Maryannaville™

A large party of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a sand-dune. “One  Australian soldier is better than ten Taliban.”

The Taliban commander quickly sends 10 of his best soldiers over the dune whereupon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence.

The same voice then calls out: “One Australian is better than a hundred Taliban soldiers.”

Furious, the Taliban Commander sends his next best 100 troops over the dune And instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence.

The Aussie voice called out, “One Australian is better than one thousand Taliban”.

The enraged Taliban Commander musters a thousand fighters and sends them over the dune.Cannon, rocket and machine gun fire rings out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence.

Finally, one wounded Taliban fighter crawls back over the sand-dune and, with his dying words, tells his commander,

“Don’t send any more men, its a trap. There’s two of them over there!”

Originally posted 2010-01-25 16:22:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Listen to them smoke those strings. No one coaxed nor harangued them to play. They happily volunteered.

I can only imagine what they’ll do once they have become well seasoned with experience and knowledge. They’re a delightful bunch of kids who enjoy being in the lime light. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

Originally posted 2009-07-05 01:57:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“She’s Bush with lipstick.”
*Bob Fertik

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Originally posted 2008-09-07 10:13:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In the current golden age of tabloid confession, you can talk about your sex life, drug problems, even money woes — but mention that you might have gone a little crazy and people shrink away, even in a world as off-kilter as show business.
So let’s cheer on Mary Pat Gleason, whose affecting and entertaining one-woman show, “Stopping Traffic,” had its world premiere Wednesday at off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre. Gleason has what one of her parade of doctors diagnosed as bipolar disorder, “a chemical imbalance which causes people to experience extreme highs on the one pole, and depression on the other.”
The performer is frank and funny in her descriptions of several unnerving episodes that form the heart of her engaging 85-minute talk fest, directed with a sure, steady sense of theatricality by Lonny Price.
Gleason, a bold, brash woman with an intuitive comedic flair, is a sturdy Minnesota gal, Irish-Catholic, whose family was always telling her to shut-up. Fortunately, she never did.
She traveled to New York at 27 to become an actress. A few bit parts on soaps led to a stint as script editor on “Guiding Light” and her first severe bout of depression after realizing the love of her life was in love with her boss.
That meltdown included frantic periods of hyperactivity and hallucinations, particularly one of a man curled up on the outside ledge of an apartment window. Lithium and visits to a relaxation therapist brought things under control.

Categories: theatre, arts, manic+depression, review

Originally posted 2006-06-09 15:44:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

PDF: GeneralStrikeOakland2

Read the General Strike & Mass Day of Action proposal here

Originally posted 2011-10-29 05:05:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

INTP – The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

Damn me. Occasionally, I even demonstrate my personal growth and get out of myself long enough to be social as an ENTP. It’s a learned thing and a mile marker for personal growth.

Try it for yourself!

Originally posted 2008-11-20 19:06:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Paul-Jules’ little personality is going to be every bit like a lightning fast and hard to catch fella throughout his life just like greased pig, it seems. I’m reading into that as such because he wasn’t supposed to be born until October 30th. Instead, he decided that he would make his debut earlier than planned, almost a full month ahead, too. His birth date ended up being September 22nd. They don’t have his birth weight or the other stats just yet but I’m sure we’ll have something on him sometime soon. I’m really excited! I managed to sneak a shot of Mom when she held him up for me to see. I just hope she doesn’t skin me alive for posting the photo without her knowledge or permission!

Paul-Jules had been chowing down his supper when we interrupted his meal during an unplanned IM. Mom wanted to show him to me and saw that I was online. They live in Germany and timewise, Germany is 9 hours ahead of PDST. We don’t get to connect like this very often so indeed, doing so was a real treat for me. I’m still wearing a huge smile on my face! Moreover, I can’t think of a better way to start a brand new day!

Congratulations, Mom and Dad and, welcome to the world, Peanut! We’ve been anxiously waiting for you!

Originally posted 2008-10-10 06:24:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Originally posted 2006-09-06 11:02:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

AP NEW YORK – Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins took the top honors at the 10th annual Jazz Awards, notching a double victory as musician and tenor saxophonist of the year. The 75-year-old Rollins re-established himself at the top of the jazz scene during the past year with his Grammy-winning CD Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert, his first live recording in nearly 20 years.

Yhe album of the year award at Monday’s ceremony at B.B. King’s Blues Club and Grill went to two departed jazz legends. Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note), released after tapes of a 1957 concert by the short-lived but historically significant group were discovered in the Library of Congress vaults, was chosen the year’s top album.

Several generations of drummers figured prominently at this year’s awards, which were based on votes cast by more than 400 members of the Jazz Journalists Association worldwide. The 81-year-old Roy Haynes received the award for lifetime achievement in jazz, while Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto was named up-and-coming musician of the year. Paul Motian was chosen the year’s top drummer.
Conga player Ray Barretto, who died in February at age 76, was chosen percussionist of the year. Barretto’s last album, Standards Rican-ditioned, also the final recording by pianist Hilton Ruiz who died earlier this month after leaving a New Orleans club, is due out in August featuring an all-Puerto Rican lineup of musicians playing straight-ahead jazz standards.
Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes, now based in Sweden after serving as musical director of Havana’s pre-Castro Tropicana nightclub, garnered the award for Latin jazz album of the year for Bebo de Cuba (Calle 54). Gerald Wilson, also 87, received the award for top large ensemble.

Listen to Excerpts from Sonny’s latest CD: Without A Song – The 9/11 Concert.

Originally posted 2006-06-23 07:39:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Are you sick of high paid teachers?

Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – baby sit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school.

That would be $19.50 a day (7:45to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here!

There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student –a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)

WHAT A DEAL….

I really, really wish this was original material, but it isn’t. It was submitted to me by a fellow teacher, Gary Croft who is far from overpaid. Gary is one of those rare teachers who left a great paying industry job and opted to teach because he loves kids and he loves teaching.

This sure does put things into perspective, doesn’t it?

Originally posted 2011-02-21 05:17:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) finance office is under investigation for inefficiency and ineffective leadership. A bureaucratic shuffle within the CDC has prompted a political firestorm among experts in worker health and safety and has reignited questions about the Bush administration’s commitment to sound science.

Read more about it from Maryannaville’s friends:
http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/index.html

Note: Our apologies for not being able to create hyper-links.
Blogger’s hyper-linking capabilities hasn’t worked all day today. (
We hope that it clears up real soon.

Originally posted 2006-12-06 16:07:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The HIV virus is the cause of AIDS, right? AZT is a cure for AIDS, right? Drug companies, professional fundraisers and the government officials always tell the truth, right?

Press conferences, drug company media campaigns, and government declarations are the source of most people’s knowledge about the disease called AIDS.

Before you form an opinion about this emotionally charged issue, watch this film.

You may never be tested positive for HIV, but some day you may be told you or a loved one must take a medicine that’s far, far worse than the disease.

Your health is far too important to leave up to the “science” delivered by propaganda campaigns.
http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/medfraud/medfraud1.html

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~

Do a good deed today and light this candle. Bristol-Myers is donating a dollar to AIDS research everytime someone moves the match to light the candle on its website. Go ahead, take a moment and do it. It’s kinda neat.

https://www.lighttounite.org/

For more on Bristol – Myers you can check out its website at:
http://www.bms.com/landing/data/index.html

Originally posted 2006-12-01 01:54:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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What’s the difference between Palin and Muslim Fundamentalists? Juan Cole says, “Lipstick.”

Originally posted 2008-09-09 16:17:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Hepatitis a major public health concern. Dr. Lorenzo Rossaro, head of Liver Transplantation at UC Davis, discusses the latest on Hepatitis C. The focus is on new developments in the treatment of liver disease.

Hepatitis C Treatment of Hepatitis C – UCTV Hepatitis C Update – Dr Lorenzo Ross…

Originally posted 2006-08-30 16:51:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tommy Chong, legendary comedian, author, actor and activist will be heard in a special interview with host Chris Goldstein Friday September 1, 2006 on NORML’s Daily Audio Stash Podcast. The program can be found on iTunes or downloaded directly from Norm Audio Stash

Tommy will discuss his new book, I Chong: Meditations from the Joint.

Originally posted 2006-09-01 16:16:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter