand), lets the boxing license commission get an earful of their own injustice, and pours his heart out to his brother-in-law Paulie about just how painful it is to be without the best thing that ever happened to him – and it isn’t boxing.

Moment We Fell In Love

The same day every year Rocky takes a tour of Philly to all of the places most significant to his life with Adrian; the old pet store, their first home, and the ice skating rink that’s no longer there.  Paulie comes along for the ride, as he’s done for the past three years, and at first it appears like he’s just being typical Paulie – constantly asking Rocky if he’s ready to leave each spot, talking about how he’s happy the ice rink was torn down, and just adding a negative vibe to Rocky’s attempt to reminisce about the greatest thing he’s ever known.  Rocky turns to Paulie and asks what his problem is and the torment finally comes out, Paulie can’t think back on the times that Rocky finds so endearing because all he can recall is how badly he treated his sister.  It’s Paulie’s moment of honest remorse uncovered in a touching recap down memory lane of one of the most loving relationships in cinema.

Final Thoughts

I don’t recall any of the other films in the series having as many moments of blunt honesty as Rocky Balboa.  I never expected that my favorite parts to a Rocky film would take place outside of a ring or gym, but some of the monologues and dialogue exchanges feel as authentic in their delivery as if they were words spoken and not words being read.  It feels like the first film since the first film that Stallone needed to make and not just wanted to make, because there was more to say and not because there was more that could be done.

Click here to read about more Movies We Love

On March 14, Winston left four cars – two of them Chattanooga police patrol vehicles – with flat tyres and at least one missing bumper because of his aggression.

Mr. Emerling and his mother, Nancy Emerling, said they planned to take Winston home after a court hearing and felt lucky that he'd have a chance to go through court-ordered obedience training.

Chattanooga City Judge Sherry Paty said she will drop the citation for Winston being a "potentially dangerous dog" after six months if training is successful and no other problems occur.

Winston has been a "model prisoner" at McKamey, their lawyer said. "Actually, he'd been a model pet up until that Sunday," Mr. Emerling noted, still baffled by Winston's actions.

dog doo bags

Erminia Kot

Public release date: 13-Apr-2010

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Contact: Jennifer Beal
medicalnews@wiley.com
44-124-377-0633
Wiley-Blackwell

Towards treating female sexual dysfunction: Research reveals secrets of female sexual arousal

By using a novel prototype drug, researchers have discovered more about the mechanisms underlying female sexual arousal. These findings are published today in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

A team of researchers based at Pfizer's labs in Sandwich, Kent, found that electrically stimulating the pelvic nerve increases blood flow to the genitalia, and that this effect was enhanced if they also gave a prototype drug (UK-414,495). They believe that the drug acts by blocking the breakdown of an internal chemical messenger that plays a key role in increasing blood flow during sexual arousal.

When women become aroused, blood flow increases to the vagina, labia and clitoris. This causes the organs to swell, and the vagina to relax, as well as increasing vaginal lubrication and the sensitivity of the genitalia.

Female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) affects up to 40% of women irrespective of age. These women find that their genital organs do not respond to sexual stimulation, they find arousal difficult and this causes them to become distressed.

"Before this work, we knew surprisingly little about the processes that control all of these changes," says the lead researcher in the project Chris Wayman. "Now we are beginning to establish the pathways involved in sexual arousal scientists may be able to find ways of helping women who would like to overcome FSAD."

This is early stage research involving experimental studies using an animal model of sexual arousal. In it researchers stimulated the pelvic nerve and measured changes in genital organs. They believed the genital arousal occurred because stimulation of the nerve triggered the release of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a well-known neurotransmitter. VIP has only a short-lived effect, because it is soon broken down by an enzyme called Neutral Endopeptidase (NEP). The researchers believe that their prototype drug increased the arousal because it blocked NEP's ability to break down VIP, therefore letting the VIP have a more powerful and prolonged effect increasing arousal.

The results look all the more exciting because, while the drug did increase the level of sexual arousal, it didn't affect arousal in the absence of stimulation or the rest of the body's cardiovascular system. This suggests that this sort of drug would have a good chance of being safe to use in women, and would only work when combined with sexual stimulation.

"While the particular chemical compound studied in this research did not prove appropriate for further development, the implications of the research could lead to the development of a product in future, although Pfizer has no current plans to develop medicines for FSAD," added Wayman.

It’s impressive coming from an industry that has had to overcome the boys’ club reputation that has plagued it almost since its inception. If you don’t know what that reputation is, you probably haven’t read “Women in Refrigerators”, the 1999 essay by Simone. In it, she and other comic fans list all of the female characters “who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator,” Simone wrote at the time, taking her title from the grisly fate of Alexandra DeWitt, girlfriend of the Green Lantern who was iced—both figuratively and literally—to teach the superhero a lesson.

“For many decades, comics (and film, and television) did a relatively poor job of representing female characters (and gays, and minorities) at all,” Simone wrote in an email interview. “So the pool of established, well-liked characters of those types was small to begin with, and having the majority of them be depowered, raped, and mutilated with metronomic frequency was, I think, very alienating.”

“The superhero genre is basically adolescent male power fantasies,” says Karen Berger, executive editor of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. This has unfortunately translated into some troubling storylines for women in superhero titles. A few examples include the Black Cat, whose erratic behavior was explained away by a sexual assault in her past, and Jessica Jones, star of Marvel’s Alias title who gave up costumed crime fighting in lieu of private investigating after, you guessed it, a sexual assault. And, of course, Alexandra DeWitt, the woman in the refrigerator. G. Willow Wilson, writer of DC’s Air and Vixen: Return of the Lion, says that using violence against women as a quick way of establishing a character is a depressing industry practice. “I think it’s a way to get cheap thrills and attract the lowest common denominator. I don’t think putting yourself in such an adversarial position towards half the planet is a good way to get new readers.”

Wilson, who revived the Justice League character of Vixen for a five-issue mini-series in October 2008, said that writing a female superhero came with its own set of baggage. “Because she’s been written primarily by men, primarily for men, and so to shape her into a character more women would empathize with, you’ve gotta wrestle with a lot of her history in previous stories that have been written by men.”

real breast forms

Scot Steube

PROFILES

PROFILES

Those of you who subscribe to Comedy Nerd Fancy magazine may remember the now-defunct website, SuperDeluxe, of the late ’00s. It was put together by Turner Broadcasting and the people at Adult Swim, and the idea was to produce and promote comedy web-series with an eye towards developing content that might eventually become Real Live TV Shows. NnnnnNNNNnnnn….it’s exciting! Actually, SuperDeluxe was a really funny site and I am sorry that it is in website heaven now, eating dinner with Einstein.com and Beethoven.biz, or whatever. They had really funny and weird videos from so many talented people, including Eugene Mirman, and Chelsea Peretti, and Bob Odenkirk. Bye guys! R.I.P. to all those talented people who died.

But perhaps the experiment was not a total bust, because one of the site’s series has been picked up and turned into a TV show, and the best part is that it stars two of Videogum’s (read: my’s) favorite people: Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler (and also Julian Barratt of the Mighty Boosh). Yay! The show-nee-series is called Penelope Princess of Pets, and there is a trailer for it after the jump:

Yes!

Now that you’ve heard the best part, though, it is time for the worst part: the show got picked up in England.

This is the second time in a calendar year that England has stolen our beloved comedians for their televisions! Of course, in England, they call comedians “lorries,” and they call televisions “lorries.” Stupid England. Naughty England!

But hey, it’s Y2k10. We no longer have to pack ourselves into steamer trunks and ship ourselves out to sea for a two month steerage voyage in order to check out new TV shows starring Brooklyn-based comedians airing late at night in Stoke-on-Trent. Not anymore!

“I wish I lived with you guys!”
-Paul Revere

If you DO live in the UK, you should definitely check out this show when It airs in on April 21 at 11pm on C4, whatever THAT is. As for the rest of us, we will continue to rally our militias in the fight against the imperial forces of the Queen’s empire. Give me LOLberty or give me death! These guys know what I’m talking about:

Together we laugh, divided we work at the mall.

no barking dog collar

Rowena Houben

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