Ok, it's my turn to rant...
Watching GMA this morning, I saw a story that just sent my blood pressure soaring. A mom videotaped her adorable little toddler dancing. In the background, you can faintly hear music. With my hearing, I couldn't tell what song or artist. Plus I was paying attention to the baby who was just too darn cute. The mom posted the video on YouTube so family members could see the little guy doing his baby boogie. There was about 30 hits to the site, all family members. Well, she gets a letter from Universal Music accusing her of copyright infringement. She said the more scared she got, the madder she got. Hurray for her, she retained counsel and is going to fight back!
Oh, the song was 'Let's Go Crazy' by Prince. Seems he's very "protective" of his music. He actually hired a company called Video Sheriff to do nothing but surf these sites looking for "illegal" use of his music.
And did you know the dance, Electric Slide, is copyrighted? I'm guilty of criminal behavior everytime I've danced it at a wedding!
As John Stossel says, "Gimme a break!"
I am all for protecting and preserving endangered species but not at the expense of my fellow human beings. Georgia is on the brink of total dehydration, yet out of the water they do have left, under the Endangered Species Law, millions of gallons are being sent down to Florida for the benefit of freshwater mussels. I am saddened when a species is gone forever, but my family and friends in Georgia are the ones I want protected from extinction.
Shame on Florida.
So, Kat, if you were Lapine, would you sue Seinfeld for "every dime" you could get?
Cookbook Author Says Seinfeld Book 'Deceptively' Similar
Jessica Seinfeld's Cookbook Bears Striking Resemblance to 'The Sneaky Chef'
Winfrey's televised blessing become an embarrassment for recipient Jessica Seinfeld?
After the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld appeared Oct. 8 on Winfrey's show to discuss her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, online message boards erupted with questions about the originality of the book's premise.
Deceptively zoomed up the best-seller lists. The $24.95 book is No. 2 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. More than 1.2 million copies are in print.
Soon after Seinfeld's appearance on the talk show, postings at Amazon.com and Oprah.com noted that there is another cookbook that advocates these same techniques and specific ingredients: The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine, the former publisher of Eating Well magazine. Published in April by Running Press, the book has 150,000 copies in print.
"I'm surprised that on the Oprah show this was being touted as an entirely new technique pioneered by Ms. Seinfeld," Lapine said Saturday.
The idea of stealth nutrition is not new, Lapine says. "My grandmother used to do it," she says, but her book is the product of five years of research. "My book is not just a concept. My book is a how-to manual."
Moreover, she adds, "I'm concerned and troubled that Oprah credited and applauded someone else for a technique that was out there six months earlier."
Winfrey was not available for comment.
Lapine says she and her publicists pitched the Oprah show five times without success. She also points out she submitted her 139-page book proposal with 31 recipes and 11 purees twice to HarperCollins (Seinfeld's publisher), once in February 2006 without an agent and again with an agent in May 2006.
"The one big fact is that they had access to my manuscript early on," Lapine says. Seinfeld's book was signed up in June 2006.
"There are at least 15 of my recipes that ended up in her book," Lapine says. However, she says, recipes are hard to protect: "If you change one ingredient, you're safe." She says that after her publisher contacted HarperCollins, Deceptively's cover was modified from the one featured on a promotional brochure. The word "simple" was inserted in place of "sneaky."
Responding to the brouhaha, Seinfeld issued a statement: "My book came from years of trying to get my own children to eat healthy foods -- my own trial and error in my own kitchen. The idea of pureeing vegetables has been around for decades. I have never seen or read this other book. I do hope it is successful and brings even more attention to child nutrition."
Seinfeld's publisher, Steve Ross, insists "she wasn't influenced by anyone else's ideas." Seinfeld cooks these dishes herself, he says. "I don't think money affects whether one cooks or doesn't cook."
Says Seinfeld's agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh: "We can never get enough of building up our celebrities and then tearing them down. But in this case they've chosen the wrong person, because Jessica Seinfeld is above reproach."
"The one big fact is that they had access to my manuscript early on," Lapine says. Seinfeld's book was signed up in June 2006.
"There are at least 15 of my recipes that ended up in her book," Lapine says. However, she says, recipes are hard to protect: "If you change one ingredient, you're safe." She says that after her publisher contacted HarperCollins, Deceptively's cover was modified from the one featured on a promotional brochure. The word "simple" was inserted in place of "sneaky."
Responding to the brouhaha, Seinfeld issued a statement: "My book came from years of trying to get my own children to eat healthy foods -- my own trial and error in my own kitchen. The idea of pureeing vegetables has been around for decades. I have never seen or read this other book. I do hope it is successful and brings even more attention to child nutrition."
Seinfeld's publisher, Steve Ross, insists "she wasn't influenced by anyone else's ideas." Seinfeld cooks these dishes herself, he says. "I don't think money affects whether one cooks or doesn't cook."
Says Seinfeld's agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh: "We can never get enough of building up our celebrities and then tearing them down. But in this case they've chosen the wrong person, because Jessica Seinfeld is above reproach."
In Jerusalem , a female CNN journalist heard about a
very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday for a long, long time. So she decided to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane in a very slow fashion, she approached him for an interview.
"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"
"About 60 years"
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and Muslims. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."
"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"
"Like I'm talking to a f**kin' wall."
There is a new study about women and how they feel about their asses, the results were pretty interesting:
30% of women think their a** is too fat............
10% of women think their a** is too skinny......
The remaining 60% say they don't care, they love him, he's a good man, and they wouldn't trade him for the world.
I had a momentary lapse in sanity and actually posted a comment on jim's "Christian" blog. I realize he and other intolerant people are simply afraid of anyone who is different and because they are uneducated, they attempt to use the Bible to justify their fears. I am so tired of the statement, "marriage is defined as between a man and a woman." Why? Who wrote that definition? If you want to use the Bible - I can give you a list of obvious homosexuals throughout it. Homosexuality is as old as heterosexuality. Hasn't it ever occurred to anyone that maybe it is Mother Nature's way of population control? Just imagine if every person on earth was a breeder! What do you suppose cowboys did on those long long cattle drives that lasted for months? Think about all the wonderful literature, music and works of art throughout history that was created by homosexuals. Socrates, Tchaikovshy, Cole Porter, Oscar Wilde, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tennessee Williams, just to name a few. Alexander the Great, a military genius.
Statistics show that the majority of child molesters are straight white males.
Just a few short years ago, marriage/relatioships between different races was frowned upon. Think of it - no Halle Berry, Shemar Moore, IceT.
Fear is a crippling condition. People fear what they don't understand because they don't understand what they fear. Define normal. You can't. There is no such thing. What is normal to me, may not be normal to you. Everyone's perception of normal is their reality. Fortunately, some of us are willing to change their perceptions and just accept we are all different.
I say - Viva la difference!!!!
One of our daughters and her two daughters came down for the weekend. After breakfast, we decided it might be fun to go out to the Holly-Brooke ranch and attend the auction. My husband and I have attended and enjoyed two other auctions here in town and ended up with some nice items. To my surprise, after arriving there I immediately became saddened to the verge of depression. Was it because I knew who Jack Palance was? Did that add a personal aspect to it for me? I don't know. But what I saw was his whole life reduced to people haggling over the possessions that he spent years collecting (he had some old vinyl 33's that hadn't even been opened!). The ranch was rather run down, some of the items were water damaged. It would have made a beautiful park/museum. Did his children need the money more? I can't judge - I don't know the story. But even his photographs of everyday life were on the block. I admit to "lusting" after one item - that I couldn't have afforded in a zillion years - and that was the incredibly beautiful sculpture of Pegasus that had been created out of chrome car bumpers. My husband was drooling over two of the old cars, also out of reach of our bank accounts.
My weekend brightened up considerably though. I and my two granddaughters (16 & 11) drove up to Mountain Spirit Center in Sand Canyon, into town so they could see the faces carved into the trees, ice cream at the Rocky Mountain Candy Factory then back to Sand Canyon and the Donkey Rescue. The younger granddaughter who'd always thought donkeys were ugly and dumb, fell head over heels in love. They were allowed to go into the one of the pens and groom and pet the donkeys, the trainer was very informative and obviously loves her job. The Meyers are doing a wonderful service there. We've promised my granddaughter that we will adopt two donkeys as soon as we are finished building the house and can get set up. They left this morning on their way to Universal Studios - still talking about those donkeys!
I agree with jimr, this blog site has been "hijacked". It doesn't seem to be as enjoyable anymore. So what do you guys think? Does the TN have some responsibilty in keeping it from going so far off-track? I can't believe they allowed the one blog to go over 20+ pages. Not only was it offensive to some, it became very very redundant. I've noticed a lot of the bloggers who really had opinions worth reading aren't posting/commenting any longer. People are so brave sitting behind a computer screen. No, my name isn't on my profile, but I'll tell it to anyone who asks.
Any answers?
What Love means to kids. Touching words from the mouth of babes. A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
"My mommy loves me more than anybody.
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"
Each month I get my wireless bill from AT&T; I give it a cursory glance and file it, it gets paid automatically from my bank account. For some reason, this month I actually looked at each page. I discovered AT&T has been charging us $2.99 a month for roadside service! Huh? I couldn't call customer service fast enough. The CSR told me that if I broke down or had a flat tire I could punch a certain number and the star or pound sign - can't remember - and assistance would be sent out. This was not something we had asked for and had not been aware of. Not only do I get roadside assistance through Hyundai, I pay AAA for it. I requested it be removed. Anyway, lesson learned. I will be going over my bill each month with a magnifier.
Has this happened to anyone else? Charged for something you didn't request or know about on a bill?
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