Disney and Seal Team 6?

Disney attempts to trademark "Seal Team 6". Isn't that kind of crazy if allowed?

http://gawker.com/5801792/disney-trademarks-seal-team-6

Disney and Seal Team 6?

25 Manners Every Kid Should Know By Age 9

25 Manners Every Kid Should Know By Age 9 - Parenting on Shine

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/25-manners-every-kid-should-know-by-age-9-2480238

25 Manners Every Kid Should Know By Age 9

Could you serve?

Could you give up your job, life and family for a couple months to serve on a jury? Hmmmm

Could you serve?

Fake MLK Quote in support of UBL

Some who cant accept that we killed a terrorist are hiding being a fake quote being credited to Martin Luther King.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/out-of-osamas-death-a-fake-quotation-is-born/238220/

Fake MLK Quote in support of UBL

Bow Tie vs Bandages. Chris Brown vs Rihanna.

A couple days ago I blogged about the Chris Brown interview on Larry King Live. The interview was an attempt to rebuild his image (I am chuckling at that) after his assault and beatings of ex girlfriend Rihanna. A judge sentenced Chris Brown to five years' probation and six months' community labor and ordered Brown to stay away from Rihanna for five years. In the interview it was disturbing to hear Chris Brown say he doesn’t remember assaulting and beating Rihanna to a pulp. Or other times he has beaten her. And I am sure many of you remember how he attempted to capitalize on the beating by quickly recording a song about it. I think it’s just as disturbing that after Larry King interview aired last night social media blogs like Mashable and others in Hollywood find it more important to talk about what the violent animal wore instead of the reason he was on the show, which is that he beats women. Mashable appears to be impressed with how fast a small detail like what someone wears such as Browns tie can become an "Internet phenomenon" at the speed of real-time. I wonder if they spend as much time talking about the wounds and scars (physical and emotional) that are left on victims of assault by people like Brown in “real-time” and the bandages they have to wear.

http://mashable.com/2009/09/03/chris-brown-bow-tie/

Bow Tie vs Bandages. Chris Brown vs Rihanna.

Chris Brown Channeling Oliver North

Wasn’t it back in the 80s during the Iran–Contra affair that Oliver North successfully used the, “I have no recollection” defense? We knew Chris Brown was an idiot but now with his, “I remember beating her”, “I don’t remember beating her” story about his attacks on Rihanna he achieves an even lower scum rating. Is this guy for real?

http://blogs.tampabay.com/juice/2009/09/suddenly-chris-brown-remembers-beating-rihanna.html

Chris Brown Channeling Oliver North

Have You Bought any Underwear Lately?

Who knew that underwear could be such an economic indicator? According to this piece in the Washington Post, men’s underwear sales, or MUI, men’s underwear index, is a good indicator of what is going on with consumers. Hmmmm, it does make some sense don’t you think?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/30/AR2009083002761.html

Have You Bought any Underwear Lately?

1991 kidnapping suspect: Story is 'heart-warming'

I am not so sure about 'heart warming'. This story had me so outraged. My first instinct was to want this man dead. To bring back the death penalty for anyone who rapes a child. Then my dear friend Heather reminded me how that would be an easy way out for such an animal. An animal like this should suffer more. We have all heard how people who hurt children are treated in prison. We can only hope he gets what he deserves.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-27-calif-kidnap-victim_N.htm?csp=15

1991 kidnapping suspect: Story is 'heart-warming'

Women at Risk

Well said and worth a read...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/opinion/08herbert.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=bob%20hebert%20women%20at%20risk&st=cse

Women at Risk

10 Lessons on life from an MD

10 Lessons on Life

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

10 Lessons on life from an MD

Change

The Change Report, based on 1306 online interviews conducted by Southeastern Institute of Research has a lot to say about interpersonal communication and relationships so I thought I'd post a few items based on this report. The part of this research that has been highlighted by the press is its survey of the top fears that people have now and had in 1967 (when the Social Readjustment Rating Scale was published). There are some interesting differences and although the researchers caution that statistical comparisons should not be made, they do note that the findings can be interpreted as relative and directional. [Respondents were asked to give a numerical value (from 1 to 100) to a variety of stressful events.] In 1967 the death of a spouse was rated 100 but in 2007 it was rated 80. The death of a friend, on the other hand, showed a different direction. In 1967 it was 37 but in 2007 it was 58.Also interesting was the rating given to divorce--in 1967 it received a rating of 73 but in 2007 it had dropped to 66. It seems relationship stressors are easier to navigate today than they were in 1967.On the other hand, stress from being laid off from a job went from 47 in 1967 to 62 in 2007 and changing job field went from 36 in 1967 to 47 in 2007. It seems that job stressors are getting worse.

Change

Why Is The Average Lottery Winner Broke Within Two Years?

Getting something free doesn't change who you ARE. If you were not responsible before, your habits will continue. So what happens when you get a $450,000 house for free?

This story from Yahoo News confirms something I’ve always wondered about. Interesting that Yahoo calls this project a “victim” of the mortgage crisis. The only thing it’s a victim of is the owners’ financial irresponsibility.
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More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” team demolish a family’s decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.
Three years later, the reality TV show’s most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it’s set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home’s door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes’ employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple’s three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. “Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families,” the network said.

Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family’s financial decisions.

“It’s aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it,” Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper’s living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
======

I have often joked in some of my seminars about how over the top these shows have become and how they could probably help several people for what they put into one house. I even saw one show where the owner liked fish so they made a bathroom sink into an aquarium. Oh, ya…those fish are still alive.

I think these shows started out with good intentions but now these types of shows have become nothing more than prime time infomercials for all the “caring” vendors and suppliers. I have often wondered what it would be like to do a “where are they now” show. Lets go back and look at these over the top homes that were built for people who didn’t take very good care of the one they had. Yet now we expect their behaviors will change and they will keep the house and yard just as the cameras left it as well as now afford all the higher bills and payments.

I am happy that here in Tampa we do have one of the success stories of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. The Tate family of Davis Island in Tampa had their house redone after an airplane crashed into it (see related articles below). The sad part is that I heard several people in my travels and programs as well as several Tampa residents say things like, “Why should they get a new house free? They already make enough money, have a restaurant and live on Davis Island”. I run by the Tate’s new home several times a week and a year and half later it still looks wonderful, maybe even better than when the cameras left. So WHY should people like this who have also suffered setbacks get something like this? One word: RESPONIBILITY.

A quick Google search turned up these related stories.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/09/Hillsborough/Showtime_for__Makeove.shtml
http://stpetesuperfest.com/community/homemakeover/index2.shtml
http://www.simmons.com/products/brands/comforpedic/emhe/episode16.html
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/Celebrity-Blogs/Paiges-Extreme-Makeover/March-4-2007/800010135

Why Is The Average Lottery Winner Broke Within Two Years?