Who uses fine stationary any more?

Came across these wonderful renditions of fantasy art for notes. Great artist who also has a tarot deck coming out.
www.shadowscapes.com/listing...mage.php
puimun.deviantart.com/

I don't care if it is staged, isn't it wonderful?

video.yahoo.com/network/100000089

out of the blue

A reporter from the Missourian, the student run daily newspaper at Mizzou, called me today. They had gotten a call from a lady about a story Toby did on me and my fencing class down in Jeff City two years ago. Toby had my number and passed it on and Megan called me to say the lady thought maybe one of my students was her long lost grandson. When I heard the name, I said that yes, he's been with me nearly five years now, he's in college. Now, what to do? Give out his phone number? Hmmm. I wasn't sure what to do. Megan wasn't either. She talked to her editor and called me back and threw it in my lap. They gave me the woman's name and phone number, so I called my student and asked if he was missing a grandmother. It turns out not only was he missing her, he'd been looking for her for several years if only to get some medical information. So he was quite happy to get the name and number...

Smile at the DMV

You gotta watch this, it will make your day, garunteed, :-)

mypositivechange.com/2008/12...amazing/

contact improv

no pictures, :-(
Workshop last weekend was great, Amanda was a great teacher and facilitator and it was a very positive and fulfilling experience. I sure hope to do more of it.

There are good people.

"THIS I BELIEVE"
by Robert A. Heinlein

Robert A. Heinlein wrote this item in 1952. His wife, Virginia Heinlein, chose to read it when she accepted NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal on October 6, 1988, on the Grand Master's behalf (it was a posthumous award).
Mrs. Heinlein received a standing ovation.

"I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. "Take Father Michael down our road a piece. I'm not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and lovingkindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I'm in trouble, I'll go to him."

"My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee--no prospect of a fee--I believe in Doc.

"I believe in my townspeople. You can know on any door in our town saying, 'I'm hungry,' and you will be fed. Our town is no exception. I've found the same ready charity everywhere. But for the one who says, 'To heck with you - I got mine,' there are a hundred, a thousand who will say, "Sure, pal, sit down."

"I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers I can step up to the highway, thumb for a ride and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, 'Climb in Mac - how far you going?'

"I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime yet for every criminal there are 10,000 honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the patient gallentry of nurses and the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land.

"I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

"I believe that almost all politicians are honest. . .there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true we would never have gotten past the 13 colonies.

"I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in -- I am proud to belong to -- the United States. Despite shortcomings from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

"And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown. In the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth. That we always make it just by the skin of our teeth, but that we will always make it. Survive. Endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes will endure. Will endure longer than his home planet -- will spread out to the stars and beyond, carrying with him his honesty and his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage and his noble essential decency.

"This I believe with all my heart."

Quite a spectacular show

Woman: God, sex, and my body

http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=PbIEKjYa4_c

and

http://synature. smugmug. com/gallery/6890103_GkWBF

tell me it isn't so, please

Story by columnist Dvorak about how much lying, stealing and cheating is going on in our children's lives:

www.pcmag.com/article2/0,...35831,00.asp

libel and defamation

Libel is pretty straightforward: it's when a statement is made that is false. "The food at xyz restaurant is lousy" is an opinion and can't be libel, but "I got food poisoning at xyz restaurant." is a statement of fact, which, if proven false is grounds for a libel suit for punitive damages and lost revenue. Politicians and public figures are not exempt from libel protection in fact, but editorial writers get to claim a lot more flexibility in saying that what they are expressing is opinion.
injury-law.freeadvice.com/libel...ander/

Defamation is much more murky, though it's basically the same thing -- a false statement of fact. But the "fact" stated can be much more general (and harder to prove one way or the other). "However, you may bring an action for libel or slander if the comments are so reprehensible and false that they affect your reputation in the community or cast aspersions on you." In other words, if you say something like "The drivers for ABC hauling are reckless and a danger to everyone on the road." and it turns out in fact that no driver for ABC has ever had any kind of moving violation, well, you could be in trouble. Probably would need to also have statements from Joe the plumber that he stopped using ABC hauling because of your statement.
injury-law.freeadvice.com/libel...er.htm

Free speech means freedom to express your opinion, and thank goodness we have that. But it does not mean you are allowed to actually make statements of fact which are harmful when they are false. The big problem is when someone states an opinion, "I think X is a crook" and later on someone else drops the "I think." and turns it into "X is a crook."

new photos up

well, some are not so new

earthdance: synature.smugmug.com/gallery...48_TBYJk

Johnny Lang: synature.smugmug.com/gallery...74_aP4En

An open mic night at the blue fugue: synature.smugmug.com/gallery...29_N36pq

Washington, D.C. synature.smugmug.com/Events/590435