TUTORIAL IT

An Exercise in Exercise Avoidance

On the radio weather forecast this morning the lady had an excitable tone. "...reaching the mid-teens in some parts of the country!", she sang, delighted at the prospect.

For me, this is not enough. It is bad enough to be lurking around dismally in a Northern city, let alone with no prospect of the sort of excellent weather that turns public transport into sticky hell and pavements into rivers of burning tar. Frankly, I am disappointed. I am not helping myself, though, by clicking woefully through other peoples Facebook albums of foreign holidays, weeping at yet another snap of someone I havent seen since 1999s toes shimmering away against a backdrop of a delirious, tropical sea.

I have a mantra of "the Edinburgh Festival is worth it" that I am testing out, and it is sort of working, or at least it works until another set of photos winks up on my Facebook feed, promising glimpses of some ex-colleagues Amazing Trip To Aruba.

As much as I totally am complaining, I am also not complaining. I mean, clearly I am, definitely, complaining, but I am also completely aware that these are the choices I have made and so I must live with them and feel grateful for weather that shuffles decrepitly into the mid-teens like an ancient, three-legged terrier.

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Eggs Collective did a brilliantly mental stint at Islington Mill, taking the concepts of taste and refinement and chewing on them thoughtfully before throwing them up dramatically. It was fun! We wore gold things, put fake eyelashes on, made a tardis, screamed abuse from atop the bar and generally had lashings of fun. There was a moment (about four hours), after we had done a technical rehearsal and before we were meant to go on, where we looked at each other with pale, horrified expressions and seriously considered whether, actually, we had really gone too far this time. "But is it funny?" is always the question. In performance, controversy on its own is boring, assuming you can shock people with your scary words is dull, there must be more to it. In that space of time we just couldnt really work it out. Was it funny? Was there a reason? The only conclusion to draw is, well, were doing it now. Theres no point worrying. Anyway, as it turns out, it went down well and the bits we were worrying most about got the biggest laughs. Afterwards we drank Red Stripe out of the the can (but through a straw) and danced the dance of beer, relief and adrenaline.

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I did a storytelling night at Tales of Whatever, where I learned the following:

1. I can do, but not necessarily maintain, a Welsh accent.
2. I am the only one who passes the time reading American Mommy Blogs.
3. I cannot be on stage without bursting into dramatic song*.
4. Real-life stories do not have punch lines.

*I definitely already knew this.


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Geddes Loom did a gig at the Royal Exchange! Mostly to promote Bens show, next week. But, wow, it was a cool gig. I mean, not cool in the sense of loads of wasted people in a field chewing their faces off to the beat and face-diving in mud. More kind of, lots of people ready and waiting for us to begin, everyone listening to every word, incredible acoustics, people coming up and being lovely afterwards. I signed an autograph. Hang on, let me try that one again. I SIGNED AN AUTOGRAPH. It is totally irrelevant that the guy didnt seem to know who I was ("um, I was the one who was just singing?") and that he asked me a few times if I had an album in the shops, kind of suspiciously like I might have been an imposter. I still signed an autograph ("All the best, Léonie x) and got in a bit of a tangle about how many kisses you are meant to put. I have so much to learn. Maybe I will text Mariah and ask for advice on how to deal with being an internationally-acclaimed vocal artist.

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Im writing this morning. My show. My SHOW which is a real thing dont try and tell me it isnt. However, I also have to go for a run. Yes, it is sunny outside and yes, I am working from home and have the freedom to go and leap about in parks for an hour, and yes, the temperature is in the MID-TEENS and it might never be this hot again, but no, I do not feel like it. Life is so hard.

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I am going to stop rambling now, and go for a run like a massive warrior (metaphorically, of course. I am not going to don a suit of armour and beard and clank around Hulme in a fit of red-faced blood-lust.)

I hope your Monday reaches the mid-teens.

Available link for download

An Ode to a Spoon

I never thought a spoon would deserve a column. Until I fell in love with one. From the very first glance I knew this was the one: brilliantly designed, tastefully elegant, modestly shiny, and not mine...



Possessing it could brighten anyones existence. No more awkward spoon maneuvering inside a narrow sugar or yogurt container. No more grains sifting along the sides of stylish yet slim, cheek-less spoons. Imagine, finishing all the milk with your cereal without needing a tablespoon or straw. Remember the unpleasant screeching sound when scratching the bottom or sides of a plastic or glass container with a regular spoon? This beautys rounded contour would make it silent.

With a simple twist of your wrist, a soft little mountain of cottage or whipped cream majestically rests upon this spoon. Lift your hand a bit, and the spoon is right there, whispering to your lips. Think about the awkward elbow rotation, the longer travel paths to your mouth and the ridiculous diagonal fit of a regular spoon in it.

Left column: regular spoon. Right column: the perfect spoon. Note how both testers arms are extended in the left column as compared with the right and how regular spoon goes diagonally into mouth, while the perfect spoon fits naturally straight.

I’ll grant you that the lack of symmetry is unsettling, though thought-provoking and memorable. But isn’t that one of the reasons we like Picassos paintings?

Afraid that asymmetry will lead to a lack of balance, I borrowed the spoon from the lucky owner (thanks, Rachel). In a Consumer Report-like testing environment we built at home, two testers used it for a week and raved of the spoons superior usability. These two testers, who are notorious spillers, showed absolutely no issues with balance.

What are you saying? You are a lefty? Yes, you deserve a reversed copy.
Feeding your child? Sit to his right and just extend your hand, the spoon is already in his mouth. No need to play airplane, risking a spill of all contents before landing.
A fan of sporks? They are just undecided peasants compared with her majesty.

Do I deserve it? Me, who rarely notices how and what I am eating, distracted by the kids’ requests. Me, who could eat with a plastic spoon, crazy glued spoon or a spoon vandalized by a garbage disposal? Probably, not. Still, I will be searching for you, the perfect one. To own, to hold in my hands, to sip from it. My modest puzzling queen, I promise to adore you forever.

Available link for download

An inauspicious start

I pride myself on being an excellent vacation planner, but somehow none of my vacations seem to start on a very auspicious note. The last time my wife and I took a similarly long vacation, we were stalled by protesters at the Bangkok airport, and at the last minute we had to take detour via Singapore to begin our vacations. It bled us the extra dollars and well, wasnt much fun! Till last night, it seemed that our vacation was blessed by the gods. Speaking of gods, theres a saying,"Man proposes, god disposes!". Im not sure god had much of a hand to play in this, but heres what happened. We had tickets to travel by the 1715 train to Trivandrum so we could then catch the Sunday flight to KL. For some reason, Id entered the 2145 train on my Tripit itinerary and my wife and I planned our day at office with that assumption. So well, you can imagine the fiasco thereafter - we reached the train station in the hope of catching the train, only to know that Im actually a crap planner and wed missed our train hours back.

Well, I wasnt going to allow our vacation to be derailed (pun intended) by such a minor setback. So, autoride back home, some time on the internet and we had air tickets to Trivandrum. And so, this morning we got on the 1020 Air India flight to Trivandrum - our destination, Kovalam beach. Does that sound awesome? Not quite! Well, Kovalam beach isnt the best place to visit during the monsoons. Its off season, most places are shut tight, the area has almost a deserted, sleepy look and every picture of the beach looks like you took it with a badly scratched lens. We took some time out to tuck in a very heavy meal of chicken, beef, fish and porrotas though the oil didnt seem to do much good to my tummy. Anyways - I spent a good part of the evening in the hotel swimming pool. And now, Im tired, cranky, bored and Im waiting to take my flight out - 0800 this morning, Im outta here! Gotta set that alarm.

Available link for download

An Open Letter to Manchester Cathedral and the CoE about secular digital guidelines

Following this article. Ive decided to send this open letter to the Very Reverend Rogers Govender of Manchester Cathedral about his "sacred digital guidelines."

Dear Very Reverend Rogers Govender,

This open letter is in response to the article located here in the Times, which details four "sacred digital guidelines" youve created for games developers to sign up to. For completeness these rules are:

1. Respect our sacred spaces as places of prayer, worship, peace, learning and heritage.

2. Do not assume that sacred space interiors are copyright free.

3. Get permission from the faith leaders who are responsible for the building interiors you want to clone.

4. Support the work of those engaged in resisting the culture of gun crime and those involved in promoting the work of conflict resolution.

Whilst I agree entirely with number 4, I, and many others, have concerns with the first 3 guidelines. As is often the case with freedom of speech and censorship you have to defend works of little value to protect the rights of those which are of worth. As in defending the puerile and offensive Danish Mohammad cartoons in order that intellectually stimulating works like "Jerry Springer the Opera" and "The Satanic Verses" are also defended. I feel this is the case with the mediocre "Resistance: Fall of Man." Whilst R:FoM did not itseld critique the Church of England, your response would curtail that ability.

As such, I feel it is necessary to reply with this open letter (which will be located on http://skeptobot.blogspot.com) with the following "secular digital guidelines" that I wish the CoE to sign up to when interacting with "new digital media" which includes, but is not limited too, games, blogs, social networks, MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games), online video and podcasts.

These "Secular digital guidelines" are:

1. Respect our right to criticise and ridicule elements of a faith we find offensive or untrue.

To do so is an attempt to close down dialogue that can improve both the secular and religious world views. No one likes being offended by something, but thankfully "not being offended" is not a human right.

2. Do not assume that you own the copyright of your sacred spaces and other historical religious imagery.

Manchester Cathedral (which began being built in 1215) is like most religious buildings in the UK, in that it was constructed during a Feudal system of government and church that exploited and tithed the populace to build such buildings. As such the general public has as much right to the image of the church as any member of the faith. Let alone the idea of copyright lasting 800 years. And this is before any consideration of fair use.

3. Do not assume that people must get permission to recreate and image these religious spaces and works.

Whilst clearly, any considerate artist, composer, writer, blogger, podcaster or designer, should inform you of their intentions, do not presume they require your permission. For example politically critical television shows would fall apart if they had to get permissions for all their satirical works. To require permission from such people effectively acts as a form of censorship.

4. Support the attempts to reduce the conflict, violence, wars and terrorism caused by differing religious beliefs.

Whilst adults playing violent video games may indeed concern you, many secular and religous people, who can distinguish between reality and fantasy, would rather you focus your efforts on the real world violence caused by religion.

This is not meant to be critical of your faith, and in no way ignores the countless good works of the CoE but is just encourage proper interaction in this new electronic landscape of communication, debate and dialogue - where everyone owns a printing press.

I you support this proposal I include a form for you to print, sign and return, as well as a hard copy that will be posted today. If you do not support it, then I politely request an explanation why, that can be included on the site.

Best Regards,

Skeptobot

Ill detail any response I receive. If you wish to encourage a response to this letter please digg.

Available link for download

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith

Adam Smiths most famous book, published in 1776, is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Click the link above to access an online copy of the book.

Available link for download

And now for no reason heres an insult rap from the God of Thunder and the Warriors Three

Fandral: Yeah! Thats right! Warriors Three up in this bitch! Swingin Hammer productions! Balder, drop a hot beat and get out the way, the God of Thuders on the Mic and like Lebron James hes always ready to play, when the games on the line, back up yall, its Mjolnir time!
Thor: Verily, Odin Son art the crunkest MC in all the Asgard Hood!
He be tearing up it up round the Rainbow Bridge like Hulk through the God of Wood!
Hogun, The Grim: Yeah boy! Thats Woodgod; act like ya know!
Falstaff: Thor, yeah, hes a bad ass Thunder God! Thor, yeah, hes holdin it down from Vahalla to Midgard!
Thor: From mine fathers palace, as far as the Thunder God can survey, all I can see is a bunch of wack MCs!
Hogun: Break it down, Odin Son!
Thor: The Enchantress is a skeezer, for as many rides as shes given, the bitch oughtta be called the Asgard Bike. As for her boy the Executioner, that loser is a bigger nerd than every member of Weezer.
Hogun: Combined!
Thor: The Wrecker and the Absorbing Man, them bitchers are wanksters, Thor is the only
Loki, he tries to manipulate me, because hes got a complex thats full of inferiority!
Hogun: We read it all in his psychiatric history, bitch!
Thor: Whether he wants to be King of Asgard or just wants a hug, quite frankly, Odin Son dont give a fug! God of Mischief, I treat you like a hankerchief!
Hogun: He means he wipes his balls with you after sex!
Thor: Dumb bitch, you even set me up with a Midgard crew; the Avengers are so tight, we dont give a fuck about you!
Hogun: But what about the New Avengers, yo?
Thor: They can stroke my uru hammer! Luke Cage, Im calling thineself out on this track, Ill take you and that hairy Canadian out with one godly bitch slap!
Hogun: His pimp hands way strong yo!
Thor: The ladies, they line up round the block, for some of that sweat Asgardian cock!
Warriors Three all together: Aw no he didnt!
Thor: 50 Cent, you have the Magic Stick? Bitch, I have a Magic Hammer! Ill stick Mjolnir up your ass just to make you stammer!
Hogun: That Thor, hes got an ill manner!
Falstaff: Thor, yeah, hes a bad ass Thunder God! Thor, yeah, hes holdin it down from Vahalla to Midgard!
Thor: Verily; what?

Read More

Available link for download

An Eco Parable for Our Time Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus

Chris Rhodes being interviewed on The Authors Show (by Don McCauley), about his children’s book, “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus”, 10.00 Eastern Standard Time (3.00 PM, UK Time), January 23rd, 2016.

Described as an Eco-Parable, an edited version of the recording will be broadcast on The Authors Show from February 9th (4.00 A.M. UK time) to February 10th (4.00 A.M. UK time).


INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

DM: Can you tell us about the book?

CR: “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus” is a children’s picture book, about a young hippo growing up with his family and friends in Africa. Hippy has the mind of a five year old boy, and so the events that happen in his various adventures are as they might appear to a five year old. How he sees his changing world.


DM: Who did you write your book for?

CR: Well, I wrote the original story for my step-niece, Chloe, when she was about 4. She’s 21, now, and so her interests have shifted somewhat, but she still likes the story of the little hippo! However, its purpose seems to have grown, rather, and “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus” is now the first book in a series of books, aimed at a general audience of children between 5 and 8 years of age.


DM: Is there a central message in the book?

CR: Yes, the message is the importance of cooperation and working together, in order to solve problems and adapt to a changing environment. In the later books, topics such as the damming of rivers, flooding, climate change, soil erosion, conflict between humans and animals over habitat are covered directly. So the whole project addresses different aspects of "sustainability".


DM: If you had to choose, what would you say is the single most important idea youre sharing in your book that is really going to add value to the readers life?

CR: In a nutshell, to get over to children, the idea that cooperation with others is the best way to solve problems, rather than conflict.


DM: If you could compare this book with any book out there we might already be familiar with, which book would it be and why?

CR: I am not aware of an exact match between this book and any other, but I might draw a comparison with “The Lorax”, by Dr Seuss. The Lorax is a mythical creature and protector of the trees, who is very unhappy when people cut the trees down, to process them in a factory. This has been interpreted more generally as being about a call for environmental protection, and so “Hippy” has similar themes, especially in the subsequent books, about the vulnerability of the environment to how we treat it, and that we (humans) are a part of the environment rather than being something separate from it. This is reinforced by the theme of cooperation between animals (hippos) and also between animals and humans, that runs throughout the series of stories.


DM: Since your background is mainly in science and environmental journalism, why did you decide to write a childrens picture book?

CR: That’s a good question. When I first wrote “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus”, I was working in a university as a professor of chemistry, but I was really deciding to move on with my life and do something else.

I had previously made a trip to Prague (in the Czech Republic), and visited the zoo there, where there is a family of hippos. I found these really quite fascinating creatures, and it struck me that it might be nice to write a children’s story about them. Then, a few years later, I found the words just came to me, and I scribbled the story down in about 20 minutes, but clearly it had been working in my subconscious for several years beforehand. I think it was all driven by various changes that were going on in my life at the time, which brought the story up from the depths. A bit like poppy-seeds, which only grow in disturbed ground, when they are exposed to light!

[Hence the poppies of Flanders Fields, where the ground had been disturbed by the shelling in World War I].


DM: The book has been described as a modern day "eco-parable". What is meant by this?

CR: This was a description given to the book by a leading British permaculturist, Steve Jones, who is promoting it on his website. I believe he was actually thinking of “The Lorax” by Dr Seuss, which is an eco-parable (story with an environmental message) about protecting the trees, and the environment more generally. Steve saw “Hippy” as a similar eco-parable with the message that empathy and cooperation are the best ways to solve problems in a changing world.


DM: Of all the animals you could have chosen as a main character for the book, why did you decide upon a hippopotamus?

CR: I think it was spending time with the hippo family in Prague zoo, and I then started reading about the hippopotamus, and discovered that they are “vulnerable”, because their population is decreasing, mainly as a result of poaching and that their habitat is being destroyed by humans for farming. So, a story about a young hippo seemed to be a good metaphor for environmental change, and a way of illustrating environmental issues, e.g. climate change, conflict between humans and animals over habitat, damming of rivers, pollution issues and so on. But in a way that children could understand.


DM: Do you think that the book would be of particular value in schools?

CR: Very much so! We have done quite a number of readings in schools... well, I read the stories and Jeanette shows the kids the pictures. She also teaches them to draw – hippos and other things. They love the illustrations, and they connect easily with the storyline. In a classroom setting, the book also helps to teach children to read English (particularly in multi-cultural schools, as they tend to be in East London, where many of the kids dont have English as their first language), but the book also sets a natural mood for discussions about environmental topics.


DM: How does the book relate more broadly to your work on "sustainability"?

CR: This began about 10 years ago, when I started my blog, and began writing various articles about “sustainability” in the broadest sense. I then got involved with permaculture and the Transition Towns movement, and a whole host of other things, and it struck me that the future that our children will find is likely to be quite different from how things are now, in terms of how we use resources, and in very many other ways.

And for example, because the oil supply is going to fail at some point over the next few decades, we will need to do more on the local scale, not the global, and so we will need strong communities where people have to cooperate with each other. So, the book (and the whole series of books) is aimed to bring these ideas to young children, since really it is their future that’s at stake. They are ones that matter - more than me, at this stage in my life!


DM: The book is linked to your charity, "For Our Childrens Earth". What does this do?

CR: The charity works to promote ideas about sustainability, the need to preserve the environment (both locally and globally), and to reconnect children with nature. We do a lot of outreach work in schools, talking about environmental topics, and also reading the hippo-stories to the kids. We run workshops in schools and communities, I give public lectures, and the longer-term aim is to build a “centre” where actual hands-on activities can be done. Permaculture is a strong part of this. Our funding comes from sales of the books, and money we raise from talks etc. So, the link between the book and the charity is both conceptual/ideological and financial.


DM: Tell us your most rewarding experience since publishing your work?

CR: Without doubt, it’s the reaction of children when they see the pictures in the book, and have the stories read to them. It’s lovely to see the joy in a child’s face, that the book gives them. In fact, everyone seems to love the pictures, which are entirely due to the talent of Jeanette Cole, the book’s illustrator. But when I say this to her, she says that she finds it very easy to draw the pictures from the way I write the stories. So we are a good team!

I was also extremely moved by the overall flow of goodwill toward the book which we have received from very many and entirely different kinds of people: children, parents, teachers, and people with “green” interests. There has been a wonderful response via Facebook to Hippy becoming a winner on the Authors Show. So he has a good following, and people are rooting for him, which I find very heart-warming, and encouraging


DM: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?

CR: I remember being asked this same question some time ago, and the title that popped instantly into my head was, “On the Edge of Adversity.” Now, of course, this can also mean being on the edge of “opportunity”. So, while my life has certainly had its ups and downs, I feel that I have been very fortunate in that people have come along, at various critical points, who have nudged me in the right direction, or been able to open a door for me, which has led on to something good.

And I’m very grateful for that, as it could have all gone very badly wrong at various points, especially when I was in my teens, but more recently too, deciding to make a break from the academic world, and yet I have found a new role, and been able to explore a lot of different dimensions that I never would have done otherwise. Indeed, it was pure chance that I met Jeanette, the book’s illustrator, and yet amazingly, she seems able to “see” the same images that I saw in my mind when I wrote the stories in the first place. But she can draw them. So, it’s as though we were floating around looking for each other, until fate managed to connect us.


DM: How would you describe your writing style?

CR: That depends on what I’m writing. I think there is humour in how I write, albeit somewhat on the dark side at times. For example, my novel “University Shambles”, which is very much a black comedy, albeit a surreal one. I’ve written very many scientific papers. I’ve also published a collection of poetry, quite a lot of journalism (mostly on-line), and now the series of children’s stories. I also had a shot at writing a radio play, recently. So, my words are in quite a mixed bag, really!


DM: Who influenced your writing the most?

CR: As a child, I loved the books by Enid Blyton (“The Mountain of Adventure”, “The Island of Adventure” and so on), and “The Famous Five”.

My first urge toward creative writing began when I was 18, inspired by an abandoned book of poems by Walter Scott, which lead me on to writing my own poetry, and I was further influenced by W.H.Auden and Dylan Thomas. In terms of novels I was particularly influenced by D.H.Lawrence and Thomas Hardy, and I was very much drawn by the social commentaries of George Orwell (“Down and Out in Paris and London”, for example).

In terms of the campus novel genre, I was probably influenced by Malcolm Bradbury (“The History Man”), and there was a B.B.C. television drama (“A Very Peculiar Practice”) written by Andrew Davies, which probably put into my mind the idea of writing my own novel (“University Shambles”) based on my own experience of the commercialisation (...destruction maybe), of the British University system.

So, any influences are probably highly various.


DM: Are your characters pure fiction, or did you draw from people you know?

When I wrote my novel, “University Shambles”, at the beginning some of the characters were based on the traits of some people I knew, but I found that as the writing-momentum gathered, all of the characters developed a life of their own and finally became entirely fictional, rather than parodies of old familiar faces. Having said that, it is striking that various people, having read the book, seemed to recognise the characters as people that they know!

Now, in the case of “Hippy the Happy Hippopotamus”, I can say that the “characters” are based on a family of hippos that I was able to visit in Prague Zoo, over several years! And, I suppose, the anthropomorphic elements (their human characteristics) are based on the ideal elements of a happy, loving family, all trying to do their best in a changing and unpredictable world. But there is an innocence to it all, because the things that happen are as seen through the eyes of young “Hippy” who has the mind of a 5-year old boy.


DM: Are you more of a character artist or a plot-driven writer?

CR: I would say more of a “character artist”. However, the plot and the characters weave together into a broad tapestry, and the characters and events intermingle and borrow structure from one another. But the initial idea – the first thought in my mind - is that of one person (or a young hippo, in this case!), and I try to feel how they would feel, in their immediate surroundings and situation, then roll out the strands and develop the plot from there.


DM: Other than selling your book, what do you hope to accomplish with it?

CR: To get the message over to kids that empathy and cooperation are the best ways to solve problems. This is particularly important because the next generation is likely to be challenged in all manner of ways as the world changes profoundly, and their ability to work together to solve problems is likely to become paramount. We also aim to get the book onto the school National Curriculum (U.K.) and its equivalent in other European countries and in the U.S. A proportion of the sales revenue from the books goes to support the charity, “For Our Children’s Earth”.


DM: Who should buy this book?

CR: The book is aimed at children aged between 5 and 8 years old, and their parents and teachers. The primary geographic target area is Europe and the United States. The benefits of buying this book are its beautiful illustrations, and simple text which children easily connect with. It is an ideal book for parents to read to their children, helped by the pictures. In a classroom situation, the book is very helpful for teaching children to read English, and it is a natural prompt for discussions on environmental topics. Also, because of the book’s theme of sustainability and social harmony, it is of interest to community and environmental groups.


DM: Where can readers find you and your book?

CR: My webpage is www.fresh-lands.com or simply google

Available link for download

An Animated Discussion

Halloween 2010 is but a memory–a hazy memory for some in this household. Between us and the gift-oriented holidays lies only the blip of Thanksgiving. Now dawns the sobering realization that we may already be too far behind to catch up.

I was talking about this with my therapist just last week. She suggested that I deal with my holiday angst in a constructive fashion by putting my heated inner dialogue down on paper so that I could properly analyze it. But I was out of paper, so instead I made an animated cartoon starring Albert Einstein and the Queen of England.

That will strike you as an odd coupling until I explain that whenever I experience a heated inner dialogue, thats who the voices in my head sound like. (Although sometimes instead of Einstein I hear Fanny Brice; but the animation Web site doesnt offer a Fanny Brice avatar.)

The result is that I still dont have my holiday knitting under control and I have to find a new therapist.

Anyway, heres the stupid cartoon.

Available link for download

An 8 Letter Word for the Ultimate Sport

Amen.

I particularly love this part:

For you who wasted the winter by not studying such stuff, the answers are below. The rest of you probably are SABRmetricians. Tim Kurkjian of ESPN (do you know that more than 10 American children have been named Espn?) recalls a convention of the Society for American Baseball Research:

"Who from SABR might know where I can find the all-time list of pinch-hit, extra-inning grand slams? I asked the very first man I saw at the convention. The man smiled and -- I am not making this up -- pulled the list from his breast pocket. I have it right here, he said."

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An Effortless Way To Wear A Silk Slip Dress For Winter

Photo via: British Vogue

This super chic street style star shows off the perfect way to wear a silk slip dress for winter. Simply pair the slinky dress with an oversized camel or tench coat belted at the waist along with sock-style black suede ankle boots. Complete with a sleek embossed bag and a red lip. For added warmth, layer a slim turtleneck top or sweater underneath the dress.

Get the look:
+ ASOS Trench With Full Retro Skirt
+ ASOS Satin Maxi Dress
+ J.O.A. Satin Slip Dress
+ Nine West Clareece Suede Boots

Available link for download

An Amazing Airline CEO!