image courtesy of Epic Records

Ever since this Michael Jackson story broke it has been difficult to steer clear of it…no matter how hard I try…not only the stories of his death and his odd life but his music is all over the place…not only on your typical music stations but on news stations, sports and everything in between.

So there I was, earlier today in Target to pick up some stuff and there was a single copy of the “Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition” on the shelf, that was both remastered, had additional tracks as well as a separate DVD of his top 4 videos (Billie Jean, Thriller, Beat It and his appearance on the Motown 25th Anniversary). I just had to pick it up…and to be honest, it is awesome. The tracks from the CD are incredible, the additional tracks are fun and the videos, especially the appearance on the Motown special were in a word incredible.

Ok…so I’m part of the hype…but what the heck…it’s great music!

Nonetheless, here are more thoughts.

1. Sarah Palin resigned, I think, to spare her family from more attacks. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Sarah Palin is doing this just days after a very nasty Vanity Fair article where folks like Nicolle Wallace and, according to Bill Kristol, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt (though I’m told Schmidt is not involved), savaged her.

2. Unfortunately, by resigning, I think the left and national media will be emboldened to ritualistically engage in the metaphorical gang raping of conservative politicians, particularly those who are female and have children. They’ll decide savaging Palin’s family drove her from office, so the sky’s the limit on the next conservative with kids.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY CLICK HERE

image courtesy of newsday.com

Will she be missed or will we be seeing too much of her now?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:55 PM EDT, July 3, 2009

WASILLA, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she will resign from office July 26.

Her spokesman wouldn’t say why Palin decided to step down, but the announcement stirred speculation that she would focus on a 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for president.

image courtesy Frank Polich-Reuters

How cool is this?

from NPR/All Things Considered

High atop Chicago’s soaring Sears Tower, a new attraction opened Thursday to the public. It’s called the Ledge, and it’s intended to give visitors never-before-seen views of the city.

It is not, however, for the faint of heart.

The glass box, on the 103rd floor, juts out just over four feet away from the building and it allows visitor to stare more than 1,300 feet straight below them.

Susie An reports for Chicago Public Radio.
From Atop Sears Tower, A Ledge With A View : NPR (2 July 2009)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106225558
http://snipurl.com/lnziz

image courtesy of Mozilla Corp.

Great story from ZDNet

By Stephen Shankland, CNET News
Posted on ZDNet News: Jun 30, 2009 10:00:06 AM

A funny thing to happened to Firefox on the way to vanquishing Internet Explorer: the Mozilla browser’s success opened the door for a host of its other competitors.

Even as Internet Explorer’s market share has slipped–down a dramatic 8 percentage points to 65.5 percent in about the last year–Firefox programmers face a surprising question: should they be more worried about the programmers in Redmond, Wash., or about those working on Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, and Opera?

Firefox has gained about 3 percentage points to 22.5 percent in market share, according to Net Applications’ statistics since July 2008, and Firefox backer Mozilla doubtless hopes for more gains with Tuesday’s release of Firefox 3.5. But Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome each gained 2 percentage points, to 8.4 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, indicating a growing appetite for alternatives to Internet Explorer that’s not completely met by Firefox. Opera stayed flat at about 0.7 percent.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY CLICK HERE

Here are two:

Hello,
I’m a nurse in a pediatric weight management clinic and was riveted and moved by Sarah Sobel’s story. Her story of overeating and the social pressures of obesity is so descriptive of many of the teens we see, however it is unusual for our patients to see or hear of someone who has been so successful in achieveing a healthier weight. It would be wonderful for our patients to have access to Sarah’s story and I think they could not help but feel motivated. Is it permissable to download her story and burn a CD? (Many of our kids are low income and do not have pod cast capability.) Or is there another way you can think of to get her story to our patients? Thank You!

***

I enjoyed the story about Sarah and her experience at weight loss camp. As a teacher of middle school girls, I can identify with the challenges that girls who do not look like the norm face every day. It is heartening to
hear a success story.

NOTE: There are 3 separate stories…Sarah’s is the third. I have requested them to send me just her interview…when I get it I will update the blog here.

In the meantime click here:  http://tr.im/sarahstory

her interview is just after the story about Rashod Ollison talking about Michael Jackson

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON “THE STORY” CLICK HERE

There is alot of cool stuff happenning in NYC during the Summer and as a proud member of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), I thought you’ d be interested in something I am planning on taking advantage of on Thursday nights in July and August.

The Museum of Modern Art will remain open until 8:45 p.m. every Thursday in July and August, providing visitors with a relaxed atmosphere in which to view MoMA’s collection and special exhibitions, and enjoy live music and tapas in the The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. Live music will be presented in Sculpture Garden, weather permitting, in two series, MoMA Music: BRAZIL (July, held in conjunction with the film exhibition Premiere Brazil 2009) and MoMA Music: CHINA (August, held in conjunction with the exhibition Projects 90: Song Dong). Performances will be in two sets, at 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. In the event of rain, the Sculpture Garden will close and music will be presented in one set at 7:00 p.m. in the Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1 or 2.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

(photo courtesy of the one and only Bruce Bennett)

Congratulations Sarah…Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, Class of 2009 graduation at Tilles Center/Long Island University, CW Post Campus, Brookville, NY June 28, 2009

Friday, June 26, 2009

He Knew.

Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.

I can’t recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Fathers Death.

At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, “I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.”

I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.

14 years later I am sitting here watching on the news an ambulance leaves the driveway of his home, the big gates, the crowds outside the gates, the coverage, the crowds outside the hospital, the Cause of death and what may have led up to it and the memory of this conversation hit me, as did the unstoppable tears.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY CLICK HERE