Hi I'm new to this site but pleased to have joined the group.

Check out my etsy shop if you have time , I would welcome any feedback

knitNthings.etsy.com

Hope to be chatting to some of you soon !

Nicola x

Blogging is hard work (not really), and I needed a few days off over the holiday weekend, but now its time to get back into the swing of things.

Today's Video

Most impressive team this weekend... Dayton Flyers?  Could it be?  I say no, but it doesn't change the fact that this team has some dunkers (see below).

Occasionally, when one hears a comment that mentions a dead person - and one disapproves of the comment (and one possesses no intelligent argument against what has caused offence) - a shallow tactic is to try and shame the speaker of the comment by suggesting that the dead person must be "turning in their grave". This claim, at best, is presumptuous and should be refuted until proof is offered.

It is, I believe, impossible to offend a dead person. It is all too easy to offend the living, and huge numbers of the living in Britain become insanely sensitive when any comments, which can be construed as insulting to "our" war dead, are made. So, if you do your thinking with your gut rather than your brain, you are advised to read no further.

You have been warned.

I would like you imagine you could communicate with the dead, and do so with enough of them that you could conduct a thorough survey of opinion. Imagine you had access to the ghosts of every soldier slaughtered during the "great" war - WW1.

If you had the ability to do this, what questions would you ask them? I would ask them if the enjoyed themselves; was living and dying in the trenches a nice way to go; were they glad to die for politicians, or would they have preferred to have lived a long and peaceful life with their families? I would ask other questions. How has society treated the memory of your sacrifice? Is engaging in further organised slaughter on a national scale a decent way to honour you? Do you find the sombre celebration of Remembrance Day an insult because it legitimises further slaughter by pretending your death was honourable? Did Wilfred Owen have a point? Do you think the abolition of the wearing of white Poppies to denote: "never again", is the greatest insult to your memory?

(Just what has happened to white poppies?)

What do you think the soldiers would tell us?

I think they might scream that organised, state-sanctioned, pre-meditated murder must cease; that it's better to have a kickabout with your friends than it is shooting and stabbing other human beings because politicians lie and say it's the "patriotic" thing to do.

I bet they would understand, better than us all, that patriotism is a con; that it is a tool of manipulation; an intangible, irrational ideal and tribalism at its small-minded worst.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori?

I bet the war dead would disagree.

• winning is not a sometime thing.it is an all time thing.you don't do things right once in a while,you do them  right all the time.there is no room for second place. there's only one place.and that's first place.

welll my day today sucked im still at scholl arghhhhhhhhhh but atleats i found my phone =] =] =] so yayyyy!!!!!

bu 1st period was a dragg it sucked but my roller coaster was th bomb the awesomest [hahaha not really but yea]

2nd was ok i finished my work really early and ate CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!C : =] =] yuummmmm

3rd was the most gayest class beside 6th but yea im still in 6th =[ oh the teacher is a cat lady and old and is single and a vetiterian hhahaha she really needs to get a LIFE! ahahaha LMAO=] {= c: hahaha

4th sucked but it was ok i took a quiz and then we just played a weird verision of TIC_TAC_TOE hahaha

5th was weird we had a sub but he wouldnt shut up uhhhhhhh he was really weird loking he look like a RETARD im not kidding half of his head had no hair and the other barley had any might as well cut it all of  but yea

6th sucks still in it wish i could go home  already ............................I'm hungry =]

Who wants to agree that at the SLAMMYS next week, either Kelly Kelly,Candice Michelle,Mickie James, or Maria with be diva of the year?!

Sensaciones encontradas,

Enriquesidas con palabras

Necesarias para mi alma...

Temblando al sentir

Innumerables emociones

Mas, son tantas sensaciones

Inciertas de definir...

Entonces al reaccionar

Necesito tu voz escuchar

Temerosa al aceptar, mi

Obscura realidad...

Piracy has a big PR problem (unless you are a pirate). Listening to The Now Show on Radio 4 over the weekend, with endless jokes about dead men's chests, parrots and pieces of eight in relation to what's going on off the coast of Somalia, it hit me all over again that it's still impossible to go anywhere near the subject without Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush in big hats popping light-heartedly into the conversation.


Pirates of the Caribbean: Real piracy is no joke in big hats

There is a spurious air of glamour about piracy - something it has in common with cyber crime -  that is entirely unmerited. In legal terms piracy is just crime that happens on a boat, with all the additional fear and uncertainty that the weather and water bring with them. It's not hard to remember where the roots of this phenomenon lie, though.

Letters of marque, given out by the British government (among others) in the 17th and 18th centuries, legitimised piracy so long as it was carried out against "the enemy". So it was okay to romanticise pirates - the bad boys of the high seas - in the same way that it was okay to romanticise highwaymen - so long as they gave to the poor or had a terrific back-story.

I had the fortune once to interview a man who had been a victim of piracy - off the coast of Belgium of all places. Captain Mayank Mishra was 31 in 2001 when he was tied up by two men with knives as he guarded the container ship he was to captain, full of scrap metal, to Turkey. He believed, when his trembling hands were unable to open the unfamiliar safe in his cabin - he'd only recently come aboard - that he was to be killed and dismembered in the disgusting manner outlined to him by his tormentors. He has since taken a desk job at his company's HQ in Mumbai, for the sake of his wife and young family.

Piracy is violent crime for the sake  of money. It's being mugged and kidnapped at gun or knifepoint by people with little to lose. It's utterly terrifying and Robert Louis Stevenson is nowhere in it.

Yet the piracy we hear about is only a fraction of the problem. Eric Ellen, a former director of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor in 1992 saying that "no more than one per cent of piracy incidents are actually reported".

Brice Martin-Castex of the IMO explained this was to do with the nature of the commercial shipping industry: "Our official statistics are what you call a 'dark number'. Maybe if someone lost his life it is worth reporting it. But if you wish to make a complaint about something that is basically pilfering, it can take two or three days for an investigation and this is valuable time for a commercial shipping operator." Take into account the loss of business when potential customers learn you've been attacked and it's better simply not to report it.

The coverage that Somalian piracy is currently getting is the exception, not the rule.

Her name is Zoe, one of our three cats. She is a rescue cat, a real character and as daft as a brush! She certainly keeps Mrs RG and me amused!

So my girl Alix at the Booby Pin Hair Gallery on Dale Mabry is teaching me to be a girl.  She showed me how to curl my hair today, and Jesse thinks the Shirley Temple look is not metal.  What do you think?

With a new season of 24 around the corner...I can only hope that the producers find a way to get Elisha Cuthbert back on the show.  Cuz when you look like this....you need to be on my moving picture box.

Daily Devotions during the Advent Season

Please check the forum for the
Daily Devotional each day.

I'll be putting the title and a little bit here;
please go to the Forum (link to follow)
each day to read the Daily Devotional
in more detail.

Monday, December 1, 2008

From Christian Women Today

HE IS COMING

Are you anticipating Christ's coming
this Christmas or are you too busy
to think about that?

"Behold, I am coming soon!
Revelation 22:7

You may read today's
devotional in part at:
http://www.qmb2.com/dailydevotions/forum/viewtopic.one?id=350951

You may read today's
devotional in full at:
http://thelife.com/blogs/experience/devotionalforwomen/2008/12/01/

~~*~~~~~*~~

OUR DAILY BREAD

Mon, Dec. 01/08

WAITING FOR JOY

Read: 2 Corinthians 4: 8-18

Verse to Focus on:
Weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning.
--Psalm 30: 5

Tribulation, grief, and sorrow
Are but heaven's stepping stones
To a bright and glad tomorrow
Where no heartache can be known.
--Glass

Thought for the Day

We can endure this life's trials
because of the next life's joys.

You may read today's
devotional in full at:
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/12/01/devotion.aspx

You may read today's
devotional in part at:
http://www.qmb2.com/dailydevotions/forum/viewtopic.one?id=350961

I'll be adding each new day's
devotional at the TOP of this post.
Please check back!!

Mitsie (Peggy)

BCS Standings
 1. Alabama 12-0
 2. Oklahoma 11-1
 3. Texas 11-1
 4. Florida 11-1
 5. USC 10-1
 6. Utah 12-0
 7. Texas Tech 11-1
 8. Penn State 11-1
 9. Boise State 12-0
10. Ohio State 10-2
11. TCU 10-2
12. Ball State 12-0
13. Cincinnati 10-2
14. Oklahoma State 9-3
15. Georgia Tech 9-3
16. Georgia 9-3
17. Boston College 9-3
18. BYU 10-2
19. Oregon 9-3
20. Missouri 9-3
21. Michigan State 9-3
22. Northwestern 9-3
23. Pitt 8-3
24. Florida State 8-4
25. Virginia Tech 8-4

******************************

AP Top 25
 1. Alabama (62) 12-0 1,620
 2. Florida (3) 11-1 1,516
 3. Texas 11-1 1,488
 4. Oklahoma 11-1 1,480
 5. USC 10-1 1,355
 6. Penn State 11-1 1,257
 7. Utah 12-0 1,216
 8. Texas Tech 11-1 1,197
 9. Boise State 12-0 1,103
10. Ohio State 10-2 1,069
11. TCU 10-2 885
12. Ball State 12-0 834
13. Cincinnati 10-2 824
14. Oklahoma State 9-3 798
15. Georgia Tech 9-3 708
16. Oregon 9-3 630
17. Georgia 9-3 495
18. Boston College 9-3 482
19. Missouri 9-3 479
20. Brigham Young 10-2 385
21. Michigan State 9-3 312
22. Mississippi 8-4 280
23. Pittsburgh 8-3 241
24. Northwestern 9-3 190
25. Oregon State 8-4 122

Others Receiving Votes
Iowa 66, Virginia Tech 47, Tulsa 13, Florida State 12, California 7, West Virginia 4, Rice 3, Connecticut 3, Nebraska 3, North Carolina 1.

Dropped From Rankings
Florida State 23.

******************************

USA Today Poll
 1. Alabama (58) 12-0 1,521
 2. Oklahoma (2) 11-1 1,397
 3. Texas 11-1 1,396
 4. Florida (1) 11-1 1,385
 5. USC 10-1 1,298
 6. Penn State 11-1 1,176
 7. Utah 12-0 1,153
 8. Texas Tech 11-1 1,116
 9. Boise State 12-0 1,044
10. Ohio State 10-2 999
11. TCU 10-2 836
12. Cincinnati 10-2 770
13. Ball State 12-0 765
14. Oregon 9-3 658
15. Oklahoma State 9-3 613
16. Georgia Tech 9-3 590
17. Missouri 9-3 470
18. Brigham Young 10-2 461
19. Georgia 9-3 440
20. Boston College 9-3 435
21. Michigan State 9-3 414
22. Northwestern 9-3 333
23. Pittsburgh 8-3 154
24. Oregon State 8-4 127
25. Mississippi 8-4 126

Others Receiving Votes
Virginia Tech 41, Iowa 31, Tulsa 21, Florida State 15, Nebraska 11, Kansas 10, Connecticut 5, North Carolina 5, Rice 5, California 4.

Dropped From Rankings
Florida State 24, West Virginia 25.

Starting today, there is a change in the McDonald's Dollar Menu. The Double Cheeseburger is no longer on the dollar menu. McDonald's introduced a new sandwich today. We started the new "McDouble." It is just like our double cheeseburger, however, the only difference is that our new McDouble has only one piece of cheese. National Advertising for the "McDouble" begins in January 2009. Stop by and try a McDouble today. The Double Cheeseburger will still be available on our regular lunch menu for the price of $1.19. Note: Prices may vary.

There was one other thing that I was going to add on the last blog post I posted a couple weeks ago, and I totally forgot all about it, so, here it is. From now until December 21st, if you buy a $10 Arch Gift Card, or more, you will get a small hot mocha absolutely FREE!

 JAYNE  2000 Oil on canvas 50x40inches

JAYNE  2008 Pencil on paper 23x16inches

Taylor Swift is still having a difficult time getting over Joe Jonas, and that could spell future problems for the Disney music star.After all, Taylor's soothed the sorrow of a broken heart in the past by writing songs about her exes. Sometimes they've ended up as hits, and she's been known to insert the guys' names into the lyrics or find ways to point the finger at them in the liner notes on her albums. It appears that Taylor is once again getting over a guy by putting it all down on paper, which could mean there's a hit somewhere in Joe's now-famous 27-second phone call.

"I feel it's best for me right now to be alone and write about what I've gone through," Taylor told People magazine. "That's how I deal with it. I would hate to jump into something so quickly and have it not be the right thing, because I don't think I could take that right now."

In fact, she admitted, she's been on a roller coaster as she moves on.

"I have good days, and I have bad days," she said. "I'm trying to limit those days where I wake up and all I think about is that."

Taylor's got some good things to think about this week. Her current single, "White Horse," was the most-added song at country radio last week, based on early returns, and she'll be a co-host Wednesday on the CBS special "The Grammy Nominations Concert Live: Countdown To Music's Biggest Night."

Click for more Pix...

REVENGE. Is exactly what Maria needs to get on Michelle McCool. Once again on SMACKDOWN all Maria was trying to do was stop the fighting between the Bellas and Michelle,{which actually would have been cool} and Michelle pushes her! And she talks about her behind her back, and she kept that ankle lock on Maria like 2 mins. after the match ended! And Michelle really thinks shes a good friend?! REALLY?!!??